Ah Politics!

So D&D has been a bit off my mind lately, and I apologize.
In our last mission, the party came across an intriguing character who seemed to have something they wanted to discuss with them. Curious, they followed him down a few of the rat warrens of Dockside in Lowtown.
It turned out he had been sent by a figure known as 'Goldtooth,' who wanted to know what had happened to his 'cargo'--that pile of sticky black highly-illegal residue currently residing in one of y'all's backpacks.
Two of his buddies decided to join him, and despite their looking extremely formidable, our band of plucky heroes decided to go to work anyway: despite a few serious wounds, they chopped and stabbed their way to victory and captured their leader, the fancy-looking poppinjay known as Pierce Appleleaf (I believe).
As he was nothing but a mercenary and now feared for his life, he told the party everything they wanted to know. I will attempt to post a lot of the more political stuff here (what I can pull from my notes) so that you can combine those with whatever notes you all took.

There is a steam powered lighthouse. The coast is fairly rock with lots of little rocky islets. On the side opposite the lighthouse there is a giant mirror. The light flashes off it every time teh lighthouse turns around, thus acting as a flash of light and a secondary reference.

The extensively depressing tale of "Morgan"

 Morgan                                            PART. 1

When Morgan was a young child, not much older than 7 months, He and his mother wandered into a forest to eat lunch.  A picnic his mother said, after lunch my memory gets I little fuzzy, but the last thing Morgan remembered, he had been looking up at the heavens, it was dark then. As difficult as it was for a child of his age he sat up to scan his surroundings, dark pines, salal brush and ferns covered the boarders of the clearing he sat. For hours he sat in confusion,

Two days of Thyne

Better than Thyne

Desmond spent several hours of the moonlight scanning over the parchment found upon the deceased sorcerer’s attire.  After deciphering the note he sat pondering the meaning and implications of the scroll eventually sinking into sleep. In the wicker chair at his study, his dreams malformed to Shamus and his condescending tones and expressions.  Moments of the interaction repeated, each time the expressions increased in intensity.  The animosity built to anger with the passage of the dream loop, and was accompanied by a dark voice.  "In ashes, retribution in ashes," the draconic voice repeated over and over.

The burning light of the morning sun cast upon Desmond.  He awoke unaware of the dreamscape of the previous night with an overwhelming desire to pursue Shamus.  He tried to ignore the urges deciding to visit a local engineer to inquire about the workings of the local town elevator.  His visit was short and unsatisfying as the Dwarven Engineer shrugged him off with distain.

More about Bill, Part Two

     It was interesting for me to run into Adrie Galanodel one day while we were walking around Thyne. She is a cousin to my mentor Soveliss Galanodel and is also a member of the priests of Corellon here in Thyne. I have started to spend time reading with her in an effort to continue my training in charismatic arts and approaches. Soveliss had thought that one day I might better understand what it meant to be persuasive or diplomatic. He chuckled lightly when I would ask questions about being deceptive or intimidating. He said to try but it’s not in my heart or character. Adrie is the Underpriestess here in Thyne second only to the High Priestess Glessil Wilwarin. We make efforts to spend an hour a day as I try to learn this. Heavens knows how long this endeavor will take but I am glad to have picked this training back up.

     It saddens me that I see some of the young elves here still leery of humans. It seems the Meliamne family would prefer to stay away from humans as much as possible. Which led me to wonder, why would they choose to live and serve Corellon in a city so full of humans? Adrie says they are fine and though they keep to themselves they are not harmful.

     I have also experienced the blessing of growth bestowed upon on me by Corellon twice now and it’s an amazing thing to experience. My holy symbol that I wear around my neck will begin a slight glow. I know that it means I am to go alone quietly and pray for a period of time. As I sit and pray, the symbol grows brighter until it pierces my soul with power. It then slowly fades back to once it was and I feel strengthened in many different ways. I look to my book of prayers and more has been revealed.

Back story of Bill Hayek

Bill Hayek, Human Healing Cleric

I grew up on a farm south of Haelden near some mountains.

My father was a simple caring man that lived off the land. He taught me how to hunt & fish & gather herbs. My mother was an acolyte in the local church. She helped the priest primarily through her compassion & care of sick or hurting people...

When I was 12 our village was attacked by some inhumanly large & grotesque humanoids that later I learned to be Ogres. We were a peaceful village with only a few weapons mostly pitchforks. They fought as hard as they could but the ogres were overwhelming & starving to boot. They wanted the taste of man flesh badly & fought hard to get it. My mother took me behind the church and shoved me in a large chest that held small work tools. I remember hearing a loud noise & I couldn't push the lid open. She had shoved over a rack that was next to the chest & it pinned me in there.

Backstory of Desmond

                DESMOND

Here is an outsiders summary of the Dhampir Sorcerer Desmond.  Very little is known of his origins.  Although Desmond  never met his father he could deduce that he was a vampire and that his mother had escaped his enslavement.  Desmond and his mother lived seculed in a small farm cottage in Kandrovia.  He was very young when the cottage was discovered and raided by the blood slavers.  His mother attempted to hide and protect him but the raiders were to many and she was killed in the act.  Her efforts proved futile as the slavers burned the cottage, drove him from hiding and captured Desmond.

They drug him chained and shackled for many days north towards the desolation.  When one night, while in camp at the Northern Mountains of Kandrovia, the encampment was condemned.  The god Vecna massacred the encampment leaving many bleeding in agony while the rest fled in horror.  Vecna came across the Dhampir child chained to a nearby wagon and decided to spare him.  Reaching down Vecna touched the child’s forehead rendering him unconscious.  Desmond awoke, unshackled, to the moans of agony of injured slavers.  Something came over him.  His starvation and the carnage of blood overwhelmed him.  He ascended upon the injured slavers feeding on one after the other until the blood turned cold. 

This began a period of Desmond’s life where he drifted in and out of reality.  In the woods he survived in a blood fever state devouring anything that came near.  Many years past as he grew older and stronger.  He learned to survive, track, hunt, and co
ntrol his blood fever.  After years of practicing control over his urges he became curious with the cities and people.  He had become very lonely in the woods. His only companion was his carbuncle, which didn’t seem to understand him and didn’t speak.  Also, people had quit traveling to his woods as rumors of a forest demon had circled amongst the towns.

 

He traveled to the cities and watched people and how they interacted.  Sometimes he would venture into the towns and sit in the markets and listen conversations.  The nobles and rich became most intriguing to him, as they could get whatever they desired by the way they spoke and their mannerisms.  Desmond began to practice what he saw.  He would go to town and attempt to persuade vendors to contribute him items, or private clubs to give him exclusive access.  Mostly he failed but eventually he became quite skilled in his approach.  With each failure he would learn new tactics for success. 

Life continued on like this, hunting in the Outlands and practicing social games in the towns, until he reached young adulthood.  On an overcast afternoon Desmond was in town attempting to convince another youth to let him borrow a violin.  When he laid his hand upon the kid’s shoulder the kid instantly believed Desmond was a long lost friend.  He handed over the violin to him without a further question.  Other strange powers began to emerge:  He could speak to people without talking, with a wave of his hand he could create illusions, and he could change his appearance to any form he wished.  His social games in town reached a new level.  Confidence radiated from him.  With his power he could obtain anything he desired. 

However, the arrival of these powers were not all pleasant.  Desmond began to be tormented with visions.  Every time he would venture to sleep he would be fouled with hallucinations of powerful vampire lords and demons.  Sometimes a dragon in the shadows would visit him and guide him with his powers and questions.  As he grew to adulthood his powers grew along with the nightmares.  Night by night he would see towns burning, people massacred, vampires standing above thousands of shackled slaves, and demons of grotesque form destroying the very ground they walked. 

June 6th--Battle at the tor

So last we had left our adventurers they had defeated some goblins and hobgoblins at the Watson's Farm. After gathering what remained of the armor and weapons, our valiant crew made camp for the night. The first half of the night watch was held down by Bill, Desmond and Morgan with Rickroll, Bella and Vero taking the second shift of the night. Nothing to eventful to report, just some clouds rolling in and no real action took place. The following morning, we find Bill, Desmond and Morgan awake around the campfire beginning their day. They all noticed how the other three were just sleeping in and at first gave no heed as Rickroll, again, was passing the mead around unselfishly.

Not to much later, Bill notices that there are tracks around us and that the 3 goblins we had as prisoners had all had their throats slit by a jagged knife.... Upon further examination they noticed some tracks headed off to the north. It was Morgan i believe that noticed something in the woods watching us! We called out to "it" and a drably dressed woman with a walking staff came up to us. She introduced herself as "Sheldonia" and said that she had watched some goblins sneak up and slit these other goblins throats. She also pointed out to us that we had made camp inside a faerie ring of mushrooms (contributing to the sleepiness of the latter 3 heroes) After a brief conversation, the 3 heroes that were awake decided to follow this character to the north to figure out what had happened.

The uneasiness of these four was apparent as they approached a clearing in which they saw a scraggly lil goblin watching over a meager fire next to a tent. The goblin fell over suddenly as Desmond got close to him and we subdued him. After he awoke, we debated on what to do. It was decided that we would follow this creature "Gobby" to a clearing that he claimed all the other goblins came from. He made a deal with Bill that he would be allowed to go free after showing the adventurers this place called "Tor" Gobby spit on his hand and held it out for Bill to shake on. Bill looked at it and with some disgust shook on it.

Once the creature had took them to this valley that was looking westward toward this very tall outcropping of rocks, he left them. Desmond followed for a bit but lost his scent, somehow...

I think the initial goal of this part was to do some recon of this rock tower, so we ventured out to check it out. Desmond and Morgan went to the northern part as Sheldonia went to the southern part. Strangely, Bill chose to keep an eye from the woods overlooking the valley. Sheldonia was the first to come across the goblins and their sorcerer boss at the top of the hill. Morgan and Desmond commenced to fight from the north as the out of place Bill tried desperately to catch up to his compatriots. Our heroes were outnumbered and wisdom says they should've retreated if not for the fact that the leader of the goblins tripped on his face and rendered himself useless for most of the battle. It also helped that we realized our ally, Sheldonia, was a druid and her changing shape into a bear in the midst of the fight was probably the tide turner. The Gods were watching over our band of heroes and they took them down and celebrated an improbable victory

Tidbits

Hey all--
I haven't done as much with this blog as I'd like to. I'll try to get it a bit more updated. Ideally it can be a place where we can share stuff to flesh out our world when we're not together as a group. One thing that is usually fun to do is to write up your character's backstory and post it up for everyone to read. I know TJ is hard at work on his. For a bit of information, I thought I would link the profiles of a few famous characters within the world. I've done quite a bit of writing and it's fun to share a bit.  I intended that these characters would be famous figures in the world, and your characters will definitely have heard of them (they are also fully fleshed out npcs that we actually playtested--it could be a fun option for a side mission sometime if you want to play them). Anyway, enjoy--and if you're inspired--great! (By the way, there are a few links interspersed in the text--they shouldn't work for you.  I've got to keep some secrets!)

A Rude Introduction

Our four heroes, Rickroll the Vanirman, Morgan the dwarf, Bill the human cleric, and Desmond the pale-faced sorcerer found themselves the victims of an attempted shanghai at the hands of a group of unknown thugs. After breaking themselves out of their jail cell, they fought their way free, killing two guards and finding two caches of illegal contraband. They stole a boat and made their way to a more hospitable area in the city of Thyne.

The next day after doing a bit of exploring, they came upon a town crier called Jonath Applebottom, who, after a bit of wrangling, told them all of the local gossip:

• Sir Ganstan, Knight of the Triskelion, is in town recruiting.
• A farm near Trin was overrun by ghouls. 
• Travelers along the Great Western Road are more frequently being taken by blood slavers. 
• The King of Panteau has made an historic visit to capital of Vanirlands in his airship. 
• The Princess Yvette has turned down yet another suitor. This one from Shadenthel. 
• Pirates have taken a Thynish merchantman off the coast of Rethel. Captain Stalis is scouring the coast. Offering a bounty of 100g per ship sunk.
• A major godstone expedition has recently passed headed to Sovhi. 100  mercenary guards. Believed to be from Haelden. 
• The king has become taken with the blacksmith's daughter. This time it's not just a bit of diddling--apparently he's in love. Tension with the churches of Pelor and Ceres. The clerics of Pelor say he can't marry a commoner. The clerics of Ceres say it's natural and simply love. The wealthier merchants and nobility are in an uproar. 
• The cleric of Boccob, the god of magic, was beaten up by unknown assailants and told to leave. Meanwhile the Vheeprans continue to preach against magic and are gaining more followers amongst the artisans. 
• Goblin raids continue along the border of the Halthus. The king keeps most forces patrolling the north, to keep out the undead and slavers. The goblins pose new problems to the west. There has even been talk of hobgoblin captains. Starting to look far more organized. 
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• More reports of explorers hitting the ruin of Kandrov. Some talk of vast treasures still uncovered. Others say Drow secretly rule the city from its bowels. 
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• A dragon has been seen at the volcano my stenev. It may have even made its home inside the caldera. New Temia has taken precautions and has been installing magically enhanced ballista through out the towers of the city. 
• The famous bard anders tesscobble is playing at ringo jaks. 
• Jim Campbell claims there's some kind of water devil in his pond. Offering a 10g bounty. 
• Milbar having something going through their Apple stores. Unknown what.