The Quartermaster's Tale

Quartermaster Kargi reporting on developments in the greater greypeaks region. 

Sirs, ma’ams. I will begin with a field report on the Battle for Old Weir.

The late Captain Prex and I led the Graniskold clan down the mountain. On the way we kept getting buzzed from Zireael “false alarm” he kept saying. Still, Captain Prex didn’t like it. We left the host of stone giants, and with Yarkest and Durstag, a couple of the faster young ones, we made for town.

 

When we got to the town, it was past midnight. We thought there would be monsters to fight. But all we could hear from inside were sounds of building… sawing, scraping, men coordinating. And then in the moonlight we saw a strange creature atop the walls — I think it was the same thing that attacked us in Myth Sveldin. Suddenly Durstag, with Prex riding him, sprinted for the town. Prex shouted back, it’s them things that killed Mother, soldier! 

I told Yarkest that thing killed our leader, our Mother, and she resisted saying, yes but it’s a mind flayer. And then instead of one there were two mind flayers levitating above the walls. She yelled something to Durstag who didn’t respond. Yarkest said something wasn’t right with Durstag. She started backing up and pulled a boulder from her bag. 

Prex had already begun loosing arrows and I urged Yarkest on. I jumped down as she was winding up — her boulder sailed smoothly through the night air and hit Durstag square in the back of the head. He crumpled just in front of the wall. I started running after Prex, drawing my bow. Yarkest yelled back at me to stop, it was too dangerous. The last thing I saw before her fist connected with my head was one of those things spreading its tentacles over the captain’s head.

Rest his soul. I’d have burned his body if I could, as Mother taught us, but I can’t. All I could do was take his name. So I did – I’m Kargi Prexson now. 

When I woke up we were back at camp. Yarkest made it out and told the others Durstag had been taken and she ended his life. 

We concluded you were all lost. I had nowhere to go, no kin. I stayed with the giants for a time. They were upset they could not uphold their end of the bargain to the reissgal. We laid out more of a perimeter in the mountains, they turned more outward looking, for a time. But after a couple years they retreated, life returned to normal.

Except for Harbunpil and I. I couldn’t forget my platoon-mates. My companions. And he couldn’t betray his honor to the reisgall. And sometimes in the dark, with the whispering pines all around, by the blazing campfire light, he would tell me stories about the athletic, graceful halfling lady named Ironica. He had never met such a creature and enjoyed her company. 

So Harbunpil slowly turned to the life of the Dramscaper, and I stuck with him, tending camp.

I remembered Mother had looked into those doors for your key in the mountain. We didn’t have the map or that man’s journal who had done research on the area—I couldn’t read it anyway—but we patrolled the area of the Caldera for those old mines that had doors. We found a number of old goblin mines. Some were abandoned or had creatures living there. 

We came across one that held dead spider-like creatures, maybe a month or two killed. Ugly sonofabitches. We followed the mine down and came upon a door. The lock on it looked just about like what you’d expect that key of yours to open. I think the mindflayers took what was in your brains and found whatever it was you were meant to get there. Nothing useful was inside, but it was a very odd room with strange ice poking through. 

Years later, Harbunpil told me he found an old man in the mountain saying he was looking for a goblin that traveled with a group of elves and dwarves and humans. He brought me to meet him, and that’s how I met Elder Tallin Gale. We shared stories of our old companions. He promoted me from Quartermaster to Captain of the second Weir. But I keep Quartermaster so Prex can always be Captain. 

And then at some time during the grey sweep of years, Golun-dal found us and told us of the importance of the Fellowship of the Key. 

I told them, Mother always said they were important.

The Elder can tell what he knows. 

Sirs, ma’ams.