The Lochmar Clan Storyhour (aka Men in Skirts)

[Ao the Overkitty]

Okay. This is going to be the home of the Lochmar campaign’s story hour. Orchid Blossom will be taking over this story hour after I finish with the recapping. We are currently in the second year of the campaign so, once I finish recapping year one, she can start on year two.

First off, the notes we have from the first year are in the form of a journal of my character. He has got above average intelligence and used to be a bard, but is a singer and bagpipes player. So, his writing is not exactly the best. Also, they were written as something no one but he would see, so it does assume knowledge of the world around him. I’ll try to sum up world knowledge in this post and along the way. Since I’m not the DM for this campaign, I can’t promise I’ll be able to answer all questions, but I’ll try, should they arise.

Another note is that spelling in this world is relative. The DM has said several times that no one spells things everything the same way. I’ll try to stick to spelling things the same way, but if things have very similar names, they’re probably the same thing. Examples are Steven and Stephen, Kantu and Cantu.

For the rest of this post, I’ll be giving out some background information on the setting. This is just a bunch of information we’ve picked up as we went along that doesn’t necessarily show up in the journal entries.

The campaign world itself is rather large. We play in Kingdom of Arleans, which is a member of the Seven Kingdoms of Kant. From my understanding, the Seven Kingdoms is a confederation that works together. They each have their own king, but sovereignty over all seven kingdoms falls to one king each year. So each king has a six-year break between his terms as overall ruler. As king of the seven kingdoms, his edicts hold more power than they do during the other years of his reign. As such, when a king makes an edict while being the ruler of the seven kingdoms, he cannot retract that edict until he is once more the ruler of the seven kingdoms.

Arleans itself is a Scottish modeled society. Kilts, bagpipes, claymores and the Catholic Church. There are forty-eight noble clans that help the king rule the area. Our characters (with two exceptions at the moment) are all members of the Lochmar clan, the 3rd noble family of Arleans. All clans in the area have an affinity to at least one of the six elements (water, earth, air, fire, life, & death). Clans are split into dual colors and tricolors. The dual colors are the older and generally more traditional clans. These clans all have a single elemental affinity. For example, the Lochmar clan is aligned with the element of water. The tricolors are the younger clans and are aligned with two elements. The youngest eight clans of the tricolors each have three elemental affinities. The dual color clans are generally distrustful of the tricolors, though I’m not sure why.

These elemental affinities make clan members more proficient at using effects connected to the element and make them more likely to withstand effects liked to that element. Also, those that become Clan Initiates, which is a homebrewed prestige class, gain such an affinity to their element that they achieve a Resist Element spell of their opposed element as a spell-like ability once per day.

The main church of the world is Catholic in basis. All churchgoers worship the same god, though most have a specific saint they consider their own. Priests each choose a saint to call upon for spells, but there is nothing stopping them from calling upon another instead. There are no alignment restrictions on Saints, though worshippers of Saint Eshua generally become Lawful Evil through their career. The philosophy is that they do what others of the church cannot, damning themselves to save others. The only nonaligned Saint is Saint Nexus, who is generally just referred to as Saint N to not draw his attention. Saint Nexus’s followers rule the Isle of Logan, which is determined to conquer the world, it seems.

For the most part, only humans and some half-breeds belong to the church while other races have their pagan religions. There are no pagan churches in Arleans, since they only occur in places where there are large pockets of races other than human.

Sixty years ago, members of Clan Darsguard massacred our clan when they were accused of being Darkling worshippers. The survivors were kicked up of the lands and had their property divided between their two neighbors, Caledon Vale and Darsguard. Thirteen or fourteen years ago, the clan members were allowed to return by the king of Arleans as and edict as the leader of all seven kingdoms. Before he could change his mind, his term as leader of the seven kingdoms ended. This left the Lochmars six full years to reclaim their lands and honor. That group of Lochmars came very close to succeeding, but failed in the final battle. Over one year ago, the king once again allowed Lochmars to return. That is when the latest group started arriving.

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Here is a listing of the PCs throughout the game. Some of them you won’t see for a while here. Unless specified, assume human.

The current group consists of Seth, Fiona, Padraic, Simon, Leetah, Tellsford, Dalys, & Patrick.

Seth Lochmar (Bard/Paladin/Lochmar Clan Initiate of Saint Steven of the Moors and Laird of the Lochmar Clan): This is my character and the one that is writing the journal. He is originally from Bennet, which is a Byzantine modeled society situated north of the Kingdoms, past the mountain range. He had lived his life as a commoner until he came to Arleans. He was in the family mortuary business as a gravedigger, dirge singer, and estate lawyer. His connection to the Lochmar family came from a never-do-well grandfather who kept dumping his debts on his children. After Seth died at the hands of a skeleton and was subsequently raised, he decided to find out if all Lochmars were as bad as his grandfather. He is pretty much just a figurehead in the position of laird, since he has no real clue how to effectively lead. He looks to Fiona and Padraic for courses of action in social settings.

Fiona Lochmar (Aristocrat/Sorcerer/Lochmar Clan Initiate of Saint Raphael and Heir of the Lochmar Clan): Orchid’s character. She is originally from Kantu, which is a fifteenth century Venetian modeled society set in a tropical jungle area. She started out a spoiled little rich girl who was mostly ignored by her father. Since no one would ever tell her what is going on, she got good at sneaking around and listening in on conversations. When she got her letter, she had a fight with her father and left for Arleans. She has come into her own power since then and is generally considered to be the most powerful of the Lochmars and of the group in general, since her silent and still spell feats make it very hard to take her out of a fight. Since her homeland has been invaded by the Loganites, she has brought refugees into the manor to give them shelter and jobs.

Arvin Lochmar (Rogue/Nomad Psionicist of Saint Raphael and former Exchequer): He is originally from Speculation. He was a bit of a loner, hated the tricolors clans, and believed in the ends justifying any means necessary (preferably ones that left perceived enemies in pools of their own blood). His family was the horse breeders of our clan and it was his goal to get the stables back to being filled and in working order.

Brother Padraic Lochmar (Aristocrat/Monk/Lochmar Clan Initiate and House Priest): Formerly of Kantu, he originally was a cleric as well, but opted out those levels when we made the switch to 3.5. He was raised in a monastery alongside his friend Doyle. He acts as the family’s spiritual leader and as a good advisor to the laird. He has unbelievable luck and skill when it comes to pulling off crazy stunts no one thought would be possible.

Analeetah Lochmar (Aristocrat/Rogue/Lochmar Clan Initiate and Exchequer): Formerly of Kantu, she arrived for a brief time in the beginning, and then returned home for a while. She holds the title of Baroness there and is a member of the thieves’ guild in Speculation, which runs the affairs of the state. She has a good head for numbers and engineering and has a very forceful personality.

Lamard Lochmar (Aristocrat/Rogue PC turned NPC): A man blessed with the gift of the gab. His abilities in the social arts rivals much more experienced nobles. He died defending Fiona in battle and now lives in the Ironwood forest on our property as a Centaur.

Tellsford Lochmar (Ranger/Rogue/Lochmar Clan Initiate of Saint Steven of the Moors and Huntlord): An exceptional archer and tracker. A loner like Arvin was, he is devoted to the destruction of the clan Caledon Vale and evil outsiders. He wasn’t originally a religious man, but his death and subsequent raising by Saint Steven seems to have changed that.

Simon Highwatch (Figher/Barbarian/Exotic Weapons Master/Urban Ranger/Highwatch Clan Initiate): Though a member of the Highwatch clan, his skills seem to be more geared towards being a sheriff than being a judge. He has a reputation of being a ladies man that he can’t seem to shake and likes to party. He seems to feel one of the best things about hanging around with the Lochmars is he gets to beat up naughty creatures. It has also led him to meeting Ursula Lochmar, whom he appears smitten with.

Dalys Lochmar (Bard/Lochmar Clan Initiate): A Half-Elf formerly from Eshan, a nation of mercenaries and capital of the long ago destroyed Elven nation.

Father Patrick Suffolk (Priest of the Cathedral of Arleans): A member of the Suffolk clan, which is an offshoot of the Lochmar clan. They’re a very poor clan who has a bitter feud with their neighbors, another very poor Lochmar offshoot named Norfolk. The Suffolk clan aligns themselves with Caledon Vale, which makes his involvement with our clan odd. However, priests are supposed to give up any obligations to their family when they join the church, so that may have something to do with this.

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Here is a listing of important NPCs. Some of them you won’t see for a while here.

Galibur Lochmar: Likes the ladies and living the good life. His methods for helping the family related to his being a lot more locally savvy than us and procuring items for us. It was a while before we learned more about him and his past. He did take a shine to Miriam and Fiona.

Miriam Lochmar: A soft-spoken young woman who arrived with her dowry. A very nice person who wanted to help in the ways she could. She spends most of her time with Galibur.

Lumin (Cohort of Seth Lochmar): A Lantern Archon which we found guarding an altar in a chapel on our property. He has since become a priest of law and good and has traveled with Seth. He spent several months dead, but is now back among the existing. He spends most of his time right at Seth’s side, or in the little temple meditating.

Sir Constantine (Cohort of Seth Lochmar): Constantine wasn’t exactly the wisest Paladin of the cathedral of Arleans had. This fact led to Padraic having to teach him a lesson in reason by pulling him off his horse when he wouldn’t listen. Constantine then followed Padraic back to the Lochmar estate, feeling he needed better clarity and atonement for his actions. Since then, he came under the leadership of Seth and gone on a couple of adventures with the Lochmars. He has strayed from the path of Paladin, becoming a Knight Protector of the Greater Realm as well as Captain of the Lochmar’s guard. He’s still not the wisest of people, but has Brother Doyle to consult with in matters of action and defense.

Ursula Lochmar (Cohort of Simon Highwatch): A nice young priest who arrived with her friend Bethany later in the season. She took a liking to Simon early on, but gets upset whenever he takes stupid risks. More than a few comments and jokes around the table have centered on whether or not Ursula would approve of Simon’s actions. She is not a priest of the church.

Brother Doyle (Cohort of Padraic Lochmar): A childhood friend of Padraic, he became a Priest and Rogue instead of a Monk. He is a security specialist and the chief advisor in such matters to the Lochmars. He made the trip to Arleans with several monks from their monastery after Padraic offered them a chunk of our land to set up a monastery in exchange for their help. He is a very serious man who could really do to take a day off once in a while.

Peak (Cohort of Leetah Lochmar): Leetah returned to Kantu followed by one of the remaining merchant vessels of her Grandfathers fleet and a large amount of household goods for the manor. A disgruntled customer of her Grandfather, the half-ogre Peak, decided to hold the ship as payment. In the end, the Lochmars offered to properly magic up his adamantine axe. He got used to being around while the work was done, and seems happy to stay with Leetah.

William Monroe (Follower of Seth Lochmar): While just a 1st level warrior at the time, this man has the prestige of being the only follower to not only fight off the affects of the meenlocks, but take down three of them as well when they tried to kidnap Ursula and Bethany. He was the first and only of Seth’s followers to actually get a name.

Kelwyn McLar: Tenant of the Lochmar clan. He is a decent Ranger who helped out the last group of Lochmars as well as this new group. He is unofficially in charge of letting us know if there are problems on the lands since he traverses them regularly. His dog, Harvey, stays in the gatehouse, for the safety of everyone.

Taggert McLar: The groundskeeper of the Lochmar estate. A very OLD man, his exact age is unknown. What we do know is he was old when the last group of Lochmars were around. Still, he is a very kind man and devoted to the Lochmars. The poor guy tried to do everything for the new arrivals and got distressed whenever Seth did menial labor like grave digging. When the gypsies came by, they stole all of his chickens (which they seem to do every year). He was a little upset when the Lochmars couldn’t get any chickens to replace them, so got him bunnies instead.

Robert Cornaro: A childhood friend of Fiona and business associate of her father. Robert had just completed negotiations with her father to marry her, but she left before he could propose. Fiona continues to be unaware of this and considers him only a friend. His arrival in Arleans caused quite a stir because he was stabbed and thrown overboard from the ship he was traveling on and washed ashore with a fever. He arrived just after Maker, and told Fiona that Maker has “the old people’s disease.” What we modern people would call Alzheimer’s.

Maker: An employee of Fiona’s father, he showed up to try and coerce Fiona into returning home. A flustered old man who really did not seem to like Robert’s presence. Fiona was suspicious of the offers from her father that he brought, and even more suspicious of that fact that he is to stay and help her should she refuse to return to Kantu.

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Journal Entry of Seth Lochmar - July 5th

Journal of Seth Lochmar – Volume One
Former Estate Lawyer & Undertaker of Bennet
Paladin of the Church of Saint Michael
Laird of the Lochmar Clan
May 18th 1002 -​

July 5th, 1002

Due to my self-imposed solitary confinement in the Manor house’s library, I’ve decided to start writing down my experiences to date. This will give me something to do during the times I get bored of reading the law texts. I may be a lawyer at heart, but they bore even me at times. And I’ve got to do something with that time. I have yet to cool down from our recent encounter in the woods. That idiot Arvin has cost us something big. He really needs to learn to keep his mouth shut from time to time. I do admit, at least to myself, that this situation is partially my fault. I should have been more firm with him and outright denied him to go hunt, but we have not been getting along too well as of late and I didn’t think this was one of those battles I should choose to fight. It turns out I was very wrong in that assessment. As expected, the druid was more then pissed. Hopefully she will not see us worth destroying.

I suppose should start at the beginning of the journey that brought me here. I’ve been here two months already and really should write down what has transpired before I forget about it.

The first wave, as I shall refer to it, since a lot of people seem to view the return of our family as an army in need of destruction, came by boat. I met my cousins Fiona and Arvin upon the boat. Arvin comes from Speculation and Fiona from Kantu.

Fiona started out as a flighty little rich girl, though she has been growing up lately. She has certainly gained a knack for talking her way out of a situation and making a person see our point of view. Also, her ability in the arcane arts is growing. With a little more growing up to do, she’ll fit right into her role as Heir. Yes, it is quite odd in these parts to have a female heir, but I fear none of the others here could step into the shoes of lairdship if I were to die. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sure even I really qualify as a good laird, but I’m trying. Of course, I seem to focus a bit too much on making everyone happy, but if you have unhappy family members, they won’t work as hard as needed to strive past the wretches that were our predecessors. Besides, I see a lot of my sister Sara in her: smart, resourceful, quick-witted and quite the charmer. She at least has our cousin Galibur wrapped around her little finger. Though I feel it is wrong to think in these terms, she will be a very good bargaining chip down the line for political alliances with one of the other houses.

Arvin…. Now there’s a troubled chap. We have been at odds since nearly the beginning. A bit ruthless and stubborn, we seem to have very different viewpoints on how we should go about restoring the family name. We disagree on almost everything. He’s bound determined to get the vineyards running again, but we can’t seem to get it through his mind that our lands are blighted/cursed/corrupted/unholy. Anything that grows on our lands becomes twisted. Certainly nothing good enough to eat, let alone sell. We’re going to have to rely on Taggert and our tenants for food this winter. Maybe by next spring we will have garnered some support in the church to get someone to hallow our ground. But anyway, back to Arvin. His part of the family ran the stables and bred the horses. At times I think that they should have spent less time focused on their horses’ breeding program and a bit more time on their own, but that’s not a nice thing to think. Arvin is a skilled exchequer, though he needs to learn a bit more of the laws before he goes about making credit edicts. His last attempt bordered on seriously illegal. It was a good thing he had enough sense to check it over with me beforehand. He is, at least in his mind, fanatically loyal to the laird. I am sure that his arguments with me are for what he believes to be the family’s greater good. He has risked his life to save us, though I must add mostly me, several times in our work to retake the lands from its inhabitants. I fear I have been a much greater drain on our resources then a help to the family. Sometimes I feel they’d all be better off if I just left in the night; mostly after arguments with Arvin. There is also this new power that he has come into lately, much to my displeasure. I know that such abilities are not of one’s own choosing, but they are still an abomination. It would probably be best for the family if he was to leave, but I cannot find it in my heart to kick him out. He has saved my life far too many times, though he has also bungled up several negotiations. I fear that this new power of his, besides being further fuel in our disputes, will also lead to our family getting in lots of trouble at a later date.

Oh my... I do tend to ramble on, don’t I? Anyway, we met on the boat, but we also met another of our cousins. A being, for lack of a better word, named Cohen. He looked human enough, but was very much otherworldly. He mentioned having been in the Shadows, which I took to mean the Shadow plane. He knew lots of what was going on and seemed to have a few allies. He said he was a member of the last attempt to restore the family name. He warned us of the ensuing attack upon our vessel by a Loganite vessel (a Death Knight of Saint N with Trolls and an undead army at his beck and call). He then went off to gain help from a nearby Blue & White. We barely weathered the time it took for the Blue & White to arrive. I was truly pitiful in combat back then and, though even then I was always properly equipped for dealing with undead, had the worst time dealing with them. I think that those vials of holy water and the sureness of Arvin’s blade are what kept Fiona and myself alive. We were transferred over to the Blue & White and had our wounds tended to by priests. The captain turned out to be a friend of Cohen and we arrived in Arleans without further adieu on the eighth day of May.

Upon arrival, new to the area, we were immediately flagged down by a loud, gabby woman named Toby McArlen. Warning bells went off in our heads at this, but avoiding her would probably been a bad idea. She brought us to see a “friend”, Minister Nicene. Oh, how I wish I could have detected evil back then. That probably wouldn’t have saved us from the trouble to come, but probably would have protected our clothes. I do so miss my pants. These kilts are far too drafty. If it weren’t such a social faux pas, I’d commission a tailor to make me some pants again. Of course, that would require money, of which we have little, or would take us further in debt for a luxury at best.

Anyway, we walked right into Minister Nicene’s trap like good little pigeons. He assured us that our best chance of survival was to get out of town and to the estate as quick as possible (neglecting to tell us we needed to register as nobles to be recognized as such). He secured us a nice, “trustworthy” ferryman to take us down the river. We took a small amount of time reequip some of the supplies lost on the ship voyage. The ship captain of the original ship we sailed upon gave us each a reward for defending his ship and not hiding in the hold with the rest of the passengers. I used my reward to replenish my holy water and curing potion that got used up. It went better then most occurrences since I’ve been here, since we actually broke even.

The ferryman was very good at his guise. He turned out to be the oddest thing I’ve ever seen… a Weretoad. He glued us to our seats and tried to shuffle us off to meet Saint Stephen. I remember that fight well, for it was the first in my life I actually shined. I don’t think he anticipated how quickly Fiona would cut herself out of her travel dress and defend herself. Arvin as well was quick to free himself. I, however, took the time to trip this fellow with my whip before freeing myself. Neither Arvin nor Fiona had thought to arm themselves with Silver, so their attacks were ineffective. The beast however, was doing some serious damage to Arvin. I got in a lucky hit with my first attack, downing the creature.

We struck ground on Caledon land. Fiona was smart enough to have brought a change of clothes, but I was stuck in my skivvies and Arvin in even less. Fiona was forced to negotiate our way past a group of guards under the employ of the Sheriff of Caledon Vale. They had us in a bad situation and Arvin & myself were forced to remain in the shadows for sake of decency.

We finally made it to the Lochmar lands that night, meeting the old groundskeeper Taggert; a nice guy and very loyal to the family. He lent me one of his old kilts until I was able to procure one of my own (which was a long time coming).

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Journal Entry of Seth Lochmar - July 7th

July 7th, 1002

The following day, the second wave arrived. Miriam, Wallace, Padraic, Galibur, & Leetah all arrived in Miriam’s coach. Apparently they had a much less eventful trip then us.

Miriam is a soft-spoken woman who left home with her dowry, in hopes of using it to help the family. She really wanted to help and offered her money for many occasions, but didn’t understand my urging to keep her money for a rainy day. It certainly came in handy when that rain came. While she had given a small amount of it to Galibur for his several trips into the city for supplies, there was just enough of it left to cure Arvin of his affliction. I wanted to make her the family’s Exchequer, but she declined the position. Arvin seems to at least have the mind for figures.

Wallace is a strong man. A bit morally challenged and a follower, not a leader. Though, he seems competent enough to be our Huntslord. Still he too was quite loyal to the family. All this loyalty must have come out of pride of some better stock then what runs in my veins. He’s quick to anger and is not afraid of voicing his opinion of people. Completely lacking in social skills, I’m not sure which of them does more damage to our appearance, himself or Arvin. At least Arvin seems to be trying to sound diplomatic. Still, Wallace is quite good with a sword and brought some much needed silver weapons with him. They came in quite handy in the fight to retake the manor.

Padraic hails from a monastery in Kantu. Originally a simple monk, he has taken up the ways of the cloth in a minor capacity, following Saint Michael’s guidance. He has made the little monastery his refuge and has formed a strong alliance with the guardian of the altar there. As a member of Saint Michael’s monastic order, he is chiefly concerned with the security of our grounds and manor. Before he followed his calling into further service with our lord, we were seriously lacking in healers. Fiona and I could manifest a few weak healing spells, but we had to rely on potions and time for the most part. Padraic and I see eye to eye on most things. We both saw that the church was the first place we needed to garner support in; especially due to our lack of healing power. But they were also the ones hurt most by Troy’s betrayal in the last attempt. We have also later found out that the last group uncovered some devil worshippers in the cathedral, which lends more to their calling us devil worshippers, trying to cover up their past mistakes. I believe that Padraic will make a good clan chaplain and will play a key role in winning over the other sects of the church.

Now Galibur is an interesting combination. At first, he reminded me too much of my grandfather; the useless money squandering gambling drunk. Never much help around the manor, he came with the sole intent of living it up as a noble, I believe. But, while we were in jail, he risked his neck to help us get out. Also, he made several trips to the city, a place very dangerous to members of our family, to retrieve supplies, even though we had not asked. Of course, he also spent these trips living it up in the city, spending a fair amount of cash. That is, until he discovered that the family had credit. I fear to think of just how much in debt the family is because of him. His heart is in the right place, though. If only I can teach him a bit of temperance.

I did not know Leetah long or well, for she left not long after she arrived, returning to Speculation on her own accord. Another one from Speculation, she had a blatant disregard for the law and would fight to the last man against the Sheriff when he caught us on a technicality. She had no social graces and took an immediate liking to an evil little troll named Olva. She also did very little to help, always wandering off to do her own thing. Thankfully, when she left, she agreed to bring letters from Fiona and Padraic back to their families and friends. I would have wished to send a letter to my sister and cousin as well, but my home was too far out of her way to do so. Also, she thankfully took that little witch with her. Too bad she couldn’t take the kobolds too.

Within a few days of their arrival, the Sheriff’s men rode onto our grounds and attempted to arrest us for trespassing. Since we did not have our papers, thanks to our “friend” Minister Nicene, whom we now knew to belong to the House Risenson, the sheriff had a legal point for doing so. Of course, they refused to listen to us and set their hunting dogs loose. This made for an interesting fight, since we had been moving bunk beds at the time. With only Leetah and myself still conscious by the time a second contingent of guards approached, I was able to get enough out of the guards to know that they were technically in the right and surrendered. Which was a good thing cause Leetah had started taking shots at the guards. Luckily, she was just a very bad shot.

We were forced to carry the unconscious members of our family back to Caledon Vale and to the jails. Luckily, they did not search Taggert’s for Miriam & Galibur. While we were imprisoned, Galibur was able to procure writs for myself, Fiona and Leetah. When trial came around upon the eighteenth day of May, we got to meet Judge Highwatch. He is a no nonsense kind of guy, but is fair and willing to cut someone a break when he sees someone is trying to screw someone else in his court. Seemed to see it as fitting justice that the Sheriff had to pay for incarcerating us. The Sheriff’s grudge against us roots from the last contingent of Lochmars killing his evil father. Course, he doesn’t know what his dad had done, so he blames our clan for his death. At least he has a better reason then most of the people around here that hate us. From what I’ve read and heard of the last group, they were a less then savory group that skipped merrily along the path of evil. Hell.. The former family chaplain, Father Troy, not only animated the dead for fun, but he became one of Saint N’s general. And it’s any wonder they failed.

We spent some time getting our butts handed to us by Kobolds and other things over the next few weeks. Seems we’d go out investigating, I’d get taken down quickly, then I’d take several days to recuperate. It really was the complete opposite of fun. Things sped up a little when my healing powers improved a little. I was able to manifest a light healing spell, which was the best the family had at the time. It was about this time that Minister Nicene’s latest little trick arrived. An arrogant man by the name of Dancin arrived with his little witch of a fortuneteller in tow. Seems he was destined to lead the Lochmar clan as laird. Well... That’s what this creature named Olva told him, at least. Seems Minister Nicene had met the guy and took him under his wing; got him his writs and instructed him on the ways of the city. Also hired a few guards for him. Guess he figured this guy would clean my clock good. Now, when this guy challenged me to battle for the lairdship, I was a little worried. Here is a guy with a claymore and nice armor, while I walk around with a carpenter’s hammer and a whip and no armor at all. It didn’t help that my track record in combats to this date was to drop in the first few seconds and start bleeding, mostly without scoring a hit. Well... I tried to choose the weapon of choice to be song. That is, who could play the bagpipes the loudest. He wasn’t happy about it, but it seemed to be working. Of course, Olva had a trick up her sleeve. She was armed with thunderstones and was ready to throw them when Dancin went. But things degenerated before that point. After we had gotten the Salisbars, some of our tenants, to judge the contest, Dancin got confused and attacked me. Things degenerated into a free for all, with Dancin on me. Knowing I couldn’t take on a guy that was well equipped and seemed to know how to use them, I quickly charmed him. First time I had tried that spell, and was quite glad to see it worked. Of course, just after I charmed him, a thunderstone, tossed by Olva went off, which deafened both Dancin & Arvin. She also lobbed an alchemist’s fire, which hit and started me on fire. I almost burned to death, but I’m told my new friend Dancin was the one to put the flames out. Olva finally gave up and Fiona got Dancin to formally state that he no longer wanted to take the lairdship from me (before the charm ended, of course). This was helped by a little prodding of Olva to change her vision of Dancin’s future. I’m told it took a bit of work to restrain him from killing her.

Once revived, I didn’t want a good fighter to go to waste. Dancin was sorely in need of a moral compass. I think he may have actually been more ruthless then Wallace or Arvin. I convinced him to stay, for glory and honor and the good of the family. He seemed to buy into it, so I guess it was a good argument. I had to make sure from now on to include him and Arvin in conversations by writing stuff out for them. He appreciated this, but Arvin was resentful. Arvin became even more moody after this, taking to heart even more when I disagreed with him.

Olva, on the other hand, also was thinking of staying, much to the displeasure of everyone but Dancin & Leetah. She was spineless and “saw in the stars” exactly what you wanted to hear. I guess Leetah liked that in her. Regardless, she and Leetah didn’t stick around too long after that. She never stated a reason, but Leetah decided to just go home to Speculation. Can’t truly say she was missed.

With Dancin around, we were able to make our first true foray into the Manor house. Inside, we found a bunch of melted people which I recognized as the weakest of the Devils, named Lemures. The rest of the group had no clue what they were, so I told them they needed silver to harm them. Wallace proceeded to hand out his large collection of silver daggers at this point, being the only other person besides me so properly equipped. This first venture went well, but we were still wounded and decided to retreat for the time being.

It was on this same outing, I believe, that we found the little monastery. This is a place that Padraic has spent a lot of time at, come of late. Commanded to guard the altar by Father Troy was a lantern archon. Not sure why he actually used a being of good, besides perhaps feeling most other people would think twice about harming a celestial. The freaking ball of light, as we have come to call it, zapped us a few times before we were able to hammer out an agreement with it; we don’t touch the altar, it doesn’t zap us. Padraic has since established a good relationship with this pulsing ball, and it has been showing promise as a minor priest, which is something we truly needed. One of these days, perhaps we’ll be able to coax it out of the sanctuary, but for now, we run to it for healing whenever necessary.

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Journal of Seth Lochmar - July 9th

July 9th, 1002

While Fiona, Arvin, and myself were out meeting the rest of our tenants on a truly abysmal day, a woman fell from the sky while lightening cracked. Rushing over to her, we were attacked by some creature that was gnawing on her head, but seemed to be going right through it. We were able to fight the creature off, but not until it did the same thing to me, clouding my brain and making it much harder for me to think. Checking out the woman, we were attacked by some kind of scarab. When slain, a rip in the air formed where it died. The rip was closing too quickly for us to safely venture in and still get back out. Seeing that the woman was a tricolor, Arvin was dead set against bringing her home. He seemed to want to just leave her there in the ditch. Luckily, Fiona agreed with me that it was not an option and we carried here back to the estate, Arvin sulking all the way.

When we got back, we discussed what to do with her. Wallace, Leetah, & Padraic were off elsewhere at this point, so the discussion fell between Galibur, Miriam, Dancin, and the three of us that brought the woman in. Olva was also around, but she knew her opinion wasn’t required. I should point out at this point that Galibur was in a frightful mess. He had been horribly beaten while trying to acquire a scroll of remove deafness for Arvin & Dancin. Of course, as I have mentioned, the church isn’t too happy with our family, and when they finally connected him to our clan, they beat him severely and were going to kill him. But, luckily Galibur is quite the charmer and wooed one of the female attackers to smuggle him back to our estate, with promises of marriage. When she arrived with a severely beaten Galibur on horseback, Arvin pulled him off his horse forcibly, smashing him to the ground and knocking him unconscious. I was seriously tempted to deck Arvin at this point for his deplorable behavior, but it would not have looked good in front of our “guest.” While Fiona and I were trying to politely explain to this woman that Galibur was in no state for any type of courtship at the moment, Leetah was much less diplomatic. She threw some coins at the woman, told her to take it and leave, cause Galibur would not be marrying below his station. The woman rode off with tears streaming down her face. Unfortunately, we did not have the transport or the time available to go after her.

Anyway, in the arguments about what to do with this tricolor, Arvin & Dancin were all for tying her up, throwing her in the basement, and beating what she knew out of her. Galibur, who was still recuperating in the bedroom after his ordeal in the city, asked how cute she was and offered to give her a private interrogation session. Miriam wanted to nurture this poor woman back to health, doing whatever was needed to do so. We were able to come to a compromise of sorts. We removed the woman’s belongings and placed all of it in a corner of the room, but she was left untied. Arvin did not consider this to be a good choice and stormed off outside to sulk.

After reviving her with some minor healing spells, we were able to get out of her that she had been on the Astral Plane fighting something called a Githyanki and she needed to reach her family, the Bluestones, immediately. She was quite dismayed that we did not have a priest capable of Sending a message to her estate. She wanted to ride off for her estate that night, but she was in no condition to do so. We were also not in much shape to go out that night either. But, before we could discuss any further what to do, Arvin return to Taggert’s house, with something in tow.

Looking behind him, we saw what could only be the Githyanki Heather Bluestone spoke of fighting, claymore raised to chop Arvin in half. With our warning shouts, Arvin dodged the blow and a great battle ensued. Everyone present except Olva fought valiantly and, by the end of it, Galibur had retreated back to the bedroom, Miriam was hiding in the kitchen, Olva cowered in the corner, Arvin & Heather laid unconscious and bleeding, Fiona was staggering but still upright and Dancin laid dead, along side the Githyanki. It had a very nice, magical mithral suit of armor which Arvin claimed, a Claymore of superb craftsmanship with Githyanki writing upon it which I took, several blue stones (soul stones of the house Bluestone), and three moderate cure potions, which were used to heal up those that could be healed.

Picking up the house and burying Dancin, Wallace returned from where he had wandered off to. He also felt we should help this woman, but worried about getting the horse back if we just let her go on her own. So, I decided that I, at least would travel with her to as far as she needed to go. Arvin seemed very upset that I would choose to help a tricolor, whom he was always told were not to be trusted. He didn’t seem to have a rebuttal when I reminded him of our own reputation as devil worshippers and that we had to give trust in order to earn trust. Fiona, Wallace, and Miriam also chose to go along, though Miriam knew I had another reason for her going along. I had been trying to get the family to go to the city for supplies for a while now. We were dreadfully low on healing potions, antitoxins, paper, and several other minor necessities. As to be expected, Arvin was always against going into town, stating that we should be securing our lands first and there was nothing in the city that could help us. Still, he decided to go along with us. His arguments were seriously tempting me to not do the one thing I really wanted to do in town, which was get him cured of his deafness. This was the main reason why Miriam was going along, since she was in charge of her dowry money and had been a little bit ignored lately. Of course, I knew the city was dangerous, and I’d have to make sure Miriam was safe. She was, after all, the most like a proper lady between the three female family members that have shown up.

Heading out in the morning with the horses and Miriam’s Wagon, Wallace, Fiona, Arvin, Miriam, Heather, and myself headed to town. This was the first time it actually looked like our plans to head to town would work. Every time previous that we had decided to head to town, something would crop up to distract us. Actually, that was happening a lot whenever we’d make a decision in the beginning. It’s like the lord or the devil did not like our decisions and decided to make us do something else. Quite frustrating, to say the least. But we made it to the city with only a minor incident with a hobgoblin horse thief.

While we were prepared to go all the way to the Bluestone estate if necessary, Heather directed us to the Bluestone townhouses. We returned her to her family, along with her belongings and the soul stones found on the Githyanki. Preventing Arvin from making several social blunders was quite a chore. I mean, you don’t just bluntly say, “Minister Nicene tried to kill us,” in front of people you just met; especially since we have no admissible proof of his actions, just coincidental circumstances. The Bluestones seemed nice enough, though. When we later returned to the Lochmar estate, they sent us a thank you gift for the safe return of Heather and the blue stones in the form of a magical light mace capable of hitting creatures either incorporeal or on the ethereal plane. Our chats with them were nice, if a bit awkward due to our lack of common topics.

They informed us of where the Lochmar townhouses were and provided us with some mercenaries for our protection, so we headed there without further delay. We found the place in renovation. Someone had hired an interior decorator in our name and credit. This, of course, pleased us to no end. More credit debts to deal with. At this time, I am not sure who hired him. My guess is that it was either one of Minister Nicene’s lackeys dressed in our colors or Dancin at the Minister’s insistence. We let it be for now. Only Arvin & Dancin to this date had had proper nobles’ clothes, which would have aided the sheriff’s case, if he had seen to bringing it up at the trial. So, we retrieved nobles’ clothes for each of us at a local tailor which Galibur had commissioned for us. Fiona was the only one who could afford to pay for her clothes straight out, so most of it went on credit. Since it is illegal, at least in the church’s view, to give credit we could only ascertain that there was indeed interest, but not how much. I must also point out that shortly after we left the townhouses that Arvin wandered off. I should have been more worried about him, but decided if he wanted to wander off, he could take care of himself.

We knew someone had been watching us throughout our time in the city, because we kept seeing this black cat around. I figured it was someone’s familiar, which was being used to Scry through, but that was never confirmed. Someone spooked a knight’s horse into attacking us, which Fiona had to put to sleep for a little while, pleasing the knight wearing a tripple blue coloroed kilt to no end. While staying the night at the townhouse, Miriam went upstairs to sleep while the rest of us sat in the kitchen a little bit before going to bed. Of course, that cat we had seen earlier was back, and this time he brought friends. I cannot stress enough how humiliating it is to be beaten up by a bunch of kittens. I mean, how sad is it that a group of four humans can be taken down and almost killed by a pack of ordinary housecats. Even if it were those fiendish crows that had taken up residence in our manor house, at least then it would have saved us some face, since there was something special about them. But these were just ordinary kittens, egged on by some spell caster into doing his bidding, I guess. I’ll say one thing about this guy; he certainly knows how to demoralize us. Even being beaten up by kobolds is less degrading.

They barged through the back door in the kitchen, taking us by surprise and left me staggering after their first attack. I had used my minor healing spells earlier when dealing with the horse, so I was lucky and managed to get my light healing spell off, but was unable to move away from them before they could attack me again, leaving me staggering once again. Seeing I’d be of no use in this fight, I managed to get out into the hall. Luckily, the little pests didn’t pursue me.

Wallace faired a little better against them. He managed to take several out before they dropped him to the ground bleeding. Fiona did much better, getting atop a table and letting loose several magic missiles. Arvin took down several with his crossbow. After the battle was done, Fiona had to use what was left of her minor healing magic to bring Wallace back to consciousness. We had hoped to get some sleep that night, so that we could regain our paltry amount of healing, but the caterwauling outside all night kept everyone but Arvin (who’s deafness was actually a benefit for once) up all night. Lucky for us, the downpour the following morning scattered the cats for a while. Bleary-eyed and staggering, we started to make our way out of town. Some how, we managed to find a small church with a priest who did not recognize our family colors. Donating pretty much all of our gold, we were able to get healed up enough to travel and get Arvin’s hearing fixed. I don’t think we ever heard a thank you; just grumbling about misuse of family funds.

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Journal Entry of Seth Lochmar - July 11th

July 11th, 1002

Resting for a few days after our journey, the thank you gift we received from the Bluestones made us feel a little better about helping them, but we decided that we seriously needed to improve our fighting power. Arvin took this time to draft up an edict with regards to credit to the Lochmar clan. That piece of paper was so full of illegalities and shady sections that he decided to forgo the thought entirely. It was also at this time that I heard my calling from the lord, bringing me into a greater servitude of Saint Michael as one of his Paladins. Padraic returned from where he had been, also having had a religious experience. He only told me to begin with, but we soon told the rest of the family that, while he had been meditating in the little monastery, the freaking ball of light had heard his prayers for a healer and, while taking some of Padraic’s experiences, manifested the powers of a priest of our lord. He shared with us that, by donating experiences and memories to the lantern archon, we could help it become a better priest. Padraic also came into the lord’s service at this time, as one of Saint Michael’s priestly monks.

It seemed like a flood of divine power when a Fletcher McLar and his bodyguard brother from the Basilica of Arleans showed up looking to help. We decided that this day would be a good day to go check out the winery and its state. Of course, as with all things on our lands, it was overrun with Kobolds. Disgusting little creatures, but apparently loyal to the former laird, Andreas. It seems he thought it would be a good idea to uproot a village of Kobolds, bring them back to the family lands, and force them to work as grounds security. So now we have hundreds of kobolds living on our property, considering it their home, and loyal to the former laird, who has supposedly locked himself in the tower. It’d be nice if we could just get them all to leave and set up camp elsewhere, but I am at a loss as to how to do so. So, we are stuck with negotiating with them. The McLars were very surprised that we knocked on the Winery doors when we arrived there. Hearing stories of those that took part in the last attempt, it seems they expected us to kick down the doors, swords drawn and spells ready. I think I should point out that this Winery is fairly new; certainly constructed a few years after those of the last attempt arrived. After some discussion with the door guards and Padraic sitting on a windowsill and waving at the kobolds inside, we were told that if we left our armor and weapons outside, we could speak with the subchiefs. We felt we still had enough firepower to make a break for it if things grew ugly, so we went in. The subchiefs were wary of us, but used magic, with my consent, of course, to see that I am an honorable man. We discussed a change in hierarchy. They seemed to hate Father Troy as much as anyone else, so it just shows that these creatures aren’t all bad. Negotiations degraded though, since most of them were in favor of just killing us all now and saving themselves the trouble. It also didn’t help that we were less then happy when we found out they had drunk a lot of the wine stored there and replaced it with water (thus giving us several gallons of severely watered down wine). We made a hasty exit that day, but apparently we made some allies, since a small band of them broke off from the Winery lot and came to us, looking for food, shelter and orders. We put them in the cottages down by the pond (formerly known as the Duck Pond).

While we were dealing with finding housing for the kobolds, we received a visit from Father Clancy Dunkirk. He is a member of a slightly rogue sect of the church who are devoted to Saint Stephen of the Moors. His sect has elevated Saint Stephen above all the other Saints, possibly over even the lord himself. Since his arrival, it was obvious he was sent to spy on us. Well… perhaps spy is too harsh a word, but he was certainly doing a little reconnaissance. Nice enough guy, but talks about Saint Stephen too much. He agreed to venture into the Manor house with us, to kill Devils. Wearing the splint mail I had picked up a while back was still an odd feeling. It certainly hampered my mobility and movement. Wielding the Githyanki Greatsword, however, just felt right.

While venturing through the house, we came upon a very evil looking hall with fiendish crows, bloody hands sticking out of the walls holding torches, and an eerie silence. While putting the crows to sleep, a frighteningly large creature with pale, bloody skin and barbed beard, a glaive in one hand and a bottle of Lochmar Gold in the other burst out of one of the rooms (which turned out to be the bar), yelling for the crows to shut up, and then shutting the door again. We were about to beat a hasty retreat when the door opened again. Apparently he had noticed us after all. Reacting quickly, Father Clancy cast an aid upon myself and Padraic made my Greatsword magic. I charged into the room, right up to him just as he was summoning a bunch of Lemures to come and join his party. He just laughed at my actions, not even considering me a threat. He did, however, when I scored a really good hit on him with my sword. Thankfully, he had filled the room with Lemures, so he could not back up and attack me with his wicked looking glaive. He seemed too shocked as my next blow dropped him to the ground, killing him. At this point, however, I was not doing very well. While the creature was unable to hit me, the Lemures surrounding me had given me several wounds. I was about to call for a retreat when I noticed that Padraic had tumbled his way to the back of the room and was now trapped there by the Lemures. I cut myself a path back out and Arvin held the door while Father Clancy healed me. We started rotating who was in the doorway and who would get healed until we had a workable number of Lemures. Though we were seriously hurt by the end of it, we were sure we had just dispatched the leader of these Lemures.

Father Clancy seemed to consider taking part in that fight to be a great honor. He stayed for services on Saturday, and then left on Sunday. He took his memories of the events with him, along with a rocking chair Arvin had repaired and gifted to him.

Now that we had struck such a blow to the denizens of our house, we were more determined then ever to finally clean it out. There were several Lemures left, plus the nest of giant bees that had inhabited one of the wings. There was also the Ice Mephit that had taken up residence in the Cold room. During our first encounter, he was nice until he found out all we had had was Silver daggers. That is when he demanded our stuff, claiming we couldn’t hurt him. That fight had not gone well, but the little bastard was absent now that we had a magic weapon and spells.

Having seen the library and met the librarian (who disturbs me greatly), we ventured down one of the halls we had not been down before. We found a room full of the crows which, upon seeing us, started summoning something. Though we tried to, we were unable to stop them from summoning a HUGE, fiendish octopus. Seeing this thing, we knew we couldn’t defeat it and fled out of the house. Still a much more honorable retreat then it would have been running from those kittens.

We returned a few hours later to find it gone. We ventured further down the corridor, past a set of doors. In our infinite wisdom, we decided to close the doors behind us, so that we couldn’t be attacked from behind. When we got to the Entrance room of the Manor (we had started our quest from the kitchen) we found it full of Lemures. Quickly falling back to the hallway, we set up a front line and bottlenecked them. They were still able to do some serious damage to us. It was then that we heard giggling behind us and the locking of the door. That damned Ice Mephit had struck again. We were trapped now; seriously wounded and almost out of spells. Only luck saved us that day.

It was during the cleaning of the bees that I first noticed the change in Arvin. He affected me somehow, boosting my abilities. I thought that was just something Padraic did at first, but then he did some amazing feats; almost superhuman. I also later found out that Fiona and Padraic were similarly affected, though it was not their doing. I worry that if he can affect us in such ways, what is truly stopping him from killing us with a thought or shriveling our minds and making us mindless drones. He has been loyal to us so far, but how long will he go with simply arguing with me, when he knows he has the power to change my mind for me?

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Journal Entry of Seth Lochmar - July 13th

July 13th, 1002

Ah. I’m almost done recapping, it seems. All that is left is Arvin’s blunder. For some reason, the others all thought this would be a good time to go meet with the druid in the forest. I would have been much happier cleaning up the Manor, but felt I should let Arvin win for once. If I had known what Arvin’s true desire in going into the woods was, I would have stopped the whole expedition. While traveling to find the Druid Sunny, we came across a deer. Arvin immediately whipped out his bow and took a shot, barely wounding the poor creature. The arrow merely broke the skin, but stuck in the poor creature, nonetheless. He bounded off after it, following it and sticking another arrow in its side. His shots weren’t truly damaging the animal, just causing it pain. Of course, after bounding off after it again, he met up with the Druid, who was calming the poor animal and started trying to talk his way out of the situation. As I have stated before, Arvin has all of the social skills of a small, retarded newt. By the time we caught up, he had already more than incriminated himself. He had dug a hole for himself, and the family by extension, so big that none could get us out of it. We just left, hoping the Druid does not consider us to be at war now. She met up with us again before we made it out of the forest, asking us why we invaded her land. I do not know how she caught up with us so quickly, but she is obviously very powerful to do so. It is because of this that I have locked myself in this library, trying to glean as much knowledge out of the laws of this land as possible. The area we really need to get into, the archives, is locked, and the damn Mephit has the key. In there lies all of the maps, territorial borders and other pertinent things the last group did. Or, at least, we think that’s what is in there. No clue until we try.

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Journal Entry of Seth Lochmar - July 14th

July 14th, 1002

I realized I haven’t said a thing about our tenants. Now, I haven’t gotten to know them all well yet. There are still a few I haven’t met at all.

Kelwyn was the first I met. He’s a Hunter and a decent tracker. He supposedly helped that last group a lot, so he’s been around a while. He’s got a wife and daughter, and a few hunting dogs. One of his dogs, which became unsafe, now lives in our gatehouse. He figures that as long as it’s in there, it can’t hurt anyone.

The Salisbars are a big family. They’ve been making sure things run smoothly in the family’s absence. The oldest, Carlan, married one of Dame Edith’s daughters and was bequeathed some of the Pollards’ land by the last group as a wedding present. They’re farmers, like most of the tenants and another of the sons is to marry another of Dame Edith’s daughters. I sense a theme here.

The Pollards were a family that lived on the lands when the last group was here. They were supporters of the Dars, our neighbors to the East, and weren’t happy the Lochmars returned. They made some kind of dark pact, so now their lands around their homestead are blighted and they haunt the place as Wights. Gonna have to put them to rest soon.

Dame Edith is an old widow with lots of children. Her oldest still living with her, Lila, is very beautiful and slightly older then marrying age. The fact that the less pretty and younger sister was getting married before Lila perplexed Fiona, until she learned that Lila was engaged. Fiona suspected that Lila was engaged to Andreas, and it was later confirmed. Considering how old she would have been while he was around… the cradle robber.

I haven’t officially met Varney, but Arvin says he makes a damn good moonshine by fermenting potatoes. He doesn’t like authority figures.

I also haven’t met Argyle, but apparently he raises great hunting dogs. The Sheriff has told him we’re going to tax the hell out of him, so he’s planning on leaving in August. Luckily, Arvin came up with a very good taxation plan. It should convince him to stay.

Right near Caledon land is the Jings. Yet another family I haven’t met, but supposedly they were very rude to Fiona and Arvin. The Jings kept telling them that they lived on Caledon land, not Lochmar land, and to get off it. Yet another fun thing we need to get into the archives to deal with.

A woman named Megan runs her household. She has lots of men hanging around and was very suspicious of us when we visited. She’s an herbalist and openly lied to me when I asked her if she’d been having any problems (She said no). The Spurmans called her a witchy woman.

The Spurmans are a family of Half-Orcs who used to live in the Free village. They’re sheepherders. For some reason, no creatures seem to bother them.

Finally, there is Chelsea & Henrietta. They have the land closest to the Dars (and thus the worst for farming). They are VERY wary of men. Chelsea was the one who did all of the talking. There is a little girl who lives there named Linnea (I believe she is Henrietta’s daughter). She’s a cute little thing. When we went by on our way to the city, she waved back at us. Should not send any men to check on them without the accompaniment of a woman. If possible, should only send women to see them.

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

Lochmar Portrait

I was just reminded after the game tonight that I should post the portrait of the party. We had this commisioned by Joe Minns as a gift for our DM.

From left to right, the characters are: Dalys, Simon, Padraic, Fiona, Seth, Leetah, & Tellsford.

We also have a one of just Padraic, Fiona, & Seth as well.