12 replies to this topic

[Mercenary_Leader]

Mark found himself in the temple of Kord one of the places were the survivors were being gathered and tended to.

At first it had seemed hopeless when he found out the truth he had gone back and tried to warn them but the city wall was already overrun. The undead were everywhere and those creatures of stone (Earth elementals) were whit them crushing walls and buildings. The undead were being directed by their dark masters and all resistance was being swept away. In minutes almost half the city had fallen.

Luckily a group of heroes appeared to save what was left of the city. Master Mylor a powerful wizard of the mages guild returned along whit master Gerald a monk of great renown, Nestor the high priest of Kord joined in the battle as well as Lyra the high priestess of Pelor who had been missing for days arrived to join in the battle. Whit them and all those brave and strong enough to fight that remained the tide was pushed back and they were stopped at the bridges. But the southern half of the city is now overrun by the undead.

Barricades were built and the line held against several waves of undead zombies now. For now they have stopped giving the defenders a break. For reason unknown the masters of the undead did not join in the battle to take the bridge as they did when they took the wall and neither did any of those stone monster you saw earlier. This is good because even whit just the zombies and ghouls the bridges were almost lost.

Even mark had exhausted most of his power doing what he could to aid in the defense. He pondered what had happened to Valas that was whit him in the assassin's guild. They were separated in the ambush and he had not seen him since.

His toughs were interrupted as a young woman came to him and gave him a bowl of stew ''Eat up, you must be hungry'' she says

Edited by Mercenary_Leader, 12 June 2009 - 02:31 AM.

[Scorch]

Mark grabs the bowl and straight away feasts on the food given to him. Bringing the bowl to his lips and letting the taste of peppery gravy replace the harshness in his throat from the battle just faught. The night air was cold and unforgiving just like the enemies they faced.

He felt drained, his soul had been strained to hold back the foes. He'd never faught undead on this scale or on any scale for that matter. They were horrible beasts, limbs could be ripped off and they wouldn't even break their disgusting gait.

It was only after eating half a bowl in mere seconds that he looked up to meet the gaze of the woman before him. His cloak was off and thrown down somewhere, leaving the dim light of the moon to light up the runic scarring across his face. This obviously intimidated some of the soldiers, everyone leaving Mark to sit alone on a few crates. He assumed this girl simply wanted to get away from him. With every deep breath the scars pulsed with a faint light of eldritch power, it always happened when he had to fight.

[Mercenary_Leader]

She doesn't seem to notice the scar but seems happy that you look like you enjoy the stew. She moves on giving some to the others who fought.

A young man wearing the uniform of the Saltmarsh militia approaches you ''Excuse me Mark? Lord Erolin has requested that once you've had time to rest you go to the lizardfolk embassy were what remains of the council is deciding on our next course of action.''

[Cole Caecus]

OOC

sorry guys, im back, if you will still have me that is, lol.

[Scorch]

Mark nods and after wolfing down the rest of his stew, leaving the bowl on the crate he sat on, he headed off to find his cloak before continuing on to the embassy.

[Mercenary_Leader]

You are lead into the embassy by the many guards posted around it. Inside you arrive in a large room whit a table surrounded by chairs, less than half of them are taken. Lord Erolin and many other strong warriors are seated here. (Mylor, Gerald, Nestor and Lyra. All of them around level 10 to 12. Mylor is a wizard, Gerald is a monk, Nestor is a fighter/cleric and Lyra is a cleric. Just to give you an idea of what they can do since you saw most of them fight earlier to defend the bridges)

''Well I'm glad one of the heroes I hired was able to make it. Its unfortunate but I haven't been able to contact any of the others, Do you know what happened to them?'' says Lord Erolin.

[Scorch]

Mark shrugs, "Heroes? I hardly think any of us are deserving of that title. I haven't heard from the others, so it's best to assume they either died or deserted us before the coming of the storm. Izan was felled in battle and as for the other, I presume they got him too." He moves forward but doesn't take a seat, remaining a comfortable distance from the table.

"The real heroes don't desert their job in cowardice. Neither do they go out and die. Those are your heroes." He waves his hand at Mylor and the others. "So." He continues after a long pause, "I have fulfilled my contract. Do you wish to employ me again?" Mark doesn't even seem sarcastic. He was quite business-like when it came to his mercentile side, treating each contract seriously and his employers with sometimes undue respect.

OOC

Quote

That is something you will need to discover yourself. If you ever come across any ancient sripts, tablets or runes that need translating feel free to come see me and if you really want my attention bring me some well aged or rare wine.'' he answers.

I just realised I need to complete my damn side quest!

Edited by Scorch, 14 June 2009 - 03:48 PM.

[Mercenary_Leader]

''Fulfilled your contract? I believe its more correct to say it was voided by recent events, not that there was ever an actual contract. While I would reward you for your efforts all of my resources are either at the town center or in my manor which are both under their control at the moment. So honestly, I'm not much richer than you are at the moment'' answers Lord Erolin obviously not to pleased whit the prospect.

''I think we can find a magic item or two we can spare to reward you and we will be needing any help we can find if we are to survive. The current situation is...pretty bad.

The undead numbers are diminished but their are still many that remain and as time goes on our dead are turning into more of them...To make matters worse the remains of pirates we chased off earlier this month are back. Only a single ship and it stayed clear of the docks for now keeping its distance, we will have to wait and sea what they do. I put thirty men on the docks just in case.

Not only that but we've spotted an army of slavers almost five hundred strong making camp outside the north wall.'' he pauses to let it sink in and continues ''We only have around 200 militia, 120 soldiers, 12 clerics, 6 wizards and 12 officers left after the initial attack not counting Walthas (Dwarf barbarian 6/frenzied berserker 4) and his ten Bonecrushers (Dwarf barbarians lv 10) and the council members.'' explains Erolin.

''There is some good news, I could sense something bad was coming and so I sent word to the capital for help some time ago and soon before the attack I received word from my old friend the king that he has sent a full regiment (around 500 troops) to our aid. Our only chance is to hold out until they arrive.'' he says

''I'm not convince the others that were whit you are all dead and most of them didn't seem the type to abandon us. I think something has happened to them and like I said we are going to need all the help we can get. We questioned some guards and found out that they were last seen going of to investigate something in the woods or mounting some kind of rescue? I would like you to go see if you can find them, tell them what has happened ''

''If you accept I will cast a spell that will turn you into a creature of smoke and allow you to fly and move trough walls. The spell will last long enough to safely take you out of the city and into the forest were they went but not much longer. Take this stone and once you find then concentrate on it and think of me, You will be able to send me a short message that will reach me no matter were you are as long as you remain on this plane. Once I receive the message I will scry you location and teleport to get you if I am able.'' says Mylor.

''Here are some items I can spare if you want a reward in advance, I can only spare one but their magic is strong enough for it to be a sufficient reward.'' says Mylor taking out several items and explaining what it is they do.

OOC

Pick one magic item worth 4000 gold or less if you accept tell me what is is and I will add it to your sheet.

[Scorch]

OOC

Survival pouch 5/day create various useful survival items 3,300
This pouch looks like it’s seen its share of
rough use. It is tattered and stained from use
in the wild.
Five times per day, you can reach into a
survival pouch and retrieve your choice of
one of the following items. You can draw
out the same item fi ve times in one day,
draw out fi ve different items, or produce
any combination of up to fi ve items.
Each item lasts for 8 hours or until indicated
below, whichever comes fi rst.
• Trail rations for one Medium creature
for one day.
• Two gallons of water stored in a waterskin.
The waterskin disappears if it is
emptied completely.
• A tent and two bedrolls sized for
Medium creatures.
• A 50-foot coil of hempen rope.
• A shovel.
• A campfi re (about 2 feet square). The fi re
can be left to burn, or it can be pulled
apart to produce eight lit torches. Each
removed torch lasts for 1 hour and
reduces the remaining burning time
of the campfi re by 1 hour. If the fi re
is extinguished, the unburnt portion
vanishes.
• A composite shortbow (+1 Str bonus)
and a quiver of 20 arrows. The bow
disappears 1 round after the last arrow
has been drawn from the quiver.
• A mule with bit, bridle, saddle, and saddlebags
(treat as a summoned creature,
except that it will not fight for you).

"I understand Lord Erolin. I did my best considering my companions and the circumstances. Normally I would turn down a job to rescue some incompetent warriors out in the wild. I feel it would be better if I stayed but if this will help, I will retrieve them." Mark states calmly before striding forward and grabbing up a rather tattered and worn pouch, knowing well what it contains.

"I will take this, I lost mine a while back." Mark moves over next to Mylor before speaking to Lord Erolin once more as the cleric prepares the spell.


"Tactics are my thing sir. If you are stuck for a plan, seek me out." He nods to the Lord then to the powerful heroes he stood next to just as Mylor placed a hand on his midrift. He could feel his body slowly changing, weightless, just managing to utter the words, "I'll find them by daybreak."

[Mercenary_Leader]

''Good luck to you then and may the gods light your path, we will hold here as well as we can.'' answers Lord Erolin

[Scorch]

And so, as his body turns a lot less solid, Mark wisps away out of the hall and out into the night. He speeds towards the "cave of spiders" or at least the point marked on his map.

[Mercenary_Leader]

At the location you find a Tunnel the entrance barred whit a large block of stone. You slip in trough the cracks an soon after you feel the magic fading and you return to your original form.



This is a map I made a while back showing the tunnels explored so far. You are at the room were it says ''you entered here'' and they are currently in the center of the very large room.

Note* there is no source of light anywhere in these tunnels except a torch carried by the others and from the entrance to the middle of the large room its about 400 feet.

Edited by Mercenary_Leader, 20 June 2009 - 02:32 PM.

[Scorch]

Mark cricks his neck and after blinking a few times, his eyes adjust to the darkness as if it were illuminated by the brightest moon.

After taking a few moments to get his bearings he heads onwards down the corridor, stopping briefly at the first branching corridor then halting at the next. He'd seen the torchlight a good few paces back but he wasn't one to be overly foolhardy and rush in.

He edges forward to the entrance of this humongous chamber, recognising a couple of faces that stood by the ominous statue in the center. After a sigh of relief he let out a shrill whistle, hopefully getting the groups attention. Mark shortly realising that with only a couple of torches the light wouldn't reach him.

"Zudd, is this all of you?" The warlock called out, only remembering his name out of the few people he had met.