Cerebral Paladin
First Post
Welcome to Cerebral Paladin's Storyhour.
All of the write-ups are copyright 2003-2005, Adam H. Morse, as is all of the general world details. All rights reserved. Please do not copy my storyhour posts without my express permission. The player characters are owned by their respective players; aspects of characters or the world developed by both myself and my players are jointly owned by myself and the player who developed it with me.
Session 1:
2/7/752
Sheets of rain pour down on Lir Sanek. Periodic flashes of lightning illuminate the ancient port city. Although it's late morning, the storm makes the sky dark.
In the complex of buildings outside Dro Sanek, the mighty castle overlooking the city, a young woman, dressed in nondescript clothes, is escorted into an office.
"You asked me to see you, Kinric?" asks Ginara cath Kalissar.
Kinric Halrin looks up from his paperwork. "Thank you for coming," he says with a smile. He nods to the guard who escorted Ginara in. The guard walks out and closes the door. Ginara notes the footsteps as the guard walks away from the door. That's odd; usually when she's in Uncle Kinric's office, he has a staff attendant just outside the door.
"I was wondering if you could take care of something for me, Ginara."
"Sure, Uncle Kinric. What is it?"
Kinric pulls open a desk drawer and pulls out a small statuette. He places it on the desk between them. The statuette is of a human looking man, wearing fine armor and holding a claymore raised above his head. The white tabard draped around his armor is made of morther of pearl, the armor is burnished silver. Golden rays project out from around the figure, two upward and two downward. The statuette is clearly a devotional object for Galerius, the god of valor in the Church Imperial. To Ginara's practiced eye, it looks to be worth better than 1000 gold.
"I believe you know Melor cath Nortis? Large, boorish man? He maintains a vigorous social life. One of his guests recently was a priest who happened to notice that the statuette on cath Nortis's familial altar was rather more significant than the man thought. After the priest informed him of its significance, some 10 days ago, he began bragging to anyone who'd listen about how his family heirloom was a powerful holy focus.
"We have some people who keep an eye on the Church Nusaybian. We have reason to believe that they plan to take the statuette. Its loss would hurt our position and strengthen theirs. But beyond its relatively minor mystical significance, it also has some political importance; His Imperial Highness the Prince used to pray in a chapel that included the statuette, before it entered the cath Nortis family's possession. We don't want it lost.
"After cath Nortis declined a generous offer, we decided to take it into safekeeping. We fabricated a copy and had it blessed. We then performed a switch."
Kinric picks up a small piece of dull gray metal and taps it against the statue. A ripple travels across it; gold changes to dull brass and mother of pearl to enamel.
"As you can see, someone beat us to it. We know that it's not the Church Nusaybian, because they're still planning to steal it. I would like you to find out who took the statue and recover it."
"Of course, Uncle Kinric," Ginara stammers. "When did your people take the statuette?"
"Two nights ago. We discovered the switch this morning."
"And you're sure this wasn't the original?"
"Positive. The priest wouldn't have made a mistake."
"Can I get some friends to help?"
Kinric pauses. "Absolutely. You will likely need to recruit assistance, but be careful. If the Church Nusaybian realizes either how important this is, or that you're involved, it could be very dangerous. I trust your discretion. I would also prefer it if you avoided any unnecessary killing."
"Unnecessary?" Ginara squeeks. "There won't be any killing!"
"Be careful what you say; you need to be ready to take care of yourself, and hesitation can be risky. But I'm glad that you'll try to avoid killing anyone.
"If you should find it necessary, we can supply you with some money. Because the statuette is currently in the hands of thieves, we would prefer to recover it without compensating them, but recovering it is more important.
"I leave it to your discretion how to locate it. Should you choose to investigate at the cath Nortis house, I strongly urge you to not touch the statuette."
Ginara carefully places the statuette in a pouch. This will take some help...
Melania sits alone in a favored tavern. There's a good crowd in the place, but she's enjoying her mulled wine and relaxing. The door swings open and Ginara steps in. She looks like a drowned rat as she pushes back the sopping wet hood on her cloak. Melania looks up with a smile and gestures her over.
"Ginara! How are you? Another mulled wine for my friend."
"I'm glad you have a seat by the fire." After warming up for a few minutes, Ginara continues, "I need to talk to you about something."
"All right. What about?"
"Can we go back to your place? It's a secret."
A handful of the other patrons in the tavern look up with curiosity.
"Yeah, let's go."
A few minutes later, Ginara finishes explaining the situation.
"When people do things for Kinric, he tends to be grateful, right?"
"Oh, yes! He even said that we could have some money, for expenses and such."
"Sounds good. I'm in. If we're going to need to do tracking, we might want to bring in your friend Dov."
The two of them walk into a barracks where a scout company is based.
"Dov? Can we talk to you for a bit?"
Dovkania Skyrnath looks up from the card game she's playing with her comrades. "What is it?"
"We want to talk to you about a little business," Ginara explains. "It's a secret. Can we go to your parents' house to talk?"
"What sort of business?" interjects one of the other soldiers. "Anything we could help out with?"
"I'm afraid that it's a girl thing," Ginara says.
Melania flashes the young man a winning smile and adds, "maybe the two of us can talk about it later."
Dov stands up from the game, slings her swords, and they head out.
All of the write-ups are copyright 2003-2005, Adam H. Morse, as is all of the general world details. All rights reserved. Please do not copy my storyhour posts without my express permission. The player characters are owned by their respective players; aspects of characters or the world developed by both myself and my players are jointly owned by myself and the player who developed it with me.
Session 1:
2/7/752
Sheets of rain pour down on Lir Sanek. Periodic flashes of lightning illuminate the ancient port city. Although it's late morning, the storm makes the sky dark.
In the complex of buildings outside Dro Sanek, the mighty castle overlooking the city, a young woman, dressed in nondescript clothes, is escorted into an office.
"You asked me to see you, Kinric?" asks Ginara cath Kalissar.
Kinric Halrin looks up from his paperwork. "Thank you for coming," he says with a smile. He nods to the guard who escorted Ginara in. The guard walks out and closes the door. Ginara notes the footsteps as the guard walks away from the door. That's odd; usually when she's in Uncle Kinric's office, he has a staff attendant just outside the door.
"I was wondering if you could take care of something for me, Ginara."
"Sure, Uncle Kinric. What is it?"
Kinric pulls open a desk drawer and pulls out a small statuette. He places it on the desk between them. The statuette is of a human looking man, wearing fine armor and holding a claymore raised above his head. The white tabard draped around his armor is made of morther of pearl, the armor is burnished silver. Golden rays project out from around the figure, two upward and two downward. The statuette is clearly a devotional object for Galerius, the god of valor in the Church Imperial. To Ginara's practiced eye, it looks to be worth better than 1000 gold.
"I believe you know Melor cath Nortis? Large, boorish man? He maintains a vigorous social life. One of his guests recently was a priest who happened to notice that the statuette on cath Nortis's familial altar was rather more significant than the man thought. After the priest informed him of its significance, some 10 days ago, he began bragging to anyone who'd listen about how his family heirloom was a powerful holy focus.
"We have some people who keep an eye on the Church Nusaybian. We have reason to believe that they plan to take the statuette. Its loss would hurt our position and strengthen theirs. But beyond its relatively minor mystical significance, it also has some political importance; His Imperial Highness the Prince used to pray in a chapel that included the statuette, before it entered the cath Nortis family's possession. We don't want it lost.
"After cath Nortis declined a generous offer, we decided to take it into safekeeping. We fabricated a copy and had it blessed. We then performed a switch."
Kinric picks up a small piece of dull gray metal and taps it against the statue. A ripple travels across it; gold changes to dull brass and mother of pearl to enamel.
"As you can see, someone beat us to it. We know that it's not the Church Nusaybian, because they're still planning to steal it. I would like you to find out who took the statue and recover it."
"Of course, Uncle Kinric," Ginara stammers. "When did your people take the statuette?"
"Two nights ago. We discovered the switch this morning."
"And you're sure this wasn't the original?"
"Positive. The priest wouldn't have made a mistake."
"Can I get some friends to help?"
Kinric pauses. "Absolutely. You will likely need to recruit assistance, but be careful. If the Church Nusaybian realizes either how important this is, or that you're involved, it could be very dangerous. I trust your discretion. I would also prefer it if you avoided any unnecessary killing."
"Unnecessary?" Ginara squeeks. "There won't be any killing!"
"Be careful what you say; you need to be ready to take care of yourself, and hesitation can be risky. But I'm glad that you'll try to avoid killing anyone.
"If you should find it necessary, we can supply you with some money. Because the statuette is currently in the hands of thieves, we would prefer to recover it without compensating them, but recovering it is more important.
"I leave it to your discretion how to locate it. Should you choose to investigate at the cath Nortis house, I strongly urge you to not touch the statuette."
Ginara carefully places the statuette in a pouch. This will take some help...
Melania sits alone in a favored tavern. There's a good crowd in the place, but she's enjoying her mulled wine and relaxing. The door swings open and Ginara steps in. She looks like a drowned rat as she pushes back the sopping wet hood on her cloak. Melania looks up with a smile and gestures her over.
"Ginara! How are you? Another mulled wine for my friend."
"I'm glad you have a seat by the fire." After warming up for a few minutes, Ginara continues, "I need to talk to you about something."
"All right. What about?"
"Can we go back to your place? It's a secret."
A handful of the other patrons in the tavern look up with curiosity.
"Yeah, let's go."
A few minutes later, Ginara finishes explaining the situation.
"When people do things for Kinric, he tends to be grateful, right?"
"Oh, yes! He even said that we could have some money, for expenses and such."
"Sounds good. I'm in. If we're going to need to do tracking, we might want to bring in your friend Dov."
The two of them walk into a barracks where a scout company is based.
"Dov? Can we talk to you for a bit?"
Dovkania Skyrnath looks up from the card game she's playing with her comrades. "What is it?"
"We want to talk to you about a little business," Ginara explains. "It's a secret. Can we go to your parents' house to talk?"
"What sort of business?" interjects one of the other soldiers. "Anything we could help out with?"
"I'm afraid that it's a girl thing," Ginara says.
Melania flashes the young man a winning smile and adds, "maybe the two of us can talk about it later."
Dov stands up from the game, slings her swords, and they head out.
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