After we bury the dead and feast our victory of the Lightning Lizards with a goat buffet fit for a king – thanks to Jarl’s talents, equally impressive at the pots as at threadweaving – we continue with our journey. Sadly, it’s not too long before our water supply starts dwindling. The search for water becomes paramount. Jarl and I go hunting and manage to stumble upon a puddle of unidentifiable contents. Should we risk our luck and drink it? We decide against – although we do allow our horses to partake of some of the liquid.
As it happens, we were right not to risk it as the horses ended up very poorly later in the day. Whether through the mysterious liquid or simply through fatigue, it was impossible to determine. But thank the Passions, they soon returned to their former self and the following day we set off on our journey once more.
Around the afternoon we discover a beaten path leading to what looks like a small village. As we draw closer, we hear the ringing of a bell and see women rushing their kids indoors, bolting up their doors and windows. Can it be that us five adventurers instill such fear in the heart of these simple villagers? We walk up to the cluster of huts, warily. The villagers bow in our direction, equally warily. We decide to clarify our position as Jarl and myself explain how we have just conquered the Lightning Lizards and vindicated the death of the shepherd living some way off. A certain Lybaden seems to take leadership and informs us that we were welcome as long as we didn’t cause any trouble.
Mindful of our horses’ plight, we request access to water and lead the beasts to a trough. While the beasts lap at the water thirstily, Lybaden introduces us to Darren, who turns out to be the second in command. We learn that this Darren has a quest to entrust us with – there is a good reason why the villagers are in the throes of fear. Someone, or something, has kidnapped a little girl called Myra while she was playing in the woods with two of her friends. A search party that was sent out for her never came back.
Although we feel sorry for the girl we are tempted to refuse this quest. We are still tired from the previous fight and the story recounted by Darren is certainly a spooky one. We smell dangers ahead, possibly even the dreaded Horrors. Darren’s words, however, strike straight at our Heroes’ Hearts. What kind of heroes would we be if we refused these villagers our assistance? And so, with a heavy heart, we decided to find out more from the two children, Beth and Enolu, who were with Myra at the time of her disappearance.
Despite using my best charms on them, the little ones cannot remember much. They talk of a flash of light, their friend laughing and suddenly disappearing. Another eleven people went missing while searching for her. There is nothing left for us to do but embark into these woods.
Sure enough, before long we see what looks like a small light fairy flying in our direction – followed by others. At first glance they appear to be little will’o the wisps, filled with energy, created for the specific purpose of doing some mage’s bidding. Realised like this, they can do a lot of damage. Especially to me, as they happen to have the power of flight – or rather air flotation – and can easily damage me when other creatures can’t get near me. I feel a flicker of doubt and it’s only the fact that my four fellow adventurers are flanking me that keeps me from abandoning the quest.
The light fairies don’t take long to attack. Although I do my best to wound them, I fail miserably and before I know it I’m wounded. Thankfully Elessar, Ahmok and Ivor seem to have more luck and before the creatures cause too much damage they get beaten. Ivor even manage to knock one unconscious so that Jarl can imprison it in one of his famous ‘jarls’. You never know when such a creature might come in useful after all…
Some metres away we see a pit, with bodies inside it. This is, then, what happened to the search party. We descend in this pit and discover that it seems to be an inverted pyramid structure, sloping into the ground. We go inside this dungeon like building and are soon stopped by a huge body of water. Ahmok, blessed with underwater breathing, manages to scout underwater and to find a hidden labyrinth as it were. Panic ensues with the discovery of what Ahmok believed to be a dead body in an air pocket – when the zombie like creature lashes out at him and follows we fear the worst but Ahmok ably gets rid of this Cadaver Man.
We realise that there’s only one thing for it: we have to go under the water to find out more. The only problem, of course, being that windlings are notoriously bad swimmers. Although Ahmok helps me find my way in the underwater passage, the swim takes its toll on my poor body and when we get to the first airpocket I’m gasping for air. Finally we make it into what appears to be a big library-like room, adorned with the statues of the 12 Passions. I offer a silent prayer to Astendar. The books are rotting. As we explore, we realise that two bodies that we thought were dead were also Cadaver Men. We look at each other, resigned to another fight with these creatures.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
The Symbol, a new mission and some very nasty Lightnin' Lizzies
From the Chronicles of Ahmok, Swordmaster.
After some well deserved R&R and after learning some new moves, we all met to decide what was to be done next. After some deliberation it was decided that we should investigate further on the strange symbol tattooed on our bodies by that twisted elf that had us in captivity. Elissar and Ajisha had a go at the Travar library. He zeroed in on a book but the librarian told him that that particular book had just been taken by a dwarf, seconds earlier. That dwarf was exiting the building at that same moment. Our two heroes decided to follow him through the city streets but after a while, the streets being so busy, they lost him. As Ajisha is trying to locate him from her vantage point, Elissar turns a corner into an alley and is cornered by the same dwarf he was hounding. The cowled dwarf demands an explanation but after revealing his face Elissar sees it is Lau Ben, the dwarf who escaped with us from the prison and who was also branded with the same symbol we had. That also explained the interest he had in the book. After moments of deliberation, Lau Ben convinces Elissar that he has better means and resources to research the symbol than us and that a friend of his working in the local Throal embassy needs our services.
Meeting back with us, Elissar and Ajisha tell us their story and we decide to go to the Throal embassy and speak with this person. He turns out to be yet another dwarf by the name of Varadifarion. He describes his predicament which basically consists of caravans travelling between the Twilight Peaks and Tylon Mountains that are disappearing at an alarming rate and also that he needs us to investigate the matter. As an incentive he also gives us an earth elemental coin each as down payment. We are to go to the city of Daiche, the place where we originally escaped from and try to meet a contact of Varadifarion if he is still alive; he tells us that he has not heard from him in a while and fears for his safety. This contact is a human who goes by the name of Forrest with black hair and green eyes; not very common features I must say.
That done we go to some reputable stables to buy some riding horses and our songstress manages to get a slight discount with some hay to boot on them.
That same afternoon we leave Travar on to our destination, Daiche.
The first few days are uneventful and we meet various caravans, merchants, mashalls and adventuring parties on our way; the road to Travar is a very busy one indeed. Eventually even these start to get scarcer the further out we go from Travar. The terrain also starts to get a bit hilly.
On the third day our hawk eyed elf spots a clearing with a solitary tree in its middle; dangling from it are four cages, we get closer. From a closer view the tree is sooty black and nothing grows underneath it, like the ground around it had been salted. using astral sight Elissar notices that it has a sort of pattern. We get even closer and see that two fo the cages are occupied by dried desiccated bones. Opposite each of the two occupied cages is an inscription on the bark. In astral sight Elissar tells us that the imprints look like they are possessed.
Elissar and me approach even closer and we are able to read the inscriptions. One reads thus, 'Herein is trapped Morath, consortor of horrors, destroyer of the village Fabian's grove, may he suffer to his last breath'.
The other reads, 'Herein is trapped the assassin Paulus, Vestrial's questor, may he suffer to his last breath.
Looking up I also notice some berries growing out of the bark of the tree and climb up to investigate them. I decide not to pick them upon Elissar's council but curiosity has the better of Jarl and Ivor and the latter stretches to pick some of the siclky berries up, put them in a container and hands them over to Jarl. We decide to put some distance between us and this ominous place before we make camp for the night.
The following day we find some goats in a pen surrounded by rubble walls. Apart from the milling goats there are also the carcasses of some of them. We decide to investigate and Ivor literally trips over what he originally thought was a goat carcass and eventually turned out to be the corpse of a dwarf, probably the shepherd. With a sidelong glance I managed to glimpse the tail of something flitting inside the hut. I warn the others and we prepare for battle. Scant seconds after we draw our weapons four huge lizards rush out of the hut and charge Ivor and me. The nasty creatures pack a surprise we did not expect; apart from the usual biting and clawing you would expect from a giant lizard, they also start shooting lightning bolts from their eyes (no I will not say it). An extra hidden surprise is that when one hits them they can discharge lightning through the weapon. The damage dealt, especially to me, with these lightning attacks is considerable but after some good swordplay and very useful spells we manage to dispatch the creatures. Jarl also tells us that the eyes of these creatures are worth something so we pop them out of their sockets and put them in our backpacks for future sale.
We bury the shepherd with his staff, his tool of the trade, in the goat pen, next to his hut; his home. We also free his goats and let nature take its course but not after we butcher two of them for our nourishment and culinary pleasure. That night we feasted on goat meat and cheese in memory of the poor shepherd who died protecting his livelihood. We slept in his hut and the next morning, after a last goodbye to the dwarf shepherd, we are on our way to Daiche again.
After some well deserved R&R and after learning some new moves, we all met to decide what was to be done next. After some deliberation it was decided that we should investigate further on the strange symbol tattooed on our bodies by that twisted elf that had us in captivity. Elissar and Ajisha had a go at the Travar library. He zeroed in on a book but the librarian told him that that particular book had just been taken by a dwarf, seconds earlier. That dwarf was exiting the building at that same moment. Our two heroes decided to follow him through the city streets but after a while, the streets being so busy, they lost him. As Ajisha is trying to locate him from her vantage point, Elissar turns a corner into an alley and is cornered by the same dwarf he was hounding. The cowled dwarf demands an explanation but after revealing his face Elissar sees it is Lau Ben, the dwarf who escaped with us from the prison and who was also branded with the same symbol we had. That also explained the interest he had in the book. After moments of deliberation, Lau Ben convinces Elissar that he has better means and resources to research the symbol than us and that a friend of his working in the local Throal embassy needs our services.
Meeting back with us, Elissar and Ajisha tell us their story and we decide to go to the Throal embassy and speak with this person. He turns out to be yet another dwarf by the name of Varadifarion. He describes his predicament which basically consists of caravans travelling between the Twilight Peaks and Tylon Mountains that are disappearing at an alarming rate and also that he needs us to investigate the matter. As an incentive he also gives us an earth elemental coin each as down payment. We are to go to the city of Daiche, the place where we originally escaped from and try to meet a contact of Varadifarion if he is still alive; he tells us that he has not heard from him in a while and fears for his safety. This contact is a human who goes by the name of Forrest with black hair and green eyes; not very common features I must say.
That done we go to some reputable stables to buy some riding horses and our songstress manages to get a slight discount with some hay to boot on them.
That same afternoon we leave Travar on to our destination, Daiche.
The first few days are uneventful and we meet various caravans, merchants, mashalls and adventuring parties on our way; the road to Travar is a very busy one indeed. Eventually even these start to get scarcer the further out we go from Travar. The terrain also starts to get a bit hilly.
On the third day our hawk eyed elf spots a clearing with a solitary tree in its middle; dangling from it are four cages, we get closer. From a closer view the tree is sooty black and nothing grows underneath it, like the ground around it had been salted. using astral sight Elissar notices that it has a sort of pattern. We get even closer and see that two fo the cages are occupied by dried desiccated bones. Opposite each of the two occupied cages is an inscription on the bark. In astral sight Elissar tells us that the imprints look like they are possessed.
Elissar and me approach even closer and we are able to read the inscriptions. One reads thus, 'Herein is trapped Morath, consortor of horrors, destroyer of the village Fabian's grove, may he suffer to his last breath'.
The other reads, 'Herein is trapped the assassin Paulus, Vestrial's questor, may he suffer to his last breath.
Looking up I also notice some berries growing out of the bark of the tree and climb up to investigate them. I decide not to pick them upon Elissar's council but curiosity has the better of Jarl and Ivor and the latter stretches to pick some of the siclky berries up, put them in a container and hands them over to Jarl. We decide to put some distance between us and this ominous place before we make camp for the night.
The following day we find some goats in a pen surrounded by rubble walls. Apart from the milling goats there are also the carcasses of some of them. We decide to investigate and Ivor literally trips over what he originally thought was a goat carcass and eventually turned out to be the corpse of a dwarf, probably the shepherd. With a sidelong glance I managed to glimpse the tail of something flitting inside the hut. I warn the others and we prepare for battle. Scant seconds after we draw our weapons four huge lizards rush out of the hut and charge Ivor and me. The nasty creatures pack a surprise we did not expect; apart from the usual biting and clawing you would expect from a giant lizard, they also start shooting lightning bolts from their eyes (no I will not say it). An extra hidden surprise is that when one hits them they can discharge lightning through the weapon. The damage dealt, especially to me, with these lightning attacks is considerable but after some good swordplay and very useful spells we manage to dispatch the creatures. Jarl also tells us that the eyes of these creatures are worth something so we pop them out of their sockets and put them in our backpacks for future sale.
We bury the shepherd with his staff, his tool of the trade, in the goat pen, next to his hut; his home. We also free his goats and let nature take its course but not after we butcher two of them for our nourishment and culinary pleasure. That night we feasted on goat meat and cheese in memory of the poor shepherd who died protecting his livelihood. We slept in his hut and the next morning, after a last goodbye to the dwarf shepherd, we are on our way to Daiche again.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Skyraiders, vengeance and a wedding.
Session 10
from the journal of Jarl Skalder,
10th of Charissa
-----+++++-----+++++-----+++++-----+++++-----+++++-----+++++-----+++++-----+++++-----+++++
Looking at ramp leading to the top of the skyship nakes my stomach lurche Seems like the days on a sea going vessel and the subsequent bad health were just the appetizer for the grandest ship voyage of them all. A voyage hurtling through the air at great speed, on a warrior ship commanded by tough trolls. I pray to all the passions in case any are listening. Slowly i drag my way up the Drakar's deck and subconsciously scan the surface for the safest place.
But lets start from the beginning, the previous day was spent getting ready for the voyage to Travar. We stay hidden as the plan obviously dictated. I spend the day focusing and getting attuned with empowering my second spell matrix, I can feel that soon enough I will fill it up with better spells. Forward back to the morning, thankfully a pleasant day. We smuggle Omaron towards the awaiting troll ship.
With one mighty bellow from the Captain, the skyraiders heave and the ship lifts off! What speed and sound the wind makes as the land below rushes away! For a mind-perplexing second it seems like the ground is falling and us standing still, but soon the eyes focus and the greatness of it all fills my mind, flying! I cling to the railing but soon the waves of fear dissipate and instead of sickness I eventually grow calmer and the fear is replaced by a sudden rush of good being, I feel exhilarated! Seems like air is much more my element than water.
The hours rush by, I can barely move off the side of the ship, and looking around I seem the same of my companions, transfixed, doubtlessly for them this kind of travel is for them a new experience as well. Seemingly lost in reverie, we are startled back to reality with a loud bellow from one of the crew, we follow his finger to where he points to a single line of black smoke in the horizon. The ship banks to one side, masterfully controlled by the crew and soon we arrive to the source of the smoke.
A destroyed hamlet comes into view below us, the burned houses and charred pile of bodies in the centre lead only to one conclusion - Theran slavers. The skyraiders almost in unison decide their next move - we hunt down the bastards! The ship speeds off, the raiders rowing doubled in strength and timing. Pretty soon the Theran ship is spotted in the horizon, we rise up above it, gaining further momentum for the dive downwards. Then at some unspoken moment the rowing stops and the ship swoops downwards like a seagull in a majestic dive. We hold to the sides of the ship as the crew laugh heartily and curse and pray to the passions. Some dozens of yards before the ships would pass close to each other the trolls that were not manning the ship leap off our vessel and land deftly on the Theran ship taking the Therans by total surprise and preventing them from cut the ropes that will soon grapple their vessel and lock it to our Drakar. The ships now stand side to side, grappling hooks tying the two ships together, the Theran deck rapidly filling up with Theran soldiers from under the decks and with troll skyraiders from our ship. The battle commences, more than a hundred man, elves and trolls fighting at close quarter, falling off the side of the ship would mean certain death. We join the fray.
The battle rages, we stand confused, unused to the heaving and rolling footing and the strangeness of trying to fend your enemy when every second you have to keep balance. The screams and showers of blood as another troll axe finds purchase in some miserable Therans chest do not help. Though we do not pull off much of a show, we did at least keep the attention of many of the enemy soldiers on us, as the skyraiders cut through the rest. Ahmok and myself are grievously hurt, and Elessar recieves a nasty wound from a lucky Theran swipe, but we hold our ground. Pretty soon it is us and the skyraiders that stand victorious.
The trolls free a hundred or so slaves the Therans had locked in the hull, and soon the captain of the enemy vessel (an elf warrior named Skie) walks the plank. The Therans that surrendered are locked up on the troll vessel, and the troll second-in-command takes over Captain duties on the captured vessel. After we heal, we are given a generous share of the spoils of the battle and ordered to join the slaves on the second ship, the first vessel heading off into a new, unknown direction. We make landing a few hours walk away from the city walls, its quite late in the night and grudgingly we start the final leg of our journey. Pretty soon the walls of Travar are in view, and after the usual routine at the gates we finally get behind the city walls. I never had rested so fitfully until that night.
Morning dawns and a visibly agitated Omaron spends the whole day getting ready to meet his future parents in law. More good news reaches us as Gehebu, Wilks and the rest return from the decoy mission. An assassin was indeed sent but they where ready for him, hopefully that was Vistum's last attempt at treachery. After much walking around and admiring the great city of Travar, we head off to Omaron's future wife Rhianna's family lodge. We are welcomed as guests in the fine house, us standing uneasy in unfamiliar clean clothing as Omaron lays down a great speech to his father-in-law (a wealthy merchant by the name of Ronal) on our bravery and the odds we went through with him so he can finally meet his beloved. Ronal treats us like guests of honor and pretty soon we are left free in the magnificent house, watching the complex preparations for the wedding as Omaron seals off the wedding dowry exchange.
And what a wedding it was, a whole night of merriment, jest and much laughter. The party lasting till the following morn, wine flowed in abundance and we take our fill of delicious food; welcoming the change from troll slop on the airship and dried jerky. I don't even remember how I ended back in the inn, one of my companions must have helped me over. I wake up with a smile as I slowly remember the night before and waving the last goodbyes to Omaron after he gave us our pay. Its certainly been one great adventure and one great start for my newly started adventuring career, we had actually pulled it off with all our limbs intact.
I meet the other guys and Ajisha downstairs, all of them chatting loudly and clinking their bulging bags of silver in hand. Seems like we agree to have some much needed time off, I nod then get myself some breakfast...
from the journal of Jarl Skalder,
10th of Charissa
-----+++++-----+++++-----+++++-----+++++-----+++++-----+++++-----+++++-----+++++-----+++++
Looking at ramp leading to the top of the skyship nakes my stomach lurche Seems like the days on a sea going vessel and the subsequent bad health were just the appetizer for the grandest ship voyage of them all. A voyage hurtling through the air at great speed, on a warrior ship commanded by tough trolls. I pray to all the passions in case any are listening. Slowly i drag my way up the Drakar's deck and subconsciously scan the surface for the safest place.
But lets start from the beginning, the previous day was spent getting ready for the voyage to Travar. We stay hidden as the plan obviously dictated. I spend the day focusing and getting attuned with empowering my second spell matrix, I can feel that soon enough I will fill it up with better spells. Forward back to the morning, thankfully a pleasant day. We smuggle Omaron towards the awaiting troll ship.
With one mighty bellow from the Captain, the skyraiders heave and the ship lifts off! What speed and sound the wind makes as the land below rushes away! For a mind-perplexing second it seems like the ground is falling and us standing still, but soon the eyes focus and the greatness of it all fills my mind, flying! I cling to the railing but soon the waves of fear dissipate and instead of sickness I eventually grow calmer and the fear is replaced by a sudden rush of good being, I feel exhilarated! Seems like air is much more my element than water.
The hours rush by, I can barely move off the side of the ship, and looking around I seem the same of my companions, transfixed, doubtlessly for them this kind of travel is for them a new experience as well. Seemingly lost in reverie, we are startled back to reality with a loud bellow from one of the crew, we follow his finger to where he points to a single line of black smoke in the horizon. The ship banks to one side, masterfully controlled by the crew and soon we arrive to the source of the smoke.
A destroyed hamlet comes into view below us, the burned houses and charred pile of bodies in the centre lead only to one conclusion - Theran slavers. The skyraiders almost in unison decide their next move - we hunt down the bastards! The ship speeds off, the raiders rowing doubled in strength and timing. Pretty soon the Theran ship is spotted in the horizon, we rise up above it, gaining further momentum for the dive downwards. Then at some unspoken moment the rowing stops and the ship swoops downwards like a seagull in a majestic dive. We hold to the sides of the ship as the crew laugh heartily and curse and pray to the passions. Some dozens of yards before the ships would pass close to each other the trolls that were not manning the ship leap off our vessel and land deftly on the Theran ship taking the Therans by total surprise and preventing them from cut the ropes that will soon grapple their vessel and lock it to our Drakar. The ships now stand side to side, grappling hooks tying the two ships together, the Theran deck rapidly filling up with Theran soldiers from under the decks and with troll skyraiders from our ship. The battle commences, more than a hundred man, elves and trolls fighting at close quarter, falling off the side of the ship would mean certain death. We join the fray.
The battle rages, we stand confused, unused to the heaving and rolling footing and the strangeness of trying to fend your enemy when every second you have to keep balance. The screams and showers of blood as another troll axe finds purchase in some miserable Therans chest do not help. Though we do not pull off much of a show, we did at least keep the attention of many of the enemy soldiers on us, as the skyraiders cut through the rest. Ahmok and myself are grievously hurt, and Elessar recieves a nasty wound from a lucky Theran swipe, but we hold our ground. Pretty soon it is us and the skyraiders that stand victorious.
The trolls free a hundred or so slaves the Therans had locked in the hull, and soon the captain of the enemy vessel (an elf warrior named Skie) walks the plank. The Therans that surrendered are locked up on the troll vessel, and the troll second-in-command takes over Captain duties on the captured vessel. After we heal, we are given a generous share of the spoils of the battle and ordered to join the slaves on the second ship, the first vessel heading off into a new, unknown direction. We make landing a few hours walk away from the city walls, its quite late in the night and grudgingly we start the final leg of our journey. Pretty soon the walls of Travar are in view, and after the usual routine at the gates we finally get behind the city walls. I never had rested so fitfully until that night.
Morning dawns and a visibly agitated Omaron spends the whole day getting ready to meet his future parents in law. More good news reaches us as Gehebu, Wilks and the rest return from the decoy mission. An assassin was indeed sent but they where ready for him, hopefully that was Vistum's last attempt at treachery. After much walking around and admiring the great city of Travar, we head off to Omaron's future wife Rhianna's family lodge. We are welcomed as guests in the fine house, us standing uneasy in unfamiliar clean clothing as Omaron lays down a great speech to his father-in-law (a wealthy merchant by the name of Ronal) on our bravery and the odds we went through with him so he can finally meet his beloved. Ronal treats us like guests of honor and pretty soon we are left free in the magnificent house, watching the complex preparations for the wedding as Omaron seals off the wedding dowry exchange.
And what a wedding it was, a whole night of merriment, jest and much laughter. The party lasting till the following morn, wine flowed in abundance and we take our fill of delicious food; welcoming the change from troll slop on the airship and dried jerky. I don't even remember how I ended back in the inn, one of my companions must have helped me over. I wake up with a smile as I slowly remember the night before and waving the last goodbyes to Omaron after he gave us our pay. Its certainly been one great adventure and one great start for my newly started adventuring career, we had actually pulled it off with all our limbs intact.
I meet the other guys and Ajisha downstairs, all of them chatting loudly and clinking their bulging bags of silver in hand. Seems like we agree to have some much needed time off, I nod then get myself some breakfast...
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Urupa by day, its Rooftops by Night
I must admit that being in a large city like Urupa annoys me to a small degree. A false sense of security and continuity is pasted on next to every face. In the end everything must shrivel and die, from the humble shopkeeper to the majestic city. Like my father used to say: Life goes on but death comes hither; the seed grows anew but the flower must wither. Still, there is not much else they are expected to do.
The sudden memory of my father jolted me, as I still hadn’t found out what happened to him that night. I resolved to do so at the next opportunity. I wasn’t afraid that he’d died – death is the end of a path and the beginning of another. What I wanted was to know what happened, and to make sure that any dues are paid.
When in Urupa… we bought stuff, we sold stuff. I had to shod my beast of burden, else its usefulness would be short-lived. The most interesting transaction was by far Omaron’s though, where he traded most of his accumulated goods for three small bars of Orichalcum. I cannot recall whether that was the dowry he had to pay, but if not it would seem like a rather strange way to carry one’s wealth. Nevertheless Omaron is a good dwarf, and that night he held a banquet at the Mariner’s Revenge in our honour, for bringing him this far. Fed and sated, we retired with varying degrees of inebriety to our rooms. A guard was posted at the end of the corridor, due to the small treasure in Omaron’s possession.
My sleep was rudely interrupted by shouts and the sound of blades clashing. Unarmoured and unarmed I rushed outside and was greeted by the sight of Gehebu lying on the floor in a growing pool of his own blood and Ivor clutching his arm in pain. Pointing outside he shouted at me, “Run, it was Ged!”. Speeding off I realized that I’m the last in the train, Ged was already being chased by Ahmok, stark naked, and Jarl. Overhead I glimpsed Ajisha giving directions to the two. I kept trail, following the shouts along narrow streets and many turns. At one point Ged took a flight of stairs and tried to lose us among the rooftops. Ajisha proved invaluable here, keeping track of him from above when below they would have lost him. I turned a corner and saw Jarl engaged with him on a rooftop across the street. Having had time to grab only his sword, the dwarf was ill suited to match Ged, who more and more looked like a Thief adept. Then I heard moans and curses from below, and spotted Ahmok picking himself up from the ground, obviously in pain. He must have missed his mark when jumping across. I debated whether to attack from the distance or risk it, but then I realized I couldn’t linger to thread spells because Jarl would be done for. The passions must have been in a favourable mood because just when I though I wouldn’t make it across I kept from falling by means of a handhold, and dragged myself up. Rushing forward I locked onto him with my spirit grip and wounded him enough to fall unconscious. I searched and disarmed him, then tied his hands with his own belt.
Jarl knocked on the rooftop door, since we didn’t want to jump down. We had to contend with a rather agitated man, but it was to be expected given the situation. Meanwhile, given his garment-less situation, Ahmok had to do some very serious convincing to a city watch patrol, who had to escort him to the inn and get reassurances from Omaron.
On the way back to the inn Ged came to, and before I slapped him back into unconsciousness he said that if we didn’t turn him in to the city watch he’d tell us why he did it. Jarl promptly agreed, but Ged said that he’d speak in the presence of Omaron only.
We figured that the city watch would have been called to the inn, so we waited until we saw them depart and went in. Before speaking Ged looked at Omaron and said that he was to be promised to be let go in return for telling who hired him. Omaron thought for a while, then agreed. It turned out that Ged had been hired by Vistum to kill him. At this point everyone looked around, but Vistum had slipped away in the confusion. It seemed that Vistum had done some business deals with criminals. These ventures hadn’t gone as planned, and in return for leniency he had promised them half of the family business. The troll on the boat was sent by them, then, to exact some sort of payment from Vistum.
As promised, Ged was let go, stripped of everything but the clothes he was wearing. We were sure he would survive. Not all of us were happy to see him go, myself among them, but Omaron had the final say on the matter.
Needless to say the situation troubled Omaron greatly, and he realized that he must change tactics in order to reach Travar alive. In the morning he made a show of dismissing our party for failing to do our job properly. What really happened was that he ordered the caravan to go on without him, with
Our options were either the military or the trolls. Thinking that we wouldn’t have much chance of convincing a military ship to just take us where we pleased, we decided on the latter. There were two to “choose from”: No’Kar of the Mist and Kolnarol of the Crystal Queen. We approached Kolnarol, who made a show of laughing at us. Ahmok argued that we could both afford to pay the trip and make ourselves useful in case of trouble. Taking him up to his word, Kolnarol quickly told him to select an opponent from his crew, and if he could best him in unarmed combat, our passage was assured.
Ahmok picked one at randon, seeing that they all looked cast from the same mold. The fight began, and the roll was taking it easy and jovilly, as if sparring with a puppy. He was surprised though when Ahmok managed to land a couple of good blows. Still there wasn't a chance for Ahmok, who had to admit defeat. Even so Kolnarol seemed amused enough by Ahmok's grit and persistence that he agreed to grant us passage.
The Epic Sword Of Cyric
Fourth Of Charassa
Our merry band is heading down-river to Urupa, everyone in a significantly better mood thanks not only to the calm weather but also to the general air of bonhomie – not to mention the booze, though I can’t help but notice the fact that they have no Keesris Wine. As the vessel makes its steady way, I decide to join the other buskers on board in order to lay on some serious entertainment for the evening.
But as always, trouble didn’t take too long to find us. We soon heard that there was a certain troll on board who was pumping everyone else for information about us. Why this interest? Our suspicions were definitely aroused so there was only one thing for it: to take the bull by the horns. Or rather, for our Jarl to do so as I myself didn’t particularly cherish the thought having some savage troll wreak havoc on my delicate physique!
When Jarl approaches him, even going so far as to offer him some drinks as a sign of friendship, the troll repulses all overtures and replies with a surly denial. I decide to tour the vessel and ask some of my newly made acquaintances whether they know anything about this mysterious troll. My enquiries yield no result, however, and we kind of resign ourselves to wait until the troll makes another move.
At a loss how to spend time on this vessel, Ahmok decides to spend some time in meditation while Ivor (son of Gunthar) again attempts to strike up an acquaintance with the mysterious troll. Ivor’s attempts, however, are greeted none too politely and the troll actually tries to intimidate him into moving away from him. Of course, this technique doesn’t work on Ivor, but still we manage to learn nothing new. Informing Omaron about this new development, we are instructed to wait and see what happens.
I go back to my fellow Troubadours, intent on giving a good show since there appears to be nothing more for us to do. Then, midst-ballad, disaster strikes as Vistum goes out on deck and we clearly see the troll following him. This can only spell bad news. Two of my companions follows him to be confronted by a very unusual sight: Vistum is being held up by the neck, with the troll clearly having less than friendly intentions in his regard.
Ahmok seizes the moment and attacks, giving Vistum a chance to crawl away. By now all my companions have joined Ahmok in a free-for-all fight against the troll, except for myself. Someone has to stay with Omaron after all! The troll shows every sign of losing until suddenly he hits on an ingenious plan of escape: throwing his hatchet at the port-hole, he jumps out and – we still don’t know exactly how – manages to land right on the river bank.
Still shaking our heads in disbelief at the troll’s luck, we rush off to Vistum in an attempt to gather more information before it’s too late. But Vistum is not as forthcoming as we would wish him to be and denies all knowledge of why this troll would suddenly attack him.
The rest of the night passes without further incident and soon we spied the lighthouse of Urupa Tovar Spike, thus named because of its everlasting flame. Finally. Destination thus attained, Omaron finds some rooms for the whole group while we stay on dock guarding the goods. Later, we do a bit of city exploring of our own. Urupa is divided into nine areas, according to race, and the way the different civilisations interact make for a fascinating visit. While exploring the Visitors’ Quarters, Jarl manages to find a windling who agrees to deliver a letter to his family for a modest sum. Ahmok and myself go in search of more hearty pleasures, our mouths watering at the thought of the hearty dishes that awaited us. While Elisaar visited the school of adepts, Ivor decided to start work on his brass plate, in the process making the acquaintance of Noral the dwarf weaponsmith.
The following day, Elisaar and myself woke up with one purpose in mind: that finding out more about the magic sword we had found in one of our earlier adventures. Turns out that the best library was in the Obsidiman Building but Elisaar soon secured permission to do some research there. Sure enough, after we open some dusty books, we find out that the sword belonged to a certain Duke Cyric Olatie, a Theran duke. Used in the Orichalcum Wars, it had helped ensure victory for Cyric’s entire battalion, who then changed his coat of arms to that of a Rooster. And thus the legend of the Epic Sword of Cyric was born.
Our merry band is heading down-river to Urupa, everyone in a significantly better mood thanks not only to the calm weather but also to the general air of bonhomie – not to mention the booze, though I can’t help but notice the fact that they have no Keesris Wine. As the vessel makes its steady way, I decide to join the other buskers on board in order to lay on some serious entertainment for the evening.
But as always, trouble didn’t take too long to find us. We soon heard that there was a certain troll on board who was pumping everyone else for information about us. Why this interest? Our suspicions were definitely aroused so there was only one thing for it: to take the bull by the horns. Or rather, for our Jarl to do so as I myself didn’t particularly cherish the thought having some savage troll wreak havoc on my delicate physique!
When Jarl approaches him, even going so far as to offer him some drinks as a sign of friendship, the troll repulses all overtures and replies with a surly denial. I decide to tour the vessel and ask some of my newly made acquaintances whether they know anything about this mysterious troll. My enquiries yield no result, however, and we kind of resign ourselves to wait until the troll makes another move.
At a loss how to spend time on this vessel, Ahmok decides to spend some time in meditation while Ivor (son of Gunthar) again attempts to strike up an acquaintance with the mysterious troll. Ivor’s attempts, however, are greeted none too politely and the troll actually tries to intimidate him into moving away from him. Of course, this technique doesn’t work on Ivor, but still we manage to learn nothing new. Informing Omaron about this new development, we are instructed to wait and see what happens.
I go back to my fellow Troubadours, intent on giving a good show since there appears to be nothing more for us to do. Then, midst-ballad, disaster strikes as Vistum goes out on deck and we clearly see the troll following him. This can only spell bad news. Two of my companions follows him to be confronted by a very unusual sight: Vistum is being held up by the neck, with the troll clearly having less than friendly intentions in his regard.
Ahmok seizes the moment and attacks, giving Vistum a chance to crawl away. By now all my companions have joined Ahmok in a free-for-all fight against the troll, except for myself. Someone has to stay with Omaron after all! The troll shows every sign of losing until suddenly he hits on an ingenious plan of escape: throwing his hatchet at the port-hole, he jumps out and – we still don’t know exactly how – manages to land right on the river bank.
Still shaking our heads in disbelief at the troll’s luck, we rush off to Vistum in an attempt to gather more information before it’s too late. But Vistum is not as forthcoming as we would wish him to be and denies all knowledge of why this troll would suddenly attack him.
The rest of the night passes without further incident and soon we spied the lighthouse of Urupa Tovar Spike, thus named because of its everlasting flame. Finally. Destination thus attained, Omaron finds some rooms for the whole group while we stay on dock guarding the goods. Later, we do a bit of city exploring of our own. Urupa is divided into nine areas, according to race, and the way the different civilisations interact make for a fascinating visit. While exploring the Visitors’ Quarters, Jarl manages to find a windling who agrees to deliver a letter to his family for a modest sum. Ahmok and myself go in search of more hearty pleasures, our mouths watering at the thought of the hearty dishes that awaited us. While Elisaar visited the school of adepts, Ivor decided to start work on his brass plate, in the process making the acquaintance of Noral the dwarf weaponsmith.
The following day, Elisaar and myself woke up with one purpose in mind: that finding out more about the magic sword we had found in one of our earlier adventures. Turns out that the best library was in the Obsidiman Building but Elisaar soon secured permission to do some research there. Sure enough, after we open some dusty books, we find out that the sword belonged to a certain Duke Cyric Olatie, a Theran duke. Used in the Orichalcum Wars, it had helped ensure victory for Cyric’s entire battalion, who then changed his coat of arms to that of a Rooster. And thus the legend of the Epic Sword of Cyric was born.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Scorchers, The Espagra & Lake Ban
29th of Veltum
After an uneventful night, the caravan packs up and we make way towards Lake Ban. For once it's not raining but the humidity in the air and moisture in the soggy ground make our going miserable. It was early in the afternoon when a human rider, who later introduces himself as Ban, meets us on his way to scout for his family who are riding behind him. His unique salute marks him as a dancer. It turns out his family is headed to Deranis from their native village, Igburg, in search of a new start.
Later in the evening, Zaphon, the ork scout, returned from a hunting trip with a young boar on his muscular shoulders. That night Asti cooked one of his best meals. We all enjoyed it and ate heartily. The following night everyone slept soundly with full stomachs, high spirits and ignoring the soggy ground beneath their sleeping bags.
30th Veltum
The weather held but the trail was still muddy and soggy. A dwarven rider raced past us and upon observing us better doubled back to speak with us in an urgent tone. His name was Aarox and he warned us that a large band of ork scorchers were but a day away from us. At that he turned and left saying that he needed to warn the surrounding villages.
We had choices to make and not much time to take them. We could try to double our pace and reach Lake Ban but that would have made it tight and the caravan was slow going while the orks were galloping fast. The only other viable option was to break off the trodden path and circumvent the orks through the underbrush. We decided on the latter.
Soon many people start lagging behind, Omaron, Jarl, a dwarf servant and Ajisha all get tired pretty soon and slow down the caravan. Zaphon offers to divert the orks to another direction by leaving a set of different trails for the orks to follow while the rest of us try to remove our traces as best as possible. Eventually we find a group of high hills and a good hiding place in between. We take watch post on the summits and wait; no fires were lit for fear of being discovered.
During the night we were attacked by a large winged creature known as an Espagra. It slammed into Ivor, pinning him down and raking him with its vicious claws. Elissar, Ivor and I manage to wound the beast but not before Ivor is seriously wounded. Eventually I managed to drop it unconscious after one of the Nethermancer's icy grips. Elissar and Jarl point out the fact that the scales of this creature are used for magic ingredients and they manage to scrape off a few off the carcass of the motionless Espagra.
1st of Charassa
The following day, during our journey, we start to see the first signs of civilization. We encounter a group of humanoid cavalrymen who were intent on burning a mound of corpses. Unsire if they are scorchers or friendlies, Ivor rides ahead to check. They turn out to be orks but not the scorcher type. They are infact employed by Throal to patrol the lands and were in the process of burning the corpses of some scorchers they encountered the previous night.
We come across a small hamlet called Tanner's Crossing and we know that the T'Skrang settlements we need to reach are but 2 hours away from that place. We reached Lake Ban at nightfall. Lake Ban is huge but activity on it is low. There is only one pier and a few ships where people were to board the following morning. we also find out that there is also a T'Skrang floating city. Lots of people are camped on the lake bank; all of them are waiting to board a ship. An artist offers to paint our group symbol on the tents which we had just purchased after trading the Espagra scales for 110 pieces of silver.
2nd of Charissa
We board a ship called 'Yvette'. It is crewed by T'Skrang and its captain is a T'Skrang by the name of P'Tenza. The weather is nice, there were no storm clouds visible and we were thankful after last weeks deluge. The ship should take us directly to Urupa.
During the voyage someone tells us that the gruff troll, who had occupied his space and bunk through sheer intimidation, was asking for us. Jarl and me approached him but he denied the claim and dismissed us claiming no such thing. This troll is someone we should keep an eye on during this long trip to Urupa; trouble may be brewing.
After an uneventful night, the caravan packs up and we make way towards Lake Ban. For once it's not raining but the humidity in the air and moisture in the soggy ground make our going miserable. It was early in the afternoon when a human rider, who later introduces himself as Ban, meets us on his way to scout for his family who are riding behind him. His unique salute marks him as a dancer. It turns out his family is headed to Deranis from their native village, Igburg, in search of a new start.
Later in the evening, Zaphon, the ork scout, returned from a hunting trip with a young boar on his muscular shoulders. That night Asti cooked one of his best meals. We all enjoyed it and ate heartily. The following night everyone slept soundly with full stomachs, high spirits and ignoring the soggy ground beneath their sleeping bags.
30th Veltum
The weather held but the trail was still muddy and soggy. A dwarven rider raced past us and upon observing us better doubled back to speak with us in an urgent tone. His name was Aarox and he warned us that a large band of ork scorchers were but a day away from us. At that he turned and left saying that he needed to warn the surrounding villages.
We had choices to make and not much time to take them. We could try to double our pace and reach Lake Ban but that would have made it tight and the caravan was slow going while the orks were galloping fast. The only other viable option was to break off the trodden path and circumvent the orks through the underbrush. We decided on the latter.
Soon many people start lagging behind, Omaron, Jarl, a dwarf servant and Ajisha all get tired pretty soon and slow down the caravan. Zaphon offers to divert the orks to another direction by leaving a set of different trails for the orks to follow while the rest of us try to remove our traces as best as possible. Eventually we find a group of high hills and a good hiding place in between. We take watch post on the summits and wait; no fires were lit for fear of being discovered.
During the night we were attacked by a large winged creature known as an Espagra. It slammed into Ivor, pinning him down and raking him with its vicious claws. Elissar, Ivor and I manage to wound the beast but not before Ivor is seriously wounded. Eventually I managed to drop it unconscious after one of the Nethermancer's icy grips. Elissar and Jarl point out the fact that the scales of this creature are used for magic ingredients and they manage to scrape off a few off the carcass of the motionless Espagra.
1st of Charassa
The following day, during our journey, we start to see the first signs of civilization. We encounter a group of humanoid cavalrymen who were intent on burning a mound of corpses. Unsire if they are scorchers or friendlies, Ivor rides ahead to check. They turn out to be orks but not the scorcher type. They are infact employed by Throal to patrol the lands and were in the process of burning the corpses of some scorchers they encountered the previous night.
We come across a small hamlet called Tanner's Crossing and we know that the T'Skrang settlements we need to reach are but 2 hours away from that place. We reached Lake Ban at nightfall. Lake Ban is huge but activity on it is low. There is only one pier and a few ships where people were to board the following morning. we also find out that there is also a T'Skrang floating city. Lots of people are camped on the lake bank; all of them are waiting to board a ship. An artist offers to paint our group symbol on the tents which we had just purchased after trading the Espagra scales for 110 pieces of silver.
2nd of Charissa
We board a ship called 'Yvette'. It is crewed by T'Skrang and its captain is a T'Skrang by the name of P'Tenza. The weather is nice, there were no storm clouds visible and we were thankful after last weeks deluge. The ship should take us directly to Urupa.
During the voyage someone tells us that the gruff troll, who had occupied his space and bunk through sheer intimidation, was asking for us. Jarl and me approached him but he denied the claim and dismissed us claiming no such thing. This troll is someone we should keep an eye on during this long trip to Urupa; trouble may be brewing.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
A long journey to Urupa
It is the 25th of Veltom, we are granted the morning off and everyone heads his own way to do some errands of his. At
We start traveling at a good pace and time started to fly off kilometer after kilometer. Whilst traveling Jarl’s eyes get drawn to the ground. On close inspection he finds out that it is a footprint left by what appears to be a fairly large bear. Reason to start to be more and more alert grows in the party. Whilst on our way south a trickle of rain starts to fall down. At first it is valued as refreshment but then it started getting heavier and heavier still and it brought with her melancholy as all of us had no tents were to find shelter.
26th of Veltom. We are all soaked wet and the rain is still coming down heavily on our heads. Further in the distance a huge grey cloud is seen lurking in the sky, a storm is clearly headed toward us. After half an hour or so Zafon returned to report a canyon full of very large mushrooms that can give us shelter from the storm. We head there cautiously as it is not normal to see a huge mushroom. Jarl, Ahmok, Elessar and Ajisha opt to head further in the canyon to look for anything edible and also to see if there is anything of threatening. At the far end they find a large mushroom pierced by circa 20 arrows. A sudden shock that the mushrooms could move were crossed the mind of all but it resulted in an unfounded thought. The day passes uneventful and with it the storm.
27th of Veltom. We continue heading southwards on a quick pace as the storm had slowed our travel. During the day Jarl is talking loudly about his famous stew, and boasting about the prime ingredients he uses when all of a sudden he trips over a rusty breastplate dwarven sized. He is luck stricken, at a closer glance Ivor tells him that with minor tinkering, the breastplate would fit him perfectly. Later in the day Jarl moves ahead scouting. He comes short after reporting the remnants of an orchard, in it just a skeletal farm is found and nothing more.
28th of Veltom. The trail is becoming hilly and harder to travel. On our way up we find a post indicating the ways to Igbury, Aron Waters, and
We venture further in and opt to look through the debris in search for any riches that maybe had been left by the previous inhabitants of the Kaer. Jarl and Elessar find two books named Inscriptions of Wise Harmony and The Spirits Manual. From the darkness huge humanoid figures made of wax appear threatening. We rapidly join forces and place our backs to each other forming a sort of circle. Clangs are heard echoing through the Kaer and also fierce roars together with shouts of pain denote our presence in the Kaer. Ahmok stroke the first fiercely deep in the chest and thrust outwards slaying the creature. Elessar’s voice was heard chanting and with a death grip he grabbed the monster and shattered it from the inside. Ajisha flew overhead out of reach annoying and distracting the creature and allowing the others to hit at it fiercely. Jarl charged in on one and with a deft move of his he cut through one of the legs of the creature and finished it when on the ground. Ivor couldn't strike the creature heavily but with some help from Ahmok the creature was dispatched.
We opted to continue on our search, and whilst doing so we find a dwarven bastard sword with a cawing cockerel sculpted ornately as pommel. Also we do find a rusty ring mail. After that we proceed up again and recount our findings to Omaron. We opt to continue to another place and continue on our journey.
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