Blood and Honour

Cy 4850 – Novan 4^th – 6^th

 The party continue south towards the port of Isirin. Blant Farrand sends his familiar, Fluck, ahead to scout. Before long the bird finds an encampment full of campfires and tents, an outlaw community in the wilds. Women, children and livestock inhabit the encampment with their men.

Dax and Graz decide to head in to take a look. Once they meet the outlaw chief, Berosta, they quickly decide to invite the rest of the party into the camp. Berosta feeds them a warm stew and they feel at ease with the outlaw who tells a tale of Nyrnian discontentment at the influence of Malakar in their society. They appear more like conscientious objectors than real outlaws, forced to live rough instead of in the bosom of a dark god.

Despite the relative closeness of the capital Malakor the outlaws are rarely troubled by King Gralnadar’s men, Berosta takes this as a sign that all is not well between Malakar and the king.

As the party depart Dax places one hundred gold crowns in Berosta’s hand. The outlaw is astonished but thanks the young explorer. Graz Tak also donates twenty gold crowns to Berosta’s wife before the party moves on once more. 

After two hours Blant Farrand notices that he cannot see through Fluck’s eyes. He reins in the horses to concentrate on his familiar. In the distance Dax notices horses approaching quickly; so quickly in fact they seem to glide over the ground, skimming the grass like a stone skimming over water. He notices Fluck flies on the shoulder of the lead rider.

Blant casts glitterdust in preparation, Graz unfolds and casts haste whilst Morikand casts invisibility. The riders approach and the tension mounts. The lead rider is a striking woman, an elf of unearthly beauty. The sorcerers sense a powerful magic surge as the three elves canter up to the party. The woman’s horse is powerful and bears the intelligent eyes of a noble steed…it too emits a powerful magical surge.

The flanking riders appear menacing and heavily armed, their own mounts have wings tucked into the flanks. They are Pegasus.

“I am Queen Jirenna of the Khulandir,” the woman intones. “These two are my personal bodyguards Girawien and Ethaniel. I come for the soul of my son, Vestril.”

Blant regards his stunned companions and offers regret for the death of Vestril. The queen smiles at him.

“He was a difficult child, seduced by evil power; power that consumed him in the end. Know that I bear you no ill will for his death, there were times when I would have happily strangled him myself, but this is a matter of blood and I must recover his heart.”

The queen tells them that members of the Khulan royal line have their souls encased and protected in a diamond that is placed within the heart itself. She wishes to reclaim it and be on her way. Blant informs her where the body was burnt adding that they did not see any such gem.

Dax fidgets in the background, the tension is palpable, his mistrust of the elven queen is clear to see. Suddenly, without warning, the tension within him bursts out and he tries to quickly release a blade and attack her. Graz reacts instantly to his companion’s plight, his dagger is out quickly and he slashes at the queen, narrowly missing her face. Blant is also quick to react, he casts dispel magic at Jirenna but the spell fails against the powerful sorcery of the Khulan monarch.

But it is Aravan who opens the first wound. Her deadly blade of Menace carves a line in the queen’s stomach, crimson blood spills out over the grey stallion. Her bodyguards leap to her defence but with a single gesture she stops them dead in their tracks.

“Enough of this!” she bellows, the harsh power within her voice clearly audible for miles. “I will not have any more blood spilt this day!”

The momentum cannot be easily stopped. As the three elves hesitate Aravan strikes at the queen. Her instant reactions catch the wrist holding the blade but Aravan drags a dagger with her other hand and thrusts. Jirenna grabs this wrist also, her slender frame belying the raw strength of the elven queen.

To her bodyguards she says; “Hurt them!”

Girawien and Ethaniel are released from their verbal restraint and spin to attack the gathered party. Jirenna negligently tosses aside Aravan and launches a dispel magic at Blant Farrand. His magical protections collapse under the forceful power of the queen’s sorcery. Girawien turns to Graz Tak but his three rapid, artful strokes are avoided with equal aplomb. Ethaniel wields twin longswords and goes after Dax, who tries to stab the queen’s steed.

Jirenna rips out a katana but Aravan is on her once more. The tenacious warrior cuts under the queen’s defences once more a delivers a staggering blow that opens a twelve inch gash in the queen’s abdomen. Blood gushes once more and Jirenna retaliates swiftly. With the katana spewing fire she slashes across Aravan’s throat and the party watch in horror as her head sails back onto the grass.

Simultaneously Ethaniel is too quick for Dax. The young man is too slow to avoid a vicious thrust and is quickly run through; he falls into a pool of his own blood. Almost instantly the realisation hits them that they are outclassed. Daimar is already running from the fight, Blant casts jump and somersaults back out of combat.

Aimaris, the Elenian priestess, stands in front of her lover Graz and implores him to stop. As Yu kneels down to pray Ethaniel lashes out and decapitates her. Morikand casts invisibility upon himself and flees the combat.

Girawien launches himself at Aimaris but Graz pushes her away just in time, he engages the warrior hand-to-hand. Girawien is fast, skilful and powerful but Graz trades knife work with him with equal skill. The thief ducks under an attack and drives the dagger into Girawien’s face. He carves a crooked scar from cheek to temple and the elf recoils angrily, spitting blood from the awful wound.

Angrily Girawien turns his attention on the pleading priestess; with a grim smile he strikes her down efficiently. Graz gasps in horror but from somewhere deep down his instinct for survival kicks in. Knowing that Ethaniel closes on him he flees combat, rolling away into the shadows before hurrying away, Aimaris’ death hurting him more than any of the elven blades.

Queen Jirenna points a finger at Morikand. Despite the invisibility the young sorcerer realises that to resist would be futile. He turns to confront the queen who gives him a task as payment for his continued survival. “Bring Blant Farrand to me!” she says.

Blant hides in wraithform at a nearby crag and is joined by two more of the survivors, Daimar and Graz. When Morikand finds Blant with the Soul Compass the sorcerer materialises and decides running from the queen would be futile. With Morikand beside him Blant Farrand walks in to meet the queen and her two bodyguards. He casts stoneskin on both before they move towards the queen.

Graz Tak however sneaks in nearby, unseen in the shadows, a bitter taste in his mouth and a burning rage in his mind. He knocks an arrow in the longbow and gets into position.

Blant stands before queen Jirenna. “You owe me a debt of blood,” she says, “for the life of my son I require a service from you. Find and return Vestril’s Heart within seven days and your debt will be repaid. Fail and I will hunt you down forever until your soul is crushed and everything you hold dear is in ruins.”

“Very well,” Blant says. “I will return here within seven days.”

At that moment Graz Tak launches an arrow. Before Girawien can react the shaft punctures his left eye; he collapses like a felled oak.

Ethaniel draws his weapons but the queen stops him. “It was a blood debt; Girawien slew his woman…the debt is now repaid.” To Blant she says: “Go now Blant Farrand and bring back Vestril’s Heart…but if you ever stray within the lands of the Khulan I will kill you.”

When the queen departs Blant gathers his remaining companions. He casts polymorph other on Daimar, Morikand and Graz, turning them into eagles he leads them back to where they slew prince Vestril.

At the pile of ash that marked the fight with Vestril two travellers have made camp. Zashir, an Eldrow hypnotist, and Hokaru, a Darkland sorcerer, are astonished by the sudden transformation of four large birds into people. Zashir quickly demonstrates his talent by waving his hand in front of Blant’s face and hypnotising him. It soon becomes clear that Vestril’s Heart is gone…Blant is eager to find it, the threat of queen Jirenna hangs uneasily over his head.

Morikand uses the Soul Compass to discover the gem moves west. He polymorphs into a hawk and between them the party share the two newcomer’s horses. Before long Blant’s hawk-like vision spots a lone rider searching through a pile of ten dead bodies. He recognises the man as the Nyrnian soldier Ymric Talovic.

Blant introduces the rest of the party to the soldier. Ymric explains that he searches for a necromancer called Ashadrir, a dark Bretonian who slew some of his men and set the corpses against him. He was carrying a large gem. Blant is convinced that the two incidents are connected and Ymric adds his weight to the quest by heading off to find horses for the rest of the group. “I’m coming with you,” he says.

Into the night the party travel with Blant (now as a bat) scouring the landscape. A used pentacle of summoning is found, bowls of smouldering incense still aglow. Upon investigation Morikand feels a deathly cold shadow all over him, his strength sapped by the undead creature. Eventually Graz drives the blade of Hellath through it twice and it vanishes from whence it came…