Tag: The Three

  • Session Report: An airxip journey

    Session Report: An airxip journey

    With various desires to return to Telse, as well as a discovery that the people of Qin may have a couple Scholars hiding in their midst, the group flies the working airxip from the Temple of Wisdom over the Western Wildes. The crew is a mix of goblins, rescued pirates and player characters. Together, they will head towards the mountains just to the east of Telse.

    Session Notes:
    Mansaray, Samul, Doceo, Aamar were present as active PCs.
    Mo, Behn, Saffron and Ixnyx travel via the airxip, but are crew, not PCs.
    The remaining characters are in Sheljar. Ajhenas and Kuda are on the Tower Island creating a military, while Telley is on the settled island with the Temple of Wisdom (where the goblins hid) helping the people make a life there.  Braaz, and Els are working on restoring the two homes on the south end of the Island Inn.
    Shonie is retired and remains in Telse. She features in this story as an NPC, barely.

    The session began with a sharing of information.There is great concern for Telse. Firbas, the ale drake, let’s them all know that the Proctors declared war on the Scholars that remain, as well as any caster that has escaped the normal bonds placed on Kin. Aamar and Saffron are targets due to their Lorebooks. Behn is a target as well. Combating the Proctors with their fleet of dragons is not yet practical.

    But the present PCs learn that the Scholars are a mixed group of potential allies, definite enemies and aloof erudite knowledge seekers. Those that cannot be convinced to side against the Proctors have Lorebooks or similar devices. Those can help in a battle of mighty magic backed by dragons against the scrappy Kin, who are defined by their beloved companions.

    Qin seems to have one or two of those Scholars. Parun, or his boss, is probably one as well. There is also Chorl, who they will need to finish off at some point. But for now, south to Telse and eventually Qin is their direction.

    The group gets a few volunteers from their rescued allies and borrows the working airxip, a small two-master with one heat room, and two huge props to help it travel. They head out.

    Just a day into their journey they notice a camp with a central holding facility, four tents and a few dozen dogs. This is in the territory where they know that Parun’s Azsel forces roam.

    c1wid9puaaa9oz

    They will attempt to rescue the captives, and if Parun is present end his service to Azsel.

    It is a harsh battle. There is a warlord, mage, two archers and two scouts in opposition. Plus, as Azsel-ites most have dogs that come in a latter wave. That wave is almost entirely wiped out by a single fireball from Doceo.

    Mansaray versus the warlord is almost like a kaiju battle. The two trade blow and blow and blow as the fight rages around them. Samul focuses on the archers. Doceo tries to end the threat from the scouts. Aamar and the mage trade spells and blows.

    The victory leaves them bloodied, wounded, drawn down and exhausted. Unfortunately, Parun is not at this camp. His raiders are working the West unhindered. The group attempts to convince those rescued to head to Sheljar for safety.

    After another couple days of travel they arrive above Upper Telse. The xip settles into a mountain valley. Doceo visits Shonie to collect the rest of his cash from the merchant-seeker. There they find out that the Everflow isn’t flowing.

    Aamar attempts to visit Sealm, the wizened leaders of the Faithful. Sealm has passed away. His grand-nephew Nils is not around Upper Telse. Sealm’s passing happened on the same day that the Everflow stopped.

    Bishop Ollium and the rest of Quar’s church have some Everflow bottled and saved, but they will run out. The two rivers will stop flowing shortly after the locks on the pool let out their remaining water. The economy of Telse, Ooshar, Mira, Qin and others count on that river traffic and/or the magical, healing waters of the Everflow.

    And there are dragons seeking to destroy the city.

    Become a Patron to see fiction set in the World of the Everflow. These stories are set in the time of the Awakening.

  • Session Report: Forge of Lies unites Lorebook Hunters

    Session Report: Forge of Lies unites Lorebook Hunters

    In this session our heroes discover that Chorl did not die in Cortez’ volcano blast. Instead he’s captured other Lorebook Hunters and is also turning people into monstrous combinations of human and animal. Prior to Chorl’s dark arts centaurs, minotaurs, satyrs,  aarakocra, and various werebeasts did not exist. Now they do, and they will plague the Western Wildes. They are accompanied by owlbears, cockatrices, perytons, and who knows what else wanders the world now.

    Session Notes:
    This took place over two sessions.
    Doceo, Mansaray, Saffron, and Samul are the participants.
    Most of the remaining characters remain at the Island Inn, or as Samul calls it “His Palace.”
    Shonie is still retired and in Telse.
    Brazz, Els and Kuda are rescued from the evils of Chorl.

    While guarding the west bridge after a couple days of peace with the gobkon Samul notices a huge goliath walking calmly towards the island. He recognizes Mansaray from their time in and around the Glass Tower. Mansaray was presumed lost when Cortez set off a volcano to destroy Chorl‘s attack from his camp of Nak.

    After a few words the escapee from Azsel asks to see his falcon, who has shadowed Aamar. Mansaray explains that he’s been to the Cliffs of Gallinor and back to the Glass Tower. In both locations dragons fly, ridden by fey creatures of myth. Saffron gasps in fear. When he headed north to avoid the fiery breath and piercing eyes he discovered that Chorl still lives. The wizard controls fierce army, and holds three Lorebook Hunters captive, under torture. They are likely the group that Mayor Kellamon sent north when he hired The Five.

    Doceo, Samul and Saffron volunteer to join him in rescuing these souls from Chorl’s grasp.

    If the group is successful all PCs but Shonie will be united at Sheljar. If they fail, there will be new characters created.

    Bridge to Chorl’s Camp

    Leaving Sheljar’s formerly rich neighborhood the group heads out over a narrow stone bridge from the height of the far northwest island to the mainland. Crossing this bridge they are set upon by several cockatrices and an odd minotaur-like creature with horns coming from its knees. Saffron casts stink cloud and Doceo blasts a fireball. Combined those do quick work of the petrifying bird-lizard creatures. Mansaray and Samul finish off the deyong quickly.

    After a few more miles they are in the forest edge near Chorl’s camp. A mix of giant eagles and aarocrocka attack. It takes a bit for the missile weapons and spells to prevent those allies of Chorl from warning the camp, but they are finished quickly. A magic user that rode one of the eagles causes a bit of trouble, but not much.

    The group is slightly weakened, and their goal is nearby.

    Raiding Camp

    The heroes see an access point to the camp along the ridge to the north. Mansaray knows that it rapidly descends to the sea, and there may be an escape route along the shore of Gilkey Bay back into the bog-city of Sheljar. There is one tent between them and a forge-cottage.

    Saffron, the normally non-violent bard, sneaks into a tent along the northern ridge. Inside is a a sleeping bear-man. She stabs it through the heart. Thankfully the group fits in the tent. They see they can into the forge and hide, looking for a better opportunity to attack or to sneak into camp, rescue the prisoners and flee.

    Forge of Lies

    4341324269_f27e81fc7f_o
    Forge by Steven Lilley at https://flic.kr/p/7BCqsr

     

    Again the bard has to lead the way. She’s small enough to crawl through a window. Daylight is still an hour or two away.

    Mansaray and Samul come in the door while the rat-man is dealing with Doceo and Saffron. The giant rat and wererat are dead, quietly and quickly.

    But, Chorl, in his shimmering green-gold robe, heads to the camp’s main fire. He asks a minotaur named Dustin to check on Yacoob at the forge. A new supply of arms is necessary for the war.

    Doceo sends his dogs out to distract the minotaur. The rest come up with a plan. Mansaray and Doceo will create a distraction by burning down the main building. Saffron, Samul and Boo will rescue the captives. Then they will all run.

    Saffron keeps watch on the fire-pit where Chorl is speechifying to most of the followers he has present.

    Chorl’s speech

    Saffron overhears Chorl tell his gathered fiends the following.

    Rohan’s Book of the Dead has disappeared. Cortez’ Tome of Enlightenment is still within Sheljar. We must capture both in order to take the Glass Tower from the Proctors of Grace. Our forces in Crinth will return. The River Tribes fell to Azsel and Briarwall will likely be next. Azsel control the entire north. We of Ritual and Blood must Awaken the Everflow or Kin will fall to slavery and ignorance.

    He mentions a few other Scholars that have ignored his appeal, instead trusting in Cortez and the Scholars’ Oath of Kinship- the Comedienne, the Composer. He awaits word from the Aegis Guard, Cannon of Qin and Eldritch Knight. The Trickster refuse to join him as he focuses on profit.

    Menagerie Barn

    Just outside the barn is a man and horse. The man is wearing the tunic of a Shield of Kirtin. Both man and horse have suffered. Samul and Boo free them from their bonds, telling them to hide behind the barn. Saffron hides behind the corner. Inside the barn they see a centaur, a panther with human, a minotaur, an aarocrocka, another aarocrocka, a goliath with a chicken and a werebear. They are guarded by an aarocrocka and a centaur.

    Saffron, Samul and Boo take out the guards.

    At the same time Doceo and Mansaray set fire to the main house. At one point Mansaray tackles Chorl and throws him in the fire. Doceo pelts him with sling bullets. Eventually Saffron casts dissonant whispers, which forces Chorl to flee north and east, towards the large statue in Sheljar Bay.

    Samul, Mansaray, Doceo finish off Dustin, the blond minotaur, when he returns as the rest of Chorl’s creatures flee. A werebear that Boo released is angry, but is also scared away as Boo hides in the safety of the forge-cottage. The other occupants of the barn are left tied up after the werebear shows that not all are friendly.

    Boo and Saffron also released Brazz, his chicken and Els and her panther. They hid with Kuda and only rejoined the rest when it was clearly safe. They have horror stories to tell

    Searching the Forge

    After the various centaur-like creatures fled south and the bird-like peoples flew out northwest the group is alone in the camp, with maybe an hour before a metals delivery is to come. That delivery is from a mine to the north and west.

    They search the forge finding a letter in Crinthian, the chest for a suit of plate armor, a few blades, javelins and arrows. There’s a smattering of gold and silver about the area as well.

    All seven and their companions return to Sheljar. They have news of the extent of the Scholars influence and control throughout the Kin and the Land of the Everflow.

  • Session 1 Group 2: Clockwork zeppelin

    Session 1 Group 2: Clockwork zeppelin

    Session Notes: The Shield of Kirtin (Paladin) player is out for this session on no notice. As is practice the only way that PC would perish is through an absurd TPK. There’s a near-zero chance of that. Present were the Goliath Commoner (Tinker) and the Human Mundane Ranger from coastal Daoud. Both are 1st time table-top role-players.

    The Three last were in the ruins of a farmhouse in the Stench of Sheljar. At night they’d faced a few skeletons and zombies that rose from a bog and into the crumbling home where the Three took refuge. It was on the edge of these Sheljar lands. In the morning they work their way into a city that has been destroyed.

    Abandoned homes and shops line the improved roads. There are pits of acid, pockmarks from various bolts, fire damage throughout. Few skeletons are about and everything stinks. The bog land and little islands have bridges connecting paths and larger spots of firm ground tend to have docks and piers.

    Caution takes the group as they wander through this abandoned place. They know there may be skeletons and zombies. As they follow a main path they start to here a loud noise. It is a chink-chink-chink KACHUNK thing, clearly mechanical. Not knowing where to look they try to get closer to this, winding through large paths and small roads from stable ground to stable ground.

    Reaching a structure with a kind of permanence in this forsaken place they investigate. The ground floor is former in, with tables in disrepair, but some level of cleanliness that is surprising here. The Shield stays in this space with his faithful horse. The other two checkout the kitch…

    A HUGE RUMBLE comes from the southwest.

    Everyone but the animal companions are on their asses. The Tinker rushes to a window with a view to that part of the world and sees a volcanic eruption. A huge cloud is forming with its rain of rocks and ash to come. The chink-chink-chink KACHUNK noise stops.

    The Ranger gets a view towards the noise and there is a fire beyond a building across the way, and then streaming out of a passage are a set of humanoids setting up a bucket brigade. They are of varied sizes, with the largest making her Goliath friend seem a bit small. Their bucket brigade slows downs every time the smaller humanoids get one of these huge barrels of water. Eventually they leave and a couple more of the immense, tusked creatures can enter the line.

    The sky falls dark and towards one of the branches of the river there is a waterfall like noise. One of the large creatures gets swept away, the Three move to the second floor. They can’t see the other group now. The slush grey river is a horizontal water fall, but that fire is out.

    An hour later, as the river dies down to a rapids rather than horizontal waterfall, the chink-chink-chink KACHUNK sound returns. Beyond the building they start to see a bladder-like structure appear. It is ribbed. It continues to rise with a rib filling at every KACHUNK. Twelve times that KACHUNK sounds and then a huge ship hangs underneath the ribbed bladder. Dozens of those various humanoids board.

    A ladder is thrown down to three of the largest types with two climbing up to the safety of their vessel. The last falls when two rungs fail. He is left behind.

    The Three are cautious with the river and it is late in the evening. They settle in, keeping watch towards that lost soul. A few times in the evening they hear a clash of weapons. After those moments they see brighter fires.

    In the morning the Tinker and Ranger cross the river to investigate, leaving the horse and Shield behind, in safety. Crossing this river, since the bridge was washed away, is difficult enough without armor.

    They sneak around the warehouse-like structure that blocked the view. A Large frightened creature with a repeating heavy crossbow as large as a siege engine opens fire on the group. They weren’t sneaky enough. The Ranger orders her panther to attack as she tries to use piles of rubble for some cover. The Goliath takes cover and tries to fire back.

    Session note: this was a couple weeks ago, so the pbp of the battle is impossible to recreate. Here’s the quick version.

    They survive, but cannot take this creature alive, because the panther’s last command was to attack. It makes a killing blow on a critical. There will be no interrogation. They make it back to the Shield and let him know that they saw a couple other of those vessels leave. They also have a nicer map than the one they scrounged earlier. Those vessels they see seem to be leaving from spots marked on the map.

    The statue in the harbor looks like the smallest of the creatures they saw. The Tinker thinks that those creatures, and that stature, all look like what the god Nok is reputed to look like.

    End Session.

  • Session Zero: The Second Group

    Session Zero: The Second Group

    This adventuring group started at the same time as The Five. It begins with three characters and will be The Three. It is also designed for some drop-in session and semi-permanent from the core. They are also searching for a Lorebook, but their direction is not to the West, but to the North and Sheljar. Their journey is darker.

    The Three consist of;

    • Human, Paladin, Oath of Shield. This is a Paladin that does not have spellcasting, but does have some divine power. He carries a tower shield and is one of the protectors of Kirtin. Their companion is a draft horse.
    • Human, Mundane Ranger, path unknown. Her companion is a panther. She is originally from Daoud.
    • Goliath, Commoner (Tinker). He is from the outskirts of Telse, towards Bell’an’fair. This worshipper of Nok wants to learn why thinks work.

    This is a group with a bit more fighting weight behind it. Though the Goliath doesn’t hit often, when he does he crushes. Seeing this Piyu and Allison send them off towards the Stench of Sheljar. They were at the same speech about trying to find the Lorebook, as well as Telse’s place in a post-Awakening Kin.

    At the urging of Allison they head north through the fields and orchards towards Sheljar. The small group continues though a land that loses civilization quickly. After a few days they meet a family of minor nobles that escaped the stench of Sheljar. Not yet in the bogs and fogs of the fallen empire they learn that even these former leaders no longer tread north on the road. One of their sons left once. He is forever gone. All trade is to the south and the family heavily armed.

    A couple days later the group avoids the road now. There are others on the horizon, conflict isn’t desired. This is a scouting trip more than anything else, for now. Off in these woods there is a pile of mostly bones. Their forms are not human, goliath or halfling. There are heavy brows. One has large tusks. The tiny one has a misapportioned mouth and a huge forehead. Each has a crossbow, with the largest of these being usable, with some work. The goliath tinker fixes it. It’s nearly the size of a balista. For him it is just a heavy crossbow. There are only a couple of bolts available. There is also a tiny map of the Sheljar area.

    And two days later they enter the bogs and marshes of Sheljar. Their necks wrapped in perfumed kerchiefs so they don’t endure the physical smell their is still a sense of foreboding. On the edge of the settled lands of the dead kingdom they make camp for the night. The small house they found has some rotting hay. It is mostly a ruin, with some soft land to the east that settles into some sort of pond or stagnant water. There is a paddock to the south.

    In the late hours the animal companions come aware. They sense something outside of reality nearby. The panther growls waking the group. Skeletal shadows walk towards the nearly sleeping bodies. Only the goliath can see, but the ranger thinks quickly and throws a little flame towards the advancing undead. The party can see 2 skeletons and 3 zombies.

    The battle is fast, fierce. Being unfamiliar with combat the tinker struggles to stay involved. Without the panther and the healing abilities of the Shield all would be lost. But they tough it out. All remain living. When the combat is over they sleep a little closer to each other; their companions a little uneasy; their hearts beating faster.

    Sheljar is a place where the dead walk.