Wednesday, April 26, 2006
6 Hammer 1373 - Espar
We are now in a town called Espar, which is outside of the King's Forest in Cormyr. It is an earthen walled large town, which breads good with horses and wagons from the local plains. We are still leading Duvay and Ramscar to the Farsea Marshes.
On the way to Espar, while in the Kings Forest we met a few guys and their pets. They were a human sorcerer, and two hobgoblin assistants, as well as their two dire bear pets. Normally this would have been a happy meeting with much discussion and exchange of information. Or, at least I would have had them to tell us a lot whil
e giving them very little but fantastic-sounding stories they would believe to not be true (just good clean on-the-road-campside fun), but would, ironically, actually be true (like the time we fought a 300' translucent dragon which could become insubstantial at will - see?).
These fellas were not interested in talk, though. They had more physical intents in mind. But not like that - it was just a regular ambush with an attemp to kill us and probably take our money. It was fun - the first 'real' fight I have been in in a long while. Why is it that I seem to be getting ever better at increasing my survivability and decreaseing the survivability of those who oppose me, and they either regress, or at best stay the same? Could it be the company I keep
? And why do those who may present a challenge simply leave stupid messages written in dead languages (like Thorass) like, "I know where you are"? Messages like that only make me think some people are out having a bit of fun at what they think is our expense. Well it costs me nothing and only makes them look like children playing at stalking prey in the quest to improve the paultry skills their parents teach them in order to survive.
So, we are travelling through the forest, me on a warpony, the other group members on warhorses, and the two charges on regular horses (though I would come to find Celery to be riding a regular nag as well). When the creepy feelings of being watched and a certain amount of distant sound were realised. Then the crash-smash of something big charging through and breaking down the trees head straight for the road to cut us off. We raced and lost. But second place proved to put us in a position worthy of taking first place (it's always better to be behind your opponents).
In the melee which followed Boltaneus charged and tried to overrun a dire bear on his horse. Now mandrake is a big horse, and Boltaneus is a huge human, but even with armor on both they still only amount to 3 of the 4 parts of the size of a full grown dire bear. So, he did not get very far in that activity. At the end of the fight, both bears were dead, one of the hobgoblins was too, and the other ran away, and the sorcerer teleported away.
Duvey and Ranscar had lost their horse, and having now discovered Celery was on a plodder we snapped back to town and purchased a real horse for both. Backtracked, and made our way to Espar.
Just outside of the town we met a farmer named Larond who told us the sorcerer and the bugbear who escaped were captured and are going to be executed for being raiders. Larond told us we are being called “Bolt's Lordly Band” because of the story the sorcerer and bugbear told about us attacking them (the obnoxiously loud armor gets all the glory). We got Boltaneus to tell Larond, his wife, and their two sons the tale of how we fought the dire bears and the sorcerer and the bugbears. As little said about his story telling skills as possible is better - much better.
During about this same time I spoke with Desicrist about his past. He was born in Halruua and left at 14 because of something his father did. His family went to Unther and he lived there since just prior to meeting me in Killonan. I never did learn about Jongerd's rip-torn mouth, though Maybe when I pass by the stonelands on my way to Shadowdale I'll pry that story out of him.
In Espar we have had some drinks and food at the Espar Star tavern which has a bard named Marcon who entertains. I spoke with him, and he informd us Tilverton dissapeared less than a tenday ago. Apparently there was a large flash of a globe of light and then everything was gone (people, builings, vegetation) and nothing left but a shadowy hemisphere. People who go in don't come out, and those who do end up turning into a shadowy form and dissappearing entirely. Probably not such a hot place to go this season. Does anyone beside humans ever loose a city?
Marcon sang a song about a war between two ancient cities which made each other sink into the ground, resulting in the Farsea Mashes and the Marsh of Tun. The war was instigated by a an evil old woman who tricked the cities into the war with each other, by making a person from each cities' royal house fall in love and try to be together. This caused the war to keep the two lovers apart from eachother. The war was before the death of Mystral, when the weave was broad and open, before the Netherese had caused the weave to change to what it is now, which is a tight nit. The two cities raised portals in eachother going to the evil outer planes and allowing demons and devils into them. They also cast spells on eachother to cause the cities to sink into the ground and create the Marshes. It isn't clear if these people were Neatherese or pre-Neatherese.
Marcon and I spoke of such things and he told me another story of a Neatherese city, rumored to be the last around, in the eastern Anuoch, near the Desert's Mouth montains, which fell when Karsus died and the weave reborn. Obviously this was about 2000 years ago.
Apparently the Neatherese pissed off the Phaerimm, who are extra-planar creatures, who decided to stop them and went to war to destroy the ground resources of the floating cities, and caused the birth of the Anauroch desert.
Enough bardic knowledge for now. I'm off to sleep, and tomorrow is another step in the path toward the marsh.
On the way to Espar, while in the Kings Forest we met a few guys and their pets. They were a human sorcerer, and two hobgoblin assistants, as well as their two dire bear pets. Normally this would have been a happy meeting with much discussion and exchange of information. Or, at least I would have had them to tell us a lot whil
e giving them very little but fantastic-sounding stories they would believe to not be true (just good clean on-the-road-campside fun), but would, ironically, actually be true (like the time we fought a 300' translucent dragon which could become insubstantial at will - see?).
These fellas were not interested in talk, though. They had more physical intents in mind. But not like that - it was just a regular ambush with an attemp to kill us and probably take our money. It was fun - the first 'real' fight I have been in in a long while. Why is it that I seem to be getting ever better at increasing my survivability and decreaseing the survivability of those who oppose me, and they either regress, or at best stay the same? Could it be the company I keep
? And why do those who may present a challenge simply leave stupid messages written in dead languages (like Thorass) like, "I know where you are"? Messages like that only make me think some people are out having a bit of fun at what they think is our expense. Well it costs me nothing and only makes them look like children playing at stalking prey in the quest to improve the paultry skills their parents teach them in order to survive.
So, we are travelling through the forest, me on a warpony, the other group members on warhorses, and the two charges on regular horses (though I would come to find Celery to be riding a regular nag as well). When the creepy feelings of being watched and a certain amount of distant sound were realised. Then the crash-smash of something big charging through and breaking down the trees head straight for the road to cut us off. We raced and lost. But second place proved to put us in a position worthy of taking first place (it's always better to be behind your opponents).
In the melee which followed Boltaneus charged and tried to overrun a dire bear on his horse. Now mandrake is a big horse, and Boltaneus is a huge human, but even with armor on both they still only amount to 3 of the 4 parts of the size of a full grown dire bear. So, he did not get very far in that activity. At the end of the fight, both bears were dead, one of the hobgoblins was too, and the other ran away, and the sorcerer teleported away.
Duvey and Ranscar had lost their horse, and having now discovered Celery was on a plodder we snapped back to town and purchased a real horse for both. Backtracked, and made our way to Espar.
Just outside of the town we met a farmer named Larond who told us the sorcerer and the bugbear who escaped were captured and are going to be executed for being raiders. Larond told us we are being called “Bolt's Lordly Band” because of the story the sorcerer and bugbear told about us attacking them (the obnoxiously loud armor gets all the glory). We got Boltaneus to tell Larond, his wife, and their two sons the tale of how we fought the dire bears and the sorcerer and the bugbears. As little said about his story telling skills as possible is better - much better.
During about this same time I spoke with Desicrist about his past. He was born in Halruua and left at 14 because of something his father did. His family went to Unther and he lived there since just prior to meeting me in Killonan. I never did learn about Jongerd's rip-torn mouth, though Maybe when I pass by the stonelands on my way to Shadowdale I'll pry that story out of him.
In Espar we have had some drinks and food at the Espar Star tavern which has a bard named Marcon who entertains. I spoke with him, and he informd us Tilverton dissapeared less than a tenday ago. Apparently there was a large flash of a globe of light and then everything was gone (people, builings, vegetation) and nothing left but a shadowy hemisphere. People who go in don't come out, and those who do end up turning into a shadowy form and dissappearing entirely. Probably not such a hot place to go this season. Does anyone beside humans ever loose a city?
Marcon sang a song about a war between two ancient cities which made each other sink into the ground, resulting in the Farsea Mashes and the Marsh of Tun. The war was instigated by a an evil old woman who tricked the cities into the war with each other, by making a person from each cities' royal house fall in love and try to be together. This caused the war to keep the two lovers apart from eachother. The war was before the death of Mystral, when the weave was broad and open, before the Netherese had caused the weave to change to what it is now, which is a tight nit. The two cities raised portals in eachother going to the evil outer planes and allowing demons and devils into them. They also cast spells on eachother to cause the cities to sink into the ground and create the Marshes. It isn't clear if these people were Neatherese or pre-Neatherese.
Marcon and I spoke of such things and he told me another story of a Neatherese city, rumored to be the last around, in the eastern Anuoch, near the Desert's Mouth montains, which fell when Karsus died and the weave reborn. Obviously this was about 2000 years ago.
Apparently the Neatherese pissed off the Phaerimm, who are extra-planar creatures, who decided to stop them and went to war to destroy the ground resources of the floating cities, and caused the birth of the Anauroch desert.
Enough bardic knowledge for now. I'm off to sleep, and tomorrow is another step in the path toward the marsh.
# posted by Matthew : 2:18 PM
