Umber

Umber

Endings and Beginnings

August 23rd, 2007

Wars are won but struggles, as ever, continue.

Sir Geoffrey strode down a dim, cold hallway of Greyhawk’s temple of Wee Jas, a black-robed, hooded attendant trailing in his wake. He paused before the third door from the end, on the left. “I’m still not convinced this is the right way to go about it,” he said.

“I want to know her mood,” the figure within the robes replied, “before I decide.”

Geoffrey cast the attendant a reproachful glance, then opened the door. It was a small, spare interview room, furnished with a table and two chairs. Light shone upward on the ceiling from two copper sconces on opposing walls, but the rest of the room was quite dim; when the robed figure took up a silent vigil just inside the door he was little more than a shadow among shadows. Brin, dressed in the robes of a senior Jasian priestess, half-rose from her chair when they entered, but Geoffrey waved her back into her seat. “No reason,” he said, “until we’ve settled the question of allegiance.” As he removed his cloak he reached into an inner pouch, withdrew a folded piece of cloth and tossed it on the table between them.
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Friendly Fire

March 25th, 2007

Captain Serranis tries to come to grips with the horrors visited upon Drellin’s Ferry.

It was after ten o’clock, and on a usual day Drellin’s Ferry would be quieting for the night. But it was not a usual day, and the night was not quiet. Under the direction of the militia the citizens of Drellin’s Ferry were packing and assembling for evacuation, preparing to flee toward Brindol with a goblin army at their heels and an uncertain future as refugees ahead of them. Some comforted themselves with thoughts of the day they would be able to return to their homes and abandoned possessions. Others took a more bitter comfort in cursing fate or, for those who needed a more tangible target, the five knights of Dunthrane who had ridden in on the wings of ill fortune and through force of arms and guile had imposed this decision on an unwilling populace. The number of naysayers had grown considerably fewer after Vayel and Brin killed a roving three-headed chimaera sowing terror on the street that afternoon, but was swelling again somewhat after Tenser’s precipitate appearance and the total destruction of the inn and concomitant loss of a dozen townspeople later in the day.
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A Coming Storm

March 7th, 2007

The hunt for a gem thief widens into war.

It had been a long day, and when they stopped for the night Brin lost no time finding a surface to lean against and drifting into meditation, lulled by the familiar sounds of Vayel cleaning and sharpening her weapons while Corwin and Dryden pored over maps, and the novel sound of Keraptis muttering over his spellbook. Willie curled up on her lap but after a few minutes his mind retreated into a more remote and finally unreachable space. This was not particularly unusual and she thought nothing of it until he returned, mentally tugging at her. With a grumble of fatigue she followed where he led, until with an abrupt transition she found herself walking in tall grass by a wide, swiftly flowing stream, overhanging willows shading her from a bright sun. A man nearly seven feet tall with tigerish features and bright blue eyes approached from the opposite bank. Seeing her he stepped onto the water, which stilled to glass and bore his weight easily where he crossed. For just a moment she thought she saw the faint image of a second Willie in front of him, but couldn’t convince herself it wasn’t a trick of the light.
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Enemies and Allies

October 29th, 2006

The potential for an alliance between Iuz and the Scarlet Brotherhood creates new possibilities for unpleasantness.  

Sir Geoffrey’s personal assistant and the captain of the Montinelle militia frowned nearly identical nervous frowns as the young woman rode away from the gate toward the manor. Mid-afternoon she’d appeared in front of the town as if she’d walked in on a cloud, wearing that mithril armor that was probably worth more than the market square, with that tame weasel on her shoulder who stared at them with an unpleasant steadiness that on a human face the assistant would have called disdain. The black and silver cloak was new and nearly as expensive-looking as the armor. She’d said that Sir Geoffrey was expecting her, as if his personal aide wouldn’t already know, and before he could even offer her a horse demanded one for the longish trek back to the manor. When the captain asked her to return it to the barracks stable when she left, she laughed.
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Power Struggles

September 11th, 2006

Crises both orchestrated and coincident create a headache for Dryden, the new commander of the Dispatch.

Back in Greyhawk after an abrupt departure at Dryden’s behest, Brin was wandering the streets waiting for news on Corwin’s twenty-five thousand gold meeting with the anonymous seller of a powerful and peculiarly vicious weapon when she was distracted by raucous laughter coming from the Phoenix. She was going so far as to cross the street when Willie chittered at her. “I know it’s almost certainly Meepo,” she said. “Why do you think I’m avoiding the place?” He chattered again as the double doors swung open and a pair of rather drunk young wizards spilled out. “You just saw him yesterday. Don’t tell me it’s been like a lifetime since then, you know I don’t – ”
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Futures Imperfect

September 1st, 2006

The mission to retrieve the Crook of Rao is successful – or is it?

After their return from Zagyg’s isle the adventurers took a few days to rest. Brin slipped away to Blasingdell, where after making inquiries she found the person she was looking for absent. Stephan, Grendar and Sister Alonsa were uncomfortably vague on the subject, and Haissha and Lord Berrick would only say that yes, Hadrack had left after a short visit, and if she wanted more detail on his whereabouts they believed Sir Geoffrey in Montinelle would be a more useful source of information than they. Disappointed, she spent the night with Berrick and Haissha and in the morning at Geoffrey’s invitation traveled to Montinelle in time for breakfast.
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Zagyg’s World

June 16th, 2006

Tenser directs the adventurers to a mysterious island where years ago he was forced to abandon the Crook of Rao, now Oerth’s best hope for curing the disease rampaging across it.

“Even dogs stop turning in circles,” Willie complained when Brin stirred restlessly again.

“You’re not exactly a model of repose yourself, you know,” she retorted. The sky shaman in the lone friendly village they’d found on the mad demigod Zagyg’s island playground – and its friendship won only by slaying a prehistoric psionic monster and returning with its massive head – had shown them a place to rest, but rest was coming hard to both Brin and Willie.

The weasel’s bright black eyes were peevish. “Too long without Hadrack for you.”
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Returnings Part III: A Kind of Home Again

April 28th, 2006

Svengali and Klavicus consider the metaphysics of Tharizdun’s prison.

“Are you quite finished with these unscheduled departures from my domicile?” Klavicus called irritably from his study when Svengali returned from seeing Glom Gargull back to Khundrakar. He entered the sitting room to find the shapeshifter already sprawled on the black dragonhide sofa. The sleeves of Svengali’s shirt were almost completely burned away and any patches of exposed fur were singed. “Well, you were quite nearly finished, weren’t you?” the balor remarked. “Try not to leave piles of ash on the furniture.” He went to the sideboard and poured two small glasses of a nearly opaque, ruby-colored liquid from an extremely expensive crystal decanter. “The finest product of Abyssal fermentation techniques.” When Svengali eyed it skeptically he added, “There are no grotesque ingredients, if that’s what concerns you.”
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Returnings Part II: Borch’s Tale

April 28th, 2006

Borch tells Geoffrey of the escape from the Dreaming Stone.

“Dryden was sawing at Hadrack’s bonds with an arrow?”

Sir Geoffrey and Sir Borch were sitting in Geoffrey’s study, the remains of a late supper between them. Although as always Borch had a long list of places to be, he stopped briefly in Montinelle to tell Geoffrey the news regarding Crater Ridge. “It was an arrow designed to negate the advantages of incorporeality,” Borch said. “In truth it was as effective as the sword with which Vayel was attempting to free Svengali, but both were as effective as they needed to be.”
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Returnings Part I: Out of the Volcano

April 28th, 2006

With Varachan and Sir Borch, the adventurers embark on a final, no-retreat assault on Crater Ridge. Brin and Varachan recount the battle for the restored Hadrack.

A few miles away from the erupting volcano that was once Crater Ridge the landscape was cluttered with people and gear. The archmages involved in rescuing the party had departed almost immediately, as had the Black, but a support staff of lesser wizards and clerics that Tenser had hastily marshaled from Greyhawk, Dunthrane and Veluna were on hand, the clerics healing any remaining injuries and the wizards largely bemoaning their instructions not to venture toward the volcano to study it at closer range.
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