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Ok, here is my third entry in the name Tristan contest....
Maraevin Iriam
My youngest daughter (who is now 16 months old) is named Miriam Araevin. Miriam is obvious, and Araevin is actually the name of the sun elf protagonist in Rich Bakers Last Mythal Trilogy. So how does this connect to Tristan? My daughter has begun talking in a mixture of baby babel and the occasional real words. Whenever I imagine what Abyssal must sound like, it is very similar to the sort of gutteral and rapid jumble of sounds she uses when she "talks". Further, she has this personality where she will be playing with a toy and fully active and then stop on a dime, stare off into space with this sort of sinister stare for a minute, and then laugh this deep toned almost scary laugh. Kind of like "Hee Hee HEEEEEEEE". I have the same vision of Tristan when she does stuff like pantomime with a Bar-lgrua head.
Anyway, the name is made by taking the first letter of my daughters first name and adding it to the front of her middle name. Then take the remaining letters of her first name and use it as her last name. More names to come in the days to come.
Lavinia and I are sleeping under the same roof . . . I can hardly believe it, in fact only one thin wall separates us. I’ve begin to think such thoughts. There is little time for such nonsense and girlish fantasy though . . . for now we must prepare to counter an invasion of pirates!
The day started out innocently enough, I rose at dawn (anxious to see Farshore), had a bite to eat, prepared my spells, and was soon ready to go, but our Oman guides refused to lead us anywhere till after they had breakfast. I paced the beach. We were less than 10 miles away, if we were much closer I could almost see Farshore, but it wouldn’t be until nearly noon before I could actually set foot in the distant town. I was impatient. I briefly considered using my magic to find the island the hard way . . . thankfully common sense won out.
We needed 3 canoes: there were two Omans, plus three of our larger members, plus one of our smaller members in each canoe. James, Orlani, Kiki, and I were in one canoe, Kale, Buffy, Fredrick and Churtle were in another canoe, and Amella, Avner, Tavey and Urol in the last one. It was a peaceful ride. We followed the coast till we could see the island of Farshore in the distance and then we crossed into the open waters. The water was relatively calm and our canoes were able to glide across the surface of the water. The island seemed to grow and grow as we got closer. Soon I could make out its rugged coast and it’s lush jungles. Farshore, the natives told me, was but a dot of civilization on a six mile wide island. We were soon skirting the island’s coast, before noon even, and it seemed like we’d made better time than the natives themselves had hoped for. I thought that perhaps the gods were going to show us good luck for a change . . . then we saw the smoke.
The port of Farshore was just out of sight, yet we could see smoke and faintly hear yelling from somewhere in the distance, and we instantly knew that the town was under attack. We rowed past the jagged harbor mouth and saw a terrible sight: vicious pirate were in the process of attacking the town! I spied Lavinia’s ship, the Blue Nixie, in the harbor. This meant Lavinia was here! Cold comfort when her town was under attack. Our Oman guides were reluctant to get involved but I told them to take us to the strange new ship sitting at the end of the pier . . . it was the only ship big enough to have brought the pirate scourge to Lavinia’s town. In the other canoe I could hear Buffy casting a spell (water walking by the sounds of it), I in turn cast my own spell: dimensional door. Suddenly Kiki, James, Orlani, and I were standing on the deck of the ‘Hellfish’ the pirate’s boat. For a moment the greasy filthy pirates were unaware of our presence, we prepared to take advantage of the situation, but then one of the cur happened to glance back, and suddenly the whole ship was alerted to our presence. Not that it mattered, James and Orlani were a deadly pair with their flashing swords, Kiki was a crack shot with her crossbow, and I was moderately dangerous with my magic. Moments later the ship was ours; my giant eldritch horror (a thing vaguely resembling a dire wolf) was gnawing on carcass of one of the fallen brigands:
“Smell this ship my pet,” I growled in abyssal, “find any in the city which smell the same and kill them!”
The thing let out a ghostly howl and bounded down the pier and into the town. I used my magic to take to the skies. The rest of our forces soon were charging along the water towards the shore, I used my magic to hasten our advance, and then I used more summons to scourer. To my left Kale smashed down the door to a burning building to pull a woman to safety, bellow Buffy healed a badly injured man, and to my left a laughing pirate, who was chasing a hapless woman and laughing, turn just in time to look down the gullet of my other worldly hound. I smiled as his villainy was ended with a crunch that could be heard over the howls and screams of the village. I took the time to scoop up Churtle and carry her to a roof top (where she could snipe the enemy at her leisure) before I flew over the town like a cloud of death. I rained down fireballs, rays of flame, magic missiles, and orbs of cold.
It seemed there were few problems that I couldn’t solve with my magic: church being assaulted? Fireball. Town center polluted with pirates? Fireball again. Filthy leader still barking orders? Orb of cold. Soon there wasn’t a pirate still standing . . . I didn’t do it on my own though, I had plenty of fire support from Churtle, Kiki, and the others. Within no time the pirates were routed and the village more or less saved. There were still fires that needed to be dealt with but the pirate threat was over.
“Citizens of Farshore,” I hollered, “the pirates are finished, help us put out these fires and save your town!”
The towns people were reluctant to come out at first, especially with my beasts still around, but they eventually flooded out when they found the pirate scourge defeated. Soon we had a bucket brigade going and the fires were soon extinguished . . . not that I cared, for from the far side of the village, emerging from the smoke, was Lavinia Vanderboren! She wore leather armor and carried a sword that showed signs that it had been used. I didn’t doubt for a moment that she’d personally helped defend her town. Behind her the Jade Ravens appeared. For the time being I was glad to see them there, keeping Lavinia safe. Lavinia smiled when she saw us.
“Tristan!” she called, quickly cleaning her blade and sheathing it, “When did you get here?”
“We got here shortly before the pirates started dying,” I said as I flew down to greet her, I found myself hugging her, but I couldn’t remember if I embraced her or she embraced me.
“I thought you were lost,” she whispered.
“You should know better than that,” I said, “I’m far too busy to die.”
“Kiki, Buffy, Kale, James, and Fredrick,” Lavinia said as the others joined us, “my friends, your timing is impeccable.” Lavinia moved over to greet each of them in turn, “where’s your ship,” she eventually asked, “I don’t see it in the harbor.”
“Amella docked it on a reef to the north,” I said, “to deter thieves, but it made for a rather long walk.”
Lavinia’s face showed shock, “and what of the rest of passengers and crew?”
“We’re the only survivors,” Kale said, Amella, Tavey, Avner, and Urol had joined us, “the rest died on the rocks, in the water, or were killed by the mashers.”
“I promise you I’ll do whatever I can to get your ship back,” Lavinia said.
“Hello Lavinia,” a tall bearded man said. He was well groomed and handsome, he wore mithral chain mail, and although he didn’t have a spot of blood or dirt on him, I didn’t doubt for a second that he wasn’t capable of defending himself, “who are your new friends?” he asked.
“Uncle,” Avner shouted as he quickly abandoned us for the newcomer. The older man’s face flashed something; too fast for me to catch, but knowing Avner (and knowing that others know Avner) I couldn’t imagine it was a look of joy. Hearing Avner call the newcomer ‘uncle’ marked the new comer as Manthalay. I knew nothing about him except his name, and seeing as he was a Meravanchi, that was already one thing against him. “I bring word from father, but first you must hear of my shabby treatment I’ve suffered at the hands of these ruffians.”
“Lord Manthalay,” Lavinia said in a neutral tone, “this is the group I was telling you about, the second half of my expedition.” Lavinia clearly didn’t care for him. That was another strike against him. “But perhaps we should take this discussion to the chapel. We’ll need to assess the damages to the town and the others are likely to assemble there.”
“Yes,” Manthalay said, “I’m curious to hear how badly these vandals damaged my town.”
‘Your town’ Hop-Toy said, seemingly chewing over Manthalay’s words in his mouth, ‘well its official, we’ve known the man for less than a minute and we already hate him.’
I couldn’t help but laugh. The others turned to me. “Sorry,” I said, rapidly trying to think up an excuse, “violence makes me giddy.”
‘Bravo,’ Hop-Toy said, ‘that’s something that I’d never have come up with.’
Inside the chapel everyone was properly introduced, along with Lavinia and her Jade Ravens, there was Mathalay and Avner, our crew including Urol, Amella, Churtle, and the rest of our squad. I was surprised when Lavinia introduced us:
“These are my personal heroes,” she said, I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed and unworthy of such high praise, but Lavinia continued, “They’re largely responsible for the supplies and my return to Farshore. I owe them a great debt of gratitude, and now, I suspect so does Farshore. It’s quite possible that we could have repelled the assault, but I’m sure the cost would have been that much greater.”
We were also introduced to Professor Hevik Aldwattle (the man Buffy had healed earlier), Vesserin Catherly (the priest of Farshore), Telda Syren (a Botanist and Vanderboren family friend), and Ulvar Kabbanja (head of the town militia). I watched people’s reactions as we were introduced, the Jade Ravens (especially Tolin) didn’t react well to the favoritism, and I could see much discontentment on their faces. I saw that the Meravanchis were looking at us as potential obstacles now. The others, neutral factions, looked to us with mild interest. I wondered why Lavinia had chosen to introduce us in that way . . . was Mathalay such a threat that she needed us to immediately prop her up? It was the only explanation I could think of, why else alienate her other employees? Maybe it had something to do with our group itself. Perhaps being apart so long she no longer understood our group dynamics. She may have felt the need to ensure some of our group that their efforts were appreciated. This would make sense, compared to the Jade Ravens we were by far the more valuable asset, but we were professionals, and we didn’t need to have our egos stroked to keep us loyal . . . well I didn’t at least.
Much of the meeting was of little interest. There was talk about damage to buildings and supplies, number of dead pirates, and the names of the poor ten villagers that had fallen in the battle. There was also some talk about a captured pirate (I wasn’t aware any had survived our assault so I assumed this must have been one of the attackers that had ventured far into the village), Mathalay wanted to hang him, but Lavinia wasn’t so cruel. Naturally I supported Lavinia, my great uncle had moved away from the cruel ways of the sea princes, and Lavinia embodied this new compassionate path. Besides, if your goal is to make an example of him it’s best to remember that you can only hang a man once, but if you successfully reform him, that example lasts a lifetime.
With much of the business taken care of Lavinia turned her attentions to us:
“Tell us,” Lavinia said, “what happened after we separated, your journeys across the island, and how you came to save the village in the nick of time.”
“It’s not terribly exciting I’m afraid,” I said, drawing surprised looks from my companions, “we got lodged in some giant Sargasso, journey’s end the sea folk call it, the most harrowing part of that experience was drifting on a crumbling raft while hoping against hope that Amella would find us in the dark in the middle of the ocean. Then we got hit with a storm, worse than the one that separated us, just a few hours after we spotted the Isle of dread. The storm tossed us about like a ball and eventually smashed us onto a reef, then to make matters worse, we got attacked by one of those giant fish your mother wrote about, called mashers. Amella got us off the reef but we were still being tossed about by the storm, taking on water, and quickly losing control of our ship. Then we saw a beach and steered towards it. There was another reef guarding the beach unfortunately and that’s where we were forced to leave the Wyvern. Most of the crew drowned or were smashed against the rocks.
“We woke to find over half the crew dead and a few missing, then a great lizard burst from the jungle, tyrannosaurus they’re called, and it gobbled up another of our crew before we were able to kill it. Then we were forced to fight through countless terror bird attacks as we trekked through the jungle, undead and giant centipedes in the underground tunnels, and dirty rotten gargoyles on the ocean road. Then to make matters worse we were somehow discovered by a demon known as a Bar-lgura, a horrible thing, capable of all sorts of mischief as well as abduction through teleportation. He took Urol and Churtle once we found his home, an area known as the fogmire by the locals, and we eventually found his temple hidden in that fog maze and killed the stupid monkey. Then we traveled south to the Oman villages, caught a ride with the Oman from the village of Mora, and the rest is, as they say, history . . .”
“Come on now,” Lavinia said, “you make it sound so humdrum and matter of fact, but it sounds like an incredible journey.”
“It wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle,” I said trying not to overplay our adventures. Lavinia looked as though she might protest more but we were suddenly interrupted.
“Begging your pardons m’lords and ladies,” a rough fellow who had the look of a sailor or fisherman about him, “but we found something in the ship that I thought you ought to see.” He awkwardly stepped forward carrying some papers, looking to Lavinia and Manthalay, and not sure whom to give them too. Lavinia stepped forward and snatched them up before Manthalay could command them into his own hands. The seaman quickly took the opportunity to retreat.
Lavinia quickly began looking over the rough notes that formed a rough captain’s log for the pirate ship the Hellfish. Lavinia’s brow began to knit with worry then her eyes opened in surprise:
“This was only supposed to be a scouting expedition, but the captain got greedy and launched the attack before the main force could arrive. It doesn’t say when but it seems we’ve somehow attracted the attention of the Crimson Fleet.”
There was a collective gasp in the room. The Crimson Fleet were the scourge of the seas and a great burden to honest folk and traders everywhere, but even I’d never have guessed that they’d venture this far south. There was sudden panic in the room, they’d just faced down one pirate assault, and now they were learning that there was another, much larger attack still coming. Thankfully Lavinia kept her head:
“My friends,” she said turning to us, “will you help us?”
“Why don’t we just leave?” Vesserin asked, “We could have everything packed up in a week and . . .”
“I’m not leaving my town,” Lavinia snapped, “after all your hard work? You’d just give it up? After the life you’d forged? Your blood, sweat, and tears are in this town. You’d give it up without a fight? Not me. This town is my parent’s legacy, I intend to stay and fight, to the last breath if necessary, but I know that not everyone shares my passion . . .”
“Yes,” Manthalay interrupted, “for once Lavinia and I are in agreement, but we’re running blind here. We don’t even know when they’re going to attack . . .”
“Good thing we have that prisoner then isn’t it?” I said, “and to think you were going to hang him.”
“We’d have questioned him first,” Manthalay sighed, “I’m sorry Miss Lidu but your kind are entirely too soft.”
“But now he’s got some incentive to talk,” I said smiling, “and he’s got more to lose if he doesn’t cooperate, and that gives us more to work with doesn’t it? Now perhaps we should handle the interrogation, I’m sure you might think we’re too soft for this task as well, but believe me we’ve got someone that can be very persuasive.”
Kale, Fredrick, and I found the pirate ‘Lefty’ in an old shack that the Jade Ravens had converted into a makeshift prison. He was a pitiful sight, badly beaten, and possibly diseased. The Ravens had captured the man and they still felt semi responsible for him. We needed to reassure them that no harm would befall him while in our care. Lavinia had wanted to help with the interrogation, but I didn’t want her there, I wasn’t sure how this was going to go, and I didn’t want her there just in case things got ugly. I didn’t want her to have to dirty her hands. He looked up at us as we entered, if he was afraid he didn’t show it, and he seemed like a man that was resigned to his fate.
“Before we begin,” I said before my companions could speak, “I need to know: did you hurt or kill anyone?”
“What’s it matter?” he said, “You’re going to hang me either way . . .”
“I don’t recall the lady calling for your death,” I said, “for the time being you’re under the protection of my friend and patron, but that could change I suppose. I need to know if I’m dealing with a coward and murder . . .”
“I’m no coward,” Lefty spat, “but I did what I had to do to survive. Yes, I’ve killed before, but I don’t attack people what can’t defend themselves. Yea, I scared them, and I chased them, but I didn’t lay a hand on a single one.”
“I believe you,” Fredrick said, “you did what you had to do but that doesn’t make you a bad person. Tell me how you ended up on that boat.”
“I was on this bastard merchant ship, under a cruel cuss of a captain, and none of us could stand him, so we mutinied and sailed south, but a storm caught us and smashed our ship to bits on the rocks of Scorpion Isle. We decided that we weren’t going to die there so we built a raft and sailed to the south were we saw smoke. This is where my life really went to hell. We were trapped on an island run by pirates. We were forced to fight to the death for their amusement, I survived, and I was ‘rewarded’ by being made one of those beasts.”
“And then you came here,” Fredrick said.
“And then I came here,” Lefty repeated, there was a long pause, and I wondered if Fredrick was going to question him, “so what happens now?” Lefty finally asked.
“That’s up to you I guess,” Fredrick said, “as my friend said, you’re currently under the protection of Lady Vanderboren, but there’s a lot of angry villagers out there and if you don’t give us something it may be impossible for her to continue to protect you.” Fredrick added a dramatic pause at this point, “We know that the Crimson Fleet is coming, but we didn’t get much help out of the captain, so we need to know if you overheard anything, anything about this invasion. We can help you but you need to help us first.”
“We were supposed to be part of the invasion, part of the Crimson Fleet, but Peet, that’s our captain, said that the fleet wouldn’t be here for two months and if we looted the town we’d be long gone by the time they got here.”
“How many ships?” Fredrick asked.
“I don’t know.”
“How’d he get this information? Are there some contacts back at Rat’s End?”
“No, there’s no one left at Rat’s End, Peet Took everyone. I don’t know how the fleet gave Peet his orders, best not ask too many questions, but I think magic was involved. I don’t know anything else, I’m sorry but I don’t, I wish I could help you . . .” Lefty’s voice creaked with emotion, “I’m a coward and a low life cur, for sure, but I don’t want to die. Please you have to ask the lady to save me. Please, I’ll be forever loyal to her . . .”
“Can you think of anything else,” I asked, “anything, how are they getting here so fast?”
“They’re going a long way out of their way to attack one village,” Fredrick pointed out.
“Peet said that they had business on the north of the island,” Lefty said, “I remember that, because I was thinking the same thing, but Peet said they were coming here anyways.”
“I can’t promise you anything Lefty,” I said, now that I thought the interrogation was over, “but I’ll tell Lavinia that you helped us, and I think that’s worth something in her books. You’ve committed a number of sins though, and you’re going to have to make peace with whatever god you believe in.”
We returned to the chapel. The others were horrified when we told them what Lefty had told us.
“The town needs to be fortified,” Manthalay said, “and we need reinforcements.”
There was a moment of shouting and arguing, panic was in the air, but Lavinia remained calm. When much of the noise died down she stood and held up a piece of paper she had been scribbling on.
“As far as I can tell,” Lavinia said, drawing everyone’s attention, “we have many things that need to be accomplished if we are to defend Farshore. I’ve made a list of possible actions we need to take. First there’s a number of improvements to the town itself, the walls, watchtowers, and harbor obviously, but the chapel, the infirmary, and the militia itself could use upgrades and better training.
“Speaking of the militia, Ulvar, even if you get your men in tip top shape Manthalay is right, we’ll need reinforcements. The Omans to the north may be able to offer aid with people and supplies, but there are also other humanoids in the wilds of the Isle of Dread. Someone needs to travel to the village of Tanaroa and do whatever it takes to secure Oman aid. There are other peoples that we may be able to elicit help from, my mother made contact with and studied a group of creatures known as Phanatons, and by all accounts they are fierce and loyal warriors. If someone were to locate their hidden jungle village we may be able to gain their aid.
“Then there’s the problem of supplies, something as simple as rope, nails, and tar are in dreadfully short supply. The Wyvern was carrying much of this, reclaiming your ship would give us needed supplies, but would also aid in the defense of the town. As for the Tar, the Isle itself has natural tar pits; if you could gain access to the pits to the northwest of here we’d have a near endless supply to work with.
“Also,” Lavinia added, “I’m somewhat hesitant to mention this, but local rumor speaks of a race of cat like people known as rakastas, said to be extinct, but were said to be masterful craftsmen, and their skill in building weapons was said to be extraordinary. Perhaps, if the stories are true, perhaps there’s a stockpile of weapons somewhere.”
“We have our tasks then,” I said, mainly to myself, “let’s get to work.”
“Wait,” Manthalay said, “what about this remaining pirate?”
“What about him?” Lavinia and I said at the same time.
“Well . . . he’s no longer of use to us, and we can’t trust him . . .”
“I gave my word,” Lavinia said.
“And I said he had her protection,” I said.
“This won’t sit well with the people,” Manthalay muttered.
“Hasn’t there been enough death today?” Lavinia asked.
“Killing a single sickly pirate isn’t going to magically build morale here,” I said.
“Building their spirit is something that’ll happen over time,” Lavinia said nodding.
Manthalay threw his hands up in disgust, “this isn’t a ladies charity here,” he snapped, “he’s a cold blooded killer and you’re talking about, and mark my words, he will kill again, and he’ll betray us first chance he gets.”
“I had no idea that you were a mind reader Manthalay,” Lavinia muttered.
“I wonder if he knows what I’m thinking right now?” I said to Lavinia.
Manthalay left the chapel after that. We decided to move our discussion Lavinia’s home.
“The other thing this town needs is clear leadership,” Lavinia said when we were alone, “Manthalay and I have been butting heads ever since I arrived here three weeks ago. The town is getting mixed messages from its leaders. Manthalay has run this town sense my parents returned to Sasserine but I fear he may not be the best choice for the town’s future. He talks of taking over the Oman tribes to the north, trapping and killing animals for their pelts, and building wealth. I think he only sees Farshore as a personal source of wealth, and after he’s pillaged it for all he can, I don’t doubt that he’ll return back to Sasserine to retire.
“The town needs a mayor, and as far as I can tell there are really only two strong candidates, Manthalay and myself, and one of us needs to step up and take control . . .”
“Do you want to be mayor?” I asked Lavinia.
Lavinia thought about it for the longest time, carefully considering the pros and cons and the weight of responsibility this position would give her, finally she raised her head and set her jaw, “Yes,” she said, “I think I do want to be mayor.”
“Then you shall be,” I said.
Lavinia insisted that we stay in her home. How could I refuse her? There was also hot baths for the ladies (the men would have to wait).
Tomorrow the real work begins,
Cthulhu dreams
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Just wanted to say Guy, that i am still following this journal religiously and that I am really enjoying it. Kudos for keeping it up for so long!
Now on to the contest!! :D So someone mentioned an Aztec-like name as a possibility, and I agree. The fact that these changes are happening on the Isle of Dread surrounded by an ancient Oman culture is sure to play some influence with Tristan. So I ran a quick Google search (Oman = Olmec in my book) and came up with the following link:
http://www.ancientscripts.com/epiolmec.html
There are several logograms near the bottom of the page:
ko?=suw = "priest/shaman"
X-ti = "now"
dem+se+?uk = "and then"
Taking those bits and pieces and massaging them a bit I came up with Kosu Xitimseuk, which roughly translated could be "the priest of now and then". A suitably bizzare (if not appropriate) title for Tristan, especially given the dreams she has been having of late. Kosu is more of an honorific title and would probably be dropped (except on very formal occasions). As an added benefit, Tristan could sometimes refer to herself as Xiti ("now") or Siuk ("then") depending on her current state of mind. ;)
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Here is my second submission. Being a big Eberron fan I just had to visit Jhonen Olain's Common to Quori translator (appropriate for Tristan and her otherworldly connections). The translator can be found here:
http://www.coveworld.net/eberron/quor_translator.html
Here is the translation I got:
Tristan Lidu = Thashtath Rali
Still quite a tongue twister... but perhaps she could simply use her last name. Rali. Simple, easy to say, and I think it sounds quite nice ;)
An anagram for "outer wolrd" is "Lord True Ow". I had to laugh at that one!
FYI gentlecritters, here's a quotable quote from one of those funky TV shows that populate the airwaves these days:“Just like any other good brain – creamy, a little tinny, absolutely delicious.”
Andrew Zimmern, Bizarre Foods, 1st April 2008Jade's player loves these kinds of shows... it's creepy what this man will put in his mouth and eat...
That's awesome Turin!
I don't watch TV but I had try to see this show . . . sadly the internet was cooperating when I tried to find this show. I did catch a bit of the particular episode but the segment I wanted to watch wasn't available. :(
Try again Sir Humual - this fellow, as commented on before, will literally eat almost anything than can be eaten...
Its funny how having purpose and goals energizes me. I woke with the sun and prepared my spells before Churtle left to check on breakfast. Knowing that Lavinia was alive and well was a huge weight off of my shoulders . . . even the threat of the Crimson fleet could do little to dampen my spirits.
After breakfast I asked everyone to assemble in Lavinia’s study. Our entire group (plus Lavinia herself) crowded into the small study. I had my notes from yesterday’s meeting (plus some of my own ideas) and I needed this small meeting to organize an attack plan.
“First and foremost,” I said once everyone was assembled, “we need to formulate a plan of attack and figure out how we’re going to solve all of these problems. We need to repair the Wyvern but first we need supplies, we know we need reinforcements but if don’t have time to run all over the island, and so we need to plan one excursion that’ll allow us to visit everything we need to without any double tracking. Fredrick I’ll leave that to you. Next there’s the business of repairs and upgrades around town, I might be able to design and over see these upgrades, but I’ll need workers. Lavinia could you find me some hands?”
“Of course,” she said, “that shouldn’t be a problem, and I can even use town funds to pay them.”
“Training militia,” I said looking over my check list, “who can volunteer to do that?”
Fredrick, James, and Kale all seemed egger, and truth be told, none of them were qualified to do much else, but there needed to be a clear head to the training department so I decided to put James in charge.
“Why James?” Kale asked, perhaps upset that I choose James over him.
“Because you and I have business in Sasserine this evening,” I said, “and Fredrick needs to devote some of his time into politicking for Lavinia. – Speaking of that,” I said turning back to Lavinia, “we need to arrange a meeting with Manthalay and discuss how we’re going to run this election.”
“We haven’t even discussed it yet,” Lavinia said, “if I move to quickly it may seem that I’m too anxious.”
“And that’s never good,” I said agreeing with her, “then you need to invite town council members over to discuss the construction efforts . . .”
“And then quietly lead them to the idea of an election and then letting them think it was their idea,” Lavinia said, easily guessing my suggestion. I felt a tad embarrassed for having had thought to advise Lavinia on political matters, but she clapped her hands and laughed, “It’s a wonderful idea Tristan. I think I can make it happen and I already know how to start.”
“Improvements to the temple . . .” I said trying to move onto the next item on my agenda.
“Wait a second,” Kale said interrupting, “you’re moving too fast! You just said that we have business in Sasserine but how the hell . . .”
“Teleportation,” I said, “magic, something I’m going to try out for the first time so I’m going to take only strong swimmers.”
“You can get us back to Sasserine?” James (amongst others) asked excitedly.
“Let’s do try to stick with my itinerary please,” I said not wanting to get off track, “all questions will be answered, and likewise, all answers questioned. Now as I was saying the temple needs to be improved . . .”
“If you can teleport why don’t we just fetch reinforcements from Sasserine?” Kale asked.
“Buffy, could you look into that?” I continued, ignoring the constant interruptions, “and perhaps you could also have a look at the infirmary?”
“I can do that,” said our cleric of Pelor.
“Churtle,” I said turning to my cook and companion, “in some of the books I’ve read it says that kobolds are very good at laying traps . . .”
“When can we talk about this teleport spell?” James asked, “I think we could all use some supplies from Sasserine.”
“Yeps,” Churtle said (doing as I often do) and ignoring James, “we kobolds is very good at making traps.”
“Then could you look into somehow trapping the beach?” I asked, “I imagine sand is very difficult to work with but could you see what you can do?”
“Yep,” Churtle chirped, “can do boss.”
“Orlani . . .”
“The Teleport is the last thing on your list isn’t it,” snapped Kale, “you purposely seeded it early in the conversation just so you could not talk about for the next ten minutes!”
I turned to look at Kale, mainly to show him that his interruptions weren’t being appreciated. He simply shook his head.
“Now Orlani,” I said after a suitable pause, “I know you know a fair bit about sewing . . .”
“Rope work as well,” James happily added . . . as if I was interested in their sex life, “and carpentry . . .”
“Yes very good,” I said trying to cut him off, “would you mind seeing if your expertise could be useful somewhere in town? I’m sure a good deal of the work force here is made up of layman. Check around and see if you can help anywhere please.”
Orlani seemed a bit shocked at the prospect but James just laughed, “The town’s not very big, I can ask around for ya luv . . .”
“And last but not least . . .”
“Teleportation?” James and Kale asked.
“Kiki,” I said over the collective groan of the others, “I need you to go over our odds and ends that we want to sell in Sasserine, then find out what we need to buy, I’m thinking shopping list, and then check with Lavinia and see what Farshore needs. Nothing too heavy because my magic is limited.”
“Ok Tristan,” Kiki said with a sly wink, normally the naturally inquisitive halfling would have been dying with curiosity along with the men, but I foresaw this and explained to Kiki everything I planned to talk about last night, “want me to check with everyone?”
“Yes,” I said, “see what we keep, what we sell,what we buy, and what we take back to upgrade. I don’t want to stay in town for more than a week so keep that in mind when we get back to Sasserine. Ok, that’s this morning’s business, now in the afternoon I’m going to attempt to teleport back to Sasserine. A teleport spell has a limited range . . . about nine hundred miles, more experienced casters can stretch this distance, but seeing as I’m still relatively young and inexperienced, I’m not going to push these limits. Now seeing as we’re just less than 1800 miles from Sasserine (as the crow flies) I’m going to have to transport us back in two jumps. Fortunately I foresaw this problem on the trip over, and thus I prepared for our eventual need, however there is some risk involved. The first jump will take us to the isle of Ruja, the second back to Sasserine, but with each jump there’s the possibility of being either long or short . . . and in the case of Ruja that most certainly means ending up in the ocean.
“The other problem with the teleport spell is that I’m not going to be able to take everyone with me, I have limited capacity, as of right now I think I can only manage 3 people. For this first jaunt I’m taking Kale, Kiki, and Buffy. Buffy because she can use her priestly powers to allow us to breath or walk on water, Kiki because she’s our quartermaster, and Kale because he can carry a lot of stuff. We’ll leave here just after lunch and try to return just after breakfast tomorrow morning. Are there any questions?
“No?” I said before anyone could interject, “good let’s get too work!”
First thing Churtle and I did was visit the shore. I was very much intent on improving the port. The mouth of Farshore harbor almost looked like a miniature Sasserine. I intended on using the design of my birthplace as inspiration for the defenses of Farshore. Lavinia had supplied me with the basic tools I’d need: paper, straight edge, compass, and even a portable writing desk. Churtle on the other hand paced the beach, judged the high tide water mark, and then took several practice runs at the town from the beach . . . perhaps imagining herself as a pirate and guessing the most optimal pillage route. By the time the first members of my work crew began to show up I’d already started the basic lines of the harbor mouth. My initial design was exceedingly simple: platforms along the cliff faces would serve as sniper positions, two squat towers would sit on either side of the harbor mouth (mimicking Sasserines’ two great fortresses), and my own personal touch: bars and chains beneath the harbor mouth which could be raised to halt entry into the harbor. The wench house would sit in the eastern tower. I began to explain my grand vision to my work crew but they seemed uneasy . . . perhaps my enthusiasm made them uneasy? Instead of explaining everything to them I gave them their tasks and set them to work. I showed Churtle my designs instead. She was suitably impressed.
Time passed quickly. I was scarcely aware that it was lunch till Churtle began pulling on my arm. I’d spent much of the time drawing. I’d planed an impressive 3rd stage keep and lighthouse, my calculations had that at two years off, but the 1st stage would hopefully suit our needs. I found that I needed to give my crew very few orders. The actual construction I left to the carpenters and masons, all I needed to do was explain my vision and direct the flow of people and supplies, but this too was time consuming and far more difficult then I’d initially thought. I made a few mistakes at first (I got the masons and some stone out before we had a wooden frame up) but running a construction project wasn’t all that different from running a ship. Tomorrow would go better for sure. I left the crew to finish the frame and base. Tomorrow we’d start erecting walls.
I joined Lavinia for lunch. It wasn’t the finest fair, just fruit, cheese, flat bread, and water. And we weren’t eating on fancy china, or in a great banquet hall, but sitting next to her I felt like a queen. Lavinia asked about my progress and I found myself speaking of all my plans, the spiraling towers, the great lighthouse, the chain house, the sniper platforms which could later be staging points for any number of construction jobs on the stone cliffs. She seemed genuinely interested in my plans and seemed very excited when I showed her my designs:
“These are absolutely beautiful Tristan,” she said, “and so unlike some of the other buildings I’ve seen outside of Sasserine, these structures, especially the lighthouse, they have such eloquent curves to them, almost feminine . . . do you think you can really build them?”
I found myself blushing like a school girl, she saw what I’d hoped she’d see, “Yes, over time,” I said, “once we get the proper tools, experienced workers, and magic at our disposal, but for now I’m just working on the squat little chain house.”
“Do you think it’ll be enough to stop the Crimson Fleet?” she asked rhetorically. We both knew that it wouldn’t, the chains would only slow them down, but I had other plans and I knew that Lavinia just wanted to hear them.
“Now, now,” I said, “I think your fishing for more plans out of me, and it won’t due, if I tell you all my plans today what will we talk about tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?” Lavinia slyly asked.
“Yes, when you invite me over again to talk about your run at mayor.”
“Is there an election on?” she asked with mock surprise.
“No but I imagine there will be by tomorrow,” I said smiling along with her, “I expect to hear all about it tomorrow when I return.”
“Is teleportation dangerous?” Lavinia asked, a serious look on her face.
“Not for me,” I said trying to make her smile again, “I can fly! Seriously though, I know both locations, it shouldn’t be a problem, but wish me luck, I hope I won’t need it, but it wouldn’t hurt.”
“O.k. then,” Lavinia said, “I wish you luck on your journey and a safe return.”
“Thank you,” I said kissing her goodbye, “I see you tomorrow.”
Buffy, Kale, and Kiki were assembling everything we needed to take back with us when I met up with them. Most of the items I could stow away in my haversack or Kale could carry without difficulty, the only exceptions being the magical tower shield and the massive long spear. The tower shield we’d discovered on our sea voyage and been stuck with ever sense . . . but it wasn’t until we hit the oman villages (where we were finally able to buy enough pearls to identify our magical loot) that we finally realized how valuable the shield actually was. Not nearly as pricey as that crown Kale had claimed but certainly one of the more valuable items nobody was using.
“Wait a second,” James said jogging over to us, “before you go, Tristan could you pick me up a set of magical bastard swords?”
“You want me to buy you the swords?” I said incredulously as James handed me the money, “you do realize that I’m likely to mess it up, like buying you swords with pink ribbons or something . . .”
“I don’t care what they look like,” James said, “I just need some magic swords and you’re the one with contacts in the mages guilds.”
“Ok fine,” I said, hiding my elation like a pro “I’ll see if I can find two magical bastard swords.”
James stayed to watch the spell – not that there’d be much to see (even if it did go awry). I had everyone move into a tight circle then I muttered a few words and suddenly we were standing on the cliffs of Ruja! I blinked. I’d somehow forgotten to be nervous casting my new spell. The others looked around in amazement. The Cliffs of Ruja were as impressive as ever. I gave my friends a moment or two to take in their surroundings, and then I had everyone move close again for the last leg. I remembered to be suitably nervous this time . . . thankfully it didn’t matter; suddenly we were on the busy streets of Sasserine. I’d chosen to drop us off in the tight ally beside The House of the Dragon. It was suitably dark and always abandoned and today was no exception.
“I have some errands to run,” I said turning to my friends, “could you guys get started on the shopping, sell where ever you like, but stop by Blenak’s when you’re ready to buy. I know the owner and the store. All the magical trinkets we need can be found there.”
“Alright,” Kiki said, pulling out her list, “we’ll see you there.”
I didn’t head to Blenak’s right away, there was official Dawn Council business that I needed to see to first, and that meant seeing my great uncle. Lidu house guards were posted outside of my great uncle’s offices but inside I found his offices quiet as usual. The excitement of the Kellani incident must have died down by now, the fact that city watch didn’t guard the district representative told me that there was still quite a bit of mistrust in the air, but the fact that my great uncle Worrin’s offices were practically deserted told me that it was pretty much business as usual. I was able to gain entry almost immediately.
“Tristan,” great uncle Worrin said as I entered, “I thought you were headed to the Isle of Dread . . . against my wishes . . .”
“I am,” I said, “I arrived in Farshore yesterday, I’m very busy though, and I don’t really have time to socialize or be scolded right now, but I’m sure you can express your displeasure and disappointment later. When’s the next scheduled meeting of the Dawn Council?”
“Next week,” He said raising an eyebrow, “Why?”
“See if you can schedule a meeting tonight,” I said reaching into my diary and passing him a note that I’d prepared earlier, “here’s an itinerary, the other members will want to hear this, and I’ll be returning the island early tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll see what I can do, but this is short notice . . .”
“It’s not quite cause for an emergency session,” I said, “no direct threat to Sasserine herself, but I bring information about our colony and some trading partners. Now in an unrelated note I’ll be staying in Sasserine for the night am I welcome in the Lidu manor?”
“You’re not the first family member to disobey me Tristan,” my great uncle said, “leaving as captain of your own ship was impressive . . .”
“Yes, yes,” I said cutting him off, “and I’m sure had I followed your wishes I’d be a master alchemist by now, and not just some lowly conjuror of the 5th sphere, but I’ve made my choices and now I must live with them. All I want to know is am I still welcome under the Lidu roof?”
“Are you finished?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, remembering who I was speaking too, “I’m sorry I just don’t have the time for a lecture right now.”
“Perhaps if you’d remember your patience once in a while . . .”
“Forgive me,” I said, “I promise I’ll try to listen . . .”
“Tristan Lidu!” great uncle Worrin roared, “you cut me off one more time and I marry you off to a pig farmer! Now, as I was trying to say you’re not the first family member to disobey me, but you are the first that’s actually surprised me. You have too much of the old blood in you, you’re too rash, hot tempered, and bold. Far too many of our ancestors have died because of our adventurous blood. The hills and mountains around Sasserine are sprinkled with the tombs of our forefathers. You are smart, talented, and strong. I tried to shield you from what you might become because I wanted you to live and rise to power, but now that you’ve tasted life and danger I know that a desk job like my own will never have any appeal for you. You haven’t disappointed me. But I’d hoped to shield you from danger. Now I think there’s little I can do except to pray to the Ruby Sorceress to keep you safe. You are welcome in the Lidu manor . . . don’t spread tales of adventure to our children though. I want to give them normal lives.”
There was little I could say to great uncle Worrin after that. I apologized for being so curt with him and thanked him for his time. I promised that I’d return to his offices later so that I could brief him on the particulars of my news before the meeting. Then I scampered out of his offices. I’d been harboring these feelings that my great uncle had been holding me back for some reason for some time now. I couldn’t quite put my thumb on it but I’d come to see him as being against me . . . now I find out that he might have been protecting me instead. I felt like an ass. I quickly made my way to Blenak’s. I could only hope that I didn’t embarrass myself here as well.
Blenak wasn’t behind the counter when I entered. His new apprentice eyed me suspiciously as I entered, he was following his master’s instructions well: “don’t trust anyone”, he’d always told me. Be suspicious of anyone that looks like they don’t have any money and even more suspicious of those that look like they do. I wondered how this lad saw me? I say lad, he was my age, perhaps older, but he was working my old job and that made him my junior.
“Where’s Blenak?” I asked, “if he’s in I’d like to see him.”
“Blenak is very busy right now Ms,” the lad said, which was code for Blenak didn’t want to be bothered dealing with the customers, “maybe I can help you instead?”
“He’s not napping is he?” I said smiling; I can’t remember how many times he’d asked me to mind the front counter just so he could take a nap. “Or is he expecting a chatty customer? I never could understand how a man could run a business and hate dealing with customers that much.”
“Excuse me?” the lad said, obviously wondering who I was, seeing as I knew so much about his boss.
“Just get Blenak,” I said, “tell him his former lab monkey is here to see him.”
That must have sparked something in the lad’s brain, he quickly retreated into the back room and up the stairs (which meant it was research that Blenak was up too), and moments later Blenak join me in his store.
“Tristan,” he said with a strangely warm voice, he surprised me by coming out from behind the counter and hugging me. This was something new. Blenak had never hugged me before. “It’s been months. I’m so glad you’re safe! But why are you here? You could have only arrived on the Isle of Dread about a week ago how are you back so soon?”
I opened my mouth to respond but he gasped.
“Wait, don’t tell me,” he said, “you’ve learned teleport? So soon? Still there’s no way you could have gotten here in one jump, you’ll have to tell me all about it.”
“Who are you and what have you done with Blenak?” I asked.
The old man laughed and adjusted his glasses, “you see,” he said turning to his new assistant, “this is what a good assistant looks like. She’s smart, funny, and get’s things right the first time. You on the other hand . . . bah, go mix up some orders. I’ll look after my favorite customer.”
“Speaking of that,” I said glancing up at the twin swords hanging over the lab door. I have no idea when Blenak acquired them or why, they’d been in the shop as long as I’d remembered, and I’d heard many times that they were in no danger of selling anytime soon. They were beautiful swords, Ivory handles with silver inlay on the hilts. Two lovely female figureheads sat on the pommels and the wonderfully elegant curves showed that these swords were designed by a master. They were also very, very pink. From the handles to the scabbard pink was a strong motif in the swords design. I think it might have been possible that the metal in the blade itself might have been somehow dyed to have a faint pink tinge to them. The weapons were a matched set, and had obviously been designed for a woman, but what kind of a woman would be powerful enough to wield two massive swords? They were beautiful pink twin blades, around the shop we called them the ladies, and nobody ever thought they’d sell . . . until now. “I think I’ve found a buyer for the ladies,” I said. Blenak simply blinked with surprise.
Kale, Kiki, and Buffy joined us after a while. By this time I’d bought everything I’d wanted to buy and shared with Blenak some of the tales of our journeys. He seemed suitably impressed with my exploits and that pleased me to no end. By the time my companions joined us it was growing late. So after our shopping was finished we had to bid the man adieu. I wanted to stay longer but we simply didn’t have the time. From there we went to my uncle Worrin’s offices. We rode in the family carriage back to the manor, there great uncle Worrin made arrangements for me and my companions to stay the night. I asked Kiki and Buffy to wait for us at the manor as I didn’t think they wanted to be part of the boring old meeting. Neither objected.
“Why do I . . .” Kale started to ask, but then it seemed he answered his own question.
“Because someone has to inform the council of the defenses,” I snapped, hoping to defer my companion’s questions, “and I don’t doubt they’ll want to hear from a warrior.”
Honestly I don’t know why he wanted me to keep it a secret if he’s going to practically blab it to everyone!
It grows late . . . long story short I told the council of our journey south, of Rowyn, of con man Conrad, of the cultists in Fort Blackwell, the Scarlet Brotherhood blockade, the destruction of Fort Greenrock, our battle and destruction of Journey’s End, briefly of our struggles on the Isle of Dread, and the impending threat of the Crimson fleet. I then introduced Kale and explained that he’d sworn an oath to protecting and serving the City of Sasserine. Kale then made his pledge in front of them. The council then asked for us to leave so they could discuss things. I returned home. I had a late supper and then it was off to bed.
Tomorrow I build again,
Cthulhu Dreams
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I always liked great uncle Worrin :D Tristan should feel ashamed of the way that she treated him on her return. How much of that is actual role play and how much is "diary only"? It makes me wonder if Tristan wil be bringiing any of her impresionable Lidu cousins back to the Isle of Dread with her (much to the chagrin of poor Worrin).
I also love the pink swords (which I'm guessing is something you took the opportunity to fabricate just for James' player ;) ) I hope he likes them.
Quick reminder: Contest ends at midnight tomorrow.
Ok, time to pick up the pace! :)
But seriously, in our game we have somehow passed up your Journal entries. We just finished defending Farshore, so we're not too far ahead.
I am eager to read how well Miss Lidu and company handled this test.
Did your contest yield a winner?
Cheers!
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Thanks guys! And congrats to you as well. I'll bee looking for everyone during the raid!
I won't give anything away, but now that I know some of Guy's plans, I have to say that I'm just giddy with excitement. <stifles maniacal laughter> Now I just have to contain myself until the special installment comes out.
Congratulations too, Chimpman. Maelferr is nicely evil-sounding, quite close to "mal faire" which could loosely be translated from french to "do bad" or even better, "do evil" (OK, you don't care, my bad). :)
Oh and thanks to you Guy for the cameo role. If possible, I would take the furry one. An olman named "smarnil" would be strange indeed. FYI, "le couard" means "the coward" by the way.
Happy anniversary, and may you stille find inspiration and joy in gaming in the years to come (or something like that).
-smarnil
Whoa - 15th level and they've only reached the end of Tides of Dread ... yoiks!
We left for Farshore early that morning. The sun seemed to jump into the sky as we instantly moved further east. In less than a minute we were back in Farshore. Those seemingly endless hours of study now felt completely worth the sacrifice. Now that I had the awesome power to teleport I could travel almost anywhere in the world. I couldn’t help but glance up at Oerth’s moons Celene and Luna in the early morning light and wonder if one day I might walk on their faces.
We arrived in time for breakfast. I was anxious to see if I could find a seat next to Lavinia to talk about my plans and her run for office . . . but James caught me before I could find my way into the dining room.
“Did you find me some swords?” he asked, like a kid anxious for a new toy, “magical swords like I asked?”
“Yes,” I said, trying to step past him, “two magical broad swords like you asked, and they’re even part of a matched set.”
“Can I see them?” James asked, and I knew I wasn’t going to get by him until I dug his new swords out of my haversack.
Grumbling I pulled off my backpack and pulled out the two pink swords for him to look at, I watched as disappointment quickly registered, and I cocked an eyebrow as he looked up at me . . . just daring him to complain. He glanced up at me, as if to say something, but then he caught the look on my face and he quickly flashed that crooked smile that I suppose he fancies woman like.
“Thank you Tristan,” he said, quickly focusing back on the swords, “they look like high quality weapons,” he wisely said, “I think I could wrap something around those scabbards and hilts.”
I quickly pushed past James and into the dining room only to discover that I was already too late. Fredrick had chosen to sit to Lavinia’s left and Telda sat to her right. Telda was an old family friend, and unless I misjudged her, probably thought of Lavinia as a daughter. I couldn’t help but wonder what Fredrick was up to though. I glared at him as I sat down but he seemed oblivious.
“Tristan,” Lavinia the moment she realized that we’d returned, for a moment I thought she might rise to greet us, but by the time she’d spotted us I’d already sat down, and standing again for a proper greeting would seem awkward. “You’ve returned! I trust this means your magic didn’t fail you?”
“Nope,” Kiki said, “she’s a real valuable member of the team now. She can get us back to Sasserine whenever we want. Too bad it takes a day to do a round trip. We could make money off of this somehow . . . Kiki’s delivery service or something . . .”
“Well I’m glad your trip was a success,” Lavinia said with a smile, “we’ll need whatever supplies you can bring from Sasserine. We’re dangerously short on metal supplies amongst other things.”
“We can guarantee overnight delivery,” Kiki said, “Trust Kiki’s delivery service when it absolutely has to be there overnight.”
“Perhaps you should fill your friends in on last night’s news,” Telda said, “They’ll want to hear this I’m sure.”
“Right you are,” Lavinia said looking to me with a wink, “Last night the council had an emergency meeting, it seems that the members are tired of the bickering and uncertainty that having no clear leader is causing. Manthalay has been the de facto leader of Farshore sense my parents returned to Sasserine for supplies, and he’s been a competent leader thus far, but with attacks looming and my return there is some question as to who should lead the town as we face our greatest challenge yet. The town has decided that there needs to be an election. In a few short weeks the town must choose between Manthalay and me.”
“This is why I’m here,” Telda said, “to discuss campaign politics, your companion Fredrick here has already offered his services.”
“Why the wait?” Kale asked, “If the town is so desperate for a new leader why not hold the election now?”
“An election right now would favor Manthalay,” Telda said, “he hasn’t exactly endeared himself to the townsfolk, but in times of war most people prefer to go with the devil they know rather than the one they don’t. Lavinia needs all the time she can get to show the people of Farshore who she really is. Manthalay will naturally use this time to try and lock up the election. There are many in town who’re still loyal to the Vanderboren name but it’s going to be an uphill battle. The good news is that most of the people in town seem undecided and that means that Manthalay isn’t as strong a leader as he thinks he is, but he has shown himself to be a formidable warrior and when he needs to be he can be quite authoritarian, and with war looming that will make him an attractive candidate. Lavinia is very much like her mother, smart and strong, but sadly Lavinia doesn’t have a husband to lean on. They’ll want to see a strong war leader . . .” I didn’t like the way she was looking towards the men at the table . . . like she was planning on hooking Lavinia up with one of them for the election.
“Absolutely not!” I heard myself saying, “Lavinia will win on her own merits. She doesn’t need to lean on anyone. In case the people of Farshore missed it, Lavinia Vanderboren wasn’t hiding in her mansion when the pirates attacked! She was out in the town fending the fiends off. The very idea that she’d make a weaker war leader then Manthalay is preposterous.”
“Besides,” Kale was saying, “I think that we and the Jade Ravens bring more to the table then Manthalay ever could, and we work for Lavinia .”
“About that,” Telda said, “Manthalay want the election to be secret ballet. He thinks otherwise there might be some intimidation.”
“We would never . . .” Kale retorted.
“But that’s not important,” Telda correctly pointed out, “by suggesting that you might do it, the people are left with the feeling that you might have. It makes people think that Lavinia may have hired ruthless mercenaries.”
“He just trying to score as many points as he can before the election starts,” Fredrick said with a shrug, “to make us all look like cold blooded mercenaries. He wants as much of an advantage as he can, but no matter, he’s got a soft underside that we can exploit as well. His families got a rather bleak and unsavory reputation, and with Avner here I’m sure we’ll find a way to use that to our advantage . . .”
“Avner can be remarkably charming when he needs to be,” I reminded Fredrick.
“But given time . . .“ Fredrick tried to say.
“We might not have time,” I reminded Fredrick, “we have people to meet and places to be, besides, unless Manthalay is a complete dullard, he’s going to keep Avner’s exposure to the general public to a minimum.”
“We need to let the people know Lavinia then,” Fredrick said with a shrug, “I know some are already in her camp because they support her family,” Fredrich said with a nod towards Telda, “and I believe that others are just opposed to Manthalay, but as to the rest . . .”
“Those are the people we need to win over,” Telda said with a nod.
“Then how shall we proceed?” Lavinia asked, her face told me that she already had a plan, but was waiting to hear the other’s council.
“You need to show how you’re different from Manthalay,” Telda said, “I’m sure many of the people here think all nobles are alike.”
“A plan,” Fredrick offered, “something long range, and not just for war. People like to see planning and ideas.”
“People also like presents,” Kiki said, “and beer, if you give away enough stuff . . .”
“We’re not bribing the populous!” I snapped. Kale clearly shared my sentiments.
“I don’t quite get this politics stuff,” James said, “I suppose the next thing you’re going to say is that we can’t just drive the Meravanchi’s out of town.”
I glared at him.
“Fine,” he said with a dismissive wave, “if you want to fight fair and everything.”
“Manthalay won’t fight fair though,” Fredrick reminded everyone, “and any slight or underhanded tactic he’ll likely try to exploit and amplify to look the victim.”
“What’s your point Fredrick?” I asked.
He shrugged, “I just thought I’d remind everyone who we’re dealing with.”
“So what do we do when we’re not here then?” Kale asked, “I’m going to bet that that’s when the snake will make his move.”
“That we can’t do anything about . . .” I started to say, then I remembered that we still had allies in town, “but I think we could get some people to run interference and hopefully on the Meravanchi campaign.”
“Who?” Kiki asked.
“I’ll give you a hint,” I said, “she’s about 5’ and knows more cuss words then you average three fingered mill worker.”
“Amella?” Kiki laughed, “What’s she gona do?”
“She’ll take Avner strait out of the equation.”
“She’ll kill him,” James said, “I mean literally. You leave her to deal with Avner and she’ll have her hands around his throat and his skull bouncing off the cobble like a monkey trying to open a coconut. And here I thought you didn’t want any violence.”
“She’s far more disciplined then you give her credit,” I said, “she’s very crafty and subtle. I think all she needs to do is counter Avner, perhaps with her around rattling his cage he’ll show his true colors, and if not, she’ll at least hinder his efforts. That leaves Manthalay, and I know Lavinia can hand him all on her own . . .”
“All right then,” Lavinia said with a hint of a blush on her cheeks, “I think we’ve made excellent progress this morning, let’s all have a bite to eat and get to work. Telda, could you stay after breakfast so I can run some of my ideas by you?”
“Of course,” Telda said.
“Fredrick would you mind stopping by for lunch,” she asked, “I’d like to discuss my campaign strategy with you.”
“Of course,” Fredrick said.
“And Tristan,” Lavinia said looking to me, “could I show some of your drawings around? I know some of them are still in the rough stages, but I’m amazed at the ideas, and I think others will be as well. I want to build everything you’ve designed. I want your vision of Farshore to be part of my vision.”
“I’d be honored.” It was all I could think to say.
There was little else to report for the morning sadly. I over saw the foundation of the second base and watched with pride the timber walls were added to the first little structure giving it shape. That would eventually be the winch house. One day I hoped it would be made of stone, rise over fifty feet, and house a great burning lantern that would light the narrow harbor in storms and darkness, but for now I was happy to see wooden walls that would shield defenders as well as the winch.
For lunch I joined Lavinia and Fredrick. They were quite busy discussing politics, and although I’d have loved to have joined them, I decided to best to hold off and let Fredrick advise her. He was the expert.
I decided to check in on Churtle in the afternoon. She was busy sharpening bamboo shoots that some of the villagers had brought her.
“What are these for?” I asked Churtle, sitting down beside her and aiding her however I could, “These don’t really look like they’d kill anyone.”
“They’ll goes through thin boots,” Churtle churped, “and rips up bare feet real good.”
“Are you poisoning them?” I asked.
“Why?” Churtle asked, looking momentarily confused, “you thinks I should? This be real simple trap. Its designed to stops a charge. Nobody wants to run up a beach with these in the sand! It gives snipers slower targets to hit. Poison makes them sick but it takes a powerful poison to kills them. Better to use arrows then poison. Faster and simpler, sids, might take longer to brew enough to coats the sticks then it would to build the traps.”
“Makes sense,” I said, “you got anything else planed?”
“Yep,” Churtle said with a toothy grin, “these pirates will be very sorry they try to attack this town.”
“Are you going to share anything more?”
“Nope,” She said with another grin, “the boss will have to wait like everyone else.”
I spent the better part of the afternoon drawing. It felt strange to have so much free time. I tried to put my energy into something constructive, like drawing up towers and gates, but for the most part all I did was draw submarines and flying machines, and castles in the sky. My submarine saw a few improvements, namely a manual air circulation system that could, in theory, extend the breathing air for another hour or so. When the thoughts of circulating air struck me I imagined an air ship, made out of Wee Jas only knows what, that would be able to take air, heat it, and then rise and propel itself with the newly created hot air. Then I thought of Ruja, the island that was really only accessible via magic or flying machines, and I imagines a fabulous castle that I could construct there that would appear to cling to the very cliff face. Building anything on Ruja would require cranes and lifts that (to my knowledge) didn’t exist anywhere in the world. It would be very much like building in the sky.
At supper I gave Lavinia some of my drawings (only the practical ones) but she was very busy looking over reports and expenses, so we really couldn’t spend much time chatting. Tomorrow we’ll need to return to Sasserine, there was still tons of Supplies Farshore needed, and traveling such a distance was very taxing.
Tomorrow I return to Sasserine,
Cthulhu dreams.
Fragments of the Lidu Diaries: Trip to the Olman village
. . .
I visited the Witchwardens shortly after arriving. The great tower, an easy landmark for the great city, now was a new source of knowledge and magic for me. It still didn’t feel like my library or my school like the House of the Dragon did, but I was quickly becoming accustomed to the layout and the social hierarchy, and unlike the house of the dragon where I was an alumni (just bellow teacher or trustee) here I was almost at the bottom of the barrel. Naturally I expected to enter, give my report to some anonymous black dagger and then be on my way, but it wasn’t meant to be. I was surprised to find that a few of the white daggers recognized me and I was quickly ushered into the upper levels of the tower, past the offices of the Black daggers, and into the very office of Lux Seoni. At the time I could only imagine that it was a slow day.
“Greating Mistress,” I said trying to contain my surprise at finding myself facing the stern commander of the Witchwardens with only my fourth visit to the tower.
“Hello young Lidu,” Miss Seoni said, her voice was calm but as sharp a blade, and her gaze was, as ever, very unsettling. I couldn’t really guess her mood. “Guess what I did this morning.” She asked.
“I couldn’t possibly . . .”
“I was reading over the notes from the emergency meeting of the Dawn Council that took place two days ago,” she was definitely angry, “imagine my surprise when I was told of the potential threats to the security of Sasserine . . .”
“That’s why I came . . .”
“Then imagine my further surprise when I was told that this report was given by a certain Tristan Lidu . . .”
“I’m sorry but . . .”
“Oh no, I said, there must be some mistake, I’ve heard nothing of this report and this Tristan Lidu works for the Witchwardens. Then I demanded to know who lost our copy of your report,” she laughed (only not really, the sound was more akin to barking and there was certainly no mirth in the sound), “so tell me young Lidu, where do you suppose my report is?”
“I wanted to give you my report in person,” I said, “and you must know by now Farshore is in dire straits, and so . . .”
“And so,” she snapped, “Damn it initiate! You have a duty to report to us first! This duty to dawn council is all well and good, but two days means nothing to them, they might spend two days talking about a cat bylaw, but two days could be an entirety to us! I could have had people investigating by now! Perhaps you don’t understand how serious this is? Have you ever heard of a cult called the Wizards of the Hopping Prophet? They’re a sinister little group that’s bent on reaping chaos and destruction where ever they go. They worship slaadi you see and we thought they might be operating somewhere in the jungles to the south. But then I read your report. Now we think that they might have been in Cauldron as well as Fort Blackwell? I believe that this Horst character was carrying something important, we came close to uncovering one of their cells a few months back and I figure we might have spooked them . . . now I know the trails gone cold, and I realize that you have other allegiances and responsibilities, but you swore an oath to protect Sasserine and you can’t do that if you put everything else first!”
“I’m sorry,” I growled, trying to keep the emotion out of my voice, and not at all liking being reprimand for something I had little control over, “I guess maybe you should have followed your initial instincts and not offered me a position in your precious organization after all.”
“Oh I just knew that deal was going to come back and bite us in the rear,” she muttered, but her eyes quickly focused on me again, and they seemed alight with fire, “you want to quit? Just because I’m chewing you out for not doing your job? All right, go ahead and quit then, I have no use for quitters, and you’d be doing the wardens a favor as well because to fight the enemies of Sasserine we need casters with spine and guts. It takes more than some vague understanding of the craft to succeed here. You may have been the wonder child at the House of the Dragon but that means squat here. Here your judge by your actions rather than your talent. You can’t take that? Then quit and run home to your mommy and daddy, some said we should never have accepted someone so young, and I guess perhaps they were right.”
I felt tears in the corners of my eyes but I held my tongue . . . I didn’t think she had any right to speak to me that way.
“But if you figure yourself worthy of standing in this tower,” she continued, “or if you fancy proving these doubters wrong, then you better just shut that mouth of yours and listen up. I don’t take time out of my day to yell at just anyone.”
I met her gaze but wisely said nothing.
“Good,” Lux said, nodding with approval at my silence, “you’re a promising young mage, perhaps the brightest and best applicant we’ve had in recent memory . . . despite your youth, but this is a military organization, and you had bloody well learn your place in it but fast! You’re an initiate and that means that everyone is your superior! That lamp over there can give your orders if it wants. Right now, by the book, you shouldn’t even be allowed out of the tower unescorted. You should report everything you find to a white dagger. They’re qualified to tell if it’s important or not. You hop when we say hop and jump when we say jump. You got that?”
“Yes Ma’am,” I said bowing my head just enough to show deference . . . and not one fraction of an inch more.
“Good, sit down,” she said pointing to a chair near her desk, “we got lots to talk about.”
“What about,” I asked, sitting down, “I thought my report to the Dawn Council . . .”
“Was very detailed?” Lux said, finishing my sentence, “it was. Mind numbingly detailed. You sure like to talk don’t you? No, it’s not about that, it’s about this black pearl business. I’ve been looking over some of these reports and what I see here is as fascinating as it is disturbing. Your accounts of the savage creatures was truly disturbing and the pearl itself still radiated of transmutation magic as well as the hint of chaotic and evil taints . . . this was well over a week after you reported it being set off. I suspect that it may have been on a power level equal to that of any lesser artifact I’ve ever handled. Sadly whatever magic it once possessed is gone now, and the fragments you delivered are, by all tests we’ve tried, completely mundane. There is little more we can learn from the fragments you left us however. Our research continues though, in our own library, and in the House of the Dragon. I understand that you enjoyed research when you were in school, professor Talbit says you were very concise, and when you’re finished with your business in Farshore I’d like for you to join our research team.”
I was shocked. Lux certainly didn’t believe in mincing words. I was taken aback by some of the details about the pearl, although I was hardly surprised at the items power after witnessing the devastation, but the invitation to be part of a research team was a great honor. I was a little surprised that the Old Dog (professor Talbit) and Lux were friends however.
“I didn’t know you and Professor Talbit know each other,” I found myself saying.
“We don’t,” Lux said, “but I spoke to all your teachers, they seem to think you’re the genuine article.”
My surprise must have registered on my face because she continued.
“I don’t do that for all of my applicants, but when you’re going to offer a personal invitation I damn well want to be sure that I’m not making a mistake. I’m sure you have a lot to deal with so I won’t ask for a decision now, but seeing as you were the one responsible for bring this pearl to our attention, and seeing as your notes are what we’re basing our research on, I think it’s only fitting that you should be part of the team looking into it.
“Now,” she said looking over some papers on her desk, “a few weeks ago I’d thought to offer you a promotion, your new mastery of magic along with this black pearl business made me and some of the black daggers think that you should receive a white dagger, but I could hardly summon you too my offices to chew you out then offer a promotion now could I? You keep your nose to the grind stone, make some regular reports, perhaps some donations of magic or knowledge, and in another month’s time I can arrange a promotion without appearing soft.”
“Excuse me Ma’am,” I said nervous of interrupting the powerful mage, “a promotion is all well and good, but I’m afraid I’ll be terribly busy for the next two months getting Farshore ready to fend off the crimson fleet to be terribly concerned about advancement. Farshore is in pretty rough shape. I am honored though! Especially about the prospect of research, to be honest when I left the pearl fragments I was worried about the lack of concern the black dagger I left it with seemed to show, and I feared that I’d need to look into it on my own at some point. Knowing that people are taking this threat seriously is a big relief and I’d very much like to take part in this endive. As for now though, I have a few more errands I’d like to run but I was wondering, because you’re the mistress of this tower, and because I’ve had no luck asking with anyone else, I was wondering if you could tell me where Lord Theodran is? I’d love to ask him some more questions.”
Lux began writing on the papers in front of her. She didn’t appear particularly pleased at being interrupted but she didn’t snap back at me either. I suspect that the great Lux Seoni has a temper that runs both hot and cold, and not having her immediately snap at me wasn’t necessarily a good thing, but when I asked about Theodran her expression changed for a moment. It was gone in an instant, whatever it was she did her best to hide it, and she placed her pen down and looked up at me.
“He’s gone,” she simply said, “for how long I’m not sure, but he does that sort of thing all the time. I don’t think he’s ever been in Sasserine for more than a year if you add up all the time he’s spent here in the eighteen years that I’ve known him together. Who knows when he’ll be back, or for how long, to be honest I’m surprised that he stayed long enough . . .” she stopped herself, and she seemed to roll something over in her head, “no matter,” she continued, “I hope you didn’t join our order solely to consult with him.”
“No, not entirely,” I said trying to hide my disappointment, “although gaining access to his brain was a major selling point.”
“Yes, well he is the city’s top expert when he’s here, but he’s always been predictably sporadic. Sorry to disappoint you. Now, seeing as I no longer have any use for you . . . go about your business, you’re dismissed.”
. . .
Amella was saying at the town’s only bar/ inn called ‘The Last Coconut’, I’d never visited the place until now, but then again I’ve never been much of a heavy drinker. Kiki, on the other hand, was well acquainted with the place.
It was a nice enough inn, sparsely decorated, and modestly furnished, but I didn’t see Amella in the common area/bar. I knew her room was somewhere upstairs but I never made it past the bar to investigate.
“Brent?” I asked in amazement.
“Oh hello Tristan,” the former Renkrue brew master said without the slightest hint of surprise, “I was wondering when you’d be stopping buy.”
“What are you doing here?” I asked dumbfounded.
“Serving drinks,” he said without skipping a beat, “what can I get you?”
“No, I mean, how did you get here?” I stammered, “I thought we left you on Renkrue . . .”
“Oh yes, that,” he said looking a bit embarrassed, and suddenly feeling the need to explain, “I’ve spent most of my life on that island you know. It’s a beautiful, the food was wonderful, and it’s very, very peaceful, but I wanted a little adventure. I didn’t want to be the village brew master forever, I didn’t want to spend my entire life as the lone white face in that sea of black, and I wanted to get out and explore, and so, when you ships were taking on some last minute supplies I stowed away.”
“Why not try to go home? To where you were born? We couldn’t have been the only ships stopping off on Renkrue.”
“The first two in eighteen months,” he said.
“But you must have heard where we were going? Who in their right mind wants to go to the isle of dread?” I was vaguely aware of some of the bar patrons were staring at me, “no offence,” I quickly added to placate them, “Vote Lavinia.”
“Of course I knew were you were headed,” he said with a laugh, “It was mentioned on many occasions, but a place like this has great potential, and while I was well liked on Renkrue here I have the potential to settle down and build a family. Right now this place is serving some powerful moonshine, not terribly flavorful though, in a month’s time my new and improved batch will be ready and I suspect that I’ll quickly earn my keep.”
“How did Lavinia react when she found out she had a stowaway I wonder?”
“Don’t really know,” Brent confessed, “but the rest of the crew was certainly upset, I must say that I didn’t enjoy the trip over very much, but after the storms, monsters, and pirates this place doesn’t seem so bad . . .”
“Tristan,” Amella called down from the balcony railing, “are you here for a drink?”
“I’m here to see you actually,” I said looking up at her, “but if you want a drink I’ll join you.”
Amella climbed down the stairs to join me, “This stuff will strip the varnish off a mast or leach the tar right out of a seam. We’ll have two glasses there Brent.”
“I need to talk to you in private,” I said holding the clearish glass of liquid up to the light, “it was nice meeting you again Brent, but you’ll have to excuse us for some official business.”
“No problem,” Brent said as he collected our coins, “I’ll be here if you need me.”
We took our ‘drinks’ to a private side of the common room. It wasn’t quite supper time yet and the bar was practically deserted. I sniffed the liquid quickly and almost gasped. Someone could get drunk on the fumes alone! I glanced around to ensure that we were nowhere near any open flames.
“Powerful right?” Amella laughed, “they have to serve this stuff in glass otherwise it eats through the clay.” She took a sip and grimaced as the nasty stuff burned its way down to her belly, “I’d water it down but that doesn’t seem to help, it just seems to stretch the bloody stuff out. Now what did you want to talk about?”
“Two things actually,” I said, taking my first sip of the foul stuff. I spent the next minute or so coughing. It was like drinking fire. Amella was smiling broadly at me, no doubt taking some sadistic pleasure in seeing her young inexperienced companion struggle with her liquor, but I chose to ignore her bemusement. I had business to discuss and I didn’t want any childish drinking contests to get in the way my real reasons for coming here. “Lavinia needs a captain to sail the Blue Nixie back to Sasserine, and we need someone to run interference on Avner while we’re away,” I gasped, “and I thought of you.”
Amella smiled, then frowned, and looked me in the eyes, “what do you mean by running interference?” She asked, “I don’t want to get involved in politics.”
“There’s no choice,” I said pushing my glass away (I had no intentions of drinking anymore), “as you may have seen, Avner is campaigning for his uncle, and we’re heading north to find allies, supplies, and to strengthen Farshore. We can’t be here to stop any rumors or lies he might spread. We need someone to counter Avner, or at the very least, we need someone to report his exploits to the villagers. These Meravanchi don’t play fair, and we need all the help we can get!”
“Weren’t you the one who warned me not to piss off the nobles back in Sasserine?” she asked, sliding my glass back in front of me.
“Yes, well,” I said eyeing the glass like it contained poison, “that was before I knew you were a truly competent captain, before you proved your skill by sailing us to the Isle of Dread, and most importantly, that was back in Sasserine. That’s where the Meravanchi have some influence. Here, in the middle of nowhere, a noble is only worth what she can bring to her people. Lavinia wants to employ your services, so you have a secure job, but if Lavinia is ousted out of her birthright by these Meravanchi fops I think it’s unlikely that she’d stay.” I took another, much smaller sip of the rotgut . . . I didn’t cough quite as hard this time.
Amella took a sip as well and seemed to think for a moment, “How do I know that Manthalay can’t find work for me? Why should I get dragged into this and take sides?”
“He doesn’t have a boat for starters,” I said, but I could understand her fears, “Look Amella, you and James are the only two captains on this island after what happened to Lavinia’s captain. The fact of the matter is that if you want the job you probably already have it, but I’m asking you as a friend to . . .”
“Then I’ll do it,” she said, cutting me off.
“What?” I stammered.
“That’s all you had to say,” Amella shrugged, “ask me as a friend. You nobles and your talk, and you especially, you talk and talk and talk, like you’re going to think up a logical reason for me to throw my lot in with Lavinia, not that I don’t like the girl, she’s a good match for you, but you know as well as I do that choosing sides in these political disputes is reckless and often pointless. Most of the time folk like me have more to lose then to gain. It’s like leaving harbor in a storm. It doesn’t matter what you’re transporting, people just want their goods on time preferably, but most know it’s better late than never. Risking your neck in a storm doesn’t help you any, especially when it’s just as likely to get you sunk. The only reason I’d ever risk my neck in a storm is to save a friend, and even though it’s still hardly sensible, friendship is something I’m willing to risk my neck for. So what is it exactly you want me to do?”
“Well it’s just like I said; we need someone to foil Avner’s attempts at persuading people until we can finish with our missions.”
“But what exactly do you want me to do,” Amella said, “let’s get very specific here, also let’s have some drinks. You and I haven’t really celebrated our safe arrival at Farshore yet.”
I glanced down at my glass; it looked as full as it did when Brent poured it, perhaps it seemed that there was more . . .
“Drinks?” I muttered, “I don’t think I’m going to finish this one.”
“Don’t be such a wet blanket all the time Tristan,” Amella scolded, “if I’m going to risk my neck for your friend Lavinia the least you could do is have a few drinks with me.”
“Fair enough,” I said looking at the horrid stuff, “but if I go blind I’m holding you responsible.”
. . .
It was dark when I came too. At first I didn’t know where I was. I rolled over and sat up. I found myself on the small couch in Lavinia’s study. My head was still pounding from the rotgut, ‘please oh please,’ I thought, ‘don’t let me have embarrassed myself, especially not in front of Lavinia . . .’
“Oh good,” Lavinia said from the other side of the study, “you’re awake.”
I glanced over at her chair, she was looking at me in the starlight, but I could only make out her silhouette, and her face was concealed. It was funny that I hadn’t initially seen her there.
“What are you doing sitting in the dark?” I asked, “I didn’t embarrass myself did I?” I quickly added.
“Not too much,” Lavinia said with a chuckle, “How much do you remember?”
“I . . .” I was suddenly drawing a blank, my mind ran over the afternoon’s events. Then things came back to me in flashes. I remembered meeting with Amella, drinking, meeting with some of my work crew, drinking; having Kiki, James, and Orlani joining us, drinking, stumbling outside to throw up, drinking, and then Amella walking me back to Lavinia’s place. I remembered bits and pieces. Lavinia had helped me to the couch . . . and I’d asked her why she’d never married . . . and then . . .
“I don’t remember anything,” I lied, “it’s a complete blank.”
“That’s probably for the best,” Lavinia said, and even in the darkness I could hear the tears in her voice, “here, let me help you to your room.”
. . .
“It’s too bad that you couldn’t use your original plans,” Lavinia said as she looked over my revisions, “If that chain had of worked we could have prevented enemy ships from getting close enough to use their siege weapons on the town.”
“Yes,” I sighed, “but there’s just not enough chain in Sasserine right now, and the winch would need to be made of solid iron or steel to support the weight. The artificial sand bars will still do the trick and we can better corral them into Churtle’s traps this way. It’s far from what I originally planned but I think it’s best to keep things simple.”
“You’re patrol routes are going to be very useful as well,” she said, “barring any fog or complete darkness I don’t see how these monsters are going to get into our harbor without us knowing.”
I smiled. My head still hurt from last night but I was glad for the pain, it would serve as a penitence for my foolishness, and as a reminder not to drink again. Thankfully Lavinia had wisely chosen to pretend that last night had never happened. She had enough on her mind without me to think about.
“Did I tell you that Amella is going to assist in our campaign?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said with a slight smile, “more than a few times.”
“Sorry,” I muttered.
“No,” she said looking away, “we make a good team, you know as well as I do what we need to do to win. I think that . . . we . . .”
“I’ll be leaving for the Oman villages tomorrow,” I quickly added, “we’ll be gone for maybe a month, but probably not two months straight. With my new understanding of transportation you’ll likely have us popping in unannounced every now and then. Not that I have any doubt that you can handle things here, but we all need someone to lean on from time to time.”
I needed to leave things unsaid. What had happened last night was a mistake brought on by alcohol. Lavinia would need time to think. I didn’t want my stupidity to cause her any embarrassment. It would break my heart but I would forget everything that happened last night . . . I had work to do, and a village to save. There was no time for fantasy now.
. . .
I must admit that the Omans know how to preserve things. The bar-lqura head looked as lifelike as when I carved it off it off the filthy animal’s shoulders. Everything, including that cruel sneer, had been preserved, but what really struck me were the eyes. Maybe they were glass, maybe they were stone, but those eyes looked completely lifelike. They seemed to glimmer in the sun with a cold calculating alien astuteness. The others (especially Kale) were notably less thrilled with my new trophy then I was, but what did they know? I’d been in homes were dead animals hung on the floor and walls, and here I had something that deserved to be dead, and they wanted to throw it out? It was madness.
I was pleased to find that the jaw still somehow kept some of its articulation. I was able to open its mouth about half an inch, perhaps when I returned home I could store pens or something in there, but mainly I was pleased that I could still use the head as a plaything. I rather liked using the damn dirty ape’s head as a toy to amuse others. It seemed a fitting end to such a cruel and evil beast.
. . .
The oman remain quite hospitable. Each and every chief receives us and listens to our tails with concern and sympathy, but in each village and tribe the answer is always the same, without the approval of Tanaroa they will not send aide. Thankfully tomorrow, after four days of hiking, we’ll finally get to sit down and meet with the chief of the respected village. I only hope that we can convince the tribe to send badly needed people and supplies. We’ve met and talked with these people before on our way to Farshore, they seemed impressed with our demon saying abilities, and now I hope we can capitalize on this rapport.
Time will only tell,
Cthulhu dreams
Sir Humual, your campaign journal I imagine will persist through until mid to late summer 2009 by the time it gets all posted up, long after many have wrapped up and concluded.
As always, looking forward to seeing Tristan's travails in her first (and last for a long time) encounter with a certain despicable Lemorian pervert...
If the others could see me I’m sure my smile would make them nervous. Despite the danger we faced today, now, with my new trinket, I just can’t stop smiling. I now have a way to guarantee Lavinia’s election. Manthalay has schemed the way to his own destruction.
We awoke to the sounds of drums. The sound was quiet at first, we were still miles from its source, but the sound was somewhat unsettling and the slow rhythmic pounding must have echoed for miles around. Our Oman hosts dropped what they were doing and started walking toward the sound.
“What’s going on?” I asked one of the farmers we’d been staying with.
“It is the call,” she said looking to the great wall in the distance, “we must go to the village. The priestess has summoned us.” I watched her walk off into the jungle, her family in tow. Around us we saw other Omans from the small farmstead doing the same thing.
“Do we follow?” Kiki asked.
“Not before breakfast,” I said glancing down at the fair that Churtle had prepared, “I don’t march on an empty stomach. Besides who knows when we might eat again.
“And,” I said lowering my voice so Kale or Buffy couldn’t hear, “if this is an Oman religious ceremony I’d like to delay for as long as I can and hopefully avoid the whole thing. Some of our group might not care for what they see.” Truth be told, I wasn’t anxious to see an Oman religious ceremony either, but I was willing to bet that I would be more open minded then ‘captain stick up the butt’. The Oman gods weren’t always kind or compassionate and it wasn’t hard to imagine Kale saying something intolerant and starting an incident.
We ate our breakfasts, packed up our things, and started walking. The drums not only grew louder as we approached but they also picked up in tempo. It seemed that the gathering was building towards something. Soon we could hear chanting from somewhere ahead. At first their words were to distant and muffled to make out, but as we got closer we soon realized that they were chanting the same name over and over: Zotzilaha – the Oman god of fire and blood.
We climbed the last of the slope, freed ourselves from the constant jungle canopy, and soon found ourselves outside of the much revered village that lay in the shadow of the great wall. There we beheld a magnificently wicked spectacle: hundreds of Oman stood in a rough semi circle around the base of their great pyramid. They were all chanting. A few dozen others, dressed in paint and colored masks (and little else) danced in and out of the crowd and around the great bonfire that roared at the pyramid’s feet. The flames and sparks of the fire climbed high in the morning sky, the heat must have been incredible, but the horrible bat totem, which stood in the center of the flames, didn’t seem to be touched by the heat. All around us the drummers pounded out a maddening beat. Again I felt the crazy tempo seemed to be building towards something. I dreaded to know what, I knew these people were not above human sacrifice, but as I scanned the crowd to find the chief the ceremony culminated in an unexpected climax!
There was a great din and I turned, as so many others had, to the source of the sounds I was amazed to see sparks and blue flame shooting out from great bat idol. The screams of the crowd told me that this wasn’t the results they were looking for. Suddenly the great bat totem seemed to animate, then, through the flames, it seemed to take on an entirely fleshy form, complete with fur, flashing red eyes, and a horrible bat head. People dropped and cowered in fear. Its hairless bat wings began flapping as if it was flying sending embers and sparks from the flames everywhere.
“Zotzilaha hears your sniveling prayers!” The inhuman creature screeched in a voice that was almost completely bestial, “You would appease the Great Bat? Then return what has been stolen or burn!”
The effigy suddenly seemed to explode, bats (with wings of fire) erupted from the blast and streaked high into the morning sky, and, if this weren’t horrifying enough, to punctuate this incredible display two great mountains on the horizon rumbled and erupted with smoke and flame. The Bat God knows how to make a point. Naturally what followed was bedlam. Villagers ran for their lives. Thankfully being a pale and white outsider with strange clothing (including my gnarled wooden crown) meant that the Omans avoided me and the others like we were the devil. Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for those bats, who had by this time reached the apex of their flight they and now suddenly turned and streaked back down into the village!
Battle erupted around me, I sub-consciously summoned beasts to battle the fire bats, but my heart wasn’t really in this battle for mind was on other things. There was something about how that bat creature said “return what has been stolen”, for some reason I felt as though he was speaking directly to me, and I felt that the thing that had been stolen was the golden bat idol in my haversack. It seems absurd, that idol had been found miles away on another continent, but the feeling had been unquestionably strong. Perhaps the god had felt the thing missing and finally tracked down the culprits. I wondered if we were going to have to teleport back to Tamoachan to replace it. I knew I should have had Kiki return it then and there!
The little fire beasts proved to be annoyingly resilient, taking beating after beating and still rising up from the ashes (as it were), thankfully cold put them down for good. I’d have thought with the bats destroyed the locals would be crawling all over themselves to thank the heroes who saved their village but strangely most remained in hiding, and it was the village chief, the very woman that we’d come to meet, that approached us.
“Thank you for saving our village,” the proud and brave chieftain said, “our village is in your debt.”
“Nonsense,” I said, “we’re heroes! It’s what we do.”
“Yes, well,” Fredrick cut in, “perhaps this was for the best then, no one was harmed and we have need of aid in the village of Farshore.”
“We are not unaware of your problems,” the great woman said, “word of your problems has spread north, but unfortunately I cannot send aid while our village is in danger.”
“Then perhaps we can be of some help?” Fredrick asked.
“If you could find some way of appeasing the god and setting things right we’d gladly send whatever help we could spare.”
“No worries elder,” I said, “we’d do whatever we could anyways, because that’s what heroes do. Please tell us what has gone missing?”
The Chief looked at me slightly cockeyed as if trying to figure out what I was about, “There is but one item on the island that Zotzilaha could be speaking of,” she eventually said, “a golden idol, forged in his image, and placed in his temple many years ago by the ancients. There is nothing else that we know of.”
“Golden bat idol,” I said, suddenly fearing that my fears were true, and then something occurred to me, “wait, stolen from a temple here? On the Island of Dread?”
“We do not call our island by that name, but . . .”
“Wait,” Fredrick said, “describe this idol.”
“Let me do the talking here Fredrick,” I said before he could give too much information, “you translate for the others.”
“Why did he ask about the idol?” The ancient Oman asked
“We have a bat idol!” Kiki said in common as Fredrick quickly translated.
The old lady’s face grew dark, but thankfully I think quickly on my feet: “We fought some pirates on the way over here!” I pretended to remember, “I’m sure that idol was in our possession after we dealt with those fiends.”
The chief seemed to consider my words as Fredrick translated.
“No,” Kiki said, “it was before then! Remember when we went to those Oman ruins . . .”
“Oh yes,” I grumbled in common, “Thank you Kiki, how careless of me.”
I wondered if Kiki remembered stealing the thing as well? I needed to think of something fast, the chief was looking at me with a suspicious look, and Kiki was libel to blab something incriminating. The only thing that came to mind was my journal.
“Well I know,” I said with a forced laugh, “I’ll just check my journal. I record all of our exploits in here. Give me a moment . . .” I pretended to look through the pages, perhaps there was some mistake, and perhaps there was another idol on the island . . . if the idol had once been here and was stolen what was it doing so many miles away? How did it get there? I remembered that there were two creatures in those chambers behind that iron wall: a varrangoin and a will-o-wisp, and of the two only the varrangoin was capable of lifting and transporting the heavey golden idol. But why those ruins? It didn’t make add up, the demon had clearly been trapped, it was practically mad with hunger by the time we found it, and it clearly it had no reason to take the idol only to hide it in some unknown ruin so many miles away. Could there have been another reason? Perhaps the demon was working for someone else? It seems a tad convenient that we, who were heading to the isle of dread, should stumble across this idol, which we would later need, in the ruins of some forgotten city. The only way they could have known we were going there was if they’d talked to one of the crew . . .
“Oh yes,” I said, absently realizing that I’d turned to the page I needed, ““Look what I found!” Kiki said holding up a golden bat statue,” I read aloud, mentally translating it from abyssal to common and then into Oman, “but it says here that Buffy thought it was a statue of Camazotz, thus you can understand my confusion.”
“Let me see your book,” the chief said, I handed it over so she could scan the pages, I only hopped that she didn’t look down on my writing for all the little doodles on the margins, “I can’t read this,” she snapped, “what language is this?”
“Oh, abyssal,” I said with a shrug, I’d reached such a mastery of the language that I often thought in abyssal, and it was easy to forget that it was a rare language on this plane of existence.
“Abyssal,” she said tossing my book back as if it could bite, “the language of demons?”
“Look,” I snapped, somewhat annoyed at the dismissal and treatment of my diary, “I don’t know where you think Zotzilaha comes from but it sure as heck isn’t the seven heavens! Sure, he and most of his servants speak Oman, but he and his denizens reside in the fiery spiral of the abyss, and they all speak abyssal as assuredly as elves speak elven and dwarves are hairy. If you don’t want to believe me that’s fine, but I’ve got no reason to want to anger a god, and I say Zotzilaha can speak Abyssal backwards and forwards and I don’t see him striking me down for speaking blasphemy.
“Now here’s the situation, we have a bat idol, perhaps even your bat idol, although what it would have been doing all those miles away in a completely abandoned and long forgotten ruin is besides me. Heck the place was probably emptied by grave robbers years before I was even born! But the fact is we have a bat idol, something that might appease your god, and we’re even willing to drop it off in this temple for you, plus we’re not even asking anything in return, you need help and that’s what we heroes do: we help people! But we don’t know where this temple is and our time is short and I’m guessing this god isn’t going to give us much more time . . .” I said waving at the two volcanoes, “even though we’ve had this idol for almost two months now . . .” I sighed, sometime being a hero is complicated, “give us a guide and we’ll leave straight away.”
The chief seemed to consider my words. By now some of the villagers found the courage to return to the town center and had heard some of my words. I could hear the soft murmurings of discussions spreading through the crowd. I pulled out the ape head while the chief contemplated her decision. I loved the glint those glass eyes had . . . almost a look of intelligence.
“Chief,” said a young warrior near the fire, “let me go. I’ll show the outsiders to the mouth of the temple.”
“Are you sure Carborundum?” the elder asked, “Zotzilaha might not like outsiders in his temple.”
The lad swallowed hard, but raised his head and cried: “I am not afraid chief, send me!”
“So be it then,” the woman said, “the fate of the village lies in your hands.”
Strangely she seemed to speak to the lad more than us.
We walked down to the beach and boarded a large boat. It was a strange sail boat, like two canoes joined together with wooden poles, and a triangle sail between the two hulls. We sailed for many, many more miles before lunch, and amazingly the wind seemed to be with us. We crossed perhaps as much as twenty miles in three hours and I could only marvel at the speed and agility of this primitive boat. I glanced at the horizon I couldn’t help but notice that the great volcanoes were getting closer. I knew the bat god was also a fire god and I was getting a sinking suspicion that we were going to get a closer look at the fire aspect.
“Where are we going Carborundum?” I asked the young warrior.
“You’ll see,” he said with a smile.
“We’re not going there are we?” I asked pointing at the volcanoes.
“We?” he asked, “I’m not going inside, that’s the job of heroes, I’m just going to show you the way.”
Did I detect a slight sneering tone to his voice? Was he mocking me?
“No matter,” I said out loud, “volcano or no volcano, bat god or no bat god, we have a job to do, and a woman I care very much about is depending on me. I’d go to the very abyss for her if I had to. A little molten rock isn’t going to slow me down.”
The lad cocked an eyebrow at that but said nothing else.
We crossed the bay and dragged the boat far up the beach. There we found a great set of stairs carved into the cliff face and my belly told me that we were near supper time by the time we reached the top and started pushing through the jungle. I half expected to break through the jungle at any moment to find ourselves at the feet of those fire beaching giants but thankfully it wasn’t meant to be, we did eventually break through the jungle, but we found ourselves on the edge of a great fissure, and in the distance I spotted more stairs carved into the stone. We descended deep into ground, far below any place the sun could reach, and yet the deeper we climbed the hotter it got. It felt like a furnace. Finally at the bottom, in the dark heat near the centre of the earth, our guide pointed out a hole carved into the very living rock.
“We need to go into there?” I asked.
“What you mean ‘we’ white one?” He said looking me over, “I’m staying here . . . till sunrise, then I’m going home. This is the temple doors, just follow the path down . . . oh and try not to die from the heat. I guess that’s a very real possibility here.”
There was some grumbling but we all eventually made our way into the tunnel. It was hot. Unimaginably hot. I could only describe it as being outside on the hottest day you’d ever experienced (one of those days were the wind is just blowing hot air), putting on a winter jacket, and then standing next to a fire. It was the kind of heat that makes people delirious. It seemed the deeper we traveled the hotter it got. It was the kind of heat that people dropped dead in . . . and we were going deeper. Finally I got a glimpse of glowing rock and I thought “this is it, we’ve finally reached the very depths of hell”, but thankfully we’d also reached our destination.
“Hey,” Kale called out (he was bathed in the red glow given off my liquid stone), “I think we found the temple!”
We all rushed forward (or as quickly as our wilted bodies would allow). Somehow an ancient temple excised here near the depths of hell! Small niches were carved along the walls that held all manner of offerings. None of them looked particularly appetizing, trinkets, foods, and dead animals mainly, and some contained only ash - the contents having burnt to crisps years ago. The thing that caught the eye (and the thing that made this look like a temple) was the great bat statue that took up the opposite wall. It was a massive thing, at least fifteen feet tall and almost as wide, and its great wings stretched up to the ceiling with its claws forming and meeting at a curiously empty niche. I looked up at that hollow spot and immediately knew what I had to do! I cast fly.
Suddenly there was a great roar! That horrible monster that had made a brief cameo appearance at the village appeared out of nowhere with another colony of fire bats in tow. The creature didn’t talk. It didn’t threaten. It simply dove into the temple and breathed a horrible ungodly fire upon us. Thankfully Churtle and I were just out of range. Kiki and Orlani were able to dodge out of the way . . . but the others weren’t so lucky. Our warriors charged forward to engage the aspect of the bat god, and while it was distracted with them I saw my opportunity! I flew straight at the niche, pulling out the bat idol as I went, and sliding it into the gap with one fluid movement.
I turned to see if this act would have any effect on the fighting. It had been less a few seconds and already our team looked badly beaten, I had little doubt that if the creature pressed the attack here he’d make short work of my companions, but thankfully he disengaged without swinging another claw. His annoying bat companions joined him.
“Zotzilaha thanks you for returning his treasure,” the monster said in common, “Know, mortals, that Zotzilaha rewards those who serve him. You may each take something of value from his vault. If you have questions about a prize, you need but ask me. Choose quickly, for you must leave this place before I grow hungry . . .”
The wings of the great bat suddenly animated, lifting to reveal a hidden treasure room beyond, and its shelves were lined with magical and non-magical prizes of all sorts. Fredrick was the first one into the room and he immediately snatched up a leather scroll containing a strange looking tooth. Kiki found coins. James and Kale both went after a fancy looking breast plate, but James managed to win odd or even game to decide who gets it, and Kale was forced to settle with the amulet. Buffy found a magical pearl and I managed to grab the room’s only ring. Orlani grabbed a magical long sword (probably intending to sell it), and Churtle grabbed a rock. It was a magical rock, but a rock none the less, and I couldn’t help but feel that my Kobold friend had chosen poorly.
Then we discovered what our items did! These were no minor trinkets, I held in my hands a ring of invisibility, Orlani had found a legendary flame tongue, and Churtle held a luck stone! Almost everyone had managed to find something of extreme value, except perhaps Kiki and Fredrick, the former having chosen coins, and the later having chosen a tooth. The tooth was a curious item, undoubtedly magical, but strangely the aspect didn’t recognize it, and couldn’t tell Fredrick anything about it. Fredrick chose to keep it anyways. Perhaps I’d look into the item later.
With our items chosen we quickly made our way back to the surface. Our warriors and our cleric were growing dizzy under all that armor, my light layers of clothing were bad enough, I couldn’t imagine being in heat trapping metal! It was night by the time we left the kiln, the fissure wasn’t much cooler than it had been during the day, but it felt like the frozen waste compared to the tunnels. Our guild seemed surprised to see us.
“You’re alive . . .” he said, “H-has the god been appeased.”
“Has he ever!” I said displaying my new ring, “he even gave us all presents! Once we calmed him down Zotzilaha proved to be a surprisingly gracious host. There was even talk of a meal . . . but we sadly had to get back to the surface. You should have gone with us. You might have gotten something as well.”
The man’s jaw dropped and he seemed suitably shocked. I was satisfied that he wouldn’t be mocking us for the rest of our trip.
As for my new toy: I’d been thinking during our long climb to the surface. Manthaly wanted a secret ballet? Well with Kiki’s stealth, and my new ring of invisibility, I could now guarantee Lavinia’s win! Sure stuffing the ballet box was ethically wrong, and yes I’m sure it would be a hollow win for Lavinia if she ever found out, but I knew it would be for the greater good of Farshore. Still, I’m sure some of the others might feel ethically conflicted, and so I’m only going to entrust my plan to Kiki. With her help I’ll soon have Lavinia elected no matter what dirty tricks the Meravanchi pulled!
Our first test has gone well,
Cthulhu dreams
“What you mean ‘we’ white one?”Good man! Let those know it all adventurers sort out their own problems. Show-offs!
Methinks Sir Carborundum waxed creative in his quoting ... ^^