ENTER LAURA: Laura, a cleric of Aphrodite, happened to be on hand when the party had returned the night before, and one of her healing spells fixed up Joral and ingratiated her to the party.
ENTER RAMSES: A visiting bard had come to see the new heroes as the word was quickly spreading of their heroic feat. Some say they fought a ghost, others say it was a vampire. Still others had a different story. Ramses and Anne had known each other from before, and they spent the breakfast flirting and talking, but mostly Ramses was getting all the information he could about their tale so he might go forth and relate the heroic yarn and earn his bread and mead. Yes, mead. After most of the morning flirting with Anne and Laura over breakfast at Lucky's, Ramses went his merry way. EXIT RAMSES:
ENTER JARMAIN BA`GRABEN: Offering the services of a cleric of Zeus, Jarmain joins the party to share in any and all things, dangerous or otherwise. They agree, for to have the power of the gods on one's side is never (well, hardly ever) a bad thing.
Not wishing to offend the church of Athena, Liska and Jarmain spend the morning talking to Darius, one of the head clerics at Vista, Athena's temple in Little Falls. She explained her intent to search the mausoleum further and try to understand why such evil could be at such a holy site. Darius agreed, thinking it likely that the Cumferance family had violated certain laws by placing such things there, thus forfeiting their rights to the church's full protection. In exchange for a consideration (a tithe of whatever they may find) Darius gives Liska permission to ferret out any and all evil. Naturally, he'd do it himself when he had more time, but the approaching High Holy Day was keeping him pretty busy just then, so Liska had his blessing.
Returning to Lucky's, Liska and Jarmain gathered up Laura and Anne and went back to the Athenian cemetery. After a lot of false starts and missteps, this is what they discovered: By putting the marble cylinder into a hole they found on the side of Zachary Cumferance's sarcophagus (683 to 702 - It is almost 745, so the last Cumferance family member died 43 years ago. Zachary had been 19 years old at the time), it revealed a secret chamber below with stairs leading down. Beneath the mausoleum, they discovered another and more elaborate sarcophagus, this one belonging to Sir Gerald Cumferance, the family's patriarch. Working up the courage to lift the heavy cover aside, they finally managed it and peered into the resting place of Sir Gerald, expecting the worse, but nothing untoward happened. They "rescued" some magic chainmail and a magic sword, and perhaps more importantly, a decaying journal. There were no other foul denizens that could be discovered. Returning home, they were able to exercise greater care than in the field and they read the following:
NOTE:The following is the badly decayed, barely legible log and journal of Sir Gerald Cumferance. The first 8 pages have been destroyed by mold and water damage. The ninth page continues . . . .
-----nd so the wizard Mireus and I, taking all considerations into account, decided to expand upon the caverns under the windswept sands. Utilizing the kobolds he had enslaved with his magic, the job was nearly completed within 3 scepters and we moved the bulk of our treasure to our new base of operations. From there we could easily-----
The next nine pages are similarly destroyed. The journal then continues-----
-----fter returning from our raid on the orc encampment at the northern tip of Lake Taknam, I had my first serious disagreement with Mireus. I felt it was worthwhile to return for the treasure we could not carry off with us the first time, but he felt is wasn't worth the 14 mile round trip.
Mireus' apparent lack of interest in treasure is beginning to concern me greatly, for if he no longer is interested in treasure, then what? As he has not chosen to inform me of his plans, I fear that I may not be included in them and-----
Again, another 16 pages are lost to age and damage. The journal continues-----
-----insists that a lone kobold breaking free of his magic and escaping was of no great import, but I took it upon myself to dispatch the remaining 22 kobolds for security reasons. Mireus was enraged that I slaughtered his kobold hoards, and I felt certain he would try to kill me, but he eventually abated. They were only kobolds, after all.
Yet another 3 pages crumble to dust. The journal continues-----
-----seriously wounded by that damn neo-mummy-like creature. I have contracted a rotting disease and have learned no small magic will be of use. It will take all our treasure to pay for the cure, but I fear Mireus may not allow me to save myself for he considers the treasure his as well. In fact, mostly his, judging by his attitude.
Warming 17. 8/17/695 A.E.
We were attack by orcs! Maybe more than one hundred of the bastards totally caught us off guard in the night. I only managed to escape by sheer luck and excruciating effort and by dragging my wounded body 17 miles to the north gate of Alodar, and even then nearly drowning when forced to cross White Water River in the dark.
Meteor 14 11/14/695 A.E.
It has been nearly 3 months since the orc's invasion, and there's still no sign of Mireus. I last saw him badly wounded and being pushed back by over two-dozen orcs. Without proper preparation, I fear even he was no match for them and so he must have perished.
Without my treasure to pay for the special magics to cure me, I know I will soon die. Nothing can prevent it. And if I succumb to this rotting disease, there will be no resurrection possible. Therefore, I have decided to kill myself before the disease takes me.
Now, my son, when he grows to manhood, will be able to recapture my treasure (for it is well hidden in the stronghold, and orcs are incredibly dim) and then he'll be able to both resurrect me and free me of this cursed disease. I am confident this plan will succeed. Of course it will. It must. I will not accept otherwise. So this is my last entry, my son, for I must now prepare to take my own life and wait the wait of the dead. I love you and rely on you.
NOTE: Any further pages are also badly damaged, but they appear to have been blank anyway. So ends the log and journal of one Sir Gerald Cumferance.
After reading the log, a long day comes to a close.
20/20/744 A.E.
ENTER TUALL COANNELAGHT: Tuall, looking for a place to exercise his talents, introduces himself to the party as a thief. Naturally, many are concerned with such frankness, but eventually make it clear to him that they will not tolerate any crap from one of such a profession. Still, he may join them if he wishes, but the treasure they hold is in no way part his. Future gains, however, may be shared. He agrees and accompanies the party.
Since the party owed Vista a considerable sum of money for the tithe (not to mention similar tithes to their own religions and the flat 10% imperial tax on annual earning (and since the chainmail of Sir Gerald's was too big to fit anyone anyway), they decided to sell it, but keep the sword. Lucky advised them they could get a much better price for it in the capital, and so they set off for Alodar, a quick 1/4 day journey. Fortunately, the imperial highways are usually well traveled and patrolled and nothing bad happens to them. So they make good time and eventually reach the capital by noon.
ALODAR: The largest city on the planet, Alodar's walls gleam of white purity under the Gimarian sun. An impressive 20-feet high at their lowest, an even more amazing 50-feet high at both gates, the walled-city looks formidable, the gleaming barrier stretching miles in the distance beyond their ability to see the end of it. The party approaches Alodar's north gate where they begin to mix with many others entering the city, but an imperial guard manning the gate quickly singles them out and stops them. Imperial guards, noted for their sky-blue robes or capes, are easily recognized from a distance, and often very helpful, if one isn't up to no-good. A quick exchange with the guard reveals two things. The location of one of two magic shops within the city, but the other is miles away across the city so they decide just the one will do. And second, the imperial guard seems to take special note of the thief, above and beyond his notice of the group in general amongst the common citizenry, perhaps even using a magic item to do so. They couldn't be sure, and they didn't ask. What this may mean, they do not know, and as is typical of many things that happen almost in passing, it is quickly forgotten as unimportant.
At the magic shop they find a man working behind the counter, and though he isn't the master or mistress of the place, he is able to take care of their needs. Eventually, they agree upon 5,500 GP for the magic chainmail and sell it. 30% off the top for various considerations, split 4 ways, each end up with 962 GP, more money than any of them have ever even seen, let alone owned.
They spend much of the day looking around the parts of Alodar that are within close walking-distance, visiting its many fountains, various temples, alchemist and apothecary shops and the like. They feel it could take many days just to see what is in the immediate area, and still, that doesn't even begin to cover the miles and miles of the city that sprawl beyond the North Gate's neighborhood.
Jarmain goes to the temple of Zeus, most noted for its famous statue of Zeus, the largest free-standing statue in the world (60-feet tall. What is not commonly known is that the temple of Athena paid for it in honor of her "father." Athena's own statue at the Parthenon is on the same scale (10 to 1), but as she is smaller than Zeus, so too is her statue). The cleric at the temple tells Jarmain he will be able to arrange for an Identify spell for the sword, but this will take a few days.
Night falls and the party finds sleeping quarters and awaits the morn.
© July of 1999
by
James L.R. Beach
Waterville, MN 56096