Remove ads

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

Voting is open
Reader mode
Hmm, at the description I first though it might be a Hag, but Sea Hags look differently and no other Hag is adapted to the environment, unless we are playing tricks with templates.

[X] Goldfish
 
Remove ads
Arc 14 interlude 3: Down the Bottle
  • Threadmarks
    • Down the Bottle ​

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

    It was not that Antonio was afraid of the sea, that would have been mad for a sailor, but he was weary of it, as only a man who had managed to get lost on the waves and find himself on another world could and so he had asked the girl who spoke the tongue of bird and fish what she could tell of it. What really lay under the waves where no man could glimpse it and still have breath? What manner of beasts dwelt in the sunless depths? What made the seas deep and the mountains high? He came to wish he had not asked, for he found sand was made of mountains ground to dust and dust in turn could into mountains be forged, he found that the sea was deep more fathoms than the sky was high and that the dead passed down in the lightless halls and thence none knew the place or the hour of their passing. Would they come back into the realms of the living? Would they pass on to some reward or toil? Inge did not know and he was meant to serve the Power that watched over them.

    He poured a cup... then two... then three for good measure. One might have called it poor measure if one were minded to go counting, but he had no wife to do the counting and no priest either. He almost laughed at the thought, only afraid of how bitter it would sound. Man was not meant to drink alone, but then man was not meant to look down at the waves and wonder if the only friends he had in all the blighted world would come back either.

    Why the fuck am I here of all places, of all people? The thought rang in his mind like the great bells of a cathedral on Easter Sunday and it was just as heavy in the mind. Easy enough to guess why God in His wisdom might have sent the knight to right the wrongs of the world and slay dragons... even if it had come down to a fellow with a spear, a little harder to assume that the scholar had been sent here to unravel some mystery of the world to mend and to make, but why the fuck would they be on his ship that day while he was plying the same waters he had for years. Easy money that was all that he had thought of it as and now, richer than he had ever been before, not least because both his partners had only the vaguest interest in counting coppers, he could not help but wonder what next?

    Mayhap we will just stumble from one plot into another, from one perilous battle to the next, until at last by sword, by poison, by gods be damned water they would all meet their end.

    "Gods..." the captain said the word aloud, too low for any to hear it, just enough to taste it on his lips. There were gods here and miracles around every corner... at least enough of them that he could sail around with not one but three folks who could do them, so what did that mean for him, what did that mean for the ship, for the... magic he had done to himself. Even now he could feel a soft hum of interest turning into worry

    What the fuck would he do with himself now?

    One thing was certain looking down at the waves for any sign of shadows rising back the old dream to die old honored and rich had lost some of its sheen since he had come to a world where dead men could walk and strange gods held sway.

    OOC: A bit of a character study... also more votes would be nice.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • A quiet moment of reflection, a bit too much booze, and an existential crisis...sounds like a great opportunity for Antonio to have a psychic awakening. 😲

    Now would be a great time for Marcella to try to give her confused captain a nice, friendly hug!
     
    Remove ads
    Omake: The Korman war in the light of new archeological findings
  • Sidestory
    • I thought how this war is looked from the outside perspective... and new seasonal rating is a good cause to study it!

    "The Korman War had a significant impact on Anwa culture in the times of Bronze Age collapse. The abundant folk epos was formed during the Dark Ages and was written by ancient authors 4-5 centuries later after the war. These are mythological texts with rich amount of supernatural phenomenon. Severe storms which damaged the Lirman fleet during forward and backward trips are atributed to mischievous spirits, ancient heroes (such as Negu, Darum and Roland from one side and Unke the Second and Obari the Assassin from the other) fight with giants, undead and other mythologiacal monsters, duels are resolved by the will of gods and elder dragons (good review in (Mirkovich, 4002)).

    The only two synchronous sources about the Korman War are "Marcella's journeys" by Zaia of Alexandria and "Chronicles of northern barbarians" by Aphilwe of Oromo. Alas, the only remaining part of "Marcella's journeys" which describes the Korman War is "Catalogue of ships" which contains valuable geographical and ethographical information about ancient Lirman but lacks factual information about the war. The later synopsises of "Marcella's journeys" are heavily influenced by posterior mythes. "Chronicles of northern barbarians", on the other hand, pays little attention about "Anwa savages", although dedicates some paragraphs to this topic.

    One of the most myterious figures of Korman War is Unke the Second. According to Anwa epos, he is Unke the First ("Unke the Red") resurrected from the dead. Due to this connection, mathematician Fonenko in his pseudohistorical conspiracy theory "The New Chronology" merges both Unkes and claims that it is only the reflection of "Thomas war" which happened almost a thousand years later (the thorough critique of this conspiracy theory can be found in (Ulbreht et al., 3998)). Aphilwe, on the other hand, claims that Unke the Second was the conqueror from the Great Lands, but does not explain why Obari of Korman helped him during the war with his sister Aina.

    One of the distinct episodes of Korman War is the finding of so called "Silver sarcophagus" and its destruction. According to Phucymides, the ancient historian and author of one of the most comprehensive synopsis of "Marcella's journeys", this sarcophagus was destroyed to prevent the further resurrections of Unke the Red. In any case, this is a clear sighn of deep cultural decline in the eve of Dark Ages.

    This brief historiographical review helps to show the value of recent archeological findings on Korman. During the latest expedition... "

    Zhe Zhang, Hart Hastings, Alberto Giustiniani "The Korman war in the light of new archeological findings" // "The Historical letters", vol. 58 (4012), №7.
     
  • Sidestory
    • Arc 14 Post 10: A Mother's Woes
  • Threadmarks
    • A Mother's Woes ​

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

    "Why do you want to save a man who used you as his tool, to serve or to be broken?" The question comes without warning, without greeting on some eddy from the deep. You glimpse the strange figure out of the corner of your eye illuminated by the sword-flame. From Swift Pebble's words you had thought she would be hideous to behold, but instead find her to be balanced on the knife edge between the beautiful and ugly and all the more unsettling for it. "I heard of the folk from beyond and not just from his lying lips. I heard of the Wierdship but I have not seen it with mine own eyes..."

    Esha watches wearily, unsure of her motives. As much a fish out of water as you. The flicker of humor does not last long

    "Know that you have been deceived man of False Iron, the servant of Ikomi know from the first that you would have to face the Lonely Ones and the hoped that you would do battle, he hoped that you would cause them outrage and that then he could give you over to us as prisoner and recompense for the blood spilled. Thus might the Drowned King have held that which was not his and thus your use would have been at an end."

    "Who are you to say these things wench!" you snap, stung by the notion that you had been so sorely used and all the more so by the suspicion that that she might be speaking truth.

    "I shall not bandy names with those who might be foes..." a gust of boiling water and brine passes over your head. "Know that I am the mother..." a gasp, almost a sob leaves the 'woman's' mouth. "I am Lina's mother and I will not stop, I will not be denied my daughter who was meant for the sea and not the cruel land where all is parched and water flows only in thin trickles and at the fickle whims of Fate. I will not be his puppet. I will not see my daughter made His pawn because I lay with a mortal who was of 'royal' blood. Fech!" she hisses. "What matter to me the kings of men and their ember-brief lives, iron flows in their veins and like Iron they rot at the touch of water. Betrayer he was and son of a betrayer... now he is gone, down to the depths to the Formless to be molded by their twisted whims... a thousand forms they had, a thousand forms and one..."

    "Speak with a true tongue spirit!" Wanderer shouts before her rambles can continue. "I am no shaman, though here there are two, but by the hearts of my fathers I will not be made meat and bone!"

    For a moment you can only sit... float there in wonder, now knowing what to make of the warrior's words and by all appearances you are not the only one. The spirit or witch, whatever she might be even if she is Lina's mother blinks at you in confusion, the first time you had seen her blink you realize with a start. Then to your further shock she bows her head. In penance, you wonder, perhaps in thought. Then she speaks and her tone is not what it had been, softer yes, but also almost song-like, like something you would hear at the edge of sleeping. "I should not have laid this burden on you, but I know not of who else to ask. The Old Man will not speak to me and I am desperate, I must know where my daughter is and he says he knows not, that she is with the Formless, a willing guest in their halls. Oh how well he knows to pierce my heart with such lies."

    Shit, the thought is less a word and more the general implication of how deep in the proverbial village midden you are. A half mad spirit that is convinced her daughter could not have defected when you know with some surety that she has and if you tell her she might go up in flames again. Yet if you do not tell her then Ohun shall stay her prisoner. "What do you want from me my lady?" you ask, trying to find something, anything to get you out of this.

    "Talk to the Man of Many Shapes..."she looks at Inge for the first time, almost seeming to have missed her, or perhaps simply dismissed her out of hand. "You girl, you serve the same One, he will trust you, he will tell you where my daughter is. Get that from him and I will grant you any boon in my power, even his freedom if you ask for it. I... I wish to know where my daughter is that I may see her safe, no more and no less."

    What do you reply?

    [] Tell her what you know, Ohun is not lying, Lina went willingly with the Faceless

    [] Pretend to play along, and in the meantime have Inge try to get in touch with Lina via the local fish

    [] Writ in

    OOC Hopefully now you get why I said the rolls were hard to write up... the barbarian saved your social encounter.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • DragonParadox said:
    "I shall not bandy names with those who might be foes..." a gust of boiling water and brine passes over your head. "Know that I am the mother..." a gasp, almost a sob leaves the 'woman's' mouth. "I am Lina's mother and I will not stop, I will not be denied my daughter who was meant for the sea and not the cruel land where all is parched and water flows only in thin trickles and at the fickle whims of Fate. I will not be his puppet. I will not see my daughter made His pawn because I lay with a mortal who was of 'royal' blood. Fech!" she hisses. "What matter to me the kings of men and their ember-brief lives, iron flows in their veins and like Iron they rot at the touch of water. Betrayer he was and son of a betrayer... now he is gone, down to the depths to the Formless to be molded by their twisted whims... a thousand forms they had, a thousand forms and one..."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Liar, I think.

    If she had just wanted a daughter with a mortal she would not have chosen a king.
    She would not be so far removed from humanity as not to understand that power makes these things more complicated.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Really nice omake @Arhin, I love the premise. :)
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    You are welcome, it was a pleasure to write.
    I included references to the Trojan war, to the very real pseudohistorical New chronology, and I think that Thomas of Kent would leave mark on history! :)

    DragonParadox said:
    Zaia flinches back as she comes close, one might think him cowering behind Ripper if you did not see his hand reach for his belt-pouch.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    But we do not have Zaia with us, only Roland, Inge, Esha, Wanderer, Swift Pebble and Ripper:

    Goldfish said:
    [X] Try to rescue Ohun
    -[X] Roland will be accompanied by Inge, Esha, Wanderer, and Swift Pebble.
    -[X] Roland and Wanderer will each bring a Cold Iron spear in addition to their regular weapons, should they need to fight against Fey.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
     
    Last edited:
    Arhin said:
    You are wrlcome, it was a pleasure to write.
    I included references to the Trojan war, to the very real pseudohistorical New chronology, and I think that Thomas of Kent would leave mark on history! :)


    But we do not have Zaia with us, only Roland, Inge, Esha, Wanderer, Swift Pebble and Ripper:
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    1. Interesting parallel and yeah I imagine he very much would depending on what sill happen from here on
    2. Fixed, thanks for the call, that is what happens when I update too rarely
     
    I would prefer diplomacy. We had dream with Lina (or with someone who looked like Lina), and can tell this info to fey.
    Although situation looks quite dangerous.
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Voting is open
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top