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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 1269586" data-attributes="member: 15470">Issue #2: The Tower. Episode 17th of April, 2002Issue #2The TowerThe six survivors of the doomed caravan were rescued, and cared for in the Laughing Ogre Inn. The innkeeper, Fox Dunharrow, let us stay at the Inn and cared for us, as the priestess Verenia nursed us back to health. As payment for the hospitality of the innkeeper and the priestess, we agreed to go investigate some mysterious lights, seen at a ruined tower between Southport and the Mourning Marsh. At the ruined tower, we found a group of bandits. They heard us as we tried to sneak into the tower after midnight one night, and, though we killed several, we were driven off after a pitched battle. Miriel and Goldpetal were knocked unconscious, but have been healed. We killed their lieutenant, a hulking half-orc named Skelf. Forced to retreat, we stole the bandits’ cart and fled into the night.It is the darkest hour of the night, on the fourth day of Charder. It is Hedraday, the day of judgment. We are moving north along the coast road, heading back towards Southport with the cart, pulled by two old horses. Everyone is exhausted, and all of us were wounded in the fight.When dawn breaks, it is clear that we are not being pursued. We are well out of sight of the tower, and there is nobody on the road for as far as we can see, either in front or behind.Miriel, the red-haired priestess of Madriel, takes advantage of the sunlight to bind our wounds. Paks winces at her touch, and Miriel concludes that she has broken at least one rib. The rest of us are all wounded to some degree, after our skirmish at the tower, and Miriel bandages each as best as she can.Meanwhile, Chuck divides up the gold. He has a slight build, with tousled dark brown hair and green eyes. “I don’t want a share,” Fergus tells him. He is a big man, who wears the clan tartan of a highlander and has a two-handed great sword strapped to his back.“I wasn’t going to insult you by offering,” Chuck responds. Chuck passes out nine gold, four silver, and one copper to each of Miriel, Goldpetal the elf, Stone the half-orc, and Paks. Chuck keeps the fifth share for himself. Miriel casts Detect Magic on the gold ring which we found, and finds that it is not magical, though it does appear to be gold. When we resume our walk, Paks asks Miriel, “How did you come to worship Madriel?”Miriel tells us, “I pretty much always knew that I wanted to become a priestess of Madriel,” and proceeds to share her story. “I was found,” she says, “by a Ranger wandering the moor near the town of Lave, with my identical twin sister, Liriel. We had no memory of who we were or how we got there. We appeared to be about 6 years old, perhaps half elven. Liriel and I were adopted by an inn keeping couple, Kendra and Clay. They keep the Sleeping Dragon Inn, in Lave. Kendra had been childless for the fifteen years of their marriage. “Twins have always been special to Madriel, because she, of course, has a twin sister, Belsameth. A year after they adopted us twins, Kendra had their first child, a daughter. Of course, Madriel is the goddess of fertility as well as goddess of the sun. They took Kendra’s childbirth as a clear sign from Madriel that we twins were special to her, even more so than twins usually are. “Liriel and I were sent to study at the school in the great cathedral of Lave. We studied during the mornings and day, and worked at the inn through evenings and holidays. I specialized in healing and religious study, while Liriel was more interested in arms training and diplomacy. We also studied cooking and brewing with Kendra and Clay.” Miriel laughs at a memory. “I was never very proficient at the latter,” she says, still chuckling. “The inn was famous for its beer, so their standards were quite high. “Liriel left,” she says wistfully, “Without telling anyone, even me, her sister, where she was going, when we were perhaps sixteen, and I haven’t seen her since. I, however, moved into the student rooms of the cathedral and engaged in even more rigorous study.  At eighteen, I dedicated myself as an Acolyte in Madriel’s order, and the rest, you know.”</blockquote>

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