AAR: [ECR3] The Spice Must Flow (2020-04-25@22:00 GMT GMT)

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Reyntrannin
Posts:270
Joined:Mon Apr 23, 2018 3:59 pm
AAR: [ECR3] The Spice Must Flow (2020-04-25@22:00 GMT GMT)

Post by Reyntrannin » Wed Apr 22, 2020 3:46 pm

LFG: The Spice Must Flow
Time: 2020-04-26@22:00 GMT
GM: ReynTrannin
Circle: ECR 3
Difficulty: Medium/Hard

Rumor: viewtopic.php?f=58&t=1715&sid=708651e71 ... b56992bc83

"Are you tired of eating boring food that's been grown in a hole in the ground inside a hole in the ground? Are your taste buds desperate for real flavour? Come Join Strorbrout Cragbringer in his quest to bring new and exciting goods to the halls of Throal, and make Barsaive a safer place while doing it!"
--in fine print-- "Looking for experienced and affordable adventurers to assist with the establishment of a new trade route. Transportation provided."

Flyers like this have been appearing around the city lately, and a motivated team of young Adepts seem to be just the ticket. Those interested should reply in person to Master Cragbringer's representative at the offices of C, R, and D in Throal.
Last edited by Reyntrannin on Wed Apr 22, 2020 8:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Dougansf
Posts:465
Joined:Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:14 am

Re: LFG: [ECR3] The Spice Must Flow (2020-04-26@20:00 GMT GMT)

Post by Dougansf » Wed Apr 22, 2020 4:29 pm

Name: Sandrin
Effective Circle: 3 (4110 LP)
Discipline: Air Sailor 3
Unique: Melee, Thrown, Navigation, and charm
Last Game Played: 4/22/2020

Downtime: Talents and Skills that other characters can use during Downtime:
Craft Weapon at Step 7 (Rank 1) (Weapons up to Damage 2, 1 Day per Size)
Last edited by Dougansf on Thu Apr 23, 2020 4:13 am, edited 2 times in total.

Sharkforce
Posts:527
Joined:Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:39 am

Re: LFG: [ECR3] The Spice Must Flow (2020-04-25@20:00 GMT GMT)

Post by Sharkforce » Wed Apr 22, 2020 5:51 pm

Name: Zivilyn
Circle: 3 (ECR 3, 3150 LP)
Discipline: Shaman.
Unique: Spells, mostly buffs and debuffs. Also a fancy hat.
Downtime: Animal Training Step 11 including karma*


* I've seen others listing this, not sure how that works since your animal needs to be loyal to me via animal bond, but I'm putting it here because that seems to be the thing to do. If you're allowed to use my post-adventure rating, it may be higher.

Xzandrate
Posts:382
Joined:Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:28 pm

Re: LFG: [ECR3] The Spice Must Flow (2020-04-25@20:00 GMT GMT)

Post by Xzandrate » Wed Apr 22, 2020 7:30 pm

Name: Moe-uhane
ECR: 2
Discipline: Illusionist
Quote/Unique: Let me wash the truth out, like a river.
Notable Abilities: Buffs, damage, fishing/cooking
Downtime: Research(9)

bronzemountain
Posts:606
Joined:Fri Feb 21, 2020 10:02 pm

Re: LFG: [ECR3] The Spice Must Flow (2020-04-25@22:00 GMT GMT)

Post by bronzemountain » Wed Apr 22, 2020 9:46 pm

This is a secondary character. Please pick primaries first.

Name: Temur Tengerkhan
Circle: 2
Discipline: Spirit Rider
Quote/Unique: "Those are good thoughts for thinking."
Notable Abilities: I ride an imaginary horse.
Downtime: Wine, women, dancing.

Reyntrannin
Posts:270
Joined:Mon Apr 23, 2018 3:59 pm

AAR [3m] The Spice Must Flow

Post by Reyntrannin » Sun Apr 26, 2020 3:20 am

The Spice Must Flow
Time: 2020-04-26@22:00 GMT
GM: ReynTrannin
Circle: 3
Difficulty: Medium

Player Rewards:
Moe-uhane: 1,400 LP, 275 SP 3 TIP's
Sandrin: 1,400 LP, 275 SP 3 TIP's
Temur Tengerkhan: 1,400 LP, 275 SP 3 TIP's
Zivilyn: 1,400 LP, 275 SP 3 TIP's

Half-price Shaman Training, Half Price food and Booster Potions

GM Reward:
Langren: 200 LP, 150 SP, 3 TIP's

Downtime Actions Available:
Moe-uhane: Research(9)
Sandrin: Craft Weapon at Step 7 (Rank 1) (Weapons up to Damage 2, 1 Day per Size)
Zivilyn: Animal Training Step 11 including karma*


Further Information:
Additional development of Clear Creek Camp and the Shrine of Chorrollis.
45.12, southwest edge, Ogreling home was reclaimed for the Ogre Gvarn and his 'children'
46.13, old kaer where Gvarn found his adopted wards, The "Hole-House"
New NPC's
Gvarn, an ogre
Sharim, a dwarf Elementalist and one of Gvarn's wards
Lereta, a dwarf Shaman and one of Gvarn's wards
Merim, Tian, Greta, Joreg, and Herigh; Gvarn's other wards
Mr. Fluffums, a female foxel
Last edited by Reyntrannin on Sun Apr 26, 2020 3:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Dougansf
Posts:465
Joined:Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:14 am

Re: AAR [3m] The Spice Must Flow

Post by Dougansf » Sun Apr 26, 2020 3:49 am

We head to the offices of CR and D. A small building with a plaque. One room, dominated with a desk. Uncle is far behind on his project, so he needs adepts. Transportation by caravan to the site. We’ll be providing any assistance. Trade route links to a place South of Throal.
Sandrin gets an Emotion Sense on the dwarf he’s very frustrated by his lack of information, but not deceiving us. We all sign a blank piece of paper to keep track of us.

Asking around, it started out as a construction project, a shrine to Chrollis that is turning into a trading hub. He’s sunk a lot of money into this, but he can afford it.

The next morning we meet up at the caravan and take off to Hex 43.12 it should take 3 days. We get there in 4.

The camp has about 20-25 people. We all go through a greeting ritual to gain entrance. We’re directed to the central tent. The foreman leaves as we enter.

Strorbrout Cragbringer greets us and shares a brown liquor with us. He tells us about the history of the project. Food and supplies have been disappearing (clothing, tools, etc) every night. They sent out some scouts who didn’t come back. He’s not sure if there’s a spy inside the camp. There are 2 warehouses, and things have gone missing from both, even after they’ve been moved. 27 people total in the camp.

Foreman: Drorim Cragbringer -
Quartermaster: Ferren -
Engineer: Darellon - blonde woman shouts a lot to get work done.

We talk to Ferren first. He tells us they’ve been gone five days. We look over the ledgers to find what’s missing. Last night was potatoes. Once they took 3 hammers. Nothing particularly valuable. He shows us around the warehouse. Sandrin finds a spot back behind the crates and sacks there are some footprints, unshot and too small to be an adult dwarf. Ziv notices some fur rubbed off against an opening at ground level. The tracks are larger than Windling, but not full-grown dwarf-sized either. It seems to be an animal with short dark, coarse fur, but humanoid footprints. Ziv goes through and finds himself up against the palisade in a very tight space. The footprints seem to be 3 different sizes. Ziv finds where they’re getting through the palisade by falling through a trap door in the ground. It’s a wicker-work doorway with some expertly woven grasses as camouflage. None of the grasses appear to have been cut. There’s a shallow tunnel that leads under the palisade and comes out another wicker door out of the line of sight of the guards.

Ziv looks around for a dog to help us track, we have to ask the Foreman to borrow her pet Foxel to come with us. Once she’s convinced that Ziv can work with it properly. Ziv Bonds with the Foxel quickly and we start scouting out our lookout spots with views of both entrances.

We set up around the entrances. Around the wee hours of the morning, we see something crawl out of the tunnels and dash to the side. We start to follow them, and Sandrin doesn’t lose sight of them. After 200 yards, they’re joined by a few others. They’re wearing some kind of heavy hooded cloak. 30 minutes later, they’re joined by a 4th, much larger person (Ogre). They speak to each other for a time. The ogre picks one up and starts heading off at a slow jog. They continue on for another 30 minutes.

They pause at an intersection of creekbeds with very little water in them. The ogre puts down the one on his shoulder, and they start going through their stolen goods.

Sandrin and Ziv sneak up close enough to use Astral Sight and Empathic Sense upon the group. The smaller ones are not Ogres. One is a malnourished dwarf shaman. The Ogre is having fatherly feelings towards the little ones. One of them leaves, and we head back to report in. We decide to try talking to them.

Sandrin stops the Ogre, Gvarn, in his tracks with his words. The Ogre explains that evil bird women killed his brother and made them flee their home. They say they haven’t seen anyone from the village recently. Sandrin offers some food to the ogre, and 4 other little ones emerge from the trees. More food comes out and is Heated by their Elementalist, and passed around. After we do our Karma rituals, the kids go back into hiding. The Ogre leads us to the North East back to their home, closer and closer to the mountains. It takes us until sundown into Hex 45.11.

The children are foundlings, from a “Hole House” (Kaer). The Ogre and his brother adopted them. The elementalist casts Shelters for us.

The next morning, we approach the area and find 4 harpies on top of a hillock. Temur calls down his spirit horse, Ayanga. The ogre family panics at first, but we calm them down quickly.

Zil and Moe prepare spells. The elementalist also casts Air Armor. Once the spells are cast, we move in. Sandrin runs up and clips the closest one’s wings with his flight dagger. Ziv and Moe weave threads to target multiple enemies.

Temur charges the wingless one, and kills it. Harpy 1 screams and takes to the air, insults Temur. Harpy 3 flies over and fails to insult Sandrin. Zivilyn casts Leopard Pounce on Harpy 3, bringing it down to the ground and knocking her out.

After killing two of them, and harming the last two, they fly off (while still on fire from Moe’s spell). Zivilyn Pounces one more out of the sky. Sandrin chases the last one and clips it’s wings with his dagger, causing it to fall to the ground to its death.

The Ogre and his family are overjoyed to be returned home. As promised, they guide us to the “Hole Home.” Hex 46.13
A day later we arrive at the opening of the kaer. Gvarn shows us the way, and then hangs back. There’s a number of ogres standing like an honor guard with clubs at the ready.

When we return to town, we find that the ogre family left behind woven goods and furs.

bronzemountain
Posts:606
Joined:Fri Feb 21, 2020 10:02 pm

Journal: Temur Tengerkhan

Post by bronzemountain » Sun Apr 26, 2020 5:39 am

Song of the Immortal Sky - Part 2

Know that CRAND did summon forth brave Adepts to provide aid of a type not immediately specified. Know that this was a business of Dwarfs and of the Dwarf clan called Cragbringer. Know that Temur Tengerkhan did not know how one brings a crag anywhere, and that he felt these Dwarfs must have great magic, indeed.

Know that this is the story of Tengur Tengerkhan, of the Monghkiir-Tenger, who did set forth with Sandrin who Sails the Winds, Zivilyn who Calls the Beast Spirits, and Moe'Uhane who Makes the Truth Flow.

They did travel to the Clear Creek Camp and there they did meet Storbrout of the Cragbringers. They drank his liquor and ate his food and heard of his difficulties in his great project - rebuilding a shrine to Grekaklank. These were not great difficulties, in truth. They were being robbed, in small amounts. The bringer of crags and others did speak of supply and demand and price inflation and used other words that had no meaning.

There were two storage houses used by these hard working builders. In these places were kept foodstuffs, clothing, tools. And from these places were taken foodstuffs, clothing, tools, by thieves who were never seen nor heard.

The Adepts did search, high and low, in shadows and in light, and it was the smallest of them, the windling Zivilyn, who found curious tracks. It was his keen eyes that spotted a cleverly woven mat which hid a cleverly dug hole which passed beneath the palisade.

Know that upon seeing this the Adepts did decide to lay in wait and see what manner of person was stealing such modest things from these dutiful workers. Know that they waited till the sunset, and for hours afterwards. And finally they did see three curious creatures - hooded and furred and bare of foot - who took their modest spoils.

Temur and Sandrin and Zivilyn and Moe'Uhane, shrouded by the Illusionist's shadows, followed. What they found was most shocking, indeed.

It was a Wormskull, one of the most terrible of all Horrors.

Know that, actually, it was not. It was an ogre, and Temur had made a terrible mistake. Fortunately, Sandrin corrected him and thus averted disaster.

The truth was shocking enough. The ogre was peaceful, and the Adepts, in their wisdom, did approach the ogre peacefully. The ogre was caring for orphaned Dwarf children of a Kaer that had recently fallen. These were children faced with suffering - but also children who had learned from the fires of pain. For lo, two of them were Adepts, and had found in their spirits the rudiments of Elementalism and Shamanism.

The ogre, who was called Gvarg, and must have been named by the children, for ogres are not namegivers, this ogre spoke of his siblings. He spoke of bird women who had driven the ogres from their home.

Know that Temur wondered if these bird women were hot. They sounded hot. There was talk of bird-woman crushing. Know that Temur was not thinking of violence.

Know also that the bird-women were not hot. They were not at all hot. They were creatures of filth, in flesh and in thought and in deed. With leopard spirit and phantom flames, with flight daggers and axe in motion, the Adepts did do battle with the harpies and were victorious.

Know that they crushed the bird-women properly.

With the ogre and his siblings able to use the land again, the Adepts were given direction to the "Hole-House," the broken Kaer from which came the Dwarf orphans. And there, the Adepts did see more ogres, though these were clearly of violent disposition and traditional malice.

Know that Temur, while brave, was also wise. And he did caution his companions to choose discretion over death. They would return to Throal, they would grow stronger, and they would return.

Know that this story has ended. Know that this story continues.

Sharkforce
Posts:527
Joined:Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:39 am

Re: AAR [3m] The Spice Must Flow

Post by Sharkforce » Sun Apr 26, 2020 5:42 am

From the Journal of Zivilyn, Windling Magician: The Spice Must Flow

While traveling through the market, a flyer caught my eye advertising for a group of adepts to assist the company C, R, and D in establishing a trade route which seemed to be in some way related to food. Now, personally, I *am* quite tired of having eaten largely the same food for coming up on 30 years, and have greatly enjoyed having at least some variety on my excursions to the world beyond the halls of Throal, so I was quite willing to lend a hand in this matter (not to mention that they were offering to pay, and I was flat broke). I was pleased to find some old acquaintances of mine would be joining me in this endeavour; Temur, an Ork Spirit Rider (I spent a little more time talking with him, and apparently when you translate it from Or'zzet, that's what he is) who had joined me in escorting pilgrims to Kaer Irondelve, Moe, a T'Skrang Illusionist who recently joined me in colonizing some islands for the Skyreader tribe of Windlings, and Sandrin, an Elven Air Sailor who joined me in search of a True Air node in the mountains near Throal. Sadly, for his sake, I have not noticed a fleet of Airships pop out of nowhere into the skies just yet.

I was particularly pleased to find that we would be travelling to Clear Creek Crossing to assist in restoring a shrine to Chorollis there as well as restoring the old trading post around it. Turns out, the town was abuzz about this particular event, being funded by one Strorbrout (the "C" in C, R, and D; I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that he named it after his family rather than himself, but it still feels weird to me). This location happens to be right next to the Skyreader community, and will undoubtedly help strengthen the community, and on top of that, it leads to the Coil River, which means we can hope for some T'Skrang food to start making its way to Throal (look, there's nothing *wrong* with eating the same food every day when you're trapped in a cave with thousands of other people and you just need whatever you can grow in those conditions, but now that the gates have opened it's time to expand your palate a little, people!).

Ahem. Anyways, the clerk at their officers offered a wagon ride (and seemed somewhat vague on exactly what we would be doing), but I was able to enjoy the trip on the back of Jolly Jumper, my trusty steed (I say trusty in that she gives me a chance to rest my wings without riding on someone's shoulder, which gets SUPER awkward when you're inches from their face; she is less trusty in that she is not at all combat-trained and tends to run away from most fights, which is probably for the best since she happens to be made of meat and would undoubtedly attract undue attention when standing next to a group of armed and armoured Adepts). We got there without incident, and were able to meet with Strorbrout to find out what we were there for, after proper introductions of course (I must say, I miss the plants from Kaer Irondelve, they were exceptional for making proper baskets... the area here allowed for a passable attempt, at least, and I wasn't under suspiscion of being horror tainted). It seems that supplies were going missing from their warehouses, and nobody knew how. Not in large amounts all at once, but a little bit at a time, mostly food, some clothes, and on at least one occasion tools. Strange. If it had been the workers there, I'm sure the first thing they'd go for would be the alcohol, so that suggests something else.

We are referred to some others who may be able to assist us, as Strorbrout is quite busy administrating the camp (and probably getting himself richer as fast as possible; he is a Questor of Chorollis, it seems, which is a major part of why he wants to re-establish the shrine, and , is probably also a major part of why he wants to be the first to own a trading post this close to the Coil). His son, Drorim, is the foreman; the quartermaster is some fellow named Ferren, and knew the most about the thefts; and there was very shouty dwarf lady we had seen on the way in by the name of Darellon who it seemed was the engineer behind all the construction. The camp is surrounded by a palisade, which would make it difficult for most creatures to sneak in above ground, so my immediate thought was to check for possible holes or gaps underneath.

We decided to start by consulting with the quartermaster, as he was the one in charge of supplies. He graciously allowed us into the more secure of the two storage areas, which was a wooden building with a locked door (the only finished structure in the area, everything else was either tents or the unfinished shrine). We inspected the area and Sandrin spotted some odd bare-footed tracks in the dirt near where food had most recently been stolen. Since I could fly, I had volunteered to check up in the rafters, and from my vantage point was able to spot a section of the wall that looked a bit off compared to the rest. When we inspected it, we found that some of the boards were loose enough that a normal-sized person could comfortably fit through, but too small for a typical dwarf. Being the only normal-sized person around, I volunteered to go through if someone else would hold it open for me. The gap in the wall opened out backing onto the palisade, with an abundance of space for myself (though again, it would be a bit of a tighter squeeze for you oversized folk). I was able to follow the tracks a scant few feet (I am not nor have I ever aspired to be a tracker, but even I could follow a trail that's been travelled a dozen times in the past couple of weeks with nothing else to disturb it) and to my surprise fell right through the ground. Someone had covered up a trap door of sorts with some excellent quality wicker work. The door led to a nice, roomy tunnel underneath the palisade and popped out just on the other side, out of sight of the guards, again covered by a finely-made well-hidden wicker door. The person crafting it had used a somewhat unusual technique, but it worked brilliantly for its purpose.

At this point, of course, any possible thought that this might be wild animals was quite definitely thrown aside. It looked like someone - or, more likely, several someones (some of the prints looked larger or smaller, though I couldn't tell much beyond that; again, I am not a tracker) - were using the tunnels to take supplies sufficient for a small group of people. We decided to set up a blind that night and watch for whoever it was, and resolved to follow them back to wherever they were staying to get to the bottom of this mystery. And, in the meanwhile, I figured I'd check around the palisade on both sides where the other "warehouse" (really just a tent, not exactly the most secure structure ever) was, and sure enough, found another tunnel with the same kind of doors, and so we set up our watch where we'd be able to see both. In hindsight I rather suspect that if we had the inclination, we could have gone around to where the shrine was being built and find the tightest space in between it and the palisade and there would be another trap door and tunnel there as well, since I believe it was mentioned that hammers had gone missing from that area, but we never did check. Additionally, while we were putting our hiding place together, Sandrin was able to persuade the shouty lady to let us borrow her pet foxel in case we needed it to track them down. We were also thinking we might be able to use it to find a pair of dwarves that had left some five days before we arrived hoping to track whatever was stealing their supplies, but that unfortunately did not pan out. I hope that they are somehow alive, but I would not say that I *have* hope that they are still alive; the wilderness of Barsaive is dangerous for a pair of dwarfs to be wandering about without proper training and equipment.

In any event, we did not need the Foxel's help (although it was terribly cute, and could probably be quite useful if I could teach it to stop stealing from my food supplies every time I'm not looking at it) and were able to spot a small figure leaving the trap door behind the wooden warehouse, and followed it. That small figure joined up with a few others, and then further on with one much larger thing. Temur said he thought it was some sort of horror known for very painfully rearranging all the skin on your body, a wormskull or something like that? Anyways, thankfully our skin was not destined to be rearranged that night, and Sandrin said he was pretty sure that no, that big thing was "just" an ogre. Not that I was terribly enthusiastic about possibly having to fight "just" an ogre either, but hey, I like my face-skin on my face where it belongs, not on my stomach, so it was definitely an improvement. We followed those four back to an area which seemed to be their camp, where a bunch of almost-dried-up creeks met. This was our first chance to sneak up close and get some better information, so Sandrin and I decided to take it; he used his Empathic Sense to get an idea of what the ogre was doing, and I used Astral Sight to examine one of the smaller people. She looked like a dwarf, albeit not so large as a dwarf usually is, and badly in need of years of good food, and some parts of her pattern were remarkably familiar to me; she was a shaman! The ogre, it seemed, was like a "father" of sorts to her and the other small figures we had seen, all of which we would soon find out were young malnourished dwarfs.

Thankfully, we didn't have to fight the ogre either. And I cannot express how glad I am that we did not start a fight with him and wind up having to fight a bunch of children as we kill their father right in front of their eyes, either; the grace of the passions were with us that night, and we decided to negotiate rather than immediately attack outright. The ogre was named Gvarn, and had found all of these children in a "hole-home" (which we interpreted to mean "Kaer") where all the adults had killed each other. I am glad now to have looked as closely at the young girl, named Lareta, and did not see any sign of a horror's mark; I can only hope that she and her siblings remained unscathed in spirit, if one can be said to be unscathed by the death of all their family while an infant at all. It seems very odd to me that an ogre would make such a caring parent for them, protecting them, and working to feed and teach them, but I've seen other strange things, and it was quite pleasant to be surprised in a nice way rather than by half a dozen zappy huttawas trying to pounce you out of the air or something like that for once. Another of the children, Sharim I believe, was an Elementalist, as we would later find out; Perhaps some day that shall join the ranks of adepts adventuring throughout Barsaive, some day. In any event, it was a rather surreal experience to have to talk to a dwarf by having an ogre translate. After sharing some food (I wish I had more, but one downside of being normal-sized is that Windling-sized meals don't go very far when there are half a dozen Dwarfs and an ogre to feed), we learned that the ogre and the dwarf children had been driven away from their home by some "bird women". It sounded like harpies to me (I had learned their name since the last time I encountered them) especially when he agreed that they were both disgusting and rude. The harpies had killed his brother (who at the time I assumed was an ogre, but honestly in hindsight who knows? his "children" are dwarfs, after all), and they had fled, which was why they now needed to take food from the trading post. But, they insisted, they had not stolen anything, but had traded woven goods. Later on, we would return to the warehouse and sure enough there was more than enough in trade goods to pay for everything they had taken, just nobody had noticed anything (I'm sure the quartermaster was quite embarassed to discover a number of baskets, soft blankets, ropes, animal hides, and assorted other goods in his warehouse when we brought *that* up; I mean, seriously, who does inventory, notices that a couple of bags of food are missing, and *doesn't* notice a bunch of extra blankets and baskets???).

We agreed to lend assistance in removing the harpies. They are foul creatures anyways, it was an act of good will, it would help a group of children, and frankly it was in the best interest of our employer too as far as I was concerned; I had already seen their skill with basketweaving in the hidden tunnels, and again at their campsite where they were hidden quite cleverly in a tree (being so large and heavy, they couldn't build their home way up in the top like a proper home would be, but that's hardly their fault and should not be taken as a reflection on their skill).

After all that, the harpies were not too much trouble. There were four but now there are none. they will trouble the people of Barsaive no more, and they shall not return to drive out our new friends from their home. There was no storm to save them this time. We dispatched them quite handily, with a little help from the young Dwarf Elementalist. If you were to follow the Coil from the Skyreader community to Kampung Gaja and beyond, you would come to the hills where that home is located; there were some interesting-looking ruins in the area, but we didn't investigate them too closely. Instead, we decided to head for the Kaer the children had been found in. It was located in the foothills to the north of a bend in what I presume was the Coil River (I know of no other large rivers in the area, in any event). It was also guarded by 4 ogres, who looked rather more dangerous than the one ogre who had pointed us in this direction; we decided that this was perhaps a better opportunity for another time, and certainly was not part of our responsibility to our employer, and headed back towards the shrine, where Strorbrout was quite pleased to find that he had been traded with rather than stolen from. Now that I have had a chance to look at the most recent maps published by the Great Library, that destroyed kaer looks uncomfortably close to another kaer which I have heard terrible rumours about from other adepts. I hope that it is not related.

Xzandrate
Posts:382
Joined:Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:28 pm

Re: AAR [3m] The Spice Must Flow

Post by Xzandrate » Sun Apr 26, 2020 6:29 am

From the writings of Moe'uhane, T'skrang Illusionist, 2nd Circle.

Adventure calls once again, and while I hoped for a river, we encountered rocks.

The C,R, and D company of Throal was advertising to help establish a trade route, and bring flavourful foods to Throal. Flavourful foods, and a trade route? I thought it MUST involved the T'skrang of the river. . .

I hurried along to their offices and came across the windling Zivilyn again. Here he was joined by a burly Ork fellow named Temur Tengerkhan, who spoke with a strange dialect. He informed me he was a rider of spirit horses. I first thought he meant the expression 'Beating a dead horse', however he informed me that he rode the spirit of his great grandmothers steed, Ayanga. Shortly thereafter we were joined by Sandrin, the elven Air Sailor. I had heard many stories of the fierce Sky Raiders, and had always been told that Air Sailors were their opposites. Sandrin definitely proved this to me. He was sociable and dexterous and would easily be misplaced as a Troubadour or Swordmaster to the casual viewer.

Thus we entered the building and were greeted by a rather dismissive dwarf. The most I got from him was he was a nephew to Strorbrout Cragbringer, the financer of our adventure. Apparently Strorbrout was looking to re-dedicate a shrine of Chorrolis near Clear Creek Crossing. His nephew was of as little help as if we had asked the great desk he sat at. He assumed we would be hunting rats like common felines, and bade us to meet the caravanmaster the next morning. Rather than wasting more breathe on this fellow, we did just that.

The travel was slower than we anticipated, three days turned into four before we finally arrived at the encampment. The sentries, ever the dwarf, and ever the stickler for procedure demonstrated his lack of taint and required us to do the same. We obviously had little issue with this, after four days with this lot I believe I would begin to have the nagging feeling if taint may be present. A palisade hade been erected around the shrine and a couple make shift building, but predominantly it was tents, all which paled to the ire of a blonde dwarven woman berating anyone within earshot. We had been instructed to meet master Strorbrout in the central tent. As we approached, a pair of dwarves exited; one a stout muscular dwarf of middle age, the Foreman Drorim we later found out. The other was a much older dwarf with an elaborately braided beard with golden beard rings. This was Strorbrout Cragbringer. He invited us into the cramped tent, that was rather ill furnished, and briefed us on the situation. They had been working to re-dedicate the shrine for three months, it was a matter of familial pride to do so. However, two weeks prior the quartermaster, Ferren, had started to notice missing supplies. Each day, little by little the supplies dwindled, nothing to worry about for a day or two, but across a long period this will add up. Two of Strorbrout's workers felt they could track the culprits and had been set out five days prior to our arrival. Nothing had been heard since. As none of us were as skilled at tracking as Strorbrout's fellows, we felt we were better to start investigating the stores, the scene of the crime as it were. After a brief discussion with the quartermaster to assess the quantity and frequency of the disappearances we scoured the larger, secured store shed. Zivilyn showed the senses of an Illusionist as he spotted a means of egress from the shack, it looked as though it could be a creature, but the covering was complex, and buffered by what looked to be namegiver foot prints. Zivilyn followed the trail out through the small hole, and came back a short time later to inform us there was a covered tunnel that led outside the palisade. We searched the other store tent and found a second similar tunnel.

At this point we decided we would be best to try and observe and ambush the culprits if need be. We prepared as blind near the woods, channeled the powers of Illusion and Shamanism and began the stakeout. In the wee hours of the night we saw a shape slip out of the camp through the tunnel. None of us saw them enter, so we were lucky we saw them leave. Silently, under the cover of Cloak we trailed what looked to be a dwarven child from the distance we were at. Eventually he met up with two co-conspirators of the same size, and finally those three met with a towering creature. Still we held our position, wanting to not only find the culprits, but the missing men. From the distance we were at, Temur was sure this was a mighty being of legend and we were in grave danger, however Sandrin assured him that it appeared to be an Ogre, and while strong was something we should be able to handle. The quartet began off again, and we trailed behind them once more. A short time later they stopped in a clearing and finally began to take stock of their ill-gotten gains. At this point we felt more intel was appropriate. Sandrin and Zivilyn crept forward to better assess our quarry and returned a short time later informing us that there was no ill will or perceived taint in the group; in fact at least one of the small beings was an adept, a shaman even. Temur voiced what we all felt, that this appeared to be a family, no matter how dysfunctional looking. Accepting that he may garner a more violent reaction based upon his heritage, Temur held back while the remainder of the party slowly approached to barter. Sandrin made our presence and knowledge of their crimes known, while assuring them we were not a threat. Had there been but a single instrument it would have been like an epic of old sung as he walked. Surprisingly the ogre managed to string together enough speech to communicate. It seems that they felt as if they had been trading with the outpost, and upon further discussion we discovered that they had been leaving items in the stores for what they took. We confirmed later that they had left a number of braided ropes and tanned furs, each worth much more than the value of the goods they absconded with. We inquired into the fate of the two men before us, and the ogre, Gvarn, assured us he knew nothing of two men. Finally we came to the obvious question, why was an ogre herding a series of dwarven children. He informed us that he and his brothers had found them in a broken 'hole-house' where the other people in the 'hole-house' had gone mad and attacked one another. They had taken the dwarven children back to their encampment, but bird-women had attacked them and chased them off, with casualties in the process it sounded like. After a brief conference, Sandrin, Zivilyn, and myself agreed that we were better off trying to assist this family in freeing their home. We offered this deal to Gvarn, which he hesitantly accepted and agreed to show us the 'hole-house' afterwards. We assured him we could do this with the help of our Bird-Woman Crusher, so that we could finally reveal Temur with little additional concern. Sandrin had provided some rations to the malnourished children, who at this point had become a larger group of about six. After they were fed, Gvarn began to lead us to his home.

We traveled for the better part of the day, and approached the lowland mountains as night approached. As none of us were knowledgeable in the visionary capabilities of harpies, we felt it best not to risk an assault at dusk or night and made camp. At this point we came to learn that a second child was an adept, another spellcaster, this made one Shaman and one Elementalist among their number. It made for a much more potent shelter and filling meal that night. Passions bless us like this more often. The next morning we crept towards the ogre encampment to surprise the harpies. The perched upon a large hill and had yet to see us, we took advantage of the surprise and I masked us all in the mantle of avenging Ogres and we set upon them. As I prepared to unleash my new power, and then continued to prepare my comrades were upon them quickly. Zivilyn brought one harpy down with the spirit of a cat, which was promptly charged by the spirit of Ayanga bearing Temur. Sandrin leapt forward loosing his daggers into the harpies, the causing it to quickly dance back to his hands. I finally unleashed my new training after the fight seemed very well in hand, and I may need to practice some more. It had some effect, but not convincingly enough to mistake me for a Wizard as promised. The morale of the beasts finally broke we had won, but my companions felt it was better we not leave their possible return to chance and finished them as they fled. Gvarn and the children were happy and thanked us, we attempted to use this positive attitude to find out more about the children, but as before Gvarn had to translate everything to them. While we all felt that these children should return to Namegiver society, they are in no state to do so now, and to force them would be a greater tragedy. The truth is they are best off with Gvarn for now, and we confirmed that he and the children would still trade with the outpost.

Finally on our way back Gvarn showed us to the broken kaer of 'House-hole'. He pointed us to it and left us to approach as he did not feel comfortable in approaching such a terrible place. We crept towards the kaer and were surprised to see what looked like a vanguard of Ogres. These did not seem to be of the friendly variety like Gvarn, and looked much more nourished and healthy to boot. We quickly identified that we did not possess the optimal skillset to defeat these guards, let alone breach the kaer and confront whatever thing inside that is powerful enough to command such a retinue. Besides, at this point we had been gone long enough that if we did not return soon our employer would begin to fear we had perished as well. We confirmed the goods that were left in exchange and advised him of future trading parties that may approach. This creek may not be a might river, but the current of Namegiver spirit flows through it from all sides. I have a feeling this will not be my last expedition though here, and I look forward to seeing how this outpost grows like hatchling.

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