Gameplay Date 08-19-07
Players present: Mordek, Taneus
Arriving in Nerom
We lost pretty much all of the supplies we had been using the cart to transport. The little bit of food & water that we still had was what we were carrying in our packs. So we pooled it all together and divided it up amongst the three of us. The horse was going to have to get by on grass until we could get to Nerom. Luvana looks terrible, as she's covered in bruises and some minor scrapes from her encounter with the ogre, but she says she'll heal up just fine. As we continue on our way, we spot some mud & rock houses ahead. They're surrounded by rock piles to their left and rolling hills to their right. As we get closer, it appears that no one's home. We decided to rest for the night in one that still had a full roof to it. Before the sun sets completely, we managed to spot smoke on the horizon in the direction of Nerom... must be getting close. I take the first watch while Taneus & Luvana get some rest and heal up a bit from their injuries. After a few hours, Taneus wakes and he takes over on watch so I can get some sleep.
When I wake, I'm surprised to find that it is just as dark out as it was when I went to sleep. Luvana's looking much better than she had been and Taneus is looking at me a bit guiltily. He then tells me that he slipped a drug down my throat and that I've been asleep for the last 24 hours. And that while I was unconscious, I turned into a were-rat again during that night's full moon and then reverted back to myself when the day came. I'm feeling great after having had such a restful sleep, and all of my wounds are completely healed up... I just wish he would've told me beforehand. As it's still several hours until dawn... again... I take over on watch from Taneus and let him get some sleep for this new night, as Luvana's already conked out. When morning comes, we gather up our things. I also left behind a few gold pieces for the owners of the house, should they ever come back, as thanks for us using their house for the last few nights. We started heading north again, but this time, we followed the river and not the road. It's near the end of another day when Nerom is finally in sight. We stop for a minute, as I want to bury most of the money I've brought with me, under a large rock in the river stream... I don't really wanna have to be watching out for pickpockets too, if Nerom is troubled the way we think it is.
Nerom is situated right next to the cliff edge on the north side of the island of Wolfguard. As we make our way into town from the south, we can hear the ringing of many, many hammers coming from the north side of town. Right in the middle of the town is a large reflecting pool, though the 15' tall statue in the middle of it has been toppled over. Off to our right, we spot a sign on a rather large building... The Stone's Throw Inn... so we head there to get some general information about the town. There's a rather well-worn path leading out from the Inn and right to the Temple of St. Cuthbert just next door. We tied up our horse just outside, then we opened the door and went in, where we found 4 tables and a woman scrubbing tankards. She introduced herself as Kaela, and we introduced ourselves to her. We got a room for the night and asked her if there was a stable where we could board our horse. She told us to try Briar's Stable, that he's a pretty honest fellow and his stable is just north of the Inn next to Kelper's Wagon Shop. Luvana asks her where we can find the Temple of Obad-Hai, and Kaela says it is a big grove to the west of the center of town, and that the Temples of Obad-Hai and Corellon Larethian share the grove.
Kaela then warns us about the Grey Fingers, a Guild of Thieves and Assassins that come and go as they please here in Nerom. She also warns us that the orcs & goblins in town are the muscle for the priests from the Temple of Erythnul, and are constantly rounding people up to work on the staircase dock at the north end of town. She says, if we're not careful, we'll end up working on them too, and that everyone is basically worked from dawn to dusk with barely any time to rest... and all for the betterment of Nerom, as the priests are always saying. She and the other shopkeepers in town are maybe a bit more fortunate, in that they only have to work half a day on the stairs and are then allowed to come back and run their shops for the other half. Luvana seems a bit anxious to get to the Temple of Obad-Hai, so we thank Kaela for her warnings, telling her we'll be back, then head outside again. The first thing we do is lead our horse to Briar's Stable to get it boarded. Briar is more than happy to stable our horse for us, and says it'll cost us 1 gold piece for a week. A reasonable price, so we pay him, then head to the reflecting pool at the center of town. From there we walked west until we saw the big grove of trees that Kaela had mentioned.
Inside the grove we found a single, dark cloaked figure. As we entered the grove, he turned and lowered his hood to reveal that he was human, and with a cleanly shaven head. He welcomed us to the Temples of Obad-Hai and Corellon Larethian, and introduces himself as Buccor, the head priest of Obad-Hai here in Nerom. We introduce ourselves as well and tell Buccor that we were escorting our young friend, Luvana, at the behest of Fazu, to the temple in the hopes that she might become a member of their order. Buccor looks at Luvana appraisingly, then motions her forward into the center of the grove where there is a pool of water. Together they step into the pool, where they turn to face west. Buccor speaks a few words of incantation, and then the two of them disappear in a flash of light. Standing there in the grove with Taneus, I ask him what just happened. He thinks that Buccor cast a spell of teleportation, that maybe this grove isn't the real temple, but rather the gateway. Something tells me that Buccor isn't going to be coming back for us anytime soon, so Taneus & I head back to the Stone's Throw Inn to retire for the evening. When we arrive, there is a crude dagger jammed into the door holding a note in place. The note is calling for an assembly of all citizens at the High Temple by the first horn of sunrise. As we went inside, we found Kaela in tears as she was nursing a huge blackened eye. We asked her what happened and she told us that the orc who dropped off the note wanted to make sure she understood that everyone's presence was required. She tells us that she'll be alright, that it wasn't the first time it had happened. She asks if there is anything else we need before we turn in. Taneus doesn't require anything so he starts to head up to our room. I had one more question for her though. I asked her where I might find a Temple of Olidammara in Nerom. She tells me that it is located about a mile outside of town on the road to Teryll & Salaan. I already know that there isn't a Temple of Moradin in town. The mighty stone & iron temple in Bumfor was carved right into the mountains... Nerom just doesn't have that kind of majesty to work with. But I was starting to get an idea, one that by the grace of Olidammara, would have the priests of Erythnul thinking that a godsend was dropping right into their laps. I bid Kaela a good night, then went upstairs to put more thought into my blossoming idea. Taneus was already in bed, if not asleep when I came in the room. I went over to the other bed in the room and got ready for sleep myself. Then I blew out the candles and laid out on my bed, staring up into the blackness and thinking about tomorrow.
To be continued...
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