Note: Ahlonna, Meldrim, and NPCs are running under the 2/99 beta thief rules.
The party's newest incarnation (Beeel, Thorongil, Frankel, Lorcan, Zenig, Ahlonna, and Meldrim) headed toward Rogtymark's keep. On their third day out, they encountered a group of gnomes heading for the Hollerith Temple. Three of them appeared to be miners (the fourth was dressed as a mage), so Meldrim asked them for news from Rognukena's keep.
- Wiz-gnome:
- "We've met before, haven't we?"
- Meldrim:
- "I don't believe so. Is these someplace I should know you from?"
- Wiz-gnome:
- "No, no, not at all...I'm just traveling."
The gnomes said that Rognukena's keep was basically deserted, except for some unsavory people, and it was best to stay away from it. (The wiz-gnome struck Meldrim as nervous, particularly regarding his past, but Meldrim didn't pursue the matter.)
The wiz-gnome offered to tell people's fortunes for 2sp; Ahlonna thought this was overpriced, but Lorcan went for it anyway.
- Wiz-gnome:
- "I semse...wom and Nuket! These are powerful words. What do they mean? Quest after that, my son."
- Lorcan:
- "I beg your pardon? I know what they mean. I want a better fortune than that."
- Wiz-gnome:
- "The future is cloudy today. Obviously you weren't sufficiently relaxed."
- Beeel:
- "You're acting like somebody who doesn't actually know anything. I can see why you're heading for the Library of Hollerith."
- Beeel's surface thoughts:
- "Hey, he cheated Lorcan! Does this mean we should kill him? No, probably not..."
Meldrim (who one might have observed scanning the gnome while the gnome was scanning Lorcan) tried to get on a more productive track...
- Meldrim:
- "What kind of unsavory types are in Rognukena's keep?"
- Wiz-gnome:
- "Cross my palm with silver?"
- Meldrim:
- "I know! Anti-werewolf gauntlets."
[silent pause]
"Oh, sorry...I thought it was a riddle."- Wiz-gnome:
- "Look, tallguy. Just because I'm a little down on my luck and short of cash doesn't mean that I'm clueless OK? You'll get farther with a kind word and silver than you'll get with a kind word alone. If you're so stingy that you can't afford to feed a few starving gnomes, then you'll get what you deserve."
- Lorcan:
- "Why didn't you just say you were hungry?"
Lorcan gave the gnomes some rations and sent them on their way.
- Lorcan:
- "Go and see Nomistrus. He likes gnomes. Tell him you're an engineer."
- Meldrim:
- "Now that you're going to be eating the next few days, I don't want to hear about any fortune tellers scamming the peasants between here and the Library. Comprende, compadre?"
- Meldrim's surface thoughts:
- "That engineer thing might work out for you."
In appreciation for the food and Lorcan's "advice", the gnomes revealed that orcs have moved into Rognukena's keep (though the orcs don't know they've been spotted), and they headed off toward the Holleriths.
- Ahlonna:
- "Boy, you guys are really nice, giving them food after they tried to scam (and scan) you. The Banditlands are filled with scum, especially now after the Western lords are gone."
- Beeel:
- "A rising tide lifts all boats."
- Meldrim:
- "If they don't have holes in the bottom."
- Lorcan:
- "Well, those gnomes may not be quite so friendly after they tell Nomistrus they are engineers." :-)
That night, the party was attacked by a swarm of stirges. Nothing else interesting happened on the way to Derdriu's temple (apart from Frankel noticing that Meldrim was traveling in disguise and failing to be nonchalantly suspicious about it).
- Rahul:
- "Thor advocates a frontal assault on Rogtymark's keep. However, you decide to infiltrate instead. Disguising yourselves as heroes, you are able to gain entrance."
The keep wasn't deserted, and there were guards by the gate, but the courtyard showed obvious signs of neglect. The party was ushered in, and Meldrim slipped off, saying he had to talk to someone in the keep. A few minutes later, Derdriu and Harthika (the guard captain, who happens to be Tremere's sister) emerged from the Belhor Temple, just as Lorcan accidentally(?) bounced a wom ball off its wall.
Derdriu seemed very happy to have some help in the area, though she was a bit concerned by Silvana's, Stealth's, and Ganeth's absences. Lorcan introduced himself as a "Missonary of Wom and Priest of Nuket" and introduced Ahlonna (who was hiding behind him) as his assistant; Beeel handled the rest.
- Beeel:
- "The angel is Zenig. Meldrim slipped off but said he'd be back soon."
- Derdriu: [with a hint of disapproval]
- "An Angel of the Cuthbert?"
- Thorongil:
- "Remember, D, only about 142 years 'til the Cuthbert goes back."
- Derdriu: [growling]
- "I trust you'll be there to make sure it goes back?"
Derdriu suggested gathering everyone for a minor feast that evening, and Harthika went back to work ("ruffians to apprehend").
Meanwhile, a small crowd had gathered to check out Frankel and Zenig, and some children decided they just had to touch. (Ahlonna suggested that one of them pull Frankel's tail.) The heroes exercised admirable restraint (though Beeel was standing by to parry for the tots just in case), and Lorcan and Ahlonna eventually drew most of the onlookers into a game of wom.
Meldrim returned and introduced himself to Derdriu, who regarded him with some suspicion.
- Derdriu:
- "Word has it that you are well `informed' about the situation, Meldrim?"
- Meldrim:
- "Moderately well informed. I'm hoping you can help me become more so."
- Derdriu:
- "The summary of the situation is that our crusade against the evil Easterners has slightly weakened our force in the farther reaches of the Keeplands, such as Lord Rogtymark's keep. Unscrupulous individuals, horse-thieves and the like, are now getting a little more ambitious. Word has it that they are considering an assault. Naturally, Belhor will give us the strength to repulse their attack, but it is still not what I would like to see happen to this area."
- Meldrim:
- "I work in intelligence. You don't have to spin things for me. But we should perhaps discuss the details somewhere a bit more private. I'm sure I'm not the only observant person in town."
Beeel, Derdriu, and Meldrim arranged to meet in the temple's inner courtyard half an hour before the feast. Frankel continued to glower at Meldrim across the courtyard, so Meldrim came over for a whispered word.
- Meldrim:
- "I'll keep this short and hope you'll be discreet about this. I'm in disguise because I'm a retired bandit, some of my former men have defected to Tiger's camp, and I really don't want to be recognized. Feel better?"
- Frankel:
- "I'll take your word for it, for now, if that's what you mean. Whether or not I feel safe from you, you are safe from me."
- Meldrim:
- "That's good, then. Enjoy the day...and stop staring at me."
Meldrim slipped off and arranged to meet an informant at the feast. Beeel surveyed the keep's defenses and noted that they were very solidly constructed (Derdriu comes from a family of stonemasons, after all), but the keep's total population (including Derdriu and Harthika) couldn't be more than twenty. He also found out the keep has a jail, currently hosting a horse-thief and an old murderer who's decided he likes it in there (after 10+ years). Thorongil and Derdriu went off to catch up on recent events. Zenig was put to work cleaning the temple's upper windows, and Meldrim, Lorcan, and Ahlonna ended up chopping firewood and vegetables until the meeting. (Meldrim ate some of the vegetables while he worked..."before the bad guys have time to poison them.")
The inner courtyard was less than inviting for Chaotic and Evil people, so Lorcan and Ahlonna skipped the meeting for more wom practice. Meldrim didn't seem particularly uncomfortable, but Derdriu cast a know alignment on him just to be sure. (She didn't reveal the result, but she seemed satisfied.)
- Derdriu:
- "As you know, these are not the best of times. Our defenses are drawn very thin, and Harthika and I cannot really go on the offensive. Unless the situation changes drastically, we will be forced to abandon this keep. I am reluctant to do this, not only because this land and temple are very important to me, personally, but also because it will signal that the Keeplands have been broken."
- Meldrim:
- "As we've all noticed, the Keepland economy has basically collapsed, and with no surplus to skim, the bandits are having a tough time."
- Derdriu:
- "My heart bleeds for them."
- Meldrim:
- "The various bandit gangs have started preying on each other, which isn't necessarily a bad thing to your average civilian. Then along comes Tiger, who as far as most folks knew barely had two functioning brain cells to rub together, and somehow he's got this ritual that makes him and his followers extra-tough in combat. So he and his pals start nuking the other gangs, grabbing whoever will join them and killing the rest. Naturally, most join. And now there's a big horde of bandits massing under our former dimwitted bully; rumor is they're based in some ruins about a day's ride southwest of here."
- Derdriu:
- "I am hoping that the ritual story is just a myth -- designed to scare us."
- Meldrim:
- "There are reports of a bandit gang that's immune to weapons...at least normal ones. They weren't stoneskinned; some sort of lycanthropy was one speculation."
- Derdriu:
- "Oh, just great."
Turns out lycanthropy isn't a likely suspect; as Thorongil pointed out, lycanthropes normally don't get special immunity in their human forms. Meldrim had also some intelligence on several players associated with Tiger:
- Narker (a.k.a. "Tiger's Paw")
- Tiger's lieutenant; they've been together for most of their careers. Vicious, sadistic, into nasty punishments and beating captives.
- Korda (a.k.a. "Ill Omen")
- An archer who recently joined the group. Word is she's mainly after the ritual.
- "Masq: The Fess of Kayos"
- A mysterious and unstable mage, said to be from the desert. Beeel caught that this could be an someone with a strong accent saying, "Mask: The Face of Chaos".
- A priest with berserker buddies
- Derdriu has heard of this fellow but doesn't know much about him. She'd assumed he was mid-level (something like 6-8).
Derdriu asked Meldrim point-blank if he used to work for Tiger; he replied that he was Lady Ylena's intelligence operative assigned to the area, and much of his information came from "an impressionable young lady who's had encounters with some of the bandits."
The big questions nobody had answers to were the ritual itself and when the attack would be coming. Derdriu and Meldrim agreed that it would be good to capture one of the key players for questioning, either by finding one away from the group or luring one out, but no clear plan emerged beyond riding out toward the ruins and seeing what the party could pick up.
- Meldrim:
- "One thing I'm curious about is what a bunch of bandits would do with a keep if they had one. I suppose it could be a nice base for going out and pillaging the countryside, but there's not much left in the countryside worth pillaging."
- Beeel:
- "Maybe they just want the authorities out of the area."
- Derdriu:
- "I was wondering that myself. Why our keep?"
The party kicked around the possibility that someone was manipulating the bandits and backing the coming attack, either to signal the breaking of the Keeplands or to target the Belhor Temple itself, but again no conclusions emerged.
Derdriu gathered the party outside the temple, Meldrim and Ahlonna promptly slipped away, and Derdriu gave a short speech:
Defenders of the Keep, we have in our midst today a most celebrated group of Heroes. These adventurers drove away the Undead, destroyed hordes of demons and devils, fought against the Evil Easterners and will now aid us against the bandits.
This is Thorongil, a Giant-slayer of renown, from the Woodelven forests.
Next, I present Beeel, a Lawful Good warrior with an exotic fighting style. Though his weapons are limp, his soul is True and Straight.
The Ranger Frankel, a Troll-slayer and sworn foe of the Bandit-leader Tiger. He is here to avenge the injustices that they have inflicted upon the innocent.
The Holy Warrior Zenig, sent to us from the Seven Heavens.
And the "Cardinal of Wom", a worthy adventurer from the city.
The crowd waited for a speech from one of the heroes. Lorcan lifted his wom ball, Derdriu got worried and nudged Thorongil, and Frankel leapt into the breach...
- Frankel:
- "The bandits have despoiled the forests for long enough."
- Random folks:
- "Forests?"
- Frankel:
- "The people of this keep and of the forests will eject the bandits now, before they can combine!"
- Derdriu: [looking relieved]
- "Well said! United, the forces of Good shall drive the wicked from the land!"
- The crowd goes wild.
- Dan:
- "They know that the keep is their own personal forest."
- Erich:
- "Well, it's got a lot of wood -- that's sort of like being a forest."
- Dan:
- "And being fireballed in it is bad---that's like a forest too."
- Frankel:
- "The bandits have a new leader, one I have faced before...a man who pretends to call himself Tiger. He is an enemy both of the keeplands that shelter you, and the forests that are my home. Let us band together, and shut him out."
- Guard:
- "How can we help? We will gladly lay down our lives in this just cause, so that our countrymen may live without fear."
- Frankel:
- "We can bring him to justice, and this is the best opportunity to do so in a very long time. I am not the strategist among my group..."
- Derdriu:
- "We will stand together and hold the breach while our heroes go on the offensive."
- Crowd:
- "Hold the Breach! Hold the Breach! Hold the Breach!"
- Derdriu:
- "Let the feast begin!"
- Beeel: [to Lorcan]
- "Put away the wom ball."
Meldrim didn't learn anything new from his informant over dinner. Lorcan parleyed the success of Frankel's speech into fresh wom recruits. The next morning, Derdriu did a divination and asked Belhor how best to combat the evil surrounding them (especially if it's immune to normal weapons); Belhor said, "The Shield must block while the Spear strikes out." The party didn't seem likely to adopt the Spear as its new moniker, but it headed out toward the southwest to start investigating.