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brians_line_log [14-Aug-2014 11:02]
rob [The Heirs of Grimmsveldt]
brians_line_log [07-Nov-2015 10:46] (current)
rob [Fear Sucks!] changed heading level
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 [[brians_name_list]] [[brians_name_list]]
  
-====== ​Filling The Empty Sky ======+====== ​Under the Empty Sky ====== 
 + 
 +=====Fear Sucks!=====  
 + 
 +__(Chronicle of March Gameplay)__ 
 + 
 +//As Wilhelm learns more about the Saga of the Tristen Sword, he goes into a daze, recalling the day’s events, and marveling at their events.// 
 + 
 +It all started as they left the Palisades. The Heirs had just defeated the last vestige of Dick Half-Wit, and were in a self-congratulatory mood, as they moseyed back to the Manor. However, it soon became obvious that more issues were at stake. ​ They came upon a group of terrified villagers, being protected by a lady that seemed to move as fast as lightning, literally moving from one area to another in a blink of an eye. (Bodie should totally learn how to do that, Wilhelm muses.) They were being attacked by Doom Birds, and seem terrified of something. In his haste to get people out of harm’s way, Wilhelm had used the House’s gift, the Ocarina of Horror to scatter people and enemies alike. 
 + 
 +Coming to the aid of the lady, named Twig, who we later discovered was a Gypsy, the Heirs quickly dispatched the doom birds, and discovered that they seemed to suck “something” into some void, which caused time to accelerate in the surrounding area, causing preternatural aging of people and materials. The birds had to be totally destroyed for this to happen. Luckily, the Candlesong Blade was able to do that. However, Wilhelm felt huge remorse over taking away the freedom of the villagers through their fear, and tried to reverse the curse. He handed the blade to Bairmond, who swung a mighty blow at the pinned doom-bird. He swung so hard, he twirled around in a circle, ninja-like, and flashed the dagger in the face of the horse, who was taken aback, reared and lost its footing, falling down, but un-injured. Wilhelm figured it was a new maneuver, and decided to name it, “The Bodie”, who was likely the only person that could get it to actually hit something.  
 + 
 +After much trial and error, while Bodie and Bairmond finished off the doom-birds with Twig, Wilhelm finally learned the cancellation song, after taking the “stage”,​ the rock where Barimond had lit up to provide a beacon for the townsfolk. After herding them together, Bodie (!) made an impassioned speech, calling upon duty, honor, and the return of glory of Grimsveldt, that practically talked the birds out of the trees. The populace followed him blindly, and they would talk of that day for years to come, when the Heirs of Grimsveldt, Bodie, RETURNED. Wilhelm and Bairmond followed along behind, trying to understand the properties of the Ocarina. ​ It seemed the essence of Bree, the Godess of Time and Crossroads, had a residual calming effect in the town. (Wilhelm makes a mental note to read up on her, in the manor library.) 
 + 
 +As they tried to determine who would want to keep the realms separate, they came up with a list of things that needed to be done.  
 + 
 +To-Do (In no particular order): 
 +- Re-unite the Tristen Blade (Figure out how to do that…) 
 +- Start Olive Oil Production and Cash Flow 
 +- Open the Gypsy Paths and the Realm Paths 
 +- Make Road Safe and Advertise the fact the Heirs are responsible 
 +- Strengthen House 
 +- Find and create Spring Court Connection to Manor 
 +- Find invading army over NE passage 
 +- Find Prince Helzing - (who happened to be cursed by his mother, and is CedarWind’s grandson!) 
 +- Destroy RootBall of Evil 
 +- Learn how Twig “blinks” 
 +- Learn more about Bree 
 + 
 +While plans were being laid, Wilhelm began to whittle and sculpt some of the wood debris, almost absent-mindedly. We he was finished, he had several beautifully carved road signs, declaring the road between Palisades and StreamHead safe for travelers, and under the protection of the Heirs of Grimsveldt. Wilhelm resolved to give them to Effrem, their patrol leader to put up.  
 + 
 +Eventually, the Heirs headed back to Grimsveldt, the day bright, and the sun well high in the sky. Bairmond mused aloud that what he knew of Bree was that her temples were crossroads, major ones. The heirs assumed that since the road in front of Grimsveldt was a crossroad, as well as a “crossing over” point, due to the nature of Grimsveldt, that Bree could be listening, should the conversation of someone doing bad things with Time came up. 
 + 
 +So, stopping at the cross-roads,​ Bairmond mused aloud about how Bree probably wouldn’t like what was going on with the doom birds, and wondering aloud, if a group of intrepid (and handsome, Wilhelm interjected) adventurers wanted to stop such dastardly deeds, if the would be something Bree would be interested in? Bodie also wanted to get his two copper pieces in, and mentioned that structural damage may be a unavoidable side effect of such assistance. 
 + 
 +A flock of geese flew to the south. The came from nowhere, and Bairmond was sure it was a sign. The Heirs followed the geese, and came upon a strange cut in the hills, where it seemed there once may have been a road or bridge across the stream. ​ Across the stream, Bodie and Bairmond spotted some kind of armor and went to investigate with Twig.  
 + 
 +Wilhelm dips his feet in the water is distracted by the beautiful play of water amongst the stones, until he feels something roundish and strange against his feet. He picked up what appears to be a bowling sixpin, made of some strange yellowish stone. He puts it in his pack, and catches up with the Heirs and Twig. 
 + 
 + They are looking at the full plate armor of a Bald Mountain Clan orc, and hear a small sucking noise nearby. As Bairmond prepares to stab at it with Sally’s dagger, which Wilhelm nicknames “Mack the Knife”, Bodie and Wilhelm find a Doom-bird, underneath the armor as it is rolled over. Wilhelm immediately stabs it the Candlesong Blade (Gotta lean more about that thing, and attune to it more). The blade rips through the bird from shoulder to navel, shudders and dissolves into a glob of fear. Bairmond returns from his vision trace, after stabbing the dead orc, and sees a familiar face directing hordes of goblins and clay golems to kill the enclave of orcs at Bald Mountain. She is the same woman, associated with the Bleeding Vein. 
 + 
 +While pondering that, and heading down to the bank again, more of that void noise is heard, and upon investigating,​ there is a doom bird stuck in a rock that is speckled with the same material as the bowling pin that Wilhelm found. (Must figure out what that stuff is…) Bairmond stuns it with a StarLight spell, and the rock around it seems to glow brightly, and suddenly the pin in Wilhelms pack bursts forth with light as well! The bird flops to the ground, and Wilhelm stabs it, but it bleeds fear like blood, and Wilhelm is suddenly apprehensive,​ as is Bairmond, after hitting it another time. Finally, Bodie steps in and crushes it to dust, and the fear subsides. 
 + 
 +After making a mental picture of this location in their minds, ​ to investigate later, the Heirs pick up the three sets of full plate armor (needing new leathers), and three warhammer heads (the shafts long since dust). Upon re-crossing the river, the heirs take a little time to see if there anything else in there, like the cool bowling pin, Wilhelm found. Bairmond and Bodie don’t find anything, but Wilhelm comes up with an ornate goblet, inlay with gold and black onyx, with a motif of vines and roses (which isn’t recognizable,​ or identifiable). The goblet is made of some kind of smoky quartz, and since it was full when he pulled it out of the water, and was completely clean, Wilhelm drank from it. 
 + 
 +As he drinks, his face turns grey and it tastes like he drinking blood, which turns to ash in his mouth, suddenly a vision of a tall tower appears in his mind, and he hears a scream he does not recognize, as doom birds fly out from the tower. Wilhem tosses the goblet to side of the stream where Bodie picks it up. On all fours, Wilhelm relates what he saw, as he drinks straight from the stream. 
 + 
 +Back at the manor, in discussions with CedarWind and Twig, the Heirs learn that Dick’s mom is a sad ghost, somewhere in the woods, and that Cedarwind is the ghost’s mom. She tells the heirs about how the gate to Elfhome used to be guarded by a dragon, Ezerak, and every ten years the humans of the Kingdom of Tristen would make a sacrifice ​ to the dragon, and the elves were their friends and gifted the humans the Tristan Blade, to “preserve and protect”. Eventually, the humans stopped paying tribute, and then a 44-year meteor shower occurred, turning the Kingdom of Tristen, into the Fellstone Fields, which is where all the essence of fear and the Bleeding Vein goo, drains off to, after the doom birds die. Before Wilhelm drifts off, he goes over the expanded to-do list (Research Amber, Attune with Candlesong Blade, learn about rose and vine motif), while CedarWind talks about how Dick found the broken pieces of the sword, and only an elven smith could re-unite the pieces. 
 + 
 +//While Wilhelm’s eyes glaze over, Bairmond and Bodie listen attentively to CedarWind’s and Twig’s knowledge.//​ 
 + 
 +=====Frogs and Houses and Lightning, Oh My!===== 
 +*(A chronicle of 28 Feb 2015 gameplay.)* 
 + 
 +//As Wilhelm, Bodie, and Bairmont slowly wind their way Grimsveldt, Wilhelm muses about the series of events that brought him to this point, and the incredible bond that has forged with these young men.//  
 + 
 +While he had forged some friendships on the river, even the common purpose of commerce and river rafting, he had never trusted anyone as deeply as he had these two men, now heading back to their home. 
 + 
 +Back to their home… The phase resonated like a song, an ancient song of connection. But I get ahead of myself. These connections weren’t forged overnight, but like all great sagas, this verse begins at the beginning… They had just finished saving a priestess of the Circle of the White Moon, Cedarwind. After stowing the chain which controlled the dark elemental, Bairmont walked me through some very complex medical procedures. I had read about them, after Dad left, but it wasn’t the same someone who had devoted their life to it. We created a split that was a thing of beauty of both form and function, and then a litter that would allow us to get him back to Grimsveldt, in one piece. We were followed, for a while, but as we continued on to the manor, those following us continued on to the east to where there were green flashes in the sky. We all didn’t feel up to dealing with that at that particular moment, what with the bone sticking out of Bairmont’s leg and all, no matter how pretty the cast looked.  
 + 
 +As we trudged back to the house, part of my mind reached out to those flashes, and to the darkness beyond. I went down to the stream next to road, and tried to understand what was happening. What I saw and felt, still haunts me. It felt as the whole world was being eaten aby a void, and all that I knew about the fey realm seemed to be sucked into it. 
 + 
 +When we came to the manor we found Hyrum feeding wood from the Ancient Olive grove into the fire, to help give the house power. He cried, as he feed his children into the blazing maw, and I swore to find a way to help the house, as was all our duties. That night we decided that something bad was happening in the east, and that we would soon need to deal with it. There was still debate as to whether that was more or less important than the threat over the passage. Bairmont decided to sleep on it, and hopefully dream delve an answer, and we all tried to better attune ourselves to our weapons and gifts. Turns out Dad’s knife is from the Channeling Realm (whatever that means), and is one of the Candlesong blades (whatever those are). I had some more research to do, when time was available. We set a watch, Bodie got some well-deserved sleep, and I tried to connect the house to the Fey Realm through the medium of the pond, as I had done my first night here. This time though, I asked for a spell from the Priestess to keep me warm. Still not understanding what I was doing and more than a little afraid of what might happen, I knew that I had to “fight fear with fear” and that a “little fear never hurt anyone…” 
 + 
 +Apparently, from conversations later with Bodie and Bairmont, the song I sung, and the power I gave the house was doing its trick, but a spell of sleep stole over the whole house, someone came to the pond, forced me to change my tune (literally!),​ and I began to freeze. Then things really got interesting. Bodie woke up, found the whole house asleep, woke up Bairmont, who spoke of a dream of gears. They  brought me inside to warm me up, but couldn’t get me to stop singing. Finally, Bairmont had the great idea of shoving a pot on my head, so I stopped singing, but now I couldn’t see (To-Do list: Get a helmet…). Bodie and Bairmont rushed out to follow whoever had made the tracks that had come up to me, and then left, while I tried to figure out what was going on with my geas.  
 + 
 +Bodie and Bairmont raced off and soon found track from a three legged animal, and in the distance they saw what looked like a black unicorn, which then changed into a man with the head of an ass! (While they were telling me this, later, light dawned in the swamp and I realize what Hyrum was telling me about a “three-legged ass”, I thought he was making a racial slur about the winter court.) In any case, the ass-headed man had a stick, and through Bairmont’s outstanding powers of mentalism, convinced him to stop, and too take no aggressive action against them. The man set aside his stick, which became an animated master of martial arts, and waited… 
 + 
 +Meanwhile, I suddenly realized that the song I had been singing was a simpler version of a much more ancient song, which connected the Winter Court to Grimsveldt. As an analogy, I was cutting the grass of the Winter Court’s outhouse, and now I had the ability to siphon power from the stone of the house of Seven Falls itself (that being the seat of the winter court). I realized that the only person who could make that happen (on purpose) was Baron Ambrose, the leader of the Winter Court in this realm. 
 + 
 +At the same time, Bairmont and Bodie were talking with the Baron, and Bodie came a hairbreadth from annihilating the animated stick. They convinced (go Bairmont!) the Baron to remove the geas, and to tell us what was going on. He obliged, and by that time, I had caught up to them, and breathlessly told the boys not to hurt the Baron. They weren’t. The Baron then told us a great threat to all our realms coming from the void, and that the Fey realm was under attack, by the last essence of the idjit we called Dick Half-Wit (Richard Half-White). We had the power to hold it back, and should make all haste to do so. 
 + 
 +Returning to the house, we geared up for battle, and I further attuned to my Ocarina of Horror, and realizing that it had the power to instill fear, like an 8th level fear spell, and that it gave me the spell mastery skill for such a spell. Using my whistling skill (+25), I was able to target who was affected by the spell. I also challenged the Carver to come up with a system that would use the pond and the lauralwood we had collected to continually replenish the house (even when we were not here), through some kind of water pump, power channeling device. I scratched out the notes of the ancient song (which I had learned and understood during my geas), and suggested he use those notations with the lauralwood, to create a conduit between the house and the winter court. While we geared up, suddenly, a little blue sprite flittered into our lives, and she spun a tale of woe to the Fey realm, and where it met the edges of this realm, as was lost. She spoke of green flashes animating everything in site, and undead horrors terrorizing our villages, and harming our tax base! 
 + 
 +On Grimsveldt horses, we rode like the wind to the village, and there we saw the last essence animating anything it could to wreak havoc and destruction. While Bodie rushed in, Bairmont tried to weed them out, and I stabbed at one with my father’s blade, with an awesome burst of holy energy the undead frog exploded and froglegs went flying. Meanwhile, Bodie had crashed through a group of the frogs, and stood in front of the building that suddenly became ALIVE! With a knowledge of structural engineering,​ or just pure awesome strength, he punched through the load bearing members of the that house front, and the whole thing collapsed, bringing the essence of the Half-Wit with it, and more importantly the gnarled staff that was causing the issue. The boys and I went for the staff at the same time as the frogs. While Bodie and Bairmont held them off, I unslung Bessie, but favorite ax, and chopped that staff in half, exposing the slimy blue goo, and green tinted tip of the Tristen Blade.  
 + 
 +With the power of the staff broken, the undead and animated monsters dropped. The rest of aberrations hopped off into the surrounding countryside to eventually be captured for bounty by our forces. We were in a congratulatory mood as we sauntered down the road, back to Grimsveldt. 
 + 
 +//Bodie is on point, and seems to have spotted something….//​ 
 + 
 + 
 +===== Grmisveldt Manifesto ===== 
 + 
 +//As Wilhelm approaches the wood that smells like a festering malignancy, and screams the discordant notes of “wrong” in his mind, he takes comfort from the presence of his friends and fellow heirs by his side. He knows that these young men, no more than boys like himself, will stand against this abomination with him, and ensure the safety, security, and prosperity of Grimsveldt.//​ 
 + 
 +//That surety did not come easily, only yesterday in fact, there was doubt. Strife, discord, and fear tore at the very foundation of the Heirs relationship. Wilhelm had seen in many times before, in the streets of Roggenwolf. As the Children’s Army grew beyond the few street gangs, and as more and more flocked to the cause, there was despair, discomfort, and small frictions that grew (like a gnarled oak) until the brambles and thorns of discord were in every branch.// 
 + 
 +//There was a lesson learned that day, the Lords arrived. Direction. Direction and focus, clear and concise. Most mobs, and even small groups, though they may have similar goals, beliefs, and desires, cannot stand the heat of the friction that comes from lack of unity of purpose. The day that the Lords came, the Army was galvanized by their leadership, and example, even though, they were ultimately disbanded, it was a purpose they could all agree on. They would go back, and tell of the Lords, and some day rise to their challenge to join them among the multiverse.//​ 
 + 
 +//When the schism within the Heirs began to form on that lonely mountaintop,​ Wilhelm knew it was up to him to find unity of purpose that they could all agree upon. As they came upon the house, later the next day. He knew what it was, they were the Heirs of Grimmveldt! The house, grounds, and it’s environs sang through their veins, there is nothing the Heirs would not do to protect the manse. Wilhelm had nearly frozen to death, feeding the house his power. Bairmont had opened his mind to unknowable horror, on the off chance it would help defend the manor. And Bodie had nearly sacrificed himself to be the willing vessel of the defense of the bounds. Wilhelm knew he needed to tap into that well of common purpose, and state boldly and plainly what they needed to do as heirs.// 
 + 
 +//That night, he spent in feverish composition,​ blatantly stealing some of the best words on the subject of purpose that he could find. And before he sought his bed that night, he tacked a parchment on each of his fellow heirs doors. On top of the parchment, he affixed a bright yellow square of paper, saying, “Gents, it’s a bit rough, but have a read, and let me know what you think. - Willy”//​ 
 + 
 +//The rough draft of a manifesto lay below the note, on a small bit of parchment. It was obvious that these were only the beginnings of the thoughts that needed to be expressed, and that the Heirs would need to decide on more details, to ensure their success.//​ 
 + 
 +==== Heres Prodigiosi ad Sententia ==== 
 + 
 + 
 +When in the course of unnatural events it becomes necessary to form a more perfect union, we, the Heirs of Grimmsveldt,​ will hold these truths to be self-evident:​ 
 +  * That one being can make a difference,​ 
 +  * That security is the key to acquisition and expansion, and 
 +  * That no group, however large or small, can survive without family, whether that family be by blood, nature, or purpose. 
 + 
 +By the Mission of the Key: We Heirs will use the resources of our trust to proclaim and establish Grimmsveldt as the defenders of truth, justice, and liberty of the people of this land. 
 + 
 +From the Vision of the Olive: We Heirs will establish a safe haven upon which Grimmsveldt can expand, ensuring prosperity and security for the Heirs’ people, leading, ultimately, to a healing of all worlds and planes. 
 + 
 +Through the Goals of the Manor: 
 +  * To guarantee prosperity through security, expansion, and solidarity. 
 +  * To ensure the survival of the Grimmsveldt name by keeping ourselves physically fit, mentally awake, and morally straight. 
 +  * To ensure, through harmony, strength, and cooperation,​ the Heirs of Grimmsveldt are never forgotten. 
 + 
 + For liberty and justice for all… 
 + 
 +//Looking at the broadside, he knew it was a bit over the top, and future versions would need some more polish, but it was a start. The next morning, over breakfast, the Heirs discussed the issue some, and some grumbling apologies for stubbornness and ego were exchanged by all. For now, they were in agreement, Dick Half-Wit and his minions were definitely an issue, and whatever was happening in that wood above the waterfall had to be stopped at all cost. They could figure out details later.// 
 + 
 +//Now, looking at the darkness of purpose in front of him, Wilhelm knew that their bonds of friendship, purpose, and trust, were about to be tested…//​ 
 + 
 +{{tag>​}} 
 + 
 + 
 + 
  
 ===== The Heirs of Grimmsveldt ===== ===== The Heirs of Grimmsveldt =====
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