<>----------------------------------------------------------------------------<>R\ D R A G O N W A R S /
/ Paragraphs 68-96 \
\ typed by Zippo Pinhead /
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68) The door to this hut is open, and from within you hear someone singing. Entering the hut, you see a simple room...a pile of straw serves as a bed, while a candle burns on a large rock that passes as a table. Behind the rock you see a sad man who seems very old. His eyes are emply sockets and both his hands have been amputated at his wrist. You wonder why a blind man burns candles when he's alone.
The man stops singing and swings his head in your direction when you enter. "You must be the outsiders everyone's so excited about," he says with a firm voice. "I can smell Purgatory on you. Please come in. I'd like to see some new faces...provided I could see."
You learn the man's name is Carson. He was a sorcerer at the Temple of the Sun, in Phoebus. "That was before Namtar rose from the Pit," says Carson, pausing to spit. "Damn Underworld types should stay in their own world."
You talk with Carson well into the evening, pumping him for information. You learn that Namtar is either a demon or a man - Carson seems to use the terms interchangeably. About a year ago Namtar appeared at the court of King Drake in Kingshome, and was welcomed as the court magician. Within a year, Kingshome had mobilized and began making war on its neighbors. At the same time, Namtar announced a general ban on magic, using his secret police - the Strosstrupen - to enforce the ban. A great magical war ensued, which Namtar and the Strosstrupen won handily.
"Now sorcery is all but dead in Dilmun," Carson continues. "Take a look at me. Ten years learning Sun Magic and it leads to this! All the old Masters are gone...Lanac'toor was finally driven over the edge and shattered into a score of pieces; Zaton exiled to the deep wilderness; and Mystalvision..." Carson is silent for a long time, then says, "I can't prove it, but I always thought Mystalvision was wrapped up with Namtar. He's the High Priest at the Temple of the Sun. Our Order fell to Namtar so quickly...we must have been betrayed. Beware of Mystalvision!"
You talk with Carson late into the night, but learn little else of value. He is either unwilling or unable to teach you any magic. Heeding his advice, you take your leave of the old man.
69) When no one is looking, you crawl into an open sack filled with disgustingly fresh corpses. You lay still as the sack is crudely sewed shut. The darkness of the tomb descends upon you as the bag is closed.
None too gently, the entire sack is heaved onto the backs of slaves. Dead arms embrace you, long fingernails claw at your hair, rotting grave mould seems to penetrate your body. There is a lurch and a rasp as the bag clears the wall, and then you fall.
Your flesh crawls with anticipation. Will you meet your end, smashed to death with a host of corpses on some unseen rocky spire? Or will you splash into the warm water of Oceana, at long last free from the stinking hell of Purgatory?
You splash. You sink. You struggle. At last you win free of the sack, and the dead hands that drag at you seemingly resentful of the life you display. Lungs bursting, you break from the water at the base of the harbor wall, and quickly clamber aboard some debris you find floating close by and strike out for shore.
70) Mighty oaks intertwine above your head to form a living gateway to this enchanted forest. A fresh coat of sparking dew lays over everthing, leading a fantastic quality to the scene. The ground is covered with an inviting blanket of green moss. Faerie lights glimmer from within the boles of dark yet pleasant trees. This is a magical place.
71) Much to the garrison's dismay, the gates of Byzanople prove little obstacle for you. The Kingshomer army streams through the open gate and makes short work of the outnumbered city garrison. Byzanople has fallen.
After putting the garrison to the sword, the victorious Kingshomer soldiers gleefully get down to some serious pillaging. Buck Ironhead, the commander of the Kingshomer siege camp, appears from the chaos. "I've got to hand it to you, " he says, "you really did a job on these Byzanople jerks! Now Namtar's control of Dilmun is complete. I'm sure the Beast From The Pit will want to thank you personally." Ironhead smiles when you remind him for your bargain. "I haven't forgotton, I assure you...but seeing as how you threw in with me so easily, I doubt you have any real sense of honor. I wouldn't trust you clown as far as I could throw you!" Buck stands back as several of his soldiers gather around. "Put these traitors in irons!" he snarls.
The guards close in. It's an epic fight, but no heroes can long withstand sheer weight of numbers. Everything goes black as the last of your party falls to the dust.
72) This shrine is formed from rocks and wood and moss - it seems a profoundly natural thing, more an outgrowth of this enchanted wood than a thing built by man. The devinity worshiped here is none you reconginze, but the feeling of the place is one of harmony with nature.
Upon closer inspection, you see dried bloodstains on the rock. The stains are not large - this shrine is not used for sacrifice - but perhaps its resident god is awakened by a token gift of life.
73) This hidden glade is charged with magical energy. The rocks marking this clearing form a ring of deliberately placed standing stones, the focus of which is upon the earth where you now stand. You feel power rushing from the roots of the earth and into your soul. Enkidu himself stands and regards you.
74) Old Jack's eyes grow bright when you show him the signet ring. "His majesty...?" Jack wispers. You sadly shake your head, indicating Drake is dead. Tears form in Jack's eyes as he sighs. "Me poor, poor king...I knew ye'd come to no good with that demon Namtar!"
After showing him your ring, Jack treats you like an honored guest, forgiving all you misdeeds in the forest. "I'm a King's man, ye got ta believe that," he says. "I love me King an' I never disobey him. But I never like the looks o' that Namtar - he's a very devil, he is! It must have been 'im wot killed old Drake." Old Jack pauses to spit. "Someone's got to bring Namtar down, and clear the way for young Prince Jordan to take the throne. You've got the ring, so you're it!"
Old Jack solemnly hands you his bow. "This here's me bow, I call her Nevermiss! Drake gave her to me when we were both boys, and she's never failed me. Now I give her to you, to shoot down that foul Namtar!" Jack is hesitant to release the bow, and even as you hold it his eyes linger on the weapon. "She's like a lady, she is...you treat her kind. You treat her kind."
Jack is abruptly eager to leave. He refuses to leave the forest, saying it's his only home. He wishes you all good luck and melts into the woods.
He will never be seen again.
75) After what seems an eternity, you locate the source of the screaming. Nearly mad yourselves, you find a city of the mad squatting on a desolate shore. Feeble huts made of driftwood and debris huddle together in a feeble pile. Whitehaired loons with wild eyes stumble to and fro, mumbling to themselves or shrieking like cats. Crazed citizens of the place wrestle with one another, seeming like writhing human serpents. It's a madhouse, and the inmates are running the asylum.
76) A mad artist inscribes designs on the sandy floor of his hut. "I don't have to do this, you know," he says as you enter. It's uncertain if he's taling to you, or if you walk in on him while he was talking to himself. "I can make a good living as a tattoo artist!" he continues. "But I will draw on you mother earth, because everyone else draws from you. You. Who. Moo. Moo?"
The artist jumps up and bounds about the hut "Moo! Moo!" he howls. "Don't you see? It's all so clear. At last! At last!" The poor man rushes past you and is quickly lost in the village of the lost.
77) Amid the ruins you come upon a remarkable sight. A bonfire illuminates a shattered city square. Scores of people cavort about the fire - this is the greatest gathering of people you've seen since arriving in Purgatory.
The occupants of the square constitue a cross-section of Purgatory's citizenery. Blind beggars, mad poets, dog-faced children, and drunken priests swarm about the fire, where you come under the gaze of the figure on the throne. "Outlanders!," the king roars, teetering atop his perilous perch. "You've strayed far from your homes, little does and kittens. This is the Court of Miracles, gathered to pay homage to the King of Purgatory..." the king pauses, awaiting the proper moment before continuing, "...me, Clopin Trouillefou!
78) A group of ragged unfortunates sun themselves on this dismal coastline. They sit in folding beach chairs, some beneath the shade of colorful beach parasols. All the men and women are dressed in rags. Few have teeth, fewer still have a proper tan. The day is cold and grey.
"Hail Namtar!" a women cries. "Great is he to take such care of us! What have we to want for?" A one-armed young man elbows you in the ribs, and says with a sidelong wink, "Quite a little resort we got here, wouldn't you say? Boy, that Namtar sure is a swell egg!" "This is a ritzy place - nothing less than a king retired here!" cackles another. Similar comments come at every turn. You find this place is called Toxic Beach, and these poor lunatics think it's some sort of beach resort to which they've been sent as reward for faithful service to Namtar.
A few bloated dead rats have washed up on the bleached coastline. An odd tumble of rocks marks the north end of the shore. The rocks are covered with debris, as if the remains of a shipwreck have washed up her.
79) There us a deep rumbling as storm clouds gather. Abruptly rain begins to fall in relentles sheets, threatening to flood the stone, the forest, the entire world.
A supernatural hush falls over the glade. Even the pelting rain seems to fall silent. Suddenly you are surrounded by animals - bears, dogs, deer, ducks, and even a penquin. You turn and see still more animals crowding outside the door to the shine. You see a lion lay down beside a lamb. The animals are waiting for something.
Above the stone appears the ghost of Zaton. The ghost speaks. "My friends, I am forever in your debt for liberating my soul. By restoring me to the world, the world restores itself. The natural order is reestablished. Man and beast may again live in harmony."
The animals begin to excitedly roar, bark and bray. "My time in thsi world is done," Zaton says. "But for you brave adventures the task is just beginning. Namtar is evil! He must be destroyed! To you I grant the boon of knowledge...use it well!"
80) The center post of these communal huts shelters a secret chamber. A skeleton dressed in the royal colors of Kingshome sits on a makeshift throne. Whoever this was, he's been dead a long time. A royal signet ring gleams on on skeletal finger. The ring seems both valuable and important.
81) A dwarf springs up as you enter the room. He eagerly scans your party, then collapses in disappointment. "No dwarves," he weeps. "Never are there any dwarves," he weeps. "Never are there any dwarves. Poor Josephina is all alone." The dwarf has a woman's name, but its bearded and it smells and...well, no matter, Josephina is probably just as crazy as everyone else in this silly town.
"The kingdom is broken," cries Joesphina. "The great clanhall is sealed, and all the dwarves slumber in vaults. Namtar stole the eyes from our icon and hurled them into the sea. Every day I search the coast, but never do I find the eyes." Josephina continues to weep, hardly aware of your presence.
82) Nisir, the Mountain of Salvation, rises above you to an impossibly great height, seeming to rip the sky. Although it is daytime, when you look up you can see stars near where you guess the summit of the mighty mountain must be. It seems to you the mountain must push through the very atmosphere of Oceana to produce such a sight.
Ahead of you, a long line of pilgrims slowly files past the sole gate leading from the harbor.
83) A prisoner lies babbling in the corner. "A secret tunnel connects this prison to Nisir", he says. "When you find the swamp within the mountain, know you are near Namtar!"
84) The pilgrims stop one-by-one to kneel before this elaborate shrine before continuing. The shrine depicts the image of the Universal God, a faceless deity that looks in all directions at one, and raises its arms to encompass both earth, heaven, and underworld. You note with relief that not even Namtar has dared to undermine the basic faith of Oceansa.
The pilgrims evidently expect enlightenment and salvation to result from their visit to Nisir. You expect a salvation of a different kind - the sort that can come only from sending Namtar to his doom.
85) It is several days' sail to Nisir, the Mountain of Salvation, but the route is easy to follow. The great mountian Nisir seems to rise from the roots of Oceana and reac to the heavens - it is easily the tallest mountian on the planet, and you are in sight of your destination for most of the journey.
The harbor at Nisir is clogged with pilgrim's vessels. Several hundred robed figures crowd the docks, slowly passing through the harbor's only exit into the interior. The great mountain of Nisir looms above you, stern and forbidding. You sense a moment of destiny is at hand.
86) You are pressed into service and sent directly to the front. The army makes no attempt to provision or train you - its evident they consider you a band of cutthroats, and they like you just the way you are.
A troop ship conveys you to King's Island, where the walled city of Byzanople stubbornly resists the enlightenment of joining the unified Kingshomer Empire under Namtar and King Drake. Byzanople has been under siege for severn months, and the besieging Kingshomer army is preparing to take the city by storm. You are to be among the waves of unfortunates they wish to send over the wall. You may not take kindly to this idea, but there are many more of them than there are of you, and this is no opportunity to desert.
You are billeted in a siege camp located a few miles south of the actual siege.
87) Directly ahead you see the semi-permanent camp of Kingshomer campaign army. The army occupies a valley between two mountain peaks. A wooden palisade has been erected accross the mouth of the valley, providing the camp with a measure of protection against the raiders from the south.
There is no evidence of an enemy army anywhere in the area. From the looks of the camp, it sems likely this is a base from which the Kingshomer army is besieging an enemy fortress or city.
Several guards lounge before the entrance to the camp. They eye you with suspicion.
88) Within this building you find a group of old men gathered around a table. They're playing dice and speaking rapidly to each other in a dialect you can barely understand. You are noticed and welcomed into the game.
The men play for the joy of it. There's a complicated wagering scheme involved, but no money ever changes hands, and the men don't seem to care if you're rich or destitute. After a while, you begin to make sense of their speech.
It seems these men are residents of Dilmun interior, displaced to this island of outlanders by war and oppression. From them you learn a little of recent events in Dilmun. The Dilmun interior consists of several large islands, each of which is dominated by an autonomous city-state. Warfare has been frequent between the rival cities, but no single nation has been able to rule all the others. Each city keeps a dragon cpative somewhere within its walls - if total disaster ever threatens, the dragon will be let loose. This would almost certainly lead to the destruction of both sides, but it serves as a deterrent to conquest.
Recently, the city of Kingshome launched a bid for empire. Kingshome's imperialism was aided by a sorcerer - Namtar, the Beast from the Pit. Thanks to Namtar, all magical opposition was quciky overwhelmed, and Kingshome made rapid gains. For some unknown reason the conquered cities never launched their dragons against Kingshome.
The youngest of the men arrived at the camp just a few months ago. So far as he knows, nearly all of Dilmun's cities have been conqurered or lay in ruins. THe city of Byzanople on the King's Isle remains free, although it has been under siege for several months. He also mentions a city called Freeport in the Eastern Isles, but his companions scoff when he does, saying Freeport is more myth than reality. Nevertheless, the young mans asserts he'll find Freeport someday - as soon as he can find a ship bound for the Eastern Isles. Since the war, very few ships travel the interior waterways, and it has become increasingly difficult to use Dilmun's many bridges.
89) You restrain the hunchback and prevent him from hurling the prisoner into the pit. Tears flow from the hunchback's already swollen eyes. "Buth Gertrude must eat!" he mumbles. The dragon's thrashing intensifies, and the great beast begins beating its head against the side of its pit, setting up a great rumbling though the dungeon. "Now thuh manue hat hut thuth windmill" the hunchback howls, tryng to flee down the narrow causeway to the edge of the pit. He doesn't make it...with a great booming, the dragon lurches from his chains, bumping against the platform on which you stand. The hunchback is hurled screaming into the maw of the dragon...but now that that beast is free of its chains no mere morsel can satisfy it!
You flee the scene as the dragon smashes at the supports of the dungeon, and in so doing at the foundation of the entire city of Phoebus. You find a crazy path to the surface has uncovered by the dragon's rage. You flee the vicinity of the city and watch from a nearby hill as the dragon claws its way to the surface. Before long, Phoebus is a flaming ruin as the dragon takes its terrible toll. The city destroyed, the dragon slowly rises to the sky, and flaps off to the east.
90) This is the office of the supreme commander of the campaign army of Kingshome. Genernal Buck Ironhead regards you from behind his desk. Ironhead is a frightening sight. His arms are a mass of scar tissue from a sequence of wounds too tedious to list. His face shows no mirth. His hands continually clench and unclench. His head is completly flat - you could balance an egg on it.
"It's about time ya goldbricks showed up!" Buck snarls. "What do ya think this is - a soggin' country club?? Ain't ya ever hear of reporting to yer commandin' officer??" Buck doesn't wait for a reply. "Now, I know you clowns are a pack of liberal adventures. You don't like Namtar, you don't like the army - kid's today!! Ungrateful whelps! Well, I don't care about any of that. I'm here to give you a second chance."
Buck comes out from behind his desk and hobbles around his office as he continues. "You're in the army whether you like it or not, so you might as well do this the easy way. You may think you've got this thing licked, but I know damn well you can't tell your elbow from a dragon's blowhole. You keep your nose clean and serve with some distinction at the front, and I'll do what I can about gettin' you a full pardon. Namtar's a megalomaniac, but he's also a businessman, and he needs creeps like you!"
Buck dismisses you. "This is yer only chance. Namtar's gonna control everything sooner or later, so you might as well join the winning side. Namtar's promised a kinder and gentler Oceana, but he can't get on with it until guys like you toe the line.
"Get outta here!!"
91) Some bandits were evidently holed up here. Their campfire is still warm. Evidently they were eating a meal when you showed up, as half-finished bowls of gruel stand all around the fire.
They weren't very good bandits, or maybe they hadn't been at it for long. There isn't much loot to be had in this camp. Maybe they were adventures such as yourself, turned to crime in these hard times.
92) The magnificient stag lays dead. As you kneel beside your kill, the shaft of an arrow buries itself to the feathers in the sod between your feet. You look up and see and old but very dangerous-looking man aiming another arrow at you.
"This is the private preserve of King Drake," the old man says. "An' you have been poachin'." He glances over your party before continuing. "These bein' hard times, I imagine ye gots to eat...but that was a prize animal ye just killed, and I've gots to do me job."
The man keeps his bow half-cocked and watches you closely. He seems to be waiting for you to make the first move. Maybe it would be worth while winning his trust.
93) "BRAAAAAP!" Nergal is crude. "That was delicioys...I will hallucinate later, and imagine Irkalla working for a living." Negal shifts his ponderous mass on his throne, leans forward, and leers. "And now you will serve Nergal!"
With impossible speed, Nergal grabs the volunteer with both slimy hands. His jaw seems to drop down to his belt as the black maw of his mouth is exposed. He quickly slips the volunteer's head into his mouth, and clenches his jaw with a sickening crunch. The volunteer's body stiffens, then goes lim, collapsing to the ground without a head.
All is silent. Nergal smiles.
94) You recall learning of waters like this during your mystic studies. The pool of water fits the description of Apsu Waters...waters of the world ocean that underlies the surface of Oceana. Apsu Waters are coterminous with the world of Oceana, the mystical Magan Underworld, and dark dimensions where gods and devils reside.
95) The slave boss is relentless. He offers you not a momment's rest, nor a drop of water, or even a scrap of bread. All that matters is that the tunnel be finished. No single man or beast may stand in the way of the project. Night and day you are driven to finish your task, with the sharp lash of the whip on your back, and the laughter of the cruel slave boss ringing in your ears.
96) An old man leaps to his feet and lunges for his bow when you enter the shack. "Glory be - ye got past me snare!!, he exclaims. "Thats quite a feat, but it still don't do to go bargin' in on honest folk without so much as a knock!"
"Me name is Old Jack," he continues. "I'm the gamewarden hereabouts." Jack keeps his bow half-cocked and watches you closely. He seems to be waiting for you to make the first move. Maybe it would be worth while winning his trust.
