Chapter 3

Players:
Christian (M) /Isabelle (F) Pathfinder
Brett (M) /Owein (M) Paragon
Sandy (F) /Dacie (F) Corsair ; Sylph
Kathy (F) /Eric (M) Huscarl
Stephen (M) /Sayer (M) Incantist
Corey (M) /Elisa (F) Priestess

As the sun began to slowly dip towards the horizon, the party finished a quick meal before putting out the cooking fire. There were a couple of complaints, but it was calmly pointed out that fires in the wilderness tended to attract too many unwanted visitors.

“You’re upset.” With her back to a broken pillar, Dacie nibbled on the remains of a piece of flat bread.

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are, Isabelle; you’re making that face again.” Elisa gave a half smile as she put needle and thread to a tunic larger than herself. Normally this wouldn’t be a skill that she would have chosen for her character but it was part of the whole priest package. Actually the young woman was amazed at her new skills. She wished that Corey was this productive, novice training if nothing else made Priestesses of Sylia well-rounded individuals.

“Elisa you don’t have to do that.” Eric said with humor in his voice. If Elisa’s mother could see her now, she would be surprised in more ways than one.

“I know but I want to.” The young priestess blushed as she deftly mended the hole under the right arm. Repairing the tunic was an easy way to cope with the changes in her life. The whole situation was more than a little embarrassing and rather terrifying. Her world view was totally different from when she was Corey, the huge defensive lineman. At this moment she felt more than a little vulnerable. Thankfully, with the other more personal changes, she could go to Dacie and as strange as it might seem, to Isabelle for advice on the whole girl thing. Goddesses help her; if the situation became permanent, the priestess didn’t know what she was going to do.

Isabelle looked up as the Huscarl finally went back to mending his armor. The two lovers sat across from one another, close but not together. No matter how much she found Kathy irritating, the situation between the Huscarl and the priestess was just too difficult to watch. Elisa was obviously in pain over the situation, which caused Eric to try and comfort him. That in turn, made her cringe in fear, causing the Huscarl pain. It was a vicious cycle.

“You didn’t answer my question.” The Sylph threw a piece of flat bread at her friend.

The Baroness shrugged. “It’s nothing, just a slight disagreement about tomorrow.”

“OH?”

“I offered my services to the Captain to scout ahead of the party. I’m not a Forester but I do have similar skills. Anyway, he disagreed. He is in the opinion that we should all stick together.”

“Why do you keep calling Owein a Captain?” Eric asked.

“Because he is one, notice the red sash around his breastplate?” Dacie pointed the party leader, who along with his brother stood on the other side of the ruins. “He is a Captain of Dragoons, right? The badge on his shoulder, I think is from one of the Imperial Cavalry regiments or something like that. Anyway, you should be able to scout ahead, Isabelle, it’s how we usually do things.” What was surprising, Owein’s high level character was a Forester so why wasn’t he allowing Isabelle to try and fill that same role.

“I agree.” Pulling the tunic towards her face, the priestess broke the thread with her teeth.

“Thanks.” The Huscarl smiled as he reached over for the repaired tunic. “Actually Baroness, that’s not a bad idea but it would please me more if you remained in sight.”

“Eric?”

“No...No it’s nothing like that.” The Huscarl put his hands out trying to explain.

“Then why?” The priestess made an unhappy face.

“I don’t know.”

Isabelle gave the priestess of Sylia a look. “Don’t tell me you actually might have written some background history for your characters? Is there something you know that we don’t?” That would have been a surprise, Corey rarely got around to write sufficient history.

“Well no.” Elisa look confused for a moment. “We did discuss how the Red Huscarls were similar to the Varangian Guard back home. You know the Vikings who protected the Eastern Roman Emperor. I wonder if this is why you keep calling her Baroness and not Isabelle.” The young priestess gave the Huscarl the eye.

Eric looked down, embarrassed.

Before anyone could say anything else, angry shouts could be heard from the other side of the ruins. “You’re married?”

“Well it appears, my dear Isabelle, that you’re not the only one upset at our good Captain. “The Sylph giggled. “I’m disappointed I didn’t get an invitation.”

The silver haired Baroness let out a long sigh. “You’re having a good time aren’t you?”

Dacie nodded, tears beginning to form in her eyes, “Oh yes, a very good time.”

“And you have children, too?” Another scream echoed throughout the ruins.

Covering her eyes, as the Sylph fell on her side laughing hysterically, Isabelle noted, not for the first time, that she didn’t envy Owein’s role as party leader at all.

Ever since the first time Christian gamed with Phillip, when the party camped at night they would set up a watch. No one saw the need to change it. Owein quickly paired everyone off breaking the night into three different watches. The middle watch as usual fell to a Sylph whose night vision was superior to that of normal humans. Knowing that his brother was still a little angry with him, the Captain of Dragoons assigned him to the middle watch along with Dacie. Logistically it sounded like a good plan, personality wise probably not.

“I wonder how cold it gets around here.” Sayer pulled his cloak tighter around his body. The Incantist was impressed that the smaller Sylph didn’t seem particularly bothered by the wind. “So are you and my brother in any of the same classes?”

Dacie who had been trying to ignore the Incantist moved a little further away. “Sayer, pay attention to the forest, we can take a little trip down memory lane another time.”

Sayer frowned, why she was being so unfriendly. According to Owein, she was one of the nicest people he knew. “Did I do something wrong?”

“You tell me.”

“What does that mean?” The two stared at one another for a couple of seconds, then the Incantist’s eyes opened in shock. “You’re blaming me for us being here, aren’t you?”

“If the shoe fits.” The Sylph laughed.

“All I did was read the scroll.”

“And now we are here.” Dacie pointed out the obvious.

Resting his hand on his small sword, Sayer’s demeanor changed. “You Sylphs think you know everything. The Baroness of Northridge is much more of a suspect than a true servant of the Empire. How much can you trust a noble who would willingly associate herself with a known pirate?”

“I’m not a pirate.”

“All Sylphs are pirates as far as the Emperor is concerned. Especially your Queen, she is the worst of them all.” The Incantist shouted.

Dacie response was to reach for her cutlass.

“Enough.” Isabelle stormed in between the two. Both were about to say something to the silver haired Baroness but the look in her eyes stopped them,

“You two are loud enough to wake the dead.” A sleepy Elisa grumbled as she joined the group.

Dacie jumped back, sufficiently chastised. That was not a comment you wanted to hear in this realm.

“Isabelle, you felt it as well.”

“I didn’t feel anything.” Sayer frowned.

“So the creature or whatever it is didn’t set off the Arcanum Wards.” Turning to study the forest in the moonlight, Isabelle half drew her tall white yew bow.

Dacie looked very guilty. “Isabelle, I’m sorry…”

The Baroness nodded. “We’ll talk about it later.”

The Sylph felt like a fool. This could have been very bad; something strong enough to pass over the wards without setting them off would be extremely powerful. Obviously, whatever divine alarms the two set were sufficient enough to warn them, however that didn’t change the fact that her argument with Sayer could have jeopardized the entire party’s safety. Looking towards the forest, unable to see anything, the Sylph wondered what was hiding down here.

“I hate the dark.” Raising her hands the priestess lifted her voice up in prayer. In a flash of warm bluish light, the entire hill glowed. ”Oh my, that was unexpected.”

Isabelle looked around. “Elisa, this isn’t totally you is, it?”

“No, it isn’t.”

“What’s going on?” Owein marched up to the group; in one hand was a cavalry sabre; in the other what appeared to be some sort of odd looking brass pistol.

“Who turned on the light?” Eric growled from behind the group.

“Look.” Dacie pointed down the hill towards a pack of large wolf like creatures. They had an unworldly look about them as they faded in and out of the shadows.

“They’re beautiful.” Elisa sighed.

“I thought that they were myths.” Owein lowered his weapons in awe.

“Celestial Hounds, no wonder we have felt so safe.” The Baroness smiled, at least a dozen of the large wolf like creatures played among the ruins. There were a number of confused looks in the party so she continued. “According to legends they protect the holy sites of the goddess that used to inhabit these lands.”

“So does this mean I can go back to bed?” Eric asked.

“Yes, nothing should bother us tonight.” Elisa smiled contentedly as she turned around. At the sight of Eric standing behind her with his battle-axe in hand, but nothing on his body the small priestess let out a very girly squeak. Covering her eyes with her hands she shouted. “Eric, go put some clothes on!”

“What, good idea. It’s getting a little cold.” Seemingly without a worry in the world, the Huscarl made his way back to his bedroll.

“Way too much excitement…good night all.” Owein took one last look at the hounds then went to find his own bed roll.

Dacie and Isabelle on the other hand found themselves staring at the retreating barbarian. From years of sword and ax work, muscles rippled all over his body giving him the appearance of an Olympic athlete.

“Yummy.” Dacie grinned and nudged her friend.

Isabelle could only nod. After coming to the realization earlier in the year that Christian was somewhat attracted to men, the Baroness couldn’t help but admire Eric’s well-built form. All sorts of unfamiliar feelings danced over her, none of them unpleasant.

“Stay away from him, he’s mine.” The priestess stepped in front of the two girls with her arms opened wide.

Dacie looked up at Isabelle, then back to the priestess. With a squeal, the corsair leaped forward and spun her friend around into a hug. “Oh my goddess, you’re so cute!”

“Dacie stop, I mean it.” Elisa struggled trying to get out of the hug.

“Stay away from him, he’s mine.” Isabelle commented with an amused smile on her lips.

Flushed with embarrassment, Elisa covered her face with her hands. “Shut up, Isabelle.”

“Sayer.” The Baroness looked over to the confused Incantist.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Go to sleep, I’ll stay up with Dacie until the next watch.”

The Incantist grimaced; there were tears forming in his eyes. “I want to go home.”

Letting out a sigh, Isabella reached over and wrapped the young man in a hug, “I know…Stephen, we’re working on it.”

At the first hint of dawn, the party broke camp. All of them knew the sooner the tower was discovered, the sooner they would find someone that could help them return home.

“How far?” Eric asked as Owen helped with his armor.

“Four days at the most, though we should be seeing more ruins before then.” The valley had at one time been a major population center for a forgotten civilization. “If I remember correctly there is some sort of road running half way through the valley.”

“It’s still around?” Sayer asked.

“The road was magically constructed, seems that for the most part it not been overgrown.”

“We’re going to change, so don’t come around the corner.” Dacie called out.

Owein waved his hand. “Fine…fine well stay on this side of the wall.”

“Can I watch?” The Huscarl shouted back.

“As if.” The Sylph stuck her tongue out and disappeared behind the ruins.

“Oh well.” Eric grinned to the other two guys.

Isabelle was the first to appear in her dark green leather scale, she wrapped an even darker green cloak around herself. The other two girls were soon to follow.

“You look nice, Elisa.” Eric called out.

The priestess nodded as she ran forward to stand by Isabella’s side.

Owein shook his head. “That must suck.”

“Yea…she’s so damn cute.” Eric tightened his vambraces. The whole gender thing was still way too weird even to contemplate. Thinking about it too much just made him angry. “When she was helping with breakfast this morning…” Luckily disaster had been adverted by a quick thinking Dacie. At least not all of breakfast was burnt. “You think they’re still mad at me.”

“Doubtful, they understand.”

“Anyway, so I heard you’re married. That must be rough.” Eric grinned, keeping a half eye on Sayer but to his disappointment the Incantist only frowned.

“Funny that you mention that, I know that rationally they exist only on paper, but another side of me misses them very much. I close my eyes and can even see my wife and two girls. I even have snippets of memories being with them.” The Captain of Dragoons tightened the red sash around his cuirass.

“Owein?”

The Captain smiled at his brother. “I know, they aren’t real but at least in this place they do exist. So let’s get the hell out of here so I can get back to them.”

The first part of the day hadn’t gone exactly as planned. Making their way out of the ruins into the forest had been easy enough, but not much further. Twice they had to back track due to the thick underbrush, some of it appeared to be moving by itself. By lunch time the party had sorted itself out following part of the river, although Isabelle objected.

“You are aware that fresh water attracts predators?” The Baroness looked down into the slow moving water. There were also a dozen types of creatures that if presented with a tasty snack would come out of the water. The only person who seemed to agree with her was Dacie but she didn’t voice her opinion too loudly.

“You must admit, we are moving a little faster than this morning.” Elisa kept a close eye on the river as well. The priestess was also quite aware of what could be hidden under the murky depths.

Owein’s first order of the day was to set a party order, positioning the two warriors to the front. Standing behind the Captain of Dragoons and the Huscarl, were Sayer and Dacie. Finally, bringing up the rear were Elisa and Isabelle.

“No doubt about that.” The Pathfinder agreed. Still it didn’t help with her mood. She didn’t think gaining a half of a day by following the river was a good tradeoff for the party’s safety. A half an hour later a large snake like shadow moved on the other side of the river. As it pointed its lizard like head out of a line of heavy underbrush, Isabelle decided she really hated when she was right.

“Is that?” Sayer stepped back almost running into Dacie.

“Wyrm!” Elisa shouted.

With sharp horns, razor sharp claws, and poisonous fangs, the creature burst out of the underbrush. The Wyrm’s snake like body, covered in green and brown scales kept it well hidden, seen only when moving out of ambush like it was now. A lesser, much smaller relative of the dragon, it thankfully was lacking wings and a breath weapon. However, even at its ten feet in length the Wyrm was fast and agile, charging towards the party with the grace of some monstrous cat.

As it leaped across the river, two arrows appeared on its flank as Isabelle reached for two more. Owein too, took action; raising his brass pistol he pulled the trigger. Instead of a gun shot, lightning like energy burst from the barrel. The first shot blew a bloody chunk out of the beast’s right hindquarters. The second faded right before it hit, as even the smallest of dragon like creatures have some magical protection. With the Arcane pistol in need of charging, the Captain of Dragoons drew his sword. Eric too, got into the fight early, throwing two javelins at the beast as soon as it landed. Both however bounced off the scaly hide. Several more of Isabelle’s arrows did not, finding small gaps between the heavy scales.

The Forest Wyrm turned its head as it landed; its eyes looking straight towards the party, freezing half of them in their tracks. Elisa knew that such a beast gave off a magical aura, which caused fear and terror in all sentient beings. The priestess however was ready for it and began to pray, asking her goddess for a shield from fear. One moment, the terror gripped the party’s hearts, the next it was gone.

To its surprise the small creatures in front of it did not freeze like most prey but charged forward. Already wounded the creature was beginning to get angry. Moving its head down to snap at the closest creature, it reared its head back in pain as a sword slammed into its snout. Then from the black robed one a burst of flame appeared only to explode, covering its body in flames. The Wyrm decided that the ones giving it such pain were going to have to die.

“Yes, we’re all very proud of you, Sayer, for casting the spell but move the hell out of the way before it eats you.” Pushing the Incantist out of the path of snake like fangs, the corsair slammed two of her daggers into the neck of the Wyrm. The beast however made a mistake, reacting to the pain of the Fire Burst spell. Now inside its reach both Eric and Owein readied their weapons. Screaming at the top of his lungs, the Huscarl slammed his ax down burying it deep into the neck of the Wyrm. Eric pulled his weapon back again. Owein too slashed at the beast’s necks, which now moving like a mane, turned in on itself. A fraction of a second later the Huscarl came face to face with an entire mouth full of poisonous fangs.

Eric thought he could hear voices but he really didn’t want to get up. He was nice and warm in the darkness but that didn’t last very long. Pain as sharp as he had ever felt began to wrack his entire body. Opening his eyes, it faded away as quickly as it appeared.

“Eric.” A soft body collided with his chest, and then it began to sob.

“Elisa?” Sitting up he found the priestess wrapped around his chest crying. Reaching around, he began to comfort here. “Shhh it will be ok.”

“Now it will be you idiot.” She said without much heat. “You almost died on me.”

“What?”

Looking around, the Housecarl found the remains of the beast sitting a few yards away. Besides the dozen of arrows protruding from beast, between the horns on top of the Wyrm’s head Eric found his ax. “I don’t remember doing that.”

Isabelle knelt by his side with a smile on her face. “Well you sort of went berserk on us, it was actually rather impressive.”

“OK, what else happened?” Eric noticed that Elisa hadn’t moved from his lap.

“You were poisoned. From what it looked like to us, you gave each other a death stroke.”

“Don’t do that again.” The priestess, obviously no longer afraid of touching or being touched by him, pushed herself further into his chest.

“Sorry.” Eric laid his cheek on Elisa’s head.

Isabelle excused herself, allowing the two of them some privacy. Thankfully none of the others were seriously hurt, but it was a near run thing. The Housecarl going berserk when he did most definitely tipped the balance in the party’s favor.

“So you think it has a treasure horde someplace?” Exhausted, Sayer sat down near the head of the Wyrm.

“Not likely.” Dacie walked around to the creature’s side, retrieving a couple of daggers. “However we can get some solid coin off the claws and horns.”

“How’s Eric?” The Captain of Dragoons looked over Isabelle’s shoulder. Discovering that the Housecarl and the priestess were reintroducing themselves with each other his face broke out in a wide grin.

“We probably shouldn’t stick around too long?” Isabelle pointed towards the ten foot long carcass.

“What?” Owein turned around and nodded. “You’re right, this place will be crawling with scavengers soon. We should get back in party order and continue to head down river as soon as possible. Good job, Baroness.” The Captain smiled then went off to talk to his brother.

“Good job, he says.” The silver haired Baroness frowned at the retreating Captain’s back. “Stupid stubborn man.”

Authors Notes: A special thanks to djkauf for a little elvish editing. If you like the story please leave a Kudos, if you have the time I would love to hear from you. Thanks to all for reading! - Elsbeth