AAR: (4M) Phaelon's Festival of Wonders 2020-09-07@23:00 GMT

[Jexel]

LFG: Phaelon's Festival of Wonders
Time: 2020-09-07@23:00 GMT
GM: Nez
Circle: 4
Difficulty: M

Rumor: A travelling festival all the way from Travar has set up just outside the gates of Throal. Tonight is the last performance of their play describing the harrowing days just before the Long Night in Travar. Come join the fun and see what all the talk has been about!

[Serespar]

Name: Nib
Date of Last Game Played: Thusday, September 3, 2020 [Long Ago But Not Forgotten]
Circle: ECR 4
Discipline: Windling Wizard
Unique: A friendly flying astral sensitive and spell slinger
Downtime: Talents and Skills that other characters can use over downtime:
Item History (Rank 1, Step 12)
Research Talent (Rank 2, Step 15)

[Rathan01]

Name: Malonin "Mal" Tyrnith
Last time you (player) played: 2020-09-03
ECR: 4
Discipline: Archer 3
Quote/Unique: I shoot arrows and I know things.
Notable Abilities: Putting holes in places there shouldn't be holes.
Downtime: Craft Weapon (rank 3, step 10)

[Xzandrate]

Name: Lazulin
Date of Last Game Played: 2020-08-10
ECR: 5
Discipline: Raider (5)
Unique: Combat and combat related accessories, some navigations and survival
Downtime:

Secondary Character

[Anoush]

Bloodbeat

Name: Bloodbeat II of Syrtis
ECR: 3
Last game played: Sept. 3

Discipline: Nethermancer
Quote/Unique: Tsch!  I hate birds!!
Notable Abilities: I talk to dead people, and make enemies wish they were anywhere else but here.
Downtime:

• Alchemy Step 9 (rank 2 + perception 7)
• Physician Step 8 (rank 1 + perception 7)

[predajey]

Name: Jarock Hammer-Shield
Last played: Aug 30, maybe? I can't remember.
ECR: 3. Trust me, I do ECR+1H all the time.

Discipline: Weaponsmith
Quote: "Words?" Jarock says with only the slightest hint of offense accompanying his imposing posture, his arms crossed. He turns his head away from the person asking for his report on the latest outing, grunts disgruntledly, and mutters under his breath, "Weaponsmith, not scholar."
Notable Abilities:

• Tactics(3)
• Lots of knowledge on bad guys (all rank 1 though, so mostly just rumors and hearsay)
• Complete disbelief of the gravity and difficulty of any given situation

Downtime:

• Forge Weapon (ESR 14, Rank 4)
• Craftsman (ESR 17, Rank 3)
• Item History (ESR 13, Rank 3)

Secondary character

[Jexel]

Phaelon's Festival of Wonders
Time: 2020-09-07@2300 GMT
GM: Nez
Circle: 4
Difficulty: Medium

Player Rewards:
Nib: 2,200 LP, 375 SP, 3 TIPs
Bloodbeat: 2,200 LP, 375 SP, 3 TIPs
Mal: 2,200 LP, 287.5 SP, 3 TIPs, Boundary Stones
Jarock: 2,200 LP, 375 SP, 3 TIPs
Lazulin: 2,200 LP, 375 SP, 3 TIPs

GM Reward:
Nez: 13,000 LP, 775 SP, 3 TIPs

Downtime Actions Available:
Nib: Research 2/15 (+3 with library access / 20sp), Item History 1/12
Jarock: Craft Anything 3/17, Forge Weapon 4/14, Item History 3/13
Mal: Craft Weapon 3/10
Bloodbeat: Alchemy 2/9

Alt Rewards: Travar Boundary Stones, Alchemical Reagents


Further Information:
Turns out Onyx the Destroyer probably isn't the odds on favorite to win the Founder's Tournament. A small gang known as Dahnut's clan has big ambitions with their boss Stryker in hiding.

[Xzandrate]

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

Page 6

The wise warrior is familiar with that which he fights for. As such, I decided to visit a local traveling cirque, Phaelon's Festival of Wonders. They had arrived from Travar and it was their last night.

I went to take in the final performance of the Trials of Erilis Splinterhorn. While it lasted, it was a rather inspiring tale of an elementalist who sacrificed themselves to light the fireshield of Travar. Unfortunately it did not finish, the performance was interrupted part way through, the actors began to fall ill. This caused chaos within the tent, as there were hundreds of people, many of whom had been on flying carpets above the crowd to be a greater part to the illusory story. I, and a number of other adepts who had attended the show, quickly jumped into action as the crowd began to panic. I cut open an exit in the tent and drew the attention of panicked theatre goers with the Point of Triumph.

The other adepts were Bloodbeat the Nethermancer, Nib the Wizard, Malonin Tyrnith the Archer, and Jarock Hammer-Shield a Weaponsmith and father of an adept I've travelled with before. The actors had been poisoned while the box office was robbed of the weeks earnings. The 'champion', Onyx, was beaten and bloodied when he intervened.

We spent the next day and a half tracking them west, finally cornering them in the Servos Jungle. The thieves were either smart or lazy, I suspect more lazy. The only stretch of land that lead to the hole they hid within was naturally guarded by large predatory spiders. Mal spied them before they could surprise us, so we turned the tables. Jarock felt we should knock themThe Point of Triumph burst with golden light as we worked together to drivethe beasts off. Keeping an eye upon Jarock, I better understand how Vralino struggles so in combat. He spent most of the time trying to fake out the spiders by ducking and weaving, throwing off his balance to swing the warhammer. Finally as the spiders turned to flee, he connected with a wild flail though.

We stalked into the hideout, and Jarock pushed to the front. In response to the warning of the tripwire, he promptly set it off. For us, the element of surprise was lost. However, Jarock was not prepared for the enemy at the end of the tunnel. Arrows buried themselves in the middle aged ork, and battle was joined. I moved into the middle of the chamber with the Point of Triumph a glow to shed light upon our situation. It buried into the bandit in front of me and I turned to face his comrades. On the right side of the cave was an ork with a bow who was apparently the leader. Mal and the casters provided supporting fire from the cave while I moved to take some pressure off Jarock, the mages finishing the job. We finally subdued the leader and the remaining bandits surrendered.

While I accounted for the missing revenue, there was an overly sadistic interrogation of the two bandits. We bound them all and returned to Throal, returning the earnings to the cirque and turning these members of the Donaut Clan over to the authorities. We did not find the mastermind going by the name of Stryker, but hopefully his lesson has been learned, less our paths cross in the future.

It was a party of convenience, but the battle is not always joined when you are ready. So your weapons are what you can make do with. Malonin is a weapon of war, his arrows rarely missed their mark and struck true when they hit. Nib provided support for the rest of the party, allowing us to keep up with our quarry and be more resilient in battle, helping with spells against our foes where he could. Bloodbeat as well helped us make the battlefield our own, fearing and tearing away at their spirits. Jarock's daughter was obviously taught her offensive capabilities from her father, which makes me understand why she is better on defense. Jarock has the dreams of a fighter, but the heart of a storyteller. He fights as the hero's of a troubadours greatly flourished tales, not like the blade that a warrior must be. We shall test his skills at the forge and measure him against his daughter's travelling companion.

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

[predajey]

The following is a recollection from Jarock Hammer-Shield, a secluded Ork Weaponsmith. The text remains unaltered to maintain its authenticity. It is written in Or'zet.

Found a fair from Travar outside. Seemed boring, but went anyway. Either be bored there or be bored in Throal. 5 silver pieces to enter. Massive illusionary show. Very convincing. Even thought the disaster was part of the show. The disaster was caused by poison used by thieves to divert attention away from a heist. Flying carpets fell out of the air. Actors were debilitated. Onyx the Destroyer was injured. We pursued the thieves and captured them. Also fought spiders along the way.

Nib displayed powerful magic, but still paranoid about astral space. Made me nearly impossible to hit and added extra padding to my armor. I did more damage straining myself than the enemies did. Mal was hot and cold. Sometimes did great, sometimes didn't do much. Lazulin is a very talented Troll Raider. Very effective in combat. More so at tracking. Bloodbeat, don't get on her bad side. Scary effective at interrogation. Made her enemies wet themselves. Loves tearing off own face. Saved my ass, too. I went unconscious at one point, but she woke me up moments later. Not bad looking either, but I swore of spell slingers. Last one was a massive embarrassment. I took a lot of hits for the team, but only ever hit one thing. Forgot how to smack shit for some reason, but smacked a spider across a lake. Pretty sure it split into several pieces, possibly dust.

Checked out the Dahnat Hides shop, completely empty. Actors and Onyx fully recovered. The thieves are in custody. Still hate journals. Weaponsmith, not Scholar.

[Serespar]

Phaelon’s Festival of Wonders

<Throalic Date Equivalent to September 7, 2020>

To Whom It May Concern at the Great Library

Friends and I attended a marvelous historical play the other day at Phaelon’s Festival of Wonders. A truly extraordinary production on the closing of Travar before the Scourge, told with significant flare and magnificent illusions that brought the tale to life.

Alas, we did not get to see the climax of Phaelon’s Thespian efforts, as the performance was hijacked by a band of nefarious thieves. The Thieves’ had poisoned a number of the players with a delayed acting agent, causing them to double over in pain, including the illusionist maintaining the elite flying carpet seats over the stage area. My friends and I did what we could to save the plummeting patrons of the arts, but chaos ensued, allowing the thieves to make a break for it with the production company’s cashbox. We found the actor playing the heroic troll lead badly injured from his efforts to prevent the purloinary, and gave pursuit after sending a messenger for help to the Temple of Garlen.

The thieves led us on a merry chase to the west over the next day or two, til we reached a lake on the edge of the Servos (hex 38.09). They had left a clever trap to ensnare any who might pursue them, and all I can say is no windling should meet a spider larger than himself, let alone a nest of them with the ability to hit a target at 50 paces with poison spit that turns whatever it touches into digestible mush for an arachnoid feast! *shudder*. My companions and I dispatched the eight legged ooglies and took our fear and disgust out on the helpless skif the thieves had used to bypass the land bridge full of creepy crawlies and their webs. I helpfully wrote “HA HA” in firefly chalk on the battered boats, to greet the thieves should they try to make their escape – it seemed an appropriate return for their web filled doorbell.

We tracked the villains to a nearby cave (see Appendix for map) and were not at all shocked that the thugs had deployed traps to protect their hide out. Jarock, using all the subtlety he is known for, helpfully sprawled past the danger zone of all the falling rocks and displayed his trip wire triumphantly.

We moved deeper into the cave and engaged the villains in quite a warm fight if I do say so myself. Mal kept up a withering rain of arrow fire while Bloodbeat and I slung spells to keep the party protected and the oafs ducking. Lazulin was magnificent teaching the thieves that poking an angry troll just does not end well, while Jarok more than made up for his earlier silliness with the trip wire (tho I did not approve of what he did with it to that poor thief during the interrogation, I mean, really….)

Bloodbeat took a number of flesh and blood samples from the surviving captives, and Kramer and Otto seemed eager to make reparations working in the mines of Throal rather than continue under her gentle care. Their leader, one Grunshilk, also seemed eager to make reparations and didn’t hesitate to turn on his fixer, one Stryker, who I am under the impression is a lower level mob boss who has a front business selling hides in the Dahnat in Throal. I leave follow-up on Stryker’s business associations in the capable hands of the Guard.

We returned the troupe's goods, checked that they were recovering, and gratefully accepted our reward (tho I don't think Lazulin noticed Phaelon the illusionist copying his visage and heroic great spear. I neglected to point it out to my companion since I'm pretty sure Phaelon will portray him heroically, at least if he has any sense, that is, and the co-star Phaelon had fawning over the Lazulin look alike was quite attractive). I find it better to let these things run their natural course rather than get involved in the subtleties of troll honor.

Yours in Service,


Nib