\--==Official Submission==-- FROM: Lieutenant Anubis RE: The Quest of the Ring A rider came late one night carrying a scroll addressed to the Society at large. Captain Shade posted the letter for all to read: "Men and women of The Black Rose Society, My name is Sage Absalom, and we have crossed paths before. I am in need of your assistance. One of the artifacts in my collection has been stolen. It is an ancient ring of great power. You of all people know what happens when powerful rings fall into the wrong hands, so I ask your help in recovering it. Recovery of this ring and its return to me shall be rewarded to all those involved. Please meet me at Kent's Last Pint." \-Sage Absalom Daak We mustered the men at the Pint on time. Those present where. Captain Shade Lieutenant Argos Master Sergeant Draven Staff Sergeant Stryke Sergeant Duncan O'Rourke Lance Corporal Swiftwind And myself. We sat at the Pint for but a few brief moments catching up with the Captain, when the door to the back room clambered open. Colonel Sandoval stammered out with a horrific look of anguish upon his visage. He spun around the room once and before anyone could react...he fell to the floor dead. Draven and the Captain dashed to the body. Draven stood up with a look of sorrow on his face. There was nothing he could do for him. We began an investigation of the scene. Sergeant O'Rourke searched the backroom from top to bottom turning out nothing. Captain Shade and Master Sergeant Draven examined the body. They noted no visible wounds save for a burn upon his ring finger. A journal was found stuffed in his pack. Hoping this might give us a clue as to what had befallen the Colonel we reviewed it. This information lead us to a ring, perhaps the very ring we were hired to find for the sage. But where was the sage? Well the journal indicated we might find more information either in Britain or Nujel'm. We split up into two teams to search the cities. Argos, Draven, and Stryke went to Brit and the rest of us went to Nujel'm. Captain Shade decided we best begin our search at the inn's and taverns. Not a popular place Nujel'm, few among us knew our way around. I wished for a moment that Veryn were still with us to lead us to all the pubs in town. We ended up paying a Nujel'mian boy two gold to act as our guide. After searching a few taverns and Duncan's rants on how the Whitecloaks were somehow masterminding this whole event. We came upon one Pedron Niall at our third stop. Duncan was beaming with pride that his hunch had panned out. Captain Shade had done as well as can be expected in trying to get information from a Whitecloak. Niall tired of our questioning rather quickly. We did attain he did not have the ring on his person and that it was in his "infinitely wise" opinion not magical. He would tell us no more and as usual a fight infused itself into the questioning. The second team had arrived to the Captains crystal call and we dropped Niall after he fired upon one of our own. We searched his corpse and came upon yet another book. It was a message from his cousin stating he had the ring and was on his way to Trinsic to attempt to sell it. At that, for some reason the party gated to Northwood in an attempt to head him off. Duncan and I missed the gate and traveled on to Trinsic to meet up with the rest at the Keg and Anchor. By the time we arrived the party was already there and questioning one Raven Gustare and her companion. Raven stormed out of the room after a time and her companion was fairly tight lipped about the ring. "The ring." being how she referred to it. Meaning more than just a ring. She knew something we just need to know the price of that knowledge. And that price was five orc helms. Why I do not know. I do not really think any of us did. But that was the price of. Fortunately I knew where I could find some and made haste to retrieve them while the Captain and the others kept her busy. I returned shortly thereafter and made the payment. The woman told us that Raven did in fact have the ring on her and that she was in their camp as we spoke. So off we went once more marching to the thieves camp North of Trinsic. Between Swift and Stryke we finally found the place. Raven was not all that willing to part with the ring, a simple payment of orc helms was not going to do it this time. She demanded 10,000 gold or one of us could face her in a duel for it. We opted for combat. There was some discussion on who would battle her. The Captain stated he would not expect his men to do anything he was not willing to attempt. We all knew that of course. Still I felt we needed the Captain to stay on his feet that he could lead the rest on. So I jumped from my mount and accepted the challenge. The battle started well for me, my scimitar was taking quite a bit out of her. But as I brought it down for the killing blow Raven rolled and managed to tie off a critical wound. From there I was on the run. Her deadly kryss passed through my armor like a bolt through parchment. She knew exactly where the weaknesses were. We traded blows for quite some time. I refrained from using my spells against her. I would fight as I was being attacked. This no doubt cost me. I tried every weapon I had. She was just too fast by foot, blade and wrap to bring any considerable damage. I had exhausted my magical energies healing myself and lost more blood from her kryss than I should have. While murmuring my last incantation she brought the hilt of her blade down upon my helm. When Draven brought me to I learned Raven had declared that I proved us worth opponents and gave us the ring. I was overjoyed at the time, but as of this writing the painful lump on my head tells a different story. Back at the Keg and Anchor we recalled Ravens companion mentioning something of a man who had been there earlier seeking out the ring. She had given us a brief recant of the conversation stating, he did not have the helms she demanded for payment. She had also mentioned the mans boots and robes were covered in mud. We guessed swamp mud as she attempted to explain the smell. This led us to the swamps East of Winterfell Tower. Upon our arrival we found the tower under siege by rouge vampire of the SS. We answered the call for help from a Sir Evin Ghlade of Winterfell. With our aid the vampire were easily dispatched save one that ran into the swamps. We fired many shots off at him, but the elusive blood sucker assumed bat form and flew off before we could finish him. Ironically we lost sight of the vampire and found ourselves standing in front of the home on one Sage Absalom Daak. The Sage must have heard the commotion and was out on his steps. He greeted us warmly and invited us in. He asked of our journey. We told him the tale and that we had found a ring. I gave it to him and he examined it to ensure it was the lost ring. It was. After he had paid us our reward. The Captain declined the sages offer for a feast and asked him of the Colonel's condition. The Sage said all would be well and gave us a yellowish potion with bright green sparkles. He said it would cure Sandoval and that we should not worry. None the less we made haste for Kents in hopes of reviving the Colonel sooner than later. It came to be that the potion did indeed work its magics and Sandoval's health had been restored. With the ring safely in the possession of the Sage and the Colonel back on his feet again we were dismissed and made our ways home. Anubis Lieutenant, BRS Submitted to the annals by direction of Lazarus Shade, Capt, BRS