Caladay, 4 Brightday 204 [continued]
The vista before the party does not encourage any latent sense
of optimism within them. When describing the clearing that surrounds
the wyvern nest, the term that most readily springs to mind is "killing
zone." The clearing is about a mile in diameter and, and is
filled with a mixture of small shrubs and bracken that reach no
higher than a human’s knee. To the north the plateau gives
way to a heavily wooded mountainside; to the south (the direction
from which the party came) it falls away sharply; the eastern slope
is more gentle but rolls straight into the Haunted Woods and to
the west after a vertical drop of about ten feet a large plain extends
as far as the party can see. In addition to the column that plays
host to the wyvern nest, eight other columns also reach out from
the plateau. They are of the same, or similar, height to the first
(about two hundred feet) and see to be scattered randomly. The only
cover in the entire area is the forest (on the other side of the
clearing) or a collection of boulders and rocks at the top of the
cliff-face the party has just climbed. Gunlarr begins to make camp
as the wyverns chatter noisily above.
Raza de Luna suggests that a closer look at the columns is called
for. This opinion meets with much derision from certain members
of the group (particularly Nicos) who believe that strolling noisily
into a wyvern’s hunting ground under the cover of daylight
is not the brightest move. However, he is supported by Minsc and
by the fearless Elias, and so the three of them begin crawling on
their hands and knees through the bracken toward the wyvern’s
column. At the camp Gunlarr, Nicos, Ravenna and Arvan find Minsc’s
attempts at concealment make him slightly more obvious than he would
have been if his calling had been one-man-band rather than paladin.
The wyverns, however, do not seem to notice the approach of the
party. Although bestial creatures, wyverns are not mindless, and
as far as Nicos can make out they are having some sort of argument
in the draconic language. After over an hour and a half of slogging
the insanely brave threesome make it to the foot of the wyvern’s
column and begin to examine it. At this point the larger of the
two wyverns launches itself into the air, circles the tower once
and begins to fly from the clearing in the direction of the woodland
to the north. For a nasty moment the group on the ground below thought
their time had come, but the monster flies off without registering
their presence. They turn their attention to the column once more.
Although the tower seems to come quite naturally out of the ground,
its appearance is anything but natural. It is peculiarly smooth
to the touch, and appears to offer absolutely no foot or handholds
to aid climbing. His curiosity peaked, Elias casts a detect magic
spell on the column and, after a little concentration, declares
that the entire structure is faintly magical. It is not a magic
that he has ever seen before - if he had to commit himself, Elias
would say that seemed similar to evocation magic, but he could not
be sure. It takes quite a while, but they check around the column
for magical levers, buttons or inscriptions that might make the
tower sink into the ground. The sound of their straw-grasping is
audible many miles away.
Back at the camp, Gunlarr is quizzed by the others as to what this
place is. He says that he is uncertain. It is an ancient site that
has been here as long as legend can recall. It doesn’t have
a name, as far as he is aware. The party’s curiosity is captured
more by the plateau than Narramac’s quest.
Back in the clearing Raza begins to investigate a column to the
east of the wyvern nest and discovers it to be very much the same
as the original. Elias can’t believe that they have no choice
but to climb the column, it looks practically impossible. Minsc
strides boldly over to a western column, but in doing so does not
see the male wyvern re-entering the clearing. It catches site of
Minsc and dives at the paladin. He doesn’t see the creature
coming as it brings one of its massive talons down and strikes him
firmly on the back. Miraculously, Minsc’s armour saves him
from serious injury and he tumbles forward onto the ground as the
wyvern turns to make another pass. The rest of the party are not
idle. Elias quickly launches a cross bolt that bounces off the wyvern’s
thick scales. At the camp, Arvan summons a hawk and sends it to
fight the wyvern. As the enormous beast turns back toward the paladin
the hawk swoops in and begins to peck about the monster’s face.
The hawk’s heroism is short lived as the wyvern snaps at the
creature, rending it in two, but the act provided distraction enough
to crawl to some safety against the back of the western column.
The wyvern turns its attention to the group below as Elias readies
a true strike spell to injure the creature, when suddenly it turns
and flies back to the nest. It’s mate had called it and she
seemed most insistent.
It is now only about an hour before dark. The group is just wondering
what to go next when Nicos and Minsc spot a small figure, flying
under magical means heading toward the wyvern nest. He is carrying
what seems to be a bucket. The figure reaches the nest, hovers in
sight of the wyverns for a second before drenching them in the contents
of the bucket. He then turns tail and accelerates away from the
scene. The two wyverns immediately give chase. For a moment the
party wonders what to do, and then they hear the sounds of a battle
being joined little over a third of a mile away in the plain to
the east. They hear the bellowing of wyverns, shouts, cries, the
drawing of weapons and the whinnying of horses. Realisation quickly
dawns: The Paladins! Before anyone can say a word Minsc has drawn
his sword and rushed off toward the battle. With a shrug Raza follows
him. The rest of the group are not so keen, but Elias (finding himself
alone in the clearing) hurries along behind; and Nicos, Gunlarr,
Ravenna and Arvan also rush down to the plain.
Over the sounds of battle Minsc recognises the cry of agony of
Sir Cardon, and he redoubles his speed. Soon he comes across a terrified
horse, bolting from the battle. Minsc recognises it as the horse
of Lady Patricia; grasping it by the reins he skilfully vaults onto
the animal and spurs it back to the battle. Dropping down onto the
plain, Minsc can see the scene laid bare before him. Sir Cardon
is lying on the ground convulsing, green froth bubbling from his
mouth. A wound in his chest indicates that he has been poisoned
by the wyvern’s sting; Sir Zender is rushing over to his aid.
The most accomplished paladin of the group, Sir Garnir, is astride
his war-horse and facing off against the larger (male) wyvern alone.
He seems to be holding the beast in check. The female is airborne
and attacking Lady Patricia and the cleric Inictious who has raised
a wind wall between them and the creature. Meanwhile, Sir Lowron
has conjured a spiritual weapon and is using it to bash seven bells
out of the female. The female wyvern looks decidedly worse off than
the male. Minsc grits his teeth and rides into the combat, pulling
Patricia’s horse up side-by-side with Sir Garnir.
Garnir nods in Minsc’s general direction but his full attention
is turned to the wyvern. The male directs its attacks against Garnir,
ignoring Minsc’s feeble efforts to wound it. Garnir bravely
deflects the wyvern’s assault with his shield. Raza de Luna
then arrives at the scene, and stealing himself against fear launches
into the air to give the male wyvern a swift kick up the arse. The
creature lashes out with its stinger at Raza who barely dodges out
of the way. Elias, Nicos and Ravenna arrive and take pot shots at
the male wyvern with crossbolts and rays of frost with varying degrees
of success. Minsc strikes and wounds the beast! Arvan rushes forward
to help Zender administer to the wounded Cardon. It is then that
things begin to go wrong.
The male wyvern strikes out against Garnir clamping his mouth firmly
around the knight’s shoulder and shaking its head vigorously.
It throws Garnir a good thirty feet from the battle and turns its
full attention to Minsc. Raza’s blows become increasingly ineffective
and for a moment it looks as though all is lost, despite a flurry
of accurate shots from Elias. Then Nicos steps forward and, intoning
a divine incantation, commands the wyvern to feint. The creature
duly obeys and falls heavily to the ground, almost crushing Minsc.
The party takes the opportunity to pound on the wyvern; Elias even
shoots the thing in the eye, but still it will not die! After a
brief and bloody respite the male staggers to its feet and issues
a blood-chilling screech. It’s badly wounded, but it’s
also very annoyed.
At this moment, the female wyvern breaks through Inictious’
windwall and brings her stinger to bear against the priest. He screams
and falls backward; Patricia strikes out wounding the beast and
then takes to her heals, leading the wyvern away from her companion.
Meanwhile, Arvan has stabilised Sir Cardon. Zender is grateful,
after originally being taken back by the rough-looking half-orc.
Arvan (and indeed the other members of the group) notice for the
first time that the paladins seem to be covered in gore and entrails.
Arvan recognises it as wyvern gore, but he does not think that it
belongs to either of the two beasts the paladins are fighting. Zender
says that a dwarf flew over his group mere minutes ago and dumped
a large quantity of this offal on them. Before the paladins could
react the dwarf disappeared and two bloody great big wyverns swooped
in and began to attack them. Arvan and Zender’s conversation
is disturbed by Patricia racing past chased by the female wyvern.
As Arvan clambers to his feet to help he catches sight of the flying
carpet heading toward the deserted wyvern nest, but there is nothing
he can do about that at present.
At the main fight, Garnir clambers to his feet and remounts his
horse, while the male comes within a whisker of taking Minsc’s
head off as it rises into the air. Nicos tries to command it once
more, but fails and instead opts to shoot a gout of flame against
the beast; he injures it, but very nearly incinerates Raza. Garnir
charges the wyvern, racing beneath the flying creature and opening
up the beast’s stomach. The wyvern whips its stinger around
and plunges it into the flesh of Garnir’s war-horse. The steed’s
legs buckle and it goes down hard, pinning the paladin beneath it.
The wyvern strikes again, biting at Minsc and almost killing him;
Minsc slumps to the ground and is dying. The male wyvern is a flurry
of power: it poisons Elias with its stinger, tears into Nicos with
its maw, goring him to the brink of death and then turns its stinger
on Raza who is unequal to the task of avoiding it and feels poison
coursing through his own veins. Ravenna and Gunlarr sneak around
the wyvern to offer aid to Minsc, but things are looking bleak.
The female wyvern swoops after Lady Patricia. Arvan reaches up
with his staff and puts in a mighty blow that shatters the creatures
leg. With one broken leg it cannot snatch Patricia from the ground
by it still scores an almost fatal hit on the back of the young
paladin who is thrown forward onto the ground by its impact. Fortunately
at this instant, the female wyvern catches sight of the activity
around her nest. She gives a call of anger and surprise and races
back to the column. After a moment’s indecision the male follows
her, sparing the lives of the remaining party members. The female
reaches the column first and a massive battle erupts. There is an
explosion as someone lets off a fireball spell and the female wyvern
falls to the ground. She is dead. In an instant the male is there
and swiftly drives off the flying carpet. The speed of the carpet
is all that saves its occupants, as the male gives up its pursuit
and returns to the nest to howl sorrow and frustration.
The party and the paladins quickly reorganise themselves. Sir Garnir
thanks the group for their aid, though he seems distant and rather
cold. That does not stop him from doing the right thing and casting
a neutralise poison spell on Elias and Raza, but there is little
more he can do for the fallen Sir Cardon; the knight won’t
die but it will take him several days to recover. Garnir then attends
to his horse. The other paladins seem much friendlier, and use what
spells and abilities they have to heal the party and themselves.
Garnir is still badly wounded, but refuses aid.
Lady Patricia suggests that the groups works together. Many of
the other paladins seem to be in agreement with this tactic, but
Garnir is not. He points out that despite the inevitable camaraderie
that comes from battle, his group and the party are still working
against each other. The party argues that there is no benefit in
conflict, and that the two groups should help one another - if there
are two eggs then they can both take one. "And what will happen
if there is only one egg?" asks Garnir, but allows himself
to be partially convinced by his colleagues. He answers his own
question, by determining that in the event of only one egg being
recovered each team will select a champion and fight an honourable
duel. To be fair on the party, the paladin’s champion will
be selected randomly.
Lowron explains that Garnir is a very accomplished and pious paladin
who aspires to be one of The Twelve. The Twelve being the group
of paladin’s paladins who charge around the continent smiting
evil. They wear enchanted armour and are considered the pinnacle
of paladinhood. No one can petition to join The Twelve - only when
one of their number falls do The Twelve themselves call for a replacement.
No paladin who has been called has ever refused the call. They are
yet to call Garnir. Lowron himself is an old paladin, probably more
than fifty seasons in age. He has seen everything, and smiles with
wise amusement at the newly initiated paladins who see evil everywhere
and whose life is a continual war against evil. "They will
learn a different perspective," he says.
As the groups begin to set up a joint camp, Raza pitches an intriguing
idea to the assembled. The female wyvern is now a dead heap at the
bottom of the column; if she has been laying eggs recently, there
may be eggs unlaid within her body. Going over the column and dissecting
the creature could save them all a lot of time and bother. Garnir
is of the opinion that it would be unwise to move onto the plateau
before the morning; by then everyone will have had an opportunity
to rest. He determines to camp and rest for the remainder of the
night. At length everyone agrees.
Six watches are set up through the night and, despite the remaining
wyvern and a hostile team in the area, passes quite uneventfully.
Elias and Lowron take the first watch, and are followed by Nicos
and Patricia. The fire cleric tries to use the opportunity to woo
the paladin with sweet words and crass innuendo. She seems uninterested
and informs Nicos that her order is chaste. "You mean you’ve
never done it with a man?" is Nicos incredulous and wholely
tactless reply that cements a happy wedge in any friendship the
two may have had. Minsc and Sir Ganir take the following watch,
and Minsc finds himself distinctly uncomfortable under the critical
gaze of the paladin; although such discomfort doesn’t change
the admiration is feels toward the man. In the following watch Sir
Zender tells Arvan a little of his history. He was once a uncommon
thief, a burglar of some repute before seeing the light and becoming
a paladin. He was introduced into the Order of the Hawk in Uris
by Sir Lowron, and owes a debt of gratitude to the man. Raza and
the cleric Inictious spend their watch in deep philosophical discussion,
leaving Ravenna and Gunlarr to take the final turn. As dawn breaks
the assembled discuss their next course of action.
Sharday, 5 Brightday 204
The first step is to decide how to claim the egg from the wyverns.
During the night Sir Garnir has made a plan that seems nothing less
than suicidal. Garnir is determined to climb the column and retrieve
an egg from the nest as soon as it gets dark. He is relying on the
skills that Zender acquired in his more questionable days to help
them reach the summit. Zender believes that he can organise sufficient
pitons and ropes so that even the most unskilled climber could make
it to the top, an option that is opened to the party.
Garnir’s words spark a furious debate. Although it seems obvious
that the other paladins are not at ease with the plan, they will
not gainsay their leader. The party, on the other hand, has no such
qualms. They call it suicide and prideful foolishness. But any plans
they come up with to entice the wyvern from the nest, or investigate
the corpse of the female beast are met with stoic resistance. Garnir
maintains that the male wyvern is weak and easily killed. There
is only honour in such a victory if the group deliberately handicaps
itself in the battle. Garnir sees hanging from a thin rope, a hundred
feet from the ground as handicap enough. This is a point of view
that Raza can agree with. By the end of the debate, only Minsc and
Raza have signed up to Garnir’s plan and even the cleric Inictious
has called it insanity, although he will ascend with the knights
as guard them as best he can with feather fall spells. In conclusion
Garnir says that nothing can be attempted until it is dark. By Narramac’s
own words the egg must be gathered when Vítaeous is full.
The party therefore have a day to come up with an alternative. This
may not be long enough.
Prodigal
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