very hard to read in that format.
Good surmise of the story so far, but sadly underplaying the actions of the one and only true hero of this story.
What about this :
The party meets with Exantrius in the city of Hedrogura. He explains he is on a quest against the knight Thedoric, another member of his order who has turned rogue and now seeks to sow the seeds of discord throughout the land. Already wars have broken out in Dalmar by his doing, and spread northward at a heavy pace.
The party, enticed by the man's grace and the urgency of his quest, joins up as he travels toward Bethel. En route, they stop by a hobgoblin encampment to barter for supplies. Exantrius is suddenly attacked by a shaman, who he dispatches unceremoniously; in his charge, the shaman calls out something that no one in the party can make sense of, save that the name "Thedoric" is spoken.
Exantrius dismisses the party to return to the road while he attempts to make amends with the hobgoblins, briefly pulling Fendric aside to tell him of the letters he is carrying, and to beg that they continue to deliver them should he not return. While waiting, Aerda spots a dark figure on the road in front of him; shortly after, the figure disappears beyond the horizon. Exantrius rejoins the party, apparently successful in his negotiations, and they continue forward.
It is not long before the tribe awakes from camp one morning to find that Exantrius has passed away. In morning, they mount the knight up on his steed, which promptly gallops away toward the sea. Thanks to Merrim's quick thinking, the horse is stopped in its tracks long enough to retrieve the letters; also, a ring is spotted in the grass where Exantrius had lain. Niccolo elects to wear it.
As they travel northward, a pack of wolves attacks in a sudden and unnatural manner. Niccolo has some instinctive premonition of the attack, which he later attributes to the ring. Shortly after, he gives it away to Aerda, finding its effects on his emotions troublesome.
The party travels through the ruins south of Bethel, where the farmland has died and the residents have fled. As they approach the city of Jance, they sight an army of undead in a circle around the city. Surprisingly, they do not impede the party's entrance; upon reaching the Temple of Heironeous they learn that this undead occupation has been sanctioned by the Visach, de facto ruler of Bethel, much to the opposition of the Heironean guard. Milos Premule is currently in the city of Bethel pursuing negotiations on the matter.
Moving on to Bethel, they find the same army of undead, but within the city walls things remain more or less as normal. The White City provides the party some opportunity to split up and explore; while here, Niccolo first encounters Kester, the dark figure they had seen earlier in the road. His eyes are strange and his speech is mocking and obtuse, but he gives a firm warning about the ring Aerda wears. He demonstrates with a ring of his own that it is possible to watch through it, and supposes that more could be done by the ring's maker.
Meanwhile, the letter is delivered, and Hiritus and Nurthk both meet up with the tribe. The next morning, the city falls into disorder, as Premule is taken captive by the Visach's guard. The party joins forces with a young group of Heironean guards, and head off toward the Temple of Wee Jas which lies on the river Damiel, in the northeast corner of Bethel. The undead are under this temple's supervision, and the group suppose it to be the most likely destination for Premule.
En route, the group is attacked by a group of snakes in the wild lands, but arrives whole at a halfling village. There, they find that a strange undead creature has been trapped in a musician's study, and are commissioned to dispatch the being. They do so successfully, but Nurthk is crippled by the thing's bite, and it is decided that they will turn from their quest for Premule briefly to seek magical healing. The Heironeans part ways, save for Shavah, who chooses to follow the Order of the White Dove. Some new strangers join the group as well, including the monk Xiao.
Heading south on the river, they pass a floating mystic, who offers them a fortune. He tells of a great wave of trouble which chases them, which they must flee, "like young turtles from the tide." Nurthk realizes this is backwards, that young turtles race toward the tide when they hatch to escape predators, but he is paralyzed and cannot question the error. The seer gives them directions to find a man who can heal Nurthk.
Following these directions, they do indeed arrive at a station of Fharlanghn manned by the cleric Yattro and his protege Brother Sethan. They meet as well Raven, a man of the mountain clans who has befriended Yattro, and also Oliver, a lutist who they had briefly encountered in Hedrogura. They also find, on examining maps, that the path they have taken from the halfling river to here is impossible; that they have travelled a journey of several days overnight.
Regardless, Yattro heals Nurthk. Realizing that they are just on the other side of the mountain from Eivanrach, where another letter is to be delivered, they choose to continue on that way. Before this, however, they must negotiate with a group of mountain men who wish to refuse their passage. Their leader, Kentaro, is suspicious of the group, and tells them of a dream he has had:
"In my vision, a hand of white birds fly to shore from the ocean, over land, over cities, over wild lands... But in amongst their feathers they had allowed seeds to become lodged, as is the way of birds, and as they flew, these seeds, a hand of seeds, would fall to earth... Wherever they landed, they would not grow, but would pull inward, would swallow the life around them. What grew was a death which is unlike death, a death which comes from no life. It spread through cities and through wildlands, and the birds continued to fly, as is the way of birds, as they will do. The vision ends as they come to the foot of these mountains: This is where I meet them. I know them from the vision. The sense I get from them is strong and unmistakable, like a scent. I know their presence as I would know the presence of my father: These men are the birds."
Eventually they negotiate a truce with the mountainfolk, although the agreement is strained by troubles of language. Before leaving, Oliver joins with the group, and tells Fendric of the fate of Hedrogura: Raiders from Dalmar have landed, sacked the city, and the Temple has not fared well against them.
The party travels across the mountain. They are attacked first by a bear, and then by a band of orcs. They survive both, but are tested greatly by the ordeal.
Once they arrive in Eivanrach, they meet again with Aerda, who has finally tracked them down. He tells them he has buried the ring, and has come into contact with Kester, the man Niccolo had met in Bethel.
The party then meets with Kester. He explains that he is engaged in a "game" of sorts with another man called Dartath; that the ring was built by this other, and that he believes the wars which have spread across the land are caused by him as well. He also explains that the ring has, through a series of odd events, fallen onto the hand of a young boy named Tatlock, who now travels to Eivanrach to find the group again. He discusses a lot of possibilities with little substance, but promises to follow up on the group's concerns.
Note: Aerda knew this, but I'm realizing it may have never been passed along in the thread to the rest of the group, although he certainly would have had he been around longer: "Water silvered with raspberry" is Kester's calling card, of sorts; ordering the drink is supposed to be a way to get in contact with the man. How this works and where you're supposed to order it is more of a vague question. Kester told Aerda "at any bar of good repute."
After meeting with Kester, the party delivers their third letter to Aesop Rhandoril, a gnomish wizard. He reveals its contents: That the letter is from Thedoric, and discourages the Free Cities from uniting when the war spreads in to their territories. This is counterintuitive, but Aesop explains that it's quite in keeping with the region's dominant philosophy.
Travelling south, the party takes a slight detour, attempting to rescue a young girl who has been kidnapped by orcs. The rescue goes awry and the girl dies; the one surviving orc, a common-speaking trickster with a glass eye, is delivered to the custody of the city's Heironean cleric.
Continuing, the party enters the Glades of Sesphar, where they are attacked by an earthen stag and two air elementals. Afterward, they deliver the letter belonging to Tiamen lo'Solis, although the elves are rather suspicious and unaccomodating.
Continuing, the party (having encountered one ghostly apparition by a lake, but choosing not to engage it) arrives in Despia, the half-orc city. They learn more of the wars happening in their homelands, and Shavah becomes convinced that it is her time to leave. Meeting with Aramil Kethett, they gain some insight on Thedoric's person, finding that he is a trusted diplomat who has negotiated peace between more than a few nations.
The party also contacts the Order of Just Unity, to which Exantrius and Thedoric both belong; they meet a knight of this order on the road to Valsport. He listens to their story, but explains that the only Exantrius he knows is a knight of legend, and that Thedoric has recently died. He also wonder if another matter he has been investigating, a blanket increase in the power of necromantic magicks, could be somehow related.
Arriving in Valsport, they encounter the same seer they had met along the River Damiel. He warns the party against travelling across the sea, claiming specifically that Fendric would die in doing so. After this, the party travels on to the Grey Inn, where they meet Anders Peltram and deliver him his letter.
Choosing to travel by land around the Sea of Morel toward Tourne, the party encounters a group of yellow-scarved cliff-dwellers. Shortly after, they are attacked by a band of arrowhawks as well as earth elementals, then struck with an earthquake and a tidal wave. Shortly after, some strange manner of quick-moving golem emerges from one of the caves, but the party is able to defeat it handily.
Good surmise of the story so far, but sadly underplaying the actions of the one and only true hero of this story.
What about this :
The party meets with Exantrius in the city of Hedrogura. He explains he is on a quest against the knight Thedoric, another member of his order who has turned rogue and now seeks to sow the seeds of discord throughout the land. Already wars have broken out in Dalmar by his doing, and spread northward at a heavy pace.
The party, enticed by the man's grace and the urgency of his quest, joins up as he travels toward Bethel. En route, they stop by a hobgoblin encampment to barter for supplies. Exantrius is suddenly attacked by a shaman, who he dispatches unceremoniously; in his charge, the shaman calls out something that no one in the party can make sense of, save that the name "Thedoric" is spoken.
Exantrius dismisses the party to return to the road while he attempts to make amends with the hobgoblins, briefly pulling Fendric aside to tell him of the letters he is carrying, and to beg that they continue to deliver them should he not return. While waiting, Aerda spots a dark figure on the road in front of him; shortly after, the figure disappears beyond the horizon. Exantrius rejoins the party, apparently successful in his negotiations, and they continue forward.
It is not long before the tribe awakes from camp one morning to find that Exantrius has passed away. In morning, they mount the knight up on his steed, which promptly gallops away toward the sea. Thanks to Merrim's quick thinking, the horse is stopped in its tracks long enough to retrieve the letters; also, a ring is spotted in the grass where Exantrius had lain. Niccolo elects to wear it.
As they travel northward, a pack of wolves attacks in a sudden and unnatural manner. Niccolo has some instinctive premonition of the attack, which he later attributes to the ring. Shortly after, he gives it away to Aerda, finding its effects on his emotions troublesome.
The party travels through the ruins south of Bethel, where the farmland has died and the residents have fled. As they approach the city of Jance, they sight an army of undead in a circle around the city. Surprisingly, they do not impede the party's entrance; upon reaching the Temple of Heironeous they learn that this undead occupation has been sanctioned by the Visach, de facto ruler of Bethel, much to the opposition of the Heironean guard. Milos Premule is currently in the city of Bethel pursuing negotiations on the matter.
Moving on to Bethel, they find the same army of undead, but within the city walls things remain more or less as normal. The White City provides the party some opportunity to split up and explore; while here, Niccolo first encounters Kester, the dark figure they had seen earlier in the road. His eyes are strange and his speech is mocking and obtuse, but he gives a firm warning about the ring Aerda wears. He demonstrates with a ring of his own that it is possible to watch through it, and supposes that more could be done by the ring's maker.
Meanwhile, the letter is delivered, and Hiritus and Nurthk both meet up with the tribe. The next morning, the city falls into disorder, as Premule is taken captive by the Visach's guard. The party joins forces with a young group of Heironean guards, and head off toward the Temple of Wee Jas which lies on the river Damiel, in the northeast corner of Bethel. The undead are under this temple's supervision, and the group suppose it to be the most likely destination for Premule.
En route, the group is attacked by a group of snakes in the wild lands, but arrives whole at a halfling village. There, they find that a strange undead creature has been trapped in a musician's study, and are commissioned to dispatch the being. They do so successfully, but Nurthk is crippled by the thing's bite, and it is decided that they will turn from their quest for Premule briefly to seek magical healing. The Heironeans part ways, save for Shavah, who chooses to follow the Order of the White Dove. Some new strangers join the group as well, including the monk Xiao.
Heading south on the river, they pass a floating mystic, who offers them a fortune. He tells of a great wave of trouble which chases them, which they must flee, "like young turtles from the tide." Nurthk realizes this is backwards, that young turtles race toward the tide when they hatch to escape predators, but he is paralyzed and cannot question the error. The seer gives them directions to find a man who can heal Nurthk.
Following these directions, they do indeed arrive at a station of Fharlanghn manned by the cleric Yattro and his protege Brother Sethan. They meet as well Raven, a man of the mountain clans who has befriended Yattro, and also Oliver, a lutist who they had briefly encountered in Hedrogura. They also find, on examining maps, that the path they have taken from the halfling river to here is impossible; that they have travelled a journey of several days overnight.
Regardless, Yattro heals Nurthk. Realizing that they are just on the other side of the mountain from Eivanrach, where another letter is to be delivered, they choose to continue on that way. Before this, however, they must negotiate with a group of mountain men who wish to refuse their passage. Their leader, Kentaro, is suspicious of the group, and tells them of a dream he has had:
"In my vision, a hand of white birds fly to shore from the ocean, over land, over cities, over wild lands... But in amongst their feathers they had allowed seeds to become lodged, as is the way of birds, and as they flew, these seeds, a hand of seeds, would fall to earth... Wherever they landed, they would not grow, but would pull inward, would swallow the life around them. What grew was a death which is unlike death, a death which comes from no life. It spread through cities and through wildlands, and the birds continued to fly, as is the way of birds, as they will do. The vision ends as they come to the foot of these mountains: This is where I meet them. I know them from the vision. The sense I get from them is strong and unmistakable, like a scent. I know their presence as I would know the presence of my father: These men are the birds."
Eventually they negotiate a truce with the mountainfolk, although the agreement is strained by troubles of language. Before leaving, Oliver joins with the group, and tells Fendric of the fate of Hedrogura: Raiders from Dalmar have landed, sacked the city, and the Temple has not fared well against them.
The party travels across the mountain. They are attacked first by a bear, and then by a band of orcs. They survive both, but are tested greatly by the ordeal.
Once they arrive in Eivanrach, they meet again with Aerda, who has finally tracked them down. He tells them he has buried the ring, and has come into contact with Kester, the man Niccolo had met in Bethel.
The party then meets with Kester. He explains that he is engaged in a "game" of sorts with another man called Dartath; that the ring was built by this other, and that he believes the wars which have spread across the land are caused by him as well. He also explains that the ring has, through a series of odd events, fallen onto the hand of a young boy named Tatlock, who now travels to Eivanrach to find the group again. He discusses a lot of possibilities with little substance, but promises to follow up on the group's concerns.
Note: Aerda knew this, but I'm realizing it may have never been passed along in the thread to the rest of the group, although he certainly would have had he been around longer: "Water silvered with raspberry" is Kester's calling card, of sorts; ordering the drink is supposed to be a way to get in contact with the man. How this works and where you're supposed to order it is more of a vague question. Kester told Aerda "at any bar of good repute."
After meeting with Kester, the party delivers their third letter to Aesop Rhandoril, a gnomish wizard. He reveals its contents: That the letter is from Thedoric, and discourages the Free Cities from uniting when the war spreads in to their territories. This is counterintuitive, but Aesop explains that it's quite in keeping with the region's dominant philosophy.
Travelling south, the party takes a slight detour, attempting to rescue a young girl who has been kidnapped by orcs. The rescue goes awry and the girl dies; the one surviving orc, a common-speaking trickster with a glass eye, is delivered to the custody of the city's Heironean cleric.
Continuing, the party enters the Glades of Sesphar, where they are attacked by an earthen stag and two air elementals. Afterward, they deliver the letter belonging to Tiamen lo'Solis, although the elves are rather suspicious and unaccomodating.
Continuing, the party (having encountered one ghostly apparition by a lake, but choosing not to engage it) arrives in Despia, the half-orc city. They learn more of the wars happening in their homelands, and Shavah becomes convinced that it is her time to leave. Meeting with Aramil Kethett, they gain some insight on Thedoric's person, finding that he is a trusted diplomat who has negotiated peace between more than a few nations.
The party also contacts the Order of Just Unity, to which Exantrius and Thedoric both belong; they meet a knight of this order on the road to Valsport. He listens to their story, but explains that the only Exantrius he knows is a knight of legend, and that Thedoric has recently died. He also wonder if another matter he has been investigating, a blanket increase in the power of necromantic magicks, could be somehow related.
Arriving in Valsport, they encounter the same seer they had met along the River Damiel. He warns the party against travelling across the sea, claiming specifically that Fendric would die in doing so. After this, the party travels on to the Grey Inn, where they meet Anders Peltram and deliver him his letter.
Choosing to travel by land around the Sea of Morel toward Tourne, the party encounters a group of yellow-scarved cliff-dwellers. Shortly after, they are attacked by a band of arrowhawks as well as earth elementals, then struck with an earthquake and a tidal wave. Shortly after, some strange manner of quick-moving golem emerges from one of the caves, but the party is able to defeat it handily.
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