TO SAVE THE FALLEN

February 19, 1999 GM: Kenneth Newquist

The last of the ‘lost’ adventurers was Falgar, who didn’t participate in the attack. When he heard that the rest of the Blackrazors had returned to Blue with some sort of hero-god, he decided to teleport their looking for help.  [Read The Return to Blue]

After explaining the situation to his friends, the Blackrazors decided to go looking for their lost companions. They commissioned a ship, and sailed for the Amedio Jungle, where the adventurers had been dropped off by the Keoland Navy. Involved in the rescue were:

Tanevir Calywyn: elf, ranger, mage and master of the Blackrazor Guild
Kalib Ironfist: human priest of Trithereon
Malaclypse: aquatic elf hybrid as well as a master thief and mage.
Gnarth Binderstone: gnomish fighter/illusionist
Karaan: human priest of Pelor
Falgar: human mage
Aesop: human mage, invoker wanna-be

They have just left the ship, and are standing on the sandy shore of the jungle. It is the 2nd of Reaping, CY 588.

The Blackrazors decided to spend a day preparing themselves for their upcoming adventures.

* * *

The next morning, the priest of Trithereon, Kalib Ironfist, asked Malaclypse to turn him invisible and to empower him with flight. The elf did so. Kalib cast true seeing and flew over the camp. He found no surprises, but did see a caravan made up of wagons and slaves forming up at jungle road. He also saw the piles of ore, and guessed that their was a mine nearby.

Later that day, the caravan left and the Blackrazors were ready for it. They had moved quickly and competently through the jungle and positioned themselves near the jungle road. When the caravan passed them, the Blackrazors took up a slow march about an hour behind it.

The day proved to be grueling.

The jungle heat sapped the strength of Gnarth and Malaclypse, dulling their minds and muscles. They kept going, walking into night. The heat continued to take its toll, driving the gnome and mage to their knees and forcing the Blackrazors to stop.

They set up a camp a few hundred feet from the road. Gnarth and Malaclypse fell asleep as the Blackrazors drew watches. Two hours later, Kalib awoke to the sound of Justiceseeker screaming an alert in his mind. He sat up and saw Gnarth dangling from a vine while another snaked its way toward Kannett. He woke the others and ran to free Gnarth. Other vines struck out at the group as they struggled to mount a counterattack. Aesop invoked a wall of fire in hopes that it would cut the vines off from their trunk.

It worked.

Falgar, knowing that the fire would attack unwanted attention, extinguished it with a wall of ice.

* * *

After the fight with the plants, the Blackrazors withdrew five miles deeper into the jungle, carrying the exhausted Gnarth and Malaclypse as they did so. As they did so they encountered a python, which they killed. Later that night, on Aesop’s watch, the mage saw a face covered in yellow and black war paint. He motioned to Scrappy, and the thief saw the face as well. Then it disappeared. Wisely, the Blackrazors let it go.

In the morning Kalib cast a series of spells to give the adventurers far more endurance. Strengthened, the Blackrazors headed back the way they had come the night before. Malaclypse took the lead, turning himself invisible and moving silently through the woods.

As he scouted the forest, he counted ten natives pacing the Blackrazors. They stayed just out of sight, silently observing the Blackrazors as the adventurers advanced. Then Malaclypse accidentally snapped a twig. The Blackrazors -- who hadn’t seen Malaclypse in nearly 45 minutes -- instantly stopped. They heard a series of bird calls echo around them, but nothing happened. After a few moments, the Blackrazors continued onward.

After two hours, Kalib encountered a snake with a severed head draped over a tree branch. Beneath the snake were a number of small animals in a pile.

It was apparently some sort of offering, but what kind of offering they couldn’t guess.

An hour later, they found food and water left under a tree by the natives. Confused, the Blackrazors decided to leave some of their own rations.

Yet another hour later, they found a spear and blowgun. Falgar responded by leaving a dagger and some copper pieces. Scrappy left a sling bullet, and Karaan left a silver piece. Malaclypse -- still undetected by the natives and his friends -- sneaked in and left out marbles and shurikens.

After another hour, Malaclypse caught up with the natives, and decided to approach them. He silently walked up behind the leader and tapped him on the shoulder -- totally forgetting that he was invisible. He hastily dropped the invisibility spell, but it was too late; the damage had been done.

The leader jumped at the sudden appearance of the strange-looking elf and motioned to his men to attack the spirit. Malaclypse cast protection from normal missiles, and then shrugged off the tribesmen’s attacks.

He cast mirror image, hoping to frighten the natives, but it didn’t work. He then summoned giant centipedes to defend him. He barely had time to order them to attack before the chief threw a magical powder which dropped the elf choking to the ground.

Further off, Kalib heard the sounds of the fight and ran forward. He arrived in time to see the natives finishing off the centipedes.

He hastily identified himself, holding up his rune of pursuit in hope that the natives would understand its power.

"We are northerners here to fight the slavers," he said.

Surprisingly, the natives understood him.

"Thought you were here to kill snake people," the native said. "You killed snake people’s little god."

Damn … the python, Kalib thought.

"You are here to fight slavers, yes?" the leader said.

Kalib nodded.

"We will help. We do not like Scarlet Ones. They hurt the Good People. The Good People hate them. We will help," he said enthusiastically. He reached into his waist pouch and pulled out two small leaf wraps filled with yellow and black paint. "You wear magic war paint," he said.

Kalib took the paint, looked at it, and smiled. "You’ve got a deal."

* * *

The natives sketched out the vicinity of the mine, and said they would help in the attack. Kalib explained that the Blackrazors would do the most of the fighting, but that they would need the help of the natives to lead the slaves to safety.

As they approached the camp they saw a set up similar to the one they’d found down by the docks: several slave pens, several guard towers, and a few barracks.

"Where was that shield generator?" someone mumbled.

"What was that?" Kalib snapped.

No one answered.

"We need to be focused," he said. "Here’s the plan. Malphas, err, Malaclypse, Karaan, and Falgar -- you need to take out the guards as quickly and as silently as you can. Got it?"

They nodded.

"Gnarth, Scrappy, Falgar and I will take care of any surprises. Does everyone understand? I want no screw ups. No walls of fire." he said, looking at Falgar. "No fireballs." He looked at Aesop. "Stick … to … the … plan!" he said in a fierce whisper.

Amazingly, they did just that.

The fight was over in less than five minutes as the first wave of Blackrazors succeeded in paralyzing the lethal tower guards, while their friends took care of the surprised guards on the ground.

Malaclypse , who naturally had decided to go his own way, had killed several guards as he worked his way to the mouth of the mine. Seeing that his comrades had the situation well in hand, he entered the mine.

* * *

Kalib cursed when Malaclypse turned up unaccounted for after the fight. He shook his head in frustration -- everything had been going so well. The Blackrazors had just succeeded in freeing the camp’s slaves, and Kalib called them over to him.

"Tanevir, Aesop, you’re with me. Everyone else, watch the camp."

They entered the tunnel and within 100 feet they found the remains of two guards.

"Malphas…" Kalib growled when he saw them. "He’d better not screw this up."

He didn’t.

Further down the corridor, the Blackrazors found more bodies, but again no sign of a general alarm. When they finally encountered a patrol of guards, they quickly dispatched them. Their efforts drew the attention of the rest of the mine’s guardians. Malaclypse revealed himself at that point, and together the Blackrazors easily overwhelmed the opposition.

After dealing with the guards, finding their trapped friends wasn’t difficult. Ragnar, Aaron, Greggor and Kannett were locked in three separate cells. In there with them was a fifth man they didn’t recognize, who later introduced himself as ‘Math’. The Blackrazors were shocked to see the condition of their friends. They looked tired and bedraggled -- except for Ragnar. The barbarian’s eyes seemed to glow with a light that hadn’t been there before. It wasn’t intelligence exactly, nor wisdom, but it seemed almost … divine. "Kord says that I am a great warrior. Kord says I will be greater priest," Ragnar said as he gave his friend enthusiastic bear hugs.

Aaron, looking tired and downcast, said "he’s been like this since we were captured. He keep’s going on about how Kord saved him and sent him back to the world because of his ‘great bravery.’"

Greggor said "He killed at least two dozen of their soliders, maybe more. He had a half-dozen, no, maybe a full dozen, arrows sticking out of him before he finally went down. He killed a giant crab with one blow … it was impressive."

"You can tell us about it later," Kalib said. "We need to get you out of here."

* * *

The Blackrazors escorted their friends to the surface and rejoined the natives. The slaves let out a cheer when they saw Kalib and the others walk ingot the clearing. "Aaron and Math," he said. "Go with the natives and escort the slaves down to the beach where you first landed. There will be Keolandish sailors waiting for you there. After you're done, Sven will teleport you back to Blue. As for the rest of us ... we've got a score to settle."

An even bigger cheer went up from the slaves, this time augmented by the full force of the Blackrazors. It had been more than a year, but the guild was finally whole again.

This page was last edited on 09/10/99 -- The Griffin's Crier