In-Game Date: Mansday, Disander 13, late night – Moonsday, Dis 14, noon.
The week of Horfang.
Grumble receives several more wounds inside the cloud of darkness, including a flaming ball to the side of the head. Madly flailing about with his axe, he can tell that he’s striking objects, but none of them cry out in pain.
Badger and Audric, meanwhile, fly over the flaming wall with no ill effects, but Audric swoops up suddenly as he spies a cluster of city militia bearing crossbows and pikes. Fortunately, the militia recognizes them before any of the frightened guards open fire. Audric lands and releases Badger, who begins to explain what’s happened to the guards. The shapechanger then takes off again to go and bring one of the other party members over the fire wall. But as soon as he crosses the wall a second time, it vanishes, leaving only heat radiating from the walls and flagstones. The militia sends a detachment around the block to come through the warren of alleyways from the opposite direction, while half a dozen or so charge into the alley that was recently blocked by fire. Badger shrugs and follows after them.
About the time the fire wall vanished, the cloud of darkness around Grumble lifts and is gone as well. Grumble looks around him for any sign of his foe, but sees only several deep gouges in the stone wall, and a partially collapsed awning strewn about with several broken barrels. One barrel remains miraculously unharmed by Grumble’s axe, and he smashes it as well in frustration. The barrel gives way under his blade, and the contents spill out over his feet. Grumble looks down.
“Shit,” he growls, because it is.
Both groups of militia meet up, neither having encountered any additional assailants. The watch commander checks to make sure the party is not in danger of immediate death, and provides an escort for them back to the Shield and Shingle. Once there, Grumble doesn’t even pause, but goes straight up the stairs and into his room. It could be due to the fatigue, or it could have been because as their escort left, another guard ran up to them and says that they found a stash of the were-rats’ gold in the sewer beneath the bell tower! There must have been at least 10,000 gold from all the extorting they’ve been doing the past months, or so the guard reports. The party sighs, to tired and sore to even groan at the news. Audric mutters something under his breath that sounds like: “Don’t scream until they’re gone… don’t scream until they’re gone…”
Nialia and Rowan make to follow Grumble’s lead, but Audric hesitates. He decides to go to the
While he’s out, the party learns that whoever the Speaker in Dreams is, it isn’t someone they’ve dealt with yet. Each of them has a nightmare about walking through various parts of the ruins of the city. Each hears a hissing, a great susurrus of sibilant speech, alien yet full of malice. Each stands before an opening door or gate of some kind and hears a deep, sepulchral voice intone, “The bells toll! The gate swings wide! Doom has come to the world!” The scene that greets their eyes cannot be later remembered, but it is one of horror, and the sleeping heroes sink fitfully into deeper sleep.
Except for Badger, who is shaken awake by Audric, who has returned, looking grim. Blearily she asks if he was successful as Audric strips off his armor and crawls gingerly into bed beside her. He mumbles that the temple was closed to the public; militia were keeping everyone away from the gates by order of the baron. There was also a glow from within the temples that could be seen through the window, almost like a fire was burning within. Audric says that he tried to play the “hero of Brindinsford needing aid” card, and nearly got his head handed to him. Badger doesn’t tell Audric of her dream, but holds him close until she can once more drift off.
Just before dawn, Grumble awakes to find Auger sitting patiently across from his bed. Wit every muscle in his body screaming, the dwarf staggers into his clothes and heads out for training. When he gets back, dawn is just breaking, but the Grumble heads back upstairs and tries to get a little more sleep.
Just after eight in the morning, heralds' trumpets sound throughout the town, and a crier announces the baron's desire to speak to his people. The speech will be repeated around the city by criers for those unable or unwilling to attend. The party, rudely awoken by the pronouncement, decides to attend the speech, but will do so trying to keep a low profile.
Soon they join the crowd forming outside the baron's keep around the northeast tower. Less than half of the town's nearly five thousand citizens are here, but the crowd looks enormous... and agitated. The morning sky seems agitated as well, with heavy black clouds blocking the sunlight, and a light drizzle wets the faces of those who look up towards the tower.
The noisy crowd begins to hush as the heralds' trumpets sound again, and the figure of the baron appears on a high balcony near the top of the tower. He is dressed in a white tunic and purple cloak, and sporting a close-trimmed black beard. He raises his hands, and silence spreads over the throng.
His speech is oddly emotionless, despite his protestations of sadness and regret. He speaks without pause, regardless of the interruptions and cries of alarm and dismay arising from the crowd.
"Good people of Brindinsford, I address you today with a heavy heart, standing amid the chaos that has befallen our town. Lawlessness and disorder have reigned since this street fair began, and even the valiant efforts of a heroic band of adventurers have not put an end to the madness. Even while we celebrated these heroes and feasted in their honor, assassins plotted to end their lives.
"The guards of our fair city have been decimated. The streets are not safe to walk at night. Therefore, I am forced to call upon a new force of law, one that can and will restore order to Brindinsford. Let it be recorded that I, Baron Euphemes the Second, have decreed this day these new edicts, most of which will become effective upon the first stroke of noon:
"The street fair is over. All booths must be removed from
"The gates of the city are now closed. No one shall enter or leave Brindinsford until further notice.
"The carrying of weapons in the city is prohibited. Anyone seen to be in possession of a weapon will be attested and tried for treason.
"The
"In order to maintain this new order in our fair city, I summon to duty all able-bodied citizens who have enlisted in the militia. They are to report to the barracks immediately.
"Let the forces of lawlessness know that we will brook no disobedience of our law. Defiance will be punished by death, and justice will be executed without delay."
The baron turns without another word and disappears into the tower. As the baron leaves, a figure appears on the balcony. The creature is humanoid, about 9 feet tall, but gaunt to the point of being skeletal. A heavy cloak hides his body, but he places two large, clawed hands on the railing and leans forward, as if savoring the fear and dismay of the gathered crowds below. Even the two bodyguards of the baron seem to quail in the presence of this creature. After a moment, the gaunt being turns and stalks back into the tower with a harsh noise that could have been a laugh.
Still wondering what the hell that tall thing was, Grumble hears a female voice from behind, speaking in dwarvish. “That’s quite a pronouncement. I was going to be on the next caravan out of this hell hole, too.”
Grumble turns to see a dwarven warrior maiden in filigreed but sturdy-looking plate armor. A cloak is pulled over her head, obscuring most of her face in the light drizzle. At her side is a dwarven Urgosh engraved with the family runes of the Nock’kern clan. Grumble starts as he recognizes the runes.
A smile plays about the lips of the dwarf girl. “It’s not my clan. It’s a gift from a… friend.”
Grumble raises an eyebrow (the only one he has, since the other one burned off last night, along with half his mustache). “Some friend.”
“What are you going to do about the edicts, warrior?”
“I don’t know,” replies Grumble, “but I’m not giving up my axe.”
“Well, I don’t want to give up my steel at some baron’s whim either, but I’d rather not face the headsman’s axe, either.”
Nialia makes a crack about dwarven language in Elvish under her breath to Rowan, and the dwarf girl looks up and snarks right back in Common, evidencing an unmistakable understanding of the Elven language.
Grumble laughs. The girl smiles at him, continuing to speak in Common now. “Want to decide what to do over a drink? I’ll buy for your friends, too, if they want to join us.”
Grumble leads her and everyone else back to the Shield and Shingle. He asks her about her clan, since her accent seems very close to his own. She says that she’s about to marry into the Nock’kern, since she was betrothed a few days before her father died. She has spent the past four years (four dwarven years, anyway, which works out to about ten years on the common calendar) getting the traveling bug out of her system. She was about to head back to the dwarflands on the caravan she’s guarding when all this happened.
She seems nice enough, though Rowan clearly is wary of any new faces that want to be friendly. Something about her manner and voice reminds Grumble of home, in a good way. Nialia, on the other hand, feels like every word the dwarf girl utters is like the rasp of metal on her ears. She can’t understand why, but the hackles on her neck are up, and she has to fight the urge to change into her wolf form and attack. She feels an odd pressure behind her eyes, like a headache that gets steadily worse the longer she’s around the girl.
The girl is cordial enough to them all, and talks easily with Grumble, though every once in a while her speech changes, and an undercurrent of strange animosity towards him slips out, as though he wronged her grievously in the past.
Finally, something she says gets Grumble’s dander up. “Thanks for the drink, but maybe you should get back to your caravan,” he says flatly.
The dwarf maid, her cloak still on, rises to her feet. “Maybe I will,” she says evenly. “See you around, Mordi.” With that, she heads for the door.
Grumble’s head snaps up and around at that. He looks like he just got punched in the… well, in the everything. Everyone else remains still but ready as Grumble calls out to the strange girl.
“Wait!” The girl stops, but does not turn.
Grumble steps up to her, and now she turns to him. “How do you know that name?” he whispers.
In answer, her hands slowly rise to her head, and lift the cloak away from her face. She is younger than Grumble, and her hair is a pale yellow, but the family resemblance is unmistakable.
Grumble goes as pale as a cave-toad. She looks just as she did when Grumble saw her last. A scar here and there, and her skin is a bit more weathered, but there’s no mistaking the eyes.
“Glorwyn? You’re dead. How…” he trails off, unable to continue.
“Who is this?” asks Audric, confused.
“This is my sister,” says Grumble, unable to take his eyes off of her. “I thought she was dead. She was dead… and it was all my fault…”
The party is silent, and Glorwyn’s face betrays not a single flicker of emotion as she watches Grumble.
Stumblingly, haltingly, Grumble tells his companions at last of the story of his banishment. How he failed in his charge to protect the tribute money from his and several other clans to a raid, and how his sister perished in the attack. How he dug himself and his sister’s body out of the rubble of the tunnel that had collapsed around him, and how he built for his sister the pyre of a fallen warrior. How he was stripped of his name and rank and banished from dwarf lands.
After he finishes, Glorwyn fills in a few blanks for his brother. Days before the raid, their dying father had accepted a proposal for marriage from a minor but wealthy noble in the Nock’kern clan. Although Orderik, their brother, was against the arrangement, and urged their father not to pay the rather large bride-price, their father insisted, wanting his daughter taken care of. Glorwyn hadn’t found time to tell Grumble about it before the attack. After Grumble’s banishment, Glorwyn’s fiancé used his influence with the clerics of Moradin to return Glorwyn to life with a powerful resurrection spell.
She tells Grumble that she begged her fiancé for a little time to go find her brother, to see him one last time before she left her clan forever. She’s been searching for him for almost ten years now, traveling both alone and in the company and employ of others. She’s learned to fight well, and has even mastered some arcane magic.
She glares into Grumble’s tear-filled eyes as her voice becomes harsh.
“You know, for the longest time I hated you. Part of me wanted you to suffer the way I had. Dying was horrible, but it wasn’t that bad. But being brought back to life? That was by far and away the most horrible thing I’ve ever experienced. Do you know what happens? No? I’ll tell you: my soul was brought back into the charred remains of my body. It was a horrifying matter of seconds before they could heal me back to full health. D’you have any idea what it’s like to try and draw breath into lungs that are cracked and crusted? To feel a heart that’s been completely incinerated try to beat? To try and feel with nerves that have been blasted away by fire? Those seconds seemed like an eternity! I still wake up screaming some nights, dreaming that I’m trapped in that charred body, only no one’s around to heal me.”
Glorwyn stops a moment to regain her composure, and then continues in a softer voice. “But as time went by, and I couldn’t find you, I began to worry more that you were dead, and I would never see you again. I realized that it mattered more to know that you were all right. After these four years, I had given up hope. I hired myself onto a caravan heading north back into the dwarfmounts. We got into town here in the middle of the fair, and started hearing about these heroes who were solving all the town’s problems. I think I nearly died of shock when I realized that one of them was you.
“You know, Mordi, I must have rehearsed a thousand speeches, played out a thousand scenarios in my mind of what would happen if I found you. And of course, now that I’m here, I have no idea what to say to you.”
Grumble can contain himself no longer. He throws his arms around her and sobs into her pauldrons. For a moment she seems frozen, but then her face softens and she embraces him back.
She listens to a brief outline of their adventures, and their encounters with powerful dark forces. She is impressed by her brother’s exploits, though it is apparent that Rowan and Nialia are not happy with Grumble telling her of their adventures, even if he doesn’t go into details about anything he shouldn’t, or mention names that she shouldn’t know.
About this time, the voice of a crier, walking the streets and repeating the baron’s speech can be heard approaching the common room of the inn. A citizen bursts in, yelling “You guys have GOT to see this!”
The adventurers look at each other. Audric gets up and heads for the door. “I’ve gotta see this,” he says with a shrug.
The rest of the party follows him onto the street. The crier recites the baron’s speech in a loud, carrying voice. He looks terrified, though not so much of the dark reactions of the crowds on the street, but of the two creatures clad in the garb of the city militia that flank him. They look like goblins, but stand about eight feet tall, and carry naked blades. They grin nastily at the frightened onlookers, as if daring any of them to start trouble. Finally, the sweating crier finishes the speech and moves on down the road. The creatures follow him like wraiths, their beady eyes darting about and their toothy maws twisted into cruel smiles.
After heading back in and reseating themselves, they all discuss their options, with the noon deadline coming in less than an hour. As politely as possible, they shove Glorwyn away from the table to go chat with Badger while they discuss a few options best kept to as few ears as possible. Grumble has an idea to procure magical cloaks that would enable them to conceal their weapons on their person. Audric muses that the Thieves’ Guild might have such items available, or know where to procure them. The idea that the Shield and Shingle is no longer a safe haven for them is brought up as well. Plans are made to spread rumors that the party is still staying there while they obtain lodging in secret elsewhere. The places that seem best are Amrauthlen’s grove, or a safe-house known to the Thieves’ Guild. Rowan and Grumble agree to head to Shooma’s to try and obtain helpful magic items, while Badger and Audric will head to the Gold Tabard Trading Company to do the same, as well as inquiring about possible lodging. Nialia heads off to Amrauthlen to ask if the party can shelter there as well. Glorwyn heads back to the warehouse where her caravan is stationed, seeing if she even has a job, since in all probability the caravan will be stuck within the city walls along with everyone else. She makes Grumble promise to come by and see her after he finishes doing what he needs to do. Though he doesn’t want to deceive his sister, he tells her that he and his comrades will be staying at the shield and shingle. Lastly, everyone removes their weapons and place them in the bag of holding. The exceptions are Grumble, who refuses to remove his axe until he absolutely has to, Badger, who won’t tell anyone where her kukri is hidden, and Audric, who likewise say he will have no problems concealing his longknife. The party splits up and heads their separate ways.
Grumble and Rowan arrive at Shooma’s smithy to find that she has been forbidden to sell or take commissions for any weapons of armor without the express permission of the city authorities. She wishes she could help them, but her shop has been here for a hundred years, and she doesn’t want to risk seeing it destroyed. With a sigh, the two head towards the city’s grove, where everyone agreed to meet next. As they walk back up
Nialia, meanwhile, finds Amrauthlen more than willing to shelter her and her friends for as long as they need. He tells her that he had a disturbing dream wherein he was walking through the ruins of the city. Before his hands, the gates to the
Badger and Audric have slightly more luck than Grumble and Rowan. They talk to Arch, the co-head of the Thieves’ Guild. While he does not know of any magic items that would match the description or function Grumble had envisioned, he does provide them with an address and a password for one of the guild’s safe houses. Thanking the man, the two depart for the grove.
Audric asks Badger what she and Glorwyn talked about while the rest of them were making plans. “Oh, just girl stuff,” replies the gnome. “I wanted to know what Grumble was like before… you know, everything else.” Something is bothering her, though. Something at the back of her mind is screaming to be paid attention to. Finally it hits her, and she stops suddenly, feeling suddenly much colder than the wet weather would normally make her. Audric stops as well, and his eyes narrow as he sees the look on her face. “Badger, what is it?”
“Audric,” she breathes. “She mentioned the House of Bel. I didn’t say the name, and I don’t think any of the rest of us said it. Do you think there’s any chance Grumble let it slip when he was talking in dwarf?”
Audric shakes his head. “No. I speak it, and I was listening to them the whole time.” He sighs. “The entire time she was there, I was trying to read her mind. I would have had better luck trying to read the thoughts of the table instead. She admitted to being a magic user, so I had to be very careful, but I cast a few low-level detection spells her way. She could be wearing some kind of magic amulet to protect her thoughts from being read, but I can’t tell if any of her gear is magic. Hells, I couldn’t even detect if she was good or evil. Again, she could do that with the right set of items, but why would a caravan guard be sporting that kind of anti-magic gear?”
The two resume walking, their thoughts full of dark questions.
“We have to tell Grumble,” sighs Badger.
“WE? You tell him. I’m not pissing off Ragey McSlaughterAxe by telling him something is really wrong about his sister!”
Badger invokes the sacred problem-solving rite of Rock, paper, scissors, and Audric loses. Seeing the crestfallen look, she squeezes his arm. “Oh, we can tell him together, silly.”
“Tell who what?” asks Grumble, for the two gnomes have arrived at the entrance to the grove.
Amrauthlen bows to them all, smiling gently. “Enter, friends of the forest, and be welcome within my grove. I offer you sanctuary within these walls, and what protection leaf and bough can afford. I promise you that while this place will not stand against a determined assault, its power will keep most evil at bay. For evil has indeed come to this city, and I fear that it will take power beyond your abilities to cleanse the foulness from within the walls of Brindinsford.”
With that, the party enters the grove, wondering what to do next, and whether they will find this Speaker in Dreams before it finds them …
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