Lady Ceiling's Journal
Lady Ceilings Journal {Into Limura III) The
Rupie Chase
Workday 16th Fourth Moon 707ATN
So we left the Salubral
Spring and tailed along behind the Verdini tribe. They had to keep stopping to
let us catch up. After an hour we reached the beginning of the Rupie Chase and a
screamed warning came from a crag some way ahead of us. We formed up ready for
battle. Graf Silth and his soldiers held the centre with Verdini warriors on
either wing. We females were placed in the rear of our soldiers, with the mules
for company. That is except for the Grafin, who demanded to stay with her
husband. Chief Vaggo knew that Eliza, a giant lizard, lurked in a cave on our
right so he had placed his best warriors on that side. These carried wicker
shields as opposed to the leather on wood ones held by the others. Apparently
the wicker ones were passed on from heroes in the past and it was a great honour
to be given one! Any way we walked forward and Eliza appeared and she was truly
enormous! Whilst most of the Verdini stood quailing some of their wicker shields
charged her alongside our dwarves. Vaggo had told us he expected Eliza to be
somnolent from eating an Ent and the five who managed to contact her were too
many. The heroic halberdier Smak dealt the vital blow, just as a pack of giant
rats poured down from a crag on the left! They were led by one running on its
hind feet and wielding a large sword! One managed to bite a chunk out of one of
the shaken Verdini’s calf but five rats were slain. Two survivors fled and Graf
Silth suggested that we reorganise whilst a nurse attended to the wounded
warrior.
Looking straight ahead there
was a large crag with a cave entrance in its middle. On the ledge above the cave
was a pile of large rocks and as we reformed a green giant came to stand behind
them. Chief Vaggo said that the warning shriek had come from the top of this
crag, so it seemed an important part of Beevil’s defences. A steep path ran up
the left hand side of the crag. There was a mass of smaller crags to the right
which doubtless held more of Beevil’s monsters.
“The crossbows might deal with
that green demon.” suggested Sir Shure. “He appears to be covering the cave
entrance into the crag.
“It’s scales might be too good a
protection?” demurred Druid Barbver.
“I think we should try it anyway
but we must move a bit closer to save wasting quarrels.
Forward a few hets!” ordered Graf Silth. “Princess could one of your
abigails assist by reloading the spare crossbow?” So abigail Bonny volunteered.
“It looks as though we will have
to fight our way up that path to the left to clear the top of that crag. I could
lead an attack that way?” offered Sir Shure.
“My men and I will rush the cave whilst
you go for the path. We allow Beevil to call in his monsters from elsewhere if
we tarry too long.” said Vaggo the Verdini Chief.
“Yes! Forward to the attack!” commanded
Graf Silth.
So whilst the two crossbows
loosed at the demon, Sir Shure’s dwarves headed for the path and Vaggo and some
of his warriors rushed to the cave. He and a spear warrior tried to enter it two
abreast, but it was guarded by a six armed snake woman. Each of her arms held
swords in a variety of shapes and these she flailed at her attackers. The Green
demon hurled down a large rock at the Verdini but fortunately missed. A groan
went up from the Verdini! The Snake woman’s flailing swords had chopped off
Vaggo’s head! Bravely a warrior took his place and spitted her with his spear.
Then one of our quarrels struck the demon and he ran off yowling clutching his
left ear. Sir Shure’s party advanced up the steep path to where I could no
longer see them. They told me that Beevil himself appeared nearby, a spectre in
the Gheist Flache where normal weapons could not touch him! He made gestures
indicating that he was trying to cast spells but they failed. Druid Babver cast
a blinding flash which forced him to turn away. Some of the warriors chased
after him and he was next seen on the top of a large crag to the north of the
current Beevil’s Lair one. From future developments we now call the crag to the
north the Kitchen Crag. Apparently near
the top of the path they encountered two Jedonese knights. Sir Shure slew one
and the other ran to a cave in a higher part of the crag. Verdini warriors
chased after him and one slew him and also the wounded green demon who was
sheltering in there. That cave guarded a newel stair leading downwards.
Meanwhile the Druid Bondusto had
taken over command of Vaggo’s warriors and searched the Snake woman’s cave. I
saw it later, and it had no other exits and had just some bracken bedding and
discarded bones. The Druid Bondusto collected the creature’s swords and tiara,
and her serpent tail was cut off for making a memorial to Chief Vaggo. Vaggy
their trumpeter said he would compose an eulogy for him to be sung at future
feasts. The swords all appeared to be of the rather shoddy Gashad forging. I
expect that the Tiara would be given to Vaggo’s widow.
Sir Shure led his dwarves down the
newel staircase where the leaders were attacked by four women wielding daggers.
Two were soon slain and the other two surrendered. Vaggson told me that these
were the concubines of Beevil, who had brought him to the Salubral Spring
Hospital years ago. Off the staircase hallway was Beevil’s own sparsely
furnished bed chamber with a bed and chest in it. In the unlocked chest were
some bags of coins totalling 152 Gilden Pezzi and some jewellery worth perhaps
another thirty. The concubines had had only their daggers and a few pieces of
tawdry jewellery. Their clothes were long past their best! Beevil was rather a
poverty stricken demon. His bedding was shoddy and though Druid Barbver used his
spells seeking for magic artefacts there were none. To my disappointment there
were not even any scrolls! I can say this with confidence because we ladies
slept in this chamber that night.
To the left was a large hall with a
table some benches and some bedding. A small antechamber overlooked a murder
hole in the floor and had a pile of hand stones beside it. Descending the Newel
further, Shure’s soldiers encountered a Giant who the concubines said was called
Nutch. However two of them took him on and a great blow from Hak’s halberd
finished him. He had an enormous sword, so heavy no ordinary dwarf could wield
it. We gave it and his fur coat to the Verdini as trophies, as they were worth
far more than any money to them. Nutch had been set to guard the sizeable hall
which had a bolted iron bound door leading outside. Graf Silth stopped any from
going out for fear of the Verdini dropping hand stones on them from above by
mistake. Besides there would be other monsters in the caves nearby and he
thought it best to clear the cave network first.
The newel led down to
another floor. This contained a well, a drinks cellar and a long corridor
leading northwards. The liquids in the drink store were contained in clumsy
wooden vats made from solid tree trunks and leather bottles. The corridor was
very long ending in a bolted door. The soldiers guessed that it must lead below
the next sizeable crag. After some delay, ensuring that they had fully cleared
Beevil’s lair crag they set to break open the door. Not carrying axes might
please the Ents but it was a handicap when breaking open a door was needed.
Maces are just not as good and the narrowness of the corridor would hamper
swinging a halberd. In the end they used a bench from Beevil’s hall as a
battering ram which soon did the trick. Beyond it on the right was a kitchen
with a cook woman and four wenches who surrendered immediately. To the left was
a locked door but the Cook gave up her key and it proved to be a well-stocked
food store. It seems Beevil’s followers were paid in food. A newel staircase in
the far corner of the kitchen led up to another floor which was defended by two
whip wielding demons, a woman turnkess and a human sergeant. Our doughty
soldiers prevailed once more. On the fall of the sergeant and one of the demons
the other two surrendered. Beside their guard chamber was a door bolted on the
outside which proved to be the cell holding Viraga and the three other Verdini
damsels. The newel continued on to a yurt protecting its opening on the top of
the crag. The prisoners told us
that they were sometimes led up there so they could exercise walking around the
crag top.
Eventually Graf Silth led
everyone in the two crags back to us. He said that he was determined to clear
the small cave area of any remaining monsters. An Imp had been seen on top of
Beevil’s Lair and Beevil himself was still at large lurking in the Gheist
Flache. Therefore he with a dozen well armoured others would lead the way whilst
the rest were put into defensive formations. His unit moved right, past Eliza’s
lair and immediately a flying demon emerged from the top of a crag. It bore a
spear but the crossbow dwarf Kant shot it down before it could do anything.
Proceeding further they spotted a dead tree stump which Graf Silth suspected
might be a corrupted Huorn. As they neared it a pack of giant wolves charged
them. The Whorgi the Verdini called them. The three plate armoured halberdiers
were in the lead and Smak killed one wolf and Hak another and the remaining five
fled. Just as well for they were
large and ferocious beasts!
Leaving us in a strong defensive
formation the Verdini Druid Bondusto led eight of his tribe to go in support of
Graf Silth. He had then encountered an assorted bunch of chaotics. After some
ineffectual hostile spell casting, a fire ball badly burnt Smak. Fortunately
Kord shot both a green zombie and the demon spell caster and the remainder fled.
Abigail Bonny immediately treated Smak but he will be unfit for front line
action for some time. Two caves further caves subsequently searched were found
to be empty but had been occupied recently. We had hoped that this would be the
end of the conflict but whilst the bodies were being searched, two creatures
swooped down over Graf Silth’s unit. Kord shot one, a flying panther down and
the other flew away. We think that these were two that had skirmished with us at
the Salubral Spring. This did seem to be the end of hostilities so we moved into
Beevil’s Lair so that the Verdini could hold a victory feast. They were so happy
that we had cleared out the caves and rescued the four damsels. Viraga the
chiefs borrowed Vaggson’s Khepesh and killed the turnkey demon with it! His
fellow prisoner the Turnkess Dolly pleaded for her life in Washa, expecting to
be next. Viraga spared her on condition that she became her servant in the
future. The Druid Bondusto said that his tribe would take on the kitchen women
and two surviving concubines as well. If they wanted to eat they would have to
do as his tribe’s people told them. For the present the tribe would occupy the
caves, expecting to keep Beevil out. He of course was still at large in the
Gheist Flache with some of his monsters. Viraga told us that the demon destroyed
by Kord was Beevil’s son Bevit! He carried a bronze horn and a good quality
sword. These were awarded to Sir Shure as a reward for his heroics.
That evening we feasted on
the supplies that Beevil had accumulated, often from the Verdini people. Graf
Silth told us not to over-do the celebrating as we would be marching onwards in
the morning with as many of Bondusto’s warriors as he would let us have. He was
expecting to meet up with some of the Placki tribe near the border and did not
want to miss them. It would take us two or three days to cross Hunara and there
had never been any peace treaty between Neradh and Hunara. In fact Hunara was
truly chaotic in not having even a unified council. The clan chieftain’s made
war on anyone too weak to defend themselves.
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