The Arrival of Thennin Cloudrider

bewildered "what do you mean 'ghost of Einkor'? As far as i know i have never died??"
Einkor thinks intently, trying to figure out who this is... do i recognize him?

As you look closer into his eyes you realize who it is. This was your best friend before your apprenticeship, Thanamornrem (which means "rest speak"). He was always a lazy dwarf, but a funny one, and you see that after your departure, he has turned into living out his namesake fully. He seems to have become a bum. It is definitely weird he called you a ghost.

"Come now, we know you died at Lin Anwi. You wrote home, telling us of your journey home. And if not Lin Anwi, then Dol Anwar, for they were fell just before Lin Anwi. %$*@ humans and their conquests. We are cut off from the west, and have heard no contact from anyone from the west since the courier with that very letter."

Incredible role playing! It will be reflected in your xp when I give it out next.

(DM rolls) Thanamornrem grabs his arm in pain from the punch, and the drunkenness goes out of him for a fraction of a second. By the look on his face he realizes the error of his ways and instantly believes you are truly there. "Einkor Ghroen! By the blood of my grandfather's grandfathers! Though the dead hit hard too, you seem to be much more than what I think. Yes, your parents think you're dead! The entire city has heard nothing but attack after attack and ambush after ambush. Come, your parents will want to see this, and if you do prove yourself living, we will feast heartily to reverse the Rite of Return. We will dance on your empty grave! We will drink till we can drink no more!"

Thanamornrem grabs your arm and hurriedly stumbles through the street, pulling you through the undermountain city recklessly, all the while shouting something about miracles and millstones, death and doorways. He stops yelling a few houses short of yours, then he looks at you with a huge grin. "Oh Einkor, you don't know what this means. Your father has stopped doing anything. He is our foremost Stonecrafter. He has blamed the humans for your death. He refuses to do anything for fear that a human will one day use it for their gain. We have repelled attacks, but at the expense of our structure. Should we face too many more, this city will fall in on itself!

Thanamornrem steps out of the way as you head toward the door. After hearing the surrounding events you begin to wonder truly what the ramifications of the last few months have been, and wonder if your return will ever change the hard head of your father.

Slowly, you open the door...

As you step inside, you are instantly met by the gaze of your mother and your younger sister, as well as a very pretty dwarven lady, who you remember as the one who was to be your wife, for dwarves were predominately married into arranged marriages. For a brief second all was quiet, as the dwarves tried to make sense of what they saw, but the silence was arrested by the shrieks and the wails of mortally terrified women, jumping up from their seats and running to find the farthest corner from you.

einkor throughs both his arms in front of him reaching out to the frightened women saying "no, no, shhh, its ok, its me, Einkor..." takes a step forward but stops and looks back towards Thanamornrem "do you want to help me here Thanam??"

Thanamornrem looks at Einkor and then back at the women. "I thought he was a ghost too at first," says Thanamornrem as he pulls his shirt sleeve up to reveal an already bruising area, "and I don't know what pit of the nine hells he crawled out of, but this dwarf here is flesh and blood!

Thanamornrem's words seem to slur as he tries his best to reassure the women of Einkor's existence, but as he gets to the end of his explanation, and he falls over drunk onto a mat laid out on the floor, thus reaffirming his reputation as a drunk.

Einkor's mother looks at Einkor. "How is it do you think you can prove it to me that your not a ghost!?"

Einkor, remembering how quick his mother is to defend her family, slowly starts putting his weapons on the floor while saying "if you would permit me mother, you can see for yourself" he slowly walks toward her with his arms open but low, stepping over his inebriated friend he recants his tale of how he escaped the death that they thought befell him. "i am your son in the flesh, as real as the stone that surrounds us"

DM Rolls Your mother seems wanting to trust you, but still she will not. About that time you hear hurried footsteps coming from the back of the house. A few short moments later a dwarven man appears before you, a gray, wild haired man with a single braided beard, his tell-tale wedding ring hanging from the end. He looks at you, and before you can utter a word he cries out.

"What is the meaning of th--..." The dwarf looks bewildered and does not move for almost half a minute, the room in utter silence. He then walks towards you, unsure but firm, and grabs you by the head. He moves you around and checks you over. For the next five minutes you are prodded, probed, smelled, listened to, and examined. Finally your father speaks his verdict.

"You have no clue what we have suffered. A loss such as this does not end even in the span of centuries. I have seen death of my own clan. I watched my own father die in battle and have not felt such sorrow. I have given death to spans of my fair share of humans, goblins, and orcs, all of the mourning combined could not measure my despair. And not one has escaped the firm grip of death! You have a grave, given to the gods for safekeeping. The gods have not smiled upon us, not before and not now. Oh, no! They before have struck us with a mighty warhammer for our unbelief, but have now come down and shaken our hands! By the honor of my 7th great grandfather, I am standing before a miracle!"

Your father embraces you, laughing and hollering. Your mother, embarrassed, comes toward you, and joins in as the rest of the house starts shouting, this time, in excited tones of their long lost, escaping the grave.

Before you have any time to think, the cave fires are lit, and the entire city is at the doorsteps of the house. Your father orders there to be a feast, cost be thrown to the wind. You are escorted out of the house to the throng of people and introduces you once more, crowd cheering, many of them chanting a clan song, many with tears in their eyes (You realize that there are more than you that are missing).

The feast lasts many hours till very late in the night. Your father pulls you finally inside with the rest of the family, who is surprisingly still rather awake. "Einkor, my son, I have a friend I want you to meet tomorrow. He is a smallish folk, a gnome, but his uncanny ability to hide and attack have saved many lives here. Tonight though, my son, please tell us of where you have been, and what you have done."

"gladly father" einkor tells the tale, in great detail, of the past couple of months (embelishing very slightly some of the kills he made to try and make his father that much prouder of him) all the while making light hearted jokes and keeping the mood light, after the tale einkor turns a little more serious and askes "tell me father, why do the number of Ghroen seem to be waning? where are the rest of the dwarves that used to live here? and why has there been need of a gnome to help fight?"

The family takes in all of your stories with a sense of awe, especially your father, who you notice has found a few new scars on his face and arms. When you ask about the other clan members a hush comes over the family, and many of the faces turn downward.

Your father speaks. "The clan has been hit by a number of human brigades trying to expand their influence throughout Temerra. Fortunately, they have found that taking a mountainside has been detrimental to their population. Unfortunately though, defending a mountainside has also been detrimental to ours. There are two things that have helped us. First, we have our fellow dwarven neighbors all along the mountainscape. Secondly, we have formed an alliance with the gnomish cities to the east, and also the minotaur cities that span all the way to the eastern coast of Ashildir." Your father stops for just a moment to reflect, then poises himself in a very businesslike pose. "My son, now that you've returned, where is it you are planning on pursuing, and what will be your purpose?"

einkor is silent for a few seconds thinking about how he should answer his father's questions. "while I was travelling by myself, i trained my skills, experienced the world, what little i got to see of it before my capture, and it was great. but when i started to travel with the others, it felt as if my life had more of a purpose. had i known you thought i was dead i would have come home sooner but i must admit, i plan on returning to them and travelling along side them again. as of late we have been on a specific quest. we have been contracted by a powerful wizard to locate an ancient item of power. he believes this item can be used for the good of all. he has promised a great reward as well. that is the reason i have returned now" pulling out the parchment with the symbols on it "i need you to see if you can read these symbols and tell me everything you can about them" einkor hands the parchment to his father "i will however stay for as long as i can to help rebuild and defend our great city."

Your father takes the parchment, and looks at the paper. Suddenly his face turns white. He asks, "Where did you get this?" I have been not only sleepless because of your presumed death, but i have had this dream over and over...and these letters are there!"
Your father paces back and forth. "There is more at work here than just coincidence. There is a powerful magic associated with this. It seems that this wizard not only knows you, but knows about you as well, enough so that he has seen me, and been near me. I would very much like to meet this wizard before I reveal anything of my knowledge."

you would do this to me dan hahahaha jk
einkor sits back in his chair and thinks for a brief second "well you cant meet him tonight obviously, so lets go to sleep, i can tell there is work to be done around here, tomorrow we can work on repairing some of the focal points of the city and discuss further defense plans, those symbols can wait, the clan's problems seem more pressing right now, maybe i can meet the small one tomorrow as well. Oh and i almost forgot to show you!" einkor gets the bag of dragon scales out of his travel bag. "you remember that dragon i told you about, i took a little trophy from him" einkor lets his father look at the scales in the light "what do you think of those? i was wondering if the armoror could do something with them, maybe make a set of scalemail?"

Your father looks at the scales, his eyes wide open. It is rather apparent to you that he has never seen such a thing. Wow, this is amazing. I've never seen anything like this! You certainly have a catch. Now let me see DM rolls. I do remember a dragonscale armorer back a ways. He lived in the city at the southernmost tip of these Bennor mountains. Maybe he can help you."

With those words you bit your parents good night as you head to your old room when you lived here. You walk in the room and find everything as you left it. Many of the things you find there you now think of as childish, but you leave them be for the time being.

That night you sleep peacefully, but wake with the remembrance of one particular dream. You dreamed you were in the air castle once again, studying on your own. From out of a secret room, which you only remember seeing in your peripheral vision, comes a gnome. The gnome has wild hair that seems to blow in the non-existant wind in the room. You look up at the gnome who is smiling at you, and has brought you a rather good sized present. As you open the package you see it to be your first stone pick, and a hammer and a chisel. You become confused as to how he got such a sentimental item, but your dream becomes hazy, and you wake up.

The next day after breakfast your father takes you out around the underground city which has remained the same, but has withstood some damage as well. He then takes you to a smaller portion of the city situated further inward to a small inn. The two of you enter an inn, and your father points to a gnome in the middle of the inn, eating his breakfast, along with a strangely familiar gnome as well.

einkor turns to his father. "i thought you said there was one gnome you wanted me to meet?" do i recognize the one that looks familiar?

Your father looks back at you. Yes, there's only one, but there's not just one gnome. We embrace all peaceful races, especially when they're able to help bolster our defenses against those that aren't peaceful. Your father goes up to the table, and both gnomes stand up. He greets the one to the left first. "Einkor, I'd like you to meet Liveric. He is a learned burgler AND wizard. He has been instrumental in helping to put forth a defense by throwing humans off track of our forces, providing us with ambushes as well as being able to come in and swiping maps and plans from their sacks." He then, shakes the hand of the other gnome as Liveric introduces him. [color:fc8a="yellow"]This is Nennith, an acquaintance. We were just talking over breakfast of the arcane arts, as he is a wizard as well." Nennith bows in polite manners, but there is something of him that bothers you about this creature. At the same time, your father's jaw drops, and face turns pale. Give me a Spot check at +4, Einkor, to see if you recognize this character.

"it is good to meet you Liveric" einkor turns to nennith and nodds his head in greeting
spot check:

The member 'Einkor' has done the following action : Dices roll

'd20' : 2

Let's try something else.

You notice a very peculiar way the gnome holds himself, both in his social graces, and how he drinks.

Now give me a Bluff check

im pretty sure i know who this guy is too mr. "nennith" hahahaha i just wish i didnt suck at rolling on line dice lol

bluff= -1

The member 'Einkor' has done the following action : Dices roll

'd20' : 20