The following is an excerpt from the diary of the widow Hubbard...
With heavy heart I confess the death of one of my middling sons. The fault is my own and while I almost can’t bear the shame, I shoulder it as penance. May God have mercy on my soul.
A mother’s greatest fear is the loss of one of her children. While I have had 12 children to my credit, no amount of them will replace the one I abandoned on the prairie.
When I saw that he was not with us, I sent my oldest son along with a large sword-wielding man to retrieve him. This man was uncouth and nearly witless, but his skill with a blade and the purity of his heart proved themselves amply and without subtlety.
For two days this hero and my son traveled out on the plains alone. Back to my homestead they went, fighting rampaging gnolls all the way, until this brave hero was stricken, near unto death. My elder son, too, was injured. Only the grace of God saved the both of them, though in his unfathomable wisdom, they could not save my missing child from a cruel death in flames. Ted Gurdy vowed revenge and did kill those responsible. He brought the body of my dearest back for a fitting funeral.
In gratitude, my eldest has now pledged to serve this Ted Gurdy as his Page. The man is uncommonly brave, but as impious as he is stupid, and my son has said he would see him redeemed to faith in our wise God. Now I pray daily for them both, and I hold out hope that my boy might learn something more than just how to drink hard liquor from his new master.
I offered to pay him all of my life savings, including my wedding band from my dear departed husband, but he would have none of it.
Quote of the Day: "Lady, I feel terrible about your kid, I can't take your money. Keep it. I don't know.Maybe buy yourself a new kid or something."
Vengeance for Gnolls
The Irregulars who went West now leave Waldron and continue on to Wanderhalt which is the last edge of civilization before the wild and lawless Outlands. At the gates of Wanderhalt, the Irregulars make new contacts and recruit some able warriors.
Wanderhalt is unusually crowded and there is an hours wait and a new tax collected just to enter the city walls. It turns out that every merchant, pilgrim and homesteader in the surrounding environs is looking for asylum within Wanderhalt. Many waiting in line testify that something has disturbed gnolls from the Dark Wood and they have been making merciless raids across the plains.
Once in the city, the Irregulars seek respite from the road in a curious pub known as The Stone Francis. Aside from the usual food, drink and revelry, there is a man standing on a table and begging to be heard over the din. Most inside ignore him and his plea, but when he steps down from his makeshift podium, the Irregulars approach.
His name is Keaton Mallory. He explains that he is offering a bounty for any and all gnolls slain. He wants vengeance for the lives of his wife and daughter who were cruelly killed and half-eaten by the monsters. For a reward he has a sack of platinum pieces to offer. The party agrees to help at once, but the next morning, they find their employer robbed and hungover.
He assures them that though he is but a humble sustenance farmer, he has plenty of cash squirreled away to hire them. He will gladly pay, if they will but agree to accompany him to his homestead. Once on the plains, the party encounters a gnoll war party, puts it to the sword and begins to follow their tracks. As the days pass by, there is some division among the Irregulars. In the absence of real direction or a strong leader, Mallory attempts to take charge and is rather forcefully put down. Now in the wilderness he admits that there is more to the story than the party has been told.
Charmed by Lita, Mallory admits that he hasn’t farmed in a while. He actually served as a guide to a group of adventurers from Wanderhalt. That group raided the distant ruined city and made off with the golden gnoll god and various other treasures. The gnolls, he conjects, may be looking for their purloined deity. They followed him back to his homestead and killed his family.
With this admission, chaos breaks out and the Irregulars pile on to restrain Balok (their newest member) whose family was killed by maurading gnolls. No sooner do they have him held fast, when the bard Mai quietly backstabs Mallory and thus ends all debate.
Undaunted by the lack of an employer, the Irregulars continue toward the ruined city in search of gnolls. After killing a lone sentry they find themselves hatching plans to assault the stronghold. They may not have coins from Mallory to drive them, but many feel the gnolls depredations must be stopped and innocents protected.
Quote of the Day: “Gnomes… Gnolls… what’s the difference? Bring one to me and I’ll kill it.”
Wanderhalt is unusually crowded and there is an hours wait and a new tax collected just to enter the city walls. It turns out that every merchant, pilgrim and homesteader in the surrounding environs is looking for asylum within Wanderhalt. Many waiting in line testify that something has disturbed gnolls from the Dark Wood and they have been making merciless raids across the plains.
Once in the city, the Irregulars seek respite from the road in a curious pub known as The Stone Francis. Aside from the usual food, drink and revelry, there is a man standing on a table and begging to be heard over the din. Most inside ignore him and his plea, but when he steps down from his makeshift podium, the Irregulars approach.
His name is Keaton Mallory. He explains that he is offering a bounty for any and all gnolls slain. He wants vengeance for the lives of his wife and daughter who were cruelly killed and half-eaten by the monsters. For a reward he has a sack of platinum pieces to offer. The party agrees to help at once, but the next morning, they find their employer robbed and hungover.
He assures them that though he is but a humble sustenance farmer, he has plenty of cash squirreled away to hire them. He will gladly pay, if they will but agree to accompany him to his homestead. Once on the plains, the party encounters a gnoll war party, puts it to the sword and begins to follow their tracks. As the days pass by, there is some division among the Irregulars. In the absence of real direction or a strong leader, Mallory attempts to take charge and is rather forcefully put down. Now in the wilderness he admits that there is more to the story than the party has been told.
Charmed by Lita, Mallory admits that he hasn’t farmed in a while. He actually served as a guide to a group of adventurers from Wanderhalt. That group raided the distant ruined city and made off with the golden gnoll god and various other treasures. The gnolls, he conjects, may be looking for their purloined deity. They followed him back to his homestead and killed his family.
With this admission, chaos breaks out and the Irregulars pile on to restrain Balok (their newest member) whose family was killed by maurading gnolls. No sooner do they have him held fast, when the bard Mai quietly backstabs Mallory and thus ends all debate.
Undaunted by the lack of an employer, the Irregulars continue toward the ruined city in search of gnolls. After killing a lone sentry they find themselves hatching plans to assault the stronghold. They may not have coins from Mallory to drive them, but many feel the gnolls depredations must be stopped and innocents protected.
Quote of the Day: “Gnomes… Gnolls… what’s the difference? Bring one to me and I’ll kill it.”
Go West Young Demihumans
The morning comes as it always must. The Irregulars find themselves standing face to face with an armed party of dwarves. Thalwyn and Josif slip out in the confusion. Beleg agrees to accompany the Basin into Oromir to meet the Dwarf King. Mourning Elk accepts a Dwarf noble’s son as a token of safe conduct for Beleg.
The Forge of Oromir
Long reputed to be the hottest place in all Erenth, the volcano called the Forge of Oromir is the destination of the two parties of Lonely Street Irregulars who meet on the plains outside of Peakshadow. Together they journey up the seldom used Dwarven Road.
The Fate of the Prefect's Chest
The Lonely Street Irregulars are commissioned by the Prefect of Bolden to take a mysterious container to the volcano near Dun Oromir… and dump it into the fiery trench. Simon the Mage is sent with them on the Prefect’s Orders. For the first part of the journey, the Baron’s Reeve accompanies them, as well.
Bloodsucking Financiers
While Lita returns from her ancestral home and manages to insult the Lord Mayor of Bolden, (getting herself thrown in the cage for good measure) most of the Lonely Street Irregulars find themselves in Brambleton and it’s environs. Beleg and Shecky fight a zombie outside of town and then Shecky takes ill with the stomach flu and sits out. The rest of the Irregulars meet in and around the Cracked Mug where they run across Perkin and find that his last name is Koslowe. He is a well-known financier and money changer.
The Lies of Lundinium
While two of their number were in Brambleton (and a third was lost along the way) the rest of
The Lonely Street Irregulars found themselves waiting on intelligences and dispatches from two unlikely sources in Bolden: the Guild and the Church. The wait was four weeks, during which time the party acquainted themselves with Gawayne Newton, a bard from regions unknown. The ranger Mourning Elk, not one to stay long in cities, made a name for himself among the local farmers, both for his generosity and his protection from a trio of rogue bears that had been preying upon their flocks.
The Lonely Street Irregulars found themselves waiting on intelligences and dispatches from two unlikely sources in Bolden: the Guild and the Church. The wait was four weeks, during which time the party acquainted themselves with Gawayne Newton, a bard from regions unknown. The ranger Mourning Elk, not one to stay long in cities, made a name for himself among the local farmers, both for his generosity and his protection from a trio of rogue bears that had been preying upon their flocks.
Guild Entanglements
While it is not impossible to be a rogue in the Eight Kingdoms without Guild sponsorship, it is quite difficult. This fact did not escape Thalwyn who sought out the sponsorship for training, nor did it escape the notice of the Halfling Sheckleford, who joined merely to avoid unnecessary harrassment.
The Assassins Trail
In Bolden the party was approached by a mysterious figure named Thalwyn. He offered to hire the party to help him seek a dark elf assassin called Nivin. Nivin was alleged to be responsible for the death of a very important person connected to the Church — some rumors indicate that it might be the Patriarch himself. This assassin is to be brought, “bruised but not broken” to Bolden to answer for his crimes. The party consented to help Thalwyn and set out for Brambleton – the assassin’s supposed base of operations.
Me Tell about da Big Party by Josif
Me an’ Thalwee da ulf come back from we latest fights when we Uncle Bups asks we to lean on da bean in da whole ’nother town. If we is do dis, we is paid 12 hunert crowns. Da bean is name Perkin. Da problem is da bean is right close to dat 'nother town’s Arch.
The Lure of Lundinium
While holding over in Bolden, the party heard that the nearby town of Lundinium was beset by a terrible curse. Travelers from there can only relate that they believe it to be related to goblins. Having recently buttered their bread with goblin hordes, the players set out to see what they might do for the townspeople in peril.
A Narrow Escape
Lost in the dark and unable to find an exit, the adventurers faced the daunting task of fighting their way out of goblin infested catacombs and perhaps eventually facing the Three Horde Chieftains— enigmatic figures who seem to rule the various tribes. While surveying the damage to their last opponents, however, they discovered what remains of a cookfire and followed the smoke stained path up the chimney.
Backstory: Thalwyn
From the Scrolls of the Church in Peakshadow...
I Bartleby, priest and scribe, write this tale with my own hand that you may know it is true and may trust the words herein. All of this took place before the dark times we know, when the Church was still young.
I Bartleby, priest and scribe, write this tale with my own hand that you may know it is true and may trust the words herein. All of this took place before the dark times we know, when the Church was still young.
Dwarven Intrigue
The adventurers holed up in the safety of their purged Dwarf temple and used it as a base of operations for incursions against the orc tribes with great success. They found that they were able to launch assaults from their base and fall back to it in order to rest and find healing. As time went on, they realized that their bodies are able to mend at twice the normal rate so long as they are in the temple proper.
The Ruined Temple
Both resigned and consigned to traveling below ground, the characters found themselves in the midst of a great war between orc clans vying for ascendancy in the darkness. With great effort they made enmity of both clans and earned the lasting hatred of an Orc shaman.
Additionally, the characters restored an ancient Dwarven Arvanaith to its former glory. Even in the depths, the Paladin in their midst can feel the Protection from Evil that emanates from the chamber. The reverberations of this small act may very well echo in eternity.
Quote of the Day: “Don’t worry, I am very dexterioustable.”
Additionally, the characters restored an ancient Dwarven Arvanaith to its former glory. Even in the depths, the Paladin in their midst can feel the Protection from Evil that emanates from the chamber. The reverberations of this small act may very well echo in eternity.
Quote of the Day: “Don’t worry, I am very dexterioustable.”
Zaggro's Lair
After absconding with some of the golden hair, as well as the crystal sphere of the submerged elven statue, the party made for the Prefect’s Hat, were dropped off, and then contracted with the ship’s captain to be picked up again in two weeks time.
Three Northruners and a Map
Finding themselves in Haven, four of the characters witnessed an apparent falling out between three Northruners. Two were killed by their fellows and the third was slain by Lamborg the Paladin who sought to end the hostilities and impose some sense of law in the lawlessness. The source of the trouble was a piece of sailcloth upon which had been drawn a map and on which the barbarians had written a “shopping list” of items.
The Trouble with Magisters
The Adventurers were recreating in the Soapy Mug when they were approached by a thin, balding man named Clemis. He asked them about their loyalties on the question of Succession and then introduced himself as the Magister of Waldron. His fear is that the magister of Fieldstone has at last perfected the ancient eastern secret of black sand. He hires the adventurers to steal a sample of the sand and to get a copy of the recipe, if possible. For doing so, he will pay 100 cr and 400 cr more upon completion.
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