Post date: Aug 03, 2009 2:35:3 AM
My new town has another neighbor! And here I thought that only giants and a few goblins called this area home. It turns out I missed the omni-powerful lich! How wonderful. I'll bet humans feel like this when they move into a new house and find that they're living next to a bunch of drug addicts.
So, I took T'Krosh, Sparta, and a young friend of his named Tun to the settlement today. I wanted Sparta to look around the area and get his approval since this settlement is a joint halfling-kobold venture. Also, even with teleportation magic, I have to stay away from my followers for long periods of time. It's not good for building their trust in me; how can anyone respect an absent ruler? Little trips like these can help reinforce my position.
Bektul, the best scout of my followers, found a stone tower nearby recently, and Sparta and I took it on ourselves to have a closer look. Turns out it was the home of Gresham the Golden, an ancient lich (they're ALL ancient). But he didn't kill us and devour our souls, so the trip was a rousing success for that reason alone. In fact we had a pleasant conversation with him. We introduced ourselves, had some tea, spoke about General Aifos - Gresham claimed to be a member of the same mage-order as the General. It didn't sound like they ever met, but I sensed some hostility there. After the brief chat, Gresham gave us his permission to visit again and essentially the key to the front door. We implied that we'd make sure the tower was left undisturbed by our new town's residents.
That is a very quick summary, mind you. But for all the suspense, no real danger ever materialized. Gresham was terrifying as all liches are (the red eyes are the worst part in my opinion), and he could no doubt have slain me and Sparta in a flash, but everything worked out alright. We secured a non-aggression pact to put it formally, and I think I made a good impression on Bektul. That is as important to me as any "peace treaty!" I need my followers to trust me if I'm ever going to lead them into an era of friendship with the softskins.