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Background and Summary: The Party, as well as many local
leaders, are concerned by evidence that "outlanders" are
starting to organise local Orcs into powerful raiding parties. Some
of the Party decides to join an expedition across the Great Sea,
as some evidence points to there as being the source of the "outlanders".
Most, however, decide to investigate a possible base of operations
of the Orc raiders not too far up the coast. With the transportation
assistance of Auld the Wise, they find a newly built lighthouse
on a clifftop overlooking the sea. They fight their way in, killing
many of the Orc and exotic, tall human inhabitants - Trehellians
- and forcing the rest to flee. They capture one Trehellian and
one Goblin servant, a teleportation device, and many maps and nautical
charts; the maps indicate a wide range of activities and bases for
the enemy and extensive knowledge of the far shores of the Great
Sea. Upon returning to Jorvik, they find many powerful people wanting
to buy the teleportation device. In the end, they entertain bids
between an Elf from Glantri and an ambassador from Hestia. The Elf
wins; besides cash, the Party gains a keep in Glantri ... of sorts.
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(Session 54)
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| Novatilis 22-Dectilis 8 |
While some Party members train, others inquire about the Orc
raids on Jorvik and nearby towns. They hear conflicting two explanations:
"outlanders" are behind the raids, or Hestia. A Hestian "spy"
and 3 associates were captured recently: Amelia Xana-Deianeira (a.k.a. "X")
from Hestia, and Wethrin G'miwwn, Thorheim Stannisson, and Tusa from Nusavik
(near Glantri). The Party visits, and eventually determines that they are
innocent adventurers (see Crater of the Demons).
As well, the elite Orcs that the Party had encountered before such as Ikh'to,
who were definitely not local Orcs, seem to have some connection with the
raiders. |
| |
This seems to leave only one explanation: some sort
of "outlanders" are responsible for the raids, making use
of local Orcs. This seems to tie in with the elite Orcs that the Party
had encountered before (see Thugs in the
Hills) who were definitely not local and had raiding intentions.
One possible point of origin of these elite Orcs is over the Great
Sea to the east. A local Fighter named Kostbera is attempting to round
up volunteers to go and test this theory. Debating the merits of an
ocean voyage versus trying to tackle the raiders locally, the Party
splits and Shionna leaves on Dectilis 11 with her ship. |
| |
As for the newly freed non-spies, X
(MU4) joins the Party, while Wethrin,
Thorheim, and Tusa
join Shionna and Kostbera and sail east to Vinland.
As well, two locals, Ronin
(Cvr2) and Ragnar (NrC2),
join the Party. And Riff finds a henchling: Grifir
(F0) joins. |
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Dectilis 9
(December)
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The Party visits Auld the Wise, a local high-level Nature Cleric to Freyja.
She has heard of suspicious boating activity near the abandoned village
of Skoga. Outside the village is an abandoned sactuary which is still
sacred ground; thus she can use Plane Shift to travel there.
|
| Dectilis 10 |
The Party travels to Skoga. Auld and some Ranger
friends stay put, while they travel over the snow-covered hills to the coast.
En route, an Orc patrol makes the mistake of attacking the Party, and is
annihilated. Kera finds a Polar Bear as a companion. |
| (S55) |
|
| Dectilis 11 |
They spot a building at the top of a cliff
overlooking the sea, and barge in. They find 12 Orcs lounging about,
and defeat them. Exploring, they find that upstairs is a lighthouse,
which they effectively decomission. (they also spot a short distance
off-shore another possible lighthouse on a small rock in the sea.)
A spiral staircase leads down to a set of uniform but oddly shaped
room, occupied by 3 extremely tall and dark-skinned Humans and one
elite Orc. The Orc attempts to hold the Party in a doorway so as to
allow the Humans -- all Mages -- to blast the Party. However, the
Orc finds it's luck has run out and fumbles with weapons and limbs;
the Party easily defeats him (although Ragnar almost dies), and thus
clobber the Mages as well. One Mage is captured and interrogated --
the Party learns that they are "Trehellians",
and that they have come from overseas via Teleportation. |
| (S56) |
|
| |
The Party returns back to the building above,
and tries to rest up. However, the Trehellians' absence is noticed after
a few hours, and Orcs charge up the stairs and find the Party. The first
wave is defeated, but Grifir dies. Some Party members charge down
the stairs to engage what they assume are simply more Orcs below. But with
the the Orcs is another Trehellian, who fires a Lightning Bolt up the spiral
staircase; Ronin dies, and Riff, Ragnar, and Vishu nearly do so as
well. Ragnar also loses his holy symbol to the blast, leaving him incapable
of casting spells. The Trehellian is captured, however. |
| (S57) |
|
| |
A few hours later, another wave of Orcs attack,
this time in a more organised fashion: while one group again charges up
the stairs, the rest come from outside, with some quietly climbing the outside
of the building and entering through the lighthouse's window, the others
charging the front door. Mei-Peng uses the wand of Istaris to cast a Wall
of Fire over the top of the stairs, which effectively blocks half of the
Orcs coming up the stairs; but during the battle, one of the captive Trehellians
commits suicide by hurling himself into the flames. Riff, Vishu, Ragnar,
Aknot, Shiannan, and Rehkel all nearly die in the battle. |
| |
The Party realises that resting here is hazardous
to their health. Abandoning Ronin and Grifir's body they leave, limping
into the night back to Auld. |
| Dectilis 12 |
The Party returns to Jorvik. Their Trehellian
prisoner, Utallo, is turned over the Auld and other leaders of the town
for interrogation. |
| (S58) |
|
| Dectilis 12-18 |
Mei-Peng and Shiannan train. The rest of the Party
is met by a new Elf in town: not all are pleased with her profession ("I
specialise in infiltration, and the removal of Mages that operate outside
of their proper place of society"), but in the end agree to have Lily
(A2) join. |
| Dectilis 20 |
With Auld's help, the Party returns to Skoga.
They decide first to deal with the presumed second lighthouse. Vishu puts
her Ring of Swimming to use, and swims to the tiny island below the main
building. She finds another small lighthouse room, and mangles what she
can. While returning, she notices that there may be a cave at the foot of
the hill below the main building. |
| |
Entering the house on the hill, they find it has
been abandoned, and the staircase down bricked up. Pounding their way through
the new wall, and descending further, they are surprised to find an elegantly
dressed and well-mannered Goblin waiting for them. Bruhunti invites the
Party to meet with his master and discuss the cessation of hostilities.
But as they begin to follow the Goblin, they are attacked by Orcs from surrounding
rooms, led by some elite Orcs. A Trehellian walks in as well, looks rather
unimpressed and disillusioned with the whole affair, and begins to cast
a Prayer; he is killed just before the spell completes and it reverses,
granting divine blessings to the Party. The Party dispatches the Orcs handily,
but another wave of Orcs charge up a far staircase. Most of these are taken
out by a Sleep spell, and most of the rest are dealt with quickly; one elite
and few regular Orcs flee back downstairs, however, their morale clearly
broken. |
| (S59) |
|
| |
The Party searches the level they are, finding
many opulent rooms, including the most advanced water closet that
even Mei-Peng and X have ever seen (and coming from Hestia, they know
a good water closet when they see one). One meeting room has several
detailed maps and charts -- the Party determines that at least two
other bases may exist along the coast (one far to the north, one far
to the south), and that the Trehellians have detailed knowledge of
a continent to the east over the Great Sea, to where Shionna has sailed.
A well-equipped kitchen has several Goblin corpses, cooks and servants
by the looks of things; they appear to have killed themselves. One
live Goblin is found in a bedroom, calmly sitting. He is Bruhunti,
former servant to one of the Trehellians slain before. His former
master had ordered him to stay put, and not to kill himself if master
did not return; so he has had no choice but await capture. X inquires
as to what he is permitted to do now; and, impressed by his well-bred
manners and devotion (and he by hers), exchanges the appropriate vows
and hires him as her personal servant. Among other useful tidbits
of information, Bruhunti informs them that a set of 6 unusual "sculptures"
that the party had looted is in fact a area-affect teleportation device. |
| |
Proceeding further downstairs,
the Party eventually comes to an underground harbour. Two large longboats
and one smaller vessel are still tied up; there is space for several
more large vessels. Indications are that many Orcs hastily fled just
recently; so X and Kera decide to pursue. They race upstairs, look
out the lighthouse window, and see a longboat in the inlet leaving,
struggling against unfavourable winds and current. They jump on Kera's
polar bear and race along the clifftop to get as close to the boat
as possible. X pulls out the want of Istaris, and fireballs the boat
twice. A few survivors jump overboard and swim to the far shore; hypothermia
will likely claim them. The boat is driven to the near shore, and
X and Kera descend to the water's edge and dispatch the few injured
surviving Orcs who attempt to charge them. |
| |
Meanwhile, the rest of the Party searches the
underground harbour. They enter a set of adjoining rooms, and find
4 hideous beings -- part fish, part Orc? -- that revolt even Aknot.
They attack the Party; while unarmed, they are extremely strong and
pack a wallop when the hit. Nonetheless, all are killed. In the room
is also the corpse of the elite Orc that had fled the Party a short
while ago; it looks like he was beaten to death by the fish things. |
| |
The Party leisurely searches the rest of the now-abandoned
complex. The free two Orcs in a prison. |
| Dectilis 21 |
Return to Auld at Skoga, and she takes them back
to Jorvik. |
| Dectilis 22 |
Meet with various significants in Jorvik. Sell
copies of the charts and maps. Over the next few days, they receive
several offers for the teleportation device, as well as warnings from
Edarion (an Elf from Glantri they've met before - see Thugs
in the Hills) that others may try to steal the device. |
| Dectilis 23 |
Rehkel, Riff, and Shiannan are jumped in a narrow
street by 4 local toughs and an Odin Cleric intent on kidnapping them.
They beat off the attack with the help of Lily, Kera, and Aknot. Interrogations
reveal that the toughs were hired by the Cleric, who was hired by
some named Lothar from the south (Brunland, perhaps); the goal was
to kidnap some of the Party and offer them back in exchange for the
teleportation device. |
| Dectilis 24 |
Party meets with an Hestian Ambassador from
Wolsingham, Marcus Metellus Balearicus, who offers the Party 12,000
sp for the teleportation device. Negotiations are rudely interrupted
by Eldarion's sudden appearance behind the ambassador's bodyguard,
Bakkhos Athenaios, having just killed him; Eldarion announces that
he's come to make a better offer. The ambassador and the Party take
exception to this, and a few of them attack; Eldarion vanishes from
sight, but clearly remains present in the room; he points out that
not only was Bakkhos no mere bodyguard but an Assassin, and the other
member of the embassy staff, a meek-looking scribe named Clodia Lucullus,
is an imposter. The ambassador is rather shocked by the turn of events.
The Party now focuses its attention on the scribe, and strikes her
down before she can do anything but call out "I'm Bambi - Raff
sent me!": Bambi
is killed. The Party, confused,now agrees not to attack Eldarion;
he becomes visible again and calmly offers 15,000 sp. The ambassador
asks for more time, so he can increase his offer. |
| |
The Party loots Bambi, in the hopes of figuring
out why she's here disguised as a scribe. Riff finds an odd bracelet and
puts it on, thinking it might be a communication device for Ruff & Tuff's
team; but instead he finds himself teleported to some cavern. A Dwarf walks
in, demands to know who is Riff and why he is here; Riff can offer no satisfactory
explanation, and so is promptly sent back, none the wiser. |
| Dectilis |
Lothar from Brunland appears in town, and offers
the Party 10,000 sp. He claims innocence for the kidnapping attempt. The
Party essentially ignores him and his offer. |
| Dectilis 28 |
The Hestian offer increases to 12,530. Eldarion
increases his offer to 16,000 plus use of the Teleportation device;
the Party also asks for a keep, and Eldarion says he probably can
arrange for that as well. |
| Intercalendar 2 |
Final offers from Hestia (16,500 plus Hestian
privileges) and Lothar are rejected, Eldarion confirms that a keep (of sorts)
can be offered as well, and the teleportation device is sold to Eldarion. |
| Interc. 4 |
Party taken by Alcarion via a Glantri teleport
network to view their new keep in the village of Khuudola, in southwest
Glantri; Khuudola is one two Glantrian communities in which Elves and Dwarves
mix. They have acquired a 30-year stewardship for an underage countess named
Minvarda, who is also a Magic User who likes to invent new spells (with
limited and dangerous success). The previous stewards were also an adventuring
party, who disappeared and presumably died earlier in the year. Meet the
senechal, Sissan, and the rest of the staff. X leaves Bruhunti there, to
become part of the staff; as a Goblin, he is restricted to the keep, as
the local Dwarves would likely kill him on sight. |
| |
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| Training |
Dectilis 23 - Intercalendar 3: Ragnar trains. |
|
Surviving members:
|
Mei-Peng
(N4), Vishu (Mk4), Aknot
(F4), Trafalgar (WrC4),
Kera (NtC4), Riff
(F4), Shiannan (R3),
Rehkel (T4), X
(MU4), Ragnar (NrC3),
Lily (A2) |
|
New members:
|
Wethrin
(T5), Tusa (R4), X, Thorheim
(NtC3/T4), Ronin (Cvr2),
Ragnar, Grifir (F0), Lily |
|
Casualties:
|
Ronin, Grifir |
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Retirees:
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Continuing parties:
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1. Mei-Peng, Vishu, Aknot, Trafalgar, Kera, Riff, Shiannan, Rehkel,
X, Ragnar, Lily (to Slave Pits)
2. Shionna, Wethrin, Tusa, Thorheim (to Voyage
to Vinland)
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