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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  |
A Long Awaited Day Jak is summoned to the High Lord's court. The Lord's Men clash with Dammon. Jak the Red and Dadra Rumm are married. Jak and Dadra are escorted to Kry Shurulm was their arrested fellow in tow. Meeting with an angry High Lord. Saldus is assigned as Jak's escort. Dammon is taken to Gibbet Hill for judgement. The Vullinshrith cabal makes its first appearance as does the wizard's familiar in the form of a blood-red wolf. Alcerra's divine services are sought. A message is delivered to the Goblin Queen. Mishara leaves for Arduwu. "Hear all!" Doctor Ever had read allowed. "His Highness Lord Edgur the Third of Rott, Sixteenth from Hela the Believer of Zor, Protector of the Nor Kalas Oth, Elder of the Council of Ten, summons Jak of Candan, Son of Jak the Elder and Deirdre Daralien, Thard of Nolda the Contestor, to the Court of Kry Shurulm on this day in the Age of Katulth, the Twenty-Eighth of Druur, in the Reckoned Year Six Hundred and Fifty-Two." That was how it started, or ended depending on your view. The bruised and shallow breathing Dammon lay in the shattered frozen mud. Above him stood five soldiers in the black and grey garb of the Lords' Men, two with dual-bowed crossbows, two with swords, and a pikeman who knelt over the body of a stranger who had been shredded, by something. Adae tended to the fallen wizard, and soon Dammon's eyes regained focus and he was sitting, staring at his wounds. His shirt, was cut from chest to shoulder by the Captain's sword, Saldus. His hands and ankles were tied. He was a prisoner. Those that gathered gawked at the injured and the dead with disbelief, on this, Jak of Candan's wedding day. Dammon was pulled to his feet and the soldiers and wedding party climbed into boats to return and finish the interrupted wedding festivities. The wind blew coldly across north island as the crowd gathered to watch Dadra, daughter of the late Dorrod Rumm (who was killed in the Candan Massacre) marry Jak, the hero of this small poor community. For a few moments, people may have forgotten about the wizard trussed and guarded in the nearby Rumm household, and the dead man who had come to summon Jak to the High Lord's court. The couple exchanged vows and rings before the priest of Roth, and were wedded. When the congratulations and cheering ebbed, the group moved back toward the tables of food, and celebrated for one hour more. Then unceremoniously, Saldus instructed it was time to go, and so Jak and Dadra gathered their things, and the soldiers began to round up the prisoner and the dead. The two soldiers dragging Dammon from the house yelled out as they were attacked from an unseen assailant. Saldus rushed to their aid and knocked the ankle-bound Dammon to the ground with the flat of his blade. Zermia reported that the dead messenger's body was missing, so the troupe left Candan without him, taking Jak, his new wife Dadra, his assistant Grumug (who devotedly ran beside them), and the unconscious form of Dammon, to dark and sprawling Kry Shurulm on the rocky Othic headland. Mishara and Tressta rowed Calastra the Messenger's body around the deepes of the Candan marsh, avoiding the hungry blinking eyes of the swamp denizens. At a distant isle which was part of Mothsmire they were welcomed into an old woman's home and seated near her meager fire. They spent the evening talking of simple things while the woman tended to her infirm husband, and in the adjoining shed the body of Calastra stiffened and froze into a tangle ball of torn flesh and twisted limbs. The arrival of the Company of the White Raven was announced by two trumpet blasts, barely audible over the wind and crash of the ocean waves below. The heavy barbican swung wide in the seamist, and they were greeted by six members of the High Lord's Black Guard. Bathrus Carrismar, Thardor of Roth, greeted the travelers and escorted them deep into the warren of courtyards and curtain walls. Jak and Dadra were led different directions, and Grumug was instructed to stay near the soldier firepits outside. Dammon's body was dragged to the dungeons. Bathrus and Saldus led Jak into the Hall of the High Lord where he met the angry monarch. Jak listened subduedly as the High Lord insulted him. He asked questions that Jak knew no answers for, wanting to know the purpose of Jak's recent knighting at the hands of his sister, Nolda, the Goblin Queen. Jak was told that the High Lord had sent a Thard to Nolda some three years past, to deliver word of her teacher's passing. The knight, whose sword Jak wore, never returned. To return this favor, the High Lord summoned Jak's assistant Grumug into the hall. Grumug stumbled forward, still exhausted from running many hours through the freezing cold. Grumug stood up, and looking about nervously, there were others in the chamber, many others; Jak had sensed them earlier. &nsbp;A half-dozen crossbows fired and the awkward Grumug crumpled to the floor, his image shimmering and shifting about his large form. A man dressed in black came advanced from the shadows and questioned Jak about his ties to the family Daralien, intent upon learning what claims Jak made to the name. Satisfied with Jak's ignorance, the man whispered privately with the High Lord and was excused. Rott then ordered Jak to carry a letter to Nolda along with the body of Grumug. He instructed that the letter must be guarded with his life, and not to let it fall into enemy hands. The young Thard agreed to this. The High Lord then addressed Saldus, saying "You have helped me once before, and you will do so again. You are to become this man's shadow while he remains in Nor Kalas Oth, unless relations are repaired with my sister, her Thard will remain an ambassador of the state's enemy, and accorded the rights and privileges as such. You will insure his safety in this domain." Saldus gave the customary obeisance. Addressing Jak, Lord Rott added, "If you or your agents cause harm to this soldier, you, your friends, and your family will be found and executed." Bathrus stepped forward and asked for lenience toward the Thard of Nolda, being as though he was wedded this day under the rites of Roth. The High Lord allowed this, sending Jak away to meet his bride in a bedchamber of a noble hall within the keep. Come morning, Tressta and Mishara loaded Calastra's frozen body into a manure handcart and started on the icy, long, and rough journey back to Cenotaph to entreat the priestess of Draun to restore life to the Lord's servant. The same morning Jak, Dadra and Saldus learned of a trial to be held atop Gibbet Hill for Dammon the Accused. Dammon was carted by cage-wagon into an outer north courtyard. Jak summoned Bathrus the Paladin, and spoke with the Thardor for a time. The cage was pulled by two horses through the outer gates and up into the hills north of Kry Shurulm. There, among the tall grass and creaking gibbets and gallows, Judge Johor called the crowd to order and explained charges of high-murder and the use of criminal-magic. Zermia, acting captain of the Company of the White Raven, explained the circumstances of the previous day's events in Candan, and explained that after her order to arrest the defendant, he had unleashed a barrage of stinging magics that injured five soldiers, and killed the Lord's messenger. Left to defend himself, Shroudson maintained that he was attacked and his actions were performed in the defense of his friend Jak of Candan. Furthermore, he explained generally that a supernatural creature had attacked the man, but that the monster's actions were not under his complete control. When asked to bring forth the creature, a large red wolf appeared on top of the prison wagon and growled menacingly at all those gathered. Vapid onlookers rushed forward chanting, "Free him, free him!". Jak readied his spear but the crimson wolf-monster spoke to him saying, "Jak, do nothing stupid." The monster growled again and faded from view. Following this display, Johor the Judge ordered the crowding chanters be pulled from the prison wagon. The judge admitted to not understanding the workings of magic. However, he ordered that if Dammon agreed to destroy the wolf-monster that killed the Lord's servant, the count of high-murder might be stricken. Dammon agreed to this and was led back into the lightless belly of Kry Shurulm. Mishara and Tressta, freezing and arms aching from cobbled miles of handcart-pushing, reached the Cemetery of Cenotaph, above the frozen shores of Seereth's Swell. They were cold and damp and exhausted from the day's trek. A worker led them to a small farm cottage near the cemetery where they were reunited with Alcerra. The priestess regarded her friends coldly, interrupted from her new duties and rituals. They pleaded the case of the Lord's messenger. She explained that she would pray on the matter and upon the next duntru she would know whether his return was Draun's will, or whether it was not. She invited them to stay in the drafty cottage so long as they join her helpers in prayer and the proper evening, night, and morning rituals of the household. Mishara and Tressta agreed to this, not wanting to return into the wintry night. Jak and Dadra and Saldus returned to Candan that evening on foot. Jak carried the body of Grumug in a bag across his shoulder, the monster having reverted to Urdari proportions. Reaching Candan they settled for the night. Following Mishara and Tressta's return the following day, the group made preparations to visit the Goblin Queen. On the morning of the third of Aldruan, the four ventured through the frozen drizzle of Northfields, passing the mysterious canvas cube, and reaching the edge of the Northwoods by evening. The next morning they continued into the frost covered forest, turning left along a frozen stream at Mishara's instruction. Hours later they emerged on the battle camp's edge that surrounds the mammoth Two Brothers. As they passed through the sprwaling tent and lean-to camp, hundreds of Goblins watched from their tents, winter blankets, and burrows dug into the hillside. No movements were made to stop the strangers, but a thousand eyes studiously watched their steps. At the base of the trees, where the roots cascade across the frozen dirt Nolda emerged from the shadowy depths of the warrens. She greeted the travelers and bid them enter, magically lighting the candles leading to the dining room below. Seated, Tressta began to speak but the Goblin Queen quickly dismissed her wishing to hear the words of her Thard instead. Jak told of his meeting with the High Lord and laid the sack containing Grumug's dead body on the floor. Goblin servants quickly dragged the sack away as they spoke. Jak handed her the sealed message that Edgur had given him and after waving it thoughtfully over a flame, Nolda decided to read the entreaty. The message asked Nolda to stop her Urdari' attacks on Oth or face their destruction. The last half of the message she read silently, glancing briefly at the Elve seated across from her. Burning the message, she stood and excused herself, directing her guests to separate bedchambers within the warren of the Two Brothers. When each of the four settled into their small rooms, the candlelight vanished. Those that dreamed beneath the ancient trees dreamt of long forgotten days when Teréth End felt much younger. Standing on a beautiful coastline of ragged stone and crashing waves, the dreamers watched as galleys plied the waters, coming to land on a stretch of pebbled beach. Soldiers stepped from the boats and were greeted by men and women in colorful dress. A dark-skinned man in yellow robes stepped into the surf and spoke with the shore people, planting a sunburst staff onto the ground. The people welcomed these people and showed them a path inland. As they crested a small rise they looked upon a vast but primitive village spreading out from a foundation of stone and iron. The colorful guide's voice became audible and as he pointed to the construction, the word "Roth" was clearly heard as the dream faded away. In the morning, Nolda did not accompany her guests for breakfast. Jak sought her for some final instructions regarding his duties and goals, and then left with his friends and the soldier Saldus. The morning was warmer than the days before, and Mishara took this time to bid his friends farewell for the season and left toward Avarlin. Jak, Saldus, and Tressta returned along the forest road toward Candan, reaching the town in one whole and one-half days. Much had transpired in the last several days and as they walked in fog-clad Candan their thoughts were scattered widely. 07 Aug 1999
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Navigation People Calastra
(Com2) Introducing Elite Othic Units: Within every large military body there are units that stand-out from the rest. In the City of Oth there are six that are historically distinguished; Deephold, Hela, High Guard, Old Defenders, and the White Raven. The sixth is known only to the Crown and his advisors. Order of Deephold is detailed earlier. An old order, it is no longer seen as loyal to the Iron Crown. Hela's Command are the most distinguished fighting company within the High Lord's command. Established in 246 DR by High Lady Hela the Believer (cir 221-270 DR), the Command are never far from the monarch's side. In cases where the High Lord commands a death, it is usually Hela's Command that executes the order (and the victim). The High Guard are the second largest of the five elite units. It is the duty of the High Guard to protect the keeps and private holdings of the High Lord. The High Guard also secure the Lord's Isle. Where Hela's Command is responsible for the crown's person, the High Guard is responsible for the crown's possessions. The Old Defenders is a fighting order devoted to maintaining and protecting the City Wall. Not all wall guards belong to the order, only those who have distinguished themselves. The original Defenders were rounded-up and executed during the Acentran-Elve occupation of Oth. Their most memorable action was the Battle of Temple Wall (when that section was still part of the City Wall). Company
of the White Raven is an old unit, established during the Zyan dynasty
(circa 120 DR) of determined and skilled soldiers trained to take on desperate
and dangerous missions. In the 2nd century the Company was no more
than a goon squad sent to silence the Crown's enemies and critics. High
Lord Mothrim the First (276-349 DR) is credited with re-inventing
the group as a tactical unit (it is named after his familiar, Nooluk).
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Ref. PHB (Player's Handbook), © Wizards of the Coast  |
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