The adventurers finish catching their breath from the surprise attack of rats. After assessing the damage, they realize their mule must have been bitten by a rat and contracted a disease. It is decided that Loche, the cleric, must remain behind to heal the mule. Auron and Torg volunteer to stay behind and help Loche. Colvin departs for town, nursing his own injuries.
The remaining adventurers, Meriadoc, Autumn and Nieriel, decide to investigate the mysterious hole that opened up during their previous fight. As they prepare to descend, a gnome shows up on the road, walking their direction. The gnome wears long flowing robes and walks with a staff, carved in arcane runes.
“Hello traveler, what brings you down this way?” Autumn calls out. The gnome pauses for a moment and then resumes his approach, calling out,
“I am bound for the town of Westermeadow. What brings adventurers such as yourself this way?” the gnome replies.
“We are out hunting kobolds and goblins and collecting the bounty on them.” Nieriel replies. Meriadoc remains examining the hole, unaware of the gnome’s presence.
“My name is Jack, and I have sort of an off question for you. Have you met any gnomes from Westermeadow?” Jack asks.
The adventurers pause for a moment and try to recall the last time they have ever seen a gnome. It must have been several years ago. “My name is Nierel, I’m a lumberjack druid. This here is Autumn, a fellow druid and the unobservant fellow over there is Meriadoc, a wild mage sorcerer. I’m afraid I haven’t run into any gnomes for quite some time now. Why do you ask?” Nieriel answers, more curious about this strange gnome the more he speaks.
“I have a suspicion that the gnomes have disappeared from this area, along with the surrounding ones as well. I have traveled much of this land and yet to find another gnome. I hate to pry into your private affairs, but does the bounty pay particularly well? I mean, do you find it adequate pay for your talents?” the gnome asks.
“The pay is below what we expect but it was the only work we could find.” Nieriel replies.
“Well, bounty hunting is below adventurers of your quality. Perhaps I could interest you in a new proposition for employment? You could still do freelance work like bounty hunting on the side if you wanted.” Jack says.
“Let me get my friend and we’ll hear your offer.” Autumn says. “Meriadoc, come over here, this gnome has a job offer for us.”
“What gnome? Oh, where did you come from? Are you some sort of powerful wizard, teleporting out of thin air?” Meriadoc asks, genuine surprise in his voice and eyes as he discovers the gnome’s presence.
“I am a skilled illusionist wizard, but as for teleporting, I prefer the magic of my own two feet.” Jack the gnome replies.
“What is the job offer you were describing?” Nieriel asks.
“As you may have surmised, I am interested in what happened to the gnomes. I would like to charter your adventuring group to assist me in my search. I could pay in gold or magical items, whatever your preference would be. I believe a reasonable rate is to be 100 gold for minor information and a more substantial reward for information such as a report on a gnomish settlement or an actual gnome to speak with.” Jack replies.
“I’m a gnome.” Meriadoc replies, drawing strange looks from his companions. He is actually a Halfling, but Meriadoc certainly had an unexplainable charisma, particularly when lying.
“Excellent! You are the first I have come across. Do you know what happened to the gnomes in this area?” Jack replies, his excitement clouding his judgment of the Meriadoc’s halfling’s nature.
“Umm. No. I was out of town when it happened.” Meriadoc replies in a casual tone, avoiding Jack’s intense gaze.
“It is a shame. Still, if you remember anything, let me know. Do you accept my offer of employment?” Jack asks.
“We need a moment to talk about it.” Autumn replies, cutting off Meriadoc’s eager response. Jack nods and the three adventurers come together and conference for a minute.
“ I don’t know if we should trust him.” Autumn begins.
“I’m an excellent read of character; he’s genuinely concerned about what happened to gnomes. Perhaps a little too concerned, but I don’t think he means any harm to us.” Nieriel states.
“Listen, I know we all signed up with Auron to be part of his adventuring group, but this bounty is beneath us. We have a chance to make real money and do something meaningful. Auron and the others will thank us for taking this job offer.” Meriadoc says, his voice firm and decisive.
“Speaking of Auron and the others, where’d they go?” Autumn asks.
“They thought a short walk would help invigorate the pony. They’ll be back in a few hours.” Nieriel replies. He never missed anything, even when people try to keep his out of the loop.
“Listen, I didn’t want to do this but I am a wild mage and I can be rather unpredictable when I get in a bad mood. I’m not saying you should listen to me because I’m threatening you, I just think you should know that I can cause some serious problems when my temper flares up. That’s all.” Meriadoc says, his voice dark and trembling with anger. Nieriel and Autumn exchange a quick look and they both nod at Meriadoc. He stops furrowing his brows, smiles and turns back to Jack the gnome.
“We’ll take the job.” He says.
“Wonderful! Now that we’re business partners, I have some information to share with you. I’m sure you know the feuding princes, Atticus and Octavian? Both of them have moved their forces to within fifteen miles of Westermeadow. Their mercenaries and soldiers have flooded the area, making it very difficult to travel without being accosted. They are actively looking for recruits. It would be easier for you to find information if you joined a faction and perhaps helped resolve this conflict. Do you know anything about the princes?” Jack asks.
“Not really.” Nieriel says.
“I see. Well first you have Prince Atticus, the older brother, considered the true heir and he has the major support of the nobles and people. Atticus is charismatic but not very intelligent, so he relies on his trusted advisor and knight, Sir Benedict. Atticus controls the majority of people and land, but his forgiving nature has caused widespread corruption among his forces. Atticus relies on his primarily human subjects to staff his army.” Jack explains.
“What about the other prince?” Autumn asks.
“Prince Octavian is nearly the mirror opposite, the younger brother who claims the king on his deathbed named Octavian the heir. The king’s soldiers and wizards back Octavian’s claim to the throne. Octavian is very secretive and ruthlessly efficient. He controls fewer forces than his brother but Octavian wisely gained the backing of the elves, eladrin, dragonborn and dwarves. These races have native homes that double as fortresses and have become safe harbors for Octavian’s forces. Hence the stalemate of the last few years.” Jack concludes. The adventurers nod and look at each other.
“I don’t like either of them. We should help Lord what’s-his-face become King instead. He comes highly recommended.” Meriadoc says. Nieriel and Autumn nod.
“Well, I must be on my way to Westermeadow. Seek me out there if you have any questions or information to pass my way. Best of luck adventurers.” Jack says and resumes his walk down the road.
“So now what?” Autumn asks.
“Let’s go investigate that hole!” Meriadoc replies and they begin their descent. The hole turns out to be a gradually downward sloping tunnel. After several minutes, Autumn stops and examines the walls.
“Nieriel, do you recognize these dig marks?” she asks.
“Let me see. Oh. Those are definitely kruthik marks. I hate kruthik tunnels.” Nieriel replies after a examining the walls for a bit.
“What’s a kruthik?” Meriadoc asks.
“They’re a vicious burrowing race of spiders with spiked limbs, essentially. Very nasty to run into. It’s believed they were created to undermine enemy defenses by a long forgotten empire, but no one knows for sure. Let’s hope we don’t run into any down here.” Autumn explains as they make their way deeper into the tunnel.
After quite a ways, they see a light in a room ahead of them. As they draw closer, they can see goblins wandering throughout the room. The screeching language of the goblins drifts down the corridor, but none of the adventurers speak goblin. Upon entering the room, the goblins come to a stop and the two groups stare at each other. The adventurers sense a massive arcane disturbance within the room.
“Some powerful arcane force went terribly wrong in this room. If you look closely, you can see magical boundaries dividing the room.” Meriadoc says.
One of the goblins screeches and goes running straight at the adventurers, only to find himself teleported to one of the corners of the room after crossing a magical boundary. Meriadoc considers it for a moment and launches a bolt of wild magic into the room, watching as it teleports around the room before entering the goblin’s space and hitting him. Recognizing the pattern, Autumn launches her own attack and continues the assault on the confused goblin. The other four goblins screech and charge the adventurers, only to find themselves scattered about the room. The leader goblin remains on the other side, screeching at his followers and warily eyeing the adventurers.
Meriadoc takes the initiative and runs through the first magical boundary and finds teleported ten feet to the left. He turns around and returns through the magical boundary that brought him here, only to find himself face to face with the goblin leader. He yells, “Forward and back” to his companions. Autumn and Nierel bravely venture into the boundaries as well, following Meriadoc’s pattern and find themselves surrounding the goblin leader. They begin to make quick work of the leader when a freak flux of magical energy deposits all the other goblins in the same area as the adventurers. Then the goblin leader summoned a magical cloudbank that pestered the adventurers, making it difficult for them to hit the goblins. The shift in power was short lived as the goblin leader went down shortly thereafter. A quick mop up cleared the room of goblins and the adventurers searched for treasure.
They discovered some important military documents on the goblin leader, detailing their camps and bases, one of which was a former Gnomish settlement. The plans also indicated a massive siege of Westermeadow beginning tomorrow night. Lastly, Nieriel discovered a strange amulet in the room and put it on, discovering that it granted him a unique power to dodge melee attacks. He also decided that he would never take the amulet off again.
1 comment:
Long live the gnomes!
To be honest, this is more interesting than I thought it would be :)
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