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| fooberichu |
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www.seeleyware.com
Joined: 6/29/2007
Posts: 178
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4/20/2007
Leaving the caverns, we left Darby behind with Crespin and the
haggard former prisoners. Continuing along the road with Mort as
our "scout", we encountered some rather large footprints that sank
several inches into the ground under the weight of whatever humanoid
caused them.
Following the footprints, we eventually came back to the road (we had
been following along under the cover of the trees), and continued
tracking the large creature. It wasn't long before we neared the
edge of the tree line where a large area had been cleared around the
fortification where Hugo had previously taken up residence. We could
tell that things had been rebuilt since we were last here, though
after Mort climbed up a tree and Kess scouted ahead, we couldn't see
anybody about. That didn't mean much as we knew about the large
labyrinth below the fortification.
Rather than try to infiltrate the fortification and find ourselves
grossly outnumbered, we decided to return to the small Brotherhood
outpost nearby and make use of the scrying stone there. Coming upon
the outpost, we noted that a candle was lit in the upstairs floor and
the window wide open.
Kess was volunteered to scout it out again and came back moments
later telling us that there was a man—presumably a mage seeing as he
had no armor or weapons nearby—sleeping in a bed. The man had dark
hair and a complexion befitting Celestine. This was good because, in
the least, he was not Suul by outward appearance.
I'm not quite sure how it fell to me, but I was volunteered to go
knock on the door and announce my presence. I'm wasn't particularly
fond of the idea, but I couldn't think up a better way to see if
these people were the Brotherhood or members of the Suul company. I
asked Kess if he would keep his bow ready should I suddenly jump out
of the way. He was happy to comply.
Knocking heavily on the door, I heard a commotion inside as some
pottery was sent crashing to the ground. A few moments passed before
the door was opened by the man and he asked who I was. Figuring that
if they were enemy and I announced my name that would result in quick
retaliation, and if friend, they would instantly recognize who I was,
I stated that I was Griswold Grumby and I needed to make use of their
scrying stone. He was notably taken aback—perhaps because I knew
they had a stone, or perhaps because of the preposterousness of my
request—either way, he asked me to repeat myself. I did so.
After some senseless bantering and going back and forth, he finally
decided to let me come in and I asked if I would be allowed to bring
another comrade. At first he wasn't so sure he wanted to do that
(that should have been my first clue he was not Brotherhood, but I
was too caught up in what was going on to realize that). When I
suggested that the individual I wanted to accompany me was
Schmendrick (yes, I did tell him that was who was with me) he was
more than glad to allow it. I called for Schmendrick to approach,
and in we went.
Schmendrick wasted no time in wanting to move upstairs, despite the
man's protests. He asked if we had the paperwork—I haven't had
enough time within the Brotherhood to know if we needed it… for that
matter, I haven't even been taught if there are certain ways to
signal another Brotherhood and identify yourself as another member—so
I merely stated that Schmendrick had it. Schmendrick either ignored
me or knew that was farce, for he pushed past and went straight to
the teleporter. The man wanted nothing more than to get upstairs
before Schmendrick so he hurriedly ducked past him and went through
it. Schmendrick followed closely on his heels as I did on
Schmendrick.
Popping through to the other side, I was a little disoriented from
the teleportation but as I recovered, I noted that Schmendrick was
still up against the wall and preparing a spell. On that note, I
knew something was amiss and began preparing one of my own. Now, I
feel it necessary to point out that I have been trying really hard
lately to take down opponents with non-lethal means. There was, for
instance, the soldier in the caverns who I washed down. I haven't
ever really used that spell so I wasn't sure how effective it'd be,
but at least I thought it would push him down. Instead, it just gave
him a high-powered bath. Probably felt good, now that I think about
it. Anyway, I prepared a spell of a high-powered air jet and hit the
mage who had answered the door. It pushed him to the wall but didn't
even manage to knock him down. Bah! What ensued was a bunch of
fluff.
Basically, we got into a shouting match between both sides. They
wanted us to "leave" because "we weren't welcome here" and such
nonsense as that. What's more, they stated that Schmendrick had been
expelled from the Brotherhood on the grounds of not serving their
best interests, yet couldn't give us a specific date or time when it
happened; what they could tell us is that it was while we were on
Brotherhood duty to get rid of the wraith. Red flag. This continued
on for a little longer until it was clear (to them) that they were
not going to get us to leave. The mage who had previously attacked
Schmendrick was charging up another spell and the one I had puffed on
had a wand out pointing at me.
Suddenly an arrow shot through the one on the left's hand (this is
the one nearest Schmendrick) and pinned it to the wall. I was
silently and momentarily pleased to know that Kess had somehow
managed to scale up high enough to shoot the bugger, though
disappointed he didn't go for a more lethal shot. My thoughts were
quickly dispelled as I saw a blast coming from the other mage's wand
towards me and luckily was prepared enough to blink out of the way.
Coming to the other side, I saw Kess leap through the window, pull a
dagger, and hurl it towards the mage who had just attempted to hit
me. He disappeared and I heard some panicked screaming outside
immediately afterwards. Turning back towards the mage who was
attacking Stitch I was pleased to watch Stitch's scimitar hack the
man's other hand off and Stitch follow through with a staff to his
jaw. Seeing the man stagger but not drop, an inner battle ensued as
I tried to fight off the desire to finish him off. I failed.
Taking the ice dagger I had just barely prepared for the mage who
attacked me, I hurled it into Stitch's assailant's back and was
pleased to watch him drop gurgling to the ground.
From outside, I heard Mort call "this one is still alive!" to which
the inner battle once again resumed. This time reason was able to
fight off my undying need to see my enemies pulverized and bloodied
and not finish the man off. As things calmed down, it was apparent
that the man I had hit from behind was not dead like I thought, and
Stitch was busy stabilizing him so we might interrogate him. Mort
had dragged the other one inside and placed him back on his bed, then
come upstairs.
With that done, we proceeded directly to using the scrying stone. I
attempted to use it at first, trying to see into the fort and other
areas, but it remained sitting on Mort's home (the last place to be
scryed). I decided to zoom in on Mort's home and move around in it
trying to find what they were looking for, but could not find
anything particularly interesting. Stitch pushed me aside and
muttered something about my incompetence, then began using it. It
was pleasing to see that he couldn't scry the fort nor the other
locations I attempted to look at, but he moved forward and we looked
up other places and individuals.
Kess was pleased to learn the location of one Shadrii, a relative of
his I suppose. Mort found the locations of several dead sentinels,
as well as locations of all living ones (though it flipped so quickly
through those it was hard to remember them all). We learned where
Hugo would resurrect—some Suul town near Redcliffe that was heavily
fortified and well hidden. Additionally, we learned that *I* am
indeed Edward Grumby, something I really was hoping to find wasn't
true. Much of the information we learned pointed us towards
Pangoria, Stitch has wanted to go there for some time, as have I, but
now it seems all of my comrades have need to go there.
It was decided that I should interrogate the mage who had fallen
after his failed teleportation and nearly died; I healed him slightly
and had Kess drag him to the cellar where I woke him and proceeded to
interrogate him. I learned that he called himself "Dave", though he
didn't seem so sure about that—must've been a lie. I learned that he
worked for something called "the Organization", and that his purpose
here was to spy specifically on Stitch and I, but also our comrades
because we were "of interest" to them. Additionally, they were
unconcerned with the Suul up the road (read allies), and reported all
of this to one Lorena who supposedly was reporting her info to the
guard. As the interrogation proceeded, he grew increasingly edgy and
uneasy; I should have ended his right then but he was freely giving
information such as the fact that he was given magic and the ability
to study it in exchange for his spying on us, unfortunately I was so
taken in by all I was getting out of him that I failed to notice him
prepare a spell and he successfully teleported away.
Knowing we now had very little time to get out of here before
possible retaliation, I went upstairs to notify my comrades. Stitch
promptly grabbed the man he had stabilized and threw him from the
window. Taking that as my cue, I asked Kess to go finish him off to
which he gladly complied with a sinister grin on his face. Stitch
wanted to recover the orb and take it back to the Brotherhood, so I
went with Kess to retrieve Darby; Kess stayed behind with the people
we had rescued whilst I took Darby back to Stitch. I returned back
to the people, not wanting to be anywhere near the orb should it be
destroyed while they attempted to remove it.
Gladly they returned unharmed and we returned to town to give our
report. I had Jarrod summoned immediately and filled him in on the
events, and then went to report to the Brotherhood. I told them
everything, including that Stitch was Schmendrick (which seemed to
surprise them); they thanked me for my report, took the orb, and then
let me be.
I returned to the inn (where I had been waiting for the Brotherhood
to contact me) and was met by great cheering. Apparently my telling
of the previous days' happenings had grown much larger than my
retelling and everybody was impressed with Mort and I. I enjoyed the
rest of the night with my relative fame, and then went back home to
sleep it off.
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| fooberichu |
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www.seeleyware.com
Joined: 6/29/2007
Posts: 178
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5/4/2007
Having returned to my home after reporting to the Brotherhood, I
slept a deep yet troubled sleep. My mind kept returning back to the
Brotherhood's outpost near the keep, back to the moment where we
asked the scrying orb where Edward Grumby was and found it looking at
me.
Over the last several months many events had passed to strongly
suggest that perhaps I was indeed Edward, not to mention Stitch's
adamant conclusion of the same, but I was grasping the willowy wisp
of hope that this would prove to be false. That small hope was
dashed to pieces with the clarity that came by way of the scrying
orb, leaving me no chance to dispel the notion that I, Griswold, was
indeed Edward the Destroyer.
Dreams filled my fatigued mind as I slipped out of reality and into
the unconquered world of wonder and fantasy. Drifting away on the
fog of imagination, I found myself back in the castle where I had
awoken after speaking with Sujo back in Dagonhold. The room was
familiar, yet distant… I couldn't place a finger on what seemed to be
different. Pulling myself out of bed, I began to investigate the
room with a renewed interest in who I was to become… or perhaps who I
had been.
Flipping through books and my notes, I was unable to find anything
out of the ordinary or describing how I had come to be there. For
that matter, most of what I read seemed blurry to me and I couldn't
make out the words.
The rest of the events from my previous dream flashed by—meeting the
Emperor, defending the city, destroying the city, meeting my end…
alone. Alone.
I woke the next morning fresh, but with a heavy weight on my mind.
My first thought centered on my heritage. If indeed I was Edward
Grumby, then that would mean I am actually my own ancestor.
Confusion washed over me as I puzzled over the implications of that.
Perhaps I am not actually Edward Grumby himself… at least, not in
that regard… but perhaps I am a reincarnation of his embodiment in
some fashion, like maybe his spirit somehow follows his progeny so
strongly that the orb mistook me for Edward? Here I am grasping at
the wisp of hope again; hoping that I am not Edward himself. No, I
doubt that could be it. Questions to ask that may never be answered…
who am I?
Discarding the thoughts and questions that plagued my mind, I set to
preparing breakfast. I didn't feel like going to the inn this
morning and wanted nothing more than to be alone. Alone? Yes,
alone, just like in the dream. Was I destined to die a lonely man?
My thoughts were interrupted by a knock at my door; Stitch. I let
him in and offered him some breakfast. After some chitchat about the
previous day, I suggested we start identifying the items we lifted
from Hugo and his comrades, see if they were cursed and if not, what
use they might have to us. He stayed in my common area while I
retreated to my bedroom where I stayed the next several hours working
on identifying the items. I started with the eye patch and learned
that it had one single use—casting a spell to create a "Wizard's
Eye", much like the one that had been spying on us while looking for
traps back in the caves. Useful… somewhat. I moved on to the amulet
I had secreted and learned that while it would be useful to me, it
would be more useful to Mort who seemed to succumb to the sort of
thing this particular amulet guarded against—mind magics.
Feeling that we had spent long enough, I returned to my common area,
collected Stitch, and we went to the Merchant's Last in order to meet
up with our comrades. Kess was there, but Crespin and Mort were
not. Apparently they had been, but went off on some errand of
Mort's. With no reason to go anywhere else, we merely waited.
Luckily, we didn't wait long.
Crespin and Mort returned and I was quick to notice a very large and
obviously magical shield hanging from Mort's back. I took note of
that in the back of my mind and invited them to join us. Sitting
down right next to me, Mort stated that he had something more to add
to my list for identification; feigning ignorance, I asked what it
was. With pride welling up in his eyes, he stated that it was the
shield, an heirloom belonging to his family which had, up until
recently, been in the possession of another individual. Pulling him
closer, I asked him to give me the stone he had acquired after we
mopped up Hugo and his comrades in exchange for the amulet. He was a
little hesitant at first, until I told him what the amulet could do…
he was glad to oblige.
More time passed as we discussed our next task—catching up to the
Army in order to help them take out the Suul encampment and Hugo's
place of resurrection. Whilst we were discussing, the innkeeper
approached me with another mug of ale; I was confused at first,
trying to remember if I had ordered one; he dispelled my confusion
explaining that a couple (and pointing towards them back at the bar)
were asking about Griswold's Irregulars and bought me the drink. I
glanced their way, sized them up, and asked Mort to go see what they
wanted.
Getting to his feet, the hulking Mort tromped towards the individuals
and began talking to them. All three of them kept glancing my way.
Seeing Mort turn to approach, I stood and walked to him. He
explained that their names were Kern (the short ugly beast of a man)
and Elaina (the tall, incredibly beautiful and lithe woman). They
were looking for employ in our group; Elaina was good at "finding out
things" and Kern at "planning things". That sent up a red flag for
me being we are currently the object of intense scrutiny by a certain
group of individuals. I explained my concerns to Mort who suggested
that if they were indeed spies, wouldn't it be better to have them
close where we can keep an eye on them rather than let them be out on
the loose. I concurred. He returned to them and stated that I would
talk to them, to which I approached and began to interrogate them.
I learned that Kern was the son of a somewhat well-known military
planner who retired about the time I joined the military. He
explained that was why he knew what he did—he learned at his father's
feet. Elaina's father served with Kern's father and that is how they
came to meet, though I had never heard of her father before. No
matter, I learned that she possessed exactly the skills we were
lacking—that of a good rogue. Ever since Pip left in pursuit of love
rather than glory, we have had to resort to axes or magic to open
locks. I hope she proves to be useful in that regard.
Offering them a base salary of 650/cp per month (50 more than the
average mercenary should make), plus potential booty share should
they prove themselves worthy, they accepted. Having no reason to
beat around the bush, I told them to get their gear together because
we needed to leave immediately for our next assignment—accompanying
the Army on a siege. Kern displayed obvious delight in the idea of a
siege, while Elaina tried to calm him down. I was reminded of when I
first met my comrades and how I viewed them as young, inexperienced
brats who were merely out looking for something different that their
humdrum lives in a farm town. My original impression of my comrades
was wrong… I hope that proves to be the same with these new additions
to our company.
We marched hard to catch up to the army that evening. Joining the
ranks, I was invited to dine with Jarrod where I discussed with him
the day to come. Having never been in a battle where there was
potential collateral damage (civilians, slaves), I wasn't certain how
we were to operate. He explained that while we should try not to
damage collateral, we certainly shouldn't leave ourselves open or
endangered by trying to keep them from harm. Fair enough… I assume
they will be out of the way during the assault anyway.
While dining, Darby approached me and took me aside. He explained
that he figured he could get much closer than Jarrod's scouts were
able because he could use nature's power to transform him into a bird
and would not be detected as magical because of the way his God's
power worked. I was glad to hear that and asked him if he would
perform that task, for this information would prove most useful. He
was happy to oblige and went his way… returning late that night to
report. I took note of everything he told me and, the next morning,
relayed everything to Jarrod (who was also receiving lecture from
Kern about how he should go about preparing the siege). Jarrod took
into account what I told him and seemed to at least listen to Kern;
Kern had some good ideas, so I hoped Jarrod would incorporate them
into the battle plan.
Battle ensued. It was long and bloody, though a complete and total
victory for our side. Our troops performed miraculously, showing the
superiority of our forces to the Suul. Even the large stone golems
the Suul had on their side, while hulking and powerful, were unable
to break our lines. Between the advance force of elites (including
Mort and Crespin), and the barrage of magic from our artillery line,
we were able to drop the golems and continue our advance. Our
archers were able to infiltrate the walls and towers and use them
against the city; Kess performed just as expected, obliterating a
unit of enemy mages quickly and efficiently. Several enemy soldiers
attempted scaling their stockade to escape and I watched as Kess
seemed to lose all sense of cowardice I had seen him have as he
chased after them on horseback, picking them off one by one. His
skill was legendary.
I used my powerful magic to blow holes in the enemies ranks, flinging
their bodies about like ragdolls as my concussion missiles dropped in
their midst. My mind filled with fury as the memories of my dreams
came back… the advancing Suul army towards Aerith; my stopping them,
but destroying Aerith in the process. I fought hard and strong, not
wishing to see any one of them survive the process.
Winding to an end, the battle died down and we freed the slaves and
took several prisoners. Stitch was able to move their portal until
our mages were able to collapse it. Gavon cleansed the graveyard to
prevent Hugo or any of their people from returning to life there.
We accompanied the army back to the keep to ensure it was free from
Suul presence, which it was, and Jarrod left some soldiers there (as
well as some soldiers and some of the former slaves who wished to
back at the previously Suul town). Parting ways the next day, we
continued our journey to Pangoria.
The journey to Pangoria has so far been mostly uneventful… though one
particular event has proved to be useful. Recently while traveling,
we came across a woman who was bound to a tree in such fashion that
she could hold herself up, but eventually as she wearied, she would
hang herself. Feeling like we had no business with that, I wanted to
move on… but being the type of individual he is, Mort wanted to get
her down and free her. He did so and after freeing her and giving
her some water, he questioned her about her plight. She explained
that she had broken up a marriage in the town just up the road
(unawares that the man was married) and because he was brother of a
high ranking official, she was to be executed for it. That seemed
pretty harsh for something like that, so Mort wanted to look into it
further rather than just let her go. Since we were heading into
town, I figured we might as well.
Stitch cast an illusion over her so she wouldn't look herself (and
thus attract the attention of the townsfolk and be tied up again);
his favorite person, apparently, is Crespin's mother. The illusion
he crafted of Crespin's mother was fairly close to her likeness but,
as Crespin pointed out, his mother didn't tend to wear dresses that
were so low-cut in the front, displaying as much cleavage as Stitch
created. On the same token, Crespin's mother didn't have THAT MUCH
cleavage to show, even if she did wear low-cut dresses. Stitch
feigned ignorance, and except for Crespin, we all let it go.
Arriving in town, we asked a couple of men near the town entrance
about the woman who was tied up a ways out. They explained that she
had killed "Tom's" wife after seducing Tom and using magic to have
him fornicate with her. We listened closely and Crespin blurted that
if they wanted her to have justice and have time to think about what
she did, a cell would be much better suited than leaving her out
where nobody was watching her. They realized their folly and ran out
to check on her. We all chuckled a little after they left, and
entered the bar.
My comrades were all able to piece together more of what happened by
talking to various people, and Mort was able to garner some
information about the apparent murder. Having a stroke of genius, he
suggested we acquire the knife used in the murder and that I could
use my magic to learn what really happened. Good idea. I found use
for the little "Wizard Eye", and went outside to use it. I guided it
in to Tom's house and scouted around a while before I found the knife
in a garbage heap behind his house. Returning to the tavern, I told
Mort where it was and we asked Kern to go retrieve it (since he is so
dang ugly, people won't really watch him and half expect him to be
rummaging around in garbage anyway). He returned shortly and went
upstairs. I followed shortly after and he handed me the knife. I
spent some time learning first about the user of the knife (that
being Safron), and learned that overall, she is a good hearted person
if not a little self-serving. I had my doubts that she really did
perform this heinous crime, at least in anything other than self
defense. I moved on to the spell I uncovered back in Dagonhold…
after my experience with that spell and Crespin, I was hesitant to
use it… but this was an important reason. I think I found myself
intrigued with Ms. Safron and now I wanted to exonerate her of any
wrongdoing. That in and of itself was odd, because I typically don't
care about other people OR their plights.
Using my magic, I was able to watch the events of the previous week
unfold, as from the perspective of the knife. I watched the glint as
Safron used it for mundane tasks – eating, cutting things, etc… and
found myself even more intrigued with her and her beauty. She is in
no wise more attractive than the next Celestine, yet there was
something about her that drew me to her. As the images progressed to
the day in question, I watched as it was pulled and saw another woman
with a club advancing on Safron. The woman with the club attacked
her and hit her, then an all out brawl and wrestle ensued. As they
were wrestling, the knife gave teasing glances at Safron's intimate
areas, enticing me even in the heat of her battle. As quickly as it
began, it was over… Safron's knife protruding from the woman's chest,
Safron being grabbed by her hair and yanked up, then beaten by the
man who she had supposedly seduced. I was infuriated, but was able
to keep it within so Kern would not see my reaction. Should we
return back this way in the future, I shall have to deal with Tom.
Returning to the tavern below, I whispered to Mort what I had seen
and exonerated Safron of wrongdoing. I invited her to stay in my
room that night, to which she hesitated (and not because she didn't
want to, but because she didn't want to appear that way), which I
followed up with that it would be for protection. She was able to
agree with that, though of course later that night, as Stitch's
illusion dropped, we proceeded to become better… acquainted… with
each other. Maybe after all I won't be alone…
We left town and after leaving Safron was no longer required to wear
the illusion. She was able to be herself. I let her ride on my
horse with me, telling her stories about all of our conquests,
starting with my integration into the military on through my time
with my comrades. She was enraptured with my tales and seemed to be
growing closer to me emotionally instead of just physically.
This morning as we were breaking camp, we were approached by a man
asking if we knew what happened to the town we were heading toward.
We stated we had no idea and asked him what he meant. He explained
that a huge hole was in the ground and there was blood and gore all
throughout the town, yet no living being. Stitch fashioned another
one of his fables about a Coreworm that can feel the vibrations of
creatures walking on the ground and is attracted to those vibrations
and comes up to eat them. The perfect hole in the ground is made by
a Coreworm when it surfaces, and it obviously found much meat to feed
on in the town. The man excused himself and said he wanted to get as
far away as possible.
Mort just mentioned that there are a couple men on horses approaching
and it appears as if they are coming towards us… I wonder what they
are about…
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| fooberichu |
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www.seeleyware.com
Joined: 6/29/2007
Posts: 178
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6/1/2007
It has been many months since my last episode, but today I
experienced the hazy fog of my wayward mind. As the shroud of
occlusion lifted from my mind, I found myself in an inn surrounded by
my comrades and in the presence of some man who seemed to keep
directing questions my way.
As with my previous episodes, apparently I had continued functioning
in a somewhat drone-like state, acting out my life as an automaton.
Aaron—the man trying to gather information from us—was sure that I
was Schmendrick. Acting the fool, the party and myself had
apparently asked him what a "schmendrick" was, hoping to throw him
off. He was fairly insistent, however, and followed us back to town
talking about the mayor—the man who had come looking for
his "Theraphyn"—and filling us in on the local happenings.
In my downtime, apparently the mayor—one Korvis—had tracked
his "theraphyn" to us and was insistent that we had it in our
possession. Wary of an elaborate bandit scheme, my comrades were
hesitant and handled the confrontation fairly well. They filled me
in that, in the end, the "theraphyn" had been found in Kess'
possession, likely planted there by the man we had shared breakfast
with prior to Korvis' appearance. More strange than him planting the
device with us was the fact that he was supposedly dead and for some
time now. They let us be after Kess returned the device, and we went
on our way.
At some point while my comrades were filling me in, Aaron and Stitch
disappeared. I suspected they were somehow involved with each other
from Stitch's past but didn't want to press the matter. A short time
later, Stitch returned and stated that he was going to go ghost
hunting and would like our company. Having nothing better to do, I
agreed, and we waited the arrival of Aaron's other comrades.
Surprised, I found that one of the comrades was Winston—an individual
who attended the academy with me but was at the bottom of the class.
I hesitate to even call him a mage because of his poor performance.
We exchanged glances but both kept our distances, neither of us
wanting to acknowledge the other. I did catch a look of intense envy
his as he admired my staff; I gloated, to which he turned away
hurriedly in shame.
Readying ourselves to leave, three heavily armed men entered the inn
and began looking for Aaron. We noticed that he was missing but, not
really knowing the situation, simply ignored the men and left. Aaron
had made himself invisible upon their entrance and hoped to stay
hidden—even so much so that he didn't reappear until we entered the
library some several minutes later.
The library—an ancient structure worn with age—was the location of
our first and apparently most docile ghost. They—Aaron and party—had
put together a magical stone that they hoped to capture the ghost in
and learn of their origin and reasons for being here. It must be
noted that shortly before our arrival, the town had a major outbreak
of ghosts, some friendly, some hostile, and nobody knows exactly
why.
Our ghost was an older looking lady, causing chaos and disorder in
the library. She tended to ignore the people who were in there, but
of course the sight of a ghost causing such disarray made the library
a less than popular location (as if it was popular to begin with).
With the intention of getting her attention, I went and began
speaking with the ghost. She was quite cordial if not a little
distracted; we gleaned that she was trying to find a specific book
because she had not quite finished reading it. Stitch—whether trying
to cause her to stop looking, or just out of uncharacteristic
meanness—told her that he already knew the ending of the book: the
dog died. Needless to say, she was a little unhappy with that, but
kept on searching.
At some point, Crespin decided to scare the ghost and showed her his
sword of ghost-slaying. I doubt she had any inkling of it's true
nature, but rather, I think that she was scared merely by virtue of
it being a sword and he was clad head-to-toe in some awe-inspiring
armor. It took some time to calm her down again while we asked
Crespin to leave and Stitch decided to continue looking for the book.
Eventually we calmed her down and Stitch came back downstairs with
the book. While we were coaxing her and talking to her, Winston
finally managed to capture her in the stone, at which Stitch created
a pentagram and we let her back out to question her and let her read
the book.
Questioning her proved to be interesting, and revealed yet another
tantalizing hint that either I am indeed Edward Grumby or that his
presence carries so heavily with this staff that everybody who knew
him thinks I am him. Hmm… on the other hand, I distinctly remember
Elisar mistaking me for Edward back in the crystalline castle. Maybe
my hopes of autonomy are nothing but a fog not unlike the one that
takes my mind from time to time.
Sara—the ghost—stated that she remembered dating me some time ago.
She was rather certain of it until I asked her if she dated Edward
Grumby, though that doesn't necessarily mean much. He—or I?—could
have gone by a different name at that time. She used to live in
Aerith, some time before the Great Suul War, but moved out here to
become a librarian. That means that she very well could have known
Edward and more importantly, that she would have escaped Aerith's
destruction. She was surprised to learn that it had been destroyed,
which confirmed our suspicions that she was over a thousand years old.
Finishing our interrogation, if you would call it that, we returned
to the inn to spend the night. Saffron was anxiously awaiting my
return, afraid that perhaps we had run into trouble with the ghosts.
I was more than happy to assuage her fears and comfort her. It is
rather strange, I used to be such a cold-hearted selfish being but
yet I find myself caring for another human being much more than I had
ever imagined possible. Even when we first met her, my first impulse
was to leave her at the tree doomed to death, yet my ever-chivalric
companion Mort felt the necessity to free her. I am grateful he did,
for I have found a companion to share my burdens and, should
opportunity present itself, the rest of my life in this time. Maybe
if I really am Edward… perhaps she will somehow be brought along with
me, my only tie to the life I know…
We were recently awakened by the scream of a patron across the hall
from Saffron and I. Saffron and I were both very naked and tired, so
I took my time getting out of bed and getting ready. I could hear my
companions outside talking and what little I gathered it seemed that
a little green blob had touched her arm but ran when she screamed.
While I heard them moving about in her room, I looked up and noticed
that very same blob just inside my door slobbering rather
distastefully and looking directly at Saffron's exposed chest.
Without hesitation I conjured a bolt of ice and hurled at the foul
creature, splitting it right down the middle and putting a small hole
in the wall. The beast charged me and I teleported just out of the
way and watched it crash through our wall (perhaps "splatter" would
be the appropriate word?) and out of the inn.
Taking stock of the situation and making sure Saffron was ok, I heard
Stitch call out and ask if everything was ok in here. I stated that
everything was fine and that the beast had been in here but left.
Stitch persisted in trying to enter my room (likely hoping to catch
his own glimpse of her naked body). I loudly asked her to dress
herself, to which I heard Stitch mutter a curse, and after she was
dressed, opened the door. Together we investigated to see if we
could learn anything more before we finally surrendered and decided
to go back to sleep. I pulled Darby aside and asked him if he would
enshroud my room in mystical mist, not particularly wanting another
visit from our slimy friend. He complied.
Crespin finagled his way into inviting the other patron who had been
assaulted into his own room, likely hoping to get some hanky panky.
From the looks of it this morning, he didn't get what he wanted.
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| fooberichu |
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www.seeleyware.com
Joined: 6/29/2007
Posts: 178
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6/15/2007
I was awoken yet again this morning, this time at a more reasonable
hour. Apparently they (Aaron, Stitch, Mort, and Darby) had found
several bodies in a warehouse downtown that had been victims of the
Varu. They had discovered a broken dagger that belonged to the Varu
and needed my abilities to view the past to learn of their motives
and reasons for being in town. They took me down to the scene and I
spent the next several moments preparing my spell and was briefly
surprised as, upon casting, I was seemingly carried right into the
midst of the happenings roughly 24 hours before.
Ethereal and in between time, I saw the dagger sitting on a table in
the side of a room at the bottom of a warehouse. Nearby I noticed a
woman sitting in the corner, bound, gagged, and obviously terrified.
As I watched her, I could almost smell the fear exuding from her
person; feel the tension in the air as she waited an unknown fate.
Suddenly a being materialized into the room, stepping through the
walls much like one would step through an open doorway. The
individual—a tall, strong, sinewy Fallen with the malice of a
thousand hellhounds—reached towards the dagger and then ripped the
gag from the woman's mouth. He tormented her for what seemed like
ages but was, in reality, mere minutes. He interrogated her about
the tower in the center of town; its purpose, its secrets. He
barraged her with questions about the mages in town and, to my
surprise, about Schmendrick. Exhausted and out of answers, the woman
talked about people who might know something, whether they really did
or not, it was apparent she didn't care… she just wanted the torture
to stop. The Varu grinned a wicked smile, his lips curling around
his teeth in a snicker that bespoke evil. Without even a warning, he
grasped her hair and twisted her neck in an instant fatal snap.
One by one, I watched as the second Varu would bring prisoners into
the room, leaving them for the first Varu to torture and
interrogate. I was disgusted with his methods of interrogation,
things I would never have dreamt of doing on a prisoner. There was
one man, a mage by his looks, that at first defied the interrogator.
Seeing the man's arrogance and amazingly strong will, the Varu went
straight into pain tactics. He plunged the dagger deep into the
man's thigh and began twisting it slowly. The man's face drained of
color as the pain wracked his body and the poison began to spread,
yet he still maintained control. Seeing the strength this prisoner
exhibited only seemed to delight the Varu as he moved on to more vile
methods of torture until finally, his face contorted from the
excruciating pain he had been enduring culminated to its peak.
Barely managing to spit out the words, the mage began to spill out
names of all the folk he knew who were associated with the tower and
all the information he had on it. The Varu was pleased.
Gathering the information he was after, he Varu quickly killed the
man and cast his body to the floor. The body slapping wetly to the
floor, the bones broken and blood spilling, I saw out of the corner
of my eye the door slam open. Glancing upwards, I watched as a man
crashed through the door and began assaulting the interrogator. The
fight seemed to be moving well for him until the second Varu suddenly
materialized and joined the fray. What followed was quick, yet
helpful. I watched as the assailant somehow managed to destroy the
dagger, causing a backlash of magic that wounded the second Varu,
causing a spray of her blood to shower the walls and floor. The
assailant, unfortunately, also caught the blast and was tossed into
the wall, sounds of cracking sinew and the spray of blood from his
mouth proving that he was instantly dead. The Varu retreated through
the walls and disappeared, leaving the bloody mess and their dagger—
what was left of it—behind.
Shaking the visions of the past from my mind, I took a moment to
regain myself in the material world before asking Stitch to accompany
me to the other room. He stated that we should return to the inn and
there we could discuss what I saw; I realized that would be the
better course of action so that we did.
Stitch listened carefully as I recounted everything I had seen and
learned. I was sure to explain that the tower had an experimental
artifact that supposedly held the power to protect the entire city
from destruction. Additionally, the Varu knew that Schmendrick had
some connection to this city and were very active in trying to learn
what that was. Coming as no surprise to me, Stitch simply said that
we needed to get out of the city quickly. With that, I returned back
to Saffron and began my breakfast.
Breakfast was anything but uneventful. Not moments after I sat my
keester down to enjoy some mush did Aaron come in and sit himself
right across from me. He began talking to Mort and trying to
convince him that we should stay and help kill the Fallen rather than
let the city be destroyed. I continued eating. Aaron tried pulling
the "Sentinel Oath" card on Mort, basically trying to convince him
that because he is a Sentinel and their sworn oath is to protect the
innocent, Mort is obligated by duty to stay. I was impressed with
Mort as he heartily agreed, but stated that we are an incorporated
company of mercenaries and that I handle all deeds of business. With
that, Aaron turned towards me and began pestering me about it.
I agreed to listen to his story (after Mort flat out told him that he
has been lying this whole time or, in the least, withholding
information) so we went to another room to speak in private. He told
me how he knew about the artifact in the temple, how he had tracked
the Fallen, that the man who attempted to assault the Fallen were one
of his accomplices, that the artifact in the tower was completely
priceless and could not fall into their hands at any cost. Seeing
our opportunity to negotiate a perfect deal, and especially because
he had little by way of money to offer, I agreed on 5 gold, several
power stones, an amulet that helped with identifying other magical
trinkets, and the most priceless of all: his grimoire. I was not
surprised when he choked back after I stated our price; a mage's
grimoire is his identity… to share that is like sharing your
underwear with another person. His reply was nothing less than I'd
expect, that it was worth far more than anything he had offered
previously… my reply back was pure business—"just how much is it
worth to you that they don't get the artifact?" I had him.
Signing the contract was our last act to seal the deal after he
presented proof of goods. Again, I was not surprised when he
presented his spellbook and it was nothing but a jumbled mess of
notes in a worn notebook. Mages are not prone to spelling everything
out black and white unless their intention is that others CAN learn
from them. Most are more secretive about their studies and do not
wish to share that information.
We were now placed in the planning stage; how to go about this
mission? It was decided that since the Varu had received wounds in
the warehouse, we could use their blood to trace their location and
attack them. Figuring the warehouse would now be crawling with
soldiers, I stated that Aaron must return and retrieve the blood,
since he was the only one capable of making himself invisible… for
now. He was hesitant at first, but clearly saw that there was no
other way. With that, he and Mort left and I returned to my cold
breakfast and my waiting comrades.
Chomping my mush down, I was pleased to see Vance coming down the
stairs of the inn. I jumped up to greet him, something that clearly
surprised him as much as his appearance had surprised me. Quickly
catching up, I learned that his expedition had been cut short and he
was now headed to Pangoria to deliver a package. I suggested he join
up with us and was pleased when he agreed. Mentioning that since he
had never officially been disbanded from the group, I invited him to
join us on our recently acquired mission and was again pleased when
he agreed. I will be happy to have him at my side again; he is as
loyal a companion as those of legend, which is why I was pained with
his quick departure back in Tristen.
Still conversing with Vance, I heard the door open and turned to see
Mort and Aaron returning. Aaron came right up behind me and passed
me the vial, a motley mix of blood and grime. At exactly the same
moment, a man who had been sitting at a table nearby stood and
introduced himself as Alex. He was in the area looking for work as a
soldier and couldn't help but hear that that is precisely what sort
of work we were into. I stated that the job we were discussing
didn't necessarily have anything to do with combat, but would be glad
to hear him out. He explained how he was a retired soldier and had
served up in this area under General Manderson. While I had never
heard of Alex himself (not a surprise, seeing as he was just a
grunt), I had indeed heard of Manderson. Manderson was an aging
general who, in time past, had been near legendary in battle. Not
wanting to lose his brilliance by allowing him to retire, the army
relocated him to this area and had been using him to train new
officers and soldiers. I figured that, in the least, this man would
be good fodder in a fight and seeing as we really were going into
what could well be a big battle, I agreed to bring him on. Mort
suggested I give 5% of the booty from this mission with the
opportunity of continuance based on performance. He agreed.
I took my leave and went to my room to began my trace and see if I
could track down the Fallen using their blood. Luckily, I could. I
felt that they were 2.5 miles west of our location and saw a brief
vision of an abandoned mine. Returning to my comrades, I told Aaron
what I saw and he recognized the area. We wasted no time and rounded
up our comrades and gear, left our cook, porter, and Saffron in the
inn, and took our leave.
The trek was relatively quick, less than an hour at best. We
approached the mine and found it sealed. I turned and asked Darby if
he would do the honors and open it up for us—I am rather grateful we
picked him up back in the Silothreni lands all that time ago. He has
proved to be an invaluable asset to our company time and again, a man
loyal to us. I wonder if he travels with us only with the intention
of finding the Fallen and the demon they unleashed and, when we are
through with them, will part ways with us. While I hope that is not
true, I have a feeling that will be the case.
We entered the mine and searched around for some time before we go to
the point where I was certain we were within mere yards of where the
Fallen were concealed. While we sat discussing how we were going to
go about attacking them, a wraith appeared some 15-20 yards from
where we were standing and demanded to know what we were doing here.
Sometimes my comrades are good when it comes to planning and tactics…
other times they are nothing short of ludicrous. This was one of
those ludicrous times. Mort, Crespin, and Vance charged forward and
attacked it without second thought. I wonder if Vance was acting on
impulse spurned by our comrades or if something changed with him in
these past days. I'll have to remember to question him deeper about
his journey.
The battle that ensued was fairly quick but quite bloody. Alex,
trying to prove his worth to our party, ran to "protect" us mages who
had stayed behind as our more melee-oriented friends charged the
wraiths (yes, wraiths… two more appeared after Mort tried to slam the
first). While they were battling the wraiths, one of the Fallen came
at us from behind but was unlucky enough to be caught by the spell
Stitch had been preparing the entire time we were down in the
caverns. With a blinding flash of light as Stitch pointed his hand
at the Fallen and made his gesture, the Fallen disappeared. It was
then that I noticed Darby sinking to the ground, already ashen as the
poison from the Fallen's dagger coursed through his veins. It was
interesting that I didn't notice him when I first turned to see the
Fallen and hurled my ice dagger at him, only for the Fallen to
teleport a few feet away. Stitch was quick to act and healed Darby,
bringing him back to the battle.
Growling sounded behind us and I turned to see the demon the Fallen
had freed in the Silothreni lands charging down the caverns straight
at us. I heard movement behind me and stepped aside just in time for
Alex to run to the front and take a massive hit across his gut.
Blood spattered my robe, bits of flesh slapped my face and peppered
my hair. Amazingly, Alex attempted to retain his feet but slumped to
the ground. I was happy once again as I watched Stitch, now using
one of the powerstones Aaron had passed me, to banish this foul beast
back to whence it came. He was successful and an audible sigh passed
between us.
Darby quickly administered to Alex, bringing him back to his feet. I
made a mental note that he had indeed proven himself by placing his
person in front of the mages (something all soldiers were taught from
the beginning of training). He could prove useful. As we turned our
attention back to the battle waging between my comrades and the
wraiths, I saw a blade flash out of the wall and strike Winston in
the neck, nearly severing his head completely. Blood sprayed as
Winston's sinews, arteries and esophagus were ripped asunder, his
head tilting heavily to the side as it lost all power to hold
itself. He gargled as he tried to call out to us, his body twitching
violently as it began losing the life that held it firm. Darby
jumped to his aid as the rest of us formed a circle and I began
concentrating on the location of the Fallen. I was able to track her
movements, having the trace still active on her, and prevented her
from attacking the rest of us. I was again amazed at Darby's ability
to bring life to something I was certain was dead. Winston was
restored and, aside from the harrowing experience, was otherwise
normal. I cursed a silent curse as I had wished him dead—his time in
the Academy with me proved that he was a poser and would never amount
to anything.
The battle finished quickly from there as my comrades battered the
wraiths down to ethereal nothingness. The Fallen teleported away and
broke my trace, leaving us with the scant remains and trinkets she
and her banished comrade left behind. I wonder if this counts as
saving the city and we will now get paid?
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| fooberichu |
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www.seeleyware.com
Joined: 6/29/2007
Posts: 178
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6/29/2007
We returned to town after we were certain we would be unable to trace the Fallen and hesitant to trace her teleportation (lest she divert our teleport somewhere we don’t want to be).
Upon entering town we saw that the lights that had been pulsating and moving towards the tower had greatly increased in number and intensity, spurning the desire to investigate. Aaron had excused himself as well as Stitch and Darby while the rest of us moved to investigate.
Nearing the tower, there was a great throng of people surrounding it apparently interested in the happenings there. It didn’t take long for Mort to get an officer from the town guard to let us into the tower after learning that a “Mooring” woman had entered the tower with Corvis and his entourage—quite likely our Varu friend. Before we entered, Mort had asked Vance to go retrieve Stitch and Darby (forgetting to tell him why). A short time passed before Willy arrived with Vance and stated that Stitch was “busy”. Mort pressed Willy to tell Stitch why we wanted him to come and it wasn’t long before Stitch teleported to the base of the tower with Darby, Kern, Elaina, and Alex in tow.
Making our way into the tower, we were somewhat surprised to find it mostly empty yet with some very interesting devices set in the walls. There were some round platforms that lifted and descended between levels in the tower in a slow and steady fashion, providing the means to get between levels without the use of stairs. We made our way up the tower, bypassing the group of people discussing the happenings on the second level, until we reached the top. In one room we found a large pile of rubble appearing the same as the earth elemental we had encountered in the caves (courtesy of the Varu) so I used my magic to see how it got there and what it had seen. I didn’t learn much.
We continued up through a spiral staircase leading to the roof and found a large bear in there… Darby calmed it while Crespin went to move past… it followed him, growling. Darby did some more jumbo and managed to get it to calm itself so we could all pass.
Spilling out onto the roof, we saw a very strangely clad lady standing above a building atop the roof who asked us “are you gods?” Leave it to my impulsive companions to answer in a variety of ways such as “yes”, “no”, and “no, but we come in the name of Carthas”. That last one yielded a reply I suspected we’d find – a shot of lightning towards three of my companions.
Breaking into battle formation, we took up the fight against two large bear-things on either side of the building and the evil lightning chick atop the building. Mort charged the bear-thing closest us while Vance, Alex, and Crespin went for the other one. I attempted to hit her with a nice ice dagger but watched as she made the most unlikely leap 30 feet into the air and landing atop the small building lightly. I took that as my queue to prepare something a little more special for her and spent the next several seconds focusing my mind. While the rest were off fighting the bears, the chick kept throwing lightning at them here and there until at one point Kern seemed to draw her undying attention. She leapt from the building and landed right in front of him, swinging at him and nearly knocking him off the roof. That gave me just the edge I was after and I ran behind her ready to unleash the powerful concussion bolt I had conjured. I saw that Kern was still managing to hold his ground and was faced with a difficult decision—do I wait for him to get free before I let her have the concussion bolt, or do I potentially sacrifice a comrade in order to get rid of her. I made my decision. I hurled the concussion bolt at her feet and watched with satisfaction as the blast blew large chunks out of the floor, the small building housing the stairwell, and sent a cloud of dust swirling around. As the dust cleared I was even more pleased to see that Kern was still there but that she was not.
Feeling pretty good of myself, I heard something odd—the loud clucking of a chicken. I turned to see a massive chicken growing atop the small building where the chick had previously been and noticed one of its legs was not attached. As it started toppling forward, I saw Kern run and jump into the hole I had just created (not certain why, really). My comrades were all yelling and scattering like flies as I noticed that the chicken was falling towards the front of the building (which had shifted heavily with the explosion I had recently unleashed). Realizing that the chicken would likely roll over those of us up front, I hurriedly moved aside and then cast a spell to fly. My comrades were all rushing to the other side of the building where Schmendrick (oh yes, when he came to the tower with all our comrades, he was certain to let us know he was no longer Stitch) was gathering them to teleport away.
About to leave, I remembered that Kern had dropped into the hole and was likely stuck. I levitated him out of the hole and then noticed that Schmendrick was looking concerned about all the people with him. I whisked over and was informed that he couldn’t teleport that many with him, so I offered to levitate another individual—Alex. I levitated him and we left the tower just in time to watch it collapse towards the crowd below. Pity. I guess that’s what you get for gawking about something that doesn’t concern you.
All said and done, we healed Aaron and the other chick (who had both been transformed into those beasties and made to fight us), and then I reminded Aaron of his contract. Whether feigning ignorance or really not remembering, he didn’t want to acknowledge that he still owed us his notes and some money. I provided the contract to prove it and after a little talking, he was smart to acknowledge it. He promised to translate his notes to something I could use and wondered how I would get it from him. It would take two weeks and I’m not willing to stick around this place for that long, so I stated I’d recover it on our way back or send for it.
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