The Hills are Alive with ... what, exactly?
FrdNwsm
Member Posts: 1,069
Having done his bit for artistic freedom,"Big Al" suddenly recalled a commitment he made months ago to solve some mysterious doings in the Hills around Umar. [That's me; MyChar decided he needed an alias if he were to continue running around with these sleezeballs; it wouldn't do for Keldorn and Anomen to hear what sort of company he had been keeping]. So, he and "the boys" (using the term quite loosely indeed, Edwin having suffered a minor magical "mishap" in the interim) headed off to the rural countryside.
The local Mayor was in a tither; people had been disappearing and no one knew why, but wild theories abounded. "It's Ogres!" "It's wolves!" "Umar has returned and we're all doomed!" "It's giant Space Hamsters!". etc.
We investigated a bit, finding clues in the house of a local ranger; wolves sure looked suspicious. We found another ranger cowering in his cabin, terrified that the cowled wizards were after him. Bah! And people criticize Edwin for sending me to whack a cowled wizard? They sound more like crooks to me every day. Fie on them all, I say! We assured him we were no such thing, but he fled off to his home in the city anyway.
Stumbling into a cave we found a tempting looking treasure chest ... ooops, not quite. Scratch one mimic, who left some blood behind? Well, waste not want not, so we grabbed the vial. Circling around, we bumped into a very motley looking crew of assorted vermin. "Al"s usual first instinct would be to exterminate them, but they looked SO oddly assorted (and also hardly a real threat) that he decided to chat then up first. End result: we said we'd put in a good word for them with the Mayor.
Circling back towards town, we encountered a local cowled wizard who, by some bizarre coincidence, needed some mimic blood for a project! Gee! What are the odds on that? Unfortunately, he was totally inept, and the whole thing backfired; we had to pull his chestnuts out of the fire. Probably his total lack of ability was what led to him being assigned to a futureless career in a backwater hick town. Perhaps not all cowled wizards are villains by nature; maybe some gravitate towards the group because they are too klutzy to make it on their own?
We also bought some booze for some underage kids, but even "Al" balked at buying them the medieval equivalent of Glock 9s. Sorry kids, no weapons for you. Their parents were less than pleased about the beer, but what the heck. At least they HAD parents who cared; look who MY dad was.
There wasn't much other action going on in town, although we did bump into some shades while walking around in the countryside one night. This certainly seemed suspicious, but we also had clues pointing to wolf activity in an area north of town; we'll check that out come morning.
The local Mayor was in a tither; people had been disappearing and no one knew why, but wild theories abounded. "It's Ogres!" "It's wolves!" "Umar has returned and we're all doomed!" "It's giant Space Hamsters!". etc.
We investigated a bit, finding clues in the house of a local ranger; wolves sure looked suspicious. We found another ranger cowering in his cabin, terrified that the cowled wizards were after him. Bah! And people criticize Edwin for sending me to whack a cowled wizard? They sound more like crooks to me every day. Fie on them all, I say! We assured him we were no such thing, but he fled off to his home in the city anyway.
Stumbling into a cave we found a tempting looking treasure chest ... ooops, not quite. Scratch one mimic, who left some blood behind? Well, waste not want not, so we grabbed the vial. Circling around, we bumped into a very motley looking crew of assorted vermin. "Al"s usual first instinct would be to exterminate them, but they looked SO oddly assorted (and also hardly a real threat) that he decided to chat then up first. End result: we said we'd put in a good word for them with the Mayor.
Circling back towards town, we encountered a local cowled wizard who, by some bizarre coincidence, needed some mimic blood for a project! Gee! What are the odds on that? Unfortunately, he was totally inept, and the whole thing backfired; we had to pull his chestnuts out of the fire. Probably his total lack of ability was what led to him being assigned to a futureless career in a backwater hick town. Perhaps not all cowled wizards are villains by nature; maybe some gravitate towards the group because they are too klutzy to make it on their own?
We also bought some booze for some underage kids, but even "Al" balked at buying them the medieval equivalent of Glock 9s. Sorry kids, no weapons for you. Their parents were less than pleased about the beer, but what the heck. At least they HAD parents who cared; look who MY dad was.
There wasn't much other action going on in town, although we did bump into some shades while walking around in the countryside one night. This certainly seemed suspicious, but we also had clues pointing to wolf activity in an area north of town; we'll check that out come morning.
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Comments
I definitely agree with your assessment of Cowled Wizards. Valygar's quest and the "enchantment spells" line pretty much sealed it for me. Even the token good CW that you just found is dangerously egotistical.
Hint:Don't let Edwina talk to Salvanas guy in Copper Coronet. (The vomanizer wannabe elven guy)