AAR: First Contact

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etherial
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AAR: First Contact

Post by etherial » Mon Dec 11, 2017 12:18 am

Mission: First Contact
GM: etherial
Date: 2017-12-10
Difficulty and circle rating: Circle 4 Medium

Player Rewards:
Aegharan: 2200 Legend, 550 Silver + Crystal Necklace (14 Thread Points)
Ceadda: 2200 Legend. 550 Silver, Thread Spear (16 Thread Points)
Irwin: 2200 Legend, 550 Silver
Varis: 2200 Legend, 550 Silver

Downtime Actions Available:
Aegharan: Alchemy (Step 7, Rank 3)
Irwin: Item History: Step 15 (Rank 4)
Irwin: Research: Step 15 (Rank 5) (requires 20 silver for Library)
Varis: Item History: Step 14 (Rank 3)
Varis: Research: Step 12 (Rank 2) (requires 20 silver for Library)

Further Information:
Players may now play members of the Cathan People of the Servos Jungle.

Jason
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Re: AAR: First Contact

Post by Jason » Mon Dec 11, 2017 2:15 am

Jerta Accalon, 'famed' Dwarven Anthropologist was looking for some guards for a field mission. Namegivers were spotted by Xena Rockpile while doing exporation for alchemical components.

Days 1-6 Travel - nothing noteworthy
Day 7 Arrive at Alchemy Island.
Xean describes the name givers... with very little detail. Could be anything from Elves to dwarves from the description (supprized Orc didn't show up in there also). Variety of weapons. Some things have gone missing, mostly food and samples.

We headed west toward the river, staying away from crocodile distance.

I spott some large spiderwebs and light up Ceadda's spears and ask him to burn down the webs. I figured the spidders were going to come after us, might as well make it on our terms. We defeat the spiders with little difficutly... well except for Ceadda's wellbeing. He really needs to get his armor worked on by a weaponsmith.

As the others were doing their post combat stuff, I saw some namegivers watching us. Leaning on the etiquette training I resently had, I walked forward slowly and greeted them in human. They then responded. There was some back and forth. Some bad attempts at saying hello by Jerta... I think I averted them. We were invited back to their village. They appreciated the spidersilk glands from the kills. I created a feast via plant food. The variaties of food I have tasted have payed off again.

We learned that they spend time underground in caves to last out the scurge. They asked use to go through their rite of passage by going into their caves and killing some creatures.

We prepared and headed into the caves the next day. We were ambushed by 3 Jehuthras, but eventually we got the best of them. Hopefully they stop sending their young in to get eaten by any more horror constructs. After purifying the remains of the bodies found with fire.. there was a spear and torc left over which went to Ceadda and Aegharan.

The village was pleased with our rite of passage and offered to have us join, tatoos and all. I respecfully declined the tatoos... as they would be difficult back in Thoral and likely many other places.
Play my game jam games - made by one person in a limited time frame (usually 48 hours)

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BattleChad
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Re: AAR: First Contact

Post by BattleChad » Mon Dec 11, 2017 10:13 am

The Great Library of Throal thanks Irwin for his contribution.

Journal Rewards: 110 Legend Points and 137 Silver

Dougansf
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Re: AAR: First Contact

Post by Dougansf » Wed Dec 13, 2017 10:37 pm

From the Travel Journal of Varis

Jerta Accalon, famed Dwarven Anthropologist, is looking to hire some guards to investigate rumors of Namegivers spotted during Alchemical exploration by Xena Rockpile in the Servos Jungle. It sounds like they've been content to watch for now, but I'm concerned about Xena's ability to defend herself against a large group.

Day 7
We arrive at Xena's outpost, "Alchemy Island." Things look well enough, and Xena gives us a bit more of a description of the nosy people. They're either short humans or tall dwarves. They seem to be wearing camouflage and have stole a bit of food. We figure that if there are a large number of them, they're likely living close to the river. We head West and plan to follow the river South until we find some sign. We make a note to give the river a large berth, concerned about crocodiles.

Before we get to the river, we come across some webbing strewn between the jungle trees. We don't see any spiders around, so we decide to light the webbing on fire to spring a trap, instead of falling into it. Sure enough, 4 spiders emerge from the trees and start attacking or spitting venom at us. I recognize them as Giant Weaver Spiders, and warn everyone about their poison. Ceadda finishes off the first one, which is the only one on the ground at the time. Aegharan keeps up his illusions for defense. Irwin and I trade off elemental spells, mostly favoring Wood Spear. At the end, no one is badly hurt, and we remain poison-free.

About this time, Irwin notices that we're being watched by the people we're here to find. Turns out they're short Humans. Irwin talks to them in their native tongue. Despite Jerta's failure to impress them, they invite us back to their camp for the night.

We talk at some length about how they survived the Scourge. Apparently a magician created some caverns that they lived in, but that magician is dead now. They don't seem to understand the details of it. They are very lacking in their quality of equipment, sticks and stone level of advancement. They use their "kaer" as a place to test their children. They invite us to do the same, and prove ourselves to the tribe.

Day 8
After some preparations, we head down into the caverns. Of course, these preparations included lighting ourselves on fire. Surprisingly, even Aegharan partook of the ritual. I even make Irwin an Earth Staff to use for the occasion.

After a brief look around, we find some strange webbing that has an aura of cold around it. I recognize the tell-tale signs of Jehuthra immediately, and start protecting everyone from cold. We burn the webbing and head up the previously blocked passage until we reach a dead end. We circle back, renew spells, and continue onward.

As we reach a long stretch of corridor, I spot a shape far off in the distance. I'd forgotten how far they can shoot their cold web, and was stuck to the ground, a prime target for 2 others hiding around the corner to ambush me. Obviously I survived the ambush, but my pain was delicious to the Horror Constructs. The caverns helped them run off and hide again, while the first one kept peppering us at range, taunting us to charge towards it. Eventually, we killed one, and the other two fled. We had to run them down separately, before they could hide again.

This fight was close. If I hadn't used Water Spear on Ceadda and myself, at least one of us would've been dead. Nevertheless, our work was satisfactory for the tribe, and they invited us to take on their camouflage tattoos to properly join them. We all refused.

I'm very concerned about these caverns. Horror Constructs come from somewhere. How did they get into the cavern? Where's their creator? I think there may be more caverns to explore.

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BattleChad
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Re: AAR: First Contact

Post by BattleChad » Mon Dec 18, 2017 5:34 pm

The Great Library of Throal thanks Varis for his contribution.

Journal Rewards: 110 Legend Points and 137 Silver

Aegharan
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Re: AAR: First Contact

Post by Aegharan » Thu Dec 21, 2017 2:23 pm

We were hired by a 'famed' dwarven Anthropologist Jerta Accalon. His fame must be contained within his subject, as I have never heard of him before. He wanted us to explore near Alchemy Island for Namegivers that Xena Rockpile spotted. Our Anthropologist was very exited to leave Throal for the first time. I have yet to fathom how an Anthropologist finds new species without ever leaving Throal. Besides this 'famed' Anthropologist it was Varis and Irwin the Elementalists and Ceadda, a human warrior I had not met before. His pairing of spear and sword looked quite interesting but proved very effective.

We reached Alchemy Island without problems and talked to Xena Rockpile. Apparently they were never aggressive and always very unobtrusive. They hide in the forests and search no contact. Still some practical items and food has gone missing.
Note: Somebody should spend some time with Xena, the isolation doesn't seem to work out too well for her. She seemed a little confused, although it could also just be her being distracted by her work.

We went looking towards the general west-ish direction that Xena provided. Some time later we spotted enormous spiderwebs. We sensed the immitent danger and prepared to burn and cut them down (or, to be more precise, prepared to let Ceadda burn+cut them down while we stood in some safe distance). This standing in the distance was maybe not the best of ideas, as 3 of the spiders started to shoot goo-balls at us. I got lucky and was not hit once. The fight was not very close and we managed to kill all spiders.

As we finished of the last, Irwin spotted slender figures standing some 20-30 yards away from us, watching carefully from between the brushes. Irwin approached them and greeted them in human. They were friendly and wanted to gut the spiders' remains for ressources, which we allowed. They brought us to their village, where the rest of the day consisted of a lot of talk in human, which was mind-numbingly boring for those whose main language is Throalic and Sperethiel, but not human. In the evening Irwin created an enormous feast with enough food for the entire village. The forest-humans proposed that we investigate their improvised Kaer in a cave-system, where it seems that Horros or horror-constructs were spotted. They seemed to use this caves as a kind of Initiation for their young ones, but some have not returned.

On the next morning our Elementalist performed a ritual in which they stepped into a fire to strengthen for the day. I did something very similar and placed my image within the fire, meditating there for over a minute, topping Varis' and Irwin's time ten-fold. Thie humans marveled at our abilities. We then set our for the caves.

We quickly found some spiderwebs and cut through them. Somebody said that this seems to be the work of Jehuthras, little spiders. I sensed that the Spiderwebs were placed there to distract us from somewhere else. We went on exploring when we spotted something moving through the shadows. Maybe I need to work on my knowledge in some areas, because for my understanding there is a huge difference between "little spiders" and these beasts, because they fought fiercely and with tactics. One stood at range, shooting frozen webs at us, holding us in place, while the others attacked us, darting from behind dark corners and evading into the darkness again. It seemed they grew stronger when wounding us, feeding from our pain. We were able to withstand the attacks by Varis & Irwin hindering their capabilities and Ceadda shredding through them, while I did my best to confuse them to aide in our defense. After killing two, the third ran away, us chasing it. It tried a last stand, but could not quite sink its fangs into Ceadda and went down to our spells.

We searched the caves and found the remains of some humans, some wrapped in spiderwebs. We found a nice spear that makes a good fit to Ceadda's spear, and a crystalline Torc that looks awesome on my neck.

The humans saw us clearing the caves as passing their Initiation and offered us their camouflage-tattoos, which we all refused.

The way back home to Throal was uneventful.

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BattleChad
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Re: AAR: First Contact

Post by BattleChad » Fri Dec 22, 2017 8:12 pm

The Great Library of Throal thanks Aegharan for his contribution.

Journal Rewards: 110 Legend Points and 137 Silver

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