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Adrian Shadows of Amn 40


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#1 Arcalian

Posted 05 July 2003 - 01:47 AM

Adrian had been in longer battles, and would be again. But the fight with the animals outside of Trademeet, and then in the entrance courtyard of that small city, would stay with him for a long time. It seemed as though everything was moving in slow motion.

From the moment the tiger had pounced on him, it was a seemingly never ending battle. There was no real break between one animal attack and the next.

Adrian had fought animals before. It was not like fighting men, elves, dwarves, or monsters. The humanoid races, civilized or otherwise, all tried to formulate a strategy, even if it was not done consciously. Even mindless monsters fought with cunning of a sort. But animals, real animals, had an all-out ferocity that Adrian found hard to match, even in a Bhaalspawn fury.

And these animals were driven yet further. More than simple hunger drove them. There was a gleam in their eyes that had nothing to do with their feral nature; Adrian had seen enchantment enough times to recognize it.

Before the battle was even half over, a light snowfall began, adding to the surrealness of the fight.

It was a long and weary push from the outer walls, through the front gate. Adrian's sword arm grew sore, and in the back of his mind he was very glad that he had decided to start using a shield. The shield was covered with claw and scratch marks in a very short period of time.

Brief flashes of the batle suck in his mind....Tree vaulting over a deer that was doing it's best to gore her with it's antlers....Korgan fending off an attack by a sabre-toothed tiger, the creature's huge fangs drawing sparks from his axe....a Trademeet Archer going down under a horse's trampling hooves.....a wolf that came within inches of his throat witha ferocious snap of it's jaws....Jan desperately firing crossbow bolts into the maw of a charging bull...Anomen backed into a corner, swinging his hammer wildly at a lion.....it went on and on and on.

But finally, the party--tired, wounded, and out of sorts--found themselves in more or less the center of Trademeet's entrance courtyard, with no more animals attacking them. Bodies, both human and animal, lay everywhere. Viconia was tending to a spurting wound in Edwin's shoulder, his fine robes torn open to reveal pale flesh beneath.

Tree was cringing, in an almost physical pain. "The animals--no, the very land itself--it being yanked from mother earth's control, enslaved to another will. It is....so painful..." she whimpered, unable to go on.

"Another druid," said a weary, ragged voice of a Trademeet wizard. "We're doomed. We cannot fight them now. If they've breached the city walls, we're finished."

Adrian turned to confront the spellcaster, eyes blazing. "Look at the company she keeps, fool. Does she strike you as an invader?"

The wizard looked from Adrian to Tree, then to the other party members. "You fight against the animals? I don't undertand..."

"I don't understand either," said Tree. "You mean to say the local druids are responsible for this...this....enslavement?" She sounded horrified.

The old graybeard wizard gave her a more measuring look. "Not from the grove, eh? That explains a few things. At least all the druids in the world haven't run mad. That's something, at least."

"Yer local tree-huggers have finally snapped, eh?" said Korgan. "I cannae say I like em any better, but at least they've got guts."

Tree gave Korgan such a look the cocky battlerager's normal cheerful rage evaporated, and he blinked in astonishment.

Adrian waved an irritated hand at both of them. "Not now, blast it!" he turned to the wizard. "Where do we start?"

"With the mayor, I'd wager. He'll want to talk to the druid amonst you, that's certain."

--------

"Yes," said Lord Mayor Logan, upon hearing their tale. "It relieves me no end that not all druids are mad. I suppose we can let the other one go now; he's not a local, either."

"Other one?" Adrian asked him.

"A fellow named Cernd. Claimed to be investigating the local grove. I locked him up, planning to question him later. But your arrival corroborates his story. I'll let you go talk to him."

The Mayor led them downstairs, from his modest but well apointed chambers, to the town dungeon beneath. He led them to a cell in which a tall, gaunt man with long black hair sat, bent over, his hair obscuring his face.

The Mayor rapped on the bars. "Wake up. It appears you were correct."

Cernd looked up, and through the long obsidian curtain of his hair Adrian could see a stern-yet-calm face, that looked as though it had been carved from stone. Only the eyes seemed a live, intent and almost luminous. There was a strange scent about him that Adrian could not identify; certainly Tree didn't have it, nor had Jaheria or any other druid he had encountered.

"My vindication was as inevitable as the pasing of the seasons," Cernd said in a mellow, resonant voice. "But I am pleased it came before my death."

The Mayor opened the cell door and Tree stepped in, kneeling before her fellow druid. "What has happened here?"

"From what I can discern--and this is not yet certain, a mist still hides the truth--it would appear that those who would cast a Shadow over our kind are responsible."

"Shadow....wait, do you mean Shadow Druids?" Asked Tree.

"Aye, sister in nature, that I do."

Tree turned to Adrian, eyes blazing with a hatred he had never before seen in them, not even when she had found out what Irenicus had done to her mother. "It's her," she hissed, like a snake. "It has to be."

Adrian knew instantly who Tree meant. He hadn't known that Tree was aware of the woman, but neither was he surprised. His own short time with that cold, dirty wench had been very memorable.

"Faldorn," he rumbled, knowing it was true.
The road to the abyss may be paved with good intentions, but it is those with bad intentions that race down that road as fast as they can.

#2 Guest_Winter_Bloom_*

Posted 05 July 2003 - 11:58 PM

Great fight scene with the animals. :evil: Heh, heh, I'm actually looking forward to if and when Adrian gets a statue of himself placed by the fountain. :lol:

#3 Laufey

Posted 06 July 2003 - 08:04 AM

Tree was cringing, in an almost physical pain. "The animals--no, the very land itself--it being yanked from mother earth's control, enslaved to another will. It is....so painful..." she whimpered, unable to go on.


Yes, this would be painful for any druid to visit.

Cernd looked up, and through the long obsidian curtain of his hair Adrian could see a stern-yet-calm face, that looked as though it had been carved from stone. Only the eyes seemed a live, intent and almost luminous. There was a strange scent about him that Adrian could not identify; certainly Tree didn't have it, nor had Jaheria or any other druid he had encountered.


Strange scent, is it? That would be the werewolf thing, I guess.

Adrian knew instantly who Tree meant. He hadn't known that Tree was aware of the woman, but neither was he surprised. His own short time with that cold, dirty wench had been very memorable.


"Faldorn," he rumbled, knowing it was true.


One very unpleasant NPC at that...
Rogues do it from behind.

#4 Arcalian

Posted 08 July 2003 - 12:44 AM

Yah, it's the werewolf thing.

Um. Is Edwina done trying to kill Ano yet?
The road to the abyss may be paved with good intentions, but it is those with bad intentions that race down that road as fast as they can.

#5 Guest_Oryx_*

Posted 19 July 2003 - 08:10 AM

Nice!

scent = lycanthropy

Finally gonna see Faldorn get whupped! You've been building this up, in the story and random comments in random threats, and I'm looking forward to it! Go Treenity!




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