The Council at the Forge

by Jarl Skalder

Finally we land at the Forge. Even though the heat is horrifying, its not even close to the Horrors we encountered, defeated and escaped from back at the Mist Swamp. My death in the swamp still vivid to me, my heart burns and feel weakened when the weather turns foul - sadly I will have to carry this curse from Silas to my grave.

After a day and a night of sleep and cleaning up, the Flames are summoned for a Council meeting of The Watchers. Also attending Oaki, Olki, Kerrigan, Wolf and Vin-Namek. The meeting, chaired by Wolf as Merrox's second in command began with us relating the last month of adventure. Once that was done, the bad news started.

In our month of 'absence' 3 very worrying happenings (amongst other less serious worrying happenings) had caught the attention of the Watchers namely;

1. The Bloodlores. We are briefed that they upped the ante on the StoneClaws. The Hand is definitely helping them. Chorak is now dead presumably killed; and the new leader is now Mikil - the violent Troll who gave us the books in exchange for the discs. There sudden ascent to power, and the defensive stance taken by the StoneClaws and the Ironmongers, mean that the Bloodlores are more powerful then ever before, could it be the discs helped them out somehow as well?

2. In the thief city of Kratas a coup was made on the de-facto 'chief' of Kratas; Garthik one-Eye Leader of the Order of the Eye. Vistrox and Brochers Brood rule Kratas now. The Hand, controlling the Brochers Brood, now has enough confidence now to open shop in public in Kratas, actively calling out and hiring anyone to their evil cause with promises of gold and power. The city is pretty much lost to Martial Law and Tyranny just what the Hand wants.

3. Increased Theran movement in the South West. More Theran spies where spotted in the cities. The threat though is too far away and the Watchers have no envoys in nearby cities.

Once briefed, the main meeting points where discussed mainly -

a. recruitment. We are 80 members in total, on the field there are usually just about around 50 members. This is definitely too low, even though one of us is worth a dozen of the Hand, the Hand still outnumbers by scores to one, and for every person that joins us - the Hand would have recruited a lot more in the meantime. Vin-Namek, still affected by the death of 10 of his crew during the last attack on the Bloodlores proposes with going all out - show the aspiring heroes out there that The Watchers exist, with legendary heroes accomplishing incredible deeds as its members. I agree, though the same cannot be said about the majority of the Council and this recruitment plan was discarded. Instead it was decided to talk covertly to community leaders, Questors and forge leaders and they recruit the next generation.

b. expanding the Order by creating a specialised group of Horror Hunters. This point created heated debate - Olki said yes, Wolf said no as it would divert important resources from our main quest of hunting The Hand. The Flames are undecided, in the end the idea did not go through.

c. helping the Hand-affected community in general. Again the plan was discussed whether we are going to do this overtly or undercover, and what resources to use. The idea of repopulating Lybaden was discussed as well. In the end it was decided to steal from the Hand and give to community leaders to rebuild affected areas. The Watchers will send a handful of our best rogues for a test of two months.

At this point a bored Vin-Namek took over and declared that the Watchers are being too complacent and that his crew and himself are reduced to chauffeurs. He declares he wants to go charge and turn the tables on Kratas and the Bloodlores. The discussion was quickly picked up by the Flames, always itching for action, and we were recruited to take care of one of the missions. We were briefed for what needs to be done to bring down the Bloodlores and Kratas. We opted on the Bloodlores mission - mainly after the Air Whisper point discussed later on.

d. Rank and Grade Structure. Everyone agreed the Watchers should have a proper rank and grade structure. We will be briefed again once this is finalised

e. Splitting loot and the Air Whisper. In another heated point of debate, Vin-Namek complained that the people left behind at the Forge doing research, while invaluable, are not getting any loot. Previously any loot captured in a mission is totally at the disposal of the adventurers who found it. We all agreed this is unfair and now 40% of all gold and valuables goes back to The Watchers, 10% community pool and 30% to non questing members. Regarding Magic items, Oaki will be ultimate judge of the magic items 'pool' at the Forge and debate better use if need be between other adventuring groups, depending on mission at hand etc.

f. Air Whisper. After much deliberation and loud and clear indications from Vin Namek to Captain her, the beauty of having a great ship ourselves is too great and we refuse to give the Air Whisper up. Lately, we all agreed, the Flames were getting the short end of the stick and it was about time to have something great to show for our great deeds. We all do a promise to invest our time and resources into becoming able to man the ship and maintaining her. To my great delight I am allowed to Captain the ship, and I am thrilled by the prospect.

g. the Skalder curse case. This was quickly sorted out that the Flames will work on it since we are heading up North; but not as a primary objective.

h. Improving the Library - After some debate it was agreed that all magic users should spend some time to make communal copies of their spellbooks. Also any books found will now be added to the common Forge Library. Lack of resources prevents us from actively purchasing books of Lore unfortunately. We cringe remembering the thousands upon thousands of tomes in Ferros' citadel now lost eternally to the Horror realm.

i. the apparition of the Dragon in the swamp. Elessar raised a point as to whether the Dragon is a threat to Barsaive and whether anything should be done about it. The huge power of the Dragons though makes it impossible to predict, we are all at its mercy and no use debating about.

j. the allying with the Ironmongers. It is agreeable they should become our allies, but not revealing ourselves as the Watchers. We (as the Flames) agree to make contact with them when we are in the North, and with our promise to hunt the Bloodlores together, make valuable allies.

As the meeting finished off, and everyone headed back to his own worries, we strode out and the silhouette of the Air Whisper gleaming in the sea of sand brought a smile to our faces. We look at each other for a second and the feeling of great adventure to come washes over us, we laugh long and heartily.