Session XIII - Sir Radagast (2001-08-28)

Gabriel stayed for a couple of weeks, teaching Radadagast some of his tricks. Both of them also spent long days carefully copying arcane writings from each othesrs spellbooks. Finally there was no more to teach nor copy, and so he left to join Wiglaf.

Radagast exchanged some of the black onyx gems for two pearls. One he used right away to cast a spell to discover the properties of the three magical items he and Drik possessed: ring, sword and axe. The ring turned out to be a ring of protection of the weakest sort. The sword carried the weakest permanent enchantment in addition to having the capability of bursting into flames. Drik's axe, however, was truly a magnificient item: it too carried the lowest permanent enchantment, but it had other, more subtle properties as well. It had been enchanted to aim for the vital parts of a body for maximum effect, and against demons and other evildoers it would strike through their unholy defenses like through butter. Radagast also got the impression that any such creature trying to grab the axe would be sorry trying to do so, the effect being even more powerful than what he had experienced with the sword he had identified for Cordwellyn.

Drik was desperate for some silver powder, and first exchanged some of his gold for silver and tried to get a blacksmith to powder them for him. It turned out it was illegal to destroy the currency, but the blacksmith forwarded Drik to people who sold silver in bulk. Buying a five pound chunk of silver Drik proceeded back to the blacksmith who was happy to do the task.

Drik also took the demon's fullblade to the bishop for it to be destroyed. The blade was placed on an altar, and priests first spent a full night praying around it. The next morning the bishop used Drik's sacred axe to slice the sword in two, after which the altar was heated so that the demon blade melted. That was the end of that evil creation!

During the time, dozens of executions and twice as many banishments were carried out in an effort to root out the evil from the city of Dhunraven. Alayn had declared a full holiday in honor of Drik and his companions, and for getting rid of the temple of Vecna below the city.

Drik and Radagast dressed in their finest court clothes, and carried the weapons to the ceremony. Lord Khulven himself gave a speech, looking much longer than the last time Drik and Radagast had seen him. He talked about how Dhunraven had suffered while he was sick, and described how the brave men had fought the undeads beneath the city getting rid of the evil. He presented the same kind of medallion for courage as Drik and Radagast had for Garwolf and the bishop of Dhunraven, and said similar medallions had been sent for Wiglaf and Gabriel. Next he called for Drik to step forward. Khulven said that sinc Drik was a man of the cloth, he could not bestow knighthood on him but he gave Drik a seal ring saying that whenever Drik needed help, showing that ring to one of Khulven's allies would get him assistance. Then it was Radagast's turn, who was nervously twiddling with his sword scabbard. Lord Khulven asked for Radagast's sword, asked him to kneel, and touching his shoulders with the sword, pronouncing him a knight, Sir Radagast of Dhunraven.

As Radagast was returning to his place, a crossbow bolt came seemingly out of nowhere and hit Lord Khulven in the shoulder. The guards surrounded the fallen lord in an instant, but they let Drik through. Drik immedately healed the wound, but to his amazement Lord Khulven remained unconscious and was still fading away. The crowd dispersed in panic. There was nothing anyone could do but watch Lord Khulven finally drift away. Radagast could not detect anything magical in the bolt, so the logical conclusion was that the bolt must have been poisoned. The guards were already combing the nearby houses, so there was nothing for Drik or Radagast to do, so there was nothing else for them to do except go for the palace.

Near the entrance they saw Cordwellyn's colors. There was a messenger, and Drik went to have a chat with him. He said he had a message for Lord Khulven - or now Alayn - and Garwolf.

Eomric seemed like the best source of information, so Drik and Radagast headed towards his tower. They were greeted by guards outside, saying that Alayn was conferring with Eomric and that they had orders to not let anyone in. Drik and Radagast waited.

After an hour, Alayn finally came out. He said he he now knew what had to be done. He send a guard to summon Bardia for a conference. When he heard Cordwellyn's messenger was waiting for him he seemed disgusted and muttered something about Cordwellyn probably asking for more money. He then left taking the guards with him.

Drik knowcked on the door, and Timothy, Eomric's apprentice came to asnwer the door. He looked bored, and asked what Drik and Radagast wanted. Radagast showed him the apprentice spellbook he had fetched from his guarters, saying Eomric might be interested in it. Timothy said he might, considering that they did not had had any decent apprentice level spellbooks available lately. When he asked for the price, Radagast asked for 50 gold, which Timothy agreed to. He then ushered the companions in, and asked them to wait while he checked if Eomric would have time to meet them. He did, so Drik and Radagast joined Eomric in his study.

Eomric said he had some clues to the high priest of the church of Vecna, who was still at large. Eomric's scrying efforts had given only vague hints: sunlight filtering down through boards, as if in a cellar; next to road; window and Hogshead ale. Eomric also mentioned that the high priest had managed to hide pockets of undeads outside of the city, and Bardia and his scouts had located and destroyed several already.

After the gravest matters the discussion turned to other things. Radagast mentioned the book he sold to Timothy, mentioning Radagast in turn had bought it from Cordwellyn in Cador. Eomric was not too surprised, saying that Cordwellyn did end up with the weirdest of merchandise. Radagast also mentioned hearing some rumors about spellcasters guild that had combined the arcane with the sword. Eomric had not heard of such, but said the arcane order of spellcasters operated from the Monastery of the Sword. Radagast also expressed his interest in celeastial creatures. Eomric said he was a bit surpised that El Elyon sometimes let the wielders of arcane magic to summon the celeastials, but his musing was cut short. There was a knock on the door.

Eomric's apprentice Timothy was at the door, and Drik let him in. Suddenly Eomric started casting a spell, which Radagast recognized to be a protective sort to create a barrier of magical energy around Eomric. Before neither Drik or Radagast were able to understand what was going on, Timothy charged Eomric with a sword, but missed. Eomric in turn pointed a finger at Timothy, shooting a black ray, but missing Timothy and luckily also missing Radagast who was frantically casting a shielding spell of his own. Timothy smashed a small vial to the ground, and magical fire spred throughout the study. Drik charged Timothy with his axe, while Radagast was trying to figure out how to subdue the apprentice without killing him. Eomric did not seem have any qualms about killing him as he again pointed his finger and an arrow shot into Timothy, splashing acid over him as well. Timothy again fished a small vial from his back, uncorked it, and the room filled with sulphurous smoke almost instantly. A fiery demon popped out next (Radagast had a brief moment trying to figure out how something as big as a demon could fit into a small bottle). The appearance of the demon made Radagast forget about charging Timothy, and concentrate on some more protective magic instead. Eomric bolted for the stairs with the demon literally hot on his heels. Timothy once again had a fresh vial in his hand, which he drunk and disappeared. Radagast thought he could see the smoke moving as if someone was passing by him towards the door, and tried to hit it. Unfortunately he only hit thin air.

Soon flasks of oil were thrown into the still burning carpet, making it obvious that the place would burn down unless someone would put it down. The smoke created a lot of smoke, so it was difficult to see and breath. Radagast tried to contain the flames with a table. Drik tried calling for some guards and then helped Radagast with the fire. The smoke was getting to Radagast, and after hearing some noise upstairs he scrambled after Eomric and the demon.

Drik cast a spell which let him withstand the flames (although not the smoke), to make it easier and safer to work on putting the flames out. Was yelled for help, even used his signal whistle to draw some attention. Unfortunately Eomric's tower was quite far from the normal routes of the people living in the palace. Finally, the fire still burning but not as near the precious books as before, he too went running for the stairs.

Radagast had done his best trying to follow the bloodstains and the smoky room after smoky room, climbing the stairs, but finally he had to stop for a breather at one of the open windows. The smoke was really making him ill, and he was in danger of passing out!

Drik soon passed by Radagast. Radagast, having recovered a little, followed his friend. Soon they came upon a scene they did not expect: the flaming demon was standing next to the charred body of Eomric lying on the floor. Drik charged the demon madly, and his sacred axe hummed with holy power, cutting through the demon splashing droplets of fire everywhere. Before Radagast could charge, the demon stepped back, stared Drik angrily and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Drik investigated the body, which was so badly scarred it was hard to make sure it really was Eomric. He was dead, beyond the means of Drik's powers. What a sad day!

Radagast and Drik descended back to the study in stunned silence. It was too much! Who could now guide them against the evil? They met guards in the study who had finally put out the fire, and Alayn. Drik broke the bad news to Alayn, saying that Alayn would probably not want to see the body of his friend for it was so badly burned.

Alayn gathered some of his guards and with Drik and Radagast they proceeded to have a word with Theoden, the bishop.

Chaos awaited them at the temple as well. Guards, priests and worshippers were impaled to rails, burned spots marked the floors, and blood had made the floor sticky. Alayn summoned for Bardia and more guards, while Drik and Radagast prepared for battle. The bishop and some of his priests were making a last stand against a bunch of ravagers, four in total. The villains had nasty tattoos covering their bodies with hideous bony pieces of armor. The priests had only managed to hold out so long because they were fighting in a doorway where they could block the attackers from ganging up on them.

Drik was the first to charge in, and he showed that his axe could be a mighty weapon when he took a swing at the leader. The leader snarled, but took a respectful step back before swinging his sword and then shocking with his hand, both attacks hitting Drik. Alayn's guards quickly hacked down one of the thugs, even though he managed to down one of the guars in turn. Alayn showed that he had also improved with his fighting skills, and expertly sunk his sword into the guts of another villain, who still managed to keep standing. Radagast was just hitting air, and one ravager managed to took flight.

The leader was clearly an opponent of some skill, for he stuck his sword through Drik and again used some unholy powers to hurt Drik at the same time. Drik fell, unconscious. That did not slow the leader down one bit, as he made a surprising lounge with his sword and managed to hit Radagast as well. Radagast wanted to go and help his friend, but he realized he coult provide the best protection for someone else to help Drik, so he yelled for others to look after Drik while he launched a flurry of attacks at the leader, all of them missing unfortunately. Radagast was really getting scared of the fighting prowess and seemingly unnatural skill and withering tough of the leader. He stepped back, and leashed a bolt of magical energy - finally something that shed a little blood!

While Radagast was keeping the leader at bay, Alayn came and bound Drik's bleeding wounds. Next Alayn bravely charged the leader, skewering the monster on his sword. The man looked surpised, then fell to his death. Radagast used one of the healing potions he had bought from Drik to bring Drik back to consciousness. Drik started healing himself and the other badly injured people.

Radagast concratulated Alayn for good fighting and for saving Drik's life. Alayn said most of his skills came from the enchanted sword Eomric had made for him. Drik also thanked Alayn, saying how strange it was that not long ago it was Drik saving Alayn's life.

After Drik had done all he could to help the injured, he wanted to talk to Bjorn, the captain of the guard. While on the way there, Drik and Radagast were passing by a tavern called the Dancing Cockatrice when people were running out from the building screaming: "Demons! Demons!" Radagast readied his crossbow and carefully peeked into the tavern: there were four small demon-like creatures attacking two customers, the barkeep and a barmaid. Drik shot a blast of white energy at one of the apparations which disappeared in a puff of smoke, but not after it had gored the barmaid who had fallen to the floor. Radagast put a bolt at the back of one of the other demons. Drik then charged the demon facing the barkeep, while Radagast went the other direction to save the patrons. The two men were fighting pretty well with their makeshift weapons of beer mugs and pieces of furniture, but it looked like the otherwordly creatures were not affected by the hits as much as one would expect. Radagast and Drik did not have time to finish all of the creatures before they simply vanished! Radagast realized they were summoned creatures, and the spell holding them on this plane had just ended. It also meant that whoever had unleashed the monsters was not far away. Radagast asked if the barkeep had heard any strange language being spoken just before the demons appeared, but the man did not remember hearing anything unusual.

Drik quickly healed the barmaid, then went to the back to see if there was a wine cellar. It turned out the place matched Eomric's description with Hogshead ale and all. Drik then gave a hard time to the barkeep; Drik learned that the man knew nothing and that there was some kind of an underground organization that the barkeep had to pay for protection and other services, and that he was very afraid of.

Since there was nothing more to be done, and the town guards were taking over the investigation, Drik and Radagast headed back to the palace. They told Alayn what they had experienced. Drik then suggested searching the temple of vecna again for some more clues, but Alayn had already sealed the access. However, Alayn granted the companions permission to use Eomric's tower to find any possible clues. When Radagast asked for more guards to be placed at Eomric's tower Alayn sighed but agreed, saying he had to be relying more and more on Cordwellyn's mercenaries. Once again Cordwellyn's name clicked on Radagast's head. Everything was playing quite nicely if Cordwellyn was looking for more power!

Finally Drik and Alayn discussed means of communications. Drik suggested the guards should have whistles or something so they could be called from further away. Alayn said the guard now carried horns so that was no longer a problem.

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