The characters met in the city of Deepwell, while most of them were guests of Duke Deepwell, Admiral of the Royal Navy of Archos and Lord of the Bay of Storms. There they met Earl Stavron Murra, younger brother to the Duke of Blackwash (and the oft-disguised elf swindled him out of a large sum of money and embarrassed him thoroughly at court).

Shortly after their arrival in Deepwell, the threat of a blockade of the Near Sea showed them that all was not as it seemed. In the course of time, they discovered that Duke Deepwell’s chief sage was in fact an agent of the Duke of Blackwash (of which the Earl was unaware), sent to disrupt his authority and set him against the other great houses of Archos.

After that discovery, and with the arrival of the Autumn storms on the northern seas, the characters departed, traveling individually across the Bay of Storms, then south over land to Blackwash to get closer to the source of the plot against Duke Deepwell.

Strong Arm (BrieCS)

During her time in Deepwell, Vizegraf Ursula Mannpurtz became well-known for her prowess in battle as well as in the hunt. She came to the city to find a husband for herself and a wife for her brother, but her time was spent instead initiating a trade agreement with the youngest son of House Gristuk, Prince Karrel. She gained his favor in a hunt on which she slew three boars, and began a smooth trade agreement that netted her a trollwood barge to haul ice and furs south to the Troll Kingdoms, a war rhino, and a trollwood bow.

She also gained renown at the Harvest Tournament held by Duke Deepwell. She placed second in the archery tournament, but took the purse for both the joust and melee. Both times, she beat the Black Judge for first place. She also participated very actively in the investigation of the murder of the Inquisitor.

While she did not achieve her goals for marriage in either case, she did develop a greater understanding of the south. She left Deepwell to follow the clues leading to Duke Murra, hauling her brother along to find the truth.

Trickster (Jimtheduckie)

The city of Deepwell was the perfect place for a lost Elf to figure out his new surroundings and make sense of the locals. They weren’t that different from what he was used to, and in fact they might even be more gullible. So after a few small deals with those outside the city, when he caught wind of a grand feast the duke was throwing, he made it top priority to get his way into the keep. Sneaking his way in with the large crowds surrounding the guards made the job relatively easy, and after a good meal, Terasian followed the duke and his court to a meeting chamber, and after searching around a bit, found a grate which gave him perfect clarity of what was being said in the room. And it was in this reconnaissance mission that he learned the Earl Murra was chasing after a doppelganger. Using this knowledge to it’s fullest, he managed to convince the desperate Earl to purchase a “magic amulet”. Of course instead of helping him save face after a few failed attempts to unmask the doppelganger, the amulet only made the earl look even more foolish.

Not satisfied though, Terasian used some of the wealth he’d picked up to buy some decent noble’s clothes, as well as taking a side trip to steal a few horses (which unfortunately lead to the first time he’s taken a man’s life). He then posed as a visiting elven noble from afar to get a permanent place in the keep. The ploy came up fruitless however, since instead of wealth he got a geas that locks him to giving Earl Murra a percentage of money he steals from the Duke Deepwell. The only chance he had left of turning a profit on everything was thwarted when the Duke’s master Sage turned out to use the very secret passageways Terasian had found to attempt to over-throw the duke. Dejected and longing for a workable scheme, Terasian joined forces with the doppelganger and headed south to the city of Blackwash.