Odd happenings

[Phelan]

Cerandon stared intently towards the gate as smoke continued to spread across the square he was standing in.

The rush of wind filled his ears again. CRASH! The ground heaved below his feet again and debris from near by buildings rained down buring like small stars. Still he stayed his place unconcerned about the havoc going on about him.

The city was lost for sure, but he had to wait. Surely Feinen would be along any moment. Orcs began to crowd their way through the gates. Cerandon closed his eyes briefly and began mumbling.

His body was filled with tingling pleasure as the heat around him sucked into him and was sent out of his hand at the Orcs. The ball of fire roared and the heat peaked as it streaked at them. Moments later all that was left was charred chunks of green and blue flesh, that smelled of spoiled meat.

Through the fog emerged the halfling Feinen. Dressed in oddly bright colors and giggling as usual he ran toward Cerandon.

"It is done. We can make for the boats." His small voice squeaked.

"Good my friend. You are cutting it close aren't you? That was the third pack I had to repell waiting for you. What took you so long?"

"Oh well you see, there was a .... well never mind, the important thing is that I took care of thier siege engines and there won't be anymore bombadment. Now we just have to beat them to the docks and cast off."

Cerandon had heard it all before. There was always some excuse, he didn't know why he stuck by the small halfling. Perhaps it was his knack for finding rare items or the fact that there was never a dull moment with him around. Cerandon couldn't figure it out. He was pulled from his thoughts by a familar sound. The sound of burning air rushing by. CRASH The ground heaved again and debris flew again catching new buildings on fire. They put their heads down and ran harder.

"You were saying?" Cerandon panted at Feinen giving him an evil stare along with it.

"Ah, well, yes, what I meant was after their next volley, that is." Feinen said and then giggled.

The rounded a corner and the path was blocked by a building that had fallen and was now burning on the paved lane. They turned to go back, but the Orcs were now in fast pursuit behind them. Feinen looked to his left and right and then snagged Cerandon by the belt.

Cerandon saw where he was headed. There was a building that might be able to bypass the street, but it was starting to catch fire they had to hurry. Fienen ran in the front door with Cerandon hot on his heals they took a left and ran down the hallway. There was a window at the end of it.

Cerandon closed his eyes and again his body was filled with the tingling feeling as the heat was drawn to him and then sent out his hand. This time it was aimed at the window. It hit with tremendous force, blowing out the window and melting the metal casing around it. Feinen dove out the window followed by Cerandon. The building creaked and groaned and threatend to fall, but didn't.

The could see the masts to the last ship docked here in Adorzan. The lucky tramp held port for them while they tried to ensure the saftey of the refugees making for the docks. The captain had kept true to his word, which Cerandon was more than thankfull for. Minutes later they were on the deck huffing and puffing trying to catch their breath as the ship cast off.

[Phelan]

Cerandon stood, when he had caught his breath. Brushing off the black leather that he was clad in and inspected his longsword for damage. He gazed out over the railing at the docks, which were overrun with Orcs throwing spears at the boat. He changed the focus of his gaze to the captain, who was calmly giving orders to the crew.

Cerandon made for the Captain.

"Thank you for waiting. Did everyone make it?"

"Aye I reckon that most made it. 'cept for those who found em'selves below one O those flaming balls of hell. Ye shouldn't worry about old Captian Marcias keepin 'is word. I saids I be here so I was. The lucky tramp 'as a good name in every port she docks in, can't be ruinin her now, now can I?"

"I suppose not Captain Marcias. Thank you again, hopefully lives were saved, Feinen has our payment for passage."

"O no yous don't! You'll be keepin that money. This voyage is free for everyman, woman and child that survived." Captain marcias cried.

Refugees on deck cheered a subdued cheer. Many of them had lost everything, those who were lucky enough to just be visiting still had a home to go home too and money to feed their family. Cerandon looked upon them and felt deep sorrow for them. There were only a few adventures aboard, all of whom had turned and saved themselves. Cerandon held no animosity towards them, just pity that they are that concerned with death. The greater good was always more important than self.

"Cerandon? are you going to stand here all day or are we going to go down to the galley and find some food?" Said a small voice from behind him.

A smile crossed Cerandon's face.

"Yes Feinen, let us go and find some sustinence." he said.

---

Meanwhile back in the city of Adorzan...

The Orcs cheered loudly as a diminuative figure aproached the gates wrapped in a traveling cloak, with the hood up. The figure slowly made its way toward the top of the outer wall. From there it surveyed the battle field. Next to the figure stood a huge half-orc.

"You see, we took the city with in a day? You see? We are great warriors." Said the half-orc.

"Yes I don't doubt your bravery sir." came a gravely voice from within the dark hood. "However, you lost too many warriors. The plan was foiled by only a handfull of people. We still have much work to do, this is but a small victory. It is far from achieving our goals, surely you see that Groth?" came the voice again.

Groth the half-orc thought for a moment and scratched his head. "Yes, Yes, training. We need to be more good. We need to be more smart."

"Yes exactly Groth. This was a good start, but there is little time for rest." came the voice again. At that the figure turned and walked back down the stairs.

[Phelan]

The 3 day journey to Boris was uneventfull. The Captain graciously provided refugees with food and as many cabins as there were. Cerandon and Feinen, much to Feinen's dismay, opted to sleep on the deck allowing families to have a cabin. Cerandon looked into the water and examined the face that stared back at him.

His large ears was the first thing he noticed, those ears had caused him much greif growing up. Being the only elf in the small secluded village of Aumoon had been difficult. His face was slightly more angular than other kids and his eyes more almond shape with a pink tint. His hair was a mess, a blond tangled mess, but still as bright as the moon. He had ended up tall even by human standards and was fairly muscular for an elf. Though now he looked slightly malnurioused.

Somehow no matter how long they had been on the road, Feinen never seemed to lose his rotundness. He never seemed to go hungry, Cerandon made a mental note to find out why that was. The gulls screached over head has the boat bumped into the dock. The smell of fish clung to the port. It was no suprise really Boris had one of the richest fishing industries in all of Akarias.

Feinen disappeared off the ship the moment the gang plank had fell. Cerandon on the other hand lingered behind. He gave small amounts of gold to a few women who had been widowed in the attack. He knew that it was very little, but it had to be better than nothing.

Cerandon disembarked with one last wave to the Captain, who cheerily returned the wave. Cerandon pulled up his hood and made for the Governors Office. He was sure the news had traveled here ahead of him, but Cerandon needed to know for his own peace of mind that someone knew of this attack.

Feinen wound his way through the dark alleyways of Boris. Here fishing wasn't the only booming trade. The black market ran rammpant here in Boris as did the mercanary buisness. This was Feinen's stomping grounds. He walked into the rough looking pub that was called the 'witches wart' and grabbed a table. Within moments a wench was there taking his order.

[Phelan]

The elf Cerandon, walked into the Govenors office. Inside a wall of sound hit him, it was total chaos inside as many green elves sprinted by. Green elves were a cousin race to the elves of which Cerandon belonged, they were short like a halfling and green and otherwise very much like every other elf. Their quickness and sized usually found them jobs as couriers.

One ran smack into Cerandon, dropping all of the parchements that were in his hands.

"Watch it Mr. Tall, you are in the way!" The small elf shouted at Cerandon before gathering up his papers and taking off again.

Cerandon moved forward to a desk that had a human sitting at it. She seemed quite bored sitting there sorting papers on her desk.

"Um hi, sorry to bug you, but I have pressing news that the Govenor must hear." Cerandon said pleasantly.

The woman looked up at him over her glasses.

"Yeah right. You see all these?" She said motioning toward all the couriers rushing about with papers in their hands. "Yeah all of these are for the Govenor too, either out going or incoming. All are considered urgent and pressing. Please write down what it is you have to say and I will make sure that it gets into the Govenor." She passed him a quill and parchement as she finished the last sentence.

Phelan quickly wrote down what had occured in Adorzan and his concerns at how well the attack had been coordinated for the Orcs that had attacked. He handed her back the parchement and quill, the parchement being covered with his ellegant and ellaborate handwritting. She took it from him and plopped it uncerimoniosly into one the many boxes on her desk.

"Thank you." Cerandon said sarcastically and turned and left.

---

Across Town...

"Surely you must see the value of this information? It is worth far more than a few silver pennies... I would say it's worth gold crown at least." Squeaked Feinen to a few shady looking humans huddled in the corner around him.

"A Gold Crown? Are you mad?! Villages and Cities get assaulted all of the time. This is rediculous." one man got up and left.

The others stayed.

"Perhaps, but then again these movements were precise battle strategey. How many orcs have you ever heard of performing tactical manuavers? I should know I was there." Feinen said again.

"I will give you 5 Silver Crowns." Said one of the men and others all nodded in agreement and slapped thier money apon the table.

Feinen scooped up the money from the table without counting it and related the tale in great detail. Telling the story as only a halfling could, so of course the situation was much more desperate that it had been in, in reality.

"Thank you gentleman, thank you, but I must go." Feinen said and then departed into the shadows and slinked out the back door.

[Phelan]

Feinen scurried through the streets looking for the tower with a blue roof. He knew that is where Cerandon would be. As he approached the middle of town a bright white tower streched into the sky before him, it's blue roof gleaming like a saphire. Feinen had always wondered what made the tower shine so brightly. As he approached the base of the tower, he saw as usual a small grove of trees that encircled the great building and the black wrought iron fencing around it.

Feinen reached into his side pouch and pulled out an odd looking coin. One side black and the other side white, it was cool to the touch like metal, but had no weight to it as if it were a feather. He came to the gate and pressed the coin to it, the gate swung open admitting him. When he stepped into the grounds of the tower the coin began to steadily warm, he knew that he only had so long before the coin would be too hot to handle.

---

Cerandon sat at a table waiting for Feinen's return. While he waited he flipped through a few tomes of magic and a history book. Nothing really caught his eyes, he didn't know what he was looking for, but this where he spent most of his free time. There had been a few occasions where he had found references to obscure artifacts and that led to some amazing recoveries. However, Feinen usually came up with the next item to find and a buyer for such things.

"Any luck?" Came the halflings familiar voice.

"Not today and I had no luck with the Govenor either. The place was packed with messangers and couries. What about you?"

"Well since we didn't finish our search, I sent word to Frimwold that we need more time. I believe the he will still pay at least eighty five percent of what we quoted if we can locate the item. I also sold the details of the encouter at Adorzan. We should have enough now to get back on a boat and head north from here."

"Very well, let us be on our way then." Cerandon said with a smile.

He waved his hand and the books disappeared with a loud pop. Feinen payed the action no mind, appearantly being used to such things. Cerandon was always intriuged with the halflings ability to get in and out of the wizard towers. The towers needed no guards because to get through the grounds you had to be able to perform magic on some level. Everything inside was enchanted so that it couldn't leave the grounds.

Cerandon just shook his head and smiled as he followed his small companion. Feinen had much mystery about him for being a halfling who as a race generally wore their secrets on their sleeves.

[Phelan]

Soon Cerandon found himself trotting down to the docks trying to keep up with Feinnen. Feinnen bobbed and weaved through the croweded area with purpose. Cerandon knew that there would be more than a few missing money purses when they left. He lost sight of Feinnen, who was too short to stand out amongst the humans and elves roaming about the docks.

Cerandon just kept making his way to the large ships that were docked at dock 20. When he finally got there he still hadn't seen Feinnen. He wondered if Feinnen even noticed that he was gone. He scanned the crowds at about waist high looking for his companion, but to no avail.

"Whatcha doin?" Came a familiar voice.

"Looking for you, where did you run off too?" Cerandon said as he turned to face Feinnen.

"Oh I decided to go find a boat since you were taking so long. So I have us passage on a boat docked at dock 1." Feinnen said.

"Dock 1?! That is the fishing boat area!"

"Yeah and thats what we have passage on a fishing troller. We get free meals... as long as they catch someting for a meal... I'm sure it will be fine." Feinnen said enthusiastically.

Cerandon knew there was no use in trying to change Feinnen's mind, he knew that the deal had already been done. He would just have to suffer through smelling like fish and sleeping on a deck and letting salt water soak him. They boarded the boat a short while later.

[Phelan]

Once upon board Cerandon tried to find the best place on the deck to place his gear and ride out the long journey. Thats why passage on the trollers were cheap, they fished their way to your intended port, meals were free, but only if they caught enough for the crew also. It wasn't ideal, but it would do.

Cerandon and Feinnen talked about the relic which they had been enlisted to retrieve at great length. Apperantly Feinnen had found out much more about it than Cerandon had been able to. It seemed to be a goblet, that had belonged to an ancient mage long ago. It was said that every drink from the cup was supposed to reward you with youth. Cerandon knew that most of these were nonsense and usually had to conjure up some enchantment to place on the items so that they could get paid.

However, Cerandon had heard of the mage, who had feared death so much that he in the end turned himself into a lich. Niether living or dead, but trapped in a limbo of sorts. Liches have an undead body in which they inhabit, it becomes more like a mumified version of the person, being as they are mostly just a spirit inhabiting a husk, they have far more magical power than a living mage. The fact the Dejios the Young had became such a creature worried Cerandon as to what they would find at the ruins Feinnen had pinpointed.

At night Cerandon would slip into his bedroll and try deperatly to ignore the smell of fish and the dampness seeping through his bedding. Feinnen on the other hand would sneak off amongst the crew, gambling and drinking filled his night. Feinnen was up before Cerandon every morning also, Cerandon had no clue how the little creature had such fortitude.

The going was slow and the days became boring as they dragged into a week. As they approached the ruins of Adorzan they saw a mulitude of Orcs rebuilding the outlaying fortifications and streaming in and out of the city. A lone cloaked figure stood on one of the ramparts staring out at the sea, his cloak whipping in the wind. The figure didn't appear to be and Orc, but if it were it was a small one.

Cerandon pondered for the rest of the day what it meant, Orcs weren't city builders. They didn't make a civilized city, more just a mish mash of tents and teporary lodges usually. They roamed about never really staying in one area for a long time.

'what does it mean? He kept asking himself that question, but had no answer.

[Phelan]

"What is wrong with you?" Came a voice that startled Cerandon.

"Oh, it's you." Cerandon said to Feinnen.

"Of course it's me, who else would be talking to your darkend hide? So what are you thinking about?"

"Adorzan.... did you see the orcs? I just don't understand why they attacked and how thier tactics had been good enough to route the guard. How many times have you ever heard of Orc's completely conquering a city? I mean a city not a village." Cerandon said.

Feinnen scratched his chin in thought for a long while and then replied.

"Never, at least that I have heard of. Look, there has to be a first time for everything right? Perhaps they are learning and expanding? There hasn't been a war between races since the dark elves, your ancestors, came to the surface to live over 300 years ago."

"I know, but I am wondering what has changed them. There has to be some stimulus that is creating a change in behavior. A well known scholar, Stref Annerk, has studied the orcs for a long time and has said that they will most more than likely be nomadic until they deplete the enormous heards of Gazorban Elk that they hunt and follow."

"Then that's what happend. Since when do books and scholars have everything right, anyways? how many of your books have helped us make money? Aren't I usually the one to find the artifacts?" Feinnen said with a grin.

"I suppose you're right. Let's just hope that this was an isolated incident." Cerandon said raising to his feet.

"Come on, get your stuff together, we are going to be docking shortly." Feinnen said tossing Cerandon his bedroll.

[Phelan]

A shortwhile later the ship made a dull thump with a dock that looked like it was barely able to support the weight of Feinnen. Cerandon hoisted his pack over his shoulder holding it with just one arm as he hopped on to the creaking dock. It groaned and protested under his frame, he nimbly scurried off of it before his weight could damage it. Next Feinnen jumped and landed almost silently on the dock. He quickly padded off and waved to the Captain once they were on land. Cerandon looked down to him, still puzzled after all these years as to what drove the small creature.

"You Lad's be safe now ya 'ear me?" The Captain shouted down.

"Sure thing Cap'n." Feinnen said.

"Will ya boys be needin a tote home?" The Captain asked.

Cerandon opened his mouth to accept his offer, however Feinnen began speaking first.

"Nah, we will be ok. See you around." Feinnen said and then without another look back took off down the over grown trail that led away from the dock.

Cerandon just shook his head and followed after Feinnen. As soon as he had caught up with him he spoke.

"And how pray tell, will we get back?" Cerandon asked in a tone that left no questions if he were Angry or not.

Feinnen turned his innocent and shocked eyes upon Cerandon.

"Why, I figured that we would just catch a ship for the return journey. Much more dependable than hoping a fishing troller will be coming back for us. Don't you think?" Feinnen said.

"I suppose." Cerandon said grudgingly. Somehow that halfling always had a way of making his decisions seem like the only smart option.

[Phelan]

Many hours passed as they walked. Feinnen up ahead discerning the way to go from one dryed up patch of grass from another, it all looked the same as far as Cerandon was concered. The shadows of the day grew long as a tower rose before them.

Upon a closer look, it was only partially intact, covered with ivy vines and weather stains rain down the blocks that made it. It looked very eerie as the sun dipped below the horizon and the afterglow backlit the structure. This awesome sight, even gave Feinnen pause, who as Cerandon had observed many times, immune to fear.