[Ptolus/AD&D] In-character thread #1 - The Gold Ladder

[thedungeondelver]

Ylarum, to his men, sotto voce:

"Typical.  Holy men playing at politics, making heretics out of honest workingmen.  Meanwhile likely as not this whole city is sitting on enough unplundered loot to keep the lot of them in whores and bejewelled mitres until the Gods themselves return..."

[Benoist]

Snave snorts noisily. "I'm guessin' that the robes, Sir. Those preachin'-folk, they secretly wish they were the whores taking in the sweat and money for their own pleasure, see, so they blame others for their sins."

The others laugh.

[Drohem]

Cadfan smiles, but then, a perplexed look comes upon his face. "I have a question myself, if you don't mind me asking. How come are you elves around these parts? Have you come to join Iridithil's home?"

Rissthil smiles and waves his hand dismissively as he candidly says, "no, I don't mind.  We were all sailors aboard Captain Felnarthir's ship, the Dawnbreaker.  We suddenly found ourselves dead center in a freakish white squall.  They usually don't happen so far north, but this one seemed to single us out as it smashed into us.  Old Captain Felnarthir got us and the Dawnbreaker through it.  However, the Dawnbreaker was severely damaged and we limped into the Bay of Ptolus.  The Dawnbreaker is going to be in drydock for quite some time, and so the Captain released the crew here to make their own way."

The elven sailor takes another drink of his mead, and, as he sets down the mug, he asks the ancient dwarf, "who is Iridithil, or what is Iridithil's home?"

[Benoist]

Cadfan shrugs: "No idea who that Iridithil fellow might be, but his name was given to the elves' compound outside the city walls. That's how they call it - 'Iridithil's Home'. So I thought you folks might have been headed there, somehow."

[Imperator]

"Oh it's quite alright, my lad."

Cadfan smiles, but then, a perplexed look comes upon his face. "I have a question myself, if you don't mind me asking. How come are you elves around these parts? Have you come to join Iridithil's home?"

I drink calmly, and answer: No idea about any Iridithil, but I like them - pointing my fellow elves - and I wanted to see the Spire. Has anyone climbed it?

[Benoist]

I drink calmly, and answer: No idea about any Iridithil, but I like them - pointing my fellow elves - and I wanted to see the Spire. Has anyone climbed it?

"Oh yes. Some folks did try to climb it of course. Nobody's returned to tell the tale, though."

The dwarf nods thoughtfully. "Me thinks the grounds of Goth Gulgamel - Ghul's fortress - are not as dead and silent as folks think they are. Maybe that's why the Commissar's men are so busy these days? And that's only half-way up the Spire! Who knows what's in that dreadful castle on top of it?"

DM: There are actually two fortresses located on the Spire, indeed. One half-way up, Goth Gulgamel, and the other at the top of the Spire, looming over the whole area. All sorts of wild legends circulate about the latter, none of them very cheerful, as one might imagine.

[Imperator]

"Oh yes. Some folks did try to climb it of course. Nobody's returned to tell the tale, though."

The dwarf nods thoughtfully. "Me thinks the grounds of Goth Gulgamel - Ghul's fortress - are not as dead and silent as folks think they are. Maybe that's why the Commissar's men are so busy these days? And that's only half-way up the Spire! Who knows what's in that dreadful castle on top of it?"

DM: There are actually two fortresses located on the Spire, indeed. One half-way up, Goth Gulgamel, and the other at the top of the Spire, looming over the whole area. All sorts of wild legends circulate about the latter, none of them very cheerful, as one might imagine.

"Let us cut to the chase, master dwarf. Tell me about the legends of the treasures over there." I wink and smile.

[Sigmund]

THUNK, "OWW", Tudd grunts as his shield slung over his back slides forward into the back of his head. He shuffles around on his hands and knees next to Runch, occasionally poking a small bug attempting to crawl back under the bar. "Hey brudder... is this one 'a them things what might crawl up and bother folks? Don't look too tough ta me... should I smash it?"

[Benoist]

"Let us cut to the chase, master dwarf. Tell me about the legends of the treasures over there." I wink and smile.

The dwarf laughs. "Because you think a midget like you is going to face the dangers of Jabel Shammar and win the day were dozens, if not hundreds, have failed before you? HA!"

"You make me laugh, laddie. That's well worth another round." Cadfan then proceeds to refill whoever's around to listen.

"That fortress on top of the Spire is the Dread One's, they say. Not Ghul's, mind you, no, but another Dark Lord's, long, long before the Half God ever set his greedy eyes on the Spire. Tales go that the Dread One was a good man once, but something made him change for the worse. Something to do with artefacts of power he tried to keep away from the world for its own good, I heard. He then tried to cover the lands of Second Darkness, and well," the dwarf waves his arm around, "with that stinking weather out there, you might think he'd succeeded!"

[Benoist]

Just as the dwarf finishes his sentence, you can hear a door opening somewhere beyond the right-hand side of the room. A gust of wind roars for a moment, and then the door is shut again.

The door to the kitchens opens (right-hand side of the room, to the North East) and a cloaked slender figure comes in. The person takes off her hood and reveals a pretty, long female face with thin eyebrows, emerald eyes and long, dark auburn hair. She starts saying: "They won't have it, Cadfan..." and then stops dead in her tracks, realizing she and the dwarf are not alone.



"Who in the Hells are these people?!"

The dwarf walks towards her: "The mercenaries the children found, Angharad."

She looks at the lot of you, incredulous, and then mutters to herself: "Gods be praised... We are not alone, then."

[Cranewings]

Nimten watches the woman for a long moment, and then goes back to listening quietly, staring at the back of his own hand, as if looking through it.

[thedungeondelver]

Ylarum stands, gesturing at his henchmen to stay seated.  He approaches the woman and regards her briefly before speaking.

"Ylarum the Doomed, goodlady.  What undertaking aren't you alone in, now?"

[Benoist]

"The Doomed..."

She seems to consider the possible implications of such a title absentmindedly for a moment. Then, she suddenly snaps out of her reverie. She proceeds towards the bar. Cadfan tries to stop her gently with his hand on her arm, but she shrugs it off. She reaches the well and stares at it: "This... is our undertaking, now."

She turns towards you all. "We need to save them. The friars. My uncle - he is the owner here. It has been days now. I wonder..."

She seems to fight a few tears back, but stands strong. She clenches her fists and pushes her voice with determination as the words come out of her mouth: "I need my uncle back. I need you to get down there, retrieve all those you can find, and kill whoever did this to them!"

[thedungeondelver]

(OOC: is she implying down this hole directly or in a general sense?)

[Benoist]

(OOC: is she implying down this hole directly or in a general sense?)

DM: She seems to be alluding to the hole directly.