Amber Company: Have You Heard of Us? (updated 06/18)

[Crothian]

Amber Company Have You Heard of Us?

The start of the Amber Company was not perceived to be a big event. It was a small group of friends that had a commitment to trying to help out and to do something about the problems plaguing the lands. The Orc invasion though was bigger then people thought, and the Drow and the Underdark proved to be problematic. But the Amber Company survived and even though the tales of them are exaggerated, I figure it is time to tell their tale. I am not a story teller or historian. I am just a stone carver least that is all I ever really wanted to be. But I also named Amber Company after our first successful job. I remember those days well full of celebrations and Ale. Lots of Ale actually for the company seemed to thrive off that glorious drink. I am Malaki and I am one of the founders of this legendary group.

My story starts in an island off some unnamed coast in the place some know as the Forgotten Realms. My people are slightly xenophobic having little to do with the outside world. We are dwarves, but truer then the ones most people see and know. We have not lost our connection with the earth like many of the other so called dwarves have. Our skin tones are that of rock, and out hair and beards look strong and complete in the natural earth tones the other have lost. But being the third child left me with little options. So, I choose to travel. The family and clan understood. My journey took me a long way. I don’t know the lands I traveled through or the people I traveled with. Those details are not as important as where I ended up. I arrived in the Citadel Adbar. It is a dwarven place, built mostly underground and had a good tone in it as the boots echoed down the earth and stone caverns. The place was the closest to home in appearance I had seen on my journeys.

It all started in Hammersmasher’s Ale House. A caravan captain had lost her caravan and it included some rare materials for the crafting of some weapons for the Kings sons. She was looking for volunteers to go into the Underdark to try to retrieve it and possible some other things. . For the most part the dwarves and a few others that were enjoying the place fell silently not wanting to help. Then a dwarf stood up and accepted the job, he was Brioden. Then a few others joined in as well. Many of the names you probably have heard: Ulfgar another dwarf, Corados, a human, and Durabo an elf. Lastly, I stood and joined in not to sure what to make of these other people.

Brioden was like myself. A dwarf with an axe to grind and stick into things that got in our way. Ulfgar while a dwarf was not like any I had seen. He used magic. Not the good and clear magic that Moradin blesses people with but the exploding and destructive kind that just seems to come naturally to him. Yet, he can do it wearing armor without any hindrances. It does not really surprise me though that it would be dwarves that can cat in armor. Corados was tall. But for such a big fellow he moved with surprising grace and ease. Durabo is the first elf I have ever really encountered. And while he is not that smart as I expect from elves and their flighty ways, he has a sense of adventure about him. He was also the one that wanted to go into the Underdark the most and even though my knowledge of the place is very limited, I am not sure if he was being brave or foolish.

The adventure as was lined out for us was fairly simple. We need to go down a large tunnel that caravans came though and find the one that was hit only a few kilometers away. Others had tracked out that far but were unable to find anything to help locate the missing supplies. It was now our job. I was eager to go and my ignorance was a good thing. Actually, we remained quite ignorant of what the place was like for quite a while. The tales of horrors to be found there never did the place justice. The rumors of people getting lost in mazes of tunnels and passages seemed preposterous. But I get a head of myself and should probably tell the tale as it happened

The gates the lead into the city where huge covering from the bottom to the top of the cavern. We had a special writ that allowed us to get back in. The remains of the caravans were easy to find. It was a straight walk out to them. The caravan looked like it got hit pretty hard. The place had obviously been gone over a few times by other scouts and possible some of the things that were around and living in this place. There was some ruble by one of the walls and from there we encounter some big rats. Nasty creatures that had no fear of man or dwarf. I really was not expecting anything to fear the elf.

The battle with the creatures went well. Brioden got a nasty bite that we later found out was infected but the good and skillful clerics of Moradin where able to cure that for him later. The collapsed wall actually gave way to some small side passage. The dwarves had an easy time with it but I could hear the grumbling of Corados as he had to bend over quite far to fit. We ran into some troglodytes in there but they were not co operative,. I tried to converse them in the Draconic Tongue and while they responded and understood they were not willing to help us out. They actually opposed us and had to be dealt with. From there we came to what might be described as a lot of passages going this way and that. But that did not confuse me at all. Being a dwarf of the earth I seemed to have a knack and each tunnel I picked turned out to be the correct way to go.

We spent a few hours following the paths. We say a room filled with some thing on the ceiling. We never did determine what it was. I am thinking lots of bats but the movement of them just did not seem right. In another room was the first time I felt fear but it turned out to be completely unfounded. I am sure you have heard of these dreadfully powerful creatures called Beholders that haunt and trouble people in the Underdark. We ran into a pair and I must say they turned out to be no challenge. They descended on us and I through my lucky hammer at one and with one solid hit it was dead. The other one tried to use an eye ray on us but it proved to be complete ineffective. We killed them both with little harm to us. The biggest problem with them is we needed to use missile type weapons, so Brioden and I were not that great. The others though seemed skilled with their bows and crossbows. Without even trying we have a good group with a versatile number of weapons and options. I knew this group would be something special.

Past the Beholders were more Troglodytes. They also did not want to help and had to be put down. There was some weird ancient dwarven writing s that we never figured out along with some odd watering holes. I always meant to get back their one day. The troglodytes had the supplies that we were looking for and back to Citadel Adbar we went. They were really surprised to find us back and successful so fast. What was expected to take a few days we did in about twelve hours. The treasured items we had rescued included the price component of Amber for the Kings son’s weapons. It was based off of that that I choose to name the group Amber Company. The rest thought it was a fitting name and it stuck. It was funny when we were in the Alehouse talking about it. Not a minute after we choose the name Durabo leaned over to another table and said:

“We are Amber Company, have you heard of us?”

Of course they had not but that did not stop the crazy elf from asking that very question to nearly everyone we meet in Citadel Adbar. It was quite funny at the time and still makes me chuckle thinking about. We made some mistakes with the items we got though. We had a nice set of stone plates and accessories that we sold for some good money and then had to buy back at like twice what we got it for once we realized that it was supposed to be a gift for the King. Not our greatest moment there but it happens.

It amazes me of people who adventure and do not take the time to relax when they can. I was a bit beaten and bruised after the first job and spent a few good days drinking and eating and relaxing. Sure I can swing a good axe like the rest of them but I am just a Stone Carver. So, I spent a few days crafting some small symbols of Moradin to give as gifts to people we helped out. The others seemed busy and had stuff to do,. I saw them every now and then as they stopped by but they were frantic at times. They need to relax and drink the ale and wine. Though Durabo thought our wine was a little to thick. He seemed to think wine should have the consistency of water. He is an elf and really does not know better but he is learning.

 

[Crothian]

Amber Company Part 2

That was how the Amber Company got formed. Thanks to the tales of our heroics and Durabo asking ever freaking dwarf if they had heard of us, the news and reputation spread. The first mission was supposed to take days and took use just many hours. That was a big boost to our confidence and our ability. We did things right and we got them done. And then we drank.

But it was not all good fortune. There was a halfling that wanted our help retrieving something that claimed was stolen from him. We didn’t believe him but said we would look into it. He was expecting us to break laws to get the job down but we refused to do that. Or at least I did, I think some of the others would have been willing to bend or even break the laws to get the job down. But certain lines cannot be crossed even if they mean we have to fail. Moradin’s teachings on that are quite clear. I’m not the most faithful and devout Dwarf, but I do try to do right when I can. It has caused problems but in the end I have been happy with the results.

The Halfling had a wolf carved from a rare wood. I can understand a wolf carved from a rare rock that would be cool and worth something. I may have to try it out sometime as my carving slowly improves. But a carved piece of wood, I just don’t understand some people. Now, the Halfling had lead of who might have it and it was of course only the most powerful merchant in the city. Now as I said we never believed the Halfling had the right to this particular piece of wood and we also did not know if the merchant guy for he is a human even had it. But for some reason we choose to help the Halfling out, not too sure exactly why we did but we did. Now we never actually got to see the Merchant. His people were not that co operative and had not even heard of the Amber Company. It can also be said that I really did not like the guy and had some fun at his expense. A few weeks later I even tried to get him fired.

Having no luck at the man’s estate we went to his place of business. We had no luck seeing him there because he wasn’t there. But we were able to confirm with relative certainty the merchant had the particular block of wood, you know the wolf thing, which we were looking for. We spoke to a wood carver about the rarity of the wood and how it only comes from some place I’d never heard of to the south. But I still wonder it was wood, wood can be grown, how exactly can this stuff be rare?

We talked some with the Halfling and while we were not ready to give up we did not have a lot of good news for him. After that back in the pub we ran into a trio of humans that I really did not like. They claimed to be from the south lands this so called rare wood is grown in. They also claimed that they were sent but some important person we didn’t know to retrieve the head of the halfling or the carved piece of wood. Now I am fairly certain the trio of humans was in fact from this southern land and also was in fact sent here by the rightful ruler of the land to retrieve something that was stolen from them. I am also fairly certain they were more competent in matter of arms then the Amber Company. But I just didn’t like them. They were rude and insulting to us. So, after the questioned us and sat down at a different table thinking the halfing was going to show back up I order them three Shirley Temples. Actually it was the dwarven equivalent to that drink but you get the idea. They were not amused and I think the big dumb human was going to start a fight but the female stopped him. I so wanted him to start a fist fight with a dwarf in a dwarven bar. I was of course going to be using my axe.

It saddens me we never ran into them again though they were looking for us the next day. I bought some fruit that was about a week old to pelt them with. I really did not like them. Hopefully, one day we will meet up with them again. We tried to do more investigating but it turns out that the Halfling was killed and be headed by the humans I imagine but we never proved that. The Piece of wood also mysteriously disappeared from the Merchants estate. Later on when I finally got to talk to the Merchant and when I was tring to get his man fired I mentioned the humans and the whole story to him. Hopefully his contacts and ability out reach my own and he was able to get those humans. I really didn’t like them.

 

[Angel of Adventure]

Hey Crothian,

I've seen you all over the boards, but not in your own story hour. Is it you first? Either way, I've enjoyed the two installments and look forward to more. BTW, what is the party's level?

 

[Crothian]

Hey Crothian,

I've seen you all over the boards, but not in your own story hour. Is it you first? Either way, I've enjoyed the two installments and look forward to more. BTW, what is the party's level?

Thank you. My first two attempts at a Story Hour were bad. This is my third attempt and the first one from the view of a player. I'm glad you have enjoyed it.

We are first level at the point. As levels are gained I hope to find a way to reflect that in the story. THe campaign has been going on for a while now so I am playing catch up here. WE only game once every other week though so once I catch up true updates will be slower.

 

[Crothian]

Amber Company Part 3

We never did see those Humans even though I tried to hunt around and ask about them. I think they left the city and went home. But I did question the guards and the beggars by the city entrance and no one recalled seeing them leave. One day in the future though I will find them and bring them in for the murder of the Halfling. It does not matter if the Halfling was in the wrong and did steal the wood wolf from them. He was in a dwarven city and we have laws that should be obeyed by everyone. They circumvented our laws and that is a sign of disrespect and an insult to our sovereign nation. There is enough lawlessness outside the cities and civilization. We should not bring that into the cities themselves.

Well, not being successful and having the person trying to hire us turn up dead was not the best and most fulfilling thing I had ever done. So, I went back to doing what I do best: drinking ale and carving stone. The celebration of the victorious first job and the failure of the second ended up looking about the same to outsiders I imagine. But there was a difference. It was not long before we got suckered into something else though.

Now I was not sure at first what to make of it. We were invited to a game of spottle. Ya, that was my response as well. What the hell is Spottle? The person inviting us to the game was really unable to answer the question. He was frustrating and I was seriously ready to start throwing things at him. He was sent by someone of supposed importance though we had really never heard of him. His story was that the Famed Amber Company had quickly risen to such a level of providence in their reputation that we had been invited to a very elite game of spottle, which is a gambling game of sorts. However, we had to go the following night for there was no rain checks to be offered; it was a one time only invitation. Well, I’d never been much of a gambler but I was willing to try to make some money. The others seemed a little less enthused as I was but we went anyway.

The place the game was help should have sent off alarms bells. But either we weren’t paying attention, too trusting, or not willing to mention that alarm bells were signaling in our heads. At any rate we were well out of the city off the beaten path to this hole in the wall of a place. How this was a place like this for an elite game I’ll never know. But we were not the only ones there. There were some other very poor people. One guy beat his boot and half a fish. These gamblers were marks and fools. The game itself was very simple and in fact there was an easy way to protect yourself and not loose as much. Any idiot should have seen it, Durabo of course is not just any idiot. He actually did pretty good, better then the others. Granted as the game went on things got fishy so they stopped betting. Fools, I say. I was prepared for bad things, but also made money in the process. Win win situation if you ask me.

The first bad thing was this lizard guy accusing me of giving him the evil eye. Now, I can’t give an evil eye or anything like that, but that didn’t stop me from making faces at him each time he looked my way. He accused me of giving the evil eye, so I did everything I could to make fun of that fact. So, it turns out you can challenge people to fights in the Spottle game, so he challenged me. So, I beat the crap out of him with my axe and that did the job of proving I was not evil eyeing him. Not that that stopped me from making silly evil eye like faces at him.

Well, the others seemed to get bored and wanted to leave. That’s when the really suspicious stuff started. To stop us from leaving the guy running the game started to give us money to bet with. Now, I’m not gambler but I am pretty sure this never happens in games. The purpose is to win money, not give it away for people who are already winning. I was up a good hundred gold at this point. The others really wanted to leave as it was even obvious to the elf that something else was going on. But I wanted to stay; I was just damned curious what the heck was really going on. It didn’t take long to find out.

First, it was a pair of like were boars or something that attacked us. Turned out one of the guys playing was a were boar and we had to deal with three of the things. They were not as tough as I would have thought. We put two of them down and chased the third off I think. But then in comes some hob goblins. Seems this was the other shoe dropping. The guy running the game was trying to sell us as slaves. But when the hobgoblins came to collect us, they came for him as well, the fool. Well, we dealt with the hob goblins and their undead paralyzing thing they brought with them. I was not sure what it was though others had heard of it. The battle went well for us and soon we had things under control. But when it was over Brioden and the others wanted to kill the guy who set the trap for us, but I couldn’t go along with it. He did something evil, but I think in being betrayed by the hobgoblins he learned something valuable. We did basically clear him out of his money since we needed some compensation for letting him go. Once we get back to the city I plan and stopping in and seeing how he is doing. I was the one that kept him alive, so he is my responsibility. If he is up to his old trick I’ll have to find a way to deal with him.

We left in the night to get back to the city and wouldn’t you know it the gates were closed. They would let anyone in, not even the famed Amber Company. It was not a good night and having to sleep on the ground outside the gate to be let in in the morning was just a bad end to a bad night. Did make some good money though; there is that. . Oddly enough when we did get in the gates we went back to drinking.

Now the church of Moradin has always help special place in my heart, which made it odd when they kept making it tough for us to get in. We wanted to make a sizable donation and acquire some wands for healing. We have done this quite a bit. Heck, I’ve even donated equipment and other items to them while I’ve been in the city. But still each time we all went there the guards at the gate stop us and have to send a runner for a priest so we can be let in. It was damned annoying and rude. I don’t know how these activities are allowed.

But in the time off it was nice to drink and place some more thought towards fighting and causing death to our enemies. We kept hearing rumors of the orc armies and patrols getting close and things were just not sounding all that great. We told the Church of Moradin that anything they wanted to have us do to help out in these trouble times; the Amber Company was there. They had something for us of course. It was a very important mission that had gone uncompleted for many centuries. They had this for us, but couldn’t let us just walk in to church. I don’t get these guys at all.

 

[Crothian]

Amber Company Part 4

It never fails, offer to help out for free and business will come your way. Only we were not expecting the serious type of business that would be offered to us. I mean we had done good, we fetched the Amber and dealt with a spittle trap. But we also got a halfing killed and failed to figure out who the wooden wolf actually belonged to. But the Church of Moradin had something for us to don on behave of the King. It was a serious job and I was hoping we were up for it.

There was some artifact that was a gift from this dwarves city to another to show that they are united against a common enemy like the orc armies that are ravaging the lands. The artifact is some glow ball or something and it was lost on its way to the other city. The artifact recently had been thought to existent in this ancient Lizardman temple. A group had been sent to retrieve the artifact before us, but they were a few weeks over due. Having no other choice they turned to the Amber Company.

WE started in the city talking to a old Dwarven Sage. He had some notes on the old Lizard language and we borrowed them to help us make sense of any wall writings we might find. He was other wise mostly useless in helping us. We got a map to the old temple from someone and then we were off. The Amber Company really needs to get used to starting with a place and little other information. We seem to do okay with next to nothing though. So, we made our way to the Temple.

On the way there we ran into a pissed off badger, biggest damn badger I’d ever seen too. It was a good tough fight as it was not being scared off, but with a few good scratches we put it down. Other then that encounter the trip to the temple was uneventful. The Temple was walled on the outside but the main doors were long gone. Outside we found what we think was a buried gnome, one of the first adventuring parties persons. Inside the Temple grounds the place was not that big. The underground section though was much bigger then it appeared. There was a secret door that lead inside and we went down a pair of stairs and that’s when the fun began.

One of the sets of stairs we went down had a nasty spear trap that I set off and it lodged in my back. The others were surprised when I just pulled it out and welded it for use later one. It was a perfectly good spear and wasn’t doing a bit of good in my back. I’m not sure what they expected me to do but I’m not going to waste a good spear. We fought some nasty zombie thingies. Durabo proved useful, I guess he or his good can scare the undead because they fled in front of him. We followed after and made short work of them. WE collected some odd rod like things that proved to be keys. There was an alter to the Lizard god this place was worshiped with gems on the wall. But they were trapped by some sort of electrical trap that was nasty.

We found the remaining people of the former party in a room filled with big fire beetles. The former group found a different entrance to the temple and climbed down into the beetle room. They never had a chance. We gathered up the dwarves things to return to his family. Farther in we faced a giant earth digging insect of some kind. It burrowed into the underground place and ambushed us. It was another tough battle but the group fought well and killed it. Farther down we faced more undead and again Durabo did a fine job dealing with them. We finally made our way to the end and found the sarcophagus of the supposed lizard god. He wasn’t a god, but he nearly killed Durabo and Corados. The dwarves handled it really well though. I left a carved symbol of Moradin in the thing’s coffin and on the temples alter as a sign of our victory. And though we destroyed a few spears and nearly got Corados killed, we were not able to remove those gems from the wall.

On the way back is when we first encountered the Orcs. We were camped of the night when a patrol came near use. We hid but it seems that light tends to reflect of f the metal of armor and shields. Live and learn I guess. Corados though was hidden well, and away from the rest of us. He seemed to realize that us hiding was not going to work. The orcs came at us and they were tough. Durabo went down and I fear the rest of us might have as well if not for Corados. He used the open battle field to his advantage. He waited till the orcs attacked us then came up behind them to strike in vital places. He attacked from the opposite side we were fighting them and it worked well. If only he always showed such bravery.

Back to the dwarven city we went. It was easy going and the gates were open, which I was unhappy about. I wanted to wake them up and demand entry and when they refused I wanted to be able to pull out the artifact that Amber Company had retrieved. But we went in with no fan fare and no fuse. The Moradin Church also let us right in, though for them we did have to flash the Artifact. People will soon just open doors for Amber Company. That’s my dream anyway. WE gave them the artifact, got rid of some loot we acquired. We returned the Lizard language scroll to the Sage. It proved a little helpful, and I did get a bit better and figuring out languages I couldn’t read normally. We also returned the dwarves things to his father. I slipped in a large handful of gold to to help the dwarf out it looked like he needed. We drank solemnly that night.

The next day or the day after or a few days later…not too sure, there was some serious Dwarven drinking going on. But there was a party for the Dwarven King’s two sons. Amber Company was of course invited though not many people there wanted to talk to us. I did make a point of talking to the head Merchant guy who’s wooden wolf got stolen. I talked to him about his worthless workers and the halfling and the three humans who I’ll someday find!! But I’m also hoping since he has better contact and influence elsewhere he can get at those three humans. I might not know how to do things at first, but eventually a way comes. The party wasn’t much of one and the presentation of the weapons was less impressive then I would have done. From there we had over a week to ourselves and we enjoyed it immensely.

 

[Crothian]

Amber Company part 5

We spent a few weeks in town drinking and telling stories. I got plenty of carved Moradin symbols ready for the cross country trek. It was going to be a simple cross country trek to deliver the artifact a a sign of the dwarven clans being united. It was something that should have been done centuries ago. It was plain to see the dwarves in this area were not up to the standards of the earth dwarves, my people.

The trek through the wilderness was not a fun journey. We had to have Durabo lead us because he was the only one competent enough to follow the cryptic map. Allow me to repeat that, we had to have the freaking elf lead us. He can’t even tie his boats properly and I’ve heard him mumble through the words to his gods because he’s forgotten the words. I was thinking of placing moss on the south side of a tree to see how long it would take him to realize that a mistake was made. However, I’m fearful he would never actually notice and we’d find ourselves in a desert to the deep south. Hmm, we might have ran into the humans if I’d one that, damn…didn’t realize there was a good side to that trick. Anyway the elf led.

We walked for days across mountains and through forests. It wasn’t that cold but there were plenty of signs of the orcs being out and about. We followed a good sized group of them for a ways. We came up on the camp after day break and just annihilated them. A few good positions in the trees and plenty of crossbow bolts and arrows sealed the deal for us. Not a single injury to Amber Company. It was a well laid ambush and perfectly executed plan. The orcs were transporting weapons. We destroyed what we could and buried the rest. After seeing the orc armies a few weeks later what we did wasn’t enough, but we are doing something to stay of these marauders.

After the orcs we left the forest and were followed by a raven. The bird was not acting like a real bird so we did what was appropriate in the situation: we shot it. However, it proved very difficult to hit and survived a very solid arrow hit. We had our confirmation that it was indeed not a raven. Durabo then choose to approach the raven and I swear I was expecting the thing to devour him. It did transform into a reptile dragon like creature. It spoke to us and fed us a bunch of lies that we readily believed. It claimed to be captured by some goblins and we needed to free it. Like the fools we are we agreed.

The goblin den was through a small swamp were a really big snake tried to devour us. Snake doesn’t taste that good we found out. The goblins were ready for us and we fought a long battle of them retreating behind rock formations and ambushing us with javelins and other ranged weapons. We did eventually defeat them all. But I wanted to kill the raven creature at this point,. We went on and found some crypts filled with zombies. Durabo turned them and they ran into a large room. I chased after as did the others. Inside was a big skeletal dragon and it let a roar the sent every else running. Broioden didn’t make it out though. The dragon pounced on him and my friend went down hard. Durabo, Ulfgar, and Corados ran away. I was left fighting a half dozen zombies and the skeletal dragon as my friend bleed to death on the cold rock floor. His life left him that day, it was all I could do to survive myself. I went into a defensive fighting mode and was able to eventually kill all the zombies and hurt the dragon a little. MY great dwarven war axe was useless against the dragon; I had to use a small hammer to slowly hurt him. I fought him, and then retreated where he was too big to go. Ulfgar and Durabo eventually came back; Corados we never saw again. Durabo healed me some and I went back in to fight the dragon. Then I retreated, got healed, and fought it some more. That was the strategy until we killed it. We searched for the dragon creature raven beast but it was a coward and hid and eventually escaped. I want to catch up with him too and avenge Brioden’s death. We buried him and continued our way. We ran into a troll that Ulfgar was able to kill while Durabo healed me as I was its punching bag. Then we came across some patrols of the Citadel we were going to and we soon found our way to our destination.

 

[Spider_Jerusalem]

Hello there Crothian,

You've got me involved in another story hour! Great descriptions and the player perspective is an ever-engaging one. The disparaged/nihilistic voice is funny - spears in backs, left fighting zombies&dragons etc.

Keep it up.

Spider J

 

[Crothian]

thanks, it's a character I've really come to enjoy and even though the stories are a bit short I really think I've captured the voice well. I'm not the greatest of writers so I try to keep things simple and to the point.