THE AWAKENING, part 2

February 5, 1999 GM: Kenneth Newquist

As the priest of Trithereon and his band of adventurers sought out the god, the 'lost' Blackrazors --  Aaron Windstalker, Ragnar Blackmane, Greggor, Falgar and Kannett -- awoke to find themselves in the hold of the Scarlet Brotherhood slave ship, Aboleth. They were’t alone -- at least another 75 men and women from Obsidian Bay were in the hold with them.

They met a few other able warriors -- Derek, Caelmahs and Math -- and began planning their escape. Before they could finalize their plans, Math inadvertently attracted the attention of the guards, triggering an all-out fight.

By the slimmest of margins the Blackrazors were able to fight their way out of the hold and defeat the slavers. The Brotherhood scuttled the ship and fled. The exhausted adventurers scrambled to free all of the slaves before the ship sank. After the Aboleth went down, the Blackrazors and their fellow freed slaves swam towards the distant shoreline. When they finally crawled from the ocean they found that 150 of the slaves had survived, and that they had washed up near the Keolandish city of Gradsul.

They presented themselves to the city guard, and have just been taken before the Lord Mayor of Gradsul, Joseph Coraseth.

"You have done well," said the city’s appointed leader, Joseph Coraseth. To his right stood the admiral; to his left was Bandin Skotti -- a nephew of the kingdom’s current liege. To his left was the magician Kurtas, the ranking member of Keoland’s Royal Guild of Magi.

A half-dozen of the city’s best guards surrounded them.

"You have saved several score of slaves from certain death at the hands of the Brotherhood,’ Coraseth said. "And you did it under most trying circumstances. We--" he motioned to those on either side of him "-- are most impressed. Who speaks for your group?"

Derek stepped forward before the others could react. "I do. My name is Derek Dwarken. My …" he paused for a moment. "…companions and are thankful for your help in dealing with fellow freed men."

"So from where do you hail?"

"Obsidian Bay," Derek replied.

"A most troubled city since the Brotherhood’s invasion. But we are certainly familiar with the treachery of the Brotherhood."

The admiral broke in. "They are vile dogs who deserve to be put down."

"Yes, yes," Coraseth said in an appeasing tone. "They are most treacherous. We despise the slave trade and harass Brotherhood ships to the best of our ability, but since no formal state of war exists, there is little we can do. However that restriction does not apply to you." The mayor smiled and nodded to the admiral.

Skotti spoke: "We have examined the charts you pulled off the ship. Based on them, and we’ve discovered where the Brotherhood has been taking its Obsidian Bay slaves -- a camp of some sort in the Amiedo Jungle. It appears that there is a main camp near the shore, and second one near a mine further inland. If you want revenge--"

Derek’s eyes blazed with interested.

"-- then we have a proposal for you. We will transport you to the location of the slave camp. You will go ashore and destroy its Brotherhood overseers. We will then provide transport back to Gradsul for any of the slaves who you free. We will provide you with whatever weapons or armor you need. The magi of our town will be able to provide you with some magical assistance. Are you interested?"

Derek answered for all of them. "Yes."

* * *

Three weeks later, the Blackrazors -- minus Falgar, who had decided to stay behind -- were off the shore of the Amiedo Jungle. The Phoenix -- the Keolandish ship that had provided their transportation -- was a mile behind them. The ship’s captain, Korist, had given them a skiff and now they were relying on Ragnar’s seamanship skills to get them into shore.

They were a little nervous.

They were right to be. Ragnar’s sailing skills were more than a little rusty, and a hundred feet from shore the barbarian misread the surf and swamped the ship. As the little ship sank, the Blackrazors struggled toward the shore.

They pulled themselves up onto the sand in the early morning hours and immediately set up a cold camp. As they tried to find a comfortable place on the sand, Ragnar noticed some lights off in the jungle. He woke Derek. The vengeanceseeker of Trithereon looked at the lights as Ragnar woke the rest of the adventurers. There were two lights, and seemed to be moving purposefully through the dense jungle.

Not a good sign.

By the time the others were awake, Derek already had his sword in hand. "If I’m not back in ten minutes, come looking for me," he said, and disappeared into the jungle.

* * *

Derek moved cautiously but quickly through the jungle, watching the lights, but listening for other attackers. Even with his heightened alertness, Derek was still surprised when a huge man form suddenly reached up, grabbed him, and pulled him below the surface of the jungle. Five minutes later, he was dead. Three minutes after that, the Blackrazors began looking for him.

* * *

They searched in three elements -- Aaron flying with Kannett to the south, while Greggor flying to the north. Ragnar, Math and Caelmahs took the middle. Ragnar’s band found  Derek’s killer first as the barbarian was abruptly pulled below the jungle’s surface by the plant thing.

As he was pulled into the thing, Ragnar came face to face with Derek’s body. Suddenly horrified, Ragnar broke out of the creature and began attacking the thing with his bare fists. In his insane rage, he didn’t notice that his attacks were having no effect.

Now that they had a target, Caelmahs and Math began to attack the plant-thing. When Greggor and Kannett heard the noise, they began running toward the fight. Within seconds most of the Blackrazors had engaged the creature. They felt their blades landing sickening blows against the creature as they sliced into Derek’s consumed body.

Caelmahs lashed out at the creature and was surprised when it grabbed him and pulled him inside, sucking the breath and life out of him.

As the rest of the Blackrazors fought, Aaron followed the bobbing, fading lights. When they suddenly flashed and disappeared, he ran to join the fighting. With their combined forces brought to bear, they were able to slay the thing, which they later identified as a shambling mound.

When they dissected the thing they found Caelmahs and Derek. They had just barely stopped the struggle to hold onto life and were able to be revived.

* * *

Dawn of the next morning saw Math leaving camp to go hunting for a wild boar.

No one asked him to do it.

No one knew why he did it.

No one particularly cared.

The warrior headed into the jungle and within an hour he found what he was looking for. He killed the creature with a few well placed blows, and then discovered that the creature was too big to haul back to camp. He sliced off its haunches and headed back. When he returned, he was surprised to see the others were less than thrilled by his catch. "All that blood is going to attract predators," Kannett said as he swallowed a mouthful of dried fruit. "We don’t need that. Get rid of it." Math sagged down into the sand, frustrated, annoyed, and realizing that Kannett was right.

Meanwhile, the Blackrazors debated what to do next -- attack the settlement head on, or head into the jungle.

Derek said: "I think going into the jungle is --"

"Abysmally stupid?" Greggor suggested.

"Yes." the vengeanceseeker replied. "We should scout the camp and, if possible, take out the Brotherhood agents there."

The others nodded their agreement.

* * *

Greggor cast invisibility and fly on himself, and flew out to investigate the camp. He found a small, heavily guarded seaside encampment. There were three main slave pens, a number of guard towers, several barracks and a small hill with two buildings on it. All told their appeared to be about 30 foot soldiers, as well as a patrol or two of what appeared to be elite warriors. These elite warriors, wearing black leather armor and demanding the respect of the others around them, looked strong and powerful.

He flew back to the Blackrazors, sketched out a map on the sand, and explained the situation.

"I think we should split up and attack from multiple sides," Math suggested.

"I think that would be a fantastically bad idea" Greggor said.

"No, it has merit," Derek said. "We can divide up their forces and keep them from focusing their counter attack on any one group."

Greggor shook his head. "This is a bad idea." He was overridden.

* * *

The plan seemed simple enough. Aaron, Greggor, and Ragnar would sneak into the small barracks on the hill, which appeared to hold the site’s leaders, and take them out. As they did so, the rest of the Blackrazors --Caelmahs and Derek in one group, Math and Kannet in another.

After resting for several hours to recover their spells, the Blackrazors prepared their attack. Aaron, Greggor and Ragnar were turned invisible and given the ability to fly magically. They then left for the town.

The first group -- Aaron, Greggor and Ragnar -- landed on the hill. Greggor and Aaron waited for a solider to enter the dwelling and slipped in behind him. Inside they found several of the black-armored warriors as well as a robed individual whom they assumed as a mage or cleric of some sort. Aaron and Greggor struck, hoping to take down the robed leader in their first round of attacks.

They didn’t.

As they became visible, the robed one and his followers lashed out at them with spells. When Ragnar broke through the door, he found Aaron held and Greggor charmed. He didn’t let that little fact stop him from bashing every skull in sight.

* * *

Outside things were about to get much worse. At first, things went according to plan. The two teams managed to take out several guards before they were noticed by the watchers in the towers.

Math and Kannett were noticed first, and the guards immediately began peppering them with poison-laced arrows. They were able to kill a few more opponents before succumbing to the arrows, falling into paralyzed slumber.

Meanwhile, Derek’s group had more success, killing nearly a dozen guards. Then they came face to face with the black-armored warriors. The Blackrazors and their allies put up a valiant but short lived fight before they succumbed to the Brotherhood’s superior numbers.

* * *

Up on the hill, Ragnar didn’t know he was supposed to be dead. The barbarian had gone into an unstoppable berserker rage. He ignored blow after blow as he slaughtered the Brotherhood’s elite troops and threatened the Brotherhood leader. The man ordered Greggor to slow Ragnar, and then jumped out the shack’s curtained window.

Greggor tried to stop Ragnar, but knew he couldn’t survive more than a few hits from his friend. He followed the leader out the window.

Outside, the remainders of the elite troopers were scrambling to protect their leader, who had summoned a giant crab to stop Ragnar. The raging barbarian killed the crustacean with one blow and continued his advance. The guards in the towers fired on Ragnar. The black-armored warriors shot their own bows at them. Foot soldiers tried-- and failed -- to hit him with their swords.

It seemed as though nothing could stop him. And then something did. As Brotherhood lackeys fell dying all around, a lucky arrow shot by a neophyte tower guard pierced Ragnar’s heart, and sent him crumbling to the ground.

The last of the Blackrazors had been defeated.

This page was last edited on 08/16/99 -- The Griffin's Crier