|
Hin scratchings
Posted: 17 Jul 2007 03:53 PM |
In the darkness a shuffling and a thump was heard near the rock. The sand was deep here where it piled against the rock face. The cool nights desert was ideal for the labor. As he dropped a bag onto the pile a hiss sounded. He eased the sword from it's scabbard and whirled. A quick stab and the viper was skewed upon the blade Opehlia had made for him long ago. It was a good blade and better than he could have made himself by far. He was quite grateful.
It brought her to mind and he thought again of the halfling who had attacked her outside of Port. Why he wondered was there a bounty on her head? And how much was it? He put the thought of the sum away. One must have friends and she had proved a valuable one..besides being quite capable with the weapon she carried
Buck had acquired his nickname in childhood. Being quite agile and bright he'd learned the basics of tailoring, alchemy and gem crafting in adolescence and was seldom short of gold. Making glass well that was harder...he hadn't much strength...and so his failures cost him dearly.
He thought once more of the bounty. Who he wondered had proclaimed it. Gold was power. They must be powerful indeed to have made it worthwhile to attack her. Perhaps an elf he suspected...
Elves...Atalan ...as he dug his mind wandered. Tristan. He knew the man made magic bags..better ones than he could. Perhaps he might give him a bit of a discount. After all he had shown some kindness to him by helping him to the fire at the lodge. Sure it wasn't much. But he seemed not to have enough friends...'specially with enemies like the Atalan about. Best not to get to close to the man.
Sand... he paused to wipe the sweat dripping into his eyes as the sun began to crest over the rocks. Time to go. Before the heat became unbearable. He grunted and changed belts. Concentrated and ... grew! Huge...ugly claws made it difficult to grasp the bear hide he had piled the sand upon. In the end he succeeded in lifting the load and shuffled thru the gate toward Buckshire. No need for quiet now. He was intimidating enough that only the bears gave him much trouble.
His thoughts turned to Brandibuck. Home. He didn't get there much of late. He would have to get the tale from someone. Too bad he had been away. Maybe Alton. He liked Alton. He seemed always to have time to talk. |
|
|
  |
|
|
Re: Hin scratchings
Posted: 18 Jul 2007 03:59 AM |
The day began like many before it. He gathered..he chipped away at stone. Mixed and poured.
Headed off to Omiga's He'd bumped into Lyle Ashe and he had perhaps some dust he needed to add to his growing stock of potions. He was there..as was Tristan. And Alton.
After negotiating a good deal for a couple of his magic bags and taking the proferred mineral dust
the discussion fell to important matters such as sticky buns and girls.
Alton had fixed the blade Ophelia had made for him with a spell to light the darkness...after assuring him it would not give him away when he had to hide. It was a wonderful gift...and he was glad he had given him the bandages.
In walked a stranger he'd not met before. "Vakal Gallanderos" he'd replied when asked. And together they'd visited the giants and the hydra...descending to the depths of Firkraags dark halls
Along the way giants of many kind fell to his sword and Vakal's bow.
he took the scale and his report to the Captain...and headed for Sabre island. Only to meet Kalid and Lyle along the way..Kalid claimed to have all the sand in the desert in her bags but he scoffed and went on...he knew better.
Lyle had suggested a hunt and so they decided. They descended into caverns and ruins exploring and collecting the things one usually found. Lyle was quick to the chests...often he scooped the contents of the crates before he even saw what was within...but he hadn't really minded...glad for company for a change.
The desert sand was warm under his feet and the noonday sun gave no hint of the shadows that lurked. The pair crossed the sand quickly and Buck guided them to a stair "never been here before" said Lyle. "Full o' serpents and mummies...it's a archeologis's dig" Lyle had questioned one of the men and satisfied he followed Buck into the cool musty depths.
They traced the rooms..traps were not much of a problem for Lyle. Many creatures he'd not seen before had fallen to the team. Mingoon..great lizards...imps. The last room was strange indeed. Bolts that looked like lightning magically captured in the corners shot from pillar to pillar in an unending pulse..the hairs on his arms stood on end. Finally out of potions they'd dived into a portal and been brought back to the top. He'd taken to his heels and running ahead of two imps and injured seriously he headed for the entrance.
The form was huge. "Dat weren' dere before" he caught himself thinking. He was ill prepared for such a thing and it began the machinations of dark magic...a vampire answered it's call. He was out and into the sunlight and free....but ...he looked behind him...where was Lyle?
The shield's spell took but a moment to cloak him and he dove back into the darkness looking for the other. But the vampire could see him...it struck and missed...but he reacted without thinking and his cloak was gone. There without protections and hurt already...he was easy prey.
The darkness came. |
|
|
|
|
|
Re: Hin scratchings
Posted: 19 Jul 2007 07:59 PM |
She crooked a finger and he rose and answered the summons. Suspended somehow bwtween death and life. Not dead...barely alive. She looked as though she had been here eons...buried and forgotten. Here flesh was the gray of one long dead. But she had power to call to him even in death.
"You will do a task for me ....and if you do not I will return you to the darkness...just as you were"
He nodded slowly once...what choice did he have?
"If you do not do as I ask I will kill you. Take this bone..." she pointed to his left "to the Garden at the Seven Sisters and bury it. Remember you will die if this is not done."
He didn't even hesitate...after all even a dog bured bones...they were supposed to be buried, what harm could it do...still considering his summoner....
He scooped the bone and took off...going as fast as he could in his weakened state....the huge creature had stood still and quiet...but he had seen it's power..and it was obviously just one of her minions
Up the stair in the rock face and out in to the sun...it was blinding and hot. "Buck! I killed it" Lyle called to him. He stopped long enough to accept the healing potion offered ...drink it and with only a word or two of thanks and his destination he was off...Lyle followed him. He didn't stop ....the voice still echoed in his head. "I can see what you do...even in the Garden" In the heat of the sun...he shivered and ran.
Two swings of the blade and the bear died and he was running again. He caught jusin's cart to the Northern Highway and swung down...Lyle had pestered him with questions on the trip...he had only short replies and a haunted look to offer.
He swung down as the cart was slowing and was again off at a trot...his vigor renewed by the short respite and the effects of the potion.
The door to the place swung freely as it always did...without a glance to anyone...he continued on. The gathering caught him by surprise...but he only kept to his task as the voice renewed...
"Bury it and leave...do it now..and quickly!" She commanded and he obeyed. With something just short of a frenzy
"What's going on?" he heard the question and left Lyle to answer as best he could...and continued with his task. the hole was finished...he dropped the bone in and hurriedly threw in a couple shovels of the disturbed earth and ran...this time for the door.
At last the voice receded...at last he slowed...turning back to the door he peeked out...
Horror and shock...for from the hole came death and demons like he had never seen...one flung it's dark magic at him and he fled..
"Run Sister flee" and he set the example...he fled now to Port and he informed the Captain that there was trouble in the Seven Sisters...he told nothing of who he thought caused it...found a Novus Aristi Healer and the good Sister Henrik in conversation and told them both.
From the walkway among the archers he watched and hoped...people came and went in a hurry and a squad of guards filed out. Some came with death at their heels. He fired arrows..with little or no effect. At last a party seemed to gather for a siege...he quietly joined them. |
|
|
|
|
|
Re: Hin scratchings
Posted: 19 Jul 2007 08:25 PM |
//ooc linking to Tristan's to relay the part's I did not witness
The small group had emerged from the chess hall behind him and in animated conversation they gathered at the base of the hill....fending off attacks from the Seven Sisters and talking...readying it seemed for a push...he stayed in the back and stayed quiet..mostly.
At last they went up the hill...fighting for every inch of purchase...every precious piece of earth and the others did the work ...Buck was ineffectual and much subdued...it was not his way...not usually.
When the others had slain the demons and ghosts they stood at last again in the garden... Buck went to the fresh dirt and unearthed the bone...he threw it upon the fresh ground an someone threw holy water at it.
The foul thing came....and he retreated...it proclaimed.
"As ye have visited the lands of the undead...so shall we now visit yours." The attacks the others brought to bear on it ...it just laughed off..."You cannot -kill- me...I am already dead!" And the ghoul reached forward scooped up the bone and disappeared.
But the echoing voice...spoke again..."Your task is done....for now"
//ooc if anyone else posts on this I will link to it...if you don't mind...if you do pm me. |
|
|
|
|
|
Re: Hin scratchings
Posted: 27 Jul 2007 09:47 AM |
He prepared...as best he could. Buying available potions. Making bandages to heal. Stocking up.
"It don' sit well wit' me bein tol' where I can an' canna' go" he had told those gathered...but it made no difference....he might not be as smart as those hoity-toity mages...but he was no fool either.
"Da soun' o' voices gets all da way down 'ere jus' fine. Stop tellin' me dat!" When told for the fourth time by the third person..that he "can go where ever he pleases"
The Lich's Tomb had been a real awakening for him...to see the massed forces of the deaders and the power they brought to bear against those assembled...well...it worried him
Not that he was afraid mind you. Just made him realize the strength of his foes. Thier foes. All of them..all the living anyway.
And so he set about his work with renewed vigor. Mixing...weaving... it was high time he worked on his skills too...he practiced moving more stealthily.
And though he had been irritated with Talion...when he sought him out and apologized ...listened to the tale of the garden and showed him the sword he had fashioned well he had been impressed. And he actually liked him. Didn't mean he was going to grant him immunity. But he seemed an allright sort ...for a tallie.
He was very interested in learning to enchant weapons. Perhaps a task for more peaceful times. And Talion's knowledge might serve to aid his nubile skills there. Even further them...and if he couldn't learn to make his own blade...well maybe he could wheedle him into making one for him.
For now though...there were more pressing matters. "Hmmm....now some fire bombs migh' be real useful." -sighs heavily- "more san'" |
|
|
|
|
|
Re: Hin scratchings
Posted: 06 Aug 2007 09:28 PM |
With a last frantic upward stab the great hive beetle fell...and he hastily applied the bandages to his gushing wounds...his breathing came in ragged gasps. The blood flow seemed to surge as his breath did..but the herbs soon took effect and the pulsing flow was subsided..and then was stemmed completely. He sighed and shuffled as quietly as he could to the pile of bodies in the corner.
The bracers caught his eye gleaming on the wrists of the fallen corpse..so still in death...no prayer had a chance of reaching the roted corpse...lest it be one of the undead lord. He shuddered to think of it...lokking at the mound of bodies the great beetle had claimed. Bones piled hidh and shoved to the cavern wall. In the distance he heard the scrabbling feet of more beetles. None so great as she who laid still now at his feet..still.. he had been here long enough. He headed back down the passageway ..straight till the wall then left...searching for the light from the entrance.
He was inside the gate now and safe...he quickly quaffed the potion..and suddenly he knew..the value of the bracers.. unlike any he had ever seen.
The tap on his shoulder broke his concentration...he had not heard the man's approach.. a tribute to the magnitude of his find.
"Pardon me"
Buck turned and glanced into the shadow of the hood drawn up around the man's face. "Eh?" he said. "Wha'cha want?"
"I seek a hin" came the reply.."one of the Guyvers"
There was something familliar about him...a bearing that didn't fit with the cloak....his impression was of the White City.
"Long way from home ain'cha'"
"Pardon?" the man didn't flinch. Buck peered suspiciously "Yer from Midor aincha'?
If he was he hid it well. Still that bearing...nothing about his clothing certainly and it was subtle... but he'd walked the streets of that city... his sword hilt close and his heart beating fast.
"No"
"Anyways...a hin..well ya got one."
"Do you know a hin named 'Lyle'?" Buck almost gaped. He surveyed the street and then back his eyes travelled to the face...hidden in the shadow of the hood. "Aye...I ain' seen 'im much o' late."
"We have business. I buy things from him" Buck considered this a while saying nothing and restlessly the man moved on.
"'Oo shoul' I tell 'im is lookin' fer 'im?"
The laugh was sudden and inappropriate or so it seemed to him...he called back as he retreated "Just tell him I've come to collect" Again the laugh. It was chilling.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The fire of crackled as the log was thrown in...the bark throwing sparks against the hastily replaced screen. Buck dusted his hands and sat on the couch...he was weary... cutting wood was not his 'usual' line of work. Nor did it come easy. Still he had several staves now...and they would serve well to make him a shield or two of the bear hide.
The door creaked and the elf sauntered past on her way to see Winky...then noticing him she turned. "Khalid?" he said.
"Yes" she replied. He had seen her with Lyle...attentive...almost hovering.
"I got a message for Lyle" And so he at least was able to warn him...if there was a need.
He was almost sure there was.
After she left...he slept. Safe...far from the desert....and the dead. |
|
|
|
|
|
Re: Hin scratchings
Posted: 14 Oct 2007 12:58 PM |
///ooc I had a log of this saved...alas I formatted and reinstalled recently so it went by by..sorry about the lack of names
The desert...still it haunted him....he worked feverishly to grow stronger...to surmount the obstacles he knew would come. His crafting skills grew. His collection of armor and equipment while not the finest in the land were nevertheless quite good. His travels took him far and wide. One day he ran into a band in Icy Vale they were bound to explore Whipsnade Pass and what lay beyond.
"Sure'n I'll come along I been 'earin' of a volcano out dere some'eres.' and so he went.
The Hardknott proved deadly. Buck fought and won..and fought again. Sometimes he helped others bandaging wounds sometimes hurling a timely fire bomb. And then there was the tower.
He ducked in and back out...too many things in there....some of those oozes...and orcs a plenty. Meantime another charged in...knowing better he charged back in to help. It was going better than he thought...then the gods forsook him and he was overtaken by the poisons the oozes spit at him...he turned and headed for the door....but never made it.
There were three of them lying just in or just out the door...two of the party had retreated and were trying to help their comrades...but had no way to heal them. It called for healing beyond their power.
But the elf...now..the one they had rescued earlier..she rested...and together the 3 returned and fought till they were able to raise one of their companions who could heal as well. And finally Buck himself. He was most grateful and less inclined to visit the place soon. His burns still smarting where the acid hit...the cold bit hard and the ragtag group retreated to the safety of the Vale...there to lick there wounds and rest. |
|
|
|
|
|
Re: Hin scratchings
Posted: 20 Oct 2007 02:33 PM |
Amon was talking to Vrodo. As he approached and Amon reminded him of his offer to help. He needn't have...he would have been glad too...he remembered all too well the encounter with the Ataln and the assassins who popped out of nowhere...the deadliness of their blades. He had been quickly and easily overcome. He had been carried back that time, barely alive...and he remembered it well.
Whether or not it would do anything to keep the Atalan from the Midor Mountains he did not know...but the dwarven in the mine surely needed a proper funeral. And this was what Amon planned. And so he joined them. Later they were joined by several others including Tristian a lady hin and in the caves of Bregodim a dwarf ...one who seemed unable to talk.
The darkness in the cave was palpable...it sucked the light from his blade and form the spell Amon cast....it seemed light of any kind was useless here. The chill was unnatural and oppressive...it seemed to whisper and tickle there spines like it had fingers...searching for some place to grip and hold...to pull the life and the warmth from them...as it had the light.
Finally they decided to build pyres...
Amon asked" Buck watch the others and see that the proper place is assured for each"
And Buck stood between the pyres as the bodies were piled by those strong enough to carry them. "Da Atalan dere" he said to Tristian. The warrior nodded and threw the bodies on the pile. One from each shoulder. "Dwarfs 'ere" to Fengus as he also dropped bodies. At last all were in the two pyres.
Amon knelt and prayed to the Mother calling upon the Lady to lend him power. Then even as he had hardly fnished speaking the column of flame came downward Pushing aside the darkness and shattering the cold. Each pyre erupted and the whispers died ...as if they had not ever been.
There work done they moved to the entrance...wondering would they be greeted by an Atalan war party. Outside the caves entrance Vrodo turned his nose to the breeze and sniffed heavily ...then grunted. "only orc and ettin" he said. And the small group trudged down the mountainside and back toward the Mirghul. |
|
|
|
|