Act 1 - Hollow's Last Hope

The Age of Magic is ended, Bhall, the Goddess of Fire, has succumbed to the whispers of Agares and fallen into Hell. Her worshipers and creations driven mad, and fire, which has been a powerful ally to man, has turned against him. Each good god was charged with the opposition of an evil god. Bhall was responsible for balancing Mulcarn, the God of Winter. Finding himself unopposed Mulcarn has broken The Compact and moved into Creation.

Creation was on the verge of another open war between the gods, that which they had outlawed with The Compact. To keep that from happening a deal was struck and the gods agreed that one god would enter Creation to challenge Mulcarn. That was Sucellus, the God of Nature. The two gods battled across the face of Creation, entire civilizations still recovering from the Burning Skies that marked the fall of Bhall were destroyed by their power. In the end Sucellus was killed and Mulcarn remained.

The Eternal Winter has begun...
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Re: Blackscour Taint Scoured Clean From Falcons Hollow

Post by Trogdor » Tue Sep 21, 2010 12:28 am

Celevan looks over at the money. "Where'd that come from?" he asks with a raised eyebrow. "If it's from Kreed or the Consortium, I'll gladly take it. But I don't want to profit on the backs of the townsfolk." As the water comes to a boil he carefully moves the kettle away from the fire and puts the tea in to steep. Then he takes a mug from the counter and spying a container of honey ventures a guess at how Laurel prefers her tea.

"I'm using the tea from the blue-speckled jar," he says in an aside to Laurel. "Would you like a spoonful of honey in it?"

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Re: Blackscour Taint Scoured Clean From Falcons Hollow

Post by Muskrat » Tue Sep 21, 2010 2:07 am

Dreams looks at the money and says, "Thank you, Sheriff--this is very generous of you. But do not give this if you can't afford it."

To the others, she says, "We will have to visit this Kreed fellow, but I insist we stop off and see Vren's siblings first, both to tell them the sad news and because, whatever it is Kreed wishes to speak to us about, seems to concern them." She frowns. She wants to ask Celevan about Kreed again, but decides not to in front of outsiders to the party, even trusted ones such as Laurel and Deldrin. If they don't hear their conversation, they don't have to deny having heard it.

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Re: Blackscour Taint Scoured Clean From Falcons Hollow

Post by Vardaen » Tue Sep 21, 2010 5:02 pm

The Sheriff just hands the coins over. "The people of Falcon's Hollow have been paying for service for a cure since it started. Take it, you are the ones that did all the leg work after all." He glances at the now sleeping Laurel. "Besides its from her, not me." He makes sure you take it, threatening with his ax haft in a joking manner if Celevan or anyone else resists his efforts any more (but wouldn't actually hit you).

Deldrin rubs his face once, "I think its time we all move on." Then he turns to Dreams, "Right, those kids of yours went off to Elara's Halfway House, two days ago now. They've come back I take it? Cause that's a long walk, about 8 miles or so, at this hour. Anyhow, I better head out. Same with the rest of you, Laurel could use the sleep.

Laurel never replies to Celevan about the tea, as she's fast asleep snuggled up in the chair with her blanket and a content look on her slender face.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Re: Blackscour Taint Scoured Clean From Falcons Hollow

Post by Muskrat » Tue Sep 21, 2010 5:51 pm

Dreams looks at the others. "The Sheriff's right. We should move on. We need to reach those kids before the rumor mill does and they learn from someone else of Vren's death. Especially if it's someone with a cruel sense of humor like Payday. Celevan, can you lead us to Elara's House?"

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Re: Blackscour Taint Scoured Clean From Falcons Hollow

Post by Trogdor » Tue Sep 21, 2010 7:52 pm

"Well thanks, Del," Celevan says, patting the sheriff on the shoulder. "And I'll thank Laurel once she's awake." As Del asks about the kids, the summoner shakes his head. "I hope so," he replies. "Kreed wants to see us right away about them. I'll let you know if there's any trouble."

When Deldrin has left, he moves the group away from Laurel and talks to them in a hushed tone. And since the tea is already brewed, and won't be much good come morning, he pours a mug for himself, and any of the others who want some.

"I'm afraid we have to go see Kreed first," he says. "And we need to go to see him as soon as we leave here - no detours. He may well have the house being watched. But before we go, I wanted to make sure that you all know who Thuldrin Kreed is and what he can do in this town."

"Like the sheriff said, Payday is a toad, a bully, and a coward. Stand up to him and like as not he'll back down. And when push comes to shove, he's someone we could take on. Kreed is not like that at all. I can't stress that to you enough. You must be careful and respectful when talking to him."

"This is a company town, as you know. The Lumber Consortium controls most everything. And for all intents and purposes, Kreed is the Lumber Consortium. He's the most powerful person in town by far. And he could have you or me killed with little in the way of consequences. He literally has the power of life and death over most of the people in town. And he's not afraid to use that power."

"If Kreed wanted to, he could kill Sheriff Deldrin in the street at high noon and get away with it. And he'd probably do it in a heartbeat if he thought it would be to his advantage. But he understands that a live sheriff is better than a dead martyr, so he lets Del continue as sheriff. But while Payday has to deal with the sheriff, Kreed has decided to do so. And don't think Del doesn't know that. He's as careful as anyone not to cross Kreed."

"But Kreed likes to think of himself as the protector of this town, it's benevolent leader. He's helped out the widows of lumber men who died in accidents, and things like that. He might be genuinely appreciative of the work we did in stopping the plague. He may even wish to thank us. And I can't emphasize this enough, you must be respectful to him. No snide comments. No hidden accusations. Be gracious with him and like as not he'll be gracious back. He doesn't want to appear as a tyrant, though he'll fill that role if he feels he has no other choice."

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Re: Blackscour Taint Scoured Clean From Falcons Hollow

Post by Vardaen » Tue Sep 21, 2010 9:38 pm

Torrak snorts, "I don't bow to anyman." The dwarf looks over at his brother and without the cleric saying Torrak recomments. "Alright. I'll behave myself. If this is the man in charge, let's go talk to him.' He pats Dreams on the arm, "He did mention the kids, better find out what he wants with them before we go hiking all the way to that orphanage place anyhow."
This chapter is at an end, but you guys are still in the thick of it so I'm not ending it. You've leveled up to 3rd (see the OOC threads) so go ahead and level up ASAP. I'll likely just start Chapter 2 once you leave Laurel's and head to speak to THULDRIN KREED.

I'm also lookign for someone, maybe Bren, to play Torrak.
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J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Re: Blackscour Taint Scoured Clean From Falcons Hollow

Post by Muskrat » Tue Sep 21, 2010 11:17 pm

Dreams frowns at what Celevan says. Her exchange with Torrak earlier has got her thinking. "I will do as you ask and be respectful to Kreed. Perhaps among all his greed for power, there is some good buried in him, if he likes to be seen as protector of this town and does the occasional good deed. But the larger situation worries me. As the winter grows worse, people will grow more desperate and more likely to fall into the hands of men like Kreed, or perhaps those who are even worse and have no desire to maintain the appearance of a benign protector." She sighs. "I'm not sure what we could do, but it would be good if we could come up with some plan to create a refuge for people fleeing the Winter. The Elohim elders might support it and give us a little help if we point out to them that otherwise they may be flooded with Thelonite, human and dwarven refugees. I know there are plenty of things we need to do here immediately--and I still want to look into who killed those piskies--but someone needs to take a long view and I fear no one else is. And, from all the history I have read, failure to take the long view usually leads to disaster."

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Re: Blackscour Taint Scoured Clean From Falcons Hollow

Post by Grimbold » Wed Sep 22, 2010 2:10 pm

Torias frowns at Celevan's description of the man. "I do not like that one, I don't, yer right, brother. But we must be diplomatic. So keep quiet, Torrak. Let us go now and talk to the person."
I am almost done levelling up - took dodge as my feat, if anyone has a better suggestion I will be glad to hear it. And I do think we spell users might talk about our 0-lvl spells, we do not need too many doubled spells there, I think. Torias has read and detect magic, light and guidance. Any opinions on that?

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Re: Blackscour Taint Scoured Clean From Falcons Hollow

Post by Vardaen » Wed Sep 22, 2010 10:02 pm

Torrak nods to hsi brother. "I'll bite my tongue. I am ready if the rest of you are, Nessa and the others shouldn't wait any longer." The dwarf looks over at Syrronas to see if the rather silent Thelonite has anything to add before you leave.
Okay waiting on Wayloss, hope he doesn't get 3 Day Ruled. If you have more conversations before leaving do it. I'll likely start the next chapter tomorrow beginging with your trip to see Kreed.

Trog opened up an ooc chat about 0th level spells, and if you want to talk feats or tactics for level up go ahead in the OOC.
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Re: Blackscour Taint Scoured Clean From Falcons Hollow

Post by Trogdor » Wed Sep 22, 2010 10:08 pm

As they head out of Laurel's shop to see Kreed, Celevan finds Suletor and scratches him behind the ears. "We don't want to spook Kreed," he says to the eidolon. Best if you go home and have a rest now. I'll call you when it's all over." He steps back and smiles at his companion. A moment later, that now-familiar gray mist begins swirling around Suli, and in the blink of an eye, he disappears.
Send Suli back to the Astral. We don't want Kreed getting nervous.

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