AAR: [7M] Unlikely Danger (2020-11-08 23:59 GMT)

[Xzandrate]

LFG: [7M] Unlikely Danger
Time: 2020-11-08 @ 23:59 GMT
GM: Xzandrate
Difficulty: 6 Medium

Requesting Player: Bloodbeat

Rumor: Thaddeus Korbit, a human alchemist, has recently settled in Irondelve. He is looking to setup an alchemy shop. There’s a lot of work in establishing a new business, especially an apothecary shop. He has reached out to Bloodbeat for assistance.

Alternate Rewards: alchemy equipment, products, patterns

Note: Up to 5 players (7:00 PM Eastern)

Update (Nov7): Increased to 7M to generate player signup

[Anoush]

Name: Bloodbeat II of Syrtis

ECR: 6
Last game played: Requester
Discipline: Nethermancer 6
Quote: Tsch!  I hate birds!!
Unique/Notable Abilities: Experience Death, Friendly Darkness, Frighten, Last Chance, Soul Armor, Spirit Talk, Summon Ally Spirits, Viewpoint
Downtime: n/a

[sigfriedmcwild]

Name: Elisen
ECR: 7 (70980lp)
Last played on: 2020-11-06
Discipline: Cavalryman 6 / Troubadour 5
Quote/Unique: Deliverance flies on silent wind
Notable Abilities: Inspiring Sparkly Zoak power! (and a last chance salve)
Downtime: Animal training step 14 (10 + karma), Item History 18 (rank 5; 10 + 2 karma), Research 18 (rank 5; 10 + 2 karma)

[bronzemountain]

Name: Juniper
ECL: 6
Discipline: Shadow
Quote/Unique: "Power to the people!"
Notable Abilities: Streetwise, Looks good naked, people person
Downtime: Drugs, poetry slams, volunteering, romantic entanglements
Last Game Played: 2020-10-28

[Lashana]

Name: LaShana
Last played on: 2020-11-06
ECR: 8 (171315)
Discipline: Thief 8
Quote/Unique: Well that was....interesting/fun/unique!! Can we do it again?
Notable Abilities: Enthusiasm and an ability to fumble/stumble into trouble. Can also open...and close....doors - possibly even if they are locked....and a wicked bow
Downtime: none

[Sharkforce]

Name: Zivilyn
ECR: 8
Last Played: Nov 6
Discipline: Shaman/Wizard/Elementalist 8/7/6. also Nethermancer 0?
Notable Abilities: Spells, a little bit of everything at this point. Good with animals. Only *mostly* incompetent at social stuff.
Downtime: Downtime: Animal Training (Talent) - Step 19 including karma (Rank 9) (can train up to 9 commands total, or improve non-combat skills by +1 per command used on it)
Research - Step 24 including karma (Rank 5). +3 to the step is available at a cost of 20 sp for access to the Great Library of Throal.
Item History - Step 17 including karma (Rank 6)

*deploys the puppydog eyes*

(but, uhh... don't bump the people who got into the original 6M LFG for me. that would be silly)

[verse86]

Name: Thorkell Gulbrandsen
Date of Last Game Played: 11/5/2020 Little Shop of Horrors (As Vallone)
ECR: 8
Discipline: Weaponsmith 8/Warrior 1
Unique: Thorkell brings the downtime activities. Besides that he is a perceptive and tanky troll.
Downtime:
[Craftsman] Rank 8 / 23 can make mundane items, weapons, and armor
[Efficient Forge Weapon] Rank 10 / 21 (+2 if metal) (can forge rank weapons at once)
[Forge Armor] Rank 10 / 21 (+2 if metal)
[Item History] Rank 4 / 19
[Research] Rank 6 / 17
[Design Enchanting Pattern] Rank 9 / 24
[Craft True Pattern] Rank 9 / 24 (+2 if metal)

[Anoush]

Joining Bloodbeat on a trip to Irondelve are Elisen, Juniper, Zvilyn and Thorkell.

[Xzandrate]

AAR: Unlikely Danger
GM: Xzandrate
ECR: 6
Difficulty: Medium

Player Rewards:
Bloodbeat: 13,00 LP, 275 SP, 3 TIPs, Alchemy Lab
Elisen: 13000 LP 775 SP 3 TIP
Juniper: 13,000 LP, 475 SP, 3 TIPs, Last Chance Salve
Zivilyn: 13,000 LP, 775 SP, 3 TIPs
Thorkell: 13000 lp, 675 sp, 3 TIPs 2 Absorb Blow Charms

Alternate Rewards: Alchemy equipment, alchemical goods(blood charms/consumables), alchemical reagents, alchemical patterns

Journal Reward: +650 LP, +193.8 SP

GM Reward: Patrique Caduceure - 200 LP 150 SP 3 TIPS

Downtime:
Elisen:
Animal training step 14 (10 + karma)
Item History 18 (rank 5; 10 + 2 karma)
Research 18 (rank 5; 10 + 2 karma)

Zivilyn:
Animal Training (Talent) - Step 19 including karma (Rank 9) (can train up to 9 commands total, or improve non-combat skills by +1 per command used on it)
Research - Step 24 including karma (Rank 5). +3 to the step is available at a cost of 20 sp for access to the Great Library of Throal.
Item History - Step 17 including karma (Rank 6)

Thorkell:
[Craftsman] Rank 8 / 23 can make mundane items, weapons, and armor
[Efficient Forge Weapon] Rank 10 / 21 (+2 if metal) (can forge rank weapons at once)
[Forge Armor] Rank 10 / 21 (+2 if metal)
[Item History] Rank 4 / 19
[Research] Rank 6 / 17
[Design Enchanting Pattern] Rank 9 / 24
[Craft True Pattern] Rank 9 / 24 (+2 if metal)

Summary: The players ventured through the Servos to collect reagents and try and help Thaddeus assuage what he believed was the Irondelve "Alchemical Mafia".

[Sharkforce]

From the Journal of Zivilyn, Windling Magician: Unlikely Danger

It always feels nice to make new friends. I mean, I wouldn't necessarily call them all friends yet, but hey, gotta start somewhere, right? Bloodbeat, one of the Nethermancers I'd previously been unable to get in touch with, (although she did speak at Nib's memorial service, which was quite nice) was looking for assistance with a matter in Irondelve, and it was definitely looking like a wonderful opportunity to strengthen the connection between Irondelve and Skyreader Island, plus potentially a chance to find a teacher for Nethermancy which had thus far evaded me (reading extremely advanced books about Nethermancy has certainly been *interesting*, but I'm not certain I would call it the best place to start from).

So, naturally, I gathered Haze and Howler and made myself available, which is when I met the rest of the group she had assembled... well, I mean, I've met Thorkell before once or twice, but Juniper (a Shadow and Questor of Lochost) and Elisen (a fellow Windling who is also a Cavalryman and Troubadour) were new to me, as were Elisen's companions; Isidoros, a great dyre, Teh, a clever kue, and Jacint, a swift and loyal Zoak. It seems Bloodbeat was in search of an alchemy shop she could gain access to, and Thaddeus was an alchemist who was moving to Irondelve and was concerned about potential hostility from the locals, something about other alchemists dying in the area under suspicious circumstances.

I mentioned that at least some of the alchemists he was concerned about having potentially been killed by the "alchemist mafia" (note to self: look up what that even means) were definitely not caused by any alchemists (I was with the expedition that found whatsisname Pryck, for example) but Thaddeus was quite insistent. Well, far be it from me to prevent someone from handing me silver, I guess; nobody can say I tricked him into it. Anyways, he had three things he wanted us to acquire; gems from some unusual demiwraiths to the south (they probably needed dealing with anyways), strange glowing worms of the variety made into various eye-related blood charms (you know, the kind that eat your eye and replace it) found in a cave on the Galanga River, and some unspecified ingredient that we were to go almost to Lake Ban to discuss with an alchemist acquaintance of his, Alekema, in order to learn about it.

The trip to Lake Ban was uneventful, as river trips usually are. The most exciting moment was when I stopped by Skyreader Island to stock up on pastries (exciting, but not exactly the dangerous sort of excitement... usually). We reached a small fishing village called Ba'tosh, and headed towards where the locals indicated the alchemist was. She was very friendly, and only seemed to feel the need for one name, like a reasonable person. We shared stories, and as I picked up on her interest in alchemy-related subjects I talked about the other Pryck (the Troll one) who had been making interesting blood charms from the sap of a special tree in the Servos.

It turns out that the special ingredient we were collecting as a gift to keep the other alchemist from supposedly intending to murder Thaddeus were passiflora flowers, which Alekema indicated were used in the baths around Lake Ban. Alchemist... Irondelve... bath supplies... It was around this point that I began to suspect that the "alchemist mafia" was Azurea. If Thaddeus was more forthcoming with information, we could have saved him a lot of worry. Anyways, we went north to where the demiwraiths were. They were infused with lightning, which seemed to arbitrarily range from inconsequential to "Oh, I do believe my leg is still twitching from yesterday". It's a good thing I spend so much time around non-murderous spirits that are not consumed with hatred or I might wind up hating spirits as much as Azurea.

Anyways, from there we travelled to the Galanga and followed it into the Servos until we found the cave. Go figure, it was underwater, and Elisen and I (and also Jacint) were having none of it. Well, what's the point in knowing all kinds of spells if you aren't going to use them? We used my Earth Q'wril spell to simply burrow through the earth to the cave, which turned out to be very non-threatening as a refreshing change. Bloodbeat did most of the harvesting of the glowing grubs, and we headed off into the jungle in search of the flowers which were in a grotto somewhere. Turns out, none of us are what you might describe as "remotely skilled at navigating", and now I remember why I wanted to learn about that. Fortunately, we didn't wander around *too* much before we chanced across the place we were looking for.

As it happens, there was a small tribe of velos about. We were attempting to slip past the things we could sense around the area under cover of a Friendly Darkness spell provided by Bloodbeat, but they were very insistent. Or at least, they were until a few of them got knocked out and a few more of them got shrieked into submission by Haze. I have a feeling that the next time they see a moving field of darkness, they will give it a wider berth, because it looked like a very unpleasant experience for them. We gathered the flowers and returned to Irondelve and, sure enough, the "deadly alchemist" was indeed Azurea. I mean, she *is* deadly, of course, but she's not likely to assassinate people just for crossing her path or anything (in spite of my jokes about her spa being a place where you go to be drowned and then stabbed).

Also of note, while we were travelling I dropped a few crumbs from the books I have stuck in my head from the Outcast and Bloodbeat was definitely interested. She was actually extremely receptive to my interest in Nethermancy in general, so it may not have even been necessary, but I'm more than happy to share it with someone who, you know, might actually understand what it even means. Between this and the stuff I was able to get onto paper while I stayed in the middle of the Scythan Mountains, it seems that I may have one of the better libraries on some aspects of Nethermancy in all of Barsaive, which is certainly unusual for someone who is just barely a novice.