Letters to Keylesh
Once again you find yourself following another set of
instructions, this time in the Great Knight of Awsland. The sign features a knight with a lance held
high with a flagon in the other sitting astride a hog backwards tipsy to the
point that he is about to fall over. It is
called many things amongst the people, the tipsy knight and also the Flagon and
the Pig, but to some it is known as the Knight of Awsland. There was a drunk asking for alms and when
you gave him the pass code and he returned one to you, he told you the use the
middle stall in the back. There was a
middle stall in the back and there is a sign on it that states that the stall
is out of order. Once in the stall there
was only one way to go down. The walls
of the latrine were dry and there was a ladder carved into the sides. It descended until you reached a wood
door. Once through the wood door you
find yourself in a room with three hooded figures. They turned toward you and one asks for a
report.
Once the report is given, the one in the centre speaks,
Turlock was a city guard and felt that the nonhumans were responsible for his
lack of promotion in the guild and not attitudes towards the nonhumans in the
guilds. We could have used the
information you could have provided us to better our situation and the many
poor and disadvantaged, but perhaps we should have explained things better to
you. We ask you if you wish to serve,
you may decline, and we will let you continue to make your way in the
world.
We ask how you wish to serve. They turn and file out of the room leaving
the door they pass through open, beckoning for you to follow. You can leave or follow.
The room beyond the door has three doors clearly marked, one
with a purse, one with a lit candle and the last with a dove. You know what these symbols mean. The first is a invitation to the Thieves
Guild, it offers you some measure of wealth, Insight check allows you to
understand that this path is the path of the underclass and will mean little in
wealth. The second door is the group
that you have been working for many years, insight check, you realise that this
path will lead to blackmailing the guild heads with their secrets and may mean
some wealth. The third door is the most
interesting a dove and there can only be one meaning. Choosing this door will lead you into the
Order of the Dove, a whispered far reaching organization of assassins that
spans the world, an insight check allows you to realise that if you step
through that door your life will change forever and there is no leaving once
you pass that door. Do you choose a door,
or do you choose none?
Inside the room that you choose you see that all three doors
led to the same room inside is only one person and they are holding the item
that was on the door that you chose.
Congratulations, we knew you would choose this vocation. You will still need to leave the city, but we
will be waiting for you when you come back and perhaps there will be a mission
for you when you come back. Remember tell
no one, we will know.
Letters and gifts for Tiarah
The Luxury Guild is a great place to live, if anyplace can
be great. You have heard that the Bard
Colleges of Gutral Mastekeena are larger and more luxurious, but they are also
exclusive to the natives of that empire.
You have also heard that the Bard colleges of the Dwarven Empire are
grand too, but are underground and there is no access to the wind and the rain,
still after all the rain you have walked through in the last few weeks, that
might be nice too. Your apartment is nice
and warm, there is a brazier that takes the chill out of the air. Any night that you want you can head out and
play at any of the inns in the city, you get a meal and an ale or two and you
even get paid for the time you spend there, the guild Price for your
performances is steep, but they readily pay it for your time. Not every inn or drinking establishment can
get a true Bard for the night; there is not enough of you in the city. It is your choice if you go home with any of
the patrons after a night of entertainment advances towards you are plentiful,
but dismissals by you result in graceful demure; the bouncers in the inn assure
you that. A great many Guild heads have
requested your attendance at parties that are being held and you are the toast
of the city. People want to know what
happened out on your journey. You accepted
the first couple but began to realize that perhaps the Mercenary’s Guild would
not like some stories told and you realize that telling them would limit your
career and certainly your life.
Before you took your next mission, to go and find the
legendary Treasure Vault of Relic the Thief in the ruins of Awsland you were
able to take a few gigs to fatten your purse before you leave. One such gig was at an inn in a very well to
do area of the city close to the Council Chambers and the Estate Houses of many
who lead the city. it was called the
Knight of Awsland, you picked it because you were heading there and who knew
what you might hear about the ruined city there. That was a bust, the people knew nothing of
substance about the ruin. You were about
to return to the stage to play another set when you saw a figure leaving by the
side door, it looked like Keylesh, I mean how many Cat people are in this city? When you got to the door she was gone and you
had to get back to the stage, so you could not investigate further.
You arrived back at your guild residence late night or is
that early the next morning. There is a
package waiting for you on the table. The
note on the package is a request, an open invitation to visit the Culinary Guild
leader and owner of the exclusive King Awsland the Second Inn, whose menus
serve the very best of meals. “Please come
at your earliest convenience, tell the tale of your journeys. Except this for your consideration.” The package contains two books bound in fine
leather, the first is an old copy a dwarven history book, written in dwarven runes,
along with it is a translation written in River Speech. The second book contains a series of vocal
lessons with advanced techniques and a few tunes that use the techniques. You recognise the musical notations as bardic. There appears to be five tunes, that create
spell effects including, Enthrall, Crown of Madness, Silence, Hypnotic Pattern,
Tongues, and Compulsion.
Thief Relic
Relic is a name that has lasted for years longer than he lived
partially because of all the things that were attributed to him and because of
a historian claimed many years after his disappearance that he was the founder
of one of the great cities of the area, Awsland.
As the story went, the was active in the area for over
twenty years, infiltrating many of the greatest strongholds of his time,
robbing the owners of their most valuable treasures. It is said that he infiltrated the Emperor of
the Dwarves and stole from him a third of his wealth leaving behind a note that
said that he took only what he could carry and would be back for the rest
later, and he did return and despite the increased security he succeeded. The third time that he came back he took all
the treasure except the ones that were meant to track his location. The Emperor was said to be so angry that he
had the entire security team executed for their ineptitude. On the day of the execution, the Emperor received
a note from the thief that said that if he stayed the execution, he would
return one day with something of equal value to the Empire, but if he continued
he would tell every miscreant on this and the other side of the river how easy
it was to infiltrate the hoard of the Empire.
It took many decades later, but the day came when a particularly
fearsome beast of a dragon attacked and pillaged many halls of the Empire
killing hundreds of Dwarven Vassals. The
attacks were relentless, and they seemed to be carving up the periphery and
moving into the center. The Emperor sent
the best to fight it and they all failed; it looked like the Empire was going
to fail. But then the attacks stopped
and the head and most of the body appeared inside the newly secured vault with
a note that said. “Paid in Full”.
Relic was also have said to penetrate the treasure vault of
The Emperor of Gutral Mastekeena. There were
many other vaults and treasures that he did rob, but most of the names ceased
to have meaning to anyone outside his time.
The forgotten historian was an Empire Dwarf and was said to
be a member of the royal family, so the story is thought to be at least
partially true. The historian states
that the first King of Awsland came out of nowhere and seemed to have a near
limitless amount of wealth. He established
first a town that did not rely on trade on the river but through his lifetime
benefited greatly from its proximity. The
king built a large castle that served as a home for a strong military presence and
the town seemed to spring out around it over the next ten years. The first king of Awsland did not conquer any
of the lands around it but just offered to protect any that lived near by. When it appeared that the town was going to
grow into something more, King Awsland commissioned a wall to be built several
kilometres from where the town existed and he had towers built around saying
that the protection he offered the people, would be filled in a few
generations, so why not plan for it now than have the place grow in a haphazard
manner. What is interesting in the
annals for the city was that neither King Awsland nor his daughter Queen Amelia,
declared themselves ruler of the land in their lives, but it was King Awsland
the Second that did posthumously, an act to give his rule a great deal of
legitimacy. It worked. King Awsland the First was known as the
Builder King and his grandson expanded the area that the kingdom ruled from the
river to the mountains, from the Gwendyl River to the Trandle River and the
lands around flourished for many centuries to come. But, as the historian pointed out, Relic the Thief
disappeared a year before the man who would be known as Awsland the Builder,
built his city. To this day no one knows
where the wealth came from that allowed the city to be built in such a short
period of time and the only explanation, according to the historian, is that it
was Relic that bankrolled the endeavor with the wealth of the Dragon Hoard, the
two Emperor’s treasure vaults and who knows what other source of wealth.
Since the long text of the History of the Kingdom of Awsland
was penned two great things have occurred, the first was the destruction of the
Kingdom and the sacking of the City of Awsland and the second was a long string
of adventurers investigating the ruins of the city looking for the fabled remains
of the treasure trove of the Thief Relic, all which failed to find a
thing. Which spurred even more
adventurers into the city to find the wealth that increased every year and with
every telling to be worth more and more.
Nothing was ever found, so the hoard has entered the history books as
one of the great mysteries of the area. There
is one prophecy that makes the rounds every few decades or so that causes more adventurers
to try their luck. “Only true Knights of
Awsland can cross the threshold of the Palace’s Heart to Claim Haustraghn’s
Bane.” Since there is no nobility to
grant anyone a true knighthood, the theologians and astrologers claim that this
prophesy means that it shall never come to pass.
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