pneumatik's WotBS 1 - The Scouring of Gate Pass

[pneumatik]

The party saddles up the horses. The two that are riderless serve as pack animals for all your new equipment. When you return to the main road the mercenaries are gone.

No sooner have you begun heading towards the Fire Forest of Innenotdar than you hear horses approaching from behind you. Rounding the bend you see two men on horseback. One is a dashing man with a roguish smile, and the other looks like a simple laborer. "Torrent!" the roguish man shouts.

"Rantle!" Torrent shouts and waves back. "It's okay, he's with the Resistance," she says to the party.

"I'm afraid I need to be brief," Rantle says. "The Resistance has ... plans for Gate Pass that I need to return in time to help with. I'm here to deliver you new help. This is Arshen. I understand he's a Cuthbertite, but I fear I know little more and have no time to learn it. He's not a gift so much as a trade. We have need of Korrin and Rae in our plans. Or at least need of your skills, gentlemen," he says to Korrin and Rae.

"Also, I'm afraid our plans necessitate I impose a favor on you. My sister, Katrina, who has such a tendency to get into trouble, disappeared from Gate Pass a little over a week ago. It was immediately before word of the Ragesian Army fully reached the city. The last I heard, she was heading towards Lyceum to get to safety. From comments made during our ... most recent planning session, I believe you're heading in the same direction.

"Please deliver this envelope to her. I'm worried she might be in trouble, and it contains the best I can provide now. Were it not for the blasted Ragesians I'd deliver it myself. Katrina's a competent enough sorcerer, though she has burned down a couple of houses in her time. She's about five and a half feet tall, has long read hair, and is generally too pretty for her own good. I stereotypical fire mage, I'm afraid. It's actually pretty embarrassing."

Torrent take the letter from Rantle's outstretched hand. "Well, I'm sure we can-"

"Excellent," Rantle says. "Pardon my extreme rudeness, but time is every so limited. Korrin, Rae, time to ride." And with that the three men gallop away, leaving the remaining party members and Arshen alone.

 

[Arkhandus]

"Well, that was abrupt....." Liiros scoffs as the man starts to take off with Korrin and Rae in tow. He glances at Torrent. "I take it there was more to your...'most recent planning session'...than talk," the elf remarks, his signature smile returning for just a moment before his exhaustion and frustration with the past two days' events reclaims its hold on his sunny demeanor and forces a tired expression back on his handsome face.

He turns the horse about slightly and looks at the fellow left behind. "Greetings Arshen. Not to be rude, but I hope you're worth the trade of Korrin and Rae. I'm not so sure of the latter's usefulness, but Korrin was an effective ally in battle. Hopefully your Saint has given you some skill with the cudgel or a better weapon, for you will likely need it. I am Liiros Tivaniel, Squire in the Knights of the Aquilline Cross, out of Shahalesti. Corellon Larethian guides my sword, so don't preach to me and I will respect your faith. The others may introduce themselves, but we must hurry on towards our destination. We've wasted enough time already today," the well-armored elf tells him.

 

[Antithetist]

Arshen greets the group with a surly nod of his bald head. He looks impassively at Liiros throughout his speech, cold and unblinking eyes never dropping or wavering from the elf's own. His face softens - slightly - at Liiros' mention of the Knights of the Aquiline Cross. "A fellow squire? Well met." His voice is as hard and cold as his stare, despite the verbal pleasantry. His rustic accent matches his farmer's garb.

"'Thou shalt know the liar by his speech, and the honest man by his deeds,'" he quotes as Liiiros finishes. "Thou wilt not find me like to chatter o'ermuch. As thou sayest, let us make our introductions and then be about our business. But since thou hast asked, I will tell thee: Saint Cuthbert hath gifted me with naught. Hard toil hath earned what skill I have."

 

[Rhun]

Hollister chuckles at Rantle's comment about "stereotypical fire mages." Still, the man's sister sounded interesting enough...he'd always had thoughts of finding a beautiful, female fire mage and letting the sparks fly, so to speak. He grins, and turns his smoke gray eyes on the newcomer.

"Yes, Korrin will certainly be missed," he says, agreeing with Liiros. "I am Hollister Avendri. Welcome to our company. What skills do you bring to the table, Ashren?"

 

[Antithetist]

"I am well tried in hand-to-hand combat," Arshen replies, turning his cold gaze upon Hollister. "Where others may gird themselves with trappings of steel, I strive to become as steel. Thus I bear no arms."

 

[pneumatik]

"No arms except for the two you fight with, right?" Torrent says. "Anyway, I'm Torrent, and I'm a priestess of Osprem. In most fights I try to keep myself behind Liiros and, uh, you I guess, and in front of Hollister and Lytha.

"I'm not sure what Rantle told you - he's a good guy but not always completely focused. A spy for the Resistance stole something from the Ragesian court. We're taking a copy to the Lyceum, a school for magic users of all sorts out in the town of Seaquen. To get there we're going through the Fire Forest of Innenotdar into the country of Dassen, which is so far free of Ragesians, and from there to Seaquen. I have potions for everyone that should keep us safe from the heat of the fire forest, and we're hoping the Ragesians doesn't."

The party travels on for the rest of the day, but it's clear that with the day's fight you're not going to make it to the Fire Forest today. The mountain road is too dangerous to travel in the dark so you decide to rest for the evening. The night passes without incident for you, but up ahead of your path another dreams a portentous dream.

[sblock=Shaylir's dream]The dream was still distinct the next morning. The Green Man burning. You know the Green Man to be the spirit of the land. Like a walking tree, his arms are branches, his hair is leaves, and his face is knots and bark. You could say that he grants you magic, but you know that's wrong. The land grants you magic, and the Green Man is the land, but that doesn't mean the Green Man grants you magic. The Green Man in your dream was the Green Man for the Fire Forest (there are both multiple Green Men and one Green Man), so you would expect him to be on fire. But he was not.

Underneath the Green Man an indistinct shape rose up from the ground. It took the shape of a stag and the form of fire and charged him. He was engulfed in flames and agony without end. The stag wanted to flee, but couldn't. The Green Man wanted it gone but could not cast it out.

Near the Green Man was a river kept at a near-boil by his heat. Across the stream were five people. An elf, well armed and armored. A human with flames dancing in his hands. An elf who could see into minds. A human with tanned skin and calloused hands. A human surrounded by ocean waves.

The five crossed the stream. The Green Man spread his arms and his fire engulfed them. They struggled with the fire. They learned how it and the Green Man were connected. Then the stag was separate from the Green Man, and it fled. The Green Man staggered and you feared he would expire. Then you awoke.[/sblock]
The next day you wake early for a cowboy breakfast and more traveling. A little before noon the sky ahead begins to glow faint red and orange, and the air smells of ash. The frigid winter temperatures warm noticeably, and red flowers dot the roadside amid yellowed grass. Cinders drift in the sky. Soon the cliffs alongside the road turn into craggy hills, and the forest fire itself comes into view, tall pine trees stretching down into a valley that burns to the horizon. A steaming river marks the border of the fire forest, and a vast field of ash coats the ground for the last quarter mile leading to the forest.

The road travels through the ash field to a bridge over the steaming river and into the fire forest. As you follow it through the ash field you see a figure emerge from the forest and cross the bridge. It's a female halfling, small even for her race. She's dressed in the simplest and most primitive of clothes. She's filthy in a way only achievable after living in the wild for weeks.


[sblock=ooc]everyone who can please make knowledge (planes) checks.[/sblock]

 

[Arkhandus]

"Strivings toward personal improvement are all well and good, Arshen, but a good blade and good mail will keep you alive long enough to accomplish such things. I mistook you for a priest, but no matter. We have a destination to reach." Liiros remarks.

As the group rests that night, Liiros removes his armor once more to relax and meditate in his trance. Sorting through memories and deciding what's important enough to remember and what ought just be forgotten, cast aside to lighten the burden on his centennial soul, the elf looks almost as though sleeping. His trance is visited once more with false memories of Corellon, as the Creator and Protector reveals tales of the old elven heroes and shows him as though Liiros had been present himself. The visit rejuvenates Liiros' disgruntled mind, and he stirs later in the night with a feeling of renewed optimism and vigor.

He dons the stylized elven banded mail again, his helm covering the silvery tattoo of Corellon's moon-crescent upon his forehead, and takes his nightly watch. By dawn, he has broken his fast and cleaned his armor of at least some recent filth from the road and battles. Liiros does a few morning exercises as the others eat, then gathers up his few possessions and mounts up again, following Torrent. He manages to mount, dismount, and control the horse without too much fumbling or awkwardness, but it's obvious that he's only had a small amount of training on horseback before.

"Well, it's not every day you find a random halfling lass wandering out of a burning forest......" the elf remarks as they approach the Fire Forest. "Hail and well met, tiny traveler. What brings you to such an unpleasant place?" Liiros inquires loudly. He wears a tabard of the Aquilline Cross over his armor, and the silvery crescent moon of Corellon Larethian adorns both his kite shield and sword sheath.

 

[Thanee]

Lytha

“Welcome Arshen. It's always good to have more people loyal to the cause. I'm Lytha. I guess I can say what you try with your body, I try with my mind. Though I wouldn't call it steel, but that's just semantics,” the frail elf says with a smirk.

 

[Rhun]

The smell of ash and the warmth in the air are most welcome to Hollister. Of course, he really didn't feel heat like others did...perhaps because of his link to the fire magic that he loved. The wizard remains quiet but alert as Liiros speaks to the halfling.

Knowledge (the Planes): 10 (UGH!)

 

[HolyMan]

Looking frightened at first, Shaylir notices the elves and the fact that there are five people crossing the bridge.

Noticeably the tiny halfling straightens and says proudly, "I am Shaylir, Follower of The Green Man, the forest incarnate. And I am here waiting for all of you."

With that annoucement she looks over the party not really knowing who is whom at the moment and what she can do to help them and The Green Man she continues, "I wish to know what it is you seek in such a terrible placed as the Fire Forest?"

[sblock=Stats]
HP: 21/21
AC: 19
Init: +3
Fort: +7
Reflex: +4
Will: +8(+9)

Spells:
Druid
0- Create Water, Guidance, Detect Magic, Read Magic
1- Magic Stone, Stand the Heat, Cure Light Wounds(x2)- 1d8+3
Cleric
0- Mending, Resistance, Light
1- Bless, Sanctuary, Cure Light Wounds(d)- 1d8+2

Pearl of power (1st lvl): not used
Turn undead: 4/4
Speak with Animals: 1/1
Vow of Healing: ??/??

need to know how VoH works is it based off character lvl??[/sblock]