Forgotten Realms Lost
Posted: 2004-11-26 10:56am
Forgotten Realms Lost
Part 1: Not in Arizona Anymore
It was a wonderful day in late December. Jack, Ben and Russell were camping in the Superstition Mountains. The air was cool, with a slight breeze coming from the southwest. The air was crystal clear and the desert was in bloom after the winter rains. It was the perfect time to go camping. They had even borrowed Nick's military tent, and brought their six foot trebuchet along to do a little target practice, as well as dart boards, Ben was doing reasonably well with those, compared to how he did in other sports. But night was about to fall and dinner was being made. The lanterns burned in the twilight as Jack took a bucket of MREs out of his truck.
"I HAVE DIBS ON THE SPAGGEHTI!!!" he exclaimed loudly as he tossed the bucket on the campsites picnic table
Ben and Russell leapt for the Alfredo, actually head-butting Ben and nearly knocking him unconscious. After finally finishing dinner, they spent a pleasant evening bonding with a case of beer, before passing out.
The morning was colder than expected. But all three of them were in for a real shock when they opened up the tent. While Ben was still putting on his glasses
"What the Fuck?!" Jack exclaimed yet again.
"What?" Russell and Ben both asked. They were both wondering what the hell was going on at this point and looked at each other with nervous glances
Jack sort of laughed, not so much out of amusement as nervousness
"Hehe, we aren't in Arizona anymore" Jack said, apparently mirthfully, but in reality he was awfully freaked out
"Jaaaack" Russell said" did you take your medication this morning" Now thinking Jack was bullshitting them.
"No not yet… But you should probably look at this"
"Ooookay" Russell said as he looked out the tent's door, his jaw went slack when he saw what Jack was looking at.
Ben was now curious. He wiped off his coke-bottles and looked out one of the windows.
What he saw was somewhat different than what his last vision of the outside of the tent has been. They were in a forest clearing, in high summer. The sun washed over his face with the air in the high seventies. It was perfect. But, Jack was right, they were most definitely not in Arizona anymore
"Ok guys… two possibilities. Either we got picked up and moved in the middle of the night without us noticing were put to sleep for 6 months and then dropped off somewhere in upstate New York, or…wormhole." Ben said matter of factly
"Are you stoned?" Jack asked
"Have anything better?" Ben replied
"No…"
"Then shut up"
"How about you both shut the fuck up and look at those" Russell hissed while pointing to something in the brush, As the little creature emerged, all their jaws dropped to the ground. It had green skin, was carrying a crude hand-axe, and was wearing leather armor. To top it off, it was about three feet tall with little protruding teeth
"Third option" Ben whispered "Planeshift spell"
The little green skin heard them, and with a raised hand, motioned for its 4 companions to come out of hiding. Each was armed similarly, though one carried a shortspear and the other a club.
Jack grabbed the axe they used for their campfire, Ben took up his walking stick, more like a staff, and Russell pulled out two kitchen knives that he packed…for some strange reason
"Be prepared" he said with his 'I am going to eat them for lunch' grin. All three of them got out of the tent. Jack, standing at 2.1 meters with a muscular firefighter build was the most imposing. Russell was the second out of the tent, wielding two very large kitchen knives, with his sunken in eyes and crazed look, he was easily the most scary, despite Jack's imposing stature. Last out was Ben, about Russell's height of 1.9 meters; but far less threatening. Armed with a 2 meter walking staff, wearing glasses, and bearing a youthful expression, he didn't seem threatening in the least. In fact, Ben was scared shitless, all three of them were.
The lead greenskin shouted something in their language and they charged. Their brief stints in the SCA would come in handy for this, Ben thought to himself as the spear wielding goblin came toward him. The goblins thrust was clumsy at best, and Ben managed to parry it, using the momentum gained to bring the staff crashing down on the unbalanced goblins head, knocking it unconscious. Jack was a little two large to be effective against goblins with such a small weapon. As ne of the axe wielders came at him, he sidestepped its weapon and kicked it in the head, using his mass to knock the little thing over. Then brought his axe down on it after kneeling. Russell was taking on three at a time with his kitchen knives, rather than using force to block blows, he knocked them aside and deflected them, as well as sidestepped. One goblin thought it saw an opening, Russell sidestepped, dropped one of the knives, grabbed its hand, twisted its arm and then drove the other blade through a kink in the armor, completely disabling the goblins sword arm. Then he tripped it, and stabbed his blade into its eye socket. Ben was not fairing as well. He was in a standoff with the lead goblin, barely managing to keep it out of axe reach with his staff.
The goblin then dove to the side, tumbled around Ben and his staff, and drew the axe back, right before an arrow slammed into its chest. Several more arrows flew though the air sporadically, hitting their marks with lethal precision; the remaining goblins only lasted a few seconds. The three college students panted from the exertion, save Russell, he didn't even break a sweat. Karate and having to deal with a little brother who has ADHD and Bipolar disorder is a gift in some respects. All three of them expected some badass ranger to save their ass. They expected either an elf or a human clad in studded leather and wielding a longbow; what they got was a short little fellow, thin, with a beard, strange goggles and a crossbow that looked like it was powered by clockwork gears. He was probably a gnome. He was definitely a gnome the moment he spoke.
"Hi! IamKranKlitterbox,wizardandmechanicalengineerextraordinaire!! Iamatyourservice!"
Ben took it upon himself to reply, seeing as he was the most capable of understanding the gnome due to his own rapid rate of speech
"greetings and salutations Kran Klitterbox, I am Ben Allen and I am at your service. Thank you for helping us with those goblins. We are in your debt" The gnome was a wizard, and obviously benign so Ben figured he could reveal a little more information.
"We are not from around her I am afraid, we come from another plane of existence where such creatures do not exist, and don't even know where we are"
"AHHHH!" Kran said "Well,youmynewfriendsareinthelandofFaurun,youaretravelingTheRealms!"
"Ah, shit, I have a date with my girlfriend tomorrow night" Jack said, depressed. He was going to miss out on getting laid this week. Poor Jack.
Ben and Russell laughed at him and called him a dirty fleshy simultaneously “There will be plenty of lusty wenches later on” Russell piped in.
The gnome looked confused at the word ‘girlfriend’ but said nothing
“Well, are you capable of getting us back home?” Ben asked
“Nonotreallythespellsnecessaryarebeyondmyabilitytochannel. ButIcangetyoutoShadowdaleitisonlyafewdaysawayandelminstermaybeabletogetyouhome”
“Thank you very much” Ben replied.
The Group walked through the day, the gnome speaking in his typical rapid tone. The day was rather uneventful. They stopped for food on occasion, the gnome being able to conjure up most fare. It was the equivalent of a long hike, and Ben was a little out of shape, but managed to keep up rather well. Jack and Russell of course excelled at this sort of thing, Russell being an Eagle Scout and Jack being a certified for wildfires. When night fell, they pulled the massive tent out of the Bag of Holding and set up camp. After eating a well conjured meal. After Jack went to go get firewood and Russell tried to go to sleep, probably only to fail; Ben sat down next to the gnome and asked a question he had been toying with for a while
“Hey Kran, would it be possible for you to give me a crash course in magic? Just in case I am here for a while?”
The gnome was somewhat taken aback. He had never been approached for anything resembling an apprenticeship before, let alone by a being from another plane of existence. Truth be told, he was very excited (more so than usual) and gladly accepted.
He was obviously slowing his normally rapid speech in order to better communicate with his student But he explained the importance of the Schools of Magic, and their functions, as well as the underlying theory behind magic.
“Ok, now it is time for you to learn the basic structure of a spell. Each spell consists of verbal and somatic components. Some have material components, and these usually take more time to cast. Each spell begins with calling upon the weave and a particular school of magic. This opens the spell, so to speak, and makes the rest of your commands actually capable of bending and shaping the weave. When you are done, the end motion of your somatic components releases the spell and closes the incantation.”
“Ah, I see. Makes sense I suppose”
“Good… Now, I am going to teach you a simple spell. It will allow you to read and understand magical writing. It is very simple, it doesn’t even drain you like other spells do.. but I will get into that later… “ He demonstrated the spell and taught Ben the verbal and somatic components, then Ben was ready to attempt it himself. He opened Kran’s spellbook to the first couple pages. Then he mumbled the words over the page and waved his hand over the book, and the cryptic writing f the book became clear as day, and he could understand what it meant. He took out his pen and notepad from the tent and began copying down spells. All the while, Kran gave him coaching in pronunciation and somatics.
“So, what about memorization?” Ben asked
“Well, you are just barely learning, so you will not be able cast more than a few basic spells fr a long time, and even that will take a while. You can prepare as many spells as you like, though there are generally time constraints. But the number you can actually cast is based upon how much you practice. Casting a spell is physically and mentally taxing, so if you cast to many, you will become exhausted, the more practice you get the more you will be able to push yourself to do, and the more powerful spells you will be capable of channeling through yourself.”
“Ah I see. Well, it is getting late, and I have last watch. I should probably get some sleep… Thank you Kran, We all appreciate what you are doing for us”
“Ahdonthinkanythingofithappensallthetime”
“heh…I suppose it does around here”
The early morning was a bit overcast at first, but as the sun started to climb in the sky the clouds melted away. The roadside clearing they were in faced to west so the dappled light from the rising sun came through the trees in a dazzling display of light and shadow. The pink and orange light from the morning sun moving and shifting as a light breeze moved the trees. It had rained slightly the night before and the air smelled of fresh water.
Ben sat on a stump, looking over and memorizing his spells. He was just about finished. A breeze was blowing, the birds were singing the Gnolls were attacking.
“Wake up, we are under attack!” Ben yelled On the road was a group of Gnolls, roughly seven feet tall, and bearing the features of a human and a hyena, clad in scale mail and wielding pole arms. Russell was not actually asleep and leapt from the inside of the tent wielding nothing buts his fists. He moved with supernatural speed toward the gnolls as Ben worked a quick spell. Ben could feel the weave bending and twisting as he spoke. The air crackled around him as his hands shaped the energy he had unleashed. He stretched out his hand and a small ball of blue energy formed on his palm and a ray of ice shot forth form his hand and struck a Gnoll in the face, forming a layer of ice over the creatures eyes and nose. Russell struck before the creatures got over the shock of a mage in this seemingly unarmed traveling party. He scrambled onto the back of one f the Gnolls and snapped its neck As he twisted the monster’s head around, he could eel muscle ripping, until finally he heard the spinal chord sever. The giant furred beast slumped to the ground, Russell bounding off its back as it fell to land on one knee and a hand, a grim expression on his face. Kran woke up third, but his spells weren’t memorized, and his crossbow unloaded. So he had to reload the magazine with fresh quarrels. Jack was never very good at being woken up. And it took the gnome kicking him while reloading his crossbow to get the large man up and arming himself.
One of the remaining two Gnolls took a swing at Russell with a glaive, but Russell rolled forward and kicked out the creature’s kneecaps. But not before it whacked him in the head with the blunt end of the weapon. Russell was sent reeling by the force of the blow, he could feel a warm liquid running through his hair, and his ears ringed like church bells. He could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness, but he beat that weak impulse back and got up to his feet with a forceful kick. The other Gnoll headed toward Ben, who was already working on his next spell. The air glowed red around him as he bent the weave to his will. This spell was more powerful than the last and it was physically painful t cast, but at the same time it was almost orgasmic. The area around his hands was beginning to glow as he stretched his hand forward again. Energy from the surrounding air began to accumulate. Then he closed his hand over it, drew his hand back and shoved it forward again, opening his palm and allowing a small bolt of energy to fly forth from it. Striking the Gnoll square in the chest and knocking it back on its ass, cracking a few ribs in the process. Finally Jack managed to get out of the tent with his axe. One Gnoll dead, two wounded. He charged the one with the broken ribs and drove the head of the axe into its chest while it was still having difficulty breathing. Russell took care of the other one, which was now flailing around on the ground like a fish, by grabbing the dead one’s halberd and decapitating it in a shower of blood. The gnome finally had his crossbow loaded, but it was a bit to late to join in the action.
But that was irrelevant now. Jack just looked at Ben
“What?” Ben asked, confused, before it dawned on him ”Um…. While you were off doing your own thing… I learned a few spells…”
He shook his head, as if making any sort of investment in this plane of existence was stupid, or an act of betrayal. What he was really thinking was something akin to “he just had to be a fucking mage didn’t he” but they soon got over it. “Well, at least we have real weapons and armor now” Jack said after an awkward silence
“That is true” Ben said “Now you actually have something that can penetrate armor” But I am not sure this armor will fit you. Try it on and we shall see”
Jack heaved up the forty pound suit of scale mail, and slid it over himself. It sagged a bit
“Icanfixthatsonny!” the Gnome said setting his crossbow down. In about 30 seconds Jack had a perfectly fitted set of scale mail and a halberd. He just looked at the gnome wondering if he could have done that without magic. Looking at the little thing, Jack figured that he probably could have. It was then they and Russell noticed Russell’s profuse bleeding from his head. And he started to get a bit woozy. Jack caught him right before he fell, and used a piece of his shirt to bind the wound. Apparently, Russell had a concussion.
They broke camp, shoved everything into the bag of holding and when on their journey, Ben helping Russell walk until he had recovered enough to do so himself. Arriving without further incident in shadowdale by dusk. It was a large town by current standards. Most buildings were timber framed, filled with wattle and daub. The streets were cobble stone and somewhat dirty. Thankfully, the people of this town used latrines rather than chamber pots and there was no overwhelming stench. They crossed the bridge over the river and the gate keeper stopped them.
“Halt, Identify yourself” He asked, his voice gruff. Two guards crossing their weapons over the entrance. Kran spoke on behalf of the group.
“GreetingsandsalutationsIamkranklitterboxescourtingtheseyoungladstoseeElminstertheSageOfShadowdale!” The guards looked at him like he is crazy and opened the gates, shaking their heads. Every time gnomes came into town, something happened it seems. Maybe not the Gnome’s fault, but something always went wrong…
***
Part 1: Not in Arizona Anymore
It was a wonderful day in late December. Jack, Ben and Russell were camping in the Superstition Mountains. The air was cool, with a slight breeze coming from the southwest. The air was crystal clear and the desert was in bloom after the winter rains. It was the perfect time to go camping. They had even borrowed Nick's military tent, and brought their six foot trebuchet along to do a little target practice, as well as dart boards, Ben was doing reasonably well with those, compared to how he did in other sports. But night was about to fall and dinner was being made. The lanterns burned in the twilight as Jack took a bucket of MREs out of his truck.
"I HAVE DIBS ON THE SPAGGEHTI!!!" he exclaimed loudly as he tossed the bucket on the campsites picnic table
Ben and Russell leapt for the Alfredo, actually head-butting Ben and nearly knocking him unconscious. After finally finishing dinner, they spent a pleasant evening bonding with a case of beer, before passing out.
The morning was colder than expected. But all three of them were in for a real shock when they opened up the tent. While Ben was still putting on his glasses
"What the Fuck?!" Jack exclaimed yet again.
"What?" Russell and Ben both asked. They were both wondering what the hell was going on at this point and looked at each other with nervous glances
Jack sort of laughed, not so much out of amusement as nervousness
"Hehe, we aren't in Arizona anymore" Jack said, apparently mirthfully, but in reality he was awfully freaked out
"Jaaaack" Russell said" did you take your medication this morning" Now thinking Jack was bullshitting them.
"No not yet… But you should probably look at this"
"Ooookay" Russell said as he looked out the tent's door, his jaw went slack when he saw what Jack was looking at.
Ben was now curious. He wiped off his coke-bottles and looked out one of the windows.
What he saw was somewhat different than what his last vision of the outside of the tent has been. They were in a forest clearing, in high summer. The sun washed over his face with the air in the high seventies. It was perfect. But, Jack was right, they were most definitely not in Arizona anymore
"Ok guys… two possibilities. Either we got picked up and moved in the middle of the night without us noticing were put to sleep for 6 months and then dropped off somewhere in upstate New York, or…wormhole." Ben said matter of factly
"Are you stoned?" Jack asked
"Have anything better?" Ben replied
"No…"
"Then shut up"
"How about you both shut the fuck up and look at those" Russell hissed while pointing to something in the brush, As the little creature emerged, all their jaws dropped to the ground. It had green skin, was carrying a crude hand-axe, and was wearing leather armor. To top it off, it was about three feet tall with little protruding teeth
"Third option" Ben whispered "Planeshift spell"
The little green skin heard them, and with a raised hand, motioned for its 4 companions to come out of hiding. Each was armed similarly, though one carried a shortspear and the other a club.
Jack grabbed the axe they used for their campfire, Ben took up his walking stick, more like a staff, and Russell pulled out two kitchen knives that he packed…for some strange reason
"Be prepared" he said with his 'I am going to eat them for lunch' grin. All three of them got out of the tent. Jack, standing at 2.1 meters with a muscular firefighter build was the most imposing. Russell was the second out of the tent, wielding two very large kitchen knives, with his sunken in eyes and crazed look, he was easily the most scary, despite Jack's imposing stature. Last out was Ben, about Russell's height of 1.9 meters; but far less threatening. Armed with a 2 meter walking staff, wearing glasses, and bearing a youthful expression, he didn't seem threatening in the least. In fact, Ben was scared shitless, all three of them were.
The lead greenskin shouted something in their language and they charged. Their brief stints in the SCA would come in handy for this, Ben thought to himself as the spear wielding goblin came toward him. The goblins thrust was clumsy at best, and Ben managed to parry it, using the momentum gained to bring the staff crashing down on the unbalanced goblins head, knocking it unconscious. Jack was a little two large to be effective against goblins with such a small weapon. As ne of the axe wielders came at him, he sidestepped its weapon and kicked it in the head, using his mass to knock the little thing over. Then brought his axe down on it after kneeling. Russell was taking on three at a time with his kitchen knives, rather than using force to block blows, he knocked them aside and deflected them, as well as sidestepped. One goblin thought it saw an opening, Russell sidestepped, dropped one of the knives, grabbed its hand, twisted its arm and then drove the other blade through a kink in the armor, completely disabling the goblins sword arm. Then he tripped it, and stabbed his blade into its eye socket. Ben was not fairing as well. He was in a standoff with the lead goblin, barely managing to keep it out of axe reach with his staff.
The goblin then dove to the side, tumbled around Ben and his staff, and drew the axe back, right before an arrow slammed into its chest. Several more arrows flew though the air sporadically, hitting their marks with lethal precision; the remaining goblins only lasted a few seconds. The three college students panted from the exertion, save Russell, he didn't even break a sweat. Karate and having to deal with a little brother who has ADHD and Bipolar disorder is a gift in some respects. All three of them expected some badass ranger to save their ass. They expected either an elf or a human clad in studded leather and wielding a longbow; what they got was a short little fellow, thin, with a beard, strange goggles and a crossbow that looked like it was powered by clockwork gears. He was probably a gnome. He was definitely a gnome the moment he spoke.
"Hi! IamKranKlitterbox,wizardandmechanicalengineerextraordinaire!! Iamatyourservice!"
Ben took it upon himself to reply, seeing as he was the most capable of understanding the gnome due to his own rapid rate of speech
"greetings and salutations Kran Klitterbox, I am Ben Allen and I am at your service. Thank you for helping us with those goblins. We are in your debt" The gnome was a wizard, and obviously benign so Ben figured he could reveal a little more information.
"We are not from around her I am afraid, we come from another plane of existence where such creatures do not exist, and don't even know where we are"
"AHHHH!" Kran said "Well,youmynewfriendsareinthelandofFaurun,youaretravelingTheRealms!"
"Ah, shit, I have a date with my girlfriend tomorrow night" Jack said, depressed. He was going to miss out on getting laid this week. Poor Jack.
Ben and Russell laughed at him and called him a dirty fleshy simultaneously “There will be plenty of lusty wenches later on” Russell piped in.
The gnome looked confused at the word ‘girlfriend’ but said nothing
“Well, are you capable of getting us back home?” Ben asked
“Nonotreallythespellsnecessaryarebeyondmyabilitytochannel. ButIcangetyoutoShadowdaleitisonlyafewdaysawayandelminstermaybeabletogetyouhome”
“Thank you very much” Ben replied.
The Group walked through the day, the gnome speaking in his typical rapid tone. The day was rather uneventful. They stopped for food on occasion, the gnome being able to conjure up most fare. It was the equivalent of a long hike, and Ben was a little out of shape, but managed to keep up rather well. Jack and Russell of course excelled at this sort of thing, Russell being an Eagle Scout and Jack being a certified for wildfires. When night fell, they pulled the massive tent out of the Bag of Holding and set up camp. After eating a well conjured meal. After Jack went to go get firewood and Russell tried to go to sleep, probably only to fail; Ben sat down next to the gnome and asked a question he had been toying with for a while
“Hey Kran, would it be possible for you to give me a crash course in magic? Just in case I am here for a while?”
The gnome was somewhat taken aback. He had never been approached for anything resembling an apprenticeship before, let alone by a being from another plane of existence. Truth be told, he was very excited (more so than usual) and gladly accepted.
He was obviously slowing his normally rapid speech in order to better communicate with his student But he explained the importance of the Schools of Magic, and their functions, as well as the underlying theory behind magic.
“Ok, now it is time for you to learn the basic structure of a spell. Each spell consists of verbal and somatic components. Some have material components, and these usually take more time to cast. Each spell begins with calling upon the weave and a particular school of magic. This opens the spell, so to speak, and makes the rest of your commands actually capable of bending and shaping the weave. When you are done, the end motion of your somatic components releases the spell and closes the incantation.”
“Ah, I see. Makes sense I suppose”
“Good… Now, I am going to teach you a simple spell. It will allow you to read and understand magical writing. It is very simple, it doesn’t even drain you like other spells do.. but I will get into that later… “ He demonstrated the spell and taught Ben the verbal and somatic components, then Ben was ready to attempt it himself. He opened Kran’s spellbook to the first couple pages. Then he mumbled the words over the page and waved his hand over the book, and the cryptic writing f the book became clear as day, and he could understand what it meant. He took out his pen and notepad from the tent and began copying down spells. All the while, Kran gave him coaching in pronunciation and somatics.
“So, what about memorization?” Ben asked
“Well, you are just barely learning, so you will not be able cast more than a few basic spells fr a long time, and even that will take a while. You can prepare as many spells as you like, though there are generally time constraints. But the number you can actually cast is based upon how much you practice. Casting a spell is physically and mentally taxing, so if you cast to many, you will become exhausted, the more practice you get the more you will be able to push yourself to do, and the more powerful spells you will be capable of channeling through yourself.”
“Ah I see. Well, it is getting late, and I have last watch. I should probably get some sleep… Thank you Kran, We all appreciate what you are doing for us”
“Ahdonthinkanythingofithappensallthetime”
“heh…I suppose it does around here”
The early morning was a bit overcast at first, but as the sun started to climb in the sky the clouds melted away. The roadside clearing they were in faced to west so the dappled light from the rising sun came through the trees in a dazzling display of light and shadow. The pink and orange light from the morning sun moving and shifting as a light breeze moved the trees. It had rained slightly the night before and the air smelled of fresh water.
Ben sat on a stump, looking over and memorizing his spells. He was just about finished. A breeze was blowing, the birds were singing the Gnolls were attacking.
“Wake up, we are under attack!” Ben yelled On the road was a group of Gnolls, roughly seven feet tall, and bearing the features of a human and a hyena, clad in scale mail and wielding pole arms. Russell was not actually asleep and leapt from the inside of the tent wielding nothing buts his fists. He moved with supernatural speed toward the gnolls as Ben worked a quick spell. Ben could feel the weave bending and twisting as he spoke. The air crackled around him as his hands shaped the energy he had unleashed. He stretched out his hand and a small ball of blue energy formed on his palm and a ray of ice shot forth form his hand and struck a Gnoll in the face, forming a layer of ice over the creatures eyes and nose. Russell struck before the creatures got over the shock of a mage in this seemingly unarmed traveling party. He scrambled onto the back of one f the Gnolls and snapped its neck As he twisted the monster’s head around, he could eel muscle ripping, until finally he heard the spinal chord sever. The giant furred beast slumped to the ground, Russell bounding off its back as it fell to land on one knee and a hand, a grim expression on his face. Kran woke up third, but his spells weren’t memorized, and his crossbow unloaded. So he had to reload the magazine with fresh quarrels. Jack was never very good at being woken up. And it took the gnome kicking him while reloading his crossbow to get the large man up and arming himself.
One of the remaining two Gnolls took a swing at Russell with a glaive, but Russell rolled forward and kicked out the creature’s kneecaps. But not before it whacked him in the head with the blunt end of the weapon. Russell was sent reeling by the force of the blow, he could feel a warm liquid running through his hair, and his ears ringed like church bells. He could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness, but he beat that weak impulse back and got up to his feet with a forceful kick. The other Gnoll headed toward Ben, who was already working on his next spell. The air glowed red around him as he bent the weave to his will. This spell was more powerful than the last and it was physically painful t cast, but at the same time it was almost orgasmic. The area around his hands was beginning to glow as he stretched his hand forward again. Energy from the surrounding air began to accumulate. Then he closed his hand over it, drew his hand back and shoved it forward again, opening his palm and allowing a small bolt of energy to fly forth from it. Striking the Gnoll square in the chest and knocking it back on its ass, cracking a few ribs in the process. Finally Jack managed to get out of the tent with his axe. One Gnoll dead, two wounded. He charged the one with the broken ribs and drove the head of the axe into its chest while it was still having difficulty breathing. Russell took care of the other one, which was now flailing around on the ground like a fish, by grabbing the dead one’s halberd and decapitating it in a shower of blood. The gnome finally had his crossbow loaded, but it was a bit to late to join in the action.
But that was irrelevant now. Jack just looked at Ben
“What?” Ben asked, confused, before it dawned on him ”Um…. While you were off doing your own thing… I learned a few spells…”
He shook his head, as if making any sort of investment in this plane of existence was stupid, or an act of betrayal. What he was really thinking was something akin to “he just had to be a fucking mage didn’t he” but they soon got over it. “Well, at least we have real weapons and armor now” Jack said after an awkward silence
“That is true” Ben said “Now you actually have something that can penetrate armor” But I am not sure this armor will fit you. Try it on and we shall see”
Jack heaved up the forty pound suit of scale mail, and slid it over himself. It sagged a bit
“Icanfixthatsonny!” the Gnome said setting his crossbow down. In about 30 seconds Jack had a perfectly fitted set of scale mail and a halberd. He just looked at the gnome wondering if he could have done that without magic. Looking at the little thing, Jack figured that he probably could have. It was then they and Russell noticed Russell’s profuse bleeding from his head. And he started to get a bit woozy. Jack caught him right before he fell, and used a piece of his shirt to bind the wound. Apparently, Russell had a concussion.
They broke camp, shoved everything into the bag of holding and when on their journey, Ben helping Russell walk until he had recovered enough to do so himself. Arriving without further incident in shadowdale by dusk. It was a large town by current standards. Most buildings were timber framed, filled with wattle and daub. The streets were cobble stone and somewhat dirty. Thankfully, the people of this town used latrines rather than chamber pots and there was no overwhelming stench. They crossed the bridge over the river and the gate keeper stopped them.
“Halt, Identify yourself” He asked, his voice gruff. Two guards crossing their weapons over the entrance. Kran spoke on behalf of the group.
“GreetingsandsalutationsIamkranklitterboxescourtingtheseyoungladstoseeElminstertheSageOfShadowdale!” The guards looked at him like he is crazy and opened the gates, shaking their heads. Every time gnomes came into town, something happened it seems. Maybe not the Gnome’s fault, but something always went wrong…
***
