Doubt and Demons

Nym rode slowly through the city to a quiet inn where she’d stayed years before: The Blushing Mermaid. She paid for a small room and stabling for Nesme, brushed and stabled the horse, and then, exhausted, made her way to her room with Pipper. For some time, she stood at the window staring out to sea, watching the stars appear as the sky darkened. Finally, Nym made her way to the bath the inn maid had drawn for her. The water was lukewarm, but she didn’t mind. After washing, Nym sat in the bath staring into space until the water grew too cold to stand. She pulled on her nightgown and made her way to the bed where Pipper had curled up and fallen asleep already.

Nym pulled the two speaking stones out of her pants pocket, turning them over in her hand. She gently placed the stone matching her father’s stone back into the pocket. Nym held the other stone up to her lips, and whispered, “Illuvaen?”

After a few moments, she heard him reply, “Good evening, Nym! Have you made it to Baldur’s Gate yet?”

“Yes, but… they’re here.” she answered, her voice cracking slightly.

“Kilink? Your friends? I thought you had hoped to see them again. Has something happened?”

“They… they want to go treasure hunting.”

Illuvaen was silent on his end of the speaking stones, waiting for her to continue. 

“And… and fight the rising Darkness,” Nym continued after several moments.

“Nym, you shouldn’t do anything that will be damaging to you, but I think this is a good opportunity,” Illuvaen replied, sounding supportive but concerned.

“I can’t…” she replied, choking up. She tried to hold back her tears, but they began flowing freely down her face. “I-I… no, I can’t… I’m not a hero! Every time I’ve tried to make the world a better place, I’ve just made it worse.” Nym sobbed openly, whispering between sobs, “The druids… I’m a monster… Their children too… and the Influence… and I killed Thjodolf and… I’m a murderer… and Darvin… it’s my fault… I can’t! Nonononono…” Nyms sobs shook her small body, and she gasped, unable to say more.

“Nym, you’re not a monster! You’ve made mistakes like we all have. Please, listen to me.”

Nym’s sobbing slowed, and she whimpered, wishing she had allowed Illuvaen to come with her to Baldur’s Gate. She felt so very alone.

“Nym, this is your chance to make things right… and you can’t stand by while your world is destroyed.” Illuvaen’s voice sounded pained at his last statement. Nym quieted herself, still shaking, her face streaked with tears. “I can’t stand by while your world is destroyed,” Illuvaen added quietly.

They were both silent for a moment before Illuvaen added with resolve, “Where can I meet you? I won’t leave you to take on this burden alone.”

Nym let out a long, slow breath, and replied, defeated, “Daggerford.”

“I will leave immediately,” Illuvaen said. Nym could hear him shuffling about before he added, “Don’t lose heart, my love. You cannot change the past, but you can shape this world’s future. And I will be there by your side.”

Nym was quiet, her thoughts still troubled. After a brief silence, she replied, “I love you,” closing her eyes and holding the stone up to her lips.

“I love you too, like the forest loves the rain,” Illuvaen replied, “I will see you in Daggerford, my little bird.”

Nym sat still for a long while, exhausted. Finally, she slipped the speaking stone back into her pocket, and whispered to herself, “I’ve hurt so many people… but maybe… maybe I can yet make things right.” 

Illuvaen’s words ran through her head as she laid down in her bed. She didn’t understand how he could love her after all she’d done, but yet he did. And she loved him. “Perhaps I dreamed him to life,” she thought, smiling wistfully as she laid down to sleep, “He is from a dream plane after all.” Pipper curled up against Nym’s back, and she wondered if perhaps she and Illuvaen had always been destined to meet one another or if she could just be this lucky.

Nym fell into a fitful sleep and dreamt of the druids and the orc camp in the Shaar has she had every night for the past three years.

After "the Call"

Violet politely pretended not to hear the conversation that Darvin had carried on, and as Nym walked up, she asked, "Who was that?"

She added two black flakes to each of the two vials she was working on, and tapped them firmly and persistently until they became clear. At this point, she set them in a stand and added 2 drops of a liquid that instantly made the vials seem to churn and come alive. She quickly added stoppers, and looked at the vials intently, waiting for a cue.

A Quiet Conversation

As Nym road up, Darvin and Violet slowed to a stop. Violet was still very alert, and searching all around for more foes as she asked, not looking at either Darvin or Nym, "Those looked like slavers. Do you have any reason why they were after you? Other than the obvious, of course." With this last comment, she turned and winked at Nym, then resumed her scan of the grass and area around them.

Perception: Roll(1d20)+11:
16,+11
Total:27

Violet Passes the Time (While Darvin and Nym Pass the Time...)

Whittaker, when you let me know if Violet finds any suitable men, please post the results here. I will leave the other post for Darvin and Nym's lovemaking session. Violet is especially interested in men who are in positions of power. Thanks!

The Path Suggested by Thjodolf

Thjodolf knows the orcs he is familiar with will be somewhere in the northeast Shaar, but he is not sure exactly where, so he proposes searching in a circular pattern and looking for signs of them. They have somewhat permanent settlements, but they are constructed to be movable, enabling them to quickly move and set up their dwellings elsewhere should the grasslands choose not to provide for them any more in their current location.

The Elephants Go Marching

Umm, so I was going to make you a map today, but the program I wanted to make it with (Visio) isn't working right now... I will have the map for you tomorrow. In the meantime, let's work on those horses.

The rest of the day after the Lady Narath lands at the Shaar is spent repairing the hull. The next morning, after giving instructions to the crew remaining behind to sail back to and support themselves by doing work on the dock and making due, the small band of Darvin, Nym, Beranhond, Talathel, Aelysin, Scriptus, Codex, Greg, and Lailsan leaves and heads out onto the plains. They make sure to leave a hearing stone with Kailina (who is captain in Darvin's stead) to safeguard, leaving them a way to call the Lady Narath back when they needed to return.

As Kilink sets out in search of mounts, Thjodolf tells them about the many nomadic groups on the grasslands that will most likely be willing to trade you for the horses, with either gold or some slightly exotic trade good. On Nym's assertion that nothing in the hold was that worthwhile or exotic except for a few random magical items that are not too interesting, you bring a bit of the gold from the hold, and travel east and slightly north in search of someone to trade with.

About 3 in the afternoon, you see a dust cloud in the distance, moving slowly northwest, across your path. The dust could be a caravan, Thjodolf tells you, and as they come within sight, you see what can only be a Loxo band. The group appears to number about 20 Loxo, with ages ranging from young to very old, and most of the members of the group that is not obviously an infant carries some sort of bundle or pack on their back. The several who are not carrying bundles carry weapons. Three are armed with morningstars, one has a club, and another has a large hammer. All three have javelins strapped to their backs as well. They stand about 8-10 feet tall and look like elephants walking on their hind legs with handlike appendages at the end of their trunks and wearing loose clothing made of orange and yellow patterned fabric, with beads of different metals as decoration. The pattern appears to be a herringbone-type pattern with good attention to detail.

They are still far enough away that you can leave without them seeing if you would like. Would you like to try to engage them and trade?

Arrival at the Shaar

How do you want to go about exploring this new place? How many of the crew do you plan to bring along, how do you plan on traveling, finding out information about this new area, etc?

Thjodolf tells you the orcs will most likely be in the northeastern part of the Shaar, but he is unsure how easy it will be to find them and warns that there will likely be many difficulties along the way.

Please begin your journey in the comments of this post.

The Shaar

Here are two maps of the Shaar. People commonly refer to the area east of the Landrise as the Eastern Shaar. The Lady Narath landed on the far western edge of the Shaar, based on the advice of Thjodolf, who warned against landing at Ormpur. 

The Shaar

The Eastern Shaar