Legends of Belariath

About a fifth of the way through the woods, I came upon a camp of scraggly looking goblins torturing a young nymph. I was about to go ahead and move around them because I did not have the patience nor the strength to deal with their stupidity. Add to that, the fact that I had a quest to do and I did not want to waste time. However, I was drawn out of my revelry by the screams of the young girl, the bastards were violating her with the pommel of their swords! Unlashing my whip I decided to help out the girl, besides, she reminded me of a couple nymphs I saw back at the inn, and I could not bear to look them in the eyes again if I willingly left this girl to die by the hands of a few uncivilized goblins, I say uncivilized because I know of a few intelligent goblins back home. Circling around behind one of their tents I made a high pitched whistling sound causing one of the goblins, who I assumed to be the leader to tell the third goblin to go check it out. Ducking behind a tree I waited until his back was turned before flicking my weapon hand, causing the whip to wrap around his neck, I pulled hard, and closed my eyes as I heard the sickening, yet satisfying *SNAP* of his neck. Turning my back before he slumped to the ground, I decided I could take the last two goblins with my magic. The leader was jamming the pommel of his sword into the girl violently, causing her to scream in pain, the poor thing could not have been any more than 17. Before I could formulate a plan, I stepped on a twig causing it to let out an audible snap. Both goblins turned around to face me, the leader, still unconsciously pumping the pommel in and out of the girl's bleeding womanhood. I was so angry that before the goblins could finish thier unintelligible gibberish I felled the second goblin with my strongest spell, Ice Shards. The leader yanked his sword out of the girl, eliciting another painful yelp of pain. Turning around fully he let out a single word that I could decipher, "die", with that, he charged at me. Sidestepping I turned around and cast Ice Shards at his feet, causing him to slip and go head first into a tree, he fell and did not get up again. Turning my attentions to the crumpled body of the nymph, I picked her up, cradling her in my arms. Slowly she lifted her head and said, "Thank you", before fainting. Remembering a trick I used to help Elowyn, I took her to a nearby stream and dunked her unceremoniously in it. She sputtered and stood, her body radiating with life once again. I told her before she could even open her mouth that saving her life was a reward in itself, with that, I turned around and continued to head in the direction of the foothills.

Recoiling my whip, I pushed through the tangles of weeds and thorns until I came upon a small pond with little flickering flashes of light. I squinted my eyes a little, trying to figure out what they were before it hit me, they were fairies! Before I could continue that thought, one of the fairies turned to me and said in a tiny little voice, "Come stranger, bathe with us!", thinking what the hey, I stink anyways, I pulled my clothes off and folded them neatly in a pile by the shore and hopped in. The fairies were quite playful, splashing me and tickling such and me while I cleansed my body of the blood and stink of the previous scrap. Eventually I bid the fairies farewell and redressed. One of them came up to me and asked where was I going. I told her that I was in search of the Star Ruby and that it was in the Everstine Mountains. She flitted around my head for a bit before telling me that a Ruby Dragon guarded the treasures in the mountain, turning anyone who attempted to take from it, into pure smooth ruby. Rubbing my neck in thought, I asked her if there was a way to perhaps neutralize the dragon, she looked at me with a stern look on her face and said that I was not to harm the dragons in any way, that they are a part of nature and deserve to be treated as such. After she was done lecturing me, I set off once again contemplating how I could grab the ruby and get out of there without being turned into a living memorial to my once living self. I could not think clearly though as I was extremly tired. Clearing an area of underbrush and branches, I set out my bedroll and got comfy for the evening. I had been walking so much that the sun had set and I had not even noticed. Snuggling down into my bed roll, I cast physical armor and fell into a peaceful sleep.

2nd Day

I woke up that morning in high spirits and more than halfway to the cave. Putting up my bedroll and checking to make sure nothing was stolen in the night, I headed out of the forest and into the foothills. I did not get more than 20 paces into the rocky area before I was hit in the head with a medium size stone, stumbling forwards a bit, I gathered my senses and thanked my lucky stars that physical armor was still in effect. Turning around, I saw a couple of baby rock giants tossing semi-large rocks at my skull. Rather than asking them why, I sent Ice Shards a both of them, chipping their hides enough for them to run off whining. Turning back around, I trudged up the foothills, trying to not stop for fear of slipping and sliding to my certain death. I was halfway up to the cave, when all of a sudden, I heard a loud rumble to my right. Turning my head, I saw that the little rock giants had ran gotten their big brother! "WHY YOU COLD MY LITTLE BROTHERS?", the bigger giant said, I backed up a ways and responded, "Because they were throwing rocks at me and they could have killed me...I cast the spell at the to scare them away!" the giant rubbed his chin for a moment, causing tiny pebbles to rain down, after several seconds, he spoke up saying, "Me see what you mean...me thank you for disciplining little brothers...me go now." and with that, the huge giant was off, lumbering into the distance. Shaking my head ruefully, I continued on up the mountain, eventually arriving at the aforementioned cave with the "treasures" inside. I cast light before entering, waving my hand around as if it was a torch, a few minutes in, the cave walls started to glow red, probably the ruby in here...or possibly the ruby dragon, I myself hoped it was the former. If only I had some mining tools...ah well, pushing deeper into the cave, it soon opened up into a large dome-like room.

As I looked around the room, I noticed 3 different cave entrances, walking to the one on the far right, I looked in and quickly ducked back out, the room was full of adolescent ruby dragons! Inching my way past the middle door, I peeked in the third room and spotted a small hatchery, obviously this was the right place, as there were Ruby Dragons all over the place. Inching my way into the middle room, I saw the object of my quest...the Star Ruby.

Looking around for any potential traps, I cast physical armor on myself and made my way towards the treasure, as I reached out to grab it, I examined the wall behind it carefully, it looked a little different from the other shining, reflective ruby walls, it almost looked.... alive.

I shrugged and snatched the star ruby, thanking the higher powers that I got through this with nothing more than a few scratches, when all of a sudden, a great rumbling started from where I took the ruby, turning back, I saw that an eye appeared in the middle of the back wall. Looking closer, I saw that it wasn't a back wall...it was a RUBY DRAGON!

I screamed and began to run for my life, the dragon turned towards me and let out a mighty roar before it began to chase me. I quickly ran back into the dome room and was shocked to see that the one exit has multiplied into 3. I did not have enough time to play guessing games, so I headed for the one in the middle, luckily it was the right one and I saw sunlight at the end of the tunnel, however, the dragon was still after me, and worse yet, it breathed a cloud of red mist at me and it was gaining fast. I pushed my self harder, I ran so fast O thought my heart would burst from the strain. I knew I had only one chance, so I dove out of the cave and went into a roll....all the way down through the foothills! Fortunately, I felt pain so I knew I wasn't a statue. I raised my left hand up to rub my head and I felt something cold touch my face, I did it again, and once again felt something cold smooth and hard touch my face. Looking at my left arm, my eyes widened in shock...my entire left forearm and hand had been rubified! I shook my head, convinced that it was a hallucination, but alas, it was not. Glancing down to my right hand I saw that I still had the Star Ruby. I sighed my relief and stood up, heading back to town and to the Unigo Magic School. On my way back I came across the fairies again, they took pity on me and although they could not heal my arm completely, they granted it movement as if it were never turned to ruby. They wished me good luck and I went on my way, thinking about whether the risks were worth the rewards.

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