Arandor
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Chapter Eleven. "The March to the Heart of Winter"
from Arandor's diary:
Eh, I remember complaining about the cold in East Harbor and its surroundings... What a fool I was; here is where the real cold is! I don't understand how people live here. Although why should I care, the main thing is to complete the mission and get out of this cursed north. And why did I think there were many interesting places here, full of secrets, ancient magic, and artifacts? This burial island disappointed me. Nothing but an old necromancer and a huge number of stinking corpses trying to eat you alive. But that was several days ago; now we are heading into the mountains. It's quite slippery here; I've already slipped about ten times. Luckily, I didn't fall. One lucky tumble would be enough to slide into an abyss.
There is so much wildlife here: trolls, salamanders, yetis, a giant, wolves. Not only is it dangerous to walk here, but we also have to fight these monsters. But that is nothing compared to what awaited us in the icy caves. I cannot even find the words to describe this filth. Huge worm-like creatures moving on eight little legs. These beasts turned out to be quite strong, and we had to put in maximum effort to break through them. One couldn't relax for a minute, as they could attack from any side. Their burrows were everywhere throughout the cave, and you never knew where the next parasite would appear. Often they attacked from behind while we were fighting other worms. Everyone fought as best they could. Swords sliced through them, guts spilled from their bellies, arrows pierced their bodies and blood sprayed like a fountain, and then I finished them off with spells, burning them, blasting them with fireballs, and all this filth flew in different directions, painting the cave walls the color of entrails.
At the end of this chaos, we met a blind dwarf. He lived in this cave, in a small room that had been set up as a forge. The dwarf told us the story of how he ended up here. All dwarves (smiths) at some period of their life feel that it is time to create a special thing that will be the main work of their lives. And so, our companion felt such a moment and went into the mountains to find material for the item. He didn't need steel, silver, or any other metal. He was looking for ice, which is plentiful here. On his journey, he met a seer who lived here. Naturally, he had heard of her and that it was better not to meet her. The smith looked at her and seemed to turn to stone. He couldn't move even when the witch gouged out his eyes with a dagger. So he remained living here, creating weapons and armor. Of course, we used his services and bought ice armor for Laika. Also, the paladin asked to help him create the weapon that was supposed to be the work of the smith's life. The dwarf offered several types of weapons; naturally, the paladin chose a halberd, which he received. Right, why leave such a weapon in the cave of a blind dwarf? Before leaving, we asked the smith to make an ice rose for our bard acquaintance. He readily agreed, and now we were ready to continue our journey. The dwarf wished us luck and advised us to be more careful, as the seer knows we are coming and has specifically hidden herself in these caves. He also asked not to harm her. Strange, she gouged out his eyes, and he protects her. Ah, yes, he also gave us a little thing that will help us reach her. He was the pleasantest dwarf I've ever seen.
So we climbed even deeper. It is much darker here, but I must note the beauty of these places. I didn't think ice could be so beautiful. Pity that some blocks come to life and try to kill us. What can you do; it's quite difficult to negotiate with golems. Having broken through the icy guards, we approached a door. Using the little thing (I don't remember what it was) given to us by the smith, we opened the door. Entering inside, we saw her—the frail body of a woman, more resembling a zombie. Her look was quite disgusting. At least she was wearing a cloak. Being our leader, the paladin approached her and began to speak. They chatted for a long time; in the end, this old woman gave us some mirror and told us to give it to the chief of the Barbarians. Supposedly it can help, though it's unclear how. As for herself, she didn't want to go, she was afraid. Well yes, of course, let others risk their lives. Taking the mirror, we left there and returned to the city.
Upon returning to the city, we immediately went to the tavern to gladden our friend. The bard was happy when we handed him the ice rose. I hope everything works out for him now and he wins back love. Luck should smile upon him; good guys are always lucky, unlike people like me.... Right, distracted again. We spent the night in the tavern, and the next morning we set off for the Barbarian camp. The guards did not obstruct us and let us through to speak with the chief. Seeing us, the leader of the Barbarians was a bit surprised, as we had been told not to return. The paladin didn't stand on ceremony for long and almost immediately offered the mirror as a gift. But this proved not so easy. At first, the chief refused to accept the mirror, citing his dislike for the benefits of civilization. In the end, we managed to convince him to look into the mirror. That's where the most interesting part began. Something strange started happening to the chief. And suddenly the seer appeared. They began talking about some spirits, long-forgotten stories and such, after which the chief launched a magic ball at her, and he himself fell dead. Those in the room only saw something like a spirit leaving the chief's body. At that same moment, a fight broke out. The worm tribe attacked the moose and bear tribes. My god, it was a slaughter. A crowd of Barbarians runs around the tent killing each other, and we get hit too. The main thing is you can't tell who is who. Having cleared the tent of enemies, we approached the witch. She told us that the spirit of an ancient worm (dragon) had possessed the chief's body and was trying to unite the Barbarians to attack ten cities. And the people of the worm tribe have long worshipped him and still serve him. They perform sacrifices on the island in honor of their Goddess. Perhaps the spirit headed exactly there. We must follow it and finally destroy this evil. After the seer's death, I took her cloak made of virgin hair. It fit me perfectly, but the smell from it was something else. When we went outside, we saw that the Barbarians were still fighting. We helped the bear tribe and the moose tribe defeat the worm tribe. Then we found our shaman acquaintance and told him that we need to get to the island and kill the worm. He agreed to help us and said that we would sail there with people from the salmon tribe, who are considered the best sailors among the Barbarians.
So the end of our journey through the north of Faerûn is approaching. Soon we will be able to leave this place. This certainly gladdens me, only my heart is not at peace; I have a bad feeling...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
screen №1
Battle with salamanders. Loki is fighting up top; pieces of flesh are flying from his blows. And I'm below, being covered in ice from the salamander's aura
screen №2
Stumbled upon a camp. Found frozen bodies, apparently hobbits or dwarves, or maybe children :O
screen №3
burning wolves
screen №4
wolves deliver a counter-strike with their icy breath
screen №5
A giant came to avenge the wolves
screen №6
found another little giant corpse below) btw, somewhere in this same place we found the dwarf-smith's shield; he repaired it later and gave it to us, though it's worse than what I had, but still nice
screen №7
and here are the hairy Yetis
screen №8
another giant blocking our path and getting hit on the head
screen №9
a troll colony, you can't call it anything else
screen №10
time for the worms\
screen №11
cruel fights were had with them
screen №12
This is the forge and the dwarf
screen №13
next level of caves and golems
I'm being approached from behind)
screen №14
and here a golem froze my dwarf[br][/br]
screen №15
here is the seer, she's also a witch) you should have seen her in the intro (practically naked!), brrr
screen №16
And this is my range going crazy) Loken wanted to kill this witch to become a fallen paladin, but along with him, my ranger was becoming fallen, and I didn't want that at all) So I suggested trying to kill the range, then whack the witch, and then resurrect the range.. And so, I started killing the tracker with my mage, casting various spells, when suddenly, the range flew into a rage (became a berserker) and started slaughtering everyone. He quickly killed the mage, then killed Loken's thief-warrior and only then calmed down)) We thought it was something in the same vein or whatever, but then I saw that in the properties of the axe the range runs with (besides the two-hander, bow, and metal axe), there is a small chance that the owner becomes a berserker for some time... This isn't actually the first time the range started hitting everyone in sight) although in this case he didn't hit anyone else, only him, but still went crazy... idk basically)
screen №17
chief's tent
everyone is alive so far)
screen №18
the brawl started) The druidess seems to have summoned green giants, or maybe not
screen №19
this is already a slaughter outside)
from Arandor's diary:
Eh, I remember complaining about the cold in East Harbor and its surroundings... What a fool I was; here is where the real cold is! I don't understand how people live here. Although why should I care, the main thing is to complete the mission and get out of this cursed north. And why did I think there were many interesting places here, full of secrets, ancient magic, and artifacts? This burial island disappointed me. Nothing but an old necromancer and a huge number of stinking corpses trying to eat you alive. But that was several days ago; now we are heading into the mountains. It's quite slippery here; I've already slipped about ten times. Luckily, I didn't fall. One lucky tumble would be enough to slide into an abyss.
There is so much wildlife here: trolls, salamanders, yetis, a giant, wolves. Not only is it dangerous to walk here, but we also have to fight these monsters. But that is nothing compared to what awaited us in the icy caves. I cannot even find the words to describe this filth. Huge worm-like creatures moving on eight little legs. These beasts turned out to be quite strong, and we had to put in maximum effort to break through them. One couldn't relax for a minute, as they could attack from any side. Their burrows were everywhere throughout the cave, and you never knew where the next parasite would appear. Often they attacked from behind while we were fighting other worms. Everyone fought as best they could. Swords sliced through them, guts spilled from their bellies, arrows pierced their bodies and blood sprayed like a fountain, and then I finished them off with spells, burning them, blasting them with fireballs, and all this filth flew in different directions, painting the cave walls the color of entrails.
At the end of this chaos, we met a blind dwarf. He lived in this cave, in a small room that had been set up as a forge. The dwarf told us the story of how he ended up here. All dwarves (smiths) at some period of their life feel that it is time to create a special thing that will be the main work of their lives. And so, our companion felt such a moment and went into the mountains to find material for the item. He didn't need steel, silver, or any other metal. He was looking for ice, which is plentiful here. On his journey, he met a seer who lived here. Naturally, he had heard of her and that it was better not to meet her. The smith looked at her and seemed to turn to stone. He couldn't move even when the witch gouged out his eyes with a dagger. So he remained living here, creating weapons and armor. Of course, we used his services and bought ice armor for Laika. Also, the paladin asked to help him create the weapon that was supposed to be the work of the smith's life. The dwarf offered several types of weapons; naturally, the paladin chose a halberd, which he received. Right, why leave such a weapon in the cave of a blind dwarf? Before leaving, we asked the smith to make an ice rose for our bard acquaintance. He readily agreed, and now we were ready to continue our journey. The dwarf wished us luck and advised us to be more careful, as the seer knows we are coming and has specifically hidden herself in these caves. He also asked not to harm her. Strange, she gouged out his eyes, and he protects her. Ah, yes, he also gave us a little thing that will help us reach her. He was the pleasantest dwarf I've ever seen.
So we climbed even deeper. It is much darker here, but I must note the beauty of these places. I didn't think ice could be so beautiful. Pity that some blocks come to life and try to kill us. What can you do; it's quite difficult to negotiate with golems. Having broken through the icy guards, we approached a door. Using the little thing (I don't remember what it was) given to us by the smith, we opened the door. Entering inside, we saw her—the frail body of a woman, more resembling a zombie. Her look was quite disgusting. At least she was wearing a cloak. Being our leader, the paladin approached her and began to speak. They chatted for a long time; in the end, this old woman gave us some mirror and told us to give it to the chief of the Barbarians. Supposedly it can help, though it's unclear how. As for herself, she didn't want to go, she was afraid. Well yes, of course, let others risk their lives. Taking the mirror, we left there and returned to the city.
Upon returning to the city, we immediately went to the tavern to gladden our friend. The bard was happy when we handed him the ice rose. I hope everything works out for him now and he wins back love. Luck should smile upon him; good guys are always lucky, unlike people like me.... Right, distracted again. We spent the night in the tavern, and the next morning we set off for the Barbarian camp. The guards did not obstruct us and let us through to speak with the chief. Seeing us, the leader of the Barbarians was a bit surprised, as we had been told not to return. The paladin didn't stand on ceremony for long and almost immediately offered the mirror as a gift. But this proved not so easy. At first, the chief refused to accept the mirror, citing his dislike for the benefits of civilization. In the end, we managed to convince him to look into the mirror. That's where the most interesting part began. Something strange started happening to the chief. And suddenly the seer appeared. They began talking about some spirits, long-forgotten stories and such, after which the chief launched a magic ball at her, and he himself fell dead. Those in the room only saw something like a spirit leaving the chief's body. At that same moment, a fight broke out. The worm tribe attacked the moose and bear tribes. My god, it was a slaughter. A crowd of Barbarians runs around the tent killing each other, and we get hit too. The main thing is you can't tell who is who. Having cleared the tent of enemies, we approached the witch. She told us that the spirit of an ancient worm (dragon) had possessed the chief's body and was trying to unite the Barbarians to attack ten cities. And the people of the worm tribe have long worshipped him and still serve him. They perform sacrifices on the island in honor of their Goddess. Perhaps the spirit headed exactly there. We must follow it and finally destroy this evil. After the seer's death, I took her cloak made of virgin hair. It fit me perfectly, but the smell from it was something else. When we went outside, we saw that the Barbarians were still fighting. We helped the bear tribe and the moose tribe defeat the worm tribe. Then we found our shaman acquaintance and told him that we need to get to the island and kill the worm. He agreed to help us and said that we would sail there with people from the salmon tribe, who are considered the best sailors among the Barbarians.
So the end of our journey through the north of Faerûn is approaching. Soon we will be able to leave this place. This certainly gladdens me, only my heart is not at peace; I have a bad feeling...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
screen №1
Battle with salamanders. Loki is fighting up top; pieces of flesh are flying from his blows. And I'm below, being covered in ice from the salamander's aura
screen №2
Stumbled upon a camp. Found frozen bodies, apparently hobbits or dwarves, or maybe children :O
screen №3
burning wolves
screen №4
wolves deliver a counter-strike with their icy breath
screen №5
A giant came to avenge the wolves
screen №6
found another little giant corpse below) btw, somewhere in this same place we found the dwarf-smith's shield; he repaired it later and gave it to us, though it's worse than what I had, but still nice
screen №7
and here are the hairy Yetis
screen №8
another giant blocking our path and getting hit on the head
screen №9
a troll colony, you can't call it anything else
screen №10
time for the worms\
screen №11
cruel fights were had with them
screen №12
This is the forge and the dwarf
screen №13
next level of caves and golems
I'm being approached from behind)
screen №14
and here a golem froze my dwarf[br][/br]
screen №15
here is the seer, she's also a witch) you should have seen her in the intro (practically naked!), brrr
screen №16
And this is my range going crazy) Loken wanted to kill this witch to become a fallen paladin, but along with him, my ranger was becoming fallen, and I didn't want that at all) So I suggested trying to kill the range, then whack the witch, and then resurrect the range.. And so, I started killing the tracker with my mage, casting various spells, when suddenly, the range flew into a rage (became a berserker) and started slaughtering everyone. He quickly killed the mage, then killed Loken's thief-warrior and only then calmed down)) We thought it was something in the same vein or whatever, but then I saw that in the properties of the axe the range runs with (besides the two-hander, bow, and metal axe), there is a small chance that the owner becomes a berserker for some time... This isn't actually the first time the range started hitting everyone in sight) although in this case he didn't hit anyone else, only him, but still went crazy... idk basically)
screen №17
chief's tent
everyone is alive so far)
screen №18
the brawl started) The druidess seems to have summoned green giants, or maybe not
screen №19
this is already a slaughter outside)
Be strong. Believe