Server Event: The Candle Goes Out [Concluded]
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 6:28 am
Obsidian Sea wrote:
Do you know old Ramin? He is the gaffer that lives in the cottage by the crypt on the Laviguer Road, where the land gives way to the intersecting Mal River, and the road continues across it only by virtue of the old stone bridge built to accomodate it. Ramin Ollef's wife died of illness in 1354 DR, three years after his son was slain alongside King Soarimbar and the rest of his private retinue. Ramin has lived a quiet, reclusive existence since then, friendly but anxious when strangers pass his way. Though he retains his courtesies, he seems to have forgotten what it means to smile. He spends his time thinking of the past, and acting as a caretaker to the nearby burial site.
For a time after his family's passing, Ramin Ollef made his way each tenday into Outentown for the necessaries, briefly catching up with old friends of the family.
After The Time of Troubles, Ramin Ollef ceased to make the journey to Outentown. He earned the name 'Old Ramin' among the youths of the village.
Therese Steinn delivers goods and the concerns of the village to his doorstep now. Old Ramin always has the courtesy and willingness to invite Therese indoors, but they speak only briefly before she knows he wants to be left on his own again. Despite her best efforts, she can never convince him to join her for the walk back into the village to see the familiar faces there who would be glad to see him.
Foremostly, Mrs Steinn brings Ramin the candles he requires for his ministrations: each night he burns thick candles in the cottage that will stay alight until the morning comes. He believes the candlelight will keep him safe from God of Death, Cyric. Therese Steinn comes away from his house after attempted small talk, returning to Outentown with a renewed diligence for her duties, hoping that they may stave off her swelling heart of pity. She is the only face that Ramin willingly sees anymore, but every adventurer who travels in the direction of Laviguer and back again has come to recognise the faint glow of a burning candle each night in that lonely house.
Recently Mrs Steinn's returns to Outentown have been agitated: for the brief time that Ramin is comfortable to socialise with her, he has turned his speech fixedly to the topic of death. He mutters often of Maiden's Leap, and of how The Mad God watches. He admits to Mrs Steinn that he fears he shall not meet his family in the afterlife, ever since The Time of Troubles changed things. Often his words fade down to such a faint whisper that Mrs Steinn cannot hear what he says. When last she was with him, he made some vague, obscure utterances about noises coming from Maiden's Leap. She reassured herself that these were just the words of an old man seeking a cause to complain; the meaningless expressions of malcontent that all elderly people have for the present day.
But now the candles have gone out in old Ramin's cottage. As travelers make their way down from Laviguer, or Vlasta, the faint flicker of candlelight that is their marker for the opposite bank of the Mal River does not wave to them. Pausing for investigation in the thick of the Uktar night, a concerned merchant noticed that the door to Ramin's cottage was only loosely closed, and gave way to a small push of his fingertips. Ramin was not inside.
With worry, Therese Steinn and the folk of Outentown seek the aid of adventurers to find Ramin Ollef.
//OOC: This quest shall be hosted on Thursday 26th November. Players are invited to make their characters aware of the backstory to this quest, detailed here. Please note, however, that the quest hook - Ramin Ollef's disappearance - has not yet happened: this information can be assumed to have been acquired by your PCs on Thursday 26th November, shortly prior to the beginning of the event, which will be 19:30 GMT.
If you cannot make this event, do not be discouraged: more like it will arise, and we do endeavour to organise them for the weekends, when we know most players have better availability.