Strange Occurances at Rabbit Hat Farm

1621, Storm Season 48, Illusion Week, Wildday

torm Season is near its end.  So is the year 1621.  The Sacred Time approaches.  Our adventurers return to the village of Rabbit Hat Farm.  This village is built around an old Sun Dome temple, and counts 60 souls.  An attack seems to have taken place, as their latest adventure testifies. The youths rescues on the Zola Fel bank near Rabbit farm having been escorted to the Chalana Arroy temple, our friends once more prepare to leave for Corflu.  Daerius and Giomanach have returned, and are ready to join the party, so on the morning of the 48th day of the Storm Season, in particularly vile weather, the party find a boatsman crazy enough to bring them to Corflu for 4 Lunars a head.  After some bargaining they manage to lower the price to 3 Lunars each, still a considerable sum.  Our heroes are sitting on the deck of the Riverboat, covered in furs, in generally good spirits.  They take turns keeping watch, all through the night.  Apart from some Sun Dome patrols they spot, the trip is uneventful, and they arrive near the spot of the fight at noon the next day.

fter a one hour hike, they arrive at the damaged village walls.  In front of the village are several overgrown fields.  A weird state to be in, the fight only took place a few days ago, but every single field is the same.  When they decide to go through the fields rather than along the road, they discover another plant is being grown inside the outer border.  It turns out the Rabbit Hat Farm farmers were growing Hazia.  As they approach town, they spread out, and start investigating the old temple and a granary.  Jaya notices a Broo Totem and approaches, not minding the scarecrow with a huge pumpkin for a head standing in the middle of one of the fallow fields to the left of the village.  She is attacked, but a quick intervention by Raiko and Herculon takes care of the threat.  As the investigation continues, Jaya stumbles upon a bag of jewels, that turn out to be Yelmalio temple jewellery.  In the granary, Raiko discovers a young boy, Jocelyn, who runs away frighted when he sees the party.  In the pursuit, our adventurers discover a funnel shaped hole in the ground, and decide to investigate it more.  They drop down a hole that looks like it was made by a Krarschtkid, and end up in a natural tunnel, following it back towards the village.  They hear water in the distance.

The tunnel leads to a huge natural cave with an underground river running through it.  The cave is dark, hot and moist, and Jaya enters first.  She lights up the cave, and looking up, sees a huge two headed dragon snail on the ceiling heading in her direction.  By the time Daerius and Raiko have advanced, the chaos beast has blocked the entry to the cave, and Herculon, eager for combat, has to wait to advance.  The dragon snail is emitting heat, and burns Jaya and Raiko seriously.  Daerius advances, but one of the heads takes a bite out of his leg.  From behind, Giomanach palsies one of the snail's heads, but this does not stop the heat radiation, and the damage begins to add up.  Then Herculon makes it to the front and cuts of the other head.  This stops the monster, and the party finish it off quickly, thus stopping the heat emission and restoring control.  They survey the damage: three party members seriously wounded.  Herculon has to use all his devoted mana to heal everyone.  The party advance, Jaya spreads more light, and the party notice a cave entrance on the other side of the stream.

They walk though the water, hip deep at most, until Jaya disturbs a gorp lying in hiding underwater.  Raiko is attacked, but manages to use his acrobatics to back-flip out of the way.  Arrows are disintegrated by the gorps acid, and the party changes tactics.  They spread and start luring the monster, meanwhile peppering it with disruptions.  This has some effect, but is still slow, so they spread out even further and start setting up a fire trap.  Meanwhile Raiko has made it to the cave entrance, but upon entering he is attacked by a guardian spirit.  He enters spirit combat, and prevails, and binds the spirit in his dagger.  Jaya used lamp oil to set up a trap, and once the monster is lured into the puddle, they light it, ,burning the monster to death.  A foul smell fills the cave, the party advance into the next tunnel, leading to a five way crossroad.

They decide to recon from the crossroads, and manage to alert two krarschtkids at once.  The choatic maws approach with disturbing speed, but this time the fighters are well positioned and the kids are dispatched without too much trouble.  Meanwhile, Raiko has been looking through the third passage, and finds a dead krarschtkid at the end of it.  The three passages being a dead end, their only option is the fourth tunnel, leading into a large, man-made hall.  In the middle of the hall is a well, next to it a number of crates are stacked, and from their vantage point they notice two other exits.  They carefully enter the empty hall, not noticing any movement, and spread out to check the other exits, the well and the crates.  Jaya tries to pry open the most valuable looking case, and is struggling with the lock, when Polybius appears in a hidden balcony high up against the wall, aims his crossbow, and manages to hit Jaya on the head, but her plate helmet protects her.  He takes another prepared crossbow, fires it at Jaya again, and misses.  Giomanach casts palsy, and Polybius fails to resist, losing control of his leg.  He disappears from sight, and the party decide what to do next.  Herculon takes his grappling hook and tries a few throws before he is lucky enough to have a hold.  He starts climbing up, intending to present the sniper a lesson in decapitation.  However, Polybius commands his familiar Krarschtkid to jump down the hole, and it does, maw wide open to take a good bite out of Herculon.  The berserker has little choice but to let go.  He drops down, unharmed, and the party tries to kill the krarschtkid, but it escapes through a vertical upwards air vent..  Meanwhile, they hear Polybius casting upstairs.  Daerius decides to try and climb up, but fails miserably, holding up everybody, much to the dismay of the others, who protest loudly.  Polybius re-appears, and tries to mark Raiko several times, but Giomanach averts. Raiko then makes it up first and when Polybius sees the Ingilli is going to make it up, he decides to retreat, under cover of his familiar.

With some (a lot of) help from Raiko, Daerius also makes it up the balcony, and the two decide to keep the pressure on Polybius while Herculon climbs up.  Polybius has started casting wrack of chaos on Daerius, and it hurts.  the Krarschtkid then bites Daerius in the head, but his helmet protects him.  By this time, Giomanach also made it up the rope, with some effort, while Jaya is still busy trying to build a stairway out of crates - without much result.  As Polybius casts another wrack at Daerius, the latter evades, only to be covered in krarschtkid pratzim seconds later.  Jaya now has made it up, and the party advance into the sorcerers filthy lair.  Polybius tries to fire off more spells, but keeps getting interrupted, and he decides to shape-change to bat and escape.  However, by this time the party is completely filling up the exit, and Polybius flutters left and right, but does not escape.  A shield bash finishes him off.  The party then loot his lair, and load everything into the crates: grimoires, more temple stuff, poison vials, and a large personal stash of Hazia.

An interrupted trip to Corflu

1621, Storm Season 43, Illusion Week, Freezeday

After rumours from the south that the Lunar council in Corflu is putting pressure on the Ingilli family to lend them the warship in Corflu harbour, Raiko decides to round up his fellows, and book passage on a ship south.  Giomanach is in the Rubble, and Daerius is off on a romantic weekend with Crazy Meg, so Raiko finds two new friends to accompany him: Mycolith and another one.  The riverfolk are very hesitant to make the trip in Dark Season, and they have a lot of trouble finding a shipper who will take them.  In the end they have to accept the steep rates from Antar, a Pavisite with a lot of ambition but no ideas.  They ship south on what seems to be a rather clear day for the season,  but it soon darkens and starts raining, as they head along the Zola Fel.  After a quiet day they make camp on the  shore.  The next day they continue their journey, but at noon, under a steady drizzle, they notice a gang of Broo taking advantage of a group of farmers on the river bank.  Antar the shipper is hesitant to interfere, but Herculon simply throws the Pavisite overboard, and with some trouble, manages to ram the vessel into the muddy river bank.

Our heroes disembark, some with more elegance than others, and charge forward to face the fearsome Broo head on.  The Broo are taken somewhat by surprise, and the ferocity of the attack leaves them very little time to group up, shifting the favor to the party almost immediately.  Some of the Broo are still busy doing unspeakable things to their captives, and their bestial instincts prevail, giving our heroes the opportunity to press the advantage home.  One of the Broo emits an icy cold, no doubt a feature due to his chaotic nature, and some of the adventurers suffer serious wounds from this, but not Herculon, who carries on, in his berserk frenzy, hacking and slaying and almosttaking the head of the first Broo.  Mycolith collapses wounded, but Jaya manages to slay her opponent, a Broo with a piglike demeanor.  Herculon then chops the head of another Broo, a clean cut this time.  The leader of the Broo, still standing, now faces several opponents.  He cannot hope to win this, but the party find out this Broo has a very annoying chaotic ability: his flesh is extremely sticky, and when the Broo is finally slain, he has several weapons glued to it.  The party have to burn the beast to release their weapons.

Within minutes, the Broo are killed, and the few survivors are healed.  Around that time, Antar made it to the shore swimming.  Understandably, the pilot was not pleased at all about having been thrown overboard, but he felt reluctant to take it up with Herculon, who was still recovering from his berserk fury, covered in blood and grasping his great axe with a maniacal grin on his face.

The party decides to return to Pavis to take the survivors back, and Antar is too afraid to object.

Return to the ogre hideout

1621, Dark Season 54, Truth Week, Wildday 

One walktapus, two walktapi - just cut off a piece!

he lucrative encounter with the fake Etyries ogre gang has made the adventurers a wealthy bunch, and they spend several months living the good life, hiring the best trainers in town, and studying and improving.  Daerius and Herculon even manage to fail to show up for the Rain Calling Ceremony, and will have to make amends at a later date for this oversight.  The adventure begins as the party, minus Daerius, who has a job as a bodyguard  for a customer he did not want to disappoint, are wandering through the Farmers Quarter of town.  One of them spots a silhouette keeping an eye on them, and they surround the spotter and find out it is a young street hoodlum, called Hinko.  Unaware of whether this fellow was keeping an eye on them or burglarizing or whatever, they try to find out more about events in New Pavis.  The only information the youg guy reveals, is about a house in the center of New Pavis where rumour says a Chaos presence can be detected.  It quickly becomes apparent that the house that is being talked about it the former ogre hideout, so the rumour might be true as well.  The party learns that the Lunar guard have woodpanelled the house, and they decide to head over to the house and investigate.  As they are checking out the building, they cross a Lunar Guard captain from the Silver Shields, who finds it suspect to see them staking out the closed mansion, but they manage to convince the Lunar they do not mean trouble.

fter pretending to leave they return and break in to the house.  They are confronted with a  putrid smell of decay, and carefully advance further, down to the cellar, where they hear a rumour underground.  They inspect the floor, and find a hidden trapdoor that leads into a stone corridor about 3m high.  Herculon guards their rear as they descend into the hallway below, and they soon discover a fullgrown Walktapus as it charges towards them.  During the ensuing fight, Jaya suffers a grievous wound, as her left arm is practically ripped off, but by a weird stroke of luck none of the arteries is cut.  Raiko then takes the front, only to be badly hurt as well, and if not for the armor the consequences could have been very grave indeed.  It becomes clear that Herculon is required to dispatch the chaotic abomination, so the barbarian descends and confronts the beast.  Now the fight ends rather quickly, as Herculon keeps stabbing the monster in the same location until it drops.

ith the monster dispatched, the party starts investigating the corridor.  They find a hidden compartment beneath the floor, but it seems to be full of ground, with only a minimal storage space.  Either the compartment is unused, or they were unable to discover it's secret.  They do find a small chest with some money and baubles.  One of the jewels bears the mark of Duke Raus of Rone.  Then a weird noise, emanating from the dead walktapus becomes audible.  Only now the chaotic ability of the Walktapus is revealed:  as Herculon heals both Raiko and Jaya with his newly learned Heal Wound, thereby expending his entire devotional mana pool, the beast starts to regenerate, and nothing the party can muster seems to be able to turn this around.  The party decides to take drastical measures, and they put fire to the beast, after covering it with crinkled up linen soaked with lantern oil.  Then they quickly leave the house, considering their mission accomplished.

Ogre Infiltration: finale

The way to Pavis...

 

1621, Fire Season, Harmony Week, Waterday 

After selecting the goods they want to salvage, the party decides to help the three wounded Last Step fyrdmen onto a horse, and the victim is loaded onto the fourth horse.  There is little room for other gear to be taken along, so the party leaves behind the barrels and crates in the cave, and return straight North towards the Pavis road.  Before long, they notice movement underneath the sand, and they see three giant centipedes appear from underneath the sand.  The huge creatures are slow, but still undoubtedly can dish out a lot of damage, so Alwynn starts distributing shield and protection spells.  Giomanach attempts a few palsy spells, but has no chance to break trough the huge animal's endurance defense.  Herculon goes into a heroic frenzy, and starts hacking up the giant creatures.  The party tries to stop two of the slow creatures at once, and so they have to split up.  Raiko gets a serious wound on his leg, but is able to retreat on foot before collapsing into the soft embrace of Alwynn.  Herculon hacks one of the centipedes in two, and Daerius finishes off a second one, while Herculon heads for the third one and dispatches him with two devastating hits in the head.

The party failed to notice the approaching ogres.  Herculon and Daerius sprint forward to allow the ogres as little time as possible to prepare for battle.

The fight barely over, and with everybody focudes on wounded Raiko, the party fails to notice a four horse wagon approaching from the north.  Seeing where they are, the chances are big that these are the ogre warriors, returning from New Pavis or the Rubble.  And considering where the party is, the ogres must have a good hunch what is happening.  All this turns out to be correct.  Herculon, still in his heroic frenzy, cannot be held back, and he charges forward, followed by Daerius.  This leaves the ogres too little time to prepare for the fight, as the pressure in upon them straightaway.  Giomanach manages to palsy a younger female ogre, leaving only three enemies.  A few seconds later Herculon crashes into two Ogre warriors, unable to break through to the headman.  Daerius soon joins him, and the two try to dispatch the ogre warriors quickly, but they turn out tougher than expected.

The headman, rather than join the battle against the two warriors, is able to summon his ancestor spirit, then decides to close the 70 some meters to the wizard and healer, and Alwynn needs to act quickly to heal Raiko so that they have some defense against the charging ogre. Meanwhile Herculon has beheaded one of the ogres with a massive blow, and seriously wounds the second one before his great axe is snatched out of his hands.  It takes a frantic few seconds before the second ogre is dead as well, and the entire party can focus on the headman, who has decided to change strategy and run for it.  Jaya follows him, riding on her zebra, and the headman cannot escape.  The ancestor spirit decides to change strategy and discorporates, trying to capture Jaya.  Jaya has no defense, and is taken over in seconds.  All of this has taken place without the party knowing, and as Jaya returns no-one suspects anything, until Daerius gets hit.  A chaotic fight ensues, with everyone trying to stop Jaya without having to kill her.  It takes an acrobatic roll from Raiko to unsaddle possessed Jaya, and everyone jumps on her in order to stop and subdue her.

The wagon is empty, and the party heads to Last Step to return the wounded family members and deceased.  They are given a heroes welcome, even though there is one dead to grieve about.  The Shaman from Whitefly exorcises the possessing spirit from Jaya, and the party head to New Pavis, to inspect  the ogre house.  The house turns up a lot of sellable items, and the party take their pick and sell off a large quantity of armor and weapons, and find other valuables, including jewellery, herbs, and a document with a seal, asking the reader to give full support to the bearer of said document.  The document is signed by the Etyries High Priest from Furthest.  The party accumulate a large amount of silver, and start looking for possibilities to spend their money.

 

Ogre infiltration

South of Pavis, near Ryan Village...

 

1621, Fire Season, Disorder Week, Wildday

The party approaching the rocky mound

After the initiation of Daerius and Herculon at the Pairing stones, the Orlanthi help them cover the traces and ritually bury the Lunar patrol.  Storm Voice Frekor Firmfarer performs a obfuscation and purification ritual, and with the flames of Humakti blazing high into the Pavis sky, the adventurers and Orlanthi feast and drink and honour the fallen, the storm god and the new initiates.  During the party, Frekor tells the two new initiates about their new mission.  This mission will involve traveling to the Pavis Air Temple and report to High Priest Faltikus.  It is important not to tell Faltikus everything though.  Frekor makes it very clear in which conditions Faltikus has become the new High Priest of the Pavis Air Temple.  Rumour has it Faltikus is a Lunar agent, some call him a Nysalor Illuminate, but one thing is certain, he was appointed to the post by the Lunar government, and his appointment was one condition to avoid total suppression of the Orlanth cult in Pavis (normal Lunar practice). the other being the agreement that the Orlanthi organise the HeroQuest every year to escort rain god Heler to the Plains of Prax.  Frekor than reveals the new initiates what their second mission will be.  Uphold the promise made by Herculon to the Last Step Stead survivors, and track down and destroy the ogres responsible for the hold up and rescue eventual survivors.

7th Day of the Fire Season, 1621

The next morning, the party heads east towards Pavis.  At first it seems like a good idea to follow the river bank all the way downstream to the capital, but the many creeks and streams in the valley make the party lose a lot of time.  In the end, they decide to head for the Pavis road and keep to familiar terrain.  When heading for the road, they run into a lone Aldryami trekking through the chaparral, and Raiko attempts to approach the barkskin, but any attempt to approach is only responded to by arrow fire, and after ducking into cover a few times, Raiko gives up his fraternization attempts.  They put up camp for a totally eventless night, before arriving at the road the next morning and following it in the direction of Pavis.

8th Day of the Fire Season, 1621

After a long walk along the Pavis road, under a relentless summer sun, the party sees the off-white colour of the high walls of the Rubble appear in the distance.  The heat of the afternoon sun makes the sky shimmer, and dust devils are everywhere.  This time they do not head for the tent camp under the Rubble walls, but cross the bridge towards New Pavis.  Since none of them are New Pavis citizens, they have to fill out heaps of paperwork, and Giomanach decides to apply for a weapon permit. Not aided by the Lunar bureaucracy, they finally enter the city walls, and the Orlanthi head to the temple, while Giomanach visits his aunt at the Chalana Arroy temple and Raiko tags along with Jaya into the rubble to visit the Yelorna temple.

The Orlanthi report to Faltikus, who does not seem overly interested, and who's only worry seems to be being singled out as responsible for the death of the Lunars.  He tries to convince Daerius and Herculon to tell him more about what happened, but Herculon's web of lies seems to work, although Faltikus is not completely convinced. After meeting up with their friends again, they notice Giomanach is accompanied by Alwynn, acolyte of Chalana Arroy, who is too worried about Giomanach heading out after a gang of ogres to let him go alone.  Having a good healer along on a dangerous mission has never hurt anyone, so the other party members make nothing of it and make her feel welcome.  They decide to leave the following day at daybreak.

9th Day of the Fire Season, 1621

The next morning the party heads west again, and south at the Last Step stead.  They follow the trail to Whitefly and Ryan, and when passing the source of the stream into the Zola Fel they notice barefoot child  tracks heading out into the desert.  They decide to follow these, considering it weird to find kids' footsteps around here.  Surely, before too long they notice a small group of children keeping an eye on the party.  They attempt to overtake them but the kids disappear, and the party decides to continue walking in the same general direction.  After a weird encounter with an Aldryami, the party sees a rocky mound in the distance, and they notice several holes in the wall of the mound.  They decide to approach carefully.  Four perfectly round cave entrances are visible.  The geometric shape worries the party, and they decide to carefully investigate one of the entrances.  Inside they disturb 2 Krarshtkids, and within seconds they are under attack, with only Herculon's shield preventing some serious damage.  Giomanach's sorcery saves the day here, with two lucky palsies in a row taking out the chaotic monsters.

The howling krarshtkid comes bouncing forward...

Another entrance leads nowhere, but the third leads upwards and there another spawn of Krarsht is hiding.  This time the fight is even shorter, with Palsy once again saving the day, and Giomanach starting to feel very powerful indeed.  Within seconds, the krarshtkid is vanquished, not able to divulge it's destructive power.  Further exploration of the round corridors reveals nothing, and the party decides to make camp in a now empty corridor.  They cast alarm on the entrance, and with a double guard run no risk after the spider fiasco a few days before.  The night passes uneventful, and the next morning the party decides to climb the mound to get a better lookout position.  Arrived at the top of the mound, they stumble onto the ogre camp, seeing it below them through a slit in the cave roof.  They notice a captive in very poor condition, a bunch of kids, and several adults, both male and female, standing around a bonfire.  An area behind the ogres is closed off with wooden panels, and in a corner they notice many crates and barrels.  They try to set up a surprise attack, with little success, and within minutes the fight has broken loose, with Herculon and Daerius in the middle of it, supported by Alwynn's healing and Giomanach's sorcery.  Meanwhile Jaya is still on the lookout outside the cave, pulling some of the attention to her.

The blueish inside of the ogre cave

Giomanach attempts another mass palsy, but the ogres turn out to have some serious resistance to his magic, as well as a means of nullifying it's effect, and Giomanach's feeling of superiority becomes a bit tarnished.  If not for the healer doing an excellent job on Herculon, Daerius, Giomanach and herself alike, the fight could have gone completely differently, with particularly nasty consequences for the party, who would probably be on the next days menu.  The party cannot help noticing the absence of warriors, and realise they have been lucky to find the tribe with minimal protection, even if it was nearly enough to take them out.  They discover a stash of official paperwork, including a rent lease and permits to enter the Rubble and to carry weapons in Pavis, written out to verious Etyries temple members.  Jaya discovers a span of horses, but no wagon.  After the fight, the party collects whatever valuables they can carry, leaving behind the crates and barrels for lack of a means of transportation, and ready themselves for the return to Pavis, in order to investigate further into the ogre activities.

An Orlanthi Initiation

Near Pavis and the Pairing Stones...

 

1621, Fire Season, Disorder Week, Windday

Our gang of travelers has taken residence in Badside. A ramshackle collection of tents and huts, in some cases no more than a few hides roughly sown together. But the one thing that people remember about Badside is the smell. All around Pavis, on a hot day, the smell is sickening. Rotting meat, excrement, barbarians who only bathe when in their homeland, and sweat. Badside is worse. The hides smell, the people smell, the garbage smells, and there's carcasses everywhere, the herd animals shit in the street, and so do the denizens of this lovely settlement.

But you get anonimity. The Lunar guards only occasionally interfere, and never with any enthusiasm. And with one party member a target of the Red Moon, and another a target of a lot of people, it beats the Pavis Inns, where the well organised gangs know everything there is to know about anyone within hours of their arrival. So the story starts in Badside, as Daerius and Herculon are summoned to the pairing stones for their initiation into Orlanth Adventurous.

4th Day of the Fire Season, 1621

Their comrades in arms, Raiko, Giomanach and Jaya, decide to accompany them on the two day trip west. They leave at sunset, before the heat, and follow the Pavis road, at a leisurely pace, a few hundred yards behind a Etyries trader caravan. After a few hours walk they see some people on the road, apparently from the nearby Last Step Stead. They report having been attacked by a gang of people, and the four cottars who went after them have not yet returned. When invited inside for lunch, our heroes find the lady of the stead in tears. Although they are expected at the Pairing stones, they decide to go and look for the disappeared fyrdmen, mainly because Herculon thinks it is the right thing to do for a Heortlander.

They quickly discover the attackers masquerade as Etyries traders, travel with a four horse wagon, and they manage to track the trail in Northern direction.  During their advance up north, they notice a Smilodon circling them, looking for an easy kill.  When the beast's patience runs out and it decides to try and go for a quick kill, Giomanach stops it with a succesfull palsy.  Hardly disturbed the party advances, and stumbles upon a very basic tent camp, littered with body parts and blood.  Whatever took place here, it can hardlly have been pleasant for the one who lost all the fingers.  The trail now heads south west, and the party decides to keep following.

They keep tracking the wagon trails as long as possible, but when they head towards the road again, our party has no choice but to follow the road and hope they will see the trails quitting the Pavis Road further up ahead. No such luck though.  After a few hours it becomes apparent that they have lost the trail, when they meet up with a trader coming from the opposing direction, who has seen nothing.  Jaya grabs the opportunity to buy a silver necklace from Goldenrod, the Etyies trader.  Seen as they have no direction to follow, they consider heading to the Pairing Stones after all, with some luck they might still be in time.  But first they set up camp, with Jaya taking the first guard.  They'll decide what to do the next morning.

Within minutes everybody is sound asleep.  Jaya notices she is tired as well, and before long she dozes off.  When a giant spider wanders into the camp, there is no-one awake to see it coming, and the large arachnid attacks Jaya.  This gets everyone up in seconds, and amidst the panic the spider is quickly dispatched.

5th Day of the Fire Season, 1621

The next morning, our fellows run into a Bullford hunting party.  These guys have not seen any trace of the fake trader wagon, and the party decides to head to the Pairing Stones, still a long hike north.  They keep walking for hours, until sunset, and Raiko, Daerius and Giomanach get real tired with still several miles to go, when they run into a Lunar Patrol.  As they are only miles from the Pairing Stones, they refuse to stand down, and when the tension increases and the Lunar sorceress starts casting a spell, Jaya fires an arrow at her and downs her at once.  A brutal fight ensues, with Herculon decapitating two warriors and hacking a third one in two, and Daerius and Giomanahc killing a guard each.  Giomanach takes the sorcerer staff along, it carries an enchantment that allows to store mana.

When the Orlanthi arrive from the Pairing Stones, alarmed by the magic light and noise, all they can do is clean up the mess.  The High Priest performs a ritual of Obfuscation, and the bodies are burned with ceremony.

6th Day of the Fire Season, 1621

The initiation ceremony commences.  Both Orlanthi easily pass the knowledge test.  Their next challenge involves climbing one of the pairing stones.  A piece of cake for strong Herculon, but Daerius seems to be more about good looks than strength.  It takes him a few hours, with several resting breaks, to climb the 25m high monolith.  In the end he manages though, and drops down on the top, exhausted...

Next character: Giomanach Nuada (Anthony)

Career and status: Ever since birth, Giomanach, like his father, was magically gifted. At the age of 12, when making the crossing from The Real City to New Pavis with his father and eldest brother, they ran into a chaos gang led by a scorpion tail Broo that somehow got through the city defenses. Their attack was fierce, but Giomanach's father braced himself, and ordered Giomanach's eldest brother Niall to take Giomanach and run. Niall obeyed, but Giomanach did not. Instead the boy attempted to wrack the Broo leader with a magic spell he had seen the Pavis temple priests use on several occasions. The spell fumbled, and Giomanach felt a very unpleasant tingle run along his spine. Only seconds later, just before Giomanach collapsed with exhaustion, his father was slain. Niall took his younger brother on the shoulder and ran for his life, while the chaotic spirits summoned by the Broo shaman howled across the desolate ruins, trying to catch up with them. At that moment a Yelorna patrol appeared, led by a radiant fighter riding a unicorn, and the Broo gang dispersed and retreated. One of the chaos spirits, hastened by the Shaman, attacked Niall, who dropped Giomanach and started howling with pain within minutes. The disease spirit had vanquished him, and if not for the Yelorna priestess who took Niall on her horse and sped for the Chalana temple, Niall would certainly have died, so potent was the spirit set on him. As it is, Niall never completely recovered. Giomanach never forgot what he saw, and is convinced he too was cursed by the evil Shaman. As he came of age, Giomanach became a lay member in the Pavis cult, and studied hard to become a sorcerer both powerful and wise. He is on the brink of becoming an initiate, and has just about mastered the basic Pavis grimoire. He has never forgotten that a Yelorna maiden saved his life and that of his brother, and at night he still sees the vile Broo stabbing his father to death. His quest is to kill the chaotic monstrosity that killed his father, and to slay as many broo as possible while he can. Family and connections: Giomanach has a strong bond with his family. After the death of his father, his grandparents by his father's side died from grief. His mother, Wyndenkell, has always kept a strong spirit when with her family, caring for Niall, who suffers from violent nightmares and daytime collapses since that day in the Rubble. The entire family moved in with Wyndenkell's parents, former owners of a pottery workshop that made good money. There are no financial problems. However, sometimes at night Giomanach finds his mother weeping in solitude, and it breaks his heart. Apart from his eldest brother Niall, Giomanach has a younger brother and 2 younger sisters, maidens fair and almost at the age of betrothal. A lot of other family members reside in both The Real City and New Pavis, but are of no particular note, except his mother's junior sister Alwynn, who is an acolyte at the New Pavis Chalana Arroy temple.   Passions: Loyalty to Benderri, Son of Pavis 30+16 (own POW)+ 17 (target CHA) = 63% Loves his mother, Wyndenkell 30+ 7 (loved one POW)+9 (loved one CHA) = 46% Hates Broo 30+32 (own POW x 2) = 62% Combat Styles: Light Skirmisher Shortsword - Shield - Bow Equipment: 1 standard priest outfit used when casting spells and when travelling, high quality 1 noble outfit for special occasions, high quality 1 old pavisite outfit, usefull when riding and when traveling, high quality 1 zebra   Weapons: Shortsword, fine (+1 damage) Buckler, fine (+1 AP) Inlaid staff, fine (+1 AP) Recurve Bow, fine (Value 150%)