Journey to Thorbardin - Pax Tharkas

[malkav565]

The road south to Pax Tharkas was almost deserted. Almost.

With most civilized races in exile and occasional goblinoid or draconian patrol being no match for Adam, his travel was mostly uneventful. Mostly.

Except for that band of hobgoblins.

While these hobgoblins were nominally part of the White dragon army from south of Tarsis, they were clearly deserters. The leader of these goblinoids - one "Split-tooth" was his name - was unhappy with his lot in the structure of the Dragonarmies and decided he wanted faster advancement.

So, Split-tooth had sacrificed the entire village of Ember to Takhisis in the hopes of summoning a devil and making a deal. Enter Adamant with his fiendish appearance, who walked into town a few weeks later.

Adamant was taken aback to discover the adulation of the hobgoblins. "Give us power!", "Give us influence!" they cried. "We offer you our eternal souls!" they bartered.

While initally horrified, Adamant decided to engage in the family business. Adamant didn't lie, nor did he offer. He simply suggested that the hobgoblins do things, and they did.

Adamant gave them a brief training on meditation and concentration. The hobgoblins assumed this was a secret Baatezu trick for gaining power. Adam then instructed them in physical exercise and discipline. The hobgoblins learned.

Finally, Adam let the hobgoblins in on his deal - They were to grant their eternal souls to his Master, Majere. In exchange, they would be granted the ultimate power - wisdom.

Needless to say, the hobgoblins were livid. "You tricked us!" they accused.

Adam smiled. "Firstly, what is it that you expected from a Devil? There are no shortcuts to achievement and there is always a proper price to pay."

"I never lied to you. I just never corrected your illusions. And you have learned the first lesson on your path - you must learn to listen to what is not being said. Only then will you find truth."

The hobgoblins attacked, using some of the new techniques taught by Adam. But Adam was practiced and had the blood of Devils to protect him. So the hobgoblins crawled away, beaten, but wiser.

And Adam left, secure in the knowledge that discipline is one step on the road to compassion.

[Andre]

(again very nice ! .. if more than a few days go by without you having a chance to add further to this let me know so I can award some well deserved XP and RP to you for this Also to clarify - we're taking about a village named "Ember" not "Ember the red dragon who works with Verminnard" right? I'm guessing it's the former and not the latter but just wanted to double check )

[malkav565]

correct. Ember is a convenient handle for a village that gets slaughtered and burned. I had one in my world, as did Neverwinter Nights 2. Figured it's as good a name as any.

[malkav565]

Adam redoubled his pace after the hobgoblins. Traveling into the mountains he faced weariness and the cold, but he wrapped himself in his vows and clothed himself in his faith in his path and he was sustained.

Upwards into the foothills of Pax Tharkas he traveled. Adam's keen eyes saw smoke from miles away. Something had occurred there, yet there was no time to investigate.

So it was later in the day that Adam came across a dwarf in metal armor, laying face down some distance from the path. Adam felt the dwarf's breath and knew that he still lived, despite the brutal gash in the links of the dwarven mail.

Adam did the best he could for the dwarven warrior, crafting makeshift bandages from his clothes and starting a small fire. After a few days, the dwarf was nursed back to consciousness, though he was still wounded.

Adam found that instead of terror at his countenance, the dwarf was calm; almost supernaturally so. Adam was relieved, as the dwarf could only worsen his wounds.

The warrior introduced himself as Askgar Tinklehammer, one of the fallen defenders of the area around Pax Tharkas. From Askgar, Adam got the news of the companions and their deeds.

When Adam told Askgar of his travels to Thorbardin, the dwarf was relieved. "I would travel with you, if you would take an old, spent dwarf," whispered the still wounded Askgar. "Of course, sir Dwarf. I would be honored to have you escort me to Thorbardin.", said Adam.

So it was, limping into the night, the two warriors started back through the mountain pass towards Skullcap.

[Andre]

(Great stuff .. let's say that this is a mountain dwarf - normally the mountain dwarves keep to themselves inside their mountain home in Thorbardin but they do have a few outside agents who make the ultimate sacrifice - they abandon their mountain home ( a rather painful prospect for the average Thorbardin dwarf) , at least temporarily , to travel forth in the outside world and bring news of what's happening back to Thorbardin.. this dwarf found out that Pax Tharkas - a site that was indeed sacred to the mountain dwarves.. had been overrun by the dragonarmies, attacked the first dragonarmy patrol he came across in a rage and was nearly killed for his efforts ..

Also let me know if you want me to award XP and RP or if there's more to come on this thread )

[malkav565]

sounds good. Award-away; all these "Journey to" threads are complete.

[Andre]

(Adam gets 50 XP and 100 RP for a long - and I mean that in a good way obviously he put a lot of work into this - thread that was a thoroughly enjoyable read for me )