The Hollarian Assembly convened under yours and the other observer's watchful eye. At the head of the assembly sat in a massive throne like chair, Iantanis, the Speaker for the house, responsible for house decorum, behaviour and agenda taps his staff lightly on the floor, bringing the meeting to order. Iantanis with his brown hirsute beard and youthful vigour stood in contrast to most of the room.
“Here ye Here ye the 15631st assembly of the wise men and women of hollaria have assembled , in this time of emergency to discuss measures concerning the unexplained event and its consequences”
Iantanis bows his head and many other people do as he says a prayer to Ioun, before beginning the council . By tradition the council was separated based on personal philosophy on the use of magic into the white, grey and black hats. But you are quite surprised by the number of black hats, Blackguards all of them who are present. Most assemblies are dominated by the white hats, the adherents of Ioun and Melora, and Pelor but not this one.
Everyone hushes as the session begins.
A fortnight ago an unidentified object fell from the heavens, We have reason to believe it is of an otherworldly nature, not just from the stars but from beyond them . Furthermore those of us trained in the ancient arts of enchanting are noticing changes in the firmament of magic that has stood still for aeons of age. A select few with magical sight, say a strange new star burns in the heavens now, looking down balefully at us. We must react, We must maintain our position, We must investigate both the rock, and the danger to magic itself, and we are here to discuss why.
The Oldest Member of the court, a winkled homely looking woman, stood as is tradition. Mad Yaga is what she called herself but her motherly looking face stood in stark contrast to her black hat. “The Aperture from which the heavenly body moved is still open, the problems with the magic you have noticed is not from a change to magic but rather from a change in the firmament itself. As we speak our very essence is being consumed by this aperture, the foul star you seek is but the gaze of whatever lays beyond it. The Aperture must me...”
Mad yaga, the villain of a thousand horror stories was interrupted by Kal the white, a priest of pelor and one of the blessed few vampires that through his intense devotion to Pelor has redeemed himself to the sun, and no longer fears it. Kal interjects derisively, “ Your talk of apertures is mere black hat tomfoolery, the object fell, and it is dangerous. The object broke up as it hit the atmosphere spraying the world with its strange shards. First and foremost we must recover this strange stone, before it can harm anyone , and contain it.
The thunder of half the assembly clapping and tapping staffs and wands crowded out even the Speaker of the house. It seemed all but decided when a thunderclap from the middle of the chamber, from the entrance as a new person, a young lady walked in. Magically projecting her voice, the little sound filled the air, “We must not let political considerations determine our course of action, Both of you are right, although I doubt either of you would admit it, We must also not forget political considerations, It will take considerible effort to both tract down the shards, many of which fell outside our borders, and to investigate both the aperture and the ancient wards that we must ensure stand for the good of all.”
Iantanis stands, welcoming the girl with open hands, before introducing her to the assembly, “Gwenifer, my daughter, and council member” to polite applause from everyone. The assemblies newest member, a brash girl in appearance but with mixed heritage. Taking her stole and hat, a dirty used grey from the looks of it, he goes and sits beside the speaker. The Assembly bustles into action , talk of teleportation circles and astrolabes and politics fill the air. Slowly the Notaries, the meritocratic will of the Assembly, starts clearing out the stands, with tasks, invoices, work orders, and sheer tenacity. The Assembly will be discussing many things for a long time, and it was time to get things done, rather than watch old farts dither they seemed to like to say.
You are a recent graduate of the Hollaria Academy, A Martial and Magical Institution dedicated to training Hollaria's best. Eventually a notary groups you with a few other former classmates, friends , others you barely know tells you to work out what you can do best to help the situation, and tells you that they expect you to report with a plan, the following morning early.
Kal's Tasks
Shards from the Unidentified Object need recovery,
Shards outside of the nation need to be dealt with quietly
Gwenifer's Task
Other Nations need to be placated about both the “event”, and Hollaria's Reaction to it.
Mad Yaga's Task
Research needs to be done concerning the nature of the object and the aperture.
The Ancient Crypts, Graveyards, and Sepulchre's of Hollaria, need to be checked
A bit about Hollaria,
Hollaria is known for being a magistracy, and is sandwiched between the volcanic highlands and the Eastern Sea. Running for a hundred miles along the east coast of the peninsula, Hollaria is naturally isolated by the mountains to the west, the seas to the East and South and the thick forest to the north.
Hollaria is built upon the ruins of a much older Eladrin city, who's survivors have been accepted and absorbed into the population.
To the west and covering the rest of the peninsula are the badlands, a collection of high altitudes, poor soil , and a lack of natural resources including water, makes life difficult west of hollaria. Nomadic Tribes of human and monstrous origin are all that manage to survive there. Humans from these lands sometime come to hollaria, either as mercenaries or slaves and are referred to as barbarians.
To the North the Confederacy, a collection of Dwarf Holds, and Elvish Tribes live in loose alliance. The High Mountains and Thick Forest make the land inhospitable for anyone else.
To the South and East lay the Islands, over 1000 have been charted , mostly uninhabited, but Eastern Sailor's of strange language and customs routinely come to trade with hollaria. They are humanoids who meticulously hide their faces and their institutions from anyone who would be interested. It is rumoured that past the sea, they have a homeland ten times larger than the badlands full of walled towns and strange sights. Shrewd and not particularly moral , the eastern folk are reviled but are an important part of hollaria's survival.
Hollaria itself consists of some Ten Thousand citizens along with twice as many Slaves, barbarians, and children. The Population is strongly human and Eladrin. Hollaria maintains two colonies, to the south-east and north-west, known as World'send and Mounts'guard. Which respectively feed and fuel hollaria.
Male Dragonborn Paladin
Ba'az Astor a paladin of Ioun standing tall and proud his polished black scales matching the gleam of his immaculate chain mail. Ioun's eye stood out on the chest of his tabard, colored in the gold and brown of his god's temple.
We should accept the challenge of Kal's tasks and Seek out knowledge of the threats to this world. We should follow the path of the starfall, find its fragments and destroy the danger they pose.
female Eladrin wizard 1
Yrenn regards Ba'az Astor with beaming admiration. The proud dragon-kin is a member of the knighthood elite, to boot. He will be an important ally in her mission.
Yrenn's treatment of Sergeant Feyborn is the stark opposite. Barely bothering to make eye-contact, her attitude reflects the disdain some Eldarin harbor towards the children of both Man and Elf.
Male Half Elf Warlord 1
Garan was aware of the contemptuous looks that he drew from many of those assembled. Over the years he had become accustomed to them, due to the combined stigmata of his heritage and his inability to deal with the simplest of spells.
But he had found his niche, commanding other men. Men who fought to protect the city from those who violated its laws. And, By The Gods!, the others may hold him in contempt, but if the council put him in charge, they would follow his lead.
"I stand ready to follow the orders of the Council."
A prim notary, with his hands and a clipboard clasped behind his back comes and stands with you. After a moment, like a crane he stretches his arms and opens to a new page, and begins jotting names and other emphera such as where you are staying onto the clipboard.
His task complete, he says "Show up here by sunrise tomarrow, and we'll arrange transport for you, I also suggest you three decide, Together, what exactly you plan on doing to serve hollaria. "
His task complete, he turns on his heels and move into another small group, doing the same proceedure, for what you are sure is not the first or second time.
Looking at each other, its late in the afternoon, You have roughly an entire evening before you ought to be in bed and then getting up for the sunrise, and your departure.
Male Half Elf Warlord 1
Feyborn adresses Ba'az Astor and Yrenn: "As we have been assigned to work together, I must tell you that I believe that our first priority is the security of Hollaria. As such, I suggest that we should begin by searching out the fragments within our borders."
Male Dragonborn Paladin
I concur; the safety of the realm is paramount. We should find and interview astronomers and mages to see if they observed where the fragments have fallen. Once we have the fragment locations we need to ride there and investigate and recover any shards we find. The shards we do find we should bring them back for the council to study.
Yrenn, do you know of any astronomers to begin our search with?
female Eladrin wizard 1
"Hmm, let me think ..."
Arcana (1d20+9=28)
Astronomy while certainly not a preminent magical art, is supported by the school.
The Foremost member with a strong background in it, would be Mad Yaga herself, but other than that, their are several dozen notaries, and at least that many council member's who are skilled in it.
The Closest one that You know is Carol Woad, a former *ahem* interest of yours, and a awful spellcaster, but an pretty good astronomer.
Logos
"Let's go visit a friend of mine, Carol Woad."
Male Dragonborn Paladin
female Eladrin wizard 1
"Let's go visit a friend of mine, Carol Woad."
Apologies for posting as another game's character!
Correction on the Name, it's Carl Woad
Thank you
Male Half Elf Warlord 1
"All right... lead the way."
You find carl woad, in his room in the school dormitories, nursing a hen egg on his head and a black eye.
Carl explains it quite clearly,
I would love to share that information with you, Yrenn I really would. I took rather precise measurements of the streaks of the shards as they fell, but look at me. In my haste to get my finding's to the council, I was waylaid by a bunch of thugs. I bet you they were working for that no good, Quisark! He's a terrible astronomer but somehow he got the documents, or copies of them at least to the council before me.
Serves me right for taking a shortcut through the docks... Carl continues grumbling.
You know that the council has a copy of carl's document and will be assigning locations eventually, but if you want your pick, you gonna have to find carl's original observations.
female Eladrin wizard 1
"Carl, dear, could you lead us to where this rival of yours could be found? Time is running short."
Carl rubs his bruised body, "Im not going anywhere near that guy, but you can find him easy enough, he keeps a room above the laughing dolphin, in the docks."
Male Synod Psion Kineticist 5
"Knowledge is to shared by all, not horded for personal glory". "Give us his discription and then to the docks, his crimes against wisdom will be punished."
Carl starts," Quisark, He's Human, Light Skin, Dark Hair and eyes. Like I said, he's generally lolling about the laughing dolphin with a bunch of bully boys. I'd be careful however, that one's gonna be a dark hat one day, Gods know what tricks he has up his sleeve. "
female Eladrin wizard 1
"A Black Hat hopeful, I see. One of those types. Let's go have a chat with him, shall we gentlemen?"
Male Dragonborn Paladin
Ubermench wrote: "Knowledge is to shared by all, not horded for personal glory". "Give us his discription and then to the docks, his crimes against wisdom will be punished." ..
Oops wrong avatar
Male Half Elf Warlord 1
"Hmm.. I think that I know where this Laughing Dolphin is. Let's go."
The Laughing Dolphin is a run down joint, with saw dust floors and pitch wood walls. The patrons of the Laughing Dolphin look like a surley lot, and except for the well dressed woman who is obviously a madam, and quite possibly a man, they all look dangerous.
You see in the back tables, there's a large group of men drawn together, they look like one of a kind, like a gang. They are all white skinned dark featured humans.
The Bartender spits when he sees you come in, a Hoarse, "Whadoyawant" comes from.
Logos.
Male Dragonborn Paladin
in a menicing voice "Justice and freedom from tyranny but I doubt you can provide those intangibles so I will settle for knowledge. At the Assembly’s behest we seek the information Quisark
has taken to the detriment of all. Pray tell good sir where may we find this Quisark."
Intimidate roll = 19
The Bartender rolls his eyes at the mention of "Truth and Justice for All" but he points towards the madam. He's up with one of Robin's Girls at the moment. But those are his boys there at the back.
And remember, ... Friend ... You break it, you've bought it.
Male Dragonborn Paladin
Sgt., Yrenn any suggestions?
female Eladrin wizard 1
Male Half Elf Warlord 1
"Ah."
"We should perhaps wait until he is finished."
"We could speak with his men first."
Male Dragonborn Paladin
“I'm not sure how well his men will react to our inquiries“. “It might be better to attempt to bride the madam to let us into his room“. “Then we can catch him with his pants down, literally“.
female Eladrin wizard 1
Male Half Elf Warlord 1
"I'm afraid that I have no coin for bribes, but I do have a certain way with low-life scum."
Male Dragonborn Paladin
I also am lacking funds. Sgt. Fayborn your direct plan is all we can afford for now. We shall follow your lead.
Male Half Elf Warlord 1
Sgt Feyborn approaches the indicated table at the back, counting on the others to back his play.
How many thugs are we dealing with here?
You approach the men in the back. Their dark clothes and feature melt into the dark corner.
There are 8 men here, All wearing long purple mantels.
One of them, the biggest one of them, gives you a long look, " Think your lost mate, the academy is over yonder ". Nervous laughter follow from the rest of the thugs.
Male Half Elf Warlord 1
"Right. We're here to see Quisark. He has some Acadamy property. Are you going to help us, or get in our way?"
Intimidate (1d20+8=10) rats
The Big One Grin's
" Quisarks Busy, but from what I hear, those academy folk love him at the moment. So why don't you leave a message or something and gets lost. "
Male Half Elf Warlord 1
"Right then. Hard way."
Sgt Feyborn punches at the spokesman.
Hrrm. Not sure how this works, as I can only find "Grab" in the rules. Oh well:Melee Basic Attack (No Proficiency Bonus) (1d20+3=20) vs ?
Male Dragonborn Paladin
*wispering under his breath*
"Is this the back up plan?"
I hold my action and wait for anyone other than the speaker to try to attack Fayborn.
The First Swing hits the speaker hard under the jaw, knocking him out of his chair, and laying him out on the floor, unconcious.
The Thugs look incredulously at the scene for a moment, before storming out of their chairs toward you.
(Bullrush, 5 and 18 vs fort on the sgt, you are pushed back 1 square. 7 and 7 vs the Paladin, you are pushed back 1 square.)
Roll Initiative.
On their initiative (15) the thugs take turns swinging fists at whoever is nearest.
Male Half Elf Warlord 1
Male Dragonborn Paladin
Male Half Elf Warlord 1
Sgt Feyborn swings at the next thug to rise.
Melee Basic (1d20+3=10)
The Sgt Misses, and the remaining thugs begin to advance, the first few throwing punches.
(10 and 20 vs AC against the Sgt for 2 Damage Each, 10 and 5 vs the Paladin for 2 Damage Each)
The Remaining Three Thugs seem to be debating when and how to enter the fight.
Male Dragonborn Paladin
Ba'az' AC is 16, both punches miss.
Ba'az strkes (punch) at his attacker, Attack = 22 damage = 4
Male Half Elf Warlord 1
Garan was hit by one punch.
Assuming no-one else is acting?
Garan swings wildly again: punch (1d20+3=7)
Male Dragonborn Paladin
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