Around the Mountain

NOTE: THIS STORY IS BASED OFF OF THE PATHFINDER RPG. SOME COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL HAS BEEN USED UNDER THE OPEN GAMING LICENSE RULES.
Storyline by Justin Groby
Compiled by Amber Manuel 

“Now that that’s done,” Lilianna said as she surveyed their new magical items, “I think we should head back to Yenmass in the morning. There’s plenty to do, workers to hire, buyers to find…”

“Gerard already has someone doing that,” Filayne mentioned. “A gnome is finding merchants who are interested in the profits of the mine. For a fee, of course.”

“Well, there’s still workers to round up and whatnot,” she said as she stood. “I’ll get everything packed and ready, but I think we should start back in the morning.

“Hey, here’s an idea: why don’t you use those slippers of yours to get some more examples of what we have to sell?”

Filayne nodded and stood before moving away for a pick and hammer. While she was rummaging around for the items, she saw Gerard and Osamu just outside the cave.

“We found some game tracks,” Gerard called. “We’re going to follow them and see if we can get lunch.”

“Good idea!” Lilianna called back as she began unsaddling her horse. Off to the side, Talia was sitting and leaning back against the cavern wall, completely at ease.

Filayne moved into the secondary tunnel to find some precious metals. She could hear Lilianna and Talia chatting a little, their voices echoing down the mine shaft. After finding some samples in that tunnel, she bypassed the third since it held the temple, and moved on to the fourth. As she chipped at the stone around a large piece of gold, she frowned. It was quiet in the tunnels, even moreso since the cleric and oracle had stopped speaking. Shouldn’t there be some noise aside from the echoes of her pick and hammer working against the stone? Talia had said that she could tell that there was nothing around, no monsters and such.

But if there was nothing around, then why was there game tracks?

Filayne mulled over the thought as she finished chipping the piece of gold out. Back in the main cavern, she posed the thought to Lilianna and Talia. The two exchanged a glance.

“That is a good point,” Lilianna said slowly. “We should go after them.” She began bridling her horse again.

Filayne followed suit, saddling her mare. “You can ride with me, Talia,” she said to the oracle. “I know you don’t want to be left here alone.” Talia nodded and mounted behind Filayne as soon as she could.

About a mile away and only a quarter of the way around the mountain, Osamu and Gerard were still following the tracks.

Finally, Gerard sighed. “I think we should turn back,” he said, coming to a stop. “If we were going to find the game, I think we would have already.”

“If you feel we should turn back, then perhaps it is so.”

As the two turned, the sand beside them exploded upwards. They threw up their hands until the rain of dirt was over, only to find themselves face-to-snout with a massive snake.

“It’s a baskabitch!” Gerard shouted.

“A what?”

“You know! A baskabitch? A.K.A. basilisk?”

“Where I come from, we call it huge-ass snake!” Osamu returned as he moved forward and drew his new star knife and his sword. The star knife's blades swung through the air with their points flaming and struck the snake’s belly, drawing blood.

Gerard cast quickly, and the beast blinked, shaking its massive triangular head. Then Gerard commanded his raven Poe to fly up behind the huge monster and hover behind it.

Osamu struck again, drawing more blood and lighting a part of the snake’s scales on fire. Immediately Gerard cast another spell. Out of Poe’s talons came bolts of lightening. The electricity struck the basilisk, which screeched in anger.

Suddenly three salamanders surrounded the pair, their fiery, snake-like bodies crackling like molten lava. Knowing that salamanders couldn’t just appear and disappear, Gerard quickly cast about. Up on the mountain above them on a narrow outcropping stood a dark figure, its skin black and hair silvery white.

Drow.
Hated by all of the races that lived underground, the Dark Lands dwellers were feared by surface dwellers for their evil natures and vile acts that they so delighted in. To see one on the surface was cause for fear that more of the hated creatures weren't far behind. 

Gerard turned back to the fight in time to see one of the salamanders strike out at Osamu. Hit by one of their new opponents, Osamu dropped his sword and disappeared from sight.

Gerard began another spell when suddenly all around him a flaming sphere appeared. He would have been engulfed in it, but his reflexes were so awesome that he jumped out of the way before it could harm him and managed somehow to continue his spell.

At that time, Lilianna, Talia and Filayne appeared around the corner of the mountain. Filayne immediately spotted the Drow high up on the cliff. But what was it doing here, so far away from the Dark Lands? She looked for a way up but didn’t see an easy one.

Osamu reappeared suddenly, caught in the baskabitch’s jaws. The snake held him firm and wrapped its coils around him. He struggled as it lifted him off the ground.

Gerard’s spell went off and the ground began to move as rock and sand formed into two bipedal forms. The Earth elementals grew as they took solid form, and started towards the salamanders. Gerard stepped back from the still-flaming sphere and cast again. Poe’s talons glowed with electricity as he grabbed one of the salamanders. The beast barely had time to scream before it fell to the ground, dead. At the same time, one of the Earth elemental attacked another salamander, clubbing it with his fist. The other elemental attacked the other salamander, clubbing it as well.

Reining in, Lilianna slid off her horse and immediately began casting. The moment she opened her mouth, the fire sphere started towards her.

The Drow looked directly at Filayne and shouted, “You’ll die!”

She frowned at the language. It wasn’t one normally heard, though she had managed to learn it in past years. It was Aklo, an evil Fey language.

The air began to crackle around her. Talia yelled and jumped off the back of the horse. Filayne followed suit and got a mouthful of sand. She rolled in time to see her horse hit with lightening, a couple bolts of which arched off and landed on Filayne. The mare screamed and bolted away as Filayne recovered from the electric shock.

Back in the primary battle, one of the salamanders struck towards Osamu and accidentally hit the snake while the other hit the man where he was still captured in the snake’s jaws.

Tumbling up, Filayne moved into the dervish dancer’s battle dance and danced up the side of the cliff with her useful slippers. At the top she flipped up to land beside the Drow and pulled her weapons out to attack.

Below, the snake began to constrict Osamu. Having had enough of being held, Osamu hit the beast once on the head and felt its forehead cave in. Its coils loosened and he slumped with it to the ground. He immediately disappeared as one Earth elemental moved up and swung at one of the remaining salamanders, putting it out of commission. The final Earth elemental moved up and hit the other salamander, which also fell to the ground. Gerard’s words changed and his moving hands switched patterns.

Beside Filayne and the Drow, two white celestial spiders appeared on the side of the cliff. Behind the Drow that now faced Filayne appeared a celestial air elemental. The spiders threw webs at the Drow, which also meant the webbing was thrown at Filayne. She managed to dodge the sticky strands, but the Drow became entangled.

Seeing that her summons worked, Lilianna ran across the now-quiet battle field and placed her hands on Osamu, casting a healing spell.

His body healed and pleasantly warm, Osamu nodded to the cleric. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied. “May the light of Saranrae protect you.”

Beside Filayne, the Drow turned into a falcon and, freed from the sticky webs, started to fly away. She swung, but missed the fleeing falcon.

“Come back here you coward!” she yelled in undercommon, a language she knew that he knew. He hesitated, but continued fleeing. “Coward!” she screamed after him.

Using the boots, she ran twenty feet down the cliff face and jumped the last 15 to tumble down. Coming up to her feet, she hopped up on the remaining horse and galloped after the fleeing falcon. The horse was quicker, and she turned around to face the falcon as it came.

Suddenly Findeladlara granted Filayne with her voice. “You have your weapon drawn still, right?”

“Yeah,” she replied, wondering why her deity was asking.

“Which one?” the goddess asked.

“The long one!” she said with a scoff, as if to say, duh!

Gerard finished casting and five celestial eagles surrounded the Drow/falcon. They all began attacking the Drow, pecking at it with their beaks and ripping with their talons as feathers flew. Poe flew over and joined in the bird melee. Gerard moved closer and then cast one last spell. The falcon fell, turning back into the Drow right after it hit the ground.

Filayne rode back to the fallen Drow and could tell it was dead. She quickly dismounted and began rummaging through his items, pocketing what looked like a journal written in Aklo. She found an ashy-colored wand and set it out beside the body.

“I did find dinner!” Osamu called, his voice easily carrying across the sand. He began to cut up the snake.

Filayne looked up towards Osamu and laughed. Gerard walked up and knelt beside the Drow to help rifle through his things. He pulled a bedroll off the Drow and unfurled it to find it wasn’t a bedroll but a rug, approximately five feet squared with adornments of black and white feathers and some clouds.

“That’s definitely magic,” Lilianna said as she caught up. She bent and pulled a ring off the Drow’s finger. It was finely adorned with flames around the band that almost appeared to be moving. She moved his cloak and pulled out another wand, this one with a diamond on the base.

“This is a magic flying carpet!” Gerard said. “I’m not quite sure about the word to get it to take off, though…”

“What about the wands?” Lilianna asked.

Gerard looked them over carefully. “This wand,” he said, holding the ashy wand up, “is for healing.” Lilianna beamed as she took it.

“The one with the diamond is for daylight.”  

“Here’s a scroll,” Lilianna said, pulling it off the fallen Drow.

Gerard unfurled it. “Looks like protection from energy. Either you or I could use it,” he added, looking at Lilianna.

While they were busy identifying what magical properties the procured items had, Filayne found a small rolled scroll. Unfurling it, she found it was written in undercommon. She frowned and read over it quickly.

Druid,

Follow the group going towards the mine. Should my first hired help fail, take action. If you do this, I will make sure the city of Yenmass is destroyed and leveled to allow you to nurture the land back to its natural state.

There was no signature and no date on either side of the parchment. Filayne looked down at the dead Drow and figured he hadn’t delivered the letter, but had been the recipient, which made him a druid. But who had been the first hired help? Could the Theris who had asked Zarzuk to bring back the holy artifact have orchestrated this as well?

“Oh, look at this,” Gerard said, holding up a small tome. “It’s a manual on how to create a clay golem! It has all the spells, all the preparations, everything!”

Filayne looked up at the two and knew she couldn’t keep this new knowledge to herself. She doubted either of them knew how to speak, let alone read, undercommon, especially since no one had confronted her for shouting at the Drow in it. It wasn’t a very common language on the surface, and those who knew it often came under suspicion. She glanced around and saw Star off in the distance, sitting in the sand. Tucking the scroll into her belt, she stood.

“Cleric, might I have your assistance? I see my injured mare about fifty yards off and we’ll need her should we wish to bring back all the snake steak Osamu is preparing.”

“Of course,” Lilianna said promptly.

Filayne waited until after Lilianna had begun healing Star to say anything.

“I need to speak with you in confidence,” she said quietly so that her voice wouldn’t carry. “This must be held in strictest confidence because what I am about to tell you may change the way you view me.”

Lilianna lifted an eyebrow but shrugged. “Well, you’ve been a great comrade in our battles. Your resilience has proven your dedication.”

Taking that for acquiescence, Filayne took a deep breath and held out the scroll. “Can you read this?” she asked.

Lilianna frowned at it and shook her head.

Filayne nodded. “You may or may not have heard me mention this before, but I was once a paladin residing in an elven city. We – myself and other paladins – were sent down to fight the Drow in the Dark Lands. During that time, I learned to both speak and read undercommon.”

“That makes sense,” Lilianna agreed.

“Well, that’s what this scroll is written in.” She read the contents of the scroll aloud for Lilianna’s benefit. “I believe it’s safe to assume this Drow was the druid.”

“Agreed. But who would be able to guarantee something like this? The kind of power needed to level a city…”

“I don’t know,” Filayne replied.

“Neither do I,” she said with a frown.

After a moment of silence, Filayne was compelled to ask, “Will you keep my history to yourself? I’m not entirely ready to reveal it to everyone.”

“I don’t entirely understand why you would want that hidden, but we each follow our own gods. What is said in confidence is held in confidence,” she promised.

“Thank you.” Then, “Have you seen Talia?”

“Not since she ate dirt when we first arrived here.”

With a grin, Filayne took Star’s reins. “Let’s go check on her. Would you like a ride back?”

The cleric climbed up behind her and they made quick tracks back to the battle scene. Talia was just coming around, having hit her head on a rock hidden beneath the sand when she jumped off of Star. Other than a bump on her head, she was uninjured.

While they loaded up steak, Filayne shoved sand over the dead druid. Then the adventurers headed back to the mine.

Upon arrival, the horses were stripped of their tack again and sleeping pallets were set out while Osamu began cooking the steaks. Everyone was quiet, speaking little and going to bed early.

Needing barely half of what the rest of the group needed to sleep, Filayne woke up in the middle of the night, completely refreshed. Glancing around to make certain everyone was asleep, she then pulled out the small tome she had taken off the druid and slid into her pocket. As she read the evil fey language, her heart dropped in her chest.

TO BE CONTINUED…

 HELP, HELP!! I'M BEIN' OPPRESSED!!