It was with great tribulation that the party set foot onto the land of Palomar, setting off an a long journey all cramped together upon only a single traveling beast.The travel party was a wide array of adventurers, spanning the gamut of experience and race. The party included Am’aldir the elvish Bard, Edwusk the brown dwarf, Jy’alcun the night elf druid and Marlkus the half gnome/elf rogue. The expedition was led by Adriminor, son of Joniminor, who hailed from the tribe of men. After an arduous journey up the mountainous terrain on their trusted steed, Civicus, they arrived at the gates of the land, only to have their small but mighty Beast collapse at the entrance.
Civicus, hailing from the Eastern lands, was famous among the townsfolk for being able to carry a full load for a whole day’s journey after eating just one carrot. But alas, the journey up the mountain was arduous, and taxed Civicus’ health. With great pain and confusion, Civicus began to wail and moan his state loudly, begging for assistance. The travelers, desperate to help their noble companion, approached the Gate Keeper for assistance, Captain Fucknuts Failburger.
Captain Failburger was a man slightly portly stature with a thick, grey mustache. Gate Keepers are men of somewhat unique attire, and Captain Failburger tended to dress himself in the furthest end of that spectrum, as he was very partial to very small shorts that exposed nearly the entirety of his leg. It should be noted that Gate Keepers are famous for their practical assistance to travelers, known for their knowledge and ability to handle seemingly any matter presented to them. But their requests came to naught, as Captain Failburger was a Gate Keeper of selective sensibilities. Annoyed with the plight of Civicus, he refused the travelers aid. Though he was fully capable of aid, he denied it out of spite.
The travelers, shocked and offended by the Gate Keeper, sought out aid from their fellow travelers entering and leaving the Land of Palomar. Each of the party took turns trying to sooth the beast in various ways, but the party couldn’t find a solution on their own. With various herbs and ointments, friendly strangers tried to help Civicus as best they could, but none could resolve his ailment. As a last resort, the travelers sent out a message requesting aid from an Alchemic Blacksmith. This blacksmith was a part of the Guild of the Three Ayes, a group of Alchemy practicing smiths who could cure any problem with a beast of burden, and their reach of aid was nearly universal.
The adventurers waited for their aid, all distraught from their predicament. Jy’alcun used a druid remedy using elvish bread stuffed with various other foods that set the stomachs of the travelers and lifted their spirits in kind as well. After waiting, the Smith arrived, and brought a large contraption, with many wheels and cables attached to it. With his unique tools and ointments, he was able to bring Civicus out of his deranged state, and left soon after with his Guild Machine.
With no help or good will from Gate Keeper, the adventurers finally entered into the land of Palomar. The found a suitable area to set up camp, and go exploring. They journeyed out into the wilderness, finding many once mighty trees fallen upon the ground. Edwusk and Jy’alcun, having strange sexual fascinations with things resembling the male member, stood by these trees and told of how in another life, perhaps beyond the grave, they would have members of such monstrous might, and of what a glorious life it would be.
After witnessing the native mysteries and wonders of the land, the adventurers were coming to an end of their mid-day expedition and approaching camp. Am’aldir, lost in his Bard songs and etchings of the forest, walked forth, leading the group, unwary of the ground. As fate would have it, Am’aldir stepped on a piece of ground, narrowly missing the tail of deadly serpent by only a few gold pieces length. Adriminor, trailing behind, realized what lay before him, and brought the group to a halt. Utilizing the innate instinct of his mountainous people, Adriminor frightened the vile serpent away. Yet, as fate would have it again, the serpent seemed to move toward Am’aldir, as if the forests of Palomar itself cautioned the group against such potential carelessness again. The land was, indeed, a place of trouble at each turn, and yet strangely merciful, as the group would especially learn in the coming darkness of night.
The party arrived from their foot expedition into the mysterious lands tired and exhausted, especially after their incident with the Gate Keeper. They slept in their make shift abodes, recovering, and awoke near dusk. As the sun began to descend into the mountainous horizon of Palomar, it began to be a land of vast, deep darkness. Realizing this, the party knew it was time to build a pyre, which they came prepared for. Adriminor brought out tinder and food for the pyre, constucted it, and began to set it burning just as the sun began to drift away behind view. The group sat back around the pyre, comforted by the small flame in front of them, a flame that each of them felt would build into a blaze. But alas, the tinder would not catch, no matter what the party tried. Marlkus examined the wood, and recognized a rogue’s trick. He came to realize that while the party was waylaid at the Gate of Palomar by Civicus’ illness, Captain Failburger, in his seemingly infinite spite, used an old Rogueish trick on the party’s wood that kept it from holding flame. Realizing this, the group desperately tried any thing they could to start their fire in the midst of the darkness of night, deep in the woods of Palomar.
It was at this moment, when the deep darkness seemed to penetrate the very hope and spirit of the hearts of the adventurers, that Edwusk brought forth a mighty artifact. Hailing from the tribe of the Tamayohrn, Edwusk was came from a long line of dwarves held to a sacred task: They were Bearers of the Flame. Edwusk was the keeper of great artifact known as the Sentry Lantern. With great skill and generationally passed craftmanship, Edwusk was able to summon fort a flame from nothing, and placed this flame within the ancient Sentry Lantern. The Lantern shone forth, lighting the darkness as if was a pyre ten times it’s size. It was with this new found light and hope, that the adventurers ventured forth to find a way to fend off the cold and darkness of that unforgiving night in the woods of Palomar.
Edwusk, Bearer of the Flame, Weilder of the Sentry Lantern, led the group as they entered the deep of the woods. They asked other travelers if they knew what could do, but none had an answer. All the could say was to go find the Great Sage. It was with this that they came upon a small cabin with soft light coming from the window. Hesitantly, the party beckoned anyone inside to come out. A very small, old woman came forth, speaking in small clusters of words. The party asked the woman if she was the Great Sage, and she simply nodded. The party then explained their situation and, as if responding to a child’s trifle, the Sage offered them a mystical material that would set fire to even their cursed wood. She spoke very little, but knew much. She never exited her cabin, and never made contact with the party, only spoke her few words and gave them the item they needed. She stood beside a dog as ancient as her, which simply lay at the door and stared wide eyed at them when they came. And just like that, the party left the Great Sage of Palomar with mystical materials, venturing back in the light of the Edwusk’s Sentry Lantern.
When they finally arrived, the party began to burn the materials the Sage had offered them, and their fire began to actually burn. This fire was so pure and cleansing, that it burned through even the wood cursed by Captain Fucknuts Failburger. They repeatedly added to materials to the fire, building it to a huge pyre. Adriminor began to cook in the ancient ways of man, using the roaring fire itself to cook mounds of ground bovine and strips of swine belly to a crisp, while topping it with a strange hardened curdled milk filled with fungus, a food unique to the tribe of men. Afterwards, the party’s decadence seemed to strangely build through out the night, and Jy’alcun made soft wheat cakes filled with cacao butter, which was then wrapped around sweet, melted gelatin. It was in this food induced stupor, that party came to realize that Palomar was a land of both great peril and yet quiet, subtle mercy, of twistedly villainous leaders and ancient mystics of untold power and kindness. The party feasted that night in ways only Gods normally do, in celebration of having ventured forth into Palomar, met the darkest aspects of the land, and walked away. Conquerors.
