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Player's Guide Places People History Beliefs

 
 


Stairway To Gustvan
We make our way to the weapon shop our prisoner told us about. There are crossed swords over the door, and tool marks about then, as if someone had tried to pry them from their mounts. Aparently desperation and greed know no bounds here. The man behind the counter is most definitely Bren. He looks sickly, thin and pale, with sores covering his skin. His stink prevades the shop and makes being there nearly intolerable. The weapons in this shop seem out of place. They are of far too fine quality to be sold by such a dreg, in such a poor area of town. Also, every weapon has the same rune emblazened on one side. It looks as if it was forged there and thus is part of the weapon, but I could be mistaken.

We ask Bren about the prices and are astonished to find how inexpensive they are. These are well made, well balanced tools, and he is charging half what anyone would elsewhere. Thankfully, he is also very forthcoming with information of the weapons true owner. He tells us a man named Krass Gustvan, a very powerful man within the Free Nations, sold them to him. This may just be the lead we were looking for.

Now we are at a quandry. Do we take advantage of these inexpensive weapons? Tempting as the weapons are, we all refrain from purchasing them. There has been talk of necromacy within our investigation, and we do not wish to bring ourselves any ill luck by using one of these occursed blades. For all we know, these swords steal a mans soul when he is slain... a terrifying thought to say the least.

Vincent knows where this Krass Gustvan lives, and will take us to his keep as soon as he handles a little business. We travel back to his home where he drags forth a chest from a dark corner. Opening it reveals a beautiful set of ornate plate mail armor, which we help him to don. He takes down the sword and shield from above the mantle, and now fully dressed in his regalia, looks exactly like a Legion General. Aparently the uniform has not changed in many years. We gear up, heal up, and head out.

Krass Gustvans house is a fortress. It stands three stories in height, and is surrounded by a ten foot tall stone wall. I have seen fortresses without such security. As we make our way through the front gate, we realize the guards are not men, but Ogres. Three to be precise. We manage to get their attention, and kill them without making too much of a racket. We proceed quietly inside his keep.

The keep is spacious, tall and primarily made of stone. We make our way through the rooms of the first floor, being careful to be silent. We encounter no resistance, save a locked door. The door gives way easily, we are in a storehouse of sorts. The room is full of crates, all of which bear the Focasian mark found on the weapons. These are our crates. This is our charge. Now we only need to destroy them.

From the stairway in the rooms corner comes the sound of footfalls. We are prepared for this fight, and it is over before it begins. The men lay dead all about the spiral staircase. I take point as we venture up the bloody stairs.

The stairs creek under our weight, and as I round a corner on the second story, I see Lester. Now I did not know his name was Lester at the time, I discoverd this much later. At the time, Lester was simply the man with the steel shield and fine battleaxe who is trying to take my head off. In a flurry of hammer blows and sword strikes, Lester falls. For being only one man, outnumbered and overpowered, he put up a valient fight, but he never made it off the stairs from the third floor.

The second floor contains lavish bed chambers, guards quarters, and a seperate staircase from which Lester was decending. Anna scrounges around and comes up with a large sum of gold from one of the bed chambers. If it were not for the ill-gotten means by which it was aquired, I would not wish to partake of it. However Aesia knows her warriors need to eat, and this money will be used for means of good now instead of evil.

Money matters aside, we head up the third flight of stairs.

From the journal of Rothgar

Contributor: Chris Kordella