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Prelude:
The Masters Directive
Chapter
1: The Journey Begins
Chapter
2: Torana Meps
Prelude: The Masters Directive
A boy is in his masters study room desperately trying to learn a new cantrip, when a man enters. Though the man has made no sound upon entering, the boy knows something is very wrong. He turns around and looks upon his master. Six feet tall with long silvery hair, darkish skin. He has the pointy ears and slanted eyes that mark him as an elf. His expression is unusually grave. In the last year that the boy has been his apprentice (cook, butler, maid, guinea pig, scribe, messenger, etc.) he has never seen his master without a smile. The lack of one know is extremely unnerving.
In an uncharacteristically slow, steady, deep voice the master says, "It is time. You must go." The boy waits for him to say more, because there usually is. But the master simply gestures and a backpack appears at the boy's feet. His master then walks over to a cabinet and removes a folded piece of parchment and places it on the table and leaves without so much as a backward glance. Without looking the boy knows his master has quickly disappeared in that strange way of his and has gone far away.
With tembling hands the boy unfolds the parchment and after a moment of study, he realizes that it is a map of an area near the mountains. There is a line drawn on the map leading from the mountains to a place deep in the Green Forest. After a few minutes of examining the map he realizes that the place in the forest is in fact the tower he is now in. The writing at the top of the map is in a cramped script that he doesn't recognize. But the words, seem to say Cikel, Diskus, no... it is Cikus, Mt. Cikus.
There are lines at the bottom of the page, but they are undecipherable.
He examines the backpack and finds:
An oil lamp w/two containers of oil, a compass and 50' length of silk rope. Inside the backpack is a sack, the boy pulls out the sack and find that it holds a scroll with two runes (Color Spray, Spider Climb) on it, about four days of dried beef, bread, cheeze and crackers, and a strange piece of jewelry. It is made of smooth black stone and is in the shape of a great cat standing proud baring its golden fangs. It is obvious it is meant as a necklace, but there is no string for him to wear it around his neck.
As the boy gathers his belongings and adds them to the items his master left, he ponders on his masters odd behavior. As his thoughts wander, he suddenly comes to the realization that though he has worked for his master for a year, he still don't know the man's real name.
He thinks back to the day he became an apprentice. No fanfare, no red carpet , nothing like in the fairy tales told to children. One day his master appeared in the village of Kimmersan and walked straight up to the boy, with that ever present smile on his face. With no preamble or introduction he simply said, "Magnus, from this day forth you are my apprentice and I'm gonna make a wizard our of your if it kills me! That's just an expression son, don't look at me like that. Now, don't worry about your kin, everything is all taken care of. Don't look at me like that son, your face might freeze that way then you'll be uglier than an orc who lost the boxing match with an ogre! Just remember that I'm your master and everything will be alright!" And with a dramatic wave of his hand, the scenery changes around them and they were in the tower that has been his home ever since. As Magnus thinks about it, he finds it rather odd that he never asked him his name before.
His thoughts slowly turn to the present as he considers more practical and urgent matters. The choices laid before him are to follow the parchment map or to head for the nearest settlement. If memory serves correctly that would be the elven community of Telor, but that is several days travel through the forest (his master always just transported them whenever the both of them went somewhere and it only took seconds). The distance on the map could be deceiving but it looks like he could make it to the area indicated on it in half the time it would take for the trip to Telor. Looking out the window up into the sky he realizes that he had better make a decision soon, as it is almost noon. He is surprised because he has been trying to learn that cantrip since before dawn. And he wants to get out before the weather changes to something distinctly less than hospitable for travel. Luckily either way he goes there will be little danger of running into orcs. Hopefully no ogre villages have sprung up between here and the mountain.
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He sets off at a brisk pace, leaving his masters dwelling behind, into the forest. The day is warm, and as he travels he runs into no other problems. At dusk, as he is getting wood for a fire he finds a sapling suitable for his purposes. He cuts it down and heads back to the campsite. After eating his evening meal he settles down and pulls out the strange piece of jewelry.
Examining it he can find no identifying marks or any other unusual features other than the design itself, he finds the hole for the thread in the silver stripe on the cat, but the hole is so small only a delicate thread could be put through. Putting the cat away, he pulls out his quill and pen and begins to scribe a spell onto a scroll, before going to bed.
After several days of travel, the boy sets off early one morning and reaches the mountain early in the morning. After a short climb, he sees a cave in the mountain side, shortly before noon. As he looks around he notices nothing unusual outside the cave. There doesn't seem to be any intelligent life around. After checking with his map, he searches the surrounding area for landmarks. He verifies that this is in fact the place mentioned on the map. From outside the cave itself seems dark and silent and gives no clue as to what lies ahead.
***************
After a short time of searching the nearby forest, he uses the oil from one of the containers, the hem of one of his spare robes, and a few broken branches to make four more torches. With the extra torches he can spend twice as much time in the cave. After making camp for the night he finishes dinner and memorizes a sleep rune before calling it a night. Early the next morning he eats a quick breakfast and strikes camp. As he enters the cave, he sees that beyond the light of the day, the cave is completely dark and silent, there is no way tell if it is large or small. He lights the first torch as looks around.
The light shines weakly in the dark, it bounces off the walls to either side showing that the cave is actually not very wide, but he still cannot see the roof nor the rear of the cave. As he enter deeper into the cave, he sees the handiwork of nature all around in the giant stone columns that glitter with a thousand pinpricks reflecting the light from the torch. Above him huge stalactites hang from the ceiling, looking somehow ominous. All around him, the silence and continual darkness beyond the torch light contribute to the ominous feeling as does the slight movement of the air as it moves in and out of the cave, almost like steady breathing. Every 10 ft. or so he marks his trail on the nearby cavern wall.
He notices that the roof ahead is lower, but he can't see the floor because a large, smooth, oddly shaped boulder is between him and the back of the cave. With a start Magnus realizes that he is no longer alone. A rather large pair of eyes is staring out at him from the darkness to his right.
***************
Looking back the way he came he realizes, that the cave entrance is a good 100 ft. away. With a quick glance he takes in the immediate area, he guesses that the nearest stone column is much closer to the eyes than it is to him leaving him without any cover. He slowly backs up to the cave wall, focusing his attention on the eyes. They seem to be about 5 feet off of the ground, so he figures whatever it is, it has to be pretty big (especially since the eyes are bigger than his head). Unfortunately the only thing Magnus can are its huge glowing eyes. He strains his eyes trying to see the rest of the creature and slips on a loose stone and falls on his back.
"Interesting", rumbles a deep husky voice, "A human!" Rather far from home aren't you? You're not here for me are you? No a stripling such as yourself, you can't be looking for me. You must be looking for them." The eyes glance towards the rear of the cave, before once again fixing upon Magnus. The voice roars, "Go home stripling! Go home or die where your kin will never find you! Because they have sense enough not to come here!" Its breath reeking with the smell of rotten meat assaults his nose, even as its roar assaults the young apprenticies ears.
***************
Magnus gets up and runs towards the entrance, the voice says, "Smart human…either that or a coward." Within moments he has gained the entrance to the cave and half runs-half slides down the mountain side. He keeps going until he is deep in the forest, then collapses and rests. Once he is rested he gets up and continue away from the mountain as quickly as he can. At nightfall, he makes camp and rests again. The next day he continues on to Telor, which he estimates as the nearest elven town. During the rest of his trip he you wonders what kind of creature was that, it might have been as big as the legnedary dragon he saw once cave drawing, becase it was big. Perhaps it was a hydra, no only one head. Cave lion, no too smart, and too big. He continues to think of all the beasts he learned of in the short time he had been with his master, but cannot find one to match it. He also cannot find a match with any of the stories told to him as a child.
Unable to answer the question, he puts it in the back of his mind and tries to concentrate on getting to Telor, but it isn't long before other questions pop up. "Why am I still alive? Perhaps it wasn't hungry, maybe it just ate (its breath sure smelled like it just ate). Perhaps, I'm too small a morsel, no it could swallow me whole."
At that unpleasant thought he again tries to push the unanswered questions to the back of his mind. Almost immediately it is replaced with another thought. "My master gave me that map, he wanted me to go into that cave. Why?"
He makes good time and several days later he comes into Telor shortly before nightfall. He gets a room at the Orcs Roast Inn and makes himself presentable. As he leave his room and enter the common room, he notices that there are an unusually large number of humans in this elven commune. He looks around for fighters and approaches each of them with a deal. And in turn, each declines his offer, even through treasure may be involved. He leaves the inn and search the town and for the next tavern. Half the night and four taverns later, he cannot figure out why there are so many fighters in town, but no one wants any treasure. At the sixth tavern he talk to a burly man with small brown eyes and a mean looking sword at his side.
"Don't you know what's going on! The orcs raided a village! Every fighter in town is here to join the army that's gonna make those orcs pay for the slaughter!" With that the man goes to join his friends.
Almost immediately, a rather slim raven-haired man dressed in dark brown shirt and pants moving with the grace of a cat, rises from a nearby table and walks straight up to Magnus. He is human, but almost elfishly slim. He has two swords strapped to his back, and what looks like a wand tucked in his belt. "Follow me", he says, and leads Magnus to a table in the far corner of the tavern.
"He was right almost every fighter is here to join the army. I, however, am not here to risk my neck against a horde of orcs and no treasure. Since I'm free, and you did mention treasure I think I'll go with you. My name is Torana and my price is 5 GP up front and 50% of any treasure we find. With this army garbage going around you'll not find anyone else in any of the nearby towns. I know, I've been looking for a partner for days."
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Magnus decides to make him an offer. He gives his terms to Torana, who thinks a moment and nods. Magnus mentions where you will be travelling to without revealing to many details and arranges to meet Torana in the morning. The next morning over breakfast he mentions the layout and the terrain of the area of Mt. Cikus. At all this Torana merely nods. When Magnus mention the creature he stops him.
"Tell me everything you can remember about it", Torana says.
Magnus goes over what everything he remembers of his encounter with the creature. When he is done Torana sits back in his chair and begins to think after a few moments he says, "I wonder what it could have been. Something as big as that should have been seen if it ever came out into the forest. Unless it devours the watchers, but then why didn't it kill you? Hmmm. Big and intelligent, here I always thought the biggest threat in this valley was a renegade ogre village, but this maybe worse. It's a good thing you left when you did."
He suddenly looks at Magnus, kind of like the way an appraiser looks at a gem. After a moment he says, "I admire you. Most men would have gone home and hid under the bed and wouldn't go back with anything short of an army surrounding them." With that he raises his mug and salutes Magnus. "As far as finding another way in, I'm sure there is, but then it will be more than likely miles away from the original entrance and almost impossible to find. I've had some expreience with caves and they don't always connect."
After breakfast Magnus hits the marketplace and Torana goes in search of a third for the group. Magnus finds he is having a hard time getting the merchants to part with their goods, because almost everything of use will go to the army. At the end of the day has has only managed to secure, four good torches, and extra 50' of rope an extra pair of small sacks, and four spikes with a hammer for mountain climbing. At the last miniute he also secure and extra couple of sheets of parchment and another box of chalk, just in case.
With their reluctance to part with some of these items, he ended up paying more than you thought he would have to pay. As a result he is much poorer now than before. Reviewing his money, he finds that he only has 3 platinum and 3 dozen coppers left. More than enough to keep him going for a while, but less than he expected to have. He stores his gear in his room and heads out to try and recruit more people. "Going back with an army isn't such a bad idea."
Unfortunately as the man said everyone is joining the army. When he finally returns to his room, he pulls out the writing materials and scribes the new spider climb rune onto a scroll before going to sleep. In the morning, heads down to the common room to join Torana for breakfast. As he sits down, the serving maid brings his breakfast.
"The army is heading north, to strike at the orcs there", Torana says. "I checked around. There are no known orc caves where we are going, so whatever is in that cave its not a tribe of orcs."
After breakfast, the pair leave town and head east for the cave. By nightfall nothing eventful happens, so they strike camp and go to sleep. The next day they travel on again. Around midday Torana stops Magnus, who looks at him. Torana motions him to be still and quiet. He seems to be looking around for something.
After a moment he whispers and points, "Orcs". In that direction there is a group of orcs moving through the forest. At the same time that Torana points at them, one of the orcs points back. With a savage howl the group of orcs charges. Torana mutters a curse, pulls out both of his swords and prepares to meet their charge.
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Index
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