The Tale Of The Twilight Palace

The Tale of The Twilight Palace

It is late autumn and after the harvest. Winter has not yet set in, and the village of Bluemire is alive with the vibrant colors of the season--crimsons and oranges and vivid yellows--and their signature blue oaks are putting forth their azure leaves as well. The tavern, The Nymph's Whisper, is doing robust business, with the last of the season's traders passing through on their way to bigger cities and bigger dreams.

You grew up in Bluemire. It's a quiet place, a small place, surrounded by sturdy stone walls dyed blue from those special oaks that can only be found here. It doesn't have a lot, but it has everything you need to survive and thrive. It's home.

...but trouble has come to your quiet town, a town that has lived practically in peace, quiet, and prosperity for centuries.

Children are going missing in the night...without a trace. It has not happened so much that there is a panic...but its happened enough that the town Sheriff and the Mayor are highly disturbed and desperate to solve the matter. Once? That could be just a criminal problem--the Sheriff tracked down the usual town miscreants...but no information about the children was forthcoming. Twice? Maybe just a bad season--the Sheriff sent his few watchmen to search outlying areas, worried that there was a perhaps a roving monster or a dangerous place children kept going to...but to no avail.

A child, always younger than ten years of age, has gone missing every full moon for more than three months. That's a pattern. The villagers are getting very worked up; the tension and terror in Bluemire is palpable, but people soldier on as best they can. That being said, young couples are delaying their marriages, even shying away from romance at all, for fear that they cannot safely start families. A few families that could afford it have moved away. The news hasn't spread to other villages yet, though, so trade is still going strong--a small blessing before the onset of winter.

You have discovered this problem...and the Sheriff or the Mayor has approached you for help. They cannot approach any of the more 'well-known' names of the town for fear of a panic. You are young and inexperienced...but you are capable and trusted. You are not the only one who has been approached. Two others, people that it turns out you know or have heard of from Bluemire (small village, go figure!), have also been asked to investigate. Your goal? Find out what has happened to the children (and rescue any that can be rescued), and don't cause a panic.

And with each full moon, rumor has it that a gentle whispering can be heard from the oldest of the blue oaks. Does this have something to do with what has happened?

~From the original post in the recruitment thread

This is a wiki page for setting material for a Beyond the WallBold text game that will run over the rpg.net forums. Credit will be given respectively to the players who have contributed locations, NPCs, etc. If something does not have an attribution by it, it was most likely put in there by MistahJ. Here is a link to the [Original Recruitment Thread]

Current Player Roster

The current players are as follows:

• [AndersGabrielson], playing as the Village Hero
• [Dorsai], playing as Rhona, the Witch's 'Prentice
• [Walkie Talkie Noise Decoder], playing as the Young Woodsman
• [MistahJ], the GM

Locations in Bluemire

The Nymph's Whisper: WIP

The Watchhouse: WIP

The Grand Sapphire: WIP

The Infirmary (created by Dorsai): It was here that Rhona's father would often leave her to play while he tended to his duties, and it was here that she first met Agatha, the village witch, as she tended to wounds sustained by the village watchmen. Though he was a kindly and concerned father, the demands of his occupation limited the attention he could give to his daughter after the death of his wife, Rhona’s mother. When she showed both interest and talent in the healing arts employed by Agatha, Rhona’s father was all too eager to pass her off to the witch for training.

The Infirmary was a long room within the village watch-house, a handful of beds jutting out from the wall on each of the long sides and a walkway down the middle connecting the doors at either end of the room. Shelves next to these doors held the medical supplies and herbs used to treat the watchmen’s injuries.

The Ramshackle House (created by Dorsai): A run down building Rhona happened upon deep in the forest. Though about the size of a small house, it did not appear to have been anyone’s residence, comprised only of a single room. Near the middle of the room was a raised brick platform with a small fire pit in its center. There were no other furnishings or belongings in the house, but a family of badgers had made a nest within one of the walls.

When she made mention of her find to Agatha, the witch seemed to give it little regard, though Rhona did notice that whenever she brought it up, the old witch casually and cleverly steered the conversation (and Rhona’s attention) to other subjects, as if she did not want Rhona to return. Naturally, Rhona did so several times, never experiencing anything unpleasant that would warrant trepidation.

The Treehouse (created by Walkie Talkie Noise Decoder): A treehouse that was our (the heroes) den, made whilst young, but improved on as we got older so that it's more like a full on shack high up in the boughs of a majestic tree.

Persons of Interest in Bluemire (NPCs)

The Mayor: WIP

The Sheriff: WIP

Agatha the Witch (created by Dorsai): When you mention a village witch to most folk, they imagine an old crone, possibly with warts, hunched over, dressed in a tattered and hooded cloak, cackling or singing as she gathered herbs or medicinal plants. Agatha was the complete opposite of this image, tall and thin with severe expression rarely broken by anything so mundane as a smile, her clothing always well-tailored and in good repair. She made for a striking figure, looking more like a school teacher or governess than a simple village witch. Not given to emotional extremes of any sort, whether whimsy or anger, she was possessed of a calm, even temperament. Only on the day of her death fending off a dark spirit to protect her did Rhona glimpse even a hint of ferocity in the woman.

Drummond (the Cottar’s Son) (created by Dorsai): After Agatha’s death, many of her duties fell to Rhona, including the care of sick livestock. It was for this purpose that Drummond first came to her, bringing a sick lamb to be cured. He was a handsome boy, if a bit dull and unimaginative, and Rhona carried out a brief affair with him, ending it before it could turn from infatuation into something more, but, as she would discover a month after, not before he had left her with child. It is for the sake of this unborn child that she is especially concerned over the recent disappearances of the village children.

Catfish Toby (created by Walkie Talkie Noise Decoder): White bearded ex adventurer like his friend Barnaby, jovial and knows many tales about far away places.

Barnaby (created by Walkie Talkie Noise Decoder): A master of catching Cray fish. Full of myths, ghost stories and odd snippets of local lore.

Game Resources, Map, Etc.

WIP/Soon!