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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rune" data-source="post: 133407" data-attributes="member: 67">Nine hundred and ten years ago, the gates to the Elemental Empire were sealed.  In the sealing was the sundering of our world.  Now we live on the broken pillars that climb to the sky far above an endless sea of fire.There is transportation in the form of airships, but the Guild holds an unbreakable monopoly.  No one else knows how to make the ships.  As the gnomes have control of the guild, this puts the little buggers in control of most trade—and the military fleets.  As a consequence, they have what amounts to an empire.  Locally, the gnomes have recently instituted a human council, but, of course, the Guild ambassadors hold great sway over the decisions of this ruling body.And, of course, there is resistance to the stranglehold.  That’s where we come in.  And this is how our tale begins:Session 1, part 1You can call me Roderick.  I’ve got a cozy sod hut just south of town and a small garden.  My gardener, a little half-toad fellow I call "Toady" is a fine reliable fellow—when he hasn’t been stealing my rum.  He does good work, though.  Today is the festival marking the beginning of the wet season, a big deal around here.  You see, water’s a scarce thing on the pillars and we’re damned lucky to have a small lake here.  Some of the lower pillars are too hot to keep any kind of moisture at all and some of the higher ones have it all locked away in glaciers.  We’re lucky.This is our town.  It’s called Lakeview, because it’s built around the lake.  This is the only city of any consequence on this pillar, because there’s no other good place for one.  It’s surrounded by savannas and ringed by badlands.  There are three small rivers, little more than streams, really, that flow into the lake in the center of our city.  The badlands are rough.  At the base of the badlands, we have swamps, where the savage lizard tribes live.  There are some rock quarries out there, too, though, and stone gets shipped down the rivers with salt into our town, where we export them to the rest of the world.  Or, rather, the Guild does.  It’s a big industry, but it’s not our biggest.  To tell you the truth, fish and grains are a much bigger commodity, because there are a lot of places out there that don’t have enough standing water to fish and can’t grow their own food, either.  We’re lucky.  We have resources for the Guild to exploit.Today, I’ve been waiting in "The Dancing Boar" for hours, listening to the rumors of the patrons as the day slips away.  I’ve a friend arriving from a different pillar today.  I won’t say which one, as he’s in a bit of hot water, but I believe he’s got someone with him.  It seems his entire ring is being hunted down and they need to lay low for a while.It’s mid-afternoon when they show up.  He has a whole crowd with him.  Only one of them came with him on the air ship—a woman half-elf; I don’t know where he found the rest of them.  I hope they can stay out of the way.  They make an unusual assortment; There’s a robed fellow with the look of a starry-eyed young wizard’s apprentice.  There’s a very tall four-armed fellow with an assortment of musical instruments.  And there’s even a halfling with some sort of rat-like creature.  I sure hope they don’t get in the way.My friend’s called Jared.  His companion is called  Maialin.  The wizard-kid’s called Dexerion—as presumptuous a name as I’ve ever heard, just in case I had my doubts about his intended profession.  The four-armed fop is called Virian.  That leaves the halfling—he’s called (believe it or not!) Fruffy Firefoot!  I’ll be calling him "Fruff," or "kid."I try to strike up conversation with Jared in the old Cant, but he’s just gotten here and he’s not ready to get down to business just yet.  I understand.  The rest of them are settling in and ordering far too much to drink.  Virian stands up, takes off his cloak and hat, pulls out a lute and a harp, and starts singing a song while the halfling does a funny little jig in his funny little wooden shoes.  This is the song:        Have you ever tasted the Ale of Gods        I once had a cup at the Salty Dog        I had a cup at the Dancing Boar        The taste has escaped from my lips        As I tasted the sales of the fastest ships        I arrived at the tavern as I had before        And found that ale to be no more…The four-armed fop is pretty good, if a little flat.  The crowd doesn’t like the halfling very much, however; they’re throwing vegetable matter at him, which his rat-thing doesn’t mind at all.  Poor kid.</blockquote>

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