Client: Galfhem the IronFisted
Task: In the deepest chasms of the Crag of Gallioth, highest point in all Hypeltheon, resides the Dwarf City named thus: Gallioth. The King's halls have been raided by a group of mountain trolls. Much has been pillaged, stolen, and broken. One of the Dwarve's most coveted of treasures, along with much loot and ore, has been taken -- The Markingstone -- this stone has inscribed upon its surfaces the most protected secrets to Dwarfish metalcraft and stoneworks. This, along with many pounds of gold and rubies, and two chests full of raw iron and mithril (to be made into mythril) were taken. Even now nearly 100 Dwarves are scouring the caverns and caves to find the trolls. The first party to reach them recieves one quarter of the gold that was stolen, and a grand chunk of the mithril ore.
Difficulty: 2
Manpower: 3
Reward: 8,000 Gold, Mithril Ore

Ignoring the iron equipment and the heavy steel weapons as he entered the shop, knowing that there were triggers incase anyone attempted to remove anything incorrectly, Vrór Brassmirth stepped up to the counter at the weapon shop, set down a sack containing a large spherical object and other trinkets and began pounding the wooden surface.

From the back of the shop, Vrór heard the elfish owner call out "Be right there." Vrór stopped his pounding and waited as the lone occupant of the store. "Back so soon?" The shop owner inquired, the shear unbelief in Vrór’s skill and the scorn he held for dwarfs showing in his voice as he emerged from his workshop, expecting a customer from the noise, but finding the dwarf standing there instead. The owner picked up a rag and began to rub his hands clean of the varnish and wax he had been using to polish the wooden bows he had been making.

Ignoring the question, Vrór went directly to the point. "These are the items you asked me to retrieve. The other of importance is still alive, and should return to your service soon if my guess is correct. I hope I don't have to remind you of the terms?" he asked, raising his left eyebrow while narrowing his right eye. The fingers of his left hand closed and opened, cracking his wrists with his hand almost resting over the crossbow hanging on a strap at his hip. Though he didn’t mistrust or dislike the elfs in general, the attitude of this particular shopkeeper would have kept him from returning if not for the promise of reward.

"That won't be necessary." The man replied, accepting the box held now in Vrór's right hand and turning to one of the shelves. "Though I would think that one such as yourself wouldn't need me to do your work for you." At this, Vrór gave a grunt and crossed his arms, though he still listened to the shop owner as he spoke. "With you being a dwarf, and being so dependant of that crossbow of yours, I’m surprised that you are still dependant on weapon makers to supply you with your ammo.” Vrór’s grumbling increased, and he thought about planting one of his special bolts into the man’s scull, but dismissed that idea quickly as the man turned and handed the box back to him and a small sack of money. “47 crossbow bolts, to bring you back to your capacity of 60. You really ought to learn the dwarfish craft if you plan on actually making it in life.”

Still a bit grumpy since the dwarfs had kept that secret from him in his military training, Vrór checked to see that the box was packed to his standards. Each bolt was only quarter of the length of a standard arrow, and the box he carried was stacked six by five and two deep into the nearly cubic box with added spacing built into it in the form of racks that made it slightly easier for his rough dwarf fingers to lift the bolts from their places. With this confirmed and not wanting to hear more of this conversation, Vrór turned to leave while slipping the box of bolts into his bag. Seeing the dwarf’s attitude, and wanting to have a little more fun, the elf said “I’ve heard of some trolls you might be able to learn a thing or two from.”

Vrór turned, now driven into a slight fury from the mixture of his already bad attitude and the last comment. With raised voice, his temper showed through as he released steam. “I’ve put up with enough. I may not be the standard dwarf, but I still have my pride in my species, even if my leanings go a different direction than others of my race. A troll is not near the level of complexity my race has. Give a horde of trolls a hundred years, and they couldn’t match the work of a single dwarf from a single day. I ought to…”

His comment is cut short as the stunned elf regained his composure and interjects, starting in a loud voice at first to both match and hinder the dwarfs tirade, then toning the volume down as Vrór gave way to listen. “Calm down. Regular trolls would be as you say, yes. However, I’ve heard of a band that managed to take some of the dwarfish secrets inscribed into the Markingstone along with some of the meterial necessary for making their mithril.” Quickly, he rushed his next sentence, hearing the dwarf prepare for another tirade “Yes, this is true. It’s the story I heard from another dwarf who came in to town to collect some metals for the dwarfish blacksmiths.” Both of Vrór’s eyes narrowed, showing his disbelief of the truth in the tale, and his hand again drew near to his crossbow. “I wasn’t supposed to hear, but one of the dwarfs, a master smith from his credentials, shushed his apprentice when he brought it up. I was getting some iron from the back to sell them, and I don’t think I was supposed to overhear. I do believe that's part of why they were here in the first place buying iron instead of digging it out of the mountains themselves.”

Beginning to calm down slightly, though still in the aftermath of a bad mood, Vrór gruffly asked, “Where might I find these trolls?” Vrór was thinking that he might be able to pry some useful information out of the Markingstone before returning its secrets of the dwarfish smithing to the dwarfs themselves for a handsome reward.

“To the east, I’d say.” The man said, giving a shrug. “The senior dwarf seemed to hint that the search was taking place in the mountains before the two headed home with their metal.” Vrór gave a nod, not fully pleased with the attitude or the information of the weapon maker, though the news had brought to him both a goal and a possible reward to look forward to and gave him the basis for where to start his journey.

East... toward the Crag of Gallioth... toward 'home'. I might have guessed that's where I would be headed on business of the dwarfs. It may not be my preferred choice of destinations, since I broke away from their military to explore the land personally. Still, this situation does give me a chance to learn how to make my own crossbow bolts, and gives me a chance to remove any hard feelings my race might have against me.

It's mid-afternoon, I've already had my lunch before stopping in here. I'm still good for another few miles yet, and that will take me to the shore, where I can catch a boat to the island in the morning. Most of the native population was either inside out of the humid heat of the day or were taking care of other business elsewhere. Vrór paid no attention to their routines, sticking closer to the rhythm nature had, slowly shifting with a consistency that made him and other dwarfs seem fickle in comparison. Leaving the weapon shop, Vrór left the town through the south gates, planning on approaching the docks by way of the forests that were by now more home to him than the mountains. Traveling off the beaten path also gave him somewhat more security from travelers. A dwarf heading toward Gallioth might not be noticed much, but he still wanted as little of his coming to be known as possible. This would be his first journey back to the mountains since he slipped out, and he didn't know how well the dwarfs would react to his presence.

Vrór plodded south for a while, then turned away from the path about a quarter mile away from the city, heading eastward and into the thick of the forest. Traveling this far without incident seemed to be a good thing for Vrór. The open plain wasn’t his area of expertise, and the forest granted him a bit more cover from attacks, though it also did have more places to hide in wait for an ambush. Still, Vrór expected little of this, thinking that bandits would be unlikely to set up an ambush in the middle of the forest. As he entered the forest, he still kept his eyes and ears open for danger of both animals and people.

Traveling in the afternoon meant that several of the daytime predators had already had their meals earlier in the day and were now resting in the shade of the trees, and Vrór’s journey was uneventful as he drew near the port station in the early evening. The sun is low enough in the sky that I know that the last boat has already made its trip… not that I’d want to travel over tonight anyway. I want to be there on a full night’s sleep, and wouldn’t want to be caught over there in the middle of the night. Vrór stopped and pulled himself into a tree. There, he balanced himself on a branch and pulled out some food from his sack. Alone, Vrór sat with his back to the tree’s trunk and ate the last of the venison he had cooked the evening before in the last of the day’s light. Taking one last swig of water from his water sack, Vrór placed a bolt in the trough of his crossbow, and unstrung it to preserve his crossbow’s ability to maintain its shape, allowing it to fire both far and accurate, then settled in for an evening of rest, a light sleep that would allow him to wake at any trace of danger.

Before long, he had drifted off under the arriving wave of stars in the night’s sky. Seemingly moments later, Vrór was awoken and he felt the chill of the evening air as he awoke into full awareness, knowing that something had drawn him from his sleep in the middle of the night. The light of the moon filtered through the trees, shedding pale white light on a scattered area in the otherwise dark forest. Vrór reattached the string of his crossbow, then pulled it back, cocking it for firing the bolt at moment’s notice. Vrór then heard the sound again, a snapping of branches that indicated something large approaching him. Slowly, Vrór turned his head in that direction, listening for the noise of the animal breathing. With the bow ready to fire, Vrór reached back for another bolt, even though he had faith in his ability to shoot accurately. Two eyes appeared in the darkness, glowing yellow in the light of the moon while Vrór’s fingers lifted a bolt from his box.

The creature lunged out, and Vrór saw the gleam of white fangs as the creature passed through a patch of light. Hastily, Vrór fired off his waiting shot, and his one handed attempt went wide, missing his target by a good distance in his startled rush. Quickly, Vrór attempted to load his crossbow, though his nervous fingers added a few seconds to the time he took, leaving him vulnerable while the creature attacked. The creature reached him, and began clawing at Vrór’s vest, his hardness of which, he was thankful. He finally put the bolt in its shaft and pulled back the line to cock it while the creature switched tactics and began moving to attack the head instead. Quickly, Vrór turned his crossbow and fired at point plank range into the predator’s scull. Instantly, the creature went limp, dropping its paw in mid slice before it could reach his face.

Vrór pulled the branches above him away, shining light on the creature to reveal what it was. A quick look at his snout told Vrór that it was a wolf, though the thinness of the creature showed that it hadn’t eaten for several days. There isn’t enough meat on this creature to lose sleep over Vrór thought, and he flung the carcass as far away as his dwarf arms could as a distraction for other would-be predators. The dwarf slid another bolt into the crossbow, and settled in to finish his night of rest.

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Running from the deepest part of the forest, WildWind stopped in mid-run, for he saw a small light glowing from the forest floor. "Should I go check it out?" He said to his-self. A grin over took his face for a brief moment, and started running again but a little faster this time. A short period of time had passed when WildWind entered the area with the light. Walking slowly towards the light, WildWind found himself in a small campsite with the fire hardly burning. WildWind looked around for any sign of who might of made this campsite and his eyes came upon a small figure with a loaded cross bow.

WildWind moved a little closer to the figure to get a better view but was stopped by a rustling sound coming from a nearby bush. WildWind quickly loaded his bow and pulled back, waiting for the thing that might come out from the bush. He waited for the thing to come fourth from its bush but it did no such thing. Pulling back a little more, WildWind released the arrow in to the bush and quickly loaded another as his first arrow few into the bush and made the thing come out.

It was a not one but two wolfs and they both have a look in their eyes, they look like their ready for a new meal. Quickly studying his two animal foes for any sign of weakness, WildWind noticed that the larger of the two had his arrow in its right back paw. The wolfs now circling around the elven ranger, they waited for the right time to attack as drool dropped from their mouths. As the drool hit the floor, WildWind dove under the smallest of the two wolfs and came out behind it as it attacked the air surrounding where he just was. Pulling back a bit more on his arrow, he let go to watch it fly towards the small wolf. Turning his back on the small wolf as the arrow hit, WildWind heard a small yelp emit from the creature but he didn't care, for he was trying to find the large wolf.

WildWind searched for any signs of movement but found only a small trickle of blood running into the forest . Laughing a small bit, WildWind froze for he felt a cold nose hit his neck that was mixed with warm air. In a quick instant, WildWind found himself on the ground with his bow as his only protection. Holding the bow to the wolfs neck, the wolf tried to wrap it's jaws with it's large, pointy fangs around the elf's neck. His grip slightly dropping from the wolfs weight, He noticed that the small figure was gone. Everything seemed slow to the elven ranger as he heard a click from not to far away. WildWind noticed that an arrow was gunning for the wolfs midsection, and in a blink of an eye, everything was back to normal speed as the arrow hit the wolf.

Feeling the release of pressure, WildWind pushed the wolfs dead, unmoving body off and got up to meet his savior. "My names WildWind, and I'm a bowmen from another land." The dwarven archer looked at the elf standing before him for a few moments. "I'm called Vro`r, I too am an archer but skilled with a crossbow and I have many skills unknown to you." "What brings you out here?"
"I'm here to join your quest, for I heard about it on my travels to this forest to find a man that could help me with a problem, and besides that, I'm looking for adventure." Hardly smiling, the dwarven bowmen Invited him to sit down to watch the fire grow low.
"So can I join your quest?" WildWind asked with hope in his voice. "I guess, but you have to do your share for this quest as well as I." With that that, both sat down and compared their bows to one another.

Morning came all to quickly. WildWind and Vro`r finished their morning meal and left no sign that they were there. By midday, the two made it to the outer edge of the forest and quickly reloaded their bows. The two were silent for most of the day, only speaking when they had to. Nightfall had arrived, bringing out the creatures that like to hunt and feast in the cover of darkness. Starting a fire, WildWind took out a small amount of rations and offered half to Vro`r, but he pushed the offer away. both sitting by the warming fire, silently thinking of what to do when they reach Crag of Gallioth, Wildwind put the rest of his rations back in a small bag on the inside of his cloak. Vro`r took out a few, dry, chunks of meat and put one in his mouth. WildWind gazed into his ring, starting to remember his village but he was shortly brought back by Vro`o calling his name. "What is it?" He asked
"Whats with the ring on your hand?" Vro`o asked, gazing at it for a short period of time. "It's a blessed symbol from by homeland that was handed down to me by my family before I was banished from there for life." WildWind said quietly. After more hours passed, both bowmen went to sleep under the blanket of warmth emitting from the fire.

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Light in their eyes from the morning sun, WildWind stood up, wiping the dirt from his clothing. Vro`r was still trying to sleep but got up sooner then he wanted to. Morning dew was on the plant life that surrounded their area . Birds flew over head as the two bowmen continued on their journey to Crag of Galliot. Vro'r glanced back at WildWind and saw that he was talking to something but nothing was there. WildWind ran to catch up with the Dwarven bowmen and within a few quick steps, he was side by side with him.

"Who were you talking to?" Vro`r asked without looking at the elf. "I was just talking to a spirit for any information about what lies ahead." WildWind said with a small smile.
Looking strangely at him, Vro`r said under his breath;"Strange elfs, always talking to things no one can see." They continued walking, waiting for something to happen. "Somethings going to come down from the air above us!" Vro`r said WildWind stopped, listening for something with his elven ears, but what. "Vro`r, get down!" WildWind yelled at the top of his lungs. "Why?" Vro`r asked and then his question was answered.

A griffin came from the ground, landing between the two. The griffon's golden brown skin was gleaming in the sun light, soaking it in. Its almond shape eyes were going from WildWind to Vro`r, watching them intently. Both WildWind and Vro`r stood ready with bows loaded, but the griffin did nothing, it just stood there, breathing heavily. "Please help me, kill me!" The griffin said, and then started to attack. "Vro`r!, I'll keep him busy, an you take the shot." WildWind yelled as he quickly jumped from the griffon's paw. Vro`r took careful aim as the griffin moved about after WildWind.

Vro`r was about to pull the trigger to his crossbow when the griffin rolled to it's back, eyes bleeding from the sockets. Vro`r noticed two arrows in the griffons eyes and saw WildWind ready with another shot. "Take it now!" WildWind said, and Vro`r quickly taking aim again, shot the griffin in the heart cavity and the griffin stopped moving.

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Vro'r watched as the griffins body started to pour blood, he watched as the blood flowed around the dead body, and watched as WildWind knelt down in the blood beside the dead body and started chanting. The blood continued to flow out of the body, flowing to the tune of the soft chanting. Soon, a green substance came out along with the blood. They mixed and flowed side by side as the puddle of blood grew thicker and wider. Finally, WildWind got back up to his feet and continued to walk.

"So when are we going to the Crag of Gallioth?"
WildWind asked. "First we must go east to the mountains to find the mountain trolls who stole the Marking stone, and we must get back the gold, and the mithril ore from them to." Vro'r said with anger but fear, for both did not know what to expect when they reached their goal.
"I think we should stop in the next town tavern and see if we could get another person to help us with this task." WildWind suggested Vro'r considered this for a moment and decided that it would be good to at least have one more person to help.

That night as the moon was rising, they reached a small town that was close to the base of the mountain. They entered the tavern, and sat at a small table in the back corner. As they sat at the table, a tall, dark haired women came up to them. "What can I get ya?" she asked. "I'll take a mug of ale." Vro'r said. "And I'll have the same." WildWind stated

As the women returned with the ale, she looked the two over and said: "What are you two doing way out here?" Vro'r brought her closer to him so she could hear what he was about to say. "Were going to the mountains to fight some mountain trolls for fun but we need an extra person to come with us and who ever comes will be paid." With that, the women left and only came back to fill their mugs. "Why'd you tell her that for?" WildWind asked
"Because, she's the one thats going to bring us the person to help us in our quest." Vro'r said "any ways, I hope."

They waited into morning for a person to come, but no one came. The lady that severed them was watching them intently. They left early in the morning so they can get a good jump on their journey that was ahead. It took them till the next morning sun to come to the base of the mountain. Both Vro'r and WildWind stood still at the base of the mountain, looking at the great, stone doors that was placed in the mountain base before them.

Vro'r slow went up to the doors and looked at the writing. He stood motionless for a few long moments and then stepped back. "It can be true!" Vro'r exclaimed "What can't be true?" WildWind asked Moments passed before Vro'r gave an answer. "My great grandfather passed down a tale about a dwraven warrior going into a door just like this one, and it had the same writing." Vro'r said awe strucked "Then lets go in and see whats in there." WildWind said full of glee.

Vro'r thought it over carefully, and then took the lead, and both tryed to open the great stone doors but both failed. Vro'r would not give up, he continued to push with all his might, while WildWind took a running start and used the force from the run and pushed on the door panel with Vro'r. The door slowly started to open as dust flew from the old doors and around their bodies.

They gave it all they had but finally stopped, for they lost their footing. A small light streamed out the door and both Vro'r and WildWind relized it was open enough for them to get in. "Lead the way." WildWind said to his traveling ally. Strucked by the elfs word's, Vro'r lead the way into the large, almost dark cavern.

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Water was heard dripping slowly in the distance as the sound of blowing wind was sounding all around them. The two allys were side by side, taking each step in a timely but carefully pace. As they advanced further into the cavern, they noticed bone's scattered on the floor, and skeletons chained to the walls. "What kind of place is this?" WildWind said in a soft voice "A kind of place where men of all races come to die!" shouted a voice Both Vro'r and WildWind stopped dead in their tracks when they heard the voice but they went a pale white when they saw a form appear in front of them.

"Who the he.." Vro'r was cut off by the what the figure had. The figure was about five feet, tow inches tall, it's eyes that of no color but it's hair the color of blood. The ghostly figure was dressed in armor with a large hole in the right breast plate but what set it apart was the double bladed ax that was bladed on both sides. "I'm Blood Lock, the only human ever known to die here for an UN-Nobel Cuase." Stepping bravely forward, bow loaded and ready to go, Vro'r stood in front of the human ghost.

"We are travelers, trying to reach the forest trolls on the other side of this cavern. We were told that they live in the mountains beyond the one were in, and we must find them and retrieve the items they stole." Vro'r stood still, watching as the ghost paced back and fourth, thinking of what to do. "I'll let you both pass if one of you will fight me."

Both scared to death of the ghost warrior, WildWind stepped forward, not looking at his friend Vro'r, and said; "Vro'r, I'll take care of this one, after all, you get to have all the fun with the trolls." With that, WildWind shot a shortly charged shot at the ghost warrior, signaling that the fight has begun.

BloodLock rushed at WildWind, sending cold winds following after him. WildWind moved to the right as quick as he could but barely dodging the ax blades coming down beside him. Quickly grabbing an arrow, WildWind dodged once more to the right and jumped back as the blade came down and then came from the side. WildWind pulled the arrow back as hard as he could and released it. The arrow flew towards BloodLock, spinning like a twister all the way to its goal.

As the arrow connected with its target, it fell out the other side. BloodLock laughed a bone chilling laugh and started moving around his prey. WildWind standing still with bow loaded, said to himself: "Now what am I going to do?", and he continued to watch his foe circle around him, waiting for an opening to attack.

Lymira had spent the night beside her small campfire; a drizzle had prevented it from growing large enough to heat the area more than a few feet away from the flares, and she refused to sleep that close. She wouldn't risk the chance of her blankets catching on fire as she slept.

That morning, to her dismay, she'd found that everything in her pack was soaked, including the meager amount of food she had left over from her last stop in a village. Eating soggy bread was definitely unpleasant, after breakfast, she'd thrown the rest away. It would get moldy soon, after all. If she didn't come upon another village before she got really hungry, well, she could always shoot something with her bow.

In the past few months, she'd gotten accustomed to hiking, though the mountains had proved to be a challenge at first. Ordinarily, she'd never have been able to keep going, but thoughts of her dead family and a determination to complete her quest--to kill the demon Lars, no matter what--kept her going. Now she trudged along an old deer path, eyes and ears alert to any signs from the forest. For all she knew, Lars could be hiding in ambush anywhere.

As she got deeper into the mountains, she sensed something...different. It wasn't something she could describe, but it made her skin tingle as if she was in the proximity of an electric storm. But though the sky was overcast, there was certainly no lightning. She was enough of an elf to know what this meant: the place was magical.

Not long after coming to that conclusion, Lymira heard the sounds of battle. Common sense told her to keep away, but curiosity drove her on. Before long, she came upon a great stone door set in the base of a mountain. It was open wide, and from within, she could hear shouting and the clashing of weapons. Unable to stop herself now that she was this close, she took an arrow from her quiver, nocked it to her bow, drew the bow, and then crept closer to the door and peered inside.

She caught her breath. Inside, an elf appeared to be fighting a ghost, while a dwarf looked on. It looked as if the elf was losing. Since he was one of her kinspeople, in a matter of speaking, she aimed her bow at the ghost--as if it would do any good, she thought rather sarcastically--and called out, "Hey, you, elf! Need any help over there?"

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Swiftly moving out of the way from the blade , WildWind answered the call. "Yeah, I can use any help!" Ducking under the new attack from BloodLock, he rolled under and away from the ghostly nightmare. Veran ran further inside the cavern, watching as the battle raged on. She looked for a weak spot of any kind on the ghost, but when all seemed lost, she saw a glimmer of light descending from above.

As she looked up, she saw that there was a small hole and it quickly came to her of what to do. "I have an idea." she yelled "just get him on busy for a moment longer." WildWind didn't know what she was up to but he did as he was told. He kept BloodLock busy while Veran scaled the caver wall, firing one arrow after another into the wall, making steps high enough for her to make her plan work.

As she reached the final arrow step, she heard the sounds of battle grow thin. She took another arrow from her quiver and loaded it into her bow. She pulled back with all her might, then releasing the arrow into it's chosen path. The arrow rose further up with each passing moment, until it hit the hole. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then with in a moments time, the cave cave started to shake.

WildWind took this chance to run for his dwraven ally but the cavern ceiling started to fall. WildWind ran with all his might but was to late, for the fallen ceiling had fell on Vro'r. WildWind stood motionless as the dusted started to clear. He turned back around to face BloodLoack, but to his amazement, BloodLock was no more then a puff of smoke. As the dust finally took it natural place on the ground, Veran
and Vro'r walked from behind the pile of rocks. "Hey, aren't you going to say thanks?" She said and WildWind turned around to see his comrade safe from harm. WildWind walked up to Veran and bowed slightly. "I am WildWind, and the one you saved is Vro'r." Vro'r watched as WildWind stood, looking at the Elven women. "Who might you be?" Vro'r asked with great pride which broke WildWind from his trance. "I am Lymira, a beast tamer that came to the sound of battle."

"What are you doing here anyway?" Lymira asked with curiosity. "Were just traveling to the other side, which leads to the mountains." Vro'r said "He's right but forgot to mention one thing. Were going to the mountains to kill mountain trolls and bring back the items they stole to Gallioth which is not to far from where were headed." WildWind said with glee in his voice.

Vro'r knew what was going to happen next but before he could stop him, WildWind already started to speak. "You can come if you like. We could always use another person." Lymira stood quietly for a few moments, thinking about the offer. She took awhile to answer but she had to think of what to do about her other problem. "OK...., I guess I'll go with but don't do anything stupid." " Thats fair" Vro'r said, then they started off towards the other end of the cavern.

Hours or maybe days went by but there was no way to tell for the three allys haven't seen day or moon light for who knows how long. They kept going, wanting to get out of this place of evil. Hours had passed before they reached their goal. In front of them was a new pair of stone doors. "Well, lets get to work." Veran said as she pushed on the right stone door. WildWind and Vro'r ran to help and together, all three pushed the door open enough to get out.

As they walked out of the cavern, they were met by the suns rays of light and many trees that were scattered all around for miles. "Lets get going. The sooner we find these trolls, the sooner we can collect the reward." Vro'r announced
Then with a burst of speed, Vro'r was off down the forest path with both Veran and WildWind behind them.
The two elves finally caught up with Vro'r at end of the four mile path. (I don't believe I was out ran by a dwarf.) WildWind said to himself, but was suddenly brought back to awareness as a stomach turning stench filled his nose. "Their close." Veran quietly said and all three walked slowly to where the smell was taking them, and loading their bows in the process.

Lymira smelled the trolls before she could see them. They had a musty smell, putting her in mind of a room long unused and locked away from the light. At first, that was all she knew, but as they got closer, her nose told her that there were about six of them, hiding behind the trees. Strangely, they didn't seem to be moving at all. Trolls, waiting in ambush? She was suspicious immediately. She hadn't thought trolls were particularly intelligent. It seemed that there was some non-troll directing them, and the implications of that were frightening to say the least.

"They're right over there," Lymira said to the others in a low voice, indicating the clump of trees they hid behind with an arrow. "About six of them. I think they're waiting for us, strange as that is." The others nodded. She added, "I suggest we go at them from both sides. If you two sneak around them to the right, I'll sneak around to the left, and we can pin them before they know what's going on."

She had to use all her skills to avoid making noise as she crept toward the trolls. These woods were full of dry leaves and twigs just waiting to be snapped. She brushed branches aside as she passed them and carefully moved them back into place, not letting them snap back and alert the trolls of her presence.

But before Lymira reached the trolls, she heard shouting. The others had either reached the enemy already or been spotted as they tried to sneak up. She sprinted the last few yards, drawing her bow and firing as soon as she saw the first troll.

The trolls appeared to have been hiding out in a dried-out creekbed. One was already lying on the ground, twitching, with two arrows in its throat. Her arrow felled another. She spotted WindWind and Vro'r on the other side of the creekbed, and raised her bow in salute. But by this time, the trolls had managed to locate the archers (no one ever said trolls had good eyesight; only good hearing and an excellent sense of smell) and two of them ran at her while the other two charged up the other side of the small valley.

Lymira had no time to be afraid. She'd fired another arrow by the time the trolls were halfway to her, and at the same time she was backing away into the trees, where she would be harder to hit with one of their heavy axes. Her arrow caught a troll in the shoulder. It roared in pain, but kept on coming. Hastily, she drew another arrow, and fired. The trolls were so close now that she couldn't have gone wrong. This one hit the troll full in the chest, and it went down.

But the second troll had reached her. It loomed over her with its giant axe. Still fumbling to get another arrow out of her quiver, she could do nothing but stumble back behind a tree. Dead leaves fountained into the air as the axe hit the ground where she had been, and she shivered a little at the thought of what that stroke would have done to her. But she had no time to be afraid. She had another arrow out and ready now, and she came back around the other side of the tree.

The troll, meanwhile, had tried to follow her back behind the tree, and was no longer standing where it had been. For a moment, the two walked around the tree in circles, with it staying between them. This was a bit ridiculous, Lymira thought. She took several quick steps around the tree and waited for the troll to come to her. It did, and she shot it in the chest. It didn't fall, but stood there looking surprised until she'd fired two more arrows into its heart. Finally, it collapsed.

Now Lymira breathed heavily, knowing what a close call she'd had. But she couldn't stop the triumphant grin that spread across her face; she'd killed three trolls, all of them larger and stronger than herself! Nearly dancing with pleasure, she set out to collect her arrows--she wasn't much of a fletcher and would prefer to reuse any that hadn't broken--and to see how the others had fared.

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Lymira arrived to where WildWind and Vro'r were standing. Both were breathing heavily from the battle, which was scattered around them. WildWind stood to his full height and walked a little closer to Lymira and reaching out a hand, he wiped away some troll blood from her face. Shocked by his action, Lymira stepped up face to face with him and back handed him on the spot. "What do you think your doing? You have no right to touch me!!" She said with a voice full of firery rage.

Speech less, WildWind looked at her respectfully and they continued their journey. "Did you get the items that were stolen Vro'r?" WildWind asked
"Yeah I got the blasted things, lets just hurry and get this over with." Vro'r grumbeled in a low hissing voice. WildWind picked up the dwarf and put him on his shoulders. "Lets pick up the speed." Lymira said, smileing at the terrified look on Vro'rs face. With that, the two elves ran swiftly for days, going through rain, and snow but only stopping breifly to take a drink of water of have a small meal but then they were off once more.

The three arrived at the gates of Gallioth and were let in with watching eyes from the guards. "They don't like elves very much." Vro'r whispered to the two but they didn't seem to care. They were able to enter the chambers of Galfhem the IronFisted with out a problem but it took most of the day before he came to thank them for the retreval of his treasured items. "I would like to thank you for all your hard work but why did you choose elves to come with you?" Galfhem the IronFisted asked with lowered eyes. "Becuase, they were the only two crazy enough to take the job and I'm glad they did. If it wasn't for them, then those trolls would of killed me with in seconds." Both shocked but smileing, Lymira and WildWind stood behind their dwraven friend, waiting for what might happen next.

That night, the two elves were seen to the gates by Vro'r. "Aren't you coming back with us?" WildWind asked. Handing them their rewards, he just smiled and gave a simpel anwer. " I'm not going any where yet. For now, I'm to stay till morning so I can get a clean start but I think it will do some good to be with my own kind for a while." Vro'r then turned and started back toward the dwraven city and he was heard huming an elvish tune. "Well, now what?" Lymira asked "We can go our differnt ways, knowing that someday all three of us might meet again, or you and I can go find another quest to go on." WildWind said with hope in his eyes

"I'm sorry, but for now, we must go our seperate ways and hoping to meet again." With that, the two elfs shook hands and went off their seperate ways, knowing that one day they'll meet again.

(OOC-This quest is finished. Please judge.)

((OOC :blink: Can you say "powerplaying"? But anyway, when do we get our levels-up or whatever?))

Before I give out rewards, I would just like to point something out.

Razor, it's alright to join a quest, but could you please not double or triple or quadrupil post (post more than once in a row)? Unless it's a solo quest, you need to give others a chance to reply. That's the whole idea behind a forum RPG. You need to be a little more patient with quests, some end up taking months. It just seems to me that you smothered Vror out of the quest that was designed for him to start off leveling up (originally - which is why he has 2 posts in a row, it started as a solo).

Please keep that in mind next time, I won't dock you too much for it, this time. And also, quests need to be longer than this if not a solo in order to get decent rewards.

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Vror +1 Lvl, 8000 Gold, Mithril Ore
Razor +1 Lvl, 6000 Gold
Veran + 7250 Gold