12The Blight Witches Turns 21-29

Online Campaign

The Blight Witches

Turns 21-29

Introduction From the Jericho: This ends the Blight Witches on an interesting note--that of a witch joining the group. The party learns to be more careful while feeling good about accomplishing their mission. They also figure their way out of the trap by negotiation. The cult gods are introduced and the party is oathbonded.

The Blight Witches: Turn 21

Gareth attempts to casually look around the cage at the party and the

cage to determine the state of things. His and other party members gear

and weapons, the cage, the witches, the room, etc. He tries not to be

too obvious in his perusal. He does not say anything to the witches

feeling the others talk better than him. His primary concentration is on

how to get out.

Gareth discovers that all the party's gear is gone. No weapons, spell components, etc. However, he sees that the stirring ring is again on the floor in the middle of the cage. The cage bars are too close together to slip through, and something about their slight glow makes him doubt that even he could bend them. The cage is still in the empty room save that now the witches are inside. The witches stand between the cage and the door. Gareth also notices that his head seems very fuzzy and something looks distorted which leads him to believe that his friends will be unable to cast spells.

Talvik just stares at the three old hags...Cursing to himself about almost

getting away. He will feel the outside of the pouch he dropped the ring in to see if

it is still inside. The pouch is gone, but he sees the ring on the cage floor.

Turning to Jus, Tal will say in ELVISH," Hey, why don't we just tell them the truth. That the Black Blades hired us to get the ring back because they want more money." He will say, winking to Jus. He will see if there is any reaction from the witches as to see if they know the elven tongue. They don't seem to react, but Jus and Nonam look at the thief in horror. After that, he will begin to examine the lock on the cage to see if it can be picked. He decides that it can, but since the lock is on the other side where he couldn't see it, it would be difficult. Upon thinking about it, he will check his person to see what exactly he has equipment wise still on him. He has nothing. Not even his thieves picks, which he seems to remember he was holding out in the open when he lost consciousness. He begins to re-evaluate his view on picking the lock.

Jus quickly stands up, letting his compatriots know he would like to speak first, saying "Would you please be silent and allow me to tell these ladies what they wish to know? When I am finished, you may add what you wish." To the ladies, he bows and states, "I will gladly tell you. First, I wanted to speak before the others so I might say that this is about the coolest thing that has ever happened to me; thank you. I've never been small before, its quite a neat experience."

The youngest witch snaps back, "You're not small. That's a lingering effect of the smoke. That cage is huge.. big enough to fit a roc in, I believe." The other 2 witches shoot her a menacing look, and she gets quiet.

Jus continues, "Still very effective in holding prisoners, and without the problems inherent in other, less civil, methods. I hope to have a chance to write my sister about it, although she may never believe me." Seeing the look on their faces, he mutters, "Oh, yeah, what we are doing here..."

Jus then gives a friendly smile and proceeds to tell them, "We had a talk with the Black Blades a few days ago in some bar. They seemed pretty anxious about something. We couldn't talk to them much at the time." With a little chuckle (trying to gradually turn on the charm), he continues "Some dwarves started a bar fight. Anyway, the Black Bales told us they would meet with us again later."

Gareth looks at Jus like he has lost his mind.

Jus continues, "Well, later came and we found out that they had stolen some potion stirring ring. The guy they stole it from wanted to get it back and was willing to pay some hefty gold for it. We were told that it would be a terrible error if a group that stole something for an employer, as the Black Blades stole the ring for you, were to steal it back from that same employer. If OUR group got it back, however, just our share would be a whopping 200 gold up-front with more stuff later. Well, to sum up the rest... we're new enough around here that we thought it would be great to help get the ring back to whom we were told is its owner (sorry if we were wrong about that) and help our reputation; the Black Blades are out of the city -- so obviously they are not going to be blamed for this; and, well, now here we are."

Nonam looks up from Jus' long tirade and says, "Finally."

Then Jus finishes by saying, "Pretty miserable, huh. I guess we could've asked the Black Blades for an idea of the layout of your place; but, honestly, the thought to do so never occurred to us. Thinking about it, I would bet the Black Blades aren't the type of people to trust. We fell into this trap too easy, you must have known we were coming." Getting a slightly agitated look on his face, Jus asks, "Would you mind telling me if we were set up?"

The eldest witch looks at Jus with a pair of milky white eyes and says, "You weren't set up. We knew you were coming, but you weren't set up."

The middle witch continues for her, "We did steal the ring good adventurerers, but we did it in strict accordance with the law. Of course, the man we stole it from stole it from someone else." She then glares at Jus, "and you are correct, you shouldn't trust the Black Blades. We certainly don't. Hiring them and believing them are two very separate things. Now then while I'm sure you're hearts were in the right place, you tried to wrong us. So good adventurers, start getting used to the idea of spending some time in that cage."

They begin to walk out.

Flaust, in all sincerity, calls out, 'You are most gracious in calling us 'good

adventurers'. We had hoped to make a good impression...is there any task we

can help you in?"

The witches stop in the doorway and turn around.

The oldest one says, "I don't need any help from you."

The middle one says, "You have nothing to offer me."

The youngest one hastily looks at the other two and then blurts out, "Oh, I want to be an adventurer. Let them go, and let me join their group. Plus, that Gareth is cute. His muscles are soooooooooo big." Suddenly she realizes that she is acting like a little girl, and she composes herself. She turns to her sisters and says, "In all seriousness, both of you were able to spend sometime in the world. I have not. This group seems to be one destined to see great things, and I would see them as well. I say free them and let me become one of them." She then stands silent waiting for a response.

The oldest begins to laugh, and the middle one says, "Some adventurers, we caught them didn't we. Do you wish to be caught in a cage yourself someday. Plus, they may agree now, but what's to keep them from killing you once you leave."

The youngest one says, "I've thought of those things already. First of all, I figure most of their opponents won't be as wise as us. So I doubt they will be caught again."

The older two mummer, "That is certainly the case. No one is wiser than us."

The youngest continues, "And I don't think that they will kill me if they swear to protect me. They just aren't the type to go back on their word."

At this the older two look skeptical, but say nothing.

After a moment, the eldest speaks, "Well you Three have heard her. Will you allow her to join your group? And promise to protect her with your lives. Discuss it amongst yourselves, and then give and answer. Oh, and this time we want our answer from the cute one with the big muscles- not that long winded elf."

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Tony says, I liked the last two turns!!!....The thief almost made it.... LOLOLOL....Keep up the good work guys!!

John says: My apologies to Jerry and JK if my last turn implied ill doing from

either of the DM's. I understand that since I missed a turn, Jus'

actions were unspecified and the DM had to make a call as to his

actions. My intent was just to have fun, not to whine or complain. After

all, it wasn't like I spent the time, sweat, blood, and toil creating

what I thought was the perfect character just to have him have die by a

giant scorpion sting on his first day of existence. ;)

John also says-Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

jk says- I hate hotmail. More than half the junkmail I get comes from hotmail. When I see mail from hotmail, I just delete it. I'm surprised, I managed to read John's mail. But since it's free, maybe I'll get a hotmail account and bother other people with it. ;)

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The Blight Witches: Turn 22

Jus is a little surprised that they even know the name of their group. He then looks at the youngest witch for a moment, trying to determine her race and her age -- just out of curiosity, of course (he reminds himself). He decides she is human, and she looks to be about 20.

The witches begin to leave to allow the party to discuss the youngest one's proposal.

Gareth says "Two questions before you leave... First, What exactly ARE

the laws for stealing things in this place? "

The eldest witch says, "Well you can't kill anyone or physically destroy any property. Also if caught in the act you must return the item stolen."

Gareth then asks, "Second, How did you get my head out of the wall? I couldn't even do it."

The middle one cackles, "We had to use butter. hahahahahahahaha"

Gareth notices that his head is a little greasy.

After they answer and leave Gareth says "GREAT! A bunch of old hags

think I'm cute. I say we take the deal and leave unless you guys have a

better idea."

Flaust says to the group, "Obviously, this was the reason for our appearance

here. It'll be nice to have another female in the group, and I think we'd

agree to protect anyone who joined the group. I'll provide the oath-binding,

if that is needed."

Nonam says, "What do you mean "reason for out appearance here"? Don't tell me that this was all some cosmic plan... But cosmic plan or not, I don't really see that we have any choice."

Jus decides he should try to talk succinctly, at least for now. Jus faces The Three. "Well, I think our group is getting pretty big, but we don't have much choice. We should make the promise to protect her as we do each-other and welcome her aboard. They could have killed us; that they didn't is compelling. Truly, something makes me believe they are honorable and trustworthy." He is about to say more and realizes his too short refrain is turning into a reasonably length discourse again. Reminding himself not to offend the overly sensitive ears, he decides to keep quite and let the others finish the discussion. Smiling, Jus thinks to himself, "I have to admit it is nice that my compatriots don't share the same opinion."

Onrad pulls himself up to his feet and to the front of the cage. He has a

serious look on his face. "I hate witches," he says. "They worship demons.

Their demon's name is Pantheon. Right?"

Tiburon looks at the rest of the group and says " I don't know if we should

take her along or not. If we do, we should limit the time she would be with us

to, say ,six months or so. If she works out, we can extend a more permanent

offer."

Tiburon will then go sit by himself and began to pray for his spells. However, he finds it impossible to concentrate in the cage with the others making so much noise nearby. Also the effects of the gas seem to be interfering in some way.

Nonam says, "Now that seems reasonable. We shouldn't make it open ended. We can start off with say a month and then haggle over the time. And Onrad, I've frequently been called a witch, and I've heard a list of the demons I'm supposed to worship. You don't seem to hate me too much. People fear what they don't understand. That's not to say that they don't worship demons, but our priests should be able to keep us safe. That is if you have faith in their gods. Well it seems we've made out decision, unless Talvik has something to add."

Talvik remains silent and shrugs his shoulders.

When the others are finished, Jus turns to Gareth; indicating he should announce the groups decision.

Immediately the witches return and Gareth says, "We'll accept your terms. The young one may join the party as an EQUAL member. That means she carries her own weight, and fights to protect the others as they fight to protect her. She'll participate equally in all things both good and bad. If she cannot fulfill this then she must withdraw. If this happens we'll return her to you. Additionally we will only allow her to accompany us on a trial period of say one month."

The youngest witch says, "I demand at least six months. She looks at Tiburon and says don't you think six months would be fair." They were obviously listening in on the conversation. Onrad notices the middle witch staring at him with evil intent.

The youngest continues, "If you'll agree to this arrangement, I will swear an oath unto Pantheon, and you may swear oaths to whomever you wish that we will uphold the unity of the group and strive to protect each other. Then you will be released, and you may have the ring if you still wish to have it. Afterall, we finished with it days ago. If we need it again, we can always steal it. So will you swear?"

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The Blight Witches: Turn 23

From yesterday's turn:

.....The youngest continues, "If you'll agree to this arrangement, I will swear an oath unto Pantheon, and you may swear oaths to whomever you wish that we will uphold the unity of the group and strive to protect each other. Then you will be released, and you may have the ring if you still wish to have it. Afterall, we finished with it days ago. If we need it again, we caan always steal it. So will you swear?"

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...And now for today's turn.

"I'll swear." Onrad gets a look of utter hatred. He clenches his fists. He stares the younger witch down and begins to shake with righteous anger. "I swear upon the honor of the Gods of Wold to kill each and every Cult Witch of Pantheon I can ever find! Hear my words!"

Tiburon looks at the rest of the group and says " I don't know if we should

take her along or not. If we do, we should limit the time she would be with us

to, say ,six months or so. If she works out, we can extend a more permanent

offer."

Tiburon will then go sit by himself and began to pray for his spells.

Gareth looks to the party for any dissenting looks. He sees Onrad staring a whole through him and changes his mind about saying something just then.

Jus says, "Yes, I swear to consider you an equal member of our party for a

period of six months; this membership implies the protection of our group,

and our reliance upon you for the same."

Jus turns to the others and says, "Let us, or at least Nonam and I, go

deliver the ring these ladies have graciously given. We will then return for

", he pauses looking at the youngest witch for her name. "This will allow

her to outfit herself and to get her things in order before she leaves."

Flaust says to Nonam, "I happen to believe in cosmic plans...but I also

believe in our ability to make choices, and accepting this new member is a

good one."

Flaust says, "This is one crazy city -- I guess nobody believes in borrowing a

cup of sugar around here, you just hire someone to steal it as needed,

expecting the victim to come calling when she needs it. I'd hate to see how

the lending library works!"

Onrad explodes, "Search your heart Gareth! Examine your training Tiburon! Flaust! By the Gods man! Can you not see? Jus, beware your decisions! These creatures are perverted, evil! Pantheon is a cult god and these b....witches are his agents of perversion!"

Nonam says, "Calm down Onrad. We can easily determine the alignment of these creatures, I think. Is that possible Tiburon? Flaust? Besides, to the best of my knowledge, Pantheon is a little weird, but not evil incarnate."

Onrad turns to Nonam, "As these heathens stated themselves, we are a group of honor. At least I thought so. That includes our beliefs in the True Gods of Wold! I shall not be a part of any group that cavorts with witches! I cannot condone in any form the worship of ANY of the cult gods. Decide you must, but heed my warnings. This is an important crossroads for us and many repercussions will come from your decision."

Actions?

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Jerry says: Remember once again that I'm playing a character right now, not trying to manipulate the group as a DM. As a character, of course!"

See ya'll tomorrow.

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The Blight Witches: Turn 24

I fear I am out of my expertise." Jus claims. "In general, I do agree that

I would not like any evil in our party. It certainly goes against our name."

Onrad continues to rant and rave. "Yes, that's my point exactly. Cult gods are evil."

Gareth says to the party "I'm not in favor of breaking up the group. We

need to find another way than that." He waits for answers.

Nonam chimes in with, "Yes, we must stay together. Onrad, this is childish. Good must be mature as well as right."

To the witches Gareth says "As you can see, we have a problem. We would

definitely not be with honor if we were to accept the deal as it is and

splinter our group. You could then never trust us not to splinter it

again and at what cost to you? What are the consequences of NOT

accepting your offer? Is there perhaps a compromise we can reach and

still give you what you want? I don't want to stay in this cage one

extra second but if you want us to destroy ourselves it's unfortunately

a better alternative."

Talvik says, "I really don't like this."

The witches consult each other with the youngest and the eldest definitely disagreeing. Finally, the eldest answers, "If you refuse our offer, we will keep you here for 24 hours and then teleport your cage with you inside to the carnival grounds to show what happens to thieves who attempt to rob the Blight Witches.

The younger turns on her elder, puts her hands on her hips and says, "If you do that, I will leave you anyway and sever my bond with both of you leaving you without an anchor witch!"

The eldest says "Humph!" and turns in a puff of smoke and disappears.

The middle witch says, "Daughter, calm yourself. We will need to keep them for the requisite 24 hours as you know to erase what knowledge they have obtained from us that could be harmful to our causes. After that time, we will release them unharmed taking from them only such coinage as is needed to repair the damage that they have done."

The younger bows her head and says, "Yes mother."

Flaust addresses Nonam, "Either we are being deluded and lead into a trap, or

we're not. As part of the agreement, we can agree that it is null and void if

her actions lead to an evil outcome. How conservative are we to be on

worship? If I wanted to be extreme, I'd proclaim that only Alemi is worthy of

respect and praise. Influence works both ways...it may be that our young

friend makes decisions while under our care that will swing her in a different

direction. Have we not each benefited from the same during darker moments?"

Nonam says, "Hey, you're preaching to the crowd. Onrad there is the one whose being difficult."

Talvik says, "What's the big deal. Her true colors will show in time. You didn't know anything about the rest of us before you agreed to join us either. You still know nothing of us!"

Tiburon turns slowly to face Onrad. "Onrad, " he says, " How better to

keep watch over and thwart on opponent than by having them work with you. This

way you can always know what she is doing and where she is. If we are doing a

good work , than by her oath , she must help us accomplish it. Who knows, we

may even be able to persuade her to forsake Pantheon and devote herself to one

of the True Gods of the Wold. Show her the right path by your actions, don't

start yourself on a self-destructive , downward spiral."

With that said, Tiburon advances to the bars and bows to the youngest

Witch with a flourish. "I will so swear ,as a Brother of Domi, to protect you

as one of our own as long as you share the goals and effort of the rest of our

group. My name is Tiburon , a humble Brother of Domi, and so I swear ! "

Onrad looks at Tiburon and says, "Brother you are wise. I will do as you say if she will agree to one simple test. The test I mentioned before. She must submit to an Alignment Detection either by you or Flaust. If she is without evil as a motivating force then I will accept her. However I do further suggest that we call for Flaust to do an oathbinding for all of us and make some real commitments to each other."

Onrad looks to the witch, unable to completely keep his looks of disgust from showing and says, "What say you witch? Do you agree to these terms?"

She steps forward until her face is but 6 inches from Onrad's, removes her hood revealing herself as a beautiful red haired young lady of breeding, and says, "Of course, Onrad. Of course."

Then she smiles. It is all Onrad can do to keep from melting.

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Tony says: Sorry I have been out of pocket...I've been in Cancun...

I think Keith is playing my actions....Witch I don't mind at all...

I'll try to catch up...........

Tony

Jerry says: No problem Tony. I seem to have lost a whole weeks worth of turns in my pockets somewhere. Hmm....

Jerry says: Sorry for the lack of turns last week. I was both busy, tired, and lazy.

Jerry says: I know you aren't going to believe this, but I actually believe that our Welcome To The Wold Website will be up and running by this Friday. JK has put alot of work into the design of it and I worked most of the weekend plugging in all the articles and transferring them to html format. I think it will be truly impressive for a first effort. I'd say it's 60% complete with all areas basically complete except the largest one. It doesn't include anything from the online game yet, but will soon. It also lacks a section about the newly developed Southern Continent.

It DOES contain each of your names and your email addresses. I know some of you will not want your name and/or email address listed, so I'm expecting to remove some as you ask me to. Personally, I don't mind my name and email address there since I'll be using a different address there than my main one.

We will leave the site unadvertised for the first little while you guys help us find and remove misspellings and other mistakes.

As soon as we get the site transferred from JK and my computers to the site, we'll give you the address so you can enjoy it. We're looking at over 50 pages. Ideas for improving it from you computer guys will be welcome as well. We're using AOLPress which is a html program that works much like a word processor except it's for web sites.

As you can tell, I'm very excited about this. Once up and bugfree, we will begin to approach TSR about obtaining a link from their site. Once that occurs, (HAVE FAITH) we should have regular visitors. In my opinion, this stuff we've all worked to create over the years deserves to be shared. It's as good as anything not published that's out there.

Here's hoping that everyone gets to check their email tomorrow.

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The Blight Witches: Turn 25

Flaust says to Onrad, "I will need some time before I'll be able to perform an alignment detection."

Onrad says motioning to the cage, "We got nothing but time Flaust."

Flaust will rest and ask for the ability to perform an alignment detection.

Tiburon positions himself in the cage to just stand there and watch what everyone else does ( and sneak glances at the girl ( wiggling eyebrows ))."

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Sometime later....

Jus begins, "Sounds like we are finally in agreement. Presuming the

appropriate result of this test, we will accept her as long as she holds the

same responsibilities as us all; that is, upholding the honor and

righteousness of the group." He then patiently awaits the results of the

priest's prayers.

Nonam waits for the clerics to do their tests.

Flaust smiles and says to the younger witch with a little smile, "Do you know what you are?"

The younger witch says with a huge smile, "No kind sir. Tell me."

Flaust continues, "You, my dear, are good at heart, that's what you are. I won't reveal your designation as to Lawful, Chaotic, or Neutral. That's not anyone here's business."

Nonam says, "Hmm, fancy that Onrad. She's not evil. In fact she seems quite charming. I for one think I will welcome her company."

Nonam's ability to influence people is definitely showing. The group collectively breathes a sigh of relief.

To the witches Nonam says, "Gracious ladies, you have been far too kind with us. I appologize for any trouble we have caused. Oh yes, I'm afraid we must know your names. It simply won't do for us to go around calling you the beautiful witch, the charming witch, and the lovely witch... unless of course your names are Beauty, Charming, and Lovely."

The youngest witch says, "My grandmother who left in a huff is known as Gessenya. My mother here is Lessyrri, and I am known as Kathindau. You may call me Kat if you wish."

Kat says, "Well, now mother. I don't think we need to keep these beasties caged anymore, shall I?"

"Of course, my dear."

Kat smiles at Tiburon and waves her arms with a flourish. The cage falls apart and the party grows back to their normal size.

Both Onrad and Kat say in unison, "Now, I believe there is that matter of an oathbinding."

Both laugh and Onrad says, "Kat, I apologize. Welcome to the group."

"Thanks, Kat says."

Flaust suggests that the party returns to the Giggling Ghost Inn for the Oathbinding Ceremony.

Actions?

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John says: When do you wish the new address forwarding to be entered? And whose addresses? Should turns always forward to you?

Jerry says: Add Keith's address now.. Leave mine there for a week or so. If all goes well, I'll have you remove it in a week or so.

David Hill says: Jerry, as per my earlier e-mail, I lost all my setup info due to a crash. Please let me tell me again the appropriate e-mail address to use.

Jerry says: Sorry to hear that David. The proper address is listed.

David says: Correct me if I'm wrong -- isn't it tonight that we're scheduled to game on-line? At what time, and where do I go to meet up with you? As I said, I lost everything that was stored on my system...that'll teach me to fall in love with my computer!

Jerry says: I mentioned several times over the last few weeks that one was scheduled and to respond if you could play. No one answered so I cancelled it. Go back and read all your lost email. It's all there.

David says: I keep getting Onrad and Nonam mixed up...the 'o's and the 'n's in their names are too similar for my dyslexia :)

Jerry says: It's easy. Onrad is the cool one.

Jerry says: JK and I have really been putting in the hours on the website. It looks like I'll be sending out the site address to you tonight. After further thinking, I am removing all email addresses and last names from the site to protect all of us to a greater extent.

Jerry says: I have instructed John to create a new address to handle the website mail if one's available and set it to forward to my new aol name which I've created to handle mail from the website. JK will be creating a name centering on his "Marlowe" character who hosts the site probably tonight. JK will inform John of this asap so he can have the mail that comes to the website forwarded to him as well. John until JK has his name to you, go ahead and have JK's mail from the website forwarded to him. John, please email me when this is done. We'll be waiting on you to do this before opening the site.

Jerry says: I think you'll be proud of this first effort at a website. It looks very good and does a good job of reflecting the spirit of our campaign world. It's set up for easy expansion and contains much that I feel others out there would like to see, borrow, and use.

Jerry says: As soon as it is up, hopefully Tuesday evening or Wed., we'll give it a week or so for you guys and the local players to find bugs etc. that need to be fixed or glaring mistakes that need to be edited. Then we will approach TSR in an official way seeking a link from their site to ours. We've talked to them about this in an informal way already. It will probably take some time as they are notoriously slow, but I don't see a problem. What we have to offer would benefit their site.

Jerry says: JK, please send me the address of the site so I can send it out with tonight's turn (This is Tues. Morning.) and call me when you finish with your end of things. :)

See yall tonight.

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The Blight Witches: Turn 26

"Good Ladies," Tiburon says, "may we take the Ring and complete our task?"

Kat tosses Tiburon the ring.

When the Ring is given , Tiburon , with a bow says, "My thanks Ladies."

Tiburon looks at the group and says, "Let us first take this and complete

our task, then relax at the Giggling Ghost."

Flausts goes with the group back to the Inn.

Flaust will be on her guard once the group approaches the Inn.

After returning to the Giggling Ghost, Tiburon will buy a round of drinks

for everyone in the group." Let me propose a Toast," Tiburon says ,as he

raises his mug," To new found friends, may they remain friends into Eternity

!" With that, Tiburon touches mugs with all who have theirs' raised and

drinks.

Jus seems a little chaffed and lets the others know his thoughts. "The word

of my fellow compatriot is enough collateral for me. If my word is not

assurance for any of you, I willingly take this so-called 'oath-binding' --

but I would then question just how much we can trust each other. Would we

need an oath-binding for every major decision we face. If we cannot trust

each other in this, how can we call ourselves united?"

Nonam says, "As an original member of The Three I declare this topic open for discussion. Jus has a point. However, Onrad has a point that we really do not know each other well, and it is the safe course of action.'

Onrad says, "Did an oath-binder take your group name when you entered the plateaus? One should have. If so, then everyone who was there at that time was oath-binded as far as the rules for adventuring groups are concerned. Not that there are many. We should at least register those of us that are new with the name we bear. Besides oath-binding is a New Elennian tradition between business partners. I'd bet even Happy Go Lucky and Daphne have oath-binded."

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Jerry says: No turn from Tony, David, or JK. I put words in Nonam's mouth. JK is hard at work on the website I'm sure. I received an email from David but no turn.

Jerry says: Jk is hard at work loading all the maps into the site. A truly large job. When that is completed, then it comes back to me to add our email game log which I've grouped into 12 sections of abou 20 pages each. Then I think we're ready to post it. I think. There are more things to add of course once it's up....Adventurers of the Gold Dragons, Legends of the Southern Continent, New Legends of the Northern Continent, Legends of the online characters, maps of the Southern Continent, redoing some maps that have faded and didn't scan well, npc's from the card files of the different cities, etc.

If you will be out of pocket anytime this week, please notify me ahead of time as I am planning to carry on each day.

Jerry

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The Blight Witches: Turn 27

"As I said, " Jus begins, "I will willingly take this oath-binding; it is

still an affront to the trust and comradeship my people are used to having.

Perhaps if you explained the roots of this custom it would make it easier

for me to ignore its implications."

Onrad says, "Let's see if I can remember my schooling. 50 years after the cateclysm the different settled peoples were still infighting and settling border disputes. However, the Aisildurian Empire flourished. They solidified their position and quickly with the active aid of their CULT GOD Ga'al began to move on Lankhmar and the Windbourne Hills to the east of Lankhmar. The Windbourne Hills was currently made up of over 25 different small kingdoms and city-states that even to this day are constatly at war with each other. It was necessary for some way to come into being that would enable those who could not trust one another because of bloodfeud and war to do just that so that all could survive. The Free Staters League was this answer. Led by Vusatamus the White a Patriarch of Alemi, they all took severe levels of Oathbinding calling for the deaths of their immediate families if they were broken. No one broke the oaths, the Aisildurians were pushed back not just once but three times over the next 15 years until the gods created the Wall of Kaazul to contain the Aisildurians and to exert there power over the evil CULT GOD Ga'al."

Onrad spits every time he says the term cult god.

Kat says, "Don't forget that the great witch, Shee-vang the Tooth, Queen of Inwood, was the first to undertake the oathbinding ceremony of the Kingdoms of Windbourne.

Onrad starts. "What? Who?"

Flaust says, "Since I am an adjudicator of the oath-binding ceremony, my

opinion is obviously biased in favor of the tradition. It was under this

condition that we agreed to bring on Kat."

Nonam says, "Let's have the oathbinding. It can't hurt. Personally I trust Kat here. If she meant us harm she could have done it when we broke into her house."

Kat puts he hand gently on Flausts and says with her eyes dancing, "Would you do us the traditional honor as Patriarch of our Fellowship of selecting the wording of the Ceremony?"

Nonam then says, "Gentlemen and ladies, I suggest we all go and find something of value to present to the group as a matter of trust as is the tradition of old."

Actions?

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JK says: The web site is coming along. I'll finish up sometime. Probably Thurs. afternoon. The address will be sent to you.

The address to the old site (which discusses the group on the Southern Continent) has been sent to you.

The old site will probable disappear soon, so if you want to look at it, hurry.

Jerry says: JK, we delivered the spoon last turn. We kinda did it in a hurry as it would have added extra unimportant days to the finish of this adventure.

Jerry says: JK is really putting the time in on the website. It's basically an unthankable job. I know he has grown weary of the task by now. BE SURE to honor his work when the site goes up by examining it in detail and offering up extraordinary praise for his fantastic work. This site is a quality product just as I feel the Campaign folder is. I take pride that our "little" group that started way back in the early eighties role-playing the Alemi and Spud campaign (now the 1st age) could have come so far.

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The Blight Witches: Turn 28

"Sounds similar to what happens where I'm from when someone breaks their

word!", Jus comments.

Gareth says "What do you mean 'Something of value'? Like what exactly

would be acceptable? Quite frankly, I'm happy with the way things are

but I don't particularly have any misgivings making it official if

everyone's for it."

Onrad says: "Geez, I'll bet none of you have ever done this before? You haven't have you? Oathbinding is always a part of each young man's education. I didn't realize, but.....none of you have any formal education do you? Sorry, I just assumed.

He continues, "Something of value is exactly that--something of value. Only the person offering the gift can determine it's value. It can be something that actually has monetary value or something more symbolic. The axiom goes, 'If it will be missed, it is of value.' Beyond that, there are no guidelines and what I've suggested is only my thoughts on the matter."

Jus participates in the useless, redundant exercise to pacify the

untrusting. ;)

Flaust says, "Well I suppose we can skip the exchanges of trust if no one objects?

An awkward silence fills the room.

Flaust speaks cheerfully, "Well then, let's begin. Don't fall asleep. If you break this oath you could like get leprosy or something.........Um, that was sort of a joke.......sorta."

Another silent pause.

Onrad leaves the table and takes a seat across the room.