Chapter #1187
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+ THE ADVENTURERS +
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+ Epic VI +
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+ Many of the locations, non-player characters, spells, and other +
+ terms used in these stories are the property of Wizards of the Coast +
+ which has in no way endorsed or authorized their use. Any such +
+ property contained within these stories are not representative of +
+ Wizards of the Coast in any fashion. +
+ The player characters depicted in these stories are copyright +
+ 1991-2025 by Thomas A. Miller. Any resemblance to any persons +
+ or characters either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. +
+ Copying and/or distribution of these stories is permissible under +
+ the sole condition that no money is made in the process. In that +
+ case, I hope you enjoy them! +
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+ Belphanior 18th/18th/18th level elven fighter/wizard/thief +
+ Hope 16th level female human wizard +
+ Poulos 8th level human fighter +
+ Irina 14th/7th level female human priestess/fighter +
+ Otto 12th/14th level dwarven fighter/thief +
+ Paige 13th level human female fighter +
+ Razor Charlie 12th level human fighter +
+ Skektek 14th level human wizard +
+ Ys 14th level reptilian fighter +
+ iron dwarf insane, armored berserker +
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+ Stramburg commander of the Geoff refugees in in the Hornwood +
+ Tassarion captain of the wood elven forces in the Hornwood +
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+ Date: 1/6/587 C.Y. (Common Year) +
+ Time: midday +
+ Place: the Hornwood, in southwest Geoff +
+ Climate: cold +
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+ "You have to know more about your enemy than he knows about you. +
+ That means keeping your ass hid while you study his. That means +
+ limiting your encounters with him. The more times you fight the +
+ more he learns about your moves. Make the first fight the last +
+ fight whenever you can. Find him. Fuck him. And forget him." +
+ - Gunny Sergeant Leffertz, from _Levon's Trade_ +
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MCLXXXVII. Within the Hornwood
Belphanior's side mission to the Hornwood has borne fruit: both the
captain of the wood elves and the commander of the refugees from Geoff
have agreed on a course of action. They now work to determine the best
plan of attack...
Tassarion: (poring over a rough map of the forest and surrounding lands
and mountains, he points to a particular spot) The giants' forces seem
to be most tightly concentrated here, to the east...about ten leagues
into the forest's eastern edge. They haven't come much closer, in any
significant numbers...yet.
Stramburg: Because the bastards are content to just stay there, keeping
us trapped deeper in the woodland. They know we can't break through,
not even with our greater numbers.
Tassarion: (nods) We do have the numbers - about three thousand total,
men and elves - while the giants and humanoids can't be more than a
third of that. But...(he shrugs) They're giants.
Belphanior: From the looks of things, and all that you've both told me,
I now think that if we could just get rid of a sizable number of these
foes- (he gestures to the map) -maybe this group, and get them on the
run, then you could cut them down with your superior numbers and your
arrows. And THEN you could break free from the Hornwood.
Tassarion: Which will help the men of Geoff, but in the long term doesn't
solve the problem of my people. (angrily) The giants, giant-kin, and
their foot soldiers...have slain many of the Hornwood's elves, felled
our trees, spoiled our beautiful forest. They all need to be destroyed,
completely.
Skektek: (grins) Now you're talking.
Belphanior had introduced his team to the two leaders, to give them a
better idea of the adventurers' various capabilities and personalities.
Well, all but one...
iron dwarf: (sitting against a tree, his eyes glowing red) rrrr.
Stramburg: Is he snoring?
Belphanior: Not quite. Forgive that one...he's a bit odd.
Otto: (smirks)
Tassarion: I'll admit, he looks fierce...but I still don't see how a
single dwarf can have that much impact in a battle. (he returns his
attention to the map)
Stramburg: So your plan is to launch a surprise attack on the strongest
knot of foes on our eastern flank?
Belphanior: Better...we'll find the biggest, toughest giants and strike
when they least expect it, swiftly and violently, with magic to take out
as many as possible before we charge in and mop up the rest. (he looks
at his team, and then the two commanders) I'm not saying the ten of us
can do it all by ourselves. We'll still need your forces. But we'll
make the first strike...kill a bunch and throw the rest into chaos, then
you can finish the job.
Paige: There's no denying that slaying even a few dozen giants will make
a big difference.
Otto: (nods) Especially if they're not used to being beaten and taking
casualties that way. If we hit them hard, and suddenly, we can damage
their numbers and their morale.
Belphanior: (to the leaders of the two Hornwood forces) What do you
think?
Stramburg: It should work. A good half of my thousand soldiers are
bowmen - I can form them up in a killing line which can move and adapt
depending on how many of the enemy survive the first attack, and what
they do after. Behind them will be the other five hundred warriors...
and behind _them_ will be the other thousand refugees from Geoff. Those
folks weren't warriors when all this started, but a lot's changed in two
years. They're tough and they won't shy away from a fight.
Tassarion: And I have almost a thousand seasoned wood elf warriors, most
of whom also have bows. (he frowns) Plus a score of elven magi, and
another score of elven druids.
Belphanior: Perfect. With all of that additional - and varied - magic on
our side, it should be possible to engineer a good killing field. (his
gaze darkens) Because, let there be no doubt, that's what we're doing
here: killing. Fast and deadly, no quarter, no prisoners. That's the
only real solution to your problem.
Stramburg: (remembering all the brutality he witnessed years ago in Geoff
when the giants first came, his gaze turns grim) Fine by me.
Tassarion: It's not the natural way of the elves...but we, too, have seen
terrible things from the giants and humanoids. At this point, whatever
gets rid of them...is what we'll do.
Belphanior: (nods) We don't just have to rid these woods and lands of
them - we have to send a message to others elsewhere: don't come back
here, ever. Plain and simple. (he smiles thinly) And that's a message
best written in fire and blood.
Skektek: That's for damn sure.
At that point, Stramburg and Tassarion began discussing logistics and
numbers for their forces, how to deploy different groups and so forth.
Meanwhile, Belphanior had a quick, private word with Skektek...
Belphanior: (speaks to the wizard, quietly) One thing.
Skektek: Eh?
Belphanior: Watch it with the lightning and such. (he subtly nods in
the direction of Tassarion) No burning down the forest.
Skektek: Uh...right.
There was little time to waste, and no reason to wait. Tassarion said
that the attack force could be in the vicinity of the giants' main camp
by nightfall, and in truth the forces trapped in the Hornwood were ready,
willing, and able to strike tonight. There was a palpable excitement in
their ranks - elves and men alike - as word spread that not only had new
allies come here to help, but that a sizable army even now marched toward
Gorna. Not one of the Geoff refugees wanted to miss that battle, but
first they had to break out of this forest. Similarly, not a single elf
of the Hornwood would settle for anything less that the woodland being
cleansed of every giant and humanoid.
Elven scouts ranged ahead, making sure the way was clear so that the
force could approach the giants without being detected. Belphanior and
Otto stalked the forest with these scouts, and once the giants' perimeter
guards were located, the two adventurers employed small stones upon which
spells of silence had been cast. In this manner, they had no trouble
moving in and dispatching the giants' five different sentries with swift
and deadly sword-work. It helped that any sound the unfortunate evildoers
would have made was completely muted by the silence magic - that magic
among the many tactics that they had spent considerable time thinking up
before this night. One advantage of the enchanted stones was that they
could be cast aside when the time for silence had passed.
The scouts and adventurers returned to the main force, and once that
group neared its objective - less than a half-hour away - Hope cast a
pair of powerful mass invisibility spells upon the first ranks of the
elves and men. In conjunction with this, Irina and some of the elven
druids employed a number of silence spells - also on small stones that
could be jettisoned as necessary later - to render the invisible people
inaudible as well. With careful planning, this meant that about eight
hundred attackers, closely packed in formation and taking care to stay
that way, could approach the foes without being seen or heard. Most of
these were bowmen, some were the most experienced from among both groups'
infantry...and ten were Belphanior and his team. Belphanior and Otto
were among the very few attackers who remained visible, so that they
could lead the main force ever-closer, creeping unseen and unheard...and
then waiting patiently while Belphanior and Otto spent a brief period of
time studying the giants' camp which was sprawled out ahead. It wouldn't
be much longer until the various cloaking spells expired; the objective
here was simply to determine where the most giants were concentrated, so
that the initial attacks could be optimally directed to cause the maximum
possible destruction. Ideally, leaders and spellcasters would be targeted
first and with extreme prejudice, this first strike carried out by the ten
adventurers and the selected bowmen from both the elven and human ranks.
To some extent, Belphanior's dark sword helped him determine exactly where
the most powerful souls were located, as well as the places within the
camp where the most souls were concentrated. There were hundreds of foes
in the camp before him, most of them hill giants but also a sizable number
of hobgoblins along with a group of gnolls. The vast majority of those
were out of sight, likely asleep within the various tents scattered about
the area. Campfires and torches provided dim light - not enough for those
without infravision to fight by, but better illumination had already been
factored into the battle plan. In short order, the time to observe and
study was over and the time to attack had arrived. The spellcasters from
Belphanior's team stepped forth, out of the range of the series of silence
spells, and then cast their own spells - all of those of the offensive
variety, and all planned and coordinated ahead of time...
Belphanior: (launches four large blazing spheres into the enemy camp,
the meteors trailing sparks as they streak forth and then explode in
a box pattern, covering three different tents full of giants)
Skektek: (follows this up with a cloudkill spell, whose yellowish-green
vapors quickly issue forth into the main area of the large encampment)
Hope: (working a new spell she had recently perfected, with a little bit
of inspiration from Parekh) Let there be light.
The foes' encampment was suddenly lit up by a dozen points of powerful
magical light, each appearing about thirty feet above the forest floor
and spaced so that the entire area was brightly illuminated. But this
wasn't the only trick up the sorceress' sleeve...
Hope: (having previously conjured a small cool sphere into existence,
she hands it to Razor Charlie)
Razor Charlie: (uses his powerful throwing arm to hurl the thing into
the midst of the area that Belphanior just bombarded, where it explodes
in a massive blast of cold, showering the immediate area in frigid snow
and ice)
This particular attack served a dual purpose; first, it inflicted some
additional cold-based damage upon anything that had survived Belphanior's
meteor shower, and second, it extinguished the lingering flames from that
attack, helping keep the entire forest from catching on fire. There was
more coming in that regard, but before that it was the archers' turn to
strike. The purpose of the invisibility and silence spells hadn't been
to give those bowmen an advantage in their first attack - it had simply
been to let them get close to the camp and into attack position. Within
moments after Belphanior led off the strike, more than five hundred bows
rose in near-unison, and then more than five hundred arrows were fired
into the camp, just in time to meet the flurry of giants and humanoids
stirred up by the series of spells. Some were wounded - on fire or half-
frozen, while others were simply rubbing sleep from their eyes as they
prepared to defend their encampment. All met the same terrible rain of
missile fire, as hundreds of arrows tore into their ranks. Smaller foes
such as hobgoblins and gnolls were slain in the barrage, while the larger
giants recoiled in pain as feathered shafts imbedded themselves in tough
skin. Belphanior had tried to talk the elves and men into using poison,
which would have made this phase of the attack much more lethal, but they
had steadfastly refused that tactic. Nevertheless, the rain of missiles
took a devastating toll on the foes...and the initial attack wasn't over
just yet, either. Belphanior and Skektek both summoned powerful, sizable
storms of freezing sleet directly over the largest remaining fires, again
hurting or hindering foes and putting out fires to protect the forest.)
Hope, who was now airborne, hovered above near the treetops, blasting
foes below with volleys of magical bolts.
Skektek: (sighs) Using my magic to put OUT fires...oh, the irony.
These efforts were concentrated on anyone who looked or acted like they
might have magical ability - the few giant and humanoid shamen present in
this camp. Irina followed a similar tactic, spotting a spellcasting hill
giant and promptly making it the center of a massive wall of violently
whirling metal blades. The giant barely had time to scream before it was
sliced into much smaller pieces, instantly ending any threat it might have
presented.
Hope: (switching tactics, she summons a giant hand of force)
This creation wasn't one of the more powerful ones, such as a clenched
fist or a crushing hand...but it didn't need to be.
Hope: (uses the force-hand to push another giant toward Irina's blade
barrier, which she knows is immobile once cast)
hill giant #52: What- no! (it fights with all its might, but is moved
backward until it reaches the deadly mass of blades, at which point it
perishes immediately and messily)
As planned, the bowmen launched a second volley, but by this time the
foes were counterattacking and would reach them in a matter of moments.
The bowman backed up, drawing swords, while the warriors behind them now
stepped forward to engage the enemy. At the same time, the remainder of
Belphanior's crew charged forth, heading right for the largest organized
knot of foes: a half-dozen armed and armored hill giants (one of whom
might have been the chief of this entire force, given his bearing and the
quality of his armament) supported by a couple of trolls, ten ogres, and
maybe a score of hobgoblins.
Belphanior: (having backed away from the other spellcasters, he now
employs the unique talisman - gained after Cespedes' untimely demise -
that allows its wielder to control a certain uncontrollable warrior)
The elf hadn't fully mastered the item yet, but with some practice as
well as some trial and error, he knew enough to make the iron dwarf know
foe from ally. Beyond that, guiding him into battle wasn't difficult at
all...it was actually more a matter of ceasing efforts to hold him back.
And now, there would be no more holding back.
iron dwarf: RAAAAARGH! (he charges past Ys, Paige, and the rest with a
speed most surprising for one of his short stature and heavy armor)
Paige: (watches the berserker barrel past her, heading directly for the
large mass of enemies ahead) There he goes.
Ys: He'll no doubt soften them up for the rest of us.
The squad of hobgoblins had the misfortune to be closest to the insane
dwarven warrior, and the iron dwarf tore into them with boundless fury.
His axe lopped off limbs and heads indiscriminately, while his other hand
dealt its own gruesome damage, that gauntleted fist denting armor and
breaking bones every time it hit a foe. A half-dozen of the humanoids
were down before they knew what hit them, and the rest tried to flee in
terror, only to rush into the waiting blades of Ys, Poulos, and Paige.
Behind them, Otto was cool under pressure, firing his crossbow with great
speed and accuracy, reloading and aiming time and time again despite the
chaos of the battle around him. Every bolt seemed to find some gap in a
foe's armor, and every bolt was poisoned; unlike the noble (if somewhat
wild) elves of the Hornwood or the bowman of Geoff, the dwarf had no moral
issues with giving himself every advantage in combat. Already, one ogre
and one hobgoblin were on their knees, dying of poison rather than the
missiles that had delivered it. Nearby, Razor Charlie made maximum use
of his magical bracers and boots, darting this way and that as he hurled
his razor-sharp knives at the nearest enemies. A throwing knife was too
small to be a serious threat to something the size of an ogre or giant...
unless it was thrown with the skill to hit an eye or a throat, in which
case it opened horrific wounds that could kill if not attended to. There
was, of course, no such time during the heat of battle. Anytime some foe
drew near Charlie, they found to their surprise that he was faster and
more agile than he had any right to be - and then they found a knife in
their throat or sword-arm as the lean, scarred warrior darted away yet
again.
Poulos had engaged an ogre; while the warrior towered over most other
humans, he was still smaller than the humanoid...who laughed for a single
moment, until his axe was parried and then Poulos' huge scimitar cleaved
off the top of its head. Another ogre lumbered forward, only to be cut
down by Ys. The next moment, the two of them charged ahead together,
locking weapons with more ogres. Nearby, three hobgoblins were trying
to move around and flank the small force of adventurers, but suddenly saw
red - literally - as Hope's force-hand pushed them toward and then into
Irina's blade barrier. If a hill giant lacked the strength to resist the
hand, the smaller humanoids had no chance.
The six hill giants - the war-chief and his bodyguards - were all large
specimens of their kind and were all veterans of many battles. However,
their problem this night was their lack of magic...or more accurately,
their attackers' wealth of magic. In quick succession, they (and their
smaller humanoid allies) were hit by a spell of slowing, a mass of black
tentacles that wrapped themselves around limbs and then began constricting
and crushing, and then a massive cone of frost and ice that froze flesh
solid and sapped strength. Even as one foe recovered, it was tackled in a
sudden leap of the iron dwarf, who ironically was stronger than the giant
due to one of the potent magical items built into his cursed armor. The
giant went down in a heap, trying and failing to protect itself from the
axe and the fist of the smaller, berserk foe. Another of the hill giant
elite was blasted in the face by a volley of miniature meteorites, thanks
to Skektek; he dropped to the forest floor, his head a vague, smoking
lump. Meanwhile, Ys and Poulos now found themselves fighting the pair of
trolls...and the green-skinned brutes were holding their own, thanks to
their greater size and strength and their ability to heal damage. Hope
quickly noted this, and while she could have used her magical force-hand
to push the trolls into the blade barrier, even that wasn't likely to kill
them permanently. Fortunately, she had something that would.
Hope: (shouting in a voice made louder by a previously-cast spell, that
precaution taken just for cases such as this) Poulos, Ys! Back away
now!
Poulos: (does so, immediately)
Ys: (likewise)
trolls: (confused momentarily, before they both look up to see a fiery
cloud forming directly overhead)
A moment later, the cloud rained searing fire down upon the humanoids,
who began to smoke and burn - the one thing their regeneration could not
heal. As for Ys and Poulos, they stayed well clear of that deadly fire-
cloud and turned their attention to some of the ogres who were moving to
flank them. At that point, Skektek lent a hand by blasting the ogres with
a series of magical missiles. These didn't hurt the big humanoids badly,
but they did cause a distraction...which allowed Ys to cleave one in half
and Poulos to drive one back, giving both of the warriors an advantage.
Meanwhile, Belphanior had noted a previously-unseen hill giant shaman in
the background, hidden behind the remains of a large tent; this foe was
now working some spell. Silently, the elf made a magically-assisted leap
and landed behind the giant, sword now drawn. The shaman sensed something
and began to turn around, but it was too late; Blackrazor's tip punched
through its leather armor and into its back, and moments later its life-
force was being drawn into the jet-black blade, also healing Belphanior
from a cut he'd suffered shortly before.
Belphanior: (rejuvenated by the influx of energy) Ahhh.
hobgoblin #13: (in the process of sneaking up on the elf from behind)
Belphanior: (warned by his sword, he whirls about) Seriously?
By this time, the foot-soldiers from among the Hornwood elves and the
Geoff troops had joined the fray. Seeing the immense impact of their new
allies' magic, they were emboldened in a way they hadn't been since before
the great wars. They charged fearlessly into the ranks of the giants and
humanoids, taking out years of frustration on the foes. If it took eight
of them to attack and beat a giant, then that was what happened. Some of
their number would die today, but - if the battle went their way, which
seemed more and more likely with every passing moment and every powerful
spell cast by one of the adventurer-wizards - more of them would live and
see the Hornwood cleansed of evil invaders, and then perhaps the same end
to the troubles in Geoff itself. As noted earlier this day by Tassarion,
the elves also had nearly a score of their own magi; while not as skilled
as the likes of Belphanior or Hope, these wizards nevertheless made great
contributions to the battle. One giant sub-chief went down under a trio
of thick, sticky webs and was summarily cut to bits by warriors. Another
giant was slowed to a crawl by a single spell, then blasted half to death
by another before being swarmed and overcome by enraged warriors of Geoff.
The elves had a number of druids as well - almost two dozen - but these
had been dispatched on another mission with a different purpose, once the
battle started. Accompanied by an equal number of wood elven woodsmen,
the elven druids of the Hornwood had swiftly and magically moved beyond
the giants' camp, far to its east...and then begun calling upon their grim
magic and the forest itself to ensure that none of the foes escaped, once
their ranks broke and they began fleeing eastward in an attempt to leave
the Hornwood and make it to Geoff. Sending all of the druids on this side
mission had been a gamble, but Belphanior's advice to Tassarion was that
anticipating and counting on one's success, and planning as if it would
happen, was a good side bet. Accordingly, when - not if - the foes tried
to get away, they would find their way completely and utterly blocked by
the very trees, vines, and roots of the forest. This thick, living wall
stretched several leagues north and south and would entrap and crush any
giants or humanoids who went up against it. For them, there would be no
escape from the Hornwood on this night.
Back at the encampment and its battle, the evil ones were attempting to
rally around their chief, who was still alive and fighting along with two
of his bodyguards and a handful of ogres. Belphanior decided to try and
put an end to that; a deadly green beam lanced forth from his fingertip,
hitting the hill giant chieftain square in his chest-plate...instantly
reducing him to dust. Moments later, the iron dwarf tore into one of the
other giants, knocking him back and down right before the deadly axe-blade
rose and fell a dozen times. The result was a very dead giant and an iron
dwarf covered in blood.
iron dwarf: RAAAAAARGH!
Paige: (using her magical boots, she leaps over another giant's blade,
then lands on its shoulders, bringing her sword straight down into the
top of the foe's skull)
hill giant #5: <glurk> (it falls, its pierced brain shutting down)
Paige: (deftly leaps back onto the ground) Whew.
There were still hundreds of foes alive but that number was rapidly
shrinking; the wizards' magic was just too great, and with three of them
(plus the wood elven wizards) the spells never seemed to end. In truth,
Belphanior had prepared for even that, as each of the three of them also
carried an offensive wand from the Bright Alliance's trove. Had any of
them somehow used up all their spells in this conflict, they could have
switched to a wand and launched dozens of further attacks. However, that
would not be necessary, for the foes were worn down and mostly wounded
and their morale had broken. And now, the vastly superior numbers of the
Hornwood elves and Geoff warriors truly came into play, as they completely
overwhelmed the enemy and put their swords to work. Those few foes who
managed to escape the assault and flee eastward, hoping to break free of
the woodland and return to Gorna, never made it. At some point, well into
the evening, the battle-turned-massacre finally ended. Years of hardship
and countless past atrocities were all avenged in a single bloody night,
a night that would go on to become a legend in this region. In the course
of a few hours - and with equal quantities of highly-efficient planning,
excessive force, and swift surprise - the largest single concentration of
evildoers in the Hornwood Forest was annihilated. Now, the leaders of the
victorious side gathered to rest, regroup, and assess the state of things.
All of those adventurers who'd engaged in direct combat now bore wounds
ranging from deep cuts to shallow gashes, cracked bones to bruised flesh.
In addition, several dozen of the elves and men who had participated in
the assault were slain, and an equal number wounded...for the giants and
their humanoid allies had fought ferociously despite all of the magical
power brought to bear against them. However, all things considered, the
body count was much lower than it otherwise would have been - and the
battle was a resounding success for the forces of the Hornwood and Geoff.
Stramburg: (speaking while his badly-wounded arm, which is wrapped in a
bloody rag, is tended by Irina) Well, I'll be damned, elf! Your plan
worked!
Belphanior: (grimly) Of course it worked. This wasn't my first time
solving a tough problem with an overwhelming amount of power.
Tassarion: I can see that. (he locks eyes with Belphanior) Your words
were true, and your help made the difference here tonight. You have a
friend and ally for life. (he extends his hand)
Belphanior: (shakes hands with the other elf) And I thank _you_ for
letting us help.
Stramburg: (tries to extend his hand too) Argh!
Irina: Hold still, or I can't properly close this cut with my magic.
Stramburg: (fusses under his breath)
Tassarion: So it now seems that we have a forest to finish cleansing.
Stramburg: And then we head for Gorna. (he regards Tassarion) Or at
least some of us.
Belphanior: My team, at any rate, will be there the entire time. We're
aiming to meet the army when it attacks Gorna. But first we have to
finish here...sweep the forest.
Tassarion: (nods) I know wizards need to rest, in order to regain their
power. I suggest that your group stays here and gets a good night's
sleep, along with everyone else. In the morning, we can fan out, maybe
have a wizard every half-league or so, with one of you powerful ones in
place here and there. With that, plus our numbers, plus a good night's
sleep, we can form a sizable skirmish line and clean out the majority
of the scum that remain.
Stramburg: If they haven't already fled. (he flexes his arm, which was
just healed by Irina) Damn. I'm ready for another battle now!
Irina: (shakes her head) No, you're not.
Tassarion: Agreed. We need to rest - all of us. I'll post some sentries
tonight, while everyone else rests and recuperates. It will be far from
ideal, but we need to make haste. (to Stramburg) And after all that
has happened this night, and considering the future, I offer you a pact:
your force helps us clear the Hornwood, and my force will march with
yours to Gorna and meet the other army there.
Stramburg: (grins, nodding) Hell, yes!
Belphanior: (smiles thinly to himself)
This was exactly the outcome the elf had hoped for all along: both of
the leaders realizing that now was the best chance anyone would ever have
to rid the entire region - forest and duchy alike - of the invaders...and
that they could and should help each other since success here was an all-
or-nothing outcome. The next step would be fairly simple: the combined
force that had triumphed here tonight would continue east, rid the rest of
the Hornwood of aggressors, and then continue eastward to Gorna...where
they would join the armies of Mongo and Yod Ironbeard and retake Geoff's
capital city, the last bastion of invaders from the wars.
next: a pause to catch up on things in the Free City of Greyhawk
map: http://www.peldor.com/world/atlas/Bright-Desert_1156.jpg
www: http://www.peldor.com/download.html
homepage: http://www.peldor.com/
email: tmiller@peldor.com
released: 12/12/2025
notes: The last six episodes have been monthly (one on the first
Friday of each month, from July through December 2025) but I've been
able to write some more and build up a respectable stock, so for the
month of December 2025 there will be additional episodes released:
- 1187 (this one) on Friday December 12
- 1188 on Friday December 19
- 1189 on Friday December 26
...and then 1190 will be released on Friday, January 2 2026. After
that we'll see how things are looking.
Another meta-update: THE WEBSITE STRUCTURE HAS CHANGED. Bt the time
you read this, the items on the former peldor.com main page will have
been moved up into a new menu bar at the top of the page, which should
simplify things. I'll be working through the different sub-pages and
updating that content as I have time (the FAQ comes to mind...)
I'm probably sounding like a broken record at this point, but battles
like this are, in my view, exactly what happens when an efficient (even
to the point of ruthless) plan is combined with the will to execute it
and the sheer power to vastly, unfairly tip the odds of success. There
are no rules or fairness in such conflicts; rather, one side is simply
determined to win at all costs, whatever it takes. And while it can be
challenging to find ways to continue to make such battles both realistic
and entertaining, I will continue to try as long as I have ideas about
which to write.
Again (and I will keep pointing this out for the remainder of this
arc) these events take place in the southwestern area of the continent,
and the exact map of that region is on the website here:
http://peldor.com/world/wog/map13.html
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