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Maissen: Shades of Grey [UPDATE 12/12, post 199]
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<blockquote data-quote="Beale Knight" data-source="post: 2723045" data-attributes="member: 7033"><p><strong>Session 14 pt1: Questions and Decisions</strong></p><p></p><p>Aneirin and Bessie walked out to notice rain was falling. Portagrumble had retreated to the depths of his tunnel, but all around the overgrown town there were halflings wandering out from their homes. There were no signs of panic; they had been as aware as Lykos during their time asleep. They now only wanted to reassure themselves it had all been real.</p><p></p><p>The local chief of the halflings, Bindis, led the series of thanks and, after moving to shelter, answered a few of our questions. They did remember the “angry people” coming through recently, and how they talked about their “three goals.” We presume they meant the redbreasts, as the map we recovered from them had three specific goals marked on it. Of this the halflings could tell us no more.</p><p></p><p>The history of this town was as had been explained to us by our giant badger friend and Thrand. These were the halflings of the Clobhopple clan, led here long ago by Maissen for safety from Idiein. Bindis’ concern was for the old treaties – were they still good? Not coming from the political establishment of Maissen, we didn’t even know halflings were real, much less that there had been treaties made with them. Bindis explained they were for non-aggression and mutual defense, and seemed almost desperate for reassurance they were still in effect. We did our best to explain our position of ignorance and offered our personal assurances that we would hold to them. </p><p></p><p>As we spoke Lykos returned. He swooped in majestically from above, breathing his frost breath on the damp ivy. The greenery turned into a breathtakingly beautifully display of reflective, almost crystalline sculpture, but only for a few moments. The dragon then smashed the frozen plants with his massive front paws, clearing away cast tracks of the ivy in moments. Soon most of the village was free of the ivy and Lykos joined our conversation, politely changing into human form. </p><p></p><p>We presented the map to Lykos and asked what he could make of it. The first X marked with the “Eliminate” notation was in a range of mountains. Lykos said that was Ferralie Pass, but he knew of no settlements there to be eliminated – of course his information was 200 years old. The second X with the Eliminate notation was home to a society of tree dwelling elves. As for the X designated “Meet”, Lykos confirmed that it was indeed in the middle of a vast ocean, with no island anywhere close. A mystery we would have to question our prisoners about. </p><p></p><p>As we headed back to begin the interrogation, we asked Lykos about Derros, a name he had mentioned with disdain twice already. Derros, he told us, was a massive red dragon. Presuming he was still alive, he would be grossly powerful – but unlikely to take sides in the war. The dragon also told us of the Kouba – free trade zones in chakta territory, centered around colossal bronze statues. The origins of these idols, men lying on their sides, were lost to history, and getting to them was certainly risking chakta attack, but he made them sound like a sight to behold. </p><p></p><p>Back in Lykos’ lair, we separated the sorcerer from the rogue. The dragon changed back to his natural form, situated himself atop his mound of treasure and then we started our interrogation with the former. He gave his name as Kallus, but was generally uncooperative on subsequent questions. </p><p></p><p>Lykos ate him. Swallowed him whole. He then left, promising to be back for “his turn” in a bit.</p><p>The other prisoner was suitably impressed. He gave his name as Kotrose, and began his life story. It was a pathetic tale. Ballos seems to be held under the fist of their local boss, and Kotrose seemed to be indebted to him. The rouge was not given a choice about embarking on the quest. All this he said before admitting it, to him, was all about the money. </p><p></p><p>For the money he didn’t try to get out of going in the first place. For the money he went along with the others when Idien approached and recruited them. He had been promised lordship over one of Idien’s many cities to the south, and for the money it never entered his mind that the lich might be lying. Everything was for the money.</p><p></p><p>Except for dumping dung on us back at the rift valley. That was for fun. </p><p></p><p>As for the map, it was given to them by Idien as instructions. The redbreasts, what there were left of them – some had died at farunk hands, and they had picked up the dwarf along the way, were to eliminate the settlements at the indicated locations and then meet the lich out in the ocean. How they were to go about accomplishing these missions were not Idien’s problems. </p><p></p><p>Kotrose was a pathetic figure. All the more so because he seemed so sure, so utterly certain, that we would not do him harm. Why? Because he was a Maissener, and so were we. That was all. He had complete faith in that tenuous connection for reasons incomprehensible even to the two of us from contemporary Maissen. Kotrose was as surprised at our disagreeing with him as he was that the council had a 3000 gold price on his head. </p><p></p><p>Lykos returned then and asked if we were finished. For all except deciding what to do with him, we said. We had too much to do to try and keep him prisoner throughout, and outright killing him just didn’t feel right at this point, despite what we’d told him. </p><p></p><p>The dragon presented a fine solution. He would keep Kotrose as a servant. To insure he would flee, Lykos bit off one leg just past the knee. That suited us, as did the scroll Lykos wrote crediting us with the killing of the other redbreasts, and his devouring the proof of one. He backed the bounty for that one, personally giving it to us then and there. </p><p></p><p>Our next favor of Lykos was asking him to investigate the magic items we’d claimed from the redbreasts. We wanted nothing that might be cursed or tainted with Idien’s evil, and we wanted to know what the other things did. As it turned out, only the four armbands had the lich’s taint on them, and these we turned over to Lykos (who artistically placed them on his hoard). The other, unknown, magic items included a wand of Black Death (command word apparently “die”), a pair of Immovable Rods, a Gauntlet that would hold any single handed item in a magic nowhere space, ready to give it to the wearer on command. The huge shield wasn’t enchanted, but was excellently crafted to allow it to fold down to a normal shield, and then back to a tower shield, with just a simple mechanism. </p><p></p><p>That then brought us to a choice. Did we stick to our plan, go to the gnomes and retrieve our items, then drop them off with our farunk tribe to be snuck through the border to us? Or did we warn the two settlements marked for elimination by Idien that the lich had them targeted?</p><p></p><p>After much discussion, we finally chose the nobler road, and recruited Lykos to help. We would go to whomever was at Ferralie Pass and he would fly to the Tree Elves further north. If nothing else, these two places would have some warning that the lich had them on his agenda.</p><p></p><p>By the time all this had come to pass, the halflings had been hard at work – dismantling their houses! Bindis explained to us that they were going to Maissen. They felt they would be safer there than our here in the middle of nowhere. We warned them about the chakta that lined the border, but they felt they could manage. </p><p></p><p>None the less excellent hosts, the Clobhopple clan fed us well and gave us comfortable accommodations for the night. Ren located a crafter in town that knew much about locks and traps and gizmos and how to dismantle them as his clan was their houses. The halfling loaned a book on the subject, which quickly became the focus of the hunter’s free time. After the dinner Bessie declined the offered bed, and made here way to the far fringes of the village. </p><p></p><p>When she returned the next morning it was with a smile. A smile that spoke of secrets learned and powers understood. It was a smile of comfortable protection and frightening danger at the same time. </p><p></p><p>We set out on Day Forty-Nine following Lykos’ advice on the best route to Ferralie Pass. This brought us deep into a pine forest. The narrow trail we followed snaked upward as the hills began to turn into mountains on either side. By late afternoon the trail opened up to a wide clearing. Ren was scouting ahead and noticed a collection of odd stone structures, about eight feet high and vaguely resembling beehives. His, and everyone’s, attention was then stolen by strange cries – like animals barking. </p><p></p><p>Then someone cried for help.</p><p></p><p>Next: Battle! , Ferralie Pass</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Beale Knight, post: 2723045, member: 7033"] [b]Session 14 pt1: Questions and Decisions[/b] Aneirin and Bessie walked out to notice rain was falling. Portagrumble had retreated to the depths of his tunnel, but all around the overgrown town there were halflings wandering out from their homes. There were no signs of panic; they had been as aware as Lykos during their time asleep. They now only wanted to reassure themselves it had all been real. The local chief of the halflings, Bindis, led the series of thanks and, after moving to shelter, answered a few of our questions. They did remember the “angry people” coming through recently, and how they talked about their “three goals.” We presume they meant the redbreasts, as the map we recovered from them had three specific goals marked on it. Of this the halflings could tell us no more. The history of this town was as had been explained to us by our giant badger friend and Thrand. These were the halflings of the Clobhopple clan, led here long ago by Maissen for safety from Idiein. Bindis’ concern was for the old treaties – were they still good? Not coming from the political establishment of Maissen, we didn’t even know halflings were real, much less that there had been treaties made with them. Bindis explained they were for non-aggression and mutual defense, and seemed almost desperate for reassurance they were still in effect. We did our best to explain our position of ignorance and offered our personal assurances that we would hold to them. As we spoke Lykos returned. He swooped in majestically from above, breathing his frost breath on the damp ivy. The greenery turned into a breathtakingly beautifully display of reflective, almost crystalline sculpture, but only for a few moments. The dragon then smashed the frozen plants with his massive front paws, clearing away cast tracks of the ivy in moments. Soon most of the village was free of the ivy and Lykos joined our conversation, politely changing into human form. We presented the map to Lykos and asked what he could make of it. The first X marked with the “Eliminate” notation was in a range of mountains. Lykos said that was Ferralie Pass, but he knew of no settlements there to be eliminated – of course his information was 200 years old. The second X with the Eliminate notation was home to a society of tree dwelling elves. As for the X designated “Meet”, Lykos confirmed that it was indeed in the middle of a vast ocean, with no island anywhere close. A mystery we would have to question our prisoners about. As we headed back to begin the interrogation, we asked Lykos about Derros, a name he had mentioned with disdain twice already. Derros, he told us, was a massive red dragon. Presuming he was still alive, he would be grossly powerful – but unlikely to take sides in the war. The dragon also told us of the Kouba – free trade zones in chakta territory, centered around colossal bronze statues. The origins of these idols, men lying on their sides, were lost to history, and getting to them was certainly risking chakta attack, but he made them sound like a sight to behold. Back in Lykos’ lair, we separated the sorcerer from the rogue. The dragon changed back to his natural form, situated himself atop his mound of treasure and then we started our interrogation with the former. He gave his name as Kallus, but was generally uncooperative on subsequent questions. Lykos ate him. Swallowed him whole. He then left, promising to be back for “his turn” in a bit. The other prisoner was suitably impressed. He gave his name as Kotrose, and began his life story. It was a pathetic tale. Ballos seems to be held under the fist of their local boss, and Kotrose seemed to be indebted to him. The rouge was not given a choice about embarking on the quest. All this he said before admitting it, to him, was all about the money. For the money he didn’t try to get out of going in the first place. For the money he went along with the others when Idien approached and recruited them. He had been promised lordship over one of Idien’s many cities to the south, and for the money it never entered his mind that the lich might be lying. Everything was for the money. Except for dumping dung on us back at the rift valley. That was for fun. As for the map, it was given to them by Idien as instructions. The redbreasts, what there were left of them – some had died at farunk hands, and they had picked up the dwarf along the way, were to eliminate the settlements at the indicated locations and then meet the lich out in the ocean. How they were to go about accomplishing these missions were not Idien’s problems. Kotrose was a pathetic figure. All the more so because he seemed so sure, so utterly certain, that we would not do him harm. Why? Because he was a Maissener, and so were we. That was all. He had complete faith in that tenuous connection for reasons incomprehensible even to the two of us from contemporary Maissen. Kotrose was as surprised at our disagreeing with him as he was that the council had a 3000 gold price on his head. Lykos returned then and asked if we were finished. For all except deciding what to do with him, we said. We had too much to do to try and keep him prisoner throughout, and outright killing him just didn’t feel right at this point, despite what we’d told him. The dragon presented a fine solution. He would keep Kotrose as a servant. To insure he would flee, Lykos bit off one leg just past the knee. That suited us, as did the scroll Lykos wrote crediting us with the killing of the other redbreasts, and his devouring the proof of one. He backed the bounty for that one, personally giving it to us then and there. Our next favor of Lykos was asking him to investigate the magic items we’d claimed from the redbreasts. We wanted nothing that might be cursed or tainted with Idien’s evil, and we wanted to know what the other things did. As it turned out, only the four armbands had the lich’s taint on them, and these we turned over to Lykos (who artistically placed them on his hoard). The other, unknown, magic items included a wand of Black Death (command word apparently “die”), a pair of Immovable Rods, a Gauntlet that would hold any single handed item in a magic nowhere space, ready to give it to the wearer on command. The huge shield wasn’t enchanted, but was excellently crafted to allow it to fold down to a normal shield, and then back to a tower shield, with just a simple mechanism. That then brought us to a choice. Did we stick to our plan, go to the gnomes and retrieve our items, then drop them off with our farunk tribe to be snuck through the border to us? Or did we warn the two settlements marked for elimination by Idien that the lich had them targeted? After much discussion, we finally chose the nobler road, and recruited Lykos to help. We would go to whomever was at Ferralie Pass and he would fly to the Tree Elves further north. If nothing else, these two places would have some warning that the lich had them on his agenda. By the time all this had come to pass, the halflings had been hard at work – dismantling their houses! Bindis explained to us that they were going to Maissen. They felt they would be safer there than our here in the middle of nowhere. We warned them about the chakta that lined the border, but they felt they could manage. None the less excellent hosts, the Clobhopple clan fed us well and gave us comfortable accommodations for the night. Ren located a crafter in town that knew much about locks and traps and gizmos and how to dismantle them as his clan was their houses. The halfling loaned a book on the subject, which quickly became the focus of the hunter’s free time. After the dinner Bessie declined the offered bed, and made here way to the far fringes of the village. When she returned the next morning it was with a smile. A smile that spoke of secrets learned and powers understood. It was a smile of comfortable protection and frightening danger at the same time. We set out on Day Forty-Nine following Lykos’ advice on the best route to Ferralie Pass. This brought us deep into a pine forest. The narrow trail we followed snaked upward as the hills began to turn into mountains on either side. By late afternoon the trail opened up to a wide clearing. Ren was scouting ahead and noticed a collection of odd stone structures, about eight feet high and vaguely resembling beehives. His, and everyone’s, attention was then stolen by strange cries – like animals barking. Then someone cried for help. Next: Battle! , Ferralie Pass [/QUOTE]
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