tim
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Post by tim on Jul 26, 2009 22:36:07 GMT -5
I reached Salimar in time for King Melkar's announcement. It was blessedly brief, as it was clear he had little to say and he did not bother with long-drawn speeches. His heart appears in the right place, rewarding adventurers for any good deeds they might accomplish. Also, with the rewards retro-actively obtainable, it means the greedier heroes of the world can help first and ask questions later, rather than allowing the village to burn while they haggle over reward. Unfortunately, many of the fools in that courtyard are likely to get themselves killed, their heads filled with pipe-dreams of heroic deeds they haven't the talent to accomplish. Hopefully their sensible fears will get the better of them before they get in over their heads. A few of them seemed capable enough however, and I suggested we band together. With a large party we can take on much more dangerous foes, rid the world of greater evils, and win greater renown and reward than any of us could alone (even split amongst us).
Five others came heeded my advice. One was a good-natured cleric of Pelor with the unoriginal name Peloric (probably second-generation cleric): Pelor is not the god for me, mercy can be dangerous and his followers are often more concerned with comforting the dying than slaying the monster that is killing them, but I respect his message nonetheless. The second is a human ranger with a quiet demeanor but an intensity in his gaze that suggests great personal drive: he is over-cautious for my taste. He recommended circumspection and reconnaissance when it was likely to yield nothing, while an apparently dangerous madman masquerades as a priest and every minute wasted could result in another innocent maimed or killed (it matters very little whether Avonthemon has been replaced by some imposter or simply corrupted, it is clear he is no longer a true priest of a benevolent god). In the end his caution only succeeded in angering the High Priestess of Erathis when the party insisted upon a ritual of discern lies to determine if she was in league with him, and the danger he feared still struck us because he directed all his suspicion at Sara and none at her guards. I suppose it does not help my estimation of him that he seems rather a poor shot. The third is a dragonborn sorceror with undeniable presence despite his few words. I'd never actually seen one in person before today, they are quite imposing both physically and personally, much like their ancient kin. His magics are quite powerful in close quarters, I must say. Fourth is a dwarf with that is clearly an old soldier; he reminds me of the earthsouls in my old unit, from before I transferred to the Anarchs. His method of fighting puzzles me, though, he hasn't the quickness of a skirmisher to keep him safe, yet he refuses the protection of the heavy armor and shield worn by the phalanx soldier. Instead he relies on his own resilience (formidable, I must admit) to keep him conscious despite the pounding he receives. It seems most... inefficient to me. It has worked thus far, but I wonder how far it can be relied upon should a more difficult fight arise. Last and in most senses of the word least is a gnomish bard who seems a capable enough student of the arcane but is totally out of her depth in matters of seriousness. In her own estimation her chief skill lies in stealing food, and yet she thinks herself fit to join a party of adventurers bent on saving the world. Her foolishness seemed to give the dwarf heart, however, and while I've never quite understood it I know from experience how important morale can be in war. She will need careful protection however, as she is quite small and fragile.
Our first quest was not long in coming. An old woman approached us as we left the courtyard after Melkar's speech. She seemed mad, but all touched by perceptions too broad for mortals do. I wonder if there is method to her madness. In any case she suggested we go north, and since we had no particular leads in any other direction north we went. As it turns out, a respected priest of Erathis has instituted a tax on merchants in this quarter. He wants a hand or an eye. Erathis is known for his harshness towards law-breakers, but as a tax it seems out of character. This suspicion was confirmed when guards of high-priestess Sara turned on her, shouting support of Vecna. It explains the hand and eye, too. Many questions still remain, however. Avonthemon was well respected in this quarter for many years, trusted even, and this change appears to have been sudden. Perhaps, as with the old woman, these visions he is known for have left their taint, and his mind is not his own any longer. Or perhaps he has merely been replaced with a doppelganger of some sort. We must locate him, and discern the rest of this foul plot.
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tim
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Post by tim on Aug 2, 2009 20:48:08 GMT -5
Avonthemon's temple was stocked with undead of various discriptions. A flesh golem, a skull lord, some vermin that gave the cleric a nasty infection, and a number of animated children. Avonthemon will receive an extra measure of vengeance for the children, I swear it. Unfortunately, we have no idea where he might be. The temple yielded no clues, not even to the trained eyes of the ranger, and Avonthemon was not known to possess any other properties where he might have hidden. We attempted to question the corpse of the guard captain who attacked us in Sarah's temple, but he did not know either. We did however determine that all of Sarah's guards were at some point under the influence of Avonthemon's mind control, just like the ones who attacked us. It appeared to have worn off, but we saw fit to lock them in the prison until this could be sorted out, and spirited Sarah and the prisoner away to the temple of Pelor under a disguise while the sorcerer and I took their place under similar disguise. The guards made no move against us, however. When at last the mental influence was removed from the prisoner, the only possible clue she remembered is that Avonthemon had told her of a vision he had had, before the tax and the attack, a vision about a cave. Perhaps this cave is where he hides?
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After all our efforts came to naught, we were at last told that one of the merchants that had been looking out for Avonthemon since the tax incident had spotted him entering the warehouse adjacent to the temple we stormed. Performing a dark ritual to summon an avatar of Vecna not forty feet from where we searched. Irony. As promised, I slew the mage myself with combination of flame and a subtle incantation magnifying flame, although my anger at his behavior seems to have clouded my judgement and affected my aim. After his death, his foul servants collapsed, lacking the animating will that previously made them so deadly to my companions (though they were too slow on the attack to pose me any serious threat). We were too slow to save the prisoners he had taken, but my conscience rests easy knowing that at least I did my best: threw caution to the wind and advanced without reconnaisance or rest once his position was known. It is more than can be said of the empire.
Vecna's influence did not end with Avonthemon's death, however. I cannot say that I truly expected it too, I suppose, after all some power had to corrupt Avonthemon before he could corrupt his fellows. Perhaps this cave the magewoman spoke of... If only we knew more.
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tim
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Post by tim on Aug 24, 2009 13:14:42 GMT -5
An interesting result. Indeed a power existed to corrupt Avonthemon, but that power was unrelated to Vecna. It was a night hag, imprisoned by followers of Erathis beneath the warehouse along with a number of other monsters deemed "evil" and sentenced to be "reformed." The night hag was the instrument of the mind control, but the ingenious plot was the work of a green dragon, the masters of such craft. The night hag sent Avonthemon dreams of Vecna, corrupting him, turning him to evil, and bringing him to the warehouse just outside the dragon's prison. Avonthemon's evil deeds attracted adventurers to stop him at said warehouse, where the ill-concealed entrance to the prison was an obvious lead to investigate. We brought the dragon's revenge to Avonthemon, and then opened the door through which she could escape. The dragon, one Akranuul by name, had no quarrel with us however, and did not attack (although we were forced to kill the nighthag and an assortment of other monsters held prisoner with her). Instead, she asked - politely - that we allow her to flee the prison and indeed human lands altogether.
It was a difficult moral quandary to decide. I am fairly certain that she will not be a danger to others in the future: she gave her word that she would not kill sentients except in self defense, and if she flees the known world for this Ennorath (a continent I have not seen on any map), it is unlikely she will even encounter any humanoids she would be a threat to. Dragons rarely break the letter of their word, the cleric sensed no obfiscation, and the fact that she has clearly existed in this prison for decades living off bugs and mosses (no mean feat for a dragon) without eating its other denizens gives credence to her promise. The other question is whether she can be forgiven for the deaths of innocent people in the course of her plot. Avonthemon killed four people in the course of his ritual, we were forced to kill Avonthemon and many of his guards, and I'm not sure how many people were maimed or killed to create the undead and the pile of body parts we uncovered in his temple. I cannot excuse her actions on the grounds of a necessary and deserved escape - it would have been much simpler to just have the dominated Avonthemon open the gate and release her than to have us kill him and do it for her. No, she consciously chose the option that would have Avonthemon disgraced and murdered at the price of innocent lives, and for no other reason than revenge. While this behaviour is unacceptable, it occurred to me that - given that we had already established that if released she would not be a threat to anyone - it would equally be revenge for us to kill her now. Revenge under the guise of justice, revenge for an act perpetrated on civilians to whom we had no attachment rather than revenge for a personal injury and slight, but the fact that it is impersonal does not grant us moral superiority. If we killed her, we would be no less guilty. Let the bards sing that Yuriel Velor is merciful, then, instead of the cold hand of justice. My duty is to protect, not to avenge. That lesson I learned well enough.
On a side note, the dragonborn left us to pursue his own ends, and a tiefling wizard came in his place. An overly-talkative fellow, but reasonably knowledgeable and intelligent. He has an unusual brand of magic I have not seen before, one that uses the power of his own blood to fire his magics. It can be quite devastating, I see, but he draws on limited reserves. It is not sustainable in the longterm; in a fight, perhaps, but not in a war. He will need protection, like the rest. Especially if he continues to leave his post and let the tenuous connection between himself and these blood marks he puts so much faith in stand in his stead. There is no substitute for alertness.
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tim
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Post by tim on Aug 30, 2009 21:25:38 GMT -5
Another tenuous lead on an adventure. The minstrel, Xandor, told us there was a rumor that something was going to happen in Kelavor. The colony is fairly remote from my homeland - it took me weeks even after I left the forest to reach the town, albeit I had no idea I was even headed for a town and covering distance was not my goal - so I think it unlikely that the coming crisis has anything to do with the empire, but I will be wary nonetheless. We got passage on a ship captained by an ill-tempered dragonborn in exchange for a simple fetch and carry mission. The man - Captain Alvar - seemed to warm to us over time though, and promised a reward if we traveled back to Salimar with us. From what I've heard of piracy in these parts, we're as likely to find adventure on the seas as we are on the land, so I'm in no rush. Perhaps we will take him up on his offer.
Fortunately, we managed to stumble into a brewing crisis despite our lack of direction in coming here. After an elf girl from the druidic community north of the colony was apparently attacked by miners, the druids responded by attempting to form a mountain range between themselves and the colonists. We sent back to High Priestess Sara for a royal ambassador to talk to them. I reasoned that if they could establish legal property rights over the lands north of the river, then they would be able to seek redress in the courts if the colonists continued expanding. If the legal channels treat them fairly, there will be no need for it to come to violence. Both of these are 'ifs' that rely on the monarchy taking the rights of non-citizens seriously, which is by no means guaranteed, but it's the best that can be hoped for, really. I cannot help but think, however, that this brewing conflict was purposely instigated. I can't imagine why miners would try to attack a defenseless girl from across a river, such an act goes beyond the ordinary folk's capacity for mass stupidity and pointless cruelty. This could well be what Xandor warned us about. My suspicions were further reinforced when we were attacked during the night by Rakshasas masquerading as the druids we were trying to negotiate with. As shapeshifters, they would be ideally suited for masquerading as miners to attack the druid girl, then masquerading as druids to make trouble for the colonists, and continuing until a war broke out. Once they were revealed for what they were, I spared no moment nor mercy in dispatching the foul beasts, although I left one alive for questioning. I showed mercy to the dragoness, I have little left for these creatures.
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tim
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Post by tim on Sept 15, 2009 11:46:36 GMT -5
It seems there was another layer of manipulation behind the curtain. Not only did the Rakshasas manipulate the druids and the colonists into conflict, apparently hoping that this would halt the colonist's encroachment towards their lonely farm house and grant them some more privacy, but the Rakshasas themselves were being manipulated by an ilithid. A single ilithid would have trouble maintaining consistent dominance over even a single individual, on an entire family of Rakshasa's it would be impossible. All he could do is plant the idea in their heads, it was their mistake to run with it and therefore they remain culpable despite the mindflayer's influence. Therefore I feel we were justified in destroying them. Unfortunately, destroying a Rakshasa permanently is apparently a difficult feat, they reincarnate after a brief period like Devas, only with all their memories intact. As such, our efforts only succeeded in scattering the creatures and delaying them for a time, and perhaps earning their enmity. In an effort to reach a more permanent solution, we sent Peloric back with two of the creatures in hopes of obtaining a weapon by which they could be destroyed permanently. One, a cub that looks and acts young but may have thousands of years of experience, Peloric hopes can be saved: turned to good by the example of righteous foster parents. Given the many years of experience amongst her selfish and amoral kinsmen, as well as the fact that the supposed examples of good behavior that she is to emulate in fact killed her parents, I have my doubts. Mercy is a virtue, but it must be tempered with realism. If she cannot be redeemed, if she kills, that blood is on our hands.
We shall see how she turns out. In the meantime, there is the more pressing question of what an ilithid is doing up here. If there is an opening to the underdark nearby, it must be closed quickly before more such creatures rise up. If he came via magic, there is less that can be done but at least we would know. It seems we must investigate this without our cleric, however, who must take the boat back from Salimar... I must say I have more than professional reasons for wanting to avoid further confrontations with the ilithid, the sensation of being dominated, irresistably forced to betray myself and be the instrument of the destruction I seek to shield others from, is more than a little unpleasant.
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tim
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Post by tim on Sept 29, 2009 11:51:52 GMT -5
We located the source of the ilithid: a nearby wizard appears to have summoned the creature a few weeks ago. He did not survive the encounter. We found a journal which we assumed to be his, in which he mentioned that a male personage had hired him to devise a way that he could make "regular trips to the underdark." Such a thing is not easy, a simple portal would not suffice, they last for minutes and then must be remade at great expense. Even a permanent circle must be activated and tuned to the destination, also not free. Several months of this mage's time and whatever (no doubt expensive) ingredients he might require would cost money. Furthermore, I know of no one in Kelevor who would have that much money, much less a desire to go to the underdark on a whim. Whatever this mage was making, then, is not tied to location. There is little point being able to spawn portals to the underdark at a moment's notice if you must spend a week on a boat to get to said portals. A permanent, mobile means of spawning portals suggests to me an item. I still have no idea why anyone would want such an item, but with luck we will find out more. The tiefling used a hand of fate ritual that suggested the mysterious mage lives somewhere on Zhar, Salamar, or Arcturia, and since we had already agreed to travel back to Zhar with Captain Alvar, we decided to have a look there.
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We arrived in Zhar with little in the way of leads, but one soon presented itself. Apparently, a woman referred to in the mage's diary had put up missing person's ads for him. We delivered the ill news to her, and while she had no knowledge of her paramour's patron, we at least have a name for the mage. Apparently, he ran an item shop here in Zhar, and had been moved to Kelevar to conduct his research in private. Unfortunately, he probably spoke to dozens of clients every day that might have hired him, so the probability of discovering the patron through that channel is low.
It seems I was right about the commision being mobile, however. In fact, we have reason to believe that it is a stone. And it is here in Zhar. Someone brought forth a number of drow, directly into the city streets. Many died before we arrived, in part due to my difficulty navigating the crowded city streets. I am not used to urban life, I suppose, the only time I've seen men so packed together is in battle. Imperial soldiers move more predictably. My personal failure aside, we must now discover why the mage's patron did this. I can think of only two reasons why one would attempt to bring drow into a crowded city: a lust for destruction, or a desire to spread fear and panic. The former is difficult to trace, anyone could secretly harbor such antisocial proclivities. The latter would have to be someone with something to gain from fear-mongering. An authority figure hoping the frightened masses will rally round his flag, or an invader. This Sir Roland bears scrutiny.
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tim
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Post by tim on Oct 12, 2009 17:22:33 GMT -5
My intuition was correct once more. Rolan was involved, and we have reason to believe that his superior, Luke Davin, was also. Rolan hired us as his personal bodyguards, and we took the job. My thought at the time was that either Rolan was involved, in which case we would be able to keep an eye on him, or he wasn't, in which case he would need protection from possible drow assassination. As it turned out, he was involved, but he also needed protection. In the middle of the first night, a party of drow were summoned directly into his room, and they killed him before we had a chance to stop them. Melech and the gnome were posted just outside his door, but I foolishly did not anticipate that the attackers would portal straight into his room. Teleportation requires line of sight, but a portal spawning item would not necessarily, and even if it did a scrying ritual could be used. My foolishness cost Rolan his life. Furthermore, we were too busy with the drow to search the area for the item before whoever had used it would have been long gone.
In the end, it was almost better that Rolan died. We discovered in his room a coded message, which he had unsealed. The empire gave me basic instruction in cryptology, and with the help of others in the party I was able to decrypt it. "Good job on working over those drow. Your fluency in undercommon has finally been useful. Go to the sparrows nest for your reward." It was signed LD, which I assume to be Luke Davin, although it is hardly sufficient proof to accuse him with. That trusted leaders would purposely bring death to the people they were sworn to protect, just for their own political gain, it is worse than anything the empire did. It is one thing to pursue war against a rebellious noble, one thing to ignore rampaging giants because your priorities are elsewhere, it is another thing altogether to bait a foe into attacking you so that you can appear the hero for defeating him at the cost of your men's lives. He deserved death, and I doubt we could have brought sufficient evidence to convict him of any crime. The drow brought justice to him, even if it was not their intent. Which brings me to the question of what their intent was. One of them shouted "Betrayer!" to Rolan before he died. What was his betrayal? Assuming that the message was meant for Rolan, his "fluency in undercommon" being finally useful suggests that he acted as emissary to the drow. After all, the stone forms portals, it does not create drow raiding parties ready to hop through said portals at a moment's notice. Did the drow kill him for leading their raiders to their death? If that were so, then who brought them to Rolan? They may have mages capable of creating such portals, but to make one so precisely within the narrow confines of Rolan's quarters? No, someone else (someone with the stone) must have been involved on this side. But then, why did they want Rolan dead? I doubt it was over a matter so trivial as his reward. Was it merely to make sure he kept his mouth shut? Or was the cry "betrayer" meant to mean that Rolan had betrayed his handlers somehow, and the drow were bringing a human's vengeance to him. The fact that he hired us to protect him, a move I initially considered to be only window-dressing if Rolan were in on the plot, may actually indicate that he knew someone was out for his blood. If he had betrayed his handlers, he would have known to expect vengeance. If he had betrayed the drow, he would not have known to expect their attack without his handlers allowing them use of the stone. But then, if he had expected them to use the stone, then he would have posted us inside his room... Bah, these lines of reasoning grow to complex for the scant evidence to support them. Further rumination is fruitless.
In any case, we went to the Sparrow's Nest. A seedy tavern here in Zhar, frequented by clientelle who do not desire to be seen. The perfect place for such a meeting. Lili veiled Peloric to appear to be the dead Rolan, but his contact apparently knew better. They passed us a message, warning us that we would find no evidence. I'm inclined to agree, it would not be difficult to cover up any conceivable trail that might exist, and Davin has both the means and no doubt the experience to do an excellent job of it. Certainly the contact at the bar was smart enough to leave before I'd managed to get the bartender to point him out to me. Bloody Sixes is not a game to which you should challenge someone who can calculate the odds.
Unfortunately, the stone is still out there, and until it is destroyed Zhar remains at risk. We must locate it, and if we can bring down Davin while we are at it, then so much the better. I imagine preventing a military coup by his top general qualifies as a "good deed" in Melkar's book...
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tim
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Post by tim on Oct 27, 2009 11:41:09 GMT -5
So it would seem that my initial speculation was correct. Davin was involved in the plot (unless Rolan's corpse is a better liar than the wise priest believes). Furthermore, Rolan's corpse explained the meaning of the accusation of betrayal leveled against him by the drow: apparently he had promised them that they would be summoned into King Melkar's chambers, and they were apparently displeased to discover that the soldiers they sent to him were denied the opportunity to deal a meaningful blow against the surfacers. How they got into his chambers remains a mystery, and an important one. If they got in by their own means, it is a difficult feat that shows there are powerful spellcasters involved on their side - more powerful than any of us here. If they used one of the stones, however, then they had help from someone up here. In that case, we must wonder who that someone is and what Rolan did to anger him. If Davin merely wanted a loose end tied up (an end that had been his subordinate through many troubled years), it says much about his character. If Rolan had in fact betrayed his master, then there might be evidence... Given that the Drow would have blamed the other surfacers equally for Rolan's betrayal, they would have been unlikely to jump into another portal for Davin, so my guess is that they came on their own.
The dwarf Kurn (a member of the military council Rolan was on) confirms that Davin is known for scheming, and while the other military types have been grumbling about the loss of prestige that comes with being a military man in peacetime, he does not believe that any would stoop so low as to fabricate an enemy to go to war against at the cost of civilian lives. Davin has much to answer for, having stooped to that level himself. Unfortunately, we have no proof. If Davin is indeed a schemer (and the total lack of records regarding his position and activities would seem to suggest such a thing), it is unlikely we will find any. After spending all day chasing dead ends, the only semblance of a lead we have is an address and the hope that he left incriminating evidence around. The only evidence likely even to exist is any remaining stones he might have, and if I were him I would keep those in a very secure location. Without evidence, we cannot legally search for evidence. No, the only plausible scenario I can see that ends in Davin's conviction is if he attacks us directly. He seems happy to hire thugs to do it for him, though. Incompetent thugs.
It has only struck me today how incredibly alien this culture is to my own. There is good reason to believe that Rolan's corpse contains valuable information, yet petty superstition forbids us from speaking to it openly, and by extension using that evidence in court. He is dead, his soul has left his body, it is naught but base matter. Scholars and clergy agree on this. Yet we must be respectful of this matter? We mustn't perform rituals over it, even if it could save lives by doing so? We genasi know that these corpses are but empty shells, deserving of no more thought than a branch of dead wood or a handful of earth. But that is not the worst of it. Apparently, a place exists in this city where anyone can post a note promising gold for the unlawful murder of a private citizen. The authorities know where this place is, yet they do nothing to curtail it. They do not make efforts to seek out the ones who post such notes, do not even take the notes down. They wait for the murder to be carried out, then throw the hireling in jail. The empire, for all its faults, would have shut this fighter's guild down within weeks.
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tim
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Post by tim on Nov 10, 2009 12:55:21 GMT -5
I begin to grow impatient with this party. True, there was no pressing need to finish this as quickly as possible, as there was with Avonthemon, but there is much good to be done and we could have moved on much sooner if we had acted efficiently. But instead, the wizard decides to waste time and money trying to get some unsuspecting sot to drink a hallucinagen while the priest (who was at least trying) stayed up all night in fruitless vigil over Davin's house, hoping against hope that some clue would fall into his lap. The situation was only resolved when I decided to take bold action. I teleported into Davin's home, relinquishing my sword in order to appear non-threatening, and then confronted him openly. I warned him that I knew he was guilty, and would not stop hounding him until I had proven it. Meanwhile, here I was, unarmed, and he had a pocketful of stones that could summon foes far more terrible than the pathetic bounty he had placed at the fighter's guild. The opportunity was too good for him to resist, and the creatures he summoned were all the evidence we needed.
It was a risk, to be sure, but I knew something he didn't. A swordmage's blade is more than just a hunk of steel. It is linked to me, and I can call it to me hand with only a thought. By the time his minions appeared, I was armed and my ward was up. It was only too easy to survive until the rest of the party could enter.
Unfortunately, Davin escaped his fate. He was convicted of treason, but an accomplice allowed him to escape from the gallows at the very moment of his execution, and I was powerless to stop it. One of many reasons why public executions are unwise: too many people to keep track of, too many possible breaches of security. Davin may have lost much of his power, but I have no doubt he will be scheming from the shadows, and he can still do much harm. Without any leads to finding him, however, we can do nothing but wait for him to resurface.
The ranger left us yesterday. In his usual enigmatic way, he left a brief message for us at the inn and disappeared without a trace. Perhaps he will be back. Perhaps not. No sooner did he leave, however, than a new adventurer joined our ranks. A strange halfling with a zealous devotion to his god and a penchant for older women. He says he comes from the western lands, one of the communities north of the empire that pay tribute to it in exchange for the hope that it would protect them from the forest creatures (if it's not too busy with its petty internal squabbles). He left more recently than I, I should ask him what has happened to the empire in recent years. I wonder if they're still looking for me...
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Post by tim on Nov 24, 2009 12:55:42 GMT -5
An interesting proposition. Apparently, I am not the only genasi to leave the empire to stage a coup from here. A firesoul approached me today - with all due caution - asking for my aid to install her in place of the empire. Her village was just to the south of mine, nearly destroyed by the same giants I failed to protect it from. Perhaps had I not signed up with the military and been sent off to the civil war, I could have saved my village as well... Perhaps if she had been in charge my unit would have been on hand to defend both villages more effectively.
I want to dismiss her vague aspirations and lack of plan, to say that she has no realistic chance of replacing the emperor and bringing the ideals upon which the empire was founded back to its leadership. But then, I haven't got a plan either, beyond the preliminary step of redeeming my reputation. Her contract and retrench strategy also worries me slightly, she seems only concerned with protecting the Genasi, as though the halflings and the orc-marked could stand alone against the creatures I have seen in that forest. Still, perhaps she is right. The Empire, even under a good emperor, cannot protect the whole world. Just as one man cannot protect a nation, one nation cannot protect a world. And I cannot deny that she is a natural leader, her band may be small but it is loyal, and I am no leader. Perhaps she would be better suited to the job of protecting the nation. Perhaps that would leave me free to handle the job of protecting the rest. If only I knew how...
It bothers me slightly that Peloric, for all his holiness and zeal for good deeds, does not see the necessity of replacing the emperor. Killing the Rakshasas saved at best a colony of a few thousand inhabitants. In my days on the front lines, a few thousand genasi could perish in a single battle of the pointless civil war he waged. In the three villages that were destroyed by the giants before he saw fit to stop them, almost that many Genasi died. And he dares to call it political differences? What purpose does a government have but to defend its people? What does all the wealth poured into the imperial coffers go for if not for protection? How much worse is it that not only does the empire no longer protect its subjects, it sabotages their ability to protect themselves by taking their strongest youths to fight and die elsewhere while their homes are burnt by raiders? He is old enough to have lived through the blood war. He should know better.
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Post by tim on Jan 11, 2010 19:09:13 GMT -5
A primordial naga. At the bottom of the ocean. Most... surprising. I did my best to protect the others, to lead it away from them, but I could not stand against the creature for long and my blade could find no purchase in its armored hide. In the end, however, it would seem that the creature had no intention of killing us. Instead, we were teleported to a rather strange island that the locals call Ruben.
The locals spoke of a world-spanning empire of advanced technology, apparently destroyed in some kind of flood. That would explain the guardian left underwater... Still, it seems rather odd that an empire that large and advanced would leave no mark on history. There must have been more involved in this flood than a simple rising of waters. Divine wrath perhaps? In any case, this island is all that is left of them, it would seem. And it is an old prison colony. Why would a prison colony be spared? And Enorath. That place again, the destination of Akanul - the dragon we released from Salamar - they know of it here. Perhaps it too is a relic of this ancient empire? There is much to be learned of this place, perhaps with their knowledge I could find a way...
But that line of thinking is fruitless at the moment. We must return to Salamar with the Kiltitat root, and we have no way of returning here. Their library seemed to have little in the way of useful information anyway, and as impressive as there data-cubes are technologically speaking, they are a much slower means of transferring information than an old fashioned book. Besides, it seems we have a dragon to fight. A dragon with five heads. Odd...
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So apparently the kiltitat root is meant to circumvent a ritual preventing the revival of one of Melkar's people. I wonder what there relation is, that he would pay so much to revive her. I wonder more what reason her killers had for being so thorough. Unfortunately, I allowed the caution of my fellows to prevent me from witnessing the intruders into Lilah's lab, and so we have only vague suspicions rather than concrete evidence. Melkar is curiously reticent on the subject, urging us not to look further into the matter. He professes to trust us; is he lying, or is he afraid of what we might find? I would think after Davin's betrayal he would be eager to root out further schemes. Perhaps he already knows who the culprit is, and would rather not involve us in his own revenge? That doesn't sound like him, but I've never been a goo judge of character. Perhaps more will be revealed in future, but without the King's blessing further investigation would be unwise. I suppose we will just deal with this troll problem in new Albin. Trolls are easily dispatched with the right weapons, it will be a welcome change from dragons and nagas.
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