AAR: [9H] Scout's Honor 2020-12-13 2359 GMT

[sigfriedmcwild]

From "The Skies of Barsaive", as penned by Norg, Brother of Earth and Sky, Corsair of Throal

I was on the Hamsa Vimana, Captain Suprya's ship, trying to convince the captain to join me in asking the court to support a privateer program. She was not convinced yet when we stopped to pick up Zivilyn, LaShana, Azurea, and Moe.

The next stop was to pick up a scouting party in the Mist Swamp. After a day of waiting at the meeting location with no sign of the would be passengers but many sightings of drakkars flying in the distance, Suprya asked me and the others if we could go investigate the situation and find the two Scouts, Bhumani Tandon (a troll) and Arak Ghan (an ork).

I jumped off the ship while the others followed on Moe's flying carpets and we landed in the Mist Swamp, which at first impression could have been more accurately called "steam bath swamps", I wonder if Azurea was getting ideas for her spa. We started looking around trying to find any clues and LaShana spotted signs of fighting who Moe and Zivilyn thought were two or three days old. No signs of namegiver blood, but definitely namegivers involved.

Zivilyn set Howler, who apparently thought the namegivers were hurt and possibly poisoned, to track them and we slowly made our way deeper into the soupy swamps, trying not to alert everything around us. After a few hours, Howler stepped on a leech who ended up being quite cross with us. Being that it was over twenty feet long, we actually had to care about its feelings especially when it managed to actually swallow me. Being in the gullet of a leech was a novel experience, but not one I feel a need to repeat. If you ever find yourself in the same situation be aware that there is some urgency as their digestive fluids are rather powerful, and they were actually doing some damage to Rune-Carver Citadel.

The leech was taken down without too much trouble and Moe helped cut me out, no sooner we were done with that than two more popped out of the brackish water and swallowed both of us, at this point I was rather aggravated and discovered that you can in fact rip your way out with some old fashioned elbow grease.

Once we were done with the impromptu leeching party we moved on, after checking the corpses for any namegiver remains just in case and heating a snack provided by Zivilyn. The rest of the day went by mostly uneventfully, we saw a herd of jacoti stampede ahead of us and LaShana and Zvilyn thought there may be a couple of people keeping an eye on us or following the scouts. Azurea also felt someone watching us during the night.

The next morning we reached what looked like a camp site, there was some blood which looked fresher. Zivilyn and Moe thought this was where the scouts got captured. We continue following the tracks and after a couple of hours we found two very new looking "statues" one of an ork and one of a troll, both apparently in agony amid more signs of struggle. A quick check of the statues suggested that they were not our quarry petrified, but possibly some unfortunate laborers. Azurea "asked the earth" and was told the statues were just a day old and were alive before, and something about a bond being broken.

We kept going, with more signs of struggle and still someone following us, eventually Azurea called them out and they seemed to leave. A couple of hours later, the fog was getting really thick, when a voice called out to us. Moe says they speak Theran and think we're spy. We see a human Warrior, LaShana spots a windling further back, near what could be the scouts and two laborers that may be turning to stone.

After some discussion, they demand that we let them interrogate the scouts for three days, which we do not think is a reasonable request and our discussion stalls. LaShana notices a badge on the human, which Moe thinks is the insignia of a Theran group called the Veil, when Moe asks them about their allegiance they attack.

Shockinglt there were more of them hidden in the grass, we're pelted with arrows as I murder the warrior and then we slowly get rid of the others. One of the archers surrenders and we start piecing together what happened: the scouts were attacked by crocodiles and fled into the swamp, ran into the Therans and a snake headed woman with orichalcum eyes. Healing the laborers, actually slaves, seems to counter the petrification.

From the surrendered archer we gather that they were a cell of the Veil that was stranded during the scourge, once back to Throal we turn her in to the Eye