Melrose Troop 68's
Dungeons & Dragons Page
2004 Adventure Reviews
(reviews of games
through
the eyes of the characters
as written by the players)
Solomon Pras' Synopsis on "Elven Secrets"
written by Brent Oja
game played Nov. 24, 2004
Heroes are born in great opportunity, while
opportunity comes from a bit of luck. That statement would define
the group of Urza, Lytle, Hewill, and myself, High Priest Solomon
Pras. We've killed dragons, a litch, saved the lives of hundreds,
including King Dor himself, and not to mention recovered the source of
magic for all of Tenne. All of this was from prior instances of
luck, which allowed us to achieve greatness.
We luckily came across mighty enemies, had the
opportunity to battle and we were able to slay, and take their
treasure. Was it luck or destiny, the more I ponder that enigma I
begin to think this was all destiny. We have come too far as a
group, our stories connected too similarly, and we have persevered over
too much adversity for this whole institution of our group to be just a
random happening. This following story is the latest chapter in
our lives, and will hopefully legitimize our claim as heroes of Tenne,
and not just Givemea. This latest challenge could very well be
the end of the group...
THROUGH THE EYES OF SOLOMON PRAS:
Hewill Makit, Lytle Boxer, Derek Stormbringer, and
myself all agreed it was time for an answer to the outcome of the
Dragon/Elven War taking place in Swatrs. We had caught wind of
this war after our encounter with Gary the Great Green's cousin
Kraktokrin in Acirema. Kraktokrin had kidnapped Lytle's family,
we went to rescue them, in the process, we killed many of his prized
minotaurs, three of his children of green, and of course the litch on
the island was disposed of as well. We rescued Lytle's wife and a
child, but a female child was taken by the cowardly Kraktokrin, which
was killed weeks later, found with a note explaining the war in the
North.
As a group, we decided we should do a little
investigating, and of course pay our green friends a visit. The
journey started north to the country of Swatrs, the land of the Elves,
Lytle's homeland. I have never really been respected in anything
I do, besides by the group, but even then its minimal, but the
treatment we received from the Elves was terrible. It is
understandable to a degree, now with the knowledge of the Boxer
family's troubles in Swatrs, and a war occurring in the north.
However, they knew of our exploits, maybe not with as much knowledge of
the people of Givemea do, but they knew we were here to help and not
cause trouble. I suppose they see Lytle as an enemy, did not
trust us because we had not helped them, and did not have the formal
approval of King Dor. None the less, while being questioned at
every from of civilization about our intentions, even more so the
farther north we went. It was deeply frustrating.
The journey north started from our town,
Pleasantville, and was relatively uneventful until we reached the first
town of Swatrs, Swarfen. While the elves are known to be uptight
and watchful, they were truly overboard with their watchfulness and
questioning of our group. I do not want to sound as if our group
deserves a free pass everywhere we go, but while in the country ruled
by a goodly race raising so many questions is just absurd. They
questioned our intentions, but most notably took a large interest that
Lytle was with our group. The guard spoke to Lytle in Elvish, and
Lytle told us we were instructed to keep to ourselves and if we caused
a disturbance we'd be in trouble. The point was taken, we found a
hotel, went to the tavern for a few drinks and tried to found out some
information on the happenings in the North. We found out that
Moundsten and Silvenstenn had been totally destroyed, burnt to the
ground. Tragic indeed, but as the course of history turns these
things happen, see Clir in Givemea about 10 years ago that we helped
rebuild. It is our duty as Avengers of the good to make sure
these things do not happen again.
We continued north to the capital city of Swatrs,
Scontoft. As it was Scontoft was the start of our troubles in
Swatrs. Simply put, this is the point where we found out Lytle
had been banished from Swatrs. The leaders of Swatrs requested to
see Lytle, but being the smart adventurers we are, we had Hewill put an
invisibility spell on Lytle, this way we could leave Scontoft and
continue north and still have Lytle with us. Well about ten feet
from the exit we were stopped by the guards. Who would have thought a
magic user, fighter, and huge black man are found to be a suspicious
group!? I attempted to tell the guard that if he didn't want to
see Baist destroyed he had better let us continue on our way, but
predictably they arrested us and brought us to see the elders.
On a personal note, I spoke with a fellow High
Cleric of Paladin in Scontoft, and he too spoke to me with a
condescending tone, not considering me equal to him, and I do not
believe this was a racial issue, it was because he was an elf and I was
a human. My thoughts lead me to think that this might be dealing
with this war in the North, I can only hope so, truly sad if one group
of creatures think themselves so superior, as it usually is their
downfall (see another synopsis on dragons).
Back to the topic at hand. When we met the
council of Swatrs, they told us that the Boxer family had been banned
from Swatrs for treason of some sorts, they wound not expand further on
their thoughts. The council of I believe Sassine, Umare, and
Philly were their names, believed our good intentions to go northward
and fight for them after a lot of convincing. However, they told
us that three guards had to accompany us to Baist, those being Gondor
an older Elf who seemed to be of good nature, Arden who I did not fully
trust, and a younger Elf known as Elkston, and I never trusted this
one.
On the way to Fernesti, Gondor said that rumors were
that the Boxers had dealt with the drow elves, and I assured him that
he was of only good intent and would never align with the drow
knowingly. Gondor seemed to be open to that idea and explained
this was his job and duty, and I acknowledged that. We were able
to communicate to Lytle that we'd meet him in Vanol. On our way
to Ponst, we ran into an old friend, Lortap the Barbarian. It was known
to most of us this was Lytle in disguise. He warned us of a group
of Ogres ahead ready to ambush us. With Lytle's (Lortap's) help
we were able to slay the group very easily. I might add, that the
three guards stood and watched as we did this, as is, this was probably
not a good idea as they now know our fighting capabilities. After
the battle, the elves would not let Lortap leave, there was a big
argument that followed about his ability to do as we wants. As it
was, he stayed with us for sometime, then they allowed him to
leave.
We reached Ponst without further trouble. At
Ponst there was more news of the North...mainly death and
destruction. The Elves were losing the war to the dragons.
The next day we left for Panstern, and reached Panstern
uneventfully. As Lytle can tell in more detail, Gondor told us
that the Council had given Elkston magic abilities to watch us as we
went on our way, and knew that Lytle had been following us.
Gondor told Lytle he believed the in the Boxer family's innocence, but
Elkston was not. Lytle was once again in disguise as a normal
looking elf, but Gondor (shows the level of magic elves possess) knew
it was him. When Lytle returned, he saw that Gondor and Elkston
were in a dual, and Elkston killed Gondor. With a little trickery
of our own, namely polymorph spells and the portable hole we were able
to get together and find Gondor. I used the speak with dead
spell, and he told us to get out of here as soon as possible, as he had
given Lytle a magic device to bring us back to Pleasantville. As
we were about to leave, Elkston tried to get in, but Hewill's Wizard
Locked door would not permit that. We escaped barely, and Hewill
later told us that he could sense Elkston was a VERY powerful
mage.
We retreated out about a mile from the city and
decided to go back after we saw a huge location spell go off from the
city. From what we could tell the city was in chaos looking for
us. We found our way back to Pleasantville alive. Many
questions have arisen, and many we have no idea for any answers, others
we have an inkling. We have tons of rumors, dragons, drow,
wizards, and other forms of evil. What we do know is there is a
war in the north, and someone needs to step up and help bring the
balance back to the good, and stop the war in the north. While I
know that we face great danger, and I do realize that we will probably
die, it is not in me to turn away from this opportunity. As
adventurers there is something within us that will not allow us to walk
away, this is our time. Heroes are born in great opportunity...