Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest
- Thread starter DragonParadox
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@DragonParadox, editing:
Thirty-Third Day of Ashinu-hamba (Ashinu Descendant) 1348 A. L. (After Landfall)
Over the next six days you practice what seems at first to be nothing more than the same ethereal contact you had before, the voice just on the edge of hearing, the shadow on your mind. Slowly however, as flowers open to greet the sun, you feel the sense of Esha's presence shifting until it is less as a cloud all around your thoughts and more a mantle rippling in the wind that is her voice. Lacking any other spells to easily ward off you end up drinking some of Zaia's odd elixirs and putting on the oils and scents, ranging from so sweet smelling as to make Antonio jest about you smelling like a princeling, to so foul you would much rather deal with the teasing.
"Rare is the spell, blessing or curse that cannot be warded off in some way, be it by strength of will or hardiness of body or even just getting out of the way..." Zaia lectures, having taken the chance to make the lessons on sorcery for your men and the crew more interesting, much to the delight of the Marcella's otter-kin. Climbing through the rigging or swimming along the prow were interesting to be sure, but nothing could match the sheer fascination of sorcery to them.
Roland Gains Soul Ward (Esha can give him a +2 profane bonus to will saves when using Soul Rider)
Much to your surprise it seems to be catching. While many among the crew treated Inge with a wary respect for having the ear of the sea itself and Esha with plain wariness for the power in her blood, Zaia's brewing is more a thing of healing, of warding, now of fun also. True those who remain of the ship's original crew as well as your own men-at-arms are still among the least likely to clap and to cheer at some feat of sorcery, but that does not mean they do not do it at all.
From a drink that lets you take on the shape of any other, to an oil that makes you glow with golden light like onto the scales of some strange fish that guard one from head to toe. What has started as a means to ensure that the men know the signs of subtle sorcery used against them becomes a balm to the boredom of long journeys.
Thankfully the weather holds if not fair then steady, squalls are common in the evenings and it is rare to wake up in the morning and not see some ice built up on the lines, but sailors with a mind for how they will spend the profits of the journey are not long on complaining, they had traveled far and seen much while losing but a little. Wine is poured out to those who did not make it and now rest with Ikomi. Zaia calls it a libation and says the Romans did it too in the days before Christ, though they did not pour the wine over the side of their ships.
It is on one such occasion as some of the crew pour out a dedication for the dead to mark the hour of their passing in accordance to the rites of the Anwa for those who had died upon a long sea journey that Zuan, sharp of eye or simply lucky, notices something floating in the water; a waterlogged beam, the flotsam of some ship less fortunate than your small fleet.
Soon Inge had summoned some of the gulls and bribed them. "Starting to worry they'll get fat," she giggles as she hands out the fish, but fat or not the birds prove well worth their pay. There is more than broken wood to be found in the water. As the sun sinks over the horizon Ripper brings back from the sea a half-flooded sea chest and even a barrel filled with light brown beans which Ziku recognizes as spice, locust beans from the south to be precise. A strange thing to find in these cold waters, a sign perhaps of survivors marooned on the near coast.
Again Antonio turns to Inge and her birds, though the answers they give are less helpful in this.
"They say there are fires just beyond the shore, though what kind of folk made them I can't tell you for the gulls would not come close to them. Might be that there are survivors, might just be some of the local tribes claiming what they can from the wreck," the girl explains.
"If they were trading in spice that would be quite the haul, though what would a spice trader be doing up here?" Esha wonders aloud. "There are other things the tribes would value more surely."
"Mayhap she was not a trader, though to have that much spice on board only for the passengers and crew they must have quite the fine tastes," Zaia notes. "Perhaps it might be worth our while to turn aside and see if there are any to be rescued or any clues to be found."
What do you argue for?
[] Turn aside if there are any marooned people from the wreck on the coast
[] Do not dally, you have been mostly lucky with the weather so far, but it is best not to tempt fate
[] Write in
OOC: Well here we are, your next encounter roll that actually landed on something happening.
Thirty-Third Day of Ashinu-hamba (Ashinu Descendant) 1348 A. L. (After Landfall)
"Curious as cats," you hear Tom mutter under his breath, in English which none of your companions can easily speak.
"If we weren't all that we would not be here to begin with, my friend," you reply, causing his mustache to bristle and his cheek to flush. He mumbles something about not meeting you. "Then loyalty breeds its own blindness, goodman," you say, still in good cheer. Since the storm the journey had been clear, surely a few hours to get to shore would not be of any great import, not with Tender assuring you that 'the spirits of the Great Sky shall be calm for two turnings of the sun and moon.'
At that Tom is not the only one who speaks under his breath, though in Antonio's case it is regret and not grumblings you hear. Even that much of foresight is something most captains would kill for. Truth be told most lords as well in harvest season or on campaign. Yet that is not the only bit of magic you see done that eve.
Inge stands in the center of the deck and takes by turn a sip of Magian Wine and rubs an oil over her eyelids, for sharper sight the alchemist says, but it is not with eyes of flesh she is to look upon the land. Instead she climbs to the crows nest and from there you can hear her chant softly in the tongue of her folk, an almost-song caught in the wind from the sea and twisted 'round and 'round until it seems that from the waves other voices too are singing, wordless and fair. Then in the span of not half a dozen heartbeats she stops, letting out one long breath that is heavy with steam such that you can see even from the deck.
Her voice comes down distant, but clear: "There is a wide place in the midst of a forest of oak and ash where tall stones rise from the palm of the earth like clawed fingers, and there a camp of tall men like us who are not of the Knikut with many fires, eight, no ten, and at each fire there are men five or six. Some are armed though many are not, a camp for the whole tribe and not just for the warriors. They wear the green of the trees and the brown of the earth and they are woodswise, though the sky betrays them. They aren't alone, but their guests they do not keep in good company. Three men there are who are tied with their hands before them with a long rope bound to the stone."
"So they caught some of the bastards from the ship and are holding them prisoner," Antonio musses. "Pity we don't know shit about the folk 'round here to tell if they have some reason for it or are just playing pirate."
Inge continues her careful accounting of what she sees: "Two of the bound men look like guards, they are wearing quilting like what goes under armor, the third is... strange. He is wearing a tall hat almost like a jug, growing narrower towards the top, that glints a little silver I think, but he is too far to know for sure."
Though Esha does not know whence the man hails Ziku does, and he looks troubled for it. "A Prince or High Lord of the Nokuma who dwell in the eastern side of the Blue Sea, it has to be."
"How do you know him for a prince?" Antonio asks, gaze suddenly sharpening.
"Silver they say in those lands comes from the stars and it is sacred to the Thousand Gods, and so only one blessed by them be it priest or great noble may wear it openly."
"Such a lord would certainly make a good random for those willing to set upon those marooned on their shores like beasts with fresh meat," you say, more with disgust than surprise.
"I would not judge them too harshly," Ziku offers softly. "The land is harsh and even in reach of the sea some starve in winter, easier to trust that you will gain something from taking a stranger captive than by seeking their gratitude. Add to that they are all unlikely to speak each other's tongues."
"You want us to try to negotiate for their release?" Antonio guesses, and by the warrior's nod he guesses aright.
"We have the means to make ourselves understood, mayhap even gifts to smooth along the meeting. Under the gaze of Inoko men might be freed and we will have gained a friend where before we had none."
You are reminded of what Esha told you, that the priests of Inoko tend to try to sway the powerful and the wealthy to the worship of their god, yet even under the most suspicious of gazes the man does not seem to be anything less than earnest and as far as it goes he has a point... as far as it goes. Many times now you have been in a position to meet a new people for the first time and in most of those cases weapons had been drawn. Is it worth a gamble for the sake of marooned sailors?
What do you do?
[] Go ashore and try to negotiate for the release of the captives
-[] Write in who you wish to take
[] Sail on, this is not worth the risk
[] Write in
OOC: Eagle Eye is a very practical spell, but 'invisible sensor' is not very mystical. Hope the fluff I made for it works here. It works of like a very limited form of projecting your consciousness outside your body.
What the Waves Bring
Thirty-Third Day of Ashinu-hamba (Ashinu Descendant) 1348 A. L. (After Landfall)
Over the next six days you practice what seems at first to be nothing more than the same ethereal contact you had before, the voice just on the edge of hearing, the shadow on your mind. Slowly however, as flowers open to greet the sun, you feel the sense of Esha's presence shifting until it is less as a cloud all around your thoughts and more a mantle rippling in the wind that is her voice. Lacking any other spells to easily ward off you end up drinking some of Zaia's odd elixirs and putting on the oils and scents, ranging from so sweet smelling as to make Antonio jest about you smelling like a princeling, to so foul you would much rather deal with the teasing.
"Rare is the spell, blessing or curse that cannot be warded off in some way, be it by strength of will or hardiness of body or even just getting out of the way..." Zaia lectures, having taken the chance to make the lessons on sorcery for your men and the crew more interesting, much to the delight of the Marcella's otter-kin. Climbing through the rigging or swimming along the prow were interesting to be sure, but nothing could match the sheer fascination of sorcery to them.
Roland Gains Soul Ward (Esha can give him a +2 profane bonus to will saves when using Soul Rider)
Much to your surprise it seems to be catching. While many among the crew treated Inge with a wary respect for having the ear of the sea itself and Esha with plain wariness for the power in her blood, Zaia's brewing is more a thing of healing, of warding, now of fun also. True those who remain of the ship's original crew as well as your own men-at-arms are still among the least likely to clap and to cheer at some feat of sorcery, but that does not mean they do not do it at all.
From a drink that lets you take on the shape of any other, to an oil that makes you glow with golden light like onto the scales of some strange fish that guard one from head to toe. What has started as a means to ensure that the men know the signs of subtle sorcery used against them becomes a balm to the boredom of long journeys.
Thankfully the weather holds if not fair then steady, squalls are common in the evenings and it is rare to wake up in the morning and not see some ice built up on the lines, but sailors with a mind for how they will spend the profits of the journey are not long on complaining, they had traveled far and seen much while losing but a little. Wine is poured out to those who did not make it and now rest with Ikomi. Zaia calls it a libation and says the Romans did it too in the days before Christ, though they did not pour the wine over the side of their ships.
It is on one such occasion as some of the crew pour out a dedication for the dead to mark the hour of their passing in accordance to the rites of the Anwa for those who had died upon a long sea journey that Zuan, sharp of eye or simply lucky, notices something floating in the water; a waterlogged beam, the flotsam of some ship less fortunate than your small fleet.
Soon Inge had summoned some of the gulls and bribed them. "Starting to worry they'll get fat," she giggles as she hands out the fish, but fat or not the birds prove well worth their pay. There is more than broken wood to be found in the water. As the sun sinks over the horizon Ripper brings back from the sea a half-flooded sea chest and even a barrel filled with light brown beans which Ziku recognizes as spice, locust beans from the south to be precise. A strange thing to find in these cold waters, a sign perhaps of survivors marooned on the near coast.
Again Antonio turns to Inge and her birds, though the answers they give are less helpful in this.
"They say there are fires just beyond the shore, though what kind of folk made them I can't tell you for the gulls would not come close to them. Might be that there are survivors, might just be some of the local tribes claiming what they can from the wreck," the girl explains.
"If they were trading in spice that would be quite the haul, though what would a spice trader be doing up here?" Esha wonders aloud. "There are other things the tribes would value more surely."
"Mayhap she was not a trader, though to have that much spice on board only for the passengers and crew they must have quite the fine tastes," Zaia notes. "Perhaps it might be worth our while to turn aside and see if there are any to be rescued or any clues to be found."
What do you argue for?
[] Turn aside if there are any marooned people from the wreck on the coast
[] Do not dally, you have been mostly lucky with the weather so far, but it is best not to tempt fate
[] Write in
OOC: Well here we are, your next encounter roll that actually landed on something happening.
From a High Perch
Thirty-Third Day of Ashinu-hamba (Ashinu Descendant) 1348 A. L. (After Landfall)
"Curious as cats," you hear Tom mutter under his breath, in English which none of your companions can easily speak.
"If we weren't all that we would not be here to begin with, my friend," you reply, causing his mustache to bristle and his cheek to flush. He mumbles something about not meeting you. "Then loyalty breeds its own blindness, goodman," you say, still in good cheer. Since the storm the journey had been clear, surely a few hours to get to shore would not be of any great import, not with Tender assuring you that 'the spirits of the Great Sky shall be calm for two turnings of the sun and moon.'
At that Tom is not the only one who speaks under his breath, though in Antonio's case it is regret and not grumblings you hear. Even that much of foresight is something most captains would kill for. Truth be told most lords as well in harvest season or on campaign. Yet that is not the only bit of magic you see done that eve.
Inge stands in the center of the deck and takes by turn a sip of Magian Wine and rubs an oil over her eyelids, for sharper sight the alchemist says, but it is not with eyes of flesh she is to look upon the land. Instead she climbs to the crows nest and from there you can hear her chant softly in the tongue of her folk, an almost-song caught in the wind from the sea and twisted 'round and 'round until it seems that from the waves other voices too are singing, wordless and fair. Then in the span of not half a dozen heartbeats she stops, letting out one long breath that is heavy with steam such that you can see even from the deck.
Her voice comes down distant, but clear: "There is a wide place in the midst of a forest of oak and ash where tall stones rise from the palm of the earth like clawed fingers, and there a camp of tall men like us who are not of the Knikut with many fires, eight, no ten, and at each fire there are men five or six. Some are armed though many are not, a camp for the whole tribe and not just for the warriors. They wear the green of the trees and the brown of the earth and they are woodswise, though the sky betrays them. They aren't alone, but their guests they do not keep in good company. Three men there are who are tied with their hands before them with a long rope bound to the stone."
"So they caught some of the bastards from the ship and are holding them prisoner," Antonio musses. "Pity we don't know shit about the folk 'round here to tell if they have some reason for it or are just playing pirate."
Inge continues her careful accounting of what she sees: "Two of the bound men look like guards, they are wearing quilting like what goes under armor, the third is... strange. He is wearing a tall hat almost like a jug, growing narrower towards the top, that glints a little silver I think, but he is too far to know for sure."
Though Esha does not know whence the man hails Ziku does, and he looks troubled for it. "A Prince or High Lord of the Nokuma who dwell in the eastern side of the Blue Sea, it has to be."
"How do you know him for a prince?" Antonio asks, gaze suddenly sharpening.
"Silver they say in those lands comes from the stars and it is sacred to the Thousand Gods, and so only one blessed by them be it priest or great noble may wear it openly."
"Such a lord would certainly make a good random for those willing to set upon those marooned on their shores like beasts with fresh meat," you say, more with disgust than surprise.
"I would not judge them too harshly," Ziku offers softly. "The land is harsh and even in reach of the sea some starve in winter, easier to trust that you will gain something from taking a stranger captive than by seeking their gratitude. Add to that they are all unlikely to speak each other's tongues."
"You want us to try to negotiate for their release?" Antonio guesses, and by the warrior's nod he guesses aright.
"We have the means to make ourselves understood, mayhap even gifts to smooth along the meeting. Under the gaze of Inoko men might be freed and we will have gained a friend where before we had none."
You are reminded of what Esha told you, that the priests of Inoko tend to try to sway the powerful and the wealthy to the worship of their god, yet even under the most suspicious of gazes the man does not seem to be anything less than earnest and as far as it goes he has a point... as far as it goes. Many times now you have been in a position to meet a new people for the first time and in most of those cases weapons had been drawn. Is it worth a gamble for the sake of marooned sailors?
What do you do?
[] Go ashore and try to negotiate for the release of the captives
-[] Write in who you wish to take
[] Sail on, this is not worth the risk
[] Write in
OOC: Eagle Eye is a very practical spell, but 'invisible sensor' is not very mystical. Hope the fluff I made for it works here. It works of like a very limited form of projecting your consciousness outside your body.
Probably a moot point by now, but given that the ships are to be hugging the coast closely on the route south due to Pride being not that good in winter waters, we could be sure that forward ships would be in about 10 km corridor near the coast, and with Inge's eagle eye and her contacts with marine life, including Ripper, we would have been able to find them no problem.
[X] Goldfish
Perhaps not banging on shields, as in some cultures it can be taken to mean a combat challenge?
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I think all of the armed and armored men coming ashore might make that a foregone conclusion, but sure, I'll remove that part from my plan. Doesn't hurt to be careful.
I'll be surprised if we actually need to signal our arrival, though. The chances they don't have lookouts, even if only searching for other survivors to add to their collection, are pretty slim.
Good night guys, see you tomorrow with another first contact.
@DragonParadox, some questions, if you could answer them.
1. This means that Roland can potentially retrain / train on level up Use Magic Device skill? Or something else?
2. Any chance Esha can now cast spells with Range: personal / Target: you on Roland when she has part of her soul on him, as his soul recognizes her as an ally?
3. Zaia can potentially induce quick temporary nausea in Roland to signal Esha via her Soulrider's Status ability if they are away from each other. Could Zaia give Roland something small/smallish nausea-inducing to smell, taste or at least drink so that Roland can do it on his own, without Zaia? We also agreed on signals with
4. Can Zaia already craft from the materials he harvested from the dragon's remains? I was thinking about crafting two dragonskin grips for Roland's sword and Tom's spear for permanent +2 bonus to CMD against disarm attempts. The craft check is DC 15 Craft (bows or weapons), with his +4 Int bonus, Crafter's Fortune (+5 luck bonus) and Tears to Wine (+2 enhancement bonus), he can do it while taking 10, and with half the rate of crafting at 1 hour / 50 gp, he should be able to craft two 250 gp grips in two days.
1. This means that Roland can potentially retrain / train on level up Use Magic Device skill? Or something else?
2. Any chance Esha can now cast spells with Range: personal / Target: you on Roland when she has part of her soul on him, as his soul recognizes her as an ally?
Maybe with some additional conditions, such as with touch?
3. Zaia can potentially induce quick temporary nausea in Roland to signal Esha via her Soulrider's Status ability if they are away from each other. Could Zaia give Roland something small/smallish nausea-inducing to smell, taste or at least drink so that Roland can do it on his own, without Zaia? We also agreed on signals with
but in the update only hand signals were mentioned, do we need a separate vote for nausea signals?
4. Can Zaia already craft from the materials he harvested from the dragon's remains? I was thinking about crafting two dragonskin grips for Roland's sword and Tom's spear for permanent +2 bonus to CMD against disarm attempts. The craft check is DC 15 Craft (bows or weapons), with his +4 Int bonus, Crafter's Fortune (+5 luck bonus) and Tears to Wine (+2 enhancement bonus), he can do it while taking 10, and with half the rate of crafting at 1 hour / 50 gp, he should be able to craft two 250 gp grips in two days.
- Yes, that means UMD, technically anyone with a soul can use a magic device like that, so not a construct or certain kinds of mindless undead (not that it is relevant as they do not have the intelligence to even use skills at all)
- I missed that, I'll do another talk with Zaia on the matter, he will give you something suitably foul to drink
- He cannot yet, he needs to get to civilization to actually have the tools and other ingredients he needs. This isn't ASWAH, where Viserys and company were to rich that I could just abstract all crafting resources, he needs specific things and the time to use them. While he can perform alchemy on the ship, he still need to prep in advance and in port what he will make
Vote closed.
Arc 9 Post 13: A Chill Welcome
A Chill Welcome
Thirty-Third Day of Ashinu-hamba (Ashinu Descendant) 1348 A. L. (After Landfall)
The forests here are warmer than those near Willowbrook and yet filled with the small sounds of life, squirrels and scurrying lizards coming out with the passing of the sun. Yet even here the breath of coming winter is felt, leaves falling red and gold upon the path as you come ashore with your full company as well as Inge, Zaia, Esha and the brothers. Swift Pebble and Runs-in-Rain round out the company, curious as ever about new lands and new people, and by that eagerness first to spot them when they come out of the trees and call out a warning.
At first you might almost mistake them for particularly tall Knikut. The cloaks of goat hide layer upon layer of leather, carefully overlapped to make patterns of brown, red and black, making them seem far larger and wider of shoulder than they truly are, though the shape of their faces beneath tall hoods pointed almost like a jester's hat makes it clear that they are more like the Anwa and your own folk than like their Knikut neighbors to the north. Men and women alike wear wide heavy leather belts. Of the ten people who emerge from the woods five seem to be warriors bearing short broad headed spears of flint and copper as well as few weapons you would not guess are forged by local craft, bronze axes cunningly wrought in the shape of birds' beaks and leaf shaped blades wrought for the shield wall, prizes of the wreck.
The seeming leader of their company is a man of middle years dressed not unlike his kin, but showing no weapon but a knobby walking staff yet striding forth with uncommon confidence for one who has come to meet a group of better armed and, counting those who were still debarking, more numerous strangers. He calls out something in his own tongue.
"He says to turn back, that we will find no precious things and no good fortune in these lands, only death," Swift Pebble recounts, sounding surprised and saddened by the threat. "He also thinks you are some kind of wizard and I am your soul-companion?" She casts the last thought more widely, a question to it.
"Familiar," Esha provides, sounding a touch amused by the confusion. "A beast or bird that can serve as the eyes and ears of a magician. For many, to lose such a companion is as losing a limb so they keep them close in times of peril."
"We mean no harm to you and your kin and seek no riches here, but were only drawn by the remains of another ship floating broken on the sea," you reply, a half-truth at best for Antonio certainly had his eyes on wealth should you manage to rescue the Nokuma.
There is a pause and then the man shakes his staff at you again furiously, motioning to the sea. You hardly need the translation, go back or we will drive you into the waves, though what is in the tail end of the threat you did not expect. "The Wormhalls lie in the dark and the dark keeps them, they are not for you nor for any who walk under the light of day."
"I think he means some kind of delving place or cave that leads into the Deep Earth," Moru speaks up. "As spirits of the woods and of the fields linger in the wild hidden places of the world, darker things find their way into the world where the earth is rent thus. What names they bear in this place I do not know, but there are places in the southlands that are as ill omened for this reason; the Candleblight Caverns, the Deeps of Durik, all perilous and yet all promising a bounty of precious things that have never seen the light of the sun to any bold enough to enter and fortunate enough to return."
If they think you are likely to disturb such a place then perhaps their present prisoners have given them better cause to think they would, you realize. There are few things after all that would drive a ship to travel this far north in this season, but the promise of treasure might be one of them.
What do you do?
[] Make a vow that you have no interest in any hidden wealth in this land and mean only to aid those marooned here
[] Offer gifts of food and supplies for the winter
[] Write in
OOC: I spent way too long looking for interesting pics for this update, but everything I could find was either impractically ornate, insulting to some RL culture or both, so you will just have to make due with the descriptions. I tried to keep it to stuff a neolithic to transitional Copper Age society could make while giving them a bit of original flair.
Last edited:
- Location
- Germany
[X] Make a vow that you have no interest in any hidden wealth in this land and mean only to aid those marooned here
I have little interest in a dungeon-run here, when we already have a lot of loot to bring home and sell off and our supplies are far from optimal and the weather might turn any day.
I have little interest in a dungeon-run here, when we already have a lot of loot to bring home and sell off and our supplies are far from optimal and the weather might turn any day.
[X] Make a vow that you have no interest in any hidden wealth in this land and mean only to aid those marooned here
I would try looking for treasure otherwise, but it's the land of these guys and they have right to not be troubled just because someone hungry for loot disturbed caves with bad things in them.
I would try looking for treasure otherwise, but it's the land of these guys and they have right to not be troubled just because someone hungry for loot disturbed caves with bad things in them.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Yeah, definitely not the time for us to be going dungeon delving. No worries, tribespeople, your loot and XP is safe from us.
[X] Make a vow that you have no interest in any hidden wealth in this land and mean only to aid those marooned here
[X] Make a vow that you have no interest in any hidden wealth in this land and mean only to aid those marooned here
@DragonParadox, editing:
Thirty-Third Day of Ashinu-hamba (Ashinu Descendant) 1348 A. L. (After Landfall)
The forests here are warmer than those near Willowbrook and yet filled with the small sounds of life, squirrels and scurrying lizards coming out with the passing of the sun. Yet even here the breath of coming winter is felt, leaves falling red and gold upon the path as you come ashore with your full company as well as Inge, Zaia, Esha and the brothers. Swift Pebble and Runs-in-Rain round out the company, curious as ever about new lands and new people, and by that eagerness first to spot them when they come out of the trees and call out a warning.
At first you might almost mistake them for particularly tall Knikut. The cloaks of goat hide layer upon layer of leather, carefully overlapped to make patterns of brown, red and black, making them seem far larger and wider of shoulder than they truly are, though the shape of their faces beneath tall hoods pointed almost like a jester's hat makes it clear that they are more like the Anwa and your own folk than like their Knikut neighbors to the north. Men and women alike wear wide heavy leather belts. Of the ten people who emerge from the woods five seem to be warriors bearing short broad headed spears of flint and copper as well as few weapons you would not guess are forged by local craft, bronze axes cunningly wrought in the shape of birds' beaks and leaf shaped blades wrought for the shield wall, prizes of the wreck.
The seeming leader of their company is a man of middle years dressed not unlike his kin, but showing no weapon but a knobby walking staff yet striding forth with uncommon confidence for one who has come to meet a group of better armed and, counting those who were still debarking, more numerous strangers. He calls out something in his own tongue.
"He says to turn back, that we will find no precious things and no good fortune in these lands, only death," Swift Pebble recounts, sounding surprised and saddened by the threat. "He also thinks you are some kind of wizard and I am your soul-companion?" She casts the last thought more widely, a question to it.
"Familiar," Esha provides, sounding a touch amused by the confusion. "A beast or bird that can serve as the eyes and ears of a magician. For many, to lose such a companion is as losing a limb so they keep them close in times of peril."
"We mean no harm to you and your kin and seek no riches here, but were only drawn by the remains of another ship floating broken on the sea," you reply, a half-truth at best for Antonio certainly had his eyes on wealth should you manage to rescue the Nokuma.
There is a pause and then the man shakes his staff at you again furiously, motioning to the sea. You hardly need the translation, go back or we will drive you into the waves, though what is in the tail end of the threat you did not expect. "The Wormhalls lie in the dark and the dark keeps them, they are not for you nor for any who walk under the light of day."
"I think he means some kind of delving place or cave that leads into the Deep Earth," Moru speaks up. "As spirits of the woods and of the fields linger in the wild hidden places of the world, darker things find their way into the world where the earth is rent thus. What names they bear in this place I do not know, but there are places in the southlands that are as ill omened for this reason; the Candleblight Caverns, the Deeps of Durik, all perilous and yet all promising a bounty of precious things that have never seen the light of the sun to any bold enough to enter and fortunate enough to return."
If they think you are likely to disturb such a place then perhaps their present prisoners have given them better cause to think they would, you realize. There are few things after all that would drive a ship to travel this far north in this season, but the promise of treasure might be one of them.
What do you do?
[] Make a vow that you have no interest in any hidden wealth in this land and mean only to aid those marooned here
[] Offer gifts of food and supplies for the winter
[] Write in
OOC: I spent way too long looking for interesting pics for this update, but everything I could find was either impractically ornate, insulting to some RL culture or both, so you will just have to make due with the descriptions. I tried to keep it to stuff a neolithic to transitional Copper Age society could make while giving them a bit of original flair.
A Chill Welcome
Thirty-Third Day of Ashinu-hamba (Ashinu Descendant) 1348 A. L. (After Landfall)
The forests here are warmer than those near Willowbrook and yet filled with the small sounds of life, squirrels and scurrying lizards coming out with the passing of the sun. Yet even here the breath of coming winter is felt, leaves falling red and gold upon the path as you come ashore with your full company as well as Inge, Zaia, Esha and the brothers. Swift Pebble and Runs-in-Rain round out the company, curious as ever about new lands and new people, and by that eagerness first to spot them when they come out of the trees and call out a warning.
At first you might almost mistake them for particularly tall Knikut. The cloaks of goat hide layer upon layer of leather, carefully overlapped to make patterns of brown, red and black, making them seem far larger and wider of shoulder than they truly are, though the shape of their faces beneath tall hoods pointed almost like a jester's hat makes it clear that they are more like the Anwa and your own folk than like their Knikut neighbors to the north. Men and women alike wear wide heavy leather belts. Of the ten people who emerge from the woods five seem to be warriors bearing short broad headed spears of flint and copper as well as few weapons you would not guess are forged by local craft, bronze axes cunningly wrought in the shape of birds' beaks and leaf shaped blades wrought for the shield wall, prizes of the wreck.
The seeming leader of their company is a man of middle years dressed not unlike his kin, but showing no weapon but a knobby walking staff yet striding forth with uncommon confidence for one who has come to meet a group of better armed and, counting those who were still debarking, more numerous strangers. He calls out something in his own tongue.
"He says to turn back, that we will find no precious things and no good fortune in these lands, only death," Swift Pebble recounts, sounding surprised and saddened by the threat. "He also thinks you are some kind of wizard and I am your soul-companion?" She casts the last thought more widely, a question to it.
"Familiar," Esha provides, sounding a touch amused by the confusion. "A beast or bird that can serve as the eyes and ears of a magician. For many, to lose such a companion is as losing a limb so they keep them close in times of peril."
"We mean no harm to you and your kin and seek no riches here, but were only drawn by the remains of another ship floating broken on the sea," you reply, a half-truth at best for Antonio certainly had his eyes on wealth should you manage to rescue the Nokuma.
There is a pause and then the man shakes his staff at you again furiously, motioning to the sea. You hardly need the translation, go back or we will drive you into the waves, though what is in the tail end of the threat you did not expect. "The Wormhalls lie in the dark and the dark keeps them, they are not for you nor for any who walk under the light of day."
"I think he means some kind of delving place or cave that leads into the Deep Earth," Moru speaks up. "As spirits of the woods and of the fields linger in the wild hidden places of the world, darker things find their way into the world where the earth is rent thus. What names they bear in this place I do not know, but there are places in the southlands that are as ill omened for this reason; the Candleblight Caverns, the Deeps of Durik, all perilous and yet all promising a bounty of precious things that have never seen the light of the sun to any bold enough to enter and fortunate enough to return."
If they think you are likely to disturb such a place then perhaps their present prisoners have given them better cause to think they would, you realize. There are few things after all that would drive a ship to travel this far north in this season, but the promise of treasure might be one of them.
What do you do?
[] Make a vow that you have no interest in any hidden wealth in this land and mean only to aid those marooned here
[] Offer gifts of food and supplies for the winter
[] Write in
OOC: I spent way too long looking for interesting pics for this update, but everything I could find was either impractically ornate, insulting to some RL culture or both, so you will just have to make due with the descriptions. I tried to keep it to stuff a neolithic to transitional Copper Age society could make while giving them a bit of original flair.
- Location
- Texas
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Make a vow that you have no interest in any hidden wealth in this land and mean only to aid those marooned here
Welp, does not look like it is much of a contest
Vote closed
Vote closed
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
All to often, we can be tempted with shinies or potential shinies, but not this time!
- Location
- Argentina
All to often, we can be tempted with shinies or potential shinies, but not this time!
Let's be fair. Vague promises of riches don't move us. We like concrete promises of riches to decide to do something.
Arc 9 Post 14: Of Foundered Fortune
Of Foundered Fortune
Thirty-Third Day of Ashinu-hamba (Ashinu Descendant) 1348 A. L. (After Landfall)
There on the shore between the land and the sea all of you make a vow that you will not meddle in these places of dark peril and that all you wish is to rescue those marooned. You are startled to hear Swift Pebble and Runs-in-Rain make vows on the 'One that is in All', rather than upon some patron spirit as the Knikut had accustomed you to.
Only then do you speak of gifts and many do you have to give. Axes they may have gotten from the wreck and their prisoners, but axes meant for war, be they ever so fine, cannot match tools forged fit to purpose. So it goes with knives and with pots, with wool for linings and mead to drink on a cold winter's night. How Antonio keeps his calm when the chief Viroka asks what surety he has that any supplies are not poisoned you do not know, but keep it he does, downing a flagon of Zaia's special wine to prove that it is safe. Thus with vows for your key and fair trade for oil you pass into the camp of the Virokaia, meaning in their tongue something like 'hooded ones', as honored guests where before you had been interlopers.
Fur and leather, carvings of bone and ivory, even stone knives polished to a fine sheen and holding edges so sharp you might almost suspect sorcery if Inge did not assure you that there was no magic to it, only the nature of the stone, all that is laid upon the cloaks of your hosts in the flickering light of their fires. From Antonio's smile you guess he expects to make a profit even after ransoming the Nokura prince, or at least not too much of a loss. Then again, he might be smiling for other reasons too. Despite the autumnal chill some of the Virokaia are taking off more than their cloaks.
"Keep your cocks in yer pants or I'll nail them to the mast," Tom hisses a fearsome warning to those of your men who had started to drift off among the camp, drawing all of them short in an instant.
Though a part of you winces in sympathy the point is well made, you have a long journey ahead of you and the last thing you need is any sort of... entanglements. Alas, the folk you do want to take along are not cooperating. The 'prince', if prince he be, refuses to even look at you, and his guards step up on either side of him as much as their ropes will allow to shield their master. While Antonio happily chats with your new acquaintances, with a marked preference for a pair of golden haired young women who had been introduced as the daughters of the chief, no doubt spinning tales even as he learns the lay of the land and the rumors in it, you along with the brothers are left with the task of trying to communicate with the prisoners.
Never in all your days have you ever met a bunch less happy to be sprung from captivity. At first Moru's words simply fall on deaf ears, though he speaks the man's tongue, but then the younger brother snaps something sharp and cold as you have ever heard him speak.
"Called him a dishonorable cur for not having a care for those blood-sworn to him," Esha notes. "I gather from context that that is a heavy oath among their people."
In response the guards speak up at once, from the tone each to reassure their master, but he raises a hand for silence and finally tears his eyes from the ground and looks Moru right in the eye as he begins to speak.
Swift Pebble translates with a sort of horrified fascination: "I cannot leave, my quest is here, my honor, my life, all that is down there in the dark. If I do not reclaim that which the foul skulking things tore from my grandfather's head as they killed him then I am not a man at all, only a craven, a whipped dog that returns to lick the grease of others' feasts off the stones 'neath the table. This I vowed to do or die in the attempt, but I never thought they would use it... that they would use it against us. Blind eyeless things came out to see the sky and summon the storm. Go, go home and tell them Neios is fallen in search of his honor. If you would do me one last kindness tell them I fell in a dark hall and not upon the shore collared like a beast."
Though you do not know the words as he speaks them you can hear the despair in the young man's words. Younger he seems than you, young enough that at home you would think him more likely a squire than a knight, no matter his fair mantle, now ragged, or the fine helm of bronze left dented at his side.
What do you do?
[] Try to sway Neios into coming back with you, no matter the weight of his vows a dead man cannot fulfill them, if he leaves now he might come back the next year or from his oath he might be freed
[] Let Moru do the talking, he knows the man's people more than you do
[] Write in
OOC: You do not get the option to offer to help him out directly here because you made a vow to the Virokaia, and it would be out of character for Roland to break an oath for someone he has just met, no matter how much they might despair.
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- Location
- Germany
[X] "Die well, we shall sing that you did either way."
Sometimes people have their quests and that's that.
Sometimes people have their quests and that's that.
@DragonParadox, are Virokaia objections to any interactions with the caves and their inhabitants, or to just trying to get something out of there? If we would not interfere, are they going to kill the prince, hold him as a prisoner indefinitely, do something else with him?
You would have to ask them than IC