The Journey of the Legend part 11

He's Alive! He's Alive? No. This cannot be. this must be someone pretending to be him. I know some illusions can make it seem like people look different. And we are looking for someone who we Know can make himself look different, so I quickly need to think of a way to find out. Illusions, if I remember correctly, can't be solid. that would take something else entirely. Greeting Elon, I extend my right arm, as if for a handshake. When he grabs my hand, I Lock my prosthesis, not hard, but tight enough that his hand cannot escape, and I pull him in for a hug. I reach around to his back, feeling with my real hand, feeling for something that doesn't belong, like a long cloak, of evidence of scales. Nothing. It feels just like Elon should. But how? We Need to ask him questions. I still cannot believe this to be Elon Tusk. As we all agree to tell him in private, he leads us to his private tent, so we can talk. Firecrotch goes to check on the workers. When we are alone, I break it to Elon that His Eels are dead, and when he seems rather distraught, I continue to tell him that He himself is supposed to be dead, as we found his body. Melfina steps in, withe the desire to check him physically, and when she is does, he seems to be as solid and beefy as he always was. Asking him various sorts of questions we can think of, like who it was that sent me to him, and what the name of the first secretary was, we are absolutely stumped as to how he came to be here. Melfina suggests we find Odathwyrm, as we know he was moving in this direction, and he was supposed to be ahead of us. Taking the vial of Blood she has from him, she wipes it under her eyes, and as her eyes light up Elon seems a little out off, but mostly about who we may have told about his demise. When we tell him who all we have told, and get to Danerai, he spits out an oath of some sort in that beautiful language that Dani and Melfina both share. Once Melfina has located her quarry, who is only about a mile away, if that, we decide to take Elon to go find Firecrotch, so we can protect Elon while We hunt down this White coward. As we get closer to the camp, we start looking around for Firecrotch, and he spots us as we spot him. When he looks at Melfina, he starts to run away, and Marda, sensing something, maybe from Melfina, gives chase.
 
 
As Marda takes after him, I glance over at Melfina and see that her head is slightly cocked, which I certainly have never seen from her. Almost like a lizard trying to look at something it hasn't seen before. obviously something is wrong, and good Ole Firecrotch knows something more. As Marda catches up to him, and hits him three times with her swords, I can see his image shimmer into that of the White dragonborn, Odathwyrm. Ah. That would explain that. As we take off after him, I can hear Melfina Bark out "Dragonborn!" and in her godlike language, she extends her hand, and the from we are chasing freezes. Slightly behind me, Aurane calls out to his god, and his large spiritual hammer appears next to the held figure. It seems I am not the only one with harsh feelings to this guy, as the large floating mallet swings down in a large arc, and hits him right between the legs. This must be something very painful to most races of this world, but to dragonborn, it hurts just as much as being hit anywhere else. Still, it appeared to be a hard wallop. Before I had started running, I had gathered my energy, and concentrated it into my movement, so I would be able to move faster, hit a bit harder. covering the distance, and moving in front of Odathwyrm, I reach out my hand and grab just above his collarbone with my right hand, clamping down just a bit, to hold him in place. I know he can teleport, as he has done it before, but I don't know how it works. We need him to to answer questions, and right now, paralyzed as he is, he shouldn't be able to do anything. Apparently, the spell wears off at that time, and coming back to, his points a finger at me, and I am covered in brief flames. While it is hot in there, I have had more burns from grabbing hot metal, and it is nothing a good night can't fix. But as I am preoccupied by the warmth around me, there is both a loud thunder crash, and the wall of pressure that would accompany such a loud sound. The very force of the pressure was such that it nearly knocked me off my feet. A ringing in my head, pain in my nostrils, and I can feel I have blood flowing from my snout. My captive is no longer there, and my right hand clamps down upon the nothingness of thin air. Now facing just my companions, I see that Rorin, Marda and that odd Specter are all running to chase down our culprit. I turn to see him 90 feet away, and getting ready to run again. With both Melfina and Aurane giving off a quick chant, and first a streak of energy whizzes past me, hit Odathwyrm in the side, then an honest to god lightning bolt connects with him, and he is left standing, but slightly smoking in place, the tips of his crest straight out. Sprinting after him, I push myself to be able to take a couple swings before he teleports away. Using my momentum, I swing as I get up to him. Glancing back before my hit connects, he casts something that stops my axe from hitting, and it bounces off, just short of his smug face. Using that force, I slide my hands up the haft of the axe, nearest to the head, and twist my body, bringing the butt of the axe handle into the back of his head. the force that blocked me before is not enough to stop me, and with a mighty Thwack He goes down, unconscious.
 
Melfina binds him with ropes, and we take him back to the tent we were in before with Elon. remembering that casters need to wiggle fingers to cast spells, we bind his together so he can't move them. Not wanting to be part of the interrogation, I step outside, and try to shake off the ringing in my head that is still going on. I could take the break, and I have enough nightmares to deal with, I don't need to relive more. I'm worried that my arm may have taken more damage, and I take the time to check it. It turns out that I have more time than I thought, as the others are going to wait for him to wake up naturally. After making sure neither my arm, nor my axe are overly damaged, I settle down to close my eyes. I don't want to hear the screams. It turns out that there weren't any screams. I wake up as the others come out of the tent in a hurry, and I sense that something is definitely wrong. They start looking around, as apparently ,as soon as Rorin stuck his thumb into a wound, the guy smirked and teleported away. Now we don't know where he has gone, or how far. Worrying about Elon's saftey, we move back into the camp proper to find him. Damn. I could have focused on him, and been able to track him, or I could have been watching Elon! IF I had been thinking clearly, I would have thought that far ahead, Rookie mistake. Next time we meet this guy, we kill him. I should show these kids how to do it proper like, when I was in the mercenaries. As we find Elon, he seems a bit upset with us mucking this part up, and the fact that we let this guy get away again. Deciding to take Elon with us, Melfina Uses her ability to track our quarry, and he goes to his tent to don some armor. While he is putting on his leather armor, he is continuously muttering to himself about us, whatever it is that the specter may be, it comes out to loom over Elon, then sticks it's Arm Through Him! Ok, none of us were expecting that, nor did kwe know it could do that. It quickly got Elon thinking about something else though, and we had to settle him down a bit after that. All of that took much time though, and we have come to the conclusion that we can't get out there before dark, and we don't want to be out there where the hydra is after Dark. Melfina goes, and sits on her feet, meditating. Once she is finished, nearly dark now, and she tells us she was trying to memorize where our target was going, so we can follow him better in the morning. We take the time to set up in the camp, and before we go to sleep, we ask about the Hydra which we are supposed to kill. Elon says it has attacked the camp a couple of times, and the heads keep growing back. It probably has nearly a dozen by now. ok. something with that many heads is a problem. I suggest to the remaining workers that in the morning, when we leave, they go back to the supply trains, so if the Hydra attacks when we are gone, they won't die. They start to argue with me, and I tell them if they travel hard and fast, they will make it back before nightfall, then I walk away.
 
In the morning we start out with our mounts, and for some reason everyone looks at me to guide them over the path. If it was plain forest, I may have been able to maybe suggest what plants not to scratch yourself with, or maybe what trees are the most comfortable to take a nap against. As I was responsible for maintaining all the equipment, most of the time I was lead through the woods, and only learned some things from what I picked up from others. While I was able to guide them through some of the terrain, the bigger rocks I just kinda left them to whatever they could manage, as I had to worry about my own mount. he didn't really seem to like this place. Aurane seemed to take over near what seemed like the halfway point, and I'm not really sure what it was, but the time he has spent on large stone structures may have helped, as he was able to direct people over the larger obstructions, and around some that we couldn't properly navigate. Well how about that. City cleric has learned to branch out from his element. I feel kinda proud of him. He helps guide the whole party to a clearing, and Melfina points us to a valley, with a lake in the middle, and there on the shore, nearest to us, is a prone form. The large specter in it's terrible, cloaked form, Immediately moves closer to Elon. Rorin moves quickly and silently, up to the prone form. Raising his staff, he brought is down swiftly to crack the prone form in the face. Snout. I can see now that the prone form is in fact the form of Odathwyrm, a member of my race who must be killed. I was worried that the from may have been fake, or a trap. But no, there he is. We just have to get rid of him, and I'll be able to go back to my smithy... no. We will still have to find out why those people were being taken. I feel my feet moving forward, past Elon who has already moved up, holding a long length of pipe defensively, as if to ward away and attacks. The specter is close enough to him, and seems to have been glues to him for the last few hours. Good. That means we can be about our business and hopefully not have to worry about him. I consciously start moving my feet in a diagonal, about 30 feet behind this guy, so he has less space to teleport, as he seems so apt to do. The enemy Dragonborn takes the time to look over his surroundings, and gathering heat and light in his claws, throws a Fireball at my friends who have not had a chance to move yet!
 
I watch in silent horror as there is nothing I can do to stop the roaring ball of flame hurtle through the air, and explode in the middle of the group, obscuring the area in fire. If I had instead chosen to engage him.... If I had gotten in close and hit him maybe the bastard may have not had time to do that. Maybe I could have killed him before he would have been able to get away. I look as the flame, fueled only by magic, goes out, and all of my friends are still standing, but they are not looking well. Damn my hesitation. Melfina walks forward, and throws forth that beam of sickly green energy, and when it hits our foe, he vanishes. Just like under the Temple in the city. Damn. Where did he go? Aurane and Marda, both hurt from the fireball, move away from each other, to make sure we can't get hit as a group again. Elon, holding his pipe vertically, mutters something, and I feel power infused into me, like I could swing more accurately, and hit harder. Elon has somehow blessed me, and as I search the ground for any depression where this cowardly cousin of mine has fled to, I see bubbles coming up out of the water. Gesturing first in the direction of the depression, then at the lake, I call out, "One of my cousins Flees like a coward, and another one rises out of the lake! Like one big family reunion!" Rorin is already heading up away from the lake, and as I start to run toward where I think he is, Odathwyrm appears back into my vision, hurling two balls of sickening energy at me. I manage to avoid one as it goes wide, but the other hits my side, right where th arrow hit me yesterday, and a shock wave passes through me, spreading pain into all of my joints as it goes. After hurling his blasts at me, he turns and flees 30 more feet down the shore line. A bolt of lightning passes me, toward him over the water. Aurane was probably holding one to be ready when he appeared, but it fell just short, the magic dissipating before hitting it's mark. Hoping and parying that the Hydra will be attracted to something else other than me, I watch as Marda moves closer, but she couldn't possibly make up the distance right now, as it is over 130 feet from her. I can hear the hydra come up out of the water, and I turn to look, and it is right next to me. Pale blue-green scales cover the entire thing, it's many heads, each one as large as me, are focused on my being. As the teeth flash, and pain racks my body, there is nothing I can do. The pain disappears, and the void of death takes me.
 

The void. Nothing here. Thought exists. Huh. I sense no presence of the Specter the has loomed over us in battle. What is that thing anyway, if not death it'self coming to take those away from our battle? Those I have killed are not here, tormenting me, as I have lived through, and feared. There is nothing here that can harm me anymore, and I can finally rest, not worrying about the nightmares of the world I have left behind. now all I need... wait, there is a light ahead. I can recognize the glow of the forge anywhere. Yes. That would be nice. The steady beating of some metal, the feel of the hammer in my hand again. I wouldn't have to make armor, or weapons here, but would be able to just shape things as they come to me. I head towards the welcoming heat of the forge, I see someone sitting at the forge, in an ancient metal rocking chair. Faltering just a moment, I keep walking forward, but slower. I have no idea how long I have been here, but this is the first other being I have seen. She is Dwarven, strongly built as most of her race is, and she just looks, weary, but solid, as if Forever. Maybe she will let me work in peace. I get closer and she smiles up at me. I nod to her in acknowledgement, and reach out for the tools. I have my real hand. not my metal arm, but the arm that I lost oh so long ago. I stand there agog, while I look down at that. and I hear her say, "This is not the right time for you to be here." As if telling a puppy that it needs to settle down. I let my hand fall back to my side. "Yeah. I strayed away from the team", I say. Opening her mouth, "Don't Squander my gifts" she says. "Think about why you are here", she continues, "think about what got you here. Max, and the shaman who saved you. Your companions have gotten you here. Without them you would be in trouble." "You are right" I reply, "I have strayed too far from the team." Standing up, and shaking her head as if talking to a child who doesn't understand his lesson, she says,"I don't want to see you around these parts again for a while. You need to protect them, and protect the shield I have been given. She guides me to the forge, taking my arm, my metal arm once again, and as we get close to the forge, it grows bigger. She guides me into it, and I feel.. Burning
 
Burning in my chest, and in my limbs as I start to breath again. 2 figures stand over me, both winged. One, golden and pulsing with power, the other shaded, but no less powerful, both touching my chest. Heat burns into me, from the point they are touching me, to my metal arm. The light of the glowing figure and her wings begin to fade, and I find Melfina standing over me, her wings dissipating. The shadowed form behind her has disappeared into the bright day. Coughing I manage to get out "Family reunions suck." Looking around, I see a corpse, some sort of humanoid wearing Elon's armor, and when I ask about it, I am told that we have to leave. After what has jsut jappened, I may be weary, tired, and unsure of a lot of things, I am not about to argue. They say we need to go, we Go. Aurane tells us of a tower that should be nearby, and we start heading in that direction.
 
On the way to the tower I ask my companions what happened while I was... down. They tell me the harrowing story of what happened. Apparently the Thing the looked like Elon muttered something about finally showing his true colors, and attacked Marda, Aurane and Melfina with divine magic of some sort. Melfina cast a spell that made her move much faster, and hit Odathwyrm with a guiding bolt that took his face off. Literally from what the others tell me. Then she went down to grab my body, to try to retrieve it from the hydra. Aurane Hit Elon with a lightning bolt, and his spiritual hammer. Someone named Evangela, who has a description very similar to Lilith, took my body from Melfina, through some sort of spectral door, and appearing next to Aurane, gives him a Diamond, with the intent on bringing me back to life. Apparently, she then disappeared. It seems she really wants me to deliver that letter. Marda killed the Not-Elon by climbing up him with her swords, using the collarbone area as a grabbing hold for a hook, and cut off his head while looking him in the face. Melfina took another hit from the hydra, and she went down, and Rorin was able to save her from the hydra with a potion. There seemed to have been a bit of drama trying to get Me, the Diamond, which I guess was needed for the spell, and Melfina all together, but they managed.
 
As we get up to the tower, Melfina cocked her head to the side, as if listening to something, and she tells us that there is a side entrance, and the main entrance may be a bit tough to go through. There may be some traps. We decide to leave the mounts close to the entrance, but there isn't much we can do about them, and I worry for the moorbounder, and the safety of the horses. We need shelter for the night, and I have no feeling to object tonight. as we get around the side of the tower, we find an entrance, which is locked. Taking out some small tolls, Rorin is able to pick the lock, and none of us question, again, his strange abilities. As it is pitch black inside, Melfina casts Light, and as she casts her magic, wall sconces also light up, as if in reaction to the magic she has cast. We find a few more doors, and after each door there is a tinkling of a bell, and a string along the top of the wall. We get through some doors, and happen into a lone Zombie that Melfina brandishes her holy dagger symbol at, and the thing just disintegrates! most of the time, I have to hit things a few time for them to go away, and she just waves her daggers in the air and they go poof! Strong stuff that clerical magic. the room after the Zombie is a kitchen, and while it was dark when we get in, once there is light, it seems almost... warm. Fresh food is still there, and I grab a bit as we move through. The final room we come to seems to have been a dinning room at one point, but makeshift bookshelves line the walls, and a arm chair sits in a corner, with a very well dressed, colorful man, with scales going down his neck, and feathers on the back of his head looking at us. "Welcome! I see you have found my home! Pleased to meet you!"