AAR: [9H] The Respect of Trolls (2020-09-05 @ 23:00 GMT)

[etherial]

Name: Daldorer
Last Game Played:2020-08-23
Effective Circle: 9
Discipline: Nethermancer
Quote/Unique: Daddy can make you feel better
Notable Abilities: Critical Thinking, Friendly Darkness, Last Chance
Downtime:
Alchemy Step 8 (Rank 3) Recipes: Booster Potion and Small Light Quartz
Item History Step 20 (Rank 8)
Research Step 21 (Rank 9)

[Montaugh]

Date Last Played August 23rd, 2020
ECR: 9 ( 346,375 LP)
Race: Human
Discipline: Scout 8 Thief 5, Journeyman 2, Cavalryman 5
Quote/Unique: I'll get you there and back again.
Notable Abilities:
Talented: Locks/Traps, Stealth/Scouting, Ranged/Melee, map making. Animal bond/borrow. Safe Path! Sleeps with One Eye Open, Orbital Spy in the sky!
Items: Pure Water Pot (cast the Purify Water spell, p. 190, with a Spellcasting and Effect Step of 8/2D6 on any liquid placed in them). Upandal's Blessings (tools that let him reroll failed artisan checks)
Potions: Kelia's Antidote (1), Booster Potion (5), Kelix's Poultice (1), Halt Illness Potion (1), Healing Potion (3), Last Chance Salve (3)
Mounted: Huttawa named Charlie and he's sworn, He might also swear.. I don't have animal talk yet.
Downtime: Versatile Forge Weapon (5) Step 12, Step 16 with karma. Versatile Research 7 Step (14) (17 with library access) Steps 16 or 21 depending on library access and Karma. Versatile Item History 5 (12) Step 16 with Karma. (Karma spent with Applied versatility)

[Waijhou]

Zil, Ethirial, Volkir and Norg can you please join me Saturday for a nice friendly trip to visit a Trollmoot?!

[Xzandrate]

AAR:The Repect of Trolls
GM: Xzandrate
ECR: 9
Difficulty: Hard

Player Rewards:
Xeviouz: 58000 LP, 1500 SP, 5 TIPS
Zil: 58000 LP, 1320 SP, 5 TIPS. Discount Dex Training (180 sp)
Daldorer: 58000 LP, 1500 SP, 5 TIPS
Norg: 58000LP, 1180SP, 5TIP (320sp for tou 20)
Vlolkir: 58000 LP, 1500 SP, 5 TIPS

Alternate Rewards:
Discounted Physical Attribute Training


Journal Reward: +2900 LP, +375 SP

GM Reward: Moe'uhane (19000 LP, 900 SP, 3 TIPs)

Downtime:
Zil: Research rank 4, step 12 (step 15 if pay 20 sp for library access).
Item History Rank 4 (step 16).

Daldorer: Alchemy Step 8 (Rank 3) Recipes: Booster Potion and Small Light Quartz
Item History Step 20 (Rank 8)
Research Step 21 (Rank 9)

Summary: The players met the Scorched Tusk moot of the Caucavic mountains and worked to free their moot in the shades of the great hero Klo Soot-horn.

[Waijhou]

Sept 5, 2020
Rumor: Xeviouz must find the Trollmoot of Moon Breaker's original owner and earn their respect and permission to carry on the legacy of the owner and Moon Breaker.

From the journal of Xeviouz, Human Warrior/Horror stalker

Moon Breaker was originally from a TrollMoot in the Caucavic Mountains. From the Scorched Tusk Moot, 47.04.Have to go there, earn their respect and get their permission to carry moon Breaker. Along on this mission with me I have asked Volkir, Daldorer, Norg and Zil. It should take about a week and a half to get there. We travel by way of Sosanopa, they run a dead pool to see if we all return alive. As we are on the trail, I ask Volkir and Nog about Troll etiquette.
As we are entering the Caucavic Mountains, on the third day, we are ambushed by 20 trolls. THey are along the ridge line ahead of us. The leader, a large Troll is Brosme Kull , of the Scorched Tusks. They were driven out of their moot by a tri of cultists and a bunch of bone constructs that attacked the moot. They ask me what I am doing here. I explain I need the respect of the Moot and their blessing to continue to carry moon Breaker.

I pull out Moon Breaker, and there is a lot of murmuring among the trolls. THey are saying lets take it from the human and go clear our Moot. THey say a mere human can not possibly wield the shield. The trolls are saying where is Sunchaser? Moon Breaker belonged to Klos Sitorn how did I get it. I explain where I found the shield and how I have become very attached to it. And all the honor I have brought the shield and myself when wielding it.

Klos Sitorn was a questor of Thesintonious. When there was an attack on his village, he held off a flock of Dark Wyvern for 4 days and 3 nights until help arrived.

Brosme Kull says I can earn their respect by clearing the cultists from the moot. The trio of cultists entered the moot and began killing all the Dracars and pulling out their entrails. The trolls tried to fight the cultists but the called up bone and flesh constructs , killed the guards and many of the warriors. The rest of the trolls fled. THe trolls sent scouts back to the moot, to see what was going on. They were casting some ritual with the entrails. The cultists are 2 humans and an orc. Lots of human sized constructs. THe orc wore black armor and wielded 2 swords. The other 2 cultists were spell casters of some kind.

We rest for a few moments, telling stories as Zil checks over all the wounded, make sure they are doing ok. We get a sketch of the layout of the moot. The trolls provide a scout to guide us to the moot. We get most of the way there and stop for the night on the advice of the scout. THe scouts is called Skalde Vaerir. Skalde is visibly shaken, he does not want to return to the moot yet. We decide to rest here, and get up at midnight to travel the rest of the way to the moot so we can strike at dawn.

Next morning we head out. We are just out side the moot. We can see the palisade, the tents, the mooring posts. We also see a couple guys flying around on what looks like flying carpets. But on closer examination the carpets seem to be made of human skin. As we are moving towards the gate we are spotted by one of the guys that is flying. THe orc is at the gate, he tries to get us to leave, and we keep moving forwards. The Orc steps back and some constructs come forward to engage us. 3 large bone shamblers and 2 kaschrek erhigren. Make that 4 bone Shamblers, no make that 7 bone shamblers. Now 3 Deathless Reavers join the fight, and some undead trolls.

We have almost all the constructs destroyed and we notice one of the drakars lifting away from the mooring, it seems to be alight with green fire. Norg runs towards the moot says the cultists are killing babies and lighting them on fire. I follow him into the moot and notice a fire wraith as I am running. I cant quiet make it to the creature. It attacks me as I am close and burns me slightly. I am able to dispatch it next attack. The cultists are stealing one of the dracars, they are trying to get the others 2 dracars as well. We are ablet o kill the remaining cultists and save the last 2 dracars.

We make it back to where Brosme Kull and the rest of the moot are waiting. We explain we cleansed the moot, and were able to save 2 of the dracars, one of the cultists had an undead crew rowing the third dracar away. The trolls are very happy to get the 2 dracars back, and their moot. There is much ale and story telling through the night. Next moring there is a small ceremony, Brosme Kull paints my face and I receive the blessing from the moot.

I must say having Daldorer along on this mission was an incredible choice. The way he took down the horror constructs with his magic was truly a sight. I will make sure to speak to him once we are back home about the Horror Stalker path. I also saw Norg one punch another construct. My little brother Volkir was wise and took down both cultist spell casters. Zil casts his spells and dropped constructs as well. I feel I should offer all of them the Path of Horror Stalker. They would be excellent members.

[ChrisDDickey]

From the journal of Zil.
Xeviuz has a deed to complete before he can tie additional ranks to his thread item shield. He must find the Trollmoot of Moon Breaker's original owner and earn their respect and permission to carry on the legacy of Moon Breaker. He has done research and knows that Moon Breaker was from the Scorched Tusk moot in the Caucavic mountains (4704). We traveled to the foothills of the mountains and about a day away from the moot encountered the survivors. Apparently they had been attacked a few days prior and driven from their moot.

Their leader was Brosme Kull. He demanded to know what our business was in the area. They were very amazed and excited to learn that Xeviuz had the famous shield Moon Breaker. Moon Breaker and its companion sword Sun Chaser had once been the famous items of the great Scorched Tusk hero Kio Soot-horn, back in ancient times a Questor of Thistonious. I had many times heard the famous ballad of when he held at bay a large pack of black wyverns for 4 days and 3 nights, keeping the wyverns from attacking the moot. The villagers were thrilled that a hero wielding moon breaker had once again come in their hour of need, however many were concerned that Xevious was not a troll, nor did he have Sun Chaser ether. 

Brosme Kull had a thick accent and a flowery turn of phrase, so I missed much of what he said. Something about Drakars forged from the legend of Kio Soot-horn, the Drakars being sheltered through the long night, and something about Black Tooth enchanters. The only thing that came though clearly was that they greatly desired us to save their precious Drakars. Scouts were keeping an eye on the trollmoot from a distance, and reported that in addition to the original three invaders were now joined by 6 assistants and were performing rituals at each of the three mooring towers. They had apparently killed all the livestock and other animals and were using the entrails and bones in some sort of magic rite. they don't know what the rite is, but they seem certain that it would be disastrous if whatever it was succeeded. 

We asked them to tell us about the attack. They said that just three people, a pair of Humans and an Orc approached the gates of the moot. When challenged by the watch they slew them quickly and walked to the center of the moot where they called loudly for everybody to leave immediately. Obviously the warriors of the village attacked. The invaders summoned constructs to fight for them, and most of the warriors were killed. The survivors are mostly the very young and the very old who were ordered to flee. Of the three invaders, the Orc was the only one who talked (delivered demands). He had black armor and a pair of swords, short and broad. One human wielded shadows and directed constructs, the edler human seemed to be the leader, and called arrows from the sky. I spend about an hour and a half healing the survivors.

A scout by the name of Skaide Vaenr lead us back to the moot. We paused shortly before sunset for a quick sleep, but arose at midnight so that we could approach the moot at sunrise. Under cover of darkness we snuck as close as our non-stealthy party could hope to get, then awaited the dawn. As the sky lightened, we could see two humans circling above the palisade upon what appeared to be flying carpets made of human skin. 

As dawn broke, we rushed forward to attack. Through the open gates we could see two cultists performing mystic passes and chants at the base of the central mooring tower and presumed that there were others at the other two towers as well. We saw what appeared to be the trio who single-handedly conquered the moot. We heard one tell the other to remember to hang back and let the constructs wear us down first. And then the constructs came. First 3 or 4 Bone Shamblers. with at least 2 Kaschrek Erhlgren, then more Bone Shamblers. A very short while later 3 or so Deathless Reavers also charged, a single undead troll and a Fire Wraith. In the meantime the spellcasters started to pepper us with spells from range. First Xevious got caught in a Stench spell, but then Volker charged and totally destroyed (apparently) the one who cast that spell before he himself got his shadow nailed to the ground so he could not move. I managed to do a purifying touch on Xevious, and Daldorer dispelled the spell  on Volkier, who then attacked the guy who cast the spell  on him. For a short while it was touch and go because Volker and I were so far in advance of the others and Volker was having trouble hitting the remaining mage in his cloak of darkness. But Volkeir managed to (apparently) kill the remaining mage, and we both retreated to an area of Foul Vapors that Deldorer had cast, and started to grind up all the constructs. However it turns out that falling back cost us dearly, in that as we broke forward, a second time, they seem to have finished their ritual on the west mooring tower, and a green flame leapt up and the ship, suddenly crewed, started to maneuver slowly away from the tower. I can't help but think that if we had all followed Volkeirs lead and rushed forward into the moot itself and succeeded in disrupting the ritual, that things might not have captured the drakar. 

In any case, we finished destroying the last constructs and rushed into the moot. We slew the remaining cultists, and the ritual faltered. We tried to hurriedly give chace, but the dracar seemed to have acquired a full crew, and it sailed swiftly away, much more swiftly than we could have followed with metal wings, and we had not enough people to man one of the other drakars. We could do nothing except note the direction in which they fled. We checked out the other two drakar, and saw that they had piles of bones scattered about. We surmise that the purpose of the ritual was to turn the piles of bones into trained crewmen loyal to themselves. Our scout guide told us that he saw the two human magicians that we thought Volkier had slain on the ship. Investigating where he had supposedly slain the mages, we found nothing but piles of crystal. 

The moot rejoiced that the enemies had been driven away, and that two Drakairs were saved, but they mourned the fact that one of the Drakars had been stolen by the invaders. They gave a feast and gave blessing to Xevious to keep using the shield. I am certain that we shall encounter these cultists again.

[sigfriedmcwild]

From "The Skies of Barsaive", as penned by Norg, Brother of Earth and Sky, Corsair of Throal

Xeviouz had been talking about having to win the respected of the Scorched Tusk moot, something about needing their permission to keep using his shield. Getting to know a moot is always a good excuse for a brawl and and a feast so I readily agreed. Vlolkir, Daldorer, and Zil also came along.

Along the way Vlolkir and I spent some time coaching Xeviouz in proper Raider etiquette, but I think he started to suspect we did not really know what we were talking about when the answer to almost any query was "hit them back". The trip itself was uneventful until we started climbing in the Caucavics, where Zil started being antsy and suspecting an ambush.

Moments later we were surrounded by about twenty troll warriors who looked really displeased to make our acquaintance. The immediately started asking if we were with "the others" and further probing revealed that a group of travellers had come to their moot and, during the night, summoned undead monstrosities to drive the trolls out of their homes.

Once we explained our reason for being there, the remains of the Scorched Tusk moot decided that us clearing the moot of invaders was an excellent way for us to earn their respect. They also mentioned they have three drakkars forged from the very legend of Klo Sooth-Horn, the first wielder of the shield, who once held of a pack of wyverns for four days and four nights. I will admit the mention of legendary airships piqued my interest a lot more than Xeviouz's deed.

One of the moot's scouts led us towards the village and warned us that they used some kind of flaying construct to patrol the area. We camped for the night about half a day away, with a plan to travel through the night and strike just after dawn.

Once we reached the village, we spotted a number of figures around each of the drakkars docking masts. We cannot tell exactly what they are doing, but Daldorer remembers something about Therans having rituals to destroy docked airhsips, a completely unacceptable outcome. The drakkars themselves were beautiful, black, sleek, and exotic. We also spotted the three travellers that first arrived at the moot, some kind of orc fighter, a human giving distinct nethermancer vibes, and another magician of some kind.

We decided to strike hard and strike fast, so we charged down the path. The invaders immediately spotted us and started sending Bone Shamblers and other horror constructs towards us. We slowly ground our way through the undead as Vlolkir leapt ahead to take down the two magicians. Meanwhile the cultists summoned darkness around each of the tower hiding their foul violations of those poor innocent ships.

Vlolkir stunt earned him a serious beating by the constructs but by that point we were almost through the shamblers, when one of the clouds of darkness faded, green fire leapt up the mooring line and the drakkar started flying away carrying the blackguards! The poor innocent ship, stolen from its cradle with foul magic.

We rushed to the other two mooring masts and removed the cultists before they could do more harm, then we boarded one of the other drakkars to try and give chase, but with only five of us and only two familiar with airships, we could not keep up. As an aside, despite all his talk about proper use of airships and his disdain for air sailors, I am starting to suspect that Vlolkir does not, in fact, have any idea of how to sail.

Reluctantly I returned the drakkar to her moorings and proceeded to interrogate the surviving cultists. They admitted to being part of that group of maniacs called the Scourge and they probably have some horrible plan for the stolen drakkar, which they seemed to take north. Unlike the crazy unwashed dwarf back near Synevir, these villains did not leave all their correspondence behind for us to peruse, so we have only guesses to their intent.

We made our way back to the survivors of the moot who were happy enough with our rescue to induct Xeviouz in the moot and grant him permission to keep using the shield. The scout that accompanied us was of great help there as he relayed our battle to his chieftain, one detail of his account was rather troubling however, he claimed to have seen both magicians on the fleeing drakkar...