A.N.- I don't own The Forgotten Realms and am getting beyound tired of righting this at the top :(
A.N.- Please pead read and review, that's why I'm writing this stuff!
CampFire Tales
The next morning, Vrisiphiel swung her pack over her shoulder and headed for the foothills to the south. Though shrouded from view in the night, the young mage could easily see the rising crest of the hill top. And according to the Marshal, the mine is just on the other side of it.
She have heard that the woods have become unsafe, but never did she expect she'd be jumped by a giant, furry, tarantula. The eight legged creeper jumped at her from behind a tree stump, and caught her completely off guard. Too surprised to even scream, she rolled aside off reflex. Having missed its prey, the spider hissed, baring its ten inches long fangs at her.
'Ieeek!' Her screams filled the morning forest, as the spider lunged at her again. Frost burst forth around the spider, and it reeled back, clawing at the air with its forelegs. 'Go away.' She bashed the spider, again, then again, till the twitching form was no longer twitching, flipped on its bellies with its legs to the sky. 'Yeew.' She wiped the slimy inners of the spider off her staff on a patch of grass.
She at last made it to the edge of the mine, after having killed four of the disgusting…thing which she don't even want to think about. 'I think I've seen enough spiders to last me a lifetime.' She thought, trying to hold back the content of her breakfast in the stomach. 'Hope I'd never have to kill another one of them again.'
Looking down over the cliff ledge, the valley was filled with kobolds, and more kobolds, and corpses littered all over the place. Slowly, she inched down the cliff, and killing one by one, made her way to the entrance of the mine.
It was dark, and filled with blueish mist, with strange sounds coming from the deep. Proceeding slowly across the carcass filled mine floor, she made her way to a large cavern, where she saw a kind of kobolds never seen before.
Curious, she snuck up behind them, using the mining carts as concealment. They were slimmer, and carried no picks or shovels, which was odd as she thought kobolds lived to mine.
Is this what the Marshal wanted her to report on? Or would she need to gather more information on these new kobolds.
Deep in thoughts, she nearly missed a familiar whoop of burning air, she dropped to the ground, a yellow ball of flame shot over her and the wall behind her exploded, sending shards of stone over her.
'What in the name?' She said under her breath. Peaking over the cart, she saw the kobolds jabbing their fingers her way, while a few had theirs glowing, almost like hers when she was…casting fireball.
Suddenly learning what the new kobolds do, the young mage knew she was in trouble. Vrisiphiel lunged out of the cover of the carts, just as two fireballs smashed into their sides, sending them into the air and falling back to earth at were she was. In response, she cast a fireball back at them, and found it dissipate by an invisible shield warding the kobolds.
Memories of when the last time her spells failed her rushed to her mind. The darkness, the cold bearing down her neck, the pain. She could see herself, there, alone in the night, her body covered in blood, as more of her life's fluid bleed out from her wounds, as her enemies fell upon her, their eyes glistening with hunger. No. She pulled herself back to the mine, to focus on the enemy before her.
Her main weapon is the fireball, while she also have the frostbolt, it did not do enough damage compared to the fireball, and now fireball is ineffectual against these kobolds. 'This is definitely, not, good.'
She threw off a frostbolt, knocking the nearest kobold mage over. A fireball whistled her way, and this time she failed to avoid it. Fire engulfed her, and she felt the flame lick at her chest and legs. Rolling over the floor to douse the flame, she sprinted toward the exit as another fireball flashed past, blasting out a storm of rock and dust. She turned about, and shot off another frostbolt. Luckily, this one impacted solidly in its gut, the kobold gurgled, held its small hands over its stomach as it collapsed to the floor.
The remaining kobolds shrieked, and chased after her. Another flash of fire came, nearly blowing out one of the support beams. Coughing on the dusty smoke, Vrisiphiel ran out of the mine into the brightness of the sun.
That afternoon, after treating the burns with some healing potions, she told Marshal Dughan about those kobold mages, and the Marshal's face sunk into a troubled frown.
'Geomancers, must be. I've heard of them, but never thought they would venture so far into these lands. This is dire news Vrisiphiel, I'm glad you managed to discover it quickly, I hope it isn't too late yet. I will try to divert what manpower I have to this matter, but with the Deifas Brotherhood licking at our heels, I'm afraid it will take some time before I can move against them, meanwhile, can you try to keep their numbers under control? I will send what competent volunteers, which aren't that many, to the same task, together, you just might be able to keep them in check long enough for me to prepare a raid on them.'
That had to be the most amount of words Vrisiphiel had seen the Marshal string together without turning to curses. She shifted on her toes, considering the Marshal's request.
Her first encounter with the geomancers had nearly turned into disaster, but that was before she knew anything about them, before she knew their capabilities. She does now. And if the Marshal could send a few volunteers to the task too, they might be able to group up and make the job that much easier.
Carefully weighing the factors, she nodded. 'I'll do the best I can.'
'Thank you, lady mage. I'll send the other volunteers to the mines as soon as they come back from their current errands.'
Walking away to sell the goods she looted off the kobolds, she suddenly made a realization. 'Blast, now I have to wad through that field of spiders. Again.'
One of the traveling merchants asked if she could help him collect candles, that he worked for an alchemy supply store up in Stormwind and is looking for wax for some recipes. It seemed an easy enough matter, after all, every kobold stupidly carried a candle on their head.
Toasting the spiders before they could get close to her, she made her way to Fargodeep mine. The kobolds had dragged away their dead and reoccupied the valley outside, a minor hindrance, these normal kobolds were mere target practices for her.
A dance of ice, and fire. The kobolds spun, and fell. Some shrieked, some took their fate in silence. 'You no get candle!' Some shouted as they charged to their doom. The young mage's slender form weaved through the herd in graceful waltz, the flickering flame and chilling frost encircled her, a colorful display rendering the fire within the girl.
Three kobold came at the young woman, pick hammers waving. Vrisiphiel stepped away, sending frostbolts through their ranks. The slowed tunnelers dragged their frozen feet after the mage, crying in anger. The first fell collapsed like a boneless sack, the second soon followed after bathing repeatedly in flames. She had never felt like this in her life, one with the magic, the flow of it coursing through her, giving her strength. The young woman chased after the third, who fled after being deeply wounded by a shard of ice.
A fireball curved in from behind, and exploded against the kobold, sending the limp form into the rock face. Vrisiphiel gaped at her hands, she didn't remember her casting the fireball, she was going to conserve her mana and knock the kobold out with the staff.
Looking behind, she discovered the origin of the fireball. A foot tall yellow scaled demon poked its head over the edge of the cliff, gave her a grin full of fangs, and pulled back behind a grove of bush.
She said to herself. 'Ookie, I've seen that grin before, this means - '
'What chance this, fair lady, that we shall meet again so soon.' A flurry of red leapt down the slope, and next thing Vrisiphiel know a red robed warlock was standing before her with an all too happy smile.