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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 799481" data-attributes="member: 63">Pronunctiation Guide:Ragesian (Empire) – Reh-GEE-zhunKequalak (capital city of Ragesia) – KEH-kwuh-lackSindaire (location of Caliph Coaltongue’s death) – sin-DAREKathor (PC fighter/sorcerer) – KA-thorThe others should be fairly obvious:  Diogenes, Torrent, Rivereye BadgerfaceEpisode One, Act TwoThe morning of October 21st, Kathor, Diogenes, Rivereye, and Torrent leave the small farmstead, paying the family a generous 5 Imperial silver for their hospitality and food.  The overly kind Rivereye obeys his gnomish heritage, and gives a generous gift of a semi-precious stone, carved in the shape of a top, to the youngest son in the family.  Diogenes is nervous at this, but he maintains his composure and thaks the family quickly, making sure they can leave by sunrise.Once away from the farmstead, Diogenes relaxes and says his piece to Rivereye.  "You really shouldn't be leaving a trail that we came this way.  It's bad form.  We've got inquisitors coming after us."Rivereye is hardly ashamed of his action, but because of the unseasonably gelid weather, they don't talk much for a few hours, simply heading south, hoping to reach the Innenotdar Fire Forest by sunset.  The nearest town to the fire forest is a small village called Cerri, which Torrent wants to bypass as much as possible.  However, since they did have to leave in a hurry the day before, they decide to send in Kathor to get some extra supplies, since he looks the least conspicuous of all of them.When they’re about a mile from Cerri, though, their path takes them close to a fairly large, round stonebrick house.  Its strangely far from the rest of the town, too far away to be safe in case of an attack.  However, they’re not really suspicious, so they don’t change their course, just riding within 50 feet.  They recognize that scattered around the ground outside the house are a handful of carved wooden poles, totems designed in the fashion of primitive Orcish tribes that live in the mountains.  Unlike the Ragesian Orcs, who are civilized and well-organized, the mountain Orcs, or Herethim, are classically savage.  As they come to their closest point to the house, the front door opens and a slender woman walks out, her eyes fixing on the group immediately as if she expected to see them.There’s a moment of awkwardness and silence as the group considers the woman.  She seems obviously non-hostile, but looks almost as if in a daze.  She’s around five feet tall, in her twenties, dark-haired and dressed in a multi-layered coat, and in her right hand she lightly holds a black quarterstaff that’s taller than her.  The group is about to shrug and move on when she points to the north, in the direction they came from.“The ones who are chasing you are only three miles away,” she says, her voice carrying the tone of a decree, despite her youth.  “They’ll catch up with you, and you’re going to have to fight them.”Kathor still owns a spyglass from his time as a scout, and he uses it to look back at their trail.  He can’t be sure at this range, but he does think he sees a fairly large group moving in the distance toward them.“My father wants you to come inside,” the woman continues, and her posture seems to relax, like she had just exhaled a great breath.  Suddenly nervous, she waves for them to follow her.Torrent looks at the rest of the group, to get their opinions, while Diogenes asks, “Who’s your father?”The woman pauses for a moment, and they hear a loud coughing from inside the house.  “His name is Haddin Ja-laffa.”When she doesn’t say anything else, Diogenes says impatiently, “And you are?”“M-my name is Crystin Ja-nafeel.  Please, please, come in.”Their names mark them as being native Kelaquois, the people who had been indigenous to Kequalak before the Ragesian Empire conquered it and claimed it for its seat of power.  Of anyone in this part of the empire, the Kelaquois are most likely to hate the Ragesians, so Rivereye and Torrent are willing to take a look.  Diogenes is as always guarded, and Kathor is just in a rush, so they quickly dismount and follow her in.The house is nicely furnished, warm and comfortable, but there are a pair of small bags on the ground near the door, and on a table near the fireplace are stacks of dozens of spell scrolls.  Beside the fireplace, an old man sits in a tall-backed chair.  Haddin Ja-laffa holds a cup of warm broth, drinking it between dry coughs, and eventually he grimaces and puts the cup down, groaning.“Forgive the *cough* strangeness of me just *heavy cough* inviting you *hacking cough* in.  My d-*cough* daughter has a sort of second sight, and when she told me she *hacking cough* that she saw you were coming, and that you *cough* were fleeing the Inquisitors, I thought I’d offer my help.”  He takes another drink of his broth, and though his coughing doesn’t stop, it lessens a bit.Haddin explains that he’s lived in Cerri for his entire life, and that he put up with the Ragesians when they conquered the land, since they mostly stayed in the land to north after their failed attempt to control the Fire Forest.  And he’s not going to leave now, even if the Inquisitors plan to come and oust him.  He’s a powerful mage, and he can take whatever they send at him.  He asks the party to stay with him and help him fight the Inquisitors, to send a message.Crystin shakes her head.  “Father, we have to leave as soon as possible.  Even if we do stop these, more will-” Haddin glares at her, and she stops mid-sentence.  Then after a pause, her tone of voice stiffens, as she says, “I’m sorry, I just worry about my father.  You don’t have to stay for long, just enough to help us out this time.”Kathor frowns.  “You want your father to leave though, right?  The imperials will kill you when they get here.”Haddin goes into a coughing fit, and Crystin quickly nods, her tone back to normal again.  “Yes, he needs to leave.  We both do.  My father’s just stubborn.”Haddin starts to glare at her again, looking betrayed, but Kathor punches him in the face and knocks him out of his chair.  He falls to the floor in a daze, and Kathor says they need to hurry.  Diogenes smiles and congratulates him, and since Haddin was completely knocked out by the single punch, they don’t have to listen to him argue with them as they help Crystin quickly pack the rest of their family’s belongings.Rivereye is more interested in the nifty stuff in the room than he is in packing, but when he sees Crystin having trouble fitting a few mementos, the blue-skinned gnome quickly moves to help her.  While he works, he smiles to her.  “No offense Crystin, but your father seems like a pain in the butt.  He seem a little controlling.  But he’ll thank us; we’re doing him a favor.”Crystin sheepishly nods, turning away to double-check that she has her staff.As they pack, Crystin explains that only she and her father live there.  Haddin’s brother, Mandragore, was a bastard half-Orc, and over forty years ago Haddin and Mandragore worked together to drive away marauding Herethim Orc clans, the same clans from which Mandragore’s father had come.  Mandragore died in a fight against the Empire when it first came into the area soon thereafter, and so Crystin never met him.  Haddin was already old when Crystin was born, and her mother died in delivery.  At the time, though, Haddin had been a local hero, and so Crystin had an easy time growing up.Diogenes senses she’s not mentioning something important, but they’re in a rush, so he lets it go, instead wondering how Haddin had planned to fend off the Inquisitors, and glancing occasionally at the staff Crystin is holding, wondering if its magical.Within a few minutes, all is ready, and Crystin gets onto a horse with Rivereye, who definitely is taking a liking to her.  Kathor puts the semi-conscious Haddin in front of him on his horse, and they leave quickly.  Kathor still has to go into town for supplies (doubly so now that they have more people), but he figures Haddin will help him find what he needs faster.  Crystin almost says something, then nervously closes her mouth, so Kathor rides toward Cerri with Haddin, while Torrent leads the rest of the group to a spot they can wait near the edge of the river that leads to the Fire Forest.</blockquote>

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