AAR: [4M] Kaer-a-Lot (2021-03-05 23:59 GMT)

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Sharkforce
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Re: LFG: [4M] Kaer-a-Lot (2021-03-05 23:59 GMT)

Post by Sharkforce » Sat Mar 06, 2021 6:33 am

Orlam Rolfsom, Journal Entry # 9: Kaer-a-lot

Of late I have been looking at the maps we have of the regions surrounding Throal. We know much of many places, but oddly one area quite close to Throal is almost completely blank. I speak of the great valley between the Throal and Caucavic Mountains; we know a few settlements along the Serpent, but almost nothing of the Caucavic River or any of the regions surrounding either of them. The Almarra Windlings escaped the predation of a vile horror from the northern portion of the valley, but even they know little (most of what they knew were other windling kaers, it seems, most of which have been absorbed into the Almarra or have been destroyed by the horror assault).

I resolved to put together a team to mount an expedition to the region. R'edtarian, Vallone, Rendar (an Ork Cavalryman I had not previously met), and Truck would join me; as we would be exploring into wild lands, I felt physical security would be quite valuable. Having put together a team, we were granted admittance to the Syrtis ambassador to Throal, and we proposed an expedition in search of kaers, sealed or destroyed, in the southern regions along the Caucavic (they would provide the funding, we would provide the expertise). She was most interested, and even volunteered a riverboat to take us to the area. We would need to be in Sosanopa in a week's time to meet up with the boat, the Scale Runner, and R'edtarian took some time to research in Throal's great library. What he found was almost nothing; few records of any sort, almost no names, no locations. This matched with the ambassador had indicated they knew was in the region as well.

We set sail for Jurong, a niall recently established in the region, past what was formerly the furthest-along nial known to be along the Caucavic (a recently unsealed kaer). We made good time and arrived much to the surprise of the locals, who had not expected anything nearly so grand as the riverboat to show up any time soon. We set out to gather information, and heard of strange animals in the region, the excellent quality of the wood that was sure to see the village expand, the presence of many ruins, and signs of Namegivers camped towards the north of the village who the locals assumed were trying to find something valuable.

We decided there was enough to at least spend a day in the woods surrounding town, although our initial efforts were a bit slow getting started. While following a promising lead, we ran across four strange bears; strange because they were working together, and also because they could project magical beams from their chest, with effects ranging from lethargy to ecstatic outbursts. They were no match for us (and a small troupe of monkeys watching from the trees seemed to decide we were too dangerous to make a good meal), but on examining them astrally out of pure curiosity I was able to spot that their patterns had portions somewhat reminiscent of kaer wards. Perhaps the wards were leaking into their patterns somehow and giving them these strange abilities?

We took a quick rest and a warm meal to recover our energy and then headed back to investigate further, finding that a nearby stream was also full of strange energies from small pieces of worked stone that seemed to have been rolled downstream by the current, leading us to follow the stream. The forest grew quite unusual as we went; great towering mushrooms, strange new plants the likes of which I had not seen (we gathered some samples and returned them later), and eventually, a clearing with sounds up ahead indicating the presence of some creatures. Vallone scouted ahead and reported the presence of strange bipedal creatures that had the look of altered Dwarf, Human, and Ork that seemed to be trying to track us by sound.
Rendar bravely volunteered to lure them away, on his great granlain steed, and led them on a merry chase through the jungle. Two of them were oddly fast, but in the end his skill allowed him to outpace them. While they were gone, we quickly found enough evidence to suggest the area had contained some variety of fortification for a kaer. We explored inward and found a great glowing gate intact, a good sign I think. The badly crumbled walls that we had barely been able to find and what I believe were the twisted ancestors of the original guards that Rendar had distracted was less promising, of course.

Still, we were able to make contact with someone inside who asked about the scourge. We reassured him that although the elemental clocks had not signalled it, the scourge was largely over; Namegivers were coming out of their kaers and spreading across the land. We were eventually admitted entry, and after a brief demonstration that we were not tainted we were able to enjoy the festivities and experience their customs. The locals seemed to have a governing council with representatives from various communities, and already had a copy of the council compact. They were pleased to hear that Thera had not returned in force, and seemed excited to have a chance to visit Cliff City and establish some degree of relations with Syrtis (they expressed a desire to remain fully independent; I suspect that their location will dictate that if they do not exactly become a part of the aropagoi, they shall become quite dependent on them).

Of most interest to me is the fact that the wife of the First Speaker (the head of the ruling council) expressed interest in contacting some other nearby kaers, indicating that there definitely was something unusual in the lack of information on the region, as well as locating a large city relevant to her ancestors. As she requested discretion, I shall not disclose too many details here; suffice to say I expect to return to Kaer Voklar and find it, although as nobody has any truly high quality maps or information about the area it would seem prudent to narrow down the location first.

ChrisDDickey
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Re: LFG: [4M] Kaer-a-Lot (2021-03-05 23:59 GMT)

Post by ChrisDDickey » Sat Mar 06, 2021 7:26 am

You are reading the writings of Truck of the deep Servos. Windling Warrior.

Orlam, an Elementalist of my acquaintance felt that the area north of the Throalic mountains had not been explored post-scourge as thoroughly as he would like, and that there were almost no kear's known to be open and no settlements in the area except right on the rivers He talked a few of his friends, including me, to travel up the Caucavic River and look for kaers to open. We did some research and found that there was a very surprising lack of knowledge about the area. It seemed that at one time there were a great many people there, but it is almost as if nobody bothered to write anything about them down (or as if somebody removed all the documents about them from the public stacks of the library). Oriam talked the ambassador to Throal from Syrtis (who said Cliff City also had few if any documents about the area) into providing a boat for for us.  As it turned out, we did not take the boat very far into the at all. The boat picked us up in Sossanopa and took us to Jurong, the one and only good sized town on the Caucavic River, which was only a few days travel from the confluence of the Serpent and the Caucavic. We asked around town if they had any local knowledge handed down over the centuries, and while they did not, there were reports of some ruins not far away that we decided were worth investigating. 

We traveled to the area, and found 4 extraordinary bears that shot rays of force from their chests. I was sore wounded, but we subdued the bears and when they (and we) had recovered tracked them to their den in hopes of learning more about their magical powers. We learned that a magical influence seems to be flowing down a stream, and followed the stream up towards it's source. We came upon a group of devolved namegivers, who Rendar cleverly lead away, leaving us able to examine the area more thoroughly. We found the long destroyed ruins of what we eventually decided was some outer defenses of a kear. At the center of these defenses we found an entrance, protected by strong magic (Note: Don't touch glowing mystical energy fields protecting gateways. Never touch them.). After several of my companions had been zapped, one of us noted some ruins that could be made to glow. Several minutes of experimentation aligned the glowing such that a spell was triggered that allowed us to communicate with the residents of the Kaer.

They invited us into an anti-room where we spoke to the leaders of Kaer Voklar, a 1500 person mixed-race kaer, and gained their trust. We told them about the situation outside and told them that the Scourge was considered over. They told us much about the area, including the (approximate) location of two more kears, and the location of a very large pre-scourge city (though they think it might have been abandoned or fallen before the scourge was properly started. Anyway, lots of more stuff for us to explore. 

We introduced some of the kear residents to the outside,and escorted a delegation to Jurong and eventually to Cliff City. 

redwraith
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Re: AAR: [4M] Kaer-a-Lot (2021-03-05 23:59 GMT)

Post by redwraith » Sun Mar 07, 2021 8:54 pm

I was traveling back to Throal from Kampung Gaja after staying there for an extender time after the attack by The Scourge, when Orlam approached me to journey with him into the valley of the Caucavic river to the east of Throal. Apparently this area is a bit of a blank spot in the map of Barsaive and he wants to explore the region along with the backing of Syrtis. I agreed to join him as it would be nice to find some forgotten Kaers and bring them out of hiding.

I did some research before we left and couldn't find anything in the short time I spent in the great library which shouldn't be a surprise since the whole reason we were going on this expedition was to fill in the gaps. I meet up with the other members of our party Vallone, Render, Truck and of course Orlam before we traveled to Sosanopa. Once we reach the growing town we boarded a riverboat to take us into the Caucavic with a small village of Jurong as our destination. The riverboat was quite the experience and the travel was uneventful but the scenery we passed was very diverse.

Once we reached Jurong we all eagerly got off to stretch our legs and talk with the locals. I separated from the group and looked for some of the less than honest folk in the village as if anyone knew of any Kaer's or graves to loot they would know. They pointed us to the north east into the forest as having several ruins which they had already picked over but would be a good place to start. They and many of the locals did warn us that the beasts of the forest often had powers or abilities not normally expected.

We headed into the forest and the going was a little difficult as the terrain was new to us all thus it took some time to get our bearings right. We eventually came across a fair sized clearing in the forest and headed that way to see if we could get a better view of the land or at least and nice spot to set up camp. Well it turned out that some local bears had the same thought we did that the clear would make a nice place to rest. Our stumbling into the clearing disturbed their slumber and they took exception to us rudely awakening them.

The locals had warned us that the animals of the forest had strange abilities and these bears had some mystical attacks which took poor Truck by surprise when a beam of energy shot out from one and knocked him out of the air. Though it seemed more like it encouraged him to land softly... Anyways we made the decision to not kill the poor animals and only knocked them unconscious.

We continued to explore the forest but didn't make much head way so we went back to the clearing and then we followed the bear tracks back towards their den. This lead us to a small river which the bears used for drinking water and we found several worked stone in the river bed. These had washed up here from some structure further up the river. Where we found the forest of trees becoming a forest of mushrooms? Not sure if huge mushrooms would be a forest or some other name?

After traveling a little bit into the mushroom forest we came across another clearing which was home to a strange band of namegivers. We didn't feel like battling with other name givers when we were the outsiders so after some discussion Rendar offered to lead them away since he was the only one of us with a mount. After he lead the group of namegivers away we were able to explore the ruins and found that this looked like some kind of ancient fort. Towards the center of the ruins was a strange cave/door protected by magic ruins and an eerie glow.

Vallone threw a blade at the glowing door and was shocked in response to his aggression. After spending some time examining the door and it's surrounding I touched a couple of the ruins which started to glow and then stop glowing. After a period of trial and error we were able to get all of the ruins to glow and a stone head appeared and spoke with us.

After a short wait the outer door opened and we were able to talk with the leaders of this Kaer. Arunath asked us about the outside world and we explained to him and the others that the scourge was over and that people were living outside of Kaer's all across Barsaive. We talked about Throal and that a village was just south of them along the river if they wanted to meet with them.

After a delightful dinner Uttara asked us if we had come across any other Kaers in the region and we explained that we had not. She also asked us about a city Murova that was north of their Kaer. We all looked at each other in confusion. City? what city? Not a one of us had ever heard of this city. How strange. First this region has very little history or maps in the great library and now a city that no one has heard of. It's almost like this area was erased from Throal's history books and teachings.

We offered to escort a group to Jurong and even to Throal if they wanted. They were eager to visit with Jurong but not to Throal at this time. We left them with new knowledge of the area and would be able to add some details to the map of Barsaive in Throal. A nice distraction from dealing with horrors, undead and the other dangers I've been faced with recently.

I must meet with Calina once I get back to Throal as she seems to get into research much more so than any one else I know of, maybe she and dig up some information for me about Murova and the "Lost Valley of Throal".

verse86
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Re: LFG: [4M] Kaer-a-Lot (2021-03-05 23:59 GMT)

Post by verse86 » Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:57 am

Vallone's Journal:
I went to Throal looking for work. I found Orlam looking for a group to explore the area north of Throal for more kaers. Having come from Almarra, I offered my services.We made our way to Sosanopa. From there we headed east on the Serpent then north on the Caucavic. We eventually reached a small town at the outer reaches of Syrtis's territory called Jurong.

We spent some time in Jurong hoping to catch any information about kaers or other civilizations. For my part I played a wallflower and caught a conversation talking about some ruins to the west. I was able to discern which direction he was pointing and tell the group.

We set out looking for the ruins and hopefully a kaer. Unfortunately, we got turned around and ended up running into the strangest bears I've ever seen. They could fire beams out of their stomachs. I didn't get hit by one, but it didn't look pleasant when the others got hit. We were able to subdue the bears without killing them which was nice. Killing unnecessarily is not my style.

After that we finally got our bearings. We found an entrance that led down to a mushroom forest. We could hear noises up ahead. I scouted ahead and found these weird looking people with animal features and primitive tools. Rendar came up with an awesome plan to lead them away before losing them and returning to the group. After he returned we headed deeper and found a glowy force field thing in a door. I was afraid it might zap anyone who touched it so I tried throwing a shadow spear to see what would happen. The glowy stuff jumped all the way back and ZAPPED ME! It took me an hour to get my hair to stop standing up after that.

The rest of the group decided to take a different route and push some rune things on the wall. They figured out there was a pattern to them and eventually got them all to glow. A voice came out and asked us who we were. We told them and eventually convinced them to meet with us in a room between the glowy stuff and their actual kaer door. They seemed really happy to know they could leave. One woman asked us if we could look into another area where she believed her ancestors went. Maybe we can look into that at some point. Either way we were able to open up communications between this newly opened kaer and Syrtis. Hopefully things go better for them here than it did for my people.

Dougansf
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Re: AAR: [4M] Kaer-a-Lot (2021-03-05 23:59 GMT)

Post by Dougansf » Sun May 02, 2021 3:15 am

Rendar's Field Report
Orlam entreats House Syrtis for funding and travel support. The representative hosts us with delicacies and strong tea. He wants to look for kaers (open or not) to become new trade partners. We would not be reps of Throal, but of Syrtis. This makes her very interested. She could provide a riverboat for 3 weeks. Any unclaimed property shall be cataloged, and anything taken shall be compensated.

Meet the boat in Sosonopa then take the ship to Jurong on the Caucavic River. Beyond that is unknown territory. Their records show very little of Caucavic.

R’edtarian does some research for 2 days and finds very little about the Caucavic. Suspiciously absent. Nothing post-Scourge. There was a kaer near Jurong, mostly T’skrang. Some letters indicated the desire to purchase the Rites of Protection, but no signature, and no reply included.

Day 7
We take the road to Sosonopa and get there 4 days later. We see about 4 villages growing into towns, each about a day apart.

Sosonopa is about 7,000 people. Primarily dwarfs and t’skrang, but even a single blood elf. There are multiple piers on the river. We head for the trade pier. The Scalerunner is there waiting for us. They’re carrying a lot of cargo, crew, and passengers. Most of which are unloading presently. Orlam presents our documentation and we’re welcomed on board. About an hour later we’re on our way.

Day 11
As we travel up the Caucavic outposts on the river become more sparse. Jurong is a very new river village, looking half-done. The nial extends onto the shoreline. Most of the villagers are looking at the riverboat with awe.

We spend some time chatting up the locals.
  • Truck hears about some rich people pre-Scourge. Who they were is uncertain.
  • I talk to the farmers, animals in the forest include wolves, bears, eagles, and other standard forest animals. They also have some odd monsters.
  • They work a logging camp about a day out. Syrtis is hungry for the wood, major export.
  • R’edtarian contacts the criminal underworld - a few folks that cheat at dice. They haven’t found a kaer to loot, but they know of others searching for them about a day into the woods.
  • Orlam fails to find good navigation marks to any ruins.
  • Vallone eavesdrops on people, and hears about some ruins that may have lingering wards.
Day 12
We head into the forest towards the ruins we’ve heard about. We spot a clearing and find a number of bears there, challenging us with roars.

Truck attacks Gloomy Bear, attempting to Stun, and Distracts Bedtime Bear on the other side of the field.
R’edtarian joins Truck, hitting Gloomy Bear.
Vallone and I pause for the bears.
Cheer Bear roars, with strange saliva dripping from her mouth. She then claws R’edtarian.
Funshine bear rears up and shoots a beam of gold light at me, damaging my armor.
Gloomy Bear shoots a beam of light at Truck, which fails, and he looks very wet afterward. Truck and R’ed both hit Gloomy Bear again.
Bedtime bear lumbers into the clearing and shoots slow beam of purple energy at Trucks back, knocking him down.
Vallone throws shadow spears at Bedtime Bear, wounding it twice.
Orlam hits Cheer Bear with an Ice Mace and Chain.

Vallone throws at Cheer Bears back, knocking it out.
Truck acrobatics up and knocks out Gloomy Bear.
I ride up to Funshine bear and hits it, Quechir kicks it knocking it down.

We leave the bears unconscious. Astral Space is open. The bears have odd things going on in their Patterns. It seems like magical evolution. They don’t appear corrupt. Somewhat similar to kaer wards.

We spot some large monkeys with slick, red fur in the trees watching us, but they scatter when noticed.
We travel for an hour and find a place to camp to eat and recover.

We head back to the clearing and track the bears back to their den. Bedtime bear fell back asleep halfway there. We cross a stream with unnaturally shaped rocks in it. Orlam inspects them and they seem to have floated down from some distance upstream. We find a large cave where the bears are resting inside. The Astral is Open, and there’s a very positive feeling centered on the shaped rocks holding faded residue of magical inscription. Even the water has some magic runoff. I note that it’s odd that four adult bears are living together.

We head upstream. We see lots of plantlife that isn’t native, or natural. Things are getting larger and thicker. We grab some samples of the plantlife for Syrtis. We also see signs of ruined arches overgrown with plantlife.

We hear movement ahead of multiple creatures up ahead, with the occasional grunt. Vallone hides and scouts ahead. R’ed assigns positions to react offensively to any attack. Vallone finds a group of at least five neanderthall Namegivers with rudimentary tools and clothing. I remembered some stories of Heroes encountering Namegivers that adapted during the Scourge.

Quechir and I ride by and draw them all away from their lair. Two of them are fast enough to keep up with Quechir. They quickly start to gain, closing the gap. I lead them towards a ravine and cuts sharply to avoid it, they are unable to make the turn and fall into the ravine.

The rest of the team heads into the lair to inspect it. The walls are still showing signs of magic, but the Astral is bordering on Open. We extrapolate that this was an outer wall around the entrance of the kaer, and head towards the center. After a while, we find a large glowing door, with a short flight of steps up to it. It seems to be Elemental Wood reinforced with Water. Vallone throws a shadow spear at the door and it lashes back with a tendril of glowing vine. We start inspecting the runes, and we figure out a pattern to keep them all glowing at once.

The glowing glyphs then form into a human face, “Identify yourself.” R’ed responds. When we explain that the Scourge is over, they excuse themselves to speak with others. We wait for an hour before they return. They invite us to pass through the second defense for us to speak further. The glow fades, revealing a door of True Wood. Several locks unlatch before the door opens. There we see a human, 2 orks, a troll, and a windling all dressed in ceremonial garb. We all perform our Greeting Rituals and have some refreshments.

Kaer Voklar
Arunath Poylan (Human) First Speaker, was speaking to us before.
Uttara Poylan (Human) Arunath’s wife
Margavi Uktash (Ork) Founder’s Voice (builders)
Gwylla Silivas (Windling) Visitor’s Voice (refugees to the kaer)
Aklash Norvu (Ork) Hammer Voice (crafters)
Velni ingarsdottir (Troll) Grower Voice (agricultural)

They have 1.5K Namegivers, started with 900. There were some lean years, but also those of plenty. We present the Council Compact to them, they already had a copy as they got their protections from Throal.

After about an hour of discussion and introductions, we are brought past the third defense. Once there, we meet the rest of the kaer population and celebrate the opening.

Uttara pulls us aside during the party. Her family may have found refuge in other locations. Their records show 2 other kaers within 1-2 weeks travel from here. There would’ve been a great city, though it may not have been protected. She’s interested in gaining assistance to see what still remains. She refers to the city as Morova.

lebipvid
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Re: AAR: [4M] Kaer-a-Lot (2021-03-05 23:59 GMT)

Post by lebipvid » Wed Apr 27, 2022 9:12 am

the Adepts have contacted the residents of Kaer Voklar. In addition, Uttara Poylan has indicated that there are two other Kaers in the region that should be found and contacted, and has also intimated that she is interested in exploring a ruined settlement on the banks of the Caucavic called Murova.

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