My Life - Part Three

By Harry Bushtill

However, I found that after a while the yearning for travel and exploration that fills my body was beginning to get the better of me again, so at the beginning of the next Sea Season, our party headed South for Lunar Tarsh to see what could be found in those so-called 'civilized' lands.

We journeyed unevenfully for about two weeks, preferring to sleep under Father Sky, rather than stay in the mottled and extravagant inns dotted along the route. Those Lunars verily know how to charge people. It was not until we reached Southern Tarsh that I found some trace of fellow Lightbringers.

It was here that we encountered big adventuring guilds, capable of training human bodies as well as minds, and we engaged on a long a gruesome course of exercises to develop our cardio-vascular system and our musculature in general, in both subtleness and strength. We were to be very thankful for this by the time our adventures had finished, though we did not know this at the time.

There were at the time plenty of opportunities to seek adventure, as witnessed by the ever-full noticeboards in the guild foyers. We decided that we would go and clean out a nest of chaos that has been known since Time began as a trouble spot, Snake Pipe Hollow. We took on a mission to go and rescue a Healing Mistress that had been captured by a sneeze of Broo, and also to recover some stolen valuable metals for a smith (as we thought both these tasks should be fairly easily accomplished together).

It was early Fire Season as we set out, which was interpreted as a good sign by both Targrath and Perfect Victim, and even I could see the irony as fire is the ultimate force of Law.

We first set out for the walled fort of Alda-Chur, which we reckoned would make a good base for our mission. On our way there we passed the entrance to the Hollow. A more desolate place I have never seen, even the Wilds back home were well populated compared to this place, and the Wilds certainly did not have the same sense of brooding evil over it. It was at this point we met Groog, a troll who had been cast out from his home hearth and he wanted to join us to aid in uprooting chaos so as to redeem himself. Targrath and Victim were reluctant, but my arguments that one should not turn away such offers of help finally won through.

So it was that our party of 4 started off into the wild hills surrounding the Hollow, which had supposedly been casued by the great magics of the 'I fought, We won War'. Everything seemed fine until we were suddenly attacked by a great hand that came flying throught the air and attacked Perfect Victim through its insidious squeeze.. It was only with the greatest of difficulty that we were able to beat the creature off, and from that moment on, we were ever on maximum alert, as if we had been surprised, we would surely have been killed.

After a few hours of travelling we came upon a path leading down into the Hollow itself. It winded down through the stratered rock, which was showing many different types as we went down. It was not long before we found the cave mouth that we were looking for.

We lit up our torches, and made our way cautiously in. But forty paces into the cave proper, we were stopped by a huge giant, who was wearing a chaos of metal armour on his legs and abdomen. He wanted a huge toll before he would let any of us pass. Once it was clear that there was no other way around him, I started to count out the money (or rather the forged coins I always carry should such an occaision arise). At this point the other three in the party attacked nobly and I had no recourse but to join in. Had it not been for the fighting prowess of the troll at this point, who managed to put a crushing blow to the giant's chest, we might not have been successful. However, as the Eurmal was obviously on our side, we pushed ahead.

The cave turned out to be the entrance to a whole series of caves, each further in and lower down than the previous. In the sixth one we encountered a small ogre tribe, led by a Chaos Priest, probably belonging to Cacodaemon's foul cult. He slayed our troll friend with a vicious blow to the head, whilst his mistress went for us with the other chaos offspring that dare imitate the human form. It was a hard fight that used up a lot of the Rune Magics in the party as well as all my available personal power, stored or otherwise. However, we did not find the metals we were after in the smithy that had apparently been used by these creatures.

Deciding to push on, as we feared for the life of the Priestess, we next came to upon the biggest surprise of all. We found an underground temple to Mallia, the Mistress of Disease. Fortunately, there was not a service at the time we approached, or we would surely have died there and then. As it was, we managed to defeat the mixed hordes of scorpion men and broo that formed that vile chaos community and find the prisoners that they were keeping to sacrifice at their next holy day. Among them, thanks be to all the good powers in the worlds, was the Healer Priestess.

The above, looking back, makes it all sound fairly easy, but this was far from the case. None of us came out of there with any power left, let alone any rune magic. Also, we discovered an entrance to a lower level yet, but our objective acheived we decide to leave (once we had found a treasure chamber that is). This treasure chamber had to be seen to be believed, as it contained so much magic that I dared not use my detect magics in case it was overpowered (even had I been able to do so). In the end we had to return twice to carry the stuff out, though we were fortunate not be attacked on either return trip.

Once back in Alda-Chur with our released hostages and the tresure, we settled down for a winter of contetment and pleasure (especially since we collected the earthly gifts the healer initiates provided us with). I also spent some time making use of our new found wealth to further improve my body and mind, as well as buying some exotic trade goods to sell on our return to Elkoi.

That summer we returned home, to find things much as we had left them. The programme that we had set up to train the people in the Citadels to become a competent militia was proceeding with pleasing speed, and I was especially proud to be able to invite my friends and companions to the opening sale of the Bushtill Trading Company, that in time was to form the basis of the Bushtill Lawful Multiverse Corporation, built in the inner city wall just off the main temple square. For this special occaision I had decided to open the best of the 100 vats of good wine that I had brought with me from the South. For the moment, I was pleased to have settled down again, but I shall probably feel the wandering lust imbued me by the spirit of Goldentounge again, may the adventures that follow be as profitable and as exciting as this one!