New Whispers at the Fire
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The Cave O' Doom, as some of the adventurers involved have come to call it, is still not excavated in full. Rumour has it that Disa Sten will lead a third expedition down there shortly, expecting a continued high level of danger from the Eastlander undead.
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Rumour has it the dwarven-lead party returned to the Tuck-Me-Inn with a bag full of treasure and hair-raising tales of a cave as cold as death itself, filled with fierce undead of the long-legged variety. Judging by the adventurers talk, there's still more trouble down there…
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_The stout and honourable dwarf Disa Sten, daughter of Sten and Flisa Sten, is making the occasional gruff enquiry about town. It seems she is looking for able adventurers to delve into a partially collapsed set of tunnels. She warns that there is a high risk of encountering undead.
Interested parties should seek out Disa at the Tuck-Me-Inn or leave a note with Loogy._
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_Rumours spreading through the dwarven community mention a cave prospecting gone horribly wrong as the stout miners were seized by undead and used as slave labourers, until rescued by one of their own.
Anyone probing for details might well learn that the undead wore the colours of the Eastlanders, merciless bandits of old._
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Rumor has it the priestess Anna Blake has been doing her best to work with Yllalynn and the Norwick community to spread the word that they are looking for helping hands to help with the fields and labor positions required, many of them previously having been occupied by the men and women of Norwick that never have returned after being kidnapped.
Anna also can be seen personally training Helene and her fairy dragon, as well as anyone else interesteded on the various use of proper farming implements, proper animal husbandry, and general care-taking of the land.
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Fish lovers would delight in the knowledge that the Grapevine has a small supply of goodly sized fresh fish.
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Helene and her little sparkle dragon thing have been seen running about just North of Norwick quite regularly in some attempt at exercise. The faerie dragon just sits and watches or is just absent more often than not though.
Meanwhile, a wood-elven newcomer to Narfell called Talindra can be seen travelling through the woods every now and then when people spot her. Certainly spending more time out there than in Norwick proper. She is seen near the bear cave next to Maria's tower quite often.
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_The rumor mill is abuzz again as gossip mongers spread their tall tales across the town like an oil slick across the waters.
The recent batch of unlikely stories claims the town to have been visited by a balor so tall it dwarfed the southern walls, yet no tracks or signs of such a creature could be found by even the keenest eyes. Other tales claim several demon gates to have ripped open within the town limits, spewing forth their infernal travelers to ravage the town before they could be put down and sent back to the depths of the Abyss.
The most outrageous of all however, are the scattered tells that none other than the renown ranger and part time archery instructor Rasuil is to blame! Undoubtedly dark powers granted to him in the service of his white wyrm overlord.
While variations of the tales multiply with every other reciting, many seem to have a similar ending; Having cut down the last of their demonic visitors, Chief Vos himself of the Norwick Redcloaks was seen barking orders to the grievously injured guards present - Rasuil is no longer welcome in Norwick, and is to be killed on sight should he be found within it's borders._
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Cormac Randolph sits by the fire in town, telling his tales as usual while gorging himself on a huge turkey leg.
"…I like Willow, some folks call her an airhead and I used to think they were being unfair. Till I saw her head float right off her shoulder that is! Now, I've been lopping off heads since I were a child preparing my dinner, I've caused heads to roll in battle more times than I care to count; Orcs, Giants - oh yeah! Cursed zombies, Goblins dammit even the odd wolf. But did I think I'd ever put a head back onto someone's shoulders? Not on my life!.."
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_Among the stranger of Norwick rumours is a tale of a naked, headless man staggering through the south gates to attack one of the adventurers loitering there. A heroic horse (some versions of the tale suggest a paladin steed charging in on its own accord from the celestial plane) is said to have trampled the miscreant under its mighty hooves, yet the tale doesn't end there.
Despite his defeat, the headless man's curse hit his target, a tall and reedy woman going by the name of Willow. Known as something of an airhead, the stories insist that after the attack, her head grew so light as to actually come off her shoulders and float away into the Rawlins by its own accord!_
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@730ed861fc=ClownBaby:
A young man rolls an eerie wagon full of wrapped corpses down the Nars Pass, from the temple of Kelemvor through Norwick's North gate. He approaches a redcloak and speaks to them, gesturing to the corpses in the wagon. The redcloak gives a solemn nod and goes from house to house, each time a wailing widow or grieving young lass rush out to the cart bursting in tears.
Leading the procession is the former commander, offering what few words of comfort she can to help ease the pain of the grieving widows.
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A young man rolls an eerie wagon full of wrapped corpses down the Nars Pass, from the temple of Kelemvor through Norwick's North gate. He approaches a redcloak and speaks to them, gesturing to the corpses in the wagon. The redcloak gives a solemn nod and goes from house to house, each time a wailing widow or grieving young lass rush out to the cart bursting in tears. The young man tries to comfort them the best he can, but they persist in knowing the details of their lover's deaths and his words only seem to bring more anguish to the widows. The following day, he can be seen assisting in the burials of the men, laying flowers upon the graves, and praying to Kelemvor.
"Death is not a final ending, but the next step in a wondrous, ongoing journey. Let no one die not knowing that Kelemvor awaits them and that he is not to be feared, for he believes in justice and wields mercy."
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Word is that a panther has been prowling the Rawlinswood, culling any goblins that pester it. Some rumors indicate this panther hasn't been seen in a long time.
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_Rumor has it that a Goblin snuck its way into town, fortunately the greenskin's adventure was cut short when Cormac, with the aid of a Faerie-Dragon and a fair blonde woman, slayed the bad-lucked critter. Cormac reportedly dragged the corpse out of town at the request of a Redcloak.
No guessing then as to story behind the dead Goblin that might be found crucified upon a tree just beyond the walls of town; a grim warning totem to any other adventurous Goblins…_
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A peculiar and powerfully built construct has been sighted at the south gates a few times now, creeping guardsmen and adventurers alike out. Chill factor aside, the construct has remained unhostile, always requesting to speak to Norwick citizen Akseli.
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Lounging around at the Inn, Cormac begins a tale when the common room is just dark enough that the shadows - as thrown by candles and fireplace - begin to dance and slink, and fuel the imaginations of tired and simple folk. He tells the tale of a hole in the ground where wild cats prowl, a hole that leads unassumingly enough to another world it seems - a place of spirits and demons, where warriors must tread carefully and where sorcery rules. The tale goes on to suggest that the ghosts are in fact the ancestral spirits of warriors that he himself had put to dirt long ago, and that in trying to enforce their terrible vengeance they had left their treasures unguarded. The tale ends as he drains perhaps his third cup of mead, and through a boyish smirk he ends the tale on the bold claim that the gods themselves enabled him to trick the creatures of this shadow world in the deep earth into giving up their lost and ancient treasures.
"…of course, as part of the ghosts' curse upon me - I could take neither coin nor magic blade from the trove. Lest I, Cormac Randolph, too become as they are..."
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_Another wave of attacks by the goblins and their beetles hits Norwick, though this time a sizable and strong group of defenders stand ready. The attack is repelled, though this time a good few of the goblins seem reluctant to throw themselves at the gates, forcefully driven on from behind. Many are noticably malnourished and weak and after the leader figures are slain, the rest appear to scatter.
Is the Goblin Hold sending its rejects to preoccupy the defenders, the bottom of the barrel overflow from the teeming mines, or has the ambitious beetle breeding program simply consumed all the available food sources within?_
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_As the rhythmic thump of wardrums is heard by the south gate, adventurers gather in preparation for an attack. However, instead of arrows, steel and chittering beetles, a trio of hobgoblins can be seen approaching. One of them proceeds to sing a song about a nimble woman and her apparantly many attractive qualities, while the drummers thump out a steady, up-beat rythm.
As soon as the song ends, the small group of hobgoblins take their leave, without hostilities. Weird…_
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_In the shadow of war, ordinary life goes on for the people of Norwick, who still eat, sleep and work to make ends meet under increasingly difficult circumstances. At the lumber mill, a strange rumour circulates, unrelated to goblins or giant beetles.
One of the workers there insists on having seen a sight to chill any man to the bone, out in the ruins at night: a female figure, beautiful from a distance but hideously disfigured up close, with eyes as cold as death itself… though, perhaps this is just a ghost story designed as an excuse to avoid venturing past the gates in these troubled times?_
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_An overheard conversation in the Grapevine sounded a bit weepy and full of angst. The red-haired cleric Shesarai was having dinner with her brother Romulus, the Troff Legion's deputy commander. She seemed to be telling him about a recent battle at Norwick's South Gate. Although it ended in victory, she seemed very upset.
"I was on the top of the hill where Ukka usually stands, manning the big ballista there. Huge beetles and goblins swarmed at the gates. I fired all the fire bolts we had, causing huge amounts of damage. But they still kept coming. I switched to my magicked arrows and started picking off the wounded ones."
"It was dark and foggy, and I could only barely see what I was shooting at from up there. Suddenly, the shadowy shapes of half a dozen bugbears swinging big axes came up from the south. It looked like they were joining the battle. I had saved my big spells for when we were direly pressed and I thought this was it. So I hit the massed melee of bugs and bugbears with an Ice Storm."
"Bugbear axemen raged at me and some came running towards me screaming for my head. Luckily, there were no archers among them so I stood my ground and started firing my bow as rapidly as possible. I dropped at least one of them!"
"But everybody on our side started screaming at me to hold fire. I stopped, but then Elaine hit me with a Hold Spell and froze me. I had made a big mistake! The bugbears were on our side! How was I supposed to know that when I could barely even see them?"
"Negotiations started down at the gate where a huge bugbear leader spoke for his tribe. As soon as the Hold spell wore off, I hid under the archer's platform and remained concealed for the rest of the encounter. I felt so bad. I kept saying I was sorry. I healed everyone I could, cured some disease. I even raised poor Silver from the dead after we found his body in front of the gates. But now Mystra is going to be so mad at me, along with everyone else."
Romulus answering words to her were not audible. The only one overheard was "Ostromog." What is going on? Are things so bad that the bugbear tribe that nearly destroyed Norwick several years ago now wants to work with us against the goblins? What is this world coming to?
Login: AubreyMaturin
Characters: Romulus Grey, Bard the bowman
Trotter, Spooky halfling ranger
Shesarai Foutopolis, red-haired cleric of Mystra_
