Chapter 2-Infinity

Journeying along, the group again found itself in a cave; this one with a well in it. Since no one had experience on testing water for poison, they continued forward. They probably all would have fallen to their deaths if it weren’t for the Monk’s low-light vision. He spotted the hole a few moments before anyone else. They would have eventually spotted it as well, if only because of the receding screams of whoever was in front. Dropping a torch (which, for some reason, they didn’t light earlier) they realized that the hole was more or less infinitely deep. DMs are allowed to pull that kind of thing.

After thinking for a moment (allowing me a chance to catch up) The Monk decides he will just jump over the hole. Due to his oath of silence, we are all kind of caught by surprise by this. After a tense half-second, we hear a thump on the other side.

Noticing the well near the group, I drop to my knees and drink deep, thus solving the mystery of whether or not it was poisonous.

The Monk lit a torch on the other side to show us how wide it was. With luck and a running start, any one of us could have made it across. With bad luck or a slow run, we would certainly fall to our deaths.

Meanwhile… (I love meanwhiles!)

“A certain wizard prepared himself, both mentally and physically, for the impending duel. Trying to ignore the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach, he tried to mentally review the stockpile of spells he had prepared that morning.  He knew that he was out of his league on this one. He had insulted the wrong man, and now he would pay the price.

“ ‘You may still live if you will take it back, Drake Son of None’

“Drake, troubled, considered his enemy’s words. If he chose to submit, he could survive to see another sunset. But the laws of honor stated that he would be exiled for his cowardice. Working his jaw, he forced out his answer.

“ ‘I would sooner die!’

“His enemy nodded.

“ ‘So be it’ ”

We paused for a moment to rest. The Captain was a heavy man, and it hadn’t been easy to pull him up. For some reason he was quite amused by the situation.

“Is that everyo--?” Shady broke off. Turning around he raised an eyebrow at me. “What are you doing?”

Pulling my hand out of his pack, I smiled sheepishly. “Nothing. Just getting a snack.”

Looks can’t kill, but knives sure can.

“If I catch you in my pack again, I will personally carve you to ribbons.”

Suddenly, from the darkness, an arrow embedded itself in Shady’s pack. The group immediately switched into battle mode. Knives were drawn, swords unsheathed, acid uncorked, and a single khopesh hefted.

And so a fight began. It happens to this group a lot. If people got attacked half as much in real life, humankind would quickly go extinct. But I suppose it’s only to be expected. How else can you make a living as a freelance mercenary? At least you save money on funerals (assuming someone in the group has a shovel), and cremation often comes entirely free.

Fight scenes aren’t really my forte, but here it goes.

Thunder rolled.

It rolled an eleven.

Shady quickly got the upper hand, and his knives flashed silently through the air. The attackers focused their attention on him, but by the time they got their chance he had slipped back into the shadows. Desperately trying to think of something clever, I finally settle on “I swing my khopesh”. Miss. Acid splash. Miss. Punch really hard. Miss. Stab with knifes. Hit. Khopesh. Miss. In one eternal round. (The attackers also had some hits in there, but I figured you would pick up on the pattern quicker and it would be more humorous if I left them out for the moment.)

It was about at this point that the Captain (of all people) realized that we could see better if he lit something up. He has a spell called “light” that he could use as many times as he wanted, but he had to touch it first. He made up for his moment of genius a moment later, because the first thing within reach happened to be the Monk.

Now able to see, our assaulters to the opportunity to strike the clearest target. It’s lucky that the Monk can hold his own fairly well. He didn’t voice any sort of objection, and his expression was hard to read (the beak kept getting in the way).

And now for a moment of role-playing brilliance.

Because meanwhile…

“ ‘You’ve lost, Drake. Admit it, and I’ll let you live. This is your last chance.’

“Drake looked hazily up at the other man. The word ‘live’ sounded very good right now. He opened his mouth…

“…And abruptly shut it. Something was tugging at his mind…Something he needed to do…

“But what would he be able to do while dead? What was it he had shouted earlier? Surely it could wait until his head had cleared. He nodded.

“ ‘Yeah…okay.’

“The other wizard smirked and lifted his wand.

“ ‘You have no honor. Begone.’

“And with a flash of light, everything vanished.”

With a flash of light even brighter than the one encompassing the Monk, a man tumbled into the half-darkness.

I’m going to pause for a moment.

When you’re disoriented and confused and find yourself in the middle of a battle with a giant glowing bird beating people to pulps, what’s the first thing you do? Attack the people the bird is beating to pieces? Or do you go after the creature that’s obviously the bad guy?

My brother opted for the bad guy.

Ah, yes. Didn’t I mention that? The Klingon wizard is my younger brother. He’s not actually Klingon, but he modeled his character to be honor-bound to the point of idiocy. Honor this and honor that. The entire kingdom he’s from is molded after the Klingon home world. That’s why losing your honor is serious enough to get you banished.

The next thing he knew, the Monk was a glowing ice sculpture.

~~~~~~~~~~
Once in every show
there comes a song like this!
It starts out soft and low
and ends with a kiss.
Oh where
is the song
that goes like this?
~~~~~~~~~~

Since this last time I pulled the ‘meanwhile’ was so successful, I’m wondering if I could pull off a long-term one. One that you don’t see how it connects until much later. But we have the entire group now. I could do flashbacks and explain people’s backstories, like “Once Upon a Time”. For the other option, I could write the adventures of a parallel (and entirely fictional) group that would connect this group of stories with the next one. I could do either one. I have only vague ideas for both; I could do either one just as easily. It’s entirely up to you. What’s your vote?

Next time: The evil chickens of death