Blade of Vengeance
Here follows the account of what happened when Lithanor the elf left the party after having disturbing dreams of trouble in his homeland.
It would take ten days of hard riding to reach the realms of his homeland in the forests of Karameikos. Lithanor had barely crossed the border of Thyatis and Karameikos, having left the main trade road to follow a more direct route across country. The forests of Eastern Karameikos were mostly inhabited by the xenophobic Vyalia elves. Under other circumstances, Lithanor would avoid a route that took him so close to these strange neighbours, but now he had little choice.
Night had already fallen, and he had ridden some way into the forest when he came upon a small grove. The place seemed tranquil, yet there seemed also some strange, almost eldritch feel about it. Both Lithanor and his war horse, Starbrow, were exhausted. Despite its strangeness, this seemed as good a place as any to sleep. He had barely dismounted when he felt sleep overcoming him, whether by fatigue, some curious magic, or a combination of both.
Lithanor slept peacefully, dreaming of a time before he embarked on a life of adventuring when he was in his homeland. Two wolf cubs, his pets, were playing with him, jumping about him as he lay on the grass and licking his face. He awoke to find that two large wolves were indeed licking at him. He recognised them instantly as his pets, Eslin and Tarcil, now grown up.
Refreshed from his sleep but still blurry eyed, it seemed as though a bush on the far side of the grove was moving towards him. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he saw that it was actually a man clothed in what he guessed was leather covered in leaves.
The man introduced himself as a protector of the forests of Eastern Karameikos, and Lithanor presumed that he was a druid. He knew Lithanor by name, as well as his family, and had been entrusted with the care of the wolves until Lithanor's return. Lithanor told the druid about his dream. At this the druid revealed that he too knew of troubles arising in his homeland. Lithanor's immediate family was not in any immediate danger, though his cousins at Dorneryll were in peril.
Knowing of his quest, the druid prepared a safe path through the Vyalia forests so that Lithanor could reach his cousins in Dorneryll with all haste.
Homecoming
Three days later, Lithanor reached the outskirts of the Emerlas, the realm in which Dorneryll lay. Smoke could be seen curling up in the distance from the vicinity of the elven family tree of Dorneryll. Hastening on, Lithanor found that the tree was in flames and several humanoids were looting the areas around the tree. A small group of hobgoblins was quickly overrun by Lithanor mounted on Starbrow and the wolves Eslin and Tarcil. Two ogres yet stood between them and the Dorneryll home, blocking the bridge on the trail into the clearing where the great tree stood. Lithanor didn't want to waste any more time fighting these brutes. With a wave of his hand as he incanted words of elfin magic, he simply put them to sleep, one that they would never wake up from once he had run them through with his blade.
He entered the great clearing where the tree stood. Thick wisps of smoke made vision difficult. He soon came across a band of looting goblins and hobgoblins, the former riding dire wolves. He took care of the goblin riders quickly with a volley of magic missiles. Nevertheless, the dire wolves and the hobgoblins advanced to deal with this troublesome elf. It was their last mistake. They all died on the end of Lithanor's blade without being able to land a single blow.
Approaching the tree itself, he could see several bodies of elves about the base of the tree. Three large hobgoblins were walking away from the bodies, brandishing the elven blades that they had taken as trophies. Lithanor caught their attention by putting flaming arrows into their leader. They charged the elf to do battle, but the leader had his neck snapped by a deft kick from Starbrow as Lithanor switched weapons. The other two large hobgoblins were undeterred. Either they were incredibly brave, had an intense hatred of elves or feared the wrath of whatever master they served should they show cowardice. Lithanor rewarded their bravery with death.
Turning his attention to the slain elves, he recognised each and every one of them, all distant cousins and uncles and aunts. Some of them had been badly mauled by some large creature, and Lithanor identified the wounds as being from the claws and fangs of a dragon. Judging by the burning tree, he guessed that it was a red dragon.
The hobgoblin leader had been heading towards the stables on the north-east side of the clearing. He heard the whinnying of horses and heard the shouts of more hobgoblins. The stables too were on fire. As he approached, the hobgoblins were oblivious to the elf's approach, busily loading the uncooperative horses with looted treasure, a task they never finished. Lithanor doused the flames on the stables with an ice storm spell. Inside were the bodies of two more of his cousins.
On the far side of the stables, a trail had been hacked clear by the brutal humanoids, leading north-eastwards. After calming the horses, he followed this trail, followed closely by the war wolves. After some three miles, the trail ended at the rocky shore of a river winding its way through the Emerlas. No sign of any trail could be seen on the other side or further along the river.
As he surveyed the scene, a dragon-like creature swooped at him from behind the trees to the left. Lithanor called on his power of Protection from Dragons that he had learnt from Aurena's teachings. However, he was still learning to master the power and failed to will the arcane energies to do his bidding. He resorted to more conventional magic and launched a lightning bolt at the creature. It was instantly fried as the crackle of blue energy sparked about it.and it dropped lifelessly to the ground. It wasn't a dragon, but a giant draco lizard. Lithanor cursed himself for his over-apprehensiveness.
Lithanor returned to the burning tree. The flames were beginning to die down, with the help of a light rain that had begun to fall.
Four of his kin were unaccounted for. Druinder, an elderly elf who he knew lived up the trail at his smithy; Erystelle, who had, like Lithanor, pursued an adventuring lifestyle, and could be hundreds if not thousands of miles away, or on another plane entirely; Tormalline and Corrundal. Lithanor cremated the bodies of his fallen kin, and vowed that he would avenge their deaths.
He entered the great clearing where the tree stood. Thick wisps of smoke made vision difficult. He soon came across a band of looting goblins and hobgoblins, the former riding dire wolves. He took care of the goblin riders quickly with a volley of magic missiles. Nevertheless, the dire wolves and the hobgoblins advanced to deal with this troublesome elf. It was their last mistake. They all died on the end of Lithanor's blade without being able to land a single blow.
Approaching the tree itself, he could see several bodies of elves about the base of the tree. Three large hobgoblins were walking away from the bodies, brandishing the elven blades that they had taken as trophies. Lithanor caught their attention by putting flaming arrows into their leader. They charged the elf to do battle, but the leader had his neck snapped by a deft kick from Starbrow as Lithanor switched weapons. The other two large hobgoblins were undeterred. Either they were incredibly brave, had an intense hatred of elves or feared the wrath of whatever master they served should they show cowardice. Lithanor rewarded their bravery with death.
Turning his attention to the slain elves, he recognised each and every one of them, all distant cousins and uncles and aunts. Some of them had been badly mauled by some large creature, and Lithanor identified the wounds as being from the claws and fangs of a dragon. Judging by the burning tree, he guessed that it was a red dragon.
The hobgoblin leader had been heading towards the stables on the north-east side of the clearing. He heard the whinnying of horses and heard the shouts of more hobgoblins. The stables too were on fire. As he approached, the hobgoblins were oblivious to the elf's approach, busily loading the uncooperative horses with looted treasure, a task they never finished. Lithanor doused the flames on the stables with an ice storm spell. Inside were the bodies of two more of his cousins.
On the far side of the stables, a trail had been hacked clear by the brutal humanoids, leading north-eastwards. After calming the horses, he followed this trail, followed closely by the war wolves. After some three miles, the trail ended at the rocky shore of a river winding its way through the Emerlas. No sign of any trail could be seen on the other side or further along the river.
As he surveyed the scene, a dragon-like creature swooped at him from behind the trees to the left. Lithanor called on his power of Protection from Dragons that he had learnt from Aurena's teachings. However, he was still learning to master the power and failed to will the arcane energies to do his bidding. He resorted to more conventional magic and launched a lightning bolt at the creature. It was instantly fried as the crackle of blue energy sparked about it.and it dropped lifelessly to the ground. It wasn't a dragon, but a giant draco lizard. Lithanor cursed himself for his over-apprehensiveness.
Lithanor returned to the burning tree. The flames were beginning to die down, with the help of a light rain that had begun to fall.
Four of his kin were unaccounted for. Druinder, an elderly elf who he knew lived up the trail at his smithy; Erystelle, who had, like Lithanor, pursued an adventuring lifestyle, and could be hundreds if not thousands of miles away, or on another plane entirely; Tormalline and Corrundal. Lithanor cremated the bodies of his fallen kin, and vowed that he would avenge their deaths.
The Legend of Galannor Nightflame
The following day, taking the treasure-laden war horses with him, Lithanor journeyed northwards along the trail towards the home of Druinder. He was vastly relieved to find that his home had not suffered the same carnage as the Dorneryll family tree. He was greeted by Grimble, one of the gnomes that worked with Druinder at his smithy, and taken to Druinder.
Upon hearing of the devastation of Dorneryll, Druinder came to the same conclusion as Lithanor, that the attack had been led by a red dragon. Druinder recounted the tale of Galannor Nightflame, a legendary elf hero who, long ago, had slain a particularly fearsome red dragon called Gorkalk. It had been thought that Galannor had also slain the dragon's young. Evidently, one survived, and had returned to wreak revenge and havoc on the folk of the Emerlas for the slaying of its mother. Druinder pointed out that Lithanor would be no match for a red dragon, and should seek out Galannor Nightflame, if he was still alive.
It was late in the day. Druinder provided a meal and a bed for the night before resuming his quest. The only advice he could offer regarding the search for Galannor was to seek out the hermit who lived in a cave to the north, beyond the halfling village of Oakendale. He gave Lithanor a magical ring of protection to aid him in his quest.
Lithanor gave the elven weapons that he had retrieved from the hobgoblins to Druinder for safekeeping. The aged elf also pointed out that the war horses would be much safer if they remained with him. Druinder told Lithanor to keep hold of the bow and arrows that had belonged to Thiondil. One other item that he had recovered from the hobgoblin leader was a potion, which Lithanor now tested. He discovered it to be a potion of giant strength, something that could come in handy should he face the dragon.
The following day's trip to Oakendale was far from uneventful. Lithanor was but a few miles from the halfling village when a strange raven perched itself on a branch directly over the path. Lithanor tried to speak to it, thinking it to be a druid in raven form, and indeed got a response, albeit a somewhat cryptic one. The raven answered "Seek the hooded one in the cave of blue", then flew off westwards through the forest.
Not knowing quite what to make of this, Lithanor carried on towards Oakendale. He was on the outskirts of the village when a curious creature leaped onto the back of his horse immediately behind Lithanor then nimbly jumped off again. It was a small strange, scraggy creature dressed in ragged brown and green clothing. Its hair and beard were a tangled mass of brown. Before he even had chance to talk to the creature, it darted swiftly into the undergrowth.
Lithanor tried sending the wolves after it, but they were reluctant to go running into the thorny undergrowth. Lithanor dismounted and parted open the bushes with his longsword. Their was no sign of the creature. Now even more puzzled by the strange happenings of the day, he continued on, finally reaching Oakendale.
The halflings of the village were immediately friendly towards Lithanor. They continued going about their daily lives, seemingly blissfully unaware of the danger that was threatening the Emerlas and their village. Lithanor found the village inn, The Foaming Flagon. A plump halfling woman was bringing out a tray with a mug of beer and a plate of inviting food and laid it on the porch in front of the inn.
Lithanor learnt from the halflings that the food and beer on the porch was for a creature called a shargugh, which brought good fortune to the village and occasionally performed small tasks around the village. The description matched the creature that he had encountered before entering the village. Lithanor now noticed that the ring that Druinder had given him was gone, presumably taken by the shargugh when it jumped on his horse...an amazing feat of sleight-of-hand to say the least.
It turned out that Bella, the woman who had left the food on the porch, was one of the few people who had actually seen the shargugh. She warned Lithanor that treating it in a hostile manner would not be wise, even if it had stolen something of his. If he wanted to know more, he could always visit the village leader, Wally Gutzon, in the morning, after he had rested the night at the inn.
The following morning, Lithanor went to see Wally Gutzon. He warned him that the Emerlas was under threat and that Dorneryll had already been destroyed by a red dragon. Lithanor urged that the halflings should arm themselves and leave the village, as it is sure to be attacked soon by the dragon and its minions. Wally was adamant that if they are attacked, that they will stand their ground and defend the village and their livelihoods. Nevertheless, Wally alerted the militia and advised the storekeeper, Placard Flutterkins, to make sure that he was well stocked on armaments and provisions. Lithanor took the opportunity to stock up on his own provisions, having used most of his up on the journey from Thyatis.
Lithanor remembered about the shargugh, and asked Wally what he knew about it. Wally reiterated Bella's warning about treating the creature in a hostile manner. It may be mischievous but is certainly not malevolent. He advised that Lithanor should offer the shargugh some kind of treat...food, a drink, a trinket, or all three, if he was to befriend it.
Lithanor set off north-eastwards from Oakendale, following the directions that Wally had provided to reach Hookham Hill. There he found a large oak on the hillside. Amidst its leaves and branches he saw the laughing face of the shargugh. This time it spoke, riddles that seemed to mock him. Lithanor ignored the taunts and instead offered out some food and drink, as well as some gems. The shargugh came down from the tree and took the offerings. It looked back at Lithanor and said simply "wait here".
The shargugh climbed into a hollow on a nearby broken stump and re-emerged shortly. It laid two items on the ground in front of the elf. One was the ring that it had taken from him. The other was a curious brass lantern. Lithanor took these and gave the lamp a quick examination, noticing that it didn't seem to contain any oil (and Lithanor had none with which to refill it). Had he examined it more thoroughly he may have notice that there was no opening of any kind to allow the lantern to be refilled, or the words inscribed in elven on the base of the lantern.
The shargugh then spoke again. Its tone had lost all hint of any mirth. It spoke of one seeking a way to reach other lands, and Lithanor presumed that this was a reference to him. The shargugh then gave Lithanor a poem to remember:
Before me lies the silver moon
and stars encircle my brow.
Let the hidden way be open soon.
Galannor Nightflame hear me now!
Once it had imparted this information, its mischievous expression returned. The shargugh leapt back into the branches of the tree and disappeared.
Lithanor resumed his journey towards the hermit's cave. Around midday on the second day since setting out from Oakendale he came across what he presumed to be the hermits cave. An otherwise well-cultivated garden outside the cave had been roughly trampled, and smoke billowed out from the cave itself. Hurrying inside, Lithanor found only smashed and smouldering furniture, with the hermits possessions strewn wildly about the cave, Amidst this, he found a small leather-bound book. Most of the pages were badly burned. From what he could read, it seemed to be a more detailed account of the Legend of Galannor Nightflame. The last page contained the words of the poem that the shargugh had given him to memorise, though half of the words were unreadable due to being badly scorched.
Signs of recent passage led north-eastwards from the cave. The wolves also picked up the scent of creatures that had passed that way. Hastening on, Lithanor soon discovered the camp of those that had ransacked the hermit's cave. Creeping up to the camp unnoticed was easy. Several campfires had been lit. Even though this made his infravision useless, Lithanor could still make out several groups of hobgoblins. They were watching a rather one-sided fight between an ogre and some of the hobgoblins. Evidently, the ogre was annoyed about something. As he watched, the ogre smashed his club into one of the hobgoblins. The hobgoblin was flung by the blow into a tree before lifelessly slumping to the ground.
Lithanor had plenty of time to prepare a few spells before dealing with the hobgoblins. He cast a mirror image spell on himself, followed by a haste spell. Using a polymorph self spell, he transformed himself into a fly (or rather five flies due to the mirror image effect), flew into the centre of the clearing where they were camped, and then back into elf form.
Lithanor yelled out a challenge. The ogre barked an order, and the hobgoblins charged the five elves, followed by the ogre himself. As they closed, Lithanor polymorphed into five hydrae. The ogre and three of the hobgoblins were slain almost immediately by the lashing reptilian heads. Even with the ogre slain (or maybe in spite of this), the hobgoblins held their nerve and struck out at the hydrae. Lithanor ripped through the hobgoblins relentlessly. The beleaguered foes took heart when one hobgoblin managed to breach the elf's protections, running its blade through a hydra and causing it to vanish. The hobgoblins seemed to recognise this as elven sorcery and continued fighting. All to no avail. Lithanor slew every last one of them.
With the battle over, Lithanor searched the corpses and the camp areas. All he found was a few coins in their possession. There was not even the slightest sign of the hermit.
Lithanor had barely finished searching the camp when he heard the sound of galloping hooves coming up the trail. A centaur wielding a long wooden lance soon burst into the clearing, paying little heed to the wolves that were still near its edge. He announced himself as "Turpin, ruler of the roads", and offered a challenge to Lithanor. He then added "without elven magic, of course. I will await your challenge near the cross-roads".
Lithanor resumed his journey towards the hermit's cave. Around midday on the second day since setting out from Oakendale he came across what he presumed to be the hermits cave. An otherwise well-cultivated garden outside the cave had been roughly trampled, and smoke billowed out from the cave itself. Hurrying inside, Lithanor found only smashed and smouldering furniture, with the hermits possessions strewn wildly about the cave, Amidst this, he found a small leather-bound book. Most of the pages were badly burned. From what he could read, it seemed to be a more detailed account of the Legend of Galannor Nightflame. The last page contained the words of the poem that the shargugh had given him to memorise, though half of the words were unreadable due to being badly scorched.
Signs of recent passage led north-eastwards from the cave. The wolves also picked up the scent of creatures that had passed that way. Hastening on, Lithanor soon discovered the camp of those that had ransacked the hermit's cave. Creeping up to the camp unnoticed was easy. Several campfires had been lit. Even though this made his infravision useless, Lithanor could still make out several groups of hobgoblins. They were watching a rather one-sided fight between an ogre and some of the hobgoblins. Evidently, the ogre was annoyed about something. As he watched, the ogre smashed his club into one of the hobgoblins. The hobgoblin was flung by the blow into a tree before lifelessly slumping to the ground.
Lithanor had plenty of time to prepare a few spells before dealing with the hobgoblins. He cast a mirror image spell on himself, followed by a haste spell. Using a polymorph self spell, he transformed himself into a fly (or rather five flies due to the mirror image effect), flew into the centre of the clearing where they were camped, and then back into elf form.
Lithanor yelled out a challenge. The ogre barked an order, and the hobgoblins charged the five elves, followed by the ogre himself. As they closed, Lithanor polymorphed into five hydrae. The ogre and three of the hobgoblins were slain almost immediately by the lashing reptilian heads. Even with the ogre slain (or maybe in spite of this), the hobgoblins held their nerve and struck out at the hydrae. Lithanor ripped through the hobgoblins relentlessly. The beleaguered foes took heart when one hobgoblin managed to breach the elf's protections, running its blade through a hydra and causing it to vanish. The hobgoblins seemed to recognise this as elven sorcery and continued fighting. All to no avail. Lithanor slew every last one of them.
With the battle over, Lithanor searched the corpses and the camp areas. All he found was a few coins in their possession. There was not even the slightest sign of the hermit.
Lithanor had barely finished searching the camp when he heard the sound of galloping hooves coming up the trail. A centaur wielding a long wooden lance soon burst into the clearing, paying little heed to the wolves that were still near its edge. He announced himself as "Turpin, ruler of the roads", and offered a challenge to Lithanor. He then added "without elven magic, of course. I will await your challenge near the cross-roads".
There was nothing more to be found at the hobgoblin camp, so Lithanor returned along the trail towards the cross-roads mentioned by Turpin. It was evident that Turpin's challenge was in jousting. Lithanor did not have a lance, but this turned out not to be a problem, as Turpin had left a wooden lance, similar to his own, planted in the ground to the side of the trail near to where he was waiting. Lithanor took up the lance. Turpin shouted out the rules of the challenge - three passes, whoever made the most telling hits would be the winner.
The joust commenced. Lithanor scored a hit on the centaur, who himself failed to make contact. Turpin congratulated him on a fine hit, but it would take more than a graze to best him. On the second pass, neither of the jousters found their mark. They started their third pass. Lithanor missed with his lance, but Turpin struck true, almost knocking the elf from his horse with a mighty blow.
Although Lithanor had lost the joust, Turpin congratulated him on his skills. He added that anyone who would accept his challenge and fight with honour was worthy of his comradeship. As the two of them consumed potions of healing to recover from the wounds from the joust, Lithanor told Turpin of his quest. The centaur would now accompany Lithanor for as long as he quested in the forests of the Emerlas.
The joust commenced. Lithanor scored a hit on the centaur, who himself failed to make contact. Turpin congratulated him on a fine hit, but it would take more than a graze to best him. On the second pass, neither of the jousters found their mark. They started their third pass. Lithanor missed with his lance, but Turpin struck true, almost knocking the elf from his horse with a mighty blow.
Although Lithanor had lost the joust, Turpin congratulated him on his skills. He added that anyone who would accept his challenge and fight with honour was worthy of his comradeship. As the two of them consumed potions of healing to recover from the wounds from the joust, Lithanor told Turpin of his quest. The centaur would now accompany Lithanor for as long as he quested in the forests of the Emerlas.
The Cave of Blue
Their were two main options open to Lithanor and Turpin. They could take the northern trail towards the settlements of Scrubton and Granitgape, or south-westwards to reach the western parts of the Emerlas. For all they knew, the human and dwarven settlements may have already been overrun by the dragon and its hordes. After the raven had given its curious message it had flown westwards, so for this reason they headed for the western end of the Emerlas.
A full days travelling took them to the trail that would take them to the western Emerlas. Early on the next day, they crossed the River Greenflow that ran through the Emerlas.
Soon they came to an area of that was filled with many colourful flowers. A sweet fragrance filled the air. Hovering and dancing about the flowers were several small fairy-like creatures...pixies. At sight of the group, they instantly vanished.
As they looked about, wandering where the small creatures had disappeared to, a pixie appeared in front of Lithanor, hovering in front of his face. He introduced himself as Tarragon, leader of the pixies. Evidently friendly, especially toward elves, he led the group to a grove off of the trail and, after laying out a small feast of nuts and berries washed down with blackberry juice, asked them of their quest. Tarragon offered them some information that would be useful to them, but first he wanted them to help deal with a troll that had been causing trouble for the pixies. The troll was laired in an otherwise deserted and abandoned house some miles to the west. Lithanor agreed to deal with the troll and he and his group set off.
He found the house, just as described by the pixies. Nearby was a smaller building, also seemingly deserted, near to where a branch of the trail turned northwards to cross a tributary branch of the River Greenflow. From the smaller building came some strange fluttering noises. Not taking any chances, he cast a web spell into the building. The fluttering became erratic and eventually stilled. Whatever had been causing the noise was obviously trapped in the web.
Turning his attention to the main building, he peered in from a relatively safe distance. There was broken furniture strewn about, but no sign of activity. He threw a pebble with a continual light spell on it into the building. Still no sign of movement. After a few moments, however, he heard gruff voices in a language he didn't understand. Another voice, this one strange and gurgling, seemed to come from behind the door that was hanging open, and the voices silenced.
Lithanor waited. Whoever or whatever was in the house wasn't coming out. He drew his sword and went inside to persuade them. Two bugbears jumped him as soon as he entered. Their swings were clumsy and Lithanor avoided them easily. The troll, hiding behind the door, tried to slam the door shut, but again, Lithanor dodged back in time.
There ambush had failed, so the three rushed out of the building to charge the elf. Turpin had been waiting at the edge of the clearing and fired an arrow into the troll using the enchanted bow and arrows that Lithanor had given to him.
Lithanor had time to cast a mirror image before the three humanoids reached him. He battled the bugbears, ignoring the troll for the time being and relying on the protection provided by his spell. Turpin shouldered the bow, drew his lance and prepared to charge.
The bugbears were soon slain, but the troll's incessant clawing had dispelled the images, despite Turpin lancing the beast. Lithanor now faced the troll. Its wounds were already healing at an unnatural rate. Before it could lay into him with its ferocious claw and bite attacks, Turpin impaled it on his lance and its slumped to the floor. Lithanor drew his own bow of flaming and put a fiery arrow into the troll. Soon it was burning fiercely. Lithanor waited for the troll to be totally consumed by the flames. Only ashes and a few bones, including the skull, remained. Now cleansed by fire, the troll would never regenerate. Lithanor took the skull as proof that it had been slain.
They searched the two buildings. Webbing up the smaller building turned out to be an astute move. Three stirges were caught in the web. Lithanor knew from previous experience what a nuisance these creatures could be, and burnt them as they struggled to break free of the web.
A search of the main building revealed the trolls treasure concealed behind a loose brick in the fireplace. As well as some coinage and gems, he found two potions, which he tested. One was a potion of invisibility, the other, a quite rare and useful potion of invulnerability.
They returned to the pixies with their proof. Tarragon professed his gratitude at defeating the foe, and in return, provided the information that he had promised. An old pixie legend told of how their kind had watched Galannor Nightflame sail along the Greenflow in a beautiful silver boat. Where exactly this was in unknown, though the legend tells of the moon being reflected in a pool of water next to two tall pillars. They know that Galannor was wounded from his battle with Gorkalk when he took the voyage, and never returned.
It was now nightfall, and the pixies offered the comforts of their grove to spend the night.The following morning, after a breakfast of more nuts, berries and flowers, they were about to set off again when Tarragon remembered something else that might prove useful to Lithanor in his quest. He told Lithanor that a visit to The Mushroom Ring might prove worthwhile. It could only be accessed by a secret trail. Fortunately, Tarragon knew how to find the secret trail, and was willing to show Lithanor how to find it.
Lithanor, Turpin, Starbow and the wolves followed Tarragon to where the trail was and ventured along it. After some hours of travelling they came to a ring of brightly coloured mushrooms. In the centre of the ring was a large red and blue spotted mushrooms. Tiny motes of light of various colours seemed to dance about the ring and around the large mushroom, and a quiet, gentle singing could be heard. As they watched the spectacle, they became entranced. Lithanor felt a sudden affinity for the place.
Some of the light motes moved closer to the elf, and he could see that they were actually tiny fairy-like creatures, and quite friendly. They asked who he was and why he had come to visit them. Lithanor told of his quest and the devastation of Dorneryll. The tales of such horrors frightened the little creatures, known as flitterlings, and they backed off momentarily upon hearing such disturbing news.
Lithanor was under the enchantment of the flitterlings. As such, they were completely friendly towards him. They allowed him to take some of the magical mushrooms, not too many though, or the magic of the ring would be broken. The magical properties of the mushrooms varied, depending on their colour.
Returning to their search of the western Emerlas, they took a trail that would eventually pass into the foothills bordering the western edge of the forest. The enchantment of the flitterlings eventually wore off, and Lithanor was somewhat saddened that the song was now a vague memory.
They were now walking parallel to the bottom of a low cliff. A cave opening was seen in the side of the cliff. Furious growling was heard, and an owlbear burst from the cave, hungrily charging at the group. Lithanor ordered the wolves to back off. The wolves refused to obey, instead defending their master from this beast. Arrow fire from Turpin and Lithanor did not slow the beast. It slashed at Lithanor and bit at him with its beak. Fortunately, his wounds were only slight. Being mounted gave Lithanor a height advantage. As such, the owlbear was unable to grapple him and crush the elf with its bearhug, and they were soon able to bring the beast down.
Lithanor ventured into the cave that the owlbear had emerged from. Amidst the bones and skulls of the owlbears victims, Lithanor found a few gems scattered about, as well as a scroll containing some magical spells, the nature of which he would have to decipher at some later point. A rusty iron door at the back of the cave led onto the top of a flight of stairs. The passage was filled with webs. Lithanor set these alight. A huge crab spider fell from a small hole in the ceiling, Reacting quickly, Lithanor fired at it with his bow, scoring a sure hit, the spider skittered away down the steps, but was slain when Lithanor put a second arrow into it.
Cautiously proceeding down the steps, the passage way turned and soom opened up into a mysterious cave. A pool of water illuminated the cave in a cool blue light. On the other side of the pool, a huge robed figure sat on a large throne, a pair of two-handed sword laid across the arms of the chair. The elf could just make out the four bony hands resting on its lap, yet ready to grasp the swords at a moments notice, and beneath the hood he could barely make out a skull. A chill went down his spine as he recognised this as a bone golem.
Expecting the golem to rise up and fight, he was surprised when the thing spoke - "What is your name?". Lithanor answered. It then asked why he had come to this place, to which he also answered truthfully, explaining that he was looking for a way to find Galannor Nightflame. Finally, it told Lithanor to throw magic into the pool to see a vision.
Lithanor threw in his pebble with continual light on cast on it. The pool swirled, and soon Lithanor saw an image appear in the pool. It showed a pair of shattered pillars by a pool. Between the pillars could be seen the full moon. The vision then faded.Lithanor asked the golem what the vision meant and where he could find the pillars, but the hooded figure remained silent. He left the cave and returned to Turpin and the others waiting outside.
Lithanor, Turpin, Starbow and the wolves followed Tarragon to where the trail was and ventured along it. After some hours of travelling they came to a ring of brightly coloured mushrooms. In the centre of the ring was a large red and blue spotted mushrooms. Tiny motes of light of various colours seemed to dance about the ring and around the large mushroom, and a quiet, gentle singing could be heard. As they watched the spectacle, they became entranced. Lithanor felt a sudden affinity for the place.
Some of the light motes moved closer to the elf, and he could see that they were actually tiny fairy-like creatures, and quite friendly. They asked who he was and why he had come to visit them. Lithanor told of his quest and the devastation of Dorneryll. The tales of such horrors frightened the little creatures, known as flitterlings, and they backed off momentarily upon hearing such disturbing news.
Lithanor was under the enchantment of the flitterlings. As such, they were completely friendly towards him. They allowed him to take some of the magical mushrooms, not too many though, or the magic of the ring would be broken. The magical properties of the mushrooms varied, depending on their colour.
Returning to their search of the western Emerlas, they took a trail that would eventually pass into the foothills bordering the western edge of the forest. The enchantment of the flitterlings eventually wore off, and Lithanor was somewhat saddened that the song was now a vague memory.
They were now walking parallel to the bottom of a low cliff. A cave opening was seen in the side of the cliff. Furious growling was heard, and an owlbear burst from the cave, hungrily charging at the group. Lithanor ordered the wolves to back off. The wolves refused to obey, instead defending their master from this beast. Arrow fire from Turpin and Lithanor did not slow the beast. It slashed at Lithanor and bit at him with its beak. Fortunately, his wounds were only slight. Being mounted gave Lithanor a height advantage. As such, the owlbear was unable to grapple him and crush the elf with its bearhug, and they were soon able to bring the beast down.
Lithanor ventured into the cave that the owlbear had emerged from. Amidst the bones and skulls of the owlbears victims, Lithanor found a few gems scattered about, as well as a scroll containing some magical spells, the nature of which he would have to decipher at some later point. A rusty iron door at the back of the cave led onto the top of a flight of stairs. The passage was filled with webs. Lithanor set these alight. A huge crab spider fell from a small hole in the ceiling, Reacting quickly, Lithanor fired at it with his bow, scoring a sure hit, the spider skittered away down the steps, but was slain when Lithanor put a second arrow into it.
Cautiously proceeding down the steps, the passage way turned and soom opened up into a mysterious cave. A pool of water illuminated the cave in a cool blue light. On the other side of the pool, a huge robed figure sat on a large throne, a pair of two-handed sword laid across the arms of the chair. The elf could just make out the four bony hands resting on its lap, yet ready to grasp the swords at a moments notice, and beneath the hood he could barely make out a skull. A chill went down his spine as he recognised this as a bone golem.
Expecting the golem to rise up and fight, he was surprised when the thing spoke - "What is your name?". Lithanor answered. It then asked why he had come to this place, to which he also answered truthfully, explaining that he was looking for a way to find Galannor Nightflame. Finally, it told Lithanor to throw magic into the pool to see a vision.
Lithanor threw in his pebble with continual light on cast on it. The pool swirled, and soon Lithanor saw an image appear in the pool. It showed a pair of shattered pillars by a pool. Between the pillars could be seen the full moon. The vision then faded.Lithanor asked the golem what the vision meant and where he could find the pillars, but the hooded figure remained silent. He left the cave and returned to Turpin and the others waiting outside.
The Shining Isle
Later that day, the group left the hills and re-entered the forest of the Emerlas, some miles north of the Cave of Visions. Some way in, they were ambushed by a group of gnolls. Their approach was none too subtle, as they came crashing through the trees, giving Lithanor the opportunity to immobilise four of them with a hold person spell. The remaining gnolls closed, and they fought furiously to hold them off. The wolves, Eslin and Tarsil, took down two of the gnolls, but received some nasty wounds in the process.
The gnolls suddenly found themselves beset by another adversary. The trees didn't take too kindly to the gnolls intrusion into the forest. One gnoll was grabbed around the throat by a branch and thrown several yards, landing in a lifeless heap. Another had its head bashed in by the sturdy branches of another tree. Lithanor thought that these were killer trees, and ordered the group to make a break for it, having slain the gnolls in front of him. Another tree emerged from the forest. This one seemed different. It had a face. A treant!
The treant finished off the last of the gnolls and Lithanor breathed a sigh of relief. The treant introduced himself as Doak Evergreen and bade Lithanor to accompany him to his glade. They reached his glade by nightfall, having to travel off of the trail to do so. The forest seemed to move aside and open for the group, making travelling as easy as moving along the trail.
Lithanor noticed that the treant had been wearing a ring of what seemed to be dead flowers about his brow. Now that it was night, the flowers had seemed to come alive, sparkling like silver stars. Doak explained the meaning of the riddle that the shargugh had given him. The moon must be reflected in a pool or mirror, and 'stars encircle my brow' must refer to starblooms, the flowers that Doak was wearing about his head. He also knew the located of the Shattered Pillars that Lithanor had seen in the Cave of Visions.
Doak advised Lithanor to get some rest, and in the morning should make his way to the Circle of Dreams, located between where the River Greenflow branches in two and then merges again further downstream. As with the journey to the glade, Doak would ensure that the forest provides a safe path. He also suggested visiting the Redleafs, a couple of human clerics and friends of the woodland, who lived in a cottage just to the north.
The following day, after a few hours of making his way through the forest, Lithanor saw a great white stag standing on a rock and staring at him. It then leapt off and began walking away, stopping every now and then to make sure that Lithanor was following. The stag led Lithanor and his group to the banks of the river. A log bridge crossed the river, and standing on the other side was an ogre, armoured in plate mail. The stag nimbly leapt the river off to the side of the bridge, and then turned to watch Lithanor.
The ogre began bounding across the bridge, menacingly swinging its huge spiked club. Lithanor simply cast a sleep spell at the ogre, sending it into a slumber. The group proceeded across the bridge, and Lithanor imagined that the stag was smiling at his solution to this little test.
They continued on and soon came to a circle of broken stones. In the centre of the circle was a slab of rock. Upon it were a cloak of oak leaves and a crown of holly. Lithanor put these on. As soon as he did so, the fallen stones seemed rise up. The stones began to swirl about, moving ever faster until they became a blur.
The elf found himself in some obscure dream. Turpin, Starbrow and the wolves had seemingly disappeared. The stone circle was whole and new, and it was now night. A figure appeared on the edge of the circle and approached. Lithanor saw that it was an elf. Even though he didn't recognise the elf, their was something familiar about him. Upon his head was a circlet set with a red gem.
The elf approached and introduced himself as Galannor Nightflame. He was in some kind of dream world. Galannor told Lithanor that a new age requires a new hero, and Lithanor was that hero. He gave Lithanor the circlet that he was wearing, and then faded again.
Lithanor awoke to find that it was still daytime. Turpin was staring at him in bemusement. Apparently, Lithanor had fallen asleep when he put the cloak and crown on, and then seemed to fade and grow hazy for a while. Lithanor was no longer wearing the cloak and crown, but in his hand he held the circlet that Galannor had given him.
They returned to Doak's glade, and then north to the cottage of the Redleaf's, reaching it near the end of the day. An old woman was sitting in a rocking chair outside the cottage, and beside her was a wolf. At sight of Lithanor's group, she muttered something and the wolf went into the cottage. At first, the woman was rather gruff in her manner. Moments later, her husband came out of the cottage, along with the wolf, and assured her that the group could be trusted. They introduced themselves as Ragnal and Rhonda Redleaf.
While they were talking, the wolf began growling and moved towards the rear of the cottage. A large group of gnolls, led by a troll, were sneaking towards the low fence surrounding the cottage from the north. Lithanor cast a polymorph self spell, transformed himself into a griffon, and charged at the troll. The Redleafs managed to paralyze a few gnolls with hold person spells, then Rhonda cast a growth of animals spell on her wolf. Turpin managed to slow the advance of some of the gnolls by charging at them with his lance, skewering one and running right through them.
At one point during the fight, Lithanor broke off from fighting the troll to take advantage when a number of gnolls were nicely lined up for a lightning bolt. He then transformed back into a griffon and finished off the troll while Turpin and the wolves dealt with the few remaining gnolls. A flaming arrow ensured that the slain troll would not regenerate and come back to life again.
Lithanor noticed that the treant had been wearing a ring of what seemed to be dead flowers about his brow. Now that it was night, the flowers had seemed to come alive, sparkling like silver stars. Doak explained the meaning of the riddle that the shargugh had given him. The moon must be reflected in a pool or mirror, and 'stars encircle my brow' must refer to starblooms, the flowers that Doak was wearing about his head. He also knew the located of the Shattered Pillars that Lithanor had seen in the Cave of Visions.
Doak advised Lithanor to get some rest, and in the morning should make his way to the Circle of Dreams, located between where the River Greenflow branches in two and then merges again further downstream. As with the journey to the glade, Doak would ensure that the forest provides a safe path. He also suggested visiting the Redleafs, a couple of human clerics and friends of the woodland, who lived in a cottage just to the north.
The following day, after a few hours of making his way through the forest, Lithanor saw a great white stag standing on a rock and staring at him. It then leapt off and began walking away, stopping every now and then to make sure that Lithanor was following. The stag led Lithanor and his group to the banks of the river. A log bridge crossed the river, and standing on the other side was an ogre, armoured in plate mail. The stag nimbly leapt the river off to the side of the bridge, and then turned to watch Lithanor.
The ogre began bounding across the bridge, menacingly swinging its huge spiked club. Lithanor simply cast a sleep spell at the ogre, sending it into a slumber. The group proceeded across the bridge, and Lithanor imagined that the stag was smiling at his solution to this little test.
They continued on and soon came to a circle of broken stones. In the centre of the circle was a slab of rock. Upon it were a cloak of oak leaves and a crown of holly. Lithanor put these on. As soon as he did so, the fallen stones seemed rise up. The stones began to swirl about, moving ever faster until they became a blur.
The elf found himself in some obscure dream. Turpin, Starbrow and the wolves had seemingly disappeared. The stone circle was whole and new, and it was now night. A figure appeared on the edge of the circle and approached. Lithanor saw that it was an elf. Even though he didn't recognise the elf, their was something familiar about him. Upon his head was a circlet set with a red gem.
The elf approached and introduced himself as Galannor Nightflame. He was in some kind of dream world. Galannor told Lithanor that a new age requires a new hero, and Lithanor was that hero. He gave Lithanor the circlet that he was wearing, and then faded again.
Lithanor awoke to find that it was still daytime. Turpin was staring at him in bemusement. Apparently, Lithanor had fallen asleep when he put the cloak and crown on, and then seemed to fade and grow hazy for a while. Lithanor was no longer wearing the cloak and crown, but in his hand he held the circlet that Galannor had given him.
They returned to Doak's glade, and then north to the cottage of the Redleaf's, reaching it near the end of the day. An old woman was sitting in a rocking chair outside the cottage, and beside her was a wolf. At sight of Lithanor's group, she muttered something and the wolf went into the cottage. At first, the woman was rather gruff in her manner. Moments later, her husband came out of the cottage, along with the wolf, and assured her that the group could be trusted. They introduced themselves as Ragnal and Rhonda Redleaf.
While they were talking, the wolf began growling and moved towards the rear of the cottage. A large group of gnolls, led by a troll, were sneaking towards the low fence surrounding the cottage from the north. Lithanor cast a polymorph self spell, transformed himself into a griffon, and charged at the troll. The Redleafs managed to paralyze a few gnolls with hold person spells, then Rhonda cast a growth of animals spell on her wolf. Turpin managed to slow the advance of some of the gnolls by charging at them with his lance, skewering one and running right through them.
At one point during the fight, Lithanor broke off from fighting the troll to take advantage when a number of gnolls were nicely lined up for a lightning bolt. He then transformed back into a griffon and finished off the troll while Turpin and the wolves dealt with the few remaining gnolls. A flaming arrow ensured that the slain troll would not regenerate and come back to life again.
Grateful that they had helped to defend their home from the marauding humanoids, the Redleafs provided some much needed healing, especially to the wolves. Rhonda even gave Lithanor a bag of healing herbs. Lithanor told them of his quest. Like Doak, they had a rough idea where the Shattered Pillars were. An area of high ground a few miles to the north would provide a vantage point from where the Shattered Pillars could be seen.
Lithanor took the advice of the Redleafs and headed for the area of high ground that they had mentioned. Soon after ascending the hill and rising out of the forest, he could see the Shattered Pillars off in the distance to the north. There was no trail, so reaching them through the dense forest would be slow going. The upper reaches of the Greeenflow seemed to flow quite close to the pillars, curling around them. He had Turpin return with Starbrow, Eslin and Tarsil to the Redleaf's cottage, there to await his return. He then cast polymorph self, transforming himself into a griffon.
Flying to the Shattered Pillars presented its own hazards. Lithanor stayed as low as possible to the treetops in case he should be spotted by the dragon from its lair. The sun had set by the time he reached the pillars. Surrounding the pillars was a circle of thorny brambles. He descended, landing outside of the bramble circle, being too unaccustomed to flying as a griffon to land close to the pillars. Nevertheless, the brambles parted for him as he approached, now in elf form.
Once inside the circle, the scene looked wholly different to what it had from afar. The pillars, far from being old and broken, rose majestically with silver symbols of stars and comets glowing on their surface. All about, he could see the flowers that Doak Evergreen had been wearing around his head, starblooms! Between and before the pillars was a pool, and brightly reflected in its surface was the moon. Lithanor guessed that time had little meaning in this place. Even though the moon had been a half-moon the past nights, what he saw in the sky and reflected in the pool was a full moon! Where the brambles had been, the area was now shrouded in a fine mist.
He made himself a crown out of some of the starblooms, having been shown how to make a flower ring by Rhonda Redleaf. He then stood before the pool and spoke the lines of the poem that he had memorised;
As he finished speaking, the pillars glowed white and stars shot up into the sky. Moments later, a high-prowed silver boat with a blue sail appeared, cutting through the mist and drawing up on the nearby river bank. Lithanor began to walk towards the boat, and found himself magically transported aboard. The ship began moving again. Beneath the ship, the river seemed like a long stream of silver light. Lithanor realised that the ship was actually rising, as was the river, and travelling up into the starlight. He soon felt drowsy, and fell into a comfortable sleep on the deck of the ship.
When he awoke in the morning, the ship was approaching a golden sandy beach. Just beyond this, he could see a lush green forest. Well rested, Lithanor had chance to re-memorise some of his spells before the ship came to rest on the shore of this strange island. He was certain that he was no longer in the Emerlas. In fact, he doubted that he was even in the Known World, but some strange realm in the heavens.
Disembarking, he could now see a silver path winding its way through the forest. He followed this path. At the second turn, a silver figure rose up out of the path. It seemed to be an elf, wearing silver plate mail and wielding a silver longsword. The figure spoke; "Lithanor! You have come seeking the treasure of Galannor. To prove yourself worthy you must first defeat me". The figure then went invisible, and Lithanor could hear it approaching.
Lithanor cursed himself for not memorising a detect invisible spell. He cast a mirror image spell instead, creating four illusory duplicates of himself. Lithanor had to fight using his instincts, guessing where his invisible foe was. The creature struck, hitting one of his duplicates and dispelling it. He struck back at where the silver warrior had hit one of his images. The silver warrior was quite skilled with the longsword and made an attempt to parry his blow, but his counter-strike was too quick.
The two fought. Lithanor's protections prevented most of the silver warrior's blows from hitting his images. Conversely, he found it difficult to anticipate his opponent's moves, and found many of his strikes that would have otherwise hit home being parried. Lithanor needed to tip the balance in his favour and gulped down one of the red mushrooms that he had been given by the flitterlings.
Lithanor had one image left. Once that was gone, the silver warrior would have a chance to make wounding blows against the elf. Despite now being faster than his opponent, he had been unable to land the finishing blow. Lithanor tried a new tactic. He waited for the silver warrior to swing, allowing it to hit his last image, and swung at the silver warrior's sword. The sword went flying through the air and landed further along the path. He followed the noise of silver hitting silver and struck. His blade penetrated the silver warrior's armour, unable to parry without his sword, and drove through. The silver warrior now appeared, impaled on Lithanor's sword, and then merged back into the silver path.
Continuing on along the path, it twisted and turned until coming to the edge of a seemingly bottomless chasm. A pair of silver pillars flanked the path near the edge. On the other side, another pair of pillars could be seen, with the silver path winding its way further on through the forest. The chasm was at least 20' wide, so jumping it was out of the question.
Lithanor reasoned that this must be another test. He felt the ground over the chasm just beyond the path. It was solid, evidently an invisible bridge. Cautiously, he crept forward, not daring to look down unto the depths of the chasm. Finally, he reached the silver path on the other side.
Wondering what other tests he would have to face, he proceeded forward again. The path again twisted and turned, and he soon found himself at the sandy beach, and there before him was the ship that had brought him to the Shining Isle. Somewhere, he had been turned around or teleported. He returned back along the path and arrived at the invisible bridge across the chasm again. This time, he crept along it on all fours. When he was halfway across, he carefully felt to the sides of him. As expected, his hand did not make contact. Moving sideways would result in plummeting into the chasm. He turned around and clambered back to the side he had started from.
Continuing back along the path, he found that it soon came to a grove in which stood a large silver tree with leaves of various scintillating colours. It was apparent that he had been switched around whilst crossing the bridge, so all he had to do was turn around whilst on the bridge.
In front of the tree stood an elven woman, enchantingly beautiful even by elven standards. She wore a golden dress, and a silver headband set with a sparkling blue stone adorned her golden hair. She welcomed Lithanor and introduced herself as Karelia. She was a Faedorne, a spirit sent to aid and protect the elves of the mortal world. She told Lithanor that he had earned the right to claim the heirlooms of Galannor Nightflame. At the wave of her hand, five buds appeared on the tree, rapidly growing to large apple-like fruits and invited Lithanor to take them.
As he took the fruits, each split open to reveal its contents. A suit of fine chain mail, the enchantment of which offered the same protection as Lithanor's magical plate mail, although being just a bit lighter. There was also a fine shield, this one superior to Lithanor's own shield, the one he had found on the body of an elf in the spider's lair near the Keep on the Borderlands. The next two fruits revealed an elven cloak and a pair of elven boots.
The last fruit opened up to reveal a magnificent long sword inscribed with an enamelled red dragon and with a dragon's head forming the hilt, clenching in its jaws a green gem. This was Scorbane, the sword wielded by Galannor Nightflame himself when he had slain Gorkalk. Lithanor held the sword aloft, and instantly became aware of its powers. It was a particularly potent weapon against dragons in general and red dragons in particular, capable of cleaving through dragonscale with ease and dealing mighty wounds to these creatures. In addition to its other powers, the green gem set in the pommel also had the power to heal its wielder to a limited extent.
Once he had taken the items, Karelia again indicated towards the tree. Visions appeared to Lithanor as he stared at it, first the attack on Dorneryll by the hobgoblins and ogres, led by Khordarg, the red dragon, then the elven tree and the bodies of the elves being looted by the marauding humanoids. The final vision showed Khordarg flying back to her lair in the Misty Hills, a cliff shaped like a huge carved skull.
Karelia escorted Lithanor back to the silver ship for his return voyage to the mortal realm. Lithanor now had the means to destroy the dragon and avenge his kin, and now knew the location of her lair.
Lithanor took the advice of the Redleafs and headed for the area of high ground that they had mentioned. Soon after ascending the hill and rising out of the forest, he could see the Shattered Pillars off in the distance to the north. There was no trail, so reaching them through the dense forest would be slow going. The upper reaches of the Greeenflow seemed to flow quite close to the pillars, curling around them. He had Turpin return with Starbrow, Eslin and Tarsil to the Redleaf's cottage, there to await his return. He then cast polymorph self, transforming himself into a griffon.
Flying to the Shattered Pillars presented its own hazards. Lithanor stayed as low as possible to the treetops in case he should be spotted by the dragon from its lair. The sun had set by the time he reached the pillars. Surrounding the pillars was a circle of thorny brambles. He descended, landing outside of the bramble circle, being too unaccustomed to flying as a griffon to land close to the pillars. Nevertheless, the brambles parted for him as he approached, now in elf form.
Once inside the circle, the scene looked wholly different to what it had from afar. The pillars, far from being old and broken, rose majestically with silver symbols of stars and comets glowing on their surface. All about, he could see the flowers that Doak Evergreen had been wearing around his head, starblooms! Between and before the pillars was a pool, and brightly reflected in its surface was the moon. Lithanor guessed that time had little meaning in this place. Even though the moon had been a half-moon the past nights, what he saw in the sky and reflected in the pool was a full moon! Where the brambles had been, the area was now shrouded in a fine mist.
He made himself a crown out of some of the starblooms, having been shown how to make a flower ring by Rhonda Redleaf. He then stood before the pool and spoke the lines of the poem that he had memorised;
Before me lies the silver moon
and stars encircle my brow.
Let the hidden way be open soon.
Galannor Nightflame hear me now!
As he finished speaking, the pillars glowed white and stars shot up into the sky. Moments later, a high-prowed silver boat with a blue sail appeared, cutting through the mist and drawing up on the nearby river bank. Lithanor began to walk towards the boat, and found himself magically transported aboard. The ship began moving again. Beneath the ship, the river seemed like a long stream of silver light. Lithanor realised that the ship was actually rising, as was the river, and travelling up into the starlight. He soon felt drowsy, and fell into a comfortable sleep on the deck of the ship.
When he awoke in the morning, the ship was approaching a golden sandy beach. Just beyond this, he could see a lush green forest. Well rested, Lithanor had chance to re-memorise some of his spells before the ship came to rest on the shore of this strange island. He was certain that he was no longer in the Emerlas. In fact, he doubted that he was even in the Known World, but some strange realm in the heavens.
Disembarking, he could now see a silver path winding its way through the forest. He followed this path. At the second turn, a silver figure rose up out of the path. It seemed to be an elf, wearing silver plate mail and wielding a silver longsword. The figure spoke; "Lithanor! You have come seeking the treasure of Galannor. To prove yourself worthy you must first defeat me". The figure then went invisible, and Lithanor could hear it approaching.
Lithanor cursed himself for not memorising a detect invisible spell. He cast a mirror image spell instead, creating four illusory duplicates of himself. Lithanor had to fight using his instincts, guessing where his invisible foe was. The creature struck, hitting one of his duplicates and dispelling it. He struck back at where the silver warrior had hit one of his images. The silver warrior was quite skilled with the longsword and made an attempt to parry his blow, but his counter-strike was too quick.
The two fought. Lithanor's protections prevented most of the silver warrior's blows from hitting his images. Conversely, he found it difficult to anticipate his opponent's moves, and found many of his strikes that would have otherwise hit home being parried. Lithanor needed to tip the balance in his favour and gulped down one of the red mushrooms that he had been given by the flitterlings.
Lithanor had one image left. Once that was gone, the silver warrior would have a chance to make wounding blows against the elf. Despite now being faster than his opponent, he had been unable to land the finishing blow. Lithanor tried a new tactic. He waited for the silver warrior to swing, allowing it to hit his last image, and swung at the silver warrior's sword. The sword went flying through the air and landed further along the path. He followed the noise of silver hitting silver and struck. His blade penetrated the silver warrior's armour, unable to parry without his sword, and drove through. The silver warrior now appeared, impaled on Lithanor's sword, and then merged back into the silver path.
Continuing on along the path, it twisted and turned until coming to the edge of a seemingly bottomless chasm. A pair of silver pillars flanked the path near the edge. On the other side, another pair of pillars could be seen, with the silver path winding its way further on through the forest. The chasm was at least 20' wide, so jumping it was out of the question.
Lithanor reasoned that this must be another test. He felt the ground over the chasm just beyond the path. It was solid, evidently an invisible bridge. Cautiously, he crept forward, not daring to look down unto the depths of the chasm. Finally, he reached the silver path on the other side.
Wondering what other tests he would have to face, he proceeded forward again. The path again twisted and turned, and he soon found himself at the sandy beach, and there before him was the ship that had brought him to the Shining Isle. Somewhere, he had been turned around or teleported. He returned back along the path and arrived at the invisible bridge across the chasm again. This time, he crept along it on all fours. When he was halfway across, he carefully felt to the sides of him. As expected, his hand did not make contact. Moving sideways would result in plummeting into the chasm. He turned around and clambered back to the side he had started from.
Continuing back along the path, he found that it soon came to a grove in which stood a large silver tree with leaves of various scintillating colours. It was apparent that he had been switched around whilst crossing the bridge, so all he had to do was turn around whilst on the bridge.
In front of the tree stood an elven woman, enchantingly beautiful even by elven standards. She wore a golden dress, and a silver headband set with a sparkling blue stone adorned her golden hair. She welcomed Lithanor and introduced herself as Karelia. She was a Faedorne, a spirit sent to aid and protect the elves of the mortal world. She told Lithanor that he had earned the right to claim the heirlooms of Galannor Nightflame. At the wave of her hand, five buds appeared on the tree, rapidly growing to large apple-like fruits and invited Lithanor to take them.
As he took the fruits, each split open to reveal its contents. A suit of fine chain mail, the enchantment of which offered the same protection as Lithanor's magical plate mail, although being just a bit lighter. There was also a fine shield, this one superior to Lithanor's own shield, the one he had found on the body of an elf in the spider's lair near the Keep on the Borderlands. The next two fruits revealed an elven cloak and a pair of elven boots.
The last fruit opened up to reveal a magnificent long sword inscribed with an enamelled red dragon and with a dragon's head forming the hilt, clenching in its jaws a green gem. This was Scorbane, the sword wielded by Galannor Nightflame himself when he had slain Gorkalk. Lithanor held the sword aloft, and instantly became aware of its powers. It was a particularly potent weapon against dragons in general and red dragons in particular, capable of cleaving through dragonscale with ease and dealing mighty wounds to these creatures. In addition to its other powers, the green gem set in the pommel also had the power to heal its wielder to a limited extent.
Once he had taken the items, Karelia again indicated towards the tree. Visions appeared to Lithanor as he stared at it, first the attack on Dorneryll by the hobgoblins and ogres, led by Khordarg, the red dragon, then the elven tree and the bodies of the elves being looted by the marauding humanoids. The final vision showed Khordarg flying back to her lair in the Misty Hills, a cliff shaped like a huge carved skull.
Karelia escorted Lithanor back to the silver ship for his return voyage to the mortal realm. Lithanor now had the means to destroy the dragon and avenge his kin, and now knew the location of her lair.
Khordarg's Lair
After returning to the Redleaf's home to reunite with Turpin, Starbrow, Eslin and Tarsil, they travelled eastwards towards the foothills. First, they reached the human settlement of Scrubton, or what was left of it. All of the wooden buildings had been burnt to the ground, and the few stone structures were pitted and in ruins. Burnt corpses lay about everywhere.
As they were crossing through the ruins of the settlement, a black armoured figure riding a black horse appeared on the road ahead of them. It bellowed out a "You are Lithanor, the one who seeks to slay Khordarg. You will never reach her."
As the armoured figure lowered its lance and prepared to charge, Lithanor ordered Turpin to take Starbrow and the wolves and hide among the ruins. He then cast a phantasmal force spell of himself, still mounted on Starbrow and standing his ground. He backed off into some nearby ruins, taking advantage of his newly acquired elven cloak to remain hidden.
The black knight fell for the illusion. He charged at the illusory Lithanor, and somehow completely missed! As the knight drew his sword and prepared to attack again, Lithanor fired a volley of magic missiles into him. Enraged, the knight dismounted and chased the elf into the ruins. By now, Lithanor had circled round and come up behind the knight. He swung with Scorbane, the knight barely reacted in time, blocking his blow. The knight lunged at Lithanor. Easily dodging his sword thrust, the knight had made the mistake of over-balancing, and found himself impaled on Scorbane.
Scorbane complemented Lithanor on his fighting style, using cunning and guile rather than brute strength. They looted the knight and his horse. His armour and weapons were magical, but of no use to them as they already had superior weaponry. He did have a couple of potions of healing that could come in handy.
They left the ruins and headed for the dwarven settlement of Granitgape, There they found more of the dragon's devastation. The few outlying buildings were completely destroyed. The great metal doors leading into the underground settlement were torn down, and the entrance tunnel itself was completely blocked by rubble. The eerie quietness of the place made Lithanor wonder if any of the dwarves were alive at all.
From here they could see the mountain some miles in the distance, beyond a veil of mist that covered the foothills of the mountain. Through a narrow pass, Lithanor could see a rocky cliff face that had the appearance of a leering skull - Khordarg's lair!
The lair could only be reached by means of a hidden trail through the mists. Presumably, Khordarg's hordes had some other means of traversing the mists. Scorbane knew the location of the hidden trail and led Lithanor to it. Turpin accompanied Lithanor to the edge of the mist, helping out with dealing the odd patrol of humanoids, before they parted company. Turpin led Starbrow, Eslin and Tarsil back to the Emerlas. Lithanor ventured on with only Scorbane for company.
Finally, Lithanor reached the end of the hidden trail and the narrow valley leading to Khordarg's lair. Cautiously he ventured on. Rocks began to clatter down the hillside around him, and above he could see a large winged shape began swooping down from a rocky ledge towards him. Lithanor unleashed a lightning bolt at the creature. Arcs of blue energy engulfed the creature and it shrieked hideously. Horrifically wounded, the creature lunged at the elf. Seeing the stinger on the tail, he recognised this as a wyvern. He swung with Scorbane, severing the beast's neck, but his leg was impaled by the tail of the wyvern. He pulled the stinger out. Fortunately, none of the poison had been injected into him. If he did feel any strange effects due to the poison, he always had the mushrooms given to him by the flitterlings to counteract it's effects.
Lithanor climbed up to the ledge from which the wyvern had come, using his rope of climbing. There he found the remains of one of the wyverns victims, a human skeleton in rusted chain mail. Searching it, he discovered a dagger and some arrows. Scorbane had the ability to detect magic and revealed the dagger and arrows to be magical. Lithanor kept these in case they came in handy someday.
Lithanor reached the end of the valley. A mountainous wall of rock was between him and the skull cliff that was Khordarg's lair. The means through was discovered when a group of gnolls appeared from a clump of trees and bushes. Lithanor hid until the gnolls passed by, then approached the trees that they had emerged from. On the other side was a tunnel leading into the rock wall.
Lithanor crept into the tunnel, keeping to the shadows to make full use of his elven cloak. Some way in the tunnel branched. Standing guard at the intersection were two orcs. Nearby stood a gong, ready for the orcs to sound in the case of any trouble. They didn't seem to be very alert, and were just standing there talking to each other.
Lithanor cast a slow spell at the orcs. One resisted the effects, but the orc standing closest to the gong began moving and talking very slowly. This puzzled the other orc, who was now trying to figure out why his fellow orc was acting so strangely. Lithanor pounced from the shadows and struck, slaying both orcs before either could react or raise the alarm.
Following the tunnel that branched to the left, he soon heard the shouts of many humanoid voices coming from a cavern up ahead. Numerous orcs and four ogres were crowded around a table in the centre of the cave. On it, two rats with their tails tied together were fighting, while the orcs and ogres jeered and cheered, evidently gambling on the outcome of the cruel fight. Lithanor backed up, returning to the intersection to explore the other tunnel. The orcs were too numerous, and fighting them could result in alerting the rest of the humanoids and even Khordarg.
The other tunnel soon opened up into a large cavern. A hill giant and three ogres were involved in a dice game. Two other tunnels led from the cavern on the opposite side. As he watched, Lithanor saw a troll sneak up a pile of coins and gems heaped near the group and helped himself to the gems before slinking off again. The hill giants and ogres then noticed the missing gems and began accusing each other of stealing them. Lithanor watched as the ogres and hill giant fought. The ogres were eventually all slain by the hill giant, though the giant was himself quite seriously wounded.
Lithanor then entered, making his appearance known to the giant. The giant was about to swing his club, but Lithanor held up his hand. The giant paused. Lithanor told the giant that he had seen a troll steal the gems. The hill giant asked why an elf was in these caves. Lithanor bluffed the giant, claiming to be a champion of Khordarg's, and the only elf in the army. He also said that if he brought the troll back, he would help the giant slay it and retrieve the gems. The giant accepted his story and went down the tunnel that Lithanor had seen the troll go down.
The giant did not return. Already wounded from his combat with the ogres, the troll easily slew the giant. Moreover, it was now emboldened enough to return to the cave to grab the rest of the loot. This proved to be a mistake, for Lithanor was waiting, and was slain by the elf. Lithanor was also able to retrieve the gems that the troll still had stashed in a pouch, before setting fire to the trolls corpse.
Of the two other exits from the cave, one was found to lead to the other side of the cave where the orcs and ogres were watching the rat fight. It also led to a wide valley, on the opposite side of which could be seen the leering skull-face cliff. The valley was filled with hordes of humanoids; orcs, gnolls, bugbears, ogres, trolls, you name it, clumped in groups around various tribal standards.
Returning to the cave where he slew the troll, Lithanor followed the one remaining tunnel. Eventually, this tunnel curled round and ended at a door. The door was unlocked and, fortunately, untrapped. Beyond was a crudely furnished room. Adorning one wall was a tapestry depicting the great red dragon Gorkalk burning a village. On the opposite side of the room, a wild-eyed woman in grimy white robes was aiming a wand at Lithanor. She screamed "Stay back or I'll let you have it".
Lithanor sheathed Scorbane and approached slowly and cautiously, trying to assure her that he meant no harm. She threw the wand at Lithanor and tried to run past him to the door. Lithanor grappled her to the ground. It was apparent that she would struggle and try to run away if he let her go, so he tied her up. Scorbane pointed out that she was more than likely under the spell of Khordarg. Lithanor took the wand that she had thrown, and promised to come back to release the her once he had slain Khordarg. He later discovered that her name was Mynra Myrtle, that she was a magic-user, and a survivor of the devastation of Scrubton, having been captured and then charmed by Khordarg.
Lithanor used Scorbane's ability to find secret doors and scanned the walls of the room. This yielded nothing. He looked behind the tapestry covering the north wall and found that it had been concealing a tunnel carved out of the rock. This led to a flight of stone steps leading upwards for some distance before emerging onto a rock ledge overlooking the valley where the humanoid army was gathering. The ledge carried on along the cliff face to the east. He followed this. Some way along, he came across a hill giant, now roused from his sleep, having been slumbering against a rock. The giant looked at Lithanor, then having figured out that the elf was not supposed to be here, grabbed his club and charged.
Lithanor didn't want to exhaust his spells before he fought Khordarg, and Scorbane was eager for a fight anyway. There was little room for manoeuvring on the narrow ledge, yet Lithanor was still able to lithely dodged the giant's clumsy blows, retaliating by cutting into the giant's flesh with Scorbane each time it recovered from its swing.
The giant was weakening. Lithanor prepared to deliver the death blow when he heard a shriek, as of some mighty eagle. A griffon appeared from behind a rock outcropping, swooping down and knocking the giant to the floor before impaling it on its beak. The griffon then perched itself on the ledge nearby, looking at Lithanor. He saw that the griffon had a gold band set with a blue gem around its neck, and recognised it as being similar to the headband worn by Karelia the faedorne. Lithanor climbed onto the griffon's back, and it soared into the air, taking a route around the east side of the valley and out of sight of the hordes that were assembled below, swinging back along the opposite side towards the side of the skull-cliff.
They were within sight of a cave opening on the eastern side of the cliff face when a winged lion-like creature with the face of a man flew out from the cave and headed towards them. Lithanor recognised this as a manticore. He unleashed a volley of magic missiles at the creature. At the same time, the manticore arced its tail forward and released its tail spikes. As they closed, Lithanor swung with Scorbane, leaving a nasty gouge in the creature's hide. The griffon swung around and dived at the manticore. For some time, the two flying beasts grappled, clawing and biting at each other. Finally, the griffon was victorious, and the lifeless body of the manticore plummeted to the ground. The griffon flew on, alighting near the cave. There Lithanor dismounted and the griffon flew off.
There was little of interest in the manticore's cave, bones of previous victims littered about, though near the back of the cave Lithanor found a narrow fissure, barely wide enough to walk through, winding on into the mountain. It seemed to lead in the direction of where Lithanor guessed Khordarg's lair to be, somewhere behind the 'eyes' of the skull-like visage of the cliff face. After a short while, the fissure widened sufficiently to allow Lithanor to walk without having to stoop or squeeze between narrow gaps.
He hadn't gone far when the rocky ground collapsed beneath him.Lithanor fell into the pit with rocks clattering down around him. Fortunately, the pit wasn't too deep, and he was able to climb out, though he received a verbal scathing from Scorbane for not utilising his detect traps ability. He paused to take some of the healing herbs and even using the healing power of the green gem set into Scorbane's pommel to ensure that he was at full strength before confronting Khordarg.
Eventually, Khordarg could hear hissing from around a sharp bend in the fissure, and the walls glowed with a red light reflected from the dragon's scales. Lithanor prepared to do battle with the dragon. He cast a haste spell, having backed up some way so as not to catch the dragon in its area of effect and hoping that the dragon would not hear his chanting. He then consumed the potion of giant strength that he had recovered from the hobgoblin chieftain back at Dorneryll. As a final precaution, he focused on the power to protect himself from dragons. Aurena the gold dragon had taught him well, and he felt the protective aura surround him.
Rounding the bend and entering the cave he saw Khordarg before him. The dragon leered and scoffed at the puny elf standing before him. Then his gaze fell on Scorbane, and the dragon seemed to back off slightly. Lithanor spoke "You have slaughtered my people, and for that, you and your kin will die". The dragon laughed, "No! It is you who will die!"
Khordarg drew a breath preparing to roast Lithanor with her fiery breath. Nothing happened. "What trickery is this?" She drew a breath again, but still could not unleash the fire. Khordarg backed off some more. Lithanor began chanting, unleashing a hail of freezing ice on the dragon. Khordarg was barely harmed by the spell. Moreover, the aggressive act had nullified the protective aura that had prevented Khordarg from attacking. She scoffed, "is that the best that you can do?" and finally could let the fury of her flaming breath loose on the impudent elf. Scorching fire filled the cave around Lithanor.
The flames and the smoke cleared. Lithanor stood there, barely singed, protected by the circlet that Galannor Nightflame had given him. He retorted "is that the best that YOU have got?". He held Scorbane aloft and leapt at Khordarg. The great dragon was now fighting for her life. Her dragon breath had had little effect, and she dared not risk casting a spell as this would leave her vulnerable to the elf's blade. Instead, she vainly clawed at the elf and tried to catch him in her massive jaws, but Lithanor was just too fast.
He dived past the dragon, giving her a side swipe with Scorbane that made her howl with rage. Now past the dragon, Lithanor could see chained to the far wall of the cavern his cousin Tormalline. She was still alive, but the sight of her reminded him of the slaughter of the rest of the clan. Khordarg lunged again, but this time Lithanor held his ground, thrusting upwards with Scorbane. The blade pierced the underside of her neck and drove deep into her skull. Lithanor deftly pulled the blade out and dived out of the way as Khordarg slammed lifelessly onto the cavern floor.
He went to free Tormalline from her chains. Scorbane advised against using him to shatter the manacles, lest he inadvertently severed her wrists. In desperation, Lithanor pulled at the manacles with his bare hands, quite forgetting that he still had giant strength, and pulled her free with ease. He asked Tormalline if she knew what had happened to Corrunal, the only member of the family that was as yet unaccounted for. She sobbed and told him that Khordarg had forced her to watch while he was fed to them. She indicated another nearby cave from which two smaller dragons, Khordarg's children, were now advancing menacingly.
Lithanor once more focused on his draconic powers, and the aura of protection again surrounded him. At first, the elf felt reluctant to slay these creatures, but after a short discourse with them, it was evident that even at this young age, they were as evil and monstrously malicious as their mother. Moreso, they wanted revenge on the elf for slaying her. It was obvious now that if they allowed to live, they would eventually return to cause even greater havoc and devastation than Khordarg ever had. Lithanor quickly ended the two young dragons, receiving a blast of flame from one of them in the process, although the damage was minimal.
With Khordarg and her line finally ended, they looked about. Khordarg's hoard of treasure was huge, and even the two young dragons had their own collection of coins and jewelry. Rooting through it, they found a few magic items with the help of Scorbane's detect magic ability. Amongst these was a wand of fire balls.
Getting out of their with this vast pile of treasure was going to be problematic (even with the bag of holding that they had also uncovered in the hoard). Besides, there was still the dragon's army between them and the way out on the other side of the valley.
Two tunnels branched away from the cave and led southwards. These soon ended at a sheer cliff edge. A hundred feet below was the vast army of humanoids. Some noise and commotion had gone up amongst the vast throng, evidently caused by the death screams of Khordarg that must have echoed across the valley, which they must have mistaken for wrath or anger, for how could their draconic master have been slain?
Lithanor realised where he was. The two tunnels were in fact the eyes of the skull, and this gave him an idea. Taking the wand of fire balls, he fired a charge into the throng bellow. Panic ensued, and the humanoids began rushing in all directions. Lithanor gave his old wand of fire balls to Tormalline thenthe position of ran to the end of the second tunnel. Simultaneously, they fired blasts from their wands into the crowd. Down below, it seemed as if the wrath of the dragon had been turned on them as fire leapt from both eyes and incinerated them. Now the panic was absolute. In their desperation to escape the valley, a great many humanoids were trampled to death.
They waited. Lithanor gave Tormalline some of the mushrooms to help her recover her strength after her ordeal. Some hours later, the sounds of chaos in the valley below finally stopped and became eerily quiet. They looked out again. Bodies of gnolls, goblins and even giants, along with broken standards, littered the valley floor. The crows were already feasting on the corpses of what seemed a grim battlefield.
Lithanor and Tormalline gathered up what they could and began the trek back to the Emerlas. Finally, they reached Dorneryll. Doak Evergreen was waiting with good news. The Dorneryll tree was still alive, and with tending and care could be restored to as it was before the attack. A group of elves had arrived, these led by Lithanor's father, Lytharnis. Lithanor's own homeland, neighbouring the Emerlas, had also been beset by the armies of Khordarg. They had fought them off for several weeks before finally driving them back and being able to come to the assistance of the Emerlas.
With Tormalline and Druinder being the only remaining members of the Dorneryll clan, they asked if Lithanor would be willing to become the new head of the clan of Dorneryll. Lytharnis thought this was a good idea, and even offered to send members of his own clan to help restore and rebuild it. Lithanor pondered the idea, but for now, he felt the need to continue his studies in Dracology, which would take him to Glantri. In the meantime, Tormalline could manage things in his stead.
After a few weeks, during which Lytharnis helped Lithanor hone his swordsmanship, Lithanor departed for Glantri. He vowed he would return as soon as he was able. Lytharnis sighed and said to himself "I've heard that before..."
From here they could see the mountain some miles in the distance, beyond a veil of mist that covered the foothills of the mountain. Through a narrow pass, Lithanor could see a rocky cliff face that had the appearance of a leering skull - Khordarg's lair!
The lair could only be reached by means of a hidden trail through the mists. Presumably, Khordarg's hordes had some other means of traversing the mists. Scorbane knew the location of the hidden trail and led Lithanor to it. Turpin accompanied Lithanor to the edge of the mist, helping out with dealing the odd patrol of humanoids, before they parted company. Turpin led Starbrow, Eslin and Tarsil back to the Emerlas. Lithanor ventured on with only Scorbane for company.
Finally, Lithanor reached the end of the hidden trail and the narrow valley leading to Khordarg's lair. Cautiously he ventured on. Rocks began to clatter down the hillside around him, and above he could see a large winged shape began swooping down from a rocky ledge towards him. Lithanor unleashed a lightning bolt at the creature. Arcs of blue energy engulfed the creature and it shrieked hideously. Horrifically wounded, the creature lunged at the elf. Seeing the stinger on the tail, he recognised this as a wyvern. He swung with Scorbane, severing the beast's neck, but his leg was impaled by the tail of the wyvern. He pulled the stinger out. Fortunately, none of the poison had been injected into him. If he did feel any strange effects due to the poison, he always had the mushrooms given to him by the flitterlings to counteract it's effects.
Lithanor climbed up to the ledge from which the wyvern had come, using his rope of climbing. There he found the remains of one of the wyverns victims, a human skeleton in rusted chain mail. Searching it, he discovered a dagger and some arrows. Scorbane had the ability to detect magic and revealed the dagger and arrows to be magical. Lithanor kept these in case they came in handy someday.
Lithanor reached the end of the valley. A mountainous wall of rock was between him and the skull cliff that was Khordarg's lair. The means through was discovered when a group of gnolls appeared from a clump of trees and bushes. Lithanor hid until the gnolls passed by, then approached the trees that they had emerged from. On the other side was a tunnel leading into the rock wall.
Lithanor crept into the tunnel, keeping to the shadows to make full use of his elven cloak. Some way in the tunnel branched. Standing guard at the intersection were two orcs. Nearby stood a gong, ready for the orcs to sound in the case of any trouble. They didn't seem to be very alert, and were just standing there talking to each other.
Lithanor cast a slow spell at the orcs. One resisted the effects, but the orc standing closest to the gong began moving and talking very slowly. This puzzled the other orc, who was now trying to figure out why his fellow orc was acting so strangely. Lithanor pounced from the shadows and struck, slaying both orcs before either could react or raise the alarm.
Following the tunnel that branched to the left, he soon heard the shouts of many humanoid voices coming from a cavern up ahead. Numerous orcs and four ogres were crowded around a table in the centre of the cave. On it, two rats with their tails tied together were fighting, while the orcs and ogres jeered and cheered, evidently gambling on the outcome of the cruel fight. Lithanor backed up, returning to the intersection to explore the other tunnel. The orcs were too numerous, and fighting them could result in alerting the rest of the humanoids and even Khordarg.
The other tunnel soon opened up into a large cavern. A hill giant and three ogres were involved in a dice game. Two other tunnels led from the cavern on the opposite side. As he watched, Lithanor saw a troll sneak up a pile of coins and gems heaped near the group and helped himself to the gems before slinking off again. The hill giants and ogres then noticed the missing gems and began accusing each other of stealing them. Lithanor watched as the ogres and hill giant fought. The ogres were eventually all slain by the hill giant, though the giant was himself quite seriously wounded.
Lithanor then entered, making his appearance known to the giant. The giant was about to swing his club, but Lithanor held up his hand. The giant paused. Lithanor told the giant that he had seen a troll steal the gems. The hill giant asked why an elf was in these caves. Lithanor bluffed the giant, claiming to be a champion of Khordarg's, and the only elf in the army. He also said that if he brought the troll back, he would help the giant slay it and retrieve the gems. The giant accepted his story and went down the tunnel that Lithanor had seen the troll go down.
The giant did not return. Already wounded from his combat with the ogres, the troll easily slew the giant. Moreover, it was now emboldened enough to return to the cave to grab the rest of the loot. This proved to be a mistake, for Lithanor was waiting, and was slain by the elf. Lithanor was also able to retrieve the gems that the troll still had stashed in a pouch, before setting fire to the trolls corpse.
Of the two other exits from the cave, one was found to lead to the other side of the cave where the orcs and ogres were watching the rat fight. It also led to a wide valley, on the opposite side of which could be seen the leering skull-face cliff. The valley was filled with hordes of humanoids; orcs, gnolls, bugbears, ogres, trolls, you name it, clumped in groups around various tribal standards.
Returning to the cave where he slew the troll, Lithanor followed the one remaining tunnel. Eventually, this tunnel curled round and ended at a door. The door was unlocked and, fortunately, untrapped. Beyond was a crudely furnished room. Adorning one wall was a tapestry depicting the great red dragon Gorkalk burning a village. On the opposite side of the room, a wild-eyed woman in grimy white robes was aiming a wand at Lithanor. She screamed "Stay back or I'll let you have it".
Lithanor sheathed Scorbane and approached slowly and cautiously, trying to assure her that he meant no harm. She threw the wand at Lithanor and tried to run past him to the door. Lithanor grappled her to the ground. It was apparent that she would struggle and try to run away if he let her go, so he tied her up. Scorbane pointed out that she was more than likely under the spell of Khordarg. Lithanor took the wand that she had thrown, and promised to come back to release the her once he had slain Khordarg. He later discovered that her name was Mynra Myrtle, that she was a magic-user, and a survivor of the devastation of Scrubton, having been captured and then charmed by Khordarg.
Lithanor used Scorbane's ability to find secret doors and scanned the walls of the room. This yielded nothing. He looked behind the tapestry covering the north wall and found that it had been concealing a tunnel carved out of the rock. This led to a flight of stone steps leading upwards for some distance before emerging onto a rock ledge overlooking the valley where the humanoid army was gathering. The ledge carried on along the cliff face to the east. He followed this. Some way along, he came across a hill giant, now roused from his sleep, having been slumbering against a rock. The giant looked at Lithanor, then having figured out that the elf was not supposed to be here, grabbed his club and charged.
Lithanor didn't want to exhaust his spells before he fought Khordarg, and Scorbane was eager for a fight anyway. There was little room for manoeuvring on the narrow ledge, yet Lithanor was still able to lithely dodged the giant's clumsy blows, retaliating by cutting into the giant's flesh with Scorbane each time it recovered from its swing.
The giant was weakening. Lithanor prepared to deliver the death blow when he heard a shriek, as of some mighty eagle. A griffon appeared from behind a rock outcropping, swooping down and knocking the giant to the floor before impaling it on its beak. The griffon then perched itself on the ledge nearby, looking at Lithanor. He saw that the griffon had a gold band set with a blue gem around its neck, and recognised it as being similar to the headband worn by Karelia the faedorne. Lithanor climbed onto the griffon's back, and it soared into the air, taking a route around the east side of the valley and out of sight of the hordes that were assembled below, swinging back along the opposite side towards the side of the skull-cliff.
They were within sight of a cave opening on the eastern side of the cliff face when a winged lion-like creature with the face of a man flew out from the cave and headed towards them. Lithanor recognised this as a manticore. He unleashed a volley of magic missiles at the creature. At the same time, the manticore arced its tail forward and released its tail spikes. As they closed, Lithanor swung with Scorbane, leaving a nasty gouge in the creature's hide. The griffon swung around and dived at the manticore. For some time, the two flying beasts grappled, clawing and biting at each other. Finally, the griffon was victorious, and the lifeless body of the manticore plummeted to the ground. The griffon flew on, alighting near the cave. There Lithanor dismounted and the griffon flew off.
There was little of interest in the manticore's cave, bones of previous victims littered about, though near the back of the cave Lithanor found a narrow fissure, barely wide enough to walk through, winding on into the mountain. It seemed to lead in the direction of where Lithanor guessed Khordarg's lair to be, somewhere behind the 'eyes' of the skull-like visage of the cliff face. After a short while, the fissure widened sufficiently to allow Lithanor to walk without having to stoop or squeeze between narrow gaps.
He hadn't gone far when the rocky ground collapsed beneath him.Lithanor fell into the pit with rocks clattering down around him. Fortunately, the pit wasn't too deep, and he was able to climb out, though he received a verbal scathing from Scorbane for not utilising his detect traps ability. He paused to take some of the healing herbs and even using the healing power of the green gem set into Scorbane's pommel to ensure that he was at full strength before confronting Khordarg.
Eventually, Khordarg could hear hissing from around a sharp bend in the fissure, and the walls glowed with a red light reflected from the dragon's scales. Lithanor prepared to do battle with the dragon. He cast a haste spell, having backed up some way so as not to catch the dragon in its area of effect and hoping that the dragon would not hear his chanting. He then consumed the potion of giant strength that he had recovered from the hobgoblin chieftain back at Dorneryll. As a final precaution, he focused on the power to protect himself from dragons. Aurena the gold dragon had taught him well, and he felt the protective aura surround him.
Rounding the bend and entering the cave he saw Khordarg before him. The dragon leered and scoffed at the puny elf standing before him. Then his gaze fell on Scorbane, and the dragon seemed to back off slightly. Lithanor spoke "You have slaughtered my people, and for that, you and your kin will die". The dragon laughed, "No! It is you who will die!"
Khordarg drew a breath preparing to roast Lithanor with her fiery breath. Nothing happened. "What trickery is this?" She drew a breath again, but still could not unleash the fire. Khordarg backed off some more. Lithanor began chanting, unleashing a hail of freezing ice on the dragon. Khordarg was barely harmed by the spell. Moreover, the aggressive act had nullified the protective aura that had prevented Khordarg from attacking. She scoffed, "is that the best that you can do?" and finally could let the fury of her flaming breath loose on the impudent elf. Scorching fire filled the cave around Lithanor.
The flames and the smoke cleared. Lithanor stood there, barely singed, protected by the circlet that Galannor Nightflame had given him. He retorted "is that the best that YOU have got?". He held Scorbane aloft and leapt at Khordarg. The great dragon was now fighting for her life. Her dragon breath had had little effect, and she dared not risk casting a spell as this would leave her vulnerable to the elf's blade. Instead, she vainly clawed at the elf and tried to catch him in her massive jaws, but Lithanor was just too fast.
He dived past the dragon, giving her a side swipe with Scorbane that made her howl with rage. Now past the dragon, Lithanor could see chained to the far wall of the cavern his cousin Tormalline. She was still alive, but the sight of her reminded him of the slaughter of the rest of the clan. Khordarg lunged again, but this time Lithanor held his ground, thrusting upwards with Scorbane. The blade pierced the underside of her neck and drove deep into her skull. Lithanor deftly pulled the blade out and dived out of the way as Khordarg slammed lifelessly onto the cavern floor.
He went to free Tormalline from her chains. Scorbane advised against using him to shatter the manacles, lest he inadvertently severed her wrists. In desperation, Lithanor pulled at the manacles with his bare hands, quite forgetting that he still had giant strength, and pulled her free with ease. He asked Tormalline if she knew what had happened to Corrunal, the only member of the family that was as yet unaccounted for. She sobbed and told him that Khordarg had forced her to watch while he was fed to them. She indicated another nearby cave from which two smaller dragons, Khordarg's children, were now advancing menacingly.
Lithanor once more focused on his draconic powers, and the aura of protection again surrounded him. At first, the elf felt reluctant to slay these creatures, but after a short discourse with them, it was evident that even at this young age, they were as evil and monstrously malicious as their mother. Moreso, they wanted revenge on the elf for slaying her. It was obvious now that if they allowed to live, they would eventually return to cause even greater havoc and devastation than Khordarg ever had. Lithanor quickly ended the two young dragons, receiving a blast of flame from one of them in the process, although the damage was minimal.
With Khordarg and her line finally ended, they looked about. Khordarg's hoard of treasure was huge, and even the two young dragons had their own collection of coins and jewelry. Rooting through it, they found a few magic items with the help of Scorbane's detect magic ability. Amongst these was a wand of fire balls.
Getting out of their with this vast pile of treasure was going to be problematic (even with the bag of holding that they had also uncovered in the hoard). Besides, there was still the dragon's army between them and the way out on the other side of the valley.
Two tunnels branched away from the cave and led southwards. These soon ended at a sheer cliff edge. A hundred feet below was the vast army of humanoids. Some noise and commotion had gone up amongst the vast throng, evidently caused by the death screams of Khordarg that must have echoed across the valley, which they must have mistaken for wrath or anger, for how could their draconic master have been slain?
Lithanor realised where he was. The two tunnels were in fact the eyes of the skull, and this gave him an idea. Taking the wand of fire balls, he fired a charge into the throng bellow. Panic ensued, and the humanoids began rushing in all directions. Lithanor gave his old wand of fire balls to Tormalline thenthe position of ran to the end of the second tunnel. Simultaneously, they fired blasts from their wands into the crowd. Down below, it seemed as if the wrath of the dragon had been turned on them as fire leapt from both eyes and incinerated them. Now the panic was absolute. In their desperation to escape the valley, a great many humanoids were trampled to death.
They waited. Lithanor gave Tormalline some of the mushrooms to help her recover her strength after her ordeal. Some hours later, the sounds of chaos in the valley below finally stopped and became eerily quiet. They looked out again. Bodies of gnolls, goblins and even giants, along with broken standards, littered the valley floor. The crows were already feasting on the corpses of what seemed a grim battlefield.
Lithanor and Tormalline gathered up what they could and began the trek back to the Emerlas. Finally, they reached Dorneryll. Doak Evergreen was waiting with good news. The Dorneryll tree was still alive, and with tending and care could be restored to as it was before the attack. A group of elves had arrived, these led by Lithanor's father, Lytharnis. Lithanor's own homeland, neighbouring the Emerlas, had also been beset by the armies of Khordarg. They had fought them off for several weeks before finally driving them back and being able to come to the assistance of the Emerlas.
With Tormalline and Druinder being the only remaining members of the Dorneryll clan, they asked if Lithanor would be willing to become the new head of the clan of Dorneryll. Lytharnis thought this was a good idea, and even offered to send members of his own clan to help restore and rebuild it. Lithanor pondered the idea, but for now, he felt the need to continue his studies in Dracology, which would take him to Glantri. In the meantime, Tormalline could manage things in his stead.
After a few weeks, during which Lytharnis helped Lithanor hone his swordsmanship, Lithanor departed for Glantri. He vowed he would return as soon as he was able. Lytharnis sighed and said to himself "I've heard that before..."
No comments:
Post a Comment