The
Ashbury Times
August /
September 609
“All The News That Fits, We Print”
Lost Race of Mystic Wood Elves Discovered
Recently, a great tremor shook Fairdale. The
land began to smoke, and four stone fountains rose from the fields in the
center of town. Adventurers who were present at the time drew nearer to
investigate, but they were attacked by hordes of elementals that had been drawn
there by the disturbance.
Meanwhile, the Mystic Wood Elves present felt
themselves drawn to the stream. There, a light from within the water told them
of a lost culture of their brethren, and their leaders that had to be freed.
The fountains were apparently portals to the prisons of these leaders.
Later that night, one of the fountains began
to glow. The adventurers closest to it were sucked into the fountain, where
they found a strange puzzle. While they were solving it, flame elementals
spewed out of the fountain and attacked the town. Once the chosen adventurers
finished the puzzle, they were transported back out of the fountain and the
flame elementals disappeared.
When the group arrived, they were accompanied
by a sarong-clad Mystic Wood Elf who bore a large, sparkling pearl. She
introduced herself as Ali’i Malika
of the Keilani. Her people, she explained, lived on
an island far to the East. Long ago, the Abyssal Gorge was eternally open,
spewing undead and nightmarish creatures into our world. The Keilani joined forces with the Imladari,
who had developed a way to seal the gorge from within. To this end, the Halani (King of the Keilani) and
the Keilani elders entered the gorge, leaving the
governing of their island to the Ali’i (Keilani dukes). They succeeded, but the Halani
and elders were trapped inside, and the gorge still opens on Hallowe’en. Many undead were trapped on our side, and
they sought revenge on those who had cut them off from their home. They attacked
the island of the Keilani mercilessly. Left with no
other choice, the Keilani performed an ancient ritual
to seal their island from the rest of the world. In casting this ritual, the
four Ali’i were placed in a sleep that would
have been eternal. The disturbance in the Abyssal Gorge (the death of most of
the Kings of Hallowe’en last year) convinced Malika that it was time for the Keilani
to awaken again.
Over the course of the next two days, each of
the fountains activated, drawing in a group of adventurers who had to solve a
puzzle of some kind. Each time, they succeeded in freeing another of the Ali’i. Malika was joined by
her kinsmen Rapa’ee’ee, Kanu, and Lani. They were all
covered in Pe’a, traditional ink tattoos, and
they each bore a pearl which served as a focus for the ancient ritual. Once
they were all freed, they told the adventurers that it was time to lift the
veil that had hidden their island for so long. They found a suitable place in
the woods, where they joined hands and closed their eyes. As soon as the ritual
began, strange creatures rifted in around them. It was up the assembled
adventurers to fend off the monsters and protect the Ali’i.
At long last, a wave of magic went through the crowd as the ritual was
completed. Everyone there was transported to the island of the Keilani, a tropical paradise which had been sleeping for
millennia. The Ali’i welcomed the adventurers
to their home, and offered hospitality to all who wished to stay. Many were
more than happy to take them up on their offer.
Intelligent Oozes Threaten Fairdale
A
series of strange oozes attacked Fairdale recently. A local baker who was part of it submitted
this story:
My name is Moon Silvertongue
and I am a baker who got wrapped up in an epic adventure recently in Fairdale.
I had come to the town to sell my spicy turkey sandwiches, my blueberry
muffins, my cookies, and Stronghorn the Bullkin’s Chocolate Muscle Provider. I ended up doing
much more than that.
While in the tavern, I was asked to trek into the
woods and help search for a circle of painted stones and here the adventure
begins. A dryad fellow named Cyril Thornbranch came
into the tavern. He had awoken in a stone circle in the woods with no memories
(we would later learn that the corrupted monster Goglon
and Cyril Thornbranch shared a mysterious bond that
we would need to break).
The
adventurers in the tavern thought it was important to find Cyril’s circle
that night. I was recruited because I had a Light spell active. Trel was recruited because he had a torch. Anna was
recruited for healing. Brok was recruited for the
power of his sword and the accuracy of his spells. Warpfang
was recruited for his agility.
The eight of us searched the dark woods of Fairdale
for quite some time and did find a semi-circle of painted stones after an
exhausting search. Warpfang reproduced the images on
the stones in my notebook and we returned to the tavern to interpret our
findings. We learned that the Kiergani and Children
of Autumn who were present had been experiencing strange dreams or nightmares
that seemed to fit certain parts of the story being told by the stones. The
Children of Autumn had particularly acute nightmares of a chain strangling
them.
The long search for the stones, which was
unpleasant and unprofitable, turned out to be a waste of time, however. The
information was useless as the interpretation was later handed to us by some
sort of large, story-telling slime which called itself The Memory Keeper.
It told the tale that long ago, a plague fell upon
the
The next child, and all
the children thereafter born to the tribe were horribly deformed. The
babies’ bodies oozed black pus and poison. It could think and speak, but
everything it touched decayed. In fear, the dryads cast the children into a
nearby swamp to be drowned. They were tossed away and forgotten. They
thought they had paid a small price. They thought the cursed children long
dead. But they were not gone. In the muck and mire, the ooze-children thrived.
Led by one of the first born, who called
himself Goglon, created a collective mind, which
connected the oozes all together. Goglon, being the strongest, controlled this
connection. When the Cursed Ones were numerous enough, Goglon
led them in a crusade against the dryads who had cast them out. He forged the
Culling Chain out of super-refined metal, which would cause any dryad who
touched it unbelievable pain. If clasped around a dryad’s neck, it would
send them into a tormented sleep, never to awaken. After years of war, the same
dryad ritualist who had caused their creation used
the method to trap our Goglon within the Ardan Tree. With Goglon gone,
they were scattered and leaderless. They had grown to depend on Goglon’s influence through the collective mind, and
now that it was gone, their intelligence dropped to that of animals, they hid
in the rotting places of the forest, spreading
poison, waiting for the day of Goglon’s
return.
The next morning I was again in the woods
surrounding Fairdale. The stone circle was much easier to find in the daylight
and it was possible to make out more details. We should have waited until
morning before searching for the stones.
Saturday afternoon we faced Goglon
on the field of battle for the first time. I can’t name everyone who
helped defeat Goglon, but the monster fled from Brok’s sword, my spells, and our comrades in arms. Goglon was able to ooze into the dirt and escape. Later
Saturday night the adventurers gathered in Fairdale did battle with Goglon once again. This battle was far more difficult, and
one adventurer was forced to resurrect.
We learned that to defeat Goglon,
we had to find the Culling Chain and reverse its power with four balancing
talismans. The talismans were small items that drove their owners mad. For
example, one woman was convinced that the small doll she held was a real boy
who needed her care. I accompanied a group consisting of Spidereye,
Brok, Warpfang, Aegeirus, and Anna to retrieve another talisman. This one
had driven a young woman insane. After the woman’s father had allowed us
into his haunted house, we fought our way to the young woman’s room. Each
of the adventurers present saw a different fearsome monster during the battle.
When the battle was over we found that the young woman needed a Life spell,
which I was able to provide free of charge.
The other two talismans were also retrieved over
the next few days and were kept safe by adventurers. Warpfang
looked after one talisman while Tel looked after another. The adventurers who
kept talismans on their persons acted very strangely indeed.
To retrieve the chain, a group consisting of Brok, Anna, Aegeirus, Haka. And Trel followed a guide to what seemed to
be a solid stone mountainside. Soon, the earth rumbled and the stone cracked
open, revealing an entrance to dark, maze-like cavern halls. As the group
entered a large room the only exit slammed shut.
They followed Trel’s
torchlight toward a large pillar and became aware of eyes watching from above.
In Trel’s words, the group saw a majestic
creature on the pillar, the body of a lion and the torso of a woman. To
proceed, the brave adventurers would need to answer the riddle of the sphinx.
It was Brok who solved
the sphinx’s test. There was a rumbling and a tunnel just large enough for
someone to crawl through opened nearby. In the next room the adventurers
found a man-sized stone statue in the center of the room. To proceed
one of the heroes would have to defeat the creature. Aegeirus,
with his shield and hammer were called upon and after some minutes of honor
combat the statue dropped to a knee and declared Aegeirus
the victor. He opened another hidden passage and bid the group farewell.
In the next room they were confronted by a strange
being, possibly a fey, who demanded a memory from each adventurer. Our heroes
made that sacrifice and were permitted to pass. From there, Brok
had to hop from stone to stone across a cavern of ice to retrieve the Culling
Chain. But as soon as he touched it, the labyrinth began to collapse. The
adventurers made it out of the maze with the Chain just as the ceiling fell in
at their heels.
On Sunday morning, after the fourth talisman had
been obtained, the adventurers in Fairedale fitted
them into the chain. We waited for what seemed to be several hours for the
inevitable battle, the battle in which we would need to defeat Goglon once again in order to use the chain on the
creature.
Goglon was actually defeated fairly easily by several
adventurers including Brok, Trel,
and myself. When the chain was used Cyril Thornbranch
was freed from Goglon. Cyril informed us that we had
succeeded and that the threat posed by Goglon had
been permanently put to rest. All that remained was to destroy a number of weak
slimes which the warriors of Fairdale did easily.
609 Hero’s Tournament Announcements
Pleasant
greetings, citizens and defenders of Fairdale. My name is Slethglyn
(silent “s”, silent “g”, and the “e” is a
long “a” sound) Kerios. I am a representative of Prince Gilthalion and the Tournament Master for the 609
Hero’s Tournament.
Duke Frost has graciously
agreed to allow Prince Gilthalion and Imladar to sponsor this year’s tournament, in order
to foster a stronger relationship between our two countries. The events for this year’s tournament
will be a little different from previous years, blending Ashbury customs with Imladari customs.
Please read carefully to be fully aware of all changes. Once I arrive in Fairdale, I will be happy to
answer any additional questions about the event rules.
While the rules of some
events have changed, be aware that my goal is not to be a strict arbiter of the
rules. I am much more apt to enforce the
spirit of the rules and my primary rule is:
Everyone, participant and observer alike, should be having fun. So, without further preamble, have a look at
the events and changes in this year’s tournament.
There will be eight events
held this year: Combat, Combat Archery, Spellcaster’s
Event
Changes / New Event
The
Race: The race will be run
through the woods. Runners will grab
flags from various checkpoints. The
first runner back to the starting line with all flags is the winner.
Combat: Combatants may use any non-ranged weapons and
may wear armor. A combatant may not
wield a shield and may only wield one weapon at a time. No magic, magic items, alchemy, or rituals
may be used. All advanced warrior skills
are permitted.
Spellcaster’s
Trivia: This will
be a competition of knowledge and, as many of you will be thankful to hear, speed. A category will be announced and in order,
each participant will have 5 seconds to provide an example from that category
that has not already been answered by a previous participant. One wrong answer and the participant is out of that category.
Total score for all categories will be tallied to find a winner. As a hint, look through archives of the
Ashbury Times and read the history of Ashbury in the Sage’s Guild to
gather knowledge for this event.
Combat
Archery: This event is only for archers that can use a bow or
crossbow in combat. A golem will be
blindfolded and wielding a shield in the center of a large circle. Archers will have two minutes and fifteen
arrows to disable the golem. No magic
items, alchemy, magic, rituals, or advanced warrior skills are allowed.
Entertainment: You may
choose any form of entertainment you’d like to perform. But, remember, this is a solo act. Also, this year entertainment has a
theme. You must honor a fallen hero with
your performance.
Challenge
of Champions: This new event is designed to let you compete in any
competition you can imagine. Each participant will receive 5 participation
tokens. Anyone participating may compete
in any mutually agreed upon challenge of luck or skill with any other
participant. A few rules:
There must be at least two
observers to each challenge that are not participating in the competition.
Each participant must wager
at least one token.
There may be no stakes other
than tokens.
Challenges may be between any
number of participants, but collusion is not allowed.
Tokens may not be given away,
traded, or sold.
No intentional losses.
Just about any competition is
allowable. As examples, you can play a
chess game, hold an eating or drinking contest, play a poker game with tokens
as stakes, hunt monsters in the woods competitively, have a tree climbing
competition, wrestle, try to tell the best joke, flip a coin, skip rocks,
etc. Make sure to have fun and to
entertain your observers. At times the
Tournament Master may offer special chances to earn additional tokens. Whoever has the most tokens at the end wins.
Remember that good fun and
entertainment is the primary goal of the tournament. All participants should follow the spirit of
the rules at all times. Donate at least
one copper to Baron Ivan’s orphanage!
The Tournament Master will reward good sportsmanship with his own
personal prize pool. Finally, the top
prizes for this year’s tournament are secret, but are worth it. Good luck, all.
Announcement
of Festivities
People of Fairdale,
It is my honor to announce that on the second
evening of the upcoming tournament His Magesty Prince
Gilthalion will host a semi-formal dinner. This is an opprotunity for the noble
defenders of Icenia to lay down their arms, let down
their hair, and celebrate among friends. While you need not wear your
finest silks, you may wish to don something finer than your daily battle garb.
The festivities will include:
A Cooking Competion - Contestants are
challenged to create delicacies to be served to our guests after judging.
Entries must be prepared before hand; the stove will not be available for use.
Prizes will be awarded for first, second, and third place. One person may
submit as many entries as they please, provided they make enough food to
(reasonably) go around.
A Brewer’s Competition - Contestants shall submit a mixed drink to
be judged. No alchemy or potions, please. Drinks will be judged on flavor, creativity, and presentation. Prizes will be
awarded for first, second, and third place. One entry per
person.
Of course, dancing will be strongly encouraged. If there are any bards
willing to provide music (separate from the Entertainment portion of the
tournament), please send me a missive.
May the stars light your path,
Merethir Sila Avariel
Master of Feasts
Mages’ Guild Report
Rusty: The Guild
was finally able to complete its first Minor construct, an Iron man we
affectionately call “Rusty” in the month of Ferret this year.
Thee Wizards participated in the casting of the ritual (Myself, Joaquinn, and Soren), and thusly
only we three can control Rusty. I want to thank the both of them for
their patience as we have struggled to complete this goal. I cannot
properly articulate the experience this ritual had on myself.
It succeeded in the midst of a powerful storm that soaked and shook Fairdale
that Saturday night. The Iron man was built primarily for two reasons:
To teach our Celestial mages more about constructs and how to use them in
defense of Fairdale; and to assist me in completing the construction of the new
Guildhall.
Rusty had his first outing
after I retired for the night as the other wizards threw him against undead who
fell in waves before Rusty’s monstrous
strength. I was able to bring him out again on Sunday when the fountains
that held the new race of Mystic Wood Elves spewed forth lightning Elementals
which were all too happy to heal Rusty as he laid waste to their numbers.
I thank all of Fairdale for your support of the Guild’s efforts to keep
constructs like Rusty for the benefit of us all, and for not accidently (or purposefully) destroying what we worked so
hard to create.
My
Absence: I was required to leave Fairdale on Guild business at the
end of Ferret and will not be returning until the sometime in the month of Fire
Ant. I have taken Rusty with me for various reasons, but I have notified
the Royal Guild of my absence and Royal Guildmistress
Lizarra assures me if the town gathers while I am
away and Celestial mages are needed, she can supply an apprentice to assist
them. I have also contacted Wizard Symerille
who should be in town for the upcoming Tourney and shall be acting as Guildmaster in my absence.
Guild
Meetings: I will be calling a meeting in the month of Fire Ant
when I return, however, Wizard Symerille may choose
to call a meeting in Gryphon if he so wishes.
Member
News: The Guild would like to congratulate Lanna and I’Zer for earning
their Apprenticeships and Wizards Joaquinn and Eldarion for ascending beyond Apprentices into Full members
of the Guild. I look forward to working with them all to continue the
work of the Guild in Fairdale.
Guild
Commerce: The Mages’ Guild of Fairdale buys Celestial and
General Aspect Ritual Scrolls; offers Spellcrafting
services and rents ritual scrolls for Spellcrafting
to other Wizards. We also buy and sell battle magic scrolls, Identify
items, and offer a host of other scholarly services such as research, scribing,
and more. We also now offer Celestial and Alchemical lights for
sale. Various brightness’s and colors
available, see the Guild for current pricing.
Wizard Nathan Westwind
Guildmaster, Fairdale
Mage’s Guild
Elemental Warden of Icenia
Healers’ Guild Report
All members who arrive for scheduled
gatherings should remember to check in with the Guild on Friday night, and to
set aside Saturday morning for a breakfast discussion. Baked goods and fruit will be provided, and donations
as always are welcome!
Those Guild members who wish to be temporarily
invested should see me with their components as soon as possible upon arriving
in Fairdale, and definitely before study time on Saturday.
The Guild is in need of jetsam, nightshade,
wand, and feyander components in order to spellcraft healers into the Circle so that we have enough
ready to help with resurrections if needed.
Please help out the Guild with your donations, especially if you realize
that you haven’t been compensating those healers who keep you alive on
the battlefield.
Zaterina N. Norik
The Wisdom of the
New to
Fairdale? Puzzled by a problem? Unsure how to handle an annoying
monster? We're here to help. The Black Forest is now offering the “Wisdom
of the
Send a letter via Mandrik’s Magnificent Messengers!
At a recent
gathering, right before taking a moment to swim in the river, a bunch of
adventurers and myself were fighting a group of trolls. I think someone
was inadvertently healing the trolls. Do you have information in the different
types of trolls, how to tell them apart, what their strengths are, and what
their weaknesses are? I think there was cauldron born and one of our casters was
using fire spells and healed it, unfortunately.
From the
inquisitive mind of Landiara (Balls)
Gilwing here, and ready to share a keg full of information
concerning trolls. You have asked a question that my teammates and I are very
passionate about answering. We actually had a little tussle in the
Now, on to the
question! Any adventurer who does not read this carefully deserves far
worse than what I did to Sparky just now, as every adventurer should know how
to kill a troll six ways from Sunday. It is a shame that some people out there
do not know what to do when faced with one. Here are some of the trolls that I
have slain (all are weak to fire unless otherwise specified below):
Hill trolls are mostly brown with a hint of red in their fur; they are your run
of the mill trolls—dumb, squishy and very weak.
Stone trolls have a grey tone
to them due to their habitation in the mountains. They, too, are dumb and
squishy, but they are strong enough to rip out of webs or lower binding magic
spells.
Sometimes, if you are
unlucky, you will find yourself in, or nearby, a swamp. I recommend avoiding
swamps all together. If this is not an option, and you find yourself in a
swamp, I would be sure to look out for swamp trolls. These trolls seem to adapt
to their soundings in nature. That is why if we find them we surround them to
prevent their escape. Swamp trolls will throw net-like things at you and
entangle you, so always have a buddy with a sharp blade around to help cut you
out. They are dumb like the others but sometimes they will brush off some of
our flame spells. Like stone trolls, they are able to break free from web
spells.
Speaking of nature, here comes the forest troll. They are mostly brown with a touch
of green, and are usually spell casters. Their weapon blows are weak, and it
takes relatively few weapon blows to bring one of these down. Most of the time they use celestial magic, sometimes as powerful as
a Dragon’s Breath. They seem to be smart enough not to use
necromancy, but still lack the intelligence to just give up and die. What they
lack in brains they make up for in brawn. Just like the Swamp and Stone
trolls, they can break free from most binding magic. That does not mean avoid
using binding magic, but you need to be aware of their abilities.
You have to be careful of
these next two trolls coming up—the emperor and warlord trolls. These two
types are mostly proficient fighter types. They can block your weapon blows
with ease as well as slay some of the mightiest of adventures. They are very
strong and will tear out of binding magic. I will not say they are smart—by
the age of ten a dwarven child knows more than any
troll ever will—but these emperor and warlord trolls are cunning. They
will trick simple minded people. Never trust them or any other troll for that
matter. The emperors are mostly black skinned and have been known to control
other trolls in the area. I have seen this—they make other trolls attack
me. Stupid trolls, they do not know what they have coming to them!
Every troll I have listed so
far hates fire and it hurts them a lot, but you are correct in your thinking of
the cauldron born. They are black, or sometimes grey, skinned with cracking
red, flame-like veins on their bodies. They love flame and use it just as we use
a cure mortal wounds spell. Watch out though—they are sneaky enough to
travel around with emperor trolls. Since they
both look similar to each other the cauldron born will hope that some of the
inexperienced adventures will throw flame at them. This, as I have already
mentioned, heals the cauldron born. They are just as strong as emperor trolls
and need to be treated with the same amount of caution.
It is believed that some
cauldron-born trolls can incapacitate unarmored adventurers with a single blow
by making them feel upside down. We believe that a cauldron born led the trolls
that permanently killed Sir Koshinara. Remember that
according to eyewitness accounts Sir Koshinara’s
party was unable to stick together—against the more powerful trolls
teamwork is critical.
One last troll that I am
aware of is the stone burning troll. These special trolls need to have a flame
run into them to kill them off. Otherwise they will get up again. Any self
respecting dwarf, including yours truly, carries around a weapon with the
ability to channel flame. You can also have your celestial friends cast an
elemental blade so you can use that and run your flame enhanced blade through
the foul beast.
I thank you for your
question. Let us hope that no one ever accidentally heals a troll again.
The only thing a troll should see is our blades
cleaving their limbs, and our hammers crushing their skulls. Please spread the
word about vanquishing these rat piss drinking, goblin dung eating
beasts. Remember to show no mercy, for they will do the same.
Gilwing
A Little Birdie Told Me
By Sue D’Onym
Hello, dearies! Time for another installment of the News They Don’t Want You To Know!
A fey calling herself Skittle rifted into the tavern recently,
accompanied by an air elemental, a bugbear, and a chaos elemental—all
dancing! Apparently she was looking for more people to join in her little dance
party. Instead, the adventurers drew their weapons and Squire Aven demanded
that she set the monsters “free.” When the fey refused, the Squire
attacked, banishing the fey and slaughtering the newly freed monsters. Wow,
that was an improvement of their situation!
I heard there were some funny
looking adventurers in Fairdale recently. These creatures looked like walking,
talking, club-wielding plants! Though they called
themselves “Hakka”
and “Aegeirus,”
I call them “creepy.” Are these
“Children of Autumn” even a citizen race?
Is Jarrin tainted by celestial
magic? It was heard through the town that the armor he was wearing was celestial.
For most of the gather, he didn’t seem to be wearing any armor at all.
I wonder how Guildmistress Zatarnia and Amaranthus are going to take
that bit of knowledge. Darkan
meanwhile was heard joking about killing Jarrin so
that he could be with Jarrin’s lover, Lanna Rose. Lanna
and Jarrin better watch out, they seem to have
trouble following them in every part of their personal life!
Cuar and Khaadijah are seemingly unable
to be contacted. Balls spoke of when
he tried to contact them in the dream realm all he got from Khaadijah
were moans and grunting, and from Cuar he got
nothing. There is speculation around the town that they have run off and are
getting married behind their elders’ backs. Maybe being infected by
the werewolf in June is beginning to mess with Khaadijah’s
head. Cuar on the other hand seems like the ideal
person to go behind people’s backs and do something he shouldn’t,
if you catch my drift.
Nathan
Westwind seems to have added one successful
ritual to his record. Now it is what—two successful to six backlashed? Still wouldn’t suggest going to him for a
ritual casting. Though the Iron Man, Rusty, is a great help to the
town in undead and lighting elemental fights, as the whole town has witnessed.
Well, that’s it.
That’s all the gossip I have because that is all I have been
given. Sad, isn’t it? But I
can’t do this by myself you know.
If you want to see longer gossip columns in the future, you know
what to do! And in the meantime
remember: If you can’t say
something nice about someone, come sit by me.
Public Notices
CELESTIAL AND ALCHEMICAL LIGHT FOR
SCROLLS AND CATALYSTS WANTED. We are looking for the following Ritual Scrolls: Race Change, Channel, Enchant, Expanded Enchant, Race Reaver, Monster Slayer, Spell Store, Protection Aura, Copy Formal Ritual, Preserve Duration, Permanent Duration, Regeneration, Elemental Blast, Elemental Aura, Damage Aura, Earth Aura, Spirit Store and Controlled Spirit Store. We are also looking for the Catalysts for Permanent Duration, Race Change, Controlled Spirit Store, and Copy Formal Ritual as well as any reagents. We are willing to buy or trade, please contact Squire Sparticous, Paythin or Lira.
MEET ME at the bridge carrying a small flower at high
sun. Your friend, Algernon.