Post by Sef Tyarrna on May 31, 2017 22:52:01 GMT
30/05
Follow up report.
Guard rep: Sef Tyarrna, Half-Elf
Expedition personnel.
Leocanto, Half-Elf, raconteur, maestro
Rhy, Half-Elf, stealth, acquisitions
Moth, Half-Orc, brute strength, selfless joker
Gunny, Dwarven, wise healer, moral compass
Wilhelm, Human, crack shot, crap shooter
Following a rumour of a Monastery by local drunk, Cal, we made our way north east toward the marshes. I had not been in this direction before but found it to be relatively peaceful, encountering no hostilities in the two day journey to the border of the Marshlands.
In the third day, now well into the marsh, we spied three crows keeping pace with us. Soon thereafter we heard an almighty boom as geyser in the earth shot a hot stream of water and vapour into the air, but that was not all. With the scalding hot water fell burning hot coin! We escaped injury from the golden shower, except Rhy who would not drop it like its hot.
Curious to see if the geyser would repeat the spectacle, Moth jammed his glaive into the steaming hole and saw himself shoot up in a scolding burst! He landed some way back the way we came, we found him waist deep in a quagmire, in one blistered hand his glaive, the other he held one of the crows! Leo throw him a rope and he decided to drop his glaive rather than relinquish the (live) bird, as we pulled him free.
I have no idea how he managed to grab one of these birds mid-flight, Moth swears it was his plan all along, but we were glad he did. This bird was not natural and neither myself or our seasoned ranger, Wilhelm, had seen anything quite as bizarre. The bird had eight eyes.
When Wilhelm was satisfied with his assessment Moth, snapped the birds neck and stuffed it into his sack "a snack" he joked.
Soon we began to encounter the territorial markers of the frog-people, and to our surprise three crows began to trail us again. Knowing of their mutation and not liking it, Leo and Wilhelm began taking pot shots at them, felling one. Gunny seemingly ashamed of their horrible aim shot at them with some divine energy, and although her aim was better, one crow still escaped.
We then found the orb, or more accurately, it found us.
As it approached we dived for cover, Rhy and myself jumped up a tree, Leo and Wilhelm, struggled to find room for two behind a withered shrub, while Gunny and Moth, slow to react just looked panicked at our sudden disappearance before the orb. We were definitely too cautious with this phenomenon, as there was intelligence behind its movements and as it motioned for us to follow it.
Moth named it Roy. Roy Orb'son.
The sun was now behind us as we headed east, shortly we came to a deep, clear, river. Roy floated over and waited on the far shore. We tied rope around Moth and he waded across with Gunny on his shoulders (in full armour, an impressive feat). On the other side he found himself covered to his shoulders in leeches! He screamed in shrill manner becoming a small child and began ripping the suckers off. There were more screams. Gunny secured their end of the rope to a tree, as did we, and we climbed our way clear of the leech infested water, until finally it came to Wilhelm.
Wilhelm untied the rope on his end and hollered over to drag him across. We may never know why the human decided this would be better than leaving the rope in place and securing a route out, but we pulled him all the same. Did I mention he wore a kilt? The leeches were well fed that day.
Roy then led us to a wasteland, a foul smelling gas hung in the air. Before you could invoke the name of Leroy Jenkins, patron saint of rash decisions, Moth had flung a lit touch into the field!
Roy fled across to outrun the wave of fire, while the flames quickly dissipated only for more gas to take its place. In the distance I could see Roy flying with speed over the wasteland and so not to lose our guide I gave chase. The ring I found at the Tomb of Dromer is simply astounding, I caught up to the Roy in seconds.
It seemed satisfied to stay at the far end of the wasteland and when the others had caught up we continued to follow are odd guide. Before long we came to a clearing at the centre of which lay a skeletal corpse of a fallen knight. Roy entered the corpse and in the far end of the clearing a spectral figure made its way over to great us.
The spectre called herself Keldra, her ethereal attire matched the rusted armour of the knight. She pleaded with us to retrieve the stolen symbol of her deity, Azuth. Only when she is buried with this will her soul be able to rest. Keldra suspects her nemesis, a misguided follower of Azuth named Zorn, has her holy symbol. He resides south of this place, in an island conducting experiments with spiders. We surmised the crows we encountered were his spies.
We promised to return her symbol in time and with a final piece of guidance she sent us north to the Monastery.
On the approach the bellows of amphibious life were deafening, and we had the distinct feeling of being observed. Behind a veil of vines and moss, the Monastery itself stood plain but sturdy in the marsh. We entered with trepidation, at least I did, and although I did not recognise this place as I hoped I would, I felt a sense of belonging. Inside my companions drew my attention to the curious statues in the centre of this room. Locked in immortal combat stood two figures of stone, both combatants were Bugbears.
Inscribed along the walls, Gunny could just about understand the crude language of Goblin, which shares the Dwarven letters, and none of the finesse. Four symbols did repeat across language barriers; air, earth, fire, water.
Deeming the structure sound we split up to investigate the surrounding rooms. Leo and I found what must have been the Masters room, along with a small stone effigy of a crow with spread wings. I don't know if it has any barring on the outcome of what came next but I took this figurine.
We gathered the others and ventured beyond the Master quarters down a long corridor to a small training room. Four columns were in each corner around a circus of sand, on each column was carved a creature, Bear, Crow, Dragon, and Turtle. The others quickly surmised that these carvings represent the four elements, and we quickly introduced Bear to earth, Crow to air, Dragon to fire and Turtle to water. Deep in the bowels of this place we heard a something like a weight being dropped, and then nothing. In the next room more puzzles, which Wilhelm, Rhy, Leo, Moth, and Gunny took great pleasure in solving, but as the space was quite crowded, I couldn't tell you exactly the nature of these, but after three more weights had dropped the large central doors of this room opened. Inside were some valuable looking treasures, which Rhy quickly summed up, and fairly divided between the group, but above the next door were engraved the words "whoever wants to test their skill in unarmed combat, enter and say CHALLENGER" or something close, it was in Goblin and very difficult to cut through the dialect.
Undeterred I immediately crossed the threshold and exclaimed "Challenger!"
Forming in front of me was the grey ethereal likeness of a Bugbear, like solid smoke, it took a stance I recognised from the statues in the first room. Again the ring of speed gave me the upper hand while my instinct took over and I leapt at my opponent, delivering first a fist to his head then a knee to its chin. It stumbled before regaining itself, and returned a blow which I dodged easily, realising too late that the shadow had performed a feint and stuck me with its elbow. I followed the hit and went low, sweeping it with my feet and delivering a fatal elbow of my own to its head.
With that the Bugbear dissolved and one of three jewels above the door I had entered through lit up.
Once again the Bugbear formed and took his stance, and again my speed gave me first blood. I flew at the Goblinoid, kicking it in the head before spinning round for another strike with my foot. It retaliated with an equally strong punch to my chest which sent me stumbling back onto Gunny who lay a hand on my back and said a small prayer of rejuvenation. I hadn't even realised the others had gathered around, a rapt audience, Leo was even singing a tune of encouragement, while Moth, Wilhelm, and Rhy cheered with each hit I landed. With a renewed spirit I threw a punch at the shadows gut, and while it doubled over grasped it in a headlock. It managed to hit me back in its struggles, lashing out at perhaps a mans most sensitive area, but it missed any vital components and with two more swift blows to the head the second Bugbear was defeated.
A second jewel lit up and my worthy opponent dissolved again into the air. Along the opposite wall a larger version of the crow effigy stood, its eyes glowing bright while from its wings a black mass formed and reached out for me. As it touched my arms and entered my skin, black feathers painted themselves upon my arms. In shock I barely registered Gunny saying "the inscription above the next door says something about a test of mind and body." She scratched her chin, slapped my back and said "well, we've come this far!"
The door led down to another chamber, on the far wall an archaic series of numbers, while from the ceiling an hourglass turned and when the sand began to fall, cats appeared and began to attack us from all sides! It would have been funny if it were not so horrifying. Rhy and Wilhelm seemed to have a clue as to the meaning of the puzzle and began to move numbered plates into positions, while we tried to deal with ferocious felines. When most of the cats were dealt with (I tried not to kill them) Kobolds appeared, these seemed more worthy of my blade, but just when we seemed to be winning the fight the timer ran out and all the cats and Kobolds disappeared. The Numbers reset themselves, and the timer began counting down again, Rhy estimated it would take a week before it ran out again.
With this second test over we decided to return to Daring Heights, only to find the Monastery surrounded by the Frog-people. Their leader, a bulbous beast with a outlandish headdress, demanded the return of its eggs. I had little idea of what this was about, and I'm fairly sure Wilhelm didn't either but that didn't stop him jumping in with the most amazing parlay I think any of us had ever seen. We wanted to help but it took all our power to not laugh as this rough, ruddy, leech-ridden, hunter bartered with the chief of the Frogs. Yet somehow they reached a mutual understanding I'm sure a more civilised person would have failed to reach. The Chief would allow our safe passage through this territory if we would return his eggs. So precious are these eggs that he gave us a down payment of pearls and promised Wilhelm his own headdress upon sealing the agreement.
Will wonders ever cease?
Sef Tyarrna
Follow up report.
Guard rep: Sef Tyarrna, Half-Elf
Expedition personnel.
Leocanto, Half-Elf, raconteur, maestro
Rhy, Half-Elf, stealth, acquisitions
Moth, Half-Orc, brute strength, selfless joker
Gunny, Dwarven, wise healer, moral compass
Wilhelm, Human, crack shot, crap shooter
Following a rumour of a Monastery by local drunk, Cal, we made our way north east toward the marshes. I had not been in this direction before but found it to be relatively peaceful, encountering no hostilities in the two day journey to the border of the Marshlands.
In the third day, now well into the marsh, we spied three crows keeping pace with us. Soon thereafter we heard an almighty boom as geyser in the earth shot a hot stream of water and vapour into the air, but that was not all. With the scalding hot water fell burning hot coin! We escaped injury from the golden shower, except Rhy who would not drop it like its hot.
Curious to see if the geyser would repeat the spectacle, Moth jammed his glaive into the steaming hole and saw himself shoot up in a scolding burst! He landed some way back the way we came, we found him waist deep in a quagmire, in one blistered hand his glaive, the other he held one of the crows! Leo throw him a rope and he decided to drop his glaive rather than relinquish the (live) bird, as we pulled him free.
I have no idea how he managed to grab one of these birds mid-flight, Moth swears it was his plan all along, but we were glad he did. This bird was not natural and neither myself or our seasoned ranger, Wilhelm, had seen anything quite as bizarre. The bird had eight eyes.
When Wilhelm was satisfied with his assessment Moth, snapped the birds neck and stuffed it into his sack "a snack" he joked.
Soon we began to encounter the territorial markers of the frog-people, and to our surprise three crows began to trail us again. Knowing of their mutation and not liking it, Leo and Wilhelm began taking pot shots at them, felling one. Gunny seemingly ashamed of their horrible aim shot at them with some divine energy, and although her aim was better, one crow still escaped.
We then found the orb, or more accurately, it found us.
As it approached we dived for cover, Rhy and myself jumped up a tree, Leo and Wilhelm, struggled to find room for two behind a withered shrub, while Gunny and Moth, slow to react just looked panicked at our sudden disappearance before the orb. We were definitely too cautious with this phenomenon, as there was intelligence behind its movements and as it motioned for us to follow it.
Moth named it Roy. Roy Orb'son.
The sun was now behind us as we headed east, shortly we came to a deep, clear, river. Roy floated over and waited on the far shore. We tied rope around Moth and he waded across with Gunny on his shoulders (in full armour, an impressive feat). On the other side he found himself covered to his shoulders in leeches! He screamed in shrill manner becoming a small child and began ripping the suckers off. There were more screams. Gunny secured their end of the rope to a tree, as did we, and we climbed our way clear of the leech infested water, until finally it came to Wilhelm.
Wilhelm untied the rope on his end and hollered over to drag him across. We may never know why the human decided this would be better than leaving the rope in place and securing a route out, but we pulled him all the same. Did I mention he wore a kilt? The leeches were well fed that day.
Roy then led us to a wasteland, a foul smelling gas hung in the air. Before you could invoke the name of Leroy Jenkins, patron saint of rash decisions, Moth had flung a lit touch into the field!
Roy fled across to outrun the wave of fire, while the flames quickly dissipated only for more gas to take its place. In the distance I could see Roy flying with speed over the wasteland and so not to lose our guide I gave chase. The ring I found at the Tomb of Dromer is simply astounding, I caught up to the Roy in seconds.
It seemed satisfied to stay at the far end of the wasteland and when the others had caught up we continued to follow are odd guide. Before long we came to a clearing at the centre of which lay a skeletal corpse of a fallen knight. Roy entered the corpse and in the far end of the clearing a spectral figure made its way over to great us.
The spectre called herself Keldra, her ethereal attire matched the rusted armour of the knight. She pleaded with us to retrieve the stolen symbol of her deity, Azuth. Only when she is buried with this will her soul be able to rest. Keldra suspects her nemesis, a misguided follower of Azuth named Zorn, has her holy symbol. He resides south of this place, in an island conducting experiments with spiders. We surmised the crows we encountered were his spies.
We promised to return her symbol in time and with a final piece of guidance she sent us north to the Monastery.
On the approach the bellows of amphibious life were deafening, and we had the distinct feeling of being observed. Behind a veil of vines and moss, the Monastery itself stood plain but sturdy in the marsh. We entered with trepidation, at least I did, and although I did not recognise this place as I hoped I would, I felt a sense of belonging. Inside my companions drew my attention to the curious statues in the centre of this room. Locked in immortal combat stood two figures of stone, both combatants were Bugbears.
Inscribed along the walls, Gunny could just about understand the crude language of Goblin, which shares the Dwarven letters, and none of the finesse. Four symbols did repeat across language barriers; air, earth, fire, water.
Deeming the structure sound we split up to investigate the surrounding rooms. Leo and I found what must have been the Masters room, along with a small stone effigy of a crow with spread wings. I don't know if it has any barring on the outcome of what came next but I took this figurine.
We gathered the others and ventured beyond the Master quarters down a long corridor to a small training room. Four columns were in each corner around a circus of sand, on each column was carved a creature, Bear, Crow, Dragon, and Turtle. The others quickly surmised that these carvings represent the four elements, and we quickly introduced Bear to earth, Crow to air, Dragon to fire and Turtle to water. Deep in the bowels of this place we heard a something like a weight being dropped, and then nothing. In the next room more puzzles, which Wilhelm, Rhy, Leo, Moth, and Gunny took great pleasure in solving, but as the space was quite crowded, I couldn't tell you exactly the nature of these, but after three more weights had dropped the large central doors of this room opened. Inside were some valuable looking treasures, which Rhy quickly summed up, and fairly divided between the group, but above the next door were engraved the words "whoever wants to test their skill in unarmed combat, enter and say CHALLENGER" or something close, it was in Goblin and very difficult to cut through the dialect.
Undeterred I immediately crossed the threshold and exclaimed "Challenger!"
Forming in front of me was the grey ethereal likeness of a Bugbear, like solid smoke, it took a stance I recognised from the statues in the first room. Again the ring of speed gave me the upper hand while my instinct took over and I leapt at my opponent, delivering first a fist to his head then a knee to its chin. It stumbled before regaining itself, and returned a blow which I dodged easily, realising too late that the shadow had performed a feint and stuck me with its elbow. I followed the hit and went low, sweeping it with my feet and delivering a fatal elbow of my own to its head.
With that the Bugbear dissolved and one of three jewels above the door I had entered through lit up.
Once again the Bugbear formed and took his stance, and again my speed gave me first blood. I flew at the Goblinoid, kicking it in the head before spinning round for another strike with my foot. It retaliated with an equally strong punch to my chest which sent me stumbling back onto Gunny who lay a hand on my back and said a small prayer of rejuvenation. I hadn't even realised the others had gathered around, a rapt audience, Leo was even singing a tune of encouragement, while Moth, Wilhelm, and Rhy cheered with each hit I landed. With a renewed spirit I threw a punch at the shadows gut, and while it doubled over grasped it in a headlock. It managed to hit me back in its struggles, lashing out at perhaps a mans most sensitive area, but it missed any vital components and with two more swift blows to the head the second Bugbear was defeated.
A second jewel lit up and my worthy opponent dissolved again into the air. Along the opposite wall a larger version of the crow effigy stood, its eyes glowing bright while from its wings a black mass formed and reached out for me. As it touched my arms and entered my skin, black feathers painted themselves upon my arms. In shock I barely registered Gunny saying "the inscription above the next door says something about a test of mind and body." She scratched her chin, slapped my back and said "well, we've come this far!"
The door led down to another chamber, on the far wall an archaic series of numbers, while from the ceiling an hourglass turned and when the sand began to fall, cats appeared and began to attack us from all sides! It would have been funny if it were not so horrifying. Rhy and Wilhelm seemed to have a clue as to the meaning of the puzzle and began to move numbered plates into positions, while we tried to deal with ferocious felines. When most of the cats were dealt with (I tried not to kill them) Kobolds appeared, these seemed more worthy of my blade, but just when we seemed to be winning the fight the timer ran out and all the cats and Kobolds disappeared. The Numbers reset themselves, and the timer began counting down again, Rhy estimated it would take a week before it ran out again.
With this second test over we decided to return to Daring Heights, only to find the Monastery surrounded by the Frog-people. Their leader, a bulbous beast with a outlandish headdress, demanded the return of its eggs. I had little idea of what this was about, and I'm fairly sure Wilhelm didn't either but that didn't stop him jumping in with the most amazing parlay I think any of us had ever seen. We wanted to help but it took all our power to not laugh as this rough, ruddy, leech-ridden, hunter bartered with the chief of the Frogs. Yet somehow they reached a mutual understanding I'm sure a more civilised person would have failed to reach. The Chief would allow our safe passage through this territory if we would return his eggs. So precious are these eggs that he gave us a down payment of pearls and promised Wilhelm his own headdress upon sealing the agreement.
Will wonders ever cease?
Sef Tyarrna
