Outsiders of Aera

[Cloudgatherer]

The Prelude Dream

Remus and Canthor have started to share a common dream. They do not know why they share this dream or what significance it has, but the mere fact they both have it troubles them....

In life, Butterfly was Remus' step-sister. She loved animals, the outdoors, and rarely spoke to people outside of the family. While she was killed with the rest of Remus' family in a orc attack, she has manifested herself in the greatsword Remus has always used.

The dream is thus...

Butterfly is running quickly through an unfamiliar forest. The forest creatures look at her inquisitively, but she yells at them to flee. She continues to run, the forest trees scraping against her as she makes her way through the forest.

A recently erected wall of earth and stone obstructs her path. Turning around, a shadowy, human like form approaches through the trees. Fear dances in her eyes as the shadowy form lifts his arm and ball of darkness launches from its hand.....

and so the dream ends.

 

[Canthor]

Pondering

There might have been a reason that the Green Winged Thing couldn't summon his fellow uglies. Do summonings have a chance to fail?

 

[Canthor]

After a trance, Canthor awoke and prayed to Bryle for forgiveness. The day before had witnessed the death of two innocents in a particularly cruel mishap. Though Star may be a follower of Bryle, he still needs much guidance before he truly understands what Bryle the Divine Protector desires of his believers. His heart is good though his methods are not always as good. “What must I do?” Canthor asked himself as he began his daily ritual. Bryle’s presence soon comforted Canthor and as he relaxed he felt his energies renewed and his divine grace grow stronger. Words of ancient holy wisdom flowed into Canthor’s mind, some old and some quite new, and thus Canthor sat for a while.

During lunch the Party discussed what to do with the various articles taken from the evil follower of Balahnin. Since he had been mighty warrior, we supposed that he had powerful magic woven into his armament. Since Tarmus and Star were confident that they could figure out whatever power these items might have, Remus and Canthor stood back and watched the action. Star soon had the lions head on the black steel shield chomping on a nearby tree. Tarmus was anxious to copy this act and quickly he too discovered that the lions head could be provoked to attack, though it was after he became frustrated with the shield that the lions head turned and bit him. Nothing else proved of interest, though having two options for sleeves from the dark full plate did seem fun. It’s too bad we don’t know anyone evil and winged who has retired with lots of money.

Delayed only by a brief search for a buyer for the dark full plate, which came equipped with accommodations for wings (and a lousy sale price), we set off for Huranti, the land of the elven kingdom. Remus and I had never been there, while Star and Tarmus hadn’t been there in a long time. The army of undead would wait until the company of clerics of Bryle could leave Aenith in the spring season. The Dark Wizard could wait until we were prepared to take him. And, Canthor thought pleasantly, Armathon will be dealt with when the time is right. So in essence, we had free time.

After the first night, Canthor had a very strange dream. Not one to dream of much other than the extreme excellence of Bryle, nor one to dream of cute female humans, Canthor was distressed by the vision. A young woman dressed in green with white flowers. She’s running through a forest warning the creatures of the trees to flee. They flee and she continues to run. Then she stops and there in front of her is a newly constructed wall of stone and earth. It’s unnatural feel is like a blade into the heart of the grove. An intangible creature of darkness reaches toward the young female and a ball of glowing darkness streaks out towards her.

The next morning Canthor spoke of his dream to his companions. Remus replied, “Her name is Butterfly. She is my sister.”

“What?”

Remus then spoke to Canthor with a very somber tone, “My sister’s soul is in my sword. One time before she has reached out to speak to me in peril, so I strengthened the blade at the Forge of Liquid Fire. That seemed to help. I do not know what to do. This is not to be spoken about with others outside the party.”

“Surely there must be something that Eaonway of the Temple of Natural Balance can do. Did you feel anything while you were there?”

“No I did not.”

“Hold on, let me contact him.”

With that having escaped his lips, Canthor spoke the spiritual words of sending and he asked, “It’s Canthor. Hi Eaonway. What do you know of communal dreams about the restlessness of long dead souls?”

Eaonway replied, “Dreams are very important. Good luck figuring it out.”

“Umm, Eaonway has no knowledge on the subject.”

After a long silence, Star spoke, “Come on guys, lets go blow up some sheep.”

Quickly Tarmus grinned and soon an image of a small sheep with large sparkling innocent eyes standing amid a large field arose between us. The sheep said, “Baaaaa” and then went *Boom*. Little tufts of wool drifted back down onto the field as the entire party busted up in howls of laughter.

On the journey to River’s end, on route to Qualin in Huranti, during the hours Canthor and Star were on watch, Tarmus could be heard mumbling in his sleep, “One sheep… boom… heehee…two sheep…boom…heehee.”

Around the fifth day of the journey, the group sited a woman on a horse in the distance. Hopeful for news of any interest, we hailed her. She waved back and lifted her helm, revealing Katrina Purelight. Soon she joined us and Canthor, speaking words of praise to Bryle and congratulations to Katrina, asked and received a large feast worthy of heroes. Katrina told us of her quest into the dark land to retrieve the Necklace of the Gods of Bryle. The rings under her confident eyes bespoke of the terrors she must have witnessed. She spoke mostly of her awakening from what she believed would be her final sleep, and finding her blade stuck into the corpse of the hideous foe who had almost sent her to Bryle before her time. After what must have been an hour of dining and storytelling, she left our company and headed off to Aenith. She would not listen to our plea that she stay that night, for a better rest. A feeling that she should make haste had set upon her shoulders and she believed it to be an omen.

So we wished her farewell and continued on the way to River’s End. During the Third Watch, which happened to be when Star was on watch, the faint sound of leathery wings began to drift through the air. In an act of pure foresight, Star woke us. He could not see them, but he could hear them. Not much time passed before a voice spoke into the minds of the party, each hearing something different. The lack of appearance caused the adventurers to question the sincerity of the question each was asked (which happened to be about which way the woman rider had gone). Tarmus and Star each told contradictory stories with incredible conviction (neither of which were the truth), Remus became mentally confused, and Canthor asked the speaker to come and appear in body his question. The sight of eleven green skinned, four armed, vicious battle ax wielding, winged and clawed creatures soon answered the question the hung about the camp, “What did we get ourselves into?”

Suddenly a voice that was not only in our minds spoke, “Tell us the truth stupid mortals or face your death.”

Tarmus, thinking quickly, spoke, “Now gentlemen, I mean great green powerful evil guys, I don’t know what these guys said, but the woman on the horse went that way.”

Star, falling in line with Tarmus’ idea, agreed, “Wait, the woman on the horse? Not the whore?”

“Star, why would these great green powerful evil guys want a
whore? Of course they want to know about the woman on the horse.”

“Oh, she went that way.”

“Exactly, I think we’ve had a misun….”

Suddenly five of the winged creatures opened their hands and released coins which fell to the ground and emitted darkness. Tarmus spoke hesitantly, “Now this doesn’t help at all. I already told you that she went that way.”

“Silence. The truth or death.”

Quickly Star readied an arrow, Tarmus muttered songs of heroic acts, Canthor cast a spell of protection, and Remus picked up the coin and put the darkness squarely in his pants.

As the darkness lifted the winged creatures sprang into action. Combat began and lasted for quite a while. The fly by attack that the creatures employed revealed a weakness in the party in their reliance on melee combat. The adventurers realized that only two creatures were actually there and the other nine were illusions.

Star fired arrows in large numbers and realized the necessity to discern which of the images was real. When one of his arrows landed true, Canthor reacted by casting silence upon the creature. Then that creature ran out of images and was carved down with a mighty blow by Remus. The other creature continued to fight, but retreated when his wounds were too much.

Wounded, but proud for repelling what was following Katrina, the party cleaned their wounds and healed and began their sixth day of journey on the way to River’s End on route to Qualin of Huranti.

 

[Broccli_Head]

What were those evil green guys?

 

[Cloudgatherer]

They were nycaloths from Manual of the Planes. They are nasty, the battle took most of the evening and I had other stuff planned!

I also made a mistake regarding mirror image, it is not a spell that can be disbelieved. So, players, I will not be allowing that from now on. Only spells that have the "Will (disbelief)" descriptor allow for a disbelief.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

If you are a reader and know the solution to the below, please do not post it. This is for my players to figure out.

A Strange and Deadly Disease

Arangraph Thorgard, a half-elven lumberer/businessman, lies asleep in his bed as a strange disease attacks his body. Lugtee Hardroc has been using what skills he has as an alchemist and healer to treat his wounds, but admittedly he can do little for Arangraph.

All attempts to magically heal him have failed. It is as if the disease itself resists all magic, yet spells can still be cast on Arangraph himself. Lugtee is at a loss as to how to cure this dying man, who only has about a week of life left....

Alright, you can think of the solution in character or out of character. When you do find the solution, it is not much of a stretch to say it really happened in character. Here's a couple of things you can assume:

- Access to all cleric and wizard spells of 6th level or less. (Lugtee can provide the arcane spells, Canthor the cleric spells)
- Basic knowledge of human physiology (organs, blood, bones, etc. You know not to use leeches, but don't know what a white blood cell count is...)
- Ability to do *simple* medical procedures (giving blood, getting a shot, along those lines)

That's basically it. Remember, the key here is the key property of the disease: it's magic resistant nature.

And for anyone who is curious, no I didn't think of this by myself. I took it from another source and know the solution as presented there. Enjoy!

 

[Canthor]

Being sick sucks

After racking his thorough knowledge of the healing arts, Canthor was still unable to procure a solution or even a cause of the illness. Sitting next to the bed of Arangraph Thorgard, Canthor tried to relax and think about the events of the past few days.
Arriving at River’s End, and avoiding one certain mercantile street, Canthor, Remus, Star, Tarmus, and Yeric found a nice quiet inn and became nice and quiet. No need to stir up trouble like the last time they had come to town. No priests, no old dueling debts, no more store encounters of the growing ship kind. The only news to be heard was that there were some discontents speaking against the “protection” secured from the Hurantian Empire for River’s End. One person, the news went, would not be speaking, since his home had been incinerated the night after the protest.
Star, whose curiosity has concerned Bryle more often than not, went to investigate. After speaking to neighbors and searching the remnants of what was a house, he discovered that it was very likely Lugtee who had been staying there. Upon returning to the inn, Star spoke his grim discovery. Canthor immediately tried to contact Lugtee through spiritual means, but to no avail. “This is a sad day for the cause of justice and many innocent people should bow their heads for the death of Lugtee.”
“I’m sure he’s fine. I’m SURE of it.” replied Star, with a nudge of his elbow. With that the issue was settled and the night passed uneventfully.
The journey to Qualin was restful. Noteworthy only was that the darkness stopped eminating from Remus’s pants. We arrived and starting looking for troubles to fix. We found that there was trouble up north and that the King of Huranti was ill.
In a miraculous event, as Star sat on a corner listening to people talk, he heard Lugtee’s voice from three blocks away. Lugtee was inside a shop arguing over the price of a herb. After approaching Lugtee with warm greetings, Star learned that Lugtee’s friend Arangraph Thorgard had become ill and was seemingly incurable. As bade by Lugtee, Star brought everyone to the home of Arangraph. Canthor tried to think of a way to help, but came up useless. Star and Canthor even went to the area where Arangraph worked as a lumber harvester, but not a clue was to be found.
That night Star went out and partied with old friends and Remus, Tarmus, Canthor, and Yeric sat and thought.

 

[incarnuim]

The end of an Aera

"Wait! Wait!! I've got it" Boomed Remus, with a deep thunderous laugh. "The disease is resistant to magic, right? so we just Teleport him downstairs."

"That won't do anything, it just proves that you really don't know squat Remus." whispered Yerric.

"No, no, you're missing it, the diseased portions of his body won't be able to teleport, because they'll resist the magic, only the non-diseased pieces of him will be left." retorted Remus

"That sound's pretty gruesome" said Lugtee

"Yeah!" chimed Tarmus "What if his bones or his blood or his skin or all three are diseased?? Are you gonna Teleport a holy bag of dried organs and puss downstairs?"

"But we can bring him back, after the disease is gone, can't we?" Remus looked expectantly at Canthor

"The holy writs don't take kindly to this kind of self-immolation. And even if Bryle was to make exception in this case, for he is all wise and all understanding, we would need 51% of the carcass in tact to perform the ritual. Even Bryle needs clay to mold a chalice. Or so the high priests tell me."

"Arangraph is dying" urged Yerric "If something can be done, why don't we give it a shot. The longer we argue, the less likely Arongraph is to have 51% of a carcass."

"Enough!!" scolded Lugtee "I'll not have you Strange One's talking about Carcasses and rituals! This is my friends life!! You are talking about life and death here."

"*cough cough* you're gonna do what with the hey now?!" asked Arongraph meekly.

In unison: "Nothing! go back to sleep!!"

Silently and dejected, the party tried desperately to think of something to do.

"I've got it!" said Lugtee with a snap of his fingers. "Canthor, come with me, I'll need your help!"

After a few hours, the screaming began. Apparantly the cure is almost as bad as the disease, thought Star. The rest of the party did what they could to avoid the house, what with the screaming and all.

Lugtee sent word to the Royal Healer, that if the King had the same disease, this method might work. It had worked with Arongraph, after all.

Soon after there was a knock at Arongraphs door, "Open! In the name of Magemaster Diamondflower, Royal Wizard of Huranti! Open the door!!" At length the door was answered, and Magemaster Diamondflower himself sauntered in. He confiscated the device used to heal Arongraph, and asked how we came by it? "It was Lugtee's idea" blurted Yerric, making a slight error in the continual information war that is Aera.

"Oh!? retorted Diamondflower "I thought he was killed at River's End! It is good that he is well." matching blunder for blunder.

Several hours later, a well armed group, led by an elf named Hemost, came asking for work. Star didn't put 1 and 1 together. Preoccupied by hunger, fatigue, or more far reaching concerns, the rogue missed a crucial observation.

That night, Hemost and his team assaulted the house (hereafter referred to as "the compound"). Star was the only one asleep at the time, or else he would have given the group more advanced warning. He was wholly unprepared for an assault.

It is unfortunate that the rest of the group sought resistance. The battle was brief, the party fractured. In the first few moments, Remus and Yerric were held, utterly motionless. Star took a few moments to gather his thoughts, and his clothing. But what good could he do without a weapon in hand or armour on his back? Canthor engaged in a spell battle with a sorcerror, trading Flame Strike for Fireball, Wall & Barrier for Dispel Magics, and the brightness of Searing Light for the crackling blackness of Enervation. Star tried desperately to use what tricks he could muster to save Remus, but he was outnumbered 5 to 1, at those odds, and of diminished capacity, Star fled. Tarmus, unsuited to the martial arts, crept invisibly toward his brother, using Dimension Door to save him and our charge, Arongraph.

Throughout the battle, the party's thought was, "Why is such an experienced team here? What makes a humble lumberjack so important?" Perhaps the machinations and conspiracy's of the Elven Royalty are beyond human comprehension, perhaps the party was caught at the end of some plot which took 300 years or more to come to fruition.

Yerric recovered from his paralysis, and returned to the house to aid the others, but to no avail. Remus, Canthor, and Yerric were defeated.

Star finally prepared himself for a singlehanded assault on the compound, opening with a poisoned arrow to the back of a gaurd, but the poison failed to incite further retaliation from Hemost and his team, and the villians fled via Spell.

Star contacted a Wizard friend, and Tarmus the local malitia. The response time was too slow, however and the investigation turned up little, other than that Hemost's team was VERY well financed, and EXTREMELY well connected.

Arongraph was safe, at a local inn. But for how long? That is anyone's guess. It seemed to Star as though the Outsiders of Aera would breathe their last.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

Only one (important) nitpick. Diamondflower did not say "It is good that he is well." He was surprised to hear he was still alive, believing him to be slain in River's End.

 

[MWoody_450_]

Yay! ENWorld removed the need to “activate” your account by receiving an e-mail and following the link it contained! Probably a good idea, since they simply refused to ever send me an e-mail, no matter how many different servers and addresses and usernames I tried.

OK folks, just a quick recap this time. Doing it from Tarmus’ point of view was fun, but it took waaaaay too much time to type that thing out. Besides, “quick ‘n’ dirty” is the way everyone’s favorite bard prefers it…

(*sigh*; Tarmus was such a nice character when I first wrote his backstory. I think I’m a bad influence…)

So, half the party was captured, and Star and Tarmus were left alone and bewildered in the strange elven city of Qualin. But before the pair could do much of anything about it, Star up and split for reasons of his own. Arongraph had promised to help, which turned out to be more useful than expected; far from a simple logger, he was a member of the Silver Swords, an organization headed by Katrina Purelight and dedicated to protecting the free cities of the North.

It wouldn’t be quick work, though. Working closely with the Swords, it took Tarmus a good three months before he could get any breaks. But when it rains it pours; information on both the location of the escaped rogue and the missing party members came at almost the same time. Lugtee in tow, the bard approached a house in Aenith, finding a magically disguised Star living it up on his own. He denied his identity, of course, but the informant had been very certain of his information; once they were out of sight and earshot, the two became silent and invisible and crept back to the house.

Star had quickly fled, so Tarmus searched the house for any belongings that he may have left behind in his haste. He found nothing, but Lugtee was able to track and retrieve the rogue via magical means. Left with no other option, he agreed to help retrieve the absent party members, who had finally been located in Ralanov. He did, however, refuse to give up any of the party items, claiming he didn’t trust his two companions.

The three made use of a well-hidden magical portal beneath the Aenith library to travel to Ralanov. It was the same method they’d used before, as it turns out, although it was a bit easier without the blindfolds this time around. On the way, Lugtee quickly described his plan: get the others – who, as it turns out, had been forced to do very bad things while under mind control by the dark wizard – to get close enough for the mind control to be disrupted by a circle of protection against evil, then dispel it permanently.

Wasn’t long before they’d found the group, slaughtering foes along with their abductors. All were swiftly reunited, as Remus, returned to his senses by the helpful mage, once again did his impression of a blender on amphetamines. However, things were not immediately all right: not only were they still in a war-torn city in chaos, but Tarmus was no where to be found. A few quick questions revealed that Tarmus had mistaken Star’s attempt at getting behind the enemy for yet another abandonment, and had attempted to use magic to hold him until the others could assist in determining the thief’s motives. He failed in doing so, and was poisoned by Star in the attempt; he barely managed to escape before being knocked unconscious.

The situation was worsened by Yeric’s accidental – according to Star – wounding and near-poisoning by one of the rogue’s arrows. The two brothers were incensed, but the situation was dangerous enough that a cease-fire was declared until they escaped the city. They located Tarmus, out cold and sporting two arrows in his side, and dragged him along to the gate. Lugtee vanished, requesting that the five secure their exit and stating that he had something he needed to do while here.

Three ruffians were near the gate, and after a dangerous battle that left everyone bleedin’ an’ achin’, the two whose heads were still squarely attached to their shoulders high-tailed it out of there. Lugtee appeared again, this time with a young woman who looked a bit familiar. It was, amazingly enough, one of the guards whom the party had left unconscious during their first visit to the beleaguered city. Questions would have to wait, though; through the portal the party went.

Surprises waited back in Aenith, though. The first wasn’t so bad: Milo, a frustrated and extremely confused librarian in tow, met them as they came through the gate. But something was amiss. It seems Lugtee, whether by design or accident no one knew, didn’t come through with everyone else.

Canthor, nearly out of his head at the horror his hands had caused while under the Dark Wizard’s control, bolted to the great temple to be absolved. The party followed, getting healing for the still poisoned Tarmus as well as the rest of the group. They decided – over the bard’s protests – to deal with the matter of Star’s questioned loyalties in the morning. Retiring to different inns, as the brothers would not sleep in the same house with the rogue, the party went to sleep.