Unless there was some "need to know" clearance around such intel, the soldiers would almost certainly freely provide that type of intel on the Khords to Arathea.  

Bladesingers are often given missions to move around - and out of - the empire.  Sharing info to make a bladesinger's mission successful would be an expected duty.  No one would think twice about it.

I'll point out that Dak is adept at moving around and gathering information.  But also, there may be no need for skullduggery - bladesingers are viewed not only as individual warriors, but as emissaries and leaders.  A bladesinger would be welcomed in any sylvari military installation and be treated with respect and deference.  

Arathea might not have the authority to, say, requistition troops without Imperial orders, but she would be well within her rights to ask for intel on how things operated.  I.e. the soldiers would likely freely share things like patrol routes and such.

Our mage would be familiar with with kormaguli.  These are a series of ancient magical rings that store and amplify spell energies.  They are highly prized and exceedingly rare.  

The liunelini are legendary sapphires.  They are huge and exceptionally valuable.

The term her’i’coia translates to "having power over life".  

Just to be clear, going to Sendria via Felarin would require a pretty significant diversion to the south.  

One observation - the north route, i.e. through the Khordal Mountains, would take you mostly due west from your current location.  Not a straigth shot to Sendria, but closer than a southern detour.

Y'all go wherever you want to go.  Just giving the options.

Added them, thanks!  Please by all means, let me know of ANY words or phrases that need to be added to the first page here.

Yep, so many posts.  

Our resident ranger has some plans, and if he gets what he wants, it may allow me to do some really cool things I've wanted to do for a long time but have never had the right stage for.  

Also, love the translation stuff on the first page.  I went and added pronunciations for the few Bófir things.

Okay folks.  Just a tiny little update to get y'all out the door.  

If you look at the map, it's right at 375 miles - as the crow flies - to get from your present location to the Sendrian border.  Then another 40ish miles into hostile territory to get where you are going.  

Your exact route will modify this, of course.

You folks need to decide which way you are going.  It would also be nice to have a marching order for you - both single file and 2x2.  Any major combat tactics.  Etc.

I assume our ranger will scout ahead when appropriate outdoors?

Are you wanting to discuss actual party leadership?

I just want to get this housekeeping stuff handled.

9th Bre Taola, 452 E.R.
Isil'nari Manor house

The morning came to the Isil'nari manor, but Lord Tansathil himself ddid not make another appearance.  The servants ushered the party to a dining hall and provided all manner of light, yet surprisingly tasty and filing fare.  When everyone was fully sated, the servants again made themselves available, offering whatever road rations or other provisions the party members desired to pack.  Once everyone was fully prepared, the companions were escorted to the gates of the manor's boundaries and bid farewell.

A chill breeze hung in the misty morning air.  Telamor himself had apparently been comissioned by Kith'jora; the midautumn forest was a tapestry of brilliant golds, warm oranges, and fiery reds.  While true winter was well over a month away, the warmth of summer was likewise well behind; the trip promised to have chilly nights in store for the travelers.

Isil'nari manor lay slightly south and west of Ela-Ishtel, the capital of Alloryen.  As such, Hyanda Nost was almost due west, while the direct route to the human lands would be more southwest, running almost directly through the settlement of Lomelindel to reach the Sendrian border.  While that might be the most obvious route to take, one could theoretically head west instead, into the foothills of the moutains of the khordaldrum, passing west though their territory before looping south to the human lands.  

Of course, neither border was technically open.   The sylvari enjoyed a truce with the khordaldrum, but by mutual agreement, only diplomatic parties were allowed to traverse through one another's lands.  The Sendrian border itself was closed and hostile to the sylvari.  In either approach, the party would have to sneak or fight there way into the lands of the former Anathari.

Lord Tansathil gave no advice as to which path to take; he had been very clear that he trusted the party to manage this type of decision themselves.  As so, it was up to the party to formulate a plan for how they would proceed.

Dak found that he could not resist Seleniniel's challenge.  And so, after allowing ample time for the manor house to go dark and quiet, the shawlin found himself padding silently through the silent halls, pushing down his curiosity as he went.  

The cidal noted that the house never truly slept; an earlier glance out the window revealed several of the noble's private bodyguards keeping watch all through the night.  As he moved quietly through the house, Dak recalled a tale of an awful fire that had all but wiped out one of the Great Houses of Londelirinen just two years ago.  While he hardly considered himself an insider to the political maneuverings of the various Great Houses, it was an open secret that one of the other Houses had orchestrated the entire thing.  With enemies who held grudges for centuries - and families that strove against one another for millenia - security measures seemed prudent, to say the least.

Of course, that security seemed to be focused mostly on external threats, as opposed to internal curiosity.  As a result, Dak did not encounter any guards in the halls.

Speaking of security, when the halfling found himself before the library door, he was hit with the immediate realization that it was, in fact, locked.  Dak gave a wry smile as he retrieved the tools of his trade.  The lock was of excellent quality for what it was, but an interior door lock like this could hardly be expected to withstand any focused attention for long.  It took the rogue perhaps thirty seconds of careful manipulation until the mechanism yielded to his efforts and the door swung open.

The library was quite dark; while Gaela's blue moon was high and fairly full, the tree cover and angle of the window admitted little light.  Reluctantly, the cidal produced and lit his bullseye lantern, taking special care to not shine the light toward the window or the door.

Where to begin a search? he wondered to himself.  The shelves here were full of so many books.  After an internal debate, the rogue decided that trying to randomly grab books was not likely to yield anything of importance in a reasonable timeframe; instead, he moved to the desk of the cora, hoping that perhaps the papers there might be of interest.

The small face lit up with a grin as Dak began flipping through them.  One item was a map that showed the region where Sendria more or less abutted the Alloryen border, and the forest there in the east of the country was marked with locations that corresponded with Tansathil's tale of lost Viastel and the Lanalthir manor.  It appeared that both lie slightly south of a place notated as "Melenkur", but west of there, inside of the wooded region.  Conveniently enough, a reasonably sized human town called "Fox Glen" lay to the west of both.  Apparently, if one reached the human settlement, one would be certain they had gone too far.

There were various letters neatly stacked there.  The letters were in the hand of several different people, and the sylvari dialects varied, making it difficult to figure out every phrase.  The blasted sylvari had a love for long, flowery sentences, taking many words to describe what could have been done in half the space or less.  Even so, it was clear that much of the content here had to do with this amulet of House Lanalthir, though nothing that Dak could draw from them suggested any new information above and beyond what Lord Isil'nari had shared - though what the little spy read did seem to corroborate the lord's claims. 

There was no sign of any ancient journal, nor of much else of any real value; Dak realized that he had already spent the better part of an hour inside of the library, and the thought occured to him that perhaps he had found all that was worth finding at the risk he was assuming.  

And then, he noticed the drawer.

Cunningly hidden beneath the top surface of the desk was a drawer, hidden in plain sight in the woodwork.  If not for a subtle crack, the cidal would have missed it.  There was no obvious mechanism at first inspection, but then, it hit Dak - this was in so many ways like a Pickholder from home - one of the famous puzzle boxes that his people would make.  Highly prized by shadelins (and by those who wanted to keep a Pick busy for a time), these cunning wooden puzzles revolved around hidden triggers, sliding panels, and similar mechanisms.

Sure enough, Dak found the hidden release, which opened a secret compartment.  Inside was a small, leather-bound volume.

The rogue quickly surmised that this was some sort of journal that Tansathil had kept.  While many of the entries seemed irrelevant, there were several more recent that seemed to deal precisely with the mission the cora had recruited the party for.  Again, most of the information seemed to be little more than retellings of the same information that the lord had shared, albeit in a more disjointed format as the syl had collected his information.

One entry stood out.  It descibred that one of the fabled kormaguli might be among the treasures hidden in the crypts, since Lord Beltolien had posssed the item, and his body was thought to be returned there.  Furthermore, a pair of legendary sapphires called the liunelini were circled on the ledger, with a question mark beside them.

The amulet itself had several passages devoted to it, with some portions crossed out.  One notation caught his eye. 

Her'i'coia?

The cidal frowned.  The dialect was odd, the expression not one he was familiar with.  Then, it hit him - if he was reading this properly, the entry meant "to possess power over life".  

Just how important was this amulet?

Just then, Dak heard voices.  They weren't close, but they appeared to be headed his way.  Quickly, he returned the journal, closed the compartment, extinguished the lantern, and hid.  Presently, he could feel someone try the library door, which he had fortunately remebered to lock behind himself.  Apparently satisfied, the guards moved on down the hall.  Once they were beyond the range of hearing, the rogue let himself out of the library and silently returned to his quarters.

Sorry folks.  I didn't get home last night until almost nine, put up groceries, grabbed quick food, then had to run back out to pick up a teen we are helping with rides to and from work.  Then it was time to get the kids to bed, and suddenly, it was past 11 PM.  

I'll get the library post up today, plus move the game into the next day.  As a reminder to those who aren't accustomed to forum-based games - you can backpost to your heart's content to do fun narrative stuff, etc.  But please do not move ahead on the timeline unless you check with me first.  

Right now, we are in what is essentially the prologue, so there's not much danger around.  But you can never know... what if someone attempted to assasinate Tansathil during the night, what if you're on the road and the camp gets attacked while people are sleeping, what is some refugee is going to stumble into your way in middle of a boring day, etc, etc, etc.

We've had a couple players take some minor liberties with the timeline so far.  Again, this is the prologue, so there's no harm done.  I'd just hate for someone to put in the time and effort down the road to bang out a post only to discover that what they wrote had to be deleted or seriously edited!

Yes.  You state to me what you want to do.  I handle all dice rolls.  

Now I'm just itching to push things into actual adventure mode.  But I'm trying to be the nice DM and allow you guys any time you may need for final questions and/or preperations.

I need to complete character sheets.

Okay, I have updated the first post of the Q&A to include words and their translations.  I will try to keep it up to date.

tréad - this is the bófir word for "herd, family".  Tansathil is using this to motivate (manipulate?) the bull into helping.

I use the elven dictionary in the site's "vault" page as a starting point.  I check the maps and existing Audalis stuff - Megilindar for "Bladesinger" is right there on the Maelamin map (southern kingdom).

Others, I google to see if a word speaks to me, or I make it up.  K'goth is something like "evil person" combined from words in the elven dictionary I mention.  Cora may have been made up entirely, or I may have used the dictionary for referece.  I don't remember.

I figure that at worst case, if you make up a word and we hate it, it can be a dialetical variant, local slang term, etc. 

We really ought to compile this stuff into a central location.  Maybe I'll edit the first post here and start adding terms we have used in the game there.

The woman in the robes and mask finally broke her silence.  

"My Lord, I can vow my hand guided by Lissentoria, and I will offer protection, and healing to those I will accompany and any who may need it along the road. However, I must ask if you are aware of the vow I have sworn to My Lady? Unless the individual threatens the life of others, I will not strike them down, I shall not kill. The others... they may, for it is their decision, so long as they are wise and just when they make these decisions. But, I must ask, would you have me on this journey despite this... what many may consider to be "a drawback"?

Lord Tansathil did not seem preturbed by the question.

"Lady of Lissentoria," he spoke smoothly, "I would expect no more.  I understand that you do not wage war; this is not why you were invited.  No, others of more martial ilk are here to bear weapons against our foes.  You are known for healing of wounds, not causing them; your invitation was to help ensure that any injuries that your comrades may sustain do not prevent them from accomplishing the task I ask of you all."  He paused for a moment.  "That, and to of course tend to any spiritual needs as required," he added.

As the conversation died down, Lord Tansathil’s eyes rested on Rosariel.  The priestess nodded, "The Huntress bids me to answer your call, my lord. Her light and wrath shall bless our hunt and strike down those who would stand in our way."

The lord of Isil'nari nodded gravely.  "That is good news, indeed.  You and your goddess have my sincere appreciation.  Your presence can only make the path easier."

And then, the Bofear himself spoke.  "While I am anything but thrilled to be heading to a land that nearly turned my caravan into a giant graveyard," the powerful creature spoke in an unusual accent.  "I am being called upon by the creator of this firm house and it would be disgraceful to object, so I'll come."

The cora of House Isil'nari apparently did not deem it necesary to correct the hulking foreigner as to his own role in creating the building.  Instead, he graciously nodded his assent.  "That is good to hear, brave warrior.  Your actions here will surely benefit your tréad as they search for new lands."  The sylvari lord allowed the bófir term to roll easily off of his tongue.

Tansathil seemed to decide that the time for serious queries from his guests had come to an end.

"Very well," he stated flatly after a long pause.  "It would seem that we have reached a shared accord in this sitution.  My servants will show you to guest quarters for the night.  Please make whatever preparations that you must, but if at all possible, I would see you on your way as soon as is practical - ideally, tomorrow morning.  The journey is long and fraught with danger, and it is not impossible that others may have been alerted to the existence of the amulet by my own investigations, no matter how prudently handled."

The elder sylvari gave the remaining guests a quick once over.  "Again, I must emphasize the need for secrecy with this mission," he intoned.  "There are others who would impede your efforts, or would seek the amulet for their own goals.  The fewer who know of your purpose, the better."

He paused.  "I assume that you would surmise this on your own, but if not - you would likely do well to avoid the Sendrians as much as is possible.  I fear that encounters with them will lead to bloodshed - and also, to the humans naturaly taking an interest as to why why you are within their borders."

The lord frowned.  "I will not fill your ears with falsehoods.  If you were to be taken prisoner by the k'goth, it will almost certainly end poorly for you.  I cannot imagine an imperial diplomat claiming official knowledge of your mission, let alone working to secure your release.  Once you cross into Sendrian lands you are, in effect, on your own."

Silence fell over the room at Tansathil's proclamation.  Momentarily, however, the lord spoke again.

"If there are no more questions, I bid you good evening.  The servants will see you to your quarters and will assist you with provisions for your trip.  May Adaron watch over you on your journey."

After allowing for a fair amount of back and forth, Rainminainen finally spoke up.  The ranger was direct, blunt... honestly, "rude" would not have been an out of place descriptor, but Tansathil's expression did not waver a single iota.

"A single trip. Both ways. That is all I am offering, and that conditionally to your answering a question," the ranger declared.

The cora of House Isil'nari nodded his assent.  "Ask your question," he stated.

Rainminainen spoke slowly now, emphasizing each word.  "Do you know what you're sending us into?"

The cidal chirped up in support of the lord's request, and the bladesinger nattered back at the halfling.

Lord Tansathil angled his head ever so slightly.  "Quite," he allowed at the interjection from the pair.

He then focused on an answer to the query.  "In general?  Certainly.  I am sending you into Sendrian territory.  It is a nation of violent, murderous humans who openly worship the dark gods, who hate us and our kind and would gladly torture each of you until your spirits beg to fly to the forests beyond.  But you, ranger, surely you have more first hand knowledge of that truth than anyone else in the room, perhaps possibly the bófir."

He sighed softly.  "In particular?  No.  I have ancient journals, I have testaments from those who fought and died in the area many long centuries past.  I do not have recent intelligence to give you.  By all accounts, the Lanalthir manor was razed when the Anathari killed our poeple so long ago.  My hope is that they did not despoil the crypts, but I know nothing for certain - which is why I am sending you.  If the crypts are whole, then there will possibly be wards or the like placed upon them, but will the wards still exist after this much time?  Who can say?"

Lord Isil'nari shook his head slowly.  "No, I know nothing for certain.  There is no benefit to me attempting to deceive you.  The way is dangerous, that I know - but I have freely told you as much.  I asked the lot of you here, as I believed that you possessed the skills and resources to accomplish this important task.  I will not pretend to advise you on the best path to take, nor the best methods to accomplish this task I ask of you."  

A touch of wry amusement cross the lord's face.  "As for the one trip?  I do not recall asking you for more than that, taur'ohtar."

Nah, I think that we can all place it well enough.  No need to move the post order around.  

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I see the order of events as:

1) Tansathil calls the group in, makes his speech.  

2) Seleniniel gives her "I'm in" and stalks out.

3) Clarifying questions are asked, conversation back and forth, posts that will run likely into tomorrow night or Monday.

4) Seleniniel in the bath.

I will get a post up shortly to address the input from Grandpa R and Dak.

I've been out of pocket today, but I'll get a post up shortly.

How did you not say "udderly" great?

lol.... mooooooo!

I'm stupid excited.  What can I say?

For the sake of housekeeping and organization, I moved all character bio stuff to the recruitment thread.  This will allow everyone to quickly reference characters there, and to use this one for general OOC chitchat.