Creative Director
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This is the campaign journal thread for Rob McCreary's "Kingmaker: Iobaria" campaign, a game he started up here at the office. And since I'm overly excited about actually starting a new game as a player with a brand-new first level character for the first time since Erik's permanently-on-hiatus (sad!) Age of Worms campaign, I'll be (hopefully) posting lots of campaign journal entries as my Desna-worshiping, 9-fingered character, Echo Sidra!
The full cast of characters:
Bribri—elf witch
Derrith—human fighter
Echo Sidra—human cleric of Desna
Magda—elf rogue
Markus—half-orc monk
Natasya—human fighter
Z—halfling druid
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Abadius 20—The wind is making a creepy howling sound as it blows across the eastern slopes of the Hills of Nomen. At least, I hope it’s the wind howling, and not some sort of hungry wolf monster. Not that I’ve seen anything like that so far to support fears of wolf monsters, but we’re not in Brevoy anymore. Desna alone knows what sort of monsters lie in wait for us to the east!
But I’m not frightened. I’m too excited to be frightened. I’m further away from Restov than I ever remember being, but this isn’t my first time in Iobaria. I was born here, according to the orphanage I grew up in. According to what little I’ve been able to learn or remember about my parents. From what I’ve been able to piece together, father died fighting a giant, and mother from some sort of sickness. I can remember mother, vaguely, but I have no memories of father at all.
I hadn’t really thought much of them at all, truth be told, for many years. The chapel of Desna on the outskirts of Restov has been my home its few priests my family ever since I left that horrible orphanage so many years ago—every time I think about that place the stump of my left pinky hurts all over again. But when I saw my mother’s maiden name, “Arasti,” on a flyer tacked to one of the town messageposts, it felt like my whole world got turned upside down.
It wasn’t about mother, though. It was about someone named Pezhvak. Who, apparently, was my uncle. I’d never met him before. Never even knew he existed. Now, it turns out, he’s dead, and I’m the only one left of the family line. And according to this flyer, Pezhvak left behind a keep, and that if his heir or heirs don’t come to claim it soon, the keep will revert to the Prince of Orlov.
I’ve never owned a keep. I think I’d like that.
So I went to the Murdered Manticore to look for Bribri and her friend Markus. Bribri didn’t usually hang out in the city much, but since she started hanging out with that quiet, intense-looking half-orc, they’ve been at the Manticore pretty often. I figured that if I was going to go all the way into Iobaria, it’d be a good idea to bring along a friend or two. They were there, complete with Bribri’s collection of pet sparrows, and when I told them about the notice and my plan to go to Iobaria, they seemed interested. And they each had some friends of friends there with them. And all of a sudden, there were seven of us heading over to speak to the Iobarian Ambassador here in town.
Aside from Bribri and Markus, there were four others—each of whom seemed to carry with them their own collection of strange histories and secrets. There was Derrith, a good-looking-in-a-rugged-sort-of-way Kellid, bristling with weapons and about as talkative as any of them. And then Natasya, a woman who, although she looked Vudrani and dressed quite fancy, carried a dueling sword that glowed and had a horse-drawn cart. And with her was a little halfling woman with a burn scar who only referred to herself as “Z” and rode on an elk she named Zachirah—I’m unsure if the fact that her name is the same as her elk’s first letter means anything at all. And finally, an exceptionally beautiful elven woman dressed in studded leather—this was Magda. Several of these folks... most of them, as far as I could tell, seemed to be pretty rough and, maybe, even kind of “bandity,” but I figure that also means they’re capable of taking care of themselves in the wild. Which can only help.
Anyway, all of that was eight days ago now. I filed my claim for the land with the Iobarian ambassador, found out that the keep... MY keep... was in a place called the Finadar Forest, and then set out for adventure! Well, we set out as soon as the rest of the group bought themselves some overly bulky winter clothes. I’ve got Desna’s magic to keep me warm—saved me some money, which was fortunate since buying the journal I’m writing in now used up the last of my coins. Hopefully my uncle’s keep comes with a fully stocked treasury!
Oh yeah! We had our first fight this morning. Not with each other. With a bunch of goblins that had set up some sort of ambush on the western approach to the Maw of Karth. One of the goblins was riding a nasty-looking scabby dog thing and had a big blue goblin-troll-ogre-something that seemed to be his pet or slave. Magda took care of that one, stabbing it with such violent precision in the back of its neck that the entire thing just vanished in a burst of blue smoke! The rest of the goblins were easy to mop up after that—I even got to stab a couple with my starknives! If goblins are the worst that Iobaria has to throw against us, I should be sitting in front of a roaring fire and sipping wine in my very own keep by the end of the month!
Great! I love paizo office games, how based on Kingmaker is this going to be? And who are the other six players?
Sounds like a hootenany! Rob feel free to bounce ideas off the book of faces.
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Its been an interestin' couple of weeks. Goblins. Goblin dogs. Half goblin ambush. Big freakin' wolves. And lots of wind, ice, and snow. Can't say I care much for Iobaria yet.
Not sure 'bout my companions either. Most of them seem afflicted with some form of insanity -- I heard that Brevoy has plenty of that to go around though. A couple of 'em are capable in a fight -- well capable enough to save my sorry hide anyway.
We're at the Priory of Iomedae now. At least it is out of the weather. I wonder how long it will take for something to go wrong.
D. of T.
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Hmm. Is Pezhvak actually really genuinely dead (and not undead either) or is this some elaborate trap to lure food or unwitting sacrifices to the keep? And when will the monkey-goblins and Cerulean Sisterhood show up from distant lands? ;)
Thanks Charles. I've never had Rob as a GM -- so reading through this thread should be quite illuminating.
CJ/aka Derrith of Talon
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Hmm. Is Pezhvak actually really genuinely dead (and not undead either) or is this some elaborate trap to lure food or unwitting sacrifices to the keep? And when will the monkey-goblins and Cerulean Sisterhood show up from distant lands? ;)
Sadly, monkey-goblins and the Cerulean Sisterhood will not be making an appearance. Iskandria is far, far away from Iobaria, if even on Golarion at all. :(
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Hmm. Is Pezhvak actually really genuinely dead (and not undead either) or is this some elaborate trap to lure food or unwitting sacrifices to the keep? And when will the monkey-goblins and Cerulean Sisterhood show up from distant lands? ;)
Thanks Charles. I've never had Rob as a GM -- so reading through this thread should be quite illuminating.
CJ/aka Derrith of Talon
It will avail you not, good sir.
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Abadius 21—I spoke too soon about the wolf monsters.
Yesterday's journey down the hills was anything but comfortable and easy. Desna's magic kept me dry and warm, thank the stars, but we were attacked not long after we set out by a group of ugly creatures with bows. We managed to defeat them, and Magda proclaimed that she recognized what they were: half-goblins. As the disturbing reality of all that that implied sunk in, I wondered how it was that Magda knew so much about half-goblins in the first place; she seemed pretty good at killing them, at the very least.
Then it started to snow. And that's when the aforementioned wolf monsters came.
In fact, two of them seemed to be normal wolves, but the third was a huge beast with fur and muscle so thick that striking it felt like stabbing a tree. The wolves struck at our cart, and that may have been why Bribri fell out the back end. Or maybe she would have fallen anyway. The result was the same—savaged by wolves! Derrith tried to help but he fell a well. The cart was going to be the end of us all! I tried to get around to the far side to draw attention away from them and it worked all too well; I got bit, hard, by one of the wolves. When I tried to stab it back, I slipped and in my panic I actually ended up cutting through the straps of some of my armor. Somehow it avoided falling apart and we killed the wolves.
We were in bad shape. Wolves are not easy to deal with. Worse, the cold was finally starting to get to some of us; Bribri and Z in particular were starting to freeze to death. Fortunately, the priory of Iomedae was not far away, and we made it to the shelter it offered just as the snowstorm turned to a blizzard. We met some of the priory's inhabitants; Malvenos Laiamne the gatekeeper, Ruan the prior, Raisa the scribe, and a few others. They gave us rooms and promised us food. Z got ahold of some coffee... do not let halflings drink coffee. There's an hour or so before dinner now, and I think I'm gonna go see if Magda wants to sneak around and size this place up; there's something funny about a priory of Iomedae being out here in the middle of nowhere...
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This post offers some of her background. I will hopefully be updating in the next day or two with the next few journal entries where she joins up with the party and totally rocks the combat.
Abadius 27
My love is gone. I am lost.
D’acier was everything to me. How am I to go on? The others seem to also be struggling as well, though I doubt their heartbreak runs as deep as mine. The bickering and posturing is endless. In losing D’acier we have lost the force that kept us unified. Our holy mission to spread the light of Desna is doomed.
Calistril 5
Defeated and broken we made it back to Orlov today. Less than half in number from when we left with so much pageantry and fanfare. Barely back within the city gates and they have all scattered to the wind. So much for staying faithful to our calling. Our priests and teachers warned us of the peril, and the trials and the hardships and in the comfort and safety of our city life we vowed we would stay strong no matter what. It appears death, disease and bitter cold are enough to convince most of the “brave” cityfolk to run back to the comfort of their walls with their tails between their legs.
I should have stayed out there. I regret I was ever willing to head back to Orlov. I take only a small comfort that more of these sorry would-be missionaries might have perished had I not returned with them. Part of me wishes I would have abandoned them to their fate as they abandoned D’acier and the other’s bodies to the woods. They wouldn’t even stop to give me a chance to bury him. That… that is not right.
I feel as though I have been set adrift. A bit of shipwrecked debris, floating on an endless, lonely sea with nothing to guide me. Oh Desna! I am weak! Provide me the strength to go on!
Calistril 7
I am done wallowing in self-pity. I am not dead. I will not renounce the holy mission I started upon. I will head back out in to the wilds of Iobaria. I will seek to spread the holy word of Desna and I will maintain my oath to protect those who follow her paths. It will take me some time to earn enough to get supplies for another expedition.
Calistril 14
By preying on the guilty consciences of those who abandoned our previous holy expedition, I have scrounged up enough funding that I shall be ready to leave within a few days. Instead of a whole band of people this time it will just be me and Nightmane. He looks quite nice in his new chainmail barding and I am pleased to know he has additional protection when we ride into combat with the savages out in the wildlands. I fear it might not be a good thought, but I must say it anyway: I almost hope to come across the bandits that massacred our camp because his time I will not be caught unaware. This time I look forward to the fear on my enemies faces as I thunder toward them on Nightmane, falchion raise in preparation to cleave their head from their bodies.
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Sweet drunken Desna, but I need to get caught up on this journal. I'll see what I can do by tomorrow evening...
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Calistril 17
My saddlebags are packed. I am ready to go. Nightmane is waiting; chompin his bit. Ready to roam free; not couped up in a stall in the city. I leave in the morning. I am both excited and fearful. Excited to be headed back to the mission for which I feel I was born to. Excited to once again embark on my holy mission of bringing the sacred word of Desna to those in need, but so afraid...
Afraid of becoming like those of I once called comrades. Afraid of losing my faith. Afraid of failing my goddess. Afraid of not being strong enough. But no matter how fearful my heart is, I will not give in. I will force myself to continue down this path I have dedicated myself to. I will force myself to be brave. Iobaria is a land filed with terrible, unholy savagery and I will do my best to spread the love and holy light of Desna.
The vast expanse of the unknown frightens me, but I rest my faith in the knowledge that not matter what happens, my life is in Desna's hands.
Calistril 22
While traveling alone has its advantages, it is also problematic.
The days aren't so bad. I focus on hunting down the nasty little half-goblin creatures that love to set up ambushes along the road. There is enough action during the days to keep my mind occupied.
Its the nights that are terrible for me. There is no one to set watch with. I dare not build fires or sleep too heavily, as I fear attracting bandits or more of the half-goblins while I am at my most vulnerable. So I spend the long hours in the darkness with the bitter wind howling through the bloodpines. My heart keenly aware of how broken and abandoned it feels. My body aching from the cold which serves as a constant reminder that I have no lover to keep me warm.
Calistril 26
I finally came across the site early this morning. The bandits had left their dead as well. The bodies had all been picked clean of their belongings and many were mangled and missing pieces; the work of wild animals. I don't know what I expected to find after nearly a month, I think in my mind I had pictured that it would be precisely how it looked when I left, bodies freshly fallen.
It took time, but I finally found D'acier's body, or rather, what was left of his body, by the tattered remains of his clothes. His armor which he so lovingly crafted and been so proud of was gone, no doubt stripped by the bandits before they moved on. He was missing a foot and most of his flesh had been gnawed off of his bones. I dug a grave for him and piled what rocks I could find atop it to hopefully prevent further desecration of the mortal vessel that once held his soul. I almost pity the foolish thief I catch wearing his armor. I have marked him for death.
I did not have time to bury the bodies of the other fallen. I feel no remorse by leaving the bandit bodies out to the elements, but I do wish I could have buried the fallen that I had once travelled with. When I finished burying my beloved it was already late in the day and I left the site, fearful that so many bodies, even at this stage of decay, would still attract visits from packs of wild animals.
Now that I have buried D'acier I am not sure where I will go. I had been so focused on finding and laying to rest his body that I had not thought about what to do afterwards. I suppose I will simply continue down this road and let Desna be my guide.
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Echo's Note: Been a while since I've had a chance to gather my notes, so in the interests of being quick about it and getting caught up, the events of the past several weeks are going to go by quick!
Abadius 21 (later)—We meet a few more members of the abbey; Brother Tomas (a cleric) and Brother Ythel (a cook). Oh, and a fellow traveller, a woman named Maroshia, who is acting pretty suspicious. I'll be keeping an eye on her! We had dinner, then went to an Iomedaen service that was really really really really boring.
Abadius 22—Dead birds showed up out of nowhere today, a grisly but welcome distraction from this endless blizzard.
Abadius 23—Someone mutilated a fox and left it in the justicar's hall. Made Malvanos the gatekeeper get all indignant and uppity. Maroshia reveals to us that her traveling companions were murdered by goblins and that she escaped just barely; she was heading to Oleg's trading post just like us. All sorts of other eerie things happened today; shutters flew open, a rock fell off a ledge and almost hit Ythel, weird footprints showed up in the snow, and some statues got broken in the chapel. Later that night… MAYHEM! Zombies attacked, led by goblin necromancers! They attacked when we were asleep, and in the confusion, some of them grabbed Z and were going to sacrifice her to some foul goblin god, but we killed them and rescued Z just in time. We followed some clues into the basement, only to be confronted by a semi-friendly ghost named Marel; he tells us that one of the people in the abbey was a traitor and that he was working with the goblins. Even though the battle with the goblins used up most of our resources, we press on into the deeper dungeons under the abbey, only to realize that the traitor was brother Tomas and that he was going to sacrifice the old abbot! We stopped him, mostly due to Bri Bri giving him the sleepy eyes and then when he fell asleep, Magda clambered up onto his pulpit and stuck him in the spine with a knife.
Abadius 24—The blizzard breaks! We say our goodbyes to the newly rescued folks at the Iomedae abbey. Maroshia asks to travel with us to Oleg's, and despite me being suspicious of her actual motives, we let her. We're attacked on the road later that day by weird saggy men whom Z thinks are trying to steal our faces. We defeat them, and that evening finally make it out of the mountains.
Abadius 25—More travel. Nothing happened today.
Abadius 26—We arrive at Oleg's trading post! They have a horse named Claptrap. Oleg's wife Svetlana is a pretty good cook. They tell us the bandits are coming tomorrow, and so we set an ambush.
Abadius 27—Those bandits never had a chance. The trading post now safe, well… safer, we start exploring the forest, hoping still to find my keep by the end of the month. Svetlana asked us to check a moon radish patch and promised a reward if we could pick some of the radishes for soup. We found the radish patch and the goblins that were raiding it. Goblins defeated, radishes picked! Saw a scary tower in the middle of a particularly thorny part of the woods, but the crows that direction were particularly frightening looking so we decide to come back to that spot later.
Abadius 28—Return to Oleg's. Paid VERY WELL for the radishes.
Abadius 29)—We head into a thornier part of the woods. We meet some elk, and they tell Z that there's an old human building to the west. We go there to look, and discover an abandoned gold mine. Hmmmm. Mark that spot down.
Abadius 30—We find a weird stone arch. I see a hidden panel, open it up, get the neat box out of the hidden compartment, and in trying to open it I get POISONED HARD! I thought I was gonna DIE!!!! Hardly worth whatever treasure we found in that box.
Abadius 31—Sweet Desna! We found my keep! Also… graves. I avoided the graves, although I think one of them might have been my mom's grave and another might have been my sister's grave. Didn't want to give the bodies any excuses to rise up, so I avoided approaching. Graves make the stump of my pinky finger hurt like nothing else. Instead, we note that there seems to be hobgoblins lurking in my keep, so we sneak in through a not-so-secret escape tunnel. We fight lots of goblins (including another summoner with a scary monkey pet), but defeat them and rescue several prisoners, including Ivan Gregorivitch and his buddy Boris, Jacoby the porter, middle-aged Anondo Vericici the halfling, snooty crying Zoozana Gregorivitch who I think is Ivan's spoiled wife, and buxom Nalesca Virth the brunette. Oh, and a turncoat hobgoblin named Bekri.
Calistril 1—We'll need help to staff the castle, so I give all of the prisoners jobs. Some of them stay at the keep to start getting things in order, but a few decide to tag along on our explorations. Jacoby offers to drive our wagon, while Nalesca offers to come along for, um… support. SEXY support. Which kinda weirds most of us out, except maybe for Bri Bri. And maybe Defrith. And maybe me.
Calistril 2—We start the journey back to Oleg's.
Calistril 3—We reach Oleg's. Talk to another recent arrival, a traveling priest of Erastil (ick) named Johd. He looks like a wife beater to me. I avoid him. Also meet a man named Kestin, a soldier. Johd wants us to keep an eye out for a lost temple of Ersatil supposedly become the den of a giant bear or something. Not sure how good I feel about having a temple of Erastil so close to my keep. Gives me the creeps, that guy.
Calistril 4—Head into the Hills of Nomen to explore along the western side of the woods.
Calistril 5—We find a giant stone tablet with weird writing we can't read.
Calistril 6—More hills… we see the forest to the north though. Z finds a big patch of thorns and inside the patch a cairn… that is, to say, A GRAVE! I avoid it. None of my business.
Calistril 7—We find a thylacine in a pit. Bri Bri falls in and it tries to eat her. Mayhem ensues.
Calistril 8—We found a defaced cyclops statue today.
Calistril 9—Found an absolutely DELIGHTFUL hot spring today. Only a day's travel from the keep! I predict MANY visits here. Especially now that the giant frogs that lived there have been dealt with. Surprisingly, none of the frogs managed to eat Z.
Calistril 10—Found a sprung deadfall trap. With a dead guy under it. Idiot.
Calistril 11—We've explored all the area directly surrounding Echo Castle! Not sure everyone else agrees that it should be called Echo Castle, but I like it. Paprika, Nastasha's horse, got its foot stuck in a bear trap. Poor horsie!
Calistril 12—Spent all day looking for and disarming bear traps. Some trappers are jerks. Hope whoever set these ends up crushed under his own trap some day.
Calistril 13—We return to Echo Castle. Feels good to sleep in a real bed.
Calistril 14—Head back toward the Icerime Peaks today.
Calistril 15—Ugh… mountains make for tough exploration.
Calistril 16—More mountains. (whimper)
Calistril 17—WOLVES! MORNING WOLVES! We return to the forest, find an old cabin that turns out to be haunted by an axe murderer. It's probably not haunted anymore. We kinda burnt it all to ashes.
Calistril 18—More forest exploration. Nothing neat today.
Calistril 19—Found a river. I name it… FROGBACK RIVER. Z finds yellow eyes in a logjam over the river. Eyes turn out to be attached to a tatzylwyrm. We kill it and with its head plan on galumphing back to Oleg's for a reward.
Calistril 20—Ran into wild boars today, but Z talked them into being friends. We later find the lost temple that that jerk Jhod was looking for. The bear guarding it turns out to be particularly big and mean. He grabbed Z and tried to "adopt" her or something, but Z got away and we fled. We'll come back here later...
Calistril 21—Head back to the east, looking for the old road. Some weird half elf, half deer centaur thingys jump us and fight and regret attacking us when we kick their butts.
Calistril 22—Find the road, follow it back south for a bit. No trouble.
Calistril 23—Continue south, only to come to a deserted village that's plagued by undead. We attempt to approach, but the zombies grow more and more aggressive the closer we get. Bri Bri, alas, got a bit TOO close; the zombies grabbed her and KILLED HER! AUGH!!!!! We manage to kill them before they get any of the rest of us, and then a few moments later BRI BRI GOT BACK UP! We had to put her down. Poor Bri Bri! She wasn't meant for this world, I suppose. Too gentle and fragile and delicious for all the monsters of the woods.
Calistril 24—We spend the day burying Bri Bri and being depressed.
Calistril 25—Return to Oleg's. The reward for turning a tatzylwyrm head in cheers us up. A little.
Calistril 26—Spent another day resting to recover from zombie squirt and depression.
Calistril 27—Finally recover from the sick from fighting zombies and set out to explore to the east.
Calistril 28—We decide to hunt some bandits. We find a camp of them and attack! They fight back, pretty well. Their leader is someone I decide is named two-hatchet Jane because she fights with two hatchets. She was a badass, but then an even BIGGER badass rides up on a huge horse and proceeds to murderize bandits with a passion and zeal that can only come from a kindred spirit. After the battle, the cavalier reveals herself to be named Vedette. She helps us loot the dead, and by interrogating 2 bandit prisoners, learn that their boss is a chap named "Stag Lord" and that he's a drunk and a thug. He lives far to the south of Zombietown, across a bridge and then east a ways. Vedette seems sad and morose, so we offer to let her travel with us. Hopefully she'll fill the hole that Bri Bri's death left us with.
Pharast 1—We found a weird blindfolded angry woman statue carved into the side of a tree. I peeked under her blindfold and saw she had ruby eyes. Tried to pry one out and BLOOD POURED OUT! I put the ruby back, re-blindfolded her, and we slunk away as if it never happened. Some stuff in these woods is weird.
Pharast 2—We decide to detour back toward that cranky crow tower we saw last month. As we approach, we see a dead warhorse being eaten by feral dogs. Gross! We killed the dogs, then cross a treacherous log over a river that cracks in half (I think some jerk RIGGED it to do that!), but we manage to navigate the hazard anyway and come to a weirdly blue river. Fog over the river makes strange ghostly shapes, and we see what might be an island deeper in the fog. As if that wasn't weird enough, we find an invisible bridge! We cross the bridge to the island, which has a big ring of standing stones. Just as we notice at the far end of the island there's a GRAVE, some freaky wind or mist puts us to sleep… except for Vedette, who stayed awake long enough to drag us all back to shore. Good thing she joined us, otherwise we'd still be sleeping on the Ghost Island of Graves. Not a good idea. We turn our backs on Ghost Island of Graves and approach the tower. A group of goblin type things with a bugbear thug attack us; the goblin things turn out to be… weird. When we kill them, they pop like light and blind Magda for a bit. But despite that misadventure, we finally reach the tower! We're taking a quick break before we head in; the base of the tower has a big dragon carving and the entrance is via the dragon's tongue, which looks like a flight of stairs leading up into the inside of the tower. Looks like the others are done resting… I'll write more later once we're safe again.
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Great stuff! I like how Rob's woven the AP stuff and homebrew stuff together. And how Iobarian it feels even from Echo's scattered notes.
Did you found your kingdom at 'Echo Castle'?
And I love Echos' reaction to Jhod. Looks like a wife beater! She's delightfully hyper.
P.S. Vedette's Backstory bits were damned awesome!
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Great stuff! I like how Rob's woven the AP stuff and homebrew stuff together. And how Iobarian it feels even from Echo's scattered notes.
Did you found your kingdom at 'Echo Castle'?
And I love Echos' reaction to Jhod. Looks like a wife beater! She's delightfully hyper.
P.S. Vedette's Backstory bits were damned awesome!
We haven't quite yet founded our queendom yet; whether or not it'll be centered at Echo Castle... not sure.
And I second the demand for more Vedette posts!!!! ;-)
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Great stuff! I like how Rob's woven the AP stuff and homebrew stuff together. And how Iobarian it feels even from Echo's scattered notes.
Did you found your kingdom at 'Echo Castle'?
And I love Echos' reaction to Jhod. Looks like a wife beater! She's delightfully hyper.
P.S. Vedette's Backstory bits were damned awesome!
We haven't quite yet founded our queendom yet; whether or not it'll be centered at Echo Castle... not sure.
And I second the demand for more Vedette posts!!!! ;-)
Queendom huh? With Echo Sidra as queen no doubt! She can ban all Erastil worshippers, jerks, beards, etc!
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Queens can do that? BAN ERASTIL WORSHIPERS?
Hmmmmmmmm...
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Queens can do that? BAN ERASTIL WORSHIPERS?
Hmmmmmmmm...
Dwarfs? Off with their heads!
Echo would be a blast as queen. Not your typical stuffy glorious leader type by any stretch.
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Calistril 28
Praise be to Desna! I have found my calling. My insides feel as though they are practically bubbling over with joy, though I am trying my best to maintain a calm exterior lest my new comrades worry for my sanity.
My soul was well and truly lost and I wandered for nearly a day, not caring where I was headed and preparing myself for carnage if I came upon any bandits harassing innocent travelers. In my desperation, I continued my prayers to Desna, begging for guidance even as I wondered if it was hopeless. I gave up leading Nightmane and let him go where he would. He stopped to sniff at a bit of foliage and in that moment of stillness, I heard the distant clamor of battle.
Immediately I began to feel what I can only describe as "purpose" welling in my heart. I approached as quickly yet cautiously as I could and did my best to size up the situation.
It was hard to tell which side persecuting the other. One side was entrenched in the woods, the other attacking from the road. Both looked equally rag-tag and upon my arrival, both tried to tell me the *other* was the bandits. I was petrified of joining one side or the other and accidently helping ruffians I had sworn to kill.
But then I saw it! A young woman dressed in bright colors like a butterfly, attacking her foes behind the log barricade. And in her hand, sunlight causing it to shine like, well, like a star... was a starknife, the favored weapon of the Goddess of Dreams. I immediately realized this was a sign from Desna and leaped from Nightmane's back to join the fray.
With my help, the battle was quickly won. I soon learned that the young woman was Echo Sidra, a worshiper of Desna who had traveled many miles to claim her inheritance and bring unite the wild lands under her judicious rule.
Desna be praised for she has given me direction and guidance! I will protect Echo Sidra as she brings the wilds of Iobaria under her rule and I will offer my guidance as she works to bring the holy light of Desna to her subjects.
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Pharast 1
Today's exploration was pretty uneventful until we began to break through at the edge of the woods. We came upon an image of an angry woman carved almost like a ships prow, only it was blindfolded. I was all set to leave such a totem be, but Echo insisted upon investigating. She removed the blindfold to reveal ruby eyes. When she tried to take one, the eye socket oozed what looked like blood. Thankfully she decided that it would be best to put it back. Hopefully whatever witchcraft is imbibed in that wooden flesh has not been offended by her tampering.
As for my new companions, I must say they are quite an odd collection! I am of course, most interested in Echo as she is who I have sworn myself to protect and support, but the other are also quite interesting! Derrith, a fighter, worries me a great deal. He seems quite blood thirsty. Magda is a quiet elf, shifty sort. Whether it is right or wrong of me, I feel the need to hang on tight to my valuables! I am still unsure of the little halfling Z and the other fighter Nataysa as after the battle where we first met, the two of them headed off, I think back to a nearby trading post. I am unclear as to why. The last of the group is a half-orc. I think he might be crazy. He is worse than Echo when it comes to getting into trouble! It is as if he has given up caring about his life.
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Pharast 2
After the events of today... well... I am almost at a loss for words! I have experienced things I had not known were possible! Where to even start...?
Last night Echo told me of a mysterious “crow tower” and today the others seemed to want to investigate it. Apparently the last time they headed this direction they were forced to turn back, and that concerns me.
Shortly after we began our day, we came upon a part of the forest that had vines with huge thorns growing through them. And the vines seemed almost to move, far more than anything the gentle breezes I was feeling would cause. At one point I even saw skulls impaled in their grasp! I must admit, seeing those bones in the tree made me quite concerned for our continued safety.
Shortly after, we came across the body of a warhorse. There were feral dogs tearing at the corpse. As there was no clear path past them and they were not inclined to leave their prize, we were forced to bring them down. I rode in strong and Nightmane and I cleanly took out two of the dogs and one of the others took out the last. Upon closer examination of the warhorse's body, it had clearly died quiet awhile ago, and its carcass had very little of anything the dogs could have eaten. They must have been very, very desperate. Even now as I write this at the end of a day filled with odd and mysterious things, the desperation of those wild animals causes me no small amount of concern.
Moving on from that grisly site, we came across a fork in the path. The direction we choose ended up leading down to a stream. We thought we were fortunate that a log had been dropped across it, but lucky for Magda who crossed first, we did not rely on good fortune. Our caution paid off when about halfway through the log crashed apart. Magda was deft enough that with the help of the rope we had tied to her she was still able to make it with hardly getting her feet wet! One by one we were able to jump across the broken pieces of the log and finished crossing the log without further incident. I did notice when I was crossing that the break in the log was far to clean to have been natural. It concerns me that someone might have been setting traps for unfortunate travelers.
We continued on and eventually came to a very blue lake, shrouded in mist. The others carefully climbed down the short, cliff-like bank to a stone dock, but I forwent my usual gracefulness and took the fast and painful way down. Thankfully the tumble only wounded my pride and not my body. Looking out across the water, I felt a shiver crawl over my neck. The water was unnaturally still, and as I stared into the mist, I realized that it was swirling with images of dragons, castles, knights and all matter of fantastical things. These images would swirl into focus and then dissipate. I have never seen anything like this! I think had the others not been there, I would have stayed and watched these phantoms longer.
As it was, we needed figure out our next move. We saw a mysterious island out in the middle of the lake, but no foreseeable way to get there. There were a few steps down to the water, but no boat. As we pondered leaving and pressing on to the crow tower, Magda noticed there was an inscription carved into the stone of the dock. Once we cleared the moss and debris from the stone, Magda realized it was written in Sylvan which she was translated for us; basically what amounted to: “Do not stray from the path.” This gave us an idea which Markus was happy to test out. He stepped down the stairs and took a step out onto the water... and he didn't fall in! We all followed him out onto the lake, walking on this strange invisible bridge. I must say, my concern grew exponentially with each step across the path I could not see, just above unnaturally calm water with silent images swirls through the mist on either side.
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Pharast 2 cont...
It was a little disconcerting to walk through the mists without seeing where we were going, but after a bit we saw a shadowy mass in front of us. As we drew near we began to see it was an island. It felt reassuring to step foot on solid ground and to be away from the dreadful blood pines. It turned out to be more of an islet than an island. It didn't take long to explore the island and at the center we found a series of standing stones. As we tried to figure out what the standing stones might be for, Echo decided to stand in the center and try to detect if there was any magic around. She gasped and quietly described how she felt like there was a giant butterfly of magic surrounding us.
We pressed on, exploring the rest of the small islet. On the far shore we found the remains of a longship nestled in the reeds. As we pondered where the longship might have come from, I began to notice that the rest of my companions were bobbing their heads and falling asleep. Their bodies slowly slumped to the ground. At first I was tempted to play at also falling asleep, but I became frantic and instead went from person to person trying to shake everyone awake. I was able to rouse everyone from their unnatural slumber and we decided that we should probably leave this mysterious islet. As we left, Magda and Markus both exclaimed as they said they heard little tinkling bells.
We made it back across the invisible bridge and back across the river uneventfully.
As we moved back to forest to resume our hunt for the crow tower, we came upon a dead bugbear lying in the middle of the path. Markus boldly strode up to it to poke at it to see if it was really dead. Somehow in an instant Markus was up in the air and struggling with the bugbear, who it had turned out, was not dead. I quickly moved up to cut them down and suddenly there were goblins running out from the trees. I quickly dispatched the bugbear and we all began to hack away at the little beasts.
As we began killing the goblins we discovered how nasty these buggers truly are. Upon dying they exploded, covering those nearby with the most disgusting viscera. At some point during the battle Magda was caught up in the vines at the edge of the path. Luckily being a slippery little rogue she was able to get out fairly quickly. When we searched the remains of the exploded goblins we found they were all wearing pendants with a crude three-finger hand on them.
Pressing on, we soon came to the crow tower we had been looking for. At the base of the tower was a huge dragon head with its mouth open and a staircase winding up the throat. After much deliberation we decided to leave the horses with our camp followers and begin exploring the tower.
We only made it part way up the stairs before trouble began. A portcullis slammed down and hit both myself and Echo. Goblins appeared from the shadows and began pelting us with arrows. Things were looking grim until Z summoned a dire rat to distract them as we struggled to raise the portcullis off us.
We rushed up to where the goblins had disappeared behind some doors. Magda and Z's elk managed to completely splinter the doors. We soon came to a room with tiled mosaics on a marbled dais. There was weird giant humanoid statue with a tail and wings made from reeds and mud. The goblins had apparently retreated to this room and began attacking us again. Magda danced around and nimbly hacked at the goblins.
As I sliced through one of the goblins, I saw a bright white flash and then nothing. I could hear the sounds of combat around me but I could not see anything! I was quite feared that something would hit me, but thankfully combat died down as the others finished the goblins off. We head off towards the leftward door and discover a circular room with sparkling gems inset in the vaulted ceiling and a giant rune inlayed in the floor. Eight alcoves were spaced around the walls, each containing a old set of rusty looking armor. As I entered the chamber a booming voice filled the room saying “What foolish mortal claims the might of of the Beastman?” Upon hearing this, I grabbed a sword from the rack on the wall and get set to face whatever challenge might appear. One of the suits of armor steps out of its alcove and moves to attack me.
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Pharast 2 cont...
As I hit the the armor, I noticed my trusty falchion did not seem to do as much damage as it should have. Behind me I could hear Derrith step into the chamber and another of the suits of armor awakened and stepped into combat. Z scurried up onto the walls saying something about prying out the gems on the ceiling and another suit of armor stepped out. It took a swing at the little halfling and I winced as I heard bone crunch. Despite the injury, Z piped up that she had seen inside the armor and it looked like a bunch of bloody bones.
I heard Echo shout from the doorway, “Let the healing power of Desna wash offer my companions with the gentleness of your butterfly wings! And let those wings turn to razors on the unholy undeadness of these foul creatures!” And I felt my body knitting the wounds back together. I caught a glance of Z still hanging on the wall, the earlier blow had really hit her hard as even after Echo's healing she was using one arm to hold her intestines in. Being an intrepid, brave little halfling, she was still trying to fight.