The World of Teréth End

Dealings with the Bragnar Bar Ort draw to a close. Grazzad's final guard are found and killed in the Dwürden keep. Dammon finds a magical tome. The group leaves the caves and Mishara receives the Call of Calsador. Mishara treks northwest across the mountains to Calsador where he receives the Ancient Duty. Group continues south and kills Dire Bear. Camps near hot springs.

Almus shrugged his shoulders, but there was nothing more that he could do. Jak nodded and returned to the slave cavern where there were furs to lay on away from the carnage and broken mushrooms. The mission into the tunnels of the Bragnar Bar Ort, in search of the missing caravan and Lord Rott's box was looking less and less hopeful. There seemed to be no end to the burly monsters and according to Kehen, the Dwürden slave who spoke through the translations of Ezikus, there were hundreds more waiting just outside the mountain. Not a member of the group was not wounded, and all shared the empty stares of people trying not to remember when a companion was brutally hacked down beside them. The blood-spattered place stank of death and they would not be able to remain here long.

Ezikus explained Kehen's agitation. The Dwürden seemed dumbfounded that the Ortor had not sent another wave into the caves to rout them. He suggested that they should press forward despite their injuries, or retreat from the complex entirely. Jak fished an old potion from his supplies and felt the restoration of its magics course briefly through this battered flesh. The relief was slight, but it gave him the strength to stand and return to the main cave. Dammon stood waiting among the mushrooms. He explained that deeper into the caverns was the "keep", and within that area a handful of Ortor were waiting in ambush. They both understood that somewhere in the keep might lie the stolen box, and focus of their mission. It was finally decided to muster the remaining fighters and push forward into the rear of the old keep, which Mishara and Tressta had just recently returned with news of. The twisting cave came to an ajar stone door and series of rooms, abandoned except for piles of furs scattered about the floors.

As Tressta slipped through a third door, arrows shattered into the surrounding stonework. Ortori talk could be heard in the distance, the ambush was near. Almus enchanted a necklace with light and Dammon summoned a spirit to carry it into the dark room. As the light moved into the pillared hall, one after another of the group slipped in and hid behind the pillars there. Arrows flew from a distant balcony where the Ortor held positions behind the crumbling statues of ancient Dwürden lords. Slowly the group pressed forward under cover of darkness, moving from pillar to pillar. Saldus killed the first of them with his crossbow, while Mishara's arrows found the rest. As they made their way up to the balcony they found five of the creatures dead. Jak made sure that they would not stir again.

The area was explored. Beyond the balcony, a set of double-doors opened into a vast pillared hall. The walls and columns were covered with Dwürden reliefs and an old lettering. The floor was littered with piles of matted hides, and the stench of Ortor was thick in the air. At the chamber's end a large drum was found whose skin was stretched Uren skins and faces. Tressta, searching the back wall found a hidden door which shifted inward from her touch. Jak pushed the door inward to reveal a passage running behind the hall's rear wall. Kehen looked in and saw a symbol of Death on the wall inside and explained that the passage led to a tomb and that they should not enter. Meanwhile, Dammon cast a spell which led him to a golden-leather bound book hidden beneath a pile of fine furs. Impressed with the magic that it radiated he stowed it among his possessions for future examination. In the hall's corner they found an expertly crafted wooden box encased in delicate iron workings of circling dragons, sitting within a blast circle. Dammon explained that the box did not radiate magic, but that it had probably been warded in the past. Tressta determined that there was no trap but it was locked. With their treasure in hand, the group turned and left the caverns behind.

As they moved through the areas of fallen companions and Ortor, Dammon explained to them that there may be three Ortori scouts awaiting them in the canyon outside. Slowly, they worked their way through the narrow tunnels with more than a score of addled slaves traveling behind. Reaching the room of the pool once more they swam and crawled through the underwater passage. In the outer cave they stopped and waiting for their eyes to adjust to the daylight outside. Once there sight returned, Mishara stepped into the open air, and changed. Standing in the cold air and churning mountain canyon winds, the Elve stood straight and put his longbow on to his back, drawing the sword that Norgus had dropped when he died. His friends watched as he then put on Norgus's torc and hides, outwardly transforming himself into the barbarian they'd met in this same canyon days before. An Ortori sniper was spotted, but Mishara's mind grew cloudy when he tried to draw his bow. Soon, he and Jak rushed across the canyon floor and up the mountain-slope, dispatching the archer and one other. Regaining his breathe, Jak noticed that Mishara had a faraway look in his eye as looked into the western peaks. Mishara explained that he must go to Calsador, Norgus's homeland.

The group reassembled and decided to stay near the cave mouth for a day, until Flender was strong enough to bring through the underwater passage. Their mountaineer soldier had not awakened in days. For the day's remainder and throughout the following night, as Ezikus and Almus tended to the wounds of the injured, Mishara stood in the freezing winds and snow watching for signs of Ortor moving among the stones and mountainsides. If any were there, they kept hidden.

Come morning, Ezikus reported that Flender was feeling better, and might be moved later in the day. When the weak man could be moved he was carried through the underwater passage and warmed by a fire on the far side. When everyone had been moved in this manner, and warmed so as not to freeze in the blowing winds outside; they moved the entire group away from the Old Taládan Road and up into the western mountain slopes. There, after hours of walking and searching the mountain-slopes, Flender and Mishara found a large outcropping of rock hidden behind a stand of pines. Here pine bough shelters could be built and a large bonfire was constructed to keep the hide-wrapped slaves warm. Tressta returned after sometime from an unsuccessful hunt. Food was rationed out to all that huddled there.

Arguments flared by the fireside about what should be done next. Mishara insisted that he needed to visit Calsador and return the weapons to the people there before he could continue southward toward Taldàna. Jak suggested that they accompany Mishara, but others protested that the slaves would not survive the cross-mountain trek, and Saldus refused to abandon the mission given them by Lord Rott to carry the box forward through the mountains, through Ezmir, and finally present it to the High Lady in Taldàna. Tempers flared as the discussion bore on. It was suggested that Ezikus and Elidir should return with the slaves to Oth but this too was dismissed as dangerous, and ultimately foolhardy. It was finally decided that the group would continue south to the Old Taládan Road and when they reached a warmer place they would rest and wait four days for Mishara to find them, for he was to continue on to Calsador alone. With this agreed upon, Mishara gathered his things and stalked out into the snowy mountain-slopes, in search of a place he had never seen.

Day and night and another day he strode through the drifting snow and rocky mountain-slopes No could know his exact thoughts, whether they be of betrayal or fear of what lie before him. The disgruntled Elve traveled tirelessly across the jagged landscape until he came to a wooded mountain slope where two bowmen stood along a seldom traveled path. The leader introduced himself as Collus, a Ranger of Calsador. He asked Mishara questions about Norgus and how he'd come to possess the items he wore and carried. Mishara expressed that he only wished to return the items to Calsador and be on his way. The ranger and his men (some more of which emerged from the surrounding trees) escorted Mishara to a small bucolic village on the mountainside.

He was led to the Grey Inn there where he was visited by Eril Klirvane, a "teacher" for the people of Calsador. The two talked for some time about Norgus and the village, and the fact that (as Eril put it) the sword Iskaravor had chosen Mishara, despite the Elve's insistence that he had merely picked the item up from the corpse of Norgus. Eril dismissed the idea that the occurrence had been merely chance and explained that the priestess would make things clearer to him. Mishara insisted that he was not the Defender of Calsador and that this was all either a mistake or an evil plot.

A small time later, Mishara was led up the mountainside to a small round temple where an old hunched woman named Ina Orgya greeted him. He continued his arguments that this was a mistake but the woman only told him, it was not his time to speak. She walked to the far side of the room and grabbed an elaborate scroll. While holding the scroll she said many things in an old dialect that Mishara could not grasp. Finally she read from the Scroll of the Ancients. When done she explained that it was done, and that Mishara was now the new Defender of Calsador. The Elve was enraged. Crossing the room he snatched the scroll from its table and threatened to toss it into one of three roaring fireplaces of the chamber. Ina pleaded that he should not, but offered no further resistance. The rangers simply stood and watched. Finally, the priestess ushered the rangers from the room and explained more of the Calsadorans to the Elve. She explained that they were an old people, and that the scroll had been handed down to them from their most distant ancestors, to ensure that they could live in peace in these very dangerous lands and times. This did not quell the Elve's anger, who stormed from the temple with the scroll under one arm.

Within the village he found a narrow three-story building with a glowing lantern hanging from a wooden post near its roof. The priestess had explained that here would find Eril Klirvane, who might be able to explain more to him. He knocked on the door with his sword and shortly Eril answered. Mishara stormed in looking for an important chair, but finding none that none extraordinary. Eril tried to calm the Elve, but Mishara insisted that the people of the village were evil to have done this to him, and again threatened to toss the scroll into the fireplace. Eril cast a spell to protect himself from fire, and offered to speak and discuss things with Mishara. Eril explained that the Ina was one of a long line of priests who keep the traditions and wishes of their distant ancestors alive. He explained that the priestess believed that the people of Calsador were the inheritors of Tolar, a secret Elve city hidden among the peaks to the north of Calsador and that the scroll had been given to the villagers ancestors at a time near the city's end. He explained that the Scroll of the Ancestors insured that there would always be a guardian of the village, so that when "king" returned his people would be safe. Eril explained further that all of Calsador were of a long line of Elve stock, diluted over the millennia by the Defenders that served. Norgus had been an Uren when he arrived, Eril explained, but was accepted as part of the community when the Defender duty was granted him. The wizard tried to convince the Elve that being a Defender was a boon, not a curse, but Mishara would have none of it. After a time, Eril escorted Mishara to the cottage that awaited him, that awaited all Defenders.

When the morning sun's fingers stretched down the snowy slopes, the group finished their breakfast, broke camp, and headed south along the mountain slopes. After several hours Flender found a way to wind back across a southern ridge to the Old Taládan Road. They traveled south for three days before descending into an wooded valley crossed by a mountain stream. Here they replenished their water and organized a hunting party to find food, which was growing terribly scarce with nearly 40 mouths to feed. Before the hunting parties departed however, the quarry found them. Moving among the slender pines something very large circled. Flender ran forward to spy on the monster and returned pale than the snow. He reported that it was a bear but that it was as large as a cottage. No sooner than his description ended, a roar trembled through the mountain valley, and the dark shape turned and charged. Jak positioned himself in the monster bear's path and planted Punishment as Almus came to his side to enchant the spear. The giant bear rushed swiftly forward. Another roar filled the valley as Jak's spear sunk into the monster's hide, a paw the size of a wagon slashed at Jak ripping into his armor, and then dragging him through the stream beneath the monster's bulk. The Dwürden warrior Kehen rushed forward with his hand-axe as the bear slashed at him, before he had crossed half the distance to it. Saldus and Elidir charged forward slashing at the thing with their swords. Tressta circled the monster and finding an undefended flank sunk her rapier deep into the giant beast. Another roar filled the valley, followed by the sound of millions of icicles falling from the trees. Almus stepped forward and touched Jak's struggling and smothered form with a spell, but as he did the giant bear's claw lashed out and killed the young cleric. Jak struggled onward but could not budge the monster, the more he struggled the weaker he grew. It would not be long now. Dammon unleashed a barrage of arcane missiles but they did not seem to bother the beast. Finally, after much hacking and stabbing, the beast let out a woeful moan and collapsed onto Jak.

After digging their comrade out from beneath the giant bear, Dammon, who had levitated himself above the fray early in the battle, spotted a possible camping spot on the southern wall of the valley. Flender returned from the area and agreed that it was a good spot and that hot springs bubbled from the mountainside there. The injured and the slaves were taken to the spot and a good camp was erected. It was decided that they would wait here for Mishara's return, and that they did for three days.

6 Jan 2001

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Episode 49
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People

Almus (Clr3)
Elidir (Ftr4)
Flender (Ftr2)
Rorn Garadur (Adp2)
Syla Garadur (Adp3)
Eril Klirvane (Wiz..)
Ina Orgya (Adp3/Clr..)
Kehen Churbul (Ftr4)
Cr. Ezikus Valzard (Exp4)
Valus (Com1/Ftr0)

Introducing

Calsador: Nestled deep within the high Evàlshat lies a bucolic mountain village. From high on the slopes above, two streams tumble down across the rocks into a sheltered valley. Here a few dozen white stone houses huddle under colorful roofs against the great mountain-slope, smoke trailing slowly from their simple chimneys rising lazily to the tops of the valley sides before being snatched away by the freezing wind. Standing in the distance, a herd of large white and gray goats search for grass in the snow.

The houses of Calsador are small fitted-stone structures with bulbous chimneys topped with blue-gray caps. Most of the buildings are single-story cottages though a few roofs stand much higher than the surrounding. The roofs of the town are bundled-thatch covered with layers of faded wool rugs. Small roads weave in-between the buildings and their small fenced gardens.