The Beginning of All Things (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

So, it’s Sir Calex now, hmmph, The woman said, not with disdain but more formal, uninterested affirmation. You bring me bad news about my daughter? You’re lying. My daughter is fine, living in Castletown. What do you want?

Calex looks at his friend's elderly mother in gentle sadness. It had been too long since his last visit, and the instant distrust of him hurt. Still, Wiscara was the one that truly mattered as the actual hostage in this tragic dilemma.
"Wiscara? A practitioner of Green magic? In the city?! Ah, madame...I had hoped you would be more open with us...with me at least. It saddens me to see your distrust, and catch your falsehoods so obviously. But we know of 'Cara's captivity. I had hoped to bring you some good news with the bad, but talking here at the door where all can see is perhaps not the best idea, yes? May we came in and discuss things in a less obvious setting?"

Ravena stands back quietly in support nodding after Calex suggests a more private conversation.

Marwan stays near Ravena, silently observing.

Robert simply smiles and says "Good Morning, Ms. Gresham."

The old woman sputters at Calex’s accusations

I call you a liar, so then you can’t do any better than call me one as well. Bah, never mind.

She comes around the edge of the door, making herself as small as she can so as to not seem as if she is pushing Calex back, and then hears another voice call her by name. She pulls the door closed behind her, and standing on the threshold, squints into the morning sun

Young Macintyre, is it? And who are these others? What do you know of Cara? Captured? By who? No, you cannot come in, my house is my place and I don’t like strangers tramping about on my floors. If you think my daughter is captured by someone, then tell me who? I’ve a mother’s right to know. But be quick, I have things to do.

She holds her hand on the door handle, and places her small frame between Calex and the door.

"Captured by who else? Orcs, madame, or trafganor if you will. When we rescued the maetaur we learned of your 'Cara's captivity. And your part in the attack on Woodbridge. Do you still wish to keep us where everyone may hear our discussions?"

Calex's continence darkens from the affable village alchemist to display the iron of the young lord lurking beneath.

"I would be very, very careful of calling the Baroness' appointed lord of Woodbridge a liar."

You, you found and rescued Cicily, and Auria? That is good news. But I still have no reason to believe you are telling me the truth about my daughter. What if she is not a prisoner of the tafganor, what then, is there something you need from me and by using her as leverage you mean to get it out of me? I don’t care if anyone in this village hears these words. I let others to their lives and expect to be left to mine. Tell me how you know my daughter is a prisoner. Did the tafganor you killed to rescue your elders tell you something?

"Yes. They did tell us how my friend Wiscara is being held...and where. And why as well, WANTHGREAME. Perhaps if you had really left others to LIVE instead helping the trafganor to kill them, we might have taken this another way. You insisted on doing this in the open.
So be it. For 'Cara's sake I would have spared you this. But your own stubbornness has forced my hand. You stand accused of aiding and abetting the raiders that recently pillaged our homes. I hereby arrest you by the power and authority given into my hands by the Baroness of Castletown. You are to be held in custody until the current emergency has ended and a trial can be convened." Cal motions to his companions behind him. "Please, can one of you send for the Sheriff? We have need of Patricia, it seems."

Ravena will draw her bow at this and aim an arrow holding her action to shoot only if she attempts to cast a spell or attack.

Robert shakes his head and speaks up, "I'll get her.

Marwan doesn't like the way this is going and prepares to Slumber Wanthgreame if she resists, hoping Ravena won't have to kill her.

As Robert turns to leave Geralda seems to deflate. Her shoulders slump, and her head drops.

Calex, do what you must. I won’t resist or deny my role in this.

I would be a fool to try to claim I meant no one any harm. I knew all along that people would be in danger, even death would come to some, but I couldn’t be strong enough. She is my daughter, and they promised she would not be harmed if I helped them. Inside I have one of them. His name is Algath Kardor, and he is from a village called Neraang. He was wounded in the battle with the Alodoan soldiers, and I took him from the field when he had been left for dead. I got out of him the location of their general’s stronghold, but I didn’t have a plan to rescue my daughter myself. You’ll find him in the back room, bound and gagged, but alive, and I have not mistreated him. Yes I gave information to the Tafganor spies who snuck into town weeks ago, but I did nothing else to aid their cause. When they told me they had Wiscara, and showed me proof, by presenting her things, her knife, her bracelet, and a small pouch I gave her when she first learned to cast simple spells. I was afraid, and didn’t know what else I could do be tell them what they wanted to know.

They knew who I was, and where I came from, and about my family, they knew my name, as you now know also, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I only wanted to be sure she lived, even if it meant others might have to die. She means everything to me. She is all that I have. Her father was a good man, but he left us when Wiscara was a small child. I know I drove him away. I was always pushing him to do more, be more, and he was just a simple man. I drove her away as well

Geralda begins to cry

I wanted her to be independent. I wanted her to be strong and never feel she needed anyone to support her, but all I did was drive her away. I drove her into the arms of Cicily and the ways of the Maetaur with my bitterness and anger. And now everything I’ve ever done with my life has come to this. I am not sorry for what I’ve done. I’m only sorry for what I’ve always been, too weak to be more than just a tafganor halfbreed.

Cal makes a subtle motion with one hand to keep Rob from leaving, and with the other gestures again to the interior of the cottage. "Finally we have the truth. Mother Garelda, NOW may we enter and talk? Wiscara needs us, and you have knowledge, that combined with what we already have, could tip the balance in 'Cara's rescue. Before we confronted you we had already considered the possibility that you were most likely coerced. As for you being a halfbreed, I tell you truly that it makes no difference to me. Indeed, I have found myself interested in courting a half-tafganor woman we rescued. Your fear of discovery, assuming we can rescue 'Cara, is safe. Show us your prisoner, tell us what you can, trust us to do what is right, and together let's try to bring 'Cara home."

Ravena wipes her eyes a bit and lowers the bow following Calex lead but still at the ready all the same.

Marwan follows after everyone else, still prepared to use his hex on the old woman.

I still don't like that.

Geralda steps to one side and opens the door to her home. She moves slowly in, and holds the door open.

You are immediately struck by the untidy room you enter. Unwashed plates are stacked on a table to your right, while a fireplace to your left looks as if it has not been swept in several days. There are two baskets on the floor near a window across the room, spilling contents of fresh gathered vegetables on the floor. Small bed, on the front wall behind the door has piles of dirty laundry.

Through a doorway on the opposite wall, on the left, you see the end of a large bed and the legs of a large man resting on the bed. The man, as much as you can see, is wearing tafganor boots, and pants.

Once you are all inside, Geralda apologizes for the mess, saying she has been too busy to clean since Wiscara was captured.

There is room for two people to sit on the small bed in the main room of the house, and two small stools by the messy table

The tafganor on the bed is called Algarth. He claims he has never seen the fortress where they are holding my daughter, nor does he know the way.
She bends over at the spilled vegetables and tries to gather them up and put them back in the baskets, which you can see are old and worn, broken open on the sides, and she says Let me clean the house first, and then you can take the prisoner and turn us both over to the Alodoans. I cannot remain here, not after what I’ve done. But while I try to make this place ready to be sold to another Alodoan settler, tell me about this woman, Calex, perhaps I know her family, and tell me how you are going to free Wiscara and stop Lorgrad from opening the mountain and reclaiming Emordans

Ravena frowns always have been a tidy woman liking a tidy ship, and she will sling her bow now and lend a pair of hands to help clean and make things ship shape saying if someone took my brother I'd do just about anything to get him back. Maybe we can find a way for ya to make it up that gets your daughter and keeps the house.

Calex has a long, sometimes convoluted, sometimes intense, conversation with Geralda.

When they are finished, the only real plan Calex has isn’t a good one.
The only thing that can be done to possibly save Wiscara, and stop the Tafganor Warlord Lorgrad, was to set out for a mysterious valley far away to the southeast.

It was a place of ritual, and sacrifice, a place where some hundreds of years ago a small community of gymnaga were slaughtered by a tribe of Tafganor lead by a warlord by the name of Dargran.

The Ghostlight Marshes. Somewhere in those marshes, according to Geralda, there is a hidden secret, a sacred place where the once great heroes who defeated the warlord Dargran met to plan their strategy, and overthrow the tafganor once and for all. Somewhere in that marsh lies the clue to the great fortress in the mountain that is the source of the power of the fire giants which the tafganor were able to put to use in their attempt to concur all the people of this land.

To save Wiscara, and stop Lorgrad from resurrecting an ancient power that may make his army unstoppable, someone must journey to the Ghostlight Marsh, and learn the secrets of the fire giants and the fortress in the mountain.

When the planning and discussions of the future wellbeing of the people of Woodbridge is over, Rowena and Robert go off to fetch Patricia and Marcus, along with other elders of the community. Even Auria and Cicily are summoned.

It is decided that the tafganor prisoner and Geralda will be held as temporary prisoners of the nation of Alodoa in Geralda’s home, which is hastily turned into a makeshift jail. The windows are boarded shut from the outside, much of the furniture is removed from the house, and a large latch with a solid bolt and lock is added to the only door of the small cottage. The Maetaur agree to take responsibility for guarding the house, ensuring no one escapes and the prisoners are not harassed by the people of the village, as well as seeing to it that they are fed and treated with fairness while a letter is drafted by Calex to be sent on to Castletown asking for instructions on how to proceed with the mater.

The day seems to drag on for an eternity, but when the sun finally sets, the village of Woodbridge is mostly quiet, the sound of a hammer or a saw continues on well past sunset coming from a house somewhere south of Geralda’s little home.

An Article appears in the Drankurk Daily newspaper, published in March in the year 2018

Three young women of the Valley Drankurk Scouting Association this weekend, while on a jamboree in the Woodbridge National Park, a protected woodland, discovered what researchers at the National Historical Preservation Academy are saying could be evidence of the existence of the first, original, Wanthgreame Prison, which was said to be in the area of the original Village of Woodbridge. The village, a historical preservation and popular tourist attraction in County Calex, is accessible by the old route 28 south of highway 9 near Regalwood. The women, between the ages of fifteen and nineteen, were hiking through the flooded wetlands of Mingary when they found the remains of a wooden door which lead research professor Marjory Dallun said could have been dislodge from several feet of clay that was recently disturbed by workers trenching through the easement west of the old village settlement while installing the new Ellery Power Station transmission lines that when construction is completed will bring electricity from the off shore windmills south of New Castle Point to central Orimar next spring. The wooden door, after careful restoration shows signs of early to late fourteenth century construction and is carved with the name Geralda Gresham, a name some historians say was the original family name associated with the Wanthgreame Silver mines of the eastern Dialothna Mountains. The door was then delivered to the national museum at Waterspoint, and will be examined further. An official announcement of the doors authenticity and possible role in the history of the notorious Wanthgreame Prison, site of the Forth Week Massacre of 1723, will be made on Monday, June 10th, at the national historical preservation society’s annual summer ball when the yearly Thal Grant for field research will be announced. The women that discovered the door were given the Bethany Drankurk Scouting Medal of Honor from their scoutmaster, Pamela Winsson, for the discovery.

When all is done with Geralda, Robert asks "Are we leaving in the morning or do we have a few days to gather provisions? It's going to be a long trek and a pack mule or horse or two would probably be good. I've some business to attend to in town before we leave. I would just like to know how long I have to take care of it."

"We can spend a couple days getting our expedition ready. Rushing out unprepared would almost be worse than not going at all. I'd like to scribe out some scrolls to expand my usefulness, and definitely touch base with Patricia and the other elders before I leave again. I'll speak to Aniktah, and see if she wishes to accompany us. I can hope she sees what I do in Woodbridge and finds it as worth the struggle."
Calex looks out over the bustling town, and turns back to the others. "We've got a chance at something truly remarkable, I believe. It's just a matter of keeping it safe to let that potential grow."

Robert replies to Calex "Why don't we stay three more night. I'll see what I can round up in horses and pack animals. Could someone look into provisions for the road for all of us there and back?"

Marwan goes about gathering food for the party.

Ravena will hunt for two of the three days and once more speak to her brother and wish him well letting him know she will be gone again for a time on the third day. She will also provision any of the game she was able to hunt and make it ready for travel.

survival: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

survival: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

Patricia hears that Calex is looking to speak to her, and after asking a few people about the village what is going on, hears that he might be planning to travel to a place only few people have ever really heard of, let alone seen.

She runs him down, finally, while he is Riverside, talking with Marcus, and walks up to him, folding her arms across her chest she smiles and asks him

Do you have any idea at all where it is you are going or how you are going to get there?

Marwan comes walking in from the other direction, having just used his magic to heal a fractured finger from a stray hammer.

"We have a starting point in the swamp. There may be secrets to their fortress there."

Yes, I heard, this swamp was described to you by people who I know have never been there. This swamp you're looking for, I've never been there myself, but I was once as close as a few days travel from the valley where it is supposed to be, and that was when I was on campaign with Chief Dolgegany and his people against an Alodoan company, in the northern foothills seventy miles from here. I'm not sure I can make a map, but I can tell you about the roads that will take you to Murghaugh, and Lough Loghaire, maybe, if you make it that far without getting lost you can get better directions from those people, but I think you should know, the people in the northeast are still biter over the Alodoan's treatment of the lords in those lands. Let's meet at the Bread and Board tonight after supper and I'll tell you what I know about the roads to the eastern kingdoms.

After securing the use of the horses and mule Robert heads home. He sits down and relaxes and sighs. The worries of the road leave him and he feels safe and secure for the first time in a long time. When his parents gather around Robert informs them, "Unfortunately, I'm only back for a couple of nights. We are going to set off again and try to free Wiscara from those holding her. We'll be gone for a while. I've secured us some horses, we'll just need some food for the road and water. I'll try to get what work I can done here while I'm home but you may need to look for other help. I don't know how much I'm going to be around."

What sort of loot did we come back with. I'd like to leave some money here for my parents or maybe something valuable they can sell.

Marwan nods his assent, finishes his preparations to leave and goes to meet Patricia.

When Marwan enters the bread and Board, he first notices a beautiful Gymnaga girl sitting by the single fireplace on the far wall of the open floor. She is playing some sort of stringed instrument balanced on the coils of her tail. In each of her hands is a small wooden stick shaped like a long spoon and with the sticks she strikes the strings producing a soft enchanting melody.

Turning to his right he sees a heavy set man and a slightly less heavy woman working at an iron stove. They are adding chopped vegetables to a large pot that sends steam up around their heads.

To his left are five small round tables, and each is crowded all around with people of this community sitting on small stools, hunched over the tables playing at games of cards or dice.

Further to the left on the wall at that end of the building is a long narrow table, where sits the woman Patricia, with the Witch Auria, and a few elves he does not recognize.

He knows little of this Patricia woman only what Robert and Calex were able to tell him on their long journey*

She is a local woman, unmarried, and was once a soldier, but who she fought for or how long ago that was he does not know.

As Marwan approaches the table, Patricia is talking to Auria

I’m not saying it’s altogether a bad plan. I’m just saying it is a lot further than I think they realize. How can we even know for sure these orcs made it all the way there with Wiscara in the first place…

Marwan walks up behind her.

We don't, but unfortunately a roving band of orcs isn't something that could be ignored, and something is uniting all these races that I've never heard to work together. Even if we weren't looking for her, anything that can form armies and bully giants is something I would rather face away from here."

Ravena is hunting at this time for food supplies for the trip while the party is info gathering. When she returns she is smoking and preparing the meat for a day or two and can then be part of any conversation anyone wants if we are at that point which I am not sure of the timeline at this point for me

Robert spends his morning working on his parents farm with his brother helping him, making sure he knows what needs done.

He then washes up for lunch and afterwards goes looking for Rebecca Panforey. He asks her to walk with him out to his land that he hopes to farm one day. "A short while ago, I saw myself clearing this land, building a small house and farming here. I would have been over the moon for you to be my wife and us raise a family here. Now... I don't know what my future holds. I'm going off to try and put an end to a threat to not only our little town but the whole area. It is not right for me to expect you to wait for me, knowing I may not come back. I don't know how long we'll be gone or when we'll be back. It makes it easier for me to be out there knowing you are here and safe. Neverless, when this is all through I want to be your husband, if you'll have me and your father approves, but I don't think it's right of me to ask that of you now. What say you?"

After meeting with Rebecca, Robert heads to the Bread and Board in the evening. Upon hearing Marwan's response Robert walks over to Patricia's table and sits down. "You are right. We may have bitten off more than we can chew, but Lord Calex made a promise and this is our friend we are talking about. We have to help her and try and find out what is going on. Not only are our homes in danger the whole area is including Castletown and the empire's people here. It looks like its fallen on us to take care of this and we will. If you have more knowledge about the area, by all means please let us know so we can prepare. We are going and need all the help we can get."

At the bread and Board

Patricia smiles up at the stranger, and says.

That is true, away from here, far away from here the better, She then stands and extends her hand toward the man saying, In all the confusion over the past few days I seem to have forgotten your name. I know you are new to our village, we have a small population, tell me, stranger are you planning on settling here, or just moving through the village on your way to bigger and better things. My name is Patricia Flaherty, and I live here. My family has lived here for four generations. What can you tell me about yourself? Is Calex planning on meeting us here?

Sunset, Lakeside, the fields near the Macintyre farm

Rebecca walks close to Robert as he explains his hearts desires and the course of the matters ahead of him. The young girl is silent, letting him go on, even a bit more than she usually does, and when he is finished she takes his hands in hers and says

Don’t let my father fool you. He is taken with you, maybe even more than I am. He has always seen your parents as cornerstones of the community, and he couldn’t be happier than knowing you have your eye on me. But, Robert Macintyre what is all this nonsense. Of course I’ll wait for you. You are the handsomest, bravest, most level headed fellow I’ve ever met, and I’ve met some soldiers recently who are not bad to look at, seem pretty brave, and are already trained to take a woman’s orders. I’ll wait for you, because I know you will return. You aren’t stupid enough to charge into a Tafganor Army without a good plan. I’ll be right here.

And then she moves her head close to Robert’s and kisses him gently on the lips.

I will be honored to be your wife. And we will build a home together.

Later, at the bread and Board

Patricia is waiting for Marwan to tell her about himself, when Robert approaches and sits at the table

Robert Macintyre, well I didn’t see this coming. I thought your eyes were misty for that Panforey girl, and that was all you could see. I’m glad to hear you are taking arms to defend our homes. The more of your kind, the better our chances.

I don’t really think Woodbridge will be in any serious danger for a while. The way the soldiers are talking, there are more of them on the way, many more. The Alodoan’s don’t look kindly on upstarts and would be lords trying to take over this land now that they have invested in its security. I imagine in a month there will be four companies of soldiers here, and if you should travel all the way to the marshes, as Calex seems to think that is the goal, by the time you return this place might look very different. The marshes are over a hundred miles away. By foot it is a journey of ten days or more, if you don’t have any troubles along the way. I’ve only been there twice myself, and both times I was following the feet of the fellow in front of me. There is a road, it is well known, well made, and well-marked that you can find in the village of Carnergaaugg. That’s a village at the base of the mountains to the east. You can follow the river, passed MacNorra House, and into the foothills, always stay to the north of the streams you come upon and you should be climbing the valley toward the Inhar Spring, from that hill you can the village of Carnergaauugg about three miles to the east of the hill. That road, out of Carnergaauugg follows the mountains to the north and east to the city of Tallerigan, and from there the road goes south east, with the mountains always on your right, passing many small towns and villages until it comes to the great Maetaur community of Aular Havenwind. From there the road goes even further southeast finally crossing the Rowandul Plane before reaching the highlands of Nach Moor, and the ghost light fen.

Taking the road is the easiest, safest way I know to get there, but it isn’t the shortest by far. If you cross the mountains to the east of Carnergaauugg into the Dardun Lands you can reach the fen faster, but it is a wild untamed place. There is a great lake there, and the folks that settled around that lake think this land still belongs to them, and are never fond of outsiders of any kind. I’d stick to the road if I were you, and be sure to be courteous to any merchants you meet along the way. They are your best friends along the road between more civilized places.

Some quick-n-dirty math: a cart or wagon moves 16 miles a day. Marwan can heal at minimum 4 nonlethal damage per day from the mule if we did a forced march, which by RAW also eliminates the fatigue, meaning at the minimum we can do 4 hours of forced march per day without penalty, which means 20 miles/day which cuts that travel time in half. If Marwan can find a CLW wand/scroll in town then that's even less time. If this feels to powergamey for you Terquem I get it and never mind.

Marwan takes Patricia's hand in his own emaciated one and bows slightly.

"Of course, we only met during the attack did we not? I am Marwan del Hechizo, Vurespanian mage. I've lived a half mile or so outside this charming village for a little less than a year now. I live in the woods for the sake of my privacy, but I was raised in a similar village in my home country, so I would be happy to stay in the area for a long while. My own home has seen some... changes in culture I could not tolerate so I left to pursue my own life elsewhere, and the winds of chance blew me to your shores. I quite like it here though, so if you'll have me I'd love to stay.

As for Lord Calex, he'll be coming along as well, though I believe he's dealing with finding housing for those soldiers you mentioned with that Marcus fellow. He's quite busy in the few days we have."

As Marwan and Robert sit with Patricia, Ravena settles into her own small room at her brother's house. Calex is just about to leave his house when a messenger, with two soldiers in attendance arrive at his door with a letter from Castletown

The letter is terse, Calex is required to return to Castletown immediately to give a report on the matter of Woodbridge.

He must leave at first light. There can be no delay.

He sees a young boy, a son of the carpenter of Woodbridge and after quickly penning a letter of his own to be delivered to Patricia, he packs the things he needs, and goes right to bed.

Calex will be absent for a while. He will go to Castletown and not join MArwan, Robert and Ravena on the journey - please see the OOC thread for more