* Heathenous creatures calling themselves 'Angels' float around in a temple in Ilshenar. Go there and swat them down like the pagan beasts they are!
Attended by:Neko, Guardsman Recruit
Hoagie, Junior Dragoon
Scorn Bloodtide, Guardsman Recruit
Nicholi, Officer Cadet
Vince Valentine, Senior Grenadier
Eton, Barmanager (Guy held his own!)
Perun, Junior Scout
Owen, Watchman
In my service to Cove, I've found that I don't much enjoy traveling to Ilshenar. The realm has an otherworldly presence in it's air. It is a tamed animal that would turn on you without provocation.
I was glad with the showing of Covians who had enough guts to travel to the unknown and face our wicked enemies. The Green Goblin rang with laughter and the clink of mugs. It was almost assured that some of the faces I saw would not be traveling home with us. I regretted sobering the high spirits of those in attendence, but we had been charged with a mission. A number of Covians, the ones who did not readily buckle under fear, followed me out onto the tavern steps.
I explained our goal, warned of the degree of danger, and explained how grateful I was to have such a stalwart bunch of Covians in attendence.
From the steps of our cosy respite, we were teleported to the moongate and, in turn, to the shrine of sacrifice. It's icon paved the way for our intentions. It's ruins seemed all but forgotten, but that day we would bring renewed meaning to that virtue.
We passed through an enchanted forest. The leaves tingled with mytical sentiment and the many eyes of the trees' inhabitants lay heavily on our footsteps. Our passage through those woods was brief; we had no desire to dally.
A brief pause at a dilapidated roadside inn. We collected our breath and gathered our bearings.
In the distance, a mountain range whose snowy caps clawed at the skin of the sky. We crossed through another forest, an evil twin of the previous. It's trees were hungry for our bones; sorcerous energies weaved through their branches and fell on us like loose leaves. The spiderwebs, at first only a nuisance, grew ever more obtrusive until they covered the undergrowth as thickly as moss covered the dirt.
We crept into a slim fissure at the base of the titanic mountain range. The interior of the cavern was crawling with spiders and spider-kin. They emerged from the slimmest of crevices, descending the walls and approaching us with cautious strikes. We marched steadily, having the presence of mind to not let their numbers overwhelm us.
The cave emptied into a secluded valley occupied by ancient stone monoliths. As our group approached the center of this masonry constellation, I was struck with a wrenching motion and the sound of waves became unmistakable.
I blinked my eyes and saw that we stood on the shores of an isle of weird. A marble complex crowned the low, bare hills. In the sky, high above the temple's ivory terraces, glided figures that resembled man, but were carried by great wings on the breeze.
We approached carefully, halting at the arched entrance to a foyer. Owen and I proceded into the open-air lobby, to the edge of an expansive antechamber, at which moment I pointed to one of the beasts. Owen took aim, holding the pose for what seemed an eternity as he channeled his skill into the strike, and let loose a single volley. The creature took notice of us.
It spiraled down through the sky, homing in on our fleeing position. It dived low, screeching across the foyer, ducking beneath the archway and right into the array of waiting Covian soldiers. We set upon it, not relenting until it's battered and broken corpse lay still at our feet. We continued with this tactic, tricking many of the foolish beings into chasing us.
We had succeded in thinning the numbers of these heretical pariahs, but had we yet brought true honor to Cove? Were we to return to the barony as a mere rabble, having ambushed and outnumbered these unnatural beings? Or did we have it in us to behave like men, and aspire to a worthy undertaking.
Among the individuals of this disgusting avian sect, a grand champion called out it's presence, challenging us to approach it. We did so, climbing to the upper reaches of the unhallowed temple. I was reminded of the golden nightmare I witnessed some weeks ago. It was radiant, glistening in the sun and descending toward our hungry weapons. It was glorious, and, in killing it, that glory would belong to us. The struggle was horrific. If you ask a member of the group to describe the scene, I am confident that they will politely decline. None of us can be expected to cherish the degree of brutality held in those moments. Each time we struck, our weapons removed flesh from it's body and blood was sprayed across the pristine marble floor. None of us were spared. It's might knew no restriction in shattering our physical forms, in opening new wounds on our bodies. The death of the creature could hardly be termed a victory, just the outcome of a struggle which both sides knew to be necessary. The incarnation of it's kind, the perfection of their race, had been slain by Covian soldiers.
There was no longer a reason for our group to be present on that island. We walked from the temple, weapons and armor alike dripping in red glory.
An enemy has been destroyed and Cove is richer.
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