Prologue - The Steel Caller
Excerpt from Sir Catsby's Meowmoir: Great Clawnicles of Adventures, Catastrophes, and Furrenship -
Later that evening, as we went to get Gilles so he could take care of those magic glyphs with his magic vial do-thingy, we ran across Ghebills and his two watchmen from this morning. This is when Brutalithops caused a big and expensive headache, nearly killing the lead constable with a deep cut in the leg. Lots of blood gushed from teh wound, but the goblin then gave first aid to the dying man, before the two watchmen took their comrade for further help. Brutalithops decided to keep low and left us.
We'd later find out the man survived - just - but that we wouldn't get away with it. Fetching Gilles, the glyphs were sorted out, evaporating and getting sucked into the white vial. Not that we were getting paid for this, but it was great content for my saga.
We celebrated by having a few drinks at the Siren's Call, when we heard that the local head of The Megom had found his son who went missing some weeks ago, discovered by a dwarf. The dwarf got a lot of reward, and Bal'Aur's interest and suspicion was peaked.
We continued our celebration by engaging some of the wonderful pleasure wares on offer at the Siren's Call, but it was in the middle of this that town watch barged into our rooms and put us under arrest. The reason - attempted murder of a town watch constable. Apart from Brutalithops, all of us are now in a cell, awaiting the captain of the watch to see us.
My sing-song voice managed to convince the man to instead offer us a discounted fine, which Bal'Aur promptly paid. A whopping eigh-hundred gold fine!
I'm not sure if what we did was ultimately heroic, but we didn't get any reward for it. In the ballads, I might need to describe the son as being older, a man perhaps, and one that caused many a bad stir in Trg beforehand!
That wasn't the end of trouble today - we visited the Siren's Call again tonight and Bal'Aur got called out by some orcs outside. Turns out his clan has been taken over by someone claiming to be none other than the Steel Caller - suddenly that old beggar's words come back to me and I wonder where he is now?
Apparently Bal'Aur's father was defeated in ritual combat they call Muq'borah, thereby giving the title of warchief to the victor. After some mulling around, we left to find these orcs but by then they had left Trg and disappeared into the dark night.
We all had a crack at opening the strange little box in their own ways, but none could open the darned box! We left the strange dwarf and continued on and it was late when we reached Swamptown in the Bolotion Marshes. What was with all these places that smelt horribly?
We paid a tortoise by the name of Soleg to take us further through the marshes and reached the centre of Swamp Town, which wasn't much except for a shifty looking tavern and some surrounding huts.
It was wet and damp everywhere - how could the folks bear such living conditions? I knew I would need to undertake extra grooming this coming days. The tavern owner warned us about a hamlet on the western part of the marshes which we might end up getting close to as we would head that way to our ultimate destination, as there was a horrible murder there close to a month ago.
The others said they wouldn't mind checking this hamlet out tomorrow. Even Eberond didn't argue against it. I better close those curtains to shut Lanar off from the room.
They first devoured Woleg - that was Soleg's brother's - who had taken us here on his boat. We didn't even get a chance to save the poor tortoise man!
The horrible things then attacked us but we killed two of them and one wounded thing got away in the bracken waters. We decided to keep heading towards the Deathsea - we hoped the survivingmonster would die of its woods, though no doubt Soleg and his other kin will be looking for Woleg... We reached the maw of the Deathsea in the late afternoon and tried to scout around the area as it was guarded by orcs of a clan Bal'Aur had never seen until the other night. What was more unsettling was thousands of orcs that had set up camp.
The annual winds that swept from Deathsea were coming in right on the usual date - tomorrow - so we decided to hide away and sleep under the stars, hoping the orc scouts in the vicinity wouldn't come across us.
It was decided tomorrow we would venture closer to the camp - Bal'Aur was definitely ready to just arrive in the orc camp and challenge this Steel Caller in this "Muq'borah" thing and save his parents and clan. What was the worst thing that could happen?
Sune 17th, 5249 - Back in Trg
Following the events at the temple, Azuth, the being that claimed to be the god of magic, ushered us through a portal, where we were greeted by the familiar smell of burnt spices and fish - a particular waft that could only be smelled across Trg. I saw the portal behind us evaporate into fading embers of violet.As we strolled through the crowded streets we could not help but feel weariness crashing upom us, as the the last few weeks of adventure caught up with us. Fortunately we bumped into the tortoise that my associates were familiar with, Ralf Tenemu offered us lodgings at his home in return for some small chores, which we agreed to.
The day quickly passed, and it was in the evening that there was some alarm in the town. In the far horizon, a beam of light pricked the night sky. Whilst the town folk murmured with a mix of intrigue and alarm, I realised this could only be the light emanating from the temple we recently activated.
So far, my associates were proving to be a wealth of inspiration for my epic saga!
So far, my associates were proving to be a wealth of inspiration for my epic saga!
Chaos or guidance, who knows which?
Heroes to adore, or foes to lynch?
These comrades, they travel toge-ther,
For fun, for riches or unknown pre-ssure?
Listen, dance and clap along,
Find out what happens, in this song!
Sune 18th
Over the last couple of days we noticed constant sermons being held at the local temple, as people took the light in the sky as some kind of omen. there also seemed to be a growing number of travelers coming into the city, with some continuing towards the far light. The city watch also increased their vigilance, helped by the fact that the recent town wall of timber had been finished, even if it seemed quite weak in my eyes. Bal’Aur and Eberond recalled that the God of Magic made mention that their so-called destinies currently lay in the north west Dezaria, where Deathsea’s maw lay, though as what that would entail we had no clue, and we were still deciding whether to follow such a path.Sune 19th
Today was not fun, as I write this entry in a prison cell.
First, we spent hours in Trg's sewers on a whim of a beggar. My associates took some issue with a three local town watchmen getting a bit violent with a doomsayer beggar. After a few exchange of threats, the lead watchman named Ghebills and his two men left the beggar alone. After talking to the thankful old man, we heard about his wanrings of end times and the return of the Steel Caller (an old, tired fairy tale), and warning about the sewers. My associates actually decided to follow up on this conspiracy and the man led us down to the sewers.
I can't say that the shit and piss did wonders for my fur! We did find that the sewers were massively more complex than what Trg would need. Possibly they are much older and hints at this town being much larger some time ago.
Crazily enough, the beggar fears were indeed founded, as we ultimately came across corrupted globs of magic submerged in the town's underwater supply of fresh water. Glowing veins threaded out from them and into the ground above. Helm knows what that could mean for this town.
I can't say that the shit and piss did wonders for my fur! We did find that the sewers were massively more complex than what Trg would need. Possibly they are much older and hints at this town being much larger some time ago.
Crazily enough, the beggar fears were indeed founded, as we ultimately came across corrupted globs of magic submerged in the town's underwater supply of fresh water. Glowing veins threaded out from them and into the ground above. Helm knows what that could mean for this town.
We'd later find out the man survived - just - but that we wouldn't get away with it. Fetching Gilles, the glyphs were sorted out, evaporating and getting sucked into the white vial. Not that we were getting paid for this, but it was great content for my saga.
We celebrated by having a few drinks at the Siren's Call, when we heard that the local head of The Megom had found his son who went missing some weeks ago, discovered by a dwarf. The dwarf got a lot of reward, and Bal'Aur's interest and suspicion was peaked.
We continued our celebration by engaging some of the wonderful pleasure wares on offer at the Siren's Call, but it was in the middle of this that town watch barged into our rooms and put us under arrest. The reason - attempted murder of a town watch constable. Apart from Brutalithops, all of us are now in a cell, awaiting the captain of the watch to see us.
Sune 20th
In the morning we were visited by Captain Pavel Yvich, a one armed human. He explained to us that as the goblin didn't count as a denizen of Dezaria and we were deemed to be his owners, that we would be responsible for Brutalithops' crimes.My sing-song voice managed to convince the man to instead offer us a discounted fine, which Bal'Aur promptly paid. A whopping eigh-hundred gold fine!
We had no idea where Brutalithops had went, so after a well deserved breakfast we visited that dwarf that found the gommie's son. Gilles managed to bribe the man with a stupid candle to tell everything - I suspect he used some kind of spell to convince the dwarf it was gold.
It turned out the dwarf's property had an old access grate to the underground tunnel, which I think was pat of the same one we explored yesterday and found those magic glyphs. It was evident that the kid had been locked down there by someone, and my associates seemed to think it was a Silver Fangs member by the name of Plain Martin, who they had killed recently. I suppose with his captor killed, the kid was left to die had it not been for the dwarf.
However, he had been drinking the fresh water that had been contaminated, so we decided to see the gommie and his son, in case something was not right. Sure enough, things quickly went to Hel. We managed to see the gommie - a bloke called Master Novak - at his residence along with his wife and son. The kid was definitely weird, and after Gilles cast some kind of magic of true sight, the kid spasmed and I could hear the sound of bones cracking. The kid turned into a nasty looking monster, but my quick thinking save dthe day, though not the kid unfortunately. I used that that magic brooch, for the first time, and it fired off a dart into the gruesome monste0r and it spasmed again before shrinking into a giant weasel - much more manageable.
We chased the weasel thing around the residence and despite the mother's pleas, we could do little but kill the thing before it reverted back to its dangerous form!
It turned out the dwarf's property had an old access grate to the underground tunnel, which I think was pat of the same one we explored yesterday and found those magic glyphs. It was evident that the kid had been locked down there by someone, and my associates seemed to think it was a Silver Fangs member by the name of Plain Martin, who they had killed recently. I suppose with his captor killed, the kid was left to die had it not been for the dwarf.
However, he had been drinking the fresh water that had been contaminated, so we decided to see the gommie and his son, in case something was not right. Sure enough, things quickly went to Hel. We managed to see the gommie - a bloke called Master Novak - at his residence along with his wife and son. The kid was definitely weird, and after Gilles cast some kind of magic of true sight, the kid spasmed and I could hear the sound of bones cracking. The kid turned into a nasty looking monster, but my quick thinking save dthe day, though not the kid unfortunately. I used that that magic brooch, for the first time, and it fired off a dart into the gruesome monste0r and it spasmed again before shrinking into a giant weasel - much more manageable.
We chased the weasel thing around the residence and despite the mother's pleas, we could do little but kill the thing before it reverted back to its dangerous form!
Apparently Bal'Aur's father was defeated in ritual combat they call Muq'borah, thereby giving the title of warchief to the victor. After some mulling around, we left to find these orcs but by then they had left Trg and disappeared into the dark night.
Sune 21st - Swamp Town
I'm writing this entry from a mildewed tavern room, with Lanar shining brightly enough through the grimy window that I don't need a lamp to do so! After some discussion, we left Trg this morning and headed towards the entrance of Deathsea, where the orcs were holding a meeting of clans and where this "Steel Caller" had defeated Bal'Aur's old man. I doubted it was the real Steel Caller from the fairy tales, but I couldn't help get excited at being able to chronicle about a meeting with such a dark legend of the past! We trekked north, past the Salt MInes and met a peculiar fellow. A dwarf with half of his face shaven, the other half a longbeard. He said his name was Korda (apparently meaning hammer in in dwarfish) and that he was waiting for people who could unlock his box. The crazy goof said those who could unlock the box, would also know "a place without a face" where he needed to go.We all had a crack at opening the strange little box in their own ways, but none could open the darned box! We left the strange dwarf and continued on and it was late when we reached Swamptown in the Bolotion Marshes. What was with all these places that smelt horribly?
We paid a tortoise by the name of Soleg to take us further through the marshes and reached the centre of Swamp Town, which wasn't much except for a shifty looking tavern and some surrounding huts.
It was wet and damp everywhere - how could the folks bear such living conditions? I knew I would need to undertake extra grooming this coming days. The tavern owner warned us about a hamlet on the western part of the marshes which we might end up getting close to as we would head that way to our ultimate destination, as there was a horrible murder there close to a month ago.
The others said they wouldn't mind checking this hamlet out tomorrow. Even Eberond didn't argue against it. I better close those curtains to shut Lanar off from the room.
Sune 22nd
I'm definitely getting enough content for inspiration of my great works! Our visit to the now deserted hamlet was far from uneventful. We found evidence of a diabolical murder, possibly even evil given the way a little girl had been pinned and mutilated in a cupboard. The pale half-elf seemed to find all the gory stuff, he definitely had a good eye for this stuff. Our investigation was interrupted by a trio of large monsters. They had multiple legs, crab like pincers and frothing tenticle like appendages explosed where I guess their mouth was.They first devoured Woleg - that was Soleg's brother's - who had taken us here on his boat. We didn't even get a chance to save the poor tortoise man!
The horrible things then attacked us but we killed two of them and one wounded thing got away in the bracken waters. We decided to keep heading towards the Deathsea - we hoped the survivingmonster would die of its woods, though no doubt Soleg and his other kin will be looking for Woleg... We reached the maw of the Deathsea in the late afternoon and tried to scout around the area as it was guarded by orcs of a clan Bal'Aur had never seen until the other night. What was more unsettling was thousands of orcs that had set up camp.
The annual winds that swept from Deathsea were coming in right on the usual date - tomorrow - so we decided to hide away and sleep under the stars, hoping the orc scouts in the vicinity wouldn't come across us.
It was decided tomorrow we would venture closer to the camp - Bal'Aur was definitely ready to just arrive in the orc camp and challenge this Steel Caller in this "Muq'borah" thing and save his parents and clan. What was the worst thing that could happen?
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