Post by The Dungeon Master on Feb 8, 2010 15:23:00 GMT -5
Your torn and broken bodies had been gathered up by the Hellknights of the Order of the Nail, more as evidence in an ongoing investigation than out of any sense of compassion. Who knows if your threads of fate would have been knotted back together had the paunchy Lord Mayor's name not appeared on the Lamia Matriarch's list of candidates for sacrifice in the strange Sihedron ritual. But just like that your names are transferred from next week's corpse-handling log to this week's mayoral honored guest list. Your resurrection slabs in the Hells beneath the Pediment Building traded in for feather beds and pillows in the Lord Mayor's palatial estate.
While the first day (a Toilday) of the last month of the year (Kuthona) saw your fall, the second day (a Wealday) sees your rise. It is also the first night of the full moon, one of two full moons this month, in fact. Varisian fortune-tellers love these sorts of omens and rumors of great future deeds are already being woven about your party; but all the auguries are variations of the same theme; blood and water and stone; these are the recurring elements.
It just so happens that your recuperation period coincides with the festival of Winter Week and so you rest and feast and the only injuries you risk are gout and too much good ale. You bide your time through the last quarter of the moon, through the reunion of Quren with is father, Turen, until almost the end of the festival. Marik seems to tire of the holiday and takes to locking himself in his room for hours, poring over scrolls and books. After two days he emerges in the evening, on the penultimate day of the festival; Ascension Day as observed by the worshipers of Cayden Cailean. During this week and some days of rest you see more of the mayor's personal assistant, Valanni Krinst, than of the mayor himself. Krinst seems an efficient secretary and messenger, with an apparent sharp mind for law as well.
It is on the last day of the Winter Week festival that Lord Mayor Haldmeer Grobaras summons you to his office. He expresses again his pleasure at not only your saving his life from what he feels was a certain fate, but in dealing with the nefarious Skinsaw Cult that had penetrated so far into the Justice Council. And now he asks for your service again. It seems that little has been heard from the rangers stationed at a remote fort at the edge of Magnimar's direct holdings - even sendings directed at the fort's leader have gone unanswered. The fort is a good distance away and the Lord Mayor is feeling pressure from the Council of Ushers (the nobles and merchants who govern Magnimar along with the office of Lord Mayor) to send someone to reestablish contact with the rangers, known as The Black Arrows, of Fort Rannick near Hook Mountain.
The Lord Mayor offers each of you 300gp to cover your expenses. He apologizes for the timing as the Varisian winters bring shorter days, rain and winds, but it cannot be helped. By land it's a journey of 450 miles through lightly patrolled regions following the Yondabakari River until you turn north and skirt the western edge of the Sanos Forest; a 19-day journey for those who can keep pace with an unencumbered man, not allowing for weather and getting lost. A swift horse can cut the travel time down to 9 days. Alternatively you can take one of the many river barges that ply the Yondabakari and Skull Rivers from Magnimar all the way to Turtleback Ferry (at the cost of 50gp per person or mount), in which case the journey takes only a week, promises little danger and no chance of going off the track.
As you prepare for your journey you are contacted by a familiar face - the Elven ranger Shalelu Andosana (she it was who brought Sandpoint the information of the impending goblin threat.) It is clear as she catches up on your latest activities that her eyes wander continually to Jal. She has learned that you are heading east to Fort Rannick and would like to accompany you on your journey. One of the rangers stationed there was a companion of her mother many years ago.
While the first day (a Toilday) of the last month of the year (Kuthona) saw your fall, the second day (a Wealday) sees your rise. It is also the first night of the full moon, one of two full moons this month, in fact. Varisian fortune-tellers love these sorts of omens and rumors of great future deeds are already being woven about your party; but all the auguries are variations of the same theme; blood and water and stone; these are the recurring elements.
It just so happens that your recuperation period coincides with the festival of Winter Week and so you rest and feast and the only injuries you risk are gout and too much good ale. You bide your time through the last quarter of the moon, through the reunion of Quren with is father, Turen, until almost the end of the festival. Marik seems to tire of the holiday and takes to locking himself in his room for hours, poring over scrolls and books. After two days he emerges in the evening, on the penultimate day of the festival; Ascension Day as observed by the worshipers of Cayden Cailean. During this week and some days of rest you see more of the mayor's personal assistant, Valanni Krinst, than of the mayor himself. Krinst seems an efficient secretary and messenger, with an apparent sharp mind for law as well.
It is on the last day of the Winter Week festival that Lord Mayor Haldmeer Grobaras summons you to his office. He expresses again his pleasure at not only your saving his life from what he feels was a certain fate, but in dealing with the nefarious Skinsaw Cult that had penetrated so far into the Justice Council. And now he asks for your service again. It seems that little has been heard from the rangers stationed at a remote fort at the edge of Magnimar's direct holdings - even sendings directed at the fort's leader have gone unanswered. The fort is a good distance away and the Lord Mayor is feeling pressure from the Council of Ushers (the nobles and merchants who govern Magnimar along with the office of Lord Mayor) to send someone to reestablish contact with the rangers, known as The Black Arrows, of Fort Rannick near Hook Mountain.
The Lord Mayor offers each of you 300gp to cover your expenses. He apologizes for the timing as the Varisian winters bring shorter days, rain and winds, but it cannot be helped. By land it's a journey of 450 miles through lightly patrolled regions following the Yondabakari River until you turn north and skirt the western edge of the Sanos Forest; a 19-day journey for those who can keep pace with an unencumbered man, not allowing for weather and getting lost. A swift horse can cut the travel time down to 9 days. Alternatively you can take one of the many river barges that ply the Yondabakari and Skull Rivers from Magnimar all the way to Turtleback Ferry (at the cost of 50gp per person or mount), in which case the journey takes only a week, promises little danger and no chance of going off the track.
As you prepare for your journey you are contacted by a familiar face - the Elven ranger Shalelu Andosana (she it was who brought Sandpoint the information of the impending goblin threat.) It is clear as she catches up on your latest activities that her eyes wander continually to Jal. She has learned that you are heading east to Fort Rannick and would like to accompany you on your journey. One of the rangers stationed there was a companion of her mother many years ago.