AAR: Rockworms for Breakfast

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Fortesque
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AAR: Rockworms for Breakfast

Post by Fortesque » Sat May 12, 2018 3:42 am

Rockworms for Breakfast
Time: 2018-05-11@23:00 GMT
GM: Fortesque (Whyr'wyndyl)
Circle: 7
Difficulty: Medium

Player Rewards:
Gronk: 13,000 Legend, 1,700 Silver, 3 TIPs
Romari: 13,000 Legend, 1,700 Silver, 3 TIPs
Aeggy: 13,000 Legend, 1,700 Silver, 3 TIPs
Ceadda: 13,000 Legend, 1,700 Silver, 3 TIPs
Thane 13,000 Legend, 1,700 Silver, 3 TIPs

Downtime Actions Available:
Romari: Alchemy 7 (Rank 3; Booster Potion, Kelia’s Antidote, Kelix's Poultice)
Romari: Map Making 8 (Rank 1)
Romari: Item History 15 (Rank 4)
Romari: Research 26 (Rank 6)
Gronk: Forge Weapon: 9 (Rank 1)
Gronk: Research: 8 (rank 0)
Aeggy: Alchemy: 11 (rank 4, Booster Potion, Kelia's Antidote, Kelix's Poultice)
Researchers may spend 20/2 Silver for +3 Steps

Further Information:
3 horror pet Rockworms destroyed
1 wormskull killed
Parched (wormskull) got away!

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etherial
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Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:04 pm
Location:Berlin, Massachusetts
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Re: AAR: Rockworms for Breakfast

Post by etherial » Sat May 12, 2018 7:49 pm

From the journal of Gronk Longtusk

20 Rua, 1423 T.H.
It's been nearly a year since I've been out in the world. I had to have my bow and armor re-Forged just to make sure they stay fresh. Still, I've heard rumors that the descendants of Marrek have begun to try to reclaim their homeland and faced stiff opposition from the Rockworms we encountered there the last time we ventured North of the Serpent.

22 Rua
Travel over the mountains is a lot easier with a fleet of Magic Carpets, and we made it across the Serpent in no time. Strange markings litter the land, spirals erupting from the Earth then suddenly disappearing, clear markings of the presence of Rockworms.

The land here is much transformed. Flooding in some areas, drought in others, as if some malign entity is constructing earthworks and levies with the Rockworms, and we do find tracks indicating some Ork-sized creature with steel sabotons has been directing them. Curiously, it has neither tracks leading to nor from the site we have seen its ministrations, only wandering around within. We are wary of their presence and spend a night defying logic and sleeping in trees.

A small trio of gnashers, quaint adorable things, really, came meandering by in the night, intend on eating our sleeping trees. I obliterated the first in a single shot while Aegharan woke Romari and Ceadda. I roused Thane, who engaged a second with me, while the two Spellcasters fought off the third and Ceadda armored up.

I do not understand why that man still sleeps in the nude out of doors. It's not like his armor is *that* uncomfortable.

The gnashers were not the only threat, however. Something called a Wormskull appeared as if from nowhere (but in fact from Astral Space) and laid into Ceadda. Turning, I engaged with it and between the five of us, it was vanquished, but not before it bore a hole into Romari's mind and warned it of its...brother, soon to be arriving.

23 Rua
We speak with the members of the Expedition, who have built themselves quite the fort in the Marrek wilds. It seems they have lost some of their number to fool's errands but the leader is no longer willing to risk his neck to save them, and the situation is tense but stable. They inform us of an area to the North West where most of the Rockworm sightings have occurred, and so there we go. Four Rockworms have been sighted, three large and one massive. I do not look forward to fighting all four at once.

23 Rua (continued)
We follow a dried riverbed North, the air thick with a palpable dread. We each tried to cheer each other up, encourage each other to carry on, and find other ways of fighting the Terror by singing songs, doing katas, reciting poetry, and using spells to affect the terrain. We can tell that the Rockworms are close, but we know that the Wormskull is also close. Could they secretly be related? We plan on slaying the Wormskull first, then the Greater Rockworm, and then the others. Focus fire all the way is the order of the day.

As the ground began to shake below us, I saw three Rockworms converging on us from different directions. Readying my bow, I spotted a weak point in the closest Worm's armor and tore a massive hole in its side. The casters and Thane moved to engage, but Ceadda hung back and wisely so, as the Wormskull appeared and used its Skin Shift power on it. Tempted to change my focus to save Ceadda, I risked his life a round to try and finish off the Rockworm. Its body split like an overcooked sausage. Remains of previous adventuring parties were thrown from the carcass. I was able to salvage a badelf looking hat.

Despite its desire for revenge, the Wormskull did not like its odds. It retreated first to Astral Space and then off the map as we eliminated the Rockworms one by one. We never did see the Greater Rockworm, perhaps it was eaten by the Wormskull, perhaps it had moved on to greener pastures.

PCs:
Aegjaran, male Elf Illusionist/Thief
Ceadda, male Human Warrior
Gronk Longtusk, male Ork Archer/Liberator
Romari Savre, male Elf Wizard
Thane Cawdor, male Troll Sky Raider

ChrisDDickey
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Re: AAR: Rockworms for Breakfast

Post by ChrisDDickey » Sun May 13, 2018 2:48 pm

Some people have been attempting to settle the planes north of the Throlic Mountains. Apparently they dream of re-founding the ancient kingdom of Marrek. They send word that the area is crawling with very aggressive Rockworms and Journeyman Adepts are urgently needed to passify the area. Gronk, Ceddia, Romari, Aeggy, and myself are hired for the task.

Aeggy casts flying carpets for all of us (upon our bedrolls, but I think I am going to buy a real carpet next time) and we travel swiftly through the mountains. He has to pull two extra threads on mine to hold my weight. Several of us have been through this route before and we have no significant problems navigating.

Entering the Caucavic River Valley, we find sign of multiple Rockworms doing strange spiral patterns in the earth. We also find footprints of a creature the size of an Ork. We find a dry riverbed and follow it upstream, to where it looks like a group of three Rockworms cooperated to divert the stream so it does not continue into the plains and instead making a large marshy area. Looking further upstream we find the setter's encampment and we spend the night.

The next day we travel the entire day deeper into the plains. We see several signs of random Rockworm activity, but no fresh signs, nor additional signs of coordinated activity. The land seems to be suffering from a Rockworm made drought. All the streams have been dammed up, and the land is suffering for it. There has been enough rainfall to keep the plants alive, but they do not thrive as they should. We make camp at sunset, but after dinner we put out the fire and bring our Flying Carpets up to treetop level as protection against ambush. I share the 2nd watch with Gronk, and we hear something approaching. We rouse the others and we have a scant minute to prepare as three Gnashers saunter up and start to eat the trees we are next to. Most of the others had moved to a 2nd strand of trees a few dozen yards away. The others all engage at range and slay two of the monsters. I delay until they start moving towards the others so I can attack from above and behind, but just as I am about to make my great leap upon the last remaining Gnasher, a figure suddenly appears. It is a Wormskull that stepped out from Astral Space. I quickly change my target and immediately Great Leap to that location, doing a shield bash and knocking it from the tree. Unfortunately, while it is knocked from the tree, it is not knocked off it's feet and lands ready for action. However we all quickly dog-pile upon it and slay it. And the last remaining Gnasher.

We go back to sleep, but awaken as dawn breaks to a feeling of deep and palpable dread. The first rays of dawn show three Rockworms approaching and starting their now familiar spiral pattern. Several of us had been planning on doing karma rituals when we woke up, since we had spent karma upon the Gnashers and/or Wormskull. However it is plain the Rockworms will finish their patterns long before a karma ritual can be accomplished. Worse, out feelings of dread are intensifying quickly. Our wise guys tell us that a Wormskull is attempting to use his Terror power upon us. They tell us that we need to find ways to throw the terror off of ourselves and each other. I of course immediately perform a Lion Heart test, and feel much better. Aeggy sings an uplifting song and all of us feel better. I have always found my Battle Bellow gives me and my companions a boost, and it does help us all. In less than half a minute we have all thrown off the effects of the terror.

Aeggy had been on watch, so all of his chain casting was already active upon us. Romari quickly starts muttering though his most critical spells. We were all under the impression that there was another wormskull in Astral Space, blasting the terror at at. I was under the impression it was doing something (probably something horrible), and would probably not attack us until it was done. Also, it looked like the Rockworms were still several minutes away from completing their spiral patterns, It was proposed that we go out after individual rockworms, and defeat them singly instead of waiting until the Wormskulls and the Rockworms were prepared to attack us as a unit. However whatever it was that the Wormskull and the Rockworms were doing, they decided to abandon it as soon as we attacked the first Rockworm. A barrage of arrow and spells (and my spiked mace) quickly wounded the closest rockworm. However the other two abandoned their spiral patterns and quickly started moving in. A wormskull appeared next to Ceadda, and skin shifted him. We had agreed to focus fire, first upon the wormskull, then upon the rockworms, but Gronk for some reason felt it was more important to finish off the wounded rockworm. Ceadda, despite his numerous wounds, did much damage to the wormskull. Everybody else blasted the wormskull, and they seem to have knocked it unconscious. However it was obviously faking it, since before we could do anything more to it, it shifted over into Astral Space. Aeggy and Romari bravely sought it via Astral Sight, and while they got a few weak blows against it, it quickly sped away. We speculate that it was ALMOST killed, but of course almost killed is not at all killed. In the meantime the rest of us who could not see into Astral Space finished off the other two Rockworms.

We went back to the encampment and reported. We will need to hunt this wormskull again. We probably ought to also escort an Elementalist in who can redirect the flow of the streams and rivers.

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BattleChad
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Re: AAR: Rockworms for Breakfast

Post by BattleChad » Tue May 15, 2018 2:58 am

The Great Library of Throal thanks Gronk and Thane for their contributions.

Journal Rewards: 650 Legend and 450 Silver

Aegharan
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Re: AAR: Rockworms for Breakfast

Post by Aegharan » Fri Jun 01, 2018 8:36 am

Last week Gronk, Romari, Ceadda, Thane and I headed out to follow up on troubling reports of Rockworm-Sightings hindering the re-building of a settlement.
We got to try out my Flying Carpets. For this travel we just used our bedrolls and it worked splendidly. Not only is it way less demanding physically, but we didn't have to take every small turn of that path through the mountains, reaching our destination much faster. Ascending through the mountains is much easier, when all we have to do is say "fly up". Ceadda and Thane did have some problems with their bedrolls misinterpreting their comands, but after some getting used to it and explaining to keep the commands as simple and straightforward as possible, we all got along really well.

From nearly a hundred yards above the ground we were quick to spot some strange things that must have happened. The rivers seem to have been dried out, turned away from their usual bed. We also found signs of 3 giant rockworms leaving an inward-spiraling pattern on the ground. In the middle of these 3 giant rockworm-tracks were a lot of footprints from a single heavy namegiver. Gronk said the orc that left these tracks must have worn steel boots.

That night we made rest in some trees, sleeping on our flying bedrolls, hoping to not mutter "forward" or "down" in our sleep. Just to be sure I tied a rope around my chest, the other end fixed to the tree. During the night Thane and Gronk spot some creatures, Gnashers, eating away at the landscape. They wake us up and we prepare for the fight before they start eating our trees. While we prepare combat and then start the fighting, Ceadda gets dressed. We are soon to get the upper hand, when a Wormskull, a menacing deformity of what maybe once was a namegiver, steps out of Astral Space and lays deeply into Romari's mind. We are quick in finishing him, but Romari is a little shaken, saying that there will be another Wormskull on his way soon.

The next day we travelled on towards the Expedition camp, where we head stories of Rockworms and many of their expedition forces falling to the Rockworms. We say that we'll tackle the problem and follow the dried up river bed. We find another 3 rockworm-spiral-tracks and land to take a good look, when despair and fear befall us. We do our best to encourage each other and shake off the fear, telling our great stories and mesmerizing songs of victorious adventures, to then notice that 3 Rockworms and probably the second Wormskull is closing in on us. We ready for the fight, when the rockworms break free from the earth, moving towards us from 3 directions. We agree to move north, attacking the first Rockworm, when Ceadda is attacked by the Wormskull. We quickly get back together, while Gronk finishes off the first Rockworm and nearly manage to kill the Wormskill. Shortly before it was killed, it fled into the Astral Plane. Although I was able to follow it, I was not able to kill it in one blow before it quickly got away.

We reported back to the Expedition and headed back to Throal to study the Library concering the Rockworm-situation and to reform to find the horror who is pulling the strings on another day.

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BattleChad
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Re: AAR: Rockworms for Breakfast

Post by BattleChad » Mon Jun 04, 2018 3:33 pm

The Great Library of Throal thanks Aegharan for his contribution.

Journal Rewards: 650 Legend and 450 Silver

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