Aporeu chronicles Issue 52: The swansong of Brindlo Wanderfoot
Stories from the adventurers
This week
How the great Brindlo Wanderfoot got found again.The swansong of Brindlo Wanderfoot by Heubald
Recently I, Heubald Wanderfoot, son of Brindlo Wanderfoot saw a notice that the Adventurer’s Guild was looking for adventurers to find Brindlo Wanderfoot, who has been missing for the past three months. Of course, I signed up for the important mission! I was joined for this by Elena, a dear friend, Cahir, Idonis and Aetvir. The latter two were quite new to the guild, so I hoped there would not be too much risk. We met up in the guild hall, and after getting to know each other a little we went to the office of Lornan. He told us that Brindlo had left a small chest with him before he left for his mission, to be opened if he was gone from Arnheim for more than 3 months. The chest contained a reward and the documents needed to post a quest with the guild, various documents, and a music box. As the music box was opened it started playing music, and over the music I heard… I heard the voice of my father, who I had not seen those long months. The voice explained the box was part of his contingency plan. That he had gone to the city of Taviacen because of a persistent part of his past. His voice also explained that the box contained his last will and testament, and contained… something…. To tell his children if he was dead. Considering my eagerness to find him we decided to rent horses for a few days. However the stable master had been at one of my recent performances and had been so impressed that he rented them to us for free. So soon we were underway! After a few hours we encountered a caravan coming towards us, worn down people on worn down carts. They told us they had fled Taviacen to head to Arnheim, because the city had been taken over by criminals. It seemed the city was a living hell, and the mayor sold the city over to the thieves for about half a year now. Could this have something to do with why Brindlo went there? We thanked them for their information, and I gave them some gold and rations to give them a better start, before we headed onto Taviacen. Once a wealthy city it now seems to be very much in decay with criminals on all of the streets, trying to sell something called ‘shrooms’. Through talking with different people, we discovered that there are a lot of rumors about the mayor of Taviacen and his relationship with the rotten kings. This, however, was not why we were there and while did do some investigating we soon found leads more promising. People saw Brindlo Wanderfoot, who performed at the Green Unicorn, 3 months ago. It seems after he left another bard, a gnome named Bori, took over and did alright, but not as good as Brindlo. When he was in town, Brindlo was reported to be moody, didn't talk much, drank a lot… The last night he was seen talking with a big woman in heavy armor with grey skin, appearing like someone who had been dead for at least a few weeks. At the Green Unicorn we spoke with the owner, a half orc woman named Heru who was very clear the place was safe from the criminals, that she threw any who tried to come in, back out. She told us what she knew about the time Brindlo spent there. On stage a gnome with a fancy mustache and colorful hair was playing. Of course, the famed Bori. After he finished playing he spoke to the crowd about the state of the city, and told them that people could come to the realm of the Forest King. Those who wanted to come would have to come to the south gate at midnight. Elena mentioned the underkings, in the city were the rotten kings. So many kings, almost like people have an ingrained desire for nobility to return, but I digress. Elena and me performed for a while at the tavern while the others did some more investigating outside, and heard more info about Brindlo leaving with that grey-skinned woman, out of the south gate and into the woods. Of course there was too much coincidence and we had to go there. Before midnight I gave my friends a rousing speech, and then we went on our way to the south gate, meeting up with people from Taviacen who wanted to leave. Soon the gnome appeared and we went underway.
It seemed that Bori looked at me in a strange way, and he seemed worried or guilty. I had a hard time reading him. Eventually we came upon a bridge where he took us aside, telling us the Forest King might not have a place for us. Of course we persisted, and after we moved from the group he explained that he knew what had happened to Brindlo, and that he was being forced to lead people to the woods where they were killed and robbed.
He told us the grey skinned woman who we had heard about was some sort of an undead, a revenant or something, and that she had some grudge against Brindlo. She was a paladin of Torm, and she had returned for that grudge. The gnome also told us that he had a ring that, if she wears it when dying, would cause her to stay dead. He told us the people would be mugged by a group of 5, the ‘forsaken swords’.
The gnome Bori disguised us as commoners, and we followed him to a cabin in the woods, where we were indeed mugged. After a brief but harsh fight we defeated them, killing four and capturing the fifth to give us answers. After talking with her, we decided to try and defeat their leader, the revenant Camilla. We set a trap for her in the cabin, and Bori lured her up. I managed to disguise myself as the leader of the forsaken kings to get close enough and put the ring on her finger, however afterwards the fight did not go as we had imagined. She was a lot stronger than we thought, and managed to send fear through us. In the end we had to flee, killing the last of the forsaken kings on our way out.
We now know who she is however, and will ensure we will find a way to deal with her.
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