Visions
Subject Visions
OODM: I have been trying to write this all morning and these damn people from work keep bugging me.
Fal's sleep is troubled. Then he wakes. But is he? He is in a room. There are nine chairs in a circle almost 20 feet across. He sees Rochelle seated with Harp on her right and Ran on her left. The halfling is between him and Harp, with Cai to his right. Kal, Bel and Salix fill up the chairs on the other side. The chair feels real; its hardness pressing into his back, but it must be something else, since he has no recollections of coming to this room.
A figure is now standing in the middle of the room. How did it get there? Fal looks around the room and there are no doors, no windows. It was just there. The figure, dressed in long, dark robes is slowly turning, looking at each member of the party in turn. It takes its time, looking at each member of the party. When the figure gets to Fal all he can see under the cowl of the robes is two bright eyes. How can he see just the eyes? There aren't any torches in the room. In fact there aren't any sources of light that he can see. But he can still see everything clearly. Well most every thing. The walls seem a bit fuzzy.
The figure continues inspecting the people seated in the chairs. Fal notes that none of them are tied or chained, but none of them move. He tries to move and can not. They all look like they are awake, just as he is. What is this place? What is this strangeness? Fal hears a voice ring out, but it takes him a second to realize that he did not really hear it, not with his ears. The voice was in his head. A deep ringing voice, loud enough to hurt, painful in its contempt, rings in his mind's ear. ?So these are the pathetic fools who killed Dargrak??
?My Lady Rochelle? the figure says, ?We meet at last. I would not have thought Angelwing would have had to smarts to figure out what I was up to.? With that he throws back his hood and Fal can see who is speaking. It is a man, tall, broad in the chest, coal black hair. He continues to turn slowly as he talks. ?I don't know where your intended found this rabble, but they have put me out greatly. I would have thought the ? orc would have been more formidable. Well, no great loss. This gambit was just a small move in a larger game. I might just test these one more time, just to get an idea of the challenge they will present to me. My prophecy does not speak of them and so they are unknown.?
As he speaks and turns, Fal notices that there is a symbol on the chest of the robes. It is a fist with 8 arrows in it. The figure turns again, looking intently at each member. ?I know you? he says to Ran, ?or at least I think I know your family. You have that same arrogant look that your father has. You must be Corron's whelp. Does he still think your mother killed herself on her own? Poor deluded fool.? He looks at Surin and Fal with a dismissive glance. His gaze turns to Cai and Kal. ?Worthless tree huggers. Stay out of matters that do not concern you or my Lord will teach you manners.?
He dismisses Bel as well but stops at Salix. ?Have the druids taken sides in this as well? Warn your master that I will burn his forest to the ground if he opposes me.? Lastly the man turns to Harp. ?What are you doing serving such as these? They do not understand you? They have nothing but contempt and hatred for your kind. In the service of my Master your natural instincts will be rewarded. This upon this and the time will come when you can choose.?
With that he turns back to Rochelle. ?Well my Lady, my best wishes on your impending nuptials. Your happiness will be short lived.? And the man is gone.
It is morning. Every one slowly gets up and looks around. They are in the field where they spent the night. The fire has burnt out.
OODM: Any comments
From: Mark
Subject Visions
As the party wakes, they start talking about how they slept. Everyone is sure that they were the only one to have the dream. Eventually Surin works up to asking Salix about dreams. "Why do you want to know" Salix responds? "Well, you see I sorta hada dream last night and it worries me" Suring tells him. "What type of dream?" Salix asks. When Surin tells him about his dream, Salix is amazed. It is almost identical to his own dream.
Salix calls the party together and verifies. Every one, including Rochelle, had exactly the same dream.
From: Karl
Subject Visions
Did we all have this vision? OR just Fal?
From: Mark
Subject Visions
All did.
From: Kevin
Subject Visions
Harp is staggered by the vision. He had been singled out by a follower of Hextor, the sworn enemy of his god. How did this person know him? He was a lowly member of the order, little more than a foot soldier amongst great paladins and priests. What did this figure mean that a time would come when Harp could choose? Choose what? Taking the path of evil? No, he would never do that. He owed too much to the Order to ever contemplate such a thing.
If during discussions it becomes appropriate, Harp will relate what he know of Hextor and the relationship between Heironious, Hextor and the Order.
OOC: Mark, does anyone have any idea how far it is to Camlost, and hence to a safe way back to Shon?
From: Mark
SubjectVisons
Both rangers and Salix have a rough idea of how far they are from Camlost and how long it will take them to get back to Schon. I will work on the details tonight.
From: Josh
Subject Visions
OOC: Does Kal recognize the sign of Hextor? (He's got 4 ranks in Knowledge Religion).
From: Mark
Subject Hextor
Yes DC10, 9+4=13, success.
OODM: Do you know anything about Hextor or do you need me to fill you in?
From: Josh
Subject Hextor
OOC: All I know about Hextor comes from the paragraph description on pg 107 in the PHB. Is there anything else Kal knows?
From: Mark
Subject Hextor
No, at the DC I set you would know just the basics.
From: Kevin
Subject Hextor
OOC: If Kal does not know, is it reasonable to assume that Harp would have at least a passing knowledge of the relationship between Heironious and Hextor? He may not have any ranks in Knowledge, but he is a member of an Order devoted to Heironious, even though Harp is just a lowly peon.
From: Mark
Subject Hextor
Harp know about as much as anyone, however, it is still just the basics. No one in the party knows any of the major leaders of the followers of Hextor. No one knows about the major rituals of the followers of Hextor, etc.
They know the basic tennents. Kal's knowing is a bit odd for him, since he is an elf and usually does not pay attention to the human gods. If he had not known, Harp would, if he felt like it, fill him in.
From: Randy
Subject Gods
OOC: Mark, can you maybe just give us a basic rundown of what we would know about Hextor? I don't have access to a players handbook or anything so I don't really know anything about him (or Heironious for that matter and Ran should know quite a bit about him).
From: Randy
Subject Visions
Ran is troubled by the dream. It was much too real to have no meaning.
'What could this man know of his mother. And if he had something to do with her death then how can I continue to blame my father.'
Ran broods silently, thinking on all the years that he has blamed his father for his mothers death. He had kept her away from her homeland and her family, stifling her. But, Ran allows a glimmer of hope, what if he had been trying to protect her. What if he knew of a danger to her and was hoping that by being with her he could stop any threat to her. He would have thought that any threat would be physical, not realizing the emotional damage he was doing to her. Whatever the case, if there is truth in this dream, then this man of Hextor had something to do with the death of his mother. And he would avenge her death.
Ran speaks to no one about his dream until it is discovered that they all had the same. Surely if all of them had the same dream then it was true and the man was communicating to them through it.
Ran calls the group to attention and speaks. "We have all had a strange dream filled with evil portents. There is still danger ahead of us. The man spoke of testing us once more. I fear that this will occur soon. Lady Rochelle is not yet safely in the protection of Heronin and therefore our job is not done. We must make haste to bring her to safety but let us not be reckless. Harp, have your injuries yet recovered? If not, please ask the blessing of your god to heal you. If there are others who require healing, let them come forward now. We will waste no more time covering our tracks as our whereabouts are already known. Once we are packed up, we will ride hard to Camlost. We will only stop if absolutely necessary."
Once the party starts packing up camp, Ran will approach Salix and ask him what he knows of dreams.
From: Mark
Subject Gods
I will do that tonight after my son's concert.
From: Karl
Subject Spells
Salix rises, but before he can begin his morning meditation he is surprised to learn they all had the same vision. This made it all the more important he complete the task that first came to his mind upon waking. He excuses himself from the group and begins his Morning meditation, though to any observer he seems less joyful and more troubled and determined as he faces the East with outspread arms, head bowed rather than thrown back to receive the sunlight. (updated prayer list). When he finishes, it is abrupt and he wordlessly goes to his pack and removes a bit of parchment and something to write with. He records every detail he can remember about the vision on the tiny bit of parchment. Anyone looking over his shoulder would wonder what he was up to as the markings would be unreadable to them even if they weren't written so very tiny.
After several minutes of furious scribbling, Salix rolls the parchment into a tiny tube. Holding the tube in his hand, he walks to where the others are having breakfast and breaks a small piece of bread from the loaf. He then walks to the far edge of the camp and kneels facing the trees. Closing his eyes, he begins whistling a soft, but oddly penetrating warble. After a minute or so of this a tiny bird appears, flitting from tree limb to tree limb, and finally, incredibly, it lands on the ground inches from Salix's knees.
Opening his eyes, Salix ties the parchment tube to the bird's leg with a bit of string he pulled from the hem of his tunic. He then places two fingers gently on the bird's head and continues a soothing whistle while keeping in his mind the location of a small druid outpost about 3 days birdflight from them. After a minute or so of this, he opens his eyes, whistles once sharply and the little bird takes flight towards the Greenwood forest and (hopefully) the small outpost there.
All this completed, he returns to the group.
From: Mark
Subject Gods
Salix's total was about the same 13+2=15.
Between Ran and Harp, they will be able to fill in the rest of the party on the basics of Hextor. I just do not have my Dietys book with me. I will send it out tonight.
From: Karl
Subject Note
(OOC - Just to clarify, Mark, Salix detailed the entire vision in the note, including the basics of the task he was currently performing for Quarion and that he should be back in Schon soon. He also wrote on the outside of the scroll that it was private information to be relayed to Stormfather Acer of the Druids of the Great North Woods as quickly as possible. The note was written in Druidic.)
From: Derrell
Subject Visions
Fal is still in a daze as lea leaves his tent. He wonders if the others had the same dream. Finally, he speaks. " I just had the strangest dream."
From: Kevin
Subject Vision
Harp will respond to Ran's question in the affirmative and will begin to break camp in order to get moving as quickly as possible. He will "help" the others get moving as swiftly as possible since he is some familiarity with the evil who is behind the message they all recieved.
From: Mark
Subject Gods
Ok here is the basic info that Harp and Kal would be able to tell the group about these two.
Heironeous is the god of valor. In game terms he is LG. He promotes justice, chivalry and honor. His favored weapon is the longsword. Hextor is his half brother.
Hextor is the god of tyranny. In game terms he is LE. His favored weapon is the flail. He sends his followers to commit evil and their special purpose is to overthrow the followers of Heironeous wherever they are found.
From: Karl
Subject Dreams
"What do I know of dreams?" Salix repeats. "Well, to the point I know that this was no dream. That was a warning."
From: Jake
Subject Spell
Is there something about the nature of the spell Salix cast that guarantees that the message will be delivered?
From: Mark
Subject Spell
No