The Shattered World - Chronicles 1) The Beginning In the year 724 AS four 13 year boys on the cusp of manhood set off for a week long camping trip with their "Uncle" Magnus. In part this was to be a carefree break before they had to assume the responsibilties of manhood. But in part it was also an opportunity, like their fathers before them had had, for Uncle Magnus to tell them some of the realities of existence that were not spoken of in the village. After a long uneventful trip the group ascended halfway up Mount So and So. He told the boys that sorcerory is not evil in itself. Only people are evil. He also told them of the Chained Man and the Spoken Men. He told them that he believed that the Chained Man was still alive somewhere and that sooner or later great evil would return to Harn. This proved to be sooner than later as when they returned to the village they discovered that it was deserted. There was blood everywhere and much destruction and theft. Uncle Magnus recognized some of the blood and footprints to be those of goblins vile creatures that followed the Chained Man and which he was certain were extinct on Harn. Magnus estimated that there were at least one hundred of the creatures. They followed the tracks of the goblins and their human prisoners which were heading towards the Thardic Republic's castle of Firis. They came across the cooked remains of Calvin and Bjorn's 6 year old cousin which were properly if hastily interred. They next came across a huge pile of all the livestock stolen from the village. These had been shat upon and mutilated. Next they found another barbecue pit but these remains were not recognisable. These too were buried. They then found a hole leading deep within the ground. Magnus was going to descend to see if he could rescue the captives while the boys made haste to the castle. They parted ways there and the four of them headed off towards the castle. They hadn't gone far before they encountered a group of four goblins on the path. The goblins attacked and knocked down all four of them wounding Adam. Before the goblins could kill them though Magnus appeared. He knocked down all four of the goblins and rescued the boys. They slew three of the goblins out of hand and kept one to question. Magnus spoke goblin and was in the process of interrogating the prisoner when a group of twenty entered the clearing. He warned them off but they just laughed at him. The boys taunted and mocked the goblins, Calvin flung a slingstone at one, and they prepared themselves for battle. Bjorn slew the prisoner. Magnus revealed the fact that he was a sorceror as well as a mighty fighter when he cast a mighty fireball at the horde knocking 16 out of twenty down. This caused the four standing ones to flee and started a fire that killed the wounded goblins. The party fled to Firis and presented the corpse of the goblin to the garrison. The garrison commander led a group back who discovered that the hole led to a cave-in but they refused to try and dig the hole out or investigate further. He dismissed the goblin corpse as being that of a warped orc. Magnus promised the boys that he would help them gain the training they needed to get their revenge and set about making the mecessary arrangements. See The Years Inbetween for some of what happened to the boys as they grew to men. 2) O Magnus Where Art Thou? Having been given leave from their new lives to attend Magnus (see The Years Inbetween - The Reunion) the now young men made their way to Trobridge Inn. Calvin and Michael ran into each other on the way and travelled together. The other two travelled separately. Amazingly considering how long Bjorn especially had to travel they all arrived at the Inn at roughly the same time. There they had a somewhat hesitant reunion, since they had grown apart over the years. They exchanged news and got reacquainted with each other and the area as they waited. Magnus did not appear that evening and they started to worry about him. The innkeep swore that he had seen him that morning but he hadn't seen him since. They settled down for the night in the rooms Magnus had arranged for them and the next morning split up to look for him. Bjorn and Calvin worked as one pair and Adam and Michael worked together as the other pair. Bjorn and Calvin had no success in their questioning but Adam and Michael managed to get into a extremely brief fight with some of the followers of the local overlord. The one round fight ended when Adam disarmed one of the followers and Michael injured the other. The pair fled and Adam and Michael went to to find Bjorn and Calvin. They had decided not to cross the ford since the goons of the local overlord were collecting tolls from crossers. The four of them regrouped back at the Inn. 3) The [Sickening] Sound of Snapping Spines As the four party members conferred in the courtyard of the Trobridge Inn a rider suddenly entered the yard. He haughtily turned his horse over to the care of a stablehand and demanded to see the innkeeper. The innkeeper was hastily summoned and the rider declared himself to be a member of the Society of Gentlemen. He informed the innkeep that a SOG caravan would be arriving the next day and demanded that the innkeep evict all the current tenants to make room for the caravan's members. This the innkeep refused stating that his inn was already full. The rider was outraged and told the innkeep that his rival, the Inn of the Severed Hand would be getting the society's business. He rode off to book that inn. Half the party, Adam and Michael, decided that they would seek jobs at the Severed Hand so that they could spy on the Society members. Meanwhile Bjorn and Sir Calvin would visit the same inn and make enquiries about Magnus. After Michael disguised himself he and Adam headed over the inn. The innkeep their was thrilled to get new workers and took them on as a broomboy (Michael) and a water lugger (Adam). Plus other duties as assigned. He set them immediately to work sprucing up the inn. Bjorn and Sir Calvin went to the inn and made the acquaintance of the serving woman who kept trying to earn an extra income off of Bjorn. Bjorn resisted her, err charms but did manage to bribe her so that she told him what she knew about Magnus, i.e., that he had a weakness for the ladies. They immediately resolved to visit the brothel, Bjorn as a customer and Calvin in the guise of seeking employment. Calvin was of course hiding his membership in the Order of the Checkered Shield. Calvin went first and asked to see the madam. She arrived but seemed uninterested in engaging his services. She told him repeatedly that she didn't hire the muscle that was the local strongman Kurson's responsibility. Calvin kept trying to impress her with his skill at arms (meanwhile insulting the on-duty guards repeatedly). He finally got the message and arranged to come back and fight the insulted guards "later". Since they were on duty they agreed to this. Calvin went into the brothel for a drink but left when he learned that he would need to hire one of the "girls" to get one. He went back to the Severed Hand. (When asked later why he hadn't slept with a prostitute he claimed that "Once you've had a goddess he couldn't settle for less"). Bjorn arrived soon after and made arrangements to hire a girl after making subtle enquiries about Magnus to one of the "girls" acting for the madam. This one got the madam and Bjorn arranged to hire a 17 year old, after turning the 15 year old down. He went with her to her room and tried to make small talk as she took off all her clothes and lay down on the bed. While she was lying eyes closed there waiting for him to get it over with he cast a spell to increase his charm and persuaded her to tell him what she knew. After a promise of rescuing her "later" and some simulated intercourse she showed him a room down the hall where she told him Magnus had been captured. With this knowledge Bjorn headed back to the Severed Hand (little realizing that he was being followed). He told Calvin what he had learned and they passed this information over to Michael and Adam too. They tried to decide where he was being hidden and that they would meet later that night and investigate the brothel. Bjorn and Calvin returned to the Trobridge Inn while Adam and Michael remained at work. After the Severed Hand closed Adam and Michael were going to leave when Adam realized that the inn was being watched by four men. Michael sneaked past them to get Calvin and Bjorn. He discovered that another four men were watching the Trobridge Inn and sneaked past them. He climbed over the wall around the Inn and climbed up the outside wall to tap on Calvin and Bjorn's window. He told what was going on and they decided to go to the Severed Hand to rescue Adam before proceeding to the brothel. Michael left the way he had come and Calvin and Bjorn left by the front gate. As they neared the watchers they attacked them easily defeating them with Michael's help. (Two survived the attack and the innkeeper of the Trobridge Inn agreed to watch them until morning though he refused to get otherwise involved. The survivors agreed to leave Kurson's employ and told the party that Magnus was being held in the old tollhouse tower). The three of them proceeded to the Severed Hand where they quickly took care of the watchers, Michael killing one of them by snapping his spine. Adam joined them and they proceeded to the tollhouse. (Bjorn's fighting effectiveness was enhanced by the magic he employed). At the tollhouse they couldn't see anyone. Michael and Calvin decided to climb up the tower while Bjorn and Adam sat on the riverbank singing like drunks to distract the guards. Sure enough Michael and Calvin made it to the top and killed/incapacitated the two guards there. Calvin then dropped down to the next level where he was surrounded by four crossbowmen. Calvin depatched two of them and Michael got the third one. The other shot and wounded Calvin (the only damage any party member suffered in the entire scenario). The two guards on the bottomlevel fled in panic and Bjorn cast a fighting whirlwind at them. They barely survived the attack but managed to get away. The four checked out the tower and discovered a trap door in the floor. They descended and found two tunnels. One led to an iron door running with water while the other led to a dome that held nothing but Magnus. Magnus was hanging naked by his ankles. A rope wrapped around his ankles supported him from a hook. His body seemed to be wrapped in a black rose vine that writhed as they watched. He seemed unconcious and in pain but managed to warn them not to touch him. He told them the rose vine was nothing which they eventually realized meant it was part of the Void. The rope turned out to be a braid of blond hair. Magnus warned them not to touch the vine or let him touch anything as the vine would destroy anything it touched. Magnus told them that his Oath was stronger than the Nothing. They also wondered what the hair braid was. A bald god or goddess was speculated. Adam tried a magic detection spell but the vine didn't detect as magic. They weren't sure what to do though Bjorn jokingly suggested breaking their oaths to Magnus and joing the bad guys. Matters were made worse by the arrival of Sir Artor Silvercrest (see the Scholar's tale) and 10 longbowmen. Sir Artor demanded they turn Magnus over to him and gave them until daybreak to decide what they would do. Last updated August 22, 2004 |