[coronatiger]

Thoughts on November 16th

Va’lyndra found what might be the temple. As the others studied the outside walls, I climbed up to the roof and looked around. The building was ramshackle, and one part of the roof couldn’t support my weight. I grabbed the ledge as the stones fell away from under me, and when the thunder of crashing rocks subsided, I called out that I was all right, and pulled myself up. I couldn’t see much in the darkness beneath me, except that I seemed to be above a fighting arena. A ten-meter drop is a little too far, even for an acrobat, so I climbed back down to the others and told them what I had seen. I wouldn’t be able to do much exploring in the darkness anyway.

When Lady Karita had finished translating, Ilzo entered the building. Lady Karita, Va’lyndra and I followed. Torches burst alight, and we saw statues standing around the arena, wielding a variety of weapons. We could also see a humanoid sitting on a chair in the arena proper, among the stones from the roof.

Ilzo tried to enter the arena, but two of the statues blocked his way, saying something to him in what I’ve come to recognize as orcish. Whatever Ilzo replied, it must have been right, for the statues let him pass. Of course, as a follower of the god whose temple this is, Ilzo would know the password. The person in the arena rose from their seat. He, or at least I assumed it was a he from his size, wielded a large maul and wore plate and mail.

When the rest of us tried to follow Ilzo, the statues blocked our way and told us, in the common language, that if we wanted to challenge the champion, we had to wait until the current duel was finished.

The champion swung his maul back and forth while the two fighters exchanged a few words in orcish, and they both dropped their weapons. Ilzo first, then the champion. Then Ilzo rushed forward, only to get kicked in the stomach. They both threw a couple of punches, then Ilzo grabbed the champion. He was awarded a kick in the groin, but used the movement to take the fight to the floor. Half grappling, half fist-fighting, the two of them rolled around on the ground. They fought with fists and teeth and the occasional knee strike. After a while, they simultaneously decided to forego defenses and focused all their efforts on attacking. Then, after a solid punch from Ilzo, the champion turned to dust. All the statues crumpled, the torches went out, and we rushed forward to help Ilzo, lighting Surkalpi as we passed it.

As I helped Ilzo out of his bone armor, I could see it had taken a beating. Ilzo had as well. I applied bandages where the champion had bit him and offered healing potions. He drank both of mine, and all three that Va’lyndra had brought.

When the champion disappeared, Ilzo had found a statuette in his place. Va’lyndra did a spell dance, and determined that it was imbued with holy magic. We searched the rest of the temple, and Lady Karita found a diamond ring. It wasn’t magical, but it could probably fetch a good price.

We were all amazed at Ilzo’s fighting skills, but Lady Karita commented that he’d be more effective in battle if he used a weapon, and suggested that he should practice with Surkalpi when she practiced with her longsword. They exchanged a few blows in the arena. Va’lyndra pulled out a book and started reading.

After lunch, we decided to see if we could find any other buildings in town that looked as if they could hold treasure, and after a while, Ilzo discovered a metal cellar door. Lady Karita looked for traps, and spotted something suspicious through the key hole, but she couldn’t see exactly what it was.

I practiced acrobatics while she picked the lock, as I didn’t want to go too far away with the first aid kit and healing potions. We watched from a safe angle as Lady Karita cracked open the door. Now she could see the two huge crossbows connected to the mechanism. The opening was large enough that she could slip inside and remove the bolts from the crossbows, and we all entered. Inside, we found a magical long knife.

We brought it back to the camp, and Va’lyndra started analyzing it. Suddenly, a flame swept towards me. Surprised, I barely dodged beneath it. I asked the elf what she had found out about the knife, but she apologized and said she needed to study it more.

As I lay in her arms tonight, Olivia commented that some strands of my hair were singed. I didn’t care; I was too caught up in the moment.


Thoughts on November 17th

Va’lyndra resumed her analysis of the knife and discovered that the blade would return to its owner if dropped or thrown. It came as no surprise that it also burned its targets. Va’lyndra figured out how to claim ownership of the knife and did some experiments with it. She demonstrated that it quickly came back to her when she threw it away. I realized that this is what I’ve been looking for in a weapon: The ability to alternate between using it in melee, and using my bow. With this weapon, I could drop it when I needed to draw an arrow, and I didn’t have to bend down to pick it up when I wanted to use it again.

Va’lyndra transferred ownership to me before we left town, traveling towards the mountains where her god’s temple supposedly stood.


Thoughts on November 18th

Nothing much happened as we traveled, today, but I learned the need to pack the knife down thoroughly, lest it wriggle out and swoop into my hand.


Thoughts on November 19th

Va’lyndra whistled a signal, but not even Lady Karita recognized it, so we left Olivia and the animals and moved forward, silently but quickly. Va’lyndra told us she had spotted some large creature in the distance, but hadn’t gotten a good look. We started searching for it, and it wasn’t long before we found it. Larger than a horse, the creature at first looked like a lion, but it had wings, and a snake for a tail. And it had seen us.

Va’lyndra explained hurriedly that it was a burgh lion, that it couldn’t fly like birds do, but used its wings to leap long strides. The snake was armed with a paralyzing venom. And the beast was very aggressive and territorial. She didn’t have time to say more, for the lion charged towards us, leaping into a gliding pounce from fifty meters away.

Ilzo had his sling ready, and Va’lyndra and I had our bows. Only Ilzo hit, and then the lion landed between us. Lady Karita was standing a little to the side. The lion tried swiping at Va’lyndra, but had landed awkwardly and tripped. Ilzo swung Surkalpi inexperiencedly, but missed. Va’lyndra and I both shot and missed, again. How that’s possible against so large a target, I find hard to believe. Lady Karita moved into reach and stabbed with her sword, but she missed too.

The snake tail tried to bite Va’lyndra, who dodged the attack. Ilzo, unaccustomed to his weapon, dropped his defenses to focus on the attack. The tactic worked, for he struck true, and the beast failed to roll out of the way. The lion lay still.

The snake tail, on the other hand, had a mind of its own, and continued to strike at Va’lyndra, who wisely enough stepped out of its reach. Ilzo, his blood boiling, moved in and nearly chopped it off with Surkalpi, but not before the snake hit him. Luckily, the bite didn’t penetrate the bone armor.

Ilzo cut off both heads of the beast, splashing blood and goo all around. He wanted to use the heads as deterrents, putting them on spikes in our camp, but the lion head was too heavy to bring along easily. Lady Karita didn’t want anything to do with the snake head, but lent Va’lyndra equipment to extract its poison.

On our next stop along the way, I asked Lady Karita if she could teach me how to wield a knife, and I started practicing with Scorchmark. Such a powerful weapon needs a name, doesn’t it?