City or large-scale location
Establishment or small-scale location
NPC
Rumor
Treasure
Year: 381 IY
We travel south from the town of Laurisa, toward the capitol of the borderlands Cyfaraun. As the sun dips below the horizon, we hear the gates of Cyfaraun close. To our left, the Mirmen river flows into the city. After unsuccessfully trying to bribe the gate guard with beer, we are directed to the south side of the city to an inn called "Outside the walls". After a brief walk, we enter to find a Tavern on the lower level with two tavern workers and three barmaids serving size patrons. There is a flutest entertaining the small group. The innkeeper, Valen greets us, and lets us know private rooms are 5SP. We order food, Valorian gets Aurelia some extra food to supplement the meager food she can afford. Taliesin feasts on the best of food stuffs. After our meal, we go to the river to wash. Aurelia is startled when a sheep comes out the reeds she is washing in. Back in the inn, Quelis introduces himself to Titania and offers employment to our band. He is trading salt, oil, ale and wants an escort to Siadonas, and further to Turos Tem if we are willing. We agree to go to Siadonas and sign the a contract. We will be paid 12GP 5SP each, upon safe entry of the wagons into the city of Siadonas.
Quelis wakes us and we head outside the inn to a food cart which is selling food to workers outside the city. As the sky brightens, Quelis brings out a cart laden with goods. Quelis is an inch taller than Titania, athletic, and clearly able to handle himself. We depart and travel for many days without major event, except for the 5th day when we are passed by Lanista Maximus Argentum (recognized by Quelis) a gladiator trainer who is rumored to have killed a werewolf with a silver spear. (I believe he was a famous gladiator who made it all the way to the capitol Aura, and married some famous woman before returning to the borderlands single, and starting a gladitorial school. He is known as Argenturn Strong Silver, and is quite the celebrity).
Agitelen 15th, Ammonadras 🗺
We arrive at Turos Quell in the afternoon and find an inn to stay at (2sp/4sp) and replenish our supplies, before heading out. We continue on to Siadanos. Along the way we encounter some goats. Aurelia valiantly slays one with expert skill, and other party members also get a goat or two I guess. Uthman captures a goat, and 2 girl kids and a boy kid follow along after their mother. We butcher the goat and Quelis provides salt and ale to enhance our evening. A couple days later we see Lanista Maximus Argentum coming back up the road with a few other armored men. They have two beast men in chains.
The rest of the trip passes uneventfully and we arrive at the northern gate of Siadonas, Pilos Orian. Quelis pays his duty to the tax man, and our payment of:
12GP 5SP (and 12.5XP)
He informs us that he will be staying at the Stone Tankard, and will be staying in Siadonas another day. We head over there find 9 patrons, 2 tavern workers, 3 prostitute. We order food. The server says that Aurelia could be a whore if she ate more food, and she attempts to punch him in the balls. He blocks it with a granite plate, and Aurelia settles down with no further confrontation.
Taliesin buddies up with the musicians, and they share a song which contains a rumor: There is a red dragon of great age which slumbers away in the steep rocky hill known as Dragon's Tore.`
We get 4XP ea for catching goats.
Taliesin and Aurelia order a few more drinks and get drunk. The server from earlier brings Aurelia a drink, on the house, "for the hand", which she very happily accepts.
It is late enough in the day that the baths are open for all, so we head there. Titania and Aurelia head to the hot-water plunge, and Valorian, Taliesin (and Uthman) head to the the sauna. Aurelia drunkenly agree to an oil scrape afterwards, administered by Titania, and Taliesin longs for branches with which to whip each other's back.
After the bath Aurelia immediately returns to the Stone Tankard to find the server and more wine. He finally introduces himself as Mandonio and Aurelia successfully flirt with him and makes out with him in the common room. At some point in the evening, he tells her a rumor: The Imperial Vanguard donated an entire treasure haul to the orphanage of the keepers.
Agitelen 26, Turadras
In the morning, we inquire about the Imperial Vanguard from the proprietor, Bartos Stonehewer , who informs us that they are an adventuring group who style themselves as heroes. They typically work around the Krysivor. Bartos directs us to the mercenary guild house if we are looking for work. We head there and find a job board with listings:
Based on these opportunities, and their proximity to Quelis' path, we decide to continue on to Turos Tem with him.
We head out and encounter four pilgrams on the road. They are on relequary of the captain of the underwatch, a little known paladin. He battled rats in the sewers of Cyferaun. The pilgrams came from the region between the Naungolle forest and the Krysivor River. They have a were-rat problem in all the villages in that region.
Agitelen 28, Mityaradras 🗺
We encounter a heard of horses
Innelen 1, Ammonadras
Nothing eventful.
Innelen 2, Nauridras 🗺
We encounter a heard of goats
Innelen 3, Calefadras
Nothing eventful.
We come across a lone man sitting on a short stone wall. Titania senses evil intentions from the man, and alerts the group. Valorian immediately casts slumber upon the man. Seeing the spell cast, he quickly jumps up and fires an arrow towards Valorian, but the range is too great and the arrow falls short as he collapses to the ground asleep. The party rushes up to him to find five more bandits asleep behind the walls. We quickly kill the five behind the wall, and tie up the man who was sitting on the wall for questioning. Before we wake him, we search all of them and find
- 32CP
- 11SP
- Moonstone (50GP)
- Bloodstone (50GP)
- Lapis Lazuli (25GP)
- Shell (60GP)
- Wrought silver jewlery/trinket (500GP)
- Glass trinket (120GP)
- 805XP (161XP ea) for gold
- 60XP (12XP ea) for killing bandits
A brief interrogation of the last man yields nothing, so Titania beheads him. We leave the bodies in a heap, and Quelis pays some passing villagers to burn the bodies.
Innelen 5, Turadras
Nothing eventful
We encounter cavalry from the Auron Empire on patrol. They are on their way back from the border, though they hail from Turos Drav. They mention that Drusis is a deserter, and his gang have military training.
Innelen 7, Mityaradras - Nothing eventful
Innelen 8, Ammonadras - Nothing eventful
We arrive at the gates of Turis Tem.
For finishing the the escort duty we receive
12GP 5SP (and 12.5XP)
Türos Tem amenities:
- The Travelers Inn (5 sp per night for a private room, or 1 sp to sleep in the enclosed courtyard).
- Forum
- Bathhouse (2 cp)
Note: Türos Tem does not have a large enough market where we can sell our goods gained from defeating the bandits. After bathing, the party agrees to stay at the Travelers Inn. The innkeeper, "Dominus," a fat lout, is disgusted by the cheapness of the party for only paying to stay in the courtyard.
Innellen 10, Calefadros 🗺 clear skies, balmy, strong wind
As we awake, the inn's cook can be heard singing bawdy songs. During breakfast six other patrons are at the inn. Of the six, three sit together. One is a centurion, his subaltern, and a middle-aged man with a magisterial bearing. The Centurion's name is Axious Alarian. He lets us know where Drusus and the raiding beast-men can possibly be found in the Viaspian Forest. He also tells us where Dragon's Tor is located (added to the map). We also speak with the local Merchant Guild and learn the two missing merchants made it to Türos Tem before departing. We decide to locate either the bandits or beast-men in the Viaspian. We depart and scout the edges of the forest before setting up camp.
Innellen 11, Istreudras 🗺 warm, drizzly, very strong winds
We continue to skirt the edge of the Viaspian Forest for half of our marching day before entering the forest. Uthmen Bet leaves marks on trees to aid in finding our way out in case we become lost. We make camp for the night. Uthmen attempts to forage for food (fails), while Taliesin and Titania look for firewood. During Uthmen's watch the sounds of battle can be heard west of the camp. During Aurelia's watch a band of twelve dwarves are encountered. They are led by Stahler, who confirms the direction of the battle we overheard. Stahler also tells us he and his band saw beast-men entering a large cave atop a hill north of our camp. Uthmen buys a skinning knife and fails to learn anything else from the dwarves.
Innellen 12, Turadras 🗺 warm, mostly cloudy, still wind
We agree to check the battle site before heading towards the cave. Along the way we encounter and slay a mutated "Dire wolf." 28XP each Taliesin fears the beast might have been warped by sorcerous means. We discover the remains of the battle. A total of ten men were slain, and all valuable items were taken. We also find footprints heading north. We follow the tracks and come upon the hill cave mentioned by the dwarves. Atop it is actually a 350 ft. tall black granite dome. The Dome has a large hole forming the mouth of the "cave." Inside we can see a dark stone ziggurat. Uthmen confirms it is Cthonic in nature.
The opening into the dome is 130 wide is 30 tall. The ziggurat is 380ft wide 500ft long, wall around temple is 12.5 ft tall, top of the ziggurat is ~50ft. There is a glazed brick mosaic depicting a two headed winged serpent circling the earth. In the center there are two bronze doors flanked by two large statues.
As we approach, four kobolds appear and yap at us in common. Uthman intervens and prevents a fight starting out. He convinces them that he serves their masters and interrogates them. They explain that they are ruled by a King, Urza. They are there to guard what is inside. There are other races which come into the dome, and they stay out of their way when they return. The have heard of a higher leader, "the lady below", but never seen her. Questions exhausted, Uthman turns on them and a battle ensues. Other than a lucky strike against Titania, the kobolds are quickly dispatched. 4 XP each Uthman and Aurelia conceal the bodies. We loot
- Hide armor x 4
- Hand axes x 4
- 10 arrows x 2
We enter the doors to the temple. In the entrance hallway there are four frescos - two on the left and two on the right.
- Left fresco: Three slender dark skinned brown haired kings, accompanied by a warrior, mage, and priest.
- Second left fresco: Human slaves lead by a brown skinned man with a very long head rising up against their lizard overlords.
- Right fresco: Several red canals flowing into a temple, above which an incomplete broken figure sits.
- Second right: Impaled prisoner sitting in agony as demons and zaharans dance in praise? celebration?
We head down to the right, and listen at the four doors in the hallway (all hard oak wood door bound in copper vertegry):
- Right, single door: Flapping sounds
- Right, double door: Voices of men daring each other to piss on dead gods.
- Directly across from the entrance: Do not hear anything
- Single door on the other side of the first fresco on the left: Don't hear anything
- Around the corner door: Do not hear anything.
We enter the double doors on the right, and surprise the men we had heard. All 6 are dispatched quickly without landing a single blow on any of the party. We enter an adjacent room and in a reversal of roles are surprised to find another group of five men sitting around a table. They last scarcely longer than the first 6. The room also contains several sacks of grain, 80 stone each. Suspecting them to be members of the Drusis gang, we decapitate them. Taliesin dumps out one of the bags of rice so we can use the bag to carry the heads. We loot the bodies and find:
We explore a little further and find Drusis, casually sitting on a chair. He offers to hire us to replace the "disorganized band" we just dispatched. Aurelia briefly entertains his offer before Titania and Uthman charge forward and kill him before he can rise from his chair. On his body we find:
Behind his chair is a door which has been spiked and boarded off. We decide not to open it. We leave and get to the edge of the forest before making camp.
Correction from last session: we also cut off the heads of the 4 kobolds we encountered at the entrance
Innellen 13, Innadras 🗺 Hot, partly cloudy, moderate wind
Early in the dawn during the third watch Aurelia notices a group of roughly 25 people making their way towards the forest from the general direction of Turos Tem. Aurelia attempts to get close unnoticed but is quickly spotted. A man heads her off and eventually introduces himself as Gundus, leader of a group of villagers from a small unnamed hamlet who are foraging in the Viaspen forest. Gundus disapproves of a girl as young as Aurelia and offers her an exit from this line of work by marriage to his son, which Aurelia scoffs at until she sees the handsome Zelicus, who brings gifts of bread, sausage and wine. Aurelia gives him her number.
We arrive at Turos Tem. We receive XP for the treasure we took from the temple:
958XP (191XP)
We enter into Turos Tem
There is a paved avenue from the gatehouse to the headquarter building. A young and vivacious subaltern (Mirim) with golden skin and slightly pointed ears is stationed at the avenue. We inform her that we have come to collect the bounty and she records our names and escorts us to headquarters. On our way to the quartermaster's office we pass a posting board with a variety of bounties:
- The Guild Merchant earnestly seeks word of the whereabouts of two of its members, Daros Thenes and Odysios Panas, gone missing along the highway to Siadanos. Those with knowledge of their whereabouts should speak to Aeropos Karanos at the Forum in town.,
- Join our band! The Fierce Brethren, captained by the legendary Quintus the Rager, Vestus the Unlikely, and Zaira the Beautiful, are recruiting bold comrades for expeditions into the Viaspen Forest! Find us at the Traveler’s Inn in town.,
- Wanted: The brigand Drusus for desertion, drunkenness, kidnapping, manslaughter, mayhem, murder, robbery, and other outrages againstthe Empire! 750gp shall be paid by the Quartermaster to whomever brings this outlaw to Imperial justice, dead or alive.,
- Soldiers accursed by nightmares should seek sleep draughts or invocations of salving rest from Priestess Genelen at the Hospital. Sleeplessness is no excuse for dereliction of duty!
We are introduced to the quartermaster, Quainos Thalees, and after presenting the heads are awarded with:
- 1250GP (250GP ea) (for the 10/11 accepted heads of gang members)
- 750GP (150GP ea) for Drusis' head.
Aurelia uses her newfound wealth to buy a Heavy Draft Horse (-40GP aurelia, stippled grey, gelding), and Taliesin buys a light riding horse (-75GP Taliesin, mare). Two elite legionnaires approach us and after confirming we were responsible for bringing Drusis to justice, invite us on behalf of the Lady Chelana Valarian to a party at the villa of the Legate.
Titania inquires about one skilled in magic, and is referred to Malen the misshapen, who can be found in the chapter-house. We will need to request an audience to see him. We head to the bathhouse (-2cp ea) to clean up before heading to the villa. We see a number of people, several we had seen before, including the toothless subaltern and Mirim. We also see Olran Valarian, the Legate himself at the bath and he relays a rumor to Taliesin:
- Ever since the earthquake a few years ago, the beastmen raids have been worse.
We make our way to the villa. We are assigned a servant who washes our feet and gives us a massage, before we are brought to Lady Chelana and Legate Olran Valarian who graciously greet us. We eat baked chickpeas with almonds with a crycean mulled wine spiced with saffron and cinnamon, baked grape leave with mackerel and cheese, and more. Our entertainment consists of a group of bladedancers come and perform a martial dance. After the lengthy dinner, we are invited to stay in one of the empty stable barracks (separate for men and woman) which we graciously accept. Aurelia wriggles on a pile of gold. Taliesin dreams of a bloody red heart beating in darkness and is filled with dread.
Innellen 14, Mityaradras 🗺 Sweltering, clear, moderately windy day
We wake up and head to the chapter house which is locked. We knock and a guard answers and escorts us to one of the rooms and introduces us to Malen the Malformed. He is of no help identifying the magical objects, but offered to research the evil in the forest which Chelana mentioned. We tell him we will call on him once we get back from Siadonis.
To do: Buy equipment for horses (out of game)
Next time:
1. Inquire with Priestess Genelen about nightmares.
2. Head back to Siadonis.
Taliesin heads to the hospital to talk to Priestess Genelen of Mityara. He is directed to a courtyard where he finds Genelen who listens to his description of the nightmare, and asks him to report back to her if he sees any more. In the meantime Aurelia buys feed (5 days of feed -2GP/4GP )for the horses as well as Saddles and Tack (-10GP). We also buy food for the journey (-1sp) Then we head towards Siadonos.
Along the way we hear a birdcall which is clearly man made and are ambushed by a band of 16 bandits. Aurelia reacts quickly with a loosed arrow and kills their leader, before being felled by an arrow herself. Taliesin fells two others, and Titania is struck by two arrows and is downed. Valorian successfully casts Slumber on 4 of the remaining and this breaks the rest and they flee. The party does not pursue and quickly acts to stabilize the wounded and loot the dead. We find:
40GP (8GP ea)
A potion which has silver-gold iridescence.
250 XP (50XP ea)
We decide to head back to Turos Tem to get help from the hospital in healing Aurelia and Titania. Aurelia suffers a puckered scar from a puncture wound on her left leg, and titania suffers an injured eye (-2 missile attack at med/long range).
We arrive at the gates of Turos Tem after dark and convince the guards to allow us in by name-dropping the Legate. They escort us to the hospital where we find the priestess and novices praying. A couple of the novices interrupt their vigil to speak to us. They cannot help that night since they must maintain the vigil, but the courtyard is a nexus of good and will aid in healing. Aurelia and Titania are laid out in the courtyard and spend the rest of the night there. We make plans to rest for a week.
Innelen 15-20, Ammonadras
Taliesin continues his conversation with Genelen and she confides that she believes that there is some curse or dark power is at work with these nightmares. Taliesin gets to know the novices better: Hyapseu Hyatavieu, Naureva Nuvicerres and Syrena Suromus. Naureva shares a rumor: The black fang and red eye knoll war bands are the toughest in the area. and Syrena shares another rumor: When a dragon's scales turn purple, it means the creature is diseased and near death.
Titania has a dream: She is suspended in a pool of darkness. She hears a steady beating which grows louder. She sees a bloody red heart pounding which permeates everything and is filled with a righteous anger.
Uthman has a dream: He is walking underneath an oppressive darkness. He hears a beating rhythm. He comes across a stream which flows with the beat. Many of these streams originate from a ziggurat with a heart beating above it. He is filled with a lust for power.
Taliesin buys the Moonstone from the group (-10GP Taliesin, +10GP Everyone else)
Innelen 21, Mityaradras 🗺 Sweltering, overcast, still winds
The day is uneventful other than encountering the spiked heads of the bandits which the legionnaires had posted.
Innelen 22, Ammonadras 🗺 Warm, Drizzly, moderately windy.
We encounter some shepherds in the morning, and some merchants in the evening. 10 wagons, 20 guards. The second group of merchants has 40 wagons and more guards
Innelen 23, Nauridras - Sweltering, Drizzly, Still
Nothing of note.
Innelen 24, Calefadras 🗺 - Hot, Rainy, Moderately windy
Nothing of note before we reach the gates of Siadonus.
We go to visit Mandonio. Aurelia gives him a gold piece (-1GP Aurelia) and he returns the favor by giving the proceeds for the goats he sold (+1GP Aurelia, +2GP 3SP Uthman).
Titania finds a boat-worker and inquires about a barge heading north. Fahrad says he is not leaving today, but knows someone who is and offers to help us find passage today. We quickly board and pay our fare. (-1GP Titania, Valorian, Uthman. -3GP Aurelia, Taliesin)
Innelen 25, Istruedras 🗺 Balmy, Rainy, moderately windy
We make fast speed and make it to Turos Quell by nightfall.
Innelen 26, Turadras 🗺 Warm, drizzly, gently windy
We make it to Cyfaraun around late in the day, after the chain has been raised. We stay the night. We get rooms at Outside The Wall, Aurelia bunks with Titania in a private room (-4SP Aurelia, -7SP Taliesin, -5SP Titania, Uthman, Valarian). Taliesin asks Aurelia to help with a book before heading down to dinner. Valarian pays for everyone's food (-3GP Valarian). Taliesin sings a sad song.
Innelen 27, Innadras - Sweltering, Clear, Moderately windy
We wake early and get food at the stand outside the shop which is quite busy. (-4CP Taliesin, -2CP Titania, ) Uthman is recognized by the stand owner - apparently he invented a sandwich which has become very popular. He receives his food for no charge, and considers an investment in Destrio's business. After eating, we head into Cyfaraun and check the markets.
The nearby stadium erupts with cheering. After some questioning you find out that it appears that after a grueling combat the retiarius had defeated the tigers which had been loosed upon them.
We find the horse market and Uthman gets a Steppe Riding Horse (-60GP Uthman, Titania), Aurelia and Valorain get Light Riding Horse (-75GP Aurelia, Valorian) Aurelia gets a Stallion (grey, dappled), Volorain gets a mare (painted brown and white). Titania gets a heavy draft horse (-40GP Titania). Then the group heads to the armorers and Titania gets plate mail and a heavy helm. (-80GP Titania)
Titania talked to the vendors and one offers to pay for credible information about threats to the empire from that direction.
Innelen 28, Mityaradras - Sweltering, Drizzly, Moderately windy
After consulting with a helpful citizen of Cyfaraun, we head to the Plaza District to find a map and a place to stay inside the city. On the citizen's suggestion we look for an inn in the Old District where they have plumbing. After being laughed at by a rude map maker we give up on finding a map and start meandering to the Old District. Along the way we see a man who had caught a large catfish, to the applause of a small crowd around him. We ask around and head toward the middle of the three bridges and eventually find Myrdin's Bridge just beyond the imposing Ammonturium. We stop to look at the Ammonturium but Taliesin seems upset and wants to leave quickly. We cross the bridge which is a 100ft long, 25ft long white granite beam bridge. On the other side Taliesin ask a street urchin named Roben for directions to a brothel (-2sp Taliesin). Roben leads us to a tavern called The Mink where Taliesin promptly hires all three whores (-6sp Taliesin) and pays for Roben to eat (-2sp Taliesin). Taliesin comes down after a while and starts drinking with the whores (-2GP Taliesin). Aurelia starts drinking with Taliesin but stops when she realizes Taliesin is drinking his feelings and the gang convinces him to leave. Roben, waking from his triptophane slumber, leads us to The Gilded Lyre where there are rooms for 5sp/night. The inn keeper, Peristo is gracious and finds rooms for all of us (-5sp All).
We head out to the baths. While we are walking through the street a bolt flies across the street in front of us and strikes someone nearby. We spot the assassin and quickly charge after him and slay him. On his person we find:
Shortly afterwards the city watch arrives and we explain what occurred. They confiscate the poisoned bolts that Titania had collected from the assassin, but Aurelia keeps the bolt which had been shot at Hunter and missed. Aurelia finds a Red Skull on black insignia and covertly removes it from the assassin's armor - she does not tell the party about it. We ask where we can find more information out once they have investigated and are directed to the City Watch's headquarters, in the Old District near the Mink.
We finally get to the baths (-2cp All). We do not meet anyone of note at the bath, and have a delightfully uneventful evening, getting rest before the first day of the festival.
Nethelen 1, Ammonadras - Brisk, Clear, Moderately Windy
We are greeted by an excited Peristo as we come down from our rooms. Titania and Valorain head off to the Ammonturium. They find hundreds of congregants as they get to the entrance. Inside they find a massive statute and an oculus, open to the sky. There are many marble statutes of past Tarkons, including a half finished statue of the current Tarkon.
Meanwhile Aurelia, Uthman, and Taliesin head to the Thieves quarter. We luckily spot Roben and Aurelia offers to pay him for information about match fixing. Aurelia forgot her coin purse and borrows the money from Taliesin (-5GP Aurelia). He leads us to a secluded location and tells us that east of the river, things are run by the argolean family. The Sand and Bones guild runs the west side of the river. However, the amphitheater is owned by the XXXX administered by the XXXX, but the grounds are managed by Maximus. (The retired gladiator we met on the road several weeks back.) If there is match fixing going on, either the Sand and Bones guild or Maximus would know. I thank him and leave. On the way back to the inn, Taliesin stops to talk to a proselytizer who rewards his listening by performing an augery: Taliesin asks if he will be successful in meeting Maximus if he goes to the games in the next half hour, and is told that his prospects are poor. Undeterred we head to the Ammonturium after a quick stop by the Inn to get Aurelia's coin purse.
A short while after we arrive, Titania and Valorian exit the Ammonturium. We head to the amphitheater and get lost on the way. Titania asks directions and an average looking, butenamored man (Gundus) leads us all the way there and tells her:
- Adventures who want to prove themselves in combat should try their luck at the Silk Pony, a great way to earn coin if you don't mind getting your hands dirty.
We get to the arena and Aurelia buys two honeyed meads (-2SP aurelia) from a concession stand, and Gundus buys Titania several different food stuffs from the concession stand. Aurelia and Valorian do their best to cockblock him. After being scolded for arguing during an oration, Gundus (called Gooner) gives up and sits near, but not next to Titania. Taliesin drinks as much as he can (-5SP taliesin) and buys others drinks (-?SP Taliesin). Aurelia puts some money down on Exentia for the upcoming fight (-2GP aurelia) Valorian inquires and is told that contestants in the games are winners of non-festival games. There are a number of events including Javelin and wrestling. He puts money on Abedsh (-2GP Valorian).
Abedsh wins and Valorian get his payout (+3.5GP Valorian). Taliesin gets plate mail (-60GP Taliesin) and a heavy helm (-20GP Taliesin) from some dwarves.