Towers and Twisted Thoughts

(Kobur, 8^th September, 1600)

Only a few things were left to sort out in Kobur. Sack gave copies of his arrowhead moulds to the forgemasters of the Bogadun clan, along with a sketch of a rather nasty little design he dubbed the "sleeve gun", a springloaded device to be worn on the forearm and capable of hurling a sharp pointed skewer out at some speed. He also got them to examine the Blade of the Sun. This aroused some interest; apparently, there were only 12 of these ever forged. Intended primarily as a weapon against the Undead, they were a significant force for good. Their powers are reputed to be greatly increased against creatures of evil. Long trains of horses seemed a bad idea in the mountains, so Sack and Kobort traded their remaining spare horses away, leaving themselves with only one spare remount each. Hildraft played on his new-found hero status with dazzling skill, getting a very favourable price for the well-travelled beasts.

The Blade of the Sun

Too much treasure?

This brought up another problem. The party's haul of treasure was getting bigger and bigger. Even traded for gems and platinum, the loot was difficult to carry, not to mention a target for attackers. After some discussion, the group decided to bank 10,700gp worth of treasure with the Bogadun clan.

While this was being done, Hildraft visited his cult's Motherhouse, deep in the roots of the dwarf city. Making his devotions, he relaxed and meditated, feeling his faith renewed in the familiar hallowed precincts. A twinge of guilt surfaced, as he remembered assisting Sack in the disposal of the loot from a temple of good countenance. His slightly belated contrition was abetted by his demonstrated courage in battle and upholding of his faith in his travels - Kord was always forgiving of the brave - and he felt easier thereafter.

He became aware of a young novice, waiting patiently for him to finish his meditation. On being recognized, this dwarf told him that Cardinal Axeedge wanted to see him before he left. Squaring his shoulders, Hildraft went to see the Archpriest of Kord.

The Patriarch in fact wanted to wish his priest good luck, and to enjoin him to care well for his young acolyte; the situation was unusual after all. A priest was normally only entrusted with the training of acolytes at a hundred years old or so. In order to assist Hildraft with this, he gifted him several items - some double-blessed Holy Water, and some more obscure things the purpose of which he said would become clear in time.

Finally, they were summoned to King Hrolf's throneroom again for their farewells. The King wished them well, and gave them maps of the northern reaches of Kobur (which Hildraft knew fairly well anyway) and of the "unclaimed" mountain lands between Kobur and Gloiran (which were almost as out-of-date as Hildraft's knowledge). He drew their attention to the watchtowers, built centuries ago by his people, that lined the route at roughly day's-travel intervals. Though the ones in the Unclaimed lands had been abandoned since the Troubled Years when the entire Orc people had migrated south through the mountains, he suggested that they would prove better places to overnight than being out in the open. He added a warrant, signed by himself, giving them the right to stay overnight in the towers, to the maps.

Hrolf Earthstar, King of Kobur

Vollun Crusher

So equipped, the party set out from the northern gates of Kobur. With them was the young dwarf, Vollun Crusher, proudly decked out in new-forged mail, axe, crossbow, and a Kordish symbol that glittered brightly in the sunshine; a marked contrast to Hildraft's, which was battered and battlescarred. The acolyte seemed very affected by the honour of going adventuring with such an accomplished band, and treated the others, even Sack, with considerable respect.

Travelling swiftly through the mountain valleys and passes, the group reached the first watchtower at dusk. The garrison of five sturdy dwarves had spotted their approach from some distance, and were waiting for them when they arrived. The King's warrant reassured them, and they bedded the party down comfortably in the tower. The next day, they pressed on, finding the next tower in the same way. The third day, they passed the bordermarkers of Kobur, and the tower they found that evening was abandoned, though in good condition.

Dwarven Watchtower

Around midday on the fourth day, the party reached one of the many places where they had to choose a junction between two valleys. Previously, the maps had made these decisions pretty straightforward, but this time, there was dissent. Kobort, Sack and Hildraft were convinced that the right-hand valley was the one to follow; Surya and Vollun were quite sure that the left-hand route was what they'd agreed on before. Some argument followed, before it occurred to Kobort to check for magical influences. Sure enough, all the people arguing for the right turn showed signs of enchantment.

Although the affected people were unconvinced that they were wrong, all were agreed that the effects of the magic had to be escaped before a decision was taken. Once a mile or so away, first one and then another of them shook it off and realized the correct answer. Tentatively, they returned to the junction, but the phenomenom did not recur. Puzzled, they moved on. With the delay caused, it was gone dusk by the time they reached the next watchtower.

Unlike the other abandoned towers they'd seen, this one's door was tightly shut. No lights showed at the windows, and there were no signs of life nor replies to their hails. Shedding his armour, Sack scaled the rough stone tower easily, assisted by a grapnel hooked over the roof. An arrow nocked, he opened a shutter and peered in through the window. Seeing nothing, he cautiously climbed in. Surya and Hildraft drew weapons and waited.

The upper floors were unremarkable, little different from the ones he'd seen before. Stealthily, he sneaked down the spiral stairs to the ground floor. There he found a disturbing scene. The tower door was, as they had surmised, barred from the inside. A great number of boxes, bales, crates and barrels had then been stacked and piled against the door. In front of this door lay a single dessicated corpse.

The man had been human; his shreds of remaining clothing included scraps of rusted mail armour. Near his right hand lay a sword, broken near the hilt. And all around the walls were the marks of frantic sword strokes, deeply slashed into the stone. Shaking his head in puzzlement, Sack moved enough of the rubble to reach the door, and unbarred it to let the others in.

After studying the scene, and speculating for a while about what had happened, the group turned the body over to Vollun for burial. The young dwarf interred the corpse, then earnestly performed the Kordish litany for the dead over the cairn. Keen to impress his new master, the young acolyte made a very careful job of it. At the end of the ceremony, he stepped back sharply, as a crackling discharge of energy rippled through the stones of the cairn.

Slightly shaken, the group resecured the door and occupied the tower. Nervous of what might be lurking in the area, they carefully reshuttered the windows and lit plenty of lights before turning in for the night. Guards were set in shifts.

Around midnight, Kobort's owl, busily scouting and hunting outside, woke the sorcerer with a warning. He reported a bat, hanging from the roof outside the tower. With an animal's instinct for the uncanny, he was disturbed by the nature of this creature and did not regard it as natuaral. Immediately, the party sprang into action.

Carefully opening a window shutter, Sack leaned out and bent his bow. He was more than half expecting the creature to suddenly dodge, or move, or something, but it did not, and his steel-pointed clothyard shaft struck it squarely. Split in half and smashed almost out of recognition, the bat disapeared into the night, landing out in the darkness with an audible "thud".

The Bat

With guards set, the party returned to sleep. There were no further batty encounters, but late on, two hours or so from dawn, a strange thing happened. Surya and Vollun were on watch, standing outside the tower door looking down the valley. Both were feeling pretty alert. Then, without any apparent transition, Surya found his thoughts drifting. One moment he was alert, focussed, "in the zone"; and the next he was woolgathering. In his dreamy state, he found the idea of a nice relaxing stroll down the valley appealed to him a great deal. He took a single step, and then shook his head. What was he doing? As he took a grip, his mind cleared again, and he realized that someone was fooling with minds again.

As he thought this, he realized that his companion was still moving. Vollun Crusher was walking down the path towards the valley, a blank look on his face. Surya stepped in front of the young dwarf, blocking his path, but Vollun sleepily stepped around him and carried on walking. The Tellaran blocked him again, this time getting hold of him and pushing him backwards. Offering no resistance, the dwarf was pushed backwards through the tower door as Surya called for help from the others.

Tiring of the effort of holding him back, Surya applied the classic remedy - a quick slap around the chops. Surprisingly, this seemed to work; Vollun blinked and shook his head, before asking in a surprised fashion what was happening. After this the vigilance of the guards was even better.

Next morning, they hunted for the slain bat, and - rather to their surprise - found it, lying near the tower. The arrow was there, too, but Sack chose to leave it rather than recover it. They pressed on, eager to leave this tower, sure the next one would be better.

They were wrong.

The burned-out tower (click for larger image!)

The next watchtower had obviously been the site of a battle at some stage; the door was hanging off, the windows and walls were blackened by fire, and the roof was burned out. The top floor was clearly uninhabitable, but the middle level had been washed by rain for many years, and made a tolerable shelter. Once again the band made camp, and set pickets.

Dark had not long fallen, and Surya and Vollun were once more on watch, when a sight caught their eyes. Dots of orange firelight bobbed about down the valley, about a dozen of them, and as they approached, the watchers could see they were burning torches, carried by marching figures. Soon, it was obvious that the tower was their destination; and soon after that, the light of the torches they carried showed the watchers that the approaching troops were lizardmen in Dragonarmy colours.

Gathering in the roofless tower room, the rest of the party nocked arrows or bolts and waited until the approaching troop reached hailing distance. There they stopped, and a larger lizard bearing a sergeant's markings stepped forward and called out to the tower. His approach was belligerent and basic; he declared that the tower was their "billet", they were the Dragonarmy, and that the group should quit the tower immediately to allow their "betters" to sleep there.

There was a moment's pause as the band considered this. Then, without further ado, Sack sent two lethal shafts ripping through the spokes-lizard, killing him instantly. Kobort unleashed his terrible Fireball, leaving all but three of the lizards far more concerned with extinguishing the fires burning in their clothes than fighting. Hildraft discharged his crossbow, then ditched it and set off down the stairs, hefting his axe ready to engage the survivors. Surya and Vollun set about picking off the less wounded lizards as they charged towards the tower, unaware of how little support they actually had.

Hildraft emerged from the tower door just seconds after the last lizard fell.

Feeling fairly satisfied with the results, the party returned to bed. For the moment, the deeper significance of this encounter didn't bother them.

The dwarves thought their mountains were safe from the Dragonarmy. They were obviously wrong...