Orhan 1 Day 19 TE 6064

Gireg Jan knows nothing, but perhaps some explanations are going to be needed soon.

Orhan 1 Day 20 TE 6064

Imre decides not to throw himself under the hammer. We discuss what to do.

Well, what are our crimes? We broke in and freed some POWs, while killing the chief Vajari Seer. The Vajari responded by starting to pass out a pile of Letters of Marque. So piracy is technically down in the area.

We decide to go to Karalon to make our explanation in person.

Orhan 1 Day 25 TE 6064

We go to the council chamber. They conduct us right in to see the council.

We read our report. Tavar Dekdarion say, "Hurry up. Slap them on the wrist and send them on their way."

The mortal members want to slap us down. The immortals think they've seen worse, and whatever. Tavar keeps trying to send us away. The old mortals keep trying to keep us here.

Finally Kirin T'Thaan breaks the deadlock by declaring us contrite and in need of pennace. He tells us we will receive an assignment in the morning. We flee.

An hour later, Tavar Dekdarian finds us. He says, "Come." We follow. He takes us to the library and slips us into a private library room. He shuts the door and seals it. "Look. We've put a lot of effort into making sure your little group stays intact. Gireg and the others have been looking out for us, but we need to stop going over the edge. They probably can't protect us futher. So tow the line. Things are going to get serious and your little punishment should be taken seriously. The loremasters are not above weeding out those who do not belong. There are assignments that are perhaps too strenuous. At some point, you may need to decide that this is no longer your home. There are higher concerns that may need to be dealt with that are not possible in the current framework. But beware, no one leaves the loremasters lightly."

He leaves, and we consider his words. Oh woe. They're on to us. We get a good night's sleep.

Orhan 1 Day 25 TE 6064

In the morning we find a little packet under our doors. The packet says, "A small kingdom has arisen in the territory that was once Seralis. A self-styled lord who appears to be an a elf has created a small well-run idealistic vale of civilization in the center of the chaos. Investigate this guy, find out what he is doing and why. Report fully about his activities. Find out as much as you can." There a map to his idyllic valley.

We decide to go talk to Jack in U-Lyshak and see what he knows about this place.

Orhan 1 Day 30 TE 6064

We head to an inn and send a note to meet with Jack, since he's so important.

Orhan 1 Day 31 TE 6064

Jack shows up at the inn. It's good to see us. We ask him about the elf guy and his happy wonderland. Most such kingdoms either expand or die. This one has lasted for decades. How odd. It's very quiet: no bandits, no border skirmishes, no trade. Adventurers go there and they never come out. Mostly they end up retiring there.

The wyvern crown of seralis is known to be destroyed. It's realm was channeling, so the pendant and the sword could still be there.

So, no one worries about them, since they never try to expand. Anyone who goes to investigate never returns, so there's not a lot of insentive to go investigate further. Creepy. It's called the Valley of the Blue Forest.

Imre spends a couple of days trolling the bars. Oathar hands out at the temple of Neela. Alynna investigates the climate of hypno-toads.

Orhan 1 Day 34 TE 6064

Jack comes back. He found someone. We go to the palace, and Jack introduces us to this old guy, Jerak. Jerak talks to us and tells us his story.

He was an adventurer. They had a nice little community in that valley. They had a lord. The party heard all abou the lord. Everyone in the valley had little altars and worshipped him. He had a group of elite elven fighters who rode around and protected the valley. The farmers had reasonable taxes and got protection. The party went to talk to the lord, who had a huge library and stuff. A few of his part members decided to get out of the business and stay. The lord and his elite guards are elves, everyone else in the valley was human. Jerak sent his old friends some money, but that was it. His old friends never seemed to write back. The lord didn't have a name, they just called him the lord.

Oathar goes to Neela's temple and prays for protection from heresy.

Jack thinks we should take a boat over the Lake of Ghosts, as it will be faster. Kyrik flies CAP. Not that he'll notice anything. We get on the boat. We go up the coast and then upriver. Through the forest. They drop us off about abotu 50 miles from the valley. The boat crew knows of a couple of small villages to the NW in the vague direction of the valley.

Orhan 1 Day 39 TE 6064

We head off to the village.

Orhan 1 Day 42 TE 6064

We find the village. It seems deserted. Tracking indicates it's been deserted for months. Haeraan looks behind. He sees a bunch of bandits ride into town and pretty much drive everyone away.

We head a bit west and come up to a bandit camp with 12 bandits. We decide to walk up to them and chat with them. Haeraan heads in to talk to them, while the rest of us hang behind. They put their hands on their weapons. He's a traveller seeking news. They claims there's nothing around here. He asks about the valley. There's no valley they know of. They don't know anything about the lord or his castle. They do know about the haunted valley. Only crazy people go there. No one goes there, no one comes back, there are horrible things that go bump in the night there.

Haeraan tosses them a silver coin and heads out.

The bandits don't seem interested in pursuing. Oathar spies on them later. They are thinking about getting Haeraan, but he's too tough for them. They hope he goes to the valley so he won't come back.

We decide on dreams tonight. Well, for Haeraan at least.

"There are a bunch of children in a garden playing. Outside the garden are other children looking in. An older person hands them each a candy. They all eat the candy and run around some more and have a great time. Then more kids come in and the older person gives them some candy and they stay too."

Orhan 1 Day 43 TE 6064

We head towards the valley.