A fine Jiyyd Eve
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Twas a Quiet Jiyyd eve. No trouble from the evil orc hordes or the dark dwarfs. Not a word of the Dark Lady. No elemental attacks, nor any sight of the fire salamanders.
Too good to be true, Arielle thought, as she stood guard keeping a watchful eye out for trouble at her Jiyyd west gate post.The common folks were there.. Nathander, Shantie. Jaher must have been inside the Whore drinking Arielle percieved, which of course had to be a good thing, for it was quite common for him to do so.
Arielle watched as Sir Mariston Thel conversed with the Lady Elena Arguyle, offering some consolating words from a discussion they were involved in. Apparently the Lady Elena had been looking into, and taking samples of the disease that had been plaguing the area. She had also mentioned with much sorrow something about a "Jester" and her betrothed Thierulf. Arielle couldn't help overhearing the name Thierulf, for he was a dear friend of hers and she had been away a long while, not realizing the troubles that had been in his life, since her absence.Eluriel Triallan'ravan along with the good bard Meril were also there in Jiyyd, and Arielle smiled seeing the both of them. Mariston had approached, after waving and blessing the Lady Elena a goodnight, then the four exchanged greetings and discussed the current affairs.There was some discussion of the disease, but then sorrowfully changed to the previous affairs of Thierulf and the Lady Elenas' trouble with the creature that Mariston referred as the "Jester".
Mariston spoke sadly," And she speaks that the jester seems again to be prominent in her mind.. "
Arielle, confused, asked " dis Jesta.. a wiggla? "
Mariston replied, " I do not know quite what he is. Tis an unknown creature that toyed with Lady Elena and Sir Thierulf upon thier wedding day," Arielle frowned, listening. " It took lady Elena as a captive and forced poor Sir Thierulf to play its "games" to free her."
There was quite a bit of discussion on this matter, the night seemed to go on forever.
Meril spoke up ," Weddings… they always seem to attract the worst guests in these lands." Arielle, smirked at that, knowing Meril was right.Sooner than naught, the well known bard Mirkali arrived with his companion Ocean, a beautiful singer and talented harpist. Upon the ending of the conversation, the bard lass asked if the group wanted to hear a song. Arielle smiled and piped up, for she loves the bard song and entertainment. She was given the honour of requesting a song, she did and Ocean sang and played a wonderful ditty about good triumphing over evil.
Ocean began to sing soft and low, in a beautiful clear voice, no trace of her accent in the words
And on he fought and on he fought, and through it all some peace he sought, yet none was there to e'er be found, until he lay within the ground
The blood ran thick from blade and shield, yet never would the good knight yield, as through the swathes of the evil horde, he cut and thrust with shining sword
He fought through days and nights uncounted, attack upon attack he mounted, His aim the caslte on the hill, and for all I know he fights on still
A battle fought not for vainglory, a simple tale, an age old story, good fights on in face of foe, to keep the common folk from woe
And though his arms and muscles ache, no rest will our white hero take, for if he did the day he'd lose, and that the knight could never choose
Into eternity he heads, and because of him we face less dreads, less evil stalks the world we stride, because he stands against the tide
And when at last the world doth end, into his final rest we'll send, the hero of a thousand days, a thousand songs, a thousand plays
Arielle and the others applauded, and all gave tribute for the song played so well and sung so lovely. She couldn't help in her heart as she took in the words, to apply the meaning to the very soul of her friend Thierulf, one of the bravest men she had ever known.
-poetry by Katebush
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Just last eve, there were reports of some dark dwarf activity in the plains area once again.. General Grag, Sargeant Arielle, Hedia and a few others went to investigate, upon doing so had a brief but successful battle, although some were injured, all who went also returned safely and victorious and one piece. The threat seems to be constant, and it would be well advised travellers to beware and enter the areas of the plains at thier own risk.
Upon returning, standing watch and listening to thier friend Hedia about her beloved goddess Sharess; Arielle, Jerr and Evia witnessed what seemed to be the divine presence a marvelous display of the gods surrounding Hedia during that very discussion. Hedia seemed to be empowered, or fully recharged as it were, after having "fallen" from the whole ordeal with those foul crystals. All present seemed very amazed, honored, and pleased for the visit. Jerr the Skald performed many a song in rejoicing for each ones deitys that were there at the small gathering.
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A few days past there had been sightings of an increasing number of creatures in the orc fortress area and all along the Windy and Central plains, in and throughout Mintas Rhelgor. Now they were growing closer, and threatening the commonwealth once more.
Arielle had never expected them to mount a huge offensive, especially after the recent wars, and thier poorly directed armies. Nevertheless due to the increasing amount of activityin the areas of late, something was bound to happen and very soon.
On a recent surveillance mission, Master Tolin and Arielle of the Troff Legion went about covered in magical invisibility, spying upon Mintas, finding many a Orcish Guardsmen and snipers posted at the Duergar gates. Bugbears had also been sighted along with small pockets of Deurgar soldiers in thier wake, mostly seen of course in the evening hours.
A report was made to the officers of this, not soon after a group of adventurers had been run aback all the way from Mintas unto the gates of Jiyyd by a tremendous force of Elites, "Destroyers" as they are termed. None present were exactly certain of the number, but you could hear talk that it numbered well into the hundreds.
Among them were brave citizens and crystalline outcasts alike, and some even fighting to the death in order to thwart the oppressive elite force that barrelled down upon them. Kiera, Shea, Tseris, Hedia, Kara, Nico were there among many others. They fought bravely and valiantly, sword and hammer in hand, battled hard holding thier ground until the orcs gave up and retreated back into the plains.
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After a short patrol of the orc filled areas in the plains, Arielle and her Legion companions arrived in town to find a few minutes rest and recovery time, only to discover the very earth beneath thier feet opening and providing many flying imps, dretchs and fire salamanders coming to wreak havoc upon the commonwealth and its perishing resources.
Every citizen and visitor rushed to put the beasts to rest, the Legion stood strong in it's defense along side the Jiyyd Watch. It seemed towards the end of the raid, the gods showed up in a mighty bolt of lightning and sealed the ground up at least for a time. Many about praised the gods for thier interaction and much needed aid.
Arielle couldn't help but pray long hours into the night in the temple of Helm, asking her Lord Patron for aid and protection in what seemed to her as a continual problem without solution, or end.
Arielle vowed within herself to make it a point to discuss this occuring issue with her brothers and sisters of the Order of the Divine Shield, in hopes that along side the militia and her Legion companions, the Shield could greatly aid in spirit and in the divine, possibly putting a swift conclusion to the raging fury of this continuos evil.
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Upon waking from a long rest, Arielle exited the Hall noticing immediately the magical glowing portal of the hugely hideous fire giant. Many townsfolk among others were there as well, many trembling in fear of the awesome creature and it seemed the giant had some horrible business with Mirkali the bard. After a few words exchanged, angrily and quite hastily, the giant attacked.
Tolin cast some kind of holding magic, so the group present could effectively battle the huge giant down. Swords swinging, and arrows flying, bardic song and magical spells flying from all directions the beastman took quite a large amount of damage. All but few present fought the beast effectively and the ground beneath them shook violently as the immense beastman fell to the ground with a resounding thud.
Some were terribly afraid of the possible reckoning, and Arielle watched as Tolin using his powerful magic destroyed the portal, closing the gateway to whatever, wherever the giant had emerged from.
To her dismay, Arielle heard many about crying "fools" and making fear based remarks, and frowned at the cowardice and lack of valiance that flowed to her ears. The beast was a horrible sight to behold, surely it had everyones adrenaline running full boar. She shrugged it off and went back to guarding her post with a calm smile.
Arielle thanked Helm in her heart for giving her and her companions the strength to deal with the fearsome menace that quite possibly could have levelled all of Jiyyd in a torrent of fire and brimstone.
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Not even a few minutes after Arielle had lighted the torches at the west gate, Mirkali approached from the east, informing the Legionaires assembled and guarding there about giant sightings near the east gates. Uchi and Arielle quickly followed, grabbing Vall on his way out of the crafters hall along the way.
These were no mere ogres mind you but fierce, frost covered evil hulkers from the mountains of Ormpur coming down to the east on a raid of sorts. Not having much time to chat to find out why they were here or thier reason for the raid the Legionaires along with Keeper Chaevre, Sy'wyn, Mirkali, and Jirka took to dispatching the frost giants as quickly and efficiently as they could.
This was no easy task, by any means. These giant men hit, and hit really hard. The bravest of the brave would run in circles, so that the archers in the group could weaken the huge creatures down and then close in for the attack. The brave and very courageous defenders raged on. Sword, hammer and stave slashed and pummelled, the healers quick to heal with expertise timing, the archers holding true to the mark with each arrow fired from thier bows.
Jirka worked through seemingly with no trouble, the well trained battle dwarf that she was, surely she'd had disciplined training for dealing with such huge beastmen. Arielle could see the fierce look of utter bravery in Jirkas eyes, which gave her an extra boost of courage and morale throughout the battle.
After seeming to quell the resistant waves of attacks, the group headed back to Jiyyd to a well deserved rest, battle weary and some even badly wounded. Some unfortunate souls had found thier deaths previously, probably hunters or the like. The clerics there quickly took to thier prayers and consulting the gods to see if thier poor souls could be returned to this life. Arielle grabbed her amulet and took time to pray for the souls of the fallen.
Another successful defense to the commonwealth, Arielle thought, as she took to praising Helm for her very life and the lives of her valiant friends.
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A week passed all pretty quiet on her shifts, on this new day not much trouble around just a fine quiet peaceful air. Miss Alia was there with her new born son, and Arielle smiled as she beheld the mother and child, Alia an almost peaceful look upon her face, one in which she hadn't had since her dear husbands passing.
Then Ox had some trouble with a powder keg, and commoner Shantie.. A huge, ground shaking explosion, and the sounds of the little baby crying. Arielle went over imediately to investigate what had happened. Miss Justene was real angry, actually tried to arrest Ox for Shanties murder. Arielle was gladly relieved when General Grag showed up, and dealt with the situation promptly.
Anna Sigerlson was there visiting Arielle with her husband Mariston thankfully, and through the great mercy of the Red Knight brought Shantie back to the living. Arielle smiled, very glad that Kelemvor had released her long time friend to come back from the fugue. Arielle knew well that Kelemvor didn't always grant that, and was indeed truly thankful. Miss Justene resumed her watch with a grim, and angered expression, and never said one word the rest of the night.
General Grag had also dispatched some crazed, reaking orc lass with a quickness, before she could cause any trouble from her ranting and raving.
All seemed pretty quiet after that, until a fine elven fellow along with Fadia Nalio, brought trainee Hard's body to Arielles feet, which she took to Vrokas, as he had been felled by some overwhelming hobgoblins while in defense of Jiyyd. Major Mog along with the assistance of Finnus and Miss Vroka, were able to restore him to the living.
All in all, it was a fine Jiyyd eve. As Arielle would say, " No Darkys, no Orcies..etc ".. All was restored that had been taken away by the uncommon evils in the shadows, that dwell beyond the mere sight of the common man.
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A few nights on her watch had gone by uneventful, but of course this couldn't last forever..
Arielle watched the tentacles rise beneath the Jiyyd west gate. "Yeller , you yeller!" the Orcish mage cackled, provoking Captain Wogsburgh.
Wog spoke up,"Did he mean Yellow?" Then Captain Wog and some others chased the mage off to the west, promptly.
"Inside the gates!" the Captain yelled, and the group there consisting of Jer the Skald, Keeper Chaevre, Rigrin the rogue, Vine, and Eragor the half orc along with Arielle quickly formed up to decide a plan to take out the possible incoming threat to the Commonwealth. They began a pursuit taking them out into the central plains, were after some bit of stealthy scouting and valiant fighting, dispatched the mage and three guardsmen huddling up in the nearby trees for a possible ambush.
The group returned succesful, without much injury or casualty.