Quest #33 "Wizards, Temples, and Obelisks, Oh My!"

[Quonundrum]

Andronichishche

It's at this point that Andronichishche finally appears to notice the new ranger amonst them. The revelation hits him like a startling epiphany as he raises an index finger and exclaims, "Oh, yes!" He turns to make eye contact with Theo and then, "Oh, yes ... er ... Mr. Theo, is it?" It's quite apparent Andron was ... impressed ... with the man's breathtaking comeliness. Once he regains his breath, he continues. "Quite pleased to meet you, sir. Also, a belated greeting to Mr. Jobo, Mr. Til-dirion, and Mr. Festus." The latter obviously referring to Jobo's goat.

Andron attempts to brush away the dirt, grime, and best left unmentioned from his robes, but quickly abandons the hopeless endeavour. "Please excuse my appearance, gentlemen. Now, then! As you may have already surmised, our small group here is named The Fellowship of the Silver Circle. We have just completed an expedition to an old ruined temple of Pelor about a day's walk north off the logger's trail. The latter which is unfortunately now under control of the Stonegut clan of dwarves."

"You see, the temple is the southern of four sites aligned on the cardinal points of a circle. Between each site are two crystal obelisks. Eight in total. We have just activated the obelisk west by northwest of the temple by using a stone activation sphere. The grey sphere, to be precise. The other adjacent obelisk to the east, a fiery red, was recently activated and investigated by another group. Our objective now is to investigate the grey obelisk and secure any artifacts and knowledge. You are all very welcome to join us and share in any treasures we find. There will certainly be danger involved, though."

Link to additional information about the obelisks:
viewtopic.php?p=558033#p558033

[ravenn4544]

Alordan will bring out the wondrous cube that turns into a cabin. He makes sure no one is standing close when he gives the command word. He tries to think of the cabin opening wider and squatter to keep it beneath the trees (in case someone like a dwarf tried to climb a tree to scout for them - which, now that the thoughts occurs to him, is something he ought to do!) and with enough bunks for everyone if possible.

[Brunnacht]

Til-dirion
Thanks Andron for the invitation into the group and about the obelisks. Receiving information is nice.
Til-dirion will take first watch, and will stand outside - strung bow and quiver standing vertically in holes in the ground beside him. Shield is in the left arm, sword is sheathed. He will depend on his elf vision to spot intruders and his finely tuned ears.

[jemmus]

Theo
Theo is quite used to people not noticing him, or forgetting about him. At a party, he can go all night without having more than one or two conversations of less than 10 words total-- five from each side-- each. That's if he's being courageously sociable. Otherwise he can easily just fade into the woodwork. Tavern... err, professional hostesses... always find another lap to sit on. Well, once one did sit on his lap. But the only other unfilled lap belonged to a decrepit, musty old one-eyed half-orc. The old fellow also only had one leg, so there wasn't much lap to sit on anyway. Dogs like him a lot, though.

Thank you, Mr. Andon, it's good to meet you too, he says rather too formally for anyone over 10 years old. Well, as I said, I work as a ranger. To be more honest, I work as beginner ranger learning to be a better one. I did some ranging on the island, and I'll tell you what I saw. A natural born poor storyteller, he presents the information as a list. When it comes to reporting scouting/traveling information, he seems to quite focused, and all business.
-At the western end of the island I saw some gray pits. There were some humanoid-shaped slime creatures there. I avoided them.
-There were a few smelly troglodytes out on patrol. I also avoided them.
-I came back east. A few miles north of the town, I found a huge swampland full of frog men. They looked like descriptions I've heard of what are called bullywugs. But I'd never seen a bullwug before, so I can't say for certain. Whatever they were, they thrived very well in the swampland.
-In the swampland there was a massive mound of dirt or sand. The frog men creatures appeared to revere it. Since I was alone and there were very many frog men, I couldn't risk getting close enough to really investigate it.
-There was a strange black cloud over the swamp, in the distance. It twisted and swirled in the shape of a huge humanoid. I kept my distance from that as well.
-After that I came across all of you at the refugees' camp.

Thank you for welcoming me into the Fellowship of the Silver Circle. I'll do my best. He starts to remove his cap helmet out of greeting and respect, then isn't sure and stops, then goes ahead and does it after all. Then quickly and kind of embarrassedly clamps it back on his head. Well, I'll just go scout the perimeter of the clearing for a bit. He heads toward the southwest of the clearing and enters the foliage.

[gurusql]

Torbath

"My previous group did see the bullwugs and troglodytes you mentioned in our travels. In fact, most of my former party was killed by the same troglodytes you mentioned when our Scout let us into their den, but I did introduce most of this group to my friend, Plawkht, a troglodyte. His name actually means 'fish breath', but I digress."

[Quonundrum]

Andronichishche

He listens intently to Theo's account, at several points arching his brow and nodding his head. "You have seen the grey pits? There were slime creatures? So it is true. A slime like ... parasite ... had recently infiltrated the town and its last host was the former town constable Glansandi. It is very difficult to detect when it possesses and controls a host body. It seems to inherit both the memories and mannerisms of the host. The latter are exaggerated and erratic though, hence how it was ultimately detected."

"It escaped capture, however, so we still know very little about these creatures. Glansandi had suspected it may have originated from the grey pits. I had my own theory that it intended to possess the leaders of the town, but to what end I cannot say. We first discovered it after it had inhabited the body of the late pirate captain, Bing. Perhaps these things have infiltrated the Stonegut clan leadership."

The mention of the swampland and the massive mound of earth prompts Andron to pull a leather journal from his pack and he opens it to a page upon which a drawing is depicted of the explored map of the island. Superimposed on the map is a circle with four squares at the cardinal points and eight circles equidistant between them.

He points to the southern square. "That is the temple. To the immediate east is the fiery red obelisk and to the west is the grey obelisk. The points are only approximate, but I suspect that massive mound is the northern site. The western site appears to be located in a region of grey ashen expanse, devoid of any life. The eastern atop a line of steep cliffs."

[OGRE MAGE]

Remind me to give Andron extra experience points again, please.

Theo points to the spot on the map where he thinks he saw the frog-man dirt mound in the swamp. It is in the same spot as the red dot immediately west of the temple.

The grey obelisk must be there, but neither Theo or Torbath saw evidence of such when they explored that area.

Hmmmmm.....

Carry on then.

[OGRE MAGE]

Actually..... I will get a new mission thread made up for this group and take care of the rewards for this one shortly.

Any ideas for names of this next trip?

Silver Swamp Searchers?

[Quonundrum]

How about "Out of the Jungle and into the Swamp?"

I also cleaned up the map so the points should be a bit more accurate now.

[OGRE MAGE]

Awesome! That does look a little closer.

I will go with that name unless someone comes up with another one we cant go without.

Stand by.

[jemmus]

Nice name!

[Rex]

I am good with the name.

[gurusql]

Since the previous title was a Wizard of Oz reference I came up with this possible title.
“The Silver Slick Road to the Emerald Mound” which comes from the the yellow brick road to the Emerald City. But I am good with any title.

[OGRE MAGE]

And here it is now!

viewtopic.php?f=446&t=11346

Go ahead and discuss healing or anything else that needs attention in the new thread while I get the XP figured out for this one.

Thanks!

[kruk]

I like both titles but will go with Quonundrum's since his was first

[OGRE MAGE]

Anyone looking for XP for this mission can find it here: viewtopic.php?p=566339#p566339

Let me know if you see anything off.