AAR[3]: A Dwarf of Culture (2020-03-21 2200 GMT)

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bronzemountain
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Re: AAR[3]: A Dwarf of Culture (2020-03-21 2200 GMT)

Post by bronzemountain » Sun Mar 22, 2020 3:50 am

In the Service of our History
Or, Reuniting a Noble with Things that are Hopefully His

Several other Adepts and I were invited to the wonderful home of Ikthgild Emdger, a Dwarf of good standing. While admiring his statuary and modest attempts at grandeur, we were asked to venture to his family's pre-Scourge manor, and retrieve what art, and other cultural artifacts, we could.

Of course, I accepted. Recovering the symbols of our civilization is a noble undertaking, and well in line with the great post-Scourge revival.

Our journey to the manor was eased by both the newly restored roads, and our numbers. We were seven in all, an auspicious number. William Carver, Norg the Troll, Xeviouz, Zil, an elven Beastmaster named Jael, and my fellow Dwarf, Dubhan. Thus, we came to the manor without incident, and had both the time and the peace to admire the fortitude and tenacity of those who were settling these lands once again. Civilization might be temporarily delayed, but its progress can never be halted.

We came upon the manor, which was tucked away in the overgrown countryside, its walls matted with ivy. In the surrounding wilderness, we were set upon by strange and enormous birds. Majestic creatures with white plumage, fat bodies, and broad wings. Their eyes were piercing and intense, their manner proud and ferocious. Their fury and hatred was undeniable.

Despite their ferocity, we handled them with some ease. The two crocodiles who ventured out of a nearby cistern to take advantage of our distraction would have been a rather different matter entirely. Fortunately, Jael was able to commune with their animal spirits and drive them off. I believe he has taken one of them as a pet, though I believe crocodiles make better boots than they do companions.

Venturing further, into the manor itself, we found the structure surprisingly well preserved. Truly, Dwarven construction is of a superior class. The place was so well preserved, in fact, that there remained a family in the dining room, ready to set upon their moldy victuals.

The family, of course, was dead. Or rather, I should say, undead. Mother, father, and their horrifyingly angry undead children. Again, with superior numbers, we were able to dispatch them. We examined their sordid meal, which seemed to be largely rotten, as one would expect, but with a strange aroma of unbaked bread.

We also found the manor house to be a treasure trove of art, literature, scientific journals, and primers on illusion. There was what must have once been a lovely garden, filled with exotic foliage, and paintings and sculptures and fine furnishings.

Taking our rest, we ventured down into the cellar of the house. And there we found that the strange corruption we had encountered above had settled in the bowels of the manor, as well. Here, in the pristine darkness of the cellar, we found ghouls, more cadaver men - laborers, these - and a creature both fascinating and disgusting. It seemed as if the family's dough culture had metastasized and gained some rudimentary intelligence.

It occupied several square feet of the floor and lurched and burbled like the collected spit-up of an entire nursery of incontinent children. It was sticky and odious and quite intent on folding us into itself.

William and Dubhan were able to discern that it was vulnerable to fire - though none of us had the means to exploit this advantage. Still, if you should find yourself facing Corrupted Bread in the future, bring fire.

Working closely together, fighting as a unit, we were able to dispatch these foul creatures as well, and restore peace to this once great house.

Attached, please find an inventory of what we recovered.

ottdmk
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Re: AAR[3]: A Dwarf of Culture (2020-03-21 2200 GMT)

Post by ottdmk » Sun Mar 22, 2020 4:45 am

From the Journal of Dubhan Goronich:

You know, I love my people, I do. However, pretentious aristocrats are pretentious aristocrats no matter which culture spawns them.

My latest adventures began because of Ikthgild Emdger, from one of Throal's older families. Deeply concerned about the unwashed masses released along with the upper crust from the Kaer, he gathered quite a group of Adepts and asked them to secure artifacts from the family's pre-Scourge homestead. I was fortunate in having worked with all of them at one time or another: Norg the Gauntlet, Xevious the Warrior, William the Scout (although I hear rumors that William has successfully started down the Thief path as well), Zil the Elementalist, Jael the Beastmaster and Dvarim the Weaponsmith.

I am continually amazed by the wide variety of hostile wildlife that has sprung up during the Scourge. We weren't even going too far out of town this time! Still, we were set upon both by Dwarf-sized geese and a couple of Crocodiles. Luckily, Jael was able to persuade the crocodiles to leave the festivities. We killed all the geese, but I saw Jael take some eggs... and he also decided to bring along a crocodile to train later. I shudder at the thought.

Arriving at the manor, we discovered an oddly coherent group of Cadavermen occupying it. A family of sorts, with father, mother, two children, and a majordomo. We managed to kill them all, despite the distressing ability of Cadavermen to turn wounds into rage. We decided to spend the night outside the house, however, and resumed our explorations in the morning.

In the morning, we began our examination of the basement. In the basement, stocked with unbelievably aged wines and cheese, were more Cadaverment, a couple of Ghouls... and what can only be called a bread dough monster. This was a combination of known and unknown that caused me a great deal of concern as I used my spells to buff my colleagues' abilities. However, the Passions were with us that day... we destroyed them all with barely a scratch upon us.

Finishing our search of the house we retrieved a few relics for our employer and returned to Throal.

Waijhou
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Re: AAR[3]: A Dwarf of Culture (2020-03-21 2200 GMT)

Post by Waijhou » Sun Mar 22, 2020 2:15 pm

LFG[3]: A Dwarf of Culture (2020-03-21 2200 GMT
From the journal of Xeviouz, Human Warrior
Ikthgild Emdger has invited you to an evening of relaxation and discussion at his excavated manor in the fashionable halls of Throal. You would guess this is because he wants something from you.

At the evening meeting are also Dvarim Dwarven Weaponsmith, Jael Elven Beastmaster, Norg the Gauntlet, William Carver human scout, Zil windling elementlist, Dubhan the Dwarven wizard and myself.

We meet in the garden, it is nice. 7 statues, and flowing water. He has a flowery way of speaking down to us, but is asking for our help. He wants us to go to his ancestral home (44.12) and look for any family heirlooms that might still be there. Nobody has been on site since the scourge, as far as he knows. Ikthgild will provide a wagon for us to use.

We do some research at the great library to make sure this guy is who he says he is. He checks out just fine. We get some packing material from a local museum.
Leaving Throal, we see many farms starting to pop up. It takes us 2 days to reach the Emdger Estate, at the head waters of the river. Through the trees we spot a large 3 story building. THis must be the place. Looking through the trees, we can determine there is no wall around the estate, no gates.
As we approach, we notice there are some dwarf sized chickens with very long necks that seem to be mad at us for intruding. Battle ensues! The crazy birds have an ability to bite and latch on to you. 2 alligators join the fray. Jael the bestmaster tells them to go away and they listened! They both ran off! Later he was able to tame one of them.
After the battle, we rest and then begin to explore the grounds and the buildings in the area.
As we search the house we come across a dining room with 5 undead name givers inside. Battle! We are able to finish off the cadaver men.

We find a monogrammed garter belt, pocket square. A set of China. A carved pipe lighter in the shape of an elephant. The bottom of the front feet are carved initials. There are several paintings. We make camp a mile or so away from the estate and rest for the night.
Next day we return to the estate and continue our search of the big house. We look around the first floor again, then head down to the basement. We hear some scuffing in the dark basement. THere are 3 cadaver men down here moving barrels of wine. THey notice us and one runs over to a dark corner to release 2 pet ghouls that are told to attack us. William carver uses his troll sling to throw a rock a ghoul and caves its head in. Truly an incredible shot! As we take down the ghouls and cadaver men a talk shambling, monster for lack of a better term comes at us. It is like a bread dough creature. It is put down as well.
A search of the rest of the house finds a few more valuables for our employer. We load the wagon after carefully packing his items, then head back to Throal.

Montaugh
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Re: AAR[3]: A Dwarf of Culture (2020-03-21 2200 GMT)

Post by Montaugh » Sun Mar 22, 2020 2:27 pm

My name is William Carver. I am a Scout of the Third Circle and a Thief of the First Circle.

I along with a rather large company of adventurers received an invitation to the estate of Ikthgild Emdger. He invited us to a night of food and culture. The artwork that his family had was quite impressive. He talked about the family estate located at the mouth of a river near a lake in 44.13. Ikthgild Emdger wanted us to go and collect things of cultural value that his family would like to possess. He promised us a special reward if we returned within a week's time. We were able to secure set of donkeys and a wagon to return with the goods that we found.

Zil, Dvarim Bolg, Jael, Dubhan Goronich, Norg, Xeviouz, and myself all headed to 44.13. The world at large is once more starting to come alive, farmers are out farming in the nearby farmlands and travel to 44.13.

We found the Emdger Manor quite easily. The grounds outside were a bit wild and unkept but overall they were well suited to having survived the scourge. Outside we were assaulted by some birds with very long necks a sort of goose that was corrupted by the scourge. They would fly at us and latch onto a person with their teeth not letting go. From the nearby pond we also had two crocodiles attempt to attack us. Jael make quick work of them and dominated them causing them to flee. After the battle Jael was able to befriend one of the crocs and the other retreated into its pond. We also found some eggs which Jael took back to Throal.

Inside the Manor things were going quite well, it was dusty inside and the library was full of books that were well preserved. I opened a door into what was once a dining room and at the table was a 'family' of cadavermen eating dinner. I alerted the others and retreated to attack them from a distance. We greatly outnumbered the cadavermen and in short order destroyed them. We finished our exploration of the ground floor and then set up camp outside for the night as it was getting dark.

Our last day at the Manor we explored the cellar. It was here we found more cadavermen, a pair of ghouls and a living sort of bread dough. It was very dark and I found myself without a lightsource that I could easily use. I will need to invest in some light crystals, perhaps some light crystals in throwing daggers to that I can toss them about for better light sources, maybe invest in some goggles that enhance my senses. I did decide to name my troll sling after this encounter though. While one of the ghouls charged forward I managed to hit and kill it with a single stone. I shall name the troll sling Avalanche. After all every Avalanche begins with a single stone.

We returned to Ikthgild Emdger with the items found in his manor and received our reward. It was a slightly chaotic adventure with the sheer number of people there but it was a greatly enjoyable one. It is good to see the growth of so many adepts that I have had the pleasure of traveling with over these past months.

ChrisDDickey
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Re: AAR[3]: A Dwarf of Culture (2020-03-21 2200 GMT)

Post by ChrisDDickey » Sun Mar 22, 2020 2:42 pm

The journal of Zil, windling Elementalist of the 3rd circle. 
A noble of Throl, Ikthgild Emdger invited us to his Statuary Garden where he gentilly lectured us about  his horror of the thought of the unwashed masses pawing through the remains of his families traditional country seat. He asked us to travel to his family's ancestral manse in the E by NE corner of hex 44,12, survey it, and return what items of culture as could be found and transported to him. In Throal we obtained a wagon, and some packing felt. 

The Kingdom has been hard at work improving the roads, and it took us barely two days to travel to the still imposing estate upon a lakeshore. There we found a 3 story stone building, overgrown, but still in excellent condition. In the garden we fought 6 horrible goose, each the size of an adult dwarf, and two crocodiles. Inside the house we surprised a family(?) of cadavermen(!) as they were about to sit down in the dinning room for their evening meal of bread dough. The "family" consisted of a dwarven father, an elven mother, and two children who were so decomposed that it was impossible to determine their original race. there was also a human table-servant. 

What followed was the most pitifully sorry excuse for fighting I have ever seen. We outnumbered them greatly, and all of us had fought cadaver men before. But there were so many of us that we all ran around with little thought to tactics. We managed to enrage almost all the cadaver men very early (which makes them 4 times as deadly). And we arranged our battle line such that it was impossible to buff more than one front line fighter at a time with air armor. It was only though sheer weight of numbers that we crushed them. The inside of the house was very well preserved, and it appears that the CM had been tending the conservatory and maybe even dusting and sweeping every few years.

In the morning, it was obvious that somebody had cleaned up during the night (washed the dishes), so we proceeded cautiously. We went down into the basement, where we found 3 more CM, these could also speak, and they affected the mannerisms of servants. They had two ghouls chained up, which they released upon us. There was also some sort of bread dough monster. We did a workmanlike job of clearing the house. We started with the ghouls, as they seemed the most dangerous. Then the bread dough monster, since it was weird and unknown, then the CM. 

We checked out the rest of the house, and it was clear. We picked out one wagonload of the most culturally relevant things,  The library had many books, and there was good art and statuary in various rooms.   

sigfriedmcwild
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Re: AAR[3]: A Dwarf of Culture (2020-03-21 2200 GMT)

Post by sigfriedmcwild » Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:13 pm

From "Notes on the world outside the kaers" as penned by Norg

I received an invitation from one Ikthgild Emdger, a self described Dwarf of Culture, asking me to join him for an evening of relaxation and discussion. I went on the assumption that it would be about a job, probably not an entirely legal one.

The other invitees to the soiree included Davrim, Dubhan, Jae, Williaml, Xeviouz, and Zil all of whom I've had the pleasure to travel with before. Mr Emdger spend the evening between extolling the virtues of his no doubt extremely expensive statuary garden and asking us to retrieve "family property" from before the scourge.

As we left I suggested that I had my doubts about hoe much of what he wanted recovered was actually part of his family fortune, and that maybe we should just sell whatever we found at "his" estate in the Grand Bazaar instead. The others weren't keen on making an enemy out of someone so powerful in Throal so we decided to settle for checking his claims.

We pooled money for access to the library and sent Dubhan to do research, which to my surprise confirmed his story. In the meantime Zil asked his contacts in the local artist community and it seems the statues are the real deal.

We set out with a wagon (provided by our employer) and a lot of thick felt suitable for wrapping statues (courtesy of one of Zil's contacts) and made good time to the Emdger lands. On the way we saw the beginning of people settling in the land, a comforting sight for the future. The estate lands on the other hand looked untouched since before the scourge, filled with overgrown woods and, closer to the manor, statuary in various states of disrepair.

It is among these statues that we had the first unpleasant encounter of the trip (excluding the one with our employer): about ten creatures that looked like a chicken crossed with a cobra, covered in white feathers and about as big as Dvarim. Aggressive too, the moment they spotted us they charged hissing and honking. The bit and then tried to latch on, while buffeting you with their wings, annoying and distracting to say the least, however they weren't very tough and we made short work of them after the initial surprise. Still their bite is quite strong, strong enough than in trying to remove one from my arm, I ripped the body off the head. At some point during the melee two crocodiles popped out of the nearby pool, but Jael convinced them to relocate quickly, so they weren't a big issue.

After the fight, Jael befriended one of the crocodiles, pronounced the cobra chickens edible and found us some of their eggs, claiming some of them were actually fertilised. We decided to see what cobra chicken meat would taste during the evening dinner.

But before sampling probably not horror tainted meat of creatures we murdered, we explored some of the manor. The building looked in reasonably good shape, the front door was unlocked but stuck closed, and the interior dusty, but not too much. We wandered around the rooms finding a lot of ancient stuff until we got to the dining room. There we founda "family" of cadavermen having "dinner", they seemed distressed by our presence and even more once we started killing them. I'll admit that killing cadavermen looking like children was extremely unsettling.

After the fight we searched the corpses for identifying objects, Jael found some preserved drinks in a side room (deliciously aged even if the alcohol was mostly gone by this point) and we left to make camp some way away.

The next day we returned and, after a quick check of the ground floor, headed into the basement, which was full of the things you'd expect in a rich family manor: casks of wine, space for ageing cheese, and so on. As we looked around we heard some noises, more cadavermen playing at being people, in this case servants, a pair of ghouls, and what looked like mother's bread dough if it had been tainted by horrors.

The fight was short and brutal, we made good use of our numbers taking the ghouls down first, then the cadavermen, and finally the monstrous dough. With this we were free to explore and loot the mansion, we picked up several items we believed to be of interest to our employer and started back towards Throal.

As a final reflection on this adventure, I've always assumed cadavermen were mindless horrorspawn, at best capable of animal cunning, but seeing them act as a family, as a small society even is unnerving. Were they keeping the house clean(ish) and observing rites like dinner because some remnant of the Namegivers they once were lingered in them, or is it all a sick joke the horrors are playing on us?

Aegharan
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Re: AAR[3]: A Dwarf of Culture (2020-03-21 2200 GMT)

Post by Aegharan » Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:19 am

The Great Library of Throal thanks Dubhan, Dvarim, Xeviouz, William, Zil, and Norg for their interesting documentions. You earn 70 Legend points and 68.8 Silver.

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