Just as I was finishing my Troubadour training, I heard that Thorkell Gulbradndsen (troll Weapnsmith and Questor of Upandal) was organising an expedition to reclaim an ancient mine. According to the Daicar brothers, who were funding the expedition, the mine included veins of living crystal and various metals and was located on the southern tip of the Throalic mountains.
Also participating in the expedition were:
- LaShana Tumblesprout, a windling Thief
- Lazulin, a troll Raider
- Nib of clan Skyreader, a windling Wizard apprenticed to Zivilyn of Skyreader Isle
Before leaving, Nib spent some time investigating the mine and its surroundings, they found that the area had been briefly surveyed by the Earthdawn, a kaer (Dviel) was nearby, and the Broken Spear moot had looked into taking control of it.
In the meantime Lazulin looked into hiring some mercenaries to accompany us, but came back muttering about outrageous fees.
The travel south was easy if dreary under the nearly constant rain. Every scholar I've asked tells me the rain is part of the natural order and very important to our lifes, but I remain suspicious that it is the result of some kind of horror plot. I would have been less annoyed, but my plans for building a house on Isidoros' back were being stymied by the fact that every craftsman I approached assumed it was some kind of "windling tomfoolery" and didn't want any part in it. My list of contacts was getting rather short at that point.
The journey was first along new roads and then the remains of some very old roads until we got close to the location where the mine should have been and found a surprisingly large walled town instead. Thorkell thought it was newly built on top of the ruins of its prescourge incarnation. We decided to just ride through and keep looking for the mine.
As we approached we spotted the gate guards napping, long before Isidoros' gentle gait woke them up. The guards didn't seem used to visitors, they in fact seemed quite excited by the idea, even before I could make sure to make a good first impression on them. I had to remind them of greeting rituals and they eagerly seized the chance to show off, our performance was also good and Ricca's lost songs were a definite hit. Nib's fumbled calligraphy got thankfully missed in the rush of more townsfolk excited to show off their own rituals.
Eventually a pudgy dwarf (Iwiko Mokoi) who seemed to have authority over the guards and most of the townsfolk arrived and started asking questions. I introduced ourselves as independent contractors for the Kingdom of Throal, which seemed to interested them. They mentioned something about having work for us before offering us lodgings for the night and inviting us to dinner.
We are taken to a newly built (or refurbished? I'm sure Thorkell would have known) vacant house and given directions to one of the larger mansions, which from a distance looked still in the process of being rebuilt. Just as master Mokoi left us, another group approached led by an elf (Herka Halftild) wearing fashionable garb and jewellery. LaShana seemed quite taken with this newcomer, but they were rather unimpressed with us. Apparently they were the head of another influential family in the worn, and they themselves a councilperson like master Mokoi.
Minutes later and old orc (Siako Urdot) showed up from pretty much nowhere, claiming to be a travelling historian and giving out various facts about ancient Mokoi and Halftild history. In the end madam Halftild invited us to lunch the next day while Siako would have dinner with them that evening.
What followed were two days of sifting through rumors, half truths, and gossip as we tried to understand why the Mokois and Halftilds were at each other throats over the mine, with three people already dead. I was of the opinion that this was old fashioned greed plus four centuries of friction or possibly Broken Spears trying to sow chaos, but Nib in particular was very keen on rooting out some kind of supernatural influence.
The three deads were a Mokoi surveyor and two Halftild miners, all found with convenient tokens of allegiance to the other house nearby. With some cleaver wordplay we managed to get permission from both houses to investigate the mine, which proved helpful in getting past both sets of guards.
Inside the mine Thorkell felt some kind of vibrations in the floor and started following them, but we also were being followed by one of more someones, so LaShana took us to a more defensible spot. The people following us turned out to be a group of Halftild adepts who believed we were working for the Mokois. The battle was short and brutal, a completely different affair from fighting wild creatures or horror constructs. One of the adepts was a very competent archer as I found out when an arrow suddenly appeared in my shoulder.
Eventually we subdued them without killing anyone and tied them up. Their names were:
- Ghihi Halftild, an elf Archer
- Klaut Rope, a human Warrior
- Lalu, a dwarf Thief
- Ubi, an ork Warrior
- Ukronuy, a troll Warrior
We proceeded deeper into the mine where the tremors were stronger and eventually found two basilisk fleeing from a cloud of carpentry implements that was demolishing the mine supports. LaShana and Nib also spotted some kind of magical effect right in front of us, which LaShana quickly marked with chalk.
The first basilisk provided a demonstration of what the effect was when it entered the area and was immediately launched into the air before landing gracelessly. While the others dithered trying to hide from the basilisks (who were most definitely not interested in us) I charged the nightmare from the carpentry shop. On the upside this seemed to severely destabilize the spirit, on the downside flying through saws is now further down on my list of pleasant past times than flying in a thunderstorm.
Thorkell and Lazulin soon joined me in taking the spirit apart and then we chased down the two basilisks before they could get to our prisoners. More investigation found the corpse of an elf, probably an Elementalist, wearing Mokoi colours. We speculated that maybe the elf was trying to make the mine appear more unstable than it actually was and then got murdered to make the spirit go out of control.
We made our way back out, with prisoners in tow. Some more questions revealed that they had been told to come after us by one Breuve Halftild, who denied ever having that conversation, at which point Ghihi also mentions that maybe the person they spoke to was not Breuve and shows us a token of commitment they had received. Looks like Nib found their source of influence, probably related to Siako who was conveniently gone at this point.
We wrangled Thorkell as an impartial observer of the mine with Daicar support and left shortly after.
Statistics:Posted by sigfriedmcwild — Thu Oct 01, 2020 10:07 pm
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The journey wasn’t horrible but wasn’t well-traveled and part of it was off the map so we had to navigate our own way a little bit. But after about a week we approached what should have been the location of a kaer named Divel. Instead we came over a hill and BOOM there were gates and two guards, sleeping. It made me want to laugh out loud (cause its possible I would do the same thing) but I didn’t because ummmm, my traveling companions probably wouldn’t have appreciated it. Apparently they didn’t get many visitors here because they didn’t do the things that most city guards would have done, like ask who we were or why we were there.
This might have been the first time they’d ever had to perform the introduction rights because like, the entire town seemed to come out to perform them. It was like a never ending stream of them, so many talents of all different levels. And the town must be huge because they truly JUST kept coming. Eventually we were greeted by a Master Mokoi, who was some sort of tow official because he was able to give us lodging while we stayed in Divel and wanted us to come up to the big house for dinner. He didn’t seem to understand why I was hesitant to accept such an invitation but was won over with the promise of delicious food.
As we were going through town to get to the digs Master Mokoi was giving us we ran into this other lady, and she had REALLY pretty hair, called Madam Erka Haftlid. And while she was really pretty and had soft hair she was not incredibly welcoming - at least not if you didn’t accept dinner at her house first. Oddly, another complete stranger also arrived from Throal named Siako Udrot, but had made the trip all by himself. It was weird, him arriving on our heels. But he said he was a librarian or a researcher or a historian maybe and he had found a bunch of info about this community and the families here and he was returning it. So I guess it was legit.
We had dinner with both sides the Mokois on the first night and the Haftlids on the second. They were like polar opposites, ones that TOTALLY didn’t get along. But it hadn’t always been like that, I guess they had managed to live and work well together when they were inside the kaer. Once they left the kaer though that’s when things went wrong, over the fight for control over the mine. There seemed to be a dispute over how the control of the mines was established. There also seemed to be some “proof” that one side might have come about that control through some illicit means. The Mokoi’s portrayed the Haftlids as money hungry crazies and the Haftlids portrayed the Mokoi’s as scaredy cat nincompoops. I mean both sides really just needed to get over themselves for the good of the town.
Well I guess there was an attempt to open the mines recently, whether they were ready to be opened or not. And some people died. And there was an issue that maybe one side or the other killed the miners. I was very confused about who it was that might have actually been responsible but clearly these miners were murdered and it just seemed to be a match lighting the fuse. But we had to fix this because Thorkel needed this. So we had to do what we could to help him.
So we agreed to kind of figure out what was going on or secure the mines. Someone needed to do something. When we went to the mines though there were guards from both families there and both sides were questioning our right to go into the mine. Well Thorkel and Lazulin took control you know got these guards in hand. They were instructed to run home and ask their mommies and daddies if it would be ok if we entered the mines. Once they got permission we were allowed to go in. There was a DEEP rumbling inside, we couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. But I could tell we WERE being followed so we set up an ambush. It went well I think. No one died, on either side.
We had to leave the ambushers tied up as we well further below to investigate the rumblings. Thorkel was very worried that the rumblings meant the mine was collapsing. So we needed to investigate to see if that’s what it was and see if we could stop it. As we emerged into the lowest level we ran INTO basilisks that were running towards us. Unfortunately I made eye contact with one as I was outlining a trap that was RIGHT in front of the stairs. We didn’t have to worry about the reason for the basilisks running towards us for long.
After getting away from the glare of the basilisks we found the source of the rumblings. It was a giant swirling cloud of rocks and tools and axes. And it was coming right towards us. And it was trying to take out the entire foundation of the mine, essentially destroying it. Elisen was a Beast - charging right up to it and stopping its advance. Of course the beast nearly took Elisen out for that bravery but that action gave everyone else the time needed to stop that elemental beast. When we explored what remained we found a dead Haftlid magic user who’d been stabbed right through the chest. They had apparently summoned the rock beast and they were then murdered, which freed the beast to go on his rampage. We couldn’t track down the murderer though.
We were able to save what remained of the mine. And that allowed Thorkel to broker a deal between the Brothers Daicar and the town/both families. Thorkel is hanging around to make sure things stay on the up an up and to oversee the reopening of the mine.
Statistics:Posted by Lashana — Sun Sep 20, 2020 6:17 am
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We set out for Clear Creek Crossing where we would then leave the road and skirt the mountains around to our destination. Within a days travel from the mines, we encountered a town that was the rebuilt Dviel. The guards outside were asleep, but very friendly once awoken. It seems not many outsiders come to this area. Before long our arrival had drawn a crowd. This did not escape the attention of a member of the council, a man by the name of Iwicko Mokoi. He greeted us warmly and offered us a place to stay for the evening as well as a banquet. On our way to drop off our things we ran into another council member, a woman named Erka Haftlid. It seems she has a rather poor opinion of the Mokois. She seemed annoyed we had taken Mokoi up on his offer but understanding. She insisted we meet with her the following day for a luncheon. Lightning is not wont to strike in the same place twice, but on this day another outsider also appeared. Haftild arranged it so that this individual would meet with the Haftilds first and then the two families would swap their guests.
Through our banquet we discovered the Haftilds and Mokois shared bad blood due to the mines. Of course the mines were claimed. Nothing ever seems to go that easily.... Anyway. The Mokois believed the mines were still too dangerous to work while the Haftilds believed the Mokois were overly cautious. This disagreement seems to have escalated to the point of murder. Mokoi told us of a geologist they sent to survey the mine being murdered. He believes the Haftilds were behind it. He also asked if he could hire us to check out the mine. Not wanting to get into the middle of a family feud, I restrained myself from accepting his offer until hearing what the Haftilds had to say.
The next day was the luncheon with the Haftilds. They vehemently denied killing the Mokoi geologist. They then told us of a pair of their member who were murdered in the mine leaving a dying message that the Mokois were behind it. Haftild also asked us to investigate the mine. Once again I turned down the offer. I tried to explain that neither family would benefit from this feud, but she seemed unconvinced.
I was starting to believe there may be some foul play at work here. Our group decided to go investigate the mines and murder sites. Unfortunately, I did not pick my team with the expectations of solving a murder and we were unable to learn much. Our best bet then was to check out the mines themselves. A group of guards were arguing in front of the entrance. It seemed the guard were split equally between Haftilds and Mokois. After Lazulin stopped their bickering we demanded to enter the mines. Neither side seemed willing to allow it, but sent runners to see if it was true. After both runners confirmed we were allowed access.
Some ways in I recognized that we were being followed. We picked the most advantageous spot for defending ourselves and waited. Eventually a group of Mokois showed up and attacked us believing us to be Haftild spies. At my urging our team prioritized non-lethal methods of subdual. In the heat of battle, such things can not be relied upon and I worried their deaths may close an avenue for us. Upandal favored us though, and we were able to subdue all the members without any deaths. It was at this point we felt rumblings from even further below. Fearing that the cave might collapse if something wasn't done, I rushed to see what could cause this.
The scene before us was one of devastation. A giant elemental spirit was wreaking havoc on the structural supports of the mine. Even beasts like basilisks fled in fear of this thing. Nib was able to spot that the spirit had laid a trap before us and had LaShana draw the outline while he attempted to dispel it. The basilisks by their very nature blasted us with their eyes while fleeing. Elisen nearly went down from the whirling vortex of rocks and mining equipment. We were able to take it down, though. No time to rest though. The basilisks were running in the direction of the Mokois we had left tied up. I had hoped to scare them into fleeing a different direction, but in the end we had to kill the beasts.
With all the excitement over we investigated the direction from which the spirit came. We found a dead Haftild elementalist with a dagger in their chest. It seems the the elementalist summoned the spirit and then was murdered, allowing the spirit to rampage. We were unable to track the murderer, though.
Upon returning to Dviel, I arranged to speak with both the Haftilds and Mokois. They agreed to allow the Daicar brothers provisional oversight of the mines until they could work out their differences. For my part I am staying in Dviel to oversee the mining efforts...and to make sure no more trickery occurs. I have rented a houses from a neutral party so as not to gain the ire of either family.
Nib sent word after doing some research that he believes the town may have been deceived by a questor of Vestrial. It seems due to my attempts to raise B'shon Tower back to prominence the balance of the passions had swayed. This Vestrial questor was trying to rebalance the scales. I don't know much about the balance, but if this questor intends to impede my work he will meet my wrath.
Statistics:Posted by verse86 — Sun Sep 20, 2020 1:49 am
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Re: Questor of Mad Passion Activity Threatening Strategic Resources Near Throal.
To Whom It May Concern at the Great Library
Elisen, the windling cavalryman I helped to find the last song of Rikka, asked me to join her as she helped another friend of hers, a Troll Weaponsmith Named Thorkell, with a project he is working on. When we met at the Wolly Aardvark in Throal to discuss the matter (great fried foods, btw), I was so happy to see two other friends were helping too; Lazulin the Troll Sky Raider and LaShanna the Windling Thief, er, acquisition specialist.
It seems that Thorkell is a Questor of Upandal and as a great act of devotion he is restoring a shrine to the passion. The shrine is in the form of an ancient tower Named the Tower of B’Shon (hex 53.11). The Tower was used before the Scourge to test the worthiness of those seeking to become Questors of Upandal. Thorkell has made a deal with a building supply company run by the Daicar brothers, who will underwrite some of the re-construction if he helps them reclaim and open a PreScourge Living Crystal mine that’s near the Tower.
As we made preparations to go the mine (it’s about a ten days away and is across the Serpent from the Tower, hex 52.12), I did some checking in the Great Library. Seems the Earthdawn flew over the area about six years ago and reported that everything was quiet. There was no sign of the reopening of a local kaer, Dviel, though the ruins of the old town were spotted from the air. The Earthdawn did not land to investigate. (Sooo cool to be going somewhere the Earthdawn has been, btw, happy geek moment
). Later documents mentioned that Highland trolls from the Broken Spear tribe had been spotted nearby, and that they were also living crystal miners. Might be some claim issues ahead, hmmm. [Wonder if they hired the Questor of Vestrial maybe?]Travel from Throal to the valley where the mine had been located before the Scourge was uneventful. We were a little shocked to see a large and thriving town where we expected an empty valley however. It speaks well to the hard work and resiliency of the folks from the kaer that Dviel was rebuilt so quickly. Extensive town walls, well made homes, and some larger buildings housed between 1,000 and 2,000 namegivers. Folks there were surprised to see us, and we got to make what was apparently first contact!
The community is quite diverse. We saw folks from all races with a nice sprinkling of adepts. They all were very excited to see outsiders, and had all sorts of questions about what was happening in the larger world which we were happy to answer as best we could.
In the oh what a coincident department, the town had another visitor shortly after we arrived, an aged ork who called himself Siako Udrot, and had books of ancient history he said he was doing follow up research on (or so he said, more about HIM later…)
We quickly realized the town was divided into two factions, the Haftlid’s and the Mokoi’s, and they didn’t get along very well. We were first approached by Iwicko Mokoi and taken to a lovely dinner with a large number of his family members, where he explained that the Mokoi’s and the Haftlid’s lived and worked well together inside the kaer for centuries. Once they left the kaer and began to reopen the living crystal mine their ancestors had worked, the tussel over control started. The Mokoi’s are a cautious group, and sent an engineer into the mine to make sure it was sound, evaluate the veins, and so forth, and she was found murdered with a Haftlid sash nearby! Things degenerated from there, and he wanted to hire us to help the family safely reopen the mine over those aggressive make money at all costs murderin Haftlids!
The next night we had dinner with Erka Haftlid and her family, and found out that those lily livered no brain cowardly Mokoi’s didn’t have what it took to balance risk and reward in the mine and were always delaying everything way past anything reasonable. The Mokoi’s didn’t even have clean rights to the mine proceeds (as she waved a book of old contract records and journals provided by the visiting ork). Haftlid’s were ready to work the mine, and when they sent in a couple of family members to check out the veins, the two of them were murdered! And no good Mokoi badges were found nearby, why, one of the victims even took the time to write out the word Mokoi in their own blood in the dirt!
We had noticed as we tried to untangle the threads of the feud that whenever we would begin to make headway, the person we spoke with would look a little fogged out then go back to blamin n hatin. Interesting.
We all just looked at each other, then around for whoever the real murderer was who was splitting the town apart. We got a copy of the records book for later analysis, then headed up to the mine.
At the mine entrance, there were some hot heads from both families glaring at each other and saying no one could go in. We talked to them, then convinced each side to send a runner to Iwicko and Erka to confirm we were there to look things over independently. None of em seemed to like it, but they allowed us to pass after our credentials were vetted.
After we entered the mine, we realized we were being followed. LaShanna found us a defensible side cavern, and we tucked in to ambush our ambushers. There were five powerful Mokoi adepts;
•Ukronuy Mokoi, a male Troll with a powerful two handed sword and throwing axes
•Klaut Rope Mokoi, a male human wielding a war hammer forged from some sort of dark iron
•Ubi Mokoi, a male ork armed with a gleaming pickaxe
•Gihi Mokoi, a female elf armed with a bow laced with living crystal
•and Lalu Mokoi, a dwarven thief armed with bandoliers filled with daggers
The battle was a tough one, but we were victorious and able to subdue the mind tampered with family members without killing anyone *relief*. When questioned, they said they had bullied their way past the guards at the entrance after speaking with the Brevoi Mokoi, the Mokoi guard captain, who convinced them that we (the party) were really dirty Haftlid spies. We made a note to speak with said guard captain at the earliest opportunity.
We heard a terrible noise coming from further in the mine and went to investigate, leaving the Mokoi adepts tied up. We found a berserk earth elemental called a Hasapic destroying mine supports and two basilisks fleeing ahead of the collapse. We also spotted a large elemental ward ready to trap the party. We dispelled the ward, dodged the basilisk cone attacks (mostly) and Elison was magnificent as she dodged the vortex of elemental shrapnel surrounding the earth elemental and struck the creature with her charge. Given the imminent danger of mine collapse for everyone inside the mine, we went after the elemental first and allowed the frightened basilisks to flee past us.
The elemental was tough, very tough, but in the end we triumphed. We then chased down the basilisks before they could kill the Mokois we had left tied up in the cavern above us. As we worked down the shaft the elemental had come from, we discovered a powerful Haftlid elven Elementalist adept slain after being stabbed in the back. We could find no trace of his attacker and recovered the body to return him to his kin. We later learned his name was Ehifu Dest Haftlid.
Back in town, we confronted the guard captain, Brevoi Mokoi, only to find out he hadn’t been anywhere near the adepts when they said he had told them the party were spies. We also detected something off about some amulets "Brevoi" had given the adepts who ambushed us. An Illusionist impersonator with Vestrial’s cursed gift devotion, perhaps?
Given all the evidence, we were able to partially pierce the veil of distorted hatred and trickery fogging the minds of the two families. We forged a temporary compromise peace deal to open the mine under independent third party administration, with proceeds shared between he two families and the administrator, the contract for which we routed to the Daicar brothers to fulfill Thorkell’s quest.
All that being said, this had the feel of an opening gambit in a larger ploy. The group behind hiring the questor of Vestrial as well as the questor himself are still at large. I have attached additional research and tentative conclusions on this topic for later follow up.
Yours in service,
Nib
…
Strategic and Metaphysical Commentary
From the evidence in front of us we have one party with a resource claim conflict of interest with the rebuilt town (the Broken Spear tribe), who would benefit greatly from taking control of the mine. This provides motive to hire someone like Siako, but why would Siako agree to be hired and stir things up?
Sketch of presenting appearance of ork calling himself Siako Udrot
Since Thorkell is rebuilding a shrine to the passion Upandal, it is shifting the metaphysics and balance of power between the passions in the area. Changes of this sort are theorized to create disturbances that draw the passion of change in his horror-touched form (see references in Appendix A). Siako may or may not even be aware of what has drawn him to the area, but it would seem to add a layer of incentive that may dovetail with other motivations or goals he is pursuing. At the very least, creating a rift and causing a town full of name givers to destroy each other during what is likely the most hopeful and opportunity filled time in their lives would be a great act of devotion to Vestrial, again paralleling Thorkell’s efforts on behalf of Upandal.
On the level of metaphysics, Vestrial’s core history and nature are that of the trickster who teaches lessons as he deflates egos. This has been observed consistently, though with a much darker side, since Vestrial’s corruption by the horrors (see references in Appendix B). It is possible that the most effective route forward will be to work with the mystic energy Vestrial’s questor has released to divide the townsfolk; We may be able to complete the transformation from hubris, greed and conflict to wisdom, humility and peace in a way that would satisfy the insane passion’s sense of balance and story while entertaining him. By all accounts he grows bored easily if his “toys” finish the story in a way that echoes the corrupted memories of his own past. After experiencing the passion’s corrupted touch, towns and other groups that establish a small shrine to honor Vestrial along with an annual trickster holiday centered on a learn your lesson fable have been spared the worst of the future attentions the Trickster tends to bring to bear (see Appendix C). We should keep this layer of any solution in mind as events unfold in Dveil.
Back to the practical, the ploy by the Broken Spear (or another interested party with or without the local troll mining interests) to weaken Dveil is likely not a simple one move play on the board. If Dveil implodes, the supply of living crystal for the repair of the Tower of B’Shon will be shut off or the valuable natural resources contracts re-routed to another interested party (directly or indirectly). Time will reveal the other player’s hand and their pawns.
A strong Barsiave with reliable access to natural resources is in both Throal's strategic and mercantile interests.
Statistics:Posted by Serespar — Fri Sep 18, 2020 6:25 am
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The brothers Daicar act once again to secure the upper hand. They have agreed to assist in the repair of the Tower of B'shon at Thorkell's request, if he will act as a consul on their behalf to claim a crystal mine near the tower. The Daicar's are studious men who I feel keep notes on the most profitable expeditions. As such they are familiar to most of the adepts hired to take this journey. Elisen of clan Adorjan, LaShana Tumblesprout, and Nib, joined myself and Thorkell on this expedition. Elisen's dyre allowed the windlings to save stamina not having to fly, and Nib's wizardry assisted in expediting our pace. The decision was made to skirt south of the Throalic mountains.
The journey was long, and half of it was relatively unmapped. After a week or so we approached the location of a possible kaer by the name of Dviel. However as we crested some of the lowland hills, we discovered it was a kaer no more. Instead we stood before the reclaimed ruins of the city of Dviel. As we approached we could see two guards manning the gates, asleep at their posts. This was insulting to themselves and the people they protected. If not for the rumble of Isidoros we could have stole right by them and raided the place with ease. This place did not inspire confidence to me. The men, who's names I noted as Borg and Lurm, indicated we were the first travellers they had encountered. They seemed less interested in our motives and what we might be doing to those living inside than they were at performing the Rights of Introduction so that they may put on a talent show. Understandably, this deteriorated into a de factor town fair, with everyone wanting to demonstrate their lack of taint. Eventually an older gentlemen came through the crowd and escorted us into the city. He seemed to be some sort of councillor, a master Mokoi.
Master Mokoi granted us a residence to stay the night and invited us for dinner, on the way to these residences we were intercepted by another councilor, a madame Haftild. She seemed offended that travellers weeks on the road accpetted the first offer of hospitality they were given and did not seek out a person they were unaware of. My confidence in this place was diminished further. As were bore the brunt of her offense another traveller who seemingly followed us from Throal came along. He seemed suspicious, but as madame Haftild became focused on him, I thanked the passions for his sacrifice and made my way to bathe and rest.
It took little time for us to determine the status of the mine, and my confidence in this town was well and truly abandoned. It seems that the Mokoi and Haftild families were vying for control of the mine after centuries in a kaer together. This was madness, this was presenting weakness for the outside world to observe and take advantage of. My first instinct was to leave and return in a months time and deal with the new owners of the mine, be they raiders or skorchers. However, the significance of this location to Thorkell and his devotion to Upandal bulwarked my patience. I deferred to his lead and provided insight where possible.
After a great deal of child tending the families of this town, and attempting to appeal to the neutral faction, we went to investigate the offending mine. Even in the unknown wilds next to a mind these people bickered and showed weakness and dishonour. Guards from both families guarded the mine, and both decried our claims to investigate as false. I put forth my will and seperrated the guards as you would toddlers. Runners were sent to verify our claims, and we were eventually allowed access to the mines. We ventured in slowly, a deep rumbling was felt by some in the party. As we approached where we felt the source of the rumblings emanated, LaShana indicated that she felt we were being followed. Others confirmed they felt this suspicion as well.
We laid in wait and laid eyes upon our would be assassins quite shortly, no surprise it was adepts from one of the families. Thorkell reminded that we wanted to try and keep them alive. Unfortunate, because in that moment I started to understand the meaning of the Or'zet word gahad. These people were not strong enough or tactical enough to lead the city, so instead of using the strength of their allies they attempted to belittle and backstab to take it all for themselves. The battle was quick and decisive, luckily we managed to only subdue each of the adepts. We left them tied up for our own safety, and descended deeper to investigate the increasing rumbling.
On the lowest level we met fleeing basilisks, they mostly ignored us, though we did get caught in their visage briefly. Beyond them was a swirling cloud of rock and debris, some sort of wild spirit. It was tearing through the mine, and acted quickly to stop it. Then to ensure the safety of our would be assassins, we finished the basalisks and searched the remainder of the mine. We returned to the city with the mine cleared for safety and brokered a deal for the Daicars to negotiate access and oversight of the mine.
The group performed admirably, our abilities meshed together like the fine links in a chainmail. Unfortunately, not every Namegiver in Barsaive can be so tempered. The city of Dviel teeters on the very brink, we must be vigilant on it's behest, as the peoples of this city have a great way to grow.
***A great Iced Claw adorns the bottom of the page ***
Statistics:Posted by Xzandrate — Thu Sep 17, 2020 11:47 pm
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GM: Dvarim
ECR: 6
Difficulty: Hard
Player Rewards:
Elisen: 11000LP 975SP 5TIP
Lazulin: 11000 LP 725 SP 5 TIPS - 1 Horror Fend
Thorkell: 11000 LP, 15 SP, 5 TIPs, 1920 (sp) Living Crystal
Nib: 11,000 LP, 975 SP, 5 TIPs, alt reward options TBD
LaShana: 11000 LP, 25 SP, 5 TIPS, 5 absorb blow charms/2 death cheat charms/1 horror fend
Alternate Rewards:
50% off: Living Crystal (material, armor, shield, blood charms)
GM Reward: A'horangi (13,000 LP, 750 SP, 3 TIPs)
Downtime:
Nib: Research 2/21 (24 with 20sp/library access), Item HIstory 3/14
Elisen: Animal Training 14
Thorkell: Forge Weapon 8/19, Forge Armor 7/18, Item History 4/19, Craftsman 7/22, Research 3/14
Summary:
The town of Dviel has been discovered (52.12). The Daicar brothers are provisionally managing the living crystal mine while the Haftilds and the Mokois work out their differences. A Questor of Vestrial remains at large.
Statistics:Posted by bronzemountain — Thu Sep 17, 2020 2:29 pm
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Statistics:Posted by verse86 — Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:28 pm
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ECR: 7
Discipline: Thief
Unique: Enthusiasm and an ability to fumble/stumble into trouble. Can also open...and close doors - possibly even if they are locked.
Downtime: drinking and rabble rousing...will buy drinks for friends
Primary character
Statistics:Posted by Lashana — Wed Sep 16, 2020 7:25 pm
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Name: Nib
Date of Last Game Played: Sunday, September 11, 2020 [The Book Lover]
Circle: ECR 5
Discipline: Windling Wizard ( Journeyman Rank )
Unique: A friendly flying astral sensitive and spell slinger
Perma Party Chain Cast Buffs: Mage Armor ( PA +3 ) and Dodge Boost ( Avoid Blow +2 )
Downtime: Talents and Skills that other characters can use over downtime;
- Research Talent (Rank 2, Step 21, Step 24 with Library access for a cost of 20 SP)
- Item History Talent (Rank 3, Step 14)
Primary character
Statistics:Posted by Serespar — Wed Sep 16, 2020 7:09 pm
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Name: Elisen
Last played on: 2020-09-13
ECR: 5 (31080lp)
Discipline: Cavalryman 5
Quote/Unique: Deliverance flies on silent wind
Notable Abilities: Zoak power! (and a last chance salve)
Downtime: Animal training step 14 (10 + karma)
Statistics:Posted by sigfriedmcwild — Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:56 pm
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Date of Last Game Played: 2020-09-13
ECR: 6
Discipline: Raider (5)
Unique: Combat and combat related accessories, and the guiding light of the sun.
Downtime:
Secondary Character
Statistics:Posted by Xzandrate — Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:53 pm
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Date of Last Game Played: 8/30/2020 Not in My Neighborhood
ECR: 7
Discipline: Weaponsmith 7
Unique: Thorkell brings the downtime activities. Besides that he is a perceptive and tanky troll.
Downtime:
[Forge Weapon] Rank 8 / 19
[Forge Armor] Rank 7 / 18
[Item History] Rank 4 / 19
[Craftsman] Rank 7 / 22 can make mundane items, weapons, and armor
[Research] Rank 3 / 14
Statistics:Posted by verse86 — Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:45 pm
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Time: 2020-09-16 2300 GMT
GM: Dvarim
Circle: 6
Difficulty: Hard
Rumor: The brothers Daicar have indicated that they would be happy to contribute staff and resources toward the rebuilding of the Tower of B'shon if only Thorkell will secure a nearby pre-scourge living crystal mine for them.
Requested by: Thorkell
Reward: 50% off Living Crystal (material, armor, blood charms)
Benefit: Advances restoration of the Tower of B'shon
Notes:
- Adventure runs at 7:00pm EDT on Wednesday, September 16th
- As always, I run groups of 5 players.
Sign up format:
CODE:
[b]Name:[/b] Character name[b]Date of Last Game Played:[/b][b]Circle:[/b] Circle of your character[b]Discipline:[/b] Your character's Discipline(s)[b]Unique:[/b] What your character is bringing to the table.[b]Downtime:[/b] Talents and Skills that other characters can use over downtime: [Talent] [Step including +Karma Step if appropriate] ([Rank]) ([Further Details])Statistics:Posted by bronzemountain — Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:41 pm
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