Answering the pleas of the desperate Eladrin, Tyrion Aldalouth, a small band of heroic adventurers must face down the fearsome bandit band known as the Brander's - so named for their habit of marking their victims with weapons heated amidst white hot coals.
Will these heroes be able to save Ashara Aldalouth from a fate worse than death?
Where do these strange Eladrin come from, and why?
And what is the Ebon Mirror? (Its in the title its got to be important!)
Please select a color for your character's speech. Lime and Orange are reserved for the DM and NPCs.
Initiative will be rolled by the DM for the sake of speed
Feel free to make OOC comments, but if they are over a sentence please place them in sblocks.
Magic items will be awarded using the DMG recommended method, so players will get different levels of items. The DM will determine who recieves which level of item and any imbalances will be addressed in future adventures.
If you have a picture you wish to be used on battlemaps please email it to the DM who will use it from then on; otherwise the first letter of your characters name will be used to represent you on such mats.
__________________ Characters: Living EnWorld and L4W
The door swings open and a disheveled Eladrin staggers in, he looks lost and their is despair in his grey eyes. Livid bruises marr the left side of his face and he walks with a pronounced limp. His lothing while once fine is now worna and taterred and his right hand has been crudely bandaged with strips torn from his ragged claok.
For a moment he stares dazedly at the tavern and its odd assortment of occupants before making his way to the bar.
"Please, they told me I could find help here. I, I, have nothing to offer, but myself, but they have my Sister. A band of thugs, the Brander's they have Ashara, its been a week and nobody will help me, nobody."
His words are choked with emotion and silent tears run in twin rivers down the Eladrin's cheeks washing away a layer of grime.
He takes a breath and obviously struggles to pull himself together,
"I am Tyrion Aldalouth and I am in need of true heroes. I beg you to help me save my sister from a fate worse than death."
A handsome eladrin stumbles off his chair near the fire, nearly spilling his ale.
"Danger you say? I, Riar'lon, princeling of the Isle of the Fey Court, will aid you, Tyrion."
He pauses.
"Thea! Once I've sobered a little"
The Githyanki woman watches silently as the Eladrin enters the Inn and begins to speak. As he continues though, a spark lights in her dark eyes as her emotions swell. Putting her drink down slowly, she pushes her chair back from the table and rises to her full six feet of height. She walks with grace over to the disheveled man.
"They are called 'Branders'? Do they actually brand their captives? As in marking livestock for sale? If you say she has been their captive for a week, then she has already experienced a fate worse than death more than likely. I was a slave to others myself once, you see." she draws her scimitar and holds it out between her and the Eladrin. "This was the sword of the leader of those slavers who killed my parents and captured me. It hasn't left my side since I took it from him and ran him through with it. So I would gladly offer my help to aid in the destruction of these thugs who take free people and make them captives or slaves, and in securing your sister's life and freedom from their clutches."
Her eyes flicker over to look at Riar'lon before finishing, "And I am available to serve you starting now."
Relief floods Tyrions face, he wipes away his tears and says in a deep chocked voice,
"Thank you, thank you, we came here to ask for help, and then Ashara was captured, and nobody would listen to me. They caught us on the road, they left me for dead, I tried to save her I did not want to leave her, but there were too many of them."
He sniffs and draws himself up to his full height - just shy of six feet - in turn looking Riar'lon and the Githyanki in the eye.
"I had not thought to find anyone who would help me, I had almost given up hope. You have my undieing gratitiude, though I fear it will take more for us to present a serious threat to the Brander's."
He shudders,
"I asked about them on my journey here, they do indeed brand their victims, they place their weapons in hot coals and then use them to leave their dark mark - though I do not believe they sell people. I met one of their former victims a shepherd woman who cannot look at a man without crying... I cannot think of what they are doing to Ashara, I can only think of her rescue, and pray that she is not beyond saveing."
Tyrion shakes his head as if to clear away black thoughts,
"I am afraid that I will be of little use other than as a guide, I am a bowman with little talent for the sword and my hand is ruined. Again my friends, I am eternally in your debt. Thank you."
Ts'iri pushes in the door to the bar and says "Name's Ts'iri" She's an Odd looking Githyanki girl, shorter and not as thin as most and wearing fine dark red clothes that look 'Arabian'. She long black hair in one braid that reaches past her waist. Green spots can be seen framing her face. A strange silver amulet around her neck stands out.
She'd seen an Eladrin quickly enter in front of her and was interested to see why he was in such a hurry. Scanning the room, she sees him quite animated and talking to two others. She's half way to him before she notices that one of them in Gith. Now she had two reasons to curious. She walks over to them to see what is going on.
"I believe that I might be of service young sir. I'm Callen Stewart. Terrible to hear your story and I hope that I might be able to help these two free your sister." offers the robbed gentleman as he approaches the eladrin and gith.
Tyrion replies, with a tremulous smile,
"I will gladly accept your aide Master Callan, I cannot thank you enough for your kindness. I have nothing to give you but my gratitude, and of course anything we recover from the bandits is yours."
Seeing Ts'iri watching them the Eladrin beckons her over,
"Your pardon Madam, but I am seeking heroes to help me save my sister Ashara from a band of murderous brigands. She has been in there clutches for a week and I am beyond desperation. If you could find it in your heart... I cannot repay you, but with my gratitude. Will you help us?"
"Helping someone brings its own reward. Though hopefully I'll find a lead on where my errant son has gotten off to at some point. I'd hope he's not mixed up with these Branders." replies Callen.
Kama'zer eyes this new Githyanki with suspicion as soon as she walks in the door. After the girl has walked closer and introduced herself, Kama'zer realizes that she is fingering the handle of her scimitar nervously. Her parents always warned her that other Githyanki were different and wouldn't understand. They told her she could be hunted by her own kind if they only knew. So now the only question was whether this one was hunting her or not. Time for a test to evaluate her reaction...
"Tyrion, my apologies. I forgot to introduce myself to you. I am called Kama'zer Anma'giduu." Finishing her late introduction, she carefully watches the other Githyanki woman to see if there is any reaction from her...
Ts'iri goes over to Tyrion and listens to what he has to say. She thinks it over for a moment. Tracking down brigands didn't sound overly exciting and no pay sounded even worse. However brigands tended to steal things which should mean they aren't poor and the other Gith seemed to be going along so she might find out something about herself.
Well, it seemed pretty even why she should and shouldn't go. The deciding factor was that she wasn't doing anything better right now. "Sure, why not." She then listened to Callen and Kama'zer talk.
A door opens and a familiar face walks in, the human with fanciful clothing, a neat and trimmed beard, and carrying only a dagger at his hip.
"Hello and well met my friends and companions, tonight is a night of celebration as we have so many newcomers to this fine establishment. Quite the group indeed, it appears that introductions are in order. My name is Murphy Tang, friend and colleague of all who call the sea their home. I hope there's at least one sea dog amongst you." the newcomer says with a grin and booming voice.
He saunters over to the bar with an air of confidence and grabs a drink. Murphy turns and looks at the crowd and notices a group sitting together and invites himself over.
"Well, ain't this a fine collection of souls, what are you all doing on such a fine evening such as this? Celebrating something, I hope. Mind if I grab a seat? I always enjoyed a good chat" the man says gregariously, taking his seat without waiting for the response.
The battered Eladrin turns and offers Murphy a sad smile,
"The opposite I am afraid Murphy Tang, I am Tyrion, seeking heroic souls to rescue my sister Ashara from a band of brigands known as the Branders. These brave souls have agreed to aide me though I can pay them only with my eternal gratitude. Should you care to join us you would be more than welcome, and of course anything the Brander's have would be yours shoulde we defeat them."
Turning to the group at large he says,
"In anycase my new found friends the longer we tarry here the longer Ashara must suffer, if you are ready I would depart as soon as possible."
__________________ Characters: Living EnWorld and L4W
Kama'zer wil use Goldenrod unless that is too close to your orange Halford. I could try Dark Goldenrod if it is too close. Let me know which you'd rather me use.
Edit
Kama'zer Anma'giduu is a female Githyanki of 20 years. She is 6' tall and skinny as most of her kind are. Her hide armor and shield are well maintained, but the scimitar she wields positively shines with good care. She watches around herself diligently, like a owl searching for its next meal. Her eyes are constantly watching, and her mind is always evaluating.
Hooks:
1. Has a desire (compulsion?) to help free people who have been enslaved or taken captive against their will. How does this apply to prisoners of law enforcement? Not sure yet. Hates cages in general. Caged animals might disturb her as well. She likes being a liberator (not THE LIBERATOR, just A liberator. lower case. )
2. Wants to acquire a Githyanki silver sword. It is the only thing which could make her not use the scimitar she took from the slaver boss when she was 10 years old.
Last edited by Phoenix8008; 18th September 2008 at 03:29 AM..
EDIT:
Physical Description: Callen Stewart is an aged gentleman of refinement. He is of average height and build with short gray hair and a thin well kept beard. He wears a well tailored blue jacket with small golden embroidery around the cuffs and collar and likewise comfortable but fashionable pants and boots. He carries his mage staff with him where ever he goes as both a support and a weapon when necessary. The staff is made of simple redwood and is tall and sturdy. Tiny golden glyphs float around the head of the staff almost invisibly.
Hi, just responding to what Halford wrote in the tavern thread, I think we should get at least one other defender for the party before we start, but if we can't find one within a day or so we should accept a non-defender. What do we have so far?
BTW, how do I create the OOC/Spoiler blocks in the forums?
Murphy Tang is of average height and looks like a typical seafarer, grizzled beard, sun-browned skin and a nearly tooth-less grin. He carries only a dagger at his hip, a pack upon his back, and a set of leather armour on his person.
OOC
See tavern for image
Murphy Tang will use Dark Orchid & he's anxious to help
rgladwell
For these tags you type {sblock=OOC} {/sblock}, but replace { with [ . Also, you can hit the quote button to see the coding for people's posts
Last edited by renau1g; 18th September 2008 at 10:52 PM..
Mri'Thas is a tall Githyanki, robed in brown and sand tunics. He usually walks hooded, or partially hooded, to hide the horrible scar left by the githzerai crusaders. He is bold and sincere in his speak, often making offensive comments, without wanting to generate such. He speaks slowly and calm, closing his eyes from time to time. Mri'Thas uses to cross his arms while talking.
This gith has a dark green beard, with two points, both braided. He is blad and his skin is more green than yellow.
__________________ English is NOT my native language!
Mri'Thas: "Useless primates... " Sheng Zim: "Your existence brings the world out of balance. The chaos I bring shall revert it; unfortunately, your soul will be destroyed in the process."
-------------------------------------- Tuk Heavy Hands Apeldan: "Trolls are afraid to cats. Good to know" (Yttermayn's "Saga of the Dragon Cult") Cnosos: "I bet there's plenty of wonderful devices in that ship. Let's scavenge them at once!" (Blackrat's "After Earth") Metliz: Sounds like fun! (Arkandus's "The First") Thok: "Thok eats a lot, Thok big. Thok not good at first impressions." (MnL's "Valley of the Dead")
Ts'iri is 5'10", 170 lbs, and has the typical yellowish skin of the gith, with green splotches on her forehead framing her face. She has grey eyes and long black hair that reaches down past her bottom in one long braid. Overall she's a bit shorter than normal but isn't as thin as the normal gith giving her a curvy and athletic human-like build. She wears dark red armor and clothes with an Arabian nights type look. She is wearing a large circular amulet around her neck made out of a silver metal that has a hole in the middle with a small crystal floating there. Fine script seems to be carved into the surface in an unknown language.
Ts'iri listens to Mri'Thas' question and Kama'zer's reply as the group leaves the tavern. She cocks her head slightly to the side as she thinks about it. She doesn't remember hearing that word before. "I'm afraid I am also unfamiliar with the term cred. Could you explain what that is?" She unconsciously fiddles with her amulet as she speaks.
Tyrion makes his way out of The Hanged Man and begins limping purposefully towards the northern gate.
"Alas I cannot afford horses, so I hope to cut time of our journey by cutting through Starkreach Woods and then securing passage upon the river to the village of Vreem. From their the Brander's Camp is just a few hours walk."
The Eladrin limps gamely onward determination etched into his fair features.
After twenty minutes the group moves out of the bustle of Daunton and into the surrounding farmlands.
OOC
Can I ask everyone to edit their initial posts and put in a physical description of their character please, for ease of reference - and for anyone reading the thread.
I will post a move along thread tomorrow giving you all an opportunity to chat in character before I do so.
__________________ Characters: Living EnWorld and L4W
"Interesting..." Mri'Thas says, almost for himself "If you were not trained in a cred, and don't even know what is it, I take that you do not know much of our culture." the man pauses, and watch at the two githyankis (or its githyankies?) "Let me enlighten you: A cred is a group of githyankies with similar abilities, created by the addition of 5 or 6 newborns. I was separated from my progenitors when I was born, and took to a place where my training in The Arts begin. I'm alone now... my cred was slaughtered by the githzerai crusaders, years ago. Luckily, I survived to bring light on your cultural void." Mri'Thas speaks emotionless, even the last sentences sounds not like a joke, on the contrary, he seems to be serious about that. And everything else.
He walks slowly, with his hood not totally removed.
__________________ English is NOT my native language!
Mri'Thas: "Useless primates... " Sheng Zim: "Your existence brings the world out of balance. The chaos I bring shall revert it; unfortunately, your soul will be destroyed in the process."
-------------------------------------- Tuk Heavy Hands Apeldan: "Trolls are afraid to cats. Good to know" (Yttermayn's "Saga of the Dragon Cult") Cnosos: "I bet there's plenty of wonderful devices in that ship. Let's scavenge them at once!" (Blackrat's "After Earth") Metliz: Sounds like fun! (Arkandus's "The First") Thok: "Thok eats a lot, Thok big. Thok not good at first impressions." (MnL's "Valley of the Dead")
"It will be good to get out and stretch the old legs, a walk on a fine day like this is good for the body. Mri'Thas, Tsi'ri, and Kam'zer, hope I got all those right, its a pleasure to meet you all. I've not met one of your kind before and here I am presented with the opportunity to meet three at once. And not just meet, but travel with. I hope you don't mind if I listen in Mri'Thas? Murphy, Riar'lon, its a good thing you bring something comfortably normal for my old head to connect with. Looking forward to getting to know all of you better; just don't tell Apolia, it would be best she didn't know what I was up to." says Callen.
Mri'Thas: "Useless primates... " Sheng Zim: "Your existence brings the world out of balance. The chaos I bring shall revert it; unfortunately, your soul will be destroyed in the process."
-------------------------------------- Tuk Heavy Hands Apeldan: "Trolls are afraid to cats. Good to know" (Yttermayn's "Saga of the Dragon Cult") Cnosos: "I bet there's plenty of wonderful devices in that ship. Let's scavenge them at once!" (Blackrat's "After Earth") Metliz: Sounds like fun! (Arkandus's "The First") Thok: "Thok eats a lot, Thok big. Thok not good at first impressions." (MnL's "Valley of the Dead")
"Oh my where is my head, of course, I'm Callen Stewart." he says obviously embarrassed at having forgotten to include his name at the start of the conversation.
"Ah, I see what the cred is now. No, I never had such experiences. I grew up far from Ea and the wars there. You say your cred was killed by Githzerai? Do you hunt them now in revenge? Or just on principle?" Kama'zer asks Mri'Thas.
Turning to Ts'iri, Kama'zer asks "Your necklace, is it made of the same material they use in creating the Silver Swords?"
OOC
I added my description to my first post above along with a pick to represent Kama'zer. Also threw her hooks in there. I hadn't added them until after she was approved, so the 'approved' character link doesn't have those in it till I level up I guess.
Last edited by Phoenix8008; 18th September 2008 at 03:32 AM..
"Ah, I see. A group were you are separated for training. I was unaware that was what they were called. I have no memory of one of those."
Ts'iri looks from Mri'Thas to Kama'zer and smiles. "It's possible that it is. I haven't found anyone that could tell me what it was made out of. It's some kind of metal but shifts and gives when you touch it. I've had it as long as I can remember but I don't know anything about it's history."
OOC: I had some sort of problem with the autoformating in word, and it edited the word Cadres, to cred. So Mri'thas was saying cadres, insteed of creds.
Mri'Thas nods to Callen. The wizard answers Kama'zer's question with lack of passion. "Not really. They must be all dead by now. Would you start a merciless hunt if you happened to lived what I've lived? Would you like to spread your pain to other hearts?" He stares here eyes, for a while. "Me neither" he concludes.
__________________ English is NOT my native language!
Mri'Thas: "Useless primates... " Sheng Zim: "Your existence brings the world out of balance. The chaos I bring shall revert it; unfortunately, your soul will be destroyed in the process."
-------------------------------------- Tuk Heavy Hands Apeldan: "Trolls are afraid to cats. Good to know" (Yttermayn's "Saga of the Dragon Cult") Cnosos: "I bet there's plenty of wonderful devices in that ship. Let's scavenge them at once!" (Blackrat's "After Earth") Metliz: Sounds like fun! (Arkandus's "The First") Thok: "Thok eats a lot, Thok big. Thok not good at first impressions." (MnL's "Valley of the Dead")
The eladrin Riar'lon bows with a flourish, staggering a little as he does so, to the three githyanki and Callen. Riar'lon is lithe, with long, fair hair and devastating good looks. He is clearly dressed for adventure, with worn leather armour, adorned with the leaf-style favoured by the high elves. He wields two longswords sheathed in an X across his back and bears a longbow on his shoulder.
"Greetings fellow adventurers, I'm Riar'lon. Forgive my attire, I have just returned from hunting."
"I must admit, having never met a githyanki in my life, it is strange to run across three at once and learn something of your strange culture.
ooc
Can we make nature checks or some such to find out more information about the locations Tyrion mentioned, for example, the Strakreach Woods. They sound intriguing.
)
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