Location Summary: Origin Point
As the flickering rift seals shut behind you, locking away forever the destruction of the old world, you take stock of the new one. Fresh air fills your lungs, thick with the scents of early summer, and you can feel soft, yielding grass beneath your feet. In the distance you hear the cries of unfamliar, yet not entirely alien creatures from the vast swathes of forest beneath this hilltop. You can see quite a lot of the forest from here, stretching out as far as you can see both north and south, with the distant blue haze of the sea many leagues to the east and a ridge of purple mountains to the west. A wide, winding river snakes through the forest, linking the two. Here and there similar hills and ridges poke through the swathes of woodland; some forested, some bare like this one.
You become aware of other figures on the hill, two initially and then you catch sight of one behind you.
Sym
You do not recognise these lands, this place. There are none of the hallmarks of civilisation and something about the position of the sun does not seem quite right. You reflexively put a hand to the hilt of your rapier; a pair of elves stand on this hill with you, one dressed for travel like yourself and with a belt full of small pouches, the other wrapped in mud-specked leather armour and gripping a wooden spear. Hearing the rustle of grass, you turn to see a dwarf, armour spattered with and beard flecked with blood and mud, wielding a dangerously heavy axe.
Auchfor
The spell that brought you here, whatever it was, was far beyond anything you had experienced even in the heights of the magic wars. The shock of travel leaves you numb and confused. What are these strange plants, where are all the people? You try and wrap your mind around a place without even a single stone slab or edifice, so utterly different from the citadel you grew up in, and only barely succeed. You fight through the shock and become aware of others on this strange hilltop with you; a human, an elf and a dwarf, all wrapped in armour and all gripping their weapons tightly. You become uncomfortably aware of your own vulnerability.
Aandion
You could not save the forests of Carcosa, not in the untold centuries your kin tried to protect it from the ravages of civilisation, not in the blood wars that wrecked the grace of the old world in its last violent years and not from the final spell that scoured stone from fire and burned away those aged groves to the last.
Here, though... You can feel the majesty of nature in full, unrivalled bloom, greater than anything you ever experienced in the tamed and plundered lands of the old world. Here you can feel things as they were meant to be.
Though still, not all feels right. Or at least the nature here feels different. Different enough that the very character of the land is distinct from the forests of Carcosa. Perhaps it is just the intensity of unbridled nature, perhaps it is just your inexperience.
More pressing matters divert your attention. You become aware of others in this place; two humans, one of them armed and armoured, and a dwarf in battle gear and clutching an axe. Your knuckles tighten unconsciously around the haft of the sharpened stake of ironwood that serves as your spear.
Kadol
You pick yourself out of the mud with a grunt, wiping as much of the blood as you can from your beard. Flashes of the final battle cascade through your mind; holding off the Yellow King's legions with your fellow soldiers as dwarves fled through the mysterious gates. You can still feel your axe splitting open human skulls and elven ribcages, hefting it free from the final soldier before diving through the gate yourself.
You look around at the untamed wilderness with a soldier's eye, picking out the military crest of the hill you stand upon, wondering what trees will provide the best wood for fortification against the Yellow King's legions when they make their move again, studying shadows for hiding spots and potential ambushes.
A dim awareness creeps upon you that there are no other dwarves here. Wherever the gates sent your people, it was not to this hill. A soft keening sound fills the air and you grip your axe tightly, raising it to defend against the human attackers. Three rifts shear through the air, ejecting a trio of dazed humans, or elves, or both. They stumble, gathering their wits about them, but you see the weapons two of them carry and steel yourself.
If they plan to continue the old fight, so do you.
Author
Topic: D&D3.5 - Empty Bellies (Read 14216 times)