Adv Log Session 43: The Cause of the Disappearances
General Summary
Session 43 Notes
Ralsday, Colding 3Taid was at the Mountainstream inn, gathering groceries and rumors. He found out about a disappearance from Tuhumzahar.
Then he went to the civil patrol offices to get some details about the disappearance. Flapping sounds were heard as well. After he got what info they had, he went back to his companions.
Every time Taid went into town, and saw all of the “fashionable” beards on the Dwarves (and those on the other races, as well, actually) he’s been reminded that it’s been several eightdays since he’s had his beard taken care of properly. It was clean (ish), but rather disheveled, and there were split ends and an unhealthy feel to the hairs. They seemed stiff and brittle. Plus, his stark white beard attracted attention; most people stared at it, but a few complimented him on it, saying how lucky he was to have a beard that would take color so easily.
Taid came back to camp, and let them know about the latest disappearance. They were on the wrong road, and so they broke camp, and moved to a road to the south of Dwarfchat, near the fork in the road. It was also a good time to check on Wilbur.
Their new camp was uphill from the road, near the fork. They could see the lights in the windows of the nearest manor house, probably the home of a local minor noble or wealthy trader.
Taid went back to town, the get his beard done. He got red and black vertical stripes, with the outline of a skull in the center, using his natural beard color. ($15, and the GM rolled a 6 on their design skills). Washed, conditioned, styled, and dyed his beard in the Dwarfchat fashion.
Elitheris and Almë build and camouflage the camp and the watcher’s blinds. Almë using the plant growth spell, and Elitheris checking how camouflaged it was.
The campsite itself is about as camouflaged as it can get. Visually, the chance of someone seeing it is pretty slim. However, it’s only about 20m from the road, so when someone comes by, they will have to be quiet, or else someone might hear them. Considering the atmosphere in town at the moment, someone hearing something in the bushes will not be looked on favorably.
The two spots for the watchers were also fairly well camouflaged.
Taid came back, with a very cool, interesting beard. He went to the 2nd Street Barber’s and according to Taid, it felt goooood.
It was late afternoon, and Almë and Elitheris spent some time with Ruby, learning Rec. Energy. Almë also started teaching Ruby how to meditate.
Eykit, with Elitheris’ help, made some more targets for knife practice. He made them vaguely Taid-shaped. He started throwing some knives.
Night fell; they could see lights in the windows of the nearest manor in the distance, between the trees. They split the watches into two parts. Taid and Elitheris took first watch, Almë and Eykit took second watch. They put out the campfire.
During the first watch, they saw two Dwarves striding quickly down the road. They had been caught out after dark, and they were hurrying home. They were dressed in worker’s clothes, and looked like they had been working out in the fields. There was some thought about letting them stay in the camp, but that idea was nixed. Elitheris trailed behind them, stealthily, keeping an eye on them. She followed them; she could hear them commenting about getting home. She followed them to Dwarfchat, then followed them through the streets.
She must have made a noise, because the to workers bolted, taking off running down the street. She ran after them for a moment, then called it off, assuming they would get to their homes.
She looked around. The road between the buildings was fairly narrow; only enough room for a wagon to pass another, with a bit of space as a buffer. The average building size was also four stories tall, so standing on the street was like being in a canyon. A large animal, like a dragon or manticore, wouldn’t really be able to swoop down to the street; their wingspan was too large. They would have to land on the rooftops, then climb or fall down to the street below. Taking off would be tricky as well: a dragon wouldn’t be able to do it at all, and a manticore would have to turn to face a building to let it stretch its wings out down the road.
Not being able to accomplish anything else there, Elitheris made her way back to the camp, along the road.
Almë and Eykit took the second watch. About 3 hours before dawn, they heard noises from the direction of Dwarfchat. Almë recognized it as the sound of marching. Soon they could hear the jingling of gear. They came around the corner into view, six Dwarves marching two abreast. “Ah! It’s the Mountain Rangers!” Eykit whispered. They were armed with partisans, the blades flashing in the moonlight. They were also decently armored.
Almë and Eykit remained quiet. The Mountain Rangers paused at the fork in the road; they seemed to think something was amiss, but couldn’t come to any decisions. After a little while, they moved on towards Tuhumzahar.
Starsday, Colding 4
Taid went into Dwarfchat at around midday. He went to the Mountainstream Inn, both to get an ale, and to get any rumors. As he approached the building, he saw Malram, the bartender, shoving this older, disheveled, mangy looking, dirty Dwarf, away from the doors to the Mountainstream Inn. There were words Malram said along the lines of “Get away from my doors! You’re scaring away the paying customers! And stop harassing them! If you want a drink, pay for it yourself! Don’t beg from my customers!”
Taid noted the disheveled, walking mass of dirty laundry, and went into the Mountainstream Inn.
He greeted Malram, who said, “Oh, hey! Nice beard! You’re not a necromancer, are you, with that skull?”
“No,” Taid laughed. “It just looks cool.”
“What can I get you now that you’re here? Some lunch?”
Taid had a blonde ale. He asked about the disheveled Dwarf.
“Oh, Balin? He’s like the local town drunk. We keep trying to get the Civil Patrol to arrest him, and sometimes they do, but he doesn’t stay in jail long. He keeps coming by trying to scavenge beer off of us. He comes by every now and again trying to trying to, you know, beg some drinks off of us. And my bad… awhile ago I actually indulged him a couple times and now he keeps coming back.”
“What do you know about any disappearances last night?”
“Haven’t heard of any. No one has mentioned anything about this. Are you aware of any?”
“No. I can’t keep my mind off of them, though.”
“I get it. They’ve been on my mind as well.”
“Maybe they are over, and on one else has to go missing.”
“Oh, that’d be nice! The dragon just decided to fly off. Or, well, we don’t know if it’s a dragon, or a manticore. Still, I’m putting my silver on dragon. Just because.”
“And I assume the Civil Patrol is still looking out for what’s going on?”
“Yeah. Although they don’t a whole lot at night. They’re staying under cover at night, just like everyone else. I mean, a couple of them, the braver ones, go out at night and you know, I guess they stake out locations or whatever.”
“So so let let me ask you a personal question. Let's say let's say you're out like on the road, like you're just out of town. “
“M-hmm.”
“And the Manticore or Dragon attacks you. Let’s assume you see it coming.”
“Okay.”
“Who you gonna Kallia?” (All players take 1 HP damage due to bleeding ears).
“Whatever god is nearest. And I’m gonna hope that my little legs will take me far before it gets a chance to get me.”
“The beer is pretty good, I gotta say.”
Malram smiled. “The beer is great.”
Taid finished his meal, and headed back, and told the crew that it had been a quiet night as far as the townsfolk knew. The rest of them had slept in, and did some training in the afternoon. Ruby taught some Recover Energy, Almë attempted to teach Ruby meditation. Eykit practiced with his targets. He was more consistently hitting the eyes marked on the targets. Throwing knives were rubbish against armor, but eyes weren’t armored. It he could toss a knife into an eye socket, he’d have an effective attack.
During the day, there was plenty of traffic going back and forth between Dwarfchat and Tuhumzahar. Elitheris got antsy, and had to stretch her legs, so she went off into the woods for a hike. Along the way, while walking down a slope, her foot slid in the mud, and she took a tumble, sliding down the hillside. She was covered in mud, and had leaves and twigs under her gambeson that she had to extricate.
She dusted herself off, and kept going. She saw several different manor houses, some of which are just entrances up against a cliffside. In those cases, the portico were often highly decorated. Usually, the manor houses had a good view of the valley below. Like most of the rich, they flaunted their wealth using architecture and decorated details.
After roaming around the area, she went back to the camp just after sunset.
The rest of them noticed that she looked a bit messier than usual, like she had gone tobogganing down a muddy hillside.
Night fell. Taid and Eykit took first watch. Elitheris and Almë took second watch. It was a quiet night.
Lifeday, Colding 5
Almë went into town this time. He wandered around Upper Dwarfchat, and came upon a tavern. The sign said Mountainstream Inn. He laughed; he had just wanted to find a tavern.
He went in. He ordered a beer, then went out to the courtyard to enjoy it. He saw a lot of Dwarves, most with colorful beards. He eavesdropped, but heard nothing about disappearances, or Shard thefts. Mostly what he heard was personal stuff, mundane things, and everyday talk that had little relevance. He did hear something about smuggling.
He went back in, ordered some food to go, and got a handpie. He wandered around South Upper Dwarfchat, eating his meat and vegetable pastie.
He wandered down the switchback road, then entered Lower Dwarfchat. He wanted to check on Wilbur. They’d only paid for a few days, and they needed to make sure that the stables didn’t sell him or something. As he walked, he noticed that he drew a lot of stares, likely because he was a tall, very skinny Elf.
He got to the stables, and found that they owed the stables for several days, to the tune of 40 marks. He paid in advance for another 5 days. Wilbur looked like he was in good shape.
He took the other, more woodsy road back to camp. On the way, he, like Elitheris and Ruby, saw the occasional manor house.
While Almë was out, Ruby spent some time training Norolind. Elitheris played and trained Mr. Wiggles. Eykit played a game of “Throw the knife into the target’s eye”. He was starting to get pretty good at it.
Ruby had finished training Elitheris and Almë in Recover Energy. They knew enough to put a CP into it.
Night fell. Eykit and Taid took first watch again.
During his watch, Eykit heard something. Something whooshed above the trees, and it wasn’t wind. When he listened more closely, he heard flapping noises. It seemed to be going down the slope, above the tree canopy, from the mountains towards the valley.
Taid motioned to Eykit to follow the noise. Meanwhile, he moved upslope to the campsite to wake up the rest of them. Eykit started running downslope, following the noise as best he could. He came upon an open spot between the trees. He saw one of the stars blinked, as if it got momentarily eclipsed. It seemed to be flying vaguely towards Lower Dwarfchat.
Taid woke everybody up. “Something large flew overhead. Heading northeast. We need to follow it now!”
Elitheris started tracking Eykit. It wasn’t hard; Eykit was running, not being stealthy. Mr. Wiggles at her heels. Everyone else followed Elitheris as well.
Taid cast Sense Danger. He got a sense of foreboding. They were at the edge of the fields, so they weren’t under the forest canopy. They could see the sky. They couldn’t see anything flying around, however.
They knew they could be in danger. Whatever it was, it was nearby. They moved towards Lower Dwarfchat. If it was hunting for them, then maybe they might be able to get some backup from the Civil Patrol. If it was hunting someone in town, then maybe they could get a bearing on it, and maybe follow it.
Taid cast Sense Danger again, but this time he didn’t get a sense of foreboding. When they got to Dwarfchat, they came out of the area of fields around where Hyachinth’s Caravanserai was.
They moved into town. Whatever they saw may have not had enough time to get anyone; perhaps they needed to stay in town for a little while. Or they might find evidence of it somewhere. They didn’t stick to the shadows, or use much stealth. They just walked into town, down the street.
It wasn’t long when they heard a scream in the distance, coming from the direction of the northeast tip of Lower Dwarfchat, around where they had stabled Wilbur. They bolted down the street, heading towards the commotion. The screaming lasted for about ten or fifteen seconds before it finally stopped.
Mister Wiggles was looking up, his ears perked. Elitheris heard some flapping noises to the north. They followed Elitheris, as she was really the only one who heard anything. Moments later, Elitheris, Ruby, and Almë saw something black moving against the black sky, its presence visible only as the eclipsing of stars.
Ruby’s staff clattered to the ground as she shifted from into a falcon, and launched herself into the sky, facing her fear of being alone in the sky.
The shape seemed to be headed upslope, into the mountains.
Taid shouted to Ruby, “We are headed back to camp!”
Almë picked up her staff and pack.
Ruby every once in a while saw a dark shape vaguely against the black backdrop of the mountains. The moon had passed over the peaks, so the entire eastern face of the chain was in shadow. As she beat her wings to catch up to the thing, the wind made her eyes water, and she blinked them clear.
But she couldn’t see the dark shape. She looked around, trying to reacquire the target. She couldn’t see it. The wind was rushing in her ears, so she slowed down, soaring, and tried to hear it. Far ahead of her, she thought she heard something, and when she looked there, she detected movement. She sped up, her wings cupping the air and propelling her forward. As she neared, she dropped in altitude, skimming the treetops and rocky outcroppings. She didn’t want to be noticed, but she wanted to stay close enough to follow it. She stayed about a hundred meters behind it. It was reasonably fast, but not as fast as she could fly.
The rest of the group went back to camp, to await Ruby, assuming she survived and the thing didn’t eat her.
It flew around a crag, but did not come around the other side. She followed it, but when she came around the crag, she didn’t see anything in the darkness. But she didn’t see any ledge or anything it could have landed either. By her estimation, she was around 20-25km from Dwarfchat.
She approached the rocky outcropping carefully, moving into shadow. Once she did, her eyes were able to see a bit better. She saw a cave, about 20’ wide, and 10’ tall, on the side of the outcropping, about 200m above the ground below. It faced southward. She lighted onto a branch on a tree that was growing on the side of the outcrop. She listened for movement, but could only hear the rushing of trickles of water running down the rocks from snowmelt.
She fluttered down to the opening. She could see that the cave goes back a bit, then makes an immediate turn. She could also smell blood, and musk.
She flew back to camp, paying attention to the lay of the land so she would have a decent chance of being able to lead everyone else.
She came back to camp, shapeshifted back to a Hobbit, and told them what she’d seen. She lost, it, she found it, she found a cave, and where the cave was.
It was still night, about the 20th bell, or about 2am. They waited until dawn to go after the thing.
Another note: the fuzzy thing that they had seen in the sky had moved a bit, and was lopsided. It was slightly larger as well, and was fuzzier on one side than the other.
Spiritsday, Colding 6
Ruby estimated that the distance over land was going to be about 30 to 40 km. It was going to be a long day’s hike.
They theoretically get there just after sunset, if they hurried. Ruby shapeshifted into a falcon again, to fly above everyone and scouting ahead. It also provided a visual referent for those on the ground. They could follow her progress, and know they were going in the right direction. She sort of just circled above where she thought her companions were.
During the walk, Elitheris noted that there wasn’t any evidence of large animals like deer or boar. She did see smaller things, like raccoons and rabbits and such. She also saw birds. But nothing large.
They also did see a section of forest with a lot of webs in them, but they avoided that area. They didn’t need to go kill any spiders.
At some point around midday, Ruby lost track of where her companions were. She had to hunt around for them a bit, but this only took about 10 minutes.
Elitheris sends Ruby a message saying that they are taking a break for some food. She shifted back to Hobbit form, to avoid having to eat meat. After, she shifted back to her falcon form.
They got to the crag at about sunset. Elitheris wanted to find a campsite nearby. Almë wanted to camp “in the dragon’s lair”.
They looked up the rocky face of the outcropping. The cave was 200m above them. They would have to climb, and it was twilight.
They did find some old bones at the base of the outcropping. Some were the bones of sentients.
They made camp up the valley on one side of the crag opposite the cave opening, about 150m from where the cave would have been, were it on ground level. They put the mountain between them and the cave. Taid did not cast Mystic Mist.
They did not make a fire. They ate cold rations for dinner. They set up 4 watches, each about 2 hours long. Elitheris took first watch, Almë took second, Taid took third, and Eykit took dawn watch. Ruby slept, letting the others do the work.
Alme woke up screaming during Elitheris’ watch. The dogs barked. Ruby silenced Nori, and Elitheris got Mr. Wiggles to quiet down. They all listened, to see if they had alerted the creature. All they could hear was the wind in the trees, and the bugs making bug noises.
People went back to sleep. Elitheris had another half hour before having to wake Almë. Almë meditated during his watch, taking his mind off the task.
Almë’s watch was quiet. He woke Taid for his watch. Almë fell asleep, but it wasn’t long before he was screaming again. The dogs barked, alerted.
Ruby had to silence Nori again, and Elitheris had to quiet Mr. Wiggles (she critted, and he shut the hell up). Taid quieted Almë.
Flapping could be heard above them, above the tree canopy. Taid loaded and cocked his crossbow. They could hear it flying around the crag. It was loitering, and likely trying to find out what was making the noises. The group stayed hidden, staying under the forest canopy.
After about 20 minutes, it finally went away.
Then it was Eykit’s watch. Ruby cast Sleep on Almë. Eykit’s watch was quiet.
Skysday, Colding 7
Taid woke Almë by tickling his feet (rolling a 4). Elitheris made a travois to tie the dogs to. That way, when they dragged them up 200m of rocky, rough cliff face, the dogs won’t be hurt. Elitheris started climbing. Everyone else besides Almë followed. Almë would tie the dogs to the travois just before having everyone else haul them up.
Elitheris set the pitons and tied the rope; everyone else followed behind, using the rope to climb. Ruby shape shifted into a falcon, and flew up. This continued, until she, and the others, got to the top. When Almë saw them near the top, he wrestled the dogs onto the travois, tying them down. He had a bit of trouble with Mr. Wiggles, who didn’t want anything to do with being tied up. Norolind growled a bit, and gave Almë The Look, but acquiesced.
Then they threw a rope down to Almë. He tied it to the travois, and they started hauling them up. Almë followed, steadying the travois as the others jerked on the rope.
Almë tried to meditate, once he got to the top. The groups stood in a line near the edge of the drop-off. They didn’t want to go into the cave yet.
Ruby shifted back to Hobbit form. Then a creature, black as a panther, charged out of the cave. It was a manticore, its bizarrely human-like face twisted in a snarl. It spread its forelimbs like a linebacker, trying to take Almë, Taid, and Ruby and sweep them off the edge. Almë and Ruby dove out of the way, Almë to the right, Ruby to the left. Taid had nowhere to go, and wasn’t fast enough. The manticore leapt off the ledge, Taid grasped in a bear hug. The manticore let go, and Taid fell.
But Taid had Maggie, and he swung the hook into the creature’s side. It lodged itself between two ribs, Taid’s not-inconsiderable weight pulling down on it and driving it deeper into the wound. The manticore shrieked, and momentarily lost control of its flight.
The two of them tumbled through the air, falling, Taid holding onto Maggie’s shaft.
Shocked, Elitheris and Eykit saw the creature slam Taid off of the cliff. Eykit moved quickly, and started going down the rope. Elitheris looked down, trying to see what’s going on. She had seen it charge past her, and start to unfurl its wings as it went over the edge with Taid. But now it was more falling than flying, its wings not coordinated enough to fly properly. Taid had done something to it, and she could see him attached to it by Maggie. She nocked an arrow.
The manticore finally got its wings under control, and the downward progress was mostly arrested as the wings started producing lift. Taid was hanging on its left side, the result of a right-handed swing with his halberd. Its left limb couldn’t get at him, so it struck with its right paw, delivering a strong blow to Taid’s leg. It didn’t penetrate the armor, but Taid got banged around, but he held on.
Taid reached down and pulled out his short sword.
Eykit slid down the rope, dodging rocks on the way down.
Almë rolled back onto his feet, readying his staff.
Elitheris launched an arrow into its wing root. The arrow hit, but didn’t penetrate, and the wind rushing by fluttered it out and away.
Ruby also scrambled to the edge. She saw Taid attached to the wildly careening manticore.
The manticore smacks Taid again, which again didn’t penetrate his armor, but it was enough to knock Taid down Maggie a few feet. But Taid held on.
Eykit kept going down the rope. He’d meet up with Taid eventually.
Almë shouted for Ruby to cast Haste on herself or Elitheris.
Taid slammed his short sword into the creature’s side. It slid between a pair of ribs, almost to the hilt. Now Taid had two handholds. The manticore shrieked, losing control of its flight as its muscles spasmed in pain.
Elitheris pulled and nocked another arrow.
Ruby started building up a fireball, the flames flickering through her fingers.
The manticore was wounded, and falling. It was badly damaged, and blood soaked its flank.
Eykit continued down the rope. Almë watched the manticore—and Taid—fall.
Elitheris took another shot, hitting it in the wing root again. Taid saw the arrow come in mere inches away from his face.
Ruby threw the fireball. The ball of fire whooshed by, missing by a few meters.
Rewards Granted
Cliffhanger episode.
3 CP.
3 CP.
Report Date
05 May 2024
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Characters
Comments