The Treaty of New Hope

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: The Treaty of New Hope
GM: Helen S
Season: Spring 805 WK
Night: Someday
Level: Level

Party

• Drum
• Loxi (Party Leader)
• GoK (Strategic planner)
• Faith (Scribe_
• Shemin-ah
• Grendel
• Phaeton
• Human the Fool

Time on adventure

1 Thaw 805 to 8 Blossom 805 WK

Employer

Drum — Seagate adventurer

Mission

To compose a eulogy for a group of allegedly deceased famous heroes.

Payment

A myriad of pence each, which is 39 guineas, 14 shillings and four-pence; plus a barrel of ale or honey-mead. This is roughly 4 cubic inches of gold. Plus a set of still-warm dragon-skin armour each if we rip them off the bleeding corpses. Nice.

Original Scribe Notes

Media:Snsp0502.zip

Summary

Timeline

Date	Events
1 Thaw.	We are hired and learn some background of the planes of Rue and Sol.
4 Thaw.	We are transported to Sol by StarSong, a dragon. We portal to Rue. We meet DiamondFlame, a dragon. We get directions, and fly for the rest of the day.
5 Thaw.	We sail into New Hope and explore.
6 Thaw.	The party splits into three and covers the continent.
7 Thaw.	Drum negotiates with DiamondFlame. The elves meet the local wood elves. The humans do cultural research. Sheminah leaves the party.
8 Thaw.	The party reunites and update each other.
9 Thaw.	The party reaches Bald Hill.
10 Thaw.	We meet Sir Warren and lay out the facts.
11 Thaw.	We flee from Bald Hill chased by their army.
12 Thaw.	We meet Roland at Swansford. It rains like there will be no tomorrow.
13 Thaw.	We meet Vandra at Beacon’s Hill. GoK & Sir Konrad fight an epic duel.
14 Thaw.	We kidnap Sir Konrad. Drum is turned, and punished by exile.
21 Thaw.	Drum returns without GoK. The dragon hunters arrive at Swansford.
22 Thaw.	We fly to Bald Hill and meet Sir Warren. A death-warrant is drawn up.
23 Thaw.	We fly to New Hope with Roland, where we meet Father Thomas.
24 Thaw.	We start to potter back to Swansford. We get Roland back in time.
28 Thaw.	Vandra, Roland & Sir Konrad leave Swansford by barge.
1 Seedtime.	Sir Konrad is missing. That evening we are in Bald Hill.
14 Seedtime.	Tourney starts.
15 Seedtime.	The Peace Treaty is signed by all survivors.
16 Seedtime.	We leave to hunt Pig Iron.
27 Seedtime.	At last we are attacked.
4 Blossom.	An audience with Lord Manfred finally goes well.
8 Blossom.	Back at the Guild.

Scribe Notes

The Dragon Hunting Dragon-hunters

1 Thaw 805

Drum hires the group to compose a eulogy for a group of allegedly deceased famous heroes. These heroes are famous for killing (young) dragons, and the parents of the deceased would like a proper farewell. The heroes are:

• Sir Warren of Baldhill, a chivalric knight of the highest order, whose skill with his lance is legendry amongst defeated foes and their womenfolk.
• Sir Conrad of Heronbill, a red-haired giant, a stalwart warrior and master of the axe and the tankard.
• The Enchantress Vandra of Swansmouth, a sword-wielding sorceress with her skirts slit to the waist and her leading attributes on display.
• Healer Roland, a follower of the dead god Mithros, and herb man.
• Emma Crowdale, an exotic ethnic fortune-teller who can make your silver cross her palm before you know she’s there.
• Gloin of Stone Mountain, a dwarven smith.

They all lived on a plane called Rue, in a cluster of planes ruled by ruthless draconic overlords, or “caretakers”. This cluster of planes includes the plane of Sol which contains the town of Paradise, which SAG members have visited three times in the last two years.

Despite having a near-perfect mix of colleges (Earth, Celestial, E&E, Namer, plus Ice for blast, a spare Celestial, and an Illusionist for towns), and Mind in case we wish to be first runner-up to the dragons in the evil overlord stakes, we have very few useful all-day spells. Resist Cold on GoK (he left his scarf behind, poor thing), Disguise for me (too distinctive a cognomen), and Strength of Stone, Shadowform and Witchsight for the rest.

We decide to stock up on supplies for three days. Non-magical supplies are to be stored in Drum's rather large backpack. Supplies include a month of provisions (a week fresh, the rest dried), a week’s drinking water, basic camping gear including tents, a pavilion for the elves, medical supplies including bandages, splints, and a range of rare alchemical and natural substances that Phaeton wishes to study to allow him to devise antidotes. Many lengths of rope & twine, shovels, axes, knives, and other survival gear are also included. Trade goods, gems, coins. The melons and sorbet are packed in ice, and kept well away from the strawberries to avoid bruising or over-chilling.

Each person has five cubic foot of storage allocated for personal items. These items must be non-explosive & non-magical, and must not leak if broken. Mine include 6 changes of clothes, from formal to working silks, four sets of footwear, three sets of armour, and most of my spare weapons. Also a small supply of coca leaves and dried cocoa beverages for medicinal purposes only. Not to mention knuckle bones, ornaments, some costume jewellery, dies, cosmetics, paint, cayenne, and various herbs for undisturbed constitutional strolls.

We learn a bit more about the plane of Sol. It has a range of races including humans, nymphs, centaurs, fauns, dryads and rocs. Apparently they engage in normal friendly trade. The settlement of Paradise is new, but a powerful Seagate fire mage called Shizane ensures that it is at peace with its neighbours. We will pass near it briefly.

3 Thaw

In the evening we set out from Seagate in a hired boat and travel five miles upstream to a quiet pasture. We camp, checking the erecting of the tents and preparation of food. The humans work well. We also have trial watches.

With the paucity of elves, there are humans on every watch, so a professional lack of conversation is likely. Watch Order

1. GoK & Human
2. Faith & Phaeton
3. Loxi & Grendal
4. Drum & Sheminah

4 Thaw

Pre-dawn, we strike camp and wait for StarSong, a young dragon and close personal friend of Drum. Mist starts rising from the pasture. A voice resounds in Loxi’'s head. Something coagulates from the mists. Shortly StarSong takes the shape of a 20" high, 50’ long (plus tail) shiny golden dragon. Her neck is very long and spiny, and her wingspan is over 250 feet. StarSong makes quite an impressive entrance. We all mount up, and wedge ourselves as best we can between the spikes. She levitates into the growing light of dawn.

We blink. We are now in another world, soon identified by Phaeton and Drum as Sol. To the east is a long valley, to the west are the Paradise plains, to the north are mountains, and to the south is the sea. StarSong indicates the plains and says "I've got humans”. Loxi replies "We can treat that”. StarSong descends slowly to the south. We fly over a valley, then hills, then some rough ground with scattered trees. We see a clearing with a portal in it, and land.

Mithrian Portals

The buildings which contain Mithrian Portals are best described in the Wiki. twork is sparsely connected.

After good-byes to StarSong, we use the portal. We find ourselves in another world, soon identified as Rue. The portal is surrounded by mature deciduous forest. There are mountains to the east, and the sun is rising gently over them. It is early spring, and the bright green foliage is pleasant. The tranquillity is shattered as Drum sounds a terrible mating call. It is loud, harsh, and comes from some non-mammalian organ. No one can hear themselves think. GoK explains the dangers of healing himself to Phaeton. Eventually the roaring stops and Phaeton removes the cotton wool from his ears.

Drum explains that he is summoning DiamondFlame — the “grumpy old man” of the dragons. I now have some idea why he is grumpy! After a short while, we hear some singing in elvish coming from the east. A few minutes later, a grey- haired elf strolls in from the woods. He has GTN horse — I guess its like forgetting to match your socks. DiamondFlame is quite an intense individual. He tells us about the dead dragons and the heroes we are to eulogise.

The heroes have killed four young dragons. In order of demise, they were: Firebrand, a troublemaker and sheep rustler; Green Jade, who dwelt with orcs; little Bronze, who got on well with the dwarves; and the Black, who lived near hill giants. They lived 2,000 to 3,000 miles apart. They were the only four dragons born within the last 400 years. Baby dragons grow to near-full size with a couple of years of hatching, but take quite some time to mature in power and intellect. Some of these dead dragons could cast magic. There is no last remaining baby dragon, and its location is secret.

DiamondFlame translates a popular human song describing the heroic feats of the heroes. Sounds like eulogising this lot will be tricky. The heroes met at tourneys. They attend the five major tourneys every year (except when hunting). This year the first tourney will be at Baldhill, and the second at New Hope. They have been hunting dragons for around ten years. The period between Kkills is dropping. They are also possibly hunting DiamondFlame. They use small numbers of troops to assist them.

The heroes live along a huge river valley in a decentralised series of city states which is spread between 350-1,000 miles away. We are shown a map and the approximate location of Baldhill, New Hope and Stone Mountain. See the map appended to this document. We are given directions to Stone Mountain, and to New Hope, which is downstream. Most of the river valley people come from the "0ld Empire” in the plane of Frigidaire. The Old Empire tongue is a little like Arabique. They also have a common trading tongue and a northern tongue, spoken by local “barbarian” tribes. We don't know any of these languages.

We convince DiamondFlame that knowledge of at least one local tongue is essential. The last thing we what to do is get our facts wrong and accidentally engage in character assassination. He uses spring water & his own blood to create a drink that imparts knowledge of the trading tongue to us for the rest of the season. It has similar side-effects to a restorative. Ow!

The Rules of Rue

DiamondFlame tells us the rules while on his plane:

• No changing the mana
• No changing the climate
• No changing the terrain
• No changing the flora or fauna

These are all trespassing on the domain of the guardians.

We leave, heading in the direction of New Hope, before he starts "mowing” the trees. We fly WSW for an hour, with a cloud of smoke rising behind us.

An Unseasonable EIf

Subjectively, the following is all true. Semiotics is more complex than people realise.

Aunty Loxi and I were over in the south of the Eastern mountains at the start of Spring. Don't ask what we were doing there — just don't ask. As it happens, there were some humans in the same area, and they seemed lost. We thought it would be amusing to watch them. They flew down the Wolf River for a while and then landed a mile short of the first village they found. We followed quietly.

The village of Stony Creek was simple retro-agrarian. There were paths to the river, into the forest, and downstream. The village was set in terraces into the hillside, with farms on the valley floor below. There were chickens, geese, dogs, pigs, dwarves and humans wandering the streets and scratching at the ground for food. The humans were beige with brown highlights.

The lost group of four humans, led by the memorably dense Sir Gwithane Gokan, entered the village. With him were his squire Human, his priest Phaeton, and his groom Sheminah. They talked to the locals for a while, and gathered their first intelligence (and they needed any intelligence they could find).

• The “East Road” runs around the north of the Eastern mountains.
• There are bandits in the forest around here.
• There is a lumber camp 20 miles downstream.
• The city of New Hope is around 300 miles downstream.
• There is a good wagon-road West/East near Stone Mountain to the north.

Following the humans as they flew for a few more hours downstream, we saw widely scattered villages in the mountains and forests. There were no towns of note as we headed downriver. Finally the mountains and trees stopped, and we landed. Aunty Loxi & I went into the village, and learnt that these people hadn't seen elves before. They believed that elves have blue hens’ teeth at full moon or some such superstition. Apparently the segregation saying goes “elves in the west, dwarves in the east”.

By now it was nightfall. We met up with Sir Gwithane and his entourage.

5 Thaw

We had a late start, and after morning tea we caught a ride the last 100 miles to New Hope on Captain Grendal’s riverboat. More about the cabin-boy later.

New Hope

New Hope is on the inside of a river bend. It is a town a half-mile across, with an impressive octagonal keep at the far side. The Wolf River is around 80 yards across at this point. The humans here are fair skinned with brown hair. There are a few mixed race human/?orc? crosses. Wandering through the town and shopping for cloth, we learn a few things:

• The open gutters in the streets smell.
• We see no temples (they are in a quarter we don't visit until later).
• The guards are low-risk mundanes. They travel in small groups.
• They trade metal & wood from the mountains, wool from the south plains, grain from the river valley.
• Old Empire, Northern, & Trade are all spoken. With only knowledge of Trade (and various Elvii), a lot of chatter goes past us. However, we catch gossip on trade, planting, dragons and hunting.
• There are priests of Mithros, the Mother, the Dark God, etc. More details provided elsewhere. See the Wiki.
• Money is strips of silver, most just a little thicker than a silver penny, wide as a little finger, and one to two inches long, with a hole punched in one end. Also copper in similar shapes, all hung on strings.

We choose the same inn that the humans go to. At least we know them a little.

Our Inn is 4 stories high, with a central courtyard. We are given a corner tower, to keep out the riff-raff. There is quite a crowd shortly after we arrived. Elves aren't seen in New Hope except around the Tourney, in early summer.

What the Chambermaid said

We chat charmingly with the chambermaid.

• Normally only elven delegations to the noble houses or elven traders for the Tourneys are seen in New Hope.
• Dwarves are also uncommon out of the mountains except at Tourneys.
• Most city dwellers are not armed, a small knife or a stick maybe.
• The city watch are lazy, corrupt bullies.
• The castle guard are better, but only police during Tourneys.
• The Merchant Guild have their own guards for the warehouses across the river.
• The dock workers’ hovels are to be avoided even during the day; it's a rough and lawless place.
• Although its not illegal to be out after dark, its not advisable to go out alone; while all the street scum, beggars and lowlifes are supposed to leave the city before the gates close at dusk, the watch is known to extort money or ‘favours’ from lone travellers or small groups, under threat of arrest and fine for breach of peace. If you can't pay that fine, the court indentures you for five years. This provides a good income for the administration and so is accepted.
• Similar laws exist in most towns, with varying levels of corruption.
• There is no monarchy or central authority. Each noble family runs an independent state.
• Many laws from the time of the Old Empire are now traditions enforced by all the ruling families.
• No one state or alliance has ever been able to enforce its rule on all the others.
• Recent merchant gossip is that Bald Hill & its allies are manoeuvring into a position to attempt this consolidation.
• Bald Hill has been employing steadily increasing numbers of troops. Their forces are larger and much better trained than any other family; and several families owe them large favours for dragon slaying.
• The Merchant Council is thinking of doing ‘something’ about this.
• The local ruler is the fast-fading Lord Luther. His weak-willed son Sir Theobald has been running the town for a while.
• Sir Theobald has received a promise from Sir Warren that he will bring the heroes up the Wolf River right after the Bald Hill tourney.
• The Tourneys are: Spring Equinox, Bald Hill; Beltane, New Hope; Solstice, Swansford; Lugnasad, Swansmouth; Autumn Equinox, Bald Hill.
• The court house, guild halls, and at least twelve temples are on the Street of the Gods, off Castle Way.
• The new guests Sir Gwithane Gokan and his group are Barbarians. Pure Blood Empire nobles look different, and even half-breeds speak Empire.
• Alot more noble Barbarians have been attending the Tourneys since the success and fame of Sir Konrad.
• Passage to the Tourney towns is much more expensive in the week before each Tourney.
• Other guests include Cloth traders, a Dwarven Armoursmith, and a Healer.
• The Healer cures burns with a salve in 2 days — sounds like a Herbalist.

Gok & Sheminah head down to the riverside, to check on their cabin boy, Drum.

Drum has to sneak into town because he doesn't look right. They cast ShadowWings and Witchsight on him, and return before nightfall. Drum comes into town over the rooftops. The landing location is marked by a circle of warm ash.

The main common room of the Inn has a human minstrel. He murders several songs, including a tune about a lass called Vandra who enchanted half the courts of the Swan River valley. Another lay is about some dragon slayers and their small army — presumably this Sir Warren of Bald Hill. There are reportedly dragon skulls on the wall of Bald Keep. The latest news is about a new Blue Dragon burning the entire countryside to the east. The chorus hook is “eating the people who pulled the cat’s tail’. It sounds like we just missed him. Pity — dragons are more interesting than humans.

Around 2am we meet up with the humans led by Sir Gwithane, and give them their Drum. Notes on New Hope are compared.

Coming and Going

I've flown 1000's of miles,

over oceans and isles,

we fly by the moon,

we're always coming and going,

going and coming,

and always too soon!

Right girls?

I'm tired,

tired of flying and fame,

ain't it a crying shame?

I'm so tired,

God dammit I'm tired!

We meet at 2 am on the 6th of Thaw, and argue into the wee hours of the morning.

There is a saying that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Individually, no one here is incompetent - some of the group want to rule out violence completely; while for others it's their first choice. However, consensus by committee renders this as our last resort. Collective wisdom is an oxymoron.

We decide to first try to save the humans by committing them to a binding oath not to hunt dragons. The strength of this plan is that we get to meet and assess the humans, and resolve the issue via dialogue. The weakness is that they may learn too much about us (i.e. our existence) if we have to implement our fall- back plans.

The first step of any good plan is to see if it has the blessing of the gods. In lieu of a good sacrifice, we go with an ecumenical service involving our seers (GoK, Grendal & Phaeton) staring at stars or their own eyelids for hours. The main advantage of this is that the rest of us get to sleep until dawn. Loxi & I explain the second step of the plan and assure the party that it is simple and sensible, and that they will realise it in the morning, then sweep off to our tower.

6 Thaw

It is dawn by the time that the men have finished their prayers to their false gods. The answer to the various readings by the men on the question “Will binding the hunters to a honourable oath of truce with dragon-kind suffice to bring peace between the parties?” is “Yes, but...”. This satisfies them. See earlier comments on wisdom.

Over breakfast we repeat the plan in smaller words. Thank Inti for acullicar. We then leave New Hope, via Grendal’s ship, to which Drum has returned before dawn. We float gently downstream to avoid magically driving all before us at 20 knots. Once a reasonable distance away from the city, six of us get Shadow Wings and disperse.

Divide and Conquer - Humans

Human and Grendal are two of our human-culture experts. We unleash the Sorcerer and Illusionist on the unsuspecting city of New Hope for relentless and personal study of the culture over two and a half days. They talk to some nearby villagers, an acting troupe, and varied townsfolk. Through their powerful magicks and masterful acting, no one realises that they are in fact gathering intelligence for a possible socialist revolution. Including them. They fail to burn down the city or inflict significant infra-structural damage before we meet up again in the afternoon of the 8th of Thaw.

Divide and Conquer - Dragons

Drum, Sheminah and Phaeton head upstream, retracing their wing strokes for three hundred-odd miles to return to the place they arrived in this world. This is comparable to the efforts of salmon and homing pigeons. Aren’t humans amazing! It takes a little more than 8 hours to reach the portal, where they rest and request the presences of DiamondFlame.

At dawn on the 7th of Thaw, DiamondFlame shows up and negotiates with Drum. Thanks to Phaeton, who is poised with charcoal and paper, “sketching”, we have some immortal quotes. These include Drum advising the dragon to think long-term, sympathising that he understands DiamondFlame’s pain in losing all his children, and telling DiamondFlame that he (DF) will need time to think. However, discretion & sensitivity forbid me from including these quotes.

DiamondFlame is not particularly convinced by the notion of a two-way binding contract involving regular appearances by him to remind humans of the greatness and mercy of dragons. It's a pity — the argument is presented well, but I think it's a cultural gap — DiamondFlame just doesn’t want to get tied into a petty mortal tradition. However, he is prepared to go with an oath by the humans in return for letting them live. He mentions a priest of Mithros in New Hope who can bind their oaths (geas?). The oath would be along the lines of “never kill or harm another dragon”. In return, he would consider following the strictures “no more burning sheep and eating forests”. He mentions that StarSong, as the mother of the slain, and being younger & more emotional, would not be keen on this interpretation of the deal with Drum, preferring revenge.

Sheminah is not convinced that she can help with this high-level negotiation, being primarily a survivalist and blast mage; and as she doesn’t want to try to Kill the humans, decides to return home. Drum assists her to Paradise around nightfall, and then Drum & StarSong give her some travel advice. StarSong offers to teach Sheminah elvish for some months so that she can talk to the centaurs (if they ever learn elvish). Instead, Sheminah walks and flies for a couple of days, reaching Livingston on the evening of the 9th of Thaw.

Drum & Phaeton fly back to New Hope during the day of the 8th of Thaw, arriving back mid-afternoon. Drum is once again sequestered on the ship.

Divide and Conquer - Elves

We elves go to consult with the local wood elves, to gather more of that collective wisdom. We fly west for the whole day, landing at the edge of the elvish forest. Then we spend half the night singing songs at the edge of the forest, then hopping 10 miles north and repeating, hoping to encounter some border patrols or wandering locals. Eventually, we find a rough path leading into the forest, and run down it to a clearing, which is obviously an agreed meeting point. We camp and eat. The trees say that the elves are all farther in. We have light watches and sleep as best we can.

7th Thaw

We have a leisurely start, and then jog along nature trails further into the forest. We meet an elven guide, who takes us to their village. Their village is a collection of houses high up in trees. None of us are afraid of heights at the start of the day. The tree-houses are made by the tree growing into the right shapes, with the occasional encouragement or crafting. The houses are connected by branches or bridges. From a distance we admire the graceful minimalism of the design, with never an excess handrail or overly-thick support.

Closer viewing doesn't convey the same emotional reaction.

After a while waiting in a hollow bole some hundred feet up, an Elder visits us. We learn a number of points. These include:

• Not all the planar guardians are dragons
• Some of the planar guardians are elves (not on this plane)
• Elves trade herbs and rare materials with the humans (for what?)
• Sir Warren of Baldhill is the 3™ son and will not inherit.
• There is a tradition for such sons to continue the expansion of the ex-empire.
• Sir Konrad is the primary leader of the dragon-hunters.
• He is from the far north, just south of the dwarves.
• He is a half-blood — his mother is native, and his father empire.
• Vandra is the daughter of an apprentice of the Wizard of Swansmouth.
• She is an E&E.
• She buys supplies from another elven village.
• Roland of Swansfort buys his herbal supplies from yet another elven village.
• No one in this world can resurrect.
• This village needs none of our assistance.
• There is another village on the far side of the forest who can provide

weapons.

The Elder is not quite open when answering our queries. None of us can quite put our finger on why we are uncomfortable with what he said. We may have made some social transgressions which offended him and thus made him unhelpful, or possibly this is expected from insular villages, or perhaps the altitude rather than attitude kept us off balance.

We leave the village late that afternoon, and fly to the forest edge. After a brief nap, we fly back to New Hope overnight, and sleep outside town for the morning, before entering the town around noon on the 8th of Thaw.

The Reunion and Bald Hill

During the evening, Drum arrives again, and we compare notes. We decide to travel to Bald Hill immediately, and while the ship would be a good option, it is faster and simpler to fly. We resolve to fly the next morning. Drum retires to the ship.

9 Thaw

We leave shortly after dawn, and after drifting out of sight downstream, discard the ship and fly at a high altitude down the Swan River to Bald Hill. We hide Drum out of town, with various agreed emergency signals. The rest of us go into town, with the elves heavily cloaked. The guards look tough and efficient, with really good equipment. We wander around town, and find an Inn midway down Trade Street, where we get private rooms for the night.

We discuss requesting a meeting with Sir Warren via the Innkeep.

Threatening Sir Warren

Getting to know your mark before beginning negotiation is essential. Everyone has strengths, weaknesses and agendas. The more that is known the more pressure can be applied. To this end, we decide to visit every upper-class public drinking establishment in Bald Hill. We form three teams; Grendal and our Human; Loxi & Gok; and Uncle Phaeton and his “niece”. We learn: There is a temple district. There are lots of dingy dives. There are quite a few taverns targeting visiting merchants. There is lots of money around, particularly coming from “up the hill”. The local army is undergoing serious equipage, for an expedition or invasion. Warehouses inside the first circle of walls are crammed full. The Swan & East River are both navigable across the whole civilisation. There is a “secret de Polichinelle” plan to take control of a thousand mile stretch of river. This land area is an empire, not a local power-play. Younger sons of opponents will be on the way to a tourney, or even be “guests” at the time of the move. We can't tell if troops are being marshalled over a wide area for this — any local troops are being marshalled for the dragon hunt. ¢ Any collapse of the dragon hunt may advance the timetable of this plan — possibly to this upcoming tourney, if efficient communications can be established. If we desire this outcome, we could push for it. ¢ No word on mages — they are just not part of the culture. Page 7 e Sir Warren is positioning himself as a dragon-killing General, not a dragon slayer. This change to statesman is good news for us. The expansionist war plan is led by Lord Manfred - Sir Warren’s father. e Phaeton has a new girlfriend. We return to our inn, debrief, and sleep. 10" Thaw. We decide to send a note to Sir Warren. Being illiterate in the only local language we speak, we go to a scribe in the Mithras temple, expecting the priests to be corrupt and stupid — like all heathen priests. However, we are pleasantly surprised, and get our note written and a promise of delivery. Apparently the local custom is not to fill the scroll case with money when delivering it. We stay together in a group, and shop for the rest of the day. We purchase clothes, and take the pulse of the common folk. We learn a number of local cultural points, but nothing of note. We arrive back at our inn at dusk and find a reply arrived less than an hour ago. We have an appointment at the Roasted Hog, a fancy inn by the market, an hour after sunset. Our plan is to let Grendal do the talking, as the human with the best social skills. Everyone quickly tidies up. I glide out over the city to inform Drum of the day’s events and find formal attire. I have nothing semi-formal, so its the full Coya Inca act. This wasn't part of our prearranged plan, but I'm sure they will cope. The Coya Vaithu Yacuna Invades Bald Hill I sweep into the human drinking wallow. Many of the normal denizens have been replaced with liveried flunkies. I state I am to be escorted into the presence of Sir Warren. There is a short delay due to the incompetence of a guard who is trying to play mind games. Loxi & Grendal toss their cloaks over him as they stroll by. The private room reeks of humanity. Sir Warren, his master at arms Captain Godfrey, and his mage Hans are sitting. They refuse to rise or even acknowledge as I enter the room. Technically, their hearts should be ripped from their chests and they should then be thrown over a cliff. Even under rules of human etiquette, it is rude. There are several thugs lurking in corners. I sit at the head of the table, flanked by Lord Grendal and Father Phaeton. Loxi stands at Grendal’s shoulder. Sir Gok and our Human counter-lurk near the guards, heavily armed and muscled. I introduce myself and the seated figures, and lean on Sir Warren until he returns the courtesy. Meanwhile, Hans the earth mage is frantically writing as he turns paler after each D.A. Loxi toys with the guard, ordering drinks and later dinner. Sir Warren is a little thrown by reading the list of colleges. Later we find out that many of the colleges are unknown here, as is such a concentration of mages. I state that we are here to stop the killing of humans and dragons. Despite his request, I refuse to threaten Sir Warren. Sir Warren admits that he and his group are blood-sworn to hunt any dragon that Sir Konrad wants. This was from their overly-enthusiastic youth, during the slaying of the initial dragon. Sir Warren is bored of killing dragons and wants to move into geo-politics. I intimate that we can assist, but don't lay out our full plan. He says that we must (/must/) meet with Sir Konrad, who is due in Bald Hill for the tourney in a little over a month, but is currently in a town around 400 miles away. I suggest that it would be unsafe for the town if we stay for an entire month, and that we could see Sir Konrad tomorrow, if he wished. He is thrown, which means he is not used to celestial or air flight, but adds another 300 miles to the distance. I don't raise the time estimate, but offer that he could travel to see Sir Konrad with us if he was free in the next few days. He prevaricates again. We make small talk over the first course of dinner. Grendal and the rest of the group have said very little. CertainlyI have left enough pauses, and Sir Warren will ignore anything said unless followed up with a good hard stare. He's either completely thrown, or closing down and refusing to commit. He can tell when he is outclassed — a good sign in a human. Not that it makes him any more polite. Over the second course, I contemplate getting a little imperious and seeing how he reacts. I decide to remain understated. The rest of the dinner passes reasonably politely, with small talk about the tourney and the harvests. Sir Warren promises he will let us know whether he can travel with us by tomorrow. They excuse themselves from my presence, and return to the castle, carrying the unfortunate Hans, whose nerve-steadying had gone a little far. This gives an opportunity for us to eat properly, and dissect the evening. On the surface, we are very happy with the initial contact and where we feel the momentum of negotiations lies. The only worry is that our over-confidence may cause us to discount countermoves by our opponents or third parties. We return to our inn, and resume a normal watch schedule. We certainly need to get more intelligence out of Sir Warren. We will need to get information on Vandra and Emma, the two most dangerous members of his gang. These are the people who can take us down, if any of them can. We should also take him with us, as he will provide an element of trust and soften Sir Konrad up for us. Page 8 Why you shouldn’t threaten Local Lords 11* Thaw. Around half an hour before dawn, Grendal & Phaeton are awoken from a light doze by the repeated ringing of the bell at the inn’s front gate. By the time they have cast prep spells and looked out the window, the kitchen has sent out someone to let in a small figure leading a little grey pony. Telepathy informs them this is a messenger for Lord Grendal. They wait, and then Grendal intercepts the liveried page at the top of the stairway. He is Robert, a bastard son of Sir Warren. He says that Sir Warren regrets to inform us that he will not be able to get away, and recommends that we leave immediately. We are to take the page as a token of Sir Warren’s commitment. While they are digesting this, a louder commotion erupts outside. The sound of thirty armoured horsemen cantering up to the inn and reining to a sudden stop finally reaches the keen ears of our watchmen, and they decide to wake the rest of the party, just as the inn gate is being broken down. Three Shadow Wings, three Star Wings, a Disguise or two, and a Rodentification on Robert prepare us for departure within forty seconds. The rest of us pack and distribute gear. The intruders coming running up the stairs as everyone out leaps out of the windows and fly over the heads of guards armed with spears (but no bows). I run harassment for a while as I check them out. They appear to serve the local lord, Lord Manfred, who is Sir Warren'’s father. Intrigued, I fly into the Bald Hill Keep, and make my way to the Great Hall. There Lord Manfred is letting loose on his son, his advisors, and anything not nailed down. Despite judging this to be a poor time to make a first formal contact, our pressing schedule forces me into stepping off the ceiling beams and descending air stairs to his throne. I greet him and offer to discuss the situation. Eventually, concern for his health forces me to retire, as his apoplexy nearly causes him to explode. We regroup in the forest at Drum’s lair a few minutes later. At dawn, we head off on pure Star Wings. It's a long haul after an early start. After around 10 hours on the wing, we find a friendly grove of trees and camp for the night. Watches are had, and a good night’s sleep, given the conditions. What the Page said That evening we ask Robert a few hard questions, and he turns out to have a good head for detail — unsurprising given his political situation. Robert is Warren'’s son; he has a little sister and a baby half brother. His mother was a seamstress at a tailor’s that his father’s family used, back when they where both young ... She has since married a carpenter from a village east of Bald Hill. Robert came to live with his father last summer to learn to be a warrior. His father sends money to help support his sister, when she is older she will come to Bald Hill too. It is a custom supported by the temples of the Great mother Goddess that fathers should support all their children in some form. It is acceptable for young unmarried men of rank to have bastard children, ladies are expected to be more discrete and to buy a charm from the temple of the Great Mother Goddess to prevent pregnancy. Once the men marry it is only acceptable to add to the children of a prior mistress. Robert’s tutors tell him that this practice helped the old imperials to secure territory quickly as it effectively makes huge increases in the Imperial population in a single generation. Although he is the only son he is known as a Second Son or Younger Son as he can't inherit certain titles and lands - he can settle/conquer land or be appointed as a commander, administrator etc. just like any other younger noble son. Even if his father doesn't marry and have more children, he still can't inherit his father’s estates. His Grandfather Lord Manfred sent the men to fetch us. Sir Warren gave Robert a message for Lord Grendal and sent him off before going to see the Lord. He wasn't hopeful of sorting it out before the Lord sent anyone out, the Lord is rather strong-willed and hot-tempered and has been in a black mood all month. Hans was drunk; he came back and spent most of the night sick - one of the kitchen women he is friendly with was looking after him. He said stuff to her, she passed it on in gossip to the kitchen staff, was over heard by a guard who told an officer, who told the Lord. Mithros knows how garbled and incorrect the information was, but he sent for Warren, Hans and Godfrey. Robert heard from the maid who came to wake him that the Lord was in a state fit to be tied because Warren had been consorting with foreign mages from across the sea hired by the Guilds to magic the dragon down river to sink the Lord's river boats. Robert thought that if we could magic the dragon why not just magic the boats. Lord Manfred, like most of the Lords on the river, is sick of paying guild rates for shipping or carting basic stuff about inside his own lands and to Page 9 and from his neighbours, while being expected to pay for the roads, tow paths, and docks, but not being able to tax the guilds to help pay for them. » Some old Empire law says some Guilds only pay tax to the Emperor, but the Emperor helped the lords pay for roads then too. > He and others have tried to run their own boats, but there was a sudden rise in bandits and river pirates who hit only non-guild boats, so now he is building escort boats and patrol craft. Once he has control of the river - all of the river - and more of his own cargo boats, it will be impossible for the guilds to force the Council of Lords to back down on the tax and other issues. > The Lord’s black mood is because the Pirates recently hit boats with key supplies for arming patrol craft, stole the cargos and burned the boats. The boats had an escort but they laid a trap for the escort. Intriguing Roland 12" Thaw. We wake bright and early, and after a hearty breakfast, we are ready for another day on Star Wings . This time, Robert is carried by Grendal. Reaching Swansford, another 70 miles downstream, we hide our Drum, and Loxi and I, with Grendal & Robert, make our way into town. Swansford is not really fortified, although it is walled. Robert leads us to Roland’s pleasant little cottage in town. He is out back, reaping herbs. After a moment, the maid allows us through. Roland is a male human, about 40ish, who smells of herbs. He is a druidic Earth mage and Herbalist with some Healer — bones but not organs, at a guess. His best spell is Lesser Enchantment (15), followed closely by Earth Elemental (14). Loxi and he talk shop for a while. He is also not keen on Dragon hunting, but bound to Sir Konrad’s wishes. We assist him into realising that coming along is the best course of action. After some quickened sorting and processing of his herbs, we chivvy him inside to get ready. He comes back wearing Bronze dragon skin armour and with a massive Hand and a Half sword on his back. This is my sort of healer. We take Roland back to camp at noon. He is a little taken aback by Drum’s appearance. We talk interminably about various things, including much human humour. Eventually GoK and I start to train him for flying, but apparently Earth mages need special care when learning to fly. Loxi gives him some much simplified advice. We just have time to squeeze in a little afternoon tea before taking to the air on Star Wings. It never Rains but it Pours It is overcast, and the weather worsens rapidly as we fly downstream. Soon the drizzle turns to rain, and the wind picks up. Lightning flashes in the distance, and thunder becomes a steady background rumble. As the rain thickens and turns to hail, the wind starts to gust and swirl. Soon we have trouble keeping a straight flight path and level altitude. As night falls early due to the stacks of black thunderclouds covering the sky, visibility is reduced to maybe a hundred yards in the driving rain, between the rapid lightning flashes. We manage to fly for a total of maybe 4 hours. With the party in danger of drowning, getting lost, splitting up or flying into the ground, we are forced to look for shelter. We find an open barn — a roof twenty feet off the ground, with a thin layer of hay left over from the winter. The humans are comforted by the pastoral smell, and the earth mages are desperate for the feel of earth between their toes, so we land near this pathetic covering, and string up a few paltry tarpaulins to slow the near- horizontal water as it beat itself against our tired and hungry bodies. Despite my rational suggestion of finding a farmhouse, the rest of the party decide to huddle around a small and wind-blown fire, and after meagre portions of gruel, we sleep. The night is miserable. Grendal does his best, but his waterproofing magic doesn't affect my clothes, and I am soaked to the skin and chilled, although he does stop my hair from frizzing, which saves half an hour of brushing in the morning. The thunder keeps everyone jumpy, and what with being able neither to see nor hear incoming people, and everyone, sane or otherwise, under cover for the night, watches are an exercise in futility. 13" Thaw. Eventually a watery dawn breaks, as the rain dies down to a light drizzle. We fly for three hours, drying out slowly in the cool damp air. We believe we are in the right area for the town in which we hope to meet Sir Konrad. If nothing else, if he has come through or is expected, he is a big enough hero to have people talking about him. We see a village. Roland tentatively identifies it as Beacon Hill. Grendal, Phaeton, and Roland are sent into the village with the instructions “we want directions, dead or alive". After they go in, Loxi and I realise our fatal flaw — why did we send the menfolk in for directions? They’'ll never admit they are lost. After an hour they return from the village with a woman and two men in tow. Drum and I each take cover in our own way. Grendal and Phaeton introduce the woman as Vandra the Enchantress — the biggest risk to the mission, and they bring her back to camp alive! She’s pretty enough to have the men eating out of her hand, though, and I guess you can’t blame men for thinking with the wrong organ. They explain to the party how they met her. Page 10 What the Enchantress said » Sir Konrad is due here at Beacon Hill at the junction of the Swan River and the Heron (tributary) river either later today or early tomorrow, he was within range of her Locate last night and she only has a range of about a day’s travel. » She expects him to bring a similar number of guards to her. She has 30 men. He will be travelling by horse with wagons and pack animals. » The plan is to go up the Swan River together by horse, with the boat for the heavy stuff, pick up Roland at Swansford, and meet the others at Bald Hill just before the tourney. They would then hire on more men either there or in New Hope before going dragon hunting in the mountains. > Konrad is 6'4" with red hair and has several scars on his arms and body. He has been using a green dragon banner for several years now and wears dark green dragon skin armour. » He is a younger son of a younger son from one of the local less influential noble houses; few younger sons of such houses can afford to compete in the jousts in the tourneys, and the ones who can are usually employed in the guards of other more powerful and wealthy noble houses. > Konrad’s success without a patron and obvious mixed bloodlines have made him very popular with a lot of the barbarians and mixed younger sons. > The old powerful noble houses would be more worried about his barbarian and minor noble following if he was more political and less interested in killing giants, centaurs, dragons and other monsters. » He draws a lot of the restless youth off dragon and monster hunting with him. » Vandra, Warren and Konrad all have skill in command although Warren is the best at it; each has slightly differing specialties. » Konrad is a warrior like Warren; he is equally good with either hand. Konrad favours using Axes over Swords like a lot of the northern forest barbarians do, and has a special Great Axe he likes to use. It is noon, and they sit down for a meal. Loxi asks what Vandra’s opinion of dragon hunting is, and it appears than she too is not keen on continuing, but feels compelled by Konrad’s presence. After two dragons, the rest of their group said enough, but Knorad overrode them through sheer force of will. This effect seems to be a binding by Konrad rather than a one-off geas. There is speculation that being in Konrad’s vicinity, in his presence, or talking to him is enough to trigger some charm or compel — bardic voice is used as an analogy. Vandra says that Emma hasn't divined specifically for this effect, but nothing has leapt out at them. We set a trap for Sir Konrad It appears that we move into the plan that Loxi and I discussed when the boys were off in the village. We send an expendable into his vicinity, return and divinate, send one into his presence, return and divinate, get one to talk to him, return and divinate, and finally get one to talk to him about dragons, return and divinate. If the effects are as strong as we suspect, a quick conversation should be enough to test the change. The key points here are to send in people we (a) don't absolutely need; (b) can subdue easily; (c) don't understand the plan and niceties. This rules out Loxi and myself on (c), Drum and Grendal on (b), and Phaeton on (a). Neither the Human nor GoK are easy to stop, both have many resources available, but they are not in Grendal and Drum'’s league for weirdness, and are not quite up with the full plan. These are our expendables at this point. Plus Robert and Roland, if needed. I will remain in hiding as a reserve, along with Drum. This gives us sufficient movement, stealth, counter-magic, charm and brains to survive unless Sir Konrad produces an overwhelming passive area effect compel. I think I'll back off a little when he arrives. Konrad takes the Bait We decide that it is better to meet Sir Konrad in camp before he gets to the village of Beacon Hill. Vandra points out the direction he is in, and I head down there on Star Wings to check out where he might camp. Unfortunately, it's mid- afternoon, and he’s only got six miles of road left to go. The good news is that the road travels along the edge of a swamp. In addition, the horses pulling his carts, while unimpressed with the occasional bee-sting, really don't like insubstantial sets of Star Wings appearing out the ground and cruising about under their hooves at walking pace. I think it was the sheets of sparkly lights folding over them. After determining the horses’ temperament and the viscosity of the swamp, I judge that they will not be able to make the village by nightfall, and head back to report on a likely camping spot. We give them time to calm down and extract their horses from the swamp. The party heads through town, picks up a horse and cart, and rides out to near the incoming party. There seems to be around 40 warriors from multiple clans, under green banners of dragons, led by an impressive-looking specimen, wearing green dragon skin armour and festooned with large axes. This brute is Sir Konrad. After careful instructions from Loxi, Grendal fills GoK's mind with so many hypnotisms and mind links and TPs and compels that GoK completely forgets he is only pretending to be a human barbarian. GoK swaggers over the hill to try to get Sir Konrad to use his magical convincing talent. Page 11 GoK joins the group readily enough, and falls in with Sir Konrad, chatting away about various issues, like dragon slaying, the place of women, the use of magic, how small Sir Konrad looks, why he hides behind women, why GoK cant be bothered thumping Sir Konrad, and so on. They bond fairly well. The troupe of thugs has decided to push on through the twilight to the village. Suddenly, for no discernable reason, Sir Konrad turns on GoK and draws an axe. GoK is still without a good sword, and so casts a powerful defensive spell, completely unable to remember that he had taken cold iron with him to prevent himself wantonly DA-ing people. Four seconds and two lucky blows later, Sir Konrad has broken both GoK’s arms with the edge of a Great Axe. Due to his skill and invulnerability, GoK is almost untouched, rather than cut in four as his audience expects. Unfortunately, he can't raise his arms to defend himself, and after a mighty struggle, the two-score thugs manage to subdue him, and toss him into the swamp. During the struggle, Grendal has circled their carts, and now skips into the swamp, and casts a water breathing, thereby allowing GoK to maintain his newly lowered profile, and avoid losing any dignity. I skip ahead to the village and book two rooms at the inn, so that the party has somewhere to stay before the horde descends on the village. We manoeuvre GoK upstairs just in time, and Roland & Phaeton set to work on an arm each. GoK is completely unbruised, and the breaks are clean, but it will still be 20-30 hours before he is back to his magnificent best. Sir Konrad is Quite Reasonable That evening, Vandra & Roland greet Sir Konrad, and invite him and two of their new-found friends — Grendal and myself — to dinner. Via DA and Mind Speech, the conversation is tracked by an attentive audience. After half a hour or so, it seems that Sir Konrad has won all present over to his point of view on the hierarchy of races, and the need to wipe out all the races apart from the elves — although I think he liked the humans. I think his position is a little OOT, and some mild oppression and education would suffice, but it is not really appropriate to argue with our host. The rest of the party are horrified, and after dinner, they try to determine how far Grendal has succumbed to Sir Konrad’s evil charms. To prevent anyone taking matters into their own hands, I ensure the entire party will remain friendly. This apparently interferes with their aura readings of Sir Konrad's effects. Grendal and I wind the rest of the party up a bit, taking extreme positions, to teach them for doubting our resilience. The rest of the night is peaceful, as neither of us needs take a watch. So we Kidnap Him