That One's for Markus
Graingold 1463
June 1998
The party of five is gathered on the battlements of the Dwarvin Citadel one day, shortly before dawn. It has been nearly a week since their arrival in to the city. Talfar, the group's leader, is under the care of a Dwarvin cleric and is steadily getting better although he still has a long ways to go. Hopefully he has forgiven Gaelin for his misfired arrow, after all Gaelin did manage to kill two of the three Drow they had been fighting at the time. Gaelin has been hard at work. He has worked the tendons from the Gryphon they had killed into a fine bowstring and has finished carving a stick that he found during his travels to make a fine new bow (+10 quality). Mother and daughter, Wysteria and Lora Lynn have begun more studies now that they are in civilization again. The group has taken to meeting often on the battlements, as the Citadel is a bit confining after they have been on the road for so long. The group has been discussing their options and are also mulling over the events of the past few days.
Wysteria brings up the fact that, O'Reily, their missing and presumed dead compatriot, had told her that the commands spoken by the Drow holding Wysteria captive at the time included the words "grey timber wolf", "wench" and "drink of blood". When Wysteria had later questioned him on how he knew the Drow language he had answered that he picked it up from his captors as they had transported him from Iowana to MinnSota. With his actions in the Drow melee in the cavern Wysteria brings up a valid question, "What if O'Reily was working with the Drow?"
Gaelin agrees that he very well could be. He tells the group that the first time he met his half-brother was when a group of street thugs including O'Reily beat up Gaelin in the streets of St. Petersburg in a racially motivated mugging. Gaelin recognized a family resemblance to his father and asked O'Reily what his fathers' name was. O'Reily had told him Gaelic and then when Gaelin told him that he was half-elvin O'Reily had had to run from the very same crowd he had been running with for they were about to turn on him.
Just as he finished telling the story a commotion occurred on the front wall of the Citadel with guards scurrying towards it from other stations. The group as one decided to scurry with the rest to see what was going on. When they reached the eastern face of the Citadel the group saw a detachment of Goblins marching up from the plains below. They are carrying a body. As they get closer the group realizes in horror that is the body of their fallen comrade Markus that they had buried near the Watch Tower below on the plain.
The Dwarvin Smithy Fergus, who has been told to see to the Dwarvin Queen's guests, explains that the Goblins periodically bring prisoners near the Citadel to provoke the Dwarves into opening the gates. He says that they bring the unfortunate souls to just outside of crossbow range and stake them up on poles. Gaelin unexpectedly runs to the nears doorway and disappears into the bowls of the Citadel as the rest of the group watches in morbid fascination as Marcus' body is nailed to a pole standing just outside of crossbow range. Just as Wysteria begins to question where Gaelin has gone he returns with his new bow and a sheath of arrows. He deftly strings the bow and methodically selects two arrows from his quiver.
Fergus tells him not to waste his arrows but the Elvin bowman reaches into a pouch at his side & pulls some straw out and drops it over the side of the wall and peers at it as it falls. He then knocks an arrow and aims for a considerable period of time. (Meditation Ki 55+50) Just when the group of creatures below begins moving back towards their encampment on the plains below, Gaelin's first arrow flies true. (79+71+25+10-50 with a 96 on a D puncture)
The arrow pierces the last Goblin in the back and pitches him forward into the goblin in front of him. Panic breaks the orderly retreat of the Goblins below and they scramble across the rocks each one trying to move faster than the Goblin in front. The unfortunate Goblin that trailed twitches for a short period of time and then lays still. Gaelin's second arrow misses its mark by quite a bit, clattering harmlessly off of a rocky embankment well short of the now wildly fleeing Goblins. The sound of the second arrow does not reach the ears of the Party of Five however as it is drowned out by the deafening throaty roar of the assembled Dwarvin military perched all about the wall. The warriors are wildly dancing and waving their weapons at the fleeing Goblins.
The celebration also covers up Gaelin's quiet comment to himself, "That one was for Markus!"