AAR: [9M] Shadows of the Past (2021-02-12 23:59 GMT)

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bronzemountain
Posts:606
Joined:Fri Feb 21, 2020 10:02 pm
AAR: [9M] Shadows of the Past (2021-02-12 23:59 GMT)

Post by bronzemountain » Tue Feb 09, 2021 2:54 pm

LFG: Shadows of the Past
GM: Dvarim
ECR: 0
Difficulty: Medium

Rumor: One of Azurea's aunties has indicated that she knows a strange and mysterious hermit who might be able to help Azurea find answers about her past. As is right and proper and traditional, Azurea would like to bring a big group of people to thoroughly upset the hermit.
Requested by: Azurea

Notes:
- Adventure runs at 7:00pm EST on Friday, February 12th
- As always, I run groups of 5 players.

Sign up format:

Code: Select all

[b]Name:[/b] Character name
[b]Date of Last Game Played:[/b]
[b]Circle:[/b] Circle of your character
[b]Discipline:[/b] Your character's Discipline(s)
[b]Unique:[/b] What your character is bringing to the table.
[b]Downtime:[/b] Talents and Skills that other characters can use over downtime: [Talent] [Step including +Karma Step if appropriate] ([Rank]) ([Further Details])
Last edited by bronzemountain on Sat Feb 13, 2021 2:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.

LadyDragoon
Posts:143
Joined:Wed May 27, 2020 2:11 am

Re: LFG: [9M] Shadows of the Past (2021-02-12 23:59 GMT)

Post by LadyDragoon » Tue Feb 09, 2021 2:58 pm

Name: Azurea M.D. (S.O.A.P)
Circle: ECR 9
Discipline: Shadow 9/Purifier 5
Last Played: 13/12/2020
Quote/Unique: You have no proof that it was my blade that killed him. I was just around the body to see if I could help heal him.
Notable Abilities: Sneakiest Of All Purifiers
Downtime: Alchemy 6 (12)
Booster Potions - 2 days for 2
Small Light Quartz - 4 days
Absorb Blow Charms - 4 days

Lashana
Posts:167
Joined:Wed Jun 03, 2020 9:40 pm
Location:Virginia Beach, VA USA

Re: LFG: [9M] Shadows of the Past (2021-02-12 23:59 GMT)

Post by Lashana » Tue Feb 09, 2021 4:13 pm

Name: LaShana
Last played on: 2021/2/7
ECR: 10 (491715)
Discipline: Thief 10/Scout 6
Quote/Unique: Well that was....interesting/fun/unique!! Can we do it again?
Notable Abilities: Enthusiasm and an ability to fumble/stumble into trouble. Can also open...and close....doors - possibly even if they are locked....and a wicked bow
Also can speak some languages, track things, be incredibly sneaky, survive a bit in the wild while navigating! 😁
Downtime: none

Sharkforce
Posts:527
Joined:Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:39 am

Re: LFG: [9M] Shadows of the Past (2021-02-12 23:59 GMT)

Post by Sharkforce » Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:15 pm

Thoroughly upsetting hermits is one of my specialties! :)

Name: Zivilyn
ECR: 10
Last Played: Feb 7 (Feb 8 GMT though)
Discipline: Shaman/Wizard/Elementalist/Nethermancer 8/7/6/5
Notable Abilities: Spells, a little bit of everything at this point. Good with animals. Only *mostly* incompetent at social stuff.
Downtime: Downtime: Animal Training (Talent) - Step 20 including karma (Rank 10) (can train up to 10 commands total, or improve non-combat skills by +1 per command used on it)
Research - Step 24 including karma (Rank 5). +3 to the step is available at a cost of 20 sp for access to the Great Library of Throal.
Item History - Step 20 including karma (Rank 8)
Design Enchanting Pattern - Step 21
Create Blood Charm - Step 21 (for the moment, you'll need to supply your *own* patterns)

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

Re: LFG: [9M] Shadows of the Past (2021-02-12 23:59 GMT)

Post by sigfriedmcwild » Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:41 pm

Name: Norg
Last played on: 2021-01-30 (or 2021-02-11)
ECR: 10 (635145lp)
Discipline: Gauntlet 10 / Air Sailor 5
Quote/Unique: The punch is not the goal, the punch is the way
Notable Abilities: PUNCH! JUMP! some awareness, some navigation, some wilderness survival, the worst physician this side of the mountains
Downtime: none

verse86
Posts:269
Joined:Tue Jun 16, 2020 11:16 pm

Re: LFG: [9M] Shadows of the Past (2021-02-12 23:59 GMT)

Post by verse86 » Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:15 pm

Name: Thorkell Gulbrandsen
Date of Last Game Played: 2/7/2021 (As Vallone)
ECR: 10
Discipline: Weaponsmith 9/Warrior 5
Unique: Thorkell brings the downtime activities. Besides that he is a perceptive and tanky troll.
Downtime:
[Craftsman] Rank 9 / 33 (+2 if metal) can make mundane items, weapons, and armor
[Efficient Forge Weapon] Rank 11 / 26 (+2 if metal) (can forge rank weapons at once)
[Rapid Forge Weapon] Rank 11 / 26 (+2 if metal) (can use extra successes to reduce downtime by 1 day each)
[Rapid Forge Armor] Rank 11 / 26 (+2 if metal) (can use extra successes to reduce downtime by 1 day each)
[Item History] Rank 4 / 24
[Research] Rank 6 / 22
[Design Enchanting Pattern] Rank 10 / 30
[Craft True Pattern] Rank 10 / 34 (+2 if metal)
Last edited by verse86 on Wed Feb 10, 2021 4:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

Shokunin
Posts:136
Joined:Fri Nov 24, 2017 1:50 pm

Re: LFG: [9M] Shadows of the Past (2021-02-12 23:59 GMT)

Post by Shokunin » Wed Feb 10, 2021 1:36 am

Name: Vlolkir
Date of Last Game Played: 30Jan
Circle: ECR 9
Discipline: Skystalker/horrorRaider
Unique: ultraviolence. also some unique knowledge/intel abilities.
Downtime: Nada

Sharkforce
Posts:527
Joined:Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:39 am

Re: LFG: [9M] Shadows of the Past (2021-02-12 23:59 GMT)

Post by Sharkforce » Sat Feb 13, 2021 7:02 am

From the Journal of Zivilyn, Windling Magician: Shadows of the Past

It seems Azurea has found a lead on something of importance to her; information on her past. She does not know who her birth parents were, and was adopted as an infant by the inhabitants of a small kaer hastily built from the wreckage of an overturned airship to provide shelter to a an adoptive family of (former?) nomads in the Throalic Mountains. Her Aunt Boogaloo had suggested that she might ask a hermit who lives in the mountains known for his oracular abilities. A hermit seer in the mountains that nobody seems willing to Name, you say? Well, it has been some time since I visited my master, I'll be happy to come along.

Joining us as well are Norg, Lashana, and Thorkell, who have met the old grouch, and Vlolkir (who, like Azurea, had not). 4 Trolls, 2 Windlings, a Shrieker Bat and a Dire Wolf... there's probably a joke in there somewhere.

We arrived at the tower and, unsurprisingly, came across a number of signs telling us we were not welcome. He did something to hide the door... looked like some kind of illusion, but whether it was Illusionist magic or just some Nethermancy trick I'm not familiar with (or something else entirely, I very much doubt I've seen the *entirety* of his private library) I am unsure. LaShana went up to the windows to say hello and stopped short of getting hit with some sort of ward, but also managed to get him to admit that he was in, and begrudgingly he let us in.

Azurea told him her tale of woe, and it seems he actually did have something that would help. Not anything as simple as just giving an answer, of course (when is *anything* that simple?), but then again if she expected it to be that easy she wouldn't bring a crew of Warden and almost-Warden Adepts to do it. No, he set up a very interesting sort of ritual using an old unusual device, powered by thread magic and consisting of shallow dishes on which he placed candles in a ring, surrounded by little figures made from some sort of putty. It seems the magic levels the device was designed for were simply not present any more, so we had to use a little bit of blood magic to get it started, and then things got pretty weird.

First it got dark around the outside of the circles he had drawn (which honestly isn't *that* weird around Nethermancers), leaving just enough light that the candles cast shadows from the figures he had made from our blood and the putty. The shadows started moving as he did something with the candles, and as he told us to stay focused on the shadows, they came alive, took on a form of substance, enveloped each of us in our own little circle around the outside of the device (and also enveloped Mister Wuggums, his cat, who had been pawing at the shadows) until they had covered us entirely and then dragged us down into the shadows beneath ourselves. I'm just going to go out on a limb and speculate that the device might have been made by a Nethermancer.

Anyways, we wound up in a place that was basically nothing, where each of us had a sort of vision of the past. They were a little garbled though, so we had to put them in order, and here's what we figured; first, shortly before the beginning of the scourge, a group of Namegivers came to a kaer door seeking shelter. The kaer could not take them in, but they did receive the aid of a group of volunteers in an airship. What their plan ultimately was I cannot say, but they didn't make it very far, and crashed in a valley, but managed to get out safely and crash the airship in such a way that they managed to build an emergency kaer out of it.

Next, much more recently we saw the interior of the kaer that had been unable to take in the travelers, home to a Moot that had made their shelter from True Water and True Earth, a peculiar combination. This next bit is a few visions combined, and we can only guess at the order to some extent; the Chief and his Wife had children (it was unclear how many in the vision, but in the end it seems like the number was three, based on information we gained later). One of those children was Azurea.

The chief had an advisor, A woman with a painted face who was known for her ability to foretell the future, and by her guidance he led well. That advisor had a lover, a young Troll warrior, honored among his people, but who was married to another and had to keep his relationship secret. One night, while the lovers slept together in her home, shadows crept into the warrior's home, and for the lack of a warrior there his family were slain, and the portion of the storehouses of the kaer which that couple had been expected to guard within their home was lost in some fashion.

The Chief passed judgment on the young warrior, and his horns were sawn off and he was cast out from them. The next vision we saw was of the advisor casting bones and foretelling some dire fate should the Chief's daughter not be cast out of the kaer. A bit of speculation here; based on the reasons we were having these visions, there may have been no true prophecy there. After all, why would we need to know that the seer had a lover or that the lover was cast out otherwise? Admittedly, I have no evidence... yet.

These visions were devoid of sound, and of shadowy detail, and each of us saw only our own portion. (Mister Wuggums also had visions of his own, of the cats of the kaer bravely fighting the rodent menace that threatened the grain stores, which poses an interesting question; had we not had Azurea's interests in mind, I wonder what we might have seen instead.

Lastly, the Chief brought to his home 11 warriors in secret, whose Names I record here to honour their courage: Enrich, Thali, Sumervet, Nitoni, Arda, Molin, Angaset, Speili, Vartin, Bael, and Ragni. Strangely, we each felt ourselves being drawn into one of them, and we were able to hear and to act within the vision. These 11 owed him a life debt, and he called on them to secretly bring his daughter to the kaer made from the airship wreckage, Azurea's childhood home. He gave them a token that would gain them access if they arrived, no doubt gained from a pair of Trolls that had went with the airship initially and then made haste back to their kaer when they crashed; a token conveying a debt owed by the inhabitants of the crashed airship to the kaer of ice and earth.

A false infant was publicly cast out of the kaer, the true infant was secretly escorted by the 12 warriors; many dangers they did face. Stone that became as liquid and then hardened with a victim inside; strange wasps that stung with an icy venom that transformed the body to ice; great quakes that cracked the earth asunder, the hunting grounds of deadly horrors, each claimed a victim. Lastly, a great horde of gnashers sensed us and gave chase; the last of our companions who were not from their future gave her life to buy us time to escape, but could only delay a few, and a veritable wave of teeth and claws descended upon us.

Knocked to the ground, grappled and pinned, bitten and clawed, we barely managed to fend them off while LaShana guided her shadow of the past with the infant to escape through a flock of winged gnashers, and the rest of us bought her precious time and took down a scant few of the many huge twisted forms with our dying breaths.

Obviously, we didn't actually die; they were shadows, and we were but puppeting them the way that Azurea puts on plays with her hands. I find it somewhat improbable that there was any sort of four-discipline Magician amongst the Trolls of that moot, or that they had two Trolls that could somehow fly, and yet I could move and act as though I were myself even though I looked the part of a Troll. Instead, we woke up in the hermit's home, which was much more appealing than being a snack for a bunch of gnashers, no matter how noble the cause (even if there was some grim satisfaction in watching them struggle to get past my defensive magic and knowing that when they did wound us, the Boar Spirit only made us stronger). I shall simply say that had we been there in reality, the gnashers would have had more gnasher to eat than Troll.

My recent acquisition of The Damarish Rose, a crystal buckler that guards the user from horror magic and sheds light in tainted regions that causes them and their creations to shrink away from it, would have proved most fortuitous for those Trolls had they been there. Backing up a little, when I returned home from Kampung Gajah the long way around (through Travar, around the plains a time or two, back to Throal, and then home... you know, the loooooooong way), there was a package waiting for me. I do not know who sent it; perhaps a gift from the Lahala in thanks for tending to her peoples' wounds and fighting their enemies? Or perhaps from someone else. Whoever it was, it was devastatingly effective in that fight, you'd almost swear they were a seer themselves. I hope I shall never need it, but I do not believe that to be true for even a second. There is work to be done,

bronzemountain
Posts:606
Joined:Fri Feb 21, 2020 10:02 pm

AAR: [9M] Shadows of the Past (2021-02-12 23:59 GMT)

Post by bronzemountain » Sat Feb 13, 2021 2:16 pm

AAR: Shadows of the Past
GM: Dvarim
ECR: 9
Difficulty: Medium

Player Rewards:
Azurea: 39,000 LP, 1,000 sp, 3 TIPs
Zivilyn: 39,000 LP, 1,000 sp, 3 TIPs
LaShana: 39,000 LP, 1,000 sp, 3 TIPs
Norg: 39,000 LP, 1,000 sp, 3 TIPs
Vlolkir: 39,000 LP, 1,000 sp, 3 TIPs
Thorkell: 39,000 LP, 1,000 sp, 3 TIPs

GM Reward: Youghdel: 200 LP, 150 SP, 3 TIPs

Downtime:
Zivilyn: Downtime: Animal Training (Talent) - Step 19 including karma (Rank 9) (can train up to 9 commands total, or improve non-combat skills by +1 per command used on it)
Research - Step 24 including karma (Rank 5). +3 to the step is available at a cost of 20 sp for access to the Great Library of Throal.
Item History - Step 17 including karma (Rank 6)
Thorkell: [Craftsman] Rank 9 / 33 (+2 if metal) can make mundane items, weapons, and armor
[Efficient Forge Weapon] Rank 11 / 26 (+2 if metal) (can forge rank weapons at once)
[Rapid Forge Weapon] Rank 11 / 26 (+2 if metal) (can use extra successes to reduce downtime by 1 day each)
[Rapid Forge Armor] Rank 11 / 26 (+2 if metal) (can use extra successes to reduce downtime by 1 day each)
[Item History] Rank 4 / 24
[Research] Rank 6 / 22
[Design Enchanting Pattern] Rank 10 / 30
[Craft True Pattern] Rank 10 / 34 (+2 if metal)
Azurea: Alchemy 6 (12)
Booster Potions - 2 days for 2
Small Light Quartz - 4 days
Absorb Blow Charms - 4 days

Summary:
The Adepts have seen a glimpse of the past by journeying through a magical shadow play. They discovered the following:
  • Once upon a time, a party of brave Iceclaw trolls sailed an airship down and upended it to form the structure for the kaer where Azurea grew up.
  • A chief of the Iceclaw had a woman with a painted face as a trusted, and perhaps oracular advisor.
  • A warrior of that trollmoot slipped away in the middle of the night for a secret romantic rendezvous with his lover, the painted seer. In doing so, he left his family vulnerable to a Horror attack, which killed them and also destroyed some of the kaer's stores.
  • That warrior was outcast, and his secret lover, the seer, was furious.
  • Some time later, the seer enacted her vengeance by using her position and reputation to claim the chief had to abandon his daughter.
The Adepts then took on the roles of some of the trolls with taking the chief's infant daughter (Azurea) to safety in the airship kaer below. They traveled through the Scourge. They faced strange and terrible things and, finally, bought one of their group enough time to get the baby to safety. Until now, no one remembered their sacrifice.
The Eleven: Enrich, Thali, Sumervet, Nitoni, Arda, Molin, Angaset, Speili, Vartin, Bael, and Ragni.
Last edited by bronzemountain on Sun Feb 14, 2021 8:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

LadyDragoon
Posts:143
Joined:Wed May 27, 2020 2:11 am

Re: AAR: [9M] Shadows of the Past (2021-02-12 23:59 GMT)

Post by LadyDragoon » Sun Feb 14, 2021 12:39 pm

Dear Auntie Boogaloo,

You might be wondering why this letter is addressed to you and not to the whole kaer like most of my letters. Auntie boogaloo, I think something is wrong with me and I need your wise advice. Recently I have been feeling like something is fundamentally wrong with me. My soul feels like it’s floating in a sea of unknown destination. Maybe this is the aftereffect of being on so many adventures and seeing things that no sane person should see. All I know is that I am frightened, and I need answers. I wish that I was writing to entertain you with my conquests, but I write with sorrow and longing in my heart to know the truth. Why was I thrown away as a child and not wanted? Why could my parents not love me and feel the need to destroy their own flesh and blood? Auntie Boogaloo I plead you to understand I love my adopted family so much, but I feel something missing and it’s tearing me apart. I show everyone around me the happy-go-lucky version of myself on the outside, but I feel unloved and removed from my environment. That is why I went to find the hermit you spoke about in past stories you told me as a child. I needed to know. Please do not hate me.
I made sure I was careful. I took along my best friend LaShana, my adopted big brother Norg, one of my favorite face removing friends Zivilyn, the amazing and few words troll Thorkell, and the famous horror stalker Vlolkir.

As we made our way to the location of the hermit, we came across many different signs asking for us to stay away. I feel that he knew I was coming because some of those signs had to do with warnings about the two things, I hate the most: SPIRITS and CATS. We ignored the warnings and made our way to his tower. There was no door to be seen so my best friend thought it best to fly through the window but stopped just in time before being bug zapped. I guess a few of my colleges had already visited the hermit on more than one occasion, and one of them was taught a few things by the hermit. Needless to say, we bothered him enough that he gave us entry to his home. As cousin Pop’n’ill use to say “He was not a happy camper on a raining day”. This troll was grouchy with a capital GROUCH.

We eventually convinced him to help us out. His first thought of why I was abandoned by my birth parents was because “They didn’t love me”. Of course, he said he was kidding but I had to know the truth. He sat us all down and had us look into the shadows and try and see into the past. Something about seeing through something, something, or something. I really wasn’t paying to much attention, the shadows on the wall had me enchanted. The past came to us in bits and pieces. It showed a kaer turning away namegivers before the scourge was fully upon them, because the chieftain of the kaer could not take them in he did the only thing he could, he offers them an airship. This is the airship that was made into the kaer that you live in auntie. It is the one you raised me in, but you already knew this didn’t you. Fast forward to a new chieftain arguing with an advisor about something, but we do not hear what it’s about. The scene changes and there is a warrior leaving secretly through the night to meet his lover (the advisor) but on that night his wife and child are murdered along with the destruction of kaer’s stores. The warrior is outcast, and of course the advisor is furious. She then goes and get her revenge by telling some sort of lie to the elders. The next vision shows the elders and her saying something to the chieftain, his wife and three children. Auntie… I am one of those children…. I have two brothers. They wrap my baby body in a blanket and carry me away. The scene fades. Oh, aunty I am so full of hate. Why was I the one to be picked out of the three children? Why not the oldest? Is it because in the visions he paid so much attention to me? Did my father not love me to fight for me?

But that is not where the story ends now is it aunty because we know both know that that is not what really happened in the end, don’t we. I saw the real ending. Not the one that I was lied to from our elders. The last vision showed me that my real father loved me dearly and risked his life to call upon 11 warriors to take me to the kaer that my so-called adopted family created with the airship. Those 11 warriors sacrificed their lives for me. They travelled through the wastelands of the scourge to bring me to the kaer. 11 proud warriors auntie … they died because of me. I saw their deaths in the last of the vision. I saw each one of them die with honour. For what???? To save a child who is nothing??? No, don’t tell me that I am special, because all I see in my nightmares is each one their faces.

I now no longer feel empty because that part of me is filled with rage that that woman (advisor) would do this to them. Aunty I am going to find out why she chose me. I am going to go to my home and find out how she could have done this and make sure she pays for each of those 11 warriors' deaths. I will meet up with my family and I will look them in the eye and tell them I understand now.
I do not know if I will return from this journey the same as I was before I left but this is something I need to do. Please understand. I need to know who I am.

Azurea

P.S. The hermit said he loves your cupcakes

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