Smoke curled around the rafters, mixing with the stink and sweat of many nights that had been experienced before, save one notable difference. The Green Rose Inn was host to a bard who could actually oratise. Someone who could actually tell a story, sing, juggle and tumble like a court jester, and this was something definately special in these parts, during these times.
The bard was an attractive half elf of the female variety. Of course, now a days, a cynic would say, it seemed as though it were almost a prerequisite for barding for ye to have flawless skin, as opposed to having a wit as sharp as the nearest dwarven battle-axe - but perhaps she had that too. Sabine was wooing the crowd with her story of Thomas the mule at the moment, so it would be lucky that the cynic was laughing too hard at his antics than to make such an observation. Seated in the tables roughly around the inn, small groups of men, and some women sat around attempting to forget the Green army camped nearby. It was a mixed bunch tonight, with a table of rowdy guardsmen bickering with each other - and more importantly with a small group of Actaran militia - the irregulars of the army sitting around trading insults about each other's battle prowess.
Our notables were also seated around a table, Endath - a bearded dwarven cleric staring glumly into his mug, perhaps picking that there would be a fight soon, which he'd inevitably be drawn in to. Caedrus, half-elven scribe extraordinaire picked at his food, throwing the occasional glance at Elaruwan and Neferemeus, robes and staves giving away their positions as part of that mystically magical bunch of people known as 'mages'. They in turn looked towards the other dwarf at their table, Duggan - a scarred, grizzled man who seemed to consume more mead and ale than the rest of their party combined, and who, through the quaffing and repeated yells for 'fillin 'er up again miss!' seemed to be paying a lot of attention towards the argument happening at the nearby table.
The two sides of the argument next door were taking shape and escalating. 'You wouldn't be able to find a fight if you were a drop in the middle of an ocean' and 'your mother was a hamster' insults were being slung from either side. The conversation heated up, angry glares were thrown, and suddenly, the camel's back broke. Within seconds, a flurry of arms, legs, fists and boots between the five or so City Guard and the five or so Actaran Militia erupted in a virtual dustcloud of hurt bodies. Duggan jumped to the aid of the Militia, kicking out a foot of the captain of the Guard. Smarter patrons drew away, pushing tables and chairs as far away as possible (good wood turners were hard to find nowadays), and suddenly, eerily, as a small dwarven body rocketed into Elaruwan, a globe of darkness settled over the fight - summoned to aid Endath. The brawl slowed, its progress hampered by the now true inability of anyone to see what they were hitting as the Watch arrived to clear up the mess.
Somehow, through the course of the fight, our not-so-epic heroes - even Sabine - had become entangled in the fight, and, for good measure, were taken into custody and thrown into jail for the night to sober up - although, to be fair, most were drier than a dusty gulch.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
The Setting
Actara is a city that has been cobbled together from bits and pieces of everything. I have shamelessly stolen names, concepts and ideas from a number of fantasy and sci-fi authors and re-mixed them all up to create the political and physical climate exhibited by the city today.
Geographically, the city replaces the city known as 'Sammarash' on the official Faerun maps. Actually, I'm not even sure this part of the map is official, but it sure looks like it, so that's what we're using. You may notice that this area is also nicely within the location of an underdark domain known as 'The Serpent Depths' which, very conveniently, no one has written anything official about, which means I get to have more fun.
Actara is famous for it's gem mining trade, with all the humanoid species specialising in some part of the gem trade. Actara is thus known as the 'jewel of the south' - it is to the Shining Seas that Waterdeep is to the Sword Coast. Not only is there a very lucrative gem export trade, but there is also a huge permanent population, with 150,000 or so calling the city home, and swelling to perhaps twice this during the trading season. As such, the area is in some ways sophisticated, while another border-townlike. In some respects, it's as if a permanent cadre of nouveau-riche has installed itself in town, with the gunslingin' wild western sword fighters coming in to help beat opposing nobles into submission. In other areas though, Actara is developed and rich in history. It just depends on where you look, and who you work for. Gem miners, gem cutters, jewelers and people who do things with jewels are very very good here, and are Faerun-renowned.
The city is governed by a council of up to nine members loosely styled around the masked lords of Waterdeep, although due to one reason or another (more on this later), the current membership to this select club is a mere five - and they're not actually masked. Happily, since statute has decreed that five is the minimun required to govern the city, no replacements have had to be made as yet. The current 'War General' is Alise Stormblood, having taken over the position after the assasination of the previous War General, her father. She is joined by Ragnaros il'Adean, Yaeros Hammermight, Janya Heartseeker and Baer Amos. Four other ex-councillors of note are two fighter councillors, having been killed in battle against the invaders previously, the other two Lords Emeritus being Katharyn Urban somewhere in Calimport for a 'quieter' life, and Pharon Megani remaining in Actara, but no longer active in the politics of the city, at least on the surface.
In the past, this type of town has always attracted young, fuzzy cheeked adventurers looking to make a few bucks as bandits, guards, or jumping into the bowels of the earth to explore the underdark through a couple of the rumoured entrances in the region. However, things have changed in the last 18 months, with a mysterious army almost instantaneously materialising one day, and launching a seige that continues to this day of the city. Even after this length of time, there is very little information on the attackers, the army simply known as 'The Greens' after their uniform colours.
The war has taken its toll on Actara. Only in the months since Alise has assumed control of the army has there been a noticeable counter provided for the troops of The Greens. Beforehand, large swathes of countryside have been laid to waste, with very few of the farms continuing work in the current unrest. Those that continue to live in the area between Actara and the main Green Army (perhaps an hour's hard ride outwards of the city on most occasions) do so in small defended villages, gathering in small communities of perhaps up to 100 people. The only notable community of this type of note is the small outpost of Gallet, led by the dwarf Ghuldin Kismet, who reputedly weilds a singing two handed hammer into battle.
Finally, it has been mostly in the interests of the rulers of Halruua to keep Actara defended, in as much because The Greens are an unknown quantity to deal with, and have proved unwilling to even receive their diplomats. Instead, they have provided Actara with a group of Battle-Mages who are refreshed at regular intervals to aid in the defence of the city.
Geographically, the city replaces the city known as 'Sammarash' on the official Faerun maps. Actually, I'm not even sure this part of the map is official, but it sure looks like it, so that's what we're using. You may notice that this area is also nicely within the location of an underdark domain known as 'The Serpent Depths' which, very conveniently, no one has written anything official about, which means I get to have more fun.
Actara is famous for it's gem mining trade, with all the humanoid species specialising in some part of the gem trade. Actara is thus known as the 'jewel of the south' - it is to the Shining Seas that Waterdeep is to the Sword Coast. Not only is there a very lucrative gem export trade, but there is also a huge permanent population, with 150,000 or so calling the city home, and swelling to perhaps twice this during the trading season. As such, the area is in some ways sophisticated, while another border-townlike. In some respects, it's as if a permanent cadre of nouveau-riche has installed itself in town, with the gunslingin' wild western sword fighters coming in to help beat opposing nobles into submission. In other areas though, Actara is developed and rich in history. It just depends on where you look, and who you work for. Gem miners, gem cutters, jewelers and people who do things with jewels are very very good here, and are Faerun-renowned.
The city is governed by a council of up to nine members loosely styled around the masked lords of Waterdeep, although due to one reason or another (more on this later), the current membership to this select club is a mere five - and they're not actually masked. Happily, since statute has decreed that five is the minimun required to govern the city, no replacements have had to be made as yet. The current 'War General' is Alise Stormblood, having taken over the position after the assasination of the previous War General, her father. She is joined by Ragnaros il'Adean, Yaeros Hammermight, Janya Heartseeker and Baer Amos. Four other ex-councillors of note are two fighter councillors, having been killed in battle against the invaders previously, the other two Lords Emeritus being Katharyn Urban somewhere in Calimport for a 'quieter' life, and Pharon Megani remaining in Actara, but no longer active in the politics of the city, at least on the surface.
In the past, this type of town has always attracted young, fuzzy cheeked adventurers looking to make a few bucks as bandits, guards, or jumping into the bowels of the earth to explore the underdark through a couple of the rumoured entrances in the region. However, things have changed in the last 18 months, with a mysterious army almost instantaneously materialising one day, and launching a seige that continues to this day of the city. Even after this length of time, there is very little information on the attackers, the army simply known as 'The Greens' after their uniform colours.
The war has taken its toll on Actara. Only in the months since Alise has assumed control of the army has there been a noticeable counter provided for the troops of The Greens. Beforehand, large swathes of countryside have been laid to waste, with very few of the farms continuing work in the current unrest. Those that continue to live in the area between Actara and the main Green Army (perhaps an hour's hard ride outwards of the city on most occasions) do so in small defended villages, gathering in small communities of perhaps up to 100 people. The only notable community of this type of note is the small outpost of Gallet, led by the dwarf Ghuldin Kismet, who reputedly weilds a singing two handed hammer into battle.
Finally, it has been mostly in the interests of the rulers of Halruua to keep Actara defended, in as much because The Greens are an unknown quantity to deal with, and have proved unwilling to even receive their diplomats. Instead, they have provided Actara with a group of Battle-Mages who are refreshed at regular intervals to aid in the defence of the city.
Phase 1
Hello, as I have no delusions about who is actually going to be reading this blog, this is going to be mostly an exercise in my ability to tell the story in a little more entertaining, 'storybook' like way with the accounts of what the party has been through so far in the chronicle.
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