Post by Dead Greyhawk on Jan 6, 2007 13:45:34 GMT -5
The reunion of the Company is interrupted by a young gnome, who informs them that Laird Gwaylar wishes their presence. Considering Laird Gwaylar barely refrained from having them interred to perform heavy labor, this is a step in the right direction. The Company immediately heads for the warrens.
The throne room is heavily fortified, as it was the last time the Company appeared before the Laird. Dell seems somewhat surprised by the presence of the giant badgers and the heavily armored guards, lending credence to his assertion that the gnomes treat him with some amount of respect. Laird Gwaylar, surrounded by his personal guard and a cluster of aged advisors, sits on his throne and awaits the report of the Company of the Blue Sun.
Otto, Raven, and Winthrop take turns explaining to Laird Gwaylar the events of the past weeks. As they describe the destruction of the nearby trolls, the incineration of the goblin warband, the successful overthrow of the ogres of the Davish, the beheading of an evil priest and the reconsecration of his undead army, and the death of a great, blue dragon, Laird Gwaylar takes on a mixed look, somewhere between being impressed and being certain he is being lied to. When challenged as to the veracity of their story, Winthrop and Oaklock’s tendency to carve large hunks out of every dead creature they find works to their advantage. Winthrop summons his chest and the panoply of body parts, scales, eyes, fangs, is displayed. Reaching into the chest, he pulls forth a handful of gemstones and offers them to the Laird as a tithe for his hospitality.
The gnomes are quite impressed with the fearsome mien of the Company and the fruits of their labors. When Otto speaks up about the Blackrock Clan dwarves and shows the gnomes the dwarvish runestone given to them by Clangor Heavyhand, Laird Gwaylar’s expression moves into the impressed category. He welcomes the Company back to the Gnome Vale, thanking them for their hard work and efforts to make the area around the vale safer. He reinstates them as welcomed travelers, able to enter the warrens at will.
The Company, somewhat exhausted after all their hiking, opts to retire outdoors, where the corridors and rooms are sized more to their liking. They arrange to meet with Laird Gwaylar on the next day, as they have more to tell him, information best presented not in a grand reception. Dell remains within the warrens, saying that his bed is comfortable.
After resting and recuperating, they meet with Laird Gwaylar, his son, his guard captain, and his most learned advisors. Otto tells them of the magical spring at the headwaters of the Davish. He explains his theory, that the danger is not from the ogres, but from those that were purchasing the armor from the ogres. He fears that the giantkind active in the area here are somehow related to the giantkind he thought he saw on the glacier. He requests the aid of the gnomes in defeating the giantkind that have so decimated his hometown.
Laird Gwaylar’s brow furrows, and he takes his time in mulling and thinking over his options. Finally, he speaks. Laird Gwaylar has what looks to him like a good solution. Laird Gwaylar will provide immediate help to the Company by sending one of his gnomes as a vassal servant, and then he will attempt to find more volunteers to aid the Company in their mission. He will also send with the Company a band of his guard and several advisors to take and hold this magical spring, depriving it from both his and the Company’s enemies. In return, the Company will provide him with one of the magical chalices and its attendant gemstones. Perhaps the gnomes, who have more facility with such items, will be able to eventually learn how to repair the chalices to make their effects permanent. The Company agrees.
It will take Laird Gwaylar some time to organize supplies and his men for the trip to the Davish headwaters. The Company engages in mercantile activity, trying to convert some of their coins to gems and their gems to coins. The gnomes are frightfully good bargainers, haggling the Company down while chomping on cedar chips. The mages speak with Laird Gwaylar’s advisors. While in general, their magics are not compatible, the tools and materials used are often similar. Many of the magical paraphernalia that the Company requires, such as quills, inks, and quality papers, can be adapted from those maintained by the gnomes. Of course, the gnome advisors are among the smartest, most capable of the gnomes, and they haggle much more effectively than the average gnome. The mages pay through the nose for their inks and paraphernalia, but are pleased to have it, so far from human civilization.
After transcribing some of the powerful magics found in the dragon horde, the mages take this opportunity to identify some of the items found by Otto and the others during their trip. The javelin found in the dragon horde generates a stroke of lightning when thrown, while the potions allow the drinker various effects, such as fire and immunity to poisons.
Once Laird Gwaylar and the Company have made their arrangements, and the Company is ready to depart, laden with food, Laird Gwaylar summons the Company to another meeting in his great hall. There, he makes a grand speech about how the valiant members of his guard are traveling into danger to protect the vale, and how the Company of the Blue Sun will accompany them there. “Additionally, a brave gnomish volunteer has volunteered to voluntarily go with the Company!” exclaims Laird Gwaylar.
The use of the word “volunteer” so many times in a single sentence makes the Company uneasy and for good reason. Laird Gwaylar’s men drag a chained, malnourished gnome up into the great hall, where he is unshackled and pushed towards the Company. “Pfiffwin Hintergrund, well known among all of us for his brave acts, will travel with the Company for at least six months, serving their needs. This will repay the gnomes of the Vale for Pfiffwin’s larceny and breach of trust. Three cheers for the justice of the Vale!” thunders Laird Gwaylar. The gnomes erupt in cheers and laughter.
Once the reception has ended, Laird Gwaylar’s men allow the Company only scant minutes to speak with Pfiffwin Hintergrund, their new servant. Pfiffwin is a squirrelly sort, looking like he was raised on pure cedar bark and pine needles. Pfiffwin claims this is all a grave misunderstanding, but Laird Gwaylar’s men push a backpack into Pfiffwin’s arms, apparently the sum total of Pfiffwin’s possessions, and then order everyone out and onto the road.
Dell quickly gives the eye to Pfiffwin and mumbles to one of Lord Gwaylar’s guards. A small gemstone exchanges hands and the guard jogs off. As the Company leaves the warrens, Dell keeps a firm hand on Pfiffwin’s shoulder, eventually passing him over to Otto, saying, “Pfiffwin, Otto. Otto, Pfiffwin. Pfiffwin’s now your charge, Otto. Keep him alive as long as you can.” Pfiffwin goes paler, if that is possible, as he is dragged along by the Company, Otto’s iron grip inescapable.
As the gnomes and the Company file out the gate blocking entrance to the vale, a gnome runs up and presses a large leather package into Dell’s arms. He thanks the messenger, and then gives the leather, armor, folded neatly, to Pfiffwin. “For you; put it on when you get a chance,” says Dell, and then he promptly forgets about the new gnome.
With the gnome guards and advisors traveling with them, the trip northwards to the Davish headwaters goes quickly and smoothly. While Otto led the Company across the mountains well, the gnomes actually know the locations of good paths and safe passes. The headwaters are reached in half the time it took Otto and the others.
The Company scouts the cave and finds it unchanged, except that the decaying bodies have, in some cases, been gnawed on by scavengers, or worse. The gnomes blanch at the sight of so many ogre corpses. Seeing the dead is quite different than hearing about it. The gnome advisor, Waymut Gemsander, investigates the pools with Otto and Oaklock, observing how the waters stay glowing when kept within the chalice, but fade in other flasks. Waymut seems to think that this is a great puzzle to be explored, not being concerned in the least about the security of this small band of gnomes.
Otto presses Waymut on this topic, but is finally quieted when Waymut displays the skills that gave him his position as advisor. With a wave of his hand, the entryway into the forge room simply disappears. The wall instead appears seamless, merely a wall where the corridor loops around between two pits. Understanding that the gnomes will likely hide, not fight, Otto thinks the chance of the spring going unnoticed has increased.
Once the gnomes are ensconced in the cave, the Company climbs up the terraces to the plateau above. After much debate on the trail to the ogres’ caves, the Company agreed that following the trail of the ogrish armor, likely to the glacier to the northwest, and dealing with those creatures purchasing such high quality armor, is the most useful activity to undertake, especially since they are so far from General Greymouse’s lines. Hugh attempted to sway the Company away from this goal, trying to convince them to free Sterich from its undead shackle, but both Otto and Al were adamantly against intentionally fighting large numbers of undead. Faced with organized resistance, Hugh was unable to sway the others.
The trail leading from the plateau back into the mountains is wide enough for a small cart, so it easily allows comfortable walking for the Company. Otto searches far and wide for signs that a cart has used this trail, but is unable to find any. Instead, he finds a smattering of tracks, at least a month old, that head to and from the Davish headwaters. They appear to be man-sized, but he can’t discern who has made them. Raven posits that creatures come and collect the armor and then carry it back into the mountains by brute force, a theory that fits the clues before them.
The Company continues to hike through the mountains for several days gradually climbing into the Crystalmists. Winthrop, who has taken to scanning the sky with his telescope, occasionally sees small creatures flying about the mountaintops ahead of him. The creatures look somewhat like the griffons with whom he spoke, but are subtly different. They look less robust and less leonine. Remembering the news from the turkey vultures, he suggest they might be the horse-birds, or hippogriffs.
Otto grows increasingly frustrated with Pfiffwin, who seems unwilling to carry his own weight in the Company. Pfiffwin explains that he needs his sleep for his special arcana, much more sleep than normal human, elven, or half-elven mages. “Gnomish wizards need to sleep and not perform heavy lifting,” says Pfiffwin gravely. “If we spoil our mental states, the magic is lost to devastating effect.” Otto narrows his eyes threateningly while Pfiffwin maintains a certain child-like innocence.
As the trail begins to head downwards, entering into a long, unstable canyon, with scree and other loose material along the left-hand wall, Otto decides that it is time to scout ahead. Covered by magical invisibility, Jasper and Dell sneak along the edge of the canyon until they see that Otto’s concerns are well founded. A large cave with two banners flying orcish symbols bracketing it exists about two-thirds of the way down the canyon. Standing outside the cave are four large orcs, definitely some sort of watch. Jasper and Dell carefully sneak back to the others to inform them and plan an assault.
The throne room is heavily fortified, as it was the last time the Company appeared before the Laird. Dell seems somewhat surprised by the presence of the giant badgers and the heavily armored guards, lending credence to his assertion that the gnomes treat him with some amount of respect. Laird Gwaylar, surrounded by his personal guard and a cluster of aged advisors, sits on his throne and awaits the report of the Company of the Blue Sun.
Otto, Raven, and Winthrop take turns explaining to Laird Gwaylar the events of the past weeks. As they describe the destruction of the nearby trolls, the incineration of the goblin warband, the successful overthrow of the ogres of the Davish, the beheading of an evil priest and the reconsecration of his undead army, and the death of a great, blue dragon, Laird Gwaylar takes on a mixed look, somewhere between being impressed and being certain he is being lied to. When challenged as to the veracity of their story, Winthrop and Oaklock’s tendency to carve large hunks out of every dead creature they find works to their advantage. Winthrop summons his chest and the panoply of body parts, scales, eyes, fangs, is displayed. Reaching into the chest, he pulls forth a handful of gemstones and offers them to the Laird as a tithe for his hospitality.
The gnomes are quite impressed with the fearsome mien of the Company and the fruits of their labors. When Otto speaks up about the Blackrock Clan dwarves and shows the gnomes the dwarvish runestone given to them by Clangor Heavyhand, Laird Gwaylar’s expression moves into the impressed category. He welcomes the Company back to the Gnome Vale, thanking them for their hard work and efforts to make the area around the vale safer. He reinstates them as welcomed travelers, able to enter the warrens at will.
The Company, somewhat exhausted after all their hiking, opts to retire outdoors, where the corridors and rooms are sized more to their liking. They arrange to meet with Laird Gwaylar on the next day, as they have more to tell him, information best presented not in a grand reception. Dell remains within the warrens, saying that his bed is comfortable.
After resting and recuperating, they meet with Laird Gwaylar, his son, his guard captain, and his most learned advisors. Otto tells them of the magical spring at the headwaters of the Davish. He explains his theory, that the danger is not from the ogres, but from those that were purchasing the armor from the ogres. He fears that the giantkind active in the area here are somehow related to the giantkind he thought he saw on the glacier. He requests the aid of the gnomes in defeating the giantkind that have so decimated his hometown.
Laird Gwaylar’s brow furrows, and he takes his time in mulling and thinking over his options. Finally, he speaks. Laird Gwaylar has what looks to him like a good solution. Laird Gwaylar will provide immediate help to the Company by sending one of his gnomes as a vassal servant, and then he will attempt to find more volunteers to aid the Company in their mission. He will also send with the Company a band of his guard and several advisors to take and hold this magical spring, depriving it from both his and the Company’s enemies. In return, the Company will provide him with one of the magical chalices and its attendant gemstones. Perhaps the gnomes, who have more facility with such items, will be able to eventually learn how to repair the chalices to make their effects permanent. The Company agrees.
It will take Laird Gwaylar some time to organize supplies and his men for the trip to the Davish headwaters. The Company engages in mercantile activity, trying to convert some of their coins to gems and their gems to coins. The gnomes are frightfully good bargainers, haggling the Company down while chomping on cedar chips. The mages speak with Laird Gwaylar’s advisors. While in general, their magics are not compatible, the tools and materials used are often similar. Many of the magical paraphernalia that the Company requires, such as quills, inks, and quality papers, can be adapted from those maintained by the gnomes. Of course, the gnome advisors are among the smartest, most capable of the gnomes, and they haggle much more effectively than the average gnome. The mages pay through the nose for their inks and paraphernalia, but are pleased to have it, so far from human civilization.
After transcribing some of the powerful magics found in the dragon horde, the mages take this opportunity to identify some of the items found by Otto and the others during their trip. The javelin found in the dragon horde generates a stroke of lightning when thrown, while the potions allow the drinker various effects, such as fire and immunity to poisons.
Once Laird Gwaylar and the Company have made their arrangements, and the Company is ready to depart, laden with food, Laird Gwaylar summons the Company to another meeting in his great hall. There, he makes a grand speech about how the valiant members of his guard are traveling into danger to protect the vale, and how the Company of the Blue Sun will accompany them there. “Additionally, a brave gnomish volunteer has volunteered to voluntarily go with the Company!” exclaims Laird Gwaylar.
The use of the word “volunteer” so many times in a single sentence makes the Company uneasy and for good reason. Laird Gwaylar’s men drag a chained, malnourished gnome up into the great hall, where he is unshackled and pushed towards the Company. “Pfiffwin Hintergrund, well known among all of us for his brave acts, will travel with the Company for at least six months, serving their needs. This will repay the gnomes of the Vale for Pfiffwin’s larceny and breach of trust. Three cheers for the justice of the Vale!” thunders Laird Gwaylar. The gnomes erupt in cheers and laughter.
Once the reception has ended, Laird Gwaylar’s men allow the Company only scant minutes to speak with Pfiffwin Hintergrund, their new servant. Pfiffwin is a squirrelly sort, looking like he was raised on pure cedar bark and pine needles. Pfiffwin claims this is all a grave misunderstanding, but Laird Gwaylar’s men push a backpack into Pfiffwin’s arms, apparently the sum total of Pfiffwin’s possessions, and then order everyone out and onto the road.
Dell quickly gives the eye to Pfiffwin and mumbles to one of Lord Gwaylar’s guards. A small gemstone exchanges hands and the guard jogs off. As the Company leaves the warrens, Dell keeps a firm hand on Pfiffwin’s shoulder, eventually passing him over to Otto, saying, “Pfiffwin, Otto. Otto, Pfiffwin. Pfiffwin’s now your charge, Otto. Keep him alive as long as you can.” Pfiffwin goes paler, if that is possible, as he is dragged along by the Company, Otto’s iron grip inescapable.
As the gnomes and the Company file out the gate blocking entrance to the vale, a gnome runs up and presses a large leather package into Dell’s arms. He thanks the messenger, and then gives the leather, armor, folded neatly, to Pfiffwin. “For you; put it on when you get a chance,” says Dell, and then he promptly forgets about the new gnome.
With the gnome guards and advisors traveling with them, the trip northwards to the Davish headwaters goes quickly and smoothly. While Otto led the Company across the mountains well, the gnomes actually know the locations of good paths and safe passes. The headwaters are reached in half the time it took Otto and the others.
The Company scouts the cave and finds it unchanged, except that the decaying bodies have, in some cases, been gnawed on by scavengers, or worse. The gnomes blanch at the sight of so many ogre corpses. Seeing the dead is quite different than hearing about it. The gnome advisor, Waymut Gemsander, investigates the pools with Otto and Oaklock, observing how the waters stay glowing when kept within the chalice, but fade in other flasks. Waymut seems to think that this is a great puzzle to be explored, not being concerned in the least about the security of this small band of gnomes.
Otto presses Waymut on this topic, but is finally quieted when Waymut displays the skills that gave him his position as advisor. With a wave of his hand, the entryway into the forge room simply disappears. The wall instead appears seamless, merely a wall where the corridor loops around between two pits. Understanding that the gnomes will likely hide, not fight, Otto thinks the chance of the spring going unnoticed has increased.
Once the gnomes are ensconced in the cave, the Company climbs up the terraces to the plateau above. After much debate on the trail to the ogres’ caves, the Company agreed that following the trail of the ogrish armor, likely to the glacier to the northwest, and dealing with those creatures purchasing such high quality armor, is the most useful activity to undertake, especially since they are so far from General Greymouse’s lines. Hugh attempted to sway the Company away from this goal, trying to convince them to free Sterich from its undead shackle, but both Otto and Al were adamantly against intentionally fighting large numbers of undead. Faced with organized resistance, Hugh was unable to sway the others.
The trail leading from the plateau back into the mountains is wide enough for a small cart, so it easily allows comfortable walking for the Company. Otto searches far and wide for signs that a cart has used this trail, but is unable to find any. Instead, he finds a smattering of tracks, at least a month old, that head to and from the Davish headwaters. They appear to be man-sized, but he can’t discern who has made them. Raven posits that creatures come and collect the armor and then carry it back into the mountains by brute force, a theory that fits the clues before them.
The Company continues to hike through the mountains for several days gradually climbing into the Crystalmists. Winthrop, who has taken to scanning the sky with his telescope, occasionally sees small creatures flying about the mountaintops ahead of him. The creatures look somewhat like the griffons with whom he spoke, but are subtly different. They look less robust and less leonine. Remembering the news from the turkey vultures, he suggest they might be the horse-birds, or hippogriffs.
Otto grows increasingly frustrated with Pfiffwin, who seems unwilling to carry his own weight in the Company. Pfiffwin explains that he needs his sleep for his special arcana, much more sleep than normal human, elven, or half-elven mages. “Gnomish wizards need to sleep and not perform heavy lifting,” says Pfiffwin gravely. “If we spoil our mental states, the magic is lost to devastating effect.” Otto narrows his eyes threateningly while Pfiffwin maintains a certain child-like innocence.
As the trail begins to head downwards, entering into a long, unstable canyon, with scree and other loose material along the left-hand wall, Otto decides that it is time to scout ahead. Covered by magical invisibility, Jasper and Dell sneak along the edge of the canyon until they see that Otto’s concerns are well founded. A large cave with two banners flying orcish symbols bracketing it exists about two-thirds of the way down the canyon. Standing outside the cave are four large orcs, definitely some sort of watch. Jasper and Dell carefully sneak back to the others to inform them and plan an assault.
