Tellerian Hawke
Defender of Oerth
"What are you going to teach me today, old man?" Nimbar asked, in a rude, gruff tone. "Whatever it is, it had better be good."
Sir Walter smiled at his young apprentice; he knew that Nimbar was joking, but he also never allowed such comments to go unchallenged. "I'm going to teach you how to kiss the floor with your front teeth, you little cuss!" Sir Walter laughed. "It'll ruin that famous smile of yours that the lasses love so much. But it will teach you to respect your elders!"
Nimbar raised his hands, in a mock, boxing stance. "Let's see you try, old fart!" he taunted, making use of his aforementioned smile.
Sir Walter picked up a wand from his desk, and leveled it at his apprentice. Nimbar laughed, raising his hands in surrender. "Hey, no fair using a wand!" he chided.
Sir Walter smiled. "My boy, if there's one piece of advice that I can give you which is more important than any other, it's this: Never bring a knife, or in this case, your fists, to a Wizard's duel."
Nimbar nodded, letting the joke drop. "I hear the Viceroy commissioned a sword from you."
Sir Walter nodded. "Indeed, he did. But I'm going to need a special kind of ore to finish it. The blade will be Dwarven steel, but the cross-guard and pommel need to be made of Rose-Gold Iron Ore. And there's only one place to get it..."
Nimbar's countenance fell, as he realized that he was going to be the gopher on this one. "The Holy Empire of Erypt," he sighed. "Blast it, old man, why so damned far?" he asked.
Sir Walter laughed. "Because you need to get out beyond the gates of this little, rural backwater and see the world, that's why. Besides, it will keep you out of my hair for awhile; these enchantments are going to take several weeks to prepare, and I will need complete solitude for that time, safe from your daily begging and senseless chatter!"
Willip was not small; it was a walled, city-fort, the third-largest settlement in Furyondy. But Nimbar knew better than to challenge Sir Walter on his choice of terminology. Sir Walter had seen many things and visited many places in his lifetime, and if he said Willip was a backwater settlement, then so be it.
But there was one thing standing in the way of the journey: money. Nimbar had a small pool of gold, perhaps a bit more than 200 pieces, set aside for a rainy day, but he had never been the hoarder that his friend Tellerian was. Tellerian had thousands of gold pieces saved up, that he kept in a locked chest in his parent's house. And he was loathe to touch it. Nimbar doubted that Tellerian would loan him the fee for passage, and he knew that his own meager savings would never buy him passage across two oceans.
"How am I going to afford a round-trip ship's passage of that duration?" Nimbar asked.
Sir Walter put his hand into his belt pouch, producing a large, metal medallion on a length of chain. He handed it to Nimbar, and replied, "What do you take me for, boy? A fool? It's going to take you long enough to find the damned ore, without having to endure a 3-month ocean voyage as well. I'm going to send you through a portal. You'll arrive in an instant. That medallion will bring you home, if you speak the command word that's engraved on it. It holds only one charge, so don't you dare activate it before you have the Rose-Gold, do you hear?"
Nimbar stared at the medallion in amazement. He had heard legends of Wizards that could open portals, and travel the world in an instant, but he had never dared to hope that Sir Walter was capable of such a thing. "That's a long way from home, to be traveling alone..." he stammered, giddy with both excitement and uncertainty.
"Take that big lummox with you. He'll be able to keep the sand scarabs off of you during your excursion. I'm sure his parents will be as glad to be rid of him as I am to be rid of you." Sir Walter chuckled. "And yes, before you ask, the medallion has enough power to bring the both of you back; in fact, it will bring you, and any allies of yours within a 30-foot radius back here, to me. So if the two of you manage to acquire some new friends, then all of you can make the trip back, if you like. Ah, I miss my adventuring days. I spent 10 years as a soldier of fortune before joining the army, you know."
Nimbar smiled as he slipped the medallion around his neck, and tucked it underneath his tunic. "Wow, my first trip to a foreign empire," he mused.
"Be careful, boy. They have different customs there. Don't look sideways at, or speak to, any women that you come across. If they're spoken for, their husbands can have you drawn and quartered for your trouble. You'll probably have the best luck mining in the Dragonspine Mountains, in the northwest region of the kingdom."
Nimbar looked quizzically at Sir Walter. "Mining? I thought I was to go somewhere, and purchase the ore?" he asked, his brow furrowing with concern.
Sir Walter chuckled. "No, no, no, no, my boy. You won't get a fair price in the markets, and I also doubt that you'll find sufficient quantities for sale, even if the price WAS reasonable. But there's one saving grace to it all; the Kobolds that dwell in the Dragonspine Mountains are known to mine it extensively. They use it to make all of their tools, armor, and weaponry. If you can find a tribe of Dragonspine Kobolds, you can bet there will be Rose-Gold Iron Ore nearby. Since their refinement methods are crude, I would think bringing back 4 or 5 swords, or 5 or 6 spear heads would be enough for my purposes, or perhaps two big shields. But beware, unlike the Kobolds in this part of the world, Dragonspine Kobolds are vicious, and formidable. That's another reason you'll want that oaf, Tellerian, along. It will take a fair amount of muscle to trounce them. That's right up his alley."
Nimbar laughed. "He did say that he wanted to start adventuring, and that we should form a team, and earn our fortunes together. This will probably excite him. He wants to call our adventuring-group-to-be 'The Brothers of War and Justice'; I think that I shall endeavor to talk him out of that, though. It doesn't flow easily off the tongue. We need to think of a catchier name. What was the name of the adventuring group that you used to belong to?"
Sir Walter replied, "The Firebrands. That group still exists, you know. When I was with them, the leader was a Wizard named Morgan Kvar. Nowadays, his youngest son, Kelvin, who is also a Wizard, leads the group. It's become something of a 'family business,' so-to-speak."
Nimbar nodded. "Now that's a catchy name. It has a lot of style. That's the kind of name we need to have."
Sir Walter nodded in agreement, as Nimbar continued his thought, "Ok, old man, a promise is a promise. I will bring you the Rose-Gold. Give me a day to sober up the big ox and to pack my things."
Nimbar was indeed correct; Tellerian was very accepting of the idea, and anxious to embark on an adventure of such magnitude. The idea of being a world traveler appealed to the big warrior; Tellerian did indeed need sobering up, but once that was done, both of them were packed and ready within the space of an hour. Sir Walter was pleased that they made it to his tower before sunset.
"Nimbar, Tellerian, I'm glad that neither of you tarried long. I am sending you to a fortress, which lies in the Northwestern region of Erypt, by the name of Caitu-Alam, which is the rough equivalent of 'Castellan' in our tongue. It literally means 'Keep of the Governor.' The keep sits at the edge of the Dragonspine Mountains, and will make an excellent base camp for your excursions against the Kobolds. Are you ready then? Let's be about it."
Sir Walter walked to the corner of the room, and pulled the cloth cover off of a large, full-length dressing mirror. Without saying a word, he closed his eyes in concentration, and tilted his head slightly backward, as he waved his right hand in front of it. The image of a road, winding through a sparsely-vegetated plains area appeared in its surface, and in the distance, a walled keep could be seen, and far beyond it, the foot of what could only be the Dragonspine Mountains.
"You have but to step through the mirror, my boys, and you will arrive on the road to the keep. I have chosen a time of day when the road is sparsely traveled, to avoid alarming the local populace. Despite the presence of green vegetation, the place you are going is very arid, and dry, because of its proximity to the desert. What little greenery there is, exists because of the annual flooding of a nearby river. I guess my point is that you should take precautions to prevent being baked in the sun. And here, buy a couple of camels from the keep's inner corral. You'll need them."
Sir Walter hands a bag of coins to Nimbar, and without further ceremony, shoos the both of them through the mirror's portal. Nimbar and Tellerian instantly find themselves standing in the middle of the road, looking toward the keep. The pair nod knowingly at each other, and begin walking, coming to a stop outside the gate, where a line has formed to petition for entry.
Two gate guards, wearing white robes and turbans, and holding long spears, collect a gate fee from all who enter. The fee seems to be a single silver piece per person. Tellerian retrieves two silver coins from his belt pouch, and hands them to Nimbar, who is ahead of him in line.
In front of Nimbar, Tellerian notices a tall youth, leading a camel, apparently traveling alone, which is somewhat strange, considering the keep's proximity to tribes of hostile humanoids. The thought occurs to him that perhaps the boy is an adventurer, like he and Nimbar.
Tellerian whispers to Nimbar, "I wonder what set of circumstances led to this boy traveling alone?"
Nimbar frowns at Tellerian's rudeness, "Who taught you how to whisper? Mind your own business, I'm sure he's fine."
"But he's not even armed..." Tellerian notes.
Nimbar rolls his eyes, wondering when the boy will turn around and tell his loudmouth friend to shut his trap.
Sir Walter smiled at his young apprentice; he knew that Nimbar was joking, but he also never allowed such comments to go unchallenged. "I'm going to teach you how to kiss the floor with your front teeth, you little cuss!" Sir Walter laughed. "It'll ruin that famous smile of yours that the lasses love so much. But it will teach you to respect your elders!"
Nimbar raised his hands, in a mock, boxing stance. "Let's see you try, old fart!" he taunted, making use of his aforementioned smile.
Sir Walter picked up a wand from his desk, and leveled it at his apprentice. Nimbar laughed, raising his hands in surrender. "Hey, no fair using a wand!" he chided.
Sir Walter smiled. "My boy, if there's one piece of advice that I can give you which is more important than any other, it's this: Never bring a knife, or in this case, your fists, to a Wizard's duel."
Nimbar nodded, letting the joke drop. "I hear the Viceroy commissioned a sword from you."
Sir Walter nodded. "Indeed, he did. But I'm going to need a special kind of ore to finish it. The blade will be Dwarven steel, but the cross-guard and pommel need to be made of Rose-Gold Iron Ore. And there's only one place to get it..."
Nimbar's countenance fell, as he realized that he was going to be the gopher on this one. "The Holy Empire of Erypt," he sighed. "Blast it, old man, why so damned far?" he asked.
Sir Walter laughed. "Because you need to get out beyond the gates of this little, rural backwater and see the world, that's why. Besides, it will keep you out of my hair for awhile; these enchantments are going to take several weeks to prepare, and I will need complete solitude for that time, safe from your daily begging and senseless chatter!"
Willip was not small; it was a walled, city-fort, the third-largest settlement in Furyondy. But Nimbar knew better than to challenge Sir Walter on his choice of terminology. Sir Walter had seen many things and visited many places in his lifetime, and if he said Willip was a backwater settlement, then so be it.
But there was one thing standing in the way of the journey: money. Nimbar had a small pool of gold, perhaps a bit more than 200 pieces, set aside for a rainy day, but he had never been the hoarder that his friend Tellerian was. Tellerian had thousands of gold pieces saved up, that he kept in a locked chest in his parent's house. And he was loathe to touch it. Nimbar doubted that Tellerian would loan him the fee for passage, and he knew that his own meager savings would never buy him passage across two oceans.
"How am I going to afford a round-trip ship's passage of that duration?" Nimbar asked.
Sir Walter put his hand into his belt pouch, producing a large, metal medallion on a length of chain. He handed it to Nimbar, and replied, "What do you take me for, boy? A fool? It's going to take you long enough to find the damned ore, without having to endure a 3-month ocean voyage as well. I'm going to send you through a portal. You'll arrive in an instant. That medallion will bring you home, if you speak the command word that's engraved on it. It holds only one charge, so don't you dare activate it before you have the Rose-Gold, do you hear?"
Nimbar stared at the medallion in amazement. He had heard legends of Wizards that could open portals, and travel the world in an instant, but he had never dared to hope that Sir Walter was capable of such a thing. "That's a long way from home, to be traveling alone..." he stammered, giddy with both excitement and uncertainty.
"Take that big lummox with you. He'll be able to keep the sand scarabs off of you during your excursion. I'm sure his parents will be as glad to be rid of him as I am to be rid of you." Sir Walter chuckled. "And yes, before you ask, the medallion has enough power to bring the both of you back; in fact, it will bring you, and any allies of yours within a 30-foot radius back here, to me. So if the two of you manage to acquire some new friends, then all of you can make the trip back, if you like. Ah, I miss my adventuring days. I spent 10 years as a soldier of fortune before joining the army, you know."
Nimbar smiled as he slipped the medallion around his neck, and tucked it underneath his tunic. "Wow, my first trip to a foreign empire," he mused.
"Be careful, boy. They have different customs there. Don't look sideways at, or speak to, any women that you come across. If they're spoken for, their husbands can have you drawn and quartered for your trouble. You'll probably have the best luck mining in the Dragonspine Mountains, in the northwest region of the kingdom."
Nimbar looked quizzically at Sir Walter. "Mining? I thought I was to go somewhere, and purchase the ore?" he asked, his brow furrowing with concern.
Sir Walter chuckled. "No, no, no, no, my boy. You won't get a fair price in the markets, and I also doubt that you'll find sufficient quantities for sale, even if the price WAS reasonable. But there's one saving grace to it all; the Kobolds that dwell in the Dragonspine Mountains are known to mine it extensively. They use it to make all of their tools, armor, and weaponry. If you can find a tribe of Dragonspine Kobolds, you can bet there will be Rose-Gold Iron Ore nearby. Since their refinement methods are crude, I would think bringing back 4 or 5 swords, or 5 or 6 spear heads would be enough for my purposes, or perhaps two big shields. But beware, unlike the Kobolds in this part of the world, Dragonspine Kobolds are vicious, and formidable. That's another reason you'll want that oaf, Tellerian, along. It will take a fair amount of muscle to trounce them. That's right up his alley."
Nimbar laughed. "He did say that he wanted to start adventuring, and that we should form a team, and earn our fortunes together. This will probably excite him. He wants to call our adventuring-group-to-be 'The Brothers of War and Justice'; I think that I shall endeavor to talk him out of that, though. It doesn't flow easily off the tongue. We need to think of a catchier name. What was the name of the adventuring group that you used to belong to?"
Sir Walter replied, "The Firebrands. That group still exists, you know. When I was with them, the leader was a Wizard named Morgan Kvar. Nowadays, his youngest son, Kelvin, who is also a Wizard, leads the group. It's become something of a 'family business,' so-to-speak."
Nimbar nodded. "Now that's a catchy name. It has a lot of style. That's the kind of name we need to have."
Sir Walter nodded in agreement, as Nimbar continued his thought, "Ok, old man, a promise is a promise. I will bring you the Rose-Gold. Give me a day to sober up the big ox and to pack my things."
Nimbar was indeed correct; Tellerian was very accepting of the idea, and anxious to embark on an adventure of such magnitude. The idea of being a world traveler appealed to the big warrior; Tellerian did indeed need sobering up, but once that was done, both of them were packed and ready within the space of an hour. Sir Walter was pleased that they made it to his tower before sunset.
"Nimbar, Tellerian, I'm glad that neither of you tarried long. I am sending you to a fortress, which lies in the Northwestern region of Erypt, by the name of Caitu-Alam, which is the rough equivalent of 'Castellan' in our tongue. It literally means 'Keep of the Governor.' The keep sits at the edge of the Dragonspine Mountains, and will make an excellent base camp for your excursions against the Kobolds. Are you ready then? Let's be about it."
Sir Walter walked to the corner of the room, and pulled the cloth cover off of a large, full-length dressing mirror. Without saying a word, he closed his eyes in concentration, and tilted his head slightly backward, as he waved his right hand in front of it. The image of a road, winding through a sparsely-vegetated plains area appeared in its surface, and in the distance, a walled keep could be seen, and far beyond it, the foot of what could only be the Dragonspine Mountains.
"You have but to step through the mirror, my boys, and you will arrive on the road to the keep. I have chosen a time of day when the road is sparsely traveled, to avoid alarming the local populace. Despite the presence of green vegetation, the place you are going is very arid, and dry, because of its proximity to the desert. What little greenery there is, exists because of the annual flooding of a nearby river. I guess my point is that you should take precautions to prevent being baked in the sun. And here, buy a couple of camels from the keep's inner corral. You'll need them."
Sir Walter hands a bag of coins to Nimbar, and without further ceremony, shoos the both of them through the mirror's portal. Nimbar and Tellerian instantly find themselves standing in the middle of the road, looking toward the keep. The pair nod knowingly at each other, and begin walking, coming to a stop outside the gate, where a line has formed to petition for entry.
Two gate guards, wearing white robes and turbans, and holding long spears, collect a gate fee from all who enter. The fee seems to be a single silver piece per person. Tellerian retrieves two silver coins from his belt pouch, and hands them to Nimbar, who is ahead of him in line.
In front of Nimbar, Tellerian notices a tall youth, leading a camel, apparently traveling alone, which is somewhat strange, considering the keep's proximity to tribes of hostile humanoids. The thought occurs to him that perhaps the boy is an adventurer, like he and Nimbar.
Tellerian whispers to Nimbar, "I wonder what set of circumstances led to this boy traveling alone?"
Nimbar frowns at Tellerian's rudeness, "Who taught you how to whisper? Mind your own business, I'm sure he's fine."
"But he's not even armed..." Tellerian notes.
Nimbar rolls his eyes, wondering when the boy will turn around and tell his loudmouth friend to shut his trap.
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