"Sun worshippers are most numerous.  If they cannot find a use for the Needle, they should at least be able to protect it."

"You know, Reynaud, one of these days you're going to have to explain how the heck you know these things. It's as if you've made it your business to find out everything that we might need to know on our quest. I'm just wondering why and how you're doing all this." Farden's tone is extremely mild and polite - something quite unusual from the normally blunt warrior.

Reynaud bows to Farden, which looks strange indeed from a fox.

"Knowledge is my domain.  It should come as no surprise to you that I know much of what you need, as it is just the tip of the iceberg.  I see the large and small, and remember the future almost as well as the past, which at times is a bit spotty.  Asking how I know these things is like asking how the rain knows when and where to fall, but the why is much simpler."

"I don't normally interact with humans, but I like the smell of you.  Someday I will impress by saying I knew these Triplefang heroes, and you will impress by saying you knew Reynard.  Perhaps they will doubt both of our stories," He says with a wry smile.

"But you, you will have proof."

"Furthermore, I will want your assistance again, so I had better make myself useful."

It looks like you're wrapping up your visit with Reynaud.  Is there anything else you'd like to say or ask before continuing eastward?

You bid Reynaud farewell and continue towards Kammarra.

One the first night Farden spots wildcats in the distance on his watch.  They don't attack, and they keep their distance from your fire.  In the morning Glumr sets off to track them.  You end up traveling 4 or 5 mile out of your way to the north.  Glumr watches them for a while and reports back.  Holly and Glumr decide that the wildcats are behaving normally.  Nothing to worry about.  It's good to see there are still plenty of uncorrupted wildcats out there.


You ride into Kammarra early on the third day.  This is later than you planned.   Since nothing is going on in the small Ferisedan fishing village you decide to press on instead of staying overnight.  The road from Kammarra to the coast is an excellent road.  This has little effect on the horses' speed, but the cart moves easier and you don't have to do any pathfinding.

Just as you're looking for a place to set up camp for the night you catch up to another traveller.  As luck would have it Sunna knows him.  It's Lewellis Ferisedan, a harper from the guild in Rankor Heights.

"Wow Sunna, fancy meeting you out here on the eastern road," says the harper.  "They miss your charming smile and mellifluous tunes at the Cobra.  It's a shame you had to run off.  Then again, more work for boys like me."

Lewellis beams and puffs on a pipe.  He's got himself a knowing grin, short brown hair, and close cut facial hair.  Lewellis is about Farden's age.  The harper is traveling light as most do.  He's got his knapsack, lyre, and a light sword, and is dressed in journeyman's leathers.

"I'd give you a hug if you'd climb down off that horse," Lewellis says to Sunna.

He looks around.

"I suppose that goes for the rest of you too," he jokes.

"Hey wait."  Lewellis snaps his fingers a couple times in Farden's direction.  "Farden Triplefang, right?  Right?"

Glumr is happy to run into someone familiar, even if he personally has not met the fellow before.   He sparks some of his rolled leaf and leaps down from his horse, the sweet smoke trailing behind him and a smile to greet the stranger.  He waits for Sunna or Farden to acknowledge the man before introducing himself.

Holly is wary of a traveller on the road, as are the others, but when it becomes clear that the Harper knows Sunna she relaxes and goes back to watching the world around them, her mind moving over some of the thoughts that had been with her since her trip from Pliffa. Sensing her mood perhaps. moonlight had been more attentive than usual and had stayed close to the group.

Surprised Sunna looks at the traveller.
"Lewellis Ferisedan! Is that really you?" She laughs and jumps off her horse. "What a coincidence, meeting you on the road. Where are you headed?" She's about to ask more question, but then pauses and takes a deep breath. "But let me introduce you to the others, first."

"Friends, I'd like you to meet Lewellis Ferisedan, a fellow harper. Lewellis, these are Holly, Glumr and Farden Triplefang. Your guess was right." Though she is a little surprised that Lewellis knows Farden, she doesn't show it.

"Yes, Farden's my name. But I don't believe we've been introduced before." replies Farden genially, as he dismounts.

Lewellis gives Sunna the big hug he promised.

"I'm heading to Trellor to deliver messages and bring the under-entertained masses several nights of prime music and verse.  You're off to the same place, I imagine.  Mind if we travel together?"

"Aye Farden, I've only seen you in passing in the city before today.  We harpers try to remember names and faces.  Keeps the mind sharp.  Holly, Farden, and Glumr.  You must be the Triplefang who returned the special songbook.  Very heroic!  You have our thanks."

"And who's this," he asks of your fox.

Glumr smiles "Well met my friend.  This is my friend Talita and I am Glumr.  Talita has agreed to accompany me while I walk these lands.  She is committed to fight the unnatural, as am I.  She's my friend and companion."  Glumr says, proud that one of Elhonna's creatures is with him.

"So Lewellis, I then take it you are a harper and performer to know of such deeds and likewise the acquaintance of Sunna?" Glumr says with a smile as he steps forward to greet the man.

"Two things there are, no doubt you know, to which a fox is used."
"A rooster that is bound to crow.  A crow that’s bound to roost."
"And whichsoever she espies, she tells the most unblushing lies," sings Lewellis to Talita.

"That is not to mean your small friend here is untrustworthy.  To the contrary, it speaks to the wit and charm of the fox.  Not unlike the harper, if I might praise our guild in the same breath."

Holly smiles at the comments from Lewellis, hoping that Talita, or Glumr for that matter, were not offended by the song. Holly wondered if Lewellis knew what Talita was to Glumr, and was about to ask when Moonlight slid forward and rather harshly nudged Lewellis nearly off his feet!

Holly laughed at Moonlights actions, quickly saying to the Harper, "Moonlight would like a song about him as well Lewellis, he doesn't like being left out." With that, Holly gave a low whistle to call Moonlight to her and once the horse was stood beside her again she stroked his mane and said to him in a low voice, "Now, now Moonlight, I'm sure he didn't ignore you deliberately. But nudging him like that is bad manners. I might not have any apples left now!" With that Holly held her hands out to show them empty, which had Moonlight quickly nuzzling the saddlebag where he knew she would have at least one apple for him. Laughing, Holly stroked the hair that fell between his ears and then rubbed his muzzle a little.

Glumr smiles "Aye. With men I know like her, I might find myself in poor company.  But with her, her motives are simple and pure.  I have no worries there.  She is a clever one though."

Glumr laughs as moonlight begs for attention from Lewellis.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:13, Tue 12 Nov 2013.

Lewellis sure didn't expect to get nearly bowled over by a disgruntled horse, but he acts quickly to remedy the situation.

"Bless the horse from hoof to head"
"from head to hoof, and tail to mane"
"Bless the horse, as I have said"
"from head to hoof, and back again," he sings, gesturing grandly.

"How's that, big guy?" he asks Moonlight.

"Thank the 4 gods you aren't traveling with a tiger."

Now that they had a real live bard singing at them, Farden suddenly realizes how much he appreciated the fact that Scott could only produce music. It's not that he disliked singing, but in the middle of conversation?
"It's flattering that you've heard of us Lewellis. Tell me, do you know any tales of the Tower of Sowell? That is our next destination."

Moonlight seems to approve, as he shakes his head up and down vigorously and stomps his feet a little before settling down again and pushing his head towards the apple he suspected was hidden in Holly's saddlebag.

Holly laughs, glad for a moment of respite from the worlds worries and slips her hand into the bag to pull out an apple for Moonlight, letting him gently take it from her hand before she returned to watching the world around them as the others talked with Lewellis.

Lewellis suddenly turns from jovial to somber at the mention of the tower.

"The Tower of Sowell?  Oh, it's a cursed place for sure, haunted by the unspeakable.  No one who goes there, let me be clear about this, NOT A SOUL ever returns.  Death or worse awaits."

Lewellis shakes his head in frustration.

"Sunna, you mustn't go there.  I implore you.  You are a bright and reasonable person.  How could you be drawn in by the siren song of hidden jewels?  Going to the tower is madness!  Suicide!"

'And yet we will go Harper.' Holly thinks to herself. The discussion seems a mute one from Holly's viewpoint. There seems a need, a dire need if Reynaud was to be fully believed, that if they didn't go now there would be more suffering for the clan. Holly desired like the others a chance to make a name for herself, but she also knew that the balancing of the forces within the world fell partly on her order, and she was beginning to see some of the mysteries that had originally led her onto this path of being a Druid.

Turning to Lewellis, Holly says, "We all make a free choice here Lewellis. For reasons I won't go into I will be going, as I know the others will as well. We are not asking you to join us, unless you feel like accepting a challenge that might end in all of our deaths?" Holly looked the Harper over, trying to see how he reacted to the challenge she had placed on him.

Sunna shakes her head in response to Lewellis' question about travelling together, but waits for Glumr to introduce Talita. She grins at the songs for fox and horse, but quickly turns solemn again as Lewellis asks her not to go to the tower.

She glances over at Holly as she challenges the harper.

"I don't think that it's a wise thing to bet on such a thing", she says quietly.
"Be assured, Lewellis, I chose to go there on my own free will, but as much as I appreciate your warning, I can't turn from that path now."

OOC:  Interesting coincidence that you used "turns solemn".  When I wrote "Lewellis suddenly turns from jovial to somber at the mention of the tower." I originally used solemn instead of somber and changed it.

"There is always time to change your path.  Fate has not condemned you to die so soon.  There are many things worth risking your life for, but this is not a mere risk.  This is as certain as drowning yourself or launching yourself off a high cliff.  Who could possibly benefit from your death but the forces of darkness bent on seeing our world grow a candle dimmer?"

"Surely you know as well as I do the insurmountable horrors that infest that tower.  Banshees and wraithspawn are no common shambling corpses.  I will not deny that you are a magical prodigy, dear Sunna.  Perhaps you have an acoustic trick up your sleeve, but nothing will keep them from leaching away your essence and enslaving your spirit and body separately."

Lewellis is noticeable shaken and distraught.

"You need to talk some sense into your friends.  Their quest can wait just a short while.  Go speak with Genessa, or consult an elder.  They will give you the same advice as I.  Do not go to the Tower of Sowell."

"No thank you, Holly.  I am not so foolish as to sail out to that forsaken island to have the forces of the damned consume me."

He turns to Sunna and adds.  "And shouldn't you be either.  If they must go, maybe, at the very least, you would reconsider.  I will gladly forgo my own quest and return with you to Rancor Heights if it will keep you from meeting your doom."
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:55, Wed 13 Nov 2013.

Glumr frowns.  He worries that perhaps they have misjudged the dangers of the next leg of their expedition. Thoughts of Reynard lessens the worry a bit.  Surely the wise creature would not send them off to their deaths on a quest without hope.  Of course not, he reassures himself.  The goddess Ehlonna, fate as Lewellis says, or whatever it might be called has painted a grim picture of what could come and made it clear that he has been chosen as a player in this forbidding game.

"I understand your fears Lewellis." Glumr replies to the mam "but believe me when I say that there is more here than the desires for a few gems and rich baubles that may be hidden in those ruins.  You are right in what you say.  Fate has not condemned us to die.  There are larger forces in play here and 'fate', as you say, will deliver a far darker future for our clans if we choose the safest path for ourselves. 'Fate' has shown us more than one future and our actions will greatly influence the one we arrive at.  Unfortunately for us, the right path for us is not the easy or safe one.  But it is also not a path condemned with death.  Aye it is full of danger and hardships, but the gods we follow and the determination in our hearts will guide us through to safety."

Glumr looks to Talita.  The somber mood that passed over the group has caused her to slink down and hide behind Glumr, not knowing what to expect from the tension in the air.

Lewellis continues to speak eloquently on the subject of not dying in the Tower of Sowell.  He is clearly a talented orator and has each of you doubting your planned course of action at one point or another, but in the end your resolve outweighs your fears.  You are convinced that you have prepared the tools to survive your expedition into the tower where others have failed and that laying your hands on the needle and other treasures within will help you in ways worth the peril.  Additionally, such a trial will surely harden you for even more daunting battles to come.  Lewellis finally sees that he cannot sway you and instead, somewhat morbidly, wishes you luck.

The harper stays with you when you camp that night.  Even though he shifts the tone of the evening with amusing tales form Rancor Heights and jaunty tunes, dark horrors creep into your nightmares.  No one sleeps very well.  There is wakeful company on nearly every watch shift.

Holly didn't like the mood that settled over the camp, but didn't kow how to change it and became more inwardly looking as she sometimes did. There a thought crossed her mind that she wished she had not come up with and pushed it down and away. That was something she did not want to consider.

With her watch, Holly used the time to go through the skills and spells she knew from her training that would allow her to keep the others safe in the days to come. It settled her mind to consider the benefits that Obad-Hai blessed her with, and she worked through how best to spend her time and energy. When the dawn broke, Holly was ready to prepare for another day.

The night passes awfully slow for Sunna. There's so much to think about. Lewellis seems so certain about their fate, but Reynard told them that they could change something important with their visit to the tower. But will they be able to find what they are looking for?
Every time she manages to drift into sleep she awakes only a short time later with the feeling of having escaped death only barely in a dream.

Once the sun rises Sunna gets up. There's no reason trying to get some more sleep now.
"Morning", she whispers to Holly as to not disturb the others in their sleep, and begins to prepare breakfast.


OOC: Solemn was the first word that came to my mind and I didn't have the time to think about it twice :)

The bard's continuous harping on the dangers of the trip was greatly irritating to Farden. He had already decided to carry out the job, and having someone trying to stir up his fears doesn't sit well with him. Only politeness keeps him from decking the fellow.

When morning comes,he greets the others and sets about swiftly preparing breakfast and breaking camp. The sooner they're on the road, the less time he'll have to tolerate Lewellis' company.