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 Post subject: Part 13: The Respectful Interrogation
PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 10:01 pm 
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October 3

Finding the temperature dropping as evening set in, the party decided to spend the night of the 16th day of Winter’s Breadth in a Treliman village before heading back to Cobham. When they arrived, there was still plenty of time in the day to kill thieves, so they did. First they asked about the thief named Harlen around Orlenna’s Rose Stage and Tavern, and a beggar told them he seemed to come in and out of an alley on Wolf street by the tanners. After causing a young lookout to suddenly fall asleep at his post, they raided a hideout and killed an awful lot of young thieves, some of which had assuredly never even used their weapons in real combat before. This was clearly a ruthless party. Harlen managed to escape, but his gang was in ruins. The watch was summoned, and the leader appeared dubious of what the party said, but one of his patrolmen recognized the recent recipients of the Order or Elalyn. Grabbing a few miscellaneous and potentially magic items for themselves, the party returned the goods to the house of Sir Boltan Vinnix in the care of a very relieved Gengrit.

The next day, before heading out of Cobham, the dapper Francois had some shopping to do. After noticing the admiring looks he got from his refined and subtle boot feathers, he decided the whole party should be so adorned. He met a shopkeeper named Artan Fiss who would indeed sell him boot feathers, and he purchased a pair with silver and a blue tip for Sir Alestair (who put them on Glory), teal for Brenaed, yellow for Brother Eisen, violet for Livid, and white feathers for his horse, Chappy. Sir Alestair was unwilling to wear them himself, perhaps feeling he was unworthy of such decoration.

So attired, the party journeyed to Plonditon to the south. There was an airship there, after all, and soaring above the clouds would be a wonderful way to travel. With such optimism, they rode into the main square of the town and saw a large ship. It was after dark, so work had stopped, but they went into the Red Pan Inn, run by a man named Lenry. They learned that the local man Granger Sorby was the mastermind behind the ship. He owned a shop called Sorby’s Curiosities, and he had learned how to make little paper lanterns fly up into the air. With the world in turmoil, he thought he could make a ship fly, and he contacts his childhood friend, Torril Pryn, who was a shipwright in Port Classon. Together, the two were in charge of this project, and it had consumed the town. Even the mayor, Delson Jassor, was excited to tell the party about the air ship.

Unfortunately, Torril had gone missing a few days previous. Men were out looking for him, but no one here could track very well. He had been looking for trees to make good masts, and they found where he and his assistant had dropped their tools, but they were unable to follow the trail. There are not many people who can search here. The party agreed to help, and the next morning they were met by Ashton, a guard, who took them to the start of the trail.

Livid was easily able to follow the tracks. It seemed like they were running, but there was no sign of anything pursuing them. Eventually, Livid spotted ahead some wild elves. These elves would likely have killed the party had they been caught unaware, but instead it was a friendly encounter. The elves were led by Lotus Rellen, and they were seeking a human named Marron Loch. They believed he was in Clansea, and they were going there. This would have been an opportune time to ask questions about why they were seeking Marron, but instead the party pressed on, eager to rescue a shipwright of a boat destined to become a large source of firewood.

Livid led them to the single floor remains of an old watch tower. The door was shut, and the tracks went there. As they approach, a voice shouted directly into their minds “BEGONE, MORTALS! ONLY DEATH AWAITS YOU HERE!” When they refused to leave, a bush floated into the air and began casting… sort of.

This was Divine Jonril, Avatar of Berkari. He was also a small maple tree and a pseudodragon. Divine Jonril was convinced he must kill the person who builds ships because humans should not fly. It is unnatural to fly. He accepted when humans came into his forests, but now they wish to take to his skies, and it cannot be permitted. The party managed to convince Divine Jonril that he should let the men live, and they also agreed to serve him as is due to the Avatar of Berkari. At least, that’s what Divine Jonril understood.

Torril explained that he was also not thinking it very likely that the ship would ever fly, but he was getting paid to do a job. When they arrived safely back in Plonditon, Divine Jonril summoned the essence of fire, harnessed it in a sphere around him, compressed the sphere into a tiny point, and hurled it at the wooden air ship. “BURN” he shouted as flames seemed to twinkle in his eyes (and nowhere else). He laughed at the weakness of mortals and sought a turkey leg.

After discussing the nuances of a man named Marron Loch, the party decided that perhaps they should seek him out. They didn’t know why, but it seemed relevant. He was Brenaed’s former master, and therefore known to be an evil man. The ruthless party would surely make this man suffer.

They traveled by very fast horse, and they encountered Jonril the Chipmunk; Sir Jonril du Valenric, the Knight of Storms, Lord of the Red Mountain; and Jonril the Sonorous, He of the Golden Voice. There was no agreement as to why they brought Jonril with them. Sir Alestair in particular felt they would be better off without the tree dragon. Still, onward they rode together.

The party avoided some trolls in Lorris, but then they were forced to kill others just the very next day. Still, the trolls were no more difficult than the orphans who had turned to a life of crime at a young age out of necessity aside from needing fire to remain dead whereas the young thieves had just died normally.

Once in Clansea, the party stayed at an inn called Calm Waters, a clean facility in the upper city. They sought out Marron Loch, but they understood he might not be using his real name. Fortunately, Brenaed knew him very well. Eventually they came to a tavern named the Orange Sea Horse and, based on the description, the bartender thought that sounded like Chonden. This led them to a bard named Pelsty, who saw him going into a beautiful house with another older man.

They approached the house and spoke to the guard, and Marron came to a second floor window and spoke to them. Marron was clearly still quite upset that Brenaed had left him, but he seemed to briefly consider the possibility of letting them in. Unfortunately, Brenaed does not have the knack of speaking diplomatically, and Marron closed the door.

The party was convinced that Marron must be some sort of necromancer, and so they investigated the undead in the area. Francois visited the temple of Yanok, the god of the dead. They also visited a battlefield to the north, the site of the Battle of Lord Gormdon. There they discovered that the undead clearly had come out of the ground at some point, but there was no sign of them now. It looks like the undead killed an unfortunate merchant.

Out of other ideas besides attacking a house, the party waited for the wild elves to arrive. Clansea is a bit rigid in its laws, which it claims is necessary to maintain order in a lawless nation. There was concern the wild elves would not be able to get into the city, so the party waited for them outside. It took nearly 13 days for the elves to arrive because they were on foot, moving at non-enhanced speed, and not traveling by road. Fortunately, with the party and few disguises, the elves were able to come in. On this day, the party met someone new… Sane Jonril. They could have taken this opportunity to ask him all kinds of questions, but they did not. Sane Jonril seemed to recall previous days, but not exactly how he behaved during days.

However, Lotus was not necessarily willing to start a fight in a human city. They agreed to maintain a safe distance while the party cowardly made use of magic to enter the house at night. A guard was put to sleep, and a powerful sorcerer undone by surprise, silence, and the weight of a paladin. Though initially throwing fire in the bedroom, the Marron realized it would not be enough, and he surrendered. He was willing to share his research. They made their way to the hidden lab, and he explained things with Jonril as the conduit for communication.

Marron was here with his friend, Mortagen Rhine. They were following up on some of their previous research from a few years past. Marron is an expert in godstones. He has enjoyed researching them over his years, and he was commissioned to do something specific. Godstones are considered to represent a point where the Realms of the God(s) are closer to the Realms of Mortals. Marron had theorized and researched somehow inverting the godstones to point instead to the Realms of the Dead, which was a lower energy state. If enough godstones were inverted and brought together, then whenever any being dies and travels to the Realm of the Dead, then incredible arcane power could be harnessed.

Marron believed this research was academic. Though he posited the theory, he did not believe it was something that could truly be accomplished, nor did he believe anyone would try. The research done recently showed that a side effect of this was weakening the veil between the Realms of Mortal and Realms of the Dead, which, he determined, would result in phantasms, skeleton, and the like. Vampires may become more powerful. Phantasms were likely to happen when emotions of the living were involved. For example, some people in the audience might be thinking of the horrible time a jouster was killed in the Tournament of Roses, and a phantasm of that event may appear. Skeletons may appear anywhere.

When asked who commissioned the work, Marron was unwilling to speak. However, a search of the lab uncovered a half written letter to someone named Rumen Lel asking about whether this work may been performed and expressing concern.

The party did not rob Marron. They did not take anything of consequence. They did not engage in a great magical battle. Instead, worried they had broken the law, they quickly informed the elves of what they had learned and fled into the night on the road the west.

From beneath the tiger-lined cloak on the cold winter's night, Sane Jonril briefly wondered whether Rumen Lel might be a dangerous fellow.



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 Post subject: Re: Part 13: The Respectful Interrogation
PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 7:40 am 
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Location: Taking the fair maiden's....hand
Zem wrote:
He laughed at the weakness of mortals and sought a turkey leg.

For some reason, this makes me very happy.



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"Take 40 points of damage."
"Why?"
"Because my mother breastfed me until I was 9 and it's having some serious psychological effects on me."
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 Post subject: Re: Part 13: The Respectful Interrogation
PostPosted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 6:10 pm 
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I know I have provided map segments here and there in paper form, but I also know players don't remember where they have been. So in an effort to try to get you somewhat familiar and thus, hopefully, immersed in the world, here is a map of the relevant parts with a little commentary in big red letters.

You started in Whitestone at the Tournament of Roses.

You made your way to Jover Hill Keep in the Gray Hills to discover that the godstone was missing.

You went out to the Lorn River by the Bath of Scobis to help out a druid fellow with some dead birds and found an old temple with some disease-making skull.

You escorted a baron from the area of the dead birds back to his home in Port Classon. Later, you learned he was killed by his son.

Along the way, you encountered Irminsil, the Father Oak. This involved going out onto an island on the Padraic Sea, and you moved around the roads just to the east of there to kill some paladins.

You made your way far to the north to visit some old Frost Elf keep and the Grove of Aldersalm. You also learned that Paladin Par's Poppa was imprisoned a bit to the northeast, but you did not go there.

You finally had some conversation with the priest fellow in Shadwell, and that's also where Boot Feathers happened.

Then you went on to Cobham and vampires. There was also an encounter with a young green dragon and thieves. Nearby, you visited a non-functioning airship.

Then you went to Clansea, which is very near to where the dead bird druid guy was. You have passed through Rathven several times by now, and it is still an old city that saw major fighting during the rebellion against the Borden Empire.

Hopefully that gives you some sense of location.

Note this is about a 4mb pdf.

http://www.tyrion.net/MapNov032015.pdf



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 Post subject: Re: Part 13: The Respectful Interrogation
PostPosted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 7:52 am 
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Location: Taking the fair maiden's....hand
Very helpful, thanks.



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Zem wrote:
"Take 40 points of damage."
"Why?"
"Because my mother breastfed me until I was 9 and it's having some serious psychological effects on me."
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 Post subject: Re: Part 13: The Respectful Interrogation
PostPosted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 11:02 am 
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Location: BRB giving magic item to lich 1sec
Nice, thanks.


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