Cyric 19 1877 4th age Lucia smiled, new beings had come to Pavis, she was getting tired of tormenting the same faces for months. In particular, Gwenhundra the female half orc and Feth a fighter. She enjoyed giving the two of them the run around especially after taking care of the clerics in the town. The only excitment in the last months were when another group of adventurers had wandered down and had discovered where she had hidden the children of the town and freed some of them. Fortunately the group had left.

This new group looked interesting, a centaur, a gnome, a elf, three humans, two of which were clerics, one was a cleric of Tyr and other a cleric of latlander. The latlander cleric went out during the night and slain one of her wolves and had seriously hurt one of her spawn. She would test them this evening……..

---

The stormcrows headed north to aid the elves in distress, visiting some old friends along the way. While passing through the horse kingdoms, the group met a Cleric of Latlander named Artemis who was also heading north to the caravan town of Pavis.

The group also encountered a trial of a noble who was accusing of collaborating with the Rokan. There was a tribunal set consisting of three of the larger ranch families and two priests of the town. The trial was being set. In Anderlain the northmost of the horse kingdoms, a memorial was being created to remember the victims of a Rokan massacre the previous year. A Rokan soldier had died under mysterious circumstances and The Rokanese had came down on the province and butchered most of the inhabitants and the horses.

The group made it to Pavis to find it nearly desolate. Two things had occured, the first was the elf-orc war which stopped product from coming down and the struggles in the south with the Rokan. The second event was the emergence of a vampire in the area. Rumor has it that when a Rokan army was defeated, one of the surviviors wandered into a cave where it awoke a vampire who had been lying there a long time.

The group had old companions in this town and have decided to aid the townsfolk. Artemis , who also hunted the dead, said that it was why he was here.

night fight stormcrows July 21, 2007 22:14 NIGHT FIGHT Cyric 20 1877 4th age

“She will bring children” said Artemis as he awoke from his slumber towards the end of the day. “They are her servants now.” The news brought great distress to the group. During the day Gwenhundra and Feth had joined their old friends in preparing for the fight. Artemis showed them a device given to him by the purple hand, a order dedicated to fighting the undead. He called it a clacker and it could force the undead to come to the sound. As night fell, the group went out and prepared for the fight. 7pm came as well as 8 and 9 before anything happened. A noise was noticed and two figures were noticed. A wolf and a girl. The girl just smiled and asked if they wanted to play. A second child a male came up and laughed as if joking with the group.

A fog descended on the group, causing damage. Flook Dingle Jag had come up with a spell that allowed the entire group to fly and they rose above the cloud. A sphere of fire exploded about the group severly damaging Kalan who needed to flee from the fight to heal. Lucia invisibily moving about continued to fire magic at the group who could only respond by attacking the children spawn and the wolves, a third child and wolf joined the fray but the spawn and the wolves limited to the ground were beaten about by the group. Flook Dingle Jag summoned celestial lions and Kalans pet mountain lion began to use their scent ability to track down the vampiress. The lions caught the scent and Hyorn Rutherford the Tyr cleric cast detect magic in an effort to find the invisible wizardess, in the meantime Artemis and Hyorn Rutherford had cast death ward on various members of the party. The detect magic gave an approximate area where Flook Dingle Jag and Setsuka cast fireballs. The burst outlined the vampire and Lothar flew and tossed packets of flour to further outline the vampiress, who had now gone up into the air. Lucia found herself at the wrong side of events and attempted to dominate various members of the group but failed miserably. She then went to drain a member of the party but also found that the character was death warded. She ended up being surrounded and was taking damage from various sources, making spell casting difficult and the group finally took her down

Cyric 22 1877 4th age

Gnagz was grumbling about being in Arinis on guard duty. The trees and structures were grey with ash and the skeletial remains of the victims were staring at him from their staked positions. The smell of ash was all about him and the grey flakes were still falling from the skies. There were still a few small fires burning, which he found unusal. He stomped them out as he found them. Mazgorz had cheated him at dice, he knew for certain to keep off the guard duty for the night. There were rumors that the elves were attempting some sort of revenge for the massacre so the warlords had assigned guards in various parts of the town. Who would come through this choking mess, he thought.

Gnagz’ thoughts were interupted when a pillar of fire rose in the distance. He wandered to the spot wondering about the source of the fire. As he wandered around the corner, he thought he heard the sound of wings. Probably some owl or crow looking for a meal. Elf flesh probably tasted good to the crows, in his thoughts. As he came closer the heat began to be felt through his skin. He pulled out his falchion and slowed down his approach. Again he heard the beat of wings and looked around but didnt see anything. The heat created sweat on Gnagz and the darkness began to disapate, causing Gnaz to sweat, he could feel a warm breeze blowing in the direction of the heat. He now saw the pillar and he didnt know how it could be that fierce with no fuel to burn. Gnazg decided that a whipping would be better than being about this unnatural fire and turned back. The sound of wings and a spot of flame were Gnagz last sight and sound before meeting his doom.

---

Cyric 21, 1877 4th age

The short balding human stood in the clearing,addressing the young elf before him. “You have been my apprentice for the last several years and have served me faithfully. You have been of great assistance against the depreadations of Gothmogs troops and I and the council feel that you are ready to go to the south and assist your brothers and sisters against the greater threat Gedreg. You are to meet the stormcrows, in particular Setsuka and offer your assistance to them. We have had word that they are coming to aid the elves. You must put aside your dislike of the humans, afterall am I not human, Nuna? and I have trained you.” The elf said “You are Ruathar(elf friend), Mamon they are not.”

“They could end up being Ruathar after helping. The elves once dealt well with the humans and hopefully this will happpen again. Go and be safe.” The two of them bowed and the young elf left mounting the mountain lion that was her mount.

Cyric 20-23 1877 4th age

After the fight Artemis and the Stormcrows began proper rites for the children and Lucia to make sure that they never appeared again as vampires. Lothar took a ring off of Lucia and put it in his pocket after having Flook Dingle Jag cast a detect magic on it. This was done without Artemis being aware. The group returned to Pavis and spent a couple of nights recovering from the fight before moving on.

Lothar had asked Gwenhundra and Feth about having the ring identified. None of the spell-casters in the group had any pearls for the identification spell. Feth went and got a young wizardress named Millicent to to do the chore. It was obivous that Feth had a thing for Millicent. Millicent cast the spell but Lothar and Hyorn Rutherford noticed that she didn’t act correctly as she looked at the ring and tried it on and took it off. She offered to buy the ring from the group claiming it was a protection ring and tried to get Feth to convince the group that she really wanted the ring. Hyorn discerned that she wasn’t telling the truth. (Priests of Tyr have an ability 2x a day to use the discern lie spell)

The group demanded the ring back and she relucantly gave it up. The ring was given to Setsuka to put in a bag and the group watched as Setsuka put the ring on. Lothar took the ring back and put it a bag of holding although he could sense a urging from the ring. The group wondered about destroying the ring but needed to move on to the Corsae woods. Artemis, Feth and Gwenhundra stayed in Pavis

The stormcrows moved north and passed through the mounds, a halfling enclave, staying at the restful traveller Inn and listening to the latest news. Stout Kal the owner of the inn, had heard that Arinis was burnt and the inhabitants also put to the torch and the orcs hadn’t come out of the woods yet and the ferry service to the north was still functioning. Also that there had been some disappearances in the area which could have been a consequence of the vampire stories coming from Pavis.

The group reached the lake and were ferried across where they met with Mary, the wife of Long Tom, one of the killers of Kurasawa. Long Tom was one of the members of the Black Bastards, a legendary unit that had been destroyed years before. Mary and the eight children were fine despite the lack of business in the region. She repeated the Arinis story.

At nightfall, the group reached the entrance to the woods. The entrance to the Nyam(silver road) trail had twin statues that were representative of creatures named Tulwars which had lived in the past and were now excinct. The last time the group had been here the statues were worn down, now they were covered with blood and orcish graffiti as well as staked rotting corpses of Cooshees (elvish hounds) green warders, and Thorns(both fey races). As the group camped outside, they heard strange sounds and screams that they had not heard the last time they were there.

The group entered the woods at daybreak. They could see the smoke and floating ash in the air as well as the smell of burning wood and more. The group moved in for several hours following the difficult trail when the group was attack by a giant, ogre and three orcs.

the fight was fierce but relatively short. Kalans pet mountain was slain, Kalan and Lothar were wounded severely but the creatures were all slain.

• Dark Forest-Stormcrows August 16, 2007 10:46 cyric 23 1877 4th age

The stormcrows had collectively caught their breath after the fight healed up some and moved towards their initial goal of the Elvish community of Arinis when they heard a whirring noise. No of them knew what it was but became wary. A couple of minutes later a large troll stepped out on the trail in front of them and began to advance towards the group. The Stormcrows prepared for the fight. With senses heighten by the troll, Hyorn Rutherford heard and spotted a large group of Orcs on their right flank headed directly towards them. Kalan cast entangle to slow down the troll so the group could handle the oncoming orcs.

the group turned their attention to the orcs and a fight ensued. The orcs superiority in numbers was offset by the summoning of natures ally and summon monster from Kalan and Flook Dingle Jag. Lothar charged recklessly into the largest amount of orcs and was soon surrounded. Lothar took damage from the combined orcish effort but began to kill them off when a magic missile and a fireball went off around him, hurting him badly. Hyorn Rutherford, in the meantime, was fending off the orcs until he was able to cast sanctuary on himself. Setsuka, afraid of igniting the woods with fireball used magic missiles and bow fire to fend off the orcs.

The troll finally broke through the entangle and ran into the small earth elemental that had been summoned and swept it aside.

Nuna and her pet travelling through the woods using backroads (places where you could go through a arch or crossing of trees and end up many miles away) had heard the whirring sound and knew what the sound was, Orcs signaling each other Nuna went to the the sounds and spotted a Orcish shaman casting spells on a fighter. Nuna dismounted and wildshaped into a copy of her mount and attacked the shaman, who was also fighting off a summoned bear from Kalan. The shamans demise was not pretty.

the troll was finally dispatched and burned carefully. Nuna and Taloria, her pet dire mountain lion faced the group and asked if one of them was Setsuka. Setsuka replied in the affirmative and explained that she was sent south to aid the elves and to meet with the Stormcrows.

Taloria, the dire mountain took a liking to Flook Dingle Jag. Flook Dingle Jag is uncertain whether or not hes going to be the next meal.

Kalan decided that he had enough of the fighting after losing his pet cougar and wanting to go back home left the group.

The Stormcrows and the new companions travelled up to Arinis noting the increased heat, the falling ash and general bleakness of the scene. They spotted a pillar of fire rising from the center of the community, noticed the recently dead orcs, all burnt in some way and debated on what to do next

firefight-Stormcrows August 31, 2007 21:27 Cyric 24 1877 4th age

As the Stormcrows approached the plaza of Arinis, they were attacked by flying flaming bats which were dispatched without much problem but it distracted them from additional figures slithering out of the pillar of fire. As they turned they saw four humanoids with tails instead of feet coming towards them flaming. Flook Dingle Jag reacted immediately by casting a wall of force to keep them from the group.

The creatures touched the wall creating glowing spots with their hands and they spoke with the sound of roaring flame. The group decided that they were hostile and fluke added a wall of ice behind them. This caused the creatures to shout even louder and they moved towards the edges taking damage from the ice. A larger figure appeared in the pillar of fire and looked at the situation.

Flook Dingle Jag then cast mass fly on the group to get them higher than the walking creatures. The larger figure summoned up a even larger creature of flame and it advanced on the group.

The Stormcrows spread out to meet the menace and the figure in the flames cast a spell which was countered by the quick thinking of Hyorn Rutherford and in the next round almost did the same thing again.

Eventually the creatures were defeated with minimal damage to the group.

prying eyes Stormcrows September 06, 2007 20:55 cyric 24 1877 4th age

Two sets of eyes stared at the pillar of fire and the figures along the plaza of Arinis. The two goblins looked at each other with alarm. The taller one spoke, ” One of us must go to Gedreg to tell him of the intruders of fire and the others. He will know how to handle the problem.”

“I’ll go.” said the shorter one. The tall one looked puzzled. “Why you? I’m the better rider.” “Sez, who?” The shorter one pulled out a rusty short sword and brandished it the taller one. “You stay and keep checking it out.” the shorter one said and jumped on the back of a large brownish wolf and rode off.

The tall one went back to looking. He was more afraid of the flame creatures than the humans, gnome and elves. He thought that he heard a yelp and a thud from behind him. He went cold and clammy and afraid of turning. He knew without a doubt that his mount had been killed and fairly silently. He began to shake with fear and decided to leave. He turned and ran into a sword, impaling him. The female elf withdrew the

Giants on the bridge Stormcrows September 13, 2007 15:26 Cyric 25-29 1877 4th age

“You were being watched. That was sloppy.” The stormcrows turned awaiting another foe. What they saw was a female elf wiping her longsword clear of blood. “I got this one and his mount but the other was away before I could shoot him.”

“I am Aaelas, I’ve been awaiting you Nuna and Setsuka . Who are your friends?” The group was introduced to her and went to the hiding place of the survivors of Arinis. It was about a half days journey. Lothar and Hyorn were both made acutely aware that they were not necessarily liked by the elvish priestess.

Behind the waterfall of the river, the group met with Rumrad and the other survivors. Rumrad met the group warmly except for the two humans but did apologize later saying that it was difficult to overcome prejudices of a lifetime. He was in a difficult mood because of the destruction of his clan and his own survival.

Rumrad made a proposal to the group. He wanted the group to go and find Gedreg and scout him out more throughly because of incomplete information that he had. The information was not complete because of various factors. There were rumors that a human cleric of Mask was working with Gedreg as well as a dark elf. Both of them were spied on while Gedreg was encamped. The stormcrows were to go underground via a cave complex which the elves knew about but hadn’t been in the complex for awhile. Old records indicated that the complex would come up near Gedregs main base. The elves would make a large demostration to draw as many of the hostiles away. Lothar and the group agree to do this, many of the Stormcrows had a strong dislike for the clerics of Mask because of previous encounters with them. The stormcrows did ask a favor before they would do so. The ring of Lucia’s was gnawing at Lothar’s mind and they were unsure of how to destroy it.

Rumrad agreed to do so and set about the task. The stormcrows spent several days in general aid and comfort for the elves there. Lotharspent time with Rumrad in honing their combat skills and discussing the mission.

The stormcrows left on a rainy day after being equipment with additional equipment by the elves. The first day was uneventful but the second day, the group heard the sounds of orcs and larger booming voices. Setsuka snuck up and noticed the three hill giants, the orcish wizard? and other orcs. The stormcrows formulated their plan and executed with as much precision as they had ever had and massacred the group.

Gedreg-Stormcrows September 13, 2007 20:32 Cyric 27 1877 4th age

the elves hatred shone through his wet eyes as Gedreg sharpened his blade with the whetstone moist with the blood of the elf. Gedreg casually slide the stone along the blade and smiled. His smiling was interrupted by a movement that he noticed along his one good eye. It was one of the goblin scouts.

The goblin rode up and dismounted and crawled up to Gedreg , afraid to look at the hole that one of Gedreg eyes had been located. The goblin stole a look at the elvish prisoner and could see the feet of the human cleric and the broad-brimmed shadow of the hat that the dark one wore to protect himself from the sun although it was dark and gloomy.

“Speak, what did you see?” commanded Gedreg. The goblin shook violently and spoke in a quivering voice. “Powerful and benevolent Gedreg , I was at Arinis discovering the source of the flame per your orders when I spied not elves but a group of humans,elves and a….. gnome.” The goblin spit. Gedreg chuckled but kept sharping the sword.

“They fought beings of flame that came out of the fire. They looked humanish but with snakelike bodies and they consisted of flame.” The goblin allowed himself to look up but saw Gedreg s good eye and dropped his head again. “The flame creatures were stopped, we guessed that the gnome was a wizard of some sort. The creatures stopped up against a wall which wasn’t there and then a ice wall dropped behind the creatures. I could hear the roaring of the flaming creatures as they seemed to be calling out in pain. A larger creature appeared and seemed to try to cast spells himself but appeared to be stopped by one of the humans. The human wasn’t completely sucessful and yet another creature was summoned by the being in flame.”

Gedreg looked to the human and the dark one. The human said “sounds like Salamanders and a possible fire elemental. It looks like the elemental plane of fire breached into the prime plane.” The dark one merely nodded his head and quietly agreed.

The goblin wasn’t sure of what to make of this. About the same time, the elf yelled out something. The dark one smiled and said in silken voice, ” I think he’s questioning your virility.” Gedreg held up his hand with the rock and looked to the dark one with a slightly puzzled expression and looked back to the elf. Gedreg swung his sword and the head of the elf came off and rolled towards the goblin.

“Continue.” Gedreg ordered and the goblin continued. “My chieftain, I have not much more to report. We, my partner and I decided that one of us should ride back and give you this news. We rolled the bones and I won.”

The human cleric spoke. “I believe that this is the Stormcrow group, it matches up to our spies fairly well. We should make plans for them.” The cleric smiled a very grim smile. The dark one concurred.

Into the caves-Stormcrows September 28, 2007 10:31 Cyric 30-Helm 1 1877 4th age

The descent into the underground system took a little doing and forced the Stormcrows to think about different ways of dealing with obstacles of nature. First it was the 60’ vertical drop into the caverns, thinking of how to lower their 3200 lb cat into it. A chasm 20 ft wide and a narrow opening, forced the use of a summoning spell and a reduce animal spell. The use of mass fly to go up a narrow chimney.

The group meet a carrion crawler which paralyized Nuna and her pet and a Basilisk which the Flook Dingle Jag and Setsuka avoided its deadly gaze. Lothar took out the carrion crawler and aided Flook Dingle Jag in dispatching the basilisk.

The tunnels split with one side having writing on it saying beware. The group turned to the left and found the tunnels getting narrower and smaller. Setsuka went ahead of the group invisible and found a iron door. After examination she opened the door and stepped into what appeared to be a temple. The ceiling was a shade over five feet high so Hyorn Rutherford and Lothar were stooped over severely. Setsuka found a altar and began her investigation of it, finding a trap and a secret drawer. Before opening the drawer Setsuka and Nuna searched about the room and found a secret door which led to a large chamber. A quick search revealed nothing.

The group went back to the altar and opened the drawer revealing a large locked book. The lock wasn’t trapped and it was picked. The inside of the book revealed that it was a holy text of Dumathoin (keeper of secrets under the mountain) as they began to turn the pages a ghostly image of a dwarf appeared…. October 04, 2007 15:29

Dead Dwarves and live Kobolds-Stormcrows

Helm 2-4 1877 4th age

The stormcrows looked at the ghostly image and prepared for the worst. The dwarf held his hand to his mouth and gestured out. Nothing happened, the dwarf again gestured and it began to dawn on the group that the dwarf wasn’t hostile. Setsuka began to speak in Amerin(common language) and in elvish but the dwarf had a puzzled look about it. Flook Dingle Jag spoke to it in Dwarvish and the Dwarf nodded approval and began to gesture with its hands. Flook Dingle Jag made a religion roll and realized that the dwarf was a cleric of Dumothoin-Keeper of Secrets under the mountain and that they do not speak.

the group began the arduous task of trying to communicate with them. Eventually through the holy book and guesses they found that the Dwarf was named Helgur Ironstone and that he was a priest in the third age and had passed away.Helgur was bound to the holy book. Helgur wanted the holy book returned to a priesthood of Dumothoin and offered two gifts to the group to convince them to aid him. The two items were weapons, a mace named Doom Seeker and a waraxe named spellkiller. The mace was given to Hyorn Rutherford and the waraxe to Lothar .

The group left and followed the twisting tunnels,some of which were extremely small causing the group to use spells that they didn’t normally use. A time of rest followed.

The group continued on crossing a large cave filled with water and found even smaller tunnels. The tunnels started to fork in a y shape and it was noticed that there were scratches on the wall. the group was looking for signs to help them get out. The scratches ended up in being koboldish and the group started to hear things moving. The tunnels continued to shrink, continued to Y and became sloped up and down. The cat snagged something which rang. The group continued its vigilance.

The group started up a steep narrow incline, Nuna heard a clicking sound and yelled down to the group below. Then a splashing sound was heard. A flash of flame came down the well, Nuna and her pet dropped down in a hurry while Hyorn Rutherford cast a wall of stone within the chute. The group scurried out of the area and ran into a chamber where they met Kobolds. The cat blocked the line and was the subject of the attacks by the kobolds.

The group forced the kobolds back with superior abilities but Lothar in the back was attacked by an unknown creature which quickly smothered him and was slowly crushing him but he was saved by his companions who slew the beastie. Beyond the chamber the group saw light streaming in and they climbed out of the cave. October 11, 2007 22:18 Helm 7 1877 4th age both groups

Miscellanous news

Locast-The offices of the 3A company and Eldred Shipping were destroyed during the night with all the company records.

Helm 10 Temple to Shar opens in the port district of Sey Fo.

Helm 11 Temple to Besheba opens in the poor district of Locast

Both temple heads proclaim that their deities have returned to Beldorn because it is time for them to return because of the strife between Tempus and Mask.

The temples of Selune and Tyche had little to say about the the return of these deities.

Elves on the move stormcrows October 15, 2007 22:56 Helm 3 1877 4th age

Rumrad looked to the remains of his clan and sighed. So few of us left was his thought. He looked to his mate Aaelas who was singing a hymn to Corellion. Even if we win we have already lost far too many of our people. We will not survive until the end of the age.

Shaking off the thoughts, he buckled his sword and grabbed his bow and spoke to the group. “My people, the orcs have destroyed far too much of our lands and have killed far too many of us but we shall preserve our way of life. The stormcrows have left to assist us in the fight that is ahead. May Corellion bless our spirits and those of us that will come after us. We will make such a noise that we will draw the orcs to us so the stormcrows can find and eliminate Gedreg or his associates. Our people to the north have stymied Gothmog and we do expect help from our cousins to the north. Let our bows sing out with vengence for our brothers and sisters, let our swords run red with the foul orcish blood. We shall be remembered FOREVER!! in our annuals.” The remaining elves shouted out in agreement and the group left the cave. October 15, 2007 23:15

Gedreg marches-stormcrows

Helm 3 1877 4th age

Gedreg moved to his tent. The smell of the hunt was in his nose until he smelled a familiar brimstone smell. His mood became fouler. “You bother me more than a female in heat, what do you want?”. “Is that anyway to greet someone who has brought you greater power than any other Orc in your history?”, replied the reddish humanoid in a sweet oily voice. “Gruumsh, has been my guiding power, Malhaut”

Malhaut smiled and nodded his head in agreement. “Yes he has but he has asked me to assist you in the final destruction of the elves of the region.”

“I have lost a lot of my people as well as the giants and other allies. Some of them are getting scared and it is harder to keep them in place.”

“Ah well, your females are breeding well I trust and not having as many giants around after the conflict will not cause a problem I would see.” Malhaut smiled with a practiced ease.

“And the two helpers you stuck me with, the dark one and the human priest, they have done nothing and should be sacrificed.”

“Ah, they will be, and it will help you gain ultimate power, my friend.” Malhaut smiled hugely. being attacked October 18, 2007 20:09

A point of view Stormcrows

Helm 6 1877 4th age

I was sitting in Gedregs tent discussing the situation with the Priest of Mask Derrek(moronic human), when the tent heated up, scorching my skin as well as Derreks’ A blast of fire from above caused me more pain as well. I shouted to the priest to heal me(I abhor the touch of human hands) and set my spell resistance to protect me from more magic. I strode out of the tent and spied two flyers, one was a gnome who I could see was invisible although I could see him, the other a accursed elf.

I cast a fireball at the gnome hoping to drop him but failed to do so. My darkness spell which had been up before because I had to go out in the accursed sun caused some confusion. I turned around to see this armored human running at speeds greater than I thought possible wielding a axe and a sword. My darkness saved me from a blow. I also saw two great cats moving towards me.

Derrek had summoned four hell hounds and they attacked the armored human and they hit him at least three times and breathed on him.

Seeing my chance I levitated only to find that the bastard was also able to fly. Again my darkness saved me from being cut to ribbons. One of the hounds latched himself to the warriors foot. Derrek had turned to shadow and extracted himself from the burning tent. I could also see that the elf was destroying the dregs that we were left with when Gedreg left.

My situation was becoming serious. I was pretty well protected against spells but the armored human was annoying as well as dangerous. I cast vampiric touch and gained a significant amount of life but it went away when he hit me again. I blasted him with lightning and I saw that he was really hurt by that. But before I could finish him he disappeared. I suspect teleported away. So I turned and fired another spell at the gnome. I could also see after the casting that the warrior had landed near what I guessed was a priest who healed him.

I was going to cast another spell at the fighter and the priest when I noticed that Derrek(no great loss) going down under the combined weight of the two cats and the hellhounds were going down as well.

The warrior came back at me and I could see the other orcs going down so I decided to leave and report this to Gedreg. October 18, 2007 20:40

Carnage-stormcrows

Helm 6 1877 4th age

read the previous post first

Gedreg could taste the blood in the air. He looked at the carnage about him. To his right were an elf and a orc locked in an embrace of death. Each with a sword in their hands thrusting through the stomach of the other. There were arms hacked off on his left. Gruumsh,warfather, I thank you for allowing me to fight this was his thought.

He looked at the prisoners, their faces showed defeat. It was good considering how many of his people Gedreg had also lost. He began to wipe down his axe and wandered over the bodies to the prisoners. The group of fifteen elves, all bloodied but proud and showing their hate for their captors.

“You fight the good fight, your god would be proud. To die in combat against a hated foe is the second best thing you can do. The first? kill the bastard.” Gedreglaughed with this.

“You however, will not get to do that, we will take you back to our camp and you will be sacrificed to Gruumsh.” Again Gedreg laughed, this time louder. Spit hit the ground just before Gedregs feet. He stopped laughing and looked up. A youngish elf glared at him. Gedreg walked up to him and leaned into the young elves eyes, showing him the empty hole of his left eye and said “try again, you worthless maggot.”

The young elf started to gather up the spit when he was knocked aside by an older elf who said something to him in elvish and the young elf bowed and stood up. Gedreg looked at the older elf and said “Too bad, at least he could have gone down fighting. Now he will be the first sacrificed”

“Lord Gedreg?” a orc with a bandage about his head spoke. Gedreg looked at him. “Two things my lord, one the older elf had a special sword with him. It lies on the ground over there.” “Pick the damn thing up and bring it to me” “Lord Gedreg it causes pain to any of us who attempt to pick it up.” Gedreg strode toward the sword. He looked at it. He could see that it wasn’t elvish, but probably human due to the style. He bent over and picked it up. Gedreg felt more pain than any day that he could remember but he held on.

The orcs about him looked at their lord sweating and grimacing for a long period of time before he finally had to drop it. The elves smiled grimly at him. Sweating mightily, Gedreg asked what the second thing was. the orc replied that the Drow wizard Leshur was here to see him.

Gedreg pointed to the bodies and the sword and said “Bury the sword under the bodies and burn it all.” His body still in pain from the sword he went to see the dark elf. His thoughts were, why is he here and what does he need. He and the human priest were left behind for a reason. Perhaps the dark elf killed the human. October 24, 2007 21:38

Lucia's travails-stormcrows

Helm 4 1877 4th age

The elder elf moved down the trail cautiously. There were others in the area and the incessant call of the Ring on his mind was beginning to bother him. He had volunteered to take the ring to the breech in Arinis and cast the ring into it.

The two orcs hiding in bushes noticed the elf moving towards them. The larger of the two signaled the other to grapple the elf and take him down.

Lucia, tiring of trying to influence the elf cast her mind about looking for aid. She found a easy mind to influence.

The elf heard a noise and drew his sword and went into a defensive crouch facing the noise. A orc came out swinging a jagged falchion. Blows were exchanged and the orc was yelling loudly. The elf did not hear the second orc come out and grapple him. The elf tried desperately to free himself but was unable to and the other orc drew a knife and stabbed him in the neck. The elf fell to the ground dead. The two orcs looked very pleased with each other. The larger one began to ransack the body.

Yes my large one, slip the ring on and let me become one with you.

The large orc slipped the ring on his pinkie. The other looked suspiciously at the larger one. “what you got there?” was his question. The larger orc stuck out the hand with the ring and said “see.” The smaller orc looked at the ring with a gleam in his eye but didn’t see the crusty blade swing at his neck.

The larger orc looked at the remains of his compatriot and wandered off. November 02, 2007 15:31 Helm 6,7 1877 4th age

POV Leshur and Gedreg-stormcrows

I told Gedreg of the company that destroyed the encampment and surmised it was the stormcrow group. I gave him the various things that I had noticed, the flying gnome and elf, the dangerous fighter type, the probable druid and his pet and what appeared to be a cleric of some type,armored so I guessed was not a cleric of Mystra nor Latlander. Gedreg looked at his prisoners and smiled. His smile is unnerving. He ordered the bodies at meadow burned and assembled his forces. He ordered the large body to force march to the south and then east to close in on the valley and took the power of the army and the prisoners directly ahead to meet the stormcrows head on to catch them in a pincer move.

He explained his plan to attack the group. First he would take some of the prisoners and strap them to the giants shield. He bade me to use an invisibility and a fly spell on one of the giants to get the invisible wizards worried. He asked me to either dispel the invisibility or flight or both or find a way for the flying giant to attack either the wizards or the cleric, presuming the giant could finish them off fast. The remaining giants would not attack the armored warrior but would attack the supporting elements. I would try to corral the druid and pet to isolate them. Gedregs berserkers would be let go to attack anything and the priest of Gruumsh would be back up. Gedreg would then take on the warrior.

This plan was well and good. Gedreg put up the wolf rider scouts and had the priest of Gruumsh send forth the crows and ravens to scout. The ravens and crows spotted a eagle flying from the general direction of the camp and drove it away suspecting it could be the druid. Gedreg became upset for it seemed that the enemy instead of waiting was coming towards us, rendering the bulk troops flanking worthless and began to send out signals via drums.

The scouts sensed something. So I began to cast the spells and Gedreg moved the troops to get into position about the prisoners and to carry out an assault. The next thing I noticed was the warrior who appeared from nowhere and grabbed five of the prisoners and disappeared before we could react. Gedreg became furious and immediately killed the remaining prisoners. He pushed forward to find the group but found nothing at the camp.

---

“Gruumshs eye” grumbled Gedreg as his plan went up in smoke. He watched as five of the prisoners just disappeared with the warrior that he had heard about. Enraged, he yelled, “Slay the prisoners.” His troops obeyed.

Hours later Gedreg stood before his troops and spoke, “We have destroyed our ancient enemies here in the south. We will aid our people to the north in the final destruction of the elves in this area. We will rest here for a couple of days and fix our wounded and we will march again. The group the Stormcrows,” Gedreg found a dead crow and urinated on it, “thats what I think of them.” The orcs roared with approval

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The Stormcrows appeared in the ruined town of Arinis. The bulk of the group teleported to the ruins while Lothar ghost walked with his freed prisoners. He had rescued Rumrad and Aaelas as well as three others. It was then decided that the group should move north. The Stormcrows rescued Rumrads sword from the fire pit and the left. Aaelas began a mournful song….. November 16, 2007 10:39

Meetings and Skirmishes-stormcrows

Helm 7-13 1877 4th age

The Stormcrows marched to the next elvish community of Kerbar to meet with the the elves there. Rumrad and Aaelas and the three other survivors were despondent and very quiet. Generally the only thing heard was Aaelassinging, mostly to herself.

The group reached Kerbar with only one incident, a pair of gorgons were on the trail. The group bypassed the pair but the elves were left wondering how these creatures were in this part of the forest. It was guessed that orcish intrusion had pushed them out of their normal habitats.

At Kerbar, the group noticed the defensive posture of the community and were met by Querili, the leader of the community and his wife. Rumrad and Aaelas went off to a meeting with the elves and the group was introduced to another group. This group consisted of a human, a halfling and a dwarf on a boar. Their names were Torment, Knut, and Gorim. Torment made a impression with his obnoxiousness, Knut was in plate and was a funny sight to see and the odor coming from the dwarf and boar. This group was being paid to kill the enemies at 5 gp per ear. This offended the sense of honor of the Stormcrows.

The meeting of the elvish leaders broke up and the stormcrows were invited up the meeting house. The group was again thanked for their contributions. Lothar spoke to the elves about how the stormcrows could aid the elves. The elves pointed to a map showing the rough lines. Gedreg was still to the south but the elves in the area had been in a hard fight also with one of Gedreg’s sub commanders, a cleric of Gruumsh named Melg. His forces consisted of goblins, bugbears and orcs. This force had surrounded the ancient gray elvish city of Caer Lu Beleg and were also fighting a war of attrition with the elves.

Lothar thought for a moment and suggested that the group take on the closer threat so the elves could husband their forces for Gedreg. The elves agreed and suggested that the threesome down on the ground should join them. There was some reluctance on the part of the group to accept the three strangers but eventually agreed to it.

The group left towards the sacred city. Torment and Lothar found themselves at odds as to whom was going to lead the group, with Lothar prevailing. Torment then turned to Nuna and Setsuka attempting to proposition them. Knut rode on the back of the boar and was making comments to Flook Dingle Jag. Lothar attempted to talk to the dwarf who answered the questions tersely.

About midday Nuna and her cat were aware of being watched by something, a couple of hours later, Nuna noticed something odd on the trail. She stopped and uncovered a pit trap with stakes at the bottom. It was well concealed and could be very painful. The group went around it.

A second trap was found later on the road with an additional trap not far from it on what would have been the easier bypass. The group settled down for the night. The stormcrows had had it with the threesome and decided not to invite them into Setsuka rope trick. When the morning came and the stormcrows got out of the rope trick, they found that the threesome had gone out and gotten some ears from three dead goblins. The trio wasn’t sure if there were more, but there probably were, and additional caution should be used.

The group was following the trail when the sound of insects could be heard and two swarms of locusts landed among the group. The group took damage and scattered away from the swarms. Hidden goblins became visible and fired arrows at the group. Knut was the closest and charged the goblins, drawing the missile fire towards him. Flook Dingle Jag took another spell damaging him but he was able to begin the casting of a summon spell. A orc appeared among the goblins. He had a missing left eye and the appearance of a cleric of Gruumsh. Lothar went etherial and rematerialized in front of him and inflicted some damage. Torment also charged and slew one of the goblins immediately. Also Nuna and the cat reached another group of goblins and dispatched them.

The orcish priest then attempted a slay living on Lothar. His fort save made and absorbing the damage he slew the orcish cleric. In the meantime, the rest of the group was mopping up the rest of the goblins. Lothar yelled for Knut to stop before he slew the last of the goblins. Knut slew the goblin and told Lothar have the priest talk to him… Gedregs subcommander museing November 30, 2007 20:24

Melg-stormcrows

Helm 13 1877 4th age

Melg had just reformed along with his body guard from the wind walk, startling the bugbears that he needed to speak with. He had just left a large group of goblins that were being attacked by a group of eight, not five as he was told initially by leshur, Gedreg’s dark elf wizard. The five were definitely the Stormcrows, the other three were familiar and he was told that they were merc’s and were paid for the ears. Melg smiled, the longears were resorting to paying for aid. It was rather funny.

At least the goblins were doing what they were intended for, to burn up the abilities of the wizards and clerics in the group. He had seen that the poison that the goblins were using were not strong enough to do in the spellcasters. Now it would be the work of the bugbears and the orcs to finish what the goblins had started. The goblins would go back to what they did best.

He would commune with Gruumsh to determine his next course of action. He always enjoyed his questions with his deity. Melgs plan goes awry December 07, 2007 03:50

woods fighting-Stormcrows

Helm 13 1877 4th age

Melg felt his plan was perfect. Bugbears attacking to the front and side, followed up by summoned lion and spider, followed by his bodyguard of berserkers with him to finish up destroying the spell casters. He watched as the first wave tied up four of the warrior types and the druid and her cat. The Lion sprinted to cut down the gnomish wizard and the human cleric, followed by the spiders, then followed by the berserkers He then rained flame strike on the gnome. It was glorious, he set himself up to be able to take a blow and to dish out damage. The elf went invisible and Melg was hoping have him come to him. The priest went down, the dwarf fighter and his boar went down, the cat went down. The only problem was the bugbears were not holding down the fighter that moved like the wind and the damn halfling was holding his own against the other bugbears. He then noticed that the cleric was crawling away. He wasn’t dead. I will correct that. He raised his hands to cast searing light at the cleric when he was blasted by a fireball. His spell resistance failed miserably and he was unable to cast his spell. The priest got up and healed himself and the Druid who had come to his aid.

Gruumshs’balls, Melg thought and cast another spell at the Gnome. The priest had disappeared behind a stone wall. The lion and spider were down, one of the berserkers were down but the others were near the priest, and the gnome still didn’t go down. Melgs’ spell resistance saved him from the fireball and the elf was visible. The hasty warrior moved and came up before him. Melg was confident that his stone skin would prevent the worst of the damage and that he could attack the warrior.

Melg was suprised when the warriors sword cut through his stoneskin. He had not anticipated that the warrior had an adamanite sword. this prevented him from casting the spell that he wanted to cast so he took a feeble swing with his spirtual weapon and spear and was then cut down by three hits delivered by the warrior, two of them crits. Melgs last look before joining Gruumsh was that of the berserkers still standing.

Torment warriors three looked at the bodies that lay strewn about. Gorim warriors three was barely standing. His boar was being stabilized by the Druid. knut warriors three was unhurt. Lucky bastard. He, himself was wounded, not too badly though. The Stormcrows were licking their wounds. The priest had gone down but recovered to heal himself and some of the party. Lothar was unhurt also. If that Lothar attacked as much as he moved he might really be dangerous. The Gnome was at one time really badly damaged and Setsuka, my cutie was relatively unhurt. Torment warriors three thought the “Stormcrows” were lucky we were available and took on the brunt of the Bugbears. If we weren’t there the Gnome and priest wouldn’t have made it. Torment warriors three spit out a bloody spittle. final fight before the city December 20, 2007 15:44

On the road to Caer lu Beleg-Stormcrows

Helm 13,14 1877 4th age

The group surveyed the damage done to them by the previous fight and Hyorn Rutherford used up charges to heal the group. They then moved towards the city but decided to hole up for the night to refresh the wizards and priests for any heavy fighting still left to go. The group had the head of Melg to show the orcs to demoralize them.

The next day the group stopped before a clearing. Nunanoticed that the clearing was not natural. Trees had been chopped down, the ground torn up and this filled her with rage. The orcs had cleared the ground for a killing zone before the city. They had built fortifications about the city, using the wood that they had cut down and earthen works. Orcs were hunkered down behind the fortifications. The group could see archers and ground troops.

Nuna cast a windwall to knock down the arrows, Flook Dingle Jag cast mass fly on the group after peering into the clearing and seeing furrows with black fluid on the ground. Nuna charged out first with her cat. Arrows from the orcs arced out and were dropped by the windwall. Flames came up from the furrows and began to spread. The stormcrows and their allies noticed that the ground was crisscrossed with furrows and all had the black fluid in them. Flook Dingle Jag, Setsuka cast fireballs at the massed orcs. Smoke and fire became mixed as the stormcrows moved to the fight.

Lothar held the head of Melg aloft on his sword with Torment, one of the three allies, yelled aloud in Orcish, about the fate of their leader. Gorim warriors three, a second of the allies followed Lothar and her cat, arrows again flew out, only to be stopped by the windwall but the orcs began to sense the outward edges of the windwall.

As Lothar, the cat and Gorim warriors three, with his boar got close to the rank and file, a large explosion caught them, all failed their saving throws and were hurt severely. At the same time a spear appeared in front of the cat and began to attack it.

A second orc appeared near the first one protecting him. Lothar and Torment warriors three closed on the two. More spells rained down on the orcish archers, killing a significant number. A third orc another spellcaster popped out of the smoke and fire. Nuna and the dwarf failed another save and both had to leave the fight and get healing from Hyorn Rutherford. Flook Dingle Jag blasted the new orcish spell-caster with another fireball, the orc promptly failed its saving throw and expired on the spot.

Lothar and Torment warriors three attacked the paired orcs with Lothar again critically wounding with his two attacks, Torment warriors three dealt damage to the orcish bodyguard. Flook Dingle Jag magic missiled the bodyguard and he went down. The orcish priest also went down and that was enough for the remaining orcs who fled from the scene. The Stormcrows and the allies pursued and caught and slew the remaining orcs.

The group then walked into the the city of Caer Lu Beleg, and were overwhelmed with sense of reverence for the city. December 28, 2007 02:44

Gedreg and his army-stormcrows

Helm 9th 1877 4th age

Gedreg looked around at his army arrayed under the waxing moon. Orcs, Goblins, Giants, trolls all rested and prime for the final push to meet his sub commander Melg and destroy the elves at Kerbar. He smiled at leshur, the Drow wizard by his side and said “Time for the final surprise of the longears, summon Sathir, leshur”. The drow looking out from under his broad brimmed hat, signaled for the orcish horns to start blowing.

“Gruumsh’s eye will be watching over all of us and will give us the victory that we’ve been waiting for” Gedreg shouted to his followers over the sounds of the horns. “We will sweep all before us and we will kill the long ears” The orcs began to create a deafening roar.

“We will meet with Gothmog and drink many drinks of our complete and total revenge on the elves.” The roar continued.

Gedreg looked around and saw Malhaut smiling and roaring along with the orcs and he knew his fate was to be good.

A deafening roar from nearby caused the orcs to be quiet and they looked to where the sound came from. leshur smiled and said quietly “Sathir comes” Helm 14-15 1877 4th age

In the city-Stormcrows   January 04, 2008 02:06

The group began to look around the ancient grey elvish city and were in awe of its splendor. They were in a large square with temples to Corellion, Solonor, and Hanali with stone statues set around the temples. Off in between the Solonor and Hanali Temples was a circular space with archways. In the square itself was a running stream and a pond. They could see the dwellings beyond the square. The group felt a sense of freshness within.

Setsuka and Nuna decided to set foot within the temple of Correllion and the others followed. As the elves set foot within the temple, the statues came to life to prevent the non elves from coming into the temples. Both elves were almost overcome by the sense of well being as they entered the temple. In the meantime thwarted by the statutes the group began to look around the square and noted that the circular space with the arches glowed of conjuration magic and that there was writing on the arches, a single signal for each.

Back in the temple, Nunabowed and began a prayer to Correllion. Setsuka wandered within the temple. A vision appeared to Nuna and showed her an image of Gedreg marching. A second image appeared of Lothar standing over Gedreg body.

Outside the group heard a loud sound of wood striking wood and a whistling sound, looking up they saw a large boulder crashing into the square. The group scattered, a second boulder came flying in crashing into the temple of Solonor

Looking up the group saw a flying humanoid set up high in the air. The humanoid cast a fireball which struck Lothar and Flook Din