AAR: The Broken Kaer

*ARCHIVED* Sub-forum for the original West Marches Discord campaign

Moderator:etherial

Locked
User avatar
etherial
Posts:964
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:04 pm
Location:Berlin, Massachusetts
Contact:
AAR: The Broken Kaer

Post by etherial » Sat Jul 07, 2018 8:32 pm

The Broken Kaer
Time: 2018-07-06@23:00 GMT
GM: etherial (Ursula)
Circle: 7
Difficulty: Medium

Player Rewards:
Ceadda: 3 TIPs, 13000 Legend, 1700 Silver
Pethrytholilanista: 3 TIPs, 13000 Legend, 1700 Silver
Romari: 3 TIPs, 13000 Legend, 1700 Silver
Thane: 3 TIPs, 13000 Legend, 1700 Silver

Downtime Actions Available:
Pethrytholilanista: Alchemy 10 (Rank 3, Booster Potion, Kelia's Antidote, Kelix' Poultice)
Romari: Item History 21 (Rank 6)
Romari: Research 32 (Rank 9)
Researchers may spend 20/2 Silver for +3 Steps

Further Information:
Kaer Karst (45.08) has been breached by a Horror. The maze has been cleared of Horrors but no one has ventured into the Kaer yet...

ChrisDDickey
Posts:1011
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:02 pm

Re: AAR: The Broken Kaer

Post by ChrisDDickey » Sat Jul 07, 2018 8:40 pm

I was chatting up that new research assistant at the great library when she mentioned her team was reclassifying some pre-scourge building records. She showed me some records (we spent extremely pleasant hours alone together in the back stacks). It seems that Throaic Architects, Craftsmen, and Enchanters were much involved in the building of many small kear's scattered throughout Barsaive. One particular set of records caught my eye. The town of Karst was in a valley of the Throalic mountains about two days travel NorthEast of the Throalic gates. Thorina helped me find maps to the exact location, builders plans for their Kaer and it's defenses, and instructions for how to "knock on the door" using the secret code that will tell them we are from Throal. I decided to get the gang together and pay them a visit!

The entrance was only two days travel away, but they were two very hard days through uncharted wilderness. When we got to the area, we could not spot our landmark, a deep cleft with distinctive markings. We spent more than a day searching, until I finally climbed the tallest hill and spotted it from a distance. The entrance was not so much hidden as disguised. It was made to look like a graveyard. I think the reasoning behind that was very faulty as Horrors are known to be attracted to graveyards, and loot them for body parts. I also don't know that a long dead Cadaverman can't just tell a horror secrets it knew in life. So if any of the bodies buried above the kaer knew about the kaer below, maybe the horrors came to learn of it's existence that way!

In any case, it soon became apparent that the kaer was broken. In addition to all the mausoleums and sepulchers being looted, the great heavy capstone that sat above the entrance had been physically moved. The records say that it took well over a great many dwarves with stone-moving equipment to move it into place when the kaer was sealed, but somebody had moved it, and a great long shaft gaped open to the sky. We checked our documents and rotated some controls in the correct order, which caused stairs to appear, which we carefully descended.

At the bottom of the spiral staircase, there were rooms, which seemed uninhabited, except that Romari immediately said that some medium sized leathery grey balls that were scattered about were both alive (did he say "alive" maybe he just said "not inanimate", sometimes it is hard to keep the distinction in mind), and were sucking up magic and spewing forth corruption. I threw a spear at the closest one as the spellcasters cast spells. The two leathery balls we could see unfolded into humanoid forms, and attacked us. For a great while afterwards, more and more of these balls rolled up, unfolded and attacked us. I think in the end there were about 8 of them. I think somebody or another called them Erhlgren, and said they were constructs.

The first few that we fought seemed to have a horrible "Cursed Luck" power that I have heard so much about, and occasionally experienced. What should have been easy blows missed totally. Worse, they were cursing my ability to Avoid Blows! I had 3 or 4 blows that should have been moderately easy to avoid hit me for grievous wounds and damage. Ceadda also had great problems with these things, at one time he was had so many hitting him that he was harried, and by the end of the fight was barely on his feet and needed to step behind Romari for cover! Fortunately, only the first few seemed to have the Cursed Luck ability, and we finally slew the last one.

I suggested we return up the stars to exit the kaer for at least an hour or two so we could do recovery tests, and I had so little karma left that I proposed we might wish to wait the night before reentering. I used my Garlen stone to heal one of my two wounds, and with Nista's "Recovery" spell healed all my current damage. Unfortunately, during the night 4 slipshades slipped out of the kaer and attempted to attack us in our sleep. Fortunately, Nista spotted them in time to get everybody on their feet and ready. This saved us from their initial ambush, but it turns out that slipshades have a power that allows them to hide in plain sight. After their initial ambush failed, we ganged up on one and killed it. But the other three all disappeared from right in front of us. We reorganized such that we all stood back to back next to the fire as we awaited their attack. Unfortunately, their first ambush attack was a vicious wound that drove Ceadda, who while mostly healed from his previous combat, had not totally healed, into unconsciousness.

It was a vicious and close-fought fight. I spent my very last karma dropping the very last slipshade! It was about time for our watch anyway, so Romari and myself did our karma rituals and took over the watch after binding Ceadda's wounds and laying him into his bedroll. After a good night's sleep and most of his next day's recovery tests, he was feeling fine and we reentered the kaer, finished exploring the uppermost level, then went down a level where we came upon an Orricalcum door ripped off it's hinges guarded by 3 deathless reavers, which we slew.

Time for another short break.
Oh, and how do we carry this Orricalcum door back to Throal?

User avatar
BattleChad
Posts:422
Joined:Sat Sep 23, 2017 7:43 pm

Re: AAR: The Broken Kaer

Post by BattleChad » Wed Jul 11, 2018 11:18 pm

The Great Library of Throal thanks Thane for his contribution.

Journal Rewards: 650 Legend and 425 silver

User avatar
BattleChad
Posts:422
Joined:Sat Sep 23, 2017 7:43 pm

Re: AAR: The Broken Kaer

Post by BattleChad » Mon Aug 06, 2018 5:17 pm

Thane alerted me to another potential Kaer Delve, so I packed up my things, made my way to the Gates and waited for the party to be ready to depart. We spent the next few days making our way deeper into the Throalic mountains in search of the hidden entrance. It took a bit of looking around, but eventually a likely landmark was spotted and we made our way over.

The area directly around the entrance was littered with what looked like desecrated graves and overturned coffins. All signs that were were about to have a fair amount of fun. We found a staircase leading down into the earth, and so made our descent. We didn't see any immediate threats, but Romari soon noticed that the strange lumpy gray balls that were scattered around seemed to be sucking up magical energy.

No sooner had he said something than these things had begun to roll toward us and unfold into strange, gaunt creatures, obviously Horror Constructs. A battle ensued. While it seemed like the fight should have been relatively easy, these monsters seem to have the ability to alter your luck, so the battle was more hard-fought than I would have expected at first glance. At one point, I even had to step behind the well armored Romari to catch my breath. Not my proudest moment, but tactical retreats serve a purpose.

We decided to return topside and camp for the evening while tending to our wounds. During the night we were ambushed by what I can only describe as animate shadows. Definitely not easy to spot in the night. We attempted to circle up, back to back, but even still, one was able to take me unawares, and I fell. Luckily, my companions are no slouches, and were able to fend of the threat without my assistance.

The next morning I was feeling much better, and descended once again. Eventually we discovered an orichalcum door that had been ripped from its hinges, and guarded by a trio of skeletal constructs of a height similar to Thane, each sporting six arms. This fight went much better than our previous encounters, and soon their bones were scattered lifeless across the Kaer floor. Having reached the end of our reserves, we agreed to depart for the time being, and return at a later date to continue our exploration.

User avatar
etherial
Posts:964
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:04 pm
Location:Berlin, Massachusetts
Contact:

Re: AAR: The Broken Kaer

Post by etherial » Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:35 pm

The Great Library of Throal thanks Ceadda for his contribution.

Journal Rewards: 650 Legend and 425 silver

Locked