PoesJournalEntryThree
Poes Adventure Journal
Third Entry (after 12/08 session)
Sometimes it’s hard to carry out your patron’s wishes. And not because I’m not trying. I’ve got plenty of reason to do that. But what do you do when two wishes conflict – like kill the necromancer or guard the heroes of prophecy? Hopefully I chose right in this case. If not, I’m sure She’ll let me know.
So, we saved this elf and his owl. He must have recognized the Heroes of Prophecy – or at least the spear the Queen provided to Kleister Fokken recently. He eyed it and then started babbling in elvish. Kleister Fokken started talking to him so I wandered away, certain things were in good hands. I quickly looked over the battleground. A raven flapped down from a nearby tree and landed on the corpse of the large orc leader we’d just killed. I walked over. The raven bobbed his head at me and then looked meaningfully at the orc’s great axe. Have I mentioned that I can take a hint? I pried the dead creature’s fingers off of the haft of the weapon. It was unusually fine for orc gear, well balanced and comfortable in the hand. I wiped the blade carefully. Sharp and clean. Well cared for I guess. As I watched though, blood began to ooze from the clean blade. Hmm. Maybe I’d missed a spot. I wiped it again. More blood. Must be magical I figured. I looked around and saw that Ron wasn’t engaged with the elf (yes, Kleister Fokken was still talking to him). I asked his opinion on the weapon. He told me it was definitely magical and that the Queen probably meant it for me. He also said that the weapon would be become more effective in a fight after I’d been injured. Seems like I spend most fights bleeding, so it should certainly be a good fit for me. But, how am I to use both this and the winter blade she also sent to me, I wondered aloud. Easy, Ron replied. Just use one on even days and the other on odd days. Sound advice. I hefted the bloody axe and returned to KF’s side. Things appeared to be wrapping up and we were getting ready to move out.
We soon met up with a larger group of elves. There was a lot more talking. Seems the Raven Queen’s gift to Kleister Fokken was quite generous – a spear with some sort of dragon slaying abilities. Nice. Especially if that Glint fellow is telling the truth. Heh. The elves also give us the run down on what’s happening at the place where the star metal crashed to the ground. Apparently this stuff is popular. There are four groups surrounding it. All of them held off by some kind of earthen elemental being that is guarding the metal. Everyone starts arguing over what we should do next. I have a drink or two and wait to see what the heroes decide. Ron takes the lead on this one. He’s got a spell that he plans to use to carry the metal out. Sounds like he thinks he may be able to sneak in, cast the spell and simply walk out with the stuff. Works for me though I’m pretty sure it won’t be that easy. Good thing I brought weapons. Heh.
Well, we snuck in…the whole lot of us. Then we backed out without grabbing the stuff or attacking the earth creature. Guess I didn’t need the weapons after all. The heroes regrouped…I mean argued some more over what they should do. Durkon argued that since the earth creature didn’t attack it was clear that the metal was meant for him. The others weren’t so certain. Luckily, the Queen solved it for them…fate has a way of overtaking those who can’t make a decision. This time it came in the form of a fifth force approaching the stalemate. Hearing what this force was comprised of made froze me in my tracks. Undead. Lots of them. Apparently led by a necromancer. This sure simplified things. At least for me.
The rest of them decided that the best course of action was to get close to the metal and lie low. Once the battle had started, they’d try to dart in, grab it and flee in the confusion. Fine with me. I figured I’d have plenty of chances in that plan to take some swings at the necromancer. I’m sure that’s why the Queen sent him my way. He’s probably due for some punishment…
That’s pretty much how it went. The necormancer’s forces were impressive. Huge zombie creatures that were being driven by men riding in their hollowed out skulls. Talk about your mindless undead. The undead scattered and engaged the orcs and goblins while the giants moved straight for the prize. Hidden in the debris nearby, we waited until the earth creature engaged before jumping in ourselves. The giant’s skin seemed to be stone. Neither of my weapons could do much more than scratch its surface. Guss and Kleister Fokken didn’t seem to be doing much better. We stood our ground though and somebody got some licks in on the necromancer himself ‘cause I saw him drop down inside the creature’s skull to take cover. Behind us I could hear Ron shouting some directions and casting a spell. Next thing I heard was them running – he’d grabbed the metal and was on his way. We stood our ground, Guss and Kleister Fokken buying him time to escape and me tryign to figure out some way to take out that necromancer.
Once Ron was away, Guss and Kleister Fokken started backing away. That’s where my conflict of interest started…She’s given me pretty explicit instructions to protect the heroes of prophecy but…at the very sight of undead my prayer beads turn icy cold and I can barely hear myself think over the muttering ravens in my head. As I said, she’ll let me know if I chose wrong. I backed out with Guss and helped run after Ron. Turns out the elves had another trick up their sleeve for us – they sent their owl steeds in to pick us up while they threw themselves into the battle in a suicide mission to buy us time to get free. The Queen smiled on them that day…and I’m sure they took many of the frackin’ orcs or goblins with them to their deaths. Lucky bastards.
Well the owls dumped us out of immediate harm and then were off to join their elven friends. I wished them good hunting. We of course, being heroes, ran as fast as we could with the star metal and soon found ourselves hopelessly lost in the wilderness. OK, maybe not hopelessly lost, though it did seem like it if you listened to some of the heroes whining about it. Hell, the temperature was above freezing so I’m not sure what all the complaining was about. Try spending an entire winter in the woods sometime wearing nothing more than your wedding finery…
Unsurprisingly, at least to me, since I’m pretty sure that the Raven Queen wasn’t having me guard them just so they could perish in the wilderness hauling around a chunk of metal, one of then eventually figured out where we were and pointed us towards Havenbrow. Sadly, we had to trek through a swamp to get there…OK, maybe skirt the swamp. Of course, as we made our way to the road we heard an approaching patrol of orcs so we took an alternate route. This didn’t turn out much better – we were set upon by a dragon. Yep, those things are as ill tempered and foul breathed as they say. Even the little ones are nasty. Personally I think Kleister Fokken’s spear arranged the whole thing – it simply wanted to kill it some dragon. Heh. YOu gotta admire that kind of attitude. Well, I can’t recall who did all the killing but dragons were certainly killed. Of course, the one thing our heroes know about dragons – they are all fabulously wealthy. You’d think a huge boulder of star metal would be enough, but Kobe has a female halfling gold digger to woo, so we went looking for the creatures’ lair. Good thing one of the heroes noticed that the place was inhabited by kobolds and talked them out of going in right away. I suspect we dodged a bullet there. I’m not sure how I feel about that…
Anyway, we finally made it back to Havenbrow. They spent a lot of time haggling with the local dwarf about what to make out of the star metal. Sounds like they’re having a hammer and some necklaces created. They couldn’t get the dragon’s horde out of their minds however so we headed back there pretty quick. Which brings us to this evening. It seemed like a normal traveling day. Lots of walking and not much else. I drank my usual dinner during my first watch – it is my only hope at getting any sleep these days – since it didn’t seem likely that we’d run into any trouble this close to the town. Boy was I wrong. Not more than twenty minutes ago I awoke to the sounds of combat. Seems a group of wights had ambushed our camp and everyone was up and fighting them. Nice of them to ask me to join the party. Anyway, the bloody axe proved useful against the undead as I took down two of them. Guss and the others handled the rest. It seems that necromancer is a little peeved about losing the metal to us. Heh. I think maybe I’ll have a shot now at convincing these heroes that we need to pay him a visit. But that’s for another day…for now, I’ve got another flask calling my name and with any luck, I’ll be out cold again soon…
Poe
1st month of my third life
