Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The One True Game: According to Hoyle, and Others
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="howandwhy99" data-source="post: 2762565" data-attributes="member: 3192"><p>“More and more puzzles are going unsolved,” thought Ben. Darius collected the team back upstairs in the bedrooms for a meeting. “We need to plan our next move,” he said. “The villagers cannot be left here. They have no homes, lodging, or protection from another attack. Even the food Rose collected will run out in a day or two. I have told them they are to prepare for travel to Kera. I think we should take them. What do you say?” Everyone agreed. They began to make plans for overland travel with thirty-one on foot. “Where’s Grog?” asked Rose. The last anyone had seen he was speaking with the blue man downstairs. </p><p></p><p>In one of the back booths of the common room Grog was snorting happily. The little blue man was telling him jokes in a strange chittering language. They fell silent when the team approached. “I’m glad to see you happy again Grog,” said Darius. “Who is your friend?” The blue man made a honking noise. “Zvart” it said. This was the smaller ones found in the bundles. Its huge head was disproportionate to the rest of its body. </p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.geocities.com/dbedell2002/Xvart.JPG" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>“How did you get here?” asked Kayla.</p><p>“Livinia brought us here,” the creature spat brusquely. It spoke swiftly and in a whiney voice. Darius explained to it that we had cleared out his farm. </p><p>“It’s a hobbit hole, right?” asked Kayla. Apparently she knew more about littlefolk than anyone else. The blue man honked rudely in response.</p><p>“This is Grogfriend,” said Grog smiling happily. “He is a mushroom friend.”</p><p>“What about Certa. Did she come with Livinia too?” said Dram directly.</p><p>“No. She brought Serta with her. And the other two.” sneered the creature. </p><p>“Was he wearing black clothing, or maybe a hump on his back?” asked Kayla.</p><p>“No” it honked again. “That was farther on to Kera when we met the gnolls.”</p><p></p><p>Rose dug a couple of mushrooms out of her pack and handed them to the strange man. “Mine! Mine!” it shouted. “My precioussss…” It cooed as it held the mushrooms. The team asked more questions, but the creature was hardly forthcoming. Lavinia was a customer of theirs. She had told them she wanted the skinny man with the glove on one hand. The skinny man had been paying the Xvarts to stay inside the mushroom farm. “Do you remember his name?” asked Kayla fingering the map they found in her pocket. It honked another “No”. It was never told the man’s name. He had only stayed two nights. He paid and babbled and scribbled all over the walls. Zvart complained about having to clean up after it – and after Lavinia’s sons.</p><p></p><p>“How many sons did she have?” asked Darius. </p><p>“There are four. And a new one now,” the blue man responded slyly. Her sons were half-orc and half-human. He believed Lavinia was too. One of the sons took animals of all different kinds from all over and made them do strange things. Dram leaned over and whispered into Ben’s ear, “Livinia sounds like villain.” Ben smiled. “Live in ya?” he joked back. The blue man honked loudly at them. </p><p>“Are you a hobbit or a halfling?” asked Kayla. It began to laugh loudly in a vulgar way. </p><p>“We eat halflinghobbitses. We are Xvart. My name is…” Ben lost all ability to understand what it said. The name sounded like a minute’s worth of run together nonsense words and honking. </p><p>“What may we call you in short?” asked Darius using his charm.</p><p>“I answer to nothing!” it honked back. Darius attempted to smooth over the situation. </p><p>“Do you live in very deep holes then?”</p><p>“You are thinking of gnomes. We are not gnomes,” it replied disgusted.</p><p></p><p>The team had just about enough. Darius gave a short goodbye and was ignored for his efforts. Everyone but Grog was ordered upstairs to prepare for the journey. Walking across the common room Darius looked for Mathilda. He wanted to find out just how safe the city of Kera was before leaving. He found her in one of the back rooms whispering to some of the other women. “I have a question.”</p><p>“Yes”, said Mathilda smoothly. The other women cleared out of the room.</p><p>“Are there slaves kept here or slave traders?”</p><p>”No. We farm. We have no slaves,” she answered carefully.</p><p>“What about Kera? Do they deal in slaves?” asked Darius. Mathilda hesitated. </p><p>“Kera does not slave either. They mine ore.”</p><p>“We could take you to another farming village then…” started Darius. She shook her head.</p><p>“No. We would prefer to stay in Kera. If you would let us.” This was baffling to Darius.</p><p>”Do you know the Wainwrights? Are they here in town?” Mathilda stopped breathing and went still. Darius started again, but she cut him off.</p><p>“Are you selling us?” she asked. Darius scoffed at the idea. He tried to clear up the confusion. </p><p>Finally he just stated, “You are free. You are all free! Why are even asking me this?”</p><p></p><p>“Aaaaaeeeigghhhh!!” Mathilda let out a loud, shrill scream. She bolted out the front door of the inn screaming all the way. Darius saw a number of other villagers run out the front door too screaming in fear. It was perplexing. A second later the rest of the team came stomping down from upstairs. They went outside. Not a single villager was in sight. Rose skipped out to the village’s edge and searched for tracks. No recent footprints were towards the east and Kera. Then she noticed a few villagers hiding amongst the remains of a burnt building. She went back to Darius and reported. “They’re hiding from us.” Darius was irritated. </p><p>“Fine. Let’s go without them,” he said. </p><p></p><p>The team loaded up their horses to leave. Father Ben asked if he could hold back for a minute or two. “I’ll catch up.” Darius shrugged in response. Ben went back into the inn’s common room and pulled out some of the parchment he used to write Father Stauk-Flezr. Hastily he scribbled a note: “TO HELP YOU FIND YOUR WAY”. He opened one of his large sacks of gold and counted out one hundred gold pieces. He left them on top of the letter. “I only hope that’s enough to save them” he said to himself. Afterwards, he scrambled atop his horse and cantered to catch up with the party.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="howandwhy99, post: 2762565, member: 3192"] “More and more puzzles are going unsolved,” thought Ben. Darius collected the team back upstairs in the bedrooms for a meeting. “We need to plan our next move,” he said. “The villagers cannot be left here. They have no homes, lodging, or protection from another attack. Even the food Rose collected will run out in a day or two. I have told them they are to prepare for travel to Kera. I think we should take them. What do you say?” Everyone agreed. They began to make plans for overland travel with thirty-one on foot. “Where’s Grog?” asked Rose. The last anyone had seen he was speaking with the blue man downstairs. In one of the back booths of the common room Grog was snorting happily. The little blue man was telling him jokes in a strange chittering language. They fell silent when the team approached. “I’m glad to see you happy again Grog,” said Darius. “Who is your friend?” The blue man made a honking noise. “Zvart” it said. This was the smaller ones found in the bundles. Its huge head was disproportionate to the rest of its body. [img]http://www.geocities.com/dbedell2002/Xvart.JPG[/img] “How did you get here?” asked Kayla. “Livinia brought us here,” the creature spat brusquely. It spoke swiftly and in a whiney voice. Darius explained to it that we had cleared out his farm. “It’s a hobbit hole, right?” asked Kayla. Apparently she knew more about littlefolk than anyone else. The blue man honked rudely in response. “This is Grogfriend,” said Grog smiling happily. “He is a mushroom friend.” “What about Certa. Did she come with Livinia too?” said Dram directly. “No. She brought Serta with her. And the other two.” sneered the creature. “Was he wearing black clothing, or maybe a hump on his back?” asked Kayla. “No” it honked again. “That was farther on to Kera when we met the gnolls.” Rose dug a couple of mushrooms out of her pack and handed them to the strange man. “Mine! Mine!” it shouted. “My precioussss…” It cooed as it held the mushrooms. The team asked more questions, but the creature was hardly forthcoming. Lavinia was a customer of theirs. She had told them she wanted the skinny man with the glove on one hand. The skinny man had been paying the Xvarts to stay inside the mushroom farm. “Do you remember his name?” asked Kayla fingering the map they found in her pocket. It honked another “No”. It was never told the man’s name. He had only stayed two nights. He paid and babbled and scribbled all over the walls. Zvart complained about having to clean up after it – and after Lavinia’s sons. “How many sons did she have?” asked Darius. “There are four. And a new one now,” the blue man responded slyly. Her sons were half-orc and half-human. He believed Lavinia was too. One of the sons took animals of all different kinds from all over and made them do strange things. Dram leaned over and whispered into Ben’s ear, “Livinia sounds like villain.” Ben smiled. “Live in ya?” he joked back. The blue man honked loudly at them. “Are you a hobbit or a halfling?” asked Kayla. It began to laugh loudly in a vulgar way. “We eat halflinghobbitses. We are Xvart. My name is…” Ben lost all ability to understand what it said. The name sounded like a minute’s worth of run together nonsense words and honking. “What may we call you in short?” asked Darius using his charm. “I answer to nothing!” it honked back. Darius attempted to smooth over the situation. “Do you live in very deep holes then?” “You are thinking of gnomes. We are not gnomes,” it replied disgusted. The team had just about enough. Darius gave a short goodbye and was ignored for his efforts. Everyone but Grog was ordered upstairs to prepare for the journey. Walking across the common room Darius looked for Mathilda. He wanted to find out just how safe the city of Kera was before leaving. He found her in one of the back rooms whispering to some of the other women. “I have a question.” “Yes”, said Mathilda smoothly. The other women cleared out of the room. “Are there slaves kept here or slave traders?” ”No. We farm. We have no slaves,” she answered carefully. “What about Kera? Do they deal in slaves?” asked Darius. Mathilda hesitated. “Kera does not slave either. They mine ore.” “We could take you to another farming village then…” started Darius. She shook her head. “No. We would prefer to stay in Kera. If you would let us.” This was baffling to Darius. ”Do you know the Wainwrights? Are they here in town?” Mathilda stopped breathing and went still. Darius started again, but she cut him off. “Are you selling us?” she asked. Darius scoffed at the idea. He tried to clear up the confusion. Finally he just stated, “You are free. You are all free! Why are even asking me this?” “Aaaaaeeeigghhhh!!” Mathilda let out a loud, shrill scream. She bolted out the front door of the inn screaming all the way. Darius saw a number of other villagers run out the front door too screaming in fear. It was perplexing. A second later the rest of the team came stomping down from upstairs. They went outside. Not a single villager was in sight. Rose skipped out to the village’s edge and searched for tracks. No recent footprints were towards the east and Kera. Then she noticed a few villagers hiding amongst the remains of a burnt building. She went back to Darius and reported. “They’re hiding from us.” Darius was irritated. “Fine. Let’s go without them,” he said. The team loaded up their horses to leave. Father Ben asked if he could hold back for a minute or two. “I’ll catch up.” Darius shrugged in response. Ben went back into the inn’s common room and pulled out some of the parchment he used to write Father Stauk-Flezr. Hastily he scribbled a note: “TO HELP YOU FIND YOUR WAY”. He opened one of his large sacks of gold and counted out one hundred gold pieces. He left them on top of the letter. “I only hope that’s enough to save them” he said to himself. Afterwards, he scrambled atop his horse and cantered to catch up with the party. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The One True Game: According to Hoyle, and Others
Top