Queen’s Day (Date 1/7/22)

With Lex and Giada off exploring the gnoll frontier, Marty thought it an opportune time to journey to the elven lands. Unfortunately, with Queen’s Day fast approaching, Euwyn felt compelled to remain in the kingdom. The party returned to the capital and began preparations. Lumi was enthusiastic and planned to build a fire-breathing dragon float. Justice thought the whole affair was a waste of resources and did not in any way honor the military, but the Prince implored him to participate. In response, Justice and Hedge set to work building a siege engine on wheels. The pair were stymied at first - neither one knowing the first thing about engineering - until a young orphan named Edgar (he pronounces it ‘edger’) showed remarkable aptitude. During the construction Justice discovered Edgar possessed magical talent as well, but kept it to himself. Lady Bell suggested that the Prince line the parade route with ever-burning torches to ‘wow’ the citizenry with his magic. Fearing the risk involved in a flame shooting, mobile float Marty convinced Lumi to opt for red streamers and compressed air, simulating flame, offering to call up a mist for added effect. Hedge called in Mjelde to aid in decorating the war machine. At the last minute, Marty had a crisis of conscience and withdrew his mist, fearing a conflict of interest if the temple and the magic of Strom were used in so frivolous a fashion.

The parade went off wel. The trebuchet couldn’t shoot straight, but that was nothing compared to when Lumi’s dragon exploded! Fearing that the streamers weren’t impressive enough on their own, the young blacksmith had worked through the night to refit the float with the working flame-thrower she had originally envisioned, however, flaws in the design and the hasty work caused a nearly catastrophic gas leak. Lumi was nearly killed, but Justice saved her with a healing potion, and Marty healed the crowd with the power of Strom.

In the end, the trophy went to a local flower shop who more appropriately celebrated the day by rendering a beautiful, tasteful and perfumed vision of the Queen. There were touches of bitterness, but overall a good time was had by all. Lumi made a new tech-savvy friend, Justice and Hedge got a working catapult and the kingdom’s loyalty continues to improve.

Ogre Battle (Date 1/7/12)

Justice and Lexington arrived to find the town in hiding and the Tyrelle’s (both father and daughter) gravely injured. Drova had suffered the worst of it and was on her death bed. Her father sat close at hand cursing the king and his drive for “prosperity” – spitting the final word like the foulest insult. While Lex tried to stabilize the young girl with a magic potion, Justice mounted his horse and rode forth to battle the beast. Lex and Giada gave chase and were able to rescue the brave cavalier when he was nearly slain taking on the giant in single combat.

The Prince arrived to find the town in hiding and nearly everyone gravely injured. Not anxious to see Antionne, he sent Marty and the others up to the lodge while he sought temporary accommodations in town. Marty had enough magic to pull drove away from the edge of death and stabilize the others. Lex gave an accounting of what had transpired. The party hatched a plan and executed it to near perfection suffering only minor wounds. Though her father refused to allow Drova to participate in the battle, she snuck off and joined the team. Her blow against the beast was strong and true, and though a return stroke nearly felled her, Marty’s presence allowed her and the rest of the team to triumph.

In the aftermath and subsequent party a few things were discovered: the giant had exactly fifty gold coins minted by the gnolls, the gnolls were not massing on the border, Drova had always loved Marty, and Marty had for some time lusted after Drova’s body.

The rulership of the lumber consortium hovers in doubt. Drova is now the area’s brave defender. Antionne didn’t even stay for the victory party, retreating to his lodge with a few loyal men. Justice remembers a hazy dream where distant voices discussed whether or not to kill him....

Research (Date 1/7/8)

Lexington stared at the ledgers for hours. There was nothing to find! Why had General Regar thought this book was significant? It was just a bunch of inventory reports and manpower schedules. Sure, it mentioned the people of Malwan working side-by-side with the elves, but that was common knowledge. There was nothing new here, nothing even remotely interesting, let alone anything which would cause the General to pale and grow silent.

“Why do you keep skipping that part?” Giada asked.

Euwyn poured over the tome, focusing hard to move from word to word with deliberation. He had no idea what Lexington was trying to show him, but he was happy for the distraction. His own research into Narlock’s journal was proving largely fruitless and a bit disquieting – the implications it contained about his bloodline could well rock the kingdom to its foundation. Better to work on what Giada and Lex had brought—

“See!” Lexington cut into his meditation. “You just skipped it. Man that’s weird,” he said to Giada. “Was I doing that?”

Marty prayed, opening his mind to the power of Strom. Since attaining access to the second tier of power, he had found it helpful to keep a portion of his grace… “unspecified” for just such situations. Euwyn wanted a spell to ward against enchantments… Well sure, there was one, it was just a matter of preparing his mind properly. CLICK!

“Okay,” he said as his mind settled. “I’m ready. Let’s try this…”

Justice waited in the crowd that was milling in the outer halls. The General’s health had long been in question, but this was the first time the whispers had risen above rumor. General Regar was in a coma, and the court was buzzing with concern and conjecture. It wasn’t long before the Prince arrived with his entourage. Justice hadn’t spoken to the Prince since his return from the frontier. He approached.

“What’s the word, my liege?” he asked.

While Marty prepared a spell to hopefully heal the General, the others exchanged their stories. The fort rehab was going well, the tree that broke the wall having been obliterated by a mysterious bolt of lightning. Narlock vanished in the northern hills seeking answers from the Sky Tower of the Ancients. The forest fort was built to block a powerful gate to the fey realm. And, a monster was stalking the lands near the lumberyard. So many worthy avenues to investigate…

Once the General regained consciousness, the group set off to deal with the giant.

Purloined tomes (Date 1/7/4)

Staying true to his promise to afford Marty more time in town, Euwyn and team spend the few days following the Council meeting in study and labor. Euwyn splits time between doing research in the tower and helping Hedge’s effort to build the orphanage, enjoying the stress break physical labor grants until Lexington approaches the pair with a plan. It’s Lexington theory that General Regar’s library has books that have to contain information about the history of Malwan in the days of the alliance with the elves. Working as a team, he hopes they can convince the general to allow them access. Marty is called in, and the team descends on the office in force, at first being rebuffed until Marty stokes the General’s xenophobia and gets them to back room. Regar makes a big show of pulling a particular book from the shelves claiming it will back up his fears, but upon opening the book, the General has another episode, and begins to ramble erratically. His aids arrive and hustle everyone from the chamber. No one notices Lexington sliding the book into his pack.

Later Marty takes Mjelde to show her the tower. During that visit, a plan is hatched to awaken Lunette and see if she can access the angel blocking access to the top floor – the shield archon having yet to respond to any persuasion by the PCs. The archon lets her pass without question. Showing great initiative for an animate doll, Lunette retrieves Narlock’s diary from the bedroom, but also mentions a magically sealed chest in the wizard’s laboratory.

Bad Party (Date 1/7/1)

Back at home the various party members set about their own projects.

Hedge petitioned the Prince for a plot of land and some funds to build an orphanage next to the cemetery.

The Prince researched the deep tentacles and found that, as far as Narlock was concerned, the tentacles were a solved issue, having popped up momentarily before being crushed by local adventurers including himself.

Justice made peace with his old gang and coerced them into a combination campout & fort rehab project.

Marty worked on Mjelde’s coming out announcement, by first informing his father before bringing her existence to the congregation.

Lex worked on shoring up his new office, until he intercepted a missive from Relania Bell which he took to the Prince. It contained a request for correspondence. Euwyn obliged, and a dinner party was planned. Marty would bring Lumi. Euwyn would date Relania (officially). Lex came with Giada. Justice and Hedge were employed as “chaperones”. The newly opened Thrusty Leopard became the scene of huge argument of the Prince’s inner circle. Voices were raised, insults exchanged and punches were thrown. The Lady Bell stormed out, but Euwyn tracked her down and the pair slipped off to have a nice evening out alone. Hedge bloodied Lex’s nose, and Giada escorted him away before things got uglier. Justice, Marty & Hedge had a few more drinks as they sat about discussing what happened. Unable to recover from the scandal, the Leopard closed shortly thereafter.