Fantasy Friday
I play Dungeons and
Dragons every Friday. That is to say I run a 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons
campaign every Friday set in the country of Beniro. As such I've decided to
chronicle the hero's adventures from the perspective of different characters my
friends play. Each week and each short chapter I will rotate the perspective so you
can get a feel for all the characters. I will try my best to capture my
friend's characters and the adventures they go on. I might change some elements
but know I do it for the story.
A lot of the art I will be
using is not credited, so if you know the artist, tell me and I'll label it
appropriately.
CHAPTER 1- Lorafaine CHAPTER 2- Aramil
CHAPTER 3 - Ryjac
CHAPTER 4- Lucius
CHAPTER 5- Nadarr
CHAPTER 6- Lora Faine II
THE ACTION SOCIETY
BOOK 1
RISE OF THE WHITE SPIDER
CHAPTER 7
ARAMIL
Three dwarf guards stood on either side
of the Undergate and each pulled a black lever in the wall. Aramil listened as
ancient gears and levers, in the stone walls, kicked into motion and took
pressure off the sides of the door. The door hummed softly as he watched Ryjac
approach the door, pull off her right glove and placed her palm on one of the
ornate symbols on the door. The drow whispered something in the thick dwarven dialect
of the Shale Mountains, each syllable falling like a hammer, as the door glowed
with a soft white sheen. She pulled her hand back, the massive door slid down
into the ground, and they got their first look at the Underwold.
A
gust was sucked toward them as the door sank into the floor and Aramil breathed
in the Underwold’s air for the first time. It was the smell of the forest floor
in autumn; moist, earthy and something else, something telling. It was like the
stench of rot found in old logs or the foul breath of dying man. It was the
stench of rotting, molding, expiring death. He could not help but shiver as it
washed over him in a soft wheeze before being sucked back into the tunnel
ahead, which stood before them like a great gaping mouth. Ryjac had said it
would swallow them up and Aramil was sure she was right. He took a step
forward.
Ryjac
stopped him with a hand, and half-turned to meet him, “Would you grab a torch
from my bag?”
Aramil
nodded, pulling a torch from the back slung across her back and, was about to
ask her if she had some flint and steel but instead, lit the torch in a brazier
that sat beside the door. He handed Ryjac the lit torch and she stepped out in
the darkness ahead. Aramil took another step forward but noticed something else
unsettling. Ryjac barely got a few meters away and the light of her torch was
all but obscured. He quickly walked into the tunnel, followed by the other
members of the party, with Nadarr taking up the rear.
The
sound of footsteps pounded on Aramil’s ears. He made a mental note to learn the
sounds of their footsteps so that he could learn to ignore them with greater
ease. A few hours and he would be able to use his ears to guard them from
danger. He paused again and the footsteps stopped as with a soft rumble the
door behind them slid down and, with the sound of stone being pressed against
stone, the door closed and the circle of light from behind them went out. The
footsteps resumed and so did he.
He heard Lucius
behind him, saying some words under his breath, before a dull light came over
his shoulders. He looked over his shoulder and saw the tiefling holding a ball
of yellow-orange flame in his left hand. He had heard tieflings were masters of
the infernal and seen a tiefling fire-breather in the city of Beniro. His
mother told him that tieflings were a race of born of fire and brimstone. The
fire-breather bathed himself in flames of all colors before the audience and no
harm came to him or his clothes. His mother explained that the fire-breather
could control the color of flames but most tieflings change the color of flame
without trying. A tiefling showed his heart in such flames. He smirked with
satisfaction as he looked around, knowing that he was right about Lucius being
a coward, making him all the more confident.
“Look.” Aramil
heard Ryjac whisper the command and followed her hand where it was pointing.
Ahead of them was a little patch of blue glowing. After a moment, the glow
disappeared and Ryjac explained, “There is a Cleansing Rune on this corridor.
That glow was the bioluminescence of a moon-fungus. They’re quite common in the
tunnels. You think it would be nice to have them but if you don’t keep them in
check they’ll take over an entire tunnel. The light of the fungus attracts all
sorts of nasty creatures.”
“What sort of
thing lives down here?” Lora Faine asked.
“Bats, rats,
drakes, snakes,” Lucius chuckled playfully, “Nasty things.”
“And spiders.”
Ryjac mumbled.
“Ech, I sure
hope not.” Lucius grumbled.
“What’s
wrong? Don’t like spiders?” Aramil asked with a smirk.
“No,
I am not particularly fond of spiders,” Lucius replied, defensively, “But I am
not scared of them.”
“I
would be scared of the spiders down here.” Ryjac said.
Nadarr
guffawed and said, “Not me. I cannot wait to meet one of these cave monsters
face to face and sword to spi-.”
“Shh!”
Suddenly, Ryjac stopped, and everyone fell silent. Aramil pulled his bow from
his back and notched an arrow, straining to find the threat or obstacle that
Ryjac was looking for but he could see she was just staring off into the
darkness ahead.
“What
is it?” Lora Faine asked, slowly coming forward to stand next to Aramil.
Ryjac
didn’t move as she whispered, “I could see swear I heard something ahead of us
and saw something move up the wall.” Her head moved side to side as she dropped
her torch to the ground and pulled a sword from each of her hips. Aramil could
hear what Ryjac saw and quickly aimed his bow to the ceiling.
Everyone
seemed to watch his motion because Lora Faine pulled her own sword from its
hilt, the sound of Nadarr unsheathing his own sword and shield behind him rang
through the strained silence, and the light off of Lucius’s hand was replaced
by a might brighter humming blue light. Something skittered ahead of them and
large shadows skittered across the walls and ceiling. He shot an arrow at one
of them and a shivering his came in reply to the true strike of his arrowhead
into something crisp.
Lucius
hissed through his teeth, “What is it? Spiders?” Aramil shook his head and
notched another arrow.
“More
legs than that.” He shot another arrow as the shadows made heirs way overhead
and dropped down, on either side of them, from the ceilings. Yet, the shadows made
on beast, of many parts. One of its heads rose up in front of Nadarr as the
other did so in front of Ryjac. Aramil backed toward the wall to the left and
notched another arrow, “Centipede.”
As
his third arrow stuck the two-headed red behemoth in the middle, the beast let
out a clacking hiss and Ryjac and Nadarr blocked the first blows from their
dripping maws. Aramil dodged and weaved between the heroes, hitting the
creature with arrow, after arrow but they seemed to have little effect. Ryjac
and Nadarr seemed to be having little luck either, to busy dodging the beast’s
quick head bites to take a good swing at it, Lucius was on his knees search for
something in his bag and Lora Faine just stood there.
“Wait!”
She lowered her own sword as she walked up behind Ryjax and spoke directly to
the beast, “We meant you know harm!”
It
hissed and Ryjac barely dodged another bone-crushing snap from its claws. The
beast reared back and came at Lora Faine. The centipede’s head rocked to the
side and away from the elf. It would
have been the end for her but Aramil had struck it in the side of the head with
his seventh arrow. Aramil grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the wall, “You’re
going to get yourself killed.” She looked at him and her eyes went from fear to
a hardened stare. She apologized with a nod and ran at the other wall. The
beast let out a shriek as he watched Lora Faine sink her sword into its shell.
He notched another arrow, keeping his eye on the heads, and moving toward
Lucius as the tiefling mumbled,
“In
a moment, I am almost ready, just keep it occupied.”
“What
the bloody hell are you doing?” Aramil hissed under his breath.
“My
swords stuck!” Lora Faine leapt back as the beast swung its head at her, the
other occupied with Nadarr, and the beast dribbled its blood from its mouth. Aramil
spotted a blade stuck in the space under his head.
“Ryjac!”
He shouted as he looked over and saw the drow was lying in a heap over by the
wall. The centipede swung its head at him and he knocked it back with another
arrow. Lora Faine backed up toward him.
“I
need just one more moment!” Lucius mumbled as Aramil stood in front of him with
Lora Faine, the beast clicking it jaws as it reared for another strike. Aramil
dodged its deadly bite and rolled over by the wall. Lora Faine had done the
same, though not quite as gracefully, stumbling into the wall.
“Lucius!”
Lora Faine shouted at the tiefling as the beast reared up, clicking and
hissing. Aramil moved to notch another arrow, but was finding his quiver
difficult to reach, and knew if he did not act quickly they would be two men
down. Nadarr was roaring at the other head, but Aramil could not tell if the
roar was of pain or fury.
“I’ve
got it!” Lucius suddenly stood, swinging a flaming blue sword from his hilt and
cyclone of white flames engulfed the head of the creature. It struggled but
after a moment it fell to the ground with a crunch. “Take that you ugly
bastard!” Lucius laughed as he swung his sword overhead and down into the
beasts head.
As
the first head died, the other let out a howl, only to be silence as Nadarr
tackled it to the ground. Aramil looked over at Lora Faine, “Ryjac,” He began
running toward Nadarr, “See if she needs help!”
Lucius
was already running toward Nadarr but leapt back, nearly knocking Aramil over,
as Nadarr was thrown back into a wall as the beast rose up off the ground.
Aramil searched for an arrow, backing up, as Lucius stood there, holding his
sword, and staring at the great ugly beast. It swung down and knocked Lucius
into the other wall and dragged its body after the half-elf instead. Aramil
tripped over Lucius’s bag and fell back on his ass, “Damnit!” The beast swung
down at his face but the sound of knife cutting through flesh rang through the
air and green blood splattered his face. The head fell into his lap and he
quickly recoiled from it, standing up, to see Nadarr holding its body down,
Lucius holding his sword to defend himself from the floor and Ryjac sword
slumping to the floor as she turned around to look down at him.
“Are
you alright?” Nadarr asked as he pulled himself up. Aramil nodded, looking
around, and seeing Lora Faine pulling at her sword until it came free from the
dead centipede. They all were worse for wear. Aramil was covered in toxic
blood, Nadarr’s left arm bracer had been pulled off, Lora Faine limped toward him
and Lucius just sat there in shock. Ryjac’s had a thick gash across her left
arm. Aramil was just about to pull himself up and see if he could help Ryjac
attend to that wound when Lucius interrupted him.
“Is
it dead?”
Aramil
glared at the tiefling, “You little-.” A loud laugh cut him off. Nadarr was
cracking up, slowly but surely, his low rumbling laugh building. It started
with him but it soon infected them all. Lora Faine giggled, Lucius chuckled,
Ryjac chortled and Nadarr guffawed. Aramil didn’t know whether it was out of
the fact they were still nervous or whether they were happy to be alive. But as
he lay there, covered in centipede blood, and the other’s laughed in the near
darkness, he couldn’t help but smirk.
