Well, this has certainly been an eventful few days. I've met my first Horror. I've met some new adepts. I've been to a new city, the capital of the Syrtis Aropagoi of the T'Skrang, in the Lalai Gorge, and returned with the first diplomatic party from that same city. I've met some winged (sort of) T'Skrang. The world feels very different from when I left.
It all started with word that the Throal Military was looking to build up their air wing. With no actual airships inside the mountain, and the difficulty of keeping any sort of flying mount that can carry big folk around fed, they didn't really *have* an air wing, actually; just an officer of some sort who wanted to build one up. After 400 years in a cave, it should surprise no one that it hadn't been a priority up to this point. In any event, the officer (Venla) wanted us to procure some griffon eggs for her; no easy prospect, but that's why she had sent for adepts, of course.
Joining me in this expedition were some Adepts I have never worked with before; Jael, an Elven Beastmaster (who has the most fierce preces I have ever seen or heard of), Dubhan, a Dwarf Wizard (who I learned much from), William, a Human Scout (who seemed to be able to do just about anything), and Vlolkir, a Troll Sky Raider and Horror Stalker (who seemed surprisingly enthusiastic about everything for a Horror Stalker, from everything I've heard). Apparently they all knew each other reasonably well; William and Vlolkir in particular spoke quite a bit about their efforts to clear Kaer Bamor, which had been defiled by some sort of rather nasty horror quite often. Also accompanying us were Jolly Jumper, Charlie (William's Huttawa, who seemed to dislike fighting) and two of Jael's companions, Ebony (the aforementioned preces, which seemed darker than normal to my eyes and could almost fade out of sight if you stopped looking for a moment) and Fang (a fairly large wolf). We were going up high into the peaks of the mountains, and Pepper would have much too hard a time with the tight spaces and similar, I thought.
In any event, we set off. Vlolkir procured an unnervingly large amount of hurlg before we left. Personally, since I learned how it was made some time ago, the stuff makes me feel ill. Fortunately, although he kept encouraging me to drink it, nobody expects a Windling to make a dent in a Troll-sized mug. UN-fortunately, pretending to drink it still involves putting your nose right next to the stuff, which is an experience I could do without. We spent some days passing through the mountains, guided ably by William. Jael kept lookout, and I spent most of my time foraging along the way as best I could, which would have been much easier if there weren't so many of us.
We were making good speed, in spite of the weariness that seemed to come upon us all along the way. It seems that once you get very high up in the mountains, everything tires you out much more quickly. After some time, we came to a chasm, which we neatly crossed with a little bit of difficulty. Dubhan's magic was of great use here, as he allowed Jael to carry our animal friends across, and it was most interesting to see some lightning-powered lizards below. Jael attempted to bring one up to us so that he could befriend it, but they did not listen. He got really interested after William was able to give an incredibly detailed description of what they could do, and after one of them tried to zap him while he flew across the gap and he saw some of it for himself, but they simply weren't interested; personally, I figured I was much too close to snack-sized to give it a try. William looked like he was thinking about bonding with one, but decided against it.
With that out of the way, we were in griffon territory. William started tracking, and brought us right along the way we needed to go, when we encountered some cave trolls and some very large wolves; about the size of Pepper, even. Well, they charged at us, or so we thought, and we made short work of them when it became apparent that they were trying to escape from something, not attacking us (I feel a little bad about that, but I'm pretty sure the cave trolls would have tried to kill us anyways and none of the wolves suffered permanent harm).
We followed along the pass they were running down, and heard the sounds of combat. Quickly Dubhan and I put our spells to work enhancing the might of our allies, and we came quickly around a bend and witnessed a huge cat-like creature killing a group of T'Skrang. It looked horribly unnatural... I was rather too busy to get a good look in the astral, but I am assured it is some type of horror, as were the corpses of several other dead creatures that the T'Skrang had been fighting before we arrived on the scene. I believe Vlolkir said they were all gnashers, though the large remaining one looked pretty different from the others. Just as we arrived, the last of the T'Skrang fell, and the huge thing jumped right at Dubhan and clawed him up pretty badly, even though he managed to dodge some of its claws. However, it soon found that we were pretty dangerous ourselves, as it was quickly surrounded and took quite a beating; Jolly Jumper got in an excellent strike while it was distracted, and between that and the damage the T'Skrang had managed to inflict before we arrived, it didn't take long before it joined the other gnashers in death.
Fortunately, not all of the T'Skrang were dead; a few of them had been badly wounded, and William had a couple of last chance salved he used to revive another two, who did not look quite as badly wounded. The T'Skrang had arrived at this place, which happened to be a griffon nest (there were 2 young griffons and 4 eggs; William had guided us true), explaining that their Shivalahala had prophesied that Vlolkir would be there, and would need their help to survive the encounter (looking at how many gnashers there were, that is probably true; I'm sure we would have hurt them a great deal, but there were quite a few, and I'm not sure Vlolkir understands ideas like "tactical retreat" or "living to fight another day"). They invited us to their city, which we gladly accepted, after first burning the dead (apart from the large gnasher's skull, which Vlolkir seemed to think made a good trophy) and sharing a Hero's Feast, as several of us were quite badly hurt (I, myself, was only winded as a result of the effort of reattuning a matrix as quickly as possible to try out my latest Shaman spell... it seems to be the trend that I am either hurt very badly, or almost not at all, on these adventures). William was also kind enough to help track down one of the huge wolves that had been running from the gnashers, and I was able to befriend it. I imagine it was quite glad to have a better friend than a cave troll. He is very playful, and also not very good at listening to me, but another friend is always welcome, even if he *is* very loud. I've named him Howler, and I hope that some day I shall be able to teach him the value of being quiet so that other people may ask why that is his name. Pepper and Jolly Jumper will certainly appreciate the quiet as well, I am sure... they are not very fond of the sound of a giant howling wolf at all.
Anyways, we joined the T'Skrang on their trip back to their city. They had wings, of a sort, and were led by one Named K'alama (or Kiana; I'm not entirely certain how T'Skrang names work actually). The city was very impressive, being carved out of the cliffsides of a great gorge with a very high waterfall (our hosts said it was 3,000 feet... I certainly wasn't about to take the time to try and measure it off, so let's go with that). The others seemed nervous about the drop... personally, I was quite annoyed at all the water spray in the air soaking my wings. I suppose that is probably quite pleasant for a T'Skrang, but I could do without it. In any event, the view was certainly breathtaking, and it was pleasing to see that someone else had managed to weather the scourge in reasonable condition, beyond just Throal, and to see a city that is open to the sky is even better, though I suspect that cost them dearly in defending themselves over those 400 years; they seemed to have room for a great many more than were in it. That worked out well, though, since it meant I didn't have to work as hard to keep Howler from biting anyone, and with a giant waterfall right next door he didn't seem as noisy.
Vlolkir presented them with the Horror's head, going on about how their people's deaths had not been in vain. I suspect they carted it off and burned it while he wasn't looking, and replaced it with a fake, which didn't look terribly convincing at all (must've been a rush job, they seemed perfectly capable of making nice-looking things). Frankly, I'm pretty sure he was so drunk from all the hurlg he had brought (and all the alcohol he persuaded them to give him in addition to that) that he couldn't tell the difference anyways, and that's probably for the best. He also seemed quite interested in recruiting some young T'Skrang to the war against the Horrors. I hope they don't wind up like the T'Skrang we left up in the mountains, but I suspect that more of them will than won't.
When we were ready to return to Throal, Kiana (or K'alama; still not sure) announced that she would like to come along as the head of a diplomatic delegation. We were all more than happy to hear that, and we enjoyed a pleasant boat ride through the mountains (though not by a boat with a fire engine; I should like to see one some day, but that will have to wait I suppose). Vlolkir pointed out several places he'd been that were near the river. They all sounded like pretty lousy places to me, but I suppose I just don't get Trolls, or Skyraiders, or Skyraider Trolls. So far as I am concerned, there is nothing "glorious" about a horror-tainted hole in the ground filled with dead tortured souls.
When we arrived home, there was a big welcoming party (not for us, of course; for the diplomats. The diplomatic corps of Throal got rid of us as quickly as they could without seeming excessively rude, I think. Probably just as well, I think the T'Skrang were probably glad to have achieved minimum safe distance from Vlolkir's hurlg. I certainly am). When we reported to Venla, she was delighted to be gifted with 4 griffon eggs (but not the two young ones; they were quite cute, and both William and Jael seemed to be pretty attached to them by this point, and really they were probably old enough that it would be very difficult for a non-adept to train them anyways). She was less delighted to hear that we'd only just gotten there in time to save the eggs, but not the parents, but seemed resigned to that fact. In any event, perhaps by the time they are ready to send another expedition, the air wing will actually be a thing that exists and they'll be able to handle it themselves.Statistics:Posted by Sharkforce — Sat May 23, 2020 6:33 am
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