Vargo, Dwarf Weaponsmith
Melcar, Human Swordmaster
Nyxallah Praetor, Human Seeker
We heard rumour that Lehi Lemuel, a master trainer at the Thando Salle in Throal, was looking for some inexpensive adventurers. Lehi tells us that maybe a week ago unknown assailants kidnapped his wife and children while they were out of Throal for a picnic. Yesterday an urchin delivered a ransom note demanding that he pay a 1000sp ransom delivered to Wolf Ridge in three days. Lehi offered to pay us 25sp plus expenses and mounts for delivery of this ransom. Lehi was clear he wanted us to pay the ransom rather than put his family at risk.
Before departing on the delivery Melcar and Nyxallah visited the Great Library to find out more information about Wolf Ridge. Meanwhile Flynn, Vargo and I visited the Ghost Pepper, a pub specialising in Hurlg an unappetising orkish drink, to see if the adventurers who frequent it had heard anything about Wolf Ridge. We learnt that Wolf Ridge was an unfortunate colony that had been settled twice and had been destroyed twice and that it had nearby caves that the kidnappers could be hiding in. It is situated just to the northeast of Juniper Hollow and only constituted about a dozen buildings in various states of disrepair.
En route to Wolf Ridge, a hole in the ground opens up and Vargo falls in. I tied up the horses while the others climb down about 10 feet into the caves beneath. Giant red ants attack my friends and I leap into the hole to help them. Suspiciously, Melcar seemed to fight without breeches and there was a suggestion that the slightly smaller, but still very large, ants tried to steal them. The even larger, soldier ants were substantially more dangerous, and one left a smear of poison on my armour where it tried to bite me. Note that the ants were very coordinated and could easily overwhelm an adept if they didn’t have help nearby.
Some of my companions had difficulty climbing out of the hole but Vargo was able to tie several bedrolls together to fashion a makeshift rope to help people climb out. The ants did not follow us on the surface and may have merely been defending their nest?
We decided to surveil the bandit camp rather than arrive on time. Flynn was able to sneak up to the camp but a guard dog alerted the sentries to his presence. He was able to fast talk his way into buying us time to deliver the ransom. Watching the camp in the late afternoon and early morning we identified which buildings the bandits were using and minimum numbers.
After performing karma rituals, we approached the bandits the next day and attempted to exchange the payment for the hostages. Unfortunately the bandits would not honourably make the exchange but instead wished to extort monthly payments of 1000sp from master Lehi. We indicated that we required the hostages in order to deliver the ransom and the bandits attacked us. We had manged to convince the bandits to bring the hostages in sight, so we did not have to attack into the caves where we feared the bandits were entrenched. We also had been vigilant to ensure the bandits did not sneak up behind us during the negations. Nevertheless, a substantial number of bandits were hiding in the buildings of Wolf Ridge and the battle was furious. A small number of the bandits were quite experienced and dangerous combatants and one nearly brought Vargo low with a sneaky arrow shot from behind. I dispatched him and cut off the route of retreat back to the caves while Nyxallah and Melcar pushed through towards the hostages. Flynn demonstrated an impressive ability to taunt and distract opponents and utilise his mobility to position himself on the battlefield. Nyxallah in particular showed a truly fearsome ability to lay low opponents in quick order. Melcar showed an interesting nobility in refusing to kill the guard dog and knocked it unconscious rather than killing it. After the battle was won, Vargo seemed to take a liking to the animal and seems to be thinking of keeping it.
After recuing the hostages and reuniting the family Lehi offered to let us split the ransom as payment and promised to let us train at the Thado Salle for half price. I have taken him up on the offer and am training to the second circle of Warrior.
All in all, a fine expedition and I would travel with any of those companions again.
Statistics:Posted by avi_the_jackal — Tue Feb 15, 2022 1:55 pm
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Tak the Human Warrior
Melcar the Human Swordmaster
Flynn Truesong the Windling Troubadour
Nyxallah "Murder-hands" the not-an-Ork-totally-Human Seeker
We are told that Lehigh Lemuel at the Thando Salle (training studio) in the upper middle hall of the Hall of Thandos in Throal is looking to hire novice adventurers. The training salle is a large place and very busy. There are fighters of all types training, throwing spears and using crossbows as well as melee weapons. There is even a rock wall for climbing and posts for balance training - it is very well equipped compared to the modest combat hall I have traind out of in Hustane.
There are at least a half dozen other instructors using rings for advanced classes and we wait quietly for the fight-master to be able to speak to us.
We speak to him and he informs us of what happened to call us to his service. It appears that about a week ago Lehigh's wife and children went out of Throal on a picnic and expected to be gone for the day but they did not return! He tried to find them but was unable to do so and he was concerned that they might have been killed until just yesterday an urchin delivered a ransom note and now he wishes us to deliver the ransom of 1000sp to Wolf Ridge, just to the northeast of Juniper Hollow.
Because of the ransom he is only to offer us 25sp each plus expenses and it will probably take us 3 days. He further sweetens the pot with an offer of training discount much like that which I received on my first adventure to the Tassidae Farm! It's amazing how the Adepts support each other in Throal.
The delivery is to Wolf Ridge - about 1 days journey along the road to Kampung Gajah to Juniper Hollow then you leave the road and a half days travel along the road is Wolf Ridge - a failed community that was settled the very year Throal's gates opened. It was later destroyed, resettled then destroyed again. Speaking to scholars at the Library at Throal we found out that Wolf Ridge has been home to gangs and cultists including the Scourge.
Speaking to some Trolls at the Ghost Pepper they told us that the gangs of Wolf Ridge tend not to get along and Adepts have kicked the Scourge cultists out of this place at least once. It has about a dozen buildings, some with full roofing others have fallen into disuse. Apparently there are caverns nearby that have had monsters like plague lizards and wolves. Apparently there were a lot of wolves there when it was founded - thus its name!
We we arrive at the livery stable in Bartertown - there are mounts waiting for us! Provided by Lemuel as promised. I am terrified of the huge hooved monstrosities. They weight like a thousand pounds and appear indifferent to smaller creatures under their dinner plate sized feet. They also bite! I am not looking forward to riding these beasts.
We ride to Juniper Hollow and spend an uneventful night before turning to the north east and taking the road to our destination. Outside Wolf Ridge I fell off my horse into a hole! I fell about 10' down and into loose rubble where we were attacked by ants!
The worker ants tried to steal things from us rather than attack us but the soldier ants were more deadly and seemed to have a poison. My spiked mace was very useful against their carapaces as I smashed more than one into a pile of goo. Melcar got his pants stolen!! And one of them tried to make off with my belt pouch of mother's Dwarf treats!! We were able to stop them from absconding with any of our things.
We heard more chittering in the darkness but making a rope of bedrolls we were all able to escape back out of the hole! This reminds me that I should buy some rope.
We arrived early for the meeting with the bandits but opted to hide out and rest to regain our karma in case we had to fight the bandits. Members of the group stealthed forward (the Windling Flynn was very useful in this regard) and bought us some time when we discovered they had a guard dog. We were not able to see the hostages in the buildings but we did note there were at least 5 bandits and the dog. We had hope they were just being held out of sight!
We approached the bandits in the morning and were met by men who obviously thought we were fools. They wanted us to just leave the money and go. We eventually left the money in a pile on the ground for counting and when they were done counting they tried to double cross us, stating that this was just the "rent" on the first month and that we would need to keep paying.
Obviously they had no intention of giving us the hostages so we engaged with them!
They had bows and this meant we needed cover and to try to limit sight lines. The bandits were no easy foes and I was almost killed by one of the leaders! I can still feel the arrow grinding against my ribs from the arrow shot into my back! But thankfully Nyx and the others were true to form and were able to crush a number of them. Knocking them to their backs seemed to be a good tactic, making it easy to kill them as they lay helpless.
Melcar's first attack struck the guard dog that had noticed the stealthy Windling earlier! The poor beast did not deserve to die and Melcar shows his heroic nature when he spared it. After the battle I was able to revive the poor beast and give it some of my mother's treats and it's wagging tail was a welcome friendly sight after the bloody battle. I am taking it home with me. Mother is going to hate it. I grin as I write this. His name will be determined once I find out what kind of animal he is!
Eventually we were able to defeat all the bandits and drive others into the wilderness. Victorious we led the family home to a joyful reunion!
Lemuel gave us the ransom as the reward split 5 ways (200sp) as well as making good on his promise for training!
Another excellent trip outside the walls of Throal!!
Statistics:Posted by kickmurder — Sun Feb 13, 2022 3:15 am
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When I arrived to find Leehi, he was engrossed in training with some Adepts from various Disciplines... mostly Warriors by the looks based on how clumsy their dance was with their weapon. It was obviously clumsy in Leehi's opinion too for when they were wrapping up, he had to give additional instruction to one of the students who was trying to force his weapon to a destination instead of letting the weapon lead him in the dance. Master Lemuel might make a good trainer for later.
I was surprise to see a couple of familiar faces that had also answered his call. Both Vargo and Nyx were also awaiting Master Lemuel's attention. Perhaps Vargo was already here getting some lessons... perhaps finally getting rid of that clumsy spiked dance partner of his. No dance can flow with elegance while throwing around a lump of spiked metal attached to a crude handle.
We headed over together towards where Master Lemuel was getting some water. A few other adepts had responded to the call as well. Tak looked to be one of Master Lemuel's more novice students maybe and a Windling Troubadour, Flynn, was with him as well. Master Lemuel quickly explained the circumstances to us and simply wanted us to deliver the extortion price to retrieve his wife and two children and return back to Throal with them. He showed us a note, delivered by some street boy, that indicated the trade to be made at Wolf Ridge in the next few days. We could not talk him out of paying the ransom, he just wanted his family back.
We all agreed to meet up and head off towards Juniper Hollow the next morning. Nyx and I decided to check for any information about Wolf Ridge in the Great Library while Flynn, Tak and Vargo were going to see what current information they could find at the Ghost Pepper. It appears that Wolf Ridge had attempted to establish its self many of times since Throal opened it's gates; failing each time. The first settlers fell ill to a plague. Later a den of Plague Lizards was discovered near by. Another attempt fell to a band of Murder Cultists of Dis. Bad things seems to just permeate from this place.
It was a quick day's ride to Juniper Hollow where we didn't find out too much about Wolf Ridge other than there had been some missing sheep from the local farmers. The Inn mistress seemed to not care at all about that as she had nothing to do with tending the sheep. She mentioned a villager by the name of Lem might care though, if we were to happen upon them on our way north.
The next morning we headed off the main road, Vargo insisting that his ability to read the map along with some additional directions given to us at the Inn were plenty for us to get there by mid-day. Unfortunately, Vargo was not watching where his pony was going when the ground opened up infront of them. The pony reared and jumped aside throwing Vargo into a hole that just materialized under its hooves. Lucky for Vargo, the fall was not very far and the fresh dirt softened his landing.
Vargo was panicking over something down there, so we quickly jumped and climbed down to make sure everything was ok... it wasn't. Giant pony sized red ants were surrounding us. Apparently the tunnel Vargo found was still inhabited by these things. We quickly took up a defensive posture and started attacking. The things were much quicker than expected, in one deft attack one of the bugs had nicked Nyx's bag of trail rations and was looking like it was going to run off. As I turned to assist with their multi-legged thief, a strong breeze caught me by surprise. I spun around, spear at the ready only to find yet another of these giant ants. This one had managed to steal the pants that I was wearing!
So... I started stabbing them. Stabbing them all, letting my spear weave intricate patterns around and through the creatures.
The rest of the party seemed just as vested in me getting my breeches back, that we cleared every one that we could see. We could hear more down deeper in the tunnels though, so we made haste and got ourselves up and out of the tunnels.
Someone will need to come back here and clear out this giant ant colony. This is too close to towns to let go too long. I have a suspicion too, that these are the culprits of the missing sheep.
Still about 2 hours from the Wolf Ridge, we decided to be a little more cautious in our approach, taking our time and healing our wounds as we traveled.
Once close to the run-down village, we took our place up top an overlook of the remains to see how many miscreants there might be. Vargo's keen eye counted up at least 6 or 7, but never saw any signs of the Wife or the Children. There were a few buildings though with some make-shift roofs that might be hiding them still. We devised a plan to stall for a little more time and address our situation in the morning after we could get a little rest and recovery.
The next morning basically went as anticipated. When dealing with thugs, nothing they say can ever be trusted. We attempted the exchange for the family and after much haggling and standing off with each other, we finally got a glimpse of the 3 hostages. They counted out the silver to ensure all 1000 pieces were there. Then, as thugs do, they tried to double-cross the agreement. Tried to say this was a monthly charge. This was the point we'd had enough of Master Lemuel's ways and settled on ending this threat forever.
The battle was rough, as they leveraged their range against us. They dropped back like cowards, brandishing bows, while sending their lone guard dog at us as a distraction. As the dog leapt to try and take a bite out of Flynn I spun my spear around and clubbed the top of the dog's head just hard enough to knock it out. The dog did not deserve to forfeit it's life for obeying the command given.
Nyx moved in quicker than I had ever seen someone move to take a tactical advantage amongst the buildings against their bows while I rounded the stable to try and get a jump on anyone trying to flank us. Poor Vargo has really only ever seen melee fighting and was not paying attention when one of the leaders crept around the corner of a building and shot an arrow from a cowards position. The arrow struck true, falling Vargo to the ground instantly, luckily for Vargo the arrow when clean through and thus could do no more damage... but it had already done quite enough.
The rest of us took to our roles and routed the enemies, focusing on closing ground and taking down the leaders first. Once the leaders of the thugs were down the rest fell like fresh recruits. By this time, Vargo had recovered some of his stamina and was ready to join back into the fray, only there was nothing left to join back into really.
It was easy enough to free hostages from the one lone remaining thug who was trying to sneak off, it was then that we learned they had actually been keeping the captives in some caves up in the hills. This is another place we may need to visit, to ensure no more thugs remain.
As we started our way back towards Juniper Hollow, and eventually back to Throal, Vargo stopped to examine the guard dog that had been knocked unconscious. Still alive and finally waking from the bash on his head, Vargo decided to leash him and bring him along with. The dog seemed content enough to follow Vargo as long as he had more of those trail rations he always carries with him.
Statistics:Posted by SkunkD — Sun Feb 13, 2022 2:30 am
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Another opportunity to monitor my peers and develop rapport has arisen. A call has been put out to "affordable" Adepts to resolve an issue for an Adept trainer. Lehi Lemuel is requesting an entourage to deliver a ransom payment. Seems simple enough, but the entire endeavor left some favorable impressions from up and coming Adepts. One in particular is Tak, a Human Warrior. The attendees to the hire were well selected with enough manpower to take down not only the bandits who had kidnapped the Lemuel family, but also a group of pants-stealing ants. This land of Barsaive is quite a strange one, where one of the great dangers of exploration is losing one's trousers.
While Tak was the stand out for observation, several others could not be ignored. Both Melcar and Vargo have improved immensely since the last time I traveled with them. The initial observation that they were unfit to protect this realm has been disproven. Melcar would do well to team with Ruby, and Vargo will best serve by my side.
While he annoyingly stole a couple of my killing blows, Melcar did recognize that removing an opponent from combat is more important than injuring another. He definitely follows Ruby's mentality. Vargo, with little material, was able to fashion a makeshift rope out of our sleeping rolls. His equipment was proven well forged against a group of ants and most of the bandits' attacks, but one arrow found an armor flaw, nearly rendering Vargo unconscious. I believe this to be a matter of luck rather than skill, and further improvement of his arms may expose a higher level of aptitude than initially thought. More observations needed.
We also had a Windling who went by the name of Flynn. He made a decent attempt at stealthy observation of the bandits, and even was able to ridicule them from afar, a welcome distraction to assist our assault on the camp, but his real value lies within his ability to think on his feet. When stealth failed, he was able to talk the bandits into giving us more time to deliver the ransom. We were able to recover fully for the assault on the camp with no fear of repercussion because of this. With this level of adaptability and the type of support offered, he may have a thing or two to show you, Alex.
I wasn't able to observe a lot of Tak's prowess, since most of it occurred obscured from my vision, but he seems ideal for Cecille. When Vargo was downed by arrows, Tak, without hesitation, broke off from the assault and moved to defend the injured Weaponsmith. I may not have an accurate count of opponents he faced, but I can only assume that he had as decent a challenge as I did when I assaulted one of the more experienced bandits. Further exposure to his abilities may be required before I can say for sure how adept he is as a Shield.
Statistics:Posted by predajey — Sun Feb 13, 2022 12:25 am
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Player Rewards: (2M) 800 lp, 200 sp, 3 TIPs
Vargo: 800 lp, 200 sp, 3 TIPs. Guard Dog animal companion, Half Price Training
Tak: 800 lp, 100 sp, 3 TIPs, Half priced training (100 sp).
Melcar: 800 LP, 200 SP, 3 TIPs. Half Priced Training
Flynn Truesong: 800 lpj, 200 sp, 3 TIPs, Half priced training (100 sp).
Nyx: 800 LP, 50 SP, 3 TIPs, Half Price Training
GM Rewards (undecided).
Downtime:
Vargo Downtime: Forge Weapon 13 (Rank 3)
Melcar: Research (skill) Rank 3 (step 9)
Nix: Research Step 12 (PER Step 6 + Rank 2 + Step 4 Karma)
Alternate rewards:
Half priced Circle Training, or Half priced Healing Aids. Half priced horses and tack (used). Guard Dog Animal Companion (only one available).
Further Information:
Once again the abandoned hamlet of Wolfs Ridge has been cleansed of nefarious interlopers, this time a band of kidnappers.
Statistics:Posted by ChrisDDickey — Sat Feb 12, 2022 2:11 pm
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Date of Last Game Played:
ECR: 2
Discipline: Seeker (Circle 2)
Unique: There is nothing unique about this character. The term "common" applies overwhelmingly.
Downtime:
Research: Step 12 (PER Step 6 + Rank 2 + Step 4 Karma)
Statistics:Posted by predajey — Sat Feb 12, 2022 9:03 am
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Quote: "Can we go? I've got somewhere to be!"
Other Names: Thomas F, Thomas F, Badcat2099
Date of Last Game Played: NA
Circle: 1
Discipline: Troubadour
Unique: Conversation, Taunt, Graceful Exit
Downtime: NA
Statistics:Posted by Ilikethings — Thu Feb 10, 2022 1:37 pm
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Human Swordmaster
Last Played: 2021-12-08
Circle: ECR 3, Circle 2
Discipline: Human Swordmaster
Downtime: Research (skill) Rank 3 (step 9)
Quote: "I'll hold these 3 off, you take out that one..."
Statistics:Posted by SkunkD — Sun Feb 06, 2022 4:40 pm
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Last Game Played: N/A
Effective Circle: 1
Discipline: Warrior
Quote/Unique: 'Grunts, not letting your chatter distract him from his focus…'
Notable Abilities: Melee Weapons, Craft (Fishing Gear/Lures)
Downtime: N/A
Statistics:Posted by avi_the_jackal — Sun Feb 06, 2022 9:51 am
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Last Game Played:2021-12-08
Effective Circle: 2
Discipline: Cavalier
Quote/Unique: Ride like the wind
Notable Abilities: Navigation, Tracking, Wilderness Survival
Downtime: Animal Training 7 (1)
Statistics:Posted by etherial — Sat Feb 05, 2022 5:03 am
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Statistics:Posted by Magnaric — Thu Feb 03, 2022 2:07 pm
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Dwarf Weaponsmith from Hustane in Throal
Last Played: 2022-1-18
Circle: ECR 2, Circle 2
Discipline: Dwarf Weaponsmith
Downtime: Forge Weapon 13 (Rank 3)
Quote: "What do you mean I shouldn't be carrying shards of Brood-mother eggs around in my backpack!? They might be useful someday!"
Statistics:Posted by kickmurder — Tue Feb 01, 2022 4:39 am
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LFG: [2M] The Delivery
Time: Feb 12th 2022 @ 0900 GMT (2000 AEDT, 1700 Malayisia, 0500 EDT, and 0200 PDT)
GM: ChrisD
Difficulty: 2M
Rumor Source: avi_the_Jackel
Rumor:
Novice adventurers are being hired to deliver a ransom to some bandits and escort the kidnapped back to Throal.
Sign up format:
CODE:
[b]Name:[/b] Character name[b]Other Names:[/b] Player Name, Roll20 Name, Discord Name, Etc. [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 ChrisDDickey — Thu Jan 27, 2022 9:23 am
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