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PoesJournalEntryEighteen
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We wintered with the dwarves. After about a week of sitting around watching the heroes perform various magical rituals, train with different dwarven experts and generally make nuisances of themselves, I started to get a bit restless. I guess I’m eager to get on with it Alia. Eager to get back to you.
Luckily, Ron was heading back through the portal to check on Burgandyville – I think that’s what he’s calling their little settlement in the plains these days – so I decided return with him and check in on the Raven. Several dwarven women accompanied us. Well accompanied Ron. He’s a bit of a lady-killer, even amongst dwarves apparently. The dwarves were looking for new “breeding stock” and since (so I’m told) dwarves breed true, the humans in Burgandyville were fair game. Frankly, I tried not to think about it too much and carefully watched my alcohol intake when any of the dwarven women were nosing about. Ron wasn’t nearly as concerned…heh.
I spent time with the Raven helping him train and recruit more followers. Some of the new recruits we dispatched throughout the human lands with instructions to quietly spread the truth about what had happened to the human village the orcs were claiming to have butchered. We will make your dream a reality Alia, I swear it.
After a week Ron and I returned through the portal to the dwarven stronghold. The difference was amazing. The dwarves were already organizing and moving into the caverns that Diamond had taken over. The clean up was dangerous and difficult work. Rather than sit around watching the heroes – who seemed in no particular hurry to go anywhere – I decided to join the dwarves clearing orcs out of the reclaimed mountain caverns. In return, the dwarves agreed to send several axe specialists to Burgandyville. Raven and his recruits would get some better training out of the deal. Seemed like a fair trade off. Especially since I’d kill orcs for nothing. Heh.
Anyway, before we got too settled in the dwarven thane held a ceremony to celebrate the freeing of the Grim Watch and the return of the high cleric. He passed out gifts to each of the heroes. He even had something for me, a beautiful silver flask of dwarven whiskey and a small statue of a raven, artfully carved out of black volcanic rock. I tried to explain that I was nothing more than a servant of the heroes, but the thane would hear nothing of it. The heroes assured me that it would be insulting to refuse these gifts so I accepted them. The flask came in very handy – I swore that night that it was magical for as much as I drank it never became empty. Turns out that was wishful thinking though. Since then I’ve had to fill it on my own. Ah, well, one can always dream. Heh. Luckily, I rarely have trouble find good dwarven spirits in the Grim Watch.
So, winter passed. A little over a week ago, around dinner with the thane, the heroes decided to set off for the Sun City. According to the thane, the sword I carry is from the empire that Sun City was a part of before being cast down. The city housed many secrets, one of which might include the answer to what the star metal is fated to become. As I said, I was eager to get on with things…to get the heroes back on their fated path. The dwarves seemed to be happy to see the heroes get on with things, too. They assembled to give them a grand send off – cheering wildly for Our Dwarf – High Cleric of the Grim Watch. About the only thing that could bring Our Dwarf down that day was Kobe. My little buddy slyly tripped the high and mighty cleric as he was blissfully acknowledging the dwarves cheers. Luckily, Our Dwarf was so distracted from all of the accolades being tossed his way that the two didn’t come to blows.
Things got off to a quick start on our trip. Our first night out under the stars – something I’d definitely missed – ended up with a battle. Sunny’s keen ears heard orcs yelling at someone they’d cornered nearby. When Sunny told us that the orcs had mentioned the star metal and were in fact demanding that it be turned over, the heroes really became interested. In no time we were arrayed around a force of orcs who’d set up in front of a cave. The leader of the orcs was calling for whoever was in the cave to turn over the star metal and surrender. A woman inside the cave was pleading with the orcs, insisting that she didn’t have the metal. Ron heard a female voice and immediately went into action. A damsel in distress after all. Heh. Kobe and Beros joined Ron, attacking the orcs. As the orcs charged , Guss and I stepped up to shield our halfling and elven friends. Ron dropped a burst of magical fire on the orcs, catching me in the flames. Kobe skipped aside just in time, backing up a hill behind me to safety. Kleister Fokken pushed forward, calling encouragement to me. I straightened just in time to take a blow from an orc’s great axe. Behind me I heard Sunny yelling something about the star metal. Whatever it was, she got the orcs’ attention. Several of them peeled off and ran towards her. The remainder had Guss and I surrounded. Bad move on their part. Guss swung around in a deadly arc. He drove his blade through one orc after another, killing two of them. I kept the orcs focused on me, goading them to attack me while Guss cut them down. Beros’ bow sang in the darkness and magical light flashed in various colors as Sunny and Ron took their toll on the orcs. Before long only the orc chieftain remained. The heroes made short work of him and I struck the killing blow after Our Dwarf pointed out a weakness in the beast’s defenses. The power of the Queen flowed through me as the orc’s blood steamed in the night air.
Ron approached the cave confidently – I mentioned there was woman inside, right? I guess if I were Ron and a woman were involved I’d be confident, too. Heh. In no time, he got the full story. While he schmoozed the woman, I took care of her two companions, both of whom were a bit worse for the wear after their encounter with the orcs. Between the Queen’s power and my potions of healing I got them back on their feet. The woman, Tonya, recognized the heroes of prophecy immediately. They are heroes after all, so it is to be expected. Just makes my job harder in some ways. Tonya and her companions Russ, Joe and Darren had been inspired by the stories of the hero’s adventures to set out to join them. Noble, but not really too smart. They should fit right in. Heh. Unfortunately, the elders of a nearby town under siege by an orc army also looking for our heroes had turned the young adventurers over to the orcs, hoping to save their town. Unsurprisingly, it hadn’t worked, especially when Tonya and her gang had made a break for it.
Sunny suggested we return with the wounded adventurers to Grim Watch and seek the dwarven thane’s advice about what to do about the human town and the orc army. After a short argument (well, as their arguments go), the heroes agreed with her. So, back to the Grim Watch we went. The dwarves seemed a bit puzzled upon our arrival. Ron and Our Dwarf were soon cloistered with the Thane and his advisors. I took the three young fighters to my favorite dwarven watering hole. They got their first taste of dwarven whiskey. Heh. It couldn’t have been more than an hour later when a crestfallen Ron appeared at the entrance to the establishment. He waved me over and over several mugs of strong ale proceeded to fill me in on what had happened in the meeting with the Thane. I could hardly believe what he told me. Our Dwarf had apparently convinced the Thane and the dwarves NOT to send aid to the besieged humans. Apparently Our Dwarf believed it was too dangerous, would expose Grim Watch to the orcs, and would be a suicide mission. Ron was upset about the decision. As was I. The honorable dwarves I’d spent the winter fighting alongside would never have stood by while there were friends in need. But, Our Dwarf was a hero, so who was I to say otherwise. I went back to drinking…and well, let’s just say after having a few I began to bemoan the fact that Our Dwarf apparently wasn’t made of the same sturdy stuff as the dwarves I’d come to know over the winter. A few of my dwarven comrades picked up on this and pushed me for an explanation. They were not very impressed with Our Dwarf’s honor or bravery either. The next thing I knew Ron and I had raised a force of 50 dwarven warriors willing to go save the humans and destroy the orc army. We marched out of the Grim Watch the next day with all of the heroes, albeit some more reluctant than others, tagging along.
Sadly, we were too late. Pillars of smoke, ravens and the smell of fresh death greeted us. We increased our already rapid pace (well, for dwarves, heh) for no other purpose than to confirm what we already knew. We found scores dead. With the help of the dwarves I spent the remainder of the day giving them proper burials and commending them to my Queen. That done, we set camp amongst the ruins for the night. Exhausted, I pulled on my leathers and fell fast asleep.
It seemed only seconds later that I was jerked awake by a dwarven sentry’s yell. Skeletons were approaching. Our Dwarf, naked as a jaybird, began praying immediately. Maybe that’ll help I thought as I grabbed my sword. But it usually takes more than prayers to destroy undead. Grimly, I rushed to the front lines to stand with my dwarven friends, thankful that Guss had insisted I acquire a backup set of leather armor to sleep in and that I’d been too tired that night to even take a single drink before collapsing in exhaustion.
A line of skeletons backed by three of the largest skeletons I’d even seen trod steadily towards the formation of dwarves. The bony figures paused momentarily as I rushed forward. Suddenly shards of bone burst from them in all directions. The dwarves took the brunt of this explosion and several were knocked down. The skeletons followed up immediately, pushing forward into the dwarven formation and thrusting their weapons into the fallen dwarves, finishing them off. The Queen’s rage filled me and I cursed at the largest skeleton. He charged me. From the back I heard a voice taunting us and commanding the flaming skeletons in the second rank to target the fighter – clearly Guss. They did, and hurtling balls of fire at Guss from all sides. Guss threw his shield up and fought through the flames to engage a second large skeleton. Our Dwarf, still unclothed, commanded the rest of the dwarves to fall back. This was a job for the heroes. No frack. The dwarves reluctantly obeyed. I ducked but couldn’t entirely avoid a blow from the large skeleton in front of me. I repaid the favor with a strike from my sword, knocking some chips off of the creature’s thigh bone.
Guss gasped and I turned to see what had happened. The leader had charged forward and smashed him in the stomach with his fist. Guss was doubled over gasping for breath. Uh oh. The other skeleton taunted me – his fiery eyes blazing as he mocked the Queen. I struck at him without a thought, this time sweeping off one of his hands with my cold blade. A blow to the head I didn’t see coming dazed me and I stumbled back a step just as Our Dwarf shouted a word of power. His faith pushed the skeleton next to me to the ground. Fire exploded around me. Frack. The fire skeletons had selected a new target. Lucky for me. At least the burst of heat snapped me out of my daze.
Nearby, Kleister began directing the battle. He thrust Guss into the thick of the action, giving him an opening to strike the leader. Unfortunately, it also meant Guss was suddenly surrounded by undead. Guss is always toughest backed into a corner. This time was no different. His blade whirled so fast I thought he’d pulled a second one when I wasn’t looking. A shower of bone chips flew. As Guss came to a stop, several steps away from the surrounding creatures, two skeletons slowly collapsed into inanimate piles of bone. Thicket of blades, indeed. Heh.
A cloud of thick smoke surrounded the two large skeletons. Acid if the smell and sizzling sound were any indication. Thanks Ron. I surveyed the battle quickly. Beros was firing arrows at the fire skeletons, who’d spread out around us. Our Dwarf was moving up to heal Guss. Sunny tossed some magic at some more fire skeletons looking to flank us on the right. Kobe appeared out of nowhere to stab the leader in the calf with his dagger. And Ron, as usual was blasting things left and right. The leader turned on Kobe, cursed my little buddy and raised his arm to smite him. Before the leader could land the blow however, Guss skewered him, thrusting his sword straight through the creature’s ribcage. With a wicked twist, Guss ripped the blade free, scattering the creature’s ribs across the battlefield. He fell with a crash as Kobe leaped clear.
With the leader down, the attack lost its cohesion. The Heroes quickly mopped up the remaining skeletons. I nearly died protecting Kobe and Our Dwarf from one of the larger ones. Lucky for me, Ron stepped up and blasted the skeleton back with a thundering magical burst. Ron held off the creature long enough for Our Dwarf to call down some healing on me. He then promptly fled the field. Hopefully, he was heading out to get some clothes. Heh. Guss ran down and destroyed the remaining fire skeletons. The rest of the heroes and I focused on the last big skeleton. In seconds, we’d reduced him to nothing more than a pile of bleached white bones.
Once more I tended to the dead. Dwarves this time. I know it’s part of my calling, but honestly Alia, my heart’s not in it anymore. I helped my comrades among the dwarves prepare the bodies of the fallen for the return to the Grim Watch. They were grim themselves, but determined. Now, I have a moment of quiet and I sit, writing to and thinking of you. That, and watching as the heroes huddle together, talking…planning their next move. We’ll see where they lead me to next. Hopefully another step closer to ending this all and bringing me home to you.
Poe
