An Eye for an Eye

"The Heroes of Condor Pass"! I liked the sound of that. At least, I liked it coming from General Gondorus and Headwarden Nicodemus -- the sarcasm of Borka's taunt drew most of the majesty from it.

Our fight against the eye was mercifully brief. The potent combination of luck and planning held the day, and casualties were lighter than expected, with one sad exception: Barrin, the noble and patient dwarf who has accompanied these last weeks, was killed during the assault. It's the first death within our party; I suppose the amazing thing is that we've made it this far unscathed.

Ili dared to contact Ygraine in a dream, and we arranged a tense meeting on neutral ground. The obvious contempt she showed for us may be all that saved our life (though I note that she, too, had no idea what kind of beast we had faced).

Relief at the end of the battle was brief but intense, as we celebrated with the Denskans. We stayed for a little over a week as the defenses were repaired, and resupplied. I spent more time in Nicodemus's library, and started to decode the monster's spellbook (unsurprisingly filled with offensive rays, some quite creative). I'm going to keep the Nothrog-hide volume at the bottom of my new haversack, lest I offend any Nothrog we encounter which fail to be as hostile as usual (or as subsequently-dead as usual).

Back on the open road, we were only a few days from Condor Pass when disaster struck again. Borka, the mercenary leader responsible for Barrin's capture, ambushed us at night with a new crew of highly-trained fighters. They ensnared us in nets even as we awoke (note to self: enact better magical defenses at night!). Malakar escaped for a moment, and Borka took Barricade, our weapons, and our mounts, leaving us rudely unconscious.

Fortunately, Barricade had previously asked me to mark the artifact and his other key possessions with my Dragoneye Rune, so I was able to track them. However, Borka's party moved extremely quickly through the mountains, and we couldn't keep up on foot. I was able to summon mounts for us all, but even so we couldn't keep up except by pushing the summoned creatures past the point of exhaustion. I feel bad about treating the creatures this way. Although their pain is temporary as summoned creatures, it is no less real than ours. With Barricade's life at stake, and the metal-melting artifact possibly headed back to Nassiral Hate, we had no choice.

I sense now that Barricade's possessions have stopped moving, so in all likelihood Borka's group is encamped ahead. Perhaps they wait for a rendezvous with representatives of her employer (Hate again, I'd presume, but we can't be certain). We have only a few more hours to ride, and then we must needs assemble another plan for rescue.

I favor a stealthy, rapid approach. If we can gain sufficient intelligence on the place where Barricade is being held, I might be able to get close enough to invisibly port in, grab Barricade, and port out again in a matter of seconds. The risk of detection is substantial, and other complications could arise, such as the artifact being held far away from Barricade, or magic-aware guards. However, a frontal assault seems even more unwise, given the extent and martial prowess of Borka's force.

Trouble seems to be brewing within our group, too, as Borrow's conflict with Ili has emerged into the open. I wish I knew what to do about it. Maybe the loss of dwarven company has been harder on Borrow than he has let on? I was hoping that Malakar might be able to help forge unity, but he's been strangely silent lately; I wonder what's on his mind. (No, not quite curious enough to cast detect thoughts, but close.)