The
Ashbury Times
August 608
“All The News That Fits, We Print”
Spirit Farewell Performed for Queen in
Fairdale
A spirit farewell was held
for Queen Sidraste Deannan
on Sunday afternoon, July 27, 608. Representatives from all four duchies
were present, including Duke Broomis Bouchard of Brittington, Duchess Jacelyn Correlia of Evorra, Duke Frost Vardik of Ashbury and Dame Keegan
McCafferty of Falkirk (as Duke Colin Hendry was on
the front fighting the Dominion and could not be reached in time). The
nobles had agreed to meet in Fairdale, though reluctantly, for this purpose
weeks ago. The ritual was kept secret until the actual casting so as not
to alert the enemies of Icenia. It is now known
that it was established ahead of time that the Queen would only appear for a
spirit farewell if at least three of the dukes or duchesses were present.
Several other prominent nobles were present, including Dame Sonia Forthiatis the Regent of Icenia,
Sir Eros Clearbrook of Ashbury,
Baron Rorri and Dame Daralassia
of the Ash Forest and Baron Ivan Drake and Sir Daniel Star of Blythedale and Lady Knight Glorianna
Wynddancer of Nordenn.
Her Majesty’s permanent
death has been confirmed by the spirit farewell, as her spirit appeared in the
assigned circle of power soon after the wizards Shya Corak, Dame Glorianna and Elryon finished their ritual casting. The casters
then left the circle to allow the dukes, the duchess and Dame Keegan to enter
the circle.
Rare awkwardness was
displayed by Duke Frost and the other three nobles. Nervous small talk
was soon followed by an uncomfortable silence. Tears and grief were
evident within and without the circle.
Soon enough, the question on
everyone’s mind was raised, Duke Broomis doing
the actual asking at the urging of the other nobles. When presented with
this question of the succession, Queen Sidraste
simply answered that is for the living to decide the fate of
Icenia. She stated it is not for the
dead to answer such thing. She also reported that she is at peace in the
Heroes’ Graveyard. She seemed most interest in speaking fondly to
her assembled nobles and friends.
The biata
Shya Corak, who was rescued
from permanent death by Her Majesty and briefly wielded Validius,
the Blade of Queens, spent quite some time speaking with the queen. Many
others also paid their respects.
While commoners and nobles
alike were saying their farewells, Duke Broomis
announced the betrothal of his nephew, Sir Nevin
Kendrick to Duchess Jacelyn Corellia.
He also announced that he would support Jacelyn’s
claim to the throne of Icenia and that the joining of
their families would bring together the royal lineages of both the Deannans and the ap
Moires. Duke Broomis
also made it clear that he did not consider Duke Frost a candidate as he was not
of Icenian blood. Many Ashbans
took this as a personal slight upon their Duke and upon all of Ashbury. Sir Eros seemed most upset by the
comments.
Duke Frost appeared
nonplussed at the comment and opposed such a hasty decision, as did Dame Keegan
of
The commoners present were
given some more time to pay their respects to the Queen and then were asked to
leave the area. The knights and ducal guards formed a perimeter out of
earshot. Duke Frost, Dame Keegan and other nobles stayed and spoke with
Queen Sidraste for the duration of the spirit
farewell, nearly six hours. Those conversations remain confidential.
The Ducal Team Tournament of 608 was an exciting affair, won by the
Black Forest Adventuring group for the second time in a row,
although this time they called themselves “Ragnar’s
Legacy” in honor of their fallen comrade.
The Tournament consists of nine events, and the team in first place
gets 5 points; the
team in second place gets 4, and so on down the line.
Ragnar’s Lgeacy won handily, with 28 points, followed
by the Court of Blythedale. Three teams tied for third place.
|
|
Ragnars Legacy |
Blythedale |
Nordenn |
Stormblades |
Trellheim |
|
Dockside Rats |
|
Colors |
|
4 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
|
|
Combat |
5 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
|
1 |
|
|
Spellcaster |
5 |
|
3 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
|
|
Entertainment |
|
1 |
|
2 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
|
Trivia |
3 |
4 |
|
2 |
1 |
5 |
|
|
Archery |
1 |
4 |
2 |
|
5 |
|
3 |
|
Race |
5 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
|
|
1 |
|
Hero |
4 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
|
|
|
Hunt |
5 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
|
2 |
|
|
TOTAL |
28 |
24 |
20 |
20 |
20 |
14 |
9 |
Ragnar’s Legacy consisted of Gilwing, Garaa, Redcloud, Auric, Lyle, and Air Raksa.
In second place was the Court of Blythedale,
consisting of Baron Ivan Drake, Sir Daniel Grimsby, Squire Aven, Squire Garathon von Storm, Telokh Amdo, and Kotual. Although they didn’t win any specific
competition, they placed well enough in many to give Ragnar’s
Legacy some worry.
Third place produced a three-way tie. “Nordenn and
Friends” had members Lady Knight Gloriana Wyndancer Nordenn, Diplomat Elryion Nyonos, Seneshal Aubry Darksun, Squire Raven
Nevermore, Riddick Dale, and Wizard Eldarion Avari. The Stormblades consisted of
In fourth place (or sixth,
depending on how you count it) was the Court of the
In last place was a team that threw itself together at
the last minute to enjoy the fun of the Tournament. Nathan Westwind,
Leona Tinuen Tel’Arda,
Leara Falsanio, Wynter Rose, Mattock Lightfoot, and Khorwyn
Brey called themselves “The Dockside
Rats.”
And finally, there was a team
from the dwarven
The Tournament began, as always, with the Colors competition. This is the opening ceremony in which
the teams present themselves to the Duke, introduce each team member, and show
off their bearing, their finest clothing, their banners, and other displays.
This competition was won by Trellheim. Although other teams had finer clothing, their
presentation to His Grace was above the others and won them first.
The Hero’s Competition
was next. This is a round-robin battle
with three heroes from each team fighting against three from each other team,
so that every team gets to fight every other team once. Ragnar’s
Legacy, consisting of Gilwing, Gaara,
and Lyle, captured first place here, winning all seven of its battles. In
second place was Blythedale with competitors Baron
Ivan, Sir Daniel, and Squire Aven. Third went to the Stonehammers.
The Spellcaster’s
The Dockside Rats got to
show their skills in the Entertainment portion, with Nathan demonstrating his
excellent singing skill accompanied by Leara’s
amazing guitar work and harmonies.
Although they did not have their entire team participate (which is
encouraged by the rules), the amount of applause at the end of their
performance convinced His Grace that they were indeed the favorite of the
audience and deserved first place.
Second went to Trellheim who did a hilarious skit about poor army regulars
who travel to Dockside to go drinking, wenching, and
fighting, only to discover that Sir Harrison had cleaned up the area so well
that they couldn’t have any fun.
The Stonehammers
came in third with their funny song, primarily due to the “talents”
of Godric the hero who did hilarious impressions of foppily dancing elves, boring humans, and other silliness.
The
The Trivia competition came
next, with questions prepared and asked by Squire Trevor. This was a new way of doing this, with each
team not only getting a chance to ask the question but to also vote as to
whether they thought other team’s answers were correct or not. The
The competition was tight by
that point, with Trellheim in first place with 14
points, Ragnar’s Legacy with 13, Blythedale with 12, and the
The next day began with the
Archery Competition, which started with a surprise when the Stonehammers
were eliminated. (See accompanying
article) Their points were thus
removed, and the teams who had scored beneath them were moved up in their
individual categories. The score was now
Trellheim with 14, Rangar’s
Legacy and Blythedale tied with 13,
Archery was won by Sun Li Kai
of Trellheim with 28 Archery points, followed by Telokh of Blythedale with 26, Khorwyn of the Dockside Rats with 17, and Eldarion of Nordenn with 15.
The Race was won by Ragnar’s Legacy (no one can catch Gilwing),
followed by Nordenn, Stormblades,
and Blythedale.
The overall score was now a
three way tie! Blythedale, Ragnar’s
Legacy and Trellheim all had 19 points each. The
Hero’s
However, none of these three
teams won the Hero’s Tournament, which was taken by Parduc
of the Stormblades instead. Ragnar’s
Legacy was second, followed by Nordenn and Blythedale. This rearranged the score to place Ragnar’s Legacy ahead of Blythedale
by two points, 23 to 21. Could Blythedale make it up in the Hunt?
Although finding Hunt items
for the previous day is always important, it is still possible to jump ahead
quickly by winning the superlatives at the end of the Hunt, and Blythedale did well with many of their entries. However, in the end, Rangar’s
Legacy had the most Hunt points and thus won the Tournament, receiving a nice
pile of money and a magic item.
Sir Eros made it clear that he
was very thankful to Squire Trevor for writing the Hunt list and puzzles as
well as the trivia competition.
“I’ve been doing it for too long, and am happy that he is
able to provide this high quality to the participants,” he said.
The exact date for next
year’s Hero’s Tournament has yet to be announced.
Dwarves Visit, Activate Necromantic
Machine
When a strange machine was
discovered in the bowels of the tavern at Fairdale, no one could seem to figure
out what it does…
But Kalegerki
Stonehammer, leader of the Whiterock
dwarven clan in Dwarrenagor,
recognized it from her ancient books.
And when the Ashbury Times ran an article about finding the
machine, she became quite excited.
She organized a team to enter
the Tournament, led by the great (but dim) dwarven
hero Godric.
When she and her team appeared on the Friday of the Tournament, she was
greeted kindly by those who remembered her from her encounters with Ashbury previously, and by the fact that she was the mother
of the now departed hero Braveroar.
Her team consisted not only of Godric, but a number of other dwarves who seemed anxious to
participate in the competitions. Primary
among them was a tall friendly dwarf who called himself “Bones” for
the bones of the monsters he collected and wore around his waist. No one realized at first the connection
between these bones and the large number of undead monsters that had begun
attacking Fairdale around the same time.
In fact, the first major battle occurred on that
Friday night, when Scourge, a follower of the Vacarran
Pirate Rotwave, arrived with a large group of undead,
saying “So nice of you to leave me
a small army lying around in the woods! There I was looking for the Leviathan
Blade, and someone left me an army! Attack!”
The undead were defeated, but mysteries remained – why were they
all goblin, troll, bugbear and other monster
undead? And who left them in the woods,
waiting for someone to come by and Control them?
A further clue came the next day when Stoney Deepgug complained that
someone had broken into his basement. He
gathered Dame Darlassia, Squire Raven, Khadi, Mischief, Korwyn, and Parduc who ventured into the dungeons and discovered
footprints and the stink of undead.
The machine was at the root of it all. Kalegerki knew that
if you fed bones into the machine and turned the dials just right, an undead
would pop out, ready to be controlled. It was everything the dwarves wanted
– unlimited miners who never needed to be fed, never needed to sleep, and
best of all, never asked to be paid.
They had deluded themselves into believing that it wasn’t really
necromantic because no one said the word “chaos” or cast any
spells, and besides, they were only using the bones of monsters anyway, so no
people had been disturbed from their final rest.
Bones had snuck into the dungeons, fed bones into the
machine, and then led his undead out into hiding places in the woods, where they
would be marched back to Dwarrenagor. One of the other dwarves, an engineer of some
skill, spent time studying the machine to see if he could move it or reproduce
it.
What they didn’t realize was the flaw in the
machine – After the machine was fed
1000 bones, it created an intelligent, powerful undead. This new undead,
“Model 1000,” pretended he was one of the unintelligent ones and
was led away with the rest. When he was left alone and commanded to “Stay
here,” with the others, he immediately took control of them all and
instead led attacks into town.
The dwarves, upon realizing this, tried to stop the creature and newly
controlled undead by hiring adventurers to help destroy the undead they had
“randomly discovered” in the woods.
However, they continued to create new ones which they hoped would remain
hidden from Model 1000.
In the meantime, they participated in the Tournament
and seemed to have a grand time doing so. They may have been able to do quite
well had not the hero Godric, simple-minded but pure,
explained that their archer was late because he was busy “making more
zombies.”
This of course grabbed the attention of all gathered
there, and the dwarves were rounded up and locked in the jail, awaiting
trial. And before the Tournament could
complete, Model 1000 was seen with a large group of undead gathered just over
the creek into the
Sir Eros later found Bones and three of the dwarves
guilty of necromancy and sentenced them to death. They resurrected elsewhere.
After much investigation, Godric and a young dwarf
named Kedek Ironforge were
found guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Necromancy. Kedek had been unaware
of what the others were doing and merely wished to participate in the
Tournament, and Godric, while aware of the situation,
did not appear to have the intent necessary to commit such a crime. They were fined and banished from Ashbury.
Kalegerki is still at large, and probably will
not show her face in Ashbury any time soon.
Creature on Loose, Children at Risk
Over the last few weeks, children throughout
the ducal fiefs have been wandering away from home, only to return seemingly
unable to speak or communicate. This has baffled healers and stumped ritualists as nothing seems to restore them to their normal
state. A few have pondered trying to get the children to resurrect, but
understandably nobody wants to take the risk of it not working.
In Fairdale however, a connection seems to
have been made. A green creature covered in ooze appeared, accompanied by
several ooze-covered monsters, and two children, who were likewise afflicted
and unable to speak. These children however were able to manifest powerful magics without even the need of an incantation. It is
believed that the creature is controlling them somehow, though the exact method
(or a way to break it) has not yet been discovered.
Families, schools and orphanages are urged to take all precautions
necessary to keep their children indoors.
Dominion on the Move;
Refugees are now piling into different parts of Icenia as The Dominion have landed
in
In other news, sources and scouts show Dominion movement
through the Contested Lands, heading toward Fairdale. The troop numbers seem to
be somewhat small in comparison to the main force in Bretton,
but rumors of a couple of silhouettes in the sky abound; perhaps the Dominion are indeed bringing their gryphons
to the fight.
The Ducal army has been battered at the front near Bretton, and the number of
soldier resurrections have been in the thousands. Who knows
when the reign of terror against this force will end?
Unrest in the Sarr
Lands
The loss of Her Majesty is
having far reaching complications already. Sources from within the
alliance of Sarr Nations known as the Three Kingdoms
claim that the alliance is coming dangerously close to dissolving, and only
their current ongoing war with a neighboring nation is keeping the alliance
together.
As is well known, Her Majesty
was traveling to the Three Kingdoms to attempt to further solidify both their
alliance and Icenia’s place within it when she
was allegedly attacked by Vaccaran Pirates.
Apparently multiple sides are hinting that the others may have worked
with the Pirates to keep Her Majesty from reaching their shores – a
heinous act even to the Sarr way of thinking.
The
There is talk of another
political meeting being planned, but due to the harsh winters within the more
mountainous areas of the Sarr Kingdoms, it will
probably be unable to occur before the spring thaw, as the Sarr
seem to have made paranoia about political backstabbing and assassination into
a profession, and extreme measures will have to be taken to first make sure the
meeting place is secure which is delaying the talks.
Ducal Ball Has Strange Visitor
A strange man appeared at the Ducal Ball
calling himself Corisander. Seeing it was a fae,
Dame Glorianna Wyndancer Nordenn went to the man and asked him if he had any news of
Morgasander, former paladin and former Baron of Nordenn. The seelie fae coyly asked the knight
her business and she entailed the plight of her former Baron being trapped and
captured by the wild fae, and how she has been trying
for several years to get a way to free her former liege but to no avail.
To her great surprise, the fae
revealed himself as Morgasander’s father, and
quickly Glorianna called several people over to
discuss how to save Morgasander. Squire Raven Nevermore, Seneshal
Aubry Darksun and Glorianna all avowed to Morgasander’s
father their earnest desire to save him from his fate. The fae claiming to
be Morgasander’s father warned that the attempt
could very well cost them their lives, and the three were unturned in their
desire to go.
While arming for the preparation to travel to
the Fae Realm, Air Raska, a
high orc from the lands of Moria
who was present for the spirit farewell of Ragnar,
charged the fae claiming he was giving him “the
evil eye.” Infuriated, Glorianna confronted “Rock” and in her rage,
informed the orc “it’s not the fae’s curses you need to worry about.”
Disgusted with his behavior, Glorianna ordered the orc out of
her presence, as he was too uncivilized to be a part of the Ducal Ball.
Fortunately the fae
sent Glorianna a Whispering Wind and she assembled
her team. Squire Aven’s
attempts to gather help for Gloriannas mission only
produced newly squired Garathon, Squire Raven, and Aubry Darkson, and the four left
to meet their rendezvous into the realm of the fae.
Further details of the mission were not
forthcoming; however, upon her return Glorianna
reported that the locations of Morgasander are being
confirmed, and she and team will be going back to the fae
realm, with the express mission of rescuing Morgasander
who is trapped in stasis.
Blythedale Names New Squire
At the Ducal Ball, the High
Guard of Blythedale, Garathon
von Storm, was recently promoted to Squire.
Squire Garathon joins Squire Aven and the currently missing Squire Lokegon, becoming the third squire on the Blythedale court. Though he is a relatively recent arrival to Ashbury, Squire Garathon has dedicated his life in service to the duchy and he quickly caught Baron Ivan’s eye as a man of steadfast honor and integrity. But as with all squires and nobles, his actions will speak louder than words.
Gryphons Have Vision; Biata
Plan
The Ducal Ball was attended
by a number of interesting biata visitors, among them
a Bloodstone Council member Xeris, who came as a blind date for Sir Daniel Grimsby, and Thessi Ambassador Olpheus Borik and his wife.
They all seemed to be enjoying themselves when suddenly the
Ambassador’s wife and the Council member fainted, following almost
immediately by the Ambassador and Duke Frost himself.
Everyone gathered around,
but realized that they were having some sort of biata-like
prophecy dream. However, this did not affect any of the other biata present, including Guildmistress
Zatarina and former Guildmistress
Shya Corak.
When they awoke, the
Ambassador and his wife ran for the door, followed closely by the Council
member. The Ambassador’s wife was
seen to transform into a gryphon, and with the
Ambassador riding her back, took off into the skies, followed soon by Xeris, also a gryphon.
Although the biata would not speak publicly about the incident, it has
been learned that they are attempting to reach as many biata
adventurers as possible for something that they expect to happen at the next
scheduled gathering late in the month.
News from Around the Duchy
The Barony
of the
Aldin
Mirk: Responding to claims of torture,
witnesses report that Baron Roriiathanderhil Colaenlothrodarhil is personally reviewing the
investigation of the convicted necromancer in this estate.
Kiri
Ashton: An aggressive
construction program has begun as estate officials supervise the building of a
defensive watch tower.
Zinfelendin: It is
claimed that several members of the court of the
The Barony
of Blythedale
Dragonhart: There are
rumors that the court of Blythedale has not taken the
disappearance of Guildmaster Ternis
Kave very seriously.
Ector: The Metalfire Guild continues to dominate local smithing business.
Fenwyck: Sir Daniel
Grimsby has spent considerable time overseeing the restoration of law and order
in this estate and as a result, crime has dropped dramatically.
The Barony
of Nordenn
Hillcroft: The farmers
of this estate who overpaid taxes to the former crooked tax collector, Havrim Markold, are said to have
been reimbursed out of Lady Knight Glorianna Wyndancer’s own pocket. In addition, she has posted a 5 gold reward
for information leading to the fugitive’s arrest.
The Ducal
Fiefs
Connor: A local
guardsman suffered his permanent death during a battle with a band of horse
thieves. The bandits stole nearly 40
horses last month and were tracked down by local authorities. Six thieves were arrested, but at least two
escaped.
Morien: The
investigation of two simultaneous murders continues in this estate, but
officials indicate that there are few clues.
Remembering Ashbury’s Fallen Heroes
By Sparktet Bone Littlebeard
What follows is my best attempt to piece
together a description of the events that led to and resulted from the death of
then Squire Koshinara. Because of his posthumous rise
in rank I will use Sir Koshinara from now on. In this
article I only aim to report the facts. I believe I would fail miserably if I
were to make an attempt to address the emotional loss I’m sure many of us
feel. I would like to thank Man-at-Arms Flint Boulderback for his help in piecing together the events
leading up to the death of Sir Koshinara.
The sad chain of events began on the Friday
immediately preceding the tournament; a man came into town seeking adventurers
to help him find his daughter, Sophia Redwood.
Man-at-Arms
Flint Boulderback of Vex Squad organized a small
party consisting of himself, Sir Koshinara, Winterrose, and Kayden. The team
was kept small at the man’s request; he claimed that a large party might
scare his daughter off.
The
party located Sophia by the stream. She was being guarded by two trolls who were
easily dispatched. As the adventurers started to make their way back to town,
several more trolls attacked including a cauldron-born that swung nearly as
hard as Gilwing and caused anyone struck to become
too dizzy to continue fighting.
The
man and his daughter were instructed to run back to town to seek help while the
adventurers made sure they would get away. The battle went badly for the
adventurers who were separated in the dark woods.
I
believe it was at this point that I heard the unmistakeable sounds of a battle
going badly.
Those
of us on the rescue mission urged each other to hurry but the darkness and the
woods conspired against us. Finally we reached the cauldron-born and other
trolls. In the darkness it was difficult to find the fallen adventurers we had
come to rescue. We were able to defeat the trolls but more and more kept coming
out of the woods. We did find the adventurers but we were too late.
Like
the original party we were having difficulty staying together in the darkness.
When we located
“My
arm rendered useless coupled with my grievous wounds rendered me ineffective
completely. The trolls brought us all together in a heap. I knew by this point
my friends required life spells. I attempted to fight, but was quickly cut
down. The first thing I remember then was waking up to the sight of members of
the
More
trolls could be heard not far off and Lyle took charge, shouting to be heard
above the crying, that everyone head back to town. When we did reach town we
learned the cost of our failure, the permanent death of Sir Koshinara.
Some may be consoled by reports that the man and his daughter seemed to be OK.
I
recall discussing the failed rescue with Air Raksa, Mugg, and
To return to the subject at hand, later Friday night Baron Roriiathanderhil spoke eloquently about his squire’s character and then lit the funeral pyre. Despite the late hour and the fact that many teams wanted to rest up for the tournament, the turnout was strong as most of the ad