Emtih's End

Emtih's breathing was deep, heavy and erratic now as he climbed through the rocks. Stopping occasionally to fire back at his pursuers, he cursed the rocks, the wound in his shoulder bleeding profusely and the non-magical boots he was wearing. If he was wearing the boots of climbing he could have made it up and away from these pursuers without difficulty. But he did not have them now, a fateful choice.

The previous night his group of scouts had been eyeing the seige weapons the orcs had been bringing up for the coming siege of Bordon's Watch. The weapons were impressive and were sure to pose a significant threat to the defenders, but their orders had been to observe only, not to intervene. As the rain began to fall, they debated heatedly about whether to violate their orders and attack the siege engines or to simply withdraw and warn the defenders.

Emtih had argued strongly against any attack. If anything went wrong, their only route of escape would be deep through the mountains that would, even if they could evade the orcs, would put them in a position where they probably would not be able to make it back to the defences until well after the engagement was decided. But his young hot-blooded companions disagreed, seeing that the orcs were quite drunk and disorderly, they reasoned that they could get in, sabotage the weapons and escape during the storm that was blowing in. Although Emtih was the most skilled and experienced warrior of the group he was unused to leading a group and relented to their impatient demands.

That night in his journal he wrote hastily about the incident and his disagreement with the group but made a point of indicating that in the end, the group decided to act together. Emtih would stay in a rather exposed sniper position while the others would make their way through the camp, quietly killing any drunken guards along the way until they reached the siege weapons. They would slice the sections of rope into small sections before retreating. Ropes that thick were probably expensive enough that the orcs would be unprepared to replace so many of them. If anything went wrong, Emtih would provide cover fire while the rest made for the mountains. Either way they would join up and hide deep in the mountains, trying to escape to Overlook.

To improve their chances, Emtih lent the other members of the groups most of his magical items, with the exception of his boots.

At first, it even looked like they would succeed. The guards died silently and the group made it to the catapults and began slicing through the large cables. But the rain made the ropes slick and difficult to slice easily, the seconds slipped away while the group fumbled with the cables. In the meantime, a half-drunk orc stubbled from his tent to come across the the dead sentry. Kicking the body, it took only a few seconds before he realized that the sentry's throat was slit. Before he could raise his voice however, an arrow had pierced his throat, silencing him permanently. But as it did, another orc spotted the group at the catapults and Emtih's aim was not nearly as accurate, hitting him square in the back. As the orc lay there he tried to yell but could only emit a few loud groans before his life slipped away. It was enough however, to attract the attention of a few orcs in their tents.

Things began to fall apart and the group began to attempt to flee the camp. One orc reached a warning horn and blew a mighty blast, leading to drummers in other parts of the camp to begin their rallying beat. Emtih fired as many arrows as he could into the midst of the camp, hoping to convince the orcs that they were facing an overwhelming attack. Instead, it stirred them up into a frenzy, similar to poking a bee's nest.

While most of the group made it out of the camp and into the mountains safely, one member became disoriented and could not find his way up the embankment. Shooing the others along a pre-arranged path, Emtih jumped down to help the young elf escape. Grabbing him, they dashed away from the camp, momentarily losing the orcs, but finding themselves nearly trapped in a box canyon of sorts. Thinking quickly, Emtih untied his boots and passed them to the young elf along with his backpack (where he always kept his diary), ordering him to use their special magic to quickly climb the sheer rock face and escape from there.

Emtih then fled from the canyon, firing arrows as he went, drawing the orcs away from pursuing his companions confident that he could find another way up into the mountains and escape as well. That is, he was confident until an orc bolt drove into his shoulder while he was jumping from rock to rock.

As painful as the wound was, he climbed higher and higher into the mountain, surprised by the length and tenacity with which the orcs were pursuing him. But he grew tired, slipping on the wet rocks, firing the occasional arrow at his tormentors and dodging their bolts.

As he reached a peak he was stopped dead in his tracks. Staring down into a massive chasm that he knew he could not cross, reality hit him like a Dwarven hammer. He was not going to escape this time. Staring across the chasm, he could see members of his scouting party watching him from a safe distance, unable to intervene without giving away their position. But as fixated as they were on him, he was equally fixated on the others that were standing there with them. His mother and father, sisters and brothers. His family was there, on the opposite side of the chasm. They were waiting for him.

Turning back, he fired his last arrows at the orcs as they scaled the rocks behind him, felling another two. He had lost cout of how many orcs he had hurried along to the afterlife but supposed that it was at least a few score. The orcs were exhausted from the chase, their rage exhausted, but their prey trapped. It was ironic, Emtih thought, that he would end his life as the quarry of another.

Drawing his sword he sliced into the orcs holding a position precariously on the edge of the chasm. Orc blades sliced deep into him, finally bringing his exhausted body to his knees. As the orcs pressed their advantage seeking a final victory, Emtih sought to achieve his own, and avoid the fate of the dwarven monks at the monastary. Better that his body be lost forever, than the tool of an orc cleric.

Collapsing off the side of the chasm, his body disappeared into the darkness below.

Life's Good

After fighting the orcs for 5 days, they've finally backed off. Everything sounds good however, there are some small issues that I have to take care of:

I'm a little bit concerned about the shanty town. It's really a shame for a beautiful city like overlook. I wanted to help those people but apparently something nasty is going on there. I'll talk to Mr.Forgeheart to see if he agrees to send a small army to kill the undead/necromancers and, of course, save the innocent people.

Arnie is really enjoying embracing us specially in important ceremonies. I have to take care of that.

Also sounds like Arnie (and Atherton) are taking the rumors about the consortium too seriously. I'm sure people have made those rumors just because they are jealous. I don't think all these clerics and paladins in overlook will let the consortium do something wrong. I don't really want to make this my problem. If these guys try to mess with the consortium I'll have to leave them alone and remain on the good side with other clerics and paladins.

Nothing makes sense anymore

The Farstriders are dead! All but Atherton were destroyed by the orc forces in the mountain. I'm just quickly writing this before we go to the mountain pass chamber to close it off. A lot has happened though that doesn't make any sense. The Farstriders should have been prepared, that Troll that we killed couldn't have been all that destroyed them. Our party, with the help of Atherton's immobolize spells, were able to quickly put an end to the beast. The Farstriders with their vast experience should have easily handled it. This is disturbing but what is even more disturbing is the fact that Thieves from the Shadowfeld (Dark Ones) are aiding the orcs. They live on another plane, what are they doing helping orcs?!! Even stranger she was holding a sending stone. They must have been in contact with someone. Maybe I'm just panicking and she was an exiled Dark One hiring herself out to ne'er-do-wells on this plane. I hope that's it.

This is never what happens in the books. It is always simple, we find out what is wrong, we face challenges, get through it and then move on to the next adventure. This time though I'm afraid. Who knows what we will face in the chamber. I just want to close the chambers and get back to town. I don't trust the Council they might have known about the terrible danger. Once we get back I'm going into town to figure out what is going on. Also what is this strange key for?