Book Six, Chapter Eight �Oh, so that�s what the Primate wanted!�
����������� 26/02/2005
The famous heroes, and sometime merchants, Sir Martyn Yanyez De Barbudo, Zytsi of Orinane, Aruth Hempstead and Daniel Fichelscher are in Leriel having successfully completed Operation Free Orbaal. Here we were dishing out the gear and the cash. Where�s all the gear, oh we gave it all to Bowlhead. Oh yes he�s wearing the Priestess�s +20 DB robes. Yet again it has to be explained to him that now it can�t be altered without losing the magical bonus. Bowlhead will just have to get used to wearing a dress. We arrived on the 26th of Navek and left on the 28th of Navek.
It�s going to take about 25 days to get to Tashal. Two days out of Leriel we come across about a dozen armed guards blocking the road. �Halt in the name of the King� says their leader. We are technically in Orbaal. �Government census!� We are in normal mode, not merchant mode. �What do you want to declare? We can search the wagon and be here all day. Or its 8d each and bit more for him over there. That works out to be 100d in total.� He has a cursory look in the wagon, without even looking into it at all. We tell him that the King is dead, since they knew in Leriel. We leave them discussing what to do about it, �That�s why we haven�t been relieved�.
We get to Tashal on 22nd of Morgat and go the Temple of Larani. There big sign on the side of the Temple that Zytsi is building saying �Martyn go home now�. I wonder if someone is trying to tell him something?
Sir Martyn sees the High Priest, who tells him to see the Primate in Thay. And to tell the so-called mason that the East Wing looks out to him. He also asks if he had anything to do with the latest up North news, the death of Alegar? No says Sir Martyn, and he is believed! (Sir Martyn is better at telling lies than the High Priest is at spotting them.) Then he goes on to tell him about the incident in Quiman and points out he is the nearest outpost to the Temple of Larani. First he looks upset, but then he cheers up and calls for someone to tell them he has a little job for them. What a delightful man he is � not. Sir Martyn really does need to go to Thay.
Zytsi and Aruth go to see the best local armourer to let some armour out and another taken up. He can�t do the +35 armour; it has to be taken to Azadmere to have that done. Once that has been done Aruth will wear Zytsi current armour and Zytsi will get the new set. Meanwhile Aruth gets to wear the new set. Lucky old Aruth! Zytsi has his usual armour serviced.
Bowlhead, Aruth and Daniel go to the pub that the Jarin Liberation Front hangs out in. They knew about the death of the King and Bowlhead tells him a bit about the death of some of the Crimson Dancers. The week long celebration turns in a double celebration. Later on a large stone smashes through the glass window � outside there 15 Ivinians. The huge bar man looks out, goes back to the bar and gets his club with nails in. There are 30 Jarins in the bar. There is a bar brawl, Aruth and Bowlhead get wired in, pulling to As. Daniel sings encouraging songs from the background. Bowlhead broke two noses and nearly killed someone.
The Guard turns up and the fight continues. The Captain to the Guard tells Daniel to stop singing, and then tells him to tell them to stop fighting. So Daniel uses his Public Speaking (206%) and at fives times the normal volume. The fight stops and they all look at him. Then the 208% Public Speaking gets them to go home, as the Captain of the Guard wants them to do. Bowlhead has a broken nose as well. He patches up the ones in the pub, i.e. the Jarins. In fact all the serious injuries in the brawl were in fact done by Bowlhead.
Daniel has to perform at the Guard�s New Years Ball. The barman has to give free drinks for a week. General ticking off to the rest of the Jarins. Done to the strains of some Elvish laments, which the Captain said you can knock that off. We like knees up songs more.
Zytsi looks over the Temple and the East Wing is definitely wonky. Zytsi is upset! Two or three months of extra work and 5,000d to fix. Forensic Masonry rolls � Architecture 95% , Engineering 41%, Administration 76% (books ok), Masonry 274% (materials ok). Looks like poor quality work, not following plumb lines, possibly. Sabotage he thinks. There was that bloke that was upset when Zytsi got the contract. It�s only relatively shitty, but he knows! As does the Chief Priest! Something must be done! Now! And not just take the wall down and do it again. It mustn�t happen again.
Whoops change of plan. Sir Martyn goes off on his own on Griffon back. It will take 8 days to get there. His Navigation roll didn�t get him lost so it only takes the 8 days. Arrives on the 30th of Morgat. He lands outside Thay, to avoid any pot shots, and rides the Griffon on the ground to the Temple of Larani. He is not kept waiting at all and is shown to the Primate fairly quickly. You got the Hand alright, yes its working well. Lucky he took the other one off then.
As you know the remains of Saint Perdyn and Saint Baryne in the crypts below the Temple. Well they were stolen about 7 months ago. It�s been kept quiet so far as the crypts are being �refurbished�. �If your friend Zytsi was doing the refurbishment then it would take about 10 years.�
They used to be kept in Aleath but were moved from there about 100 years ago. They have been asking for it back every year since then. As Champion of Larani it is Sir Martyn�s job to recover the remains, or find out who took them. Aleath is a Free City in Kanday, but Larani dominates Kanday.
Go to Aleath and have a quiet nose around. If you can find the remains bring them back on the quiet. If the Archbishop there is not involved then bring it to his attention if you can�t get them. He is not to sack any temples of Larani no matter how provoked. Six months to get them, so there is leeway to go to Midgaad and Azadmere.
If it wasn�t the Temple of Larani in Aleath that took the remains then she would have expected them to have turned up by now. If only for �ha, ha, look what we�ve got!� It must be the Temple in Aleath, fanatics thereof obviously. Which is why the refurbishment excuse has lasted, she reckons that she can keep it going for about another six months.
Sir Martyn tells her about the death of the King of Orbaal. Did you have anything to do with that? Sir Martyn ignored that questioned. And the set back of the Crimson Dancers in Quiman? Did you have anything to do with that? Yes. Oh good there is hope for you yet.
She really doesn�t want to know what he�s been up to. And gets edited highlights of the Panaga Saga. Sir Martyn goes down to the crypt for a quick pray. And a quick spell vision which might he unhelpful. What is the next appropriate goal or action to advance the god�s grand plan. The vision � it�s a� confusing dream � a long journey overland to the west where you visit a priest and a noble � a journey over land back east and ends in a vision of a burning boat and a screaming nun. And there is no way he can make sense of it at the time. He starts the journey in dirty clothes and ends in clean clothes. There is a significant amount of money involved.
8 days back, arriving on 9th Nuzyael.
Back to the rest of the party. Zytsi wants to meet up with Balatar, so we ask around for him. Yer man turns up after a couple of days. Zytsi asks him to find out what is going on, keep an eye on things. Well he can�t tell you if the wall is straight. But if it was deliberate sabotage� Balatar wants a couple of people onto the general work force and expects to get results in a week or so.
Zytsi stays on site and spots the problem. There are three Khuzdul on site and they are shit. They are not giving it their all; one is continually turning up drunk. How did he get the job? He wasn�t supposed to. These are the Khuzdul from Trobridge, see Book 5 Chapter 6. Zytsi gives them their cards. Diplomacy 52% to sack them. They are mildly disgruntled and leave. Zytsi makes it clear to his foreman that he has his complete trust with hire and fire power. This mustn�t happen again.
Balatar turns up after a week. Convinced the guy who was upset when Zytsi got the job wasn�t behind it. But he was the guy who told the High Priest. Balatar asked him, he�s not up to working for a few weeks. Whoops, he asked a few people to help and didn�t make it quite clear as to what�s required. He will be keeping his nose out of your business from now on.
Daniel doesn�t organise a substitute bard and does a good job to keep on the good side of them. I think I see Balatar at the Policeman�s Ball, which would have been before he reported to Zytsi. Interesting, who actually did Balatar�s dirty work for him?
On to the 9th Nuzyael 727 and the return of Sir Martyn, who wants to go shopping. He admits what he told the Primate and gives us the info, the Bard is upset. Great, what about my harp. So we are going to Bejist, go to see Odin, then to Elshavel, and to Aleath. Zytsi wants to go to Azadmere, just because he hasn�t seen his girlfriend for the odd year or so.
So we follow the road to Burzyn (6 days on the road) and hang a right and cross Setha Heath to Bejist (then 8 days). We set off and make good progress on the road. Then three days off the road, and meet a little hoard of Pagaelin, 3 dozen of them on foot.
�Crawlie, the Arbalest�. Half a dozen of them come forward. They want the wool and cloth, 1,500d worth of it. Wanderers on the Heath are supposed to be dangerous, so we must have wandered them.
And the Inspirations go, in 15% from Daniel and 35% from Sir Martyn. Sudden Light from Aruth and 8 are stunned for a long time, and one fell over.
Then 21 arrows are fired at the party. One arrow actually hits Sir Martyn and a point of damage gets through and a minor B critical is inflicted, another arrow hits Bowlhead and does more damage. Some arrows do trivial damage to Aruth and that was it.
Then Sir Martyn hits and nearly killed the leader, and leaves him stunned. Zytsi killed one. They didn�t do much with their attacks. They shot us again and achieved nothing. Sir Martyn charges up on griffon back and killed two with his sword, and scared a couple of others with the morning star. Bowlhead kills his, as does Daniel. Aruth kills one by throwing his staff one. Zytsi kills the last two by the wagon.
They scatter. Daniel chases and kills 2 of the stunned ones. Sir Martyn told him to come back, backed up by magical compulsion. The Bard saved but stopped killing them and came back. So the Bard saved versus the Paladin�s spell and killed more as well. Well Daniel really doesn�t like Pagaelin.
We get to Bejist, let�s eat. So we eat.
We get to Bejist on 23rd Nuzyael. A priest comes running �Sir Martyn, Sir Martyn you must go home immediately.� This is an old message, he was given the message a month ago.
The non-existent tower lights up occasionally. The Tower being an ethereal manifestation of a mighty spell and isn�t really there. This confuses them.
Having gone down the hole, into the cellar, into the ground floor of the tower via the white light type area. This is a circular room and we go up the stairs into the centre of a circular room with six windows. We take the Midgaad exit (north-east).
We find ourselves on the Bifrost Bridge, Heimdall says �You are expected� and escorts us across the bridge. King Alegar II is here, spotted by Sir Martyn, but he doesn�t seem take any notice of us. Well he died without waking up so how does he know who killed him.
Quaffing, axe throwing and so on. Everything is on an enormous scale here. We are summoned to see Odin after a couple of hours, or is it a couple of days.
What�s your question - �Where is the lute of Galaroth?�
Good question, I�ll have to think about it. He�ll make some enquires and a raven will bring us a message. (It is going to be on the Island of Kand of the north west of Harn in the Sea of Itikir. We should be able to island hop on the wagon, but it would take several days. The raven will give more details of where it is.)
Zytsi asks his question. He wishes to find the body of Hazmaralof the Khuzdul hero. �In order to answer this question I require the heart of a cave troll.� (They are uncommon and tough.)
Bowlhead does some research into Siem here. Why? Who knows what � ideas lurk in the hearts of � skirt wearing nutters?
We return across the bridge and return whence we came, the tower. As we are being escorted back Zytsi asks Heimdall if he remembers Hazmaralof, no he doesn�t.
We end up in the tower after spending a day there. We go into the window into Harn Central, the only other one we know. The daemon is here and locked in place. He has the Eye of Kor that is glowing, and sword tunic of green silk, suit of mail of really good stuff with a heart placed hole punched in it, silver girdle studded with gems, silver chain around his head, and a silver amulet with green gem. Yes Sir Martyn asked if he hade any gear. The daemon doesn�t seem to be functioning at the present.
�Bard, what does the belt do?�
�Which is the way out?�
�OK, we�ll go.�
�
Despite Zytsi minor attempt to divert us to Azadmere we take the South-east exit to Ulfshafen. It�s 24th of Nuzyael. We arrive just outside Ulfshafen; it�s a sea port with extremely good cartographer, a good armourer, and a carved box and chest maker.
We want to hire a boat so we can go back to Bejist. Daniel rolls the dice for Trading and we get a 50d discount. Hey guys I roll good dice sometimes you know. Zytsi stayed in Ulfshafen as he doesn�t want to go on a boat. There is a large party going on, there is a large Jarin community here who are celebrating the death of King Alegar. Bowlhead wants to stay and is ordered onto the boat by Sir Martyn. The Homeward Sail is where Zytsi stays.
We spend a day and half and we get to the Bejist coast alright. On the first night in the marshes it happens. Aruth thinks Daniel seems to get taller. He tells Daniel to move, so he acrobatically leaps off the grassy knoll. Which is a large creature raising out of the marsh. We back off sounding the alarm. It�s over 20 feet tall covered in marsh stuff. Long hair, hanging straight down. �Hello child of Ilvir, sorry to have disturb your rest�, Public Speaking 210%. It brushes the fire off his head. Oh dear, was that us? It has a gaze type Fear effect, but Daniel saves! Daniel continues to go on apologising, while the rest the party gets its act together. It looks quizzically at Daniel.
Does anyone have anything intrinsically Good or Evil? Sir Martyn has his sword which is Good. And his sword is going off, so it�s demonish he says. The creature looks at Sir Martyn, who is not in his armour either.
Spell phase for warms and instantaneous spells. It swipes at Sir Martyn who is knocked back 30 feet onto an ordinary grassy knoll. Not forgetting the 12 Stun No Parries and 96 points of damage in total. The sword is knocked 10 feet backwards into the water and he is also stunned for 24 hours. (An E and a C Unbalance). Whoops.
Daniel�s Inspiration gives +10% to everyone (except Daniel) for the next 140 minutes. Bowlhead slurps the damage and stuns. Sir Martyn Bladeturns it�s next attack and it misses. Daniel tries to get it with a Holding Song but it saves. Sir Martyn punches it and with Absolution and it fails its save. It falls over and starts to sink.
Sir Martyn looks for and finds his sword. We hacked it up and it dies at the last round before it sunk. It was super large. Basically Sir Martyn, Aruth and Daniel hit it, topping, for nearly 20 rounds. Sir Martyn hit it, then Aruth, and finally Daniel hit it. Adding up the damage it was Daniel�s last but one critical where it dies.
We recover the wagon and get back to the ship, and then back to Ulfshafen on 30th Nuzyael 727
6,500eps each