Session 6.1 - Snoozefest

[Johan]

It is the morning of August 8th, 571 CY. The former nights? beachstock was one for the record books, lasting almost until dawn. For those of you who enjoyed the ?spirit? of the previous evening, you wake up in the mid-morning hour, a little groggy and slow.

The morning that greets you however is bright, sunny and cool, as most have been this past week on the island. With the exception of the rain two days ago, the weather has in fact been quite pleasant on this Isle. The breeze coming across the Inner harbor and into Outpost Bay have swept across Outpost Ledge, keeping you and the other new inhabitants cool during these summer days.

As each one of you makes it to the mess hall at various times of the morning, you are greeted by an Oeridian man at the entrance.

?Security meeting this morning in the mess hall, please stick around after eating.? The short man tells each of you.

The mess hall is crowded with adventurers, all enjoying the break in the normal routine, waiting for the meeting to begin. Each one of you finds your comrades. T?riad, who had awakened at dawn, had learned of the meeting and saved everyone a seat. Each of you grabs your favorite of the two choices usually served for breakfast and has a seat to talk to the others.

It starts to quiet as Lord Torkanius makes his way to a small platform in the corner of the mess hall. Ivellious Naivo and Tretorn Kayb are with him. Torlann takes the stage first and raises his hands to hush the crowd.

?Good Morn my fellows. This meeting will be the first in a weekly routine to keep all of you up to date on what we are discovering and doing on this Isle of Brennon. I surmised this would be an excellent time each week, as most of you would need the morn after Freeday to rest from Beachstock anyway,? he said with a smile. This got a lot of tired nods in agreement and a few laughs.

?So without further ado, let us give all of you an idea on what?s going on. We?ll start with Security. Ivellious,? he gestured towards Ivellious who took the platform as Torlann stepped down.

Ivellious was in his normal commoner?s outfit all were used to seeing him in. He did have his weapons on him as usual.

?First and foremost let me thank each and every one of you for being so professional this past week. I haven?t had any trouble whatsoever leading this group of fine adventurers. Considering that we number almost 150 individuals who were hastily gathered in Dullstrand without any formal group training, this is saying something.,? he said looking over the group.

?We have been very fortunate hear on the Isle. We had no idea what we would encounter so many hundreds of leagues away from our native land. As Torlann will later comment on further, this Isle lay unexplored for all known human history. We consider ourselves very lucky to not have encountered anything we haven?t been able to handle.? As he stated this he looked at the group, seeing a few hints of new worry from the clueless who hadn?t thought of this.

?But not to worry. As Tretorn Kayb will discuss, we plan on bringing in a force that will eventually multiply our soldier number by 10. And we don?t plan on bringing them here by a long boat ride.? He said, this got a few snorts of disbelief, and a more than a few people wondering what he meant.

?Sure steal my thunder.? Said Tretorn dryly.

?Sorry sir. So as you will soon see, it will not be your duty to forever guard the beach, the docks and the tents. Soon we will let you loose on this Isle. This Isle, that is the size of a small continent. One that has secrets, mysteries and most importantly treasure that lies in wait, ready to be discovered.? He got a few smiles from that.

?But I digress. On to our security report.? Ivellious took out a parchment that he unrolled, then put on a pair of reading glasses, which was an odd sight on an elf. Someone actually let out a remark of surprise. He looked up from the parchment and said with a smile, ?Years of squinting out at the horizon can catch up to you when you try to see close.?

He didn?t really seem to need the parchment however, for he barely glanced at it during his report.

?After our battle with Sahuagin on the shore, Azarian Orndier, our high priest, personally went into the sea and explored the Bay for two days. He found no signs of a colony in the nearby area. It is our hope that they were a contingent of warriors on their way elsewhere, or that there unfound colony is so few in number that they dare not reveal themselves. Either way, we will be building a defensive wall along the beach as soon as we can. Until then we will keep  men posted along the beach as we have done this past week. We will keep a vigilant watch for any threat from the ocean.? He glanced down at this report as a couple of people talked quietly.

?As you all know, we eliminated the two Girallon who attacked us. We have successfully conveyed the message to their colony in the mountains to the southeast that they are not to hunt here. Although they are intelligent creatures, as you can guess, they are ruthless and evil. I personally will keep track of these creatures and make sure they do not encroach upon our land. But know this, if you see any sign of them, you are to not engage, but to report to headquarters immediately. The Girallon are a powerful foe, and I will lose no more men to them if it can be helped.? He glanced down on the parchment.

?Someone or something doesn?t want us to explore the northern ridge beyond the river. We have had our grappling hooks dislodged and thrown from above. We have had no sign of who the repellers might be. As it is imperitive we discover as much information on this isle, including who the natives are, I will be assigning a group to make a trip around the ridge. I don?t believe whoever it may be is openly hostile or why not just attack from the advatantage above?? He glanced again down at the parchment.

?Mel?s team has discovered a dwarven complex within the rise south of Outpost Ledge. It has been cleared of the few beasts that had taken refuge there. However, they encountered a few hobgoblins that appear to be native to the Isle. I have also discovered signs, trails, tracks and possibly constructs of these hobgoblins. To me, these hobs could possibly represent our greatest threat to the Outpost at this time. It is my belief that they are more intelligent and industrial then the filth walking about our own homeland. If any are encountered, and the opportunity arises to capture one of these hobs, please take every advantage to do so. I have many questions for them.?

?As we get more supplies off the ships in the next few days and weeks, I will need more of you to keep guard here on the ledge. For this I apologize, but as I mentioned earlier, when we get more men, you will be the first to be let loose on the Isle.? He said with a smile, it was obvious to everyone that Ivellious thought of the Isle of Brennen as one big playground yet to be explored.

?I will be assigning a large group of you to head over to the dwarven fortress we passed on our sail here. Azarian Orndier most likely will be leading the group. We need to find out what happened to the dwarves who are rumored to have come here from our homeland a thousand years ago.? He again looked at the parchment, he seemed to be getting to the bottom.

The tower at the center of Outpost Bay is believed to once belong to Brennen himself, a Heirophant Druid Sorceror.? Ivellious stressed each word of Brennen?s title. ?A man who, legend tells us, departed from our land before the great Cataclysm, to seek out the limitless power of nature.? He paused and looked over the men assembled. With a laugh he said, ?We will NOT be going over there.?

This got a few chuckles in agreement.

?For now, that is all I have to say. Remember that if you have a question on anything that the quartermaster is always available in headquarters.?

               *   *   *

With that Ivellious stepped down and Tretorn Kayb, the tall aristocrat wizard took the platform. He too used reading glasses to read over a parchment. Unlike Ivellious however, he did not appear to be comfortable speaking to a large group. The hand holding the parchment was shaking slightly and he kept pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

?Thank you all for the fine work you have done thus far.? He said, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

?Let me get you up to date with the construction that has just recently begun and tell you in detail the plans we have for the upcoming weeks.? He stopped, looked at everyone awkwardly, then continued.

?Er, heh, we started out by setting up 100 tents along the shoreline to house all of the adventurers and most of our laborers. This was completed in a timely fashion and all appear to be as comfortable as possible during the evening hours. Just want to note here that these tents should be able to handle a high wind should a storm fall upon us.? He stopped awkwardly again and smiled. No one seemed concerned about wind so they just stared back at him.

He was about to quickly continue when a familiar Orc voice said from the back, ?Duh, it can?t handle my wind.?

Everyone burst out laughing at Grushnek?s comment. Even Tretorn seemed to loosen up a bit.

?We have setup a barbed wire fence along the shoreline, this will eventually be replaced by an expansive stone wall that will guard all of Outpost Ledge. It is the Council of Dullstrand?s eventual hope to make a large city on this very spot and not only a trading post. For you see,? and he paused hoping for dramatic effect. ?Our dwarves have indeed discovered a platinum vein within the very mountains south of us.?

There were a few gasps of shock and pleasant surprise from the crowd.

?Now that we have confirmed it, you can be certain the Council will triple its? efforts beyond what has already been started, in order to get a foothold here.? He paused while looking at his parchment.

?As you have seen, we have cleared almost the entire square mile of flatland that is Outpost Ledge. It is our intent to use as much of the land as possible for the footprint of the city. It is a large endeavor, and will require far more men, supplies and equipment. As Ivellious eluded too, we cannot wait for all of this to come here by boat. We have another option at our disposal, and its? construction has already begun.? Tretorn looked about, as if mentally preparing himself for a great tale.

?Almost a hundred years ago, an adventurer who called Dullstrand home was a thousand miles to the west, exploring the ruins of Jheh?Kat, a city ruined by the Great Cataclysm. Within the city he, Lord Hedron and his fellows discovered a powerful artifact, formerly lost even in legend. With great difficulty he brought the many pieces of the immensely large artifact home, to Dullstrand, for study. It took the Council, and a team of wizards over two decades to uncover all of the secrets of this artifact. Those secrets, along with the artifact, have been brought to the Isle of Brennen.? He paused, looking about the room and realized he still had everyone?s complete attention.

?The Artifact is known as the Quantifice, in ancient Suloise that means, ?the Passage?. The Council and I have nicknamed it, ?the Door?. This large stone artifact will be constructed where the first building foundation is now under construction. It takes about a month to complete. When it is done, I will be able to use this relic?s power to summon dozens of men and hundreds of pounds of material from Dullstrand each day.?

As Tretorn paused there was a loud buzz from the crowd as all discussed the ramifications of this.

?As you can see, within months we will have hundreds of more men, within the year, thousands. The Council already has a team of wizards ready to transport here to help with the city?s construction. They will use there magic to half the time it takes to normally excavate, create materials and construct structures. We will soon be far more comfortable and in a more civilized environment.?

?But let me get back to what we will be doing this month. It is our plan to build a more permanent building that will not only house this artifact, but give the adventurers a better place to ward off the elements. Until the city has proper barracks built, this structure will serve as your mess hall and barracks, complete with fireplaces, latrines, mess hall and cots. You will not have to sleep in the cold this coming winter.? This also seemed to please the crowd.

?It will also serve a dual purpose in that the adventurers will be nearer to the artifact for it?s protection.?

?In other related news, the dock construction goes quite well, our first dock should be completed within the next day or two. Ships will be able to start unloading major cargo very shortly, therefore speeding up our efforts.?

?We also have an incredible find in what Mel?s team has discovered. The dwarven complex on the southern ridge could prove to be a valuable storage facility and sanctuary should a harsh storm arise. When Mel gives us the all clear, I will have some of expert dwarves inspect the complex for its? eventual use.? With that, Tretorn rolled up the paper and looked at Torlann.

?With that, I give the floor back to Lord Torkanius,? he said and stepped down.

               *   *   *

Torlann returned to the platform.

?As you can see, there is much to be gained here on the frontier of civilization. All of us are a part of history. One day your grandchildren?s children will look back and envy this time of adventure. Tales will be told of your heroism and daring. The generations of your lineage will appreciate you, the founding fathers and mothers of wealthy families on the Isle of Brennen. Thank you for what you have done thus far. Now let?s get back to work.?

With that he stepped down, and the first meeting of the Security of Outpost Ledge was over.