When we arrived at Lady Lavinia's, we were ushered inside to the second floor study with Lemmy in the lead directly behind Lavinia. As we entered, I saw a look of deep pleasure bloom on Lemmy's craggy face. I glanced around to see what caused Lemmy to react so and my eyes caught on a very handsome, nobly dressed gentleman in a purple-trimmed cloak. As Lavinia left us, Lemmy turned to us and presented us to Paladin Arwal Swansson, a Purple Dragon Knight and the leader of the Sons of Mercy. He nodded solemnly to each of us as we were named and I felt a shiver pass over me when his glance crossed mine.
After introductions, we all settled around a large table and partook of the refreshments thoughtfully left for us by Lady Lavinia as Lord Arwal began to speak. We were told that two Red Hurst Wizardry Academy students have gone missing and that it may well have bearing on Violetta and her situation of all people. But then she is three and wise beyond her years. If we found them, we were to return them to the custody of Nimblame Elminster. Elminster! As it turned out, the legendary Arch Mage was the Dean of the School of Divination.
Red Hurst Wizardry Academy. The premier school of magic. The school traveled from plane to plane and from sphere to sphere, offering students an unparalleled academic experience. Though Xrng and I were eligible to attend as we were wizards, I hardly fitted the usual academic profile being from a family with no reputation for magic (shamanism doesn't count), poor (tuition was 2000gp. Every half year.), and having few connections. And Elminster was a Dean there! And I might get to meet him if we catch two teen-aged humanoids, a boy named Jethrick and a girl named Thai. They had gone missing right before the Academy moved on to its next destination. If we caught the kids, I'd get to meet Arch Mage Elminster and perhaps he'll see me as a talent worth cultivating, a diamond in the rough so to speak! But then again, he may not even notice such a lowly wizard such as myself.
It's decided that we should ride along with Arwal Swansson, who had a Hammership called The Golden Dawn. We had a 24-hour leave before we set off to Arabelle, the capitol of Cormir, where the children had been last seen. Ibid began to prepare to go out, explaining he was to be formally initiated a Priest of Ptah. He kindly extended an invitation to watch his initiation and attend the feast that followed.
We entered the temple and wafts of sweet incense reached my nose. Torches mysteriously lit the interior of the chamber we entered and I saw Ibid kneeling between two of his brothers on a dais, setting the small group somewhat over the crowd. The ceremony was lengthy and the priests shaved his head during the course of it. After a last benediction (Finally! I was having a terrible time holding still and not prowling about by the end of it.), Ibid rose to his feet and raised his head. Two glowing blue ankhs shown in his eyes. When we asked about it, he said only, "I can see."
We left Dragon Rock the next day. Arwal had 35 Purple Dragon Knights in attendance gathered on the foredeck. Arwal cautioned us to leave the Knights to their own devices and invited us to dinner. On the main deck, a formal dining table had been set with beautiful blue and white Shou china and heavy silver. Nine places were set but there were only seven of us. As we began to take our seats, two more gentlemen joined us. Arwal introduced a tall, rangy human male carrying a quiver with two wands as Merlin of Grey Hawk then turned to the second man.
Very old yet robust, the silver-bearded gentleman carried a wizard's staff of beautiful make, clearly very old, and a broadsword. Arch Mage Elminster of Shadow Dale intoned Arwal solemnly. I nearly leapt from my seat in sheer panic. I found myself suddenly wondering if all my scrolls were in proper order. Arwal began to make the round of introductions but stopped once Elminster began to name us and tell us details of our own lives! Visions of being a "diamond in the rough" in Elminster's opinion immediately disappeared when he came to me and referred to me as being of "barbarian" origins. Xrng was clearly smitten speechless, staring at Elminster with her multi-faceted eyes. I wondered if she wanted to take classes with Elminster like I did. I couldn't blame her. He's a genius and I bet he's read the most books of anyone, EVER!
Elminster made an elegant flourish (I had to stop myself from trying to copy the gesture) and suddenly a lavish banquet was set before us. Accompanying it was a beverage the Arch Mage referred to as "German Beer". Over dinner many things were squared away. Cazimir decided to leave the black pearl with Elminster, who kindly identified it for us as being the work of the Demon Prince Razzit. Merlin gave us a letter of introduction to Dean Sector, the director of Red Hurst and a map showing Cormir with the rendezvous point clearly marked. In the course of conversation as we finished dining, I realized that the kids were only a convenient excuse to get us into Red Hurst Wizardry Academy itself. With so many cross-currents of intent flowing, I decided to just focus on the missing children till other matters clarified themselves. After a boozy evening and the vocal stylings of Violetta (a very breathy, bosom-y aria of love while staring at Arwal. In her attempts to impress him, she nearly tumbled off the ship), we retired to bed.
We landed a half-day's walk from Arabelle and immediately set out after making our rendezvous plans three days hence. A check with the City Guard was negative. So the children hadn't been accidentally left behind. We proceeded next to the city park where they were last seen. We found a spider-silk merchant who had seen the kids a few days previously in good health and apparently happy. The merchant noted the odd gold Jethrick used to pay for a scarf for Thai. After some bargaining, Violetta managed to get some of the gold they had used. The sparkling coin we looked at had a spider on one side and a beautiful Elf maiden on the reverse. I groaned when I saw it. The maiden was the Goddess Loath and the gold was of Drow origin. Wonderful. We were chasing two teen-aged Drow.
During our search, we stumbled across a fortune-teller. When she looked at the coin, she saw wyvern rather than a spider and the maid had become an old man. Hmmmm. After more searching, we discovered the inn where the children stayed thanks to Ibid and his dowsing rod. The Innkeeper said that Jethrick and Thai had stayed the night with another party of two men going by the name of "Wheeler". Ibid, Lemmy and I found an adventuring shop where our fugitives had stocked up on traveling gear that very morning. The owner said they were talking of heading east and look downcast. When asked for horses, the owner directed the pair to Rohan's, ". . . they have the best horses."
Off we went to Rohan's where we purchased four horses for our party. I am a lousy rider (I mean, really, a cat person on a horse?) so I rode behind Ibid. I have had better journeys. It was dark (never mind that I have my race's low light vision, it was still dark). I fell off the dratted horse. I couldn't wait to get to the crossroads. About 10 at night, we arrived at the crossroads and found a small inn there. We had missed our quarry as the Wheeler party and "Mr & Mrs Erandale" (a common elven name) had left at dusk. As we were exhausted, we arranged for rooms and decided to set out at four in the morning.
By all the Gods, I am tired.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Oh The Humanity. . .
I found myself on the verge of fainting. Wyrmfall, Nick the Gift-Giver, a levitate potion--My excitement levels were at an all-time joyous high. I was twisting and turning my tiny bottle of Levitate potion, watching it glitter in the light and daydreaming of dropping unexpectedly onto evil-doers' heads.
I was abruptly pulled from my most gratifying daydreams with Xrng nudging me. Xrng moved among us while Violetta began to make gracious excuses to Nick, explaining that we had to be on our was as we had an appointment that was vital for us to keep. Just as I began to open my mouth to ask, "What appointment?" Xrng hissed "Drow" in my ear. I began to glance around. I didn't see a single drow anywhere, just ourselves and Nick. Nick? Oh no!
We started down a tunnel of ice and I hastily armed with my mage armor spell. If there were drows about, I wanted to be prepared. We came to a split in the tunnel. From the left came mysterious sounds while the right-hand tunnel led to our ship. Suddenly, a tinkergnome came from the left-hand tunnel. Cazimir hastily hailed the creature but after Cazimir asked, "So why is Nick a drow?", the charming tinkergnome changed into a female drow! As the drow took shape, she raised her arm and the moment she became corporeal, let lose a blast of undead energy. As I stared in shock at what was happening to the tinkergnome, the blast of undead energy hit me square, severely injuring me and knocking me to my knees. I managed to dig a healing potion out of my pouch and get to my feet again.
Xrng had in the meantime gone to attack the drow. When Xrng withdrew her fighting blade, darkness flowed out from the drow, plunging the cavern into darkness. Suddenly Violetta's voice rang out, persuasive and strong and I recognized the Infernal tongue though not what she said. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw the drow was motioning us to follow her while Violetta sand what sounded like a lullaby.
I felt one of my companions grab onto my tail. Under normal circumstances I would not endure such rough handling and would snatch my tail clear of the grasping hands, but as whoever had grabbed it was most likely unable to see, I patiently endured it. I heard a commotion ahead of me and Violetta's voice suddenly ceased. Xrng cast a light spell to reveal Violetta sprawled out on the ground next to the Void Skimmer. I was surprised. I had always assumed that Abysal creatures had excellent night vision. I spotted three more drows coming, or rather floating towards us from the shadows. At my startled yow and pointing finger, a mad dash for the ship ensued. So much for carefully securing the ship before take-off.
We decided to go back to Dragon Rock, but we first gathered together the suddenly suspect gifts from "Nick". While flying back, a Crimson Fleet War Bird began to give chase. A hole opened in space, the inside of which looked like a reddish sky. Cazimir noted that it looked like a layer of the Abyss.
On our way back to Dragon Rock, Lemmy suggested having Nick's gifts checked for safety. Once we arrived, Cazimir asked the Harbor officials to go over the Void Skimmer thoroughly. As we readied ourselves to leave the ship, we heard furitive footfalls in the remoter part of the ship. Lemmy began to scan the area psionically and spotted psionic traces leading out of the area. He immediately began to track the traces out of the harbor and gave chase with Xrng following. A short time later, they returned with the news that we had inadvertently brought back a stowaway who was now loose in the city.
Ibid was handed all of Nick's presents and the pins found in Vanth's rooms and agreed to take the items to the Temple of Ptah in order to check their safety. The rest of us went to the Lady Lavinia's compound, now under heavy guard by a private guard guild. After being disarmed, we were ushered to Lady Lavinia who attended us in the library. As Cazimir began to tell Lavinia about our adventure on Nick's asteroid and spotting the Crimson Fleet on our return journey, Lemmy went over the property looking for more psionic traces. Lavinia seemed baffled by the news Cazimir delivered and could make neither head nor tail of it. Xrng and Lemmy called us up to Vanth's rooms where psionic traces led us to a secret hollow in the wall. Using the ivory key found with the pins, Cazimir opened it, revealing another black pearl. I tried a detect magic spell on it and was temporarily blinded for my trouble. It was decided to meet Ibid at the Temple of Ptah and find out about the pins and gifts. Cazimir pocketed the pearl and Lemmy led me from the room.
When we arrived at the temple, we found Ibid in a study room with everything spread out before him. The pins were some kind of fortune-telling device, revealing the past, present and future to those who could read it, but was otherwise harmless. The gifts on the other hand proved to be cursed excepting Lemmy's crystal teardrop, a psionic third eye. It increased Lemmy's psionic talents greatly and granted him fifth order kinetic ability, allowing him to disincorporate in a burst of flame. I found it as flashy as his sword and was enchanted, forgetting my pique at receiving cursed Levitate potion.
The pearl turned out to be a Chaos Bomb, capable of spreading chaos across a large city merely by smashing it against the ground. With the advice of the Servants of Ptah, Cazimir took the pearl back into his custody and it is planned to leave it with the Guardians of the Chalice, a Paladin group located in the trailing end of the tears of Selune. But first, back to Lavinia's to clean up and rest.
I was abruptly pulled from my most gratifying daydreams with Xrng nudging me. Xrng moved among us while Violetta began to make gracious excuses to Nick, explaining that we had to be on our was as we had an appointment that was vital for us to keep. Just as I began to open my mouth to ask, "What appointment?" Xrng hissed "Drow" in my ear. I began to glance around. I didn't see a single drow anywhere, just ourselves and Nick. Nick? Oh no!
We started down a tunnel of ice and I hastily armed with my mage armor spell. If there were drows about, I wanted to be prepared. We came to a split in the tunnel. From the left came mysterious sounds while the right-hand tunnel led to our ship. Suddenly, a tinkergnome came from the left-hand tunnel. Cazimir hastily hailed the creature but after Cazimir asked, "So why is Nick a drow?", the charming tinkergnome changed into a female drow! As the drow took shape, she raised her arm and the moment she became corporeal, let lose a blast of undead energy. As I stared in shock at what was happening to the tinkergnome, the blast of undead energy hit me square, severely injuring me and knocking me to my knees. I managed to dig a healing potion out of my pouch and get to my feet again.
Xrng had in the meantime gone to attack the drow. When Xrng withdrew her fighting blade, darkness flowed out from the drow, plunging the cavern into darkness. Suddenly Violetta's voice rang out, persuasive and strong and I recognized the Infernal tongue though not what she said. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw the drow was motioning us to follow her while Violetta sand what sounded like a lullaby.
I felt one of my companions grab onto my tail. Under normal circumstances I would not endure such rough handling and would snatch my tail clear of the grasping hands, but as whoever had grabbed it was most likely unable to see, I patiently endured it. I heard a commotion ahead of me and Violetta's voice suddenly ceased. Xrng cast a light spell to reveal Violetta sprawled out on the ground next to the Void Skimmer. I was surprised. I had always assumed that Abysal creatures had excellent night vision. I spotted three more drows coming, or rather floating towards us from the shadows. At my startled yow and pointing finger, a mad dash for the ship ensued. So much for carefully securing the ship before take-off.
We decided to go back to Dragon Rock, but we first gathered together the suddenly suspect gifts from "Nick". While flying back, a Crimson Fleet War Bird began to give chase. A hole opened in space, the inside of which looked like a reddish sky. Cazimir noted that it looked like a layer of the Abyss.
On our way back to Dragon Rock, Lemmy suggested having Nick's gifts checked for safety. Once we arrived, Cazimir asked the Harbor officials to go over the Void Skimmer thoroughly. As we readied ourselves to leave the ship, we heard furitive footfalls in the remoter part of the ship. Lemmy began to scan the area psionically and spotted psionic traces leading out of the area. He immediately began to track the traces out of the harbor and gave chase with Xrng following. A short time later, they returned with the news that we had inadvertently brought back a stowaway who was now loose in the city.
Ibid was handed all of Nick's presents and the pins found in Vanth's rooms and agreed to take the items to the Temple of Ptah in order to check their safety. The rest of us went to the Lady Lavinia's compound, now under heavy guard by a private guard guild. After being disarmed, we were ushered to Lady Lavinia who attended us in the library. As Cazimir began to tell Lavinia about our adventure on Nick's asteroid and spotting the Crimson Fleet on our return journey, Lemmy went over the property looking for more psionic traces. Lavinia seemed baffled by the news Cazimir delivered and could make neither head nor tail of it. Xrng and Lemmy called us up to Vanth's rooms where psionic traces led us to a secret hollow in the wall. Using the ivory key found with the pins, Cazimir opened it, revealing another black pearl. I tried a detect magic spell on it and was temporarily blinded for my trouble. It was decided to meet Ibid at the Temple of Ptah and find out about the pins and gifts. Cazimir pocketed the pearl and Lemmy led me from the room.
When we arrived at the temple, we found Ibid in a study room with everything spread out before him. The pins were some kind of fortune-telling device, revealing the past, present and future to those who could read it, but was otherwise harmless. The gifts on the other hand proved to be cursed excepting Lemmy's crystal teardrop, a psionic third eye. It increased Lemmy's psionic talents greatly and granted him fifth order kinetic ability, allowing him to disincorporate in a burst of flame. I found it as flashy as his sword and was enchanted, forgetting my pique at receiving cursed Levitate potion.
The pearl turned out to be a Chaos Bomb, capable of spreading chaos across a large city merely by smashing it against the ground. With the advice of the Servants of Ptah, Cazimir took the pearl back into his custody and it is planned to leave it with the Guardians of the Chalice, a Paladin group located in the trailing end of the tears of Selune. But first, back to Lavinia's to clean up and rest.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
We're off to Nick the Gift-Giver's Asteroid. . .
Upon arriving at Lavinia's, we found her compound infested with Bullywugs (amphibious gansters), dead Jade Ravens and Lavinia held captive by three guards in her second floor master bedroom. After reconnoitering, we climbed the fence and entered the mansion. As we headed to Lavinia's suite of rooms, Ibid quietly motioned to the blank places along the walls of the gallery we were traversing, indicating the missing art.
Having no better plan, we rushed the door, Lemmy leading the charge. The door exploded inwards and Lemmy's head-long rush brought him face-to-face with an obese bullywug. Cazimir had a second captor caught between the doorframe and the wall, while Violetta confronted a half-orc dressed in pirate garb. When Violetta called for the half-orc's surrender using Intimidate, he leaped from the window in fear rather than face the enraged bard. I shot after the pirate with Xrng following closely, finally losing sight of the half-orc as he slipped into the Wyrmfall crowds.
When Xrng and I got back to Lavinia's, we found Cazimir overlaboring door metaphors punctuated by loud slamming noises, "Let me slam show you slam the door SLAM." I felt a quick flicker of sympathy for the Insectari caught betwixt the door and wall. I hoped he couldn't hear the metaphors. There's only so much torture a creature can endure after all. Lemmy's bullywug was unconscious and Lavinia was armed with a Star Wheel.
The Insectari was finally permitted to fall to the floor and a quick search of his pouches revealed three scrolls. Ibid identified the first scroll as magical clerical "porn"--". . . magical theory, very complex," he murmured equably and casually tucked the scroll amongst his own. The second scroll told us nothing, being composed from top to bottom with numbers. Was it a coded message? A key code? Ibid passed the third to Xrng for translation. Xrng explained that it was written in magical notation and was a lock and load spell affecting gun-like weapons.
The Insectari decided to wake then and found himself facing Violetta with Xrng's battle arms at its throat. After a couple more door slams (minus the metaphors this time) administered by Cazimir, the Insectari admitted to being hired by Vanthus to take Lavinia and also retrieve some items from the house. Lavinia explained the missing art had been sold by her to meet expenses and not stolen as we first assumed.
We slipped back downstairs and after stopping by the training room where Lavinia loaded her Star Wheel with ammunition and grabbed a cutlass, we headed to the kitchen. Peeping into the kitchen, we watched as bullywugs methodically cleaned out Lavinia's larders. Apparently seeing the last bite of exotic waterdavian cheese go down the gullet of a bullywug was too much for Cazimir to take and he charged in, leaving us no option but to follow. After a short, fierce battle, we found Lavinia in the library, clutching a sheaf of paper. We crowded around Lavinia and discovered that Vanth was headed to Nick the Gift-Giver's asteroid.
During the next day and a half, as we saw to the details of our forth-coming trip (I closed up my garret with regret, storing my stuff with Lucille's) and the securing of the house, Cazimir searched Vanth's rooms. He found an ivory key and six signet pins. It's decided to divide the pins up amongst ourselves and I ended up with a pin of a left-facing screaming baboon, which I tucked safely away in my pack.
We finally set off for Nick's. I'm sure you know Dear Reader Nick the Gift-Giver. He wanders Realm Space at will, gifting the good with pleasant surprises while the bad are left something unpleasant. We followed the mad circuitous route carefully and found ourselves--nowhere. I slid a glance at Ibid who was at the helm. Just as I was about to ask about our asteroid, a rainbow shimmer filled the ship's prow.
I blinked and saw a snow-covered asteroid where none had been before. I gasped with delight. We landed by the entrance of a large and palatial compound. After knocking, we cautiously entered a large hall with multiple doors, a very grand fir tree in the center of the hall, fires dancing in the grates and garland strung about. I jumped as a door slammed. "Boss, Boss!! I got the wrench!" shrieked a small creature. I couldn't believe it. A Tinkergnome! The little fellow rushed through another door and was away.
We all grinned at each other and headed for a different door. A huge brass spring flew outwards with shrieks of "Oops!" in the background when Violetta opened the door. None of us were hurt in the mad scramble for cover. We entered a large workshop. Tinkergnomes rushed about, some working with wood, others with paint and yet others with small forges. We came to a gnome applying colorful inlays to an intricate puzzle box. It was a beautiful box with gilding. "Big Nick" was in the kitchen said the gnome. On our way out, Cazimir was unable to resist calling, "Oops!" over his shoulder. We shut the door hurriedly on the explosion of chaos that ensued. The kitchen gnomes explained to us that they hadn't seen Nick in a of couple days.
So we decided to head to the stables. A warm earthy smell of straw and manure filled our nostrils as we went down the main corridor passing the large antlered beasts used by Nick to get around. At the end of the corridor stood a magnificent sleigh painted a bright, glossy red. And beside the sled, rag in hand polishing away, was Nick himself. After a final rub, Nick faced us, "It's not all hookers and cheese Caz. It's about time you got here."
After Cazimir recovered from the shock of being rudely teased by a childhood folk tale, he explained that Vanth was headed to this asteroid and to take care. Nick urged us to relax in regards to Vanth, "All in good time," and then proceeded to present us with gifts. Nick presented us with. . .
Having no better plan, we rushed the door, Lemmy leading the charge. The door exploded inwards and Lemmy's head-long rush brought him face-to-face with an obese bullywug. Cazimir had a second captor caught between the doorframe and the wall, while Violetta confronted a half-orc dressed in pirate garb. When Violetta called for the half-orc's surrender using Intimidate, he leaped from the window in fear rather than face the enraged bard. I shot after the pirate with Xrng following closely, finally losing sight of the half-orc as he slipped into the Wyrmfall crowds.
When Xrng and I got back to Lavinia's, we found Cazimir overlaboring door metaphors punctuated by loud slamming noises, "Let me slam show you slam the door SLAM." I felt a quick flicker of sympathy for the Insectari caught betwixt the door and wall. I hoped he couldn't hear the metaphors. There's only so much torture a creature can endure after all. Lemmy's bullywug was unconscious and Lavinia was armed with a Star Wheel.
The Insectari was finally permitted to fall to the floor and a quick search of his pouches revealed three scrolls. Ibid identified the first scroll as magical clerical "porn"--". . . magical theory, very complex," he murmured equably and casually tucked the scroll amongst his own. The second scroll told us nothing, being composed from top to bottom with numbers. Was it a coded message? A key code? Ibid passed the third to Xrng for translation. Xrng explained that it was written in magical notation and was a lock and load spell affecting gun-like weapons.
The Insectari decided to wake then and found himself facing Violetta with Xrng's battle arms at its throat. After a couple more door slams (minus the metaphors this time) administered by Cazimir, the Insectari admitted to being hired by Vanthus to take Lavinia and also retrieve some items from the house. Lavinia explained the missing art had been sold by her to meet expenses and not stolen as we first assumed.
We slipped back downstairs and after stopping by the training room where Lavinia loaded her Star Wheel with ammunition and grabbed a cutlass, we headed to the kitchen. Peeping into the kitchen, we watched as bullywugs methodically cleaned out Lavinia's larders. Apparently seeing the last bite of exotic waterdavian cheese go down the gullet of a bullywug was too much for Cazimir to take and he charged in, leaving us no option but to follow. After a short, fierce battle, we found Lavinia in the library, clutching a sheaf of paper. We crowded around Lavinia and discovered that Vanth was headed to Nick the Gift-Giver's asteroid.
During the next day and a half, as we saw to the details of our forth-coming trip (I closed up my garret with regret, storing my stuff with Lucille's) and the securing of the house, Cazimir searched Vanth's rooms. He found an ivory key and six signet pins. It's decided to divide the pins up amongst ourselves and I ended up with a pin of a left-facing screaming baboon, which I tucked safely away in my pack.
We finally set off for Nick's. I'm sure you know Dear Reader Nick the Gift-Giver. He wanders Realm Space at will, gifting the good with pleasant surprises while the bad are left something unpleasant. We followed the mad circuitous route carefully and found ourselves--nowhere. I slid a glance at Ibid who was at the helm. Just as I was about to ask about our asteroid, a rainbow shimmer filled the ship's prow.
I blinked and saw a snow-covered asteroid where none had been before. I gasped with delight. We landed by the entrance of a large and palatial compound. After knocking, we cautiously entered a large hall with multiple doors, a very grand fir tree in the center of the hall, fires dancing in the grates and garland strung about. I jumped as a door slammed. "Boss, Boss!! I got the wrench!" shrieked a small creature. I couldn't believe it. A Tinkergnome! The little fellow rushed through another door and was away.
We all grinned at each other and headed for a different door. A huge brass spring flew outwards with shrieks of "Oops!" in the background when Violetta opened the door. None of us were hurt in the mad scramble for cover. We entered a large workshop. Tinkergnomes rushed about, some working with wood, others with paint and yet others with small forges. We came to a gnome applying colorful inlays to an intricate puzzle box. It was a beautiful box with gilding. "Big Nick" was in the kitchen said the gnome. On our way out, Cazimir was unable to resist calling, "Oops!" over his shoulder. We shut the door hurriedly on the explosion of chaos that ensued. The kitchen gnomes explained to us that they hadn't seen Nick in a of couple days.
So we decided to head to the stables. A warm earthy smell of straw and manure filled our nostrils as we went down the main corridor passing the large antlered beasts used by Nick to get around. At the end of the corridor stood a magnificent sleigh painted a bright, glossy red. And beside the sled, rag in hand polishing away, was Nick himself. After a final rub, Nick faced us, "It's not all hookers and cheese Caz. It's about time you got here."
After Cazimir recovered from the shock of being rudely teased by a childhood folk tale, he explained that Vanth was headed to this asteroid and to take care. Nick urged us to relax in regards to Vanth, "All in good time," and then proceeded to present us with gifts. Nick presented us with. . .
- Ibid--a bottle of bull's strength
- Violetta--a lovely, carven master flute
- Cazimir--a masterwork sword
- Lemmy--a psionic third eye
- Xrng--a vial of anti-toxin
- Hissarmau--a Levitate potion
I can't wait for the opportunity to uncork that sucker!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Its Wyrmfall. . .
After many adventures, we finally arrived at Dragon Rock. As we disembarked, I noticed streams of people moving rapidly towards the city, dressd in outlandish costumes and talking excitedly. I also noticed some bedraggled maskers stumbling to their ship and watched with great interest as a couple of Harbor Guards disgustedly confronted a drunken dwarf who was relieving himself against a ship. Yes, it was that time of year again--Wyrmfall.
Now I have nothing against Wyrmfall. Its a wonderful festival, full of music, color, art and drunken bonhomie. Every creature needs a respite from labor and every grown animal needs the chance (and for some the social permission) to play like a child. I enjoy watching Wyrmfall most certainly. My tiny garret in Karotown has a well-placed window with a wide ledge, permitting me an excellent view. But to get around in? (sniff) It's most difficult. I try to avoid going out, laying in enough food, writing materials and scrolls to hold me for the length of the festival. Inevitably though, there's something I forgot or run out of, necessitating a trip out into the streets.
I'll wrap my tail about my waist (too many folk enjoy a playful tugging of my tail and greeting me with "Kitty, kitty, kitty"--usually gently done but I've suffered the occasional drunken, too-hard pull as well). When it's children, I don't mind much--kits are ever curious--so I'll stop for a moment and let whatever small child fondle my tail a moment (and such a fine tail it is too, bushy and full with sleek light golden hair--All glory to the mighty Taanmrow!!) and answer their wide-eyed questions. But when I wrap my tail as a consequence I lose some of my balance, making navigation of a large crowd somewhat difficult. Moving through a Wyrmfall crowd feels like dancing with a clumsy partner. So I try to stick with balcony and rooftop travel during this time. Its less crowded, a good work out for me and no irritating "Kitty, kitty, kitty".
We decided to stop by Lucille's and then my place to check up on our things, then proceed to Lavinia's for debriefing. On our way though, we noticed the dock inspector's boy runner following us and conversing with a skeleton clad woman. Once we reached Lucille's, Xrng, Ibid and myself parted from Lemmy, Violetta and Cazimir to go to my garret.
Suddenly, shots rang out and the crowd surged towards us. Xrng began to scramble up the wall while I unwound my tail and leapt for a balcony. The vertically challenged Ibid crouched down and stubbornly held his place against the fleeing crowd. Cazimir, Lemmy and Violetta were under attack from a pack of stilt walkers commanded by the skeleton we saw earlier. Ibid froze the skeleton woman, allowing Violetta to reveal her face and identify her as a Shadow Dancer. With one comrade dead and their leader neutralized, the other three stilt walkers tried to run, coming in our direction. Violetta summoned her monster dog, Henri, to chase down the stilt walkers. Ibid whipped up a very large batch of tomato sauce, covering the street and causing two of our attackers to fall. The third stumbled about desperately, trying to maintain his balance. He managed to grasp a balcony pole.
Now there's a unique custom here in Dragon Rock that is part and parcel of the Wyrmfall Festival. It's the annual custom of greasing the poles. The day before the actual festival is due to begin, the major guilds and city offices make a great ceremony of greasing their balcony poles. It prevents the foolhardy and drunken from climbing the poles, endagering themselves, the crowd and any who are on the balcony. Officials attend, tourists attend, even the People attend. The People then go home and grease their own poles as well, usually with old butter or rancid cooking oils, not the fancy, scented oils used by officialdom.
So the final stilt walker's grab for safety led to a hilarious, slow-motion slide down the greased pole accompanied by frantic, confused clutching and wildly thrashing stilts. The stilt walker's rear end hit the ground just as a shot rang out. The Shadow Walker slumped to the street dead as the City Guard flooded the street. The captain of the Guard identified the Shadow Walker as a notorious assassin called Diamondback.
As Cazimir smoothed things over with the Guard, I noticed Xrng suddenly running, apparently chasing what looked to be a half-Orc. I cast my message spell and alerted Violetta of the chase. After a few blocks, the half-Orc gave us the slip but left another corpse-message. Can't these people just leave a simple scroll for the Gods' sake? Pinned to a dead man in green was the message, "Things have changed. You are no longer welcome here." I alerted Violetta and everyone showed up (City Guard included) a few minutes later.
Cazimir gasped when he saw the corpse. We have not been the only mercenary band working for Lavinia. She had also hired the Jade Ravens and the dead man in green had been their leader, Tolan Kientei. After requesting more security for Lavinia from the City Guard, Cazimir handed three vials found on Diamondback's body to Xrng to examine and identify. Then he led us back into the crowds. Damn.
Violetta began piping a royal fanfare and Cazimir puffed out his chest and began waving to people regally. The crowd opened for us, standing back to see what spectacle we were to offer. Lemmy unsheathed his sword and began to wave it about in martial designs while uttering large, terrifying cries. I gave Xrng a quick nudge and motioned for her to display her attacks and defenses with her battle arms in a great show (the custom of Wyrmfall is unfamiliar to her--I explained later). Ibid began to juggle coins. I started to dash up and down our line, tail proudly unfurled and snapping with agitation as I made loud calls for order among our formation, acting as the Captain of the show. Sure enough, "Kitty, kitty, kitty." I whipped around and found myself facing four Elves with drunken, friendly grins plastered to their faces. "You, good sirs, are out of order!" I blustered. "Step back and let the Krewe of Ol' Peculiar pass!" Snorts and laughter came from the Elves and one tried to deliver a drunken bow of apology to me and fell face first into the gutter of the street. Considering them well-punished for messing with me, I turned back to my column with a haughty sniff. As we marched along, a New Year's style Shou dragon fell into line with us so I extended my haranguing to them as well, switching between Common and Shou.
We finally reached the cross street needed to reach Lavinia's and (as discreetly as possible) peeled off onto the side street, letting the parade to continue its course down the main street. I felt rather regretful. It was the only time I've actually taken part in Wyrmfall rather than just observing.
Now I have nothing against Wyrmfall. Its a wonderful festival, full of music, color, art and drunken bonhomie. Every creature needs a respite from labor and every grown animal needs the chance (and for some the social permission) to play like a child. I enjoy watching Wyrmfall most certainly. My tiny garret in Karotown has a well-placed window with a wide ledge, permitting me an excellent view. But to get around in? (sniff) It's most difficult. I try to avoid going out, laying in enough food, writing materials and scrolls to hold me for the length of the festival. Inevitably though, there's something I forgot or run out of, necessitating a trip out into the streets.
I'll wrap my tail about my waist (too many folk enjoy a playful tugging of my tail and greeting me with "Kitty, kitty, kitty"--usually gently done but I've suffered the occasional drunken, too-hard pull as well). When it's children, I don't mind much--kits are ever curious--so I'll stop for a moment and let whatever small child fondle my tail a moment (and such a fine tail it is too, bushy and full with sleek light golden hair--All glory to the mighty Taanmrow!!) and answer their wide-eyed questions. But when I wrap my tail as a consequence I lose some of my balance, making navigation of a large crowd somewhat difficult. Moving through a Wyrmfall crowd feels like dancing with a clumsy partner. So I try to stick with balcony and rooftop travel during this time. Its less crowded, a good work out for me and no irritating "Kitty, kitty, kitty".
We decided to stop by Lucille's and then my place to check up on our things, then proceed to Lavinia's for debriefing. On our way though, we noticed the dock inspector's boy runner following us and conversing with a skeleton clad woman. Once we reached Lucille's, Xrng, Ibid and myself parted from Lemmy, Violetta and Cazimir to go to my garret.
Suddenly, shots rang out and the crowd surged towards us. Xrng began to scramble up the wall while I unwound my tail and leapt for a balcony. The vertically challenged Ibid crouched down and stubbornly held his place against the fleeing crowd. Cazimir, Lemmy and Violetta were under attack from a pack of stilt walkers commanded by the skeleton we saw earlier. Ibid froze the skeleton woman, allowing Violetta to reveal her face and identify her as a Shadow Dancer. With one comrade dead and their leader neutralized, the other three stilt walkers tried to run, coming in our direction. Violetta summoned her monster dog, Henri, to chase down the stilt walkers. Ibid whipped up a very large batch of tomato sauce, covering the street and causing two of our attackers to fall. The third stumbled about desperately, trying to maintain his balance. He managed to grasp a balcony pole.
Now there's a unique custom here in Dragon Rock that is part and parcel of the Wyrmfall Festival. It's the annual custom of greasing the poles. The day before the actual festival is due to begin, the major guilds and city offices make a great ceremony of greasing their balcony poles. It prevents the foolhardy and drunken from climbing the poles, endagering themselves, the crowd and any who are on the balcony. Officials attend, tourists attend, even the People attend. The People then go home and grease their own poles as well, usually with old butter or rancid cooking oils, not the fancy, scented oils used by officialdom.
So the final stilt walker's grab for safety led to a hilarious, slow-motion slide down the greased pole accompanied by frantic, confused clutching and wildly thrashing stilts. The stilt walker's rear end hit the ground just as a shot rang out. The Shadow Walker slumped to the street dead as the City Guard flooded the street. The captain of the Guard identified the Shadow Walker as a notorious assassin called Diamondback.
As Cazimir smoothed things over with the Guard, I noticed Xrng suddenly running, apparently chasing what looked to be a half-Orc. I cast my message spell and alerted Violetta of the chase. After a few blocks, the half-Orc gave us the slip but left another corpse-message. Can't these people just leave a simple scroll for the Gods' sake? Pinned to a dead man in green was the message, "Things have changed. You are no longer welcome here." I alerted Violetta and everyone showed up (City Guard included) a few minutes later.
Cazimir gasped when he saw the corpse. We have not been the only mercenary band working for Lavinia. She had also hired the Jade Ravens and the dead man in green had been their leader, Tolan Kientei. After requesting more security for Lavinia from the City Guard, Cazimir handed three vials found on Diamondback's body to Xrng to examine and identify. Then he led us back into the crowds. Damn.
Violetta began piping a royal fanfare and Cazimir puffed out his chest and began waving to people regally. The crowd opened for us, standing back to see what spectacle we were to offer. Lemmy unsheathed his sword and began to wave it about in martial designs while uttering large, terrifying cries. I gave Xrng a quick nudge and motioned for her to display her attacks and defenses with her battle arms in a great show (the custom of Wyrmfall is unfamiliar to her--I explained later). Ibid began to juggle coins. I started to dash up and down our line, tail proudly unfurled and snapping with agitation as I made loud calls for order among our formation, acting as the Captain of the show. Sure enough, "Kitty, kitty, kitty." I whipped around and found myself facing four Elves with drunken, friendly grins plastered to their faces. "You, good sirs, are out of order!" I blustered. "Step back and let the Krewe of Ol' Peculiar pass!" Snorts and laughter came from the Elves and one tried to deliver a drunken bow of apology to me and fell face first into the gutter of the street. Considering them well-punished for messing with me, I turned back to my column with a haughty sniff. As we marched along, a New Year's style Shou dragon fell into line with us so I extended my haranguing to them as well, switching between Common and Shou.
We finally reached the cross street needed to reach Lavinia's and (as discreetly as possible) peeled off onto the side street, letting the parade to continue its course down the main street. I felt rather regretful. It was the only time I've actually taken part in Wyrmfall rather than just observing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)