:: Rilmorn ::

:: Friday, July 26, 2013 ::

Traveling on the World of Rilmorn is often like traveling on many other worlds.  One simple walks, gets on a mount that walks, or gets in conveyance that moves under its own power or is pulled by something that walks.  True, there are modes of travel that involve moving through the sky or across the water, but most of my travel is on land.  Since coming to Rilmorn, I've strolled through elven woodlands, crossed sandy wastes on the back of a camel, hiked through frigid mountain passes, and rode in wagons across grassy plains.  All of that pales when I travel along the magical pathways that link the places, great and small, of the world together.

I came to this world by means of a gate - a magical portal that rent the walls of reality and bent the dimensions of time and space.  The word "rilmorn" is said to come from the oldest language in world and it is said to mean "gateway."  I have come to learn that Rilmorn is littered with gates and most all of them are one way and allow things and beings into the this world, but very few allow back things out.  I have discovered a number of gates that allow one to travel not to or from Rilmorn, but rather across Rilmorn.  Those sagacious in these matters assure me that the gates that connect two parts on the world are called "portals," or if one is being vulgar, "sorcerer gates;" gates access other dimensions or planes of existence

In addition to portals, one can also find secret magical roads to carry them swiftly across the world.  At special locations and at certain times, it is possible for one to step through an arch or a waterfall and end up on a Fey Road..  These tracks allow one to "travel behind the world and bypass the distances to get to your destination."  Time moves oddly along the Fey Roads.  What can seem like several days travel on the Fey Road will turn out to been only a few minutes or maybe an hour, when you arrive at your destination.  The time spend on a Fey Road does not correlate to distance traveled.  I have spent over a week on a Fey Road and traveled just over a thousand miles.  Once, I spent a single day on a Fey Road, only to arrive at my destination-a place located beyond two mountain ranges and an ocean from my point of departure.  While they are great for crossing vast distances quickly, Fey Roads can be dangerous.  Sometimes terrible beasts lurk along the road.  Other times, Trooping Faeries claim the road and attempt to coerce one into joining their troop or force him or her off the Fey Road.  Whatever you do, “Never leave the Road!”

In Neverwinter, I have met a priest of a moon goddess, who tells me of a magical path that none other has ever spoken of to me…the Shadowfell Road.  This path supposedly starts in a town called Evernight and runs the length of Varudeal, across the Solmovan Sea to a town called Mordantshire.  No map that I own shows a city called Evernight.  Local guides, caravaneers, and foresters, all, assure me that there is no such city in Norwest Moytonia.  If it did, then one could find the beginning of the Shadowfell Road within its walls and travel along the path to other cities, even some which are in other planes of existence.  Alas, I do not believe that it exists.

:: Unknown 7/26/2013 04:17:00 PM [+] ::
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Explored the graveyards of Neverwinter today.  The locals refer to the common graveyard as the Paupers Graves and the nobles graveyard as Neverdeath.  There is a remnant of a monument in Neverdeath that has some ancient engravings.  When the first settlers of Neverwinter translated the writing it was part of a larger saying, but all that remained were the words, "never death."

Long have I wondered if graveyards were haunted.  In Neverwinter, I know that Neverdeath is.  When the Chasm opened 10 years ago and all of Neverwinter shook at its foundations, some ancient magic awoke in Neverdeath and now ghosts can manifest as solid beings within the walls of the cemetery .  Most of the dead do not wish to harm the living, but a few were bad in life and death has not improved their disposition.  The most interesting thing of the ghosts of Neverdeath are a number of ghosts that have purple skin and dark hair.  They are ghosts of the ancient Kargat and one of them spoke to me.  In accented Gamman (the most common speech on Moytnia), he said, "The cenotaph read, 'Many things may part us, but never death.'"  The spectre then faded away.  I departed shortly there after.

:: Unknown 7/09/2013 12:24:00 PM [+] ::
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Chartiliafax seems very popular.  While I cannot get close to him to speak, a group of Sanderzani (traveling people) and the people from Spellguard, both, have gone with him into his cellar-abode.

I went exploring on the inside of Castle Never.  I was amazed by the lack of dust or vermin in this completely empty castle.  While the walls and ceiling of the castle are fine granite and marble all of the floors are made of seamless, red goldstone.  A number of hallways are mirrored.  One grand hall has floor to ceiling silver mirrors on the east wall and floor to ceiling copper mirrors on the west wall.  The only other feature of note is a number walls that are inscribed with empty circles. Each circle bears a single minute or hour hand moving steadily around the circle marking the movement of time.

Could not find any paths down into the crypts of the castle, but did discover a massive pitted granite sundial at the center of the castle.  In a domed room without any outside light, the ten-foot tall gnomen, still, cast a shadow and the hour it showed was correct, as far as I could tell.

One must wonder who were the Khlor and what happened to them.  Also, why and how did a group of wizards named the Water Clock Guild build crypts under Castle?  Is there a connection between the Water Clock Guild and the Khor?  Many questions, few answers.
:: Unknown 7/02/2013 11:23:00 AM [+] ::
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Spent the last few days exploring around Castle Never.  Learned from the graybeards and skilly women of the area that the perfectly preserved, but empty Castle Never predates the city of Neverwinter.  It was here and empty when the first settlers made their homes along the eternally warm river and deep bay filled with fish and crustaceans.  Both the castle and the graveyard called Neverdeath, were the  work of the original inhabitants, the Khlor and the Kargat.  Not sure who they were, but I'd bet they were tribes of humans among the A'Slaani Empire, but local legend says the Khlor were gold-skinned and the Kargat were purple-skinned.

Local lore about Castle Never says that anyone who is in the castle after dark is never seen or heard from again.  This includes the Crypts of the Water Clock Guild hidden beneath the castle itself.

A green-skinned elf lurks around the grounds of Castle Never.  He apparently has access to some cellar on the grounds and lives sown there.  That cellar must not be connected to the castle and its curse or magical effect, since he comes and goes at all hours of the night or day.  The locals say the elf's name is Chartilifax, but I could never get close enough to speak to him.
:: Unknown 7/01/2013 02:37:00 PM [+] ::
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Been hanging about Neverwinter.  It is a welcoming town...in certain districts.  The Docks and the Enclave cater to visitors.  The Docks, of course, find themselves inundated with sailors and day laborers, while the Enclave is an eclectic mix of visitors, traders, the newly rich, and the old guard.  The Black Lake District is the home to the old Old Money Families.  They do not care for strangers in their community, but they are never directly rude or unwelcoming.  The River Quarter is as eclectic as the Enclave, but in a less  savory, more wild way.  The River Quarter is home to various orc tribes, several dwarven merchants and artisans, and gaggle of wandering prophets, religious communities, and magical societies.  The final quarter of the city is the ruins/slum area around the Chasm.  This area is the domain of the doomed and desperate.  I don't like the Chasm.  It seems that it sings to those nearby when they are not looking at the Chasm.

Most of Neverwinter is a welcoming town...most.
:: Unknown 6/28/2013 12:07:00 AM [+] ::
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Stories about the dragon-headed, magical airship docking at the Shadow Moon, a floating tower and newly restored temple to the Goddesses of the Moons, are circulating through and around Neverwinter.  The fantastic conveyance is the transportation of a company of adventures from Spellguard.

The Green Elf of Castle Never was seen talking to the adventurers from Spellguard.

E3, a trading company from Spellguard, has approached the Lord Protector for trade concessions with Neverwinter.  The Tarmalune Tradehouse is upset at this turn of events, because rumors abound the Lord Protector has already granted E3 special trade rights.
:: Unknown 6/25/2013 03:45:00 PM [+] ::
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About a day's ride southeast of Neverwinter are the ruins of an ancient keep called Helm's Hold.  The gate to the yard was carved through a petrified, oak of prestigious size.  The tunnel through the tree is 15 feet wide and half again as tall and still there is 5 feet of tree remaining on either side.  The branches of the tree have long broken away, but their stumps still remain-a skeletal ghost of the tree's crown.

A dryad calls the tree home.  Rumors claim she is the child of a willow spirit and dwarf.  Does that make her a "dwyad?"

Whispers on the wind say that the Dryad of the Stone has become connected to the Quan and that the broken stubs of the oak tree's petrified branches are now growing willow fronds.
:: Unknown 6/21/2013 12:49:00 PM [+] ::
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