In which our heroes ...
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.
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