AAR (2M): A Clue Written in the Stars, Wed May 19, 2021 at 20:00 Eastern / 17:00 Pacific / Midnight GMT

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Serespar
Posts:215
Joined:Fri May 18, 2018 3:53 pm
AAR (2M): A Clue Written in the Stars, Wed May 19, 2021 at 20:00 Eastern / 17:00 Pacific / Midnight GMT

Post by Serespar » Sun May 16, 2021 9:15 pm

LFG 2M: A Clue Written in the Stars
Time: Wednesday May 19, 2021, at 20:00 Eastern / 17:00 Pacific / Midnight GMT
GM: Drew/Serespar
Difficulty: 2M
Rumor Source: Merlin

...

Word from your contacts in Throal is...

...that Thage Stormblade, one of those Mershani guys, is lookin for "affordable" adventurer types to help him guard some local astronomer goin out inta the wilds. The scholar is doin some navigation research or somethin, but doesn't wanna get eaten, so Thage is puttin a group together ta guard 'em. Thage's been hangin out over at The Mallet in the Wedshal* if ya wanna check it out.

Note: *The Wedshal is one of the neighborhoods in Throal. The Mallet is a tavern known for its excellent and affordable hard cider.

...

Rumor link: http://fasagames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=2421
Sponsor PC link:http://fasagames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=2417

Adventure intended for 5 Players.
Location: Wilderness around Throal
Reward: Standard rewards for ECR and difficulty.
Potential Adventure Alternative Reward: Half price circle advancement training sponsored by the grateful Mershani community in Throal.
Last edited by Serespar on Thu May 20, 2021 5:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

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

Re: LFG (2M): A Clue Written in the Stars, Wed May 19, 2021 at 20:00 Eastern / 17:00 Pacific / Midnight GMT

Post by Sharkforce » Mon May 17, 2021 3:46 am

Name: Garak
Date of Last Game Played: May 9
Circle: 1
Discipline: Archer 1
Unique: Failure is not an option - it is mandatory. The option is whether or not to let failure be the last thing you do.
Downtime: Nope.

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

Re: LFG (2M): A Clue Written in the Stars, Wed May 19, 2021 at 20:00 Eastern / 17:00 Pacific / Midnight GMT

Post by ChrisDDickey » Mon May 17, 2021 11:46 am

Name: Ceasar
Date Player last played: May 9th
ECR: 1
Discipline: Illusionist 1st Circle - Human.
Quote/Unique: now notice that at no time do any of my fingers leave my hand.
Notable Abilities: Illusion
Downtime: None.

Dougansf
Posts:465
Joined:Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:14 am

Re: LFG (2M): A Clue Written in the Stars, Wed May 19, 2021 at 20:00 Eastern / 17:00 Pacific / Midnight GMT

Post by Dougansf » Mon May 17, 2021 1:24 pm

Name: Indran
Effective Circle Rating: 1 (0 LP)
Discipline: Shaman 1
Unique: Survival, Spells, Healing
Last Time Player Played: 5/1/2021

Downtime:
None.

AVAILABILITY UNCERTAIN. PICK ME LAST!!!
Last edited by Dougansf on Mon May 17, 2021 7:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Merlin
Posts:8
Joined:Tue May 11, 2021 12:22 am

Re: LFG (2M): A Clue Written in the Stars, Wed May 19, 2021 at 20:00 Eastern / 17:00 Pacific / Midnight GMT

Post by Merlin » Mon May 17, 2021 5:28 pm

Name: Thage http://fasagames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=2417
Date of Last Game Played: never
Circle: 1
Discipline: warrior 1
Unique: Can take a lick'n and keep on tick'n. A sword for Maynbruje, a shield for Mershan!
Downtime: None yet.

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

Re: LFG (2M): A Clue Written in the Stars, Wed May 19, 2021 at 20:00 Eastern / 17:00 Pacific / Midnight GMT

Post by verse86 » Tue May 18, 2021 3:07 pm

Name: Z'mokki
Date of Last Game Played: 5/9/2021
ECR: 3
Discipline: Thief 3
Unique: A boisterous thief
Downtime:

If there are not enough players I will join.

Serespar
Posts:215
Joined:Fri May 18, 2018 3:53 pm

Re: AAR (2M): A Clue Written in the Stars, Wed May 19, 2021 at 20:00 Eastern / 17:00 Pacific / Midnight GMT

Post by Serespar » Thu May 20, 2021 5:26 am

Garak, Ork Archer
Ceasar, Human Illusionist
Thage, Human Warrior
Z'mokki, T'skrang Thief

Brought back the star chart readings to Elder Brahe in Throal. Both Bessel the apprentice astronomer and Gertrude the Mule survived.

Standard 2M Awards, 800 LP, 200 SPs, 3 TIPs (plus downtime and journals as applicable).
Alternative Adventure Award, Half Price Circle Advancement Training from the grateful Marshani community in Throal.


Note: The body of Chitra the Elven Weaponsmith was burned in a pyre in a grove in hex 44.12 after she was gored by boars.

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

Re: AAR (2M): A Clue Written in the Stars, Wed May 19, 2021 at 20:00 Eastern / 17:00 Pacific / Midnight GMT

Post by ChrisDDickey » Thu May 20, 2021 2:20 pm

From the journal of Caesar Bonaparte, human Illusionist. 

I heard that the Mershani are looking for clues to find their homeland. The Mershani are a community of humans who decided to pass the Scourge in Throal rather than their homeland. It seems that a few (human) generations after the start of the Scourge, much of the Mershani records suddenly went blank or selectively censored so that no maps or records exist that state where they are from. Other writings, such as literature and financial records remain largely untouched, but any maps, descriptions, directions, or anything that would give even a hint as to where they are from has been erased.  At the same time, suddenly nobody could recall hardly any details that their (now dead) elders had told them about their homeland. They don't know why, but they assume it was a great work of magic of some sort (or at least they can't think of any other explanation).

When the doors of Throal reopened, one of their younger scholars (Bessel) became fascinated with Astronomy, and it's related field of Navigation, and realized that some ancient star charts (including one engraved in stone that was precisely dated) had survived the great editing, and that with some precise measurements at certain places during a certain season, it ought to be possible to calculate the exact place where this stone star chart was made. Bessel and Elder Brahe calculated three likely places, hills about 10 days walk apart, and constructed some instruments that would gather the observations needed. They needed somebody to guard and protect Bezzel in his travels. 

I had traveled to Throal to visit it's great library, and to observe its theater scene. I am greatly impressed by its library, particularly its history and research stacks (its litterature stacks, while large, are not as impressive in quality). The throalic theater scene I have so far found disappointing. Or maybe it is just that dwarvish plays lack a certain passion. I mean I sat through an entire 4 hour play about some iron minors opening a new shaft, and there was not a single cave-in!

Anyway, to get back to the point, I was in Throal, and being short of funds, decided to hire on as an escort to this Bezzel guy. The escort mission was headed by Thage Stormblade, a Mershani Warrior adept himself. In addition to myself there was also Chitra the Elven Weaponsmith, Garak the Ork Archer, and Z'mokki the T'Skrang Thief. 

Our first stop was to be high in the Throalic foothills, so I bought some cold weather gear. We traveled on the  road to Sossanopa for a few days, then turned up into the mountains. We stopped at Mt Meru, (4208) and made camp so that Scholar Bezzel could perform his observations of the stars at night. The chosen spot was right in an avalanche zone (which I had read about). We moved out of the zone and purposely set off a small avalanche so that one would not take us by surprise late that night.

During that night we were attacked by 4 ... something. Some sort of Ice Elemental I assume. They all had different powers, and the one with a zone of cold around it was most distressing. After the fight it seemed that the whole mountain woke up, as if the mountain was one enormous earth elemental. Bezzel announced that his observations were complete, and we gathered our stuff and ran down the mountain as fast as we could.

In the next location, in the hills not far from Clear Creek Crossing (4412) we were attacked by 4 Hill Boar. Sadly Chitra the Elven Weaponsmith was gored to death.

The final location, a few days north of Irondelve was the strangest location yet. It featured fields of flowers, carefully planted in rows. These were tended by thousands of large (fist sized) insects. Some of the insects carried swords and shields! We were careful not to damage the flowers as we carefully entered the cultivated lands, and when approached by the insects, greated them politely. They obviously sent away for someone else, and we waited until a human woman covered in bees appeared. She was escorted by 2 human sized insects. The woman gave off a vibe that reminded me of Questors of Jaspree I have met. Human, but not quite wholly human. She communicated with us and said that they were interested in being good peaceful neighbors with Irondellve. 

We asked, and were given permission to do our observations. She left us one of the human sized insects to communicate with. She named him Bizzalt. We got to the section of the fields we wanted, and there was a huge obelisk there. Bizzalt caused a 30 foot long dragonfly to "decloak" and lift us to the top. From the top we would see past the flower fields a large "city" of mounds similar to termite mounds. Beyond the mounds we could see more flower fields. In addition to the swords and shields, we saw much evidence of a highly evolved society. The irrigation of the fields seemed very sophisticated, and the insects worked together very speedily and efficiently. 

That night Bezzel completed his observations, and we rode the dragonfly back down and traveled to Irondelve with the Queens words of greeting and peace. A few weeks later we got word from Irondelve that a massive fire to the NW had destroyed the area and completely annihilated the hive city and all the fields. The destruction was said to be total. Nobody could think of anything that could do this except for Dragons or Fire Cannon, but this is just speculation. 

The grateful Mershani arranged for an Illusionist of their number to train me in in the mysteries of the 2nd circle of Illusionism, and copy the spell "See the Unseen" from his spellbook.

Merlin
Posts:8
Joined:Tue May 11, 2021 12:22 am

As recorded by Thage Stormblade

Post by Merlin » Thu May 20, 2021 3:18 pm

Mershani chronicle: A Clue written in the stars
Events reported by: Thage Stormblade

Elder Brahe sent his apprentice Bessel with us to vist 3 locations out in the wilderness around Throal. All regional high points from which to get star readings/measurements using some very delicate instrumentation which Bessel brought on the back of an even tempered mule named Gertrude.
The first location we visited was Mount Meru (42.08). Bessel's instrumentation located the best spot to setup for the night's worth of readings but unfortunately it was directly in the path of a teatering avalanche. Thankfully Garak the Ork Archer was able to trigger the avalanche purposefully and in a controlled manner. And Bessel went to work mentioning some strange indications on his sensory equipment. On the first watch (my watch) we were set upon by strange wintery creatures which burrowed through the snow and attacked. I was able to stand between them and Bessel but we fell prey to an area effect of biting cold. Bessel struggeld to get the equipment away while I continued to fend off the unnatural feind as it clwaed and bit my leg causing a wound. The party faught well our first time out and triumphed chasing the last remaining creature away. Ceasar the human Illusionist then sensed some strange rumbling and voices(?!?!) from the mountain itself. I guess that is what caused the strange reading from Bessel's Astral sensing device. Ceasar mentioned something about a mountain spirit waking up so that was our queue to leave quickly. Bessel's measurments fortunely had been captured just before the mayhem broke out so we quietly packed up and left asap.

The second site was in the "Hills of Mist" (44.12) in a lushly vegetated mountain grove blanketed by an erie red haze. This time Bessel's instrumentation hinted toward another strang phenomena which I do not believe we ever deduced. In the night we were attacked by 5 Hill Boars. I charged toward the first one which was thankfully illuminated by a torch (which we needed to keep away from Bessel's light sensitive measurement procedures). I managed to keep it at bay for several exchanges but was unable to fell the beast before it got one good tusk and tear in, knocking me on my back. On the other side of the party 4 other boars charged my companions, killing poor Chitra our Elven Weaponsmith. The party valiently fought and managed to even slay my attacking boar and save me from certain death as I lay stunned, barely clinging to consciousness (2 HP left before unconsciene). In the middle of all the mayhem Bessel was thankfully so wrapped up in the academic minutia I am not certain he was ever aware of the mortal danger he was in. That boy has stead fast focus when it comes to such things. I am thankful for his willing contributions toward our peoples goal.

The third site was across the plains west of Throal in the hills of 43.15. North of Garak's town of IronClaw (IronVale? not sure). Bessel's calculations brought us to a massive field of flowers growing on the top of a hill. Swarms of bees, many the size ofyour first, worked and seemingly guarded the fields. Battle weary, the party decided to try speaking with the large bees which resulted in them apparently fetching an entity known as "The Queen's Voice". A strange woman seamingly naked yet clothed in writhing buzzing bees danced across the field towards us. She was flanked by two 9ft tall insect like creatures. (She was possibly a Questor of Jaspree?) The "Queen's Voice" was able to speak with us in broken Throal and she agreed to let us take peacful star measurements from her feilds if we took a message back to the nearby Ork town declaring the hive's new colony and requesting peaceful co-existance. She eluded to the fact they nectar in the Servos Jungle was dissapearing(?) and the "council of Queens(?)" decided to send a "non-agressive" queen to start this new colony. As we looked beyond the field, in the distance we could see massive structures carved into hills sides and hule dirt mounds that could only be described a massive complex of insect colonies and bee hives. We agreed to the terms and a 30ft long dragon fly seemingly bacame visible over heard and was kind enough to air lift us and Bessel's instrumentation to the top of a rocky plateau for the final star measurements. We quickly left and headed straight to Garrack's town to the South to deliver the Queen's message. Before leaving I was permitted to pick a single flower. We then returned to Throal without incident to arrive to much fan fair (much as how we left) from the Mershani people. Elder Brahe and Bessel now toil to use the collected measurements to pin point a searchable area of the wilderness where we might find our former settlement.

This day our people are one step closer to returning to our sacred homelands!

2 weeks later we received word that the Orks at IronVale(IronClaw?) descovered nothing but a ruined scorched wasteland in the hills where we reported the encounter with the Bee colony. It seems there were no survivors. Very troubling news.

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

Re: AAR (2M): A Clue Written in the Stars, Wed May 19, 2021 at 20:00 Eastern / 17:00 Pacific / Midnight GMT

Post by verse86 » Thu May 20, 2021 9:37 pm

Z'mokki's Journal:
I have become quite a big deal as of late. I have been given my own squad to look over. It consists of Chitraseni an elf weaponsmith, Thage a human warrior, Garak an ork archer, and Caesar a human illusionist. They're all new recruits with no adventuring experience, but I am that well respected to be trusted to whip them into shape.

Like any great leader, I am distinctly aware of the needs of my squad. Thage had been wanting to help his people, the Marshani, find their missing kaer. How could I refuse him? The first issue with finding this kaer was none of his people remembered where it was. To find out more 2e met with some members of his people: Bessel and Brahe. We were to take Bessel and his pack mule Gertrude to different locations to check the stars. This would allow him to triangulate the location marked on a stone. There were 3 locations to we were to take him to: an area to the north in the mountains, a location near Clear Creek Crossing, and a place in the plains near Ironbark Grove. The people gathered to see me and say goodbye. I promised them I would take good care of their Bessel and Thage.

We decided to go north into the mountains first. My keen eye recognized immediately the danger the unsteady mountain ground posed. I decided to have Garak fire at the edge to cause a controlled collapse. We set up camp while Bessel worked on his instruments. Some time in the night we were attacked by some monstrous ice creatures. Despite the biting cold, I bravely jumped into the fray to protect my underlings. After chasing off the creatures, Caesar began hearing a voice that he believed was the mountain. He believed it to be a large elemental of some sort. I knew I could take it if necessary, but did not want to risk the lives of my subordinates. Bessel had also recently finished his measurements so we made our way back down the mountain

Next we made our way towards Clear Creek Crossing. We set up in a wooded area. I noticed lots of food bushes and such, but did not want to risk them being poisonous. During my shift, my keen hearing noticed some grunting coming from the bushes. My over eager underlings Thage and Garak decided to investigate. It turns out some boars were eating some mushrooms or berries in the area and were not happy to be interrupted. There must have been one hundred of them. I dealt with as many as I could, but Chitraseni succumbed to the onslaught. Thage nearly joined her, but was saved by my timely intervention. I could see the admiration in his eyes when he looked up at me as I slew the beast baring down on him. This was a sad lesson to have to teach my group on their first time out, but one well worth learning: adventuring is not a safe job. It takes one as great as me to brave such perils. We burned her body on a pyre to make sure no horrors could use it for nefarious purposes. Bessel got his second reading and we set out for our third location.

We were about two days north of Ironbark Grove when we came upon a gigantic flower field. Above we could see a swarm of what appeared to be bees as large as our hands carrying swords and shields. I cautioned that diplomacy may be our best course of action, and so decided to leave Gertrude behind as to not risk harm to their flowers. A small contingent of the bees came to greet us. Unfortunately they did not speak Throalic. We did our best to show we meant no harm. We could see a group leave towards the north. We hoped they would bring a diplomat who could speak our language. Our hopes were answered in the form of a woman dancing towards us covered in bees. She was accompanied by two three yard tall humanoid bee creatures. I matched her rhythm to show her we meant no harm. We discussed our reason for being here. We were told that a peaceful queen had decided to relocate here from the Servos. She agreed to our request with one stipulation: we must tell Ironbark Grove of their existence and that they were a peaceful people. We agreed to her terms and she took her leave, leaving us with one of her guards named Bzzzzlt. He accompanied us to the location we needed to get our readings. It ended up being on a large rock. He called into the air and a 10 yard long dragonfly like creature appeared above us. And by "appeared above us" I mean it was suddenly there. It must have some kind of active camouflage. The creature lifted us up and we set up to get the readings.

After Bessel completed his task, we packed up and made our way for Ironbark Grove. We informed their council of their new neighbors then made our way back to Throal. You should have seen the cheering and celebration the Marshani had when they saw my triumphant return. But I would not let this go to my head. I gently thanked them and went on my way.

I felt my rhythm was slightly off from the bee lady's. I think I'll train my dancing skills some more. Also Caesars magic was rather interesting. I may have to ask him about it later.

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