The Start of a Beautiful Friendship
Excerpts from the diaries of Arcade Deltarion, High Mage of Gaunt
Regarding the adventures of the Defenders of Daybreak
The group assembles for the first time: At the Inn of the Flaxen Manticore. I met Cadrienne (that cleric of Morphat who I’m always running into at the spell components shop) and Tagkris Crimson (ranger/cleric of Death) to listen to a new bard in town named Nolin. After getting peeved at me for over-tipping for an elven song, Nolin suggested that we might want to join him and the dwarf at the bar Grundo (a Battlerager) in a quest for gems thought to be found up the Gloam River in a glade where it was always winter.
After woofing my cookies when the dwarf uncorked his ale, I determined to show myself in a better light and agreed almost immediately. I may have also had too much of my favorite drink, Griffon Grog. I sent an urchin back to the farm to deliver a note and get my adventuring equipment while my adoptive grandfather Ortigal (a Transmuter) was asleep, and spent the night with Nolin. He is from Farin. Given to introspection and black moods. The next day we set off, picking up Tagkris at his cottage. He is a little impetuous and not overly respectful, but dependable and a nice guy. I picked some snortwort to ward off the dwarf's stench.
We met Tom-Tom Badgerclaw from Rhymeburrow Shire, and his bodyguard Maddoc of Oursk and they joined us on our journey. Tom-Tom seems to be very good at throwing things and making chemicals. Cooks with too much cinnamon, adds it to everything. He has agreed to teach me about locks. Has a fixation about squirrels and wants to kill and wear them. His uncle Baylock Grithamper is missing. For some strange reason he thinks that Arcade should wear pink bunny slippers.
Tagkris debates philosophy with Cadrienne constantly. She seems taken with him.
On the way to Winter’s Glade: We met a small boy named Michael who informed us that his friend Frolic, apparently a faerie dragon, has been missing for two weeks....
... we found Michael and Frolic's magical purple ball, and were attacked by creatures known as tasloi overnight. The next day we found their cavern. All the tasloi were in a strange state induced by the "euphoria" breath weapon of the faerie dragon. Tagkris, Nolin, and I approached under a white flag, and the tasloi treacherously rose up and threw spears at us. (Cadrienne, thinking perhaps that we were still trying to be friendly, handed one of the spears back, butt-first, and was stabbed.) After defeating them we rescued Frolic, getting breathed on for our pains....
...we broke open an iron door releasing an undead dwarf that we first turned, then killed, then burned, then killed again (!), finally putting his dust into several separate glass vials and putting him back in his tomb. In the tomb we found four scrolls, including a history in dwarven of how Grumsted Nightforger had betrayed his clan and been imprisoned in here.
We collapsed the cavern entrance, just in case.
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Annotations
Nolin's version of Arcade's Diary:
"Dear Diary,
Nolin still cuter than me.
Still not noble.
Other mages still snubbing me. Perhaps a familiar would understand me as these fellows can not?"
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Arcade's version of Nolin's Diary
"Dear Diary,
I bet no one in the party is as miserable as I am.
Not famous yet.
Well... perhaps famous as a philanderer. Hmmmm."
"Woofing my cookies" does indeed refer to throwing up. Grundo was...
sweaty... and Arcade was a sheltered, delicate sort of fellow.
Grundo also liked to drink "Gutshaker," a drink made from raw
alcohol, beer, sour goat's milk and other mysterious
ingredients. It wasn't exactly palatable, but it DID leave an
impression on you!
I remember that first adventure: "Drake," from Dungeon
magazine. I thought Drake was a dumb name for a fairie dragon,
and changed to to Frolic. It worked really well; the
delightful fun of the fairie dragon was a nice counterpoint to
the dark and twisted evil of the pathetic tasloi and the
undead dwarf. Cadrienne giving the tasloi back its weapon was the best moment of the whole
game! Where were the sadistic power players I used to game
with? Not here, that's for sure.
I also remember being scared as hell when starting it. I
hadn't DMed for years, and wasn't sure if I could carry it
off. I felt better after that first game; we all had fun
(except perhaps for Maddoc, who left after a few sessions),
and there were no real rules squabbles. More importantly, the
group meshed well, and it made for a good start.
- Piratecat
. . . when the Tasloi attacked, . . . I did give them back
their spear, but I swear I thought they had accidentally
dropped it. They were pretty stoned on faerydragon breath at
the time. I didn't think they were going to be able to put an
attack run together in that condition, but I guess they took
one look at how green we were and made about the same call on
us. --Sialia
BTW, the bunny slippers are a long running party joke which
Bandeeto isn't going to mention unless he has to. His
adventuring name, Arcade Deltarion, was chosen as a tribute to
a famous mage of the past, Arcadine Incantrix.
*cough-fanboy-cough* Nolin had heard a story that Arcadine had
a rabbit familiar. Knowing that Arcade wanted to copy his hero
in ALL things, we thought he'd appreciate a rabbit (or two) of
his own. Adventuring is dangerous for small woodland
creatures, so we thought the slippers would be safer for all
concerned.
At one point Nolin and Tom-Tom contracted with a merchant to
make a gross of the damn things. Arcade is still finding them
occasionally. I know I hid two pair in his tower the last time
I was there. And I gave his child a pair as a birth present.
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