Northern Rim

Northern Rim

Well stuck in Krim for a few weeks whilst Roscoe and I trained, what could go wrong? A nice safe town where we were best buds with the top table and with gainful if hazardous employment assured for some time… Little did I know…

Saladin of course decided that he needed new slaves, but quickly discovered that slavery is frowned on in these parts, largely because of the slaver raids that plague the coastal regions in particular. Apparently there is a large country to the east that has a thriving market for slaves, a country that is slightly known to Saladin as a close relative is the ruler of it and he has ambitions to follow in the family business.

So that plan scuttled and Eldras and Saladin hit upon new mischief. Eldras signed up with the local thieves’ guild as a guest member entitling him to carry out certain criminal acts in certain areas at certain times provided he followed certain rules. I would blame Roscoe but I think he managed to lead himself astray without much help.

He began casing marks with a view to kidnap and or robbery, but a potentially promising start in the breaking and entering trade led to his arrest and appearance before the local beak, who sentenced him to five weeks imprisonment or a 100gp fine. He chose the latter, and Saladin the inconspicuous* paid it for him, seeing here a think that there’s more than one way to pick up a slave.

*As soon as the phone box is invented, he will start a fight in one.

A harmless clothier at the market was the next target for Butch Eldras and the Saladin Kid, and they spent some days observing his life and routines and that of his family before stealing his keys on a shopping expedition one busy market day and breaking in to his house whilst his family was out.

Out intrepid burglar found nothing however before slipping away as the household returned unexpectedly, however cutting a spare set of keys and returning the originals, he broke in again in the small hours and stole the strongbox from the house and looted the poor stall holder’s life savings.

By now our training was complete, and Barakor was fast becoming the world expert on Allerzoi architecture. Holly spent the time in quiet meditation and Zionestes had been helping out in the local temple of Death.

The Mage had generously added some spells to my spellbook and I was feeling fully restored. The Mage advised us that her efforts to track down the mysterious Devro had hinted some activity around a particular teleport nexus that might warrant investigation.

We teleported to this destination, somewhat barren and colder, we adjudged we had come some distance this time, and we headed to a nearby village visible from the ruined building containing the transmat terminal. We entered the local tavern, The King Grakt’s Head, and met the local Mensa member,* the bar tender Igenorak.

*Ah, irony we meet again.

The barkeep bless him was highly motivated at the dispersal of some gold by Saladin and quickly confirmed our suspicion that this place, called Regensburg in the Dukedom of The Vale, was not exactly the centre of the universe.

Spot the odd phrase out, which of these phrases is never heard in Regensburg:

a) Widely travelled.
b) You baint be from these parts be you?
c) Course it’s all right if you’re my maternal cousin.
d) Piper, don’t do that.

Piper, a gangly youth was offered as our guide, at least we think that’s what he was offered for. We were particularly interested in seeing a nearby tomb, that of the legendary King Grakt, where ‘bad men’ lurked, bandits of some kind, who didn’t trouble the village as long as it didn’t trouble them.

There was no evidence of local law, the local Duke being remote and let’s face it, if he had ever been here he would certainly have decided that a return trip in his current incarnation was probably wild overkill. We decided to visit the local priest at the village church and found him in his garden. Izac was approximately eighty years old if he was a day, and amongst his list of fully functioning bodily organs you would not have found mention of his ears.

We had a somewhat tortuous conversation with him, it seemed he had a somewhat wider world view than others in the Vale, having visited Mostali in his youth and he was able to place us somewhere north of the Great Plains, possibly 200 leagues from the Dwarven lands. He threw no light on the denizens of the tomb, in particular, Taamus, a recent visitor mentioned by the Publican who had passed through a week ago accompanied by a ‘strange and bewildering’ creature, meant nothing to him.

Barakor struck up a touching bond with the old man, a cleric of Heimdall, lending him his pipe which the priest used to clear prodigious amounts of wax from his ears. These he flicked elegantly at Piper if he came too close. Perhaps wisely, our dwarf declined his pipe’s return.

We set off for the tomb in the hills, a journey up a little used track of some two hours, which finally brought us to an archway in the hillside, partially concealed by an old landslide. We entered the gloomy corridor beyond and were rewarded by the discharge of a magic mouth spell that advised us not to make any long term plans other those of a funereal nature.*

* Its exact words were ‘Die foolish ones!’

We reached a chamber barred by a deep slime filled pit, but some thoughtful architect had bridged it with a grate that at least looked sturdy, though the gaps between its timbers were certainly more than sufficient to guarantee a nasty drop to anyone slipping as they hopped across.

Our heroic half elf led the way across and was rewarded for his courage with a lightning bolt that struck half way across, but failed to dislodge him from the beam, luckily for him. Barakor belatedly fired up his Find Traps spell and the rest of us crossed, aided by a precautionary rope. Beyond, another room with a daemon mosaic on the floor and a fire burning. As we crossed this room, we were suddenly fired on by sling shots from unseen assailants. Another volley struck from above as we scattered, I seemed to be unfairly targeted together with Holly, clearly some sexist pigs were our opponents.

Saladin fired blindly in to the air aiming at the tall ceiling, which vanished, revealing seven men at arms slinging at us on a balcony that ran all round the room. When I came round later, the battle was over. Our clerics had magically paralysed three of the enemy and with Saladin shooting at them and Eldras scaling a rope to the balcony, the bad guys had fled.

Eldras despatched two of the held troops and made the third his prisoner. The rest of us made their way up, even Roscoe who had heroically hidden rather than become a pin cushion. Holly and I were both seriously injured despite Holly deflecting one shot with a cool open hand move, but our clerics’ healing did the trick. Meanwhile we learned little from our prisoner before Saladin accidentally shot him at point blank range.*

*He later insisted he had intended it as a warning shot

We proceeded down another corridor toward an ominous black curtain, beyond which presumably the escapees had retreated and lay in wait. We searched every inch of the corridor as we edged down it and then Barakor announced he had found a secret door on our right, almost at the corridor’s end.

At this moment, no fewer than five secret doors burst open *catching us by surprise and ten men at arms attacked us with broadswords. In a hard fought battle the weapon skill of Barakor and Saladin began to tell and they were able to aid others, Zionestes killed one and one fell to my burning hands and magic missile attacks. Once Eldras was free he got backstabbing and our victory was assured, but Roscoe Eldras and Holly in particular were badly injured and we used our remaining healing on them.

*Great searching guys

A search of the room revealed nothing but some ale and roasting human flesh, cannibal bandits, lovely! Another room lies beyond but we need rest and recuperation with most spells gone as well. Who is the mysterious Taamus and his odd pet? Is it Devro? Or someone else? Is this a wild goose chase? Why haven’t we found any treasure? Why am I armour class nine? What is Piper doing that they want him to stop doing?

Kravaine
Appropriate use of spells last session 40
Characterisation and Roleplay 10
Appropriate spell Use 30
Fighters room 3-5 50

130
Eldras
Characterisation and Roleplay 40
Robbery of the Clothier 95
Backstabbing room 4/5 20
Fighters room 3-5 50
Adhering to Guild rules 20
Reserved award room 3 25

250
Barakor
Characterisation and Roleplay 30
Allerzoi research 10
Transmat Research 10
Attempted protection of the prisoner room 3 10
Healing 30
Use of Hold Person Room 3 50
Use of Find Traps 25
Locating secret door room 4 10
Fighters room 3-5 50
Writing to Izac 10
Degrunging Izac’s ears and sacrificing his pipe 15

250
Holly
Demonstration of exploding heart technique on Sam 40
Fighters room 3-5 50
Wisely playing dead room 3 10
Deflecting sling attack 10

110
Saladin
Characterisation and Roleplay 40
Robbery of the Clothier 60
Interaction with Izac 10
Dispelling Illusory Ceiling 10
Fighters room 3-5 50
Interaction with Ignersen 10
Mapping 10

180
Roscoe
Fighters room 3-5 50
Successfully hiding room3 10

60
Zionestes
Healing 35
Fighters room 3-5 50
Hold Person 25

110








Name Class 2nd Class B/F Cumulative Target Current Level
Kravaine MU*
143 5116 5259 10000
(4) 3
Eldras T*
275 3616 3891 5000
(4) 3
Barakor F*
138 C*
138 5286/
5286 5424/
5424 8000/
6000
(4/4) 3/3
Holly M
110 5360 5470 10000
(4) 3
Saladin F*
198 5462 5660 8000
(4) 3
Roscoe T*
66 5801 5867 10000
(5) 4
Zionestes C*
121 4711 4832 6000
(4) 3
*EP Bonus applied










21.7.13