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The World of Teréth End - Chronicles - Darkfold |
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"Too often days swiftly pass / Weeping in the evening grass / There just is not enough time / Forthings you dreamt you'd do / The hours still drift by. "Too many years, too high a cost / Too many lessons earned but lost / And still you complain all the time / Cursing the days before you / Lamentng the days gone by. "And finally laying in your bed / Staring skyward, nearly dead / It all floods back one last time, / The chances that you left behind / But alas there's little left to do / ... but cry." Dirimoran song  |
The Stone Disc of Ikurul A group of strangers awaken in a room with voices and learn of an ancient curse that has been placed upon them. A mission is given the group to retrieve a stone relic from a Vishashun crime figure. Searching leads them to the compound of the death merchant Ikurul. A domed room, once filled with music and wealthy gossip, was now empty except for a dirty few standing and staring at the tipped paintings, broken statues, and each other. A shattered instrument of some kind sat in the room's center, it's ivory keys strewn in a halo about the floor. An oculus stared darkly upward into an unreachable chamber above this one, where someone or things undoubtedly stared down. Around the room, hanging in broken frames, leered ancient faces painted to cracking canvases. One by one the strangers awoke, the knight Kaluk, the thief Tandel, and the weyrd-rat Ricket. The air was filled with the voices of ghosts, disembodied and distant, which welcomed and informed confused co-habitants. It was explained that each were to be friends and comrades, bound by an ancient magics called a darkfold; and that according to old enchantment, should one die, so shall all. Another of the voices uttered the Dekàlan, "toretus durun", meaning "terrible bond". Each of the room's prisoners stared at one another and the blood around each others' mouths, but could only guess at the events and ritual that had led to this. A fourth member of the pact, a female Elve lay crumpled in the room as well, without mortal sign of life. When the voices told the party that they should first find the stone disc of Ikurul, they wisely took their unmoving comrade with them. Moving slowly through the Hole, the group finally found there way to the Run Dul warrens. Here the Saranthi was nearly drawn into deadly trouble at the sight of enslaved children, and other immoral and evil sights and sounds. Tandel led the four through these areas as swiftly as he may finally finding a dark roadway toward the Temple Square, and his home. Reaching his house they laid the Elve woman comfortably in an upstairs room. Tandel, knowing something of Ikurul, and the dangers that lie ahead for anyone thinking of entering that man's domain, left to find support. Tandel found several that were willing to aid in this quest for a cut of whatever spoils should be found. Those that responded to his offer were Cisco Beret, Ivy, the marksman Jacobus, and Shalymar. It should be added that many others would have answered the offer but that these were among the only available, and that he trusted with the operation's secrecy. Each of the collected group went their way to investigate further the task at hand, and to learn more about Ikurul. Tandel learned from his contacts that Ikurul was a fence for pirates but that it was unknown how pirate goods reached his Harbor Ward domain. It was also learned that the Ikurul's area had three entrances, all guarded with iron gates and soldiers. During this time, Ivy investigated a house across the under-street from Tandel's, where some figures had been seen unloading a wagon the evening before. Expertly unlocking the house's door, she stepped into the blackness and was greeted by a tossed dagger. Turning to flee, another dagger glanced off her shoulder. Ivy leapt to the street, turned and fled. Shalymar had a different success, coaxing the gate guards at Ikurul's to not only allow her entrance, but audience with Ikurul himself. Her allure did not serve her well enough however, for Ikurul ordered his guards to "do away with her". When next the group gathered to discuss what they'd learned, Ricket noticed a dead man in the road outside. Rats fought over the body. Ricket slipped from the house and dragged the body, with help, around the house corner, feasting some himself before returning. It was decided in this meeting that the group should travel to the Harbor Ward and stake-out the three entrances to monitor the comings and goings of Ikurul's domain. All left except for Kaluk who was given duty to guard the Elve's body. The Saranthi, after much thought on the subject of Elve, tied-up the woman, and then turned his attentions outside the house. Peering through the windows and door, he found a half-eaten naked man beside the house, and later greeted a visitor come to visit Tandel. Kaluk invited this man in and drank with him for a while. Before leaving the man left Tandel a note, but Tandel had never heard of the man before. The group meanwhile, following Ricket's lead, climbed down to the charging Run Dul, and crossed the river by way of the slippery rocks. On the other side, shadowy creatures leapt from the tunnels in the chasm wall to persue them as they climbed a rope ladder. Cisco aimed his crossbow and killed one with a shot. The dark figure toppled into the rushing waters and the others fled back along the river's shore. Ivy and Jacobus, watching the western-most gate, observed two guards and a finely dressed woman approach the gate and gain admittance. A watch or more later, the gate re-opened and the three departed. Ivy stepped from her hiding place and shadowed the trio to find them waiting for her around the first corner. The woman noticed Ivy's interest in the silver ghul medallion she wore, and offered to let Ivy hold it which she did. Ivy found the medallion to be painfully cold however and tossed it back to the woman. The woman smiled, and uttered "Never fuck with death my dear", before turning and leaving with her escort. Ivy stood still except for the unstopping shake that had begun in her hands. Returning once more to Tandel's, many noticed Ivy's advancing years. She looked twice the age than when she'd left to watch the gate. Ricket offered to show her the way to the Temple of Roth. After wandering down narrow corridors she climbed out onto the floor of the Temple Square. The group continued their meeting, trying to determine the best way to enter the domain of Ikurul. Thanks to Kelly, Steve "Shmev", Todd, and Yvonne for their cameo appearances. Special recognition is extended to Kelly for imperiling her own and Yvonne's character! Played: 18-20 Aug 1998
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Navigation People Edolin Introducing Darkfold: An ancient geas placed on a group of people designated to complete a series of dangerous tasks. The nature of enchantment is such that if any die during the spell's course, that all are bound by that death. In olden times, the spell was used to send messages across vast distants, to transport precious cargo, or as a form of group punishment. |
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| Ref. PHB (Player's Handbook), © Wizards of the Coast  |
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