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Age of Ice and Blood: A Pathfinder System Heroic Fantasy Quest

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I wish Aina was trained in warfare.

She'd be the perfect compromise, a candidate who's stakes and ambitions are plain to see for for all members of the fleet.
But unfortunatly her lack of military experience and training would mark her as a puppet, most likely ours, making her an impossible choice.
 
[X] Proclaim that since this was likely the malice of the enemy a holy man should lead the fleet, Ohun was regent for many years after all

[X] Throw your support behind whichever of them seems most likely to keep the fleet together
 
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Arc 12 interlude 4: Broken Helm
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    • Broken Helm ​

    Second Day of Elnu-Hamba (Elnu Descendent), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)

    Esha did not like where this was going and she did not mean the war. She had seen bloodshed before, never near at hand, never part of the fight, but a killer was a killer as kindling made a flame so more men to a brawl made a war. That was one truth that no skald or minstrel up and down the lands of men had ever sung, likely because it would lose them place at the table of the mighty. No what she feared was something altogether more elemental. What could make a storm that could break a fleet and kill a king, what could aim lighting and bestride the powers? No single wizard under the moon or under the gods, of that much Esha was certain.

    Looking over the crew as they toiled to set right the hurts of the ship the obvious answer presented itself to her, a coven or a circle, which was what priests called a coven for the sake of setting themselves apart. So what then, a coven of the neverborn? The Greenbelt thought so, but he had long set his sights on that foe and could thus discount another. Had there not been whispers about Ansefu displeasing the spirits of the sea, both the Ladies and the Formless. If I had been in his skin I would not have set foot on a ship again in my life...

    With a shake of her head that sent her still damp hair flying about her shoulders the sorceress admitted to herself at least: a season a go I would not have set foot on any ship that had such a man on it yet here I am still sailing to war. Life made for strange company, and company made for a strange life.

    One thing was clear as day, there had been a traitor on the king's ship, one willing to die either at the hands of his companions or in the sea's embrace. That made the helmsman desperate, a fanatic, or not wholly his own creature... At the very least finding out which it was made for something to do other than waiting for the tide to tickle her toes.

    Thankfully shivering sailors presented with a hot drink by beautiful woman were more than willing to recount what little they had seen during the storm and before that. Lonk had always been an alright fellow, good for a laugh and a drink as he was trussed in a fight, but he had been reluctant to go on the journey since his wife had been with child and she had already lost one int he birthing bed, but when the lord said go you went and in the end he seemed to have passed over his worries.

    "He'd go all quiet like sometimes though looking out at the water," the eldest of the sailors concluded.

    "The water behind the fleet or before it?" Esha asked. "Did he seem eager to get into the fight, or dreading it?"

    "Don't think it was either," one of he younger, though still unfortunately ground-tooth sailors said. "Said it did not matter to us plain folk what the lords and the priests had on their minds. We'd fight when asked to fight and die when it ws our time to die."

    Curiouser and curiouser... the sorceress mussed. That daemons would sow despair she did not doubt and they seemed to have a love of pushing mortals to end their own lives to prove the futility of their existence, but it would not be a very interesting puppet who ends his own life after one deed. Any dark spirit riding in the flesh of Lonk would have had one moment of triumph and then darkness as he was sent screaming from a world that loved him not.

    That the damn things had found a way to infect mortal flesh which did not burn it from the inside she could accept but that one of them would choose to cut his amusements short for the advantage of others in the sake ilk beggared belief. Yet if the helmsman and been swayed from afar and not pupped from within how had he known to act just then when he would do the most harm?

    Alas neither the sea nor the sailors fished from it had any answers in that regard. Perhaps the days ahead would give them... but not Esha suspected without a further price to pay.

    OOC: Hopefully the interlude does not break the flow, but I wanted to give you guys the chance to vote for longer on this one since it is not like a king dies every update. Not yet edited.
     
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    • Yeah, I'm with you, Esha. This doesn't seem like a Daemon action to me, either. It would be too difficult for them, IMO, not to mention too impersonal and, well, bloodless. Sure, there was fear and death, but the storm was relatively short-lived and well targeted, when it could have just as easily been used to bludgeon most of the fleet into scrap.

    It would have been all too easy for the Oceanids. One Oceanid alone could have done most of what we saw, let alone a group working together to really make a point.
     
    [X] Throw your support behind whichever of them seems most likely to keep the fleet together

    If we're trying to negotiate, perhaps we shouldn't hit the sacred war lever.
     
    Artemis1992 said:
    Kinda low participation, but then I guess this isn't a time where everyone can concentrate on quests...
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    Can't speak for everyone else, but what mental energy I have to spare has definitely been aimed at keeping up with what's going on in Ukraine and worrying about WWIII.

    Take care of yourselves, folks. 😔
     
    Ok, it looks like Ohun it is, let's see how this goes.
    Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Mar 10, 2022 at 8:04 AM, finished with 33 posts and 8 votes.
    • [X] Proclaim that since this was likely the malice of the enemy a holy man should lead the fleet, Ohun was regent for many years after all
      [X] Throw your support behind whichever of them seems most likely to keep the fleet together
      [X] Throw your support behind whichever of them seems most likely to keep the fleet together
      - [x] recommend Antonio
    Click to expand...
     
    Arc 12 Post 31: A Sage's Stroke
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    • A Sage's Stroke ​

    Second Day of Elnu-Hamba (Elnu Descendent), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)

    To say the mood is grim about the table would be to greatly mistake the hour, Torag Halfhand glares all about him like a penned bull, anger at the storm and at the foe there is there yes, but shame makes for a perilous bedfellow to it. By contrast Lady Akuto still seems straight backed and clearheaded as she greets you, though you cannot read anything behind her hard jade gaze. She had the most ships missing among her fleet you recall... and the captains of many Anwa clan ships are kith and kin of their lords. All of them had lost more them simply ships... and now comes the crucible that would lead them either going forward or back.

    Third person of note among the company is one who had been mostly at the side of Ansefu's throne, but he had rarely spoke Ponku commander of the King's fyrd in war and his cupbearer in peace. He is a man only a few years older than his vanished master, lighter of hair than most of the Anwari and sporting a shorter beard than most cured with southern oils. You might wonder if he is more concerned with mead than with spears had it not been for the long scar that arches from his hair line all across his cheek like a pale brand. There is something a touch unsettling about it... a wound that clearly must have been by sorcery mended, yet which had scarred which you had never seem them do under Inge's hand or Zaia's philters.

    Speaking of those who can heal with a touch of the hand Moru seems to be one of the most collected of the whole company. Perhaps because he does not care for the deaths of the Anwari, you cannot help but think uncharitably, but you banish the thought soon as it had come. The priest of Inoko might not care about the company he is keeping, but he cares deeply for every axe, every spear brought against the foe. His brother Ziku is absent to tend to an ailing steed who had taken a chill from the cold waters of the storm, not that you blame him. If Silver had been so ailing you would not lightly have left his side.

    Among your won company both Zaia and Esha had been summoned, for their skill at sorcery... though oddly enough not Inge. Perhaps Ohun did not want to be challenged on any portents he may make about the mood of the Dark Mother.

    As you have the thought the man himself rises to his feet. He is thin and gaunt of face, not like a man who is lessened but transmuted by some inner fire which burned away every part of him that was not necessary to his greater purpose: "You all know me for my name and my deeds, you have all followed me before though days fair and foul, I say to you now there has never been a fouler day than this, when we have lost our king to the machinations of the Anjo-oru, slain not in battle, lost not to ailment or mischance, but to an evil that reaches out from Korman like black poison. Dark is the day that such things could reach out their hand over the sea, but high had been the cost. They had thought we would falter, that we would flee like whipped currs, or even that we would fall on each other doing yet more evil in an evil hour. Nothing would please the Neverborn more. Let us show them how dreadfully wrong they are. Show them the courage of Lirman!"

    As he said the last his eye was on Torag, and his gaze returned in full. A promise that the clan lord would not be blamed for the deed of his ship's helmsman, you judge and it seems to have worked.

    The battered warrior nods in relief and calls out in recognition of the old custom that the captain of any ship and any endeavor must always be vigilant: "Ohun's Watch, I say it's Ohun's watch!"

    "Why call on the man who fled on wings of sorcery over bold warriors and captains all?" Poku breaks in with a look to the lady Akuto. "Let us follow the old ways, he who commands the most ships commands the fleet."

    "We are not some band to brigands in Rarzirah," Ohun replies. "I speak here for..."

    You catch the moment when he would have said 'the throne' or perhaps 'the king' with dreadful clarity.

    "If I go into the woods I follow the trapper who knows its dangers and if I go to sea I listen well to those who sailed on it," you cut in, hoping that the sheer strangeness of the words might keep any of the others from pouncing. "If we go to fight monsters out of the light of the world, follow the man who knows their ways and in the end we shall all of us stand victorious and return hale from war."

    "You fear the knife?" Lady Akuto asks coolly meeting your eyes.

    "I fear there are worse things than a knife aimed for our backs, things I do not have eyes to see nor the understanding of," you reply. "That I know what I am not skilled at as much as what I am does not make me weak, but wise. "

    "Wise then is it..." the lady trails off and looks towards Esha. "If we are to sail to war on the word of sages than let us hear from another, one who does not seek to lay claim to all our ships and all our spears. Speak..." a startlingly white smile flashes for a moment, though it has less of mirth and more a wolf showing fangs. "I have found that women are oft more sensible than men when it comes to the spilling of blood as we have more experience with it each moonturn."

    It takes you a moment to catch the jest, but when you do it is almost enough to draw a laugh from sheer shock. Yet when you see Esha's expression even the ghost of laughter dies. She is worried, worried and wondering. Her judgement is not like Ohun's it seems and now she wonders if she should give it true or shade it to fit with what he and you have said.

    What do you think Esha should do?

    [] Give honest counsel on what she thinks of the storm (risks the fleet retreating in whole or in part)

    [] Shade the truth in Ohun's favor (the clan lords are reassured/risk of strife if the fears are proven true at the last)

    [] Write in

    OOC: Sorry this took so long guys.
     
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    • It's probably a deliberate fakeout by DP, but I can't help but get 'treacherous advisor' vibes from Poku. He's basically got a goatee and a wicked facial scar...what's next, learning that he is Ansefu's older bastard brother who was never acknowledged? 🧐

    As for Esha's opinion, I would much prefer her to give her honest thoughts here. With Ansefu out of the picture, there is little worry for offending him by mentions of his sister, the Formless, Oceanids, etc, and that's what I think Esha believes as well.

    [X] Give honest counsel on what she thinks of the storm (risks the fleet retreating in whole or in part)
     
    [X] Give honest counsel on what she thinks of the storm (risks the fleet retreating in whole or in part)
     
    [X] Give honest counsel on what she thinks of the storm (risks the fleet retreating in whole or in part)

    Truth is (almost) always better than lie.
     
    I've just noticed this but wow mages are rare. It's one thing DP telling us that, it's another thing seeing it. @DragonParadox is this all the mages on the voyage ? Also do Adepts/NPC mage classes exist in this world?
     
    Arc 12 Post 32: Flight into Peril
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    • Flight into Peril ​

    Second Day of Elnu-Hamba (Elnu Descendent), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)

    Better a bitter truth than a lie you might be caught into later, you reason and thus you nod, assured that your meaning would be clear to Esha as the reverse. Thus she speaks "It would seem strange to me that the Neverborn would strike at us thus, doing great harm but not reveling in the pain they have caused and yet having spoken to fellows of the ill fated man at the helm it seems to me that he was forced into it, by means arcane or mundane," She shifts impatiently in her seat at the expectant silence that fell on the wake of he words. You see her fingers twitch as though she is near to tapping the table as is her wont when she is worried. "More I cannot say without guesswork which has sparred too many clever minds in its web as the spider snares the fly."

    "The Sea-Kin are against us then, the Daughters of the Ocean as we had feared!" Torag calls out, pointing an accusing hand at Ohun. "A question long asked has found its answer and if you had but uncleaned your jaw earlier old man then mayhap the king would be..."

    He never get to say the last word. Ohun rises to his feet, all swathed in blue green radiance like sunlight though rippling water and shouts in a voice that recalls the very thunder of the storm: "Do not tempt me, fool! Do not tempt me to give you those answers that would be the doom of you and all your House! Do you think I did not speak of my own accord? Do you think the king did not know my mind or that he acted in not knowing his pat? Bah..." In an instant he seems to shrink and it again an old man. "Soak your head in brine if it you will, don't pour it on ours as well."

    "I think... that we have worse things to be doomed by than words," Aina speaks for the first time. "Say now what you know that we all may judge and I for one shall follow as lord in this journey, by word and deed."

    "The Princess Lina chose other companions than the kin of her mothers, ones who were not welcome in Apuku, she did this unbound of will or limb..." Ohun explains tightly . "The Formless had come far to be in her presence and their words were to her liking. Neither one nor the other would have cause to send the storm only those we hunt..."

    Each of those present takes the revelation in their own manner, the Lady Akuto with aplomb, Torag with a none too quiet curse and Poku with a stoic nod... and much to your surprise none of them choose to go back. If there is one virtue the Anwa do not lack for it is bravery, this they prove again.

    ***​

    So it is that on the evening of that fateful day you come at last to the simple stone walled village. The arc of its gate is carved in the likeness of stone axes and axes bear the mean arrayed before it. Much to your surprise it seems Negu had kept his word... to the now dead king. Yet as you come ashore for the first time on Korman unchallenged you cannot help but feel that someone, something is watching out of the dark.

    What do you do that evening as the sailors come ashore in the village?

    Choose two:
    [] Get some rest, after the storm you could use all the sleep you can get (If not taken will roll a DC 15 fortitude check not to become Fatigued)

    [] Get to know this Negu face o face

    [] Walk around the village, to know more of the mood of the people and the manner in which you might be received in the rest of the island

    [] Speak to one of the leaders of the expedition
    -[] Lady Akuto
    -[] Poku
    -[] Torag

    [] Help organize the army coming ashore

    [] Write in

    OOC: Well you did not lose any ships and you even got some answers, looks like the dice on our side again for the moment.
     
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    • DragonParadox said:
    He never get to say the last word. Ohun rises to his feet, all swathed in blue green radiance like sunlight though rippling water and shouts in a voice that recalls the very thunder of the storm: "Do not tempt me, fool! Do not tempt me to give you those answers that would be the doom of you and all your House! Do you think I did not speak of my own accord? Do you think the king did not know my mind or that he acted in not knowing his pat? Bah..."
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    Oh Shit! Ohun just did a Gandalf boys and girls! For that, he has my respect.

    Also, @DragonParadox, the update needs to be threadmarked.
     
    Whew, I was worried we would lose more ships when the truth came out. I do think Ohun is underestimating the potential ire of the Oceanids. They might not know or believe Lina left with the Formless of her own accord, and they might not care, either. After all, she was meant to return to them, and I don't think they were concerned with her consent on the matter. All it would have taken was one angry Oceanid to brew up that storm and the winds we experienced.

    Everyone has definitely gotta get some sleep. A DC 15 Fort save isn't impossible, but it's not something I want to gamble on. Being naturally Fatigued is a pretty serious debuff. It's not too bad when the product of a spell or power, because it usually ends after a short duration, but genuine fatigue lasts until you get a full night's sleep.

    Conditions – d20PFSRD

    www.d20pfsrd.com www.d20pfsrd.com

    I also want to try to get a read on this Negu dude. We learned a lot about Ulk after such a meeting, enough to know to never trust him, though we missed the that he was a Daemon meatsuit.

    [X] Get some rest, after the storm you could use all the sleep you can get (If not taken will roll a DC 15 fortitude check not to become Fatigued)

    [X] Get to know this Negu face to face
     
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    [X] Get some rest, after the storm you could use all the sleep you can get (If not taken will roll a DC 15 fortitude check not to become Fatigued)

    [X] Get to know this Negu face to face
     
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