Coldeven 14: Mighty Keothi (Day 12)

Like Lo-Kag, my friend K seems like a truly remarkable specimen. (I write "seems like" because I only know the two goliaths, and the thought of making the acquaintance of many more fills me with trepidation.) But, regardless of how he compares to other goliaths, to me he's terrifyingly powerful. I've seen him wield a variety of weapons, but it almost doesn't matter, as he can seemingly cut a man in half with a club as easily as with a sword.

Unfortunately, that particular trait seems to have left him ill-prepared to deal with situations where strength alone is not enough, or, as I like to say, it seems like K's book of tactics is only one page long. Unfortunately, he's also frighteningly quick for someone his size, so when there's trouble, he's often in the thick of it, swinging away, before anyone can suggest a more restrained approach.

Sadly, we're still encountering these accursed shadows, and as often as not, K's mighty swings pass right through them without any effect whatsoever. We ran into a particularly tough group of them, he waded in, and before we knew it, we were in over our heads. Eaora has continued working on her new spell, the particularly fearsome incantation which results in a tiny glowing ball that flies from her hand and then unexpectedly explodes to fill entire rooms with fire. However, with K already in the midst of them, and visibly weakening, she didn't dare to use it. Lo-Kag apparently reached the conclusion that we were going to lose, because he started running back the way we'd come.

Asilky had already advised us that if we succumbed to the weakening influence of the shadows that we would lose our physical forms and become shadows ourselves. But when things were looking particularly grim, it proved that he had more than advice to offer. He raised the symbol of Boril above his head and called upon his deity, and with a flash of light, two of the Shadows were destroyed. Lo-Kag regained his composure and returned to the fray, and we were victorious.

Possibly I should say they were victorious, because I didn't help in the slightest. Not, of course, for lack of trying, but every blow I struck passed through the things, and when the last of them fell, I'd had no hand in their defeat.

In fact, since I've been so useless in destroying the shadows, my main contribution today has been destroying priceless works of art. Sometimes we find treasure that's easily portable and worth taking just for its weight of gold, even though it's broken or ugly. For instance, today we found some gold mandible covers. Since I don't think any of us is likely to be sporting mandibles any time soon, they're useless to us in their current form, but I imagine that the gold they're made of will still spend rather nicely.

But what broke my heart today was the bowl. It was a thing of beauty, made of silver, with careful inlay, exquisite craftsmanship, and adorned with beautiful gems. It wouldn't have looked out of place on a king's table, and must have taken the silversmith a month to make. I estimated its worth at 500 gold coins. Yet we have no use for a bowl; it's too heavy and unwieldy to carry. So, I wrecked it, prying the gems from it to produce a handful of gems worth perhaps 100 gold, and leaving behind a disfigured silver bowl for someone else to melt down. Tragic.

I don't know, maybe I'll talk to K about tactics before we turn in, at least then I'll feel like I'm contributing something useful to our efforts.