Chapter #1193
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+ THE ADVENTURERS +
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+ Epic VI +
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+ Many of the locations, non-player characters, spells, and other +
+ terms used in these stories are the property of Wizards of the Coast +
+ which has in no way endorsed or authorized their use. Any such +
+ property contained within these stories are not representative of +
+ Wizards of the Coast in any fashion. +
+ The player characters depicted in these stories are copyright +
+ 1991-2026 by Thomas A. Miller. Any resemblance to any persons +
+ or characters either real or fictional is utterly coincidental. +
+ Copying and/or distribution of these stories is permissible under +
+ the sole condition that no money is made in the process. In that +
+ case, I hope you enjoy them! +
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+ KEY LEADERS OF THE ALLIED FORCES +
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+ Mongo 20th level dwarven fighter +
+ Gorgo 10th level dwarven berserker +
+ Gorin 13th level dwarven fighter +
+ Stramburg commander of the Geoff refugees in in the Hornwood +
+ Tassarion captain of the wood elven forces in the Hornwood +
+ Yod Ironbeard 21st level dwarven fighter +
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+ ASSISTANCE FROM THE BRIGHT LANDS +
+ Belphanior 18th/18th/18th level elven fighter/wizard/thief +
+ Hope 16th level female human wizard +
+ Poulos 8th level human fighter +
+ Irina 14th/7th level female human priestess/fighter +
+ Otto 12th/14th level dwarven fighter/thief +
+ Paige 13th level human female fighter +
+ Razor Charlie 12th level human fighter +
+ Skektek 14th level human wizard +
+ Ys 14th level reptilian fighter +
+ iron dwarf insane, armored berserker +
+ Parekh 18th level female human wizard, innovator +
+ Drak 15th level human barbarian +
+ Wu 18th level human wizard, transmuter +
+ 6 elite ogre magi +
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+ Date: 1/9/587 C.Y. (Common Year) +
+ Time: late afternoon +
+ Place: Gorna, newly-liberated capital of the Duchy of Geoff +
+ Climate: cold +
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+ "I don't like repeat offenders. I like dead offenders." +
+ - Ted Nugent +
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MCXCIII. Calm After the Storm
After a wide-ranging and often chaotic battle featuring magic as well
as conventional combat, the allied forces have retaken Geoff's capital
city of Gorna and slain every single one of the foes there.
Mongo: (surveying the ruined city and the freshly-collapsed palace at
its center) They've got a hell of a lot of rebuilding ahead of them.
Belphanior: Too bad we had to destroy the royal palace, but...it was
necessary.
Yod Ironbeard: (grimly) I like the way you plan your wars, elf.
Gorin: It sucks for the Duke of Geoff and his people, but it couldn't
be avoided. Any move that takes out thousands of enemies at once...
well, those were thousands of enemies we didn't have to fight with
swords. Which means many of our own troops spared from death.
Gorin had done well in the earlier battle, leading an entire company of
warriors who were among the first through the walls and into the city.
He'd noted specific defenders' types and locations and directed his men
efficiently and successfully, at one point taking down a well-entrenched
group of fomorians via the focused use of archers and a brilliant pincer
movement. Gorgo Hammerhead had been a key part of that assault, charging
up a broken section of one building and leaping into a mass of bewildered
hobgoblin archers. That action had broken up their best chance to pepper
the attackers with missile fire, and probably made that skirmish a lot
easier than it otherwise would have been.
Yod Ironbeard: Dropping that big rock was the right play. (he nods to
Belphanior)
Belphanior: Yep. We didn't come here to preserve Gorna's heritage and
save its buildings, we came here to rid it of the enemies who occupied
it.
Stramburg: Aye. (he folds his arms as he realizes just how much work
will need to be done here) The Duke won't like it, but rebuilding
beats living in exile in another kingdom. And my men won't be the
only ones returning here to live and work...there're thousands more
in the nearby lands. (he nods to Mongo) A lot of the men who fought
under your banner in all this are natives of Geoff.
Mongo: Yeah. We led them back here, helped them retake their lands and
capital, and now they can return to a life of peace.
Tassarion: And work hand in hand with the folk of the Hornwood from this
day on. (he sets his jaw) If there's one thing we all learned after
the wars and the occupation of this area - and its liberation - it's
that everyone must work together for the good of all.
Stramburg: And the defense of all.
Tassarion: (nods) The Duke will have to be convinced of this, once he
returns from his temporary home in the Gran March.
Stramburg: Damn right. I'll make sure to explain it to him.
Mongo: You'll also need to build some sort of outposts along the border
facing the Crystalmists...probably a series of forts. Big ones, with
plenty of soldiers and archers.
Parekh: I'd place a few wizards at each one as well. Those will come
in handy if any more giants ever head this way.
Wu: Or dark elves. (he winces painfully)
The old wizard's face and neck were still covered with cuts suffered
from his encounter with the blade barrier while in dragon-form, but he
would recover fully in time. The same was true of the others who had
been most sorely wounded in the great battle; Drak's blindness had been
cured by Irina's powerful healing magic (though it would take him a day
or two to be able to see normally again) while Otto and Paige had been
attended with both curative magic and potent salves and bandages. Both
of the adventurers had been severely burned by magical fire; while the
dwarf healed unusually rapidly thanks to various factors, Paige was in
somewhat worse shape and would need time, rest, and further healing
magic to get back to normal.
Otto: (laying on a crude field bed along with many others who were
wounded this day) Don't worry. As soon as I'm all healed up - which
ought to be no later than tomorrow morning - I'll lend you my ring.
That'll really speed up your healing...even make the scar tissue go
away.
Paige: Thanks. (she runs a hand through her hair, which was mostly
burned off on one side) Will it grow back my hair?
Otto: I...don't know. (he shrugs) Maybe. My beard and hair always
come back after I get burnt.
Paige: If not, I'll find myself a hat to wear for the next few months.
(she smirks) Or maybe a helm, for times of battle.
Otto: (wearily) I don't know about you, but I could do without battle
for a while.
Paige: Yeah, I know what you mean. (she idly wonders how things are
going back in the Bright Lands)
Otto: (surveys the makeshift camp for all the wounded)
While the allied forces' losses were much less than they would have
been without the surprise attack involving the boulder drop (or the
power of the associated wizards) they were still significant. Mongo's
multi-national force had suffered some five hundred dead and about the
same number wounded, while the stout dwarves of the Lortmil Mountains
had fared somewhat better with only a hundred dead and twice that many
injured. The element from the Hornwood - both the elves native to the
region and the human refugees from Geoff - counted a couple hundred
slain and a bit less that that wounded. Everyone was well aware that
the casualty rate would have been much higher overall, had the battle
been a more conventional one.
Gorin: (having left Mongo and the others, he moves through the area
holding the wounded, doing what he can to reassure those soldiers
given the shortage of priests here)
Back at the tent that had been set up for the leaders of the various
allied forces, those worthies now discussed other matters...
Stramburg: -and I think we'll find allies within the other woodlands
to the north and east...the Oytwood and then the Dim Forest.
Tassarion: (nods) I agree, but first the humanoids within will need
to be found and cleared out.
Stramburg: (grimly) Another matter which I'll discuss with Duke Owen
once he's back.
Mongo: I may help you convince him. I'm planning to stick around here
for a while.
Yod Ironbeard: Eh?
Mongo: I know you have to get back to your homeland and your people,
but I don't such things to worry about. I can roam where I want, and
fight the fights I want to fight...and I'm not done in the Lost Lands
yet. We've cleared the scum out, more or less...but the next step is
to make sure they don't come back. (to Yod) I know you can't stay
and I'm not asking you to. (he turns to Belphanior, and also nods at
Parekh and Wu) Same goes for all three of you - I know you're busy
building your kingdom in the desert halfway around the world. But I'm
glad you helped out in Sterich, and here. (he eyes the gigantic pile
of rubble at the city's center) Damn glad.
Parekh: We were happy to help.
Wu: Indeed!
Belphanior: (frowns)
Mongo: I know that look. You're probably thinking about someone who
got away and who you'll have to worry about later. (he crosses his
thick arms) So what is it?
Belphanior: There is one thing I'm wondering...supposedly there's a
valley to the north, beyond one leg of the mountains, and ruled by
some strange wizard who nobody knows anything about.
Stramburg: (quietly) The Vale of the Mage.
Belphanior: Yes, that. (he frowns) Where were those forces during all
of this - both the wars and the occupation that followed?
Stramburg: None can say. That valley, and its people, and especially
its ruler...have no dealing with the outside world. None whatsoever.
The region is off-limits by the laws of Geoff. (he shakes his head)
No one who's ventured there has ever returned.
Belphanior: Maybe it's time for that to change.
The elf swept his gaze across the others in this discussion - both
dwarven hero-generals, the other two archmagi, and the two leaders of
the forces from the Hornwood.
Stramburg: (wide-eyed) You mean to enter the valley?
Belphanior: Maybe. Probably? I don't know. What I do know is that
it makes no sense that its occupants had no role in the events of the
wars, and were left alone by the marauding giants and the drow. (he
shakes his head) Hell, maybe the drow _came_ from that valley.
Parekh: Or maybe they overcame this mysterious wizard who rules it.
Belphanior: I'm just saying that - like learning more about that dark
elven high priestess who I killed - we should think about all these
questions and what the answers might be. (he turns to Parekh) Like
you said earlier..._someone_ was pulling the strings.
Mongo: I'm not sure about this. From everything I've heard, the most
likely source of the giants was the mountains, likely the region to
the northwest of Geoff. (he rubs his beard) Though the drow could
have come from damn near anywhere and gotten the giants riled up, if
that's indeed what happened.
Belphanior: Right.
Mongo: Damn, but this is troubling. (he cracks his knuckles) Which
is why I really need to stay in these parts for a while...until all
of this is known.
Stramburg: I'll help you figure it out.
Tassarion: As will I.
Yod Ironbeard: I'll keep my army here for a few days, but then we'll
have to head back before we run out of supplies.
Mongo: Yup, I've already sent several forces back to the south and east
to let them know what happened and seek resupply. The Duke - and all
exiled people of Geoff - need to get back here and resettle their land
while the time is ripe. (he frowns) Speaking of ripe, they're gonna
need to get to work if they want any new crops this year. The giants
really did a job on the fields and herds...there's nothing left.
Belphanior: (reminded that there's much work, and of a similar sort,
still to be done in the Bright Lands) We, too, will stay a few days
before heading home. Our wounded can recuperate further, while the
rest of us will help in any way we can.
Parekh: (thinking about how a fully-realized kingdom would easily be
capable of providing food and supplies in a situation like Geoff is
now facing) One day...
Belphanior: Pardon?
Parekh: Nothing. Just thinking out loud.
Mongo: Well, all things considered, I'd say that the Battle of Gorna
was a success.
Yod Ironbeard: A smashing success.
Mongo: Yeah- Heh. Good one.
Yod Ironbeard: (chuckles, possibly the first time most of them have
ever seen him smile)
Stramburg: This was a day for the history books...years of oppression
and occupation finally undone. This battle will go down as the stuff
of legend!
Mongo: (nodding) And we were there. (he looks around the ruined city
which yet represents a momentous victory) We made it happen!
next: a shift back to the Bright Desert and the progress there
map: http://www.peldor.com/world/atlas/Bright-Desert_1156.jpg
www: http://www.peldor.com/download.html
homepage: http://www.peldor.com/
email: tmiller@peldor.com
released: 1/23/2026
notes: Some of you may be wondering why I chose to send some of
the adventurers in the direction of the Lost Lands (Sterich & Geoff)
and their liberation. It's simple, really...those events were going
to happen in the official version of the Greyhawk world anyway, they
made sense to me, and it was exactly the sort of thing that someone
like Mongo would help with. (At this point, I can't even recall why
Belphanior agreed to help him...I think it had something to do with
displaced residents of the two lands going to the Bright Desert to
be part of the short-term labor force there.)
On a more humorous topic, if anyone ever released a soundtrack for
Mongo's deeds, it might contain the following songs which I actually
did listen to at times while writing the various battles:
Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin) (was also used in Thor: Ragnarok)
Thunderhead (Guns n Roses)
Hammer of the Gods (Saxon)
Ram it Down (Judas Priest)
Halls of Valhalla (Judas Priest)
Killer of Giants (Ozzy Osbourne)
Speaking of music, I wrote this entire episode while listening to
the rather rousing soundtrack to the 1982 fantasy classic _the Sword
and the Sorcerer_. That's the movie with the triple-bladed sword and
the ancient wizard (lich?) Xusia whose name I borrowed for a villain
in my own stories (in the early days, I didn't have my act together
and never suspected that in 2026 I'd be able to say that I'd written
this saga for 35 years!)
Once again - and this will be the last time since this story arc is
now concluded - I'll remind everyone that the events of the arc took
place in the southwestern area of the continent, specifically
http://peldor.com/world/wog/map13.html
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