Bane the Barbarian – Session 5

DAY 12 (cont)

Just across the river from Nulb we halted and warily surveyed the collection of squat, grey buildings that could be made out through the pouring rain. A vague sense of foreboding hung in the air and my gaze kept being drawn toward the edge of the forest, which had encroached to within a few paces of the road where we were standing. Something about the dark trunks and twisted branches gave me the creeps… and it was not just that they were too near.

We waited and watched as Az scouted ahead, carefully negotiating the decrepit old bridge and checking for any threat immediately on the other side. When he was satisfied he came back.

In Az’s opinion, though pretty rickety, the bridge would hold as long as we were careful and took it one at a time. From what he could see the far side was clear but he had found a large paw print and had also felt that there had been movement amongst the buildings further away, though he was uncertain what it was.

After giving his report to Rae and Muratis, Az strolled over to where I was standing, leaving the others discussing what to do next.

“Something up?” he asked, following my gaze into the trees.

“Not really… It’s just a feeling” I said.

Az looked thoughtfully into the gloom. “Hmmm… you’re right” he said. “It’s too quiet”.

He moved a short distance along the edge of the forest and then slid silently into the trees. I watched him from where I stood, knowing that he would not thank me for following. He was an experienced scout and used to working alone, I would only get in his way. Very slowly I drew Tangrel’s blade from my scabbard, I wanted to ensure I would be ready if Az needed aid. He went a few paces further in and stopped. It looked like he was listening. Then having found nothing he turned to come back.

Suddenly, from out of the foliage nearby a large black shape shot toward him, eating up the ground with alarming speed. Immediately I dived in through the trees. With surprising agility for someone of his stout stature Az dropped and rolled to one side, bringing his spear up to receive the creature’s charge with practiced ease. As I closed I recognised the beast as a huge Dire Wolverine, maybe the second biggest I had ever seen. I couldn’t help grinning. At last! Something I knew how to deal with! Though with my luck recently this one would turn out to be a magician in a wolverine skin!

There was no evidence of any wizardry however as Az impaled the beast on the end of his warspear and it howled with pain. It thrashed around a bit trying to get at him, but the wound slowed it and Az was skilled enough to hold it off. There was little opportunity for it to recover from the attack before I arrived on the scene. I crashed from the undergrowth and immediately cleaved its flank with an almighty blow. The beast was grievously injured and staggered with the weight of the new attack. Seeing a momentary opportunity, Az tumbled forward under it’s belly and delivered a fatal blow. The Dire Wolverine shuddered and fell. As it hit the ground I plunged my blade through its ribs just to make sure. It gave one last wheezing breath and was still. I looked around the forest hoping for more, but that was the end of it.

It had only taken seconds for Az and I to despatch the fell creature. As the others arrived on the scene Az gave me an almost imperceptible nod, I smiled. We had operated together as a well honed fighting machine… and for once there hadn’t been the slightest hint of any magic. I felt rather pleased with myself.

Having removed the immediate threat from the trees we turned our attention back to the village of Nulb itself. The others crossed the bridge one-by-one, while I waited till last and watched the woods in case there was something else. But nothing untoward occurred and after only a few minutes we were all across.

On the far side of the bridge there was a noticeable chill in the air. I did not think it was solely the fact that the rain was still falling and we were all soaked through. It reminded me a little of the well room at the Moat-House, which was not a pleasant thought. The others had noticed it too.

Cautiously we led our mounts along the main road, advancing until we came to an inn near the centre of town. Though derelict like the other dwellings in the village, the inn did seem to be mostly intact. Ichabard suggested we stop and see if it was a defensible position in case we needed to fall back somewhere. It seemed like a good idea … at the time.

Inside, the inn was dark and musty. Some light filtered through from a hole in the ceiling, and a table and one or two chairs had been overturned, but it was on the whole undisturbed. A multitude of cobwebs and a coating of dust were evidence that nobody had been there for some time.

Rae called me over to a door at the end of the bar and asked me to help her break up a table to use as a shield when we went through. It seemed a slightly odd request when there was no evidence that anything was on the other side, but I supposed that there was nothing wrong with being overly cautious.

After a minute or two we had removed the legs and were hefting the table top toward the door. It was a little awkward but we were able to lift the latch and manoeuvre the makeshift shield through the doorway. I was not particularly surprised to discover that nothing was there. Az, Ichabard and Muratis hung back in the bar room while I followed Rae into the darkness. I could just make out a corridor to our right and some steps leading downward. Presumably to the cellar.

Suddenly there was a shout from behind. I wasn’t sure who had called out but something was obviously amiss. Rae and I immediately spun round and burst back into the other room.

What I saw there stopped me in my tracks. A ghastly spectre floated in the air above my companions. Pale and incorporeal, it was all bone and withered flesh. Wisps of hair and tattered remnants of clothing fluttered from its head and torso as if blown by a ghostly wind. Brandishing a phantom blade it fixed Az and Muratis with a skeletal death’s head grin, while beneath it, upon the barroom floor, was Ichabard’s prone form.

Seeing my comrade down snapped me back to my senses and I sprang into the fray alongside the others. I tried to drive the spectre back but it was to no avail. Our weapons appeared to have little effect on its ghostly form, passing through it almost as though it was not there. Even Muratis’s magic seemed to be little more than an irritation to it.

I managed to get close enough to start dragging Ichabard out from beneath it, but when I had nearly pulled him clear the ghost turned its withering gaze upon me and I felt the chill of death upon my soul. It left me weak and shaken but somehow I managed to scramble away.

We all made a hasty retreat back out into the rain, Rae and Muratis bringing up the rear. We were grateful when the spirit did not follow.

It was once we were outside, amongst the mud and puddles, that I was finally able to turn my attention to Ichabard’s condition. To my dismay I quickly discovered that he was dead. My shoulders sank. I had suspected for a while that his days were numbered, but to face the reality of it was different somehow. Maybe we had not always been the best of travelling companions. His naive reliance on book lore and stubborn refusal to be swayed from reckless schemes had been more than a little irritating at times, not to mention the lyre playing, but we had shared each other’s adventures for many months and I would miss having him around.

“I suppose we should go back to Hommlet and get the Canoness to attempt a resurrection”, Muratis said.

Wait a minute… A resurrection?

“Can we do that?” I said with some astonishment. Muratis’s tone had seemed to indicate this was an everyday activity, nothing particularly out of the ordinary. I wondered just how often this kind of thing happened.

“Yeah”, he said distractedly. “I was brought back once after having my brains sucked out by a Mind-Flayer. It’ll be expensive but it shouldn’t be a problem … Assuming there aren’t any complications.”

Not for the first time, I wondered if I was more than a little out of my depth here…

And so we strapped Ichabard’s body to his horse and made our way back to Hommlet. As a parting shot Muratis threw a fireball through the doorway to the inn. A small gesture of defiance perhaps but one that I approved of.

It was late by the time we finally trudged back into town, but the Church of St. Cuthbert always opens its doors to the needy. At the priests’ instruction we placed Ichabard’s body in a small chamber where the clerics could watch over it for the remainder of the night. I cannot explain why but for some reason I felt a little uncomfortable about leaving Ichabard lying alone in the dark atop the stone slab where his body rested, so I asked if I could stay and also keep vigil.

I spent the night there, dozing fitfully in the cool darkness, my thoughts constantly returning to brood over the dead; Ichabard, the grim spectre from Nulb, Tangrel, my mother and father, friends, enemies, others whose names I did not always recall. But there was one thought that came to me which concerned me more than any other. I couldn’t help wondering, if the Canoness had the power to do this thing, then why had Rae and Muratis not attempted to have Tangrel resurrected? I could only assume that they were covering up the truth about his death. Had they in fact conspired to kill him? I was not sure.

DAY 13

The following morning we all met at the church. Az and I were still weakened after our encounter with the ghost and Muratis observed that in addition to the resurrection we probably required the Canoness to do some magical healing to restore us to full health. The way I felt, I could not disagree with him.

And so, shortly after Muratis had made a sizeable donation from the party coffers to the church fund, Az and I were restored and Ichabard was brought back to life. I was not sure what to expect but he seemed none the worse for the experience. Perhaps a little dazed but that was not particularly out of the ordinary.

Afterward I tried telling him he should be more careful, but it seemed that even death hadn’t made that much of an impression on him.

He gave me the same old “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be OK” speech that he always gave.

“By the Gods Ichabard!” I said, “You nearly get yourself killed every couple of days and, in case you hadn’t noticed, this time you were actually dead.”

“Yeah that was a close one wasn’t it?” he replied cheerfully.

I threw up my hands in exasperation. There was no reasoning with him.

Despite the dangers that probably lay ahead, everyone was keen to resume our journey to the temple. After all there didn’t seem to be much point in hanging around in Hommlet. So by midday we were back on the road.

The general opinion was that this time we should spend as little time in the vicinity of Nulb as possible, so we journeyed to within half a day’s travel of there and then made camp for the night.

Muratis proposed that we ensured our safety by making use of something he called “the Rope Trick”. The concept appeared to entail climbing up a magic rope and spending the night in a bubble of energy that wasn’t actually there. It didn’t sound very safe to me.

“It’s OK Bane it’s only like a portal to another dimension”.

“What other dimension?”

“Just another dimension. It doesn’t really matter which one.”

“It matters to me. What happens if you can’t get back?”

“You always come back.”

“… But what if you can’t and you’re like trapped there?”

“You don’t really have to worry about that” Rae interjected. I think she was trying to be reassuring but with Rae it’s a little hard to tell.

“The spell only lasts for so long and when it runs out the bubble collapses and you cease to exist. It’d be over in an instant. You wouldn’t feel anything.”

“Oh” I said “Well, I think I’ll sleep down here tonight, if it’s all the same to you.”

In the end, since horses aren’t very good climbers, Rae and I stayed down with our mounts while the others used the rope. I found it a little disconcerting to see my companions disappearing from view a few feet above our heads. Az said he would keep a look out from up there, because he didn’t need much sleep, and Rae and I split watches to ensure our camp and the horses were safe.

During the night, some time after my watch, my slumber was disturbed by the sounds of a commotion. I quickly came to my senses and tried to figure out what was going on. It was pretty dark and there was a fair bit of noise, mostly coming from the horses. For a moment I thought I caught a glimpse of Az charging off into the darkness, so I grabbed my sword and set off after him at a run. When I caught up with him he had a prisoner.

“Pah… Horse thieves!” Az spat disgustedly. “Ought to have more sense.”

Apparently, Rae had fallen asleep on her watch, but Az had spotted the four horse thieves who had attempted to make off with the horses. Leaping out of the sky he had quickly despatched one of them and set off in pursuit of two others. The remaining one had succeeded in mounting Rae’s warhorse and riding off. Roused from her slumber, Rae had grabbed one of the lighter horses and gone to retrieve her mount.

When the two men that Az had been pursuing realised he was going to overhaul them, they had turned to fight. One had died and the other, who was now Az’s prisoner, had surrendered.

A short while later Rae returned with both horses. I didn’t need to be told what had happened to the man she had gone after.

DAY 14

The remainder of the night passed uneventfully and in the morning, before we departed for Nulb, we took pity on our terrified prisoner and let him loose.

After a further half-day ride we had returned to where we had started. Standing at the bridge overlooking the village of Nulb, we warily surveyed the collection of squat, grey buildings that could be made out through the pouring rain…