AAR: [6M] A Plea for Help (2021-01-28@19:30 GMT)

[Aegharan]

LFG: A Plea for Help
Time: 2021-01-28@19:30 GMT
GM: Aegharan
Circle: 6M
Instigator: Bloodbeat
Rumor: Bloodbeat has received a letter from home, Syrtis. Her old chaida (or crèche caregiver), K’star, wrote asking for her help. As he explains it, some of his hatchlings are sickening and dying, even though they were hatched healthy and gave all indication of thriving. He’s never seen anything like it. K’star is unwilling to trust anyone in Syrtis and thus wants outside help.

Note: Afternoon game for the Americas
Up to 5 players

[Serespar]

Name: Strata
Date of Last Game Played [ Scenario ]: "I punched a murder of blood ravens tother day..." [ Jan 10, 2021 ]
Circle: ECR 5, Circle 5
Discipline: Obsidiman Gauntlet ( Journeyman Rank )
Unique: "I punches stuff"
Downtime: Talents and Skills that other characters can use over downtime;
*Strata just looks at ya*, then says "I punches stuff"

Primary character

[Anoush]

Name: Bloodbeat II of Syrtis

ECR: 7
Last game played: Requester
Discipline: Nethermancer 7 / Weaponsmith 3
Quote: Tsch!  I hate birds!!
Unique/Notable Abilities: Experience Death, Friendly Darkness, Frighten, Last Chance, Soul Armor, Spirit Talk, Summon Ally Spirits, Viewpoint, Foul Vapors, Lifesight
Downtime:
* Alchemy 10 (rank 3)
* Forge Weapon 15 (rank 4, step 11 + karma)
* Item History 15 (rank 4, step 11 + karma)

[Lashana]

Name: Amhrán Fili
Date of Last Game Played: 1/16/2021
Circle: 5
Discipline: Troubadour
Unique: I can turn a mighty fine phrase, lover of fine snacks and meals. Still adjusting to a life of adventuring w/out a comfy bed and homecooked meals.
Research Rank 4 (Step 11+1 karma)
Item History Rank 4 (Step 11+1 karma)

[bronzemountain]

Name: Juniper
ECL: 7
Discipline: Shadow who Quests for Lochost
Quote/Unique: "Power to the people!"
Notable Abilities: Streetwise, Looks good naked, people person
Downtime: Drugs, poetry slams, volunteering, romantic entanglements
Last Game Played: 2021-01-23

[Aegharan]

A Plea for Help
Time: 2021-01-28@19:30 GMT
GM: Aeggy
Circle: 6
Difficulty: Medium

Player Rewards:
Amhran: 7,500 LP, 50 SP, 3 Tips, Half Price Healing Aids (Last Chance Salve, 300 SP, 2 Healing Potions)
Bloodbeat: 7,500 LP, 500 SP, 3 Tips, Half Price Healing Aids (Healing Potion, 150 SP)
Juniper: 7,500 LP, 650 SP, 3 TIPs
Strats 7,500 LP, 350 SP, 3 Tips, Half Price Healing Aids (Last Chance Salve, 300 SP)

Journal Rewards:
375 LP, 162.5 SP

GM Reward:
Karl Tomsson: 124,000 LP, 2,000 SP, 3 TIPs

Downtime Actions Available:
Amrhán:
Research Rank 4 (Step 15+2 karma)
Item History Rank 4 (Step 15+2 karma)

Bloodbeat:
Alchemy 10 (rank 3)
Forge Weapon 15 (rank 4, step 11 + karma)
Item History 15 (rank 4, step 11 + karma)

Researchers may spend 20 Silver for +3 Steps (the Haggle discount may lower this cost)

Further Information:
An infestation of miniscule Horrors in a Hatchery in Syrtis has been cleansed. The (A?) Horror spreading it has been killed.

[Serespar]

Vallone the Shadow Questor of Lochost and Amharan the Windling Troubadour came to me and said a friend needed somebody strong ta protect them while they went to help some t'skrang. Said OK.

Went into bodyguard mode for the t'skrang we met, a Nethermancer Named Bloodbeat.


Walked to Sosanopa. Didn't punch anything.

Got on a boat. Lifted barrels. Mopped under them. No punching.

Got off boat, followed t'skrang. No bar fights. Met another t'skrang concerned about withering hatchlings. No punching yet.

Walked to where hatchlings get their food. Attacked by giant black cats. Asked them if they were related to THE cat of Throal, they said No and tried to eat the t'skrang I was guarding. Punched 'em.

Walked some more. Found some Ghouls. Punched 'em.

A giant sack of bloated fat tried to kill the t'skrang I was guardin. Punched it. It swallowed me. Punched my way out. Squished it's spleen between my toes. Washed up.

Nethermancer says they are tiny little microbe horrors infecting things. She got us n the hatchlings cleaned up. Told hatchlings obsidiman stories while the Nethermancer was doing magic.

Walked back to river. Sat in sun on boat. Got off boat. Walked back to Throal.

[Anoush]

Bloodbeat's Journal:

I received a letter from home recently, from my old chaida, K’star. In the letter he asked for my help on an urgent, desperate matter, but didn’t say exactly what. K’star’s never been one to mince words, so this both disturbed and intrigued me. He wanted to meet in River Falls, a town about one day North of Syrtis, on the eastern bank of the Serpent River.

Given the mysterious nature of K’star’s letter, I took precautions and enlisted the aid of a few friends. At worst, there’d be enough of us to handle whatever the issue was, while at best, we’d have a pleasant trip to Syrtis and back. Juniper (an elf Shadow and Questor of Lochost) was happy to join me. He brought along Amhran (a windling Troubadour), who then included Strata (an obsidiman Gauntlet) in the group. All good traveling companions.

We took the well-traveled path up to Sosonopa and then after some bargaining took passage on a riverboat heading to Syrtis. The price of passage was cheap, after some haggling by Juniper and Amhran, and an agreement to help with on board chores.

So we whiled away the trip with Strata scrubbing the decks, Juniper in the crow’s nest, Amhran entertaining the crew, and me, well, I learned how to swing through the rigging on a ship. I wasn’t any good any at it, but it was fun. The first time I tried it, on a dare as the t’skrang ship’s crew shamed me, a t’skrang, into it. I figured that the worst was I’d fall in the river and have a nice swim, so I swung for all I was worth. A very different perspective than my usual activities!

It only took a few days to get to River Falls. Once there, I realized that K’star’s letter hadn’t included a meeting place. Luckily, River Falls wasn’t that big a town. So we started at the town square, and visited likely meeting places, namely, taverns and inns. Juniper certainly didn’t mind! Amhran was fun to have along, and Strata didn’t say much.

We found K’star at the second tavern, sitting alone at a table in the back. Over a couple of ales, K’star explained the problem. The hatchlings were dying. T’skrang, as a race, are decreasing in numbers, something that we’re all struggling with. But to have healthy hatchlings die for no reason, that was unthinkable, a true disaster. One of the few clues that K’star could provide was that before dying, the hatchlings would show signs of weakening, including vomiting up much or their food. K’star could think of no one outside the small group of chaidas (about 6 in total) that would be able to influence the children.

K’star was also suspicious of people in Syrtis. He didn’t say anything specifically, but hinted that he wasn’t sure who he could trust, or who might be behind the hatchlings’ deaths. That, in part at least, was why he called on me: someone he considered trustworthy who was also outside the Syrtis environment. We asked K’star every question we could think of to get more information about the problem, but there was precious little to go on.

The only lead we could find was to investigate the farm who delivered the food supplies to the crèche. Perhaps something was going on there that was tainting the food. We really didn’t suspect anything wrong, but it was all we had to go on.

So we made plans to travel east to the farm, about one day’s journey. After investigating things there, we’d travel to Syris and meet K’star at the nursery. We expected to arrive in Syrtis in no less than three days time. Perhaps when we reached Syrtis and could investigate the crèche itself, more clues would present themselves.

We set out in early afternoon, and made camp at roughly the mid-point of our journey to the farm. During the night, a group of croajins — large, predatory cats — attacked the camp. I was badly hurt, but thanked Thorkell silently for his training in Fireblood!

We reached the farm in mid-morning, surprising the farmers. They weren’t expecting visitors. In fact, it was very rare for any of their customers to actually want a tour of the farm. But they agreeably showed us the fields, the barns, the processing areas, everything. We could find nothing wrong there. So we collected a large box of produce for the crèche and headed towards Syrtis.

Near the end of the day, we noted more activity than usual off to the side of the road. A large number — perhaps a dozen — humanoids were walking, heading generally toward us. This part of Barsaive was lightly populated, so there weren’t any towns nearby. Where had these people come from?

The “people” turned out to be ghouls, including about three that guided, or led, the rest in their attacks. Strata was swarmed by the creatures, while the rest of us attacked and debuffed. It was a good thing that Strata was virtually impervious to the ghouls’ attacks. Amhran proved to be worth her weight in gold as she provided help with nearly every action.

After the battle, we followed the ghouls’ tracks. We were curious where they’d come from. The tracks led to a densely wooded area, more like a dense swamp than anything else. Then we noticed the smell. Rotten, disgusting, it took effort even for me — a nethermancer used to horrible sights and smells — to not become sick on the spot. Moving forward, we found the source of the stench: a single, bloated creature, a sack of rotting flesh, the rolls of flesh hanging down, one atop another. Gruesome. Someone Named it a “meat-sack”, and the term definitely applied.

Nevertheless, we fought it. At one point, Juniper was so overcome with disgust that he was too sick to continue. A dreadful situation, but we prevailed. Afterward, we burned the body and purified the area. Upon reflection, I concluded that this meat-sack was some kind of viral dread iota horror.

Studying the area, we realized that this swampland was connected to the water supply for Syrtis as well. Then the clues all fit together. The meat-sack/horror was tainting the water supplying the crèche, effectively poisoning it. The ghouls helped spread the taint, or poison, by contact with travelers. The hatchlings were dying from the taint. The adults weren’t as affected because they’re larger and hardier than the very young.

We returned to Sytris and reported what we’d found both to K’star and to the city authorities. The hatchlings recovered and the rest remained healthy. A good ending to a puzzling problem.