Gillian and Tara's Characters

NPCs

Bad DmPoetry

Ode to a Deathlock Wight

Treasure

Game Recaps

Descriptions and dialog. We can always move the older stuff to subtopics to keep this to a reasonable size.

Comment Legend:[Tara] {Nate} +Gillian+ ~Tod~

ArchivedSessions:

December, 2009 (Sessions for Dec 12 and 19)

We picked up in the tunnels under the abandoned house in Tislock, trying to rescue the girl from the Inn, who was carrying a message from us to an unknown destination. We believe she was kidnapped by a rogue in the alley and carried down here. We have fought and killed two men, and been caught by several traps.

We decide discretion is the better part of valor, and Thorinn, separated from all of us, calls for a truce (he knows there’s at least one rogue near him in the dark). Alecsa jumps the giant stone ball trap and joins him, but the rest of us remain in the larger passage by the portcullises.

Some negotiation goes on, and eventually a man who calls himself “the Sewer King” comes out and talks to us. He tells us several things: 1) he is the proper recipient of our token – he works for the Duke of Tislock in secret, doing deeds the Duke will not admit to in public, 2) the girl from the Inn is a spy of his, and has already been released and returned back to the inn, safely, 3) there is some reason to believe the Green Adept is not dead, and is still a threat to Tislock and indeed, all of Kinergh, 4) the “king’s” son is missing. He fell in with bad company, followers of the Green Adept, and went north to the Forest of Grinn. If we can find and rescue him, we will be well rewarded.

In turn, we are given some potions (4 of them – 2 healing and 2 others – we divvied them up but I don’t remember who got what – Osrik got a heal, and Cinoi got something. I think Gloriana has the second heal). He also gave us a rough, old map of the Forest.

We are warned that there are people who will try to stop us going to the Forest, so we will want to leave quickly in the morning. We return to the Inn. Thorinn spends the night gambling (and winning money!). Alecsa looks around for a while, (with Cinoi) and they spot a tower in town that bears a sign very similar to our token. Asking reveals it is the home of a Wizard named Talia, whose father came from far off Southern lands. He is reputed to have been a member of a now-dead order known as the Silver Company.

We get a good night’s sleep, and plan to leave the next morning, but we get so curious about the tower we decide to go back there… Cinoi and Alecsa scout around it and discover nothing of interest. Finally Mel and Osrik decide to take the frontal approach; we knock on the door!

We argue with an obnoxious doorknocker for a few minutes, but eventually the butler is summoned, and we are invited inside. We are shown upstairs to a nice sitting room, and greeted by Talia after a short wait.

She turns out to be a very nice woman and we have a friendly conversation with her. She immediately recognizes our symbol, and Murthond’s name (he gave it to us). She says it is a sign that Murthond believes we should be invited to join the Silver Company. The S.C. is a group dedicated to working for the Duke of Tislock to restore him to the throne of Kinergh. Their reason is that evil is rising in the north, and a united kingdom will have a better chance of standing against this evil than a torn and divided realm, as it is now.

She says that the Sewer King is a sometime ally of the Silver Company, but she fears he has fallen entirely into evil now, and may be working for the Forlarrin. If so, he is now set against the Duke. The Forlarrin are nobles of Kinergh who have taken power of their own in the absence of a King. They don’t want a King, and don’t believe that there is great evil at work. They did help the Duke in the face of the Green Adept, but are now once again squabbling and seeking to maintain their own power. They took the name Forlarrin from the name of an old Battlefield (Forlarrin Brook) where a Duke of Tislock was defeated in his last attempt to regain the throne of Kinergh.

However, the dwarves, who once also wanted a weak Kinergh, did band with the Duke against the Green Adept, and have remained on his side ever since. So the Dwarves now support the Kingship of the Duke. No word on the elves…

Talia also warns us that the Green Adept had at least 4 dragonrider followers, who are known to be still alive. They (and the Adept) were followers and worshippers of the Demon Lord Pazuzu, Lord of all that is evil and flies. (Osrik immediately thinks of the Bug Lady).

We also learn that Dudley Whitehelm (and all his buddies, including Summer Twilight) are members of the Silver Company. Unfortunately, it also seems Talia has a romantic interest in Dudley, and when Osrik baldly tells her about Chaedi and Dudley’s romantic reunion, she seems troubled. Osrik never notices.

Talia agrees that having us investigate the Forest of Grinn, and try to prove that the Adept’s followers are still there would be a good step (and if we defeat any of them, even better!). She gives us a map of Dudley’s making, from when his group went through the forest a few years earlier. She also gives us medallions showing we’re friends of the S.C. I’m not sure how many medallions there are, though.

We’re also warned that not all of the followers of Yilliki (the forest goddess) want men to reunite and reclaim the north. Some of them think it would be best if the north “returned to the wild”; they think the evil is now defeated and that men are now the worse enemy; more fools they! So don’t trust every druid or ranger we meet…

Cin and Thorinn have been outside all this time. Cinoi notices some very large rats (dog-sized) eating trash nearby. They seem suspicious, and he scoots closer to look. While he’s distracted, Thorinn is playing with his ice/fire miniatures, and accidentally makes a large BOOM! The rats scatter, but in the distraction, a sly man dressed in tatty leathers sneaks up and puts his dagger in Cinoi’s back. He demands to know why we’re still in town, and what we’re doing “poking around” this old tower. Cinoi tells him we’re interested in its architecture, and that some of us went inside to examine the building up close. When Thorinn turns around and looms over the rogue threateningly, the guy sort of panicks. He reminds us that “Skikker” expects us to leave town TODAY! Cinoi becomes icily polite and informs the rogue that if he ever sees him again he will kill him without fail. The rogue splits! They see him running down the alley, with several giant rats following close behind.

Cinoi and Thorinn proceed to have a rather disjointed conversation about who is the “negotiator” of the pair, and who should threaten people… Cinoi tells Thor that most humans “fear gods”. Thor says he doesn’t have to TELL everyone he’s a god. Cinoi ends with “If my negotiations fail, then I will have every need of a deity to undo the damage I’ve caused”. Thorinn doesn’t buy it, but Os and Mel arrive around this time, so the convo dies off.

We finally decide to buy supplies and get moving towards Vim. The innkeeper helps us do so. The girl who took our message the day before is back at the Inn, and Alecsa manages to talk to her, briefly. She says that she WAS trying to take our message to Talia, but was intercepted by “sleazy men in the alley”, who took her underground. They had rats! Eventually they let her go. Alecsa believes she was telling the truth (very good insight roll there).

So finally, by midmorning, we set out for Vim. We get as far as the “Old Road Inn”, half a day’s ride from Tislock. We stop there, because Dudley and Chaedi are there!!!

We have a nice conversation with them; Dudley tells us that Skikker is shady, but not “past redemption” and still has deeds to do (I think he used some god’s name saying that “the god” had plans for Skikker). We mention Talia, and that Dudley should “report at once”. He seems resigned, but he insists that “he’s cursed by Talia’s pursuit of him.” (I LOLed at that). He is much more impressed by Chaedi, who actually was brave enough to come after him. They seem happy. They’ll be delivering Max to Alecsa’s family ASAP.

Later, Thorinn has fun gambling again, then puts on a “minwar” show. Inside, a merchant tells a tale (in Cinoi’ and Osrik’s hearing) about a band of adventurers (a dwarf, a wizard, some half-elves and a priestess of Lyr) who defeated an army of “200” zombies up near Pel and the old temple not too laong ago. Then they vanished. People thought they might be dead, but recently word has come “from a Vilmian girl” that they were seen again, alive, so they’re still around somewhere!

(Someplace in here, Thorinn’s army goes BOOM! And Os makes him buy everyone a round of drinks in apology).

He also warns Osrik that there may be DRAGONS near Vim; Osrik poo-poohs this, but the man is clear. He says a friend of his has relatives up there that have seen them, recently! Osrik decides enough is enough, and goes to bed.

Thorinn is outside now, juggling and performing. He notices a merchant staring at him. He ends his show to talk to the guy. (I took notes on the whole conversation, but I’m not typing it out – it was LONG).

It boils down to – this guy’s father went far, far to the west, to a place called Yainoto-koku, where dragonmen lived and worshipped ancestor dragons. This guy is fascinated, and almost seems to want to worship dragons himself. When Thor gets a bit testy, and declares that he is a GOD himself, the guy almost wets himself. But Thorinn calms down quickly. The guy asks him what he thinks of the Dragons HERE, and Thorinn tells him neutrally that they are a representation of the force of the elements.

Cinoi joins the conversation when Thorinn gets upset, and they trade names and talk about more local things. The guy is Karol Veg. He has a cousin who lives in Vim named Thornor Veg. The wealthiest man in the village! Karol tells us that if we find any interesting art or old “stuff” he’d buy it from us; foolishly, he tells us the name of his buyer in Tislock – a merchant named Elhar who is also a scholar and history buff. Elhar buys artifacts and herbs and such, and trades in spices in return. He has “half the river traffic sewn up” and “always has money”. He apparently pays top prices for “found stuff”. Karol then shows Cinoi and Thorinn an old set of bracers that he bought via his cousin; they were found near a recent battlefield near Vim. The bracers are ancient, and appear to Cinoi to be of Civari/Alcon make. Definitely dwarvish. Osrik is not present, but Cinoi thinks they’re not magical. Karol says if we find more like it, to let his cousin Thornor know, and he’ll pay top price for it.

We finally all retire for the night, and get up early the next morning. We ride north, up the road we took in the beginning. It takes us only ONE DAY to go the whole way to Vim!!! On the way, we stop in Lys and have lunch with Elder Potrass. He’s thrilled to hear that we killed Sodrass, and assures us they’ve “cleaned up” the village guard, and hung two theives! Osrik shows him our medallions from Talia, and tells him “anyone who has a symbol like this is a good person, and should be helped.” Elder Potrass agrees.

We reached Vim late that day, and that’s where we stopped, on the outskirts of the village.

The party explores the cavern of the stirges. There is a waterfall coming down from the surface, a pool of water, and the stream. Additionally a large rockfall offers a way to climb up to the surface with sufficient climbing skill, which Alecsa decides to undertake. Meanwhile the rest of the party finds a large suit of armor, which doesn't prove to be particularly interesting and the party decides to leave it for later investigation.

Alecsa climbs to the surface and discovers there is nothing threatening in the immediate area. Osrik then climbs up using a rope lowered by Alecsa. Cinoi then begins to climb. At this point an ochre jelly issues forth from the pool of water and begins to attack the rest of the party.

Maps

Maps of areas you all know about.

Kinergh - Some of the area around and to the north of Tisloch. The hexes on both maps are 1 mile across. TWiki's page template chops off images to the right, so use "view image" to see the whole thing!

• Player map of Forest of Grin and some surrounding bits:
  

• Most of northern Kinergh showing where the party has gone.: