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You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> Rules-based RPGs --> Dungeons and Dragons --> Realms of Twilight - A Journey Begins
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GM for this game: Steelight
Players for this game: cdnflirt, Nomad D2, Tiamat5774, Shield Wolf, Celeste
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    Messages in Realms of Twilight - A Journey Begins
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Dakarta
Resident
Karma: 16/4
218 Posts


follow the leader

Airion realized their business in the guild hall was complete. He was a bit unnerved by the guards and kept his eyes on them as he followed the others out of the merchant guild. Not knowing his way around the city he kept close to the two more familiar with it. He was still on the look out for danger and escape routes. This city seemed very unfriendly to him and his dark skinned companion.

He was hoping they could get to the merchant's home and conclude their business quickly. He wasn't exactly sure he wanted to remain here for much longer.


Posted on 2010-07-18 at 11:45:11.
Edited on 2010-07-23 at 16:34:49 by Dakarta

Steelight
Sage of the Realms
Karma: 44/9
1024 Posts


Game Update

Your travel to the merchant district is relatively uneventful. You see shops closing up for the day and taverns already in full swing as you move through the streets.

You can't help but feel that someone is watching you. Nothing seems out of place, nor do any of the people on the streets seem to be giving you any more than a passing glance as you walk (save for the occassional sneers and stares at the Valshari), yet you can't shake the feeling.

You arrive at Allyn's house two house after leaving the merchant's guild hall. The structure is immense, standing fully three stories. It is difficult to see the details from the street, lit only by dim lamps that provide only enough light to navigate the street by. But you do see a balcony leaning off of the third floor, over looking the street.

The house is dark, save for the light pouring out of a single window on the second floor. Periodically you notice a shadow cross the light, but you never actually see the shadow's source. As you approach the front door you begin to notice a few details about the house itself. The walls are built of mortared stone, trimmed with some sort of dark-stained wood. You notice a pair of carved statues leaning from the corners of the balcony, seemingly seeking to protect the house from any who would enter unwanted. The front doors themselves (it is a double door) are built of thick oak bound in smooth iron. A large knocker hangs in the center of each door.

(assuming you guys use one of the knockers...)

The house remains silent for a few moments longer before a flicker from the upstairs window draws your attention. You squint for a moment, trying to make out the details of the shadows dancing in the window, but to no avail.

Suddenly, the front door opens and Allyn stands before you. He looks on anxiously, obviously searching the group for his daughter. His expression visibly darkens when he does not find her.

"I suppose you should come in to be the bearers of bads news."

He walks away from the doorway heading into one of the side rooms on the ground floor. A moment later a light flares to life from a table lamp int he center of the room.

(assuming you enter...)

The room itself seems to be a sort of parlor. A pair of stuffed chairs face a large hearth at the opposite end of the room and a couch sits against the wall to your right. A roll top desk sits closed in the corner, beside a rack intended to hold cloaks or jackets.

"So... I don't see my beloved Jocelyn. So what have you come to tell me?"


Posted on 2010-07-19 at 04:21:58.

Nomad D2
RDI Fixture
Karma: 55/6
3141 Posts


A careful dialogue

(Group: I am tending to post whenever I get the chance because I am travelling and taking advantage of opportunities to get on line. It just seems like I post first all the time and am leading the group around - and that is not my intent. Feel free to adjust things if you want. I just might not get back on line for another 7 days. So feel free to change things. I chose to have Heironymus start the discussion because he and Kyara are the ones the merchant knows. The others would likely finish things, since they have the actual message.)

Heironymus reminded himself that this man had lost his daughter (And potentially could make life very hard for them) before he responded.

"Sir., as you can see we did not return with your daughter. But we have seen her - and she is alive." Before the man could interupt with the expected questions, Heironymus hurriedly continued. "But let us tell you the entire story as it unfolded."

Looking towards Kyara he began, "Kyara was able to follow the trail of the brigands for several days. There can be no doubt of the trail. It led us to a cave, which we entered. This is where we found your daughter. After several turns and adventures in the caves, with more illusions making things difficult, we entered a large cavern."

"And there we saw Jocelyn. She was not alone. An elf sat on a throne and held a chain attached to your daughters neck. In addition to the elf, who seems to be a mage of some power, there were at least 12 guards in the room."

"About the time we entered, these two (nodding towards the two dark elves) were brought in by another door. It seemed clear that they had been prisoners. The elf spent several minutes insulting everyone."

At that point Heironymus paused in his oration. He looked at his two new companions. "And now, I think, the rest of the story should be continued by these two."


Posted on 2010-07-19 at 20:10:07.

Brianna
Not Dragon Mistress
Karma: 105/32
2282 Posts


Ele

Ele is tall for one of her kind. Her family had a long lineage and she was a worthy representative of their that heritage and noble upbringing. Ele took a step forward. "I and my companion were part of a caravan that set off from ********. The caravan was attacked on the road and we two were taken Prisoner but not together. We had been there over a week, perhaps two never knowing why we were held. Then we were finally gather together and taken into what was almost like a nobles audience chamber complete with a raise dais. The mage, an illusionist, sat on it and. These two were already in there with the surrounding guards keeping them under close watch. That high chair was occupied by a dark skinned elf, a mage, s these said of some power and skilled in Illusion."

"I do not know how these two came to that place but the were demanding the release of your daughter or for a ransom to be name. He denied taking her. but she was in his possession and he refused to let her to. With the full defenses of the place we were in. These two had no way of rescuing her at all not with force. If they would have tried they would have died."

"This mage would not set a ransom but he did demand that all of us deliver a letter to you personally. He said it was warded before he sent us off. I would have that checked out before I opened it."


Posted on 2010-07-19 at 22:14:22.

Dakarta
Resident
Karma: 16/4
218 Posts


delivery confirmed

Airion had been quiet up until now. As Ele was speaking he thought back to his time in the cave. It wasn't something he cared to dwell upon. As Ele finished speaking he knelt down and pulled off his pack. Opening it slowly so as not to arouse any suspicion. He removed the letter from his pack and placed it on the roll top desk. "Sir, I would hand it to you directly, but I agree with my companion. I think the wards placed on it should be checked first."

He hoped that the merchant would heed his advice. Airion thought there was more that needed to be said about the situation. "Sir, there is also the bit about this mage considering your daughter his property. He insisted his people were not the ones who took her and he received her through a business transaction. I can't say I completely believe this. He claims to have aquired my companion and I in the same way. Yet, I was tortured while I was their prisoner." Thinking back to what he had seen of the conversation with the mage. "The two here previously in your employ tried everything to retrieve your daughter short of getting themselves killed."

Thinking back to the moments before they were sent on their way, Airion recalled the look on Jocelyn's face. Perhaps it wasn't right but he felt it needed to be said. "There is also a strange issue with your daughter as well. My intention in telling you this is not to upset you , but to soimply inform you of my observations. I noticed something in her look as we were leaving the mage's audience chamber. She, well, it's odd to say. I caught a hint from her look and her body language. There is a part of her that likes and wants to be where she is."

Having delivered the letter and spoken his piece on the situation at hand, Airion gave the merchant a slight bow and stepped back to stand near Ele.



Posted on 2010-07-23 at 16:30:34.

Steelight
Sage of the Realms
Karma: 44/9
1024 Posts


An angry merchant

Allyn snatches the sealed envelope from you hand.

"Are you saying my daughter ENJOYS being a prisoner of a sadistic bastard? What sort of tramp do you take her for!?!"

His face begins to turn red as his anger builds. He opens his mouth as if to say something more, but shuts it again and tears into the letter, breaking the seal and pulling the parchment from the envelope. He reads for a moment and his facial expression slowly changes. He seems to visibly calm as he addresses the group again.

"With all of the lies and deceit that has been going on of late I can only hope that you are not among the deceivers. This letter asks for one thousand peices of gold for Jocelyn's release. Recompense for her purchase price so it says. I have no choice but to pay it. However, it will take time to gather the necessary funds, and I would rather you not stay in my home until that time comes. I can recommend lodgings for you if you wish. I will contact you when the arrangements have been made. Now, if you please, leave me in peace."

He motions towards the doorway, indicating (obviously) that you should leave the house. He then folds the letter once again and places it back in the envelope, before tucking it into his shirt pocket.

(His recommendations for lodging, should someone ask, is the Twining Vine Inn, here in the merchant's district. It is rather pricy (at 5 gold per night, plus food, firewood, or any other ammenity) but the accomodations are much better quality than adventurers like yourselves are used to.)


Posted on 2010-07-23 at 16:57:00.
Edited on 2010-07-25 at 11:24:22 by Steelight

Nomad D2
RDI Fixture
Karma: 55/6
3141 Posts


Deception

"Deception appears to be a part of this game. I would be very skeptical about the contents of that letter, but we are only messengers. Aside from what you have just told us, we have no idea what the message you read contains, but hopefully it will help you get your daughter back."

Bowing a little and moving towards the door, Hieronymus asked about the inn. After hearing the name, he added, "I can't speak for these others about where we will stay. If it is not in that inn, we will send word where we can be found. Do you wish to continue our employment? Again, I can not speak for these two." (Indicating the two elves that had not originally been hired as guards.)

Once the group is outside we will need to talk.
Thoughts from H:
1. H sees no need to spend that kind of money for a room.
2. Are any of us still employed? What about our pay?
3. If he doubts us, is he going to want us to deliver 1,000 gp?
4. Given the hostility of the locals, what do the dark elves want to do?


Posted on 2010-07-26 at 19:26:19.

Steelight
Sage of the Realms
Karma: 44/9
1024 Posts


For now...

"As you have started this, I would prefer to keep you in my employ until it is finished. Now please, leave me in peace. If you stay somewhere else please send a messenger with your location so I can contact you when the arrangements have been made."


Posted on 2010-07-28 at 23:26:18.

Dakarta
Resident
Karma: 16/4
218 Posts


hmmm....

"It seems we are inexplicably tied into this. I cannot leave you to this alone. These events may even give us more insight to our original mission."

Airion is a bit upset at himself for telling the merchant his observations. He still feels it was the right thing to do though. He is also very curious as to what that letter said to calm the merchant down so quickly.

"I move that we try to find an affordable inn that will accept our kind. Although, I don't feel we are very welcome here and may have an issue with that." Airion remebered looking through his pack back in the cave store room. "Also, I don't know about Ele, but all my currency was taken by the mage's men."

"Once we find a place to stay, I suggest we get a meal and bed down for the night. I'd rather not put myself into any compromising situations."


Posted on 2010-07-30 at 03:28:16.

Nomad D2
RDI Fixture
Karma: 55/6
3141 Posts


A good nights sleep

"Although I am far from wealthy, the merchant owes Kyara and I some wages. If he is now employing you as well, you at least have income. No doubt we can cover any costs encountered for now. For all that I would like to leave this mystery behind me, yet I feel that we are tied into this mess. We must see it through."

"Let us find some reasonable and friendly accomodations." With that the group, having already left the merchants house (assumption) moved off to attempt to find accomodations and wait for Allyn's summons. When they do find a room, they will have a message sent to the merchant.


Posted on 2010-08-01 at 19:22:35.

Steelight
Sage of the Realms
Karma: 44/9
1024 Posts


Game Update

You find an inn whose prices are a bit more reasonable (5 sp per room, per night) and decide it is as good a place as any.

(OOC: I'll need to know how many rooms and who is paying.)

Heironymus sends a messenger to Allyn to inform him of their location (costing 3 cp).

After a reasonably decent meal in the common room and a few drinks the night moves on and the group retires for the evening. After all, one never knows what may happen the next day.

____________________________________________________________

Early the next morning each room receives a loud pounding on their respective doors. When you open the door it reveals a squad of well armed soldiers, anxious and ready for resistance. The squad commander speaks to you all.

"You will come with us. Any resistance forfeits your lives, and some of my men would be glad to rid our proud nation of a few black-skinned elves."

(assuming no or minimal resistance)

They watch as the party gets dressed and gathers their gear. The soldiers confiscate your weapons, but you are welcome to wear or carry your armor as you so choose. The escort you down the stairs and out of the inn, with a dozen patrons looking on curiously.

Your march continues through the streets for a good distance. The soldiers seem to be showing off their prisoners (yeah for Sense Motive checks!) to the city folk. After what seems like an hour of walking you come to a squat stone building with a well-made oak door at the main entrance. You notice a few barred windows at ground level along the side (They are arced and the top barely 8 inches about the ground). The soldiers roughly force you all into the building.

The room looks rather bland. You see four additional soldiers posted there, along with a series of trunks, in which they place your weapons and instruct you to place the rest of your gear. After everything is put away one of the guards shuts and locks each trunk.

A door opens from further into the room and the guards immediately move into a line and stand at attention, one guard holding each of you in a similar position.

"Welcome to Valin my criminal friends."

The man that steps through the doors is richly dressed, but caries himself like a man who is not stranger to combat. A fine longsword is strapped to his waist and a dagger sits sheathed in his boot. The emblem emblazoned on his tunic marks him as the prison magistrate and warden (this would be known by the two who have been here before).

He steps up confidently, taking a few moments to inspect each of you as he paces back and forth before you.

"You have been charged with the kidnapping of one Jocelyn Larnith, daughter of Allyn Larnith. You will be held here until the time comes that our Lord sees fit to give you a trial. Then, likely, you will be interrogated, tortured, and executed."

He pauses for a moment as he passes Kyara.

"Believe me my sweet. It will go much easier for you in particular if you tell us where you have stashed her and who you are working for now, rather than later."

(assuming the group says little to nothing as they are each puzzling through what has just happened in their own minds...)

The magistrate waves his hand towards the stairs down to the cell block. "Take them away. 2 prisoners to a cell, and keep the dark ones separate."

The guards escort you down into the damp of the dungeons. Each cell stands 6 feet tall and is fully enclosed in stone, save for a stout oaken door in the wall nearest you and a small barred window in the wall opposite. The door has a small barred window in it and a slot that food can be slid through.

After the guards veritably through you into the cells, the doors slam shut with a disturbing finality. You here the keys jingle as the doors to your two cells are locked. Then the guards depart.

(You are across from each other, so you can still communicate with the group. All of your gear (they did a rather thorough search) is being kept in the trunks by the entrance to the prison.)


Posted on 2010-08-02 at 15:08:16.

Nomad D2
RDI Fixture
Karma: 55/6
3141 Posts


Why are people in power all the same?

As the events in the prison unfold, Heironymus had all he could do to keep from shaking his head at the stupidity of most leaders. Why did they always seem to blame the innocent? Why did they always seem to think that torture and death were effective tools? Stupid.

Still, he kept his mouth shut because, stupid or not, he had no desire to be tortured. He had seen such behaviour before so it did not scare him, but that was not the same thing as looking forward to it.

After getting tossed into the cell, Hieronymus moved to the door.

(Can we see guards? H would generally assume their conversations can be overheard, but is this obvious? Who is in which cell?)

"Well, this is a nice "thank you." Do you suppose Allyn had us arrested, or is he unaware of what is happening? Since all we did was deliver a message, who in this city do you think benefits from conflict? I wonder how they figure that we were involved?"


Posted on 2010-08-05 at 03:21:32.

Dakarta
Resident
Karma: 16/4
218 Posts


back in the slammer

As the events in the prison unfold, Heironymus had all he could do to keep from shaking his head at the stupidity of most leaders. Why did they always seem to blame the innocent? Why did they always seem to think that torture and death were effective tools? Stupid.

Still, he kept his mouth shut because, stupid or not, he had no desire to be tortured. He had seen such behaviour Airion was surprised by the guards. He wasn't sure what was going on but, he was confident this was not the way things should have went.

Once they were in the cells he was even more confused about the situation and their present sittuation. (assuming I am in the cell with Hieronymus and the ladies are together)
"I think we should assume that Allyn did set this up. If nothing else he went to the autorities for assistance, and they assumed we are in on it."

Airion thought back to the letter we should have read it. why didn't we? too scared I suppose "We really should have found out what was in that letter. How do we know it didn't point us as the kidnappers?"

Airion paced around the cell. He didn't like being locked up, especially twice in such a short amount of time and both for reasons unknown. "I'd pick our locks and get us out of here but they took my tools. Unless someone has something I could use we're stuck. I'm not so sure breaking out would help us much anyway. So what do we do now?"

"Well, this is a nice "thank you." Do you suppose Allyn had us arrested, or is he unaware of what is happening? Since all we did was deliver a message, who in this city do you think benefits from conflict? I wonder how they figure that we were involved?"


Posted on 2010-08-08 at 22:55:13.

Steelight
Sage of the Realms
Karma: 44/9
1024 Posts


CHECK THE Q&A

(I answer all out of character questions there, and I did answer H's questions prior to Dakarta posting.)

No action has been decided, nor taken so I must regretfully delay the game update until such time as someone takes decisive action.


Posted on 2010-08-09 at 17:01:33.
Edited on 2010-08-09 at 17:15:22 by Steelight

Nomad D2
RDI Fixture
Karma: 55/6
3141 Posts


What to do?

Heironymus looked around his cell. Decisive. He was supposed to be decisive in moments like this. That was the theory. don't sit back and wait for the world to get you, go make things happen.

But what to do? First, he was in a cell. Was there anything he could do from inside a cell? The options seemed limited.

Second, even if he were free, what would he do? He didn't know enough at this point to do anything. Go after Allyn? The captain of the guard? The powerful sorceror? Just run away? He honestly didn't know what the best option might be.

Prior to getting arrested the best course of action had seemed to be waiting and seeing what developed and then reacting. But that might not be an option anymore. So what could he do?

Heironymus decided to start with the obvious. "Ok, we might as well check doors, windows, and walls. Lets see if this place is as solid as it looks," he said quietly. "And we need a plan. What do we do? We know we didn't do anything wrong, in fact, we were wronged," he added for the benefit of anyone listening. "But we are still here? Do we do anything? If we get out, then what?"

(The action: searcing the cells. After that,nothing exciting. Hopefully others comment. Otherwise, perhaps waiting to see what comes next.)



Posted on 2010-08-13 at 06:12:18.

   


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