Nothern Shadows

[Craig]

Vren reached casually behind his back, to his Falchion, "You're a small one to carry tha' sword, ain't yah?" asked a Surly dwarf.

Vren yanked at the sword, it tingled at his grip, but not a budge.

"Come here ya' weak arm ha'fling!" Replied the same dwarf, who try as he might couldn't get the word out of the scabbard.

"Ah leme try!" Cried another dwarf, soon all the dwarves were fighting to remove the thing, but to no avail.

"If ye can't remove yer weapon, little man, then you stay right here. Yer not goin' an inch further with that... thing... on yer back!" The dwarf captain laid his axe in the crook of his arm and frowned. "The rest'll have to come with me. You, Groft!" He said, looking at one of the other dwarves, "Pick up their weapons and follow!"

"Stop!" Cried Vren almost crushed, he saw Durn put his shield down, and come over to him, "Can you get it off?" Durn nodded, and he lifted the scabbard off Vrens back.

"If it won't come, It won't come!" And he had stop more then 1 young dwarf, trying to prove him wrong. Whilst this happen, vren emptied his buldging pockets of skiprocks.

OOC: The sword only comes out when evil is to be fought! Remember that!(Real evil Arcane )And I edited it so Rails works

[Rail]

"If ye can't remove yer weapon, little man, then you stay right here. Yer not goin' an inch further with that... thing... on yer back!" The dwarf captain laid his axe in the crook of his arm and frowned. "The rest'll have to come with me. You, Groft!" He said, looking at one of the other dwarves, "Pick up their weapons and follow!"

[Durwyn]

Durn certainly felt sorry for Casan and Gylderon, as he knew elves hated caves. Durn felt right at home here with his darkvision. "If it won't come out, you'll have to stay here" said a dwarf. Durn noticed that Vren's sword would not come out of it's sheath. Durn walked over and Vren asked "can you get it". Durn nodded and removed the sheath from Vren's back. He handed to the dwarf but noticed Gylderon's daggers did not appear in the pile. Probaly in his boots he thought. Durn felt secure, even without his weapons. One of his gauntlets had some hidden spikes in it and he had learned some unarmed fighting when he had been a pit fighter. The spikes could retract in or out and was used when fist fighting. "lead the way" he said to the dwarves.

[Rob-hin]

Lead by a small group of dwarves, with one of they carrying their weapons; the group walked deeper and deeper into the caves. The deeper they went, the more Casan got used to not seeing the sky. Still, he couldn’t wait to get out of there, even if “it” waited outside.

Eventually, they reached a big wooden door; it was decorated with golden images of two big hammers crossing each other. They glowed in he light of the torches that stood next to the door. Sedge and the rest were told to wait there; while the dwarven captain went inside, perhaps announcing them to the king.

After a few minutes of waiting impatiently, Casan was glad him returning. “Ye and your group may enter, but only you may speak. This was directed at Sedge. Probably since he is the leader, or perhaps since he was a good friend of Anduin… unlike the rest of us.

They entered the throne room, it was much bigger the Casan had imagined. He even forgot he was underground… but only for a minute. There were many dwarves there, most of them dressed in the colours of the clan. Some of them formed a line towards the king’s throne. Many torches lit the place up, it was an impressive sight.

[Arcane]

Gylderon looked around the main hall. The only exit was the path where they came from and another door. He shivered. How he hated being underground. Looking around, his vision seemed to cloud and the images around him began to melt. He coughed. Once, twice. He shivered.

Fighting nausea, he staggered over into a corner and tried to get a hold of himself. His shivered. How...he...hated...deep caverns. He was shivering so bad that one of his darts in his wrist almost fell out. He coughed, again and again, tears welling up in his eyes. "Damnit all! I can't show physical weakness infront of dwarves...." he was happy he was hidden in shadows, the dwarves would have poked fun at him. Taking a deep breath, he calmed down and stopped shivering. He walked back to the group and caught Casan's eye. He too was fighting nausea. Casan nodded. Gylderon took his cape of and gave it to Casan, who took it gratefully. Gylderon nodded.

[Craig]

Slowly reaching in his pocket, Vren started to slip on 9 rings, 2 to each finger, connecting to each other was a wire, and a 9th on his thumb, a small plectrum.

On the other hand, he placed a leather bind with similar strings, now the plectrum on his middle 2 fingers. He looked ahead, a wooden door... Hammers. He sized up the dwarves, he thought of the tales, how the bard taught him this.

A small drop of sweat slithered down his, perspirating face, down his nose. He had to stop his hand from reaching for it, it would reveal the secret, the drop fell, seemingly frozen, the splashing echoed in his ears. "I hope they have hearing as good as mine!" He thought, and ****ed the fingers on his right hand and got ready, ready to play.

[Magus]

Gilthanas’s eyes narrowed, hand clenching tightly around the hilt of his katana. His knuckles began to turn white. This wasn’t good. Orcs, no problem. But verbeeg...that was another matter entirely. A blow that would stagger a man would hardly faze creatures like these. Yet a single backhand from one of them could be the last thing you ever see. He lived for battle, but you had to choose your fights wisely. Life wasn’t a commodity wasted on the foolish...

“Anduin, I hope you’ve got a plan...” Gilthanas uttered, glancing at the stout warrior. The half elf’s heart was pounding; his body tingled with the raw energy borne of fear. But there was no other way. The enemy held the only path down. There was no escape. They had to fight.

Anduin was silent. “Well?!” Gilthanas snapped.

[Arcane]

Gylderon did not like the looks of the situation. In a big, closed cavern filled with dwarves. Possibly only him armed, with 10 darts and 2 daggers. This could not get worse. He looked around and shuddered. He hated being clostrophobic. Looking at the dwarves, he sized them up. There were about 12, including the cheftain, in the hall. But he doubt his darts could pierce their plate. It would take at least 5 to make a hole into the plate...he gave up the idea and looked at Sedge.

[Aegis]

A short, well dressed dwarf came walking up the group, and stopped in front of Sedge. He was wearing a flowing purple robe that trailed along the ground, and was matched by his equally long greying beard. His hands and neck were adorned with gold from the Spine of the World mountains. He was promptly followed by another younger dwarf with a rolled up piece of paper, and an elaborate looking quill.

"What ye be wanting?" grunted the dwarf, sizing Sedge up, who was only a little bit taller than the stocky dwarf.

"We were heading here for your assistence" Sedge began. "We were being led by Anduin, or Bryn Shandar, but..." Sedge trailed off, and the dwarf nodded knowingly

"Aye, he will be mourned." replied the dwarf, "But ye still haven't answer me question."

Sedge nodded. "Of course. There is a creature in the wilderness around Ten Towns."

"Yes..." said the dwarf. "We've heard the tales." the dwarf turned, and walked back a bit. "Tales of skinnings, and fluid blurring of the surroundings. It has been enough to send us into our mines, and stay here until we can be sure of what it is."

"It seems sensible enough." said Sedge. "You don't suppose you'd have any leads on what it is?"

"Only things of myth and legend. The Dale is ripe with stories, and all of them completly possible. Clan Battlehammer has an extensive library of legends dealing with the Dale, some of which speak of a creature that can bend light, and walk on the wind. Others speak of a creature that kills without mercy, and stalks it's prey for days, sometimes weeks. None, though, tell of what it looks like, or even what it's name is. We have simply dubbed it the 'Seir'. We believe this may be the creature, but have no means of finding out for sure."

...

[Magus]

Anduin was silent. “Well?!” Gilthanas snapped.

“Damn it, Gilthanas! I DON’T KNOW!” Anduin shouted back. He looked up at the giant verbeeg, grinning at the front of a pack of slavering orcs, and for the first time in his life, he hesitated. Even he, it seemed, had come to realize that they wouldn’t be making it out of this one. They were trapped, trapped like rats. But how could orcs, even verbeeg, have pulled off such a deft maneuver?!

Anduin’s gaze was drawn to the orc chieftain’s bloated face. Past its stupid smile, within the depths of its dirty yellow eyes, lied a primitive intelligence, the instinctive canniness of those that claw their way to the top and never let go. A stupid chieftain didn’t live long among its voracious kind.

“Damn it...” Gilthanas whispered furiously. How could Anduin do this, when they needed him most? Well, he didn’t care if he died. But, by Kelemvor, he would take these scum with him!

Gilthanas suddenly sprinted forward, the world around him becoming a blur. He slashed out, rolled aside, sliced low, then high, sidestepped some unseen blow, and lunged forward once more, the motions instinctive, continuous, repeating one after another, again and again, for seconds, minutes, hours...he couldn't tell. Dimly aware of his surroundings, he saw Sedgemon go down, a pair of verbeeg towering over him. He flew into their midst, his movements impossibly quick, his katana whipping to and fro like so many swords at once. The weapon glowed a faint blue, which at times seemed to spread along his hand, until it was indistinguishable what was glowing, the hilt or the hand.

A hand gripped his shoulder. He spun around wildly, ready to chop his attacker to pieces. But it was only Sedgemon. Sense returned to the half-elf in a rush. The blade's glow faded and vanished.

“Gil, let’s go! The way’s clear!” Sedgemon pointed at the path looming in front of them, littered with the corpses of orcs. A few feet away lied the bleeding body of a verbeeg, twitching in its death throes. Two more were staggering to their feet nearby, battered but not beaten.

Abruptly coherent, Gilthanas glanced at himself. He was covered in blood, bright crimson intermingling freely with dull black wherever he looked. How much of it was his own, he couldn’t say.

“COME ON!” Sedge yelled, tugging him forward by his free arm. After a final backward glance, Gilthanas pushed his friend’s hand away and broke into a run down the path, towards the others waiting in front of the next bend.

[Aegis]

Anduin was shaken out of a daze when he heard Gilthanas yell. He shook his head quickly, moving as he did so, not wanting to stay in one place long enough for a Verbeeg to get a hold of him. He turned on his heel, and sprinted towards the trail leading out of the mountains, Kis'thana and Saulon beside every step of the way. The group was only equiped to deal with the orcs, even Sedge hadn't prepared any spells that could effectivly battle the giant-kin. Anduin risked a glance backwards. His eyes widened as he saw Sedge and Gilthanas following the three, and dead Verbeeg. He didn't stop to wonder how the two had managed that so quickly. The three continued to run, the slope of the trail providing momenteum, perhaps too much. Anduin suddenly heard Saulon cry out. The warrior came to a skidding halt, along with Kis'thana. Saulon had tripped on the root of a bare tree along the path.

"Keep going!" Anduin yelled to Kis'thana, and to the trailing friends, waving them towards the bottom of the trial.

Anduin ran back to Saulon, and hoisted him off the ground, and placed his arm over his shoulders, helping Saulon down. The two were moving slowly, and the other two Verbeeg caught up to the lagging warriors. Anduin didn't see it. The Verbeeg lashed out with his fist, striking both Anduin and Saulon in the back, and sending them flying forwards. Saulon hit the ground a few feet in front of Sedge, and skidded to a halt. He face had been cut up from the course ground, and the man was out cold. Anduin had fared worse. The blow sent him into the side of a rock face. His body slammed into the hard wall, knocking the ind out of him. His head hit the ground shortly after his body did, cutting a large gash across his forehead.

Kis'thana turned around after hearing the attack. Her face seemed to drain of colour as she watched the hurt Anduin push himself up off the ground, blood dripping from his wound. She didn't stop to think, and sprinted forward, his blade out and ready to strike at the nearest target. Gilthanas had turned as well, and saw just how much the plan had gone awry. He quickly assessed the situation, and took after Kis'thana as well. Just before she could reach Anduin to help him, the Verbeeg come up to her, his fist raised, and ready to smash it into the ground. She looked up towards.

Anduin turned his head over, and looked towards Kis'thana...

*****

"hurry yer arse up here, Gert!" Shoted the dwarf. "We got some hurt people."

The pair of dwarves came running up to the fallen warriors. Berek kneeled over, and pressed his thumb against Anduin's neck, checking for a pulse. Gert did the same to Gilthanas. The two looked at each other, and nodded. The were alive, if only barely...

[Craig]

Vren quietly paced imbetween the group and the lead dwarf, and snuck round to talk to Gylderon, if anyone he could keep a secret,"Take one of these, " Said Vren passing the stringed band, he looked nearly as dextorous as Vren, he thought, and he might be able to play, "And play it softly, you know how superstitious dwarves can be around magic," And with that Vren crept back round behind the group to his former posistion.

OOC: Just wanted to jump start the hapening side of the story, don't worry Arcan, through it away if you want, or play it when I say, depends on what your character wants.

[Magus]

OOC: I’m skipping back to the present. Mine and Aegis’s version of the battle in the past are becoming far too contradictory. It’s best that one or the other of us write it, but not both.

* * * * *

Gert felt for a pulse on the fallen half-elf’s neck. It was there, though barely. He glanced at Beret and nodded, then examined the half-elf further. He didn’t seem all that badly hurt. A few scrapes here and there...nothing much. Not even any broken bones. Then why was he so blasted white? Curious, he tried to turn the guy’s head. He immediately felt something warm and slimy. Fearing the worst, he turned it over. The whole side of his head was covered in blood, though by now the flow had slowed to a trickle. He ripped off a piece of his tunic and pressed it over the wound. This guy needed medical attention, real quick. If that wound got foul...

He shook his head. Though they’d been collecting herbs, they didn’t have anything that could help with this. Should they bring these outsiders back to the Clan? The elders wouldn’t be too happy about it, that was damn sure. Bah, to the Abyss with them! They could whine all they wanted, but these two needed help, and they weren’t going to just abandon them. Not with that creature wandering about...he suppressed a shiver. Not that he’d actually seen it. But he’d heard the stories, all right.

“Come on, Gert. We’re takin ‘em back,” Berek grumbled.

Gert nodded. He looked down thoughtfully, wondering how to carry his guy. For a moment he considered stripping the guy’s armor off. But he could tell the good stuff when he saw it. It was no less than good mithril chain. Even a shabby suit was worth a small fortune among the locals. And this one certainly wasn’t shabby, despite its frail elven crafting. No doubt the guy would jump him when he came to, if he found out that his precious armor had been left for the scavengers. And looking at him, Gert was pretty sure he didn’t want that. Even knocked out, there was something unsettling about this guy. His eyes drifted to the empty hilt at the man’s side. He began to wonder just what had happened here...

“Move your arse, Gert! We don’t have all damn day, and neither do these poor sods!” Berek shouted. He already had the human over his shoulders, and was waiting impatiently for his comrade.

“Aye.” Gert hastily threw the half-elf over his shoulder, and they began their return trip to the Clan, though a few hundred pounds heavier than before.

[Arcane]

Gylderon nodded pocketed the instrument. "I shall look into it later, that I promise you. For I harbor a love in all things musical." Vren nodded and turned back to the group.

OOC-I wasnt really sure waht the instrument was or how to play it so i said i would look it up later

[Craig]

"If he has any sense he'll know when..." Vren thought...

OOC: Arcane your character should be able to PLAY the instrument easily IT is quite simply and best WHEN people should know your playing music, VREN is about to plat the music, thats what it DOES *Wink wink, nudge nudge*