Sword

My companions:

• Marius - halfling cleric of Brandobaris
• Luca Radebus - human priest of Lliira (the only one in the city)
• Catchpole - half elven bard
• Jharga - half elven swashbuckler
• Alaron Smithson - half elven rogue

TWAS COLD and blustery. We were in the city near the Elk's Roost, when a black hole opened up in the square & a blackened almost dead elf came out, followed by a bunch of Redskin goblins, the hard ones. It took a while to take them down, and as we killed the last of them the portal closed & disappeared. The elf was barely alive.

We had some lunch (well, Marius was with us,) then got called to see BasilicAn & a bunch of other worthies including Vok Zander & J’alac Mars, plus the elf. He said he was from Xorhun, a small city in faraway Turmish. He was a mage who'd risked his life to get to Sarbreenar & beg for our aid. Their city was attacked 12 days ago by a goblin horde, and was still under siege. They had a magical shield that blocked most magics. A legend of theirs told of a mighty blade, the "Sword of Spirits" which they believed could save the city if it could be found & brought into Xorhun.

It was suggested to us that Rufus the Rascal might be able to provide some information about Sir Garamon, who was known to have wielded the sword. We found him, & he told us that Sir Garamon and his sword were buried in the Hall of the Tombs in the eastern Stonefast mountains - the priests of Tempus might know where this was. We relayed this information to Voxander. He told us that Tempus had granted us permission to enter the tomb & remove the sword only. To find it we should count 4 tombs to the left as the sun fell at dusk, and in a small valley look for 2 pillars- one black, one white.

The next day we set off on horseback. On the morning of the 3rd day we were assailed by another load of goblins appearing out of a portal, but made short work of them & travelled on up into the mountains. At around lunchtime on the 6th day another portal appeared like a flash of lightning, & this time the goblins had a spellcaster with them. At the end of the 9th day we'd arrived at the valley and located the right tomb.

E TRAVELLED through 2 large pillars then 2 stone doors into a corridor. Paintings on the walls told Garamond's life story. Avoiding a pit trap we went through a couple more doors into a room with statuary, 2 of which animated and attacked. We thought the room beyond that was the tomb - but it was empty of body or sword! We noticed a stone carving in the wall that appeared to be some sort of puzzle. After some messing around with it we seemed to get the right combination, as another corridor appeared.

We followed the new corridor down some stairs and through another door. Now we were in a corridor with alcoves containing armoured figures, some of which animated and attacked: one of Catchpole's dogs got killed. Another room & corridor with more animating statues, and eventually we got to the real tomb. As we took the sword still more statuary animated. Luca used a Teleport to get 4 of us back to the fake tomb room, but Alaron got killed and so when he teleported back in it was to get his body. We got out of the complex, flying as fast as we could as the statues were following.

The next day as we were packing up camp we were approached by a group of Tempus followers who'd come here at Vok Zander's request to clean up the tomb. We had a note for expenses at an inn in Halamach, and for ship hire. There was a rumour of a Druid portal near to Halamach, stones that were also part crystal. If we answered a riddle correctly it might take us near to Xorhun. We flew part of the way there, saving about a day's travel, but at lunchtime there was the inevitable lightning flash of a portal opening...

As we sighted the city of Halamach ahead we also noticed a large yew tree with a man near to it. He introduced himself as Barkle, a woodsman, and he believed that the portal was about 2 hours northwest of here. As we travelled we were challenged by 3 steel-armoured men who seemed to think we were thieves. Just at that moment the goblins chose to open a portal & attack, which confused things somewhat as the Tyr priests assumed they were with us... this time the goblin shaman threw a pot at the sword which was seeping red mist.

We travelled on and found the Druid Circle. Some written text appeared in the sand:

"The destination is..."

"The Key is..."

NSWERING THE riddles transported us near to the gates of Xorhun, but of course we were now surrounded by goblins...and none of our magic was working. We made a dash for the gates and were let in.

Mellarvic, the leader of the city put "the spirit of the city" into the sword. This killed him. A man called Huss had been chosen to wield it & knew how to remove the city's magical shield.

The next day we were asked to take out the goblin leader's tent. We were made invisible so that we could scale down the walls and through the goblin camp okay. Inside the tent we killed three redskins and a bigger blueskin, the leader (a Barghast.)

1373DR   (Excalibur, November 2001)

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