A few week's journey away, through the mountains, and near the coast of the sea, we enter the city of New Adtham. A massive port city connecting the land to the sea, New Adtham is a progressive city of a million souls...and five times as many people, as the gate guards will tell you.
For many, the city is overwhelming. A brief history for those new to the city can be found HERE. Beyond that, a few brief words from your humble editor of the New Adtham Times on the story of the new adventurers in the city, and the tale that I shall strive to do justice in reporting: I've not written for such an adventure before, and hope I can do justice both to the Saga Unending, and to the larger tale of our heroes and their journeys. And so we begin... Our heroes arrived at New Adtham in various ways. Some by land, some by sea, and some have been here longer than I. All come for the same REASON, but with varying PURPOSE. The Adventurer's Guild of New Adtham is their hope, and this new party of heroes will undoubtedly shape the face of New Adtham for ages to come. Like all new heroes, they start simply. Like many, they found themselves at the doors of the Guild, ready to join. Some had waited years, some weeks, and some days, but the Guild does not assign proving missions to individuals; the Guild has been the power it is for so long partly due to its caution and care in how it assigns the hired missions. But with a new crew arriving together, missions are ready. Our heroes wait in the main lobby of the guild, next to a strange man on a chair silently reading an issue of this humble publication. Any person who has walked through the doors of the Guild has seen him here, and all have wondered: does he sleep? Is he human? He is courteous and informative if asked questions about the guild, but few can honestly say they've ever seen him NOT in that chair. Making a right, the party enters the hall of records for the Guild, and meets both Timmy, the scribe (by punishment, for some reason), and Bernard Thatch, the curator for the main hall and Guild Museum. A small and nervous human, Timmy offers possible proving missions. After some debate, and in no small part at Timmy's panicked suggestions, they accept a job to "deal with labour" at the farm of Reggie and Margaret Cobbler. Octavia recognizes them as a nice enough couple from her area of Pigsty Hill, with Reggie being a bit of a dreamer, and Margaret being firm with him, and an excellent cook. Arriving at the Cobbler homestead and farm, our heroes found the land being worked by undead. Though technically tilling, harvesting, and chopping wood, the skeletons and skeletal horses seem more interested in the KILLING of living things than the growing of them. Fending off hits with a ladle from Margaret, Reggie admits that his "new labour force" isn't quite working out, and needs some help. Staying outside the fence, and particularly cautious around the enormous Giant Skeletal Boar, which is almost the size of a shack, our heroes spread out and prepare their assault. To kick things off, with a gusto to be admired, the Barbarian Duo hatches a plan: Cade the Half-Orc, literally throws Noggal the Halfling at the boar, hoping to start the battle strongly. As Noggal screamed with joyous fury, flying through the air...he faceplanted from a weak throw and a equally weak landing. The "workers" were now alerted, and the battle was joined. Fortunately, our heroes were not without skill. Sniping skeletons from the edges with bows, hacking away with axes (though not without an occasional wide miss or accidentally thrown weapon), the undead were dispatched, and our readers' current favorite member of the party, Thyrsus the Dragon, sailed through the air with a bone in his jaws, roaring with victory. Talking with Reggie and Margaret, after considering careful discussion, Branok unleashed the full power of his Warlock heritage, intending to get answers quickly. Reggie, unable to contain his terror, was only able to get the name "Siffuk" out, a name our readers and local heroes alike recognize as the purveyor of late night...'foodstuffs' and any other business venture he can think of. Dragged into the hog pen to recover (and not affecting the smell of his clothing, after Branok's efforts), Reggie seemed properly chastised, and the party decides that this was only the failing of a good-natured fool who was swindled by a 'mostly' harmless (unless you eat one of his hotdogs) merchant who seemed to stumble upon a real scroll of summoning. Completing a guild proving mission, our heroes are welcomed by the Authors of the Guild, and the First Quill Pelagrathil Qwand. After a simple ceremony, the adventurers become full members of the Guild, and receive their first lines in the Saga Unending. Qwand, a magnificent Gold Dragonborn Monk (whose charms particularly impressed Noggal), welcomes them into the tale, and notes that they are his first entries as the head of the Guild, a distinction that traditionally heralds greatness from the party in question. The heroes briefly restocked and used their new Guild privilege in the shop, meeting the spacy Cole, head of Guild Supplies. A night of celebration followed at the Tom, the Guild-only bar, where several shops of note were mentioned for our heroes to use, several drinks were had (in some cases needing a bit of holy assistance in recovering the next day), and adventurers started the new day as guild members. Though some of the party needed to tend to other business, several decided to go straight into their next tale...the Wyrmlings at the Gate. Hired to take care of two infant Blue Dragons spotted on trade trails at the southeast edge of the city (in desert areas), our party set out. After an uneventful day of travel, making camp near the area the wyrmlings were spotted, clever use of magic allowed them to surprise one of the wyrmlings into revealing its position, jumping out of sand and sending an electrical breath weapon in completely the wrong direction. The battle was short but intense, with our heroes swiftly dispatching one then the other young dragon, saving the trade routes of New Adtham from a potential terror when they grew. The heroes now find themselves in possession of two dead blue dragons, and decisions of how best to utilize this treasure of a crafting resource. Author Avery will be interested applying these pieces to his gadgetry, the famed and fussy master smith Fafa may cry to get his hands on these creatures, and the Old Albert shop could certainly find use for magical potions and more...
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