The Calm before the storm
Arma stood up and took a step back quickly grabbing her great sword; she twirled her great sword in her hand. Kerith walked over to Muashi and knelt down beside him. Thundering of hooves suddenly erupted and guards came crashing through the undergrowth.
"You got to be kidding me?" cried Arma.
Kerith looked up in silence as the guards surrounded Arma with their spears pointing down at her. Arma's sword clattered to the floor as she shook her head in total dismay. One of the guards approached and jabbed Arma with a spear, natural reactions kick in, in microseconds, she span around grabbing the spear and pulled it out of the guard's hand. The other guards went for the kill…
"Halt!" Ordered Captain TrentArma smiled as Captain Trent rode into the clearing, the guard's surrounding Arma backed off and Arma drops the spear clumsily to the floor. Captain Trent dismounted and walked to Arma.
"Sorry for the scare there Arma" apologised the captainArma just looked blankly at him as her eyes began to fill with water,
"We got here as soon as we could," said Captain TrentArma pointed over to the bloodied Muashi as a single tear began to run down her face,
"He died for a good cause," said Captain Trent in a harsh, disciplined tone "Come on lets move out; we got to move on and set up the plan" ordered the figure of authority.
Arma closed her eyes and gritted her teeth; her fists clenched so tight her knuckles turned white. She let out a desperate sigh and relaxed, Kerith picked up Muashi's crumpled body and battered equipment, Arma grabbed her scattered things and the party moved off. The large group travelled quickly and arrived at a very large campsite some where deep in the deep scarlet forest. No words were spoken no signs were made nothing. A few hours passed at the site, time trickled by. Kerith laid Muashi's body down with his gear Arma sat down motionless staring into the fire. Other guards sat around resting or doing various chores. Captain Trent walked over to the shaken elf, Arma glared at him with thoughts of pure rage and anger.
"I have spoken with one of the priests and he said he will try to give life to your friend" muttered Trent tactfully.
Arma's eyes widened as a grin of ecstasy spread across her gaunt features; she jumped up and hugged the heavily armoured captain, Kerith looked up and nodded at the captain gratefully.
"Where do you want him?" asked Kerith "Hear will be fine. If its out side I can channel more divine energy from the heavens." echoed a voice"I am Jacob high priest of Pelor," the voice continued "You must strip your friend down before I can begin" said Jacob.
Arma and Kerith quickly took Muashi's gear off and lay him down upon the soggy floor in nothing but a loincloth.
"Arma and Kerith what ever happens do not try and interrupt the process", ordered the priest
The two nodded and stood back with the captain. Jacob raised his left hand into the air and began to chant in a strange hollow language, after 5 minutes of chanting the area around Jacob slowly began to turn yellow. Energy began to stream down from the sky and into the priest's outreached hand. All of a sudden the clouds rolled across overhead as darkness spread about them; un-earthly black and bright white light blasted out the priest's eyes. Kerith, Arma and the captain stumbled back in shock, whilst awed guards began to wander over and watch; eyes fixed on the spectacle laid out in front of them. Jacob's chants began to get louder, as the sky blackened even more, the energy flow from the sky looked like a solid beam coming straight from heaven. Jacob's arms shook furiously; the priest raised his right hand over Muashi and began chanting something else, the beam died down a little as energy lashed out and licked at Muashi's body.
Jacob had sweat pouring off his head as he held his arm steady; channelling the barely controllable energy from the sky. All of a sudden Jacob fell to his knees, he kept both hands locked in place and kept on chanting with renewed passion. The yellow light suddenly turning to a stunning bright white and Muashi began to rise off the forest floor. Energy from Jacobs's right hand began to pour into Muashi's wounds, as the various cuts slowly began to heal, bones cracked back into place, skin regenerated with the un-natural strands of light.
Muashi's body fell to the floor twitching, Jacob closed his eyes as all of the channelled energy blasted out from his right hand and engulfed the helpless body. The stream of energy from the sky died down to a thin thread then vanished. The clouds dissipated and the sun lit up the sky once again. After ten minutes Jacob's arms flopped down and the exhausted priest fell to the floor unconscious.
Some guards rushed over to the fallen man, and the rest looked on as Muashi's body twitched and spasmed.
Arma and Kerith kept watch over the samurai's restless body for three days… Until late one evening the eyelids rolled back and a sparkle of light lit up Muashi's eyes.
Jacob visited Muashi every day casting small spells to help restore him to his prime. A good three weeks had passed and Muashi was now up and walking around; some of the guard took his armour while he slept and repaired it.
As time went on, the trio did small jobs around the campsite like gathering firewood or hunting for small game to pay for their keep. One afternoon when things had settled down into routine, Arma set the fire and got some hot stew from the halfling cooks. To drink; she managed to persuade a few dwarfs to spare a small keg of ale. With the help of her new found, bearded friends, she brought the food-stuffs back to the camp fire where her two other comrades sat solemnly. Arma gave Muashi and Kerith their stews and poured out the ale into their tankards, the group quickly, yet quietly ate and soon, before the sun had even set; began to settle down for the night.
As the moon rose Arma lay half awake, half dreaming in her thin pile of furs. As much as she liked lying under the stars in this peaceful wilderness, she so badly missed the life that the big city of Waterdeep gave off. Just when her eyes had finally became to heavy to hold up a firm hand shook her shoulder.
"Arma will you come speak with me" asked JacobArma curses under her breath and nodded. She gathered up her belongings (weapons and all), then followed Jacob to his tent and sat on a small roughly made, wooden stool. She drove her glimmering great sword into the ground and leant forward onto it. Half asleep.
"I did a favour for you, now I need you to do a favour for us. We need you to travel to a small village north of here. Once you are there you will need to look for a large house over looking the settlement. Ask for Frall Balzaar. He will be a big help to our efforts of freeing Waterdeep from its villainous grip. Time is short Arma; you must leave now!" Said Jacob.
The two left the opulent tent and made their way back to the main encampment. There the priest sought out a suitable steed, whilst Arma informed Kerith on the plan. A silent nod from the monk was all that Arma needed; as a comforting grin spread across his face. They embraced longingly and said their farewells.
The priest directed Arma through the scattered moonlit forest to a small dirt road. He pointed in the direction of the village and watched silently as Arma and her mare galloped into the horizon; a trail of dust left in their wake.
Arma thundered along the little dirt path, her hair flowing as the wind rushed past her face. The cold bitterness of the night bit at her features keeping her awake as she rode away from the camp. Just as the light began to creep across the landscape, Arma reached the small hamlet village. She spotted what she sought; a large, yet modest house on top of a hill; paying little attention to farmers going about there duties, Arma dismounted and strode up to the building. The large mahogany portal towered in front of her; bringing herself to full height, she breathed raggedly in and hammered upon the large door. As if it had a will of its own (which Arma thought was most likely the case!) the door swung open…
Arma looked into the darkness, her great sword drawn. With her blade held out in front of her she cautiously moved in. Arma looked around the darkened room and noticed a shadow dart onto the top of the stairs. Holding her sword forward she stepped forward, slowly placing one timid foot in front of another.
"You don't belong here Arma Moondown Princess of Tethyr and Hero of Waterdeep. Speak quickly or be gone!" Snapped a booming voice.
"I will tell you my business when you come out of the shadows" replied Arma confidently.
A wisp of wind echoed through the room; Arma's hair on the back of neck prickled uneasily. "Magic!" She cursed. Suddenly her blade felt as if unknown hands were dragging it down; even with her disciplined physique she began to struggle to hold her great sword. Her body fell forward as the weight of the sword pulled her down. Arma dropped to one knee, her whole body tense under the strain.
"What are you doing? You're making my whole body feel ten times heavier!" screamed Arma
"It's just a simple spell; yet it shows me that even the great Arma's mind isn't so impenetrable." He chuckled sardonically "You aren't worth my time!" muttered Frall Balzaar, almost disappointedly.
Frall Balzaar slowly brought his fingers inward and began to make a fist; Arma's body began to be squashed as if by gravity itself folding inward. Arma gripped the sword tightly, veins begin to stand out on her arms and neck as she let out a scream.
"You say I am not worthy of your help, when all you do is sit in your pathetic house hiding from the real world outside your door. People are dying and you just sit back and let it happen" Screamed Arma
She pushed her self up and began fighting the mage's force. A puzzled expression spread on the wizened face of the sorcerer. Arma managed to get to her feet, pushing every muscle to the limit she charged forward, Balzaar's eyes widened in shock, as the rogue began galloping up the stairs, sword in hand. The mage smirked; with a flick of his wrist his attacker was sent flying in to the nearby polished stone wall. Arma groaned and crawled around on the marble floor before she pushed her self to her feet.
"So Arma Moondown you wish to prove yourself worthy of my time; well if you survive for two days and two nights I will listen to what you have to say and I will help you" teased the mighty wizard Frall
Arma, exhausted and surprised by this new turn of events nodded, Balzaar, still smiling widely, opened his hand and a gem made of magical energy formed. The green globule of pure arcane power floated over to Arma and in a blinding flash the gem and the tired elf vanished.
Arma opened her eyes, the scene confronted her was a mess of greens; leaves, trees, shrubs and bushes. She quickly got to her feet and surveyed the area.
Arma smiled and relaxed "Ha this will be easy I can just stay here for a few days and rest up; that bloke was such a fool" thought Arma to her self.
As if nature itself was playing a cruel joke on the elf, a deafening roar echoed all around, the resulting rustling was followed by flocks of a million birds flying from their nests. Arma looked around and scampered up a tree; she climbed to the top and looked in every direction. Horror struck her as she saw the noise's source; a massive reptilian was crashing its way through the forest. Its spine laden sail, protruding from its back, swayed as the creature stumbled forward.
Dumbstruck, she then turned her self around as she heard high pitched screeching below her. This unearthly sound was interrupted by an even louder snorting. Heavy rustling and stamping surrounded the isolated elf. Clambering down an inch or so, Arma surveyed the scene and saw another large dinosaur. Its spine had many large scales sticking out; as she followed this deadly creation of nature along the beast's back with her eyes, she saw that on its tail was a massive spiked ball of bone.
As the act unfolded, a nimble looking reptile jumped onto the stage, snarling viciously. A quick swoosh of air was the queue for the outmatched creature to be broken by the other with the spiked tail. Arma sat back, starring uneasily at the various beasts and began to think back to the teachings she was given when she lived in Tethyr. She quickly realized that the nimble creatures were called velociraptors and the bigger one was a stegosaurus. The stegosaurus turned his attention to the raptor it had just caused death to, whilst another of the smaller carnivores crept out from underneath Arma to flank the large beast. Barely thinking, Arma grabbed her great sword and jumped down, she drove the sword into the raptors back killing it instantly; blood poured from the massive wound. Arma and the raptor rolled to the floor. She pushed her self up and smiled grimly. Using her foot as a lever she tried to free the lodged sword from the bloodied carcass, when she heard more of the high pitched screeching.
Seconds whistled past as Arma was suddenly sent crashing to the ground. She hit the gore covered forest-floor on her front and then felt a lot of pressure being exerted on her back.
Arma breathed in; determined, then pushed her self up. This action was quickly and painfully denied, as the raptor drove its main claw into her back. Arma let out a scream of agony.
The raptor stepped off Arma's bloodied body and backed off. The elf reacted as soon as she could and jumped to her feet and ran through the speckled forest. Arma sprinted as fast as she could, but her attacker just waited behind. All of a sudden a mass of steel-like scales pounced out of nowhere, Arma instinctively jumped into the air evading the ambush. As if this was all a highly rehearsed act; whilst the elf dived through the air another raptor lunged at her. Arma tucked her legs in as she hit the ground rolling out of the way, she tumbled around and got back to feet and carried on running. She glanced back to see the other three raptors, they had gone, and a smile grew on her face, until…
A loud sound of two bodies impacting at high speed was heard; a velociraptor dived out with its feet first smashed Arma to the ground. She was just about conscious although severely winded as she is gasped for precious air. A high pitched screeching then heavy panting was all the desperate elf could hear, she had her eyes closed and was numb. When her eyelids peeled back all she could see was blood and a large collection of teeth biting at her shoulder and neck. Suddenly she realized what was going on and pain struck her. She forced her arm into its mouth and she began to weep with agony as the teeth began to dig into the soft flesh. Blood gushed mercilessly from her shoulder, neck and arm. With her undamaged hand she grabbed the rapier she carried on her belt and quickly drove it into the raptors head. The beast went limp and flopped to the floor. Not wasting a second Arma ran and scrambled up an exotic looking tree. She struggled to climb at first but as soon as the raptors moved back into the clearing she hurried her self up. She sat her self up and leant against the trunk, she looked at her shoulder and was lucky enough to find out it was just a flesh wound no major damage.
While this was going on the poor stegosaurus had bin savagely attacked, it was still alive even though it was half eaten. "God dammit I need my great sword" Arma said to her self. She moved across the branches, easily jumping from tree to tree. She got as close as she could and realized she was back on her original tree directly above the stegosaurus. She could see her sword but there were two raptors circling the fallen beast. With out thought Arma dived down landing next to one of the carnivorous attackers, the raptor reacted with lighting speed and lunged; Arma just drove her rapier up through the jaw and into the brain. With a renewed sense of purpose she quickly grabbed her sword and went for the remaining assaulter, but to her surprise the raptor had fled.
"That's what you get", boasted Arma tiresomely
Arma solemnly put the stegosaurus out of its misery and sheaved her sword and rapier. The rogue uncomfortably clicked her neck and back, and then turned around. Her head collided with the solid skull of a raptor's. In shock Arma fell backwards into the mangle stegosaurus, whilst the raptor leapt forward. Arma just rolled to the side, got up and with a quick straight right hook to the beast's temple, the raptor fell to the floor.
Straight away Arma cut the raptors head off to make sure it was dead, then just as she was about to leave ripped off the decapitated lizard's main claw before heading hurriedly into the foreboding woods. Arma ran, she had no clue as to how long she was going for as the sky was blocked out completely by the dense canopy above her, but after a time she decided to take shelter up a gnarled and warped tree. Arma found her self a notch in the wood for a comfortable and suitable area to sleep, and sat there as she slowly drifted off. She woke up with a start as unearthly screeching filled her ears, followed by heavy rustling in the foliage around her. Before she knew it Arma saw the ground and then darkness.
Arma groaned and pushed her self up, all around her heavy wings flapped and unbearable high pitched shrieks could be heard; she saw the shadows of massive reptilian birds flying around the trees at great speed. Arma covered her head and laid motionless on the leaf litter that covered the forest floor waiting for the ominous sounds of the winged beasts to subside. Eventually this thought rang true as the creatures surrounding her departed and flew away.
Arma slowly pushed her self to her feet and stumbled through the forest. After an age of walking Arma stopped and looked around; she realized that the forest was getting less dense,
The cautious elf kept on traveling through the more and more sparsely vegetated jungle until she could hear the sound of water crashing upon rocks. Arma picked up the pace and jogged her way forward. The forest just stopped and Arma ran out into the sunlight and onto a massive golden beach. Arma eyes were fixed on a herd of massive dinosaurs that were resting on the beach and drinking the seawater. Arma looked down at her self; her armour and clothes were completely covered in gore; she looked around then began to make her way to the water. As she approached, at around five meters away from the water, a loud splash got Arma's attention. Some kind of midnight blue colored creature came out of the water and grabbed one of the massive dinosaurs that until a second ago was happily roaming the sandy landscape. The sea beast plucked the land dwelling reptile off it's feet and dragged it into the water. The green-blue of the ocean turned red within seconds. Arma's eyes opened up wide, before she quickly turned her self around and made her way back up the beach. She watched the herd of massive dinosaurs as they began to move away from the water as well.
"Why aren't they panicking" Arma pondered; this thought was soon put aside though, due to a deafening roar that resonated from her side. She took her attention away from the herd of creatures and saw an even larger dinosaur; a large spined sail following its back charged out of the jungle and attacked one of the large herbivorous dinosaurs. The ambushing predator delivered a fatal blow; its jaw clenched down tightly around one of the beast's neck, the attacker then proceeded to shake its head violently. Blood sprayed out of the wound and the dinosaur let out a roar of pain just before the carnivore dragged it to the floor. The Herd's biggest members stomped forward and the attacked backed up into the jungle.
Arma looked on in shock as the attack went on, she then realized that the large carnivore was called a spinosaurus and the large beasts were called brachiosaurus.
Gore flowed out of the brachiosaurus's maimed neck. The herd grasped their opportunity and took flight; they stampeded off, the ground, in turn shook as if there was some kind of deep earth tremor. A few of the larger brachiosaurus stayed and attacked the Spinosaurus. The massive beasts stamped forwards, one of them walked up close and went for an attack but the spinosaurus just lunged at it and began biting at the creature's neck. More blood gushed out on to the sand as the spinosaurus tore at the poor beast's various veins and arteries that were situated in it's neck. One of the brachiosaurs gored the spinosaurus, the two gigantic lizards crashed into the jungle. The brachiosaurus stood up and began to stomp on the spinosaurus. The carnivore roared in pain while it tried to get away, the second brachiosaurus joined in on the attack and after five minutes of ceaseless pounding the spinosaurus faded and died. The brachiosaurus left the mangled and gnarled corpse and made their way down the beach.
Arma just stood there in shock, her mouth open. She walked around thinking what to do, a few minutes went past and Arma spotted another large dinosaur creeping towards the dead spinosaurus. The allosaurus looked over at Arma with its beady, hungry eyes then charged, the beast galloped out of the jungle toward Arma. The assassin smiled, quickly drew her Great sword then counter charged the rampaging beast. The allosaurus snorted as it charged forward, just as Arma reached the beast. The allosaurus lunged down with its mouth, Arma reacted with lighting reflexes and dived onto the floor dodging the attack and rolled up to her feet, as she swung precisely with her sword taking a chunk out of the allosaurus's leg. The elf followed through with the action and carried on running.
The dinosaur roared in utter anger and turned around. Blood steadily flowing out of a gash on its leg, Arma grinned then charged again. She sprinted forward towards the allosaurus, just as she reached the beast she tripped. Her feet dug to deep in the soft sand and she tumbled over, reflexes and instinct kicked in as she rolled to her back, Arma seized the opportunity and pushed her self to her feet. The beast was faster though.
The allosaurus slammed its jaws around Arma's waist and lifted her up into the air. Blood instantly began to seep out of Arma as the allosaurus shook her around in its mouth like a rag doll. Arma screamed out in pain as the jaws tore into her flesh. Disorientated from the thrashing about Arma just drove her sword forward, luckily the keen weapon went up the beast's snout. Arma pushed it up as far as possible then began to twist the scarlet blade around. The allosaurus roared and threw Arma, sword and all, to the sand. Arma tightly held hold of her blade so she didn't loose it as she scrambled up to her feet. Blood poured out of the beast's snout. The hulking creature swayed its head as blood gushed out from its snout; then without warning it suddenly lashed out at Arma, instinctively the elf jumped aside and brought her sword down and slashed the beast's eye. The creature roared in pain and again went to attack Arma, and again Arma jump to the side but this time she drove her sword in to the dinosaur's neck and twisted the blade around before ripping it out at an angle. The allosaurus swayed in the wind, its legs went limp and it began to wobble, Arma took a few steps backward as the beast fell flat on its front, no more than a meter from Arma. A grim smile spread on the victorious elf's face as she began cutting teeth out of the dinosaur's bloodied mouth. After a good hour of collecting teeth she made her way back into the forest. She found her self another good tree and she climbed up and went to sleep.
Arma stretched out, her eyes closed as she woke. "Ahhhh good morning Mr Wiz…" Arma opened her eyes and just saw jungle." Arh for Fuc.." A massive roar startled the elf.
She looked around panicking and quickly noticed the trees and bushes being trampled to the ground as a massive dimly camouflaged dinosaur charged forward, Arma quickly jumped out of the towering tree and began to run in the opposite direction. The dinosaur was tailing her, getting closer to the startled elf with each passing second. She sprinted off as fast as possible rushing through the jungle jumping, ducking and dodging various levelled branches. Arma noticed a gap; she automatically jumped up into the air, easily clearing the 30-foot gap. She hit the ground, rolled then sprung back to her feet and carried on running. The Dinosaur, undeterred carried on ploughing throw the forest to catch up.
Arma carried on running, she chanced a glance behind her and saw no dinosaur; unnerved she took another look back and then jumped. Arma flew through the air; her arms folded back as she left the cliff and began to descend. The air rushing up past her as she began to gather speed, Arma just stayed focused on the water as it got closer and closer. The nimble elf twisted her body so her legs were facing downwards and took a deep breath. She hit the water hard and plummeted down in to the ocean. As instinct took over she began to swim franticly up wards; easily managing to swim to the surface, she gasped for air. She began to tred water, looked around and started to swim slowly toward the bay. Arma reached the warm, soft sand and walked out looking around at the high orange cliffs surrounding the beach. A glimpse of darkness took her curiosity as she headed toward the fallen trees, rocks and other debris found at the mouth of a small cave.
As the elf reached the man-sized cavity in the rocks she stopped and peered inside; her senses highly alert to every sound and shadow. The constant drip of stagnant water was the only noise coming from the recess as Arma strode stealthily inside; as the darkness enveloped her, the assassin's highly tuned senses kicked in. She crept silently down the low cavern, her hands running along the damp, algal covered walls.
As Arma slinked further and further along the passageway, unseen water began creeping up Arma's legs. The silent stream, now at the elf's knees, was picking up speed and was as cold as the mountains of the North; it was an unnatural cold that sent a shiver to every part of the elf's anatomy…
Arma took a careful step forward, her body being forced further ahead by the now rampaging torrent that lay about her waist. Without warning her feet disappeared, the icy chill of the unseen liquid splashed about her as she was sent plummeting into the unknown.
Seconds passed as slow as an age whilst the disorientated assassin swam breathlessly to the surface of the now placid pool. The cavern was dimly lit by some unknown means which allowed Arma to get an idea of her surroundings. The roof of the chamber rose into the darkness above the elf's head; behind her, about halfway up the cragged wall was the small tunnel and erupting waterfall from which she had arrived from. Ahead of her lay a small beach, if it could be called that; it was more of a rocky ledge, smoothed by years of repeated lapping by the tiny waves that reached its shore. Arma swam silently to it; weighed down by her vast amounts of belongings and her drenched leather armour this was quite a feat to achieve. Despite these hindrances Arma swam to it; she was but an arms length away when the once calm pool of dark water erupted in a fountain of shimmering droplets. Huge deep purple tentacles rose from the depths and quickly homed in on the surprised elf. She turned in the water to face the threat, but much to late. They wrapped around her slender body and took her into the air; knocking whatever air was left in Arma's lungs from her body.
Arma was thrown around like a rag doll, the slimy tentacles still tightly wrapped around her body. Arma closed her eyes and went limp. The massive creature dropped Arma and she crashed into the floor below. Her body hit the jagged rocks hard, as her lifeless body rolled over. Still the elf lay motionless. Tentacles slowly slithered toward Arma. Quicker than the eye, Arma kicked her self up while drawing her rapier, and lashed out at the appendages, Arma hacked into one of the tentacles, her blade sunk deep in the beast's flesh, purple blood sprayed out of the wound and showered the floor. Reacting just as a wounded beast should; Arma quickly dodged another two of its tentacles, twisting her body; weaving and dodging.
Arma rapidly composed herself and rushed forward, she got a glimpse of the creature, a giant twisted octopus. As she charged the massive creature; a tendril from the darkness appeared and grabbed the assassin, throwing her into the solid granite wall. Arma's body hit with tremendous force, before her body had chance to fall two more tentacles crashed into her rib cage; crushing her lungs. The tentacles with drew and Arma fell to the floor; her body heaving as she drew in really fast, short breaths. Her vision hazy and blurred she fumbled around and pushed her self to her feet. As soon as she got up, a tentacle smashed into her from below. Arma's body spun in the air until another tentacle smashed her to the ground. She began crawling away with one arm, as the other one felt broken in at least two places. Tears began to stream down Arma's face as she begged for help and crawled helplessly away. Arma felt the outline of a small alcove; she pulled her self down into it and let her exhausted muscles relax for a second or two. She slowed her breaths and huddled her body deeper into the hole, doubling her body up. The dim light disappeared as a familiar sight appeared; a tentacle came down and the elf was dragged back out by the beast...
The kracken effortlessly toyed with Arma, as the defenceless elf hung limpy above the creatures pit like mouth. The end was in sight for the assassin and she had come to terms with it. She waited in the dark for the coming of her mortality; but it never came. Instead her eyes were filled with a pure, white light and her hands and bruised knees fell onto a cold marble floor.
Arma, disorientated and heavily wounded lay silently on the floor, her body limp and her hair hanging scruffily over her face. Blood mixed into the water that had begun to spread out over the marble floor, small ripples etched into the liquid as footsteps rung in her ears, steadily getting louder. Arma just laid there motionless, on the hard pristine ground.
"Welcome Back, you have gained my respect Arma Moondown Princess of Tethyr. But most importantly you have gained my friendship. Unfortunately I have another task for you; you must ride north and speak with the barbarian tribe leader Thorath. But first off you must rest; when you awake I will be gone" Spoke the eccentrically dressed wizard; Frall Balzaar in an excited but mono toned voice.
Arma awoke in a large four-poster bed, she looked around the massive room which was bare and boring; noticing her equipment on a table she pushed the silk blankets off of her and stood her self up, she looked down at her scaddily clothed body checking that her wounds had healed, with that she swung her legs around and got off the bed, the cold marble floor sent a chill up her back as she walked to her equipment. Arma sorted through her armour and cloths and found it all clean and tidy. She quickly got changed into her gear and ran silently down the stairs and out the back door. There she found a horse, fitted with a fine military saddle and thick leather reins; she smiled and jumped onto the magnificent steed. She peered around; taking note of how high the sun was in the cloudless blue sky. She grinned and spurred the horse into action as she galloped through the thick coniferous forest north.
After two solids days of riding Arma reached the thick palisade walls of the barbarian village. She dismounted from her stallion and slowly led her horse forward toward the mighty gates. The sturdy fortifications stood at least the height of ten men, with a heavily defended parapet on top. "Who goes there?" grunted the gatekeeper in a gruff tone"I am Arma Moondown, I have been sent here by a wizard called Frall Balzaar, I believe he wants me to ask for your help" replied Arma
The Gatekeepers eyes lit up but then turned back to a stern frowning posture, he nodded and opened the gate and beckoned the elf to ride in. Arma turned and climbed up on to her horse. The steed, just as tired as she was, strode proudly along the heavily trodden track into the small village; its head held high as onlookers gazed at the highly trained mount and its weary rider on top. Arma dismounted and walked around her horse stroking its mane, she patted it and took a few steps forward looking around at all of the villagers staring at her.
"I am here to speak to your Chieftain Thorath, where is he?" asked Arma cautiouslyA burly man stepped forward clutching a heavy two handed mace, a pelt of bear fur hung about his shoulders; held in the middle by a decorative bronze clasp. The barbarian warrior wore tanned leather leggings accompanied by shin high leather boots, his hair, long and unkempt, was covered in blood. The thick scarlet liquid ran steadily down his face and into his toothless mouth.
"Chieftain said you must prove your worth", grunted the manArma raised an eyebrow and stepped forward. Her adversary's eyes rolled back, leaving white orbs of madness in his sockets. Roaring an inaudible cry of battle the beast of a man charged Arma, raising his massive mace up and bringing it down in a massive arc toward the assassin. Arma jumped fluidly forward; drawing a rapier in mid flight and drove the blade deep into the mans neck. The raging barbarian got sent off of his feet and slammed into the floor. Arma, still holding tightly to her rapier, twisted the blade in the prone man's neck; ending the fight in a moment. Blood spilled out onto the trodden mud road as Arma got to full height and shrugged; pulling the rapier out of the guys' throat.
On lookers looked on in shock as Arma re-sheaved her weapon, she looked around and noticed a much slighter man walking through the crowd of onlookers.
The villagers moved away respectfully as the small man walked forward, his feral beard swinging in the gentle wind that blew about the settlement.
"I am Thorath, Chieftain of the Durotriges Tribe, you have proven your worth Arma Moondown; that man was one of my best" said Thorath disdainfully. "If you say so" replied Arma in a slightly cocky tone"You spoke of Frall Balzaar and help, what does he need?" asked Thorath patiently
"The city Waterdeep has been taken over, those still loyal to the city are planning on retaking it, Frall said we would need your help… will you aid us?" asked ArmaThorath looked down at the corpse and nodded calmly "We will leave in two days", announced Thorath as he turned and scanned the circle of surrounding villagers.
Arma nodded and thanked Thorath. She climbed up onto her mighty steed and rode off back towards the campsite.