Warwick Summary: Warwick vs. the Evil Mountain Giant Grungar Goldeyes
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugliest Player Character in Telvar.
It all begins with a grand idea which, after reality whittles away the grander
parts, becomes a questionable enterprise.
We re-join our beleaguered party in autumn, 2187:
Warwick had just returned from Borglyn's roost, and his superiors at the
Academy were grumbling about schedule, funding, the usual lot. Due for more
excitement, Warwick soon hatched a plan to rid western Cromwell of one its
more legendary menaces - the giant Grungar Goldeneyes. With proper equipment
from friends, the church, and the government, Warwick believed that he could
probably eliminate Grungar with a solo Holy Quest. So, astrology readings
began, and a Commune spell was cast for Warwick on High Holy Day. The results
of both were discouraging.
Although it was foretold that Grungar was susceptible to Warwick's lethal bow,
it seemed certain that Warwick would get one shot at most. After that first
shot (not likely to kill Grungar), then Grungar's escape or the immediate
death of Warwick would result. It further seemed that Grungar was impossible
to surprise, despite all of Warwick's methods (invisibility, silently
approaching in the air, downwind, etc.). The omens in the astrology reading
were similarly grim: "the void eclipses the hunter", "the scythe is
ascendant", the unlucky color is transparent, etc.
Of course, this galvanized Warwick's Holy Quest, confident that Phaulkon would
provide the key source of inspiration and guidance for destroying the menace.
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In early 2188, Warwick set out to research his adversary. Consultation with
Academy resources and the Cromwellian sage Kerfel led Warwick to the
conclusion that Grungar could psionically travel via various planes. For a
while, it seemed that Warwick would become Astral or Ethereal and combat
Grungar in the non-physical world � fortunately, Warwick discarded that idea.
Instead, in the great tradition of Buck (Weapon X), Warwick decided that a
high-speed collision with Grungar would be the only sure way to instantly
incapacitate and possible kill the giant. While Warwick spent the summer of
2188 training the next class of STRangers, Lanoi again consulted the stars in
Hoch Och. "The sign of the scythe is ascendant over the sign of the arch.
The unlucky number is 110. The unlucky color is black-green." A plan was set
and checked with Liahanna, the Nevronian artifact with Commune powers.
Liahanna indicated that Warwick's plan had a decent chance of killing Grungar�
In late autumn, a full STRanger/ Phaulkonian contingent traveled to western
Cromwell by Brinard's cloud. Since Grungar's pattern of extortion had
followed a somewhat methodical pattern, a small number of likely target
villages were determined. For each of the villages, Warwick's party
determined a pre-set location for the extortion drop-off. Locations were
selected that had a nocturnal and daytime bird to serve as messengers. Once a
village was threatened, Warwick quickly built a blind about 200 yards from the
planned food drop-off. He immediately took his gear to the blind and waited.
Since Warwick intended to endanger only himself, his solo set-up was expensive
and risky. He consumed a Potion of Vitality, which allowed him to sit quietly
for a solid week, with no food, water, or sleep. Further, he was wearing a
borrowed Ring of Mind Shielding to protect him from mental probing and attack.
He was Imbued with several clerical spells. The Academy lab had specially
crafted an impact suit (called a "safe") - it was intended to maximize damage
to the target, while keeping Warwick literally intact. Two magic tokens were
crafted into the custom suit. Finally, Warwick had two different helmets with
special visual capabilities, True Sight and Ultravision. Otherwise, Warwick
had no equipment; he was a human bullet.
After some time (days?), Warwick was signaled by the daytime bird that the
food was being disturbed. Warwick grabbed the helmet of True Sight and
immediately activated a line-of-sight Teleport token � and arrived in mid-air
far above the food and a busy Grungar. High in the air above Grungar, Warwick
saw a huge hole in the ground, with a smoking and smoldering land beyond.
Grungar was shoving the food into the hole, oblivious to the danger falling
from above.
At terminal velocity, about 1200 feet above Grungar, Warwick dropped the
helmet of True Sight and activated his built-in Dimension Door token. The
helmet deployed a parachute (thanks, lab), and Warwick zapped through the
Door. The other side of the Door opened 20 feet above Grungar's head. Even
with the incredible speed of psionic power, Grungar was unable to react to a
chunk of metal hurtling at 180 mph. Warwick smashed Grungar's head, and was
simultaneously mangled by the impact himself. Both died; Warwick's (un?) holy
quest ended.
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The bird that had warned Warwick flew on to signal the support party that the
plan had activated. When they arrived, the saw the following scene: Grungar
was dead, with a massive head wound. Warwick was mangled on the ground
nearby, with his head almost ripped from his body. (The "safe" had not
included a special helmet, due to Warwick's need to use the magical vision
helmet.) Beside both bodies was a gaping "hole to hell". As they verified
that Grungar was dead and that Warwick was in a single piece, they began to
debate what to do with the hell-hole.
As they debated, a strange creature of fire emerged from the hole, cackled,
and went shrieking through the sky across Cromwell. Not wanting to start a
planar incident, Lanoi read a scroll of dispel magic (thanks Alegra) to close
up the hole. The strange landscape vanished, leaving behind a thin, silky,
black-green cloth. The heroes folded the cloth, bundled Warwick, and prepped
the scene for take-off. Everyone traveled via Brinard's cloud to a nearby
Nevronian temple, where a high-level cleric could read a Raise Dead scroll for
Warwick.
Three days later, the temple was reached, and Warwick was Raised. He hadn't
fared too well... he lost 4 more hit points permanently, was completely deaf,
and had reached sub-zero comeliness. Dazed and depressed, he slept for most
of the trip back to the Academy.
At the Academy, it was realized that Warwick had paid a VERY expensive price
for not much reward. Speak w/ Dead was used to interrogate the crazy giant.
Grungar had NO possessions, other than his Well of the Worlds that linked to
the 110th layer of the Abyss. For the last century or so, Grungar had been
using western Cromwell as a food source for his mysterious master, "the object
of his desire". Everything else was irrelevant to Grungar, including the
accumulation of knowledge, goods, comforts... Grungar's psionic and clerical
powers were cataloged; he had an impressive set of defensive and offensive
mental powers, plus the ability to cast 1st and 2nd level priest spells. The
lab and the sage Meldor examined Grungar's physical remains - he was probably
going to die of old age in a few years anyway.
In all, Grungar was a formidable power whose sole, lowly purpose was to
provide a loathsome demonic master with a steady supply of food. To that end,
the fertile fields and faithful people of western Cromwell had been subjugated
and terrorized for more than a century. Grungar's legendary reign of terror
lasted years too long, but justice was ultimately served and a dangerous
portal to the abyss was closed forever.
Indebted from the adventure's fiscal disaster, 18 months older, and
practically crippled as an adventurer, Warwick now quests for his own
restoration...
Mark/Warwick