Rumours in Staneford (16th October 2013)
The Adventurers
Hallan – Fighter
Johan - Cleric
Paulix – Thief
Vox Comwy – Magic User
Magician in Flux - Freyasday 5th Quattrober
963 (Day 10) – afternoon
The village of Darenth lay under a grey blanket of drizzle.
Everything was as soaked through as a washerwoman’s apron on wash day. Vox,
loaded down under his heavy sack of adventuring equipment, slipped and slid his
way down the slight incline from Sir Richard’s mansion, bringing up the rear of
the party as they headed towards the comfort and dryness of the Miller’s Arms
tavern.
Once inside and sat at a table nursing a drink, he
considered what he wanted to do with the scroll that had come into his
possession. He quickly downed his jack of ale and squared his shoulders for the
return journey to Sir Richard’s manor. He told his companions that he would be
heading out to try to exchange his scroll for something more useful.
Vox stepped back out into the rain, trudged his way back up
the slope to the mansion and asked the guards at the gate whether he could see
Godefroi, Sir Richard’s vizier. The guards recognised him, and after a few
moments they returned to escort him into the presence of the vizier. Godefroi
asked what he wanted and when he was told that he had some information for him,
his attention fixed upon Vox. The magician offered up the scroll and suggested
that as Godefroi was a superior thaumaturge he might make more use of the magic
contained within but that he would like something in return. Godefroi quickly
studied the scroll and realised that it was a spell that he did not already
have within his repertoire. He considered Vox’s offer and countered that he
would teach Vox a spell in return for the scroll and something extra as it was not
certain that he would be able to copy it into his spell book without error.
Vox agreed to the trade and handed over the scroll. Godefroi
led the adventurer into his study and attempted to teach him a variety of
spells, but Vox could not grasp the subtleties involved in copying them down.
Godefroi suggested that he might be tired after all of his adventuring and
should he return on the morrow he would spend a bit longer with him; but for a
price.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party who were still in the
tavern wondered who the two prisoners that the men-at-arms had escorted into
the lord’s manor were. They thought about it and realised that it could not be
any of their friends from High Beeches as Albus had only just recently started
his return journey to the hamlet and could therefore not be a captive. They
assumed that they must be a couple of scapegoats for the troubles that had occurred
recently in the small village; burning crops, summoning demons (in the form of
the living dead), and being in cahoots with legions of strange creatures were
all things that could lead to accusations of witch craft and strong punishment.
Trial by Fire - Godsday 6th Quattrober (Day 11)
Just after the six o’clock morning bells, Vox sprang from
his cot in the tavern, bolted down his breakfast and sprinted up the hill to
see Godefroi for his magical training session. He ignored the drizzle in his
haste and arrived at the gate out of breath. The guards chuckled at the sight
of the highly energetic trainee mage, and ushered him through to Godefroi’s
study as arranged. As this was to be a training session, and would take the
whole day, Godefroi charged Vox the going rate for his services; one hundred
silver pieces. Vox handed over the coins and began his first session of serious
study under an accomplished wizard.
The rest of the party killed time by sharpening their
weapons, cleaning their armour and tending to their clothing and adventuring
equipment. Paulix heard from Jaden that the trial of the two prisoners would be
held later that afternoon, but he didn’t see them getting out of their
punishment. Samson headed to the woodworker’s cottage to collect and pay for
his newly affixed axe handle. The weapon was as good as new and he swung it in
a few experimental strokes before being asked to practice his dangerous art
elsewhere.
Just after lunch, the most important members of the village,
Jared, the miller, the two priests and a couple of the more important farmers,
trudged their way up to Sir Richard’s manor, where they were ushered straight
into the great hall. No-one else was allowed into the hall, either to take part
in the proceedings or to watch from a public gallery. It was to be a trial by a
jury of peers behind closed doors.
After a few hours of deliberation the verdict was given and
a minor ruckus erupted within the hall that momentarily put Vox off his
studies. A couple of Sir Richard’s retainers headed down to the local carpenter
and ordered the execution equipment to be set up. The party, still in the
tavern, managed to see the activities begin through the tavern window and saw that
a pair of large stakes and several faggots of wood were taken to the village
green and set up for the guilty parties.
Just as the evening bells rang out to bring the farmers in
from their fields, a sombre procession led down from the manor house to the
green where the two prisoners were bound to the stakes, protesting their
innocence all the way. The senior priest read out a sermon, asked the guilty to
repent their sins, and when they refused he asked Sol Invictus to cast the evil-doers
into the Abyss where they belonged.
The flames were lit and the crowd watched intently as the
two sinners were taken to meet their demonic lords.
Later that evening a caravan pulled into the village and
hitched their horses for the night. Hallan, Johan and Paulix approached the
lead merchant and asked if he needed more guards for his caravan. He replied
that he already had as many guards as he needed but would appreciate their
company as extra security and would feed them on the journey the following day
as a thank you for travelling with him. The party questioned the merchant about
his journey so far and he replied that it had become increasingly more risky to
transport goods around over the last year or so and less profitable due to
having to hire more guards. He said that this danger from bandit raids could
occur anywhere on the route from High Beeches right through to Castleford in
the north by the river Abis.
Arrival in Staneford - Moonday 8th Quattrober
(Day 13)
The caravan had an uneventful journey to Staneford. The
first day passed without incident and the night they made camp to pass the
night at the halfway stage passed without incident. The party almost wished for
trouble to ease their boredom as the caravan wound its way through the woods
and over the hills and dales on the journey north towards Staneford.
As the morning of the second day of the journey wore on, the
caravan travelled down a muddy, rutted road lined with closely-grown hedges of
brambles and shrubs. Here and there the road cut through a copse of trees or
crossed a small rivulet. To either side, forest and meadow gave way to field
and orchard. A small herd of cattle grazed in a field nearby and in the
distance could be seen smoke rising from chimneys. The party passed the great
stone-built chapel to Sol Invictus upon a nearby rise, noted the huge stone
tower on a granite outcrop in the distance, and then to either side of the road
ahead they passed many well-kept cruck and plaster barns and buildings before
stopping in the courtyard of the largest building they had ever seen; the
Plough and Stars Inn.
The merchant thanked the party for their help and got to
work ordering his teamsters to unpack the produce and stable the horses. The
adventurers looked around at the rest of the village before heading inside the
tavern.
The interior was well aired and lit and there were a dozen
or so customers dotted around the main common area, seated at comfortable
tables and benches. The innkeeper, his wife and a handful of serving girls and
pot boys bustled around the inn serving the hungry customers.
Ostler Gundigoot introduced himself and asked if he could be
of service. The party booked private rooms for the night and headed back
outside the doors to follow up on the clues that they had.
The Druid – afternoon
They decided that their first port of call should be Jaroo,
the druid. They had spotted what looked like his grove just down the road from
the tavern. The well-tended small copse within the village was obviously a
place of worship. The trees lining the path were neatly pruned and the grass
was well tended. A carefully placed line of bluish stones lined the path to a
rock cairn covered in offerings of nuts, corn dollies, candles, garlands and
flowers to the nature god Cernunnos. A small path beyond the shrine led to a
low-roofed building placed under the boughs of the great central oak trees.
Vox knocked on the door of the small building but he
received no answer from within. A few moments later a man dressed in un-dyed plain
robes emerged from the trees and asked them their business. The party
introduced themselves and showed the druid the metal amulet, asking him if he
knew what it was. He said he didn’t know what it was but recognised the symbols
as being from the ancient Cthonic rune language. He couldn’t read it but did
know from the way that it was written that the runes spelled out a cartouche of
some ancient demon.
The party asked him whether anyone else in the village would
know exactly what it meant. He mentioned that Terjon, the new Canon who had
replaced Canoness Y’Dey when she disappeared suddenly about a month ago, might
know, as might Burne, the sorcerer in the round fortified tower. If they had no
luck then they could always attend the New Moon meeting held every month where
anyone could ask a question of the village council.
Just as they were about to finish their conversation, Jaroo
led the party to the standing stones and asked them for a personal offering.
Johan gave his staff, Hallan his cudgel and Vox a scattering of tea leaves.
Paulix had nothing of any real personal value, so left a small pile of coins.
Jaroo walked them to the end of his path and bade them
farewell but Vox had one last question. He wanted to know what it was with all
the rain. Jaroo replied that he did not know but it did not feel right.
The bells for six o’clock rang out and the village began to
return from the fields and prepare for the evening prayers. They noticed that
maybe a third to one half of the village made their way to the church; more
people than they had ever seen attending a Sol Invictus service. Johan swore
that he must do something about this turning from the old ways.
The party returned to the tavern and spent the night
carousing. They spoke to the ostler who told them about many of the characters
in tavern and the village. Paulix spotted a card shark at a table; he won more
than he lost but did it in such a way that the others at the table didn’t feel
cheated although Paulix concluded that he must either be an extremely good card
player or he was cheating in some way. They also spotted the caravan merchant
who stood them a round of ale. The men-at-arms, who were neither from Vannin
nor Thuringia, were quite sociable and answered a few questions about security
in the region. They mentioned a tale of a monstrous troll being hunted down by
a bunch of adventurers about a year ago but were unsure what had happened to
the adventurers except that they brought back the troll’s ashes and a load of
treasure before disappearing again. They also repeated the story of the bandit
attacks beginning again about a year or so ago and that they had begun to get
more frequent. No-one knew who the perpetrators were as there were never any
bandit corpses or merchants left alive to tell the tale. Rumour had it that
they might come from either the moat house in the marshes or from the
despicable village of Nulb to the north. Throughout the night they saw one
particular man by the name of Elmo wandering throughout the tavern, scrounging
drinks and laughing uproariously in a drunken way at all and sundry. He offered
the party his services as a fellow adventurer as long as they supplied him with
a big axe and armour as he wanted to be like his brother Otis who had left the
village at the same time as the Canoness Y’Dey. The party realised that they
would get no more information that night, so retired to their rooms to plan
what they would do the following day.
Getting to Know the Locals - Tirsday 9th
Quattrober (Day 14)
The following morning the party rose early and broke their
fast on the splendid morsels on offer. They glanced out of the tavern windows
and realised that at long last the rain had stopped. They each had tasks to
carry out, so they said that they would meet up again later after gaining as
much information as possible.
Vox and Johan decided to take a look at the tower on one of
the large granite outcrops. They noticed that there was a hive of activity
going on. When they approached the outcrop they noticed that foundations were
being dug for a curtain wall and a variety of stones were being worked on for
the wall itself; the quarry being across the river at the other granite
outcrop. There were maybe twenty or so labourers at work in a variety of roles
and they seemed to be accompanied by their womenfolk and children as well as a
few mangy curs. Johan and Vox realised that they might be able to grab a few
converts from the workers and began to move amongst them healing a few sprains
and closing cuts that affected the type of work some of the labourers could
carry out. They spent the rest of the day with the workers, eating with them
and preaching the word of Balder. This met with a little resistance from some
but many were happy to hear the energetic preaching of the young cleric.
Meanwhile, Paulix headed up towards the temple in time for
the first service of the day. On his way out of the tavern he noticed that
there were a couple of warhorses in the stables being brushed down. He headed
inside to the main altar room after making a small donation at the door under
the insistence of the deacon Calmert. He watched the congregation rather than
listening to the sermon and noticed that two well-dressed members were seated
at the front. He assumed that these were the magician Lord Burne and his
accomplice Sir Rufus due to the fact that they were surrounded by a number of
men-at-arms. He took note of all the others present and waited for the service
to end.
At the end of the service he approached the main priest
Terjon and asked him if he recognised the runes on the amulet he held out to
him. Terjon took a good look but admitted that other than it being in an old
runic language he didn’t really know what it said. The Canoness Y’Dey would
have known but she had been called away at short notice only a month or so ago
and he was her temporary replacement. As it gave off a magical aura, he
suggested that maybe Lord Burne would be the best person to ask about this.
Paulix made his way up to the tower, passing a very busy Vox
and Johan along the way. He walked up the pathway towards the tower and was
called to halt by a guard on the tower walkway. The main tower looked to be
about thirty-five feet tall with another centrally placed smaller tower rising
a further twenty feet. On certain parts of the walls Paulix could make out several
other guards and the shapes of several war machines (scorpions and mangonels). The
entrance to the tower was only accessible by going up a flight of stone steps
which terminated about ten feet above the ground. The outer door of the
entranceway to the tower was lowered to form a bridge to the stone landing, and
a raised portcullis and thick iron inner door completed the entranceway
defences. Paulix observed that there were a number of arrow slits around the
tower and the base of the tower was reinforced with a six foot splay to add
more strength.
The guard asked Paulix what he wanted and came down to meet
him when he said that he had urgent business with lord Burne. Paulix briefly
described what he wanted to share with the mage and the guard mentioned that he
could try to get him an audience for a small fee. Paulix handed over a few
silver coins but the guard harrumphed until five silvers were sitting in his
palm. He asked where he could be found later and when Paulix responded that he
is staying at the Plough and Stars he said to the thief to await him there with
news of an audience.
On his way back to the tavern, Paulix decided to have a
short wander to see the last parts of the village he had not seen until now. On
his travels he spotted Elmo bumbling around; he seemed to always be wandering
around the village in his drunken stupor. Just across the ford from the tavern Paulix
spotted a sturdy new building with a sign displaying three golden balls; the
universal sign of a usurer. He remembered that he still had four of the gems
left from the mara’s treasure, so he headed to the door to change them up. He
was met at the door by a burly guard in chainmail cradling a loaded crossbow in
his arms with a fine looking sword at his belt. Two mastiffs chained nearby
growled as he approached. The guard asked what he wanted and upon receiving
Paulix’s answer he rapped on the door. A slot in the door opened and the guard whispered
to the man within. Paulix was then admitted to a small workshop by Melubb the
moneychanger. After a brief look at the gems, he offered Paulix a value
slightly less than he himself had appraised them at. Paulix needed the coins,
so accepted the offer graciously and bid Melubb a good day.
An Audience with Lord Burne - afternoon
Paulix met up with Hallan at the inn and sat down with him
to discuss what he had found out. Just after lunch, a couple of men-at-arms
entered the inn and made enquiries after Paulix. They said that they had come
to escort him to see Lord Burne about the news he wished to impart. Paulix and
Hallan grabbed their weapons and followed on, picking up Vox and Johan along
the way. All four were asked to hand over their weapons before being ushered through
the entranceway, past the winding gear for the portcullis and up a flight of
stairs to the upper level and into the chamber of the magician.
He welcomed them into his cluttered abode with a wave of his
hand and said that they had magic about them. Paulix said that this was the
reason he had come to see him and produced the metal amulet. Lord Burne leant
forward and took it from him inspecting it as he did so. He went quiet for a
while. He then said that this was one of the keys to the great doors of the
Temple that bound a great demon. He asked how they had come by it but was
puzzled by their response that Albus had one day found it in his treasure
chest. He then proceeded to tell a little of the back story about how ten or so
years ago an evil Temple had arisen in the area close to the village of Nulb
and had terrorised the area. Warriors and mages from the surrounding nations
got together and defeated the Temple’s denizens, but not without great loss. A
terrible demon that had aided the Temple followers was subsequently locked away
in the lower levels of its dungeons before the whole lot was razed to the
ground. Then, about a year ago, a small band of tough adventurers hunted down
and destroyed a great troll which had nested within the Great Gnarley but was
terrorising the surrounding countryside. It was at this point that the bandit
raids grew more frequent and seemingly more organised. No clues could be gained
from the raids as the bandits always got clean away and there were never any
survivors to tell the tale. The appearance of the goblins and kobolds showed
that evil humanoids were again being summoned from beyond the Void to do the
job of someone or something. The places where the evil started ten years ago were
around the Temple which was just outside of Nulb, but nearer to Staneford was a
moat house in the fens that held a garrison that was the perpetrator of the
local raids. Burne thought that this was most likely where the bandits were
coming from at the moment as it was within striking distance of the village and
easily re-enforceable from Nulb and the river.
He handed the amulet back to Paulix and said he would like
them to go to the moat house to reconnoitre; any treasure found there they
could keep. Burne said that he would just like any information detailing the new
set-up of the Temple or any other similar clues relayed to him so that he could
pass on the details to his superiors. Slightly annoyed at not being offered a
reward, Paulix agreed that they would look into it and asked Burne if he would
look after the amulet as it seemed so important. Burne quickly made his excuses
and said he did not want anything to do with it.
The adventurers made their obeisance, leaving the wizard to
his reflections, and headed back to the Plough and Stars tavern to figure out
what to do next.
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