AAR: [5M] Rocky Road Turns to Rivers (2020-08-06 2300GMT)

[Xzandrate]

***The intricately covered ice blue journal contains a single blue crystal on the centre, with the simple gold lettering below it 'Lazulin' ***

Page 4

Move not unless there is an advantage. The brothers Daicar knew this applied to life as war, they requested guards to help setup waypoints along the Galanga River towards Griffin Falls where they had founded a mine. Joining me on guard duty were pair of windlings, LaShanna a thief and Mazor a beastmaster, a young ork girl named Vralino who carried a spear and body shield, and a troll weaponsmith named Thorkell. The group was large and a scout had been hired to map our way along the river and potential outpost locations, Sevren Dawes.

We made it down the river a bit over a day and came to the first location Sevren had scouted. We began to assess the area while Sevren scouted ahead. A series of tremors shook the area and a roar from far away drove a series of apes towards the workers. We sprung forward and drove them off. The party proved to be well honed and efficient, we allowed the apes to collapse upon us and then left them the space to flee once they realized how overwhelmed they were. Sevren returned and advised us that the roar came from a thirty foot gorilla, he seemed visibly shaken. He was a very adept scout and I took his concern with a great amount of weight. While some in the team wish to seek this beast, there was nothing to be gained by spending our troops such so we continued on.

The next outpost locations was interesting but a bit too far off the trail. During the night we were ambushed by shadowmants, one of the crew was killed and Sevren was severely injured. We made use of the location to recover a further day. When we made it to the following location, we built the outpost I suggested that Sevren remain behind to heal. He begrudgingly agreed, we both understood that he was more than capable of catching up to us if he recovered. But more importantly his diminished presence would cause moral to remain lower than if he remained.

We took Sevren's notes and arrived at the final location. The place teemed with life, and it quickly lashed out for us being there. A group of espagra swooped in and spit at the group. Lashanna managed to get in a position to severely wound one causing it to fall into the river below, to be eaten by crocodiles. I followed suit and we dealt with the small pack quickly. We allowed the workers to complete their work, and retraced our steps back out and reported to the brothers.

The group was quite accomplished. LaShanna managed to locate the chink in the armour time and time again, her focus needed some direction, but was like a powerful arrow, flexing in the wind, but finding it's mark. Vralino proved to be a staunch defender of her comrades, lashing out with great effect when the opportunity presented itself. Mazor proved to be an expert in battle by moving our enemies and allowing us to press our advantages. Thorkell repeatedly showed that he was like unto an anvil, being struck time and again, his true power coming after the fact enhancing the prowess of all those around him. Sevren was wise and skilled, and while he may not have been the perfect weapon, he was a valuable tool in getting to the fight. The group may not have been ideal, but I believe that they functioned greater than their individual parts.


***A great Iced Claw adorns the bottom of the page ***

[ChrisDDickey]

From the Journal of Mazor of the Deep Servos, Beastmaster of the 4th circle.

The Daicar brothers want to establish a keelboat route between the headwaters of the Galanga river and Griffin Falls deep in the Servos.  They formed an expedition to build waystations about one day's travel apart. They hired an Elf scout named Sevren Dose as a guide, a Dwarf foreman named Vilra Andegen as the work crew foreman, and about 15 other work crew. He also hired myself and 4 others as guards. 

We traveled to one of the headwater streams of Galanga outside the Servos, and followed the stream into the Jungle until enough streams and creeks had joined together to form a creek wide and deep enough to be navigable by a keelboat. There we started to build the first waystation, where cargo from keelboats could be loaded into pack-mules or visa versa. We had barely started when we were attacked by 4 Great Apes. We knocked one unconscious and drove the other 3 away. The unconscious one we left alone and it eventually awoke and limped off. During the attack we heard a mighty roar from a mile or more away. Sevren swears he saw a 30 or 40 foot tall ape at about that distance. The next morning I communed with my passion and felt that Jaspree takes joy in the giant apes existence. I hope we can teach the apes of all sizes to leave our outpost alone. 

For the 2nd outpost, Sevren wanted us to check out a site that he had found, but it turned out to be almost a half days walk from the river, way too far away. An ideal outpost would be no more than 5 minutes walk from the river. Anything more than a 30 minutes walk is just too far to be usable. Still, it was a very interesting site. It was sunken into the forest, but strangely empty of debris, as if somebody had dug it out recently, but honestly it felt more as if for the last several centuries, the falling leaves and branches and whatnot had simply declined to fall within the depression and fill it up. There were some slightly crumbly stairs down into an amphitheater type area, At the far end is a bronze door, wide but slightly low. There are many symboles (which may be mystic symbols of some sort) upon both the door, the door-frame, and the wall. LaShana did an Astral Sight and said the whole thing was very magical. There was no apparent way to open the door. It could have been several things, but one of the things it might be is the entrance to a kaer. If it was a kear, we had no way to open it, but this door might warrant further investigation. 

That night we were awakened by screams, as 2 shadowmants snuck past the watch and attacked two sleepers. We made short work of them, but three people were poisoned. The worker died before the fight was even over. I offered my Kelix’s Poultice, and  Thorkell Gulbrandsen bravely refused it. I administered it to our guide Sevren, and have no doubt it saved his life. Thorkell was very sick by the time he managed to throw off the poison effects. We stayed in that camp and extra day and a night to let the wounded recover. We returned to the river and found a good place to build the 2nd outpost.

We went another days travel by keelboat downriver and just above Griffen Falls founded the third outpost. We were worried about the griffins, but it was 3 Espraga that attacked us. They had a blinding spit that was worrying. We slew all three Espraga, but two fell into the river were they were devoured by crocodile's. I would not recommend swimming in the Garlanga. 

[verse86]

I don't know what I did to earn the friendship of Vralino, but I am eternally grateful for her. Her contacts, the Daicar brothers, have requested her help with another job. She asked me to come along. We are to accompany a build crew who will establish waypoints along the Galanga River to their mine behind the waterfall. We are accompanied by LaShana, Mazor, and Lazulin. This will be my first job with Lazulin, but I have never met a Troll Sky Raider who can not hold their own.
We are accompanying a build crew 20 strong led by Vilra Andigan. The Daicars also hired a scout who knows the area well named Sevren Dawes.
It appears Sevren has already scouted out some areas he believes may be good for outposts. He is competent and keeps us out of the worst of troubles. Being a foreman, Vilra immediately catches my attention. Unfortunately, despite being a very capable foreman, she does not strike me as the one I am looking for to take over the construction in Clear Creek Crossing.
At the site of the first outpost, we were accosted by some apes as large as myself. They did quite a number on our poor LaShana. I moved in to protect our smaller comrade only to gain the ire of two of the apes myself. I was able to fend off most of the blows before they got the best of me with a blow to the head. *Perhaps I should add some more padding to my brithan helmet.* As always when dealing with animals, Mazor is a comrade you will never regret having. I am still in awe of how this windling can imitate their threatening gestures and scare away these 8 foot tall beasts. LaShana too exploited every weakness of the apes she could to help dispatch them. Sevren returned to the outpost with a story of an ape at least 30 feet tall around two miles away from the outpost. The rumbling in the ground attests to his story. Mazor seemed interested in pursuing this anomaly, but we reminded him what the details of our job were. This may become an issue in the future if this giant ape's territory overlaps the river, but I am not one to seek out extra trouble.
The second site appear to be ruins of a pre-scourge people, its exact nature I am unable to glean. The ruins have a bronze door with no distinguishable locks, handles, or such. The walls beside have interesting carvings that I wish to have some acquaintances look at. Perhaps A'horangi will know something of this. Rubbings to follow *next two or three pages are rubbings from the walls*
Unfortunately, these ruins are too far away from the river to be of use as a settlement. The trek to the site has taken most of our daylight so we decide to camp by the ruins for the night.
Nights in the forest are the bane of my existence. I was awoken by the screams of the crew after being poisoned by some shadowmants. I was the closest to the combat and so leaped into the scuffle. The shadowmant perfectly caught me between the gaps in my hide armor. *Would adding some extra cloth in the joints help perhaps? I will have to test how that affects dexterity.* The pain from their venom is not something I would wish on anyone. We were able to fend off the monsters. I can not say by what means due to my faculties being dulled from the poison. It was then I realized our guide Sevren had been poisoned by the shadowmants in their initial attack. Mazor offered me a poultice, but I could tell Sevren needed it much more than I did. I was able to fend off the poison, but it definitely took its toll on me. We ended up spending an extra day at the ruins so that Sevren and I could recover enough to make the journey back to the river.
Lazulin suggested leaving Sevren with the work crew at the second site since his condition was still poor. Sevren gave us his notes on where he believed the third outpost could be built.
The location had some pre-existing structures including wooden bridges. It appears this was a namegiver path no more than a few years ago. The local fauna was not fond of our intrusion and immediately set to rectifying that. I was able to spot some flashes of rainbow from some espagra in the trees before one swooped down and blinded me. This effectively took me out of the fight. After the fact, I was informed LaShana and Lazulin were able to knock two of the espagra into the waiting jaws of the crocodiles in the river. The third was dealt with by the group. With the third location built, our work was done. We made our way back up the river picking up the crew as we went.
This adventure did not go to plan for me. I was so caught up in proving my worth after our last fiasco that I made rash decisions. I must clear my head and start anew.
Both Vralino and Lazulin requested I work on their spears. It is always fun to see two of the same weapons with such different personalities. Bells' Reply is elegant, exactly what you'd expect from elven design. It taunts you with its beauty, daring you to misstep so that it can show you what true elegance is. In sharp contrast, The Point of Triumph is rugged yet no less confident, exactly what you would expect of a spear crafted by Trolls. Except for the golden feathers below the wings, a layman would think this a normal spear. They would be wrong. This spear exudes experience. It practically shouts "I've done this before. Follow me men." After some research I was able to find that the Bells' Reply originated from Shossara. I was also able find the species from which the feathers on The Point of Triump came: the chakta bird. This is quite a unique feather, too since chakta bird feathers are usually black with just a speckling of gold whereas this feather is pure gold. With the enhancements and new knowledge, I hope these spears serve them well.

[Lashana]

Vralino asked me to go on an adventure with her. I must now be making too horrible of an impression on her, right? Because otherwise why would she ask me to go with her? Unless I'm bait....but then I'd know. She'd like string me up front of the group and dangle me to draw out the big bad beasties or something. But she doesn't do that. She even sometimes lets me hand out on her shoulder.
Anyways, this job has us going out to help set up some transport system or protect the people setting up the transport system. Or the cargo being used for the transport system. I don't know. I just get tapped to go places and shoot things and protect things. And as long as I don't shoot the things I'm supposed to protect, well I guess I'm doing it right.
But this gig hashas us working for the Daicar brothers and we are going to be on the Garanga River. And the trip itself proved to be hairraising. Full of mud and foul tempered apes (and one VERY VERY big one that luckily stayed away from us). Luckily we all came through s'okay, just some minor bumps and bruises. And that was just getting us to the first outpost.
After a brief breather we continued on the second outpost which was a set of ruinds. Looked like a decent place to camp for the night and a couple of those in our party were pretty interested in looking over them. During the night we were set upon by some shadow mants and they were nasty. They seriously messed up our scout Sevren and Thorkell, with big yucky would wounds AND poison. We tried to give it an extra day to work itself out but we needed to press on before something else came upon upon us. The decision was made to leave Sevren here for his safety after he gave us all the help he could to see us through.
At the last sight we ran into something totally new for me. Something called espagra. Poor Thorkell, almost right away one of those things spit in his eyes and blinded him for the fight. They they spat at Vralino and Mazor. But i knocked the one that blinded Thorkell into the river and a gator ate it. Just snapped it right up into its jaws. So take that you nasty little baddie.
So then Lazulin did the same thing and knocked another one into the water and THAT one was eaten by a gator. Maybe the same one, maybe a different one, who knows. Then we all worked together to get that last one down before it could spit at any of us again, cause....ummm..thats gross man. Thorkell mentioned something about keeping the hide for possible use later.
With that last outpost set up we were able to sail back down the river and back home with fat paychecks and a party at the tavern. Woot woot