Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="carpedavid" data-source="post: 409754" data-attributes="member: 6971">9.28.02 - Session 1, Part 2Taminnyd entered New Charleston under the cover of darkness. The advancing Avengardan forces had attacked the wizard's guild of which he had been a member, killed his guild master, and stole the guild master's spell book. He had barely escaped in the ensuing chaos, and was frightened for his life. After hiding in a barn until daylight, he hitched a ride with a fleeing farmer, and arrived in the frontier town several hours after sundown.The Terrelian army was busy fortifying the town - digging trenches, building watchtowers, and erecting a defensible wall. The merchants were busy boarding up their shops, and most of the inns had closed down, despite the influx of refugees from the surrounding countryside. After much looking around, Taminnyd finds the only open inn in town - the Golden Centaur.At the same time that Taminnyd is on his flight to New Charleston, Scarlet notices the firestorm far on the horizon. Having made her home deep in the Nettle Woods, she hears little news from the civilized world, so she sets off toward New Charleston to find out what's going on.Upon arriving, she sees a town in chaos - the military is fortifying the town, shopkeepers are boarding up, and the residents are in a panic. Finding the only open inn, she asks the barkeep about what is happening in the north."The evil Avengardans have invaded us," the obviously frightened man replies, "They caught us with our pants down, and they've been pushing our navy back at an alarming rate. You had to have seen the army fortifying the town - it looks like they're going to try to make a stand here." Scarlet pays the man for a drink, while she tries to decide what this means to her.Taminnyd noticed the wild looking woman enter the Golden Centaur - she was the only person that looked unworried, and she had a bastard sword strapped to her back. While he considered himself well versed in the magical arts, he knew that his martial skills were sorely lacking. He needed someone who was good with a blade if he was going to find those that killed his guild master, and the wild woman looked like a good choice."Excuse me," Taminnyd says as he taps Scarlet on the shoulder, "I was wondering if your services were for sale?"Scarlet looks at Taminnyd suspiciously, "What kind of services did you have in mind?""The Avengardans destroyed my guild, killed my guild master, and stole his spell book. I need a bodyguard, and I saw the blade on your back.""Oh," Scarlet relaxes, then says with a smile, "what kind of compensation are you offering?"The Displacer Beast and the Unicorn cause quite a commotion as they fly into New Charleston. The sight of Avengardan ships near the town is compounded by the erratic nature of Laurel's improvisational piloting, though after the party sets the ships down and tosses out mooring ropes, the soldiers manning the airship docks quickly determine that they are not faced with an invading force.As they disembark, the dock commander meets the party. Shoji holds out the scroll case to him, "We're here to deliver these orders.""Who are these orders to be delivered to?" the dock commander inquires.Obviously not you, Shoji thinks as he discretely withdraws the scroll case. "Um, they’re supposed to go to the commander of the troops here.""Oh!" the dock commander snaps to attention. "I'll show you to General Talvyn right away," he stutters, and, without waiting for a response, begins walking quickly through the dockyard. The stomach flu that Nym has been suffering from begins acting back up and he returns to the ship. Laurel, Erendil, Shoji, and Danklar sprint after the dock commander, dodging horses, carts, and people as they wind their way through the worried throngs of refugees, residents, merchants, and soldiers. He leads them to the town green, where a complex of military command tents has been erected, and, after speaking briefly to a guard, ushers them into a large tent.Hunched over a large table that is covered by several inches of parchment, papers, and scrolls is a slender but powerful human man clad in chainmail. He looks up at the group entering his tent, irritation evident in his expression."General Talvyn, sir," the dock commander says as he salutes."Yes, lieutenant?" he sighs, an air of resignation evident in his voice."Orders from the front, sir.""Oh. Very well, bring them here," he sighs again as he resumes studying a map. The dock commander looks over at Shoji excitedly, and, after rolling his eyes, Shoji walks over and hands the scroll to the general. Talvyn takes the scroll tube and opens it without looking up. "Hrmmm. Yes…yes… ah, good," he mumbles whilst reading the scroll. Upon finishing, he looks back up at the party, and finally addresses them directly, "Do you have much magic among you?"Shoji takes a mental stock of his companions, then replies, "No. Not really."Talvyn grumbles, and then asks, "Do you need a new pilot?"Laurel, who up until this point had been content to let Shoji deal with the military commanders, interjects, "Oh, absolutely!"Talvyn looks slightly surprised, but continues, "Very well, then. I can spare you one pilot. But I cannot spare any wizards. There have been thousands of people fleeing here from the front, I'm sure that you can find a wizard among them. At any rate, your new orders are to find and recruit Brannaugh Proudclaw, the Keeper of the Beasts for the Nettle Woods.""How do we find him?" Erendil asks."Look for bears - lots of bears," replies Talvyn, "Unfortunately, he's very hard to scry, so your best bet is to find someone familiar with his area of the woods." He turns back to studying his maps, and in a dismissive tone, says, "Report back here when you're finished. I'll have more for you to do."The dock commander turns back to the party, and ushers them out. As they're leaving the tent, he says, "I noticed that your ship, the Unicorn, needs a lot of repairs. I can have some of my men work on it while you're gone, if you want to leave it here. I'm sure that the general will want your ships to be as airworthy as possible." The group agrees that this sounds like a good idea, and they bid farewell to the dock commander as they head into the town to find suitable candidates to join their party.After having amicably settled matters of compensation, Scarlet and Taminnyd have kicked back and relaxed at the Golden Centaur, resting themselves in preparation for beginning their journey to find the man than destroyed Taminnyd's guild. They are in the middle of a mug of ale when they see a group of adventurers who are all wearing military insignia enter the inn. They watch as the pretty wood elf, the oriental monk, and the human cleric all head to the bar. The elf with the bow on his back begins to look around the room, staring at each person intently. After a moment, he walks up to their table."Greetings," Erendil says cheerfully as he looks at Scarlet and Taminnyd. "We're looking for people good with the magical arts."Taminnyd groans inwardly, and surreptitiously slips a pinch of powdered lotus root out of his bag. As Scarlet replies, "I can assure you that I have no magical abilities," he quickly chants an arcane phrase under his breath. Erendil's pupils dilate briefly as he feels an overwhelming sense of love and affection for Taminnyd well up inside his chest, but he shakes off the feeling a second later, and looks unhappily at Taminnyd. "Please don't do that," he says with a frown.Taminnyd rolls his eyes, inwardly cursing the failed spell, but asks, out of a morbid curiosity, "Why, exactly, are you looking for a wizard?""We're seeking to defeat the evil Empire of Avengard, and defend our homeland. We need a wizard to assist us."The mention of Avengard stirs Taminnyd's stomach. The memories of the massacre and his flight to New Charleston are still fresh in his mind. "Perhaps we could mutually aid each other," he offers."What do you have in mind?" asks Erendil."The advancing Avengardan forces destroyed my guild and killed my guild master. I wish to track down the man who was responsible for this and bring him to justice.""I think we could assist you in that endeavor," Erendil replies earnestly."What kind of compensation are you offering," asks Scarlet, who is not terribly keen on becoming involved with people who have ties to the military."You would certainly be paid normal military wages," Erendil assures, "and anything you would need, we should be able to provide."Taminnyd turns to Scarlet, and the two converse in whispers for a moment. "Ok," replies Taminnyd, "we'll join with you for now.""Excellent," Erendil replies happily, "Do you need to retrieve anything before we set sail?"Taminnyd looks at Scarlet, who shakes her head, "No, we can leave from here."Erendil introduces the new companions to Laurel, Shoji, and Danklar, and then explains their current mission. Upon hearing the name of Brannaugh Proudclaw, Scarlet mentions that she is familiar with him, and could probably lead the party to the area of the forest that he normally inhabits. All agree that this sounds like their best bet, so they return to the ship to begin their journey as soon as possible.When they return to the ship, they see two things. One, Nym is hanging over the rail, trying not to get sick on the soldiers hastily repairing the Displacer Beast. Two, a pretty young elven woman in a soldier's uniform is standing by the gangplank. She introduces herself as Dew, and hands over her orders to accompany the party. All readily welcome her, except for Taminnyd, who looks at her suspiciously, and asks, "What good are you to us?""I'm very good with a blade," she replies, unfazed."Hmm," Taminnyd grumbles, "We'll see."As the party boards the ship and chooses sleeping quarters, they discover that the new pilot is already on board. Taminnyd asks him about the capabilities of the ship, and the young human man eagerly begins explaining every statistic available on the ship. Taminnyd immediately regrets his question, and walks away after a few minutes.The mooring ropes are tossed off, and the ship lurches up into the air. The pilot places his hands on the command console and smoothly guides the ship up out of the dockyard and into the early dawn sky.More to come...</blockquote>

Verification