ralph_dnd | Gorrush-Kar (part 1)

May 22 (Sunday)

Two days strapped to the back of a speeding roc, afraid to move for fear of falling off and being lost to the party. With Kyle and Turok bickering about beer and tea and herbs, and Hrolf scrunched down in the very bottom of my pack for safety. I'm glad I won't be doing that again.

Gorrush-Kar is a strange land. Ok, I suspected that from some of Turok's tales, but he never told me how magic-starved it is. Even the simplest spells don't reliably work for me (or didn't, anyway); there is almost nothing in the streams of magical power to draw on. No wonder Kepta-Mor was so obsessed with stealing magic!

When we got near the land -- and Kepta-Mor's keep along the coast -- the roc dumped us on the nearest land and flew off, carefully avoiding the keep. Clearly it knew something.

With much effort I was able to finally do some magical scouting of that keep. Inside I saw that cat-man from Durgam's Folly. I had suspected he was an agent of Kepta-Mor; now we knew for sure. I also saw a dozen or so D'Gorim, but no Kepta-Mor, Dragon's Heart, or emerald containing Elys'.

The land here is as barren physically as it is magically. There was no place near the keep to hide and prepare our final magics, so we chose a spot some distance out and hoped the scouts weren't very attentive. I was eventually able to transform into a troll, armor myself, fly, and see invisible, and (learning from past mistakes) I gave Kyle flight as well. This all drained much more of my magical resevoir than I would have liked, but it seemed that magic in the fight was going to be a challenge anyway, so I may as well use it beforehand. Hrolf activated his magical armor after a few tries.

Then we ran, quickly. Turok had pulled out a banner of Agondre that I didn't realize he'd taken from the palace and led the charge. As soon as we saw D'Gorim on the walls I started trying to lob fireballs (with some success) and Viggo started shooting (with much success).

We were able to run across the drawbridge just as they started to raise it. They had already lowered the portcullis; Turok planted the banner of Agondre, drew Kotara-Nar, and blasted through the barrier with a single mighty blow. He then stepped through and killed two D'Gorim with a single swing; Turok can be quite impressive when he's motivated!

Once we got close I fought physically rather than magically; at one point I dive-bombed an archer on the wall, pushed him into the moat, and followed him down and smote him. I saw Kyle up on the wall raining down a flurry of blows on two hapless archers, ultimately sending one falling on each side of the wall. (Turok later told me that the dying cry of one of them was "the child is full of knives!". Anyone who mistakes Kyle for a child makes a probably-fatal error.) Viggo and Liandra continued to provide much archery support.

No more D'Gorim emerged from the keep, so after we killed the guards we ran for the door. It was locked, of course, but Turok burst it open and we ran into the main room of Kepta-Mor's keep, where a golem made out of stone attacked us.

As Turok and the golem smashed at each other, the cat-man appeared and starting attacking Kyle and me. He is able to attack on the run in a way similar to what I can do while flying, so we ended up dancing around each other while exchanging blows. He seemed to be running for a door, which I was able to block.

Then Kepta-Mor and his guardian appeared on the balcony and things got very exciting. Kepta-Mor had taken on a strong, durable appearance similar to my own (but smaller), and his skin was covered with runes of all sorts. Beside him was a large construct made out of metal and also covered with runes; we would soon learn just how powerful its "fists" were. And behind Kepta-Mor floated a ruby bigger than my head that glowed with an inner fire.

I do not understand Turok's language but we were all able to understand Kepta-Mor (presumably he was magically aided). He said to Turok "I see you have returned, but you have been killed enough times that I no longer worry about the prophecy". This prophecy, we learned later, is similar to one we saw in the duchy of Drannekin: that the one who kills a person of royal blood brings curses upon himself, his family, and his land.

Turok is of royal blood? Fascinating! "Was", he corrected me later; he gave up his ties to this land at the gorge of fire, so he no longer has a family here. Or a land.

Then the fighting started in earnest. Kepta-Mor did not seem to be magically hindered the way we were; in fact, every time he cast a spell the Dragon's Heart glowed brightly, and he had his guardian cast some spells for him. Kepta-Mor was able to entangle Kyle and Viggo in a field of tentacles and then compel Turok to rescue them (Turok went through a wall because the door was in the field), which hindered us greatly.

Kepta-Mor directed many of his magical attacks toward me. My rod of absorption swallowed his first attempt to dispel my magics (it was a stronger spell than the one I know) and my ring absorbed his second, much to his dismay. We taunted each other and I told him to yield while he still had a tongue with which to do so, but he did not. He then cast a magical globe around himself and his guardian that negated most of the magical attacks we might have made.

We soon learned that hitting Kepta-Mor did not damage him much, but that cracks instead appeared on the guardian. The guardian was very strong and more than once knocked us out of the air with its mighty blows. This was going to be tough.

Meanwhile Kyle and Liandra (as a treant) killed the cat-man and Turok freed Viggo from the tentacles and killed the golem, leaving just Kepta-Mor and his guardian. Realizing that it was nearlhy impossible for me to hit Kepta-Mor with all his protections, I picked up Turok and dropped him onto the balcony to fight. And then Dorla ran out onto the balcony and began attacking Kepta-Mor with a dagger, yelling something at Turok all the while.

Dorla is the woman Turok knew here, the one who apparently betrayed him. Seeing her here attacking her apparent ally was confusing, at least until we noticed that she's not really human any more. We could see bits of machinery beneath her skin as Kepta-Mor damaged her, and her eyes were dull. We've seen that effect before, in the caverns below Durgam's Folly. Kepta-Mor had access to Theodocius' magical experimentation, probably via the cat-man. Just in case I needed any further assurance that Kepta-Mor must die for his evils. How can a human being do such a thing to another? It's disgusting!

There followed a great flurry of fireballs, cones of cold, acid balls, stunning blows knocking people off the balcony, and mass healing. It was hard to keep track of. I continued to focus on Kepta-Mor, dodging most of his attacks, looking for a way to gain the Dragon's Heart.

Kepta-Mor, meanwhile, continued to taunt Turok, claiming that he let Turok escape and provided the sword to him. Apparently he hoped to conquer Agondre by having one of its people kill Turok, thus fulfilling the prophecy of doom for the attacker's land. That plant-creature that killed Turok the first time was probably not what Kepta-Mor had in mind. And Kepta-Mor would probably be annoyed to learn that Garrett did much more damage to Agondre than Kepta-Mor could ever hope to do.

During the fight I found myself under the balcony and realized I was getting magical aid from the Dragon's Heart. So it's a proximity effect, not limited to one person! Liandra and I huddled there for a bit to cast other spells. This gave me an idea; I flew up just enough to have line of sight and then, using the power of the Dragon's Heart, I cast telekenesis and brought it straight to me. It worked! And the tide of the battle changed as Kepta-Mor cried out in anguish.

The Dragon's Heart weighs as much as I do (when I'm not polymorphed). It bore a glyph that I'm pretty sure Kepta-Mor added; I briefly felt a searing burst of pain but quickly shrugged it off. Liandra was not so lucky, and she was in a great deal of pain for the remainder of the fight.

Kepta-Mor tried to steal the Dragon's Heart back from me but failed. I told him "this is not for you" and Turok demanded that he surrender, but he ignored both of us. I used telekenesis again, pushing Kepta-Mor off of the balcony in a great burst of force, and Kyle attacked him on his way down. The guardian and Dorla were locked in a grapple, so the guardian could not stop this. Serves Kepta-Mor right! The guardian did manage to reach out and smack me once when I accidentally got too close, but it did not stun me.

Liandra and I both noticed that the Dragon's Heart not only made it easier for us to cast spells but also made our spells more powerful. This was especially apparent when she cast a mass healing spell and we all felt much better. This is a fascinating magic item, and I hope I get to study it in detail after we use it to heal Agondre.

By now Kepta-Mor was on the main floor being flanked by Turok and Kyle and shot at by Viggo. He had quite a bit of magical protection, but we could start to see that we were wearing him down. Then he activated a robe he was wearing that produced hypnotic color patterns and we didn't look quite so closely at him after that. Doing so was distracting. Fortunately, spells that cover an area rather than a specific target don't require a careful look.

Dorla jumped down and began attacking Kepta-Mor, and he managed to get off a fly spell and move to the ceiling. Liandra called down a flame strike on him and the guardian and Turok fired one of the captured fire-sticks at him. Turok, by now, had seen the modifications he made to Dorla and flew into a rage. As Kepta-Mor flew to the balcony, Turok cast a true-strike spell and Kyle used his cloak to take himself and Turok upstairs, where Turok delivered a flurry of mighty blows.

Kepta-Mor's magical globe faded and he flew off the balcony to the ceiling again. Liandra cast a cold spell on him and then I handed her the Dragon's Heart so I could do the same using my enhancing rod. Turok smashed the guardian to pieces and Kepta-Mor made a blood-curdling scream, and then I cast another coldball and his icy corpse fell to the floor.

I was about to begin a search for Elys' when Turok picked up an emerald from the wreckage of the guardian, crushed it, and announced "I release you". I had not even noticed the emerald embedded in the guardian's forehead!

Elys' appeared and Liandra rushed to her with a cloak. She is stunningly beautiful; I suppose many elves are, but she seems to shine among the few I've met. I am so happy that we were able to free her!

Elys' has retired to another room to dress (and experience being out in the world a bit in private) and Liandra and Turok are talking intensely with Dorla. (Well, Turok is talking and Liandra is trying to examine her.) I feel that the Dragon's Heart will rejuvinate some of my magic if I just sit quietly for a few minutes more.

Elys' has returned. I will write more later.