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

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[X] Goldfish

Things does not seem good.
Does somebody know what are mechanical effects of this curse?
 
I was really busy today, but I can write now so let's see about that wolfsbane
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Oct 22, 2022 at 2:42 PM, finished with 13 posts and 6 votes.

  • [X] Make ready to ride back to Orinilu with all due haste when dawn breaks.
    -[X] Get their side of the story in the conflict with Yayar, and try to learn what we can of the curse. Be polite and diplomatic, if possible, but resort to intimidation if necessary.
    -[X] If Megin is able to calm the proto-horses sufficiently for a group of them to be captured without delaying our departure, we will make the attempt. Otherwise, we'll have to come back another time. Zaia's well-being is of far greater importance.
 
Arc 16 Post 18: Uncanny Treasures
Uncanny Treasures

Eighteenth of Olweje-hamba (Olweje Descendent), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)

"The strength of the wolf is the pack, the strength of the land is the tribe,
The strength of the tribe is the honor that binds us, the heart of honor is the wolf"


You're not sure what you had expected out of a flying beast, part man, part wolf and part bat, but it wasn't the near poetic thought Swift Pebble passes on as the night grows old. Still the more the creature speaks the more you realize it... he isn't a beast. Savage yes, there is no trace of remorse in his manner and even Swift Pebble, bold as she is does not dare get too close to those bone-crushing jaws, but there was a reason behind the hunting of Ainar and the rest of the Yayar and it and listening to it your thoughts grow darker by the moment.

Eight times eight years times eight again ago the ancestors of those who would become the Moon Eaters had come to these lands starving and shivering, for the winters had been hard and the hearts of their neighbors harder as they drove them away with spears of flint and copper red as blood. Father Wolf had been their... god then as well, though you have a feeling the word does not mean the same to them as it does even to the folk of Orinilu still less to a Christian but they had not been like him in blood in those days before the Feast of the Deepblood.

Seeking what shelter they could among the hills whence the river Kine sprung they found a place that shone with its own light, but that light was not gold of the sun nor crimson of flame, it was 'a piece of broken moonlight' and well do you recall Esha's account of moon magic which is under the patronage of no god and thus much beloved of sorcerers like her.

This moon magic was wild and untamed and it was a poison to the people so they prayed to Father Wolf, but when he looked upon them he saw that the magic was in them already and could not be taken out without slaying them. So in imitation of his people he took in the moon-magic and became as flesh.... and they became as wolves Mooneaters they were.

"The fount is still mad, turn-and-turn-again make-flesh-bubble, claws-sharp wings wide...."

Ah... so that's why the skin of this wolf is not quite like the skin of the other, you reason, though that is not what most interests you.. It seems that the slaying of the mortal incarnation of Father Wolf was not the greatest ill the Yayar had inflicted on the Moon Eaters, certainly that had been itself and ill and impious deed, but nothing beside stealing some of the moon touched water of the spring, the Deepblood. Of course being allowed to take some of it was the agreed reward for defeating the wolf spirit made flesh... but none could be expected to do so and not be touched by the 'gift' of the wolf and made part of the tribe.

Well that is a right mess... though thankfully not all the news is ill Megin had managed to persuade enough of the horses to allow themselves to be taken in to fulfill your obligation to Hengo who is himself all too willing to leave.

But should you just part ways with the Yayar knowing they had taken sacred water from a spring that could 'poison flesh and bone and soul.'

What do you do?

[] Ask for some of the Deepblood in recompense for the harm the battle had done to the Fellowship

[] Try to persuade the Yayar chief to negociate with the Moon Eaters, you have a prisoner to leverage

[] Write in


OOC: Welp, you got the horses at least...now to deal with everything else you got out here.
 
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[X] Try to persuade the Yayar chief to negociate with the Moon Eaters, you have a prisoner to leverage

Time to do what we do best, and break out the 15+ social scores.
 
Again, I'm wishing Esha was here with us. She would probably have a better idea of the potential worth of the Deepblood, along with the dangers it might pose. Not super interested in getting any of the stuff, though, not when we don't know exactly what it is or what it does, or what kind of trouble it might attract from shapeshifters or Yayar tribesmen.

Leaving things as they are, after so much pointless death and danger doesn't feel like the way to go, either. It shouldn't hurt to at least try to mediate this conflict.

Hopefully this won't end up wasting too much time. We need to get Zaia a dose of wolfsbane ASAP.

[X] Try to persuade the Yayar chief to negociate with the Moon Eaters, you have a prisoner to leverage
 
[X] Try to persuade the Yayar chief to negociate with the Moon Eaters, you have a prisoner to leverage
 
"If we cannot find a cure and my mind starts to go make an end of me. I would rather die a man than live as a beast."
Ability Scores: +2 Wis, –2 Cha in all forms;
Do not worry, Zaia, your mind will even improve. :rolleyes:
Really great template, too bad it has such drawbacks.
Also, this double critfail is some kind of carmic justice for Zaia's double critsuccess during improvig Durendal and Tom's spear.

So, summarizing the situation: Ainar killed ("wrong-killing") spirit ("a Wolf that was more than a wolf") with a poison blade. It was a ritualistic duel for taking some of Deepblood water. Due to the trick Yaryar took it and did not become werwolves ("Moon-Eaters") themselves. After this wellspring become not well, that's why we saw Amalgam creature. Also, this tribe is really old, about half-a-thousand-years-old. Okay, I am agreed with a leading vote.

[X] Try to persuade the Yayar chief to negociate with the Moon Eaters, you have a prisoner to leverage

(In morning I red chapter in harry, so in evening I decided to decipher situation once more).

@DragonParadox , why this... wolf-bat tried to take Zaia? Was it an accident, or did they targeted for someone with his talents specifically?
 
Do not worry, Zaia, your mind will even improve. :rolleyes:
Really great template, too bad it has such drawbacks.
Also, this double critfail is some kind of carmic justice for Zaia's double critsuccess during improvig Durendal and Tom's spear.

So, summarizing the situation: Ainar killed ("wrong-killing") spirit ("a Wolf that was more than a wolf") with a poison blade. It was a ritualistic duel for taking some of Deepblood water. Due to the trick Yaryar took it and did not become werwolves ("Moon-Eaters") themselves. After this wellspring become not well, that's why we saw Amalgam creature. Also, this tribe is really old, about half-a-thousand-years-old. Okay, I am agreed with a leading vote.

[X] Try to persuade the Yayar chief to negociate with the Moon Eaters, you have a prisoner to leverage

(In morning I red chapter in harry, so in evening I decided to decipher situation once more).

@DragonParadox , why this... wolf-bat tried to take Zaia? Was it an accident, or did they targeted for someone with his talents specifically?

Human shield, he could fly, but that did not make him spell or arrow immune.
 
Arc 16 Post 19: Of Wolves and Snakes
Of Wolves and Snakes

Eighteenth of Olweje-hamba (Olweje Descendent), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)

Reasoning that after what passed in the night no man would want to have foes like the Moon Eaters you take Ainar aside and ask bluntly what he and his host mean to do now. The flames and the spears of your soldiers would keep the children of the wolf off him for this night and mayhap fear would ward him a few nights more, but they would keep coming.

"The Yayar do not fear death, the sluggard in rotting hay and the warrior in the thick of battle die just the same when the fated time comes for them," he answers to the cheers of his fellows. "We ride to the tents of the White Serpent with the Deepblood where we will be honored for our bravery. Let the beasts try to hunt us there."

"White Serpent?" you probe.

That is how you learn that one of the greater clans among the Yayar is that of the serpent, known for their skill at healing and their night ambushes both, that is where what you would tentatively call your new allies had been heading when night had overtaken them near your camp. Many clans are gathering under the banners of their chief Borun for the shamans had found the omens in the stars, a serpent is rising over the western horizon and it is the age of the serpent that is looming, or so at least you are told.

Alas Zaia is not here to speak of stars, nor mark in his journals the name of the great chief. You can but do your best to keep in mind the name and the instructions for how to reach the camp that Ainar and his company are seeking.

"The Yayar would not gather in numbers if it is not for war," Hengo offers, his voice hushed with fear, eyes jumping around the weather-beaten faces of the riders and the sharp horns of their beasts. How much you can trust a man who has shown himself so timid you do not know, but you are not without a way to ride there and see. Ainar gifts you with a token of his esteem, a bone flute carved from the antler of one of his former mounts he says. "I will mark well the sound of the flute and made it known that upon my heart's song none shall harm you if you come in peace to trade or to talk."

Gained Flute of Passage

What it says that the flute is carved into the likeness of a weasel's head you are not sure... unlike Swift Pebble who is very sure that she hates the thing for the remainder of the beast that had hunted her kin for so long.

As Ainar and his fellows ride off into the grey light of dawn, just staining the eastern horizon towards the distant hills Wanderer speaks: "What do we do with winged one? Free him maybe, make less foes? Kill him? More feuds, but less likely they can follow." It is clear he has not considered capture, but you have. You could try to make the deal that you had proposed to Ainar if you come back when time is not itself your foe.

What is to be the fate of the werewolf?

[] Free him with a promise that he does not lead his fellows against you and yours and hope he keeps it

[] Kill him, he is too dangerous to live

[] Keep him captive and take him back to Orinilu

[] Write in


OOC: And done, you guys are almost home free with the wolves if not the curse, though you might have made a new enemy as well as new allies for the longer term.
 
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I'm tempted to just kill it, but that doesn't really help us at this point. At least if we free it, the flying Werewolf might return to its fellows and influence them away from being our enemies. Killing it removes that particular creature as a potential enemy while increasing the likelihood that the rest of its pack will hold a grudge.

Keeping it prisoner would just be needlessly cruel, and I'm much more concerned about getting Zaia a dose of Wolfsbane than I am trying to transport it back to Orinilu with us.

[X] Free him with a promise that he does not lead his fellows against you and yours and hope he keeps it
 
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