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The World of Teréth End - Chronicles - Othic |
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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 Goblin Queen The group rests in Loston, a quiet town on the shores of Nularya Lun. Alcerra finds a metal structure at the broken levee's end and walks the mounds that lead through the village. Dammon's familiar gets sick. Alcerra meets with a Roth-Thurkan priest. Jak gets a young fan and wanders around. Alcerra rides to Oth alone and delivers a gift to Kyrm Oryroth. Jak and company are led to the Two Brothers to meet the Goblin Queen. Jak is knighted. The group arrived at Loston in the middle of the eleventh day of Druur. The wind was soft but cold and the roads were damp from rain a day or so past. The Northwood road into Loston drops to the shores of Nularya Lun giving the traveler a wonderful view across the hilly hedgerow-lined farms and gores of trees. Having traveled many days and slept several nights on the knotty forest floor, the group decided to stay at the Loston Inn; a large and welcoming stone and timber wayside on the east edge of town. After arranging for rooms and baths, Jak found his way to lounge where some local men invited him to their table for some pipe and ale. Jak grabbed a chair and talked with the farmers, all more than happy with their shared company. When Tressta arrived fresh from her bath, the men all stood and welcomed the beautiful Taldani. Seated, she too listened to the stories of Jak and his many adventures, which were becoming more and more familiar with each re-telling. Dammon meanwhile, languished in the tub room, keeping the maid busy with kettle, shears, and comb. Mishara cloistered himself in the bedchamber fashioning flecthes, shafts, and arrow points in the manner of his kind. The Priestess of Draun walked to the lakeshore, and along the ancient levee walls to the "slave" on the lake's southeast shore. There, standing beside the waters of the Run Dul was a large metal structure with pipes that scattered into the town and another into the lake. Alcerra followed one of the pipes through town and into the distant woods where it drop into the ground. Dammon finished his long bath at long last and joined his companions in the lounge. The men welcomed Jak's friend and a pipe and wine were brought. Dammon looked at the pipe uncertain at first but dove into the "new" activity as he did so many things every day, without knowing whether this was something old or new. Jak watched curiously as his friend took effortless puffs, like a man that did this daily. The men immediately asked Dammon about magic, having been introduced to Dammon long before his arrival at the table. Dammon entertained them with a small twist of Draga Nol that caused the smoke above the table to tremble and twist. The men were most impressed. As the evening drew on, Mishara walked down to the lobby and ushered his friends from the smoky lounge. Alcerra had returned from her wandering and supper was served. Learning of a shrine of Roth-Thurkan in the town however, she left the inn to speak with the priest there. Following supper, the calm was interrupted by the exclamations of two maids down the hall. It seemed some person (or thing) had defecated all over the room the unearthly smell of which was issuing into the hall. The maids fought-off sickness and tears as they gathered their buckets and rags to clean the chamber. Those that peered inside saw the bone-littered green and black feces strewn across the furniture, the rug, the walls, and the shutters. Dammon returned to his room and was soon joined by "it". His conscious sounded different, but it took a moment for Dammon to register that it sounded "ill". The thing took credit for the mess down the hall, explaining that it had eaten a pig and that the creature hadn't agreed with him. Dammon commanded "it" to show itself but it refused, filling his mind with groans instead. "It" did relate that in its travels through town it had seen a large glowing thing on the western horizon but didn't venture too closely. Dammon left the inn to investigate this, and soon investigated the "slave" himself. As night advanced, Jak grew concerned about Alcerra's prolonged absence and hired Nathys, a stablehand, to lead him to the town's shrine. The boy led him through the dark country roads, and into the dark wooded land where the shrine stands. There they found Alcerra and Mar Kurrum, the town's priest, engaged in conversation. Content that she was safe, Jak and the boy wandered along a ramble until they arrived at a long mound. Scrapping and digging at the mound, Jak discovered the interior to be metal. Jak and Nathys followed the mound through the dark woods and harvested fields to the lakeside "slave". There, Jak attempted to climb the structure but fell, dissapointing both himself and the boy. His curiosity undeterred, Jak decided to follow the pipe and mound back through town and found themselves in the Northwoods, where the pipe elbowed into the ground. They wrestled with a nearby hatch but it would not move so they returned to the inn. The next morning Alcerra woke, left Mar a note that she would return in a day or two, grabbed her horse and rode toward Oth. Mar Kurrum met the remainder of the group during their breakfast and told them she had left, but that he'd arranged for a guide to the Two Brothers as she'd requested. Confused by this, the group decided to stay at the inn and wait for the guide to arrive. Dammon retreated into his ground floor bed chamber and studied his scrolls and books. Mishara wandered through the nearby wood collecting wood and materials for arrows, and spent the remaining day in that manner. At supper the group was met by a goblin who spoke good Othic, and introduced himself as Turvel. He claimed to know the way to the Two Brothers, though he admitted to having never met the Goblin Queen. A price was agreed upon and it was decided to leave that night. Dammon decided to stay at Loston Inn and catch-up on his studies. Alcerra arrived at the City without much incident. She'd dodged an ogre's "welcome" along the road but had spurred her horse onward and away from danger. She arrived at Temple Gate after dark but after speaking with the Lords' Men was permitted through. At the Iron Colonnade some guards escorted her horse to the stables, and directed her up the long staircase. Soon she was led to the chamber of Ichmel Sucorun. She produced for him the bronze Eye of Uul which had been cut from the skull of Kelzerak. She explained that she did not trust the item in her party's possession, and offered it to the Temple. Amazed by this offering, Ichmel ordered some books retrieved from the Iron Library. Despite the late night hour, the books were brought to the chamber and he found mention of the Eyes of Uul. He read to Alcerra what history he could find of the Dekàlan general, but could offer no specifics on the item. That same night, Turvel led the group down the road toward Oth, turning south at an unmarked stream-path and leading them deeper and deeper into the dark night forest. By dawn, the group came to a low place where goblin guards stood staring wide-eyed from their skullish helms. Turvel grumbled with the guards for some time and the goblins nodded and made some display of their jagged weapons. Down a hillside the branches snapped and parted as two wolf-riders rode nearby, flanking the group to lead them further. Turvel bid the group farewell, accepted his payment and disappeared into the dim forest. The riders led the group up a far rise and into a large clearing filled with tents and ramshackle structures strewn about a large knoll where two giant trees grew from a mound of tangled roots. The path that led to the trees' was bordered by dark tents and lean-tos from where hundreds of the light-shying Urdar watched the strange party arrive. The further they moved through the camp the larger the trees grew before them. The central knoll was surrounded by pikes bearing sun-dried human corpses, their heads bent backward and mouths agape. There were bodies of children among them but the group made no motions, no comments. Stepping from the shadows of the root cave stood a middle-aged Uren woman with raven-black hair holding a polished staff. Her resemblance to Lord Rott was unmistakeable, though she seemed many years younger. The party did their best to address Nolda properly, but it served only to amuse their hostess. Finally, Jak beseeched the Goblin Queen to spare the town of Candan from her goblin raids; the reason they had traveled to this place. In response, Nolda asked Jak about the ring on his finger. Jak related the story of Carrus Nezrafan. In response to this, she led Jak into the warrens below the Two Brothers, and though he could not see where they walked, her voice led him safely to a distant chamber. Upon a bier lay a deceased warrior in the Othic armor Jak had seen at Oddon Keep. The Goblin Queen pulled the sword from the warrior's death grasp and handed it to Jak. Jak seemed confused. Taking the sword back from him she commanded him to kneel and knighted him properly. Following this she led the peasant hero from Mor Tembrandom and reintroduced him to the group. Before sending them on their way, she told Jak to give her brother "her regards" and promised that she would tell the Urdar not to harm those in Candan so long as they were allowed to pass. The group left the encamped army and ancient trees behind, camping on the edge of the area until nightfall. When the cold of night returned, the party packed their things and walked back to Loston. The group arrived in Loston on the first morning of the midmonth. Alcerra had returned from Oth. With a night's journey behind them the tired group slept for most of the day, and again the next night. On the following morning, with a cold drizzle to accompany them, they set out for the City of Oth. 9 Jan 1999
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Navigation People Berrum
Cordoz (Com2) Introducing
Mor
Tembándom: Within the lower reaches of the Northwoods
stand two trees believed to be relics
of an ancient forest. Their intertwined roots form the framework
for the wide, barren, and hollow hill. Since the time has been recorded
by Uren of the region, the place has held special significance. In
pre-Dekàlan days, natives used the under-rooms as temples to commune
with the earth gods. In the years of the High King the hollow mound
was used as many things: a treasury, an armory, and finally a fortress
during the Acentran-Dekàlan war. In recent years it has become
the headquarters of Nolda Rott, the
Urdari Queen (having learned early
that the Urdar thought that the place was special to Woad).
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| Ref. PHB (Player's Handbook), © Wizards of the Coast  |
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