The Chronicles of Etinerra

Story Setting

Some say it was sight of the three greater planets joining together in the sky the heralded the downfall of Man in the Lands.

Some say that the great silver sphere that plunged through the sky, bringing fire and destruction in its wake delivered the retribution for our sins.

Some say that the plagues that stalked the towns and keeps of our frontiers were the final stroke before the bestial beasts ravenged our farms and villages and drove the decimated Legions from the Far Reaches.

Whatever they say, it could not possibly fully account and list all of the calamities and travails that Man has suffered since the Darkest Hours. Our Doom has been multiple and ceaseless in its entirety. Its effects are long lasting, as we sit huddled in our small cities and fortified keeps. Slowly, we learn to adapt and we learn to live in this new Age – the Dark Age.

And yet, there are those who will seek out the frontier again, who will seek to advance their station and plumb the secrets of the ancients, beat back the hordes of beasts and maybe perhaps cleanse our old lands of the Damned… those rare few who have decided to step forth. The so-called Kings will not. The few armies that remain will not. But someone will…

— Ta-Shanarbiya, Priest of Yallowforth Keep, Year 52 of the Darkness

It is a dark time. Much has changed in the world that your forefathers and granddams knew. It almost two generations ago that the skies lit in flames, the world cracked open, the beasts and bestials poured from the dark and civilization retreated.

Man, Elf and Littlelings have retreated to the safety of numbers, abandoning much that they had gained in many generations. Kingdoms fell, fortresses crumbled and the tramp of foul feet was heard across many leagues. The Dwarfs have not been seen in generations and rumors abound of the “Dark Ones” return.

Man has survived in the face of Chaos and Doom, but much has been lost. Now, the Kingdoms bicker amongst each other while holding the line against the ever-present Darkness. Survival is never certain, especially on the now sparsely populated frontiers. Once, these were well-known lands, but since the Doom of Man, they have fallen into darkness, now the story of legends and whispered myths. The other races, Elf and Littleling, they sit in their lands and hold their own, both cursing Man for the Doom of the lands and reaching out in the hopes that all may join to regain what was lost.

Other links of interest:
Timeline of history
Five Year History Prior to the Doom
The Line of Kings for the Lands of Men

View

DEC/2008

2-15-2009 Pregame Notes

eastern borders

I’ll call Games Plus and see if we can get a table starting at 11am, assuming everyone can be there at 11am. If not, we’ll shoot for 1pm.

We’ll have at least 1 new player (Scott’s littleling) and possibly my wife as well. So that might bring us to 5 (assuming Alex and Rich also can play).

Players are going to determine where they want to go, feel free to edit this note and put your thoughts here.

If you like, please be sure to do an adventure log for 1-24. What do you want to share with other players and prospective new players? It’s up to you guys… I’m not going to do much in the way of “continuity” between games in terms of recaps – that’s up to the adventurers of previous games to share.

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JAN/2009

The World So Far

Session #2 in The Dark Ages

This is Tolliver’s account of his ongoing adventures on the Eastern Borders.

Three days ago we made it back to Enonia, having pushed as far as we dared into the wilds of the Dark Woods. Caution got the better of us, despite the fact that we faced down a patrol of sniveling goblins in the shadowy forest. I have unfinished business there yet…

Today, however, my business took me south, to the abandoned abandoned mines and the rumors that persist there. I was not alone; with me traveled Parabellum the mage, Cadmus the cleric of Hermes, a fierce she-fighter named Anya, and a curious littleling named Harold who proved brave almost to a fault.

We encountered a sloping ridge about four hours south of Enonia. This hillock showed signs of having been clear-cut at some point in the distant past, and as we moved closer we saw several crude tunnels leading into the rock.

Venturing down, we came upon a culture of feral humans living almost like animals in the dim caverns. The sure-spoken words of Cadmus calmed them, however, and they gave us leave to pass through their meager realm and explore deeper into the tunnels. They lived in fear of a clan of kobolds who lurked in the deep tunnels, and indeed these feral men had barricaded the adjoining tunnels to prevent the vile creature from harassing them.

Undeterred, we broke through into the kobolds’ tunnels and almost immediately ran afoul of them. Two sellswords we had brought with us from Enonia fell almost immediately, and disarray almost dissolved our party. We managed to pull ourselves together long enough to push back the initial kobold assault and explore the first few rooms of what was likely a massive cave complex inhabited by the kobolds. On our way back out, having scraped together a pitiful pile of copper pieces from the kobolds’ territory, we received assurances from the feral chieftain that his men would be willing to join us if we returned for another delve into the mines.

Having cheated death for another day, we returned to Enonia and managed to convince the castellan of the keep, Sir Yinivax, to pay us good coin for any information we could dredge out of the wilderlands. Our spirits thus refreshed, we retired to the Mug & Pot Inn to plan our next move.

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FEB/2009

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Feb 17, 2009

3-22-09 Travelogue of Aramin Olbander

Travelogue of Aramin Olbander

22 mar 09

I set out to see what there was to be seen in the world, with my two body guards that my father acquired for me. They are supposed to keep an eye on me and keep me out of trouble. So far they have done an excellent job.

I very much doubt that I will be able to afford to extend their contract in six months when it expires, but I will be able to write Claude and Ogdin a glowing recommendation that they can use for their next employer.

I have been hired by a group of farmers in Enonia (a badly run down heap of a village) to help them establish a new community some days south of the Town. We have been working with these people for about four months and initially thing were pretty good. We concentrated on getting land cleared for planting and got about ten acres cleared and planted in time this spring, Once the crops were in the farmers started serious work on the village itself that they intended to name New Hope.

In the meantime, I was traveling back and forth between Enonia and New Hope, bringing them supplies, mail and other miscellaneous necessities that any new community would need.

At first all things went well. But as summer came on and the weather continued to warm, there was trouble. The crops began to be trampled, and livestock started to disappear or be killed. There was one such incident when I was down at thw village and I managed to discover that Kobold were involved. I slew a couple but most escaped. There was a rain storm that night and they managed to evade me.

The raids increased in fury and frequency as time went on.

I spoke with the leaders of the village, and it was decided that I would continue to travel to Enonia and collect supplies for the settlement. I think this was a fatal mistake.

People in outlying areas started to disappear. The attacks added burning of barns and houses as well as murder, and wholesale slaughter of the remaining livestock on the farms. The last time I stopped and talked to any of the farmers a desperate air hung over the few survivors. The few families still present intended to try and fight.

There were stories of new larger humanoids involved in the raids. I never saw any while I was in the village, and never found any good tracks to identify or follow.

Five days ago, my worst fears came true. I arrived at the village to find all the buildings and fields burned. No one was left alive. My bodyguards and I buried the bodies and headed north to report back to Enonia.

Luckily about a third of the families got out earlier. Mostly in small groups, abandoning the village before it was too late.

Two days after leaving the village for the last time. We took the detour for water that is a couple of hours into the Dalewood of the South trail. While we were filling our skins, Ogdin noticed smoke coming from about a mile East of us.\

We decided to investigate.

We came on a clearing where a huge and foul smelling bonfire was burning. There were about a dozen bodies merrily cooking down to their constituent parts. If you have never smelled burning human flesh, consider yourself lucky. It is a horrible sickly sweet smell, that is way to reminiscent of roast pork.

There were 4 warriors two of whom were women and one of those women was an Elf! Never actually having met an elf personally, it was a fascinating experience.

Anyway, they said that they had come down here looking for water and had found this hut in the clearing surrounded by dead naked bodies. When the bodies were approached, they jumped up and attacked this party, very violently. Evidently they were able to destroy these Damned (we found the name out later in Enonia) with the loss of only one of their party. The one who died was named Isham and from the looks of where he died, he was quite literally torn apart. There was blood splattered in every direction for 15 feet.

Anyway, we stayed to make sure there was nothing left of any of the bodies, and then we moved to where I was getting water before we discovered their smoke. By now it was getting dark and it was too late to make it back to the South trail in the dark. We set up camp here. It was necessary to move away so we weren’t quite so close to the mess, that would probably attract trouble.

The new people decided to travel with me and my companions. This was decided when I told them about the village I just came from. Evidently, they had some sort of plan of going down there to help out the farmers, but they are at least a month too late.

So we set up camp together. They have evidently been foraging along the way because, they made up a savory stew with a number of small game animals and plant items they had gathered along the way.

The next day we got back to the road and headed north.

There was a quick ambush by 2 kobolds, they popped out of the grass, threw javelins and ran away, we didn’t chase them.

Sometime during the day, I noticed that a mob of small creatures were shadowing us in the woods. At our next stop, I apprised the rest of the party of the threat. Forewarned and forearmed, we traveled on. About mid afternoon we were assaulted by about a dozen kobolds that came out the trees and grass around them. There were 7 warriors in our party now and there was no contest. In less than a minute, only 1 kobold (the leader), went scampering back into the woods alone.

That night about midnight, we were again attacked by 8-10 kobolds who raided our camp around midnight. Again this fight lasted only a few minutes with all the kobolds dead and only minor wounds amongst us.

The next day, we travelled the rest of the way to Enonia. We met several hunters who were trying to scare up some game for the town, but were not successful. We told them about our adventures which only seem to upset them. (note to self: in future lets keep our exploits to ourselves). After a short talk we all headed back to the village, the hunters hurrying far ahead, evidently not wanting to be too near us.

When we finally arrived at the gate I was in for a new surprise.

The gate guard was not only larger, but more alert, and very nosy compared to any time I had seen them in the past. They were very rude considering I have seen several of them many times in the past. I even have bought a couple of them drinks previously. (Note to self: Really keep all our future exploits to ourselves). We eventually got into town and after getting directions to their lodgings (such as they are) I headed over there. The other people that joined us went to the temple to talk to the Vicar. When they returned, I got the impression that they only managed to upset the Vicar. (Note to Self: Never ever talk about our exploits to outsiders).

I will leave of here, but I expect to add more chapters in the future.

Aramin

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MAR/2009

29 Mar 09 - Travelogue from Aramin

29 Mar 09

We met today with a number of new people, well they considered me the new guy, but I have been here first. As a matter of fact, Lanosh is the only one I know from previously. We got together at the Mug & Pott this morning after several days of rest.

In actuality, most of these people, I have seen around town before, we just have never talked before.

It was decided, much at Harold’s instigation, that we would travel north and search out the Monastery that supposedly somewhere out that way. Finding it was actually very easy but in the process, we ran into a pack of badgers. They tore Adue up pretty badly. “But, They’re just badgers…”, I kept saying. Yet the ‘just badgers’ were pure dynamite. We took the hides, and meat, that we sold the next day and got 3GPs for them. By far the best return on anything we have done to date. The more I see on this, the more that just hunting for the town must be the way to go. The cost of food in town is quite unbearable. How a normal person would just be able to survive, I have no idea.

If a day’s worth of travel food costs 2 GP and in that is about ½ pound of dried jerky and the average deer can provide 50-100 lbs of jerky out of 1 carcass; we should be able to glean 5-10 GP+ for a whole deer, including hide, hooves, horns and organs. There are lots of valuable items in a single animal.

Anyway, we continued on to the monastery, and arrived in about 3 hours travel. It only took about ½ hour to find a passage leading down into the temples bowels. In the course of the day, we covered about half the catacombs, routed out about a dozen goblins, some large spiders, numerous giant rats, and a few other creatures that were unidentifiable. We found no direct treasure, but located a number of items, including a candlestick and a couple of books. We decided to head back when everyone in the party were sporting wounds to a greater or lesser extent, Harold was unconscious, and Adue looking like he had been chewed on by an army of beavers. We left the temple just a little before sunset and traveled back that night arriving in town about 2 hours before dawn.

Arriving at town, we agreed to keep information about the catacombs as quiet as possible to avoid other raiders from trying to horn in on our work like what is happening at the mine. We will keep this news quiet…

Tolliver, his girl friend, Adue, and Parabellum went out to sell some of the stuff we picked up. They did sell the Candle stick for it’s metal content and received 12 GP for it from a new friend of ours. (Name withheld for safety’s sake).

We are now looking to codify the party into an orderly and controlled organization. We need to find a name, a charter and other items to develop our ‘New’ identity. To this end, all members are urged to pay a CP/week in dues, which are presently being held by Tolliver (at least when he’s not holding Anya anyway. I’d say they act like a bunch of teenagers, except that I think that they ARE a Bunch of Teenagers). Right now, my records indicate we have 14 CP in our coffers, not much but it’s a start.

Aramin

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MAR/2009

10 Apr 09 - Travelogue from Aramin

The Travel Logue of Aramin Olbander,

10 Apr 09

It is less than a week before the festival of Summer’s End, and we decide to set out to kill a bridge troll. The intrepid party leaves heavily armed with every piece of war gear we own. There are no less than 10 of us. One Thief to check the way. A cleric to heal the wounded. A wizard to bespell the troll. Two Rangers to Track the way and find the beast and no less than 5 fighters to hack it to death. We go out to where the troll is expected to hide and … We leave the Princess and return to the village, 6 members of our group join her retinue.

Two days later, we travel back to the Monastery of Agix, and explore more of the first sublevel. We take a new large group of adventurers with us. These people are replacements for those who have joined the Princesses retinue.

We are attacked by Goblin Zombies, who seem to be the very same ones we killed as live Goblins a week ago. Ragnar attempts to turn and…fails. We destroy them. We meet another party of Gombies, and defeat them (No help from the supposed cleric again). We find several Skeletons defending an evil Cleric (Worshiper of the Dark Side). We defeat all these beings (Once again, without the help of our “Cleric”). We kill the evil cleric and take his head. There is reason to believe that this was Phaelum’s one time apprentice, Melkrit. We bring back the head as proof that he is dead. I do not know, whether Phaellum will be happy or upset about this, but I figure he needs to know.

Aramin

P.S. This is Written by Ragnar the aforementioned Cleric. There is no princess! As far as we can tell, the ranger has been charmed by that troll magi. It actually killed the 6 missing members of our party. One was pummeled horribly, and left to bleed out on the field of battle. The other 5 were all frosted by a Cone of Cold (Yes we said Troll Magi). It seems there is no way we can lift the glamour that is on the ranger at this time, so we will just have to stay away from the troll until we are strong enough to try again, of course most of use weren’t there, we don’t really know what happened, we got it all second hand from the Elf woman Kee. I record here the list of the dead of this mercenary group.

Lanosh the Deadly Fighter

Grey Leaf the Dreaded Elven Wizard

Golfrod, Bowman and Strong Arm

Cadmus the Pious One

Adue, always First into Combat

Tolliver the Ever Faithful

Isham, some idiot no one ever heard of…

P.P.S.S. Oh that part where I couldn’t turn the undead… Well I did a lot of important things. I was just overawed by the power of the dark side. I mean, I’m only a newly frocked cleric… It’s not my fault… I tried… No one else turned anything … stop picking on me…

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APR/2009

Aramin’s Travelogue for 19 Apr and 3 May

Eastern Borders

Summer is nearly over and that worries me a great deal. All the other people in the group seem to be working much like the grasshopper. I would prefer to be more like the ant. But they think that honor and glory will keep them warm this winter. Personally, I think it is time we find an abandoned building and get it set to survive the winter. Trying to put a roof on something with 6 inches of snow on the ground and a roaring wind is the wrong way to go about it. Well, we have a few months left, to get set up, hopefully everyone else won’t wait to long to listen to sense.

Since the last time, we went out to the monastery, we finally delivered Melchert’s head to Phaellym. He was upset. Evidently he was more attached to the boy, than any of us thought. We tried to explain the situation to him, but it was to no avail. At least he didn’t hold it against us too personally.

Personally, I see no reason why not to bring back just the head of such a deadly enemy to the light. He was summoning and creating Skeletons and Zombies. By the Light! How much more evil do you need to be! Human sacrifice and cannibalism?

Besides, once the spirit is released from the body there is nothing left but meat. Where I come from, we burn our dead to release the soul more quickly…

Anyway, Phaellym admonished us to stay away from the monstery, so we will do that for a while we will stay away from it. Instead, we have made 2 raids on the Mines. I Had thought that they were already all picked over. It seems I am wrong. We found a whole new section full of traps, and I do mean full. We found 4 or 5 traps in an area of halls that encompassed less space than some inns that I have been in.

We found a section where some people have been digging and discovered a few gems there.

Joe, a new member of the party discovered a large statue in another side room. It was a weird thing that I didn’t much like, but Joe seemed to be fascinated by it. Go figure?

Just for the hell of it, we decided to tear down a section of one of the many barricades we have found scattered around the mines and uncovered a stairwell that went very deep into the earth. We traveled down a long distance on a steep and narrow staircase, for more than a half hour until we nearly reached the bottom. We came up on a rent in the staircase, where we were attacked by some type of Brachiopod, somebody later identified them as probable dark mantles. In and of themselves they were no great threat, except for one that managed to smother Claude, one of my bodyguards. At this point, we decided to leave.

Next time we went down about a week later, we came with most of our present membership available for action. We reached the bottom of the stairs without incident, but the party began to spread out too quickly, and alerted a pack of Dwarf sized skeletons to our presence. It took a while to feed the rest of the party down to the floor and into the fight, but we were eventually able to defeat these vermin.

At this point there was a healthy debate on whether we should turn back or continue on. It was then that we discovered that the scrap of map I had found a couple of weeks ago on a body on the upper level, matched the level we were now searching. This started a major greed attack among several members of the party, because one of the symbols for treasure was very close by.

Before we found this treasure though, we ran into a group of ghost or wraith like beings that feared a significant chunk of the party and tried to chew on the rest. It might be interesting to note here that the people most in a hurry to find said treasure seemed to be the first to succumb to the effects of the undead. Ragnar, was the only one to suffer major attacks from the undead and if I had not run back to get him, he may well have stayed and joined. Even so, if it wasn’t for the heroic efforts of several slingers and archers in the party, I may not have been able to escape either.

At this point, there was no more discussion on staying and we hightailed it out of there as fast as possible.

The trip back was uneventful. Once again, we reached the town to find the guard on the gate increased yet again! I tell you, soon there will be more guards than citizens at this rate. I don’t know how much longer it will be before we will have to fight our way into the city. This is something else that worries me. Where is it all going?

At the end of each trip, I have taken stuff over to the jeweler, who is more than happy to look the other way in the interest of a good profit. I won’t say that he is willing to accept stolen goods, but if we happen about with trinkets we find in our adventures, and forget to mention it to the tax collector, he feels no need to do it himself.

All the gems we found, have been raw, uncut and unrefined, but have peaked his interest and gained us a tidy little profit in the process. No doubt he stand to make a great deal more from the final product but that is the nature of business. For lack of a better source, we are taking most of our stuff to him now, because there are just no buyers for this kind of stuff in a town of this size. He has sent off messages to dealers and collectors to see if there is interest and good buyers for our finds and we wait for replies for these messages.

At present we are holding the following items waiting for interested buyers.

8 sets of dwarven chain mail at least 500 years old
8 Short swords, filigreed and rune marked made by dwarves again 500 year old.
1 Gold inlaid and rune marked ancient dwarvish helmet
150+ coins of ancient and beastial design.
There are probably some other items that escape my mind right now…

Aramin, tracker, ranger and hunter of the dark

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MAY/2009

Aramin's Travelogue for Y55FA18

Eastern Borders

Aramin’s Travelogue Y55FA18 [DM note – that’s Year 55 Fall 18) (17 May 09)

We set out again for the mine, but first stopped to buy some gear from our usual sources.

A new problem has emerged.The normal sources for war equipment have dried up.It seems that production of war gear is way up, Smolosue the smith was unbelievably busy when Red stopped in to buy extra arrows, but little was for sale.She picked up a last dozen or so, and we have not been able to buy anything else since.All production is now going directly into the Marshal’s armory.

What is going on is not known, but I see yet another sign things are ramping up around here.

Luckily we have a largish amount of excess gear of our own stashed away right now.All this equipment is left from the gear of all the people that have died as part of our party.That means that we can still keep up our operations for now but we will find ourselves short on things in the near future.Luckily, I have some skill as both a bowyer and fletcher

Once we were done shopping, we again set off for the mine.The trip there was uneventful and we entered by the northern entrance that I am most used to.Evidently there is a central entrance that used to be quite common use for earlier incarnations of our group, but none of us newer people have ever used it.We traveled our normal route to the barricade and took the stairs down.

This time in the trip, I was half watching for evidence of others in the dungeon, but not paying particularly close attention.This is something I need to spend more time in the future on this subject.I want to watch for activity by the other ‘party’ that is supposed to be running around in this mine as well.I haven’t heard any new rumors about these people in recent history, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t around somewhere.

Legally there is no reason for other people not to be here as well, but I personally call it poaching.If we ever meet in this mine, I won’t guarantee that they will be leaving here alive.Not that I promote murder or anything, but this IS our site, and if they run afoul of us, that is their problem, not ours.

Maybe we should send them out after the troll bridge.I think that would be fitting.It’s not like we are excluding them or anything but if they came and asked to join our group on our trips, I am almost certain the answer would have been yes.We have accepted anyone so far who could carry their weight.

Back to the mine -

We are nearly the bottom of the mine and Kee discovers a secret door at the turn of the stairs.There seems to be an advantage to coming and going to these mines.If we came and camped down here until we were done, we would pass this way just once or so and would never notice these secret ways.Passing through here constantly gives everyone many chances to notice everything, and find things that were not noticed before.The down side is that any traps we miss the first time through, we get many more chances to set them off as well.

It took only a few minutes and a crowbar to get the stone door open.Immediately inside was a room where several more of the Dwarven skeletons and spirits (Whights/Wraiths?).the fight against them should have been fairly uneventful, but the fear effects of the spirits sent me and a couple of other people running.This included Ogdin who ran up the stairs and slipped off the ladder we placed to help facilitate crossing the gap in the stairs.He fell from there and died from the fall.Whether he broke his neck, head, or back I don’t know, but whatever happened, he was badly broken up when we finally found his body.

Once we destroyed these beings, we moved out into a small labyrinth of interconnected halls and rooms.This is where we came across one of the stranger things I have ever seen or heard of.We were in a room holding some mechanical gear and were attacked bysome sort of constructs.They seem to be built around a large steel ball with several that had two arms that bent down from the top.At least 5 of them attacked us, but seemed to be fairly easy to destroy.They also seem to be suffering from corrosion and suffered several minor breakdowns while trying to attack us.

Further into this area only lead us to more of the dwarven undead we have dealt with before.In one the last room we found in this section, there was an old bronze table heavily covered with dust that seemed to have some sort of map inlayed on it in gold.I moved by the table to watch down the hall at the other end and was only 15 feet or so away with my back turned when it happened.Red went to brush away the dust and disturbed a large and mature pack of yellow mold bodies.She was immediately engulfed and infected by the spores. It took nearly an hour for her to die.We neither had time to get her out of the mine, nor any kind of equipment to save her.There was nothing we could do.

At this point, we decided to leave and return to the village.

The gate guard acted in normal form and robbed us of about 20% of all the treasure we acquired while in the mine. I can not tell how much money that we lost to the city so far.What I do know, is that the funds we have been forced to surrender to the city now far exceeds the 25 Gold pieces that the original members of this group were paid for giving information to the Marshal.The next day we buried Red and rested while our clerics did whatever they said they needed to do.

Three days later we returned to the mine.This time, we came across another party of Kobolds patrolling the area.According to a member of the party who new their language, they were trying to find out if they could get back into the mine.Evidently, someone other than us has been working on the kobolds and helped us force them out.

We managed to pull off a decent ambush with bows and managed to knock off most of the patrol without having to melee them.

Since we took them out with casualties to us we moved off into the mine down to the lower level and into the new area we were exploring.While we wandering around near the room where Red died from yellow mold spores, we set off a new trap that brought down three portcullises.These gates fell over all the entrees to the room, trapping Kee and myself inside.I could have jumped when the gates came down but I pushed Kee and myself forward instead, placing us both in the room (safely I might add, but trapped nonetheless).It was possible that the room full of mechanical controls operated these gates so those of us not trapped went back to mess with them.While they were getting us out, (the mechanical room was responsible for the gates) five more of the annoying little dwarven skeletons showed up.Luckily, a new cleric that joined us named Alana had the power to turn the Skeletons and force them into the room with the table covered with yellow mold.We promptly dropped the gates again and trapped them in there.

The final piece of excitement we Had that day, was when we entered a cavernous area and Ragnar was attacked with a wet sloshing noise.We did not see what made the attack, but I convinced everyone to fall back.

Not that much convincing was necessary.Invisible squishy things do not lend themselves to large amounts of bravery.When we moved into regular tunnels again, I immediately saw the shiny surface and recognized a Gelatinous Cube.They are large single celled… things that wander around underground areas (they don’t like light much) and clear the areas of carcasses vermin and anything else that can’t get away.

I know these things because my father was a mine manager and these were a problem that cropped up from time to time.They normally only became a problem, when large cavernous areas get opened up.Cubes and molds and other vermin area constant problem in mining situations anywhere access to larger cavernous areas are available.This is a sign that a healthy biological population of underground beasties is around somewhere.This has both good and bad points.

Anyway, the instant I saw it, I ran back the way we had come, not in fear but to get time to work.I filled my helm with oil and threw it on the cube when it caught up with us.A bucket full of coal oil actually works better, but neither a bucket nor coal oil was available at the time.Burning these things out is the easiest way to deal with them, and it worked, except that before it died, it managed to slam first Ragnar then Parabellum into unconsciousness.I grabbed Ragnar, threw him over my shoulder and ran for the exit.At the point that I got Ragnar and turned, Parabellum went down as well.I am a strong man, not to brag, but carrying two adult males is a bit much even for me.Luckily, the Cube expired at that point and he was saved.Cubes collect their food by paralyzing it and rolling over the victim and dissolving the creatures once they are inside its body.The mere fact that it expired saved our wizard from certain death.If it had moved over his body and engulfed him, he would have had a minute very possibly two before he took so much abuse as to die.

This shows a problem I see with my fellow party members.Not to be too rude or anything, but no one moved to grab Parabellum and drag him out.Someone SHOULD have grabbed him, but no one did.Now this is the second time Kee let other people lie there and did nothing.

The first time was when we hit by the Cone of Cold by the troll we ran into.There may have been some other survivors, I did after all pull her body out of the area and brought her back too consciousness, but I wasn’t tracking entirely straight myself.After all, we had just left the meeting with the princess and I was still suffering from a certain amount of dazzle from her beauty, but Kee never so much as checked anyone else to see if they were alive.It seems to be the same when Parabellum went down.I kept expecting somebody to grab him and at least drag him away, but nobody so much as moved in his direction.

If Parabellum had died, there would have been severe consequences.We loose enough people to things we can’t stop to have still more people die from general sloppiness is unconscionable. The fact that Parabellum attacked the cube with nothing but his dagger has no bearing on the fact.While you do not expect wizardsto be terribly powerful melee types and stay away from fights as much as possible his actions shows a very high level of personal bravery (or foolishness) any warrior can’t help but be impressed by.

All this brings me to find very disturbing that some people (not to be named here) seem to be pushing for more of the “democratic and orderly” garbage that I had thought died when most of the party left to join the princesses retinue.Anything that strikes of more organization and rules for how our party operate can’t do anything but cause me to break out in hives. {out of game note:Aramin is CHAOTIC good} A few simple points are only required here.

More effort is needed by various party members to cover those in the party who are in trouble (unconscious, trapped, under severe attack, etc.).Basically, what I would like to see is every effort to save the lives of anyone in trouble.

Also, there was something of an argument by several members of the party that there are several places where we are expecting to find treasure, and they think that they should get a share of anything we find.

Personally, I think they are asking a bit too much.If they want to get a share, they need to come with.A number of people in the party only go with us on every second or third trip we take.This whole line of argument was brought about by a map that I found that indicates a large treasure is very close by the area we were forced to stop because it was getting late in the evening and we had to get back to the village before dark.The area where the treasure was supposed to be seemed to be right near by on the map I found.It is important to note though that despite making two trips to mine since then, we have still not found the so called treasure…

I am in the interest of fairness, holding money for both Harold and E’thal.I however have decided to refuse to release the money to them until they accompany us out on another expedition {out of game note:That they show up for a game}.This money is proceeds from the gold statue and some gems we had found when they were last with us.Although, if they don’t come with us soon, I MIGHT decide to just share it with those members who actually go with on adventures (and have already received their cuts).

I am, right now, the party mapper and accountant.I am mapper by virtue of the fact that I am present for most of our excursions and am literate in several languages including Goblin.I have also developed a relationship with the Jeweler that seems to be workinh to both of our benefits.By acting as our agent, he helps us get rid of some of the larger and/or more esoteric items we find without the officials of Enonia getting involved.He is not our Fence but seems to find our relationship as useful to himself as we find it.We have actually gotten several very useful services from him.Right now we are still awaiting word from further in the kingdom from people who may be interested in buying some of the ‘Dwarven artifacts’ we have found to date.Right now the items have very little value to anyone in Enonia, but we find researches, collectors or similar persons that will pay use a decent price for them.

Now I have ranted over long on many subjects but this is the only source for many of my opinions and ideas and will continue in this vane as long as I can

Aramin

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MAY/2009

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May 28, 2009

Overview about Aramin's Travelogues

eastern borders

I have now been writing this travelogue all summer about my activities and those of my compatriots as we discover the hidden world around here. So it seems to be time to do an explanation of my reasoning for anyone who may find this after I die (which the way things go may not be all that far in future).

This travelogue I am writing in a diary for my own personal benefit, and I will use it as a history, a source of opinions and comments to myself, as well as to make notes of things that happen or I would like to see happen. I have seemed to find this a particularly appropriate place to mention my fears worries and opinions about the things going on around us especially the seemingly new activities surrounding the Marshal, the high priest and the gate guards. This seems to be something that we would need to investigate much more closely…

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MAY/2009

Aramin's Travelogue for Year 55 28th day of Fall

Today we finally got a reply from the town council as to our request to rent, buy or otherwise habitate an un-occupied building in the city. We had been given a slight runaround by the city council for some few weeks.

It seems they finally decided to reply and gave us the following information. We can rent the place we have been living in for the price of 6 Silver pieces per person living there. In the interest of giving ourselves a chance to get it organized, we agreed to the deal for those of us present and for those who were not available to be consulted.

At this time, the city is under the assumption that we have 9 people living at our premises.

After getting title to the house we will be using, we went out and hired a number of persons to come in to repair the facilities. Part of the building is roofless and other things that need to be repaired. We went out and hired a general contractor who will be bringing in a large crew that he has available. There will be roofers, thatchers, carpenters, plasterers and other types to make the house winter-worthy. I found out while wandering around town that hiring these people to come in and work on our house has created some very good will between the general population of Enonia and us. Evidently, it has been quite some time since anyone has hired some much labor. At this rate we may revitalized the economy of the entire city. (Maybe). In order to get this work done, we need to come up with 139 Gold and 2 Silver to cover the work. Again we took charge for those who weren’t around and made commitments in their name for the group.

On top of everything else, we finally got notice from Seralnue the Jeweler that there was a buyer for the Dwarven items we had found!

Not only did we find a buyer but we found a very powerful one at that. The jeweler showed up at the Inn one morning with a guard on tow carrying a large strong box. Evidently, the buyer sent the box along with their own guards. Seralnue claims that he does not know who the buyer is and will not tell us about it. With a nervous as he is about the subject, I would just as soon not know either. Nonetheless, the payment we got for it was no less than 105 Gold for the inlaid helm, 35 Gold each for the 8 short swords, and one 300GP diamond for each of the sets of chain mail. I was able to make payments out to those of us who were present, but we have to find someone to convert some of the gems to pay off the other members who weren’t around when we got paid.

We had a new person who joined the group this morning. Maxlor, is a young priest from the temple, who evidently came from further west into the kingdom. Alana was familiar with him and was able to vouch for him.

Evidently, both of our temple priests have heard rumors, that there is new trouble near the monastery. We have not been there since we came back with Melkrit’s (one time young temple acolyte, later powerful priest of the dark) head earlier in the summer. This has not stopped others from going there however.

Supposedly other groups had been up in the area and run into a lot of trouble with Goblins. Well, in the interest of keeping the vermin down, we went up to check out the ruins of The Monastery of St Eggix. When we got within approximately half a mile of the site we noticed two fires burning at the site. I moved in much more closely by myself and crept to less than 100 yards from the site, and spotted half a dozen or so Goblins tending their fire. I was nearly spotted by the Goblins when I loudly stepped on a branch. But was able to keep out of sight when they swept the ground around me. I evidently did even better than I thought, because I had snuck passed a couple of their own guards and didn’t get spotted (of course I didn’t see them either until they shouted out and gave the all clear). I snuck in just a little farther then got out while I still could to report the situation to the rest of the party.

We didn’t really have a good plan but closed in quietly on the camp and managed to reach nearly the edge of the temple ruins before we were spotted. The fight was brisk but fairly short leaving ten goblins laying about on the ground.

A search of the area indicated there were a lot more than just ten goblins present and that they were moving in and out of the underground in large numbers.

At this point we decided to go down and re-search the catacombs. While searching we came across a number of things in the areas we had already been in previously: 6 zomblins (Goblin-Zombies), 8 giant rats, another dozen goblins and the rather badly chewed upon and decomposed bodies of three militiamen and three more citadel guards.

It is very interesting that we were told to stay out of this temple complex, yet the city is sending guards down into this thing.

Also of note is the fact that all the living goblins were found wearing amulets of a crude three clawed hand shaped like an inverted Y. They acted woodenly, moved stiffly, fought tenaciously, not one running or attempting to surrender. They all acted as if they were operating in a form not of their own volition. About the time we had swept 70% of the area we had been in previously, all the clerics were nearly out of spells for the day, much of the party was sporting wounds and everyone was exhausted. We packed out what gear and treasure we found (18 GP), brought up the guards that we had found down below and got out of the catacombs.

The clerics did rites for the dead guards and we burned their bodies in the approved fashion and then headed back to town.

Being heavily loaded with plunder we had found, forced us to take a long time to reach the east gate. When we arrived a party of peasants were approaching from the south while we approached from the north. As normal, the guards ordered both groups to halt which we did. The other group did not, and actually acted as if they were orientating their movement on the activity at the gates. It seemed obvious that something was wrong so I dropped my excess plunder I was carrying and urged the others to do the same.

Quite suddenly the peasants charged a position that the guards crossbowmen were using swamping the two in that foxhole and tearing them apart. It was obvious now that what we were dealing with were more of the Damned (think the not-zombies from 28 days later and you have the picture). The guards covering us ran for the gate urging us to join them. We ran for the gate while the guards tried to lay down covering fire and got in amongst the other gate defenders.

The battle that followed lasted easily a quarter hour maybe more and was a nightmare on so many levels. Every time, someone was dragged down by the Damned, they would jump back up within 2-3 minutes and start attacking their friends. Of the original 8 peasants we were attacked by, we ended up killing all of them as well as nine of the guards that were turned during the fight. Only two guards ran from the fight in fear. One just ran, but the other screamed about being on fire or some such as he left. Luckily, Alana our one female cleric had the presence of mind to realize that he might be infected and managed to follow him until they found some people who could grab him and drag him off to the priests to be healed. During the fight I hit many times and was also infected. As soon as the last Damned was laid low, I turned and rushed for the temple myself. I lost consciousness myself somewhere but was carried to the temple. Evidently, I was in the middle of turning myself and had to be restrained by many hands.

That is all I remember until this morning. According to Alana, they had to vouch for me several times, that I was intimately involved in the defense in order to get myself cured. The way she explained it, they were more than happy to put me out of my misery until they found they actually owed me some help.

Have I ever mentioned that the management of this city make me very nervous?

Anyway, I sit here in bed trying to recover, but it feels as if I will never be quite the same again (I permanently lost 1 point of Constitution with the hit points that were part of it). Once I get out of this hospital bed, I intend to look into the defenses of this city very closely. I intend to suggest numerous changes to the defenses. The defenses presently in use are worse than useless. All they do is drain large amounts of treasure from the city while defending nothing. If we had not arrived at the time that we did, we would have walked back into a dead city, and found ourselves surrounded by hundreds of the damned.

This cannot be allowed to happen again, a second time and we will all die in a most horrible and swift fashion.

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JUN/2009

Eastern Borders - Mazlor's Adventure Log for Year 55, 39th Day of Fall

On this day began my second foray into the unknown, since I had been assigned by the church to Enonia from my home in the civilized lands to the West. I attempt to recollect and record here those events, to the best of my ability, however degraded and disjointed my memories may be at this later date.

We had a robust company roughly half-score strong and we decided the subject of our attention should be the long-abandoned Dalewoods Inn. As humanity had not ventured there in quite some time, an understandable preponderance of contradictory rumors existed in the fanciful imaginations of locals, ignorant of any true knowledge of its state – dragons, bandits, ruins, rebuilding, and other such. A perfect opportunity to extend humanity’s reach and knowledge!

On our journey, we encountered fleeting impressions of observation and laughter from small creatures we presumed of a fey nature. Fortune had them leave us be, though such would not be the case with the next creatures we met. During the night, we were attacked by large spiders, under whose lair we had unwisely camped. We prevailed against them, although some of our number were bitten and became quite ill.

The following day we reached the Inn, and found it in a state of collapse. Finding cellar-stairs, we were able to access some of its underground, which I will briefly summarize the exploration thereof:

Territorial glow-beetles attacked and were vanquished.

A butcher’s room contained haunches of meat, which sprang to life and combusted into goo upon death.

Some starving goblins were found, and we provided them sustenance whilst siphoning information about the Green Iron Fist from them. They claimed to have fallen in and become trapped below. We sent them out the way we had come.

A secret room with bags of precious metal was found.

An alcove-riddled corridor hid away viscous traps and a secret passage to another treasure room – this one containing iron chests and a glowing sword.

Large spiders blocked our way back out the stairs, so we barricaded ourselves in for the night, and departed unhindered, but most heavily laden, in the morn.

On our return trip, we discovered our previous assumptions about the tiny laughers were quite in error. In actuality, they were the juvenile offspring of the Bridge Troll. Our discourse with them was initially cool, but eventually thawed, and we left them on good terms and gifted them with tin whistles. For their part, they informed us that their father was quite angry and that we had best continue to give the bridge wide berth, as we had on the outwards portion of our sojurn.

The town guards were suitably impressed when we shared knowledge of the Inn with them. Additionally, we are no longer being taxed upon the fruits of our labors.

Mazlor, beacon of the Light

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JUL/2009

Eastern Borders - Mazlor's Adventure Log for Year 55, 15th Day of Winter

After rousing a terribly hungover Ragnar, and engaging in a short debate, we chose to return to the Inn, in hopes of being able to finish our explorations there. In the end, however, our only progress towards that goal was to traverse 2/3 of the day-and-a-half’s journey.

During our night’s rest, we were beset by a band of goblins of the Green Iron Fist. Though our watches had time to wake everyone whilst they surrounded our camp, once we made to act, we discovered the true measure of our adversaries and found ourselves greatly outnumbered.

While some of our group (this scribe in particular) were prepared to concede the inevitable and parley with our foes, others were unwilling to give way without a fight. In the erupting hostilities, both of our wizards were felled and similar for twice that number in goblins. Nonetheless, their 4 to 1 advantage ground us down and the goblins ultimately prevailed. Our only consolation was that we were able to hold Death from overtaking Parabellum and Ethal.

The victorious goblins were unusually disciplined and peopled with leaders. The main of these spoke to us and – rather than ordering the robbery, slavery, or beheadings we envisioned – merely demanded we deliver a message. Grimthack, chieftain of the Green Iron Fist, required a meeting with the leader of the humans, one fortnight from now.

We promptly returned home and delivered Grimthack’s message to Yinivax and Marshall Roen. These entrusted us with the advance scouting of the meeting site (being the abandoned monastery of St. Eggix), which we commenced, after a suitable recovery period for our pair of wounded comrades.

There we found an unpleasant fog clinging low to the ground and signs of great battle – a battle of goblin against goblin. Half of the slain were of the more typical strain of goblin and festooned with the insignia of the Green Iron Fist. The other half were quite unusual – reddish in skin and feral of feature, armed with crude weapons and wearing the 3-fingered medallions.

We returned to Enonia again to report this development and were tasked with the recovery of bodies for study. This was accomplished with no difficulty and we returned yet again, well compensated for all of our recent efforts on Enonia’s behalf. (2nd in command at the temple) found the proto-goblins most peculiar and beyond her usual powers of divination. We were also visited by Asgrim, a local bookseller and hedge wizard, unknown to me, but not to certain of my comrades. Parabellum negotiated some dealings with him, involving a tome of St Eggix and other sundry items.

Our final trip to the monastery was a half-day in advance of the Meeting. We encountered some advance guard of Grimthack and found all to be in order. Roen and Grimthack arrived, with their respective retinues, and then conversed, with Aramin providing translation. The thrust of Grimthack’s concerns were that he wished humans to know that he controlled not the feral goblins, and wanted not to be blamed for their depredations. This was readily acknowledged, and our side further verified that Grimthack would have no complaints with us reclaiming the monastery for humanity.

As both sides returned to their own lands, we remained behind, augmented by a handful of the Marshall’s foot soldiers, ready to enter the monastery once more. Our destination was the former living quarters Melkrit, beheaded, evil ex-priest of the Light. Finding a slight error in our drawings, we inadvertently entered a collapsed and empty room, where I sensed a good and familiar energy drawing me near. I followed and passed through to a beautiful devotional room of St Eggix, with frescoes and a glowing bowl. Touching and making offerings to the bowl produced no discernable outcome, but examining an old skeleton yielded an iron key. When we did reach the room we sought, the key was indeed a match for the warded and locked door. The merits and risks of opening the door were contemplated. Eggix had used the monastery to seal up a great evil and we feared we might release it. Yet, it would also seem that an evil force was already awake and operating – that of the 3 figured symbol and its devil-goblins. We ultimately declined to act at this time.

We explored a bit elsewhere, resulting chiefly in the deaths of some spiders, the acquisition of a few potions, and the knowledge that our makeshift barrier over the floor crevasse appeared undisturbed. A foully inhabited chapel sent us retreating home for nonce, vowing soon to return and right that wrong (and mayhap fulfill my vision of reclaiming the fountain as well!).

Mazlor, beacon of the Light

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JUL/2009

Eastern Borders - Kjeld's Foray into the Abandoned Mines

Somehow this damnable wilderness continues to attract outsiders from across the realm, despite its horrific mortality rate. I joined a new adventuring troupe this week in an attempt to plumb the depths of the Dwarven mines. Prior to the expedition’s departure, we hashed over the recent news about the marshal’s parlay with the goblin king out by the abandoned monastery. It held little significance for us, as we were all fairly new to the eastern wilderness, so we made plans to head out to the mines at first light.

During our preparations, we found a companion in Anya, a fighting-woman of considerable renown in Enonia. She hinted obliquely at some previous expeditions she’d been part of that had only marginal success in the mines; we were determined to secure even greater wealth for our fledgling party.

Alas, it was not to be. We found the mines without incident, following a route that was by now familiar to both me and Anya. But a party of kobolds harried us as we plunged into a new, as-yet-unexplored entrance.

Once inside the cool stone dungeon, we set to work exploring the ruins. We fought several different types of dungeon vermin, and our littleling druid surprised everyone by charming a huge carnivorous black beetle, eventually taming the beast to serve as his gallant steed. The layout of this portion of the tunnels indicated that we were close to the mines themselves; we found a room full of digging tools and assorted equipment.

We encountered several traps, and these bled the party of its much-needed resources. The time we spent dealing with them no doubt alerted the dungeon’s denizens to our presence, and our progress was further retarded with subsequent encounters. I myself took a bad spill in a pit trap, injuring my holy person mightily. At that point, running low on critical supplies, we decided to head back to town.

Our return trip brought us into the clutches of the same kobolds that had stalked us earlier in the day. This time, confrontation was inevitable, and we clashed with them in a flurry of sword blows, hammer falls and sling shots. We triumphed and continued our journey home to Enonia, having secured the equivalent of 1.02 gold pieces in assorted copper coins—hardly enough to pay for our two hirelings, who had demanded 10 gold pieces each before accompanying us into the wilderness.

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JUL/2009

Eastern Borders - Three Days in the Wilderness, and Living to Tell the Tale

After several days of rest, I joined up with Dul the ranger and my faithful comrade Izil to explore the Dalewoods a bit further. We intentionally planned a wilderness journey, and consequently we had to pay more for our hirelings. Anya joined on as a full party member, but her two swordsmen demanded 2 gold pieces per day to accompany us. This fee is rapidly becoming untenable, and in the future we may have to curtail our adventuring if and when we cannot muster a large party.

In any case, we set off traveling in a roughly southeastern direction, slicing through the Dalewoods at an angle (judging, at least, by the crudely carved map in the Mug & Pot Inn. We traveled for most of a day, encountering no threat but stumbling across a queer area of burnt trees and grass, almost perfectly square. My priestly powers could find no trace of evil, but the place disturbed us nonetheless. We stopped to camp near dusk. The weather was foul, but we were able to find shelter in a burrow—only after we slaughtered the giant rats that occupied it.

Thus provisioned, we camped in relative comfort. During the night we heard a party of horsemen moving along the wayfarers’ road to the north, and only then did we realize how close we were to the wilderness road. Dul the ranger shadowed the travelers for a time, and was able to determine that they hailed from Enonia. We wisely decided to let the horsemen pass, and we heard them later that night as they returned from their mysterious errand. They were no doubt accomplished adventurers, able to navigate the Dalewoods in the dead of night and return unmolested.

The next day we explored the burnt wasteland in more detail. It was roughly 100 yards across, but we found no obvious clue to its origin. We decided to head due south, pushing deeper into the Dalewoods in search of a mysterious lake we’d heard of in rumors.

That day’s exploration was hampered again by snow and wet weather, and we camped overnight without kindling a fire. Two of our party were affected by odd dreams, but I myself was mercifully safe, owing perhaps to the blessing of Vanir which accompanies me at all times.

On day 3 of our wilderness journey, we stumbled—quite literally—across the Abandoned Mines that have figured into our recent explorations. We decided on the spot to delve into the stone tunnels in search of some as-yet-unlooked-for loot. This was not to be, but we did encounter and lay waste to 16 kobold skeletons—animated by some foul magic that could not stand against the might and fury of Vanir.

We found no treasure, but we survived three days in the unforgiving wilderness before returning to Enonia.

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AUG/2009

Eastern Borders - A Deeper Delve

Dul's account of the trip into the Dwarven Mines

Eastern Borders

Once more, I decided to venture past the gates of this town with Kjeld the Cleric, and Duzain, the Elf who knows a little of everything. We acquired the services of two hired hands; Azok and Chin. Azok is an able-enough man, and Chin is a handsome beast of a woman who has obvious affections for our own Duzain. I guess they don’t call them “the fine-folk” for nothing.

After our recent enlightening but not exactly purse-filling trip out into the woods, all of our pockets were a bit lighter, so we decided to hit the mines this time around. If nothing else, we hoped to find something shiny to sell back in town.

On our trip down to the mines, we ran in to a bit of a kobold issue, so we had to take the long way, but eventually we made it without incident.

Navigating using Kjeld’s map we found ourselves deeper in the mines than I had been before, although Kjeld seemed to recall some of it from one of his previous adventures.

The first notable experience we had once we were deep in the mines, was a run in with a giant frog. Our group dispatched the frog with ease, and something compelled me to gather up it’s remains, as you never know when a very large and very dead amphibian may come in handy.

We wandered around for a bit and came across an opening. Everything about this opening was screaming “Ancient” to all of our senses. So of course, we dove in. Well, quickly we found traces that we were not the first group of adventurers to explore this ancient place. We came across a massive room with carved pillars, and three doors on the opposite end. The pillars had some terrifying carvings of Dwarven faces in agony. On one wall of this corridor we spotted an opening, that at first looked like it could have been caused by an explosion from a nearby room. We decided to take a look, and we found something none of us expected. After crawling through a small passage, we came into a somewhat spherical area with what appeared to be a cowering statue in the center. After a bit of investigation (I poked it with a stick, to the terror of my companions), I decided it didn’t pose a threat, but to make sure, I attempted to decapitate the statue as the rest of my party backed it’s way toward the entrance (to get a better position to help me in case of a fight I am sure). I fumbled a bit with my sword, touched the statue to brace myself, and a great stone creature reared up in front of my eyes. Duzain attempted to communicate, but his attempts proved futile for even he does not speak the language of giant rock monsters. We found the creature neither a threat or a source of information, so we moved along.

We headed back to the main corridor, to investigate the three doors. Kjeld recalled that one of these doors may have been successfully opened on a previous trip of his, so we first decided to focus on the other two. While attempting to open doors, we were confronted by a few shambling undead Dwarves led by what appeared to be a spherical automaton, possibly crafted by these dwarves when blood still ran through their veins. After the scuffle, Duzain’s best attempts at picking locks were met with failure, so we pushed through the previously unlocked door.

We came through a room slightly illuminated by glowing runes. We recognized them as being Dwarven, but the shapes meant nothing to any of us (my life as a ranger has never compelled me to study the old dead languages, but at times like these I would seriously consider trading my tree-climbing abilities for a bit of old knowledge). We moved along, dealt with a few more undead Dwarves and another of their spheres and eventually came to the climax of this little adventure. We came upon a statue (and this time around we were fairly certain it was just a statue). This statue seemed to beckon us, like it was asking for something. I can’t reveal all of my secrets here, dear reader, but let’s just say the statue and I made a fair trade, and I found my something shiny to leave these mines with.

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SEP/2009

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Sep 16, 2009

Eastern Borders - Tangling with a Bearowl

eastern borders

Aah! Adventurers! Last night was a great victory for the forces of Light and the power of the Elves! The heroic adventurers Dul and Douzane (a fearsome duo), traveled with their hirelings Azoq and Chex (the brother of Chin) east along the road until we came to the great bridge. Upon hearing something moving under the bridge, and remembering the fearsome tales of danger, our party turned south into the forest. After camping for a night and traveling further south, we came again to our Lost Mines.

Upon coming up to the hill which hides the mines, we saw sign of a recent battle. Kobold bodies were strewn like matchsticks upon the fresh snow, blood everywhere. A trail of blood lead to a natural cave on the south side of the hill, a cave that hid a great foe. Douzane climbed up the hill above the entrance to gain a surprise advantage against the foe, while Dul, Azoq, and Chex lured the beast into the holy light of day. What sight beheld our eyes but a giant 7 foot grizzly bear with the head of an owl. A BEAROWL!

It caused a panic in the less than stalwart hirelings, and they broke their line. Chex ran up on the hill drawing the Bearowl’s attention to the hiding Elf, forcing him to lose the chance for a backstab. With a claw, claw, and a fearsome bite, Chex met his end, his skull crushed. Dul fled into the woods, and Azoq, perused by the Bearowl ran up onto the hill and around it, all the while chased by the monster.

Dropping his sword, and drawing his bow, Douzane took aim. The Bearowl caught poor Azoq in his hug, but with a cry of “all power to the Elves” the first arrow from the Elven bow took the beast in the face, driving straight through its skull, stunning but not killing the beast. Azoq escaped, and the next two arrows drove into the beast’s shoulder and jaw, driving the creature to the ground and to death.

A single handed victory for Douzane the Elf, against a foe five times stronger than he! Yet he couldn’t have done it without his team mates running around in a panic, generally distracting the beast. After that the team proceeded into the cave finding a series of caves and a host of treasure!! Thousands of copper and silver coins, gems and other arcane devices. Since the caves are clear now (for the time being), it might make an excellent place to camp and rest. Cheers all around for the heroic adventurers!

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SEP/2009

Eastern Borders - Braving the Ruins

Being a report of Darius, Cleric of Enonia

By the Light, things are looking up, despite this damned and ill-omened rain. I had thought my first journey from Enonia a failure, but the information we brought back—that the ancient mines are now filled with a monstrous horde—was worth something to Marshall Roen. With these funds I was able to prepare myself for a second trip into the wild, this time at the orders of the Marshall himself. Our party—a hardy ranger, a fierce littleling, a rogueish looking man (whom I didn’t quite trust) and two newly joined adventurers—journeyed to the East, seeking a ruined inn which Roen had asked us to win free from monsters. Along the way, we were beset by giant spiders, and the littleling proved true the stories about his race by destroying one of the foul beasts without breaking stride. After skirting a bridge the ranger explained was guarded by a dangerous beast, we reached the inn at last and descended into the cellars below. We explored a small part of the cellars, and killed a number of goblins in a running battle. We also discovered a store of treasure in a locked box which the shifty-looking one was able to open with ease. With our supplies running low, we retreated from the cellars, only to encounter a band of kobold fighters engaged in their own invasion of the inn. I believe the kobolds mistook us for goblins, and our battle was fought in such a way that they couldn’t have seen our faces clearly. If so, good. Perhaps when we return to the inn, the kobolds and goblins will have finished each other off. I pray that this will come to pass.

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NOV/2009

Eastern Borders - Inn it to win it

A Very Bloody Spring in Enonia

Thus began a very bloody spring in Enonia as the rain set in and the Kings announcements reached the ears of the public. The commission milled indoors awaiting the kings new years message with the rest of the township. In his message to the people of Enonia his majesty declared that he could not afford to send his armies to the frontier quickly gathering groans from the villages. His majesty encouraged his humbled subjects to continue to work hard for the kingdom finally wishing his people farewell by instructing the people to leave any strange announcements for the lords of Enonia.

Throughout the morning rumors spread amongst the villagers speaking of a Silver Sphere in the Crystal Tower a lost tower that sunk beneath the south Dalewoods. Earlier that day Anya and her thugs were paid to visit New Hope, a city to the South that is believed to be lost to mankind. It was also sighted by Dul “Lone Ranger” of the wild that the kings rangers were in the area working on behalf of some unknown purpose.

The commission set out. Winter paladin of faith unknown, Caston the brave, Dul of the wild range, Darrius of the light, Joran the female littleling and her guard, Irem the rouge, and Dolf the little helper set out towards The Dalewoods Wayfarers Inn. With hopes to discover more treasure in the contested Inn. Along the way to the Dalewoods inn the commission was careful to avoid “Fathers” bridge, and visiting the “black patch” an unexpected earth quake occurred.

(Concept rendering of what The Dalewoods Wayfarers Inn looked like before before the doom of man destroyed it)

Those of the light faith felt chaos and darkness fill they souls. The party treked on to a familiar camp site to ensure reaching the inn quickly. Soon into setting up camp keen ears alerted the party of whistling in the depths of the forest. Thats when Dul the Ranger then spotted it. Climbing high into the tree tops Dul surveyed the area looking for the origins of the strange whistling to witness a Crystal Tower floating high above the tree tops. As the party debated the meaning of this event the whistling came closer and to camp as Izil played along with his hunters horn to match the melody and tune of the whistle. The trollkin had arrived to play their music in harmony with their friend. They sat with the group, enjoyed winters candy and sang the party legends of old time. The song took our party out of their bodies illustrating what lies in the darkness and most of all what The Striped Wizard is after.

See full size image Once morning wet in the commission left for the Inn and came upon it mid afternoon. The party moved in with confidence as goblins that they encountered put up a resistance to claim the inn as their own. The commission fought bravely storming the Dalewoods in and slaying the Goblins of The Green Fist. Irem’s Moltov coctails singed goblin lackeys and Caston the brave’ fire brand dealt righteous justice to the orcs but for as much of a match as the commission was for the green fit the same was true for the commission. The battle of the 4 way intersection divided the party and threatened the lives of 3 in our party. Irem was wise and quick enough to heal them while the rest of the party tended to the orc leader. In the end it was Caston the brave who stuck down the green fist raiding party leader. As the orcs withdrew so did the commission knowing that victory, at least for today, was theirs.

Making it back to town the commission reported their findings to the lord, Sir Yinivax,and were paid for their efforts. Thankful that the adventure cost no one their life the commission went their separate ways once more to live for the moment and revel in victory.

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NOV/2009

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Nov 12, 2009

Eastern Borders - One Million Goblins

My travels took me to Enonia. After days of solitary travel, introspection, prayer, and
scourging of my flesh with barbed wire and a cat-o’-nine, I was ready for a mission. And for
my sins, they gave me one.

The bad news was that the King would not be sending troops to help these poor people. The
good news was that there were people in town who were better than the King’s men. I joined
up with 7 others, an auspicious number…

Dolph the Littleing; full of surprises, a fighter and mage. Izil, a skilled fighter tired of
living on the streets. Castin, a powerful fighter with a disturbing penchant for flaming
oil. Myself, a humble paladin, and barely that after the incident that nearly stripped me of
my calling. Jorann, a female cleric encased in enough armor to stop a siege tower and
protected by her silent men at arms. Dul, a dangerous and efficient ranger, and Darius, a cleric of The Light. Both were familiar with the surrounding area. Irem, a thief and apparently proud of it. At first I considered ways to set him on fire, but he soon proved he was not an ordinary thief.

We set off for the goblin’s fortress. On the way there, an impossibly rare and disturbing
earthquake shook the earth. It brought with it feelings of despair and fear. When it ended I
found myself on the ground with the taste of copper in my mouth. Darius was pale. We kept
moving.

An incident in the woods where we had to camp for the night surprised us all. The Children
of the Troll found us; they were entranced by Izil’s horn, and delighted by the candy that I
gave them with the stipulation that some was for their Father. They shared with us what they
knew of the Crystal Tower, which Dul had spied moments before from a treetop perch, and
showed us The Dark by means of a visual hallucination. The Dark was their name for a hideous
creature with bony plates on its head and tentacles where its face should be that they
promised would soon arrive to our world. It is good to know your enemy.
I failed in making them understand the difference between good and evil, however, which made
it impossible for me to rest the remainder of the night.

Around midday we reached the goblin fortress, or “inn” as those with me insisted on calling
it. A large rambling structure, only partially mapped by members of my party in previous
visits. I took the front rank with Dul and we charged in, down a steep flight of stairs. To
my surpise, the goblins showed military sense, and had posted sentries armed with shortbows.
They let loose their arrows but we were upon them quickly. Dul dispatched his in a lightning
flurry of blows and moved further down the hall; mine proved more resistant, but soon died
horribly. Castin replaced me in the front rank and pushed on into the fortress with Dul.

Goblins were dying left and right. We soon found ourselves in an intersection of hallways,
subject to a deadly crossfire from goblin archers. We broke off into teams and killed more
of the hideous gobbos, but they kept coming. They just kept coming. It was dark and not
always possible to fight effectively. Dolph went down after taking many wounds. Darius
collapsed shortly after. Jorann was out of healing spells and one of her men was near death.

During a fighting retreat with Izil I was cut down. I’m told the following, that Irem saved
all three of us by binding our wounds; without that, nearly half the party would have died
in the putrid-smelling darkness. Dul threw burning oil at the goblin captain and his elite,
Izil and Jorann fought to keep them at bay, and when all looked bleak Castin slew the goblin
chief. This threw the gobbos into disarray and they fled. Gathering up the wounded, the
party made camp in the woods and Jorann healed Darius. Between the two of them, they saved
me and stabilized Dolph, but the little one remained in a coma until we reached the temple.

It was a source of dark amusement for me to see the faces of the town guard when we arrived
the next day, covered in blood, goblin excrement, and organ meat. Luckily, they did not fire
upon us.

I was left with this thought regarding the forces of evil, of chaos, of the dark here in our
lands. We must kill them. We must incinerate them. Goblin after goblin. Kobold after kobold.
Camp after camp. Army after army.

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NOV/2009

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Nov 12, 2009

Eastern Borders - Harold's Journal

Winter had been a busy time for Harold Trotter, ever since he saw his first white mouse in Enonia. Kee the Elf had observed him chasing a cat soon after that, but there had not been time to stop and explain the strange event or the fact that these subtle portents meant littlelings were spying on Enonia. It had taken some time for Harold to track the spies out of Enonia and as far as the Town of Cheddon, where he learned which house from the Direlands the spies originated. Satisfied that the spies were not allied with his old enemy, Sarumort, Harold camped out the remaining winter months in and around Cheddon before his return trek to his adopted home of Enonia. In particular, he felt some adventuring with his old companions would be a welcome spring vacation – as well as a source for replenishing his personal funds.

It was refreshing to see that any day spent lurking around the Mug and Pot Tavern was still a chance to see familiar faces. Parabellum, Kee, Aramin, and the ever-silent Ragnar were on hand – with a host of unfamiliar faces as well! It seemed the mercenary company Harold had tried to help found had floundered during the winter months and Aramin was now more of an unofficial leader to a ragtag band of explorers than anything else. There was also talk of some remarkable events that had occurred while Harold was away in Cheddon. An earthquake? A floating tower over a lake? A striped mage? Hmm, that made Harold a little nervous about his own clothes, but no one else seemed to notice. But what really took Harold by surprise was the sight of another littleling amongst the company!

Harold quickly overheard this other littleling went by the name of Randy. Was he another spy? Or worse, Sarumort in disguise? Harold vowed not to take his eyes off this “Randy”, even if it meant taking another trip to the old dwarf mines. Harold had always hated going to the old dwarf mines and long since thought they were played out for valuables, but there was much talk around the table in hushed voices of some quest and of dark ones that needed to be stopped there. Oh well. Perhaps Harold could find another secret treasure room down there after all.

The woods around the mines were as busy as ever with the Kobold-Goblin War – Harold and company seemed equidistant from the far-off fighting the whole half-day march to the mines. On one occasion, Harold was able to pull Randy aside and talk to him about what their sharper ears
heard and Harold was pleased at the results of the truthfulness test he put Randy through.

Everyone at least half-expected an ambush, so it was a welcome surprise when they were the ambushers, coming across a score of kobolds who looked like they had just lost another fight. Much time was spent parleying with the kobold sergeant, so much so that Harold was soon siding with those who hung back but quietly whispered that maybe killing these kobolds would have been a better idea. Having a squad of kobolds recovering behind you while you dungeon delve did not
seem like a great idea to Harold, but that is what they did anyway.

Harold’s chief concern was for his trusty donkey, Hermione. The company had only one other pack animal amongst them, a mule, so the mule and donkey were led down into the mines and left in the first large cave.

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NOV/2009

X marks the spot - Gambler's Curse comes to Izil

"Eastern Borders" There's always a price...

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“That Gypsey!… Vanir!?, help ”/campaigns/the-dark-ages/characters/50481" class=“wiki-content-link”>Izil bring curses upon her!" Izil realized Gina put something in his wine. The black X on his face meant that she plans for him. Her attraction might become fatal to her if she does not pay her debt to Izil. If Gina wanted something from Izil, she would send someone to come for him. Her beauty was so unique, so radiant, that Izil wondered if she was the white wizard. "uuughghghghg…Izil now know Gina’s tricks Izil will have her".

A night of carousing throughout town brought Izil more knowledge about Enonia. Interestingly, at the Mug and Pot and other taverns that Izil could afford (The Eagle’s Alehouse close to center of town, The Fox’s Flagon (north) and Sword and Flagon (south), the bards sang songs about foolish adventurers who’ve braved the wilds, to win some gold and glory, but also songs of those whom had found brutal death. To Izil, these sounded suspiciously like stories of the travels that Izil and his fighting companions have taken! If Kjeld was here to hear their adventures together.

Interestingly, whilst at the Eagle’s Alehouse, Izil heard that Anya and her band of hoods have not be heard from since they left for New Hope a fortnight ago.

The night pressed on and Izil passed food and drank to the other patrons. A nice tip to the most beautiful one of the bards, Gina, brought stories of the Sithasten Mountains. “Uuuuummmmm??…she thought resting on ”/campaigns/the-dark-ages/characters/50481" class=“wiki-content-link”>Izil‘s lap. She whispered low into Izil’s ear as he took a large swig of wine, “They are a long sweeping range of mountains stretching far to the north and bordering the eastern edge of Valenia far to the south and continuing on to the Oceans. Beyond them are foothills and more forest and the wild lands – some of which is held by the littlelings. From ”/campaign/the-dark-ages/wikis/enonia" class=“wiki-page-link”>Enonia, they are roughly a 10 day walk to the east".

Before Izil hit the floor Gina held his head against her breasts. “There were villages around ”/campaign/the-dark-ages/wikis/irecia" class=“wiki-page-link”>Irecia, but nobody has been to the mountains in memory and it’s not known if any villages survived". “”/campaigns/the-dark-ages/characters/50481" class=“wiki-content-link”>Izil be warned for it is said that in the Days of the Doom, orcs and goblins swept from the mountains to overtake the lands – and worse creatures as well. It is also said that giants and dragons also inhabit the mountains. Nobody has gone there in 2 generations, as nobody wishes to cross the Bestial held lands". “Buh-bye beloved” was the last thing Izil heard when he hit the ground.

Izil‘s risk to woo Gina the Gypsey to Izil’s bed ended in mishap. The gambler’s mark left upon his face made it very clear. What was not clear is whether it was Gina who placed the mark upon his face.

Izil

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JAN/2010

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Jan 17, 2010

Treasure or Trust

Requisition this magic knife out of my back

Spring in Enonia has not just brought ruin or danger, but new adventurers as well. One of those new adventurers, Valen the Elf, came to the Mug and Pot with tales of a hunting lodge and a magic knife. The hunting lodge, located east of the Monastery of St. Eggyx was claim to a local hunters guild and lost two generations ago to the darkness.

Valen’s tale moved the local heroes of Enonia and found allies in Izil, Dolf, Joraan, Irem, and Dul. Valen’s good intentions convinced the party that adventure was to be had and the heroes agreed to help Valen in his journey to reclaim the knife.

Valen invited Dul “The Lone Ranger” to accompany him to the older part of Enonia to meet with the sad man named Johann who had shared the tale of the hunting lodge and the Magic knife with Valen. Johann explained that the knife was a family heirloom and passed down for generations from a time when it was given as a reward for his ancestors fight against the Dark Ones. 20 years ago his Grandfather had left on a hunting trip and both he and the prized blade were never seen again.

The heroes headed out on a miserable rainy spring day to find Johann’s ancestral knife and claim any other treasures the wilderness might offer. As they traveled through the ranges toward the monastery rain beat against them and warnings about the Spider Queen echoed through their head. Around mid day the party came upon the monastery and entered the woods searching through the Dark Woods late in the day into the evening.

Darkwoods clearing and goblin encampment

As the adventurers set-up camp in an improvised and abandoned goblin clearing they ate and decided to continue their search the next day when the weather cleared. Again Dul’s keen sense of the wilderness predicted the rain would be lighter and the lodge would be found as the party stumbled upon an old path that crept it’s way through the forest.

Dul’s keen direction sense lead the party to a clearing where the lodge lied quiet amongst the belly of the forest. Cautious as ever Dul stopped the party and informed the party of the lodge that lie ahead. As Irem began to move forward Dolf stopped him boasting of his experience stealth and stepped ahead of Irem. As Dolf crept through the forest even the dim witted Izil could point pointed out Dolf’s way through the forest as he approached the lodge. Quickly Dolf was out of sight as he turned the bend and entered the clearing. Death lied about the outside of the cabin as bodies from generations ago lay on the ground with roots and weeds coving their bodies. They had no clothes to distinguish who they are or what business they had there. It was there alone in the clearing that Dolf decided to test his mettle.

Dolf knocked an arrow and let it land into the body of the dead only to find that it was one of the damned! Two undead scavengers sprang to their feet and Dolf sprang back to the party where a quick battle was won and victory was to be had. Cautiously the party regrouped and combed the edge of the clearing to make sure no more damned lied about literally preventing stumbling over four more damned who liked in the tall grass. The party continued to comb the outside coming across a pile of bodies in the back of the house which were lit on fire using oil and slain quickly with blades. The battle was swift and the damned dispatched quickly. All that lie left was the cabin itself.

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With windows open and doorway ajar the party spied the insides of the building to find 6 more of the damned face down on the floor. The party prepared their attack shooting an arrow through the door and into the damned awakening them. The damned did not stand a chance, death by a firing squad and one damned in particular (donned in rusty ring mail) meet his end when Dolf launched a magic missile toward it. The ensuing melee ensured that the party was safe from the ravenous claws and bites of the damned. In the heat of battle they lost sight of each other for an instant and Dolf the rouge located and swiped the knife and its scabbard from the rusty ring mail protected damned.

In victory Izil took the bold of the damned and painted tribal tatoo’s across his body and face praising Vanir for the opportunity to battle and the wealth won from the day. The lodge was searched, minor items of interest were found as the insides of the lodge and it’s attic where cleared. Once the party was sure they were safe they camped in the attic somber about not finding the ancient knife heirloom to Johann. In the morning as the party set back towards camp they wondered what happened to the lost knife put thankful again that some of the wilderness, (at least for now), was claimed for humanity.

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JAN/2010

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Jan 23, 2010

The Teachings of Inlaw from the 25th Day of Spring

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We headed east out into the woods skirting the troll bridge only to “almost” run into the troll out for his daily constitutional. Reached the vast field around Irecia about mid day of the 2nd day of travel. Headed south trying to spot a rumored mine. Spent the 2nd night just inside the edge of the woods where we were attacked by very GIANT crows on first watch. We ate crow the next morning.

Continued our search towards the south east then back north swinging further out into the plain. As we got almost back to the Enonia-Irecia road we came across a deserted farm hamlet. One building overgrown with man-eating vines. We had just gotten somewhat recovered when a dozen skeletons erupted from the earth. The clerics sent them running.

We spent the night away from the hamlet but a little further east. The next day we went south again. About mid day we came upon a stone tower with only one visible entrance. After breaking down a magically locked door, we encountered an imp (perhaps) guarding the inside on the 2nd floor. The imp was far more interested in being released from bondage than guarding any treasures. The second floor has 4 doors. The two center doors lead into a dinning room which may have been magnificent once, but is no mostly decay. Unseen servants rushed to take our cloaks and have us seated. With an effort we exit the room with one corroded silver goblet. The 1st and 4th doors appear to be magically held. When webbing started appearing on the stairs, we decided to leave. We forced marched home bearing that tarnished silver goblet and a few giant crow feathers as our only treasure.

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FEB/2010

Towering above the rest

A foray into "Death's Tower"

Alarms and commotion meet the townsfolk and heroes of Enonia at dawn. The alarms mustered the the best knights out Eastgate past the heroes of Enonia Inlaw, Soteria, Douzane, Valen, Joraan, Kjeld and Izil who banded together to venture towards the wizards tower in the distant plains of Irecia.

As the heroes headed out of town their attention was called to the Floating Crystal Tower: about a 1/2 mile north of the main road. What was distressing about the Crystal Tower was that it was now the edge of the Dale woods floating, inching ever so slowly towards Enonia. Marshall Roen and his knights bravely rode out to encounter it. Yet, they were unable to establish communication with anyone who may have neen in the tower.

Kjeld, Izil, and Douznae briefly meet with one of the Marshall’s lieutenants sharing their knowledge about the Crystal Tower. Once the party offered their expertise they pressed onward to the East.

The heroes pressed towards the Derelict Wizards Tower reaching it at sundown. They picketed their ponies and mule to the ground and spent the night outside. In the morning the party awoke and inspected the door that was breached from their previous visit. Unfortunately, the front door had been repaired and the party battered their way in only to encounter a thick magical fog that saturated the inside and out of the tower. The stairs were still webbed from their previous escape and smartly the adventurers torched the webbing lighting it on fire to clear the stairs stairs. As they went up the stairs some sort of confusion spell impeded the adventures from going directly to the doors they wanted to Investigate. In the process we provided much entertainment for the guardian imp. The heroes finally found their way to the left most door and battered their way in. Once the door was ajar Douzane encounter some sort of undead creature which attacked and was defeated swiftly by Kjeld.

The room also some sort of magic spell prevented that prevented the part from lingering near the door into the room. The room, a bedroom was in extreme disrepair had a mirror, which was promptly covered, plus one other door. A third door was discovered when the mirror was moved. This door was guarded by explosive runes, which blew up when Valen attempted to read then.

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Valen and Barney, one of Joraan’s loyal followers died in the blast. Several others were injured and Douzane lost his spell book to the fire. Additionally, the mirror was shattered. Since we believe that the mirror had entrapped the wizard of the tower, it is Inlaw’s belief that its distruction caused the death of said mage, whom the party never meet, and released the guardian imp, for the imp was not seen after that event. The party spent the night inside this room demoralized but optimistic that there was treasure to be found. To add insult to injury the second door in the room lead to the toilet. The 3rd door, no longer guarded by runes, led to a study. A crack in the wall had allowed the elements to destroy almost all the contents held inside the library’s shelves. However, the adventurers did discover one scroll and 4 potion bottles. While the scroll remains unidentified the party tested the potions and believe that (do not know) that they are:

DWT 1 – Find treasure/Gold

DWT 2 – Slow

DWT 3 – Clairvoyance

DWT 4 – Etherealness

DWT

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Having the procedure down to travel throughout the tower the party checked the door at the far right only to discover an empty room, and a secret door. The secret door lead to a room filled with confusion gas and to another door. This door lead to another empty room with a well that lead downward into a deeper and depth less dungeon. Daunted, the explorers collected their ponies, mule and limped their way back toward Enonia.

Shortly after getting back to the road but before they got into the woods, the party encountered an orc scouting party. 5 orcs mounted in full armor, horses in barding sounding a horn came out of the woods from the direction of Enonia, heading towards Irecia. At the sound of the horn, The explorers quickly left the road and hid in the grass. Luckily, they did not see the party, and the party did not attack them; they were in no condition to punch our way out of a paper sack.

Fatigued by poison and disheartened party made it back to Enonia without further incident minus 3 of their original group, and badly chastened by their plight of coming home empty handed

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FEB/2010

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Feb 19, 2010

The Doom of Man has fallen upon the Lands.

Session #2 in The Dark Ages

Dul's account of the trip into the Dwarven Mines

Being a report of Darius, Cleric of Enonia

A Very Bloody Spring in Enonia

"Eastern Borders" There's always a price...

Requisition this magic knife out of my back

A foray into "Death's Tower"