Far Over Roaming Mountain Cold 05/08/21- Kavel's Perspective
Aug 7, 2021 22:28:41 GMT
Igrainne (RETIRED) and Celina Zabinski like this
Post by Andy D on Aug 7, 2021 22:28:41 GMT
Mountains are home to me.
Born and raised on a mountain, I grew up strong. My time with the Iron Strong Company (ISC) - a group of fellow strength enthusiasts - was good. Our core idea; strength first.
I have come to Kantas to find the Mysterious Mountain. Why? Because where there are mountains; there will be strong people. Comrades! I could spread the way of the Iron Strong to them. This will be a great thing!
At Fort Ettin, I met up with fellow adventurers hired to set foot on the Mysterious Mountain.
They all looked weak with the exception of one. One of them looked like she followed the path of strength. The others? I later discovered they brought other strengths to the mission, and I was proud to call them my comrades. But… they could do with some strength practice. This was clear to me.
Still, one strong companion out of five was better than what I’ve come to expect.
A researcher from the Daring Academy hired us to find the mountain for 25gc each. I began to suspect this was a con. The researcher explained that the mountain was moving. Mountains do not have feet. They do not move! But, the strongest of my comrades said she had seen it, so I was persuaded that the mountain does move.
The researcher gave us a grappling hook attached to a rope, expecting it to come in handy.
My fellow adventurers and I journeyed for a day through a forest. Come the end of the day, our mountain was in sight!
Eager to push on, I suggested we keep going. My enthusiasm to carry on was not met in kind. It was clear that strength and also conditioning were not valued much outside of my brethren Iron Strong.
Since my comrades needed rest, I concluded that pushing on now would only leave the weak people feeling weaker, so I agreed with them that rest is best.
The next morning we set off early.
The mountain appeared to have shifted a little. One of my comrades noted a gleaming shine on part of the mountain.
As we got as close to the mountain as possible, I could not believe my eyes. Though the mountain did not have legs, it was floating above the forest!
We stood on a hill and appeared to be as near to the floating mountain as we could get. Where we were now, there was a force pulling us upwards.
We got the grappling hook out and the force pulling upwards made it easy to attach the hook to the lip of the mountain.
We proceeded to climb one by one.
Me and the other fellow strength enthusiast climbed well, as expected. And, I was impressed by my weaker looking companions! They all managed well for their scrawny builds… all except one. The journey and life was close to ending for this one, but my strong comrade offered to pull the weak climber up. I suggested we just do it anyway even without agreement. I was close to meeting fellow mountain strong creatures, I did not want to slow down.
Now on the mountain, it appeared even stranger!
Never have I seen a mountain that looked polished and even shaped.
There was a cave entrance. We travelled through.
The cave of course was dark. One of my strength deficient comrades magically created light. Impressive. Not strong, but very useful.
I was soon to be further impressed as these large, dead-yet-alive creatures attacked us, and that is when my fellow iron warrior charged.
Strength was on display!
This was not to be the only time she outshone me in combat. However, more impressive than her use of warhammer and battleaxe; the blue and wet-skinned looking companion (they were mostly all blue) did some magic and the creatures ran away! I have underestimated the strength of my weaker looking companions. This one is deceptively imposing.
Between a fork in our path, from out of solid stone, rock-looking creatures emerged!
One was more crystalline than her stout rocky companion. They appeared to be the occupants of this mountain, or as they called it, “The Pawn Assassin”. Odd name for a mountain.
We were welcomed into their large home.
These Earth Elementals could move so much rock by reshaping it. I can move a lot of stone with my herculean strength, but not like that! They were strong, if oddly so.
They showed us their fascination with a variant of chess. I suddenly lost interest in them.
Chess is a fun game. The Earth Elementals are friendly. But, they are not the mountain strong people I was looking forward to meeting.
Our hosts mentioned that this mountain was in fact a gigantic chess piece that they were delighted to live in. Apparently god-like creatures play an immense game of chess on the elemental plane, but whoever controlled this piece, the Pawn Assassin, seemed to be cheating by moving it to the material plane and off the board.
The shiny thing we saw on the mountain from below turned out to be three large telescopes that helped the occupants observe the game of chess. Fascinating, but whatever.
I was disappointed to discover; this place was not actually a mountain, therefore there were no mountain people, therefore no iron-warriors. All this space and the Earth Elementals fill it and their time observing the big game of chess, or playing it themselves. No squat rack to speak off. No kettlebells. Not even a chin-up bar. Bah!
While I silently lamented our discovery, my comrades were filled with delight for these people and sympathetic to their life. My companions voiced how they didn’t want researchers interfering here, and agreed to report the place wasn’t worth investigating - on that last point I certainly agreed.
No bench station! No deadlift spot. It was very sad.
I must confess, I did panic when the realisation dawned on me that if the Pawn Assassin moved back to the Elemental Plane, then getting back to the material plane seemed uncertain. I did, however, not panic when suddenly another chess pieces’ occupants descended on the Pawn Assassin and attacked like chess-hooligans!
We lent our new friends a hand in combat.
This time I charged first. Alas, my attack missed! But, one of my magic companions - the weak-climber - magically blinded my foe. The assist was fantastic! Much appreciated. With melee teamwork me and my fellow iron-warrior destroyed the foe.
My dragon friend dealt great damage to a foe with his dragon breath.
The Genasi - the one with many ribbons - did something magical that seemed to make her wildly fearless of death. She got stuck in and entered the melee. Impressive.
This band of adventures I found myself with; we smashed enemies well together.
Our Water Genasi’s healing magic was greatly appreciated by the Earth Elementals once we drove out the remaining hooligans.
After some rest, we said farewell to our hosts. They kindly gave us gifts - replica chess pieces from their strange chess variant. These appeared to have a value of 50gc. One of my comrades, the one with the many ribbons, treasured the gift. I had plans to sell mine if I was in need of coin.
We descended the Pawn Assassin.
However, did we reach the ground where we first climbed the grappling line? No!
Blasted fake mountain!
We were near Daring Heights.
We trekked back to Fort Etin. We met with the researcher who hired us. We had forgotten to concoct a story for him. My comrades - visibly thinking on the spot, I might add - made something up. “Nothing to see. Rockslide danger”. I kept my mouth shut. Probably best.
My new comrades - though they were not all strong, they were strong in their own way, and I would be proud to adventure with them again, if our paths crossed. We said our farewells and went our separate ways.
… it did later occur to me. If the mountain was a chess piece played by gigantic people. Did this mean that on the chess boards that the Pawn Assassin occupants played on, were those chess pieces also host to occupants?
Bah! I do not want to consider that. Now that what brought me to Kantas has concluded. Now, what do I do? Where will I find a group of Iron Strong? How will I spread the way of strength?
I continued my thought as I sought employment.
“So many adventurers here. Not all are strong.”
“I, Kavel, am strong.”
“Maybe I could make them strong too?”
I will be a personal trainer to adventurers! Whether they know it or not, they need to get stronger, and I will make them stronger!”
I will need money for equipment. Maybe a place for training.
Yes, I will create an Iron Strong Company here. An Iron Strong Company here on Kantas.
Okay.
Strength first. But, money second.
Born and raised on a mountain, I grew up strong. My time with the Iron Strong Company (ISC) - a group of fellow strength enthusiasts - was good. Our core idea; strength first.
I have come to Kantas to find the Mysterious Mountain. Why? Because where there are mountains; there will be strong people. Comrades! I could spread the way of the Iron Strong to them. This will be a great thing!
At Fort Ettin, I met up with fellow adventurers hired to set foot on the Mysterious Mountain.
They all looked weak with the exception of one. One of them looked like she followed the path of strength. The others? I later discovered they brought other strengths to the mission, and I was proud to call them my comrades. But… they could do with some strength practice. This was clear to me.
Still, one strong companion out of five was better than what I’ve come to expect.
A researcher from the Daring Academy hired us to find the mountain for 25gc each. I began to suspect this was a con. The researcher explained that the mountain was moving. Mountains do not have feet. They do not move! But, the strongest of my comrades said she had seen it, so I was persuaded that the mountain does move.
The researcher gave us a grappling hook attached to a rope, expecting it to come in handy.
My fellow adventurers and I journeyed for a day through a forest. Come the end of the day, our mountain was in sight!
Eager to push on, I suggested we keep going. My enthusiasm to carry on was not met in kind. It was clear that strength and also conditioning were not valued much outside of my brethren Iron Strong.
Since my comrades needed rest, I concluded that pushing on now would only leave the weak people feeling weaker, so I agreed with them that rest is best.
The next morning we set off early.
The mountain appeared to have shifted a little. One of my comrades noted a gleaming shine on part of the mountain.
As we got as close to the mountain as possible, I could not believe my eyes. Though the mountain did not have legs, it was floating above the forest!
We stood on a hill and appeared to be as near to the floating mountain as we could get. Where we were now, there was a force pulling us upwards.
We got the grappling hook out and the force pulling upwards made it easy to attach the hook to the lip of the mountain.
We proceeded to climb one by one.
Me and the other fellow strength enthusiast climbed well, as expected. And, I was impressed by my weaker looking companions! They all managed well for their scrawny builds… all except one. The journey and life was close to ending for this one, but my strong comrade offered to pull the weak climber up. I suggested we just do it anyway even without agreement. I was close to meeting fellow mountain strong creatures, I did not want to slow down.
Now on the mountain, it appeared even stranger!
Never have I seen a mountain that looked polished and even shaped.
There was a cave entrance. We travelled through.
The cave of course was dark. One of my strength deficient comrades magically created light. Impressive. Not strong, but very useful.
I was soon to be further impressed as these large, dead-yet-alive creatures attacked us, and that is when my fellow iron warrior charged.
Strength was on display!
This was not to be the only time she outshone me in combat. However, more impressive than her use of warhammer and battleaxe; the blue and wet-skinned looking companion (they were mostly all blue) did some magic and the creatures ran away! I have underestimated the strength of my weaker looking companions. This one is deceptively imposing.
Between a fork in our path, from out of solid stone, rock-looking creatures emerged!
One was more crystalline than her stout rocky companion. They appeared to be the occupants of this mountain, or as they called it, “The Pawn Assassin”. Odd name for a mountain.
We were welcomed into their large home.
These Earth Elementals could move so much rock by reshaping it. I can move a lot of stone with my herculean strength, but not like that! They were strong, if oddly so.
They showed us their fascination with a variant of chess. I suddenly lost interest in them.
Chess is a fun game. The Earth Elementals are friendly. But, they are not the mountain strong people I was looking forward to meeting.
Our hosts mentioned that this mountain was in fact a gigantic chess piece that they were delighted to live in. Apparently god-like creatures play an immense game of chess on the elemental plane, but whoever controlled this piece, the Pawn Assassin, seemed to be cheating by moving it to the material plane and off the board.
The shiny thing we saw on the mountain from below turned out to be three large telescopes that helped the occupants observe the game of chess. Fascinating, but whatever.
I was disappointed to discover; this place was not actually a mountain, therefore there were no mountain people, therefore no iron-warriors. All this space and the Earth Elementals fill it and their time observing the big game of chess, or playing it themselves. No squat rack to speak off. No kettlebells. Not even a chin-up bar. Bah!
While I silently lamented our discovery, my comrades were filled with delight for these people and sympathetic to their life. My companions voiced how they didn’t want researchers interfering here, and agreed to report the place wasn’t worth investigating - on that last point I certainly agreed.
No bench station! No deadlift spot. It was very sad.
I must confess, I did panic when the realisation dawned on me that if the Pawn Assassin moved back to the Elemental Plane, then getting back to the material plane seemed uncertain. I did, however, not panic when suddenly another chess pieces’ occupants descended on the Pawn Assassin and attacked like chess-hooligans!
We lent our new friends a hand in combat.
This time I charged first. Alas, my attack missed! But, one of my magic companions - the weak-climber - magically blinded my foe. The assist was fantastic! Much appreciated. With melee teamwork me and my fellow iron-warrior destroyed the foe.
My dragon friend dealt great damage to a foe with his dragon breath.
The Genasi - the one with many ribbons - did something magical that seemed to make her wildly fearless of death. She got stuck in and entered the melee. Impressive.
This band of adventures I found myself with; we smashed enemies well together.
Our Water Genasi’s healing magic was greatly appreciated by the Earth Elementals once we drove out the remaining hooligans.
After some rest, we said farewell to our hosts. They kindly gave us gifts - replica chess pieces from their strange chess variant. These appeared to have a value of 50gc. One of my comrades, the one with the many ribbons, treasured the gift. I had plans to sell mine if I was in need of coin.
We descended the Pawn Assassin.
However, did we reach the ground where we first climbed the grappling line? No!
Blasted fake mountain!
We were near Daring Heights.
We trekked back to Fort Etin. We met with the researcher who hired us. We had forgotten to concoct a story for him. My comrades - visibly thinking on the spot, I might add - made something up. “Nothing to see. Rockslide danger”. I kept my mouth shut. Probably best.
My new comrades - though they were not all strong, they were strong in their own way, and I would be proud to adventure with them again, if our paths crossed. We said our farewells and went our separate ways.
… it did later occur to me. If the mountain was a chess piece played by gigantic people. Did this mean that on the chess boards that the Pawn Assassin occupants played on, were those chess pieces also host to occupants?
Bah! I do not want to consider that. Now that what brought me to Kantas has concluded. Now, what do I do? Where will I find a group of Iron Strong? How will I spread the way of strength?
I continued my thought as I sought employment.
“So many adventurers here. Not all are strong.”
“I, Kavel, am strong.”
“Maybe I could make them strong too?”
I will be a personal trainer to adventurers! Whether they know it or not, they need to get stronger, and I will make them stronger!”
I will need money for equipment. Maybe a place for training.
Yes, I will create an Iron Strong Company here. An Iron Strong Company here on Kantas.
Okay.
Strength first. But, money second.