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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bandeeto" data-source="post: 159097" data-attributes="member: 2819">Arcade’s Journal - Citadel of War, Part 2...luckily we remembered to feed the two war-bulls belonging to the Citadel party. Early the next morning Glimmer spotted a gigantic bird in the distance, winging its way towards us.  We could not see it well enough to tell whether it was friend or foe, so the party armed for battle.  I was not yet fully healed, so I was moved down to the farmhouse’s storm cellar.  The bird flew closer, and was revealed to be a giant eagle. It seemed to be looking for the farmhouse.  As it landed in the courtyard it transformed into Ortigal, my grandfather.  I came back upstairs, and Ortigal quickly explained that Tao had passed by our house and had sent him our way.  I was tremendously impressed with the eagle trick, and told him so.  I mentioned that the ability to travel at great speed would be a tremendous asset, and TMOSAT piped up.  “I can do that,” it said.  I asked what it meant.  In a matter of moments it had Teleported the three of us onto a table at the Flaming Manticore, and back again.  Another new ability revealed.  The staff apparently felt guilty about the “body-snatching” incident, and was trying to make up for it by leaking some information.Ortigal demanded, and received, an explanation of the current situation.  He then wanted to know why we hadn’t told him before about Teleportation Chamber and the Citadel of War.  I reminded him that we had already mentioned the threat to him, and that it was responsible for him acquiring a magical mortar and pestle that could grind diamonds! He was a bit chagrined at that, but worked it off by yelling at Velendo about his poor care of me.  He then transformed back into an eagle, and set off to mobilize the militia of Rampart for war.  The clerics restored me to health, and we prepared to leave.  Just then, we heard the sound of some new arrivals.It was an old man and his wife, the owners of the farm, returning from a trip visiting relatives.  They were shocked and frightened to find us there, and they took some calming down.  Tom-Tom dosed the man with some Badgerbite, and the man nearly asphyxiated.  It took clerical intervention to save him. It turned out that the old man was strongly allergic to strong drink. I was quite sympathetic, as I have a similar allergy to pepper.  Luckily, Tom-Tom cooks everything with cinnamon (although he frequently uses way too much cinnamon).Cadrienne spoke in the language of animals to the war-bulls, and they agreed to carry Grundo’s body back to Rampart.  After establishing that the elderly couple was going to be okay, we headed for home.......arrived in Rampart.  Preparations for war are proceeding apace.  The city council questioned us closely about the situation, and thoroughly interrogated Velendo about the Citadel of War.  The Defenders asked to join the assault forces, but were assigned to maintain security and defend the city.A little later the King of Gaunt’s retinue passed by.  The staff had often mentioned a desire to meet with a king, and I whispered to the staff that it might yet get to do so.  It asked in which direction the King could be found, and it Teleported off after him.  I heard later that it was seen in the King’s hand during the battle, but when it returned it would not speak of what had passed between them.We took Grundo’s body to the temple of Galanna, to be Resurrected if his spirit desires it.  There will be some delay, as the high priest will not be available for a few days. We also had Nolin’s fixation with order Dispelled.......forces of Gaunt have returned victorious after several days of mighty battle with the invading army of the Citadel of War.  We did have some casualties.  Alix’s brother, who Alix has always despised, was commanding a group of soldiers and managed to get his head cut off in a supremely inept act of generalship.  Ortigal had suffered a broken arm, and I offered to help him out for a few days.  He had agreed to Identify the items that we had recovered, but instead he decided to teach me the spell!  Some of the items we found were sacred to Quoris, God of War, and Deifos, God of Law.......invited to Lord and Lady Thurrian’s for a celebratory victory banquet.  We all set about preparing, wanting to look our best.  Tom-Tom was, as usual, the gaudiest.  He wore purple-striped pants with an iridescent, green, lizard-skin cape.  I wore the handsome blue conjuring robes (acquired from Elzid).  Glimmer was in his usual gorgeous clerical robes, adrip with jewels.  Alix wore silver and black, while Nolin wore gold and white.  Nolin had taken Cadrienne shopping, and she looked stunning in the dress they picked out.  I got into a major argument with Cadrienne, as it appeared that she and Nolin were becoming “an item”.  I heavily disapproved.  While I trust Nolin implicitly in most things, women are not among them. He is even thought to have gotten a woman pregnant before leaving his hometown.  Cadrienne stormed off in a huff to ask Nolin about it, but we had to leave for the party and the question had to wait.We arrived in a carriage, and made quite the grand entrance.  Nolin nearly caused an embarrassing scene by having himself introduced as “Nolin Maradine.”  We were seated with Lord Emill Hargrove, Duke of Nabarr (a western province), and his lady.  Also Sir Migourn Neverfell the cavalier.  I was genteelly cautioned by the Thurrians to keep my fellows on good behavior.For a short while things continued in a civilized fashion.  Then the recently Resurrected Grundo arrived, riding one of the war-bulls.  He actually had to be subdued, and then sent home to the Manticore by the local mages and clerics.  I asked the staff to send the war-bull after him, which turned out to be a mistake.  TMOSAT miscalculated, and the bull ended up falling two stories into the Manticore.  Later we discovered that it made great steaks.The party was fabulous!  We had a brief interlude of intrigue, however.  Nolin realized that Lord Emill was in disguise, and we spent some time shadowing him around the mansion.  (We suspected that he might be “Deepleaf” crashing the party.) Tom-Tom, Nolin and I finally cornered him near the latrines.  He admitted to us that he was a member of the King’s private guard, and that he was supposed to be keeping an eye on us.  Shortly before we left, I found out from one of the palace ministers that the King’s private guards are never supposed to reveal their identities.  So, as we were leaving, I reported Lord Emill to one of the guard for being so incompetent!  It was indeed a fine evening.......we leave tomorrow for Kindric.  Lord Tarim-Loial awaits us.  We have decided to stop by Crellar’s Inn on the way....</blockquote>

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