AAR: [4M] Falling to Pieces (2020/07/25 at 23:00 GMT)

[Reyntrannin]

LFG: Falling to Pieces
Time: 2020/07/25 at 23:00 GMT
GM: ReynTrannin
Circle: ECR 4
Difficulty: Medium

Rumor: Henrick Kimball is a traveling trader who has been selling his "Items of Wonder" in villages throughout the countryside. While these are notoriously lacking in either magic or usefulness, his salesmanship and charisma have kept people who know better buying his goods. Recently, as he was passing through Juniper Hollow, he took in a new customer, Lady Evalynne Gabo, by selling her a "Stone of Power". However, this time, it seems that Kimball has finally found something of actual magical value, and Lady Gabo wants to know where he found it. Time to hunt down the rogue and get him to reveal his source.

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[b]Name:[/b] Character name
[b]Date of Last Game Played:[/b]
[b]Circle:[/b] Circle of your character
[b]Discipline:[/b] Your character's Discipline(s)
[b]Unique:[/b] What your character is bringing to the table.
[b]Downtime:[/b] Talents and Skills that other characters can use over downtime: [Talent] [Step including +Karma Step if appropriate] ([Rank]) ([Further Details])

[verse86]

Name: Thorkell Gulbrandsen
Date of Last Game Played: 7/15/2020 Paradox of Supply and Demand
Circle: 4
Discipline: Weaponsmith
Unique: Thorkell brings the downtime activities. Besides that he is a perceptive and tanky troll.
Downtime:
[Forge Weapon] (11+4)
[Item History] (11+4+3)
[Craftsman] (11+4+4) can make mundane items, weapons, and armor
[Research] (10+3)

[ChrisDDickey]

Name: Mazor
Date Player last played: July 18th.
ECR: 4
Discipline: Beastmaster 4th Circle / Follower of Jaspree - Windling.
Quote/Unique: The night is dark, and full of Horrors.
Notable Abilities: Claw Shape & Pets.
Downtime: Animal Training Rank 3, Step 14.
Secondary character.

[bronzemountain]

Out.

[Lashana]

Name: LaShana Tumblesprout
ECL: 4
Discipline: Thief
Quote/Unique: "Wow, that was fun/interesting! Let’s do it again!"
Notable Abilities: can get into and out of trouble...with only a little help from her friends
Downtime: Drunking and Rabble Rousing (and yeah I said drunking, what of it)
Last Game Played: 7/16/2020 The Paradox of supply and demand

[sigfriedmcwild]

This is a secondary character
Name: Elisen
Last played on: 2020-07-20
ECR: 4 (11760lp)
Discipline: Cavalryman 4
Quote/Unique: Deliverance flies on silent wind
Notable Abilities: Zoak power! (and a last chance salve)
Downtime: Animal training step 14 (10 + karma)

[predajey]

Name: Vralino Hammer-Shield

Date of Last Game Played:July 16
ECR: 4
Discipline: Sword Master...or Spear Master, depending on popular opinion.
Unique: Spears, Shield, Surgery, and Socializing...somewhat.

[predajey]

The following is a recollection from Vralino Hammer-Shield, a 15 year old Ork girl with limited exposure to society. In this entry, Elisen, LaShana, Mazor, and Thorkell have discovered one of her gahads to involve liars. The text remains unaltered to maintain its authenticity (Certain terms and names written wrong to keep in character). It is written in Or'zet.

I woke up late today. I found Thorkell looking over a job to find a trader and find out the source of his wares. It's too early for this, but it's another journey outside of Throal. We found Elisen, LaShana, and Mazor and went searching for the person who would hopefully hire us. She was a very physically attractive elf. Attractive by human standards, anyway. Good thing it was Thorkell and a bunch of windlings. It'd be embarrassing if one of my crew started flirting with one of the employers. She was searching for a man by the name of Henrick Kimball. He was last seen or was from the south, I forget which it was. So we're heading to Jupiter Hollows. I can't remember the last time I was there.

We went to Jupiter Hollows and I went to go talk to some of the orphans to see if they had noticed Henrick. Unfortunately they had no information. The rest of the party discovered that his travels went through Clear Creek Crossing. I knew the Corporal of the Guard there, and he had a pretty detailed log about Henrick. Henrick had come through a couple weeks ago in a small cart dressed as if he had little money. His greeting ritual was singing, and he sang loudly and passionately. This was enough information to be able to describe him to others we saw as we followed his trail, as well as identify him if we saw him ourselves. Our next stop will be Sosanosopa.

When we got to Sosanosopa, I spoke to the guard with the description of the man. Shana and I were able to find out that he headed north across the Serpent River. We ended up staying the night and leaving in the morning. Overall, this entire job is looking more and more like a boring investigation. I'm helping out the crew a lot, but I wish something more exciting would happen.

We caught up to Henrick. He was being attacked by some Ice Flyers of some sort. They were really hard to hit. Mazor got into a shouting match with one of them after commanding another one to leave. Thorkell was able to kill one with his sling. I saw Shana hide under Henrick's cart at one point, and Elisen was frozen for most of the battle. As for me, I didn't take any damage, but the best I could do was throw my spears at the winged monkeys. I didn't hit any of them, so I was just running back and forth, picking up spears and throwing them over and over. Henrick was thankful, and sold a figgety-gidget to Shana. Usually it would have sold for 100 silver pieces, but she got a discount and was able to buy it for 15! She's so lucky. Thorkell tried examining it, but couldn't really specify anything about it, but for 100 silver, it has to be valuable! We were allowed to escort Henrick to his shrine or temple or something where he was going to perform a sacred ritual. I'm so glad we were able to keep him from dying. He's so devoted to his Passion.

His passion is tomb raiding. Henrick is the worst kind of person imaginable! Not only did he not perform any sacred rituals, but he was robbing an old castle of some sort! I can't believe he lied to us! When I found out, I just lost control. I had to hit him. Just once, maybe a dozen times, I don't know. The crew had to restrain me. I was so pissed. I can't believe they all saw me like that. I mean, I've lost my temper before, but this made it look like I was mildly upset last time. Then they started talking about some sort of horror mark. The guy had this book, triple locked. Shana couldn't even attempt to open it. She knew it was complex without trying, though. She's really good with mechanical things. We argued for about half an hour about what to do with him. He tried running away, only to be knocked unconscious by Mazor. We ended up taking him back to Throal. There's a powerful spell slinger there who can probably fix him.

It's been about a week. Two weeks? Maybe somewhere in between. When we got back to Throal, we told the authorities what happened and we were imprisoned for an investigation. What did I even do wrong? I really need to pay more attention to what's going on around me. At least I had time to heal my wounds and recover for the next job. I wonder what they did with Henrick? How did Thorkell do with the imprisonment? Who's gonna feed Shana's foxel!?! Does he need to be taken care of? She leaves him at home alone a lot. Maybe he's ok. Anyway, this entire job sucked. I forgot to write about the damn Dire Wolves. One of them took a chunk out of my leg! Just bit and swallowed. Didn't even need any barbecue sauce! I must be a tasty snack. I hear that's a good thing.

[Reyntrannin]

AAR

Player Rewards
Elisen: 2200 LP, 375 SP, 3 TIPs
LaShana: Mazor: 2,200 LP, 375 SP, 3 Tips.
Mazor: 2,200 LP, 375 SP, 3 Tips.
Thorkell Gulbrandsen: 2,200 LP, 375 SP, 3TIPs
Vralino: 2200 LP, 375 SP, 3 TIPs

GM Reward: Langren: 13,000 Legend, 775 sp, 3 TIP's

Downtime actions:
Elisen
Animal training step 14 (10 + karma)
Mazor
Animal Training Rank 3, Step 14.
Throkell
[Forge Weapon] (11+4)
[Item History] (11+4+3)
[Craftsman] (11+4+4) can make mundane items, weapons, and armor
[Research] (10+3)

Additional Notes:
The Adepts returned with the merchant, Henrick Kimball, whom they suspected migh hav been Horror-marked.
Upon brining him to authorities in Throal, both Kinball and the party were detained for further investigation for ten days, after which they were freed. Hoever, some members of the Throalic guard are still suspicious of all of those involved in this advnture.
As part of the investigation, the Adepts insisted on including Lady Evelynne Gabo as part of their story, with some insinuations that the magical stone she recently showcased at her grand gala was in fact a cused or Horror tainted item.
Althought he ensuing investigation has cleared both her and the stone of any taint from these allegations, Lady Gabo has been heard to make comments about the Adepts feeling her wrath for the insult they have done to her.

[verse86]

On my previous adventure, I found a magnificent cape. The craftsmanship is really quite exquisite. It seems to be of elven make. The fabric seems to be a brilliant sapphire blue satin trimmed with gold embroidery. Runes run the length of the cape. I suspect them to be elven. Further research is required to decipher these.

Our group found a posting for a job from one Lady Gabo. After speaking with her and her servant, we learned she purchased a "Stone of Power" from some shady merchant by the name of Henrick Kimball while on a trip to Juniper Hollow. It appears he is somewhat of a swindler, but Lady Gabo is actually not only interested in more of this item, but his source. We have been tasked with finding him and his source.
This is starting to become a wild goose chase. We go to Juniper Hollow. They tell us he went south to Clear Creek Crossing. Once we make it to Clear Creek Crossing we find out he has already set out heading back north to Sosanopa. Once there we find out he has already crossed the river to the north heading for the mountains. On a side note, work in Clear Creek Crossing is going slow. The foreman is trying to keep things apace, but he is no Darrelon.
We caught up to Kimball just as some flying monkey were accosting his wagon. It seems we have grown rusty in our downtime. Mazor got in a shouting match. Elisen was frozen in place for most of the fight. Vralino and I were largely ineffective at range. Even Lashana couldn't seem to muster her normal bow accuracy. I did notice she was using a new bow: a finely crafted windling bow made with some sort of black wood, perhaps ebony. Perhaps she has not become accustomed with it yet.
Kimball agreed to let us come with him. We arrived at some old ruins. He goes to perform a "ritual". We are attacked by fog/smoke entities that look like very large dire wolves. My new hide armor serves me well. There is still some stiffness in the joints. Note: stress the leather around the joints a bit more once home. When Kimball returns, he has a book with what appears to be a depiction of the entities we fought.
Kimball lied to us about what he was doing and triggered Vralino's gahad.
Mazor believed Kimball to be horror marked. Vralino seems to be buying into it, too. They're considering killing him or turning him over to the guard.
Both Lashana and I am against killing him. Elisen agrees we should let him go. We agreed to take him back to the guards to appease Mazor.
I am writing this nearly two weeks later. If only I had been more willing to speak up sooner. If only I had put an end to their nonsense. For Mazor's meddling, we were awarded 10 days in the dungeon. I can not walk down the street without hearing whispers of being horror-marked. And in their infinite wisdom, they implicated Lady Gabo's necklace of being tainted. This of course earned us her ire. Perhaps they don't care, but my work is my life. A woman of her status could easily destroy any reputation I have built as a great craftsman. The only thing I can do is redouble my efforts. Perhaps this is my punishment for not having found a suitable replacement for the construction in Clear Creek Crossing yet.
On a happier note, both Vralino and Lashana want me to look over their thread items. Vralino's long spear appears to be of a design once popular among the Elf Court. The beautiful dark wood is inlaid with silver runes. The blade has an interesting design with wings that have red tassels and silver bells hanging from them. I spent some time forging it and researching it. It's name is Bells' Reply which fits with how the bells practically reply to every movement. After spending some time with Lashana's bow, I've found an odd feature. It seems to be whispering to me. I dare not try to discern their meaning. The forging went well. I think she will like the results. I was also able to find its name through some research. It wasn't too hard once I started looking around for whispering bows. It is known as Whispers of Frailty. I believe it will serve her well. I was also to learn the name of my cape: the Spirit of Adventure. An odd feature I have noticed is its tendency to billow even when no wind is present. Further research is needed.