2000-06-09: Golden Deer Rescued
Last Tuesday eve, in the tent of Doria Romanov, Jurri the Rogue told the tale of a Golden Deer who was once a human maiden named Salira. She and her lover Thom were turned into a Golden Deer and a Golden Stag by an evil magician who wanted Salira for himself. Jurri told them Vilendra, the Emerald Enchantress, needs the heart of a Golden Deer, which holds the power of true love, as one of the ingredients for her first great spell, the spell of Control of the Heart. The adventurers set out to find the Golden Deer, to save her from Vilendra.
Wilbur the Ranger claimed to have seen a Golden Deer on the mainland of Skara Brae, and Wilbur led the adventurers out to find the deer. They found the Golden Deer fighting for her life as a band of dire wolves savaged her. The adventurers killed the dire wolves, but then a few of the adventurers, who walked the path of evil, began to attack the deer. The delicate deer, who had been wounded by the dire wolves, became frightened and loped off into the woods, where she disappeared. The evil ones then attacked and slew Wilbur the Ranger. The adventurers returned to Doria’s tent and the evil ones told of an unfortunate “accident” to Wilbur-they claimed the wolves had slain the ranger. Wilbur’s ghost appeared and angrily accused the murderers of slaying him. The enraged ghost refused to accept resurrection, and vowed to haunt his killers forever. Doria was disgusted and threw the killers out.
The next eve, the ghost of Wilbur sought out the murderers and he began to haunt one of the suspects. The suspect asked the ghost to go away, claiming herself innocent, and that it was her friends who had attacked the deer and slain Wilbur. After some time a group of folks had gathered around and asked what they could do to clear the name of the suspect and stop Wilbur from haunting the murderers. In a hollow ghostly voice, Wilbur told them that he would stop the hauntings if they found the Golden Deer and brought her safely back to Doria’s tent. The folks agreed to meet with the ghost the next eve to go on the deer hunt.
On Thursday, the folks met with the ghost and then found Doria in her tent, and all of them (even two who were murder suspects) gave their word that they would find the deer and bring her back safely to Doria’s tent. The ghostly Wilbur led the adventures to the mainland of Skara Brae, and after battling a few of the local monsters they found the deer. The delicate deer licked a wound on her leg and limped quite badly. They managed to coax the shy Golden Deer into following them. The adventurers were quite enchanted by the exquisite creature, and led her to Doria’s tent, where the dainty deer showed her trust by licking their hands.
After bandaging the deer’s wound, Doria thanked the adventurers for keeping their word and saving the deer. The golden deer licked her bandages and snuggled down by the tent wall and went to sleep. Since Wilbur the ghost had discharged his duty as a ranger by protecting the deer, he kept his word to no longer haunt the murderers, and he accepted a resurrection.
So now the task is to find the other deer, the Golden Stag, before Vilendra finds him and takes his heart. Will it be possible to find the other deer before the Enchantress does? And is there any way to turn the two deer back into their original human forms?
If you want to meet the rescued Golden Deer, and continue the adventure, come to Doria’s Tent in Skara Brae, just north of the bank, at 7 PM (Pacific Time) any Tuesday.
