Lords of Norwold - The Ring
by Jeff DalyThe explosion rocked the deck. Of all who had been present, only the cloaked knight, a knight banneret, remained standing. He, however, could only stare in horror at the fallen form of the priest.
"Ach! Dumkopf! Imbecile! Yer know vat yer hast done?!?!"
With a great lurch the uhuboote began to fall from the sky. Conscious crewmembers and the invading heroes grabbed a hold of ropes and railing. The knight banneret shouted and desperately tried to cast a spell of healing for the fallen priest. Unfortunately, he lost his footing and fell to the railing.
The crash of the uhuboote was far less severe than expected. Yet it succeeded in crushing several of the crewmembers and leaving the heroes with only 3 conscious knights. The 3 seemed shaken by the ordeal and surrendered.
The heroes ventured into the remains of the vessel in order to search it thoroughly. They had recovered the naga's red pouch and the ring which lay inside it. Entering the captain's quarters, they found little else, besides some bags of gold and papers written in the Heldannic dialect.
Coming back out, they found no longer 3, but 5 knights including the knight banneret and the prior conscious and tending their wounds.
"How did you-?" Eowyn asked.
"Ve are Heldannic knights, svine," the knight banneret responded arrogantly, "Ve recover sviftly."
"Well don't try anything funny." Sliv warned.
The knight shrugged and watched the companions carefully.
Diego scratched his head, "There must be a chapel or something. Aligorum, go back aboard and see if you can find a chapel."
The prior's eyes widened and he stepped a little forward. The knight banneret made a subtle gesture to them and shook his head slightly.
"I sink you zhould warn the kitty," the Heldannic knight said in a calm, too-reasonable voice, "You know vat they say...curiosity and cats..."
Sliv grew quickly bored and began poking around on the deck. Several of the knights kept an eye on him, from their position on the ground. The deck was tilted at a 45 degree angle and therefore it was not difficult at all to watch the lupin.
Aligorum found the chapel readily enough inside the head of the owl. It was as high a chamber as it could be on the small ship. A altar, shaped like a cylindrical pillar, rose in stony waves from the floor. It was broad at the bottom, perhaps 3 feet in diameter, and tapered off to a dish sized surface at the top, on level with Aligorum's chin.
A gem, of alien appearance but of the general coloration of a ruby, sat in mid-air a foot above the altar, slowly spinning and shining with an inner light. A ray of light went from the top of the altar, through the heart of the gem, and up to the ceiling, seemingly transfixing the gem in its place above the altar.
Aligorum let out a wondering sigh at the sight. She approached the gem, and slowly stepped around it. She passed a hand above and below it, to make sure there was nothing physical tying it there.
Outside, "I really sink you zhould see to zhe kitty." The knight's tone was getting slightly more tense as time passed in silence.
One of the lesser knights barked a warning and pointed to Sliv, who was busy coating the deck with oil.
Aligorum drew her clawed hand back, and struck at the gem. Instead of skittering across the floor, as she expected it to, it shot up into the air and through the top of the chapel. It disappeared into the early morning sky. She ran outside to tell the others.
"Halten!" one of the knights shouted.
Diego slapped his own forehead, "Dogs! Keep em chained up I say!"
Then the top ripped off the chapel and a glowing ball shot into the sky. The assembled knights shouted in fury and despair.
"Cats! Keep em chained up I say!" Diego muttered to himself.
The deck roared in flame as Sliv jumped to the ground. The knights attacked, their vessel itself now damaged, and likely ruined completely.
To make a long story short, the knights did well but eventually succumbed to the heroes. Everyone was irritated at Sliv for setting the vessel on fire, and with Aligorum for playing with things that she knew nothing of. They became especially irritated when they realised they were on a flying island with a giant castle nearby. 1000' up is a bad place to discover you have destroyed your only form of transportation.
The giant, a full 18' tall, came out to see what all the commotion was about. He said he was expecting the humans, who traded him a magic ring (not the one gained from the knights, but a lesser one found a long time ago) as well as a bonus of gold and a magic sword gained from the knights. For the giant's part, he gave a runestone that he professed told the location of the Eye of Odin, the powerful magic item that the naga had protected of late.
Using multiple teleports, Diego was able to transport everyone back to the ship, the naga, and Terari.
"Do you have any inkling what this is?" Diego showed the runestone to Terari.
Terari looked the item over with a critical eye. He studied it for some time before saying, "Looks to me like a runestone."
"I'll be in the hold if anyone needs me," Diego said testily.
Silvratha, the naga, looked at it and said, "It is the ancient stone that a hero used to find the Eye of Odin originally. Why the adventurers who stole it from me would take it back to its original resting place, is beyond me."
That's about it for this week. All except the following, which only the DM knows so far...
Uta awoke. Her two companion knight-squires lay dead next to her. One of them, had his head removed in what seemed a most vicious way. These heathen, who had done these deeds, had to be found and punished.
Later, she would discover the fate
of the rest of her crew from the 2 which had survived, both with
broken limbs, and been stranded on the floating island. And from
the prior who had recalled away to Freiburg.