The Rescue of Korm
This is a song written shortly after the event by Eirinn the Bard, daughter of Aonghus and Elana, about the rescue of Korm.
A Song of the Rescue
Come, gather, hear my tale
Of valor and nobility
Of Gryphons gathered in their flight
To keep our Landing free.
In past there was a foul man, a Baron born and bred
To battle fierce he'd often go, his coming we would dread.
Gryphons mighty, gathered 'round, Fierce warriors and brave
To join a dwarven man stepped forth, his help he freely gave.
Grief! Agony! Pain and loss!
Brave Korm was gone to us
Jantalar, you'll pay the price
Your death is worth the fuss.
Through sewers rank and smelly walked past the horrid bugs
Though so quietly not to be heard our motions soon were caught
We stumbled on a half-ogre, half-centaur: mighty guard
Gurbah, how we treated you, makes my heart-strings taut.
Battle-lust had reign of us, first thought was to attack
But shocked and awed, our mouths gaped wide, no defense did he lack.
Rightly so you angered were, the Gryphons tried to mend
Though one could not believe that you could become a friend.
First duel came and went with ease, you turned his blade aside.
Yet rather than your vengeance seek, you watched our heroes bide
No magic in those sordid halls beneath the horrid land
And firmly 'gainst our Gryphons you still had might to stand.
Surpised were we at your advice of a hidden room
Saved the Lord who with you fought from his very doom
Magic worked our hero lived, and still you gave them pause
So, thus when the next Lord spoke, his challenge had a cause.
This time the battle longer went, and yet you still stood fast
Our heros wondered what to do, they needed to get past
The healer sweet had seen you wince, and cured you from your pain
And grateful you decided to join the Gryphon's train.
"You Lords," you said, "Are brave to stand up to my skill
And I have more respect for you than my master's will.
I will travel on with you, to see what next will be."
And that is how the Gryphons Silver passed to the next key.
Once again we walked our course down a darkened stair
We came upon an iron door that led to Gods know where
The first who had raised sword before, humble, knelt to pick
We were glad to hear the sound of one submissive "click.
Evil! Horrors! What we beheld!
The dungeon, cells abound
A bloated arm from one of them
Yet no corpse to be found!
Dread pursued within our hearts as we approached a door
Black as ever horrors were, from ceiling to the floor
A scream rang crisply through the room, an elven woman: Dead
No help in sight but pray for her, avenge her death instead.
Our breaths were held when the Lord knelt the black door for to try
And in the distance, the dreadful note of a child's cry
We hastened quickly through the door afraid of what lay there
And what we saw I guarantee turned white our every hair.
We rushed on through, tried not to look, our next door stood in wait
And opened came the lock, submitting to its fate
Our hearts stopped cold...
To what we saw a-lying on the floor
Korm's corpse lay there, abused and dead, amongst the blood and gore.
Fortune was that we could still return him from Her grasp
Sweet Lorminstra decided to release him to our clasp.
All he wore: a stained loincloth, and blood ran from his pores
And calming Gurbah seemed the next of our long chores.
Retribution in the lands of Jantalar is fierce
The torture room proves death not proud, and brings us to more tears
But yet, Gurbah, ye set us free, our friend away to tow
And back into the small store room, our party was to go.
Korm, bespelled and weak, bereft of his arm, alive
The Silver Gryphons, cleric mage, and our wily guide
We ran for our lives back through the dank and dismal sewer maze
Until Talenni/Queen of Thieves had caught us in her gaze.
Now that the end was in sight, we finally could smile
Korm took a look at the footpad, and turned toward his exile
We stopped him, and explained to him that she had helped us out
And so the rescue was complete, we'd freed him from the lout.
So, come ye gentles one and all, and praise to the great men
Who valiantly fought and won the freedom of their friend
The Silver Gryphons, Warriors brave who fight to keep us free
For them this ballad has been sung, Their Glory I decree!
by Eirinn the Bard
The Rescue of Korm
Soon after I came among them, the Gryphons had lost contact with one of their operatives, a dwarf, Korm, who was important to them. His arm was sent to Lord Maldon from Jantalar as a message, and they feared that their friend was in terrible peril indeed.
They then sent me to Jantalar to see if they could find any word of the missing dwarf and any word of the fearsome Mandis Crystal that the Baron supposedly possessed that would dampen and drain the magic of anyone nearby. I returned with word that the crystal was en route to the Baron from the Empress and not yet in his possession, and that Korm was indeed being held by the Baron. In the course of this adventure, I was aided by the Queen of Thieves, a dark elf from Jantalar who had no loyalty to the severely racist Baron. The Queen, assisted in getting me in and out of Jantalar intact, and then brought information back that Korm was slated for execution.
The Knights decided that they had to get Korm out and fast, and a rescue was planned. The Queen of Thieves guided us back to Jantalar and then I guided the group through the fetid sewers beneath the city as I had been there before, and soon we came upon a large guard of the dungeons named Gurbah. Half-ogre, half-centaur, Gurbah was huge and powerful as Lord Waldo2 found out in an attempt to protect the party.
Lord Cemb then challenged Gurbah to a fight, hoping that a challenge to the guard would result in his defeat, and our party would be able to continue on. They fought on, but soon Lord Cemb was dead at our feet. The good Lady Allwra, and Lady Gilwen, brought on the trip just in case, healed and brought him back to life, and as they worked on this, Lord Welan then challenged Gurbah.
Their fight lasted a bit longer, but with the same result. The guard was victorious over Welan and the situation looked hopeless. But, Gurbah was impressed with both the honor of the group for not all attacking him at once, and the individuals for daring to challenge him at all, and even more impressed that the Lady Allwra would take away his pain, and he decided to accompany us in our journey a way. Gurbah did not know of the our true reason for coming there, however, and became increasingly agitated when Lord Waldo2 picked the lock of the door to Korm's cell. Outside that cell we could hear the screams and wails of other prisoner's suffering and within one cell there was a bloated tortured arm hanging out of the bars, no body attached. The stench was even worse than the sewers and the cries were heartbreaking. There were women and children locked in the dungeon somewhere for we heard a young child wail for its mother.
Within Korm's cell, there was no chance for retreat. The dwarf lay already dead before us, victim of torture and deprivation. The Lady Allwra and Lady Gilwen healed and brought him to life again, but he was very weak, and still quite upset about having his beard removed, and also the Queen of Thieves' visits to him while he was captive. Apparently to keep his anger honed, and probably his will to survive intact, the lady came and taunted him daily. He vowed revenge, even as our party made our cautious way back out of the dungeon and into the bug-like creature, kiramon infested tunnels.
Outside the walls, we bade a sorrowful adieu to our newfound friend Gurbah, urging him to join us, but he did not, and the Queen of Thieves guided us home once more safe.
~Errick Dyfedd~
