Island Empire, Part III, The Lich's Curse

[Leif]

Gnurl Whiskerling

Gnurl will spend a couple of hours in rapt study of his new spells, and then will retire for a blissful night's sleep in a bed far larger than a gnome, very far away from the crew's hammocks of the 'Sheet.

 

[Lou]

Mingo & Co.

Anson and Mig return after a couple of hours of exploring to report that they found a temple to Yondalla on the outskirts of the city.

Mingo listens as Anson talks about the city and where they found the temple. After a while, Mingo yawns, "Anson, let's call it a night and go visit tomorrow after breakfast." Anson and Mig return to their room. Mingo rereads her letter and then signs it and seals it for delivery the next day. Off to bed and hopefully peaceful dreams for Mingo, Anson, and Mig.

 

[Scotley]

Mingo has a dream in which wave after wave of undead are charging at her from all sides. She raises her holy symbol and destroys them, but more come scabbling over the wall of bodies and she continues to call upon her divine power as the walls of dead around her climb higher and higher. She awakens just after dawn to the sounds of Mig howling and barking in her sleep. Anson leaps out of bed and grabs for a weapon, appearantly troubled by dreams of his own.

 

[Leif]

Gnurl Whiskerling

Anson's acrobatics and Mig's "sleep-barking" are enough to awaken the Gnome, as well. Trying and failing to get back to sleep for another hour, Gnurl sighs and gives up. He rises, washes, gets a quick snack, and prepares for the day ahead by studying selected pages of both of his spell books. (OOC: changes already noted to spells prepared in RG) When he finishes, Gnurl will see if any of his friends are yet awake and go down to get his FULL breakfast.

 

[Scotley]

Gnurl's sleep was not entirely without disturbance but he cannot remember his dreams come morning. Something he would take comfort in had he known the kind of night the rest of the party had.

 

[Scotley]

OOC: Still waiting to hear from Finn, but we'll move on.

 

[Scotley]

As the various party members emerge from their rooms they discover that a message has been placed on the small clip on each door that previously they assumed was merely some sort of ornamentation.

[sblock=For those who choose to read the letter]Good Morning! I trust the missive finds you well. I spoke with some old friends last night and I believe I have a source you should consult. I'm told that Fredrick Balmal is something of an expert in the undead. He has a particular interest in those who would extend their lives through the Necromantic arts. The Arch-Bishop tells me that the church often uses the fellow and that he is quite trustworthy and reputable. He lives in Balmal castle here on Cambre. It is a journey of several hours into the highlands. I took the liberty of asking the Concierge to make a coach and 6 available should you choose to make the trip. It should be large enough to accommodate you all. The Arch-Bishop has offered to prepare a letter of introduction. Please see Luc Palmer, Concierge, at the front desk to retrieve the letter and Coach. I've much to do the next couple of days, but I do hope you'll do me the honor of joining me for dinner later in the week if your schedule permits.

Captain Honager Marin,
Marin and Son
Inn of the White Wake[/sblock]

 

[mleibrock]

Radoon

Radoon wakes, and feels better after the nights sleep in a bed. He will wake M. and hand the note for her to read.

"I realize you are not joining us on this journey but I thought you might want to come with us on this little one as what we learn may interest you personally. Feel like some breakfast with the rest of the party?"

 

[Leif]

Gnurl Whiskerling

Presuming the "disturbing dreams" that Gnurl can't now remember didn't cause an incident of bedwetting, he will go down to breakfast when he has prepared his spells for the day. As he leaves, he will stop to peruse the note on his door, and spend the time walking down to breakfast thinking about it.

As soon as he wakes and prepares spells, Gnurl will memorize and immediately cast Greater Mage Armor in place of Mage Armor, now that he knows the spell! I have made a change to Gnurl's memorized spells to reflect this change, and Gnurl will begin to do this every day, at least until the curse is lifted.

When he and his friends are together at the table, Gnurl leans forward, and in a conspiratorial whisper says, "Forgive my skepticism, but just how do we know that Capt. Marin is the one who left this note for us? He was just with us, and provided these rooms for us, so doesn't it make more sense that he would SPEAK to us about such a thing? I say we go and find him and get the story straight from his lips before we go traipsing off across this Wizard-Forsaken island in a coach at the complete mercy of who-knows-who!"

 

[SirCaith]

Finn Hunter

Finn's host asks that he stay the night. She prepares him a simple meal of steak and eggs if he'll have it.

OOC: Sorry for the long delay. It has been rather busy at work the last few days. We had an air conditioner unit die, and it served the computer server room here at ACBL HQ, so they shut down the computer system for most of the day Monday. It's month end, and that's when we get the heaviest traffic from people submitting reports. I've been playing catch up most of the week. But enough of my woes, and back to those of our heroes. /OOC

After the quiet dinner of steak and eggs, and some more shop talk, Finn accepts Angela's invitation. He does confide in her of his worries concerning the strange Northern cleric who managed to escape prior to the curse by the Sea Sorceror. "While the Lich seems the bigger threat to the Empire to me due to his increased desire for power, he was helped to this by that cleric. The Sea Sorceror has prowled the oceans for years, amassing wealth and power as he went. While greedy and ambitious, he never had the reputation as a truly evil man. Something tipped the balance, and I fear that something hailed from frozen climes. When you brief old Hammerhand, stress my fears in this matter. It may be nothing, but it is an itch I cannot scratch while I have this other concern. I dread facing both again in a later confrontation."