[Taocow PBEM] Book 3 - Chapter XIII - The Millennium Druids

[Dave Walter]

I seemed to have missed something?

On Monday, July 29, 2013, Aaron Clausen wrote:

> OOC: And onward and upward! Seems like a good place for a new chapter.
>
> >> [GM]
> >> ...
> >>
> >> When the cataclysm is complete, the lake is gone. A muddy expanse
> >> leading down to the original riverbed is all that is left, and only a
> >> couple of bodies of Kydians can be seen. The central third of the dam is
> >> completely gone.
> >>
> >> But the worst devastation is below the dam. Where the Splugorth army was
> >> just a few moments before is a vast lake of rushing water. The
> >> Millennium Tree stands like as an island in a sea of chaos. Many of the
> >> Splugorth minions have been swept away further downstream, perhaps a few
> >> hundred are straggling in the current or crawling up the banks. Sadly,
> >> it seems a few defenders were swept away, but it seems a fair enough
> trade.
> >>
> >> As to the small pyramid that had been channeling the energy from the
> >> rift, it has been knocked on to its side, and is glowing with a harsh
> >> red light, and several Kydians around it can literally be seen melting
> >> as the intense energies go wild and scorch the area around it.
> >>
> >> A cheer rises up from the defenders of the Millennium Tree and they rush
> >> ahead to pick off the remaining Splugorth troops.
> >>
> >> Over the radio an excited voice shouts out "We thank you, whoever you
> are!"
> >> [/GM]
>
> > [Oz]
> > Oz responded on the same channel. "Remember that feeling when we come
> > in and ask for assistance with our wounded. We're a couple of APCs and
> > ATVs in-bound."
> >
> > He got on the guard channel and ordered his men into the transports.
> > "Let's get down there before the aliens send reinforcements."
> > [/Oz]
>
> > [Alex]
> > The ranger does not trust the demon child to turn her head. "If you guys
> > have it under control, lets get moving."
> > [/Alex]
>
> [GM]
> There seems no objection to moving on. Still, reaching the Millennium
> Tree is a tricky venture, as it is now surrounded by a fast flowing
> river on all sides. It takes some careful maneuvering by all three
> vehicles to find the shallowest part of the lake.
>
> For Oz, there is the additional worry that his two scouts that went
> out the with newcomer and his dwarf to scout out the lake and dam
> never returned, leading one of Oz's men to speculate that they may
> have got caught in the flood. A couple of men ask for Oz's permission
> to go back and look for the four missing people.
>
> For the most part the Splugorth have retreated, their army defeated.
> Here and there the company sees defenders with Kydians taken prisoner.
> A couple of technowizards have built a mystically-powered energy cage
> to keep the Kydians inside, and it is rapidly filling up.
>
> And then there are the friendly casualties, which seem to number in
> the hundreds. Bodies of men, women, D-Bees, many who look to be
> acolytes, lay side by side as other priests busily try to discover
> their identities.
>
> The Tree itself dominates all. It stands hundreds of feet in the air,
> and its native power ripples through the air. There is evidence of
> damage, score marks over its bark, but now that the dimensional rift
> that was causing it injury has closed up, it is healing rapidly.
>
> As they approach the Tree, it appears that a group is coming to meet
> them. Three members of this assembly are dressed in drab robes with
> hoods that cover their faces. About a dozen retainers in similar
> clothing though not wearing their hoods walk beside them. Finally
> there are another six people; three who look to be Ley-line Walkers
> and three that are heavily armed types who look like mercenaries;
> about half human or humanoid and half D-Bees, who seem to be
> bodyguards.
>
> The leading hooded figure raises her hand in a gesture to the rest of
> that group, who all stop. The hooded figure approaches and then raises
> the hood to reveal an old woman, perhaps seventy years old, with short
> grey hair, deep wrinkles on a wizened face, and deep brown eyes.
>
> "I am Cassandra, chief Speaker for the Druids of Hednesforth Tree."
> she says in a somewhat hoarse voice. "We owe you and your King a great
> debt. If you had not come when you had, I think our lot would be much
> the worse now."
>
> "Most of you are welcome here as Friends of the Tree. Here, before you
> go further on your journey, we shall do what we can do heal your
> wounds. But you must be aware that we have many wounded, some near
> death, and our resources are taxed."
>
> Another of the hooded figures walks forward, taking off the hood and
> unveiling a humanoid with bright red skin, a bald head with three
> small horns and three blood-red eyes. The nose is wide and flat over
> an overly large mouth filled with bright white razor sharp teeth. A
> pretty terrifying figure all in all, only magnified by a great stature
> of at least seven feet tall.
>
> "As Cassandra says, most of you are welcome." he says in a harsh
> voice. "But you bring a terrible thing you, a very evil being. Surely
> you must know that to bring such a thing to a Millennium Tree could be
> viewed as a grave insult. Explain yourselves."
> [/GM]
>
> --
> Aaron Clausen
> mightymartianca at gmail.com <javascript:;>
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