Rise of The Runelords Chapter 16: Mad Lovers, and Lost Captains

Turtleback Ferry was on the verge of being overrun by hidden forces of wicked intent... but with the ogres slain, the Black Arrows rescued, and the dam preserved, it seems that Sandpoint's Companions have once more saved the day... but when a rider in black comes to town with a dire message, it seems there is something else on the horizon. A task only they are truly qualified to handle.

For those who want to get up to speed, check out:

- Chapter 1: Blood and Butterflies
- Chapter 2: Murder and Glass
- Chapter 3: The Sin Pit
- Chapter 4: Tussles in The Tangle
- Chapter 5: The Assault on Thistletop
- Chapter 6: Secrets Behind The Curtain
- Chapter 7: Murders At The Mill
- Chapter 8: Halflings and Ghouls
- Chapter 9: Fox in The Hen House
- Chapter 10: Something Rotten in Magnimar
- Chapter 11: The Crumbling Tower
- Chapter 12: Demonbane
- Chapter 13: Trouble at Turtleback Ferry
- Chapter 14: The Taking of Fort Rannick
- Chapter 15: Water Over The Dam
- Chapter 16: Mad Lovers, And Lost Captains
- Chapter 17: The March of The Giants
- Chapter 18: The Taking of Jorgenfist
- Chapter 19: The Secrets Beneath Sandpoint
- Chapter 20: At The Gates of The Runeforge
- Chapter 21: Storming The Halls of Evocation
- Chapter 22: The Bowels of Necromancy's Tomb

- Chapter 23: The End of Runeforge

- Chapter 24: Preparation For The Final Journey 

- Chapter 25: The Hunger in The Mountains 

- Chapter 26: The Gateway to Xin-Shalast

- Chapter 27: The Path of Temptation

- Chapter 28: The Three-Fold Challenge of Xin-Shalast

- Chapter 29: Crossing The Barrier of Greed

- Chapter 30: The Fall of Karzoug

Just as the heroes were preparing to leave, they're told that something is going wrong in the forests beyond the Black Arrows' fortress. Something... disturbing.

Lost Loves, and Stolen Bodies

Tired from their many battles and adventures, the Companions weren't willing to leave any potential loose ends in the town of Turtleback Ferry. So they rode to the edge of the forest, guided by one of the elite Black Arrows. The trees there were old and heavy with years, and they seemed to hang under a great weight. Silence filled the air, and no birds nor beasts stirred within. It was as if the entire wood were holding its breath, and waiting for something.

Well, nothing good could possibly come from this.

The horses balked at the edge of the wood, and would go no further. Taking that as a sign of danger, the Companions dismounted, and headed deeper into the expanse of trees. The light grew dimmer, and the air colder. Mist curled around them, taking on the shapes of faces frozen in mid scream. The spirits of animals fled the heart of the wood, running past the Companions as if they were running from a great fire. All of it in complete and utter silence.

After several hours of walking, the first living creature they'd seen in hours peers out from behind a tree. A small, terrified fey, it informed them that her mistress was ahead. She was in great pain, and mourning, but if the Black Arrows sent the Companions then perhaps they could help. Confused, and more reluctant than before, the Companions approached a clearing with a clear, half-frozen pool of water in the midst. Zordlan and Mirelinda took up positions behind heavy trees, while Zhakar and Thok approached the pool.

That was when the Lady of the forest burst forth from the water, shrieking like a mad woman, glowing brighter than the sun. Thok was struck blind, falling to a knee. Zhakar stood firm, raising his voice to be heard over her screams of grief. He was there to help her, if she would but tell him how.

Though it took some convincing, the Lady lowered her blinding light, and told the Companions through her tears that her lover had been slain, and his body stolen. She had tried and tried to bring him back to her, to reincarnate him, but she couldn't. Which meant somewhere to the north, atop the frozen mountain, he had been remade into a hideous thing... an undead husk, bound with putrid energies. The only way for her to find peace would be for the Companions to return him to her. They swore they would, and when she returned beneath the waters of her pool, left her realm.

The Giants of the Mountain

As they journey northward, into the frozen peaks of the mountains, the Companions remembered they'd uncovered a strange trove of letters in the Black Arrow commander's bedroom. They had seemed intensely personal and out of place at the time, but on reflection, it was likely that his frequent jaunts into the forest to rendezvous with his Lady love were one reason the ogres took the fortress by surprise.

And for our trouble, we now have to climb this sonofabitch.

The climb into the mountains was rigorous, but with clever mountaineer's tricks from Thok, and some unique pathfinding by Zordlan, the Companions made good time. They found sign of giants, as well, so when they finally found the cavern entrance at the top of the mountain, they were not surprised to find it guarded by a pair of ogres.

The ogres, though, barely had time to be surprised before a volley of arrows and carefully slung spells left them staining the snow.

The true challenge lay inside the mountain, though. The ogres had been the lowest rungs on the chain of brute force, and it was why they'd been left outside. Inside, the caverns were filled with stone giants. While there weren't many of them, perhaps seven or eight all told, that was more than enough to prove a challenge; even with Thok's lifetime of experience training to hunt giants among the northern kellids, Zordlan's knowledge of the world's monstrous races, and Mirelinda's ever-growing sorcerous abilities.

It was when the Companions stumbled across a coven of colossal hags, all gathered round their cauldron, that they sheathed their weapons, and spoke. Thok stepped forward, and asked the Mothers where the man we sought was. It had been a long time since they'd been offered northern courtesies, and in their own tongue, which they found deeply amusing. They had also grown tired of the stone giant who'd crowned himself king, and they told the Companions the creature they sought lay beyond the throne room. There was danger enough there, though, as a recent acquaintance of theirs awaited them.

Lamias and Giant Kings

After giving their guidance, the three huge hags vanished in a cloud of smoke. Oddly comforted, knowing that at least something around here was normal, Thok led the others to the throne room. What the Companions found waiting for them were a pair of stone giant guards, and their king seated upon a granite throne. Standing at his side was the lamia matriarch they had driven out of Fort Rannick mere days ago.

Second verse, same as the first.

The giant who had dubbed himself king was halfway through a prepared taunt when the lamia, threw up her hands to protect her face. With a dispassion rarely seen from him, Zhakar advanced, raising his hand. He blasted another brilliant ray, catching one of the royal guards, the matriarch, and the self-proclaimed ruler in the brilliant ray. While the matriarch managed to preserve her regained sight, the stone giants were not so lucky. One swung his club madly, smashing it into the walls, the stairs, and the ceiling, while the king screamed, hurling spells blindly about the room.

With the momentum thus gained, the battle was nearly won. The sighted giant fell to Bostwick's iron fists, and the blinded one was put out of its misery thanks to Thok's precision archery. The lamia attempted to stand, but with Mirelinda's spells seeking her out, and Zhakar advancing on her, she vanished once more into the ether, abandoning her erstwhile allies to their fate. Hearing that he was alone, the king held up his hands, and offered the Companions anything if they would only let him live.

They stripped him of his spellbook and his bonded item, as well as his headband and his enchanted bracers. Bound and under guard, they demanded to know what was happening. He told them stone giants were marching south from the stronghold of Jorgenfist, and that they would sweep their enemies before them. The giants had marshaled their kin, and were merely waiting for forward positions, like his, to be established. Once he'd talked himself out, they asked what had happened to the commander of the Black Arrows.

The giant king went, if possible, more pale than he already was. That thing lurked deeper in the frozen caverns, and it had slain half a dozen of his warriors. The man had been a danger in life... as a frozen wight, he was a plague upon the mountain.

The Dance of Ice and Fire

Though leery of their prisoner, the Companions paused in the throne room to rest. The wind howled through the crags, and the chill of the place wrapped around them. They built up fires, and watched the rear entrances of the room nearly as carefully as they watched the broken king. Once they had caught their breath, and readied their weapons, they set out to do what they'd come there for.

This is gonna hurt.

As the Companions entered the caverns, a chill far deeper than the rest of the mountain washed over them. An unnatural chill of the grave, and of things that defied it. A shudder passed through most, but flares of heat started to flash from beneath Zhakar's gauntlet. The skin around his right eye chafed, and when he rubbed it, flaked away. The steel beneath was still strong, but darker; blackened, as if by fire. Before Thok could ask his friend if he was all right, a hunched figure in tattered, black garb reared up and howled at them. Its hands were black from congealed blood, and its eyes glowed blue in the darkness. It still wore the signet chain of the Black Arrows' commander, but there was nothing else left of the man he'd once been.

Chaos erupted as each of the Companions snatched at scabbards, or reached for spell components. Zhakar merely held out his right hand, and gestured toward the creature. A pillar of black fire erupted around it, bursting from a rent in the air. It roared with a sound beyond the normal whoosh of evocation, and somewhere in its depths were the screams of the realm of the damned. The creature added to the cacophony, the flames eating away at the chill that sustained its life.

As the hellfire faded, the creature charged at Zhakar, swinging the sword it had wielded in life. Zhakar caught the blade on the spikes of his gauntlet, his right eye glowing with that inner, furnace light as his skin began to bubble and peel away. Thok sank his spear into the monster, attempting to push it away from his friend. Zordlon began to circle around, drawing his rapier as he sought an advantageous position. Bostwick caught it in the side, his fist cracking ribs the creature no longer felt. Mirelinda drew breath, preparing a spell to slow and bind the creature.

Then Zhakar took a single step back, pivoted, and loosed another beam of pure, white radiance. The beam caught the creature full-force, and it shrieked as the dark life inside it was ripped away. The hate in its eyes winked out, and it fell. First to its knees, then over on its side, smoke rising from its open mouth and empty sockets. Thok poked it with his spear, rolling it over. The body was just a body once more. Thok turned to Zhakar, asking in the harsh, Hallit language of his homeland if his friend was all right. Zhakar shook his head, the flesh already beginning to knit back up on his face, covering up what lurked beneath. The smoke faded as the afterimage of power left his hands.

"Let's get this back to the Lady of the Wood," he said, tightening his gauntlet another notch. "The sooner her lover comes home, the happier she'll be."

Lost and Found

The journey back was quiet. Almost somber. Though the woods were no livelier this time, they seemed hopeful, rather than bleak. And as some of the few remaining creatures saw what the Companions brought with them, word went ahead. This time when they reached the pool the Lady was waiting for them. Nervous, she was still a creature of terrible beauty.

Thok and Zhakar laid the body out before her, clutching the sword and wrapped in a clean cloak. She knelt, brushing the corpse's waxy forehead. She didn't speak, but leaned down to kiss her lover. When their lips met, a light flashed. The body was gone, as was the Lady. In their place, a strange, unreal-looking faun stood. Unsteady on its feet, it loped into the forest.

The mourning pall was gone... but so was the madness that had nearly consumed this place, and its guardian.

There was more to do, though. If what the self-proclaimed king had said was true, the giants were coming. And Sandpoint stood squarely in their path.

What is around the next corner? Find out on the next installment of Table Talk!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, as well as the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio where I help out from time to time. Or, to check out books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter, as well as on Pinterest where I'm building all sorts of boards dedicated to my books, RPG supplements, and greatest hits. Lastly, to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little donation can have a big impact.