The Pilgrims of Mantarrie

           In the quiet seaport of Hildbolt, a motley group of pilgrims gathers to make the annual journey to the Mantarrie Oracle in the mountains of Mirid Nur. They include the young mage Kerowyn and her hawk familiar Bandit; gentleman adventurer and master swordsman Dirk Perfect and his charges, the serene 13 year old girl Rena and the mysterious, nameless baby she cares for; a stately old woman named Ysanne, who has a supernatural tie to a young, athletic warrior named Eira (indeed, they appear to share the same body); the powerful and sinister one-armed humanoid known as Osamu Matsuri; Montague Clare, a bard looking for a career upswing; Boric, a gregarious dwarf with big dreams; and Sorash, a scheming Goblin merchant. This group's guide is Justinious, a strangely detached and fatalistic cleric of Mantarrie.

            The group meets for the first time at the Sea Dragon Tavern and Inn and enjoys a meal and an evening of frivolity, including the antics of a huge, barrel-chested, boisterous man with flame-red hair and a war hammer hanging from his belt.  He is loudly buying drinks for mercenaries at the bar and enlisting the aid of warriors with "strong hearts and thick blood" to join him in for the adventure of a lifetime, fighting for truth and honor in a far off land. Eventually drowning out even his rumbling laugh, though, is the disastrous audition for the local Bard's Guild performed by an insect man musician named Zorak, whose singing and mandolin playing can chip paint at 500 yards.

            After the Guild Master rudely rebuffs Zorak, the inscrutable cleric of Mantarrie inexplicably invites the eccentric insect man to join the pilgrims on their journey. Zorak jumps at the chance and Justinious declares that the party is, with one exception, complete.

            Later that night, after several members of the party have gone to bed, the sounds of violence from the nearby docks brings those who are awake running to investigate. They are the first to reach the scene and find a bloody massacre: A merchant ship's crew has been butchered and left in a gory heap on the docks, while their ship can be seen retreating out to sea and into the thick evening fog.

            Impulsive and thirsting for adventure, Osamu Matsuri runs across the dock and makes an astounding leap into the air and lands on the stolen ship’s deck just as the fog swallows it. The group on the docks is stunned by his actions, but this astonishment quickly turns to horror as they watch Ysanne's younger alter-ego, Eira, start to blithely loot the dead bodies, even as the town guards approach to investigate the sounds of alarm.

            On this ship, alone and trapped in thick fog, Osamu Matsuri finds himself surrounded by unseen opponents. An instant later they pounce out of the mist. He recognizes their rancid stench, bloated yellow eyes and slimy claws instantly--vile Fishmen!  He fights valiantly, killing several, but vastly outnumbered, one inflicts a deep wound to him. Matsuri attempts to escape and leaps from the boat, aiming for the docks, but this time his jump falls short. As he plunges into the cold waters, the last sight he sees of the docks is of a vicious brawl breaking out as Eira begins to resist arrest.

            Eventually, Matsuri--who doesn't need to breath--pulls himself up onto the docks and into the waiting hands of Rena. She begins to administer first aid to his wounds as Eira and Dirk Perfect (noble protector of all females) square off against the town guards while Zorak and Kerowyn simply stand around, scratching their heads and wondering when things got out of control.

            Dirk Perfect distracts one guard with his cloak, but is punched in the stomach by another, causing him to promptly pass out from the pain, leaving the raving warrior maiden to deal with all comers. She does quite well, but is eventually subdued by sheer numbers and carted off to jail, along with her gallant, unconscious "protector."

            The next morning, despite a singularly disastrous attempt at a jail break, Dirk and Eira are indeed freed, thanks largely to being apart of the Mantarrie cleric's party and the goodwill engendered by their teammate Osamu Matsuri bringing back important information concerning the nature of the sailors' murderers. Still, Dirk and Eira are made to pay a fine and promise that they will never return to Hildbolt.

            With this unpleasantness out of the way, the party starts on its long journey, only to be stopped just outside of town by a mysterious Dark Elf who refuses to give his name. He says that while the Oracle has not formally chosen him, he has no time for such "infantile human traditions" and demands to join the pilgrimage anyway. Justinious agrees and finally declares that the party is complete....
 

The Stories

            During the long trip through the countryside of Caithness, several of the pilgrims tell stories of their lives around the campfire. A sample:

            Boric The Dwarf: "Let me tell you of a wondrous place. A place with blue skies and silver mountains! That silver glow only hinting at the wonders that lay inside: Deep mines, plunging into the molten heart of this world where the true treasures lie.... How would you like to own a piece of this!?

            "I have the talent, I have the land, and I know that there are riches undreamed of by mortal beings underneath these mountains! Once I have The Oracle tell my exactly where to start digging, well.... I may become one of the richest people in the world! And you can be, too! All I need is a little investment capital. A few thousand now, and an eventual pay off in the millions! Billions! Do yourself a favor and sign along the dotted line! SIGN! SIGN!"

            Montague Clare: "Stories? I don't have any! I'm a bard and I don't have any stories!”

            "Anyway, I lived in Carrick all my life and traveled east into the farm lands, trying to listen to the voice of the world and let it speak through me. I was looking to write a hymn for the common man:--the nobility of honest toil, the rippling fields which are the foundation of an empire; all that rot. It was all out there, but I just couldn’t make it work.

            "Meanwhile, while I was trying to come up with words that rhymed 'Lima bean,' the first Orc war in 60 years broke out. The greatest epic of our generation and I wasn't even close to it! Other bards were, though. You've heard of bard Al-Zaud The Moor? I knew him when he was Al-Zaud The Stable Boy! Luckily, he just happened to be stable boy to a man-at-arms at Looksfar Keep. Now you can't go anywhere without hearing one of his damned songs about the "Great Orc Crusade." Because of him, it's harder than ever to break into epic writing. How am I ever going to compete? Well, The Oracle will tell me. The Oracle will reveal my true muse!”

            -Justinious, Cleric of Mantarrie: "We are not unlike bards, I and my brethren. Bards tell of the past, illuminating those dark corridors of history with words and fictions that prove brighter than any fact. Events transpire and then you write of them and spin fictions around their foundation.

            "We also tell tales.... fictions.... But ours come true.

            "Do not think us Gods: While we can anticipate the plot, we can no more change it than you could change the end of an epic poem. It is the way of things and epic tales require epic ends. Do not fear it. This inevitability is not a curse, but a blessing. Our death will come in a storm, in lighting and thunder under dark boiling clouds, and yet we will see nothing but a star filled sky. Tended by legends-to-be even as we are driven to ash by the legends that were--and they are the ones worth mourning for: Mere shadows. Wane echoes of a greatness lost, a grandeur squandered, screaming defiance to the void, trying to convince no one but themselves of their might and relevance."

            Others are less talkative. Especially the mysterious Dark Elf who refuses to stay with the party at night, instead camping alone in the woods....
 

The Treachery Of Sorash

            As the journey continues, it become increasingly obvious that the baby Rena cares for is more than it appears to be. The mage Kerowyn detects a strong magical presence emanating from it. She is not alone. Sorash is a merchant of magical ingredients and charms, as well as a Goblin--their kind endlessly fascinated by the occult. To say that he is interested in the baby would be an understatement. Disturbed by his attentions and his unclear motives, the party confronts Sorash, but he promptly teleports away.

            Justinious retains his unearthly calm and simply reiterates that all is as it should be. The party begins to find Justinious more and more unreliable, due to his disturbing detachment and evidence that he may be an alcoholic. Still, he is the only one who knows where they are going, and thus they continue to follow him. Despite Justinious’s vague platitudes of order, the party suspects that Sorash will cause them more difficulties soon.

            The next night, their prediction comes true as brigands in the pay of the goblin attack the party's camp. A rousing battle occurs and the brigands are defeated, with Sorash himself being captured by the stalwart band. Under tough questioning, Sorash reveals that he has heard whispers from some of his sorcerer customers concerning the belief that an awesome elemental force has recently entered this plane of existence. One of these customers, a necromancer in Megalos, was particularly interested in these stories. Sorash suspected that the child might be connected to this supposed elemental force and knew that this necromancer would pay handsomely for it.

            Sorash is loath to reveal the necromancer's name, however, being very aware of the terrors that a necromancer can inflict on those who have displeased them.

            Osamu Matsuri then explains to Sorash that he is going to kill him anyway--no matter what--but, as a Kami of the Japanese cosmology, he has the power to kill Sorash and free his spirit, putting it beyond the diseased touch of the necromancer's black magic. Faced with this revelation, and after securing the Kami's word of honor, Sorash relents and gives the party the necromancer's name: Mordrail.

            Matsuri then fulfills his promise....
 

The Journey To Elkwood

            Following a somewhat lackluster showing during the brigand attack by Dirk Perfect (where his most important contribution was to hurl his knife into the woods, scaring a small wood chuck), Matsuri decides it is time to improve his skills. And Dirk doesn't have a choice.

            Dirk is subjected to a brutal, constant training regiment as the party continues their push toward the town of Elkwood, where they will obtain climbing equipment they need to traverse the treacherous mountains of Mirid Nur. Relations between master and compulsory student are strained at best.

            With discord in the ranks growing, no one knowing what the Dark Elf is up to at night, and their guide becoming increasing unstable, the pilgrims wonder what could possibly go wrong next.

            They have no idea....
 

The Festival of Lord Drayus

            Approaching the town of Elkwood, the party finds that the hamlet is in the middle of a festival, but one so bizarre as to defy explanation.

            By all reports Elkwood is a thriving town, but when the party finds it, Elkwood's main square is gutted, many of its shops boarded up, windows smashed, the citizens barely dressed in rags. And in the middle of it all is the wild, whooping laughter of the local Lord, named Drayus, and his retinue of guards, fop hanger-ons, bawds and entertainers. It quickly becomes clear that this "Festival" is some sort of sadistic sport at the expense of the town and its inhabitants.

            As the party approaches the town square, they are appalled to find that Drayus has released a bull in the center of Elkwood and is placing bets with his aristocratic cronies as to which shop it will destroy next. Spying the party’s arrival, Lord Drayus recognizes the chance for more fun and begins to taunt them with insane bets, wagers and forfeits.

            After Matsuri wins a wager on his strength made by Lord Drayus, Drayus demands that they all stay and entertain him further before setting off again. Besides, he explains, the town is fresh out of climbing equipment, but a large caravan of supplies from the east is coming into Elkwood soon.

            The party quickly realizes that there will be nowhere to stay and nothing to buy in Elkwood unless they play along with Lord Drayus. Reluctantly, they agree and when Drayus hears Zorak sing, he offers him a job as his official court bard on the spot.

            Zorak joins all the other entertainers that Lord Drayus has assembled in Elkwood, including his court jester, a delightful rogue named Jacobee, and a traveling acting troop, several of whose members seem to recognize Dirk--and not as "the finest swordsman this side of the River Celeste." It quickly becomes apparent that "Dirk" is a former actor and current con man. The personality clash between Dirk and Matsuri reaches a flash point and late that night, as the rest of the party sleeps at "Lord Drayus's Palace" (formally The Crossroads Inn), something happens. It is never clear what, but the next morning, both the mysterious Kami and the imperfect master swordsman are gone. Somehow, Rena knows that they will not be returning. Perhaps Matsuri killed Dirk and then fled, perhaps he only maimed Dirk, perhaps they killed each other…. No one knows, but the person most affected by this is Justinious, whose mind is blown by their sudden disappearance. From then on, Justinious' behavior deteriorates even further, now becoming wracked with crippling doubt and uncertainty.

            With the party trapped in Elkwood until the supply caravan arrives, the pilgrims find it increasingly difficult to stay on the good side of the dangerously unbalanced Lord Drayus. They deal with this in different ways: Justinious simply stays in his room at the Inn; the Dark Elf vanished into the woods as soon as they neared a human settlement and hasn’t been seen since; Montague Clare keeps a low profile; and almost everyone else lives in fear of the mad Lord's next wager. Only Zorak and Boric the Dwarf seem to be having a good time. At least at first.

            One night, Boric tries his sales pitch on Drayus during a drinking bout and Drayus is amused. Drayus tells the spunky dwarf that years earlier Caithness sent a survey expedition into the mountains that Boric now own. As these mountains lie within this region, Drayus has those records and, since they are quite thoroughly, they would certainly indicate where the best place to put a mine would be. Thus, Drayus proposes a drinking contest, wagering his records against Boric's deed to the mountains. Boric agrees and defeats Drayus' handpicked contestant after a grueling (?) competition.

            At that point, Drayus hands over the relevant scrolls and reveals the joke. He recognized those mountains the moment he saw them on the Dwarf’s map: They are some of the most useless pieces of real estate in all of Caithness! During the survey, wizards scanned almost all the way down to the planet's core and found absolutely *nothing* worth mining. The place is so useless it is nearly legend. Needless to say Drayus and his extended court share a good laugh over Boric's dreams being crushed.

            The next day, Boric tells his fellow pilgrims good-bye and leaves Elkwood. He say he had come on this journey to get an answer and he had--just a little earlier then he expected.

            And the party again becomes smaller.

            Slipping away from Drayus whenever they can, the remaining pilgrims circulate the town and talk to its citizens, learning that this insane festival has been going on for two months and shows no signs of stopping. It has collapsed the economy and Elkwood is near starvation, all the town's wealth and food being funneled into Drayus' decadent farce. The people's last glimmer of hope is the coming supply caravan, bringing badly needed food and other necessities. The people of Elkwood are terrified, but also confused--Lord Drayus had always seemed very fair and just, if aloof, when he'd visited Elkwood previously. Many of the townspeople believe that he must have simply gone mad, but others whisper more treasonous sentiments; that the aristocracy, itself, is to blame and inevitably leads to this kind of insane cruelty towards the people.

            During these rounds in the town, the party runs into one of Drayus's soldiers, who seems to be conducting a very similar investigation. He reveals himself to be William Blackburn, one of Prince Morill's personal royal guards, working in secret. He explains that despite Prince Morill being out of favor with his brother, the current King (Cornall VI), the Prince still wishes to serve Caithness and, thus, has directed William Blackburn and his fellow guardsmen to travel the kingdom incognito and work to uphold justice and virtue.

            William says that he had come to Elkwood after he'd heard disturbing rumors of this Festival from travelers and merchants. When he arrived, only a few days before the party did, he was shocked by what he found, especially considering how out of character all this was for Lord Drayus. Comparing notes with Blackburn, he and the party come to the conclusion that something else is behind all this, but what?

            And why?

            Elsewhere, Zorak--as official court bard--is able to observe Drayus first hand for prolonged periods and begins to notice that Jacobee the Jester is quite aware that his master's behavior is abnormal and seems to be one of the only sensible people in the entire aristocratic entourage, all of the others being lazy hangers-on and boot-lickers who are content to humor Drayus’s weird whims.

            One of these whims involves Kerowyn's hawk familiar, Bandit. Fancying himself a skilled falconer, Drayus issues a challenge involving Bandit and his falcon, Champion. Reluctantly Kerowyn agrees and when Bandit wins, neither Drayus nor Champion are particularly pleased.

            Thus, the next morning, the party's luck finally runs out in regards to Lord Drayus. Kerowyn is suddenly awakened by Bandit's metal shrieks of distress: Champion is attacking him in the skies over Elkwood!

            Kerowyn quickly leaps into action. She dashes to the window of her room at the Inn, sees the aerial melee in progress and sinks a crossbow bolt into the foul fowl.

            The results of this are predictable, but thanks to quick thinking (and fast talking) by both Zorak and William Blackburn, Lord Drayus is convinced that a show trial would be far more entertaining than a summery execution, buying the party precious time. As the trial is planned to coincide with the arrival of the supply caravan, the party begins planning a daring rescue and escape from Elkwood, making provisions to steal the necessary supplies on their way out.

            Meanwhile, Rena begins investigating hunches of her own and discovers that Jacobee the Jester is far more than he appears. Indeed, she learns that the deceptively genial young man with a quick wit an easy smile is exercising some sort of magical influence over Drayus's mind. Unfortunately, Jacobee notices her spying on him and chases her down. At first, he attempts to use similar mind-control magic on her, but the young girl's appearance is deceptive: She possesses an iron will far too strong to be so easily manipulated. Stymied, he resorts to less subtle methods which she has less of a defense against, namely a solid whack to the back of the head. Untrained in hand-to-hand combat, she is quickly captured.

            She awakens later to find herself gagged and tied to a tree, somewhere in the woods outside the town. Off in the distance, she can hear Jacobee the Jester's voice, speaking loudly to a crowd of maybe 20, 25 people somewhere deeper into the woods. The crowd is chattering excitedly in response to his speech, sometimes cheering, sometimes clapping.

            Jacobee’s voice is strong and clear and she can easily make out his words. His oratory is fiery rhetoric about the criminal excesses of the aristocracy and how the people must unite to end its tyranny and set up a worker's paradise. He says that Lord Drayus is just a symptom and that a message must be sent, loud and clear, to his corrupt masters that the farmers, the merchants, the simple citizens are not going to take it anymore. It sounds to Rena like this isn't the first meeting Jacobee has held for the more dissatisfied citizens of Elkwood, and that after two months of being systematically abused, this crowd is about ready to take Jacobee's advice. By the end, they are howling for Lord Drayus's blood.

            Rena does not know what game this "Jester" is playing, but she realizes that the bloody final act is imminent. She struggles against he bonds, but it is no use. Now she can only hope that her comrades realize whom the real threat is before it is too late.

            They don't.

            Instead, as the party scours the town looking for Rena, Jacobee sneaks into Kerowyn's cell and places her under his spell. Hours later at her trial in the town square, she is brought up to face the presiding judge, Lord Drayus. Just as the rest of the party moves into position to implemet their cunning rescue scheme, Kerowyn deviates from the plan a bit by yelling "Death to tyrants!" and blasting Lord Drayus square in the chest with a fireball.

            A good portion of the town takes that as their cue and begins to attack the guards with pitchforks and hand axes. The violence and frenzy for revenge is contagious and it doesn't take long for the rest of the town's populace to get in on the action.

            As Drayus's guards have more to worry about than securing prisoners, the party finds it relatively easy to make their way to a very perplexed Kerowyn, who remembers just enough to want to go find and strangle a jester. Despite this, neither she nor the rest of the party really wants to stick around. The mob, while definitively winning against the remaining aristocrats and their guards, is getting really ugly--with the only thing missing being a guillotine.

            In fact, as the citizens of Elkwood continue to dispense a little frontier justice, their blood fever soon reaches a boiling point. Chants of "Death To The King!!" begin to ring out, and--inexplicably--the party’s new found ally and comrade William Blackburn lends his voice to these sentiments as well.

            As Caithness is one of the nicer kingdoms in Yrth, the party decides that this means it’s about time to leave. The party rides out of town, most of its members now looking askance at William Blackburn, who has decided to tag along.

            Keeping a careful distance from the town, the party begins searching the woods and eventually finds Rena tied to the tree. Jacobee the Jester, however, has completely disappeared, his work evidently done.

            The party decides that, considering that Kerowyn just assassinated a Lord of the Realm, it would be prudent to put as many miles between themselves and Elkwood as possible.  Thus, the party sets out again and soon runs into the supply caravan on the road to Elkwood. The party buys their climbing supplies from the caravan directly and then tells the caravan drivers that it might be a good idea for them to hang back a bit before riding into town....
 

The Mountains of Mirid Nur

        The party rides all day and, that evening, sets up camp near a rocky path that Justinious mumbles leads up into the Mirid Nur mountains. With the mountains looming above them, all assembled know that when dawn comes, the most difficult, but thankfully final, leg of their long, arduous journey will begin.

        The next morning, as the sun begins to peek above the jagged spires of Mirid Nur, the party awakens to find that Justinious is gone. His tent is undisturbed, his few possessions and walking stick remain, but Justinious, himself is nowhere to be found.

            And he is not the only member of the party to have disappeared....