AAR: [EVENT] River City Ransom (2021-01-30 1900 GMT)

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Montaugh
Posts:203
Joined:Thu Dec 19, 2019 1:49 pm
Re: LFG: [EVENT] River City Ransom (2021-01-30 1900 GMT)

Post by Montaugh » Sat Feb 06, 2021 12:58 am

My name is William Carver. I am an 11th circle Scout, 7th circle Thief, 6th Circle Cavalryman, and 5 rank on the path of the Journeyman.

I was asked to join a group of adepts to deal with a large problem that was facing our world. A large boulder had fallen from the sky and giant hydras emerged from with it. These things were laying waste to the city and devouring people even as we fought to arrive. The people were in panic and slowed our charge towards the docks. There were three hydras attacking and eating the people.

Dubhan, Zil, Daldorer, Karl, Xevious, and myself arrived and engaged the hydras. Xevious charged the hydras and was quickly entangled in its jaws, then things went down hill from there for a while. One of the hydras hit us with an aura of fear so powerful that I nearly soiled my pants, it was nice that no one noticed because the next Hydra set our gear and clothing on fire, it wasn't long before most of us were naked and fighting the hydras. Karl and his bear Reuben. I attacked the one that had Xevious, Karl and Rueben attacked another hydra and the third was engaged soon after.

It was a hard battle we were lucky that the hydra that breathed fire never got another chance to get another breath off. That one had hurt charlie and I badly. We did not have much time to celebrate our victory as we were needed elsewhere.

In the next action we were broken up into groups to attack various towers that were trying to reopen the way for the horrors into our lives. Or at least that is what it seems that they were trying to do. There were a number of creatures, flocks of ravens, Giant poisonous spider like creatures, bone horrors and something that called itself Hate or hatred.. something like that. Xevious once more engaged the creatures, I tried to attack the hate thing but my blows just slid off of its armor. I then turned my attention towards the spider like creatures breaking their fangs so that they could not poison us. The others worked on killing the creatures and then we focused and took down the tower.

It was an exhausting day. I think Charlie and I need to really work on our bonds...

William Carver

rosinavs
Posts:119
Joined:Tue Nov 28, 2017 3:35 pm

Re: LFG: [EVENT] River City Ransom (2021-01-30 1900 GMT)

Post by rosinavs » Sat Feb 06, 2021 1:25 am

[Letter translated from the original Trollish from Nergae Hilldigger, 3rd Circle Beastmaster Dwarf, to her adopted father Malak Wonjin, non-Adept Troll, innkeeper in Sosonopa.]

Hi Dad,

Yeah, I know, you're worried about me, but it's super important that I help stop The Scourge from killing everybody and, y'know, maybe you.

So, I'm here at the camp, and I'm spending most of my time just hanging out with my pets, getting to know the other adepts and such. It's pretty boring. Especially because I am not gambling, like your good kid, and

Oh shit, dad, they attacked with a flying citadel! I went to go help citizens of the town get to a Questor of Garlen as they crawled out of the river and collapsed, and attacked the undead that were trying (and sometimes succeeding) to eat the citizens. I carried a kid to the Questor, and then saved Dumpling from the undead who were eating him. By the time we had a minute to catch a breath, we could see hydras attacking the town and the flying citadel was sinking slowly as it flew off, but giant pillars erupted from the ground around the town.

My battle squad went to attack the Pillar of Gluttony. It had these critters that would eat people and then carry them to the pillar where they would puke up the people and a maw would eat them. Dumpling almost got eaten by a critter. That maw was super creepy! Then one of the critters tried to eat me, but I clawed it up good and the illusionist killed it. After killing some other critters finally I attacked the maw and the maw puked all over me. It was so gross! Red the Warrior finally killed the maw, and we put our climbing chains together and pulled the pillar down. I will not tell you where I cleaned puke out of, but there was a pub nearby. We went and had a drink until news came in of other pillars falling.

Dad, I know this was dangerous, and you would prefer that I not get hurt or killed, but remember how I got burnt cooking pasta during that year you were snowing me that you couldn't find good enough help? Yeah, I love you Dad, but I am a) not going to sit on my butt the rest of my life because you are scared and b) no, I won't come home for at least as long as you kept me there lying to me about needing me. I am going to do this adventuring life for a while. I will come home whenh I am less mad at you. You are just going to have to fall back on the memories of the past year and the letters I send you WHEN I FEEL LIKE IT.

Love,

Nergae

Anoush
Posts:160
Joined:Wed Feb 22, 2017 10:53 pm

Bloodbeat's Journal

Post by Anoush » Thu Feb 11, 2021 5:11 pm

Throal was in chaos. The city guard and the militia were calling for all adepts — ALL — to join the fight. Kampung Gajah was under attack. A flying, horror-possessed stone citadel had been spotted heading there, plus gargoyle and undead, both in the air and on land, and someone Named the Queen of Ravens was also there with her forces. The citadel had first been spotted about two days ago by the town of Deville, east of the Throal Mountains.

Rumor was the attack originated from a cult known as The Scourge, founded about two, three years ago. Their main goal was to frighten people to retreat back into their kaers so that the world can be purged. All I could think was: this had to do with those Horror-benighted crystal pillars. That was the only thing that stood out in my mind over the previous few months. So, I grabbed my gear and joined the Throalic forces.

Two airships flew us and gear to Kampung Gajah. They grouped us into teams, and gave each team a mission. The overall leader of the Throalic forces was Berat Shaylkrog, a dwarf. The attack was already underway: boulders, then birds were being thrown into the Coil River. The boulders had doors on them! From one boulder, I saw the door open and first one draconic head, then another, and another appeared. Hydras! Hordes of undead were approaching on foot from the west.

On my first team there were some adepts that I knew — Thorkell (troll Weaponsmith), Vralino (ork Swordmaster and Elementalist) and Zivilyn (windling Magician) — plus a few who I met for the first time — Norg (troll Gauntlet), Sandrin (elf Air Sailor) and Vlolkir (troll Sky Raider). Our task was to attack the citadel, destroying or detering it with incendiary bombs. We Named Sandrin our leader.

We boarded an airship and flew directly towards the citadel. When we got close enough to make out details, we saw three groups of attackers approach. Each group consisted of gargoyles and a type of undead known as Storm Hags. In addition, a leader was directing the groups, a swordmaster riding a cadaverous wyvern.

We began with ranged attacks, which worked moderately well. We closed, engaging with the flying attackers, and we did serious damage to them. But then their tactics changed; instead of continuing to fight, then began moving on past us toward Kampung Gajah. All along from somewhere in the citadel, boulders had been catapulting out, whizzing past us. Then one struck our airship. Several of us were knocked down, and the airship was losing altitude. It was going down, into the river.

We maneuvered the airship for a single bombing run over the citadel, released all the incendiaries we had, and leaped off the ship into the Coil River, just as the airship itself crashed into the water.

The Throalic forces regrouped in Kampung Gajah. Reports came in that all the storm hags were dead, and that good progress had been made on all fronts. Then, everyone with any astral sensitivity felt a wave of dread wash over us. And everyone heard the evil caw of a crow. Why must it always be birds?! A large object appeared in the sky, and suddenly four crystal pillars erupted in the town of Kampung Gajah. The town was being attacked on all side, nearly engulfed by evil creatures.

The townsfolk were dumbstruck, and looked to us — the adepts — for leadership. After a moment of shock, many of my charismatic allies began organizing the resistance. Our first priority was to get the townsfolk to safety, some by airship, some by boat, and some into the nearby woods. We knew a huge battle was coming soon.

Then we formed new groups, each to battle one of the pillars. My team was small, but I knew everyone to be strong, trustworthy adepts: Thorkell (troll Weaponsmith), Vlolkir (troll Sky Raider), and Zivilyn (windling Magician). An airship dropped us off on the bank of the Coil, near the docks. Vlolkir was our leader.

The first thing we noticed were lots of groups of crows, flying and cawing everywhere. Then we spied a Death’s Sea Espagra, along with gargoyles, ready to pounce on the roof of a nearby building. Vlolkir scouted ahead and found the pillar, barely a block away: the Pillar of Wrath.

They caught us flat-footed, out of position. Somehow, I was too far forward and took the brunt of an Espagra’s attack. I silently thanked Thorkell for my Weaponsmith training as my blood boiled and I restored myself.

There were waves of ravens everywhere. Several of the espagra and more of the gargoyles were attacking. We finally beat them back, but it was tough. Then we had to deal with the pillar.

The pillar was blood red. We’d already been feeling its effects. Anyone who came near it felt an urge to kill everything in sight, total aggression. Our spells had no effect. But we continued as Vlolkir and Thorkell whacked it hard, again and again, until finally it shattered into small red shards.

We regrouped with our allies and found that the other teams had also been successful. The Queen of Ravens was very weak, but still fighting on. When she finally went down, there was a bright flash of green light that illuminated the entire town. Finally, the undead, espagra and gargoyles were all destroyed, and the pillars broken into tiny pieces. What a day!

sigfriedmcwild
Posts:335
Joined:Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:59 am

Re: AAR: [EVENT] River City Ransom (2021-01-30 1900 GMT)

Post by sigfriedmcwild » Fri Feb 12, 2021 11:53 pm

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

Finally the wait was over, scouts had spotted the Scourge flying citadel heading towards Kampung Gajah and it was now time to rally to stop the cult once and for all. Many adepts quickly gathered at the town, just in time for the enemy arrival.

The list of the brave namegivers that fought that day is long and may be incomplete:
Arphen
Barag
Dale
Nergae
R'edtarian
Amhran
Bloodbeat
Vralino
Zivilyn
Thorkell
Vlolkir
Sandrin
Karl
Zil
Daldorer
Xeviouz
Dubhan
William

It was good to see both so many familiar faces and new ones rallying against this threat. Benneth Shalecraig was in charge of coordinating our efforts and was about half way through explaining the situation when a massive rock was dropped in the Coil from the citadel. On one side was a carved door from which hydras started emerging. At the same time lookouts reported a large number of undead approaching from the mountains.

We quickly split to deal with the threats: Karl, Dalodorer, Zil, Xeviouz, Dubhan, and William charged the hydra, the new faces moved to intercept the undead horde, and the rest of us took the Arngeir to take the fight to the citadel.

It seems the Scourge had learnt from out previous engagement and they now had gargoyles screening their air elementals so that our cannon fire would not be as effective. Still we flew right into the horror cloud and fought through it. Shanktooth flew by on a cadaverous wyvern and I jumped to it to try and send the ork to his doom, but he countered my first attack and jumped onto the Arngeir... in Vlolkir's waiting arms, before he could even begin to recover from that brutal beating Zivilyn closed in for a unicorn punch that ended the ork. Bereft of my target I had to content myself with punching the wyvern knocking it out of the sky before I returned to the ship.

At this point we had mostly broken through the horror cloud and we had to decide what to do with the citadel itself. There were too many troops waiting for us to attempt a boarding, much to Vlolkir's and my chagrin. Instead we loaded up on all the spare ammo we could, disembarked the crew to our tenders and flew in for a bombing run. Between Sandrin, Throkell, and I we flew true and the others were able to release our explosive cargo right into the main courtyard (Vlolkir mostly frothed at the mouth).

The elementally charged explosives did a bang up job of clearing the courtyard and disrupting the portal sending troops to the ground. Maybe too good. The citadel started drifting north east and losing both altitude and chunks of rock, unfortunately one of those chunks ended up lodging itself into the Arngeir. Thanks to some able damage control we kept the ship together, dislodged the rock and non catastrophically crash landed into the Coil.

As we regrouped from dealing with those three immediate threats we realised that they were naught but a diversion, as the four remaining pillars around the town activated. I think the Haressa-Tis Elisen had mentioned them? Maybe Bloodbeat? There have been too many crazy scourge plots to track. Whoever had first encountered the "Pillars of Sin", the job had not been completed and four still remained surging in power and calling a horror into our world.

We quickly split into four groups to go and disable the ritual before it was too late. Joining me on the way to the pillar of sloth, were Sandrin, Zil, and Karl. We quickly reached the pillar sitting in some swampy ground to the east. Surrounding it were many dead (some less dead than others) bodies lying in the muck. As we approached several bodies got up and started trying to sap our energies in addition to the expected murder attempts.

I made a beeline for the tower intending to crush it into dust as fast as I could, when the tower was enveloped in darkness, not a huge problem by itself, and something took control of my body. First the horror tried to have me kill poor Reuben and then had me close the distance to the rest of the party, no doubt with ill intent. Thankfully Zil was able to expel it and it was quickly dispatched together with the other constructs. At this point we turned our attention back to the tower, not a moment too soon as it started swelling with power.

With that threat deal with we returned to the town to find the other groups similarly victorious and started working on helping the city, a very enjoyable diversion from trying to talk dwarves into parting with pieces of paper. A couple of hours in, an old t'skrang who definitely had the air of a retired pirate captain approached me and offered me their tricorn as a gift. They said it had been their companion on many adventures and it was time for the hat to move on to a new bearer. Definitely a nice hat, I wonder if it will help my credibility with those stuffy beard in Throal

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

Re: AAR: [EVENT] River City Ransom (2021-01-30 1900 GMT)

Post by Dougansf » Wed Mar 03, 2021 6:17 pm

The Adventures of Sandrin
Chapter 21 - River City Ransom


The cult known as The Scourge is approaching Kampung Gaja to scare them back into their kaer, and restart the Scourge. Throal sent a large contingent of adepts and three airships to defend the town.

First Wave

The Scourge flew their castle within sight of the town. They then launched a large slab of rock into the nearby fields. The stone has an intact door within it, allowing hydra to come through. From the other side of town, we hear a report that an army of undead is approaching. I quickly take over as the leader, splitting up the adepts to the three sources of conflict. The Novice adepts protect the villagers from the undead. The Journeyman keep the hydra from gaining too much ground. I take the Arnegir and the Wardens to assault the castle directly.

As we approach, the castle is defended by the familiar sight of Stormwraiths and an undead wyvern. This time, gargoyles are defending the wraiths from our stone cannons, and the wyvern is mounted by one Named Sharktooth. We rush the line and test their strategy with a single shot. I order the crew to slow to engage them properly, and the adepts slaughter the gargoyles. Sharktooth boards the ship just before Norg kills his mount. Sharktooth doesn't stay alive much longer after that. The ship fires both broadsides at the remaining wraiths, then heads for the castle again.

We approach the citadel and bombard the courtyard. We’re unable to break the door, and prevent their attack. We fall back to the other ships, reload with ammo and unload the crew. Zivilin casts Metal Wings on everyone. We make a bombing run with a full hold of the unstable stone. The door explodes with shards flying everywhere. A huge chunk of debris goes through the hull. Norg tries to punch the rock out of the ship, while I guide it towards the river for a softer landing. Vralino and Zivilyn use Elemental magic to hold the hull together. The citadel starts limping North.

Second Wave

We fly back to Kampung Gaja to check on the others. Astral space erupts from the South. Those with Astral Sight cry out in pain, and the rest of us feel uneasy. There’s a raven’s cry, as large objects crest the horizon and approach with the roar of beasts alongside.

The citizens approach in a panic. Four pillars have erupted around the city causing strange lights and effects. There’s a corrupt entity across the entire town, Astral space is now more friendly for a huge horror to enter the world. Noticing everyone looking at me, I tell the villagers to prepare to evacuate. As they do, I fly up to the two airships and instruct them to unload everything to take on passengers. The young and the infirm are the first aboard. In instruct the remaining villagers to get to the center of town and find the most defensible spot, not to come out for anything until dawn. To their credit, some of the air sailors gave up their own spot on the ships to make room for the refugees.

As I managed the villagers, the other adepts performed healing magics to make the most of our respite. We split ourselves into four groups to assault each tower. Each tower has a different negative emotion tied to it.

Norg, Karl, Zil, and I head out into a marsh, with a large black stone that glows with ultraviolet light. There’s a feeling of exhaustion in the area, making us sleepy. There are strange birds circling in the sky. Bodies litter the ground around the pillar, and they’re moving slightly. Astral Space is Tainted and worsening. Zil spots 5 living things lying in the muck.

Sure enough, as we approach the things stand up and start to attack us, encouraging us to go to sleep. Our progress becomes sluggish, and every step is a chore. The shadows deepen, challenging ranged attacks. The pillar glows stronger. Ravens fly from the other pillars, signifying the advancement of the ritual. With the ravens come more oppressive emotions from the other pillars. Norg is briefly controlled and sent against the rest of us, but Zil purifies him before he can do much damage. Norg and I get to the pillar and destroy it. The spiritual ravens at the top of the pillar dissipate as the pillar shatters. The light abruptly returns to the area.

Not long after, we see signs of the other three pillars falling to the might of the adepts of Throal.

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