Ludi Blog

60. Tser Falls

The next morning, Marsha and Isaiah went to see Tamborski, the owner of a small and fairly decrepit livery stable in the village. Marsha, since making the mans acquaintance yesterday during the clean up operations, was able to negotiate the loan of horses.

The agreed sum was a deposit of 50 gold, 45 gold to be returned upon the safe return of the animals. Unfortunately, this was not to be case...

The group, including Paffluous and Irena, rode over the bridge once more, but followed the left fork at the gibbet this time, winding up the forest path towards the falls. The road provided a breathtaking view of the wooded valley below, the broad river and the castle, perched on the gigantic granite cliff, a thousand feet above the water that dominates the landscape.

By late afternoon the party could see the falls. However, the road bent away from them, leading by necessity a long winding route around another nearby hilltop. It would be unlikely to reach the falls by nightfall unless the group increased to the gallop - which some unskilled riders couldn't manage.

Instead, the party decided to venture down to the river bank. On the trip down the steep bank, Irena's horse found a rabbit hole and broke its leg. Unable to calm the poor animal to mend its leg, it was quickly put down, Irena riding behind Hugh for the rest of the journey.

At nightfall, the party still hadn't reached the falls, and so pitched camp on the thin strip of grassland between the mighty pine forest and the banks of the swift flowing river. The moon rose full and yellow, silhouetting the great brooding castle that looked down over the valley.

Suddenly, from the trees came a flurry of movement, screeching and flapping, a great swarm of vampire bats swept from the forest straight towards the camp.

Paffluous swept up his wand and cast a spell as the bats roared in. Thick, sticky strands of webbing appeared in the air, linked between the trees, creating a gigantic net. Most of the swarm struck it full on and were held fast. The remainder flew into the camp and surrounded Marsha, biting, latching on and draining blood...

Jacob held up his holy symbol and spoke a word of Chauntea's great power. A clap of thunder sounded in the air, deafening, rocking Marsha on her feet - and killing all the bats that surrounded her in one sudden stroke.

In the morning, the party packed up camp and followed the river further north, where they soon came upon the Tser Falls themselves. A distinct path was visible, leading up to the falls - a path that disappeared behind the roaring wall of water, hinting perhaps at something behind the waterfall. The party dismounted and advanced carefully.

However, the path ahead was blocked by huge, dark grey wolves. They just stood there, looking at the group as they advanced, not aggressive just looking. Until Bovrain raised his crossbow to shoot...and they charged.

A brief battle followed, in which Hugh was tripped and mauled, and Bovrain was charged by a gigantic dire wolf and badly savaged. Again, the wizard Paffluous proved his worth, magically slowing the wolves and "hasting" Bovrain, empowering him to move and attack much more quickly. The battle ended when the wolves pricked up their ears as one and disengaged from the fight, running back up the path to disappear in the spray from the falls. Attacks of opportunity finished some of them as they ran, and only two fled the field alive.