The Rim and the Hammer (Exalted/Warhammer Quest)

[DragonParadox]

Year 1 After Arrival Results Part I​

It is not an easy choice to leave Skorlm with nothing but a promise to trade in peace from the cowed clansmen, but however useful they might prove the peril of being ensnared in the locals feuds seems too great.

The stars themselves are strange, the stars are wrong, that much can be seen even by those uninitiated in the mysteries of the heaven. The Silver Chair of Night is small and distant and beside it a baleful green luminary that none can name. The lands are unknown to eye of scout and map of elder ages alike. As for the people who call them home, they are a savage lot and all too willing to deal with the powers of the Wyld whose influence fills every stone and stream every blade of grass.

You will not lie, if you had been cast in this place alone you would be giving thanks to the Maiden of Journeys for the chance to study such a fascinating realm. But you are not alone, seven thousand souls depend upon your shepherding, a people who need to be fed and clothed, sheltered from earthly foes ad the horrors of the wyld and perhaps if the Sun should shine upon your stewardship brought once more to some semblance of the heights you enjoyed in the days of plenty and of glory.

Martial: Auspiciously Broken Haywain is a likable fellow and skilled in matters of war and husbandry alike, mayhap not the most creative of souls, but that is what he has subordinates for. Faced with a land unknown with perils unguessed the tasks of the Wyldguard will be many

[] Patrolling: With your maps now worth less than the paper they are made of it falls to the Wyldguard to fly out and make new ones, bold of wings are the scouts and perilous is their path. Specify which direction the scouts should fly in.
-[] South towards the sea, there are more small villages along the coast though none as chose as Skorlm, hopefully opening new avenues for trade

Result: 78 (Success)

The patrols report having found more of the same eastwards towards the coast villages and ports of the warlike barbarians who for the most part do not take well to winged neighbors, a few of them even hurled axes and spears with unnatural strength towards the Wyldguard hosts. However between the three other Dragonblooded who could make themselves understood in the 'Norscan' Tongue by means of charms they did eventually reach some understanding with the village of Aarvick and the the small island 'kingdom' of Ulfsland just off the coast. Many of the trade goods which the locals have shown to your soldiers are clearly not of their making, in both style and quality they speak of more civilized lands, though disturbingly not ones you know even from the most ancient of sources. Sage has even suggested buying a handful of the slaves we have been offered that we may learn of these distant lands, though other voices claim there is no place for the Wingless in Sazakan

Reward: Information, May open trade relations with Aarvick (Wood, Fish and Whale Oil) and Ulfsland (Gold, silver, pottery, wine, dyes, spices, slaves)

[] Restoring the herds: The hardy northern goats were not only a source of meat and milk for Sezekan, but also wool. Now those herds are lost, but the scouts have seen goats among the encircling peaks.
DC 44/60
Reward: Goat Herds 25/50 Food/Year;
Cost: 25 Wealth
Duration 2 Turns

Result: 78 (Success)

Though the goats of these mountains are willy and sure footed they are no less able to deal with trappers with wings than those we have left behind. Though it will take a while for their numbers to grow Hey assures you that the city will have meat, milk, cheese and wool by next year. The goats have also inadvertently prevented a a tragedy as the herders noticed they were more and more inclined to seek shelter in caves as the false-Luna grew larger in the sky. When it rose full one night a surge of Wyld energy filled the air, a time of madness and mutation as the spirits of the world writhed in agony. You say 'the world' and not creation because you are beginning to believe that the Wyld must have carried you much farther than you thought.

Reward: Goat Herds 50 Food/Year; Warning about the Cursed Moon [Locked for 1 Year]

-[] Hunt for Offerings: Just as the Wyldguard can look for beasts to hunt for food and meat so too can they hunt or rather those rare plants and animals filled with potent Essence which help fuel works of Thaumaturgy or even sorcery.
DC 65
Reward: 1d3 Rare Reagents which provide a +10 thaumaturgical or spirit negotiation actions
Cost 18 Wealth

Result: 121 (Critical Success) -> How Many: 3

As hoary hunters bearing dozens of storied scars make their way cautiously along the rivers and creeks, knowing that even the fiercest monsters of the Bordermarches need to eat and drink, setting snares and plotting out the chase young Chosen still drunk on the glory of the second breath charge headlong into the the fray.

For a wonder none of them died.

And as though to make particular mockery of the warnings of the elders a trio of bold new heroes manage to draw away and slay a pair of nesting Griffons, claiming not only the claws and hearts of the beasts but also a pair of eggs, which they insist can be hatched into tame Griffons to guard the skies of Sazakan.

Reward: Chimera Brains, Griffon Hearts and 2 Griffon Eggs (can be used as reagents normally or hatched in the hopes of taming them)

Diplomacy: You do not have a diplomat of any sort so this is a matter you will handle yourself
Choose Two:

[] Name a diplomat from among the Existing Council: By far the simplest way to deal with the matter the person will simply add to their existence duties and retain their voting privileges
-[] Sigh of the Flutes through the Willow Branches

Sigh of the Flutes through the Willow Branches takes his new position with aplomb and while some on the council call the move rash, none can say they it is radical. In truth it is more a return to tradition

[] Shape of the World: Find out more about Skorlmling society, culture and religion
DC Automatic
Reward: Information
Cost: 10 Wealth

The Skorlmlings worship a vast and tangled pantheon of gods, spirits and heroes, mingling the rustic prayer to the Terestrial gods with ancestor worship, though thankfully there is no sign of the cold hand of the dead among them and they do not practice the rites of necromancy. Shadowlands is any are to be found are far to the south in lands spoken more in legend and tale. Strangest of all their beliefs though is that the Skorlmlings, and indeed all Norscans by their account, do not believe in the cycle of reincarnation that holds sway over all of creation, but that they instead pass into the halls of their gods were they serve as warriors or thralls each according to their deeds in life. Some of these accounts, like the ones of being chained eternally under the sea to serve in Neiglen's crews seem so dreadful as to have been conjured from the nightmares of the Yozi.

Worse yet is the custom for the bold, the mad or the desperate to set out north towards the Twilight Land, a sort of testing ground at the very gates of he gods own land where it is said the unworthy are undone and the worthy are raised up as great chieftains and champions. To you have the descriptions of that place, which they claim to be more real then the world under the sun all this, has a dreadful ring of familiarity about it. They are worshiping not gods who dwell within the world of form and help order it, but the Rashka who wish nothing more than its destruction. They seek gifts of madness and mutation and hasten the world's undoing.

How do you react to this realization?

[] With horror, bar the gates, refuse further entrance to the barbarians, you will seek out the men of the south of which you have heard and deal only with sane folk

[] With Compassion, they are lost and befuddled, you must show them the way as was the duty of the Exalted in the days of old. Though you are no lawgiver you will do your best and pray to the Most High that it is enough

[] Write in

OOC: I decided to break this here, both to give you guys more time to absorb the results and because this is a big character moment and a big decision for Gus. What to do here should not be point nine in a twenty point plan.

 

[DragonParadox]

Year 1 After Arrival Results Part II​

A part of you recoils at the realization as a man who reaching his hand into dark waters feels the oily hide of some blind and grasping thing, but you remind yourself just as quickly, you are not the one ensnared. It is clear that these men of the north have been lead astray by the Rashka to become their servants, helping drive the world to destruction in their honor. They know no better.

You think back to the eyes of the children who had looked up at the trumpets that heralded your coming with awe and wonder, you think back to the grey bearded elders looking for a deal, looking for a way to get ahead in summer and guard against the winter. However dreadfully mistaken they may be they are not monsters, they are not beyond redemption.

Not all of them will believe you, that much you know sure as you do your own name. Men do not lightly forget the tales of their ancestors 'glorious' deeds, however dreadful the insight had been for you it would be a thousand times worse for them who had lived it and so they will turn away and call you liar. Sezekan must seek those of the south for allies while searching among those of the north who can be convinced to see sense and help aid us in combating their mad countrymen, turning them from the Rashka's grasp in time.

***​

Stewardship: Singer of the White-Gold Dream is a diligent and punctual worker, but you are very glad indeed that you are his superior and not his underling. Rushing along hither and yon fit to loose feathers as your mother would say he has far more ideas than time to implement them
Choose 3 Actions

[] Terrace Farm Planning: Another way to solve your food problem as well as potentially raise crops to trade would be to set up terrace farming, though with only vague descriptions to go on Dream would have to create working plans before the first clod of earth is turned
DC 30
Reward: Begin farming rice
Duration 2 Turns
Cost: 200 Wealth

Result: 46 (Success)

The long and laborious process of preparing the land for human use has begin, first clearing the trees and shrubs, branch and root, then the damning and channeling of a small river in order to flood the paddies. Though many of the workers were uneasy to so alter the flow and purpose of a river without first reaching an understanding with the local river god the Minister of Water Management, Song of the Rustling Blue Lotus reasoned that any purpose would be welcome to a god in a land in a land so infested with the Wyld. Certainly they have not seen fit to demonstrate any displeasure in person.

Reward: Work has begun [Action locked for One Turn]

[] Waterworks improvement: It has been half a century since the last time the city's ever degrading water management systems have been repaired, but between the large number of Exalted you have available and the ability to call forth elementals you are quite sure you can do more than simply patch it up. Entire apartment blocks could be reconnected, not to mention the possibility of using the old water works to connect the Essence engines of the city to more simple but still serviceable technology, mills and forges alike
DC 67
Reward: Improved Water Management; +2 Population Morale; +20 Wealth/turn in Tax
Duration 3 Turns
Cost 250 Wealth

Result: 26 (Failure)

Work progresses at first quickly with some hoping that they would not only match, but surpass the timeline set for the project. Alas it was neither the lack of Exalted or elementals that held off the improvement of Sazakan's water works for so long. The southern reservoir, whose restoration is key to the project is already inhabited. Shards of ice float in the dark waters and more than shards. Steel hard limbs branch from their tetrahedral bodies and seven sodded eyes glare out into the darkness, recognizing no power but their long dead masters. One of the Chosen was mauled and several unenlightened workers were killed when a sluice gate was opened unexpectedly.

Strangest of all the creatures do not seem to be elementals in spite of being creatures of ice. Charms that would command or at the very least slow your elemental kindred did not trouble the Shards in the least. After driving the Sazakanian work party from the reservoir they simply returned whence they came, sealing and repairing the path to the reservoir.

Consequence: Project Stalled; 7 people killed; Discovered strange icy creatures in the Southern Reservoir

[] Plant Healing Herbs: The Ministry of Sanitation has enough supplies of healing tinctures, ointments and teas to last it through a year, perhaps two if you are careful, but with many of the relic gardens now turned to growing food larger fields will be required to maintain the stock
DC 50
Reward Maintain stock of healing herbs for the use of the Ministry of Sanitation; potential trade good
Cost: 80 Wealth

Result: 47 (Failure)

The gardeners claim the soil in here lacks some vital spark that helps the healing herbs grow strong and indeed it does not take more than a look upon the sad, wilted things to realize they have a point. More skilled thaumaturges claim the element is not one of fire at all, but, reasonably, some aspect of Earth. Work continues.

Consequence: Action Locked for one more turn

Piety: The light of the sun is a comfort even in this far off land, though it seems distant you know that no matter where the Wyld may have deposited you while men strive towards excelency the eye of the Sun shall be upon you. In the meantime though you shall take counsel of lesser gods and learn where you had come to be and how this land came to be so tainted
Choose Two Actions

[] Question the locals about their faith: The magic of the shaman was strange and troubling beyond any charm and spell you have ever seen, you would learn more of the locals half-Wyld faith
DC40
Reward: Information
Cost: 15 Wealth

Result: 33 (Failure)

Perhaps you were less adept in hiding how disturbed you were at the realization of what the people of Norsca worship for they have proven resistant to speaking more of their gods with Willing Student of the Unseen Signs. By the end of the year all he has compiled was a list of superstitions about six in ten of which have to do with how to put a boat to water. Given that one of those superstitions involves throwing a barrel of burning pitch over the deck of a boat while it is fully crewed it is a wonder they still have boats

Reward: A compilations of Norscan superstitions

[] Seek out the City God: Long has the god of Sazakan wept in the deep places of the city, many have sought him and none have found him, but Willing Student of the Unseen Signs has some hope that the transposition may have jolted him from his sorrows
DC 80
Reward: The aid of the City God
Cost: 100 Wealth

Result: 111 (Critical Success)

Though you cannot match the glorious offerings which were given to the City Father of Sazakan in the days of old, food and drink, music and merriment you still remember the form of the old rides, by chance perhaps those documents have not been destroyed and have always been copied. Perhaps others before you have made the attempt, but you have what none of them ever did through the long torturous decline of the city hammed in by its ring of mountains even as it was so guarded, you have hope. Not only have more taken the Second Breath in the last several decades than in many centuries of history you are in a new realm far from the peril of the realm's puppets and filled with a new purpose to guide the people into the light of civilization.

So as the crane-lanterns fly on wings tipped with silver on the third second of the third minute of the third hour after sun set the god of the city Da Wei, He Who Dwells Upon the Pinnacle of Ice, materializes among your people.

Tall he is, like the towers of the inner ring which wind and time have never cast down, but gaunt and sallow of skin, one eye a dull grey like a broken window and the other the blue of glacier ice. Of ice are the wings upon his back jagged skeletal things that could only bear his weight by strength of Essence

"Why have I been called?" he asks in Old Realm, his manner sharp but not discourteous as he looks at you.

You keep your gaze perfectly level and reply:

[] To counsel us in our hour of need (Da Wei may be summoned to help with stewardship actions in his preview with the aid of a dedicated piety action; providing +15 to the action in exchange for 50 wealth)

[] To help lead us in make our way together in this perilous world (Da Wei takes a permanent position on the Solar Council in defiance of the Creation-Ruling Mandate; -2 Public opinion, Upkeep of 20 Wealth/turn; may freely designate one stewardship action in his preview per turn to receive his blessing and attention for +15)

OOC: I hope you guys do not mind me breaking up these updates like this, but I just find that it is easier for me to focus and write when I'm not trying to push out 10K words at once. Also these smaller votes make the format feel a little less impersonal to me at least.

 

[DragonParadox]

Year 1 After Arrival Results Part III​

The city is troubled enough already without the complications of kowtowing to a god most of them hardly know the name of. Privately you are certain that some more lasting arrangement will have to be reached. This is not Creation and you are going to need all the help you can get, both in recovering the legacy of the Sezekan-That-Was and in guarding Sezekan-That-Is. But that is a matter for another time, for now most of the people are in high spirits that the City Father has returned to you and 'the proper rites' are being practiced once again. The artisans in particular have been all but blowing out the doors trying to take advantage of the new blessing.

For his part Da Wei seems touched, though he tries not to show it too obviously. The mask slips most often around children whom he dotes on, often conjuring small treats and passing them into their pokers to find later with the skill he must have gained in the days when Sesekan was an important trading city and the haunt of many pickpockets. The custom of trying to slip small gifts into the possession of friends without them noticing is already starting to spread with the inevitable malicious pranking that comes with it having been put a stop to hard by an irate Carry.

Mayhap in time Sezekan will grow into a trading city once more in this strange land.

Sezekan gains Blessing of Da Wei: The City Father will, for a small consideration, enhance any bureaucratic or infrastructure working within the city (Add +15 to any stewardship action once per year)

Intrigue: Skulking in the dark has never been among your skills and to be entirely fair it has not been a skill of Sigh of the Flutes through the Willow Branches. He is more the sort to offer a willing ear and let the secrets of others flow unbidden towards his ear, but now there is a whole world out there and you would rather find out about it before it finds out about you... or worse ends up at your walls
Choose Two Actions

[] Willing spies: Given that Bron was inclined to sell his soul to you odds are he would sell his ears and voice for less. Easier to spy on the wingless when one is wingless also
DC 25
Reward: The beginnings of a spy ring among the Norscans
Cost: 2 Wealth

Result: 25 (Success)

All your attempts to make clear that you are not of the Wyld seem to have done little good as the Skorlmlings do not seem to have a name for Essence or 'more than mortal' that does not reference the power of the Wyld, and so for all they are polite in their dealings with Little Flute it mostly comes in the form of polite refusal of any and all 'gifts' and attempts to recruit them, that is until he realizes that they simply do not see how passing on rumors could be worth the price of that he is offering. So in the end he throws up his hands and does it their way, has them kill a goat and offer dramatic promises of service. You even partake in one of them.

Mental note, stay farther from the goat when the woman who 'prefers an axe' has a go at it. Goat's blood does not make a good addition to your wardrobe.

Reward: The start of a spy-ring in Skorlm

[] Petty spirits of the air: Little Flute has always had a gift for conversing with and gaining the confidence of the lest elemental spirits, perhaps in another life he would have been a sorcerer, in this one he is a whisperer whose voice carries far. From small spirits great things may be heard
DC 55
Reward: Learn more about the local gods and elementals
Cost: None

Roll: 24 (Critical Failure)

Sigh of the Flutes through the Willow Branches has had no luck trying to commune with the small spirits of the air within Sezekan itself, he suspects because it is a place filled with interlopers and bright with unfamiliar essence... and so he and a small detachment of Wyldguard set off south just out of sight of the walls to try again. The skies there are well scouted and you had all through safe.

What finds him is not an elemental, no spirit of the wind even the most fierce, but a mad puss-dripping horror of the Wyld that seems to have been begotten in mockery of your people, cursed with the most unlovely features of woman and vulture and boiling with foul inchor. Fortunately Sigh of the Flutes through the Willow Branches managed to hold the thing's claws at bay long enough for his escort to rescue him and slay the thing. It did not even leave behind a body, evaporating instead into a cloud of noxious gas. Alas the wounds it has inflicted are much more long lasing.

Consequence: Sigh of the Flutes through the Willow Branches Gains Trait: Wyld-Sickness, whatever this ailment it it clings virulently even to the flesh of the Exalted wracking him with coughs, shakes and a growing purulent inflammation (-2 to all stats)

Learning: The domain in which you feel the most at ease and yet also in which you have the most skilled councilor. Granted Shae can be a little intense at times, but that is a small price to pay for such dedication

[] Ship of the Air: Well alright more of a boat but the Fast Courier Excellent Air Boat has the potential to solve one of the most pervasive limitations of your military, which is only being able to carry what they can take on their backs into the air [Shae Project]
DC: 80
Reward: Fast Courier Excellent Air Boat ready for deployment
Duration: 2 Turns
Cost: 100 Wealth

Result: 101 (Critical Success)

The restoration of the broken vessel continues apace with a mixture of cheerful cursing of the last engineer to run the thing and the occasional arc of blue-green flame arcing thirty feet in the air in a 'mostly harmless display'. No one wants to take a bet on that 'mostly'.

A surprising amount of the Courier Boat's construction and operation proved to be wholly mundane, from the mechanism of the air screws to the gas sacks which can 'under emergency conditions' be filled with hot air, Shae believes she could design an Air Boat which uses no Essence and could be crewed exclusively by mortals and which would still function adequately, allowing for long distance trade carrying more than can be borne on the backs of the traders and easing logistics for

Reward: Restoration proceeds smoothly; plans for non-Essence air boat prototype unlocked

[] A Study of Taint: the locals claim the taint is particularly strong, turning the night when the false-Luna is full, though they are so poor at astrology that they cannot even predict that. Still, patience can make up for a lack of data. Stake out some beasts for a longer period of time under observation and see what happens
DC: ???
Reward: Information, more options relating to Wyld taint

Result: 100 (Success)

The results are instructive it stomach churning. The beasts are for the most part resistant to the 'normal' levels of taint present in the ground and the air, though one mouse did produce a litter of mutant offspring which devoured the mother with no more than normal exposure that was very much the outlier. On the other hand the beasts exposed to the green moon showed manifold horrific mutations, most of which aided in some way in the capture and devouring of live prey. Herbivores gained a taste for meat, some gained entire new heads and digestion tracks, almost all subjects showed increased aggression and elevated pain. It was as though something actively wanted to turn them into weapons, not merely to twist them to fit a particular story or the incomprehensible recombination of the Wyld.

The confirmation of a guiding intelligence came when a stag which had been captured and staked under the light of the false-Luna twisted into a more human-like shape gaining a semi-bipedal stature, enlarged brain and changes to the denture and head consistent with a carnivore... and then it started speaking.

From context most of what it said are curses and war cries as it attempted to strike down the guards and escape, but the language does have some similarity to Norscan.

Use of charms was required to calm the mutant and even so it proved worryingly resistant. If this process it commonplace in this land than one has to assume there are far more of these warlike flesh-devouring mutants out there being directed by some intellect beyond the bounds of the world.

Reward: Information about mutation, controlled beastman prisoner

[] Enchanting workshop: a Savant of the Old Realm would weep to hear you call it that, bit for your purposes a spear that is a little sharper or armor that is a little harder could save a life
DC: 45
Reward; Improve the quality of the Wyldguard
Duration 2 Turns
Cost: 20 Wealth

Result 52

While the training of enchanters does not capture the imagination as much as the study of ancient wonders nor does it have the alure of peril that this ancient land offers it is no less vital and so far at least it continues smoothly

Reward: Progress [Will finish in 1 Turn]

OOC: Since I know you guys are going to ask, yes, the Beastman only speaks beast tongue since he used to be s stag, but you can learn it because linguistic charms are just as strong as the social charms you used to calm him down.

 

[DragonParadox]

Rumors Year Two​

Blood Wolf Rising: A warrior from the distant east, Yargul of the Flayed Pelt, became master of the Wolf Moot, all those who did not submit to him died under his claws or else fled into the night howling in terror and dread. He claimed to have seen visions of Wolf-Father, Kjorn, leading him through a ravine of flesh and blood into the lands of the Norsii where would he be king by the law of the axe. Yet when the last champion lay broken and bleeding at his feet the prize that aught to have been his, long sought and little seen, had vanished from its place and none of the shamans could say for certain who had stolen it, though some blamed the greed of the Raven. They claimed to have seen one of his get take it... oddly enough a winged man. Perhaps the tales of your people travel further than you think. If so, you would be careful of new guests.

Time of the Axe: Countless villages among the mountains to your east have been put to the sword, their people taken as thralls by the northerners. On a clear night you could see the flames of their encampments upon the flank of the mountain like burning tears and you could hear the wailing of the prisoners being carried off. Yet they say some lingering bands of southern warriors still contest the peaks while others have fallen back as far as the sea and the walls of Aarvick.

Traders from the Great River: Though the name 'Marienburg' means little to you it is said among the tribes to be a great city on the water, a port far to the south under the dominion of merchant guilds and under the protection of the 'knife-ears' which make such a fearful showing in the children's tales of the Norsii. One would think that bedtime tales might be ill-received among the Skorlmsings. One would be wrong. Many of your traders heard of the wealth of the free-handed Marienburgers and practically overnight the offerings for your goods have increased... almost as if they have a buyer in mind. Perhaps it behooves you to seek out your own deals.

Raids upon Raids: If anything the warlike southern realm, servants of the Hammer God, or perhaps ancestor spirit, though the Norscans insist than he is no ghost, Sigmar continue to raid in his name, counting among their particular foes those among the tribes who have the ear of the spirits... and the touch of their strange magics.

Late in the year a company of three, ragged and snow-beaten, comes to the gates of the city seeking entrance. Not traders, though they bore many goods upon their backs, all their worldly possessions it would seem. Three women they were; grandmother, mother and daughter all of the same blood and all with the touch of power to them seeking sanctuary.

Their clan had been killed by the Empire-Men they claimed, but they were willing to serve 'the winged-lords' if you would take them in. If you would not, the eldest of them said then they would stay by your walls until they froze and may your unkindness have the company of their unquiet ghosts.

What do you do?

[] Take in the trio of Norscan spirit talkers

[] Do not take then in, you can deal with ghosts well enough

[] Try to get them a place in the nearest village

OOC: Sorry this is so late guys. I was distracted by Divided Loyalties latest update, but I did promise you guys an update so here it is.

 

[DragonParadox]

Year 2 After Arrival​

The realization that you are not within the bounds of Creation seeps into the minds of the people like water upon stone, first slowly, a niggling unease, then swiftly, a flash flood in the night, heavy with the weight of terror and rumor. Isolation has always been your ward, but now it is broken and you know not one hint of that lies beyond the tall walls of Sezekan. And yet there is hope also, in the green shoots that dot the growing rice paddies in the return of Da Wei the City Father, in the frantic work of the engineers as they let their craft... and in the aeries all across the city where as they have for generations children are being born and others are Sweeping the Stone, each with whatever honor and skill their hearts allow, but all will be welcome hands in the days and years to come.

Population Change: +35 (Population Growth of 0.5%) -7 (Warriors killed in dealing with the waterworks) - 21 -> Population now 7021

Two more mortals have also passed through the arduous process and have become enlightened, able to command their own Essence in order to empower thaumaturgy or command the works of the ancients.

2 Mortals Enlighten -> Now at 127

Martial: Auspiciously Broken Haywain is a likable fellow and skilled in matters of war and husbandry alike, mayhap not the most creative of souls, but that is what he has subordinates for. Faced with a land unknown with perils unguessed the tasks of the Wyldguard will be many

Choose Two:

[] Patrolling: With your maps now worth less than the paper they are made of it falls to the Wyldguard to fly out and make new ones, bold of wings are the scouts and perilous is their path. Specify which direction the scouts should fly in.
-[] East into the deep pine woods whence the sound of strange drums at times rings
-[] West, into the lands of the Skaelings, find what manner of tribes are the enemies of your new trade parteners
-[] North where the peat bogs lie, in that flat land a scout on the wing can see for leagues without the cover of the trees or of ravines getting in the way, but so too might they be seen
DC ???
Reward: Information
Cost: None

[X] Restoring the herds: The hardy northern goats were not only a source of meat and milk for Sezekan, but also wool. Now those herds are lost, but the scouts have seen goats among the encircling peaks.
DC 44/60
Reward: Goat Herds 25/50 Food/Year;
Cost: 25 Wealth [Locked for one more Year]

[] Wyldguard Hunters: The other, more immediate source of food is to simply hunt the local beasts, the local gods grown surly and over-mighty in the company of naught but barbarians might object, but you will set them aright
DC 50
Reward Hunting Grounds 15/Food/ year
Cost: None

[] Training the Guard: These are far more peopled, far more dangerous lands. perhaps the time has come to train the guard to a higher standard
DC: 58
Reward: Higher quality Wyldguard units, options to further specialize
Cost 40 Wealth

[] Direct Diplomacy: Having begun relations with Skorlm by proving your might in the blood of their shaman , perhaps you could gain warmer relations by doing likewise in the blood of their foes. They certainly seem to need all the help they can get with the southerners sailing to war.
DC 26
Reward: Improved relations with the Skorlmlings +10 Wealth/turn
Cost None

[] Release the Relic Finders: Trying to keep a Relic Finder in one place is like trying to keep lightning in a bottle, possible with the right skills, but probably ill advised over the long run. Having found themselves in a new land they wish to search for more relics and treasures that are their stock in trade
DC 50
Reward: Information, +1d50 Wealth
Cost: None

-[] Hunt for Offerings: Just as the Wyldguard can look for beasts to hunt for food and meat so too can they hunt or rather those rare plants and animals filled with potent Essence which help fuel works of Thaumaturgy or even sorcery.
DC 65
Reward: 1d3 Rare Reagents which provide a +10 thaumaturgical or spirit negotiation actions
Cost 18 Wealth

[] Raise more Militia: Though the present militia already outnumber the Wyldguard more are needed to meet the challenges of this new land to know how to defend their home
DC 33
Reward: Raise 500 more Militia
Cost 30 Wealth

[] Bring out the War Machines: Over the years the Voices who have come before you have put into storage many large scale weapons unsuited to the task of protecting Sazakan, either because the creatures of the Wyld made poor targets for them or because the Expenditure of Essence would draw too many eyes. The time has come to return them to service
DC 55
Reward: Functional Essence Weaponry revealed and prepared to bring back into service
Cost: None

[] Hatching Griffons: The beasts are fierce and proud, fit companions for a warrior, if you can gain their respect, and a good addition to your limited numbers
DC 40
Reward: A pair of Griffons will fight for you
Cost: None

Diplomacy: In spite of his lingering sickness Sigh of the Flutes through the Willow Branches has taken up the task of chief diplomat of Sezekan

Choose Three:

[] Aarvick's Prey: The tales of a warrior smith taken as a slave in the Norscan town of Aarvick have fired up the imagination of the Engineers and more to the point they offer the prospect of encountering another civilized people, however disharmonious their miserliness might be
DC: 44
Reward: Learn more about the prisoner and his people
Cost: 20 Wealth

[] See what the locals have to trade: Skorlm did not seem particularly prosperous to by your lights, but they almost certainly have some goods you lack and are sure to want some of what you can produce, find out what that might be
DC 25 Reward: Trade deal with Skorlm +4 Wealth/Turn
Cost: None

[] Friends of your friends...?: Find out who the Skorlmlings deal with in peace and how you might contact them without misunderstanding
DC 33/66
Reward: More friendly contacts
Cost: 15 Wealth

[] Give a Speech: Fly out before the people to raise their spirits and offering them reassurance and a vision for the future
DC 45/60
Reward: Increased +1/+2 Population Morale
Cost: None

[] Ulfsland mercenaries: The 'kingdom' is little more than an assortment of bandits and thugs and one fallen on hard times besides, but that same desperation might be useful to you, in spending their blood rather than yours and in the end who knows, they might even grow civilized, not quite as unlikely as the singing horse of tales.
DC: 35
Cost 30 Wealth/Turn
Reward: 500 Ulfsland Mercenary Bondsmen to serve Sezekan in peace and war

[] Southern Contacts: You have heard enough about the southerners to be able to find their ships on the wing. Attempt to peacefully contact one of them with the intent perhaps to send an envoy to their princes and warlords
DC 60
Cost: 8 Wealth
Reward: Contact with a southern ship, information

[] Petty spirits of the air: Little Flute has always had a gift for conversing with and gaining the confidence of the lest elemental spirits, perhaps in another life he would have been a sorcerer, in this one he is a whisperer whose voice carries far. From small spirits great things may be heard
DC 55
Reward: Learn more about the local gods and elementals
Cost: None

[] Converse with the Mad Mutant: The creature which was once a stag, reforged into something more akin to man, though not truly human presents a fascinating conundrum. What else beside its strange language has it learned in its dark enlightenment
DC: 66
Reward: Information ???
Cost: None

Stewardship: Singer of the White-Gold Dream is a diligent and punctual worker, but you are very glad indeed that you are his superior and not his underling. Rushing along hither and yon fit to loose feathers as your mother would say he has far more ideas than time to implement them

Choose One:

[] An accounting of the Cerulean Lute: People especially relic finders are not going to enjoy it when you ask them to show you all their 'loot' as Cunning Sage of Serendipity put it, but a good accounting of what you have could be vital to seeing what you can fix
DC 25
Reward: List of Utility artifacts of the Sazakanians
Cost: None

[X] Terrace Farm Planning: Another way to solve your food problem as well as potentially raise crops to trade would be to set up terrace farming, though with only vague descriptions to go on Dream would have to create working plans before the first clod of earth is turned
DC 30
Reward: Begin farming rice
Duration 2 Turns
Cost: 200 Wealth[Action locked for One Turn]

[] Waterworks improvement: It has been half a century since the last time the city's ever degrading water management systems have been repaired, but between the large number of Exalted you have available and the ability to call forth elementals you are quite sure you can do more than simply patch it up. Entire apartment blocks could be reconnected, not to mention the possibility of using the old water works to connect the Essence engines of the city to more simple but still serviceable technology, mills and forges alike
DC 67
Reward: Improved Water Management; +2 Population Morale; +20 Wealth/turn in Tax
Duration 3 Turns
Cost 250 Wealth (Unavailable until the Ice Creatures have been dealt with)

[] Plant Healing Herbs: The Ministry of Sanitation has enough supplies of healing tinctures, ointments and teas to last it through a year, perhaps two if you are careful, but with many of the relic gardens now turned to growing food larger fields will be required to maintain the stock
DC 50
Reward Maintain stock of healing herbs for the use of the Ministry of Sanitation; potential trade good
Cost: 80 Wealth [Locked for One more Turn]

[] Nest Industries: Many Clans of the Sazakanians work to produce one thing, be that pottery, knives or a fine woolen shawl from raw resources to finished product. That is by Dream's account a waste of time and labor. Before the Great Contagion the so called 'Nest Industries' worked to ensure specialization of young air-folk in specific professions, much as one might a healer or an engineer. With the population having finally bounced back you can try to reintroduce the system
DC 66
Reward: +40 Wealth/turn More efficient good production; -1 Population Morale
Cost: 300 Wealth

[] Found Lumber camp: While Sazakanisns no great need of wood as a construction material it is of vital importance in keeping warm and safe though the long cold winter months
DC 53
Reward: Gain Lumber camp +10 Wealth/turn; Gain Lumber as trade good
Cost: 35 Wealth

[] Brewing rice wine: An old proverb says that man cannot live by eating rice alone, one must also seek enlightenment, the nourishment of the soul, the jest with which it is oft replied is that the speaker must not have tried drinking rice as well
DC 28
Reward: Rice wine as trade good +1 Population Morale

[] Fire up the forges: For a long time you have had far more capacity for forge weapons and tools than you did hands to use them, odds are the locals would be more than happy to buy weapons off you, if you are willing to become a supplier of weapons in their wars and raids
DC: Automatic
Reward: Tools and Weapons as Trade Good
Cost: 50 Wealth

[] Aerie Growth: It is becoming increasingly clear that one of the most fundamental limitations you will face in this new world is a lack of people. One of the things Dream Suggests to deal with this fact is to help young families set up in new apartments without needing to work long hours or count on the support of their clan matriarch or patriarch. No doubt there will be come grumbling over it in the short run, but it should pay great divides in the long run
DC: 30
Reward +0.1 Population Growth +1 Population Morale
Cost: 75 Wealth/turn

Piety: The light of the sun is a comfort even in this far off land, though it seems distant you know that no matter where the Wyld may have deposited you while men strive towards excellency the eye of the Sun shall be upon you. In the meantime though you shall take counsel of lesser gods and learn where you had come to be and how this land came to be so tainted
2 Rare Reagents Available, may select actions to grant +10 to

Choose Two:

[] Festival of the Sun: Honor the Unconquered Sun, through whose light all things are made excellent that the people may rejoice and the land should know you for your true allegiances
DC 44
Reward: Festival to the Unconquered Sun +1 Population Morale ???
Cost: 22 Wealth

[] Converse with the gods of the Mountains: Nearest to Sazakan and likely the most mighty of the gods of the nearby realm the mountain gods are also likely to be the most perturbed by what has gone on. Mountains do not like it when other mountains move
DC: ???
Reward: Can bargain with the god in question
Cost 20 Wealth

[] Converse with the god of the nearby river: Not as mighty nor as unforgiving as the mountains river spirits can nonetheless be capricious in their moods, moving from wrath to good cheer and from formality to seduction
DC: ???
Reward: Can bargain with the god in question
Cost 15 Wealth

[] Tame the Gods of the Forests: in your experience the Gods who have had the dominion of an untamed forest turn.. strange and need a firm hand to react any sort of agreement beneficial to both sides
DC: ???
Reward: Can bargain with the god in question
Cost None

[] Da Wei's aid: With Relic and ritual, with sacrifice befitting of his nature and stature beseech the aid of the City Father of Sezekan to the work of the city
DC Automatic
Reward: +15 to chosen Stewardship action
Cost: 50 Wealth

[] Question the Locals about their faith: The magic of the shaman was strange and troubling beyond any charm and spell you have ever seen, you would learn more of the locals half-Wyld faith
DC40
Reward: Information
Cost: 15 Wealth

[] A Study in Cults: The Exalted as much as gods can draw power from mortal faith, given the awe that your coming has had on the people of Skorlm that may present an opportunity
DC 66
Reward: A greater understanding of how to found a cult among mortals
Duration: 2 Turns
Cost: None

[] A Cure for the Spirit: With Little Flute's sickness lingering it has become clear that more than simple healing herbs and incense are needed to cleanse his body and Essence. A Ritual in honor of Luna whose ever changing form no sickness can overcome seems the most likely to rid one of this affliction
DC ???
Reward: Sigh of Flutes through the Willow Branches is cured
Cost: 30 Wealth

Intrigue: With Sigh of Flutes through the Willow Branches having taken up the task of diplomacy it falls to you to deal with the more covert matters... or more reasonably pass this on to someone else

Choose One:

[] A better Class of Spy: Listening in on rumors in the longhouse costs nothing and gains you little, what you would rather have is an ear nearer to the ear of the local tribal leaders
DC 75
Reward: The beginnings of a spy ring among the Norscans
Cost: 50 Wealth and 15 Wealth/turn Upkeep

[] Inner Network: perhaps the time has come to formally pay one's informants, that you may receive more than rumor from the city
DC 33
Reward: internal Rumor Mill

[] Investigate Councilor (Write in which): You do not know that much about the people whom you share a council chamber with. For good or for ill you would learn more (Can be taken multiple times)
DC: 20+ the Target's Intrigue
Reward: information on the Target's plans and any hidden traits
Cost: 25 Wealth

[] Choose a new Spymaster: You will need someone who knows the shadows to walk through them and yet whose heart is pure... or at least who is inclined to stay bought
-[] Select from among the People: You can more easily trust the Sezekanians, but wings are a rather obvious mark of one's origin and no matter how skilled one is at skulduggery they would start at the same disadvantage as the rest of you
-[] Select from among the Norscans: They are likely to know more of the world and its dangers, but they are also more likely to be bound to it with bonds of loyalty
-[] Summon an Elemental: Are you not a sorcerer? Call and bind to your purpose one who moved through the air unseen, who can slip through the deepest waters, who can dwell unseen in the depths of the earth or... Come to think of it fire would be a poor choice, but the others are good.
DC: Variable

Learning: The domain in which you feel the most at ease and yet also in which you have the most skilled councilor. Granted Shae can be a little intense at times, but that is a small price to pay for such dedication
2 Rare Reagents Available, may select actions to grant +10 to

Choose One:

[] Ship of the Air: Well alright more of a boat but the Fast Courier Excellent Air Boat has the potential to solve one of the most pervasive limitations of your military, which is only being able to carry what they can take on their backs into the air [Shae Project]
DC: 80
Reward: Fast Courier Excellent Air Boat ready for deployment
Duration: 2 Turns
Cost: 100 Wealth [Will finish in One Turn]

[] Dragon Armor Survey: The Armor of the Immaculate Dragons is a precious and potent armor of the First Age... it is also of no use in pieces. Yet in spite of that fact many Dragonblooded keep those pieces as mementos, not to mention that certain suite were kept by the descendants of Azure Dragons who never took their second breath. There might even be intact armors out there... though you doubt it
DC: 35
Reward: An accurate accounting of all the power armor in the city, no functional though it might be
Cost: 50 Wealth

[] Delve into the archives for lore: A treasure trove guarded not by mad gods and dangerous automata, but by the sheer disorder that comes upon any hall of learning many centuries old. Still this is the place without which you never would have learned to cast sorcery and so you are inclined to respect the gamble of seeking
DC 25
Reward: Some form of First Age lore

[] Scavenge Essence Pumps: one of the most complex pieces of technology in the city, clearly eclipsed only by the Reality Engine, the four great Essence Pumps once powered a city of a quarter of a million people. Now only one remains in operations, but until now no one has dared scavenge the other three
DC 65
Reward: Greater understanding of Essence infrastructure, a chance to restore another pump?
Cost: None

[] Mutant Autopsy Understanding the physical and especially the spiritual mutations of those exposed to the light of the Green Moon might help explain the cause and perhaps offer some relief. Shae even thinks it could be the key in creating wards against creatures similar to the onee which attacked Little Flute
DC: 40
Reward: Greater understanding of physical and spiritual mutation +10 for A Cure for the Spirit

[] Higher Education: If there is one thing you lack more than anything else it is... Exalted, but next to that you really lack thaumaturges. It will be costly, but you can train more of them for the good of the city
DC: 20
Reward: Increase the standard of Education +5 to all engineering actions from the greater number of skilled hands
Duration: 3 Turns
Cost: 400 Wealth

[] Mobile Essence Lanterns: Of all the works of the Old Realm, the humble Essence Lantern is the most well understood. Shae thinks she knows enough to make a portable version including a crude Essence capacitor. Such a thing could be of use to scouts and Wyldguard on patrol, but most importantly it would serve as proof of concept for more advanced artifacts
DC 70/90
Reward: Mobile Essence Lanterns
Cost: 150 Wealth

[] Enchanting workshop: a Savant of the Old Realm would weep to hear you call it that, bit for your purposes a spear that is a little sharper or armor that is a little harder could save a life
DC: 45
Reward; Improve the quality of the Wyldguard
Duration 2 Turns
Cost: 20 Wealth [Will Finish in one Turn]

[] Gears of Ice: Shae suspects the icy creatures in the reservoir are construct servitors of a sort who are either following some purpose now forgotten or have gone rogue. Understanding their programing could be key to deactivating them, or perhaps even harnessing them, though as with all the great workings of the Old Realm it will be a perilous undertaking
DC: 85
Reward: Deal with the Shard Creatures
Cost: 10 Wealth

Personal Actions: Not available while Gus holds the Intrigue position on his own

OOC: Welp, this was an easier turn to write than the last one because there were more hooks for you guys to engage with... though that also means you guys will have to prioritize what you want more carefully. *Yoda Voice* Begun the AP crunch has.

 

[DragonParadox]

Year 2 After Arrival Part I​

The realization that you are not within the bounds of Creation seeps into the minds of the people like water upon stone, first slowly, a niggling unease, then swiftly, a flash flood in the night, heavy with the weight of terror and rumor. Isolation has always been your ward, but now it is broken and you know not one hint of that lies beyond the tall walls of Sezekan. And yet there is hope also, in the green shoots that dot the growing rice paddies in the return of Da Wei the City Father, in the frantic work of the engineers as they let their craft... and in the aeries all across the city where, as they have for generations, children are being born and others are Sweeping the Stone, each with whatever honor and skill their hearts allow, but all will be welcome hands in the days and years to come.

Population Change: +35 (Population Growth of 0.5%) -7 (Warriors killed in dealing with the waterworks) - 21 -> Population now 7,021

Two more mortals have also passed through the arduous process and have become enlightened, able to command their own Essence in order to empower thaumaturgy or command the works of the ancients.

2 Mortals Enlighten -> Now at 127

Martial: Auspiciously Broken Haywain is a likable fellow and skilled in matters of war and husbandry alike, mayhap not the most creative of souls, but that is what he has subordinates for. Faced with a land unknown with perils unguessed the tasks of the Wyldguard will be many

Choose Two:

[] Patrolling: With your maps now worth less than the paper they are made of it falls to the Wyldguard to fly out and make new ones, bold of wings are the scouts and perilous is their path. Specify which direction the scouts should fly in.
-[] East into the deep pine woods whence the sound of strange drums at times rings
DC ???
Reward: Information
Cost: None

Result: 50 (Success)

To say the village of Kodradfief has seen better days would be vastly under-counting the tragedies that had been heaped upon it. Having been a prosperous trading town some eighteen years ago it apparently fell afoul first of some particularly barbarous greenskin mutants known as 'orcs', then in the savage tradition of this land it was raided and preyed upon by its neighbors with only the strong rune-carved walls preventing its utter destruction. A generation after that it had seen the stoning of a shaman known only as the 'crow-friend' not because the people of the town do not know his name, but because they are too terrified to speak it for fear of what happened next.

Plague had haunted the fortress, starting with the family of the chief slowly infecting all those high in station who had kept some modicum of wealth, whole ships fled and none returned, then in the darkest hour the shaman had returned seemingly from the grave writhing with worms and maggots. He offered an ultimatum, submit or be consumed. The chief had chosen to be consumed, but not by sickness, but by fire.

It is said that the Hound was with him for a beast with a mane of fire rose from the pyre and consumed the unliving shaman, the plague abated and life continued, but the people of Kodradfief had never again chosen another jarl for they claim 'none could match the courage of Jarl Sigfried' and so that none might match his folly. They are lead by a council of the heads of households, young and old.

Reward: Information, potential new trading partner

[X] Restoring the herds: The hardy northern goats were not only a source of meat and milk for Sezekan, but also wool. Now those herds are lost, but the scouts have seen goats among the encircling peaks.
DC 44/60
Reward: Goat Herds 25/50 Food/Year;
Cost: 25 Wealth [Locked for one more Year]

Result: 87 (Success)

It might not be the most exciting of developments, but it is hard to argue with a leg of goat with herbs and the fresh milk has been greeted with many cheers by the children of Sezekan. The beasts are more fertile and hardy than even you had been expecting, perhaps to compensate for the tainted land... or some whisper because of it. Already rumors of the beast mutants are starting to circulate and breed unease, hopefully all of this will settle down once the food is proven to be safe.

Reward: Goat herds +50 Food/year

[] Bring out the War Machines: Over the years the Voices who have come before you have put into storage many large scale weapons unsuited to the task of protecting Sazakan, either because the creatures of the Wyld made poor targets for them or because the Expenditure of Essence would draw too many eyes. The time has come to return them to service
DC 55
Reward: Functional Essence Weaponry revealed and prepared to bring back into service
Cost: None

Result: 57 (Success)

You did not find nearly as much as you had hoped, a handful of heavy implosion bows, only one of which is still in working order, three very personal scale essence canons, which all appears to have been bound through some sort of blood sorcery to now dead users requiring effort to attune to new users, and a single large essence twister, still in perfect working order, though looking at it you cannot help but think of all the times its powerful and non-lethal force projection might have saved more lives.

Weapons Gained:

• 1 Working Light Implosion Bow
• 4 Broken Implosion Bows
• 3 Personal Scale Essence Canons (cannot be attuned without study)
• 1 Working Essence Twister

Though the Commander of the Wyldguard would see some of these ancient wonders used at once, claiming that it will improve both war-fighting capability and the morale of the people,the engineer in you recoils at the notion of putting such irreplaceable artifacts in harm's way.

What do you do with the weapons?

[] Hand out everything that works to people who can use it, you can study the broken examples (Higher combat both of heroes and the Wyldguard, +1 Public Opinion)

[] Keep everything for study (Bonuses to repair/reverse-engineering)

OOC: I did not get as far with the results as I would have liked, but given the worries last turn about public opinion this seemed like a good vote to offer.

 

[DragonParadox]

Year 2 After Arrival Part II​

Much as it pains an engineer's heart better to use everything you have now than let it gather dust in storage awaiting study. After all there are still plenty of broken examples of Essence-crafting to work with and any thaumaturge worth their guiding feathers should know how match and repair such craft. If you did not the city entire would be long dead by now.

Diplomacy: In spite of his lingering sickness Sigh of the Flutes through the Willow Branches has taken up the task of chief diplomat of Sezekan

Choose Three:

[] See what the locals have to trade: Skorlm did not seem particularly prosperous to by your lights, but they almost certainly have some goods you lack and are sure to want some of what you can produce, find out what that might be
DC 25 Reward: Trade deal with Skorlm +4 Wealth/Turn
Cost: None

Result: 38 (Success)

Though it has been many a year since Sezekan has traded with any but the gods and spirits you still well recall that the days of the city's glory were built upon its trade and so it is with some trepidation on the matter that Little Flute proposes a trade to the Skorlmlings, inviting some of the wingless with the beasts of burden and their armed guards to the very walls of the city. Hey had proposed instead the creation of some manner of waystation where the traders could set their wares for the perusing of people on the wing, but it quickly becomes apparent that this cannot be so, you simply do not have the manpower to maintain any outposts and it is not as if the city itself can be kept a secret.

Ingots of iron and of copper, amber, mead and beer, salted fish and tar for caulking, geese and chickens scrambling, all these pass through the south gates in exchange for pottery and tools, buttons, clasps, needles and combs, dyes, medicines and scents. Given the sheer hunger for trade that the locals have you suspect more will come in time seeking the works of Sezekan, though alas not all will be seeking it in peaceful trade, of that you are sure

Reward: Trade deal with Skorlm +4 Wealth/Turn

[] Petty spirits of the air: Little Flute has always had a gift for conversing with and gaining the confidence of the lest elemental spirits, perhaps in another life he would have been a sorcerer, in this one he is a whisperer whose voice carries far. From small spirits great things may be heard
DC 55
Reward: Learn more about the local gods and elementals

Result: 87 (Success)

It is said that he who is struck by lightning once is most careful of tall spires and so it was with Little Flute as he sent out his summons anew, seeking out those small things that have kinship with the air, with sweet scent of honeysuckle he tempted them and leaping green driftwood flames mesmerized them. Onto them he offered that singular sacrifice they could not long resist, curiosity. As soon as he felt the air move with a will invisible he started talking, about himself, about his people, tales true and fanciful by turn, fantastical and strange, daring the watchers to guess one from the other. Though some eventually became bored and distracted more came down from the mountains and through the woods to listen to his words. Playful gusts and unseen jabs they were by day, but by night they shone like fireflies in colors that bewildered the eye.

"Who are you, Crow Pecked? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you, Wolf's Undoing? What do you seek in the Hollowed Woods...?"

So it goes in a manner that would drive a less patient soul looping end on end, but with other willing souls flying windward and helping him to keep the attention of his new admirers, Little Flute manages to coax some sense and answers out of them. In perhaps the most dramatic bit of self-aggrandizement he has seen of such minor spirits they are called Radiants and their motley gathering a cluster, they are not wholly things of the air, but of light and music also. At first Little Flute thinks that their insistence that they do not speak to mortals often is an attempt of ingratiating themselves by emphasizing the honor that had been bestowed upon him, but as he learns more of his diminutive guests another truth unveils itself. They draw upon the Essence of the world directly to sustain themselves, the Essence of living and Enlightened beings. The only humans they would find interesting are those who deal in the occult and they probably would not take the constant pinching of their power well. Sigh of the Flutes through the Willow Branches had not even noticed it until they pointed it out. One of the Chosen of the Dragon would practically stand in he middle of the cluster for hours on end before the drain caught up with the natural recovery of Essence.

Trying to get information out of them is like pulling teeth, sometimes it seems like trying to pull a hen's teeth, but eventually you get somewhere. According to the spites the terrestrial gods in this land are wild and mistrustful of mortals for they fear being shackled or consumed by wyld-drunk madmen, trusting only those with a long history of service and sacrifice. Even the barbarians though are not as wicked in their despoiling of the land as the Braying Children of the Hateful Moon, shaggy footed things that come down out of the mountains with the snow-storms, Horned Ones that dance ruin into being.

They hate works of Bright Craft like they do things Green-Growing, they come they come, they come for you.

Alas the memories of spites are not the best when they had not been instructed to remember things so they can give neither numbers not a useful timetable for this threat.

Reward: Information; Sigh of the Flutes through the Willow Branches gains Spite Spies: The little ones know much and for one with the patience to listen they tell much, but they leave less time for other matters +3 to Intrigue -1 to Stewardship; More spite Actions unlocked.

[] Aarvick's Prey: The tales of a warrior-smith taken as a slave in the Norscan town of Aarvick have fired up the imagination of the Engineers and more to the point they offer the prospect of encountering another civilized people, however disharmonious their miserliness might be
DC: 44
Reward: Learn more about the prisoner and his people
Cost: 20 Wealth

Result: 74 (Success)

The man that is brought before you under guard by warriors of Aarvick has clearly seen better days as the scars that lines his now bald head show, but though that head barely reaches your chest and gaunt from his captivity you do not mistake that for weakness. His keepers aren't fingering the butts of their axes because they are worried that you will betray them. Skin fair from long years underground faintly mottled with old bruises clings to bones that are heavier and stouter than the norm and even the muscles on his arms mark him as a smith. Had some flesh smith of old had crafted his folk to make them more hardy and fit for battle? You wonder with a pang of sympathy.

Spoiler: Galdr Goldgut

"Here's the Goldgut just as we promised, now hand us the gold," the leader of the slavers says without preamble or courtesy, though he shrinks in on himself under your answering glare.

The 'dwarf's' eyes dart up at you not with trepidation, a broken slave awaiting his fate, but with a gleam of cold calculation. It's a good thing you are not planning to keep him in chains.

As you take out the small pouch the Aarvick adds: "Don't be cutting his beard now or he'll go mad with rage and not be worth dog's spit. Old Thror learned that the hard way with the other one who came with him."

At these words the dwarf throws him a look of such bitter hatred that the Norscan, armed and armored for battle though he is, actually steps back and makes a warding gesture against the evil eye. Galdr, as you learn is his name is, certainly seems to have taken as fine a care of his beard as he could under the circumstances, you note.

After the Norscans had gone you strike his chain yourself, the flawed iron offering little resistance to jade tipped chisel you still keep on you at all times, though the need to make on the spot repairs unexpectedly is admittedly smaller now that you are the voice.

"What are you... what do you want?" Galdr rumbles, there is still anger in his words, but also a hint of surprise.

How do you introduce yourself and your people to the dwarf?

[] As strangers chance-brought looking to make a new life for yourselves in this land

[] As civilized folk hurled into the midst of Wyld-worshiping barbarians

[] As craftsmen and artisans, sharpers of essence and makers of wonders

[] Write in

OOC: Meeting a new people is important enough to break I feel, especially as how you present yourselves now will be the basis for interactions going forward.

 

[DragonParadox]

Of Storm and the Stone ​

Year 2 After Arrival

"Oh what all right thinking people want, safety for myself and for my clan, wealth and prosperity, to recover the knowledge of those who have come before us and perhaps in some small way refine it." You look the dwarf up and down as he opens his mouth, noting that his beard is starting to stand on end from the lightning kiss of your aura. "Oh, you mean what do we want with you. The chance to converse with a civilized folk who do not think worshiping the blasted Wyld is a good way to get ahead in life."

"What's the Wyld?" Heavy brows like stone overhangs lower in suspicion as he rumbles the words.

"What the Norscans would call the Spirit World or the True World, but they are rather the problem I spoke of earlier," you sigh, exasperated that you only have this tongue to speak in

From his answering glare you suspect Galdr had taken that to be an affront to his wits. Prouder than a thunderbird in storm season. You are aware that particular sin might be impugned to you just as readily, but you are not wearing rags in the growing autumn chill with no real hope but the charity of Sezekan to make it home.

"Aye, the 'Norscans' is it? And what are you be calling yourselves?" the dwarf finally rumbles.

"We are the People of the Air, Once and Forever Sworn to the Creation Ruling Mandate, Keepers of the Law That Was Given and this is Sezekan, the City Enduring. Now it is a council that rules over us and I am by grace of wing and acclamation the Voice of the People. Under the sign of Mela, Resplendent in Perfection whose power runs in my veins, I welcome you into our halls to partake of food and drink and rest you weary head."

You are not sure if it is any one thing you said or simply the storm of foreign courtesy that did it, but Goldgut finally nods and introduces himself. The way he says 'Master Smith' you would think he were one of the Copper Spiders of old come to grace you with his presence, but you did not pay six ounces of gold just to leave him out here to freeze.

***​

The lower apartments abutting the Crimson Radiance Square are not very sought after. Between the sound of the last operational jade forge nearby and the nearness of the south gate no one wants to live here, not when there are so many more aeries deeper in the city waiting empty, too many of them in fact, but they allow a ground entrance that was far easier to clear of creeping vegetation and mildew than most other towers in good repair.

"Decent stonework, did you make it?" your wingless guest finally speaks.

"The city was raised by the artifice of the Lawgivers and the Children of Pasiap of whom none have dwelt among us for an age, but I suppose if one were to follow my line or that of any other dragon-blooded long enough it would cross with one of theirs eventually."

He does not say anything, nor does he seem to notice your guards glaring daggers at him for the disrespect, either that or he simply does not care. One can almost admire the sheer gall... almost.

"It has been a long age of the world since then, master smith, and much that we once knew has been forgotten, yet still we endure and we abide in hope that one day we can recover what was lost. It is for that purpose that we require trade and we had heard that your people are skilled miners as you are bold warriors."

"Aye, aye we are that, but we don't open our gates to any who ask." The dwarf sighs as he sets himself down on a lectus that had been provided, seeming almost comically legs kicking over the side, though there is nothing to jest about in the set of his face. This is a man caught between the flame and the deep blue sea as they say. "You've broken my chains and shown me fair guesting. Aye, it might be some daemon's trick, but then so too might it be some fever dream. Maybe I've caught the blood whip a few weeks back and I'm waiting to cough up my lungs in that shack of theirs. You can only judge by what's in front of your eyes."

You nod cautiously.

The dwarf goes on to explain that his people had once traded with the Norscans, before they turned wholly to the worship of the Wyld, but they had been betrayed and forced back into their mountain fastnesses where they've traded only amongst each other since and that any who were taken alive as he had been were counted lost for their kin. Slavery was far from the darkest fate they could fall to.

"I won't show you the way to Karak Drak, that's more than my life's worth, more by a mountain's worth, but if you'll set me down within a week's journey of it with supplies to reach it I'll set whatever message you want to give before the King and Thanes. Can't promise you more than that."

Diplomacy with the Dwarf: 52 (Success)

What do you do?

[] Agree to the deal
-[] Do not try to follow him to find out where the entrance it
-[] Bind and Earth Elemental to follow him in secret

[] Keep the dwarf in Sezekan for now, see if you can learn more of the history of the world and its people from him

OOC: Dwarfs do not have a great experience with meeting new people, and the Norscan dwarfs least of all. Good thing you have that first meeting charm.

 

[DragonParadox]

Year 2 After Arrival Part III​

Though you cannot say you are not tempted to bind a spirit of the earth to dog the dwarf's footsteps every sorcerer learns to restrain such impulses, at least every sorcerer who lives to work his craft. You do not know what manner of folk these are, nor what protections they may weave from the slow and secret Essence at the roots of the mountains. Better by far to be cautious than to gain foes where you did not have to. So you wish Galdr well on his way and send him off to his own clansfolk, a carefully crafted message folded in his new robes. That the robes are silk and the cloak over them is wolf's fur trimmed with griffon feathers, both crafted by the skills of the Chosen, is its own message of course as to both the wealth and the generosity of Sezekan.

"I'll be getting this across the High King's table so long as I have breath in me lungs and strength in me legs." The oath is simple, almost crude, but the sincerity of it rings out clear as Calibration drums.

Stewardship: Singer of the White-Gold Dream is a diligent and punctual worker, but you are very glad indeed that you are his superior and not his underling. Rushing along hither and yon fit to loose feathers as your mother would say he has far more ideas than time to implement them

Choose One:

[X] Terrace Farm Planning: Another way to solve your food problem as well as potentially raise crops to trade would be to set up terrace farming, though with only vague descriptions to go on Dream would have to create working plans before the first clod of earth is turned
DC 30
Reward: Begin farming rice
Duration 2 Turns
Cost: 200 Wealth[Action locked for One Turn]

Result: 30 (Success)

When the time came to flood the fields for the first time disaster almost struck, a weakness in the rock that would have caused a colapse in the slope but for the quick thinking of a pair of young Dragonblooded, skilled in the crafts of fire and, oddly enough for your people, stone who managed to seal the dikes with quickly hardened cement before a more long lasting solution could be reached. Now that the fields are producing they might almost sustain your entire population on their own, which sadly says more about your limited numbers than it does about the extent of the rice paddies

Reward: +60 Food/Turn

[] Plant Healing Herbs: The Ministry of Sanitation has enough supplies of healing tinctures, ointments and teas to last it through a year, perhaps two if you are careful, but with many of the relic gardens now turned to growing food larger fields will be required to maintain the stock
DC 50
Reward Maintain stock of healing herbs for the use of the Ministry of Sanitation; potential trade good
Cost: 80 Wealth [Locked for One more Turn]

Result: 97 + 15 = 113 (Critical Success)

With the harvest of rice now guaranteed the relic gardens with their essence regulated soil compositions and water intake can be turned to more specialized and difficult growing, much to the relief of the Minister of Sanitation. You even have enough of them to use as a trade good with the people of the surrounding villages, earning you wealth and goodwill alike.

As you start to offer these new bundles of life and healing to the folk of the north something odd happens that even Da Wei did not intend, nor truth be told rightly understands. Small white mice find their way into a few satchels, slipping out when your traders set them down in Skorlm or Ulfsland and the traders who see them swear that their backs glinted as though with threads of gold... in the eight pointed mark of the Unconquered Sun.

Reward: -25 Food/Year All healing herbs preserved; Gain Trade Good: Healing salves +5 Wealth/year; Mice of the Sun active

Piety: The light of the sun is a comfort even in this far off land, though it seems distant you know that no matter where the Wyld may have deposited you while men strive towards excellency the eye of the Sun shall be upon you. In the meantime though you shall take counsel of lesser gods and learn where you had come to be and how this land came to be so tainted
2 Rare Reagents Available, may select actions to grant +10 to

[] Da Wei's aid: With Relic and ritual, with sacrifice befitting of his nature and stature beseech the aid of the City Father of Sezekan to the work of the city
DC Automatic
Reward: +15 to chosen Stewardship action
Cost: 50 Wealth

Da Wei is more than happy to lend his aid in growing herbs to improve the health of the city, his lore and understanding proving of great worth, though even he is puzzled by some of what his work has done. A sign of the Daystar is of course welcome however humble, but still... mice?

[] Tame the Gods of the Forests: In your experience the Gods who have had the dominion of an untamed forest turn... strange and need a firm hand to react any sort of agreement beneficial to both sides
DC: ???
Reward: Can bargain with the god in question
Cost None

Result: 19 (Critical Failure)

Excellency Re-roll: 61 (Success?)

The ritual begins with hopeful signs as the forest seems to open up before Willing Student of the Unseen Signs and Carrier of Incandescent Truths from the Silver Mountain, asking for no more than a ritual burning of lichens and mosses from beyond the bounds of the woods as sacrifice and the sacrifice of seven crows. Just as the last stroke was being made Willing Student of the Unseen Signs was overcome with foreboding as he sensed a watcher in the smoke, a foul thing lurking just beyond sight, though not beyond feeling. With a great wind he cast out the noxious hallucinatory fumes that he had been deceived into bringing forth. Just then savage drums beat in the distance and the braying of creatures neither man nor beast rang out, but none of them could be as swift as one of your people on the wing. In the confusion a single thorny bur caught on Carrie's wing.

When they had reached the Heart of Sezakan, preparing to cleanse themselves of any traces of the terrifying spiritual ambush the small spiny seed cried out in pain and fear:

"Please don't hurt me, don't drown me! He made me! I didn't want to lead you ill, but He's too strong, so strong! He wears away mountains and drinks seas. What hope does a small god like me have against such might?"

What do you do?

[] Speak to the strange god, he might know much of what you wish to know, need to know given the dangers of this world

[] Get rid of it, it is likely tainted, a trick inside a trick

[] Write in

OOC: Good thing for you Gus is not the only one with Occult Excellency or this could have been very nasty.

 

[DragonParadox]

Sign of the Exile ​

Carrier of Incandescent Truths from the Silver Mountain knew many things that were hidden from the great and the mighty, from the Chosen of the Dragons whose eye was ever upon the highest of peaks without needing to follow the trail. She knew that as every pebble on that path had its place so too it had its spirit, its pride and its small wisdom, so she was not surprised to be called to deal with the spirit that clung to the wing of a traveler as a mere bur. What she was a touch surprised by was the tale of the ambush, again the sickness that haunted these lands. Her dreams had been filled with it, with hollow skulls made the abode of pallid maggots, with wounds that did not heal and could not be mended, with sickness of the mind that dragged all thoughts to ruin. This wasn't natural, more voracious than just humble scavengers that returned the weary flesh to the embrace of Gaia, more perilous than even the parasites that blindly windowed the strong from the weak and the lucky from the ill fortuned. This was a sickness from which there could be no cure, this she knew as well as she knew the faces of her grandchildren.

Yet something had survived it, something now bound in a dome of crystal circled in iron and silver and brass and one final time in imperishable ornichalum of which none in all of Sezekan could hope to forge. If the the mote of green had been even a little larger it simply would not have fit inside the circles at all. What was now one of the most powerful binding circles in the whole city had once been little more than a toy for some wealthy bureaucrat, a way to bind one of the tempestuous Fire Butterflies into a reading light, a show of middling artistry and good taste as far as Sezekan-that-Was went. Sometimes Carrie thought Sezekan-that-Was did not have a lick of common sense, which may have just been the reason why it fell, not that this was a thought she would share with any of her colleagues.

"So..." she twirled a cold iron talisman in her hand in a way that she had been assured by many sources, some of them even mildly trustworthy, looked menacing to lesser spirits. "I heard you do not like being drowned, from the looks of things you do not like fire either." It did look like a bur so that was probably a good guess even for a wyld-touched thing. "If you don't want to be meeting either now would be the time to start talking, and if I like what I hear then maybe we can help you. That which you claim to fear we despise and would see undone."

"You can't kill him. He... he's bigger than the biggest oak, crueler than the stranglevine, poison, death and ruin. Always spreading, always killing."

"Mountains are vast, yet they can be delved through, seas are trackless yet they can be bridged, flame is all consuming yet it can be quenched, the wind endless flowing yet it can be directed."

The sutra was old, Carrie was not even sure whence it had come from, it was a thing taught to children, more prod to ambition than prayer to salvation, for it was said that those who took it to heart would be chosen of Mela. For her part the Envoy to the High Ones did not believe it, at least not in the detail, but in essence... aye she believed that the order of the world would bind the madness beyond, she believed that any storm beyond the dome would still sooner or later and no matter what ruin it left behind it would be but the foundation of a new house for the people to build.

Though the little spirit bouncing around in the crystal dome did not have eyes with which to blink at her she could sense the bewilderment in its haphazard dance as if it could not quite believe her words or her tone.

"You can't... you can't believe that!"

Carrie did not say anything, she just waited for the answer that had been demanded, more words would not more trust beget as her grandmother used to say.

Result 107 (Success)

So as she had hoped the spirit tells its tale and the tale of those mortals who, as it most often the case, had brought it to this lands. Once it had been a Polevoi a spirit of the fields in a village upon the wide barren plains of the north tilled by the hardy but respectful folk of Ungalya. Though winters were harsh and the crops often watered with human blood it was a fair enough existence until a company of men ahorse had come to the village one misty eve and from among them one proclaimed himself boyar. By the sword he demanded that seven parts in ten of the bounty of the land be given to him, but he did not respect the land, not seven parts in ten, not one part in ten even and he asked of the people of Ungalya that they bow their heads and look ever into the dirt that was by his words not even theirs and that they should never gazes into his eyes with challenge.

It was not long before the blood of the boyar fed the fields, but the people knew they could not linger here lest other riders come and so with great sorrow they hitched their beasts to what wagons they had or could make and with all their meager treasures headed north, bearing with them the shrines of their gods and a small pooch of the land the Polevoi had tended to over the long years.

Knowing that without mortals to break the earth the weeds would return then the roots and shrubs and finally the forests which had held dominion along the river before the Ungol had come the spirit had gone with them on a journey long and perilous, battling white furred beasts that walked like men and giants that could heal from all but the touch of flame. At last came they to a place that seemed to have good water and fair grazing and they called it Nevungalya and there they settled working again the rites and the prayers of their ancestors.

Alas on the long journey the old hetman had perished and the new one his nephew had fallen into despair which gnawed and gnawed at him, body and heart until at last with the death of his wife and daughter it flowered into a deadly infection of the spirit. Alas for the people that he had found a new god, a black choking thing that lived in the putrid exhalations of the earth called Burgoz the Black Smoke, slave of the servants of the servants of Grandfather Plague.

This was the thing, the little spirit claimed that had plucked it in its dark hand and used it as bait to trap Willing Student of the Unseen Signs. Yet as it choked in the sorrow of its own recollection it also revealed one other thing.

"Once all their hearts are turned to rot so too will I be. I don't know how much longer I have."

Reward: Information about exiled Ungols and the Nurgle worship that has started among them, Diplomacy and Martial options unlocked

OOC: No vote this time around since it is going to take a full turn action to do anything about this of you guys so choose.