Adrian: Baldur's Gate

"What is north of here, Faldorn?" Adrian asked her next day, as they began moving again.

"Wyverns. Powerful predators, full of strength and grace. Best to leave them in peace."

"Aye...." said Adrian thoughtfully. He caught Coran's eye. Coran nodded, divining his meaning immediately, and began a low-voiced conversation with Safana.

"Gentlemen! Ladies! Permit me to introduce myself. I am Eldoth Kron."

Adrian stepped forward and appriased him narrowly. This man was obviously a bard. Black hair and brown eyes, complete with mustache. His thin face was shadowed by his hood.

"Can I offer you a drink, valiant warrior?" Eldoth said, oozing charm.

"No thanks. Stick to business."

"Ah, how dissapointing. I do have a proposal for you, however."

"And what is that, pray?"

"I will be glad to aid your party, if in return, you will aid me with a little task in Baldur's Gate. The task is simply this. A young lady there, Skie by name, is prevented from her father from seeing the world. So we rescue her, whille leading her father to beleive we're kidnappers, and blackmail him for her 'safe return', never actually delivering her of course."

"Hmmm...." Adrian rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I've an ample party at the moment. I'll make you a counterproposal. Wait for us in the Gate, and when the time comes, we'll help you secure your doxy. For a cut of the ransom gold, naturally."

"A fair and charitable arrangement," agreed Eldoth, smiling falsely. "I shall meet you in the richest quarter of town." He slipped into the shadows of the trees without another word.

"Leave my wood!" a strange voice demanded.

"What?" Adrian jerked.

Faldorn bowed low. "O great Hamadryad, we mean no harm. Let us pass, and we shall destroy the evil mine."

"I care not for your lies!" the Hamadryad cried in response. Adrian could see her now; her skin was dark as wood, her hair leaf-green. Golden eyes blazed at them with hate. "All intruders must die, including you!"

Faldorn paled. "But the Shadow Druids have served--"

"People all the same!" The Hamadryad shrieked. "Carving out the insides of trees for houses, while claiming to protect us! Tearing up great stones for your so called temples to us! DIE!"

She cast a spell, and suddenly Coran turned on them, eyes blazing with madness. Viconia twitched her fingers at him, dispelling the charm, and he stumbled. Adrian hurled his minor drains, and the mages their magic missiles. The Dryad vanished, obviously a teleport spell, but the missiles and cold blue ball of the drain turnd and shot after her, to her new location. She was hit, they could hear the cries, but were still clueless as to where she was.

"Stay together!" Adrian roared. "Don't let her split us up!"

She appeared between two distant trees, and cast another charm spell, this time at Viconia. Viconia staggered, but shook it off. Adrian and Coran began practicing their archery on her, but she dissapeared again.

In desparation, Faldorn cried out in a strange tounge. An undead wolf appeared at her side, snarled, and charged into the woods.

"He will find her," Faldorn said, sadly.

Indeed he did, and the Hamadryad could not charm the undead creature. Out of teleport spells, she ran at the party...straight at Faldorn. The look in her eyes said she knew she was to die, but she meant to take Faldorn with her.

Openly weeping, Faldorn struck the Dryad with her staff, but she parried the blow with a small dagger. Kagain leaped in but was kicked aside. Adrian likewise stepped up, but a brownskin hand grasped his throat and he gagged. Safana tried to backstab, but the Dryad struck with her other hand, an opened palmed slap, that sent Safana flying, losing her own small dagger in the process.

But this last had left her open, and Faldorn's staff smacked into her neck, breaking it.

The Hamadryad make a gasping noise, and fell over, letting go of Adrian's throat as she did so.

Faldorn knelt before the body, white-faced and weeping. "We always tried to help her..." she sobbed.

Adrian exchanged looks with Coran and the recovering Safana. This was exactly the moment they needed.

"Stay with her Safana," he said. "The rest of us will scout the area, find the path to the mine.

Faldorn was too shocked to argue. Safana sat down beside her, and the rest of the party set off.

"The Wyvern cave," said Coran with satisfaction.

Indeed it was, rising rocky above the trees, a wide opening marking the entrance to the cave. Blood stained the rocks before the opening, and carrion flies buzzed.

"Same trick as the Spider Mound," said Adrian with satisfaction.

Edwin nodded, and he dissapeared himself and Xzar. They dashed inside, cast their fireballs and summoned their monsters, and dashed back out again.

The rest of the party charged in, but soon found that this would be a much tougher fight than the Spider Mound had been.

The cave was huge, wide and dark, and reeked of carrion. The dying sunset light stained the place with bloodied shadows. Three full grown Wyverns--leathery dragonlike things--and six young. All were wounded, but they were picking off the summoned Hobgoblins with ease.

Viconia raised her hands and cried out, calling Skeletons to rise from the bones of their slain victims. Adrian and Coran were firing instantly, and Kagain took on the foremost of the adults. It fell quickly, and now skeletons were engaging the othres. But there simply wasn't enough of them!

Xzar and Edwin re-entered. Xzar summoned the jellies, and Edwin summoned wolves. Now the tide turned.

Even so, a wyvern tail scratched Kagain's face, and down he went, full of poison. Viconia gave him a healing spell, and she and Adrian stepped into the breach.

A jet of flame spurted from Edwin's hands, and one of the young was set on fire. Xzar hissed, and a skull flew from his hands, and detonated into bone shards between the two remaining adults, killing one. Skeletons and jellies were worrying the other, while the wolves batled the young.

Adrian too was poisoned, but by then the last adult was dying. Viconia healed him quickly, and they turned to face the young, as a wave of magic missiles finished off the adult.

But even so there were two young left, and their summoned monsters were vanishing. They might die of simple attrition, or at least Adrian and Viconia would.

For a moment Adrian felt weak, and seemed to sense, distantly, a vast tower chamber full of statues...then Coran leapt past him, breaking the spell, the magic blade from the Spider mound in his hands, wreaking bloody havoc amongst the two remaining wyvern young.

It was over in seconds.

Adrian shook himself. What was it he had seen? Some sort of afterlife? He shrugged. Both he and Kagain had barely escaped with their lives this day, and that was enough to think about.

Coran prised loose an adult Wyvern head, and tucked it in his pack. They found some other gold in the chamber, and limped back to where Faldorn and Safana were. Faldorn was still greiving overmuch for the Hamadryad to realize the implications of their wounds, and they marched on, the night deepening somewhat before they finally camped.

Kagain lay rolled up into a ball on the other side of the campfire, healing slowly. Adrian himself still ached with residual poison. Viconia wasn't faring much better.

"Not glorious today, eh Coran?" said Adrian without humor.

The Elf was pale and drawn. "Nay, Adrian, not glorious at all."