My Everquest Lore Library

Everquest Lore Website has been updated, right up to the Broken Mirror. Everquest Lore seems to be thin on the ground (through their website anyway).

http://roztov.mooo.com/lore/index.htm

(G261 15/01/2016 via Roll20 - Guru(GM), JF, AP, Mira)(5e 4)

(G261 15/01/2016  via Roll20 - Guru(GM), JF, AP, Mira)(5e 4)

[JF - I joined the game later on, at 10pm.]

The Further Adventures of Random in the Castle of the Vampires!

DAY 4 continued..

In the morning after a big breakfast Random headed down to the gates again to shoot the breeze with his friends the gargoyles.

After hanging out for about half an hour to his utter amazement he saw the large form of Skeldrog the half-orc lumbering up the road, like a mobile weapon's rack, in the company of a short figure in a  hooded cloak.

At the gates they greeted each other and the short figure was introduced as a high elf called Ara. Ara had blonde hair and white eyes.

Skeldrog informed Random that he had been working for Logos, the God of Intelligence and went on to explain all about his adventures involving dragons and elves. Random could hardly take it in. Skeldrog even let Random know he had a secret scrying orb under his cloak that he had got from Logos somehow.

Random worked his charm on the gargoyles and they let his friends come in once it had been cleared with Varus. He lead them into the castle and then the servants quarters where he introduced them to Rodger the Robber. Soon they were scheming away on how to rob Ormund the Head Mage, something that Ara, a goodly elf, was not altogether happy about.

Random told them what he knew, that Ormund kept the skull, the book and the wand in the Arcanium and explained in simple terms how the castle was structured. Once they had the beginnings of a plan they started putting it into effect.

Rodger went outside to scout the gardens around the Arcanium and Skeldrog befriended a messenger  boy called Jonathan while Random started up a card game and used it as cover to get information from the servants. He found out that all the servants had silver badges that identified what area they worked in and then Skeldrog asked Jonathan if he could get some and the useful young lad said he would see what he could do.

The card game continued and Random got information about the contents of the Arcanium from an old lady, details that made his treasure taste buds tingle in anticipation. One hundred identical necklaces, a room full of crystal balls, an armoury, the blood pool, all places the woman knew of as she dusted and cleaned them. He also learned that the library, where the book most likely was, was attended to by a higher class of servant that kept themselves above the regular lot and were a closed group.

A little later on Rodger returned and told them he had discovered a chute that opened out above a sort of charnel pit that was emptied by the gardeners. All sorts of unpleasant stuff was thrown down it and he thought it would perhaps be useful for getting the items out of the Arcanium to be picked up by an accomplice in the gardens.

Random and Rodger spent some time thinking about how to get their hands on some Arcanium badges but when Jonathan came back he had two which he gave to a delighted Skeldrog. Jonathan explained he had found them in the laundry and they would have to go back later in the day.

In the privacy of their room Skeldrog used his Scrying orb to follow a female librarian from the servants quarters to the Arcanium but it took him more than one attempt to finally get a hold of her and after each failed attempt he had to wait an hour. Finally though he got her and could see the library. However, the walls and bookcases were blurred, as if protected from Scrying somehow.

Next he followed a blood donor (human cattle) to the blood pool but the orb stopped working at the entrance. It did give him a good idea of the lay out of the Arcanium wing though.

Random nodded and stood up. It was time for phase two. It would start as a scouting mission but perhaps turn into the heist if the got lucky. Rodger and Ara went into the Arcanium, the gargoyles seeing the badges and letting them enter.. Meanwhile Random and Skeldrog hid by the chute just incase those inside found something of interest.

Rodger skulked off by himself and Ara went to the library. All the books were in a languages he didn't understand and while he was wondering how on earth he was going to find the book they needed the librarians started to get suspicious. He walked away from them into another part of the library and with the agility of an elf leapt up onto a bookcase and hid there. Curiously he found a small jewelled spider with a purple gem in it. Wondering what it was he put his hand out...

..and the next thing he knew he was back at the servants quarters with the book that Varus wanted! Quite at a loss to explain what happened he went to the gang's room as quickly as he could and hid there to await their return.

Meanwhile, Random and Skeldrog were at the chute when suddenly a sack plopped down into the pit. Skeldrog fished it out and it contained;

17 rings
5 bags of magical powders
a Crown fitted with rubies
a map of the Arcanium
a spider-ornament with a black onyx as its abdomen

'Good lad, Rodger!', exclaimed Random and quickly stuffed the bag up behind his cloak.

Later they all met up again, at the stables this time, and while they stuffed the loot they had collected so far up inside the chest cavities of Varus's undead horses they planned their next move.

Rodger had discovered that Ormund had his rooms next to the Blood Chamber and that it was there that they may find the skull and the wand. From the map he had found they also knew that from there a set of stairs lead down to a series of tunnels under the castle.

Since Ormund was currently attending the Queen now was a good time to move onto the next, most  dangerous, phase of the plan.

'Huddle up.', whispered Random to the others, 'This is how it's going to go down...'

(G260 08/01/2016 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP, MI) 44

(G260 08/01/2016 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP, MI) 44


DAY 117 (wed) ... continued ...

As they set off Kirk wanted to get Adam to spent his time checking through the MATSE logs to see where the memory leak was and why it performed poorly when coming up against smoke and a zero-G environment, but changed his mind on review of the ship and realising it needed a serious overhaul and a constant maintenance regime just to keep it going.

He kept the Caco at a steady Warp 3.5 to see how she handled with the new engines and instructed Adam to monitor things and read through the manuals that had been provided with them.

Everything was ok for most of the day until suddenly there was an explosion in Engineering and Crewman Dell was badly burnt. Kirk ordered them to drop out of warp and Dell was taken to the medical area to be tended to.

It took Adam twelve hours to repair the damage and rectify the fault that had caused it.

They got going straight away though and Kirk ordered Paterson to take her up to Warp 6 for the rest of the day.

DAY 118 (thu)

Adam worked constantly, through the day and night. Kirk didn't fully appreciate it, at this stage, but without the AI at hand to take care of a myriad of smaller problems the Caco would have been dead in the water.

Kirk set a shift pattern:

0400 to 1200 Murphy and Dell
1200 to 2000 Kirk and Celes
2000 to 0400 Paterson

Useful as he was Adam was already grating on the nerves of the other crew members as he had a habit of butting into private conversations and watching them constantly on the ship's cameras.

In the evening, at 1900 hours Celes reported that they were being followed by what she thought were two pirate vessels, most likely Kazon's as the hull signature was close to matching that of the one that had attacked them.

Kirk decided to do a double shift and let Paterson get some rest after a very busy shift of her own. Celes was happy to keep him company, but at midnight she hissed, 'Oh shit!' and frantically hammered away at her console for a further hour until she had rectified the mistake she had made. Nothing exploded or anything, but she had nearly broken one of the sensors by miscalibrating it.

At Warp 6 they made 1 LY progress to Huroc.

DAY 119 (fri)

At 0800 Kirk finally went to bed. On awaking he did another double shift.

They were still being followed by the pirates, who were only managing Warp 5. They were safe as long as their new engines did not let them down.

At Warp 6 they made 1 LY progress to Huroc.

DAY 120 (sat)

At 0600 they were hailed by a Banean mercenary vessel 'The Wango'. They talked to Captain Nugent and arranged an escort the rest of the way to Huroc for 200 grams of Dilithium.

At Warp 6 they made 1 LY progress to Huroc.

DAY 120 (sat)

Nothing of interest happened today but they were all kept very busy keeping the ship going and attending to all its needs.

They were still being followed by the pirates though and being escorted by The Wango.

At Warp 6 they made 1 LY progress to Huroc.

DAY 121 (sun)

Nothing of interest happened today but they were all kept very busy keeping the ship going and attending to all its needs.

At Warp 6 they made 1 LY progress to Huroc.

DAY 122 (mon)

The Passive High Resolution sensor blew up a little and took seven hours to repair. Kirk did another
double shift to repair it.

Tal Celes came to him today, with something on her mind. She wondered why he had not really been talking to her and after he had assured her he still had strong feelings for her they talked about the issues of fraternisation.

They were probably safe enough on the ship as the crew would turn a blind eye as long as they didn't flaunt it but when the got back to the Voyager they would either have to be very careful or admit it to the Captain and Tal would have to be assigned to duties other than the Caco.

She spend the night with Kirk in his cabin.

DAY 123 (tue)

Today they arrived in orbit around the planet Huroc. The Navigation Sensors went offline for four hours and Adam repaired them.

The Dilithium Sensor reported none in the system.

Using the visual sensors they peered down at the planets surface and gathered the following information:

    Huroc had a Tech Level of 2 and population of between 10 and 50 million, clustered in the few    non-desert parts of the planet.

    It had only 10 percent of its surface as water.

    Some of the desert regions were populated by Kazons of unknown origin.

    There was an armed conflict of unknown scale going on between the Vulcans and the Kazons.

Next Kirk replicated a wig and some prosthetic pointy ears to form part of his disguise. He and Adam (who had already disguised himself as a vulcan back on Voyager) were to form the away team and they began to replicate and gather equipment for their mission to the surface.

Last chance to get a copy of The Middle Kingdom for free on Amazon Kindle :)

Get it here :

US    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SOSI2MI
UK    http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00SOSI2MI?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

“The Middle Kingdom“ - PART 1 - Chapter 1 - Placitan

“The Middle Kingdom“

PART 1

**************************************************

Chapter 1 - Placitan

**************************************************

Aster dove off the rock she was perched on and into the warm waters of the lake. She swam a few strokes out into the placid, breezy waters before turning back to the shore.

Her brother stood at the side of the water. She was surprised to see him here as he had been nowhere in sight a moment ago, but he did have a habit of sneaking up on people.

He was dressed like any other rice farmer, loose homespun trousers that fell to his knees, a light shirt and a wide brimmed straw hat, secured around his neck to keep the mountain breeze from blowing it off.

'Telor!’ his sister cried, 'What are you doing here?'

He smiled and looked up from the lake and across to the mountains, but said nothing. The air was sweet and clear up here.

The village was a hundred metres below them and the rice fields were at the same level. Below the village were the jungle forests of the rest of the kingdom and that's where the real sweltering heat was.

Up here though, especially around the lake, it was cool, and a favourite place to come swimming.

It was surrounded on three sides by forest, where mighty nirrin trees and other hardwoods grew. On the last side rose distant bare mountains. A waterfall could be heard rumbling in the distance at the other end of the lake.

'Came to see if you were here and going about without your hat on.’ he said eventually. Aster swam back out into the water, to keep a safe distance from her brother.

'I don't care if I get darker. I don't care what mum says.'

Telor shrugged.

'Just be thankful you are still too young to work.' Telor was eighteen, Aster was twelve. They both shared the same round happy face and flat snub nosed features. The brown skin of Telor's face was growing a sparse crop of black hair. The hair on his head he wore in a single braided tail in the peasant style.

'I'm not coming out!’ giggled his sister gleefully.

Telor laughed and stripped off. Running to the flat rock that was the favoured entry point of the lake he dove in. Soon they were both splashing about in the water.

After a while Telor waded towards the shore and then shaking as much of the water off as he could he started to get dressed again.

'You'd better go down anyway. Mum will be wondering where you are.'

'Shan't!'

Telor laughed, as he knew his sister was teasing him. He gave her a wave as he tied his hat back on and walked down the path to the fields.

Aster decided it was time to get out anyway. Her fingers were starting to wrinkle.

That evening, when they were all in their house eating dinner, her mother asked her,

'Where were you all afternoon young lady?'

Aster paused a moment before deciding to lie, 'I was helping Telor.'

'Really? She was helping you was she?'

Telor gave his sister a sly wink while his mother was serving some more soup.

'Uh, yes, she helped me pull out roots in the fallow pastures behind Copse Hill.'

His mum grumped, 'Did she have her hat on.'

'All day.' stated Telor.

'Well ok, ' their mother replied, 'Just as long as she wasn't swimming in that lake again.'

'Mu-um!’ groaned Aster.

'Well, you don't want to end up looking like those Groda girls do you? They spend the whole day running around in the sun and are as black as night. You need to keep your skin white so a rich man will marry you.'

Aster let out a deep exaggerated sigh over her soup bowl. She had heard this a hundred times.

Telor giggled to himself earning a clip round the ear from his mother with a wooden spoon. He laughed and rubbed it off.

Later their father came in from the fields and sat while his wife served him soup and rice. He ruffled up his daughters hair and clucked her under the chin,

'Not been swimming today I hope?'

'No father.'

'Well, you don't want a water ogre to grab you do you?'

'No father.'

He laughed and ruffled her hair again. A while after that it was her bed time.

Aster’s room was on the upper floor of the house. Like most of the dwellings in the village of Placitan it was made from clay bricks and straw. It had one large central room at the bottom where people could relax in the shade and the cooking was done, and two smaller rooms on either side that were used as bedrooms. There was a rough wooden ladder that lead to the thatched roof where food and other items were stored. Behind boxes and bales of cloth Aster had made her home, just big enough for a small girl.

There was even a small window for her to look out of, that gave a good view of the back of the village and the path down to the valley.

It was earlier than she normally woke up, that morning, but somehow she sensed something was going on. Then she realised she could hear people in the centre of the village, just down the street from her parents house.

She laughed and leapt out of bed. Dressing quickly she leapt down the ladder into the main room. She put her sandals on at the doorway and patted the goat tied up by the door on its nose as she rushed past.

'Hey hey hey!’ called her father from the house, 'Where are you running off to?'

'It must be the theatre, daddy! It must be them!'

She had already caught sight of the gaudily coloured wagons with the paintings of fantastical beasts on their canvas sides.

'Looks like you're right.' said her father as he lengthened his stride to catch her hand.

The travelling theatre came every dry season to the village and it was definitely the highlight of the year for Aster. She loved the shows and shadow puppets, and the stories of kings and princes, heartbroken queens and evil fire breathing dragons.

As they rounded the corner into the small village square, they could see that even though it was still very early, just barely dawn, people were coming out of their houses to see what was going on.

The first on the scene, thanks to his frantic daughter, Asters father was the first to greet them.

'Hello Agun.' he said, shaking the hand of a tall man who was stepping down from his wagon. Aster's father was a short man with an honest face, wrinkled with working in the sun.

'Hello Syang my friend! How wonderful to see you! Truly!'

'You are early this year? The jasmine has hardly started to bloom.'

'Ah, erm, yes indeed, we are early this year. Perhaps I will tell you why later.'

Edang, one of the village elders stepped up, and Agun took his hand and gave it a hearty shake too.

'Glad to see you, Edang, glad to see you.'

'Are you early for a reason? We have had strange tidings from the valleys..' Edang trailed off, still half asleep.

'Well yes.’ said the tall actor, addressing the assembling villagers, 'The truth is, we will not be staying all that long either. There is a draft on, and they make no exception for travelling players. We are heading east over the mountains.'

Everyone within earshot gasped, 'A draft!'

Aster pulled at her father’s sleeve, 'Daddy, what's a draft?'

'Hush child' he said as he pulled her tight against his side.

'What news friend Agun?'

'Not much of any good I am afraid. But I can tell you when we have set up. Here in the square is ok, as usual?'

Edang nodded, 'Of course.'

Agun signalled to the other travellers and they started to unload the six wagons and unhitch the horses.

'We travelled all through the night and a short rest might be in order...' , and then changing his voice from a normal tone to a crowd reaching bellow, '..and tonight there will be a show! A show, free to all, and like no other. Tonight we will present to you the story of ... Queen Beril!'

No one in the crowd knew who Queen Beril might be, but such was Agun conviction that his proclamation drew a round of applause and some cheers.

Aster was a frenzy of excitement for the rest of the day and buzzed around the kitchen at her mother’s feet asking her questions about the new play. As her mother knew nothing about Queen Beril, she was quickly exasperated.

'Go, go child! Go out and ask your father, he knows these things, and take the buffalo.'

Aster leapt up and went to the paddock at the side of the house to fetch the family’s buffalo.

'Come along Bango,' she said as she tied a rope through the ring in the old beast’s nose.

She gently lead Bango down the lane to the waterlogged fields, eventually getting to where her father and brother were working, harvesting rice, up to their knees in muddy water, bent over with large straw bags on their backs.

'Ah, here they come, the princess and her noble steed!' declared Telor.

'Put him over there,' said her father pointing to the field below the one they were working in, 'He can fertilize that patch for a while.'

Aster dutifully led Bango down the small joining path, the ancient beast grunting at the rheumatic pain in its knees as it descended.

'Daddy, who was Queen Beril?'

Her father stood up straight and arched his stiff back,

'Well if I was to tell you all about her, surely that would spoil the surprise of the story wouldn't it?'

Aster pondered this information,

'So there is a surprise in the story?'

'It is my understanding that there is a surprise in every story.'

Aster groaned, her father was in one of those moods.

'But what happens to her? Is she beautiful? Does she live in a castle?'

'Well, she is a queen yes?'

'Yes!'

'And queens live in castles don't they? You see, you don't need me as you know all the answers already!'

Aster slapped her hands down onto her thighs in girlish anger.

'Daddy!'

She hadn't got anything useful from her father at all, but that didn't matter, as it was the evening now and torches had been lit all round the village square to light the whole area, and the actors had put up the stage and any minute now the play was about to begin!

The story of Queen Beril unfolded before them. At first it all looked very promising, as the story was indeed about castles and dragons and brave young knights from the far of kingdoms to the west. But as the tale progressed Aster began to realise it was more a story for the adults.

Beril had only been fourteen years old when she became queen. Sensing that such a young monarch might be weak the kingdom was soon under attack from its neighbours and enemies. One such enemy was known as 'the Usurper of Tomsk' and was played by an actor dressed as a dragon. The dragon invaded the kingdom from the north and the poor young Queen fled to the mountains. To help get her throne back Queen Beril marries a young man called Prince Mirkin and together they defeat the dragon and regain her kingdom. But then Prince Mirkin is killed by assassins sent by the defeated but still alive and angry 'Usurper'.

The story then jumped forward to Queen Beril as an older woman, married again, but unhappily to a man she does not love, but who is strong and can protect the country from other invasions.

Despite this sacrifice though, her king proves to be unpopular and civil war wracked the land. The king is killed and Queen Beril is exiled to a neighbouring kingdom by the new ruler.

The story ended with Queen Beril's death, and the people of her kingdom realising that she had been the best ruler they had ever had having her body taken back to the capital city to be entombed forever in the largest temple. The current ruler was unhappy about this but realises the whole country loved this woman who gave everything for them, so he can do nothing. The narrator of the story then told the watchers that Beril's tomb still stands for all to see and she is revered in her country as the nation’s saviour.

The audience clapped and cheered the end of the play, although Aster was a bit confused as the story had such an unhappy ending. She hadn't lived happily ever after, her only sweetheart had died very early on in the story, and nobody had appreciated her until after her death!

Still she clapped and cheered along with everyone else, despite the plot she had enjoyed it immensely. The costumes had been lavish, the dragon terrifying and the battle scenes exciting.

As the crowds broke up to either go home, or to spend some more time in the square either drinking or eating, Aster lost sight of her father and decided just to head back to her house. She passed by one of the small tents that had been set up by the performers and chanced to look inside and saw a young woman sitting by a polished mirror removing her make up with a cloth.

The woman smiled at her and motioned at the curious girl to come in. Aster did so and sat on a small chest by the woman.

'What is your name?’ asked the woman.

'I'm Aster.' she replied.

'That's a nice name. I'm named after a flower as well, but not in your language. My name is Rose.'

As the woman removed her make up Aster realised that her skin was much paler than anyone else in the village.

'Hello Rose. Where are you from?'

'I'm from the same place Queen Beril was from. She was the Queen in my father's father's father's time.'

'Really? It was such a sad story though.'

'True stories are often sad.'

'Why did it have to have such an unhappy ending?'

Rose smiled and as she continued to wash the make-up from her face said, 'Was it really so sad? She saved her kingdom. She always did what she thought was right. And when she died, everyone saw how good she was.'

Aster thought about this, 'I suppose so...'

'Why is your skin so white?'

The woman laughed, 'Where I am from everyone's skin is this colour. Why is yours so brown?'

'I don't know', shrugged Aster, 'Because this is the way Gurjo made me.'

'Gurjo, your creation god. Yes, that could be so. But my people believe we were made by Etruna.'

'Who's he?'

'She. She is the goddess of nature, the forest, the cycle of life. Etruna is also the goddess of my people. Or rather was, worship of her is outlawed in my land now.'

'Why is that?'

'That's a long story little one. It is ... political ... I suppose. The old ways are being suppressed.'

'What does suppressed mean?'

The young woman laughed, 'So many questions!'

Aster looked up at Rose and realised she was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. She also noticed something else.

'Why do your ears have points on them?'

The woman smiled self consciously and pulled her hair down over her ears.

'I get my ears from my father.'

Aster sighed, 'You are so beautiful.'

Aster could never remember making a grown up blush before, but that was what Rose was doing now.

'Tell me then Aster,' said Rose changing the subject, 'What do you plan to do when you grow up?'

'I think I want to be an actress like you. But most likely mother will make me marry some horrible old man.'

'There are many horrible old men in your village?'

'Loads.'

'You will have to marry one of them? You don't get to choose?'

Aster shook her head, 'No. Well, yes. I choose who I can marry, but who says I want to get married at all? Are you married?'

Rose laughed,’ No, I'm not.'

'Well, I would like to be like you.'

Rose was about to say something but just then Aster heard her name being called. It was her mother calling from the square,

'Oh! Sorry I have to go! Nice to have met you Rose.'

'And you, little daisy.'

As Aster go up to leave, Rose snatched something up and pressed it into her hand,

'Here, take this, and remember, we are all free do choose what we want to do. Oh, and tomorrows show starts at three...'

But Aster had already gone.

When she got home she looked at the thing in her hand. Aster had though the woman had given her a sweet or small cake, but in fact it was a polished brass brooch. It was circular, but in the shape of some strange long snouted creature that Aster could not identify. She thought of showing it to her father as he might know, but in the end she decided to keep it a secret and hid it upstairs in her room.

                                                                        * * *

A month later, the theatre visit was just a distant memory in a little girls mind. She had strayed a little more down the path from the village than she usually did, drawn by what she thought had been movement glimpsed through the trees. Her idle curiosity had been rewarded and she turned on her heals and ran as fast a twelve year old girl could, up the mountain path into the village and towards her parents house. Her straw hat had blown off to hang down her back and her long black hair streamed out behind her as she came.

'They are coming, they are coming!’ she cried in delight.

Ogang the blacksmith shook is head as she ran past. He was quite used to the little excitable whirlwind that was Aster Kentang. It was a sunny day in the village, a typical hot day, only made cool by the occasional mountain breeze off the lake. It would be hotter than hell down in the jungle valleys on a day like this he reflected as he stood and mopped the sweat from his brow. Just then he noticed that dust was rising from the path below that lead from Balehag down in the valley. Someone was coming after all.

He looked round for Aster but she was long gone.

Aster leapt through the open door way of her house and made her proclamation once again.

'They are coming!'

Her mother came out from the small kitchen at the back of the house, the smell of cooking rice close behind her.

'Who is coming child? And take your shoes off before you come in doors.'

Exasperated Aster kicked off her sandals.

'Men! Lots of men are coming!'

Aster's mother, a short plump woman with grey starting to show in her black hair sighed and stepped outside blinking into the daylight.

She wasn't the only one, other villages now, people of Placitan, were coming out doors as news spread of the newcomers.

Lin, Aster’s mother, glanced over the village roofs, as her house was at the back of the village she got a good view of the rest of it, at the fields and saw that the men were coming in from their work, drawn by the commotion. They were pushing the straw hats from their heads stepping out of the rice patches onto the causeway.

The cloud of dust advanced up the trail towards the village and revealed a troop of soldiers. They were dressed in the armour and trappings of the King of Kaletan, with wide straw hats to protect them from the sun. They carried spears, decorated with horse hair tassels painted red. At the front of the column, on horse back rode a warrior dressed in colourful splint mail, armed with a single bladed pedang [1] strapped to his back.

Without thinking Lin placed Aster’s hat back on her head, part of her perpetual battle to stop her daughter’s skin getting darker. Unseen beneath her vast hat, Aster rolled her eyes.

Her ire with her mother was soon forgotten though as the armed men came closer. Aster could count, as her father had taught her, and she counted fifteen men all together.

The men arrived at the village, just as its men folk came in from the fields. The apparent leader dismounted and pulled a roll of parchment from his belt. Aster gawked openly at him. He had a wide friendly looking face, but it was spoiled by a livid red scar on his cheek.

'Ahem', started the man, clearing the trail dust from his throat, 'By order and proclamation of the good King of Kaletan, it is hereby announced that due to pressures from the north, a draft is begun. All young able bodied peasants who be not married and be in good health, must report to the barracks at Rangung. The king recognises that each man is free in the kingdom and that the hard work of the rice farmers in the mountains provides a valuable resource to the rest of the kingdom. However these are grave times and the time has come for true born men to place the needs of their kingdom before the needs of themselves.

Those who be drafted are to follow the duly represented recruitment sergeant to the appointed place of embarkation, in this case Balehag, for transfer to Rangung. Here ends the proclamation.'

With one deft movement the soldier rolled up the scroll and replaced it on his belt.

By this time Aster’s father and brother had arrived and Aster had taken her father’s hand. Beside him stood Edang, the village elder. He approached the soldier and said,

'Will your men take some water? Some rice?'

'Ah, yes thank you. My name is Cintor, sergeant at arms of the royal army.'

Edang nodded and tugged on his long white beard, 'I am Edang. Village elder.'

Some of the girls went to the well to get water for the soldiers. Aster looked at them. Most of them were no older than her brother, Telor, who was eighteen. Suddenly something dawned on her and she started shrieking and crying,

'No! No! Don't take Telor away! No!'

Her mother started crying too, but scooped her up and carried her away to the house,

'It no good love, it’s no good crying,', but Lin was crying too.

           

                                                ****                           

It was as simple as that. The next morning Telor was saying goodbye to his weeping family. Even her father was crying, something Aster had never seen before. Telor seemed almost to be happy about it. He wasn't very big for an eighteen year old, and as his mother tended to feed him too much, he was slightly on the plump side. He was a popular boy though, in the village, and was well liked, even by the elders.

Other men who were being drafted were forming up in the centre of the village. Cintor the sergeant was standing nearby. So far just twelve men were milling around. Some were being tugged at by girl friends or mothers, but all appeared ready for whatever fate was going to offer them.

Telor grabbed his pack by the door and put his wide brimmed peasant’s straw hat on. He walked over to the gathering men.

Having already cried her eyes out, Aster grabbed her brother’s free hand and tightened her grip.

As they arrived at the centre, and old man called Hyn was talking to the sergeant,

'Please, your devotion to your king does you credit, but you must have seen at least fifty summers. At the moment we are taking only the young and the able.' said Cintor

'Huh!’ grunted Hyn, 'I was in the Imperial Cavalry! I may not be young but I am able. I fought at the battle of Ryson, and skewered five men on the end of my lance!'

'I am sure that is true. But why join the army again? Stay and tend your crops.'

'I am not married and have no family. My brother would be delighted to take over my fields. I want to do my duty again. I fought for the king’s father, he appreciated his warriors.'

'The proclamation is very clear.'

'Let me show you something.'

With that Hyn walked across the village centre, past the well and to the open gate to the fields. He took a clay jug from a nearby cart and placed it on the gate post.

He then marched back and took the reins of the sergeant’s horse from the stupefied young soldier who was holding them, and leapt up into the saddle. In an instant he grabbed a spear from another soldier and spurred the horse into a gallop. Scattering everyone in his path, causing lots of cries and shouts he rode at full speed towards the well.

Everyone gasped has the horse leapt clear over it and landed on the other side. Still at the gallop he then went for the gate. As the horse leapt over it, Hyn brought down the spear and neatly lanced the jug, which fell in pieces to the ground as the horse landed and galloped off into the fields.

He soon turned, and as the soldiers opened the gate he came to a halt beside Cintor,

'Well?’ he said, handing the spear to a soldier.

'Ok, you have made your point.' replied the sergeant shaking his head, 'Fall in.'

The farewells had been tearful and terrible. As they marched, Telor did his best to forget it. Hours had passed and still they marched, but at least it was all down hill to Balehag. The column consisted of the sergeant out in front, the fifteen or so soldiers in the middle and the twenty or so village men behind.

There was an old soldier at the back too to keep them in line and make sure no one straggled behind or ran off.

Most of the men were silent as they walked, although some talked excitedly about what the future might hold.

Hyn fell into step beside Telor.

'Ah hello young man, are you ready for war do you think?'

'No, probably not, but they will train us won't they?'

Hyn made a 'pfft' noise and then said, 'They might show you how to stick a spear in a sack of straw if you are lucky.'

'What do you know of the enemy, the people of the north? You have fought them before?' asked Telor.

'Who do we only ever fight? The people of Ju are necromancers and devil worshippers. They go into battle crazed on drugs and bloodlust.'

Telor shuddered.

'Why do they always fight us?' asked Telor trying to disguise the tremor in his voice.

'They have ruined their land.', said the old man, 'Their god has spewed his ash all over everything and nothing will grow. They either demand tribute or take what they need by force. They see everyone south of the rift as soft targets. To them we are just fruit to be plucked from the tree.'

Telor gulped, 'But we defeated them last time they invaded.'

It had been before he was born, but Telor new all the tales of the last war with Ju. The battle of Ryson, the slave catchers and the eventual closing of the rift passes.

'Yes, but how many thousands of Kaletan people are still slaves up there? We pushed them back, but in truth I think they already had what they wanted.'

Telor sighed and readjusted his pack.

'The Flower War. Always seemed like such a strange name for a war to me.'

Hyn grunted, 'They named it that, not us. Either out of contempt for us, or because our side of the rift is so much more verdant than theirs...'

Hyn trailed off, something was happening up ahead.

The sergeant had met a traveller on the path and was conversing with him, leaning from the saddle.

After a while he nodded and turned his horse to the rest of the troop.

'Yang will take the conscripts to Balehag, I will take ten men to the village south of here that has not had the draft yet.'

And without another word he split his men and dismounting from his horse lead it straight into the forest.

Yang, the oldest of the soldiers and the man that up until now had been bringing up the rear motioned to one of the other three remaining soldiers to fall in behind and lead the conscripts off again.

As they set off Telor said, 'That village he is going to doesn't even have a name, it's just a collection of fishermen's huts.'

'Yes' replied Hyn, 'They probably know nothing of the war there. Probably didn't even hear about the last one come to that.'

Yang, who was nearby had overheard,

'Believe me, the King needs every man he can find. If this isn't enough there will be a second draft. From what I heard, the King wants to do everything not to have to start calling up married men.'

Hyn nodded, 'Or too many farmers. Tell me, how may times has he split up like this.'

'I've lost count' replied the old soldier amiably, 'But we were a full company when we set off from the marshalling point.'

Hyn whistled, but Telor said, 'How many is that?'

'About a hundred and fifty.' replied Yang matter-of-factly.

'They are sweeping out every corner of the kingdom'

'Yes', grunted Yang, 'I feel like I've marched up every single pissy little valley in Kaletan.'

They reached Balehag two days later.

..

If you enjoyed this, then get the rest of the story here :D

US    http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SOSI2MI
UK    http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00SOSI2MI?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

---

[1]               A short sword

The Middle Kingdom : Free on Amazon Kindle : 4 to 9th January 2016

In the village of Placitan, the draft has come, taking the young men away to war. On the wind swept Black Mountain, the monks watch as the conscription ships arrive to take them into the Juian horde.

The peaceful forest land of Kaletonia finds itself thrown into a war against the massive might of the Kingdom of Ju.

Aster and her brother Telor are swept up into the chaos as the conflict soon grows until the whole of the island of Yaja and its three kingdoms are in flames.

Simple farmers children, peaceful monks, wily diplomats, generals, necromancers, kings, queens and princesses all feature in this wide ranging epic tale of war and peace.

Will the Middle Kingdom survive or be crushed under the advancing horde from the north?

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(G259 11/12/2015 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP, MI) 43

(G259 11/12/2015 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP, MI) 43

DAY 112 (fri) cont....

It was 2100 hours by the time the engines were at full health once more

The crew of the Caco had their work cut out for them, not least of which was securing the prisoners. They were split up in the cabins while James worked on fixing the ship's computer.

As well as the prisoners there was the Burung Mera and Gornand to take care of.

Once everyone that needed to be secured was secured Kirk turned in, leaving instructions to be woken up when the Gornand woke up.


DAY 113 (sat)

At 0300 hours Dell woke up Kirk and told him, 'She's awake!'

Kirk replicated some food and entered her room. At first she was silent but when he gave the food to her she said,
'How do I know it's not poisoned?'
Kirk reassured her it wasn't and added, 'You are not a prisoner her.'
'Well, I'd like to go home then.', she said.
'It's not as easy as that.', he tried to explain.
'Can't you use some of your magic and send me home?'
Kirk did his best to reassure her, but she didn't understand in any way what was going on.

Kirk took the opportunity to talk to the Burung Mera while he was up and about. His name was  Mitrini Nabberjack and he had been a co-pilot on a freighter until it had been captured by the pirates. Nabberjack was friendly enough and religious, being a true believer of the Burung Mera god.

A little later Kirk took Lamnar, the Gornand, to the bridge to show her the stars and try to explain what was going on. He had a brain wave and summoned Webble who he hoped would explain in words Lamnar would understand.
'Yes master?' she said on her arrival,
'Don't call me master. Can you explain to Lamnar the situation here?'
'Certainly master. Lamnar, you are in hell and all these beings are demons.'
Kirk face palmed, but before he could speak Lamnar said,
'No, this is the Plane of Shadows. I need to find a portal. That will get me back to my own world.'
Adam was around at this time and tried to help explain, but he used so many technical terms that even Kirk barely understood him.
In the end it was Tal Celes who did the best, managing to put thing in terms that the Gornand could cope with. Bajorans are a religious and have a very rich culture, so this may have helped.

On his way back to his cabin Kirk could hear the Kazon women singing in their cabin. In the other cabin the pirate and medic were having a noisy debate.

An hour later Kirk was woken when the pirate started beating up the medic. Once the pirate had been stunned he moved the medic in with the women and put handcuffs on the pirate.

He was pretty tired by then and flopped back into his bunk. Ceres and Paterson were on watch at 0500 when they were hailed by the Norlot Fast Picket 'Deathshead' and its cohort.

Paterson and Celes didn't want to wake Kirk so they dealt with the situation themselves and arranged an escort back to the Vanguard station for the price of 10,000 credits (given as 100g of dilithium).

At 0700 they arrived at the space station.

Mitrini Nabberjack asked Adam if it was ok for him to leave the ship and Adam said that it was although perhaps he didn't fully understand. In any even Kirk didn't really notice or mind the Burung Mera leaving them.

By 0800 Adam had fixed the main computer on the Caco.

Kirk was tempted to hand over the prisoners at the station but since it was likely they would be put to death he contacted Voyager and was told by Captain Janeway to hold onto them until their return to Voyager.

Kirk accepted this and interviewed the prisoners a little more.
The first amazon was called Hylra and she had been born on a 'hell hole' of a planet and she saw her only chance of a better life being as an amazon pirate.
The second amazon was called Jurad and she was from a warrior sect that saw piracy as a noble calling and all alien vessels as fair game. In her culture piracy was not a crime, just another profession.
The medics name was Yuman and the pirates name was Nakrod. The medic was the least offensive in nature of all of them while Nakrod told a pack of lies about just being the ship's cook and never hurting anyone.

Kirk put Adam to work converting 16 tons of cargo space into four small prison cells.

Dell, full of excitement asked if Kirk would allow some shore leave. Kirk let out Dell and Murphy. They could go out for a couple of hours but they were late returning and Kirk gave them a telling off. Dell blamed it on the irregular tram service that the station operated.

Kirk, the ladies man, then took out Celes and Paterson to the 'Street of Fashion' and was bored half to death as the female crewmen shopped for shoes and handbags. After an hour he couldn't stand any more of it and they went to a bar. The trolley was late for them as well, so Kirk did the right thing and apologised to Dell and Murphy on his tardy return.

All this was killing time, Kirk had a dinner date arranged with Grottog the Blaxion, the space ship trader, and a limo came to pick him up and his 'plus one' who tonight was Tal Celes.

Vanguard was a big place and had several 'suburbs'. Grottog lived in the most salubrious area of the station in a large mansion house type accommodation module.

After they had talked business, Kirk arranging to buy faster engines, Grottog treated them to a fine meal and entertainment.


DAY 114 (sun)

At 0200 they were shown to the limo, but when Tal said to the autopilot, 'Take us to the most exciting night club in town!', they found that Grottog's name really opened doors in this town.

They were taken to a night club then ushered through to a VIP lounge that looked down on the dance floor. After they'd had a few drinks and a few dances Celes leaned in for a kiss and Kirk happily provided her with one.

Throwing caution to the wind they then took the limo to a hotel and spent the night in a honeymoon suit, all courtesy of Grottog.

What went on that night in the hotel? Well, lets just say that Starfleet Regulations were thrown out the window!

.. In the morning they woke and had breakfast in bed.
Ceres had the sense to say, 'Oh! We shouldn't have done that!'
She then said that they should keep their tryst a secret and Kirk agreed.

They got back to the Caco at 1000 hours. If anyone had any eye brows to raise about Kirk and Ceres being out all night, then Kirk didn't notice.

DAY 115 (mon)

The crew of the Caco all worked hard on getting it fixed up.

The new Bioscanner was fitted by engineers working for Grottog the Blaxion. There were also engineers in the Caco all day fitting the new engines.

DAY 116 (tue)

The Caco's computers started reporting faults again and Adam spent the day fixing them and running further diagnostics.

Kirk took Tal Celes out for another night of clubbing that ended up in the hotel again.


DAY 117 (wed)

Kirk and Celes rolled in to the ship in the mid morning after another night of revelry. Since the Caco had its new engines fitted and was all (relatively) ship shape, they set off for Huroc once more.

(G258 04/12/2015 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, Mira, Guru)

(G258 04/12/2015 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF, Mira, Guru)


DAY 235 (2 Uktar)(November) cont ...

Dear Kitty,

Well, we've just about got back to where we had left the 'Statue Squad'. I'm pretty nervous about what we might find there when we go looking for them. Hopefully there will be enough of them all left to cast Break Enchantment on. It's a bit of luck Irritator turned up when he did.
Oh, I should get to that then, I tell you what, I'll do a little report on what has gone on so far just to keep you up to date.

Well, Kitty, as I said, I arrived at the Lost Refuge, or the Last Refuge, or Wisphaven or whatever we are calling it, to find the place was infested with about a hundred lizard folk and stunk to high heaven. The gate house, where the non lizard folk were wasn't much better as it contained  a half orc and a gnome.

I was informed that Kithguard the prisoner that had been taken when we captured the place had died somehow. I think someone told my why, but I wasn't particularly interested. Just another dead bad guy.

So, it had been nine days since I'd seen the guys (DAY 226) and I caught up with Jiggles, Shump and Lavinia.

Lavinia was obviously distraught at her husband lazing around in another plane of existence and wanted to go sort it out straight away. But were we not enough to go in by ourselves so I talked to K the head of the lizard folk and arranged to have the word put out that the Vast Swamp was in danger of being destroyed and that those that wanted to help prevent that should come and see us.


DAY 236 (3 Uktar)(November)

So, the messengers were sent last night but I wouldn't expect anything to happen today anyway so I spent most of the day sleeping and recovering from my torments in the Plane of Shadow.

Lavinia seems to be unofficial 'Queen of the Lizard Folk' and is always ordering them about and getting this place into some kind of order. They don't seem to mind.

DAY 237 (4 Uktar)(November)

Today our first volunteer arrived, Irritator the Lizard Wizard. Well, in actual fact he's a kobold but the name seems to suit him. For a kobold he seems to be a decent enough sort of fellow and as I said he can cast Break Enchantment which is the perfect spell for sorting out lazy loafers who think they can get some time off just because they have been turned to stone. Is Silvanus finally smiling on us?

DAY 238 (5 Uktar)(November)

Yli Taruin Samarach the Xeth arrived today. Some sort of wizard or something. Seems a bit on the posh side so Lavinia took to him straight away.

Jiggles told the most disgusting joke I've ever heard. Yli blushed.

DAY 239 (6 Uktar)(November)

Cybil and Basil arrived today. A very odd couple indeed and for more than a moment we thought we were under attack again. Basil is a druid of the 'mud in the beard and bird's nest in the hair' variety that rides around on a giant serpent. Cybil, get this, is a medusa!

They carry on like some old married couple. They bicker all the time but I get the feeling they've know each other for decades. Cybil needs to be watched, I know what medusa are like, they are evil to the core. For some reason though she wants to help out and we sure need it.

Today Lavinia and myself agreed we had enough for a rescue party now and after a spot of lunch we set off back into the wretched Plane of Shadows via the portal.

The line up then was me, Lavinia, Shump, Basil, Cybil and Irritator.

Jiggles we left back at Wisphaven as a rear guard.

When we realised that we needed a boat we arranged for the lizard folk to make us three of them and we dragged them through and then down to the water. After that we made good progress, paddling away like we were all on some kind of holiday.


DAY 240 (7 Uktar)(November)

Travelling through the Plane of Shadows by boat is not my idea of fun, but we made good progress today and were not attacked by anything nasty.

DAY 241 (8 Uktar)(November)

Another day of uneventful travel. Everyone seems to be getting on ok. I mainly talk to Lavinia. Shump and Irritator keep to themselves. Basil talks to his snake mainly and sometimes Cybil comes and talk to us, but only so she can complain about Basil.

What sort of druid marries a medusa (assuming that's what the story is)? What is Rollo going to make of him? Maybe they'll be fine once they do a secret druid handshake or something, or maybe it will be hate at first sight.

DAY 242 (9 Uktar)(November)

Sometimes it can be pleasant coasting along by boat. Most of the time though its terrifying, watching the shadows move around just beyond the range of the lanterns.

Tonight at camp me and Lavinia talked to Cybil a bit more. I wouldn't say I'm warming to her exactly but I suppose you could say she is refreshingly honest. I mean, half the girls I was tutored with were total back stabbing bitches. At least with Cybil you can see the evil right in front of you. She even complimented me on my complexion this evening and I think she is envious of women with real hair.
When she said my skin looked lovely I was taken aback. On reflection though I suspect she was thinking about eating it.

It's just interesting to hear that she had all the same problems that me and Lavinia do (men mainly!) plus a few of her own. Don't worry, I've already made all the 'bad hair day' jokes, if looks could kill - phew!

In the right light (Plane of Shadows gloom is about right) Cybil is genuinely pretty. I doubt many people have had the chance to look them over as closely as me and Lavinia have, but she's unblemished and as healthy looking as anyone can be that lives in a swamp. She doesn't realise she's pretty either,  which adds to her 'charm'.

What am I talking about though? I need to keep reminding myself that she turns people to stone and steals their belongings for a living. As soon as we're done saving the swamp she'll probably be right at our throats. Ah well, we'll see, if the worst comes to the worst I'll take her out. Kitty, its been a while since you've seen me, but I'm totally bad ass these days!

DAY 243 (10 Uktar)(November)

Today we arrived at the Monastery again, the scene of all that fighting with the flappy things and the various monsters and bad guys. This is where Rollo turned into a rhino to batter down a door and Gurudor rode around on his horse.

The fighting between Basil and Cybil was really bad today. I was getting seriously fed up with their bickering and when they both decided to stop talking to each other it was a blessed relief.

We set up camp in the same rooms as last time and Basil went outside and slept with his snake.

When Yli and Cybil were on watch they saw some lights in the distance and woke us all up. By the time I arrived on the scene the lights had been identified as wisps. I hate these things!

They attacked us, four in total. Cybil took one out with her petrifying gaze but was badly zapped in return. I ran up and healed her. Yli tried to talk to the wisps, they do understand common apparently, but they just kept coming regardless.

Once they got inside, zipping around everywhere, Irritator started dishing out the magic missiles which helped a lot. Outside Basil summoned a polar bear (he must have a thing against crocodiles!) and it went and mauled one of the wisps.

Cybil petrified another of them, it landed on the ground with a clunk, and Yli killed another.  The fourth and final one went invisible and legged it.

Well, that had been a good job all round, considering that one wisp had held us up for days not so long ago. I'm glad Basil and Cybil are on our side, that's for sure.

Anyway, Kitty, that's you all up to date now. Hopefully we'll get to where Rollo and the others are tomorrow and get them sorted out. After that I don't know, Rollo would normally take charge but with Lavinia here now things are bound to be different, much as I like my sister-in-law she's a right bossy boots.

(G257 27/11/2015 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP, MI) 42

(G257 27/11/2015 via Roll20 - JF(GM), AP, MI) 42

DAY 112 (fri) cont....

The away team of the Caco continued to check through the stricken pirate vessel. After some scans and discovering the pirates rest room the headed down into areas that the scanners had shown to have life forms present.

The first two they came across were an injured pirate being attended to by a female. She shot at them and the return fire from the away team killed the female and stunned the injured pirate.

Another Kazon amazon was stunned when they got the drop on her as she frantically typed commands into a console at the bottom of the room.

After this they found a second set of cells where there were signs of a struggle and several Kazon bodies that had been ripped apart by claws.

Moving further in to the ship they were attacked by two more Kazon pirates and a large robot of some kind, being used as an attack bot by the pirates. The robot attacked with two large shotguns that it fired both at once, a terrible field of fire that ripped through anything standing in the way. As the fire fight erupted James relised it would be foolish to take the thing on directly and ran around behind it and jumped on its back, trying to interface to it to shut it down.

The pirates attempted to flank the Starfleet crew by going down a side corridor but Kirk spotted them and shot them.

Meanwhile James managed to interface to the robot using his multi-purpose interface finger in a handy robotic orifice. The two computers then fought it out, hacking and counter-hacking until James was victorious and the robot shut down.

The fire fight over they moved on, yet further into the pirate ship and discovered two bodies floating in the zero-g environment, seemingly frozen solid. This was worrying, but inexplicable, until they were charged by a very large and nasty looking alien creature. This was the being that had escaped from the other cell when the forcefields had been disabled.

Kirk didn't fancy being turned into a statue though and ordered everyone back to the Caco as quickly as they could. The beast chased them from one side of the ship to the other, breaking through doors as they shut them behind them like they were made from paper.

They made it to the airlock just in time. James had wanted to take the robot back with them but it was too cumbersome so had to be abandoned.

Once everyone was back on board the Caco, Kirk ordered the pirate ship to be shot to bits. He then communicated to the survivors who had fled the wreck in life pods and environment suits. The pirate captain and first officer preferred to await whatever fate befell defeated Kazon  pirates but four other's surrendered, a medic, a pirate and two amazons.

Once the prisoners were secured they then sifted through the wreckage and salvaged what parts were worth holding onto.

James, Kirk and Dell worked as quickly as they could to get the engines back on line and after a couple of hours the Caco began slowly making its way back to the Vanguard Spacestation. Further repairs to damaged systems were made as they went.