07
Assault on Raven's Ruin
THE ABSOLUTELY
Written by
Paddi Whisperleaf
…brought
to light by Glen Sprigg
Day 16
Well, after the excitement of Specularum
we went north to Urnst, where we caught a boat downriver to the village of
Kleine. My first thought upon seeing the place was that it was numbingly
boring. A small village nestled in the hills, not much to do, everybody knowing
what everyone else is doing...it makes it hard to practice my specialized
profession in such a dull place. I already hated it.
When we got into the village
proper, though, my ears were tingling. There was tension in the air, as if the
villagers were expecting something to happen, something unpleasant. The town
crier saw us and came up to us, deafening us with a loud message. Humanoids
were threatening Kleine. This isn't really news; there are tales of humanoid
invasions all over the Realm these days. These people must be pretty isolated
to think they're the only ones the humanoids are bothering.
But in addition to harassing
these wonderful people, the humanoids actually had the nerve to steal
something! Shocking behavior, and so totally out of character for goblins and
orcs. Imagine them stealing a valuable village heirloom. Some people have no
decency.
Then the crier said something
that actually interested me. The village elders were looking to hire someone to
recover their heirloom. 'Hire' is a magic word with adventurers all over the
Realm. Then he buttered the bread by saying they needed brave and strong
people. Well, that description fit our little group; we had just handled a
whole group of evil criminals in the city, we could deal with a bunch of
humanoids.
Maybe they are kobolds. That
would be good. If I wasn't so busy trying to become rich, I could spend my life
hunting down every kobold in the Realm.
We went to the Melodious Harpy
tavern, where the town council was holding their nightly meeting. Taverns
always have the strangest names. Harpies are indeed melodious, as we had
learned on our way to the Rock (was it really only a couple of weeks ago?). But
after you get past the melody, they're really ugly and nasty. I hope that
wasn't a description of this village.
The tavern was full, and we
overheard people talking about 'cursed goblins' and 'Raven's Ruin,' whatever
that was. No kobolds, more's the pity. Well, maybe the goblins will have some
kobolds as pets. I can hope, right?
Near the entrance, we saw a
well-dressed popinjay, watching us with an expectant look. I think he was
looking at Caelisar; she's certainly pretty enough. But she's hardly the type
to take up with a lecherous young man, even if he is pretty-looking himself
(for a human).
He called us over, and we grabbed
a few chairs and sat with him. He introduced himself as the councilman the town
crier had mentioned, and said he spoke on behalf of the
He offered to pay us fifty
pieces of gold apiece for recovering the Sceptre, which wasn't really that much
to us. But Edward magnanimously agreed on behalf of the group (I really have to
talk to him about negotiation tactics).
Alyssa was more practical, and
asked some questions about Raven's Ruin and this Sceptre of Truth. Raven hadn't
been seen in two years, and his hideout was a ruin now. But according to rumor,
the place was still heavily trapped and deadly.
The Sceptre of Truth is a
magical artifact that compels whoever is touching it to speak the truth. I
silently vowed to aviod the thing like the plague; let the goblins keep it.
Truth is all well and fine, but there are times when it's extremely
inconvenient. Imagine if Edward made me hold this thing and asked me where the
harpy queen's tiara had gone. There are some things humans just don't need to
know.
After Alyssa had finished her
questions, she nodded to Edward, who shook the councilman's hand to seal the
agreement. We left the tavern and went in search of goblin tracks.
We plunged into the forest,
and as soon as we were out of sight of the village
Branden bandaged
This clearing was a dead end,
so we retraced our steps and went the other way. When I asked
A bit later, we heard a
terrible roar, which
We soon arrived at the Burning
Hills, where Raven's Ruin was located. We soon located the crumbled building
that was Raven's Ruin, and we soon found the stairs leading down. Edward asked
me to take the lead with Caelisar, since we were the best at sneaking around. I
couldn't argue with that, although to me even Caelisar sounded like a rattling
ironworks.
We saw some goblin tracks
leading down the stairs, which was a good sign that we had the right place.
Down we went, keeping our eyes open and our hands on our swords. There was a
door down at the bottom of the stairs, which I checked very carefully. It takes
a thief to know a thief, and I know that if I built a house like this, I'd be
very sure to keep people from breaking in too easily.
We came into a large entry way
that wasn't very well cared for; the floor and walls were dusty, and broken
furniture littered the place. We went down a staircase to a long hallway, and
carefully made our way into the depths of Raven's Ruin. Watching very
carefully, I spotted something unusual in the middle of the hallway floor: a
broken short bow. Now why would that be there? Perhaps it was a distraction?
Yes, it was. Just as I looked
up at the ceiling, a set of nets came down on top of us, entangling us! A group
of goblins howled and rushed us as we struggled to free ourselves. Caelisar
once against demonstrated her newfound strength, ripping a hole in the net and
drawing her sword to meet the goblin charge. By the time we had freed
ourselves, Caelisar had already sliced through two of the goblins, and two were
running away. Edward dispatched the last with Everbright.
Alyssa asked Caelisar where
she had gained this strength. She then examined Caelisar's new gauntlets
carefully, then cast a spell. The gauntlets glowed a bright blue, and Alyssa
nodded. "These gauntlets are magical," she informed Caelisar.
"They give you the strength of an ogre as long as you wear them."
I should have known. I
wouldn't mind having those myself, but Caelisar probably won't be lending them
out any time soon. And if they just happened to disappear, I'd have a very hard
time explaining how they ended up on my hands later on. Curse the luck.
We chased the goblins that had
run away, and burst through a door into a barricaded room where the two cowards
had found some friends. Thinking they had strength in numbers, they attacked us,
but Alyssa put more than half of them to sleep before they could take more than
a few steps. We made short work of the rest.
The room probably looked much
nicer before the goblins redecorated. They have absolutely no sense of style.
Searching around, we found a few coins lying around, and Alyssa found a scroll
with some strange writing on it. She seemed pleased with it, but I had no clue
what it could be. When I tried to get a closer look, she glared at me so
fiercely I thought she was going to turn into a goblin herself. Mages are so
touchy.
We went further into the ruin,
and came to a hallway that looked suspiciously safe. I opened one door
carefully, and spotted the brick ready to fall down on our heads. Crude, but
effective. But not subtle enough to evade my notice. And that worried me more
than a bit.
But I didn't have time to
think about it, because behind this door were a pair of goblins and a pair of
wolves. The wolves charged us, but the goblins stayed on top of a table, as if
they were guarding it. A chest of gold I can understand, but a table? Caelisar
answered their arrow storm with one of her own, while Edward and Warren dealt
with the wolves. I stayed low to the floor and avoided the fight, instead
getting close enough to the goblins to kill them both while they stood on that
silly table.
Being by the table, this put
me in a convenient spot to go through the loot the goblins had been looking at
while the others finished off the wolves. I pocketed the gold before anyone
else arrived, and we shared the rest. There was also a cabinet in the room,
which one goblin had attempted to open. The poisoned needle trap had taken care
of him,and I was able to open it up without any problem. Inside was some
treasure, and I also found a second cache with several gemstones. I pocketed a
few of these before the others saw them; this place is definitely worth my
time!
By this time we were all
feeling pretty tired; it had been a long day, and we decided to head back up to
the surface to get some rest. We'll keep a careful watch tonight; I'm even
going to take a turn. We'll stay in the hills, rather than returning to the
village. Edward says it's because we won't go back without their sceptre. For
me, it's just too long a walk to go back at this time of night. So we'll get
some sleep and head back down in the morning.
Day 17
This day started out slowly,
but it got very interesting right at the end. When we woke up, there were no
signs of any goblins having been nearby, and we were all still alive. So obviously
they hadn't thought to look for us up here in the hills. So back down to the
ruin we went, determined to find that sceptre.
We continued to explore, and
we entered one room with a hobgoblin. He was overcome with a case of terminal
stupidity, because he charged us by himself! It wasn't until after
Well, I could go into tedious
detail about all the goblins we fought, but that would really be pointless.
Suffice it to say that we found several more goblins in this place and killed
them all. Except for the two sleeping ones. That was strange. They were just
lying inside the room, sleeping. You'd think they would at least find a
comfortable bed, but no. This was odd enough that we dragged them out of the
room to see if we could get some information from them. Unfortunately, they
woke up right away, and without even a 'good morning,' they attacked us. Edward
and Caelisar made short work of them, and I decided to explore the room they
had been in. Well, the next thing I know, I'm lying on the floor with Branden
shaking me awake! I had fallen asleep! And me without my pillow.
Alyssa immediately informed us
that the room was cursed and that we shouldn't even look inside, let alone go
in. Well, that was a comforting thought. I'm sure there were several very
interesting things lying around in that room, just waiting for me to find them.
So we continued on exploring the ruin, since we hadn't yet found the sceptre.
We did, however, find Raven's
treasure room. Now THAT was a nice room to be in. Of course, it was guarded, so
we had to deal with that little detail first. Then I got to explore the
treasure room properly. Well, there were just so many wonderful things to see
in there, I couldn't decide which to pocket first. So naturally, Edward noted my
indecision and asked me to watch the door to make sure any goblins didn't
disturb us. Because of course, when you need someone to guard a door, naturally
you choose a short gnome for the job. The goblins would certainly be
intimidated by my menacing presence.
The others finally found the
object of our search, the Sceptre of Truth. It was an impressive thing, but not
really worth all that much in my opinion. After all, we were only being paid
fifty pieces of gold apiece for recovering it. I suppose villagers aren't as
wealthy as cityfolk.
Edward was ready to leave, now
that our mission had been accomplished, but there was something else I wanted
to know. Namely, what had really happened to Raven? We had looked everywhere
for any trace of him or explanation as to where he had gone, but I realized
that there could very well be other places to search. We just hadn't found the
places yet. I started doing a careful search of the walls, ignoring Alyssa's
protests that we couldn't search every square inch of the place. It was right
after she told me that the Veiled Society wasn't operating here and that I
should get those silly hidden doors out of my head that I found the door to
Raven's study. That shut her up in a hurry, believe me. I'm very proud of
myself; I stopped smirking at her every chance I got after only twenty minutes.
There were more interesting
things in the study, including Raven's journal, where he explained everything
about his house and what traps he had put in there. It was a little late for
most of these little warnings, considering either we or the goblins had tripped
every trap in the place! But it was still interesting reading. I got some good
ideas for my own place, if I ever decide to settle down. Probably not, though.
I'm still having too much fun.
We opened the door in the
study, and there was a man sleeping on the bed in the bedroom. I started to
take a step inside, but realized that this was the very room I had fallen
asleep in before! And this man, who I assumed was Raven, was lying on the bed,
sleeping...I told Alyssa what I had seen, and she agreed that he might very
well be under the same spell that had put me (and the goblins) to sleep. Of
course, getting him out of the room would likely wake him up, as it had to the
goblins and I. But getting him out wasn't going to be easy, since anyone who
stepped in the room fell asleep.
We discussed the situation for
a few minutes. Should we even try to wake him up? If he was indeed Raven, then
he was a well-known thief, and a dangerous one. Caelisar thought we would be
better served by leaving him there. On the other hand, he would be grateful to
us for awakening him from what appeared to be a two-year nap. I know some
humans need their beauty rest, but this was ridiculous.
Edward finally decided that we
would make the attempt.
He woke up as quickly as the
goblins had, and was much less aggressive than they were. He wanted to know who
we were, of course, and Edward explained it to him as quickly as possible. He
was very grateful to us for freeing him of the sleeping curse, and he agreed
that we could return the things the goblins had stolen from the villagers, but
he wanted to keep his treasures. However, being a master thief, he recognized
that six-to-one odds weren't in his favour, and he let us go with everything we
had. Smart man. I still think I could have learned more from him if I'd stayed
around.
On the way back from Kleine, I
was very pleased to run into a small band of kobolds. My day was complete,
since it was their last day on this world. Stinking hairless rats! I can tell
Edward wanted to ask me just why I hate those filthy parasites so much. Maybe
I'll tell him someday. For now, I'll just keep on killing them every chance I
get. Eight less kobolds infesting the world makes it a better place.
We returned to Kleine to a
hero's welcome. The villagers were very grateful to us for the return of their
treasures, and we got a chance to rest and relax while they sorted through
everything. After they had determined what was and wasn't theirs, they let us
take the leftover treasure for ourselves, including some fancy items we had
found that had belonged to Raven (from earlier thefts, presumably).
We discussed our next move,
and decided to head out of Kleine first thing in the morning. The city of
Day 18
Well, so much for Urnst. We
had a visitor during the night, so there's really no point in going to the big city
to dispose of the valuables. When we woke up, we noticed that some of the
treasures we had collected were missing. In their place, there was a note in
Edward's purse. It was from the Raven, of course. Rather than fighting us, he
had let us return to the safety of the village, then come in during the night
and relieved us of his valuables. He did thank us again, but pointed out that
since he had stolen them in the first place, the things we had were rightfully
his. It was a bit irritating to the others, but I took it in stride. These
things happen when you cross paths with a master thief. Of course, he's not the
only sneaky person around...
So instead of heading back up
to Urnst, we decided to head further west. Stallanford is a good place to visit
this time of year; it's nearly harvest time, and the King's Festival should be
a lot of fun to attend. Village festivals are a lot more fun than those in the
city; the people are usually friendlier, and they don't have the same tendency
to riot. At least I hope not. One riot is more than I want to deal with. We
camped out under the stars tonight, enjoying the last few warm evenings before
winter sets in.
Day 19
He came back during the night,
as I expected. The others don't know about this second visit; they don't really
need to. After all, the note he left was directed to me alone. I had to get rid
of it before the others saw it, but I'll make a copy here.
"My dear Paddi.
"It was a pleasure to
see you all again last night in Kleine, though you didn't know of my visit. Or
at least, the others did not. I congratulate you; there are few indeed who
would have the nerve to pick my pocket while I was relieving them of my
property. Fewer still would succeed without drawing my attention. I confess, I
never even realized you were awake. As a token of my eternal admiration, you
may keep the diamonds you found on my person. I hope that in the future, should
our paths cross again, we will meet as friends, perhaps even as partners. If
that is not the case, then you will be a worthy opponent. Farewell, and may the
gods of your people smile upon you forever.
"Raven"
On to Journal
Entry Four