For the past month, certain Ashbans were plagued by strange dreams, each containing a short song. These dreams were always horrible, and always ended with the dreamer awakening screaming. Little did they know that contained in the horrid images of these dreams were warnings to the people of Tyrra that a terrible evil was about to descend upon the Duchy of Ashbury from beyond the realm of Tyrra.
The fabric between Tyrra and the other planes has always been weak in Ashbury since the introduction of the Rod of Seven Rifts, but no other realm is as accessible from our city than the plane known as “The Pale.”
It was but a few short years ago that part of Ashbury City was transported to the inter-planar prison known as the Pale. Unfortunately none of the veteran warriors who helped solve the crisis and return Ashbury to Tyrra were present in Ashbury when the dreams came, so there was no one to warn the those citizens who were in the city about what could happen if a rift was opened to the Pale.
By Sunday April 21, it was too late for the young warriors to halt the tide of events which began earlier that weekend. . .
Professor Turlough Kuranes, Maximillion Malreaver, and Jack the bard were the first to discover that their dreams were all related, and they began searching for their meaning. Maximillion searched for other dreamers by walking around town and posting notices in the tavern. He collected the dream journals of all those who could write and wrote down the dreams of those that could not.
Despite comfortably warm weather the day before, the night settled in with a thick blanket of snow, perhaps signalling that something was amiss. A wave of citizens wandering through the city distributed pamphlets for a group known as the Order of the Rising Sun, proclaiming to be seeking ways for the people of Tyrra to rise from “the oppression of extra planar beings and establish themselves as independent beings in the universe.” There were many citizens who took an interest in the words found in the materials distributed by the members of the order.
Later that evening, several adventurers journeyed to listen to the leader of the Rising Sun—a man named Justin—deliver a speech about the Order and its goals. After serving Intoxicant-laced drinks to all present, Justin gave a speech about opening a rift a few days hence that would lead all those who followed him in “unlearning” their skills to a fabled paradise that had such wonders as eternal life, perpetual harmony, and unlimited understanding. Justin is a persuasive speaker and many of the adventurers in attendance of this meeting were convinced by his speech to follow his teachings.
Adding to the confusion was the appearance of a raving madman named Matthew. Matthew was by no means coherent, but through his ranting many citizens noticed that he had knowledge of their nightmares and thus many citizens befriended the madman in hopes of gaining information from him. It was also noted by some citizens that Justin and Matthew did not get along, a fact which Justin tried to hide.
The night was crowned by the appearance of a vampire and her minions. The vampire (named Alyssa) wandered about the city feeding on citizens. Upon first entering town, she saw Matthew and immediately ordered her minions to attack him. The few citizens still awake at that late hour stood motionless as she encased his fallen body in a Circle of Power and waited for it to dissipate. The vampire entered into the tavern and demanded that the citizens hand over Maximillion, who had insulted her earlier that evening. Maximillion stepped forward willingly. James MacMorna though thought it was necessary to scream out “He’s yours,” and point at Max, then shove him towards the vampire. She then drank his blood and left him drained.
The next day questioning of Matthew revealed that the dreams were being sent by someone named Daniel, who was trapped in The Pale. The songs in the dreams were keys to rifting to the area of The Pale where Daniel was trapped. It was discovered that you must unite as many of the people who had the same dream and then sing the song in the dream in order to rift.
One group was composed of Squire Hagen, Plex, Gregan, Max, Dracono, and Khalynhi. The group, anxious to solve the problem, rifted late in the afternoon before the spell casters had had a chance to recover their spells.
Once in the Pale, the group saw Matthew running forward and then backwards, as if time had been reversed. The planar travelers also became aware that they could rift back to Ashbury at will. The group then saw their collective nightmare come to life. Many bodies lay strewn about, and there was a large Chaos Elemental with a group of undead guarding two chained men, one of whom turned out to be Daniel and the other Matthew. The undead attacked at the order of the Chaos elemental and the Ashbans were overwhelmed. As the warriors began rifting back, Maximillion ran through the wave of undead and past the chaos elemental who shrugged off Max’s attacks with no effect. He then grabbed the chained slaves and rifted back to Ashbury. Unfortunately the slaves didn’t come with him; it turned out that the Chaos elemental had to be defeated first.
It later became apparent that Matthew existed on multiple planes at once. This strange fact came into play when the biata Kelsea and Hagen attempted to enter the man’s mind to repair his insanity. The shock caused Hagen to have a large seizure, and Kelsea ran around screaming and jumped into the fountain.
Matthew then invited some of the locals to a party to be held later that evening. Matthew had received the invitations from Justin earlier. No one really knows what qualities Matthew was looking for as he randomly handed invitations to the party. Those that got these invitation where Calis, Gregan, Felice, Shayloree, Maximillian, Kinya, Alexander, and Tarabelle.
Before the group arrived at the party, all were asked by Matthew to leave their weapons behind as this was a party and not a place of fighting. Most of the Ashbans complied but Tarabelle was smart enough to hide a long sword behind her back beneath her armor. As the group moved toward the house that the party was being held at, many other Ashbans followed the group to assure their safety. One of the tagalong townsfolk, Hobbes, snuck around back of the house so as to listen into the goings-on inside.
At the door, the partygoers were asked whether they were with the bride or groom. Felice spoke up saying that they were with the bride. Shortly after being seated the groom was brought in—Justin! Justin was a bit surprised by the presence of the Ashbans. Alexander spoke up explaining that the group had been invited by Matthew and that they were unaware that it was a wedding until they arrived. This seemed to upset Justin a little but he allowed the Ashbans to stay and said he would deal with Matthew later.
The bride entered the room—Alyssa the vampire! The scene played out like one of the dreams. The ceremony was presided over by an undead being known as Lord Mortis. After the ceremony, Justin revealed that he was opening the rift to contact a being known as “Argus” in the Pale.
Justin then offered his new bride the Ashbans. As a hungry vampire is wont to do, she fed on the Ashbans as if they were lambs in a slaughter house. Though Calis tried to lead the Ashbans against the foe, it was for naught. All of the Ashbans had most of their blood drained from their body with Shayloree receiving the worst of it all. Though drained, the group was left alive.
After recovering from their blood loss, the group returned to town, screaming for revenge against Matthew, who they believed had tricked them. Lord Mortis then came into town, searching for the guests but Natasha attacked him out of her hatred for undead. Fearing for the safety of the townspeople, she challenged him to honor combat. He Phased and Resisted all her attacks and beat her to the ground. She recovered and cursed him repeatedly. Mortis left the tavern clucking like a chicken, clicking his heels together, sticking his right index finger in his left eye socket and saying “Bless Mother Tyrra” with everything he did and said.
As promised, Sunday morning Justin and Alyssa walked into the center of town with a combination of his followers and her minions. Once again Justin encouraged the citizens of Ashbury to join in his cause and journey with him through the rift he was going to open. The warriors of Ashbury gathered on the field as he proceeded to open a rift. From the planar gateway, a lone figure dressed in all black and bearing the mark of Chaos on his face stepped through. Argus looked quite surprised and was heard to comment about a welcomed freedom from a millennia of imprisonment in the Pale.
Upon his release, Justin asked Argus to grant him and his followers the power which they were all promised. To this Argus merely replied that he needed time to build his power on this plane, but he waved his hand to the gathered citizens and offered them all to Justin as minions. To the relief of the bystanders, he declined the offer stating that he wished willing followers. The scene ended when the group of Justin and his followers followed Argus out of town, still asking when they would receive their power.
Despite the urgings of Guildmistress Natasha, no one was willing to try and stop them as they left town.
On Ash Ford Battle Day, small bands of trolls were once again attacking citizens across the Duchy. Many thought that these attacks were the annual “revenge” the trolls take for the battle, but when the trolls called the warriors of Ashbury “slavers” it attracted some attention.
A letter was later delivered from their leader Sark, claiming that the Deep Trolls of the Sunless Empire were enslaving the surface trolls of Trellheim and that the Duchy of Ashbury was helping them by herding them back into the Tower Hills. Sark and his band were escaped slaves and wished to unleash their rage against Ashbury in a rematch of the battle of Ash Ford.
That night, Ashbury’s adventurers found a score of trolls standing in tight military formation. Squire Hagan approached Sark unarmed in hopes of talking rather than engaging in a losing battle against the trolls present and the others said to be hiding in the woods.
Squire Hagan convinced the troll general that no combat was needed and that the citizens present in Ashbury would support peace with the trolls. Almost all of the citizens present to hear this proclamation made their support clear to both the Squire and the trolls. Surprisingly, Gilwing stepped forward, dropped his aura and his sword, and proclaimed that even he, as a dwarf, was willing to talk peace. This seemed to impress the trolls, many of whom seemed reluctant to fight in the first place.
The band of trolls were escorted into the Dragon’s Flagon tavern so that Hagan could draft a treaty with Sark. Despite Gilwig’s comments, all dwarves were asked not to enter into the tavern as many of the trolls seemed enraged by their presence.
Finally the treaty was signed by Squire Hagan and many of the citizens present in the Dragon’s Flagon, including Guildmistress Natasha, who promised to teach the trolls of Clan Sark powerful earth magics so that they may be able to help their own people as well as their fellow citizens in Ashbury.
The provisions of the treaty have called for the trolls to form under the name of Clan Sark and to make themselves distinguishable from other members of their race so that citizens would be aware of their presence when in town. Clan Sark were named citizens of Ashbury, entitled to all benefits and held to all provisions of Ashbury law. Finally, the treaty would place an end to the alliance between Ashbury and the Deep Trolls.
So far there has been no word from Duke Bryan or another noble as to whether or not this treaty will be adopted by those who have the official power to do so. A few citizens were heard to comment that Squire Hagan was either going to be Lorded for his peace efforts or stripped of his title as Squire.
For the past few weeks, a new and large tribe of goblins named the “Charred Skull” tribe, which is apparently made up from goblins who have left other smaller tribes in the area, have been raiding many of the smaller villages just on the outer fringes of the Capital city. The goblins had been attacking in conjunction with a number of slime and ooze creatures and had been quite successful.
Beginning on Friday evening April 18, goblins of the Charred Skull began to attack Ashbury City. At all times, the goblins were demanding the citizens surrender their wealth in the name of Plixt the Slime Lord. Accompanying these goblin war parties were several types of slime creatures which did a good deal of damage to the citizens and allowed many goblins to run off with a considerable amount of treasure.
On Saturday afternoon, a large force entered into the city and attacked the small force of warriors which had gathered to fight. For the most part, the goblins were no match for the Ashbans, and many were killed from long distances by the archer Plex. However, one of the goblin champions did manage to drop a few of the warriors with very mighty blows before he was hit with an Ice Storm by the mage Alexander.
Throughout the day, many goblin and slime forces attempted to capture citizens of Ashbury. One such group was successful in capturing a force of six adventurers who were later rescued by a large force of other adventurers.
If Sunday afternoon was not disturbing enough for the small group of adventurers present in the city at the time, Plixt and a large force of goblins and slimes marched on Ashbury. The battered band of adventurers defended the town from the goblins, but many fell to the blue slimes which were affecting the citizens with poisons which sent them into a berserk rage.
Throughout the fight, a lone goblin stood on a snow bank overlooking the scene. Every time this goblin was attacked, he fought back but eventually collapsed into a pool of ooze—only to reform moments later. Presumably this was Plixt, the title of “Slime Lord” being appropriate to his form. Finally, after many blows, Plixt exploded in a spray of ooze which covered most of the warriors on the battlefield.
Seeing their leader fall, the remaining goblin forces fled, thus granting the citizens of Ashbury one minor victory to stand against the disturbing forces at work.
A young girl in obvious distress came running into the center of town recently, screaming at the top of her lungs. A few townsfolk met her, as she cried and breathlessly pointed down the hill towards the partially frozen lake, gasping out that her father was trying to save her baby brother from being killed by horrible green monsters.
Dar, Alexander, and Carsis rushed immediately down to the lakeside, where the saw a poor commoner pleading with two orcs not to kill his baby.
The orcs continued to demand five gold from the farmer, who offered up his last silver piece, but to no avail.
As the would-be heroes watched, the orc holding the baby screamed and shoved his sword through the infant, and then dropped the remains as the adventurers leapt forward. The offending orcs were finally slaughtered but it was too late to save the child.
The farmer and his daughter gathered the remains of the baby and wandered off sobbing, perhaps somewhat consoled by the deaths of the murderous orcs.
"Zombie Master" Threatens
A recent rash of zombies and zombie-like creatures chanting “Give back the rings!” reached its apex recently when a skeletal being came to the central city surrounded by a few dozen of the creatures. “People of Ashbury!” it said in its gravelly voice. “We have the girl! The Zombie Master demands the return of the rings within two weeks or you will feel his wrath! This is but a small demonstration of what you will face!”
He then sent the zombies in, but they were quickly dispatched by the assembled crowd. The skeletal creature was only able to throw a few necromantic spells before it was slayed by a mighty blow from Carsis Goldenbeard.
No one seems to know who this new threat to Ashbury is or what he is referring to, but apparently all will be revealed by May 5th—the two week date the creature mentioned.
FREE DETECT MAGICS cast at the Ashbury Mages’ Guild every hour on the half hour during Guild hours. (Listen for the bell.) Hours are noon - 6 pm and 8 pm - midnight. Also: Magic items identified, Ritual Components researched, scrolls bought and sold, Rituals cast.
THE ASHBURY HEALERS’ GUILD is accepting applications for membership. Stop by the Guild or send correspondence to make an appointment.
BODYGUARDS wanted and available. See Zatarina at the Dragon’s Flagon Friday nights. Inexperienced adventurers accepted; we will help get you training and help you organize.
HELP WANTED: Tavern help needed. Good pay, benefits, Please contact Kelsea.
JACK: Thank you for expressing your interest in joining the red side. I’ll be sure to send you that memo. – G.M.T.
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK all the people who helped us in the battle with Justin. You know who you are. And just remember fellow citizens— it's not the size of your army, but the sizeA of your hearts. - Gilwing
HAGAN: The invitation is always open - Lorin
THE HAT FROM THE CAT: I knew I needed something! What else could a Firestarter ask for but a fabulously festooned flaming fedora? Many thanks to a fashionably ferocious feline! – Salamander
I AM WONDERING if anybody has heard about a baby human that was lost in the hills north of Quentari about 30 winters ago. My friend Dark Mist was found there and is looking for his parents and a name for himself but there are no clues to be found. Please contact me if you have any information. – Arista Za’Reeal
JACK HERE. I am currently looking for donations of liquid curatives to use on unfortunate townsfolk. I am also looking for endow potions for the carrying of said townsfolk to healers in case they’re really unfortunate and get dead. I don’t have enough money to heal everyone so that’s why I’m asking. If no one knows where I am I’m probably in need of healing myself. Bye.
JACK HERE. I am now accepting students who wish to learn everything except magic and how to fight better (from the front). I am seeking someone who can teach astrology, how to tell how much stuff is worth, and how to hit harder (from the front) with a sword. All those willing to learn or teach should find me. Reasonable rates, confidentiality assured, will teach for liquid curatives. Bye.
ORC ROGUE: I would strongly suggest that you watch your own back instead of watching mine. - Enrek Winterhawk.
TO the man wearing the fish: Please contact me as soon as possible. - Calis
MY CONDOLENCES to all the gorbe. Darien will be missed – Calis and Greegan