Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Myths and Legends

13 May 2014

The Heroes slept in late, having stood watch through what remained of the stormy night after a light was spotted in the distance ashore on the island, that they believed to be a campfire. By the morning, the foul weather had passed, and the crew of the Gleaming Endeavor rose early to begin working to repair the broken mast and ragged sail. The work was briefly halted as Shaun excitedly pointed out to everyone what he had discovered, what looked to be ruins of an ancient city under the water beneath them; as everyone marveled at the sight, they could see that there was more of the city ashore, overgrown by the local vegetation to the point of camouflage. Far inland, where they supposed the fire had been spotted the previous night, were what looked to be pillars of some temple-like structure. The construction was unlike anything any of them had ever seen before, though Brother Mendel thought it seemed familiar (as he had seen drawings in books he had studied of ancient Greece in his days on Earth prior to being brought to Yrth in a Banestorm); Gestlin, also of Earth (but a more “modern” age) and a student of archaeology, recognized the strong Greco-Roman influence in the ruined architecture. The Heroes, being of little use to the ship’s repair, decided to go ashore to explore the ruins, to see what they might learn. Shaun was tasked to row them ashore in the ship’s boat, so that he might return with it, though he would rather have gone ashore to explore as well; Radskyrta went ashore with his fellows, needing to stretch his legs after being laid-up by the storm, though he half expected to be killed by some wild beast; Magnifico let the dragons loose from their cages, and rode Primus across the natural harbor, Secundus following.

The Heroes wandered the ruins for some hours, heading in the general direction of the “temple,” listening to Gestlin prattle on about matters of archaeology, and comparisons of what they encountered to ancient Earth civilizations, long past. As they explored, though, they kept a wary eye for others, as they knew someone else must be present. They heard a noise of stones overturned nearby, and Dane examined the area for tracks, finding only the passing of animals of some sort.

Some time later, as the Heroes continued to explore, the nature of the beast that made those tracks was revealed when a pair of “hybrid creatures”—part lion, part goat, part viper—leapt from cover and attacked; one pounced upon Gestlin, and the other, Primus. As Gestlin was held fast and gravely injured, his attacker’s lion-head breathed a jet of flame at Gabriel and Dane as they closed in to defend him; Brother Mendel summoned water upon them in turn, dousing their burning clothing. At the same time, the other creature struggled with Primus, locking its jaws on the dragon’s neck and snapping at Secundus with its viper-headed tail, while Merasiël threw Angrist as she approached. The creatures’ goat-head cried out as a man might, having a dispiriting effect; Magnifico thought therefore the creatures might be intelligent, and taunted them to see if they might react, but they continued as animals might. Rainald finally gathered his wits and threw his spear at the first creature, striking it deep before charging with Gramjarn, while Gabriel danced ’round the creature, dodging more gouts of flame and stabbing it deep many times with Misericordia, but it was exceedingly hardy and would not easily fall; Gabriel was struck by its viper-tail, and felt the onset of its venom. Secundus also was bitten by the other’s viper-tail and so poisoned; Magnifico called out to the dragons to leave off and come to heel, and Secundus obeyed, while Brother Mendel healed him, though there was nothing in his power he could do to neutralize the poison, and Primus remained held fast. Radskyrta charged in to come to Merasiël’s aid against the second, and the two attacked as it dragged the grievously-wounded Primus away. Then Merasiël buried her dagger into its lion-head’s eye, and it released its prey, who limped clear of it. Meanwhile, now with the aid of Dane’s arrows as he finally got to his feet, Gabriel plunged his rapier once more into the first creature, and it died, and Gabriel turned to the other, now set upon additionally by Rainald. Seeing the lion-head hanging limp, Merasiël stabbed its goat-head in the eye as well; thrashing and blinded, its poisonous viper-tail found its mark, biting her, but the Heroes now surrounded and overwhelmed it, and slew the creature.

Gestlin declared the creatures to be called “chimeræ,” from ancient Earth-lore. Brother Mendel healed the wounded, while Gestlin, by Smil-Blam, cast a spell to remove the poison from those so afflicted. Merasiël seized the opportunity, as they rested, to collect what might remain of the creatures’ venom, for later use. Then they decided to continue their explorations, and set out once again for the “temple.”

As they approached the structure atop a hill, they were hailed by an elf, leaning there against a pillar; he was arrayed as an archer, and he held himself with the confidence of a seasoned warrior, demanding to know the Heroes’ business here. Magnifico assured the elf that they were only exploring this island as they stopped for repairs, but the elf remained suspicious, and called out to his fellows. Some others emerged from within the structure: a man, a sorceress, a dwarf of great strength, and a nobleman who spoke as their leader, all with the same formidable bearing. Just within, beyond these adventurers before them, the Heroes could see signs of an excavation, and Gestlin inquired what was this place; their leader did not seem to wish to speak of it to these strangers, but admitted that they believed this place to be the city of Hesiod. Gestlin knew of this place as one of the first cities of man on Yrth, lost to antiquity and obscurity, and could scarcely contain his excited curiosity, barraging the strangers with questions and facts he had heard of, and even suggested they might work together to study this place. This served somehow to magnify the strangers’ distrust, and they roughly demanded the Heroes depart immediately. The Heroes, not wishing to come to a fight for no good reason, did as they were bidden and left, near-dragging Gestlin away, still chattering. Gabriel chanced a look back and saw the leader whisper something in the elf’s ear, and reading his lips, knew that he had ordered the elf to follow and slay them; Gabriel kept this revelation to himself until they were a safe distance away, but by then the elf had disappeared from his perch. The Heroes hasted to the ship, plotting amongst themselves how they might confound their new enemy, and discover what it was they were so keen to hide from them.

Notes

• Once again we realized that we had mostly forgotten about Radskyrta; we figured he’d succumbed to seasickness during the storm, and made certain he was present for the rest—turned out he was needed, after Gestlin fell
• Though the fight against the chimeræ only featured two (technically), it took a really long time to run the fight; owing to a lot of factors, we suppose in retrospect, one of which being their possession of HT 15, which made it practically impossible for them to fail an unmodified HT check, combined with high HP totals, both increasing the number of Turns it takes to bring them down
• According to the mythology, the goat-head “taunts,” which doesn’t make sense as they have only a basic, animal intelligence; in the course of discussing, we supposed it might be the annoying “human scream,” which would certainly be off-putting during a fight