Journal of Gunter Intiefen
Game One
January 26, 2002
General thoughts:
Maggie Oreson – A smith from a family of smiths. She has some well-made weaponry, and will be a good companion to learn with. I have practiced my craft for much longer than she has drawn breath, but to think that we as dwarves can’t learn from the humans is folly. With their short span of life, they must learn some techniques to speed up their work, that could be useful.
Roxanne – Mindless chatter drones into my mind like the sound of a thousand hammers crashing down. Her incessant talking is too much to stand. However, this group that Geldamar has brought together needs someone familiar with people and ready to strike up conversation. It saddens me much to say so, but she may have her uses, so long as she doesn’t become the mouthpiece of this motley crew. The ability to speak isn’t a sign of intelligence, but knowing when and what to say is a great calibre. And this knowledge seems to be something she is missing.
Niccolo Morwinyon – Soft spoken and intelligent, he may be able to offer much with his expertise in poultices and herbal remedies. He seems almost pompous, but I imagine I came across the same way by being so tight-lipped. He has kept his head together at all times so far, and seems willing enough to help in this quest.
Agni Rafezzi – An aspiring Regent mage, his uncouth behavior doesn’t seem to fit with everyone else I’ve seen of the Malachite Order while in his school. Hopefully, his seemingly careless nature won’t impede our progress in searching for Geldamar’s murderer. Given time, he may prove an asset as both a mage and a fighter. His style with the blade is daintier than I care for, but with the use of a rapier, there is little else to do.
Quinn Ramos – Little more than a child, there is good chance that he will get in trouble on this quest, and bring us all in with him. His jovial nature matches well with Roxanne’s, and I can only hope he realizes the seriousness of what we’ve embarked upon.
Morak – Quinn’s companion, another circus performer, he is also a half-orc. I’m not certain how I feel about this. My blood calls for me to end his cursed life now, but I’m intelligent enough to not let my instincts control my actions. He has been gracious in accepting my scorn, and seems content in trying to earn my trust. I am forced to respect this behavior, but I will not readily sleep with my back to him, still.
Alexander Crownguard – A knight of Vortumnis, this young man claims to have been beckoned by Geldamar as well, but Geldamar made no mention of him as we traveled together briefly. As a holy knight, he doesn’t seem prone to lying or treachery, but he is still to be watched.
I must report back to Konig Skjalg with news of Geldamar’s demise, but I dare not do so until I know more of the quest the old wizard laid out before us. My Konig owed Geldamar a life-debt, and in repayment of that, I will follow the treachery Geldamar sought to its core and destroy it. If only we had more time with him to understand what it is we seek. As it stands, one of the neighboring human nations is thought to be mounting for war, to take over Valduran and the other nearby lands. I can not let this come to pass, and Clan Intiefen with do everything in its power to protect these lands, but I must have some solid proof before I stand before my Konig and make such accusations. The only hope we have now is with Geldamar’s colleagues at the school, as well as the Seers he worked with that did not want to get involved. Even if they want to remain impartial, with news of Geldamar’s demise, they will hopefully aid us. There is also tale of a town whose well was poisoned…rumored to have been done so by this intruding nation. If we investigate into this, we may uncover some evidence that can be taken back to Konig Skjalg.
Sight of this Manslayer that vanquished Geldamar still haunts my thoughts, and news that an undead lord possibly controls these evil advances on Valduran is enough to chill my blood in its veins, but I will not cease in my pursuit of this plot to its end. I think we all here owe Geldamar that much, for his life and in his death.
Game Two
February 9, 2002
General thoughts:
Maggie Oreson – Maggie is quite an exceptional woman. She almost thinks like a dwarf sometimes. On more than one occasion over the past few weeks, we have stumbled upon each other’s words, voicing the same thought at the same time. On top of that, she and I forged a silver dagger for Niccolo together, and with her help on the bellows and with a hammer, the end result was most spectacular. I am relieved at having a kindred spirit on this quest.
Roxanne – Roxanne’s role has still not improved, in my eyes. She was able to find out the location of the town where people have gone missing, through some unscrupulous dealings with one of Herr Maganos’s staff, if I know anything. I’m sure there are better ways to gather information, but if that’s the way she chooses….to each their own, I suppose. I won’t agree with it, though.
Niccolo Morwinyon – Niccolo proved himself once again, by looking after Quinn…once again. The…creature…that Quinn slept with stabbed him grievously, but Niccolo was able to bring him back from the grips of death with his medical know-how. By looking over him, he was able to mend Quinn’s wounds, and brought him back to full health. It is good to have such an able physician among our ranks.
Agni Rafezzi – Agni has many silbergelds, and has no qualm with spending them for the good of the company. He is not only our spokesman with nobles, but also our sponsor, it seems. Rooms for a night, meals, ale, and most rudimentary supplies he ensures we have. If he has no problem keeping us supplied, then I see nothing wrong with accepting his help. Furthermore, his magical ability is starting to lend aide to us. By identifying one of Geldamar’s rings, he was subsequently able to magically make his way to Geldamar’s tower and claim the old wizard’s knowledge for us. Because of Agni, we now have the prophecy in our hands, and this I can not forget.
Quinn Ramos – As I said, his naiveté would get us in trouble, and sure enough, it did. Not even a day from Eisennstadt he managed to sleep with a thief, and by his reports, some sort of shape-changing creature, have most of his equipment stolen, and get stabbed seriously through the back. It took Niccolo a week to return the boy to full health…a week we could have spent on the road, getting closer to Zaubersturm.
Morak – If nothing else, Theodore is showing himself to be a loyal friend. After Quinn’s attack, he would not leave the boy’s side. The bond of friendship is important to him, which leads me to believe that it will be possible to trust him eventually.
Alexander Crownguard – Alexander was robbed, same as Quinn and Niccolo. From him was taken his sword and his holy symbol…two things most dear to a holy knight, I imagine. Alexander proved himself by aiding Maggie and me in searching for the thieves and recovering many of the stolen items. Even if his sole motivation was to regain his stolen property, he helped us get back some of Niccolo’s items as well, and helped in almost capturing the gutless worms.
That which took place:
It has been a most eventful few weeks. It started back in Eisennstadt. I spent most of the first day grieving for the loss of Geldamar. Once awakened, and through my bereavement, we had to decide on which direction to go in. We knew there was an auger in town, we knew about the poisoned well but not its location, and we knew of the missing people but not their location. The auger we knew to be Gaila Maganos, daughter to one of the merchant nobles in town. Agni was able to set up a meeting with Herr Maganos, under the pretext of business affairs (it seems Agni’s wealth comes from his father, who is also a merchant noble). The company went to Herr Maganos’s estate for dinner as Agni Rafezzi and his staff. Maggie, Theodore, and myself were chosen to be “bodyguards”. So we led the way, kept quiet, and enjoyed the most excellent dwarven ale that was offered. Over dinner and afterwards, we were able to determine Gaila’s whereabouts, the location of the poisoned well, and the location of the missing people…a most fruitful night. Additionally, as Maggie and I stood watch outside Rafezzi’s door, we helped ourselves to some more of Herr Maganos’s ale and I taught her a dwarven drinking games she was unfamiliar with. My personal is remains to be “Drink, Drink, Drink”.
The next morning, we wound our way to Gaila Maganos’s home, which appeared to be empty. I circled the estate, checking the windows and doors as I went, but all was quiet. Finally, Agni decided to simply try the front door, which was unlocked. Enter we did, and we found Gaila in her inner courtyard, apparently in the middle of some drug binge. She had some smoking device with her and was completely rocked. From her we were able to find out that Geldamar learned from her and a fellow auger by the name of Rusalos. Additionally, and most importantly, she was able to tell us from a vision that “the first piece is in Zaubersturm,” and that we must go there…that the fate of world hinged upon it. We had direction. Something more promising than a poisoned well in Sonnenschwert, or missing people in an equally opposite direction.
We left Eisennstadt then, and traveled a day to the Inn at the Crossroads. Once there, we rested. Also there, Quinn apparently became friendly with one of the bar-goers, and talked her into his room. Midway through the night, I was awakened to find him nearly dead in his bed, his equipment gone, Niccolo bereft of his jeweled rapier and some other jewelry, and Alexander missing his holy symbol and his sword. After some debate as to what to do, Alexander set off on his horse to track the thieves back towards Eisennstadt, and Maggie, Agni, and I set off on foot. Nearing the town, Alexander back to us, and said that he made it all the way to the walls of the town without finding them. Maggie continued to follow what tracks we found, and at the break of dawn, they led us also to the gates of Eisennstadt.
At the gate, we were stopped by the guard. Apparently, two travelers (the thieves we were tracking) told the guards to beware of a band of brigands matching our description. So we were held for questioning, and the real criminals were given more time to escape. Eventually, their captain, Olaf, a dwarf of Clan Goldenkrone, came to question us. I swore that, by Balthor, we were not criminals, and Olaf set us free. At that point, we told him who the true criminals were and the details of the situation and he pledged to have the town guard begin a manhunt. From there ensued a wild goose chase to try and find the two responsible for all this. The first stop was the nearest stable, to try and find Niccolo’s and Agni’s stolen horses. At the closest stables to the gate, we were successful in finding the animals, but they had been ridden so hard that there was no saving them. Continue on we did, to various smiths and jewelers in town, until we had gathered back Alexander’s symbol and sword, and Niccolo’s armor. The rapier we couldn’t recover because the thieves wanted too much for it and thus could not sell it. Their rich tastes, however, did lead us to one of the finer inns in town, and there we were informed that some patrons had just arrived matching their descriptions. Maggie waved down a guard and informed him of the situation, he ran to gather more guardsmen, and Agni, Maggie, and I did our best to cover the building and ensure that no one left. When the guard showed up and searched the building, our efforts proved to be in vain, though, for the criminals had already fled our trap. We were able to return to The Inn at the Crossroads with most of the stolen equipment, at least, as well as with an axle for our wagon to replace the one that was destroyed by the thieves in their flight.
Back at the inn, we were informed that the other members of the company had found a letter left by one of the thieves, congratulating himself mainly for the score. It was signed with the name “Rothgapharius”. We now have a name to match to the thieves. As soon as everything was sorted out there, I replaced the damaged axle on our wagon with Alexander’s help, and we then commenced waiting for Quinn to heal.
The first thing Maggie and I did in the interim was resolve to replace Niccolo’s stolen silver dagger. We set up a temporary forge behind the inn, and with her help, we crafted one of the finest daggers I have ever produced. On one side we engraved the dwarven rune for physician, and on the other side we engraved his personal brand. All told, it was a most spectacular weapon, and I learned that Maggie and I work well together as a smithing team. I look forward to forging with her more.
Also while waiting for Quinn to coalesce, Agni was able to identify one of Geldamar’s rings as some sort of teleportation device, and by putting Maggie into some sort of hypnotic state, he was able to call the word from her memory necessary to operate the device. When he spoke the word, he disappeared, and returned several hours later, covered in snow, and clutching some parchment: the prophecy. He apparently made it to Geldamar’s tower, and made it back safely.
The prophecy, as we have it, appears to have a verse for every member of the company. Apparently, Geldamar’s bringing us together has more meaning then we originally thought. The only thing I find odd about this is that every member of the company appears to have been personally indebted to Geldamar, except for me. I’m here on the behalf of my Konig, and for no other reason. If I am part of this prophecy, how could Geldamar have known Konig Skjalg would send me? Unless Konig Skjalg’s choosing me was no chance happening…? I will have some questions for him when I report back.
As for the prophecy, what appears to be my verse is as follows:
“Come now is a man of stone A stalwart warrior of cunning arm He shall become as one with bone But his task will be to do harm”
I don’t know what to think of the ‘become one with bone’, but maybe my role in this company will be to do harm to Manslayer, and weaken him. The prophecy seems to indicate certain members as having a more direct role in killing Manslayer, and maybe this will be mine.
There are a few things I find troubling about the prophecy. As a run-down, this seems to be how it is meant to be interpreted…
Roxanne is going to soften Manslayer with her love, somehow. She is without a doubt the one who is of low repute, and new in faith. How she we actually show this monster love is unknown.
The verse that most corresponds to Niccolo is a bit unsettling. A physic of brilliant mind, definitely our prize physician, but the verse goes on to state that he is a child of the Tribes, and that he shall fall by his own kind. What tribes? He appears human…maybe some organization, then? Some guild…?
Quinn’s passage calls for a child of no past, no future, but present, opposed to fate. This makes sense because Gaila made some reference to how Quinn lives outside the boundaries of fate. The verse also states that he is the key and will be the one to kill Manslayer, so despite all his injuries so far, we must do better to protect him. Finally, his verse states that he is neither born of man nor mate. What that means, I have no clue. He says he knew his parents, and that he resembled his father, so adoption doesn’t seem likely. Most intriguing.
What appears to be Agni’s verse has only one unsettling part: he shall fall by the Enemy’s decree. Another of our company fated to die? I shall do my best to protect everyone, but there is only so much my mundane weapons can do against a monster of Manslayers power.
The verse that corresponds to Maggie claims that she will forge a weapon of light that will be needed to kill the enemy. If this holds to be true, I only hope I can help her in the forging.
Finally, one verse left. And the only people in the party not accounted for are Theodore and Alexander. And the holy knight seems more to Geldamar’s picking, being that Theodore happened to be traveling with Quinn, and not summoned separately. Assuming this is correct, Alexander’s passage is most upsetting. The verse says that he will be loyal, but it also says that he is cloaked in lies. I was under that impression that holy knights such as him were without the capacity to lie. Furthermore, his naiveté doesn’t bespeak someone hidden in deceit. But maybe his innocence is part of the deceit? I am still keeping an eye on him.
Alas, that is all the prophecy holds for us now. There is a note scribbled on the parchment stating that there is more, but maybe Geldamar had not the time to find it before his demise. It seems we have all we need at the moment to motivate us into action.
To continue working through all that’s happened, the story doesn’t stop with the finding of the prophecy, but will end soon enough. Once Agni returned and we all had a chance to digest what was found, we finally set out on the road for Zaubersturm, the citadel of the Order of the Sword. On the road, we were passed by a sizable army on the march, heading for Hochburg, another of the frontier citadels. I wonder, is Valduran is preparing for war with Thet already? Continuing on the road, we came to The Brandished Arms inn, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the inn had a working smithy, run by a fellow dwarf, Wulfgar, of clan Schmiedhammer. I was able to replace Niccolo’s stolen rapier with something slightly sturdier, a short sword, for a fair price, and then Wulfgar was kind enough to let Maggie and me watch as he finished forging a fine broadsword. After a night’s rest at the inn, we traveled on to Kreuzung, where we restock now. Hopefully, at first light we’ll be back on the road, closing in on Zaubersturm, and the first piece, whatever it may be…
Game Three
March 9, 2002
General thoughts:
Maggie Oreson – The bond between Maggie and me grows daily. She is a worth companion and good friend. I am trying to teach her a few things about caution while we close on the Borderlands, being that she isn’t used to traveling outside of her home area, but aside from that, she is adjusting well to the road. As we descend into these ruins, her arm and her arms will soon be tested.
Roxanne – Little has changed with my opinion of Roxanne. The information she is able to gather, other members of the party are able to do so as well. She isn’t a full priestess yet, so she has no true divine blessing, and her fighting skills are apparently nil. If she survives our exploration of the catacombs, then her continued survival during the Thesh siege will more than likely have to be negotiated with the Myrmidons. Hopefully she will prove herself with a crossbow in her hands.
Niccolo Morwinyon – In rare form of late, Niccolo has opened up more to the party and has become more social, much as I have in the passing weeks. With a few pranks and jokes played, he was able to bring a smile to both Maggie’s and my face, if not outright laughter at times. I feel slightly bad for what we did to that poor boy, but he was just looking for danger, and things have been too extremely serious of late. A change of pace was welcome, even if it only lasted a short time.
Agni Rafezzi – Claiming he needs his rest to restore his “arcane energies”, Agni insists on full nights of uninterrupted sleep, and thus does not take watch with the rest of us. The reasoning seems sound, and considering his help in other areas, namely funding, I can argue only so much, but it is still slightly upsetting.
Quinn Ramos – Actually proving himself of some worth, Quinn was able to set up a contact with one of Geldamar’s old contacts. He has arranged for information that would have interested Geldamar to be sent to us via The Rose back in Futterscharte. Oh, and he as well seems inclined to not take watch, for no reason other than he is a lazy little boy.
Theodore – Things are beginning to get extremely interesting with Theodore. After a chance encounter in Zaubersturm, we have learned that he is an apprentice to the Order of the Sword. It is now overly apparent that the last phrase of the prophecy refers to him. Cloaked in lies (his name, his background, etc), sword in hand and magic in mind, etc. Knowing this however presents another question:
Alexander Crownguard – Who is Alexander Crownguard and what is his connection to Geldamar? He is not part of the prophecy that we have, and it is true that there is a note on the prophecy claiming that there is more, but this is still quite suspicious. I have no outward reason to distrust him, but at the same time, I have no reason to trust him. His presence and some of his actions leave me wondering. Now that he has left the party for a short time, maybe we can come to a consensus dealing with him. But, alas, I’m afraid a true decision can’t be drawn until I have observed him further.
That which took place:
A slow approach to Zaubersturm, but now that we’re here, things appear to be picking up. As we entered Kreuzung, the road we approached on was marked by several large, colorful tents. As we drew closer, it appeared to be Boltano’s Circus, which so happened to be Quinn’s and Theodore’s previous home. They did not leave on bad terms, but Theo did not seem too happy to return. It seems he was not only strong man for the circus, but also part of the freak show. Being half orc makes him more than something of an outcast, and even though I can now see past that, it’s easy to understand that many people at first glance can not. Bypassing the circus, we entered Kreuzung from a different gate, and made way to the northeast portion of town where we would eventually be leaving and rented rooms at The Drowning Cod. Here a strange man dressed in pitched black armor came up to Alexander and started speaking to him in some odd language. After going aside and having a brief conversation, Alexander came back and explained that the language was Koramian, and that the man was former employee of his father. Apparently, Alexander’s father left home to search for the boy, and ran into trouble in Adania with the law. It seems the religious beliefs of those in Koramia are considered heresy in other parts of the world, and Alexander’s father simply spoke his beliefs too loudly and too firmly in the wrong part of the world. So Alexander has left us to be at his father’s side in Adania. Not entirely a bad thing….his presence was not unwelcome, but neither was it welcomed. His purpose, his story, and his actions have not entirely settled well with me. As he left the inn, Maggie followed him out, Quinn and Theodore left to “find some entertainment”, and Niccolo left as well to what seems to have been to follow them. Locked out after dark, Maggie confirmed the next morning that Theo left on the road to Adania. Quinn and Theo came back, however, with news of the potential contact. He was to meet with him the coming night to determine the details of the relationship, so we all arranged to be at the tavern where the contact was going to be so that we could get a look at him. The contact intercepted Quinn on the way to meeting, trumping our need to be at the tavern, but the trip was not a wasted one.
We arrived in two groups: Maggie, Niccolo, and me first, and Roxanne and Agni secondly. After the three of us had arrived, a young lad no more than 15 summers in age going by the name Hank the Black approached us in freshly gotten leather armor and actually asked us for a job. We apparently had the look of seasoned warriors, and he wanted to join our company. Looking to lighten the mood some, and have a bit of fun, we agreed to have some fun with the boy. We agreed to hire him on, and his first task was to interrogate the two people on the other side of the bar who seemed to be following us (Roxanne and Agni). He quickly scampered across the room and did his best to question them nonchalantly (not very well at all, mind you). When he returned, he reported that the woman’s name was Roxanne and the gentleman was a mage from Thet. He also handed Niccolo some bead, saying that the mage had tried to get him to put it into Maggie’s drink, to poison her. Raising the stakes slightly, and adding a little more hilarity to the situation (all Niccolo’s idea, I swear), we sent little Hank off the fetch the guard and report a Thesh war wizard was in the tavern. He ran away as the three of us barely held in our laughter. Minutes later, he returned with six watchmen, and (slightly to our dismay) someone who appeared to be a member of The Iron Band…The Directors, I believe they’re called. They marched off with Agni, and Roxanne came over to our table to join in the game. After the guards had left, Hank the Black came back beaming, and offering his services on a full-time basis. Having had enough with the game, it was time to think of a way to get rid of the lad, and Niccolo came through in true form. He claimed that Hank needed to apply a mud poultice and see a cleric immediately after handling the poison bead. Maggie backed him up, saying that Hank needed to find some mud immediately coat his whole body in to stop the poison from spreading further. Scared witless, he ran out of the tavern, and jumped into a mud hole right out the door. To finish the game, when Agni returned after straightening things with the watch, he saw Hank rolling around in the mud, ran up and scared the boy senseless. All we heard was a high-pitched shriek, and then Hank ran into the building, jumped over the bar, and then dashed through the kitchen. What happened to him after that, I don’t know because I was laughing too damn hard.
Quinn finally made his way to the tavern and told us the meeting had already taken place, and that the contact was set up. Any information that happened to come our way now would be most helpful, and well worth the extra day spent in Kreuzung.
The next morning we left to continue our journey to Zaubersturm. Not long into the trip, we heard a man’s scream from over a hill, and everyone but Roxanne, who stayed to watch the wagon, charged to see what the commotion was about. Niccolo say a shape moving through the brush, got off a shot with his crossbow, and apparently scared the thing away. From the tracks and nesting area we found, the creature was massive. Later on our journey we passed some guardsmen on a patrol, and when describing the happening to them, they told us that the creature was a leucrota: a very large monster, with the head of a badger, the ability to mimic a human cry, and the intelligence to trap and play with its prey. Also, the creatures apparently have large teeth capable of cutting through armor. I’m almost too glad it ran away when it did.
Moving on, that morning we found an inn on the road to rest in for awhile. Nothing too eventful happened, other than the fact that they served not just whiskey, but dwarven whiskey. I had to warn the others away due to its effects on the human body, and enjoyed some myself.
Continuing to travel, we eventually came to Beilburg without incident. We only stayed one day, and the time we spent there I found a dwarven smith who was gracious enough to let me apprentice with him for the day. After Beilburg, we traveled on to Gefechtsburg, a rather large castle. We arrived there, again without incident, and were allowed to stay the evening without fee. Apparently, the Borderland castles are something of private residences, and even though seeing some visitors, they aren’t necessarily setup for travelers. During the night, a man knocked on my door that turned out to be looking for Roxanne. Pointing him in the right direction, and with Maggie in the hall as well, we listened in on the late night caller. Apparently, he wanted to confess to a priestess of Betshaba before setting off into the lands of Thet to combat evil. The next morning I asked Roxanne what it was about, and she informed me that he was part of a special order of the followers of Betshaba that take combating evil to the next level, and take it upon themselves to root out evil and destroy it.
After leaving Gefechtsburg, we were passed on the road by a messenger riding hard, and shortly after came to a path leading off the road to the northeast, in the direction of Zaubersturm. Taking a chance, and taking the path, we did come to Zaubersturm, and were able to cut out at least a day’s travel, if not two.
Approaching Zaubersturm, we realized that we had not yet decided exactly what we were going to tell the Myrmidons. Eventually, we decided on telling them about Geldamar and our quest, while leaving out any mention of the prophecy or the “piece” we were sent for.
As we closed, a side door was opened and one Sub-Altern Algar Neff came to greet us. We told him our destination was Zaubersturm, and he told us that it is also the destination of a Thesh army, to be received in four days time. A siege is to take place. Introducing ourselves, he did not seem impressed enough to admit us, so I informed him that I was sent in payment for a life debt owed by my Konig, and that seemed enough to have him inform his superior. He came back some thirty minutes later, and led us to said superior. Upon entering, the man, whose name I did not get, immediately recognized Theodore. Confused at the time, I continued with my story of why we were there, and also explained how were could each help in the coming siege, if we were needed. He was reluctant to let us stay, but he was eventually persuaded, if anything but the fact that he’d have a few more bodies to throw at the Thesh forces. Later that day, while sparring in a closed courtyard with Maggie, one of the commanders came to me and asked if we were an adventuring party. Admitting so, he asked that all of us follow him back to his office, where he told us that some old catacombs had been discovered under the castle recently. Too busy with the fortifications of the castle, but not wanting a possible backdoor open, he commissioned us to explore the catacombs and report back with our findings. Apparently, Zaubersturm, as it stands, may have been standing for close to 6000 years, in one form or another, and there is a suspected mage tower buried in the catacombs. If this is true, then it seems a very likely place to find this first piece we’ve been sent after, whatever it is. The only problem is, we have nobody skilled in disarming the types of traps we’re likely to encounter in a 6000 year old mage tower. The success of this exploration is very questionable in my mind. And to further complicate matters, if we aren’t back two days after the siege begins, we’ll be sealed in. And even if we do make it back, each of us will be evaluated individually, and if we aren’t deemed needed for the castle defenses, then we will be expelled, into the hands of the Thesh forces. Maggie, Theo, and myself I have no question about. Our arms will be needed. And Niccolo’s ability as a physician will more than come in handy. I only hope Agni’s spells, and Quinn’s and Roxanne’s crossbows prove enough of an asset to ensure they’re continued stay in the castle.
Much will be decided in the coming days. Surviving the siege is secondary to surviving in these catacombs. I am slightly more at home down here, but what dangers await Balthor alone knows, and I don’t think he’s telling……
Game Four
April 6, 2002
General thoughts:
Maggie Oreson – She fought the undead creature valiantly while I stood rooted to the ground like some ancient stalagmite. I hope Niccolo can remedy whatever weird infection it is she got from the thing. Mica fought just as bravely, and probably did the most to stop the thing.
Roxanne – She proved her utility this time around by mapping the corridors we traversed. I’m sure she’ll be more helpful to the party once she finishes her training.
Niccolo Morwinyon – Consistently proving himself invaluable, not only did Niccolo heal several party members throughout our exploration, but he also did the dwarf’s share of scouting and keeping an eye out for traps. Without him in front of us, and beside us to patch us up, we surely wouldn’t have survived this long.
Quinn Ramos – He scouted with Niccolo and helped with all of the traps. Quinn’s wiry frame lends himself to jaunting around these old corridors. His eyes are well welcomed down here.
Theodore – Theo was about as useful as me, if not more so since he held the lamp so that the rest of the party could see. The undead thing is the first sign of true opposition we’ve faced so far. Perhaps, as we delve further, Theo and I will be able cleave a route to “the piece”.
That which took place:
Now that we’ve found a room safe enough to rest in, maybe I can try and go through everything in my head that’s happened so far. Before we descended, Agni felt his skills could be put to better use in the library trying to research whatever the piece is that we’re looking for. I don’t rightly know what magic the boy yields, but I’m sure it could have been put to use down here with us. I hope he’s found something useful indeed. When we finally went down, we traveled through three levels of tombs, obviously ranking members of the Order of the Sword. Niccolo and Roxanne were able to translate a few of the names, but I don’t think they are much importance.
After the third floor, the flight of stairs going further into the earth stopped at a hole which had been knocked into a pre-existing hallway…the halls we were sent to investigate. Upon entering, one thing was very clear to me: the entire hallway was carved from limestone! Most peculiar, not only because the quality of the stone is laughable unless one is doing delicate carving, but also because this amount of limestone had to have been brought from somewhere else. Magic at work here, indeed. Due to the pitiful nature of limestone, I warned everyone to be wary of weak ceilings and floors, and we entered slowly.
We entered at the L of two hallways, and right away we were confronted with the traps of this place. To our left there was an area of floors covered with spikes, and to our right there was nothing but cobwebs. The left being an obvious trap, we chose to go right first. Mica stepped forward and used her magnificent fire breath to burn away the cobwebs, and ignited a less obvious trap. In the middle of the cobweb mass was a shallow pit with some magical oil in it which exploded when the flame reached it. Thankfully, Mica apparently has some resistance to fire as well, being that she was unharmed in the blast. The same can’t be said for the rest of us. Roxanne was consumed in the blast and crumpled to the floor, and the rest of us got a bit of a scorch. Well, all except Quinn and Niccolo, who were able to jump out of the way. Niccolo leapt on Roxanne to keep her from smoldering, and brought her back from the brink of death. Graciously, he also tended my wounds, as well as those of the rest of the party.
With the right passageway now apparently clear of traps, we went that way first. Around the corner of the corridor, we came to a door that opened into a room with several more doors and a marble statue of a minotaur in the middle. Thankfully, Quinn was careful with opening the door, because it too was trapped. When opened, a giant scythe blade came swinging down to catch anyone not wary square in the chest. No one was harmed, physically, and we entered. With all of us already paranoid, we all eyed the statue closely while Niccolo and Quinn checked the doors, to ensure the damned thing didn’t come to life or something unreal like that. Before traveling beyond the room, Maggie was kind enough to point out tiny footprints barely visible on the floor. It seems we weren’t the first visitors this place has had.
We exited the room, and continued down a windy passage when the place came to life with the sound of clanging and chiseling. Confused, at first, a terrible thought came to me: Knockers! I know it’s only legend, but legends are based in fact, and with the little footprints and odd markings that none of the footprints actually seemed to travel through any doorways, but maybe actually around them, put me on alert. The last thing we needed was some myth coming to life and burying us in this place.
Keeping my head lowered to avoid seeing any possible Knockers, we traveled on through the twisty corridors. After several hours of traveling and mapping, with the incessant banging going on around us, we had the layout of the place down on paper for the captain aboveground. After looking at the layout, it was obvious what that place is: a labyrinth…a minotaur’s labyrinth. We found a few interesting things while traversing the labyrinth (a skull with feces in it, a skeleton of some hapless explorer maybe, and another skeleton of a person reaching for some sort of manhole in the floor. Upon investigation, the manhole appeared to be connected to rods going down into the ground, rusted shut to the point that all of us pulling couldn’t budge the thing. About the same time that we finished mapping and tried to figure out the manhole mystery, there was a very loud crash: part of the labyrinth had collapsed! Knockers or not, we rushed back to the room with the minotaur safely…it was time to explore the other route.
The first trap we saw upon entering was quite a bizarre one. The spikes were about twenty feet away, but there was a crack in the floor right where we entered, and the ceiling was carved away, leaving a large expanse. Not sure exactly how the trap operated, but not daring to walk out and find out, Theo and I grabbed one of the pieces of rock made by the digging team that knocked a hole into this place, and heaved it over the crack in the floor. When it landed, the entire floor spun! The side with the spikes went up, and the side with our rock on it went down, with a pivot point in the middle. The floor flipped over completely, with the spikes now pointing down and another set of spikes that were on the bottom of the floor pointing up. Apparently, there was a pit under this trap…and with some weird magic as part of it. When we heard the boulder that we threw crash, it didn’t crash on some ground far below, but directly under the platform, where the spikes would be pointing down. Some sort of opposite gravity field? At least we knew how it worked; now it was just a matter of walking across without all of us falling (up?) to our deaths. The minotaur statue from the previous room was made of marble…maybe strong enough to stop the floor when it pivoted over? It was worth a try. Back in the other room, Theo, Maggie, and I pulled the statue over and slowly pushed it to the trap. Even for a dwarf, that stone was heavy! Once there, and after taking a small break to catch our breath, we pushed the statue about a quarter of the way past the line in the floor…to where the pivoted area would hopefully smack into the minotaur’s chest, and stop. Theo and I heaved another boulder over the line, the floor spun, and surely enough, it stopped right where we wanted it to. Using my engineering know-how, I hammered in some of Maggie’s pitons to keep the floor from spinning back the other way, and we made our way across. Well, not without Quinn getting hurt first. He went first to test the ground, and tried to climb past the spikes on the other side, only to fall right into them, tearing a gash in his leg. Once again, Niccolo was there to patch him up.
The passageway bent around a corner and stopped at a door. Traversing down the hall, Theo and Quinn stopped a second too late to avoid another trap. Stepping on some plate in the floor, Quinn caused a massive plate to swing from the ceiling and smack into him, knocking him down the hall, where he landed on another plate! This one caused a pit of spikes to open between him and Theo. Pressing the plate again, Quinn closed the pit, and we walked down the hall, careful to not set it off again.
Beyond the door at the end of the hall was a massive room with a door in each wall, as well as a spiral staircase that led up to another door that had been sealed shut. An ancient passage aboveground? Niccolo and Quinn searched the room and all the doors to make sure they were trap free, then we pushed on with our exploration.
To the east, a passage led to a T intersection with another hallway. Down the passage we were currently in was another trapped plate in the floor we were able to avoid. The other hallway was a bit more peculiar. At the north end was an alcove with a statue of a mage holding his hand out in a stop motion, and at the south end was a ramp that led up to a door. Niccolo and Quinn searched the statue, then slowly worked their way down the hall, checking for more traps all the while. The rest of us stayed back in the other passage while they worked their way to door and checked that as well. Apparently trap-free, Quinn opened the door. Not careful enough, he set off another trap. With a deafening crash, the wall the door was set into gave way as a giant boulder came rolling towards. Nowhere to go and not enough time to get back to us, both of them dived to either side of the hall and ducked down. The boulder just barely rolled past them and swept down the hall. When it reached our end of the hall, and almost crashed into the statue of the mage, a bright white light flared from the statue, and everything went back to the way it was before….the wall was back up and the door was closed. This was a dead end designed to kill.
Back in the central room, we decided to try the western door next. This passage led straight on to another door. Halfway down, Niccolo and Quinn found another trap, this time by springing it. They both dove out of the way a second too late, as poles came lancing out of the ground to form a cage in the middle of the hall. They both landed on our side of the passage, but with some minor scrapes from the poles. After attending to their wounds, we wet a rag, tied it between two of the poles, and tightened them together so that we could pass through. Repeating the process on the other side of the cage, we made out way down the hall. Right before the door at the end, was another trapped plate, but this one appeared to do nothing.
Quinn checked the door and noted that the ceiling above the door didn’t look stable. I took a closer look and concurred with him…it was about to collapse. We all stood back as Quinn threw the door open, and sure enough, the ceiling crashed down and left a pile of rubble for us to climb past to continue on. The room we entered was fairly large, with more, smaller, mage statues on either side and a door at the far end of the hall. Quinn made his way to one of the statues and caught himself just short of falling for a very large illusion. The floor he about walked on wasn’t really there, but actually led down to a spiked floor. Sticking my head through the illusion, not only did I note the spikes and some former explorers that fell for the trap, but also the fact that the collapsed door had done some major damage to this ”bridge” that we were on. It too would collapse in time. Hurrying everyone across, we made our way through the door, down another small passage, and into another large chamber.
This chamber was set up similar to the previous one, but instead of mage statues on either side, there were torches that lit by themselves when Quinn and Niccolo entered. They slowly made their way across the room, when halfway across, there was an audible click as one of them stepped on a floor plate. At that same moment, the torches flared and covered the room in fire. Niccolo and Quinn ducked down and then ran to the opposite side of the room. There they hugged the wall and tried to figure out how to get out of the trap. The torches seemed to flare every ten seconds or so, so in between two flares, Maggie counted off the seconds, and the boys checked the door on the other side for traps, which proved clear. They made it back to the wall just in time to avoid another blast. Now the rest of us just had to get across safely. Before we made a break for it, I noticed a small plate on the floor. Throwing caution to the wind (we were in too large a predicament to fear), I stepped on the plate. Just as I had hoped, it stopped the torches from flaring…a safety mechanism installed by the previous occupant. Everyone walked through the room as I stood on the plate, and on the other side Maggie found a similar plate to stand on as I followed across. On the other side of the doors was a staircase leading down. We were going the right way, it seemed.
At the bottom of the stairs was a large room carved from white marble. Exquisite! But also not native to this area. Much like the limestone, this had to have been brought from somewhere else. Great magic had to be at work here. At the other end of the room was an opening guarded by two black marble statues of woman fighters. As we entered the room, the statues’ eyes opened! A magical security system? As we crept closer, one of the statues actually spoke out in some ancient tongue none of us could understand. Apparently, it was asking for a password or something of the sort. After a few seconds with no reply from us, both statues started shrieking. We immediately ran back up the stairs, the way we had come. After another minute or so, the shrieking stopped…the statues went back to sleep. Knowing we couldn’t get past them with the password, we instead opted for the running option. Quinn and Niccolo went back down and broke into a sprint as soon as they reached the room. Halfway across the statues woke up again, and seeing what was going on, they didn’t look very happy. They started shrieking immediately, and when the boys jumped through the doorway, both statues swung at them with their swords. Knowing none of the rest of us were that quick or agile, the same option wouldn’t work again. Going for a more straightforward approach, Theo slowly forwarded on one of the statues and Maggie went up to the other while I brought my shield out over my head and instructed Roxanne to hide underneath. Theo and Maggie would distract the statues while I shielded Roxanne. As Theo and Maggie engaged the statues, I ran Roxanne across the doorway and out of harms way, and then returned to help Theo and Maggie destroy the infernal things. With surprising ease, the statues crumbled to our blows…the marble must have been very old indeed.
We walked down some more passages and came to a door, trap-free, that led into a small chamber that seemed to serve as someone’s office. There were two desks, an ancient tapestry, and an ancient magical scene displayed on one wall…a magical picture, whose magic was failing. Only patches of it were left reflecting on the wall. Niccolo and Quinn searched through all the room, and as we were just preparing to move on Niccolo pulled on one of the desks and the top lifted up to show us a secret compartment. Inside, it housed an ancient tome written in some alien language and a magical wand! Our first big break down here. With renewed vigor, we went through a door in the other side of the room, and came to someone’s ancient sleeping chamber. And there appeared to be someone asleep in the bed! There was a sheet drawn over the resting figure, so we couldn’t tell if it was alive or dead, but we approached cautiously. As we neared the bed, the creature stirred! The sheet fell off and I stood frozen to the ground in horror as I saw what had rested in this room: an ancient undead abomination! For the life of me, I couldn’t move to attack or to flee. I was helpless as I watched the others confront the monster. It’s undead corpse seemed resistant to attack from everyone except Mica, whose flame breath set the thing afire. After several uses of her breath, the monster fell to the ground in a pile, but not before landing a solid blow to Maggie’s face. Once the monster had fallen, I regained control of myself, and went to check on Maggie. She was wounded for sure, but Niccolo was able to bandage her up for the most part. However, he brought to our attention the fact that the creature’s attack had left some sort of weird fungus in Maggie’s wound that he couldn’t heal. It would have to wait until we made it back to the surface. Staying away from the corpse, we examined the rest of the room. There was a freestanding doorway on one end of the room…a magical portal of some kind? There was also a mirror and a large green disc hanging on the wall on the other side of the room. With a closer examination, I noticed that the green disc wasn’t really just some green material, but actually solid gold that had been here for ages! As more loot to fund our expedition, I grabbed the plate and put it in my sack. About that time, Theo spoke up uncertainly and said that the doors and the desks in the previous room were inlaid with that same green metal. Sure enough, the other room was littered with gold! While everyone else rested, Theo and I went to work on cleaning out the room…an explorer’s life does have some bonus to it after all. And in this room is where we rest…I hope that fungus doesn’t prove to be too large a problem for Maggie. For sure, if we encounter any more of those foul things down here, I will be extra careful not to be struck by it. I only hope we’ve little left to discover…we must make it back to the surface soon, or be left to find our own way out.
Game Five
April 20, 2002
General thoughts:
Maggie: Fought bravely at my side to protect Niccolo and Quinn in the battle with the skeletons. Also, helped dispatch the monstrous dwarves after I fell to their assault.
Roxanne: Continued map-making to show her worth.
Niccolo: I’m not sure what I think of Niccolo now. I still trust him with my life, and I imagine he left Thet for the same reason any good-natured person would. But his insistence on us traveling with his sister and us actually trusting his sister is absurd. She did not make the same decisions as he did, and instead decided to join the Fell King’s army and became one of his captains. She was sent to retrieve the same object we now carry with us, and we are supposed to trust her…simply because she gave Niccolo her word? Being a physician and a man of science, I imagined he would be more logical in his thoughts. He needs to stop thinking with his heart and start thinking with his head! Of the dark tribe, he will fall to his own kind. Sure, it can be read that he will die at the hands of a Thetian, but more specifically, he could very well die at the hands of his own sister.
Quinn: Walking forward into the skeleton’s chamber, he was ambushed and nearly died. But Niccolo was able to nurse him back. However, in the battle with the bizarre gryphon-like creature, he did die. But he did not. With the killing blow, he turned to the puddle of blue liquid…and over time reformed into his human self. What ever he is, he is not human! And being that he seems to honestly not know who his true parents are, we can only wonder what he truly is. A person with no past, and no future, not born of man or mate. It’s all starting to make sense…though in a very unnerving manner.
Theo: The truth of his relationship isn’t far from what was said. He was sent to protect Quinn, on orders from the Myrmidons. He did his best to protect Quinn’s secret, but now it is out. My thoughts have changed little concerning the two, but it is becoming apparent how strange my companions are. What other secrets are being kept by these people…?
Agni: He showed up briefly to inform us that the siege is going to happen ahead of schedule. He was also able to tell us that the scroll Niccolo was carrying is used to magically hold a person, and that the tome we found, once read, will change the user in some way…? He couldn’t say if it would be beneficial or detrimental, though. Being the mage, he felt he should hold on to the items, for now. He left the party to inform the Myrmidons of the entryway down here, and was thus sent from the castle, topside. Now we have to catch him in his travels…
Salvazia: I apparently insulted Niccolo by saying that I didn’t trust his sister, despite the word she had given him. I have no doubt Salvazia will keep her word to her brother, but to the rest of us, I have no guarantee. She pays her allegiance to the Fell King, and is on a mission for Manslayer, and we are traveling with her. I will sleep with one eye open for the remainder of her stay with us, to keep from not waking at all from sleep!
What Happened:
The adventure continued on, just like normal. After some resting, Niccolo was able to clean up the rest of Maggie’s infection, and I was able to discern how much the gold we had gathered so far was worth. The gold itself is of little concern…what was made out of it is the real find: the mask the mummy was wearing appears to probably hold some sort of religious significance, and as an ancient artifact will be worth more than its base value to interested parties. Even more important, all the fixtures and etchings we got from the room weren’t just regular gold fixtures…they were ancient dwarven-crafted items. Several thousand years old, and of a technique lost to us now, they are invaluable. I hope to carry them home with me to obtain their true value.
Traveling on, the first room we came to had another desk, this one with no gold fixtures, and a shelf full of aging parchment. Inside the desk was found a quill pen made from the feather of some strange bird Maggie named as a peacock, and an obsidian inkwell…such a waste of fine material, but it will be worth a pretty silbergeld on the surface. On the shelf, after dusting through some ancient pieces of paper, Niccolo was able to recover one written in the language of magic, that Agni was later able to identify as a Hold Person scroll. Niccolo laid it out in his tome to keep the item from totally disintegrating, and we moved on.
In the next room was another stone bed with a body lying on it, with another gold mask shape under linen. Moving much more cautiously, we readied oil to light the thing on fire, and entered the room. Approaching, the body did not move, and we were able to remove the linen to find an ancient corpse, not animated. The gold mask on the corpse was the same as the one we found on the mummy, of equal worth and significance. Also in the room were two dressers, both empty of anything other than ancient clothing. However, in a secret stone alcove behind the second dresser we found another ancient corpse. This one, however, appeared to have been operated on a good deal, and Niccolo was able to determine that the former person had possibly been tortured while still alive. We weren’t able to gain any more knowledge from the corpse, aside from the fact that whoever the former occupant of this room was, they were very sick and twisted. As one of her first actions as an aspiring priestess, Roxanne tried to perform last rites on the tortured corpse, only to have it disintegrate in her hands. Only three days of training left, but it seems the girl has a lot left to learn.
Moving along, the next room we came to was a huge chamber that reeked of bat dung. The floor and walls were covered in fungus, fueled by the nutrient-rich food source, and the ceiling was beyond our vision to see. If bats did live in this chamber, they must have had a way out, because there was no sound of them now. At the far northern end of the chamber stood a massive statue of a mage, and in the back left corner were three tall purple mushrooms that I had never seen before. Before we could investigate further, Agni stumbled upon us from behind. It seems he finished whatever research he was doing, fruitlessly, and came to warn us that the siege was expected to happen a day earlier than previously expected. Running out of time, we knew he had to continue on quickly…but before so, we had Agni identify the magical items we had found so far. After gauging the powers of the scroll and the tome, he thought it best that he hold onto them for now. He also took possession of the wand we had found so that he could try again later to identify it. Moving into the room, I asked Agni if he could cast a Light spell, but apparently, they don’t teach that in his order, so instead he just threw his torch into the air, to try and see further. Not the smartest lad. We weren’t able to see much more, and the torch came down right next to the purple mushrooms, who immediately started producing this high-pitched wail. With that subtle clue, I was able to identify the fungi: shriekers. I informed the party immediately that shriekers are used primarily as alarms, and that something was probably on its way here. Instead of heeding my warning and retreating, they decided we should move forward and silence the things. Niccolo, Quinn, Maggie, and Roxanne opened fire on the things with bolts and arrows, but did little damage. Afraid of any dangerous spores the mushrooms might exude, the group tried to produce a fire source to burn the shriekers with, to no avail. Upset, and fearful that we were running out of time, I ran up to the closest mushroom, tore off part of my shirt, lit it on fire with my tinderbox, and tossed it on the thing…but it was too damp to actually catch fire. Further annoyed, I hoped that being used only as alarms they probably didn’t have any kind of poisonous spores, and started hacking at the things. After a few seconds, they were all destroyed, and the shrieking had stopped. After cleaning the spores off of me that they had produced, we moved further into the room. Still there was no sound of bats, or of anything approaching, so we relaxed some and checked the massive statue at the other end of the room. Like everything else in the room, it too was covered in moss. With a little scraping and scratching, Maggie was able to pull of a good chunk of the moss around its base, and Niccolo was able to search around. In the base of the statue, he was able to find a secret compartment that contained a beautiful cornet made of gold. In the centerpiece was a large emerald. And the thing looked to be as ancient, and as valuable, as everything else down here.
With nothing else to see, and eager to move on, we continued through a door and down a small hallway to another room. Along the walls of the room were twelve long dead skeletons. As Niccolo and Quinn cautioned in to search for traps, the skeletons sprang to life and attacked the boys. Quinn fell under the assault before Theo, Maggie, and I could get in the room. In a daring move, Niccolo dashed away from his attackers, landed near Quinn, and pulled his shallowly breathing body from the fray. Theo, Maggie, and I formed a wall around the two, and fought off the skeletons, quickly reducing them to bonemeal. We all received some minor wounds that Niccolo was able to heal, but we had to rest awhile in order for him to look after Quinn.
Theo and I kept watch at opposite ends of the hallway we came in through, as the rest got some sleep. Niccolo attended Quinn throughout the night, and when everyone awoke, the boy had regained consciousness. With no time to lose, we continued on.
Passing through the skeleton’s chamber, we went through an ancient privy, found an empty dead-end room, and then came across a small chamber highly imbued with magic. In the middle was a golden pedestal, upon which sat a very large obsidian ball. I tried to remove the ball, and when my hand touched it, the room went black. Well, all save the ceiling, that lit up with the stars of the sky. Apparently, this was some ancient tool for viewing the night sky while below ground. I think one of the party members referred to it as an observatory. When the ball was moved, the stars above would move with it, to show different parts of the sky. In the east was a very bright star that Maggie was later able to identify as the sun. It took so long to figure out because it had been dimmed in the scene in order for the rest of the stars to be seen accurately.
With little time to spare, we continued on from the observatory. In the passageway beyond was another set of stairs leading down. It seems we were going the right way. At the base of the stairs was an empty antechamber, and beyond that we found what appeared to be an ancient coat room, as well as a room with some weird bowl cast into the floor with a green coating along its walls. While trying to discern what the coating once was, Maggie and Niccolo thought they heard the sound of armor clashing…of a battle. Quietly, we crept from the room and followed the sound to another door. Niccolo put his ear to the door, and heard voices on the other side, in some language he didn’t understand. He called Maggie forward, and she thought it was some weird dwarven dialect, but couldn’t make it out. At that point, they called me forward. After hearing the voices, I was able to confirm that it sounded dwarvish, but even I couldn’t make out the speech. Unable to understand what was being said, we called the rest forward and surrounded the door, ready for battle. It opened, and in the portal stood a creature that looked like it once might have been a dwarf, but no longer was. It was of my height, but was extremely thin, as though it hadn’t eaten in a year, it had beady red eyes, and it’s skin was the color of slate. Behind it stood six similar figures, all dressed in dwarven plate, and a tall woman in black armor. Behind her was a tunnel that had been carved into the room, and four more ancient corpses that looked like they had just lost a battle. These had to be Thetian scouts! After seeing us, the weird gray dwarf cast a spell on itself, and grew to over six feet in height before charging us. It came straight for me, and left its side open for Niccolo, who found a seam in the plate, thrust his short sword through, and split the thing’s side in one killing blow. It hit the ground solidly, and returned to its normal size. Seeing this, the other dwarves, also six feet tall now, and the woman doze to opposite sides of the room, out of our sight. I dragged the corpse behind me for Roxanne to take off all its armor and items, and we sent Agni back to warn the Myrmidons that Thet had found a way in.
From inside the room, the things called back and forth to each other, and the woman issued them commands in another language that we still could not discern. After a few minutes of waiting, they made the first move. At the last second, I saw an axe head coming towards me, as one of the dwarves lost its invisibility. I was able to block the attack with my shield, and Theo lashed at the thing, cleaving it with his greataxe. Afraid that they might try and use their invisibility to sneak back through the tunnels, we rushed in. I was first in, and didn’t see anyone, until four of the creatures converged on me and dropped their invisibility in time to attack. I was able to fend of three of them, but the fourth got a blow in past my shield. The others came in right behind me, and Maggie called out that the last dwarf was escaping through the tunnel. As I tried to push forward, the woman in black stepped from the shadows and placed the blade of the sword under my breastplate. I saw red, then I saw nothing.
When I awoke, Niccolo was looking over me, the other dwarves were dead, and the woman in black was standing at ease. They quickly informed me that her name was Salvazia, and that she was Quinn’s sister! She told us that the Fell King’s army was on the way, and that Manslayer was now the king’s advisor. Apparently, he wooed the king with his power and with his troops, more of the weird dwarves and strange dark-skinned elves also with red eyes. She was sent by Manslayer with the weird dwarves to find this ruin, and to find the piece for him. We surely were on the right track, if he was after this thing too. Niccolo told her that Manslayer was manipulating the king in order to gain control of his armies, and she agreed to join us if we could produce evidence of Manslayer’s betrayal. The dwarf that escaped was too far along for us to chase, and we were running out of time, so we continued on. Before leaving the room, however, I asked Maggie to carry one of the dwarven sets of plate and then I picked up one of the dwarf’s heads, Theo apparently decapitated the freakish thing, and put it in my backpack. My konig must know of these aberrations. Salvazia protested, saying that if anyone knew of Manslayer’s troops, he would attack more quickly, but I refused to listen to her insidious thoughts. My konig must know of these things.
Salvazia traveled in the front with Niccolo, searching for traps, which suited me just fine. If she found a trap a second too late, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings much at all. I was too weak to move quickly, but I sucked up the pain as well I could and we moved on. We came to a room with another mage statue, and another secret compartment. This one was home to a cornet made of copper. Another invaluable artifact.
Moving faster, we found a few more empty rooms, and another room with a statue. This one was eight feet tall, and had a plaque stating that the woman was named Zadechus of Abaris. Abaris being the God of Magic, it started to make sense who these statues were, and who these cornets would be valuable to. In the base of the statue was another cornet, this one made of silver.
Finally, we pushed on to the end of the main hallway of this floor that ended in large double doors. Beyond the doors, was a massive chamber, lined with marble and granite columns, and at the end of the room was a thirty foot statue of a smith. He had an anvil in one hand with a small carnation on it, the symbol of Abaris. In the base of this statue was another cornet, this one made of wood. The wood didn’t last over the thousands of years that had passed and had rotted, but the emerald from the centerpiece was still there. Pocketing that, we turned to what would be the last doorway of this place we would go through.
When the door opened, there was the sound of electricity crackling, like a caged lightning bolt, and beyond was a small hallway that led into a large circular room. Waiting in the room appeared to be a gryphon, a creature with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion. The piece’s guardian. Niccolo and Quinn approached the end of the hallway, and the thing squawked at them, but did not move. With that in mind, we set up an ambush for the thing. I took out the last of my finely made crossbow bolts, wrapped them in cloth with Roxanne’s help, and soaked them all in Maggie’s oil. Quinn got in position with his bow, and Niccolo loaded up one of my bolts and lit it afire. I slowly climbed the base of the statue, and readied my crossbow. Too weak to do anything else, I would help however I could. Everyone else got ready at our end of the hallway, and Niccolo opened fire. The thing reacted before Quinn could get his shot off. It closed on the two and bit squarely into Quinn’s side, killing him…or so it seemed. He splashed into a pile of blue goo. Taking the time that the creature was confused, Niccolo retreated and Theo rushed forward. He hurt the creature with a few well placed blows, but it’s beak proved too fierce for him as well. He retreated as well, and Salvazia stepped forward. With several quick and furious strikes, she tore the gryphon apart with her two long swords. If she ever turns on us, it will be the end of days. Confused and bewildered, we asked Theo what had happened to Quinn, and he replied that we could ask him personally in a few minutes. Even more confused, we looked to the blue goo, only to see it start to move and collect into one large pool, and then begin to bubble. Quinn was pulling back together! Too distraught to think, and in too big a hurry to wait, we moved into the circular chamber, and found one final statue. Niccolo searched the base, found the secret compartment, and pulled out what appeared to be an iron cornet. When I got close enough to see the thing, I was able to tell that it wasn’t iron, but oddly enough, was actually made from lead. Waiting for Quinn to “pull himself back together”, we paced around the room…and after a few moments, began to notice that the statue was watching whoever carried the cornet. After noting the occurrence, we tested it by walking from one end of the room to the other, and surely enough, wherever the carrier went, the statue’s head followed. The other statues definitely didn’t move like this, and it could only be assumed that this was “the piece”. Finally, Quinn formed back into one piece, though still covered in a film of blue goo, but he was still unconscious. With no more time to spare, Theo shouldered the boy and we headed back to the tunnel that Salvazia entered through.
Here came the first major conflict within the group. Someone had to go back to get Agni. I was too weak, taking Quinn back was dangerous because he was so close to death already, and it wouldn’t be easy to explain the goo on him, and Niccolo couldn’t be separated from him…and Theo refused to be separated from him. So Maggie and Roxanne volunteered to travel back. With the party splitting, I didn’t think it the best idea to leave the lead cornet with us, near Salvazia. After the battle with the dwarves and with the gryphon, we were all too weak to put up any kind of challenge, and the temptation might be too great for her, so I voiced my concern. Niccolo quickly jumped to her defense, saying that she had given her word to him. This simply could not be enough…of course she gave her word to him, but what to us? I don’t know if she would kill her own brother, but what are we to her? Niccolo apparently didn’t understand this simple concept and was insulted by my disagreeing with him, and not accepting his assurances. He would have to get over that…I still contended that cornet should travel with Maggie and Roxanne. Before the decision was final, Salvazia thought it prudent to warn that the Myrmidons might sense the great power of the cornet and take it from Maggie. I voiced that I would rather the Myrmidons have it than Manslayer, and the argument was ended. Maggie and Roxanne went off after Agni, with the cornet in their possession.
We made it out of the tunnel safely, and waited nearby for Maggie and Roxanne to catch us up. They appeared much more quickly than expected, and informed us that the Myrmidons had already blocked the tunnels out. All the dissent and arguing was for nothing after all. Maggie handed the cornet over to Niccolo, and rode to the castle to find Agni, while we traveled to the west a short ways to find a stream. While waiting there, I found a tree to sit under, and passed out from weariness. The next morning, feeling much better, I stripped off my breastplate, and dove into the stream to get cleaned up. After washing off, I dried and tried on the dwarven plate Maggie carried out for me. It didn’t fit quite right, so I took it off and started refitting it. Also in the morning, I found out that when Maggie went to the castle, she learned that Agni was asked to leave as soon as he resurfaced, and that he had ridden west along the same path we took to get here. Once everyone had breakfast, we set out wagon on the path west and started traveling.
Quinn was still unconscious, and I was still pretty well banged up, so Maggie recommended a cave system a day’s ride west that we could hole up in until everyone was healthy, and hopefully we could figure out what to do about Salvazia. She wouldn’t be able to just walk into any town with that armor and with her accent. We reached the caves and were setting up camp when yet another surprise visited us. In the middle of the camp appeared a wizard-priest of Abaris named Rexar. He had teleported in, and informed us that whenever he looked into his scrying ball, all he could ever see was us, and he wanted to know why. It seems this weird attention to us started about the same time we found the lead cornet, and after briefly talking to each other, we decided to show it to him. Perplexed, he looked at the cornet and stated that it was odd we should find such a thing. He told us that there were possibly three people alive that could identify it, and he was one of them. The cornet, and all of its counterparts, were 2000 year old artifacts of the church of Abaris. The lead cornet, in particular, is a magical artifact that prevents the wearer from being affected by some strange kind of magic that he called psionics…some sort of mind magic. Apparently, thousands of years ago, the cornet was valuable because there were many people around who could harness the power of psionics, and being rendered totally immune to its effects was extremely valuable…but now-a-days, no one could use such magic, and he thought the cornet would not be very beneficial. So the question remains, why were we sent for this thing, and possibly more importantly, why did Manslayer want it? Before Rexar left, Maggie asked him about the large statue of the smith, and he identified it as an avatar of Abaris, Dorias the Steelcaster. It was the aspect of Abaris that crafted magical items. With that he left, and hopefully, is no longer watching us.
Here we sit, in this cave, deciding our next move. We have the piece…now what? Should we go talk to Gaila again for another clue? She didn’t seem very forthcoming last time. We definitely need to go find Agni and get him back with us. I definitely need to go home briefly, and speak to Konig Skjalg about everything that’s happened so far. I also think it’s time I talk to Theo about the Order of the Sword. I don’t feel I was nearly as effective as I could have been in some of the battles in the ruins. If I could append my skills with some of their magic, and even have the ability to create some newer, magically enhanced weapons and armor to battle with like some of my more skilled brethren back home, I can be more helpful in the future. The siege of Zaubersturm is probably already under way, and if what Salvazia says is true, it is possibly the final siege of Zaubersturm. If the Order falls, than Theo may be my only available teacher for awhile. I only hope he remembers enough to teach me.
Game Six
May 4, 2002
General thoughts:
Maggie: She helped me further my work with the weird plate mail. Caught the rancid deer that left me wrecked for days, not that I can blame her for that.
Roxanne: In between my horrible vomiting and the mad dash to save Gaila, I don’t remember much of anything from Roxanne. Well, aside from her being kind enough to keep Hank occupied while he traveled with us, which was very much appreciated.
Niccolo: Once again I have Niccolo to thank. He looked over me while I recuperated after the rancid meat took hold of my body. Without his aide, something as simple as that bout with the gut bug could have killed me.
Quinn: I remember little from Quinn as well over the past few weeks. Of course, I try to remember little of what happened.
Theo: After asking Theo if he would instruct me some in the Art, he said he would have to think about it, and that he’d ask his advisors of the ordeal. Apparently, his time with The Order wasn’t the most favorable, and he doesn’t look back at that part of him with ease. I hope I haven’t asked too much of him.
Salvazia: I’m still alive, and that says something for her. I surely doubted my continued survival with someone of her ability, and demeanor, traveling with us. Perhaps she will listen to reason, and is here to find out the truth about Manslayer.
Hank: The poor lad. He went from being the butt of some foolish prank to washing the undies of a group of bandits. If it wasn’t for him, we would have had a real fight on our hands, and I appreciate his intervention, but the boy seriously just needs to find his way home before he’s hurt for good.
What Happened:
Little was accomplished, and more was lost than gained over these past few weeks. Gaila is in the hands of Manslayer, everyone we’ve talked to is dead, and we’re running out of places to go for help or advice. I must travel home to see Konig Skjalg, but I fear for his life simply by wanting to speak with him. I must tell him of what has happened, no matter the risk.
This leg of our travels started out slowly enough. We rested in the cave for a few more days while Quinn recovered. During that time, I worked more on the plate mail with Maggie’s help. It is slow work, and I may just have to take it home with me to trade to a true craftsman. Perhaps this thing is simply beyond my skill to fix...but I should be able to make a trade for a true set of dwarven plate. Its rarity alone gives it some value. I also constructed a crude mold out of some nearby wood, and melted down all the Thesh gold we collected. It is extremely valuable in Valduran, but the seal of Thesh on the coins would get us arrested or worse in any place we went to. The gold, once melted, valued at close to forty pieces....a small fortune indeed.
From the cave, we decided to head for Eisennstadt, and then onward to Futterscharte. Before leaving, I finally took Theo aside and asked him if he could educate me in the ways of The Order of the Sword. He said that he would have to think about taking me on...apparently, he left them not on the best of terms. He said that even before he could start my training, he would have to speak to officials in Eisennstadt. He said that there, they would test me, to see if I even have the talent, and decide from there whether or not Theo could train me. I thought the only real holding of The Order was Zaubersturm, which I expect to fall, as Salvazia said is likely to happen, and finding out that there is a branch of Myrmidons in Eisennstadt definitely brightened my mood. Even if Theo can’t take me on, I can hopefully stop there and train with them long enough to gain an understanding of the Art. Once Quinn was back on his feet, we finally set out for Eisennstadt. The first day out, trying to find the road again, we came upon trouble. Niccolo saw something off to the side, and as we approached, it turned out to be a green cloaked bandit. He demanded all of out possessions as ‘tax’. Before I could hand over my tax, in the form of a swing from my great axe, none other than Hank stood up from behind a bush to tell the first bandit that he knew us. They talked briefly, and the green cloaked bandit waived our tax. At that time, another thirty bandits stood up from behind various bushes and other hiding places, each holding a bow. Hank stopped a lot of bloodshed that day. Before he could saunter off to join his comrades, Maggie and Roxanne called out to him. After some questioning, it turned out he had joined them by losing a drinking contest, and that he had been making by through cleaning the bandits’ clothes and cooking their meals. Maggie and Roxanne, the saints of the group, told Hank he could travel with us back to Eisennstadt, where we would set him up with some real adventurers, and not the thugs he was hanging out with. Eagerly, he joined us, and our party grew by one.
That night, Maggie came back from hunting with a large deer to feed us. It was a welcome dinner. That is, until the next morning, when my guts tried to free themselves of me and run away on their own. The deer had to have been rancid, because I was sicker than I’ve ever been in my entire life, which is quite some time. For the next week, I could do nothing more than vomit what little I ate, and release the rest in a most foul waste. In the time while I was sick, we made our way to Beilburg, and holed up until I was ready to travel again. Towards the end of our week in Beilburg, a knock came at my door, and after permission was granted, a healer from the local dwarven ruling house came to tend me. He said he had been sent by Herzog Kormac Goldenkrone to see to me. I was confused, until shortly thereafter, another member of the Herzog’s court came to welcome me to his hall. Apparently, Maggie had already been summoned, and had mentioned our fight with the gray dwarves, so this man wanted to know if I carried any ‘souvenirs’ from that fight. Finally understanding what was happening, I pulled myself out of bed, offered the servant my bag, being that I was still too weak to carry it, and made my way to the Herzog’s keep. There, I met a Herzog for the first time, still reeking of my own wastes, and two days away from death, but he welcomed me none the less. That evening, we told him everything that had happened, and I showed him the head of the dwarf that I kept. He said he could offer little advice, but he did say that if he learned anything, he would pass it along to Maggie’s grandfather near Futterscharte. They seem to have a history together. I was nervous of telling anyone other than Konig Skjalg of the head, and of what happened, but Maggie had said too much before I got there, and I was in no shape to argue.
A few more days passed, and finally so did the pain in my bowels. In the time of my sickness, Hank actually washed my pants, the sad fool. I can’t too much disdain for him, but I do want to see him somewhere safe.
After another week of travel, we finally came upon Kreuzung. We had every intention of riding around the city and continuing straight on to Eisennstadt, but the city guard had other plans for us. The gate officer stopped us before we could go around and asked our business, while another guard ran from the gate into the city. When we told him we were traveling past, he asked our destination. When we told him we were on our way to Eisennstadt, he asked what our business there was. It finally became clear that he was trying to slow us, so Maggie started to lead the horses on. The guard actually trotted alongside us, still trying to hold conversation, until Maggie kicked the horses into action. Once we pulled away from him, the trouble really began. We were rounding the side of the outer wall, when a storm of dust started kicking up from the other close entrance to the city. Seeing that it was a mounted troupe of guards, we knew we couldn’t outrun them...and with Salvazia here, we’d have a lot of explaining to do. In order to protect her, and us, Maggie did her best to kick up her own dirt, and Salvazia ran ahead of us to get away. Shortly thereafter, the guards chased us down, and said we were to be taken back to the city for questioning. When asked what about, they said for murder.
Inside the guardhouse, we were faced with a guard captain, a priest, and a dwarven captain. The guard asked if we had been in town a few weeks before, which we had. He then asked if we knew of a particular thief, the man who came and spoke to Alexander. (At this point, it became clear that Hank had messed his pants. The poor lad) We told them everything we knew of the man, of what happened to Alexander’s father, and why the two of them left us. Thinking that Alexander might be in trouble, or worse, we finally asked what was going on. The guard, after conferring with the other two, told us that the thief had been found outside of town, murdered. If only the news stopped there. Not only was the person killed, but the skin of his face was ripped clean off. Furthermore, Alexander’s horse was found, also slain. The thing apparently had a huge gash laced with poison across it, caused a massive blade. Alexander’s holy symbol was also found, sliced down the middle. There was definitely a battle here, but there was no sign of Alexander. He would not have left his horse, or his symbol, while still breathing, and his body wasn’t found nearby, so his whereabouts are a mystery. The guard mentioned one final thing about the battlefield: scorched hoof prints in the ground that disappeared into thin air. There’s no way a horse could wear shoes fresh from the fire...how could there have been burns where the creature stepped? And how did it just vanish? We told the investigators we had no idea how any of it happened, and they dutifully believed us. Before releasing us, the guard said that two more murders had happened in the city within the past few weeks. An Iron Band member named Lorael was found in an alley, with the same mutilation, a few weeks prior. And a week and a half ago, a small-time thug was found with the same markings...his name was Hector, the man Quinn spoke to for information while we were here. My only guess is that Lorael is someone Hector spoke to for help, because it seems either Manslayer or some minion of his is close behind us, eliminating the people we’ve gone to for help, or even have had contact with. Now, more than ever, we knew we had to get to Eisennstadt, for Gaila, and for everyone else we talked to, and excused ourselves from the guards’ presence. Before leaving, we did get the name of the guard captain, Captain Richert Bernnan, in case we needed his help in the future.
We ran to a local stable, traded in our wagon and mule, and bought enough horses for everyone to have two. This cost us roughly half of the Thesh gold we had recovered. I can only hope the beasts can be traded in once we get to Eisennstadt for even a fraction of their value. Also, when paying for the horses, Quinn searched for the ruby from the wood cornet, only to find it missing. The boy had lost the thing! It alone could have paid for most of the horses, and it was simply gone! But we had no time to worry about that. With enough horses for everyone.....err...everyone save Hank. Maggie took the boy aside and said his travels with us had to end here. The road was much too dangerous for him. He refused, until she promised that he would find plenty of admirable adventurers in Kreuzung (like the bandits he met up with the first time around). Well, with Hank off our hands, we rode out of the city with the speed of a landslide towards Eisennstadt. We met up with Salvazia quickly and continued on our way.
Nearing Eisennstadt, we came upon The Inn of the Crossroads, where Quinn had his fateful romp with the creature Rothgafarius. We almost rode right by, when Niccolo thought it best we at least investigate the place, being that we had stayed there so long. The rest of us waited while he ran inside. A few minutes later, he came out and told us that the bartender had indeed been slain a week before in the same manner as those in Kreuzung. With renewed vigor, we pushed on to Eisennstadt.
After a few more hours of traveling, we reached the city walls. Quinn and Theo split from us to see to their own contacts, Niccolo and Salvazia went straight for Gaila’s, and Roxanne, Maggie, and I went to see Olaf, the dwarven guard captain that had helped us before. We found Olaf, and told him everything that was going on, and he informed us that someone had already been found who had been killed in a similar fashion. It had been a prostitute that Roxanne had just barely even spoken to. And it had happened only a few days before. We told Olaf we had to get to Gaila’s immediately to see if she were still alive, and he said he would send guards out as quickly as possible.
When we reached Gaila’s place, there was definitely something wrong with the place. There was an ancient looking tree near the house that wasn’t there before, and the front of the house had been ripped apart. Running past the tree into the house, we came to Niccolo and Salvazia, and some weird third party named Zoryn, who referred to himself as a druid, some sort of nature cleric. Trying to figure out what was going on, I asked Niccolo, and he said that he tried to get past Zoryn to check on Gaila and was smacked with the druid’s staff for it. Before I could push past, Niccolo said that the strange tree in the front yard was alive, and he didn’t recommend us upsetting Zoryn further. Apparently, it was the tree that had demolished the front of the house. Confused, I looked toward the tree, and I would swear that the thing looked back at me! Not knowing what to do, but not wanting to fight that thing, I asked Zoryn if Gaila was ok. He said that she was, and that she couldn’t see visitors at the moment. At that point, I looked to Niccolo and motioned that guards were on the way. In an effort to stall the druid, he asked if he alone could to see Gaila, just to confirm that she was still alive and well. Through some negotiating, Zoryn agreed. Several minutes passed before Niccolo returned, looking too pale to be healthy. He said that Gaila was alive, drugged as much as usual. What had upset him so much was the fact that her garden had been ‘redesigned’ by Zoryn...into some nightmarish thing with living plants. Not doubting the physic, I sat back to wait for the guards. Niccolo also mentioned that Zoryn knew of the guards, and he said that if anyone attacked, Niccolo would be ‘the first against the wall’. Obviously afraid of the tree, he stayed well inside the recesses of the house.
Quickly thereafter, the guards finally showed up. We informed them of what was happening, and through some convincing, finally showed them that the tree in the front was truly alive. They immediately sent a guard back to gather clerics.
Several more minutes passed, with the sound of trees crashing and falling inside the garden, before the clerics arrived. With them came Winthrop, the wizard who disliked Agni so much, and tried to impede our investigation. Along with him was another mage, in full battle armor. Once we told Winthrop of all that was happening, he told the other mage to deal with the tree while he investigated the garden.
On command, the armored mage set his swords ablaze through his own magic and started hacking at the tree. It immediately responded by lashing out at him. At that, the other guards joined the fray and quickly hacked the thing to little more than firewood. In the entire battle, only one guard was wounded grievously.
With that going on in the background, the rest of us advanced on the garden. I opened the door, and the nightmarish landscape was displayed to us. Rosebushes swayed and lashed, trees moved, and things just seemed wrong. Winthrop, with the aide of the clerics, advanced and forced back the weird landscape, until we approached the fountain where Niccolo saw Gaila. Both she and Zoryn were gone, and in the place of the fountain stood a massive oak tree. Maggie set to tracking the two. She found Zoryn’s tracks as they led away, saw that they stopped, and then were joined by another set of tracks, Gaila’s, and they both led right back to where we were standing, dead-ending in the tree. Amused at our failure, Winthrop gazed in his tiny crystal ball, and viewed where Gaila was. A hallway, a hallway in Thet, Zoryn was there...and then...he saw Manslayer. Zoryn had been an agent of Manslayer, and we let him get away with Gaila. But it didn’t end there. As Winthrop was gazing in, Manslayer looked up and gazed out...that same as when Gaila tried to scry him. He became very flustered, saying how that wasn’t possible, and how that couldn’t have happened. It’s impossible to look the other way through a crystal ball. At that point, Maggie started yelling at him, about how the same thing had happened to Gaila, and how all this tied in to Geldamar, and how Winthrop hadn’t listened to us before, and how all of this could have been avoided, and she continued lashing into him, until he finally had enough and cut her off. Not really responding in any way, he simply glared at her and said that she had earned an enemy in him for her yelling at him, and then he left. If he wasn’t trying to slow us before, he will be now.
Here we stand; nowhere to go, no one to turn to. Gaila, our only help and our only lead, swept away to the clutches of Manslayer. The one person who could tell us where to go next, now under the influence of the enemy.
All I know at this point is that I must speak with Konig Skjalg...I must tell him all that has happened. But I fear for his life. Simply speaking to him could bring about the wrath of Manslayer. I know the Konig had plenty of guards, and can protect himself, but I thought the same thing about Geldamar, and he fell so quickly...
What are we going to do...?
Game Eight
June 1, 2002
General thoughts:
I…I don’t even know where to start. Many weeks have passed, and much has changed. Much that was hidden has been revealed, and just how difficult our path is going to be is starting to sharply come into focus. Clear your thoughts….start from the beginning…pattern, routine, discipline…
Maggie: She has some oddities, true, but she doesn’t have any secrets. And right now, that means more to me than anything else. As always, she can be relied upon. She is as stalwart as any of my kinsman. And I finally was privileged to meet her grandfather, dwarf-friend Siegfreid Oreson. A remarkable man, indeed.
Roxanne: When we first came together, I had renewed hope in her. She had finished her training as a priestess and could hopefully provide support for the party when needed. We had a discussion on relationships and how human frivolity and promiscuity is different from dwarven dedication, but still I pass no judgment on her chosen lifestyle. Furthermore, when the loyalties of her family were brought into question, I could not ask her to betray them…especially without verifiable evidence. I just hope she hasn’t brought danger even closer to us by speaking with them. I was rash enough to call her dwarf-friend when she was brought up on charges of treason, and truth be told, if we all survive this ordeal, and save Valduran from the clutches of Thet and Manslayer, then all of my companions will be dwarf- and Valduran-friend.
Quinn: The truth of his “immortality” was finally shared. I don’t know if I feel better now than before. At least the secrets of this party are coming to the surface. So, apparently, he was created in an alchemist’s lab five years ago. All he has is the person’s name: Tam. His location we hope to inquire about. Quinn’s memories of the circus, and of his life before five years ago are all artificial. He is born not of man or mate. Whether or not he’ll continue to recover from fatal blows is unknown. As more time passes, I like the boy…boy? thing?…more. If we can find this Tam, to answer questions regarding Quinn’s origins, that would be wonderful, but at the moment it is peripheral. Of more importance at the moment, I’m glad he told us of his information about The Rose and Roxanne’s “family”. Given his doubts, I don’t blame him for wanted to have Roxanne tested. Given the method of the testing, I wish he had found a better way. It has caused some strife, no doubt, but if there is any doubt at all about the security of The Rose, then it is not worth the risk to have any information sent there. We must be 100% sure. Roxanne has admitted to The Rose being an information brokerage…it isn’t that great a leap to say they may have sold info to Nadera. We need solid evidence, but I hope for now Roxanne will understand that the shadow of doubt has been cast and that’s all that matters where our safety and our information is concerned.
Niccolo: I still trust Niccolo with my life, but there is no doubt he is the quietest when others begin to speak of their past. He has offered little information about himself or his past, and I somehow doubt he is as on-the-surface as Maggie and myself. My companions’ histories are important in understanding them, and in expecting what’s to come. It is already slated by Fate for Niccolo to fall to his own kind…the less we know of them, and of him, the more dangerous.
Theodore: I doubt I would have been allowed to apply to the Order of the Sword quite as readily if not for the help of Theodore, and I am indebted to him for it. He is carrying his spellbook again, so with any luck, he will be more willing to share his experiences with The Order and his knowledge gained from them. Concerning The Rose, I think he helped Quinn decide to admit to their involvement. Theo is of high moral character, I believe. All the secrets and double-talk have been for a reason, though I still disapprove, and I’m glad the secrets are beginning to come to the surface.
Salvazia: Quite possibly the most consistent of our group, if I dare call her part of it, she still wants to kill us. Despite my fear of her, there is some comfort in that knowledge. It’s sad when your enemies are more trustworthy than your companions. Human nature is a bizarre and confusing thing. Of some little importance, she also verified that Nadera does sell information to Thet…no great surprise, but in a time of unverifiable evidence, I trust her word on this.
Agni: And finally, my thoughts turn to Agni. While I was gone, he tried to rape one of Niccolo’s patients through the use of a charm spell. Horrible in its own right, even worse is the fact that he saw nothing wrong with the deed and admitted no fault. Secondhand knowledge, though it is, I was told he may have felt differently if she were of noble blood, but since she wasn’t, there was nothing wrong with his act. Even Salvazia saw the error of his ways, and once again, it’s sad when your enemy is more dependable, and almost more moral, then one’s own companions. Furthermore, no one has seen Agni in over a month…and he has all of our shares of loot obtained from selling the cornets. At this point, considering the fact that he has been around as much as he has not, I don’t believe in his dedication to our quest, I don’t appreciate his value system, and I’d be just as happy to find him, receive our shares of the wealth, and then move on. The time we spend tracking him down is time wasted…granted, we don’t have a straight path to follow at the moment, and we aren’t sure of our next move, but every day wasted on him is still a day taken away from us.
General thoughts: My head is still spinning from all that has happened. And we are still not beyond the reaches of Eisennstadt. I can only wonder what the road holds for us. It is easiest to go over everything as it happened, so that’s how I shall continue to do so...
We all parted ways nearly three months ago. Considering Niccolo’s new attire, I can only assumed he trained with Salvazia and Maggie to use the armor and weapons he now carries. Roxanne finally became ordained as a priestess of Betshaba. Quinn and Theo, well, I assume they stayed out of trouble. Maggie, I assume spent most of her time with her family. As for Agni, well, aside from his time in Niccolo’s tower, I don’t know what he’s been up to, and I don’t really care at this point.
My adventures found me returning home to finally report to Konig Skjalg. The week’s travel home was uneventful, and I was admitted immediately to speak with my Konig. In council with him, I recounted my time with Geldamar, the events surrounding his death, and our quest to understand his prophecy and to stop Manslayer. I told Skjalg of the gray dwarves (giving him the head I carried as evidence). He told me that he had never seen or heard of such things before, and asked if I had any impression that they were servants of Enos. Saying that I had nothing to back up such a thought, he said that they were a mystery to be thought upon. I also told him about the dark elves Salvazia informed us of. In the prophecy, it states that Manslayer is not of this world, and I told Skjalg of my concern that these things, the gray dwarves and dark elves, may be of another world as well. He comforted me, saying that Lord Ptharos, Betshaba, and Balthor had placed gates and wards around our world to protect it from outsiders. He said that it was still possible that such things had traveled from another land, but that it was hopefully unlikely. I also spoke to him about the Abarisian cornet, the piece. Concerning the lead band, and psychics in general, he told me of the land of Dun Lorak, a human land far to the north. He had knowledge of this place because one of the dwarven kingdoms resides there, and Skjalg has the ability to speak with the other dwarven konigs. Apparently, this human nation is more magical than most, and psychics are still known and taught. Perhaps Manslayer is either from this land, or plans to conquer it, and this is why he sought the cornet. After recounting all that has happened, Skjalg asked me to inquire about Geldamar’s family. In his death, his life-debt has been shifted to any surviving relatives. I also told my konig of my desire to join The Order of the Sword, and he said that it would be a wise decision. By joining them, he hopes that I will receive greater understanding of humans and their workings. Lastly, I showed him the gray dwarf’s armor, asking if he wanted it for study. Declining the offer, he directed me to his smiths to help with the final fitting so that I could adorn it. Vowing to return when more information, and time, presented itself, I took my leave of Konig Skjalg.
With the royal smiths, I was able to sell my breastplate, and find out what I was doing wrong with fitting the odd new half plate. From them I was also able to purchase molds for warhammers and battle-axes. I shall be able to make my own weapons now. Also, while there, I apprenticed briefly to understand the skill of blacksmithing. Knowing how to bend and fold metals for armor and weapons lended itself to my understanding of the creation of lesser things, and it didn’t take long for me to learn the craft. While home, I also found an antiquities dealer to sell the ancient dwarven fittings to, and landed a kind sum of one hundred and fifty silvers. Finally, I spent a few weeks with local trainers better understanding the ways of the warrior, and now understand how to completely cleave through an opponent with my great axe and continue with the attack to slay another foe.
With new knowledge, new skills, and new equipment, I left my home again. I traveled to Futterscharte, and met with Roxanne briefly to learn of the whereabouts of the others. Learning that others were still researching and training, I took the opportunity to head to Eisennstadt. There I met up with Theodore, and he agreed to take me to The Order’s outpost in the town for my training with them.
We traveled to what looked like a miniature fort within the walls of the city, the base of operations for The Order of the Sword in Eisennstadt, and Theodore spoke with several higher-ranking officials. He informed me that I should return the following morning to be tested. The outcome of the test would determine whether or not I could join The Order. Agreeing, I went back to the inn, and spent a restless night in bed. The next day, at dawn, I returned to find Theo, bleary eyed, already waiting for me. Entering the compound, I saw several students training in the art of warfare, overseen by men in full plate mail who walked as though they were wearing nothing but the finest silks. We approached one such overseer, who introduced himself as Monitor Hengist Colwyn. This would be the man to administer my test. Before doing so, he told me of the philosophy that The Order followed. He said that two things were important to Myrmidons: discipline, and the understanding of life and death. Without discipline, no great leader could lead, and no humble servant could serve. Through discipline, members rise in the ranks of the Myrmidons, slowly gaining command over others. Through the understanding of life and death, such a commander can make the decisions necessary that lead to death, on the battlefield and off. It is a Myrmidons place to hand out death, but only to those deserving. And only through understanding and discipline can a leader truly know who deserves life and who is owed death. Nodding, and saying that I agree with the philosophies, Monitor Colwyn then told me that in order for me to join The Order I would have to be tested. The test: one on one combat with him. I only had to draw blood once in order to be admitted. He warned that if he were to die during combat, a trial would be had, but that I would not be charged with murder. In a duel, there is no murder. However, he also informed me that I was the first dwarf to ever seek admittance into The Order, and that any trial would be different from those had before, due to my race. Taking his warning, I agreed to the test, and told him I was ready.
A circle was cleared, with students making up the perimeter, and we took opposite sides. I drew my warhammer and steel shield, and he drew a fine, two-handed broadsword. When we were both ready, the duel began. As I approached, he cast a spell that seemed to enhance his movements. When I reached him, he took the upper hand by attacking first. Three blows fell before I could respond. The first landed below the protection of my shield and found a seam of the half plate, drawing a small amount of blood, and an equal amount of pain. The second, swung more quickly than should have been possible with such a great sword, cut me on the other side. His third attack I fended off, and responded with one in kind. Too agile for me, even in his full plate, my warhammer connected with little more than air. Still recovering from my swing, I was not able to defend his next attack, which sliced a gash into my side. I faltered then, and by doing so, might have actually saved the day. By sinking against the attack, I lowered myself too much for the human. Being the first dwarf to take this test, Monitor Colwyn was not used to someone of my stature, and overextended himself with his next attack. Knowing that this would be my only opportunity to win this battle, I called upon Balthor to give me strength and swung a mighty blow at Hengist. His balance was still off, and he reacted too slowly to my move. My warhammer connected solidly with his kneecap, and there was a crunch of metal and bone that rang across the courtyard. In horror, I watched as his leg twisted in a direction it was not meant to go, and from the crushed plate, I saw no small amount of bone pierce through. He yelled out in pain, dropped his blade, and fell to the ground. I likewise dropped my hammer and shield, and stepped back, afraid that I may have actually almost killed the man. Through tears of pain and clenched teeth, Monitor Colwyn turned his eyes on me and hissed that I was to be trained. I don’t know if Balthor heard my prayers or not, but I’m certain someone watched over me that day.
Over the next two weeks, I trained vigorously with the Myrmidons, learning all I could about The Order, their ways, and the magic they controlled. Considering my previous training with weapons, and my prowess exhibited during the test, I spent little time training with the other students in warcraft, but the time I did spend, I was granted a wide berth and shown much respect. After the two weeks passed, I joined a graduating class of three students. In my time in the walls of the keep, four other students had died in accidents during their training. Of the class, I graduated second, earning the title Wizard Second Class. To officiate the occasion, Monitor Colwyn personally presented me with a medallion containing the emblem of The Order. He had a slight limp at the ceremony, but offered no other signs of injury. Magical healing was surely employed in his quick recover. He congratulated me, and I took my first steps as a Myrmidon.
I returned to Futterscharte to find that Niccolo and Maggie would still be several weeks. With this knowledge, I returned to The Order of the Sword and continued training with the time I had. It was four more weeks before we were all to come together again, and in that time I was able to learn the language of magic, used by mages and in texts on magical treatises. Training finished, I returned to The Rose yet again, this time to wait for the others.
As we all came together, I shared what I had learned from Konig Skjalg, and first heard of Agni’s actions. We decided then that it might be best to return to Niccolo’s tower to speak in private. On the road there a messenger approached us, with word from The Rose. A note had arrived from Quinn’s contact in Kreuzung. The note told of an apparent plague that has spread in the hobbit homeland of Heartland. Not knowing if this disease has to do with Manslayer’s machinations, we discussed traveling there well into the night. Also, once at Niccolo’s tower, I was able to meet Agni’s victim, Ayleth, and learn full what had happened. Not knowing what direction to go in, we decided to first travel to Eisennstadt to settle some more business and to hopefully learn of Agni’s whereabouts.
The trip to Eisennstadt was uneventful, and once there our first order of business was to sell all of the horses we no longer needed. Keeping a warhorse for Theodore and another for Salvazia, and riding steeds for Niccolo, Quinn, and Roxanne, we sold the nine others. While at the horse trader, we purchased another wagon and draft horses for it. I could once again ride in a wagon, and not worry of having an animal much larger then me riding me around.
From the trader, Niccolo and I traveled to The Malachite League to speak with Master Winthrop. We were seen almost immediately, and Winthrop’s attitude towards us had taken an about-face from the last time we met. He was cordial and helpful, going so far as to scry for Agni’s location. In the end, he could not help, but he offered his services at any time in the future if we so needed them. We then asked if he knew of any possibility that Geldamar might have living relatives. Winthrop said that Geldamar was originally from a land far away, and that he was indeed much older than he appeared due to his magical ability to maintain life. If he did have any surviving relatives, they would likely be many generations removed from him. Taking this knowledge to heart, we left the topic of Geldamar. While there, Master Winthrop also noted my new medallion and congratulated me on joining The Myrmidons. I’m not sure what sort of rivalry exists between the schools, but he seemed delighted to know that I had joined one of the orders. As we were leaving his offices, on a whim, I asked if he had any news of the Brandyberry wine shortage. Being a lavish and noble school of wizardry, I assumed they might know something of an extravagant wine shortage…but apparently the wine they receive is of much higher class. Winthrop knew nothing of the shortage. Finally taking our leave, Niccolo and I returned to The Flying Stag to meet up with everyone and report what we learned.
Niccolo went to his room to check on Salvazia, and while he was gone, several guardsmen entered the inn. They approached our table, asked Roxanne’s identity, and after verifying that they had the right person, arrested her for treason. She asked what it was about, and they said she was being brought in for questioning concerning her possibly being a traitor to the dwarflands and human nation of Valduran. Speaking up then, I jumped to her defense, saying it was rubbish…that she was a dwarf-friend and on a quest to help the nation. The guards replied that they had their orders, and had to bring her in. As they carried her away in chains, I sent a barmaid to get Niccolo, and followed the guards out the door. At that time, the rest of the group happened to rejoin us, and we all went to stand by Roxanne’s side.
On the trip to the guardhouse, Roxanne mentioned that she had sold one of the gray dwarf’s daggers and was afraid this might have to do with it. Before we could talk further, we were all escorted into the guardhouse and made to wait. An hour passed before finally we were all taken to a chamber where the questioning would take place. In the chamber stood a guardsman in plain clothes and seated at a long table facing us were five members of the Iron Band. Inquisitors for the inquisition. Knowing that they controlled the magic of the mind and could even read a person’s thoughts, I did my best to clear my mind of any thought of Thet, Manslayer, or especially, Salvazia. They questioned Roxanne for some time, asking her if she had ever had any encounter with people of different nations. Telling them her profession, they all let out a groan, knowing that she had had “contact” with people of many, many different nations. They went on to ask if she had every conspired against the nation of Valduran. Declaring that she had not, they relinquished, dropped the charges, and let her go. Afraid that they may have had gleaned some information about Niccolo or Salvazia in her thoughts, we hurriedly finished the rest of our business in town. Last stop was an antiquities dealer and Abarisian by the name of Alarik that Roxanne had sold the cornets to. This man was exceedingly generous and we will be going back to him with anything of antique value we come across. Showing him the gold masks and gold disc, he confirmed that they had some religious significance and offered us 1800 silver for them. Readily agreeing, he went into the back of his shop for a few minutes and returned with a sack laden with silver bars. Before handing the sack over, he mentioned how heavy it was, and went on to mention that he might be able to trade the sack, with all of its contents, for a magic bag that would be able to hold much, much more while weighing as though it had nothing in it. Learning of such things with The Order, I knew they were much more valuable then the 1800 silver he was asking. I told him that I had to ask my companions before making such a decision with monies we would all be sharing, and told him I would return very shortly with word of our decision.
Practically racing back to The Stag, I informed the others of the deal that Alarik was cutting us, and they agreed to the exchange. Returning to his shop, I told him that we would trade, but before doing so, I removed one of the silver bars from the bag, 100 silvers worth, and asked him if we could hold onto just one bar to better fund our latest expedition. He, in counteroffer, said that the bar would be a loan, and that we were to return with any more finds for him to purchase from us. At that time, we would repay the loan. Once again, I readily agreed, knowing that any relationship with this man would be greatly profitable, and we traded silver for the magic bag of holding. Before leaving, he did offer us a few warnings and instructions for the bag. He said that it would be able to hold 500 pounds worth of items before filling, and that all one had to do to find the item one wanted within the bag was to stick a hand in and think of the item. Furthermore, he said that there was no air in the bag, so if a person wound up within it, they should not remain there long or risk suffocation. Lastly, he told us to keep the bag away from other bags of holding or portable holes. Both items utilize strange planar magic in their creation, virtually creating inter-dimensional pocket planes within them. If one item were to be placed within another, a rift in space and time could be torn open. Taking his warning to heart, I attached the bag to my belt, and we traveled back to The Flying Stag.
We arrived just in time for Maggie to receive a summons from the Herzog of Beilburg. He was in town for a meeting of the Herzogs and some human politicians. Meeting with him, Maggie asked if he knew why Roxanne was brought up on charges of treason. He gave the same information that the Directors had given us: that a very trusted informant who could not be named had received information that she could be a spy. Getting annoyed with the secrecy surrounding us, but knowing we could ask for no more, we bid the Herzog farewell…but not before he could comment on how I looked much healthier than during our previous meeting. I simply lowered my eyes to avoid his gaze and said that I had made a complete recovery. After leaving the Herzog, we exited town immediately. If the Directors had learned something of Salvazia, they would have to track us down to ask more questions. We turned south to make the trek to Maggie’s grandfather’s place. Niccolo had some outfitting to do before traveled north to points untold. On the trip south is when Quinn came forward and told us he was the one to turn Roxanne in. He said that an informant of his had said that The Rose was funneling information to Nadera, and he wasn’t sure if Roxanne was in on it. He said he did it because he had to be sure she was trustworthy. He apologized for the interrogation, not knowing that things would be handled that way, but was happy to know that she wasn’t part of the operation. The revelation didn’t end that simply, however. When Roxanne learned of Quinn’s information, she immediately became sullen, and asked how he knew such a thing was true. He said he would stake his life on his informant’s information, and she said it was her family he was talking about. The name Kane Brannock came up, apparently as someone Roxanne could go to if she needed help, and Quinn responded that Kane was a very untrustworthy person who one should not turn their back on. The conversation went back and forth for a while, centered mainly on those two points (who to believe: Quinn’s informant or Roxanne’s family), before she finally rode off to the nearby stream to meditate. We stopped and talked amongst ourselves while she waded in the water.
While she was gone, Quinn told us that The Rose might be infested with Naderan spies, and that if so, they were more than likely selling any information sent to us to Thet. This would explain how people we knew were turning up dead….at least, partially. We all agreed that since a shadow of doubt was cast over The Rose, no matter what, we couldn’t trust our information there. A safe hold has to be 100% secure, or else it isn’t safe. We then decided to have all further information sent to Siegfreid, Maggie’s grandfather. Before the conversation ended, Quinn also took this time to tell us of his true heritage…of Tam, and the alchemist’s lab, and how all his true memories ended five years ago. Too much for me to think of, my head was still swirling due to this new information when Roxanne returned from the river and rode past us straight to Futterscharte. We followed, giving her some space, until we reached the town, and watched as she entered the temple to Betshaba there. We camped outside the temple until, later that evening, some town guards came along and told us we had to get a room for the evening. Niccolo went back to his tower, and Maggie, Quinn, Theo, and I found refuge at Maggie’s parents’ place. When we got there, Maggie’s mom answered the door, obviously intoxicated. She apparently had spent the night proving to some of her old war buddies that she could still drink them under the table. Well, she was still up, and they were definitely under the table, unconscious. She went to bed shortly after we arrived, and the four of us stayed up slightly later having a drink of our own, the help stem the thoughts and emotions that were swirling around. I couldn’t even think of Quinn and what he shared…it was difficult enough thinking of what Roxanne could do once she left the temple.
The next morning, we were waiting outside come dawn, when she reemerged from the temple. She came up to us and asked if we were going to stop her. Knowing that trying to physically stop her would only make things worse, and knowing that I couldn’t come between her and her family, I stood down, as did the others. We followed as she went to The Rose and disappeared within. She came out thirty minutes later to say that they knew nothing of the murders or who was causing them. I asked if it took half an hour to say that and she snapped back, asking if I wanted a transcript of the conversation. I silenced myself, and simply rode along as we traveled on to Siegfreid’s. All I can hope now is that she hasn’t endangered us much further. If we find evidence that they are spies, it will truly crush young Roxanne, but her naiveté must be overcome somehow. The trip to Siegfreid’s was uneventful. When we arrived, he was on the front porch, apparently waiting for us. He was a tall, imposing man, but with an open demeanor. Welcoming us in, we entered his house, where Maggie went straight to the kitchen to get drinks for everyone and to start some stew for dinner. Once the stew was served, Maggie disappeared for a bit, and I took the opportunity to ask how Master Oreson had become a dwarf-friend.
Years ago, he was traveling in some deep caves when Master Oreson lost his way. The caves he described sounded similar to the ones mother was found in when she lost her way. With a pang of hurt and understanding, I listened as he spoke of a young dwarf scouting party that found him. The dwarfs put him in shackles and took him back to the homeland. Master Oreson befriended one of his captors, a young Skjalg, and their friendship lasted many long years. Siegfreid went on to tell me of how he even helped Konig Skjalg stand down a coup of the Reichtstaghaven! I was surely alive during the occurrence, but did not know that The Righteous have revolted before, due to Konig Skjalg’s attempts at bringing our race and humans closer together. News from Skjalg that he’s going to try and bring human merchants into the mines makes me fear for them, but if anyone can quell The Righteous, my Konig can.
And here we are…about to set out from Master Oreson’s homestead/smithy/inn. I assume we’ll head for Heartland. There are no other leads, other than a several month cold trail leading to Sonnenschwert. Gaila is taken from us. We have no true direction. We are lost, and time is slowly slipping away. But now, we have The Order of the Sword and The Malachite League as our allies, and the Herzogs are looking out for us. One step forward….all we can make….one step ahead…we can only hope it won’t wind up being a step backward. We keep our eyes open for daggers in the dark…and for friends hidden from us…and our journey is just beginning...
Game Ten
July 14, 2002
General thoughts:
Maggie: Reliable as always, she helped analyze the tracks, and confirm some thoughts on who left them. She also did a valiant job of stopping those thugs from beating the life out of that miserable merchant. Every chance we get, she prays at any available temple to Mulciber and to Balthor...Baelthor, to the humans...I wonder if she’s thought of becoming one of the devoted. If Roxanne can, I know Maggie has the dedication and the spirit to. Having an actual servant to Balthor with us would make me feel better, that’s for certain.
Roxanne: Speaking of Roxanne...well, she was almost useful in finding out which room was the merchant’s, so that Niccolo could search it. Instead of being subtle, I think she wound up just asking the barkeep. I know subtlety isn’t the core of any dwarven upbringing, but I would assume a trained whore would be better at information gathering. Oddly enough, she was the cause for the bar fight, which provided the cover necessary for Niccolo to slip upstairs. Too bad it wasn’t engineered by her, or I could actually credit her for something.
Niccolo: Because of Agni’s continual absence, Quinn was stranded in Kreuzung where he was supposed to be picked up and teleported to us. With Quinn’s absence, Niccolo had to cover some of the younger man’s normal roles in the party...the primary one being a sneak and scout. It fell on Niccolo’s shoulders to search the merchant’s room for any clues to the plague, and he did quite well in the job. He provided the incriminating seeds we needed to coax the merchant into helping us. Nic also figured out what type of toxin had caused the plague, through his knowledge of such things. He seemed to hold disdain for the hobbits, but his help in clearing up the matter of the plague was, as usual, invaluable.
Agni: Agni wasn’t here...and I think that, more than anything is why he’s being mentioned here. I’ve had my fill. After speaking with Ruscalos, we know that Agni was lying about the power of the Augur amulet, and I can only wonder what else he has lied about or covered up for his own benefit. Now that he is no longer the only member of the party that can wield the arcane, I plan to make sure he knows his place. The amulet will be returned to Ruscalos, Mordenkainen’s ring will be taken, and we as a group will take it back to it’s owner, and Agni will come to understand that the tower he has taken as his home is Geldamar’s, that we are all servants of Geldamar, and that the mighty wizard will return for what is his. Agni’s constant absence has been felt as a hindrance now more than ever when we had to find Ruscalos on our own, and we had to travel conventionally instead of by teleporting, as Agni is so wont to do. Traveling by road, we have lost another two weeks time...two weeks that could have been saved if Agni simply had shown his face. Also, we must wait for him in order to return the Augur amulet to Ruscalos. From now on we will not be so reliant upon the flighty mageling. When he next shows up, the items...the items of the group, will be taken from him, by force if necessary. We will not be forced to continue to wait for him in order to advance in our search for a way to slay the slayer of men and free Geldamar’s soul.
Salvazia: She stabbed the merchant in the hand to get information out of him. She tortured the putrid human to further our search. I am reviled at what she did, and yet I let it happen. What am I doing? How much am I willing to overlook, how much am I willing to do, in order to free Geldamar and save Valduran? My life is nothing compared to those lives that will be lost if Thet marches on Valduran. And worst yet, those lives lost will be rekindled through foul necromancy and forced to march under the banner of the Fell King. That must not happen. The Manslayer must be stopped. We must defeat him. The road to that destination is going to be long and wrought with pain, but when an evil man interferes with our course, he will have to be dealt with. The merchant was little more than a greedy vulture, looking to profit from the kind hobbits’ loss, and he held information that was necessary to solve the riddle of the plague. That information had to be recovered....It had to be. Balthor help me...will I be able to return to Konig Skjalg when all is said and done? Will I be able to look him in the eyes?
What Happened:
Recitation. This is the easiest part. What happened? In short, we solved the riddle of the plague, and ensured that the road from Oridal to Valduran continued to be built. We found Ruscalos in Oridal and now wait for Agni in order to return what belongs to the Augurs to them.
What happened? In detail.......
Hartland. Quaint is the first word that comes to mind when I think of the hobbits and their land. Besieged is the second. I almost feel guilt for ensuring that the road will continue, after seeing how the workers and the merchant behaved. Maybe Bryn was right....but alas, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Our stay began with an expected absence. Agni decided to spend the first evening not with us in Hartland, but back at Geldamar’s tower, which he now takes as his own. The next morning, he never showed up. Come afternoon, he never showed up. Over the next week, he never showed up. This would only partially upset me normally....not having him in the way is becoming a comfort...but this time he wasn’t the only person missing. Quinn and Theo stayed in Kreuzung to finish up some business there, and it was to be Agni’s job to retrieve them and bring them to us, to cut down on their travel time. And since Agni never showed up, as far as I know, Theo and Quinn are still in Kreuzung, not knowing whether to ride and catch us up or to wait for the mageling.
Down three members, we went about trying to unravel the mystery that lay before us. We started by meeting Grand Duke Taig, the appointed leader of the hobbits. His demeanor perfectly exhibited that of all hobbits, in my eyes. When we approached him, we was hard at work on his farm, where he felt most comfortable. The title of Grand Duke isn’t something he asked for, and he acts as little more than figurehead in the peaceful hobbit community. We offered our help in searching out the root of the plague, and asked him for any information or help he might be able to lend us in our cause. He informed us that the only evidence gathered was the cast of a footprint...only one set of prints was seen throughout the Brambleberry wine field. He took Maggie and me to see the print while Niccolo went off to inspect the plague-ridden field.
After looking at the cast, Maggie was able to determine that it came from a heavy, armored human, probably a male. After looking at the cast, we asked Taig for all the information about the investigation, what the impact on the area was, and what the outcome would be. He told us that everyone knew a human was responsible, and for most all the hobbits, that’s all that mattered. In a week’s time a council would meet and determine what to do. Without a person to blame, they would choose to blame all humans. If this happened, the road from Oridal to Valduran would never pass through Hartland, and more than likely, their borders would close to us. A road could be built around, but it would have to pass through several other nations, and take a travel several weeks out of the way. If a war between Valduran and Thet does erupt, this can not happen. Supplies and reinforcements from the north can not be delayed that much. Taig said that the only way to change the councils mind would be to find one person or a group of persons that were responsible. With that information, Maggie, Roxanne and I started conjecturing on who was responsible. A set of heavily armored tracks found, a plague that on the surface did little more than disrupt some commerce between Hartland and Valduran, and digging deeper could stop aid from Oridal from reaching Valduran for a much longer time, and tracks leading south before disappearing. Our first and most expected culprit was Manslayer. Who else would want to disrupt the road? Who else would have the power to lay such a terrible plague on the land?
Just as we were forming these thoughts, Niccolo returned from the field with a tiny piece of grapevine. Taig gasped and said that it was the highest crime to take such a thing. Assuring the man that he had no intention of keeping the vine, Niccolo asked if he could hold onto it a little longer to test it. After Taig agreed, Nic went on to state that he knew what the plague was likely caused by: the Graperot toxin. He said the toxin was very rare, very expensive, and from the lands of Nadera. This seemed to further our belief that it tied back to Thet and told him so. Finally, we asked Taig who else in town we could talk to. He informed us that the only human in town who was around at the same time as when the plague started was Bryn Kennwyn, and hobbit-friend minstrel, and that he might be worth speaking to.
Sitting outside the town tavern, we found Bryn, already celebrating the day with a few ales. We informed him of our quest, and he told us of the plight of the hobbits. We spoke of our desire to see the road built, and he asked if that was the best thing for the hobbits. This is when we learned of how the traveling merchants treated the halflings...with disdain and disrespect, not understanding the culture and not caring to. Single-mindedly, we asked if he knew of any nature priests, or druids, in the area and he told us of his homeland of Hageria, many weeks travel to the north. This is apparently where the bulk of all the druids on this part of the continent are located. We asked Bryn if he could call for one’s assistance and he refused, saying that he did not want to become involved in the politics of Hartland and its neighbors. Flustered, we asked if he knew of anyone else who might be able to help heal the blighted vines, and he offered that some hermits, members of the Order of the Stave, a nature-base school of magic, had been known to wander around the area...but actually finding one would be quite improbable, if not impossible. Giving up on Bryn as any source of help, we asked who else in town might be worth speaking to and he directed us to Crom Bramblebush, keeper of the Brambleberry vines.
Crom, like all the hobbits of Hartland, was suspect of us when we first approached him. If it wasn’t for my presence, acting as little more than a non-human, I don’t know if anyone would have helped us or even let us investigate. I introduced myself and told him what our purpose in town was. He was gracious enough to let us look through the field more thoroughly, and he pointed us in the direction of the town tracker, the man who made the footprint cast and tracked the culprit south out of town. We went into the field briefly to see if there might be anything that the hobbits missed (Roxanne was under the impression that if an armored man left the toxin, maybe some link or piece of the armor might have actually fallen off...not feeling like arguing too much, I didn’t want to tell her how foolish that was...especially if it was Manslayer...such fine armor, some of it wouldn’t just fall off). As expected, after a month’s time, there was nothing to be found among the vines other than a lot of sick plants. Thanking Crom, we moved on to the town tracker, one of the Moony clan.
We came to Tracker Moony’s domicile and quickly learned the truth about the Moonys’ reputation for laziness and shoddiness. A small garden in the tracker’s yard was overrun with weeds, the plow looked to be in disrepair, and there was trash lying around the yard. Making our way through the yard, we approached and knocked on the door. It was nearing noon, and yet nothing stirred within the house. I banged on the door a little more loudly and for a little longer, until finally I could hear someone stumble through the interior. A few seconds later, a head popped through the window next to the door. Apparently, we had woken up the inhabitant. I told the tracker our business and asked if we could come in to ask him some questions. He directed us to the back door (the front was in a state of disrepair and could not be opened) and we entered into a slovenly, trash-littered living area. We found seats on the ground, trying to avoid pests and filth, and asked him what he could tell us about the plague and the tracks. He did little more than confirm that they were from a human and that they led to Valduran to the south, but he did refute that the culprit was armored. Apparently, the sharp edge of the cast that led Maggie to believe the person to be armored was little more than a foul-up in the casting job...no edge existed in the original footprints.
Slightly more perplexed, and in need of lunch, we said our thanks and goodbyes to the tracker and headed for the tavern. There we found I wasn’t traveling with the only group of humans in town. The road workers were there having a start on the evening (with the road stopped, they had nothing else to do), and a merchant from Valduran was staying in the tavern as well. Maggie and I sat ourselves at the bar while Roxanne went and chatted up some more of the locals. While we were in the tavern, we watched as the merchant got up several times to complain about the food (which was superb, by the way), and demanded more servings, saying that the halfling serving wasn’t enough for a full-grown human. The barkeep was obviously annoyed with the man and took his time catering to the human’s demands. Finally, after eating, the merchant left the bar and we could hear him stomping about town, further complaining about various things. While in the tavern, we learned that his bed had been mysteriously falling apart every night that he had been in town, for almost two weeks now. Can’t say that I blame the hobbits for giving him such faulty lodgings.
While everyone relaxed and tried to collect their thoughts, Maggie and I went to visit the local ore smith. The hobbits were handy in only one kind of warfare: the use of slings, and so they had a local refinery that made all the bullets they needed. Approaching the place, we saw a large building (by hobbit standards) with a chimney billowing out smoke, and a small mine behind the place where the ore was acquired. Upon entering the refinery, we were kindly allowed to leave the way we came. The master smith didn’t want any humans or human-friends in his establishment. We assured him that we were here to help, but he didn’t want to hear about it. Leaving none-too-slowly, Maggie and I started to realize just how deep the hobbits’ dislike of humans went.
With no other leads, we went back to the tavern to collect the others, and went to visit Grand Duke Taig again. This time we asked where we could find the heads of house for the three clans in the village: the Taigs, the Moonys, and the Bramblebushes, and he kindly pointed out where the three could be found. Also while there, I asked about something he mentioned to us earlier, a patrol of Oridal soldiers that traveled the road routinely to ensure that bandits weren’t a problem. I asked him when the patrol was due to pass through again and he said they would be around in the next couple of days. Thanking him for his continued assistance, we took our leave and headed for House Father Grada Taig.
Approaching the house, we saw an elderly hobbit sitting in a rocker on the front porch, quietly smoking a pipe and enjoying the afternoon. I asked if he was Herr Taig, and he smiled and patted his head, saying that yes, he had hair. I returned the smile and apologizing for slipping into dwarven, and asked if he was Grada. Upon confirmation that this was the head of house, we asked if we could question him about the current crisis and he agreed to answer our questions. A pleasant conversation ensued, but only one thing was gleamed for certain: talking to the other heads of house would probably be a waste of time if we didn’t find more evidence to lay on a single person or persons. Simply saying that yes, a human was behind the plague, wasn’t helping us any. Grada reaffirmed the fact that if we didn’t find anything more damning and more specific, the council would be forced to close Hartland’s borders. Thanking him, we went back to the tavern to think over what to do next.
Not sure what to do, I simply waited the two days and when the time came and the patrol from Oridal finally approached, I hailed them to stop. I greeted them, said that our group of travelers was to be heading to Oridal soon, and asked if they could tell me how close the border to Oridal was and what the closest towns were. The apparent captain said that Karlast, four days travel, was the border town that we would first pass through. From there was a days travel to the town of Cereon. I thanked him and asked if any of the towns had an establishment for The Watchful Order of the Shrouded Dawn, and he said that Augurs were located in all the major towns. Going out on a limb, I asked if he knew of a particular Augur by the name of Ruscalos. I breathed a sigh of relief when he said that actually yes, he did know of Ruscalos. He could be found in the capitol city of Minaran, a week’s travel from Karlast. He went on to say that Ruscalos was an advisor for the vestry, or governing body of Oridal. I once again thanked the captain for all his help, and took my leave. At least we had a direction to go in once we left Hartland. Just why we ever relied on Agni is beyond me. Of course, at this time, we didn’t know of the amulet, or know that we’d have to wait for him to show before we could continue past Minaran to meet Mordenkainen.
Over those two days Roxanne started speaking to the human merchant and learned that he had been in town for two weeks. He was a wine merchant from Valduran, and was here to see the plague firsthand. Running out of options and time, we decided to take a risk and search the merchant’s room for any evidence behind the plague. His story just didn’t seem to add up, and he was the only person in town worth investigating.
The night following my parlay with the Oridalian patrol, we decided to make out move. The plan was for Roxanne to seduce the merchant and take him up to her room while Niccolo snuck into his and snooped around. And like all good plans, this one didn’t quite go as planned. That night, as Roxanne was whispering sweet nothings into the human’s ear, the road workers started to get agitated. Downing a few pints of ale, they found the courage they needed to go confront the merchant. Seeing the trouble brewing, Maggie and I stepped up to stop the lads. I offered to buy the boys a round, but they said they had something to do first. Asking what the problem was, the first human said that merchant told him that Roxanne had a thing for him, and he felt the merchant was moving in on his woman. Looking put-out, the second worker said that the merchant had told him the same thing! I don’t know what game the merchant was playing at, but seeing an opportunity to cause a distraction for Niccolo, I looked to Maggie and we both stepped aside. The merchant was about to head upstairs when the workers confronted him. The first said that the merchant was out of line, that Roxanne was his. The merchant simply smiled at the worker and said “sorry, looks like the lady has chosen me...”
There was a bar fight.
More accurately, those boys nearly beat the life out of that foolish merchant. Why he felt the need to egg on six men who where already intoxicated is beyond me.
Regardless, Nic took the opportunity to slip upstairs and search the man’s room. He came back downstairs a few minutes later with a smile on his face, and Maggie and I stepped in to end the fight. At this point, the merchant was looking like something a cave rat spent the last week chewing on, and it was time for the beating to end. Seeing us as threatening, the workers turned the first on us. Maggie grabbed one, telling them all to calm down, while I took the more traditional route and beat the first worker into submission. Nic snuck around two of the other workers, and showing off his newly found and understood ambidexterity, smashed two tankards into the back of two heads at the same time. Maggie and I both put down another worker, and the fight was over. Maggie went to apologize to the barkeep as I dragged some of the boys outside. As I exited the bar, several bullets came flying at me, one bouncing off my helm with a resounding ring. Understanding what was happening, I dropped both the workers I had in either hand and through said hands into the air. Crom said that a sling can fire a bullet over three-hundred yards, and I didn’t feel like testing the accuracy of the halfling fighters any more than was necessary. After a few moments, two hobbits with slings at their sides entered the street and approached me. Seeing that one of the firers was Crom, I apologized for the bar fight and explained what happened. Another strike for human relations in Hartland. This is about when I started to feel guilty for single-mindedly wanting to keep the road open. It would help Valduran, but at what cost? ...I.....I don’t know.....I’m lost.....Mother?..........F-father?.......Where are you?.....Abandoned. I’m falling.....Enos waits with arms open. Will I become evil in my quest to stop evil? What will I do to stop Manslayer? I told that man he had my word, the word of a dwarf, that Niccolo would not hurt him. I knew that Nic wouldn’t. But I also knew my word did not cover Salvazia...and I knew what she would do...what she was capable of. He was evil...he was greedy, preying off the hobbit’s blight. He got what he deserved....right? It was a minor act, a minor pain, a minor evil. It was necessary to uncover the truth. What if we were wrong? What if he never saw the hobbit shoes? What if I let it happen for nothing? He had no part in the blight, except for stumbling across those shoes....if he never did, I would have left Salvazia alone with him for nothing. Who am I to judge evil from good? Who am I to play Balthor? For Geldamar. For Skjalg. How much am I willing to do? That druid, Manslayer’s servant...I should have felled him when I had the chance...how was I to know? This is too difficult...
But we found the shoes....we solved the riddle....Taig called out the tracker, and it was true. A hobbit caused the blight. A hobbit acting out of jealousy and rage. Emotions that are not exclusive to humans.
The shoes. Again I gave my word to the man....I would let him leave if he showed us the hiding place. And he did, and I let him go. Only to be brought back. Did I break my word? How was I to know the tracker would blame him? But the merchant wasn’t smart enough for all that was said...someone else was to blame. Through the use of magic, and precognition. Who knew the merchant would be there? Who knew we’d be there to catch him? Who could mold themselves into looking like the pathetic merchant and give Moony the toxin? Who could afford so much, only to give it away for no charge except for services rendered?
PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!
We solved the riddle. Moony was to blame. The road would go through Hartland. The blight would last, but it would eventually go away. We restored peace....we restored order!
Oridal. They speak Halic here. Maggie is teaching me the language. Until then, all I hear is babble. They say we have to pay taxes. Taxes for everything. For traveling the road, for camping, or hunting, or adventuring, we must pay taxes. A nation run by merchants. Human greed at its worst. Like I know nothing of greed. My mother died from it....my people are ruled by it. Gold, platinum, diamonds, mithril...anything shiny, anything lustrous, anything worth anything...we must have it, we must mine it from the earth....we must take it all. Is greed evil? Or is it something to be expected and accepted...? I am greedy...we are all greedy...right? The god these people worship here is one of greed. It is part of life.
Finally...Minaran....cost so much just to get here. But we finally got to speak with Ruscalos. Geldamar will return. His soul had to have been trapped in Manslayer’s staff. If we destroy the staff, Geldamar will be free. He will return. Our quest will be complete. We must wait for Agni...once we return the amulet, we are to see Mordenkainen. He wants his ring back. He will give us direction. We are out of leads...we have nowhere else to go. Mordenkainen will tell us where to go....I hope.....Agni’s home is near where Mordenkainen is. We can dispose of the mageling on his father’s front steps and be done with the nuisance. If he is to be king, let him go home to claim the prize.
The rage. I cannot exhibit such emotion. He has let us down...he has gotten in the way...he has slowed us. For this, he is as evil as the putrid merchant...sowing seeds of dissent to keep the road closed, simply so he can corner the market on wine. For his own profit. What will it matter when the Fell King marches? What will a few vines mean when zombies and worse knock down his door?? No One must stand in our way! no one will stand in our way.
Game Eleven
July 27, 2002
General thoughts:
Maggie: I hope I wasn’t too brunt with her about hunting in Halgard. It’s odd to think that I’m catching on to customs in other lands quicker than she is, considering I’m not part of the race. Tracking down each individual lord to gain permission to hunt a deer or two for the few days we’re passing through would do little more than slow us down greatly, when food is available in the cities, which don’t seem to be far apart in this part of the world. I guess I have a slight advantage in that I grew up in some society, where she spent her youth in the mountains with little more than her grandfather and the local animals. Something that’s starting to annoy me a little bit as well is her strategy in a fight. Against the first gargoyle, instead of opting for her hammer or axe, she chose to fire an arrow. Fine enough, except that she had to fire past several of us into melee combat to strike the creature. She missed it, but pierced Salvazia clear in back. I don’t carry a lot of love for Salvazia, but I do respect her fighting prowess, and being shot at by us is no way to continue our relationship with her.
Quinn: Quinn finally caught us up in Oridal, no thanks to Agni. He came with some none-too-welcome news. Manslayer tracked him down in Kreuzung and killed him. It seems Manslayer knows Quinn’s role in the prophecy, and his true nature, and seeks to ensure that Quinn won’t be around to fulfill it. Every time Quinn dies, it’s taking him twice as long as the previous time to pull himself back together. The ettin marks the fourth time he’s fallen…we’re going to have to work better at protecting the lad. It’s only two hours now, but a few more times and it’ll take months for him to reform. Manslayer understands Quinn’s importance and fears him for it…if only Quinn would see the same thing and be more careful with himself.
Theo: I lost a few coins on Theo in a contest of strength, but the fight was tough, and he did his best. The man he had to compete against was as big as him, and they both walked away banged up. Down in the caves, we found what I assume to be a magically imbued greataxe, and even though I enjoy the heft of such a weapon, I knew Theo would put it to better use than myself. Just to prove my belief, he stepped up to the ettin after it almost killed me and sliced the monster in two. As always, it’s good to have him around.
Niccolo: Nic had a hard time fighting, destroying a sword, swinging wildly a few times, and tumbling into the ettin, but his use has a physic is always top quality. After each of the fights in the cave, he patched us all up to the best of his ability. Granted, the slice Theo took from the minotaur and that last blow I took from the ettin were beyond his skill, but I can’t blame that. We both took rather grievous wounds.
Salvazia: Considering all the fumbling that has gone on so far down here, and the fact that she’s taken more damage from us than from anything we’ve fought, I won’t be surprised if she decides she’s had enough and changes allegiances mid-battle sometime soon. Maybe we should change the marching order some. Salvazia and Theo are admittedly better fights than myself at the moment…my time spent learning with The Order has taken away from time with the hammer and axe…and I could do better covering the rear.
Benedict: I have to wonder how much chance played in us finding a Chosen of Balthor who is looking for a possible agent of Thet. At a time where it might do some good for me to speak with such a person, one appears to help us as we attempt to help him. While we rest here and wait for Quinn, I might have to have a word with him alone. Just traveling with him to help find this Drizz’t has put my mind at greater ease than has been exhibited in some time.
What Happened:
Luck is with us lately…good and bad. The bad came in fighting through the caves on a manhunt. The good came when Quinn found us in Manaros. We were walking back from Ruscalos’s, trying to figure out what to do about Agni and getting the magic items back, when Quinn and Theo walked up to us outside the Adventurers’ Guild. It seems they were having an equally difficult time in Oridal with paying all the various taxes. He caught us up with his adventures in Kreuzung and we learned about his meeting with Manslayer and his revelation about his immortality. Not feeling much better about our situation, we decided to leave Oridal and its taxes behind to try and find Mordenkainen. We don’t have his ring with us, and we haven’t returned Ruscalos’s amulet to him, but without Agni we can do neither. Waiting in Oridal for Agni would prove to be way too expensive, and time to sit around is something we can’t afford either.
With a direction in mind, we needed to figure out how to get there. Figuring that traveling by sea would be the fastest, we decided to head west. Quinn asked if we could travel slightly southwest so that we would travel through Halgard. He said that there he might be able to find some information on Tamm, the wizard who apparently created the lad. Agreeing, we knew where to go, now we just needed to know how to get there. Quinn said that he had a run-in with the Travelers’ guild, and informed us that going to them for any sort of directions would cost us. Fed up with paying for anything, I led the group to the wizard’s compound so that I could ask directions from the Myrmidons. It was my hope that they wouldn’t charge a member of The Order for such trivial information.
Once in the wizard’s compound, it was fairly simple to discern which building belonged to The Order…the only one there built in stone and fashioned after a miniature fort. Approaching the door guard, I offered welcome in dwarven. When he replied in kind, I knew that things were looking up. I asked the man which way would be fastest to Halgard and he informed us that we could simply take the southwestern road straight to the country’s border. Thanking him, I further asked if he knew how many Oridalian cities we would have to pass through on the way there. I informed him that the Oridalian way of taxing foreigners was started to severely hurt my group’s money supply. Thinking for a moment, he welcomed us all inside and showed us to a study where another man was immersed in some tome of knowledge. The door guard introduced me, though I had forgotten to introduce myself to him (apparently, being the only dwarf in the order, my name had gotten around), asked the man something in Halic, and after some thought, the man behind the desk beckoned for another guard whom he sent away. Moments later the second returned with a helm which he gave to me, and the man behind the desk scribbled something on a note which was handed to me as well. The door guard, in dwarven told me what was going on. I was now on an official mission for The Order of the Sword. I was to take the helm to any Order holding in Halgard. Any taxes within Oridal for traveling would be waived by showing town guards my “official document”, however we would still have to pay the tax for leaving the country! A tax simply to leave! Incredulous, yet still overly thankful, I nodded appreciation to the man behind the desk and to the door guard and thanked him for all his help. There were two Oridalian towns between us and the border, and paying the traveling fees would have been most crippling. Thanking the man again, we made our leave of Minaran and of Oridal.
In Tagren, the border town between Oridal and Halgard, we, as expected, had to pay to leave the country…another 15 silver per person. Outraged, yet eager to be gone from such a land of blatant greed, we paid the fee and stepped foot in Halgard. Once in the neighboring country and away from the money-grubbing clutches of Oridal, Quinn turned back and yelled a few expletives at the town guard, and we rode on.
Along the road to the first town we came across a merchant heading home to Oridal. Maggie waived him down and asked some questions about the country we were now in. Niccolo was translating for me as she asked him if there would be any taxes simply for traveling the land. The merchant smiled and said that there would be none. Then, at length, Maggie asked the man if he knew whether or not it was legal to hunt in Halgard. He told her that she would have to speak to each individual lord of the land we were on to gain access. She went on to ask of any hunters’ guild or anything of the sort, and the man continued to answer her questions, until I lost my patience. I’m starting to think that I’m taking on the role of saying things that the other members of the party don’t want to say. At least, everyone else seemed to agree with me when I told Maggie that there would be no need for us to hunt in Halgard, considering the towns we would be staying in and the short duration of our stay, and that trying to gain permission to hunt from all of the individual lords was more effort than it was worth. She didn’t seem to agree, but did not argue, and so that matter was settled. These lands are not the same as Valduran, and don’t carry the same laws. The have different languages, and different coin, and different customs. Maggie speaks the language well enough…I would assume she’d be slightly familiar with the customs that I’m trying to learn as quickly as possible. I hope she’s open enough to understand that some things that are acceptable in Valduran could get her arrested in another nation.
Anyway...we traveled on for another hour or so before entering Dorster. Here we learned just how different the customs of Halgard are from both Oridal and Valduran. The first stop was at a stable, where a horse was purchased for Salvazia. Roxanne was feeling sick and was doing well in the wagon…she would not need a horse until she is better. Niccolo and Salvazia came away from the stable with a fine warhorse, and told us that in order to get a better price for the horse, Nic had to arm wrestle the owner of the place! Apparently, the land revolves around strength, and the worship of the god of strength. Enticed by such a culture, Maggie and I traveled to the local smith. There, I realized that I should probably not try and barter with him. He was a very tall, broad human who looked to spend as much time with a hammer and anvil as any master dwarf. Pondering what to do, I greeted the man in dwarven, to find that his comprehension of the language wasn’t the greatest. He gave a perplexed look when I asked if he spoke Adan, and so was forced to have Maggie translate (she’s currently teaching me the local language, and I will be more than pleased when I finally grasp it). Through her, I asked the man if he had any ore of particularly fine quality. My hammer and axe are good, solid weapons, but the weight is off ever so slightly, and I feel I am able now to make something better. He brought out a wheel-barrel with his ore in it, and upon inspection, I agreed that it was rather good, for human lands. Trying a different approached to bartering, I asked if I could use the man’s anvil to craft my weapons. He readily agreed, for the cost of showing him a few dwarven tricks. I agreed, until Maggie reminded me, as I did her on the road, that we didn’t have a great deal of time to “play around”. I guess I take crafting the same as she does hunting. Ah well. Apologizing to the man, I simply bought the ore from him, enough for two fine weapons, and said good-bye in dwarven. He smiled and tried his best, which came to “You’re sexy” in reply. I stifled a laugh and had Maggie tell him what he said. He looked ashamed, but I simply smiled to assure him that it was ok. Maggie said farewell in his language, and we left to get a room for the night.
The local tavern was quite a marvel. There were tables for card games and games of chance, and in the middle of the establishment was a ring where people were competing in skills of strength. Weighing my chances, Theo was coaxed by Quinn into stepping up first. Nic, Quinn, and I all put down 20 silver pieces on him, as the house champion stepped into the ring: a man who rivaled Theo in height and in brawn. Theo, as the challenger was allowed to choose the contest, and it came to a competition of seeing who could force the other to the ground first. Their hands were bound together, and the competition began. Over several grueling minutes, the battle raged back and forth. Several times, we thought Theo had the man beat, but in the end, Percy, the house champion, came through a tremendous surge of power and forced Theo down to a knee, ending the contest. Both men came away with very hurt hands (I think they both had a few broken fingers), and as Maggie asked Percy to share our table, I bought a round of the tavern’s finest for all of us. Little did I know that their finest would run me over 80 silver pieces! It was decent brew, but nothing exceptional. The last time I do something like that without checking their prices first!
The next day we set out, and traveled all day long. Come night, we still hadn’t come across the next town, which we should have. We passed a merchant, and asked how far it was still, and he informed us that we had another half-days travel, at least. Perplexed, we asked if it was legal to camp on the side of the road. Saying that it was most legal, the merchant then rode on a little longer before doing just that. We as well rode long enough to find a suitable spot, then made camp for the night. As we were setting up, another campfire came to life about a half mile up the road from us. Deciding to share a fire with someone for the night, Maggie and I took the wagon close to the camper while Quinn, Theo, Nic, and Salvazia stayed nearby in the shadows to ensure that we weren’t riding into a trap.
As we approached, the man greeted us in Halic, and as we entered his camp, Maggie and I could both see his holy symbol, the symbol of Balthor…Baelthor. Seeing the symbol, I introduced myself in dwarven, and did likewise, with perfect pronunciation. Seeing that everything was ok, the others approached, and it became apparent that our camp mate, Benedict Godart, also spoke Adan. Incredibly relieved that we could all share in a conversation with a stranger for the first time in weeks, we asked what Benedict’s destination was. That was when he told us of his mission, and of what was happening in the capitol city of Ressex. Apparently, in Ressex, someone had been stirring up trouble in the major houses, and Naderan spies were flushed from some of them. When questioned, the spies said that they were hired by one Drizz’t Piergeron. Benedict took it upon himself to track down this Drizz’t and bring him for questioning. The royal house of Ressex is caught up in the turmoil back in the city, and no one else was willing to look for the culprit. Apparently, Drizz’t did his job so well that five major camps were forming in the city, and soon open warfare could ensue. Naderan spies, and civil unrest in one of Valduran’s major allies led us to believe that Benedict was unknowingly following a Thesh agent, and someone whom we would also like to stop. We told him briefly our mission, and readily offered our assistance in finding the man responsible.
That night we rested peacefully, and in the morning, followed the same tracks that Benedict had been following out into the woods. After some hours, we came into wooded foothills, and tracks led on, going into a hillside cave. Looking at the cave, I quickly could tell that something had been done to it to increase the size of the opening. Whoever had worked on it did a much better job than any human I could give credit to. It wasn’t dwarven work, but it was good. Assuming our culprit lay inside, we prepared to enter. Before doing so, I took off my armor so that it wouldn’t interfere with any spell casting, and granted Quinn the protection of Mage Armor. He only wears some light leather, and being that the spell gives the same protection as a fine set of chainmail or breast plate without hindering him, I thought it would be useful. Spell in place, I put my half-plate back on and we entered the cave.
Once in the cave, I could tell that the passage way was widened just enough for something the size of a wagon to fit through. Also, the cave itself was obviously not carved for mining purposes. Whoever put it here had in mind a lair. We traveled the length of the first hallway and at the end of it came to a T-intersection. In the intersection stood a stone statue of a man holding his hand up as if to protect him and a look of sheer horror on his face. Inspecting the statue closely, I came to realize that there were no chisel marks on it what-so-ever, and that the statue as a whole was far too perfect to be handmade. Noting the look of terror on the man’s face, I myself started to breath a little faster. Drawing the others around, I shared my suspicions: that a basilisk walked within this cave. The statue looked to have once been a man turned to stone, and in such a cave a basilisk would be more than at home. My people have encountered them from time to time in the caves back home, and they are formidable foes. The others, agreeing with my belief that the statue was once man, went further to think of whatever could have done something. Other creatures of lore, such as cockatrices, medusae, and gorgons could perform similar feats, or a powerful wizard could have changed the man to stone. Whatever caused it, I warned the others to keep their eyes averted if we came across something unusual, and we set out again more slowly.
Down the next passage, we came to another T-intersection, and on the side of the wall were scrape marks at about my eye level. Investigating them further, they appeared not be those of claws or of some animal and more closely resembled stone or wood scrapings. The height confirmed my belief that a wagon had indeed been pulled through here.
Down the passageway that the scrapings were closest to, we came across an underground stable, and at the far end, not a wagon but instead, a finely inlaid, covered carriage. The carriage’s windows were covered with drapes and the outside was inlaid with gold. The inside was empty, except for in a hidden compartment where Quinn found a bag of silver. Realizing that Quinn and Nic would be doing most of the scouting and searching for the party, Nic asked if Quinn could hold the Bag of Holding, to place any loot to be split once we emerged. Agreeing with his logic, I handed the bag over.
Leaving the stable, we continued on through the passageways, following some rather large footsteps that Maggie had found. Eventually, we entered a large room filled with more statues like the one near the entrance. Only, in this room, the statues were sliced in half and mortared to the wall to relay an unsettling image of people half-in and half-out of the stone surface. Furthermore, there were several actual carvings in the walls of bizarre half-animal, half-monster, half-human designs and there were several odd decorative markings and scrawls on the walls. Whoever designed this place obviously had very sick and evil notions in their head.
Venturing further into the room, Nic and Quinn where investigating the far side when one of the statues actually came to life and swooped down on Niccolo! A gargoyle! Seeing Nic in danger everyone set in motion to go save him. Seeing a stone creature come to life, my first reaction was to attempt to cast a spell despite my armor. Succeeding, I was able to imbue my warhammer with some minor magic and went in to attack. I don’t know if everyone was nervous from seeing a statue come to life or what, but it was the most fumbling of battles I have ever witnessed or taken part in. Salvazia was hit at least three times by members of our party, whereas I don’t think the gargoyle hit her once. As everyone else continued to swing wildly, Theo took a chunk out of the thing, and Benedict, with what I came to learn was an already magical warhammer, crushed the thing’s skull. I barely got a swing in before the creature fell. I must craft or otherwise procure an innately magical weapon…
As Nic went about healing those that were injured (Salzavia in particular), and Benedict asked how much experience we had in such matters (a suitable questions given what just happened), Quinn searched the room, and came across the alcove where the gargoyle was hiding, twenty feet in the air. Climbing the bas-relief wall that the statues expressed, he made it up there with little fault and found another cache of silver coins, as well as three rather nice gems, and three vials of pink liquid…potions of some kind. Benedict cast a Detect Magic spell on them and was able to determine that they had some sort of medium power Conjuration effect. A potion that conjured something? Mage Armor, maybe? The Order doesn’t focus much with Conjuration so I wasn’t able to guess what the potions might do. Well, we have three, there is always the option of someone trying one and seeing what happens...
Traveling along the trail that Maggie found, we eventually came to a set of stairs going deeper into the earth. As we approached, we heard shuffling, and the snort of some animal from a side passage that intersected ours at the stairs. As we got closer, the source of the sound showed itself when a giant minotaur hefting a greataxe stepped around the corner. Quinn and Nic were stuck closest to the thing in the narrow halfway, but were able to roll past it as Salvazia and Theo approached for the fight. The passage was too narrow for more than two people to fight from either side, so those four engage in melee as Maggie fired her bow at the beast’s head, which towered above everyone else’s, including Theo, and I tried to get my crossbow out. By the time my crossbow was out and loaded, the creature was already slain. I hate being so slow…
The creature had nothing on it, save the axe, which I hefted and found to be of exquisite weight and balance. Realizing that Theo uses his axe much more often than I use mine, I handed the weapon to him, which he tested, and agreed in finding it quite nice.
At the stairs, we found that the large tracks went down. Instead of following them directly, we decided to try and find the minotaur’s lair first. Traveling the way it had come, we came across a room similarly decorated like the previous one we entered in sick, distorted statues and carvings. Also in here, we encountered another gargoyle. It went down much more quickly than the first under a few hits from Benedict and Theo. Theo’s axe seemed to have a much greater affect against this thing than the first one, so I can only wonder if the axe is more than simply well balanced. As Quinn was searching the room, I looked up and noticed a hidden alcove in the stone ceiling, well placed to hide the gargoyle from sight. Pointing it out to Quinn, he scaled the wall and found yet another cache or coin.
The room had no exits, so we chose it as a good place to rest and heal wounds that Niccolo couldn’t with bandages. The “night” passed uneventfully, and instead of exploring the rest of this first level, we followed Benedict’s wishes and traveled down the stairs to try and find Drizz’t. Before doing so, we went back and checked the entrance for tracks to ensure that no one left while we slept. Seeing that nothing had changes, we traveled down the stairs.
Once downstairs, a passage led on to a large room. From where we were the smell of sweat, urine, and feces bombarded us, as if a large number of creatures spent their time down here. Nic and Quinn snuck ahead to gain a view of the room, and Quinn had the misfortune of skidding on some rocks in the gloom. Some creatures spoke aloud in the room ahead in some language like orc but not quite the same, and we heard something shift and move towards the tunnel…something that sounded big. I looked up to Theo to ask if he recognized the language, and when he said no, I simply motioned forward so that we could meet our adversary. Before we could make it to the end of the tunnel with Nic and Quinn, the creature showed itself to us: a massive bipedal creature, a giant of some kind, with two heads, and clubs the size of tree trunks in either hand. Someone breathed the word ettin, and the battle was on.
It reacted quickly, more quickly than something of that size ever should. Niccolo dove past the thing, and got a club swipe for his attempt, but before Quinn could even move, the other trunk came crashing down upon him! It destroyed his skull, the Quinn slashed into a pool of blue goo. Looking back at Benedict, and seeing the confusion on his face, Maggie and myself tried to explain in a manor or seconds that that was supposed to happen. Before the creature could turn and put Niccolo back in it’s sights, Salvazia and I stepped up. She began hacking away, and I got a few solid swings in before the club came crashing down and nearly putting me out of the fight. I carefully limped backward out of its reach, and before it could strike again, Theo stepped up and with a might swing of his newly acquire axe, cleanly cut the monster in half at its waste.
I motioned someone to check the monster for loot as I slouched against the wall, and we began trying to explain to Benedict what had happened. When we first met the man, Quinn agreed to help hunt Drizz’t only if, afterward, Benedict agreed to help him track down Tamm. We figured now was as good a time as any to inform Benedict as to who Tamm was.
Now, here we sit and wait for Quinn to pull himself back together again. It’s been a few minutes, and the bubbling hasn’t started yet. This isn’t the best place to be resting, a stairway at one end and a wide open room at the other, but we can’t move the boy for another two hours…then, maybe we’ll draw back to the resting room we found so that both Quinn and myself can recover a little more fully.
Maybe I can take this chance also to talk to Benedict. He is a manhunter, and not a robed priest, but he is still a Chosen of Balthor, and should be able to help me in my confusion and fear over what’s happening…..we shall see. Until then, we rest...
Game Twelve
August 10, 2002
General thoughts:
Maggie: After speaking with Maggie, any apologies I felt may be necessary for my shortness with her were brushed aside as unnecessary. We indeed have a base understanding of each other’s nature, being so similar, and it is good to not have to explain or apologize to someone for one’s actions. Further defining herself, Maggie managed to bring down a deer with her bare hands as some sort of personal test. It was quite a feat, and her skills as a master of the outdoors seem to be improving daily. …Speaking of skills, while in Ressex, she spent all day in the temple of Mulciber working at the forge while I spent time gathering information from the various Arcane Orders. I hope my divulgence into magical knowledge isn’t taking away from my training with the hammer and anvil to any great extant. If this disparity continues, perhaps the next time we work side by side, she will be the teacher and I the pupil. However, I feel my training with the Order is leading to something greater than the creation of items made of steel and iron. I feel to be on the verge of a breakthrough…
Niccolo: The poor lad, where do I begin. For better or worse, Salvazia has left us…for good. Tam saw to put an end to her for her role in the prophecy, and now Nic is without a sister. She wasn’t to be trusted, but for her prowess, she was respected. And, as it seems, she was slayed at the moment upon which she finally had the knowledge, the proof, she sought. Alas, now we sit and wait to see what Nic’s response will be. If he requests some time alone, as cruel as this may sound, this may be the perfect time. Maggie is almost at home here as in Valduran, Quinn can have a chance to recover and maybe talk to Tam further, Agni and Roxanne can travel back to Eissenstadt for his ceremony, and I can train further with the local Order garrison. If he so decides that he wants to travel on and put this place behind him though, his wish will be granted.
Salvazia: We no longer worry of carrying a trader in our mists. Agni isn’t trusted, but he isn’t brave enough or stupid enough to try and harm any of us…nor would he have any reason to. Salvazia, however…I’m sorry we won’t have her sword arm any longer to aid us in battle, but I’m glad we won’t have her influence or her “negotiating” tactics to worry about any longer. The ordeal with the merchant was a catastrophe that I never should have let happen. Now all that is behind us, and no matter the consequences of having her gone, I’m glad for it.
Quinn: The truth, the full truth, has been told. We met Tam and he revealed all to us. Quinn truly is a creature of magic, and not a human as he appears. He was created in a wizard’s lab, following six previous incarnations that all ultimately failed. Tam’s only motivation: to slay the slayer of men. It seems the fiend had some knowledge of the prophecy and knew that a person born neither of man nor mate would deal the final blow to Manslayer and thus set to creating Quinn and his failed brothers. The exact nature of Quinn we had mostly gleamed, but something more that I had not realized was presented by Tam…we must try to keep Quinn safe from Dispel Magic spells, being that he is a creature of magic. The spell could have quite harmful effects. How we are to keep him safe from such a thing, I have no clue, but perhaps some counterspell effect could be created to protect him. An amulet or some such item that will reflect any attempts at “dispelling” him…I will have to investigate this further.
Theo: I finally had the opportunity to peruse Theo’s spellbook, and we were able to trade a few spells. I was able to learn Ram’s Might and the Towering Oak spell from him and he learned more than a few spells from me. The benefits of having a fellow Myrmidon with us are many, even if he chooses not to pursue his training with them.
Roxanne: As usual, I don’t have much in way of thoughts to offer on Roxanne. She eventually joined us in the caves following Drizz’t and took up her normal position holding the lamp light. She didn’t jump to Agni’s defense when I demanded the return to us of Geldamar’s items, which I had anticipated. However, as anticipated, she was quite overjoyed when she recovered to learn we were traveling to a port so that we could sail on to meet Mordenkainen. For someone who follows the teachings of the chaotic and hard to follow Betshaba, Roxanne is fairly limited and easy to predict in her actions.
Agni: Finally, he has returned to us, and finally, we have possession of Mordenkainen’s ring. It took quite some arguing, and the confrontation finally had to come to violence with Niccolo hitting Agni over the back of the head, but the boy finally saw reason…even if through the haze of a good knock on the head. He simply doesn’t seem to understand how his confidence has been lost and his trust has been trampled upon. He claims to have been researching and watching us from afar, but where is the fruit of his labor? He has nothing to show but more silken words and lies. With the items in our possession, I care not if he travels with us or parts ways. Geldamar gathered him along with us, and he has a place in the prophecy, so I dare not cast him out, but if he wants to remain a part of the troupe, his trust will have to be rebuilt over time. As the first step in this process the ring was granted him briefly to reclaim his items. It will again be granted to him to return to The Malachite League in Eissenstadt for his promotion, and over time he may be trusted again. We have made a deal with him that if when we do meet Mordenkainen, the wizard doesn’t want his ring back, Agni may retain possession of it, but until then, it will not be left in his possession for any lengthy period of time. On a more golden note, because of his trip back to Valduran, he was able to retrieve a good deal of gold, which is worth more in this land than in ours. In the conversion to silver, he will have made quite a profit. The only reason this pleases me is because it is becoming more and more clear what Agni’s role in this party is to be: our sponsor. He appears to have bottomless pockets, and has no qualms with paying our travel wages. Furthermore, if what I think is correct, I may be in the need of a good deal of coin for magical supplies once my training is complete. I do not wish to simply take his coin, however. It seems items of magic are worth a good deal in this land, and if I have Agni’s help purchasing the first few supplies, I should be able to sell certain items and fund myself from then on.
Benedict: The first thing I did upon us resting and waiting for Quinn was take Benedict aside and ask him for advice. With my test to enter the Order of the Sword, and again with our meeting Benedict, I am convinced that Balthor is watching over me. This only further instills a sense of urgency and necessity into our mission. Upon finding some manner of seclusion, I told him how we as a group came together and what our focus was. I went on to detail some of our adventures to date, focusing mostly on Hartland and our time there. He patiently asked what was troubling me and I told him of the situation with the merchant. I told him of how I pledged that Niccolo would not harm the man, and also how I knew that Salvazia probably would. For all my grandstanding and disdaining Salvazia and what she was capable of, I virtually condoned it by leaving the merchant alone with her. I let him be tortured. I explained to Benedict that we needed the information the merchant held. I also explained to him my willingness to sacrifice myself in order to complete our mission and save Valduran, and for what it seems, this world and many others, from Manslayer. What I needed from Benedict was advice specifically on whether or not I did the right thing with the merchant, and more broadly on how I should act in the eyes of Balthor while we walk this road. Concerning the merchant, Benedict was very understanding, and said that some times, to overcome some evils, torture may be necessary, but only and always only as a very last resort. He asked if we had perhaps tried to bribe the man or approach him any other way to extract the information, and I stated that we had not. We essentially left that to Niccolo and Salvazia, and she only knew one way of gathering information. Benedict replied that other avenues should have been investigated first. He brought back my idea of sacrifice by warning me not to lose too much of myself…performing evil in order to eliminate evil does the world no good… He took this notion further to answer my second concern. In the eyes of Balthor, my only penance for the situation with the merchant would be to not repeat the mistake. To sacrifice oneself nobly in the name of a just cause is a just death, but to die needlessly, or to fall into darkness while fighting for light is the way of Enos. Stand by my word, protect those weaker than myself, act as a true dwarf and not as some twisted mockery like as Manslayer has with him. Balthor be with me in the coming storm. This road will seem very long indeed before we reach its end.
What Happened:
Chronological happenstance... keep things in order and keep things orderly. The process is as important as the result.
As I have previously stated, speaking to Benedict was the first action I performed while we waited for Quinn to fix himself. Happy with the conclusion of the conversation, and burning with a new conviction to act goodly and righteously in the face of adversity, I felt renewed. After speaking with him, I took Maggie aside to ensure that all was well between us, and by the end of that conversation, I felt truly back at peace.
That taken care of, I rested. Under Niccolo’s care, the crushing blow I took from the monstrous giant started to heal quickly. Upon awaking, I prepared for our venturing further into the caves. Maggie and I spoke to the group and convinced Quinn and Niccolo to reside further back in the marching order. Benedict was correct in assuming that the place was a lair and not a trapped tomb or temple. The scouts were finding more trouble than good in the lead, and having Theo and Salvazia up front would prove more beneficial. And with them up front, my place as a fighter in those tight corridors was, and had been, mostly compromised. I got a few shots in on the giant, but with the minotaur and the stone creatures, I barely had a chance to react before combat was over. So while preparing my spells upon awaking, I changed the focus of my memorizing from support spells to offense. I took off my armor to avoid any hindrances to my spellcasting and replaced it with a Mage Armor spell, and instead of preparing my warhammer, prepared a few Flame Bolt spells.
We didn’t travel far before Mica caught the smell of something different, and close, down a side passage we passed. We couldn’t see anything down in the darkness, but the others were able to hear some voices. Niccolo went to investigate but came back empty handed. Not wanted to go further and leave possible adversaries at our backs, we set a trap. Mica waited at the head of the passage, ready to unleash her flame, and Niccolo, being the fastest among us, went back down the passage to bait the creatures towards us. When Niccolo came running back into our vision some seconds later, the only things chasing him were a few thrown javelins, two of which appeared to connect with him. He stumbled back to our position, and checked to ensure that the wounds were nothing more than superficial. At that moment, two things happened: the creatures at the end of the hall started calling out to us in some guttural derivative of the orc language and, lo and behold, Agni Rafezzi popped into being near us. The first thought through my mind was to argue for Geldamar’s possessions, but I knew the time wasn’t right. Instead, at the joining of a second voice coming from ahead of us in another unknown language, we decided to fall back and reevaluate our advance.
We waited in the room where we fought the giant, and after some time, a person stepped out of the corridor we previously inhabited. A female human of some height, she presented herself as Alustriel, and wanted to negotiate our leaving. We stated that we were looking for Drizz’t Piergeron, and the lady replied that Drizz’t had been by, but was no longer in the caves. Not believing the persons lies, the group decided to charge in to combat instead of negotiating further. Alustriel took several blows before falling to the might of Niccolo, Salvazia, Benedict, and Theo, as well as Agni’s and my spell casting. When she died, that which was Alustriel shapeshifted into a large, blue green monster with horns and feet the size of the tracks we had been following. We had found Drizz’t, but all he had on his person was a money pouch. Any evidence of his work would be found further in the cave.
Before venturing further, I took the opportunity while Benedict was going over Drizz’t’s body to confront Agni. Unlike the rest of the party, I didn’t hold back what I was truly feeling. I told him he was to hand over Geldamar’s items…he lied to us about their powers, was using them for his own selfish gain, and could no longer be trusted with them. The privilege of going back and forth to Geldamar’s tower, which he had taken to calling his own, was revoked. He heartily disagreed, and went so far as to say he felt as though he had inherited the tower. He initially claimed that he could not rightfully hand over the ring to a non-magic user. I took that opportunity to inform him that in all his absence my training in the Arcane has come close to, if not already, surpassing his. He then further claimed that he could not hand over the ring to a non-Regent for fear of someone going through critical Malachite League papers. The idea that Geldamar was also an Auger and that Agni having access to whatever Auger possessions Geldamar might have had, including the amulet, fell under the auspice of the same argument was beyond him. In response, I simply told him that it was Mordenkainen’s ring, who we were traveling to return it to, and the decision was taken away from Agni. I told him I didn’t want, but would take it from him by force if necessary. He scoffed and said the ring would not leave his finger. When I took a step towards him he disappeared. Assuming he was watching us, I stated loudly that that was exactly why he couldn’t be trusted with it, disappearing randomly and at will, perhaps when we needed him. He reappeared a few seconds later and I tore into him about how he left Quinn in Kreuzung, where Manslayer found and killed him. Agni apparently wasn’t watching too closely. While we continued to argue, Niccolo worked to slip behind Agni, and when in position, hit him in the back of the head with the pommel of his sword. The blow, though underhanded, was necessary to silence the arrogant wizard. He had already proved we couldn’t take it from him fairly. While Niccolo ensured that he hadn’t brained Agni too badly, I removed Mordenkainen’s ring, the Auger’s amulet, and the other ring taken from Geldamar, the one that supposedly allowed it’s user to meld into stone. Immediately, I put on the amulet and contacted Ruscalos to let him know we now had the amulet and would return it as soon as possible. He replied with a thanks and let me know that he would put in the papers for our citizenship in Oridal as soon as it was returned. I thanked him than broke off communication. As soon as he was gone, I spoke Gaila’s name and gained contact with her. She responded in her typical drugged stupor, and took a second for me to identify myself. Through some questioning, it became apparent that she was back home safely, and that she remembered nothing of her time in Thet. Whatever game Manslayer was at with her, we may never know.
With Agni unconscious and Quinn still not awake, we decided to fall back to the giant’s room again and actually set up camp. Maggie cast a spell of warding gifted her by her nature deities, and we set up watches. Not long into my watch, the first, a voice called out from the darkness. I couldn’t understand it, so I awoke the others, and someone able to speak Halic informed me that it was someone else wanting to negotiate…this time it appeared that we had found the mistress of the cave, the one whose lair it truly was. She introduced herself as Sattarax and wanted to negotiate our safe passage out along with her own. Through questioning we learned that Drizz’t, an ogre mage, was employed by her, and that she in turn was employed by some dwarf (Ha!) named Stonebeard from the Inn at the Crossroads in Valduran. I ensured the others that there was no way one of my brethren had sought the civil upset in Ressex, and so we asked for one of the gold bars she had been paid with to see if we could identify any territorial markings. She tossed us such a bar from the darkness, and upon inspection, noted that it was nothing more than a plain bar of gold, melted down anywhere. Finished with our inspection, Maggie tossed the bar back down the hallway. Sattarax asked again that we leave and said that two days later she would leave. Looking at the state of the party, we agreed to depart.
On the surface again, it was easier to assess our situation. Sattarax claimed that the orc like bickering we heard were seven hobgoblin mercenaries she had. She also said that we left two creatures that could turn steel to rust in seconds on the first floor of the cave. And then there was whatever turned that poor lad to stone at the entrance to the cave. If that is all she had left as a bodyguard retinue, and she was negotiating her safe passage, than obviously she feared us and our ability to take out the stone creatures, the minotaur, the giant, and her ogre mage friend. We could easily dispatch her, finish looking through the caves, and perhaps find the true evidence Benedict would need. When I brought this to the attention of the others, Benedict asked if I would go back on my word to reenter the caves and slay Sattarax. I countered by stating that ridding the world of her evil, her ability to set up camp in another country and do this again, was more important than our deal. If she had the chance, she would kill us in our sleep. I asked him then if the act of goodness and eliminating her evil and the evil she had working for her would outweigh the act of lawfulness in sticking to the deal made hastily while in the dark of the caves. He replied by simply asking what would my Konig do…after a few moments of thought, and recalling what advice Benedict had given me only hours before…one evil does not better another…I was forced to retract my argument and agreed to leave. A man’s word is as important as everything the man stands for. To give one’s word is binding. To go back on one’s word is no small form of evilness. I must not give my word so freely in the future without first weighing all of the consequences.
Traveling on. The night after leaving the caves, we set up camp, I said it was time someone took the amulet back to Ruscalos. It was too early for me to even think of giving it to Agni, so I offered the chance to Theo, who had used the ring before. He stated that the ring took some getting used to, and that I should take the opportunity to attune myself to it. Seeing his logic, I agreed, took the ring from Maggie, who had been holding it for safekeeping, spoke the command word, and was off. I arrived in Geldamar’s tower with no small amount of discomfort. The ring would take some getting used to. It felt like my stomach was upside down and that some of my other innards where in the wrong place. After letting myself settle, I investigated the tower. I appeared in a room that appeared to be Geldamar’s library. The floor above seemed to lead to an observatory. The floor below was a wizard’s lab, and on the ground floor were sleeping quarters, recently used. Agni getting comfortable no doubt. Back in the wizard’s lab I found the mirror that Theo described to me as being the scrying device used in conjunction with the ring. After some failed attempts at calling the mirror to life, I spoke the command word of the ring to see what would happen and mirror smoked up and began to swirl. Out of the swirl came a sphere covered in greens and blues and…clouds? A small view of our entire world? Amazing! I thought of the party and the picture of the globe zoomed in quickly to our region, to Halgard, to the camp, to everyone sitting around the fire. There they were, talking and eating and getting ready for a night’s sleep. Smiling, I then thought of home. In a swirl that made me dizzy, the picture zoomed back out then zoomed in to the mountains south of Futterscharte, zoomed into the stone, and pierced through into my homeland. Overfilled with joy, I watched as my brethren worked and ate and slept. Only through the wonders of the Arcane. Thank you Balthor for allowing me to see such wonderful things and enabling me to join such a society of magic. Remembering my mission, I thought of Ruscalos and waited for the picture to show me his quarters. It zoomed in to the wizard’s office, where he was having a conversation with another man. I waited a few minutes, not wanting to disrupt the conversation, but when it seemed not to be ending any time soon, I didn’t want to spy any longer, spoke the command word, and teleported there.
The ring definitely takes some getting used to. I awoke the next day in a sickbed. Apparently, I appeared in Ruscalos’s office unconscious, with blood flowing from my nose and ears. He was standing over me when I came to and I noticed that the amulet was no longer around my neck. I apologized to him for my entrance and told me to think nothing of it…the papers for our citizenship would be put in immediately, though he warned the process could take months. He also informed me that I had to be healed magically and that I kindly owed Oridal 2400 silver pieces for their trouble. Grimacing at the sum, I thanked him again and teleported away.
Going back to Geldamar’s tower and then back to meet the others was much easier then when I first used the ring, but still, as soon as I appeared, I handed it to Maggie, looked to Theo, and told him I had all the experience with it that I cared to gleam. I told the others what happened and of my outstanding bill with Oridal. From the loot from the caves, we all had a share of close to 500 silver each. Niccolo argued that we could pay the bill the next time we’re through Oridal, and that the gold could be better used now to book passage to Mordenkainen’s. I told him that I would rather be able to move forward without having a debt over my head, and the others thankfully agreed. Maggie, Theo, Benedict, and Roxanne chipped in their shares of the loot, and with that I took the ring one last time, teleported back to Oridal to pay my debt, returned, and handed the ring to Maggie, for good this time.
On the road to Ressex, I finally had a chance to appraise the gems found in the gargoyle’s stash. It had with it a chalcedony which would probably be worth around 50 silvers, a fine green spinel that would be worth closer to 50 silvers, and finely a very lovely piece of jade that would be worth close to 80 silvers. In the next town I was able to sell them off for a total of 200 silvers…a little more loot to be split with the party.
Once we reached Ressex, it was time for Benedict to live up to his end of the bargain and help us find Tam. We headed to the Hammer and Mace inn to meet his contact, Brag. The man didn’t have any information to offer up on Tam, but he did offer to help us search for him. While in Ressex we learned that gold is worth much more here in Halgard than back home. Apparently, when my kindred started trading with the humans, so much gold reached the surface that the value of it in Valduran decreased. We all promptly traded in whatever gold we had for silver. Agni took the chance to say that he had plenty of gold, as well as some of his supplies still in Eissenstadt, and asked if he could use the ring to retrieve it. After a few days on the road, I had calmed down a bit and figured it would be a good chance for him to start rebuilding trust with us. I agreed to his offer, and told him this was his opportunity to prove himself to us. He acknowledged it, took the ring, and teleported away. Much later that afternoon he showed up with plenty of gold to be exchanged, his items, and news that he was to be promoted to full Mage within The Malachite League. That day, while he was away, I traveled to the local mages district and spent some time with The Order, trying to discern the command word for the Meld into Stone ring as well as information on Tam. Proving unsuccessful, I turned to the Augers who, for the sum of 800 silvers, the rest of my funds, I was able to purchase one casting of the Legend Lore spell. The information gained was well worth the 800 silver. The ring has more powers than simply allowing the user to Meld into Stone. It is a ring of earth elemental control. It is how Geldamar used earth elementals as his house servants. Beyond control and the casting of Meld into Stone, the ring grants the user the ability to cast Soften Earth and Stone, Stone Shape, Stoneskin, Passwall, and Wall of Stone. A dwarf’s dream. However, to unlock the rest of the rings powers, I must seek out a follower of Enos and slay him. Such a feat will not be easy, considering they all were killed years and years ago. Until then, it shall allow me to Meld into Stone, and that is all.
That night, we all met at the Hammer and Mace and were eating dinner and discussing the events of the day when a messenger approached our table, apparently sent by Tam. We all silenced and stood to follow her, leaving our meals behind. Through the city and into the slums she led us until we came to an abandoned warehouse. Inside, however, there existed a home of the wealthiest noble. She led us through a doorway guarded by two iron statues, but not before speaking a word of passing…that I have dutifully memorized in case I ever care to return to this horrible place. Through the portal we were led into a study, and there waiting for us was the fruit of our search: Szass Tam.
At a first glance, he appeared to be a very old and withered mage, but upon closer inspection, one would notice that Tam’s skin was drawn too tight in places, and was missing altogether in others. A cold radiated from him that was unnatural…that was beyond the grave….Szass Tam, Quinn’s creator, and the man we sought after, is an undead abomination!
Words passing through lips long past rotted away told us of Quinn’s heritage, his birthright, his purpose. Tam told us of the six that came before, of their fates, and of Quinn’s creation. He then told us of Manslayer…how he dominated Abier-Toril, Tam’s homeworld, and possibly other worlds before that. I dared ask if Tam knew what the distorted grey dwarves were and he laughed and called them by the name Duergar. Creatures that Manslayer brought with him from Tam’s world. Tam also told us that Manslayer would have dark elves called Drow, just like Salvazia said. Also, Rothgapharius, the shapeshifter that stole Niccolo’s belongings and first killed Quinn was an associate of Manslayer’s, as is Zoryn, the crazed druid that kidnapped Gaila. Tam said he had enough knowledge of the prophecy to create Quinn, but that he didn’t know the whole thing. To fill in some holes, I handed him my copy of what we have….and briefly touch the flesh of his hand. I will never forget the chill. The skeletons we fought in the temple to Abaris were laughable, were nothing next to the might and wickedness that exuded from this creature. He read over the prophecy, noting each of us with each stanza. When he read mine, he offered to help me become one with bone... I thanked him, but declined. Reading Niccolo’s, he looked to Nic and then to Salvazia, smiled, and said to Nic, “I thought you were supposed to be the smart one”, or something very close to that. Apparently, Tam gleamed their relationship from the prophecy and the fate that awaited Niccolo if he continued to travel with Salvazia.
When it seemed nothing else could be gained from speaking with the living corpse, we thankfully took our leave. Niccolo and Salvazia lagged behing, apparently to ask Tam some further questions in confidence. Whatever transpired did so quickly, because before we were out the door, Niccolo was walking out of the room with Salvazia’s body….her corpse, on his shoulder. Tam apparently has something of a vested interest in our success, and would not let Salvazia interfere…….
Now we wait...we wait to see what Niccolo needs…yes, none of us carried much love for his sister, but she was family none the less, and if he needs time to grieve, then it shall be so.
Game Seventeen
November 9, 2002
General thoughts:
Maggie: In our time together, Maggie has grown immensely. At the outset, she was little more than an unpolished gem, understanding the world and the ways of men about as clearly as myself. The road to understanding hasn’t been easy for any of us, but Maggie has traveled it as stalwartly as any dwarf. Of all my companions, her kindred soul will be missed the most....
Roxanne: In the end, I still find it hard to give Roxanne her due. She convinced me to go back and save the priestess of Betshaba, something I didn’t think possible, and that was a most good deed. I suppose she still has a lot of growing left to do before she can truly and faithfully serve Betshaba, as well as this company.
Agni: For better or worse, Agni showed his true worth before being taken away from us.
His mind magic forced the “pretender” king to disarm himself and call off his attack before he could rightly cut me down in the street. This, of course, led to a chain of events in which Agni’s father exposed himself to be the true villain, but for this Agni can not be blamed. His action of ending our battle without more bloodshed was successful and valiant enough. Over the past year, my trust and respect for Agni have come and gone, but in the end I have to admit that his heart is in the right place, even if his head isn’t. He plays a role in the company, and is a chosen of Geldamar, no matter what may pass. He will do right in the end.
Niccolo: My own cowardliness and then foolishness insured his death as well as my own. If I had attempted to take more people at once from the castle, he would never have had to stand off against the mercenary captain. And if I had waited longer, I could have recovered his body for resurrection without falling, myself. Because of my action, both of us were lost from the company, and they became trapped in Geldamar’s tower. I am thankful at least for speaking with Mordenkainen first, to ensure that he would check up on them if he did not hear from me. As for Niccolo himself, aside from Quinn as the slayer, I saw him as the most important member of the company. Countless times he brought us back from the clutches of death, patched us up so that we could fight longer, and joined the fray more often than not to ensure our victory. A truer example that heritage does not dictate a person’s actions can not be found. Coming from a land of depravity, Niccolo was a jewel of light during these dark times. Salvazia’s influence almost brought an end to him, but without her dark touch, he strived forward. He will be missed by the world.
Quinn: It took the capture and death of Theo, our demise, and his own death several times over, but I think Quinn is finally learning the lesson of restraint. I can only hope so, at least. With my absence, I hope Maggie will stand firm enough to reprimand the boy for his recklessness. She may be the only one left who would do so. Even Theo is too accepting, as long as he journeys with Quinn. Quinn is the key to freeing the world, and all worlds, from the tyranny of Manslayer. I understand that his strengths place him in the middle of combat...if only he would understand that his foregoing one combat that the others can handle will allow for his continued survival, enabling him to fight the one combat no one else will be able to help with.
Theo: Theo and I had some time to bond, but nothing compared to the 600 years we spent together in Sigil. If only either one of us could remember those times. I suppose it is of little consequence, now, but we could have been so much closer if those times could have been recalled. As it stands, Theo is the perfect example of how not all members of a species follow the stereotype labeled upon them. Much as Niccolo was an “outcast” of Thet, Theo gave a good name to that of orc....or half-orc. Assuming that he is resurrected, as I hope considering all we went through to retrieve him, he will continue to be a strong and protecting force within the company. A force that will be much needed in the times to come.
Benedict: My mentor, advisor, and friend. Dwarves know Balthor, and by simply being they live his word. Benedict showed me what it means to truly understand Balthor, and understand what service is. My existence alone wasn’t enough...not without truly knowing Balthor, and living his word, can a dwarf be said to fully exist. I only hope that Benedict continues to travel with the company, and continues to be their moral compass.
Brag: A latecomer to our company, I had little time to know the mysterious knight, but I know that under his hot-headed and at times foolish human nature, there is wisdom and strength. May his nobility come forth and wash away the grime that he uses as a façade.
What Happened:
To the end, I shall keep to routine, to pattern, to order. There will be nothing more to add to this, for after this is written, my story will end. But the story of the company will continue on. And may the final words for it be ‘...and they all lived happily ever after.’
There are many holes within this recounting...I have not always had the time to go through my thoughts. I suppose that has much to do with my state of being over the past several weeks. Things had started to fall away...as more information was given to us about the world around us and what was going on, the less things began to make sense. I have not the wisdom or mental stamina of many of my brethren, and the past few weeks have severely taken their toll. Now, that means little, but before, it meant everything.
The story here picks up with Agni’s father slaying the true king of Eeridia, in the name of Phlagethon. Agni’s father carried the Sword of Kos all along, and sent us as errand-runners to open the gates to the city for him. We did the work of evil men, unknowingly. But repentance is not beyond the company. If the king can be disposed of, and Agni set up in his place, his part of the prophecy will be fulfilled, and order will be returned.
As it stood then, we were left on a battlefield, surrounded by the new king’s army of mercenaries, with nowhere to go and no way to avenge this wrong immediately. At least, that was my thinking. As Agni approached his father, an arrow shot out from above the gate keep, striking Agni’s father square in the chest. The shot did not fell the king, but it did wound him severely. He then showed off the true power of the Sword of Kos by swinging it in front of him and using its power to disappear from this plane of existence, taking Agni with him.
Chaos took over as the mercenaries charged the last of the true king’s men. At that time, the mercenary captain moved to where we, Roxanne, Brag, Benedict, and myself, were standing at the entrance to the gate keep, and said something in a different language, that didn’t sound altogether friendly. Benedict took a swing at the man, but by not realizing how close Brag was behind him, wound up knocking our friend out with a blow to the head instead. Seeing the trouble we were in, and knowing our odds here had changed dramatically in the past few minutes, I laid my hands on both Benedict and Roxanne, and teleported all of us to safety. Before Benedict could reprimand me for running, as I knew he would, and as I suppose I deserved, I ran down the stairs of Geldamar’s tower, and returned for Niccolo. He had moved from the top of the gate keep and into the middle of the battlefield, apparently to retrieve the sword of the true king, before I could return for him, and when I teleported in next to him, it was with several archers facing us down. They were able to fire their shots, hitting Niccolo several times, before I could grab both him and the sword and teleport both to safety. Without thinking, I immediately ran back to the scrying pool to look for the others. As I scanned for Theo, I was able to see the killing blow that was struck by the mercenary captain I fled from. If I stood my ground initially, the cave rat chase that was to come might have been avoided....or we could all have died on that battlefield...I don’t know, but one way or another, I was too late to save him. Not wanting to see my own failure, I teleported back next to Maggie, who had grabbed Brag and ran, and brought both of them to the tower.
Safely in the tower with all the live members of the company, I began to scan for others. I watched as Theo’s body was taken from the top of the gate keep and carried away, under heavy guard. Retrieving him would be no easy task. I then tried to scan for Agni, but could find nothing other than a headache as the scrying mirror scanned all over the world in a manner of seconds, sending reeling images into my brain. I then tried to scan for Mordenkainen, and was treated with the same spinning confusion. I later learned that I couldn’t find other because neither was on this particular plane of existence.
During all of this, Roxanne was screaming at me to save the people within the temple of Betshaba. I looked on as mercenaries surrounded the building and began to bar the doors. I tried to tell her several times that there was no way for me to teleport into the building without being able to see it, and from the perspective of the mercenaries, all I could see was the outside, that I would not want to teleport to. But then I remembered seeing a balcony facing the ocean as we sailed into harbor. Bringing that to mind and focusing on it, I took a wild chance and spoke the word of power that teleported me away. Thankfully, my memory was correct, and I landed on the balcony that I had seen before. The mercenaries below took notice of me and began to fire arrows, but not before I could escape into the building. I ran and ran, until I found the central chamber to the temple. To my dismay, there were a dozen priests and priestesses and well over fifty wounded guardsmen...and the mercenaries were beginning to light the temple on fire. There was no way for me to save them all. No thinking of such problems, I ran to who appeared to be the high priestess, informed her of the situation, and then asked her whom I should save first. Over the next several minutes, I teleported wounded out of the temple, with brief breaks as I ran from the entry point to the mirror in Geldamar’s tower. After about ten trips, I was beginning to feel faint, and my mind was beginning to slip. Without full mental acuity, my hold over the ring was also beginning to slip. Damn my years lost in Sigil! I had the mind of a young dwarf, and the body of an ancient stone. Gasping for breath, I informed the high priestess that I could only make one more trip before having to stop. She nodded in understanding, and informed me that she would stay with the wounded. She pointed out one last guardsmen for me to take away, but before I could do so, the other priests and priestesses tackled their superior, and asked me to take her instead. Torn between her wishes and the needs of others, I was forced to take her with me. Her powers and abilities were too valuable to be lost to selflessness. When we were safe in the tower, I collapsed to the floor, but not before the high priestess gave me a good slap to the face. I took it fully, knowing that I had deserved it.
Time began to slip away then as I tried to regain focus of reality. My body ached, and my mind reeled from the exertion. This should have been no problem for me, but over six-hundred years of wear and tear had broken down my body more than I had been aware of. Finally, when I could breathe easily and see straight again, I rushed down to the mirror, only to see the flames outside the temple begin to eat into it...there were still a few precious moments left for me to save others, but just then the earth beneath the temple began to shake as though some earthquake had decided to affect just that one place. Using the mirror, I looked outside the temple, and was able to see a priestess of Pthlagethon, looking smug as the temple collapsed. I could only assume that she was behind the final destruction.
Looking away, I then found the true king’s body, as it was being drawn and quartered. His head was placed upon a pike, and his body was sent by horse-rider away from the castle...I assume to show outlying villages and cities that a new king was in power. When no one was looking, I teleported to the spot were the king’s body was mutilated and grabbed a piece of his carcass. It would only take a small amount for the high priestess to be able to bring him back to life.
With that in order, I began again to try and find Agni and Mordenkainen, both times having the same affect as before. My stomach began to lurch, so instead I looked to Theo...only to find the same problem. How Theo went from my vision to somewhere the ring couldn’t see, I didn’t know. As it turned out, he was incased in lead, to prevent just such divinations...
Not being able to see the three of them, I turned my attention to Quinn. At this point, his body had started to reform. Thankfully, no one noticed in the confusion as he rebuilt himself. When the opportunity presented itself, I teleported to him, and brought Quinn back to safety. The high priestess showed her worth when she magically healed the lad, brining him back to full vitality. We told him of what had happened, and he was expectedly dismayed. He argued that we had to go find Theo immediately, but I told him that we did not know where to find him. He then said we should teleport to where Theo was last seen and track him from there on foot. I admittedly began to lose my patience after the taxing day, and told Quinn that I would not take him into the arms of the enemy...enough had been lost already. Upset with me, he marched off to think on his own.
With little else to do, and in need of help, I put my efforts back into finding Mordenkainen. When trying to see him, I was presented with the dizzying display, so then I tried to focus simply on his tower. That seemed to work. I teleported there, in hopes of maybe finding the mage, and knocked on the tower door. A servant answered, welcomed me in, and said that I was expected. I entered, to find Mordenkainen there, in his study. Apparently, the inside of his tower exists on another plane, and that is why I couldn’t see him before. He explained this to me, as well as many other things. Apparently, I couldn’t see Theo because he was being blocked from my view. How wouldn’t be revealed for some time. The mage also told me of the Sword of Kos’s power, and of the fact that Agni and his father where “elsewhere”. Also, because of the sword’s ripping through reality, and Manslayer’s attunement to planar happenings, Mordenkainen said that Agni’s father’s use of the sword resounded in Manslayer’s head like a hammer striking an anvil in his ear. When the two returned to this world, Manslayer would know it, and probably be there to receive them. Thankfully, the sword could only be used once a day for otherworldly travel, so I had a day to rest before trying to find them...and face Manslayer. Furthermore, I told Mordenkainen of our predicament in the tower, and of our lack of supplies. To help, he offered me a magical cornucopia, that would dispense all the food necessary while people were in the tower. With knowledge in hand, I thanked the mage and spoke the word to leave, but as I was saying it, Mordenkainen cast a spell of silence on me. He told me that it was necessary to stop me, because apparently using the ring from inside his tower, considering its particular properties, would have ripped a hole in reality. Good reason. When I finally had my voice returned to me, I asked him if there were any other “rules” I should be aware of when using the ring....he said that yes there were, and that they would fill a full book, but considering the amount of time on our hands, I would simply have to learn by trial and error. One error had landed me in Sigil for six-hundred years. I didn’t have much life left to give for another mistake....
Regardless, I left his tower and returned to Geldamar’s, where I told the company of what I learned, and gave the cornucopia to the priestess so that she could better attend to the sick.
Tired, both mentally and physically, from the day’s events, I retired to sleeping quarters, so that I could rest before having to scan for Agni’s and his father’s return the following day. As I approached sleep, Maggie came to speak with me. She informed me of a conversation that she had had with Quinn, and she told me how I had offended the boy. Thanking her for the information, I left sleep to find him. Taking him aside, I told him that Maggie had talked to me, and I apologized for being short with him before. He had taken it in his head that I thought he was useless and foolish. I apologized for losing my temper, and told him how I truly felt. I wanted to get Theo back as well, but Quinn’s life was much more important to us, to Theo, and to the world. Through the conversation, he eventually had me agree to take him to find Theo. With me watching him, even if I couldn’t see Theo, I could follow Quinn, and come in quickly to rescue him if things got bad. We informed the others of what was to come, and prepared for sleep.
Before doing so, Niccolo had the idea of scanning for other people who might know the whereabouts of Theo. We started with the high magus and had to go no further than that. The mage had locked himself in his room in the castle back in Eeridia, and had barred the door. Perfect setting for an ambush. As he was studying from his spellbook, I teleported both Benedict and Niccolo into his room, and they knocked the man unconscious before he could even put up a defense. His body in tow, I brought everyone back to the tower where we could interrogate him. Through questioning, we learned that Theo was in the castle prison, still alive, and contained within a lead iron maiden. The man knew little of the castle’s layout, and wasn’t able to give specific directions to the prison. With this knowledge in hand, I scanned the castle the best I could. His room offered little help. By thinking of the mercenary captain, I was able to see the main fest hall, where a feast was being eaten by the mercenary army. The scene was disgusting, with many women taken prisoner, and chained to the different mercenaries. The barbarians had raped and pillaged, and now were enjoying a night of celebration. I studied them for awhile, as well some of the cook’s servants, hoping to find one that would travel to the dungeons, but I had no such luck. Now came the problem of freeing Theo without being spotted.
Seeing that some of the guardsmen had joined with the mercenary forces, to spare their own lives, no doubt, we struck upon the idea of using a guard’s uniform to infiltrate the castle. Because of the guards I had saved, there were plenty in the tower willing to give up a uniform. Niccolo being the best suited for moving unseen among the mercenaries, donned the outfit and I took him back to the high magus’s quarters. I then traveled back to the tower and watched him from the mirror. The magus had given us vague directions on where the dungeons were located, and so it was up to Niccolo to find them.
Through some stumbling around and guesswork, Niccolo indeed did find himself working downward to where they were keeping Theo. I watched as he approached a guard room, and was able to see ahead of him enough to see two guards sitting outside a door playing knucklebones.
I teleported in next to him and told him what the situation was ahead, and told him to sit tight as we figured out what to do from the tower. I then went back to actually figure out what we were going to do. We were left with two options: take out the guards forcefully and risk their calling alarm, ending Theo’s life, or trying to sneak past. Sneaking past didn’t seem much an option, since they were in a well-lit room, so we were going to go with the idea of teleporting in right next to them, and hopefully taking them by surprise, when Maggie remembered that she had recently learned how to cast a spell of magical sleep! With this powerful tool in mind, I took her down to the hallway next to Niccolo, and left again to watch them. From the tower I was ready to teleport in with Brag and Benedict if anything went wrong, but she cast the spell, and both guards fell unconscious. Good to go. I then watched as Niccolo and Maggie snuck up to the sleeping guards and slit their throats! The men were killed in cold blood....but after watching the rapes and looting, I knew they deserved a scoundrel’s death...as had happened many times before, I was torn by moral decisions. Putting it out of my mind and focusing on the matter at hand, I took Quinn down into the guardroom so that he could inspect the door leading further into the dungeons. He inspected the door, found that it was safe, and was attempting to open it stealthily when his skills failed him. A loud click alerted someone on the other side of the door, who came close and began to ask questions in a language I couldn’t understand. Knowing we were caught, I immediately left for the tower so that I could bring Brag and Benedict into the conflict. I watched as Niccolo opened the door, and saw the priestess of Pthlagethon that had been responsible for the earthquake at the temple of Betshaba. As soon as the forces in the hallway engaged her, I teleported in the others behind her. She turned and attacked the least armored, Quinn, and nearly killed the boy, but not before I was able to grab him and take him to safety. By the time I could get back into the fray, the battle was over. The priestess bitch had been cut down, and looted, but no key for the next door could be found. I went back to the tower to find Quinn fully healed by the high priestess, and took him back to deal with the next door. Inspecting it, he told us that the lock was beyond his skill to open. With no options left, and our stealth blown, Benedict and I went to work hammering open the door. After a few minutes, it finally relented, and burst in, to show another guardroom with two more guards. The others rushed in as I stood back with Quinn, to ensure that no further harm came to him. The two guards were felled quickly enough, and Quinn approached the final door leading to Theo. He inspected it, and once again said the locking mechanism was beyond his skill to open. No options left, we kicked in the door, only to realize that the mechanism for closing the iron maiden holding Theo was connected to the door. When it was opened, the iron maiden closed, killing Theo instantly. Quinn went wild, tearing Theo from his cage of death. Mission failed, I started to take everyone back to the tower. One by one, I brought everyone to safety....except Niccolo. He stayed last to guard the door, and when I made it to the mirror to retrieve him, what I saw instead was his corpse on the ground with a sword through the skull...the sword belonging to the mercenary captain. Furious at all the death, our ineptness, and the possible losing of the iron circlet that Niccolo was carrying, I waited until I thought the captain was busy looking though Nic’s possessions and teleported in. I went in alone in hopes of simply grabbing the corpse and leaving again. Taking others with me would have simply spelled their doom, and I had enough death on my hands for one day. Luck again wasn’t with me. The captain was ready for me...and struck me down as soon as I popped in in front of him.
The circlet, lost. The ring, lost. The ability to retrieve the Sword of Kos, lost. The ability for the others to leave Geldamar’s tower, gone. If I could have failed more completely, I know not how.
And now, I must travel to the keep of Balthor, to be judged. I must stand in front of my ancestors, head bowed in shame, and face my failure. I was chosen to help save the world, and in the end, I helped Manslayer ensure his own victory.
