Horace

Horace was a human bard NPC in the Emeron campaign.

Horace was a bard and performer in a traveling circus. Modee's *Hat of Performance* came into his possession. He was reluctant to give it up to the Heroes of Prophecy, and so Dedekind Fried convinced him to join them in his adventures. He agreed and traveled with them for some time before being slain in battle by the impostor of Eddie Drezzen.

## Background

Horace was born to an unremarkable farming family in a small village in Antyoch. He enjoyed music and singing but was no fan of agriculture or hard work, and so when the circus came to his village, he left with them to begin a career in show business.

Learning the ropes he began to master the song and the lute, though in truth he was a middling performer and musician at best, often gaining praise more for his good looks than his skills.

## Change within the Carnival

In the spring of 1129 the carnival underwent a change when the bearded lady and mystic, Esther, found the *Amulet of Yotia* and turned the previous leader, Fitzgerald, into a strange frog-like creature. Esther claimed leadership and turned the carnival's efforts to finding other such magical items.

One of the items, Modee's *Hat of Performance*, came into the possession of the carnival and Horace began to use it to draw in more and more coin, most of which was claimed by Esther.

## Joining the Heroes of Prophecy

On the 19th of Skeleton of 1129 the Dedekind Fried, a former member of the carnival, returned with his companions, the Heroes of Prophecy. Upon learning of Esther's villainy they overthrew her and returned Fitzgerald to their true form. They claimed they needed to take the *Amulet of Yotia*, and the *Hat of Performance* for the protection of the carnival, as enemies more dangerous than Esther would come for them.

Horace, however, was reluctant to relinquish the hat, as he knew his own bardic abilities were inferior without it. Dedekind convinced Horace to come with them and join their adventures, explaining that his travels had yielded far more money than he would have ever seen had he remained with the carnival.

Horace agreed, and joined Dedekind and his allies in their travels.

## Learning of an Enemy

Shortly after joining the Heroes of Prophecy, they were accosted by Baron Christopher Ravenut. He demanded to know where the artifacts they'd collected were and was hostile at first. One of the Heroes, Dandy Lion, was able to calm the nobleman and explain the situation. Baron Christopher explained that he believed that Sir Zadric Trield, whom the Heroes of Prophecy had been working for, was gathering the items for a nefarious purpose and not to safeguard them as he had told them.

The heroes declined to hand over the artifacts in their possession (to Horace's relief), but explained that they'd already given the *Club of Galmar* to Sir Zadric, but agreed to investigate him and departed. Kagami of Towa, who had sworn her service to Zadric, was especially affronted at the thought that he may have been deceiving them.

On the 25th of Skeleton the party reached the estate of Crossroad and Qualinthalis Miertholas, Kagami and Dandy confronted Sir Zadric about Baron Christopher's claims while Horace waited outside the manor with Dedekind, Lylena, Booknut, Ferris, Keysbee and Vestibule. Zadric denied their claims, but invited them to leave his service if they were displeased. They decreed that they were going to leave his service for Baron Christopher's and Zadric attacked them. The others joined in though Horace, no warrior, hung back. The battle was incredibly fierce. Ultimately, however, Sir Zadric was slain.

Investigation of Zadric's manor revealed that he had sent the club south to Eddie Drezzen, (who at this time was an impostor) and that the two were in league with someone named Sedrina. At this Qualin chimed in, explaining that a liche called Sedrina the Souless had destroyed the Order of the Fadalithis. Dandy informed them that Eddie was, in fact, an impostor and that while she didn't know where the real Eddie was, the one working with the others was using his name and good reputation.

The heroes sent Booknut to Emeron City to report to professors Sumnim and Chickwood and after determining that Zadric's squire, Yuden Vittel, was not involved in his schemes, let him go.

## The Expedition South

The prophecy that the Heroes of Prophecy were following indicated that the would need to travel south to face Sedrina the Soulless and the impostor of Eddie Drezzen. Seeking assistance, Qualinthalis called upon the only other member of the Order of the Fadalithis he could find, an elf named Thorinislanthali (who as called Thorinis by most non-elves). Dandy called upon her old allies Trista Ravenlark and Taltharian, informing them that Eddie was an impostor and might know where the real Eddie is. Thorinis joined the expedition and Trista and Taltharian advised they would meet them on the way.

The party traveled to Fishton and caught a ship to the Glave Woods where they traveled to the capital to seek an audience with Queen Parthalanis the ruler of the Glavewood Kingdom. Dandy was already acquainted with her and was able to use that to gain an audience with her on the 6th of Wolverine, 1129. For his part Horace was just amazed to be allowed into the Glave Woods, a privilege few humans were granted.

Only Dandy and Qualin were granted an audience, and they warned the queen about the prophecy and that nefarious individuals would be after the *Bow of Corellon Larethian.* Qualin also requested a royal dispensation to restore the Order of the Fadalithis and clear out their old keep. Queen Parthalanis granted permission to Qualin, but stated that the bow was safe in the hands of her champion, Ranenthalentos, and would remain as such. She did thank them for their information, however.

Within a day of the audience, the Heroes were approached by an elf named Larentheon, who advised that he was a cleric of Corellon Larethian and that the head of the church had a vision that the bow would fall into nefarious hands. The Heroes were dubious but agreed to meet and the next day met with an elf named Janelthalian, who stated that she had seen the vision and proposed to remove the *Bow of* *Corellon Larethian* from Ranenthalentos so it could be hidden to keep safe from the enemy.

Dandy openly revealed that Janelthalian had evil in her heart and the group attempted to apprehend her for the Queen's justice. However she fought back fiercely, ultimately revealing that she was the green dragon Emerald. However the city's defenses would be too much all at once even for a dragon so she fled the area. Investigation revealed that the real Janelthalian had received no divine visions, and had no idea someone had been impersonating her. With a final warning to the Throne and to Ranenthalentos the Heroes departed.

## The Retaking of the Academy of the Fadalithis

The Heroes of Prophecy sailed to the southern part of the forest and disembarking and heading east to reach the Academy. Qualinthalis and Thorinis led the way with great zeal. On the 16th of Wolverine, they reached the fortified hall. Using a small silver mine connected to the Academy they slipped into the building.

Over the course of two days Horace the Heroes of Prophecy cleared out the undead, including

slaying Karinthena, grandmother was Sedrina the Souless had destroyed the order and turned her into a Banshee forever cursed to haunt the order and kill any living creature that entered. The fighting was fierce though and both Thorinis and Keysbee fell to Karinthena before she was destroyed, and Dedekind was severely injured. They were able to recover the *Torch of Everburning*, however, preventing another artifact from being misused by evil.

Dedekind found the death of Keysbee sad, but as Dedekind found him highly annoying the bard was mostly just disappointed at losing him as a potential carny freak.Horace concurred that his death was a loss to the potential carnival Dedikind dreamed of building.

## Facing Sedrina the Souless

The Heroes of Prophecy found evidence at the Academy of the Fadalithis that Sedrina the Souless had a tower in the Brokenback Swamps. Not only was she responsible for the monsters at the Academy of the Fadalithis that had slain Keysbee and Thorinis, but she seemed to be connected to the conspiracy to collect the artifacts. Dedekind advised heartily against traveling into the swamps or facing a liche, a position with which Horace agreed, though they were dismissed, especially by Qualin.

They left the Glave Woods for the Brokenback Swamps on 18th of Wolverine. En route they were ambushed by Esther, sent by Sedrina for whom she had apparently long worked. Esther sought to gain the artifacts the heroes possessed but was also eager to gain revenge on Dedekind. The hag was accompanied by a great deal of undead, but the Heroes of Prophecy were victorious and Esther was slain. Dedekind had no compunction over her death in this instance, as the Carney Code allowed it as she'd already once been spared (and had been ejected from the carnival.) Horace had few qualms in seeing the evil Esther's demise.

On they way they met a trio of other adventurers on their way to slay the liche rumored to be in the swamps and claim the treasure for themselves. An undead hunter named Gabriel led the party, which also included a bard named Elrude and a rouge named Zalin. After some discussion they agreed to join forces.

Within two days they had reached Sedrina's tower. Killing the undead guarding the front they moved in, fighting their way through the undead found there until they reached the top floor, where they faced Sedrina and Ferris' old nemesis Salvok. The fight was incredibly difficult. Within seconds the magic of the villains had turned Vestibule into a statue transported Dandy and Horace elsewhere and slain Zalin. Ultimately the battle would go on to kill Qualinthalis and Gabriel as well, though the heroes prevailed and slew Sedrina and forced Salvok to teleport away.

Dandy and Horace found themselves somewhere in the swamp,

## An Unintended Diversion

Horace and Dandy and found themselves teleported from the battle and to the camp of a half-elf woman named Samara and her companion, a gnoll named Ebon Razorfang. They parlayed briefly, agreed to travel out of the Brokenback Swamps together. After a day, Dedekind and Elrude located them and explained that Sedrina's tower was near and that Ferris was there working to restore Vestibule.

Horace was excited to find that Dedekind, once he had healed from the grievous wounds he suffered in battle, gleefully looted Sedrina's tower finding, among other treasures, a strange fish creature with the face of a man in a jar. He agreed with Dedikind's intent to include the creature in his freak show when he owned his own carnival.

Once they had regrouped from the battle, the party (now including Samara and Ebon) made their way to Cliffshire, and learned that the *Playing Cards of Gimo* were in the Uphigh Mountains. Unfortunately a spell of Ferris' went out of control and teleported the party all the way to the Dwarven Mountains.

The group made their way to Emeron City. They decided that since they had nearly all died when facing Sedrina, they should give most of the artifacts in their possession to Jon Sumnim and Jaymes Chickwood for safe keeping. Naturally Horace refused to part with the *Hat of Performance*, but would still travel with the Heroes of Prophecy to keep it safe.

Most of the Heroes of Prophecy asked the professors to teleport them back to Cliffshire to finish their mission, but Dandy remained behind. On the 22nd of Sloth, 1129 the *Heroes of Prophecy* were magically transported to Cliffshire to continue their quest for *Playing Cards of Gimo* . Forced to contend with cyclopes and giants they managed to ascend the Uphigh Mountains and found the Temple of Gimo located on a rock formation in the center of a volcano. They came up on a group led by Kagami's brother, Kaze, and in an epic fight slew the party, with the Samurai slaying her brother and throwing him into the volcano. Sadly Elrude too fell in the battle. With the cards in hand, the heroes returned to Cliffshire to continue their journey.

While in Cliffshire, armed finally with enough money to afford the spell, Dedekind was able to hire a cleric in Cliffshire to cast a spell on him to restore his tongue. At last, after so long, Dedekind was able to speak again.

## The Showdown with Eddie Drezzen

In Cliffshire the Heroes of Prophecy met up with Trista Ravenlark and Taltharian. They reported that they'd been ambushed by bandits whom they suspect were sent by the impostor of Eddie Drezzen. Trista's men had been slain in the fight. They began preparations to face "Eddie", though Ferris Gerabaldi and Vestibule remained in Cliffshire so the wizard could address matters with his spells misfiring and Kagami remained with them to help protect them. They were joined by a cleric of Brewmaster named Friar Chuck Goldschläger, however.

On the 8th of Yeti, 1130, Horace accompanied Dedekind, Lylena, Martok Stonecutter, Samara, Trista, Taltharian, and Friar Chuck to Drezzenville. They found the people laboring under harsh taxes from the impostor of Eddie, who had also built up and elite and well equipped force of soldiers loyal to him.

Dedekind devised a plan to create a distraction by releasing the ponies from Eddie's stable and setting it ablaze, which drew enough guards away for the Heroes to sneak into his manor house and an epic battle took place within. When the dust had settled, the manor house had been burned to the the impostor had been slain along with many of his soldiers, but Horace too had died in battle, cut down by Eddie's man and left to bleed out into the dirt.