Griznuq Gaming

Alrighty Phin, we have you cornered now. First question I have is this, if I play a human, what do I get?

Second is, can we start generating characters? I am busting to get this character on paper.

Coming soon

Gahban woke with a start.

?Wha? sort?ve place is this tha? I?m in?? he thought. He was lying on his back in a large bed. From the feel of it, it was stuffed with goose-feather-down, for it was extremely soft and giving.

?Ach! Tha?s j?st bloody great!? he said as he sat up, waiting for his back to snap in protest. He was young, but his body always protested against civilzed comforts. Give him a clear spot on the ground at night and he slept like a baby in the womb. Yet surprisingly, and almost with a touch of disappointment, his back did not protest as he swung his feet over the side of the bed.

?P?rhaps it?s me tha?s goin? soft?? he thought. ?I cannea r?memb?r j?st how I came t? be here, let alone sleeping in this?this?bed! Bah!? He stopped as he looked down in horror at the quilt on the floor beside the bed.

It had a flower pattern.

Grabbing it, he held it aloft. ?Wha? the blue blazes is this piece o? chrap?!?? he said aloud.

?Mother, he?s awake!? he heard a child yell from the other room.

Startled, he took a better look around him. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he looked about the small bedroom. The bed had no frame and was flanked by two nightstands. Across from the bed was a simple wooden dresser, and to his left, adjacent to the door, was a matching armoire. The floors and ceiling were hardwood, the walls mortared stone. Two unlit oil lamps were on the dresser, but the daylight filtering through a curtained window to his right allowed him to see.

?Damn th? gods! Wha?s the sun doin? up afore me?!?? he cursed to himself, lowering his head into his hands, trying to remember how he got here.

?Walls an? a damn roof?!? What?m I in a house? An inn p?rhaps? Why? Am I travlin?? Where would I be goin? to, I wonder? Damn me, wha?s goin? on here?!?!?

?Gahban? Come quickly!? asked a woman from outside the bedroom window.

?Ach, I can no longer ?scape tha? way. Blast me! Now I?ll ha? t? find some other way out! Luck j?st in?t a friend o? mine t?day, I see! Now I?ll ha? t? be thinkin? on me feet t? find a ?nuther way out.? He didn?t like the situation, never comfortable with change, especially so if it occurred without his knowing.

Thinking he couldn?t be in too much trouble, after all, it was a woman and a childs? voice he had heard, he walked over to the bedroom door. He paused at it, ?Did I slep the night in?nother mans home?? For a moment he filled with sudden dread. ?Waz th? harlot who call?d him yel?n in fear?? he thought.

?No,? he reprimanded himself. It wasn?t in his nature to lie with another mans wife, no matter how drunk he got.

He stepped through the door.

Beyond it was a common room that was clearly the only other room of a small farmhouse. Sitting at small table barely big enough to sit four was a small dark haired child. She was a thin but tall little thing who was probably no older than six or seven summers. A wood cooking stove was to his right, as was simple wooden cabinets from which pots and pans hung. Behind the table and the girl was another, much smaller, bed, beside which was a small rocking chair.

Gahban made a line for the door that was near the bed. Halfway across the room he stopped in his tracks.

?Morn?nin pappy.?

Elberrin wasn?t sure what had just happened. With a skip of his heart, he thought for the briefest of moments that he may have fallen asleep. During this critical moment, that simply wasn?t possible. There was no way that after months of planning this mission, he had allowed himself even a momentary lapse of reason, let alone sleep.

?Then what the hell just happened?? he thought.

There was no physical sign of disturbance around him in the dark alcove of the tower. No outward sign that someone had spotted him with magic, and there was no one in Khovaire who could see him otherwise.

Yet he felt as if time had skipped a beat. Fortunately, the training of these past decades served him well. Despite the unexpected shock of the moment, his mind and spirit had locked it into memory. He therefore split his mind, devoting half of his attention to the mission at hand, the other half to this unexpected phenomenon. As he analyzed, he realized the moment was more of an extension of his intellect, a shadow of what once was. ?Why would his past surface now for his reflection?? he wondered. ?Why would thoughts of the Isle haunt him at such an important moment??

After a few precious moments he surmised that these questions were not going to be answered at this time. He stored them for future contemplation and returned his total devotion to the task at hand.

It would be any moment now. His target would step out onto the balcony of the opposing nearby tower and he would make the attempt. Months of hard work, trials and tribulations with both the plan and those it affected, it all came down to this.

His scrying eye, floating hidden in a room below, saw movement within the adjacent windows of the targets balcony. It would be soon. Elberrins? muscles flexed instinctively in anticipation. His heart began to beat faster, restoring the cramped muscles and giving them the lifeblood they needed to spring into action. The alcove in which he hid was open to a balcony of its own. He already planned every footstep of the charge he would make when the time came, the charge that would carry him up and over the rail and down to the city far below.

He would only get this one chance. It was succeed, or die.

As he watched through the third eye in his mind, he watched his target finally come through the door and onto the balcony, three hundred feet below Elberrin?s current position. As expected, the target went to his railing and called out to his flying mount. This was Elberrin?s opening.

With timed precision and the plan before him, Elberrin went into action. As he charged towards the rail of his own balcony, he knew that his target would not be aware of him until the attack had been completed. And by then, it would be too late for him. Although he moved with great speed and agility, his mind was calm and focused on the effort. Every foot landed precisely where it was destined to land. Every stride was the length it was meant to be. The multiple magics cloaked him, blocking his passage from any who perchance may be gazing at this specific balcony. At this height, in this section of the City of Towers, that wasn?t likely.

His body glided over the railing and he started his freefall to the city thousands of feet below. He couldn?t help but allow himself a small smile. As dire and as important as this mission was, this was his moment. Nothing could take it from him. Decades of missions like this had left him with a confidence. A confidence that allowed him to enjoy what he had become. An Assassin.

Mel found himself standing with his eyes closed and his lips and tongue lightly caressing those of another. Startled, he snapped open his eyes and pulled away from the woman who embraced him. He immediately recognized Trinity, who looked considerably older, and shorter. Her dark black hair was streaked with grey, her face was mapped with light wrinkles. He became alarmed as he realized that she wasn?t so much shorter as he was taller.

?What the heck was that about?? Trinity asked. She appeared slighted from him brushing her away and stepping back.

?Um?.? Mel said, as he held up a finger to request her patience as he looked at everything around him at once. Questions flooded his mind as his head almost spun off his shoulders trying to look around the vast chamber in which they stood alone. ?Where the heck am I? For that matter where the heck was I before this? Why is Trinity so old and short? Why is she kissing me? What is this place? Will she try to kiss me again? What the hell is that thing? Why is the hair on my feet grey?

They stood within a vast chamber. Its? walls, in the distant shadows, were made of polished black marble, veined with gold. There were no windows, and for all Mel knew, they were deep in an underground complex. There was a lone pair of massive stone doors which stood closed behind him. Each door, carved from a single piece of dark granite, was arched to peak at the center of the blocked opening. The opening appeared to be thirty feet across. Mel hoped that there wasn?t a creature that just ?fit? through that door. Large bands of what appeared to be mithral spanned across the doors at the bottom, center and top. The bands were engraved with multiple runes and symbols, and Mel would make a safe bet that they were magical.

The marble floor they stood upon only stretched thirty from the outer wall. More like a platform, the center of the rooms? floor was cored away. A mithral rail stopped pedestrians from falling over its edge. The rails artistic detail resembling that of cat-of-nine tail reeds, with the top rail resembling that of a long tree root.

Equally spaced around the circumference of the platform, chain hung large fiery braziers, lighting the chamber.

Hanging in the middle of the floors opening was what held Mel?s attention.

T?riad woke with a start. He had trained as a monk his entire life, for as long as he could remember he could sense the passing of his consciousness from the dream-world into the physical one. He sat up in fear, for this time, he had not.

He was sitting on the very peak of a very steep hill top, as if the gods had picked him up in the night, and placed him there. He tried to focus as he stood, working away the webs of sleep to ease his confusion as to how he found himself here, but the question remained unanswered. He not had no recollection of the previous night and couldn?t even remember what he had done yesterday at all.

He faced the rising sun, that seemed so close at this height, and was just barely peaking over the mountains to his east. Quickly looking around to get his bearings he was immediately awestruck by the beauty of where he was, forgetting for the moment as to why he was lost. He appeared to be about a thousand feet atop a steep, but grassy hill, with many hills like it surrounding him. Distant mountains were to the east, they rose to much greater heights. As his eyes worked right to left along the horizon, he realized he was in a hilly and expansive valley. The ring of high mountains, with snow-top peaks, surrounded him in every direction of the compass.

When he looked down in the valley to the southwest, he realized he was no longer near the Outpost. Below him, in a pocket between the hill he was standing on, and two others, was the most interesting village he had ever laid eyes upon.

Erin sat at the edge of the slowly advancing water, the warm gentle surf of the harbor lightly massaging her small toes. It was yet another beautiful morning on the Isle. Although the sun wouldn?t peak over the mountains until later that morning, she sensed it would be yet another warm and pleasant day. T?riad was unusually late for their morning exercises. She didn?t mind. She wrapped herself in the solitude of the moment. A moment almost perfect, as time, nature and the land sung in a quiet melody. If it were not for a hidden thought tugging at the corner of her mind, she would think herself in a sanctuary blessed by all the deities of nature. She quickly waved off the concern as a simple forgotten responsibility that would reveal itself inevitably.

Instead, she tried to commune, so as to get closer to a moment of solitude and clear her mind in preparation for the new day. It was surprisingly rare to get some time alone on this Isle, more the reason to take advantage of this moment.

She crossed her legs at the ankles in front of her and closed her eyes, and quickly lost herself in the sounds of the beach. The surf of the inner harbor lapped the sand at her feet. Eagles, who prospered in the mountains surrounding the harbor, screamed as they dove at bountiful prey. The breeze caressed the leaves in Erin?s hair, before it continued its journey to the jungle a hundred feet to her south at the end of the beach.

I will be posting a 7.5 session for each character within "MSI In Character discussions".

Please do not respond (post) to the session until I give the all clear. I will be making many entries into each thread. You will undoubtably have MANY questions and a couple of "What the Huh?!", but please be patient.

I will also be taking some liberties as DM in judging how your characters would respond in the situations you find yourselves. But there is an explanation for this, which will become known to you as we play on. Please do not take offense as I in some ways role-play your characters. It is the outcome of these little individual stories that is important in this situation, and not the situations themselves.

OH, and if you need as a player to read the stories (posts) of the other players, please be at liberty to do so.

As a side note, this weekend, and I say this here so it goes on record, I will be entering all descriptions into each Session as required by the very patient Johan and Fraz.

If one of you could take a stab at our recent Session 7, it would be much appreciated.

MSI Sorcerers are getting a revision for this campaign. I feel the class is underpowered in some ways, and is also too similar to the Wizard Class.

It has always been my thought that the Sorcerer derives power not from sitting in a library reading scrolls and old books. Nor does he gain power from learning under the watchful eye of a teacher, over many long years of dedicated study. Instead, the magic from a Sorcerer, or at least the link to that magic, is inherited within the bloodline passed down to him. It is from this taint/blessing in his ancestry, the touch of a being from another plane of existence, that allows the Sorcerer to tap into an unpredictable source of power. A power that, when honed with experience, can be quite deadly to his enemies.

This bloodline is always strong, despite it sometimes skipping many generations before making itself apparent in the one who becomes a Sorcerer. The character, unless known and usually in the company of those familiar with the profession, is usually surprised by the birth of his new abilities. It is an unpredictable event, accompanied by danger surrounding the individual, as the unfocused magic is released. Sages have debated many decades on what triggers the bloodline and have come to no conclusions. Stories are told of young toddlers who have unwittingly burned their homes down, of the elderly finding that they can float instead of walk to the general store, and of children reaching the age of majority and suddenly striking out as an adventurer. No age or race seems to be immune to the possibility of having the bloodline.

In game terms the following apply:

?Sorcerers do not acquire a familiar at any level in the MSI campaign.
?D6 hit die is used in lieu of d4
?At 1st level, the new Sorcerer gains ?Eschew Materials? as a bonus feat.
?At 1st level, a bloodline is selected for the character, whether by DM or player is something I haven't decided yet. This bloodline is similar in abilities and level progression to that of the Variant described in the Unearthed Arcana, but with many modifications. A list of bloodline races will be forthcoming, along with the abilities, traits, and restrictions associated with that race.

You may post your thoughts on this subject here, if you would like.

-    Johan thought that if not for the serious demeanor of those assembled in the great hall before him, he would have reveled in the otherwise natural, splendid tranquility of the place.
-    The front and back walls were curved as if the room were on the outside part of a large circular building. The high vaulted ceiling was well over sixty feet and consisted of living wood with multiple branch supports that were as thick as beams. After the twenty foot radius wooden floor at the front of the room, the floor ascended in incremental platforms up to the back stone wall behind him. This back wall was almost completely taken by ten large cathedral openings to the outside, from where the smell of summer and a warm breeze was flowing through. Each elaborate stone window had small sapling trees growing from pots near the sills. There was also a massive amount of blooming growing vines throughout, which hummingbirds by the dozens happily tended too.
-    Each platform was lined with two rows of benches, with the back bench supported higher than the front. Each bench was a beautiful green and black marble slab. Each slab was supported by a living wood floor that reached up with branches that looked like appendages. The space had the appearance of a lecture hall, or auditorium. Johan judged by the stance and position of the current occupants it was currently being used as a court room.
-    Ten human women were currently sitting behind a high bench with their backs to the front wall, facing members of the trial and the audience. The audience in which Johan and Dray were now part of. The room was full of spectators, so much so that some people were standing in the aisle at the opposing ends of the benches. Johan wondered then, why he and Dray could possibly sitting, as they seem to have just arrived, and were non-corporeal. Someone should have tried sitting in their spots, inside them, by now. But alas, no one did.
-    The curved front wall, behind the judges, was entirely covered in the biggest most elaborately detailed mural Johan had ever laid eyes upon. It depicted a lush, dense deciduous forest that appeared to go into the horizon and beyond. Johan was startled as he realized the painted trees had their leaves rustled by the breeze coming in from behind them. The marble table-top in front of the judges was the same upon which the audience sat. It was the finest stone that Johan had ever touched (in the mortal world). The green and black surface had the feel of velvet and not stone, and was warm, as it were living.
-    As in the typical court room, the prosecution and defense teams had tables facing the judges. These tables were the same marble material with the living floor suipporting them as well. The finely woven wicker chairs behind them were full of people who had their backs to the audience.
-    Johan leaned over to ask Dray a question when he was interrupted by a man at a table to his left.
-    "In closing, I ask the Order's indulgence to review for one last time the events of the past three years and process them as factual evidence for the judgement of Sheyin of the Draykell," stated the man with stern contempt. The man appeared to be in his early thirties, wore a commoner's outfit similar to the garb the members of the audience wore.
-    The man continued, "Fact. She joined with a half-human while still in the service of the Order." While speaking he walked around the desk so as to face the defendant directly and reveal to her his loathing for the audience to see.
-    "Fact. She shared the location of the tower with the outside world, endangering every member of the Order."
-    "Fact," he now lowered his voice for effect, "she returned with this half-human, violating our most sacred law."
-    He paused, walked around the defense table and to the edge of the trial floor, facing the audience. "Fact, she now carries his child within her womb, an abomination not belonging to the Order." At this statement a tumult of whispering rushed through the audience, which had not seemed privy to this information until now. A judge raised her hand for quiet. It was given.
-    "As a representative of the laws and regulations of the Order of the Living Tower, Storian of the Shane, what are your terms?" she asked.
-    "Imprisonment for the half-human, execution of Sheyin of the Draykell and her unborn," he stated with dire confidence. The crowd went into an uproar, Johan could here multiple questions of the prosecutions position, and expressed horror at the sentance. A few, Johan noted, only a few he heard agreed with the sentance.
-    Storian sat behind his bench, alone, clasped his hands together as the representative for the defendant stood. Storian had captured Johans' attention to such a degree that he had not carefully looked at the others. The woman, most likely the defendant Sheyin of the Draykell, was quite young and beautiful. She did not seem to have any significant belly from child. She had fair skin and long flowing black wavy hair. The representative was surprisingly even younger. He appeared that he was barely the age of majority and Johan wondered what circumstances would allow a young boy to participate in such a grave and important matter.
-    "Jgeh'Triag of the Draykell, closing matters." Said the judge who spoke earlier.
-    The boy walked away from the table, approached the judges bench, nodded at them and turned towards the audience. He then looked at Storian and smirked. "Facts Storian? But what of the truth?" he asked him. Johan immediately realized why this boy was here. His melodic voice had presence, his stance a perfect balance of command with humility. He owned this court, he had all in the audience already hanging on his very word. Even the humming birds didn't flinch.
-    "Truth. Sheyin of the Draykell," he spoke the name with pride that bounced off the walls, "was on a mission for the Council. A mission she achieved successfully. A mission the Council cannot share the details of with this audience, due to the timeliness of the disclosure not yet at hand." This brought yet another round of whispering that was immediately silenced by the judges quieting hand.
-    "Truth. The half-elf, Meh'yatsett Galaphile, not only saved the life of our beloved member of the Order, but was also key in the success of this mission," the audience was again quiet in anticipation.
-    "Truth. Sheyin was gone for three long years, in that time she needed to expose the Living Tower only a single time. To a trusted human, in order to complete the mission. It is a disappointment to both the Draykell House and the Council itself, that we cannot divulge more information here in this trial to equit Sheyin of this charge." If a pin dropped, it would deafen the first four rows.
-    "Truth." Jgeh'Triag paused, and smiled at his charge. "During this mission she and Galaphile fell in love. The danger of the mission drew them together and they bonded." He turned and looked at the audience. "She carries a human child within her." He didn't flinch as the crowd exploded in a juggernaut of discussion. This appeared to be the crux of the matter, Johan thought.
-    "Truth. The success of the mission will forever change the prosperity for the Living Tower for...."
-    "That is enough Jgeh'Triag" interrupted the judge as she returned her hand to quiet the audience. It took considerably longer this time. "You have been warned she stated in a hushed tone over the bench. The quiet statement spoke volumes to Johan. He guessed that she had warned Jgeh'Triag before, and like a two-year old child wanting only to show his parents that he could fly, the child had not heeded, and jumped off the house anyway.
-    The judge continued, "As a representative of the defendant Sheyin of your Draykell House, and in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Order of the Living Tower what are your terms of a guilty sentance.
-    Johan was taken aback, 'Was that it then? Was she already deemed guilty?'
-    Jgeh'Triag turned to the judges and calmy said, "If found guilty of all accounts it is the wish of the House to have both Meh'yahtsett Galaphile, Sheyin of the Draykell and her unborn child executed immediately." The audience once again went into a frenzied uproar. Johan was uplifted by the fact that most in the audience felt betrayed by this shocking desire of the Draykell House.
-    The judge, the same woman who had conducted the trial thus far, raised her hand for quiet. Silence was given in anticipation of what was to come next.
-    Jgeh'Triag continued. "But if found not-applicable to these charges, it is the wish of the Draykell House that Meh'yahtsett Galaphile be exiled to the Outlands and set free." Whispers returned, but the defense continued. "As for Sheyin, if found not-guilty for each and every one of these charges, then the Draykell House proposes the following." The whispers silenced, the judges sat up in their chairs, the hummingbirds left the room and Johan wished he had that damned pin.
-    Johan was amazed at Jgeh'Triag, this boy owned the room. When he next spoke he let not a pause or an intonation break his grasp of them all, they listened on every word.
-    "If Sheyin is absolved of these charges, she will be exiled from the House of Draykell and reinstated as the sole member of the new House of Galaphile. Her and the human child she carries will be given the rights and opportunities to that entitlement of a new House."
-    The audience sat in dumbfounded silence.
-    After Jgeh'Triag took his seat in the shocked silence the judge addressed the court. "This Council will consider the evidence, and both representatives requests. This trial is closed." With that, the Council of Ten stood together and took their leace from the hall. As the audience began to depart, some talking frantically, most others in hushed tones, Johan turned to Dray.
-    "That's it? Tell me that we are going to come back for the decision?" he asked.
-    Dray chuckled. "No, no my friend. The resulting decision was disclosed in private and the sentance made known to all after-the-fact. It was very anti-climatic I am afraid," Dray said. The two of them still sat at the bench. They would not leaving the hall in the same manner as the audience.
-    "So the girl lost?" asked Johan disappointed.
-    "Oh no, the defense one." Dray stated matter of factly. "Sheyin, a powerful Druid in her own right, was not about to be lost or for that matter executed by the Council of Ten. The offer of Jgeh'Triag and the House of Draykell was quite ingenious. They had given the Council a way out of the matter without getting their hands bloody. Sheyin placed in another new house made her less a political threat to Houses that considered her so, while also of course maintaining her right to live. Valen and Sheyin were allowed to live in a new House of Galaphile, changing the structure of the Living Tower for the first time in over five hundred years. In fact, had this clever plan not been devised by Jgeh'Triag Draykell, Valen may never had grown up and saved the Living Tower from extinction many years later.
-    "I take it your going to explain the dynamics of that last statement in further detail?" asked Johan. "I am the Overseer of this world after all.
-    "Of course, my friend, of course. Come, we have other matters to tend too, let us be off." Dray said.
-    With a nod from Johan, they vanished from the Living Tower.

-   To my son, as you grow within my womb I write these words. My trial before the Order will be over in 8 suns. I know not what will come, what sentence must be given. Therefore, if we become separated, and they place my babe in exile, I have found a way to be with you, at least in spirit. A letter you will receive each month.
-   I can say, almost in confidence, that your life will be spared, however, it is unknown to me on whether my life will be forfeit. So I am rushing to record as much as I can convey within this short time frame.
-   I refuse to become a distant memory and to be cast off as an unknown mother who abandoned you, thereby giving you justification to abandon your past. So you will know of your heritage and be empowered by the knowledge.
-   In this first letter, I will give you an abbreviated history of the valley in which your mother called home. This is a brief version of what is passed down from generation to generation. I fear that I cannot provide you more detail then what I am to disclose. For if you do indeed grow up outside the village, any more specific information then what is presented here would be dangerous in the wrong hands.
-   Your mother comes from an introverted society, but please do not hold it against me or them. For although the paranoia against all other races is indeed a black mark on the Order of the Living Tower, it is still comprised of good hearted people. If we were not cautious, we would not have developed such a marvelous community and never had discovered the secrets behind the human spirit. If it were not for this community, a young woman named Sheyin may never have had the opportunity to meet and bond with a half-elf. And you would therefore not be reading this letter.
-   This society was started by a human. His name, Shelgarad Gryphen, is now a name respected and revered almost as a deity by the Order. This Heirophant Druid, along with his comrades, a monk named Jorkell Alkar, and a sorcerer named Drakahn Innet, had enough of adventuring. At the time, more than 500 years ago, the world was full of chaos and anarchy, with many races fighting for dominance throughout the lands. Goblinkin, dwarves, humans, elves, monster races, all had no set place in life, and all wanted it. So these three powerful humans used their vast resources to establish a community, one just for humans.
-   These three men, invited four other adventuring men and three women of like mind. All of them had been companions at one time or another over the years. People they had come to respect and admire over the years, people who also had enough of the wars and wanted to raise children in peace. Children who would be away from the violence and bigotry of the other races. You see son, centuries ago, the human race did not have the stranglehold it now maintains on this world. It was a scattered race still struggling to survive after the Great Cataclysm that occurred twenty years prior. My how the tables have turned.
-   The seven men and three women, even though they were experienced and mid-season of their lives, petitioned in a selective and secretive way for mates that would best match them. The candidates were many, but it was not hard to find quality young women and men, for these ten well-known and wealthy adventurers promised a new life of hope. They would provide not only protection and shelter from the chaos of the world around them, but give the children they bore into the world their extensive knowledge.
-   So it started with only ten couples. Ten pairs of humans, who set out a search throughout the land for the perfect place to call home. After two years of searching, they located a valley in what was part of a much larger wood then it is today. The valley was a place of utter beauty and tranquility.
-   To acquire it, Shelgarad called in a favor with a mighty kingdom. The Nation of Elves owed Shelgarad a great deal, it could not refuse him. The Elves relinquished the land from its protection, forfeiting the area known as the Dim Forest forever. Shelgarad agreed to protect the land and all its nature for all eternity, a task that has so far been accomplished by the Order.
-   They came to the valley in Coldeven of 20 C.Y. [late Spring] and began to build, both their families and their village. These ten families exist today, in a social structure that would leave any outsider in shock at our completely foreign ways. Yet it is these traditions that have kept us strong for so long. But I digress, for that is a letter for another time.
-   From the very first day, Shelgarad had begun construction on what would become the symbol and center of our community. As the others created shelters from materials found in the valley, and began to settle in, Shelgarad instead withdrew into the depths of his own soul. He drew upon his powers that were secondary to his druidic abilities, but almost as potent. For Shelgarad was also a Psion. Using powers that mystified even his comrades he was able to start the seed of the Living Tower.
-   It took almost fifty years for the seemingly ageless Heirophant to complete the Living Tower. A symbol at the heart of the valley that over 200 feet high, 20 feet in diameter at the base, made of living wood, the tower was literally sculpted with techniques long forgotten, even by the elves. Using altered growing vines, he gave the wooden tower branches from a third the way up its height, to well above the top of the tower. The effect, as you may have guessed, was what appears to be a fantastically gigantic tree at the center of the valley.
-   But this is not the most fantastic aspect of this wonder. For beyond a small alcove within the base of the tree is a space within the tree that is far greater than the space outside. This space grew from the seed as much as the living wood had, it was the heart of the Living Tower and within it is our true home. A place that could house ten to twenty times the amount of people we currently have. It is land within, a place created by humans to keep out the gods. A subject of another letter.
-   Also completed at about this time was the great barrier around the outskirts of the Valley. The Council of the Living Tower finally delivered on their promise, for no man or beast has ever been able to enter the valley unchallenged.
-   As the years passed, the original ten men of the Council passed into history, with the exception of our Heirophant Druid. His tale passes into legend and is not to be written in detail. Had I raised you as a child his story will be known and dear to you by now. Alas it cannot be, so know this, Shelgarad saved the community from destruction on many occasion. During the last threat to the valley he slipped through the planes of reality and was lost to us. Someday, he will return, the oracles of this community have foreseen. Our all-knowing shaman has spoke prophecy that he will return to fight for the Valley again.
-   From early on, the Council sought a tight knit community, one that would not have individuals vying for power over others. A society in which all the aspects of life could be shared. It was to that end that ?the hunt? was created.
-   This hunt would become the center of the society?s family structure and the pinnacle of the council?s power. For the hunt forces families to re-organize, it creates leaders, it is a test for this who have reached majority, it conceives children and it forces enemies to make amends. With a liquid structure one would think chaos would erupt, but it has been quite the opposite. We are like a pack of wolves, with one purpose, one goal, one law. I will tell you the story of the hunt in another letter.
-   We now number just over a thousand, the ten humans families peacefully coexisting and evolving into what we are destined to become. I say this not to be haughty or pompous, but just to state fact and make it perfectly clear to you that our race has become a polished reflection of what is to be found in the outside world. The Order was started by ten men and women who at first only sought a place to retire in peace, but it then became something else as well. It became a community where the adventurers and all their generations could learn. A secluded place to study, research and explore the depths of the human spirit.
-   This type of environment has spawned a close-knit group of very powerful individuals. As one of very few to ever leave the valley in over five hundreds years I have gained an appreciation for this. In all my travels while on my mission, I had never encountered a group of comrades as powerful or as many.
-   I must conclude this first letter, as I can deliver to you only one page each month, but know this, the charges are not baseless. I am guilty of them all, but where I was in service in the order I still may be spared. The only thing that lies in the way is the politics of the Council. There are too many factors to explain it all here, but in order for the Council to maintain the balance, I may have to die.
-   I just wanted you to know, that if you are reading this letter and you have no memory of me, then please do not seek revenge in the Order. I needed to be sacrificed to save the society I too had fought for and loved. As I also love you my son, please respect my wishes.

In the beginning, Valen was quick to make friends with his fellows, but somewhat secretive about his past. As the days have gone by, that has slightly changed. Now that he has built up a trust amongst his fellows he has been willing to tell them a little more of his background.

Valen Galaphile comes from a Druidic Order known as the Living Tower. The Order and its people live somewhere in the Dim Forest. Valen had once said that he was one of many students who were allowed to explore beyond the borders of the Valley that his people call home. This is untrue. He is one of a probable few from his community that is currently within the ?outer world?. Of that few, he is the only one in exile. But to explain this, one has to start from the beginning.

The Living Tower was founded almost back to the time of the Great Cataclysm. Around the year 20 CY, a hierophant druid set out to establish a village that would be for humans only. During that time the many humanoid races were at war, and the migrating humans from the desolated south were outnumbered by many more fearsome races.

So a powerful few created a settlement in what now is known as the Dim Forest, created a village, and surrounded themselves with protection. This shield of protection became so formidable, that they truly vanished from the outside world for five centuries.

Valen claims that although his people are good at heart, they are introverted and suspicious of the outside world, having been away from it so long. Although powerful members of the Living Tower are often sent on quests into this vast world, they do no share their experiences with the community.

The community itself is nestled in a small valley, and is protected with so many enchantments, misdirection spells, natural barriers and creatures that no one can reach it. Valen admits however, that until a few decades ago, no one in this world even knew of its existence.

The center of the valley is the actual home of the Order. It is a magnificent tree that is so large, the Order lives within it.

Valen?s personal story is one of detachment from all that. Valen?s mother, Sheyin was a high level member of her House. As such, she was assigned on a rare mission to this outside world, one of dire importance. During this mission, she fell in love with a half-elf, one that saved her very life and therefore made the mission a success. However, at the end of the mission, the half-elf was forced to return to the Living Tower with Valen?s mother. An act that he knew would bring judgement upon him, but could not be helped.

Judgement came. His father was banished to another land, his mother lost her position and even her family and was made an outcast within the community. Left to raise her son in the solitude, still within the Order, but getting little involvement with it. Although this sounds harsh to all who listen to his story, Valen shrugs off the incredulous stares. He explains that there were many political and social reasons this sentence was passed down upon his mother and he.

As for Valen, after growing up in the Living Tower, he found that he would never be truly accepted by his peers. Most of them would not befriend him, as he represented an anomaly within the human settlement, others showed him outright bigotry. He therefore fled his home to gain experience and knowledge from this world. The first member of the Order in five hundred years to venture beyond.
 
Valen himself appears to have some elven ancestry as he has sharp chiseled facial features, fair skin, long black hair and green eyes. His thin frame is covered by well-made leather armor. He carries a heavy wooden shield that is adorned with the symbol of Ehlonnna and wields a scimitar. He wears a small 1" diameter wooden symbol with a finely carved intricate relief of a tall but narrow tower covered in thick vines that form to what looks like tree branches, giving the tower the appearance of a massive tree.

[color=green:123155f98a]OOC: This thread started with "Dance The Night Away", went to "Watching Gage", went back to "Dance The Night Away" and is now here.[/color]

As they stepped by the fire, Gage spoke in a hushed tone.

"Elberrin, I was wondering. You are friends with that halfling are you not?" he asked in an unusually polite tone.

[07 Goodmonth (Aug) 591 CY]

Before the dawn of "Freeday", Elberrin departed from the tent, his comrades sleeping, even Mel. Elberrin couldn't sleep though. Never before had he so anxiously anticipated a days' beginning. He finally would have a mentor of quality. A man willing to teach him the skills of a true ranger. He knew of no one else who could hunt and kill beasts single handedly like Ivellious had only a few days ago.

He made his way to the mess hall, but not before ensuring that Mel was truly asleep on his little cot. He hoped that the kitchen was open this early before sunrise.

As he arrived at the mess hall, he came upon an argument at it's entrance. A portly, slightly balding gray-haired human was disciplining a young comely girl. He had seen the man before, as he was the cook, the girl he didn't recognize.

As they had already seen him approach, he feigned disinterest, and passed them bye on the way into the hall.

"...and who do you think is going to feed these men if I am doing your job in the kitchen young lady?!" the cook scolded the young girl.

The mess hall was empty of people. Elberrin stopped inside the entrance but out of view so he could listen in, not that it was that difficult since the man was just short of shouting.

"But pappa, Invellious invited me to join the hunt, how could I refuse one of our leaders?" said the girl.

Okay let me see, got the following books out:

Fiend Folio,
Lords of Madness,
Book of Vile Darkness,
Monster Manual III

Yeah, I am ready to get working on the Isle.

With a roll of her eyes, Maal drains one of the tankards before her and suddenly stands, knocking her chair over backwards with a loud clatter.  Leaning over the table, she says, "Prhaps, we should jus ask Garret if he has a more private room in the back that we can use to talk..."

With an exasperated sigh, she grabs up her remaining full mug of ale (carelessly spilling much of it on the table), straightens up to her full height, and marches around the table headed for the bar.

"Garret!" she calls out quite loudly over the din.  "Garret!!"...

Duthash Albyr Arkus [4 May, 237 VY] Kit leaves before breakfast (very early for Kit) and walks over to Julius' house. Knocking on his door, hoping that he is not an early riser and has already stepped out.

After telling Ashe that she has experience with Alchemy, Kit starts to prepare "a station" to work at. In no time at all she has decanters, mixing bowls and a burning candle set at a table. While Ashe is examining the boys, he starts requesting certain ingredients to be mixed. Laren sees that Kit has a hard time measuring them, as she is shaking like a leaf.

Kit is a stunningly beautilful young girl, not yet quite a woman. At 5'6", she is slightly taller than her peers. She has long straight blonde hair that is full, reaching mid-way down her back. With her fair skin and pale green eyes she could easily be mistaken for a tall half-elf. Her physique is certainly characteristic of the elven race, as she is very slim. Although not athletic in build, she has a woman's curves, a shape that will turn many a man's head.

     She appears that she also makes no effort to discourage such activity. Her adventuring outfit leaves only a little to the imagination. The armor consists of a long light brown leather skirt, which reaches the top of her feet, and is split at the sides to reveal her legs up to her waist. Along the low-waist line of the skirt is a loose fitting belt pouch and dagger. Her leather top leaves much of her mid-riff bare, and has only three-quarter sleeves. She also carries a full backpack, out of which some torch-heads poke out. She rarely wears it on her back though, saying it pulls on her hair. To complete the ensemble, she (recently) accessorized with matching fingeless leather gloves and leather straps to braid portions of her hair. She has no jewelry.

     Over the eight days of knowing her, you have observed she is prone to about one or two mood swings a day. She'll be very happy one moment, then appear to be crushed with sadness the next. She has not shown any anger however, and is always quick to reasonably explain away any tears.

     The first two days after the Threshold Protecterate (our group) was formed, Kit all but disappeared. She was glimpsed coming in and out of Threshold shops. The following two days she was lost completely to her room. Only the last 2 days prior to the Rat Extermination Day (see log entry #2) had she be seen by her fellows in the Protecterate. Wearing comfortable breeches and shirts of various colors she had bought. Each item though, had been modified to show off more skin than the original tailors intended, and more than the local women of town appreciate. Luckily for them, and their husbands, she spends a considerable amount of each day in her room, only making appearances in the Inn common room in the morning, and the Stump in the evening.

     For those last two nights, Kit has joined anyone in the group who had taken dinner in the Stump. She always appeared freshly bathed and groomed, with a perfume of a light jasmine scent about her. Each night, her hair has been in a different style, as she must spent most of her time in her room fiddling with it. And of course, she always had a different outfit. The night before what was to become Rat Day, she debuted a modest, but beautiful brown dress.

     When she does converse with members of the Protectorate, she is usually very inquisitive about the others in the group. Wanting to know what harrowing adventures they've been on, and what amazing things they've seen. As she is more a listener than a talker, she is always an attentive audience.

     Her past is a mystery to all, as she always seems to steer away from talking of it.

     She is still only known as Kit.

I read the brief history and current events quickly. I am very impressed with what appears to be a fantastic storyline.

Are humans the predominant races within all the city states? Do they rule over these four?