Background
GM: Anyone who successfully rolls on the Town Lore or the Area Knowledge skill check will know these background information. Of course, all local PC's and NPC's will know the lore by heart.
Ten years ago, silence fell on the Kingdom of Fifty Reeds. People spoke, but no voice could be heard. Nothing made any noise. No one knew why. The king's Magician Council met and decided that an extremely powerful wizard casted the Permanent Silence spell on the kingdom. But in order to effect an area of 50 miles radius, the wizard or sorcerer must be able to cast the spell with a great ordeal of power (70400 power points to be exact). The king announced a large reward to anyone who come forward with potential leads and the culprit involved. No solid leads ever surfaced.
There is an urban legend that an extremely rare plant grows on top of Mount June, a mountain peak in the Kingdom of Fifty Reeds. This plant is called the Gensu plant. Every ten years, this plant will blossom and produce Gensu seeds. When each seed is consumed, the seed will provide the consumer with tremendous amount of power (1000 points) temporarily (6D10 turns). So theoretically, someone could have obtained and consumed a lot of Gensu seeds (71 seeds) to cast the Permanent Silence spell with a radius of 50 miles. In a way, by blanketing the entire kingdom with the Permanent Silence spell indicates that the urban legend is, in fact, true. And that someone has already gotten a hold of the Gensu plant.
After learning about the Gensu plant from the Magician Council, the king sent out scouts to the mountain top of June. At the base of the June Mountain cliff, the scouts found wooden planks attached to the side of the cliff, spiralling upward to the mountain top. Metal rings were attached to the cliff, above each plank, for tying ropes. The scouts found the Gensu plant on top of the mountain, but all of its seeds were gone. As the news spread throughout the land, a lot of folks came up with conspiracy theories on who and why Permanent Silence was cast on the kingdom. But no one, except the culprit, knew the true story.
The Magician Council has adviced the king that the only way to remove the spell is to gather enough Gensu seed to cast Dispel Magic on the Permanent Silence spell. The entire kingdom has been waiting this past 10 years for the Gensu plant to blossom once again.
Mount June
GM: Anyone who successfully rolls on the Mountain Lore skill check will know the following background information about June Mountain.
June Mountain is a beautiful mountain, especially during the month of its name. It is ten thousand feet tall. But the first seven thousand feet is mildly sloped for an easy hike. The last three thousand feet is virtually a straight-up cliff. Over the years, adventurers have attached wooden planks to the side of the cliffs, as a spiral walkway to the top of the mountain.
It takes about three days to hike to six thousand feet, where snow starts to cover the ground. The snow-covered ground makes travelling difficult. Therefore, it takes a full day to travel from six thousand feet to seven thuosand feet. At seven thousand feet, it takes another full day to walk the wooden planks to the mountain top. The wooden plank is, no doubt, covered in snow. Travelling after sun down will slow the pace considerably. It's four times as fast to travel during the day as at night.
