we ran and ran and ran, trying to pull all our rescue-es with us , not easy with us wearing invisibility cloaks. after 10 minutes we stopped to catch our breaths and couldnt find artemis. a thief wearing an invisibility cloak is impossible to find, he was gone. we could see where and we chose to keep going, nothing can catch him we hoped. for a day we hiked through a forest of giant tree, giant flowers and a never ending fear of giant predators that never appeared, slowly the forest became normal again and after a day and night of march, we reached a road that stood in the open. a cart ws approaching, pulled by 2 horses, with 2 people at the front and what it looks like people dragged at the back...slaves. five of them chained like vermin. i was tired but upset. after our months in captivity we dont take kindly to slavery. enraged , i create a cloud of fumes and hurled it at the cart. the security next to the driver fell in convulsion and so are 6 guards who were hiding in the back. the slaves changes behind the cart, not impacted by my cloud, began chocking and beating the helpless guards and my comrades joined this slaughter with glee. the battle was over in no time. we took the driver as captive, to show us the way- he was the slaves buyer and kept feeling sorry for himself, since we know owned most of his possessions.we freed the slaves who shared tales of months in captivity, being mistreated and then sold for the highest bidder , the driver.now he had 7 rescue-es and only three of us. we now used the road to get back to town and rested for the night by the road., in the 2nd day we kept going, most of our people in the cart and only the driver and one of us leading the horses while the rest remained invisible with our very useful cloaks. the only event of the day was passing by soldiers on horseback looking for something, for us, but we were well hidden in plain sight. the driver somewhat unwillingly told us about the town and its barracks, of ways to sneak passed the guards, hoping to win our favor.we ransacked the carts and found lots of goodies, quickly divided amongst the now freed slaves. armor , weapons and some scrolls that i took for my self, most useful items. still no sign of Artemis. we camped by the road at night and posted guards, lucky that we did. some nocturnal creatures, taller than me, but smaller then the rest attacked, they were more then we were but they were also weak. we dispatched of them quickly buy few of the new guys suffered injuries, lucky that one of them is a healer and healed himself and his companion.
our new members include the senator and her companion rescued from the tower- she was our mission. the five former slaves are marry , a young girl of 15, human. one that was clearly a warier, i like warriors, they are handy to hide behind, a cleric, someone skilled in the arts of breaking an entering (i can see why he was enslaved) and a shaman. strange individuals each and everyone, but we are on the same side, so we packed our things after the fight and after the driver tells us that they usually travel in larger numbers, this must have been a scouting party and some of its members did escape. so away we went and the next morning we reached an inn on the outskirts of town. the inn keeper was not in a good mood seeing my new fighter, a half Minotaur , dirty and stinky at its door. but shana kah took care of him with some spell and knocked him out. the inn was not empty and we soon found the occupied room and took the rest , but only after our new thief friend entered their room by mistake and was not speared since he used quick wits and said he was an inn employee. since he looked like a slave, this ploy worked. we rested that day, ate, drank and mostly waited for our boa to pick us the next after noon. in the morning, destin and I went scouting the town, invisible of course, we saw many squadrons of guards going back and forth, looking for us, their horses may noticed us, but not the soldiers of the titus val. we scouted the wooden barracks and headed for the docks when we saw one of the captain looking around all the time, this was our captain, we snuck abroad and told him to get ready to sail later. using the cloaks, one of use ran to the in and transferred two of us at a time to the boat, fully undetectable, but before we left we had to leave our mark.
we found some oil and scattered it around the barracks, it is so easy doing mischief when you cannot be seen or heard, we then found a well respected citizen and i charmed him with magic to think he is my friend. we convinced him to go to the keep and tell the guards that he saw our rescue e in the inn. think they will all rush there, as they have been searching for us day and night and we could storm the unprotected barracks. our volunteer did as he asked and tried to convince the guard, but he didn't make much sense, he said "some one told me to tell you" and since he didnt really know us he wasn't convincing and the guard ignored him, what a pity. so we had no choice buy to make a fire bomb and hurl it at the oil laced roof. we watched the barracks burn and glee as we were leaving the shores of this Titus val infested town. the driver remained unharmed in the inn, we left him with most of this things we found in his cart and took all the expensive items with us, including a magical tree figuring that he "forgot" to share. he is lucky we left him alive- a slaver... but he owes us one, maybe he can be useful in the future. we sailed for two days ot the capital, avoiding Titus val ships and hurried to meet Ivan and report back. when we got to court Ivan was there with most of his high lords, though that survived the purge of traitors. our lady rushed to her father and Ivan was pleased with us. we ate in joy and thinking about our next steps when one of the lords started chanting, before we had time to act she summoned a fowl demon which attacked Ivan. Ivan raised his diamond hammer and the attack bounced of him, leaving him unscathed but hit destin who sat next to him. Destin died on the spot!
i was in shock. the attacker snuk away. i must get me one of these demons, what awesome powers. i feel like such a novice. i also need to get better companions, they don't seem to stick around. perhaps this Minotaur is more able at staying alive, time will tell. for now Ivan asked us to wait for further instructions, we can use the time to rest and see what our new freed slaves want to do, perhaps they will stay and join me in the mock uprising against the titus val.
Leather head mike, squashed by a giant, sea whiskers, left to find his heirlooms, destin dead, his brother Artemis has vanished... who goes next?
On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 8:17 PM, Gil Even <gil.even@gmail.com> wrote:
i as still digesting the events of the previous battle and the last few months of captivity.we spent months in chains and picking turnips and being in bad shape all in the hands of the titus vaul , then leather head mike rescued us and was killed soon after in the strangest battle i head ever seen and again it was just us. now that we were free once more , thought still in Titus vaul controlled territory, we spoke often of revenge. a few days after clang sea whiskers left us in search of his family heirloom , leaving me with Artemis the rouge. in town we met up with shana kai , we told her the sad news about leather head mike and she was saddend. we spent the next few days recuperating and i was frantically rewriting my spell books. being without it for some months felt awkward, stripped of my power, it is back now. but i am still so weak compared to others we have encountered on the way, i need to be stronger, much stronger. recent ordeal have made me stronger, i have new capabilities now, but i am too far from where i should be.losing sea whiskers is a blow, he was a capable fighter. lucky artemis brother destin was also freed by leather head months before and he was waiting fir us with shana kai. he is also a big guy that i can use as a shield. well , destin will have to be my shield now. i cant seem to retain my body guards.as we consider revenge options and wait for our ship to be ready and return us to the sea dragon, we discuss striking a slave revolution, raiding Titus vaul supporters and some other random acts of violence. in the end we decide on something creative. we get barrels of oil and load our ship, we also leave some at critical places on the docks. i also added grease at on the docks just before we leave. the ship sails and we simpy lit the docs on fire, it was beautiful. the wind was blowing in the right directions and 8 schooners of the titus vaul were burned. this is not a decisive blow in the war but without a doubt a painful blow and revenge is sweet. but we were not over yet, we left a note from the spectral hand, made up name that revenge is coming and we blamed Ragnar, the general who betrayed us months ago and led to us captivity , we need to close the score with him.after a few days the sea dragon met up with us and we retold the story of our captivity and rescue. the captain stasha gave us our share finally after delivering the helmet to Ivan months before. with the new fortune, i replenished my spell book and felt stronger then before, but still i lost the amazing device that allowed me to store many spell, that was invaluable. we sailed with the sea dragon for a few days and reach the town of <add town name> and went with Stash to meet Ivan.Ivan who discarded the help, who was behind us releasing the five lords, the one we suspected was evil. well he might be, but he fights the titus vaul, my captors, so for now we are on the same side.Stasha also gained my trust, she rescued us and paid her debts, i prefer her on my side. so when Ivan offered us a mission to rescue lutaria from the titus vaul, (lutaria who was captured with us) i agreed right away but artemis was seriously reluctant. they were kept in some keep and we were to break in and rescue them. the keep is in the forests of the giants, sounds easy right? artemis was scared and we had to convince him to join, a thief is useful when you try to sneak in. Ivan equipped us for this mission. he gave us invisibility rings and cloaks of silent. did i say that i like this new benefactor? he took us to his temple and said he would show us the power of his godess, ishtar. he tapped his diamond hammer on the alter and tapped us and we felt a surge of health, it was impressive. i wont say i believe in Ishtar, but i was impressed. Artemis was given a new bow and Destin was given armor and new axes and shana was given armor as well.we were bold to ask lordship of the lands we are to free once the titus vaul were defeated and Ivan agreed, well he has nothing to lose by promising lands he does not yet control . artemis asked for rights to the silver mine we passed in months before with the ants and he got it. wow we lucked out. now all we have to do is deliver.on one of the nights we were there relaxing at the bar and a familiar female face was seen, we went to say hi and saw [add name ], the girl with the amazing staff who slayed the titans. what was she doing here. she mentioned that she promised us a favor , but we didnt ask anything, someone this powerful you want to keep as friends, she is awesome. she drank some wine and seemed buzz and we told her about our mission. she said her family out west and their nation also do not like the titus vaul. after a nice long chat she said we would meet again and disappeared.the next morning,we took our goodies and made our way to our transport ship, while Stasha and the rest of the sea dragon crew went for another mission.after a few days of quiet sneaky sailing to our destination island. we were let off ad a port village where no one knew anything about a keep. but we had a rough map of the area, people did say that there are giants that way and that we should stay away. so of course, we got horses and headed that way. three quiet days later we reached the big swamp. we debated what to do with the horses and we sent destin to scout ahead, he reported that there is a path way over the swamp with narrow bridges in bad shape, and the horses will not make it across. we tied the horses, put our rings and cloaks on and slowly went on the path. several times it got real narrow but we didnt fall over. at some points the water stirred and we saw huge claws of something underneath, we stayed away from that. we also saw giants, but we snuk hidden and stayed away. the swamp became narrower and woods became more dense, then we reached the end of the swamp and saw a lonely tower with nothing around it. we debated what to do and how to breach the place. it did not have 25 archers as artemis feared , it almost seemed abandoned. then we heard voices behind us on the trail and saw three gourds approach. they didnt see us with our rings, it was easy to ambush them and slay them all without resistance, artemis and shana slayed the first and i put the other two to sleep and in that shape they were no opposition. then we wanted to go in fast to the tower before the guards are missed, but we didnt know how many foes inside. artemis climbed the tower and entered from the window while the three of us entered slowly from the front door using a key one of the guards held.at the 2nd floor artemis saw our prisoners tied to racks and screaming, but no one else was at that floor, so he headed down to meet us on the 1st floor. we entered slowly, it is somewhat difficult to fight when we are all invisible, what awesome rings. the 1st floor had four small room, the 2 to my side seemed empty but i couldn't see clearly on the other side as three gourds were sitting by a table, without shields and weapons. we had the surprise impact and took one out quickly and dispatch the other two in seconds. then we went up the 2nd floor and then i saw our prisoners tied to the wrack. this big room seemed too empty. these are important prisoners, there must be more guards. i cast detect magic and then i saw him, someone familiar on the other side of the room, i hat him, so i cast my strongest spell and failed, why did i fail, general ragnar, the betrayer, who killed half of the southern armies of ishtar on the same night he turned and had us enslaved. i cant believe my spell failed.this general seemed very formidable, well he is a general for a reason, artemis hit him with an arrow but he laughed at that then he was about to do something nasty, then from nowhere she appeared- the girl and cast something that froze the general in place. she said that he is shielded but not defeated and he would be out soon. i have seen what she did to those giants, and she cant beat him, what the heck is he? we debated how to unfree the captured from the magic rack that tortured them all day and then healed them, and again and again. shana casted some other disabling spell on the general which allowed the girl to dispel the magic of the trapped and we slowly pulled them out of those torture devices and didnt have time to search the loot the place. we left the tower and ran north towards the trees, it will not be long before the general escapes.
