Post by Nowhere on Jun 18, 2017 18:08:11 GMT
The writings of Nowhere in exploring north west of Daring Heights
My curse is to write these notes. Not that I wish to, but that I am forced to.
It has been a strange week for me, a week that has involved uncertainty, but learning more about who I am and my involvement here. So it was with a purposeful step that I decided to help out on another request for help. The local notice board had informed us adventurous folk about a chest of coppers that was left at in some caves from previous adventurers. Chodda, a local of the area, was happy to share the location of this chest to those interested in fetching it. It was with this task that a group of us banded together to head out to the caves.
Our adventuring band was larger than I had expected with myself, and a number of colleagues I have spent time with before; Manaia the gnome, Moth,
and Eric, the rather wet behind the ears fighter who had been thrown in the deep end with out last outing. For the first time I met Gunny, a charming, if slightly absent minded Dwarf. I am beginning to read people better as time goes on in Daring, and I suspect there is more to Gunny than she lets on.
Rholor is someone I had not travelled with before, another cleric within the group, Rholor was someone who had a purpose in his voice and his actions.
And then there was Tugark, a half-orc who, though a fighting type, had a swagger of a man who rides the seas. I fear he is a long way from his native seas here in Daring.
We approached Chodda who informed us that north west of Daring Heights, nestled in the foothills before the vast mountains, is a hill that looks like it has been cleaved in two. There marks the entrance to a cave system within which is the chest of coppers. He tells us a tall tale about his destruction of twig people whilst he was there…. A fire in his eyes makes me wonder how much of Chodda was left behind in that cave.
Given the weight of money, we arrange the hire of a wagon and horses through connections that Moth already has. The fact that I saw Moth blush (a reddish, greenish tinge I believe) makes me think there is a history there I am unaware of. No matter.
We head to the caves without incident, to see the cleaved hill, and rising from behind it…. Smoke.
We decide to divide the party with most of us heading to the mouth of the cave whilst a couple explored the source of the smoke. Rather than danger, what they found was a smoke vent of what we now have learnt was an underground smithy.
As the rest of us approached the cave we saw three orcs run in separate directions. I must admit I feared that alarms were being raised…. But the actual outcome was far more surprising.
We moved into the mouth of the cave to be bombarded with various projectiles carrying messages - rocks and arrows held notes, written in crude Common.
It appeared three factions had formed in this Orc stronghold, each faction wanting our help to defeat another faction. In return, we would receive riches.
Now you would think that, as a tiefling of words, diplomacy and political intrigue would be my forte, but alas even I became confused by the machinations of these factions, so I will explain as well as I remember. Each faction was located in a separate part of the cavern complex.
We learnt of Aza, who wanted us to defeat Urkath. Her faction wanted to defeat the shadow people who had blighted the Orc stronghold previously.
We learnt of Dekam, the Shaman, who wanted us to defeat Aza in return for gems. Dekam, far more war based, see's Aza as deceitful and a bad leader. Dekam's aim was to go to war with Daring.
We learnt of Urkath, who wanted us to defeat Dekam.
In true adventuring style, we all felt it would be far more convenient to split off into small groups, and each group, with an orcish speaker within it, conversing with these factions.
I must admit I was a little uninterested in the discussions of who went where, so I, accompanied by Gunny decided to take a fourth route that had opened to us in the caverns. Here we came across the forge that had been the source of the smoke. But we also met another forge…. Forge the 9 foot tall golem-like creature….. a golem with a bronze sheen to him. We soon realised that the money we had come here for, had been made into a giant animated golem blacksmith, his role being to create weaponry for the Orcs that followed Dekam.
An amiable chap, Forge told of his desire to be let free. In essence we were to Free Forge, to Free our bronze pieces, to Free Money. (Cue groans.) Forge informed us that the only way he could be freed was if his bonds to Dekam, were destroyed. He had been tied to the forge to produce weapons for Dekam's orcs to invade Daring.
With new information at hand, flowers presented and worn by Forge, and fist bumps exchanged (I am surprised I wasn't pummelled into the ground in the process) we returned to the group.
A long process of discussion ensued, trying to decide how best to resolve the power struggle in the best way for Daring and the best way for our pockets. It was a long process. A very long process. A very very long process.
Here I wish to make a note to all those involved in the traditions of diplomacy. When you are discussing how to overthrow a power, make sure spies from that power aren't listening in. We had decided to defeat Dekam, but as we had not clarified whether a battle of leaders would be enough, we planned to fight Dekam and his orc warriors.
As I have reported before I am not one interested in reporting the blows of battle, but needless to say our plan of surprise was less than successful, but with the aid of Moths love of setting everything on fire, Eric's slowly overcoming his awe, and the rest of the band executing a great amount of team work, we were successful in defeating Dekam and his cabal of protectors. I am ashamed to say that only I was ineffective in battle. I fear that as my powers are increasing, my strength in battle is waning.... I will need to watch that my powers do not outweigh me.
With Dekam defeated, and time not on our side, it seemed the power struggle within the orcs was able to resolve itself. We returned to find Forge no longer in the forge, but were able to find rich pickings within.
An interesting time, and one that has left me with interesting avenues to explore. But in the short term I have money in my pocket to start to carry out some of my more long term plans for life and learning in Daring.
My curse is to write these notes. Not that I wish to, but that I am forced to.
It has been a strange week for me, a week that has involved uncertainty, but learning more about who I am and my involvement here. So it was with a purposeful step that I decided to help out on another request for help. The local notice board had informed us adventurous folk about a chest of coppers that was left at in some caves from previous adventurers. Chodda, a local of the area, was happy to share the location of this chest to those interested in fetching it. It was with this task that a group of us banded together to head out to the caves.
Our adventuring band was larger than I had expected with myself, and a number of colleagues I have spent time with before; Manaia the gnome, Moth,
and Eric, the rather wet behind the ears fighter who had been thrown in the deep end with out last outing. For the first time I met Gunny, a charming, if slightly absent minded Dwarf. I am beginning to read people better as time goes on in Daring, and I suspect there is more to Gunny than she lets on.
Rholor is someone I had not travelled with before, another cleric within the group, Rholor was someone who had a purpose in his voice and his actions.
And then there was Tugark, a half-orc who, though a fighting type, had a swagger of a man who rides the seas. I fear he is a long way from his native seas here in Daring.
We approached Chodda who informed us that north west of Daring Heights, nestled in the foothills before the vast mountains, is a hill that looks like it has been cleaved in two. There marks the entrance to a cave system within which is the chest of coppers. He tells us a tall tale about his destruction of twig people whilst he was there…. A fire in his eyes makes me wonder how much of Chodda was left behind in that cave.
Given the weight of money, we arrange the hire of a wagon and horses through connections that Moth already has. The fact that I saw Moth blush (a reddish, greenish tinge I believe) makes me think there is a history there I am unaware of. No matter.
We head to the caves without incident, to see the cleaved hill, and rising from behind it…. Smoke.
We decide to divide the party with most of us heading to the mouth of the cave whilst a couple explored the source of the smoke. Rather than danger, what they found was a smoke vent of what we now have learnt was an underground smithy.
As the rest of us approached the cave we saw three orcs run in separate directions. I must admit I feared that alarms were being raised…. But the actual outcome was far more surprising.
We moved into the mouth of the cave to be bombarded with various projectiles carrying messages - rocks and arrows held notes, written in crude Common.
It appeared three factions had formed in this Orc stronghold, each faction wanting our help to defeat another faction. In return, we would receive riches.
Now you would think that, as a tiefling of words, diplomacy and political intrigue would be my forte, but alas even I became confused by the machinations of these factions, so I will explain as well as I remember. Each faction was located in a separate part of the cavern complex.
We learnt of Aza, who wanted us to defeat Urkath. Her faction wanted to defeat the shadow people who had blighted the Orc stronghold previously.
We learnt of Dekam, the Shaman, who wanted us to defeat Aza in return for gems. Dekam, far more war based, see's Aza as deceitful and a bad leader. Dekam's aim was to go to war with Daring.
We learnt of Urkath, who wanted us to defeat Dekam.
In true adventuring style, we all felt it would be far more convenient to split off into small groups, and each group, with an orcish speaker within it, conversing with these factions.
I must admit I was a little uninterested in the discussions of who went where, so I, accompanied by Gunny decided to take a fourth route that had opened to us in the caverns. Here we came across the forge that had been the source of the smoke. But we also met another forge…. Forge the 9 foot tall golem-like creature….. a golem with a bronze sheen to him. We soon realised that the money we had come here for, had been made into a giant animated golem blacksmith, his role being to create weaponry for the Orcs that followed Dekam.
An amiable chap, Forge told of his desire to be let free. In essence we were to Free Forge, to Free our bronze pieces, to Free Money. (Cue groans.) Forge informed us that the only way he could be freed was if his bonds to Dekam, were destroyed. He had been tied to the forge to produce weapons for Dekam's orcs to invade Daring.
With new information at hand, flowers presented and worn by Forge, and fist bumps exchanged (I am surprised I wasn't pummelled into the ground in the process) we returned to the group.
A long process of discussion ensued, trying to decide how best to resolve the power struggle in the best way for Daring and the best way for our pockets. It was a long process. A very long process. A very very long process.
Here I wish to make a note to all those involved in the traditions of diplomacy. When you are discussing how to overthrow a power, make sure spies from that power aren't listening in. We had decided to defeat Dekam, but as we had not clarified whether a battle of leaders would be enough, we planned to fight Dekam and his orc warriors.
As I have reported before I am not one interested in reporting the blows of battle, but needless to say our plan of surprise was less than successful, but with the aid of Moths love of setting everything on fire, Eric's slowly overcoming his awe, and the rest of the band executing a great amount of team work, we were successful in defeating Dekam and his cabal of protectors. I am ashamed to say that only I was ineffective in battle. I fear that as my powers are increasing, my strength in battle is waning.... I will need to watch that my powers do not outweigh me.
With Dekam defeated, and time not on our side, it seemed the power struggle within the orcs was able to resolve itself. We returned to find Forge no longer in the forge, but were able to find rich pickings within.
An interesting time, and one that has left me with interesting avenues to explore. But in the short term I have money in my pocket to start to carry out some of my more long term plans for life and learning in Daring.
