[Campaign Season S26] The Adventurers Guild

[Creep/DM]

In the Hall of Near and Far Adventurers:

"Add extra applesauce."

Catherine, the receptionist, greeted the party with the motto of the Adventurers Guild. However, she was unable to answer the party's questions regarding the meaning of the motto.

The motto is cryptic. No one knows what is an applesauce. If it is a kind of sauce, then what is an apple? No one has seen or heard of an apple before.

"Perhaps you could ask one of the high-ranking adventurers," Catherine suggested.

That route brought no clear answers either.

"It's meaning is simple. Apples do not exist, so it is not possible to add extra applesauce. So what the guild asks of us as adventurers is to go beyond our mortal limits and do the impossible."

"No, no, no. It is a kind of test. You have to peer beyond the veil and see the truth behind the words. It reminds us not to be fixated on that which cannot be solved, so we should focus on the practical matters instead."

"That can't be right..."

[Creep/DM]

On Sunday, November 14, 2021 at 8:30:39 PM UTC+8 Lester Lee wrote:

A letter reached Sylni while she was staying at the inn, the night when the Silver Blades submitted their application for the Silver Rank test.

"Sister Sylni, you have applied for the test based on your experience as a Cleric. We require you to prepare the following spells for the test."

-------------

At the appointed time, Sylni reached the Adventurers' Guild. A young lady in purple robes, bearing the eye-in-pentagram symbol of Boccob addressed her.

"You must be Sister Sylni. I hope that you are ready. Here. Please hold on to this", as the acolyte hands her a small pouch before continuing, "Then I'll have to blindfold you as I lead you to the testing venue. Pray rest assured that you will not come to harm. We will be on standby to stop the test if needed."

Sylni took the small pouch and let the acolyte blindfold her before being led by hand to another part of the Guild. A short while later, Sylni could hear a heavy door open and being ushered through it. Her guide then stopped, and her blindfold removed. Darkness loomed around her, except for the spot where she stood. A darkness that even Sylni's Eyes of Night cannot pierce through. Shar's domain.

"Welcome to the Proving Grounds", an unfamiliar voice rang out from the darkness, "Firstly, we would have you erect a Magic Circle centered on yourself. The pouch you were given holds the powder that you will need. Begin."

"Well, they certainly wasted no time," thought Sylni, "They probably had four Darkness spells casted in a precise manner in order to leave this pocket where I'm standing in. How elaborate. I wonder why." She began her incantation and drew protective glyphs in the air before finishing the spell by tossing the handful of powdered silver into the air. There was a subtle change in the air as the spell set in.

"Now, you might be weary from... being kept in the dark," yet another unfamiliar voice chuckled. "Cast a Daylight for us, won't you?"

"Gladly," muttered Sylni before calling on Selûne's power to dispel these suffocating Darkness spells. Silvery light bursted out from her holy symbol, blinding her for a fraction of second. As her eyes adjusted, she could make out the preceptors dressed in similar purple robes who are presiding over her test, as well as a few skeletons which she was totally not expecting. The skeletons immediately lunged towards Sylni, before being blocked by the barrier that she raised.

"Hmmm... The circle was raised correctly...", mumbled an crone and seemingly checking off an item off her parchment. "One final task and we are done. Channel your Goddess' power and destroy the skeletons, won't you?", the crone waved her quill absently as she instructed Sylni without looking up.

Recovering from the unpleasant surprise, Sylni uttered a quick prayer, filling herself with divine energy, and lashed it out around her. The undead, weak as they were, broke apart as Selûne's power washed over them.

Nodding at the destroyed skeletal remains, an middle aged man spoke up. "And I believe we are done here. She has sufficiently demonstrated her capacity of divine magicks worthy of the Silver Rank. If there are any in disagreement...?"

The rest of the preceptors shook their heads.

The man continued, "Sister Sylni. We have judged you capable and worthy of the Silver Rank. You may now head out and exchange your Copper Tag with a Silver one."

The young acolyte proceeds to lead Sylni out as the preceptors started to raise the skeletons and replacing the Darkness spells, presuming for the next examinee.

[Creep/DM]

On Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 3:24:42 PM UTC+8 Aaron Neo wrote:

Erin spent a week rehearsing his Adventurer’s Guild interview.

“Got to make a good impression – Silver is like a Journeyman interview!”

 

The physical challenge was the easiest.

Erin had arranged to have 2 bunches of thin-skinned fruit placed 40 feet apart from each other, with a wide mouthed pitcher placed under each bunch.

Showcasing his trained athleticism, the wood elf barbarian ran easily for 10 rounds between the two pitchers and used his silver hand axe to thwack 2 slivers of fruit into the pitchers on each pass.

 

After a minute, Erin walked towards the panel with the two pitchers and poured the refreshing fruit smoothie into a tankard.

 

“Honoured Guild Seniors, for Erin of The Silver Blades, Add extra applesauce has a simple meaning as a martial
– it means push past your limits and go further than you think you can.

 

He placed the drink in front of the chief guild examiner and smiled.

“PLUS ULTRA.”

[Creep/DM]

On Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 7:39:27 PM UTC+8 paolo....@mediamonks.com wrote:

The test for Mor’quen is a test of might and battle tactics. He was tasked to help the small town of Phandalin get rid of a manticore roaming the umbrage hill.

With a few days of traveling and gathering information about the beast and the are where it is said to be found, he takes off. The moment he arrives near umbrage hill, there was a loud scream from a distance and he saw an apothecary named Adabra Gwen screaming and crying for help as a manticore is trying to break through the doors.

From 120ft cast 3 magic missile, action surge cast 3 more magic missile.

Manticore jumps up and fly towards Mor’quen and releases 3 tail spikes, when they are about to hit Mor’quen casts shield and deflects all 3. While still in its momentum moving forward, Mor’quen casts fire bolt that hits the manticore straight in its face and immediately Mor’quen runs and tries to hide on one of the trees surrounding. Manticore immediately sees him and takes a bite and miss, followed with 2 claw attacks racking towards him and injures his chest and right arm. Mor’quen stands his ground and rushes immediately towards the winds to try and slash but the manticore was fast enough to dodge. Mor’quen then uses second wind to heal himself up and stands his ground shield at the ready waiting for an attack. The manticore roars and bites but Mor’quen deflects with his shield. 2 claw attack follows but Mor’quen managers to parry both attacks and rushes towards the manticore’s legs, slides forwards and slashes a gaping wound. The manticore roars in pain followed by another bite which Mor’quen dodges but he is hit with the 2 claw attacks. Mor’quen is injured, both are panting and catching their breath doing a stare down. Both rush at the same time with the manticore extends his neck to take a bite when Mor’quen jumps and dodges. With his momentum from the jump, he slashes down towards the back of its neck and cleaves all the way through effectively beheading the creature.

Along they way, he contemplates the path he is currently traversing. He always wanted to prove he is strong, and able to defeat any foes, he did exactly that by defeating this manticore as he thinks to himself while looking at the leather bag the head is wrapped in. He stops and looks up in the sky, and thinks… “what am I doing? Do I even want this silver adventurer rank? I don’t feel I accomplished anything for the last few months… I still haven’t found something to bring her back”

Goes back to Saltmarsh with the head of the manticore and presents it as a proof that he is indeed deserving of a silver rank adventure badge.

[Creep/DM]

On Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 8:49:54 PM UTC+8 james1...@gmail.com wrote:

Thomas' silver rank-up test

Based on our adventures thus far, Thomas asked that his test demonstrate his underwater combat capabilities. My request raised some eyebrows but my request was accepted. Luckily for me, there was a merrow who had been raiding some fishing boats that was perfect for my test. My test then became going and subjugate the merrow by bringing it back either dead or alive. 

First, I went to the docks and strummed some sea shanties to get additional information regarding the location of the merrow. Armed with the information from the guild and the 

fishermen's stories, I was able to find the likely location of the merrow's hideout in an underwater cave just off the coast. Second, I cast water breathing on myself and the three 

guild rank-up proctors. Once I finished casting my spell, we went into the water towards the cave hideout with me leading the way. As we approached the cave, the merrow came out and 

attempted to throw a harpoon at me, I used my words to throw off his aim and it whizzed harmlessly past me. Then I attempted to use my spell hypnotic pattern to incapacitate him. 

Unfortunately, it failed to incapacitate him. "damn, that's going to cost me some points"  He swam closer and tried to bite me and stab me. My words stopped his bite and he narrowly

 missed his stab. I used hypnotic pattern again and succeeded at incapacitating him. I took out some rope to tie him up and take him back to the guild. After he was restrained, I 

looked over my shoulder at the proctors, they seemed rather pleased with my subjugation despite my spell failure. We went back to the shore and out of the water. Once we were out, they 

congratulated me on my subjugation and passing my silver rank-up test. They told me they were impressed with my use of spells and we traveled back to the guild hall turning the merrow over the the city guards along the way. Once back at the guild, I handed over my copper rank tag which was then changed into a nice, shiny silver rank tag.

[Creep/DM]

OOC:

Thank you for everyone's submissions! =D

We have 5 in total:

1. Creep/DM, "Add extra applesauce"

2. Sylni, "No skeletons dare hide in my closet"

3. Erin, "Slash-Blend-Crush Master Pro9000"

4. Mor'quen, "Every sword stroke, every magic spell, true and precise, even when drunk"

5. Thomas, "Underwater bounty hunting, just a swim in the pond"

PCs receive 5 x 600 = 3000 XP!

[Amoithir]

Add extra apple sauce? That's strange. Felix took a bit to ponder the saying. He'd never heard of apple. Maybe it was some sort of secret, a great conspiracy to hide apple from the public. Was it something that would bestow great power if consumed? But then, why would it still be the guild's motto and not purged from history?

No, a motto had to have a purpose. And this motto was a riddle, just like his tutor, Marvos, used to ask him. Therefore, he had to think not about what an apple was, but what it told him about the founder and the purpose behind the motto. It had to inspire, to motivate, to amaze young adventurers with the greatness of the world.

So apple sauce wasn't a code or a secret, it had to be something real. Something that whoever came up with the motto had eaten. And if no one had ever heard of it, it had to be from the farthest reaches if the world or maybe from another dimension. Felix grinned. He too would travel to dimensions, one way or another, sooner or later. Maybe, he'd eat apple sauce himself one day, even if eating strange foodstuffs from other dimensions likely wasn't the best of ideas.