AAR: [4] Ironbark Grove (2020-03-29@20:00GMT)

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bronzemountain
Posts:606
Joined:Fri Feb 21, 2020 10:02 pm
AAR: [4] Ironbark Grove (2020-03-29@20:00GMT)

Post by bronzemountain » Wed Mar 25, 2020 6:05 pm

LFG: Ironbark Grove
Time: 2020-03-29@20:00 GMT [16:00 EDT]
GM: bronzemountain/Dvarim
Circle: 4 (Ideally: 4 Adepts, circle 3-4)
Difficulty: Medium

Rumor: Aethryllia Redwing, a Windling Beastmaster, seeks to understand the strange evolution of Ironbark Grove in the Servos Jungle (Hex: 40.14). As she will be busy with ritualistic investigation, she invites Adepts to come and protect her, and help her understand this mystery.

Please post your character as follows:

Code: Select all

[b]Name:[/b] 
[b]ECR:[/b] 
[b]Discipline:[/b]
[b]Quote/Unique:[/b] 
[b]Notable Abilities:[/b]
[b]Downtime:[/b]
This adventure runs at 4pm EDT
Last edited by bronzemountain on Tue Mar 31, 2020 2:58 pm, edited 3 times in total.

nathaniel
Posts:347
Joined:Wed Dec 13, 2017 1:48 am
Location:Dallas Texas

Re: LFG: [4] Ironbark Grove (2020-03-29@20:00GMT)

Post by nathaniel » Wed Mar 25, 2020 6:06 pm

Name: Jael
ECR: 4
Discipline: Beastmaster
Notable Abilities: Pets, Punching and Grapples
Downtime: Animal Training (Rank 4) 14

ChrisDDickey
Posts:1011
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:02 pm

Re: LFG: [4] Ironbark Grove (2020-03-29@20:00GMT)

Post by ChrisDDickey » Wed Mar 25, 2020 6:23 pm

Name: Zil
ECR: 4
Discipline: Elementalist 3rd circle / Windling
Quote/Unique: Travel in style with a party Elementalist! Heat Food! Plant Feast! Purify Water! Shelter! Air Mattress! All the comforts of home upon the road.
Notable Abilities: Physician.
Downtime: Research rank 3, step 10 (step 13 if pay 20 sp for library access).
Item History Rank 3 (step 14 with karma).

Aegharan
Posts:439
Joined:Sat Oct 14, 2017 2:58 pm

Re: LFG: [4] Ironbark Grove (2020-03-29@20:00GMT)

Post by Aegharan » Wed Mar 25, 2020 6:30 pm

Name: Karl Tomsson
ECR: 4
Discipline: Archer
Quote/Unique: Focus and solve problems one after one...
Notable Abilities: Nock, Draw, Focus, Anticipate, and at some point shoot.
Downtime:
Animal Training (rank 2 Step 7)
Forge Weapon (rank 3 Step 10)

Montaugh
Posts:203
Joined:Thu Dec 19, 2019 1:49 pm

Re: LFG: [4] Ironbark Grove (2020-03-29@20:00GMT)

Post by Montaugh » Wed Mar 25, 2020 6:37 pm

Name: William Carver
ECR: 4 (10,605 LP)
Race: Human
Discipline: Scout 3, Thief 3
Quote/Unique: I'll get you there and back again.
Notable Abilities:
Roles: Security, Quartermaster, Pathfinder All talented. Usually is pathfinder.
Talented: Locks/Traps, Stealth/Scouting, Ranged combat, Melee Combat, map making.
Skilled: Alchemy, animal handling, swimming.
Versatile: Forging, Animal Bonding.
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). Multiple weapons people can borrow.
Mounted: Huttawa named Charlie
Downtime: Forge Weapon (2) Step 8

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

Re: LFG: [4] Ironbark Grove (2020-03-29@20:00GMT)

Post by sigfriedmcwild » Wed Mar 25, 2020 6:40 pm

Name: Norg
ECR: 3 (5670LP, Gauntlet 3)
Discipline: Gauntlet
Quote/Unique: Power is nothing without control
Notable Abilities: PUNCH!, some wilderness survival
Downtime: none

ottdmk
Posts:462
Joined:Mon Dec 12, 2016 10:25 pm

Re: LFG: [4] Ironbark Grove (2020-03-29@20:00GMT)

Post by ottdmk » Sun Mar 29, 2020 6:13 am

Name: Dubhan Goronich
ECR: 4 (10,240 LP)
Discipline: Wizard (4th Circle)
Quote/Unique: "Really? That happened? Wow, hope I get to see something like that!"
Notable Abilities: Spells! Alchemy, Medicine
Downtime: Research (Step 20 + Library Access if needed)

*Signing up in case some folks can't make it.

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

AAR: [4] Ironbark Grove (2020-03-29@20:00GMT)

Post by bronzemountain » Sun Mar 29, 2020 11:18 pm

Ironbark Grove
Time: 2020-03-29@20:00 GMT [16:00 EDT]
GM: Dvarim Bolg / bronzemountain
Circle: 4
Difficulty: Medium

Hexes:
40.14 (Ironbark Grove)

Player Rewards:
Jael: 2200lp, 375sp, 3 TIPs
Karl: 2200lp, 375sp, 3 TIPs, Thread Crystalweave
Norg: 2200lp, 375sp, 3 TIPs
Zil: 2200lp, 375sp, 3 TIPs

GM Reward:
Dvarim Bolg: 2200lp, 375sp, 3 TIPs

Downtime Actions Available:
Zil: Item History 3/14, Research 3/10 (13 if you spend 20sp for library access)
Jael: Animal Training 4/14
Karl: Forge Weapon 3/10, Animal Training 2/7

Further Information:
The party dealt with iron-corrupted Ogres, and wood-infused spiders, while protecting Aethryllia on her investigative mission. With Zil acting as interpreter, the party discovered that there were two elementals - one wood, one metal - locked in combat. Natural erosion had exposed the protective iron dome of an underground kaer. The wood reacted by driving roots into the iron - which only further poisoned the grove. Meanwhile, the metal spirit was desperate to protect itself and the kaer beneath it. The party employed diplomacy to broker a one month cease-fire between the spirits predicated on them investigating the Kaer within that time, and moving its residents out.

Follow-Up Rumor: Ironbark Grove (4+)

Aegharan
Posts:439
Joined:Sat Oct 14, 2017 2:58 pm

Re: LFG: [4] Ironbark Grove (2020-03-29@20:00GMT)

Post by Aegharan » Mon Mar 30, 2020 1:09 pm

Aethryllia Redwing, Windling Beastmaster hired us to the investigate Ironbark Grove. The group consists of Jael the Elven Beastmaster, Norg the Troll Gauntlet, Zil the Windling Elementalist, and me. Aethryllia is very interested in what exactly infused the animals with iron, and how to possibly either absolve the animals from this magic influx, or maybe how to utilize this.

The journey to Edge of Servos is uneventful Trip to the grove, barring some strange chemistry between Aethryllia and Zil, and us spending a lot of time with the different animals.

On the grove, we search around for unnatural appearances. Aethryllia and Jael go around examining the different animals, which are all iron-infused. She tells us that she'll head out to the north-west and return in an hour. We spend the time looking around and setting up camp.
Zil searches for Elementals and manages to find and understand a Wood Elemental that keeps telling something that it shouldn't be here. After that he found the voice of an Earth Elemental that's crying for help. While he spends some time listening to the panicked cries and tries to triangulate the source, a couple Ogres come out of the jungle.
Two big, ugly Ogre women and one even bigger, iron-infused Ogre. We try to shoo them away, when I raise my bow, just in case. Unfortunately they notice this and take this as an act of aggression, raise their clubs and also attack us. I try to use my pacifying shot and get an excellent hit, which has little effect besides a small tumble and the Ogre shaking his head. Zil got knocked down really hard, but fortunately was able to get up and flew over the pond. We all attacked them and, especially Jael's pets Fang and Hedbut proved worthwile. I redeemed my first weak shot when I felled the big Ogre with an extraordinary shot through its eye. One tried to flee, but was also knocked unconscious. We decide to not kill them, but leave them in their habitat.
When the Ogres were unconscious, their clubs changed from a stone/iron-look to pure wood, but with a white goo on them. Jael and I determined it looked like the insides of a sizeable insects.

Aethrylla didn't return within the alloted hour, so we quickly pack up our stuff and follow into the direction she left. We come to a clearing that is clustered in very fine spider webs, where Hedbut and Zil's Riding Goat promptly get stuck in some cobwebs. There we also spot Aethryllia. Jael quickly cuts her free, which sends vibrations through the complicated spidernet and up into the tree crowns. Looking up we spot four giant spiders are descending upon us.
One of the smaller spiders - when I say 'smaller' I'm talking about a spider with a 4 feet wide body - spits something at Fang. Jael runs up the tree, jumps about a dozen yards up and rips apart one of the spiders, which promptly falls down. It later gets up the tree and shoots some poison at Norg, after which I kill it. The fight with several people and animals affected by poison, especially Jael slowly becoming paralyzed. What was mostly unsettling is straight after we knocked down one of the biggest spiders, thinking we killed id, the plants in its Shell started moving and it suddenly jumped up again. We knocked it over a second time, when again the plants start moving. I step over it and end its misery of endless pain and being reanimated by some weird magic plants. We overcome the spiders and take care of our group and Aethryllia. Right beside Aethryllia we find a Cocooned corpse wearing an entirely unscathed piece of beautifully fashioned suit of Crystalweave Armor. As the rest of the group favours heavy armor and Jael is paralyzed, I take the Armor. I'm sure Jael will soon find another nice set of armor.
After a quarter of an hour Jael and Aethryllia both come to again and start moving.
Zil reports that there are two Elemental Spirits beneath us, the Earth Elemental asking for assistance again.

There is a giant tree on the opening with a huge mound that leads down underground. There are Ants going in and out of the opening, with the leaf cutters carrying out splinters of gleaming substance, seemingly the same as we saw in the pond.

After some patching up of wounds and resting we are not yet fully rested, but head down anyway, following the Elemental Spirit's cry for help. A spiraling path leads us down underground, where we are greeted by a great Hall with a very vibrant athmosphere, everything seemingly living and gleaming of energy. The tree's roots reach all the way down into this cavern and entering into an Iron Spike that is protruding from the ground belo.
In the center of a hall on an elevated stone is the Earth Elemental, appearing in a kind of Metal Form, emerging from this spike of iron, fixated by a huge wooden Spear. The Wood Spear is held in place by a Wood Spirit, appearing in a living tree form. There are also half a dozen beetles, around four feet long, chewing on the iron. Zil gets a quick grasp of the situation and speaks in some Elemental Tongue. He later tells us that the Earth Elemental is protecting the iron and is bound to a Kaer that lies beneath it. The Wood Elemental fears for his live sustenance being hurt by the Iron and tries to stop it.
After some back and forth talking between Zil and the Elementals, they reach a compromise that contains the Wood Elemental leaving the Earth Elemental some room to move freely, and for us to clear the Kaer of inhabitants so the Earth Elemental can move to another place, and no longer threatens the Wood Elemental, all within one month. Zil enters this truce.
We do some runaround and find the Kaer's location, with the Earth Elemental not understanding our concept of moving, but are not able to notify the inhabitants of our presence. As we have an entire month to solve the Earth & Wood Elemental situation and many of us, as well as Aethryllia are severely worn down, we had back to Throal to return on another day.

On our way back, I talk to Aethryllia and Jael, who both like how I am treating their animals. They agree to take me under their wings and train me in becoming a Beastmaster. I look forward to expanding my capabilities, get a new animal companion, and strengthen him so he shall not perish as Rusty did.

ChrisDDickey
Posts:1011
Joined:Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:02 pm

Re: LFG: [4] Ironbark Grove (2020-03-29@20:00GMT)

Post by ChrisDDickey » Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:25 pm

From the journal of Zil, Windling Elementalist of the 4th circle. 
A while ago some people discovered a strange grove in the Servos jungle (Hex 40,14) where much of the plants and wildlife is strangely metal infused. they have called it Ironbark Grove. Aethryllia Redwing, a Windling Beastmaster, seeks to understand the strange evolution of the grove. She hired Jael, Norg, Karl Thompson, and myself to escort and protect her while she does her investigations. The trip out went smoothly. Redwing is a vivacious lady and a charming conversationalist. She gave me lessons in riding her zoak. 

When we arrived at the Grove, we saw much wildlife weirdly affected: squirrels with metal teeth, and deer with metallic antlers, trees with iron bark, Etc Deep within the water of a pool we could see the glint of what appeared to be an exposed vein of metal. I found a quiet place to listen to the world, and gradually became aware of Elemental voices. Two of them. I listened and discovered that one was speaking the tongue of Elemental Wood, railing against an interloper. The other was screaming in the tongue of Elemental Earth that it needed help!. 

I was moving around trying to determine which movements made the different voices louder or more faint, when three Ogres came along, apparently with the goal of filling up their empty gourds with water. There was an awkward pause, and then they attacked. I was the closest and got smashed to the ground by a huge club which left me dazed and unable to think of very much useful to do. The others knocked all three unconscious within seconds. We decided that as soon as Miss Redwing returned from a quick gathering expedition she had embarked upon, that we would simply move our camp and let the Ogres recover and leave if they were so inclined. While we waited for Aethryllia to return, I performed a Fire heal ritual in our campfire. 

By the time I completed the Fire Heal, Aethryllia was overdue, so we went out looking for her. We spotted her, her zoak, and her blood ravin struggling with something unseen. As we hurried towards them, all of us except our two riding goats at the last second detected some almost invisible webs in front of us. The goats were trapped, just likeAethryllia and her animals, in the webs. We were attacked by 4 very large spiders of various species(the smallest had legs 4 feet across) . I think the beastmasters referred to one as a Leafy Weaver Spider, and another as a Giant Weaver spider. Anyway, aside from their sticky webs, they also spit poison, and have nasty bites. It was a tough battle, with several of our fighters suffering from debilitating poisons.. I did little in the battle, mostly trying and failing to sooth the venom affecting Jael, who killed the last spider just before succumbing to it's paralytic poison. One had run away, so the area has not been made safe.

While waiting for the poison to wear off, we looked around the area some more. There was a huge tree with an opening into/under it big enough for even an Obsidiman to climb down. There were unending lines of largish ants (about 3 inches long) carrying flecks of metal away from the tree. The voices of the two spirits I had heard earlier were very loud here. The wood one was still bemoaning an interloper, the metallic one begging for help against an attacker. After resting for a few hours, we discussed whether we wanted to go into the tree immediately, or wait for morning. We decided to go in immediately. We descended pretty far, and came to a ledge above a deep chasm. 

Before us we saw two manifested spirits. One was a metallic Earth spirit, partially emerged from a spike of iron, the other was a wood spirit. The wood spirit was holding a spear of wood that had been thrust through the Earth spirit. Also present were some very large insects (several feet long) that were gnawing on the metal, trying to wear it away. I used Elemental Tongues to speak with the spirits, and a confusing situation became clearer. 

It looked as if an underground river was causing erosion, which had exposed part of what we had been mistaking to be a vein of pure iron, but we quickly learned that it was not a vein of naturally pure metal, but rather part of a construction that had been erected within the ground - a hidden Kaer! The Earth spirit was bound to the kaer's defense. The water had exposed it, and the plants, sensing something that should not be there, were attempting to eat it, which in turn was poisoning them. Rather than just not eating the metal, the plant based ecosystem seems to have made up what passes for it's collective mind to try eating all the metal really, really fast. for some reason the regions insect population also decided to cooperate. As a physician, I can state that this is not a good response to finding a poison in your diet, but what can you expect from Wood? I would have at least expected the insects to be smarter than that though. 

So anyway, I suggested that we open up the Kaer and get the people out. Then the Earth spirit could depart. Then maybe hopefully the regions wood spirits could be persuaded to just decide to stop eating the metal. We might have to get some Questors of Jaspree and/or Purifiers in to talk sense to the Wood spirits, though obviously I am willing to give it a try. Maybe we could get some workers in to start dismantling the Kear from the inside (it seems to have been constructed with what must be a fortune of True Earth metals). Anyway, everybody agreed to a temporary truce, though the Wood Elemental demanded that I personally would owe him a great favor for the truce. I agreed and the Earth Elemental was let free. He lead us back to the surface, and then down into a well hidden cave where the entrance to the Kaer is. We had hoped to open it immediately, but looking at the door we recognized that to open from the outside it required specific ritual supplies that we did not have with us. 

So we returned to Throal to obtain the specific ritual supplies that will allow us to open the door. While in Throal I also intend to inquire of Questors of Jaspree, Purifiers, and more senior Elementalists as to how to convince all the regions Wood Elementals, to convince all the plants in the area, and all the insects and other wildlike in the area, to stop eating True Earth metals. I mean the Wood Spirits at least seem to recognize that it is poisonous. But it seems as if everything is unwilling to stop eating it. The Wood Elementals seem to want to eat it as fast as they possibly can. 

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