Chapter 16
The Wizard I Hate
A month later we were summoned by a wizard (God I hate him) named Iconaclast. We traveled to him, did did his puzzles to get inot his tower. We met him, naturally I tried to steal some potions, and he almost kileld me by throwing me out the window with telekinesis.
We were hired to find herbs for him in the marsh. We went out and found a princess who was running for lizard-monster-humanoid-things. We fought them, saved the princess, and Cynwyd got tired of her so she cast a sleep spell and put her to sleep. Adamis, ever the knight, carried her.
But before she was put to sleep, the Princess said we would get a thousand gold each if we found her brother.
We found her brother and saved him (I finally got to use Cynwyd's invisibility ring). We found the herbs and gave it to the wizard.
We headed back to the Borderlands. The Prince and Princess were from up north where there was trouble brewing. More and more monsters were coming out of the mountains and attacking and they were coming south. So they were going to ask the Borderlands to lend a hand fighting them because of some ancient pact or whatnot. Human kingdoms sometimes confuse me.
We were attacked a Frost Wolf, which was killed. I lost my Hand-and-a-Half Sword to the Brat Prince, who deserives a name like Malgoreal Friti (Blessed rough translation of more insulting word than, but has similar meaning to Brat). We killed the Frost Wolf and found a symbol for an army burned onto his hind quarters, Maktarok-Nin it said.
We headed down to the Borderlands where we departed from the Prince and Princess, hoping to get our few thousand gold coins in a few weeks.
We slept and the next day we departed. Thoros and Adamis went to the castle to see about the payment while Cynwyd and I headed to the wizard library. When I entered the wizard library I was kicked out and Cynwyd almost got in trouble.
So I decided I might want to become a wizard. I went down to the training center and asked how much it would be to become a wizard. They said it was a thousand gold coins, which I didn't have, and that it would take two weeks, time I didn't have. So I decided not to become a wizard yet. We all returned to the Red Dragon Inn.
Maktarok-Nin was a reference to a Frost Giant King from five hundred years ago. He had raised an army and attacked the North. But Frost Giants didn't live for five hundred years and he had died and his armies fell with him. Cynwyd told us that our "friend" Iconaclast had summoned us to his place tomorrow morning.
We traveled to his place and we were allowed in without using the puzzle. We were then teleported up north into a cave of freezing cold water. This is why I hate him.
Forgive me that I have not written into this journal recently. Some very surprising tevents have come to pass.
We are currently camped on the edge of Maktarok-Nin's fortress. I can't help but think of my childhood winters. I smile when I remember the warmth and comfortable glow of the fire in the tree. The warm, soft furniture, the hypnotic swaying of the house in the tree tops. Outside it would be snowing. My sister would be drawing something, perhaps something from the day, perhaps something magical, perhaps just anything from her imagination. My brother would be asleep by the furniture. Father would be home and Mother would be smiling while she read.
I miss those days. They were so simple. So elegant. So beautiful. So lost. What went wrong? When did my brother change? Why did I leave?
This recent adventure has torn open old wounds. The disguise is slipping. I look back more and more on the old days, and I realize just how much I have forgotten. What went wrong? Why did my brother kill them. It was for power. It was for a clue my parents would not give him. A clue to ultimate power. But why and how did they have it? Of all the Ravelst family history, from our time as the princes and princesses, as merchants in distant lands, as dragon killers and fat, corrupt nobleman, when did we discover a clue to the ultimate power? Perhaps the real question is how could we not have?
Why did I leave? I can't remember the reason. I just remember walking out of Osilon. My sister kissed me on the cheek. She gave me a pendant to ward off evil spirits. A pendant I sold fifty years later to merchant for a couple hundred gold. My mother wasn't there, my father nearly disowned me. He would not have is son be an adventurer. Our grandfather and our uncle both died while adventuring. I suppose he could not bear to lose his son too. And my brother. Where was he that day? Wasn't he there next to my sister? No. We met at the gates, alone. Was he at the door? No, I walked out of the tree without incident. Was he away? Possibly. He was always away. Perhaps he was with father, perhaps he was walking the woods. Perhaps he was committing atrocities, no, he was too young for that. Unless if he was planning everything the whole time. Perhaps my pendant warded him off. No, that was mean.
I don't hate him though. I love him. I hate his actions, I hate the ultimate power, I hate his guts, but I can't hate him. Last we talked he wanted to talk, sincerely, I could see it.
My brother has to with this quest we are on. He was up north not too long ago. He started up a slave trade. I'll get to that later.
For now, I'll start up again in the cave. We were in the cave. I left my things. Hopped into the water with my ring and found the way out. I pulled them all through and we were saved by sailors who spotted us.
We pretended to be fur traders. Though Adamis broke our cover story many, many times. We went to an inn where we met Tordok and MArcella. Tordok is a barbarian, Marcella is his witch (it is not a sexual relationship as far as I can tell, if it were I'd have more issues with it than I already do).
We first saw Tordok in a fight with another barbarian. Naturally, Adamis joined the next fight and he lost. Some Paladin prodigy he is.
We were hired to take medicine to some chief in a small town up North. We took Tordok and Marcella with us.
Northwards, we went hunting.
Finally, the part I was very surprised about. My sister is not dead.
She's not dead. She's not dead. I still can't believe it. She is not dead.
We found her frozen to stone in a cave. In the cave was a Medusa. She stood out of the water and turned Tordok to stone. I wasn't turned to stone because I was staring at my sister. She had survived the fire. It wasn't possible. She had survived the fire! The dream! The dream I had! It could have been her! That dream was her! And she was dead then, turned to stone.
With half my team petrified, I attacked the Medusa with my knife. I snuck up behind her and struck a blow to her back. She turned and swung at me with her knife. I ducked and refused to look so I was not turned to stone. We fought until we touched the pond in her cave. I continued to knife her, and she continued to drag me deeper until Cynwyd shocked the water and she died. I was unconscious, so they pulled me out and healed me.
I hopped into the water with my ring and found a secret chamber with a chest. Inside the chest I found treasure and a cure for the petrification. I kept the treasure and jumped into the water and freed my sister from her spell.
It was then I learned about my brother. We talked privately. She said she was sent by the Wizard Counsel to investigate my brother. She said he had been with several powerful beings up north, in this land and that he had set up a slave trade. Knowing him the slave trade was not the only thing he was doing. He set up several strongholds, particularly one in the Frost Giant's Keep. A place we had not heard of before, but was not hard to know whose keep it was.
My sister teleported off.
We made our way to to village and we met with the chief. We were greeted with great fanfare. It was then we heard the story of Thor, though I believe I was too drunk to tell the specifics. It was about this norse hero whose people were being oppressed by the frost giants, so he confronts the Frost Giant King Maktarok'Nin and in the end they both die and Thor's Hammer becomes blessed by the gods.
A story I've heard repeated multiple times over the centuries. Nothing special about it.
Except then Maktarok'Nin's ghost murdered the chief. And it turns out the family is cursed, that whenever the bones of Maktarok'Nin are disturbed, then the family of Thor will be killed off.
So we set off on a quest to the Frost Giant's Keep, aided by Tordoc and Marcella.
Along the way we encountered an Orc Army. We nearly went to battle with them except Marcella pulled off an illusion of a fifty foot tall Frost Giant who stood before us. I called out to the Orcs and said, "Go back or face the wrath of Maktarok'Nin's army!"
The orc leader called out, "Who is this Maktarok'Nin?"
"He is a new power! Descended from the north and coming into it! Make peace with us or die!"
The orcs ran away to their king and we hurried away and hid in the mountains.
It was there we came across the Frost Giant's Keep.
We had to cross a crater of ice, use my Ceiling potion to climb up a cliff, pull everyone up that cliff and then use the levitation potion to climb up another cliff before we came across.
We investigated the top area of the fortress, fought an ice lizard, and then found a trap door leading down into the fortress. We explored the fortress, didn't find much in the way of gold or silver. We turned down into a throne room with an ice serpent in a pit and fought off two yetis, though admittedly the yetis were eaten by the serpent.
I lit my sword on fire and went at the yetis after I had run. I nearly died. The one almost literally tore me to pieces.
The whole time I couldn't stop thinking about whether or not I would go to Corellan Larethian and whether or not I should decide to be re-incarnated. I thought about my sister and how I had just found out she was still alive. I thought about what my brother was planning. Honestly, I thought to myself that my whole plan was stupid. To steal a dragon egg and raise the dragon was a bad idea. I was better off enlisting the aid of a dragon. I could speak multiple draconic tongues, though the one dragon I had enlisted the aid of refused to help me because I was "too full of hate".
In that moment of death I thought about how my comrades would find my journal. Discover who I really was. I wondered if they were hate me or love me or not care. I suspected the latter-most. I was a fallen elven noble from the Northern Forests, to the far south of these lands. I'm not even sure if I'm disowned. I am certain I am, though I never received word of it, so technically I could still be in the family.
After the throne room, we explored other portions of the Keep. Including the quarters. That was where we found Maktarok'Nin's bedroom. There was a secret door under his bed covered by his bed. There were rings on the floor and ceiling. So after several attempts we pulled a chain through both rings and pulled as hard as we could and the trap door opened up to a spiral staircase.
I scouted ahead checking for traps. I found none.
I made it into the tomb of Maktarok'Nin.
IT was composed of three levels with stairs between them. On the second level were six stone slabs with perfectly preserved female Frost Giants. On the third level was the Throne itself with Maktarok'Nin's frozen body and a wolf on his right and a dragon on his left. Beside him were tow gold encrusted chests. At the foot of each of the six stone slabs were iron chests.
My group came down and were attacked by undead norsemen. The paladin turned them and the Cleric turned them as well. The one that wasn't turned Tordoc murdered.
I had made my way up to the second level before they did and saw the disturbance of the grave. Maktarok'Nin had lost his War Axe, which sat in a pool of blood on the second level. I picked it up and prepared to go up the stairs.
Naturally, the one time I didn't check for traps there were traps.
My group was coming up to the second level when spears hit them, damaging them, but they didn't hit me. And worse of all was that we had summoned the spirit of Maktarok'Nin.
He came out of the body, ghostly war axe in hand and came at me.
I said to him in Cloud Giant, "Lo, the Mighty Maktarok'Nin! I present to you your War Axe! Be at peace!" It was more beg and plea than anything else.
Maktarok'Nin's shade, unlike any megalomaniac's ghost I had ever seen, ignored my present and attacked me. I dropped the axe and missed by a hair.
At that point I ran and hid in the corner, I watched Tordoc get him in the chest. I saw Adamis almost die, twice. I thought to myself that the little Vlacus fought bravely, though recklessly.
At one point Adamis tried to carry the axe up the stairs. He was hit in the chest by Maktarok'Nin's ghostly axe. He fell. I ran up, picked up the War Axe and ran up the stairs to body of MAktarok'Nin. I noticed a slot in his legs where it appeared the War Axe went and his right hand was curled as if it held something, A War Axe maybe?
I placed Maktarok'Nin's axe in his hand and lap, at first with the blade up, when nothing happened, I reversed the blade and placed it so that it was blade down and Maktarok'Nin's ghost whispered away on a ghostly wind.
We looted the chests. I was almost murdered because of my foolishness. I healed myself with a potion.
We left the place with two full chests of 2500 gold and 4000 silver. And I left the palce with a handful of marbles and a humanoid skull which I thought might look nice in my future room in our headquarters in the Borderlands.
Its funny. A few months ago I would never have considered staying with these people for any extended period of time. But now we plan for a bank account and some headquarters. I told them it would rake in more business if we had a headquarters, were advertised around the city as adventurer heroes who saved the lands thrice, and had rescued a princess. I plan on being in charge of our advertisements. I am the eldest in the group, I have seen some pretty good campaigns and advertisements. You only had to spread the word with a well-placed whisperer, set up posters around the city, and provide exemplary service. Something which will be hard with our current group dynamics, but as long as we are polite to each other in public we will appear to be a solid whole unit.
I wondered to myself if there is a bank in this world which will not ask questions as to how our why you are depositing. I need that bank. Perhaps I can begin that bank. I can become a merchant. After all, what our merchants, but thieves who commit thievery through cons and wits?
On the way back to Dagmostad I will be teaching Marcella Elven, specifically Quenya, the language of the High Elves. As long as you understand one Elven language you will be able to roughly understand all, Elven languages, though if you learn Noldorin, that spoken by the Grey Elves, you are more likely to understand other Elven tongues better than if you knew, say, Vivalian the tongue spoke by my western cousins.
Its funny, I have cousins all over the world, as my family house were once royalty. I am certain I am even distantly related to the Realm's own royal family, and if not then I am related to a few of the nobleman.
