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The journey for our player-characters began in Averheim, which is in the upper right corner of the map, above, on May 28th, 2503 (1st Edition Time-Line). Averheim is south-east of the major city of Nuln, on the Aver River, which is a branch of the Reik River, the major water way from the Sea of Claws in the far north.
Averheim is a bustling medium sized city, little more than a very large village. It is caught halfway between the bustle of the street markets you would find in Nuln and the quiet trading of the farmers from the village of White Oak nearly twenty kilometers to the south-west. The population you will find there is, for the most part, illiterate and untamed, although the progress of the people in the city is quite a ways above that of a farming community. Large words are not exchanged, here, and it feels as though you are under a great deal more suspicion and envy than you really feel you should be. Even if you have grown up in Averheim, you feel as though you are no longer truly welcome, after heeding the call of the Empire to escort their dignitaries west, across the Grey Mountains.
Der Rathaus, the primary government building, bustles with activity near the center of town, where a small park and a large fountain with statues extolling the virtues of past heroes and government officials bubbles and shoots water into the air, only to splash around the outer edges of the main fountain. This official building stands easily forty feet in the air, and is topped with a dome of granite and marble, surrounded with catwalks and Imperial soldiers keeping watch out beyond the city limits as far as they can see. With the recent growth of Averheim, you see it will soon be time to establish outposts for protection, perhaps even build a wall around the city proper. The buildings around Der Rathaus are half-height to it, and seem to bow in the morning sun to the magnificence of the structure, recently built in this center. Shops line the bottom floors of all of the buildings except the one in the middle of the eastern side of the square, now in shadow because the morning sun is to its back, and that building is an inn and pub named the Cat's Shadow Gruelry.
In the notice posted on the population center in your town, you were made to understand that you would have to enter Der Rathaus in the center of town in order to find work as an escort for a diplomatic caravan. The work, according to the notice, would pay two Gold Crowns per day as well as food and water. You would not be paid until you reach the other side of the Grey Mountains, and any expenses you accrued during the journey were your own to take care of, including providing shelter, personal accoutrements and sundries, and any specialty items of your preference. If you were a marked man or a criminal you need not apply lest you lose your freedom; unfortunately, from the looks of the faces on those who are, most obviously, outsiders, it would appear many of them ignored that warning, or simply did not read it, perhaps were unable to read it. Indeed, you could have wished for more savory company out of many. On the other hand, a few of them look relatively timid, such as the Female Elf Archer standing alert to the left of the stair casement leading into Der Rathaus. She appears to have seen better days than today, or perhaps the last month, although she also seems as though she'll do well on this journey.
You enter Der Rathaus, are greeted by a very sparsely appointed and large room which echoes with the footsteps of hard soled boots and the guttural tongue of Reikspiel, the common tongue of the Empire, coming from two men standing across the rotunda from the entrance. One of the men is quite large, and seems to have seen far more than his fair share of food in his days. You know, instinctively, this is the man you will be talking to; after all, he is, most obviously, the wealthier of the two men. The other man is, most obviously, an Imperial Army Captain, larger than the fat man, with wide shoulders and a plate helmet held in place by his left arm. You approach and wait to be spoken to...
THE BANQUET AND PREPARATION
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(NOTE: From this point forward you will see a digest version of what has taken place in our game over the past decade. Although the forums are marked with a beginning date of August 5th, 2004, we played from May 28th, 2003 until some time in early February, 2004 before some idiot hacked the site. It took until August 5th to re-launch the site, as I was not schooled in coding anything php or MS-SQL related at the time. I will do what I can to provide links to the stories themselves from this, and the following pages, when possible. Of course, the best way to get the whole story is to read it on the forums.)
May 28th, 2503
28th Plugzeit, 2503 IC
The player characters have met, or are meeting, with Count Hanse von Griebenheim, the ruling patriarch of the state/county of Averheim. He has been commissioned by the young Emperor Karl-Franz to hire men and women of special skill to assist in the process of escorting his caravan to Parravon in Bretonnia, at which point the Dauphin has guaranteed safe passage to Quenelles, and the character's skills will no longer be required. The base pay for their skills was 2 gold per day, though they were welcome to bargain for more, and most did.
In the party initially were Kirsten Jaeger -a serving wench hired to the caravan to aid in taking care of the soldiers-, Smarty Jones -a Dwarven fighter, one of the legendary Troll Slayers-, Lanis Fritzwold -a Human Scholar-, Cruor Draig -a Wizard's Apprentice-, Moritz Zahnbrecher -a Wizard's Apprentice with an eye towards medicine-, Faerod of Hainlen -a Roadwarden-, and Athaeis -an Elf Hunter.
The evening of May 28th a banquet was held in honor of the adventurers and in anticipation of the journey. This is where some of the characters were able to meet Captain Berenkov, the Captain of the Imperial Guardsmen assigned to protect the caravan; he comes off as a very surly character, hard to get past like a wall. Several of the male characters hit on Athaeis, the only female Elf some of them have ever seen, all failing miserably, and the night moves on through dinner and a great deal of alcohol, dancing, laughing, and a small speech by the fat Count von Griebenheim...
"The Empire is in danger," he begins, obvious pain in his face, "but, then, when has it not been in trouble?" He sighs and holds up his left hand to forestall any answers or shouts of agreement, some of which come anyway, and continues, "Normally our problems come from the north and from the south-east, near the Border Princes. However, this time, our troubles are coming from Brettonia, complaints of incursions of Empire citizens from the foot of the western side of the Grey Mountains into Quenelles and as far as Brionne becoming more prominent every day.
"Our Elf friends in the Loren Forest," at this, he tips his cup to each Elf in the room, few as they are, in respect, "refuse to drop their magicks long enough that Brettonian investigators and Army officials can get through to investigate. They will not even send emissaries to speak with the investigators. Indeed, there is tension at the borders of Loren, and it is feared that, unless they relent soon, there could be open warfare, something the Wood Elf Kingdom could not survive.
"To this end, we are being sent to Brettonia for several reasons. The first is that we are a diplomatic envoy, designed to help smooth over relations with them, to ascertain why Empire citizens are moving towards Bretton rather than back into the Empire, where they belong, to attempt to get the Elves of Loren to open their borders for a short time of investigation, if we can, and to see why the region, just within the last four months, has become such a hot bed of news.
"This reminds me," the Count takes a drink from his full wine goblet, his face betraying the pain of some memory, "of the incursions from the Black Sea of the World's Edge Mountains several years ago. This same sort of disruption happened there, and it turned out to be chaos, the green skins raiding, pillaging and burning, leaving smouldering hulks in their wake." He looks up at the eyes of most people in the room, pausing long to look into each set of eyes as he passes them, even if for the briefest of moments, before continuing. "All I am saying is we may face creatures twisted by the warpstones or their fragments. As well, it may be that we will face outlaws and highwaymen, dark knights, and whatever else Ulric throws in our direction to combat.
"On the other hand, it may be also that we will face nothing. However, in case of the former, I have a little gift for those of you who have signed on to come with us." He raises his empty left hand and points to several racks of what appear to be leather armor which have been brought in by the horse soldiers while he was speaking. "Each of you are awarded a full shirt of chain mail, which will serve you well in combat. On your way out this evening, please find something in your size. You will note that each is decorated with a sash with the colors of my house upon it." He pauses long enough to raise his wine glass to Captain Berenkov. "This sash is required to be worn by you while you are in my service.
"The sash will aid you in many ways, not the least of which is easy identification in battle should you become separated from a group," the Count laughs at this and is joined by Captain Berenkov and nearly all of the soldiers, as well as some of the other adventurers who are traveling with you. "As has been explained to all, payment will be received just prior to entering Brettonia and Parravon, and not before. If you have anything which needs must be taken care of over the next two days, I would recommend you do that.
"Captain Berenkov has assured me, readily, that we will not be able to leave until the opening days of summer, June first, so you have little time to prepare. Until then," the Count raises his glass at this point, as in a toast, and many of the mucky-mucks and low nobles of Averheim and her surrounding cities and villages invited to the feast for the sake of propriety, raise their glasses as well. At this point a bevvy of dancing maids comes pirouetting through the main hall door, followed by a lively band of locals playing a festive tune not related to warfare or conquest in any way, and begin to dance at various selected parts of all the tables. "Enjoy yourselves!" Many of those with glasses raised already raise them slightly higher at the completion of his toast. He sits down and begins to converse gleefully with the nobles and high members around him.
MORNING IN AVERHEIM
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May 29th through June 1st, 2503
29th Pflugzeit, 2053 IC
Each of the characters, knowing the rules about having their own money available, were given opportunities to show themselves around the town and, perhaps, earn some extra coin. (NOTE: This is when Kirsten Jaeger's player dropped out of the game; the character has, recently, been deleted and is not able to join the group.) Instead, some characters tried to swindle money for the armor and shields the Count gave them freely, while Smarty applied to work with the local Blacksmith in exchange for certain dyes he would require. Athaeis spent several mornings hunting rabbits, exchanging them with a local inn-keeper for the sake of acquiring jerky for the journey. Cruor goes to work for an ancient Necromancer, cleaning a store room for goods, and Lanis finds employment as a Numismatist for a local magic wares merchant.
Upon completion of the blacksmithing required to get the caravan moving toward Nuln and, beyond, to Parravon in Bretonnia, Count von Griebenheim rewards all smithy's involved with a dinner at the Cat's Shadow Gruelry in the middle of Averheim, where they will be paid as well. (NOTE: Although the database stores all dice rolls, it does not always keep them accurate for long, so if you read responses that do not make sense -such as the potion found by Cruor in the stock room as he cleaned it- it's because the database has lost the original number. Simply read the text for what the proper response at the time was.)
Our story continues if you click this line...
The Legend of Goe Orthrond Forum
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