Jubei led Uthnonin into the meadhall, which was quite packed with not only some adventurers but also others unrelated to the guild who used the meadhall as a tavern.  Jubei had heard that it was one of the ways that the guild helped to pay for itself rather than just being a drain on the royal treasurey.
  The wizard sat himself down at the bar and bought himself a drink from Titorius.  Jubei left the wizard and returned to the mainhall after having gotten some direction from Titorius as to where exactly Akkorrin might be.  Which the barkeep mentioned would be in his office and provided Jubei with some directions on how to get there from the meadhall.

  Akkorin’s office was a spacious room that lay in a side corridor that branched off from the main hallway.  It had a proper door and an actual ceiling which required both Enkii and Jubei crouch down so as not to scrape their heads against it.  Though horizontally there was ample space for both of them.
  The room was sparsely furnished with two small tables at its sides, two book shelves and an enormous block of wood that had been turned into a desk which was about the size of a carriage.  Four large, wood and leather chairs sat at each side of the desk.  Two of them, across from each other were presently occupied.
  On the far side sat Akkorrin, his olive green scales glimmering in the light from the crystal lanterns on the tables.  He wore his usual leather overcoat and hide clothing.  His expression was amused as he was partially focused upon a hexagonal board upon which a pattern of brown and grey stones lay.
  Clearly a game of Stones, though the only persons unfamiliar with the game amongst the adventurers present were Phelan and Enkii.
  On the near side sat another doola, who was a thick boulder in comparison to Akkorin’s rather slender build – for a doola.

  The taskmaster greeted the adventurers as they entered and said “I have been waiting for you.  Please make yourselves comfortable and would you be so kind as to close the door, would you Enkii?” the door closed with a flick of a tail.  “Thankyou.  I would like to introduce you to your latest companion Xeela.”  Akkorrin gestured towards the doola sitting across from him.

The massive doola turned around, lifted her hand for a simple greeting. "Good evening there. Nice to meet ya`ll. Guess i have missed to joing your group this morning. Hopefully didn`t slay all the monsters without me." Her muzzle formed a toothy grin, her eyes jumping from member to member of the randomly scrambled group of different species.

The grey-white deseeky gives a chuckle, "Don't worry we left you, the biggest one." He walks right up to the doola and gives her a traditional greeting of the Crystal Isles. 'I am Drasden Braskaal Anoer, Sword of the Aurelian Pantheon but Drex is fine."

Drex makes an respectful nod towards the other doola. Drex sweeps outward with his arms and says,"Akkorrin. Our investigation was most fruitful. The Arcane University will send research notes to the Guild on there findings."

Drex pauses so that another team member can relay the information they have gathered.

The Kaetyma seemed sort of amused when he saw the rather big Doola who he regarded with a simple nod. "I am Iron Jubei.", he said and then turned back to the Akkorrin. "I agree, we have found out quite a lot. We also met a wizard who would like to talk with you about these events, he's currently in the meadhall warming up. As to what Missus Ashur told us, Lambent can explain that better."

Ancestors, I feel small around this group. Phelan thought to himself. "I am Phelan." Even she stood a fair bit taller than he was. His ears and tail drooped slightly at the realisation of just how much smaller he was. I could probably just ride on the shoulder of Jubei or Enkii and they'd not even notice.

"For an initial report of our meeting with the Headmistress... She recommended we speak to a kith of Giants at Stryne about the dreams. The phenomenon of the dreams themselves appears to be widespread throughout the Isles." He paused, looking nervous at actually giving the report, before continuing. "Her best theory was... Phazen's Spire? Something like that. She also mentioned a spiritual event might have occurred in the summer to cause this. Or that  the Nemesis' influence  spreading from Agrippa could be responsible." He frowned. That sounded mostly correct in his head, but he looked up at Drex. "Drex? Was that mostly correct? And did I forget anything?"

    Akkorrin had taken out some paper from his desk and a pencile and was making some quick notes as the adventures spoke.  "And who is this wizard that you've brought to see me?" the taskmaster looked at Jubei while his left hand was busy writing.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:16, Thu 02 Jan 2014.

"His name is Uthnonin, he too was investigating the strange dreams and seems to have some leads as well, which seem to lead towards Appirga and Vaysho-", the Kaetyma quickly cut himself off as he, probably too late, realized what he was doing and corrected himself, "that-other-place to the north. He also mentioned that near the city of Kyssa laid a sort of... conduit, was it? Which might allow direct access of those dreams.", Jubei said and let out a low rumble. "I can go and bring him here if you want to talk with him yourself."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:37, Wed 01 Jan 2014.

    The taskmaster began to smile as Jubei spoke about Kyssea “Well your first contract happens to be in the area of Kyssea.  So perhaps if you find the time you can have a look at stones there.  I will see to this Uthnonin after this.” Akkorri put way his pages of notes and brought out a map of the Kingdom of Aria.  Showing the islands of Aria and to the west the smaller island of Solon.
  “Your assignment comes from the Gravewatch.  I trust you have all heard of them?” the taskmaster runs a gaze over the adventurers.  “Their chapter at the Nizamean necropolis, besides which rests the village of Kyssea.” Akkorrin drew a finger across the map from Galdion along the lines of a road to a point just north of Galdion up against the eastern coastline.  Gauging by the scale of the map it was about 20 to 30 miles northwards from the city of Galdion.
  “A messenger runs between the strongholds of the Gravewatch every day.  And for the last three days they have not received one from the chapter at Nizamean.  They would like the guild to investigate the matter as swiftly as possible and attempt to resolve the matter if we can or report back to them if we cannot handle the situation there.” the taskmaster finished then added.  “Are there any questions?”

As Drex wanted to mention the place that must never be named, or attract its attention, Jubei carelessly in his eagerness to relay the information to Akkorrin he  spoke the name. The grey-white deseeky's fur becomes dull and his eyes grows wide. "You must never!" Drex makes the sign against the Evil-eye and traces an Aurelian sigil of protection in the air.

This sudden over reaction was quite strange for him. Did Drex think that Jubei would actually mention that forbidding place's name... Or was there something else that warranted this unusual behavior.

Drex now seems out of place and anything but relaxed. But he tries to hide this as best he can, by looking at Akkorrin and listening to what the new mission will entail.

He glasses to the others now and then to gauge there body language.

"Y- yes I have one, what are the possible dangers that we may expect on this expedition?" Drex seems to have composed himself a little by now.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:31, Wed 01 Jan 2014.

Drex's reaction startled Phelan. What the... What kinds of taboo have appeared in our absence? He didn't really want to ask the somewhat unsettled Drex about what exactly had provoked that reaction. His own expression and stance, looking at Drex, spoke of his confusion The only thing that Jubei mentioned that I didn't was 'that-other-place in the north'. I wonder if it's related to that...

He turned his attention to Akkorrin as the taskmaster began his new instructions.

History check to try to recall any taboos that might have caused this reaction: 21!

Enkii seems a little taken aback by this sudden outburst, conceiving that this place obviously held some sort of superstitious connotation Drex or perhaps his people in general, he merely regarded it with a curious head tilt...before his hesitance dissipated and he gestured towards the Deeseky with a careful vocal approach, "Not that I intend to cause you further stress, Drex...but what do you happen to know of this place...?"

Drex gazes flashes to Enkii, "I know nothing of this place." he barks at Enkii. Does he really know nothing of this place, or is this only an act.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:38, Thu 02 Jan 2014.

Lambent eyes glowed with confusion and amusement at the reaction to the mention of this strange place. He always marveled at the silliness of beings on the Material Plane and their superstitions, but as it seemed to be a sore point, he decided not to poke at it to see what comes out. In any case, it appears that if they were to follow this wizard's request after this endevour then they may get to see this 'place-that-must-not-be-named' form themselves and then, perhaps, he would understand their fear for it.

He raised his hand slightly to get everyone's attention. He had learned that speaking into the minds of others without their knowledge tends to put people on edge.

"I don't think we need worry anymore about this place that seems to have the natives quite riled up. I am certain there is a good reason for their superstitions and I shall respect that. However," he turned to Akkorin, "We have another task at hand that needs pressing attention it seems. This chapter of the Gravewatch has not been in contact you say? Is there anything about the area they are located in that would suggest something could have happened to them - aside from this conduit of which you speak? You mentioned a necropolis, could something have happened there that has got them to busy to send a messenger, or worse, made them incapable of sending a message? What about the town itself? Has anyone heard something from them of late?"

    Akkorrin appeared to be unmoved by all this commotion as he responded to Lambent’s questions “Kyssea is a mostly pastoral village with a small quarry just to the north of it.  They have had some trouble with pirates and bandits further to the north of the village in the past though nothing serious has threatened the Gravewatch garrison since the old war.” then the taskmaster shrugged and corrected himself “With the exception of the musadi occupation-“ to which Akkorrin looked at Enkii “-a few years ago.”

  The taskmaster then sat forward and rested his chin upon his knuckles “Two Gravewatch messengers run back and forth between Kyssea and Galdion within a day of each other.  So the main chapterhouse in Galdion is used to receiving word from the garrison in Kyssea every other to once every three days.  Neither of the two messengers has returned from Kyssea in the last four days.”

  “If the garrison has been attacked then the chapterhouse here in Galdion would have been informed immediately.  However they have received no such signal or message.  So they believe something else might have happened.  This is why they have approached our guild to investigate the matter for them.”

  “As for word from the village itself, it is not uncommon to only hear from villages once a season or less.”

Drex takes a deep breath,"I need to keep calm." Listening to Lambent, Drex decided to stay quite for the rest of the meeting trying to center his thoughts and to concentrate on what is said.

"Unless the attack wiped out the entirety of the chapter," Lambent mused after listening to the guild master's explanation. "The Gravewatch can't be too concerned about it if they are sending us instead of their own men...or perhaps they are not telling us something."

He eyed his new companions carefully, judging their reactions to what he just said, musing quietly to himself on the myriad of possibilities hoping that something might spark a memory inside his elemental soul.

"Well," he concluded, "Be that as it may, I am ready to go when you all are. I have all I need with me and considering the seriousness of the situation, the sooner we go, the better."

A soft blue glow came to his eyes as Lambent stood back.

Jubei seemed a bit surprised at the rather vehement reaction of Drex to his own little slip-up. Either that or it was surprise at the lack of reaction from the others, nonetheless he seemed to have decided to not dwell on this subject before it drew unwanted attention. Instead he mused a little to give his own thoughts on the matter. "I would be so bold and say that we might be facing something... more coordinated. If the messengers did not return, then they must have been waylaid, otherwise one of them would surely have made it back here with news of an attack. That of course means that we have to be careful in our own approach, otherwise we might walk into an ambush.", he rumbled lowly and rubbed over his chin, before blinking and looking up. "Just thinking out loud."

After listning and nodding every now and then Xeela finally decided to finally turn her chair a little to face the other members of her new group, knocking her knuckles to the chairs armrest two times before speaking, to make the others aware of her presense.

"Well, i am not fully aware of all the details and what you have encountered on your adventure today, but i would say that Jubeis concern is a quite reasonable one. After all i thought this was an adventurers guild, and not some group to ensure public safety or whatsoever. Not that that would be a wrong thing, it's just not what i had expected from the adventurers guild."

The Doola grinned faintly, trying to make a friendly first impression upon her groupmates. Still feeling a bit out of place being thrown into mission details and a bulk of information right away.
"Own damn fault for sleeping so long." she thought to herself and leaned back in her chair.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:27, Fri 03 Jan 2014.

The Narayah moved to stand near Enkii, speaking quietly to the Musadi in the Serpentine tongue.

"I suppose we'll need to take a formalised method to travel. Pooling knowledge of everyone's skillsets, setting up watches and the like." Despite his intent to sound confident, the statement come out as more of a question.

    Akkorrin turned his face to look at Xeela and his expression softened a bit as he spoke “We are whatever our employers require of us Xeela.  In this case you serve the public good.  Never underestimate the value of that.”
  He returned his gaze to the party as a whole.  “Now there is the matter of your reward for your efforts.”  The taskmaster pulled up two small pouches from his belt and slid them over the table.  “That should cover your expenses for this morning along with being not only what I promised to reward you but also a little extra.  I will also see to it that the guild master hears about your efforts.”

The party receives 1 Wealth Token, 2 Fame Tokens and 1 Fortune Token in total.  Please see the house rules are ask any questions about these rewards in the OC chat.

Optional Adventure -- Investigate the rumour about the strange dreams that are being experienced by the gifted.  Completed.  Drex, Enkii, Lambent, Jubei and Phelan you each may receive 200 Experience Points for completing this quest.

Adventure – Investigate the breakdown of communications between the Galdion and Kyssean chapters of the Gravewatch.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:23, Sun 05 Jan 2014.

Jubei nodded slowly as he eyed the pouches on the table and then looked at the others, before he turned back to Akkorrin. "I would say that we have no further questions regarding the task then and we have already spend too much time of the day as is. You said the town was a days travel from here? So if we leave now we'll arrive there by noon. Assuming we don't rest through the night.", he rumbled and furrowed his brows some. "Taking a carriage would probably be faster, but we'd be inviting ambushes too."

Drex nodded his head at Jubei's last statement, but still seems to have nothing to say.

When his group leaves, he will be the last to bid Akkorrin farewell and leave.

    Akkorrin nodded at Jubei as he stood up and got off his chair "On foot it would take you a full day to get there if you follow the standard route.  However you could travel along the coast instead and try to scale the cliffs there.  Or you could travel across country, it would take you about the same time as the normal roads to reach the village due to the terrain you would have to either force your way through or circle around."
  "And you would have to hire a carriage if you want to use that way to get there faster." the taskmaster finished standing before the adventurers.

Well done folks, you have completed the prologue! You guys can wrap up things here if you like. Now please decide if you would like to spend your rewards on anything before leaving the city and come tonight I will open the first chapter Perversion.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:22, Tue 07 Jan 2014.

Enkii rumbled out of the corner of his mouth in idle comprehension, something regarding whether or not a carriage could fit so many...um...ponderous individuals or if they'd need to rent a caravan to get it going. He did not seem to doubt for a moment though the capacity of his companions in dispatching any conventional highwaymen, let along his own, but he could not help but to draw his thoughts further onto considering the possibilities that each opportunity would bring. Going on foot might have proven wiser, but the risks of haste could prove worthwhile if the mystery stood to solve. 'Twas certainly a bustling start...in his humble opinion, then again as his serpentine eyes took a gander at the bags, one could not mistake the very slightest smile brightening up the ordinarily stonefaced Musadi's visage...~

    The adventurers bid Akkorrin farewell.  They gathered their remaining gear and began their journey towards the village of Kyssea.  Galdion was almost still as they wound their way through the streets that had been so busy earlier, leaving through an area of the Roots adjoining the most eastern part of the Kraftworks.
  The road northward was made of well-worn paving stones which slopped its way upward and between the low hills.  A few miles up the road the adventurers spotted the tall, jagged foothills that lead up to a mist shrouded mountain a few miles to the east.  Some of the adventurers supposed that it was this mountain that prevented direct access to Kyssea from the most northern gatetown of Galdion, Sorom.

  The sun was just creeping down to the eastern horizon, casting long shadows over the grasslands as the adventurers arrived at a tiny hamlet upon the roadway.  It was a simple isleborn settlement which clearly existed because of the local farming communities and because travel was frequent along this road.  There was a large square of flagstones bordered by a few stables some small stores and a very large inn.  It was very tempting to stay there the night though the party wanted to make good time to their destination and so pressed on.

  Just as the sun’s burnt, golden disc fell beneath the horizon the sun’s ring, normally lost to the eye in the glare of the sun became visible.  The thin bands of gold gleamed in the twilight, their great oval span was only a little bit greater than the area of the sun and it was only a few minutes before they two disappeared beneath the horizon.

  As dusk turned into night, the coppery moon rose overhead.  Half-full its orange light lit the landscape just enough for the adventurers to navigate by.

  Only an hour and a half after the moon rise they found another small settlement, much like the one before it.  Although this one was a bit larger and held a short, squat tower just off the road on the northern edge of the square.  The adventurers were tired after the day’s journey and so decided to bunk down at the local in for a good night’s rest and get an early start before dawn the next day.
  The innkeeper was a deseekay that seemed to be equal parts hefty and fat and after a small faux pas about assuming her gender was that of a man, the adventurers settled into their rooms with only a small expense to their pockets though there was some embarrassment amongst a few of the adventurers about the misunderstanding.

  Drex, Lambent, Phelan and Xeela shared a room on the second floor of the inn, while Enkii and Jubei slept in a long house to the back of the inn which had been erected only a few years ago to accommodate the plethora of musadi travellers from the Storm Sea.

  And as they had dinner and got to sleep, they found their rest did not come easily.  The weight of their task and their experiences during the day had formed a knot of stress within each of them which they had to deal with before sleep finally came…


And so ends the prologue!  See you guys in the next chapter!  Please don't respond to this post, this is just an ending.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:25, Tue 07 Jan 2014.