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

Summary

Steveroo, your observations were very helpful! Korliss and Chani and Aaron seem to be coming across the best which is about right since that's who Gwen interacted with the most at the beginning. Ternell will get his moments in the sun for sure. Ardel is the big ax man barbarian and I definetly need to do more with his character in the story. Lajon died and Falon is that player's new character. For those of you who have just started reading and for those readers who I might have confused, I now offer a summary in the style of the great anime "His and Hers Circumstances." Gwen's younger brothers Dale (15) and James (13) will now tell you how the story has gone so far with a few extras:

Queue cheesy pop music that’s bouncy with no lyrics.

Dale: So, our dear, big, sis finally departed from Kellingsbrook to go on her adventure.

James: She and Father left with Jalik and a huge caravan full of building materials.

Dale: They arrive in Ft. Greerson where Lord Greerson is doing his best to prepare his land for something to do with his prophesy.

James: Dale, I don’t think Gwen knows about the prophesy.

Dale: She doesn’t? How could she be in Ft. Greerson and not know about the prophesy?

James: She’s Gwen.

Dale: Good point. Okay, so they arrive at Ft. Greerson, and everyone is preparing for something that our sis doesn’t know about because she’s too busy trying to be all up ons Jalik. Father immediately looks for our oldest brother, Geoff---

James: Who has a big stick up his butt.

Dale: He’s not that bad.

James: How many times did he make you groom the horses again because you didn’t brush them exactly right the first time?

Dale: All right. So Geoff, who has a big stick up his butt, is missing, and father worries that he’s dead.

James: Of course, Gwen just thinks he’s finding lots of treasure.

Dale: So they go to a big ball where Lord Greerson honors all the fighter type people of note by having them seated at the head table.

James: He announces that a woman named Crill will be kicking out a bunch of thieves in the forest. This leaves the group called Greerson’s Glory out a member.

Dale: The next day, our dear sis buys her way into Greerson’s Glory.

James: Why does she get all the money? I work twice as much in one day than she did her whole life on the farm.

Dale: What else are they gonna do with her? Let her burn down the farm?

James (laughing): Remember the time when she---

Dale: Shhhh…..they don’t know that story yet.

James: Oh. Sorry.

Dale: Anyway, the group is: Korliss, a shady character of unknown skill, Chani, a beautiful bard who’s sour as milk left out in the sun; Ternell, a paladin for Pter who I’m not sure knows which end to wipe; Aaron, a wanna be cleric for Pter; Lajon, a monk; and Ardel, a barbarian with a big ax who also got to sit at the head table with Crill.

James: Greerson’s Glory has been sent to a city called Orlane that is behind in paying their taxes. Before they can leave on their long trip, a monk of Pter comes to take Aaron back to his brother and beats up Ternell while he’s there.

Dale: Aaron refuses while Ternell asks Pter to heal his nose.

James: The group finally heads out and runs into numerous undesirable creatures.

Dale: Korliss dies and is brought back to life, and Lajon dies but is buried.

James: How come no one here ever gets brought back to life?

Dale: Did you see the size of the diamond that priest used?

James: Still, it’s not like our town is that poor.

Dale: Just boring.

James: Sis whines her way through the forest about never discovering new powers and how everyone loves/hates Chani.

Dale: They meet some gnomes who tell them off for being there but also ask for any news they may have.

James: They meet a guy named Falon, who Gwen drools all over, and he provides the group some protection until they reach a town named Hochoch.

Dale: After Gwen spends several nights having dinner with Falon but never getting smooched, they leave for Orlane.

James: When they arrive, a hostile sheriff and a hostile priestess greet them. They discuss their plans openly in a bar, and sis gets everyone to agree to her ideas. We’ll now see how that goes for her.

Dale: When do you think she’s comin’ back?

James: I hope soon cause it’s boring here without her accidentally settin’ her magic powers off.

Dale: Do you think I can get Prissy to kiss me before Gwen gets back?

James: You been drinkin’ Father’s apple cider again? Prissy’d never kiss you and Gwen would set you on fire if she did.

Dale: It’s not my fault they hate each other. It’s not like Gwen’s gonna come home to Prissy as a sister-in-law.

James: I’d stay clear, and we’d best get these folks back to the current story.

Orlane, Day 2, After breakfast

Grrrrrrr. Nearly threw breakfast at Korliss but didn’t think it would be seemly for a bride to douse her groom in porridge. After reading my diary, he has the audacity to “make sure” I “understand” we aren’t really going to be married. That he has a long time to go before he settles down. As if I would marry somebody who would steal my diary! Humph. Thought he would make good target to practice my new power on, but he did manage to find us a man interested in selling us some farming land. Disagreeable looking man who smells bad. Was quick to be ingratiating to me and my “husband”, but I told him I forgot something in my room. Think I’ll shove this diary into one of the layers of my clothing so Korliss has no chance of getting it.

Orlane, Day 2, After seeing houses with “husband” and “cleric”

Number of Powers used: 3 Hurrah! Number of successful powers: 3 Hurrah!
Number of party members surprised at my power prowess: 2; Number of husbands being smooched: 0

Am so excited can hardly write! Our guide, Derek, took Korliss, Aaron and me out to see the farms. There were several empty farms available for sale. We weren’t getting anywhere as far as information about why they were all empty, so I took a chance. I used telepathy to Aaron and Korliss and warned them that I would be using a spell to charm Derek into telling us what was going on. As I stared at Derek, my aura shimmered purple for a moment, and a blank look crossed his face.

“Why are all these homes empty?” I asked.

“Most people either joined the snake cult, or became her slave,” Derek answered. “Of course, some got killed too, stubborn bastards.”

“Snake cult? Does it have anything to do with the goddess Merrilee?”

“Merrilee? She has no power here. Only the snake cult has power here. Explicticus made sure ah that.”

“Who’s Explicticus?”

“The leader of the cult.”

“Are you part of the cult?”

“Hell, no. I just find her business. Folks lookin’ for farm land. Folks like you.”

“Is Explicticus in the Temple?”

“Nah, she’s way out in the forest somewhere.”

“You don’t know where?”

“I try not to deal with her personally.”

“Is everyone in town part of the cult?”

“The constables are, and the people at your inn. I don’t care for the people at the Sleeping Dragon Inn. Can’t figur out how to get ‘em to join the cult. Course, the temple was taken over right away.”

“Would you mind taking us back to town now?”

“You gonna buy this farm?”

“I think we need to think about it.”

“Well, all right then.”

We headed back to town and left Derek at our inn. We met everyone else at the Sleeping Dragon. What a difference it was. Everyone was noisy and chattering away. Chani had actually been singing there and made some pretty good tips. I anxiously told everyone about what we had learned. Even Korliss and Aaron seemed impressed with me when they spoke of my charm! Falon and Ternell had met an old wizard named Ramni who lived outside of town. He wanted to know what was going on in Orlane, so we have decided to go meet with him. First, Korliss, Aaron and I are going to go check out of the other Inn. Can't wait to meet Ramni. I charmed someone today!

Eeralai said:

Steveroo, your observations were very helpful! Korliss and Chani and Aaron seem to be coming across the best which is about right since that's who Gwen interacted with the most at the beginning. Ternell will get his moments in the sun for sure. Ardel is the big ax man barbarian and I definetly need to do more with his character in the story. Lajon died and Falon is that player's new character.

Click to expand...

Oops! Okay, I missed that (see what no updates for a week gets ya?)

Eeralai said:

Dale: Anyway, the group is: Korliss, a shady character of unknown skill, Chani, a beautiful bard who’s sour as milk left out in the sun; Ternell, a paladin for Pter who I’m not sure knows which end to wipe; Aaron, a wanna be cleric for Pter; Lajon, a monk; and Ardel, a barbarian with a big ax who also got to sit at the head table with Crill.

Click to expand...

So what level are they, by this point? Third?

Levels

When Gwen starts the story, I think the rest of the party is third and fourth while she is first. When they get to Orlane, I think she and Falon are around third and the rest of the group is fifth. I don't think we were ever alll at the same level. Since I switched out characters, I had to start at the beginning, but I got to have money. Since the player followed through with Lajon not wanting to be resurrected as he had always stated, BSF gave Falon a protection stone so we would get a reprieve in the forest. Too bad that thing didn't last longer We had various ways of gaining experience, one of which was through online posting. I wrote a few stories for the game which I will bring out and edit when we get there. I'm sort of worried to read them as I think my writing has gotten much better since then, but I remember really liking the stories at the time

DM Notes:

Derek was pretty cocky and confident in his abilities since he had successfully bluffed the leader of the snake cult into believing he was charmed into the 'cult'. Funny that he was successfully charmed by Gwen.

It's not the sleeping dragon, it's the Slumbering Dragon. Though Gwen would hardly notice a detail like that. Amazingly, after all this information the group has picked up, they still return to their rooms at the Golden Grain Inn. Go figure!

Heh! I smell a Shanghai Night (and snakes... lots an' lots of snakes... and a )!

Hmmm! Now what is it that's making the denizens of the Slumbering Dragon so immune to Charm? (We wonders, we wonders, we does!)

Interesting story ya got here, Eerelai! I really like the different perspective, and it's fun to read it from Gwen's point of view. Eagerly awaiting more.

Orlane Day 2 or maybe 3 (not sure due to being in dark cell)

Why thank you! Not a very long update, but BSF and I got into a philosophical discussion tonight and I didn't get as much done on this as I had planned. If I clean the house super quick tomorrow, I will try and do a little more during nap time.


Number of glasses of wine drunk: 1 (won’t do that again due to massive headache) Number of powers used: 0, Longevity of Charm on Derek: Certainly not as long as I hoped

Ugh. Got us into horrible mess. Don’t think Korliss or Aaron will ever talk to me again. Went back to the Golden Grain Inn with them to collect our possessions. Derek was there, smiling in his sleezy sort of way, but looking most definitely like he was under my charm spell. So it was only natural that I agree to join him with my “husband” and “cleric” for a bottle of wine in a separate room. I mean, I wouldn’t want the other people at the inn to suspect something was up. I thought Korliss and Aaron were having some sort of attack with all the shaking of heads they were doing at me.

Undaunted, I went upstairs with Derek, so Korliss and Aaron had to follow me. Derek made a lovely toast to us, and wine’s always a treat to me, so of course I drunk heartily. Aaron drank too, but not Korliss. Was highly insulted the “husband” did not want to toast with me. However, after one sip, the room looked like a wagon wheel spinning around. Don’t know what happened after that. Wish Korliss would stop yelling at me about knowing when my charm spell wears off. Only ever used it once before and then mother made me call it off. Will try to find out what happened.

Orlane Day 2 or 3 in cell after talking to Korliss and Aaron

Hmmm. Seems as though there was some sort of fight. After I passed out, a secret door opened up and in came the priestess from Merrilee along with some scaly looking monster things. Aaron tried to fight, but swung around and fell to the floor from the poison in the wine. Korliss was left to defend us by himself and took out one of the scaly monsters, but the priestess held him magically and we were all drug down here. Creepy looking place. There are half-finished carvings of some snake monster outside of our cell. Oh! Girl in cell next door trying to talk to us! Will see what’s going on. Try to get us out of this mess and maybe Aaron and Korliss won’t hate me so much. After all, if Aaron was so smart, he wouldn’t have drunk the wine.