Harmony of Chaos; Chapter 2: Hammer and an Anvil.
 

Kal walked out from the gigantic marble building that was the colleges of magic. They now stood on the first level, and the gigantic 20 foot gates of sheer solid mithril reinforced by multiple chains awaited them.

Kal himself used his staff as somewhat of a walking stick as he strode forward. Last night he'd had another dream, this time of the northern gate. Realistically, their quest should take them nowhere near that spot.

The Harlequin was rumored to be out to the east, within the vaulted caves of Arad Kar Ghazad. A dwarven haul, one responsible for many powerful fortresses and gates.

Kal himself wanted to go see the stout little fellows, because their aid could prove vital to finding the Solitaire. Also, the twins with them could prove to be important in negotiating their aid.

Hurriedly, he walked over to the assembled group. The appeared to be well rested, and many of them had some newer, or recently cleaned gear.

He stopped about 4 feet from them. "We're going to be setting out now. Our path is going to take us almost directly east, across the Sakar territories, and into the Ghazad mountains. We will be heading to Arad Kar Ghazad to find out if it was the dwarves that were chosen to forge the Harlequin into it's newest incarnation."

A few of them looked slightly not understanding. Kal explained. "The Harlequin has yet to take the same form twice. It's been a spear, a staff, a medallion, and a wooden spoon thus far. At least, those are all I can remember at the moment. Each race has unwittingly been selected at random to create the Harlequin with each repitition of it's cycle. I'm thinking it might have been the dwarves this time. If anyone needs anything else, grab it now and hurry. Time is against us, and we need to find the hammer with which we will the foe upon the anvil."

After getting his hear back from the thief the night before, Vace said, "I carry everything I need, so I'm ready when everyone else is."

"I don't need nothing but my body and clothes," replied Johan. He waited for eveyone else to finish getting ready by practicing his spells.

"Oy 'ear that petey?" James said.

"Yeah, We get to see our cousins." Peter said.

"They have the best Whisky."

"Aye."

"When do we leave!?!" they asked in unison.

Alka took his place besie the wizard.

"Interesting. Which dwarves are they, the Gharad or otherwise?"

"They're mostly Gharad, but they have some of the others mixed in."

Once everyone had confirmed they were ready, Kal gave the signal.

Giant chains were pulled back, and three men apeice on four gate winches hauled it open. Then someone pulled up the portcullis.

Kal led the group out, but turned east pretty soon and went into the hills. Distantly in front of them were the Ghazad mountains. As a bit of an afterthought he added, "Oh, we might be passing through bogling territory. They've supposedly left this place, but no one is really sure."

OOC: Bogling. Goblin, just thinner and more frail, and more diseased. We shouldn't be running into a lot of these guys. And I need to sign off....AGAIN.

"Boglings, eh? Let them come. And die."

Alka drew Cleaver and spun it a few times with two fingers, then slung it back on his back.

Argriv made sure the crossbow was loaded with a kill bolt, and that both blades were loose in their shiethes. He did not want to be left in a situation where he wasn't ready.

Sirach followed in the back of the line, he had his bow out and was ready for anything.

"Why would any one of us be scared of a bunch of boglings!?" Johan asked, a question not really meant to be answered. As if to show he was ready, he twirled around his staff, but accidently dropped it. "Hehe, still working on that..."