Crammed in a corner and covered in dust is a dense book detailing the travels of Orfen. Amidst the myriad of the Throalic handwriting are a few nuggets of relevant thought from her. It would take a researcher hours just to determine if there is any information worthy of note. The text remains unaltered to maintain its authenticity (Certain terms and names written wrong to keep in character). As you begin reading the entry, a nearby scholar looks at what you're reading, eyebrows raised, and simply says, "Good luck" as they resume reading. It takes about 3 hours to read the entire entry.
"This Montazh fellow wanted us to collect bark for some weird training smoothie. I didn't see much in terms of alchemical properties to the swamp birch bark, but I figured saying something about it around Youghdel would have upset him."
"I finally met the Daicars! Momma always spoke so highly of their enchantment and alchemical abilities. She was even there when their business took off. They also had a trade route near where we were going, so establishing supply route for the bark would not be as difficult as we originally thought!"
"We met some farmers. Rather incompetent lot, but according to Orlam, that was the status quo outside of Throal."
"The Crackbills threw up orange cheese dust everywhere, but miraculous missed me every single time! Not sure where I got that kind of grace, but it probably came from Gramma."
"The rest of the party solved the weird, flying dwarf cat thing's riddle. After reciting the answer, the thingies left us alone and we turned around and went the other way."
"After leaving the Cathan Apalai tribe, we followed a river that left the ground and flowed through the trees! It was incredible! It also housed a deadly bubble-like sea creature which floated through the air? I'm glad Orlam was there with an antidote. I could have literally died from the embarrassment of being an elementalist infected with poison."
Other bits were found amongst the ramblings that were quite entertaining, even though they weren't really relevant to the journey:
"Youghdel introduced me as the girl who sets his sword ablaze. People chuckle at that. Then he introduces Orlam as the guy who fluffs his clothes. I'm not sure why these introductions are so funny..."
"I didn't actually set Youghdel's sword on fire until after we killed the Crackbills, but I did light Keel's weapon! I hope Youghdel doesn't get mad at me. I might need a new introduction after this."
AAR [4M]: Moar Montazh (2021-6-19 @ 2200 gmt)
Moderator:etherial
Re: AAR [4M]: Moar Montazh (2021-6-19 @ 2200 gmt)
Keel's Journal:
[A letter from Kun'da'lin Iceclaw, found among her parents' effects at the troll moot; written in Sperethiel.]
Dearest Mom & Dad,
Do you remember that trainer, Montazh, that I told you about? He really is remarkable. When I trained with him last time, my speed and agility incresaed, literally, by leaps and bounds. Amazing! So when I heard that he was looking for help with a job and offering discounted training as a reward, well, I had to do it.
Youghdel (the windling sky raider0 was organizing this job, too. In addition, Orfen (the elf elementalist), Kayapo (the windling shaman) and Orlam (the human elementalist) plus me, of course, formed the group.
We met with Montazh in a back room at his gym. He offered us each a small silver cup full of a really noxious liquid which he claimed would make you tough. Certainly the smell alone, not to the mention the taste, would toughen one up. Yuk!
Then he got down to business. Apparently, Montazh anticipated a high demand for this, uh, tonic. One of the key ingredients was swamp birch bark. So, he needed us to gather about 200# of this bark in the Servos Jungle and return to Throal with it. Plus, he wanted us to make arrangements with the jungle natives to gather about 100# every 3 months and ship it to Throal for him. He laid out terms of how much he’d pay, and it all seemed very reasonable and businesslike. Montazh showed us a map of the Servos Jungle with three areas marked on it, places where he knew there was a good supply of swamp birch.
Montazh gave us a letter of agreement to show the natives or others that explained that we were working for him, what he wanted, and what he’d pay for, in what timeframe. Very detailed. He also explained that he only wanted the inner bark, not the rough outer bark, and explained how to harvest it sustainably. Once harvested, the bark had to be dried for a couple of weeks, and then it could be easily shipped. Overall, we estimated that it’d take two or three weeks to harvest enough fresh bark to get 200# dried.
We collected various gear, like machetes, sacks and twine and even donkeys, for harvesting and transportin, and the usual gear for surviving the Servos, like extra water skins, mosquito ntetting. The Servos is a pretty miserable place. Every night I’m in that jungle, I dream of floating is a refreshing mountain pool.
Anyway, our overall plan was to get to the Servos and hire locals to do most of the harvesting, and then continue with the regular shipments. The problem was we didn’t have any business contacts in the Servos. Youghdel suggested going to see a pair of dwarven merchants — Ben and Jerry Dykar — we did a lot of trade in the Servos. First, we tried one of their retail outlets. Youghdel was so out of control and threatening, that the city guard were nearly called. It took some quick talking on my part, plus a few silver, to calm down the clerk. A few silver more, and he told us where the company’s headquarters were, and where we might find the owners. We also learned that we were the second group to inquire about swamp birch bark; the first inquiry was from Montazh. No matter, it turned out that both owners were out of the city, so we had to make do without.
The trip to the Servos was uneventful, and we quickly found the closest of the three locations where the swamp birch was known to grow. Nearby, we found a cleared area with a a newish dwarven village, called Greenview. The dwarves were industriously clearing more fields. Kayapo talked to the local spirits and learned that the spirits wanted him to kill the villagers. The spirits said that the dwarves were destroying the jungle, rather than living in concert with the jungle plants and animals.
We talked to the villagers anyway about harvesting the bark for us. They made a plan to chop down the trees in place, then drag them to the village and process them for bark there. None of us liked that plan. The trees would be killed, and within a few seasons, they’d all be gone. This seemed like the sort of thing that made the spirits angry, too.
We told the villagers that we’d think about it, and continued on to the next swamp birch group. Along the way we were attacked by a flock of nasty birds, called crakbills. Nothing we couldn’t handle, but we spent the night resting up. The next morning, we found the second grove of swamp birch. But there was no nearby community, so we moved on.
Along the way, we spied two large flying, winged cats. They spoke to us in riddles, and we puzzled out the answer to be “No trespassing.” So we detoured around their territory.
The third grove of swamp birch was near a Cathan village. After Kayapo convinced the village elder, an old woman, to talk to us, we quickly realized thar these were like-minded people. They recognized the value of the business arrangement, and insisted on harvesting the bark sustainably, without killing the trees themselves. We spent a pleasant three weeks with the villagers, harvesting and drying bark. We pcked up 200# of it and traveled to the nearest
Hope you’re all well. I really enjoyed your last letter.
Love,
Kun'da'lin
[A letter from Kun'da'lin Iceclaw, found among her parents' effects at the troll moot; written in Sperethiel.]
Dearest Mom & Dad,
Do you remember that trainer, Montazh, that I told you about? He really is remarkable. When I trained with him last time, my speed and agility incresaed, literally, by leaps and bounds. Amazing! So when I heard that he was looking for help with a job and offering discounted training as a reward, well, I had to do it.
Youghdel (the windling sky raider0 was organizing this job, too. In addition, Orfen (the elf elementalist), Kayapo (the windling shaman) and Orlam (the human elementalist) plus me, of course, formed the group.
We met with Montazh in a back room at his gym. He offered us each a small silver cup full of a really noxious liquid which he claimed would make you tough. Certainly the smell alone, not to the mention the taste, would toughen one up. Yuk!
Then he got down to business. Apparently, Montazh anticipated a high demand for this, uh, tonic. One of the key ingredients was swamp birch bark. So, he needed us to gather about 200# of this bark in the Servos Jungle and return to Throal with it. Plus, he wanted us to make arrangements with the jungle natives to gather about 100# every 3 months and ship it to Throal for him. He laid out terms of how much he’d pay, and it all seemed very reasonable and businesslike. Montazh showed us a map of the Servos Jungle with three areas marked on it, places where he knew there was a good supply of swamp birch.
Montazh gave us a letter of agreement to show the natives or others that explained that we were working for him, what he wanted, and what he’d pay for, in what timeframe. Very detailed. He also explained that he only wanted the inner bark, not the rough outer bark, and explained how to harvest it sustainably. Once harvested, the bark had to be dried for a couple of weeks, and then it could be easily shipped. Overall, we estimated that it’d take two or three weeks to harvest enough fresh bark to get 200# dried.
We collected various gear, like machetes, sacks and twine and even donkeys, for harvesting and transportin, and the usual gear for surviving the Servos, like extra water skins, mosquito ntetting. The Servos is a pretty miserable place. Every night I’m in that jungle, I dream of floating is a refreshing mountain pool.
Anyway, our overall plan was to get to the Servos and hire locals to do most of the harvesting, and then continue with the regular shipments. The problem was we didn’t have any business contacts in the Servos. Youghdel suggested going to see a pair of dwarven merchants — Ben and Jerry Dykar — we did a lot of trade in the Servos. First, we tried one of their retail outlets. Youghdel was so out of control and threatening, that the city guard were nearly called. It took some quick talking on my part, plus a few silver, to calm down the clerk. A few silver more, and he told us where the company’s headquarters were, and where we might find the owners. We also learned that we were the second group to inquire about swamp birch bark; the first inquiry was from Montazh. No matter, it turned out that both owners were out of the city, so we had to make do without.
The trip to the Servos was uneventful, and we quickly found the closest of the three locations where the swamp birch was known to grow. Nearby, we found a cleared area with a a newish dwarven village, called Greenview. The dwarves were industriously clearing more fields. Kayapo talked to the local spirits and learned that the spirits wanted him to kill the villagers. The spirits said that the dwarves were destroying the jungle, rather than living in concert with the jungle plants and animals.
We talked to the villagers anyway about harvesting the bark for us. They made a plan to chop down the trees in place, then drag them to the village and process them for bark there. None of us liked that plan. The trees would be killed, and within a few seasons, they’d all be gone. This seemed like the sort of thing that made the spirits angry, too.
We told the villagers that we’d think about it, and continued on to the next swamp birch group. Along the way we were attacked by a flock of nasty birds, called crakbills. Nothing we couldn’t handle, but we spent the night resting up. The next morning, we found the second grove of swamp birch. But there was no nearby community, so we moved on.
Along the way, we spied two large flying, winged cats. They spoke to us in riddles, and we puzzled out the answer to be “No trespassing.” So we detoured around their territory.
The third grove of swamp birch was near a Cathan village. After Kayapo convinced the village elder, an old woman, to talk to us, we quickly realized thar these were like-minded people. They recognized the value of the business arrangement, and insisted on harvesting the bark sustainably, without killing the trees themselves. We spent a pleasant three weeks with the villagers, harvesting and drying bark. We pcked up 200# of it and traveled to the nearest
Hope you’re all well. I really enjoyed your last letter.
Love,
Kun'da'lin