A Tale of the Blackwood Company

[Laconia]

Orc Fest

"Damn those Orcs!" I yelled aloud, as another arrow thunked into my shield. To my left, Pebbles was slinging yet another stone at the large Orc at the top of the hill, forcing the brute to raise his own shield, lest he take a sizzling bullet through his rust covered helm.

"Break to the right Cranky," my companion yelled, as he too took an arrow upon his shield. "I will keep that damnable Orc archer busy while you run."

Looking up the hill to make sure the archer was busy scampering away from Pebbles' bullets, I hastened to the makeshift barricade the Orcs had made to keep out any unwanted guests, which we undoubtedly were. Breathing hard and peering over the rotted timbers, I could see that the archer was down, several holes covering his torso, while the large Orc with the massive axe was running down the hill, murderous intent beetling his brow.

"Look out Pebbles, that bastard means to cut you clean in two," I warned, as I shook out my sling and began the twirl, the all too familiar wrist action settling my nerves. And with a final twist, I let loose, the darting bullet flying straight and true.

With a grunt, the Orc's head snapped back, as my bullet clanged off his thick iron helm. Shaking its head, the Orc peered over at me, rage glinting in its malevolent gaze. Yet, before it could take another step, a bullet from Pebbles struck through its massive thigh, the sound of bones snapping loud in the hushed air and then another stone from my sling was winging towards the behemoth.

Before it could let out a scream from its wounded leg, my bullet flew through the left eye hole, completely bypassing the iron helm. The Orc fell soundlessly, the great axe sending sparks high into the air as it hit the stony ground.

We then looked about the small fort and found only dead or dying Orcs, most of them laying not fifteen feet from our position. "Bastards had it coming I tell you." I said. "I just wish the Sergeant had told us there would be so many of the blasted Orcs! Why, I don't mind some of the missions the Blackwood sends us on, but we are supposed to be scouting and such, not taking out whole platoons of the damn creatures!"

"Well, I guess the Sergeant trusts we can take care of ourselves," my friend said, chuckling. "I don't think she even thinks about it is all, since we have come back time and again from these here woods with a lot of information. Come on, lets check the bodies for anything useful and then get back to the Port."

Nodding I replied, "alright, this killing has made me a bit thirsty and some ale would be most welcome about now. Let's skedaddle and tell our tale, then we can relax before the Sergeant has another damn mission for us."

[Laconia]

Deaders

I had just left the Sergeant’s office within the Blackwood Headquarters, I was disappointed that she was not available. I walked through the metal bars protecting the inner offices and through the door, thoughts swirling through my mind. Leaning against the front of the building, I looked out across the wide bay, watching the merchant ships and wondering to what exotic lands they were sailing.

I shook my head and turned my eyes and thoughts from the bay, once again focusing on the task at hand, the mission that I wanted me and Pebbles to run. “Damn,” I thought, as the words came back from the morning meeting I had with Pebbles.

“I think we should reconnoiter the area around the damn Necropolis," I said. "I have seen reports that the blight may be spreading and I want to know if that is true, and if so, what is causing the blasted expansion. I think the Sergeant will want to know what is what right now, but I can't get in to see her.

Thinking on what to tell Pebbles, my shoulders slumped a bit and a slight shiver ran up my spine. I had always hated deaders, feeling that their foul existence was an abomination, their damnable evil always seeking life, so that it could be extinguished.

“Damnation!” I exclaimed aloud, as I turned to walk down the hill and to the Mariner’s common room, where I knew Pebbles would be lounging, a mug of ale in one hand and dice most likely in the other.

“Pebbles, drop those damn dice and grab yer gear, we are hunting deaders.” I said. “So shake yer tail and move like you was being chased by a greasy rat.”

“What the hell are you talking about Cranky? We don’t have any orders?” He complained.

“We do now boyo, and we need to leave right now. So stop yer drinking and buck up, since we got us a nasty job to do. We gotta check out the Necropolis and see what is what. The Sergeant needs the information right now.”

It had taken us almost the entire day to reach the foul place and of course, the damnable sun was beginning to set – not the best time to enter a graveyard. But, we had our orders and we needed to get the information for the boss as soon as we could. Looking about one more time, we approached the weed choked path that led to the lower graveyard, the hair on the back of our necks rising as a foul stench assailed our nostrils.

“What the hell is that stench Pebbles,” I asked. “It smells like old lady Crabers cooking, it does at that.”
Pebbles laughed aloud at my joke, then stopped abruptly as a low moan reached our ears. Instantly, our slings were in our hands, a bullet held within the leather pockets.

“I am tellin you Pebbles, there is something down that hallway that reeks of filth and some kinda evil intent. We have been through the blasted graveyard and searched all these damnable hallways, but we ain’t found no information about the evil spreading from this here area. Let’s kill the damn thing and move out, my belly is rumbling and I fear our luck is running out!”

As soon as the words were out of my throat, the blasted thing we had felt appeared in the doorway at the far end of the hallway. It was surrounded by buzzing flies and some greenish foul smelling nimbus. To either side was a skelly warrior, both holding a rotted shield and rusted longsword. As soon as the skelly’s moved forward, our slings took action, my bullet breaking straight through the creature’s sword arm, shattering the limb, the sword falling at the fiends feet, entangling its legs. It came crashing to the ground and didn’t twitch again.

Pebble’s stone crashed through the other skelly’s thigh, shattering the thick bone, bringing the thing clattering to the ground. Before it could thrash twice, two more bullets, one from each of us, dimmed its red glowing eyes.
We then turned out attention to the shambling creature, which was in the process of casting some sort of spell.

“Magics, the damnable creature is trying to spell us, watch out Pebbles.” I yelled, as I dived to the side in an attempt to escape the glowing sphere that was winging its way towards us. A bright light enveloped Pebbles, who had been a split second behind my dive, and he instantly froze, a look of astonishment writ across his face. I almost laughed at the ridiculous look, but then hastily backed a few feet, giving me room to pummel the damnable thing before it could close.

“By Brandobaris’ frost laden mug, I am gonna plug you good, blasted shit fer brains beast!” I screamed, as my bullets went whizzing towards the creature. One, then two, and at the last, ten stones crashed into the fiend, driving it ever backward. With one final bullet, the creature dropped to its knees, then slowly collapsed onto its side, never to stir again.

“Come on Pebbles,” I said, as my hand hit against his cheek a second time. “Snap out of it, I hear more of them damn creatures coming down the hallway. Come on, get yer back stiffened and yer britches tight, we gotta move!”
Finally, Pebbles entire body shook and then he turned his head from side to side.

With a final long exhalation, he turned to me, “blasted magics, I do hate them something fierce. We better move before we get spelled again.” And with that, he was moving down the hallway, retracing the steps we had taken but moments before.

We were both sitting in the common room of the Mariner, drinking a bit of ale and thinking back on the Necropolis and all the deaders we had encountered.

“I tell you this Pebbles, the Sergeant was mighty happy we come back with nothing, because now she don’t have to worry about that damnable place. I say we got a fair piece of problems piling up as it is, so one more won’t make our day.”

Pebbles, another full mug of ale in his hand, raised it and toasted our success, then downed almost the entire mug in one long pull.

“Say, Pebbles, ya hear of a new Hin around and about? I think they say his name is Paddy and he carries a sling just like us. I think I am gonna search em out and see what is what. You game?”
Pebbles, his hand out for another mug, just shook his head and then leaned back, a smile of satisfaction on his face.

[Laconia]

Pebbles Meets his Maker

I was sitting in the Menacing Mariner, drinking my sixth mug of ale, trying without any damn success to drawn out my sorrows at the lost of my best boyo. I looked around the room and then said to nobody and everybody.

“You ever lost your best boyo? The grandest warslinger ever to come to this Brandobaris-forsaken city! By damn, he was a fine warrior and the best of buddies and I am going to miss the bugger.”

The patrons around the pub merely slunk deeper within their seats, avoiding all eye contact. “Damn blubbering civilians,” I thought, as I took another long pull from my mug.

“Look here you cute little filly, bring me another pint of yer best and make it snappy,” I said, tipping my now empty mug upside down on the worn and scarred table.

The fine lass brought me another mug and I didn’t hesitate to take a bit of the golden juice. I then looked around the blasted room and began, “well, let me tell you what happened to me and my boyo down in them blasted Duergar caves. It was the most damn awful event to hit me since I landed in this damn city. Now, you just sit back and take a long pull, then hunker down and listen to my tale. I guarantee it will give you a right thrill.”

I took another pull at my mug. “We was here at the pub as usual,” I began. “Imbibing of this golden elixir and thinking on how we could become rich overnight. Now, I know you are going to say that it usually don’t happen to fellas like me and Pebbles, but damnation, it could and we were going to make it rich no matter what. Well, as I was saying, we decided to take a little trip over to the caravan master and see what was what up in them blasted mountains. We had heard tales of Dwarves, caves, and heaps of treasure, so naturally we thought it a damn fine idea to go fetch some of that gold for ourselves.”

I paused and looked around at the slobs sitting about the joint and saw a few were actually listening to my tale. “Well,” I thought. “I got em hooked now. I might as well get going with this here tale.”

“We got to the caravan,” I continued. “And lo and behold, but the Sergeant was there on some errand. Damn, she is a tall one, with that heavy plate and that right big sword on her back, she was a presence. But mind, we didn’t care, cause’ we are warslingers and nothing impresses us more than a good mug of ale and some song! Well, we walked up to the lass and told her our idea. Of course, we approached it all business like, what with gathering information, checking dispositions and such. And to our surprise, she was all for it, in fact, the Sergeant said she would come with us, since it had been a bit of time since she had been down in them blasted caves. We strategized a bit, then bought passage on the caravan and was soon standing inside the cave, swapping stories with the grizzled Dwarves guarding the passages to the caves.”

I took another pull at my mug, and then motioned to the lass for another pint. “We had us a little confab before we entered the tunnels proper,” I resumed. “The Sergeant was the front shield and we were the killers, using our stones to pepper the enemy before they could properly get set and attack. And by gum, it worked right perfectly. We killed everything that poked its brutish head in our sights. Why, we had most of the bastards dead before the Sergeant could even whip that nasty sword at the blokes. I tell you, we moved through that cave system like a knife in hot butter, killing left and right, moving constantly further down into those blasted right dank tunnels!”
I again paused, noticing that most of the patrons were now paying right attention to my story, some of them literally hanging on their damn seats. Not a one was drinking, so I thought to drink for em all and took another pull at my mug.

“Now, what do you think happened when we reached the bottom level?” I asked. “Why, we hit some mighty trouble that is what the hell happened! We was set up right nice in a defensible room and my pal Pebbles was stringing the bastards along, right into our kill zone. Swords were slicing and bullets were whizzing by Brandobaris! We had all the blasted Dwarves lying in their own blood and we were just killing the last stragglers when this weird arse creature comes down the hall, all glowy and such. It almost looked like some kinda walking squid.”

I paused to take another pull at my mug, then licked my lips and jumped back into my tale. “The thing sent some kinda magical light towards us and all of a sudden, the damn barkskin that usually helps me avoid blades and such disappeared. When I looked over at Pebbles, I could see his magics were gone also. Well by damn, that really pissed me off, because those damn pots cost an arm and a leg! So I set to with my sling, peppering the blasted creature with dozens of stones within a minute. By Brandobaris’ frosty mug, most of the bullets just bounced off the damn thing, while the ones that did hit, didn’t leave much of a mark. I was getting a bit nervous and I could see that Pebbles was giving me the ‘what the hell’ look, when the fiend threw another glob of magics that hit the Sergeant square in the face. All of a sudden, some kind of cloaking light surrounded her and she was like stone and couldn’t move or nothing!”

“Damn, but that was weird! Pebbles screamed something I never did catch, and then started pelting the damn creature with even more bullets. I did the same, but finally we had to retreat into the next room and then run, cause’ that damn beast almost had us dead and being dead wasn’t going to help the Sergeant none. We used some magical portal we had found before the battle and hightailed it out of those caves. We went straight away to the Blackwood HQ, but we couldn’t find hide or hair of any help. It was the damndest thing; everyone seemed to be out and about. So, gathering a few more pots and some food for the trip, we went back to the caravan and was soon back in those damn, dank tunnels.”

“I ain’t gonna tell you about all the blasted Dwarves and such we had to kill to reach our boss, but it was a lot. When we finally did reach the Sergeant, the damn creature was still there and began to throw more magics at us. This time, we were ready and used a tactic we had perfected a long time ago – shoot and move. We ran so fast that the blasted fiend couldn’t rightly target us. We then pelted him with more stones than I would use on a whole platoon of Orcs and at the last, the damn thing fell, dead and bleeding from a dozen wounds. As soon as the creature fell, the nimbus around the boss completely disappeared and she was able to talk and move, although she was a might weak yet. We was just going to check on the loot when a cheeky bugger jumped up from where he was faking death and stabbed old Pebbles in the throat. The damn blood leaked out so quickly, there was nary a thing I could do before he was bled out! The Sergeant, using her great cleaver, cut the damn thing in two, sending it hopefully to some foul, stinking place!”

I sighed, took one last gulp of my ale, and then said, “Well, that is my tale, believe it or not. You can talk to the Sergeant and she can tell you the same, I reckon. Damn, but I do miss Pebbles.”

I then got up and ambled up to my room, to think about my boyo and get some rest.