Chapter 4: The breath of the goblins
My visit to the outpost on kunark turned out to be very fruitful
As it marked the occasion of meeting Lady Brixtan. She told me the
stories of how Hurren had taken her in and protected her. As well
As how Shasir had come to begin attacking her.
As well I told her of my origins. She seem compelled to help me, and
The more time we spent together, the more inseparable we had become.
My first mission, was to take Brixtan back to neriak, so she could
be re=united with her remaining family.
It didn't take long to find who her family, as the B`ree family was
well known as attachés to King Nalox, Their house was very wealthy,
and had made most of their money off the events of Bloody kithicor.
The first one to greet us was brixtan's younger sister maurelle.
I left them to be for a while so the family could get reacquainted.
Unfortunately, seeing Brixtan so happy with her family, only served to
make me upset, as I knew I had no such family, except for innoruuk
himself, witch I still sought to destroy him for killing my mother.
I took up my old pastime again of drinking in the blindfish.
Luckily my pockets were a little deeper this time. So I stayed for
much longer. Only to occasionally sleep my drunken stupor off.
One night, as I slept, I awoke prematurely, due to a rustling in my
room, I readied my blade and lit a nearby lamp. There was no one there
The room had been undisturbed, except a note on the nightstand. It read
-Brokenspirit, That is not the true name of your family,
and you will not find rest, until you reclaim your family
name. The goblins of Kunark have information you need,
But they will not give it up willingly, so you will need to
take it by force. Hurry, your grandfather is waiting, and
your house is almost empty.
As the light from the lamp flickered, so did my emotions, they swayed
from anger, to determination, to sheer excitement, and so forth.
But this was something that I could not ignore. I planned to go back
to kunark the next morning, But sleep did not greet me well.
Dark dreams filled my head, based on my memories of the plane of hate
Screaming undead, and fearsome spectral energies swirled around me like
fog. They all washed away to present Innoruuk to me, standing with Terris
Thule, which lead me to believe this was more of a direct message than
a simple dream. Innoruuk spoke only 4 words
"You are still mine"
I awoke again, gasping for air. As if I had never breathed before.
I would not let Inny's message sway my determination. So I gathered supplies
for the trip. and I began to head out to Nek woods. Brix was setting in the
field outside of neriak, She looked at me and said" this is where my mother
and father were slain, I remember it as well as if it were yesterday.
I sat beside her and comforted her for a while. It was here that I realized
that Brixtan was unlike any other Tier dal, She did not have the seeds of hate
sown into her. her soul was extremely compassionate, but she was simply consumed
with death, because it was flaunted in her face at such a young age.
It made me understand why the life of a cleric was so enticing to her.
She could have a hand in preventing death.
We sat there for what seemed like hours, and when I felt comfortable
that she was ok, I told her that I must depart for kunark. I tried to leave,
but she followed me. She refused to stay, so knowing that I could use
her skills, I asked that she come along.
Now it is well known that most wizards, and druids have a tendency to
sleep in, so getting to kunark would require land travel. we mapped our
course, thru the desert, and to one of the islands in the timorous deep
so as we could hop a ferry on the bloated belly. As we sat at the docks
waiting, we could hear the oowomp ogres snickering and making jokes.
It took all my restraint from lopping off their heads where they stood,
I mean it wasn't as if they used them for anything other than a helm holder
and to crack nuts with anyway. Luckily the boat arrived quickly, and after
a long voyage on the sea, we landed at the Overthere outpost.
Once there, I spoke with the elders there to get a gauge on where we should
find the goblins of which I spoke, they told me of a mine connecting warslik's
woods, to the lake of ill omen. They had been mining these caves for generations
for basic ores. We left out, and headed for warslik. The woods still smelled of
char and cinders. We got to the goblin mine, unfortunately, it was blocked off.
due to the fires, and the goblins had yet to reopen the entrance there, So we
had to make our way to the lake of ill omen. The trip took what seemed like days
as we had to pass thru the frontier mountains, and the giants there were less than
hospitable to say the least.
We set up shop outside of the mine, but we had little luck with the travelers going
in and out of the cave, they were all low-level lackeys who didn't know much.
So I had to ask for assistance from the House of D`inex, I had recently met Kerupt
outside of Caballis he decided to lend a hand, eventually, a few others in the
area joined in, extremist, the iksar monk, and Swetpea, a lovely dark elven cleric
Swetpea & Brixtan shared allot in common, especially there taste in clothing.
and they seemed to hit it off well,
We lead the expedition into the mine, unfortunately it did not take long for word
to reach the miners below, wave after wave of goblin stood in our path,
We batted them down just as quickly as they came. But their sheer numbers
started to overwhelm us, Then Lord Gorelik came roaring up from below, We
all charged him, focusing all our energy on him. he did not stand long.
This, however enraged the goblins, as they launched more waves on us, gradually
we all became too wounded to fight on anymore. and were routed.
It took us a while to get back on our feet again, but I had found what I had came for
A note written in goblin. I could not read it as my skill in reading goblin scrawl
was limited. so we took it back to the outpost for identification.
It was the wizard master in the outpost who did the translations for us, An eccentric
fellow to say the least. Very paranoid in his own skills, as he was the only wizard
I had ever come across bathed in chain armors.
But he was more than wise enough to get the dusty scroll translated.
- We have secured the priest for your master, We will deliver him
To you in one week. We expect payment, or we keel you for yous
treachery. Bring the platinum and one escort to the woods the
elves call Friona, we will make the exchange by the rivers mouth.
Cryptic words to say the least. It left me pondering if this was even the information
I was seeking in the first place, or if we had slain the wrong goblin. None the less
It was some kind of direction, and it felt right to follow it.
Much to her dismay, I left Brixtan to peruse her interests while I made the trek to
the woods of Friona vie. This was a personal mission, and I couldn't endanger her life
Needlessly. In all actuality, I still think she was relived to not have to see more
green skin as it was.
The trek to Vie woods was not a pleasant one, As I was constantly being pursued by
Freshly rooted skeletons, and rather uppity sarnak who littered the way. Vie was no better
The woods were constantly misty and humid and it rained constantly. So much so, I thought
my boots would rust on my feet.
Day after day, I dodged mistmoore's abominations, and the leeches that wandered aimlessly
around. I came to the conclusion on my 4th day, that I had missed this little rendezvous
and planned to head home on the next dawn. However late that night, I heard the rustling of
a horsed cart being wheeled closer. It was a Hooded heretic from paineel with his ward and
an ogre escort, I watched from afar as they made camp. The ogre stunk so bad from swill
that I could smell his breath from the 100 feet uphill where I stood watch.
They sat and waited quite patiently, none of them muttering a word for hours on end
Then as daybreak was nearing a sloshing came from upstream. Four of them there were,
they made so much noise that they breathed life into the woods, as much as there would
during the day. They brought behind them a chained man, hooded in an old sack, with his
arms, and legs shackled.
" Money we want Ohnmaan" their shaman proclaimed.
" And money you shall have, now show me the priest" the Erudite spoke softly as a ghost.
One of the goblin guardsmen removed the sack to reveal an elder teirdal priest.
" Good," the erudite mumbled as he walked to the back of his cart, assumingly to grab
their pittance.
But to my shock, 2 more ogre warlords sprang from the back of the cart, And before the
goblin shaman could take the priest as a hostage, they were stunned by the erudite's
young enchantress ward. The ogres pummeled them mercilessly. I knew that regardless
who won this fight, I would not have a better chance to make my move as either way my
best odds were 4 to 1.
The priest had stumbled during the fight and had rolled himself out of the way of the
battle, so I made my move. I crept as quickly as I could, and cut his arm shackles with
my dark reaver, and just as the leg shackles were cut I was noticed by the young ward.
" The traitor" the ward shouted, and the three ogres and ohnmaan quickly cast their
glares toward me.
I got the old man to his feet, and we ran like the wind, Luckily with the sun coming up
the widow mistresses were stirring so they acted as shields for us to run up stream.
And just as I felt the tip of the blade of one of the ogres graze my leg from behind. I heard
the screeching wail of the goblin shaman, Along with the death wails of the young enchantress
Now the odds were much even in their fight, And their survival took precedent over
my thievery.
We ran till our blood boiled and our hearts exploded. Then we rested.
" I cannot thank you enough child, To whom do I owe my debt of gratitude to" the elder
asked
" I am Viroodiem Brokenspirit, and you owe no debt to me" I panted still weary from the
run,
" Brokenspirit, There is no house nor nomadic clan named Brokenspirit in any of the
families of neriak, I should know, ive been around them all for years"
"Its a name I would just as soon forget, it is a curse from innoruuk from when he slaughtered
my mother shanestra" I replied," So what do I call you?"
"I am Reverend Vortexus M`haviel Spiritbreaker, And I think you just referred to my
daughter"
We were both stunned, But the more I looked at him, the more I could remember that
same gleam in my mother's eyes. We talked for a while, and we came to the conclusion
that the same shanestra that was my mother was his daughter. And I knew in my heart
I had found a link to my heritage. Later, when we got back to Neriak We confirmed
With the church that Vortexus was my grandfather.
We spoke to the church, and they told us, however that they could not bestow my rightful
name to me, given the events of how I came to be bestowed with that name. In private
Vort spoke to me and said
" Son, You have every right to be a part of your family, I cannot bestow the name to you
nor can I tell you how to live your life, but my time is short for this world, and you
are the last heir to this family, you need to find your way to achieve your rightful
name, and restore your family to glory once again. I know you can do it, the only thing
holding you back is your fears. You must not fear the darkness inside of you son,
Some people fear the dark, for it liberates the other senses. Let those senses be your
guide.