GREYFORGE: ARCHIVE

[Longman]

Gurr Onyxbreaker greets his returning son.

'And what did you find out there, my boy', he asks. 'Are the rumors true? Are the goblin numbers decreasing, as the scouts have told us?'

This is hard to answer because no one has any clear idea of their numbers before, or now. But the ones you have seen were starving, and poorly organised.

'How does that new axe bear up? Did you use it in a fight yet? It was forged especially for you, and took a whole week to make. I hope it was worth it.'

'And what of the human? Has she proved useful? I believe that she has had visions that can assist us...but that doesn't mean she needs to accompany you, now that we know what lies in the old catacombs beneath the temple.'

'A behir you say? Well, by the sounds of its tracks, it is not a full grown one! They can get up to 40 feet long - as big as our entry hall! Still, it will grow to that size eventually. If you can locate where it's lair is, it would be worth knowing that. Perhaps I could grant you some extra troops in order to kill it. Otherwise, in a few years, we will end up with a real monster on our hands.'

OOC - you raise a decent point about Milly - she hasn't exactly been super useful so far. She will become more useful as the game goes on, but I could understand if the dwarves were considering leaving her behind as a liability. But, she won't gain experience if she stays at home. Being on an adventure triggers her dreams at a much more rapid rate than if she is in safety. I'll lave it up to you to role-play what happens with her - if you want to keep taking her, that's fine. If you want to leave her in favor of a more obviously useful character, that's OK too.

If you want to do any more RP stuff with other people - an Inn, Thann's clerk friends, or whatever - bring it on.

[Grendelthebrave]

After a nice warm bath, and a most glorious night's rest, Milly will find herself a sling and a bag of 20 bullets or so. (1gp,20sp if we'll be going by list value) "Maybe now I can lend some assistance if we meet more goblins..."

---Back at Clan Onyxbreaker---

"Aye the lass wasn't the most potent fighter, but she made better company than those other two louts. And the connection she had with the strange owl, and a few of her other visions could prove quite useful down the road. I think you are wise to want to deal with the Behir, my axe should prove quite potent in removing its legs like I did those of the bugbear. Would you prefer we find the den before you send a complement of soldiers, or will they depart with us to find it?"

After the meeting, or the following day during normal business hours, Cholum will stock up on arrows for he and Thann (10sp - Call it 5 expended each? I'll keep better track on the next expedition)

Thann, without having much to share with his peers, will spend the time relaxing and getting his clothes mended.

OOC- Pragmatism be damned, I'll keep Milly along. She'll be practicing with her new sling using rocks whenever she gets a chance. Reading the rules, I see now that magic-users can only become proficient with daggers and staves, oh well, if she can do any good from range it might end up worth it.

Though if we end up with a decent amount of loot down the road, I'll work on picking up some NPCs to pad our combat abilities.

[Longman]

Milly can buy a sling but use it at -4. Throwing daggers max range is 30'. We are going by list price for common items, yes.

You hang around for about 3 days (May 8, 9 and 10, which is a Sunday) and by this time your wounds are totally healed. Sunday morning is spent in the Church of the Very True God, if you are that way inclined.



Milly has no visions at all while back in the fortress, unless she wants to start casting 'place read' for fun...

There are no other encounters either. Gurr Onyxbreaker says he would like you to find the lair of the behir, and then he will give you the extra men - not beforehand.

He also says that if you can track down the giant owl it would be very useful. It almost certainly belongs to Aleut people. But he also tells you to be very wary - not that you need the warning. You all saw how big the creature's talons were.

On the Sunday evening, some Aleut traders arrive from the old road to Anders, instead of the road inside the mountains. You can arrange to talk to them if you want.

Incidentally for those who have extra language options due to high intelligence, the best are likely to be: Dwarvish, Yoll (human common in these parts), and Aleuti. Ancient languages are not available at this point and goblin is not available either.

If you don't want to talk to the traders, you can head out again restocked on May the 11th. It is raining and still rather cold, but not sleeting like it was last week.

EXP - I'm awarding a daily exp rate of about 25 / day for exploration this close to Greyforge, as well as full rates for all monsters killed - that's about 190 each for all that. I'm also giving you bonuses for finding out information about the owl, behir, goblins with captive, and alpha wolf. That's 290 all up for the trip - most of which is not monsters.

The longer out you spend, the more you'll get. Completing tasks like tracking down the owl and behir will get larger rewards because you have already identified them as goals. Treasure and magic items will give you exp bonuses too - not the full amount, but definitely something.

[Grendelthebrave]

So for Milly, can I alter her language choices to read: Yoll, Dwarvish, and Aleuti? If that makes more sense than her knowing Elvish. I probably just chose my default three based on the usual main fantasy suspects.

I would definitely like to visit with the Aleuti traders. I suppose they would likely speak Dwarvish, but depending how you rule on the point above, maybe Milly can speak their language.

Chevo will take Milly to meet the traders, he will try to find out what they can tell him of the great Owl riders, especially if any of the mounts have gone missing on recent weeks.

For a final confirmation of supplies purchased for Milly and the party:

1GP 20sp, for a sling for Milly, 2gp for a dagger for her.

60gp for two weeks rations for the party.

[Longman]

Dáidu, Aleut fur trader.

"We've come from our place around West Scarba. Just the four of us. Seemed like there were so few goblins around over the last few years, it might be worth using this old road again, rather than crossing the mountains.

Well, there are no goblins as far as we can tell...but the other wild creatures have grown in number, that's a sure thing. We saw a scrag once, up on a hill top, and it ran towards us and we fled, and it chased us for a mile or more. Terrible thing, but it was not very smart and we avoided it in the end. And we heard a Wolf King one night, and saw its tracks in the morning. That is a great white wolf, a magical creature that can control normal wolves to do its bidding. But it didn't come near us. Maybe we were lucky.

Yes, we are pretty sure know the great owl you saw. There's a reindeer camp, up on the borders, and the shaman of that place owned the owl, and he used to talk to it, and fly about on its back. It was a marvelous thing. But scrags attacked the village and killed some people three weeks ago, and the owl flew away. If you could find it again, that would be a great blessing for the people of that village. But the village is more than eighty miles to the north of here. I am surprised the bird has gone so far from home...

A behir? Accursed creatures! I am almost glad that we didn't know it was out there, otherwise I am sure we would never have come this way! I think we will go back to the west of the mountains. That route may be a week longer, but I do not want to risk meeting a behir, even if it only a small one, as you say."

Anything to add? (You can still leave on the Monday morning. It doesn't matter how long you talk to the trader.)

PS - knowing Elvish was always pretty unlikely. Yoll, Aleuti and Dwarf is perfect. The Aleuti speak their own language and some Dwarvish, but not very well.

[Grendelthebrave]

Milly will ask a few more questions about the owl:
"Do you know any tales about the owls, perhaps how one might attract one? Also, if we were too gain control of it, do you know where we might return it to? Eighty miles seems quite a trek."
"Did the Shaman use magic to speak to the owl?"

OOC: Would Chevo or Milly know what Scrags are?

Chevo:"you did well to avoid that beast, and be safe back to your homeland, trade with the Aleuti it's most welcome at Greyforge." (Dropping a little Diplomacy bomb for them )

With that, our foolishly brave explorators will head out on Monday morning, bundled against the rain. Back out along the road to the east.

EDIT: Milly is going to have to buy herself a backpack as well (4gp), she'll be playing pack mule so the rest of the gang can stay below their 'light load' limit.

EDIT #2: Sorry, after reviewing Milly's visions, I can see that you already told me about scrags and Milly has seen one in her vision tearing up some Aleuts. Though I suppose it isn't necessarily clear that Milly knows what monster it is she saw.

[Longman]

Scrags - marsh trolls - are well enough known to the dwarves that it was pretty clear what Milly saw.

Yes, the Aleut shamans have a limited kind of magic (druidic). They are not followers of the Church of the Very True God, but worship nature and their ancestors - although missionaries have been up to their lands, and are trying to convert them.

You already did the right thing in attracting the owl - feed it. Don't try to get on its back. If you can get it to follow you, you can take it back to Greyforge and then wait for more traders to arrive there, and let it be known that you have found it.

All gear purchased. Monday May 12, steady rain. You mean the main road, right?

D02 - walking though the old battlefield where the goblins beat the dwarf army 20 years ago and over seven hundred clansmen died. This has been picked over by dwarves many times, and there is nothing above the soil, but there still might be skeletons or possessions beneath the soil.

You want to do anything here, or continue?

[Grendelthebrave]

Before moving on, Milly will perform a Place Read, just in case anything interesting pops out, possibly indicating where some loot might be found.

If nothing interesting comes of it, the group will follow the side road along the x02s until they get to the intersection with the side trail at J01. Then they'll start slowing down, assuming nothing else slows them before that of course.

[Longman]

Sorry, I just re-read your instruction. You mean the road you took before, not the main road. You do not pass though the battlefield at all.

E02 and F02 pass without incident. That's 1.5 down. G02 and H02 also pass uneventfully. There really doesn't seem to be much around at all other than animals, which is encouraging. 2.5 EP gone.

Passing through I02, you chance to see something that you didn't see on either time passing through this hex. Milly spots a cave opening up in the hills to your right. It is quite a long way off - about half a mile - and it is probably quite big.

You haven't heard anything about a cave along here from hunters or scouts or anyone else. It could be natural, or maybe an abandoned dwelling. It isn't famous, that's for sure.

[Grendelthebrave]

Interesting...

The party will try to find some cover from the cave, then Milly will use a Place Read to see if she can get a glimpse of the occupants of the cave.

If she is unsuccessful Thann and Cholum will approach silently to try to get a batter look at who or what might have made the cave.