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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 1048
(2/14/03 10:51 am)
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Raven's Gate
Atan is the first to leap onto the pier, and Yimris heaves their packs to him before trodding the weather worn planks himself.
A group of longshoremen hustle down the pier to the boat and call out to Wulpa. The pilot points at two of the men who then leap down into the boat and begin hauling up the cargo. The others fade back into the throng of laborerers, sailors and traders that cluster along the docks.
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yucatanyeti
Sangraal
Posts: 277
(2/14/03 10:55 am)
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Get me off this boat.
Cheerfully Sangraal thanks Wulpa for the transportation as he shrugs on his heavy pack. He checks the leather cord he used to secure the head of his new flail to the shaft making sure it did'nt work loose during the cold night. Satisfied that all is well, Sangraal mounts his helm atop his flail then rests the weighted weapon upon his shoulder waiting his turn to depart.
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 276
(2/14/03 12:45 pm)
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Re: Get me off this boat.
Long accustomed to life on the water, Madragar leaps lightly to the pier, and then reaches back to assist Vala over the side. "Watch your step," he tells her.
When they are ashore, he slings his pack and crossbow across his back and staff in hand, waits expectantly for Ruig to lead the way.
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doggius
Kezib Ahitub
Posts: 221
(2/14/03 12:51 pm)
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Re: Get me off this boat.
Kezib will quickly cross the planks, holding his pack in front of him. Once he gets across and touches dry land Kezib will sling his backpack on his back and prepare his staff to use as a walking stick.
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 1052
(2/14/03 1:07 pm)
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Re: Get me off this boat.
Ruig glances back to make sure that everyone is assembled. Then, with a nod to Wulpa, he leads the group through the lines of longshoremen on the pier. Reaching solid ground he marches through a collection of warehouses and past what appears to be a large tavern, open on two sides to the afternoon breeze.
Now past the dockside buildings, the group approaches the scaffolds that surround the warship hull. Dozens of craftsmen and laborers hurry about the place, seeming to work with a degree of urgency. The massive gates of the town stand not far away to the west and a steady stream of traffic flows through them.
The Citadel itself appears much more ominous as the group approaches. Massive red banners with gold trim decorate the upper ramparts, but the splashes of color cannot disguise the somber invincibility of the structure. None of the travellers have seen anything like it, and can't imagine what it would take to defeat such a fortification. There are no guards along the numerous ramparts, but only the glint of a few armored heads peaking up from the uppermost towers. Lookouts.
To the southwest Lanternkeep rises up like a single dead tree in a wide field. It stands impossibly tall, each of its four tiers around seventy feet higher than its lower cousin. Yet even the highest tier is itself surmounted by a final needle of dark stone above, jutting up as if it would pierce the sky itself. The tower is not of the same construction as the Citadel, however, neither in architecture or materials. The thing is like a thorn rising from the earth, sharp, seemless and straight.
Edited by: Jubilex at: 2/14/03 10:09:16 am
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doggius
Kezib Ahitub
Posts: 222
(2/14/03 1:57 pm)
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Re: Get me off this boat.
"By Yelms Glory, look at the size of that thing!" Kezib exlaims pointing to Lanternkeep.
"Ruig, what is it made of, it doesnt look like it is made of ordinary material?"
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 1053
(2/14/03 3:13 pm)
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Re: Get me off this boat.
"We've gotten fairly close to the place," Ruig whispers, as if the denizens of Lanternkeep could hear all within sight of their tower. "It isn't stone, and it isn't runemetal. If you can solve the mystery of Ulfmandir's abode the Ghurugil would be keen to hear of it. The tower is odd as anything in this world."
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doggius
Kezib Ahitub
Posts: 223
(2/14/03 3:40 pm)
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Re: Get me off this boat.
Taking note of Ruigs whispering, Kezib whispers back "I take it then, that getting too close will bring bad fortune to the seeker?"
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 1054
(2/14/03 3:49 pm)
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Re: Get me off this boat.
"I know some who have been inside, at least into the lower levels. Boahur has met with Ulfmandir more than once I think, but he doesn't speak of it."
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doggius
Kezib Ahitub
Posts: 224
(2/14/03 4:34 pm)
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Re: Get me off this boat.
"Very interesting" Kezib says with pure interest. "Alas, I would rather not bother Boahur at this moment. Just being in the presence of such a being of such power must be amazing".
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Tarondor
Madragar
Posts: 277
(2/14/03 4:44 pm)
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Re: Get me off this boat.
"And what business," asks Madragar curiously, not bothering to whisper, "merits the attention of the great half-giant? Does he share some oracle or sagacious erudition with the scholars of the town?"
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Meneloss
Meneloss Erednim
Posts: 354
(2/14/03 8:31 pm)
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Re: Get me off this boat.
Meneloss looks to Lanternkeep and mentions the obvious "I'll wager another ale, one could see Old Kerlew from up there. Mayhaps, Ulfmandir and his folk know some things more than we do about the Storm upon the Mountain." He adds to Atan and Yimris in Elven: "There may be some of your folk here as well. Any survivors surely would have headed for the safety of this massive edifice. Once we get to the Ghurugil and become settled, we should set out to find any Merek Lek."
Edited by: Meneloss at: 2/14/03 5:43:10 pm
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 330
(2/14/03 11:31 pm)
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Re: Get me off this boat.
"I'll lose no more of my ales to you, snake master," says Draxim companionably, "I am beginning to get my stomach back even with my first steps back on dry land. Ruig, will we go to Ghurugil right away? Or do we have time for me to pay my debt?"
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Meneloss
Meneloss Erednim
Posts: 355
(2/15/03 9:22 am)
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Re: Get me off this boat.
Meneloss winks his eye at Draxim as he says "Oh I'm not so sure about that my friend. I'll wager another ale that you lose more ale to me by sundown."
Once the group is in a relatively calm spot, Meneloss girds his sword and slings his pack. He carries his neat bundle of armor with his left hand. He then follows Ruig through the elder Dwarf's native city.
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Halle Dunn
Atan Finith Ring
Posts: 292
(2/15/03 10:31 am)
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Re: Get me off this boat.
"Maybe Meneloss. Finding a survivor here would certainly be helpful. Then we could learn of what happend at Old Kurlew without having to travel there ourselves. But the Merek operate typically farther to the North and I expect any who fled would head towards more familiar lands."
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 1055
(2/15/03 10:52 am)
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Re: Get me off this boat.
Ruig simply shrugs at Madragar's question. Why the head of his Order and some bizarre half-giant creature would want to chat is clearly beyond his reckoning.
The group moves into the shadow of the town gate. It is clogged with traffic, mainly from within. A gang of twenty armed humans bearing a motley assortment of armor and weapons emerge from the darkness of the portal. They are a rough looking bunch and display the dour and resigned expressions of soldiers facing a long march. A heavily laden wagon follows along behind them. Once they are out of earshot, Ruig grumbles, "mercenaries. I wonder where they're headed?"
The group plunges into the darkness of the town gate. It is a long, shadowy passage in which they find themselves, lit by numerous wall mounted torches. The stone ceiling stands thirty feet above them and is riddled with murderholes and arrow slits. The cramped passage stinks of sweat and animal waste. Every spoken word, footfall and creak of leather harness echoes through the hall making communication almost impossible.
The passage cuts through several secondary gates before emerging into a slightly larger courtyard which is open to the sky. This pit is lined with arrowslits and is surmounted by ramparts over eighty feet above the ground. The dull glint of steel helmets can be seen peering over those ramparts, watchful eyes staring down at the traffic flowing in and out of Raven's Gate.
A second passage, wider than the first, disappears to the south. Two more gates and countless pitiless arrow slits pass and the group finally emerges from the darkness and out into the town itself.
Edited by: Jubilex at: 2/15/03 8:05:06 am
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Kenner
Draxim
Posts: 332
(2/15/03 11:53 am)
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Raven's Gates
Draxim thinks about Meneloss's words for a minute, then comes up with a plan. "You're on!" He grins broadly.
After passing through the fortifications, Draxim is clearly awed. "Magnificent! How could any troop of Broo hope to survive an onslaught of these gates? They must have been tough as iron!"
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yucatanyeti
Sangraal
Posts: 280
(2/15/03 2:34 pm)
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In Awe
The sheer size of the fortifications leaves Sangraal in awe.
"Makes you feel small in the whole scheme of events does'nt it?" he asks of Ruglan.
"Look the guards are completely protected by the walls from both iron and weather. Ruglan, I bet this lot is soft? never a long cold night in the rain? eh? Not like the guard of Dobrug or Werthyn." he utters to Ruglan softly so the words are lost in the general noise of the crowd.
[OOC: The scale of these fortifications, the head of the Urox order, mercs, half-giant, spire fortress within a fortress. If these within a days travel of Old Kurlew and could not stop it from falling then do we really want to get closer? I say lets let Ruig go to report in. Then go back and see Ara about hunting Black Wolves.]
Edited by: yucatanyeti at: 2/15/03 11:37:45 am
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Jubilex
The Faceless Lord of Chaos
Posts: 1056
(2/15/03 3:34 pm)
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Re: In Awe
Reaching the open air beyond the Citadel, the group surveys Raven's Gate. Like Tunlura (and Dobrug as well), this town bears the same narrow, twisting streets common to Moagaran settlements built within Imperial walls. The afternoon sunlight lances down across Raven's Gate from the west, combining with the smoke of chimney, kiln, smithy and fire pit to form patches of opaque orange mist.
Raven's Gate is considerably larger than Tunlura, but appears no less chaotic in its organization. Beyond the few open areas near the Citadel, the streets and marketplaces of the town seem scattered about without any sense of prior planning. The streets themselves are of packed earth, mostly, except where the old Lunar flagstones peek through the dirt. Wooden structures, mostly two storys high, stretch out beyond the Citadel to the tall town walls in the distance.
Ruig glances back again to make sure that everyone is accounted for after emerging from the darkness of the town gates. He leads the group generally southwestward.
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yucatanyeti
Sangraal
Posts: 281
(2/15/03 4:21 pm)
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Big City
Sangraal follows the dwarfs lead southward through the city. For the second time in as many days he is left astonished by the mutlitudes that live within this walled town.
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Meneloss
Meneloss Erednim
Posts: 356
(2/15/03 7:03 pm)
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Re: Big City
Meneloss tries his best to keep to the center of the group. His eyes dart to and fro as he attempts to grasp the enormity of this settlement. Raven's Gate with its massive constructions and jumbled tangle of humanity is comepletely alien from his small tribe of Elves and thier quiant haven deep in the wilderness.
He asks Ruig "Are we far from the Hall of the Ghurugil?"
clearly the elf is anxious to get out of the streets and into a safe place.
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