AAR: [9H] Scout's Honor 2020-12-13 2359 GMT

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bronzemountain
Posts:606
Joined:Fri Feb 21, 2020 10:02 pm
AAR: [9H] Scout's Honor 2020-12-13 2359 GMT

Post by bronzemountain » Thu Dec 10, 2020 2:59 pm

LFG: Scout's honor
GM: Dvarim
ECR: 9
Difficulty: Hard

Rumor: You've all just completed an adventure. Good job, everyone! Huge success! You've been picked up by Captain Supriya and are on board the airship, Hamsa Vimana, en route to Throal. There's just one problem. In addition to picking you up, the Captain was supposed to pick up a pair of Scouts near the Mist Swamp. And they've missed their rendezvous. She worries that something might have happened, and wonders, since she has heroes on board, if you wouldn't mind going down to find the Scouts.

Requested by: LaShana
Reward: Access to the Scout Discipline.

Notes:
- Adventure runs at 7:00pm EST on Sunday, December 13th
- As always, I run groups of 5 players.

Sign up format:

Code: Select all

[b]Name:[/b] Character name
[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])
Last edited by bronzemountain on Thu Dec 17, 2020 3:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Sharkforce
Posts:527
Joined:Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:39 am

Re: LFG: [9H] Scout's Honor 13-12-2020 2359 GMT

Post by Sharkforce » Thu Dec 10, 2020 7:09 pm

Name: Zivilyn
ECR: 9
Last Played:
Discipline: Shaman/Wizard/Elementalist/Nethermancer 8/7/5/3
Notable Abilities: Spells, a little bit of everything at this point. Good with animals. Only *mostly* incompetent at social stuff.
Downtime: Downtime: Animal Training (Talent) - Step 19 including karma (Rank 9) (can train up to 9 commands total, or improve non-combat skills by +1 per command used on it)
Research - Step 24 including karma (Rank 5). +3 to the step is available at a cost of 20 sp for access to the Great Library of Throal.
Item History - Step 19 including karma (Rank 6)

sigfriedmcwild
Posts:335
Joined:Wed Nov 13, 2019 6:59 am

Re: LFG: [9H] Scout's Honor 13-12-2020 2359 GMT

Post by sigfriedmcwild » Thu Dec 10, 2020 8:00 pm

Name: Norg
Last played on: 2020-12-11
ECR: 9 (465045lp)
Discipline: Gauntlet 9 / Air Sailor 5
Quote/Unique: The punch is not the goal, the punch is the way
Notable Abilities: PUNCH! JUMP! some awareness, some navigation, some wilderness survival, the worst physician this side of the mountains
Downtime: none

Lashana
Posts:167
Joined:Wed Jun 03, 2020 9:40 pm
Location:Virginia Beach, VA USA

Re: LFG: [9H] Scout's Honor 13-12-2020 2359 GMT

Post by Lashana » Thu Dec 10, 2020 10:54 pm

Name: LaShana
Last played on: 2020-11-22
ECR: 9 (345715)
Discipline: Thief 9
Quote/Unique: Well that was....interesting/fun/unique!! Can we do it again?
Notable Abilities: Enthusiasm and an ability to fumble/stumble into trouble. Can also open...and close....doors - possibly even if they are locked....and a wicked bow
Downtime: none

Xzandrate
Posts:382
Joined:Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:28 pm

Re: LFG: [9H] Scout's Honor 13-12-2020 2359 GMT

Post by Xzandrate » Sun Dec 13, 2020 12:34 am

Name: Moe'uhane
Date of Last Game Played: 2020-12-11
ECR: 10
Discipline: Illusionist(10)/Messenger (6)/Boatman(6)
Unique: Fear banishing, stealthy inducing, Phantom Fireball machine (with a side of Dragons)
Downtime: Research 5 - step 13(16 with library bonus)
Craft Spell Matrix Objects:(11/23) Standard - 5 days -1000 SP; Enhanced 6 days - 2000 SP
Design Enchanting Pattern:(11/23)
Last edited by Xzandrate on Sun Dec 13, 2020 2:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

LadyDragoon
Posts:143
Joined:Wed May 27, 2020 2:11 am

Re: LFG: [9H] Scout's Honor 13-12-2020 2359 GMT

Post by LadyDragoon » Sun Dec 13, 2020 1:25 am

Name: Azurea M.D. (S.O.A.P)
Circle: ECR 9
Discipline: Shadow 8/Purifier 5
Last Played: 27/10/2020
Quote/Unique: You have no proof that it was my blade that killed him. I was just around the body to see if I could help heal him.
Notable Abilities: Sneakiest Of All Purifiers
Downtime: Alchemy 4 (10)
Booster Potions - 2 days for 2
Small Light Quartz - 4 days
Absorb Blow Charms - 4 days

Sharkforce
Posts:527
Joined:Thu Feb 28, 2019 8:39 am

Re: LFG: [9H] Scout's Honor 13-12-2020 2359 GMT

Post by Sharkforce » Mon Dec 14, 2020 8:47 am

From the Journal of Zivilyn, Windling Magician: Scout's Honour

On the return trip from an expedition to investigate some ruins that I thought might hold useful information to protect against the scourge (which was not the information that I had hoped for, although it was not entirely unprofitable either), I was surprised to encounter Azurea, LaShana, and Moe, who were returning from their own expeditions around Death's Sea (or perhaps Travar, I got a little distracted and they didn't seem terribly forthcoming at first, and later I think we all had other things on our mind). Norg was also surprisingly on the ship, apparently he has taken to encouraging airship captains to pressure Throal to issuing letters of marque against known threats. It would certainly help when we're ready to attack the flying fortress if we can bring a small fleet of airships as support.

Of course, go figure, with a collection of heroes, someone found a job for us. Someone had hired the Hamsa Vimana to pick up a pair of Scouts who were mapping the Mist Swamp. Unfortunately, they were late for their rendezvous, and Captain Supriya asked the five of us to investigate since we were there already (personally, I cannot help wondering if this was as coincidental as it seemed, now that I look back on it).

Now, the Mist Swamp is certainly a unique environment in all of Barsaive. It is also a very oppressive environment. The air feels so thick that it's like someone is tightening a belt around your lungs. The heat and humidity mean that lying on the round feels like you've just run a mile (on Windling legs), and slogging through a swamp certainly doesn't help. Clothing quickly starts to feel restrictive and scratchy from all the sweat, which does absolutely nothing to cool you off, and the air is swarming with pestering insects. And it is positively miserable for Windling wings. And if there is a dangerous creature in Barsaive, it probably lives there. In short, I do not recommend going there if you can avoid it. It was full of life (my Lifesight was nearly overwhelmed on occasion) and there were no signs of corruption, but still, I think only a creature that has adapted to live there could be happy.

Thankfully, between my protective magics and Moe's Flying Carpets, the experience was made... well, bearable would be too generous. It was made less miserable. We made our landing in the clearing the missing Scouts were supposed to meet at, and saw signs of a fight; some Namegivers (which we believed were the scouts), and some large beasts of indeterminate nature. I had brought Howler along, as I frequently do, and he was a great aid during this adventure; he did a splendid job of tracking the Scouts (who I should mention were Named Bhumani and Arak, a Troll and an Ork, respectively). Unfortunately, through the pervasive steam clouds we did not notice that were walking right into the midst of an area infested by leeches.

No, not the little kind. They were not merely big either. They were the kind that are the size of a building, and we're not talking a one-room shanty here or a Windling house, we're talking about a family dwelling with a few bedrooms upstairs, a kitchen, and a dining area. At first there was only one that was awoken when we stepped on it unawares, but a couple more were alerted by its death throes. They were slimy, with mouths made of the stuff of nightmares, and I wish to speak no more of them. Even Howler was not excited at the prospect of eating them, although he enjoyed chewing on the bones of their previous victims while we took some time to recover. I collected a few bones for use with my Beastform spell as well. The less I speak of the experience of digging through their stomach, the better though.

After a brief rest, we continued tracking the Scouts, who presumably had the good sense to not step on the giant leeches. Almost as we were preparing to bunk down for the night (which was not any less oppressive than the day, but was much darker), we noted that the tracks we were following were briefly joined by those of another Namegiver (who appeared to be following rather than walking alongside them) and then left. Strange to think that other Namegivers would be there also. In the morning, we picked up the trail again and could tell that we were gaining, but when we found the site where the Scouts had camped we found signs of another battle, this time against a group of Namegivers. Evidently, the person following them had not been friendly, and had taken them captive.

Well, we didn't slog through the swamp to turn back. Howler continued to track them expertly (I think it helps a great deal that I can now talk to him and help him stay focused) and it seemed we were gaining on them when we came across a pair of what we understood to be petrified Namegivers (an Ork and a Dwarf, I believe) that were beyond our ability to help. We would later find that these were slaves of the group we were chasing, and that they had been petrified by some odd snake woman. I have never heard of anything of its like, but it seems that it is possible to recover from it if you are not fully petrified.

Shortly after, Azurea indicated that the group we were following had sent someone back to get a good look at us, and challenged them to show themselves as we prepared for battle; I invited the spirits to bless our little War Party, and readied my Wood Skin, and we went back to tracking our prey. We talked for a while, and the short version: they considered themselves to be Theran, they intended to "interrogate" the Scouts for 3 days (they were willing to negotiate down to 2, but they also planned to leave us behind for those two days, which sounded beyond fishy), and after it became clear that we could not reach an agreement they decided to fight it out. It went rather poorly for them; they were a skilled scouting party (a Warrior, an Elementalist, 2 Scouts I think, a Master of the Hunt, and an Archer), but we had the time to prepare and we had used it. They knew we had a Magician, which they believed to be an illusionist. Little did they know that we had access to every variety of Magician short of Dragon magic. Their attacks struggled to land, their spells fizzled, and our attacks struck true. Azurea, LaShana, and Norg cut them down with devastating blows, Moe mocked them until they could barely even think, and my protective magics and healing kept us in the fight to the end.

We probably should have tried harder to capture them for information, but they had slaves with them and I think our fighters were seeing red. In the end, we only captured their Master of the Hunt (Nassara), the rest had broken or severed spines. Her twilight panther escaped as well, but obviously we were never going to get much information from a panther. I did manage to collect some bits of fur that got caught in a bush, so I'll definitely be learning about that form later.

Still, we got some useful information. We don't know where their kaer was, but they were a group known as the Veil, Theran loyalists who were exploring the province to prepare it for the return of the Therans Empire to reclaim what they believe is their land. I can't say that I'm looking forward to that; ultimately, from everything I can tell the Therans basically "conquered" the province by threatening to let everyone die to the Scourge if they didn't pay exorbitant fees for the knowledge they would need to survive, and then enslaving many thousands of free folk to line their own pockets. I suppose their inevitable return is just yet another problem that has to wait.

In any event, if we were manipulated into being in the right place at the right time for the purpose of gaining information, I suspect next time different people may be chosen. This group was not inclined to show a great deal of mercy to slaveholders.

bronzemountain
Posts:606
Joined:Fri Feb 21, 2020 10:02 pm

AAR: [9H] Scout's Honor 13-12-2020 2359 GMT

Post by bronzemountain » Thu Dec 17, 2020 3:47 pm

AAR: Scout's Honor
GM: Dvarim
ECR: 9
Difficulty: Hard

Player Rewards:
Zivilyn: 58,000 LP, 1,500 sp, 5 TIPs
Norg: 58,000 LP, 1,500 sp, 5 TIPs
LaShana: 58,000 LP, 1,500 sp, 5 TIPs
Moe'uhane: 58,000 LP, 1,500 sp, 5 TIPs
Azurea: 58,000 LP, 1,500 sp, 5 TIPs

GM Rewards:
Juniper: 13,000 LP, 775 SP, 3 TIPs

Downtime:
Zivilyn: Animal Training (Talent) - Step 19 including karma (Rank 9) (can train up to 9 commands total, or improve non-combat skills by +1 per command used on it)
Research - Step 24 including karma (Rank 5). +3 to the step is available at a cost of 20 sp for access to the Great Library of Throal.
Item History - Step 19 including karma (Rank 6)
Moe'uhane: Research 5 - step 13(16 with library bonus)
Craft Spell Matrix Objects:(11/23) Standard - 5 days -1000 SP; Enhanced 6 days - 2000 SP
Design Enchanting Pattern:(11/23)
Azurea: Alchemy 4 (10)
Booster Potions - 2 days for 2
Small Light Quartz - 4 days
Absorb Blow Charms - 4 days

Summary:
The Master of Secrets is pleased. The Scourge has been driven out of the city that has no name, and the Hydra eggs have been destroyed. Soben Tarl lives to deceive and plot another day but she will get what she deserves soon enough, surely. Also, awesome things happened.
Jael Greenguard spider-man'd his way up a tower and clawed casters and hydra to death!
Zivilyn Many-Magics played cat-got-your-tongue from inside a hydra's mouth!
Daldorer Nightbringer made himself entirely too spicy to eat!
Zil Hearthfire placed his friends under Garlen's protection and guarded them from fear!
Norg Thunderfist rammed an airship into a hydra!

Xzandrate
Posts:382
Joined:Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:28 pm

Re: AAR: [9H] Scout's Honor 13-12-2020 2359 GMT

Post by Xzandrate » Sun Jan 17, 2021 5:31 pm

From the writings of Moe'uhane, T'skrang Illusionist, 10th Circle, Boatman 6th Circle, Messenger Rank 6

After a successful adventure, we rendezvoused with Captain Supriya of the Hamsa Vimana for our journey back to Throal. We needed only pick up a small scouting party at the edge of the Mist Swamps. They were not at the agreed meeting point, and we waiting a further day with no sign of them. The captain inquired if we could investigate. In an effort to expedite our return, we agreed.

Norg leapt from the ship, while Azurea and I took flying carpets, with LaShana and Zivilyn tagging along with Howler on a third carpet. We investigated the meeting site and found the tell tale traces of combat. It seemed our scouts had been jumped by something. The battle had happened a number of days ago, so we would need to try and track them down. Luckily Howler was up to the task.

We progressed into the swamps cloaked by magic to avoid detection on the material and astral planes. In fact we were so well hidden, that as Howler followed the trail he tripped over an ambushing leech. The shocked encounter quickly turned into the flailing of battle as neither side was sure what the other wanted. The leech managed to inflict a fair amount of damage upon us with the help of a couple friends. Finally we avoided the remaining ambushing leeches, and continued on the trail of the scouts.

We determined that the scouts had been followed at various points, and eventually found their camp site. Again the signs of struggle were obvious. It seems they were ambushed by whatever had been stalking them. Obvious Namegiver tracks seemed to lead the scouts off. There seemed to be a bit more urgency in finding these scouts, so we pressed on.

In the course of our tracking we came across what appeared to be Namegiver statues, one dwarf and one ork. It seemed an odd place to encounter statues. There was no other sign of ruins, and they did not seem to be marking anything. Closer inspection of the statues revealed that there were no marks of carving on them. Which meant these were likely created by magical means, with the preeminent worry being that these were petrified Namegivers. There was nothing we could do for these poor souls, so we pushed on.

We were gaining upon our quarry thanks to the increased movement afforded by Zivilyns wizardry, but Azurea indicated that we had not passed unnoticed. She had detected an enemy scout, though could not pin down their location. She challenged them to reveal themselves so that we may speak, but the presence disappeared. Knowing what we did of how they tracked and ambushed the scouts, we took some time to prepare for any potential coming encounter as Zivilyn called upon the spirits to bless our war party.

Shrouded by mists in a clearing of a small bog they stood waiting for us. It was hard to make out any detail, but I could make out three of them, and a small number of captives, our two scouts as well as a further person who held themselves with the posture of a broken spirit.

Their leader stepped forward and pronounced us as spies and demanded to know why we were here in Theran. I kindly resonded in Theran and advised that we needed to retrieve the scouts that they had captured. He attempted to one up me by responding the in the broken Throalic of an inebriated toddler. He denounced the scouts as spies and potential sabateurs, indicatin that they must be interrogated. Judging the situation, he seemed to be their frontline leader, I suspected the ones near the rear were likely magicians or ranged combatants. Obviously aware that they may be doing something to attain the truthfulness of our interaction, I did my best to only convey truths about our mission in the swamps and the intentions of ourselves and the scouts. While they felt they could return the scouts, they were asking to do so for a week. This was entirely unacceptable, they relented to only a day, but were quite adamant on taking the scouts away to do this, contrary to my suggestions that we sit and exchange information as refined individuals. That was their final offer and he dismissively sent me to check with my group.

I conveyed the situation to them, and they in turn shared what they had collected. It seems that the magics of LaShana allowed her to make out quite a bit more in the mists, giving me more to work with. She could make out they were all wearing armbands with a Theran insignia upon it, after some puzzling on the description I felt that they were likely members of the group known as The Veil. Only a Theran would think to display the insignia of their covert intelligence unit like a badge of honour. LaShana also disclosed that the slaves in their care had been inflicted by whatever petrification hit the other two and was in need of medical care.

When we returned to bargaining, I brought forth that we had the healing capabilities to help their half petrified friend and that we understood that they were likely under order from higher ups in The Veil and we could provide enough information to make this encounter worth their while. This caught their speaker off guard, and a quick glance over his shoulder indicated that he was unsure how to proceed. His Theran pride likely wounded by being bested by 'savages' in a mental joust, he drew a blade and indicated that discussions were at an end.

The swordsman leapt forward while a large shadowy cat fell upon us, supported by a spellcaster and two archers. The battle was quick and decisive. I continually attempted to mock and disorient their members while Norg dealt with the most forward threats. Meanwhile Azurea and LaShana bounded and flitted from place to place loosing ranged doom upon the rest of their party.

In the end, the shadow cat escaped, and we captured it's master, Nassara. We attended to the scouts and gathered our allies and our captive and made our way back towards the ship. Nassara, as expected, did not disclose much about their mission that we did not already know or determine ourselves. But we did not need to know of these things, there were peoples within Throal who were more interested and determined at getting the information she possessed.

Xzandrate
Posts:382
Joined:Tue Apr 07, 2020 8:28 pm

Messenger Report

Post by Xzandrate » Sun Jan 17, 2021 5:31 pm

**As the magic flows across the page the words come into view**

A group returning from the Mist Swamps needed to retrieve a pair of scouts who had missed their meeting time. This chance encounter granted insight into a new threat.

Faction:The Veil
Brief: A Theran intelligence and scounting faction
Status: Active, but little else know yet.
Notable Actors:
Nassara, Theran Master of the Hunt


After Action Report:
The zealots of the Veil felt that while scouting a hostile environment, our scouts were spying upon them and needed to be interrogated. Luckily a higher circle group of adepts from Throal tracked them down and rescued the scouts, in the process capturing one of their members.

The captive has been returned to Throal for further questioning.


Reporting Senior Agent: Bearded Dragon

**The words vanish as the magic dissipates**

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