Sunna has spent the winter listening to and memorizing her father, Baldvin's countless stories.  Her mind is simply bursting with the tales, fables, and myths of the Triplefang, some of which she has adapted to new songs.  For the most part these songs are sung to simple familiar melodies to make them easier for all to remember the most important of Triplefang knowledge, but there are a few that Sunna has crafted into dazzling masterpieces.  Her occasional concerts have drawn crowds not just from the village of Volge and surrounding farms, but from further afield.  The reviews are rave.  As the captivating harper's fame grows, so too do the number of visitors to Volge.  None can remember a winter when Volge's longhouses have been so full.

After one such concert a burly wild-bearded man approaches Sunna alone once she is away from any crowds.  The man has become a regular at the concerts the winter.  It's clear that he is a devotee of the harper and her music, even smitten with her.

"Pardon me, lady singer," he says nervously with a bit of a stammer in his otherwise loud and clear voice.  "I enjoyed your songs, erm, performance and stories a lot."

Sunna smiles and nods politely.

"You are as pretty as your songs, and..." he blurts out, almost instantly blushing.

"No wait.  I mean, well, it's about some words I heard."  The man of the wilds scratches his jawline and composes himself a little.

"In that one song you said 'Asking how I know these things is like asking how the rain knows where to fall.'  I've heard that before.  A friend says it.  Where did you heard it from?"

"Did the guy have fur and four legs?" he adds in a more hushed tone.  Normally a strange question.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:13, Wed 13 Sept 2017.

For a moment Sunna just looks at the man, puzzled. Is he talking of Reynard? And if so, did the fox really speak to other people as well?
"Red hair, with just a bit of white at the end?

But who are you, if I might ask? I saw you quite often around here lately, but somehow I didn't get your name. I'm Sunna, but I guess you already heard that." She grins.
"You are a very attentive listener. It was indeed a rather strange friend who told me about the rain."

The man blushes when Sunna calls him attentive.

"My name is Ragnar Triplefang, a humble hunter Miss," he says with an awkward bow.

The longhouse isn't the best place to have a private conversation and Ragnar looks like he'd be more at home outdoors anyhow, so Sunna changes into her winter boots and the two go for a night walk in the light snow.

"I've been down Crim way for three years give or take.  One day I was following this critter's trail that been coming and going with disappearances in between.  That's strange enough, isn't it?  All other animals that walk leave tracks everywhere they go.  I'm real persisting-like, so eventually I found that fox and followed him.  I wasn't gonna let him out of my sight until I seen how he disappears or leaves no trail or whatever he does.  I followed him for a few hours.  Then I got too close and he turns to me and says 'Hey, quit following me.'  or something like that but more poetical like he says it."

His eyes get big as he looks right at Sunna.

"What's this?!?  Is it a man turned into a fox?  I can't take that advice I gotta follow this man-fox twice as hard now."

"Well, the weeks passed by and I guess he got used to me always being on his tail.  Then we were like friends.  I did him some favors and he told me things.  It were sometimes stuff no man who turned into a fox would know.  You know?"

It takes a while before Ragnar's story gets around to the here and now.

"So he gives me a real simple direction.  'Go North' he says.  I wasn't sure where I was going at first, maybe Pliffa.  Now I know.  He sent me north to you, Miss Sunna.  Gotta be."

Sunna nods to Ragnar as he introduces himself and then listens to his story. His conclusion that Reynard sent him to her makes her wonder what the fox is up to. But he's a friend and his advice has always been helpful.

"He knows a lot", the young bard agrees. "And I could need a hunter on my travels. Especially if he's the friend of a certain friend. If that 's what you had in mind, that is. But I have to warn you, the places where we go can be dangerous." She looks at Ragnar questioningly.

Ragnar nods.  Danger doesn't appear to bother him.  A hearty adventurer indeed!

Around noon two days later Holly arrives in Volge with urgent news.  She contemplates going directly to Elena or Heinrich, but decides to speak with her close friend Sunna first.

Sunna is a bit surprised to see Holly, somehow she would have expected her to show up in a few weeks or so. Still, she is happy to see her friend. "Nice to see you, Holly. You look a bit in a hurry. What's up?"

"News. Which as usual is not good. Can we go somewhere to talk. Alone." Holly indicates Ragnar, and wants to take Sunna off to one side away from prying ears and eyes before expanding on what she needs to pass on. Not knowing Ragnar, Holly wonders for a moment if he is the guide, before shaking her head. "Its important".

Sunna nods. "Sure, Holly. Uhm, meet Ragnar, he's a friend of mine and a fine tracker besides. Ragnar, this is Holly, a good friend of mine. I hope you don't mind, we have some business to discuss. I'll be back shortly. There's still some ale in the longhouse, it's on me, alright?"

Sunna turns towards Holly fully now. "I hope it's not bad news. Lets go for a walk, shall we?"

Holly takes Sunna for a walk, far enough away from the buildings that no-one can overhear them, and sets Moonlight on watch to warn if anyone comes close. Sitting down on the ground, ignoring the chill that stills exists there and looks up at Sunna, "I am afraid it is bad news. My colleagues have informed me that three armies are now on the march, thankfully we don't believe through Triplefang lands, but they will sweep all before them. There is nothing that can be done to stop them, which is why I need to try and convince the Elders to get out of their way if they do move through our lands. That is not going to be easy, although I have already called upon the church of Pelor for aid in passing on the message to those around us. The main threat seems to be to the lands to the east, and for that I must say I am slightly grateful. The undead threat we tried to slow down, and the goblins are moving up the east. The third threat might be anywhere, as no news has arrived yet." Holly takes a deep breath, wondering how much more bad news she needs to tell.

"We need to follow them. We need to find out why they travel north, and find out what is going on. There is a suspicion they are working together, in which case their may be more behind this than we thought."

"I need your help in convincing the Elders to stand aside if it comes to battle. I also need you to come with me and our little band to find out what is going on. It might mean a trip to see the dwarves, but may take us well outside the clan lands. As names in the Tome of Legends, I believe we can do that, and get back. Will you join me?"

Sunna sits down near Holly and listens to what her friend has to say with growing unease. "Of course I'll help you to convince the Elders. And I want to find out what's going on, too.

Do you have any idea as to what might be going on? Why the two armies should work together? What there destination might be?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:35, Wed 25 Oct 2017.

"They are probably not working together, but heading in the same direction. They seem to want to get to the World Tree, Yggdrasil. I don't even know if we can get to it, but the armies seem to believe they can. We have used transportation gates to the dwarves and a desert location full of lizards, so perhaps they know of another such tunnel that they can use to get to Yggdrasil. If we can come back to the elders with news of what is going on, then perhaps the tribes can gather and survive somehow. I for one do not want to live in a land ruled by goblins, or the undead." Holly felt a shiver pass over her at the thought. Sunna could probably understand that feeling, having suffered by the actions of undead spirits.

"I have little hope in getting the tribes to act together. Too many are like Mord, and will want to wade in with sword swinging. If they do that, they will die. I will try my best, and use the time to perhaps find someone who knows the way to Yggdrasil. That someone might be in the dwarven lands, or right under my nose. I'm hoping it is not Jacob or one of his assosciates, as that might be a problem." Especially for me, Holly thinks to herself.

"To the World Tree", Sunna echoes, sounding a bit unbelievingly. "Even if they don't work together, it does not sound good to picture them... there."

"So, the armies are too big even for all clans combined you say? The action we would want the clans to take is that of survival, not war, did I get that right? That would indeed be difficult."

"We do not know where exactly the World Tree is, but we assume that at least two, maybe even three, armies are headed there. To gain control of... I think I may be missing something here. What do they have to do there? Is the only option for us to survive or might there be another, perhaps more dangerous, path, maybe trying to stop what they are there for? I do not want any goblin or undead ruling... anything than themselves, either." Sunna shudders thinking about a land ruled by undead.

"I have been told that the armies on the move are capable of destroying anything in their path. I haven't seen them, so can't comment, but my sources were confident they would sweep anything except one of the other two. I would have thought they'd want to keep their forces together until they get to the World Tree. I am no tactician, but that is what I would do." Holly doesn't like the idea of letting them simply walk into the vicinity of the World Tree, but she can't see anyway of stopping them.

Holly considers Sunna's last statement long and hard before answering, "I am not even sure a small party like our little band of cousins can get there, but I am sure a large group won't. I don't know what we can do when we get there. Perhaps take out the leaders before anything happens, or disrupt any of their work against the World Tree. We might be Legends, but I don't know if we can make a difference. If we aren't there, then we have no chance of making a difference. I think we need to call in Adiel and get Mord here. While we wait we can talk to the Elders and see if we can't get traction on having them hold back."

"If the World Tree is the one I know only legends about, three armies might have a meaning, too. It feeds off three wells, it says, the Old Home, Wisdom and Time or Fate. And if it is destroyed the world will end. Or, there will be a lot of war and people dying until the world tree renews, somehow. This is what you were meaning when you wanted the Elders to wait, so that the clans may survive? Still, I can't believe that they would go there and try that without some plan for the time when the World Tree is broken. Just wreaking havoc would kill them, too, I'd guess, so I think either they have something up their sleeve or someone told them something to believe in to get this done. Fir a reason I still don't understand.

Anyway, you are right. We have to get Adiel and Mord here and talk to the Elders as soon as possible."

What would you like to do first?  Talk to Heinrich and Elana?  Go to Silvergate to fetch Adiel?  Go to Crim to get Mord?  Maybe send a message another way?  Some other plan?

Sunna thinks for a moment about how to get everyone together again.
"Do you think we could send a message to Mord and Adiel, asking them to meet with us? Maybe meet at Silvergate, so we only have to get a message to Mord. Then talk to Heinrich and Elana and then get on our way?"

"I would rather than Adiel here, and perhaps Coal and Snow as well to support us. Adiel is not far away, and will allow us to plan our approach. We can ask Coal to try and communicate with her spirits to find out if they can add anything. With you and Adiel present we should be able to present a good discussion to Heinrich and Elana. A messenger to Mord to going to take longer, so meeting us in Goldenpoint is probably better. We seem to need to head North from Volge, even without any further evidence of how to get the World Tree." Holly says. Sunna is so far proviing very useful in her insights, but getting Coal and Snow involved might get them more intelligence they could use with dealing with the Elders.

Snow's right here in Volge.  Would you like to recruit her before or after traveling to Silvergate?

How do you want to send a message to Mord?

To speed things along a little we'll say you left for Silvergate with haste to find Adiel.  Ragnar insists on joining the two of you.  Holly's only just met the hunter, but already she can tell deeply loyal to Sunna.  Sunna tells Holly that Ragnar is a friend of Reynard and that you can trust him.  Along the way you mention that you're gathering a couple of your cousins to go on an important journey north.

"North you say, Miss Holly?  That's exactly where I'm to go too.  North." he says.
(I will leave Ragnar to Sunna to run for the most part from here on.)

It's a very long day's ride to Silvergate, so you arrive a good deal after sunset.  You check into the Crow Inn for the night and look for Adiel in the morning.  Sunna finds out, right off the bat, that Adiel has been using the blacksmith's forge on occasion and you run into him at the smith's before noon.

"Remember to keep the details quiet until we can get to speak to Adiel alone. We don't want to scare people unnecessarily. I'd rather the Elders take control before panic can set in. We get Adiel to finish his business here and we get back to Volge." Holly says. Being without Moonlight just feels very, very wrong, especially after spending the whole of the winter together. Holly knew Moonlight could take care of himself, but was still worried about sending him off to bring Mord back. Holly just hoped that Mord would take Moonlights appearance without her as being important enough to follow him back to Volge.

A little bookkeeping.

Before the winter I'm going to assume you split up some of the coins.  All four of you took 1,000gp and 10,000sp.  I'm also going to deduct 2,200 silver to buy Ragnar and Ros horses, saddles, saddlebags, bit, and bridle so they won't slow the party down.  Mord now has the Buckler +1 and the leather coat +2 natural armor.  You gave the spirit realm book to Coal.  I've update the cart item and your character sheets.

Sunna nods to Holly. "Of course."

She waves at Adiel. "Hey, cousin! Good to see you. Are you busy right now or would you like to take a short walk with us?"

Using long blacksmith's tongs, Adiel holds a small container a little way from the forge. At first, it seems to be empty, but closer inspection shows that he is slowly cooling a small piece of glass.

Looking up, he smiles. He's clearly gained a few pounds over the winter, as Holly already knows. "Hello, cousins! How long have you been in Silvergate?" He eyes his piece of glass speculatively. "This is just about cooled enough for me to come with you. Give me a few moments." He carefully sets down the container, dumps the glass into a sturdy cloth, and wraps it up for safe transportation, and to finish cooling it gradually. Finally, he starts to clean up his tools. "I've learned a lot this winter. How about you?"

"We arrived here yesterday. Too tired to go looking for you that evening, it was a long trip." Sunna glances at the bit of glass. "This is no simple piece for a window, is it?"

"Well, if you count listening to the stories my father tells as learning, yes, I did that a lot." She grins, but there is pride in her voice. "I think I now know all of them."

Once Adiel seems ready to go Sunna leads him and Holly out of town for a walk. "Seems as if it was Holly who learned the very... interesting things", she says on the way, "that's why we're here. We need your help." That's about as much Sunna tells in way of explanation until they reach a quiet spot outside where she gestures to Holly to tell what's up.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:36, Sun 12 Nov 2017.

Holly takes a walk, far enough away from the buildings that no-one can overhear them. Sitting down on the ground, ignoring the chill that stills exists there and looks up at Sunna, "I am afraid it is bad news. My colleagues have informed me that three armies are now on the march, thankfully we don't believe through Triplefang lands, but they will sweep all before them. There is nothing that can be done to stop them, which is why I need to try and convince the Elders to get out of their way if they do move through our lands. That is not going to be easy, although I have already called upon the church of Pelor for aid in passing on the message to those around us. The main threat seems to be to the lands to the east, and for that I must say I am slightly grateful. The undead threat we tried to slow down, and the goblins are moving up the east. The third threat might be anywhere, as no news has arrived yet." Holly takes a deep breath, wondering how much more bad news she needs to tell.

"We need to follow them. We need to find out why they travel north, and find out what is going on. There is a suspicion they are working together, in which case their may be more behind this than we thought."

"I need your help in convincing the Elders to stand aside if it comes to battle. I also need you to come with me and our little band to find out what is going on. It might mean a trip to see the dwarves, but may take us well outside the clan lands. As names in the Tome of Legends, I believe we can do that, and get back. Will you join me?"

"I have been told that the armies on the move are capable of destroying anything in their path. I haven't seen them, so can't comment, but my sources were confident they would sweep anything except one of the other two. I would have thought they'd want to keep their forces together until they get to the World Tree. I am no tactician, but that is what I would do." Holly doesn't like the idea of letting them simply walk into the vicinity of the World Tree, but she can't see anyway of stopping them.

"Do you know of anyone who has visited Yggdrasil?"

Adiel shivers slightly at the power of the name. Yggdrasil! The World Tree itself. He nods his agreement, without thinking. If they could make it there... well, anything would be possible!


"Well, the most famous person to travel to the World Tree was Elhonna." he smiles broadly. "It is said that she became a goddess there."

He sits in silence for a moment, letting that sink in. He then begins speaking smoothly and rhythmically, a memorized tale. "Yggdrasil. The oldest story of all. Before the beginning of this world, this plane, there was Yggdrasil. Ancient and unchanging, it birthed every plane that is, and every plane that ever was." Adiel takes a breath, his mouth solemn, his eyes excited. "The spirit realm, the land of the gods, this physical world, and many others, all spring from the World Tree. It is older than all of existence."

"Those who journey there may accomplish incredible things. Every plane, every world, has a manifestation of the World Tree. In our world, it is at the northernmost point, beyond the land of giants. If the world ends, it is said that it will be at the Tree, and a new world will be born from the ashes."

Adiel pauses for effect, his story over. "Needless to say, three armies headed for the tree is concerning. What do they know that we don't? I do know that going by sea will be impossible, but... other ways might not be."

Sunna listens to Adiel and nodsto his words. "It might be coincidence, but we have three armies going there and the Tree is said to feed off three wells. Maybe they want to do something to the wells, destroy the Tree. But we have to get there to find out."

"You really know a way to get there?"

"I would suspect they want to corrupt the Tree and the worlds. They could do that from the wells, and the Tree itself will change the worlds to their whim. Not a pleasant prospect for us, or anyone else." Holly listens to Adiel and Sunna for a while, letting her mind digest the information both are passing on. Some of it adds to Holly's own understanding and the teachings from other Druids, some is confirmation of her own thinking.

Sunna nods. "It would be interesting to know if the three armies have a common plan and possibly a common leader - or if it is possible to divide them somehow, make them go after each others throats. But I'm thinking too far ahead. First we have to get there. And fetch Mord before that."

"Moonlight will get him back to Volge, which is where I think we should be heading as soon as Adiel has finished any business in town. There is no rush Adiel, as I expect Mord to take a couple of days getting back. After complaining to Moonlight all the way back about running away from a good fight!" Holly smiles, imagining perhaps the conversation Mord would be having about the injustice of following Moonlight back to VOlge without a word of explanation.

Adiel nods. "I'd also like to talk with Reynard about this, before we go."

Sunna chuckles at the comment about Mord complaining all the way.

"That's a good idea", Sunna says to Adiel. Reynard is always interesting to talk to and he knows so many things.

"Well, he sent you a new friend, so perhaps we should swing by his little cottage on the way back to Volge. We might even catch up with Mord as well." Holly says, considering that the trip would likely prove useful.

First some timeline talk.  It's about 90 miles from Volge to Crim.  Unencumbered as he is, Moonlight could make the trip in two days under optimal weather conditions.  Late winter/ early spring snow and melt is less than optimal, so we have to allow at least another day, so on day 3 Moonlight will arrive in Crim.  It took Holly, Sunna, and Ragnar a long hard full day and change ride to make it to Silvergate in one day.  Thankfully, they had a mostly clear road to travel.  They met up with Adiel around noon on day 2.

Silvergate to Crim is longer than Volge to Crim and your horses will have normal encumbrance so it'll take you about 7 days to ride down there.  If Moonlight and Holly are on the same wavelength you'll probably run into Mord making his way back to Volge on the way.  Worst case (and unlikely) scenario, Mord will arrive in Volge about the time the rest of you arrive in Crim.

Is that the plan?

If we meet Mord on the way or afterwards just means a little longer for him to wait to join us. I think it might be a good idea to visit our friend Reynard, in case he can help.

OK then.  There's still plenty of daylight left, and it's a long ride, so you decide to leave ASAP.  You stop by Elder Eloy's to arrange food and water supplies for the journey and head out.  You're on the road to Volge for a while until you clear the forest.  Once you make it out to clear grasslands you turn southeast and ride through the wet, shallow snow.  Ragnar points out a relatively dry and clear hill on which to make camp for the night.

Sunna nods to Ragnar. "Looks like a nice place." She helps with building up camp as usual.

"So, Mord the Mighty is with you, usually?" Ragnar asks, after a while of silent working.

"I think Holly knows him best, as she traveled with him before I met her. Though I do know some of the stories that are told."

It's not the most pleasant weather for travel.  The terrain alternates between slippery snow and deep, wet mud.  There's a cold, light sleet shower on the second morning, but otherwise the skies are clear.

You had expected to meet up with Mord around day 3 of your trip to Crim, but to your surprise Moonlight has Sunna's sister with him instead.

In reply to Sunna (msg # 39):

"Mord the Mighty! I think you and Mord will get along fine Ragnar. I've known Mord for a number of years, since I arived in Volge as a young girl really. My cousin enjoys a little fight now and again, and our little adventures seem to provide him enough chances to show off his skills, so usually he is with us. He wanted to keep his axe sharp over the winter, so he has been fighting the goblins to the south. I have sent a messenger to ask him to come back. Hopefully he has grown bored with that little warm up and will join us at Volge." Holly had quickly accepted Ragnar, as the man was already proving useful. Talking about Mord was something else Holly was content to do, but hoped she didn't bore Ragnar and the others with tales of some of their early adventures in Volge.

Ragnar enjoys listening to the stories of Hollyand Mord. Even when Sunna chimes in here and there to "correct" one of them to the version that is now going around in the barracks, usually involving more goblins, more blood and more head-crushing.

"Ros? What are you doing here?" Sunna looks clearly confused and not very pleased to see her sister right now. "Did Mord sent you?"

Ros herself looks quite pleased with the situation. "No, I sent myself", she answers with a grin, "I thought I might get to join the fun, too."

Sunna frowns and is about to say something when Ros quickly and, almost apologetically, adds: "No, really, it was my idea, but I know where to fetch Mord if need be. See, there's this huge golin army up east and Tora wants to get to it quickly, find out what they're doing."

"Oh, Adiel, I think Tora wants you to join her, too. She said something about needing you and a lot of archers."

"Anyway, Mord did not want to follow Moonlight because there were goblins to be smashed. Less talking, more fighting, you know him. So I volunteered to come here. I know where he's headed and if there are things to be fought I think it won't be a problem to get him here fast."

"Damn him to the hells! We need to stop Tora and the others. If they take on the goblins they will lose, and we will have lost Mord." Holly says on hearing that Mord has ignored Moonlight and stayed to fight. The damning could have been meant for Tora, the other clansmen and women or Mord. For her it was meant for Mord. Holly hoped Moonlight was making his life a little miserable whilst he ignored Holly's call.

"Ros, thank you for coming here and finding us." Holly says, trying to stay calm when she knew she might be losing several cousins if they didn't act fast. "The horde they have spotted is bigger than they think, and if Mord goes rushing in the others will follow him. We need to stop him, so Tora can take the details of the size of the army into account."

"Ros, how far away is Mord, Tora and the others? If we leave immediately can we get to them before Mord can get into a fight? If we can't make it, we will lose more than just an army. We lose a chance to stop whatever is going on in the world."

Ros blinks several times in surprise. "Even bigger than what Tora said? 10 goblins to one Triplefang, reserves already counted in."

"Let me think a moment. They went east the day Moonlight arrived..."

Ros tries to make a rough estimate on how far away Mord currently is.

"What's going on in the world? Isn't that army of thousends of goblins enough? What else is going on? I don't mind talking on the way..."


OoC: the player is currently a bit at a loss as to where exactly Mord might be... and bad at math, too

Adiel looks worried. "That... is troubling. I wonder what Tora has in mind. She's clever, but those odds... that's a challenge, even for her."

"Do you think we still have time to visit our... unusual friend? His knowledge could save lives, too."

Here's the game map of Triplefang (and some Ferisedan) lands:

http://triplefang.yoyo-pete.co...hp?id=map.triplefang


and a timeline to help ward off confusion.

Day 1 - Sunna, , Holly, and Ragnar ride hard to Silvergate.
        Moonlight leaves Volge bound for Crim.
Day 2 - Party meets up with Adiel around noon.  Party leaves for Crim.
Day 3 - Moonlight arrives in Crim before sundown.  Ros and Moonlight head north.
Day 4 - Tora's warband (including Mord) head east on foot at dawn traveling light. (covering about 12 miles per day due to bad terrain)
Day 6 - Party meets up with Ros and Moonlight in central southern Triplefang lands.  ETA at Crim Day 8 (4 days behind Tora's warband)

On horseback with the cart and equipment the party is traveling 15 mile per day, so you'll only be making up 3 miles a day assuming you know where to go.  You'll need to find a faster way to catch up with Tora's warband.

One note: I screwed up and forgot to calculate bad terrain (snow and mud) for Moonlight, so he got to Crim much faster than he should've.  My bad.  Only helps the party and the plot, so I won't recon it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:28, Wed 22 Nov 2017.

"Hm, it's not as easy as I thought", Ros says, drawing some lines into the dirt. "See, they are going there and we are here and with the cart..." She trails off and frowns.

"If one of us was able to fly..." Sunna muses, "or to send a bird with a message.

Holly looked slowly over to Sunna, again wondering whether her cousin could read her mind. "Cousin, you had the same thoughts as me. I cannot allow Tora and Mord to die needlessly, when there will be a better time to let them potentially sacrifice themselves for the greater good. First thing in the morning Moonlight and myself will make off. I think that you all should get back to finding Reynard and then back to Volge. We will meet you there, either with or without Mord."

"Ros, thank you for finding your way to us. You might have just saved many lives. Thank you." Holly said with honesty. Without her information Holly might have lost her cousins in a worthless fight against an enemy not intending to stop moving north.

"We sleep and I leave in the morning. I will need all the rest I can get as Moonlight and myself will not be stopping once we start. Sunna and Adiel, you know what we need from Reynard. See if he can help. I will meet you back in Volge." With that, Holly gets up, intending to spend some time with Moonlight before sleeping.

Adiel nods in agreement, appreciating the cleverness of the plan. He wishes he had a way to communicate with Holly from afar, with some sort of magic. There are forces in the universe that travel so much faster than horse or even bird, and they could convey a message... but harnessing those powers, magical or otherwise, for communication would be an enormous project in itself.

"Well, now that Sunna and Holly have come up with a plan that solves all our immediate problems in one stroke, we just need to go to Reynard."

"But would it be quicker to meet up in Goldenpoint or Gollag?"

Sunna smiles at Holly. "I'd hoped that you'd know of a way."

"I think Gollag might be better, it's further east than Goldenpoint." Sunna says thoughtfully. "And Reynard is of course an option!"

"Mmm, I bet you did cousin", Holly said with a smile to Sunna.

"I think you need to speak with Reynard. He might be able to help. He has already sent you Ragnar, so he seems to know something is going on. Find out what he knows and then return to Volge. I will bring Mord there. We need to speak to the elders of Volge to get us access to the other Elders. I want to try and stop the tribes wasting their time against the enemy armies and I can only do that by attempting to explain things to the Elders. I think my trip out to Tora will potentially help that. If I can't stop them attacking the goblins then I will have their bodies as evidence. If I stop them, then I should have proof the goblins are heading out of our lands. I might even be able to convince Tora now is the time to destroy the remaining goblins left in the woods. I won't know until I get there."

"But for now, I need sleep. I will take the last watch, and will then take off. You all pay a visit to Reynard. I am sure Ros will find it interesting if nothing else. Then back to Volge. I will see you as soon as I can get Mord there." Holly knew what she was intending to do was something she had never done before. She knew she could take on the form of a large bird for quite a while, but she had never attempted to do it for as long as she might need it to last to get to Tora and Mord in a day or so. That challenge would wait for the morning, tonight she would need to consider the words needed to convince Tora.

"Ok, we meet in Volge then. And first to Reynard. Do you need some ideas as to how to convince Tora? I think I could write something down before your watch." Sunna searches her pack for some paper and a pen. "We could even ask for a meeting with the Elders in Volge before you are there, explain things to them, until you get there with Mord, too."

"It sounded as if Tora wanted to gather some more information first", Ros says thoughtfully, "she was rather upset that she had no idea what the goblins are up to and how they were able to avoid notice with such a big army. I doubt that she will just rush into a fight. But I don't think that she will just watch them for a long while, either."

"As far as we know they are headed north, far north. So our warriors will just have to watch them - and wait - until they are out of our lands. And think of a strategy what to do while the goblins are away." Sunna looks at Holly. "There has to be something we could do here.

"Some would say we burn their forest down around what is left, so they don't have a home to come back to, assuming they come back. I cannot condone that, but we might be able to inflict enough damage on them and their spawning grounds. If they succeed in what they plan I don't think it will make much difference what the tribes do here, but I'd rather give them something worthwhile to do back here, or Tora and others might take it into their heads to follow the army." Holly said, wondering whether the burning of the forest would change the balance so much. Shaking her head, Holly could find no justification to convince herself, so let the thought slip back into her mind.

"Write your suggestions Sunna, and I will take them with me. If Tora is waiting, I will likely find a fertile ground for what we need to do. It galls me as a Triplefang not to punish them for their trespass, but I fear we would lose too much in taking them on. That, and we don't know where any other enemies might be lerking. Sunna, I think you need to tell Ros the full story. We may need her help at some point, and I'd rather her know what we are looking at."

Sunna, please write the gist of your note either here or in a PM, and make a diplomacy check.  Make sure to apply your new level, skills, and increased CHR to the roll.

Taking to the skies is an excellent option.  Not only is the eagle fast (80 move) but you're not hampered by the poor ground conditions.  Even better, you can find Tora's warband more easily from the skies.  According to the rules an 80 move animal can cover 64 miles per day.  You expect to find them in two days if there are no complications.

Two days is also how long it takes the party to reach Crim.  There they pick up some news.  Only a smattering of the reserve warriors are left at the barracks in Crim.  Tora took most of them with her, which is unprecedented.  Stories of the size of the goblin army are even more staggering than Ros led you to believe, although there might be some exaggeration.  Scores of hundreds of goblins!  It doesn't sound like Tora really has any sort of chance.  Luckily she's smart enough not to attack them head on.

Evidently a message has been sent by hawk to Volge.  No one is sure of the exact wording, but it was to alert Heinrich of the goblin army's march and asking him to muster an army of at least 100 warriors with as many archers as possible and put Adiel in charge of it.  Tora suggests they head east to Gollag and south to slow the goblins until her warband can rendezvous with them.  They are surprised to see Adiel here at all, and saddened that he doesn't have an army with him, just 3 friends.

Scottfard is still in town.  He's not very talkative, but wants to come with you to see Reynard.  Glumr went with Tora to fight the goblins.

Holly woke the next morning and prepared herself for the next days. The morning watch was one she enjoyed, spending some time preparing her spells for the day, and spending time with Moonlight. With the others set off for Crim, Holly secured the Dun's riding gear so it wouldn't get trapped in its travels with Moonlight who Holly had instructed to head towards Volge and the tree there.

With minimum of kit that would transform with her, Holly looked to the morning and became an Eagle. Beating her wings hard to move, Holly set her sights on the far distant east and moved that way whilst gaining height in the thermals that were beginning to rise with the day.

When she felt the strain of maintaining her form after spending hours in the sky, Holly came down to eat and prepare the next transformation. Checking the position of the sun, Holly was sure she had spent a good seven hours in the air which was something she had never done before. After the rest, Holly takes to the air again and this time takes more awareness of her surroundings and what lay ahead. Holly feels the need to get to Tora and Mord quickly and contemplates flying into the night, perhaps in the form of an owl to make up more time, but decides she needs the rest and as darkness begins to fall she tries to make out a good location for her to rest the night. Specifically looking for an expanse of thicket of holly to protect her whilst she slept, Holly kept up the watching of the ground below her.

Sunna writes down what she knows of Yggdrasil - all the legends she has heard of. She suggests to wait and watch the goblins, maybe prepare bridges to slow them down without being noticed, but to avoid a direct conflict. They will need every Triplefang for the days to come, to find out what's really going on. She suggests that Holly should mention possible plans of the three armies, maybe Tora can find out about the other two, especially the unknown one, instead of marching against the goblins?

OOC: rolled a 15 for diplomacy (CHR + skill + bonus from sense motive)

On the way Sunna explains the whole story to both Ros, adding her thoughts about possible plans of the three armies as well.

Sunna asks around in Crim if anyone has word of more strange things going on. She has heard of another army moving somewhere but wants to know if it's only rumors or someone exaggerating the goblins even more. And if anyone has an idea how the goblins managed to sneak such a big army almost into Triplefang lands.

Adiel winces at the term "scores of hundreds". He hopes against hope that the number is accurate, not just the biggest army size the counters and messengers could wrap their heads around. He does attempt to help Sunna with the note, not matching her natural talent but offering some reminders of formal persuasive technique.

21:37, Today: Adiel rolled 19 using 1d20+8.  Diplomacy (Aid Another).

Afterward, he is rather silent as they prepare to meet with Reynard, feeling foolish. He had thought he understood, the goblins' preparations for war. He assumed they were preparing to attack the clan lands. But they seem to have their sights on something greater, something he doesn't even understand properly. He doesn't like feeling so ignorant.

"Tora mentioned that we are outnumbered 10:1, even counting the reserves", Ros explains quietly to the group, "and even she was not certain if that is entirely correct."

"What could the goblins want that is better, from their point of view, than getting rid of us?" she asks, frowning.

She is looking forward to meeting Reynard. But those knowing her a bit better notice that she's also nervous, not only because of the meeting but with the big things going on.

"And who had the idea of working together with them?" Ragnar adds while counting his arrows. He shakes his head.

Sunna, Adiel, Ros, Ragnar, and Scottfard set off to talk to their mysterious talking fox benefactor.  Although it is strangely hidden in a valley in the woods, they have no trouble finding Reynard's cottage.  Several knocks on the door and an overabundance of patience yield no results.  Either the fox is not home or not answering.  Eventually the party's stares fall on Ragnar.

"What's everyone lookin' at me for?" Ragnar asks, but the answer dawns on him as soon as he asks.  "Oh right.  Find the fox."

The hunter circles the cottage a few times poking at snow, mud, old sticks, and mats of long fallen decaying leaves.  He determines a set of tracks to be the freshest of many old sets and leads the party along it.  Adiel and Sunna notice that Ragnar's tracking techniques vary wildly from Glumr's, but you accept whatever works.

For more than an hour, but less that two Ragnar leads you through the wet, cold woods.  Scottfard summons up a calm, pleasant song that fits well with the spirit of the forest and makes your travels more pleasant.  It even seems to help Ragnar focus.

"And here we are," he says.  "End of the line."

Everyone looks around.  You're still in the woods, but Reynard is nowhere to be seen, heard, or smelled.

"Tracks just end here.  See?"

On close examination you can tell he's right.

"Did he hop into a tree?  Do foxes even *do* that?" asks Ros.

Ragnar shrugs.  "This is something about our fox friend.  He does this.  He's not so easy to follow.  Does he fly or float?  Does he turn into a ghost fox, or just disappear and reappear someplace else?  Dunno."

"So what do we do?"

"Well, we can wait here, or someplace else for him to reappear."

You decide to go back to the cottage and wait for him inside where you'll be sheltered and can start a fire.  This time you knock at the door more as a formality before entering than to see if Reynard is there, but to your surprise this time the fox answers, slipping out the special wooden flap you had made for him at the base of the door.

"Oh hello Ragnar, I see you found The Legends.  Half of them, at least.  Aren't you missing The Strong and The Wise?" says the fox in perfect if accented clan tongue.

Ragnar blushes. "Yeah, well... Uhm. Holly went to fetch Mord, because Mord is out to find a big goblin army, you see... uhm..." He looks around for help.

"There are strange things going on", Sunna says, "I think you might have noticed. There's a big goblin army to the east walking north and two others, one undead, one unknown yet, with probably the same destination: the World Tree. And we wondered if you might have an idea as to how we can get there, preferably before the armies get there.
There's no use in trying to fight them ,there are too many of them."

You enter the cottage.   The fireplace is already burning warmly, bathing the sparse interior of the cottage in a welcoming glow.  There are now a couple of mismatched chairs facing the fireplace now.  One is built around a sizable wooden box with a padded seat, low arm rests and a partially reclined back.  The other looks like it belongs at a table in a school or church.  it has no arms and a high back with what might be a starburst or rough symbol of Pelor carved out of the top part of the chair's wooden back.  Ragnar walks over and slumps into the padded chair.  Renard sits on his haunches between Ragnar and the fireplace.  He nods at Ragnar's explanation of where Holly and Mord are.


"Two armies of Undead," the fox corrects Sunna.  "But they are more different than alike.  One very strong, one less so.  One born of blood and an immortal curse, the other born of dance and music, a haunting melody, percussion of dry bones."

"The Journey to Yggdrasil is an important step for you.  Maybe someday you will take me there.  There are so many paths to The Tree of Life.  You could say it's at the very center of all things.  Yet the gods put men and goblins far away from the tree - a distance to match their fleeting mortality.  I'm sure you have ideas of your own on how to get there.  Why don't you suggest methods of getting to Yggdrasil?   I will give you advice and warnings about your potential travels."

Before you can get down to business Reynard speaks up again.

"Do you happen to have any of those violet berries that grow in the winter near the big river that splits your land?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:12, Tue 26 Feb 2019.

Adiel bows respectfully as the fox greets them. He is silent for a moment, not sure how to address the strange being, and then decides to try a title that fits the legends... if Reynard is who and what he suspects. "Father Reynard, it's an honor as always. I... hadn't thought much about how to reach the tree, other than marching north by land. I don't think we have a way to travel by air, and going by sea is impossible."

He ponders Reynard's question about the violet berries, thinking about what sorts of plants grow near the Ventach River. He remembers the area well, smiling slightly at the memory of the first time he saw the river. It had seemed so massive, to a child's eyes! And the beautiful Goldenpoint bridge... it had proved to him that the human mind could conquer anything.

08:48, Today: Adiel rolled 27 using 1d20+16.  Knowledge (Geography).
08:50, Today: Adiel rolled 30 using 1d20+10.  Knowledge (Nature).

Am I right to assume the rolls were about the berries?

The winter berries are common around Silvergate, Volge, and Goldenpoint.  They are tart, not as sweet as many berries, but they don't need to be.  The mere fact that they are available in winter when few other food sources are gets them consumed and the seeds spread by animal feces.  Children eat them and they are used as bait in animal traps.  Adiel contemplates Reynard asking after them.  It speaks to fox instinct to eat the winter berries for survival.  The harper knows Reynard is not lacking in food supply.  That he has a taste for them mean that the fox has either been a good ways north of Crim or someone brought the berries to Crim where Reynard could snatch them.  Both likely.

He also knows that the plant would do just fine near Crim if a small batch were planted outside the forest.  It doesn't require the river or the geography around the Ventach to thrive.

They aren't very tasty, and there's plenty else to eat, so none of you happen to have any of the violet winter berries with you.


Reynard tilts his head when you say that you hadn't though about how to get there.

"Yes, you could walk there.  It's a very long way and will take you months.  Can you catch up to the three armies by the time they reach Yggrasil?  They have a sizable head start and you haven't even gathered The Legends together yet.  Tell me this.  Why do you think they are bringing armies to the tree?"

Sunna frowns when she hears about two undead armies. "Make men dance from death to dawn", she murmurs while she feels a shudder creeping up her spine. "Sounds a lot like Kelney Sowell might have something to do with one of the armies..."

"As for how to get to Yggdrasil I wondered... if there might be a way like the strange plates that can carry someone to another place in almost an instant."

"All we have are guesses right now. Maybe they want to destroy the Tree, to force the end of the world to happen."

The fox looks to Sunna and nods.

"There are shortcuts underground.  Geomancy.  With the right plate, or even just the tunnels themselves you could catch up, perhaps even reach The Tree of Life before the three armies.  Save wear on your boots too."

Reynard looks down at his front paws.

"Not that I have such worries."

Reynard shakes his head.

"They are not going all that way to kill the tree.  Few are interested in bringing about the end of all worlds.  No, they are marching their armies all that way for the glory of the God of Unnature.  The armies double as followers - a strange congregation of ghosts and goblins.  Can mana be pulled from a corpse or spirit as it is from a living, breathing believer?  Krammishir will settle for dark negative energy to fuel this anti-miracle."

He settles down, barking softly a couple of time as he gets more comfortable.  Then he continues the talk.

"You've thought of walking above and below ground.  Now use your imagination.  How else could you get to Tree of Life?"

"Geomancy," Adiel repeats, nodding thoughtfully, with great respect for Reynard. "I wonder if Holly knows enough Geomancy, or knows a Druid Geomancer who could help us find a path to the Tree. If not, we could take a ship to Trellor, walk or ride to Lodihelm, and look for a Dwarven practitioner. I suspect our highest chance of finding a Geomancer will be among the Dwarves. With the right tunnels or plates, the legendary journey would be far simpler.

"The trail to Sloss Hinterplatz is likely to be hazardous from the slowly melting snow, at this time of year; otherwise, I'd suggest that as a possible route."

He looks at Reynard, his face paling slightly. "An anti-miracle? Do they plan to elevate the power of unnature somehow?"

Adiel ponders the question of how else to travel to the Tree. There's magical teleportation, extraplanar shortcuts, flight... but he suspects such things might be beyond the abilities of the heroes, at least for now.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 00:38, Sun 17 Dec 2017.

Sunna ponders the question.
„Well, if we are just talking about any possibilities that come to mind: we could fly. If the Tree is connected to other worlds and we could get there, maybe there is even a way by boat.“ She shrugs. „I could spin a story of how to get there in several different ways, but I don‘t know if any of them works.“
This message was last edited by the player at 05:27, Sat 16 Dec 2017.

Adiel nods. "Flying there is possible, if you're a bird, but sailing there isn't. I think it's land-locked, or at least not connected to the ocean by a safe route."

"Oh yes.  They're going to bring a piece of Krammishir into your world.  This benefits the god immensely.  In return the dead gets an ever-living body, the immortal gets divine power, and the goblins get a leader for their war.  It takes a lot to motivate an endeavor of this scale."

The fox talks about these huge boons to evil very plainly, as if they were not alarming at all.  You don't know how he can be so calm about it.

Reynard pops back up to a sitting position at the mention of flying.

"Did you know that some golems can fly?  As amazing as this sounds, a man once hopped onto a golem as it was taking flight and rode it all the way to Yggdrasil.  I do not recommend this method.  Good way to fall to your death."

OOC: This happened (the riding part, not the falling to his death part) when I ran this campaign with my face-to-face group.  It really caught me by surprise, but I rolled with it.  It had a very mythical sound to it.

He adds one more comment before settling back down again.

"Teleporting is the easiest way."
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:52, Tue 19 Dec 2017.

"Teleporting?" Adiel asks. "Who, or what, has that kind of magical power?"

"You might be surprised," is all Reynard answers.

It takes Sunna a moment to fully understand what the plan of the armies actually is. It's indeed surprising how Reynard can be so calm. But then, what does she really know about him?

"Let me guess: you can do that, the teleporting I mean." She grins mischievously at the fox.

You wrap up your visit with Reynard, thanking him for his insight and assistance.

What's your next move?

Adiel wants to meet up with Holly as soon as possible, to discuss whether she or any other druids know how to use geomancy. Besides, the druids deserve to know the army's purpose.

The plan was to meet up in Volge.  In the morning Adiel, Sunna, Ros, and Ragnar head north to Volge.  The ground is still soggy and slushy in place and snowy and icy in others depending on how much sun the area gets.  Overall travel is slow (half speed), but conditions are improving.  There are sections of the journey where you find some high and dry land.  We'll say it takes 5 days to get back to Volge.

Holly and Mord arrive back in Volge 3 days earlier than the rest of the party.

"Hey buddy, there's mud in Volge too," Mord says to the strange wooden egg creature in the muddy riverbank.

It responds with a quick burst of incomprehensible syllables, but doesn't resist when Mord tugs him out of the mud and wipes him off a bit.  In fact not only do the roots retract, but so do the tiny arms and legs.  The thing goes dormant.  Mord hands it to Holly as they start to walk into the village proper.

"It opens up.  There are 6, um... faces, in total.  Don't worry.  You're not going to break it."

Holly examines the very strange object.  It's moist, not just from the mud, but also from some sort of sap or biological goo.  Mord's right.  It does open up.  Inside it is another wooden egg shape with a face.  This face has pointy ears and a flattened. crooked nose.  To Holly it looks more evil or mischievous than the outer face.  Holly gives the two halves of this face a twist and they come apart too, but the pieces are becoming unwieldy to hold while walking, so Holly just reassembles it to look at more closely later.

You find Snow at the granary filling clay pots with rye.  When you walk into the granary Snow stands up and hands the pot she was holding to Mord.  She brushes the rye dust off her robe and gives Holly a hug.

"I heard the goblin army was coming to kill us all," she says almost accusingly.

"They marched through Kammarra to Trellor and seemed to be heading far to the east. But I thought I'd bring Mord back to protect us all." Holly returns the hug and smiles, "Although he has a new friend now, and didn't even both to introduce me until we started our trip back. I think we need to remind him he is not allowed to keep secrets from his cousins! I'll grab his left leg, you get the right!" With that Holly laughs loudly and grabs for Mord's leg whilst he stands there holding the jug of rye. Holly remembers the times they had tried this when they were a lot younger, and when Mord still was strong enough to simply walk away dragging them behind him.

It felt good to be home.

Mord laughed at the memory, and grinned back at the pair.  They had all grown, but the simple joy was never lost.  Reaching up one long arm to the rafters above, the barbarian warrior took hold of the thick timber, then effortlessly lifted himself, the rye, and Holly into the air, and down, and up, and down, and up... grinning all the while.

"I was practicing to lift the entire goblin army this way," he grinned toothily.

"I found something in my travels - Rakanishu.  I think he wants a pot of earth, or some water - he seemed thirsty earlier, as might many a road-dusted traveller, from hours upon dusty trails lacking mead and ale."  The hint was purposefully overdone, as was the embellishment of the trials.  Had there even been dust?  Huh - had there even been a trail before hitting town?  It mattered not.

"Not quite sure what it is?  He is?  She is?  Holly thought you might know, though I was giving her as much grief for not sharing all that she knows as well!  Ho ho!"

And the up, and the down, and the up...

Snow laughed stepping back and letting Holly and Mord play like kids.  She looked around the granary and cast a spell you're all quite familiar with.  Then she slowly focussed on item after item.

"My my, you've become quite the storehouse of arcane trinkets," Snow says.

"OK, enough enough.  You'll shake down the granary and we'll all starve next winter."

Mord and Holly slump into nearby piles of rye, still giggling.

"So, what do you think?  What is it?"  Holly asks referring to the dormant wooden egg now lying just in front of her.

"It's a demon," Snow answer bluntly.  "A twisted little plant imp monster, probably summoned by priests of that unnature god you keep running into."

"There's something else," Snow continues.  "This thing sunk a gossamer thread into our favorite warrior.  I can just barely see the connection.  It's very subtle, but it's there."

The sorceress peers at Mord.

"What sort of trouble have you gotten yourself into, cousin?  Is this a curse?  A demonic contract?"

"Could be a death curse, I suppose - I've heard of such things.  I found him on the body of a sorcerer that tried to kill me while I was studying the troll giants.  A very rude sorcerer."  Mord chuckled, and added, "A very dead, rude, sorcerer.  Heh heh.

"I didn't notice anything at the time, though, which I would expect - he just met my axe after attacking me, and that was the end of him.  No flashes of thunder, or dark clouds or anything.  Just eck-dead."

The barbarian stopped his effortless exercise, momentarily leaving Holly hanging in the air, before returning her to her feet, and the pair settling upon the sack in mirth.

"Do you think it had something to do with eating the nut inside him?  I was a touch struck by hunger at the time after a rousing fight."  Mord shrugged, unconcernedly.  "I could feel the little guy's direction earlier, which was interesting enough. Fortunately, no desire to do anything evil.

"Though I could use a good repast right now.  Perhaps keep discussing over supper?"

"Sorcerer?" Snow says a bit too clearly.  "No such thing.  Drake blood only works magic in female humans.  More likely he was a priest of Krammishir, or an...  undruid? or the unnature version of whatever Glumr is.  Maybe this thing was his evil little demon plant buddy, and now it's latched onto you.  Did you feel mystically compelled to eat the *nut*?"

"Say Holly, where's your horse, Moonlight?"

Snow casts detect magic again and concentrates while you're answering her questions.

"Oh that's too far away.  I'd never be able to see the thread if there was one.  Do me a favor and let me know when Moonlight gets back.  I'll check with you standing close by your horse.  We'll see if there's a thread at all and if it's the same as Mord's."

"If you want my advice, you should draw yourself a proper magical pentacle, put that thing inside it with plenty of firewood, and burn it to ashes," Snow says, folding her arms.  "Or find a priest to banish it."

"Always hungry.  I suppose I could make you some goat dumplings."

"Nothing forces Mord.  Psh.  I was hungry, seemed like a good idea at the time.  If anything, it was difficult getting the pieces apart, but the little guy seems okay.

"Can you tell what he can do?  So far he's waddled around like a drunk wagondriver, and had a drink of water.  "

Mord didn't say anything, but he certainly brightened at the suggestion of the dumplings, and his features were hopeful.

"Moonlight is with Adiel and Sunna, coming back the hard way. I'll let you know when he is near. Probably by suddenly getting up and running off." Holly says, wondering if Snow would be able to see a link between Moonlight and herself. Holly knew there was a link, born on her bringing Moonlight through his difficult birth, but was there a link others could see. That was a little intriguing, to say the least.

"Mord, it doesn't surprise me you ate something unusual. I've seen you eating for many years, but really! A nut! Hardly a meal for a champion. Speaking of which, I seem to remember that Snow's cooking is indeed worthy of a champion. Hopefully worthy of her cousin as well, as I'd quite like a well cooked meal. Trail rations are never my thing."

Snow chuckles.

"Well that doesn't sound too dangerous.  I have no idea if it has any powers or not.  Just keep an eye on it."

You both help Snow carry clay pots full of rye back to the longhouse, where she sets about preparing dumplings.  This gets the attention of several more residents of Volge.  By meal time there's a pretty good crowd.


Holly, did you want to talk to Heinrich and Elana right away or wait 'til Sunna and Adiel returned with news from Reynard?

Holly takes the time to enjoy the company of those she had grown up with, knowing she would need to talk to the Elders when the others arrived. Having been away for most of the winter, Holly was glad to be in a safe place with few worries on her mind for a little while.

The dumplings were as good as ever, and Holly finally made some time to catch up on finding out where Moonlight, Adiel, Sunna and the others were. Taking out the crystal ball, Holly concentrated on her horse to see how far away they were.

Holly take the semi-clear sphere from its box and velvety bag and sets it on her lap atop a slip of parchment.  She casts an elaborate but subtle spell, and looks into the ball. relaxing her thoughts.  Some of the villagers who shared the meal with Snow, Holly, and Mord watch with interest, quietly discussing what Holly might be up to.  Snow, on the other hand, recognizes her family's crystal ball.  She smiles, knowing that Holly took her advice on Scrying.


"Our cousins are safe," Holly says to Mord and Snow.  "They should be here in a couple of days."

A couple of days pass and Holly's prediction turns out to be completely accurate.  Our heroes are all gathered in their home village of Volge.

"Hello, cousins." Adiel smiles at seeing Holly, Mord, and Snow again, and then jumps to business. "We've learned the purpose of these movements towards the World Tree. They intend to bring Krammashir--or part of him--into this world. If they succeed, Unnature's power in the world will expand greatly. I think geomancy is our best bet for traveling fast enough to have any chance of stopping them."

He turns to Holly. "Have you learned any geomancy? Or do you know any others of the druids who can use it?"

"Good to see you all here", Sunna exclaims. "Adiel is right, it seems as if it's the fastest way. If we can find anyone who knows how to do that."

Ros smiles broadly at Mord. "Glad to be here."

Mord's two long arms swept up the cousin arrivals into one massive group hug the lifted them all from their feet, though this seemed less intended than his earlier horseplay with Holly when they had arrived at Snow's.

"Sometimes forget my strength - I know you have no end of surprise at that," Mord laughed deeply.  While he had always prided himself on being a powerful warrior, much had been changing quickly since the Tome was signed, and it was the subtle changes to common situations that could explode in significance when that little difference showed just how greatly it had not been so little, just little noticed.

"You decided to stick it out with adventure, Ros?  Excellent - I knew you had it in you!" he grinned and winked, only after the fact thinking to look at Sunna and her expression - sometimes folk could take familiarity so wrongly, after all.

"Maybe you know this jeeringmancy magic already?  Holly's already shown she can move us weeks travel through plants - be interesting what else the group has learned to do, so long apart!  Missed you all."

The warrior tracked back through the word said about the party's focus. "Hold a moment - bringing Unnature - what exactly is that again?  The undying ghosts and stuff?  What do the goblins care about helping unnature?

"And how are they planning on doing it?  Be nice to know what we need to break - or whom - to stop the problem of three armies.

"Oh, and did you hear anything more about the other armies?  We found traces of the goblin army - Glumr says hi, by the by - but he said they had been gone... two months or so.  Holly went and did her special searching, nothing even in sight."

In reply to Adiel (msg # 92):

"We have a plate that gets us through to the lands of the dwarves. Perhaps they have others that can take us further Adiel. I don't know of any other druids who have any knowledge in geomancy. But then I've never thought to ask the two I normally talk to." Holly said, glad to see the others arrive safely in Volge, and more importantly to see Moonlight.

When Mord steps in with his words, Holly steps back a little and tries to get a little time with Moonlight whilst her mind goes over the news the others had brought from Reynard. If they were going to be going under the world, Holly knew she would have to leave Moonlight behind. That thought troubled her. Their winter together had been good, and the journey to the tunnels leading to the dwarves would be shared together, but Moonlight would not come with her. A thought of Ebony came to her, a pleasing thought, but Moonlight was her truest companion.

A little later Holly and Moonlight visit Snow.  She casts detect magic and looks carefully for a link between Holly and her horse.

"Yes.  I can see it," she says, running her hand through empty air between the druid and her horse.  "You're similarly attached to Moonlight like that plant demon is attached to Mord."


Not long after, Heinrich finds Adiel and the others.

"Adiel, planting is nearly here.  I prepare for our trip to Crim and Rankor Heights.  Now I have a message from Tora.  A vast goblin army is heading north and I am to put you in charge of as many archers as I can find?  Do you know what this is all about?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:44, Tue 30 Jan 2018.

Holly looked up in shock as Heinrich joins them. His words to Adiel add to her concerns, as she sheepishly looks over at Mord, and steps forward with a bowed head. "Elder, my apologies. I bring news from Tora, and kind of got distracted by being home again." Holly goes on to explain that Tora has moved back to Crim to watch the borders.

"Tora was content that our scouting of the goblin movements put them in the mountains, and away from the tribal lands. Glumr is staying out there to aid the watch. Mord and I  came back to await the others, and we kind of forgot to pass on our message. The whereabouts of the third army is yet unknown, but was one of the reasons I asked to speak with the Elders." Holly said. How had she and Mord forgotten the simple task of passing on Tora's message. The plant demon had been a distraction, as had Mord, but this should have been the first thing they did when they arrived...

Heinrich does not seem annoyed or panicked, but he does press Holly for more details.  Holly describes what she saw at Kammarra and tells the war chief what Glumr determined from the scene.  The goblin army is indeed massive and headed north towards Trellor.

"So they are attacking the Ferisedan," Heinrich says nodding to himself. "All the more reason for a trip to Rankor Heights.  Let us find Elana.  You can speak to her and let her coordinate action with the other elders."

It's not hard at all to find Elana.  Soon you are all gathered in her cottage.

"Eldress Elana, I will be blunt.  We are going to need an army of a thousand warriors this summer.  Recruit from Gollag, The North and Silvergate.  We'll need other clans to join as well."

"Oh?  Has it come to war so soon?" the eldress asks.

"Not yet, but it will.  The goblin horde has attacked the Ferisedan at Kammarra and Trellor.  We don't need to march now, but we must prepare."

"Unnature? Corrupting and harming nature. Krammashir is an old god, filled with hatred for Obad-hai. Creator of weres, undead, and abominations." Adiel shivers involuntarily. "We think they're preparing a sacrifice for him--perhaps some of their own lives?"

Adiel smiles in pleasant surprise at the revelation that Holly has some access to geomancy. "Is the geomancy path you know accessible in the winter? Our fastest option might be to take that path to the dwarves, and then ask the dwarves for more geomantic help. What dwarven city does it lead to? Or near to?"

He also seems just as able as Mord and Holly to be sidetracked by Mord's little friend. "Can I look at him? How did you find him?"

To Heinrich and Elana, he says, "We may want to change some of our plans. We've learned that three great armies are intending to travel all the way to the World Tree to try to bring part of Krammashir into this world. I... think they will succeed if no one stops them somehow."

Mord nodded, passing the egg creature over to Adiel for consideration.  "Snow says it's like Moonlight for Holly - not quite sure if that means the little guy is going to turn into a wooden horse later, or just that I can tell what direction he is.  Somewhat like how I'm told by the old jawbones that their mates always know where they're getting into mischief or ale.  Ho, ho.

"Found him after educating him on the poor choices in discourtesy to Mords.  He decided to attack me after insulting me.  I decided he was too tall and rectified it.  Oh... if you open him all the way, check to see if he makes any new nuts - the last one wasn't bad ... no magical compulsion or anything - Snow already asked.

"So far he doesn't do much except walk about and drink."

The barbarian nodded along, listening to the conversation with Heinrich, Elana, and Holly.  "I don't mind them killing themselves, but it does deprive me of my glory, and not sure I like the idea of some unnature god trying to threaten Obad-Hai's creation."

Mord gives Adiel a description of events leading to Mord's acquisition of the odd oozing wooden egg thing that leaves him just as puzzled as before he asked, maybe more-so.  This doesn't deter the harper.  Adiel simply puts his investigative skills to work starting with the tip that it's possible to disassemble the thing.

Sure enough.  Each egg shaped layer splits in half and has another smaller wooden egg thing with a different (ugly?) face inside it.  There are 6 hollow egg faces in all.  No sign of a nut in the center.  The outer wooden egg sprouts arms and legs and comes to life when Adiel sets it down fully reassembled.  It blurts out a stream of totally unintelligible nonsense and waddles around a bit before plunking down and sinking roots into the ground.

Adiel casts detect magic and looks it over.

"Three great armies?  The goblins and who else?" asks Heinrich.

"How did you learn this?" adds Elana.

"Rakanishu - I think that might be his name - he called it out before he explored the gate.  Have you ever heard that name before, Adiel?  Sunna - you've heard many tales?  Wonder if it's like a first name like Mord, or our Triplefang, or just a battle cry or such.  Could be battle cry of name, like for me, I suppose."  Mord nodded sagely at the minor discussion.

"Heinrich, they've also been here and gone from our lands, over a month- maybe even two, according to Glumr.  We're trying to catch a good stretch of movement back on them.  We think the other armies will be behind the goblins, but who knows for sure.

"Important thing is to find what they need or plan to do and spike it.  Let the armies destroy themselves, as long as they leave a few goblins for Mord to finish off."

Sunna frowns at hearing the name Rakanishu. "I think I've heard it before. Let me think about it for a moment."

"The other two armies are of the undead", Sunna says, "we learned that from some friends of Holly, who watch the area as well."

"That they exist and can roam about freely s bad enough, but it seems that they also share a common goal. And if they succeed in that... it will be even harder to stop them. But we can't fight them directly, they are too many."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:25, Thu 01 Feb 2018.

Sunna tries to remember all she can about "Rakanishu".

"There is an undead army moving east of the mountains above Rankor Heights. That came from the sea and is probably ahead of the goblins. I haven't heard where the other undead army is, but they came from the Empire. I had feared they would use Silvergate as an entry point, but they may be going north through the Empire. My colleagues have been unable to confirm this. So far, there is no direct threat to the clan. I wanted to gather everyone together and then speak with the Elders to suggest they move aside if the undead move through Silvergate. We cannot fight them now without being slaughterd. We would need the full strength of all the clans to defeat just one of those armies." Holly says, glad to hear Heinrich had already suggested leaving the goblins alone and preparing for a future fight.

"I want to take my cousins north, to the World Tree, to see what the three armies are doing and to take appropriate action. A small group like ourselves would be able to move relatively freely without notice. We take advantage of any opportunity, and report back when we are finished. We think we have a way to get there, through the lands of the dwarves."

You hash out the remaining details of what you know about the armies.  Then plans are set into motion.  Heinrich will go south to Crim to speak to Tora and Elder Baywald before continuing on to Rankor Heights to meet with Proctom Limon.  Elana will travel to Silvergate to meet with Elder Eloy.  She will send a messenger to Gollag with news.  Your group will go north through Goldenpoint and meet with Elder Karden before continuing to the lands of the dwarves.

Time is of the essence for your party more than the others.  Is there anything you'd like to do before leaving Volge, or should you depart now?

"If it's Ragadishu, Mord, then it's not a name but a battlecry of sorts. And there's a story about a blue goblin of that name, who was able to survive almost anything, but I guess that's only a story." However, with the things currently going on Sunna wonders if the goblins hope to get someone like that fictional Ragadishu as their leader.

If there's a little time Sunna would visit her parents to say goodbye. And to let them know that Ros is now traveling with her and her cousins.

Check if we have enough food and water for the travel, get a second cloak just in case and some bandages.

With plans made, and a route developed for them to try and get to the World Tree Holly spends some time introducing all the new members of their group to Moonlight and the Dun. As they ride, Holly asks Mord for some time with Ragadishu and casts a simple spell to try and talk to the unusual creature.

[OOC - Holly casts Speak with Plants]

Mord has no concern about Holly spending time with the little plant buddy, seemingly rather intrigued at the ability to speak to plants.  "Do you ever hear the screams of vegetables, having their insides revealed?  I never thought of eating carrots and lettuce in that light before.  Maybe I was shorting fierceness reputation to those that eat little meat?  Huh.  Could make quite the battle for supper if they spoke all the time.

"Hmmm... Wonder if those trees being thrown at me were trying to call warnings or cursing the giant trolls throwing them?  So complicated a world, ho ho.

"Oh, yes, by all means - talk with him.  If you can, see if he knows commontongue - or can you show me how to speak with him?  Could be handy in battle, if he's pointing out goblins trying to hide from me.  Oh, and what he needs to eat or drink.  And his name.  And more about him.  Oh... and what the nut was that I ate.  That could be important too."

Mord was ready to travel immediately, but travelled about to restock supplies, and stop in to see Sunna's family as well - they served a fine meal last time, and had encouraged Mord to return, and who was he to say no?

It's not just Sunna's family that's sad to see her go.  She became quite beloved by the villagers of Volge over the winter.  They even throw her an ad-hoc going away party complete with ale and dancing.

The provisioner digs up a cask of beer, three casks of water, and 150 pounds of dry food for your journey.



Funny you should mention cloaks.

Snow finds Mord first (he's easy to spot loudly enjoying the party) and later Holly.

"Since I can't be there to protect you on your excessively dangerous adventures I put a little enchantment on your cloaks to keep you safe.  Even though they might end up looking like tattered rags," she says looking pointedly at Mord.  "You should wear them in battle and whenever there's danger."

Snow hands the neatly folded bright orange and golden cloaks to Mord and Holly.  They're clean and fresh, tied into square bundles with yellow ribbon, and look good as new.

"I'll send Glumr's cloak with Heinrich's party.  He can use it fighting goblins."

You can't quite picture Glumr sneaking around the wilds in the brilliant cloak.

The cloaks give a +2 deflection bonus to AC.  They work in addition to armor, furs, natural armor bonuses, etc, but do not stack with other deflection bonuses.

Traveling on a road sure beats weaving your way through wet snow and mud.  At your first stop Holly asks to speak to "Rakanishu".

Speaking with plants is much harder than speaking with animals.  It requires very strong first circle magic.  Holly is not even sure it'll work in this case, but does her ritual anyhow.  The little wooden creature spews forth a bunch of nonsense.  Hopefully Holly's magic can decipher it.

Mord looked around with false innocence across his features as he craned up to examine the suddenly-interesting rafters.  He then reached over to take his cloak, miming to wipe his mouth of an invisible meal remnant, but grinned before doing so and gave Snow an appreciative hug and thanks.

"I love the colour - all the better to draw attention on the battlefield - you know me well, Snow, and the magicked protections are all the better.  I was just thinking I needed something to set the journey off well, and here you provide it.  Always count on you, cousin.

"Say now - does the cloak reverse?  Not sure how this great festival colour would work for sneaking in the woods?  Not that Mord sneaks - I was thinking for Glumr."

---

As the party's travel commenced, not knowing exactly where they were headed or how they were going to arrive, Mord nonetheless was quite cheerful.

When Holly decided to use her druidic magics, Mord was all too eagerly watching her for results - while trying -poorly- to disguise his interest.

Even worse was his attempt to hide a surprise, for he turned from Holly to raise brows as he looked at the small plant creature.
"Hey now... she's not bad - be nice. That's Holly.  She's trying to find out your name, and help make sure you aren't hungry or thirsty.

"Holly - it worked!  I understood him!" Mord grinned and bobbed his head excitedly.

"You can wear the cloak inside out if you want to look like a style-less rube," says Snow.

The cloaks aren't much stealthier with the lining side out.  The whole thing is made of bright banner fabrics.

Holly almost smirked as the little plant proved it was Unnatural in nature. Surprised it was so easy to understand, Holly simply asked, "What is your name? Why have you linked to my cousin Mord?"

The egg shaped guy peers up at Holly, squinting his eyes and spits out two short streams of almost total nonsense, but you think you make out the word "dragon" in amongst the random syllables.

Mord nodded at the string of gibberish, but with an appearance of actually understanding, not shamming pretense of knowing what the overly-educated scholar spouted at public readings.

"That was more nicely said - need to save the good insults for battles against goblins and the like.  She wasn't seeking your truename, but what you call yourself - want to be known as.  Like me, she didn't want to offend you as part of our party.

"Dragonblooded.  Me?  Huh.  Mord the Dragonblooded, slayer of goblins.  Oh... I like that."

The mighty warrior nodded approvingly at the increased appellation, and nodded again directly at the little plant creature.

"So... what is this link we have?
"What do you like to eat and drink?
"And what do you want us to call you - the word you shouted before?"  Mord offered a few questions off the cuff of his thought, conversationally.

Holly listened to Mord going on asking questions and being his usual talkative self. One comment above the others gave her concerns... that Mord assumed the unnatural creature would be coming with them.

Holly had to take a few moments before waiting for the creature to answer Mord's questions. This time she took to contemplate how best to broach the question. Finally she decided that the best approach would be a forthright one.

"Mord, IT cannot come with us. It is fundamentally one of Krammishar's creatures. A complete opposite of what I hold true to. It cannot come with us, and cannot live. You have seen the corruption that Unnatural dealings have brought about. The corruption of the Beastamer clan should warn you of the error of considering working with that. Do you want to be corrupted into a plant? If you do, I suggest you need to leave now. I will not harm you, but I will not accept you as my cousin if you do. If I meet you again Mord, I would have to kill you." Even hearing the words coming from her own mouth did not make it any easier for Holly. Her teachings were clear, that Obad-Hai would not allow anything Unnatural to live if it could be destroyed.

The wooden eggman twisted to face Mord, and babbled more.



After Holly's speech the creature turns back to Holly and launches into a harsh sounding tirade.





So many private messages.  I hope I got it all to the right characters.

Mord chuckled at the tirade from the wooden plant creature, despite himself, and he held up a hand to both Rakanishu and Holly.

"Hey now, you don't need be bedfellows, but talking of trying to kill Mord the Mighty is unwise for any to boast, and uncalled for from kin.  There, as you hear, he bides, and serves, and is no friend of the the Unnature priest - rather opposed to him as are we.

"That would seem ally to my ears.  Odder still to hear him trying to calm you from rash words.

"I love you as kin and close, Holly... but don't threaten to kill me again.  It is... unwise.
I honour Obad-hai.
  I respect and trust you.
    I kill those that try to harm me and mine.  Even the ally you threaten to kill seeks to protect you from your suggested steps."  Mord's tone had shifted from playful and distracted to the a blunted deadly seriousness, offering a chance to withdraw the words... but with a lazy gaze that was just a touch out of focus along the scale towards actually responding.

It was perhaps chance that Mord had moved to position himself between Holly and their kin.  Perhaps.

Sunna had watched the exchange with fascination at first, until it turned to something very serious. She stepped forward.

"Stop, cousins. No more words about killing anything right now."

"Holly, what do you know of this kind of creature?"

"Mord, what did he tell you of his former... master? I was only able to understand a few words, but they don't make any sense."

Mord did not take his eyes off Holly, and his hands remained far too still in likely readiness to draw and strike with his head-lopping over-sized axe.

"Sorry, Sunna - I thought all of you could understand him.

"Rakanishu said he was bound against his will to the wooden form, called the summoner a 'wretched priest of Krammishir', and said that he was glad to be freed of his control, if still bound to the wooden form.

"He and Holly don't overly like each other, then Holly threatened to kill me.  Rakanishu warned her about such threats or attempts."

The barbarian's voice dropped in volume, but likely enough still audible to Holly, if no longer intended to reach her - Mord generally spoke loudly enough and then some.

"Do you think this is something the druid council has done to her?  Something to keep her under control, with her using their powers to travel miles across the world in moments?  Or did she pick up something dangerous while she was travelling around?"

An unpleasant thought crossed Mord's mind.  Is this for sure Holly?  If the druids can change into animals that fly in the sky, could they change to look like her?"

The tension between her cousins was almost feeling solid, like touching a rock. Sunna shook her head. „Holly is still Holly.“

„It sounds like there are two options. One, Rakanishu is indeed bound to this form and speaking the truth. In which case I‘d like to know who he was before and if there is a way to get him back. Maybe his current form is the only thing tying him to Krammishir.
Two, he is lying. Might be, but would be a dangerous game.“

Lost in thought for much of the conversation. Adiel shakes his head at the claim that the plant creature is of Krammashir. "It's not divine in origin. No priest made this. It's... more like bardic or sorcerous magic, neither holy nor unholy. Hurting it could hurt Mord, if they're bonded as Snow says... Yes, I can see it, just barely. But..." He begins to sing a song, with power underlying the words.

Casting Detect Evil.

The song of Detect Evil is invigoratingly beautiful.  It lilts and soars and fills your soul with hope.  You'd like Adiel to play it even when its magical effects are not needed.  The grim tone of threats and animosity is, for a moment, washed away by song.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:55, Fri 09 Feb 2018.

Adiel's eyes widen slightly, watching the wooden egg creature as if seeing something new. He stops singing and nods slightly. "It is no threat to us. I think it really is from another world, bound here with magic to serve Mord. Curious, if a priest of Krammashir did summon it, that it wasn't priestly magic. I think if its contract ended, it would immediately go back to its home... place." The bard shrugs his shoulders. "I think it's safe and that it's Mord's responsibility." He looks at the group's faces, one by one, his eyes coming to a rest on Mord.

Holly should have considered bringing Sunna in on her plan, but Holly wasn't sure if she was going to go through with it. But the contempt of the thing to her had made her take the drastic steps she had. Stepping slowly forward, her hands in the air and her head low, Holly said "My apology Cousins. I needed to test Mord had not been corrupted. As usual his strength has shone through, and shown me there is still nothing he would not do for good."

Lifting her eyes to look at Mord directly, Holly adds, "I do not like your new friend, as he doesn't like me. That is the way of the world sometimes, but Mord I had to be sure of your heart. Our mission is to save the Tribes, including the Beastamers. Your heart follows that path even straighter than my own. I am sorry I had to threaten you, but know I would give my life for you or the others if it was needed. We travel to a place that is sacred to us all, even your new friend I suspect. We do not have an easy journey I suspect, so we need to accept all the help we can get."

With that, Holly looked for a few moments into Mord and then to the others. Stepping back, Holly walked to a very calm Moonlight who had been eating grass as if nothing was going on, and rubbed his neck and whispered into the horses ear.

Mord nodded at Adiel's song, and blew out a breath from his lower lip at the answer - not looking as if he had been in doubt, but thankful the issue had been definitively answered.  And the song was pretty.

"My thanks, Adiel, Sunna.  Better that be confirmed.  That song was... very nice, Adiel.  You've always been talented, but that was... you know, very nice.  Very nice."  The barbarian thumped his chest/heart region. "Right here.  Heh.

"The two of you know a fair bit about... wait, no, I should ask him - be a gentleman warrior, heh heh heh."

Turning to Holly, Mord offered a peace token, such as it was, "If it makes you feel better, he doesn't seem to like druids - natural or not - as one trapped him here.  It doesn't seem to be you personally."

Mord's artificially-relaxed muscle state actually relaxed to normal, but the Holly-Mord byplay of before was just absent now, more akin to the politely-cautious trust when her actions had been questionable before.  His eyes were not accusatory, but maintained a distance towards Holly reflective of how he had responded when she initially threatened him.  Mord would likely enough forget the details, but was slow to forgive a perceived betrayal or threat or challenge.

~
It was to then to a crouched discussion with the plant summon that Mord shifted, trying to continue to mend battle lines of the party back to a team instead of fractured defences, and right to the heart of the current disruption.

"Rakanishu - I don't want to malign your abilities or areas of interest - some folk like axes, others like hammers, after all.  What can you do?  I'm curious what you were before coming here, and what you are now...  but if it's not something you care to talk about fine... I just didn't want to begrudge another warrior a good battle boast or pedigree of battle.

"Eh.. I was just thinking on your words.  Bound you... to begrudging service? Mord is no slavemaster.  Those that ally with Mord do so willingly and proudly.  How do we break you of this forced service?"

Sunna enjoys the song Adiel plays, wondering where he did learn it.
"It seems you learned a lot this winter", she says to him with a smile. "I'm fine with it if you say it's harmless."

"I understand your concern, Holly, to bring something strange and possibly dangerous to where we are going. And I am happy to hear that it is not as dangerous as we first feared. We did not know that in the first place and you were right to state your fear. But it scared me to hear a cousin talking about killing another, even if it was only a test."

"The place where we are going is something where other strange situations might happen. Where it will be of importance that we trust each other. Even if some of us are new to each other and some are not certain if they like everyone else." Sunna glances at the wood creature with a slight frown. "Holly just stated where she stands. What about you, Rakanishu?"

Ros and Ragnar had watched the whole exchange with big eyes, waiting for the outcome, but certainly not interested to get between Mord and Holly.

Rakanishu squeals and babbles, waving his hands above his head at some point.  All you can make out is the word "goblin" in goblin.

"He says ... Mord chuckled and went to clap the small plant creature on the back, slowing at the last moment to use simple a couple thumb-sized fingers in a somewhat awkward, if well-meaning pat.  "Heh, heh.  I like your humour."

Turning his head to Sunna's questioning gaze, Mord continued, "He says his people are captured by people here, used to teach magic.  He says that once he teaches me to be 'fully proficient' he can go home.  He stands with us, as my teacher. 

A bemused look rested on the barbarian's lips. "He thinks it might take a lifetime - clearly he doesn't know Mord the Mighty.  Ho ho.  Very humourous.

"He says he can see in the dark, like goblins can - that's helpful to hunt them and for watches, good, good."

Anything else to do before continuing to Goldenpoint?

Holly kept her hands on Moonlight, aware she had not played that as well as she could of. Perhaps she had been harsh, or even rash in her accusations, but she knew she needed to know if Mord was still whole. Rubbing her hand down Moonlights face, her companion nudged her back towards the others, probably more aware of Holly's need for them now than Holly herself.

Holly kissed Moonlight gently on his neck, and turned back to the others. "Right, if we are ready I believe we have a journey to take. Lets make the first step in saving the Clans, and possibly the world, shall we!"

Mounting the Dun, Holly looked over to see the others were going to join her and then set off for Goldenpoint.

With the drama abated, if not resolved to a nicety, Mord's eyes took in the smaller Ragnar, in close proximity to Sunna and Ros.  "Speaking of new - you are.  I take it you've been travelling with Sunna and Ros for a bit, and they trust you - I trust their judgment until you prove otherwise.  Well met.

"Snow, our thanks again for the hospitality and the fine cloaks - I'll wear mine proudly, show off your work and let them see us all.  Fear the sight of the Triplefang warband on the march.  Look forward to hearing Sunna tell you this tale.

"Ros, Sunna - Adiel, looks like Holly is already ready - the rest of you ready?  Looking forward to hearing what you've been up to the last while - feels like weeks apart, but yet years.  If Ros and I hadn't had some fun, I'd have not seen my family in ages."

---

OOC: I'm ready to roll DM

Adiel opens his mouth in a mix of awe and curiosity as the creature says something about being here to... teach magic? He wants to ask a hundred questions about what kind of magic, but he restrains himself with difficulty and closes his mouth again. Now is not the time.

He nods. "I'm ready. I want to see this pathway to the Dwarven lands."

You guys were already on the road, so we'll assume you said your thanks and goodbye to Snow earlier.

You don't reach Goldenpoint on the first day of riding.  Camping in cold slush and mud isn't much fun, but Ragnar finds someone else's abandoned campsite while scouting up ahead.  It's a little more cleared than open ground would've been.  You discuss a watch schedule, but decide that posting watch overnight isn't really necessary this deep in Triplefang lands.


You reach Goldenpoint around lunchtime.  Being mid-day there's very little partying going on at the bottom of the hill.  Holly and anyone who cares to come along speaks with Halfgan to keep him up to date.  He has already sent messengers to Tellor and to the temple of Pelor in Rankor Heights.  He isn't expecting to hear word back for quite some time now.

Goldenpoint would be a much more comfortable place to sleep the night, but there's a lot of daylight left, your journey is long, and you're trying to make up ground on the three armies.  This is no time to move leisurely.  You press onward.  That said, you're welcome to buy something before you go.

http://triplefang.yoyo-pete.co...u.php?id=goldenpoint

Conventional wisdom is to ignore the 'road' to Pliffa as it was poorly created in the first place and is in serious disrepair, but Ragnar convinces you to stick to the road where you can.  This being one of those rare times of year where any road is better than slogging through trackless wilds.  This turns out to be a wise move.  You make good time, much better than you recent trip to and from Crim.  Sure you need to pull the cart out of ruts on a couple of occasions, but Mord relishes these chances to put his power on display, claiming to be "strong as a horse and twice as handsome."

What's more, the constant fog and wet ground are starting to dry out a little.  The ground's not ready for planting yet, but you can see the better travel conditions of spring on the horizon.

“Glad to meet you, Mord“, Ragnar replied with a nod.

During the trip he appeared to be quite content with being silent and doing his job. Though he stole a glance in Sunnas direction every now and then.

“Some more arrows would be fine“, Ragnar murmured to himself.

Holly moved aside with Moonlight as they moved further north. After petting her friend and whispering in his ear, Holly sends Moonlight off ahead of them.

"Moonlight will scout ahead, and perhaps bring a friend of mine in for a chat. Meanwhile we should keep pressing on. The horses can rest when we get to the tunnels." Holly said as she moved back to the group and sat on the Dun. Patting the horses neck, Holly took one last look as Moonlight disappeared behind a hill and moved forward to make good use of the time left in the day.

On the second day overcast skies and a chill drift over the land.  Delicate little crystal flakes of snow fill the air.  They flit around on a light breeze, barely falling to the ground.  You pass a lady heading south accompanied by two men carrying axe and shield.  Travelers are rare and noteworthy this time of year.  Adiel recognizes the woman as Mavelle who works at the mill in Pliffa.  Mavelle tells you they're heading to Goldenpoint and possibly Silvergate to recruit brewer's assistants or journeymen winemakers to start up a new distillery.

Once in Pliffa you need to pass on Heinrich's orders to Karden to gather and train, but not mobilize warriors.  He's not to hamper planting by pulling men and women off their land.  Heinrich wants a total of 500 troops and reserves from The North ready by midsummer, which will be a tall order.

Ragnar can get his extra arrows from the provisioner, and you're going to need to either leave the horses in Pliffa (which will make the trip much slower) or load up with a lot more food to get them to the Cabell lodge where you left them last time you visited Sloss Hinterplatz.  There's not enough grazing available for the horses yet, so you've been supplementing them with feed.  Pliffa also has an active market if there's anything you want to buy before continuing north.

Anything else you'd like to do in Pliffa?

Onward ho!
(with feed and foodstuffs :) )

Food:

It's about 115 miles from Pliffa to the Cabel Lodge near the edge of the northern mountains.  In the current conditions, without a road, you can cover 15 miles a day on horseback.  So that'll be 8 days.  It's another 65 miles through the mountains on foot to Sloss Hinterplatz.  That's 1/4 speed or about 4 miles a day.  16-18 more days.

6 people and 9 horses x 8 days = 120 pounds of food
6 people x 17 days = 102 pounds of food

You'll need a minimum of 202 pounds of food to make the trip one way.  No sense in worrying about the return trip yet.  This is doable, but puts a bit of a strain on Pliffa's dwindling spring food supplies.  Last time you made this trip Holly augmented your food supply with Goodberries.  Trouble is berries are a bit hard to find this time of year.  You'll need some luck and a good survival roll.


Karden:

The Elder balks when you get to the part about 500 troops.

"Where in the world am I going to find that many warriors?"

"They don't all have to be Triplefang," Adiel points out.  "We can recruit from other northern clans.  This will be a human vs goblin war, not just Triplefang vs goblin.  Use diplomacy.  The clans need to unite."

"We can eventually use mercenaries too, if it comes to that," he adds.

Karden isn't exactly military minded, but you have confidence that the elder will find a suitable raid veteran to organize the troops.

If you want to buy anything (or do anything else) in Pliffa let me know.

You sleep overnight in Pliffa's longhouse and you're headed north the next morning.  As Mord put it "Onward Ho!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:46, Fri 23 Feb 2018.

Not much to be done in Pliffa. Sunna offers to tell some stories in the evening, inspiring ones, to those that would like to hear them.

Are there any news we shall take with us to tell the dwarves?

The villagers are surprised someone is making the trip before the first dwarf of the season has arrived, but none pass up a good chance.  Sunna absorbs a little over a half dozen messages and stories to carry with her to Sloss Hinterplatz.

In the market Sunna finds a wonderful thick cloak that will keep you comfortable even on the coldest of days which she can also leave partially open for spring or fall weather.  It's more expensive than she's used to, but you are all wealthier than you ever imagined you'd be.  Why not splurge?


Your first 3 days traveling north from Pliffa are sunny and warmer.  The clear weather makes your travel a bit quicker than expected, but not dramatically.  Sunna and Ragnar discuss the route.  The hunter, who has never been to the dwarven lands, wants to take you due north, but Sunna knows from experience and feel that you need to bend just a bit east too.

On the forth day the weather snaps cold all of a sudden.  Light snow falls in flurries at first, but then the wind gusts up and the snow blows in thick sheets.  Visibility is so poor that you decide to stop wait out the sudden storm.  It lasts no more than a quarter hour and yet snow coats everything.  You shake yourselves off and prepare to mount up when you see a person approaching with a big winter bear to one side and Holly's horse, Moonlight to the other.

The bear does not look aggressive.  To the contrary it looks almost disinterested.  The man is dressed in green and brown common, maybe even low class clothing and very worn leather-boiled-in-wax armor.  He carries a large kite shield and a thick staff.

"Greetings all," he says more quietly than you expect.  "I would've arrived sooner, but I couldn't resist using the storm as an entrance."

His accent sounds non-Triplefang and vaguely northern.  The man smiles pleasantly.

"Oh!  Get good trainers, have them train the other folk!  Send them to join the larger force for training too!"  Mord nodded to himself.  "Yes, that's what I should have told the elder in Pliffa.  Good advice, Mord." As was so wont, his blade and fists flew swifter than thought, and his thoughts slower than deepwinter night travel.

"This nice cold weather woke me up.  Now, I blame Sunna and Ros trying on the furs for distracting me, of course.  Terribly unfair."  The barbarian opined in jest, catching both of them for a friendly hug before releasing the sisters.

"Whom is it that comes with the storm?  A Holly-friend, judging by Moonlight.  Or is it a pair of Holly-friends?  One never knows with bears these days.  Much trickier animals than Mord originally thought.  Cute though.

"I am Mord the Mighty, slayer of goblins, Hero of Legend, and devourer of good ale - who comes bearing the mantle of winterstorm, companioned by winterbear and Moonlight?  And well met to you for the entrance," Mord chuckled at his faux-challenge invitation.

"It is always good to meet a hero of legend," the man says shaking Mord's hand.  From the handshake alone you can tell the man is remarkably strong.  Not Mord-strong, but impressive none-the-less.

"I am Kayaq and this is Tar-a-Tar," he gestures to the bear, who promptly finds a chuck of snow covered ground to be a comfy resting spot and lies down.  "We are travelers."

Sunna chuckles as the man explains why he waited for the storm before making his appearance. "A wise choice of entry. Well met, Kayaq. And Tar-a-Tar. I'm Sunna, as Mord already said, and here's my sister Ros, our scout Ragnar, Adiel our most knowledgeable friend and I guess you already know Holly?"

Kayaq acknowledges you all after Sunna's introductions and then smiles at Holly.  You stand around waiting for him to speak, but the silence stretches on.  The pause feel awkward.  This man appears to be quiet comfortable to just listen to the wind and the shuffling of horses feet.

„Do you want to walk with us for a while?“ Sunna asks. The long silence makes her feel a little odd, but she manages not to show it. „Maybe you have some news regarding the way to the dwarves?“

Holly had nodded to Kayaq and Tar-a-Tar as they arrived and was going to make introductions when Mord stood forward. A stranger in camp, even one accompanied by Moonlight should be met by the a suitable welcoming, and Mord was certainly that. As Mord and Sunna talked at Kayaq, Holly decided to stay back and see how they coped with her colleagues approach to time. Stepping aside, Holly welcomes Moonlight back, scratching his favourite spot and thanking him for finding Kayaq.

Finally, Holly breaks the silence. "Kayaq, thank you for coming. Hopefully Tar-a-Tar is comfortable for a moment. Will you walk with us until we camp. If you know of a good camping site near here, I'm sure we will appreciate it. Sunna and Adiel are both accomplished Harpers."

Kayaq agrees to walk along with you. He sets the tip of his shield in the newly fallen snow, says a few non-clantongue words, and taps his staff solidly against the ground before departing.  The traveler is content to follow Ragnar's lead through the wilds.  Even though he is on foot and you're on horseback, Kayaq and Tar-a-Tar have no trouble keeping pace.

The weather stays chilly but the snowfall is over for today.

"Well met, Kayaq of the snows, and Tar-a-Tar his master," Mord chuckled and nodded in greeting, then continued to speak in friendly fashion as they travelled the chilly conditions.  The barbarian seemed rather unaffected beneath his thick furs and stunningly-attention-grabbing new cloak, and even moreso seemed to be enjoying the venturing into a new area (to him).

"Are you a tale-teller as well, Kayaq?  Warrior?  Of Obad-hai's order?
What brings you to our travels, to share our steps?"

---

OOC: DM, does it look like Kayaq is dodging answering Sunna?

Kayaq nods.

"I have been this way before.  I have seen a few of the dwarven cities and spent weeks listening to them,  I have learned their language, though I do not speak it well.  I could take you there myself, but you know the way and are in good hands."

He goes quiet again, but Mord quickly fires off more questions.

"It's Tar-a-Tar who's the warrior, though his battle style relies heavily on attracting the opponent's attention and more than his share of arrows and axes.  He's a tough bear and hasn't died from his bravery coupled with a total lack of dodges and parries yet."

Kayaq chuckles.

"Perhaps you could tell me why I'm here.  I have an inkling it's about the geomancy tunnels and which one extends the furthest north."

Fritzholm, on behalf of Mord, rolled 14 using 1d20.  Sense Motive.

Kayaq is enigmatic and hard to read.  You don't get the sense that he's avoiding any questions in particular.  You'd like to think he's withholding big secrets from you, but you can't really find any hints of that.  Maybe he just spends too much time out in the wilds with no one to talk to but a strange white bear, and it's dulled his social skills.

"That and a chance to answer a question for me. Our friend Mord has a new ally, one I cannot trust my own judgement on, so I thought I'd ask your opinion of him. A quicker way north would aid us greatly in our task, as would information on the dwarven sights we might see." Holly says, enjoying the interaction and admitting to herself that this is the way Kayaq is with everyone and that the years she had known him had not had him treating her any different to anyone else.

"You're going to Sloss Hinterplatz.  A good choice.  Both because you're familiar with the stronghold and some of its inhabitants, and because it is a nexus of many dwarven roads.  When you arrive, consult an expert in geomancy.  The dwarves' knowledge is vast.  They can show you the fastest way north.  You have already seen the copper plates and how they work.  You will need one or more that you do not have.  First determine which plate or plates you need.  Then figure out how to get them.  I recommend gems and overflowing sacks of gold.  One can never have too much gold when dealing with gnomes."

"Who is this ally?" Kayag asks.

Rakanishu has two states.  He is dormant when all the 'nesting dolls' are packed together, and animate when his two halves have been opened up and reconnected while hollow.  That's when he sprouts little arms and legs and sometimes roots.  Since he hasn't been waddling around and spewing his typical garbled nonsense the sounds like imp swearing we'll assume Mord has him packed up in his dormant state right now.

Mord levelled a look towards Holly.  Perhaps not a look, but a Look.  It was not threatening -far from it- but the implacable expression of a man facing a landslide and expecting that it would move first.  If there was a message, it was that we were not going to be playing this game over and over.

The powerful barbarian made no threatening move, but neither did he spew overfulsome in social courtesy or persuasive argument.  Instead he merely crossed his arms in his 'Mord is not impressed' look.

It perhaps passed in breaths unneeded to say that he made no particular move to remove the plant ally, though he had been out periodically during the trip, and certainly on watch, so Mord kept it with him still, as far as was known.

Kayaq does not press the "ally" issue at all, content to just wordlessly walk north with you until you've worked this out.

"He's a bit shy", Sunna explains and glances at Mord with a slight smile, "and sometimes hard to understand." She, too, is fine with not pressing the issue for now. Sometimes it's better to wait.

No one brings up the subject again.  When you camp for the night Kayaq takes note of Rakanishu who is now active, but doesn't do anything else.


That night Kayaq tells a campfire story about the titans' quest to overthrow the gods.  They successfully killed two of the old gods, Carmogin the goddess of rock and soil and her husband Tiomen the god of night and the moon.  As punishment for this the gods stripped them of all magic, arcane and divine, and sealed the titans in the lands to the north, unable to cross the ice to the east or west lest it crack open and drown them, nor were they able to go south over the dwarves' mountains which are patrolled by great dragons.  Over the centuries the titans dwindled smaller and weaker to become the giants they are today.  They never again threatened the gods.

Some time during the night Kayaq and Tar-a-Tar slip away unnoticed.

Mord continued to keep the little treeman about, and the latter proved to be true to his word in helping on watches, and able to see in the darkness to call out a warning when something moved too close to the camp.  It was true that only Mord could understand him without Holly using her magics, but the alert was sufficient in and of itself, and with more detail should either be awake.

When Kayaq told the tale of giants, Mord slapped a meaty thigh and cheered along, grinning at the retelling.  "Ho, ho - to challenge a mighty titan like that - surely a legendary goal for a legendary warrior.  I've played tree-tag with some of the giants about in the woods, but never tested a true titan, or even their larger descendants.  A good tale, Kayaq!"

The barbarian turned to address, generally, his small ally.  "See, Rakanishu?  They are good companions, and good tales of the road.  It is well to stand tall and true, and well to travel with good kin and company.  I know you and Holly did not find a good first meeting, but I hope the two of you will resolve your differences, and recognize the skills and strength of will in each other."  The comment was not delivered to any one particular person, for all the conversational leader, and a simple message of tolerance and understanding.

~
When Kayaq disappeared, Mord looked to Holly for explanation.  "Is he scouting ahead?  Or seeking a bit of private time to themselves to hunt?"

This is a bit prophetic.  The very next night after Kayaq departs Adiel notices something on his watch.  A bear is getting into the wagon, rummaging around for food.  Adiel quickly strums up a marvelous tune on his Lyre about a bear that leapt into the heavens.  The bear slides out of the wagon and plops down on the ground listening intently to Adiel's magical song.  The harper knows he cannot keep this up forever and contemplates what sort of illusion might best dispose of this bear without harming it.  Before it comes to that Mord is at Adiel's side, alerted by his vigilant tree buddy.  The big barbarian assures Adiel that he can handle one little bear.

Sure he could easily hack the bear to ribbons, but that hardly seems fair treatment of a critter simply looking for midnight lunch.  Instead he merely trips the bear with his long hooked poleaxe and leaps in to wrestle the bear with his bare hands.  Adiel decides to wake Holly.

Mord does get a bit scratched up, but avoids getting bitten and eventually gains the upper hand, riding the beast to the ground.  He manages to keep it held awkwardly for the time being.  Just as Adiel knew he'd be unable to keep his magical song going forever, Mord too knew he couldn't hold the bear down all night.

Holly arrived at the wagon's edge and cast her spell to speak with the bear.

"Majestic bear of the north, we are very powerful and deadly, but do not wish to harm you.  You must go now.  Our journey is long and we will need most of our food.  However, we will give you what we can spare," she says in sounds only she and the bear understand.

Holly pats Mord on the hip and tells him it is safe to let the bear go.  True to her word, she gives it some of their food and it is on its way into the night, not to return.

Mord and Holly can't help but smile, thinking back to another night most-of-a-year-ago when they, Snow, Glumr, Rolf, Vidar, and the mysterious floating eye had a much more troublesome and potentially deadly encounter with a hungry bear at night.  They'd become so much stronger, tougher, and more powerful since then, but somehow had forgotten the simple lesson of hanging their food high out of reach from bear.

Due to clearer than expected weather and dry ground you arrive at the Cabel hunting lodge almost a full day ahead of schedule.  This is an auspicious start to your long trip.  The Cabel clan is happy to see you again.  None have forgotten Holly's life saving rescue of their Coafie.  The girl is at that age where even 8 or 9 months bring dramatic changes.  Still Holly and Sunna have no trouble recognizing her when she runs up to hug Holly.

The clan feeds you and gives you all beds in the lodge for the night.  None of you have any idea when you'll be back, but they're willing to watch your wagon and horses again for as long as you need.


The rest of the way to Sloss Hinterplatz is along a mountain trail that includes a few sections of climbing.  You have no idea how the dwarves navigate it with laden with goods bound for Triplefang markets.

What from the wagon do you want to take with you?  (Hint: the coins at the very least.)

"Kayaq came to pass on information and at my request. He evidently thought his task was done, so he will have gone off to seek his usual solitude. I spent a winter with him, and he said no more than three words most days." Holly says, aware of what the underlying message was, but not bothering to open that wound again.

---

With the bear being held by Mord, and Holly successfully convincing it to move on, Holly has to smile and says, "Perhaps we should start tying our food up in the trees again! It seems like the winter here might have been a long one, and our friend was obviously hungry. Thanks for not hurting him Mord."

---

Holly takes time to find a good tree close to the Cabel hunting lodge, taking her time to find one willing to work with her. Placing the mark upon the tree, Holly is tempted to simply travel back to Volge and sit with Snow for a while. Instead, Holly decides to take Moonlight through to Volge and cut him free for the spring. Asking him not to sire too many foals, Holly finds it hard to leave him, but she knows she must at this time. Returning to the others, Holly is even more reclusive as they prepare to pack up their gear and move off through the mountains.

Sunna is quite impressed by the way Adiel, Mord and Holly have dealt with the bear, even with knowing about their abilities. She nods to Hollys suggestion. "I don't know why we became careless in this. You're right."

---

"Should have said something", Ragnar says apologetically. "But with all the strange things going on... I simply thought bears and other things would just, well, leave us alone."

---

Ros smiles broadly at Mord. "That was great! I didn't know just HOW strong you are!"

---

At the Cabel hunting lodge Sunna again offers to take messages with her to the dwarves.

"We'll need anough food for the way to Sloss Hinterplatz. And if we're going to go beneath the earth a bit of light won't hurt, too. Might be we could get it from the dwarves, but I don't want to appear unprepared in front of them", Sunna says, discussing what to take with them.

---

OOC: suggestions to take with us additionally to the coins)
6 pounds of food (plus what else we need to reach Sloss Hinterplatz)
small spade - 4 lbs
tinderbox
Small lantern - 1.5lb
2 torches - 1lb each
1 half gallon containers of oil - 5lbs each (if needed for the lantern)
6 Wool blanket - 3lbs each (only if we need additonal blankets)
2 tents - 40lbs
1 iron pot - 20lbs
50 foot coil of hemp rope - 10lbs
chunk of beeswax (one never knows when it will come in handy)
sunrod
2 waterskins
wand of sleep 17 charges
Potion of Levitation
Potion of Heroism

Holly tried to keep herself occupied whilst Moonlight was away, and she knew at some point before their journey she would call for Ebony to appear. Having the bear with her would be comforting, but she wished there was a way Moonlight could survive a journey in mountains and through journeys. At least with a tree link now in place their journey back to Volge would be smoother, assuming they survived long enough to get back.

Finding the others, Holly said, "Is everyone ready? Then lets get going. We are still behind our enemies, and we need to get to the dwarves as soon as possible. I will scout ahead and meet you on the trail. I need to find an old friend up there, Ebony, and get her to join me now Moonlight is safe."

The thought of being away from Mord and his unnatural ally was one that pleased Holly more than it should, but the real chance to ride the winds in the mountains in eagle form was even more enticing.

Although Mord was not aware in full of Holly's view, he had still a touch of unpleasant memory at the threats from the tense moment of just a few days prior.

The large man looked a touch pensive - out of keeping for him - but nodded at her suggestion.  "Makes sense to check the area ahead.  Never know troubles until they trouble you.

"Oh, by the way, I also marked a good tree with the symbol you showed me for your treewalking magic.  Actually, Rakanishu showed me what worked better so the effect actually worked like you did.  I'm not going to say I was doing it wrong, but Mord knows that even Mord can learn new ways to do things.

"Like wrestling bears - and Ros, that was a tiny bear.  Psh.  Put a bow on him, and ye'd have a child's toy.  Hee hee!"  It was clear that Mord was trying to play things as matter of fact, but he was also clearly proud of having been able to do the magical art, so far beyond him previously.

"Trading goods the dwarves might like would be good to take.  And food.  Perhaps oil and more rope.  A good couple shovels or picks, if the way is blocked and needs clearing."

The Cabel seem a bit unclear on the concept.  Instead of messages they want delivered they ask about news *from* the dwarves.  Sunna figures that very little changes in a year where the inhabitants live for centuries and worship unchanging stone, so why not tell about their last visit?

She sings songs about Favrick the Superior, about Humantown, and about the majestic upslope.  She even slips in a verse or two of authentic dwarvish.  The songs are a big hit, drawing literally everyone from around the lodge.  Children leave wanting to play as Favrick.

You split up the extra gear from the wagon and head north on foot early in the morning.  You make your way into the foothills, which quickly turn rocky, and meet up with Holly around mid-day.  She is indeed with a bear you recognize as Erma, but Holly calls Ebony.

"You know how to do magic, too?" Ros is clearly impressed. She glances at Rakanishu and adds with a wink: "Don't teach him too much, alright?"

Though she should be used to unusual things happening around Holly and the others by now, Ros is somewhat surprised to find a bear at Hollys side. "Uhm, hi. You must be Ebony then?"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:16, Fri 16 Mar 2018.

For a moment it seems as if Ragnar is about to object to Hollys plan of scouting ahead but then he only nods. "I guess you already know the way far better than I do", he says with a smile.

Upon meeting Holly with the bear Ragnar frowns a little, then shrugs and nods towards the bear in greeting.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:17, Fri 16 Mar 2018.

"Nice to meet you again", Sunna greets the bear, even though she knows that Ebony/Erma is not too fond of meeting people.
"Did you find tracks of the enemy on your way here?" she asks Holly. "Not that it's likely, but it never hurts to look."

Travel in the mountains isn't too bad the first couple of days, but then the ascent gets steep.  Ragnar takes you up the mountain as best he can.  There are a lot of switchbacks and progress feels very slow.  At least there's been no rope and hooks climbing.  The terrain is so foreign to you grassland dwellers.  Very little of it looks familiar from your last trip, partly do to seasonal changes, and partly due to your path diverging from the previous one.  To make matters worse it rains hard for several days.  The standard flow routes of meltwater are overwhelmed and the entire landscape becomes a deluge.

It's a couple of days after the rains pass before you can make normal (for the mountains) time again.  By then you're lost and it's clear that you're going to run out of food before you reach Sloss Hinterplatz.

You can stop and spend a day or two hunting or you can press on.  You have plenty of fresh water all around.  Days or even a week without food is uncomfortable and bad for your health, but it won't kill you or do serious harm.

Ebony kept to herself as much as usual, although did seemed drawn to Mord a little more than usual. Sniffing in the air, Ebony made as if to step forward before a gentle hand from Holly kept her back. Acknowledging Sunna as one she had met before, Ebony snuffled at her in recognition and seemed to almost nod in return to Ragnar and the others. Shuffling away from the party, Ebony found a comfortable position and then decided it was time for a nap. Accepting Holly when she came over a slept beside her.

---

Holly slept in the warm embrace of her bear and Snow's amazing cloak, dreaming of summer of fishing in the rivers and eating all that she could find. Waking, Holly was glad for the extra warmth Ebony provided.

The rain kept Holly with the others, as she wasn't willing to transform in the more dangerous weather. Holly soon regretted that when they got lost. Never one for knowing her way in the mountains, Holly had relied on Ragnar, and it seemed they had been making good progress. When the group had discussed the situation, Holly had said, "A few days without food will not hurt us much. I will set off with Ebony and try and find our way, or at least to a safer route. Follow Ebony when she waits for you and I will join you later. We can't be that far away, just a little off the track. Perhaps we can find a cave and get out of the rain. I'd like to get dry again at some point!".

Mord scratched his head - having been confident the bear looked and moved like Emma - but Holly had called the bear Ebony, so it much be a similar colour bear.  Or perhaps there were bear names as well as person names.  The world was so much more complicated with this strange awareness of women changing into beast and beasts into women.  Well, the entirety of changing had been strange enough, but Mord had adjusted more easily than even he would have thought a few years ago - adventuring was good for broadening one's horizons.

Either way, the bear seemed friendly, and Mord reciprocated naturally - as much as was possible when Holly was either away or not prohibiting or deflecting contact.

~
Re: Ros
The barbarian had chuckled and lifted his brows suggestively with a grin.  "Mord is full of many surprises for those that know him better.  Ho ho!  Not unlike you, Ros!  Did you decide on a good nickname or battle nomager?  You can almost feel the challenge in the air upcoming.  Or it could be a hungry belly, heh.

"Speaking of which, Ragnar - what do you think of the hunting signs?  Should we hunt about and wait in the area, or follow them slowly and leave markers for them to find us?"

Ragnar points out that caves tend to be carved out by meltwater flows and are thus a bad place to take shelter during torrential downpours.  You do find a nice rock overhang to sleep under and stay dry one night.

When the skies clear Holly takes flight in search of Sloss Hinterplatz.  It takes hours, but she's successful.  You choose haste over comfort and press on towards the dwarven stronghold after your food runs out.

Your spirits rise when the path your treading becomes a stone paved road.  A quarter mile further along you can see the long entrance bridge leading to Sloss Hinterplatz.  Right at the foot of the bridge you're stopped by 6 heavily armored guards in blue arms coats.  You're anxious to skip any unnecessary socializing and get directly to some dinner.

Sunna tells the guards that you're looking for a path north to the land of the giants, but you've run out of food along the way.  She also subtly mentions that you've been to the stronghold before, and that you brought gold.  They are not keen on letting a bear into the stronghold.  Holly steps up to vouch for the animal and agrees to take full responsibility for its actions.  With more silver-tongue-work by Sunna the guards begrudgingly agree to allow Ebony entrance.

One of the guards takes you across the bridge, past a thick gate, and two sets of large, heavily reinforced doors.  For those of you who are just setting eyes on Sloss Hinterplatz for the first time it is a grand sight.  The whole city is built in a cavern underground.  Homes, buildings, and walkways climb up the walls of the cavern all the way around.  There are two rivers running through the city feeding fountains and pools.  The guard takes you directly to Hillis' inn and pub in Humantown, which is in the lower part of the city.  You haven't eaten properly for two days, and strongly hope Hillis has something on the fire.

At the door to the inn Holly remembers Hillis' less-than-amused reaction to Ebony wandering around Sloss Hinterplatz last time.  Though the bear is as hungry as the rest of you, Holly convinces Ebony to go around back and lie down.

The party heads straight for a table at the pub.  The innkeeper is old enough to be your father or grandfather, but looks to be in remarkably good health.  He brings out a tray of roast lamb, a couple dozen biscuits, and ale all around.  You dig in before the food even hits the table.

Hillis laughs.  "If only everyone was so enthusiastic about our fare.  What brings you to Sloss Hinterplatz this time?  Got more old glass swords to sell?"

"Your food, obviously. I also have a bear waiting out back so as not to trouble anyone. Could provide Ebony with some uncooked meat and lots of nuts and berries. Whatever you have available really. Ebony won't cause any trouble." Holly says as the food arrives and the group tuck in.

"We are also looking for anyone who can take us north through the land of giants. Someone with knowledge of geomancy would be my guess."

Hillis looks stern and perturbed.  He opens his mouth to retort the bit about Ebony when Holly quickly changes the subject.

"Land... of the... Giants," the old man gazes off into the distance and grows quiet.  His pause doesn't last nearly as long as Kayaq's pauses, thankfully.

"I've been there.  Long ago."

A smile slowly crosses his face.

"It was amazing!  One of the greatest adventures of my life.  It's like a whole other world.  Everything is vast, HUGE.  You feel like a little mouse scurrying around.  The sheer grand scope of it all.  Amazing!"

"But those days are behind me now, more for young folks like yourselves," he nods.

"Why are you going, and what's this about Geomancy?"

Steering clear of the question of geomancy, Holly asks, "Hillis, it is good to know someone has been there. Perhaps we could sit and talk about it further. I know that Sunna and Adiel will be glad to here of your adventures. They have a knack for making music, and perhaps your tales of adventure would be useful sources for them. I can just imagine songs being sung of the Land of Giants throughout the clans."

Looking over at Adiel and Sunna, Holly expected to see a little annoyance at her suggestion, but also a chance to pick up useful information about the land they needed to travel through.

If Sunna is annoyed at Hollys suggestion she doesn't show. "I would be glad to hear of your adventures there. Being as small as a mouse you say... that's a nice way to picture it and a good way to begin a song.
We have to go there and fast, so if you know a way to the Land of the Giants..." Sunna makes a pause, giving Holly the opportunity to interrupt, if she wants to and then continues:"It might be that there's trouble going on and we need to know more about it."


"We also brought some messages from the clan people, maybe you could help delivering them?"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:59, Wed 28 Mar 2018.

Ros is quite impressed by the dwarven town and remains unusually quiet during their way to Hillis' place. She had been the one being the most annoyed about having run out of food and now digs into the food with good appetite.
"If you want your adventure find a way into clan songs, here's your opportunity", she adds to Hollys words.

"A MOUSE?!" Mord roared in laughter, slapping his knee.  "At the least, the MIGHTIEST of mice!  I, too, would hear the tales - though I'm anxious to hear the battles and tactics of the giants, for I seek to lay low them myself.  'Mord the Giant Slayer' has a grand ring to it.

"But certainly, all know Mord to be a humble and earnest listener," he grinned at himself, showing no concern at poking fun.  "And listening for a path to the Land of Giants is eager to my ears.  Can we purchase you an ale to whet good story-telling lips, while we continue to eat?"

Hillis slides a stool up to your slightly wobbly table and sits down to biscuits and ale.

"It all began with a harper's tale about a magical lyre in the land of the giants that played itself.  It was said that its melodies were so beautiful as to calm even the most furious beast.  As it turned out I had use for just such a thing.  The mad berserker Gunnstein was on a rampage.  The clans did not want to murder the great man, as he was needed to battle a crack hobgoblin squad that was making life tough throughout the south.  Even had they wanted to do Gunnstein in they have might lost just as many stopping him as doing in the hobgoblins.  My head was full of the notion of return with the lyre and saving the day in quite the heroic manner.  Naturally things rarely work out as envisioned."

The former adventurer goes on to tell you how he gathered up his close friends Durkin and Jillian as well as 5 others and charged off to the north.  There were complications and excitement aplenty even before 7 of the original 8 finally made it to Lodihelm.  Once there, they came to the realization that they weren't going to get to the land of the giants and back anywhere near soon enough to help with Gunnstein or the hobgoblins.  They decided to fetch the lyre anyhow and sell it to the harpers or anyone else with enough gold, but they were short on coin needed to mount their expedition to the land of the giants, so they took on a few jobs in Lodihelm.

"We were in Lodihelm for over a year!  I'll spare you the tiresome details, for I have a catchy verse that just about covers it."

Hillis hums a short tune for Adiel or Sunna to play in accompaniment of his song, which goes something like this:

"Many many years ago
We set out on the road
Seeking our fame and fortune
Looking for a pot of gold
Things got bad, and things got worse
I guess you know the tune
Oh no, stuck in Lodihelm again"

Hillis continues with his story.

By the time they left Lodihelm their numbers had dwindled to four.  One stayed in the dwarven city and two went back home.  The small remaining party made their way to Mulborim, the northernmost Dwarven outpost.

"We went overland part of the way, but Jillain and I would get dizzy and light headed up their.  Both of us passed out more than once along the way.  A sure way to get yourself frozen to death is trying to cross the mountains alone without someone there to watch after you.  We looked for another way.  As it turns out the Dwarves have these underground roads between their cities.  I wish we would've known about those earlier."

From Mulborim they crossed the last peaks in the land of the giants.

"The border is patrolled by real live honest to goodness dragons.  We heard their screams echo off the mountains and caught glimpse of a silhouette far in the distance a time or two, but never faced one close up.  That's way I'm talking to you now instead of being ashes blown around by the north winds."

"Once you're in the land of the giants everything is huge.  Flowers the size of trees.  Trees bigger than the larger towers.  It's not just the giants that are giant.  The animals are just as big."

Hillis tells you that they were looking for a giant castle.  They figured it would be easy to spot such a thing from up on the mountain tops, but they never did.  It turns out that giants don't live in cities or castles or even villages.  They mostly can't stand each other and live alone out in the wild.

Eventually he gets to the giant fighting part.

"You can fight a giant with axes and swords if you want.  They aren't THAT big that a good hack wont hurt 'em.  The problem is the hitting back.  It's likely to kill you, and none of us wanted that.  Even had there still been eight of us, no one liked our chances.  With four?  Well, we needed a trick.  It was Durkin who came up with the plan.  We found some giant nightshade and Jillian brewed up a wicked poison.  We hacked a reed at an angle so it's tip was sharp and filled it with nightshade brew.  We set up a trap to trip the giant.  Two of us got the giant riled up and ran away.  The trap worked.  Once he was down I stabbed the reed deep into the side of his neck with both hands.  He thrashed around for a few minutes, even got up and stumbled away, but he didn't get far.  The next time he fell over we all set on him and finished him off."

The old man is clearly proud of this achievement.  Felling a giant.  How many can say they've done that?

"We never did find the lyre, and most of what a giant has isn't worth hauling back, but we took his giant axe to sell to the dwarves , a ring the dwarves said was 'electrum', and a few other trinkets.  It made us all rich for a while.  Durkin sailed off.  Jillian settled down in Trellor long enough to have a kid.  No one knew if it was Durkin's daughter or mine.  I was too much a young fool to call it quits then.  A small fortune doesn't last forever when you're chasing adventure all the time."

Holly listened to the tale, enjoying the chance to relax after a nice filling meal, and the chance to find out more about what they might face if their approach to taking shortcuts through the mountains to get to the World Tree didn't work out.

Holly asked more questions about the animals that Hillis described, wanting to understand what her chances would be in talking to them and perhaps gaining their help. It sounded worryingly like a long and dangerous adventure that Hillis had been lucky to survive.

Sunna has to grin as Hillis mentions having to stay in Lodihelm for over a year and has fun to play the tune to Hillis' verse. "The verse indeed says it all."

"So the Lyre still might be there?" Sunna asks curiously. Not that she really intends to search for it, not now, but keeping their eyes open on their way certainly won't hurt. "It sounds like a great adventure, even without the lyre. Felling a giant.. that's quite a thing." With a smile Sunna glances over to Mord. "I guess I know what you are thinking, cousin."

The young bard is quite interested in the underground tunnels Hillis mentioned - and in the giant plants and animals as well. If the leaves are as big as a boat and such things.

"Do you know what happened to Gunnstein? And the hobgoblins?"

You're right.  It was long.  Based on his story, going over the mountains on foot will take months.  That's no way to catch up to the three armies.  On the other hand, the armies probably had to go the slow way.  Any shortcuts you can find will yield helpful results.

Hillis says there are strange creatures in the mountains and even stranger ones under the mountains, but the underground roads that the dwarves use regularly are kept clear of dangerous monsters.

Their little adventuring party steered clear of the giant animals for obvious reasons, but he figures they're just really big version of your regular animals. Hillis doesn't think they're warped or evil or anything.

"If it ever existed, the lyre is still there in a giant castle.  Personally, I have my doubts."

"Gunnstein.  I heard he burned himself out.  He was no good for months after that mess, but soon as he was whole he joined up with raiders, slaughter hundreds.  It's not the sort of legacy I'd like to leave.  As for the hobgoblins, they suffered a few small defeats and went back to the Dark Woods where they split up.  Good thing too.  Those guys were good."

"Indeed, no kidding.

"What did you do for foodstuffs?  We ran a mite short on our trek here, and a long journey like that, over mountains, and through strange lands - and a warrior fights on his stomach, as they say.  If we use these dwarven tunnels, I'd think extra food and water all the more important, unless there are dwarven inns every few feet along the way.  Though that might make the journey a touch longer then, as we'd need to sample the ale, ho, ho!

"More seriously, friend Hillis, my ears are interested in these dwarven paths that cut through the mountains, and enable swifter passage.  With whom should we speak to learn more?  To where would we go to travel?  We have heard of earth magics that could whisk a person like the trees, but if we can't find it - always have a plan B."

---

OOC: DM, Dark Woods where we've had clashes - i.e.- our problems arising from his?
If so, might be a little more questioning about Gunnstein and his homies :)

Hillis nods several times.

"Oh yes, the roads.  I highly recommend them.  Sloss Hinterplatz is a major city and central too.  There's a gate down to the roads back near the base of the slope between the rivers.  The deep roads should take you all sorts of helpful places, not the least of which is Mulborim.  That'll get you a decent ways north, but it's still a serious climb and hike from there."

"I'm not sure I follow magic and whisking like trees," he adds with a shrug and puzzled look.

"As for food, they have all manner of imperishables here.  My choice would mild cheese or honeyed meat.  Watch out for the sharper or even 'normal' cheeses, they'll make your mouth scream for sure.  Mild mild mild.  The dwarves will make jokes at you, but you'll be happy later when you can stand to eat your cheese.  They also have tonnes of breake.  It's like eating spiced mud and rocks, but it won't kill you if you have lots of water.  Bring as much dwarven food as you can carry.  Once you're in the land of the giants you should be able to find some giant roots or leaves or berries and then food isn't a problem.  Collect the morning dew and you won't need springs and ponds."

When Hillis is done talking Mord ponders it all for a moment and then nods, slapping the old man on the shoulder as lightly as possible.

You're done with your meal and ready to conduct your business in Sloss Hinterplatz.

Where to first?

Adiel has been spending a lot of time silent of late. Fewer songs around the campfire, fewer insights in conversations. Mumbling in his sleep. He listened carefully to the visiting druid, but only nodded in agreement to the warning about the land of the giants.

Thankfully, his usual self emerges somewhat again at the sight of the Dwarven city. He stares in awe at the underground architecture, the majestic caverns of Sloss Hinterplatz. And at the sight of food, he perks up further.

"You... collected the morning dew? Really? What makes the dew so large there?" He starts the sentence skeptical, but already has a theory about how it could work by the time he finishes his question. Hundreds of droplets, on a giant leaf, could reasonably collect together and fill up a canteen of water. Adiel wonders if this technology could be harnessed in Triplefang lands for gathering water. Or for purifying it.

"What makes everything so large there?  The land of the giants is a strange place to us."

"It has been good telling my stories,"  Hillis says standing up and brushing crumbs off his front.  "Good luck with the giants."

"...and get that bear out of here," he adds, going over to assist another guest.

As the group gets ready to go about its business, Adiel turns to the others. "I remember hearing that you visited a mystic named Penn, while you were here last. Is he an expert on geomancy? We'll need to buy some geomantic plates, and maybe some other items, too. And hopefully warn some leaders about what all is going on."

"Oh... speaking of find magical types - I wanted to ask you about this stuff.  A summoner tried to kill me, volunteering his gear.  I didn't have it looked at earlier, as we had to leave short-like... huh... I'd like to see how you do the magic-reading of it.  I can assess another warrior's skill and training from his movement, so I'd like to know how to read the magical skill of an item or an opponent as well.

"We can try looking at this?"  So saying, the barbarian removed a smaller backpack from his main pack; a thick thumb flipped loose the strap containing the main pouch, and Mord upended a thump of some slimmer leather armour, which absorbed a falling hatchet and dagger - each in its own of a pair of boots - and a wood tablet with six ivory feather-carved tokens that skittered off the tablet, onto the table.

"If there are magicked things here we cannot use, perhaps I can barter them.  The merchants certainly find pleasure in it, but I'd generally threaten a little violence politely rather than quibble over coin."

Adiel nods in agreement, smiling curiously. "I never thought to ask if you found any valuables on him. Opening the eyes to magical auras is one of the simplest magics. Maybe your friend can teach you." And he begins to sing, a complex, foreign melody that always seems to be asking a question rather than answering one. As he sings, he examines each of Mord's items carefully.

Casting Detect Magic.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:46, Wed 04 Apr 2018.

Adiel's song draws attention.  After a short talk with Hillis one of his human guests moves in closer to see what's going on.  By then, Adiel is done with his song.  He's already looked over the wooden tablet, set it down, and picked up one of the ivory tokens to examine it more closely.

You all see the wooden tablet as Adiel examines it.  It has non-clantongue writing on one side.  On the other side is a carved and seared picture of a tree and a stylized symbol of Krammishir.

"I march for glory with High Priest Tolescaro," Adiel translates softly, before putting the tablet down.

As he sings, he eyes an ivory token closely. Well, sort of. He technically examines the air around it, as if it is glowing to his eyes. As he finishes the song, he smiles, pleased. "It's a flight spell. Safe to use; it'll set you down nicely when it's done.  One time use, like a potion. But it needs a command word, a secret word to make it work. I could give you a reasonable guess, which would probably work... or I could test one of them now. They will all have the same command to activate." He looks to Mord inquiringly.

The feathers interested Holly straight away, more from understanding the source of the feather rather than any magic potentially held within it. When Adiel explained the spell, Holly nodded to herself, acknowledging the obvious connections being made between the feather and the magical spell to fly.

"Are you sure they are all the same Adiel? Just a suggestion, that they might not all bring us down gently." Holly asked, aware of the attention they were now getting. Almost tempted to bring in Ebony to provide a bigger distraction, Holly instead turned to Sunna.

"Sunna, it seems they are a little light on entertainment. Do you have something to keep them away from our table while Adiel works?"

Mord shrugged at the question.  "If it helps protect people, do what you think works.  Seems a shame to waste one to see if it works or not, but as none of them are doing anything right now, is it much waste? "

Rakanishu found itself set upon the table as well, but Mord politely waited for Sunna to start up something before setting the walking plant creature to action, and following it up with a question about seeing the items magical auras to figure them out, and what words were needed to figure out in activation.

Adiel says a strange word in what could be Goblin, and attempts to float a few inches off the floor. If it works, he walks out of the inn and goes outside to try flying in the cavern.

15:10, Today: Adiel rolled 40 using 1d20+21.  Spellcraft - Flight Token Command Word.

OOC:  What?!?  Just a 40?

The token crumbles to powder it Adiel's hand and tiny, barely noticeable sparkles surround him for an instant.  He floats up off his chair, but quickly stands up, feet firmly on the ground.  The harper excuses himself and walks out of the inn.

How inconspicuous are you trying to be whilst flying around Sloss Hinterplatz?  Are you trying to achieve any particular vantage point, enjoying the ride, or just making a practical test of the powers?  Are you testing out the duration and soft landing too?

If Mord is planning to ask these question to Adiel it might be a little while before the flying bard returns.  Then again, you're in no rush.

OOC: So maybe I've gone overboard with my Spellcraft modifiers.

Adiel enjoys the ride with the excuse that he wants to measure the effects of the powers more exactly. He tries not to draw attention, but he feels some attention will be inevitable. After about five minutes, he's going to make sure he's hovering ten feet above the ground to safely test whether it softly sets him down like he expects.

He wonders whether it's possible to invent a new song that lets bards fly like sorceresses and goblin witches. Or whether he could go marry a dragon in human form and have flying sorcerer/sorceress babies. For a few minutes, it seems like anything is possible!

Sunna takes one of the tokens in her hand and says, towards the other guests:"Do you know the story of Jix, the flying goblin?" The story she is about to tell is somewhat similar to the tales about Rakanishu, but with Jix only being able to survive every fall because of him landing softly every time someone tossed him off a cliff - which happened quite often for several reasons (a Triplefang warrior fighting him, an angry other goblin...). The story is completely made up, of course.

Fritzholm, on behalf of Sunna, rolled 17 using 1d20+14.  Perform: Sing.

There are only a few patrons eating or drinking.  Only Hillis and one other man had  approached your table in curiosity.  Sunna stands up to get their attention an starts telling them about Jix.  The man smiles at Sunna, but his attention is split between the goings on at the table and the story.  Hillis heads back into the kitchen.  Sensing that her story isn't doing its job well enough she adds an adventuresome melody and makes the story into a song.  This goes over better and soon Sunna's song about Jix has the attention of the room.

Sunna glances back at Ros, Ragnar, Mord, and Holly.  Mord's getting out his strange wooden helper.  You might need a more powerful distraction if that weird little guy starts waddling around spewing his nonsense.  Would you like to use your bardic music power to magically fascinate your small audience?


Adiel zips and swoops around Humantown.  He notices that the buildings are noticeably different from the rest of Sloss Hinterplatz's architecture.  Not only are the proportions different with taller floors and doors and higher and more frequent windows, but they are also built more from wood and less from stone.  Now that your eyes have adjusted to the lack of sunlight the city feels brighter.  There is a considerable amount of flammable illumination as well a good deal of magical light.  The colors of the city are mostly desaturated tones of grey, brown, and red, but metal accents shine and glint to make up up for the lack of bright colors.

You do attract quite a bit of interest and curiosity.  It's certainly not every day that man or dwarf flies around the stronghold like the birds.  You wave in a friendly manner to those who make direct eye contact as you glide past.  After a few minutes (it felt a bit longer than five minutes) you feel the energy running out.  As expected, you are able to settle down for a nice soft landing just a short walk from Hillis' Inn.  When you return Sunna is apart from the party, singing a tune about a flying goblin to the pub's patrons.  Mord has Rakanishu's wooden egg out on the table.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:40, Wed 11 Apr 2018.

On returning, Adiel says, "Well, that definitely worked! When we're done here, let's go visit Penn. Or maybe some other person around here with magic talents or magical items."

Holly listened to Sunna perform, trying not to show any disapproval at Mord for bringing out the thing. Instead, she took a moment to consider that else they would need to do here. Find a guide would be useful, get suitable food although if there was a tree nearby she could probably use it as a portal to keep supplies at a suitable level. They also needed to try and find out what the dwarves knew about geomancy, to see if that could speed them even further along the path they needed to take. Another worry came into her mind, but she put that firmly back in the box it had come from. Holly then considered what to do with Ebony whilst they were here in the city. Perhaps returning her was for the best, at least for the moment.

On Adiel's return, Holly nodded at the suggestion they visit Penn and to try and find others with some knowledge that might help them.

"It did work?  Do what you thought?" Mord inquired, if not overly worried about discretion, at least at level quiet enough/pitched close enough that it would not interfere with Sunna's entertainment.  "What is the magicked word?  I was just about to ask Rakanishu to show me how to view the magical auras like you did.  Still will, I think, ho ho!

"So, was it only the tokens that were magical?"  Although the inn table might not have been the most prudent place in the world to review magical items, Mord's confidence and mantle of invulnerability took prudence and punted it to a far corner, for he feared little, and would pause to charge against even less.  Some small corner of his mind surely weighed the possibility of dwarven thievery, but that was solved, in his mind, with a hearty uppercut or slashing axeblow.

Life could be simple, even in the most complications.

Mord took one of the flying tokens, flicked a couple to Ros and Sunna, and left the other two for claiming on the table.  "Take, in case we need 'em down the road.  You might not be as fancy as Holly's birdfeather, but... oh, wait - Adiel, does it turn us into birds, or are we still us?  A Mord-sized mighty eagle might be impressive, but I've worked hard on this physique, ho ho."  The bulky barbarian grinned toothily, very much not concerned about what a year ago would have had him wide-eyed, but Holly's gentle guidance and demonstration of her abilities had provided much assurance, even if she had never done it before the party.  Mord put that down to girl privacy or shyness - travelling with a party was a step towards comfort with others, but long seasons marching with the Triplefang warbands put sensitivities many steps behind in memory.

Adiel nods. "It worked almost exactly like I thought it would. It lasted a little longer than I expected." He describes the experience at length--the rush of the cavern air, the view of many little lights throughout Humantown, the feeling of his feet leaving the ground. He also repeats the command word for everyone, making sure not to accidentally activate any tokens as he does so.

OOC:  I'm going to assume the Holly either leads Ebony outside or dispels him for the time being.  You can touch on this in your next post or correct me completely.

Of the few acquaintances you made on your first visit Penn seems like the perfect starting point.  His vast knowledge of geomancy in particular and magic in general should be invaluable.  Plus you know where to find him.  Once Sunna wraps up her song the party slips out of Hillis' Inn and starts towards the numerous stairways to the upslope.

Sunna and Holly are discussing whether they will have to make an appointment to speak to Penn when one of a pair of dwarven women exclaim in dwarvish and points in their direction.



"Wait!  Stop!" one calls out to you in clan tongue.  "Our house needs your help."

The two dwarves hustle towards you.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:55, Mon 16 Apr 2018.

Holly had thought better than taking Ebony on a walk through the dwarven hold, and instead had returned her to her own realm. Feeling a little alone, Holly was glad of the conversation with Sunna to distract her.

Hearing the dwarven women, Holly stops and wonders what is this is going to lead to.

Adiel turns to Holly. "You're expected," he says curiously. "I hope you're ready for... whatever this is." His tone implies that the people calling may have rather high expectations, but he says no more. He doesn't know enough.

"I don't think I will be ever ready for other peoples perceptions of my abilities Adiel." Holly says, before stepping forward and saying to the dwarven ladies, "Well met ladies, how can I help you and your house?"

These two dwarves are dressed in simple, but attractive garments.  It's unclear to you what their profession might be.  They do not look like servants or particularly rich or regal.  You dont peg them as clergy either.

When the dwarves reach you the smaller of the two drops to her knees.

"Oh, she is the one told of."

The other woman does more in the way of explaining.

"Our House's Matron, of House Boril, her youngest many-son has died!  He breathed bad air at the workshop.  The house called priests but they could not save him."

"But Yfette is not just a priest, she is a seer too.  Blessed!"

The standing dwarf nods at this.

"Hope was not lost for the seer told of a human woman, just as you, who would bring our Sirrot back to life.  You hear such news and you hold on to hope, but not until we saw you did we truly believe it."

"The divine sight is truth."

"Please come with us," she reaches out and takes Holly by the hand.  She has a strong grip.  "Matron Clairlyn will want to see you right away."

Holly didn't even bother to argue with the request, simply saying, "Lead on".

Holly was intrigued, and turning to the others as she left, she said, "You all don't need to come. We have other business as well. Lets meet back at Hillis' Inn."

With that, Holly let the dwarves lead her to House Boril.

Mord turned to the others, and hooked a thumb towards the departing Holly.  "She shouldn't be travelling alone in a strange city - she's had some grief with me, so I'm probably not her first choice of companions, but at least one or two of you might give her some support and watch her back.

"Ragnar?  You did some tracking with her.  Go keep an eye on her back, eh?

"I don't know the dwarves - anyone recognize the two women, or the names they mentioned?" the barbarian shrugged his lack of knowledge, but it certainly did not appear to be something new to face something new.

"I wouldn't mind seeing their magical items for trade or sale - those little symbols are fine things, and I wonder what the dwarves would have fashioned - could be useful for the geomancing or tunnel walking."

"I'd be happy with your company Mord", Holly says before adding, "But I see you have a growing interest in magic. Ragnar, would you join me?"

Ragnar agrees to go along with Holly.

The two dwarven women lead Holly and Ragnar off through the city.

"We were on our way outside the stronghold to look for and gather spring herbs, but this is far more urgent," says the woman tugging Holly along by the hand.  "Lyolte is an apprentice to Shanelise.  You would call Shanelise a brewer and a healer and a maker of potions.  Oh.  You can call me Eiki."  So many new names to absorb all at once.  You hope there won't be a quiz on who's who.

This house matron sounds like a powerful person, so you were expecting another trip to the upslope, but instead Eiki takes you to a place somewhere slightly higher up than humantown, but not along the walls.  There are a few tall pillars here with bright magical spheres atop them.  Whereas you find only occasional moss-like plants and fungus around the rest of Sloss Hinterplatz, this area has gardens, bushes, and young trees.  The small stone buildings are scarce in the area, as are dwarves.  It seems odd to you that more people aren't enjoying the scenery and serenity of the arbors and pools.  Maybe gardens aren't their thing.

"There she is, Matron Clairlyn," says Eiki, pointing to an elderly woman standing next to a heavily armored warrior.

"We found her!  Your many-son is saved!" Lyolte exclaims as you approach Matron Clairlyn.

As the finely dressed, short, stocky, old woman sets eyes on Holly a look of first recognition, then surprise crosses her face.

"Our seer foretold of you, stranger.  Can you truly bring the dead back to life?" she asks with some astonishment.  The matron's clantongue is clear and almost completely without accent.

Sunna takes you up countless stairs and across a wrought iron bridge that passes between two ridges high above the city floor.  You pause to rest and to take in the view.  Yellow-orange fires burn in braziers all over the incredible city of stone.  You can see the main market from here, as well as houses, temples, and Humantown.  Lights flicker off the two rivers that flow through the city.  The air does not smell like the fresh open air of your home grasslands, but it's clean and dry, not musty like many underground caves you've visited.  Once you're done gawking you continue towards Penn's home.

It's a wide one-story construction.  Two marble stairways and a well lit white stone path lead to and past the impressive residence.   The carving along the front is exact and meticulous, but not ornamental.  Little more than the entrance and facade extends beyond the rock face.

At first you're not sure what to do faced with the pair of metal doors.  Does one knock?  Bang on them with a hammer?  Last time you were expected.  The doors were open and you were greeted in the main hall.  Ros points out a subtle lever mechanism low and to the left of the doors and takes the initiative to pull it.  Somewhere inside a deep bell rings.  A short while later one door swings out about a foot and a half.  A young dwarf in
light maroon robes accented in light green answers the door.  Sunna recognizes the robes as the style Penn and his translator wore.

"What brings humans to this elevation?" the dwarf asks Ros, whose hand still idly rests on the lever.

"Me? Oh, yeah, sure." The ranger smiles towards Holly, gives Mord and nod and follows Holly.

"I fear my skills do not lie within that domain Matron Clairlyn, but I don't ignore foretellings. I would offer my services in any way they might help, and if that can help bring your many-son back then I will gladly do it. My name is Hollykahn Triplefang, and this is my cousin Ragnar." Holly says introducing herself and her new friend to the Matron, aware her words might not be what the Matron wanted to here, but willing to help in any way she could.

"What can you tell me of your many-son, and would it be possible to see him and examine him? I am a healer by trade and devotion and I may be of some help."

OOC: no "talkers" stepping up?  Okay... :)

---

Mord, as always his wont, strode forward confidently, towering muscle and lazy potential for violence.  "Feet and solid boots, good but nameless dwarven greeter," he guffawed at his own jest, and winked at the dwarf.  "Mord the Mighty and his band of intrepid Triplefangs travel to seek the World Tree and save the world, and have heard:

1) the dwarven tunnelmasters know direct routes through the mountains to the World Tree, and the land of giants;

2) the dwarven casters of magic know geomancy... that was the word, right?  Magicks to move us from here to there in an eyeblink.

3) the dwarven crafters have many fine magical items for sale or trade.

"So, said Mord as he held up one finger, then a second, then a third.  And a fourth, in afterthought.  "So we seek the crafters, to purchase magical wares to help us in battle and travel.

"And we seek to speak with the casters to see if the travel magics can instantly move us to our destination - or if they can teach us that too.  That could be quite handy.

"And we seek in alternative to the guides and mapmasters about underground routes through the mountains to the tree and giantland.

"Oh... and we heard about great ale, and would seek to obtain a good barrel of same to fortify spirits and tend to necessary thirsts."

Mord looked to his allies for response.  "Did I miss anything, or was that about the nuts of it?"

Ros makes a light half-step to the side, it looks almost like a well known move, and almost vanishes behind Mords broad back to let him do the talking.

Sunna had been a little distracted by wondering how her sister had found that little lever while she had not seen the thing. At the mentioning of the World Tree she steps forward, too.

"It would be great if we could talk to Penn, if he's here", she adds.

Mord hooked a thumb back towards Sunna's voice, and he grinned broadly.  "What she said.  One of the reasons that we bring her around, hoho!  Good memory for the names of allies."

The barbarian reflected that it was interesting that, despite not liking to leave himself undefended against surprise attacks from behind, he had nothing but trust in Ros and Sunna behind him.  That was kin, and people Mord would trust to ... well, to the lands of giants and back!

Adiel nods hopefully. "As well as our need to meet with Dwarven leadership and warn them of dangers that are abroad and ask for whatever aid they can give to the clans. And my wish to see what the dwarves know of alchemy. Much to do."

"Of course.  Follow me.  Because of what the seer said we have not allowed the priests to take Sirrot to the Halls of the Dead."

Clairlyn bids farewell to the warrior and leads Holly, Ragnar, Eiki, and Lyolte just beyond the edge of the garden district to a small outbuilding near a stone house.  Inside there is a dwarf's body lying on a stone table.  Incense is burning slowly to counteract some of the smell, but you can tell already without examination that the body is dead.  The body is completely intact, showing no fatal wounds, just a discoloration of the skin around the veins of the neck and wrists.  This discoloration is present, but less noticeable in the face.

"He is my youngest.  Perhaps the last I will birth.  Sirrot is not stubborn and unyielding like many of his brothers, but this also means he sometimes does not have the focus he needs.  We're not sure what happened exactly.  They say it was an accident at the workshop, but I do not rule out poisoning or death curse."

Eiki and Lyolte look at each other with a bit of surprise when the house Matron says that last part.

"The priests told us that Sirrot is beyond healing.  Do you have a different method that might work, Hollykahn?" she says, concerned.  You can tell she's distraught, but trying to hold her emotions at bay for the time being.

The young robed dwarf listens to Mord's explanation.  When the big barbarian reaches the part about the giants and the world tree the dwarf opens his mouth drawing in a breath to answer, but Mord continues onward about geomancy and magic items.  Again the dwarf moves to speak, but Mord enumerates his wish to spell masters, underground, guides, and ale.  When Mord finishes, the dwarf waits for a few moments to see if the towering human will launch back into more soliloquy.  Those moments pass in silence so he says.

"That's quite a list, sir.  You and your Triplefang have surely come a long way, but I'm not sure..." he trails off.



"Oh.  I'll go see what he has to say.  You can wait here."

He ushers you into the main hall, a wide spacious public multi-purpose entry room with a ceiling too low for Mord to stand up fully.  He seeks out a sturdy bench to sit on.  The low ceiling alone makes the room feel smaller and cramped despite the open space.  The young dwarf leaves through the only other set of doors in the hall, also made of metal.

There are several minutes for you all to ask Sunna what Penn's like and to discuss in hushed tones what you expect him to be able and willing to do to help you, and what you think you'll have to search for elsewhere.  Sunna says the mystic has some innate magical abilities, that he speaks through an interpreter, and that he's snippy and stubborn, but reasonable.  You know that Penn is deep into geomancy and can almost certainly help with the tunnels.  Buying magic items you're less sure of, but it's worth a try.  Sunna doesn't think Penn is much involved in leadership of the city.  Alchemy is anyone's guess.

Eventually Penn does enter the hall.  He's accompanied by a different dwarf that the one who greeted you.

"Humans, I will be speaking for Penn."

Penn looks you over and says something in dwarvish.

"He says 'The Triplefang walk and come back.  With more treasures this time?  You are many different and even the same one is changed.  Where is the druid?'" says the translator.

Adiel bows and greets Penn briefly in dwarvish.  So as not to be rude to his cousins and the translator, he then switches back to Clan Tongue. "We wanted to know what could tell us of geomancy. We believe that a dark army marches towards the world tree to bring a portion of Krammashir, God of Unnature, into this world. We would like to get there first and stop them." His expression is somber and intent as he looks at Penn seriously. "I have known for many months that the goblins were preparing for war, but I did not expect them to march past Triplefang lands, to seek to change the balance of our world this way."

14:31, Today: Adiel rolled 28 using 1d20+8.  Diplomacy - Impress Penn by speaking Dwarvish. Natural 20!

Penn looks duly impressed with Adiel.  He waves his hand as he speaks and the translator echoes his words in clantongue.

"This one forgives Triplefang for ignoring the brilliant speaker's questions because of urgent gravity.  Penn has heard of a river of little monsters by Lodihelm.  Now is time for chase."

Penn talks at length.  The other dwarf speaks when he can during the breaks.

"If searches for a tiny path to the Large, take direct Vanduahr Maldir.  Maldir are many roads dug deep under slow shifting rocks of world.  Troublesome monsters, hollow, have taken over some old old old roads and these roads like Vanduahr Maldir are now sealed shut by strong gates.  Problems to face are triple like Triplefang.  Easy to reach gate, but gate must opened and shut behind by someone who is not to follow Triplefang.  At end of Vanduahr Maldir after monsters, you must use magical portal key disk like the one the young missing druid sold to Penn, but different disk of course.  Brilliant speaker might have record of portal disk you seek thanks to greatness of foresight.  Last, Triplefang must defeat legendary bear Yngvar, who is invulnerable.  Not so easy.  Harder still, must be only one against Yngvar."

"Still you want to take Vanduahr Maldir?"

Penn burst out into hearty, nearly uproarious, but good natured laughter.

Upon Penns arrival Sunna, too, bows and greets the two dwarves, though in the Triplefang tongue.

"Our cousin went to see someone who needed her help", Sunna finally answers Penns question. Since she doesn't know much more than that she hopes that it will suffice.

She turns to Mord with a grin. "Sounds as if Yngvar is just the one waiting for you?"

To Penn she adds:"We have to get there, even if that means that we have to fight an invulnerable legendary bear. Unless there is another, less dangerous and equally fast path?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:53, Mon 30 Apr 2018.

Ragnar moves closer to Holly and murmurs:"Doesn't look good to me. Unless it's just something that makes him appear... uhm... dead." The scout eyes the dead dwarf, especially the strange markings that indicate there might have been poison involved.

"Where did he work?" Ragnar still talks in a very low voice, almost as if talking to himself.

Thankful for Ragnar asking questions, Holly examines the body closely, using her normal healing skills to determine as much as possible about the demise of the dwarf, and to determine he was really dead or not.

Thinking back on what she had been told over the winter, Holly contemplates whether she should help, or indeed could help with the reincarnation of this dwarf. The spell would take her a night to prepare for, and then in the morning she could perform the ritual. Yet, although the practice would be useful, Holly needed to know the person was worth saving. Scotthard had been an easy choice, as Holly had travelled widely with him in the shape of an eye. Now, Holly knew the decision would be based on information she needed to find out from the mother and others.

Holding off providing details she had found on the body, Holly turns to the mother and says, "May we talk more about your son?".

[OOC - Holly rolled 23 using 1d20+16.  Heal check to examine body.]
This message was last edited by the player at 11:50, Mon 30 Apr 2018.

Mord nodded as Adiel replied to the unanswered question.  "Indeed.  No offence meant to the wise one - we didn't want to offend by not providing the where she is, just the what she is doing.  Answering the question wrongly could also offend, and we didn't want to do that.

"Especially," Mord stroked his chin thoughtfully, "Especially now that you've whetted my appetite - prodigious that it is - of such a fine challenge.  Defeat an invulnerable beast of great Legend, in single combat, to force a path free from an endless tunnel of danger, so that we can face the greatest perils the world has ever known.

"Oh yes, Mord likes your words, Brilliant Speaker.  Your foresight in having the key we need, the path to take to the door, and the test of strength against the invulnerable bear of Legend... very wise things.  Now, I wouldn't want to take the pleasure away from any of my companions, for they are all fearsome and powerful... but this battle with a Legend, this calls for Mord the Mighty.

"I would hear great words of what you know of this Yngvar.  Sunna, Adiel - you are learned on many things - what have you heard of it?

"Oh, and how can we thank the Brilliant Speaker?"

The interpreter translates Sunna and Mord's words for Penn.  The mystic nods in agreement to the general thrust of Mord's musing on the subject of facing Yngvar.  The he replies to Sunna's inquiry.

"There is no path faster than the Vanduahr Maldir.  The portal disk key I will now find who owns."

and with that he leaves through the same door he entered.  The translator is still standing in the main hall with you.

"The workshop is a forge, but it is also used for metallurgy and alchemy.  You can not produce the sort of high quality materials we pride ourselves on simply by smelting ore.  Many ingredients are added to make armor lighter, or harder, or more flexible.  The workshop is where metal smithing techniques are tested and applied."


Holly easily verifies that the dwarf has been dead for many hours, maybe a couple of days. The body is as cool as the air around it.




"Of course.  What would you like to know of him?"

Sunna smiles at Penn as he leaves.

Then she turns to Mord. "I've heard of a tale about Yngvar, but according to that tale he's already dead, slain by an ancient hero with a special crafted blade." Sunna slowly shakes her head. "Might be that he is only invulnerable to weapons, so magic might hurt him? Who knows. Adiel, do you know more than the tale about Yngvar and Tyr?"

"Alchemy, then", Ragnar says thoughtfully and eyes the body again. He is surprised that Holly wants to know more about Sirrot, but tries to hide his surprise. With little effect. But maybe it is because she wants to find out what he was working on? Ragnar frowns and decides just to listen, for now.

Holly nodded to Ragnar, and suggested, "Adiel could possibly help us further, as he is into that kind of thing. No rush, we can bring him here later".

"Matron, I believe that I might be able to help, but as a follower of Obad-Hai I find myself balancing my actions against the greater good. What can you tell me about your son that would benefit the world, as well as you and your family. I would also like you to see if the following ingredients can be gathered for me. They are not cheap, or particularly available, but if you can provide them, it will make my task easier."

"How did your son get on with the other sons and daughters of the family? How well did he get on with those around him? Did he, or indeed your family, have rivals or enemies that might want to cause you harm or anguish? There are others, but if we can discuss these now, I can get a picture of the dwarf that lies before us." Holly said, before indicating the door. "Perhaps a more comfortable place to discuss these things can be found."

"Will he make a historic discovery, find a vein of unimaginable gemstones, or protect his home from invaders?  I know nothing of the future.  He is my child, not some balancing force of the world," Matron Clairlyn says with a flash of anger.  "I conclude that you have no children of your own, Hollykahn, for if you did you would know how important they are to their mothers.  Sirrot being the youngest and last makes him even more special."

"His brothers and sisters, those who are still here in Sloss Hinterplatz, see it their duty to mentor, guide, and protect Sirrot.  He has not yet developed the indomitable fortitude of true dwarvenkind, but his heart is kind.  He sees beauty in many things other miss.  I can't imagine that anyone would have such hatred for Sirrot as to murder him, but it's possible someone means to hurt me and my family.  Of course it could've been just a sad accident.  I don't know.  One thing that is surely no accident is your arrival, Holykahn.  Fate has brought you here to me to give Sirrot a second chance."

Clairlyn finishes her impassioned speech, taking a few calmer breaths.

"You're right.  Let us leave this place and return to the gardens."

Eiki and Lyolte depart, presumably to return to their herb gathering outside the massive doors of the stronghold.  Holly, Ragnar, and Clairlyn adjourn to a nearby stone bench at the edge of a garden.  It's prettier and more serene here.  Also, it doesn't stink of corpse.  You can hear a couple of birds in the trees.  It's a bit surprising that there are birds inside this underground cavern.

Holly lists off the things she will need to perform the ritual.  The matron takes mental note of each, nodding.

"Some of these will not be easy on short notice, but I will handle it.  You concern yourself with the divine elements and I will see to the mundane."

Holly began to like Clairlyn, and suspected if she wasn't the head of the family, then she was the power behind it. The Matron honour given her told much, but the power of her words in describing Sirrot and the situation.

"So, can you tell me a little of you and your family. What business are you in? Me and my cousins are travelling north, hopefully as far as the World Tree. It has a particular calling for me and my kind. Perhaps there is a way we can help each other." Holly said, hoping to open up more conversations, and wishing Sunna or Adiel were here to better lead the conversation.

Penn returns, ruffling through some small parchments.  He says something, shaking his papers as evidence.

"Luck is yours!  The disk is right here in Sloss Hinterplatz says the records."

"Owner Kadrick has hands on the disk, but no sign of sale or price.  Kadrick is known in Stronghold as new head of House Simiran.  For Triplefang from outside, explanation is needed.  Simiran is house banned from Halls of the Dead.  They became weak and Kadrick took over control of house.  More of story is job for bards, not for wise mystic."

Penn stuffs the parchments into his robes and enumerates steps on four fingers from one hand and two on the other before pointing to the front doors.

"Now job is simple.  Leave Penn's house.  Get disk from Kadrick.  Walk Vanduahr Maldir.  Defeat Immortal Yngvar.  Go to Yggdrasil before army.  Thwart old god."

"House Boril was founded by a rare paragon of dwarfhood.  Jonud Boril was not only a warrior hero, but also a genius gnome.  He was a master mason, brewer, and alchemist who invented many materials and techniques still in use today.  He created the Boril Brewery and Spiritworks, and gathered craftsmen and merchants under our banner.  Our family's ancestors were among those craftsmen.  My family is not overly involved in the famous brewery's business.  We're mostly proud builders, miners, smiths, and alchemists.  House Boril has many varied interests.  We have our strengths, but we also fill the gaps and go where the money leads us."

"House Boril doesn't wield the power and wealth of Orthell, Callivari, or Palimar, but we still have considerable means.  I dare say Sloss Hinterplatz would suffer greatly without us."

Holly and Clairlyn discuss the family's businesses as well as their drives and ethics, as they sit in the garden with Ragnar.  Business and trade thrive in the environment of trust and cooperation that the dwarves have built, but there's also competition between the houses.  Clairlyn's family sounds honest, hard-working, and fair.

"Are you sure you want to go that far north?" she asks, concerned.  "You are welcome here, but not there.  The land of the giants is no place for man or dwarf, the land of the gods even less so.  There are powerful wards and creatures to keep the giants from the gods and from us, but also to keep us from their realm.  You tempt fate stepping out of place."
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:23, Mon 14 May 2018.

Mord held up his much larger fingers in reply, turning down one each time, then offering a warrior's arm claspe and beautifully-large smile for the smaller dwarven sage.

"Thank you for hearing us and entertaining us in Penn's house.  Mord the Mighty's time is valuable on the battlefield, and Penn the Wise's time valuable in sagely things.

"What directions does one find Owner Kadrick and House Simiran?  Adiel and Sunna have more stories to share or learn, heh.

"Good exercise helps the mind and body both.

"Defeating Immortal Invulnerable bear creature, outrace three armies months ahead in travel, and thwart a deity aided by three races of armies.  Should be done by breakfast.  Simple stuff."

Penn does give you directions to where you can find Kadrick.  They would be confusing even if you knew your way around the city.  What you are able to decipher for certain is that House Simiran operates from a part of town on the lowest level off the river that doesn't go past The Warrens, which sounds like the opposite of the upslope.  It's enough to go on if supplement your information with a little subtle asking around once you're in the neighborhood.

Would you like to head straight for House Simiran?  Return to Humantown and wait for Holly and Ragnar to join back up?  Look for magic items for sale?  Find the entrance to the dwarven roads?  Warn the authorities about the threat of the goblin armies?  Something else?

"Thank you for your help." Sunna smiles at Penn. "Then let's find this disk, shall we?"

Once outside Sunna walks more slowly than usual, pondering what to do next. "Do you think Penn will inform the other dwarves about the armies and the threat they could pose to this community? I have to admit I'd like to be on our way north as fast as possible, and therefore get to the disk as soon as possible and then leave, but not warning the people here feels wrong. Even if it means some waiting."

Still, Sunna would prefer to find Kadrick first.

In reply to Fritzholm (msg # 241):

"We have no choice in the destination Matron. The world is in danger, and we are one of the few that can restore the balance. That we must travel through the lands of giants and gods just adds to the interest for many of us. I am sure my cousin Mord would like to put his strength up against that of the giants. We do what we need to do, and for one want to see the World Tree." Holly says. For a moment she hesitates, and then goes on to tell the Matron of the invading armies and the belief that they are working together.

"They are not travelling near here, so there should be no threat to the dwarves here, but if you know of any holds along the east coast, you might want to warn them to not engage unless they have to. Scouts would also likely spot any large armies moving anywhere nearby."

"Perhaps the information would be helpful to the keyholder, regain him some prestige?" the barbarian suggested after some deep thought.  "Merchants often value news, especially if that gives them an action advantage.  It makes sense to find him out first, see what he needs to get the key - I'm fine if he just wants to let us use it, from the goodness of his heart, but people get offended if I feel obligated to crack heads, and it's not after a bar fight or in battle.  We need the key though.

"While we walk, keep an eye out for magical craftsmen.  We could stock up on magickal things and foodstuffs.

"Oh, and Sunna, Adiel - tell us tales of this invulnerable immortal bear.  Why is he living in dwarven tunnels?  How does he have in way of battle or competition?  Do we know of his den area, and what challenges are there?"

Clairlyn raises her eyebrows at the mention of saving the world from three evil armies.

"Fate must have a strong pull on you and your cousins.  It has brought you here to save my Sirrot.  I'm sure it will help shepherd you to your destination."

The old dwarf nods.

"It is good that you embrace your destiny.  Fighting against your fate is a losing battle."



"We dwarves are defensive minded.  We would not provoke a passing army without excellent cause.  They would have to attack one of our cities first, and that would be a terrible mistake."

The Matron of House Boril stands up, brushing her clothing into place as she does.

"Is there anything else you need to know?" she asks.

"I should begin gathering the materials you'll need.  You can reach us at my estate.  Are you staying in humantown?"

Mord, Sunna, Adiel, and Ros make their way down the countless steps of The Upslope back to The Flats.  It's a lot less tiring going down than up.  You don't have to stop for a breather, but you do stop at a vista to orient yourselves.  The Nosar river is the rightmost of the two when viewed from the main entrance.  It is the slightly closer of the rivers from where you overlook the lower half of the stronghold.  Adiel traces a path out with his finger in the air that will take you through the temples and down to a bridge to vaguely where you believe House Simiran is located.  You can't see the gate to deep roads from here thanks to the angle even if you knew what it looked like.

The divine district is a little like the sprawling temple of Pelor grounds in Rankor Heights, but busier and more tightly packed, and of course there's the total lack of sunlight.  It's unusual to have so many faiths together in one place.  Things seems harmonious, though.  There's a quiet efficiency to worship here.  The sound of water pouring over the not too distance falls adds a serenity to the area.  Visually you can tell the different temples apart by the stone they employed in construction, but there are also common styles throughout the district.  The dwarves have organized it and made it all work together.

You descend even more stairs to The Flats.  Here you can finally see large open gates.  They are more subtle and not as fortified as the main entrance.  You ask a passer-by if those gates lead to the Maldir.

"Indeed they do, visitors."

He points out a building where you can find the maldir master.

"You'll be wanting to drop in and ask permission to use the roads.  It's just a courtesy.  A simple formality.  There's not a chance they'll turn you away unless you're fugitives or enemies of Sloss Hinterplatz, in which case I can't imagine they'd have let you folks in in the first place.  Furthermore you might hire a guide there, or get directions at the very least.  You don't want to get lost, now do ya?"

Next you cross a bridge wide enough for horses (not that you've seen much more than occasional mules).  The neighborhood on the other side of the river has less of an air of friendliness to it.  The dwarves here either keep to themselves or eye you with suspicion.  You don't see any other humans around.  The area appears to be mostly residential, but there are some small businesses and even a alehouse along the way.

"We are staying at the Hillis' Inn. I will be there all evening and morning, or Hillis will know how to contact you. I will return before noon, and carry out the reincarnation should we have all of the necessary items available. Good day to you Matron. Until the new day." Holly says, wanting to not stop the search for the necessary ingredients for the spell she will need to weave the next day.

"Ragnar, shall we take a walk back to see how the others have done?", Holly asks her companion, wanting to take the chance to chat with the new member of the team away from the others.

Ragnar is pretty quiet on the walk back to Humantown.  In fact, he hasn't said all that much this whole trip.   Maybe he's a little like Kayaq, prone to long silences due to not spending a lot of time around other people.  Holly might be able to coax a conversation out of him with direct questions.

What do the rest of you do to locate this Kadrick of House Simiran fellow?  He's gotta be around here someplace, but other than his name and title, you don't know much about him, including what he looks like.

Suna suspects that it will be best to ask around for Kadrick of House Simiran as they did for the place of the maldir master. Maybe someone around here knows where he lives.
We do have business to discuss and Penn sent us here, but we didn't really understand all of his description about where to find Kadrick exactly. That should be enough for an explanation as to why we are looking for him."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:06, Thu 31 May 2018.

Ragnar just nods to Hollys question, content to follow her for the time being. For a moment it seems as if he is about to say something, but he remains quiet, glancing around at the dwarven buildings and occasionally at the ground, mostly out of habit.

Holly is content with the silence, having learnt that lesson a long time ago. Sometimes it was appropriate that people were silent and listened. Leaving Ragnar in his own world, Holly mentally went through the ritual she had agreed to fulfil the next day, glad for the chance to practice before it was needed in real life situation they might face in the future. It certainly helped that the Matron was willing to supply most of the ingredients to get her son back.

Returning to Hillis' Inn, Holly enquires on whether the others have returned yet, and then settles in with a mug of hot apple juice to wait and catch up with the others. Offering Ragnar a drink as well, Holly settled in quietly, letting her mind wander over things she still needed to decide on.

Sunna gives the area and its populace a good looking over.  There is something different going on here unlike Triplefang villages or even Rankor Heights.  The dwarves here are keeping secrets, many small different secrets.  It could be dangerous or counterproductive to be too straight forward.

"Sister, cousins, I'm going to need a little space to work here, much like when Glumr would sneak off ahead and scout, but socially.  Hang back a ways.  Keep me in sight in case of trouble, but let me do the talking." says Sunna.

"When the mighty Mord sees two groups of goblins skulking around in the calmly waving grasses around Crim he doesn't wonder to himself if it's a coincidence.  Let us give these fine dwarves the credit of assuming they will also muster up the cognitive powers to deduce that you, a human, and we the only other humans around are working and scheming together even if we aren't standing right next to one another."

Sunna smiles, listening to Mord's cogent point.

"Yeah, I'm counting on them figuring that out.  I'm going to use it to my advantage."

It's settled.  Sunna sidles off ahead of the group for some subtle questioning.


15:44, Today: Fritzholm, on behalf of Sunna, rolled 21 using 1d20+8.  Gather Information.


Sunna schmoozes, drops innuendos, embellishes, and plays off a few small crowds.  It's not quick work, but it is artful.  The harper learns much.

Kadrick conducts his business from inside a miniature fortress within the stronghold called Brazmird Hall.  He has quite a force of loyal brutes and The Exalted, the most fearsome dwarven veterans forged through centuries of battle, as a personal honor guard.  House Simiran's business interests rely more on threats and force than politics.  Under Kadrick's control, the formerly disgraced House Simiran has grown very wealthy.  That is to say that Kadrick has grown very wealthy and the other members of the house are doing well enough.  House membership seems to be a strange mix of family relations and merit based additions.

Brazmird Hall is easy enough to find.  It's nestled right here in The Flats and the hall's spires are visible from most of the city.  However, Kadrick is rather conservative about who he grants an audience.  You'll need to speak to one of his two "public hands", Benmen or Th'wordrick first.  Sunna has determined that Benman is the more agreeable of the two and set up a meeting reasonably early tomorrow morning at a breake house, a slightly low class eatery for the common dwarf.  She can go alone or take up to two people with her.  Any more will cause trouble and might result in not getting to talk to Kadrick.  Sunna thinks she will be able to sweet talk Benmen, but it might not hurt to have a plan B.

Kadrick himself has a reputation for being cruel but fair, and often unpredictably arbitrary.  He is meticulous about gaining leverage to force his opponents to do what he wants, but is not ruthless with his house and friends.  He has no regard for dwarven social traditions.  This extends to courtship and marriage traditions, which the letch flaunts wildly.  It's widely believed that Garl Glittergold grants Kadrick strong divine powers not typical of the priesthood such as short range control of mind others' mind and body, teleportation, and wish fulfillment.


When she's done the group returns to Hillis' Inn to meet back up with Holly and Ragnar.

"You find words as fast as Mord kills goblins, ho ho," Mord chuckled and complimented Sunna's social efforts. "So whom else are we taking with us to the meeting?" the barbarian invited himself to to the social interaction as an assumed, matter-of-course.

"Keep an eye out for the market area as we walk back.  I've heard many things about dwarven craftwork.  Could be good gear here.

"Oh, and keep ears open for good guides for the paths.  We don't want just the cheap, ditch the foreigners in the tunnels kind... good, reliable type.  Good fighter wouldn't hurt either, eh?"</brown>

"Holly knows the disks best, I guess... in case Kadrick tries to cheat on us.
And Adiel could use the time to find out a bit more about Th'wordrick and Kadrick, in case Benmen isn't as agreeable as we think."

Sunna looks at Adiel and smiles warmly. "Unless you have a better idea, cousin. We also have to talk to the master of maldirs. Somehow I have the feeling that it might be more than just a formality. At least for our kind."

"Couldn't we just, uhm, well borrow it for a time?" Ros suggests. "I mean, only if he doesn't want us to have it." Her cheeks turn red as Sunna frowns at her, but she quickly regains her composure.

"And I like the idea of a guide for the paths."

It's harder to tell with no sunlight, but you think it's getting late.  The main market district is the opposite way as Humantown is from here, and it's likely that most if not all of the stalls and stores will be closed.  You can always go to the market tomorrow.

You return to Hillis' Inn and meet back up with Holly and Ragnar.  They're anxious to hear what you learned from Penn.

"Holly, Ragnar, you are back, too!" Sunna greets her cousins. "We had a nice meeting with Penn, he told us Kadrick of House Simiran is the owner of the disc we need. Sadly, Kadrick isn't someone one could simply approach and ask. I have a meeting with one of his assistants tomorrow, but they won't allow me to bring more than two others to the meeting. Mord already volunteered, so one spot is still open. Holly, would you like to come with us?"

Holly considers for a moment before saying, "What time? I now have a commitment for tomorrow morning, through to the afternoon. I will explain in a bit. If you are taking Mord, I would suggest perhaps Adiel. The two of you should be able to pick up on the more subtle indicators. If the timing is right, I will happily join you. In fact, Matron Clairlyn may be able to provide some information on your House of Simiran."

After discussing her new task to bring the group up to speed, Holly says, "So, I need to carry out the resurrection spell about noon. It won't be as effective as Scotthard's return, but will at least give me practice in case we lose anyone on the way. Matron Clairlyn is paying for the ingredients, and she seems a useful source of information on the town and its dwarves. I had thought to bring Adiel with me, to investigate the alchemy of the body and what he might have been working on. We think he may have been poisoned, but have no proof."

"Tomorrow morning's the meeting", Sunna answers, "I think that will interfere with your plans for tomorrow. Which are equally important, only the timing's not optimal for the other meeting." She smiles wryly. "It would be great to get some more information about House Simiran, even after the meeting, which I think will only be a first meeting anyway."

"What happened at Matron Clairlyns house? A dead dwarf, possibly poison involved... that doesn't sound good to me."

"Looked a lot like poison to me", Ragnar states quietly.

Mord shrugged, looking to Adiel to weigh in.  "If you need special help on that kind of ... well, life-changing magics, you should have him there to help.  Sunna's good at talking to  people, I'm there for protection and my obvious charm, and Ros has a good eye for detail, so we should be fine in a little meeting.  As long as we have breakfast - never good to challenge without breaking fast, right Sunna?"

in reply to Sunna, Holly says, "Then I will raise the question with Matron Clairlyn before the ceremony. It might distract her from what is going to happen, if all goes well. I think we should take the opportunity of Adiel using his newly acquired knowledge of alchemy to provide potentially more information about the death of the Matron's son. Ros would have been my suggestion as well. All the others are free to join me, if they so wish."

Even Holly has to laugh a little at Mord. She had missed his ways a lot over the winter, and their recent dispute had placed a small wall between them, but he was still her cousin, her friend and the only one left of the small group that had left Volge not that long ago.

"A good breakfast is always welcome, especially when we will soon be back on trail rations again. I need to rest to prepare for tomorrow, but all this talk of food has made me hungry again. Shall we see what is available?"

Tired from your travels, none of you have any trouble getting a long restful night's sleep.  The inn feels like a longhouse and the interior masks the lack of moonlight or a sunrise.  The only real difference is the smell of the air and the muffled city noises replacing the sound of the grasslands.  The beds are even a little more comfortable than the average Triplefang traveling accommodations.

You feel like treating yourselves to more and better food while you can.  Before you hit the sack you negotiated a deal with Hillis.  For an extra 2 silver per person per day he'll feed you heartier meals, starting with this morning's breakfast.  You feast on grill -flattened dough balls slathered in a honey sauce and thin grilled spiced meat slices with plenty of ale to wash it down.

With the sleeping in and the big breakfast you don't have much time to waste before your obligations.  Holly prays for her new spells before she, Ragnar, and Adiel set out for the garden district to meet up with Matron Clairlyn.  Sunna, Mord, and Ros head for the breake house in The Flats not too far from Humantown to meet Benmen.

Sunna, Mord, and Ros arrive at the breake house after most of the early rush has cleared out.  Your entrance is conspicuous.  Every dwarf in the place takes note of you as you walk through doors.  It's a somewhat chilling outsider feeling.

"Hey!" says a waitress near the door in simple, subtlety-free clantogue. "Are you three lost?  This is food for dwarves."  She's burdened down with more empty bowls and mugs than you thought any one person could easily carry.

The break house is very poorly lit.  Letting the doors close behind you cuts off your best source of light.  You look around the room quickly once your eyes adjust to the darkness enough to see any detail at all.   About one in five seats is taken by plain looking dwarven laborers, hunched over bowls of soaked breake.  The rest are open.  Eating and drinking is the business of the morning with no real pomp to it, but in strange contrast there are a pair of dwarfs off to the side by themselves puffing away into brass instruments with the horns removed.  The notes are muted and not terribly melodic.  You're not at all sure what they're up to.

Benmen should be easy to spot in here if you could see normally.  You have a rough description including that he wears a sort of purple scarf tucked into his shirt with the House Simiran crest embroidered into it.  You can't make out any colors at all in this light, but you pick out a different looking chap sitting with two well armed warriors that do not look like The Exalted and one other unremarkable looking dwarf.  He and his guards, like everyone else here has seen you.  You expect that if it's Benmen he knows you're the humans he's meeting.

The stone ceiling in the breake house is too low for Ros or Sunna, both quite tall by female Triplefang standards, and for Mord who despite being MUCH larger is only a couple inches taller than the sisters.  You all have to hunch over inside the eatery.  You'd like to find a chair and sit down as soon as possible.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:02, Mon 11 June 2018.

Happy to have the time to sleep and eat a hearty breakfast, Holly leads Adiel and Ragnar to Matron Clairlyn and the place where the dead dwarf was being held ready for her spell.

"I think we might have time for you to investigate the body Adiel, before I cast the reincarnation spell. I would also like you to observe me when I cast the spell, as although I know what I need to do, I have never done this spell. Just see if there is anything I can improve on, simply from a spell construction point of view. I will hopefully never have to use the spell again, but where we are going... well, lets just say I hope I don't have to use it." Holly says, anticipating little trouble with the spell, but perhaps a little after the reincarnation of Matron Clairlyn's son.

Approaching the house, Holly goes to knock on the door.

Mord chuckled and nodded to the server while hooking a boot to pull out his seat, and two massive hands pulling chairs out for the sisters to either side of him, and his back to the wall so he could watch the room.  Their spunk always made him grin.

"Good that!  They seem to think our kind grew this tall on vegetables instead of hearty fare.  Four of your meals, and same in ales to wash the road dust out." The breakfast already consumed was nigh forgotten -as norm to fuel Mord's bulk of muscle- but it was normal banter and cheer.

And yet all was not normal, and the barbarian's thoughts were troubled behind the easy-going mask.  But why?

He let his eyes play across the room, nodding to curious gazes, as his mind mentally removed mental foes.  It wasn't the numbers.  Numbers-bah!  The place being too crowded to swing his great axe - snort- there were more than enough dwarf-sized missles, table, chairs, and as a veteran bar brawler, it wasn't even on his mind.

Yet something was off, definitely.  Mord could feel himself a step off his game.  Holly was over her fit.  New pride at each magick he mastered.  Good challenges ahead, so not boredom.
 The little tree guy made camps safer.  Had the bed been too soft?  No.  For his jest, the meals had been fine.  It wasn't the room height, especially with the girls here sharing it.  Few could approach their height, and none their skills or beauty.

Iced water ran down Mord's back.

The bed had felt emptier, lacking.  After weeks on the road, about to go into what should be an impossible, lethal conflict... he hadn't even thought about the houses of lady favours.  And he was waiting, for a merchant noble, in a cramped room underground, unable to swing his favourite axe...

Mord rubbed the corner of one eye socket as his traitorous mind threw up scene after scene of Ros and Sunna, how the sun caught their hair at dawn, the softness of their speech and warmth of their smiles, how words thought meant one way might have been meant more personally.  Intimately?

The warrior reached instinctively for a stein to buy time to think, but it didnt work well without the drink there, and not at all versus his own thoughts.  He made some nonverbal agreement to what someone said, barely hearing the words.


How was Mord the Mighty to face this challenge?  Was it..? Even sharper water in the face - did he want to?

Has Mord chosen a seat near the door or has he gone to the table where he thinks Benmen is sitting?

"Was this breakfast what you had in mind?"  Sunna asked jokingly once they had legt Hillis place for the meeting with Benmen.

Once inside the breake house Sunna looked around, quite happy to let Mord answer to the waiter.
"I think that could be Benmen over there", Sunna said quietly, then turned fully towards Mord with a questioning look. "Is everything alright?" The question was asked in a very quiet voice.

Mord would have taken a seat with priority allowing back to wall, secondly exit through window or front/back door (unless he felt confident the wall would be easily broken).

He is thinking, if the fellow is the fellow, that Sunna would approach, confirm, obtain permission for them to join at the table... rather than simple bulling into the table.

Doesn't look like there are a whole lot of humans in here for confusion, but you don't interrupt a dwarf's breakfast without an ok!

The waitress lets out a long sigh in a remarkably short time.

"4 bowls and 4 ale?" she asks dropping a used bowl from the top of her wobbly stack.

The bowl rolls around on the table in front of Mord.

"2 silver in bowl," says the waitress before the bowl has even come to a stop and she's off to the kitchen before any more can be said.

2 silver for 4 meals and 4 ales?  Now that's a downright good deal for a traveler on the road.


Sunna walks up to the table to the left with the 4 dwarves.  As she approaches the leader says something in crisp, elegant dwarvish.

Sunna smiled at the dwarves, happy that she had Mord with her, and replied in dwarven as well, keeing a polite distance while speaking - more distance than when dealing with clanfolk.

Mord's eyes locked onto Sunna's - her turning to smile and speak to the dwarves granted Mord a chance to pull himself together, and he shook his head, keeping a smile on his face to not offend - people were less concerned when folk were smiling.

Except when they killed someone, or were just bloody as all heck in battle - that was tactical.  Strangeness.

"Fine, 's.. meal good.  Doesn't hurt to try other fare."  The answer was there, but even Mord could tell it wasn't his finest deflection.

Clairlyn and several other dwarves are already out in the garden near the house when Holly, Ragnar, and Adiel arrive.  She waves to Holly.

"Thank you again, Hollykahn Triplefang.  This means more to me than I can say with words."

Clairlyn holds Holly's right hand in both or hers gently but firmly.

The garden has been rearranged a little since yesterday.  Benches and a couple stone tables have been brought in.  It looks like there's seating for about 20 now.  The dwarves who have already gathered look at Holly, some talking in hushed tones among themselves.

"Would you like to look over the materials we gathered to see if everything is in order?  Some of the items aren't exactly what you described, but they were as near as I could manage on short notice."

The two of them go into the building where the body is being held.  There are small crates and bowls laid out.  Holly inspects everything.  It looks good.  There shouldn't be any sort of hamper on the ritual.

When they step back outdoors Holly asks Matron Clairlyn about House Simiran.

"Matron Clairlyn, Kadrick of House Simiran has an item that we need for our journey north to the Tree of Life.  My cousin, Sunna will be meeting with him soon.  As visitors, we know little about the houses.  Is there anything helpful you can tell me about House Simiran?"

Clairlyn nods.  You can see a hint of disgust on her lips before she speaks.

"In order to understand House Simiran, I must first tell you a little history.  A couple hundred years ago, before your great grandfather was born, House Simiran was a normal house much like ours.  It was influential, but not overly powerful.  Tusaek, one of the house's leaders, and his daughter Daph got up to some extremely vile behavior.  They committed murders and mutilations as well as other unspeakable perversions.  I remember the time.  There was fear and mistrust all over Sloss Hinterplatz.  The acts were terrible and shocking, but they alone did not take down House Simiran.  You see, not all of the murders were random violence.  Some were targeted assassinations that improved House Simiran's standing.  At the worst the leaders of House Simiran were directing Tusaek and Daph.  At the least they covered up the crimes committed by the father and his daughter.  When all was uncovered Tusaek and Daph were executed and their remains tossed out like refuse.  The house at large could not avoid retribution.  It was decided to ban Simiran from the Halls of the Dead.  Valkauna shunned House Simiran."

"This all but destroyed the house.  Without access to the Halls of the Dead no one can be sure of an afterlife.  It is worse than just dishonor.  It is flirting with eternal oblivion.  Some members touch by the shadows of the crimes fled Sloss Hinterplatz.  Some that could, married into other houses.  Still others became houseless.  The members of House Simiran dwindled to a pitiful or stubborn few."

"New events for House Simiran occurred in your lifetime, Hollykahn.  Kadrick was not of House Simiran by birth.  He saw a house weak enough to seize control of;  One that he could mold to suit his own dark goals.  He built on the house's pariah status to gather rascals and renegades.  Through crime and intimidation they restored House Simiran's wealth and power if not its status.  Now he lives down in the lowest levels among the poor, the disgraced, and the evil as a sort of prince of The Flats."

"Holly, you must understand that there is some amount of dark corruption within the houses that run Sloss Hinterplatz as any other dwarven city, but there is also an order to it.  Kadrick operates outside that order.  He is a cruel and dangerous wildcard.  He is strong, always looking to grow stronger.  He is also petty.  Your cousin Sunna needs to be very careful dealing with this one."

"Thank you Matron Clairlyn. I am aware their needs to be darkness in everything, otherwise there would be no balance. We just need to ensure neither the darkness or the light overwhelm us and put our very lives at risk. That is part of what me and my cousins are trying to counter. There is much darkness rising, so we all do our bit to shine the light. I am sure my cousin Sunna will take due care." Holly says, taking in what has been said about House Simiran, and letting Adiel and Ragnar also take note.

"I see you are expecting a small gathering during my reincarnation ritual. That will not affect me or the ritual, but they must be aware they cannot interfere in anything that occurs. This ritual may still fail, but the preparations are complete and as far as I am aware there is nothing to cause you any alarm. Does your son follow any gods? I may be able to call on their support for the ritual as well."

"Before we begin, could I ask that my cousin Adiel here is allowed to examine the body. He has skills I am yet to learn, and I would like to understand more about what might have happened to your son."

Almost over his fluster, Mord plinks two silver into the dirty bowl the waitress left.  He can only hear bits of Sunna's conversation with the dwarf, but it sounds good natured and now they're speaking Clantongue.  Did I mention it's dark and hard to see in here?

"Pppfffft..." the lead dwarf at the table starts laughing, followed by his guards and the other dwarf.  "Traditions?  Let others be bound by traditions.  House Simiran strikes our own path.  Yes, yes of course I am Benmen.  You have come here to see me haven't you?  Please sit down and tell me, Triplefang girl, what business do you propose to offer Kadrick?"

The guards sitting with him are relaxed on their home turf.  They take note of Mord, but aren't looking to pose or try to intimidate him.

What's Ros doing?

"I'm not sold on this balance.  We did just fine without *his* kind of darkness.  Not only is Simiran treading on loathsome moral ground, but they're bad for business.  If you happen to end up on the wrong side of this Kadrick just know that House Boril wouldn't mind seeing him weakened.  You might even draw upon our assistance"

"...if it comes to that."

Clairlyn is pleased, but not surprised that the materials are in order.

"Hollykahn, even though we have only known each other a day, I have complete faith in you.  The ritual will be a success.  Fate smiles on my family today."

Matron Clairlyn smiles too as she says it.

"Sirrot followed Moradin, as do I.  I guess it comes as no more surprise to you that a dwarf follows Moradin than when we hear a human follows Pelor.  It can't hurt to draw on as much divine favor as you can get, and it would please many of those watching to hear their god named."

The elderly dwarf pauses a moment when you ask if it's OK for Adiel to examine the body.

"Yes," she says after her hesitation, looking now at Adiel.  "If it will help, you may examine Sirrot's body too."  She tilts her head in the direction of the nearby building where the body and the ritual materials are.

"Should we join her?" Ros asks Mord as she notices that the dwarves offer Sunna a seat. Even though it is too dark to see sufficiently, Ros tries her best to keep an eye on the room and the people/dwarves in it, trying to guess if there are others - in her vicinity most likely - interested in the conversation between Sunna and Benmen.

Sunna notes the comment about traditions and keeps a smiling face.
"Nice to meet you, Benmen." She takes the offered seat. "I have to admit, I've never visited this place before. It's interesting." Sunna makes a small pause, judging the reactions of the dwarves, especially Benmen. It wouldn't surprise her to see them becoming a little impatient with her talk of traditions and interesting places....

Mord scratched the back of his head in thought, then nodded.  "We've given her time to broach the words of fancy greeting, and she said she was allowed to bring two to the meeting, so if we don't go, then it looks like we're just bodyguards - we are - but not to be part of the meeting, and no skills sought there - we, of course, are most skillful and well sought."

Leading way to clear the last bit of path, Mord stepped aside to allow Ros to precede him to one side, spinning a chair around and dropping into it with a toothy grin for the conversation.

---

If addressed, Mord will help direct things back to Sunna, while praising up the party, of course

The dwarves don't react much as Mord and Ros join the table.

"This place...  The Flats?  ...The Stronghold Sloss?"  asks Benman.  "Surely, it's not the breake house that's interesting.  It's decidedly dull."

He slumps with a bit of theatrical fatigue at the dullness of it all.


Ros, please make a Sense Motive roll at -4 for poor visibility.

Ros sits down at the table after a thankful nod to Mord and a smile towards the dwarves.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:10, Sun 24 June 2018.

"The Stronghold of course", Sunna says matter-of-factly, quite certain that she would annoy the dwarves if she stated that, for a Triplefang, every place in here was interesting in some way, even the 'dull' breake house.
"But that's of course not the reason of us meeting here. There's a deal we want to offer Kadrick."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:12, Sun 24 June 2018.

"Hmmmmm yes, there's much to discover here in Sloss Hinterplatz.  Many opportunities for the enterprising.  Let us hope this deal of yours is as interesting," says Benmen.

Holly knew from her long discussions with others that Moradin and Obad-Hai were not at odds. Hardly allies in the overall scheme of things, but Holly believed it would prove no harm to include the dwarven god into the working of the reincarnation spell.

"I hope we will not need any help in our offer to deal with the House of Simiran, but if needed I will come to you again. My cousin should have no troubles with talking to them, although it will be interesting the price they ask for our needs. Till then, I will remember your wise words Matron Clairlyn" Holly said, letting the time flow whilst she waited for Adiel to undertake his own inspection of the body.

"Would you please tell me about the crowd you have gathered. I assume most are family members? What other interesting people have you invited?" Holly asked Matron Clairlyn, interested to hear about other houses that might be represented, and any particularly useful contacts they might bring about for her and her cousins future.

"I didn't invited more than maybe 5 close family members, but there are whispers and curiosity.  We might end up with 5 times that attending.  It's not every day you get a chance to see someone return from the dead.  If the secret had a few more days to spread you'd have a crowd of thousands."

Matron Clairlyn points out a short list of relatives, tells you a little about them, and makes introductions if you'd like.

OOC: I'm waiting a little while to see if Adiel signs on to conduct the exam.  Otherwise I'll run him as an NPC.

"It is the same with the clans. With a days notice you find that you have more cousins that you thought possible, especially if there is food and ale. Many a time I have done the same thing. It seems good to know people are interested in what we are doing, no matter if you are at home or travelling. Now, I think this is best done without thousands watching. I might never get to leave otherwise." Holly says, aware that with the successful casting of the spell there would be a likely line of people wanting her to do the same for their family member. Holly accepted that chance. Matron Clairlyn was giving her the opportunity to cast a spell she knew she would need later in their travels to Yggdrasil, but any further requests would need to be carefully considered.

"Matron Clairlyn, it seems there is perhaps a business opportunity in all of this as well. Perhaps someone with a quick mind would look at the ingredients I use today and perhaps find one more difficult to find than the others. Such a person would likely corner the market and it would likely make some additional funds for the family that does it. I think my display today might bring in a demand for such an ingredient. If there is no demand, then at least the family would still have a valuable asset..." Looking over to Matron Clairlyn, Holly let the words sink in, before moving on to another subject.

"Shall we see what Adiel is up to? I fear my cousin sometimes gets deeply involved in his work."

Clairlyn looks at Holly with some hesitation.

"Are you planning to stay here in Sloss Hinterplatz after you journey north, or perhaps make frequent returns?  You know this divine ability is rather unique.  I'm not sure there's much of a demand for these ingredients without you."


You go check on Adiel.  He looks up from the body with a slight air of  frustration as you and Natron Clairlyn enter.


03:02, Today: Fritzholm, on behalf of Adiel, rolled 12 using 1d20+8.  Alchemy.

"Is this a case of arcalite gas poisoning?  I can't really say. The symptoms are consistent. Maybe if I could take some flesh to an alchemical lab for tests I could tell you more, but that doesn't strike me as appropriate," he says looking to Sirrot's mother.

He goes onto to talk about precautions they can take in the workshop to avoid such an accident in the future and an antidote that can be administered quickly after exposure to minimize the damage.  Sadly, this too has its own health consequences.  Clairlyn politely takes note of Adiel's suggestions.