Sorry guys, I was working every night last week and worked all weekend. On top of that I'm coming down with something but still powering on.
I'll get caught up as soon as I can.
Harvest season...
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Back at the mansion, Jorgan solemnly walks into one of the spare room without a word and without meeting anyone's eyes. Some time passes without sound but gradually you hear what sounds like moaning from within the room, which grows into a low growl that you recognize as Jorgan's voice, muttering a rhythmic mantra in Dwarven. As his voice grows a bit louder, a soft light begins to escape from beneath the door. The chanting stops with a half but the light only grows brighter, like a thousand candles lighting one after another until the door nearly glows with the light escaping from the bottom. A few clunks are heard, as of something knocking on the wooden floor of the room. A few more clunks sound within the room until you recognize it as the familiar sound of hoof-steps. Suddenly the door is thrown open and Jorgan is standing within the opening, his eyes sunken, his face haggard, and his shoulders slumped. However, glowing radiantly behind the dwarf in a coat of magnificently white hair is Jorgan's friend and companion, Spirit, sent from Gozreh himself to accompany the dwarf on this mission. "It's done." Jorgan says as he slumps against the door frame.
Jorgan looks around the room. "Not here. No, not here. Let's just go back. Someplace quiet... it's going to take a lot out of me, but I can do it on my own. Hopefully Alysendra can help me regain strength when I'm done. Can we just go back to your mansion, Wren? That'd be a good place to hide out while I... while we recover."
"Right," Jorgan nods with severity, starting straight into the room. "They're still in there somewhere, aren't they? No matter, gotta get Spirit back." Jorgan marches into the room and starts hurriedly grabbing as much of Spirit as he can gather in his arms.
"Oh," Jorgan says back to Alysendra. "When I'm concentratin', my tongue's out."
"Hey Wren, can ye make me fly?" Jorgan asks as he begins clearing his throat again for another hocker at the gugs. "HHrrrrrggghhhhhh! Here, ya bastards, this one's got some boogers in it!" Jorgan launches another yellow-brown loogey into the room, which spreads out and hits each of the gugs, covering them in a viscous slime. Slowing mud:
"You f~++ers," Jorgan spits. "Drown." Jorgan spits into the room, the phlegm growing in size as it flies towards the furthest gug It lands at the gug's feet and immediately bursts into a vertical jet of boiling water.
"Do we take it back to him?" Jorgan shakes his head. "That can wait. Kray, get us through that wall and to Spirit. We've got to deal with one thing at a time here."
Jorgan's face is crestfallen when he hears the news of his ram. He shakes his head. "Gozreh granted me the power to bring him back from the dead... but we gotta get... well, what's left of him." Jorgan slowly gets to his feet and carefully pats the dust from his clothes and spends a few moments checking his gear. "I'm as good as ready and would rather get this over with. I need my ram back."
"Errrghhhhhh.... ughh...... my head...." the dwarf rasps as he rubs his temples with his palms. "Wha.... what was that? I feel like... my head is a boulder... and... my throat is all full of gravel." Jorgan slowly sits up and shakes his head slowly, which has the effect of producing a troubling knocking sound. He looks around bleary-eyed. [b]"How did I get back here? Where's Spirit? Did ya get him, Wren?"
Jorgan continues to rock out as hard as he knows how.
I've been keeping up. Just... you know... not really anything to add right now.
Phew, 'gardening' the whole 3 acres will be nearly a full-time job if that's what you're planning. A little over an acre is a hefty part-time commitment for me and only possible because of teaching and being off in the summer. Do yourself a favor and invest in some plastic mulch and maybe a dripline irrigation system if you can afford it. It will make gardening/farming at that scale 10x easier. Without it you'll need to hire someone just to keep up with the weeding. But if she likes gardening she probably already knows that.
At the sight of Spirit's bloody and unconscious body, Jorgan disregards his own safety and dives through the window, trying to reach his ram to cast a healing spell on it before it's too late.
Well, our family has been farming for generations since before my great-grandparents moved over from Poland so there's a lot going on. Let the novel commence. We have a 6000+ acre grain farm that grows popcorn, field corn, and soybeans. We used to grow seed corn but have gotten out of that. We also used to be primarily a dairy farm until 2000 when we either had to double our herd or get out so we decided to get out and focus on grain instead. We still used the pasture ground to raise about 200 heifers for another nearby dairy though. This is all run by my dad, two uncles, and two cousins, with me helping out part time (really full time in the summer when I'm not teaching). And then on our personal homestead we just started this year with what I would consider just a freaking huge garden (a couple hundred pepper plants, a few dozen watermelons, for example). We've been taking all that to the local farmers' market on Saturdays and have been successful enough to afford a fairly large greenhouse that I've been building a few hours at a time here and there. Next year we plan to put out over an acre of vegetables (so I think we've surpassed the 'garden' term) and start a CSA ("Community Supported Agriculture") subscription service. It'll be similar to Blue Apron or one of those services, but more like a "Vegetable of the Week" club or something. Pay $X up front at the beginning of the season to help us buy seeds, irrigation supplies, etc, and we deliver to you a box of fresh produce every week until the end of the season. And it'll include recipes and tips on how to use things that aren't so common (like turnips, for example); part of the appeal is to get you to try new foods you've never had before or at least cook them in a different way. My wife teaches Nutrition and Wellness and loves to cook so I do the growing and she does the marketing for that type of stuff. We're also expanding into pork next year. We'll be selling half- and whole-hogs directly to consumers with customized butchering available. We were going to start that this year but just got too busy. We might also be taking some of our pork products to the farmers' market too but there's already two pork people in that small market so we'll see about that. Oh, and we're getting laying chickens. And if the CSA subscriptions work out next year, we'll potentially add some hydroponics or aquaponics systems to our greenhouse to grow certain crops (like lettuce) all-year round so we can offer a service through the winter as well (like a fresh-salad-every-week type of subscription service). The TL;DR is that this whole homestead/direct-to-consumer thing is totally new and different for us and there's a lot going on but honestly I like this type of farming better than the large grain farming the previous generation has been doing. I've always been a gardener and there's a lot of room for expansion for this type of thing in the local market.
"Looks like he has it..." Jorgan whispers. He pulls a small vial from his pocket, drinks it down, and then leaps up through the roof after the roc without explanation to the others.
By the way... In addition to teaching and our produce business, harvest on our grain farm started this past week. I haven't been called in to help yet but I'm sure it's coming soon. So if I disappear abruptly know that it's just that time of year again for me. On the bright side, only two more weekends left for the farmers' market and we made enough in our first year to put up a greenhouse, so that's fun. But also has been keeping me even busier.
"Piss off, elf," Jorgan rumbles over his shoulder without taking his focus off the giant roc. "If we can find Spirit... even if... even if somethin' bad's happened... I can bring him back. Gozreh granted me that power so I wouldn't lose another. But we gotta find him... gotta find his body at least. I'm hoping this roc can find him quicker than we can. Fly up and down the place, you know."
"Ok, ok, good bird..." Jorgan coos back at the giant roc, holding his hand out to the others to stay back as he approaches it. He holds out his palm full of ram hair and says, "He's lost... can you find him? I've lost my ram and he's in trouble."
Jorgan lets out a sudden shout of pain as he grabs his heart. "Somethin's wrong... somethin's wrong with Spirit I mean... he's hurt!" Jorgan quickly throws some food at the roc and tries to befriend the creature with some soft cooing to let the giant bird know that he is an ally and not a threat.
Spirit:
Spirit lets out a ferocious snarl as the evil magic washes over him. Enraged at this new turn of events, he charges the nearest beast.
Jorgan's eyes brighten when he recognizes the screech of a roc, knowing it is a large and fairly intelligent bird. He has hopes that he may be able to convince it to find Spirit; at least the roc might do a better job than, say, a sparrow. Ignoring Farin and Wren's inspection of the orb, Jorgan says to Alysendra, "You tried. I think I've got backup coming anyways. Some quick aerial power might be able to find Spirit." He shrugs sadly. "It's our only hope now."
Jorgan sighs as his shoulders fall into a slump and he lets go of Alysendra's hand. "S'okay. The only thing I can think of t' find 'im is...." Jorgan purses his lips and starts to make a low whistle, blending up into a slow and haunting melody.
When the bird arrives, Jorgan removes from crumbs from his pack and approaches the bird carefully. He speaks softly and tries to coerce the bird to trust him.
Jorgan furrows his brow for a moment in thought and then frantically starts pawing at his leggings, scratching at his thighs. Just when you think the dwarf may have gone mad, Jorgan looks up grinning, holding a small handful of fur that had been clinging to his clothes. He approaches the bird holding the hair out in his palm, making soft mourning noises that the bird might understand as a lost mate or family member.
"Get me outta here, Allie! I have a bad feeling about Spirit and we need to bring him back here." Jorgan wildly cuts at the webbing with his flaming sword and rushes towards Alysendra, his mind full of dread that he might lose another
"Damn these spiders! They're tougher than they look! And I don't know how Spirit's holding on on his own! We've gotta find him!"
Spirit:
The ram's horns are drenched in gore but Spirit himself is also heavily wounded. Despite this, Spirit continues to fight back with all his might.
"Damn these spiders! What's the elf doing back there, taking a nap? We could use some help over here! Or find my f+%&ing ram! He's in trouble somewhere!"
Spirit's adventures: Jorgan can empathically feel Spirit's panic as the ram continues to fight wildly without understanding where he is or what has happened.
GM: Panicked into a fury and now bleeding from several small wounds, Spirit rears up and slams his horns down again and again.
"Gah! I'm working on it Kray! Don't you see the damned flames on my damned sword?!" However, Jorgan is a little preoccupied with the spider to take care of the webs.
As Jorgan fights through the webbing, he can feel something else happening... a panicked feeling... loneliness and confusion and fright. The dwarf's heart drops as he realizes that Spirit must be in grave danger and there is nothing he can do to find or help the saintly ram.
I don't know about you guys, but the site is still down about every other time I try to check.
"Mrrrffff!" is the only muffled sound you hear from the tangle of webbing as Jorgan strains to pull out his flame weapon to cut through the sticky strings.
"Ugh... what exactly is he is doing with that orb, Wren? Don't look good... and I aim to stop it. Maybe it'll be the last thing I do." Jorgan kicks his flying genie-ram in the side and Spirit surges forward on flatulence power. Jorgan lowers his spear as he nears the giant and with all his will keeps his eyes open through the impact.
"Oh boy. I guess this is it." Jorgan mutters as he whispers words of power into his ram's ears. Spirit begins levitating above the ground and his hooves take on a cloudy appearance. Spirit flies into the middle of the room after Farin.
I'll be out for a few days. Selling at the farmer's market tomorrow morning then camping through Monday so I'll be offline for a while. School starts back up on the 13th. I'm the opposite of most teachers. I actually get less busy when school starts back up, haha.
"Seems we're gonna face the risk one way or another. I'd rather just get it over with." Jorgan says with a shrug. "I say we just keep moving if we've got a line to the top. Let's see where this leads at least."
Jorgan casts a few spells on himself but asks one of the others to help him out with the hard-to-reach burns on his back and shoulders. "Yeah, seemed too good to be true. Guess it was. It usually is." Jorgan lines up in front of Wren and leads on to where they were going before the unfortunate disruption.
"Phew! I think ya could use a breath mint! Err, make that three mints!" Jorgan stabs back, trying to work his spear beneath the scales.
"Feelin' better now, Farin? Dang'rous business this!" Jorgan shouts over the monster while continuing to stab.
"Should've expected that. Lurin' us in with our damn need to find a good giant in this place." Jorgan quickly draws his spear and stabs but misses wildly in his surprise.
Hey guys! I'll jump back in as soon as I can! Family visited from out of town this week.
"You think we're ready to take on the Tyrant hisself?" Jorgan asks hesitantly. "Not sayin' I'm scared or anythin', jus, ya know, askin'." Jorgan then casts something that causes his and Spirit's skin to seep a deep amber sap. Without explaining this he follows behind the others. Resinous Skin: 10 min/level
You coat your body with a resinous substance, protecting you from attacks and binding weapons that strike you. You gain DR 5/piercing, as well as a +4 circumstance bonus to your CMD against disarm attempts and on saving throws against effects that cause you to drop something you are holding. Additionally, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus on combat maneuver checks to initiate a grapple, maintain a grapple, and pin a foe. Any enemy you grapple takes a –2 penalty on attempts to break the grapple and to escape the grapple using Escape Artist. Any weapon, that strikes you becomes stuck unless its wielder succeeds at a Reflex saving throw. Such a weapon can be pulled free of you only with a successful Strength check (DC = your saving throw DC for this spell). This spell has no effect on unarmed strikes or natural weapons.
Jorgan keeps quiet because, although he finally started to pick up the Giant speech after a time, he knows that he is not the most comforting or sympathetic voice in the group.
"Well, only way is up! Farin, you want to lead the way? Me and Kray will be right behind... with some distance o' course, if you want to look ahead."
Jorgan rolls out of the straw in his room the next morning, stretching his arms out wide and voicing an exaggerated yawn. This act is visible to everyone in the common room due to the ram-shaped hole in the wall where once stood the door. With his mouth still mostly full of bacon, eggs, toast, potatoes, and all manner of hearty breakfast food, Jorgan says, "'ell, 'is is 'e 'est 'eal 'e've 'ad n 'e 'est 'igh' o' 'eep i' 'ore'er!" After making sure Spirit has had his fill as well, Jorgan casts a few of his own spells and gives Spirit a quick brush before announcing that he is ready to move on. "To the control room, right? If we can find it and get there alive."
Jorgan nods with Alysendra. "I've still got plenty o' energy! How can I sleep knowing these giants are still going on killing? Nah, let's keep going a little more. Elf, you ever thought about working on your stamina?" Jorgan emphasizes the last word, impressed with his own vocabulary and ability to use such a term. He shrugs, "Maybe it's yer age. How old're you again?" He smirks to Kraygan, knowing the elf won't sleep with a hot temper.
"Man, those things are nearly as ugly as you, Kray!" Jorgan says as he shakes the gore from his spear. "So what'd yer airy fellas learn, Wren?" Jorgan asks when the elementals return.
Spirit stomps forward and Jorgan angrily stabs at the manbearpig shouting back to Wren, "I'M THE BLOODY STABLEMASTER, YA IDYIT! The halfling don't know the first thing bout animals!"
Jorgan and Spirit continue to focus their attention on the giant first before the manbearpig.
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