My name is William Carver. I am a 10th circle Scout, 7th Circle Thief, 6th Circle Cavalryman, and 5 rank on the path of the Journeyman.
Moe'uhane was looking to build some boats, he wanted to talk to the descendants of Shen Denlikiyan. We found the Kaer easily enough, it was down near some woods/jungles near Lake Ban. The T'srang within did not speak Throal, rather they spoke Theran. It was easy enough to understand them using my talents, but they quickly decided to speak in T'Srang, so I learned that language to translate into small and easily understood words for Volkir with a joking grin on my face as I did so. Lashana a windling Thief/scout joined us, as did another troll by the name of Azurea, she was a Shadow and purifier. We had a good party and one that was unlike the ones I have traveled with for a long time.
We found a ship builder by the name of Glen, he had a task for us. We needed to find rhombus shaped bark from maple trees, Red maple to be exact. Lashana vanished for a bit doing thief things, not wanting to step on her toes or show her up, I waited to see what she found. It was nothing of much interest. They needed to be a specific size, this confused a few of our companions. We spent a week or so getting these strips of bark exactly as he wanted them, then we returned and he did not recall sending us on this outing. Volkir was not amused and thought the man horror marked, the fact that these T'srang also spoke Theran set Volkir on edge to begin with. Honestly I am surprised that he just didn't go all horror stalker and figured out what the man's problem was by nearly killing him and then finding out what was going on.
We go and talk to some other T'srang with Glen.. Glenn.. being a dead end. They tell us of a Dry dock and we find the place that they are talking about. I ask Charlie to wait behind as we decided to all sneak up on the dry dock.. yes Vlolkir was sneaking forward! I know I am more shocked than anyone, he did quite well I might add! The area around the dry dock was badly tainted in the astral. We met three T'srang by the name of Bert, Ernie, and Grover. One a wizard and two others seemed fighter types. I am instantly set on edge myself because the corruption and the odd manner in which the three are acting. We follow them inside the drydock and that is when I notice a massive trap door. The three T'srang walked over the trap door without setting it off. I took his opportunity to show Lashana where the trap was, imparting a bit of my scout knowledge onto her. Moe took off the rug from his back and we walked across the trapdoor.
That was when we found out that the three had trapped some people down there and that a horror was most likely down with them. They themselves couldn't deal with it. Moe'uhane and Vlolkir were the ones to go down into the trapped area while Azurea, Lashana and I remained with the three T'srang. Honestly I was expecting them to attack at any given moment.
That was when things went south. The horror attacked Moe and Vlolkir, and the trapdoor closed shut. We moved into action. Azurea jumped down onto the door trying to open it, I jammed a knife into the opening and was prying it. The three T'srang jumped into action as well, they were as shocked as we were by the trap door. We could hear the sounds of battle erupt blow us. Azurea moved to try the lever and then attacked the door with an axe. Lashana attacked through the small gap that Ernie or Bert was able to make. Grover tried to be stylish and leaped over the bar only to fall flat on his face. I moved to Lashana and grabbed her arm calling upon the morphism talent and took on her trollish strength. I then drew my battleaxe in my haste to get to Vlolkir and Moe to aid them. The door crumbled under the power of my blow and we feel into the room.
Vlolkir was badly hurt, the horror was moving towards Moe and I managed to not fall during the fall but I was not able to not fall upon hitting the mud slide. The horror made a bad mistake and turned its back on Vlolkir. It was a fatal mistake. The horror was like crystals or broken glass all swarming around in a tornado.
We returned to the kaer and informed them of what transpired. They agreed to help Moe and his boat building. We then returned home. Charlie was upset that I left him behind, I won't do that to him again.
William Carver
AAR (10M): To Build a Better Boat 2021-01-29@23:59 GMT
Moderator:etherial
Re: AAR (10M): To Build a Better Boat 2021-01-29@23:59 GMT
From the writings of Moe'uhane, T'skrang Illusionist, 10th Circle, Boatman 7th Circle, Messenger Rank 6
The time had come, the correct information had finally found it's way into my hands. As a young hatchling I often was told tales of the greatness of Denlikiyan and the ships the provided to the people of T'skrang. I have dreams of a ship plying the river, and a wish to make it real. Denlikiyan craftsmanship can help with that. I knew they were on the reaches north of Lake Ban, but the reaches are long and dangerous and Denlikiyan was renown to have hidden their docks. A researcher came across some information as to the possible location of the kaer they were likely to have used based upon some old shipping manifests. I was rather elated, I hired transport and began collecting supplies, I ran across a number of friends and invited them to travel with me to investigate.
An airship to near the area cut down the time, Azurea, LaShanna, Vlolkir, and William accompanied me. A rather adept party for sneaking and finding things, with just the right amount of muscle to back it up. As we approached the probable location we started to encounter t'skrang, they spoke in Theran, which I tried to coax back to t'skrang and upon performing a ritual of greeting learned that we had in fact found the kaer of the Denlikiyan descendants. I explained how Barsaive at large was rather hesitant of Theran and produced a copy of the Council Compact. They felt they had encountered the book before and had someone retrieve their Elder of Knowledge. After a thorough inspection of the book, he did confirm they had a copy but had not paid it much heed. He was very interested in our stories. So we took the opportunity to exchange knowledge and explain the reasons for our expedition. Upon learning of the wish to learn their trade I was directed to their master shipwrite Glenn.
Glenn seemed rather distracted when we entered and needed to draw his attention. He seemed a bit scatterbrained, but many a genius are like this. He thought we were the woodsmiths and began to explain exactly what he needed. I politely interrupted and advised that we were not in fact the smiths he was expecting and detailed our origins and reasons for arriving in his workshop. He further explained that he was hoping to move to full scale ships, instead of the miniature prototypes he had been working on. We obliged his request in hopes of gaining some favor, off to collect the rhomboid shaped bark shards of the red maple. The work wasn't so bad, a bit tedious, but with a pair of scouts and some strong arms the work went quickly enough. We returned about a week later with the wood he requested, and Glenn appeared to have no idea who we were. This struck me as odd, some of the group had already voiced suspicions of horror taint, but as I found no traces of illusory magic the possibility of taint grew stronger. I wanted to test his grip upon reality and determine if it was a taint, or a possible touch of derangement. I drew upon the powers of Assumed Authority and took on the guise of a ranking officer, drawing up my Ideal Appearance I commanded him to give a full report and provide any documentation of "the plan", every evil entity has "a plan" and every scattered brained genius writes down a detailed plan of this sort of plot. Glenn was rather flustered at first, but the magically enhanced force of my will was hard to argue with. He began to explain all the plans were in the other room, on scrolls. I asked that he retrieve them with the assistance of LaShana, and to ensure he did not lose focus again I continued to bark commands to hurry with the plans, and that our time was valuable. As he returned with the plans and offered them with apologies, I flipped the switch and returned to normal, advising that we were not here for the plans, he had advised us to return with these bark pieces in exchange for valuable boat construction plans. We took the scrolls and examined them, they all seemed to be rambling non-sense.
At this point we tracked down the Elder of Knowledge, he seemed a bit evasive, dismissing Glenn as just being like that because of a frustration at a lack of river projects. He asked that we help remedy the situation by attempting locate their ancestral drydocks. I suspected any such location would be reclaimed by nature, and when voiced the concern, he followed by indicating that we could simply find a suitable location for a drydock then. This was not the ideal group for that task, but wishing to be away from the insanity I acquiesced and we were off.
Upon our travels we came across more and more denizens of Denlikiyan, some were even heading in the same direction as us, so we joined them for travel and conversation. When we advised of our search for a drydock they were rather shocked. They had already located the drydock, though it seemed inhabited by something evil, and they had advised the Elder of such. We gathered the coordinates when we were due to part company, and made our way towards the river. As we snuck forward, we could see resources being worked upon in the dry dock, but nobody was around. There was a taint in astral space and it put us on edge. Before we could make our way into the compound we came across three more t'skrang. They introduced themselves as Bert, Ernie, and Grover. A pair of warriors and a wizard. They claimed to be affiliated with Syrtis, and while their answers aligned with what I knew, something still felt off. They explained that they were here hunting a horror who had apparently marked a few people. They had held the people for questioning and were just about to try and hunt the beast down. They invited us to follow them into one of the structures long the drydock to discuss what we knew and investigate on our own. William quickly noted the trapdoor they walked over, and with a slight of hand I quickly unleashed my flying carpet to land underfoot as we were about to step upon it. The discussion with the t'skrang was far too cagey for a wizard and a pair of warriors, but they advised that we could go into the holding cell and investigate the afflicted. Assessing what we had, I re-attuned some spells to allow a better escape and advised that only myself and Vlolkir would descent to investigate these 'horror marked' individuals. They offered to accompany us, but I declined. They showed how the trap door opened and as I descended I hit a patch of mud and slid to the bottom. Vlolkir seeing this quickly tied a rope to a small blade he had and buried the blade in the door up to it's hilt.
As we took in the scene below, this did not look like a mere holding of few possibly horror marked individuals. There appeared to be over one hundred individuals down here, with the majority of them desiccated and dead at various points along the floor and wall. This appeared more of a slave pen then a jail cell. Many of the bodies appeared to have been skewered multiple times, looking around the apparent instruments used for this probing were a number of crystals scattered on the floor and into the wall. As I began to examine the crystal, Vlolkir called for some sort of fire as there were a lot of bodies to burn, this garnered a reaction from the few that were still alive down here, huddling into the corner thinking he thought to burn them. These people too were starved and frail, it seemed to take all of their energy just to cower. At about the same time as I began to examine one of the crystals, the entire group of them began to move, coalescing into a vortex. A single shard shot past Vlolkir and I and hit the trigger on the trap door, slamming it shut behind us. It then began to attack, while upstairs everyone attempted to open the door, through prying, mechanisms, and brute strength.
It inflicted a fair amount of damage, but we defeated the horror and collected the captives. I secretly inquired as to their home towns as we escorted them out. People were from a very wide swath of Barsaive, most having little to no reasons for being here. The t'skrang up above had not acted suspiciously, but I find it hard to believe they were un aware of nearly a hundred people in a pit where they kept them for 'questioning'. We were not in a situation to press the matter. Azurea assisted in purifying the area and tending to the captives. We eventually returned to Denlikiyan and announced our success, the Shivalahala (yes there was one that had not greeted us up until now) arrived and thanked us. I arranged for everyone to return to Throal while I spent some more time by the drydocks shrouded in illusion, trying to determine what may still be amiss with this drydock and the town that was slowly forming around it now.
The time had come, the correct information had finally found it's way into my hands. As a young hatchling I often was told tales of the greatness of Denlikiyan and the ships the provided to the people of T'skrang. I have dreams of a ship plying the river, and a wish to make it real. Denlikiyan craftsmanship can help with that. I knew they were on the reaches north of Lake Ban, but the reaches are long and dangerous and Denlikiyan was renown to have hidden their docks. A researcher came across some information as to the possible location of the kaer they were likely to have used based upon some old shipping manifests. I was rather elated, I hired transport and began collecting supplies, I ran across a number of friends and invited them to travel with me to investigate.
An airship to near the area cut down the time, Azurea, LaShanna, Vlolkir, and William accompanied me. A rather adept party for sneaking and finding things, with just the right amount of muscle to back it up. As we approached the probable location we started to encounter t'skrang, they spoke in Theran, which I tried to coax back to t'skrang and upon performing a ritual of greeting learned that we had in fact found the kaer of the Denlikiyan descendants. I explained how Barsaive at large was rather hesitant of Theran and produced a copy of the Council Compact. They felt they had encountered the book before and had someone retrieve their Elder of Knowledge. After a thorough inspection of the book, he did confirm they had a copy but had not paid it much heed. He was very interested in our stories. So we took the opportunity to exchange knowledge and explain the reasons for our expedition. Upon learning of the wish to learn their trade I was directed to their master shipwrite Glenn.
Glenn seemed rather distracted when we entered and needed to draw his attention. He seemed a bit scatterbrained, but many a genius are like this. He thought we were the woodsmiths and began to explain exactly what he needed. I politely interrupted and advised that we were not in fact the smiths he was expecting and detailed our origins and reasons for arriving in his workshop. He further explained that he was hoping to move to full scale ships, instead of the miniature prototypes he had been working on. We obliged his request in hopes of gaining some favor, off to collect the rhomboid shaped bark shards of the red maple. The work wasn't so bad, a bit tedious, but with a pair of scouts and some strong arms the work went quickly enough. We returned about a week later with the wood he requested, and Glenn appeared to have no idea who we were. This struck me as odd, some of the group had already voiced suspicions of horror taint, but as I found no traces of illusory magic the possibility of taint grew stronger. I wanted to test his grip upon reality and determine if it was a taint, or a possible touch of derangement. I drew upon the powers of Assumed Authority and took on the guise of a ranking officer, drawing up my Ideal Appearance I commanded him to give a full report and provide any documentation of "the plan", every evil entity has "a plan" and every scattered brained genius writes down a detailed plan of this sort of plot. Glenn was rather flustered at first, but the magically enhanced force of my will was hard to argue with. He began to explain all the plans were in the other room, on scrolls. I asked that he retrieve them with the assistance of LaShana, and to ensure he did not lose focus again I continued to bark commands to hurry with the plans, and that our time was valuable. As he returned with the plans and offered them with apologies, I flipped the switch and returned to normal, advising that we were not here for the plans, he had advised us to return with these bark pieces in exchange for valuable boat construction plans. We took the scrolls and examined them, they all seemed to be rambling non-sense.
At this point we tracked down the Elder of Knowledge, he seemed a bit evasive, dismissing Glenn as just being like that because of a frustration at a lack of river projects. He asked that we help remedy the situation by attempting locate their ancestral drydocks. I suspected any such location would be reclaimed by nature, and when voiced the concern, he followed by indicating that we could simply find a suitable location for a drydock then. This was not the ideal group for that task, but wishing to be away from the insanity I acquiesced and we were off.
Upon our travels we came across more and more denizens of Denlikiyan, some were even heading in the same direction as us, so we joined them for travel and conversation. When we advised of our search for a drydock they were rather shocked. They had already located the drydock, though it seemed inhabited by something evil, and they had advised the Elder of such. We gathered the coordinates when we were due to part company, and made our way towards the river. As we snuck forward, we could see resources being worked upon in the dry dock, but nobody was around. There was a taint in astral space and it put us on edge. Before we could make our way into the compound we came across three more t'skrang. They introduced themselves as Bert, Ernie, and Grover. A pair of warriors and a wizard. They claimed to be affiliated with Syrtis, and while their answers aligned with what I knew, something still felt off. They explained that they were here hunting a horror who had apparently marked a few people. They had held the people for questioning and were just about to try and hunt the beast down. They invited us to follow them into one of the structures long the drydock to discuss what we knew and investigate on our own. William quickly noted the trapdoor they walked over, and with a slight of hand I quickly unleashed my flying carpet to land underfoot as we were about to step upon it. The discussion with the t'skrang was far too cagey for a wizard and a pair of warriors, but they advised that we could go into the holding cell and investigate the afflicted. Assessing what we had, I re-attuned some spells to allow a better escape and advised that only myself and Vlolkir would descent to investigate these 'horror marked' individuals. They offered to accompany us, but I declined. They showed how the trap door opened and as I descended I hit a patch of mud and slid to the bottom. Vlolkir seeing this quickly tied a rope to a small blade he had and buried the blade in the door up to it's hilt.
As we took in the scene below, this did not look like a mere holding of few possibly horror marked individuals. There appeared to be over one hundred individuals down here, with the majority of them desiccated and dead at various points along the floor and wall. This appeared more of a slave pen then a jail cell. Many of the bodies appeared to have been skewered multiple times, looking around the apparent instruments used for this probing were a number of crystals scattered on the floor and into the wall. As I began to examine the crystal, Vlolkir called for some sort of fire as there were a lot of bodies to burn, this garnered a reaction from the few that were still alive down here, huddling into the corner thinking he thought to burn them. These people too were starved and frail, it seemed to take all of their energy just to cower. At about the same time as I began to examine one of the crystals, the entire group of them began to move, coalescing into a vortex. A single shard shot past Vlolkir and I and hit the trigger on the trap door, slamming it shut behind us. It then began to attack, while upstairs everyone attempted to open the door, through prying, mechanisms, and brute strength.
It inflicted a fair amount of damage, but we defeated the horror and collected the captives. I secretly inquired as to their home towns as we escorted them out. People were from a very wide swath of Barsaive, most having little to no reasons for being here. The t'skrang up above had not acted suspiciously, but I find it hard to believe they were un aware of nearly a hundred people in a pit where they kept them for 'questioning'. We were not in a situation to press the matter. Azurea assisted in purifying the area and tending to the captives. We eventually returned to Denlikiyan and announced our success, the Shivalahala (yes there was one that had not greeted us up until now) arrived and thanked us. I arranged for everyone to return to Throal while I spent some more time by the drydocks shrouded in illusion, trying to determine what may still be amiss with this drydock and the town that was slowly forming around it now.
Re: AAR (10M): To Build a Better Boat 2021-01-29@23:59 GMT
**As the magic flows across the page the words come into view**
One of the lesser known powers of the pre-Scourge Serpent River was the Denlikiyan Niall of shipwrights. They were responsible for many of the most powerful and legendary craft to ply the river. They have yet been unheard from, but new information led a group of adepts to try and locate them.
Faction: Denlikiyan Niall/Kaer
Brief: Legendary T'skrang Shipwrights
Status: kaer recently opened, attempting to rebuild around ancestral drydock
Notable Actors:
Elder of Wisdom, t'skrang Librarian
Glenn Denlikiyan, t'skrang master shipwright
Shivalahala Denlikiyan, t'skrang leader
Faction:(imposter?)Syrtis Adepts
Brief: Trio of adepts, possibly slavers or cultists
Status: uncertain,
Notable Actors:
Bert, t'skrang warrior 10th Circle
Ernie, t'skrang warrior 10th Circle
Grover, t'skrang wizard 11th Circle
After Action Report: The kaer was located, and rather easily. They had recently opened and the people were found beginning to reclaim the area. The master shipwright and elder of wisdom both seemed touched in some manner, but directed the adepts to seek out the ancestral drydock.
The drydock held over one hundred current and former prisoners of what appeared to be a trio of adventurers from Syrtis. They claimed the group appeared to be horror marked and they were holding them for questioning. The trio did nothing overtly against the adept group, but were a bit too altruistic and oblivious to be trusted completely.
Denlikiyan is in the process of being re-established, it is recommended that diplomatic envoys work to reconnect it with Syrtis and V'strimon to reinforce the rules of the Council Compact. Additionally, monitor the leadership of the town to ensure there is strength of mind and will.
Reporting Senior Agent: Bearded Dragon
**The words vanish as the magic dissipates**
One of the lesser known powers of the pre-Scourge Serpent River was the Denlikiyan Niall of shipwrights. They were responsible for many of the most powerful and legendary craft to ply the river. They have yet been unheard from, but new information led a group of adepts to try and locate them.
Faction: Denlikiyan Niall/Kaer
Brief: Legendary T'skrang Shipwrights
Status: kaer recently opened, attempting to rebuild around ancestral drydock
Notable Actors:
Elder of Wisdom, t'skrang Librarian
Glenn Denlikiyan, t'skrang master shipwright
Shivalahala Denlikiyan, t'skrang leader
Faction:(imposter?)Syrtis Adepts
Brief: Trio of adepts, possibly slavers or cultists
Status: uncertain,
Notable Actors:
Bert, t'skrang warrior 10th Circle
Ernie, t'skrang warrior 10th Circle
Grover, t'skrang wizard 11th Circle
After Action Report: The kaer was located, and rather easily. They had recently opened and the people were found beginning to reclaim the area. The master shipwright and elder of wisdom both seemed touched in some manner, but directed the adepts to seek out the ancestral drydock.
The drydock held over one hundred current and former prisoners of what appeared to be a trio of adventurers from Syrtis. They claimed the group appeared to be horror marked and they were holding them for questioning. The trio did nothing overtly against the adept group, but were a bit too altruistic and oblivious to be trusted completely.
Denlikiyan is in the process of being re-established, it is recommended that diplomatic envoys work to reconnect it with Syrtis and V'strimon to reinforce the rules of the Council Compact. Additionally, monitor the leadership of the town to ensure there is strength of mind and will.
Reporting Senior Agent: Bearded Dragon
**The words vanish as the magic dissipates**