Combined Journal for D&D Sessions 8.26.06 and 9.16.06

It’s been quite a long time since I’ve written in this and so much has happened, I’m not sure I’ll be able to remember it all.

After the men were able to convince the Southern houses to join the Northern at the border to the Vast, I rode ahead to advise Prince Amnor of their success. Because I arrived so much earlier than they did, I was able to join the other Shieldmaidens for battle. When the three houses finally arrived, the prince revealed a plan that he felt would lead to definite success. Two houses would stay out of the battle and the Shieldmaidens would split, each separate group protecting the prince of the house. These two houses would draw the humanoids into the valley after the rest of our army retreated. When the humanoids surrounded these two houses, the army would once again move onto the battle field and decimate the humanoids.

The plan seemed to be working, until another large group of humanoids came over the hills to the Vast and bore down on us. When the situation began to bleak, which didn’t take long. We were sorely outnumbered. At first, it was a small tremor that shook the ground under our feet. Gradually, it grew in strength, until many of us were knocked off our feet, both Theonalar and humanoid. Near our battlefield, the mountains overlooking our bloodshed began to split. As we struggled to maintain our footing and continue the protection of our country, the mountains opened completely, revealing beautifully crafted dwarven doors. From the newly revealed doors, an army of dwarves came to join us on the battlefield, lead by our friend, Cor.

The battle quickly ended, with the humanoids trapped in the valley being killed and very few escaping. But enough escaped to join what was left in the Vast. Our struggle to keep the humanoids away from our lands is not over.

The covenant between Theonalar and the dwarves was renewed. That was an amazing sight to see; Amnor, the large Corathin that he is, kneeling before the small dwarven king. In discussions, it was decided that a great wall would be built along the border of the Vast and Theonalar, to keep the orcs out of our country.

After the celebration and the funeral, Amnor came to our group and requested that we journey into the Vast and find the ones in charge of the humanoids, or the ones uniting them. We were told we had thirty days to complete our task, or we would be considered lost. Typical, no matter what task they send us on, we are only given so much time before we are considered lost. We’ve been late so many times, I’m surprised we have ever found our way home.

We journeyed into the Vast and found a large caravan moving deeper into the country. We decided to follow this caravan and was surprised to find it led us to a clearing we had visited once before. Tal’s cousin, Erbane, had been rescued by us from this clearing over a year earlier. As we watched the caravan, Kre exited from a wagon, dressed in a black robe and waited for a silver basin to be removed. The guards of the caravan did not appear to be from anywhere particular, however, they pulled slaves from the wagons that each wore the house colors of Kre’s house, Reinhardt. The man was using his own people as slaves and I believe sacrifices to someone he called The Dark Lord.

In the middle of this clearing strung up like Erbane had been, was Gort. There was a lot of drama and a lot of discussion and it was finally decided by Tal that he would use his magic, wretched stuff, and free Gort. Somehow Tal made a dagger move toward Gort and cut him free. Of course, the orcs noticed and gave chase. We ran for quite awhile with the unconscious form of Gort being carried by Angus. As we ran, we were overtaken by orcs on worgs and through the battle, Tal joined Gort in being unconscious. Angus, Pots and I were able to fight off the orcs and worgs and get the two into the trees, under cover and hide our trail. Angus and I stayed up until Tal woke again, then we both collapsed with exhaustion.

After we got some rest, we all made our way back to Theonalar. We had been gone longer than the time were given, again. The framework of the wall was coming along nicely and we were days late for meeting with Amnor. Pots disappeared sometime during the night, and as far as I know, he didn’t say a word to anyone. Amnor left instructions for us to meet him Guthoram if we returned, after we attended the rest of the funerals.

Once the funerals had been completed, we made our way to Guthoram, Gort in tow. The journey was easy and we arrived in the capital within two weeks. When we arrived, we were allowed into the castle without a problem and taken directly to the great hall where we were surprised to see Pots giving a speech about his loyalty and the house of Lyonsbane’s loyalty to Prince Amnor and his becoming the king of Theonalar. Then Belvar stepped forward with the Earth Crown. Before he could place it upon Amnor’s head, Amnor stood and said we would follow the traditions of our people and allow three days to pass, allow anyone else who felt they deserved to be king to step forward and lay their claim. With that, he left the great hall.

We waited for three days. During that time, Tal’s cousin, Ewane, tried to reacquaint himself with the three of us. I have no issue with the man wanting to know his cousin again, but I do not appreciate having to educate him on my position within the kingdom. He seems to have a difficult time understanding my position as a Shieldmaiden. For some reason, I feel like every time he’s at the forge, working beside me, or we walk through the training field, that he’s wanting to test his skills against mine.

Three days after Amnor was declared king, we all met once again, all the princes, thanes, elders, shieldmaidens, in the great hall. Again, Belvar stepped forward with the crown and placed it upon Amnor’s head. Amnor stood and called up two of those earth creatures we had seen the elf call up back in the Twisted Tower. After punching Angus in the arm, because he just had to mention that Amnor was the second king, I kneeled in fealty to Amnor and Belvar and I were soon followed by everyone in the great hall. Then the creatures were returned to the earth and Amnor declared a great celebation.

The first night, the entire great hall was filled again, with all the princes, thanes and elders, as well as the foreign delegates. The houses missing, of course, were Marek and Reinhardt. Instead of enjoying the night like I had wanted to, my mother ordered myself and another to protect the king. As she expected, there was an attack on Amnor from the curtains behind the dais. I knew I would be unable to stop the attack, so I did the only thing I could do and threw myself and my shield in the way of the attack.

Somehow the curtain came down and revealed Kaz. It felt like my heart fell to the floor. I couldn’t believe Kaz was the one who had tried to kill Amnor. The only way to get to him was up the stairs and Ewane joined from out of the crowd. He and I ran up the stairs and arrived in the hallway in time to see Tal jump out a window and Kaz left standing in the hall. I turned, determined to find out why Tal would follow someone other than Kaz, but we were too late. Tal and Kaz were taken before Amnor and once Kas explained what had happened, he was set free.

What Kaz and Tal told everyone was that they had seen a woman. Kaz had followed her and tried to hurt in a way she could not get away, but she was very skilled and she was able to remain free. Tal had gone after her through the window, but she had disappeared. The crossbow bolt that had been shot at Amnor remained in my shield, so I pulled it out and handed it to Kaz, stating that there was no way she could have expected a single bolt to kill a man of Amnor’s stature. He confirmed the bolt was poisoned, but before he could do further investigation into the type, Amnor had Belvar take the bolt and said they would handle it.

The rest of the celebration passed uneventfully and we were eventually told we could do what we wanted. The Queen had not been seen, but Tal did eventually advise us that she had departed to the Northern lands of our kingdom. He also told us that she was actually the person who had been helping us and following us so many months ago, with the stitched boots.

During the time we waited, I made a trip out to Anke’s house and found that it was empty. No one had been there for months at least. However, I did hear that a woman gave a good beating to the son of Stoki Ragnar for some offense committed against her and was last seen traveling South to Falconi. I’m pretty sure it was Anke. She was protected by the Queen and allowed a place within the capital, but with the Queen no longer in her position, Anke’s protection went with her.

We returned home, Tal, Angus, Ewane and myself. The houses are being rebuilt, with a wall around the town and keep. Some things are not quite the same. Mother’s wanting a change in her life and more children. Father’s unhappy with my relationship with Tal and the fact that I travel so much. I have a cousin who obviously did not take the necessary precautions before her marriage and this could cause her great problems if anyone found out. And no one’s seen Kaz or Pots for weeks.

And now Tal wants to return to the Vast. Maybe Father is right. Maybe I should find someone other than Tal.