War Of The Lance: Volume I

[Jason_Firewalker]

It was a dark and stormy night as the cold wind chills your body as you lie in your bedroll trying to sleep. Wandering alone for a few days you are trying to get to Solanthus. Each of you is about one half days travel outside the city when you each fall asleep. But your sleep is not fitfull. In fact you are wracked with nightmares and can barely stop from waking up with a start several times during the night. Upon finally awaking at dawn, you all find yourselves sitting across a campfire from an unknown individual. Each of you sees that the campfire you were using the night before has been relited and over it cooks a pair of wild fowl.

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"Good day," the stranger says. "I am Rolan Myserspeak. I am a ranger, and I saw your camp this morning and I thought I should use your firepit to roast these game hens. Want some?" (The man interacting with Thisslewit)

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"Mornin, I am Telka Nelvar," The beautiful young lady infront of Gunnar said. "I am on my way to Solace, where are you going?"

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Infront of Kage is a bruttish Half-Ogre. "Sup? Want some birdy?" A deep and baratone voice lets out with something akin to a southern drawl in there for flavor.

[Haizu]

With a wary look and a hand close to the naked sword at his side, Kage extends his hand and addresses the half-ogre "Sure. What's your name?"

[Jason_Firewalker]

"I am Grunth." the half ogre looked at the fighter reaching for his sword. Eyeing the blade he said "I am a simple peasent, I do not wish to harm you."

[Haizu]

Accepting the roasted bird from Grunth, Kage nods his head in apology "I am sorry for my rudeness but you must understand my mistrust."

Sense Motive Check:

[Jason_Firewalker]

Kage is suddenly filled with paranoia and feeling that he is being deceived by the large half ogre. As if the ogre was lying to him. A deep agression is behind the ogres voice and Kage knows he is in trouble.

[Haizu]

Not being one to ignore his instincts, Kage waits until the ogre's hand is within reach. Then without even a hint of his intent, Kage latches onto his wrist and catapaults himself on top of him, sword at his throat, ready to run him through at the slightest hint of hostile action. "Move and I'll let daylight into your skull! Now, what are you doing in my camp?"

Grapple Check:

[Jason_Firewalker]

The half ogre, slow to react to Kage's assault, he still is attempting to aquire a good grip on fighter's wrist and twist. "I offer you food and you treat me like me evil?"

Opposed Grapple Check:

[rhoenix]

"Mornin, I am Telka Nelvar," The beautiful young lady infront of Gunnar said. "I am on my way to Solace, where are you going?"

At the time, the young minotaur was moving in smooth, slow motions, performing the Shamanic Tiger set in the morning sun.

As the young half-elf woman walked up, Gunnar was just finishing the set, which he did before replying.

Sense Motive check:

He regarded her calmly as he replied. "I am honored to meet you, Telka Nelvar. I am Gunnar, and I journey where I am needed," he said while bowing with his right hand over his left, holding it for a moment before rising. "Why do you journey to Solace?"

[Haizu]

Shifting so that his legs are on top of the ogres arms, Kage breaks the grip that the ogre has on his wrist and grabs his sword with both hands. "How am I to know that meat isn't poisoned? This is your last chance to tell me what I wish to know."

Grapple Check:
Sense Motive Check:

[Jason_Firewalker]

At the time, the young minotaur was moving in smooth, slow motions, performing the Shamanic Tiger set in the morning sun.

As the young half-elf woman walked up, Gunnar was just finishing the set, which he did before replying.

He regarded her calmly as he replied. "I am honored to meet you, Telka Nelvar. I am Gunnar, and I journey where I am needed," he said while bowing with his right hand over his left, holding it for a moment before rising. "Why do you journey to Solace?"

"I am looking for my sister, Kala, and I hope to find her there." The half elf woman spoke with great sincerity. "Would you like some meat maybe? I have never met one of your kind before. What brings you so deep into Solamnia, a land where your kind are mostly seen as outcasts?"

[Jason_Firewalker]

Shifting so that his legs are on top of the ogres arms, Kage breaks the grip that the ogre has on his wrist and grabs his sword with both hands. "How am I to know that meat isn't poisoned? This is your last chance to tell me what I wish to know."

"I am not trying to poison you! I just stopped to see if I could maybe cook these fowl I killed." The Half-Ogre then attempted to wrest himself free from the grapple of the fighter.

Opposed grapple check:

[Haizu]

This creature is unarmed and worthless, do I kill him or not? Deciding to give the wretched being on more chance. "Lying scum! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't split your head in half!"

Grapple Check:
Sense Motive Check:

[Jason_Firewalker]

"I am a mere peasent. Please let me live!" Begging almost as a Gully Dwarf would the Half-Ogre attempts one last time to break free.

Opposed Grapple:

[Jason_Firewalker]

Breaking free the half-ogre begins to run away from the seemingly crazed human.

[Haizu]

Running after him, Kage attempts to tackle him to the ground. I don't think he means me any harm, but I can't just let him run off. He might have friends around, never can be too cautious.

Touch Attack:
Grapple Check:

[B4UTRUST]

Thisslewit jumped to his feet, wondering who this individual was. When the man greeted himself, Thisslewit smiled happily. A new friend! Friends were always great and they made such wonderful companions when travelling.
"Hi," exlaimed Thisslewit gleefully. "I'm Thisslewit Heavypouches! I'm a kender, but I'm sure you already knew that. Speaking of which have you ever met any other kenders? We're really great company even though nobody ever seems to really like us for some reason that I can never quite figure out. I mean it's not our fault that peoples' possessions feel safer in our hands and somehow accidently end up in our pouches, it's really weird how that does that though? Have you ever had that happen to you, all of a sudden you're walking along all alone and then the guards just come up to you out of nowhere demanding to search your pouches which is quite alright, you know, because we Kender love to share our stuff and it's great fun to trade and see what everyone else has got. Speaking of which I've got these maps to the lost temple of Karthis right here if you're interested..."

Thisslewit trailed off as he dumped his pouches out and began to scrounge through them as he looked for his map case full of maps.
(Sleight of Hand)


"By the way, you're not a bad person are you? I don't like bad people. They're really bad and mean and angry and I once had this wizard who was bad after me because somehow I ended up with some of his spell components or so he said and he was really mean and angry about it and I kept telling him that it wasn't my fault they felt safer in the possession of a true handler but he kept yelling at me and threatening to turn me into a toad which really would have been quite interesting as I've never been turned into a toad before, have you? I bet it's really lots of fun but I bet it would get boring after awhile just jumping all day and eating bugs and I really don't think I like the taste of bugs. I tried them one time, just for interests sake you see, and it really wasn't that tasty though it did make me laugh when it started tickling the inside of my throat as it went down all squirmy like. Speaking of food you said you had some cooking right? It really smells good and since you did offer some to me I really would like to have some it since my poor stomach is kind of complaining since I haven't fed it since last night and apparently it's very hungry..."

[Jason_Firewalker]

"Slow down little guy, here have a fowl." The human man reaches over and hands Thisslewit a large piece of meat. "I will be going now, I am headed to Solamnus and I am a half day behind schedule with my reports." Standing up the ranger takes the remaining bird and starts to walk down the path.

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Thehalf ogre rolled on the ground moaning, he had fallen over and his head had hit a stump of a tree and was knocked unconcious.

[Haizu]

"Damn, I didn't mean to knock him out." Kage mutters to himself with a rueful grin on his face. "Well I guess I'll just take him back to the fire." Taking Grunth by the collar, Kage drags the unconcious ogre back over to the fire. After removing the birds from the spit so that they wouldn't burn, he sets them on a clean rock slab to cool. Seating himself across the fire from the prone figure, he places his sword across his knees and waits for the ogre to revive.

Spot Check:

[rhoenix]

"I am looking for my sister, Kala, and I hope to find her there." The half elf woman spoke with great sincerity. "Would you like some meat maybe? I have never met one of your kind before. What brings you so deep into Solamnia, a land where your kind are mostly seen as outcasts?"

At this, Gunnar seemed to relax a bit more, and smiled softly. "I travel wherever my wanderings take me at this point - I am just exploring the land of Krynn, one moment at a time."

[B4UTRUST]

Thisslewit smiled and waved as the man set off on his adventure. Several minutes later Thisslewit had his campsite broken down and his posessions stuffed back into his pouch.

Grabbing up his hoopak he ran off cheerfully after the ranger, cooked bird in his other hand, taking bites off of it as he ran.
"Wait," he shouted, gleefully. "Wait for me! I've got this really great map that has a guarenteed shortcut to Solamnus! It's a really great shortcut I promise and it won't get you lost like the last three shortcuts to Solamnus! It's a really great map I swear just look at it right here."

Thisslewit ran in front of the man with the map in hand and began to run backwards, proudly displaying it and pointing to his supposed shortcut. Whether or not it actually existed or was merely another kendertale was anyones best guess.

[Jason_Firewalker]

"Well my minotaur friend, Solamnus is that way, if you are headed there. Or you can go where the winds take you." The half-elf disappears.

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Infront of the Kender's eyes the ranger man turns into a little brown birdie and flys away.

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The half-ogre shimmers a bit and disappears.

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All of you are suddenly shocked to receive a vision of pain and suffering and the repetition of the word 'Solamnus' in your head to a deafening level. Then the sound and vision dissipate and you find yourselves each outside a gate to Solamnus.

[rhoenix]

Having a figure suddenly disappear, and having himself be rudely moved without his prior knowledge or consent was more than a little irksome to Gunnar. However, his training at the monastery forced him to begin taking slow, deep breaths to calm himself, to view the situation objectively. In a few moments, he was able to regain his inner peace.

After gathering up his few things, Gunnar began walking unhurriedly but purposefully toward the gate.

[B4UTRUST]

People appearing out of thin air was uncommon. Yes, there was magic in this world and it was strong. But one didn't just appear suddenly all the time. It was especially rarer still when it was a Kender. Which meant either he had just encountered a wizard who had wanted him gone, or was in possession of the belongings of a wizard who wanted him gone. This was one of those few rare exceptions when neither of the above was true. Historians and researchers are still trying to figure that one out.

When the ranger turned into a bird and flew away his eyes went wide with delight. That was a sensational trick if ever there was one and he quite wondered how it was done and called after the bird to come back and show him because he wanted to be a bird too.

A rather intelligent and carefully thought out idea came to Thisslewit's mind as he watched the bird disappear over the horizon and out of view. The idea, as it were, was that perhaps one had to practice flying and try it many many times before one became a bird. With this concept firmly in mind he began to climb a tree and at one of the lower branches (this was his safety plan, you see. He firmly realized that he couldn't fly. Not yet anyway. So he felt it was safer to practice from lower branches first so that when he fell he wouldn't hurt so much. Later he would try from the higher branches when he felt he was ready). Carefully climbing the tree he crawled out onto the branch and stood up, gaining his balance. It began to sway back and forth under his weight and he bent his knees slightly and started flapping his arms up and down wildly, trying to imitate the avian creatures. With a gleeful smile he lept from the branch and flapped and began to fall. Before he struck the ground he disappeared.

His poor confused brain was filled with horrible visions and voices that weren't right, that kept repeating the same word over and over again until he thought he would be driven mad by it. He wondered, absently, if this was what those choir directors felt like listening to the choirs practice in the churches of Palandine.

A second later the Kender was somewhere else. And while it was a ground, it was by far not the ground that Thisslewit had expected to land upon. He had also expected the landing to be harder and had prepared for that. Overall it was a rather soft landing, much to his great pleasure which only cemented in his mind further the idea that practice in flying made perfect and he was already excelling at it, having somehow flown to somewhere he had no clue where was. Picking himself up and dusting himself off he found himself in a crowd of people making their way through the gates under the watchful eyes of the guard. Many were leading carts pulled by horses, mules, or other people. Many also carried goods with them, though some were simply walking through on their way returning from business, or perhaps going towards it. It was a bustling place, the city gate.

However, like a vast majority of all city gates, Kenders were not allowed through them. But that was alright and perfectly fine. All Kenders had their own gates through cities. Indeed, the oversight of humans in mistaking them for thieves was troublesome and at times annoying they had learned that the best way to deal with the situation was not to disturb the guards and thus lead themselves into cases of mistaken identity. This idea had served them quite well for many years, though it had yet to reduce the population of falsely imprisioned Kender. Of course many Kender took it as a mark of pride to be thrown in some jails and some had been in so many that they could give running commentary and comparisons on many of them. They were turned loose outside the city proper the next morning, as always, in the futile hope that they would take the hint and go bother someone else. It wasn't uncommon to have some Kenders taken into the local jails on multiple consecutive nights. By another remarkable coincidence, all these same Kenders had a few other things in common. For instance, and this was something that Thisslewit had proven through careful survey of his fellow kenders throughout his travels, every Kender has an Uncle Trapspringer. And every Uncle Trapspringer happens to be a Demi-god who's been to the moon. Another great coincidence in Kenders is that every Kender has a gift bestowed upon them by merit of just being Kenders. This great and ancient gift, delievered by the Gods themselves, was the Kender Spoon of Turning. The coincidence in this was that every Kender had this powerful antique item.

So when Thisslewit was turned away at the gate after being rudely(in his opinion) forced along by the flow of traffic and his valient efforts to avoid being run over by a cart, he was rather unpreturbed. He kindly suggested to the officer in charge that perhaps he should have his eye examined as it was painfully obvious that he was a Kender not a thief. Anyone could tell you that, of course. Kenders aren't thieves and never have been. Thives are bad people who steal things that don't belong to them. Kenders never steal. That's just rude. And wrong.

Making his way outside of the crowd he followed the wall around till he found a small opening and squeezed through it, finding his way inside. It was the Kender gate. Or one of them at least. Most cities had a few dozen of them at various places and every time the local guard sealed one up another would appear in its place elsewhere.

Once inside the wall he made his way back to the main gate, whistling a happy traveling tune and cheerfully looking this way and that to see where he was and what new adventures awaited him.

[Haizu]

Muttering a curse to himself in elven, Kage stands up and says "That cannot be good." Completely surprised by the images being blasted into his head, it takes a moment for Kage to realize that he is no longer at his camp but in front of the gates of Solamnis! Quickly composing himself, the fighter makes his way through the throng of people trying to get through the gates. Seeing the guards at the gate, Kage quickly sheathes his sword and continues on his way.

[Jason_Firewalker]

As you each travel within the city of Solamnus you are each encountered by a young man, about 21 years of age, armed with a longsword and shield, both of which are not drawn. To each of you this page hands a scroll written in your native language and a small medallion to wear. He says "I have been sent to find adventurers looking to help the city of Solamnus and the Solamnic Knights fight off the forces forming in Neraka. I hope that you will be amoungst them."

The scroll reads "To whom it may concern-- I am Lord Artivat of Solamnus, a lesser noble. I have sent for my page to find people to begin a group to help stop the advances of the dragonarmies. I wish you well and ask that you meet me in the Laughing Chimpanzee Inn tonight at eight strokes past the hour of late watch."