Zacarius was rescued from beneath the carcass of the winter wolf, still breathing by gift of Desna. The four falconers were cowed into lending their backs to pulling the sled. Even with Nadya's ire, the group's treatment of the captured soldiers was better than they expected, even better than they received from the winter wolf, and so they pulled the sled through the day.
During their travels, Nadya related her plans to get the group into Whitethrone. Her husband's uncle, Ringeirr, had a history of sneaking in to Whitethrone in attempts to rescue his family. Though he never did find them, he still practices smuggling in to the city; he would surely be able to get the group within the city walls without undo suspicion.
Towards the end of the first day, the group approached a bridge. After a bit of discussion, they decided to cross, but were waylaid by troll guards as they reached midway. Several of the group attempted to parlay with the scrags, including giving them the papers they demanded, but the trolls demanded a toll of fresh meat, wanting the dogs and prisoners as payment for free passage. Finding this unacceptable, the party attacked.
While Nadya yelled complaints about attacking highway guards appointed by the queen, Ash smashed his way through the trolls. Pavo struck them blows as he could, often leaving them in perfect position for Ash's axe, while Kyezra peppered the scrags with arrows. The scrags were quickly dropped. After scarring the remains with fire and scattering them in all directions, the group moved on.
As dusk turned to true night, the travelers arrived at a wayfarer's inn and took shelter for the night. Though the evening was pleasant and quiet, visitors the next morning caused a bit of a hubbub with tales of a dragon attack on troll guards at the nearby bridge. With stern looks from the innkeeper, the group tucked their heads low and journeyed on.
Near midday, the group arrived at Fishcamp village and soon witnessed one of the all-to-common attempts by the Fishcamp Guard to extort more money from the destitute fishermen. They had one poor soul surrounded and on the ground. Seeing this, Inuksuk raised a wall of earth between the fisherman and one of his attackers, startling the Guards into looking around. Though they demanded to know who had done it, no one stood forward and they returned to tormenting the fisherman. Waiting for this, Inuksuk raised another wall, and another, infuriating the Guards.
Kyezra, returning from investigating the boundaries of the village, decided on a more direct approach. Upon seeing the assault, instead of toying with the Guards, Kyezra pierced one with an arrow, starting a brawl. Ash, seizing the moment, used his cloak to take on the aspect of a yeti, causing panic not just in his intended targets, but throughout the villagers present. The Guards died quickly, though panic kept the streets from being quiet for quite some time.
Once things settled and the streets were vacated, Pavo coaxed information from a villager on where Ringeirr could be found. He had been arrested, taken to the Fishcamp Guardhouse. The group immediately set off to the center of the ramshackle town.
Once at the Guardhouse, Ash kicked the door in and set upon the two Guards inside. The group tore through them and set about clearing the small building's two rooms. In the back room, they found a hidden door leading to Captain Marcian's chambers and his two ogre bodyguards. Zacarius kept the ogres fascinated with hypnotic magics while Pavo and Ash struck at Marcian, forcing him to flee. They then turned on the ogres; both received heavy bruises before taking the ogres down. While so occupied, neither noticed Marcian sneak back in through the front entrance, but Kyezra had set her cat to guard. When Marcian and the cat noticed each other, Inuksuk struck, hitting Marcian hard. Taking the challenge, Marcian dodged past the cat to strike the kineticist, but seeing the stone armor upon him decided to take out the vulnerable Zacarius instead. Though he hit Zacarius well, he couldn't do enough before Kyezra, her cat and Inuksuk killed him.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Monday, February 9, 2015
Quicklings Be Damned!
The group found shelter under the remains of the church, staying the night as the storm piled snow across the world outside. The morning was bright and clear, allowing the sled to make good time. A little after dusk, the group arrived at the small town of Ellsprin near Glacier Lake's shore. On the edge of town, a small hut sat alone with a body lying in front of it. Even from a distance the blood was obvious.
Zacarius approached the body with the others staying close, except for cautious Kyezra who circled the hut. At the body, Zacarius spotted doll-sized footprints leading to a patch of pristine snow, but not away from it. He pointed it out to Ash, but before either could act Faernip the quickling lost his battle to hold still and started cursing the humans and their stupid fat heads. He struck at Zacarius as his companion, Tindlecrick the twigjack, moved through the bushes by the hut to get the jump on Pavo.
Though a fierce and chaotic battle, the group focused on bringing the quickling down and managed it in short order. Tindlecrick fled back to Zzababa and her hostage. A few moments later, as the group recovered from the hostile welcome, the door to the hut opened a crack and Maret warned the group that she had seen a second quickling when they slew her husband.
The group set out promptly to backtrack the quicklings to their layer, catching Zzababa just as she started taking out her rage at Faernip's death on poor Garen. Zacarius moved Ash into the decrepit barn serving as the quicklings' hideout while Kyezra circled looking for another entrance. Pavo worked his way in as well, keeping Ash from being overwhelmed while Zacarius teleported Garen away from Zzababa's ire.
Kyezra did find a back entrance in to the hayloft of the barn, but had little luck getting inside. Ash and Pavo managed to drop the quickling while Inuksuk harried the twigjack. Once the fey were dispatched, Zacarius tended to the wounded while Pavo dug out the stash they had accumulated from waylaid travelers.
Maret was overjoyed to be reunited with her son Garen and gave the group shelter through the night. In the morning, Nadya and Maret restocked the sled's provisions and arranged for Nadya's boys to stay behind while Nadya led the group in to Whitethrone.
Travel was swift until mid-afternoon, when Kyezra spotted a hawk high above, circling back the way it came, with leads tied to one leg. Soon after the group found itself set upon by archers hiding in small clumps of trees on a low ridgeline ahead, while more hawks moved in to harry them. Inuksuk and Zacarius drove the hawks to return to the archers while Ash, Pavo and Kyezra worked their way forward.
Norgrimm, winter wolf and leader of the archers, was hiding in the snow along the path. Seeing most of the protectors away from the sled and Nadya busy trying to both cover the sled and keep the dogs in cover, Norgrimm charged forward and let loose with chilling breath along the sled leads, engulfing Zacarius as well. Though Inuksuk tried to taunt the winter wolf away from the sled, Zacarius let loose with a fan of burning flame. The enraged Norgrimm snapped forward and crushed Zacarius' chest, dropping him to death's embrace. Norgrimm then joined him in death at Inuksuk's assault.
Ash, Pavo and Kyezra finally made it in to effective range with the archers, downing three of the four hawks and severely wounding one of the archers. Seeing their leader go down, they surrendered.
Zacarius approached the body with the others staying close, except for cautious Kyezra who circled the hut. At the body, Zacarius spotted doll-sized footprints leading to a patch of pristine snow, but not away from it. He pointed it out to Ash, but before either could act Faernip the quickling lost his battle to hold still and started cursing the humans and their stupid fat heads. He struck at Zacarius as his companion, Tindlecrick the twigjack, moved through the bushes by the hut to get the jump on Pavo.
Though a fierce and chaotic battle, the group focused on bringing the quickling down and managed it in short order. Tindlecrick fled back to Zzababa and her hostage. A few moments later, as the group recovered from the hostile welcome, the door to the hut opened a crack and Maret warned the group that she had seen a second quickling when they slew her husband.
The group set out promptly to backtrack the quicklings to their layer, catching Zzababa just as she started taking out her rage at Faernip's death on poor Garen. Zacarius moved Ash into the decrepit barn serving as the quicklings' hideout while Kyezra circled looking for another entrance. Pavo worked his way in as well, keeping Ash from being overwhelmed while Zacarius teleported Garen away from Zzababa's ire.
Kyezra did find a back entrance in to the hayloft of the barn, but had little luck getting inside. Ash and Pavo managed to drop the quickling while Inuksuk harried the twigjack. Once the fey were dispatched, Zacarius tended to the wounded while Pavo dug out the stash they had accumulated from waylaid travelers.
Maret was overjoyed to be reunited with her son Garen and gave the group shelter through the night. In the morning, Nadya and Maret restocked the sled's provisions and arranged for Nadya's boys to stay behind while Nadya led the group in to Whitethrone.
Travel was swift until mid-afternoon, when Kyezra spotted a hawk high above, circling back the way it came, with leads tied to one leg. Soon after the group found itself set upon by archers hiding in small clumps of trees on a low ridgeline ahead, while more hawks moved in to harry them. Inuksuk and Zacarius drove the hawks to return to the archers while Ash, Pavo and Kyezra worked their way forward.
Norgrimm, winter wolf and leader of the archers, was hiding in the snow along the path. Seeing most of the protectors away from the sled and Nadya busy trying to both cover the sled and keep the dogs in cover, Norgrimm charged forward and let loose with chilling breath along the sled leads, engulfing Zacarius as well. Though Inuksuk tried to taunt the winter wolf away from the sled, Zacarius let loose with a fan of burning flame. The enraged Norgrimm snapped forward and crushed Zacarius' chest, dropping him to death's embrace. Norgrimm then joined him in death at Inuksuk's assault.
Ash, Pavo and Kyezra finally made it in to effective range with the archers, downing three of the four hawks and severely wounding one of the archers. Seeing their leader go down, they surrendered.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Springtime for Megaloceros
Giving up on turning their companion's heart away from his new-found bride, the group set out across the snow again. The day's travel was boring. That evening, the gremlins that had been following the group stole Zacarius' healing wand.
Around midday during the next day's travel, the group spotted a weird cloud ahead. Approaching, they found the cloud was actually circular, risen around a verdant grassland in the middle of the snowy wasteland. In the grassland they saw a single great elk happily munching on the grasses. Ash also spotted a pair of winter wargs attempting to hunt, hindered by their white coats in the tall green grasses. Ash alerted the group and they engaged the wolves. Ash charged in while Zacarius shifted Pavo to the rear of the wargs. Though the wargs were able to damage Ash heavily with magically cold breath and ripping fang, they were both bested pretty quickly, one blinded and the other pierced several times by Pavo's blades.
As they were recovering from the fight, the elk came trotting over to defend its territory. After charging towards the group, the megaloceros engaged in stomping and bellowing to get the group to leave. Ash realized that not only were they not really needing to fight the elk, but that an elk of that size could do a lot of damage, moved the group out of the greensward, keeping weapons down and eyes averted. The elk, satisfied, romped elsewhere, no doubt hoping to attract his females.
Nadya and the group spent the next hour or so calming the sled dogs and sorting their leads, during which a stranger came up to the camp, telling of a vision from the lights before the stars that led him to this land. He was an Erutaki, called Inuksuk, a spirit talker for his people. He was also trained as a kineticist, able to manipulate the stone. Though not exactly welcomed with open arms, his open nature and ease of spirit earned him a space to travel with the group.
That evening, as the rest of the group set up camp in a convenient dell, Nadya sent her son Orm into a nearby copse for firewood. Pavo decided to investigate the dell as well, spotting a trio of hungry wolves looking for easy prey. Pavo called out for assistance immediately. The wolves started at the sound of alarm and decided it would be prudent to be elsewhere and slunk off.
After camp was set, the gremlins visited again, stealing Zacarius' color spray wand and all the spacing wedges for Ash's axe, including the one currently holding the axe head in place. Inuksuk spotted the gremlins before they could approach the camp for a third time that evening, calling on the earth to force them to flee. The gremlins decided they were bored of this group now and went to find someone more interesting to play with. Inuksuk had served as blacksmith for his tribe before following his vision, so knew at least the basics of setting an axe and went to the copse to find good wood to make more spacing wedges, returning with replacements before camp was fully struck.
On the afternoon of the next day's travel, a ruined village came in to sight. Though most of the village was reduced to no more than crumbled remnants of forgotten walls, the church in the center of town still had enough of a roof to make a decent shelter; with a storm threatening on the horizon, the group decided to check it out. Set over the entry arch of the church was the symbol of Desna, and standing within its decrepit walls was a pair of priests. Even as Pavo warned the group, he heard the sound of children screaming. The group was overcome by a wave of crushing despair though it found home only in Ash's heart. The two priests shed their illusionary skins, growing jagged teeth and rough claws while their vestments appeared to rot in moments.
Zacarius called on holy energy to strike them down while Ash and Pavo engaged them. The two huecuva struck at the faithful of Desna, one charging Zacarius and the other going for Inuksuk, only to be intercepted by Ash. With holy energy and bolts of stone, axe and dagger, the blasphemous priests were finally laid to rest.
Pavo found a hidden cache of treasures the priests had stashed before their deaths so long ago, extracting a couple scrolls, a feather-falling ring and a bladed belt for the group's use. A little poking around led the group to surmise that the priests had turned from Desna when the rest of the town fled Baba Yaga's army of giants during the first winter war, the prelude to the founding of Irrisen.
Around midday during the next day's travel, the group spotted a weird cloud ahead. Approaching, they found the cloud was actually circular, risen around a verdant grassland in the middle of the snowy wasteland. In the grassland they saw a single great elk happily munching on the grasses. Ash also spotted a pair of winter wargs attempting to hunt, hindered by their white coats in the tall green grasses. Ash alerted the group and they engaged the wolves. Ash charged in while Zacarius shifted Pavo to the rear of the wargs. Though the wargs were able to damage Ash heavily with magically cold breath and ripping fang, they were both bested pretty quickly, one blinded and the other pierced several times by Pavo's blades.
As they were recovering from the fight, the elk came trotting over to defend its territory. After charging towards the group, the megaloceros engaged in stomping and bellowing to get the group to leave. Ash realized that not only were they not really needing to fight the elk, but that an elk of that size could do a lot of damage, moved the group out of the greensward, keeping weapons down and eyes averted. The elk, satisfied, romped elsewhere, no doubt hoping to attract his females.
Nadya and the group spent the next hour or so calming the sled dogs and sorting their leads, during which a stranger came up to the camp, telling of a vision from the lights before the stars that led him to this land. He was an Erutaki, called Inuksuk, a spirit talker for his people. He was also trained as a kineticist, able to manipulate the stone. Though not exactly welcomed with open arms, his open nature and ease of spirit earned him a space to travel with the group.
That evening, as the rest of the group set up camp in a convenient dell, Nadya sent her son Orm into a nearby copse for firewood. Pavo decided to investigate the dell as well, spotting a trio of hungry wolves looking for easy prey. Pavo called out for assistance immediately. The wolves started at the sound of alarm and decided it would be prudent to be elsewhere and slunk off.
After camp was set, the gremlins visited again, stealing Zacarius' color spray wand and all the spacing wedges for Ash's axe, including the one currently holding the axe head in place. Inuksuk spotted the gremlins before they could approach the camp for a third time that evening, calling on the earth to force them to flee. The gremlins decided they were bored of this group now and went to find someone more interesting to play with. Inuksuk had served as blacksmith for his tribe before following his vision, so knew at least the basics of setting an axe and went to the copse to find good wood to make more spacing wedges, returning with replacements before camp was fully struck.
On the afternoon of the next day's travel, a ruined village came in to sight. Though most of the village was reduced to no more than crumbled remnants of forgotten walls, the church in the center of town still had enough of a roof to make a decent shelter; with a storm threatening on the horizon, the group decided to check it out. Set over the entry arch of the church was the symbol of Desna, and standing within its decrepit walls was a pair of priests. Even as Pavo warned the group, he heard the sound of children screaming. The group was overcome by a wave of crushing despair though it found home only in Ash's heart. The two priests shed their illusionary skins, growing jagged teeth and rough claws while their vestments appeared to rot in moments.
Zacarius called on holy energy to strike them down while Ash and Pavo engaged them. The two huecuva struck at the faithful of Desna, one charging Zacarius and the other going for Inuksuk, only to be intercepted by Ash. With holy energy and bolts of stone, axe and dagger, the blasphemous priests were finally laid to rest.
Pavo found a hidden cache of treasures the priests had stashed before their deaths so long ago, extracting a couple scrolls, a feather-falling ring and a bladed belt for the group's use. A little poking around led the group to surmise that the priests had turned from Desna when the rest of the town fled Baba Yaga's army of giants during the first winter war, the prelude to the founding of Irrisen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)