Sitting in the bar with Grace Hope and Merenwen and a courier from the Minister comes with a message that the minister wished to speak with us about a reconnaisance opportunity.
Princess Linessa is missing. Circumstances are puzzling. Somewhere between sunset and just before midnight she was discovered missing. A very short while ago, within two hours before our meeting, the investigation yielded a message "the misguided path you dragged this kingdom down with the illconceived war must not be tolerated. If you want to see your daughter alive admit the blood on your hands and abdicate the throne."
Line of succession a little bit dicey. several noble lines who could make the claim.
King's wizard, investigated, didnt yeild many results.
Princess, absorbed in studies, interested in many fields of knowledge. She is technically the heir to the throne, but the throne occasionally jumps from one house to another based on commerce, leadership, etc.
She was last seen going to her room sometime shortly after sunset. Her bed did not appear to be slept in, but she would frequently stay up late reading. The royal nurse had noticed that there was still light coming from her room and had went in to check and suggest that she turn in for the night, but she was gone.
Wizard did a magical anaylis of the environment, found minor residue that something had happened. Attempted a scry, during which the cleric was contacted and a commune attepted. Not dead, in kingdom, in city, perpertrator did not teleport into room, nor did they use stealth to enter the room. Wizard's attempts to scry, to locate her or an object yielded no result. Sending also received no return.
Because of the location of the room, very difficult to sneak in, let alone out.
Princess' disappearance can be kept under wraps for a few days.
Possible reimbursement of 50,000 gold.
Non-detection, cast around 10th level
anti-magic zone, sphere,
sending done through cleric of Thoth, Tuninor, no response. He can attempt a scry which might be more effective than Remdellor's.
posssible meeting between Merenwen and royal wizard, Konal Remdellor
Malzonda family has more powerful wizard than Remdellor. Dennor is the high level wizard and head of the house. Saved Tuninor.
Thieves Guild:
Were not involved, but are duly impressed by whoever was. They have contacts inside the castle, they feel very confident that no one went in or out barring sig magic. Alarms on the castle that would have been triggered by teleports. No one used the secret passages in the castle. Their people have not observed her in the city. Several leaders of noble families have been considered, but few have the capability. Not in the guild's best desire for the king to abdicate since this would produce some turmoil that would be bad for their business. Quite a few parties upset about the war. Some houses would just use the war as an excuse to further their own power. Lord Malzonda has a solid alibi. Seems likely that the other houses are not aware.
Polymorph
king's private chamber and council room protected from scrying
In the castle--
vaguely circular magic, faint aura (residual), conjuration, looks like the stone itself has some innate magic, opening a portal or gateway, likely transdimensionally, part of a gate
theives suspect public appearance was not Malzonda. No change in activities in any of the houses, including Malzonda. Agent in Malzonda household is of the opinion that the Lord has gone crazy, has noticed a distinct change in his behavior recently.
Dwarf is very confident that the stone was part of the original floor.
Tunnie shared that the incident where Malzonda saved his life was three and half weeks. As a reward Tunnie gave Malzonda a question, Malzonda asked the location of the stone of Ermelish, which Tunnie advised against. Spoken about in ancient tomes, not quite clear what exactly it does. Not a large item, may not have been a single item.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Kissingersee
I stopped by the roadside inns en route. The road from Balon to Kissingersee also heads northwards into the grasslands and the halfling villages therein. I chatted with any workers in the inns who would have been old enough to remember my mother. I thought perhaps a woman, especially a pregnant woman, traveling alone might be remembered. But I didn’t turn up anything useful. I did learn that Aunt Nim and her wagon goes to Balon about once a month. She takes a wagon of bread and other simple foods and such to Balon, and then heads home a few days later with an empty wagon.
Scrying
The mage said he could attempt the scry without an item that had belonged to her. I tried to point out that I had belonged to her, in a manner of speaking, but for some reason that didn’t count for the scry. The good news is, the scry seemed to work. The bad news is, it was being magically blocked.
He said caster capabable of more powerful spells than he might be able to overcome the shielding.
I asked him what sorts of things would block a scry. I had heard of rings or personal items that prevented divination magics from working on a person. He said also that many wizards kept their private lodgings protected in this way. So did some temples. So would the palace. So would most of the major merchant families. So, in Balan alone, lots of locations are shielded from scrying.
Back to hitting the streets…and heading home to Kissingersee.
He said caster capabable of more powerful spells than he might be able to overcome the shielding.
I asked him what sorts of things would block a scry. I had heard of rings or personal items that prevented divination magics from working on a person. He said also that many wizards kept their private lodgings protected in this way. So did some temples. So would the palace. So would most of the major merchant families. So, in Balan alone, lots of locations are shielded from scrying.
Back to hitting the streets…and heading home to Kissingersee.
Questions
Tunnanor is going to remain in Balan and Torail to gather information on the war’s end, so I have a few days, maybe even a week or so to decide what I want my question to be. He says that if I choose to wait longer, I can always use a sending to contact him with my question. Though, he says, it would take him at least a day to discern the answer to my question, so I shouldn’t expect an immediate reply in an emergency situation. And when he told me that, I was grateful that he had the foresight to warn me about the time difference. It wasn’t until later, sitting down as I was writing this, that I realized I had become the sort of person that might need to know critical information in an emergency situation. Might? Probably. No doubt. Certainly.
Lovely.
In the meantime, I’ve given some thought on what I can do to find information on my mother. I know she came from Kissingersee to Balan. I could try tracking her trail here by talking to people and seeing if anyone knows her or might remember her. But it has been 30 years, and that makes for a pretty cold trail. Instead, I’m going to find a mage who can perform a scrying on her. I might have to travel home and ask Aunt Nim for an item that belonged to Mother, but I don’t want to bother Aunt Nim with it yet. I know the topic still troubles her. I do want to go home to visit Aunt Nim, but I don’t want to go home and upset Aunt Nim.
What else do I want to ask for my Question?
--a bardic musical instrument? One that increases the number of creatures I can fascinate?
--a magical tome that would expand my understanding or my knowledge of music?
I need a purpose.
I want to leave those I meet better off for having known me no matter how brief the interaction is.
Lovely.
In the meantime, I’ve given some thought on what I can do to find information on my mother. I know she came from Kissingersee to Balan. I could try tracking her trail here by talking to people and seeing if anyone knows her or might remember her. But it has been 30 years, and that makes for a pretty cold trail. Instead, I’m going to find a mage who can perform a scrying on her. I might have to travel home and ask Aunt Nim for an item that belonged to Mother, but I don’t want to bother Aunt Nim with it yet. I know the topic still troubles her. I do want to go home to visit Aunt Nim, but I don’t want to go home and upset Aunt Nim.
What else do I want to ask for my Question?
--a bardic musical instrument? One that increases the number of creatures I can fascinate?
--a magical tome that would expand my understanding or my knowledge of music?
I need a purpose.
I want to leave those I meet better off for having known me no matter how brief the interaction is.
Going Home
[name blotted out] is going to invite us to our wedding. I think we should throw her a bachelerette party, though I'm not sure how happy she might be with the idea.
We landed just shortly after sunrise. Notice how easily I can throw little phrases like we landed in these notes now? Coming around a small bend in the road, we barely have time to glimpse a rider in white and gold ahead of us before a large fireburst goes off. From out of the fireball a large, firery humanoid who immediately bathed the area in flames and attacked the rider. We closed the distance as quickly as we could and came to the assistance of the rider….cause people in white are always the good guys right?
Upon defeating the flame creature and his summoned flame things, the rider turned to us and addressed us by name. He explained that his name was Tunnanor. He is from the temple of Thoth and was sent to interview us about our lifting the curse in the valley. I have no idea what the Temple of Thoth is, but he wants to hear the story. I only wish my ballad were completely polished. I face the dreaded delimna of whether to keep my ballad back, or present the work in progress. I think I'll simply tell the story as a narrative and work in some of my more favorite phrases from my ballad.
Merewen asked why he was ambushed by the flame creature. Details, details. It's totally my story time. Ah well, while the others eat and get healed and worry about ambushing fire minions, I can polish my story and get it ready for presenting.
And, since it's always good to increase my pool of interesting tidbits…here's some of Tunnanor's story. He said that in the Vasta dessert, people trying to make "deals with the devil" to increase their own personal power often make deals with the efreet (which is what the tall flame creature was). The Kingdom of Seter (which destroyed the kingdom of Darmak), was one that made such a deal with the efreet. Tunnanor had recently learned of another city that was similarly attacked…though this city was attacked with a magical spell that hindered their ability to remember anything. Tunnanor and his party broke the curse on that city, and was being hunted down by the efreet for his interference.
My turn!
And, not my turn yet. He says those coming from other lands are surprised at the number of cities in the Vasta that are cursed. I missed the rest of what he said.
My turn.
I’m still not comfortable with how parts of the story play out. On the one hand, I need to allude to the one who helped us so much, while respecting that one’s desire for privacy and anonymity. On the other hand, I want to relay what happens truthfully, without…well bother. See, I can’t even get it out correctly in my notes, let alone in a ballad.
Nonetheless, Tunnanor was pleased with the recounting. He’s offered us each a gift, both for ending the curse in Seter, as well as for sharing the information with him and his temple.
We may each ask one question, and the Temple of Thoth will use their resources of divination to find the answer for us. He cautions us against asking questions that mortals were not meant to know, or asking questions that would attrack the attention of beings far more powerful than we. He reminds us that the future is shifting and malleable, so asking questions about specific events in the future will not yield pratical knowledge. Asking questions about where largest accumulation of treasure in these lands will give us the location, but beware that there is likely something guarding that treasure, and so on.
Do I want to ask where my mother is, or what her fate was?
We landed just shortly after sunrise. Notice how easily I can throw little phrases like we landed in these notes now? Coming around a small bend in the road, we barely have time to glimpse a rider in white and gold ahead of us before a large fireburst goes off. From out of the fireball a large, firery humanoid who immediately bathed the area in flames and attacked the rider. We closed the distance as quickly as we could and came to the assistance of the rider….cause people in white are always the good guys right?
Upon defeating the flame creature and his summoned flame things, the rider turned to us and addressed us by name. He explained that his name was Tunnanor. He is from the temple of Thoth and was sent to interview us about our lifting the curse in the valley. I have no idea what the Temple of Thoth is, but he wants to hear the story. I only wish my ballad were completely polished. I face the dreaded delimna of whether to keep my ballad back, or present the work in progress. I think I'll simply tell the story as a narrative and work in some of my more favorite phrases from my ballad.
Merewen asked why he was ambushed by the flame creature. Details, details. It's totally my story time. Ah well, while the others eat and get healed and worry about ambushing fire minions, I can polish my story and get it ready for presenting.
And, since it's always good to increase my pool of interesting tidbits…here's some of Tunnanor's story. He said that in the Vasta dessert, people trying to make "deals with the devil" to increase their own personal power often make deals with the efreet (which is what the tall flame creature was). The Kingdom of Seter (which destroyed the kingdom of Darmak), was one that made such a deal with the efreet. Tunnanor had recently learned of another city that was similarly attacked…though this city was attacked with a magical spell that hindered their ability to remember anything. Tunnanor and his party broke the curse on that city, and was being hunted down by the efreet for his interference.
My turn!
And, not my turn yet. He says those coming from other lands are surprised at the number of cities in the Vasta that are cursed. I missed the rest of what he said.
My turn.
I’m still not comfortable with how parts of the story play out. On the one hand, I need to allude to the one who helped us so much, while respecting that one’s desire for privacy and anonymity. On the other hand, I want to relay what happens truthfully, without…well bother. See, I can’t even get it out correctly in my notes, let alone in a ballad.
Nonetheless, Tunnanor was pleased with the recounting. He’s offered us each a gift, both for ending the curse in Seter, as well as for sharing the information with him and his temple.
We may each ask one question, and the Temple of Thoth will use their resources of divination to find the answer for us. He cautions us against asking questions that mortals were not meant to know, or asking questions that would attrack the attention of beings far more powerful than we. He reminds us that the future is shifting and malleable, so asking questions about specific events in the future will not yield pratical knowledge. Asking questions about where largest accumulation of treasure in these lands will give us the location, but beware that there is likely something guarding that treasure, and so on.
Do I want to ask where my mother is, or what her fate was?
In Hallinsivas
Hallinsivas--desert elf city, regional capital
--large library, elf mages noted for study research, main library public but warded against evil creatures; magic wing open to elves
--cultural sites, art centers--display art and performance art
--noted metal workers
--fire magic specialists
Merewen takes note of a painting of Delinar Horiless--hung in the hall of heroes in desert elf city (portrait next to is Thamaril Hassindress, both fell in Battle of Hennis Vas). On a side note, if I have time, I wonder if there is a book in which the stories of each of the heroes is kept. A small plaque under each painting in the long gallery hardly seems like enough words to represent the story of each person. Though sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, sometimes a picture needs at least a few words.
HennisVas is in lands overseen by Hallinsivas, was attacked by powerful red dragon. Defenders at city split into two groups, one to defend, one to seek aid
Librarian Tengar
Hallways color coated and numbered
Hope went to check out extra-planar creatures and see about getting magic items made
Merewen went to research the battle of Hennis Vas
And I didn't see where Kiara went, cause my goal is just to walk up and down the width and breadth of the library just to have seen it all. Then, if I have time, I'll absolutely judge a book by its cover and pull whatever catches my eye off the shelves to browse through. I would go look at poetry and songs, but I want to hear those delivered first hand. I am absolutely hitting the 'entertainment district' before we leave. The library also has a music conservatory attached to it. I'm going to buy a small journal and record as many songs and ballads as I can. And I want to go to the theater. And I want to find some nice candles for Aunt Nim.
--large library, elf mages noted for study research, main library public but warded against evil creatures; magic wing open to elves
--cultural sites, art centers--display art and performance art
--noted metal workers
--fire magic specialists
Merewen takes note of a painting of Delinar Horiless--hung in the hall of heroes in desert elf city (portrait next to is Thamaril Hassindress, both fell in Battle of Hennis Vas). On a side note, if I have time, I wonder if there is a book in which the stories of each of the heroes is kept. A small plaque under each painting in the long gallery hardly seems like enough words to represent the story of each person. Though sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, sometimes a picture needs at least a few words.
HennisVas is in lands overseen by Hallinsivas, was attacked by powerful red dragon. Defenders at city split into two groups, one to defend, one to seek aid
Librarian Tengar
Hallways color coated and numbered
Hope went to check out extra-planar creatures and see about getting magic items made
Merewen went to research the battle of Hennis Vas
And I didn't see where Kiara went, cause my goal is just to walk up and down the width and breadth of the library just to have seen it all. Then, if I have time, I'll absolutely judge a book by its cover and pull whatever catches my eye off the shelves to browse through. I would go look at poetry and songs, but I want to hear those delivered first hand. I am absolutely hitting the 'entertainment district' before we leave. The library also has a music conservatory attached to it. I'm going to buy a small journal and record as many songs and ballads as I can. And I want to go to the theater. And I want to find some nice candles for Aunt Nim.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Heading North
We have equiped ourselves the best we can to survive in the wilderness in the winter for several weeks. We leave the last of the Torail farms behind, and pass through the small lakeside town where we booked passage for Kinch not so long ago. We pass through the empty village once again. Once again we scour it for signs of what might have happened to the inhabitants. Once again we leave it to its empty, unknown fate. We pass the end of the trail that first led us from the pirate cove to the lake. No new signs of activity there.
A few days later we enter another small lakeside village. This one is inhabited. They tell us the name of the empty village, but were unaware that it stood empty. So, still, no more answers. I cannot help but wonder and worry, because the little fishing village reminds me so much of home.
North again. North still.
We are attacked by a group of undead bears. We bearly defeat them, and yet we cannot bear to resist the puns, though they are certainly not beary funny.
A few days later we enter another small lakeside village. This one is inhabited. They tell us the name of the empty village, but were unaware that it stood empty. So, still, no more answers. I cannot help but wonder and worry, because the little fishing village reminds me so much of home.
North again. North still.
We are attacked by a group of undead bears. We bearly defeat them, and yet we cannot bear to resist the puns, though they are certainly not beary funny.
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