Bane the Barbarian – Session 18

DAY 90

On the day we arrived back at the crater the temperature dropped and it started to rain. After some discussion we decided that we should explore the other trail up into the mountains and see if there was another entrance to the mine. If anyone was watching the path we hoped that the bad weather would aid us in avoiding detection.

The trail wound Eastward through a deep gorge before bending North around the crater. It was surrounded on all sides by the peaks of the Kron Hills and Lortmil Mountains which jutted up into a layer of thick grey cloud.

The rain beat down incessantly, gradually turning to sleet, and the wind howled.

It was unusually chill for the time of year and fairly unpleasant weather to be out, though I did not really mind. I was far more at home out in the wilds than in the mines.

I was scouting a short distance ahead of the others when I noticed something sticking out from under a bush by the side of the trail. It turned out to be an orc’s arm. Where the rest of the creature was I could not tell, but the dried blood and the strand of coarse yellow fur that I found snagged on a nearby briar, suggested that it had been attacked by a large animal.

A short while later I thought I heard roaring noises from up ahead, though it was difficult to make out through the downpour. It sounded like an animal in distress so I halted and warned the others.

I was planning on going to check it out but Sol suggested that he would be a better choice. I was not so sure. He was certainly the most stealthy but that wasn’t everything out here in the wilds. I could see that his mind was made up however, so moments later I watched as the little guy hunkered down and disappeared into the rain brandishing his crossbow.

“I hope he’s not going to do anything rash”, I commented, though I don’t think anyone heard.

After a few minutes had gone by we crept slowly forward. I moved off the track and worked my way between the boulders that littered the area. The sounds seemed distant but I knew that they were being deadened by the beating rain and actually the animal was quite near.

From between the rocks ahead I caught movement and gradually the source of the noises became apparent. Two orcs were there, prodding at a large lion with their spears. The lion had been wounded and appeared to be held in some kind of snare.

I edged further round, wary that there might be more orcs in the area. It would be dangerous to engage the two that we could see without knowing whether they were part of a larger force.

THUNK

One of the orcs pirouetted and fell. He had a crossbow bolt sticking out of his neck. The second stopped his goading of the lion and backed away looking scared.

Damn! So much for caution!

I darted forward, moving at a run in an effort to out-flank the orc before he could get away, but an instant later he turned and fled.

For a moment I thought that he was going to escape but then suddenly he was felled by an arrow that found its mark between his shoulder blades. I skidded to a halt and dropped to a crouch again.

Some distance behind me, Lucian stepped out onto the trail. He deftly swung his bow back over his shoulder and then confidently advanced toward the lion.

I stayed where I was and watched ahead for signs that we were not alone.

I’m not sure what happened next exactly. I heard Sol exclaim “Shit me! That boulder’s moving!” and when I looked round there was a tall, dull grey creature, with six eyes and a large mouth, standing up nearby. I recognised it as a Grey Render. At its full height it was at least half again as tall as I was. The creature bellowed and charged toward Lucian and the lion.

I jumped to my feet and ran to intercept. I didn’t think it was a good idea to let anything untoward happen to Tanyara’s cousin. Not when she and I seemed to be getting on so well.

As I neared the Render however, the air suddenly crackled with electricity and I was thrown backward by a lightning bolt that crashed down from the sky. The stench of ozone and burned flesh filled my nostrils. For a moment my mind was cast back many weeks to our encounter with the Blue Dragon, but then I realised that this time the lightning had been Muratis’s work. I struggled back to my feet.

There was some kind of screaming going on, which gradually resolved itself into the Grey Render’s awful howl. And I noticed at that moment the lion was fried.

Before I could fully regain my senses the Grey Render had grabbed me and sunk its teeth into my shoulder. After which it made a concerted effort to tear off one of my arms. I got the impression it was annoyed.

I struggled and managed to break free just as the Render was enveloped in magic missiles.

It let out another howl and then turned and lumbered off, stooping to snatch the body of the lion as it went. I let it go. It was badly injured and it seemed to me that it was more angry and confused than malevolent. As far as I knew Grey Renders were dangerous but not evil by nature.

Before it had got very far however, Muratis and Lucian once again blasted it with magic missiles and it went down.

A moment later there was a distant howl from up amongst the hills… and then another… and another. Slowly the call was taken up until they echoed all around.

Listening to the howls of the Grey Renders I could not help but feel saddened by what we had done. We need not have killed the creature once we had driven it away.

“Could you track it back to its lair?” Lucian asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“I could” I replied. I was slightly puzzled by the question, “But then again, why would I want to?”

“If we could find it there might be some loot there”

“Loot?”

For some reason I hadn’t expected an elf to be so mercenary.

“Yes” Muratis interjected, “If there are others there could be quite a bit”

“Uh-huh” I said disapprovingly.

Muratis met my gaze for a moment and then looked away.

“Fair point” he said. “Are we going to continue on up the trail then?”

Lucian shrugged.

“Yes” I said determinedly.

No one argued.

By mid-morning the weather had cleared. We followed the path up along a ridge and then down into another valley. At that point it turned West toward the crater wall and led up to another entrance. Beyond was the ever present purplish glow that emanated from the tower at the centre of the crater.

We pulled back off the track and concealed ourselves amongst the rocks while Sol went off scouting. He came back a couple of hours later.

He reported that the entrance was similar in outlay to the one we knew. It was certainly not disused but there was no sign of guards. Unfortunately, other than knocking on the door, there was no obvious way in there.

A lengthy debate ensued.

Sol and Lucian proposed adopting a new approach, using subtlety and deception, talking our way in, either by forging a letter or offering our help against the other temples. They had grand ideas of turning evil against itself and pitting the temples of the elements against each other.

“Why not use evil to fight evil?” they said, and “Perhaps this temple would sponsor us to destroy the other temples”

I was more than reluctant to embrace such a plan. It all began to sound frighteningly familiar. Perhaps I was being foolish but I could not bring myself to court the servants of evil, even as part of a cunning deception. It sounded too much like something the Hu-Ren Dai would do. Besides, we had not yet established what was going on in there. It seemed very dangerous to assume that the elemental temples were in opposition to each other. Were they not all followers of the Elder Elemental Eye? It would not be prudent to talk our way in and then find out that we had been misguided. And even if they were antagonistic toward each other I did not believe that these evildoers would simply allow us to leave unmolested once we returned. It all seemed rather ill-advised.

Throughout the whole discussion the one thing that made sense to me was that we needed to find out what evil skulduggery was afoot there and thus far we had failed to do so. Perhaps that in itself was sufficient reason to amend our tactics somewhat.

I didn’t get the impression that this was really the point that Sol and Lucian were trying to make however, and when Sol began to question whether the worshippers of evil that we had been slaying were truly evil, I began to wonder once again whether the others really understood what we were doing there.

We are standing on a precipice, the Dark One’s power is growing and he must be stopped.

Without arriving at a satisfactory conclusion it was agreed that we would return whence we had come and make camp until the following day.

DAY 91

The next morning we hid in our usual spot amongst the rocks and watched orcs hefting chests and barrels from a stack at the base of the slope up into the mine. The activity suggested that the Earth temple was being rebuilt and after some scrying Muratis indicated that the interior had been cleaned up and there was now a garrison of around four dozen orcs there.

So all we had to do then was decide how we were going to get inside…