9/18/02 THE COMING OF THE ZIOTH TURN FIFTY-ONE Unusual for her, as Ardith was one of those who woke up ready for anything, she sleepily went through her morning ablutions, woke up Kay, said her morning prayers, then, checking to see if Kay was actually up, thought about their mission and getting on with it. They'd been in this town long enough, she thought. Kay had been having a pleasant dream. She couldn't quite remember -- something about a tall blond attractive and sexy man who was being very nice to her. It was just beyond her grasp. She didn't want to wake to a world where things were foggy. Now, where did that idea come from...? Just don't want to wake up just yet. Let me just wallow in that dream... Oh, well, damn, it's gone anyway. "All right, Ardith, I'm getting up. If you don't mind, though, I'll skip morning prayers. Just too foggy... and sleepy. Why don't we just get out of Dunweig and on with our mission?" Ardith nodded in reply. "Yes," she whispered. "We've been here longer than we planned." Johannes was down for breakfast early, fidgeting uncomfortably. He picked at his food, waiting for the others to come down, a worried look on his face. Other than Johannes and the innkeeper, the common room was nearly empty. It seemed, although Johannes wasn't entirely sure, that the room had been fairly empty the night before as well. Kreemon came down shortly, and shared breakfast with his dependable companion. "So what are the plans for today?" Johannes nodded briefly at Kreemon. "When the women get down here, I have something I want to discuss." That said, Johannes resumed picking at his food. Kreemon grunted noncommittally, and made no sound until the two girls game down the stairs, when he looked up from his breakfast. "So, are we heading out this morning? It is about time we delivered the message to Baron Huerton." Johannes frowned, then spoke up. "Before we leave, I have something to ask. Were any of you going through my possessions last night? One of the pages of my journal has been cut out..." Hearing denials from the rest of the group, Johannes frowned briefly. "This then leaves me with the uncomfortable conclusion that this is somehow connected to the strange events we have been investigating. It was the most recent entry in my journal which was removed, which implies that _something_ I recorded therein was deemed of importance by whoever our adversary has been. Kreemon, you're an observant person. Do you recall noticing anybody last night who may have been attempting to trace our movements? Oh, and Ardith, how did your meeting with the family of Moren last evening turn out?" Kreemon scowled. "That is all well and done with. It is time we moved on. We have tarried here too long as it is. We must go see Baron Huerton immediately. Besides, I suspect it may be perilous to remain here without support much longer. Let us deliver your message... however, should we gather more allies, we should return here and get to the bottom of this matter." Kreemon wanted to leave as early as possible, but he did not argue much when Ardith suggested it would be more prudent to leave early the next morning. That would give them time to settle their accounts and prepare for the journey, and give them a full day's walk before they had to make camp. The horses and mules were in good shape; they had been well-fed and cared for, as Ranes had promised a week before when he first discovered Ardith's priesthood. Ardith and Kreemon had a chance to meet Johannes' gray mare, who he called Mist, and his ill-tempered pack-mule. Although the mule showed no signs of ill-temper at the time, Johannes insisted, and no one felt it worth the bother to disagree. Their next task was to buy supplies for the trip. Ardith dropped off her bloody shift to be cleaned, and those who needed to refilled on flint and tinder, had pouches patched or replaced, and took care of other necessities that they hadn't had to worry about for the past week. On the way to pick up some traveling rations, they nearly collided with an overly anxious delivery-boy, carting horseshoes away from the smithy. That reminded Johannes about Trouvadar, and he repeated his unanswered question to Ardith, "How _did_ your meeting with Trouvadar go? What did he say? I still don't really feel right about leaving this unsettled matter behind us, and there's always the chance that what he knew would give us the lead that we need to quickly resolve this matter." Johannes' brow wrinkled in thought. "I didn't really learn anything new," she answered absently, and Johannes, for the time being, left it at that. The rest of the morning was spent with preparatory errands, Ardith leading the way with Kay beside her. Kreemon, anxious to leave, tried to hurry things up, while Johannes followed thoughtfully behind. Clouds were forming in the sky, and it looked like it could rain later in the day. Shortly after noon, Ardith stopped by the washerwoman's house to pick up her shift, and, after she'd paid the woman a copper and turned to leave, she saw Korisca in the distance, approaching slowly and nervously. A horse-drawn cart drove noisily between them, carrying with it a powerful smell of salted fish. When it had passed, it was clear that Korisca had stopped to wait for it, far as she was. When the obstruction was gone, she resumed her approach. Ardith wondered at Korisca's nervousness, but nevertheless smiled in a friendly way and waited for the woman to come close enough to talk to. Kreemon said, "Well, now that we are all here we can get going, eh?" Johannes frowned thoughtfully, turning to Ardith. "You had another companion I was unaware of?" Turning back to Korisca, and not waiting for a response from Ardith, Johannes continued, sketching out a quick bow. "Johannes Eltermann at your service, madam. And who may I have the pleasure of addressing?" Korisca quickly examined the man from a distance, taking in every piece of information that she could in an instant. Then she looked at Ardith questioningly. She was unsure what she should do, a feeling she was becoming accustomed to. After a few long seconds, she finally greeted the party. "It's good to see you again," she said stiffly, ignoring the tall man's question. "I've been looking for you." "Well you found us," Kreemon said. "We are just on our way out of town." Ardith smiled. "Hi, Korisca. I was beginning to worry about you. Haven't seen you in a couple of days." Turning to Johannes, she continued, "This is Korisca, who has been with us since Maelbourg." Johannes dipped his head slightly. "A pleasure to meet you, Korisca. Maelbourg? I can't imagine you received the friendliest of receptions there..." "Nobody really noticed me," Korisca said, almost in passing, before turning to Ardith and asking, "What happened to you this morning? When I woke up, you were gone." Ardith smiled. "I believe Johannes was speaking of _my_ welcome in Maelbourg. Andritha is not popular in that city. In any case, however, we decided at breakfast that it was time to move on to meet the Baron, and so we went about the business of getting ready to leave town. Supplies to buy, animals to check on and so forth. I'm sorry if I left you out. I didn't mean to." Johannes nodded slightly at Ardith's words, then turned to Korisca, heaving a sigh. "Is it too much to ask that you show some modicum of respect to those that you deal with? Not every person you meet will be as patient as I, and angering the wrong person could prove costly to you. Manners cost you nothing, and purchase you the ability to engage in useful dealings with those you meet." Kreemon sighed and said, "Can we have this conversation on the road? We really need to be going, we have delayed enough as it is." "I'm sorry," Korisca responded meekly to Johannes, "I didn't intend to be rude." She looked down at the ground as she said it. Then, addressing the rest of the group, she said, "I'm sorry for coming in the middle of things like this. Let me know if there is anything I can do." Johannes nodded. "Very well. I'm appreciative. I would hope that we don't have excessive tensions between us, since if you're a companion of Ardith and Kreemon, I believe we shall be traveling together. In the middle of things, though? We were just preparing to head out. I suppose the way you'd be best helpful at this point is ensuring you're ready to leave with the rest of us." Johannes smiled slightly at that. Towards evening, the temperature dropped dramatically, and the sky darkened with clouds, so the party added warm clothing and blankets as the last of their purchases. The next morning, before leaving the inn, Ardith wrote a brief note to the Healer, explaining that she would be leaving Dunweig shortly, thanking him for allowing her to stay at the Temple, and liberally interspersing those platitudes appropriate to his rank. She signed it and paid a courier to take it to the temple. It would be easier that way; the last time she had personally told the Healer she would leave town, the Healer had convinced her to stay for a week. After sending off the courier with a couple coppers, the group went to the stables to get their mounts. Then, finally ready to leave, they mounted their horses and approached the east gate. Three guards had sheltered themselves in the gatehouse, from whose chimney rose a thick cloud of smoke. As the group passed, the door opened and a guardsman rushed out to meet them. Kreemon frowned. "What now?" The guardsman looked up at Ardith, his hands twitching nervously by his side. "Are you the priestess Ardith?" he asked. "Indeed I am, good sir. How may I help you?" "I was told to send a message if I saw you. Could you... could I impose on you... on all of you to wait in the guardhouse?" Then he added inanely, as an afterthought, "it's warm." "Thank you for warmth, sir. But we are in haste. Hopefully your detention will be short?" Korisca looked around, examining the area for anything notably out of place. This was on the other side of town from where she'd found herself the day before, but the place was much the same. There was nothing unusual in the area, but being who she was, that in itself was enough to raise Korisca's suspicions. Ardith glanced at her companions as though to say something, but merely nodded to the guard, dismounted and followed him inside. As she entered, another, much younger member of the town guard rushed out, and ran with all speed towards the center of town. Kay muttered something under her breath, but followed Ardith, as did the others, Johannes frowning and absentmindedly brushing back the bangs of his hair. Korisca's eyes darted around, then fell towards the ground as she chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip. The gatehouse was small, only ten feet on the longer side in which the door was cut. A long bench on the far wall, and a wall to wall desk to the left of the door made the room even smaller. On the desk, various scrolls and sheets of parchment and paper were strewn in a disorganized fashion, and a large, heavy logbook lay open on the center of the desk. A heavy wood-burning furnace stood on the right side of the room, its smoke piped up through a thick metal tube to a hole in the roof, but much of its heat was lost through the open door and the two open windows. Five minutes passed quietly, one guard sitting near the furnace and staying out of the group's way, the other making an unnatural effort to be polite, saying things like, "Oh, you must be cold," and then rushing to add a log to the fire, or, seeing one member of the group step near the bench, hurrying over to wipe off any dust or soot that had accumulated. After five minutes, the polite guard abruptly spoke up. "Well, he hasn't come back. Maybe he's given up. Okay, I guess you'd better be on your way." Johannes looked up, somewhat startled. "We would still appreciate if you conveyed the message you were requested. And who is the person who asked you to do so?" Kreemon asked, "Who hasn't come back? Is someone looking for us?" "No one of import," the guard responded quickly, peering subtly out the door. "Someone wanted to know when you left, but I'm sure it wasn't important. So hurry on now. You wouldn't want to keep the baron waiting." Ardith's jaw dropped at hearing the words, but said nothing. Johannes, on the other hand, stuttered out in shock. "You know...?" He spun around to face Ardith. "Did you speak of your errand to anybody else? Did _any_ of you speak of your errand to anyone else?" Kay and Ardith both shook their heads. Johannes turned back to speak to the guard. "Who wanted to know when we were to leave? This may well be a matter of import." Kreemon moved to the side so that his back was no longer to the open doorway, and put his hand on the hilt of his sword, "Start talking before I lose all of my patience." Affected by his master's anxiety, Bork crouched down, teeth bared, and a low growl came from his throat. Johannes turned back, alarmed at the tone of menace in Kreemon's voice. "Kreemon!" Kreemon ignored Johannes and focused on the guard in front of him, his eyes looking directly into the other's. Out of the corner of his eye, he assessed the strength of his possible foes, noting that two guardsmen were armed identically, with longswords, daggers and bucklers. It was possible that they were wearing leather or other semi-flexible armor. They both wore helmets to indicate their positions, but those could have been merely decorative. "Really," the guard answered, more nervous than ever, and unable to keep his eyes on Kreemon's. "You should be going. I'm sorry I kept you waiting. I'm sure it wasn't important." Johannes turned to the guards, his face earnest as he spoke. "Please. You _have_ to let us know who intended to speak with us. There have been too many strange things to happen to us lately for me to trust that this matter lacks import." Kreemon took a few steps to stand in front of the open logbook, his hand still on his hilt, his war-hound paddling forward to his side. He looked down at the logbook to see what was written on the open pages. He had time to skim the last few cryptic entries before the guardsman responded: --- morn shft tular irodan lister ext csb ent csb ext hrs trd htn 49349 msg-hold app HLR 12003 ent 4 spic trd 49353 ext csb ent csb msg-dlv nut trd 12002 ext nut trd htn 49347 --- "Really," the guard said, looking out the door, "it was nothing important. It might rain before you can set up camp, if you don't hurry." Kay walked out the door as he was speaking. "You should just --" He stopped abruptly, and became suddenly more confident. "Or," he said, drawing his sword, "you can leave by other routes." Bork, contrary to what Kreemon had expected, did not even seem to notice the drawing of the sword, instead, he rushed out to meet Kay. Kreemon drew his sword too and commanded, "Bork!" to draw his faithful companion of many years back to his side, but to no effect. "Draw steel on me will you!" Kreemon yelled at the guard. Johannes stood with his mouth agape, completely taken aback by the sudden change in the guardsman's behavior. He stood stunned, fumbling absently for his dagger, even when the guardsman raised his sword and readied an attack against Johannes. When Kreemon came to his defense, Johannes hesitantly raised his arms in the air. Korisca slid into a corner, drawing her knives and attempting to remain inconspicuous. Slowly, she sidled along the wall, hoping to come around behind the guard who was distracted by Kreemon. Kreemon feinted to his right to pull the guard's sword off line, then cut upward with his shortsword, aiming at the guard's armpit. Such a strike was difficult and risky, but it would disable the guard's sword arm, even if he was wearing armor, and make up for the advantage in the length of his sword. When the point of Kreemon's sword was but a foot away, a startled look appeared on the guardsman's face, and he fumbled and dropped his sword. Kreemon's thrust was as accurate as he could have hoped, leaving the guard's arm flopping by his side. Just then, Korisca succeeded in her own maneuver, stabbing two daggers into the man's back. It was as he cried out and fell to the ground in a quickly spreading puddle of blood that Korisca noticed the other guard had disappeared. *********************************************************************** It is a cold, cloudy morning on this thirteenth day of Farinon, ninth moon of Halkak, two hundred and thirty-seventh day of the one thousand first year of the Zioth, in the town of Dunweig, the Barony of Huerten, the Kingdom of Rang. /--Next New/Full Moons--\ Upcoming Events | New Full | ----------------------- | Halkak: 10/1 9/14 | 10/16 First day of winter | Tirop: 9/20 9/28 | | Ot: 9/28 10/17 | Market days occur on every 2nd and 6th day | Ilsapeich: 10/8 11/6 | of the week. The next one is on the 13th. | Zabrigar: 12/8 10/4 | \-----------------------/ Notes ----- Well that sure took a while. I take responsibility for the past couple months of slowness, but we should all get things together if we want the characters to get anything done in our lifetimes. :) In May, we entered into our *seventh* year of this campaign. Wow. Since the game's been going so slowly, I won't require the annual critique you all agreed to give when you joined, but I always appreciate criticism of any kind, so feel free to send me any comments, questions or criticism. Obviously, "the game is too slow" isn't a very useful criticism, but if anyone has ideas on how to speed it up, send 'em on over. Just to keep the ever-confusing horse situation under control, Ardith and Kay have Kay's mules, and every other character rides a horse, Kreemon on the one Ziedon left behind. Other animals include Bork, and Johannes' pack mule. And, for those lurkers out there, I'd like to welcome Mohammed Ahmed Qureshi, who has been playing Sahlman for the past couple months. Sahl is still going strong in his personal side-game, as is Ziedon. Your Bill, Sir -------------- Here's an account of every Dunweig expense not yet paid. If I forgot anything or added anything extra, please let me know: Stabling was 5ag/horse/day, from the 4th through the 12th (11th to 12th for Johannes), so that adds up to 40ag/horse for most of you. Ranes has given the group a break, so it's down to 30ag/horse. Lodging for the 10th through the 12th comes to 21ag for everyone but Korisca. Dinner for the 11th through breakfast of the 13th comes to roughly 6ag/person. Traveling rations and other miscellaneous expenses come to about 8ag. Blankets and coats come to 8ag. I'm going to assume that each character gets a pretty standard blanket and coat. If anyone would rather get something different (higher quality coat, mittens, hats, etc), let me know. Ardith, Kay, Kreemon: 73ag Korisca: 56ag Johannes: 59ag Levels and Experience Totals ---------------------------- Ardith: 4 7000/13000 Johannes: 2025 Kay: 3 4100/8000 Korisca: 2 2100/2500 Kreemon: 2 3375/4500 *********************************************************************** * Game Name Real Name Internet * *********************************************************************** * DM Eli Fenton * * Ardith/Kay Karl Schinke * * Korisca Jesse Ableman * * Kreemon Chris Dunn * * Johannes Nathan Weismuller * * Sahlman Mohammed Qureshi * * Ziedon Alex Corbin * *********************************************************************** * Zioth web page: http://www.zioth.com/zioth * ***********************************************************************