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Campaign Diary of Abernathy's Company (runs 31-40) (1828) Friday, December 5 - …and early in the morning, Karn finds them. He arrived in Tandle soon after the party left, and had been following them. Following the last of the Olafson family reunion, the party starts the long sea journey to Seablade Point. Saturday, December 6 - Travel to Wrack. Sunday, December 7 - The Company takes a ship across the bay to Kynder Hold that afternoon, and then finds a captain who will take them to Seablade Point…no easy task, since Seablade Point isn’t on any normal shipping routes. Monday, December 8 - Thursday, December 11 - Sea travel to Seablade Point. Friday, December 12 - The party arrives in Seablade Point at mid-afternoon. They discover that the place is a tiny backwater with only a few of notable features. One of these is the Olde Keg, the town’s inn, at which one can buy truly excellent beer for only a copper for a large mug. The entire economy of the place is depressed, and everything is dirt-cheap. Mages and halflings are both curiosities for the townsfolk, who have never seen either. The use of several Detect Magic spells doesn’t turn up any powerful magic items, but reveals that every one of the townsfolk radiates minor necromantic magic. That night Dranko keeps watch on the rooftop of the inn, alert for anything suspicious. At around 11:30, ten or so people (including Sakkow, the innkeeper of the Olde Keg) wander out of their homes and stand silently in the street. Dranko quickly wakes the rest of the party, and they follow as the ten people walk without speaking to the edge of town, and then north toward a small wood. The zombie-like townsfolk enter a small clearing in the wood where they stand motionless, until one by one they collapse onto the dirt. After a few more minutes they begin to stand again, and by 1:00 they’re all back on their feet. Still silent, they march back to town and their homes. The Company examines the clearing, and in the darkness Kay spots something odd overhead. Further searching reveals that a huge arch, made from rusting but solid Gartine, stands in the wood, its horizontal top hidden in the branches. An owl, spoken to with Speak with Animals, confirms that humans come there every night, engaging in the same odd ritual. The Arch is magical, and the spot where the townsfolk were standing is directly beneath its center. Saturday, December 13 - The next morning Sakkow remembers nothing about his sleepwalking. The Company goes to visit the Temple of Brechen (the only church in the town), perched on a cliff at the very tip of the peninsula. The priest there, an old man named Hodge, seems pleasant enough, and chats idly with them for a while. That evening the party watches again as ten completely different people leave their homes and wander north toward the Arch. When Ernie tries to stop one of them, the peasant just ignores him and walks around. When Ernie actually trips one of them, it speaks to Ernie in a bizarre and multi-toned voice, with a single deep menacing voice beneath. "Do not interfere," it says…and then the peasant blasts Ernie with some kind of fiery blast. Ernie and Tor both think the voice is familiar, but can’t quite place it. During that night’s ritual, the magic of the arch fluxes mildly. Morningstar Mind Reads the peasants, and discovers that they aren’t thinking at all during their vigil beneath the arch. Dranko trips the same guy as the group leaves the clearing, with the same results as before…but this time he realizes that the strange voice sounds like that of Hodge, the kindly old priest of Brechen. Sunday, December 14 - That morning the Company attends services at the local temple of Brechen. Hodge checks out (with Know Alignment ) as Lawful Good, and slightly more magical (with Detect Magic) than the rest of the townsfolk. When Morningstar casts Mind Read on him, she discovers a huge black void there that she can’t examine too closely for fear of having her own mind get sucked into it. The Company confronts Hodge with the facts, but it’s clear that he thinks the party is a bunch of loons, and he refuses to speak more with them. That night the Company breaks into the Temple at 11:30, hoping to find out what Hodge is up to during the nightly goings-on. Flicker picks the locks, and the party enters the building, to discover a very un-Brechen-like ritual taking place. Hodge is standing at the altar, wearing strange red robes (Brechen's colors are a seafoam blue and white) and holding a red metal pyramid. On the altar stands a statue of a man on fire, its arms raised. Outraged at the defilement, the party moves to attack Hodge. A sling stone from Flicker shows that Hodge is protected by a red magical force shield that is only visible when struck. When the Company starts to batter at the shield, Hodge summons a pair of large, semi-substantial fiery lions. In the ensuing battle most of the Company is reduced to unconsciousness (or nearly so) by the lions and by fire bolts cast intermittently by Hodge, but they manage to batter down Hodge’s shield in the end. One strike by Kay to the old man makes the lions vanish, and the pyramid clatters to the floor. Hodge himself falls wounded and unconscious. The party stops him from bleeding to death, and they heal themselves up as well. In Hodge’s office the party finds a large metal trunk with some loot, and on his desk there is a page of prophecy written in Hodge’s own hand, concerning a strange Fire God. Tor, Kay and Dranko head off to the arch, where the people beneath it are coming to. They are very confused, and their initial reaction is to think the party had something to do with their odd situation. Back at the Temple, Hodge is even worse; he’s convinced that the party had just done something horrible to him and his temple, and sees all evidence as supporting that conclusion. (He has no memories of his Fire-God-worshipping ritual.) After a frustrating and failed attempt to convince him otherwise, the Company departs Seablade point with the pyramid, two statues of the Burning God, and some other treasure from Hodge’s office. Monday, December 15 (run 32 begins) - The party limps up the peninsula, planning on visiting the cities of Hydra and the Ghant. Tuesday, December 16 - (Hearth Day - Pikon) The Company reaches a spot where the map indicates a town, called Espro. What they find are very old ruins. Thought Captures from Morningstar show both a person cringing in fear, and a person slaying others with disdain. That evening, Morningstar is visited by a powerful Ellish entity, and is called to the path of the Dreamwalker. (Dreamwalkers are Priestesses of Ell who can enter the Ava Dormo) The glowing Avatar tells her: "When you return to this place, one of the lives of your comrades will be for you to lose or to save. Your mind must be ready." Then it says, "Face the light, and defend yourself," and attacks! Morningstar spends the night in sudden and brutal training-combat with an angel. Wednesday, December 17 - Saturday, December 20 - The party travels north, following a long and wide valley west of the mountains. There are some herds of cattle roaming around, but they seem docile and harmless. Also during this time, Morningstar befriends a raven with Animal Friendship , that Dranko wants to name "Murdrach, Harbinger of Death," and Ernie wants to name "Beaky." Morningstar delays the decision. Sunday, December 21 - During the day’s travel the ground begins to shake…and a stampede of cattle comes thundering down on them from the north. They are being driven by some sort of large flying horses. Stampede! The Company attempts to get out of the way, but the stampede is coming at them too fast, so Morningstar stands fast and uses Dismay , while Kay casts Gust of Wind. Faced with a burning person and a 50 MPH head-wind, the herd divides and goes around them on either side. However, the flying horses, which have the heads of eagles and talons in place of front hooves, now descend on the party to attack. They don’t manage to do much damage, but one of them grabs Flicker in its claws and flies off with him, high up into the nearby mountains. Dranko immediately begins scaling the mountains, but before he can get far the rest of the group notices that there is a mostly-crumbled building facade built into the mountainside near by. When the party approaches it, they then note that a number of boulders resting nearby suddenly sink into the ground. They approach the one remaining boulder, and Morningstar casts Mind Read. It does have a mind, albeit an unfathomable one. When Ernie addresses it, it talks back! It turns out to be a creature called a Galeb Duhr, essentially a big boulder with eyes, a mouth, and squat legs. It seems friendly. When they ask it if they could go inside the ruined mountain dwelling, it tells them to go right ahead…and to be careful of both the crumbling ceilings, and the "big snake." Beyond the facade entrance the Company discovers a large hall, partially ruined, with a 7-foot-wide tunnel leading up into of the ceiling. Dranko starts climbing up the tunnel to secure a rope, as it looks like a promising way to get to Flicker. But after a few moments Dranko comes hurrying down out of the hole, announcing that the "big snake" is on its way. He’s right. A huge snake, 40’ long, 6’wide, and with a dozen small legs along the sides of its body, comes pouring out of the hole. During the ensuing combat it coils itself around Dranko, and begins to rake him with six of its clawed feet. Mrs. Horn tries a Color Spray but it has little effect on the huge beast. And then it swallows Kay. Whole. Fortunately she keeps hold of her weapon, and does some hacking from inside the horrid stench- and acid-filled stomach. As the rest of the party continues to damage the snake, it follows its Kay Dinner with Ernie Dessert. But in the end, the party manages to slay the beast, with Ernie and Kay chopping their way out from its innards. The smell is not pleasant. Afterward, as the party is just beginning to head up the hole again, Flicker comes crashing through the rotting wood of the ceiling, scratched and bruised and with a broken leg. He had escaped the nest of the horse-eagles by using his Ring of Jumping to leap to another ledge, and from there he had found a crevice which led into a series of tunnels. He had made his way down to the weak ceiling of the main hall. A search of the area reveals a lower level to the edifice, mostly collapsed. In it, the party finds some treasure which some of the doomed occupants had been trying to drag to safety. It includes a magical wooden staff, a magic carpet, a magical morningstar, a chest with some other magic goodies, a statue and holy symbol of the Burning God, and a pile of jade chits very similar to the ones carried by Sharshun. Pulling the carpet (which has a pattern of bright red, yellow and orange flames) out from a pile of rubble causes more of the building to settle – the Company hurries back to the surface, where they engage in conversation with the Galeb Duhr. When they ask, it tells them that building was built a long time ago, by a people who worshipped a fire god and who were often running military drills. One day, a priest of the fire god came outside, looked at the sun, and then ran back inside. Soon after, humans began to run out of the building, and soon after that, a massive earthquake struck the building and destroyed it. The Galeb Duhr, who can usually predict quakes, had not detected this one. The surviving humans fled en masse to the south; Many years later, another group of soft-skins (possibly goblins) arrived to inhabit the mountains, but they were driven away by the big snake. Lastly the Galeb Duhr, when shown a piece of "floam" taken from Verdshane, claims that it was once rock, but isn’t any more. The thought distresses him. Monday, December 22 - Friday, December 26 - (run 33 begins) The Company departs the ruined hold of the fire-worshippers and continues to travel northward toward the city of Hydra. Saturday, December 27 - The Company reaches the walls of Hydra but are told they cannot enter with magic items. (And gosh, are the guards at the gatehouse blown away by the quantity of magic items the party is carrying!) The reason for this is that investigators have discovered that the Blood Gargoyle, the same one that had attacked Ghant, had been smuggled into Hydra a few days before the attack and stored there. Until the authorities can figure out how it was smuggled in, and by whom, they’re being especially paranoid about more powerful magics being brought into the city. The party sends a couple of people in to the city for supplies, but camps outside the walls. Sunday, December 28 - Tuesday, December 30 (Warding Day - Corilayna) - Travel to Ghant. Wednesday, January 1, 1829 - In the evening the party arrives at the city of Ghant. Thursday, January 2 - The Company spends the day in Ghant. The city has been largely repaired and rebuilt since the attack by the Blood Gargoyle, though many of the humans and elves are dressed in mourning black. Asking about Reinhorn, the party is directed to an elven sage named Tineva. In addition to being extraordinarily beautiful (Dranko manages to mostly control himself), Tineva has useful information. She knows of Reinhorn – he was an elf born about 200 years before, but who has not been seen in the past fifty. She knows the story of the winds, which gusted mightily at his birth. He was the son of two glassblowers: the father, Conine, was killed in the Gargoyle attack. The mother, Amethyst, still lives and works in Ghant. Kay goes to Amethyst’s shop, an elevated store selling intricate glass sculptures and ornaments. Needless to say, the elderly elf (dressed in black) is quite surprised to discover that she has a granddaughter. Amethyst only knew that her son Reinhorn, restless for a reason he could never explain, left the city fifty years before to wander and hadn’t returned. She tells Kay that he was the first to exhibit the strange birth-wind; neither she nor Conine had had the experience. After the private reunion Kay introduces her grandmother to the rest of the Company. They all receive a standing invitation to visit in the future. Friday, January 3 (Day of Icebreaking - Brechen) - The party leaves Ghant and heads back to Tal Hae Saturday, January 4 - Wednesday, January 8 - They go by ship back to Tal Hae. The journey is made more quickly than expected, as the party finds a ship captain (Mad Captain Lyle) willing to brave the Royal Straight in winter. Some halfling seasickness occurs. Thursday, January 9 - The Company arrives in Tal Hae to find a pair of City Guards standing outside the Greenhouse. Eddings tells them that there has been some excitement while they were gone – about a week before, the Greenhouse had been attacked! Someone had tried to break in by both physical and magical means, but was thwarted by Abernathy’s wards. One of the attackers was actually killed by the magical protections, and the body was hauled away by the guard. Marbury Tillerson is sent for, and he takes the party to a public cemetery where the body of the assailant is being stored. It’s a dark elf, and it has the poison sac of a Sharshun. Friday, January 10 - Sunday, February 3 (1/15 - Cocoa Day - Yondalla) (1/18 - March of the Woundtenders - Delioch) - The party trains. Also during this time, Abernathy introduces the party to Ozilinsh, his newest apprentice. Ozilinsh is short and scholarly, and has great knowledge and interest in exotic beasts. He knows that the horse-eagles are called Hippogriffs, that the giant snake was called a Behir, and that the rubbery creature beneath Gohgan’s (which they have been calling an "Ogre") was actually a Troll. He wants to hear all about Flatworms and Galeb Duhr, and clearly would like to discuss exotic beasts all day, but Abernathy cuts the conversation short. The Company delivers the red pyramid to Abernathy, and in light of their conversation with the Galeb Dur, asks him again what "floam" really is. (He had refused to tell them once before.) The answer is hard to believe: in a war fought long, long ago, a mighty spell was cast that turned most of the stone buildings in central Harkran (covering hundreds of miles) to mud for a short period of time, after which it re-hardened into "floam." Because of magical "aftershocks," building with stone was made illegal in Tal Hae. Ernie, during his training, is granted a vision from his Goddess upon gaining his next level, involving black circles turning to gold circles and a mention of "Carnchus's gift." (Cranchus, as the party learned from Richter at the Hae Kalkas Sages Consortium, is then name of the dwarven Archmage who lives in the mountains near Hae Kalkas.) (run 34 begins) Rumors are circulating through the city that the Gnollish armies near Calnis have withdrawn, and that no imminent attack is expected. Later in the training period Abernathy visits again, and with him is a Dwarven mage. The Dwarf is named Kibilhathur Bimson (Kibi for short), and he hails from one of the mountain villages near Hae Kalkas on Nahalm. Abernathy makes a brief introduction – and names the Dwarf as one of the Company! Abernathy seems rushed, but tells the party two more things. The first is that Ozilinsh has remembered that Trolls regenerate and that their severed limbs can attack by themselves. (This is relevant because the party has talked about hunting the Trolls that killed that family near the Greatwood.) The second is that the party should make it a point to visit Verdshane again sometime soon; something odd is going on there again. And then he tells Mrs. Horn that he needs to speak with her on an urgent matter, and the two of them vanish. While the party introduces themselves to their newest member, Abernathy tells Mrs. Horn that she must leave the Company, and come to his Tower to be an apprentice along with Ozilinsh. He doesn’t foresee a time when she’ll be able to leave. He is very sorry, but offers her no choice in the matter. He then returns her to the Greenhouse, where she tells the Company and then falls into a somber mood. Kibi is a dour but friendly Dwarf, quite confident in his magic abilities, even though dwarven Mages are very rare. He knows a lot about masonry and stonecutting, and (more importantly) is an expert brewer. (One of the first things he does is set up a still in an unused storeroom of the Greenhouse.) He is somewhat vain about his magnificent beard. Like the rest of them, Kibi doesn’t know why he was chosen by Abernathy to be part of the group. Monday, February 4 - The Company leaves Tal Hae to go Troll-hunting in the farmlands south of the Greatwood. Tuesday, February 5 - The party arrives in the general area indicated by Fenbolt (from Walnord) as the place where the first Troll was seen. They spend the day going from farm to farm, and find that none are still inhabited. Each has either been abandoned or ransacked by Trolls. Wednesday, February 6 (Day of St. Fozno - Pikon) - The Company finds that the three Trolls have holed themselves up in one of the farmhouses. They have barricaded the windows and doors, but when they hear the party approach, one unblocks the door and tries to trick the party into approaching. When an invisible Dranko reveals the ruse, Kay starts off the combat by firing her magic lightning-bolt arrow dead center in the Troll’s chest. It goes flying back into the house, the rest of the party pursues, and the melee begins. At first the battle appears to be going poorly, with several party members badly injured, and at least one of the trolls at near-full strength… (run 35 begins) …but their luck takes and abrupt turn for the better, and the party manages to win the fight. Kibi prevents one troll from regenerating with a liberal application of Burning Hands, and the other two are torched as the farmhouse is burned to the ground. Some human remains are rescued, along with some treasure that includes a magical wood-cutting sword. As the house finishes burning, the Company suddenly notices that a Sharshun has been watching the encounter; he’s standing a short distance away, waving a piece of white cloth. His name is Hasek, and unlike most of the previously-encountered Sharshun, he wants only to talk. (During the talk, Hasek often stares intently at party members, causing speculation that he’s reading their minds.) He says a number of interesting things, including claims that the Sharshun are the rightful owners of the Eyes of Moirel. He then offers to buy the Company’s Eye for (ye Gods!) 300,000 gold pieces. Despite some misgivings from Dranko and Flicker, the party declines the offer. Hasek ends the discussion with a parting remark about how the party’s minds were uninteresting, and vanishes. (A quick sword-strike through the place where Hasek was standing confirms that he probably didn’t just go invisible…) Thursday, February 7 - The party rests and recuperates in one of the other nearby farmhouses. Friday, February 8 - The Company goes down the well from whence came the Troll. They find a continuation of the wide and even underground road, an end of which came out beneath Gohgan’s basement. They follow Troll tracks to the south. Saturday, February 9 - The party discovers a more rough-hewn tunnel, branching off of the road, and ascending upward to an abandoned Troll-cave. They make a note of its location, with an eye toward using it as an emergency hideout, and then turn around to follow the road back to the north. Sunday, February 10 - After going a few miles to the north of the farm, the party discovers that the underground highway has been caved in. Monday, February 11 - - More digging reveals that the cave-in is extremely extensive. Morningstar goes into a trance and begins her own journey through the tunnel in Ava Dormo, and learns that it bends to the east and heads toward Calnis. (Ava Dormo is an exact parallel of the real world, sans people and most man-made objects. But it does have buildings and large man-made structures, including the immense underground roadway.) Tuesday, February 12 - The party travels back to the farm and then onward to the Greatwood Road, with the eventual destination of Verdshane. Wednesday, February 13 - Travel, and an evening arrival in Woodfork. Thursday, February 14 - The Company spends the morning tormenting an increasingly-destitute Gluefoot, and then heads on down the road. Friday, February 15 - Sunday, February 17 - (2/16 - Orcsocket Day - Delioch) Travel to and arrival in Verdshane. Monday, February 18 - Locals at the Shadow Chaser Inn in Verdshane report that some unsavory mercenary types have been seen heading to and coming from the ruins to the north. The Company goes to investigate, with the always-invisible Dranko at point. He notes that a game-track leading to the ruins is guarded by two armed mercenaries, so he slips past them invisibly while the rest of the party waits back down the path. He discovers a large number of armed guards (about 24) around the place, all in the vicinity of the odd triangular building where they had fought goblins on a previous visit. Dranko slips inside that building to see what’s going on. Silent and invisible, no one notices him…until Meledien comes out of one of the small rooms, spots him immediately (she’s wearing spectacles), and easily subdues him. He notes that she is wearing distinctive red plate mail. Dranko is tied up and guarded by two of the thugs, while Meledien continues her secretive business in one of the side rooms of the triangular building. Meanwhile the party waits and waits and waits for Dranko’s return, and eventually decides to just blast on through to the clearing. Two guards along the path are easily dealt with (another Hold Person spell), but when the party arrives at the clearing, over twenty crossbow-wielding guards move in from the woods to cover the party. Meledien comes out of the building, and announces that she has Dranko inside, captive. Morningstar recognizes that her armor is the same as that worn by the man who attacked (and injured) her in Ava Dormo beneath Gohgan's basement. During a brief discussion Meledien claims that she’s not interested in any of the other buildings in the ruins, and that the party shouldn’t have meddled in her affairs. Kay tries to send Oa Lyanna into the building to free Dranko from his bonds, but Meledien seems to notice her passing by, and slashes at the air with her sword. Kay feels a sharp and intense pain (though she takes no damage), and the wind comes slowly back to her. Meledien makes a snide comment: "Oh, I see you have one of those creatures with you." Angered, Kay demands Dranko’s return, and boldly claims that they have been sent by the Archmage Abernathy. If Meledien doesn’t release Dranko, she’ll have to deal with an Archmage’s wrath. After a lengthy impasse, during which Meledien seems to strongly consider just killing Dranko and loosing her army of thugs on the party, she decides to free Dranko in return for a promise from the party that they won’t return to the ruins. The party agrees, Dranko is released, and the Company returns to Verdshane. (run 36 begins) That night Morningstar has a strange two-part dream. In the first part, she is shown a conversation in the Dreamscape between Meledien and the other red-armored man (Octesian). After that part of the dream fades, Abernathy visits her in the Dream, to tell her that he has discovered the other end of Gluefoot’s box is in or near the city of Brinth. Tuesday, February 19 - The party sets out down the Greatwood Road for Minok, planning on taking a ship from there to Brinth. Wednesday, February 20 - As a steady snow falls, the Company continues on toward Minok. They are interrupted by the sound of something crashing toward them from the direction of Verdshane, and soon a giant… something… comes rolling into view, knocking over saplings as it approaches. The thing is a huge dark-greenish blob, roughly spherical and about six-feet in diameter. It has numerous long tentacles which are wrapped around its body as it rolls. It is on a course a few dozen yards north of the road, but it slows as it draws even with the party, and then rolls toward them to attack! Kibi buys the party a few moments by surrounding it with a Wall of Thorns from his staff, but eventually it breaks through and a melee is begun. The blob fights by slapping with its tentacles, and occasionally grabbing a party member and bringing them in to a beak protruding from its top. "Beak, beak!" these party-members yell, since the mouth isn’t visible to those standing on the ground. Eventually the monster is killed, with the party suffering no casualties. With more time to inspect the body, the party notes a number of crossbow bolts protruding from its bulk. After some discussion they decide to track the creature’s route back toward Verdshane. Thursday, February 21 - In the morning the party arrives at the outskirts of Kinnet Gorge (the same place that the Eyewing crates fell from the sky). It is clear that the tentacled creature came from the gorge, so (invisible) Dranko goes to investigate. He finds a number of Meledien’s thugs about, and an odd pattern of stakes and ropes running throughout the floor of the gorge. Off to one side are two more thugs, reviewing what appears to be a large map of the stake-and-rope pattern. Also nearby is a large pile of smashed wooden planks, similar to those that had been holding the Eyewings. Dranko reports back to the rest of the group, and they head off back to the west, toward Minok. Friday, February 22 - Saturday, February 23 - Travel to Minok Sunday, February 24 - Arrival in Minok. Monday, February 25 - The party arranges passage to Brinth on a ship leaving the next day. Tuesday, February 26 - Early in the morning the Company makes the short voyage from Minok to Brinth. They spend some time asking around after Frohwirth and eventually learn from the owner of a general store that Frohwirth is a noble. Dressed as a lower-class girl, Kay learns the location of Frohwirth’s house and goes there, applying for a job as a servant. She is told by the butler that there aren’t any jobs specifically open, but that he’ll talk to Frohwirth about it. She learns from the butler that Frohwirth is currently in session at the courthouse, so the Company heads that way. Their plan is to get him to think about his involvement in his shady dealings, while having his mind read. Dranko (invisible) climbs the roof of the courthouse, and when Frohwirth leaves the building, Morningstar Mind Reads him while Dranko shouts (and here I paraphrase) "Frohwirth! There’s trouble at the Tower! What should we do?" His thoughts are of confusion, followed by some concern, but it is clear to Morningstar that Frohwirth doesn’t really know anything; he is yet another lesser link in the chain followed from Levec to Radburn to Gluefoot. (run 37 begins) Later that day Kay goes to visit Frohwirth’s house again, and is quite surprised when Frohwirth (a complete gentleman) hires her as a cook’s assistant. She spends the rest of the afternoon helping the chef prepare dinner, has a pleasant dinner with the master of the house, suspects that he might be flirting with her, and then leaves for the night. Wednesday, February 27 - In the morning the Company goes back to Frohwirth’s house. Dranko (again invisibly) slips into the mansion, hoping to find a metal box similar to Gluefoot’s, but has no luck. On a hunch he leaves a note on Frohwirth’s desk that reads (again I paraphrase) "We no longer have need of your services. Leave your box in the snowdrift at the southeast corner of the house." Frohwirth follows the instructions, dropping a small metal box into the snow. The party grabs it. Soon after, the whole party (led by Kay) goes to visit Frohwirth and pretty much tells him the truth – that he’s been working for some bad, bad people, that he’s not going to get any more information from Gluefoot, and that he probably wants to take a long vacation in the near future. He agrees. He tells the Company that when information showed up in his box, he’d send it to a woman named Mary, owner of Mary’s Fine Silke Flowers, every Thursday. Thursday, February 28 - Hey, it’s Thursday, so the Company goes early to visit Mary’s Fine Silke Flowers. Mary, a kindly old woman, claims ignorance, but a Mind Read reveals that she takes missives from Frohwirth on a regular basis and gives them to a man named Manzanill. Soon after, an armed thug comes into the shop and asks Mary if she has anything for him. When the answer is no, he leaves and heads down the street with another thug and an older man. The Company tails them to a small house – the three of them go in, and lock the door behind them. Before going in after them, Morningstar casts another Mind Read, and discovers that the two thugs are poised on either side of the door, weapons at the ready. So while Flicker makes a lot of noise at the door as if he's picking the lock, Kay goes around to the side of the building, ready to slice through the wall with the Woodcutter sword, while Kibi puts up a huge Wall of Thorns (using his magical staff) around the building to cut off escape, Tor uses the Infinity Book to cast Spell Turning on himself, and finally Morningstar casts Hold Person on the two thugs inside. Kay cuts her way through the wall, and once inside, the party discovers that a) both of the thugs have been Held, and b) there are no other people or exits in the small one-room dwelling. And that’s when Manzanill starts bombarding the Company with spells. The spells -- first a modified sort of Fireball, and then Magic Missiles -- seem to come from the back of the room, but there’s no one there. Thinking Manzanill is invisible, the party covers the exits, while an Unseen Servant from Mrs. H sweeps the room with yarn and Ernie starts throwing handfuls of flour around. The tossed flour eventually makes it evident that whole back wall of the dwelling is illusionary, and the hidden "corridor" ends in a flight of stairs. The Company heads down the stairs in pursuit. Flicker, in picking the lock of a door in their way, sets off a Fire Trap that knocks him unconscious. Tor leads a charge into a small living room, and finds himself face-to-face with a huge purple snake with a human head. The snake immediately casts a spell – which is reflected by the Spell Turning. A huge stony arm erupts from the floor and grabs the snake just below the head. Behind them in the room, Manzanill casts a spell which causes a wall of roaring flames to leap up, blocking himself off from Tor. Tor, fearless for his own safety, leaps through the flames, nearly killing himself in the process. But he lives, and takes a swing at the surprised Manzanill. Realizing that he’s been backed into a corner, Manzanill casts a Teleport spell and vanishes, but without taking any of his valuable belongings with him. Meanwhile, the snake has been held in place by the stony arm, while heat from the Wall of Flames has roasted it alive. Victory! Among Manzanill’s possessions are some spell books, a bunch of magic items, a revealing diary (aren’t they all!) and a letter from his superior , a person who has signed the letter with only the letter “P.” Friday, February 29 - The party leaves Brinth and takes a ship back to Tal Hae. Saturday, February 30 (Pot-Scraping Day - Yondalla) - Arrival in Tal Hae Sunday, March 1 - Tuesday, April 1 - (3/1 - Crunard’s Birthday) (3/9 - Day of Sleepers’ Reverie - Ell) (3/23 - Day of Godsmend - Delioch) (3/27 - Sprouting Day - Yondalla) (4/1 - Day of Casting - Brechen) The party trains. During this time (on March 24th), all of the Company (as well as Abernathy) are summoned to the Temple of Brechen for a ceremony marking the six-month anniversary of Mrs. Horn’s return to life. Each member of the Company is given a brief message from a priestess there. Then Abernathy tells Mrs. Horn that it’s time for her to go. With little ceremony, she says her good-byes, and is gone, taken to be an apprentice to the Archmage of Tal Hae. (run 38 begins) Also during this period Dranko receives a letter from Praska , indicating that she is well and doing research for the Church in Hae Charagan. She invites him and the Company to visit her. The Company spends much of this time discussing the details and events of the past year, making connections and piecing together pieces of history. It’s plot-tastic! Wednesday, April 2 - The Company travels by ship to Hae Charagan and arrives at the port of kingdom's largest city in the early evening. They go to immediately to see Praska and find that she has been missing for a couple of weeks. She has left another letter for Dranko , but when he reads it he discovers it was not written by her. It turns out to have been written by an anonymous member of the Black Circle – according to this letter, Praska has been kidnapped by the Circle, and will come to harm unless Drano pays them a visit in the next week. (run 39 begins) The party stays the night at the King’s Feast. In the common room of the inn, Flicker overhears a conversation in which two men are discussing the reward for the missing Darien Firemount, son of the wealthy Baron Olorayne of Forquelle. Flicker tells Tor, who asks that Flicker keep this information to himself. Thursday, April 3 - The Company spends the day scouting out the building in which Praska is purportedly being held; it appears to be a shut-down inn. Dranko befriends a beggar near the building, while Tor visits the mercenaries’ guild, to investigate rumors that a number of mercs have gone missing recently. That night Morningstar scouts out the building in Ava Dormo, and discovers that it is shielded in a way that prevents close scrutiny. She sets a local Dreamwalker from the Hae Charagan temple to keep watch on the building in Ava Dormo as often as possible. Friday, April 4 - The party visits the Diviners’ Guild, hoping to verify the location of Praska. A large diviner named Ragmir proudly casts a spell of his own creation, which he claims will find their young friend without fail -- but something goes wrong, and after a moment or two he claims that someone on the other end of the Divination observed and attacked him while he was casting! He is so shocked and horrified by the experience that he rejects payment for his efforts, and further refuses to have anything else to do with the party. Saturday, April 5 - In the evening, around dinnertime, the party goes to the boarded up inn indicated by the letter. They are admitted by a black-robed figure into a large empty room filled with the aroma of incense. They are not deprived of weapons and equipment. Around the room are several vacant-eyed guards and some other men and women in black-robes. The party is led upstairs, where Mokad, one time Scarbearer of Delioch and now member of the Black Circle, sits at a table with a number of other black-robes. What follows is a strange conversation: he discusses the progress of Califax’s "conversion" to the Black Circle, and thanks Dranko for his ‘help’ in this; he asks Dranko why he stayed in a church that treated him so poorly; he asks about what the Company is doing, and about their odd living-arrangement in the Greenhouse; and he offers the party a vague promise of knowledge if they abandon Abernathy and join the Black Circle religion. The party, unsurprisingly, refuses the offer. Near the end of the meal, Praska is brought out from a back room, evidently unharmed though unhappy at her captivity. Mokad then reveals that the incense they’ve been inhaling all evening is a poison, but then he tells them that they will be led to the antidote – he has no desire to kill them. And then he lets them go free. They are directed by a pair of notes back to the Church of Delioch, where they find vials of the antidote in a flower bed in the Eternal Garden. By the time they have taken the antidote, they guess that Mokad and company are probably long gone. Sunday, April 6 - (run 40 begins) Kay goes to the Mercenaries’ Guild, and spots a couple of Mokad’s guards, just hanging out and talking. She approaches one after he leaves the building, but he is extremely unwilling to talk about his recent job, even faced with evidence that Kay knows some pretty specific details. Morningstar is Mind-Reading during the exchange, and learns that the man was just paid for a job the day before, one not run through the Guild, which is a big no-no. The way he remembers it, he was paid to stand guard in an old inn in case something happened requiring his services. The way he remembers it, nothing ever did. The Company then goes to the Vault, the tremendous library of Hae Charagan and the biggest single repository of knowledge in the Kingdom. It is an unassuming building from the outside, but underground are dozens of individual vaults, each containing dozens of books and scrolls on various topics. In addition to paying a significant fee to be allowed in at all, most patrons also hire one or more "walking curators" who know their way around the maze of vaults. And on top of that, most vaults have their own "resident expert" who, for another fee, can save you hours of searching for a particular piece of information. The party has several topics they want to research; everyone goes in but Tor; since a condition of admittance is the removal of all magic items, and he doesn’t want to remove his anti-scrying pendant. The party comes out lighter in the purse but with good information on the topics of the Burning God, the Mors and Elhen Tarathi, the Black Circle, Venic Giants, God’s Thorn, and Gartine. The Vault doesn’t have a copy of Prophecies of the Orcish Crusades, but one of the curators mentions that someone else had been in recently also asking about that work. After a long day in the library, the Company returns to the King’s Feast, to find that Tor hasn’t yet returned. Ah well… he’s probably just out late, enjoying the splendors of Hae Charagan. But midnight comes and goes, and still there’s no sign of him. When the party goes out to find him they hear a great deal of buzz about an incident that happened earlier in one of the plazas. It seems that a huge cloud of magical smoke was released by a halfling, right after a guard went to offer help with the drunk companion the halfling and his friends (a priestess of Corilayna and a nondescript man) were carrying. The companion meets the description of Tor. Flicker finally admits that there’s a reward out for Tor’s return to Forquelle. That night Morningstar succeeds in accessing Tor’s dreams (a different dream-related ability than going to Ava Dormo). Tor is having a nightmare about being chained to a desk in the Palace of Forquelle with an endless stack of bureaucratic forms to process. Morningstar manages to affect his dreams by leaving simple symbols on the paper in front of him, but Tor doesn’t understand their meaning until after he wakes the next morning. Kay goes to the Palace, and asks the guards on duty there if anyone had turned in the son of the Baron of Forquelle, and they’re pretty sure no one has. Monday, April 7 - Dranko and Flicker use their roguish talents to get information from the Hae Charagan underground, and learn that an even greater reward is being offered if young Firemount is returned directly to Forquelle. The Company checks the docks, to see if any ships have left recently for Forquelle. Several have, and they realize that they have to assume he’s still in the city; there’s not much they can do if he’s already gone. The party visits Harfang, Harbormaster of Hae Charagan, and for a liberal bribe, plus a vague promise of future "renumeration" (wink, wink) from Kay, he agrees to have his men find ships bound for Forquelle which are trying to smuggle a cargo past customs. He discovers one leaving the following morning, which is only trying to slip one crate through official channels. The Company tags that ship as the likely candidate to be smuggling Tor out of the city. That night Morningstar accesses Tor’s dreams again, and finds that on a piece of paper he is furiously writing the word "tomorrow" over and over again. (Evidently Tor figured out that Morningstar was observing his dreams, and was leaving a message as best he could.) |