One night before the slaying of the Gaint Ethelred finds a moment to talk with Ezrin.
“Ezrin, you come to us with some knowledge from the Collegium. What do they say of Alexis? I am curious how I will be received when we return. And knowing more about how Alexis is viewed might be helpful.”
One of the many days working on the ballista Ethelred ask Alexis a question that has been on reds mind for a while now.
“Much have we spoken on what to do, or not to do, with regards to Telosh. When I do come before the Collegium, what will I say about my journey to magic. Not only is it directly tied to the story of Telosh, but it also has elements of a chaos birth, of feeling my way. And while I a more… Disciplined that Telosh I am still not… Legitimate. Ezrin has .ade it very clear that I am not… Right.. proper.. and that it will take some serious treasure to make things right.. or at least make them passable.”
After leaving the mine Ethelred can’t stop thinking about all the materials they found in the old Copper Hills mine. He is still confused as to why some materials were allowed to be taken, gems, copper, pix ax heads, broken handles. But other materials were off limits, rope, hooks, shovels, pix axes.
Ethelred brings up his confusion to the group.
“If we need more rope to capture the Giant, where should we go to get it?”
For a while now Ethelred has been convinced that there are paths to ‘magical’ powers that does not lead through a God. Watching Telosh it was clear that chaos can come from materials. But chaos is not a viable path for Ethelred. Even before that the cleaning that Karnoha taught Alexis uses materials to power the cleansing.
Creating the wooden door and then using it as the last piece to close the pit finally revealed a clear path. Materials themselves, no just words and wishes, can do work beyond what Ethelred understands.
The lesson to be learned for Red is how to take what is available and balance it with what is possible. He has seen how Telosh can offer items, and break items to powerful effects. He has seen how Alexis gives all the reverence to the Gods. Ethelred’s path must be to walk between these. Order, understanding and materials must be combined intelligibility to gain the desired effect.
As the days pass on and Alexis works to help Ethelred learn ‘magic’. Red is keeping his eye on how best to use materials, the power within them, to the effects he needs. His first task is to learn how to reverse the open effect to close the trigger on the ballista he and Gus are building.
Does he build a tiny pair of doors and use one to trigger the other? Does he make a stick from the same wood as the door, and break the stick to cause the door to close? Does he bind the door open with some string and cut his own piece to have the door snap shut?
Many options. Many possible paths….
Gus and Ethelred spend evenings, before the sun sets, working on making a miniature ballista. The old cross bow from Telosh is where they start. Studying how it work, how wood bolts are best made. Once some form of mastery of the machine is in hand they take it apart. Study each piece, how it is formed, shaped and what it’s purpose is. Then they put it back together. This is repeated again.
Then they take it apart one more time. This time they work to replicate the parts, but twice the size. Fashioning the part from wood, rope and sinew.
After a week Ethelred feels like it will be possible, but still difficult to make a much larger ballista.
After the failure of his small scale ballista Ethelred talks to the group.
“Building this ballista is going to be a bit more work than I had expected. The materials and the actual building should be trivial to work with. The part I am struggling with is how to make the weaponry work right.
To start with I will need a bow that I can take apart and rebuild for a simple test. Better yet finding someone else that knows how to make bows or maybe even weapons in general would help. If I am unable to build a small scale ballista with confidence we should have another plan.
The giant presents some problems. If we attempt to replicate and attack like we did on the dragon I think we could have success. But we don’t have the sturdy chain, nor something sturdy to attach it to. Tree a abound, but we also know the giant can uproot those with little challenge.
The key to the dragon attack was not to deal one killer blow, but to hold the creature in place while we wore it down. We should try and do the same with the giant.
What are other options besides the ballista that we could achieve in the woods?”
As the group returns to the Copper Hills Fort, Ethelred is feeling his mortality in a way he has not before. The brush with death has not shaken him from the hero’s path, the loss of all his gear has not defeated his spirit (even if it has rendered him more or less useless).
“Alexis, we can’t out run or hide from the Darkhand for ever. They will find us at the Copper Hills. There probably wont be an army, who know what forces will remain. And ever if there was an army they wouldn’t care about our squabble with the Darkhand.
We do know of at least two groups that have no love for the Darkhand. Our current travel companions, though they seem more interesting in killing Gods? But also the bandits we gave the sword to.
Could we deal a blow to the darkhand by defeating some valued treasure hunters? Ride ourselves of foes and forge some loose alliance with the bandits?
Maybe you have other plans?
And can you talk with Telosh. I need money to get some tools”
Standing on the path after talking with the trail warden Ethelred takes stock of the situation. There are many paths forward from here. Many twists and turns our fate could take.
Into the field and the hills beyond seem appealing. It is one of the Heroes paths. This action would be taking the fight directly to our current enemy. We know the numbers are not on our side. We know little of the terrain and what else is out there. But from where we stand it is the most direct route to our goal, The Twice Broken Sword.
Turning back to the Copper Hills Fort is another option. There are forces we could rally at the Fort. There is more we could learn about. At the Fort we could join up with the next mission to take on the bandits. We could join the forces fighting the enemies of humanity, or simple to join to learn more about the Fort, about this area and the threats all around.
Or we could wait, watch and learn. Soon enough there will be an attack on the Copper Hills Fort. During this attack we would stand a good chance of capturing the Twice Broken Sword.
Turning to Alexis Ethelred says:
“I would not advice we continue on this path. What do we have to gain now that we know this way is watched? We know the enemy force are larger that we can take on directly. But if we do choose to go forward towards the hill we should prepare. The riders and not a threat alone, but on the wargs they are a problem. We need a way to separate the ride from stead. Could be a trap, I have a net. Could be a pit, I have a shovel. Could be food, since the steads are probably poorly feed, Gus could help procure that.
My advice would be to return to the Fort. Possibly join up on the next outing to take on the bandits, this would allow us to learn more about the enemy.
Better yet be patient. Learn more from the Fort itself. We could easily be a boon to the Fort. But that will take time.
If I was to be honest I would try and bait the enemy to attack the Fort. In the battle we could focus on locating and grabbing the sword.
If we just wait at some point soon the enemy will attack The Copper Hills Fort. But it will probably be when the army has already left.”
The loss at first was great. A pain, a wound deep within. I tried to shield my hurt by making light, but poking fun at Telosh for losing.
While now I finally see it was just a sword. That is not what bushwacker was to me before it loss. It was The Treasure of all the treasures we had found. It was magic to me. It was what finally made me feel like I could be a Hero.
When Alexis found me in Aiger I was in the family rut. My path was set like a well made stone wall. All I had to do was stay and place each day like you place each brick. The world was out there, but it wasn’t a world I would ever see.
And then, quickly, that changed. Alexis spoke of the world outside my grove. He knew of lore and history never spoken in my family. And so I followed him beyond the wall of Aiger into the world about.
When we met with Gustav I saw someone so in his place outside. So able to move through the woods like one would move through a crowded market. His sense of where to go, when to stop and what was edible amazed me.
Quickly I found my footing and learned much. But still I didn’t feel like I had my place. Getting the mules into the Lost City was the first glimmer that I could be useful to this group.
But finding Bushwacker, that was when I finally started to feel like I could fight. The way it felt in my hand. The way it sliced. It was a sword that gave me confidence.
When we met with Telosh it set me back on my heroic feelings. This was a man that could fight, take a beating, give a beating. But I didn’t give up. Watching Telosh I learned that hitting something is important. But where you hit something is even more important.
As we traveled I took every chance to use the sword. This meant swing it at anything, even the underbrush. The group, Alexis in particular, gave me grief. But I needed the practice. With each swing my confidence grew. Each swing the sword felt that much more natrual.
The loss of that Bushwacker meant my journey to Hero had faltered. I felt a bit lost, unsure. At first I blamed Telosh. But truly it was not his fault. He desired the sword the moment he laid eyes on it. I took solace in how it was lost, heroically lunging onto the dragon itself.
Lost to he hero path without the sword. But I could not give up now. We were too deep into our mission. So I pushed on. Found what hope I could. And tried to learn to use new weapons.
Taking down that dragon with our minds., with a well oiled plan… without Bushwacker. That re-lit the spark in me. The sword was just a sword. Alexis was wrong no amount of sharpening could have dulled the magic in that sword. The magic of that sword was in how it made me feel. But what I have learned is that the magic of being a hero is within me, within us. And no single sword can make that big of a difference.
(while recovering from the damage of the orc encounters near the cave)
“Alexis, the Dark Hand is breaking open the tombs of the Dwarves, breaking those beautifully made cover stones, raiding any items held with. Any treasure, any items of power… those are all now within the grasp of our enemy. I know your decision was probably the righteous one, the human one, the honorable one. But how do you feel about it now?”