PBEM Orlantia
The Story So Far
Chapter 038
PBEM Orlantia: Items Revealed.
The day before they were scheduled to set sail, and when they began to fear Valin might never return in time, they found the cheerful rogue awaiting them at the breakfast table in the Copper Keg, busily cutting into a stack of hot cakes and honey.
"What did you discover?" Mystir asked him, but the Rogue of Hermes waved him off, mumbling, "Wait until everyone's here. Have some apple juice," he said, pointing to the pitcher. The mage sat down and soon gave his order, quickly followed by Cosher's own, and then Ty's. Alana and Bebe came next, then Sef and Wyn, and finally came Afyanna. When all were assembled and their orders had arrived, only then did Valin submit to eager inquiries of his magical charges.
"You can take these values for what they're worth; I'm not sure how good they are, but the king's own mage did tell me about what they were worth. What's more interesting is what they do."
"What are they worth?" Wyn asked, his tone almost mercenary, but followed with a grin as it was, one couldn't be sure what he honestly felt.
"I'm happy to say the silver service finally sold at an antique shop for 1,800 GP," Bebe broke in. "I spent some time haggling with a gem dealer late into the night, too, and I managed to buy these," she said, producing 18 tiny, but brilliant stones that all easily fit in her small hand with no difficulty whatsoever. She poured them out, a scattered collection of diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds. "They're all worth about the same, about 100 GP each. We can each have two. You pick first, Afy," the gnome smiled. It was not long before Bebe, who went last, collected the last emerald and diamond as her own. With all of them 200 GP richer in valuable stones, they turned once again to the waiting rogue.
"Well, the figurine is worth about 50,000 GP. The dagger, I'm told, might fetch 5,000 GP. The Continual Light rock is also a bit of an old school oddity, he said, and could sell for 500 GP. The spellbook might sell for 250 GP, when everyone is done with it. So unless I'm missing something, that means about 55,750 GP in value will remain unsplit in the party. That's about 6,190 GP per share, and owed to Cosher and me, rounding off seriously in the party's favor. I'm sure we'll both accept IOU's from the party until you can send us our shares at some future time."
Owing departing members so much money all at once unnerved Afyanna a bit. She didn't like to be in debt at all, but she knew unless they sold the figurine itself, they couldn't cover a debt so large. They had little choice.
Moments passed as the numbers sank in. Each knew they were sort of 6,190 GP richer, but such wealth was invested in items, and they could not spend their fortunes. Still, like it or not, it all represented far more than any of them had ever had before, and it felt . . . good.
"OK, so that's what they're all worth. But what do they all do?" Sef asked the rogue.
"The dagger has a property known as keenness. It's magical beyond its healing power, which you recall was once a day. Use it and it won't work again for 24 hours to the minute," he said. "But in combat, though it's not as formidable as even a mundane longsword, it is magic and has a way of finding its way past armor or through scales better than a regular dagger, or even a lesser magic dagger. It's pretty nice for something so gaudy."
"But it's no good in combat if it's used for healing - at least for 24 hours?" Alana asked.
"No, no, no - the healing aspect of it works once/day. The magical dagger aspect of it is always good, whether it can heal or not. But when you need to heal someone, just touch the pink pearl in its pummel against the bare skin or fur of someone, and think clearly you wish them healed, and it will be so. Heal yourself, or heal another, but whomever you heal, it only works once per day. Understand?"
They all nodded.
"The spellbook and the CL rock are obvious," the rogue continued. "The figurine, however, that's a mess."
"A mess?" they asked in chorus.
"He said it's hard to accurately get a read on it since it does odd things, or in odd ways. There was something ' funny' about it."
"So we don't know what it does?" Mystir asked unhappily.
"No, no, no, we know a lot. He just feels if it does something unexpected beyond that, it's not really his fault. He doesn't think it's dangerous beyond what you might normally expect, but he cautions there may still be more than meets the magically enhanced eye."
"So, what could he tell you about it?" Sef asked.
"A figurine of wondrous power - an Ivory Mount - he called it. As one becomes more powerful, they can successively summon more powerful mounts. The list included these:
A Burrow, Donkey, or Mule - those were the default selections anyone could summon with the command word.
Then a Light Horse or a Pony,
Then a Medium Horse,
Then a Heavy Horse, Draft or War,
Then a Camel, Ox, or Yak,
Then an Elephant, or a Mammoth,
Then a Griffin, Pegasus, or Unicorn,
And, of course, at the last, finally a Nightmare could be summoned. Or anything smaller than what you're capable of summoning, but with riding gear, too."
Valin went on to describe the figurine in more detail, and each listened intently and in awe of the item that had been the nightmare and had killed so many - and had almost killed them, too. But that spirit was gone. Each time the item was used again, a new spirit would be summoned of the appropriate type.
When he was at last done and had answered all their questions, he sat back with a satisfied look. After a moment, a more serious look crossed his features and he spoke once more.
"I am sorry I must depart this fair group. If your future adventures are as memorable as this one was, I fear my life will be tediously dull when compared to parish work. But I have little choice right now. Perhaps it's for the best. But I can assure you, I, for one, will never discount the fantastic tales of bardic lore so easily again," he smiled, winking at Cosher.
"Ah, laddie, and Ah'm writtin' a few good ballads over this, too, though Ah kin no sing 'em in public for years tae come," the sea dwarf frowned. "But when Ah do, nae one will soon ferget 'em, I kin promise ya that," he laughed.
"Ladies, Gentlemen, it has been an honor and a privilege adventuring with you," Valin said as he rose from the table. "And I'm sure one day we will meet again, but when that might be, only the Gods May know," he smiled and winked. "I wish you all so very well on your journeys. And the best of luck. May Hermes smile upon you," he said at last, then gathered his things and departed as his friends echoed his sentiments with their goodbyes and best wishes for him. And then Valin was gone.
- JimGM.
PBEM Orlantia: The Departing Rogue.
Sefarlain watched as the Rogue of Hermes walked out of the door and possibly out of the party for good. It felt strange saying goodbye to someone after such a brief yet intense time, but Sefarlain admitted to himself that he had never fully understood the mysterious man.
The elf had experienced more contact with men in the last few weeks than ever before in his life, and he still remained confused by them. Some appeared straightforward, some irrational, and some secretive to the extreme. Their motives appeared a complete enigma to him, though; perhaps this would change in time as he came to understand them more.
The remaining members began to collect their various pieces of kit in preparation for the journey to Alodar. As Sef packed his meager belongings in his room, he reflected on how his life had changed in only a few weeks.
"Before I could barely feed myself; now I have bested a wood Golem and killed a nightmare and I have riches beyond my dreams. And yet how far must I still go?"
The elf knew he had only just begun his training and would need all his fortune to pay for that, but he couldn't help but feel a small sense of pride at his accomplishments. Perhaps there was a long way to go, but at last he had begun to make those first few steps to get his father's approval.
As he closed his bag, he picked up the large section of wood he had cleaved from the Timber. Trophies had become a small habit of the Ranger's, and this was no exception. He did need a new bow, after all.
"But it will wait until Alodar," he noted, and with the wood in hand, left the room to join his friends.
- Justin (Sefarlain)
PBEM Orlantia: Voting For Stewards.
Their three-week voyage aboard the A.I.V. Raven nearing its end, Afyanna called a meeting of the group in the women's cabin.
The seven of them had been sharing two cabins reserved for upper class passengers, with Afy, Bebe, and Alana in the one, and Sef, Wyn, Mystir and Ty in the other. Cosher, an able-bodied sea dwarf, preferred bunking amongst the normal crew. It also gave him opportunity to ply his craft and tell tales many of his teammates had already heard. Besides, it was less crowded that way.
All eight of them, though, found space in the roughly 20 by 12 foot cabin on the second deck near the stern of the ship, and settled in to hear why Afy had called them together.
The prior 20 days had been filled with activity for them all, and after they had gotten their sea legs, they discovered the price of their celebrity. Yet it wasn't their own celebrity so much as that of their class or profession - adventurer. Nevertheless, they all soon discovered the skylarking crewmembers began to monopolize their time. So many questions about their lives - and finances, sometimes - but mostly about their skills and talents. All wanted to see the cream of society's crop perform the miraculous feats that bardic lore tended to make famous, and so each party member found themselves doing things for a captive audience.
Its novelty soon wore thin, however, and it wasn't long before only those really interested enough to commit to more study were given much consideration. This meant a few of the party were teaching the novice crew rudiments of combat, arcane and divine arts, and some of nature's 'secrets.' It was a good way to pass the time.
Furthermore, the crew was happy to reciprocate and teach the party members a few skills in exchange - seamanship, rope use, carpentry, blacksmithing, cooking, navigation, astronomy, and even healing and surgery were a few of the possibilities opened to them. But mostly it just passed the time.
"I just came up from the hold," Bebe said, "and Brambles and Lucian are fine," she told Alana. Their animals had been made comfortable below decks, though the captain insisted they be caged, the cages were roomy enough, and neither animal objected. But each druid visited their friends daily.
"Captain Watson tells me we're making good time and we'll most likely make port sometime tomorrow," Afy began.
They had all come to know a little of their captain, Emma Watson, as a bit of a cynically inclined, dark personality of considerable intelligence, wit, and skill. Mystir was indeed impressed that she seemed to know as much, if not more, about the arcane arts as he did, though Captain Watson spent most of her time aloof and inaccessible to trivial exchanges with passengers, so he couldn't be sure. In fact, she spent most of her time alone. Story was, though, her mind was the sort that never rested and didn't suffer fools gladly, and the crew was generally in awe of her reputation and courage in the face of the enemy - mostly pirates. Mystir, too, from what he could gather, was impressed her reputation had it that she only 'dabbled' in the arcane arts. Her true skills lay elsewhere, with rapier and leadership and tactics, and if true, that she would know more than he did spoke volumes about her relative skill in combat. For a petite woman, her mere presence commanded a surprising aura.
It was a shame none of them had a greater opportunity to get to know her better, but it could not be helped, as commanding a ship of the line apparently was a job that easily consumed 16 hours of each day, near as they could make out, and they rarely even saw the captain. And most of the time when they did see her, Raven's officers politely kept them away from her.
"Anyway, since we will all soon go our separate ways for a time, we best finally decide who will be the stewards of what items."
They had all toyed with this idea for weeks by then, discussing the various merits of who should be responsible for what items. Final ownership, they had agreed, was not a realistic option at that time, and passing around even more intraparty IOU's didn't appeal to most of them. Ownership would have to wait until their finances had changed and they had perhaps made another 'score' in the field. But their training came first, so stewardship had to be decided then.
"I say it's time to put it to a vote," Afy told them. "Might as well be a secret vote in case there might be hard feelings. So, each item will be voted on in turn. I had the ship's carpenter prepare these for us," she said, holding out numerous small thin discs of wood. Each had a name inscribe upon it of one party member. Each member had eight discs with their name on it, so there were 64 of them in all.
"For the first vote, let's decide who will be the steward of the Ivory Mount, the figurine of wondrous power. One at a time, each come up and secretly take a disc from the pile and place it in the container. When the last is cast, I'll tally them up and announce who the steward will be."
The instructions seemed clear enough. And they had all had their say - several times - during their voyage, so their was nothing more to say. Only the final vote remained.
"I'll go first," Afy said, and by example, rummaged through the pile, found a disc with the name on it she desired, and dropped it in the tall bowl with a satisfying plunk. Then she retreated from the table and let the next member have their turn. Soon, all eight of them had voted.
- JimGM.
PBEM Orlantia: The Voyage Home
Bebe was becoming more accustomed with long sea voyages and only was sick the first day. Brambles, of course, never paid the rocking ship any mind and curled up into a large ball of fluff in the hold. Often times Bebe would sleep in the cage with her, being more comfortable in those cramped conditions than in a cabin. Rare was the gnome that ever became claustrophobic.
The days seemed to fly by. Everything seemed so jumbled and confusing. The division of the recent spoils seemed to take their toll on the party as the long discussions turned heated at times, but all seemed to work out. Although she, herself, was not too happy with the IOU/Stewardship proposal, there wasn't much she could do about it. Everyone assumed that she would stay with the party, and for all intents and purposes, she planned on it, but only if they did not lounge around too long since her attention span and boredom level were both fairly short.
*I guess we are now 'Party Incorporated! Slayers of evil! Doers of Good!'* she chuckled to herself. *I better write that down in case we ever want to advertise ourselves. But, with Cosher's story telling, we probably won't have to for long. Too bad he can't sing about our victory for a couple years to come,* she remembered.
She was relatively happy with the proceeds she received for her involvement in the destruction of the nightmare. She became fairly miserly as soon as the stack of coins was shoved her way. Not really greedy, mind you, but very careful about how she was going to spend them.
The very first thing she did was drop off the taxman's share and a tithe to the church. *Might as well get that bit of nasty business out of the way,* she thought. Sadly, many thought like that, and didn't honestly enjoy helping the church out, or contributing to the government's coffers so they might help their fellow man - not when the primary incentive always seemed to be the threat of punishment for not paying, anyway.
Oh, she didn't mind giving a sum to the temple of Ehlonna, but what had the government ever done for her clan? As far as she knew, diddlysquat, that's what! They'd probably use the money to clear more land for some godforsaken 'infrastructure' project some fat wealthy nobleman deemed necessary.
Bebe was never too fond of bureaucrats.
Some of her money purchased a few small, uncut gemstones that she was planning to take back to her clan. It was a tradition in her family to give a sizable stake to an adventurer, and thus receive some of the spoils in return. A very good way to keep the clan affluent, but also give those few courageous, or stupid enough to take up the lifestyle a good incentive to go. Point in fact, though she didn't know it, it was quite a common practice for groups of individuals to find and invest in such highly talented people. And the rewards, while not guaranteed, were often substantial.
Now it was time to vote on the stewards for the items of power that "Party, Inc." had collected.
Bebe had thought long and hard about her choices, trying to use as much intuition as possible.
To Tyrulf the 'Figurine.' Mostly because he had expended some of his own money for Bopper, and that help the party out considerably.
To Alana, the 'Dagger.' She was still one of the weakest fighters among them and could use the boost, but also because she had been handling the majority of the healing and could wield the dagger were it could be utilized most effectively, healing a wounded member of the party. The idea that a non-healer should carry it didn't impress her much. *Anyone can pick up the dagger if she falls,* she reasoned.
To Mystir, the 'Spellbook.' Bebe had dealt with halfelves quite a bit and felt more comfortable around them; plus he just seemed more interested overall. Wyn seemed a bit secretive and she worried about his willingness to share with the others, including herself.
And to herself, the 'The Stone of Continuous Light.' Bebe's vision, while exceptional, was still not up to par with a true-blooded elf or dwarf. She would also be with the main body of the party most of the time where the light would be most appreciated. It also wouldn't interfere with those trying to secretly scout ahead of the party. Couldn't really do that, night-blinded and highlighted for a city block or more for every starving troll with eyes.
When it was Bebe's turn to vote, she quietly walked forward and cast her disc into the black jar.
*Now only to wait for come what may.*
- Shelly (Bebe)
PBEM Orlantia: Port Alodar.
The star-studded night sky rocked up and down as the ocean's waves plowed into the Raven's bow, but they had grown used to the ship's motions in those last three weeks, and their sea legs anticipated the roll of the deck as they moved about the ship. Normally they would be below decks in their hammocks that time of night, and only regular crewmembers would be on deck, but they were to make port within the hour - or so the captain said.
Still miles out to sea, a small, periodic flashing light on the horizon greeted them, and as they drew nearer, its apparent nature was revealed. Some large illuminating beam of golden light swept around in a great circle, pointing directly at the Raven every few seconds. All near heard the order on the quarterdeck to make course for it, though they could tell such an order had been well anticipated by the helmsman. Following the light in would guide them safely through the dangerous shoals and reefs, which made such night maneuvers possible with a fair measure of safety.
Yet, as they drew near, the night sky gave way to dawn's early light, each passing moment lessening the beam's golden brilliance as Gimarian rose above the horizon to outclass the tower's relatively puny light. But this made possible an even better view of the towering structure set upon the tiny island of Stratus. For 500 feet, the stepped, cylindrical building soared upwards, the beaconing light atop the mammoth tower crowning it in majestic wonder.
Mystir glanced down at the new gold piece he had been holding. On one side the very scenic image before him adorned the coin's surface, and as impressive as the coin's promise was, the actual vista was so much more breathtaking. He had always wanted to see Nimbus Reach, the great lighthouse in Alodar's bay, and now he had.
The elemental driven Alodarian Imperial Vessel, Raven, suddenly lurched oddly, and many stumbled a bit at the unexpected motion - yet none of the crew seemed alarmed. If fact, if anything, they seemed to relax as laughter and cheers erupted across the deck.
"What was that?" Afyanna asked a nearby crewman.
"Aye, ye 'arbor's giant's got us now, darlin'. 'E'll take us in safe and sound, ma'am, 'e will," the sailor replied. Afy still looked puzzled. Behind her, she heard Cosher chuckling to himself. She turned to him for further explanation.
"Well, lass, under this harbor lives a storm giant. He takes hold o' tha ship and puts us where the harbormaster wants us tae go. Oh, tae be sure, a ship like this could negotiate such a maneuver under its own power, but this be easier and safer, and a whole lot quicker, tae boot."
Afy was amazed at what seemed to be taken as a common practice, and surprised such a thing had never been explained to her before, or that she had never heard of it until then.
"A storm giant lives under water?" she asked, thinking it an odd place for such a lofty being.
"Aye. Few have ever seen its home, let alone seen the giant himself, but they say it lives in a bubbled dome at the bottom of the harbor," the sea dwarf told her.
"Do lots of harbors do this?" she wondered out loud.
"Nae, lass. This be the only one that Ah know of, but the traffic here tis always thick as flies, and the giant kin move ships in and out of their berths in a wee fraction o' the time. They also dinna have tae wait on wind or tide, here. The bloomin' giant even keeps the harbor free o' ice in the winter. 'Tis the busiest port in all the world," he said, a gleam of admiration in his eye.
Row upon row of docked ships passed them by as they were guided in toward their own berth, where they eventually moored. But there were no small vessels in their immediate vicinity. Instead, they were companions to other ships of the line at the wharf where they docked: The A.I.V. Athens, Hawk, Constellation, and September Girl were there, and slightly set apart, the A.I.V. Gimarian stood proud and defiant. The Gimarian was the only ship of the line manned almost exclusively with elves, and was on permanent detached duty and under the service of the Alderami Isles. Whatever she was doing there, unlike the others, it was at the behest of the Marching Alderami - the military component of elven society.
But Captain Emma Watson paid it no special heed, and gave orders for the passengers to disembark.
Their gear in tow, and with the new stewards in charge of the few magic items that had befallen them, they made their way down the gangplank and onto the stone wharf. It was one of the nearest wharfs to shore, so they did not have far to walk along the massive concrete piers until they were no longer really on the water anymore so much as dry land.
The capital city of Alodar lay before them. Within its towering walls that stretch on for miles and miles, a population of over three quarters of a million beings made their home, and visitors usually matched that number each day. And the immediate countryside beyond, the farms and orchards, vineyards and fields, and the forests and woods, boasted ten time that many again. Humans, elves, dwarves, hobbits, gnomes, a variety of half-breeds, and even more races besides, live in relative harmony under the watchful eye of the Alodarian Empire. And Alodar was only one of the five city-states that comprised the bulk of the empire's power.
Despite being the largest city in the world, Alodar's population was well spread out. True, there were some areas of great population density with jammed apartment complexes, but for the most part, as you walked around the 26-mile breadth of the city, most of it resembled small town living. Trees were abundant, and plazas were many, most of which contained ornamental fountains, artificial waterfalls, or reflecting pools and gardens. Even when amid the shops and concrete, guttered streets, a semblance of nature was always near at hand.
"Now what?" Mystir asked, as he carefully tucked the captured spellbook safely away in his backpack.
Wyn, who had been fingering Joree Sheen's keen dagger of healing, looked up and replied; "Now we go our separated ways and do whatever we want. No more meetings or committees for me. At least not until we all meet back here in two scepter's time."
Tyrulf pitched down the ivory statuette - something he had been longing to do for weeks, but hadn't dared while aboard the Raven - and uttered the command word. A pony appeared in its stead and the hill dwarf smiled with satisfaction.
"Wherever I need to go, at least I'll get there quicker on this," he chuckled.
Bebe looked at the continual illumination of the rock of light she carried one last time before placing it in a light-tight, black, cloth bag. As simple as it was, it still amazed her each time she thought about it, and she was glad to have won the stewardship for so simple, yet elegant an item.
"I guess Afy and I have yet to arrange passage to Anadem. And Cosher has to find a ship heading to his home. Sef does, too." She turned to look at the bardic sea dwarf one last time and smiled. "We'll all miss you. Are you sure you won't return when we're done training?" she asked again.
"Aye, lassie, Ah'm fairly sure Ah've bin away from home too long as it is. Ah was gone few nearly two years before all this started," he reminded everyone. "But we may meet again someday," he said with a grin. "Ah suspect after a time, Ah'll grow restless agin, lassie, and perhaps Ah'll seek you out. But fer now, homeward bound Ah be."
Then with a wink and grin, and as a tune rose from his lips, the bard walked off toward a cluster of taverns and shops.
All bade him goodbye, save Wyn, who had already disappeared into the city.
"I don't know for sure how long this'll last, so I best be on my way, too. I think I'll be headed up to Pedas, the dwarven capital," Tyrulf informed his mates as he mounted the magic pony. "This is no nightmare, but I reckon he'll get me to where I'm going soon enough," he smirked, grabbing a handful of mane and urging the pony onward. They watch him and he departed until he turned a corner and, like Cosher, was gone.
"And I've got a long piece to go, myself," Mystir announced. "If I'm to not waste any time, I best put a good foot under me and not dawdle here. See you all in a couple of scepters," he said, and the young mage began his journey to Nahecha and then home.
Afy wasn't much of one for speech making, and she had said all there was to say already, yet another "goodbye" escaped her lips.
She stood there in quiet contemplation for a moment, both Bebe and Sef waiting on her before they all went to the harbormaster to arrange various passages.
The Holy Warrior Of Corellon Larethian sighed, and she realized much of her apprehension and anxiety had left her. Her vision had called her out to help, and directed her to find companions to aid her on her quest. She had done that. Most would argue she had done it well. And though theirquest to Wrath was over, she knew, she could feel it deep down, that their adventures were still just beginning.
THE END
- JimGM
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© September of 2004
by
James L.R. Beach
Waterville, MN 56096