Jinx’s Vacation
The War Council
When Jinx arrives to the fortress
overlooking Foundation with Wrathgar
and Baado1, they find the leaders of the
lands surrounding the Lake of the Gods
already assembled in the same hall which
the drow had earlier occupied. Cedric is
there, of course, as is Khurdlard, the elven
druid of Praetor; Kakaljak, the Lord of
Abject; Mabris, the Lord of Gormcairn;
and Goth, the Lord of Merkab. None of
these last four has she seen since the peace
summit at Abject which she and Nybotha
had organized, and there is no doubt that
all of these leaders expect this meeting to
be an attempt to salvage that peace before
the current state of unrest spills out of
control. Little do they know that Jinx has
an entirely different agenda, and Cedric,
her accomplice, has, as of yet, said nothing
of it.
“Hail and well met,” Cedric says as Jinx
enters the hall. “Everyone is here and…
uh,” he blinks somewhat expectantly while
eyeing the two dragon-mailed duergar, “I
see you have brought more friends.”
“Indeed,” Jinx replies, making no move
to facilitate introductions. “Shall we
begin?”
“Uh…of course,” Cedric nods. “I…uh…
I’ve requested everyone here for an issue
of great importance…”
“Who are these dwarves?” Khurdlard
interrupts.
“Friends,” Jinx replies. “Carry on,
Cedric.”
“Yes…well…like I was saying, I
requested all of you here for…uh,” he
shifts his attention to Jinx, “for an issue
that Leana2, I’m sure, can better explain.”
“Thank you, Cedric,” Jinx smiles. “As
some of you may have realized by now,
Lord Vargar of the gnolls has met a rather
unfortunate demise3, and that leaves us
with a rather fortunate opportunity.”
“This is the reason for an emergency
meeting?” Khurdlard questions.
1
Both are characters from Jinx’s
homeworld who she happened across in
Hell, rescuing them (see footnote #6 in my
zine in A&E #393). The consequences of
this action have, in turn, partially fueled
her desire to carry out a strike against the
dragonnest at the Isles of Oblivion,
although this will be better explained in a
later chapter.
2
As you will no doubt recall, Leana is the
name that Jinx has adopted for use in these
lands as a measure of protection against
those by whom she’d prefer not to be
discovered.
3
This was described on the 5th page of my
zine in A&E #391.
Jim Vassilakos
“Money is the greatest of all reasons to
have meetings, is it not? And this
opportunity entails substantial profits if we
all work together. As all of you are
certainly aware, the gnolls had a
substantial slave-trade going between here
and the neighboring territories. From what
I understand, they would often raid your
very communities; and it was not terribly
uncommon for your people to end up in
Rallu, possibly even under the ownership
of your own prince. An excellent
enterprise, don’t you think? Now, under
my leadership—”
“Your leadership?!” Khurdlard
interrupts. “Excuse us? Since when—”
“I think it wise you close your mouth
and refrain from interrupting me again.”
At this, Baado grins, his menacing teeth
and eyes bearing down on the elven druid.
“If you think I will tolerate—”
“Khurdlard,” Cedric chimes in, “just
hear what Leana has to say. It is only
courteous to allow her to finish before
raising objections.”
After a moment of contemplation,
Khurdlard eases back into his chair. “I will
listen.”
“Good. As I was saying,” Jinx continues,
“we could capitalize on this recently
vacant industry and make a substantial
profit if we work together. We’d have to
set up a new slave lord. Perhaps Lady
Ashmnet could simply expand Cheapside’s
operations down to our territory. Hired
muscle could keep outsiders from getting
their hand into it while we solidify our
control over the slave market and force
Price Desartros to pay us for what castoffs
we wish to send him. If nothing else, it
would certainly free up the jails. That’s
pretty much what I had to propose. Any
questions?”
For a moment the leaders look at one
another, scarcely able to believe their ears.
“We already use chain gangs in our
mines,” Goth pokes his feet into the idea.
“This could be no different from a prisoner
exchange.”
“Except we needn’t hold it exclusively to
prisoners,” Jinx replies. “There are many a
traveler who come through these parts,
what with the recently pacification of the
countryside. If they don’t belong here…
haven’t paid their taxes and so forth, I see
no reason why they should be allowed to
live off our lands.”
“Well,” Goth nods, “we can hash out the
details, but it is an interesting pro—”
“Interesting?” Lord Kakaljak inquires.
“Is that what you call it? I call it
enslavement, pure and simple, and I’ll
have no part in it, however you decide to
dress this up.”
“I concur,” Khurdlard adds. “This entire
discussion is revolting. It sickens me that
any of you should even entertain such
thoughts. And you, Cedric…from you I
would have expected better than this.”
Cedric just blinks, wondering where in
the hell Jinx is going with all this.
“To you, Khurdlard,” Jinx replies, “I
have but two words: shut and up. As for
you, Lord Kakaljak, you will cooperate.
I’ll need your men to round up slaves, and
your men I shall have. They are the best
warriors, and I’m sure their ability to cure
wounds will come in handy as well. After
all, we wouldn’t want our property dying
on us. That would be bad for business.”
Kakaljak gets to his feet, drawing his
blade even as he stands. “You may be a
lady, but you speak venomously. Do not
think that in my mercy I shall stand for it.”
“You are standing, just as I intended.”
“I am standing as I intend,” he replies.
“Now I see what all this talk of peace with
the half-drow was really about. You mean
to turn them loose upon us and establish a
kingdom for yourself. I should have
known.”
“If I wanted a kingdom I would already
have it. But since you have become so
vocal, tell me and tell me truly…what is it
about what I propose that you find so
offensive?”
“Besides the fact that you try to tell me
what to do concerning Abject?”
“Right, besides that part,” Jinx nods.
“Perhaps you haven’t noticed, good lady,
but I represent the Order of Iustitia4. It is
4
I’ve only just inserted this name,
borrowing from the roman goddess of
justice. At the time this was played out, all
I had in my mind about Kakaljak was that
he was a paladin and that his order was
essentially “good”. Of course, “good” (to
me) entailed a certain set of modern moral
values.
This was certainly not realistic, as many
“good” people of ancient times held the
view that slavery could be justifiable under
certain conditions. The moral discussions
concerning slavery had more to do with
whether or not “just cause” existed in
some particular case or set of cases, and it
was rarely if ever pondered whether the
entire institution of slavery was morally
bankrupt.
But, of course, to take this stance would
have resulted in me, as GM, having to play
a lawful-good paladin as though he were
accepting and even supportive of the
institution of slavery, which in our age is
taught that slavery is evil... even slavery of
the wicked and the foolish. Better it is to
kill a man and let his soul find its home
among the gods than to keep him on this
earth as somebody’s personal property.
That is what slavery amounts to…turning
people into property. You may see nothing
wrong with it, but I do.”
“As do I,” Khurdlard states. “I can’t
believe I ever bothered to show up.”
“It is an interesting belief that you have,”
Jinx responds, “yet both of you support
Rallu and its prince who not only allows
slavery but would buy slaves from Lord
Vargar knowing from whence they came.
Is that not the epitome of hypocrisy?”
Kakaljak stares at her for a long moment,
slowly digesting her query. “We have all
pledged allegiance to Prince Desartros.”
“Yes, I know. I am fully aware that
without your prince to buy up your people
as slaves and tax you for such great armies
as he has provided in your defense…
why…what ever would you do?”
“What armies?” Goth queries.
“Exactly! What armies? It seems to me
Desartros takes the taxes you pay him,
hands them to Lord Vargar, who in turn
marauds your countryside, burning and
looting and enslaving your people…and
ultimately handing them directly to
Desartros, as well he should as they were
properly bought and paid for with your
money. And you don’t even believe in
slavery. Ironic, isn’t it?”
Khurdlard drapes a tired hand over his
face, Kakaljak still standing in front of the
table, sword in hand, with nobody in
particular to swing at.
“It’s not as simple as all that!” he finally
retorts.
“Of course, it isn’t. There are
intermediaries and obfuscations, lies and
deceit, back-stabbing and treachery. You
are all leaders. You know of these things, I
presume. Yet let me not criticize your
prince, for he is simply behaving in his
own best interest. My question, I suppose,
is why aren’t you?”
“I believe,” Khurdlard finally says, “it
has something to do with those armies you
spoke of earlier.”
“Yes, but I want to hear it from mister
goody two-shoes over here. Yes, you
mister paladin, righteous knight of the
realms. For you have admitted as much,
have you not? You are your prince’s
humble servant—servant of one who
enslaves—enslaved you are and ready to
come to defend the honor and fight to the
death for one who enslaves—ready to
aspire to the noblest of ideals as long as no
one in Abject develops enough ethical
intellect to discovery the duplicity, the
very mendacity, of the ideals to which you
viewed as an absolute evil. I’d be curious
to learn how the rest of you handle this
question in your own campaigns.
supposedly aspire. Or are these fine words
you speak…these holy gods of justice you
pretend to serve…is that all just for the
sake of appearances?”
“We do not support slavery,” comes the
shaky response. “I have given my
servitude to the King of Rallu. Perhaps it
may appear that his dealings—”
“May appear?!” Jinx queries, utter
disbelief staining every tone in her voice.
“You really haven’t given this much
thought, have you? You’ve just accepted
what is without ever examining the ethics.
And you call yourself a paladin.”
“Some of our clerics have voiced
concerns.”
“And then been silenced by their own
leadership,” Cedric interjects. “Better not
to risk our necks for people who we barely
know. I think it goes something like that.”
“You question my courage?”
“No,” Cedric replies. “I would never
question that. You were named for my
own father, and you have served that name
well, my friend, but not all those who
serve the gods of justice are as brave as
you. Many have turned a blind eye to what
they know to be wrong, fearing an enemy
who is stronger.”
“An enemy? You yourself have visited
Rallu, Cedric. You have met with the
prince and kissed his ring…swore your
loyalty.”
“Indeed, that I have, and it has weighed
on my heart for many a year. If my father
had known all that we know now, think
you that he would have pledged his
allegiance to Desartros?5 I realize that I
speak dangerously, but my words are not
with venom. They are merely the words of
an old man who has seen too many years
come and go without hope, and it is hope
that we live on. If not for hope, then what
of prayer? Have your gods not spoken to
you already?”
Kakaljak pauses for a moment, sheathing
back his sword. “Iustitia came to me last
night in a dream6 clothed not in the white
robes of purity but in crimson red, her
5
Obviously, Cedric is finally coming to
the opinion that Jinx might be able to pull
off her seemingly outrageous plans. Still, it
must be very difficult to take the plunge
into treason, even against a dictator, and
this must be particularly true for someone
who has a great deal to lose. Hence, I
wanted to portray his resistance as well as
his transition in a way that would do
justice to the trepidation that he must be
feeling. I’m not completely satisfied with
my effort, but I thought that if I could
show it for just one character, that would
signify, in its own small way, the journey
that all of them would have to make.
6 “His supplies are being used elsewhere.”
Of course, it was really Jinx who came
into his dream. I do not now recall whether
or not Cedric knew this to be the case, but
by this point, he may have.
hands stained with the blood of what she
wouldn’t say. Only the voice of her eyes
did I hear: ‘It is time.’ I didn’t know what
she meant or even if I should think on it
further. I feared that perhaps this meeting
was a call to war and that her appearance
to me was but a premonition of warning.”
“It was a warning,” Jinx replies, “a
warning of the blood you have put on her
hands. Perhaps she has accepted your
ignorance on the matter up until now, but
she will accept it no longer. That is what
she meant by her words. It is time for you
to recognize the right and to choose it.
Close your heart to it now and you might
as well fill Vargar’s shoes yourself.”
Kakaljak says nothing, staring blankly at
the wall as if too stunned to comment.
“So much for the pop quiz. Is nobody
else going to denounce this idea of slavery
I invented to test your collective
character?” Jinx eyes each of the leaders
present. “At least Kakaljak tried to form
some sort of opposition to the notion,
despite his own ignorance, and as for
Khurdlard, I’d say he’s my only passing
grade this semester. You, Goth, you were
eager to hear my proposition. Mabris was
silent, waiting to see how the others would
answer. Very political of you.”
“It’s often better to remain silent and be
thought a fool, than to speak up and
remove all doubt.”
“I suppose that makes me a fool,”
Khurdlard retorts. “Rather, I should think
we’re all fools. Indeed, what precisely is
the meaning of all this, Cedric? Have we
been called here today to be given a course
on ethics by a woman we hardly know?”
“Hear her out,” Cedric replies with
exaggerated gesticulation. “Just listen to
what she has to say.”
“I’ve been listening, and all I’ve heard so
far has been deception and games, all of it
designed to encourage our revolt, for that
is what this is all getting at. I know it, and
you know it. Everyone here knows it. To
even be in this room shall be taken as
cause for execution. Emergency meeting,
my ass!”
Silence returns for a long moment, yet
the creases in Kakaljak’s forehead as well
as the slant of his brows suggest anything
but silence within his thoughts.
“When a god tells you, ‘it is time,’” Jinx
finally says, “I think that can be taken as
an emergency. And it is time. All of you
pay taxes to a king who is supposed to
lend you aid when aid is needed. Yet, none
of your requests for aid were ever
answered concerning the half-drow, ice
giants, or Vargar. I understand now why
he didn’t give aid concerning Vargar, but
why not the others?”
“He’s been at war,” Lord Mabris states.
“He’s winning the war,” Jinx returns.
“And were you not having problems with
the half-drow prior to him going to war?”
 “So what’s your solution?” Khurdlard
asks. “That we all flip Desartros the
collective bird?”
“Think about it. Since I’ve been around,
the half-drow situation has greatly
improved, the ice giants are no more, Lord
Vargar will imperil your people no longer,
the mountain roads between here and
Abject are much safer, Yolin has been
tamed, and Cheapside is in the process of
being tamed. All this, and I didn’t even ask
for a copper piece.”
“Ah, so it is compensation you seek.”
“No…at least not in the form of financial
compensation.”
“I’ve already seen where this is going,”
Khurdlard states. “Why don’t you just go
ahead and spit it out, this so-called
proposition of yours. The real one this
time, if you please.”
“For starters, I want you and the rest of
the leaders here to stop paying taxes to an
unsupportive prince—to stop paying taxes
to a prince who essentially robs you of
both money as well as population. First he
takes the work of their labors; then he
takes the people themselves. The problem
was never Lord Vargar. The problem has
always been Prince Desartros, and it will
continue as long as you are willing to bend
over and take it. You must defy him and
declare your own sovereignty.”
“Oh, secession will never be that easy,”
Khurdlard begins. “What…you think he’ll
just turn the other cheek? He’s got too
much at stake for that to ever happen, and
believe you me... going to war with our
beloved prince is not an option. Put quite
simply…he’d kill us.”
“I fully expect that he’ll try, but he won’t
succeed. In fact, if my plans come off as I
expect they will, you will no longer have
to worry about Prince Desartros, just as
you no longer have to worry about Lord
Vargar.”
“Now you truly speak treason,”
Khurdlard replies.
“Yes, and you should listen. In the short
period I’ve been here I’ve proven my
worth, and I’ve never asked for payment,
nor will I. Stop paying him. Use the gold
for your people, and sleep sounder at night
knowing you’re not supporting an
individual who steals from you more than
just gold. I will become the overseer for
these lands, and I will see to it that your
towns remain safe.”
Khurdlard snorts, partly in mirth, partly
derision. “Cedric, my good friend, did you
know she was this delusional when you
first met her?”
“Tell them the rest, Leana,” Cedric says
in a quiet voice. “Tell them of the
dragons.”
“What dragons?” Khurdlard sits up with
a start.
Chuckling slightly, Jinx finally takes a
seat at the table, Wrathgar and Baado still
standing behind her, their dragonhide
armor gleaming red in the flickering
candlelight.
Khurdlard, for his own part, simply sits
up further, staring intently. “What sort of
armor is that?” he finally asks.
Baado makes a toothy grin, his liege,
Wrathgar, either too impassive or too
scornful of the elf to reply.
“Their armor came from an animal,” Jinx
finally responds.
“Ah…an animal. For a moment, I feared
that you might say it came from a dragon.”
“Dragon, animal… what’s the
difference?”
“Dragons are not mere animals; they are
magical beasts.”
“They are magical, that is true, but they
are not gods. You cut them, they bleed.
You cut them enough, they die.”
“And I suppose that you have firsthand
knowledge of this?”
Baado laughs. “This ain’t no bearskin
that we wear! It’s dragonhide. Yea, take a
good look, elf. This is likely the closest
you’ll ever come to one.”
“Enough,” Jinx says to him, turning back
to Khurdlard a moment later. “Let me
answer you this way. Has Ringtail attacked
anyone lately? Anyone? Has he stolen
sheep or cut down merchants passing
between your towns?”
They shake their heads.
“Well, of course not,” she continues.
“I’ve given him his territory, and he knows
I’ll kill him if he leaves it.”
“You claim to have tamed Ringtail?”
“He’s only a white dragon and not a
terribly strong one at that. You could have
done it yourself, I’d imagine.”
“If ye had the guts,” Baado adds
contemptuously.
“I said ‘enough’ once already. It won’t
be said again.”
“Sorry,” the duergar apologizes.
She turns back to the elf yet again. “I
don’t mean to demean anyone, Khurdlard,
but dragons for the most part don’t
constitute a credible threat. It’s only when
they band together and attack your towns
by surprise…when they threaten to turn
these lands into what they once were, a
scorched cinder.”
“What happened to Cheapside was a
vengeance hit from what I have learned.”
“Yes, it was, and it may be but the first.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have been to the Isles of Oblivion and
have learned much about the red dragons
who live there. There are six adults and
three juveniles, and a dead fool’s greed has
woken them.”
“Mortimus.”
“Yes, I have spoken with the remnants of
his failed expedition. I’ve even brought
them back with me, though they are not
here with us today. From what I’ve
learned, Cheapside may be but the first of
many such attacks. Since other
responsibilities are calling me away from
your lands, I’ve decided that the dragons
must be neutralized as a threat before my
fears become reality. Hence, I’m inviting
you gentlemen…leaders of your people…
to join me and some of my close allies,”
she says while looking from them to
Wrathgar and Baado.
“Us, you, and two duergar, one more or
less outspoken, against nine dragons.”
“You might be surprised to learn that I
do have other friends.”
“I’d never have guessed. How many are
we talking about then?”
“It’ll be a sizable group…a group the
likes of which the dragons have never
before seen save for one instance which I
might tell you about another time.”
“Oh?”
“I learned a great deal while on their
island, but there is a great deal more which
must be learned after we have
accomplished our goal.”
“So what’s the plan?” Goth asks. “Do we
just sail in and start kicking ass?”
“That would be asinine,” Jinx retorts as
if annoyed by such a question. “Even those
with a paucity of knowledge are well
aware of the creatures that protect the
water and air surrounding the isles.”
“The what?” his return.
“I will give the specifics when I’m
ready.”
“In other words, you don’t know. You’re
just talking to hear your own voice.”
“Goth…owner of an overabundance of
cranial spaciousness…I certainly wouldn’t
waste my time unless I was quite serious
as well as capable.” Jinx stands, drops her
robe as she does, and circles the group at a
slow pace. “As you have already noticed,
my friends wear scales from a dragon
centuries older than anything we’ll
encounter. So do I,” she says as the men
become even more fixated on her eerie,
translucent armor which covers a body
comparable to none which they have seen
before.7
“I prefer black,” Jinx continues. “Not
acid-spitting black. The hides of those are
not durable or challenging enough. This
armor I wear is from the sort of dragon
that I expect none of you have ever seen
nor even heard of, unless perhaps I speak
with ghosts.”
“It’s not the armor which interests me,”
Goth says, eyeing her with open lust.
“May I?” Baado draws forth his
battleaxe. “Please?”
“No. There will be time enough for
blood-letting. Now is a time for pacts to be
7
I believe this armor was fashioned from
the hide of an ancient shadowdragon that
she had only recently been tasked with
killing. This entails a bit of a story in and
of itself, all of which I managed to skip
past, but I may return to it if I can ever
locate my notes.
forged, and if I let you kill him, it would
only stall these discussions.”
Baado puts away his weapon, clearly
disgruntled.
“Even if your boasts are backed by
might,” Khurdlard says, “which has yet to
be proven, although I don’t altogether
doubt you entirely…we are still talking
about nine dragons. Only my own master,
Fluxus, was capable of ensorcering so
many at once, and only at great personal
cost. Perhaps his magic controls them still
and your fears about them are baseless.”
“I’ve already researched this. I’m sorry
to be the bearer of the unpleasant truth,
Khurdlard, but your master’s magic never
ensorcered them. The dragons were
controlled by another much more powerful
than even Fluxus.”
Khurdlard’s eyes narrow as he regards
her for a long moment, no trace of lust in
his stare, but rather one of the greatest
skepticism.
“I spoke to my master upon his return
from the volcano. He told me then what
had happened. This talk of another…more
powerful…you would tell me that his
recounting was but a lie?! Fluxus never
once lied in all the years that I knew him.”
“He was not himself,” Jinx replies.
“Something had happened to him that you
were not capable of discerning. I know. I
spoke with Leothan, his son, just a few
days ago,” at this she arrives back to where
she began and dons her robes once more.
“Only to his own flesh and blood did he
confess the truth of what had happened.”8
“Leothan never spoke of this.”
“He couldn’t. To do so would imperil all
of you. All he could do was hide himself
away and hope that nobody would ever
come sniffing around for the truth. Why do
you think he secreted himself deep into the
woods after his father had passed, hiding
himself even from you, his father’s own
apprentice?”
Khurdlard pauses for a long moment,
weighing her words even as he recalls
memories centuries old. “What did
Leothan say to you?”
“I keep my promises. Hence, he’ll have
to decide what he wants you to know. Join
me and my allies, neutralize the dragons,
and I’ll take you to him.”
“Just that simple?” interjects Kakaljak.
“How do you know their numbers, and
what of their other defenses?”
“I have been on the isles, researched our
task, and know the obstacles that face us.
In my mind, the hard part has been
completed. Now we just need to follow
through with the strategies I’ve
developed.”
“I must admit,” Khurdlard mutters, “I am
curious as to all this…very curious…but
what’s to prevent the dragons from flying
8 “It’s true, isn’t it?!”
See my zine in A&E #390.
away, assuming that they’d need to.
Certainly they are faster than us.”
“That’s where Ringtail comes in. He and
two of his friends, actually. Imagine three
white dragons with three mages strapped
on their backs, loaded with maelstrom9—
one of those mages being present in this
very room, Khurdlard. I don’t suppose you
have any inkling who I’m talking about?
Everyone will have their own healing
potions, and all will be substantially
protected by rings of fire resistance10 that I
will loan to each member of the
expedition.”
“And should we accept your proposal,”
Goth asks after a brief silence, “what will
you be doing?”
“I knew I could count on all of you,” she
says as they stare at one another a bit
uncomfortably, though all of them too full
of pride to be the first to back out. “I’ll be
running through a hidden passage that
leads to one of the families. The rest of the
party will be split between two passages.
Two or three of the dragons will be
neutralized before actual entry.”
“So there will only be six or seven?”
Goth reasons. “Oh, goody…I’m so
relieved. Assuming we don’t all die in the
process, what of the loot?”
“As chance would have it, I need all of
you to profit from this so you can see the
extra money you’ll have to take care of
your people when you stop paying taxes to
Prince Desartros and acknowledge me as
your overseer.”
“I’m not acknowledging anything,”
Khurdlard states. “But I will take part in
this expedition.” He glaces toward Baado,
“I am not so gutless as you might think,
dwarf.”
“Of course, not,” Wrathgar replies for
his kinsman. “We’ve seen nothing but
courage from all of you.”
“Some of us like to think before we act.”
“Think or squirm?” Baado queries.
“That should be enough of that, my
friend,” Wrathgar puts a hand on Baado’s
shoulder. “What he means to say,”
Wrathgar returns his gaze to Khurdlard, “is
that your thinking process is…most
entertaining. Please continue.”
Khurdlard looks between two duergar,
eyes narrowing slightly as Jinx takes a step
forward during the intervening silence.
“If you wish to rule your towns after
knowledge of the isles eventually leaks,”
she begins, “you’ll need my assistance.
None of you can challenge Desartros
alone, and I doubt that he’ll accept a
decrease in the flow of slaves without
acting. He’ll eventually discover Vargar’s
9
Maelstrom is the most powerful type of
mana (magical energy) commonly
available in my campaign.
10
Obviously very D&Dish. I’ve already
discussed my dissatisfaction with having
employed such terminology in A&E #399.
demise, and that will lead to an
investigation. Since we are the only ones
that know of it, I suggest to each of you
that you tell no one else and play dumb
when his investigators come to inquire.”
“Why the deceit?” asks Kakaljak, finally
awake from his daze.
“Because I will be gone for a year or so
after we neutralize the dragons. During
that time, continue paying taxes as if
nothing has occurred. Most likely, he’ll
replace Vargar with something else, and
by then I’ll be back, and so will Nybotha.”
“So the rumor of Nybotha disappearing
with you is true?” Goth asks.
“I never meant it to be a secret,” Jinx
replies.
“For what purpose was she taken?”
Khurdlard asks.
“To learn,” she says while looking from
Cedric to the other leaders. “To learn many
secrets and many ways of magic.”
“Nybotha is too old to learn magic,”
Khurdlard states, “and besides, from what
I’ve heard, she never had much interest in
it.”
“Because she wasn’t properly trained.
When she returns to live amongst you once
more, she’ll return more powerful than any
of you, and soon thereafter she will take
my place as overseer, to watch and protect
these lands from Desartros and ensure that
your people are no longer preyed upon by
your own prince.”
“And what if we don’t see fit to hide
behind a woman’s skirt?” Goth makes an
angry scowl. “…no matter how pretty the
legs beneath it might be.”
“I won’t ask you to make any decisions
until after we have dealt with the dragons.
Once we do, I think your opinion about
women may change, and how you see fit
to address me may change as well. The
only reason I tolerate your tone is because
I pity your ignorance. Rest assured, that
will soon pass. Are there any other
questions?”
“Yes,” Khurdlard leans back in his chair.
“What exactly is it you mean by
‘overseer’?”
“That’s a good question. I don’t believe
an overseer should rule omnipotently. If I
desire to do something that has the
potential to affect this land, I will consult
all of you in a meeting similar to this one.
If all of you disagree with my proposal, I
will have been overruled, and whatever I
had in mind shall be dropped. However, if
even one of you sides with me, the plan
proceeds. Hence, collectively you can
overrule me. I doubt you’ve had a similar
right with Desartros.”
“Of course, not,” Goth replies. “He treats
us like the turd in his chamber pot which
he shat out the previous night.”
“Most descriptive,” Khurdlard
comments. “You should really write
poetry.”
 “Yes, except one doesn’t tax and enslave
one’s fecal matter. Well, you might. In any
case, before I respond to any of this, I
would hear from Kakaljak and Mabris.
Without either of you, any sort of alliance
against the prince would never stand a
chance in hell.”
Kakaljak takes a deep breath, “I follow
the will of my goddess, not the will of the
prince. And my people will follow me. My
goddess says to clean the blood off her
hands…and so I shall, with the blood of
my enemies if need be. No matter what the
outcome, I am not afraid to die.”
“And what of you, Mabris?”
The taciturn Lord of Gormcairn unfolds
his hands. “As it is,” he begins, slowly
shifting his eyes from one of his fellow
leaders to the next, “as it is, all of us here
have committed treason by merely
attending this meeting and lending thought
to what has been said. Unless we go to the
prince immediately and warn him that
rebellion is afoot in the form of a fair
maiden with a great sword, we will be
branded traitors. Hence, assuming we do
nothing, if any of this should escape these
walls from even one of us, Desartros will
come for the rest, and we will have to face
him or run like wild rabbits. The question
in my mind is: Who among us will be the
first to squeal? With it be you, Khurdlard,
angry over our pact with the half-drow?
With it be Cedric, worried over the fate of
his niece? Will it be Goth, hungry for even
more power, or will it be Kakaljak,
wizened by his priests to the ways of
politics as well as self-preservation? Only
if all of us remain true to our words
submitted here and now will any of this
work, and therein, I think, lay the folly of
this plan. So what I say is this. Let us
speak no further of rebellion. Let us
instead forget this conversation that we
have had. Let us erase it from our minds,
and for the time being, let us follow Leana
and her allies to the Isles of Oblivion, and
allow the battle there determine how much
credence we should put in her as well as in
one another, for if we should all die
tomorrow, the talk of today is but the
wasted breath of dead men, heard by no
one, and acted upon by nobody.”
For a while there is silence; then
Kakaljak finally speaks: “I think the isles
will determine much.”
“I agree,” returns Goth.
Khurdlard nods.
“Leana,” Cedric begins, “I’ll follow the
vote of the rest, but my concern—
providing we survive the dragons—is not
the prince so much but his armies. Not to
beat a dead horse, but he has thousands—”
“And I’ll do my best not to kill them
all,” Jinx interrupts. “I have no desire to
kill potentially innocent men and their
families.”
“Just that easy?” Khurdlard asks.
“It will take some planning, but much of
it has already been taken into
consideration. I plan three steps ahead,
sometimes more, and I certainly don’t feel
it necessary to wage war when there are
other ways. Why kill a dragon slowly by
bleeding it to death with dagger wounds?
Easier to cut the head off in one blow…
and much less costly for the innocent.”
Eyes dart back and forth as Jinx smiles
while ruminating over her plans.
“Do not forget,” she continues, “I was
able to get on and off of the isle of the
dragons with all the information I desired.
“Rallu will be even easier to infiltrate. In
fact, I look forward to it. It will be a well
deserved vacation for me when I return.”
“And if we don’t think you are capable
of this after the isles?” Mabris asks.
“Then my plans cease. I will intrude here
no longer, and you can continue paying a
master that extorts your wealth and
people.”
“Pathetic,” Wrathgar states.
“I’d rather die with honor,” Baado adds,
the leaders again looking at each other
with the realization that their personal
integrity is at stake.
“Keep in mind, silence until my return.
Pay the taxes from your take of the
mission, and act surprised if anyone
questions you about Vargar.”
“Everything depends upon silence,”
Mabris states.
“I’ll give my response after the isles,”
Khurdlard states.
“As shall we all.”
Jinx nods. “I need to retire for a few
hours. If I am not here in the morning, I
will return shortly and teleport all of you to
meet the others who will accompany us.
We strike the dragons tomorrow.”
Comments on A&E #398:
Myles Corcoran: Thanks again for the
goodies. Since you asked to see my ugly
mug, here’s a pic of me taken this evening.
Robert Dushay: I’m continuing our
discussion on homosexuality and social
decay in the 21-Feb-2009 entry of my
blog.11 I’d be interested as to your thoughts
or those of anyone else who’d like to add
their two bits.
Joshua Kronengold: I’m sorry if you feel
I went too hard on you last issue regarding
your earlier comments to Louis. I think
that by consistently advocating a position
that we steer the conversation toward
roleplaying and away from politics and
other topics, you are serving a useful
purpose, as we all need somebody to help
us keep on task. A&E, as we both know,
has a tendency to drift toward off-topic
discussion, and so I appreciate the need to
nudge people back toward RPGs.
However, I was initially puzzled by your
comment to Ty last issue wherein you
wrote, “There is, sir, a difference between
content I disagree with, and that which
disagrees with me….” Initially, I felt a
certain degree of skepticism, trying to
imagine you reading a political argument
with which you agreed wholeheartedly, but
which, nonetheless, possessed the sheer
audacity to disagree with you. Perhaps you
might write in response, “Your argument,
sir, makes perfect sense, and we are in
complete agreement; nonetheless, it really
pisses me off, and so I wish you’d knock it
off!”
I’m sorry…that might have sounded
sarcastic, but the point is that I was
genuinely confused by your statement.
Now that I think about it further, however,
I’m guessing that what you perhaps meant
was that you don’t mind if somebody talks
politics so long as they do it nicely…
whatever that means to you. I mean, I can
understand this sentiment, if that was your
point, because sometimes I hear somebody
say something, and I may even agree with
them, but I may still cringe at the way they
said it. Part of me, of course, may also
cheer a bit, especially if I can see their
point of view and if I think they are
expressing it with the sort of clear-eyed
certainty that I myself tend to lack, but
even then there may also be that feeling of
cringing, because I know that people who
are not open to their ideas will often feel
attacked by them.
People, I think, tend to become very
possessive of their ideas, and to encounter
ideas that run counter to their own may
feel like an insult, particularly when those
ideas are delivered indelicately, as Ty is a
master of doing. I think this is because we,
as humans, are somehow hardwired into
finding fault with one another, and I’d
imagine that this may the case be for a
plethora of psycho-evolutionary reasons…
everything from making the tribe more
socially cohesive to causing it to split up
(dividing almost like a bacterium) when
the environment allows.
However, I had to caution myself that if
this was the case that you were tolerant of
other ideas but simply not tolerant of the
tone of their delivery, then you might have
said what you said to Ty last issue, but
certainly I could see no reason that you
would have attacked Louis as you did
earlier. After all, although Louis and Ty
may share many ideas, they hardly share
the same tone of delivery. The fact that
you seemed to become upset with both of
them leads me to conjecture that it is not
the delivery that upsets you but rather the
ideas themselves, and if that’s truly the
case, then, in my opinion, this reaction that
you are having to them is your problem,
not theirs, and the remedy is not to be
found in getting them to change but is
rather to be found in changing yourself.
That said, I still commend you for trying
to keep us on topic, but I wish you would
do it more gently, perhaps by merely
ignoring the politics in people’s zines and
commenting solely on that which is RPG-
related and perhaps also encouraging
others to do likewise, or encouraging us to
take our politics to the blogosphere. This is
something that I have been doing in
accordance with your wishes, and I thank
you for that recommendation, as given the
amount that I am writing to Robert Dushay
this month, I think your “take it to a blog”
idea has saved me quite a bit of money. Of
course, more importantly, it has also saved
Lee from having to photocopy my political
ramblings, and it has saved disinterested
A&Ers from having to navigate around
them. I tend to agree with you that the
APA would be well-served if others would
also take their politics to a blog, but I think
the way to achieve this is not to be had by
becoming cross with people but rather to
simply make it a practice among ourselves
to move the politics to the web and
encourage others to do likewise.
Speaking of which, regarding your
political comments to Spike last issue,
please see my blog entry for 20-Feb-
2009.11
Patrick Riley: ryctm on stellar density and
the unavailability of good hydrogen
sources in what appear to us, presently, to
be empty cubic parsecs: Back when I was
working on my 3d star mapping program12,
I has the occasion to attempt a quick and
dirty analysis of the Third Catalogue of
Nearby Stars (CNS3) by Gliese & Jahreiss.
You can download my program off esnips,
and if you do, you can read my thoughts
on CNS3 in help\fillgal.txt. To briefly
summarize, it looked to me like the CNS3
data, despite its claim of being complete,
was probably flawed in the sense that it
wasn’t showing all the stars, and the
reason I came to this conclusion was that,
11
As usual, Jim’s Journal (which is mostly
politics at this point) can be found at
http://jim-vassilakos.livejournal.com
12
Available at:
http://www.esnips.com/web/RPG-Wares-
for-MS-DOS/ (the file name is star10.zip).
at least according to the data, the further
out you get from Sol, the lower the density
of stars per volume of space. To put it
another way, assuming a roughly even
distribution of stars in our local
neighborhood, the CNS3 data was missing
stars, and it was missing more and more
stars the further out you got from Sol.
Now, of course, this assumption of even
distribution (or stellar density in our
current parlance) may be erroneous. It is
entirely possible that we are very close to
the center of a minor cluster of stars, or
perhaps it’s the case that we’re very near
the center of a filament extending from
one of the galactic arms, but the more I
looked at the data, the more I came to the
belief that what was most likely was that
we just weren’t seeing everything that’s
out there. This belief was, in part, aided by
the fact that each new catalog of nearby
stars had additional stars; the CNS3 was
bigger than the CNS2, and I assumed that
the CNS4, when it would come out, would
be bigger still. Granted, I’m not an
astronomer, but I had what looked to me
like an apparent inconsistency in the data,
and so for purposes of writing this star
mapping program, I felt that I had to try to
guestimate the reality behind what I was
seeing.
As I began pondering this problem, I
also had to ask myself what sort of stars
were we most likely to overlook…the big,
bright ones or the small, dim ones. And, of
course, not only would the dim, low-mass
stars be easier to miss, but there’s also a
heck of a lot more of them out there. I
think (hope) that I based my stellar
probabilities off the actual data and not
merely the stellar table in GURPS:Space,
but according to the probabilities I put
forth in my software, the MV stars are by
far the most abundant. Just looking at my
stellar generation control file, I must have
figured that they were about twice as
abundant as the next most abundant group,
the FV stars, and that those, in turn, were
about twice as abundant as the next most
abundant group, the GV stars, of which
Sol is a member. So with this numerical
doubling as we go down the scale, I
naturally began to wonder about brown
dwarfs, stars so small that they never
achieved fusion.
The CNS3, of course, doesn’t include
brown dwarfs, as they are essentially
invisible. For a long time in astronomy
these “stars” were merely a topic of
speculation, as one had never been
observed, but when we started getting
telescopes powerful enough to detect and
measure the wobbling motion of stars (a
fairly recent development), we could
deduce their presence as close companions
to various stars where they were indirectly
observed. So we now know that they
actually exist, but we still don’t know how
many there are.
For my 3d starmapping program, which I
put out in 1998, I decided to go with what
I thought was a fairly conservative
estimate. In my documentation, I
mentioned estimating the number of brown
dwarfs at one-sixth the number of MV
stars, although in my stellar generation
control file, I set the probability of brown
dwarfs at around one-third of what it is for
MV stars. However, you have to recall that
at the time, there was virtually nobody in
the mainstream media talking about brown
dwarfs, and hence my timidity. Now that I
think about it further and with the backing
of evidence in the mainstream media that
these super gas giants actually exist, it
seems more likely that if we go with the
doubling that we see between GV and FV
and again between FV and MV, then
perhaps we should have another doubling
between MV and brown dwarfs and
perhaps yet another doubling between
brown dwarfs and rogue gas giants of
“normal” Jovian proportions. It’s still too
early to say, as even this thought, as crazy
as it may sound, may eventually prove to
be too conservative. We just don’t know.
Of course, even were we to do this, it
would only be a small drop in the bucket
in terms of solving the dark matter
problem, so perhaps it really is the case
that these sorts of dark objects are literally
a hundred or thousand times greater in
number that even this doubling hypothesis
might indicate. It’s for all of these reasons
that I’m very skeptical that so called empty
parsecs are truly empty, however, for
purposes of science-fiction roleplaying, of
course, the GM or game designer is at
liberty to devise his or her universe
however he or she desires. The way this
question is answered, however, has great
implications in terms of space travel and
military strategy, and bear in mind that
even after the question of brown dwarfs is
answered, one still has to consider the
question of smaller interstellar objects
such as rogue planets, rogue asteroids,
rogue comets and so forth. My feeling, of
course, is that just because it is dark
doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s
nothing there, but your feeling about this
may be different, and if so, I respect that.
Steven Warble: ryct Robert Dushay
regarding medieval demographics for other
eras and your dream supplement, a
gamers’ encyclopedia focusing on various
nations, cultures, time periods, cities, etc.:
Nice idea. One section I’d add to your list
would be careers (both past & present).
It’d be interesting to learn the good, the
bad & the ugly of different jobs…could
add lots of color and detail to a campaign.