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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MerakSpielman" data-source="post: 847074" data-attributes="member: 7464">(ok, here goes nothing... I didn't have time to proofread too closely, so please forgive minor grammatical and spelling errors)1. advanced wolves2. Leomund's trap3. solitude4. boots5. dwarven waraxe6. spadeThe Trials of Princess OllorilBackgroundLong ago, in the almost forgotten Dwarven city of Dwor-akarak, there lived Olloril, the most beautiful Dwarven princess to be found in the entire realm. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds, her body was strong and tough, and her beard was like fresh-spun golden silk. From miles around suitors came to seek her hand, but she stoutly refused them all, feeling they were unworthy. Olloril was the perfect female Dwarf, and would accept nothing less than a perfect husband. In time, growing weary of the endless stream of inadiquate Dwarves with which she was being presented, she devised a series of trials to test them. The Dwarf who managed to win his way through the trials would be the one she married, but the trials were designed so that failure meant either death or disgrace. The number of prospective suitors dropped drastically, and the princess was secretly pleased, for in truth she did not think marriage was really her "mug of ale."According to legand, the tasks were as follows:The suitor must:1) Determine which of over a hundred chests in a room was safe to open (the others contained very very deadly poison gas)2) Recover the legandary Dwarven Waraxe "Tunneler" from the hands of the Derro.3) Travel to the surface world and befriend a winter wolf with the capacity to speak the Dwarven tongue.The tests were to be completed in order. Olloril considered them to be given in the order of difficulty. The first took little time to complete, was on hand in Dwor-akarak and had the function of weeding out the vast majority of candidates entirely by itself (the safe chest is actually ensorcelled with a Leomund's Trap that makes it look just as dangerous as all the others). The second was considered to be a task of epic proportions, for the minor artifact Tunneler was stolen centuries ago by the Derro and, despite many attempts at recovery, never seen again. It is said that Tunneler has the capacity to create tunnels through solid rock in mere moments. The third task was something very close to the princess' heart, for there was only one winter wolf that spoke Dwarven.(the tale of Olloril and the Winter Wolf: When she was a child, Princess Olloril was upset at her parents and ran away. She found her way to the surface and was caught up in a huge snowstorm. She was only saved when she ran into a winter wolf puppy, who somehow understood her situation and led her home, following her trail by scent - through the very teeth of the blizzard no less! She teased and cajoled the wolf until it came home with her, where she kept it in secret in her bedroom and named it "Whitey." Whitey was incredibly intelligent,  being the offspring of a pack of incredibly advanced wolves, and unusually smart even among them. He even managed to learn a smattering of Dwarven before her parents discovered it and sent it back to the surface. Olloril longs to see her friend again, but does not know where on the surface world he now lives, since Winter Wolves must follow the cold weather and the past ten winters have been uncommonly warm in this part of the world.)For over a decade no suitor passed the three tests. Most were killed by poison gas, and the rest never returned from Derro territory. At first, the Princess was pleased that it seemed she would have her life all to herself. Then, as she matured, she started to realize that she actually wanted to settle down. If nobody ever passed the trials, she would never have a family and would die alone in the world, with no lasting legacy. Her stubbern pride, however, did not allow her to remove the conditions of marriage. That would be a sign of weakness. So she devised an additional plan.Using her immense personal wealth, she hired the most powerful mage in the land to help her. She was sealed in a crystal coffin in complete stasis. The coffin was ensorceled to break open and awaken her only when a Winter Wolf spoke her name aloud. The coffin was sealed in a cave with no entrance or exit. The only way in, she reasoned, would be to use the Dwarven Waraxe Tunneler. If they found a different way in, well, then she wouldn't count it as properly meeting her conditions for marriage. The trapped chests were left in the room they had been in before, but a magical pair of boots was placed in the safe chest. These rare Boots of Winter were enchanted to allow the wearer to travel in snowy and cold conditions without any sort of protective gear. They also allowed the wearer to walk safely on top of snow and ice (even thin, slippery ice). She didn't like to do this, but so wanted to see Whitey again that she was willing to give her husband-to-be a little help with this step. Then Olloril settled down in complete solitude to await her dream Dwarf.Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. The Derro attacked soon after she set up her plan, destroying the city of Dwor-akarak and killing all the inhabitants. Few had heard of Princess Olloril's marriage scheme, and fewer still escaped to tell the rest of the world about it. Her story passed into history and legand, eventally being known to only a few high-level Dwarven bards.It is one such bard named Alabringorf who,  centuries later, was playing cards in an out-of-the-way inn in an out-of-the-way kingdom. The betting was getting very exciting, for it was based entirely on gems and jewelry - the very sort of game a Dwarf likes to play. Eventually, one of the players added to their bet a medium-sized, jeweled chest with an intricate lock. Alabringorf instantly recognized it as Dwarven work, and after a few moments of ale-thickened thought, remembered the legand of Olloril and her poisoned chests. For some reason, this chest reminded him strongly of that legand. He resolved that he must win the chest. Eventually, it all came down to one card. If he drew a spade, he would win. If not, he would lose. With a trembling hand, he flipped over his final card - and gave a dwarven whoop of joy. The chest was his.That night, he examined it closely and realized it was trapped and had remained unopened for a very long time. In his drunken state, he reasoned he could survive most anything and opened it, setting off the harmless Leomund's Trap, for this was indeed the chest containing the magical boots, lost these many years. Realizing that the legand of Olloril was actually true, he resolved to find this perfect Dwarven Princess and marry her, ending her time of solitude and giving him a wife truly worth of song.Hooks1) Alabringorf needs to verify the nature of the boots and chest. He seeks out a wizard to cast Legand Lore - who of course happens to be a party member. This could lead into 2.2) Alabringorf needs help to locate the lost city of Dwor-akarak, and hires the party to find it for him. Supposidly the best route to the Princess' cavern is from that very city.3) Tunneler is lost - but where is it now? Alabringorf knows that to please Olloril he must recover it himself, but do the Derro still have it? He hires the party to do a bit of reconissance.4) What about Whitey? Do Winter Wolves live for centuries? Alabringorf might send the party to find the pack of advanced wolves and see if  Whitey still lives. If not, did Whitey teach Dwarven to any others in the pack?5) The dwarf who finds the chest could instead be a party member, preferably one who is lookin' for love...6) The party could find the chest,  instead of Alabringorf. What they do with it is up to them. If they bother to find out the history of the box, perhaps they will want to release the Princess just to be nice to her (or for more nefarious reasons if they are an evil party).7) The party is hired to steal the box and the boots from Alabringorf.</blockquote>

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