In Which the Author Checks Back in with Lothar and Friends

by Floyd Fiftynames, Licensed Bard

Did you know, dear reader, that yours truly once took a creative writing course? It's true. Any bard worth their salt (cough, MITCHELL, cough), can benefit from a little evaluation, both from within and without. And so it was that I found myself one day in a beginner's storytelling class, where the following exchange took place:

TEACHER: One of the biggest mistakes a storyteller can make is to step outside the story to tell the audience what the tale is about. If the "about" isn't clear from the writing or telling of the story alone, then you're doing something wrong - you're telling a bad story.

FLOYD: What if you're the world's greatest storyteller, and your worst story is still better than most people's best efforts?

TEACHER: Get out, Mr. Fiftynames.

From this sage and our conversation, I learned something very important - that classes were a waste of money for me, and rules were irrelevant, because I was constantly transcending the game.

So with that in mind, let me tell you that this story has been about hypocrisy. We like to think that the heroes of legend always knew and understood the right thing to do, but it simply isn't the case. Lothar and his friends were constantly in search of a clear moral path, but even en route to vanquishing immense evil, compromises were made. These compromises would leave stains and scars on the souls of everyone who made them. As their adventure drew to a close, the last two years of Lothar's life became puzzle pieces before his eyes, snapping into place, making the harsh truth more obvious to him.

Monstrous, damned souls had invaded the world of the living. Lothar wondered, if he were to fall in battle against them, would it be his fate to take up the axe on the other side of the fray? Or did he earn a peaceful, eternal rest?

Our hero resolved that, should he live to see the end of this war, he would dedicate himself to a more life-affirming pursuit in the world that followed.

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Anticipation

by Floyd Fiftynames, Licensed Bard

So it was that Lothar and company found themselves in an isolated village in the days leading up to the Empowering, and they decided to stay in this hamlet to celebrate the important religious festival with the community. Herein, they met Amel, the local priest. Amel, as fate would have it, was an old friend and schoolmate of Father Fhaerris, the former pastor of Oakshadow. Although Amel was wary at first of the Band of the Red Oak, he quickly became a friend to the group, and from him, they gained a deeper understanding of Salem's old mentor vis a vis stories of his youth. Amel had even visited Oakshadow, and had met the parents of Lothar, Riordan, and Ajanni.

That night, while on watch, Lothar and Elke heard noises, and Lothar spied a figure sneaking into the church. The barbarian woke up Lioto (he did not want to rouse his spellcasting brethren without necessity), and the two of them pursued the figure, encountering him in front of the church altar, but through clever subterfuge and magic, the figure escaped capture. Lothar and Lioto alerted Amel, and brought in Salem and Riordan for consultation that morning, whereupon they discovered that the figure had placed an Arcane Mark on the altar, with a message to whomever it was intended for that the town was to be sacked, and no survivors should be left.

It didn't take long for the party to realize what this was all about - everything about the doings here reminded them of the night of the Becoming in Oakshadow, when everything changed for our heroes. The meaning of the mark was unmistakable - it signaled a return of the Order of the Night, or the so-called "Beak Men."

Lothar did his best to steel himself, and consider the situation with his head and not his heart. Riordan put it more eloquently, but Lothar agreed heartily - the first whiff of an opportunity for revenge made him very hungry. It would be important to put that energy to sensible use, and the first item on the agenda involved evacuating the townspeople - no easy feat, but the combined efforts of Amel and the party convinced them that their lives were in danger. Amel himself felt responsible for this development (Amel and Fhaerris shared certain philosophies when it came to religion), and decided he would stay behind and fight with the party.

Salem took the opportunity to go into the church and pray to Regius for guidance, and his prayers were answered with the gift of a dozen solars to help with both the evacuation of the townspeople (providing guidance and protection), and to aid in the terrible combat that was to follow. The gift provided Salem with much needed renewed optimism, and the group began to prepare themselves for battle in a little more than a day's time.

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Wherein Lothar Reinterprets His Exploits, Then Battles a Thunderstorm

by Floyd Fiftynames, Licensed Bard

Lothar and his friends handily dispatched two units of the Army of God, an extremist sect of fundamentalists spreading their particular form of Regianism throughout the badlands. One hundred and fifty men in total. 

Most of them conscripts. 

After turning the captain in to Corwin Janus, and discussing with him the level of their power and expertise, Lothar, Riordan, Lioto, and Salem spent considerable time discussing the moral aspect of their combat tactics in situations such as these. As Lothar saw it, there was an easy way, and a right way of doing things, especially when the majority of the firepower brought against you is comprised of men torn from their homes and forced to take up arms, a certain amount of respect for the innocent is called for.

Fortunately, the same rules do not apply to monstrous magical storm energies that attack you in the middle of the night. In this case, the enemy was not so much handily dispatched as it was a fair match that the party was fortunate to get the upper hand in.

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Wherein Lothar Runs Afoul of a Hippie

by Floyd Fiftynames,

Licensed Bard

Above the church in the little town that Ajanni discovered that night, the symbol of Regius had been obscured with pitch, and Lothar was feeling the need to repay his faith for the generosity of revelation he had received in the presence of Raina and Father Fhaerris, so he took down the symbol, took it to the smithee, and brought it back cleaned and polished by his own hand. 

It was to his dismay then, to discover his efforts were not appreciated by Baldwin, the spiritual master and de facto leader of the town. The barbarian studied the visage of this man, his charming smile, his easy grace, but his wickedness was not in his features or his gait. It was in his hands, soft like a prince's - lacking evidence of a day's work. There were no scars, no callouses. There was hardly dirt beneath his fingernails. Whatever this man had, he had not come to it honestly. 

Still, our brawny hero felt this man deserved the benefit of the doubt, no matter how unsavory he was. He had seen Riordan adorn himself in finery through the power of magic, and so knew that things were not always just as they seemed. Even as he could sense the wickedness beneath, Lothar could not bring Baldwin low on mere suspicion. 

So when hard proof was presented, and the enormity of Baldwin's crimes made plain, Lothar thought he would take great satisfaction in destroying him. Unfortunately, it was not to be that day, and so it was that Lothar was introduced to an enemy of longer term.

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In Which Lothar Contemplates the Nature of Good and Evil

by Floyd Fiftynames,

Licensed Bard

The Band of the Red Oak made a pilgrimage to Raina's cottage, arriving on a clear and bright Spring afternoon. As the party descended into the swale where the edifice stood, however, thunderclouds gathered, and the visage of warrior angels appeared in the sky. Before the team could worry, however, a friendly face from the past appeared to assuage their fears. The spirit of Father Fhaerris made himself manifest to serve as an ambassador to the boys, explaining to them that the cloud spirits were envoys of protection from Regius himself. The presence of Fhaerris sent Lothar, Riordan, and Salem into a flurry of emotions, and after the shock wore off, they proceeded to ask their former village priest as many questions as they could think of, about the afterlife, about their path and destiny, and about the moral rectitude of some of the figures in their life. 

It was at this point that Fhaerris felt compelled to clarify the nature of good and evil in the universe, particularly as it pertained to the manner in which the two natures held sway over the souls of an individual.

For Lothar, religious issues were never at the forefront of his mind, as he tended to view church services as a pulpit for the moral authority, and our husky hero had a well-documented problem with authority. However, Fhaerris had a talent for de-emphasizing the "should" elements of church teaching, instead presenting moral problems and solutions as a path of discovery that each individual being could be free to make. 

It was particularly illuminating, therefore to Lothar, whose depth of insight was more substantial than some realized, to hear the good father present good and evil as a constant presence within the souls of all men (gnomes, halflings, dwarves, elves, orcs - what have you) at all times. Fhaerris' decision to focus this instruction on good and evil nature of churchmen such as Despoth and Vulpian was uniquely useful, as these were two men that could not be more disparate in the way that our heroes perceived them. Vulpian, whom they had spent a good deal of time talking with, fighting alongside - he was a fully formed man, while the party had spent time up until now seeing Despoth as either wholly good or evil, and not allowing him the room to be a well rounded person. 

Furthermore, for Lothar, the clarification allowed him to reflect upon himself, and see himself as a man whose soul was a continuous battlefield for the forces of good and evil. Lothar thought about all of the things he wanted to be - strong, right, fast, alive - but what it all eventually boiled down to at its essence is that he wanted to be good. Sometimes good could co-exsist with his desire for other things, but other times it could not, but the realization that good was his primary goal helped him, clarified his mind, and (he hoped) would inform his decision-making in the future. 

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Running With the Devil

by Floyd Fiftynames, Licensed Bard

TWO beholders???

Actually, there were thirty, but Lothar and his friends only had to fight the two, who guarded the top of the auxiliary tower at River Bend. After dispatching the beasts in a room lined with mirrored walls, the team gave the summit a thorough once-over, and discovered the mirrors were hidden doors, revealing chambers where twenty-eight sleeping beholders waited in stasis. The abberations were quickly and quietly dispatched, and treasure was located and distributed.

Among the rewards, the Band of the Red Oak uncovered a journal, and it soon became clear from perusing its contents that the author was Virgil, the magician whom Vulpian had gone to visit during the group's visit to the Tantus Valley. So far as our heroes could reason, Riordan's new keep had, at one point, belonged to the realm's most fearsome wizard at some point. What importance this would have for the future remains to be seen, but for the time being, it had become clear that Virgil was a fellow the team needed to know more about.

The party, including new stone statue Emerson, made their way back to the keep proper, where they spent the next few weeks preparing for the arrival of River Bend's new citizenry. At last, soon after Early Spring began to show its face, some twelve hundred showed up at the keep, whereupon Riordan, Salem, Lioto, Ajanni, and Lothar began acclimating the pilgrims to their new homes. Riordan, Salem, and Ajanni held a conference of the magic users, and began the process of setting boundaries and policies for the practice of arcane and divine magic. Lothar met with Royce Whiteshield and started the process of training the miltia. Lioto and Demetian started a new monastery in earnest, and Ajanni worked with Simon and his son, as well as the dire wolves, to start a grove and create safe havens for local wildlife.

The settlers were now home; a new chapter was beginning for over a thousand of Westwich's citizens. For the Band of the Red Oak, a new chapter was about to begin as well, but it would be a chapter that was likely to take them far from River Bend, and far from their hometown of Oakshadow - physically, that is. In spirit, the memory of Oakshadow would factor heavily into their next adventure, especially the memories that came flooding back when our heroes tasted a familiar brew, which was now being imported from the north.

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Return to Westwich

by Floyd Fiftynames,

Licensed Bard

After a chance reunion with Ajanni (who had found himself captured and taken to the Tantus Valley), the Band of the Red Oak escaped from Sector 6, with the help of Matthias and some of the recently freed spellcasters. Along the way, they stopped to put an end to the life of Stanislaus, the corrupt warden of the prison, who showed little remorse in his final moments for the treatment of his prisoners.

A small group of the imprisoned chose to remain with the group - notably, Xavier the Cleric, Ward the elderly Druid, Phillipi the Thief, Arthur the Construct, and Royce Whiteshield the Mercenary. This group returned to the Guild House in the holy city, which allowed Salem, Riordan, and Lioto to wrap up their business. Upon their return, Salem learned that Vulpian had returned to his office in secret upon the completion of his business, which may or may not have had to do with visiting a prisoner in the Tantus Valley who may or may not have borne a resemblance to my friend Virgil Deathbow. Salem then managed to wrap up his priestly studies (resurrecting the head of the Order of the Word should have been the ultimate Advance Placement test), and the group set out on a return trip to Westwich, vis a vis Godsport, where a serendipitous encounter with a shop-keep would later yield unexpected dividends.

The group sailed home to Aaronsport, whereupon a large number of the huddled masses accepted an opportunity to breathe a little more freely by joining a march from the capital city to the new principality Riordan had come into. The throng would end up being led by Royce, Simon the Elder, Simon the Lesser, and Ward, while the Band and their primary retinue (including Lothar's now half-orc sister Elke, reunited with him through his Deck of Many Things wish, and Riordan's new gentleman's gentleman Quelleth) rode out ahead. Stopping at Bardin's Keep, the group learned from the local Lord that Oakshadow had come under a recent haunting, so the group returned to their old home to exorcise it of the monstrous undead that now inhabited the area, going so far as to track down a lich that was responsible for the sudden surplus. The group set eyes for the first time upon Riordan's keep, met a few of its' citizens, including the caretaker, and proceeded onward to the Stein & Shield to retrieve Riordan's other recruits. Unfortunately, a long-dormant grudge match between the party and an assembly of supernatural lupines put a damper on the numbers the Bard was expecting. Suddenly aware that the lives of 900 pilgrims were at stake, the party realized that Vargas & Co. were a force to be reckoned with once more. 

Fortunately, Vargas and the party were able to work out their differences with diplomacy - the word fortunate being a term preferred by the author and not by our ostensible protagonist - but negotiations were tense, and some espionage on the part of the party was attempted as a security measure. Of course, not every team of diplomats has at their disposal a dark-skinned man who can turn into an eagle, so the Band of the Red Oak can be forgiven for using some of the more exotic instruments in their toolbox. 

Following up on another item on our heroes' increasingly lengthy to-do list, the party set out to reunite with Corwin Janus. Janus had been elusive ever since he disappeared from Anders' birthday celebration, and Salem had acquired a rapier in the Tantus Valley that allowed him to divine the location of individuals he had met, and from there the party had deduced that the soldier had returned to his outpost. En route to visiting him, they happened upon a man from the north, who happened to have appeared in Salem's dreams, and vice versa. This man was in search of one of his fellow countrymen, who was known as the Prophet, and Riordan, Salem, and the man had much to discuss, but for Lothar, things became interesting once a large band of riders showed up, calling themselves the Army of God, and claiming to answer to Fallon the White. They demanded that the man turn himself over to them, which the party naturally disagreed with, and a battle ensued, wherein the enemy was all but dispatched - their captain escaped, no doubt to tell the tale. After this point, the party parted ways with the man, feeling strongly that they would meet up with him again.

Finally arriving at the Outpost (Ajanni had gone out ahead to herald the party's arrival), the Band of the Red Oak met up with Corwin Janus and caught up on their various dealings in the time that had passed since they had last seen each other. Janus held out hope that our heroes would still serve his order as a special strike force, and listed a number of tasks that he needed to have accomplished. The party acquiesced, and agreed to begin working on these tasks as soon as Riordan's villagers had made it to their new home.

While awaiting the arrival of these villagers, the party took the opportunity to clear out the fallback tower connected to the keep, which was filled with all manner of monsters under the command of a beholder - and with the exception of Emerson's being turned to stone, it was going pretty well. But more on that later.

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