Everything has a Beginning: Session 2

10th to 13th April 23,100 S.C. | 22/09/2010

10 April 23,100 S.C.

As the four men made their way back to Otraxis, with Eric the Stalwart unceremoniously draped over the back of his own horse, they began asking Eric about his past, trying to work out why he would attempt to kidnap a baroness of only middling peerage. Through a lengthy and deliberately meandering conversation, Tommen eventually led Eric to confess some long- and deeply-held contempt for the Otraxin noble classes—especially the Kadians, and the Salic law.

Questioned about Salizarr himself, Eric expressed disbelief as to whether the dragon existed, now or at any time in the past. Implying that the entirety of the Salic law and the Kadian succession may well be a lie perpetrated by the greedy aristocracy who simply wanted to stay in power, Eric ranted almost all the way back to Otraxis. Tommen got the impression that Eric thought himself a much better choice for the leaders of Otraxis than the current crop of dandies.

The sun had already vanished by the time they made it back to the city gate, which was firmly shut. Tommen announced the group, and explained that they had a prisoner. The guard on duty rolled his eyes and asked another guard—named Siegfried—to deal with it. Siegfried filled in the proper paperwork and took custody of both Eric and Eric’s fine attire—in case they could be used as evidence of Eric’s true background—and then informed the heroes that they would be needed to testify at Eric’s trial, which was likely to be roughly a month away. As they left, Nathaniel thanked the guard for his speedy and courteous service by giving him a gold piece. Tommen and Yuri objected, and Yuri was especially suspicious of Siegfried’s motives in accepting the coin, but the confrontation was short-lived and soon the heroes were making their way back to The Pig and Barrel.

After stopping by to drop off their belongings—and sell Eric the Stalwart’s horse—the heroes made their way to Baroness Ursine’s manor, in the Nobles Quarter. The night became cold quite quickly, the streets emptying of those too poor to afford either enchanted or sufficient clothing to protect them from the plummeting temperatures.

On the way, the heroes discussed their recent good fortune in meeting and befriending one another, and raised the idea of continuing to work together now that they had reached Otraxis. Everyone seemed amenable to the idea, and before they had even reached the Ursine residence, the four of them had agreed to band together and form an adventuring company, seeking to make the world a better place through their actions. Several potential names were suggested (and rejected); the group eventually decided they might be best served by waiting for their experiences to provide them with a suitable name than coming up with one themselves.

The Ursine Manor turned out to be a relatively modest building, but an old one. Nobody was at the gate so the heroes made their way to the front door, where they were met by the Ursine’s butler. Inside, Lady Ursine introduced the heroes to her husband, Gunther, who invited the heroes to share dinner. After a polite refusal, Gunther insisted and the heroes were served with the largest feast most of them had ever seen. Conversation over dinner was largely about the nobility’s role in Otraxis, from the story of Hugh the Pious and the revelation that the Castle Kristyr was named so in honour of the elves’ own name for the house of Kade, through to discussion about the current members of the aristocracy in Otraxis. Nathaniel also took the time to inform the Lady Ursine that they had captured Eric the Stalwart and brought him to Otraxis to face justice—the Lady seemed well pleased and congratulated the heroes on successfully capturing the man who had threatened her liberty.

The Baron and Baroness explained that the most recent signs of infighting amongst the aristocracy had been some five years ago, and that the Duke had exiled the family that had instigated the belligerent behaviour in the first place. Neither of the Ursines were able to shed any light on the mysterious teardrop emblem found burned onto the inside of Eric the Stalwart’s wrist, but the Lady Ursine did promise to investigate, as heraldry and genealogy were some of her interests. Although they were forbidden from discussing the exiled nobles, the Ursines were able to confirm that the exiled house did not have a teardrop as a component of its coat of arms.

The Ursines explained that their barony had been around for a long time, but that the family had historically not been greedy enough to attempt to subsume the lands of other nobles or curry favour with the high aristocracy in an effort to gain new lands. The Ursines had been granted their barony—to the south of Otraxis—by Duke Lotho the Unforgiving, 353 years ago, and had since then formed something of an informal alliance with the Wittington-Blakes, even though they were only Lords and not Barons like the Ursines.

As the meal and conversation came to a close, the Ursines wished the adventurers well and also promised to keep an eye out for any other work that might befit such a group as theirs.

With their sumptuous dinner concluded, the group left the Ursines in peace, picking up their reward in the form of ten platinum pieces each from the butler on the way out.

The group made a quick return to The Pig and Barrel, where they found the taproom packed with adventurers and a raucous party in full swing. At any other tavern, this might have been the busiest night of the year—at The Pig and Barrel, it was merely another night’s brisk trade.

The group left their platinum pieces with Gareth behind the bar, in a safety deposit box in his vault, then settled back to survey the patrons. Several groups of adventurers were already getting very drunk, and a neat pile of broken furniture was up against the wall, waiting for the powerful glamer to take effect overnight and restore it to its original state. Norn kept the peace efficiently and effectively, tossing several patrons much larger than him out the door—whether the door was open or not.

As Yuri looked around the bar, he noticed one man—seemingly a destitute old man with an enormous beard—sitting at a crowded table nursing a bowl of soup. Despite the full table, he looked to be alone—nobody was paying him any attention. Yuri flagged down one of the busy barmaids—Jeanette—who told him the old man had been here a while. When Yuri asked Jeanette to get him a haunch of turkey and a mug of ale to give to the man, she arched an eyebrow and said she hadn’t known that the old man was Yuri’s type—and then left before Yuri could make a rejoinder.

When the turkey was ready some time later, Yuri took it over to the old man. After the old fellow got over his good fortune at being offered a free meal, he introduced himself as Vernon, a farmer from Dersten Vale, a village of roughly fifty people sixty miles or so to the southwest of the city of Otraxis. Vernon explained that he had come to The Pig and Barrel knowing its reputation for being the haunt of adventurers, in the hopes that someone would help him.

As soon as the word ‘help’ escaped Vernon’s lips, Yuri beckoned everyone over, and they all listened as Vernon explained that people from his village had been going missing or been killed for the last twelve months. Three women had vanished, and five men had been killed—most of them horrifically. Tommen asked Vernon whether the Baron of Dersten Vale had interceded, but Vernon said the Baron was disinterested, and didn’t much care for the stories of a few pathetic farmers. Disturbed, the heroes agreed to head to Dersten Vale with Vernon in the morning and see what they could do to help. Vernon was overcome—and even more so when the heroes said he could stay in one of the spare beds in their room.

Yuri expressed his disbelief at the fact that nobody else had been willing to help Vernon, to which Vernon replied that because he wasn’t able to pay much—if anything—for anyone’s services, he had no way of enticing powerful adventurers to aid Dersten Vale. Yuri almost got into an argument when a nearby adventurer heard Yuri’s disparaging remarks about the other patrons’ lack of conviction, but the whole thing blew over and soon the group was preparing to go to bed.

Just as they were leaving their table, Jeanette came over to see Yuri, saying there was a message for him. She handed over a parchment sealed with Eurus’ shield symbol. The letter was from Father Patrick, Bishop of Otraxis, inviting Yuri to attend the dawn service and—if he was willing—deliver a sermon to the congregation. Yuri asked the others if they were interested in going—to which they all agreed.

Everyone except Tupananchiskama then retired to bed. The Ixtlian went to ask Gareth about Huch’uyissa, to see if there had been any word of any other Ixtlians in Otraxis over recent weeks. Gareth hadn’t heard anything specific, but suggested that if she was a gambler she might have gone to The Wolverine’s Den, where they played 2-up, liar’s dice and poker of various sorts. When Tupananchiskama asked if there were any Ixtlian-run establishments in the city, Gareth said he hadn’t heard of any. Tupananchiskama asked Gareth where he might find cartographers, and Gareth replied that there were some to be found all over Otraxis, but that they would all most likely be members of the Explorer’s Guild, in the Guild Palace.

Tupananchiskama thanked Gareth for his help, and made to leave, but Gareth stopped him and asked whether he and his companions were interested in any work. Tupananchiskama said they were, and Gareth told Tupananchiskama about the legend of The Shadow in the Creep, saying that there was now another murderer and thief roaming the tunnels who had become known as Ralph the Knife. The reward for his capture was 300 gold pieces. Gareth gave Tupananchiskama a poster outlining the bounty, suggesting that he get in touch with Magistrate Luden Walker at the courts east of the Guild Palace.

Tupananchiskama thanked Gareth and left the bar. Feeling both in need of some exercise and interested in making some sport with the patrons of the bar, Tupananchiskama then found a drunken archer and suggested a wager: if the archer could fire a single arrow at Tupananchiskama’s chest and hit him, Tupananchiskama would pay the archer twenty gold coins. If the archer was unable to land his arrow, he would pay the money to Tupananchiskama instead. The archer agreed, and while Tupananchiskama stood on a table to a combination of amused whispers and outright laughter, the archer drew back his bow and let his arrow fly.

Faster than most of the (soused) eyes in the bar could follow, Tupananchiskama knocked the arrow aside with his hand before it could reach him. The surprised archer rubbed his eyes incredulously, and then thundered “double or nothing!” Tupananchiskama agreed, and the archer drew his bow back once more…with the same result. Tupananchiskama jumped down from the table, two arrows embedded in the ceiling above him, and collected his coins. The archer put a meaty hand on Tupananchiskama’s shoulder as he was turning to go, and said “hang on, how about two arrows?”

Knowing he wasn’t up to dealing with having two arrows shot at him in quick succession, Tupananchiskama demurred, but he did offer to buy the archer and his companions a round of drinks, which certainly calmed the situation.

Tupananchiskama then finally went up to join his companions. At first, Tommen was somewhat irritated at being woken, but when Tupananchiskama offered him his share of the forty gold pieces, he brightened up considerably. Tupananchiskama asked Tommen where he might find someone to make him some more shuriken in Otraxis, and Tommen suggested that they stop by Horace Delancey’s smithy in the morning. That sorted out, everyone settled into their beds and slept through the night.

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11th April 23,100 S.C.

The next morning, everyone woke with the dawn and accompanied Yuri to the temple where he was to give his sermon—with Vernon in tow. At the temple, the heroes overheard a conversation in the vestry. One voice Yuri was able to identify as Father Patrick, the other was a stranger to all of them, and both of them were speaking with raised voices.

“I have it,” said Father Patrick. “It’s mine now, and you may not have it back! Now I suggest you leave—or if you are going to stay, you can sit at the back!”

“My family will not take this lightly,” came the other voice. “You can be sure there will be repercussions, Father, mark my words!”

This exchange was followed by the sound of footsteps as the second man left through a side door.

After a few awkward moments, Father Patrick emerged through the curtained entrance to the vestry, seemingly flustered. He welcomed Yuri warmly, who introduced the other members of the party. Father Patrick asked Yuri again whether he would be delivering a sermon, but Yuri demurred, saying he didn’t feel he was really eligible to do so in the eyes of the gods. Instead, Yuri proposed, he would perform a short reading from the scriptures of Eurus.

With fifteen minutes remaining before the beginning of the service, Tupananchiskama looked for the traditional incense sticks used in his homeland to pay homage to the gods, but couldn’t find any. Tommen taught him the northern way of lighting candles to the gods, and Tupananchiskama made his offerings to Emesh, Chemosh and Enlil. Tommen joined him in his own obeisances, while Yuri prepared for his reading.

The sermon—while different to what Tupananchiskama was used to, was an uplifting experience nonetheless. Yuri’s reading—prefaced with a few sentences to give it context—was met with polite applause from the enthusiastic and happy congregation. When the service came to an end, Tupananchiskama stopped to ask Father Patrick if he could use any help with the argument the group had overheard when they arrived—Father Patrick was tight-lipped on the issue except to let slip that the man involved was a nobleman, and Yuri made signals urging Tupananchiskama to cease his line of questioning. Filing the information away for later, Tupananchiskama made his bows and left.

A short time later, the group arrived at Horace Delancey’s smithy. Whilst Horace was busy for several weeks, Tupananchiskama was able to give a shuriken to one of Horace’s apprentices as a model and place an order for twenty shuriken, with the understanding that he would pick the results up upon their return from Dersten Vale. Delancey suggested that while he was certainly capable of making these shuriken, that another smith—Steve Orion on Silver Street—had much more experience with exotic weapons such as those used on Ixtli, and that he might be a superior resource. Tupananchiskama thanked Horace and the group finally left via the gates to make their way to Dersten Vale.

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12th April 23,100 S.C.

Over the two days it took the group to walk to Dersten Vale, they met many travellers on the roads. Few of them had any news or information of merit.  It was an uneventful journey, during which Vernon laid out the history of the village and proved many times over that he knew what he was talking about when it came to farming. Finally, the group arrived in Dersten Vale as the sun was approaching the western horizon on the second day out from Otraxis.

They were welcomed by the mayor—named Trent—and gained more information about the murders and abductions that had been plaguing the village: while several disappearances had been from the cornfields around the village, others had been taken from their houses at night. Trent also explained that Dersten Vale’s baron—Frederick Dersten—was simply not interested in Dersten Vale’s fate.

Questioned about the bodies and the attacks themselves, Trent revealed that many of the male bodies had been mutilated in some way—their faces caved in as if from a large spiked club. One man have been found with a puncture wound through his abdomen, which Trent surmised was from a spear thrown with such great strength that it went straight through the unfortunate victim. At first, it was thought to be the work of bandits, but as the abductions and killings escalated, it became clear that it was too savage and vicious to be the work of ordinary bandits. By the account of one witness—a distraught missing woman’s daughter—it also appeared one of the female victims had been raped before being taken. Tracks near some of the bodies had led south, towards a cave complex, but the village’s men had lost the tracks when they crossed onto rocky ground.

The heroes sat down to a dinner to discuss what to do next, and decided they were best off heading out towards the caves in the morning, and pitching a decoy campsite close to the caves in the late afternoon, meant to entice the creatures—whatever they were—from their hiding places so they could be caught in an ambush. They slept the night away in order to prepare for their confrontation the next evening.

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13th April 23,100 S.C.

The heroes woke bright and early, organising themselves for the short journey southwards.  From the village they borrowed a couple of tents, as well as some clothing that they stuffed with cornsilk to look like people who would be sitting at a campfire. After lunch, they made their way down towards the caves, and set their campsite up several hundred feet from the caves in the slowly dying light of the afternoon. Instead of a campfire, Nathaniel suggested they use a sunrod to provide light as it wouldn’t require constant attendance the way a fire would. After setting up the camp, the four heroes retreated to a group of scrubby bushes downwind of the campsite and settled in to wait and see if their ruse would draw out the creatures they were looking for.

They didn’t have to wait long—in the darkness, two large hunched figures made their way into the camp. Tommen took one look and identified them as bugbears—horrific hulking goblinoids that delighted in murder, and causing fear wherever they went.

After a hushed conference it was decided that Tommen and Yuri would circle the camp to the south while Nathaniel and Tupananchiskama approached from the north. Then they would capture the bugbears in a pincer movement from both sides.

Unfortunately for the heroes, the bugbears spotted their approach just as they discovered the people around the sunrod were only decoys.

Nathaniel fired off a sleep spell and one of the bugbears collapsed in a heap. Its irritated companion thumped a shield across the sleeping bugbear’s face, waking it up. Tupananchiskama sprinted into the fray and crash-landed on the prone bugbear, wrapping his arms around the creature to prevent it from getting back up.

Meanwhile, after Yuri harnessed Eurus’ powers to bless Tommen’s blade, Tommen charged in and landed a decent hit on the other bugbear, but it fought back and crashed its morningstar into Tommen’s chest. Tommen had to take a step backward to stay on his feet.

Outside the circle of light from the sunrod, Nathaniel summoned an eagle, the bird winking into existence next to the standing bugbear’s head and raking its talons across its face. The bugbear, momentarily disoriented, made to swat the bird away but it winked out of existence before the bugbear could land its blow.

On the ground, Tupananchiskama managed to roll the other bugbear onto its front, pinning it to the ground in a hammer lock with his knee in the bugbear’s back.

Yuri made his way up behind Tommen and placed his hands on the other man’s shoulders, letting Eurus’ energy flow through his body to heal the paladin. Tommen renewed his attack on the bugbear, thrusting his greatsword into its chest. The bugbear gurgled and collapsed.

Nathaniel sent a ray of searing light into the bugbear beneath Tupananchiskama’s knee, causing it to howl in pain. Finally, Tupananchiskama slammed its head into the ground before hogtying it, rendering it helpless.

The heroes stood triumphant with one bugbear dead and the other tied up…but they were yet to explore the bugbears’ lair; who knew what was waiting inside…?

When Bandits Attack: Session 1

10th April 23,100 S.C. | 15/09/2010

The morning dawned bright for four of the young men guarding the Lady Riba Ursine on her journey from Leyira City in the south to Otraxis, jewel of the north.

Nathaniel, a sixteen-year-old youth with the power to bend the song of the universe to his will, accompanied by his swamp-shaman protector and guide. Yuri, former playboy and dilettante, now sworn to Eurus above all other gods and determined to spread the word of Eurus throughout Leyira. Tommen, a brash young paladin whose enthusiasm almost matches the size of his massive greatsword. Tupananchiskama, a warrior monk from the far-off island nation of Ixtli who has come to Leyira to find a woman he once knew.

Nathaniel was first to spot the bandits as they tried to ambush the camp site under cover of the fog that had rolled in overnight from the nearby Thienne. A hulking half-orc brute took a swing at the slight youth with a massive club. Nathaniel squealed in fear, but was able to duck under the brute’s swing. He replied with a hasty sleep spell, and when the half-orc collapsed to the ground in a heap and began snoring, Nathaniel raised the alarm. Unfortunately, in his distress, he yelled his warning in the language of the angels, and so few understood what he said.

Tommen certainly had no idea what was going on. Woken by Nathaniel’s initial scream, Tommen shrugged into his chain shirt and took up his greatsword to investigate. After noticing several of the caravan’s guards unconscious on the ground, Tommen soon found himself behind one of the aggressors, a man wearing dark leathers and what appeared to be tatty woodsman’s garb. Tommen made to come up behind the unsuspecting man, but he wasn’t careful enough and the man whirled around to face Tommen.

“Drop your weapon,” Tommen demanded.

The man refused and attacked instead; Tommen tried to defend himself but the unfamiliar weight of the greatsword meant the man landed his blow–with a sap. Tommen rubbed his bruised arm and again tried to demand the man’s surrender.

One who did understand Nathaniel’s cry was Yuri. Having spent the night asleep in his armour to better contemplate Eurus’ teachings, Yuri was first woken by Nathaniel’s shrill scream and then brought to full consciousness upon hearing Nathaniel exclaim that the caravan was under attack. Yuri hauled himself out of his wagon and went to see what the commotion was about. As he moved around the campsite, Yuri noticed that several of the guards were lying on the ground, apparently unconscious rather than dead. Just as he began to wonder where Nathaniel was, a small shape blurred past Yuri to the front of the column of wagons, where Lady Ursine’s wagon was. Yuri bellowed for Lady Ursine to beware and began lumbering after the swift shape in his heavy armour.

Tupananchiskama finally woke from an unusually deep sleep to hear Yuri’s approaching footfalls. He peered outside his wagon just in time to see the small creature Yuri was following streak past and disappear into Lady Ursine’s wagon. Giving chase, Tupananchiskama clambered into Lady Ursine’s wagon to see a man and two goblins attempting to manhandle the Lady out of the wagon. Affronted by the gall of these would-be kidnappers, Tupananchiskama grabbed the man from behind, trying to drag him off the Lady and pin him down onto the ground. Without the man holding her back, the Lady Ursine began to have some success in fighting off the two remaining goblins.

Meanwhile, with the half-orc collapsed at his feet, Nathaniel was out of danger for the time being. It occurred to him that the bandit attack might have something to do with the Lady, and he rushed to the front of the caravan in order to aid where he could. Inside the lady’s caravan Nathaniel saw two goblins struggling with the Lady, and the mysterious Ixtlian with the unpronounceable name struggling with a man. Summoning the worldsong, Nathaniel cast sleep once more, and was gratified to see one of the goblins drop, and the assailant fall asleep in the warrior-monk’s arms.

The remaining goblin hollered for help, calling for “Sir!” and “Drez”.

Tommen tried to convince his opponent to lay down his weapons once more, but at the calls from the goblin in Lady Ursine’s wagon, the woodsman instead made a couple of feints then backed away before sprinting for the Lady’s wagon. Tommen gave chase and caught up with the man next to the wagon, again demanding that he put down his weapon, but they man would not oblige.

Yuri finally caught up to the others, and moved to hem the strange man in against the wagon, raising his war-sceptre threateningly.

Inside the wagon, Tupananchiskama dropped the sleeping man in his arms and moved to take down the remaining goblin, but was unable to land any telling blows. The goblin continued to yell for “Drez”.

Which is when Nathaniel calmly suggested that if the goblin were seeking the half-orc brute, he was currently asleep several wagon-lengths to the south.

At this news, the mysterious woodsman looked troubled–he once again made a move to attack Tommen and Yuri, but just as quickly fled. The heroes let him go and concentrated on ensuring Lady Ursine’s safety.

Once the two goblins, the half-orc Drez and the man (whose name was Esteban) were securely tied up, Yuri and Tommen began interrogating the goblins, who turned out to be twin brothers named Nix and Nox. Nix and Nox were very forthcoming, explaining that their recently-fled master was a petty noble of some description who called himself “Eric the Stalwart”. For whatever reason, Eric had been planning this attack for quite some time and while he had issued clear instructions that nobody was to be harmed (Drez had even wrapped padding around his cudgel), Nathaniel’s swamp-shaman guide had unfortunately died of a heart attack during the raid.

Under threat of lengthy imprisonment, the two goblins between themselves even revealed the location of Eric’s lair, a cave around five miles east of Otraxis at the edge of the [something something] forest.

Satisfied that they had everything they were going to get, the heroes tied their captives up behind one of the wagons and made their way to the City of Otraxis. On the way, Lady Riba spoke directly to the adventurers, praising their bravery and offering to take care of the funeral for Nathaniel’s mentor, an offer he gracefully accepted.

Upon arrival at Otraxis, everyone (except Tommen, who lived in Otraxis) obtained their visitors’ papers at the gate. As a special thank you, the Lady Ursine had thrown in a month’s room and board at The Pig & Barrel for the adventurers who had saved her from being kidnapped. The heroes handed their captives over to the authorities, made their way to the inn and settled into their room, then while Tommen and Yuri went to sell the spoils they’d gained from defeating the bandits, Tupananchiskama and Nathaniel went to the University Arcane, to register Nathaniel as a spellcaster with the authorities. Nathaniel deferred his decision on whether to take on a task or pay dues to prove his goodwill to the University, but learned a lot about the complex rigmarole involved in being a spellcaster in Otraxis.

Upon reconvening back at The Pig & Barrel, Tupananchiskama suggested that if the group wished to apprehend Eric, they should probably get moving as it was unlikely that Eric would remain at a location known to his comrades.

The heroes found it easy going, and surprised Eric as he was packing outside his cave. Despite Eric’s attempt to blind them with some kind of powder, the heroes subdued him relatively easily. As they began their trek back to Otraxis with Eric slung across his own horse–one of his hands cuffed to one of his ankles with his own padded manacles–the heroes began to ask questions of the nobleman about why he was running around the forests of the Duchy trying to apprehend aristocratic ladies.

As the sun sank below the western horizon, the heroes reflected on a successful first day in Otraxis–hopefully, the first of many.