More Adventures in Tellene - Main Tale

[EvilGinger]

An interlude for two characters - which takes place whilst episode IV above is occurring

Nameless Elven Mage
Melias B’Paran Human Mage-Thief

Location
Melacs farm – on the eastern border of kingdom of Cosdol, The king’s road east into the kingdom of P’Bapara and A’Rakham Manor over the course of a day.

Events
Melias argued with the stupid farmer about his appalling lack of basic hospitality and so had decided to press on to find a proper inn in the following morning as having to sleep in a rat infested barn was really too much and he was defiantly not doing it twice. The Elf remained taciturn but left with him as he had no reason to stay. They marched till mid morning the Elven mage lost in arcane thoughts and Melias continued to mumble about the in hospitality of farmers here about.

They arrived at the Inn at A’Rakham manor just after lunch here Melias complained about the price of the food the price of the rooms three silvers really that was utterly exorbitant and the mage was mildly affronted by being told he had to sleep in the foreigners’ house with a stinking half ork drunk, he was an elf of good lineage and not to be bundled together with a misbegotten half ork.

Nameless did not argue what was the point of doing it with ephemeral folk and Melias was able to argue more than adequately.  They ate a plate of stew which Melias complained lacked meat and drank a cup of small beer before taking to the road again. Having been told by a surly dwarf that there was free lodging to be had at the Wayfarer’s temple at the stone bridge yonder.

They marched till night fall when they camped in as Melias put it a ditch as the surly dwarf had lied to them about how far the Wayfarers’ temple was form the inn. Only arriving at the temple around mid day the following day. Nameless found the whole affair a mild amusement even if it did distract him from his higher purpose some what.



 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Episode V all roads lead east
Telec Kalamarian Human Priest of the Wanderer
Aetlred Half Elf Ranger
D’rek Brandobian Human Fighter.
Melias B’Paran Human Mage-Thief
Lalia Halfling Thief
Namless Elven Mage
Heradin- Dwarf fighter mage

Location
Melacs farm – on the eastern border of kingdom of Cosdol, The king’s road east into the kingdom of P’Bapara and A’Rakham Manor over the course of a day.

Events
The company spent a final night at Meliac’s farm and said their good byes after breakfast as D’rek was reluctant to start a long march without first making sure of a hearty meal and seconds if they where to be had.

Resuming the journey they had been on some four or five days before they marched eastwards along the king’s road across the border noting the marker stone then to the turn off to the village of Ettis wall.  pausing briefly when they passed the turn to consider visiting that village and perhaps spend the night there or at least get D’rek elevenses something that D’rek was very much in favour of since he had had nothing to eat since breakfast and felt in severe danger of starving to death on the road long before they reached  A’Rakham manor. However in the end it was decided that as it was still in the fore noon that they should press on intending to reach the Inn before night. 

As it was they came into sight and smell of A’Rakham manor in the mid afternoon. On the approach Telec and Altered noted the splendour of the manor and its surrounding buildings, nestled in a sheltered spot, principally to the north of the road, surrounded by rolling scrubby woodlands and D’rek catching the scent of the days stew put on an unexpected turn of speed. On the approach Telec and Aeltred that the inn and its ancillary buildings save for the expensive Laggosa slate panties seemed to be built of reused stone and that even the most modest of buildings where of stone with slate roofs unusual in a region where most of the other buildings they had seen where timber or timber framed with the gaps in filled with mud and wattle and roofed with thatch or less commonly wooden shingles.  Lalia noted that she really needed to speed up as the big folks where walking her into the ground with their long strides.

D’rek had reached the inn and had begun his first bowl of stew by the time his travelling companions did. His companions tarried to discuss the reused stones in the buildings and to compare them with those they had seen at Meliac’s farm or those which young Evie had told them about in such detail. Lalia just tried to keep up in a dignified manner.

It being past lunch time in the inns great common room was largely empty as the inns still relatively few residents had retired to conduct there own business else where, having eaten. The only apparent guests where D’rek well into his first plate of vegetable stew and seriously thinking about a second and a cup of small beer, and a dwarf.

The dwarf appeared vaguely familiar to Lalia but then again she had only ever met one dwarf and had no idea how similar one dwarf might appear to be to another. Lalia was considering what to do when the Dwarf recognised her. The Dwarf turned out to be Lalia’s adventuring companion of last autumn.

They had a brief chat about old times and Heradin spoke of a letter he had had written to Lalia before he left suggesting that they meet up here, a letter which he had sent before he had moved on after he recovered from his wounds, and which he had used a scribe to write. This latter lead Telec and Aetlred to believe Heradin was illiterate, but he is a wizard and all wizards can read at least in one language. The problem being that he can only read and write Dwarvish a tongue and a script likely to be very unfamiliar to a young Halfling whose native tongue was Brandobian and in any event any scribe would have a fairer hand.

Lalia introduced her old companion to the rest of the company and there was some discussion of what both had been doing Lalia and Heradin spoke of the adventure they had had under Rose Bush hill, and the company spoke of the adventure they had had in the apparent dwarf mine.  The company showed Harare the coins which they had found and he was unable to say much about them except they where not dwarf work and seemed mannish if any thing at all. Lalia showed the company the “perfume flasks” she had found under Rose bush hill and the company could where unable to add to what she had deduced save that the symbol on them was likely to be religious rather than arcane. However Telec who said that had no ideas as to its meaning or the religion to which it might belong and the flasks remain a mystery. During this chat Aetlred helpful as ever provided translation services as required and the conversation switched tongues with the ease of a practiced swordsman moving his footing. The company ordered a small beer, Heradin buying Lalia’s for old time’s sake and those who had not eaten had a plate of the vegetable stew. D’rek it should be said here was well into his second or possibly third by this time The conversation turned back to the announcement the magical voice had made when D’rek had attempted to push open the inner gates and in an inspired move Aetlred who though the doesn’t speak the language is a gifted mimic managed to mimic the sound of the words apparently spoken in Dwarfish perfectly. Heradin confirmed that the words where indeed in Dwarfish but the ones he took to be proper names where not.   
 
At some point during this conversation the lord of the manor approached D’rek half way through his current plate of stew, and having ascertained that D’rek was a blacksmith the innkeeper or as he would prefer the lord of the manor offered D’rek the job as black smith at the inn as his previous one had returned over the pass to P’Bapara last autumn to take over his late fathers business.  D’rek who had been becoming increasingly aware that this adventuring lark seemed to involve going hungry far more often than he would like decided to take the job

After dinner the company rented out the unused common room in the foreigner’s house as it was the cheapest option by far, stowed their meagre kit.  Telec went off to find out what had happened to D’rek and then every one retired out the back of the in and spent a pleasant afternoon gently sparing and swapping tips for skills at arms.

In the evening things became interesting. After supper when the common room was a bit more crowded with a couple of apparent sell swords, here for the same reason the company had originally intended to come, a woman in striking embroidered padded    armour who Telic recognised as hailing form on of the eastern plains tribes of Drejii and a couple of men a tall one with braded blonde hair and a shorter brown haired one who seemed to be friends There was also group of four men at arms  armoured and liveried but not armed beyond their habitual daggers. These where drinking freely and seemed to have quite a bit of coin about them. Aetlred stood up and started to sing   attracting a few trade coins form the customers as he had a fine voice and Elvish, in which he chose to sing, is rather a beautiful language off any ones tongue

With every one distracted Lalia decided that the men at arms should pay for her stay at the inn sidled over to one slipped out her knife to cut his nicely bulging purse  all very easy till sliding her hand around the bag to catch it as it fell she inadvertently made contact with her targets thigh. He turned as she tried to slip away and realised what she had intended. His companions and Telec did not, but the sharp eyed Aetlred did.  So he changed his song to something to draw every one else attention. Lalia bolted for the door and the man at arms gave chase catching her just on the threshold with his longer stride.  His dagger drawn he slashed at her as she turned cornered to defend herself he missed a little drunk perhaps and Lalia tripped him as he recovered to strike again he stumbled she scampered back pushing the back door to the inn open with her back as she did so. His stumble turned into a fall he fell full length in the open doorway onto his dagger hilt which turned the blade up into him its point caught a gap between the studs on the thickly studded leather and being honed to great sharpness it cut through the leather as if it was not there wounding him deeply as the Halfling turned and ran into the night. In the common room all hell now broke lose.

The other men at arms realised something was afoot and moved to aid their fallen friend Telec who had been as lost in the song as every one else moved to help cursing quietly that he had used his healing magic on Aetlred that morning. However Aetlred go there first and managed to stop the man at arms bleeding out which incidentally allowed Lalia to reach the safety of a hiding place under the very, very drunk half Orks bed. Then with the aid of Telec and the other three men at arms carry there wounded and fortunately unconscious friend to the bed in one of the other dormitories in the foreigners house all the while trying to hide that he knew any thing of how the man at arms Alegh had come to harm. Telec mean while managed to engage the men at arms in conversation and discovered that they where not in fact caravan guards waiting for employment. But worked for the very sage which the company where seeking and where able to give detailed directions to the place adding that they where waiting to collect some documents and other materials which should be on the first caravan form Cosolen the capital and was due to be here in a few days. They chatted a bit about the location of the Sages tower and how best to get there with Telec whilst Aetlred worked, extremely nervously on their wounded colleague. Then having stabilised the wounded man Aetlred gratefully left saying little after the apparent leader of the men at arms flipped him a gold coin for his work, and the company retired to the adjacent dormitory where Telec slept but Aetlred remained awake to confront Lalia when she returned.

Lalia eventually crawled out form under the drunken half orcs bed when she thought the coast was clear and tried to slip into a spare bed in the adjacent dormitory which the company had hired. Here she was confronted by Aetlred who said that he had seen exactly what Lalia had done earlier in the great common room and he expressed his views on what she had done in the bar and how to be frank he disapproved. However was not going to do any thing else this time as he liked Lalia enough as a comrade that he had not wish to see the consequences of any one else finding out what he knew and suggested that the company was likely to move on in the morning and it would be a very good idea if Lalia left good and early before any one else was about and they met up out of sight on the road. 

Eventually every one slept, until that is there was the sound of horse’s hooves on the paved yard between the inn and the sound of some one shouting form help. Rousing themselves Telec and Aetlred went out to investigate and found a girl; dressed only in a bloody under tunic slumped over the saddle of a much lathered and blooded  horse several of the Inn servants and Heradin, who had run from the stables, had also been roused form sleep by the commotion. The source of the blood was an arrow broken off but imbedded in the girl’s thigh

Aetlred moved to help the girl down off the horse and realising he could not manage this alone he had Heradin, who had been attending to the horse to  help him .



 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Experience

All awards per character


Telec, Aetlred D’rek & Lalia breakfast at the farm           10      +0
Telec, Aetlred D’rek & Lalia on the king’s road                5      +0

At the inn during the day
Telec, Aetlred D’rek & Lalia arriving at the inn              10      +0
Lalia & Hardin introduction & Role play                  10      +1
Telec, Aetlred    introduction & Role play               10      +0
Altered mimicry in dwarfish                          5      +1

D’rek getting a job                          20      +1

At the inn in the evening
Lalia – pick pocketing attempt & associated role playing       25      +2
Aetlred - pocketing attempt & associated role playing              25      +1
Telec   pocketing attempt & associated role playing         25      +0

A rude awakening
Heradin, Telec & Aetlred                           5      +0

Misc
Melias & Nameless passing through                    15      +0



Telec has levelled up!

Ginger

[EvilGinger]

The honour Issue

We still have two groups as before but some  with additional members this time.

Starting honour         Honour awards           Averaging effect
                                  Awards                      Averaging effect
Aelthred   19                22 (+2)                             21 (-1)
Telic        17               17 (+0)                             18 (+1)
D'rek        17                17 (+1)                             18 (+1)
Lalia         20               23 (+3)                             22 (-1)
Heradrim    17               18 (+1)                             18 (+1)

Group average honour 18 at the start  19 at the end

Starting honour           Awards                           Averaging effect
Melias      13               13 (+0)                            13 (+0)
Nameless  13               13 (+0)                            13 (+0)

The second group average honour 13 at start 13 at end of the session


 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Regional players map



I am also doing a blog about the Campaign

But it at the moment largely repeats what has been posted here.

 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Episode VI a Rude Awakening & what followed


Dramatis Personae

Telec - Kalamarian Human Priest of the Wanderer
Aetlred - Half Elf Ranger
Lalia - Halfling Thief
Heradin- Dwarf fighter mage
Dvorn the Axe- Folokkii Human Fighter
Sondan – Brandobian, Human Fighter
Fawlit – Half Orc Fighter
Nyasse - a wounded human girl


Location

Events

(The Action continued from where the last session ended).
Heradin and Aetlred carried the semi conscious girl into the common room of the inn where he shouted orders at random to the considerable crowd of residents and inn servants who had gathered in the room to see what all the noise and activity was about if nothing else. Telec hovered very aware that he had used his one healing spell the previous morning and having just been raised from sleep and had not had time to meditate and pray to regain it. After the events previous day Lalia sleeping under her bed, woke rolled over and went back to sleep in preparation for a really early and likely breakfast less start  

Even thought every one was ignoring Aeltred’s orders a pair of tables where dragged together for use as an examination table and with the girl laid on it Aetlred fell to investigating the girls wounds. He found only one more serious than the many minor scratches she had got form her precipitous gallop through the woods. She had an arrow through her left thigh which had entered from the outside about in the middle, missed the bone and whose head was partly protruding through the skin on the inside of it not far above the knee. The arrow was broken off with about a hand span of shaft still present.  Convinced that the arrow was barbed and needed to come out the way it had entered Aetlred griped the shaft sadly twisting it a little in the wound before pulling it free the girl passed out completely and the wound began to gush blood the arrow thought of an unusual sort was not barbed just very sharp and near Aeltred’s hand almost burning hot. He passed the remains of the arrow to Heradin so he could deal with the bleeding he strove to do that for just long enough to realise that the wound was beyond first aid and the girl would surely bleed out without healing magic Aetlred realising ha had messed up cast his eyes first at Telic and then to the crowd in rising panic. Eventually or so it seemed the local priest of life’s fire the brewer Jarem Kalvir from the village of Ettis wall made his presence known and used his healing magic to stop the bleed. He then had something of a row with Aetlred which would have come to blows had not Telec intervened to break it up. Having been healed even slightly the wounded girl began to rouse.  

Mean while Heradin cast a practiced eye over the strange arrow head, it was dwarf work he realised and very fine, marked with a maker mark which resembled the dwarf runes for A&D in some sort of a monogram. He thought the head was possibly at least enchanted with a minor spell to resist corrosion, but couldn’t be sure as it was very fine work and may have been in a special alloy which served the same purpose. Unlike Aetlred he handled the arrow head and felt no heat form it at all.

Regaining consciousness the wounded girl revealed her name as Nyasse and told her tale, with a story tellers practiced tongue. The Girl was from a small village to the north no one at the inn had heard of she called the Hidden Dell and that she had come seeking help when the village was attacked by goblins. She had been in the village stables when the attack happened and immediately taken one of the villages few ridding horses and set off south. She had been chased by Goblins riding great dogs and in the chase she was wounded but even so remained on her horse and evaded the pursuit.

She said that she wanted to raise a company to go back to the village and drive off the Goblins and rescue her friends and family. There was some enthusiasm for this and some of the assembled company went off to don their armour and fetch their arms. Heradin was one of these returning to his quarters in the stables to fetch his sword. The only problem was that the girl insisted that she had to accompany the company despite an arrow wound which made it near impossible for her to walk. Several people including Aetlred and Telec tried to dissuade her unsuccessfully but she said no one would find the hidden dell without a guide who had lived there. During this conversation Aetlred not the best at social discourse left to get his gear form the Foreigners house. Just as he reached the back door the pursuing goblins caught up with Nyasse. Saw the Half elf alone in the yard drew their short bows and loosed all as a volley. Fortunately it was dark the goblins where poor shots tired form the long chase and most of the arrows missed, or just clipped the ranger none the less Aetlred was bleeding from at least two wounds when he stopped to catch his breath inside the door

Fortunately the rangers’ cry of GOBLINS! had woken the half orc warrior Fawlit who grabbed his trusty axes and charged past Aeltred who was crouched inside the shelter of the wall assessing the damage, screaming the vilest curses in orcish he knew, the goblins shot again but to little effect and spooked by the Half Orc’s wild charge and the number of armed individuals now issuing from the inn decided to abandon the pursuit and turned their mounts north and galloped off into the gloom.

Realising this Aetlred left the Foreigners house and to the sound of Fawlit’s continued cursing at the backs of the fleeing Goblins and the milling crowd of armed folk outside the inn proper. He recovered what arrows he could from the goblins volleys at him and Fawlit. Aetlred was particularly pained to se Fawlit destroy a perfectly good arrow as part of his demonstration that the goblins where all cowards and used children’s weapons cowards weapons and should have come and fought him blade to blade. rant which became a  tirade and  which lurched from Orkish to Kalamarian and back with the curse words of a number of other languages thrown in. Recovering the arrows he could before Fawlit destroyed those as well Aetlred found another which radiated a fierce heat when his hand was near to the head.

Some time around this time Lalia who had been awakened by the commotion earlier but had taken no part not knowing if any one other than Aetlred had seen what had actually happened in the common room last night slipped out of one of the dormitory windows and took up a vantage point in the shrubs just beyond the inn yard but where she could still hear and see what was going on.

Mean while Aetlred called Telec and Heradin over to look at the second strange arrow. Telec could discern little of it’s of its origin or purpose but whist Heradin was examining it the penny dropped it was a bane arrow & its behaviour around Aetlred meant that it must be an elf bane arrow Aetlred winced and Heradin wondered why a dwaf would go to the trouble of making elf bane arrows when there where greater banes to dwarf kind than elves.

There was some chaos after the departure of the Goblin dog riders but eventually as dawn began to break order coalesced out of it, especially when Maragamir the innkeeper at A’rakam Manor and the self appointed lord of that manor offered ten gold coins to every one who would avenge this outrage. The only problem was posed because Nyasse insisted that she had to come with the company as without her as a guide they would never be able to find her home village of The Hidden Dell, she would not explain herself further and in truth even though the master brewers healing magic had stopped the bleeding from her leg wound she could barely put weight on it to walk around the yard let alone take part in a cross country march. None the less she was insistent and Maragamir ordered the inn servants to lend her come travelling clothes and help her get ready. Giving in the inevitable and recognising an almost dwarf like stubborn courage Heradin suggested that she ride and with assistance she remounted her horse.  So when the company left at around mid morning she rode along with them retracing her wild ride of the previous night.

Aetlred found the fleeing goblins tracks and the company followed them until they became lost in the increasingly dense under growth of the thickening woods to the north of the inn after that he found the track of Nyasse’s horse and the track of a galloping shod horse proved easier to follow than the soft paws of the goblin’s riding dogs. As the company pushed its way through the undergrowth and wound between trees Aetlred became concerned that the company where being followed and leaving Telec to follow the easier trail he circled back searching but found nothing, even though he was certain they where being followed.

When the company had left Lalia had followed after them stealthily finding that their need to stop and search for tracks and the dense undergrowth she with her small stature and slight build could slip through slowed the big folk more. When Aetlred sensed with rangers field cunning her following, she played him at his own game and evaded him as a ghost might on a dark night without losing track of the company she had no intention of showing herself to any one in the company until she had discovered that it was safe to do so and none present save Aetlred knew what she had been up to and how the man at arms came to be stabbed the previous night.

By the middle of the afternoon the company had arrived at the edge of a deep dell in which sheltered a small village of half a dozen log cabins in the style of the Fillokki some small fields and a scatter of smaller buildings all seemed to have been fired but beyond the roves collapsing the thick log walls where intact and wood smoke drifted over the scene. The company initially halted at the lip of the dell whilst Aetlred and his ghostly follower Lalia scouted the settlement quickly finding that it had been toughly looted then burned. There was no sighn of any of the inhabitants thought there were very many goblin tracks and large dog racks it became apparent that the goblins possibly as many as fifty with a couple of dozen dogs had gathered all the villagers and live stock together and marched them off to the north under escort before firing every thing they left behind.

At Nyasse’s insistence the company who where ready to press on north tarried long enough to investigate the village bolt hole a hidden cellar strangely decorated with broken chains a shrine Nyasse said but she used a name of the god which no one in the company would recognise. She also recovered a number of small flasks whilst she was in the shrine and none but Lalia saw her drink one.

The company then headed due north to the lip of the Dell past the old watch house on the edge of the even thicker woods. Aetlred scouted ahead a short distance, following the wide trail the goblins and their captives had blazed, and Lalia  revealed herself to him as she knew that he was the only other person who she was sure knew the truth of what had happened in the inn’s great common room. They talked and then parted Lalia again concealing herself whilst both returned to the look out tree where the rest of the company where waiting.

Then as it was growing late in the day the company decided that it was better to take shelter in the ruins of the village for the night




 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Episode VI a Rude Awakening an exiting night & what followed

All awards per character

The rude awakening continued
Aeltred’s - first aid                      10      -1
Telec & Aetlred The argument with the priest of life’s fire              15      +0
Aetlred Telec & Heradin misc role-play in the inn with Nyasse    10      +0
Nyasse getting the point across                 5      +2
Aetlred Telec & Heradin the Arrow Part I            10      +0
 
Goblins!
Fewit & Aetlred each dealing with the goblin raiders      10       +1
Heradin the Arrow Part 2                  10       +2

The Mission
Taking on the mission all present except Nyasse & Lalia      0      +1   

In the woods
Aetlred Tracking the Raiders                   20      +1
All others tracking the Raiders                20      +0
Lalia & Aetlred A game of Half Elf & Halfling         25      +0

The Hidden Dell
Aetlred Initial exploration                  10      +1
Every one else Initial exploration               10       +0
Aetlred & Telec The mysterious chapel             10       +0
   
Misc role play
All                            15      +0

Haradrin has levelled up!

 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

The honour Issue

We still have two groups as before but the Main Group is expanding

Starting honour         Honour awards           Averaging effect
                                  Awards                      Averaging effect
Aelthred   21               24 (+3)                             23 (-1)
Telic        18              19 (+1)                             18 (-1)
Lalia         22               22 (+0)                             22 (-1)
Heradrim    18              21 (+3)                             18 (-1)
Fawlit        6                9 (+2)                              10 (+1)
Sondon     12               13 (+1)                             14 (+1)
Dvorn       10               11 (+1)                              12 (+1)
Nyasse     19               21 (+2)                              20 (-1)



Group average honour  15 at the start  17 at the end

Starting honour           Awards                           Averaging effect
Melias      13               13 (+0)                            13 (+0)
Nameless  13               13 (+0)                            13 (+0)

The second group average honour 13 at start 13 at end of the session

& have dropped out of the group for now


Starting honour           Awards                           Averaging effect
D'rek        18               18 (+0)                             18 (+0)




 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

An interlude for two characters - which takes place whilst episode V & VI above are occurring


Nameless Elven Mage
Melias B’Paran Human Mage-Thief


Location
The temple of the Wayfarer at Falax bridge and the Path to the Sage's tower

Events
Having arrived there about mid afternoon and taken a late mid day meal curtsy of the temple Melias balked at being asked to pay a voluntary tithe to the temple and handed over a mere couple of trade coins before going off to his room frankly to sulk as Nameless had paid almost cheerfully an was now engaged in deep conversation with a human mage who had been injured crossing the pass from P’Bapara last autumn. Apparently the caravan that he was travelling with had been escorted by a company of Hobgoblin mercenaries lead by a half hobgoblin of particularly cruel mien called the mage said Velikas. The caravan had been attacked by giants, hurling rocks from the heights and had only escaped by leaving most of it’s injured behind in their stone crushed wagons. The Mage had only made it because he had been on a wagon which was only clipped by stone fragments and Velikas threw him off the caravan just as soon as it became apparent that he was injured. Fortunately that did not happen until the remains of the caravan arrived at Falax Bridge.

The Mage a Kalamarian called Emeric feels bad about having left the wounded in the pass and said he would have intervened had he not been wounded. and its too late now to go and rescue any one as that all happened late last autumn. Emeric is turns out came across the mountains with a few companions all sadly in the wagon behind which took several direct hits, in quest of a lost library of magical lore attributed to the legendary arch mage Aldor or Adroius which is supposed to be at his tower some where in the mountains on this side of the Laggossa pass. Emeric who has, thanks to the priest of the wayfarer here, recovered form his injuries is rather keen to find new companions and to continue his quest. He has little evidence for the location of the fabled horde of magical lore but he is a friendly chap and shows Nameless what he has before the discussion meanders off as discussions between mages do meanders off into more general magical lore and related matters continuing late into the night.

It should be noted here that Nameless is not aware of any such human arch magus dwelling or having ever dwelt on this side of the Laggosa peaks and thought he is not a sage of such things the memory of even a youthful elf stretches back more than a human life time and the lore of his people back to the dawn of time. None the less the human mage seems honest and the evidence he shared if very sketchy seemed to be genuine.

In the morning over breakfast the discussion continued for where it had left off last night. With Melias who was mildly annoyed at being excluded from the conversation before as he has his one interest in magical lore joining in.  The discussions also drew in another traveller with an interest in the arcane who introduced herself as Keras Ashwyn a ranger who said she was on the way to see the sage not far to the north. This lead to a discussion about the possibility of the sage having more information on the lost library of the arch mage which Emeric was looking for and the company having formed and breakfasted enquired of the temple guards of the route to the mages tower and being advised that it was a hard route which would take them the better part of the day. They set off for the mages tower guided by the ranger who whilst not local was experienced at such things.

A hard day’s travel found them approaching the sage’s tower.





 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

An outsider’s tale Part I

Violet had led her small band of refugees across the high pass just as soon as it was passable in the spring, but the journey had been hard even so from their winter camp.  Especially as they had been short on supplies all winter after the pursuit almost caught up with them and they had lost a significant amount of them throwing off the chase. The pass itself was no longer as safe as it had been. There had been an encounter with a band of Orcs who could not be persuaded to leave them be even after She had slain their leader in the single combat they had demanded they still attacked and she and Perkal killed several more orcs before the point was made.

Then two nights after they had slain her companion Perkal whilst he was on watch hacking his head off before she reached him. Several more orcs died on her blade and the young Filloki priest was avenged more perished when they learned that her night sight and archery skill was better than theirs.  The refugees had liked Perkal and where more distant with him dead and they argued about how he should be buried and not left to the carrion animals on the high pass as was the custom of his folk and by the time Violet had arrived at the cache by the water caves in the foot hills which she and Perkal had made the year before she was glad to leave them as they needed her no more being free from the slavery in which they had been held on the other side of the peaks until last summer. Violet headed back to the Hidden Dell to tell Perkal's father that his son who he had never quite approved of for following the priestly path had died like a warrior eye to eye with his foe and his sword hilt deep in the guts of the ork that killed him.

In this grim mood Violet unslung her bow and strung it and decided to take a short cut through the Spider wood just in case she had been followed, after all a little paranoia was a survival skill.    
 



 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Episode VII  an unfortunate episode with spiders and preparations for war

Dramatis Personae
Telec - Kalamarian Human Priest of the Wanderer
Aetlred - Half Elf Ranger
Lalia - Halfling Thief
Heradin- Dwarf fighter mage
Harask - Dwarf fighter thief
Dvorn the Axe- Folokkii Human Fighter
Sondan – Brandobian, Human Fighter
Fawlit – Half Ork Fighter
Nyasse - a wounded human girl


Location
The Village of Hidden Dell and the woods north of the village of Hidden Dell particularly the area known locally as the Spider wood.

Events
After an uncomfortable night in the ruins of the village sheltering in some cases rather reluctantly in the largest house which had what Telec described as a creepy cellar, the shrine as Nyasse described it rather worried him. The house had no roof and it rained enough a couple of times over night enough to make every one wake up and awaken at dawn rather damp and uncomfortable. The company had a breakfast of inadequately cooked trail rations which did little to improve the morale. During which Lalia who had aha a better night than the others sheltering in a nearby smaller house rejoined the company assured by what Aetlred had said the previous afternoon and her own eaves dropping  that it was safe to do so.

The majority of the company settled to breaking camp whilst Telec, having managed to get sufficient rest and had do the morning ritual to regain his spells, first offered to heal Nyasse’s injured leg which she having taken a healing potion the previous night demurred to conceal this and continued to act having a bad limp. Telec noticed that she was acting rather than still hurt and began to worry even more.

Aetlred attempting the role of leader which he being so very charismatically challenged  he is totally unsuited for  attempted to hurry every one along and get them moving and failing to do that he headed off to scout on his own whilst Telec Lalia and   decided to have another look at the creepy cellar  in the absence of Nyasse. Here Lalia’s practiced eye found a hidden draw built into the icon at the south end of the room big enough to hold a number of fair sized vials and empty save for some packing straw. Lalia decided that this was likely where the girl had got the vial she had seen her drink and Telec was inclined to agree.  A further search revealed a secret door in the north wall and beyond it as the door was not locked a hidden room

Mean while an annoyed Aetlred made his way out of the dell to the watch tower easily climbed the tree and had a look over the surrounding terrain form the vantage of being thirty or so feet higher up. He paid particular attention to the north whence the goblins their captives and the stolen live stock had gone.  He saw a belt of thick woods closest to him which became lighter and increasingly interspersed with areas of heath as the land rose into the foot hills of the mountainous spur of the Laggosa range  however there was not trace of where the goblins might have been heading beyond that he already knew. He climbed down from the watch tower and inspected the trunk for signs and shortly found a number of symbols cut into the north side of the trunk some time ago. These he read as beware the risk of ambushes to the north. With this in mind he warily decided to scout north to determine the nature of the ambush threat.

The secret room was small, little more than a cell with a narrow bed made up and not slept in a wardrobe which was found to contain a selection of clothing a mixture of common travellers garb and women’s clothing form a number of cultures, some of which the well travelled Telec could put a name to some not, all apparently made for a tall lightly built individual as well as being of good but not flashy quality. The wardrobe also contained a mail shirt on a stand and a handful of longbow hunting arrows. The chest of draws had three draws all locked with a good lock but not one beyond the skills of Lalia to pick. The first two contained papers chiefly maps and plans but a couple of small books which looked to Telec likely  journals but which where written in a script the like of which Telec had never seen before, but which gave him shivers down the spine to look at,  and the bottom one neatly folded linen under tunics and other underclothes.  Telec Lalia and spent quite some time looking through all the rest of the papers particularly the maps which proved rather interesting.

Whilst that was going on the rest of the company finished breaking camp and waited with Nyasse reliving the wait with a comic song the subject of which was distinctly  unsuitable to be sung by some one her age  but caused the half ork to roll about on the floor laughing hysterically and every one else to cheer up considerably.

Meanwhile Aetlred now less annoyed and more wary continued to scout ahead. He crossed a small stream and coming to the area where the trees began to thin out again as he had seen form the watch tower came across the remains of a fight, the bodies of a half dozen goblins who had been ton limb form limb and the body of an elderly giant human wearing only a blooded and torn under tunic and covered in the sort of wounds the slashing knives and short spears of the goblins would cause. As well as having several arrows broken off and buried in his still massively muscled frame, suggesting that he had continued to fight long after they struck.

The tracks here where very confused suggesting a melee containing several more goblins than where slain and the previous passage of the goblin raiders their captives and their loot. Aetlred was unable to glean much more from these tracks than he already knew and decided to turn back and see if they had finished fooling about in the village and where prepared to get on with things. He strayed off the track a little but he wasn’t lost and was making good progress following animal tracks through the thick woods and underbrush. He noticed a movement to his left and looking that way whist he continued generally south spotted half concealed by the trees and underbrush a huge mottled wolf spider stalking him. He sped up to a run and used all his rangers’ whiles and hunting skill to evade it. He managed to do so for a while but became aware that there was a second spider also hunting him and unable to evade both prepared to fight.    

Back amidst the ruins of the village the company finally gathered it’s self and prepared to get under way as Telec Lalia and Harask came up form the creepy cellar and joined them. They made there way slowly up to the lip of the dell where Telec asked Nyasse why the watch tower had been built and was convinced that her reply that it was before her time and she had no idea was true but he still had suspicions about her and the cellar troubled him a great deal especially all those manacles.

Aetlred fought desperately manoeuvring to keep the two spiders apart dodging around trees and jabbing with his heavy spear, striking and striking hard but try as he might the spiders still evaded his point and bit him he felt the poison surge thought him and still he fought shaking his head fighting off the poison by act of will as much as native constitution. He kicked, and one spider’s hard carapace cracked and leaked ichor from the crack and Aetlred stabbed and   horror he drove is spear into the ground. He drew it back but too late the foul thing hit again and thought he was sure he had again fought off the poison the would alone was more than he could take and the fell to one knee and then slid into darkness.

Violet was aware of the spiders before she saw them an newly mated pair of the usually solitary creatures cute she thought grimly and look there was their conjugal supper hanging from the tree branch all wrapped up like a mummy in a shroud. She peered closer it looked humanoid and too big to be the usual stupid wandering goblin. Dam it all is it some one from the Dell & why are they up here every one knows not to leave the Dell its not safe that’s why they are there no where else is safe and the spider wood even more so.  She unslung her bow and knocked an arrow drawing the great bow back beyond her up pointed ear before losing. The spider jerked as the arrow punched through its carapace and it span round looking for the origin of the arrow. She drew and loosed as she had been taught and arrow after arrow pierced first one spider then the other and they jerked and spasmed as death came to them from a place unseen. When she was sure they where both dead Violet slung her great bow and drew her hunting knife, lets see who the marriage feast is shall we.

The company at the watch tower wondered what had become of Aetlred who at least some of them had seen stride off saying something about scouting when they where still eating half cooked nut porridge and breaking camp.

To his surprise Aetlred came round staring into his mothers face except it wasn’t his mother, it was quite the wrong colour for a start his mother was never pale purple. Neither did her hands glow with a soft radiant light like that. He started to remember he should be dead shouldn’t he yet his wounds or where he remembered where the spiders had bitten him and even the goblin arrows strike where hurting less and less. Then the glow stopped and he stopped feeling better and he became aware that this woman had cut his clothes to ribbons slicing him out of the spiders silk prison.  I am Violet she said in a tome which was both gentle and terrifying.  Who are you and what are you doing in the Spiders wood. Sensing that it was unwise to lie to this stranger Aetlred told her the exact situation and she helped him back to the tracks the raiders had left coming back from the Dell.

Blast it thought Violet seeing the tracks and identifying them easily the fool elf kin is telling the exact truth. Which made it another thing she was going to have to deal with as if the fact that a probable band of adventurers, and what in the blessed Guardians name where most of those except more mobile bandits with some what more diverse talents, had discovered the Hidden Dell at least this one owes me his life which might matter if he has a scrap of honour.

The woman kept chatting to Aetlred as they walked back to the towards the edge of the Dell, which should have put him some what at his ease except that she spoke with a disturbing lisp and flashed a set of teeth that looked more at home in the mouth of a snake than any sort of woman no not even an ork

Then Aetlred sighted the rest of the company gathered at the base of the watch house tree. Dvorn and Fawlit unshouldered and drew their axes and Telec recognising what manner of creature was walking next to Aetlred who was adding to the alarm looking even more than normally if he had been dragged through a hedge, or a bramble patch.  Only Nyasse reacted at all positively sliding off her horse all pretence of feigning continued injury abandoned and embraced the demon. It crossed Telec’s mind that they where all doomed and the whole thing was a malign plot.  He knew such creatures capable of such and had read reliable tales of them eating the still beating hearts of those they had seduced and worse.

Violet looked at the assembled company and thought them a sorry bunch but she was relived to see Nyasse the ward apparently in there midst of her own free will and even more so when the hose mad child slid off her horse and rushed forward to greet her. Violet brought a quick prayer the Guardian to mind and introduced herself..  



Aetlred staggered back to join his companions and the half Ork said something probably in orkish and sniggered a bit or was that sneezed, and the woman with Violet skin making no threatening gesture what so ever separated herself from the girls embrace and standing alone formally  announced herself as Violet the Paladin of the Guardian of the Free.  The girl taking up a position just behind her. Telec was relived at that less so when she caught his relief and said that she was indeed half demon but that did not make her any the less that.

She talked with various in the company and seemed satisfied at least for now with their replies. Going on to suggest that she and they go forth to rescue the captives of Hidden Dell for the honour of The FREE. The conversation continued and it came out that most of the company where only here because the Landlord of A’Rakam manor had offered them ten gold each to avenge the slight that the goblin attack on the in had been.

In the end both parties came to a general agreement that they should work together during the course of which Aetlred blurted out about the dead elderly Folloki man and the goblins he had found on the trail ahead. Nyasse seemed genuinely upset at this but the woman who called herself the Paladin of the free did not react.

The company moved into the woods and followed the broad track left by the raiders and their captives and spoils until they reached the edge of a clearing before the line of bluffs, Violet had suggested might be the raiders base where it became apparent that Violet was right with the clearing much expanded by the clear felling of the sparse trees and the building of two crude corals and what seemed to be a hut.



 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

 The Local Map the Company found





Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Episode VII an unfortunate episode with spiders and preparations for war

all experience is per character.


Episode VII an unfortunate episode with spiders and preparations for war

An uncomfortable night
All except Lalia                     10      -1
Lalia                           10      +0
                
An unsatisfactory breakfast
All                           10      -1

The cellar again
Telec Lalia and Harask                  10      +0
Lalia finding the secret locations               0      +1
Lalia picking the chest of draws lock               10      +1
All looking through the papers and the maps          5      +0
Harask looking through the papers and the maps         15      +1
Telec looking through the papers and maps             5      +0
Lalia and Harask not stealing any thing            5      -1

Scouting ahead
Aetlred                           30      +1

An episode with spiders
Evading the spiders for a while               25      +1
The critical                         0      +1
Putting up a good fight                   5      +0   

Violet the Paladin
Aetlred first encounter                  5      +0
Telec first encounter                     10      +0
Nyasse first encounter                     0      +1
Every one else first encounter                  5      +0
Aetlred    from the subsequent discussions            6      +0
Nyasse from the subsequent discussions            10      -2
All from the subsequent discussions                5      +0

Misc role playing
All                            15      +0



 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

The honour Issue

We still have two groups as before but the Main Group is expanding

Starting honour              Honour                 Averaging
                                       Awards                   effect
Aelthred    23                 24 (+1)                             23 (-1)
Telic      18                  17 (-1)                             16 (-1)
Lalia      22                  22 (+0)                             21 (-1)
Harask      08      08 (+0)              09 (+1)
Heradrim    18                16 (-2)                             15 (-1)
Fawlit      10                  08 (-2)                              09 (+1)
Sondon   14                  12 (-2)                             13 (+1)
Dvorn      12                 10 (-2)                              11(+1)
Nyasse    20                  16 (-4)                              19 (-1)

Group average honour  16 at the start  14 at the end

Starting honour           Awards                           Averaging effect
Melias      13               13 (+0)                            13 (+0)
Nameless  13               13 (+0)                            13 (+0)

The second group average honour 13 at start 13 at end of the session

& have dropped out of any group for now

Starting honour           Awards                           Averaging effect
D'rek        18               18 (+0)                             18 (+0)


Starting honour           Awards                           Averaging effect
Melias      13               13 (+0)                            13 (+0)
Nameless  13               13 (+0)                            13 (+0)

The second group average honour 13 at start 13 at end of the session

& have dropped out of the group for now


Starting honour           Awards                           Averaging effect
D'rek        18               18 (+0)                             18 (+0)

 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

General  features

The King’s road or roads
The king’s road was built from the Capitol in ancient times and was part of a network of such roads which bound the kingdom of Brandobia together. In this area it is actually two roads the east road which stretches up beyond the B’paran border and the south road which crosses it at the ruins of the old provincial capital about a days march west of the village of Three Willows  The kings roads are broad wide enough for two large carts to ride abreast  and where in good condition paved with stone sets, In this region very little of the road is still in that sort of condition, but local land holders work to patch it and keep it in a condition where it is better going than cross country even in the foulest of weather, where the minor local roads are not.

Physical Geography

The country in general
Is hilly rising to the north and east as you might expect as the region is framed in those directions by the western spur and the main Laggosa range and, where it has not been cleared, wooded for the most part and rises to the north and to the east into high mountains. The woods vary greatly in thickness from impenetrable forest to light woods with scattered areas of open heath. The Woods are largely of broad leaved trees ranging form big trees like hornbeam, oak, ash and elm to smaller trees such as mountain ash, and hawthorns and briar in the lighter wooded areas around the heaths. Some evergreens of the same type as Scotch pine on the higher slopes of the spur and main mountain range but there are no classic pine trees. It is fertile country well supplied with both game and with edible forage in season and little troubled by monstrous creatures. Though the natural predator’s bear’s wild dog’s wolves and the like are capable of providing an insurmountable challenge to the foolish traveller.

Climate
The climate here like most of Telene is more temperate than you might expect at similar latitude on earth and the land is well watered both by frequent rains and by a host of nameless streams and rills flowing down to join the river Falax.  Snow is rare except on the high peaks in the deep of winter and seldom more than a significant dusting on the lowlands. It does however rain a lot as the weather all seems to come form the west and the traveller is advised to invest in a horse hair hooded cloak

The River Falax
Is a very fast flowing mountain river which has its source some where around the junction of the western spur with the main Laggosa range no one is sure exactly where as that area is deep uninhabited wilderness and seldom visited by civilised peoples. The river is never very wide but it is generally deep and difficult and dangerous to cross. The best crossings are at Falax Bridge on the king’s road where there is a wide sturdy stone bridge as well as a ford which is more or less passable most of the time. There is another ford north of that by the Sages tower which every one knows about its more passable than the one at Falax Bridge but very narrow as well as being rather difficult to get to as the Sages tower is in rough country well off any thing save a game trail.

 Ginger