FR: Quest for the Forgotten Key IC (Sequoia)

[knewsom]

It was spring in Cormyr, and the wild grass that grew in green clumps and waves at the side of the Old Traveler's Road blew in the gentle morning breeze, re-grown now from a long cold winter - soft fluffy white clouds dotted a rich blue sky, and the sun warmed your skin, as you walked in and out of its patches dotting the well worn ruts of the road on the way to Ulryn's cottage. Perhaps you read the sign posted outside a few of the local taverns, or perhaps you simply heard the rumor that Ulryn was looking for a group of stouthearted adventurers to reclaim a lost item of some sentimental value, either way, you decided that the 500 gold reward sounded more than worth the trouble and headed to the north side of town, outside the city walls as directed. The sun lazily rose in the sky, and you arrived at the cottage at about 10:00 in the morning, as per the request on the advertisement. Upon sighting the cottage, you noticed that there was already a bit of a crowd gathering outside Ulryn's humble home. Assuming that he must know for sure that so many people have gathered outside, you didn't bother knocking on the door. The crowd continued to grow larger and more diverse. Mostly Humans, but certainly a couple Dwarves, Halflings, and Elves could be found amongst the crowd, as well as some other individuals whose origins you couldn't quite place. At about 11:00, people were beginning to get restless, and some of the adventurers and fortune seekers turned and left.

"I didn't come here to waste my whole morning," grumbled one short, balding, but burly looking monk.

"The old fool probably forgot that he posted an ad in the first place," spat a nimble looking half-elf.

"Why should I bother? There are so many others, there's no way I'd get noticed in this crowd," sighed a downtrodden gnome.

As the group thinned, you found yourself beginning to wonder if the trip was really worth it, the warmth of the day increasing as the sun now approached it's zenith.

[The Great Skenardo]

Tebb Hokk
With the implacable patience of those unburdened by too much intellect, Teb Hokk continues to squat on the now matted turf outside the cottage like an iron toad. Ark had explained to him very carefully why they were here; the paper sign thing told him that there was a man looking for adventurers. And knights, he'd been assured. In return, the man would give...five pouches each with 100 golden coins! This is how Ark had explained it, anyways.
Teb reaches up with a meaty hand and scratched at his sideburns, finally resting a finger speculatively on one of the yellowed tusks that juts from his broad lower jaw. Huh. Five pouches. Hundred coins. How many would that be, if they were all in one pouch? The question occupied Teb's mind for a while, but with an internal sigh, he put it aside. No way to be sure without counting them out. But it would be more than one hundred golden coins, and that was still a lot.

[Ozzy_G]

Ark, on the other hand, paces restlessly up and down. A young, short, slim man, with only the tiniest hint of a moustache above his lips, he stomps along in huge leather boots, far too big for him. White hair peaks from under his hood, above red eyes... obviously he's got to into the mysterious adventurer thing, because the cowled robe he wears, probably over some armour from the way it bulks out, is probably far too hot for this weather. Eventually he walks over and sits down next to his much friend. They make an odd pair, as Ark is more than a foot shorter than Teb, and probably half the weight.
Ark sighs. Beshaba, how long are we going to have to wait? His voice is that of a teenager, higher-pitched than a man.

[The Great Skenardo]

Tebb
Tebb glances at the red-eyed youth, and shrugs.
"Dunno. But hey, time don't cost me none, and it don't hurt none." His voice is deep and gruff, almost as if his tongue stumbled across even simple syllables.
"Spookum guy's gotta show up sometime, right?" He sounds almost hopeful, but then lapses into silence. Quietly, and almost automatically, Teb reaches a hand behind himself and pulls out a small heavy-looking leather pouch. His huge fingers fumble a bit with the drawstrings, but then he spills an assortment of coins out into his broad palm. Still hunched over, Teb furrows his brow in concentration as he carefully moves coins from one pile to another, lips moving silently as he counts.
Ark sometimes rolled his eyes at that, but Teb knew it was an important skill, and if you don't practice stuff, you forget.

[mauslin]

Fatha

It's too hot

Fatha stands at the edge of the crowd, grumbling to herself about the heat. She knew it wasn't any hotter then a summer's day at home, but it felt hot. It was also too dry, and too dusty. The idea that it was only going to get worse over the next few months was down right depressing.

She'd tried tying her long black hair back, and wearing her sleaveless blouse with her summer-weight skirt she to keep cool, but it really hadn't helped much. Looking at the overdressed man beside the hulking half orc, she couldn't help but shake her head in amazement.

Eventually she slumps down, laying down in the grass beside her happily grazing mule with her eyes closed, waiting for something to happen.

[GryffonDurime]

Chanda

A young woman sashays towards the cabin from one of the roadways, letting her bare toes clench and unclench around the fresh grass, as if each blade was a tiny miracle. She brushes back her gently curling black hair and basks for a moment in the temperate beauty around her--her wide-eyed look betrays her as a novice in travels as she takes her place among the growing throng. She lowers herself into a squat, letting a few fingers rest on the soil to brush against the grass.

"So many people...do all notices circulate this quickly in Cormyr?" she asks no one in particular, butchering the region's name as only a foreigner can.

[Ozzy_G]

More women than I expected, comments Ark to his brutish companion. Maybe some of them will get captured by monsters or something and you can save them, eh?

[dgray]

Svanna leans back against a small tree near the house. As she looks around she think to herself Quite an interesting bunch we have here. She slowing slides to the ground, sitting with her back to the tree and begins to play with her long platinum blonde braid . She doesn't always have much patience for things but when ever there is a person in need she love to help out.

[The Great Skenardo]

Teb
The half-orc turns his head to regard his companion for a moment, lips moving silently. Like dawn breaking across a craggy mountain, a toothy grin leaps onto his face. "Yeah!" he says, exitedly. His grin takes upon a shade of slyness as he very slightly nudges Ark in the ribs with his elbow.
"An' maybe you can...uh...can..." A flicker of puzzlement creeps across the face of the hide-clad colossus. "Uh. Yeah!"
Teb Hokk turns back to his coins, and stares blankly at them for a moment.
Guh?
He had lost count. Oh, well; more practice.

[knewsom]

The sun drifted into the afternoon, and still nobody came to the door. More people continued to give up and leave, while you all waited...




...and waited.





.....and waited.





........and waited.



By this point, almost everyone had left, and just when you were about to give up and leave, you heard.....

[knewsom]

Fatha, Svanna and Chanda heard a barely stifled laugh coming from the direction of the gable directly above the porch. When your eyes finally found the spot that the now rolling laughter was coming from, there appeared a well aged Elf sitting atop the gable - you could swear there was nothing there at all earlier.

"Ohh, I just couldn't take it anymore. The five of you were so good to wait - patience is such an important virture you know!"

Ulryn snapped his fingers and dissapeared again, leaving the gable empty, and only a moment later the front door of the cottage opened up, his thin form reappaering in the doorway, a hint of a laugh still on his face.

"Well, are you going to lay in the sun all day or are you going to come inside?"

[The Great Skenardo]

Teb Hokk
Teb scratches his sideburns again, and then carefully places the coins back in the worn leather pouch, replacing that in turn amidst the amalgamation of hides that he wears.
With a grunt, Teb straightens up. and up. and up. Stretching out his muscles, Teb's coarse black hair seems to scrape the sky as he stands roughly six and a half feet tall. After tapping the gigantic double axe slung across his back, Teb waits expectantly for Ark.

[dgray]

Svanna picks herself up from the tree she was leaning against and walks toward the open door. She always found Elves intriguing, and was curious to see what this elf was in need of that he was hiring adventuerers.

[GryffonDurime]

Chanda

Startled for a moment, Chanda composes herself and smiles at her unwitting virtue before pulling herself upwards and brushing off the stray bits of dirt and grass. She claps her hands together softy and follows the aged elf inside, a strange, blade-tipped cord wound tightly at her side.

"I take it then, that this has been some kind of test?" she asks him politely as everyone assembles.

[Ozzy_G]

Let me do the talking, Teb, hisses Ark grumpily as he gets up, throwing his backpack on. He looks ridiculous next to Teb, like a midget, he's a whole foot shorter, and much thinner. He clumps along after the others in his huge brown boots. He smiles cheerfully at Ulryn. Good morning sir!

[The Great Skenardo]

Teb
"Yup." Teb drifts along behind after Ark like a hairy iceberg. Ark always does the talking, which was okay. Teb got to do all the fun stuff. Like hitting things. With other things.

[knewsom]

The old elf raised an eyebrow as the silly looking Ark walked through the door, and shot a knowing smile at Chanda when she asked if it was all a test.

"My dear, everything in this life is a test, or so it would seem. That was just my way of screening out the bad apples. Make yourselves at home in the parlor, I need to fetch something from upstairs."

You sat on musty old couches and trunks in a cluttered sitting area by a hearth that must have raged constantly in the winter months, but that now sat cold and unburning. The room was cluttered beyond belief, with bits of spell components, prescious metals, gems, paintings, sticks, stones, and countless baubles scattered throughout the room on dusty shelves. The room, and even the whole cabin had a very warm and familiar feel about it, and you immediately felt comfortable here. He skittered down the narrow stair hiding something behind his back, and approached the group.

"The reason I have called you here today is to fetch an item of mine which has great personal importance to me."

Ulryn brought the item from behind his back, and you all saw before you a strange looking box with a single drawer. It was made out of wood (oak, you presumed), and had a beautiful golden inlay pattern. The handle was detailed and as ornate as the drawer and the box itself. The box had no lid, and it appeared that the only access to the interior was through the drawer.

"You see, I have no way of knowing what I've put in this drawer, and the key is what's missing. This is no ordinary drawer or box - it has properties beyond imagination - it's name, is the Drawer of Forgetting."

[GryffonDurime]

Chanda

"I can imagine forgetting," Chanda claims, her tone slightly defensive. Even still, she examines the box from her well-worn perch.

"I hate to ask the question, knowing that it will most likely end badly for us all but...do you have any idea where the key is? Generally speaking?"

[The Great Skenardo]

Teb
Teb occupies himself by gazing around the cluttered room, the sofa he occupies creaking under his weight as he shifts from side to side.
His beady eyes alight on some of the gems stacked on the dusty shelves.
Gradually, however, he drags his attention back to the conversation at hand. Listening carefully to the explaination, Teb remains silent, apparently taking to heart Ark's admonition to leave the talking to him.

[Ozzy_G]

Ark perches next to the huge Teb, his over-sized boots swinging back and forth. He still has his hood up, revealing only his face and some strands of pure white hair. Well sir, fear not, for Ark Noble, the manliest and most debonair adventurer in all of Cormyr, is here to help you! With my mighty companion Teb, and these beautiful ladies, he gestures to the others, we should have no difficulty locating this key... if you can give us some clues as to where to start looking, as the vision of beauty here just pointed out. Of course, I'm afraid that, while I'm perfectly happy to do this job to help you, I'm afraid we will incur certain expenses. There's lodging, food, horses... He starts to tick them off on his short, delicate fingers. Feed for the horses, shoeing for the horses, stabling for the horses, bribes, potions of curing and repair work on our armour and weapons if we get in trouble, boot repair, henchman pay, porter pay, tax, scrolls of magic necessary to use, replacement for lost or damaged items, and miscellaneous expenses. I hope I don't offend, but I'm afraid that me and Teb are simple folk, and not currently possessed of the sort of resources that would support us on such a mission. He licks his lips slightly, and looks at the Elven wizard expectantly.

[dgray]

Svanna snickered a little bit at the overly confident man. While i may not be able to put it as eloquintly as my appearnt companion here we will need finacing of some sort. I will definatly help find your key thought. She said to the elf

[The Great Skenardo]

Teb
Fifteen, Teb reflects. A good number. More than the magic ten, but less than twenty, which is where numbers really start being large. Yup.

Of course, he thought, It depends on what you're counting. If you try and count sand (there was a story like that, wasn't there? A knight who had to count all the sand on a beach), then twenty is not a big number at all. Maybe, Teb thought, the bigger something is, its large number goes down. Five elephants is a lot. Five mice is... kinda a lot.
Teb's massive brow furrows as the conversation streams around him like a babbling brook flowing around a big heavy rock.
What about gems? Even small gems, five is a really big number. Teb shakes his head eventually. No way to be sure unless you count it out for each kind of thing.

[mauslin]

Fatha

Blinking at Ark Noble's long speech, Fatha thinks briefly, then blurts out
"Wait, where are we supposed to go? If we're not going far, we probably won't need all that. Though, I suppose if the key was nearby, you'd have gone to get it yourself. Hmm . . ."

Fatha pauses, then hesitantly adds,
"It is the missing key that you are asking us to find, correct? So you can open the drawer?"

[knewsom]

Ulryn blinked for just a moment, barely stifling a snicker at Ark's soliloquy before raising an eyebrow at Chanda and looking at her intensely.

"Ah yes, you can imagine forgetting. I'm sure you all can imagine forgetting. An object perhaps, or where you put it. A birthday, or the favorite food of a loved one. But can you imagine forgetting whole stretches of your life? Days? Weeks? MONTHS, just GONE in an instant? People coming to talk to you whom you've never laid eyes on, treating you with familiarity, but it doesn't ring a bell. Can you imagine forgetting a lover? A friend? A birth? A death? The power of the drawer is deep and unpredictable. Generally you will lose any memories attached directly or sometimes even indirectly to whatever object is placed inside. It can be a great blessing, or a terrible curse."

He looked to Ark and then to Mauslin.

"You'll each recieve a nominal sum for expenses, but I will also help equip you for this journey. My many years of wizardry and adventuring have left me with a great many things for which I have very little use. Please, tell me a bit about each of you - your strengths, your weaknesses, so I might better know what would help you, and so that each of you might get to know each other a bit better. The journey may not be incredibly far, but it could take some time, and is bound to be difficult. If you have any specific needs, let me know, and I'll try to meet them. My cottage may look small, but believe me, I've a great many more places to keep things than it would appear. As for why I haven't fetched the key myself, I am too old to be galavanting about, looking for things. That is best left to a younger crowd. And yes, I do have a general idea of where would be a good place to start looking. The last memory I have of the key was the feeling of it in my pouch as I felt for gold to pay the inkeeper in the town of Forrest Gate to the west of Arabel, set amongst the King's Forrest."

[dgray]

Svanna thought for a momment about Ulryn's request. What was her strengths and weaknesses.
"My name is Svanna Leppr. I am a paldin from the north like my father was before me. In his honor I carry this Rapier" she said pointing to her left hip. Her family crest glinting from the hilt."I have left home to seek out my own life and stories to tell my family when I return home someday. As well as being skilled with the sword i am also a decent marksman with the bow. " Svanna bowed slightly at the end of her introduction, yet not taking her eye off Ulryn or the others in the room

[Ozzy_G]

Well I, says Ark, standing up straight, and still only as tall as the sitting Tok, am Ark Noble, the most dashing and handsome adventurer in all of Cormyr, if not Faerun itself! With my trusty blade and powerful magic, not to mention my witty repartee, I right wrongs, go on mighty quests, and other things along those lines. I'm accompanied by my trusty companion Tok, he says gesturing to the hulking brute, a chivalrous knight who saves beautiful monsters from ravening princesses, and such like. Generally through the masterful strategy of hitting things, with other things. Normally the other thing being an axe, but he's flexible, he can use tables, drunken dragons, wise-cracking halflings, and other simple tools. Still, it's not always the best of tactics, which is why he's teamed up with a genius like me. My astounding strategic skills, not to mention my enchantments and illusions, ensure victory. As he speaks, he makes grand sweeping gestures, as if he were reading a speech on weighty matters before a great audience. Of course, some claim enchantments and illusions are rather weak forms of magic, but you see, he says assuming a martyr's expression, I wish only good and happiness to all, so I use peaceful ways to avoid unnecessary suffering by my enemies. For, if I were to attack them violently, no doubt I would rip them to bloody shreds, and we don't want to do that in front of ladies.
His speech done, he sits down again.
He hisses under his breath to Tok, Do you know where this Arabel place is?

[GryffonDurime]

Chanda

Chanda looks toward the group of them from her couch and stands, a bit nervous after the pomp of Ark's introduction.

"My name is Chanda Az'rell. My...uhm...family is from Calimshar; my mother is an archmage and my sisters are an aspiring sorcerers and a prelate of Mystra...and I can just do things," she offers, her uneasy tone betraying her lack of experience. "Not magic," she adds hastily with a light shake of her head, "but something...I don't know. Something else."

She lowers herself back down to the couch, tracing the spiral of the whip hanging from her belt with a thumb in nervous habit.

[The Great Skenardo]

Teb
Teb nods happily along as Ark delivers his speech in his usual extemporaneous idiom. When the question is posed to him, however, his face screws up into a grimace of concentration
untrained knowledge:Geography - (1d20-2)[8]
He spreads his hands helplessly. In a stage whisper easily heard by everyone else in the room, Teb whispers back "Ark! You f'rgot to tell 'em how good I can count!"

[mauslin]

Fatha

Feeling increasingly shy, Fatha shifts nervously before speaking,

"My name is Fatha Hmir. I am from Rasheman, on a journey to the outside world to prove my adulthood, as is the tradition of my family.
I am versed in the arts of magic, though my magic tends to be of a spontaneous nature."

After her short speech, Fatha breaks eye contact, and gazes mournfully at the door. It was uncomfortable introducing herself to so many new people at once.

[Ozzy_G]

Ark grins, and starts to gabble in badly accented Rashemi at Fatha.

Spoiler

Show

Rasheman, eh! You say you're a mage, and you're a woman, but you don't have a mask? Aren't the Rashemi mage women supposed to wear masks?