Sometime during the two weeks after Utiog was destroyed, the group is in the old Inn of the River Village for a meal. Alexis addresses Telosh.
“While I admit there was some intellectual interest in the idea of killing all the gods, you seemed particularly interested in the idea. Do you still that strongly?”
Lucius looks around at his companions, and his “liege,” stirs the dirt a bit with a stick, and speaks up,
“We’ve done a bit of exploring, and survived a group of outriders, and now the army is moving out of the Copper Hills fort, it seems to me that we’ve kicked the nest a bit already, and there is a strong likelihood Barra will attack the fort soon…
“Red’s suggestion from a few nights ago was a good one, and now that the army is on the move, it seems like it is time to return to the fort and begin to plan for the inevitable. Being in the woods while Barra attacks the fort doesn’t seem like it will help us fr… break the sword.”
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.”
While settling down for the night one night, Gus suddenly looks like he has realized something disturbing. He looks at everyone getting into their bedroll and says:
“Did we make a deal to free a Gnoll God? I understand helping non-humans who help us. But unleashing the power of an angry god who is not human seems like quite a bad idea. Are we helping Aegir doing this? We have worked with so many strange creatures lately that maybe we forgot where we come from, forget who we are. Am I crazy?”
Gus has started to sweat all of a sudden and looks like he has just woken from a terrifying dream. He doesn’t usually show such fear or emotion.
Somewhere along the way, on the journey from Sutheron to the Copper Hills Fort, Lucius, complete with Sutheron accent, strikes up a conversation with Alexis:
“Say my fellow Sutheroni, I heard an interesting speculation in the Five Winds Inn and Tavern between a couple of priestly types, and it nearly started a fight with some Westy horse traders, apparently one of the horse traders is from a farming family…
“Anyhoo, the one acolyte says to the other, ‘Oo-rin is THE Harvest God, and Hood harvests souls, seems like may be two facets of the same gem, the scythe is associated with both as well, right?”
“Now, the Westlander overheard this and started yelling, ” ‘arvesting gray-en ain’t da say’m as peoples!” and whatnot… no Hoodites were to been seen to stand up for their Patron, but there certainly wasn’t much more discussion of the issue that night!”
“What is your learned opinion, Esteemed Alexis Laelius? Is Hood connected to Oo-rin? It seems odd to me, I always thought Hood was just the… children’s name for Erlik…”
Around a wilderness campfire, after leaving the Copper Hills Fort, Lucius “Of Sutheron” slips out of his Sutheroni accent, and starts to speak.
“Well then, I clearly need some help at being from Sutheron… rather than have a noble name, which seems… complicated…. I’m thinking I’m a young bravo out to prove himself, perhaps my mother was a Westlander slave, and I am the bastard of a noble, or perhaps my mother was a Sutheroni woman of the night, and my father was a Westlands horse-trader… Something that will be understandable and also… not worth talking about?”
“What do you think will be the most… sellable? believable? At least to Aegierians?”
“Lucius” looks around at his companions, waiting for them to respond…
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 the group is initially looking through the dragon hoard and starting to group it, Alexis addresses the group.
“I’ve been thinking about how we can leave with the crown and hammer, and whatever other treasures we can carry out of here. Obviously I’m hoping that something in this hoard can help us, but barring that, we need to start thinking about a plan.”
“The simplest plan is to hide as much as we can and just walk out through the dwarf front door. They haven’t questioned us yet, and presumably will continue this trend. Of course, the problem is what happens when we leave the ‘shelter’ of the dwarves? We’ll have two kinds of orcs waiting for us as well as whatever Dark Hand have arrived. Bad. But even if we can somehow slip out the dwarf-front-door unnoticed, there will surely be Dark Hand outside the cave. Which leaves somehow trying to get through the whole of the orc stronghold to get out at the saddle of the mountain. Doesn’t seem likely.”
“Alternately, I feel pretty confident we can scout from this end under the water over to the dwarf cells. We can probably hold our breaths long enough with the fast-flowing water to get to the cells. We arrange a couple ‘ropes’ together to shuttle our gear and the treasure. Cold, dark, risky. But I think we can do it!”
“Of course we face the same challenges once we’re at the cells, but perhaps with some more breathing room… but perhaps the Dark Hand waiting for us.” Alexis gives a slight shrug combined with a nod to the side with his head. “Clearly a lot of factors.”
“Another idea. We could try and wait them out. Perhaps we can sustain ourselves here long enough for the Dark Hand to crush themselves against the dwarves and their maze, or at least greatly weaken themselves greatly. This is not my favorite plan, but if it works, the three of you might be able to get some rest down here” Alexis is addressing Mavon, Skelor, and Telosh. He then looks around the dark, damp cave. “Not that I would choose this over civilization for a true rest.”
“The last idea I’ve had so far is to see about solving the dwarf curse and seeing if that could lead us to that horrible room where Gus felt the grave. It still doesn’t get us out, but it would put us behind a secret door and uncovering more mysteries might uncover secret dwarven ways into, and out-of, the mountain. Putting that thing out of it’s misery would help me sleep more soundly… assuming it doesn’t get it’s hands on me and prevent me from ever sleeping again.” Alexis gives another slight shrug combined with a nod to the side with his head.
Alexis looks at the group, still understandably engrossed in the treasures. Alexis lets the silence let the group know he’s ready to hear their thoughts.
While the group recovers in the realm of the litigious dwarves, Alexis addresses Mavon.
“Mavon, I’ve been wondering who speaks to the non-humans on behalf of the Dark Hand. Given what we’ve seen so far, I assume Skellor can speak orcish, as can Thraan. Is that correct? Who else speaks orcish? And what other languages are spoken by the Dark Hand? And by whom?”
While resting after the group retreats from the black dragon, Alexis is tending to Mavon, Ethelred, Gustav, who are all barely awake.
In the dark, Alexis is talking with Ethelred about the next plans. “Given how that went, I’m thinking a better plan would be to know when the dragon leaves, and then sneak to the trove. While you were out, my couple plans are:
“What do you think? Other ideas?”