AAR: Kudzu Complications

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etherial
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AAR: Kudzu Complications

Post by etherial » Fri Dec 15, 2017 4:40 am

Mission: Kudzu Complications
GM: etherial
Date: 2017-12-15
Difficulty and circle rating: Circle 2 Medium

Player Rewards:
Celemir: 800 LP, 205 Silver, Hide Armor (Boar Hide)
Grom: 800 Legend, 230 Silver, 5 Boar Tusks
Maxim, 800LP, Boar Tusk chair (for my "home"), Boar Tusk cup, 230sp
Rilya: 800 LP, Boars tusks for weapon uses, Hide Armor (Boar Hide), 211.2 Silver
Romari: 800 Legend, 230 Silver 1 Bloody Boar tusk

Downtime Actions Available:
Celemir: Craft Weapon Step 9 (Rank 2) (Anything Damage 4 or below)
Maxim: Animal Training 7 (Rank 1)
Rilya: Alchemy: 7 (Known: Booster Potion)
Rilya: Animal Training: 8 (Rank 1)
Rilya: Craftsman: 17 (For mundane items)
Rilya: Forge Weapon: 14 (Rank 3)
Rilya: Item History: 13 (Rank 2)
Romari: Alchemy 10 (Booster Potion)
Romari: Map Making 8
Romari: Research 11 (7)

Further Information:
A deranged Questor of Jaspree has been captured and taken to Throal.

Dougansf
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Re: AAR: Kudzu Complications

Post by Dougansf » Fri Dec 15, 2017 7:22 pm

Celemir's Chronicles

Traders to Sosonopa have been getting lost, due to a sudden amount of plant growth on the trail.

Rilya, Maxim, Grom (Orc Sky Raider), and Romari (Elf Wizard), join me along the trail.

It's easy to know when we get there, because there's now a jungle where there should be mostly open plains. This wasn't here a month ago when we traveled to the Blood Wood. The plants are already thick enough to be considered a jungle. They cut and burn like normal living plants. Maxim flies up and notices that the plants form a large rough sphere, centered around the road.

We head in, and Maxim scouts ahead. We see a mixture of animals. Most are native to what the area was before, adapting to the new plant life. Others are jungle natives that must have moved here recently. This includes a number of apes that Maxim spots ahead. We decide to avoid them and try going around their territory. We find a decent camp for the night, and break into watches.

On the second watch, Grom and I are awake, hearing the conflicting noises of the woods. Grom hears something approaching, and wakes up the camp. Seconds later, there's a group of boar charging into the camp. Their initial charge does a lot of damage to the waking group. Grom stands his ground and holds off three at once. Romari gets knocked down, which is when we notice their odd behavior. Instead of finishing him off, the boar simply glowers at him, daring him to stand back up. I make the best use of the woods and blend in, using my Surprise Strike on them as often as possible, and keeping on the move. This tactic allowed me to kill one on Grom, and peel another one off. Rilya is badly hurt, but manages to kill one. Maxim eventually stops watching the boars, and encourages the boar to leave Romari alone. Romari wasted no time to apply his Mind Daggers to the situation.

We spent a fitful few hours till dawn trying to mend our injuries. Rilya was still pretty bad the next day, but we didn't want to risk staying in one place too long.

We head for the center of the jungle. Maxim tries to fly up again, but finds that a jungle canopy has filled in overnight.

When we get close, we are approached by a T'skrang woman in rags. She Names herself X'Arol, a Questor of Jaspree. She is offended by the encroaching civilization, after we abandoned Jaspree to the Scourge. I told her that I too follow Jaspree, and tried to talk some sense into her, that we did take Her with us underground, and wish to live in harmony with Her. Help Her recover from the Scourge. X'Arol claimed she would let me live as a fellow follower, but ordered some living trees to attack us.

I only had moments to decide, but it felt like much longer. I could see her point, that Jaspree needs us to help her recover. That the spread of Throalic roads and villages could do more harm than good. But Namegivers are a part of what Jaspree wants to preserve and flourish. Killing is not Her way. I put an arrow into X'Arol's shoulder before the first tree struck. X'Arol declared me a traitor, and tried to claw at my chest. We focused on X'Arol, hoping that bringing her down would end the attack. Instead, the Thorn Men went wild and attacked ferociously. Already injured, Rilya fell again. Maxim came back from his scouting in time to lend his polearm to the fight. Romari used his Mind Daggers to great effect, leaving openings for us to exploit. I worked my way clear of the group, and started shooting the trees in the back. Grom's poleaxe cut them to splinters.

We find that X'Arol is still alive, and debate if we should finish her off. Maxim confirms that the magic keeping the jungle there are already fading. We decide to tie up X'Arol and bring her to Throal for justice. We stop at the Rockpile Homestead to give Rilya time to recover fully, before braving the road home.

I need to learn more about the damage done to the wild during the Scourge. Visit more places and see what can be done to help Jaspree heal the land. We have already lost three Passions. I would hate to see Jaspree become a fourth.

nathaniel
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Location:Dallas Texas

Re: AAR: Kudzu Complications

Post by nathaniel » Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:37 pm

From the journal of Romari Savre, Wizard of the 2nd circle

I thought completing my training in Wizardry was hard.

My first days out of Throal kaer were a wonder of sights and sounds. The stories and images in the kaer were a pale comparison, the sky was so blue. I was mesmerized by it for so long when I heard a trader complaining about his having to travel overland as the roads were covered in some sort of vines, kudzu.

I met up with adventurers who were willing to overlook my “fresh out of the kaer” look to investigate these mysterious vines. I was accompanied by Rilya (Windling Weapon smith), Maxim (Windling Thief) , Grom (Orc Sky Raider) and Celemir (Elf Woodsman)
It took us a few days of travel to get to the point where the road was consumed by a jungle. We headed in with Maxim scouting ahead. We came across a gorilla family, apparently recently moved here. I would have liked to spend time to observe them but apparently they can be violent and dangerous. So we skirted around them and made our way deeper into this new jungle, eventually making camp for the evening.

I knew I was a bit wide eyed at the beginning but getting stabbed in the gut kind of puts things in perspective. I woke up to shouts as a pack of boars charged their way into our camp. I tried to get away from where they appeared to be going but the boars had other ideas. Dam thing gored me in the gut! It took me a few moments to get my wherewithal together when I realized I wasn’t dead and the dam boar was hovering over me but not attacking. I tried to talk to it, blood loss clearly causing a momentary loss of critical reasoning. Maxim eventually got the beasts attention and I was able to stand and cast without worrying about it returning to finish me off. A few weapon swings Mind daggers and arrows later and we had fresh bacon. While it cooked I had time to bandage my first wound.

The next day we made our way to the heart of this new jungle, which Maxim noted was growing at a prodigious rate. As we approached the center a Tskrang woman accosted us with harsh words about Namegivers abandoning nature and Jaspree to the Scourge. Her name is X’Arol, a Questor of Jaspree and she was clearly lacking in sanity. Celemir tried to talk to her, but you can’t reason with crazy. Eventually she sicked her Thorn Men on us and battle began.

Our first tactic, rendering X’Arol unconscious or dead, might remove the threat of the Thorn Man but sadly all it did was make them madder. Rilya was knocked out by the next anger enhanced blow from the Thorn Men and when I tried to shake her awake her she would not waken. Grom was also hit by the Thorn Men, however the Mage Armor I had cast on Grom before the battle caused many blows he took to glance off the spells armored glow.

Between those of us that stood we were able to destroy the Thorn Men. With my wound from the boars my Mind Dagger spell wasn’t hurting them that badly, but it did cause openings for my companions to exploit. Maxim with his polearm, Grom and his poleaxe and Celemir with his bow all dealt obviously more damaging blows. I even got to watch Grom cleave on of the Thorn Men in half!

With the thorn men dead we were able to assess the situation. X’Arol was still alive and the pattern of the magic that grew this jungle out of nothing was unraveling. . Rilya was unconscious as well but we stopped at the Rockpile Homestead to recover fully before heading back to home.

We returned to Throal with crazy X’Arol bound as our prisoner, the jungle she tried to make now gone and the road is once again open for the traders to use.

Arikail
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Re: AAR: Kudzu Complications

Post by Arikail » Sun Dec 17, 2017 3:43 am

Kudzu Complications, A journal entry by Rilya, Windling Weaponsmith

A rumor reached my ears about some unusual growth along the path to Sosanopa not long ago. One I traveled (and mapped) a scant few weeks ago. Apparently the woods and such along that path were filled with impenetrable undergrowth, causing the traders going that way to have to go a long way out of their way to reach Sosanopa, and causing general disruption of the trade routes. Asking around, I found some adepts who were planning on investigating and seeing what was causing this issue, and perhaps clearing the path. Celemir the Elven Woodsman, Grom (an Ork (the first I've traveled with!!) Skyraider, Maxim (a fellow Windling, and a Thief), and Romari (an Elven Wizard). After our preparations were complete, we set out to find out what was wrong.

We decided to stop by and rest at a small establishment run by Freya Rockpile, a Dwarven Weaponsmith, and sister to Xena Rockpile, the alchemist. She's almost got a full blown inn started up out that way that is a good way stop for those heading to Sosanopa. It was a pleasure to meet her and exchange some ideas with a fellow Weaponsmith. Upon setting out on the path, it didn't take us long to encounter the undergrowth that had given the traders problems. It was very thick, but looked natural (not magical). Upon investigation, it burned like normal undergrowth, and Maxim discovered there were animals living inside it. It didn't look native to the area, though.

We decided to follow it to the north, with Maxim taking point as a scout. Ixran found some fairly vibrant blue flowers he liked. They smelled quite sweet, and were easily woven together to form his wreath (it also seems that afterwards, they were fairly resilient, and this wreath lasted much longer than most that I've given him). After some hours of travel (where we hoped we were following the right path that he had), he popped back into view (quite startling, that, to see someone suddenly appear in front of you when they weren't there just a moment before) and said he had seen some apes along our route. Big ones, that did have a silverback leader with them. Thanks to Celemir's woodsmanship, we were able to skirt past them and not attract their attention. We finished traveling and set up camp for the night.

During the night, on my watch with Grom and Celemir, a small group of wild boars charged into camp. They were very aggressive, moreso than normal, not fleeing when they took wounds, like normal animals would. That was not the only strange behavior, though. One of them knocked Romari to the ground almost immediately in a bloody (wizard's blood, mostly) charge, and then sort of stood guard over the wizard, glaring, but not attacking, not finishing him off. Most unusual. During the combat, I landed a few solid blows, dealing the final blow to two of them. I believe whatever is affecting them also was affecting their instincts, but it is hard to say. They should not be in this part of the forest though (I say forest, but here in the undergrowth, it is much more jungly, reminding me of the Servos to the southwest). Much like the apes, this was not their natural environment. Something was bringing them here from the jungle, I'm sure of it.

After the battle, I carved off some hides, tusks, and a couple of long bones from one of the ones I killed, to bring back with us for working on later. Discussing our options, we decided it best to make directly for the center of the effect. Maxim ascertained that it formed a sort of oval shape along the path leading to Sosanopa. We continued along, avoiding further confrontations with animals due to a combination of Maxim's scouting and Celemir's woodsmanship. As we arrived, we were accosted by a T'skrang, proclaiming "I am X'arol, and I speak for Jaspree!!". She ranted about the Namegivers fleeing underground and leaving the world above to fend for itself, and how we should return to our caves and leave the wildlands alone. After declaring her intent to end our destruction of nature and the trees, Grom hit her with his axe. I think we could have talked to her, but she did seem a bit gone. As battle was joined, some of the very trees themselves animated and began to attack. I don't know much about the battle, I flew at one of the trees, striking a (maybe not so) mighty blow, and it turned and smacked me to the ground. The thing I remember after that was waking up, much much later, with a very sore head, and an excited cry from Maxim about her being awake. The trees, I gather, were quite enraged after X'arol was knocked unconscious. And after her fall, I gather the ritual she had performed was broken, causing the land to begin returning to normal. Seems her presence and capabilities is what was causing the massive undergrowth.

We did return her to Throal, to face judgement by the appropriate Questors of the Passions. She is quite knowledgeable about the surrounding area, after talking to her while she waits on her judgement.

All in all, the woods will be back to normal soon, I think.

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BattleChad
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Re: AAR: Kudzu Complications

Post by BattleChad » Mon Dec 18, 2017 5:42 pm

The Great Library of Throal thanks Celemir, Romari, and Rilya for their contributions.

Journal Rewards: 40 Legend Points and 57 Silver

Jexel
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Re: AAR: Kudzu Complications

Post by Jexel » Tue Dec 19, 2017 3:28 pm

Journal of Grom Skycleaver

We consisted of a party of two Elfs, Celemir & Romari, and two Windlings, Maxim & Rilya. I believe I must of angered Thystonius to deserve such a group.

Some traders concerned with nature and plants growing crazy.

In the middle of the plains towards the town Sosonopa there was a lush jungle growing. When we first encountered we didn't know what to do. I made sure it burned like normal plants with my torch. We sent the flying tweedle dee up to scout the area. We agreed to explore deeper into the growth. We stayed off the road to avoid tricks.

Dee or Dumb flew ahead and made themselves useful by discovering the large Apes. We simply walked around them. That night why I was on watch I hear large beasts charging at us. I shout to wake my companions. Boars large enough to ride came charging into the camp. On the initial charge one of them drove their tusks deep into my stomach. With shouting and hacking of my axe I was able to hold off many of the boars as others got ready to assist. The Elf woodsman was effective with his bow and at the end even the Windlings were useful in battle. The wizard was pinned down by a large boar for most of the fight.

The next day a crazy T'skrang woman in rags approaches us and talks of Jaspree and how we are destroying the land. Almost seemed like she was outside during the Scourge. I try to explain to stupid woman that Jaspree loves conflict and struggle and blesses all animals with that purpose. She controlled walking plants that attacked us. She doesn't listen so I take axe and give her a lesson, In the face.

Weak T'skrang drops quickly but the wood men last a bit longer. Once we defeat everyone we sense that the unnatural growth is receding.

Need ship so I can fly like Dee and Dumb.

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BattleChad
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Re: AAR: Kudzu Complications

Post by BattleChad » Tue Dec 19, 2017 11:20 pm

The Great Library of Throal thanks Grom for his contributions.

Journal Rewards: 40 Legend Points and 57 Silver

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