AAR: [11M] You Can’t Build Blind (2021-01-23@21:00 GMT)

[Waijhou]

From the journal of Xeviouz, Human Warrior/Horror Stalker
Jan 23, 2021
[11M] You Can’t Build Blind (2021-01-23@21:00 GMT)
Rumor: With an eye towards the future, Jael wants to explore/map/astral survey the foothills, forests, plains, beaches and rivers between Thunder Mountains and the Dragon Mountains.

I had received a note for my friend Jael, he wanted to do some exploring and mapping of the area between the Dragon Mountains and the THunder Mountains. Since it had been awhile since seeing him I readily agreed to accompany him on this grand adventure. Jael has been commissioned by His Majesty's Exploreretory Force, they are providing an air ship for us to get there.

We are approaching our destination from the west. THe valley is beautiful. Forest area by the mountain side, lots of open grassland, sheltered from the wind and 2 rivers. We see something sticking up out of the trees. Could have been a doom from the top of a building. We are going to fly down and investigate. THis forest we are in seems really quiet. Durban says there is some taint to the astral here. Not much, but it is here. There is an overgrown path through the trees. We follow it to the doom. THe doom is made of marble, the remains of a small city are here. Perhaps it is the opening of a Kaer? We investigate the area.

We move towards a large door, Durban uses his magical sight to look at it/ through it and finds nothing. We open the door, and enter. The building has withstood the test of time, but the ceiling is gone. Lots of large tree roots growing in the cracks in the marble flooring. William Carver is looking for tracks in the debris and finds none. THis building seems to have been a temple of some kind. There are carvings on the walls of shooting stars. Astral space inside the building here is clear, no taint. THis building seems to once have been well built but now is falling to natural reclamation. We find another door and go to investigate it. The door has a bar across it, we remove the bar and open the door. It is a wide path that heads straight towards the river. THis path is not overgrown. Following this path, we come to a fork in the road, a large house to the left, river to the right. We check the house. It is made of stone, and everything is overgrown. The doors are missing, perhaps they had fallen apart over time. We find some bones on the floor. William finds some writing on the wall. Dubhan investigates the bones, says they are from a Name giver. Actually, name givers, like about 35 of them. William is trying to decipher the writing on the wall. It scrolls back and forth, up and down. “Water drips a steady sound, falling on this hallowed ground, pieces of shattered lives surround, the broken bones we have found, lying in uncounted mounds. “ After reading this message, it seems there are many small mounds of bones in the building. Dripping water perhaps came from the cracks in the walls. THe writing isn't done with ink, Dubahn says it is probably blood. We check the upstairs of the building. At the top of the stairs there is a long hallway the length of the building with doors on either side. We check room by room. The rooms are clean, no dust, no deterioration. Beds are made. Somebody says that possibly there is a bound spirit here taking care of this place. Dubhan says yes, there is a small spirit at the end of the hallway. We try to communicate with the spirit. Dvarim talks to the spirit, trying to get information. THe is of spirit of a child it seems. Lots of people died here, not sure why. THe spirit says the childrens rooms were not cleaned, bad memories there. We look at them, all are torn up and trashed. Small skull bones lie on the floor.

In the childerns rooms we find more righting. “Paint still bright on wooden toys Speaks of laughing girls and boys But here there is no joy Where silence holds no happy noise”
“By 2 small ruined beds, lie 2 small broken heads, broken closet stands to tell, story of just how these two fell, 2 children still of tender age, heard the nearing creatures rage, doing as their elders bid, in the playroom closet hid, but there lives it did slay, and one was soon tender pray.”

We continue to investigate the area. Williams finds some tracks that we follow. We come to 2 doors we previously hadn't noticed. We enter the first door and find the kitchen. There is more writing on the wall, “Broken crockery tells the tale, of fallen meat, bread and ale, broken shelves let you know, the size and strength of the foe.” We also find an unbroken wine bottle. THe bottle is still sealed. Dubhan tries to identify what is in it. Some sort of wine.

We go check the last room. It is a dining room. Lots of broken furniture and some more writing on the wall. “Over laughter they did not hear, the danger that was drawing near, as I approached and slew, away from the table they rose and flew, but faster were my claws…” the message ends there.

William Carver starts to sing an emotion song, challenging any horror that might still be in the area. Mohuane sets the stage with his illusions. I can almost feel a stirring on the astral. We heard a squeaking sound from outside. It seems the tavern door has swung open. THe sign over the door is Whiteside Inn and Tavern. We head inside. There are 2 ghostly dancing children we spot right away. As we move forward to speak to them 3 Gloom wings appear and battle ensues. It is a short battle except for the 1 remaining dancing spectral shield. It wants to dance with Jael, but Muhane is able to talk to the child and make it happy, it dances out the door and disappears. We continue our exploration and head out another door to a courtyard with several caer spiders. Battle ensues. After killing off the kaer spiders, the city feels much better to be in. We burn the horror constructs. We do a proper burial for the villagers bones that we had found. We clean up the rooms where the children were killed. We bar the temple door in the temple before we leave the area and head back to Throal.

[Lashana]

AAR: You Can’t Build Blind
GM: Shannanigans
ECR: 11
Difficulty: Medium

Player Rewards:
Dvarim: 124,000 LP, 2,000 SP, 3 TIPs
Jael: 124,000 LP, 2,000 SP, 3 TIPs
William Carter: 124,000 LP, 2000SP, 3 TIPs.
Xeviouz: Xeviouz 124,000lp, 2000sp, 3 TIP
Dubhan: 124,000 LP, 2,000sp, 3 TIPs

Journal Rewards: 6,200 LP, 500 sp

Alternate Rewards: Common Magic Items

GM Reward: Amhran (2,200 LP, 375 SP, 3 TIPs)

Downtime:
Jael: Animal Training - (Rank 10) Step 20, Item History (Rank 7) Step 16, Research (Rank 4) 13 (15 with library access)
Dubhan: Research - (Rank 5) Step 41 (Forget library access), Alchemy - (Rank 5) Step 13, (Booster Potions, Small Light Crystals, Kelix' Poultice) (1 Day Downtime), Kelia's Antidote (2 days Downtime); Creation of Spell Matrix Objects: 1,000 sp, 3 days for Standard. 2,000 sp, 4 days for Enhanced. 4,000 sp, 5 days for Armored, And yes, that's the 1/2 off price; Design Enchanting Pattern: Minimum 4 TIPs, 2 weeks Downtime, contact for details
Craft True Pattern (i.e. create Thread Item): Requires a Pattern. 3 TIPs minimum, 2 weeks Downtime, Silver cost varies, contact for details.
Top
Dvarim: Forge Weapon - (Rank 13) Step 26; Forge Armor (Rank 12) Step 25; Craftsman (anything) - (Rank 12) Step 29; Design Enchanting Pattern (Rank 12) Step 25; Enchant True Pattern (Rank 12) Step 29, Item History (Rank 4) Step 17; Enchant Storm Steppers (10 TIPs, 1,500sp, 2 weeks): Cleaning Brooms (x5): 1 day/75sp, Fire starter: 1 day / 25sp; Firefly Chalk: 1 day / 25sp; Hot Pot: 1 day / 25sp; Pot of Grumbah, Small: 1 day / 37.5sp; Dwarven Sunshade Hat (exclusive): 1 day / 125sp; Season Lamp: 1 day / 175sp
William Carver: Versatile Forge Weapon (Rank 7) Step 20; Versatile Research (Rank 7) Step 20/23 with library Access; Versatile Item History (Rank 5) Step 18. **** (Karma spent with Applied versatility)
Moe'uhane: Research - (Rank 5) Step 13(16 with library bonus); Craft Spell Matrix Objects - (Rank 11) Step 23 Standard - 5 days -1000 SP/Enhanced 6 days - 2000 SP; Armored Matrix 7 days - 4000 SP; Design Enchanting Pattern - (Rank 11) Step 23

[Montaugh]

My name is William Carver. I am a 10th circle Scout, 7th Circle Thief, 6th Circle Cavalryman, and 5th ranking Journeyman.
I was contacted by Jael about helping to scout out an area for future development. The area was located between the thunder mountains and the dragon mountains, His Majesty's Exploratory Force were funding this outing and supplied us with an airship to get us there.

It has been a few years since I had last traveled with Jael, Dvarim, Dubhan, Xevious and Moe'uhane. It was good to see my friend again.

The travel to the location was uneventful. The time spend there was not.

We saw a temple on our way in and the airships left us behind. Searching the temple we found a entry into a castle or town of sorts. We found some mounds of bones and writing on walls.
The writing on the walls was as follows
Water drips a steady sound
Falling on this hallowed ground
Pieces of shattered lives surround
The broken bones we have found
Lying in uncounted mounds

We went up some stairs and explored the upper floors of a building. We found a spirit there, that had no name. We did not name the spirit. We will notify some nethermancers about the spirit's plight. It tended to the rooms, not all of the rooms as some of the rooms made them sad. Those rooms contained the bodies of children. We found more writing in those rooms and I am leaving them in this journal. The children here died hard and it angered us to find them in such a state.

Paints still bright on wooden toys
speaks of laughing girls and boys
but here there are no joys
where silence knows no happy noise.

Two small ruined beds
lay two small broken heads
Broken closet stands to tell
story of just how these two fell

Two children of tender age
heard the nearing creature's rage
Doing as their elders bid
in their playroom closet hid
but their lives it did slay
and one was soon tender prey.

I was able to find some tracks. We found two other rooms that we had not noticed.
Writing on the wall. Kitchen of the house.
Broken crockery tells a tale
Of fallen meat bread and ale
Broken shelves let you know
The size and strength of the foe

Dining hall
Empty crushed, trashed
Over laughter they did not hear
The danger that was coming near
As I approached and slew
Away from the table they rose and flew
But faster were my claws

It was at this point that Dvarim wrote his own rhyme in reply to the thing that killed these people..
Listen now you sharp-clawed coward,
Weasel faced and under-powered,
We've come to wash your stink away
So children laugh again some day
I put the his words to music and used one of the talents I had learned as a Journeyman to draw out the emotions of the words and anger the horrors nearby.

Then the horrors tried to attack us. We faced three gloomwings and two dancing children. The battle wasn't one of note as the horrors quickly died. We killed one of the dancing children but Moe'uhane engaged the other in conversation while they danced and released it peacefully.

We then heard something outside of the inn and were engaged in a battle with a large number of Kaer Spiders, a half dozen if not a few more. The battle was brutal and short as most battles tend to be these days.

When we were done we burned the horrors bodies and tended to the bones that we had found before heading back to our homes and turn in our notes. I believe there is another more dangerous horror that the gloomwings were underlings of, I have no proof of this just a feeling.

William Carver

[Xzandrate]

From the writings of Moe'uhane, T'skrang Illusionist, 10th Circle, Boatman 7th Circle, Messenger Rank 6

Jael was looking to settle some roots, and given the experiences he's had with the Wyrmwood he was looking in another direction. In some of our previous adventures, we've been towards the Dragon Mountains and noticed it was surprisingly lacking of civilizations. Jael knew of a forest on the river and felt a draw to it.

Jael gathered a powerful group, including myself, Xeviouz, Dvarim, William, and Dubhan. We arranged transport on an airship to the Dragon Mountains, as we approached our destination, we could see a domed shape poking out from the treeline. We descended from the airship, a mass of steel wings, flying carpets, and animal companions. The floor of the forest was quiet, and we got a better look at the rest of the domed structure we saw from the airship. It was apparently some sort of temple that appeared in some disrepair. Further inspection revealed the door to the temple to be open ever so slightly. We entered cautiously and examined the structure more closely. While the temple had begun to be reclaimed by nature, with vines and trees growing through it, there didn’t seem to be any signs of taint in the astral. The temple appeared to have décor in theme with Floranuus, which we would later confirm.

We ventured deeper, we had seen the signs of other structures beyond the guard of the temple and hoped to investigate. The door leading to the rest of the village appeared to be barred from the inside. We again proceeded with caution and ventured into the grove that housed the town of Keathien. A path lead through the village, splitting at the far side, with one route leading to the river, and another leading to what appeared to be a fortified keep. We made our way to the keep to investigate the fate of this town.

Entering the keep, we were greeted by a rather horrific scene. Amongst the washout from beyond the keep door were piles of bones were scattered across the room, and scrawling scratches upon the walls. Written in blood was the following,
"Water drips a steady sound
Falling on this hallowed ground
Pieces of shattered lives surround
The broken bones we have found
Lying in uncounted mounds"

This led us upstairs, which was a stark contrast to downstairs, very clean and organized and minimal reclamation or damage by the elements. This seemed magical in nature, and our first suspicion was a bound spirit. I dumped a pillow from the bed to the floor, and we detected the arrival of a presence. We made our way down the hall and encountered what appeared to be the spirit of the upper floors, responsible for the cleaning and maintenance of the upper floors. It did not remember the name it had in life, but had some recollection of the happenings of the town. Apparently a creature had attacked the town, and the populace fell back to the keep to defend themselves. It had even breached the upper levels and hunted the children as they hid. The spirit informed us that it could not bring itself to clean those rooms. We examined the uncleaned rooms and found more signs of a massacre, including more bones. These ones scatter where the poor little ones were felled. In each room we found more writings, as we returned downstairs we found more and more.

"Paint stil bright
On wooden toys
Speaks of laughing girls and boys
But here there is no joy
Where silence holds no happy noise"

"By two small ruined beds
Lie two small broken heads
Brokens closet stand to tell
The story of how just these two fell"

"Two children still of tender age
Heard the nearing creatures rage
Doing as their elders bid
In their playroom closet hid
But their lives it did slay
And one was soon tender prey"

"Broken crockery tells a tale
Of fallen meat bread and ale
Broken shelves let you know
The size and strength of the foe."

"Over laughter they did not hear
The danger that was coming near
As I approached and slew
Away from the table they rose and flew
But faster were my claws"

The scene it painted was a hopeless and gruesome experience. Dvarims was struck by the gravity and quickly wiped clear the wall and scrawled a response.

"So proud was this horrid poet,
That was hunted but did not know it.
It reveled in its gruesome deeds,
Feeding its most awful needs.

But now it's time had finally come,
When it was struck blind deaf and dumb.
Brave adepts came to kill it dead.
That's what will finally be said."

William took up a beat and began to spout forth the verse with emotion. I provided lighting backup. We put forth the challenge and a response came. The door to the inn opened, inviting us into the obvious trap.
Inside we were greeted by three Gloomwings and spectral children. Jael and Xeviouz made short work of a pair of Gloomwings, with William and Dubhan cleaning up all but a single spectral child. Dvarims refused to strike the child, so I stepped forwarded and gave my best explanation of why the child should leave and who would be waiting for them. I must have struck a chord, because the child left of her own accord.

As we left the tavern we were greeted by Kaer spiders upon the walls. They scurried and dodged many of our attacks, binding some of us in webbing. The battle was relatively quick, with us walking away the victors a few moments later. We returned to the keep and advised the spirit that we had cleared some of the monsters and that we would return with others and work to reclaim the town. Dvarims advised that he would specifically send his apprentice Rose to assist with the spirit.