To His Lordship, the Viscount Wilfrick of Verbobonc,
Per my previous letter, here is the tale from Runholf the Dandy, in its entirety:
"There was an elf not too long ago. In fact it took a few days for the news to finally reach my hall. He had arrived in port, all by himself, sailing in long-dead King Villenea's funeral longboat, still intact, still seaworthy. I would expect no less from our shipbuilders but time does its toll on everything. Especially those things we no longer thought existed."
"On the fourth day I summoned for him after learning him spending an obscene amount of gold on foreign clothes, jewelry, books, and whores."
"A LOT of whores."
"His name was Talanth Blackash. When my men weren't violently jostling him, he was surveying my great room. His Elven clan name he gave sounded like he came from an Elven village beyond the Andrafjorden, but by his darker complexion, he could easily pass for one of your vile elves of Agenmoor."
"He explained that he had been kidnapped, set in shackles, and used upon a pirates slaver ship, but not a longboat, a full sized vessel, like the merchant classes!"
"A squall hit the ship crashed into many pieces across the rocks. With little shelter from the elements, he freed himself from his dead companions and ventured through the beach on into the rocky forest."
"He and a woman name Mellinda rescued an old man from a skirmish between orc pirates, looking to loot some temple, and goblins pirates, looking to set up a new stronghold."
The old man, Keestake, was apparently a resident of the island, and had been running for his life from the newly arrived orcs and goblins. He led the pair safely around the island."
"The next morning, the skies were still brewing another torrential downpour, but they had enough time to go to the old temple of the slain King. Mellinda surprisingly spoke volumes of our dear goddess Freya, and also appeared to possess knowledge on the Hak-Kubra Orc Pirates that she hadn't had the night before. "
"Despite the old man betraying them, and hordes of orcs guarding the temple and catacombs underneath, the duo successfully found a ship within the tomb of the King and escaped before the ill winds of Freya sundered the island."
"With only two of them aboard, they could only manage to sail east.... to Valgard. There, Mellinda, got in contact with her father's agents and Talanth was given a sizable reward."
"He hired three men to help him nurse the ship here to Dremman, and possibly further, but when my subjects spotted their arrival, two of those men were dead, and another jumped ship with a bag of the treasure."
Runholf gave a reward for the longship and a few items aboard.
"I could sentence him for death for looting a grave, but he seemed to be telling enough of the truth."
News had already been relayed to Good King Harald Gudmunssen, the Jarl of Jarls in Norrvik. Everyone believed he would be pleased with his "discovery."
"The elf had made mention that he had befriended two malcontents in town: One was a fine woodsman and forest guide and a simpleton in other. The other one was a drunkard with a very big sword. He wished to return to them as they might find their true luck far far away."
"I granted shelter to the elf, but the day before he was to depart, he disappeared with a few relics, and an enchanted war shield missing, right of the walls."
"I'm not quite sure how he picked that very common-looking magic shield from the others hanging around my great room."
With that, he offered the same shelter to me for two nights, with the caveat, "If any of these shields so much as fall off the pegs we hang them on, you're a dead man."
A solemn stillness smothered the room until one of his older lieutenants burst out in an infectious laughter.
But I'm certainly keeping my distance from any and all shields.
Your Servant,
Elsderth Millbottom
DM's Notes: As I compile the adventures of my original campaign in this correspondence form, after 28 years of nostalgia and memory loss, I have forgotten much more than I remember.
N4: Treasure Hunt was NOT my first module I ran. That is coming very soon. But I actively remember running at least one player through the 0-level module and at least one new PC it created was very similar to another elf character run in the campaign by the same player. Like other mythologies, the truths were merged to form the myth of Talanth Blackash, Elven fighter/magic-user/thief.
Here also marks the first appearance by two legendary characters, remembered only as the Stupid Ranger and the Drunken Warrior. For posterity, and the geographic changes, I've dubbed their campaign names Gulli Odmusson (Drunken Warrior) and Colgredd (Stupid Ranger). They will be the stalwart allies of Talanth from this point forward.
Next: #8 - Accusations and Hearsay
Per my previous letter, here is the tale from Runholf the Dandy, in its entirety:
"There was an elf not too long ago. In fact it took a few days for the news to finally reach my hall. He had arrived in port, all by himself, sailing in long-dead King Villenea's funeral longboat, still intact, still seaworthy. I would expect no less from our shipbuilders but time does its toll on everything. Especially those things we no longer thought existed."
"On the fourth day I summoned for him after learning him spending an obscene amount of gold on foreign clothes, jewelry, books, and whores."
"A LOT of whores."
"His name was Talanth Blackash. When my men weren't violently jostling him, he was surveying my great room. His Elven clan name he gave sounded like he came from an Elven village beyond the Andrafjorden, but by his darker complexion, he could easily pass for one of your vile elves of Agenmoor."
"He explained that he had been kidnapped, set in shackles, and used upon a pirates slaver ship, but not a longboat, a full sized vessel, like the merchant classes!"
"A squall hit the ship crashed into many pieces across the rocks. With little shelter from the elements, he freed himself from his dead companions and ventured through the beach on into the rocky forest."
"He and a woman name Mellinda rescued an old man from a skirmish between orc pirates, looking to loot some temple, and goblins pirates, looking to set up a new stronghold."
The old man, Keestake, was apparently a resident of the island, and had been running for his life from the newly arrived orcs and goblins. He led the pair safely around the island."
 |
| Orc and goblin pirates? How quaint.... |
"Despite the old man betraying them, and hordes of orcs guarding the temple and catacombs underneath, the duo successfully found a ship within the tomb of the King and escaped before the ill winds of Freya sundered the island."
"With only two of them aboard, they could only manage to sail east.... to Valgard. There, Mellinda, got in contact with her father's agents and Talanth was given a sizable reward."
"He hired three men to help him nurse the ship here to Dremman, and possibly further, but when my subjects spotted their arrival, two of those men were dead, and another jumped ship with a bag of the treasure."
Runholf gave a reward for the longship and a few items aboard.
"I could sentence him for death for looting a grave, but he seemed to be telling enough of the truth."
News had already been relayed to Good King Harald Gudmunssen, the Jarl of Jarls in Norrvik. Everyone believed he would be pleased with his "discovery."
"The elf had made mention that he had befriended two malcontents in town: One was a fine woodsman and forest guide and a simpleton in other. The other one was a drunkard with a very big sword. He wished to return to them as they might find their true luck far far away."
"I granted shelter to the elf, but the day before he was to depart, he disappeared with a few relics, and an enchanted war shield missing, right of the walls."
"I'm not quite sure how he picked that very common-looking magic shield from the others hanging around my great room."
With that, he offered the same shelter to me for two nights, with the caveat, "If any of these shields so much as fall off the pegs we hang them on, you're a dead man."
A solemn stillness smothered the room until one of his older lieutenants burst out in an infectious laughter.
But I'm certainly keeping my distance from any and all shields.
Your Servant,
Elsderth Millbottom
DM's Notes: As I compile the adventures of my original campaign in this correspondence form, after 28 years of nostalgia and memory loss, I have forgotten much more than I remember.
N4: Treasure Hunt was NOT my first module I ran. That is coming very soon. But I actively remember running at least one player through the 0-level module and at least one new PC it created was very similar to another elf character run in the campaign by the same player. Like other mythologies, the truths were merged to form the myth of Talanth Blackash, Elven fighter/magic-user/thief.
Here also marks the first appearance by two legendary characters, remembered only as the Stupid Ranger and the Drunken Warrior. For posterity, and the geographic changes, I've dubbed their campaign names Gulli Odmusson (Drunken Warrior) and Colgredd (Stupid Ranger). They will be the stalwart allies of Talanth from this point forward.
Next: #8 - Accusations and Hearsay
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