AAR: Estranged

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Fortesque
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AAR: Estranged

Post by Fortesque » Thu Jun 14, 2018 6:29 am

Estranged
Time: 2018-06-13@23:59 GMT
GM: Fortesque (Whyr'wyndyl)
Circle: 3
Difficulty: Hard

Player Rewards:
Jik'escala: 4 TIPs, 2000 Legend, 430 Silver, Garlen Stone
Blaethynn: 2000 Legend, 330 silver, Death Cheat Blood Charm 4 TIP's
Osahar: 4 TIPs, 2000 Legend, 330 silver, Death Cheat Blood Charm
Quis'Tan: 4TIPs, 2000 Legend, 330 sp, Death Cheat
Lasairfhiona: 2000Legend, 555 sp, 4 TIP's

Downtime Actions Available:
Blaethynn: Forge Weapon + Karma (Rank 4, Step 15)
Blaethynn: Item History + Karma (Rank 3, step 15)
Blaethynn: Craftsman + 2 Karma (Rank 3, Step 18)
Blaethynn: Alchemy + Karma - 3 for kit (Rank 2, step 11) Booster potion, Kelix's poultice
Osahar: Mapmaking (Rank 1, Step 8)
Researchers may spend 20/2 Silver for +3 Steps

Further Information:
Alsya (and her small adventuring group) accompanied the PCs back to the region of the Twin Kaers.
Alsya distinctly said that she is under orders to NOT reveal the direct entrance into kaer Ogden that their adventurers use.
A mysterious figure - warrior? - controls Kaer Taithe.
The mysterious figure sent the adventurers home with an embroidered tabard for Ceadda of Throal.
Last edited by Fortesque on Thu Jun 14, 2018 10:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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etherial
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Re: AAR: Estranged

Post by etherial » Thu Jun 14, 2018 1:01 pm

From the Journal of Jik'escala, T'Skrang Swordswoman Extraordinaire:

15 Riag, 1423 T.H.
Alsya arrived at Throal seeking assistance with the political situation in the Mid-Reach. Kaer Ogden apparently was once joined with two other Kaers during the Scourge, but political infighting and opportunistic Slavery had driven them apart. The doors between the Kaers remain sealed and someone is needed to open them.

17 Riag
The crew of X'Egirathla II has grown bored and asked us to aid and entertain them on the voyage. I Danced and Nagivated while Lasairfhiona Navigated and got caught in the rigging. Others aided too and they promised not dump us in too unreasonable a location.

21 Riag
Camped in the woods near Kaer Ogden, we were accosted by a band of Ogres. I noticed their leader was not only larger, but frequently surrounded by an aura of energy. I deduced that he was an Ogre Twin, and Osahar and I ensured that any time one twin appeared, he was immediately savaged by our blows. Quis'Tan mounted his Spirit and flew in and out of combat, tearing swaths in the flesh of the Ogres. Lasairfhíona held one at bay while Blaethynn used his social skills to convince the other to abandon his squad, which succeded. The other three Ogres were unwilling to listen to reason and forced us to destroy them. Perhaps in the future the surviving Ogre will be able to apply the lessons he learned.

22 Riag
We located the ruin where the Kaer entrance lay and began exploring. We found numerous signs of Horrors that had tried to breach the Kaer, but it was not until we found a room full of target dummies that we saw signs of life. The targeting dummies stood up and formed a horde of enemies.

Straw is no match for flame or blade, and I began merrily chopping away at any within reach. Osahar stuck many an arrow into his foes while Lasairfhíona took the difficult job of crowd control, often facing three at once. Quis'Tan and Blaethynn burned the strawmen with torches while Quis'Tan's Spirit Mount gnawed on the hay. We defeated the Strawmen, but not without loss, as Quis'Tan dropped and then fell to a coup de grace from one of the minions.

Yes, I say minions. Lurking behind them all was a Dwarf Nethermancer we knew only as The Beholder, who knocked me to the ground with an Astral Spear, Frightened Quis'Tan into being surrounded by Strawmen, and threw Spirit Darts at Blaethynn. Once we had cleared enough of the minions, Osahar lined up the perfect shot and annihilated him, but not without cost. The Beholder rose again and unleashed the total fury of his Death's Head Spell, paralyzing Osahar with fear.

As Lasairfhíona and I advanced to end The Beholder, Blaethynn tended to Frightened Osahar, and a new villain entered the scene. The Knight of the Crimson Branch, who had attacked Kaer Ogden in the first place and earned mistrust with Throal for his actions, turned his tabard over to Osahar, commanding us to leave or suffer his wrath.

PCs:
Blaethynn, male Windling Weaponsmith
Jik'escala, female T'Skrang Swordmaster
Lasairfhíona Aul’ef, female Human Swordmaster
Osahar, male Elf Archer
Quis'Tan, Obsidiman Spirit Rider

NPCs:
Alsya, female Human Troubadour
The Knight of the Crimson Branch

CodexDragon
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Re: AAR: Estranged

Post by CodexDragon » Thu Jun 14, 2018 1:22 pm

Notes submitted by Osahar

Alsya, Troubadour of Kaer Ogden, hired myself, Blethynn, a windling weaponsmith, Quis'Tan, an obsidiman spirit rider, Lasairfhiona, a human swordmaster, and Jik'escala, a t'skrang swormaster, to investigate the original Kaer entrance for signs of what might be challenging Kaer Ogden's seals and see if we can find out what happened to their exploratory group, which is long overdue on reporting in.

We accompanied Alsya back near Kaer Ogden via boat travel. Travel downriver took about a week, but was uneventful. When we were close, we were put ashore and given some landmarks by which to find the entrance, but Alsya had other business and headed off. We did not find the entrance on the first day of searching, so set up camp. during the night we were attacked by three ogres, with one being bigger than the others. When we badly hurt the large one, it disappeared into a portal and its twin jumped out, though it was wielding a different weapon. We managed to kill both ogre twins and one of the other ogres. The last ogre only half-heartedly fought and at the end we stopped hostilities with it and talked to it a bit, but it then wandered off.

The next morning we found the entrance and proceeded into the cave. we search around and found a bunch of animal skeletons and scratch marks. Beyond some destroyed doors was an area that had a bunch of old training dummies. To our surprise the horde of training dummies animated and attacked us. There was also a dwarf nethermancer that came out of the ruins to attack us. Quis'Tan was knocked unconscious, but we eventually defeated all of the training dummies and the dwarf. While Lasairfhiona and Jik'escala were finishing off the dwarf, a human in full plate armor, with a sword in his left hand and a shield in his right, appeared from nowhere and walked casually towards us.

When I asked him who he was he asked if I was from Throal. I said yes and he replied that he had a message once we were done with his minions. Once the dwarf was killed he threw his tabard on the ground in front of us and said "Take it back to Throal. If will mean something to Caedda. Tell Caedda to come find me. Do not press further, it is beyond you and you will die." He then disappeared into the darkness.

We took the warning to heart and left. We set up a campfire by the river at our pre-arranged spot and waited for the boat back to Throal.

ender3rd
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Re: AAR: Estranged

Post by ender3rd » Thu Jun 14, 2018 4:18 pm

Non-Throalic Names of note:
Kaer Taithe - Original kaer from which the other two split. Was overloaded and expanded via race-based slavery.
Kaer Faylkryth - Plebian Kaer, broke away from the other kaer. Possibly breached
Kaer Ogden - Aristocratic Kaer, previously employers of race-based slavery. Hired us. Probably ex-Therans.
Alsya - A Troubadour and our employer. Member of Kaer Ogden

A troubadour from a split kaer, Ogden a part of Taithe hired a group of us to investigate what was attacking their internal wards. As a secondary objective we were asked to search for their exploratory group which was missing.

The road to Borgan's Rest and then a boat downriver were fairly innocuous. I loaded cargo and kept watch while others helped out as they could. Blethynn decorated the ship and kept it in good repair. Osahar entertained the crew. Jik'escala helped find food and water and joined the watch with myself and Lasairfiona. That kept the crew happy enough with us that we were able to make it as close to the kaers as the river would allow.

At that time Alsya returned to Kaer Ogden after giving us some landmarks to the original entrance. We set out and at night were beset by Ogres. It appeared that at least one ogre would rather trade than fight, but a larger one, named, insisted on so-called 'war'. The trader Ogre was rather desultory in his attacks and, at the end, attacked his kin. The major difficulty came from what I was later told was an Ogre Twin. Each time we defeated or nearly defeated one of the beings the other appeared. At each appearance the new 'twin' seemed healthier than they had left. Eventually we wore down both halves and were victorious. After some discussion with myself the Trading ogre was let go to wander around and continue his looking for "good rocks" - elemental earth I believe.

The next morning we went directly into the entrance to Kaer Taithe looking for the entrance to Kaer Faylkryth on the assumption that they were the source of the attacks. After passing through many remnants of bones, and other signs of a breached kaer we entered a room with what seemed like many target dummies. Upon a command word these animated and attacked us. I retrieved Blaethynn's torch and first engaged those around me. Then I moved to try to stem the tide coming through the door. In total there must have been a score of these "straw men" which attacked us. After the initial engagement we sighted a Dwarven Nethermancer, name unknown, who attacked us with his magic. I fought until my wounds overcame me and know no more from my own experience. I awoke on the way back to the river and was given a Death Cheat charm taken as loot from the body of the Nethermancer. The return to Throal was uneventful.

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BattleChad
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Re: AAR: Estranged

Post by BattleChad » Mon Jun 18, 2018 12:35 am

The Great Library of Throal thanks Jik'escala, Osahar, and Quis'Tan for their contributions.

Journal Rewards: 100 Legend Points and 137 Silver

Reyntrannin
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Re: AAR: Estranged

Post by Reyntrannin » Tue Jun 26, 2018 8:42 pm

[From an official report by Blaethynn…]
Alsya of Kaer Ogden sent word that her home kaer was having issues with their seals being tested from an unknown cause. (Background note: Kaer Ogden is actually one of two kaers created from Kaer Taithe; Kaer Faylkryth being the other. The original kaer had two political factions develop over the use of certain races as a cheap, unskilled labor force, while other races were free to pursue more intellectual pursuits. When this division became too great, they chose to split the kaer into two, sealing the way between each kaer with blood magic from both sides so that it would take an invitation from the other kaer to allow entry.)
I sent word to some of my Adept brethren and, once we had a small band formed, contacted Alsya for more details. She gave us the history of her kaer and its sister, then told us how the entrance to Kaer Faylkryth, which had never been active before, had recently been showing signs that something was trying to break through. Due to their lack of manpower, Kaer Ogden reached out to Throal to provide a small group to check what may be testing their kaer’s protections.
Jik’escala, Quis’tan, Lasairfhiona, and Osahar joined me as we set out to investigate (and hopefully re-open) the ruins of Kaer Taithe. Travel was uneventful, but busy. The ship we found ourselves aboard was in need of maintenance (and her captain made it clear she would rather have cargo other than passengers), so I lent my skills to repairing various tools that needed mending and reinforcing their mast, as well as providing some runic decorations for their ship’s bell, which the crew seemed appreciative of. My fellows provided entertainment, taking it in turn to sing and dance for the crew, as well as taking turns at watch. This provided ample diversion until we reached our debarkation and arranged a signal to let the crew know we were ready to be picked up.
We then headed out towards where Alsya indicated we could find the entrance to Kaer Taithe, while she left us to inform her kaer of the proceedings. We traveled for the rest of the day and found an adequate campsite. During my watch, a trio of Ogres approached and one of them came up with an offer of trade. However, their leader, who turned out to be a pair of Ogre Twins, insisted that they would not trade but kill us and take what they wanted. This turned out to be a poor decision on his part, as we rather quickly dispatched both of the twins, as well as the more stupid of his followers. I was the only real casualty, having been caught off guard when the Ogre Twin rushed me.
The next morning, feeling much refreshed, we proceeded to the entrance, and using the pass signs provided by Alsya, managed to enter it and begin exploring. There was little of note to be seen there, some old bones of animals that must have been stock before the split, a lot of dust, and little of any note until we reached an area set up like a Warrior’s training ground, with straw targets still intact and set up. While investigating the area for anything of interest, the ‘targets’ became animated and attacked us. While it was no great affair to destroy any particular of them, the large number of straw men hacking at us limited our mobility and managed to finally trap Quis’tan against a wall. This proved to be a problem as it made him an easy target for the Nethermaner that commanded the straw men, and Quis’tan was unhorsed, and I feared might die.Working with Jik’escala and Lasairfhiona, we managed to clear the push of the straw men while Osahar rained havoc on them with his arrows.
Just as I was about to pursue the Nethermancer along with our Swordmaster, I heard an exclamation from Osahar and turned to assist him if needed. A man in armor seemed to have appeared from the shadows themselves and engaged us in conversation. While I no longer recall exactly what was said, I do remember that he claimed the Nethermancer and straw men were his creatures, and that he had no interest in attacking us. Rather, once he learned we were from Throal, he gave us a message to deliver to someone named Caedda. He then threw his tabard on the ground and vanished, with the warning that going any deeper into the kaer would be our deaths.
After reuniting with the rest of our party, I rendered aid to Quis’tan, who was only unconscious, but badly hurt, and we decided as a group to take the stranger at his words. We had some idea of what was scratching at Kaer Ogden’s doors, and it seemed a good idea to learn more of this creature from Caedda, whoever that is. We sent word to Alsya of what we found and then returned to Throal to report.

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BattleChad
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Re: AAR: Estranged

Post by BattleChad » Thu Jun 28, 2018 12:28 am

The Great Library of Throal thanks Blaethynn for his contribution.

Journal Rewards: 100 Legend Points and 137 Silver

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