Like Father, Like Son: Kid Charlemagne's Story Hour , PT III


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The town of Everbright, Kingdom of Caer Sidi, June 25th, AE 420

Corwin stay up most of the night reading the novel and the journal in order to glean any clues from them. He is aided in this by his ring of sustenance, which allows him to sleep only two hours a night. He therefore is awake in the early dawn hours when Lord Evan and his retinue load up their horses and ride off. Corwin notes that they are headed in the direction of Duke Alfric’s castle as well.

The next morning the party decides to purchase some horses and ride to Duke Alfric’s castle. Aris has been curious about the way that silver is not used in the local economy, and he approaches the innkeeper, pulling a silver coin out of his coin purse and twirling it in his fingers. The innkeeper’s eyes widen slightly in a curious expression. Aris raises an eyebrow.

“Have you ever seen this sort of metal before?” the Bladesinger asks.

“What? Oh, yes certainly,” the hobgoblin replies.

“You looked like you’d never seen it before,” Aris says, curiously.

“Oh no,” the innkeeper responds. “I’ve just never seen one of you Pharisees who can bear to touch the stuff!”

“Oh.” Aris’ grin is frozen on his face, as he quietly puts the silver coin back in his pouch.

“That explains that, then.”

“You just called me a Pharisee,” Aris continues after a moment.

“Well, that’s what you are,” the innkeeper replies. “You, Lord Evan, and so on.”

“I see,” Aris continues. “So the elves around here are known as Pharisees?”

“Didn’t know there were any of you that weren’t,” the innkeeper says.

“Definitely not from around here,” he mutters under his breath.

The party heads down to the marketplace, led there by one of the servants from the Inn, a young orc. He bears one of the bronze collars similarto the one Lord Evan’s orcish servant wore. Brennen asks him about it.

“What does that collar indicate?” he asks. The orc looks at him like he’s from another planet (which he is, kind of).

“It means I am the property of the owner of the Riven Sword Inn,” he says.

“Hmm,” Brennen says. “Is the slavery generational?”

“Jena-what?”

“Are you born into slavery?”

“Oh. Yes.”

Gavin and Reana pick out some horses, but find that there are not enough for everyone. Rather than arrive riding two to a horse, they decide to purchase a wagon and two horses. Jovah wanders around the marketplace, and peeks into a blacksmith shop were horses are being shod. The shop is manned by a trio of dwarves.

Each wears the bronze collar.

“Wonderful,” Jovah mutters.
 

Ah yes, nothing like maintaining a low profile and blending right in.

Yeah, ...uh...we're not from around here. We come from France.

It's a sad day when the guy with the flaming samurai helmet is comparatively low-key.
 

When fish-out-of-water stories are well done, they can be a lot of fun. This one is unique and interesting without crossing over into cliche. Keep up the good work.

LB
 

The town of Everbright, Kingdom of Caer Sidi, June 25th, AE 420

Before leaving, the party manages to find out another thing or two about this strange place that they find themselves in. The Thendar (whom they have been mistaken for) are from the City of Thend, a place noted for its vast Library. They speculate that perhaps the Library is the reason for Kentfield’s presence here, but set that idea aside, as he appears to be headed in the opposite direction of the Library.

Reana takes the leads of the horses and drives the cart down the road to Duke Alfric’s castle. Brennen rides beside her, while the others sit in the back of the wagon. They are coming down out of the mountains now, and into forested lands. The underbrush has been cleared away, and the road is well-maintained, although rather deserted.

The journey is uneventful until Reana pulls up the horses and stops the wagon.

“I hear someone approaching,” she says. “A wagon or cart, and maybe some other horses. Coming pretty fast.”

A few moments later, a horse and cart come into view, approaching from the direction of the castle. It is driven by an elderly fellow in grey-blue robes, and he waves frantically as he passes the group.

“Bandits on the road! Bandits on the road! Look out!”

His cart careens past the party’s, and hits a rock along the side of the road. One wheel breaks, and driver and cart contents go spilling out all over the road.

The party gets out of the wagon, leaving only Reana at the reins. The Ranger casts an entangle about eighty feet ahead, just where the road turns away. Shortly afterward, a group of about eight bugbears, mounted on horseback, comes charging into view. Several get stuck in the entangle, while some manage to ride around it. Brennen braces for the charge of the first bugbear, sword ready. Reana casts speak with animals.

“Stop running at us!” she says. “Throw your riders!”

“OW!” the horses respond. “Ow! They keep kicking us with these sharp metal things!”

The first bugbear reaches Brennen. The Sword of Kelanen looks in Reana’s direction.

“Don’t look, Reana,” he says, and swipes hard at the bugbear’s horse!

The battle is joined, and it’s not a pretty one from the bugbear’s point of view. A number of them leap out of the entangled area, and begin firing arrows at the party, but Soldago returns fire on them as well. Gavin, Reana, and Brennen cut them down rather quickly, with aid from Aris and Corwin’s spells.

Jovah flies over to the cart’s driver. The old man is dazedly getting to his feet and surveying the situation.

“Are you all right?” the gnome asks in gnomish.

The old man nods yes, and Jovah flies back to the group, keeping an eye on him. The luck-priest is concerned that this could be a trap set by Kentfield, although they have no reason to think Kentfield is aware of their presence in Caer Sidi yet.

The bugbears are being routed at this point. Several mount up and flee in various directions, and Gavin and Brennen mount up to chase them. Brennen mounts up on the horse he had previously injured, which turns out to be a bad idea, as when he catches up to his quarry, the bugbear bandit swipes at the horse, not the rider, and Brennen goes down in a heap as his mount dies. Gavin kills his quarry, and Jovah flies off after one last bugbear, who surrenders.

Brennen trudges back to the group. Reana looks at him disapprovingly.

“I’m not sure I’m talking to you right now,” she says.

“Hey,” Brennen replies defensively. “I didn’t kill the horse, that bugbear did!”

“Right,” Gavin responds, bitingly. “Way to rationalize, horse-killer.”

They round up the other horse, seven in all, and then turn to the elderly man.

“How’s your horse? Is he injured?” Gavin asks, looking at the horse still lashed to the overturned cart.

“What? Oh, never mind him,” the old man says, and with a snap of his fingers, the horse vanishes. “I will, however, be needing a new cart,” he adds ruefully.

He introduces himself as Theodisius, and as it turns out, he is a Thendar. He explains that the Thendar are a group consisting primarily of scholars and sages. He had just recently left Duke Alfric’s castle, and was headed to Everbright. The party offers him a ride back to the castle to buy a new cart, and load his boxes and such in their wagon. They quiz him all the way there, learning a great deal more about this land in the process.

  • He hasn’t seen Kentfield or Quinn.
  • He has no knowledge of any of the events from the elvish novel, and isn’t familiar with the name of the Thendar mentioned there.
  • He hasheard of the insane elf, though, and remembers him being barred from the Library of Thend.
  • The Library is open to anyone who has a recommendation from one of the Thendar.
  • He is familiar with the party’s homelands, and with planar travel in general.
  • Duke Alfric is a powerful wizard in his own right, and will undoubtably require the party to see him.
  • If Kentfield is staying at the castle, he would be considered a guest, and therefore would have the Duke’s protection.
  • Duke Alfric is rumored to have the castle protected so that teleporting enemies get shunted off into dungeon cells if they try to teleport into the castle.
  • Although attacking someone in the castle would be grounds for reprisals, any non-offensive spell casting would be overlooked.
  • The elves (or Pharisees, as they call themselves) are vulnerable to iron and steel, which is why they do not use those metals. Silver causes them discomfort, but not injury.
  • The Pharisees are non-religious.
  • Summer Solstice here is taking place in 5 days, just as on the party’s homeworld.
  • There are Solstice Celebrations held at the castle.

As they ride to the castle, they begin seeing unusual things; they see several mounted griffons flying overhead, patrolling the skies; they see herds of sheep grazing on the grass, keeping it short and trimmed, and tended by dwarves wearing the bronze collars marking them as slaves; and finally, they see several unicorns, just at the limit fo their sight, grazing in the neatly kept forest. The shy creatures bolt into the trees as soon as they realize they are being watched.

“The unicorns are protected by law,” Theodisius explains.

It is late afternoon when the party arrives at the final approach to Duke Alric’s castle. The castle is a tall, beautifully built structure, seeming to the party like something more out of a fairy tale than a castle of their world. The Griffon-banners flutter over the parapets, and elven knights man the walls. The gates stand open, and various people, slaves and free mill about in the outer bailey.

“You realize that we’re probably going to meet Kentfield, and we won’t be able to fight him directly,” Brennen says to Jovah.

“Yup.”

The group takes a collective deep breath, and rides in.
 


I sit here at work on this gorgeous Friday and my mind wanders to Caer Sidi. :)

Is Theodisius a trap?
Can Jalea stop himself from "scouting" out the inside of the castle?
Will Brennen need to make a "Foul Sir" proclamation?
What year will it be when we get back to Fencig?
Plane Shift allows 8 people- Who did Kentfield bring?
Is that "teleport to the dungeon" rumor true?
What the heck is Kentfield doing here?????

Who will feed Tut?
:cool:
 
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Worries

Not to mention:

Who's side is Alfric on? Will he really be neutral?
Are we walking into a trap? Are we totally screwed?


I fear the answers are: His own, No, Probably, and Absolutely.


I really do think we need to do that Mark of Justice thing right on Jalea's forehead.
 

Here's one for the "Great Lost Quote" file:

For every bit of information that Theodisius gave out, he tried to mine the party for interesting tidbits of info. He was especially interested in Broadleaf the Treant, and the curse of Broadleaf Forest.

Brennen said "We'll be going back there to take care of that curse..."

To which Gavin replies, "Wait a minute, you were serious about that?!"
 

Jovah In The D&D Rules Forum said:



has anyone used the Mark of Justice spell??

On a party memeber?


The spell basically states that if the enspelled does not follow some rules/restrictions he gets cursed.

We are half-jokingly discussing using it on thw meandering thief.


Bad Jovah! Bad! That's the same as casting a Flame Strike on a fellow party member. Besides, I thought "Fortune Favors The Bold!" Jalea certainly is being bold, heh.
 

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