THE HISTORY OF THE COUATL

GUARDIANS OF THE SILVER TREE

ADVENTURE NINETEEN

“The Moot”

Characters:

Amren : Ophyrish ranger. Prophet of the Silver Tree.

Captain Toki: Indorian Warrior, whom the Grand Druid took a liking.

Daragru the Terrible: Drychtnothian Silver Robe.

Dovinyae: Marshal of the Druids.

Ragnar Silverbeard: The Hammerfoe

Sir Xavier: Drychtnothian High Master

The Time : 8th Age, 6th Year, 16th of Xaul through 3rd of Hera. (spring).

The Place: The Forest of Hrelgumand (Lamapacher)

Notes on the Moot: The moot is a gathering of the druids done every solstice and equanox (and other times as determined by the Great Druid of a particular circle). Challenges are typically made at this time, and the most important part is when those of Druid stature and higher hold their meeting to discuss policy and issues of concern for the circle. All druids over third level are required to attend a moot or be prepared to give a good reason for absence to the Great Druid.

A dove found Dovinyae and it bore a message from the Great Druid. The Great Druid had called the spring moot. It was to be held in fourteen days. The Guardians boarded their ship and took it into dreamland.

Amren made a prophesy about what Grindill would send after them to destroy them if they tried to go into Indor. The prophecy was:

It started many years ago, out of the Black Country

The Seed became the embryo, for all the world to see

With stealth the ruler built It, in all corners of the land

And soon the Thing began to grow, and get right out of hand

The Thing, a stony soldier.

The smoke, the dirt, the grime

Could not contain its hunger.

It grew and grew in time

Into a monster of stone

A monster of rock

They could never bind it

Impossible to stop

He took the Thing across the seas, the people stood in awe

At last the Thing had come to them

That they’d been waiting for

And millions roared and millions cheered

This monster built in stages

And everyone screamed as it bellowed out its rages

Hard as iron, sharp as steel

Stop for no man, better beg and kneel.

A rocky-plated raging beast

That’s born of stone and leather

It will survive against all odds

Stampeding on forever.

Dovinyae interpreted this prophecy as predicting some sort of golem, probably a stone golem. The guardians had no differing opinions to offer so they went to Castle Couatl.

At the castle, they found that the ex-warlords had been busy fortifying the town. 400 marines were found to man their dreamship. The Guardians decided that the warlords have done a bit too much fortifying. They loaded the ex-warlords onto the dreamship so that they may be taken to the Mountain of the Godmen. The Guardians released the town into the care of Jork and told him to rename the castle and never mention the Couatl here so that Grindill will not attack them.

Anduin, former henchman to Grindill and heirophant druid, arrives at the moot and tries to gain an audience with the Grand Druid. The Grand Druid, although honored that a former Grand Druid from such an ancient time, declined to allow the heirophant to see him. Anduin goes to see the Great Druid of this circle instead, who welcomes him. This is the first time in 1,500 years Anduin has set foot on Inzeladun. He claimed to have come to see the Guardian Dovinyae, but the Great Druid noticed that Anduin spent most of the moot watching Amren the Prophet.

The Guardians arrived at the site of the Spring Moot and they mingle after meeting the Great Druid, Agnoman. Agnoman told Dovinyae that the Grand Druid himself came to see his challenge. The Grand Druid rarely comes to this particular circle’s moots. The last time he came was when Ahgy became a Druid and made his first challenge. Agnoman the Great Druid also told him that Anduin was here to see him. After that meeting, the Guardians seperated. Sir Xavier finds someone to give him High Mastery training, Ragnar changes into an owl, Amren prophecies for the people, Dovinyae meditated, Daragru talked to other druids about his experiences as a Warlord, and Toki hung with the Grand Druid. Dovinyae spoke briefly with Garym, the Druid he met in the dreamlands.

The next day the challenge was made. Everyone was expecting him to choose Garym as his challenger (Garym was strong, but also a bit of a trouble-maker due to his non-stop haste), but Dovinyae chose Ledja, a politically inclined psuedo-philosopher who did not ever make challenges. She would wait until there was an opening due to the advancement of a higher level druid and then take his place. Dovinyae chose her because she was the weakest link in the chain of druids. The challenge was to be a debate. The druids decided upon the questions and the witness was chosen.

The first question was, “What is the proper druidic response to a natural catastrophe?” Ledja responded first. She outlined a three step response, “Prediction, Protection, and Prevention.” Predict the catastrophe, protect the people from the catastrophe, and/or prevent the catastrophe from happening. Dovinyae said the proper druidic response was to do nothing. Let the natural world behave naturally and let what happens happen.

The second question was, “Is there freewill, even in relation to the theory of relativity?” This question confused both participants, since both of them were ignorant of the theory of relativity, especially in its relationship to freewill. But they answered regardless. Both of them advocated the stance that there is free will, but Dovinyae put forth the strongest argument.

The third question was, “Should elves be allowed to live amongst humans in Inzeladun?” Ledja, a Nyandarian, said no. The effort for the druids to protect the elves from the humans would be inefficient, plus the effort to re-educate all of humanity and lose all the stereotypes would be a mammoth effort, and the introduction of elves in human society would inevitably bring about wars because the elves would eventually have control of most of the resources available. Elves also, being supernatural, would have a negative impact on the lives of the mortal and short-lived humans and their societies. Elves have elfland, let the humans have Inzeladun. Elves lack the adaptability of humans and are too resistant to change. Dovinyae said yes. Elves should be allowed to live amongst humans and this would be a positive influence on men as they may learn to live in harmony with the world instead of struggling against it. He said that elves are not supernatural, but a natural form of life on this world.

The next question was “Is there such a thing as failure?” Dovinyae said that in the short term there was, but not in the long term as any failure is a learning experience and learning is not failure as long as you do not fail to learn. Ledja said that there was such a thing as failure. You can fail to accomplish a goal, you can fail to keep your word, you can fail to do a lot of things.

The winner of the debate was deemed to be Dovinyae and he was made to be a Druid and Ledja was pushed down the ranks once again.

The Great Druid, Agnoman, calls the meeting. Anduin and the Grand Druid were invited to attend, as were the Guardians of the Silver Tree. Ragnar, in the form of an owl, was permitted to sit next to the Grand Druid. The Grand Druid sat next to Toki. The meeting was called to order and the matter of Grindill was raised. They decided that time for action was merited and that Dovinyae was to be made marshal of the druids in the War Against Grindill. Anduin spoke and told them that the weapons of Grindill’s friends were a weakness that could be used against him. These weapons included Adilbrand’s vorpal double-bladed battle axe, Lord Trumulf’s glass two handed sword, Andar’s golden hammers of thunderbolts, Killren’s Staff, Gandalf Grimbrand’s glass longsword, Alisander’s mace, Han Dirgon’s holy avenger, Andor’s longsword, Saren’s Mask, Soljenor’s Ranger-Sword, Groll’s Staff, Anduin’s Scimitar, Gorack’s Sword, and others. Dovinyae talked of concern over the pyramids that Isaxar and Thosan were building and the druids said they would investigate the matter.

After the moot, the Guardians discussed the possibilities of going after the weapons of former friends and henchmen of Grindill. It was known that Kherit had Alisander’s Mace and probably had Trumulf’s two-handed sword. Neb Rekhis said that Kherit was actively hunting now for the golden hammers. They hypothesied that Yam ibn Saud had Gandalf Grimbrand’s weapon. Anduin probably still had his scimitar. Tomodachi was probably in possession of Killren’s Staff. Sir Raloth definitely had Han Dirgon’s holy avenger. Adilbrand’s vorpal axe was presumed to be in Indor. The others are supposedly lost. They discussed the possibilities of getting these weapons until Amren the prophet had a concern that Anduin may have just gave them a red herring that would avail them naught. They decided then that perhaps they should just go to the Mountain of the Godmen.

All characters were awarded 10,000 exp. for role-playing

Sir Xavier, Ragnar, Amren, and Toki received 5,000 exp for running the debate.

Current Events : Grindill stepped up his defensive measures in Indor and began to place agents in Lamapacher, hoping to delay Yam ibn Saud. Isaxar continued to wage war against Nyandar, destroying their forces badly as the king of Nyandar continually made bad decisions. Drychtnoth also began to send troops into Lamapacher. With the breaking of spring, General Morgul and General Al-Madhiri began to fight the Lamapachans, but with illness, their troops were broken and ineffective in these early fights. Admiral Onokuni continued his assaults on southern Lamapacher but were repelled and held at the Ure Road. Kherit arrived south of Indor and sacrificed three hundred captured gnomes to his dark gods in some sort of power ritual before returning to dark Khemt. Anduin arrived on Inzeladun for the first time in a thousand years. He walked through the Sea of Storms to the forbidden isle of Golgaryllgar to speak to Saren. Upon finding her no longer in residence, he again walked across the Sea of Storms and tried to find Gandalf Grimbrand’s tomb. Unable to enter the Desert, he was at a loss. Then the appearance of the Silver Tree on the plane shook him and he looked into it. He knew then that Grindill was concerned. Anduin then traveled to the Moot.

Notes on Anduin: A former henchman of Grindill during the Fourth Age. He fought alongside Grindill for many years. After the Cataclysm, he was put into suspended animation. He was wakened in the first years of the Fifth Age and he helped with the rebuilding of the world and he re-instituted the Druid Order. Anduin the Druid left Indor in the first years and travelled to Amrax's fortress called Ophyr. Anduin took the title of Grand Druid, the highest in rank of all of Inzeladun's druids (not that there were many left after the ice age). A diplomat in temperament, Anduin strove to serve Nature by negotiating problems between the people, serving as an impartial judge. The people who had settled the regions around the tower Ophyr began to look to him for advice, both spiritual and secular. Knowing Grindill's plan did not include druids to look after the world, Anduin began to train those he saw had the interest and inclination. He found several savage druids amongst the barbarian tribes of this early epoch. He chose the most powerful of these as his first assistant. Anduin divided Ineladun into seven circles. Several initiates came to him after receiving visions from Nature telling the youngsters to seek out Ophyr Tower and the Grand Druid Anduin. One of these visionaries, Cuthal, rose in power quickly, and in three years was made the first Great Druid of the forests now surrounding the Tower of Ophyr, the circle to which Dovinyae currently belongs to.

The druid leaders of the barbarian tribes near Ophyr Tower had taught the hunter-gatherers to live a life of cultivating crops and raising livestock. By the year 100, farming and cattle-raising communities became dominant and a common language evolved, called Ophyrish. The druids also taught them bronze- and metalworking techniques learned from Anduin (unfortunately the Grand Druid did not know how steel was made).

In the year 100 V, Anduin the Grand Druid stepped down from his position, becoming the first heirophant druid of the fifth age. Vercingetorix, the current Great Druid of Ophyr at that time, became the next Grand Druid of Inzeladun. His reign lasted five years when another was chosen. And so new Grand Druids have been chosen since the time of Anduin down to the current Grand Druid, Vralmund. Anduin has not, until recently, returned to Inzeladun in the last 1500 years.

Notes on the Vralmund the Grand Druid; The Grand Druid is the head of Inzeladun’s seven circles of druids. He has been the Grand Druid for five or six years, which is a long time for anyone to hold this position (most get bored with it and move on to heirophant status). He is almost always in an animal form. All of his combats for rank have been animal duels to the death. He was, prior to his being the Grand Druid, the Great Druid of the Indorian Circle. The only position he did not fight for was the position of Grand Druid. The former Grand Druid, Madlawakanahgy of Silvergate, had moved on to become a heirophant druid and the seven Great Druids met and chose him for the position because he was the most capable of directing a war, and all knew that prophecy pointed toward the Seventh Year as being a year of great war and great oppression. He has spent a lot of time recently in Zakhara and is a known Elf-Friend. The Grand Druid wants nothing to do with Anduin, despite Anduin’s legendary status. The cause of this concern is unknown. Vralmund is very concerned about Grindill and the disappearance of the Tower of Magic.

Notes on Agnoman the Great Druid of the Ophyrish Circle: An old man now, Angoman has held his position for 13 years. He has been challenged thirty times in those years and he always defeated the challenger, killing the challenger in twenty two of those combats. He is a wild talent and is very capable with both spells and the scimitar. His scimitar is magical, but it is unknown exactly what its powers are. Agnoman was one of the Great Druids who chose Vralmund of the Indorian Circle to be the current Grand Druid. Agnoman has made a truce with Isaxar the Vile and intends to use the Warlords in the War Against Grindill in some manner. Agnoman was also the one who first suggested that Dovinyae be given the title of Grand Marshall in the War Against Grindill. Agnoman knew Ahgy and has a lot of respect for the supernatural powers of a Guardian.