Gwendolynn Von Holden's Diary: Can't a girl get some sleep around here?

This story hour is dedicated to BSF who ran the game. Hopefully, he will start a story hour for the campaign too, because it is a very rich world and several parts of it will not be seen in this diary because Gwen is a little ego centric. I read Bridget Jones's Diary this summer and thought the style was perfect for Gwen. I hope it is a fun read.


Fort Greerson, Day 1

Powers discovered: 0 v. sad, Adventurers met: 0 but only arrived this afternoon, number of times been called a witch: 0 yay! Obsessive thoughts about Jalik: 132

Huzzah! The journey from Kellingsbrook is finally over! Plodding through a mountain range with a Thurgon caravan carrying massive rocks and building material is about as fast as a caterpillar spinning a cocoon. What’re they building here anyway? Wish Jalik wasn’t helping design whatever it is. Then, maybe he’d change his mind about tutoring me again. But, since he won’t, will become rich and powerful adventurer to impress him. Oh, there’s the door.

Was Father. Said we’d arrived in time for a ball that Lord Greerson is giving. Hopefully, my oldest brother Geoff will be there, rich from his adventures. I’m so glad I brought the green ball gown instead of all my purple ones because green is Jalik’s favorite color. Hope he dances with me. Must get dressed.

Grrrr. Hair is completely filled with knots, twigs and dirt. Must find better way to keep hair if I’m going to be an adventurer.

Ahhh. Bath water I sent for was woozy warm. Able to brush out long black hair and braid with lovely green ribbons. Green dress looks fantastic on body but clashes strangely with purple eyes. Hmmm. No wonder I always wear purple.


After the Ball

Number of times danced with Jalik: 3 (huzzah!); Number of times danced with own father instead of Jalik: too many (boo!). Number of times Lord Greerson looked at me: twice, I think.

Ball bigger than any I’ve been to in Kellingsbrook and with a much larger assortment of people. Jalik had to sit at a different table, as he will be working for Lord Greerson. Father not very good company, as he’s worried about Geoff not being in town for the ball. Most adventuring groups made a point of being here for it. Am sure Geoff’s group is just too busy finding treasure to stop for ball.

Lord Greerson made impressive figure at the head table. He’s definitely powerful in that physical kind of way. In fact, everyone at the head table seemed to be strong. A woman sat next to him with a dour expression and well-defined muscles, and I wondered if she was his wife until he introduced her as Crill and announced that he was appointing her as Warder at Fort Greerson. This caused a stir among some of the adventurers there. I wonder if he has a wife then. Hmm, he is a Lord after all. But Jalik has powerful magic. Will stay true to Jalik.

Humph. Just remembered overheard conversation between father and Jalik after dancing with an adventurer.

Father said, “Are you sure you won’t have time to tutor her while you’re working on the fortifications?”

“Positive,” said Jalik. “Even if I did, I can’t teach her anything. Her magic is unlike mine.”

“Perhaps one of Lord Greerson’s people then,” mused Father.

“Her magic is unlike any I’ve ever seen,” said Jalik. “Lord Greerson is not known for keeping many mages around or an assorted variety. I doubt any of his people would be able to help her either. It is best for her to try to discover her magic on her own.”

“But she’s only 17. She’s not ready. I’ve seen the way some of the adventurers here have leered at her.”

“Would you prefer, then, that she stay in Kellingsbrook and get married and have babies?”

“Humph. She’d probably leave the baby in the hen house while she distracted herself with all the adventures she missed. Plus, I’d like to see the boy who can keep up with her chatter. My mind nearly exploded trying to follow her thoughts when she was using telepathy on the journey. I’m going to miss that.”

“Only a father could miss that. I must confess to relief when she leaves her lessons.” (How could he!)

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know the lessons were such a burden.”

“Oh never that. You know I find her quite charming. But silence is golden when she’s gone.”

My eavesdropping was interrupted when an inebriated adventurer bumped into me and then asked for a dance. I agreed immediately to avoid hearing anymore remarks about my conversational skills. The adventurer’s name was Korliss and he seemed rather upset. Half of his party had forgotten to come to the ball, and since his group had a Royal Charter, he feared Lord Greerson would take offence to them. I asked what a royal charter was and he said that all adventuring groups had to have a charter to hunt for treasure. Depending on what kind of charter you had was how much in tax you had to pay. A royal charter did not tax the spoils of the adventure much, but you were expected to do what Lord Greerson asked if he had need for services from your group. He said they had also just lost a member because Crill was in their group and now she was staying to become a warder. I tried to console him, but I also arranged for an interview with him tomorrow to see about joining his group. I actually set up several interviews at the Dragon’s Wing, so it was a very productive night.

Must sleep now. Tomorrow at breakfast will show Jalik new woman. Won’t even speak to him. He will be amazed how much talking I won’t do.

Fort Greerson, Day 2

Powers discovered: 0, interviews with adventurers: 4

After Breakfast

Spent lovely breakfast telling Jalik and father all about the interviews I had set up for today. Jalik’s little green snake playfully slithered over to me and slipped back and forth over my wrists. When I looked up, Jalik was smiling in an amused way at me and I remembered my vow to stay silent. Oh well. Will impress him at dinner with ability to be quiet.

I’m all set for my first interview. I’m in second best purple dress and black hair is flowing down back with purple ribbons woven into it. Had wanted to conduct the interviews in private rooms at the Dragon’s Wing, but father wanted to watch them unobserved. At least he isn’t doing the interviews for me as I thought he would. Oh here comes the first group!

Lunch

Horrible morning! First group laughed at me when I said I would need to bring my mule with my chest filled with belongings. Laughed even louder when they had me list contents of chest. Second group came in asked what skills I had and then said they had no use for me. Third group came in and said I could join them. Leader said I would be expected to sleep with him every night. I said that I thought the whole party would be sleeping together. The leader said that would be good to if that’s what I wanted at which point father had the whole group thrown out. I have one more interview after lunch. Think I will change tactic.


Evening

Instead of eating lunch, I went to my room and changed into traveling clothes: black pants, white shirt, purple vest. It was too bad they had already been cleaned, as I probably would’ve looked more like an adventurer if they were dirty. After looking at myself in the mirror, I ripped all the ribbons out and redid my hair in tight braid. Gave self head ache, but thought grimace of pain would make me look well worn.
The man named Korliss, who I had danced with last night, arrived a little late with the rest of his group. There was a woman with long blonde hair carrying an instrument at her side, a large man I recognized from sitting at the head table with Crill last night. He had a big ax behind his back. There were two men bearing insignias of the god Pter and a smaller man wearing monk type robes. Korliss had an apologetic look on his face, and I braced myself for being turned down again.

“Lady Gwendolynn,” he began. “I am sorry. Last night, I was not thinking clearly and may have led you to believe that we needed your help in our group. But I don’t think one such as yourself would do well in the places we go. They are dark and dismal and really not the place for a lady such as yourself. I hope you understand. I would stay to have a drink with you, but Lord Greerson has given an assignment to us, and what we really need to do is find someone who will sell us horses for practically nothing.”

“I can buy you horses,” I said.

“Excuse me?”

“You may not need one of my minimal skill, but it sounds like you need a sponsor. Perhaps you and your group would still like to join me, and we can discuss an arrangement that might be mutually agreeable.” They looked at each other for a moment and then pulled chairs over to surround my table. They were certainly the biggest group I had interviewed, and the most pleasant. There was Korliss, of course, who seemed to be the party’s speaker. There was a paladin of Pter named Ternell and a cleric of Pter named Aaron. They seemed all right, but small in stature when compared to Ardel, a large barbarian. There was the woman who was a bard named Chani. I wondered why she wasn’t the party speaker, but she seemed to keep mostly to herself. Then there was Lajon, a monk.

Instead of elaborating on past adventures, they told me about their current assignment. Several days journey south of Fort Greerson was a town named Orlane. They had missed paying their taxes for the year, and Lord Greerson wanted the group named “Greerson’s Glory” to go down and see what had happened to the town. It sounded like an easy enough assignment, but the party was poor. Thinking it would be a good group to start in, especially since they were under the orders of Lord Greerson himself, I decided to offer to buy each member a horse if they allowed me to accompany them and be their speaker. They would repay me after discovering any treasure that might be found on the way. I thought I would be shot down for wanting to speak for the group, but they surprised me and agreed. My father helped me draw up the contracts, and we leave at the end of the week. Huzzah! I found an adventuring group!

Oh my, with a beginning like this, why on earth would I want to start my own story hour. I'll just interject here now and then. Maybe some of the other players from that campaign will join in the commentary. It should be fun to read the story from Gwen's rather biased perspective though.

For those keeping track at home, the following notes might be useful.

• Lord Greerson is the local ruler.
• Fort Greerson is the town. Lord Greerson is building it up as a fortress city.
• Jalik is a magical architect. Lord Greerson is paying him very handsomely to make the city defenses a little more impressive than mere stone walls.
• Greerson's Glory is the name of the adventuring group. They wanted to try to attract attention so when they signed up for the Royal Charter, they elected to use a name that would be noticable. Suck ups!
• Crill is Eeralai's PC that is leaving the group. Gwendolynn is the replacement PC.
• Due to the Necromancer Wars a few centuries earlier, Arcane magic in general is very much looked down on. Arcane spellcasters are rare with Wizards being the rarest. Just keep in mind that the majority of the campaign population equates wizards with those that raise undead armies.
• Orlane is the same Orlane from the Against the Cult of the Reptile God. Those that are familiar with the module will recognize some elements of the upcoming adventure.
• Orlane is hundreds of miles away and the group will still have plenty of action before they reach the place.

I'll comment more if folks are interested in the campaign background info.

Good Start...

I enjoyed the start...very fresh idea...any chance getting PC stats?

I will be watching this one...

djordje

Eeralai thinks she might still have the stats from this stage of the adventures. I might be able to look back on things and provide more detail on the other PCs. One other note: This was a 3.0 campaign and ended just about 2 years ago.

djrdjmsqrd said:

I enjoyed the start...very fresh idea...any chance getting PC stats?

I will be watching this one...

djordje

Click to expand...

Thanks! We just moved, and many of the boxes with old roleplaying stuff have not been gone through yet. Gwen started at first level, and the rest of the party at this time was aroun 3-5 I think. Her most defining stats were her Charisma at 17 or 18 and her strength at 9. She had some skill in diplomacy, and she is a telepathic psion, although she will never refer to herself as such. She spends much of the campaign searching for someone with the same kind of magic she has, but does not meet anyone until almost the end. When I unpack her sheet, I will post more. We started her with the 3.0 rules for psions, but as the campaign continues, you will see that we ended up using several supplements.

BSF has suggested that I might want to post a few words from Crill since she will be important later on. She is a ranger type with a strength of 17 or 18. There is much more to her character, but that would ruin some of the fun if I clarify it now.

Crills Journal

If you were reading these two journals written in the characters' hand writing, Gwen's would be bold and loopy and Crill's would be smaller and more like printing.

After the Ball

Peace at last. When I report home to my tribe, I will not tell them to stay hidden because of amassing evil, but because of amassing stupidity. Greerson’s Glory managed to not only lose their finest shield to rust monsters, but also their finest sword. By that time, however, I had no sympathy because both the Paladin of Pter and the cleric or whatever he is of Pter stood by and watched me nearly drown fighting some water troll. Chani actually tried to help. She hit me with a crossbow bolt in her attempt, but at least she tried. And who was it who helped the most? That barbarian. All my life I have been told of the evil barbarians, and he is the one who helped. The cleric and the paladin didn’t even try to heal me when the fight was done. Pter God of Good, bah! Pter God of Jackasses is more like it. When we emerged from the cave and onto the road, another paladin of Pter accosted us. It was my hope that Pter had sent someone himself to arrest his two alleged followers after their performance in the cave. But this paladin turned out to be a haughty donkey as well and treated all of us as prisoners. I never understood what he thought we had done, but since he had a whole caravan behind him, I thought it was best just to be agreeable.

But I am rid of them now. Lord Greerson has offered me a job as warder of Fort Greerson. I was deeply honored and felt very undeserving after my adventures. Now I will be able to uphold the laws of his society and show others how to uphold them as well. Lord Greerson is a noble man to serve, and my tribe will be pleased that he has selected me

stats

We unpacked some of the computer room today and ran across old character sheets.

Gwen is a psionic telepath. Str: 9; Dex 17; Con: 16; Int. 14; Wis: 11 and Cha: 18.

Her skills include appraise, concentrate, diplomacy, ride and psicraft.

Her powers are telepathic communication within 100 feet, finger of fire and charm person.

Gwen: FOrt Greerson, Day 2, After Dinner

Powers discovered: 0 bad but was busy interviewing. Number of times refrained from speaking: 0 v. bad but had to tell all about the day’s interviews.

My father and I dined with Jalik in one of the Dragons Wing’s private rooms. I told him all about the morning’s interviews and of the adventuring group I had chosen.

“Well, I’m sure your father is pleased that you’re traveling with a paladin,” said Jalik. “He should keep everyone else in line at least, though I am surprised you’re traveling with Pter’s people. Weren’t they some of the ones giving you a hard time back in Kellingsbrook?”

“Actually, they were the ones who saved us in a way,” said father.

“Yes, it was the worshipers of my parents’ farming god, Lorsch, who were claiming I was a witch and wanting me to be kicked out before I burned the village down,” I said.

Father interjected, “Then Jane spied that pompous paladin Thomas, who headed the caravan here, eating apples off of our trees. She asked him when paladins took to stealing and he grew very red and stammered out that he hadn’t realized the orchard belonged to anybody. Well, Jane just gave him that look that started the kids confessing every time and he began offering all sorts of services to make up for his error. Jane told him to be at the town meeting that night without any further explanation and went back to the farm.”

“Oh, that’s right,” said Jalik. “The famous town meeting that I missed. Jane had him detect evil on Gwen at the meeting to prove that she wasn’t a witch. Jane’s a smart one. Smart and lovely.”

“Yes,” said father, “and I can’t say I will miss you being around to tell her that so frequently.” Jalik and father laughed, but honestly, sometimes I think Jalik fancies my mother more than me. Humph!

“I’m surprised you still had trouble after that,” said Jalik.

“Well,” I said. “After he failed to detect evil on me, he said that just meant I wouldn’t set fire to the village on purpose.” Here, both father and Jalik tried not to smile. “The shed burning down wasn’t my fault!” I exclaimed, knowing what they were thinking about. No wonder Jalik fancies mother. Have been nothing but walking disaster all life. But things are changing now. Will sleep so that I can buy horses for everyone in the morning.

Fort Greerson, Day 6, Midnight

Number of Powers discovered: 0 v. bad I’ve been here a week. Why don’t I have new magic? Number of times refrained from talking: 0 v. bad but as this was last night with Jalik, does not matter anymore. Will be traveling with female bard who must like to talk as much as self. Number of hugs from Jalik: 1!!!


Should be asleep, but far too excited about leaving tomorrow. Also, still light headed from Jalik’s goodbye embrace. Wish he was coming with us and so does father. They’ve been hearing rumors about happenings around here that they won’t tell me about. All I’ve heard is Greerson’s Glory is out of favor with Lord Greerson and that’s why he’s sending them so far away. Will change Lord Greerson’s opinion of group. Will come back heroes of Orlane. Spent week shopping for horses and such. Group needed a few other things and did some training. They seem anxious to be off now, and leave first thing in the morning!