THE PRYMPTOWN COURIER
Vol.1, No. 3 (December 1998)
EDITORIAL
Guess what? Since it’s so close to Christmas, I'm making
this my Christmas gift to all of you! For most of you, this is all you'll
be getting from me (hehehe). Actually, I'm
hoping that people appreciate it, because this issue is going out to more
people than usual. Think of it as a sample issue to try, and you can
subscribe if you like it -- don't you wish DRAGON Magazine did that?
Something else very important is coming up this month,
campaign-wise. This next playing session will be the sixth playing session of
the campaign. Since our playing sessions are always monthly, that marks
the first half-year of a successful -- and I'm hoping long-lived -- campaign. I
have rough plans already made for the next five years (real time) of
gaming. I hope most people are still on their first characters by
then. By then, the PCs should be well-known and influential
adventurers. They should have some of their personal goals accomplished
already, and have new ones to pursue as well. They will have dozens of NPC
friends and allies, and probably even more enemies. Then, on the other
hand, character deaths and retirements will bring new blood into the campaign to
keep it fresh and new. I certainly look forward to seeing how things have
progressed in five year's time.
GAMING STORES
Although inconveniently far for most of us, the Comic Quest
store in
Earlier this month, when I was returning from St. Charles with
my Christmas tree, I was passing through downtown Geneva for the first time in
awhile, and I chanced to notice on the north side of the street a new store
called "Beyond Reality: A Gamer's
Haven" -- or something very close to that. Unfortunately, it was 11
am, and the store didn't open until noon! But I could see through the
window that they sold both wargaming and role-playing
games, and a sign inside told me that they had gaming rooms up on the second
floor (think of it -- not a basement, but a room with a view!).
I still haven't found the time to go back, but I mean to find
out more about that store someday. In fact, it might be worth some XP for
someone's character if they went to the store on their own and reported back to
me about it...
ONLINE RESOURCES
Last time, I encouraged everyone who hadn't already to take a
look at Kent Mathewson's Codex of Greyhawk
Website. This time I'd like to mention a site a little nearer and dearer
to my heart -- the Greytalk Archives.
For 16 months now, I've been a member and contributor to the Greytalk listserv. With people from as far away as
The Archives are at 24.112.96.246/greytalk.nsf/. They are
searchable by topic, date (back to Oct. 1995), and author. Feel free to
try it, seeing what comes up for topics relevant to your character. Or
look up
THE FIFTH PLAYING SESSION
Cast:
Alexander Petrok, Lawful Neutral male Oerdian human templar of Zilchus
(1st level paladin variant).
Perpegilliam Brown, Neutral male Hairfoot hobniz rogue (1st level
Thief).
Vladamir Kostitov,
Lawful Good male Oerdian human prestidigitator for
the governor's guardsmen (1st level Illusionist).
Abraham the Radiant, Neutral Good male Oeridian human acolyte of Pelor
(1st level Cleric).
Ragnrr,
Neutral male hobgoblin mercenary (1st level Fighter) (NPC today).
Quote of the Month: "Sure, I charge into the
room!"
~Alexander's player, who had missed the description of the room
and the carrion crawler in it.
Setting: Prymp, free town on the
Readying 13th, 581 CY.
The Band of the Grinning Gargoyle, upon returning to the upper
level of the dungeons beneath Skull Keep, decided that rest was in order before
they explored any further. The returned to the main hall, and barred themselves
into one of the three small goblin barracks they had cleared out
previously. Despite the bar on the door, they were this time careful to
take watches, and it occurred to Alexander that it would be a good idea to have
Ragnrr stand watch during the goblins' shift changes
so he could tell them to go away inconspicuously.
After eight hours of sleep, Abraham was awoken for his watch,
during which he prayed to Pelor to grant him the
healing magics that he and his companions seemed to
so often need. During his watch, Ragnrr needed
to be woken up to deal with goblins at the door, which was the second time he
had done so since they camped in. Vladamir awoke
and quickly rememorized Color Spray and Phantasmal Force. Abe used his
healing knowledge to tend to everyone's wounds, which in all cases were only
light. Now came time to decide what direction the party should next take.
Perpegilliam argued hard for
returning to town. He was tired of constantly throwing himself into danger
and longed for the comforts that Prymp
offered. The others, however, were all enthusiastic about seeing what more
the dungeon held on the level below. Vlad
suggested a compromise -- that they would just take a
look on the lower level and see what it was like. To this Perry
agreed. Next, it was decided that the stairwell they would take to descend
would be the spiral staircase that led down from the entry tower. Ragnrr opened the door and scanned the hallway, signaling
to the others that the cost was clear.
And so, they descended the steps until they reached a much lower
landing. Here there were two doors, and the stairs continued to climb
downward. Alex wanted to see what was behind the door immediately to the
right. Perry listened at the door and heard nothing. Ragnrr opened the door, looked down the corridor beyond to
the left, and screamed in horror. He bolted past the others and ran up the
stairs. Alex stepped out into the hallway, curious to see what had
frightened Ragnrr. He froze as he saw four
skeletons -- walking as if they were alive! Their bones clattered together
as they walked and the sound sent shivers down his spine. Abe entered the
hall in front of Alex to see what was going on, and upon seeing the walking
dead he held out his Holy symbol and tried to call on Pelor
to turn back the undead. His attempt failed and the skeletons shambled
towards him. Alex, overcome with fear, took off back into the room and
headed up the stairs after Ragnrr. Perry stuck
his head out into the hall, and seeing walking skeletons, closed the
door. Abe was quickly surrounded by the four skeletons, and he turned his
back on them to open the door. The skeletons pounded on the back of his
armor with their bony fists until he managed to swing the door open and close
himself safely in the room on the other side. By then, Perry and Vlad had already fled to join the others, and Abe ran to
catch up to them.
Catching their breath in the hallway above, Perry chastised the
fighters for their cowardice. Abe was somewhat annoyed with the hobniz for leaving him down there alone, but Perry's good
humor quickly soothed Abe's anger and lightened the mood of the fighters Alex
and Ragnrr until they felt much their old
selves. It was theorized by the fledgling adventurers that some area of the
lower dungeon might be blocked off from the goblins and brigands and filled
with monsters like those walking skeletons. They would take another
stairwell leading down that would hopefully circumvent any undead. It was
decided that the last stairs they found, in the northeast corner of the
dungeon, would be the stairs they would try next.
The second stairwell led down to a room filled with junk and
pillars. Crawling between the pillars was a huge, slimy, slithering, yellowish
creature with huge eyes, dozens of short legs, and a mass of tendrils waving
from its face. Alexander rushed up to attack immediately, catching it by
surprise. Ragnrr rushed to aid him, and Abraham
slung stones at it. Vlad, confidant that he
would be safe attacking from behind the monster, circled round and stabbed it
in the behind. The creature shrieked and gurgled, and turned around -- its whipping tendrils dripping some kind of gooey
secretion. Vlad cast a Phantasmal Force spell,
conjuring phantasmal daggers that hurled themselves at the great
beast. The beast was injured by this further, and when Alex sunk the
entire length of his long sword into it, it rolled across the room and stopped
moving forever. Alex walked over, drew his sword out of the beast, and
stabbed it repeatedly to make sure the gruesome monster was dead.
Vlad and the others set about searching the
room. Coinage was soon found in the wreckage, and Vlad
even found a dark blue stone that looked valuable. Perry volunteered to
appraise it, and informed the others that it was a precious stone and might
fetch as much as 50 gold Ivids in town. Vlad continued to search the room, while Abe searched the
walls for secret doors, and Perry examined a trap door in the floor. The
door was clearly visible from this side, and even had a ladder attached to it
that would swing down when it was swung open. Perry opened the trap door
slowly and quietly, and saw a short shaft that opened into another hallway
below. Alex and Ragnrr grabbed Perry by the
heels and lowered him headfirst into the corridor so he could see what there
was to see. He reported a door at one end of the hall nearby, and the
other end of the hallway stretched further than his meager dungeon sight would
allow him to see. By now, Vlad was convinced the
room held no more treasure, and Abe had given up on finding any secret
doors. This new prospect of exploring the corridor below appealed to all,
and so the ladder was lowered. It ended five feet above the dungeon floor,
and one by one the adventurers lowered themselves from the ladder to the
dungeon floor below.
Perry listened to the door and heard nothing. Trying the
door and finding it stuck, Perry stepped back and let Ragnrr
shoulder it open. Ragnrr stepped into a large room
with cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, and promptly had an enormous black
spider the size of his back drop on top of him. The spider had a red
hourglass shape on its back, and the party cringed as they saw it sink its
fangs into Ragnrr's shoulder through his chainmail armor. Ragnrr
yelled in surprise and spun in circles as he flailed at the spider sitting on
his back. Alex lunged forward with his long sword and managed only to nick
Ragnrr. Abe moved to help, beating on the spider
with his mace. Finally, Alex managed to angle a good thrust into the beast
that dropped it to the floor and left it dying. Abe immediately looked at Ragnrr's wounds, and tried to suck poison from the bite
marks.
Alex and Vlad stood watch, but Perry
decided to wander off and see if it was safe down the corridor heading the
other way. Perry quickly came to a four-way intersection. Off to the
left the corridor dead-ended, but going straight, he came to a dead-end that
had a four foot-diameter tunnel leading out of it to the right. This was
too tempting for the diminuitive thief to pass up,
and he walked into the tunnel.
Even after some magical curing, Ragnrr
did still not feel his best, but he said he would be fine. Abe and Alex
began to search the room, and debated the wisdom of burning the webs on the
ceiling. Vlad was leery of going into the room,
and remained in the corridor. The room Alex and Abe were in had a pair of
double doors at the back of an alcove to the left and single doors in the far
and right walls respectively.
It was just then that the double doors flew open and goblins
began pouring into the room. Alex and Abe stood back-to-back in the middle
of the room while spear-wielding goblins circled round them. Ragnrr pointed to Alex and Abe and ordered the goblins to
attack before slinking back into the corner. Then Ragnrr
lunged out to stab the incoming goblins from behind. The melee was on, and
more goblins kept pouring into the room from the double doors!
Vlad, wishing to balance the odds, cast Color
Spray into the room. Five goblins were stunned unconscious, but with them
fell Alex who had been standing facing Vlad. Abe
found himself surrounded, but for the most part held their spears at bay while
whirling his mace into their midst. Ragnrr found
himself backed into the corner of the room by three goblins with spears, but he
was quickly fighting his way out. In fact, most of the spear-wielding
goblins had been felled within a few rounds, but morning star-swinging
reinforcements kept coming into the room, and it looked like they numbered to
be more than a score. As the battle raged on, and Abe and Ragnrr stood alone against tremendous odds, Alex slowly
awoke from the Color Spray spell. He rose to his feet, but called for
retreat. He and Abe fled the room with Ragnrr
trying to cover their backs. Before he could run himself for the exit, Ragnrr took a vicious blow from a morning star and doubled
over. The goblins, quick to punish the traitorous hobgoblin, swarmed over
him and beat him until he was dead -- which occurred just minutes before the
spider venom in his blood would have killed him.
And so, Ragnrr was lost. The Band
of the Grinning Gargoyle mourned. And their numbers were now four.
Perry had been wandering slowly through the twisting tunnels,
and soon came upon an opening to a large room filled with stone
coffers. Before he could explore further, he heard the sounds of his
comrades in battle and had come running. He feared they would be lost in
battle and there would be no one to boost him up to the ladder hanging from the
upper level. He arrived after the battle was lost, and was helped up the
ladder as the band quickly fled back up before the goblins could regroup and
pursue them.
Alex, Abe, and Vlad were all wounded
-- Abraham seriously -- and they were outt of spells. There seemed to be no
alternative but to flee the dungeon and head back to town before the whole
second dungeon level came up after them. They feverishly racked their
brains for a way to escape the dungeon without having to fight their way past
the twenty humanoids camped outside. Of course, Perry knew that there were
fewer out there now, but did not want to get caught in a lie. He listened
to the others come up with a daring scheme, and while he called it stupid and
unnecessary, Perry chose to go along with it rather than reveal his lie.
The four adventurers stood in one of the tunnel entrance/eye
holes to the skull of Skull Keep. They tied the last of their rope
together, and fastened it to a spike that was pounded in the tunnel
floor. They stripped off their armor and bundled it up on their backpacks. Vlad wrapped as much around his spellbook
as he could, hoping to keep it as dry as possible. They took one of the
tables from the nearby room and tossed it over the side of the 40 foot cliff
and watched their improvised raft hit the calm waters of
Alexander volunteered to be the first down the rope that would
carry him from the cave mouth, down the 40 foot cliff, to the gentle saltwater
waves of
While Vlad and Perry were wondering
who would go down next, Vlad spotted another large
spider -- this time no bigger than a cat -- but after seeing what the last
spider did to Ragnrr they were in no hurry to battle
it. In fact, they were nearly tripping over each other trying to be the
first one down the rope. Perry was a little faster and shinnied down very
fast. Vlad followed, letting go of the cave
mouth ledge just before the spider reached his hand.
Down on the raft, Alex had been watching the cave mouth
carefully, and as his eyes adjusted to staring into the darkness, he could see
figures moving about in the cave. Unsure of how to handle the problem,
Alex called out to warn the others and tried to see if there were boats in
cave. Sure enough, as he squinted hard to see into the cave, he could make
out two rowboats, and could see that some of the people in the cave were
boarding them. Just then, crossbows were fired from the stationary people
in the cave. Alex and Abe dived into the water for cover, Abe getting
grazed by a bolt. They flipped up the table and held it between them for
cover.
Vlad and Perry, still coming down the rope, were
aware now that Abe and Alex were under attack. They began to swing to
either side like a pendulum, building distance, so that they could jump off the
rope and land in the water on the east side of the cave mouth. They landed
with a splash, and managed to come up to the surface still clutching their
backpacks. Both Abe and Perry were having difficulties staying afloat
though. Alex was strong enough to swim while helping to hold Abe above water,
but when Vlad tried to do that for Perry, Perry
started to pull Vlad under. In order not to
drown both of them, Perry had to cut free a sack full of treasure that was
weighing him down. Suddenly more buoyant, Perry was able to swim again and
all four of them swam safely towards the shore.
However, one of the rowboats was keeping up with them, and it
held three lightly-armored pirates in it. While Abe, Perry, and Vlad began to climb up onto the rocky shore, one pirate
stood up in the boat and threw spears at them. Alex had lingered behind
underwater, and came up underneath the boat. He grabbed the side of it and
began to pull down with all his might, shaking the rowboat enough to throw off
the spear thrower's aim. The pirate began stabbing down into the water,
and Alex was forced to swim for shore and rejoin the others. The boat
reached the shore just as Alex did, and he seemed prepared to stay and fight to
guard the others' retreat. Retreat was just what Perry kept doing, but Abe
and Vlad -- sensing Alex's intended sacrifice --
turned around and started to come back. Just then, a pirate from the boat
hurled a hand axe at Vlad and hit. Vlad, for the first time in his life, was seriously
injured. Vlad and Abe both decided again to
flee, and Alex's bravery failed him too. With hurled weapons falling
behind them, they fled eastward down the beach until they knew they weren't
being followed anymore.
They rested just long enough to catch their breaths, and then
continued on, hoping to return to Prymp as soon as
possible. Along the way, they found two
Readying 14th
Early that morning, the Band of the Grinning Gargoyle made it
back into Prymp. They entered the already-busy
New Market. In fact, it was so busy that they failed to spot Barada and Hristo as those two
friends set out to rejoin the others at Skull Keep.
Perry was the first to sneak off. Having escaped from the
Keep relatively unscathed, he was ready to look into finding the mysterious
Flying Turtle Guild that may have been responsible for his father's
disappearance. Having been out of town for awhile, it was time to make new
contacts, and that meant slinking off into the dangerous Dock District.
For Abraham, his top priority was finding an armorer. He
had nearly drowned during the escape carrying a second suit of chainmail armor on his back, and he was determined to get a
good price for it! He looked around the New Market to see if an armorer has set up shop there. Instead, he found some
drunken sailors who mistook Abe for one of them. When he tried to ignore them,
they just followed him around yelling at him to get his attention. Abe
decided that it was worth it to pay the toll to enter the
Alex and Vlad had already been stopped
at the gate to the
Alexander found his way to Prymp Keep,
and inquired as to where he could find his father, Philip Petrok. Alex
found Philip, Captain of the Guard and High Templar of Zilchus,
up on one of the towers, gazing down over the town. Alex reported
everything he had seen, fought, and killed to his father, bragging that he had
helped kill forty bandits with just a small group of men. Philip was
shocked at the numbers of the brigands, but was also beaming with pride that
his son had been so successful. Philp asked his
son to take a moment and admire the view of the town below, and reminded Alex
that it was his duty to protect Prymp from any
dangers. To this task Alex readily reaffirmed himself. Alex told his
father what he knew of the pirates connected with the brigands, and Philip
promised to have the watch scour the Dock District for any trace of them.
Vlad reported to the Guard's Garrison, and was
ushered in to see Adam Belkos, Castellan of the
Garrison. Senator Gart Barlos
had left a few days earlier with Sir Taulis of Balay on business to see the Governor at Vecheld Gesto. Thus, Vlad was left to give his report to the Castellan. Belkos admitted to having only some knowledge of Vlad's original mission -- which was to keep an eye on
Abraham the Radiant and see if the Pelorite was a
rabble-rouser or a troublemaker. However, as Vlad
began his report, Belkos took much more of an
interest in learning of this brigand activity so close to town. He ordered
Vlad to make a detailed report of everything that
went on at Skull Keep for Barlos to read upon
returning.
Vlad asked to see the prisoners that were brought
back from Skull Keep by Barada and Hristo. Only three prisoners had been brought into the
Garrison, and only just that morning (confirming the party's theory that the
Perry chose a particularly seedy street in the Dock District to
head down. There was a hostel at the end of it which Perry had not been to
in several years. However, the hostel was no longer as hostile as Perry
remembered it, and he was nearly tripped over by a friend just as he was
entering. Taver Royskov
was a mercenary soldier -- often unemployed but never out of money -- of
Perry's acquaintance. Taver was on his way out
of the hostel trying to escape the attention of Ferenc
-- a half-orc ddead-beat who had annoyed Perry on many
an occasion. Ferenc was in the middle of his
usual scheme, hitting up ex-friends for money, and was all too glad to see
Perry. Taver was also delighted to see Perry,
and made use of the opportunity to slip away while Ferenc
was distracted.
Ferenc shared with Hristo
that he had a new scheme. Many people around town had heard about, and
were taking an interest in the mysterious Flying Turtle Guild. Ferenc would pretend to have information about them,
exchange fabricated information for money upfront, and then leave
quickly. Perry doubted the wisdom of this scheme, but encouraged Ferenc to go with it, and inquired as to who had been
asking about the guild, and how Ferenc had first
heard about them. Ferenc became convinced that
Perry knew something about the guild, and tried to pump the hobniz
for information. Perry promised to keep in touch, and sent Ferenc on his way. Perry had plans for the rest of the
afternoon that involved finding a human lady of ill repute who liked her men
short...
Abe spent some time chatting with the armorer. Corvek was a coldly polite man who took his time examining
the armor. Corvek was interested in trading for
the armor, or else Abe would have to wait until the next day for Corvek to have the coinage the armor was worth. Abe
settled for upgrading to a brand new suit of chainmail
and 12 gold Ivids in exchange for the two used and
battered suits. The new suit was a little tight in the chest, which Corvek promised to alter by adding some links to the
hauberk by the next day.
Having finished his shopping, Abe returned to his shrine to find
it still in order. He deposited his adventuring gear in his private room,
and knelt to pray. He had missed Godsday
services, and had that for which to pray for forgiveness, as well as a prayer
of thanks for his successful first foray as an adventurer. Abe's
meditations were later interrupted by Ned Flandev --
carpenter and devout Pelorite. Ned was pleased
to see his spiritual leader back, assured him that Cassandra Milnov had done an excellent job of leading the Godsday sermon in his absence, and invited Abe out for a
drink at the tavern of his choice. Abe, naturally enough, chose the Grinning
Gargoyle Tavern, and bore out Flandev's company until
suppertime, when he anticipated his fellow adventurers would join him.
Alex next went to report to the chapel of Zilchus
and Priest Leris Borgev, to
whom the templars answered. However, Borgev was on an errand for the curate, and Alex had an
audience with Recar Adderal,
the head of the church. Adderal listened closely
to everything Alex had to tell him about Skull Keep, though little of it was
news to him, having heard it from the noniz Hristo just the other day. Adderal
had no knowledge of where Hristo and Barada went after their audience with him. Although
concerned with the brigand menace, Adderal was
content to wait and see how the watch and the guard handled the
problem. Alex, though, was becoming increasingly worried about Barada and Hristo's whereabouts,
and was relieved to hear that Alex would be given no new duties for a few days'
time as reward for his deeds.. Alex resolved to
look for his missing friends. He bade the curate farewell, and returned to
Prymp Keep. However, the watchmen there who had
spoken to Barada and Hristo
also had no knowledge as to where the adventurers had gone to after leaving the
castle gates.
The Kostitov House was the finest
dwelling in Prymp west of Prymp
Keep. There, Vlad was greeted by his sister-in-law,
Gabrielle, who was watching the three youngest Kostitov's
while everyone else in the family was out. Vlad
sympathized with her, as he knew what a handful Kolos,
Katrina, and Leib -- all between the ages of 4 and 11
-- could be. However, having been away foor a few days, he was glad to hear
their racket again. Gabrielle promised to keep the children away, but
failed quickly as they periodically dropped in to disturb him as he wrote his
report up in his room. Nevertheless, he still managed to finish his report
and returned to the Garrison with it before dinner.
At the Grinning Gargoyle Tavern, Abe had been joined by an
unpleasant-looking man with a twisted lip who identified himself as Ellisov. Ellisov understood
from the tavernkeeper that Abe was an adventurer, and
Ellisov was looking to be hired by one. He had
been by trade a professional shield bearer, and had worked until recently in
the Provincial army of the Herzog protecting a spellcaster. Now
freelance, he wished to hire himself out to another one. Abe explained
that the party would all be there for dinner, and Ellisov
could talk to them as a group then. To this Ellisov
agreed, and walked off.
And eventually Abe was joined by Alex and Vlad. They
settled into a good meal of ale and fish, and were joined by Perry about
halfway through. Perry was in good spirits after an invigorating
afternoon, and in fact everyone felt they had made good use of their time
alone. Now, however, was the time for planning. Everyone
agreed that Barada and Hristo
needed to be found, but no plan for finding them was forthcoming. Then Ellisov approached the table and introduced himself. Vlad coldly asked him to leave. He had lost a father
and a brother in the Herzog's service, and he would work with no one who served
in the Provincial army.
Now Vlad was in a foul mood, and Perry
was grumpy as he had to wait too long for service, he felt. The next topic
of discussion was whether to return to Prymp
Keep. Perry was flatly against this, as he had been injured while there
several times and did not enjoy it. Again, no definite plan of action
could be reached. While discussing this, Jerwon Charik -- the Bailiff of the Watch -- came in to dine alone
in his favorite tavern. Alex went over to join him, but Perry felt
uncomfortable in the presence of authority and soon slunk off. The meeting
of the Band of the Grinning Gargoyle was adjourned.
On his way back to the hostel, Perry saw a dwarf and a human
approach him on the street. Not wanting to deal with anyone else that day,
Perry ducked down a side street and nimbly evaded them.
AN INTRODUCTION TO PRYMP
PRYMP, free town of
Location: Eastern
Founded: -45 CY (declares independence in 451 CY)
Currency: As per
Population: 5,250 (80% human, 10% half-orc,
5% dwarven, 5% other)
General Alignment: Lawful Neutral/Neutral Good
Heraldic Device: Blue and yellow vertical stripes.
Recognized Religions: Celestian,
Hextor, Pelor (shrines); Fharlanghn, Pholtus, Vergadain, Zilchus (chapels).
Main Trade Goods: Wheat, oats, barley, grapes, fruits,
roses, cotton, ironware, silverware, eggs.
Recent History: The free town of
Several other factors have lead to unrest in town. One has
been the slowly increasing number of orcs and half-orcs in the region. Although this trend has been going
on for the last ten years, most people are suspicious of orcs
as "Chelor's spies." The half-orcs claim economic hardship in the south has driven them
north, while the orcs just skulk quietly in the poor
sections of Prymp.
Another, more grave concern is that the
Finally, the erection of a shrine to Hextor
within the town, completed two years ago, was seen by many as the final insult
from the
Laws: Only citizens are protected by law, and anyone can be
a citizen if they can pay taxes. Visitors can pay a citizen tax of 4 sp per
year to gain this status. Taxes can be paid with equivalent
goods. Other yearly taxes likely to affect PCs include an armor tax (4-16
sp, by armor type) and a horse tax (4 sp). Permanent residents pay a house
tax of 1 gp. Taxpayers receive a parchment with
an official wax seal. Forging this seal is punishable by banishment.
The Watch has the right to detain anyone without evidence for 12
hours before turning them over to the Guard. The Guard can convict, but a
sergeant or higher must judge a lower class citizen,
and a sentinel or higher must judge a middle class citizen. Upper class
prisoners are delivered to Governor Vecheld at Vecheld Gesto. Theft and
killing non-citizens usually means 1-4 days in the stocks. Robbery and
killing lower class citizens lead to heavy fines or jail time. Killing
middle class citizens leads to banishment, or death if
the victim was upper class. Magic is tolerated, but illusions and
enchantments are discouraged. Impersonating an official means banishment,
and enchanting one means death.
Because the New City Palisade was never completed, there is no
toll for entering that part of town. However, guards posted at the gates
to the
FLASHBACK: THE FIRST PLAYING SESSION
Cast:
Barada,
Neutral male Flannish human mercenary (1st level
Fighter).
Hristo,
Neutral Good male Wesevud ("Central") noniz ex-town watchman and rogue (1st level Fighter/1st
level Thief).
Vlad Kostintov, Lawful
Good male Oerdian human illusionist in service
to the guard (1st level Illusionist).
Abraham the Radiant, Neutral Good male Oerdian human acolyte of Pelor
(1st level Cleric).
Setting: Various locales in the free town of
Readying 8, 581 CY.
Abraham the Radiant was awakened in the early morning by
Cassandra Milnov, traveling priestess of Pelor. She had returned to Prymp
from her missionary work along the Coast, and Abe graciously gave up her old
room at the shrine for the night. After his morning prayer, Abe ran into
Ned Flandev, a carpenter and devout follower of Pelor, and talked Ned into buying him breakfast.
Hristo got up, went to a nearby tavern for
breakfast, and returned to his room to find Gianni Long waiting
outside. Gianni, a fellow thief, told Hristo of
a contact he had made last night who might be able to hook them up with a
thieves' guild. Hristo wished him luck, and took
care of his laundry.
Barada rose early to pursue his daily
regiment of exercise. Passing by the Old Market, Barada
encountered the merchant Devid the Younger. Devid had an offer for the Flannish
mercenary, wanting him to attend a business meeting that evening. Barada bargained up to 2 sp in exchange for his
"intimidation factor."
Vladamir Kostintov
went to the Garrison to join up with his morning patrol. He encountered
nothing more unusual than a puppet show in the Old Market.
Hristo was trying to bargain with a
washerwoman around noon, when he saw a bard and his entourage strolled
past. The bard happened to be on his way to the Tavern of the Grinning
Gargoyle, which Abe was just leaving after hearing the carpenter's problems all
morning. The two bumped into each other, and the half-elven
bard introduced himself as Heironymous Nodd, and though he had come to speak to his friend the tavernkeeper, he invited Abe to come back inside with
him. Abe quickly brought up the fact that he wished to become an
adventurer, and Nodd asked him if he had ever heard
of Skull Keep.
Hristo had parted with his laundry, and
decided to see where the bard went. He wandered into the Grinning
Gargoyle, and found the bard describing an ancient stronghold that had belonged
to the wizard Zenopus. Abe mistook Hristo for another gnome he knew, and invited him over to
listen. The bard spoke of an explosion that had destroyed most of the keep
long ago, and that all that remains now is a lone tower and some underground
levels. Just then, Vlad and some guardsmen who
were off duty entered. Abe knew Vlad because
Cassandra was Vlad's sister, so Vlad
too was invited over to hear this tale. The keep was momentarily forgotten
as Vlad voiced concern that his sister had returned
to Prymp and not visited her family yet.
Barada decided to check out the location for Devid's business meeting early, and the location happened
to be the Grinning Gargoyle Tavern. While he circled around the back, Heironymous Nodd explained how he
was once an adventurer, and had fought giant rats and spiders on two
underground levels below the ruins of Skull Keep.
Barada entered the tavern just as the bard
was finishing his tale. Abe, Hritso, and Vlad agreed that they were interested in exploring this
Keep, but they wanted a strong fighter with them. Everyone recognized Barada as the only Flannish
mercenary in town. They asked him if he would come for equal shares, and
he was glad to do so. Before leaving, Nodd
suggested they talk to the Laird of Prymp, Seron Tapinov, for more
information on Skull Keep, since Tapinov had been the
magic-user in Nodd's party back then.
Hristo and Abe went to see the Laird at the
Town Hall, but were only given an audience with the Laird's advisor, Nemis Coraz. After hearing
them recount the bard's tale, he told them to return the following afternoon to
see the Laird.
CLOSING COMMENTS
And that's it for this time around! Merry Christmas,
everybody!!