AAR: It Belongs in a Library

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Dougansf
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AAR: It Belongs in a Library

Post by Dougansf » Tue Dec 19, 2017 3:54 am

Rewards:
Gronk Longtusk: 4000 Legend, Divining Rod, Upandal's Blessings, 625 Silver, Thread Shield (spend 16 TI)
Ceadda: 4000LP, 800 Silver
Varis: 4000 LP, 662.5 Silver, Dwarf Winternight Cloak, 3 Thread Item Points
August Rey, 4000 LP, 800 SP, Novice Thread Item (Lance) (spend 16 TI). 3 Thread Item points.

Downtime Available:
Animal Training (lasts 4 months)
Item History Step 14 (Rank 3)
Research Step 12 (Rank 2) (Requires 20 Silver for Library)

Dwarven Mark - Varis, August (and Nightstalker), Ceadda

Discovered: Dwarven Runic Circle - Elementalist magic (48:09); "Center" stone (43:10)
Last edited by Dougansf on Tue Dec 19, 2017 3:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Dougansf
Posts:465
Joined:Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:14 am

Re: AAR It Belongs in a Library

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

From the Travel Journal of Varis

The Library has heard about some runic circles that contain Dwarven recipes. We get a copy of Aegarhan and Rilya's reports about the Windling Circle. Not knowing what language we might run into, we hire a scribe from the library, Nurfec Greathood who can read all 8 racial languages. Gronk is kind enough to buy horses and ponies to make the long journey faster.

Day 1
Having heard a rumor from the Barushwine Farm (43:10), I encourage the group to head there first. The strange octagonal stone in the ground is about 4 yards across, one flat side in each cardinal direction (North heading right towards Throal). The stone can't be scratched or damaged. I confirmed it had a True Pattern, and emanates some kind of magic, but did not take the time to use Item History upon it. I did sense some Elementalist Magic on the Northeast and Northwest corners.

Day 2
We head up the mountains towards the Iceclaw Moot. I think Gronk can do this trip in his sleep now. Probably why he wanted the horses.

Day 4
Arrive at the Iceclaw Moot. Everything seems peaceful enough, which is a nice change. Their scouts reported finding a similar stone, with standing stones around it in the valley across the river. But the scouts saw a Greater Rockworm coming their way and refused to get any closer. We'll have to check this out in the future (45:06).

Day 5
We take the horses down the elevator, but don't cross the river. We head Southwest along the foothills of the Throal Mountains. From the North, we hear a great rumbling coming towards us. We assume it's the Rockworm attracted by the hoofbeats of the horses. We start to run for it. Ceadda nearly falls off his horse as we charge up some foothills. Gronk Navigates us a good path to flee. August spooks off a pack of wolves that are in our way. I spotted a path uphill, which turned out to be a shortcut away from the charging Rockworm. The Rockworms rumbling caused an avalanche to come down on us, but I spotted some shelter for us to survive the avalanche. We all stand our ground well enough, and once it's over we start pushing our way through the snow. I start casting Resist Water on everyone.

Day 6
Gronk turns us South to head up the mountain were we expect to find the destination. As we head up, there are 4 Ice Fliers that come at us. The leader challenges August. Gronk nocks one out of the sky. I use Lightning Bolt on all of the Ice Flyers. August wins the challenge causing the flock to retreat.

We reach a plateau, which is free of snow. In fact, it's a lush green area, with a small pond and stream, right next to some standing stones and an circular stone. We move in carefully, preventing Nurfec from rushing in. I inspect the stone and find dwarven writing on the outer and inner circle, with some elemental magic script in the middle.

Outer Ring: We live in harmony of all the races, all together as one. Stand to the right of the entrance of the sunset mountain. After passing the test of the races, proceed to the heart and unlock the key to our home.

Inner Circle: Recipes for 10 dishes
Dried Vegetables & Quail
Stuffed Peppermint Lamb
Pressure-Cooked Cinnamon Tuna
Shallow-Fried Carrot & Violet Clams
Barbecued Pepper & Lime Forest Mushrooms
Engine-Cooked Southern Style Bread
Grape and Raspberry Sundae
Elderberry and Peach Snacks
Mandarin Bonbons
Milk Chocolate Pound Cake

Magic Writing: Elementalism Spell of some sort, weaving and casting 5th Circle spell, activates some magic related to the platform. Possibly a form of a Elemental Wizard Mark, but there is a good spot and bad spots.

Looking at the standing stones, there are crystals on the top of the arch. At noon, one of them is glowing. From the riddle, we decide to wait for sunset to see which one is glowing.

We scrounge up some ingredients to try one of the recipes, and find enough for Elderberry and Peach Snacks. Just then, a shrouded figure appears from nowhere. Some of us recognize him, but he identifies himself as Piebach. He sits down and offers more ingredients to try some cooking. He and I exchange flasks, his wine is excellent. I don't manage to put together the recipe, but I don't mind too much.

At sunset, the standing stones to the South starts to glow. I start attuning to the spell, which proves elusive. Once I get the spell, weaving the threads is no problem. Gronk decides he doesn't want the Mark of this strange magic, but everyone else stands with me next to the stone. We each receive a mark on our bodies, which fades after a time. We can make it glow again by focusing on it.

Piebach excuses himself, and jumps through the fire to disappear. Moments later, Gronk spots 2 Ice Fliers and 2 Espagaras flying towards us. One Espagra dives on Ceadda, the other on Varis. An Ice Flier challenges Ceadda while he’s on his back. Varis casts Earth Spear on the two Ice Fliers, bringing one out of the sky. Gronk shoots an Espagara in the back, and then August charges it killing it. The other Espagra charges August and his mount, to little effect. Varis puts a Wood Spear into the Challenging Ice Flier, and Gronk shoots it dead. This causes the other Ice Flier to flee. Ceadda is finally free to act. August charges through the circle to spear the Espagara. The Espagara tries to hide behind the trees, but Gronk shoots it dead.

We return to Throal via the Iceclaw Moot. There is no sign of the Rockworm as we pass by this time.

Given the information from the Windling Circle, this Dwarf Circle, the Central Octagon, and the sighting in the Rockworm territory, I believe we can start to assemble a rough idea of where the other circles can be found. The Central Octagon seems to indicate which Magic is needed at which Circle. I'm already planning another expedition to where I expect the next Elemental circle to be around (38:08).

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BattleChad
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Re: AAR: It Belongs in a Library

Post by BattleChad » Tue Dec 19, 2017 11:23 pm

The Great Library of Throal thanks Varis for his contribution.

Journal Rewards: 200 Legend Points and 200 Silver

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etherial
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Re: AAR: It Belongs in a Library

Post by etherial » Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:44 am

From the journal of Gronk Longtusk

Earthtime, 1421 T.H.
I am free of my obligation to the Throalic Government. These journal entries have profited me well, though, so I guess I'll continue.

1 Sollus
The Great Library of Throal has identified a possible location in the Throal Mountains for a megalith containing a collection of ancient pre-Scourge recipes. They've offered to trade some of their cached rarities in exchange for the recipes. Seems pretty chumpy to me, but I'm not a Great Library, so I signed up for the job with some of the regulars. We had suspicions the recipes might not be in Throalic, so we hired a Scribe to translate.

We started by going South, to visit what seems to be the epicenter of the phenomenon. It was an unadorned rock. Varis seemed to think t was special.

Even in midsummer, hiking through the heart of the Throal Mountains seemed unduly dangerous, so we cut through the mountains the short way across to the Iceclaw Moot and then followed the Serpent River east. This being the longest single journey we've attempted outside of Throal, I splurged on some horses to make the going a little faster.

3 Sollus
Traveling by horse is great. We've arrived at the Iceclaws in half the time. They warned us that their scouting parties into Marrek have been chased away by some sort of burrowing horror. How convenient that we were headed into Marrek...

4 Sollus
Traveling East along the river, we heard the telltale rumbling of the horror. Spurring our horses on, we hurriedly rode over the rocks and through the trees and up the hills. Then the avalance started and we mostly succeeded in keeping our mounts on their feet.

6 Sollus
Climbing up into the mountains, a troupe of Ice Flyers spotted us. Their leader hooted at August, who hooted back. Their attack quickly fell into a rout, too quick even for us to kill the others.

At the standing stones, we had a confusing-as-usual conversation with Piabach. Our Scribe was able to transcribe the recipes after several of our number Marked themselves with the runes of the place, and then we were set upon by more Ice Flyers and even some Espagra. I found enough forage that we were able to try out one of the recipes. It was okay.

12 Sollus
In exchange for the recipes, they gave us cash, luxury goods, and I scored a sweet magic shield. The Dwarves have some pretty messed up priorities.

Other PCs:
August Rey, male Dwarf Cavalryman
Ceadda, male Human Warrior
Varis, male Dwarf Elementalist

NPCs:
Nurfec Greathood, male Dwarf Scribe
Piabach, mischievous entity

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BattleChad
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Re: AAR: It Belongs in a Library

Post by BattleChad » Thu Dec 21, 2017 1:16 am

The Great Library of Throal thanks Gronk for his contribution.

Journal Rewards: 200 Legend Points and 200 Silver

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