2nd Kythorn, 1399 DR
The night was cold and of the deepest black, slashed through by the frequent lightening that streaked the sky. The rain coming down was hard, driving to the point of nearly being horizontal.
I suppose if I wanted to embellish the story I could start it off that way. It might fit with some of what comes after, but come on... really? The bards who insist on starting their stories with "It was a dark and stormy night..." have no imagination. No spark. The very statement is proof positive that they themselves have never been out see the world, searching for history as it's being made.
And trust me folks... This is history being made.
Though I'm telling these tales now, history is far from complete. The threads are still unraveling. The dark forces still gathering.
That is, however, getting a little too far a head of myself.
I will, however, begin the tale where it seems to make the most sense, the beginning, as best can be said, of our current adventures and travels.
That was in the early part of Kythorn in the year 1399 DR. Right in the middle of the year, the Time of Flowers. This year was seemingly spectacular. A stark contrast to the quests we had just undertaken on contract from the Mercenaries Guild.
We'd just arrived in Longsaddle after a successful campaign to clear several grave yards of ghouls between Waterdeep and Raven's Bluff. As was their wont, most of my companions were merrily spending their earnings on those that caught their eye, food, drink, and song.
Well, really, I was more often than not the song involved. The "bards" that pass through most of these towns barely deserve the name, so it was a refreshing change to have me around. I always do enjoy seeing the changes that come over people when they get an earful of real music. That's not to say I didn't take my time out to have a good time of my own as well.
From my position on the stage I could see most of my companions down below, some of them deep in their cups. Seth was unmistakeable, the big hulking dragonkin is hard to miss anywhere even without the red skin. Kane was harder to spot but those fuzzy white bunny ears would pop up occasionally next to Seth. I'd seen Val (his full name was is Valkahnarrian Duskryn, but who's going to call that out in the middle of battle? "Valkahnarrian Duskryn! Watch out for that ... Ohh... Well, that's one less share to worry about!") creep up to his room not long after dinner, along with Pritchard. Val I could understand, being a drow outside the underdark can be uncomfortable I'm sure, even in Longsaddle, prejudices die hard. The fact that he hardly speaks a word of Common also can't be all that helpful. Pritchard is just ... strange. He spends all his time locked away in his room concentrating and meditating. Those two really do keep to themselves most of the time.
That left just two of our party missing. Kilsarie the big deerkfolk druid never came into the cities unless he really has to. Hitoriga on the other hand... He's almost always with Seth during the drunken wenching nights, so I was starting to wonder just where he'd gotten to. Probably out with Nasticus, the creepy priest of Bane. Those two are always arguing about something. Ok, so there was three missing. I always have a tendency to forget about Nasty.
It was just about then the door opened and Hitoriga, the big black catfolk, entered. He and Seth seem to get along famously, which is good I guess. For my part, I barely trust Hito as far as I could throw him. Being a Gnomic bard, that certainly wouldn't be far.
He settled down with Seth, carrying a sheet of paper and they begin discussing something to do with it. After wrapping up my song I packed up, collected the gold that'd been thrown my way, and join them at the table. One advantage to being a skilled bard all right, I rarely need to worry about where my next meal comes from when in a city.
As I approached, I could overheard Hito's excited talking "It's just a babysitting job! They need a large group and the pay is lucrative. Just think of all the gold!" he's eyes get that far off look they do whenever he begins talking about gold. He really likes his gold. I'd be worried about him, his past is still a murky depth, but how can someone's soul be so empty that they feel gold is the only way to fill and repair it? He'll even sing the Dwarven Gold Song occasionally, much to the annoyance and offense of most dwarves who happen to be in area when he does.
The way Seth eggs him on and joins in just makes it worse.
Seth and Kane were eying the paper uncertainly. "I don't know Hito. To Helmsfort, Maz-ti-ca," Kane was saying, pronouncing out each syllable slowly as I settled down next to him. Sitting next to the other two makes me feel too small. Kane is at least my size, and a cute bunny to boot. What's not to love?
"Where's Maz-ti-ca?"
"Who cares?" Hito replied. "Just look at the value of this contract," he glanced over to Nasticus as the dark robed cleric approached and settled down next to him. You could almost feel the static between the two, almost see Hito's fur standing on end when near Nasty.
As much as I'm disinclined to agree with Hito on principle most of the time, I did have to agree about one thing now. Who cares? Well, as long as we weren't being led to the mouth of hell or something, it would be another place, another kingdom I'd never seen before. I was certainly on board for that, as long as we could get a little information first.
"Was there nothing else on the board? Another round of ghoul bashing, closer to here maybe?" Seth was asking.
"Go look for yourself if you want. Nothing else that gets us more than what we made with the last outing, which didn't last us near long enough. Unless you want to go North to the frozen wastes to go spelunking."
He was probably exaggerating again. There's very rarely any work to be had in the frozen wastes, and it would likely have paid much more than the one he brought to us if there was. He'd be going for maximizing gold regardless of where it was.
"That's not the best part," he was saying, pointing down near the bottom at the seal on the posting.
It was the seal of the Golden Legion. One of the most famous organizations, known throughout the Sword Coast and beyond for their honour and valour, not to mention the stunning battle skills and generous contracts for those they hire.
Seth seemed to pick up a bit at that. "Getting in with the Golden Legion could have its benefits all right. We'll have to talk it over with the others. If they don't want to come along, we won't have enough to take this contract."
Well, the next day the entire party gathered, all eight of us, near the Guild hall. The discussion was lively, but ultimately we decided to take the contract and be on our way. After registering our intentions with the guild secretary and getting instructions to head for Waterdeep, we were off.
With our group, nothing can be simple though. Rather than take the roads, Hito and Seth argued we should cross through the plains, skirting the edge of the Sword Mountains, and through the Kryptgarden Forest. They figured it would save a day or two off the trip. Kilsarie was agreeing, mostly I'm sure to stay more in the wilds and out of the cities.
Ultimately we agreed, as much because caterwauling for the next few days would render most of us deaf as anything else, and we headed off through the plains.
It was just a couple of days later, stopping to camp for the night in a nice clearing, we were getting ready to settle in and find some food. Seth and Hito were, once again, involved in one of their good natured joking arguments when Seth decided to prove his point.
"Watch this then. I'll give us all warmth and light for the night, right now."
I'd missed the start of their conversation, so wasn't quite sure what was going on, but with a sudden, heat filled "whoosh" not far from where I was setting up, a tree near the center of the otherwise fairly open clearing erupted into flames.
I nearly jumped out of my skin. A little warning might have been nice!
"Ohh, not bad.. Not bad. Just one tree though? Surely you've got more in you," Hito was egging Seth on now, trying to get the red dragonkin to set more trees aflame. In the middle of a forest we were in no less!
"Yeah, just watch this!"
Their conversation got quieter then, and nothing else exploded. Figuring maybe they'd realized the folly of setting the whole forest on fire, I returned to setting up the camp.
"Whooah..! Wha...!" I suddenly found myself exclaiming. I was going up! Up is not a direction you should find yourself going unexpectedly, especially when you have no control over it.
Looking around panicked I saw it wasn't just me. We were all going up. And our stuff, all our gear was also going up. Before I could even begin to react I was clearing the top of the trees. It was then I noticed Hito and Seth were talking with little flying creatures that I groaned to myself.
Faeries. In the forest. And we'd (used loosely) set one of their trees on fire.
I wasn't able to hear most of the conversation they had. I couldn't control my movement, and that movement was still "up", but I could see Hito gesticulating emphatically as he spoke with this creature. I began to ready myself to cast Feather Fall for myself, hoping my companions also had contingency plans for this unexpected scenario. Eventually those faeries would get bored of us and let us drop.
Thankfully the worst didn't come to pass. Hito apparently managing to reason with the faeries to let us down, we slowly began to descend again. For a creature who grew up mostly underground, uncontrolled floating high above the trees is a little unnerving, let me tell you! I prefer to do my flying via Gnomish Airship.
Once we were back on the ground, Hito told us we had to delay to help out the faery who's house was burnt down. Apparently having made an agreement, under Geas, to replace the house. Managing to get Kilsarie to help him quick grow a tree, we settled in for the process which would take a good day or two.
During this time, I spoke with Oakleaf, Treemoss, and Lillyvine. Autumnal tended to keep her distance. She was the one who's tree was destroyed. The four fey sisters of this area of the forest. Not entirely bad folk. I mean, I'm not sure how I'd react were a big red dragonkin to come along and burn my house down either.
A little further magic carved a habitable fey-sized house out of the tree. Complete with cute little windows and window dressings. Autumnal complained a bit about it, but there wasn't much else we could do for her in such a short time. I think she was just being ornery over the loss of her old house anyway.
The sisters gave us a stern warning to avoid the Kryptgarden Forest in our future travels. We readily agreed and set out on our way again, arriving in Waterdeep without further incident. Of course, the time we spent un-Geasing Hito erased the gains to be made traveling through the forest in the first place.
We finally checked our arrival at the Guild hall on 7th Kythorn, 5 days after leaving Longsaddle. The Guild secretary told us to await a meeting with Ambassador Solizar Alvarro at The Basted Boar Inn in a few candle marks. Works for us, as we needed to settle in and replenish a few supplies anyway, not knowing precisely what would come out of this meeting...
I suppose if I wanted to embellish the story I could start it off that way. It might fit with some of what comes after, but come on... really? The bards who insist on starting their stories with "It was a dark and stormy night..." have no imagination. No spark. The very statement is proof positive that they themselves have never been out see the world, searching for history as it's being made.
And trust me folks... This is history being made.
Though I'm telling these tales now, history is far from complete. The threads are still unraveling. The dark forces still gathering.
That is, however, getting a little too far a head of myself.
I will, however, begin the tale where it seems to make the most sense, the beginning, as best can be said, of our current adventures and travels.
That was in the early part of Kythorn in the year 1399 DR. Right in the middle of the year, the Time of Flowers. This year was seemingly spectacular. A stark contrast to the quests we had just undertaken on contract from the Mercenaries Guild.
We'd just arrived in Longsaddle after a successful campaign to clear several grave yards of ghouls between Waterdeep and Raven's Bluff. As was their wont, most of my companions were merrily spending their earnings on those that caught their eye, food, drink, and song.
Well, really, I was more often than not the song involved. The "bards" that pass through most of these towns barely deserve the name, so it was a refreshing change to have me around. I always do enjoy seeing the changes that come over people when they get an earful of real music. That's not to say I didn't take my time out to have a good time of my own as well.
From my position on the stage I could see most of my companions down below, some of them deep in their cups. Seth was unmistakeable, the big hulking dragonkin is hard to miss anywhere even without the red skin. Kane was harder to spot but those fuzzy white bunny ears would pop up occasionally next to Seth. I'd seen Val (his full name was is Valkahnarrian Duskryn, but who's going to call that out in the middle of battle? "Valkahnarrian Duskryn! Watch out for that ... Ohh... Well, that's one less share to worry about!") creep up to his room not long after dinner, along with Pritchard. Val I could understand, being a drow outside the underdark can be uncomfortable I'm sure, even in Longsaddle, prejudices die hard. The fact that he hardly speaks a word of Common also can't be all that helpful. Pritchard is just ... strange. He spends all his time locked away in his room concentrating and meditating. Those two really do keep to themselves most of the time.
That left just two of our party missing. Kilsarie the big deerkfolk druid never came into the cities unless he really has to. Hitoriga on the other hand... He's almost always with Seth during the drunken wenching nights, so I was starting to wonder just where he'd gotten to. Probably out with Nasticus, the creepy priest of Bane. Those two are always arguing about something. Ok, so there was three missing. I always have a tendency to forget about Nasty.
It was just about then the door opened and Hitoriga, the big black catfolk, entered. He and Seth seem to get along famously, which is good I guess. For my part, I barely trust Hito as far as I could throw him. Being a Gnomic bard, that certainly wouldn't be far.
He settled down with Seth, carrying a sheet of paper and they begin discussing something to do with it. After wrapping up my song I packed up, collected the gold that'd been thrown my way, and join them at the table. One advantage to being a skilled bard all right, I rarely need to worry about where my next meal comes from when in a city.
As I approached, I could overheard Hito's excited talking "It's just a babysitting job! They need a large group and the pay is lucrative. Just think of all the gold!" he's eyes get that far off look they do whenever he begins talking about gold. He really likes his gold. I'd be worried about him, his past is still a murky depth, but how can someone's soul be so empty that they feel gold is the only way to fill and repair it? He'll even sing the Dwarven Gold Song occasionally, much to the annoyance and offense of most dwarves who happen to be in area when he does.
The way Seth eggs him on and joins in just makes it worse.
Seth and Kane were eying the paper uncertainly. "I don't know Hito. To Helmsfort, Maz-ti-ca," Kane was saying, pronouncing out each syllable slowly as I settled down next to him. Sitting next to the other two makes me feel too small. Kane is at least my size, and a cute bunny to boot. What's not to love?
"Where's Maz-ti-ca?"
"Who cares?" Hito replied. "Just look at the value of this contract," he glanced over to Nasticus as the dark robed cleric approached and settled down next to him. You could almost feel the static between the two, almost see Hito's fur standing on end when near Nasty.
As much as I'm disinclined to agree with Hito on principle most of the time, I did have to agree about one thing now. Who cares? Well, as long as we weren't being led to the mouth of hell or something, it would be another place, another kingdom I'd never seen before. I was certainly on board for that, as long as we could get a little information first.
"Was there nothing else on the board? Another round of ghoul bashing, closer to here maybe?" Seth was asking.
"Go look for yourself if you want. Nothing else that gets us more than what we made with the last outing, which didn't last us near long enough. Unless you want to go North to the frozen wastes to go spelunking."
He was probably exaggerating again. There's very rarely any work to be had in the frozen wastes, and it would likely have paid much more than the one he brought to us if there was. He'd be going for maximizing gold regardless of where it was.
"That's not the best part," he was saying, pointing down near the bottom at the seal on the posting.
It was the seal of the Golden Legion. One of the most famous organizations, known throughout the Sword Coast and beyond for their honour and valour, not to mention the stunning battle skills and generous contracts for those they hire.
Seth seemed to pick up a bit at that. "Getting in with the Golden Legion could have its benefits all right. We'll have to talk it over with the others. If they don't want to come along, we won't have enough to take this contract."
Well, the next day the entire party gathered, all eight of us, near the Guild hall. The discussion was lively, but ultimately we decided to take the contract and be on our way. After registering our intentions with the guild secretary and getting instructions to head for Waterdeep, we were off.
With our group, nothing can be simple though. Rather than take the roads, Hito and Seth argued we should cross through the plains, skirting the edge of the Sword Mountains, and through the Kryptgarden Forest. They figured it would save a day or two off the trip. Kilsarie was agreeing, mostly I'm sure to stay more in the wilds and out of the cities.
Ultimately we agreed, as much because caterwauling for the next few days would render most of us deaf as anything else, and we headed off through the plains.
It was just a couple of days later, stopping to camp for the night in a nice clearing, we were getting ready to settle in and find some food. Seth and Hito were, once again, involved in one of their good natured joking arguments when Seth decided to prove his point.
"Watch this then. I'll give us all warmth and light for the night, right now."
I'd missed the start of their conversation, so wasn't quite sure what was going on, but with a sudden, heat filled "whoosh" not far from where I was setting up, a tree near the center of the otherwise fairly open clearing erupted into flames.
I nearly jumped out of my skin. A little warning might have been nice!
"Ohh, not bad.. Not bad. Just one tree though? Surely you've got more in you," Hito was egging Seth on now, trying to get the red dragonkin to set more trees aflame. In the middle of a forest we were in no less!
"Yeah, just watch this!"
Their conversation got quieter then, and nothing else exploded. Figuring maybe they'd realized the folly of setting the whole forest on fire, I returned to setting up the camp.
"Whooah..! Wha...!" I suddenly found myself exclaiming. I was going up! Up is not a direction you should find yourself going unexpectedly, especially when you have no control over it.
Looking around panicked I saw it wasn't just me. We were all going up. And our stuff, all our gear was also going up. Before I could even begin to react I was clearing the top of the trees. It was then I noticed Hito and Seth were talking with little flying creatures that I groaned to myself.
Faeries. In the forest. And we'd (used loosely) set one of their trees on fire.
I wasn't able to hear most of the conversation they had. I couldn't control my movement, and that movement was still "up", but I could see Hito gesticulating emphatically as he spoke with this creature. I began to ready myself to cast Feather Fall for myself, hoping my companions also had contingency plans for this unexpected scenario. Eventually those faeries would get bored of us and let us drop.
Thankfully the worst didn't come to pass. Hito apparently managing to reason with the faeries to let us down, we slowly began to descend again. For a creature who grew up mostly underground, uncontrolled floating high above the trees is a little unnerving, let me tell you! I prefer to do my flying via Gnomish Airship.
Once we were back on the ground, Hito told us we had to delay to help out the faery who's house was burnt down. Apparently having made an agreement, under Geas, to replace the house. Managing to get Kilsarie to help him quick grow a tree, we settled in for the process which would take a good day or two.
During this time, I spoke with Oakleaf, Treemoss, and Lillyvine. Autumnal tended to keep her distance. She was the one who's tree was destroyed. The four fey sisters of this area of the forest. Not entirely bad folk. I mean, I'm not sure how I'd react were a big red dragonkin to come along and burn my house down either.
A little further magic carved a habitable fey-sized house out of the tree. Complete with cute little windows and window dressings. Autumnal complained a bit about it, but there wasn't much else we could do for her in such a short time. I think she was just being ornery over the loss of her old house anyway.
The sisters gave us a stern warning to avoid the Kryptgarden Forest in our future travels. We readily agreed and set out on our way again, arriving in Waterdeep without further incident. Of course, the time we spent un-Geasing Hito erased the gains to be made traveling through the forest in the first place.
We finally checked our arrival at the Guild hall on 7th Kythorn, 5 days after leaving Longsaddle. The Guild secretary told us to await a meeting with Ambassador Solizar Alvarro at The Basted Boar Inn in a few candle marks. Works for us, as we needed to settle in and replenish a few supplies anyway, not knowing precisely what would come out of this meeting...