Featured Item
That’s right folks, time once more for Featured Item Friday! Today’s legendary item is known as the Shield of Faith! Serving the role of both an enchanted shield and a holy symbol, it provides clerics of all descripts protection from the elements of the darkness which attempt to overcome them! Fused from the highest grade of band-worked silversteel alloy, the shield is both rugged and religious, with an additional mounting point for our patented Religious Reminder Notes, good for all your favorite holy text verses or spells of smiting!*
* The Dead Sea Trading Company, Inc. is not responsible for any lack of smiting that may occur when mounting divine incantations to the rear of a shield in aid of memory.
Stats
The Shield of Faith is a mass-produced item that serves as a combination Holy Symbol and +2 Shield. Proficient clerics may also spend 5GP on the Religious Reminder Notes, which allow them to prepare one additional spell per day.
Reading From the Notes
In campaigns where comedy is of high value and you want to keep players’ power level in check, don’t be afraid to have the spell prepared using “notes” fail in some nonsensical way at times, attributing all such failures to the player’s messy handwriting.
A Story From the Frontier
We discovered recently, by means of a furtive man calling himself “Tom Skelly,” that a gathering of slaves from the salt mine of Dead Sea Salt has been preparing to escape en masse. They are said to be aided by a local band of outlaws known as the Jolly Good Fellows, who have taken up residence in Atwood Forest to the north-east. We have it on good authority that the leader of these men is a close affiliate of the mayor, though it is unclear to what degree they remain connected, for the identities of the men and news of their movements are difficult to come by. If indeed the mayor is behind an attempted escape from that horrible place, we question why he has not simply shut it down; clearly that would be preferable for his position with rival Robert Marston running for the office in this upcoming month.
The editors remind our readers, now as always, to vote for the candidate who most deserves their vote in the election: the honorable Mayor Roger Edsford I. With legendary character and a history of making our town great (and taxes low), Mayor Edsford is the clear choice for re-election.
Friday Hero: Tom Sanden
Today’s hero is a man many of you will know: innkeeper Tom Sanden. Through years of humble service, Mr. Sanden has never once raised his voice in anger at a customer, though Wednesday night he was forced to do so when one of his patrons attempted to rob another of her honest winnings at cards. Seizing the perpetrator – a man of low repute – by the collar of his jacket and speaking calmly to his face, Mr. Sanden explained that words being “disrespectful of women” were not allowed in his inn, and calmly extracted the other patron’s winnings from the perpetrator’s purse before yelling at him to “get out and stay out” and dumping him roughly in the street.
All present report to being thoroughly shocked by Mr. Sanden’s behavior, accounting that he has never once lost his temper while tending even the most disorderly of patrons; a round of applause was given him immediately following the encounter, to which the humble innkeeper is said to have turned as red as a beet and mumbled something about respecting his customers. We salute you, Mr. Sanden. It is the pleasure of the editors to extend to you a free flagon of our famous Five-Dragon Mead at no additional cost, to be picked up at a time of your choosing. Keep fighting the good fight.
Notable Persons This Week
In town this week we have the following news about our leaders and celebrities:
- The famed cartoonist Elliot Parsey is in town, and is keen on setting up shop here for the summer; it is said the Dead Sea Gazette will be enlisting his talents for the coming months.
- Josef Aleston has decided following a week spent here to bring his cider business to town, acquiring not two but three orchards in the vicinity, along with the construction of a brewing facility.
In Other News
- Attempts by farm-hands to contain the disappearance of several prize cattle have fallen through; it appears the aforementioned wolves have been at it again.
- The river has been re-opened for swimming at Patston Dock as of this morning.
- The mayor’s son has made a great show of thanking Mr. Marston for his above-board efforts in the campaign.
The Outlaws of Atwood Forest
The leader of the Atwood Forest Outlaws is indeed the mayor’s son, Roger Edsford II. His motivations are his own: he seems set on freeing the slaves of the salt mine for their sake rather than his father’s. If discovered, this could result in a major scandal, but the younger Edsford doesn’t seem to mind.
Silver Soul Gaming 