Loyalty and honor

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Summary

Night Monday
Place:13 Layard st Avondale
Phone 021 1067365 or 8285154
Information: Information from players for Julia.

The lady Elizabeth De Winter wishes to fund a mission of Mercy to the north

Scribe Notes

Chapter 1 - To Stick's Keep

Thaw 1st: Castle Chilton

The 7 of us, (Billy, Edgar, Lila, MDK Rodrigo, Quentin, and me Alandis) are bought together in one of the guild chambers; we quickly introduce ourselves and swiftly select Lila, the only human, as our fearsome leader. MDK will be our military Scientist and me; once again I am faced with the duty of reporting our journey.

Once the roles have been finalized, the guild representative ushers us to a royal carriage, which is headed to Castle Chilton. We are expected by Duncan, the castle mage, and by her grace the Duchess Elisabeth of Carzala.

Once we reach his large office, Duncan clarifies our mission. Our assignment is to uphold the honors of the guild with the Duchess, by retrieving and escorting Lady Isabella (the duchess teenage daughter) back to Carzala. The Duke Baltmond Aladar is fostering the young lady in his summer house; Castle Festung a keep 10 miles north of Neuerafang Town in Grobbety County. Due to the Drow invasion the area is becoming increasingly unstable and dangerous, therefore the Duchess fears for her daughter safety. The Party will be remunerated accordingly.

We are taken to meet her Grace the Duchess which remind us not to start any diplomatic headaches, and to bring her daughter back alive and in one piece. After the brief meeting we head back to Duncan’s chamber, were we are introduced to Sticks, the rune mage. He will provide safe passage via portal; unfortunately the safest spot for arrival is in Sticks keep, a few miles north east of the Great Salt Flats, a few hundred miles west of Grobbety County.

Thaw 2: Rest and Fight

The journey is safe but we arrive completely exhausted from the 3 portal jumps, so after a good feed we spend the day recuperating our energies. The afternoon and evening goes by without troubles, however in the deep of the night during my turn on guard, I spot some flying figures approaching at speed. I wake everyone and prepare the defenses. All but one of the soul gathering Imps are defeated while we spare the one controlled by Elgar for interrogation. The little creatures was summoned by a Drow and commanded to collect human souls for a ritual, which require the offering of the souls to create the Big Drow Soul. Once we gather all necessary information we dispose of it and sent it back to its plane. The rest of the night goes by with no issues.

Chapter 2 - On to the Castle

Thaw 3: Flight'n Troubles

Just before sunrise, in the darkness of the keep, the celestial mage casts her spells. She is preparing all necessary magic needed for the day flight.

As the two rangers of the group, Elgar and I (Alandis) point the party to the correct direction; so the flight begins, we are headed north-east toward Neuerafang town

The rolling landscape and the magnificent waterfall of the local lake are a nice backdrop to our mission. It is a shame to think this land is slowly turning into a war zone. As I reflect on it we spot a few peasants heading west, away from the war zone. After another few miles we see a platoon of Gnolls, marching north; perhaps to the front lines. We ignore them and continue with our mission.

Not before long, as we reach the halfway mark of our flight, 2 men in a plated armor, materialize in front of us. They are on patrol from the local military post, and want to check our intentions.

We are escorted to the ground, and taken to meet the captain in the local keep, the prisons. At this point Roderigo decides to show off his Aladarian Medal for bravery and title. In times of war all nobles are required to be registered, so the party has to wait, while the registration takes place, along with having his newly acquired insignia, painted on the shield. Today we will not be able to reach our destination and we are forced to take refuge in this town.

We (the boys) take advantage of the free afternoon to do some sparring with the locals, wile our team leader, heads of to peal potatoes for dinner. As we talk with the locals we discover valuable information. The Drows are sacrificing human’s souls to make them self immortal, as well as keeping the Ice Bridge working. After a good meal we head to bed

Thaw 4: More Flight More Trouble

The night goes by with no accidents and, after a bowl of comforting porridge and few incantations, we continue our journey. We ignore everything and anyone we come across as our mission is of importance to us and the guild. After few ours we spot Neuerafang town in the distance; we came to land in an inconspicuous field, a couple of miles from town. Scouts are in the area but they do not appear to be bothered by our presence.

After meeting the guards at the gate, we are escorted to Castle Festung by the sergeant and 3 army men.

Once at the keep we are greeted and welcomed by the seneschal. Roderigo decides to show off again, his medal for bravery & title, and so the troubles begin. He is interrogated and questioned about his mission with us; why he is not defending his land?; why he is not supporting his local lord and why he is not leading us in war? We swiftly manage to divert the conversation, as well as organizing lunch with Lady Isabella for the following day.

We meet with Cnut, the dwarf captain of Lady Isabella’s guards, and we proceed in explaining our mission. We gently request for the preparation of all that is needed, for her ladyship and her entourage departure. The Dwarf Captain cordially accepts and warns us that it will take approximately a week for it. We return to town to rent a room at The Happy Fowl, where we experience the taste of their specialty, roasted seagull, all washed down with copious amount of refreshing ale.

Thaw 5: Lunch with Lady Isabella

The following morning we polish our armour, as well as making ourselves presentable for the lunch with Lady Isabella. While we spruce up, MDK chats with some guards, to find information about the town and the locals. He might have found a way to repay Roderigo's debt to this country, however we have to postpone those plans, as we are expected for lunch at Castle Festung.

Once there, we are introduced to Lady Isabella by one of her followers. As we explain our mission, she is not surprised to hear of her mother’s worries. She reluctantly agrees to return home, only on one condition; since she is a good archer she would like to venture back to Carzala, and while on the road, she would like to provide assistance to the people in need. The party is willing to accept as long she is safe and protected.

Chapter 3 - Off to Stoneborough

Thaw 5: After Lunch Duties

After lunch with her ladyship we pay a visit to Cnut, to discuss the trouble in Stoneborough, the home village of the seneschal. He has heard that something or someone is gone missing and the seneschal is really worried as he is busy looking after the keep and he is not able to investigate. Cnut is convinced that the village and seneschal will appreciate if we investigate and help. We will try to lend a hand to the seneschal, so to ensure Roderigos Royal Duties have been met.

Following the visit to Cnut we are approached by Kate, a young page at the Keep. She has a message for her mother Sarah who lives at the village of Stoneborough. We are more than happy to accommodate.

We return to town and try to purchase archer armor for Lady Isabella. In town we are approached by a local farmer. In fact he is a spy and has a message to deliver to General Harold de Honare.

The dark our is rising 
Carig towers are rising and are seeking to restore the old power again
The power of Dumar

After all businesses are concluded we return to the keep for the night.

Thaw 6: Muls??? What's a Mul

We decide to fly to Stoneborough, a 15 min flight from the keep. Once there, a young girl is happy to take us to meet Goody Jones, the oldest lady in town, and the person in charge at present. She leaves in a stone keep and she is happy to enlighten us in what has been happening in the area, while Elgar offers to help with the soup.

Animals have been disappearing lately; more exactly the bones of the animals. They have discovered that some animal had all their bones removed. It appears to be happening since some strange lights have been appearing in the night sky.

We are happy to investigate and after been pointed to the direction of the farm of the latest incident, we take flight. In a few minutes we reach the farmhouse and the rangers begin their search for foot prints. We discover that some tree branches have been snapped by something big, and we follow the trail left within the tree branches until we reach some enormous footprint and eventually some red hair.

The Ork cast his aura detection spell; the true name of the hair owner is “Mul”. No-one in the party has any idea what it is.

From the track it appears to be more than one Mul in the area as well as a big Mantis. We continue to follow the trail which quickly disappears in the rocky terrain of the mountains. Immediately our Sniffer dog (the Air Mage) picks up the scent of the creatures. We discover a cave ahead. It is guarded, so our Halfling Roderigo, under his invisibility spell, approaches to investigate. With his Wizard Eye is able to see inside but he can only see one of the gigantic creatures inside.

After his return he informs the party of his findings; the Mul is a gigantic Dwarf.

We have to investigate further, so after sending the guard to sleep (he has a drow house brand of a mantis) we enter the cave. The mind mage casts his ESP spell and he is able to detect the presence of 3 big minds and 5 small one. Unfortunately as we try to search for any traps we manage to trigger the cave alarm.

We prepare for the fight. The 5 human are quickly scared with Grenadoes and blocked by a couple of walls of light and darkness.

The three big creatures (2 Muls and the Mantis) come crashing trough the walls, but, unfortunately for them, they are quickly subjugated. The cave raid is quickly over, and we captured all creatures and humans with no bloodshed. The prisoners look like a pillaging party. All of them have a “Desolate Emerald Mantis” tattoo, one of the Drow’s houses emblem.

Chapter 4 - The Prisoners and the Old Magic

Thaw 6: Hand over the prisoners

The pillaging party has with it some undecipherable order/dispatch papers. After tying the prisoners, we make our move down the valley to Stoneborough’s keep. After securing the creatures inside, we split up and 4 of our party stays here, to keep an eye on the prisoner’s, wile MDK, Billy and I fly back to Neuerafang town, to meet with the seneschal.

In town, the guards call for their Lieutenant, which informs us of the busy schedule of the seneschal. He will not take us to audience with the seneschal but instead he will bring us to meet Captain Brown.

We report of our discovery to the Capitan as well as requesting assistance with the translation of the papers, which he is more then happy to oblige. After an hour wait, the translators have finished their works and the papers are return them to us. The Capitan informs us that one is a list of Drows houses, and let the pillaging party know who to kill on sight and who to spare. The Second one is a diagram signed by the “Crutching Blue Serpent” house. Before leaving we arrange a meeting point with some of his guards, as we have the prisoners to hand over.

We return to Stoneborough, and head down the valley with the prisoners. We hand over the prisoners; the guards request that we kill the mantis, as they are not willing to deal with it. Roderigo is happy to experiment his dagger, which allow him to trap the creature soul and interrogate it. The mantis let us know of the people disappearing from the valley; it was not its party doing and probably the work of some other drow houses; maybe “Destroying Arctic Butterfly” or possibly “Surprising Cloud”. In addition, the mantis tells us about the diagram found. It is the diagram of the switches on the old Elven road. It tells us of a Drow army going north to attack Alfheim, and of the drow in the bay, who have created a “Mist of Despair” over the sea. It informs us that each of the drow houses have secret plans for the invasion. Its people are planning to create a buff with the sacrifice of a large amount of souls. Other, has plans to create a dragon. Other rumors tell of Succubus, which have successfully disguised and have infiltrated human towns and villages.

We return to the village for a peaceful night, after the mantis is dead, the exoskeleton removed for the fabrication of armor and the prisoners handed over to the guards.

Thaw 7: Old Elven Road

In the morning, we head toward the farms of the locals who have disappeared. Once there we inspect the scene. In both cases it appear that a group of 6, human size figures, attracted the attention of the farmer, which made their way outside their farm house, and once out, they where ambushed and taken. It appears the abductors have taken flight with the captive farmers, as the trail suddenly stops.

As the only structure that appears higher up in the valley is the Bridge of the Old Elven road, we decide to investigate further. No one has used this road in centuries; however, it appears in reasonable condition. As we begin to move, the look of the road changes. It appears to be as good as new. We also notice a two-story tower appearing in front of us. It is a magic tower, and we cannot perform any king of spells to asses the situation inside. The front door is open; we inspect the ground floor which is completely empty, as well as the second floor. On close inspection, we discover a weird mechanism. It has a lever, which points upward, as well as blue and yellow circle on either side. Once moved we are transported elsewhere.

Chapter 5 - Fight

Thaw 7: Fog and devils

While investigating the Elven road, we come to understand the diagram drawn by the pillaging party. We continue exploring on.

As we reach a particularly foggy point on the road, the mind mage Elgar perceives some strange minds. We decide to approach them; four foul creatures immediately attack us. They are Nightmares, controlled by some Illusionist trickster. While fighting against all nightmares and illusions we realize that is all work of few devils. The fight is intense, however, we manage to capture 3 of them, and send all the others back to where they came from.

Once the fight is over we scout the area; through the fog we make out a dark tower hidden with the magic mist. At close inspection the tower appears to have some creepy red roots, like pulsing veins, spreading from his base and on to the Elven road. That is our next destination!

Chapter 6 - Let them free

Thaw 7: Free the villagers

The Devils are stripped of their possessions and tied up along with some cold iron.

We try to interrogate the only awake one, but his only interest is to negotiate a kiss from our Leader Lila. After reaching the agreement he provides us with some good information.

He tells us of Surprising Cloud Drows House been responsible for their summoning. His job was to capture humans and to bring them to the tower, but he was not allowed to enter. He assumes the humans inside the tower are what power the Elven road. He recalls seen a Drow, few assassins and slimy figures, entering the tower few days ago, just before the explosion. He believes it to be the cause of the undead presence he has been feeling in the last 3 days. Before we get read of the devil and his companions, he is more than happy to give us all the symbols of the different Drows houses.

We heal each other in preparation for whatever we will find in the tower. Once we open the main door we see a very dark room with red shades and slimy floor.

MDK enters first and is immediately hurt. The mages DA the left over slime on MDKs leg and describe it as the slime of 3 Giant Amoebas. We shoot poison arrows to the creatures and we notice the doubling up as they are hit. 2 of the new Amoebas chase us out of the tower and are blocked by one of Lila’s Magic walls. They are hit and dye without splitting.

Note: Only use magical weapons to kill amoebas as they multiply if not.

After killing all the Amoebas, the door on the other end of the room swings open, revealing an undead creature ready to cast a spell. We attack and kill the undead, only to leave room for 2 ghouls to come out and retaliated. After eliminating them we inspect the room beyond the door.

We spot 3 more doors and a set of stairs leading to the upper floor.

The first door hides an alchemist lab, and on one of the tables we discover the carcass of the drow. Looks like the explosion took place here as all the magic and invested items appear to have blown up. The next door takes us into an empty bunk room, and the third one into an office. We ransack it and collect all the paperwork we can find, and that could be of interest.

We proceed to the top floor were we discover 10 humans hanged by stone spike protruding from the wall. The spikes collect the human mana and charge the huge jewel hanged on the ceiling. The floor is covered in drows writing and symbols arranged in what appears to be a magic ritual.

The room has two doors; one contains human prisoners and the second one a chest full of money. We free the humans and discover that some of them are from Stoneborough Village and the other from unknown villages.

Billy and Elgar try to free the humans from the spikes on the wall, and we notice some of Billy hair turning gray. The wall is protected with some magic, so the two elf (Elgar and Me) continue the job and we both lose 2 years of our lives during the process.

After freeing all prisoners we journey back to Stoneborough, with no trouble along the way. We decide to spend the night in the village.

Chapter 7 - Gems and Logistics

Thaw 8: Return to the Tower

Is early morning and the death aspect mages are feeling particularly energized and strong today; we assume the worst, someone has died in the village. On close inspection, none of the villager has perished in the night. We decide to return to the tower and remove the gem that power the Elven road and farewell Stoneborough.

As per our predicament, the gem, power source of the Elven road, runs out, so Lila cast some wings on us while Billy turns into a duck for the flight to the Dark Tower. On arrival, MDK has a bad landing and fractures his left arm.

We enter the empty tower and inspect again the life draining mechanism. It appears that the stone drains and stores mana, so the two elves (Elgar and me) proceed in wrenching the gem out of its ceiling socket.

Once the stone is collected and is stored safely, we take flight, headed to Neuerafang town. Our wing spell runs out, however Lila is exhausted from her previous casting. We try to work out the gem. The gem is a life-draining device, however if touched while casting it transfers mana to the caster. Lila succeeds in casting wings to us all, so we take flight to our destination.

While if flight we see the extents of the ravaged land and of the battlefront which is moving and is in proximity to our destination. The death aspect mages are feeling empowered, once again.

The town of Neuerafang looks shut; the only access is a heavily guarded door. Once we explain our businesses, two guards escort us to Castle Festung, where we rendezvous with Knut the Dwarf. We search for a healer for MDK, and then take Knut out for a beer.He gives us the list of all the people, servant an suitors that will join Lady DeWinter in the journey.

Then we meet Captain Brown and inform him of our discoveries.

Subsequently we meet Fred the spy, who takes us in a strange gentlemen-smoking club. Here, we notify him of our findings during the investigation. He provides us with a background on the Duchess DeWinter and her family, and informs us on the importance of the young Lady safekeeping. He also warn us about Lady Isabella being a Tom Boy.

After all our meetings and after retrieve the armor ordered for Her Ladyship, we return to Castel Festung to settle in our room. Not before long, we hear a knock at the door. We open to find Luke de Honare; he has an invitation for tonight’s dinner with Lady DeWinter.

During the dinner, some of Lady Isabella suitors and some of their entourage try to approach all of us, and courteously try to win us over so to gain more time and favors with Her Ladyship.

After dinner, we make our way to Castle Festung stables in search for horses. Jimmy, the stable keeper, informs us that he has none spared to give us. Defeated and tired we make our way to our room where, shortly after or return, we are visited by someone from Novadom, who offers us horses for the trip. Pleased with the outcome we retire for the night, which goes by with no incidents.

Thaw 9: Logistics

Is morning and the court is all a buzz with the preparation of the carts and the departure of Lady DeWinter.

We head to our cart to assist with the preparation, and once in the courtyard, Lila notices a shady figure approaching our cart. We take a closer look and find a suspicious package. It contains a large amount of drugs, and we are suspicious that someone wants to incriminate us. We hand the package over to Little Flame, Lila’s Companion, which teleports it to the closest open fire and dispose of it.

We get ready for the journey ahead.

Information

Persons of Interest

  • Her Grace the Duchess of Carzala
  • Duncan, Castle Chilton Namer
  • Sticks, the Rune Mage
  • Seneschal of Castle Festung
  • Dwarf Knut, the chief of Lady Isabella's guards
  • Lady Isabella DeWinter, Daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Carzala.
  • Fred the Spy
  • Goody Jones, Stoneborough town Speaker
  • Giant Mantis, head of the Muls and human raiding party.
  • Captain Brown, of the guards of Neuerafang town
  • Devils
  • Undead, amoebas and ghouls
  • Lady DeWinter entourage

Loot

  • Vetch plants
  • 2 Giant Chainmails
  • 5 Chainmails
  • 2 giant Clubs
  • 2 Tower shield
  • Pillaging partys Grenados
  • Cheese
  • Mantis exoskeleton
  • 1 talwar
  • 1 Magic Healing cloak
  • Devils Loot
  • Dark Tower paperwork
  • Dark Tower chest of Money

Logistics

  • 1 x pack of Grenadoes
  • 1 x pack of healing, blue bottles for fatigue and green Bottles for endurance
  • 1 x pack of provision and dried food.
  • 8 red bottles of Venom
  • Letters of introduction for the party, from the Duchess
  • Whispering Wind invested, from the Duchess (just in case of trouble)


Buffs

Magic Rk Effects Dur Ald Bil Elg Lil LF MDK QUA Rod
Shadow Form 14 +30/+15 def 6.5 hours y y y Y Y
Witchsight 6 3.5 hours n n N
Strength of Darkness 8 +5PS 1.5 hours y Y
Shadow Wings 6 36 mph, 126 miles range 3.5 hours y y n Y
Fire Armour 10 44 protection 11 hours y y n Y Y
Fireproofing 10 protection vs normal fire 11 hours y y n Y Y
Weapon of Flames 10 +11 SC, +6 dam, +11 dam vs undead, cold or water creatures 15 mins y n Y
Greater Enchantment 15 +16 on Combat or Magic, plus MR 3 days y

Calendar

Spring: Thaw (10) 813wk
Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
Candlemansa 1 Guild Meeting, Pre-departure briefing, meeting with the Duchess 2 Departure, rest and Imps attack 3 Flight'n treouble 4 Grobbety town 5 Lunch with the lady. Preparation for the trip to Stoneborough 6 Stoneborough flight, Mantis cave fight, delivery of the prisoners
7 Ancient Elven road, Devils, Dark Tower: Set villagers free 8 Return to Tower, Flight to Neuerafang and dinner at court 9 Logistics 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Spring: Seedtime (11)
28 29 30 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 Rites of Thunor 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 Equinox 16 17 Eostre 18 Seagate Spring Ball
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 1 2
Spring: Blossom (12)
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 Floralia 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Walpurgisnacht

Seagate Time

After a successful meeting with Duncan (castle Chilton Namer) & a brief encounter with the duchess, the party gets ready for the mission ahead. The plan is to retrieve the Daughter of The Duke and the Duchess of Carzala, from the Duke of Aladar's summer keep in Grobbety Town

The following day is spent travelling via portal, and recuperating all the energy spent. In the depth of the night the party is attacked by a group of Imps. During the interrogation of the surviving imp, they discover the intention of a Drow ritual.

Next day the group depart and half way to their destination they are stopped by two flying military men. The party has to wait for Roderigo to register, as he is a knight of this country. This delays the party to their destination. After spending the night in the camp, the party moves on to toward their goal.

Once the heroes arrives at Neuerafang town, they have to deal with the trouble that seams to follow Sir Roderigo. However they manage to schedule a lunch with Lady Isabella, for the coming day.

During lunch they meet the lady Isabella, and discuss the plan for her return to Carzala. She is happy to make her way home as long as the heroes are happy to land a hand to everyone in need of help.

The following day the heroes depart for Stoneborough a little town north of Neuerafang. Strange things have been happening in the home town of Castle Festung seneschal, so to ingratiate Roderigo with the steward of the keep, the party decide to investigate.

They party discover the presence of a Giant Mantis and 2 Muls(giant dwarfs) along with some humans, Members of the Emarald Mantis Drow House. They are quick at subjugating them, and capture them as prisoners. After collecting some information, the party hand over the prisoners to the guards of Neuerafang.

The party moves on into investigating the disappearance of some local farmers. Their attention is draw to the Ancient Elven road situated at the top of the valley. On one if its bridges they discovers a strange mechanism, inside a magical road side tower which mysteriously appears ahead of them.

The party proceeds and managed to work out the function and workings of the mechanism; during the investigation on the Elven road, however, they are attached by a group of devils and their tricky nightmares. The fight is fierce, and after eliminating the nasty creatures, they discover ahead of them, a menacing tower.