An extravagant white leather bound journal contains several chapters detailing Calina Ravanqnerosicor’s journeys. It is written in a rich blue ink and the pages have a gold trim. It is written in Sperethiel.
While I was researching more information on the history of Vorst, a strange opportunity came my way. A page of human origin came looking for me. At first, I thought he was sent by my parents. Given my success as an Adept, I was hopeful that they would invite me back into the Ravanqnerosicor family, but this hope was quickly destroyed when he identified himself as a representative of the Throalic government. He invited me to a meeting with several other Adepts. To my surprise, the subject of my study was also present for whatever task was to be issued. I kept a close eye on him, taking notes and recording possible thoughts on what was going on in his head. While the topic of the summons snuck by me, I was able to witness a little of the subject's preparation. The other Adepts asked me to do some research into where we were going. Brazza's Kingdom had been visited a couple times by other Adepts who had run across several creatures and horrors that I would not want to ever see in my lifetime. The first creature was an Mindslug of some sort. I found many other things, but what was interesting was that Taras, upon hearing about the first thing, did his own investigation. I'm fairly certain that he was completely wrong, but according to his research, the Mindslug enters the body of its victims either through the ear or the anus, but watching him stumble through book after book looking hastily for an answer before buying a helmet that covered his ears and reinforced anal protection drew a small chuckle. I was not able to do much of the research myself because of these observations.
We headed off in the direction of a camp or some location in which a prospector was reported to be. After catching a glimpse of the map, it did not take much to determine that the map was complete garbage. After memorizing what little information was accurate from it, I crumpled it up and shoved it in my bag. I pointed our Party in the proper direction, and continued to observe the Subject. Subject was determine to cover the rear, likely eager to maintain a quick retreat if things went unsuccessfully. Eventually we found a cave entrance, and the Subject continued to keep distance behind the rest of the party. This tactic did work in his favor. Soon after entering the cave, black metallic webbing popped up, separating the party. While Strats and Vallone seemed to be able to move around just fine, I decided to stay put. Despite the appearance of the web, it did provide a certain level of comfort knowing that if anything wanted to attack me, they would have difficulties getting through the webbing just to get to me. I didn't like not having a way out, but the thing that threw the webbing around me was actually more of a gentleman than some of the people I have met, the Subject of my study included. I asked the spider-like creature to allow me to the exit, and it obliged, continuing its fight with the rest of the party. The Subject was not near enough to be observed, although I could hear that he was dealing with nearly 30 cadaver men. One such cadaver man found its way to us, but Strats and Vallone were able to take care of it in short time. It was a shame that I was unable to visually observe the Subject's fight. It would have been impressive to witness. When the webbing finally fell apart, Strats went looking for the Jehuthra, who had retreated from the fight. I elected to go investigate the Subject, who seemed to be completely untouched. If it were not for him informing us of what he was doing, I would have guessed that he was just hiding out around the corner until the fight was over. The creatures he fought were complete dust.
The Subject got in an argument with Strats. Strats wanted to hunt down the Jehuthra, but the Subject wanted to guard the entrance to prevent its escape. It was a single point of entry and the only way out as far as we knew. It made sense: we would be able to deal with the Jehuthra without risking exposure to other creatures or horrors, except that there was no guarantee that this was the only exit. Furthermore, the Jehuthra was weakened from the fight. With a little convincing, the Subject was willing to track the Jehuthra. We followed it deeper into the cave... or were they mines? There was definitely a transition between the two somewhere along the way. Anyway, we found a shaft that was likely an air vent of some sort. We didn't find our way to Brazza's Kingdom. The Subject was able to kill the Jehuthra before we got that far, shooting two bolts into its a... abdomen. It fell to its death.
My conclusion on these observations is that the Subject is paranoid and overly concerned with his own safety. He does not seem to be very observant of individuals that he knows. His concern for his allies' safety is questionable, but he does what he can to assist, if only from a safe distance and with a clear escape route. He allows his teammates to act as bait so that he can line up high damage shots on weak points before the enemy realizes his presence. In summary, he is the epitome of dishonorable tactics, placing victory before honor. This tactic has worked heavily in favor of the small units I have witnessed him as part of, and now has proven effective against large numbers of cadaver men.
Unrelated to the observations, I did make it out of this little journey without damaging my clothes! I don't think it is related to the Subject's presence.
AAR: [3M] Gateway to the Mountain Kingdom. (2021-01-02 @ 1800 gmt)
Moderator:etherial
Last edited by predajey on Sat Jan 02, 2021 11:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: AAR: [3M] Gateway to the Mountain Kingdom. (2021-1-2 @ 1800 gmt)
<Throalic year equivalent to Jan 2, 2021>
Went for a walk. A dwarf asked me to come to a meeting. Went. Listened. There were some adepts there I knew. Said hello. They said they were going to look for a dwarf prospector bringing based cursed items to the markets in Throal. Said OK.
We walked toward the prospector's strike. There were bears. I threw apples. We walked around.
We got to the prospectors lean to. Kept watch.
We went to a cave. The dwarf was turned into a half spider Jehuthra. Punched him. He ran.
Followed him down some air shafts. One of the others shot him. Moved rocks to block the shafts.
Walked back to Throal.
- Strata
Went for a walk. A dwarf asked me to come to a meeting. Went. Listened. There were some adepts there I knew. Said hello. They said they were going to look for a dwarf prospector bringing based cursed items to the markets in Throal. Said OK.
We walked toward the prospector's strike. There were bears. I threw apples. We walked around.
We got to the prospectors lean to. Kept watch.
We went to a cave. The dwarf was turned into a half spider Jehuthra. Punched him. He ran.
Followed him down some air shafts. One of the others shot him. Moved rocks to block the shafts.
Walked back to Throal.
- Strata
-
Sharkforce
- Posts:527
- Joined:Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:39 am
Re: AAR: [3M] Gateway to the Mountain Kingdom. (2021-1-2 @ 1800 gmt)
Orlam Rolfsom, Journal Entry # 7: Gateway to the Mountain Kingdom
I was invited by a page to meet with one Aigror Longhand, Assistant Undersecretary of Operations for His Majesty's Expeditionary Force. Not quite hero status, I should think, but certainly a step up from "Incomprehensibly incompetent farmer" as an employer. It seems a prospector named Dranan Brewmaul has been bringing back cursed treasures that the Expeditionary Force has reason to believe are from Braza's Kingdom. Obviously, this is a rather significant source of concern; Braza's Kingdom was abandoned due to it becoming infested by all manner of horrid creatures centuries ago, and naturally everyone would like it if those foul things all stayed in their hole. Signs pointed to his claim having an entrance of sorts to the place, and Undersecretary Longhand wanted us to go and investigate, close the hole if possible, and bring back sufficient information to be able to close it off otherwise.
I did say "us" there, didn't I? Naturally I was one of the team, but I'm scarcely ready to handle an expedition to such a potentially dangerous place on my own. Strata, Taras, Calina, and Vallone comprised the remainder of the expedition. Calina indicated that she had some preparations she wanted to make, as did Taras, so we delayed for a bit. Taras showed up the next day with his helmet modified to specially block his ears in case of some dangerous slugs that crawl into them (the rest of us would settle for wax plugs), and Calina we had to track down to the library and insist on leaving or I think she might have spent a whole week there, if not more.
We encountered some great bears along the way. Much like my prior outing, what appeared to be a mother and her cubs, though we kept our distance so I'm not fully sure how many. It looked like at least two cubs, in any event. We kept our distance, went around, and Strata threw some apples in their direction to keep them distracted from us, and were not mauled. Perhaps a beastmaster should take a trip up this way and encourage the bears to move elsewhere, as they were not very distant from the Salt Cellar, and it would be ultimately quite bad for both the people and the bears if someone got hurt.
We arrived at the prospectors camp more by deduction than by reason of the quality of his map (it stumped pretty much all of us save Calina), and set about inspecting it. Signs were that it had been abandoned for quite some time, at least a few weeks, and Taras found a trail leading off to the north that looked a bit more recent, which we followed.
It seems Dranan must have found an old pre-scourge mine to do his prospecting from. His camp was inside the mine area (I guess some people just can't get enough of living in caves, though I for one am more than happy to live without a crushing weight of stone over my head). There were a variety of items around that looked to be ancient; a couple of cleaning brooms, assorted magical pottery, that sort of thing. We were somewhat hesitant to handle them too much, since it seemed rather improbable that a prospector would be buying such things and we knew for a fact that he was bringing back cursed objects. Probably a good thing too, since shortly after we found him and he seemed to be most of the way through the process of warping into a jehuthra, which I think we can all agree is too high a price to pay for a clean floor. There was also a sack half full of gold dust, so apparently his regular prospecting wasn't going too poorly either.
I do not like Jehuthra. It wrapped us in a web of sharp edges that slashed at us when we moved through it, then froze some of us in place while biting and clawing at us. Nasty business, for sure. Calina somehow seems to have fooled it into leaving her be (a useful trick which I should like to learn as well), which was good as we were all separated and I fear what would have happened to her had she been its target. It took a swing at me once, but couldn't get a claw past my guard; Strata and Vallone were not so lucky, as they got frozen in place by its foul tricks. I tried to free Vallone to no avail; Strata struggled a bit, but being of somewhat sterner stuff than either the Windling or I broke free after a bit, got to the center of the monster's maze, and struck it a mighty blow that left it badly wounded so that it ran away. I will say that I am quite pleased with the blow to its ego that we delivered, and it spent nearly the entire time with a pair of its legs twisted up in my Ice Mace and Chain, otherwise that might have gone much more poorly. Would that it had struck a little harder though, as the thing seemed nearly dead when my last one entwined its legs, undoubtedly causing it some frustration but ultimately not killing it.
Still, it had left us with a cadaverman to trouble us (likely some local trapper or similar) and got away temporarily as a result. We gathered together after the web finally rusted away to nothingness, regrouped (Taras had been left out of the web, but with no way to reach us, as he was guarding the rear), and tracked it back further into the mines to quite some distance. It seems highly improbable that a lone prospector had dug all this out, so it was probably all pre-scourge in origin. Perhaps it could be of some use to the Kingdom of Throal as an outpost or something, but I do not care for the place much, myself, as it lacked even the limited comforts of Throal's halls. In time, we came to a very old-looking table with some surprisingly new-looking ropes sitting on it, and a shaft leading downward nearby with a hook to attach the rope onto. Taras indicated that the tracks led into that shaft, and so down we went into it as well. several layers deep (each shaft would go for around a hundred feet, then to a small platform and another shaft; perhaps when the mine was active they had some manner of lifts or something along those lines to get up and down), and on the last layer we explored we found a hole that looked to have been breached through kaer wards or similar.
Taras, thinking quickly (and being in the lead at this time, as our most skilled climber and Scout) extinguished his light and leaned out over another shaft, and spotted our prey climbing down, outlined against the bottom. He fired once, and it fell shrieking until it crashed into the ground, and then fired a few more shots. Unsurprisingly, he seemed disinclined to go retrieve his bolts, since signs indicated we had found our entrance to the depths of Braza's Kingdom, an old air shaft with broken wards. We could not seal it up properly, but we spent a couple of days dumping what rocks and other fill we could find into the shafts to stop them up as a temporary solution, then headed back to Throal were we informed Undersecretary Aigror of the situation, and recommended perhaps that either a large crew or a more powerful Elementalist should go to seal it up properly, and they should bring someone who could put in place new kaer wards as well if at all possible. Taras I think would've liked to have also done a lot more, but there were only a few of us. When I jokingly suggested digging a channel to Death's Sea and flooding the entire complex with lava, he actually got a thoughtful look in his eye. More usefully, he also insisted (and I agree) that we should check around for other possible openings, just to be certain that there weren't more than one. I think Calina may have put together a map of the mine complex, though I'm not certain.
Anyways, the rewards of working for people who actually know what they're doing was quite nice; I acquired a healing potion that I expect will come in handy some day, as well as a nice Light Quartz Lantern, since it seems I've been stuck delving into the earth rather more often than I'd like lately and my eyes don't pierce the darkness the way some do. I look forward to working with them again (though I wouldn't like to find out that there are dozens of holes into Braza's Kingdom that need plugging).
I was invited by a page to meet with one Aigror Longhand, Assistant Undersecretary of Operations for His Majesty's Expeditionary Force. Not quite hero status, I should think, but certainly a step up from "Incomprehensibly incompetent farmer" as an employer. It seems a prospector named Dranan Brewmaul has been bringing back cursed treasures that the Expeditionary Force has reason to believe are from Braza's Kingdom. Obviously, this is a rather significant source of concern; Braza's Kingdom was abandoned due to it becoming infested by all manner of horrid creatures centuries ago, and naturally everyone would like it if those foul things all stayed in their hole. Signs pointed to his claim having an entrance of sorts to the place, and Undersecretary Longhand wanted us to go and investigate, close the hole if possible, and bring back sufficient information to be able to close it off otherwise.
I did say "us" there, didn't I? Naturally I was one of the team, but I'm scarcely ready to handle an expedition to such a potentially dangerous place on my own. Strata, Taras, Calina, and Vallone comprised the remainder of the expedition. Calina indicated that she had some preparations she wanted to make, as did Taras, so we delayed for a bit. Taras showed up the next day with his helmet modified to specially block his ears in case of some dangerous slugs that crawl into them (the rest of us would settle for wax plugs), and Calina we had to track down to the library and insist on leaving or I think she might have spent a whole week there, if not more.
We encountered some great bears along the way. Much like my prior outing, what appeared to be a mother and her cubs, though we kept our distance so I'm not fully sure how many. It looked like at least two cubs, in any event. We kept our distance, went around, and Strata threw some apples in their direction to keep them distracted from us, and were not mauled. Perhaps a beastmaster should take a trip up this way and encourage the bears to move elsewhere, as they were not very distant from the Salt Cellar, and it would be ultimately quite bad for both the people and the bears if someone got hurt.
We arrived at the prospectors camp more by deduction than by reason of the quality of his map (it stumped pretty much all of us save Calina), and set about inspecting it. Signs were that it had been abandoned for quite some time, at least a few weeks, and Taras found a trail leading off to the north that looked a bit more recent, which we followed.
It seems Dranan must have found an old pre-scourge mine to do his prospecting from. His camp was inside the mine area (I guess some people just can't get enough of living in caves, though I for one am more than happy to live without a crushing weight of stone over my head). There were a variety of items around that looked to be ancient; a couple of cleaning brooms, assorted magical pottery, that sort of thing. We were somewhat hesitant to handle them too much, since it seemed rather improbable that a prospector would be buying such things and we knew for a fact that he was bringing back cursed objects. Probably a good thing too, since shortly after we found him and he seemed to be most of the way through the process of warping into a jehuthra, which I think we can all agree is too high a price to pay for a clean floor. There was also a sack half full of gold dust, so apparently his regular prospecting wasn't going too poorly either.
I do not like Jehuthra. It wrapped us in a web of sharp edges that slashed at us when we moved through it, then froze some of us in place while biting and clawing at us. Nasty business, for sure. Calina somehow seems to have fooled it into leaving her be (a useful trick which I should like to learn as well), which was good as we were all separated and I fear what would have happened to her had she been its target. It took a swing at me once, but couldn't get a claw past my guard; Strata and Vallone were not so lucky, as they got frozen in place by its foul tricks. I tried to free Vallone to no avail; Strata struggled a bit, but being of somewhat sterner stuff than either the Windling or I broke free after a bit, got to the center of the monster's maze, and struck it a mighty blow that left it badly wounded so that it ran away. I will say that I am quite pleased with the blow to its ego that we delivered, and it spent nearly the entire time with a pair of its legs twisted up in my Ice Mace and Chain, otherwise that might have gone much more poorly. Would that it had struck a little harder though, as the thing seemed nearly dead when my last one entwined its legs, undoubtedly causing it some frustration but ultimately not killing it.
Still, it had left us with a cadaverman to trouble us (likely some local trapper or similar) and got away temporarily as a result. We gathered together after the web finally rusted away to nothingness, regrouped (Taras had been left out of the web, but with no way to reach us, as he was guarding the rear), and tracked it back further into the mines to quite some distance. It seems highly improbable that a lone prospector had dug all this out, so it was probably all pre-scourge in origin. Perhaps it could be of some use to the Kingdom of Throal as an outpost or something, but I do not care for the place much, myself, as it lacked even the limited comforts of Throal's halls. In time, we came to a very old-looking table with some surprisingly new-looking ropes sitting on it, and a shaft leading downward nearby with a hook to attach the rope onto. Taras indicated that the tracks led into that shaft, and so down we went into it as well. several layers deep (each shaft would go for around a hundred feet, then to a small platform and another shaft; perhaps when the mine was active they had some manner of lifts or something along those lines to get up and down), and on the last layer we explored we found a hole that looked to have been breached through kaer wards or similar.
Taras, thinking quickly (and being in the lead at this time, as our most skilled climber and Scout) extinguished his light and leaned out over another shaft, and spotted our prey climbing down, outlined against the bottom. He fired once, and it fell shrieking until it crashed into the ground, and then fired a few more shots. Unsurprisingly, he seemed disinclined to go retrieve his bolts, since signs indicated we had found our entrance to the depths of Braza's Kingdom, an old air shaft with broken wards. We could not seal it up properly, but we spent a couple of days dumping what rocks and other fill we could find into the shafts to stop them up as a temporary solution, then headed back to Throal were we informed Undersecretary Aigror of the situation, and recommended perhaps that either a large crew or a more powerful Elementalist should go to seal it up properly, and they should bring someone who could put in place new kaer wards as well if at all possible. Taras I think would've liked to have also done a lot more, but there were only a few of us. When I jokingly suggested digging a channel to Death's Sea and flooding the entire complex with lava, he actually got a thoughtful look in his eye. More usefully, he also insisted (and I agree) that we should check around for other possible openings, just to be certain that there weren't more than one. I think Calina may have put together a map of the mine complex, though I'm not certain.
Anyways, the rewards of working for people who actually know what they're doing was quite nice; I acquired a healing potion that I expect will come in handy some day, as well as a nice Light Quartz Lantern, since it seems I've been stuck delving into the earth rather more often than I'd like lately and my eyes don't pierce the darkness the way some do. I look forward to working with them again (though I wouldn't like to find out that there are dozens of holes into Braza's Kingdom that need plugging).
Re: AAR: [3M] Gateway to the Mountain Kingdom. (2021-1-2 @ 1800 gmt)
Vallone's Journal:
It's time again to head for Throal to look for work. I hate to leave Sarell when she has been making such progress. She is speaking again...only to me, but it's something.
I found a job from actual Throal officials. Apparently some guy has been returning with cursed objects they think are from Brazza's Kingdom which would be a problem since it's supposed to be sealed up. They want us to find out how he is getting in and try to seal it.
We found some bears, but were able to very carefully move around them without upsetting them.
We found the cave entrance the man was using. Unfortunately we a dwarf spider thing. No not a small spider. Like a dwarf and a spider were squished together... and spit iron webs. It messed me up pretty good, then ran away. Taras was able to track it down and kill it, but that's getting ahead of myself.
We found some shafts that went down, three of them in fact. And a bunch of rope for the wingless to get down. It had to be like 100 yards down total. We tried to close it up by collapsing the tunnel. Not sure how well it worked, but we gave the employer the location so they can make sure it's closed for good.
It's time again to head for Throal to look for work. I hate to leave Sarell when she has been making such progress. She is speaking again...only to me, but it's something.
I found a job from actual Throal officials. Apparently some guy has been returning with cursed objects they think are from Brazza's Kingdom which would be a problem since it's supposed to be sealed up. They want us to find out how he is getting in and try to seal it.
We found some bears, but were able to very carefully move around them without upsetting them.
We found the cave entrance the man was using. Unfortunately we a dwarf spider thing. No not a small spider. Like a dwarf and a spider were squished together... and spit iron webs. It messed me up pretty good, then ran away. Taras was able to track it down and kill it, but that's getting ahead of myself.
We found some shafts that went down, three of them in fact. And a bunch of rope for the wingless to get down. It had to be like 100 yards down total. We tried to close it up by collapsing the tunnel. Not sure how well it worked, but we gave the employer the location so they can make sure it's closed for good.