Birthright: Promises to Keep, Chapter 2

[ewancummins]

SEEKERS

Renn curses as the role flies from his hand. He draws a dagger with his free hand, intending to hurl it at his escaping prisoner, but then the two spearmen close in on him. Turning to face them, he lunges at the first with both blades.

The man backpedals, swinging his spear left and right in an attempt to ward off the counter-attack. But Renn is too quick, too skillful-- he weaves past the spear point and cuts the man down.

[VAN]

Filbert paces nervously, he knows he is very wounded and going in the cellar could be considered suicide but he does't want to leave the orhers. Without losing the cellar's door from his sight he replies to Ugo.

"Not really, some of us can do it using spells or innate abilities but not all humans can."

[ewancummins]

SHADOW WORLD, HOUSE OF THE MASTERS

Filbert paces nervously, he knows he is very wounded and going in the cellar could be considered suicide but he does't want to leave the orhers. Without losing the cellar's door from his sight he replies to Ugo.

"Not really, some of us can do it using spells or innate abilities but not all humans can."

[ewancummins]

THE FIGHT IN FOERDE'S YARD
ROALD
Roald knocks the war hammer from his foe's grip.

The armored man steps right, moving towards the hammer that now lies on the ground a few yards distant, with his shield raised.

The shield displays a boar device, one that Roald might have seen before---but he hasn't got much time to think about such things just now.


The ghostly wolf conjured by Cormac joins the fray, leaping at the armored man, growling and snapping its jaws.

Now Roald has a chance to wake his ensorcelled squire...

[ewancummins]

SAFANA
SCOUTING THE CELLAR

Sfana makes her way to the cellar entrance, then murmurs a spell. She becomes a wraith-like wisp which would normally be shadowy and hard to see, but seems more visible here. Still the wall can be seen mistily through her form, and no physical object can harm her. So protected, she begns to cautiously scout the cellar below

She walks down the steps and then seeps though the thin crack between the closed cellar door and its heavy jamb.

Her conjured light has not yet failed, so she can see in the otherwise lightless chamber beyond the door.
Alcoves and shelves line the four walls of the large, low-ceilinged stone chamber.
A door hangs ajar in the middle section of the far wall.
The rays of her spell-lamp reflect off objects sheltered in the recesses of the alcoves; glint of gold and silver, prismatic sparkle of jewels, reflections on smooth glass.


The door at the far end opens wider and a blackened, bloated figure comes though, carrying a sack.
The ghul master!
The creature moves to the nearest alcove and scoops gemstones into its sack.

The monster continues loading its sack with jewels and small art objects.

[ewancummins]

FOERDE, THE TOWER OF ELVES, continued

Foerde has taken a dubious refuge in a short, darkened hall. Before him, creaking on twisted hinges, hangs the wrecked door he kicked in.
Behind him, down the hall, a closed door bars further retreat.

The hounds bay from the guardroom, and footfalls sound on stone, coming closer to the broken door...

Footsteps come closer and closer.

[RocEter]

Foerde, The Tower of Elves.


Foerde readies himself for next set of attacks. "Is this best the Manslayer has to offer?"

[ewancummins]

Foerde, The Tower of Elves.


Foerde readies himself for next set of attacks. "Is this best the Manslayer has to offer?"

''No.''
An emaciated elf wrapped in a forest green cloak steps into view, in the middle of the guard room.
He raises his hands and speaks strange words.

Foerde's hairs stand on end, and his armor crackles with sparks...

BOOM

A thunder bolt rips down the hall, bouncing off the stone walls, and slams Foerde into the splintered, burning wreck that had been the door at the end.

[RocEter]

Foerde, The Tower of Elves.

Foerde retreats to the room behind him, only to find himself trapped in a store room! With no where to run, severely wounded and the appearance of the Manlsayer himself, Foerde is left with only two options. Surrender or die..

"There is no glory in fighting a loosing battle, only death..." He reminds himself.

Turning he throws down his shield and sword, he takes a knee. "I SURRENDER!" He shouts from the supply closet he is now in.

[ewancummins]

THE TOWER OF ELVES

--The Elves call him him to come out in the open and throw down his weapons.


When he does, they surround him and remove his gear and armor, stripping him down to the linen padding beneath. They bind his wrists behind his back with strong leather cords and lead him to a cell in another part of the dungeon-- under heavy guard of elves and hounds the whole time.


In his cell, they chain him by one ankle to green bronze chain that runs though the hollow bole of to a petrified tree stump that juts from the stone floor. One of them cuts the cords at Foerde's wrists, but only after he has been securely linked to the heavy stone stump by the thick chain.

The elves slam the cell door and throw bolts on the other side, leaving Foerde alone in the darkness and the cold.

[ewancummins]

SHADOW WORLD

Safana creeps up from the cellar, still pallid and ghostly in aspect, and whispers a report to her comrades.
The ghoul master is retreating though a secret door—with a sack of treasure.


Devlin leads the way down, pausing at the base of the stairs to light a torch set in a wall sconce, using his candle.

Gunnar spots the furtive, scorched black corpse-thing dragging a loaded sack out a side passage.

The ghoul lord hefts the sack up and flees…

[ewancummins]

GUNNAR, SHADOW WORLD

Gunnar rushes at the ghoul lord, swinging his sword. Steel splinters bone and shreds blackened flesh. Lord Runcible jerks back, dropping his treasure sack, with his chest ripped open by the sword blow.
Gunnar lifts his sword to dispatch his foe.
The ghoul lord lurches down the escape corridor, reaches left and grabs a lever set in the grimy stone wall.Metal grates on stone as it drops the lever.
Gunnar steps in, chopping the monster’s legs off at the knees and then splitting its head like a rotten pumpkin.

A terrible stench fills the cellar—but it’s not coming from the dismembered carcass at Gunnar’s feet. The smell pours up from the midst of the cellar, accompanied by a grinding noise and a vibration in the flagstones. Crazed, shrill laughter echoes around the room.

Gunnar wheels about and sees Devlin, green-faced, reeling back from the stinking black pit that has opened in the floor. The young Duke kicks a barrel into the hole.
A green, rotting hand reaches over the falling cask, and a loathsome man-thing from leaps up from the secret sub-chamber.

Gunnar clatters back, falling on this new enemy with his enchanted blade.
The monster’s claws strike sparks on his shield—but he cuts it apart with a series of brutal blows.
Kicking what’s left of his enemy—now truly dead—into the foul pit, Gunnar looks about.
He spots glittering coins, carved statues, and other treasures in the recesses of the alcoves lining the room. And a trail of gems spilling out of that sack the ghoul’s ruler dropped when he hit it.

[ewancummins]

SHADOW WORLD- VICTORY!

With the last of the horrid ghouls destroyed, nothing stands between the victorious party and a fabulous cache of treasure!
Looking about, the heroes find: oil paintings behind glass, silver goblets, statuettes of ivory and jade, gold coins stamped with the images of ancient kings and queens, jewelry boxes, filigree combs, loose gemstones, and a store of books and papers.

Devlin searches the papers first. "These monsters-- or at least some of them-- were obviously avid collectors of beautiful things. I see a lot of fine art here. Whatever else they were they had good taste."
The Duke's smile turns to a frown. He coughs, gagging at the lingering stench.
"Forgive me, I didn't intend to make a pun."
He opens a ledger stuffed with loose pages.
"There might be an inventory. See if you can find it. And be on the lookout for the casket Maeve described."


Gunnar and the others find many precious things.
The searchers also discover that the secret door Runcible had opened leads up a narrow stairway to a closed and locked door.
One of the searchers discovers a green bronze key on the floor near the charred and hacked up remains of Lord Runcible. This key fits the lock in the door at the top of the secret passageway.


Filbert, searching the room with his friends (after he's quite sure no more nasty monsters are going to leap out) discovers the small rosewood casket with the silver heart-shaped lock.

Safana and Father Michael find a number of small glass, lead, and porcelain bottles field with liquids. The vials, flasks, and tubes all lack labels, or else the labels have faded to illegibility.

[ewancummins]

THE FIGHT IN FOERDE'S YARD

FOX
BOAR
AND
HOUNDS

THE FIGHT IN FOERDE'S YARD
ROALD
Roald knocks the war hammer from his foe's grip.

The armored man steps right, moving towards the hammer that now lies on the ground a few yards distant, with his shield raised.

The shield displays a boar device, one that Roald might have seen before---but he hasn't got much time to think about such things just now.


The ghostly wolf conjured by Cormac joins the fray, leaping at the armored man, growling and snapping its jaws.

Now Roald has a chance to wake his ensorcelled squire...

Roald has half-woken his squire when he feels a stinging impact between his shoulder blades. Out of instinct, he rolls away, over the boy, sword coming up to protect him.

A lovely, naked, silver-haired elf woman stands before him.
"Love me. Serve me."Roald feels his reason slipping away from him as he stares at the creature-- but then a hammer blow knocks him sideways and he's instantly locked in combat with the enraged boar-knight.

"She's mine-- only mine!" the black-bearded knight swings his war hammer again, forcing the Warden to employ all his best parries and footwork to avoid having his skull staved in.

Several of the other men join in to help Roald, but their desperate strikes only bounce off the mad knight's plate-and-mail armor or chip and splinter against it.

-----------

Across the lawn from Roald and his predicament, Renn cuts down both spear-men in short order, and casts about, panting like a hound, bloody blades lifted as he looks for a new target.



Cormac sees better than his friends what's going on. Looking at Silver-Hair, her perfect body edged in soft evening glow, he feels his whole body ache with lust. His heart stammers at the sultry half-smile she favors him with as she turns to watch him over the bloody chaos of the skirmish.

Chanting in the Old Tongue, he call to the soil under his enemy, to the living growth behind and beneath her. Tree roots some boiling out of the frosted soil like worms after a rainstorm, groping towards the silver-haired temptress. .
The border hedge curls away from Foerde's cottage, brown arms grabbing at the were-woman.
Even the scanty weeds and grass twist about her ankles as snares.

The woman screams in surprise and anger as the plants bind her to the soil-- and Cormac begins firing arrows at her.


The crazed man in heavy armor knocks Roald aside, lifts his shield against arrows, and rushes to the aid of his "lady." He almost makes it to her, plowing through the zone of tangling plants by sheer brute force. But he staggers on a rising root and a thorny bush thrashes out to catch him and hold him fast.

Cormac fires shot after shot at the wicked she-beast, even as his target shrinks and shifts, taking on the form of a large silver fox. But the fox can't quite worm out of the snare Cormac has set, and can't dodge the rain of arrows he sends at it.

Some of the other men move near and hurl stones or shoot arrows at the captured knight, who thrashes and heaves in the thorn bush.


Cormac fires rapidly, till the burn in his arm hurts. As he looses the last of his arrows, the plant growth relaxes and the silver fox springs free of the trap.




All the men chase her, clumsy two-footers tromping over the churned earth after a nimble little four-footed beast as fast as a greyhound.
She eludes them all-- until Sevett dives and catches her by a hind leg. Gatt rushes up with his tote bag and scoops her inside, pinching the top closed with one fist.
The bag shakes and gnawing sounds come from within.

The fox has been caught, at least for now.

[kintire]

Safana examines the vials thoughtfully, casting frequent glances at the Duke.

"We are going to need time to examine these. And better light. In the meantime..."

She approaches the Duke.

"Your Grace, I did not like the looks of the vapor that came out of that well, and you are still coughing. Are you feeling alright? If there is anything wrong, if that vapor has got into your lungs perhaps we should catch it early. Are you feeling... quite yourself?"