Chapter #1215
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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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+ Belphanior 18th/18th/18th level elven fighter/wizard/thief +
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+ Hope 16th level female human wizard +
+ Poulos 8th level human warrior +
+ Irina 14th/7th level female human priestess/warrior +
+ Otto 12th/14th level dwarven fighter/thief +
+ Paige 13th level human female warrior +
+ Razor Charlie 12th level human fighter +
+ Skektek 14th level human wizard +
+ Ys 14th level reptilian fighter +
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+ Date: 4/17/587 C.Y. (Common Year) +
+ Time: early morning +
+ Place: the Brass Hills, within the Bright Lands +
+ Climate: hot and dry +
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+ "The peace will not last an hour if someone is not here to remind +
+ them of the REAL power on this world." +
+ - Planet She-Hulk +
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MCCXV. An Unwise Challenge
Over the last two weeks, Belphanior and his team have dealt with the
teleportation gateway, Witherhusk's lair, and a trio of boisterous brass
dragons. After a good night's sleep, the elf intends to continue work
on his tower atop the plateau...
Belphanior: (standing outside of his future home pondering the optimum
way to move and assemble large stone blocks, he notices Otto heading
his way) Eh?
Belphanior knew his lieutenant well, and the serious expression on the
dwarf's face likely meant that there would be no work on the tower today.
Otto: Well, it's happened just like I worried it might. We've got some
trouble in the desert - one of the larger nomad tribes. When you were
standing before all of their chiefs, they stayed quiet and went along
with it. But now, months later and without any presence there to keep
them in check, this one tribe has gone on the warpath. Several days
ago, they wiped out a smaller tribe near their lands, and they've been
launching quick strikes against another neighboring tribe. The riders
bearing this news just got here this morning; they had to ride all the
way from within the far reaches of the desert, amidst the nomads' lands
far from our forts and troops.
Belphanior: (scowls)
Otto: (frowns, folding his arms) What're you thinking?
Belphanior: Aside from the fact that we need a better and faster way to
know of such problems? (his expression darkens) It's time for a show
of force...to remind them that there is power behind our words.
Otto: Lord Marcus is standing by, ready to mobilize some soldiers-
Belphanior: (shakes his head) We won't need them this time. Explain
it to him, please, and then get our team ready to move. We'll take the
skyship. I'll be there soon.
Otto: Are you planning to bring some of the other wizards?
Belphanior: No. But I do need to let them know what we're about to do.
In short order, the elf was speaking with those fellow members of the
Bright Alliance who he could find this morning.
Kronos: A military action, then.
Belphanior: Yes. It's necessary, and I'm willing to be the one to do
it. These aggressors - the Verzak tribe - have killed and looted, and
all indications are that they'll continue.
Alindyar: It could well be a test, to see what if anything we will do.
Lyra: I'm in favor of retaliation. There's no excuse for their actions,
especially not after they were warned.
Parekh: Agreed, but we need to consider whether further violence is the
answer here.
Belphanior: While I don't see a peaceful way to deal with this, I can
respect that line of reasoning. So before we do anything in response,
we'll go and see the alleged massacre for ourselves. If things are as
reported, then we'll respond.
Parekh: That sounds reasonable.
Alindyar: (nods) Agreed.
Belphanior: The bulk of the other tribes desire peace, and so they are
perhaps reluctant to be proactive here. (he frowns) I have no such
qualms. If this one tribe wants fighting and killing, they're part of
the problem rather than part of the solution and the future. We will
have to demonstrate both our power and our willingness to deal with
problems - quickly and decisively.
Parekh: I don't particularly like your conclusions here, but I have to
agree with them, for the good of the region.
Dexitheseus: I concur. (he pauses) Although I do think you should take
some of Lord Marcus' troops with you.
Belphanior: (shakes his head) The nomads know swords and battle. If we
want to make a statement - a true statement - of our power, we need to
employ magic. They respect and fear it, and I believe a show of magical
force will send the best message - one that will never be forgotten by
anyone.
Kronos: (nods) Do you need assistance from any of us?
Belphanior: (grimly) No.
Later that day - far to the east, deep in the heart of the desert - the
elf and his team descended from the skyship above to survey what remained
of the Iklan tribe...which admittedly wasn't much. The larger and more
aggressive Verzak had been thorough; not a single Iklan male had been left
alive, not even the children.
Otto: The custom with these warring tribes is to safeguard against any
future retaliation or revenge.
Hope: (standing over the mangled corpse of a young boy, visibly upset)
By killing the children?
Otto: (nods) The males, at any rate. The victors will have taken the
women for later absorption into their own tribe.
Paige: Absorption?!?
Otto: (shrugs) I'm just repeating what has been explained to me in my
dealings with other tribes of this region.
Paige: (looking around at other corpses, of which there are plenty) War
is one thing...this looks like a massacre. Killing for the sake of it.
Belphanior: (sighs) Some of the other nomads had expressed worry about
the Verzak and their ways. That was why I was so direct when I spoke
with the leaders of all the tribes recently...I thought the message was
clear, and the warning.
Skektek: I'd say the ones who did this ignored both.
Ys: But why?
Razor Charlie: Some people just like to fight. (he looks around at all
the blood and gore, grimacing) And kill. Just the way it is.
Hope: Never mind the "why" - I want to know how we're going to stop this
sort of thing.
Belphanior: We need to make a statement...one that's loud, powerful, and
will not soon be forgotten. (he sets his jaw) Everyone, back to the
skyship. Time's wasting.
Still later that afternoon, perhaps a day's ride south and east from
the site of the Iklan massacre, the Verzak tribe prepared to move against
their next-closest neighbor, the Batakki. The Verzak were one of the two
largest nomadic tribes, numbering nearly a thousand, and were not only
aggressive but also remarkably well-armed and -armored. In recent days,
they had crushed the smaller Iklan tribe, killing the males and taking
the women as well as supplies and other resources. After regrouping and
considering all the remaining tribes and their tendencies, they had soon
targeted the Batakki next due to both their proximity and their perceived
unwillingness to fight.
The Verzak chieftain, one Rezkou, was an unusually aggressive, brutish
warrior with great cunning and no lack of ambition. As far as Rezkou was
concerned, the group of wizards to the far west was talking big but doing
nothing that actually interfered with the nomad tribes - the true rulers
of this desert, by birthright and history. If the other tribes had been
cowed by the words of the tall red-cloaked elf, then so be it. They could
sit on their asses and dream of a quiet, peaceful life...and meanwhile,
Rezkou would move quickly and savagely, leading the Verzak to overrun
other tribes and gain prestige. Hell, perhaps one day some of the others
would ally with him out of fear, and Rezkou could lead a unified nomadic
army on to greater things.
Rezkou: (smiles to himself, rubbing his coarse jaw as he thinks of such
future glories)
Turning to his captains, the powerful chieftain raised his sword and
addressed them in a loud, commanding voice.
Rezkou: Rally the men! The Batakki lie less than an hour's march away,
soft and weak and unwilling to fight! (he waves his sword above his
head) And so they will fall before our steel this day!
captains: (cheering wildly)
There were no dissenters; such had long ago been culled from the tribe,
violently and permanently. The captains all shared their leader's ideals
and brutal approach, as did the nine-hundred-plus nomads they commanded.
The war-bands were already formed up, and in moments the entire tribe had
mobilized, beginning its short march toward blood, victory, and a greater
destiny.
Within the hour, the tents and people of the Batakki were visible in
the distance. Their sentries had seen the approach of the larger force
of Verzaks, for the Batakki were circling up and preparing to defend the
settlement. While they would certainly have some success in this, they
were yet outnumbered almost three to one, and would ultimately fall to
the other, marauding tribe.
Rezkou: (roars with blood-lust) Onward, men! To victory!
What happened next was as unexpected as it was impressive. A mighty
bolt of lighting arced down from somewhere above, blasting the chieftain
with an immense amount of electricity and shaking the ground beneath his
feet. One moment, the man was astride his horse urging his forces to the
attack; the next moment, both had been reduced to a smoldering pile of
ashes and melted bits of metal. There were gasps of shock and disbelief
from the surrounding nomads, and they ceased their advance as they looked
up fearfully.
Skektek: (becomes visible in the sky, three hundred feet above) Waste
of a good lightning bolt, if you ask me.
Belphanior: (also becomes visible after a small ball of flame leaves his
hand, streaking toward the massed nomads on the ground below) The bolt
was to remove their leader, instantly and indisputably. And it worked.
Skektek: Of course it worked. That's a hell of a way to make a point.
Belphanior: (nods) And my fireball will reinforce that point.
As if on cue, there was a massive detonation below, incinerating a
hundred of the marauding nomads and setting fire to a hundred more, the
flames scouring a sizable area and fusing chunks of sand into glass.
The magical attacks had thrown the Verzak tribe into utter chaos; their
planned attack was completely forgotten as they scattered, fleeing in
every direction. Unfortunately for them, there was no escape from the
powerful magic that assaulted them from above...more lightning bolts and
fireballs, cones of cold, massive ice and fire storms, clouds of deadly
gas, and more. Belphanior, Skektek, and Hope used their magical might
to maximum extent and effect, unleashing numerous destructive spells on
the Verzak tribesmen. In a very short time, the nomads' ranks diminished
from their original thousand warriors to perhaps six hundred...then three
hundred...and then one hundred...and in what seemed like the blink of an
eye, they were all slain. The entire Verzak war party had just been wiped
out - some burned or blasted to dust, others frozen to death, yet others
felled by lethal green gas, and so on. The fatality rate was total, and
those responsible hovered in the sky above, observing the carnage as they
considered what they had just done.
Skektek: (surveys the area below) Wow.
Hope: So that's what it's like to really cut loose. (she frowns) It's
a fine line between murder and justice.
Belphanior: Does this bother you?
Hope: Not really. It might have, had we not first visited the site of
their recent slaughter of the smaller tribe...and then rushed here only
to find them about to do it again. (she sets her jaw) No, I have no
issue with our actions here today. Those men were murdering savages
and they were warned. Better that they were stopped now, sparing many
other lives in the future.
Only these three were present; the rest of the group waited in the
skyship a distance away. There were two reasons for this: first, they
were not needed since this assault was purely magical in nature...and
second, Belphanior saw no good reason to have them witness a one-sided
battle that resulted in a thousand dead. He had no such concern for the
Verzaks' intended victims; the Batakki tribe had seen the entire magical
massacre.
Hope: So that's why we waited until the attackers neared the smaller
tribe.
Belphanior: (nods) These survivors...the Batakki...saw everything that
happened here today. That will give the tale more weight as it spreads
through the desert.
Skektek: (nods) It's always best to have an audience when you make a
big statement.
Hope: Perhaps everyone else - at least those who want war instead of
peace - will listen now.
Skektek: They'd better. (he looks down at the gigantic craters and the
hundreds of small piles of ash within and around those craters) Hard
to believe these guys didn't get the point before. What they hell were
they thinking?
Hope: (frowns) Maybe they thought they had some sort of greater destiny
or purpose.
Belphanior: They did have a greater purpose. They served as an example
of what happens when you choose violence over peace.
next: some internal venting among the Bright Alliance
map: http://www.peldor.com/world/atlas/Bright-Desert_1203.jpg
www: http://www.peldor.com/download.html
homepage: http://www.peldor.com/
email: tmiller@peldor.com
released: 6/26/2026
notes: This had to happen - it was inevitable. There's always some
person or group that ignores efforts toward greater good, instead doing
whatever they can to make gains for themselves. Hopefully the lesson
here will not be lost on other desert inhabitants who favor fighting
over peace. I am a firm believer in the "if you want peace, prepare
for war" concept, as there are always those who do _not_ want peace and
will work their hardest to prevent it. That's the nature of things,
unfortunately; while I am not able (or qualified) to fix this sort of
problem in the real world, I can offer my solution in a fictional one.
It may be overly harsh, perhaps even unfair, but then again I've read
a hell of a lot of _Punisher_ comics over the years (like all of them.)
Antiheroes are called that for a reason. And clearly, Belphanior hasn't
fully shifted from Chaotic Neutral to true Neutral. Not quite yet. And
maybe never.
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