Birthmonth the 16th, 289 of the 29th age. The group went to the Therbaric School of Magic to see about making any sort of trade for weaponry or the like. A few things were presented and we made a few purchases accordingly. What we wanted to do though, was go back to the 5 schools and see about maybe having the opportunity to join.
We returned to the Thaumaturgy school (Bardarian) where we went through a variety of tests to measure our potential cunning. After a few hours we learned that a few of us might have the ability to attend the school. Base is 20 crowns and 2 months of effort.
We returned to the Long Horse Inn, arranged room and board for 4 days, and then for the next cycle of days, attended the other 4 schools accordingly. Perseverance, Logic, Bravery, and Strength. Each time there was a learning curve to possibly attend. A few of us were on the border and could possibly get a chance, but it was a 4 month commitment. We did not know if we were going to have that kind of time.
Finally on Birthmonth the 20th, Eoghan was approached by a gnome who wanted him (and a second of his choosing – he picked Shim) to come and meet with the Lady Amalthea (unicorn) about a possible mission. The 2 of them went to the east end of town where they had a chance to go to a forest clearing and meet with 3 figures.
The Lady Amalthea of course. Then there was Ruffles Foresight Foxian, Dweval’s 2nd son and one of the most powerful and influential gnomes in Nightwoods. And Stacy Willowbright, a gnomish Adpet of Urdlen, the god of bloodlust and hatred.
We learned that Stacy is the Vicequeen Tensia’s Elder sister. She was chosen without a chance to pass by King Mombi almost 3 years ago and the gnomish king has been using her cruelly all this time. Stacy has been trying to get her freed of the unliked king but so far no luck.
Lady Amalthea has put together an opportunity. It turns out that King Mombi is to visit the royal estate in Freemanor in 3 days for some showing the flag and to enjoy the waters of lust from the fey fountain there. His Vicequeen is to be with him. He is expected to stay there a week. He has a retinue of 12 that travel with him.
The group’s job, free the Vicequeen and head back to Nightwoods, then take off on their Spelljammer before the Skyguard can be summoned to stop them. When they arrive at Bypass Lady Amathea will meet them there and use her magic to regrow Eoghan’s hand. It means they will be banished from Nightwoods but they will have the thanks of most everyone involved.
Questions were asked. The moment the vicequeen is taken, a royal alarm and alert will go off, identifying the person who took her. At no point are we to permanently harm or kill the King. The goal is not regicide – but rescue. To sweeten the deal, Ruffles would make sure a temple and some orphanages to Lathander would be built. Stacy also had a way to transport us to a tree right outside the royal estate so we would not have to walk thorough Freemanor and risk being seen. As for escape, Ruffles would make sure a Lightning Cart would be available to the party as soon as they finished the rescue, regardless of the time of day or night, so we could race off back to Nightdale.
Eoghan could say no and there would be no negative implications, but if he accepts the mission and fails then that would be a negative mark. There are 4 powers that run Nightwoods, and even though the gnomes are the greater portion of it, they are not alone. The Fey, Centaurs, and Ents matter just as much.
Eoghan accepted the mission and left with Shim, heading back to the group. He soft sold it to the party, didn’t have some answers, and when we tried to find Ruffles, we had no luck as he was not staying at an Inn. The group eventually agreed to help Eoghan and we figured our first job was to head back to Nightdale and let Twilick know.
So we hopped on a Lightning Cart the next more, Birthmonth the 21st, and rode through all 3 towns, arriving back at Nightdale by 5 PM. We went to the Suds and Foam to get rooms again while a few of us went to the gnomish Captain and share with him what we needed.
He was…unhappy. But agreed to help. He did comment that we had done something against the Elven king some weeks ago, and now we were doing something against the gnomish king. Are these our missions? Are we making problems for the Kaiser? He agreed that the Windshade would be ready to fly by tomorrow and would wait for us to arrive as soon as we could.
Went back to the Suds and Foam, ate, and by 7:30 that evening, shared with the rest of the group what the plan was. We hoped to get a layout of the estate and maybe an idea of who is in King Mombi’s entourage.
