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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Prothall" data-source="post: 808842" data-attributes="member: 3905">Origins of RinneyAs Rinney walked down the road to Vaunth-on-the-Lake with Fespa the Academic shining from behind is left shoulder, he reflected on how he came to be there...    Some twenty-two years ago, Rinney Flanagan had become the most recent addition to his rather small noble house; despite ties to original founders of the state of Maissen, house Flanagan had never gained much in the way of land or resources from the aborigines, nor had they risen high  in the hierarchy imposed on the indigenous peoples of the land. The only land they have controlled is the city of Ten Soldiers, so named because of the story of how ten of the founders of Maissen managed to hold off over one hundred barbarians for a week without one casualty. The land they defended was granted to them by the leader of the original founders, Maissen, and the soldiers chose Flanagan to be their leader.    In his life, Rinney never left the walls of Ten Soldiers, though his father had often taken him hunting in the royal forest. Rinney, however, did not enjoy the hunt; he was not particularly skilled with the bow or the spear. Despite this, Cormac Flanagan could not accept a son with no training in weapons, and so had Rinney well schooled in the use of the foil, which he took to more easily. As a natural part of his basic training, the weapons-master also taught him use of the dagger, staff, and a few other simple weapons.     Between the training sessions his father forced upon him, Rinney often went to the keep's library, where his uncle lived and worked, compiling histories and keeping the large collection of books in good shape. Here Rinney would wander among the shelves for hours, entranced by the look and feel of the books nearly as much as by what was inside them. His favorites were the stories of the beginning of the earth, when Simus the north star created his daughters, the moons Fespa and Kalin, to assist him in the weaving of the greatest tale upon the slate which is the earth, and of other tales from long ago. But it was not long before Rinney found books that interested him even more - books on magic. They showed how by a series of gestures and syllables, one could give the magic inherent in nature form. The earliest of these Rinney discovered contained only simple tricks, such as could be accomplished by sleight of hand perhaps even more easily than by magic. Later, Rinney found books with more complex spells in them - it often took him a week to understand the simplest of them, but he was delighted by the results. He took particular interest in spells of illusion - even though the ones he understood allowed him to create only silent phantasms, he was fascinated by the degree of control he had over the images - anything he could imagine could be made almost real by his mere thoughts! He often used his ability with illusions to help him in his other hobby - woodcarving. By creating an image of what he wished to carve, he could work out any problems he might experience in carving beforehand.     But even as his interest and abilities grew, so did his fear of being discovered - for even the smallest child hears of Idien, the traitorous brother of Maissen, who was exiled after using his arcane magic to lose his youngest brother, Lastel, in a swamp. Since that time, the learning of magic by those not gifted by the moons or lands has been forbidden, and were Rinney discovered it would bring eternal shame on his house.    Rinney knew that he could not continue to live in the keep, as he could not forever keep his magic secret from his father while under the same roof. So he had claimed to have a desire to see the world, and his father had wished him well and given him supplies for his travels; a rapier, some food, and several pieces of gold. Before leaving the city of Ten Soldiers, Rinney used some of his funds to buy himself some daggers and a fine set of woodcarving tools, but did not linger long in the city he was heir to.     And so came Rinney, after crossing the ferry at Kern, to the road towards Vaunth-on-the-Lake. It was a large city, and when he was close enough to see the extent of its walls, the height of its gates, and the number of people streaming into the gates, he gaped like some awestruck clodhopper. He got no few looks while entering the city, for his pale founder skin clearly contrasted with that of the native churkeys and the many people of mixed descent. After procuring a room at the Flagon and Sword, he walked through the streets of well-packed dirt to the merchant district. It was not hard to find with all the people hawking wares, each shouting to be heard above the others. Rinney, finding an open spot of dirt near the end of the street where the merchants were, sat down and pulled out from his pack some carvings he hoped to sell. He left his pack, open, on the ground beside him, and stood up to offer his wares to those who wanted them.     He had not had many customers before some of the city guards came up the street and spied him. One of them yelled to him, "Hey, you!" Rinney looked around, wondering if the guard had actually called to him, and if so, why. He noticed something that filled him with dread -in leaving his pack open he had exposed his spellbooks! Everyone knew wizards learned their craft from books, and no simple woodcarver carried books. Rinney, knowing he had been spotted, grabbed his pack and what carvings he could and dashed down one of the many branching side streets leading away form the marketplace.     As Rinney fled down the alleyway, boots flinging dust and dirt behind him, he heard the guards yelling, "Stop, stop!" As he looked behind him to see how far a lead he had on the guards, he was unpleasantly surprised by an aged but wiry arm that caught him round the chest and shoved him into a stone house. The aged, rather odd-looking man held a finger to his lips and stepped out into the street with a broom, brushing away some imaginary garbage from his back step.    The guards came running down the lane, but suddenly stopped and drew themselves up, addressing the old man reverently. "Good Afternoon, Sir Mackson. We're terribly sorry to disturb you-"    "...Terribly sorry" interrupted the other guard, looking at his feet and kicking imaginary rocks.    "But you haven't happened to see a tall, skinny chap running through here with a pack, have you? We were about to ask him if he had his permit from the merchant's guild, but he jumped up and ran off down the alley when we called to him. Have you seen him?"    "Ooooh, I can't say I have, laddy." Mackson said in a trembling voice. "But I'm not sure. These eyes and ears are so old, why, I didn't notice ye till ye stopped. Maybe he turned off down the way."    "We'll apprehend the offender immediately, yourhonorMisterMacksonSir." The guard said, finishing in a rush as he dashed back the way he came, he and his fellow tripping over each other in their effort to "apprehend the offender".    "Good luck, laddies!" Mackson called to the swift receding guards.     Turning back inside, he addressed Rinney. "Now, young chap, what is this business with the guards?"    "Well, you see... well..." "How about you start at the beginning, eh?"</blockquote>

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