Xeviouz had been talking about having to win the respected of the Scorched Tusk moot, something about needing their permission to keep using his shield. Getting to know a moot is always a good excuse for a brawl and and a feast so I readily agreed. Vlolkir, Daldorer, and Zil also came along.
Along the way Vlolkir and I spent some time coaching Xeviouz in proper Raider etiquette, but I think he started to suspect we did not really know what we were talking about when the answer to almost any query was "hit them back". The trip itself was uneventful until we started climbing in the Caucavics, where Zil started being antsy and suspecting an ambush.
Moments later we were surrounded by about twenty troll warriors who looked really displeased to make our acquaintance. The immediately started asking if we were with "the others" and further probing revealed that a group of travellers had come to their moot and, during the night, summoned undead monstrosities to drive the trolls out of their homes.
Once we explained our reason for being there, the remains of the Scorched Tusk moot decided that us clearing the moot of invaders was an excellent way for us to earn their respect. They also mentioned they have three drakkars forged from the very legend of Klo Sooth-Horn, the first wielder of the shield, who once held of a pack of wyverns for four days and four nights. I will admit the mention of legendary airships piqued my interest a lot more than Xeviouz's deed.
One of the moot's scouts led us towards the village and warned us that they used some kind of flaying construct to patrol the area. We camped for the night about half a day away, with a plan to travel through the night and strike just after dawn.
Once we reached the village, we spotted a number of figures around each of the drakkars docking masts. We cannot tell exactly what they are doing, but Daldorer remembers something about Therans having rituals to destroy docked airhsips, a completely unacceptable outcome. The drakkars themselves were beautiful, black, sleek, and exotic. We also spotted the three travellers that first arrived at the moot, some kind of orc fighter, a human giving distinct nethermancer vibes, and another magician of some kind.
We decided to strike hard and strike fast, so we charged down the path. The invaders immediately spotted us and started sending Bone Shamblers and other horror constructs towards us. We slowly ground our way through the undead as Vlolkir leapt ahead to take down the two magicians. Meanwhile the cultists summoned darkness around each of the tower hiding their foul violations of those poor innocent ships.
Vlolkir stunt earned him a serious beating by the constructs but by that point we were almost through the shamblers, when one of the clouds of darkness faded, green fire leapt up the mooring line and the drakkar started flying away carrying the blackguards! The poor innocent ship, stolen from its cradle with foul magic.
We rushed to the other two mooring masts and removed the cultists before they could do more harm, then we boarded one of the other drakkars to try and give chase, but with only five of us and only two familiar with airships, we could not keep up. As an aside, despite all his talk about proper use of airships and his disdain for air sailors, I am starting to suspect that Vlolkir does not, in fact, have any idea of how to sail.
Reluctantly I returned the drakkar to her moorings and proceeded to interrogate the surviving cultists. They admitted to being part of that group of maniacs called the Scourge and they probably have some horrible plan for the stolen drakkar, which they seemed to take north. Unlike the crazy unwashed dwarf back near Synevir, these villains did not leave all their correspondence behind for us to peruse, so we have only guesses to their intent.
We made our way back to the survivors of the moot who were happy enough with our rescue to induct Xeviouz in the moot and grant him permission to keep using the shield. The scout that accompanied us was of great help there as he relayed our battle to his chieftain, one detail of his account was rather troubling however, he claimed to have seen both magicians on the fleeing drakkar...Statistics:Posted by sigfriedmcwild — Tue Sep 22, 2020 9:44 pm
]]>