27 May 2015
The Party,
in Alphabetical Order:
- Anaïs, played by Rhonda: Female half-elf thief of mild disposition
- Billet Graham, played by Brett H.: Male human cleric of St. Cuthbert and many loud words
- Feodoric (NPC): Mute male or female human bearer hired by Graham
- Karox, played by Chris: Female human warrior of few words (extra large)
- Kheldar, played by Jeff: Male gnome thief of sneaky, yet charming disposition
The party met in the village of Hommlet, late in the
day. The thieves, Kheldar and Anaïs, had
arrived a few hours earlier, and were sitting (separately) in the Inn of the
Welcome Wench.
Kheldar the gnomish scamp was wandering from time to time,
talking with people, and switching his full beer mugs for their less full ones,
thus appearing to drink more than he actually was. He had been sent by Viscount Wilfrick of
Verbobonc to continue his search for the purportedly kidnapped Prince Thrommel
of Furyondy.
The boisterous cleric of Cuthbert, Billet Graham, entered
the inn not long before sundown with two accompanying him: his “man”, Feodoric
(a small youth of indeterminate sex, with fine, curly red hair and no voice)
and a very large warrior woman named Karox.
The Matriarch of Verbobonc had sent Graham to investigate reports of
bandits and worse Evil in the vicinity of Hommlet, and she had given him charge
of the miscreant Karox, both as bodyguard and target of Cuthbertian reform. No one questioned the apparent lack of
coordination between the two major powers of Verbobonc, in sending their agents
separately, around the same time, to the same place.
In subsequent conversation, Anaïs said she had been sent by
her local cleric (of Wee Jas) for the same reason as Graham and Karox.
Well-met over fine ale and large meals, the party naturally
decided to pursue their mostly congruent goals together.
As the evening wore on, Kheldar did some sneaking and
spying, perhaps suspecting something off about the local oaf and beer-drinker,
Elmo. That yielded naught, as did a bit
of illicit snooping upstairs, in the rooms.
Eventually came time to bed down for the night. Rooms were 1 GP and up, so Graham and Kheldar
took cheap lodging in the dormitory upstairs.
Karox opted for a spot in the apple orchard next door, and Graham easily
persuaded Feodoric to accompany Karox. Anaïs
took a separate room.
After bedtime, Kheldar did more sneaking about, discovering
much less than he might have wished.
After his disappointment, he finally retired to the dormitory room.
In the dead middle of the night, Feodoric woke Karox,
pointing at two headless figures on horseback, on the church road. They wheeled and galloped towards the
church. Karox went back to the inn to
report this to Graham. The lad in the
common room asked her business, and she told him on her way up to the
dormitory.
The entire party assembled, armed themselves, and went out
to track down the riders. At the church,
they heard the riders approaching down the north road, and they lined up across
the road to stop them. The riders
spotted them, and veered off north of the church, to head across the fields, to
the east. The two of the party with
infravision (Anaïs and Kheldar) easily saw that the “headless” riders had heads
and faces, though their heads were tucked low between very high shoulder pads. The party did not pursue the riders. On the way back to the inn, they came across
an elf in robes, with a staff, standing in the middle of the road. He introduced himself as Valiniriel, and
invited himself along with their assumed outing on the morrow.
When the party returned to the inn, they found most of the
patrons awake, drinking mead in the common room. They had apparently been awakened by Billet
Graham’s less than stealthy departure, and the night boy’s report of Evil so
nearby. People were swapping stories of
Evil occurrences thereabouts, such as a werewolf spotted on the east road, a
ghost seen by the miller’s wife a fortnight past, and those poor folks set upon
by brigands on the north road, who had to come into the village stripped bare
naked.
Kheldar and Anaïs robbed the innkeepers’ hidden moneybox
while the owner was downstairs with the awakened patrons, and his wife was
distracted with a cunning ruse of Kheldar’s invention. He showed Anaïs the large iron box full of
jewelry and coin. She then took the loot
out in a pillowcase and buried it along the north road, though she may have
been seen, at least in silhouette, by someone smoking a pipe out back of the
church. Meanwhile, Kheldar sneaked into
an unlocked room temporarily devoid of tenants (who were downstairs with most
of the patrons), and hid the iron box under that bed.
587 CY, Wealsun the 2nd: Adventure!
The next morning, a not completely fresh party broke their
fast in the common room, and prepared to set out. When questioned on his motivations and
qualifications for accompanying the party, Valiniriel responded that—being a
youth—he required experience of the larger world. He claimed “arcane knowledge” as
qualification. He further suggested the
logical direction for their first explorations was East, since that was where
so many sightings and Evil occurrences had been reported, including the
“headless” riders and a werewolf. Also,
he pointed out that the ruins of the moathouse (outpost of the Temple of
Elemental Evil) lay in that direction, not too far from town.
No comments:
Post a Comment