Session 9 [OOC: Sorry for the delay in writing this up - bloody study! Some of this may be more concise than I'd ideally like, but don't worry, it has all the essentials.] 12/4/955 The weather was good, and we were eating dinner outside, when Gaven ran over to us, saying there were men coming through the woods. Listening, we heard high-pitched drums. A group of dwarves arrived - we weren't sure how many, but it was a lot. They asked for Devon. The Lieutenant in charge of the group was to take him to the General in charge of this dwarven army. After a one hour walk, we reached a clearing. The dwarves were about to sleep. We were brought to a small circle of people around a fire - which included Dryadim! (I'd only heard of these creatures before.) We were then introduced to Edam Athelwood, General of the army. I expressed concern that the Krillath were simply a diversion to weaken the Dwarven forces in the north, as a prelude to an Elven attack. He considered this obvious - so I asked him why the Hell he was moving his forces south. He explained (reasonably enough) that he was taking only 2000 dwarves south, leaving another 8000 or so in the north. The Krillath demons have expanded in all directions, in an area of 6 miles travel from the tower in which Saer T. had been imprisoned. It was a "dead zone" - all life fled or was destroyed. The expansion seemed to be primarily (but not entirely) eastwards. I was introduced to Imrith. She was the Dryad I'd been told about - the "maimed" soulless one. We talked for a while, and she seemed unconcerned about it. I suppose she's used to it, while I was still getting used to it. She said there was no need to be concerned - was I any different, in myself? I was not. She considers herself a dwarf. She lives and fights with them, having been cast out by the Dryadim. (Imrith is the Dryadim name for a forest flower of some sort.) We returned to Jack's tower, where we talked for a while. I suggested we should go on the offensive against the elves and take the fight to them. I've always considered the Altean enslavement to be one of the worst of all the Elven atrocities. I asked Surefoot if the mental discipline of his order could be used to improve the strength of will of the Alteans, but he seemed to thing that the problem would be that the mental weakness of the Alteans would prevent them from learning. [OOC: So much for the Ninja Giants idea...] 13/4/955 The fine weather continued. If I haven't mentioned it already, I've discussed the possibility that I might be invisible to the Krillath, at least to some degree. Caed says they see the soul/spirit, but have very poor regular vision. Gavin informed us that a glowing-white "goblin wolf" had been seen by the locals. The Bane, most likely. We returned to Baldock on horse. [The page here is illegible, having gotten wet. "Bandits" seems to be mentioned a few times.] 20/5/955 Having left Baldock, we ride along the Great Road, and reach the Northern Rest. 21/4/955 Someone was watching us ffrom the hills today. 22/4/955 Ride and then walk towards castle. Some of the bandits tried to ambush us. Surefoot caught an arrow in mid air! That took the wind out of their sails, as he put it himself. They fled back to their comrades. Reaching the Castle, Jack walked forward into the clearing, using a magical shield to protect against arrows. They fired, and he was indeed protected. He announced that the bandits would be sparred if they surrendered. They found the idea hilarious. So did I. Uneventful watch in Mender's cave. 23/4/955 Great, they tracked us. Negotiations failed, and we, trapped, found arrows being fired into the cave. Great fun. And then... "Aaaahh... They took his head! Dear Go...ggghgh". Repeat. Some monster of the Bane had found the bandits, and they were reaping what they'd sowed (or chopped down, actually). Poor fellows, they weren't up to fighting this kind of beastie. This thing was nasty. Big, made of... not flesh, more like a living mud-flow with arms and legs... and lots of what seem to be human skulls sticking out of its back. Oh, and a mouth, for eating folk. The bandits fell like the flies they were. We stepped in, and fought with them. The creature was a tough opponent. Its wounds seemed to largely heal over within moments of being injured. I fired three called shots at its mouth, hitting time and again, but for only minor effect. This required a simple practice routine - stand beside the big, stupid target and rip it to pieces. "Carving a turkey" as my Uncle used to say (though we never let him do that, since the urge to do something fancy tended to overcome the practical desire for neat slicing). I hit it really hard, repeatedly. It began to die. [OOC: God DAMN Joseph is a killing machine sometimes. Repeated massive damage, including 27 or so HP in a single round. Without a scratch on him!] Then Surefoot decided to finish it off... I'd begun to back away, having learned that Bane creature are usually full of corrosive slime. He hit at a skull - which opened its mouth, and bit his hand off. I can't say anything to make this sound as horrific and serious as it was. I can only imagine how devastated I'd have been if it had been me. [OOC: Fumble followed by crit, or something like that.] The bandits were in awe of us. We told them that more of these creatures would come. They were offered amnesty - to go to Baldock, with a letter from Jack, report to the Duke, and join the Auchenross army. They accepted. I have to admit, I wasn't entirely happy. Maybe Jack can forgive and forget, but when I see bandits, I see Master Thomas and countless others being slaughtered. Jack has a dream that night, about Nathaniel - needing help?!? 24/4/955 The bandits headed off. Devon healed the stump of Surefoot's arm as best he could. 25/4/955 Uneventful night. Activity in woods. We decided to go deal with the Bane as best we could. The trail of crushed trees let us to the place the monster had emerged from - a festering pit if ever I saw one. Worse than some of the inns in the Thieves Quarter. Those damnable glowing-white worms were everywhere, and the trees were twisted inwards towards the hole. [OOC: BTW, while I was in holidays in Tuscany, there were a lot of glowing creatures - insects, worms and the like. Very Bane. The wild boar didn't glow unfortunately, although they did make satisfyingly stereotypical grunting/snuffling noises before failing their moral checks and fleeing before me.] Looking down, we has a cavern, with a tunnel leading off it. We climbed down with rope. Tunnels in fact lead east and west, both downwards. Lee gave us herbs to reduce the effect of the awful stench from the smaller tunnel. Foot-prints came from the larger tunnel, which we followed. [OOC: Pizza is eaten.] [OOC: A lot more OOC in this write-up for some reason.] As we proceeded, the tunnel changed, becoming more solid, though very mossy. It also narrowed. Luminescent fronds dangled from the ceiling, as the tunnel spiraled downwards, before leveling and straightening. The ground here was of stone, and seemed to have been carved, long ago. Soon the tunnel was stone. We reached an arch, with a cavern directly ahead. It was tall, almost funnel like. In the ceiling were thick white strands - and a huge spider. I. Hate. The. Damn. Bane. Caed crept across, reaching a door on the other side. It was made of carved stone, depicting a hill with a tree on it. The door would open outwards. Caed returned to us. We contemplated trying to sneak past the spider, but with so many of us, the chances of success were low. We spread out, and used crossbows and Jack's magical fire to hit it hard. It screeched as we hit it, then jumped down and attacked. Once again, I sliced into Bane-creature with gusto, doing major damage. Unfortunately, this bastard bit back - with poison. I fainted. When I awoke, the spider was dead, and the door was open. I don't remember the rest too well. I was a little out of it, and physcially paralysed, more or less. Most of the others had gone on. A tree creature (which they later said was probably a corrupted forest 'god') stumbled out of the stone-carved door towards Surefoot and me. Surefoot had the Amulet (huh?) and hit it hard. Glowing green light. Lost consciousness. Again. * * * When we awoke, our hair and nails were grown long. We dealt with this as best we could, and stumbled outside. As we looked out at the world, we had no idea of how much time had passed. Days, certainly. Weeks, possibly (!). Months? Years??? We heard soft laughter, and creeping forward, saw a happy couple having a picnic. No tree 'god' or Bane. Oh no. Much, much worse. The most evil thing of all: Elves.