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

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tor Bladebearer" data-source="post: 571131" data-attributes="member: 4939">March 28, 295 YFThe next morning, Mauri and Jacob apply more healing to the group, and they set out for Hillshire.  By noon they are out of the foothills and passing by clusters of small but well-kept farms.  The lightly rolling hills are home to many freshly-plowed fields, brimming with color as spring emerges.  Having emerged into the valley, the party can finally get a good view of the Stoneshields to the South, the imposing mountains forming a massive barrier on the horizon.  By mid-afternoon the party finally reaches Hillshire itself.  It is not a very large town, with a central square, a few shops, and one main road that crosses through the town.   Many of the older buildings are built as burrows into low hills, halfling-style, but all the residents appear to be humans.  Tala and Milo ponder what might have happened to the halflings that used to live here.  While not larger, Hillshire is still much bigger than Gray Cliffs, and the party takes it all in as they bring the younger kids in the rescued group back to their families.  The party is a bit of a spectacle as they travel through the streets, dragging a captured goblin with them.Having seen to the return of all the younger ones, Athel, Mauri and Dagger agree that they should go see the town’s Mayor, Athel’s father.  Mayor Chelmer will surely want to talk to the new travellers and get a report on what they all encountered up in the mountains.  The party agrees, and they soon approach the largest house in the town, and go in to see the Mayor.  Ug: “So where should I put this giant bat wing?”Mayor Chelmer is a large man, with scars on his arms and face that show he has seen some battle in his life.  He is very happy to see his son alive and well, but is clearly disappointed that he was captured in the first place, and scolds his son for being so careless.   Athel shoots an angry look at the party, and then disappears off into the house.The mayor has a very gruff manner, and is somewhat suspicious of the travellers in the mountains, but is grateful for their assistance.  Clearly the fact that they could hold their own in battle against a group of goblins speaks well for them in his mind.  The party tells the mayor about the raiding group, as well as handing over the map and the wooden token to the mayor.  They also hand over the captive goblin, and the Mayor summons a few members of the town watch to take custody of him until he can be properly interrogated.  Mayor Chelmer tells them that they haven’t had any problems with humanoids up in the mountains for well over a decade now, and is clearly quite concerned about their presence so close.  The mayor asks the party to return in the morning, once he has had a chance to talk with some others in town.As they prepare to leave, the Mayor asks Dagger whether she had succeeded in finding out anything more about her grandfather.  She sadly shakes her head, no.  Milo tries to join the conversation about it, but is restrained by the rest of the party.Ug: “Okay, we are obviously going to need to bind, gag, and hogtie Milo everywhere we go.” Once outside, Mauri and Dagger say goodbye to the rest of the party.  Evening is falling, and everyone is clearly tired from their travels.  Mauri gives the party directions to the inn in the town, the “Bouncing Boulder”, and says that they can find her at the Temple of Helias, and should come by to visit before they leave town.The “Bouncing Boulder” is easy enough to find, a fairly large inn for a town of this size, right in the center of town on the main road.  The sign outside portrays a man comically avoiding a huge boulder bouncing past him down a hill.  They arrange for rooms, though their coins get a raised eyebrow from the innkeeper.  The dwarves and Ug stop only long enough to drop off their equipment before heading to the bar, while the rest of the party makes a rush for the baths.After getting settled in a bit, Milo and Tala head out to scout the town.  The rest of the party goes down to talk with Morris, the innkeeper, who seems a friendly fellow.  They ask about other travelers, and briefly describe Lazarus.  He confirms that sure enough, a stranger matching that description came through just a few days ago.  Lazarus hired a few guards for a trip up to Crossroads, the nearest city.  The innkeeper points across the common room to a boisterous red headed man drinking with a few others.“That’s Murray.  He and his toughs do a lot of escort for folks up to Crossroads or to the edge of the Blasted Lands – that friend of yours hired a few of his boys for the trip North.”Murray is happy to share a round with the party and is in a happy, inebriated mood. “Oh, yeah, sort of odd-mannered fellow with a staff?  He come through just the other day, wanted a bit of escort up through to Crossroads.  Usually it’s more merchants and the like wanting me boys to watch their backs, but I’m not one to turn down business!  ‘Sides, you do sometimes get a few unpleasant things making their way out of the Blasted Lands, best to be safe and all.  He bought a few horses and off they went.  Odd friend y’have there, no offense, something just a little unsettling about him.”On some further discussion with Murray they learn a bit more about local geography.  Crossroads is a much larger place than Hillshire, a small city about 5 days on horseback to the North.  The few merchants who brave the Blasted Lands to the East come through Hillshire, and then on through Crossroads to the rest of the country, often all the way to the capital city, Solara.  They thank Murray for his time and return to the bar to discuss their options.As they talk, the innkeeper asks them again when they’re from.  The party dodges the question again.“Oh, I had just thought you might be from Arunjar, what with your coins and all.”The party compares the coins the dwarves had on them, with the old and battered coins used in Grey Cliffs, and the ones given to them in change by the innkeeper.  The Valorian coins all have the mark of the sun on them and are in good condition, while the Gray Cliffs coins are very battered and have the mark of an elephant on them.  The coins from the dwarves match those found on the Ophidian soldiers, are square, and have similar wavy runic writing on them as they had seen in the ruins.  “Well, I’m no expert on coins and I don’t see anything but proper Valorian minted very often, but I these look like they come from Arunjar.  Far, far to the west… some sort of jungle city or the like.  Never really left Hillshire myself – tales from those that cross the Blasted Lands are more than enough to keep from wanting to travel again!”As the evening goes on, Milo and Tala return to the inn.  They didn’t find much in the town, though they are definitely sure that those older buildings were built by halflings.  At last, filled with ale and good food and glad to finally be back in civilization, the party retires to their rooms for the night.March 29, 295 YFThe next morning, the party heads back over to the mayor’s house.  He tells the party that he is has need of a group to carry a report on the goblin activity to the military stronghold at Sentinel, and they’d be rewarded for their time.  He draws the party a rough map of the area – Sentinel is further to the West along the Stoneshields, and apparently guards one of the few passes through the mountains.  Scouts from Sentinel would no doubt want to search for more gobins in the foothills, and if there is more trouble with the humanoids brewing, the capital city, Solara, will surely want to know.  While the last war with the goblins and other humanoids in the mountains was over a hundred years ago, it was devastating to the country.  The party defers making a decision immediately, and leaves to discuss matters and take care of some errands around the town.  Hearing the name of the capital again, the party realizes that was the same city mentioned in the mysterious letter found on the dead soldier on the beach back on the island.  It had been signed “Hadrian Daybreak, High Prelate, Church of Helias in Solara”.  There is some discussion on whether the Helians are trustworthy or not, though Mauri seems to be.Next the group goes to the small temple of Helias in the town, to talk to Mauri.  She too has a proposition for the group – she is still in need of a rare herb, Obsidian Leaf,  that can only be found up in the mountains.  Her father suffers from a degenerative condition that is abated by the herb, and their supply has run out.  Without access to more, he will probably die within the month.  She is returning to the mountains to obtain more, and given the goblin activity would like the assistance of the party.  The leaf only grows on the shores of a lake up in the mountains, which is also the site of some ruins and a mysterious pyramid.  The legend is that the pyramid contains ways to see beyond the veil of reality, and she admits that she has seen some very odd happenings herself there at the lake.  Such a place might be of interest to adventurers such as the party in finding whatever it is they are after.Milo also asks Mauri what the situation is with Dagger’s grandfather.  Mauri explains that her grandfather, Dalton Splitclaw, disappeared on an expedition up into the Stoneshields a few years back.  Dagger and her grandfather had been very close, as he had raised her after the untimely death of her parents.  Dalton had been a local hero to the town, and had been well known for his amazing tracking skills as well as his “lucky pendant” that he had always been known to wear, some sort of family heirloom.  Upon hearing this, the party realizes what must be the identity of the unknown skeleton they found in the cave of bats, wearing the pendant.  After a brief discussion amongst themselves, the party decides almost unanimously that they should help out Mauri, and investigate the mysterious pyramid and Ophidian ruins there, rather than immediately pursue Lazarus or make the Mayor’s trip to Sentinel.  Because time is of the essence, they agree to leave first thing tomorrow morning.While the rest of the party returns to the Bouncing Boulder, Fargo, Tala, and Milo head over to Dagger’s farm on the outskirts of town to bring her the pendant.  She immediately recognizes it as her grandfather’s, and snatches it away from Milo.  She is fiercely angry at first, demanding to know where they found it.  They tell her a simplified version of how they found the body.  Her anger fading, she thanks the party then asks to be left alone.The party spends the rest of the day running errands around the town, buying supplies.  Ug goes to the only tailor he can find in town, and commissions cloaks to be made out of the 2 giant batwings that he has, leaving a few gold as a deposit.  The tailor is somewhat flummoxed by this request, but agrees to do the best job he can.That evening at the inn, Milo moons more over Dagger.  The rest of the party amuses themselves by hypothesizing catfights between Tala and Dagger.  A band of mercenaries has also come into town that night, and is staying at the inn.  They are apparently in fresh from a journey across the Blasted Lands, and they tell stories of razor-clawed scaly birds tearing entire caravans to pieces, invisible fields of magic that strike dead any who enter them, and ancient enchantments that can drive men mad.  Heads filled with tales of horrors in the Blasted Lands, the party retires.March 30, 295 YFThe party meets up with Mauri at the temple of Helias, at daybreak.  Dagger is also there, and will be helping the group scout and find the ruins.  Supplies renewed and well rested, the party heads Southward, back into the imposing Stoneshield Mountains.  April 1, 295 YFAfter two days of travelling, the party is back up in the high foothills, up beyond where they first found the main trail after emerging from underground.  Disturbingly, Dagger finds recent tracks of goblins in the area.That night, the party is briefly roused by the sounds of activity outside their camp.  It is a tense night, but there is no attack or further sign of the goblins. April 2, 295 YFMorning comes, and still no overt sign of the goblins.  The party breaks camp, and heads onwards.  Within a few hours the rocky mountain trail opens up into an alpine meadow, with sunlight shining on the verdant field before them.   Just beyond is a large glassy lake, reflecting the turbulent cloudy skies above.  On the far side of the lake a low black pyramidal structure is just barely visible among some ruined buildings.As the party walks into the meadow and starts taking in the surroundings, they realize there is something very… wrong… with the lake.  The reflection is showing the wrong sky.  The party comes closer to investigate, and they all seem to have their proper reflections, but disturbingly the weather is not mirrored in the lake.  As Mauri and Dagger prepare to go out and spend some time looking among the growth for the Obsidian Leaf, the rest make a basic camp.  Mauri estimates it may take her a few days to find a sufficient quantity of the herb and prepare it for transport.  Meanwhile, the rest of the party goes over to investigate the lake more closely.  Ug and Tardok pick up a few rocks and decide to have a skipping contest.  Tardok’s rock flies over the lake with a good 8 or 9 skips, but as soon as Ug’s rock touches the water it instantly comes to a stop and slowly sinks downward.  The rest of the party chides them for disturbing the lake. Tala:  “See!  We should have brought the boat!”Torix: “No, we should have brought the goblin.”Torix, Ug, Fargo, and Tardok decide to go across to the far side and investigate the pyramid, while the other half of the party stays behind to help with the herbal collection.  It is a nice, if chilly, spring mountain day, and the walk across the lake is quite pleasant when they avoid looking at the lake.  There is an ongoing debate about whether they should just go in for a swim to see what happens.About halfway around their walk, the party notices that the reflections have changed again.  The clouds are stormier, and swirling around in the reflected sky, and they can no longer see their own reflections.  Instead, they see Lazarus, in his full regalia and serpent staff, walking along the shore.  A few moments later the water clouds, then clears again and their normal reflections are back.They finally get around to the far side, and take a closer look at the pyramid.  The pyramid built right up to the edge of the lake, and is made of some sort of shiny black metal.  It is very cool to the touch despite the midday sun.  Three of the four sides are identical, but the fourth has what looks like a door carved into it, although there is no obvious way to open it.  The whole structure stands about 15 feet tall, and it appears that the top is capped with some sort of more crystalline material.  Fargo’s Detect Magic reveals that both the pyramid and the lake are extremely magical, to a level that almost seems impossible by any kind of magic he’s ever heard of.The pyramid does not appear in the reflection on the lake.Fargo: “Well, that’s odd, but I’m not sure it’s any reason to jump in the water!”Fargo theorizes that perhaps they travelled to the future somehow, and several other theories are mentioned.  Meanwhile, Ug fashions a grappling hook out of his equipment to try and climb to the top of the pyramid.  After clambering up, he gets a closer look at the top of the pyramid, but cannot see anything inside the inky crystal.  He puts his face to it for a closer look, and suddenly feels energy drain out of him and into the pyramid!  Unconscious, he tumbles to the ground at the foot of the pyramid, but recovers a few moments later.It is well into the afternoon at this point, and the pyramid expedition decides not to poke around any further for the time being.  They begin to walk back around to the camp on the opposite side of the lake that they came on.  Now, the reflected sky is showing mostly blue skies, but with puffy blue clouds that are scooting across the sky at a very fast pace.As they are walking back to the camp, suddenly a long wooden pole pops out of the lake, perfectly dry!  The party picks it up, quite puzzled.  A moment later, Ug takes his pole out of his equipment and tosses it into the lake.  There is some debate as to whether or not this is the same pole.  The group decides to wrap a note around a rock saying “if you find this, throw it back”, and tosses it in.  The rock gets sucked into the lake in the same odd way as before, but there is otherwise no reaction.Scratching their heads, the group returns to the main camp as the sun is beginning to set.  They tell their findings to the rest of the party, and they prepare to settle in for the night, not quite sure what to make of this odd location…(Run 5 ends)</blockquote>

Verification