The camp leaders took in Vagirius Aranathes when he told them that he
needed to reach Pandoland, and then took in the rest of the Sword Group.
They healed the Group and hid them in the mines. They also arranged a
boat to take them secretly to Pandoland in 3 months, and until then they
hid the Group in the most dangerous shaft of the mine "Where even the mine
inspectors fear to go", and taught them to mine and speak tribal orcish.
When Lam asked them why they were helping, they responded "Wouldn't you?"
They never got their names, save the scribe - Origen, but perhaps that is
for the best.
Brown, Emmanuel (NPC). A Lyceeum orc (?). Able to do a fairly good
job of disguising himself as human. Hired a SOAK team to travel to Blendon
Island to help recover the stashed valuables of some associates of his.
His wife is Alexandra and his son gives "the evil eye". He also funded the
Vyrican Reclamation Expedition. He was the leader of Krasgorod when the
Greymar Grendling Group was in the area in 10043. Is believed to be
Augustus Alexander under an assumed name.
Brubaker (NPC) - man in charge of the cemetery during Forsythia Cemetary
Exploration.
Bulbous Mushrooms - white bulbous mushrooms, easily seen at night,
found in mountain ranges all over. Component for sleep.
Burble, Euphoria (Ben) - Nomadic Hobbit female. Lost during an El Ouhdian assault on the Grendel's Cave. A childlike head displayed by Eth in an attempt to subdue the Greymar Grendling Group may have been hers. (Eth threatened to kill 86 prisoners there in the fortress unless the GGG surrendered.)
Burly Strong Adventure - At the center of the Extinct Volcano on Symtheta
just before the End of the World...
Burrows, Feral (Mayfield) - Member of the Sword Group. Died in the
Sandstorm with the Sword Group.
Bysshe bombs (?) - "Seven and I threw our bombs. My bomb fell just
short and rolled underneath the cart, but Seven's landed perfectly in the
cart's center. To our great surprise, nothing happened. It turned out
that the bombs had tiny corks in them which we had failed to pull out
before throwing them. The bomb that Seven had thrown had cracked, and
powder was leaking out from it, so we decided to leave it where it was.
Seven took the other bomb that I had thrown, which was undamaged."
Bysshe Commandoes - created in Bysshe while the city was collapsing
under an assault by some gnomes. Apparently, the gnomes had some type of
powder which would destroy any magic that it came in contact with in a
tremendous fireball. One of the mayor's underlings in Bysshe was very
worried about this. He commissioned a group of mercenaries to undertake a
commando raid on the source of the Gnome's powder and destroy it. The
underling gave us a smoke bomb, some boom powder, three "poof" arrows,
skins filled with healing potions, and some other general supplies. He
also promised that the town's coffers would be available to us should we
succeed in our task. Finally, he led us to Sean, our guide for the
journey, and introduced us to Carney Subotnick and Melvin Findley, our
companions to complete the original membership of the Bysshe Commandoes.
Known or suspected members: Melvin Findley, Kiesara, Gar Pike, Sean, Seven,
Carney Subotnick.
- On the first day out of the city, the group spotted a cart
with several Gnomes in it and set an ambush for the attack on the 'tiny
wimps.' The 'tiny wimps' were more than ready for them, however.
Eventually, the gnomes were routed. They looted the cart and the dead
bodies of the slain gnomes and found Kiesara. Both Melvin and Carney were
beyond the help of any earthly medicine. To prevent it from falling into
the wrong hands, however, Seven and I took all of their money and items of
value. Carney's longsword was also much better crafted and balanced than
mine was, and although a mercenary's first loyalty is to his weapon, a good
mercenary has as many swords as a sailor has wives. I took his sword and
left him my old one. The gnome mage had a silver Pentagonal Ring, and his
followers wore similar rings made of brass. Seven took the silver ring,
and I took a brass one. We then buried the bodies and weapons and hurried
away to rejoin Sean before the last gnome could bring reinforcements
against us.
- Sean was extremely upset at the deaths of Carney and Melvin. I thought
that they might have been his friends and asked him about them, but Sean
wouldn't answer. Finally, Seven threatened to kill him if he didn't lead
us away. Sean took us to a campsite in the mountains, and bickered with
Seven till late at night while the rest of us tried to sleep. To keep a
semblance of peace, we split up our march the next day. Sean and Kiesara
went ahead, while Seven and I followed about a hundred feet back. That
night, I was awakened in camp by the sounds of a conversation. I found my
right leg chained to a heavy iron ball and started to panic, but a low
voice said, "wait." Seven stood in the dark on the top of a hill beyond
the range of my poor vision. He conversed with some unknown being or
beings for quite a while before returning to camp. Without a word of
explanation, he demanded that we all swear allegiance to Ghenjar. I asked
Sean about Ghenjar, and the scholar/guide replied that he was the greatest
of the gnomish kings. However, it turned out that he had been dead for
about seven hundred years. I had reservations about swearing allegiance to
a dead king, but Sean seemed to have no worries, so I went along with the
group. A mercenary's allegience lasts only as long as he's paid anyway, so
I had few qualms. Seven then introduced us to a pair of gnomes, Guanerius
and Grendel. I tensed myself for a fight, but found out that the pair were
also servants of Ghenjar. It turned out that Ghenjar's servants were
fighting a war against the current militaristic leadership of the deep
gnomes, the same gnomes who were besieging Bysshe. Since I had no conflict
in loyalty and was presented with several spell components by the gnomes, I
agreed to help them on their quest. Then I found out that they were
contemplating an attack on Minetown, a city with a population of around
eight hundred gnomes. I'm a very good fighter, but somehow the idea of six
on eight hundred odds didn't appeal to me. Guanerius and Grendel proved to
be more than able companions, however.
- En route to Minetown, we ran into a deep gnome encampment. Guanerius
fried the camp with a tremendous fireball, while Seven and I charged. I
was hit by a gnome with a mace and fell unconsious, but found out later
that the two gnomes on our side ended up doing most of the killing.
Kiesara proved herself in battle as well, dropping two gnomes with her
arrows. The gnomish campsite was placed near a cave mouth, and appeared to
be some sort of base camp from which they could conduct operations further
in the mountains. We took torches from the camp and carefully investigated
the cave, prepared for horrible monsters to jump us at any moment, but the
cave turned out to be shallow and empty, much to our relief (and
disappointment).
- In about two days the six of us should be in position to assault
Minetown. However, we are nowhere close to being ready. If the six of us
all worked together as a team, some of us could probably escape from this
adventure with our lives. However, Sean and Seven haven't resolved their
difficulties yet, and the gnomes have been really close. My new sword
feels comfortable at my side, but I doubt that it will be enough to defeat
the gnomes. This expedition seems fated for disaster.
Corrections? Additions? lkies@jumpgate.net
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