26/8/2214 Meet Ayilda at Seal Inn
27/8/2214 Leave Quodeth with military horse escort.
3/9/2214 Reach Pyriador, talk with Ammur chiefs
4/9/2214 Leave Pyriador at dawn with Daray Longrunner guides, camp on edge of the jungle of Bura.
5/9/2214 Enter Jungle of Bura on foot. Travel in circles for hours until Aeshma uses flight magic to spot the Tower. Reach Tower of Golden Scales after nightfall, meet Sang Var of the Black Circle and his entourage.
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| Finnris Map |
NPCs
Pyriador
Argul Longrunner, Ammur Chief of Pyriador Hold, wealthy & reluctant warrior (m)
Belanthe the Beautiful, daughter of Argul Longrunner (f)
Tariss Storm Eagle, Chief of Rethenna Hold, victor over the Golden Ones, eager to fight the Lomari (f)
Rarno Redspear, Chief of Olodawl Hold, said to be hosile to outsiders (m)
Warthar Snowcloak, ancient Druid-Guardian of the Twelve Stones, the Guardian Menhir of Giantstead Grove (m)
Tower of Golden Scales
Sang Var, Wizard of the Black Circle of Thran, rumoured 3rd or 4th in the Circle (m)
Kegarazhi, Dhari archer warrioress, Sang Var's guide/pathfinder (f)
The PCs travelled west from Pyriador with guides on the road to Morlun, & camped last night on the edge of the jungle closest to the Tower of Golden Scales, NE of current location at the Tower. The Jungle of Bura is only penetrable on foot, so the PCs left their horses (which are Thulean horses, ie more like ponies) with the friendly Longrunner Daray guides at the jungle's edge; they will wait for them there until their return, or until it looks like they're not going to return...
Saya’s Tale, The Ammur and the Tower of the Golden Scales
5/9/2214, Uluon, the Long Night.Quodeth, House of the Crescent Moon.
The retainers at the House of the Crescent Moon have gathered in the oecus for a feast. As the bard Saya is recounts the Heroes recent adventures. Oil lamps splutter around the comfortable parlour; the crowd hangs on to her every word. Even the sentries’ outside strain to listen. My friends, she begins, a month after the battle of Woe our master Zerda, Aeshma and the handsome giant Vorstag were summoned to a Royal Council by the Grand Vizier himself. Grand Vizier Dredan Taroth, pleased with the expansion of Quodethi territory, rewarded Zerda with a promotion to Colonel whilst unofficially encouraging his romantic attentions towards our young and beautiful Queen. Saya’s eyes lower to her lute for a fraction of a second and several of the other young ladies shuffle uncomfortably, stealing glances at eachother. The Grand Vizier ever watchful, his agents reported the Lomar Imperator was relieved not tohave been forced into war with Quodeth. He was pleased the Lions of Nergal were allowed to return to Lomar, thus preventing the Imperator from declaring war. But the Lomari have expanded their borders elsewhere into the Ammurath, threatening Quodethi influence in the South. Lomari forces have annexed Chier on lake Kydar, unsettling the Dhari tribes, tribes traditionally friendly with Quodeth. General Urugan outlined the strategic value of the Morlun-Pyriador trail. Especially now the Ammur at Morlun had been wiped by the Golden Ones of Hastur. General Urugan stressed that would connect Lomar to Marg allowing Quodeth’s rivals the option to assault Quodeth by land. More speculatively he continued, theLomari at Cheir could follow the Kydar River upstream from Cheir to Morlun, thus reaching the Morlun-Pyriador trail and opening up a land route to Marg & Quodeth without having to force through the rugged wilds of Giantstead Grove.The champions of Quodeth, Aeshma, Vorstag, and Zerda elected to undertake a mission to the Ammur to promote Quodethi influence and renew alliances with the Dhari. While the Mistress of Black Flame, Aeridnis Vorzin would lead an embassy to Katagia. However, our master, ever the romantic had another more personal reason to venture into the deadly Bura Jungle, he seeks to find the most magnificent gemstone of all Thule, the legendary Eye of Azura and present it as a wedding gift to the Queen. Before leaving our lord Zerda, stole a moment with the Queen… Do you remember when we first met, my Queen? The night of the yellow moon?It snowed that night, the first time it has done so during my time in Quodeth. I said at the time, and I believe it even more so now, that this was a sign from Asura. Like the snow, you came into my life fresh, bright, pure, full of new possibilities, and influencing all of Quodeth. A new dawn. But there was also a coldness to you, my Queen. An icy reserve. You didn’t know me, this humble but handsome man from a far-off land, you had every right to be cautious - particularly in the nest of vipers that this court can become.
I am not one for superstitions, my Queen, but I chanced a meeting with a fortune tellerbefore our first introduction (one of my Dhari friend’s more strange ideas). She told me that you were in my future. Being young, naive and ambitious, I saw this as an opportunity to improve my status - I never thought I would feel the way I did when I first laid eyes on you, and how I feel looking at you now. I could recite a thousand stories that the city folk say of your beauty - but that would be an injustice. Your position, wealth, looks and everything else that raises you aboveall others, these are all great qualities, but even without these I would still feel the same as I do now. I would treat you now not as a subject treats his monarch, but as a person treats the one they love. I cannot offer you more than you already have, Deyane - you already have my heart. But, if you would have me, I will spend the rest of my life by your side, as your lover, your confidant, your general, and your husband. Deyane - will you marry me?The ring I have given is just a temporary item, a placeholder, for what I endeavour to bring you. The Lady Tyarna Vorzin has told of the Tower of Golden Scales, and the cruel Tamalcan and his many treasures acquired. She spoke of the greatest blue diamond, the Eye of Asura. Since the Tower is a key location to avoid linking the Margish with Lomar, an expedition should be sent there with all haste. I have volunteered to travel there with my fellows. I will bring this back for you, my Queen - as an engagement present.May Asura’s light shines upon us this day, and for the rest of our lives! This will be a new dawn for you, for me, and for Quodeth!His heart full of romantic ambition, Zerda gathered his companions. The savage Finnris superstitious as ever, worried he had not visited the fortune teller, bickered with Vorstag and became distant. After reaching the garrison at Three Towers by galley, the Heroes took the well-used trail to Pyriador, where they found Ammur Dhari tribes have gathered for a moot.Our heroes were greeted by the Chief of Pyriador Argul Longrunner, famous among the Ammur not only for the beauty of daughter Belanthe but also his wealth. At a great feast, the heroes were roused by the passionate words of the ancient Druid-Guardian Warthar Snowcloak and Tariss Storm Eagle, Chief of Rethenna, both speaking against the Lomari and challenging all Ammur to unite and expel the land-hungry invaders. The druid wanted clans to follow Rarno Redspear’s example and take up their war spears.Having renewed alliances and promising to return, the heroes set out west to the Tower of Golden Scales and get lost.Growing more distant, Finnris curses the jungle, but Aeshma shows him the way by literally lifting his spirits above the foreboding Dura Jungle. The Tower of Golden Scales is an imposing structure over 100’ in height, the roof shaped like a giant cobra in the unmistakable architecture of Nesk, scales of the body of the tower shine in the moonlight.
Renewed the heroes press on to the Tower, encountering a large party of Kalay camped in the jungle a short distance from the Tower. They are led by one of the sinister Wizards of Thran. Finnris recognises the Wizard as Sang Var of the Black Circle 3rd or 4th to the Infamous Nephron Vier. The Wizard claims to be a descendant of Tamalcan the wicked, the lovestruck lord of the Tower of Golden Scales. Sang Var entertains the Heroes at his camp, telling them of flying ape demons inhabiting the Tower. Sang Var suggests the heroes try their luck. The decayed Tower radiates eerie silence. As the heroes enter three statues animate Ashma and Zerda thinking fast, as ever hand over their traveling clothes and weapons appeasing the enchanted stone butlers, but Ayelda stubbornly resists and a battle between the stone and flesh ensues. The rock butlers are swiftly beaten, and the chamber searched. Here we leave our heroes in the serpentine ruins of Nesk. They must choose between the crumbled staircase rising up the Tower or shadowy steps leading down into dungeons beneath…
Lomar/Ammur Political Situation M9 2214 AR
The Ammur barbarians would like to push the Lomari back to the Lomari fortress of Castle Honorsblood, at the western edge of the Ammurath forested highlands, and to Woth'uram at the west edge of Lake Kydar. Recently the latest Lomari offensive has taken the clanholds of Belanour, Valiri & Cheir (known for its Zuaba gems) on Lake Kydar, threatening the Ammurath strong (though ruinous) former elven fortress known as Majestic Keep. If the Keep is taken, that opens the way to Rethenna hold and perhaps even through the Jungle of Zaal to the Quodethi town of Ansumo. Meanwhile to the south the Ammur chief at Ultriash in Giantstead Grove has sworn vassalage to the Imperator of Lomar. The Lomari are building up forces at Ultriash & have occupied the Guardian Menhir site known as the Twelve Stones.The southern fringes of the Jungle of Zaal (where Oola, Mistress of the Whip, came to grief last year) are regarded as only semi-permeable. A small elite force may pass through there, or through the more rugged Kurmanur Wilds to the south, from Rethenna to Ansumo. But without the construction of waystations an army cannot be kept in supply through there, and would likely take losses from the local wildlife, from disease and from Degenerates, making any military expedition risky.
The preferred invasion route would likely be via the Morlun-Pyriador trail, especially as the Ammur at Morlun were wiped out last year by the Golden Ones of Hastur. That would give Lomar a land route to Marg and the option to link up with Marg to assault Quodeth by land.
More speculatively, the Lomari at Cheir could also follow the Upper Kydar River upstream from Cheir to Morlun, thus reaching the Morlun-Pyriador trail and opening up a land route to Marg & Quodeth without having to force through the rugged wilds of Giantstead Grove.
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