Extract
from the Collected Letters of Mallius Vane
...we still had to
get the townspeople to safety and find any other survivors...and
Kining...
After a quick
discussion, it was decided that Ban, Abraxas and Xin would guard the
bridge while Folgrun, Kana and myself would skirt around the village
looking for survivors and, in particular, Kining. Aubrin, meanwhile,
would take the frightened townsfolk we had already gathered over the
bridge and, we hoped, into the safety of Fangwood. All except one, an
acquaintance of Folgrun...a striking woman called Feya and her
fox...who was to accompany us.
We bid our companions
farewell and, sticking to the bushes and trees on the outskirts of
the village, we made our way to the temple. We approached from the
rear and immediately heard banging and crashing from inside. Looting
hobgoblins. Folgrun, angered by the thought of hobgoblins defiling
the temple, wanted to cleanse the place of their polluting presence
but we managed to convince him to see if there was anyone in the
shack next to the temple first, belonging to Noelen, the caretaker.
Inside we found
Rhyna, Noelen's assistant, and eight others hiding. I admit I have
never warmed to Rhyna...all false smiles and forced gaiety...but I
was impressed that, even under the present circumstances, she
retained her optimism, giving courage to the terrified townspeople
with her. She would not, however, flee to the bridge as we asked but
instead demanded...all smiles...that we find her master, Noelen, who
had gone to the temple as soon as the attack started. Folgrun jumped
at the chance.
And so Folgrun kicked
in the back door. I have never been one for temples, preferring the
old ways...the stone altars and standing stones of the Green Faith.
Nevertheless, I was shocked at what they had done to the temple. The
statues had been hacked to pieces, the regalia and symbols of the
various faiths broken and defiled. And a dozen townspeople lay dead,
their bodies butchered and their life's blood spattered all over the
walls. Standing amidst this scene were two hobgoblins...one of them
an enormous beast of creature. They didn't look too pleased to see
us.
I don't really know
Folgrun well, but he has always struck me as calm and
steady...unruffled by the many small dramas of the town to which he
ministers. Not today. With a great cry, incandescent with rage, he
leapt into the temple determined to make the hobgoblins pay for what
they had done. He was followed by Kana, rapier flashing in the
candlelight.
Standing behind them
with my longbow, I noticed Feya's eyes suddenly glow with an eerie
white light and she began to laugh...a hideous cackle that sounded so
out of place coming from such a striking young woman...but it gave
the hobgoblins pause for thought. Moments later she let forth an
ear-piercing scream that almost had me running for the woods...the
gods know what it did to the hobgoblins.
Despite the fearsome
Feya and my determined companions, the battle was hard-fought. As we
had already found, the hobgoblins were skilled warriors and the big
one was truly a monster. While Kana and Folgrun fought the hobgoblin
nearest the door, a particularly vicious-looking bastard, I shot
arrow after arrow into the big fella, forcing him back and eventually
felling him. Unfortunately, this was not before another one of those
big wolves joined the fight.
Feya had created a
thick mist to confuse the wolf but it also hid everyone from view so
I drew my sword and dived in, almost tripping over Folgrun who now
lay wounded on the temple floor. At the same time, I saw Kana fall to
the first hobgoblin's sword. Things were suddenly looking rather
bleak.
It was then that I
heard the battle cries of Rhyna and the townspeople as they piled
into the temple...just as the mist began to disperse. Daggers and
shortswords drawn, they quickly dispatched the first
hobgoblin...already flagging because of the many wounds Kana and
Folgrun had dealt him and not a little surprised by the sudden
appearance of so many...giving me the chance to finish off the wolf.
We had come through...again....just.
While Rhyna tended to
Kana and Folgrun, Feya and myself quickly searched the temple but
Noelen was nowhere to be seen. With Folgrun and Kana back on their
feet and no sign of Noelen, we finally managed to convince Rhyna that
she needed to get the townspeople to the safety of Fangwood. We,
meanwhile, would continue to skirt around the village until we
reached the Phaendar Trading Company, home to Folgrun and Kining.
As soon as we saw the
place, we knew we didn't have much time as the roof was smoking and
smouldering. Folgrun, obviously concerned about Kining, tried the
back door but it was closed and the windows were shuttered...we could
also see enough to realise that they were barricaded from within.
While the rest of us
hung behind at the back of the building, Kana scouted out the front.
Moments after she disappeared from view around the corner of the
building, she reappeared running as fast as she could, closely
followed by two hobgoblins. As soon as she had brought them around
the corner, she stopped in her tracks, whirling around to attack them
with her rapier.
Never have I seen
such a lightning fast attack. In a flurry of lunges, parries and
ripostes she kept the two hobgoblins fully occupied giving Folgrun
time to join her and myself time to take a position with my bow. By
this time another hobgoblin had rounded the corner of the building.
But in an incredible display of swordsmanship, Kana dispatched the
first two hobgoblins before they had much of chance to catch their
breath before finishing off the third. Clearly Kana had got the
measure of the hobgoblins!
With no time to
waste, we rushed to the front of the building where we saw that the
flames were really starting to take hold of the roof. Folgrun called
out to Kining and was relieved to hear she was inside with some other
survivors but she warned that they were almost overcome with the
smoke. Folgrun hoisted me and Kana up to the roof where we quickly
made a hole and pulled the survivors out while Folgrun used his
powers to create water above us, keeping the flames and the smoke at
bay. In no time at all, Kining and four other townspeople were safely
outside.
At Folgrun's behest,
Kana and I entered the building and, breaking down the barricade,
smashed open one of the back windows to let Folgrun enter. He quickly
directed us to take a variety of supplies before opening a hidden
trapdoor and tossing me a buckler with a wink.
Back outside Folgrun
told Kining we had to destroy the bridge to give the survivors time
to escape into Fangwood. Asking her if she knew how to do it, she
nodded. “If yer pulling ma leg, I'll toss ye in the river!” he
said, with a twinkle in his eye. She scowled and thumped him on the
arm...I think I may have seen the hint of a smile...a first from
Kining. Then again...perhaps not. We headed back to the relative
safety of the bushes and trees behind the building.
There is one more
place that may have survivors...Oreld's Shop...
For a slightly easier read, a PDF copy of this write-up on Google Drive here.
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