| The World of Teréth End - Chronicles - Othic |
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"Too often days swiftly pass / Weeping in the evening grass / There just is not enough time / Forthings you dreamt you'd do / The hours still drift by. "Too many years, too high a cost / Too many lessons earned but lost / And still you complain all the time / Cursing the days before you / Lamentng the days gone by. "And finally laying in your bed / Staring skyward, nearly dead / It all floods back one last time, / The chances that you left behind / But alas there's little left to do / ... but cry." Dirimoran song  |
Wings of Kelzerak Night brings a terrible and unceasing battle with Heedar. Dammon, Mishara, and Tressta are dragged off into the darkness by the winged demons. Alcerra raises a small army of hopping winged skeletons as Jak returns to Eldarkar for help. Deep within Kry Moradem the captured few assess their fate. Making camp that night, each could feel the cold bite of autumn in the air, and knew that winter would not be far behind. The night was quiet except for the churning of the brook down the hillside, and the rustle of the cold wind and the chilling drizzle through the dying leaves. Somewhere the full moon stared down on top of the dark grey clouds above. All was quiet, until Jak's voice severed all dreaming with the sound of alarm. In the distance, but growing steadily closer were sounds of breaking twigs and branches, followed by the slow flap of large wings. The group reached for its weapons and armor as the winged grey goblins descended upon them. Mishara reached for his bow only to find the string broken and all his fletchings in small pieces about the ground. Stringing his spare bow he reached for his ravaged sheaf arrows and began firing wildly into the trees. The creatures descended quickly raking forward with sharp claws. Dammon summoned a wind to smash several of the creatues to the ground, while Alcerra rose her voice in spell and caused four of the foul creatures to flee. Tressta, Jak, and Alcerra gathered together to fight off the ravenous grey waves. Growing more and more weary the group fought on and on but the demonic torrent did not relent. Dammon was the first to drop and was immediately seized by the ankles and dragged away. Tressta fell beside Jak who tried to stop her captors but was met by a rush of more creatures and was unable to wrest himself clear. Mishara, using his woodland grace moved into the briars to avoid the onslaught while firing as best he could with his damaged arrows. The winged goblins charged after him again and again, darting through the ivy as he withdrew. Others circled to come behind him when he exited the briars on the far side, eventually closing in on him and felling the desperate Elve. Alcerra meanwhile, having animated two of the creatures from death used them to defend herself and slash at those dragging Mishara's body from the bushes. The creatures were successful however, and after pulling the Elve free, regrouped with others and hoisted the Elve's body into the air. Only Alcerra, Jak, and the priestess's undead minions remained as the last of the thinned forces fled the battle, leaving behind them dozens of their fellows' bodies skewered and cut open on the forest floor. Despite the bloodless viscera that lay puddled around the lifeless piles, no scavengers or wandering creatures dared near the unsettling scene. In the morning, Alcerra healed Jak and they talked at length about the fate of their comrades and what could be done. Jak convinced Alcerra that they should check the tower they had come from the day before, where they'd first spied the winged goblins. In reluctant preparation, the priestess of Draun moved through the night's woodland battlefield and roused the dead into mindless sentinels, praying that this use would be pleasing to Draun. The undead slowly circled the camp on legs unused to walking, their knees and joints cracking with each step, their torn and ragged wings trailing behind them like rotted capes. Though most unpleasant to look upon, and now buzzing with flies and the like, these would be their army. The following morning, Jak and Alcerra marched north along the road toward the keep they had passed two days before. Jak took a small time to run up the keep's grassy hill but detected no movement within the ruins. The area looked undisturbed. Traveling the rest of the day, camp was made hours outside Eldarkar. The undead escort were sent to stand and patrol at a further perimeter for they'd begun to smell and the insects that swarmed about and lived within them were growing worse. In the morning, Jak wandered alone into the town of Kaithah's youth and asked for aid and information about the keep a day's travel south. Jak then met an older man who'd stood on the hilltop at Kaithah's funeral, and played her flute. He introduced himself as Tarawyn and after sitting explained that he had been Kaithah's mentor, when her parents could teach her nothing more of the bardic arts. In exchange for bringing his old protege home for burial, he would accompany Jak to the keep he named Kry Moradem. Meanwhile, the Dammon and Mishara awoke on a wooden disc suspended by three chains over a deep chamber. Dammon spoke for some time with his "conscious" and sent it to find newt bones in the waters below. Tossing his "conscious" to the staircase, small footsteps raced down the stairs and splashed for sometime in the waters below before attacking something and returning with it. After a miss and retrieval a salamander carcass was thrown onto the disc and chewed and gutted by Dammon who fashioned it into a bracelet with a strand of Mishara's hair. With this makeshift component, Dammon grabbed Tressta's unconscious body and rolled off the wooden platform using his magic to gently deposit them into the shallow water below. Mishara swung the chained disc back and forth, and by Dammon's description leapt into the darkness grasping blindly at a stone platform which he barely reached. Climbing onto the stone platform he heard the echo of his effort and knew his demise had been close. Mishara and Dammon traveled through the chamber and the hallways above and soon found stairs leading up and into the central tower of Kry Moradem. Instead of exiting however, the night was again approaching, they decided to retreat into the darkness and lock themselves in an old and emptied armory. As the night wore on, the door was assaulted by clawing and rattling. There would be no resting tonight. 18 Sep 1998
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Navigation People Kelzerak
(Clr8*) Introducing Heedar: Pale-skinned
nocturnal round-bellied membranous winged-Urdar
who feast on blood. Heedar have low intelligence and travel in large
community groups (gnots). Similar
to Urdar in appearance, physiologically they are very different. Heedar
are not considered Urdar by other species of Urdar who fear them as much
as other races. Other than the bat-like wings that sprout from
their backs, Heedar feeding involves opening their abdomen and reaching
forward with feeding-tendrils. When prey are grabbed the tendrils
extract and attach themselves to the prey. The Heedar then begins
siphoning hot blood from its victim while it holds on with gripping claws
at both hands and feet. Quick flyers, the awkward Heedar move very
slowly upon the ground.
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| Ref. PHB (Player's Handbook), © Wizards of the Coast  |
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