D&D Journal #10

You started at Murkham, shortly after Bras died.
While Bras’s men were busy taking care of their master’s body and possessions, Forint took the opportunity and paid his respect to the dead by robbing him blind. After he discovered the not so small fortune Bras was traveling with, he started regretting not having a larger carrying capacity… He ran off with the loot, and buried it (did you remember to draw out a map with “X marks the spot”, to make treasure-hunters’ lives easier?)
The rest of the group (except Forint, who chose to sleep on his treasure and Ivillious who chose to sleep on the ground), meanwhile, went to the local tavern (completely ignoring Mystra’s warning). You were all saved by being finicky misers, for when you found out the outrageous prices the tavern owner wanted for the dirty and run down abode she offered you, you decided to sleep in the tents Waldik offered you for free.
After a good night’s sleep, and just before you set out with the caravans on your way to Blackdeath, Seamore had a short little chat with Bras’s cleric to Lathander (good god of the sun). The only thing of interest the bloke said was that he was ordered by Bras to become a cleric, as Bras though it would come in handy in his travels, and healing is so hard to find in the city.

You traveled two days with the caravans (Forint tried another thieving attempt, but the wagons were too heavily guarded this time), and at the afternoon of the second day reached the outskirts of Blackdeath and entered the area known as “The Stormy Plane“; the storms referring to the magic storms that begin from this area. All the magic wielders of the group (i.e. everybody), felt the drain and change of magic in the plane, although the divine magic casters felt it less than the arcane casters in the group. As you walked through the plane, there were some areas where you felt no magic at all, some where you felt extra strong surges of magic, some where you felt as usual, some where you felt the existence of magic – but not as strong as you usually feel it, and some where you felt magic behave in a totally different way than you’ve ever felt before.

Theodrid decided to try and cast detect magic. What he saw was a psychedelic storm of magic auras, forever changing – sometimes extraordinarily powerful, sometimes weaker than usual, sometimes changing into wild or dead magic zones. The strange thing was that the auras did not remain in place, but kept constantly moving over the desert plane – a terrifying storm of uncontrolled and seemingly unpredictable magic. These effects also extended themselves to the shadow weave, but to a lesser extent.

As you neared the city gates, you began to see the effect the city has on the people that call it home. All the guards checked their weapons, tensed their bodies and kept a close eye on what was happening around them and all conversation stopped as you walked through the scorched and dead plane. And speaking of dead, half buried skeletons started appearing on the ground around you.

A short while after that you encountered the first of Blackdeath’s city guard, in the shape of two well equipped ogres, standing before the gates. The gates themselves were heavily guarded and patrolled; the city wall was formidable, and the guards’ weapons and armor of the best possible kind. Near the gates you saw one of the most famous placards in Alanasia – the source of many jokes and sayings:
“Welcome to Blackdeath.
Thieves are not allowed!”

The two ogres, standing a few dozen feet from the gates, have a unique and important role in filling Lord Accor’s coffers: they are “Flarers”, and as such their job is to provoke all that enter the city, in hope that they, in return, will say or do something that will compromise them – opening an opportunity for blackmail, eventually. These guards are trained to insult more than to attack or defend, and the result of their presence at the gate costs many a traveler his money and merchant his merchandise.

Waldik took the ogres’ abuse as coolly as he could (surprisingly, the guards already knew of Bras’s death, and so did other people in the city. Hmm…), paying his way through the gates, while Waldo took the opportunity to confess to the guards that he is a murder suspect. The guards (Buzik and Gruum) were delighted to hear that and demanded an outrageous sum (5,000 gp) so they would “forget” what they just heard.
Theodrid used intimidate and suggestion to influence the guards into letting you all in for free. He succeeded in influencing Buzik, who told his friend Gruum to let this one slip, just for once. Gruum in return, very kindly bashed him on the head, and while the two were busy rolling around on the floor, biting, kicking and scratching each other, you slipped in. Not exactly what Theodrid had in mind, but good enough, and perhaps a hint for future times…
Waldik met you after the gates and congratulated you on your success in bypassing the guards. He told you where Bras’s house is, and asked that you did not drop by until noon the next day – to allow the family some time to mourn alone and accept the news. He told you to find yourself a nice inn to sleep in, suggesting the “Dragon’s Teeth” or “The New Inn“, before leaving you and repairing to his late master’s home.
Meanwhile, Loran is busy doing helpful work for the guild – like finding out if the rumors of Bras’s death is true. As shortly after Bras’s caravan arrives his house is hung with grass green hangings and flags (green, as all with knowledge(local) know, is the color of mourning in Blackdeath. Those with knowledge(history) know why…), it appears that it is. Loran then disposes of his followers, and follows you all into the “Dragon’s Teeth” tavern, where you meet up with Halim Trumbar, your contact in the city. He suggests that you all go to a more quiet place (and a much more expensive one, at that) – the “King’s Fingers” hotel and restaurant.
You all went there, with Loran following you, and Forint playing “catch as catch can” with him (and catching him too!). While you all sat down and had a nice long chat with Halim, and and excellent meal, Loran and Forint had a “romantic” evening out – at a separate table. And while you learned many interesting facts about the city and about Bras, Forint managed to cleverly con(vince) Loran into organizing a meeting between him and the guild’s leaders.
Little did both know that while they were talking, the guild was busy falling apart from inside…

D&D Journal #9

I’m continuing with last journal’s color scheme (tell me if you didn’t like it), and adding a new one to the palate:
Dark Grey Italics – DM observations and comments.

Now, lets see where were we…

You began the session in Elvenwood- in Eldor, the Elven city.
After swearing secrecy before the elves, you were led outside of the city- just in time to “Black-Out”.
You woke up after a long, long time in a place far, far away from Eldor – a small, beautiful and peaceful forest clearing, with the sound of rushing, roaring water near by.
Forint spotted your guide with difficulty – a strange elf- tall, with startlingly green eyes and an almost perfect camouflage.
He (as we will refer to him from now) told you he is your guide at this turning point of ways- before your next, and most important leg of the journey.
Here a slight misunderstanding occured: I explained myself poorly, and so you grew to understand that He is a servant of Mystra, here only on behalf of the Magic Goddess and interested in Gederin and Theodrid alone.
That is incorrect. He is no servant, and has never been a servant in his life (a very, very long time indeed). Mystra is indeed interested only in Gederin and Theodrid- as is proper. They, after all, are the only arcane spellcasters in the group, and Mystra is part of their story.
However, He is there as a catalyst for many things and to many gods- and for all of you. You will start seeing His significance and your patrons in the next few sessions (don’t worry- you each have one equally powerful to the others’).
After your meeting you received many gifts and a lot of good advice (and also your first glimpse of Blackdeath).
You went from the borders of Elvenwood, using horses, to the village of Murkham, where you joined with Waldo, the merchant, and his caravan, as guards.
You entered Murkham, with your caravan full of rich, expensive fabrics, and Bras the merchant from Blackdeath, greets Waldo with good humor, and invites him to his tent after he has finished settling down. In the mean time, Bras says, he will go to his tent, and write letters until their meeting.

You yourselves are greeted by Waldik, head of Bras’s guard, and have a short and uneventfully chat with him (Gederin seems to have taken a fancy for Waldik, and continuously tries to charm him into liking him. Aren’t gifts and sweet words easier?).
Theodrid proves his worth with children (he’ll make a great father someday! ) when he fascinates the little beggars to leave the carts alone, and later on goes with Seamore to the local blacksmith, to make him (Seamore) a new and better axe. He’s starting to show his nice side, isn’t he? It is a pleasant change.

Shortly afterward, Waldo enters Bras’s tent, and exits it immediately, screaming “Help! Help! He’s D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-ead!”
Waldik, true to form, draws his sword, runs towards Waldo, and yells:”Criminal son of a bastard father! What did you do to my master?!”
A little commotion and a near battle situation arose at this point (you all played your parts well), but after a few moments of total chaos, everybody calmed down a bit, and tried to approach the situation reasonably (Theodrid and Seamore were still at the blacksmith).
Gederin, Ivillious and Forint (who had to be forcibly pried from his plans to “clean up” the gold and fabric wagons) walked to Bras’ tent with Waldik, to examine the scene of the crime.
Waldik questioned the tent guards, and they claimed never to have left their vigilant post, and having not seen anyone trying to enter the tent.
You then walked into the tent, and saw Bras strewn dead on his table, a full wine jug and two empty glasses near him, a small inkstand and quill at his side, a thick squat blood red candle and a tinderbox at his other side, some pieces of paper under him, and not much else of interest (Theodrid and Seamore still blacksmithing away).
You examined Bras, and saw no sign of violence on his body, except some bruises on the large man’s neck. This clears Waldo immediately his hands aren’t large enough to envelop Bras’ neck, and he lacks the physical force needed to complete the job.

(Theodrid and Seamore finally leave the blacksmith, not before saying a teary farewell to the Thunderclash brothers, and promising to send letters every few days)

Then you lifted Bras’ body and examined the letters and documents that were under him.
You saw the same kind of thin crumbly paper that was in the orcs’ metal tube- all without a mark of writing on them. They crumbled as soon as you touched them.
You took Bras’ pen and wrote something on the special paper. The black ink turned red and glowed on the paper before disappearing entirely. The paper still crumbled on touch.
There were also three letters written on regular paper. Their contents are enclosed in the file attached to this post (see comments).

After searching Bras’ travel cases (the small one contains gold, the large one contains clothes and bedding), and the floor for footprints (none found), Gederin smelt a faint odor of sulfur emanating from the candle on the table, and Waldik dryly stated that it’s strange that the candle isn’t lit, as his master was very economic when it came to candles and tinder-twigs- he always left a candle lit on his table when he was in his office so that he could seal his letters without having to relight a candle each time. Gederin decided to light the candle, and as soon as the candle was lit a strange shadow like creature cam out of it and started to attack.
Gederin and Theodrid found out that they can’t cast spells as the the whole tent is under a “silence” spell.
Seamore used his mighty new axe to slash the shadow-like thingy to pieces, while the shadow-like creature started to strangle Theodrid.
Gederin used his magic missile staff to help kill the creature while Forint took the time to try and break into the gold carts (unsuccessfully – he doesn’t have enough strength to lift the gold bars).
Waldik looked frustrated and troubled by the news that magic of some sort might be involved in the death of his master, and Waldo is terrified by the thought that he has to go to Blackdeath if he wants to complete the deal with Bras’ successors. Waldo offers to hire you as guards to his caravan on the way to Blackdeath (200gp a day plus food and board- that’s all he can afford right now) and Waldik suggested that you come to Blackdeath and help find Bras’ murderers, as a reward is likely to be put on their head and he has no experience with magic casters himself, and so will appreciate your help.

The session ended with you agreeing to come and Bras’ and Waldo’s caravans preparing to leave the village at dawn the following day and the sun slowly setting on Bras’ death bed.

And the plot thickens…