.Chapter 2: Two wizards.
The raven tower was a huge building, made of dull obsidian with small
windows cut into the sides. The front gates were made of heavy oak and
"guarded" by tall, menacing statues of evil-looking ravens. Every now and
again, two or three ravens would depart from one of the towers windows,
whilst another five would enter, carrying small glittering pieces of
jewellery. Although the adventurers could only see its outline in the
distance as they descended. Gau, Crag and Brock jumped out and walked in
the direction of their destination. The professor had opted to stay behind
because he had to look a few things up in his books (The real reason, that
he was terrified at the thought of going into the dark forest, was apparent
to all.) Forsythe had volunteered to stay behind to make sure that the
professor didn't blow himself up. also so that he could protect the ship
from anything that might get inside.
Gau and the other two trapsed through what was pretty close to swampland.
The only difference between the forest and a swamp being that a swamp
smells bad, the forest however, smelled absolutely terrible. Their feet
sank in the mud and mosquitoes constantly bit them. Crag tried to squash
one that was biting his forehead, but he missed and he ended up giving
himself a black eye. After a while, small yips and barks could be heard in
the long grass beside their trail.
"Whats that?" Brock asked. Crag sniffed the air and frowned,
"Kobolds..." he said quietly.
"We could take out a few little dog lizards no sweat!" Brock replied. Crag
began to quicken his pace. He sounded a little worried.
"Lots of kobolds!" He shouted, breaking into an all out run, pulling Gau
and Brock behind him. No sooner had they started running, than a whole
swarm of kobolds burst out of the long grass and on to the trail. Crossbow
bolts tore through the air above around the fighters heads. One glanced off
of Brocks shield that he carried on his back. He turned around and roared
at them.
"YOU WANNA PIECE O' ME!!??" The kobolds stopped there charge for a second.
Brock drew his sword and charged at the kobolds.
"NO BROCK!!!" Crag shouted,
"Don't be a hero!" Gau called. Brock wouldn't listen though. He burst into
the midst of the enemy and started swinging his longsword around, killing
the beasts that strayed too close. They didn't have to get close though,
the words that the kobold crossbowmen laughed, rang in Crags ears, and
never stopped haunting him.
"Now die! Crazy man person!!!" It let loose a bolt from its weapon that
flew through the air and punctured Brocks throat. The bolt emerged from the
back of his neck and carried on to embed itself in a tree. It was too much.
For the second time that day. The rage of the barbarian gripped Crag in its
fiery embrace. Once again his muscles bulged, his eyes reddened, the veins
and sinew popped up in his skin. He tore the Greataxe from his back and
began to roar in Orcish. He had gone completely ballistic. He charged at
the kobold that had fired the crossbow. He killed it in such a gruesome way
as I cannot describe. He swung the massive axe round and caught at least
half a dozen kobolds on its keen edge. Through his red-vision, he could see
Gau attacking them with his silver sword. He bought the axe down and sliced
another in two. He caught a large one on the chin, splitting its face open
and launching it in to the air. The kobolds were now too afraid to attack,
and Crag found their leader, cowering among them. He stepped forward,
bought his axe back, swang, and decapitated the leader from the top jaw
upwards. The other kobolds, lost their nerve and ran away before the
screaming berserker could catch them. Crag didn't have to check to know
that Brock was dead. Blood was no longer coming out of the wound, and his
eyes were glazed over. Crag instead bent down to corpse of the kobolds
leader, it's long, purple robes indicated that it had been a sorcerer of
some kind. On its belt was a large, icy-blue, hollow glass orb. As soon as
Crag touched it, his mind was transported to another place. It was a huge
cavern of ice. Two red eyes stared out at him.
"Don't let me down!" A monstrous voice said, the sound was a mixture of
snakes hissing and bats squeaking, mixed with hundreds of inhuman screams.
"Kill the sorceress, burn down the tower, get the sword!!!" It was silent
for a while. "Don't let me down..." It repeated... Suddenly Crag was back
again. He was so shocked when Gau unexpectedly tapped him on the shoulder,
that he tightened his grip on the orb, shattering it into hundreds of
pieces.
"Whats going on?" Gau shouted. Crag had turned back to normal, he gave a
groan and clutched his head.
"Uuuurghhhh! Nuthin' I'm fine! Thought I saw summit... Must've been
hallucaratin'"
Gau supported Crag and they began to walk towards the tower. They reached
the doors and Gau gave a heavy knock. Ignoring the Raven statues that
seemed to be staring at them. The doors slowly opened themselves inwards.
"Diesa!" Gau called out, his voice echoed in the tower. There was no reply.
He and Crag walked into the building, all the while being watched from
above by the ravens. He called again, louder. "DIESA!" Crag snarled.
"Itz a wunderr she can't 'ere you wot wiv 'er elfy earz!"
"Listen Crag!" Gau said, starting to get annoyed "There's nothing wrong
with her being half-elf okay!? She doesn't tease you for being half-orc!"
Crag didn't say anything and just glared ahead as he walked. They saw a
spiral staircase ahead of them it seemed to go on forever.
"Well there's nowhere else, she must be up there." Gau stated. They
travelled up the stairs, continuously climbing. They had walked for a full
ten minutes before Gau realised what was going on. "Grrrrrr its one of her
spells. As long as we keep climbing, the stairs keep going, there has to be
somewhere else downstairs." They changed direction. They descended the
staircase. After another ten minutes, Gau realised something, something
that chilled him to the bone. He realised with horror, that, no matter
which way they went, they were stuck in the same place.
"Looks like we're in a bit of trouble Crag!" Gau said. Crag took a small
whetstone from his pocket and dropped it into the centre of the tower.
There was no noise, the
stone just kept falling.
"Damn!" Crag shouted angrily. "What're we gonna do now!?" He swung a fist
out in frustration and punched through the wall. He didn't damage the wall,
his hand just........... vanished through it.
"Hey! An illusionary wall!" Gau shouted in amazement. He slowly walked
towards the wall and touched it with both hands. He felt a little bit of
push against his hands like a magnet repelling another. He gave one big
push and his arms dissappeared up to the elbow. He turned to Crag, who
nodded........... Gau and Crag stepped through the wall.............
The other side of the wall was a dark room, it was lit by a single candle
on a desk, at the desk was a dark haired woman, wearing a dress made of
black feathers. She appeared to be writing something, a black feather quill
moved around in her hand.
"Diesa?" Gau asked quietely. Slowly walking towards the figure in the
chair. The seated person visibly jumped. She wheeled around, her hand
glowing with purple fire.
Gau and Crag jumped back in alarm, Gau raised his hands as a sign of
peace. The woman looked confused.
"Gau?" She asked. The purple flame disappearing. Gau smiled disarmingly.
"Nice to see you to!" He laughed. Diesas face broke into a smile.
"Where've you been, what've you been doing all this time!?" She asked
rapidly. Crag stepped out from behind his companion, He grunted.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah good to see you, yadda-yadda!" He said quickly, not
trying to cover up the fact that he wanted to leave quickly. Diesa nearly
squealed with delight at seeing the barbarian.
"Craggy!" She shouted, spreading her arms for a hug. Crag just looked at
her and started walking back towards the wall.
"See if she wants ta come and den meet me back outside da tower!" He said
to Gau, before walking through the illusionary wall..... Three seconds
later, he was back. "I forget, " He said, a little embarrassed, "Da sterz
don't go anywherz.... How duz we get out?" He grudgingly asked the
sorceress. Diesa smiled to herself, "what is inside the head of that
savage?" she asked herself. She clicked her fingers and a bookcase moved to
the left, revealing a secret staircase. Crag didn't say anything, he just
walked down the stairs. Gau and the sorceress watched him walk until he was
out of view, Then they decided to talk.......
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(15 minutes later)
The arched door opened and Crag turned around. When Gau walked out Crag
started to ask.
"What'd she say? Is she gonna....." He saw Diesa walk through the door
with a raven on her shoulder. "Grrrrr" He growled in anger under his
breath.
"Whats with the bird?" Gau asked the new team member as they walked back
through the forest. Diesa put her hand to her shoulder and the raven hopped
onto her fingers.
"This is Noir," She said smiling, "He's my familiar, a few years back when
you were travelling around in all those wars, I needed a little company. So
I created a raven familiar with a few feathers and a spell...... He's been
good company, after all, a girl gets so lonely all by herself........" She
raised the tone of her voice on the last few words, implying a hint. Gau
opened his mouth to say something, but instead he was met with a kiss on
the cheek. Diesa giggled like a little girl.
"Don't worry," She said, "You don't have to apologise!" She looked around.
"Where's Crag?" She asked.
"He went on ahead, he had something important to do..."
Crag was in the clearing where the band of kobolds had been barely an hour
ago.... In front of him was the body of his friend and travelling
companion, Brock. Slowly, mechanically, he bent down and picked up the
corpse. He turned around to face a small hole that he had just dug in the
dirt. He walked towards it and lowered Brocks body into it. He said a few
words and took a small pouch of herbs from his belt, he wasn't a priest,
but he had seen war, he had seen hundreds of warriors die and be
buried........ He knew the ceremony all too well. He sprinkled the herbs
into the grave and began to fill it with soil..... The grave was filled in,
Crag did not want to be in that place anymore. He turned towards the
sillohette of the ship in the distance, and began to run. He hadn't gone a
few steps when he saw it, a tiny, golden acorn, it seemed to shimmer in the
noon sun. He picked it up, it was just slightly larger than a normal acorn,
but it still looked tiny when between Crag's forefinger and thumb. He
turned again to see Brocks shallow grave, took a few steps and planted the
strange, golden object.........
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Splendid, splendid!" The proffesor said happily, shaking Diesa's hand.
"Very nice to meet you young lady, Gau here speaks very highly of you."
Diesa turned her head and smiled slyly at Gau, who's face had turned a
bright red.
"Has he indeed?" She said, the smile widening. The proffesor turned to
Crag
"Crag. I can't tell you how sorry I am about Brock.... He was a good ma-"
Crag broke him off with a hand movement. He shook his head.
"Sorry Profezzer, I dun wanna talk abaht et..." He walked out of the room.
"Poor Guy...." Gau whispered. "Yes, yes... tragic really....." The proffesor looked sad "I've never had a friend....die before..... But life must go on eh? We need to find Phay!" Gau turned to Forsythe, "Temple of Pelor in Tehait..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The streets of Tehait were bustling with business. There were stalls everywhere, food stores, clothes stores, armouries..... Gau, Crag and Diesa pushed their way through the crowds to get to the temple. A few men looked in Diesas direction and smiled, but they quickly turned away when the saw the two men behind her. Any thieves were also scared away by the intimidating warriors, there was no trouble in getting to the temple. The temple was completely empty when they entered, there were no visitors or priests in the building. Crag ran forward to the front of the temple to try and find someone, there was absolutely no-one in the room...... Gau was about to shout out Phays name when a female scream peeled out from a side room, followed by a man in white robes crashing through a wall. The group ran over to the man, Diesa nearly threw up in disgust. He was completely disfigured, his face was a mess of blood and bone, his chest had been smashed inwards. Whoever had killed him had made sure that he was dead. Gau drew the sword from his belt and wheeled round to face the hulking beast coming through the hole in the wall. It stood about thirteen feet tall, its skin was green and covered in warts that oozed pus, it had a hooked nose and glazed, white eyes. On top of its head was a mass of white, stringy hair, the beast screeched hideously before lifting a man-sized, spiked club off of the floor and above its head, ready to turn the party into ugly stains on the floor. Gau rushed at the monster swinging his silver sword at its arms, Crag removed his axe and let out a bestial roar. Diesa closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, her hands began to glow yellow. Noir, her raven, flapped across to the beast and began pecking at its face, infuriating it. Gau ducked under a swing from the huge club before bringing his sword down on the forearm of the hideous creature. Crag was knocked to the floor by its other arm which swished out wildly when Gau made contact with the silver blade, blood spewed from his face as his nose broke. Diesa opened her eyes and punched her hands forward, letting a burst of energy fly forward, it hit the monster square in the face, singing flesh and burning hair. It's hands flew up to it's face as it screamed in agony, Gau took the oppurtunity and embedded his sword in it's gut, as it lurched in agony, a crystal ball fell from it's fur garments. The orb hit the floor and smashed into hundreds of pieces, the troll swayed and began to scream even louder, it gave a disgusting gurgle noise before toppling forwards and dying with blood seeping from it's stomach. "WHAT IN THE NINE HELLS WAS THAT!?" Gau shouted. A small female voice came from the hole in the wall. "Um... It was a troll...." A blonde haired preistess picked herself up out of the hole. "I recognised that thing as being a troll" She said meekly. Gau and Crag instantly recognised her as Phay. Crag rushed forward to help her up whilst Gau checked on Diesa. "What was it doing in the town?" Gau asked. Phay shrugged, "I don't know, nobody saw it come in and the main door is the only way it could get in." She smiled when she saw Crag, he got close to pick her up and said somehing to him, but it was too quiet for Gau to here. "Phay we need to talk." Gau said rushed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After a few minutes of explanations, Phay agreed to go with the team to Castle Snakir. She whent into a side room and opened a chest, she picked up a trident and a whip. She took out three bottles of holy water and made a prayer to the Sun effigy on the wall. She vowed to avenge the death of the priests that had been killed by the troll. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The completed team entered the 'Cloud Titan' and started to walk towards the cockpit. Phay looked extremely excited and whispered something to Crag, he smiled and said (Not meaning for Gau to here) "Don't wurry abat it! I'll look after ya!" The team reached the professor and explained their success in finding another team member. "Splendid, splendid.......Urmmm" He started to fidget again. "What is it professor?" Gau asked. The professor began to fidget even more. "W-well, whilst you were gone, Forsythe bought up a good point. The gates of the castle are guarded by towering Iron-Golems. You'd never be able to get past them..." "So how da we get in!?" Crag shouted impatiently "W-well, there is a way..... Someone needs to sneak in and open the castle's drawbridge. We need someone who's good at sneaking and exceptionally good at not being found." At that point, a piece of grating in the ceiling began to rattle, everyone jumped out of the way as it collapsed onto the floor. On the grating, trying to pick herself up was a young woman, she flipped her blonde hair out of her eyes and looked around. "Uh-oh...." She said quietly. Gau sensed a familiarity, where had he seen this girl before? He remembered back to when he had been in Cortallas, he had saved that girl from an Orc, it was that girl! He helped her up, she was about to thank him when he picked her up, lifting her so high that her feet didn't touch the ground, and shouted at her. "How long have you been here!?" He shouted angrily. The girl was obviously a bit dizzy. "Wuh.. Uh?...... Since you got on the ship mister Gau sir!" She spluttered out quickly. Crag was about to shout angrily, but the professor cut in. "Whats your name and how did you get onto my ship my dear?" He said kindly, Gau dropped the girl. "Uh... I'm Charlene and I sneaked aboard when you were getting Gau in!" The professor smiled. "Well Crag, I guess that answers your question eh? Wot wot! Charlene will be your infiltrator!" Charlene looked terrified. "Wha?! No way!" She shouted "I heard you talking about that Castle, I'm not going in there, NO WAY!" She shouted even louder. Gau looked upwards before speaking again. "Either you come with us Charlene. Or we kick you off of the ship!" He folded his arms. Charlene smirked. "Fine! She said, "I guess you'll just have to kick me off!" Now it was Gau's turn to smirk, he pointed towards the nearest window. Charlene looked through it and gasped, the ship had already taken off! They were hundreds of feet in the air! "Besides." Gau said, "Where will you go if we let you leave? Cotallas doesn't look very appealing anymore!" Charlene looked away, hurt. "My family were killed in the raid. I don't have anywhere else to go... I guess I'll have to go with you..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Poor Guy...." Gau whispered. "Yes, yes... tragic really....." The proffesor looked sad "I've never had a friend....die before..... But life must go on eh? We need to find Phay!" Gau turned to Forsythe, "Temple of Pelor in Tehait..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The streets of Tehait were bustling with business. There were stalls everywhere, food stores, clothes stores, armouries..... Gau, Crag and Diesa pushed their way through the crowds to get to the temple. A few men looked in Diesas direction and smiled, but they quickly turned away when the saw the two men behind her. Any thieves were also scared away by the intimidating warriors, there was no trouble in getting to the temple. The temple was completely empty when they entered, there were no visitors or priests in the building. Crag ran forward to the front of the temple to try and find someone, there was absolutely no-one in the room...... Gau was about to shout out Phays name when a female scream peeled out from a side room, followed by a man in white robes crashing through a wall. The group ran over to the man, Diesa nearly threw up in disgust. He was completely disfigured, his face was a mess of blood and bone, his chest had been smashed inwards. Whoever had killed him had made sure that he was dead. Gau drew the sword from his belt and wheeled round to face the hulking beast coming through the hole in the wall. It stood about thirteen feet tall, its skin was green and covered in warts that oozed pus, it had a hooked nose and glazed, white eyes. On top of its head was a mass of white, stringy hair, the beast screeched hideously before lifting a man-sized, spiked club off of the floor and above its head, ready to turn the party into ugly stains on the floor. Gau rushed at the monster swinging his silver sword at its arms, Crag removed his axe and let out a bestial roar. Diesa closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, her hands began to glow yellow. Noir, her raven, flapped across to the beast and began pecking at its face, infuriating it. Gau ducked under a swing from the huge club before bringing his sword down on the forearm of the hideous creature. Crag was knocked to the floor by its other arm which swished out wildly when Gau made contact with the silver blade, blood spewed from his face as his nose broke. Diesa opened her eyes and punched her hands forward, letting a burst of energy fly forward, it hit the monster square in the face, singing flesh and burning hair. It's hands flew up to it's face as it screamed in agony, Gau took the oppurtunity and embedded his sword in it's gut, as it lurched in agony, a crystal ball fell from it's fur garments. The orb hit the floor and smashed into hundreds of pieces, the troll swayed and began to scream even louder, it gave a disgusting gurgle noise before toppling forwards and dying with blood seeping from it's stomach. "WHAT IN THE NINE HELLS WAS THAT!?" Gau shouted. A small female voice came from the hole in the wall. "Um... It was a troll...." A blonde haired preistess picked herself up out of the hole. "I recognised that thing as being a troll" She said meekly. Gau and Crag instantly recognised her as Phay. Crag rushed forward to help her up whilst Gau checked on Diesa. "What was it doing in the town?" Gau asked. Phay shrugged, "I don't know, nobody saw it come in and the main door is the only way it could get in." She smiled when she saw Crag, he got close to pick her up and said somehing to him, but it was too quiet for Gau to here. "Phay we need to talk." Gau said rushed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After a few minutes of explanations, Phay agreed to go with the team to Castle Snakir. She whent into a side room and opened a chest, she picked up a trident and a whip. She took out three bottles of holy water and made a prayer to the Sun effigy on the wall. She vowed to avenge the death of the priests that had been killed by the troll. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The completed team entered the 'Cloud Titan' and started to walk towards the cockpit. Phay looked extremely excited and whispered something to Crag, he smiled and said (Not meaning for Gau to here) "Don't wurry abat it! I'll look after ya!" The team reached the professor and explained their success in finding another team member. "Splendid, splendid.......Urmmm" He started to fidget again. "What is it professor?" Gau asked. The professor began to fidget even more. "W-well, whilst you were gone, Forsythe bought up a good point. The gates of the castle are guarded by towering Iron-Golems. You'd never be able to get past them..." "So how da we get in!?" Crag shouted impatiently "W-well, there is a way..... Someone needs to sneak in and open the castle's drawbridge. We need someone who's good at sneaking and exceptionally good at not being found." At that point, a piece of grating in the ceiling began to rattle, everyone jumped out of the way as it collapsed onto the floor. On the grating, trying to pick herself up was a young woman, she flipped her blonde hair out of her eyes and looked around. "Uh-oh...." She said quietly. Gau sensed a familiarity, where had he seen this girl before? He remembered back to when he had been in Cortallas, he had saved that girl from an Orc, it was that girl! He helped her up, she was about to thank him when he picked her up, lifting her so high that her feet didn't touch the ground, and shouted at her. "How long have you been here!?" He shouted angrily. The girl was obviously a bit dizzy. "Wuh.. Uh?...... Since you got on the ship mister Gau sir!" She spluttered out quickly. Crag was about to shout angrily, but the professor cut in. "Whats your name and how did you get onto my ship my dear?" He said kindly, Gau dropped the girl. "Uh... I'm Charlene and I sneaked aboard when you were getting Gau in!" The professor smiled. "Well Crag, I guess that answers your question eh? Wot wot! Charlene will be your infiltrator!" Charlene looked terrified. "Wha?! No way!" She shouted "I heard you talking about that Castle, I'm not going in there, NO WAY!" She shouted even louder. Gau looked upwards before speaking again. "Either you come with us Charlene. Or we kick you off of the ship!" He folded his arms. Charlene smirked. "Fine! She said, "I guess you'll just have to kick me off!" Now it was Gau's turn to smirk, he pointed towards the nearest window. Charlene looked through it and gasped, the ship had already taken off! They were hundreds of feet in the air! "Besides." Gau said, "Where will you go if we let you leave? Cotallas doesn't look very appealing anymore!" Charlene looked away, hurt. "My family were killed in the raid. I don't have anywhere else to go... I guess I'll have to go with you..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~