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Chronicles of Mesion: Considering Hiatus; Comments Needed.
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<blockquote data-quote="LordVyreth" data-source="post: 2912464" data-attributes="member: 9626"><p><strong>Discovering a New World: The First Journeys</strong></p><p></p><p>The first order of business would be finding a way to Ciudadbonita. Many options were proposed: simply walking, buying horses, getting a wizard to teleport the new party, even taking a boat part way. But all were considered too dangerous or too expensive. They even considered combining two of their leads by working for Henna and Hecubine and convincing them to go in the right direction, but they realized it was unlikely getting them to go in exactly the right direction, especially if the city is right and the duo really were involved in nefarious deeds. Grim even considered suggesting that they travel with his menagerie of animals but thought better about getting his loved ones involved.</p><p></p><p> Finally, the party decided to rent the service of some carriage drivers. It was relatively cheap, and at least they’d have the protection of the vehicles if something went wrong. When they looked for interested drivers, they only found one group interested. A kalashtar named Kanatash and a xeph named Cyra were co-owners of their small transportation service, and they were willing to make the fairly risky journey of 150 miles to the city. However, as they were planning for the journey, a messenger suddenly brought something to Ik. Her face darkened as she read it. “I’m afraid I can’t join you on this specific mission,” she said gravely. “I have something I must do. As soon as you finish with Guillermo, return to Fra Dane and I should be able to assist you again.”</p><p></p><p>Luke and the others were disappointed to lose an ally, even if only temporarily, but they parted ways for now. With that settled, the party quickly finished selling what they could find from the heist, bought provisions, and then simply decided who would go in which carriage. </p><p></p><p> “I’ll keep watch in the front,” Elvis volunteered, and he went into the front carriage, where Kanatash was already waiting to guide the horses.</p><p></p><p> Luke nodded. “Well, that’s not my specialty. I’ll stay in the rear carriage to protect and heal anybody who needs it.”</p><p></p><p> As soon as they heard the cleric would go in the back, Anastacia and Enrique dashed into the front carriage. Grim, however, just watched them and chuckled as he and Lorren joined Luke in the back carriage. “Apparently they never met an enthusiastic kalashtar before,” he muttered with amusement.</p><p></p><p> As the carriages set off, the party members in the back carriage could faintly hear Kanatash ask his riders, “Say, friends, have you heard the news about the All-Powerful Truth of the Universe? Let me explain…,” followed by the screaming of Enrique.</p><p></p><p></p><p> Almost a day and a half passed without incident, and the party almost reached the town of Rosavilla, a fairly popular crossroads almost sixty miles from Fra Dane. However, on the second day, the carriages suddenly skidded to a halt.</p><p></p><p> “What’s the problem?” Lorren asked with irritation.</p><p></p><p> Cyra pointed ahead to a river blocking the path. “There used to be a bridge here. We were just on this road a couple of months ago, and it was fine then. We’re going to have to find a safe place to ford the carriages. The river’s too deep here.”</p><p></p><p> As the combat-inexperienced drivers waited behind, the party explored the nearby paths to find a way across the river. They soon came to a wide, often used clearing right next to the river. Sensing an ambush, however, they carefully examined the area, and Enrique stumbled upon a symbol carved into a nearby tree. “It looks like a bull’s head,” he commented as he studied the symbol. “Or a demon’s,” he added ominously.</p><p></p><p> Anastacia looked at the symbol and shook her head. “No, that’s Adventurer’s Cant. Explorers use it to warn each other of danger or inform them about unusual or useful locations. This symbol means ‘Be prepared to defend yourself.’”</p><p></p><p> Elvis looked at the clearing, and thought he saw something moving in a bush on the other side. “Sounds like a good idea to me!” he shouted as he suddenly fired to catch whatever was hiding in the bush by surprise. To his own surprise, however, the bush itself started screaming!</p><p></p><p> As Elvis, Luke, and Lorren fired on the bush, and became increasingly surprised as the bush itself fired back at them, Enrique, Anastacia, and Grim carefully entered the clearing to check for other enemies. Their concern was soon justified, for a strange red snake slithered onto the top of a nearby hill, seemingly to watch the battle, while a strange predatory cat bounded towards the frontrunners of the party. Horrifyingly, the skin around its face somehow peeled away from its face as it looked at Enrique and screamed a terrible, agonized wail! The scream left Enrique shaken, but he quickly recovered and helped Anastacia and Grim attack the cat. </p><p></p><p> Lorren, meanwhile, was just about to fire at the bush again when a volley of massive thorns struck him. The pain was excruciating, but the young wizard cursed at the bush and fired one last sphere of magical force before ducking behind a tree. The blast finally struck the bush right into the center and shattered its central stem, causing the strange, screaming bush to collapse in a heap. While Lorren finished the bush, Grim crushed the cat’s exposed skull and led the charge on the snake. Surprised at the new threat, the snake simultaneously coiled aggressively and burst into flame. It spat a wide fan of fire at Grim and Anastacia, burning them both severely even though they both dived out of the way of the worst of the flames. Angry at seeing the pain his new friends were in, Enrique slipped behind the snake and drove his sword into and through its head. It collapsed instantly as its fire died with it.</p><p></p><p> As Lorren began to pull the barbed thorns out of his skin and Luke traveled among the party to heal the worst of their wounds, Elvis examined the river near the clearing and Enrique searched for other objects of note. Behind the hill, he discovered the nest of the snake, where he found the remains of an unfortunate humanoid who was apparently caught by this same ambush, a single gold coin and a small gem, and a nest made of wood and paper. Curious about the paper, Enrique took the nest apart and found that some of the paper had some sort of notice on it. He quickly read it.</p><p></p><p> To All Heroes of Great Courage and With a Drive to Show Valor:</p><p></p><p>The City of Zoridel is Working to cull the fiendish hordes from near our fair city while obtaining living subjects in our studies to eradicate the evil beings from our world forever. Expeditions are forming to investigate and cleanse noted fiendish enclaves. Rewards as high as 25 gold multiplied by the power of the fiend will be offered for the remains of slain fiends. Captured, living fiends will be worth triple this amount. The most triumphant heroes will be celebrated throughout Zoridel and be given a title of honor by Zoridel’s Chosen. Come to your nearest Headquarters for the Chosen of Zoridel to join the hunt and earn your worthy rewards!</p><p></p><p> As he returned to the party, he had what he thought was a potentially easy way to make money. “I think we should bring the bodies with us. You know, as trophies or to sell to scientists or something. And I don’t suppose anyone knows where a place called Zoridel is?”</p><p></p><p></p><p> Later that night, the party was surprised when they arrived at Rosavilla and found it was in the middle of a celebration of some sort. No sooner did they arrive than free food was thrust at them by the happy partygoers. The apparent, if surreal, source of both the food and the cause of the party were obvious moments later when the party first saw the remains of a giant bird the size of a large house.</p><p></p><p> “So, what happened here, exactly? I bet it’s a good story,” Luke asked.</p><p></p><p> A nearby partygoer explained the recent events. “Well, this bird first flew close to town a few days ago, and we were worried it would get too close and attack us. Fortunately, a wandering group of adventurers were in the area and agreed to destroy the bird for us. Once it was dead, they determined that it was actually safe to eat, provided we throw out the eyes.”</p><p></p><p> Lorren glanced at the dead bird’s eyes in response. Sure enough, though the eyes have been removed, the eye sockets were several times larger than expected for a head of that proportion. Lorren heard about a creature like this before. They’re called Hive Birds, and they apparently have semi-petrified eyes that house swarms of insects.</p><p></p><p> “To celebrate our safety,” the villager continued, “We decided to hold a feast using the bird itself. It’s done wonders for almost all the inns and taverns in town. They’re nearly all packed!”</p><p></p><p> Worried about the implications of this, most of the party decided to find rooms for the night, though Luke preferred to look for supplies for the next leg of the journey and Enrique decided to find some information and excitement in town. After hearing many villagers inform him that all the taverns and inns are full except for one known as the Jagged Blade, he decided to find out why. He soon discovered the reason when he entered the tavern and saw that a half-dozen harpies were drinking in the corner! After seeing everyone else in the tavern giving them a wide berth, he followed suit, but he noticed that they didn’t seem to be hostile, and they were paying generously. Nonetheless, he decided it was time to return to the party.</p><p></p><p> When he rejoined them, he was shocked to find they managed to get rooms in the best inn. “How did you pull that off?” he asked with shock.</p><p></p><p> Anastacia, with no small amount of embarrassment, admitted, “They just gave me them when they saw that I was, well, the ‘Prophesized One.’ A lot of half-elves think I’m some great savior because I was born on the same day, and supposedly the exact time, of the Bladestill. Nobody really knows what I’m supposed to do, though. I think I have to bring peace to the half-elves or something, but nobody can agree on the specifics. It does get me special treatment at times, though.”</p><p></p><p> The next morning, Enrique explored the town with a clearer head and better daylight, and he soon found out that the Zoridel’s Chosen had a headquarters in town. Eagerly, he showed the bodies of the creatures killed the other night to them, but their response was disappointing. “Indeed, these are fierce beats, and this snake is an intelligent and evil foe who some have claimed is tied to an evil god, but none of them are fiends,” a Zoridel’s Chosen agent commented upon after his headquarters examined the beasts. “If you want to participate in our noble plan to rid our world of fiends, we are organizing expeditions in Zoridel itself. We would be honored for brave heroes such as yourself to join us!”</p><p></p><p> Enrique, however, quickly felt his allergy to excessive nobility flare up and mumbled his goodbyes as he joined the group back at the carriages. They set off for the next leg of their journey. Ciudadbonita, where the truth about Guillermo and perhaps about the purpose of the rod itself would be found, was only 91 miles and a three day journey away.</p><p></p><p> OOC Notes: The party made more progress last game than I expected, so the second half of the adventure will be posted later this week. Keep in mind that this update and the next are from the same adventure, as this may become important later. Sharp-eyed readers might have even noticed a pattern between recent adventures.</p><p></p><p> One thing I planned on doing with these fairly inconsequential combat and role-playing opportunities is to tie all of them into the central storyline of the world in one way or another. For example, there’s the flyer the party found in the combat, and there might be more to the dead hive bird than expected as well. More about the adventure in general following the next update.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="LordVyreth, post: 2912464, member: 9626"] [b]Discovering a New World: The First Journeys[/b] The first order of business would be finding a way to Ciudadbonita. Many options were proposed: simply walking, buying horses, getting a wizard to teleport the new party, even taking a boat part way. But all were considered too dangerous or too expensive. They even considered combining two of their leads by working for Henna and Hecubine and convincing them to go in the right direction, but they realized it was unlikely getting them to go in exactly the right direction, especially if the city is right and the duo really were involved in nefarious deeds. Grim even considered suggesting that they travel with his menagerie of animals but thought better about getting his loved ones involved. Finally, the party decided to rent the service of some carriage drivers. It was relatively cheap, and at least they’d have the protection of the vehicles if something went wrong. When they looked for interested drivers, they only found one group interested. A kalashtar named Kanatash and a xeph named Cyra were co-owners of their small transportation service, and they were willing to make the fairly risky journey of 150 miles to the city. However, as they were planning for the journey, a messenger suddenly brought something to Ik. Her face darkened as she read it. “I’m afraid I can’t join you on this specific mission,” she said gravely. “I have something I must do. As soon as you finish with Guillermo, return to Fra Dane and I should be able to assist you again.” Luke and the others were disappointed to lose an ally, even if only temporarily, but they parted ways for now. With that settled, the party quickly finished selling what they could find from the heist, bought provisions, and then simply decided who would go in which carriage. “I’ll keep watch in the front,” Elvis volunteered, and he went into the front carriage, where Kanatash was already waiting to guide the horses. Luke nodded. “Well, that’s not my specialty. I’ll stay in the rear carriage to protect and heal anybody who needs it.” As soon as they heard the cleric would go in the back, Anastacia and Enrique dashed into the front carriage. Grim, however, just watched them and chuckled as he and Lorren joined Luke in the back carriage. “Apparently they never met an enthusiastic kalashtar before,” he muttered with amusement. As the carriages set off, the party members in the back carriage could faintly hear Kanatash ask his riders, “Say, friends, have you heard the news about the All-Powerful Truth of the Universe? Let me explain…,” followed by the screaming of Enrique. Almost a day and a half passed without incident, and the party almost reached the town of Rosavilla, a fairly popular crossroads almost sixty miles from Fra Dane. However, on the second day, the carriages suddenly skidded to a halt. “What’s the problem?” Lorren asked with irritation. Cyra pointed ahead to a river blocking the path. “There used to be a bridge here. We were just on this road a couple of months ago, and it was fine then. We’re going to have to find a safe place to ford the carriages. The river’s too deep here.” As the combat-inexperienced drivers waited behind, the party explored the nearby paths to find a way across the river. They soon came to a wide, often used clearing right next to the river. Sensing an ambush, however, they carefully examined the area, and Enrique stumbled upon a symbol carved into a nearby tree. “It looks like a bull’s head,” he commented as he studied the symbol. “Or a demon’s,” he added ominously. Anastacia looked at the symbol and shook her head. “No, that’s Adventurer’s Cant. Explorers use it to warn each other of danger or inform them about unusual or useful locations. This symbol means ‘Be prepared to defend yourself.’” Elvis looked at the clearing, and thought he saw something moving in a bush on the other side. “Sounds like a good idea to me!” he shouted as he suddenly fired to catch whatever was hiding in the bush by surprise. To his own surprise, however, the bush itself started screaming! As Elvis, Luke, and Lorren fired on the bush, and became increasingly surprised as the bush itself fired back at them, Enrique, Anastacia, and Grim carefully entered the clearing to check for other enemies. Their concern was soon justified, for a strange red snake slithered onto the top of a nearby hill, seemingly to watch the battle, while a strange predatory cat bounded towards the frontrunners of the party. Horrifyingly, the skin around its face somehow peeled away from its face as it looked at Enrique and screamed a terrible, agonized wail! The scream left Enrique shaken, but he quickly recovered and helped Anastacia and Grim attack the cat. Lorren, meanwhile, was just about to fire at the bush again when a volley of massive thorns struck him. The pain was excruciating, but the young wizard cursed at the bush and fired one last sphere of magical force before ducking behind a tree. The blast finally struck the bush right into the center and shattered its central stem, causing the strange, screaming bush to collapse in a heap. While Lorren finished the bush, Grim crushed the cat’s exposed skull and led the charge on the snake. Surprised at the new threat, the snake simultaneously coiled aggressively and burst into flame. It spat a wide fan of fire at Grim and Anastacia, burning them both severely even though they both dived out of the way of the worst of the flames. Angry at seeing the pain his new friends were in, Enrique slipped behind the snake and drove his sword into and through its head. It collapsed instantly as its fire died with it. As Lorren began to pull the barbed thorns out of his skin and Luke traveled among the party to heal the worst of their wounds, Elvis examined the river near the clearing and Enrique searched for other objects of note. Behind the hill, he discovered the nest of the snake, where he found the remains of an unfortunate humanoid who was apparently caught by this same ambush, a single gold coin and a small gem, and a nest made of wood and paper. Curious about the paper, Enrique took the nest apart and found that some of the paper had some sort of notice on it. He quickly read it. To All Heroes of Great Courage and With a Drive to Show Valor: The City of Zoridel is Working to cull the fiendish hordes from near our fair city while obtaining living subjects in our studies to eradicate the evil beings from our world forever. Expeditions are forming to investigate and cleanse noted fiendish enclaves. Rewards as high as 25 gold multiplied by the power of the fiend will be offered for the remains of slain fiends. Captured, living fiends will be worth triple this amount. The most triumphant heroes will be celebrated throughout Zoridel and be given a title of honor by Zoridel’s Chosen. Come to your nearest Headquarters for the Chosen of Zoridel to join the hunt and earn your worthy rewards! As he returned to the party, he had what he thought was a potentially easy way to make money. “I think we should bring the bodies with us. You know, as trophies or to sell to scientists or something. And I don’t suppose anyone knows where a place called Zoridel is?” Later that night, the party was surprised when they arrived at Rosavilla and found it was in the middle of a celebration of some sort. No sooner did they arrive than free food was thrust at them by the happy partygoers. The apparent, if surreal, source of both the food and the cause of the party were obvious moments later when the party first saw the remains of a giant bird the size of a large house. “So, what happened here, exactly? I bet it’s a good story,” Luke asked. A nearby partygoer explained the recent events. “Well, this bird first flew close to town a few days ago, and we were worried it would get too close and attack us. Fortunately, a wandering group of adventurers were in the area and agreed to destroy the bird for us. Once it was dead, they determined that it was actually safe to eat, provided we throw out the eyes.” Lorren glanced at the dead bird’s eyes in response. Sure enough, though the eyes have been removed, the eye sockets were several times larger than expected for a head of that proportion. Lorren heard about a creature like this before. They’re called Hive Birds, and they apparently have semi-petrified eyes that house swarms of insects. “To celebrate our safety,” the villager continued, “We decided to hold a feast using the bird itself. It’s done wonders for almost all the inns and taverns in town. They’re nearly all packed!” Worried about the implications of this, most of the party decided to find rooms for the night, though Luke preferred to look for supplies for the next leg of the journey and Enrique decided to find some information and excitement in town. After hearing many villagers inform him that all the taverns and inns are full except for one known as the Jagged Blade, he decided to find out why. He soon discovered the reason when he entered the tavern and saw that a half-dozen harpies were drinking in the corner! After seeing everyone else in the tavern giving them a wide berth, he followed suit, but he noticed that they didn’t seem to be hostile, and they were paying generously. Nonetheless, he decided it was time to return to the party. When he rejoined them, he was shocked to find they managed to get rooms in the best inn. “How did you pull that off?” he asked with shock. Anastacia, with no small amount of embarrassment, admitted, “They just gave me them when they saw that I was, well, the ‘Prophesized One.’ A lot of half-elves think I’m some great savior because I was born on the same day, and supposedly the exact time, of the Bladestill. Nobody really knows what I’m supposed to do, though. I think I have to bring peace to the half-elves or something, but nobody can agree on the specifics. It does get me special treatment at times, though.” The next morning, Enrique explored the town with a clearer head and better daylight, and he soon found out that the Zoridel’s Chosen had a headquarters in town. Eagerly, he showed the bodies of the creatures killed the other night to them, but their response was disappointing. “Indeed, these are fierce beats, and this snake is an intelligent and evil foe who some have claimed is tied to an evil god, but none of them are fiends,” a Zoridel’s Chosen agent commented upon after his headquarters examined the beasts. “If you want to participate in our noble plan to rid our world of fiends, we are organizing expeditions in Zoridel itself. We would be honored for brave heroes such as yourself to join us!” Enrique, however, quickly felt his allergy to excessive nobility flare up and mumbled his goodbyes as he joined the group back at the carriages. They set off for the next leg of their journey. Ciudadbonita, where the truth about Guillermo and perhaps about the purpose of the rod itself would be found, was only 91 miles and a three day journey away. OOC Notes: The party made more progress last game than I expected, so the second half of the adventure will be posted later this week. Keep in mind that this update and the next are from the same adventure, as this may become important later. Sharp-eyed readers might have even noticed a pattern between recent adventures. One thing I planned on doing with these fairly inconsequential combat and role-playing opportunities is to tie all of them into the central storyline of the world in one way or another. For example, there’s the flyer the party found in the combat, and there might be more to the dead hive bird than expected as well. More about the adventure in general following the next update. [/QUOTE]
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