Game-Summaries:7/3/2017 Recollections

Recollections by Amon

Three years before the stars come right, and She returns (345.7.22 CE)

After what felt like weeks of poring over menial work in our capacity as Initiates within the Magistery, it was time at last for our first assignment beyond the protection of the guild's walls, whatever faint protection that might be with the storm on the horizon, vast and implacable. I had assembled a team whose skillset I assumed was diverse enough to see our first quest to completion, in the manner which I assume most are accustomed to, asking during one of our days of work in the library, though I wonder if my Lady's method, sending my thoughts and words directly into their minds, might have been a speedier and more efficient means of securing their cooperation. Though this method leads to less screaming and blood.

Our heroes for the day were the brusque and occasionally antagonistic half-elf Kaelor, whose manner was likely the after effects of the encounter that cleared his scalp, the shifty but largely efficient man who calls himself Ford, the quiet but capable human Zalman, and Tallulah, a half-elf whose skill with bow and knife would be proven on the field in short order, and whose uncertainty of purpose and persuasion would prove unfounded. And of course myself, led on by the voice of my Lady to the safeguarding of this world against the threats of those surrounding it. Gifted with a purpose and a need to see that purpose done, though even its most meager limits lie beyond my current skill.

We received our charge from the library clerk, a curt and unhelpful young woman whose purpose was clearly not divine, unless she served the god of terseness and dull spite. We were to venture two miles east from the city in search of the lair of local kobolds, small dragonlike...dragonlite? tiny stupid draconic monstrosities of little individual consequence to the world. Having brought our packs with us, expecting a short trip, and finding little additional provisions within the library itself, we set out, with my Lady leading the way through me. We followed her words across the near east, avoiding through her guidance several ambushes, pitfalls, and a poisonous swamp to arrive at the site of the kobold lair, only seven hours later. While the relative safety of our journey seemed an obvious trade-off for expediency to me, not all of my companions were fully satisfied with our rate of progress. Still the past was, for now, in the past, and will hopefully remain so for the foreseeable future.

By the early afternoon, we had arrived within a stone’s throw from the entrance to the kobold lair, marked by an old gate, the opening set in the side of the mountain with hewn stone around it showing the signs of crude labor. Showing her superior skill at scouting and stealth, Tallulah moved ahead of the party to assess the situation nearer the gates and came back swiftly to report the presence of winged kobolds and a path leading up above them. After a brief deliberation, Zalmin and Ford set out sneak above the tiny winged vermin and take them by surprise, while I followed Tallulah back up the hill overlooking the cave entrance to finish the creatures off if the pair proved unable to kill either of their targets, and Kaelor stood around and looked annoyed about something.

Having successfully snuck up above the winged kobolds, our more martially inclined pair advanced to strike, the maneuver only partially successful as Zalmin decapicated his target just as Ford slipped, lost his footing, and dropped the dozen feet to the ground, dragging his kobold with him. While Tallulah dispatched the stunned kobold with an expertly placed arrow, the creature’s frantic cries had already alerted those further inside the cave. As we regrouped, we resolved to enter and explore the cave cautiously, mindful that we had likely lost the element of surprise.

Barely a few feet into the door, down a flight of carved steps, we found the first justification for our lack of haste, as our half-elven scout noticed a set of pressure plates set into the floor, connected to an unknown but likely deadly mechanism. The whispers suggested its activation would release a beneficent creature from beyond the stars, and urged me on to tread upon it in Her name, but before I could do so Ford bent down and, examining the mechanics of the trap, was able to quickly disable it.

We proceeded, deciding quickly to avoid unnecessary conflict as Tallulah continued as our vanguard, looking for further devices. Further in the elevation shifted, angling downward, as the scent of offal and excrement grew. The others grew increasingly uneasy at the smell, but I, having lived alone in a cave in the mountains for a decade, had long since grown accustomed. Reaching the end of one branch, we came across a charnel mound, littered with the bodies of kobolds, which we deduced to be miners given the broken equipment among the pile. Taking in the surroundings, Zalmin concluded that the area we occupied had once been the sewers of the long fallen civilization that had preceded the present Solace, whose end had come the last time the stars had been right.

Returning to the fork in the tunnel complex, we proceeded down another path, but came upon a quartet of kobolds, armed and prepared for our arrival. Combat began in earnest, and though we attempted to quickly silence our foes and hope to retain some semblance of surprise, one of our opponents managed to flee and find help. While the vermin we fought against were squat, draconic-looking things, the pair of allies that emerged to aid them were something from a nightmare. As we gained the upper hand against the creatures and the few kobolds who later joined the fight, a pair of creatures emerged from another tunnel, just at the edge of torchlight. At first they seemed to simply be snakes of massive size, until their faces and torsos emerged into the light, horrifying chiefly for how damnably human they appeared, especially their jaundice-yellow eyes, and with each creature possessing a pair of humanoid arms, though mottled green like the rest of their bodies. We would later learn that these creatures, called “yuan-ti” were young, having not reached their full maturity, and I thank the Lady’s grace for that, for we barely survived their arrival.

The tide of battle briefly turned against us. One of the creatures lunged forward, striking Ford with such force and ferocity that he was brought down by the blow, and the frantic nature of the fight meant that, briefly, we were unable to both fight off our foes and keep from joining him on the dirty, increasingly blood floor, and to get to his aid. Kaelor, who manifested divine power for the first time in our presence by bringing him briefly, barely to life, saved his life. Meanwhile, through concentrated effort from Tallulah, Zalmin, and I were able to bring down the offending serpent-man. The beat and tempo of the fight shifted as another of the little nuisances emerged from a side passage, slipping past our front line fighters to strike a sneaky blow at Zalmin, and distracted him long enough for the remaining yuan-ti to strike, gouging a chunk from his chest and bringing him down, albeit briefly. As those of us responded with deadly force, Kaelor once again saved the day, bringing Zalmin back from the brink. Perhaps still feeling the rush of his restoration, Zalmin was able to kill the last kobold still engaged with us, while Kaelor set off to dispatch the one runner we let escape.

We moved forward to aid him, but stopped quickly as we saw the creature zip past through another passage, propelled forward with lethal force by what I can only describe as a comet made of sunlight. As the creature splayed against a column, the noise sounding sickeningly more like a splash than a slam, silence returned to the caves, broken only by our own labored breathing. As we took stock of our surroundings, we quickly concluded that, considering the difficulty of our brief combat, and the uncertainty of the passages deeper in, we would take a brief rest. An hour later, having caught his breath as best he could, Zalmin picked through the bodies of the fallen kobolds, finding a scrap of paper in a language foreign to all of us, but which Kaelor concluded must be Draconic. Ford quickly made a copy of it, in case the page were somehow lost to us in the future, and we set off again. We quickly found a passageway at the end of the cave, leading deeper in through a crevasse so tiny we would need to crawl through, widening only barely enough to accommodate a single file line.

Unwilling to take our chances with a fight in such conditions, we continued scouting the current area, hoping to find an alternate means of egress in case conditions in the narrow pass proved dangerous and our original entrance became unusable. We were able to find a passageway leading to several locked doors, which Ford effortlessly picked. Behind one such door was a ladder reaching up into the early afternoon atop another hill, while another lead to a small, meager hoard of scraps of equipment and silver pieces. With only the briefest discussion, we evenly split the coins, packing them away on our persons for our eventual return to town. With no other options, we returned to the crevasse and carefully entered it, Tallulah once again leading the way.

Past a bend, our caution paid off. Tallulah left us behind briefly, having heard the sound of heavy breathing further along. She quickly returned to inform us of the presence of a pair of massive trolls, apparently standing guard around the statue of a young adult dragon. Determining that such a conflict was beyond us, and having acquired the paper and a possible clue as to the presence of the kobolds here, we elected to leave via the ladder we had found, and make our way back to Solace, this time without the benefit of the Her guidance, whatever ill might have befallen us.

As we made our way along the surface, we were able to ascertain that the kobolds, who we had concluded must be mining their way to expand the current sewer system, were heading west, towards the city. As we walked, we watched for signs of subterranean progress until we reached a point a half mile away, which seemed to be the limits of the current excavation. Marking this with a piton and a coil of rope, we continued the rest of the way to Solace without further incident.

Back in the Magistery’s library, we delivered our report to the Grandmaster Aetheres, a tallish, gruff dwarf, as if there were any other kind. Showing him the note, he quickly read it and pocketed it; Ford’s hasty copying effort proving useful. Thus, another day ended, bringing us closer to Her return, and the end of things.

Recollections by Kaylorr

7.22.345 CE

It’s been another two weeks and my hair hasn’t grown back. To take my mind off of my missing top knot, I decided to sign up for an investigation involving some kobold lair. I ended up in a party with some other initiates from the orientation, Zalmann, Amon, Tallulah, and Ford. The lair was about 2 miles east of Solace but stupid Amon took us almost 8 hours to get there. I think he’s trying to be like Coin but a worse version of him. Other than the detour, we found the cave entrance and dispatched the two kobold guards pretty easily…if you don’t count Ford tripping down the hill. Turns out the lair went underground, closer to an old sewer system that could have been from Old Solace. We found a massive pile of kobold bodies in one of the cave’s many corridors that could have been from accidents from within the lair. After a small encounter of kobolds and baby yuan-ti’s, we found a note written in Draconic for the kobolds. Deciding to search for more information, we found a hidden hoard of gold and a 2nd exit that led back above ground. Eventually we came across a small crevice that we had to squeeze through one by one. With Tallulah leading the group, she came across an opening that held two giant trolls guarding some sort of dragon statue. We decided to cut our losses at that point knowing that we would not be able to take on those trolls and whatever else lurked deeper into the sewer/cave/lair system. Heading back to the Magistery, we also stumbled upon huge indentations that looked to be headed back to Solace. We marked the last one just in case someone higher up in the Magistrate wanted to investigate. We briefly met with Grandmaster Aetheres to debrief him of our findings and his reaction was very curious. We decided to decipher a copy of the note that Zal or Ford copied and the little we were able to make out stated

Cut West, Don’t cut into pipe, Don’t cut into sky

I’m curious to see where this leads but I need to find another party to join. We shall see what happens in the future.

Recollections by Tallulah

I went on my first mission today. I embarked from the Magistery along with Amon, Kaylorr, Stanford and Zalmann to investigate increased activity approximately 2 miles from Solace. I don’t like to stand out in a crowd, so when Amon volunteered to lead the way I was content to hang back, sort through my nerves and experience the adventure with my companions.

It took us quite some time to reach our destination which was frustrating at times but we did so safely and with ample daylight to continue our exploration. Upon arriving at the mouth of the kobold lair it was clear that I had skills that were great assets to the team and I decided to put my trepidation aside and take charge of the group.

I left my companions and ventured ahead to scope out what lay before us. The lair was situated in the side of a hill and while I have heard of kobolds I had never seen one before today. There were only two of these ugly, little creatures guarding the door, and while I could have taken them out easily with my bow, in an effort to include my team I returned to them to come up with a plan. Zalmann and Ford snuck up behind the guards to take them by surprise. In his eagerness Zalmann decapitated his target whereas Ford was less successful. I silenced the shocked kobold with an arrow from my vantage point but I was terrified his screams had given us away!

We gathered near the entrance to plan our further progress. Zalmann and myself, with our advantages in low-light entered first and signaled to the group when it was clear. We avoided triggering a booby trap and continued our exploration. One of the first things we discovered appeared to be a work site that is connected with the sewer system of Old Solace. We also happened upon a pile of dead kobolds—which certainly did not help the stench. Reaching a dead end we decided to try another path.

Here, we encountered more kobolds armed and ready to cause us some trouble. My companions and I fought well, despite our inexperience together, until two horrible snake-like yuan-ti joined the battle. I could feel my heart beating in my chest and bile rising in my throat but adrenaline and instinct kicked in and we defeated both monsters but not without casualty. Ford and Zalmann were injured badly I was grateful for Kaylorr stepping in with his healing powers to revive them.

After recovering from the fight we explored the area more thoroughly. While searching the bodies of the kobolds, Zalmann found a list written in a language none of us could read. Ford made a copy of the note and we ventured on. The only way forward appeared to be a very narrow, dark passageway so we decided to go back the way we had come and try to find another path.

Unfortunately, we were unable to find another path further into the caves. We did however, find a ladder that led back out to a different section of hills from which we came. We returned to the narrow passageway and, because of the darkness, I scouted ahead, hearing a noise that sounded like very deep, heavy breathing. I remained quiet as I inched along, careful not to alert anyone or anything that might be lying ahead. The breathing got closer as the passageway opened up into a large cavernous room. I froze—there was a large statue of a dragon—never a good sign, and standing on either side of it were two enormous trolls. This was far beyond what our small group could handle and seeing as our mission was simply to investigate, I returned to my fellow initiates and we decided to report back to the Magistery with our findings.

Once we had all reached the surface we began the brief trek home. It felt good to have the sun on my skin once again. Along the way we noticed an indentation in the ground running from the kobold lair for about a half a mile. It appears as though the kobolds may be excavating the old sewer system to head towards Solace. In case the effort of their progress continues, we decided to mark where the indentations currently stopped. We did so with a piton and a coil of rope that we deemed inconspicuous enough not to draw unwanted attention but also easy to find again.

Upon our return to the Magistery we reported to Grandmaster Aetheres with our findings including the note that Zalmann had found. The grandmaster is a curt man and our interaction with him was brief. Ford's quick thinking to copy the note certainly paid off. We then attempted to find someone in the library to translate the note. We ascertained that it had been written in Draconic and was a list of tasks that read:

Cut West

Don't cut into pipe

Don't cut into sky

None of us having any idea what that could mean and being sufficiently spent from the day's events we went our separate ways.

The significant evidence suggesting the involvement of dragons this close to the city is concerning. I am proud of what we accomplished today and I eagerly await the next opportunity to prove myself and earn my place at the Magistery.