Ander Stormwind's page

{The story as told by Ander to Mélinde: Those who have played in the game so far will probably realize that it took a lot of effort for me to avoid inserting numerous “suggestive” parenthetical comments}

Hi Mélinde! I'm back! It's been a while, but the story should be worth the wait... assuming I can tell it well! That? Yeah, it hurts a little. Now then, where did I leave off last time? Oh yes, the werewolf who had tagged along with us posing as a cleric just long enough to betray us to more of her kind. Which is what brought me in here last time. I do not only come here when I'm hurt! Besides, you like the story; it isn't as if you don't get anything out of it.

So, as you recall, my sister came here looking for me when I finished the story last time, right? Well it turns out that the best friend of the ex-werewolf came here looking for her. She's also a cleric, but not very bright... even as far as clerics go! Don't look at me in that tone of voice; you know what I mean. She's also rather strange. First of all, she's half drow... settle down! Not even all the full-blood drow are evil... yeah? What about the stories of what's his name... Drizzle-something-or-other. Yeah, that's the one. I suppose so. Anyway, her name is Talindra and she accepted our version of what happened with almost no questions asked. I'm still not a hundred percent exactly what that means, but she's had numerous opportunities for revenge if she wanted, but didn't choose to. All she felt the need to do was visit the grave where we'd buried Miri, and do something where she'd poured milk all over it. Maybe – you'd more about that sort of thing than I would. Anyway, we searched the area where the fight had been and found only some miscellaneous junk and Neville found this blue lantern-looking thing.

Going further in we found found an alcove with a fresco on the wall that looks like a map of a large rooms with alcoves which contain little colored lanterns – all the colors of the rainbow! After scratching our heads for a bit, we decide to go further into the cave... or perhaps I should says ruins, since that's certainly what it looks like they are. So, at the end of the entry hall we find a large chamber with... can you guess? Seven alcoves with colored lanterns – all the colors of the rainbow! The green one was the only one lit, which showed us two things. One, that the blue lantern was missing... well, almost missing, since as you recall, Neville had found the blue one outside... so we mount it and then figure out what to do with it. And second, that there was a large sarcophagus in the center of the room. Neville, being his typical self, immediately goes to fiddle with the sarcophagus. Suspecting that these things are often trapped – and seeing that this one apparently hadn't been opened since the poor androgynous looking guy carved into the top had been put inside – I decide to back out... along with everyone but Neville, who is almost instantly drenched in flame. Fortunately, he's one lucky little gnome and didn't end up getting too hurt. But, anything that might have been in the sarcophagus wasn't as lucky... either that or only ash had been interred there.

While investigating the sarcophagus, your's truly noticed that it's mounted on a pivoting base which is oddly shaped like an arrow. With a great deal of effort we were able to push it. It got easier each time we tried, so the hinges just must have been old. So, we get it pushed to point at the alcove with the yellow lantern, and as soon at it get there, a cylinder pops up out of the under the lantern... the yellow one. It had a door in it. I think it is some sort of a lift down to a lower level, but it didn't seem to make much sense to go rushing off until we had a better idea of what was really going on, so we pushed the arrow again – this time to the green lantern. This time, the cylinder there almost comes up but gets stuck. We work at loosening it, but do the job too good, because it the fell with a crash down to the bottom of its shaft.... which attracted the attention of the critters living down there.... let's see there was a swarm of these really nasty beetles... this thing that looks like a giant eyeball on spiders legs, and this really, really nasty giant beetle. It was the strangest fight I've been in yet. I mean, they're just bugs! Big bugs, it's true, but they really put up a fight, and Talindra did real well, when she could have just left us to certain death. She healed our wounds and then we rested for the night.

Wow... this storytelling is thirsty work! I'll go get an ale, then come back and finish it! Do you want one? Well... one of these days....

Hey, where do you guys get all these portraits? any chance there's a monocle-wearing gnome out there?

Go to "My Account" - look in Messageboard settings

{The story as told by Ander to Mélinde: Those who have played in the game so far will probably realize that it took a lot of effort for me to avoid inserting numerous “suggestive” parenthetical comments}

The whole thing started out a couple of nights back when me and Sis were over at Lazere's collecting my birthday ale – too bad you have all those paladin things you have to do; I'd have bought you one, too, now that I've got a somewhat steady income from the city guard. Anyways, while we were there these adventurers from Waterdeep – what a bunch of ignorant, arrogant asses. Sorry for the harsh language, my dear paladin, but there are people in this world for whom gentle words are simply inappropriate. Anyway, they were going on and on about how they were going to go “clear out” the Stirgenest Cairn up in the Hills. If they'd bothered asking anyone here, they'd have found out that it'd been “cleared out” for a long, long time now. You know that, and how many times have you strayed that far from the temple here?

Maybe it was a bit of... shall we say... alcoholic inspiration, but I started thinking (we both know that's a dangerous thing) – what about that other Cairn... the one we used to dare each other to go in when we were kids? I know you didn't, but you know the one I'm talking about, right? Yeah, the Whispering Cairn. So, I began thinking that's probably one only we locals know much about... and what if there's something there worth investigating... I knew I could talk Sis into going along – she's 18, after all, and with her magic and stuff she's probably pretty bored with Daggerford.

So, I went to go talk to her, but she was busy watching Neville lose at Dragonchess yet again (he's getting better, though). And I thought, yeah, he's a sneaky little.... guy. Plus he's a gnome so he must know all about locks and traps and things, so he could help us out with that sort of thing should there be anything of that sort down in the Cairn. Turns out that Neville had lost quite a bit at Dragonchess – will he ever learn? - and was surprisingly easy to talk into exploring ancient ruins and plunder them for fame and, more importantly, riches.

So, I went to talk to Captain Sheri... she doesn't mind that I call her that! I went to ask her for a leave of a week or so so that we could go check the Cairn out. She suggested that since adventuring is dangerous, it might be a good idea to find someone good at healing. So I thought of this wondering cleric I met when Balan got hurt at that cave-in up in the mines. We're still not sure exactly where she came from or what she was doing there, but she patched him up good. I ran into her again – yes, by “she” and “her” I mean she is a woman... or was a woman... hrphmm... I'll get to that – don't rush the story! Yes she is... was... fairly attractive, but she doesn't have your eyes, okay? Anyway she – her name is... was... Miri – agreed to go along with us, so the only thing left to do is make sure we knew where we were going. So I go talk to Edgar in the cartography office and he let me copy out a map... want to see it? I took my time, that's why it came out good.

We headed out the next morning. It took us most of the morning to get there, and when we did, Miri was real quick at finding the entrance. I wonder now if maybe she already knew where it was. Anyway, we go in carefully, so as not to disturb anything dangerous. We go in and find a set of alcoves where we find this big, glyph covered mirror... which is broken all to pieces. That didn't stop Neville from goggling all over it. You could see his brain trying to calculate exactly how he should try to lift it so he could haul the whole thing off. Not that it would have done him any good. The thing must have been at least 10 times my weight – I'd have had trouble simply trying to get it off the platform where it was. After Neville convinced himself that there's no real way to get the thing back to town, he actually takes a closer look at it (Sis looked at it, but wasn't able to understand much about it), and discovers that the glyphs all over it indicate that the mirror would have had some transportation purpose or something like that. If the mirror was whole it would probably have been quite magical. What? Oh, you'd have to ask Sis about that. She might talk to you, but she's still annoying, the slut... oh, sorry. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, there was a strange green light that came from the far end of the cave... we don't know. We'll need to go back and find out. Well, we tried, but...

When we started to go further in, a pack of wolves came out of the next set of alcoves – three huge wolves. You'd be amazed at how much of your training comes back to you when you really need it! I drew my swords and moved forward. It was a fierce fight, let me tell you. Teeth and claws, swords and strength – it was a thing of beauty! It wasn't until I'd felled the first one that I noticed something was wrong – even though I'd killed one, there were still three wolves, and if I thought the first three were big, the new one was even bigger... and Miri was missing. Well, I didn't have time to think, so I just kept on fighting.

The next bit was a little unclear to me. The wolves were making dog food out of me, and I'd lost a lot of blood in the fight and passed out. I came to shortly and tried to fight some more, but was quickly overwhelmed again. Yep, that wound over there was a wolf's claw. I'd like to see you do better! I know, I know... When I came to the second time, Sis was forcing a healing potion down my throat... isn't there something you guys can do to make them taste any better?

It turns out that Miri had been a werewolf, and Neville had... well, I won't disgust you with the details, but he... er... made sure she was dead. Poor guy. Kept babbling about taking the body to the Seluné temple up in Waterdeep. I sure hope he doesn't end up with some sort of port-traumatic stress syndrome or something over this. Anyway, about the time we passed the Bronzewood lodge, we finally convinced him that we should just bury her and be done with it. Then we came here. Well, back to town, then I came here. How could I possibly not? Well, there's no more yet, but I'll be sure to drop by when I can.

Oh... hi Sis!....

To be continued....

Of course!

That Melinde is one hot paladin - whoa momma!