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Ierendi: city of adventurers
in the midst of a series of islands of Immediately upon landing at the capitol we were approached by the city guard, led by Officer Patrick, who informed Mikhail that armor and weapons were not necessary within the city and were frowned upon. We asked the officer some basic questions that we felt would aid us and then he continued about his duties. A wagon took our things to the whispering palms resort where a bellhop named Wert tended to our luggage. The stay had begun. We soon found that the native people of these isles were called the Makai and that the leaders of the isles were picked by way of adventuring tests. Both King and Queen were stalwart combatants. A truly luxurious place we were definitely in the lap of luxury. In the following days we decided to split our efforts to garner more information during our three paid days at the resort within the city. Myself, Mikhail and Alexander managed to acquire a library card after speaking with Lord Deron and his Vizier, Mr. Michaels. Farin the records keeper at the library showed us around but we found no records dating back further than two hundred years ago. Also there were no records of land sales to churches in the area, so we surmise that must be kept elsewhere. Truly this was interesting. Alexi would later find that the Makai people kept a verbal history and did not write. We would need to find a shaman to tell us the tales of the island’s history. Alexi, Aria, Vladimir and Ilyana cruised the common district, attempting to visit the Club of Adventurers, though denied and even found a man who sold magic flying carpets. The wonders of this place never ceased to amaze. They spoke with priests at the Peoples church and Eternal flame, attempting to find out how they received their lands. Apparently the churches had both been about for some time. Churches pay taxes in Ierendi, how barbaric. The Kingdom is comprised of the following isles. On our final day at the resort the group turned to Wert, the bellhop, to ask of common lodgings and perhaps a person who could guide us to those willing to sell land. Wert did not let us down. He pointed us towards Jahani Maluk who seemed to know all and see all. He assured us he knew just the place for us to stay and that he’d get onto looking for land immediately … for a small fee of course. We were so relieved to find someone who knew this area of expertise that we were more than willing to agree to his reasonable wages. Jahani was also able to find land for sale within the main city. The plot of land seems adequate for our purposes, but the selling price is high, ten-thousand pieces of gold. It now set upon us that we would need to make some money in Ierendi to continue our studies so we turned to a local board that listed jobs for adventurers. Ah, only in Ierendi. From the twenty third and onward each of us split up into small groups to make what money we could at the tasks put before us. Report from each group of their adventures A Really Dead FishAlexander, Aria, and Ilyana Pug, a small boy who sells seaweed in the marketplace, was sifting through a fresh batch of tender weeds he gathered from the ocean as you passed by. From the tangle of weeds dropped a small dead fish. As it hit the stone-covered ground, it did not softly thud, as would a fish; rather it hit with a clang and shattered into dust. All that remained of the fish was a round, black object about 1-½ inches in diameter. We purchased this oddity from Pug for a few gold pieces, thinking to investigate it. Not long after we obtained it, however, we were attacked by a band of thugs, right near the market! They miscalculated our strength, however, and quickly withdrew once Ilyana cut one of them rather badly and Aria loosed a lightning bolt into their midst! Well, not long after this attack, we found that the pouch in which we had placed the stone had turned to dust, just like the fish! This item would seem to be quite dangerous, if anything it touched would turn to dust in the course of a half-hour. Experimenting with it at our rooms confirmed this, indeed anything short of stone walls or the earth itself seemed to crumble to dust within half an hour of contact. We began to suspect that the reason we were attacked by the thugs was that the previous owner was searching for this powerful magical artifact. We began to investigate, to see if anything or anyone was rumored to be associated with mysterious disappearances of items. While we found many people who were accused of making items disappear, they were of the normal thief classes that are sadly common in cities. But before long we found a man who told a story that rang eerily true. He was a survivor of the sinking, if you wish to call it that, of a tour boat early this week. It seems the boat was on its way back to Karameikos (no, not the Mawai, thank God) and they were beset by pirates. This itself would have been bad enough, but just moments before the pirate ship hove into view, several of the planks of the hull down below had seemed to dissolve and the ship began taking on water at a great rate. The pirates attacked and managed to loot the ship of much of its cargo before it sank to the floor of the ocean. The fellow we spoke to had managed to hold onto a plank and float to Fletcher Island, were he was rescued. He told the authorities that the ship had been attacked by the evil pirate Redfoot, who he recognized from the Royal Warrant signs posted about the city. That evening we were attacked again as we were searching about the city for rumors of this pirate Redfoot. This time we managed to capture one of the thugs alive, having accidentally killed a dozen of his companions with fire. Upon awaking we managed to get from him that the pirates lair was upon the Isle of Alcove. Well, we surrendered the pirate to the authorities and explained to them what had happened. After giving us all a stern warning about casting destructive magics about the city without discretion, they let us go. To stop these attacks upon us, we decided to look into Alcove Island ourselves. So, we hopped a cargo ship heading to the island, thinking a bit of looking around would be appropriate before we drug all of you into this mess. After two long days of travel, we finally disembarked at Kurutiba, the village that serves as the Capital of Alcove Island. This village was mostly fishermen, mainly of the native Makai people. But asking about we finally found a young man who claimed his wife was abducted by the pirates of Redfoot, and that he knew where they may be hiding out at. He was more than glad to help us investigate the site. We traveled through across the small island and followed a long spit of land around a lagoon. At the end of that spit of land, we could see a ship at anchor and men moving about huts and tents. We waited for evening before proceeding further, then snuck up to the encampment under cover of the darkness and aided by spells of silence. The pirate ship was pulling away from the island as we approached, we hoped we hadn’t missed our shot at Redfoot, if indeed this was his camp. We waited in the darkness and watched the dozen men at the camp moving about and drinking rum. From the way they were counting out coins and playing with gems and jewelry from partially smashed chests, we assumed we had found pirates indeed. Soon we saw the man our native friend said was Redfoot. He was a large man with a wooden leg painted red, hence his name. He seemed very angry and shouted about at all his men about a pearl, and they had better find it or he would make them all pay. Well, at least we knew now why we had been attacked! It was time to return to the village of Kurutiba and get back to Ierendi Island to enlist your aid. Alas, god intended otherwise! As we turned to leave the pirate camp, our spells of silence had expired. Not remembering to recast them, we seemed to be as quite through the forest as the average oxen I’m afraid. Soon, we were running for our lives with every pirate in the camp hot on our tails! Ilyana spotted a defensible position atop a pile of boulders near the beach and we quickly made for it. The pirates quickly upon us however, and only Ilyana's swordwork allowed us the time we needed to cast magical doom upon our attackers. Lightning bolts, balls of flame, fiery arrows, magic missiles, all took their toll among the pirates and soon we were the only ones standing at that rock. Ilyana shouted that we should all now return to the pirate camp, for surely we had defeated the majority of their strength and that the time to move against Redfoot was now. So, we ran through the darkness again, to the camp. There, we found no Pirate Redfoot, only a pile of dust and his wooden leg, right near were we had been watching the camp. It would seem that the mysterious pearl had slipped from its place and fell to the ground there, and that the foolish pirate had retrieved it and held it too long. We returned to the native village and reported what had happened. The Royal Ierendi Navy had already sunk the ship Redfoot had dispatched earlier than night, but they were mighty glad to find that his camp and he himself were destroyed. We received a reward of 5,000 gold for our part, but after paying for passage back to Ierendi Island and paying the high taxes on such rewards, we were left with only 1,000 gp. A Plea for HelpFather Sorgia and Vlaad Well, we were perusing the north castle wall for news and information; a woman dressed in expensive silks posted an announcement nearby. She was advertising for two people to guard her home while she was away on business. The home is a large estate and her pets and children needed looking after for two weeks. The pay she offered seemed extravagant for so simple a task, something we would remind ourselves of many times in the following nights… Not only did the pets on the estate closely resemble monsters, but the children did too. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to take care of a Fire Giant child? Or an immature Manticore? It was a nightmare! Every night there were these creatures that would slither out from the sea, like men with fish heads and tails. They bore tridents and spears and attacked the villa repeatedly; we had a tough time defending the walls, just the two of us. I’m not sure who this lady was who hired us, but we were beginning to suspect she was a powerful personage indeed if this was what her home life was like! After two weeks of fighting an almost constant running battle at this villa, in which time we could not get word out to the rest of you that we needed assistance and our prayers to God went unanswered, the Lady finally returned from her business. She casually ignored our questions concerning the attacks, her pets, and her children, and paid us handsomely. Sadly, the vast majority of the sum we were paid had to be given over to the local priests so that they would be convinced to use their magics to regrow Vlaad’s left leg, which had been taken off at the knee two night earlier. So, here is our 200 gp to add to the treasury. The Tunnels Well, we were employed by officials of the Crown to try to follow and map out the remains of a great system of tunnels beneath the castle. Being shown to one of the entrances to the maze of tunnels we lit our lanterns, checked our backpacks and supplies, and headed into the darkness. We spent days carefully exploring the labyrinth of tunnels beneath this city, many of which are natural and formed by the volcanoes, according to the sages we’ve spoken to since. At the time we thought we were doing a good job of making maps, but after several days underground we realized we had missed a turn somewhere… We spent days fighting giant vampire bats, rats, snakes, and lizards. We began to grow worried, as our rations became sparse, indeed we resorted to dining on some of the less disgusting residents of the caves. Ya know, slightly burned lizard isn’t half-bad! But within a few more days we were growing nostalgic for Cube, and we knew we were in big trouble then. We continued to press onward, seeking the exit, all attempts at mapping forgotten in our desire to merely survive this trek. Eventually we stumbled across something that almost did us in. Within a particularly large cave under the city we were attacked by a large, and I mean large, worm of the most horrid purple coloration. Its mouth was ringed in razor-sharp teeth and it moved as fast as lightning! Mikhail desperately clove it with his axe repeatedly as it attacked, and I thought for sure we would die right there. But, finally, a heroic blow from Mikhail’s axe drove the creature back for a moment and both he and I were able to flee into the tunnels, away from the horrid beast! Days later half starved and almost dead from lack of good water, we came stumbling from the cave into the open air. Since our maps were incomplete at best and stained and worn by our travails, we were paid only a pittance compared to what we had been promised. Still, here is the 300 gp we were left after paying the horrid taxes of this land. End of the Individual groups reports. On the eleventh of Svifmont, two merchants named Gen and Rudy approached us. They believed that the ordeals we were going through were due to the machinations of the church known as the Peoples Church. These men stated that the church was a coven of evil and that that church had duped them themselves, in the past. The great words that guided the church, of which Alexi and his group had been preached to of on their tour, were apparently not the original words. These merchants believed that the real words were written on stones, called The Hope Stones, hidden beneath the labyrinthine tunnels of the church and not destroyed as the priest had told to our good Alexi during his visit there. They would supply us with a map that they felt would guide us roughly to the area where the stones lay. If we were able to bring the stones forth, surely the church power would be crushed and the word of God from then on would be known in Ierendi as a seeker of truth. |