After returning to Fort Horizon from our failed expedition to the caves west of Fort Horizon (day 3), I began to suspect something wasn’t right about Mister Drespor. I had been introduced to him at New Joteph, and was told he was a well respected member of the university administration. Having only just arrived in the port I had no idea what the truth was. The very next day, I was taken in my sleep from my cabin in the fort and brought here. I was questioned by a dwarven man who looked almost exactly like Drespor, but he seemed different and a bit unhinged.
He tied me to a bed, and then he brought other halfling women into the room and left them with me. They, they seemed to be afraid of what might happen to them and obviously they were told to ask me questions about who I was, who you were, and what I was really up to. I managed to convinced them, at last, that I was who I said I was and then I learned that the person I was looking for, Pellido Derwinter, had been betrayed by the real Drespor, and he had abandoned her to her death in those same caves. It turned out that the man I met at New Joteph was actually one of Drespor’s underlings, posing as him, and he had instructions to meet anyone who came to New Joteph looking for Derwinter, and take them to the same cave and see to it that they met the same fate. Only this underling wasn’t exactly up to the task, and must have gotten frightened out of his wits when that giant bug appeared.
I learned from the women who are Drespor’s prisoners, that this underling was intending to try and redeem himself by capturing all of you and delivering you here to the prison for Drespor to deal with in whatever way he wanted upon his return, and that the real Drespor had set out for some impossible to reach city on the other side of the barrens to the north and east of here.
K’vin’s story
K’vin first explains to you the origin of his people. How they once ruled a vast empire across the central valleys of this great land, but that a catastrophe occurred nine thousand years ago when the Stars Rained down from the sky for what seemed like an entire year, devastating the world, and nearly destroying his people in the process. His people were scattered and thrown back into barbaric forms of existence, from which many of them never recovered. Meanwhile, humans, dwarves, elves and other races came to the world and forged new cities out of the destruction caused by the Rain of the Stars.
Since that time the lizard-folk have been in a constant struggle with the new people of this land that they call Numeria. Pushed to the very fringes of this new civilization, the Lizard-folk live out their lives desperately trying to recover their past. It was once such place, an almost perfectly untouched ancient temple, discovered just a few years ago by his small clan, that had lead K’vin and his people back toward prosperity, away from the people of Numeria. That was before Drespor came.
Drespor is a ruthless dealer in artifacts. He was once part of an exploratory team of WEAC members who set out to find anything of value in the wastelands north of Fort Horizon. His team discovered the Old Temple, and the small Lizard-folk community that lived there. Through his contact with the Lizard-folk Drespor learned of the existence of the Kingdom of Numeria (and the great city of Star Fall) and he often talked about someday being taken there, but the Lizard-folk often reminded him that their kind were not welcome in human populations of the world of Numeria, why it was even dangerous for them to show their faces in the city of Torch, due to those long ago years when that city was still small and many wandering bands of freebooters (Lizard-folk belonging to no tribe or clan) would raid the human’s farms and small communities. But Drespor was insistent, and demanded to be shown the town of Torch. He forced the Lizard-folk tribe leader to teach him the way across the barren landscape, and Drespor promised his friends that they would all be reach beyond their dreams once they found their way to the mysterious town of the strange artifacts.
Drespor reached Torch, but not one of his friends survived the return. Since that time Drespor has been collecting things in the desert and in the caves around Fort Horizon, taking these things to Torch himself when he has the time, or delivering them to his contacts in Mystic Valley to be held in secret until he can make another journey. When he travels, he travels with a small group of only his most loyal associates, in disguise as pilgrims of a great religion of Numeria.
Drespor learned much about Torch in his many trips there, but he was always weary of drawing the attention of the Techic League, a powerful cult of mages who watched over the town with a greedy eye. Drespor often spoke, to the women he fancied, of his dream of someday aligning himself with the Technic League, but only when he was sure he had enough power and influence that they would not ignore his demands.
The last thing my love told me she learned from Drespor was that a device he had discovered would give him the bargaining power he needed to demand a place of respect among the Technic League of Numeria. He left for Torch with his cohorts a week and a half ago, and must have reached Torch five days ago.
Drespor has men in his employment who pretend to be him, they look very much alike, and it is possible that the Drespor that the party has encountered is not the real Karl Drespor.
The Agent's Story
Agent Danvers and Agent Hughes know nothing about this world of Numeria, nor have they ever seen this place called Torch. They were sent to investigate the disappearance of a different IRS agent, and now it seems they suspect that agent was taken to Torch, by Drespor, who somehow must have discovered the secret of the agent’s identity. The first message about the discovery of artifacts was made by the missing agent in the port town of New Joteph. At that time, the agent mentioned meeting Karl Drespor and believed that this dwarf had helpful information about the artifacts that were turning up in the city. When the agent went to Fort Horizon with Drespor, he disappeared.
Agent Hughes and Agent Danvers have a vehicle called an “Air Raft” that will carry six people. It moves at high speeds and can cover a great distance in almost no time. They are willing to take you to the western edge of Torch, following K’vin’s description of what the town is like and where it should be, you should find it easily, but they will not go into the town as they both have had dealings with Drespor and know he will recognize them immediately, and if he has interrogated the other agent, even tortured him, Drespor will know that they are agents of the IRS and that could be a problem if the people of Torch learn about their nature. They will drop you off, with supplies and then return to Fort Horizon to pick up tents and more supplies, and then return to the same drop off point, west of Torch, and establish a base of operations there.
House Rule #1:
House Rule #1
Perception is now an Intelligence based Skill
Sense Motive as a skill is replaced by (and becomes a use of) a new Skill called
Intuition which is a Wisdom based Skill
You can use both these skills untrained
Intuition is a Class Skill for all Divine Magic using classes, Fighters, Monks, Cavaliers, Samurai, and Barbarians
Perception is a Class Skill for all Arcane Magic using classes, Rogues, Inquisitors, Alchemists, Gunslingers, and Ninjas
Both Skills can be used to collect information about what the Characters are experiencing, and for the most part will reveal the same kinds of information, but you might get to that information in a different way depending on which skill you rely on. You can always choose to use both skills in any situation when you think you need to,
but HERE IS the catch
You have to call out one Skill before the other
So either you rely on Perception first, followed by Intuition, or Intuition first followed by Perception (if you want to use both skills)
A failure or success on the first can affect the second. So be careful of your choices
Perception will tell your character what he/she can deduce based upon the “smarts” you have and what you see, hear, smell, touch, or taste. It tells your character that what he/she perceives IS what it appears to be. It can even clue you in as to how “hurt” a monster is in a combat situation.
Intuition will tell your character what he/she feels is “up with” any particular situation based on your characters past experiences and a gut feeling that something IS NOT what it appears to be.
Remember, Sense Motive is now what you do with the Intuition Skill, so if you want to be able to Sense Motives, put a rank into Intuition.
---Notes---
The land where this game is set is called Garicadia.
Garicadia is a Gnomish word (in the common tongue) that combines the slang expression “Guarantee” (an expression of satisfaction, hope, or the promise of good fortune) and the Halfling word “Arcadia” (a kind of utopia). It was originally pronounced “Gar-Oh-Kadia” by the first Gnomish sailors who discovered this land, but has evolved into the simple pronunciation of “Ger-A-Kadia”.
Although the land was discovered by a wayward Gnomish submariner/explorer, the development of a colony on the shores of this land was made possible by the efforts of the Aeromnian Navy. The Aeromnians (Halflings) have tried to encourage the settlers of this land to call it “New Normanland” after their greatest King, Andrew Gregory Norman II, but the name Garicadia remains more widely used.
There is a large town on the mouth of a river at a deep natural protected cove on the southwest coast of this land. The town is called “New Joteph”.
There are nine forts (six of which lie along a river, called the Horizon River) between New Joteph and Crystal Lake, to the east of New Joteph. From Crystal Lake there are two forts extending to the southeast up a gentle valley following the south fork of the Horizon River (simply called South Fork Creek). Where South Fork Creek originates, in a mountain pass at a natural spring, there is a wide flat glade (on the north side of the creek) and this is where Fort Horizon stands. Fort Horizon is the last settlement before the mountains climb to an elevation in excess of 9000 feet (just a few miles to the east of the fort). The mountains to the east, and the hills and plains to the north and south of Fort Horizon remain fundamentally unexplored.
The fort is constructed on the stone foundation of an ancient ruin.
Some of the stone structures are still intact up to one floor above ground (the gate and the Northwest tower).
The elevation at Fort Horizon is 2,680 feet.
The discovery of the ruins at Fort Horizon, has lead to that fort being more populated than most of the forts between it and the coast. It is rumored that there are more such ruins to the east, high in the mountains.
The fort, and all forts along the trail, are owned and operated by the “Western Alliance Exploratory Company” a business ventury owned in part by the Crown of Aeromnia, the Council of Ilgnorland, and sixteen merchant companies of The Western Shore Cooperative.
The population of the fort is:
[1] One platoon of volunteer soldiers led by a retired Major of the Aeromnian Army (Major Barcromb Finchly). There are three squads of nine soldiers. One squad is mounted on ponies. Including Major Barcromb, his family, and the wives and children of a few of these soldiers this is a total of 46 individuals (mostly Halflings, but there are Elves, Gnomes, Dwarves and Humans among the volunteers).
[2] There are 63 permanent residents of Fort Horizon, including a Priest of the Aerominan religion and a Priestess of the Elven Religion (who share a common house of worship*), a respected Alchimist, a Skilled Blacksmith, 5 other skilled craftsmen (a carpenter, a wainwright, a potter, a stone mason, and a weaver), and assorted other individuals engaged in selling of goods, arranging for the export of resources from Fort Horizon, and labor work such as farm and field hands and construction labor.
[3] There is a Tavern/Inn called “The Shady Dragon Inn” and it is operated by an Elven Couple, Emmitio and Delouse Maliozz
[4] There is a General Store (which also has space for rent by the hour for study and repair of small artifacts recovered from around the fort) and it also doubles as the Fort’s Library (there are Ninety Three books)
[5] There is a large “Meeting Hall” (celebrations such as birthdays and weddings are affairs that bring everyone from the fort to the Meeting Hall).
[6] At any given time there will be 5-20 travelers either arriving or setting out to leave Fort Horizon. To accommodate these people the fort has several small “Cabins” that can be rented, by the day or by the week
