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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Dyvers Session 002

The game began on the second of April, 579 CY with a drizzle of rain that steadily got worse throughout the evening. Paige the Gully Dwarf resigned her post as cook in the Unicorn's Knob so that she could tend to "Guild work." No one had the heart to ask her what the guild was, let alone if it existed.

Caillou the Bold, recruiter for the City Watch and all around good guy - for an ogre, didn't really care whether Paige knew what was going on or not. She had an arm that could swing a rapier and smelled only half as bad as the den where he had been born. So he signed her up for the mandatory three month term (with an additional three months reserve duty snuck into the contract) and showed her to the Quartermaster.

Rillen the Changeling ignored most of the goings on as he went into the Hall of Knowledge, paid his ten gold, and read all about the Empire of the Bloody Throne while his enchanted page Julian prattled on about all the things he'd like to do . . . if only he could remember to do them after he left the Hall. The tomb Rillen read was huge and took up nearly the entire desk. Its pages were made of onion leaf and the script was in a delicate and shaky hand. Contained within those pages was a tale of a remarkable nature: a jem, known as the Eye of Rama once resided just south of the Nyr Dyv in the Deadfall Marsh. It was, the tomb claimed, as large as a man's head and possessed magical powers of an almost unfathomable nature! And it was said to be hidden in the necropolis of Abi-al Sur on a three day's ride from Dyvers. He left with a tale for the evening's performance and a plan to become wealthy beyond the dreams of even his partner, Simon Hillenbrand.

For Yonkal Hillstrider, H's character, the morning would pass slowly as she spent her time reinforcing Simon Hillenbrand's lute and her axe. However, for Silaqui the Sorceress the day could not have been faster. It seems that an incredibly important mage was coming to the Silent Chorus (the local wizard's guild). The guild was in an uproar and Silaqui found out more than she was really prepared to learn. It seems that one of the guild's adepts, Stephen, had been in charge of inventory - a duty that he had neglected for over a year and a half - and he was begging Silaqui to help him do a current inventory while he took care of the missed inventories.

She wisely chose to clean up an experimentation lab instead.

It turned out to be a fortuitous decision as she ran into a man who introduced himself as "Tomas." He wore fine blue robes and began to flirt with her. Silaqui was flustered as Tomas asked her to dinner the following evening but she still said yes.

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Simon Hillenbrand was a busy man. In the morning he had to start making preparations. First he checked on his donkey and found that the stable boy Timothy hadn't been taking care it. So he did as every good pet owner does and threatened Timothy with physical dismemberment and torture. Then he went for a meal and found a pleasant little diner overlooking the river. He then hired away the serving girl, Anna, and on her recommendation went to speak to George the dock loader about becoming a chef for the Unicorn's Knob.  George turned out to be a huge man, incredibly strong, and way out of his price range.

Simon was nothing if not resourceful, so he returned to the Unicorn's Knob and packed all of his possessions. He then gathered the remaining co-workers and announced in a clear, confident manner, "We need to get the fuck out of here. There's no food, no cook, and Eileen is going to be pissed." Surprisingly the others rallied around him and were able to buy the supplies, get the food cooked at the evening went of without a hitch.

Well, almost without a hitch. It seems that Rillen's tale of the Eye of Rama got them some unwanted attention from a group of local thugs. A verbal confrontation resulted and Simon was able to turn them away, for now. The inn closed, Simon and Rillen packed their remaining gear and took a short nap preparing to flee the city in the early hours of morning.

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Unlike her former co-workers Paige the Gully Dwarf was having a wonderful time. She was given a new uniform, a masterwork rapier, and she was able to go traipsing about the city during one of the biggest rainfalls so far this year. The night was giving her a fine opportunity to scope out the various store fronts and to plot future thefts of the area. Hell, she was already picking out which of her fellow guardsmen she would involve when she saw something move down the alley to her left.

She called out, "Hey guys . . . um, something moved over there." Ten hood lanterns turned their beams down the alley and the group tentatively moved forward while Paige stayed far to their rear. One beam of light turned back toward Paige and said, "I don't know what you saw, but there's nothing here." Eight other beams turned back toward her. As they cam forward Paige watched as one by one they disappeared until only a single guardsman stood before her. His lantern shook and Paige watched as the color faded from his face. And then she watched him go over her shoulder and heard something chewing above her head. She swung her rapier overhead and brought it back bent in half.

Paige ran.

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Simon Hillenbrand and Rillen the Changeling carefully snuck out of the Unicorn's Knob. The rain was coming down heavily on the stable roof when they began to hear a low whistle. At first it was easy to ignore, but then it became louder and there was an urgency with which it blew that they could not ignore.

They crept to the entrance of the stables and watched as a small figure ran forward toward a larger group of the city watch. Then they saw a huge creature enter the area as the watch fled. Its head was that of a gigantic frog, while its massive body seemed to press against the very fabric of reality warping everything around it. Simon's breath caught in his chest; Rillen forgot how to close his mouth; the creature, on the other hand, seemed to remember that there were better places to be and leapt over the Unicorn's Knob and was gone.

The Pillars of Lore ran into the inn and began banging on Silaqui's door. They were so loud that Yonkal was roused from her slumbers and stumbled out to hear their shocking report of the creature and its appearance. Silaqui wasn't as impressed by their rambling as Yonkal was, but she decided that if anyone would know about the creature the Silent Chorus would.

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The tower of the Silent Chorus stood in the south of Dyvers. It was a spiraling tower of dark obsidian that raked the skies most nights of the year. Tonight, however, was different. Tonight as the rain fell with thick heavy drops against the black stones of the tower they were joined by a torrent of flames that wrapped about the building like an infernal blanket. And as Silaqui searched for the source of the inferno high atop the tower she could hear Yonkal mumble, "It's a god-damned dragon. Fuck it's big."

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The Night in Review

The night was overall a success for me and reminded me why I like playing Dungeons and Dragons so much.  Everyone was engaged and the story moved faster than I had expected. Still no real combat to speak of as most everyone chose not to fuck with anything - a first for us but it's looking like that might well be the tone of the campaign.

The next session will take place on July 28, 2013

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