When he is best, he is a little worse than a man;
And when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.
-William Shakespeare
32. Land of 1000 Gnolls
Jade's party was camped out on the north bank of a river, across which the gnoll stronghold itself loomed, visible even in the darkness, a shadow blocking out stars halfway to the zenith of the night sky. They had a small campfire going, and most of the group sat around it. Xzar was telling ghost stories (and summoning a few ethereal spirits to give the accounts first-hand), earning a few chuckles from Montaron and nervous shrieks from Xan. Kagain was merely using the firelight to count the party's money, and Branwen listened on boredly, threatning to Turn each ghost as she grew tired of its hackneyed yarn, causing the spectral undead themselves to be the frightened ones, and then return to their afterlife Planes to tell their ghoulish associates frightening 'Human Stories' of the Tempest-Tempered Turning Tempusian. Only Edwin sat outside the circle, muttering something about his simian companions, his nose buried deep in his gold-leaf spellbook, back toward the fire both to illuminate the pages and to shun any company, except his own conversation with himself.
Though within the circle, Jade sat quietly too. Mulling over the day's events, since the 'high point' of the 'boy' and his 'dog', or Barghest and his Hellhound as Edwin had later informed.
First, crossing the bridge of that other stream, there had been Neville, self-proclaimed 'fairest of all fair bandits.' He was, at least, fairer than the five hobgoblin archers hiding in the brush behind him. Luckily, a hold spell from Branwen had frozen four of them, the fifth had shot for the cleric, never getting a shot through her armor before being brained with a spiritual hammer, and Neville himself was overpowered by the two-on-one of Jade and Kagain while the others peppered him with bolts and darts.
Then there had another annoying, incompetent bandit party, the couple Teyngan and Jemby, and their hobgoblin 'friend' Zekar. They'd demanded money. What they'd gotten was trapped in Xzar's inaugural Web spell, to the necromancer's very proud delight. Zekar had been unable to charge and been beaned and performated by Jade's arrows and Branwen's bullets, Teyngan's clerical powers hadn't kept him healthy for long against the bolts and axes of the miserly midgets Kagain and Montaron, and Jemby hadn't gotten a single spell of her own off under the 'arcane firing squad', as Jade had dubbed her three wizards - Xzar the hallucinating paranoid-delusional Necromancer in the Acid Green cape, Xan the sickly manic-depressive Enchanter in the Shrinking Violet robe, and Edwin the egomaniacal obsessive-compulsive Conjurer in the Royal Red cowl.
Then there had been the xvart village. Her party had been walking along, into the lower, rocky foothills of the Cloudpeaks on their way to the stronghold, and found themselves at the edge of a cluster of hovels, which turned out to be populated with what must have been one hundred xvarts. You call us monster! Nexlit the xvart screeched at her. But you attack us when we do nothing to you! Ursus protect us. You the monster!
The battle had been easy enough, xvarts being mowed by the warriors like grass while Xan enchanted them into napping in droves with sleep spells. Pretending he didn't need any pointers from Xzar, Edwin had burned down the village with his first Aganazzar's Scorcher. The necromancer and conjurer had then found mutual amusement in taunting Xan with the prospect of the Fireballs they would surely be casting within a tenday. 'Ursus' had been found in his cave, hibernating, easily dispatched and netting Branwen an enchanted flail. Hacking the pathetically weak xvarts down left and right with her golden bastard sword had almost been...fun. The smell of their blood invogorating. Jade was moved to fond memories of the summer kobold-scourings with her brother and their half-orcish friend Grom among a few others, under the instructive eyes of Tethtoril. But now Nexlit's words echoed in her head again. You the monster!
And then there had been Laurel the paladin. Smiling at Jade and explaining her crusade. "Gibberlings are a plauge that must be wiped from the Sword Coast." There hadn't been much time for pondering this during the onslaught of the hostile horde, but now Jade sat and thought with a knotted stomach. If she hadn't cut Nexlit clean in half with her bastard sword, she's swear he was whispering in her ear then too. You the monster!
After finishing off a ghost story involving two human teenagers and a hobgoblin with a hook for a hand, which left Montaron in stiches, Xan shivering with his head buried in his cowl like an ostrich, Kagain smoking his pipe indifferently, and Branwen grumbling something about squeamish mainlanders, Xzar peered lucidly at Jade, who sat next to him, while Montaron next to him started up another ghost story about a necromancer named 'Poah' with a beating heart buried in his basement. Given the content of the story, Jade was comforted by her own deathly-arts practioner's fixed attention to her.
"Something troubling you?" he asked her in a clinical whisper.
She looked up at her childhood friend and smiled. "It's that thing I did with Mulahey, and the Amnish today...it just doesn't make any sense."
Xzar nodded. "The Shield spell. It would seem you have some sort of innate ability, mommy."
Neither of them noticed as, from outside the circle, Edwin suddenly lifted his nose out of his spellbook and peered with beady black eyes at Jade and Xzar, his bushy eyebrows piqued with interest.
"I can't say I mind extra power," Jade twisted her mouth, "But I don't like not knowing what's happening."
The necromancer bit his knuckles, but stayed calm. "Some people just have these things you know. Magic in the blood. Like sorcerers. But your metal armor didn't seem to hinder you at-all, did it? No no nno and not today! Not like the sorcerers. Though some can, with practice. Armored arcana. Quite a feat, yes. Curious, curious. Perhaps the Dukes of Dust and their perriwinkle seers will understand..."
Xzar relapsed into disjointed rambling, and Jade merely looked down and sighed. While Kagain, Montaron, and Branwen continued swapping stories, the Thayvian furtively peered over the top of his spellbook at Jade. His eyes peeking out of his skirt again, so did the Greycloak.
Jade shook her head, and ran her fingers through her scarlet hair. "Xzar, what's a monster?"
She'd spoke aloud, and the others, having just finished their tale, all turned to look at the tattooed youth with the spiky blonde hair, who nodded sagely, and rested a chin on his fist.
"In the beginning, all was dark, and void..."
----------------
In the chaotic evil plane of Tarterus, the spirit of Boris ran in a pack with many other deceased Malarites, all being hunted for sport by their common patron in life, and his troupe of vicious and eternally hungry pets, the Beasts of Malar. The Thayvian tracker was in his fourth night of this supposedly eternal fate, but watching lazily from a high perch in a tree nearby, was a fellow who had at the last Feast of the Beast spoken with him and recorded his tale, after himself hopping from the Sixth Hell just this day, if there was just a thing in the lower planes. Chewing a leftover roast leg of unicorn, the tiefling vainly brushed back his flowing blue hair with his quill before it returned to the parchment to continue embellishing the tale of the dark ranger, his scribe growing fascinated with the yet-living characters and larger events alluded to ere its abrupt ending.
BORIS
Thou art but monster, I shall be thy fall!
GNAMESH
No, O human, monsters are we all.
BORIS swings, GNAMESH disarms and drives halberd through chest of BORIS. Exeunt.
-----------------
Dawn broke over the gnoll stronghold.
The party that had formed grown from Onyx and Imoen came to a wide bridge over the river that surrounded the stronghold, almost like a boat. The river made a steep canyon below the bridge, and it looked a rather unpleasant place to fall. The swift, violent current and sharp rocks would doubtless tear a hapless swimmer to shreds. They had ranged weapons loaded and ready as they warily set foot upon the bridge, and sure enough, two ogres seemed to be standing menacingly at the other end.
"That's funny," Onyx muttered, staring down his drawn arrow, "In the stories, trolls guard the bridges."
"Stop!" one of the ogres roared, pounding his morning star against his palm. "Me Gnarl, this Hairtooth! This our bridge, you pay to walk it!"
"Yeah, you pay..." Haitooth slobbered as he thought, "200 for all heads, or lose heads! Yeah!"
Looking Gnarl in the eye - by lining up his arrow with it - Onyx called, "No deal!"
Hairtooth looked at Gnarl for a moment, and one could almost see his mental gears turning. Slowly. "O.K., maybe 200 gold too much. Maybe you pay...100 gold!"
Gnarl laughed, "100 gold for all heads, or lose heads! Pretty good deal."
Deliberately exact same intonation, Onyx called "No deal!"
Gnarl growled, and stepped forward. "Your head so dumb you not miss it!"
"Yeah!" Hairtooth laughed. "We kill you, take stuff, and get gold anyway! Dumb head!"
"Hooboy," Imoen sighed, her shortbow drawn, "These guys really have a thing with heads!"
"I'd rather not think about that," Jaheira grimaced.
The two ogres charged, shaking the bridge, and the druid unleashed an entanglement spell. Vines sprout from its very planks. The huge ogres managed to pull their huge feet out, ripping foliage as they went, but it slowed thier pace considerably. Onyx, Khalid, Minsc, and Imoen unleashed a hail of arrows, bolstered by bolts and bullets from Jaheira, Viconia, and Garrick. It was only a matter of time before each ogre collapsed, its face resembling a pincushion. The bridge shook unnervingly as the ogre bodies crashed into it, and sound of boards cracking and ropes straining echoed up and down. Jaheira dismissed her vines with a flick of her wrist, and the party carefully traipsed across the rickety, two-ogres-heavy bridge, Imoen stopping briefly to loot the bodies.
"Oh wow!" Garrick beamed as Imoen showed off her wares once they were safely on hard ground. "Gauntlets of dexterity!"
Viconia scoffed. "Designed to achieve the pinnacle of human dexterity. Bah! They would hinder me!" She went into a strange, darkly alluring dance, unhindered by her anhkeg plate to effect no human woman could have replicated, singing huskily in her native tongue.
Not regretting his find in a Nashkel field the previous morn, Onyx smiled. "Nice shot back there by the way, Viccy. You got Hairtooth right in the eye."
"You are wise to acknowledge my skills, barbarian," the drow stopped with hands on hips. "I have observed the same lack in others. I think our treehugging friend, despite her elg'caress heritage, is most in need of these."
With a subtle nod to Garrick from Onyx, who agreed but didn't want to do more than necessary to sting his guardian's pride, Jaheira grudging accepted the gauntlets, slipping them on and then twirling her quarterstaff gracefully. "Nice," she smiled, her pride momentarily forgotten for the practical magnitude of the find.
"Viconia," Onyx pointed to the stronghold proper, which was nestled in the rocky terrain of the island they had traversed to, "What do your drow eyes see?"
"Little, in this light," she snarled impatiently. "You are a fool to mistake me for an elg'caress," she looked dismissively at Jaheira gain.
The druid sighed, and glanced up at the stronghold, upon which the morning light poured. "Covered in gnolls," she stated. "Must be over a hundred. We really shouldn't just muscle through them."
"Muscle has always worked for Minsc!"
There was an echoing hamster squeak, but it sounded less eager than usual, and this seemed to make even the headstrong berserker wary.
Jaheira sighed again, and continued, "The formation of the craggy rocks at the base of the stronghold, somehow suggests a cave network to me. I suggest we explore." The rest of the party nodded. They wound their way around south of the stronghold, across narrow rock ledges that hung precipitously over the swirling canyon river. Sure enough, there appeared to be cave entrances into the rocks, but also a wandering patrol of halberd-toting gnolls.
"Die scum!" the growled in deep, gravely voice, and charged with their halberds raised.
Onyx and Imoen had never seen gnolls before, although of course they'd seen pictures in books back in Candlekeep. They were huge, ugly beasts, much taller than a man, taller even than Minsc, with the stoop and faces of enormous dogs standing on their hind legs.
"Gnolls!!!" Minsc cried, holding aloft an enchanted two-handed sword donating by a half-ogre bandit outside Nashkel, "GNOLLS STOLE OUR WITCH! THESE DOG-MEN HAVE THE STENCH OF EEEEEVIL!! GO FOR THE EYES, BOO, GO FOR THE EYES!!!"
The ranger went into the berserk fury with which he'd defended the dryad, felling two with one roundhouse cleave. Onyx and Khalid were, more rationally, using bows to pick off the gnolls at range, but Minsc even in his furious might would be overwhelmed alone in melee, so they drew their longswords and charged. Varscona cleft clean through the wooden halberd halves, as did Minsc's blade which he swung with great strength and rage, and Khalid's attacks were more modest, but he feigned or blocked halberd blows while returning fruitful stabs. Viconia managed to peg a gnoll right in the eye again, and Jaheira's bullets flew with noticably improved accuracy at the monsters, and with sharp missiles unloaded by Imoen and Garrick, the gnoll patrol was soon dogmeat. Looting a few coins and gems off the gnolls, the party continued past them, into the caves.
----------------
"Someone's been here recently," Jade shouted as her party dashed across the bridge, upon which two fresh ogre bodies lay, their faces full of arrows. "Could it be...."
"Of course it is!" Edwin snapped from behind her. Despite his long robes and the stereotpyes of his profession, he was a decent runner, breathing healthily, and soon at her side. "The witch's mad berserker must have come here, perhaps with friends. (And I regret inferring that I have little doubt over who they might be, my scarlet-haired simian). We must hurry!"
Kagain wasn't a fast runner, but he was steady; Branwen so too. Xzar seemed capable of extremely quick bursts, accompanied by spastic arm flailings and wild ravings. Montaron was going as fast as a halfling can, and Xan, though anything but athletic, did stride with the stereotypical swift, lightfooted nature of his people.
"Alas, there are so many gnolls up there!" the enchanter whimpered, looking up at the fortress with his elf-eyes, "A direct assault will surely be suicide, but at least end the misery more swiftly than an approach of inevitably-inadequate circumspection."
Kagain pointed a stubby finger to the left, to the craggy rocks at the base of the stronghold. "I'd bet my beard there'll be caves that'll lead up through the rock."
"A possibility," Jade nodded midstride, "But even if they lead up into the fortress, we'd still be surrounded by gnolls."
"Don't go below, go above!" Xzar pointed in the opposite direction, to the right. A path led steeply uphill. The gnoll stronghold, rather than a freestanding fortress, wast actually built against a small mountain. Indeed it looked almost as if its foundations had been carved right out of its south face; and the bricks matched the rock. This path seemed to wind upward, leading to ledges and even tufts of grass on the mountain that overlooked the top levels of the stronghold.
"Ooo," the necromancer broke into sing-song, "On top of ole' Smooookey, all covered with gnolls, we shoot down spells and arrows, pierce them full of holes!"
"He may be crazy," Montaron hissed, "But he's got an idea, there."
"Let's go," Jade said.
The party climbed up the steep path. One four-strong gnoll patrol bore down on them at length, but even shooting uphill, the party felled thembefore they got reached halberd range. They continued climbing, and at last, as they passed the top towers of the stronghold in elevation, the natural mountain flattered out, and there was even grass growing along a modest plateau overlooking it. "Be quiet," Jade whispered to her companions as they crept along the ridge, gnolls noisly doing gnoll-business below. "No one fire or cast until I do." Jade signaled to the others to take various sniping positions. She at last took one of her own, and lay on her stomach on the grass, her longbow in one hand and an arrow in the other, looking down into the stronghold. There were indeed at least a hundred gnolls, some with different colorings on their armor probably denoting ranks, which were also evident in the way they barked at each other. They really are like big dogs, Jade thought, An obvious pack structure. Perhaps I can use it against them...where's the proverbial leader of the pack? They were moving about, some guarding, leaving or returning to the fortress on patrols. Others were carrying, cooking, flaying, or eating human and demihuman carcasses.
-----------------
"Carrion crawlers!"
The massive centipede-like beasts crawled towards the other party the moment they entered the cave. The dank, damp tunnel reeked of refuse, and the beasts themselves were worse. They were coated with it. Quarters were too close for bows, and Onyx, Khalid, and Minsc could barely stand abreast in the narrow cavern, hacking away at the disgusting creatres, chopping off legs, antenna, and insectlike eating apparati. The creatures smelled worse when they were hacked open, their blood like sewage, a foul greenish-brown slime.
"Cover your nose, Boo!" Minsc screamed as his greatsword chopped a carrion crawler clean in half. "The Stench of Garbage accompanies the Stench of Evil, but we will clean your fur of both once our witch is safe and sound!" The squeak had a distinct 'pee-uuu' whistle to it.
No sooner had the warriors dispatched the carrion crawlers, and the party stepped over their bodies, avoiding as much of the disgusting gore and other offal in the cave as possible, than a familiar "Eeeeeeee!!!!" echoed from ahead.
"Xvarts," Jaheira groaned. The tiny blue monsters charged the party, but Onyx, Minsc, and Khalid all shoulder-to-shoudler swung low and across like machete-wielding gardeners, their swords chopping xvarts in half or sending them flying into the walls with little SPLATS, their own tiny, rusty shortswords barely able to knick the men's boots. Behind them, Jaheira, Viconia, and Imoen shot the occasional well-aimed bullet or arrow between two warriors into a hapless xvart. One skittered right between Minsc's legs with room to spare, but Imoen got it point-blank. Another went under Onyx with a flyby stab upward, but Viconia hammered its face in before it turned him into a paladin of unsurpassable celibacy. Another copy-cat tried with Khalid, but knocked its forehead on the half-elf's codpiece and passed out before it could insure he and Jaheira remained a childless couple. Garrick, unable to aim his crossbow with two rows of companions in front, strummed his harp and sang a dizzyingly energetic and dischordant tune that had the xvarts whimpering, covering their ears, spinning around like little blue tops, or crashing into walls. One even crossed its eyes, drooled, and started poking at an ally's posterior with its little blade.
"Play on, Bard!" Minsc laughed while mowing down xvarts, "'Tis sweet music to my furry friend!"
The tunnel opened into a wide chamber, about which refuse and old boxes were strewn. Imoen, Viconia, and Garrick rummaged about, producing a few scrolls and even a strange, enormous red-and-brown tome.
The bard opened the front cover and peered at it. "Hmmm....'How to Win Friends and Influence People'. Pretty heavy reading, too heavy for me!" He grunted as hefted the tome into Minsc's backpack.
Mercifully, the cave grew drier but only marginally cleaner as they proceeded further back and it wound its way upward. Viconia inhaled, and spat with disgust. "I smell gnoll ahead."
Onyx smiled. "Then it does lead up into the stronghold."
Khalid avoided a large pile of gnoll-droppings and muttered, "This m-m-must be their sewer!"
"Ewwww," Imoen wrinkled her nose adorably, "Did we have to come this way? I love sneaking, but not through sewage."
"Get used to it, rivvel child," Viconia snorted.
"It's all natural," Jaheira looked down at the refuse, and repeated the mantra, "Remember, Jaheira, it's all natur- ooooh, by Silvanus, what's that horrible smell?"
The tunnel grew steeper and steeper, and at last the 'natural' cavern opened into a rectangular room of dull yellow-brown brick, matching those of the exterior of the stronghold. They filtered through the room and into a dark underground hallway. It was musty but mercifully deserted, and Viconia's elven ears perked up as she heard the heavy footsteps and canine growls of gnolls above them.
"Dynaheir! Dynaheir!" Minsc cried through the eerily quiet gloom. "Where are yoooouuuu......Boo says he misses youuuu...."
"Silence, imbecil!" Viconia hissed.
Onyx kindly patted Minsc on the back. "We'll search down here. And if that doesn't turn up anything....we spring up onto the decks, a hundred gnolls or no. She must be found."
------------------------
Jade had found him. The leader. He was the largest gnoll of all, and barked orders at the rest in a voice that must have echoed into the Cloudpeaks themselves. He carried a truly finely crafted halberd, and his armor was ornate. Such nice armor, made to fit a gnoll..? The young woman wondered. Could they really make it themselves. Or do these gnolls serve another....?
Edwin stared down intently, looking in vain for the Wychalarn, or for the magically-equipped gnoll chieftain who had made off with her two nights ago. This leader was some other. "These fleabags have ruined everything!" he hissed. "My career could be irrevocably hobbled! Could I even return to the Motherland...?"
Jade had also noticed that the top deck of the stronghold had several circular pits in it, which the gnolls peered down into, licking their snouts and slobbering. She could see severed, gnawed boy parts strewn around them. Food. People. That witch is in one of those. Pity I don't have a line of sight down into one, or I could probably pick her off and satisfy Edwin without ever having to set foot on the stronghold or bother with the gnolls.
She looked to her left. Kagain, who barely had to squat to hide from the gnolls below, had a throwing axe in hand and several more laid out. Montaron, who simply stood up near him, had his crossbow rested on a rock like some pint-size sharpshooter. Further to the left, Edwin sat cross-legged as he seethed, his manicured fingers splayed and ready to cast. To Jade's immediate right, Branwen was also prostrate, her hands folded almost in prayer, and further off was Xzar, whose fingers twitched wildly, and Xan, who gloomily peered down at the endless mass of monsters, and muttered forecasts of their inevitable dismemberment with gory details that would rival Xzar's most macabre ramblings.
The sun was with them - it was at their backs, not in their eyes, and discouraging gnolls from looking up in their direction as it shined over the mountaintop. Jade got to her knees, and pulled her arrow taut, staring down the shaft at the gnoll leader. Luckily, he wore no helm and was the tallest gnoll, so even though others swarmed about him, she could make out his head. If he'd just quit moving!
Then at last, as he stopped moving for a moment to lift a leg of roast (human) to his fangs and gnaw upon the meat hungrily, his jaw crunching but his head largely still, she had her chance. Her right thumb and forefinger lifted from the butt of the shaft, and the arrow slid gracefully forward with the bowstring, sliding over her thumb and alongside the yew-wood, and left her bow. It sailed true through the air, and just as the gnoll leader had his maw open wide for a chomp, the arrowhead flew into his throat, piercing the roof of his mouth, cutting through the base of his brain, and appeared out the back of his furry head. He dropped, dead, bowling over two gnolls near him. The others growled, looking this way and that with their halberds rasied, and none seemed to figure the direction of the sniper until a hailstorm was upon them. Edwin fired a greenish orb down which exploded into a sickly sticking cloud, Xzar on Jade's other flank cast a small whitish-grey ball which hit the deck of the stronghold and burst into a large ring of sticky spiderwebs. Xan's yellowish-white orb landed among the gnolls with a silent tingle, and the five nearest gnolls immediately shut their eyes and dropped, dog-napping with their tongues lollygagging before they'd hit the ground. Branwen's spell caused another bunch to freeze in place. All those immoblized made easy potshots for Jade and Montaron.
The amassed gnolls were swarming with panicked chaos, now aware of the direction of their assailants, but unable to do much about it. A few did grab loose stones or bricks and fling them upwards at the plateau, and some of them smashed close enough to drive Xan into a new panic, but none met any marks. The chain of command broken, the swarmed aimlessly and without formation, some simply trying to escape, others to hurl more projectiles, even their halberds, or try in vain to scale the rock face the stronghold nestled against.
Another wave of spells rendered more gnolls helpless, and they were cut to pieces by the continued hail of missiles. More and more began simply fleeing down the stairs leading to lower levels of the fortress and out the front gates. Some ran towards the doors in the fortress's upper walls, to escape the new outdoor forecast of magic and missiles. It was then that Jade noticed a gnoll, disappearing into a door one moment, flew back out of it with a massive slash across its face, and landed face-up and dead, as if showing this off to her.
Are they attacking each other? she wondered in between arrow shots, But that...looks more like the slash of a sword than a halberd. And the wound even looks slightly...frosted.
More gnolls poured into the doors leading within the stronghold, but many also scampered out again, yipping like scared puppies, and headed for the stairways leading down the front of the stronghold, though most never made it before arrows and bolts bit their back.
At last, the upper decks were clear of live gnolls. The body was littered with bodies, and living ones were yipping as they careened down the staircases to the base of the stronghold, disappeared down the rocky trails at its base.
"That's that!" Jade called, and her companions stood tall on the plateau.
"I can't see the witch anywhere from up here!" Edwin snarled, dusting off his red robes. "Let us hope that was her thigh the chieftain was gnawing upon. (On the other hand, if he's deprived me the joy of slaying her myself, I shall be rather put out). Quick!" he called to his companions. "We must go back down the trail, and march up the stronghold itself!"
"I give the orders, Thayvian," Jade yelled, but signaled to her companions to follow.
----------------
The search within the stronghold had proved fruitless, and the quiet had been disrupted when gnolls suddenly began pouring through the doors leading to the roof of the stronghold, yipping with inexplicable terror. Onyx and his companions had found themselves embroiled in random cramped quarter melee, but these gnolls were terrified, many already woundeds, as if engaging the adventurers was preferable to some other fate upon them on the outdoor decks. In their injured & bewilded state they were no match for the party, especially Minsc who chopped with down left and right with a witch-yearning rage, fearless and upstoppable like some living legend - which, if the verses Garrick spun on the fly caught on, he might be in days to come.
They pressed down a hallway with Onyx and Minsc in the lead, Khalid a step behind and between, and Jaheira and Viconia behind the triagle of swordsmen healing their occasional halberd-wounds. At last they pushed to the end of the hallway, and blinding sunlight filtered through the doorway before them. Onyx struck one gnoll so hard with Varscona that he flew out the doorway with a frosted wound. As Khalid's half-elven eyes adjusted, he could make out a number of other mangled gnoll bodies littering the deck. Once they burst through the doorway and found themselves under the bright blue sky again, they all saw that the deck was now deserted of live gnolls. It looked as if they had just torn each other to shreds. Or been torn up by some other force.
"Jade is here," Onyx stated flatly.
Jaheira, ever skeptical, peered at her charge. "How do you know?"
The paladin touching the tip of Varscona to the feathers of the arrow sticking out of the fallen gnoll chief's mouth, recognizing those crafted and sold at Winthrop's store. He then pointed to those in his own quiver.
"In the circular pit ahead," Viconia called, her elven ears perked, "I can hear a woman's voice echoing out."
"Dyyynaheeeirr!!!" Minsc cried, bounding forward in the direction the drow pointed. "Minsc and Booooo are coommiiing for yooou!!!!"
Onyx dashed forward alongside the ranger, across the deck. But as they neared the circular pit, noises could be heard from further ahead, in the direction of a stairway leading up from a lower deck. Just before they reached the pit, Onyx looked up, as Jade ascended the stairway and strode purposefully toward him. Neither brother nor sister bore any surprise in their visage. And this, too, each noticed of the other.
They reached the edge of the pit at the same moment. After almost no appraisal of each other, as if they'd never parted company, they both looked down into the hole A red-cloaked figure ascended the stairway behind Jade, and glided to the edge of the pit just as Minsc reached it too. The wizard and the ranger glared at one another for a moment, then all four looked down.
In the bottom of the pit, surrounded by human body parts and even a fresh gnoll corpse, she stood regally, a chocolate-skinned woman in tattered indigo robes.
Gate/Off - 32 - Land of 1000 Gnolls
Started by
Guest_Oryx_*
, Sep 25 2003 11:10 AM
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Guest_Helseth_*
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Posted 25 September 2003 - 06:39 PM
Though within the circle, Jade sat quietly too. Mulling over the day's events, since the 'high point' of the 'boy' and his 'dog', or Barghest and his Hellhound as Edwin had later informed.
"The Barghest and His Hellhound". Maybe Haer/Raelis will write such a play? 
She looked up at her childhood friend and smiled. "It's that thing I did with Mulahey, and the Amnish today...it just doesn't make any sense."
Xzar nodded. "The Shield spell. It would seem you have some sort of innate ability, mommy."
Good Spellcraft check
Armored arcana. Quite a feat, yes.
LOL
His eyes peeking out of his skirt again, so did the Greycloak.
Skirt? That's not a dress, that's a robe! Jade shook her head, and ran her fingers through her scarlet hair. "Xzar, what's a monster?"
Interesting to hear his version...
"Stop!" one of the ogres roared, pounding his morning star against his palm. "Me Gnarl, this Hairtooth! This our bridge, you pay to walk it!"
Oh, it's these. I thought they were crossing the bridge with Ogre Berserkers. These two are pushovers.
Viconia scoffed. "Designed to achieve the pinnacle of human dexterity. Bah! They would hinder me!" She went into a strange, darkly alluring dance, unhindered by her anhkeg plate to affect no human woman could have replicated, singing huskily in her native tongue.
Maybe "affect" should be "effect"?
"You are wise to acknowledge my skills, barbarian," the drow stopped with hands on hips. "I have observed the same lack in others. I think our treehugging friend, despite her elg'caress heritage, is most in need of these."
Shooting contest, anyone?
Maybe that's why Viccy in game has a soft spot for Kivan. Oh, it's just registered. "Harpy heritage?" "Viconia," Onyx pointed to the stronghold proper, which was nestled in the rocky terrain of the island they had traversed to, "What do your drow eyes see?"
A great big flaming ball in the sky
"Little, in this light," she snarled impatiently. "You are a fool to mistake me for an elg'caress," she looked dismissively at Jaheira gain.
There she goes with an "elg'caress" business again. Viconia seems to have highly developed death wish
.There was an echoing hamster squeak as usual, but it sounded less eager than usual, and this seemed to make even the headstrong berserker wary.
Maybe two "usuals" are too close together?
"Gnolls!!!" Minsc cried, holding aloft an enchanted two-handed sword donating by a half-ogre bandit outside Nashkel, "GNOLLS STOLE OUR WITCH! THESE DOG-MEN HAVE THE STENCE OF EEEEEVIL!! GO FOR THE EYES, BOO, GO FOR THE EYES!!!"
SQUEAK!
"Of course it is!" Edwin snapped from behind her. Despite his long robes and the stereotpyes of his profession, he was a decent runner, breathing healthily, and soon at her side. "The witch's mad berserker must have come here, perhaps with friends. (And I regret inferring that I have little doubt over who they might be, my scarlet-haired simian). We must hurry!"
Wow! That "scarlet-haired simian" sounds almost... poetical. Edwin the Silver-Tongued
"Alas, there are so many gnolls up there!" the enchanter whimpered, looking up at the fortress with his elf-eyes, "A direct assault will surely be suicide, but at least end the misery more swiftly than an approach of inevitably-inadequate circumspection."
Good tactician!There were indeed at least a hundred gnolls, some with different colorings on their armor probably denoting ranks, which were also evident in the way they barked at each other. They really are like big dogs, Jade thought, An obvious pack structure. Perhaps I can use it against them...where's the proverbial leader of the pack? They were moving about, some guarding, leaving or returning to the fortress on patrols. Others were carrying, cooking, flaying, or eating human and demihuman carcasses.
Ewww
Near-lying villages should be really grateful to our Bhaalspawns
As they filtered through the room and into a dark underground hallway.
Maybe this phrase is unfinished?
"Dynaheir! Dynaheir!" Minsc cried through the eerily quiet gloom. "Where are yoooouuuu......Boo says he misses youuuu...."
"Silence, imbecil!" Viconia hissed.
Covert operation...Then at last, as he stopped moving for a moment to lift a leg of roast (human) to his fangs and gnaw upon the meat hungrily, his jaw crunching but his head largely still, she had her chance. Her right thumb and forefinger lifted from the butt of the shaft, and the arrow slid gracefully forward with the bowstring, sliding over her thumb and alongside the yew-wood, and left her bow. It sailed true through the air, and just as the gnoll leader had his maw open wide for a chomp, the arrowhead flew into his throat, piercing the roof of his mouth, cutting through the base of his brain, and appeared out the back of his furry head. He dropped, idead, bowling over two gnolls near him. The others growled, looking this way and that with their halberds rasied, and none seemed to figure the direction of the sniper until a hailstorm was upon them. Edwin fired a greenish orb down which exploded into a sickly sticking cloud, Xzar on Jade's other flank cast a small whitish-grey ball which hit the deck of the stronghold and burst into a large ring of sticky spiderwebs. Xan's yellowish-white orb landed among the gnolls with a silent tingle, and the five nearest gnolls immediately shut their eyes and dropped, dog-napping with their tongues lollygagging before they'd hit the ground. Branwen's spell caused another bunch to freeze in place. All those immoblized made easy potshots for Jade and Montaron.
The amassed gnolls were swarming with panicked chaos, now aware of the direction of their assailants, but unable to do much about it. A few did grab loose stones or bricks and fling them upwards at the plateau, and some of them smashed close enough to drive Xan into a new panic, but none met any marks. The chain of command broken, the swarmed aimlessly and without formation, some simply trying to escape, others to hurl more projectiles, even their halberds, or try in vain to scale the rock face the stronghold nestled against.
Another wave of spells rendered more gnolls helpless, and they were cut to pieces by the continued hail of missiles. More and more began simply fleeing down the stairs leading to lower levels of the fortress and out the front gates. Some ran towards the doors in the fortress's upper walls, to escape the new outdoor forecast of magic and missiles. It was then that Jade noticed a gnoll, disappearing into a door one moment, flew back out of it with a massive slash across its face, and landed face-up and dead, as if showing this off to her.
Good battle description. Controlled and tactical. And it shows what even a (relatively) low-level magic can do against groups of foes.
Are they attacking each other? she wondered in between arrow shots, But that...looks more like the slash of a sword than a halberd. And the wound even looks slightly...frosted.
Oh, that's them! Time for reunion!
They reached the edge of the pit at the same moment. After almost no appraisal of each other, as if they'd never parted company, they both looked down into the hole A red-cloaked figure ascended the stairway behind Jade, and glided to the edge of the pit just as Minsc reached it too. The wizard and the ranger glared at one another for a moment, then all four looked down.
In the bottom of the pit, surrounded by human body parts and even a fresh gnoll corpse, she stood regally, a chocolate-skinned woman in tattered indigo robes.
Uh-oh. Said reunion could be a bit bloody...
Good chapter! Very action-filled, just as I like
And with nice cliffhanger too
#3
Guest_Oryx_*
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Posted 25 September 2003 - 08:32 PM
Though within the circle, Jade sat quietly too. Mulling over the day's events, since the 'high point' of the 'boy' and his 'dog', or Barghest and his Hellhound as Edwin had later informed.
Perhaps. Reminds me, I meant to add that Haer met them in the Sixth Hell that morning.
She looked up at her childhood friend and smiled. "It's that thing I did with Mulahey, and the Amnish today...it just doesn't make any sense."
Xzar nodded. "The Shield spell. It would seem you have some sort of innate ability, mommy."
Good Spellcraft check
LOL
Armored arcana. Quite a feat, yes.
LOL
our next 3e reference!
His eyes peeking out of his skirt again, so did the Greycloak.
Kilt?
Jade shook her head, and ran her fingers through her scarlet hair. "Xzar, what's a monster?"
Interesting to hear his version...
LOL. "Another word for 'friend.' "
"Stop!" one of the ogres roared, pounding his morning star against his palm. "Me Gnarl, this Hairtooth! This our bridge, you pay to walk it!"
Oh, it's these. I thought they were crossing the bridge with Ogre Berserkers. These two are pushovers.
Yep. Missiles do the trick.
Viconia scoffed. "Designed to achieve the pinnacle of human dexterity. Bah! They would hinder me!" She went into a strange, darkly alluring dance, unhindered by her anhkeg plate to affect no human woman could have replicated, singing huskily in her native tongue.
Maybe "affect" should be "effect"?
thanks
"You are wise to acknowledge my skills, barbarian," the drow stopped with hands on hips. "I have observed the same lack in others. I think our treehugging friend, despite her elg'caress heritage, is most in need of these."
Shooting contest, anyone?
LOL
Viccy had best hope Jaheira doesn't speak Drow.
"Viconia," Onyx pointed to the stronghold proper, which was nestled in the rocky terrain of the island they had traversed to, "What do your drow eyes see?"
A great big flaming ball in the sky
Pretty much....the light! it burns!
"Little, in this light," she snarled impatiently. "You are a fool to mistake me for an elg'caress," she looked dismissively at Jaheira gain.
There she goes with an "elg'caress" business again. Viconia seems to have highly developed death wish
She and Jaheira are not exactly good pals....
There was an echoing hamster squeak as usual, but it sounded less eager than usual, and this seemed to make even the headstrong berserker wary.
Maybe two "usuals" are too close together?
thanks, changed
"Gnolls!!!" Minsc cried, holding aloft an enchanted two-handed sword donating by a half-ogre bandit outside Nashkel, "GNOLLS STOLE OUR WITCH! THESE DOG-MEN HAVE THE STENCE OF EEEEEVIL!! GO FOR THE EYES, BOO, GO FOR THE EYES!!!"
SQUEAK!
yep!
"Of course it is!" Edwin snapped from behind her. Despite his long robes and the stereotpyes of his profession, he was a decent runner, breathing healthily, and soon at her side. "The witch's mad berserker must have come here, perhaps with friends. (And I regret inferring that I have little doubt over who they might be, my scarlet-haired simian). We must hurry!"
Wow! That "scarlet-haired simian" sounds almost... poetical. Edwin the Silver-Tongued
LOL
"Alas, there are so many gnolls up there!" the enchanter whimpered, looking up at the fortress with his elf-eyes, "A direct assault will surely be suicide, but at least end the misery more swiftly than an approach of inevitably-inadequate circumspection."
heh. General Xan.
There were indeed at least a hundred gnolls, some with different colorings on their armor probably denoting ranks, which were also evident in the way they barked at each other. They really are like big dogs, Jade thought, An obvious pack structure. Perhaps I can use it against them...where's the proverbial leader of the pack? They were moving about, some guarding, leaving or returning to the fortress on patrols. Others were carrying, cooking, flaying, or eating human and demihuman carcasses.
Ewww
Dinner-time!
Near-lying villages should be really grateful to our Bhaalspawns
oooooh yeah. Who ya gonna call?
As they filtered through the room and into a dark underground hallway.
Maybe this phrase is unfinished?
thanks
"Dynaheir! Dynaheir!" Minsc cried through the eerily quiet gloom. "Where are yoooouuuu......Boo says he misses youuuu...."
"Silence, imbecil!" Viconia hissed.
LOL!
Then at last, as he stopped moving for a moment to lift a leg of roast (human) to his fangs and gnaw upon the meat hungrily, his jaw crunching but his head largely still, she had her chance. Her right thumb and forefinger lifted from the butt of the shaft, and the arrow slid gracefully forward with the bowstring, sliding over her thumb and alongside the yew-wood, and left her bow. It sailed true through the air, and just as the gnoll leader had his maw open wide for a chomp, the arrowhead flew into his throat, piercing the roof of his mouth, cutting through the base of his brain, and appeared out the back of his furry head. He dropped, idead, bowling over two gnolls near him. The others growled, looking this way and that with their halberds rasied, and none seemed to figure the direction of the sniper until a hailstorm was upon them. Edwin fired a greenish orb down which exploded into a sickly sticking cloud, Xzar on Jade's other flank cast a small whitish-grey ball which hit the deck of the stronghold and burst into a large ring of sticky spiderwebs. Xan's yellowish-white orb landed among the gnolls with a silent tingle, and the five nearest gnolls immediately shut their eyes and dropped, dog-napping with their tongues lollygagging before they'd hit the ground. Branwen's spell caused another bunch to freeze in place. All those immoblized made easy potshots for Jade and Montaron.
The amassed gnolls were swarming with panicked chaos, now aware of the direction of their assailants, but unable to do much about it. A few did grab loose stones or bricks and fling them upwards at the plateau, and some of them smashed close enough to drive Xan into a new panic, but none met any marks. The chain of command broken, the swarmed aimlessly and without formation, some simply trying to escape, others to hurl more projectiles, even their halberds, or try in vain to scale the rock face the stronghold nestled against.
Another wave of spells rendered more gnolls helpless, and they were cut to pieces by the continued hail of missiles. More and more began simply fleeing down the stairs leading to lower levels of the fortress and out the front gates. Some ran towards the doors in the fortress's upper walls, to escape the new outdoor forecast of magic and missiles. It was then that Jade noticed a gnoll, disappearing into a door one moment, flew back out of it with a massive slash across its face, and landed face-up and dead, as if showing this off to her.
Good battle description. Controlled and tactical. And it shows what even a (relatively) low-level magic can do against groups of foes.
Thanks. Yep, low-level area affects work wonders against low-level enemies with crappy saves.
In H007, they revisited the gnoll stronghold and used a similar trick: starting an avalanche from the cliffs above.
Are they attacking each other? she wondered in between arrow shots, But that...looks more like the slash of a sword than a halberd. And the wound even looks slightly...frosted.
Oh, that's them! Time for reunion!
Yep!
They reached the edge of the pit at the same moment. After almost no appraisal of each other, as if they'd never parted company, they both looked down into the hole A red-cloaked figure ascended the stairway behind Jade, and glided to the edge of the pit just as Minsc reached it too. The wizard and the ranger glared at one another for a moment, then all four looked down.
In the bottom of the pit, surrounded by human body parts and even a fresh gnoll corpse, she stood regally, a chocolate-skinned woman in tattered indigo robes.
Uh-oh. Said reunion could be a bit bloody...
Perhaps....
Good chapter! Very action-filled, just as I like
Thanks!
#4
Guest_The Blue Sorceress_*
Guest_The Blue Sorceress_*
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- Guests
Posted 25 September 2003 - 11:42 PM
32. Land of 1000 Gnolls
They had a small campfire going, and most of the group sat around it. Xzar was telling ghost stories (and summoning a few ethereal spirits to give the accounts first-hand), earning a few chuckles from Montaron and nervous shrieks from Xan.
I don't know if Xan would be shrieky... he would probably just sigh and say something about the inevitability of death, and how even after one's spirit would be subjected to indignities.
Then there had another annoying, incompetent bandit party, the couple Teyngan and Jemby, and their hobgoblin 'friend' Zekar.
Just think: the more bandits that attack you the more scalps you can collect. The more scalps you collect the more money you get. The more money you get the better shinies you recieve.
Zekar had been unable to charge and been beaned and performated by Jade's arrows and Branwen's bullets, Teyngan's clerical powers hadn't kept him healthy for long against the bolts and axes of the miserly midgets Kagain and Montaron, and Jemby hadn't gotten a single spell of her own off under the 'arcane firing squad', as Jade had dubbed her three wizards - Xzar the hallucinating paranoid-delusional Necromancer in the Acid Green cape, Xan the sickly manic-depressive Enchanter in the Shrinking Violet robe, and Edwin the egomaniacal obsessive-compulsive Conjurer in the Royal Red cowl.
Somewhere in here, probably between "Branwen's bulllets" and "Teyngan's clerical powers" you need a period. This sentence, is far, far too long and smacks of Melville. *shudder*
I like the bit about the wizards though. Although, I do disagree about some little details. I wouldn't call Xan manic-depressive, since manic-depression is a cycle of very, very high moods (extreme joy and recklessness for example) and very, very low moods. Xan is just a fatalist with depressive tendancies. Nor is it necessary to call Xzar both hallucinating and paranoid-delusional, since hallucinating is a part of paranoid delusions.
Then there had been the xvart village. Her party had been walking along, into the lower, rocky foothills of the Cloudpeaks on their way to the stronghold, and found themselves at the edge of a cluster of hovels, which turned out to be populated with what must have been one hundred xvarts. You call us monster! Nexlit the xvart screeched at her. But you attack us when we do nothing to you! Ursus protect us. You the monster!
I was always irked that there was no chance to talk to the xvarts and avoid this situation. You set foot in their village, completely without hostile intent, and they attack you, and then have the nerve to call you monsters, obviously making the assuption that, since if they were to walk armed into the village of a group of less powerful people they would slaughter them all, you would make the same choice. Perhaps if the xvarts had tried to parley with you and you attacked them I could see Nexlit's statement as valid, but as it stands, he's just a raving looney.
But now Nexlit's words echoed in her head again. You the monster!
Brynn: *pointing at the above paragraph* Don't sweat it, Jade, they started it.
And then there had been Laurel the paladin. Smiling at Jade and explaining her crusade. "Gibberlings are a plauge that must be wiped from the Sword Coast." There hadn't been much time for pondering this during the onslaught of the hostile horde, but now Jade sat and thought with a knotted stomach. If she hadn't cut Nexlit clean in half with her bastard sword, she's swear he was whispering in her ear then too. You the monster!
Well, in Laurel's defence, the Gibberlings really are a menace. They "eat any creature that fails to get out of their way" according to the Monsters of Faerun supplement, they aren't native to the Sword Coast, being natural denizens of the Underdark, and they won't stop eating until their not hungry anymore, which isn't going to happen unless there's nothing left to eat, so it's a perfectly good idea to keep them from flitering into the Sword Coast, or at least to keep the population down, since a decent number of them could really pose a problem to, well, *everything.*
Jade shook her head, and ran her fingers through her scarlet hair. "Xzar, what's a monster?"
Asking him because it takes one to know one?
"That's funny," Onyx muttered, staring down his drawn arrow, "In the stories, trolls guard the bridges."
I think you'd prefer a pair of ogres to a troll, since you currently lack in *ahem* fire power.
Jaheira dismissed her vines with a flick of her wrist, and the party wasted no time in getting across the bridge, Imoen stopping briefly to loot the bodies.
Technical note: You should probably put some kind of a qualifier, like "though" between "bridge" and "Imoen" since what you're trying to say is that even though Imoen stopped to loot the party wasted no time in crossing the bridge, or alternatively, that while the party wasted no time in crossing the bridge, Imoen stopped to loot. Anyway, the way you have it now, it's a run on sentence with a errant gerund.
"Viconia," Onyx pointed to the stronghold proper, which was nestled in the rocky terrain of the island they had traversed to, "What do your drow eyes see?"
Viconia is *not* Legolas.
"(And I regret inferring that I have little doubt over who they might be, my scarlet-haired simian). We must hurry!"
Scarlet haired simian... does that make Jade an Orangutan?
"Alas, there are so many gnolls up there!" the enchanter whimpered, looking up at the fortress with his elf-eyes, "A direct assault will surely be suicide, but at least end the misery more swiftly than an approach of inevitably-inadequate circumspection."
Neither is Xan Legolas. Though he's much closer. At least he's the right gender and the right kind of elf.
"Ooo," the necromancer broke into sing-song, "On top of ole' Smooookey, all covered with gnolls, we shoot down spells and arrows, piece them full of holes!"
I think you mean "pierce them full of holes!"
No sooner had the warriors dispatched the carrion crawlers, and the party stepped over their bodies, avoiding as much of the disgusting gore and other offal in the cave as possible, than a familiar "Eeeeeeee!!!!" echoed from ahead.
Mercifully, the cave grew drier but only marginally cleaner as they proceeded further back and it wound its way upward. Viconia inhaled, and spat with disgust. "I smell gnoll ahead."
How can she tell with all the garbage?
"Ewwww," Imoen wrinkled her nose adorably, "Did we have to come this way? I love sneaking, but not through sewage."
Wait until you get to Baldur's Gate, Immy, you'll have more of the sewer than you could ever want.
It sailed true through the air, and just as the gnoll leader had his maw open wide for a chomp, the arrowhead flew into his throat, piercing the roof of his mouth, cutting through the base of his brain, and appeared out the back of his furry head. He dropped, idead, bowling over two gnolls near him.
typo: dead
In the bottom of the pit, surrounded by human body parts and even a fresh gnoll corpse, she stood regally, a chocolate-skinned woman in tattered indigo robes.
The infamous witch Dynaheir.
Lovely chapter,
-Blue
#5
Guest_Oryx_*
Guest_Oryx_*
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- Guests
Posted 26 September 2003 - 06:52 AM
32. Land of 1000 Gnolls
They had a small campfire going, and most of the group sat around it. Xzar was telling ghost stories (and summoning a few ethereal spirits to give the accounts first-hand), earning a few chuckles from Montaron and nervous shrieks from Xan.
I don't know if Xan would be shrieky... he would probably just sigh and say something about the inevitability of death, and how even after one's spirit would be subjected to indignities.
Good point. I projected the typical fraidy-cat thing onto him, but I guess his gloom is...more calm. In fact, he'd make a horrible slasher-flick kid.
Freddy / Jason / Mike Myers / Skeet Ulrich: BOO!
Girl in Tight Sweater: AAAAHHHHH!!! *gets slashed*
Guy in Letter Jacket: I'm gunna kick yor ass! *gets slashed*
Xan in Plaid Sweatervest: Oh, we're doomed.
Wes Craven: Cut! Cut!
Zekar had been unable to charge and been beaned and performated by Jade's arrows and Branwen's bullets, Teyngan's clerical powers hadn't kept him healthy for long against the bolts and axes of the miserly midgets Kagain and Montaron, and Jemby hadn't gotten a single spell of her own off under the 'arcane firing squad', as Jade had dubbed her three wizards - Xzar the hallucinating paranoid-delusional Necromancer in the Acid Green cape, Xan the sickly manic-depressive Enchanter in the Shrinking Violet robe, and Edwin the egomaniacal obsessive-compulsive Conjurer in the Royal Red cowl.
Somewhere in here, probably between "Branwen's bulllets" and "Teyngan's clerical powers" you need a period. This sentence, is far, far too long and smacks of Melville. *shudder*
thanks
I like the bit about the wizards though. Although, I do disagree about some little details. I wouldn't call Xan manic-depressive, since manic-depression is a cycle of very, very high moods (extreme joy and recklessness for example) and very, very low moods. Xan is just a fatalist with depressive tendancies. Nor is it necessary to call Xzar both hallucinating and paranoid-delusional, since hallucinating is a part of paranoid delusions.
true true. O-O
Then there had been the xvart village. Her party had been walking along, into the lower, rocky foothills of the Cloudpeaks on their way to the stronghold, and found themselves at the edge of a cluster of hovels, which turned out to be populated with what must have been one hundred xvarts. You call us monster! Nexlit the xvart screeched at her. But you attack us when we do nothing to you! Ursus protect us. You the monster!
I was always irked that there was no chance to talk to the xvarts and avoid this situation. You set foot in their village, completely without hostile intent, and they attack you, and then have the nerve to call you monsters, obviously making the assuption that, since if they were to walk armed into the village of a group of less powerful people they would slaughter them all, you would make the same choice. Perhaps if the xvarts had tried to parley with you and you attacked them I could see Nexlit's statement as valid, but as it stands, he's just a raving looney.
Actually, I agree. I considered giving this to Onyx, with a more serious treatment (sprinklin' the paly-dilemma). It didn't quite 'make the cut'. Hmmm....but I'm kinda regretting it. I feel like I've inserted an illegitimate bleeding-heart morale inhere. Grrr. *considers doing something else on return trip* Oooh! I'll have Jade stop by the burnt-out village on the way back and have a clearer revelation.
But now Nexlit's words echoed in her head again. You the monster!
Brynn: *pointing at the above paragraph* Don't sweat it, Jade, they started it.
And then there had been Laurel the paladin. Smiling at Jade and explaining her crusade. "Gibberlings are a plauge that must be wiped from the Sword Coast." There hadn't been much time for pondering this during the onslaught of the hostile horde, but now Jade sat and thought with a knotted stomach. If she hadn't cut Nexlit clean in half with her bastard sword, she's swear he was whispering in her ear then too. You the monster!
Well, in Laurel's defence, the Gibberlings really are a menace. They "eat any creature that fails to get out of their way" according to the Monsters of Faerun supplement, they aren't native to the Sword Coast, being natural denizens of the Underdark, and they won't stop eating until their not hungry anymore, which isn't going to happen unless there's nothing left to eat, so it's a perfectly good idea to keep them from flitering into the Sword Coast, or at least to keep the population down, since a decent number of them could really pose a problem to, well, *everything.*
Just before I posted this chapter last night, I thought about going back and having Onyx's party meet and team up with her in real time...hmmm....
And yeah, despite the theme that I really put forth here, I don't really buy it, because FR monsters simply are, as defined, just amok-runnin' li'l murderers. Analogies to animal-rights stuff just don't hold up. *kickin' self* But it's okay. Jade doesn't really have her morales straight, and in this case, she's erring on the side of being too antihumanistic/bleeding-heart.
Jade shook her head, and ran her fingers through her scarlet hair. "Xzar, what's a monster?"
Asking him because it takes one to know one?
heehee...not far from it, actually
"That's funny," Onyx muttered, staring down his drawn arrow, "In the stories, trolls guard the bridges."
I think you'd prefer a pair of ogres to a troll, since you currently lack in *ahem* fire power.
*groans* Heehee....well, you know I can't fairly decry any pun
Jaheira dismissed her vines with a flick of her wrist, and the party wasted no time in getting across the bridge, Imoen stopping briefly to loot the bodies.
Technical note: You should probably put some kind of a qualifier, like "though" between "bridge" and "Imoen" since what you're trying to say is that even though Imoen stopped to loot the party wasted no time in crossing the bridge, or alternatively, that while the party wasted no time in crossing the bridge, Imoen stopped to loot. Anyway, the way you have it now, it's a run on sentence with a errant gerund.
Thanks. I just revamped it - see, I don't think they'd even run, cuz it's a rickety bridge 'n' all.
"Viconia," Onyx pointed to the stronghold proper, which was nestled in the rocky terrain of the island they had traversed to, "What do your drow eyes see?"
Viconia is *not* Legolas.
I hope it came across as one of those "I'm not plagarizing, I'm making fun of the line by swapping it to drow, and hoping the reader thinks I'm not trying to pass it off as my own..." thing....
"(And I regret inferring that I have little doubt over who they might be, my scarlet-haired simian). We must hurry!"
Scarlet haired simian... does that make Jade an Orangutan?
LOL!
Planet of the Apes...
"Alas, there are so many gnolls up there!" the enchanter whimpered, looking up at the fortress with his elf-eyes, "A direct assault will surely be suicide, but at least end the misery more swiftly than an approach of inevitably-inadequate circumspection."
Neither is Xan Legolas. Though he's much closer. At least he's the right gender and the right kind of elf.
There has to be a parody. Actually, maybe with Kivan....funny thing is, Kivan is, in a way, a ripoff of Legolas, insofar as the entire FR elfs and arhcers thing is all ripped off, and thought its in the setting, Legolas is the one most prominent face of such a thing.
"Ooo," the necromancer broke into sing-song, "On top of ole' Smooookey, all covered with gnolls, we shoot down spells and arrows, piece them full of holes!"
I think you mean "pierce them full of holes!"
thanx
No sooner had the warriors dispatched the carrion crawlers, and the party stepped over their bodies, avoiding as much of the disgusting gore and other offal in the cave as possible, than a familiar "Eeeeeeee!!!!" echoed from ahead.
Mercifully, the cave grew drier but only marginally cleaner as they proceeded further back and it wound its way upward. Viconia inhaled, and spat with disgust. "I smell gnoll ahead."
How can she tell with all the garbage?
Veeeeery sensitive nosey.....
"Ewwww," Imoen wrinkled her nose adorably, "Did we have to come this way? I love sneaking, but not through sewage."
Wait until you get to Baldur's Gate, Immy, you'll have more of the sewer than you could ever want.
lol
It sailed true through the air, and just as the gnoll leader had his maw open wide for a chomp, the arrowhead flew into his throat, piercing the roof of his mouth, cutting through the base of his brain, and appeared out the back of his furry head. He dropped, idead, bowling over two gnolls near him.
typo: dead
thx
In the bottom of the pit, surrounded by human body parts and even a fresh gnoll corpse, she stood regally, a chocolate-skinned woman in tattered indigo robes.
The infamous witch Dynaheir.
Lovely chapter,
-Blue
Thank you. This chapter's premise, to a degree, was the idea that first gave rise to the entire Dual-Bhaalspawn thing.
#6
Guest_The Blue Sorceress_*
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Posted 26 September 2003 - 07:28 AM
I don't know if Xan would be shrieky... he would probably just sigh and say something about the inevitability of death, and how even after one's spirit would be subjected to indignities.
Good point. I projected the typical fraidy-cat thing onto him, but I guess his gloom is...more calm. In fact, he'd make a horrible slasher-flick kid.
Freddy / Jason / Mike Myers / Skeet Ulrich: BOO!
Girl in Tight Sweater: AAAAHHHHH!!! *gets slashed*
Guy in Letter Jacket: I'm gunna kick yor ass! *gets slashed*
Xan in Plaid Sweatervest: Oh, we're doomed.
Wes Craven: Cut! Cut!
Heehee! I can just picture Xan in a plaid sweater-vest, and it's soooooooo cute. *glomps plaid-sweater vest clad Xan* Kawaii~!
I like the bit about the wizards though. Although, I do disagree about some little details. I wouldn't call Xan manic-depressive, since manic-depression is a cycle of very, very high moods (extreme joy and recklessness for example) and very, very low moods. Xan is just a fatalist with depressive tendancies. Nor is it necessary to call Xzar both hallucinating and paranoid-delusional, since hallucinating is a part of paranoid delusions.
true true. O-O
Sorry for that essay there on mental disorders, but my mother is a psychiatrist and I've got this almost compulsive habit of correcting people when they talk abou them with less than doctoral accuracy. It's one of my pet peeves, along with shoulder surfers and furries.
I was always irked that there was no chance to talk to the xvarts and avoid this situation. You set foot in their village, completely without hostile intent, and they attack you, and then have the nerve to call you monsters, obviously making the assuption that, since if they were to walk armed into the village of a group of less powerful people they would slaughter them all, you would make the same choice. Perhaps if the xvarts had tried to parley with you and you attacked them I could see Nexlit's statement as valid, but as it stands, he's just a raving looney.
Actually, I agree. I considered giving this to Onyx, with a more serious treatment (sprinklin' the paly-dilemma). It didn't quite 'make the cut'. Hmmm....but I'm kinda regretting it. I feel like I've inserted an illegitimate bleeding-heart morale inhere. Grrr. *considers doing something else on return trip* Oooh! I'll have Jade stop by the burnt-out village on the way back and have a clearer revelation.
Sounds fun. I can't wait. And again, sorry for the essay.
;;
Well, in Laurel's defence, the Gibberlings really are a menace. They "eat any creature that fails to get out of their way" according to the Monsters of Faerun supplement, they aren't native to the Sword Coast, being natural denizens of the Underdark, and they won't stop eating until their not hungry anymore, which isn't going to happen unless there's nothing left to eat, so it's a perfectly good idea to keep them from flitering into the Sword Coast, or at least to keep the population down, since a decent number of them could really pose a problem to, well, *everything.*
Just before I posted this chapter last night, I thought about going back and having Onyx's party meet and team up with her in real time...hmmm....
And yeah, despite the theme that I really put forth here, I don't really buy it, because FR monsters simply are, as defined, just amok-runnin' li'l murderers. Analogies to animal-rights stuff just don't hold up. *kickin' self* But it's okay. Jade doesn't really have her morales straight, and in this case, she's erring on the side of being too antihumanistic/bleeding-heart.
*nod* She's kinda still trying to figure out what her morals are. She doesn't have Onyx's sense of sureness, but rather goes with what feels appropriate at the time.
Jade shook her head, and ran her fingers through her scarlet hair. "Xzar, what's a monster?"
Asking him because it takes one to know one?
heehee...not far from it, actually
I really shouldn't take pot-shots at Xzar, mom says that crazy people can't help it if they're crazy. Then again I don't think mom's ever had to treat a necromancer before...
I think you'd prefer a pair of ogres to a troll, since you currently lack in *ahem* fire power.
*groans* Heehee....well, you know I can't fairly decry any pun
I really shouldn't have punned, but I couldn't help it. It was meant to be done and I was but the vessel that carried out the will of the fates.
Technical note: You should probably put some kind of a qualifier, like "though" between "bridge" and "Imoen" since what you're trying to say is that even though Imoen stopped to loot the party wasted no time in crossing the bridge, or alternatively, that while the party wasted no time in crossing the bridge, Imoen stopped to loot. Anyway, the way you have it now, it's a run on sentence with a errant gerund.
Thanks. I just revamped it - see, I don't think they'd even run, cuz it's a rickety bridge 'n' all.
I know I wouldn't. I wonder how it even supported those ogres, especially since Jaheira's spell would have weakened it considerably. I would imagine that they would have had to go across on person at a time, unless Imoen went first, looted, and then tippped the bodies over the side.
Viconia is *not* Legolas.
Fear not, I understood. I thought it was kinda cute.
Scarlet haired simian... does that make Jade an Orangutan?
LOL!
Planet of the Apes...
*makes monkey noises and scratches armpits*
Neither is Xan Legolas. Though he's much closer. At least he's the right gender and the right kind of elf.
There has to be a parody. Actually, maybe with Kivan....funny thing is, Kivan is, in a way, a ripoff of Legolas, insofar as the entire FR elfs and arhcers thing is all ripped off, and thought its in the setting, Legolas is the one most prominent face of such a thing.
I think Kivan is the closest approximation. I keep thinking that Kivan's a little more violent and vengeful than Legolas, but I think that's just because I didn't ever get a really good emotional read on Legolas from the books. Now that I think about it a little more though, it does seem like a nice fit.
As for the other thing, well, Tolkien elves were the basis for DnD elves, as we well know, so it's reasonable to find Legolas clones stalking Faerun. However, I think that the Faerun elves have gotten a little more active in the Realms in the last few years, thus seperating themselves from the Tolkien elves by not being a dying race so much anymore. They're having something of a Renaissance, I think.
How can she tell with all the garbage?
Veeeeery sensitive nosey.....
How unfortunate considering their surroundings.
Thank you. This chapter's premise, to a degree, was the idea that first gave rise to the entire Dual-Bhaalspawn thing.
I can see how it would. I have long considered the possibilities of what would have happened if either side of the Dynaheir/Edwin conflict would have obtained help and arrived at the same time as the PC and their party. 'Twould be a mighty conflict.
#7
Guest_Oryx_*
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Posted 27 September 2003 - 10:00 AM
Wes Craven: Cut! Cut!
Heehee! I can just picture Xan in a plaid sweater-vest, and it's soooooooo cute. *glomps plaid-sweater vest clad Xan* Kawaii~!
With taped-up glasses....
true true. O-O
Sorry for that essay there on mental disorders, but my mother is a psychiatrist and I've got this almost compulsive habit of correcting people when they talk abou them with less than doctoral accuracy. It's one of my pet peeves, along with shoulder surfers and furries.
Hmmmm. That's kinda cool, actually. Though I don't know what shoulder surfers and furries are
I was always irked that there was no chance to talk to the xvarts and avoid this situation. You set foot in their village, completely without hostile intent, and they attack you, and then have the nerve to call you monsters, obviously making the assuption that, since if they were to walk armed into the village of a group of less powerful people they would slaughter them all, you would make the same choice. Perhaps if the xvarts had tried to parley with you and you attacked them I could see Nexlit's statement as valid, but as it stands, he's just a raving looney.
Actually, I agree. I considered giving this to Onyx, with a more serious treatment (sprinklin' the paly-dilemma). It didn't quite 'make the cut'. Hmmm....but I'm kinda regretting it. I feel like I've inserted an illegitimate bleeding-heart morale inhere. Grrr. *considers doing something else on return trip* Oooh! I'll have Jade stop by the burnt-out village on the way back and have a clearer revelation.
Sounds fun. I can't wait. And again, sorry for the essay.
No, thanks. You're right. It's good you called me on something I wasn't really happy with in this....*sigh*
Well, in Laurel's defence, the Gibberlings really are a menace. They "eat any creature that fails to get out of their way" according to the Monsters of Faerun supplement, they aren't native to the Sword Coast, being natural denizens of the Underdark, and they won't stop eating until their not hungry anymore, which isn't going to happen unless there's nothing left to eat, so it's a perfectly good idea to keep them from flitering into the Sword Coast, or at least to keep the population down, since a decent number of them could really pose a problem to, well, *everything.*
Just before I posted this chapter last night, I thought about going back and having Onyx's party meet and team up with her in real time...hmmm....
And yeah, despite the theme that I really put forth here, I don't really buy it, because FR monsters simply are, as defined, just amok-runnin' li'l murderers. Analogies to animal-rights stuff just don't hold up. *kickin' self* But it's okay. Jade doesn't really have her morales straight, and in this case, she's erring on the side of being too antihumanistic/bleeding-heart.
*nod* She's kinda still trying to figure out what her morals are. She doesn't have Onyx's sense of sureness, but rather goes with what feels appropriate at the time.
Yeah. I still find it harder to get in her led, yes because she'a newer character or the other gender I think, than because she's just inherently more ambiguous. The stuff here, basically, was that althought she's not one to morally agonize, while she's killing time sitting at a campfire, she's thinking about stuff.
Jade shook her head, and ran her fingers through her scarlet hair. "Xzar, what's a monster?"
Asking him because it takes one to know one?
heehee...not far from it, actually
I really shouldn't take pot-shots at Xzar, mom says that crazy people can't help it if they're crazy. Then again I don't think mom's ever had to treat a necromancer before...
LOL. I never knew what to make of the 'they can't help it thing'. Isn't true evil that way too....it seems to reduce to an almost fatalistic argument. I think it has to be reverse-engineered to two measurable things (a) utility of punishing people, to discourage other people (i.e. why punish crazies, other crazies by definition won't heed it) (
probabilities of rehabilitation.
I think you'd prefer a pair of ogres to a troll, since you currently lack in *ahem* fire power.
*groans* Heehee....well, you know I can't fairly decry any pun
I really shouldn't have punned, but I couldn't help it. It was meant to be done and I was but the vessel that carried out the will of the fates.
Speaking of fatalism
Technical note: You should probably put some kind of a qualifier, like "though" between "bridge" and "Imoen" since what you're trying to say is that even though Imoen stopped to loot the party wasted no time in crossing the bridge, or alternatively, that while the party wasted no time in crossing the bridge, Imoen stopped to loot. Anyway, the way you have it now, it's a run on sentence with a errant gerund.
Thanks. I just revamped it - see, I don't think they'd even run, cuz it's a rickety bridge 'n' all.
I know I wouldn't. I wonder how it even supported those ogres, especially since Jaheira's spell would have weakened it considerably. I would imagine that they would have had to go across on person at a time, unless Imoen went first, looted, and then tippped the bodies over the side.
Heehee. Y'know, I actaully thought about that excruciation level of detail.
Viconia is *not* Legolas.
Fear not, I understood. I thought it was kinda cute.
goodie
Scarlet haired simian... does that make Jade an Orangutan?
LOL!
Planet of the Apes...
*makes monkey noises and scratches armpits*
Coco want banana!
Neither is Xan Legolas. Though he's much closer. At least he's the right gender and the right kind of elf.
There has to be a parody. Actually, maybe with Kivan....funny thing is, Kivan is, in a way, a ripoff of Legolas, insofar as the entire FR elfs and arhcers thing is all ripped off, and thought its in the setting, Legolas is the one most prominent face of such a thing.
I think Kivan is the closest approximation. I keep thinking that Kivan's a little more violent and vengeful than Legolas, but I think that's just because I didn't ever get a really good emotional read on Legolas from the books. Now that I think about it a little more though, it does seem like a nice fit.
Oh yeah, he's darker. Yeah, Legolas...well, Tolkein's characters just aren't that deep. Do we ever learn *anything* personal about Legolas, Gimli, et. al, except names of parents, and do they ever have any sort of internal conflicts? Well, no....generally, I'm more of a fan of external conflict anyway, so it sits okay with me. Put I've kinda been projecting some of Legolas's more melancholy movie (and book) moments (For me the grief is still too near / All of them are going to die) onto Kivan.
As for the other thing, well, Tolkien elves were the basis for DnD elves, as we well know, so it's reasonable to find Legolas clones stalking Faerun. However, I think that the Faerun elves have gotten a little more active in the Realms in the last few years, thus seperating themselves from the Tolkien elves by not being a dying race so much anymore. They're having something of a Renaissance, I think.
How can she tell with all the garbage?
Veeeeery sensitive nosey.....
How unfortunate considering their surroundings.
yep. ears too....part of why Garrick annoys her more than she does the others. Also, she's just more high-strung.
Thank you. This chapter's premise, to a degree, was the idea that first gave rise to the entire Dual-Bhaalspawn thing.
I can see how it would. I have long considered the possibilities of what would have happened if either side of the Dynaheir/Edwin conflict would have obtained help and arrived at the same time as the PC and their party. 'Twould be a mighty conflict.
So it will be
#8
Laufey
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Transcendant
Posted 28 September 2003 - 06:35 AM
Jade's party was camped out on the north bank of a river, across which the gnoll stronghold itself loomed, visible even in the darkness, a shadow blocking out stars halfway to the zenith of the night sky. They had a small campfire going, and most of the group sat around it. Xzar was telling ghost stories (and summoning a few ethereal spirits to give the accounts first-hand), earning a few chuckles from Montaron and nervous shrieks from Xan. Kagain was merely using the firelight to count the party's money, and Branwen listened on boredly, threatning to Turn each ghost as she grew tired of its hackneyed yarn, causing the spectral undead themselves to be the frightened ones, and then return to their afterlife Planes to tell their ghoulish associates frightening 'Human Stories' of the Tempest-Tempered Turning Tempusian. Only Edwin sat outside the circle, muttering something about his simian companions, his nose buried deep in his gold-leaf spellbook, back toward the fire both to illuminate the pages and to shun any company, except his own conversation with himself.
I can just imagine Xzar's kind of ghost stories.
First, crossing the bridge of that other stream, there had been Neville, self-proclaimed 'fairest of all fair bandits.' He was, at least, fairer than the five hobgoblin archers hiding in the brush behind him. Luckily, a hold spell from Branwen had frozen four of them, the fifth had shot for the cleric, never getting a shot through her armor before being brained with a spiritual hammer, and Neville himself was overpowered by the two-on-one of Jade and Kagain while the others peppered him with bolts and darts.
Nice summary of all the idiotic bandits plaguing these area maps!
Then there had been the xvart village. Her party had been walking along, into the lower, rocky foothills of the Cloudpeaks on their way to the stronghold, and found themselves at the edge of a cluster of hovels, which turned out to be populated with what must have been one hundred xvarts. You call us monster! Nexlit the xvart screeched at her. But you attack us when we do nothing to you! Ursus protect us. You the monster!
Oh, that quest was *so* annoying! I never go there these days unless I play an evil PC, I would prefer to have an option not to kill the pathetic little things.
After finishing off a ghost story involving two human teenagers and a hobgoblin with a hook for a hand, which left Montaron in stiches, Xan shivering with his head buried in his cowl like an ostrich, Kagain smoking his pipe indifferently, and Branwen grumbling something about squeamish mainlanders, Xzar peered lucidly at Jade, who sat next to him, while Montaron next to him started up another ghost story about a necromancer named 'Poah' with a beating heart buried in his basement. Given the content of the story, Jade was comforted by her own deathly-arts practioner's fixed attention to her.
Ah, I really love Poe's ghost stories myself!
Xzar relapsed into disjointed rambling, and Jade merely looked down and sighed. While Kagain, Montaron, and Branwen continued swapping stories, the Thayvian furtively peered over the top of his spellbook at Jade. His eyes peeking out of his skirt again, so did the Greycloak.
So, Xan and Eddie guess the truth, do they?
"That's funny," Onyx muttered, staring down his drawn arrow, "In the stories, trolls guard the bridges."
"Stop!" one of the ogres roared, pounding his morning star against his palm. "Me Gnarl, this Hairtooth! This our bridge, you pay to walk it!"
Now these guys, on the other hand, I like killing.
The druid sighed, and glanced up at the stronghold, upon which the morning light poured. "Covered in gnolls," she stated. "Must be over a hundred. We really shouldn't just muscle through them."
"Muscle has always worked for Minsc!"
Right.
"Gnolls!!!" Minsc cried, holding aloft an enchanted two-handed sword donating by a half-ogre bandit outside Nashkel, "GNOLLS STOLE OUR WITCH! THESE DOG-MEN HAVE THE STENCE OF EEEEEVIL!! GO FOR THE EYES, BOO, GO FOR THE EYES!!!"
'stench'
"Of course it is!" Edwin snapped from behind her. Despite his long robes and the stereotpyes of his profession, he was a decent runner, breathing healthily, and soon at her side. "The witch's mad berserker must have come here, perhaps with friends. (And I regret inferring that I have little doubt over who they might be, my scarlet-haired simian). We must hurry!"
Yeah, Eddie has a high Con, especially for a mage, so he's not a weakling.
Rini: And oh boy, does that ever come in handy.
Jade had also noticed that the top deck of the stronghold had several circular pits in it, which the gnolls peered down into, licking their snouts and slobbering. She could see severed, gnawed boy parts strewn around them. Food. People. That witch is in one of those. Pity I don't have a line of sight down into one, or I could probably pick her off and satisfy Edwin without ever having to set foot on the stronghold or bother with the gnolls.
'boy parts' Do you mean...
No, you meant 'body parts' didn't you? 
Then at last, as he stopped moving for a moment to lift a leg of roast (human) to his fangs and gnaw upon the meat hungrily, his jaw crunching but his head largely still, she had her chance. Her right thumb and forefinger lifted from the butt of the shaft, and the arrow slid gracefully forward with the bowstring, sliding over her thumb and alongside the yew-wood, and left her bow. It sailed true through the air, and just as the gnoll leader had his maw open wide for a chomp, the arrowhead flew into his throat, piercing the roof of his mouth, cutting through the base of his brain, and appeared out the back of his furry head. He dropped, dead, bowling over two gnolls near him. The others growled, looking this way and that with their halberds rasied, and none seemed to figure the direction of the sniper until a hailstorm was upon them. Edwin fired a greenish orb down which exploded into a sickly sticking cloud, Xzar on Jade's other flank cast a small whitish-grey ball which hit the deck of the stronghold and burst into a large ring of sticky spiderwebs. Xan's yellowish-white orb landed among the gnolls with a silent tingle, and the five nearest gnolls immediately shut their eyes and dropped, dog-napping with their tongues lollygagging before they'd hit the ground. Branwen's spell caused another bunch to freeze in place. All those immoblized made easy potshots for Jade and Montaron.
Nice tactic there!
Onyx dashed forward alongside the ranger, across the deck. But as they neared the circular pit, noises could be heard from further ahead, in the direction of a stairway leading up from a lower deck. Just before they reached the pit, Onyx looked up, as Jade ascended the stairway and strode purposefully toward him. Neither brother nor sister bore any surprise in their visage. And this, too, each noticed of the other.
They reached the edge of the pit at the same moment. After almost no appraisal of each other, as if they'd never parted company, they both looked down into the hole A red-cloaked figure ascended the stairway behind Jade, and glided to the edge of the pit just as Minsc reached it too. The wizard and the ranger glared at one another for a moment, then all four looked down.
In the bottom of the pit, surrounded by human body parts and even a fresh gnoll corpse, she stood regally, a chocolate-skinned woman in tattered indigo robes.
Oh dear...time for a tug of war over Dynaheir, it seems.
Rogues do it from behind.
#9
Laufey
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Transcendant
Posted 28 September 2003 - 06:44 AM
Oh yeah, he's darker. Yeah, Legolas...well, Tolkein's characters just aren't that deep. Do we ever learn *anything* personal about Legolas, Gimli, et. al, except names of parents, and do they ever have any sort of internal conflicts? Well, no....generally, I'm more of a fan of external conflict anyway, so it sits okay with me. Put I've kinda been projecting some of Legolas's more melancholy movie (and book) moments (For me the grief is still too near / All of them are going to die) onto Kivan.
I think that of all the Nine Walkers in the books, Legolas is the one given the least background and personality by Tolkien, making him the least interesting character.
Rogues do it from behind.
#10
Guest_Oryx_*
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Posted 29 September 2003 - 09:20 AM
Jade's party was camped out on the north bank of a river, across which the gnoll stronghold itself loomed, visible even in the darkness, a shadow blocking out stars halfway to the zenith of the night sky. They had a small campfire going, and most of the group sat around it. Xzar was telling ghost stories (and summoning a few ethereal spirits to give the accounts first-hand), earning a few chuckles from Montaron and nervous shrieks from Xan. Kagain was merely using the firelight to count the party's money, and Branwen listened on boredly, threatning to Turn each ghost as she grew tired of its hackneyed yarn, causing the spectral undead themselves to be the frightened ones, and then return to their afterlife Planes to tell their ghoulish associates frightening 'Human Stories' of the Tempest-Tempered Turning Tempusian. Only Edwin sat outside the circle, muttering something about his simian companions, his nose buried deep in his gold-leaf spellbook, back toward the fire both to illuminate the pages and to shun any company, except his own conversation with himself.
I can just imagine Xzar's kind of ghost stories.
Probably lots of rabbits...
First, crossing the bridge of that other stream, there had been Neville, self-proclaimed 'fairest of all fair bandits.' He was, at least, fairer than the five hobgoblin archers hiding in the brush behind him. Luckily, a hold spell from Branwen had frozen four of them, the fifth had shot for the cleric, never getting a shot through her armor before being brained with a spiritual hammer, and Neville himself was overpowered by the two-on-one of Jade and Kagain while the others peppered him with bolts and darts.
Nice summary of all the idiotic bandits plaguing these area maps!
Then you won't blame me for summarizing them?
Then there had been the xvart village. Her party had been walking along, into the lower, rocky foothills of the Cloudpeaks on their way to the stronghold, and found themselves at the edge of a cluster of hovels, which turned out to be populated with what must have been one hundred xvarts. You call us monster! Nexlit the xvart screeched at her. But you attack us when we do nothing to you! Ursus protect us. You the monster!
Oh, that quest was *so* annoying! I never go there these days unless I play an evil PC, I would prefer to have an option not to kill the pathetic little things.
It doen't bug me because of 'animal-rights' or whatever, it's just so mundane....as are lots of those mini-quests.
After finishing off a ghost story involving two human teenagers and a hobgoblin with a hook for a hand, which left Montaron in stiches, Xan shivering with his head buried in his cowl like an ostrich, Kagain smoking his pipe indifferently, and Branwen grumbling something about squeamish mainlanders, Xzar peered lucidly at Jade, who sat next to him, while Montaron next to him started up another ghost story about a necromancer named 'Poah' with a beating heart buried in his basement. Given the content of the story, Jade was comforted by her own deathly-arts practioner's fixed attention to her.
Ah, I really love Poe's ghost stories myself!
Good stuff....freaky stuff. But what do you expect from a guy who marries his 13-year-old cousin?
Xzar relapsed into disjointed rambling, and Jade merely looked down and sighed. While Kagain, Montaron, and Branwen continued swapping stories, the Thayvian furtively peered over the top of his spellbook at Jade. His eyes peeking out of his skirt again, so did the Greycloak.
So, Xan and Eddie guess the truth, do they?
They're gettin' suspicious, yeah...
Reminds me, I'm wondering if you have an opinion on this: charm Dyna, she admits to looking for the spawn of Bhaal. But with Eddie (From charming or elsewhere), I don't remember him knowing anything about Dyna's mission, or having one of his own beyond killing her. I was wondering if you knew of more tidbits.
The way I'm doing it so far (I think) is that Dyna is looking for Bspawn and will probably have the canniness to start to pick up on any she travels with. I haven't said yet how much Ed knows about all this (Boris we've been told didn't know squat about their quarry, but he wouldn't have been told anyway).
"That's funny," Onyx muttered, staring down his drawn arrow, "In the stories, trolls guard the bridges."
"Stop!" one of the ogres roared, pounding his morning star against his palm. "Me Gnarl, this Hairtooth! This our bridge, you pay to walk it!"
Now these guys, on the other hand, I like killing.
There's good for a few laughs, and guantletx of dex. A good package, all in all.
The druid sighed, and glanced up at the stronghold, upon which the morning light poured. "Covered in gnolls," she stated. "Must be over a hundred. We really shouldn't just muscle through them."
"Muscle has always worked for Minsc!"
Right.
Live by the sword, live a good long life!
"Gnolls!!!" Minsc cried, holding aloft an enchanted two-handed sword donating by a half-ogre bandit outside Nashkel, "GNOLLS STOLE OUR WITCH! THESE DOG-MEN HAVE THE STENCE OF EEEEEVIL!! GO FOR THE EYES, BOO, GO FOR THE EYES!!!"
'stench'
thnx
"Of course it is!" Edwin snapped from behind her. Despite his long robes and the stereotpyes of his profession, he was a decent runner, breathing healthily, and soon at her side. "The witch's mad berserker must have come here, perhaps with friends. (And I regret inferring that I have little doubt over who they might be, my scarlet-haired simian). We must hurry!"
Yeah, Eddie has a high Con, especially for a mage, so he's not a weakling.
Rini: And oh boy, does that ever come in handy.
While I'm sure they're deep and all, I always suspected your affections were not completely lateral to that fact.
Jade had also noticed that the top deck of the stronghold had several circular pits in it, which the gnolls peered down into, licking their snouts and slobbering. She could see severed, gnawed boy parts strewn around them. Food. People. That witch is in one of those. Pity I don't have a line of sight down into one, or I could probably pick her off and satisfy Edwin without ever having to set foot on the stronghold or bother with the gnolls.
'boy parts' Do you mean...
LOL thanks....but I guess it's almost OK as is!
Then at last, as he stopped moving for a moment to lift a leg of roast (human) to his fangs and gnaw upon the meat hungrily, his jaw crunching but his head largely still, she had her chance. Her right thumb and forefinger lifted from the butt of the shaft, and the arrow slid gracefully forward with the bowstring, sliding over her thumb and alongside the yew-wood, and left her bow. It sailed true through the air, and just as the gnoll leader had his maw open wide for a chomp, the arrowhead flew into his throat, piercing the roof of his mouth, cutting through the base of his brain, and appeared out the back of his furry head. He dropped, dead, bowling over two gnolls near him. The others growled, looking this way and that with their halberds rasied, and none seemed to figure the direction of the sniper until a hailstorm was upon them. Edwin fired a greenish orb down which exploded into a sickly sticking cloud, Xzar on Jade's other flank cast a small whitish-grey ball which hit the deck of the stronghold and burst into a large ring of sticky spiderwebs. Xan's yellowish-white orb landed among the gnolls with a silent tingle, and the five nearest gnolls immediately shut their eyes and dropped, dog-napping with their tongues lollygagging before they'd hit the ground. Branwen's spell caused another bunch to freeze in place. All those immoblized made easy potshots for Jade and Montaron.
Nice tactic there!
in the sequel, Onyx & Co. trigger a landslide to (re)wipe them out
Onyx dashed forward alongside the ranger, across the deck. But as they neared the circular pit, noises could be heard from further ahead, in the direction of a stairway leading up from a lower deck. Just before they reached the pit, Onyx looked up, as Jade ascended the stairway and strode purposefully toward him. Neither brother nor sister bore any surprise in their visage. And this, too, each noticed of the other.
They reached the edge of the pit at the same moment. After almost no appraisal of each other, as if they'd never parted company, they both looked down into the hole A red-cloaked figure ascended the stairway behind Jade, and glided to the edge of the pit just as Minsc reached it too. The wizard and the ranger glared at one another for a moment, then all four looked down.
In the bottom of the pit, surrounded by human body parts and even a fresh gnoll corpse, she stood regally, a chocolate-skinned woman in tattered indigo robes.
Oh dear...time for a tug of war over Dynaheir, it seems.
Something unprettry...
#12
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Posted 29 September 2003 - 09:25 AM
Oh yeah, he's darker. Yeah, Legolas...well, Tolkein's characters just aren't that deep. Do we ever learn *anything* personal about Legolas, Gimli, et. al, except names of parents, and do they ever have any sort of internal conflicts? Well, no....generally, I'm more of a fan of external conflict anyway, so it sits okay with me. Put I've kinda been projecting some of Legolas's more melancholy movie (and book) moments (For me the grief is still too near / All of them are going to die) onto Kivan.
I think that of all the Nine Walkers in the books, Legolas is the one given the least background and personality by Tolkien, making him the least interesting character.
Hmmm...the 4 hobbits all get lotsa face time in Book 1, Gandalf is Gandalf and Aragorn is Aragorn, Boromir gets waxes early but has his dealie beforehand (if not as dramatically as the movie colors is), and Gimli I think does edge out Leg for banter, the thing in Lothlorien, and - hey- he's the son of a Hobbit character!
#13
Laufey
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Posted 29 September 2003 - 03:08 PM
Ah, I really love Poe's ghost stories myself!
Good stuff....freaky stuff. But what do you expect from a guy who marries his 13-year-old cousin?
He did?
I had no idea, but of course he doesn't seem entirely sane.
So, Xan and Eddie guess the truth, do they?
They're gettin' suspicious, yeah...
Reminds me, I'm wondering if you have an opinion on this: charm Dyna, she admits to looking for the spawn of Bhaal. But with Eddie (From charming or elsewhere), I don't remember him knowing anything about Dyna's mission, or having one of his own beyond killing her. I was wondering if you knew of more tidbits.
The way I'm doing it so far (I think) is that Dyna is looking for Bspawn and will probably have the canniness to start to pick up on any she travels with. I haven't said yet how much Ed knows about all this (Boris we've been told didn't know squat about their quarry, but he wouldn't have been told anyway).
Edwin doesn't seem to have a 'charmed' dialogue the way Dynaheir does. I did find one dialouge, if Dynaheir is dead before Edwin gets into the party, where he says something along the lines of 'now all that remains is finding out what she was doing here' which would mean that he didn't know any details. Of course, I wrote it differently myself, since that way it was more dramatic.
And I suppose it *is* theoretically possible that he knew about the Bhaalspawn, but still didn't know for certain what Dynaheir's mission was.
Rogues do it from behind.
#14
Weyoun
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Posted 29 September 2003 - 06:17 PM
When he is best, he is a little worse than a man;
And when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.
-William Shakespeare
Ah, Shakespeare is overrated crap anyway.
Though within the circle, Jade sat quietly too. Mulling over the day's events, since the 'high point' of the 'boy' and his 'dog', or Barghest and his Hellhound as Edwin had later informed.
A boy and his blob.
A boy and his lockpick. The battle had been easy enough, xvarts being mowed by the warriors like grass while Xan enchanted them into napping in droves with sleep spells. Pretending he didn't need any pointers from Xzar, Edwin had burned down the village with his first Aganazzar's Scorcher. The necromancer and conjurer had then found mutual amusement in taunting Xan with the prospect of the Fireballs they would surely be casting within a tenday. 'Ursus' had been found in his cave, hibernating, easily dispatched and netting Branwen an enchanted flail. Hacking the pathetically weak xvarts down left and right with her golden bastard sword had almost been...fun. The smell of their blood invogorating. Jade was moved to fond memories of the summer kobold-scourings with her brother and their half-orcish friend Grom among a few others, under the instructive eyes of Tethtoril. But now Nexlit's words echoed in her head again. You the monster!
Kinda like Starship Troopers, but on a slightly lower scale. I dunno, I always rooted for the bugs during that movie.
Jade shook her head, and ran her fingers through her scarlet hair. "Xzar, what's a monster?"
Laska : If it eats you without knife and fork, it's a monster.
"Hooboy," Imoen sighed, her shortbow drawn, "These guys really have a thing with heads!"
"I'd rather not think about that," Jaheira grimaced.
Get your mind out of the gutter, Jaheira.
"Oh wow!" Garrick beamed as Imoen showed off her wares once they were safely on hard ground. "Gauntlets of dexterity!"
Viconia scoffed. "Designed to achieve the pinnacle of human dexterity. Bah! They would hinder me!" She went into a strange, darkly alluring dance, unhindered by her anhkeg plate to effect no human woman could have replicated, singing huskily in her native tongue.
LOL! Yep, Vic still surpasses the maximum. Ah, Vicky.
"Carrion crawlers!"
*sigh* It's just one creature after another, ey?
Then at last, as he stopped moving for a moment to lift a leg of roast (human) to his fangs and gnaw upon the meat hungrily, his jaw crunching but his head largely still, she had her chance. Her right thumb and forefinger lifted from the butt of the shaft, and the arrow slid gracefully forward with the bowstring, sliding over her thumb and alongside the yew-wood, and left her bow. It sailed true through the air, and just as the gnoll leader had his maw open wide for a chomp, the arrowhead flew into his throat, piercing the roof of his mouth, cutting through the base of his brain, and appeared out the back of his furry head.
LOL! It was a fatal snack.
In the bottom of the pit, surrounded by human body parts and even a fresh gnoll corpse, she stood regally, a chocolate-skinned woman in tattered indigo robes.
Whoo! Dyna rules!
Great stuff,
---Weyoun
TnT Enhanced Edition: http://www.fanfictio...rds-and-Tempers
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Sith Warrior - Master, I can sense your anger.
Darth Baras - A blind, comotose lobotomy-patient could sense my anger!
---
"The New Age? It's just the old age stuck in a microwave oven for fifteen seconds" - James Randi
---
Sith Warrior - Master, I can sense your anger.
Darth Baras - A blind, comotose lobotomy-patient could sense my anger!
---
"The New Age? It's just the old age stuck in a microwave oven for fifteen seconds" - James Randi
#15
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Posted 30 September 2003 - 09:10 AM
When he is best, he is a little worse than a man;
And when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.
-William Shakespeare
Ah, Shakespeare is overrated crap anyway.
Overrated, yes, (he's so highly rated it's kinda inevitable), but good...
Though within the circle, Jade sat quietly too. Mulling over the day's events, since the 'high point' of the 'boy' and his 'dog', or Barghest and his Hellhound as Edwin had later informed.
A boy and his blob.
Ah yes. Mmmm, jellybeans.
The battle had been easy enough, xvarts being mowed by the warriors like grass while Xan enchanted them into napping in droves with sleep spells. Pretending he didn't need any pointers from Xzar, Edwin had burned down the village with his first Aganazzar's Scorcher. The necromancer and conjurer had then found mutual amusement in taunting Xan with the prospect of the Fireballs they would surely be casting within a tenday. 'Ursus' had been found in his cave, hibernating, easily dispatched and netting Branwen an enchanted flail. Hacking the pathetically weak xvarts down left and right with her golden bastard sword had almost been...fun. The smell of their blood invogorating. Jade was moved to fond memories of the summer kobold-scourings with her brother and their half-orcish friend Grom among a few others, under the instructive eyes of Tethtoril. But now Nexlit's words echoed in her head again. You the monster!
Kinda like Starship Troopers, but on a slightly lower scale. I dunno, I always rooted for the bugs during that movie.
Agreed; they didn't waste our time with Starship 90210.
Jade shook her head, and ran her fingers through her scarlet hair. "Xzar, what's a monster?"
Laska : If it eats you without knife and fork, it's a monster.
So that's why that pizza was reciting Nexlit on me...
"Hooboy," Imoen sighed, her shortbow drawn, "These guys really have a thing with heads!"
"I'd rather not think about that," Jaheira grimaced.
Get your mind out of the gutter, Jaheira.
She's a druid. They like gunk.
"Oh wow!" Garrick beamed as Imoen showed off her wares once they were safely on hard ground. "Gauntlets of dexterity!"
Viconia scoffed. "Designed to achieve the pinnacle of human dexterity. Bah! They would hinder me!" She went into a strange, darkly alluring dance, unhindered by her anhkeg plate to effect no human woman could have replicated, singing huskily in her native tongue.
LOL! Yep, Vic still surpasses the maximum. Ah, Vicky.
"Carrion crawlers!"
*sigh* It's just one creature after another, ey?
Mmm...it's kinda mundane. I always found rival demihumans more interesting. My fav BG1 battles were the 6-or-so-strong evil parties, like in that one Inn in BG, or the top floor of the Throne building, or the Undercity before the temple.
Then at last, as he stopped moving for a moment to lift a leg of roast (human) to his fangs and gnaw upon the meat hungrily, his jaw crunching but his head largely still, she had her chance. Her right thumb and forefinger lifted from the butt of the shaft, and the arrow slid gracefully forward with the bowstring, sliding over her thumb and alongside the yew-wood, and left her bow. It sailed true through the air, and just as the gnoll leader had his maw open wide for a chomp, the arrowhead flew into his throat, piercing the roof of his mouth, cutting through the base of his brain, and appeared out the back of his furry head.
LOL! It was a fatal snack.
Final Snack III
Warning: Gluttonous content, may not be suitable for children
In the bottom of the pit, surrounded by human body parts and even a fresh gnoll corpse, she stood regally, a chocolate-skinned woman in tattered indigo robes.
Whoo! Dyna rules!
I figured, for the obvious reasons, you were a fan. Being ever-the-powergamer, I get annoyed by the two-opposition-schools thing. I'm thinking of changing her for the fic, to no-enchantment only, or perhaps making her a Diviner. It'd suit her better, I think, given she's tailing a prophecy.
Great stuff,
---Weyoun
thnx
#16
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Posted 30 September 2003 - 10:17 PM
So, Xan and Eddie guess the truth, do they?
They're gettin' suspicious, yeah...
Reminds me, I'm wondering if you have an opinion on this: charm Dyna, she admits to looking for the spawn of Bhaal. But with Eddie (From charming or elsewhere), I don't remember him knowing anything about Dyna's mission, or having one of his own beyond killing her. I was wondering if you knew of more tidbits.
The way I'm doing it so far (I think) is that Dyna is looking for Bspawn and will probably have the canniness to start to pick up on any she travels with. I haven't said yet how much Ed knows about all this (Boris we've been told didn't know squat about their quarry, but he wouldn't have been told anyway).
Edwin doesn't seem to have a 'charmed' dialogue the way Dynaheir does. I did find one dialouge, if Dynaheir is dead before Edwin gets into the party, where he says something along the lines of 'now all that remains is finding out what she was doing here' which would mean that he didn't know any details. Of course, I wrote it differently myself, since that way it was more dramatic.
Haw haw. That's the way I've been doing it - that he doesn't know as much as she does, and intends to figure out by either spying or interrogation.
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