Whispers at the Fire
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A weary yet victorious procession made its way back to Norwick, including an emotionally exhausted Raryldor and a physically exhausted Sirion, made its way back to Norwick. Sirion, his cheeks normally. Pale and pallored, the two of them, the settled in once inside the gates, and Sirion, in unelven fashion, slipped into unconsciousness with one final "I told you so."
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Near the Rawlinswood lake, a couple of big heaps of vegetation can be observed, scorched and smouldering from recent fires. A light snowfall seems to have put the remaining flames out, one of the larger stones in the area still coated with white.
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- Jason approaches Salin quietly and smiles to him * We should speak soon lad, I think I may be able to help you if your willing to accept the help.
(( To be continued online upon my return, hopefully within the next few days!!!))
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Folks gathered by the fire must have felt surprised when usually upbeat mage Salin Ashald was seen darting off in his horse, his head lowered, toward the temple of Lathander… And falling backwards by the door?
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The Vicious Dog Tribe poking around Norwick's south gate has become skittish lately. On one occasion, when they saw a mustached guard from the wall, one screamed "IS SALISHALD!!! FLEEE!!! FLEE FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!"
It seems unlikely they will be prodding Norwick for much longer.
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_::Some commoners describe a strange scene in which suddenly, a bear was seen sprinting northwards with a skinny woman on top of it rodeo style, stomping past the north gates into the Nars Pass.
Meanwhile, a large cat was seen parting from the same point, but running southwards instead. A startled hin took a swing at it out of instinct in self defence, but seems like assaulting the hin was far from the cougar's interest, that instead took a leap above the hin's reach and kept running south down the hills to avoid the guards, to then get lost into the forest.
What manner of animal madness was witnessed in Norwick is anyone's guess::_
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"Duergar!"
Willow exclaims, her hands fluttering like wild birds as she dramatizes the fight.
"There we were, in the Goblin Hold, thinking it was business as usual, but ahead there's these weird piggy grunts.. deep, bass-tone grunts.. from actual hogs of war! They're duergar steeds or something like that, 'cause next thing we know, there are grey dwarves popping out of thin air to wail on us!
The squealing and the flailing, the slashing, poking and fizzling! It was chaos, almost as bad as when we stumbled into those Cloakers in the underdark.. almost!
But this time, we won AND snatched all their ale and ore, haha! If this doesn't motivate Beorn to work on my armor, I dunno what will…"
With that, she hefts a clinking, heavy pack and trudges off towards the crafter's hall with wobbling legs.
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Willow, Elaine and Jonni come bounding back from the Rawlins, seeming giddy with victory over a number of hobgoblin brutes and spreading out a vast and curious array of treasure items recovered, including such oddities as a hobgoblin berserker loincloth and silk restraints.. err.. what sort of party did the three crash, really?
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Eilonna is seen cleaning the Norwick barracks from top to bottom, remaking the beds, dusting the couches and beating the rugs, sweeping and mopping and restitching the dummies, shes either really bored, or trying to impress someone.
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_Hess, the red-bearded tree-hugger, picks up a handful of snow and stares at it.
For a long time. He even sniffs it before smiling.
Eventually he makes a snowball, throws it as far as he can, and starts chuckling._
Someone is bored, I think!
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Some snow is collected upon the ground at the south gate, and the Rawlins near the town are lightly dusted, as it snows lightly for a couple days, seeming perfectly natural except to those with an affinity for nature magic, who can detect a subtle tracery of intent from the North.
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_The bugbears seem on edge lately, a recent attack by their hands seeing the longevity of the most recent south gates turn to nothing but a memory and splinters galore. A keg will do that…
Are the bugbears aggressive behavior why the more nature-aligned of Norwick's adventurers seem so concerned? Rangers, druids, various friends of the Rawlins seem to gather in small groups for discussion, and if the townsfolk didn't know better, some might be convinced even the trees were listening in._
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A large celebration was heard inside the Grapevine, people leaving later spoke that Young Squire Gian of the Forsworn was actually Knighted and now Tyal is serving as his squire!! Quite the cause for celebration!
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::A peculiar cougar with a reddish tint to her tawny fur has been spotted a few times stalking travellers in the Rawlinswoods, and doesn't even appear like she tries to remain unseen. While she watches from relative distance and doesn't act on any event, her silent, watchful presence can become rather unsettling and is enough to make nervous more than one woodcutter that would be simply gathering some wood for their chimney. Her motives are unknown, but whatever they are, they are harmless enough for now::
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Rumours swirl about an increase in bandit activity, with at least two reports of travellers being ambushed south of the Rawlins lake. An intrepid party of four return to the gates after investigating the second attack, bringing with them an assortment of stolen goods and news of the bandits defeat at their hands.
"We tracked them all the way to the Scar", exlaims a tall, reedy half-elf in green, "and took out footpads, big beefy half-orc warriors and their leader, a robed woman who luckily spent most of her spellpower trying to dispel me! And all the while the wyverns swooped and swiped, it was pretty thrilling!"
The same enthused half-elf continues to relate a tale of Cyricist graverobbers defeated within the Norwick family crypt, before suddenly lifting her face to the sky as a gust of wind tugs at her hair. Seconds later, she's bounding off through the woods, cloak snapping at her back.
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::Another crazy rumour begins circulating about a dryad or some kind of forest creature visiting Norwick south gates. It appears that she took some interest on a red-faced Andrew while Elaine and Rasuil commented the scene between giggles and smirks::
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Other rumours circulate, mostly revolving around the increasingly agitated bugbears of the Rawlins. Yet hope might be found in the fact that despite several onslaughts, the famously fragile south gates are still intact. A more curious rumour even claims a bugbear archer has decided to join the winning side, insisting he's a "oooman friend".
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An amused smirk crosses Raryldor mouth when he hears the rumors, several days after the battle.
_Ah, so the mighty defender swooped in and cleft the beast in twain, shooting fire from her arse and lightning from her eyes. The woman must be ten feet tall! Am I hearing that flowers are growing where she steps now?
It is a pity that one would feel that glory need by gained by twisting the truth so._
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_::Says the rumour that an undead creature of some kind came by Norwick's gates when an elf known as Raryldor shot a few threatening words to it, prior to attacking it. The creature defended itself with great skill forcing the elf to become invisible and use the safety of his invisibility to summon several huge earth elementals to attempt to destroy the undead creature. But one by one all the elementals were defeated by the undead, and eventually the elf saw himself knocked unconscious.
The elf was being tossed about like a rag doll and things looked grim for him, but just when the undead creature was about to deal its killing blow, the Peltarch Defender Shallyah came in leaping, saving the elf's life and destroying the undead creature with two quick cross cuts from her dark runed axe. The thin adventurer known as Willow quickly came in as well along with other adventurers to the aid of the elf, tending to his grave wounds best they could.
Meanwhile, out of nowhere appeared the undead's master. A necromancer of great power that sent several waves of shocking pulses towards the gathered group. Some of the adventurers were struck in place, paralyzed and spasming from the strong electrical attack. However, the white-haired Defender managed to avoid the lightning with her own lightning reflexes to remain unscathed, and dashed towards the necromancer that now turned on his heels, attempting to flee.
A pursuit began as the necromancer attempted to use his magic to avoid the warrioress' ceaseless chase. But where the necromancer used a Haste spell, the warrioress had a Haste spellcrystal for herself. Where the necromancer used an Invisibility spell, the Defender had True Sight.
Eventually, the warrioress' superior physical condition brought her to the vile spellcaster, and her axe met his flesh in a clean and devastating hit. At this point the mage saw himself cornered and bullied, and tried to desperately cast one last spell. As the Defender went in for the kill, the necromancer shrank, the axe just missing his head. This left the Defender out of balance for just one second which the spellcaster, now in the shape of a raven, utilized to fly away to safety into the dark sky and over the hills near Norwick's graveyard.
Unfortunately the necromancer escaped this time, but upon returning to Norwick it appeared like none of the adventurers assaulted by the necromancer and his vile pet were killed either - although some of them looked like they'll need some time to recover from the severe beating and shock damage that they were victims of::_
[Approved by DM Paella]
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Rumors speak of an explosion at the southern most gate, then Eilonna guiding a fevered and sick looking Elessar into the temple of Cheauntea, when checked the gate is intact and the guards are left scratching their heads.
