Brynn Shander

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Bjorn led the little group towards Brynne Shander. "It is several days journey from here and I have no idea what we'll come across. We can start on the main road but then I suggest we move off and try to come in as stealthly as possible." He glanced at the others. "Stealth is not my strong point but I'll do my best."

 

Berg was having the most pleasant dream. His father was carrying him down the long steps to his bed chamber in their caverns, singing him his favorite lullaby. He curled his hands around his father's beard, only to find that the beard wasn't there. He woke up with a start and saw that an oddly familiar halfling was carrying him along.

"What the hellls?!" he shouted and jerked violently. The halfling lost his grip on the larger dwarf and he thudded to the ground, gettting a nice whack on his tail bone. "Ow!"

In an instant he was on a knee and a foot, with an axe in one hand and a hammer in the other. "Bring it on you cave grubbers!" he snarled.

"Berg, calm down," a familiar voice said. "It's Bjorn, and you know Darren. We're going back to Brynne Shander to try and rescue an acquaintance of this man. We thought you'd might like to come along, but you were so drunk we couldn't get any thing sensible out of you."

Berg's eyes focused and he recognized his friends, and saw a few strange elves too. "Back to Brynne Shander, hmmn? Well, I did leave some of my best explosives there. Maybe the goblins haven't discovered them yet. I would like to reacquire them, if possible. Thanks for bringing me along. I didn't say anything silly while I was sleeping, did I Darren?"

 

"Oh, uh no, not at all!" Daren reassured, trying to block out when Berg was moaning some man's name.

 

Cameron followed the travelers for some time, the town was completely different and he had survived on it for a week, if they wanted to get out alive they needed him. He stayed in the shadows and kept watch for any suspicious.

 

"When the time comes let me know. I can cast a 'Mass Invisibility' spell on the group. That ought to prevent us from being seen but not from being heard. I could also cast a silence spell on us but I'm reluctant. I don't want to take the chance of walking into combat with no way of warning each other, let alone casting my spells. When..." Shadowflame stopped short, causing Daren to bump into him. The young halfling started to apologize but stopped when Shadowflame raised his hand. He stepped up closer to Bjorn and said in a casual tone. "We are not alone... Behind us and to the left." Shadowflame raised his hands in front of him and quietly mouthed the words for a spell, "Moji tia aelaestia shor torolaer os tandros" As he finished his spell, he turned and threw his right hand out in front of him. Five small purple-white spheres flew from his fingers and arced through the air. The magic missles slammed into a tree, one right after the other, showering the area with shards of bark and leaves. There were several high pitched screams as five goblins ran from the area surrounding the exploding tree. Shadowflame pulled his blue bladed shortsword from his belt and it seemed to almost disappear in his hand. His other hand reached for darts under his robes. He could see from the corner of his eye that Bjorn was already responding to the threat. He couldn't see Kazdul or Daren but Jex had already waded into the fray and Berg was well on his way. Shadowflame raised his hands and waved them in another intricate pattern, "Paerai tia aelaestor shor ei shyr os jhondrol!!!" He pointed the tip of his shortword and a bolt of lightning shot forth from the tip. The closest gobln exploded as the poewerful bolt surged through it's body, then glanced off the arm of another and richocheted off the shiny helmet of a third. As the bolt arced off into the trees, a shower of sparks indicated the bolt had hit something else and dissapated. Shadowflame attempted to hide in the shadows but was caught off gaurd when a crossbow bolt sprouted from his left arm. He shouted out in pain and turned to meet the new threat. Fast approaching through the trees came a large group of goblins, about ten, at least five orcs, an several worg riders. Shadowflame yelled to the others, "More at eight o'clock!!! Do we fight?!?"

 

Not bothering to answer Bjorn waded in to the fray. A worg rider leapt at him. The beast went down minus a leg and the rider died headless. His scimitars glowed firey red and icy white adding damage to every stroke. An arrow pierced his thigh but his concentration was total as he calmly wrought havoc on the enemy.

 

Cameron burst out of hiding and leapt at a warg rider, they fought on the warg as it nipped and bucked trying to throw them off. They both went flying at a very large buck and they fell on a large rock, the orc broke his neck and Cameron was knocked senseless but he placed his new spear in a hole in the rock and impaled the charging warg. He then saw only darkness.

 

Daren flipped his bow off his back and pulled three arrows into position, letting them go when three goblins wandered into his sight. He pulled his short swords from his belt and plunged them into an attacking warg.

 

Shadowflame saw the human from the alehouse jump out of the trees and land on the back of a worg. A growl to his left made him turn, just in time to see an orc try an overhead strike with a poorly constructed handaxe. Shadowflame took a step back and brought his shortsword up and out, nearly severing the beast's head. He turned back just in time to see the human thrown from the worg and land against a boulder. The man barely got his spear up to defend himself from the charging worg but didn't move after that. Not hundred percent sure if the man was on his side, Shadowflame decided to protect him now and ask him later. Hands raised he chants, "Vyraes sor shael thys oraes eil oraes thys cos!" A shimmering white sphere encases the unconscious man. Looking around he sees Jex and Bjorn both weilding dual scimitars, and Berg weilding an axe and a hammer. He still couldn't see Daren and Kazdul.

 

Bjorn took a moment to cast a fire ball at some goblin archers causing injury and scatering them. Bjorn fought without feeling. These creatures wished to kill him and he wished to stay alive. He had no vain ideals of 'honorable fighting'. He did what ever he needed to make sure he survived. Every move was calculated although it might seem instaneous to an onlooker. He was aware of Jex who was a whirlwind of a fighter but didn't let it distract him. Goblins and worgs fell around him. He was bleeding from various injuries but the coldness held him fighting. It was the opposite of the berserker rage yet had a similar effect. He would fight until he dropped.

 

Jex was enjoying the battle. He always did. He ducked a lunging goblin and chuckled as it flew over his back and landed with a thud. Dropping another goblin with a solid kick he finally decided to show his mettle. With both scimitars drawn he rushed deeper into the fray.

 

Daren fought ruthlessly and was honored to kill the last goblin of the group.

"Well," He said, breathing heavily, "That's that. Now what?"

 

"The man by the boulder? I saw him at the alehouse. Do any of you know him? Right now he's surrounded by Otiluk's Resilient Sphere. He can't do anything til it wears off." Shadowflame looked walked around waiting for a reply. His adrenaline was still pumping and he as having trouble standing still. After a bit he started to look at the goblins and orcs. Something about them seemed very strange to him. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but something was wrong. "Jex! Bjorn!! They aren't real, they're illusions!!" He whirled looking for the mage who created them. After a short time he relaxed when it was obvious there was no danger. "What the h**l is going on here?!? It isn't easy to create monsters. Whoever did this has a personal grudge against one of us." He thought for a moment then turned to Bjorn, "Let's try to wake sleepy over there and get out of here. I have a bad feeling."

 

"He is Cameron, one of the captains of Brynne Shander. A good fighter. Illusions they may have been but they hurt!"

Bjorn walked over to Cameron. "Can I bring him to with the spell on him?"

 

Cameron groaned slightly and sat up rubbing his head. He said something but it reverberated of the walls of the spjere and gave him a massive headache to his already sore head. He waited impatiently for it to wear off.

He looked up to the surrounding figures." You're probably wondering why I followed youses? Well I figured that you'd need somebody to be able to show you the way through that rat nest. I know the rat holes and how to avoid the rats." He grinned and pulled out his spear, glad to see it wasn't broken.

 

"Glad to see you, Sir. We can certainly use your help." Bjorn looked around at the others. "Where's Kazdul?" He checked the bodies but didn't find Kazdul's. "Wonder where he got to?"

 

"It would take powerful magic to create an army of illusions like this." Jex said quietly to Shadowflame. "We won't be dealing with any normal northland mage. We should begin to watch for the toes that we will tread on."

 

Shadowflame looked at those around him, realizing they were pretty tight. With the exeption of Kazdul and himself, they had all been through Bhaal's gates and back. Finally looking at Jex, "I'm more than a little concerned things are getting out of hand. This group hasn't been together long enough to make enemies." Quickly changing the subject he turned to Bjorn, "Lead the way... Cameron should be able to walk even with the sphere."

 

Bjorn lead off into the forest taking a round-about way that he choose as they went along. He hoped that by doing this they could avoid any confrontation such as they had just had. "keep your eyes and ears open we could meet wandering groups of goblins and bugbears. Since it will take a couple of days we also need to find a spot to camp that we can defend."

 

Daren cheerfully bobbed along behind Bjorn, careful not to lose pace.