12:25 Joush M.: So Roderick gets to keep his “world’s best pilot” mug because we all survived a crash landing a mountain
12:25 Doc: *world’s only pilot mug*
12:25 Ken (GM): right! Doc, do you wanna refund/respec that piloting point?
12:26 Doc: hmm I kinda like it being there tbh, if I can afford to waste a point on Bird Law I can afford to remember the time I flew a mountain
12:29 Ken (GM): hahahah neat
I only asked, as I realized “wow, I pushed him to buy the pilot skill, then the mountain crashed the next session over. FUN”
12:30 Doc: I only spent one point on it so it’s fine
12:31 Ken (GM): usually the best parts of a PC end up being the 1 point things
like that time I took “likes explosives”
on an impulsive pyromaniac
12:32 Doc: wew
12:34 Ken (GM): yeah that was a fun game. Rolled a critical 18 failure on a mission, ended up detonating everything I was carrying at the time. Blew two floors of a skyscraper out, halfway up. 9/11’d the city, essentially took the party out with me 😀
12:35 Joush M.: RIP party. At least they went out with a bang?
12:36 Ken (GM): we ALL had a good laugh. I got a few punches in the shoulder for that one
12:36 Doc: If you’ve gotta TPK, hope it’s entertaining
12:45 Ken (GM): right, well, enough waiting on fiss here; he’ll be on when hes on
Ken (GM) where last we left our heroes….
Ken (GM) the Ansible of Spirits has crash landed in the wilderness of Gorgoth; in all directions, ruin lies under the rubble. The forest is red with the dawn of morning, dragon carcasses falling from the sky. The Weapon was used to terrible effect, and now the hum of Mana cannot be heard. The pool of living magic missing from the land
Gray forces a path out of the damaged control room once the massive structure has settled, looking out into the red dawn for new dangers and threats before his attention turns to the others. “Should we wait here and try to guard this thing, or go to report what’s happened?”
Suðri Skornbrekker looks up from inspecting the firearms and gathering what luggage was scattered by the impact of the fall.
12:53 Ken (GM): [You guys have Rodericks horse Bavieca, and several packs worth of food, water supplies and loot ]
[remember: the horses got eviscerated by the mindflayer back at the Dreugar keep entrance, but you salvaged your things]
Suðri Skornbrekker crosses his arms. “I would hate to leave this thing unguarded in case its magic returns to it, as anyone could come and seize it then. We do not know when—or if—this is going to happen though.” He looks around and concludes: “We should try to seal the entrance, report to the nearest outpost, maybe ask for some supplies there, and then return.”
12:54 Roderick: “What do we have in the way of provisions? I would prefer to wait and see if any magic returns before we leave.”
Gray nods to the young dwarf, acknowledging Suðri’s points then at Roderick’s question he goes to do a quick inventory. “We should still have supplies for a few weeks. Plenty of beer, whisky, more oats then we can eat with only one horse.”
12:56 Ken (GM): [you guys packed for what, 3 weeks of food? And you’ve consumed maybe 5 days worth?]
12:56 Joush M.: Oh wow, yeah.. Here I thought we’d taken much longer than that
Gray seems surprised, but nods. “At least fifteen days left of supplies” He assures Roderick. “We could stay here and wait for a short while to see if things change”
12:58 Suðri Skornbrekker: “Ah,” he realizes “no doubt there are going to be scouts coming here to see what happened—there was that slaver city nearby, no? We could stay here waiting for the fortress to re-awaken, and also capture or kill any enemy scouts.”
Syviis Adjeon blanches at the suggestion of staying “I don’t mean to startle anyone, but I dont think I could make it that long…without the magic”
12:59 Suðri Skornbrekker: “If the forces of Gorgoth come here in force, we are going to be in trouble, but with all the dead dragons lying around, I doubt they can mount another major offensive within just a few days.” Suðri Skornbrekker turns to Syviis, a puzzled look on his face.
12:59 Gray: “The greatest danger would be that Dark Lord. If he survived the dragons..” He turns to Syviis and nods after a moment, a hand rubbing across his jaw. “You will suffer without magic?.. How long can you endure? Is there anything that can be done about it?”
1:01 Syviis Adjeon: “I have never really gone without it. I would imagine its much like eating…or water. Elves are funny that way” she says with a half hearted smile. She looks absolutely terrified
1:02 Doc: So there’s no mana here, meaning none of our magic works? do they know about the water cycle yet?
1:03 Suðri Skornbrekker: “Wait, uh… Are there sources of magic that you go to replenish it? Like springs of water? Or are you saying that there is magic everywhere?”
1:04 Ken (GM): You can probably still fire off your powers, but the sustaining mana isnt there. [You can pay FP costs and use the power, but a if it didnt have an activation roll it does now; you need to roll vs 12 to use it]
Gray rubs a hand across his rough jaw again. “We will do our best to find you more magic. Bloodroot.. well, another used it as a source of magic in this blasted land. If it’s still out there and we can find some that is less corrupted.” He shrugs. Unhappy with that idea, but there are limited sources of mana here.
1:05 Ken (GM): FP and HP used to pay costs dont replenish until your back in a mana zone. Just like starving without food…
1:07 Roderick: “There is magic in the air just as there is moisture in the air. The Ansible turned this area into a desert.”
1:08 Gray: “Seems like we can’t stay then. We should move on and report this, as well as getting Syviis out of the desert”
1:08 Roderick: rolling 3d6 vs 12 (Obsession)(3+1+2)=6
Roderick looks at the Ansible and grimaces. “As much as I detest the thought of leaving empty- handed, her health is more important. I will go if we must.”
1:10 Suðri Skornbrekker: “I see…” The dwarf doesn’t look pleased learning that there is magic EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME [except here now]
1:10 Ken (GM): hahah, youre really fostering a deep paranoia now, arentcha?
Gray tries to see if he can summon Memory, or if the missing magic makes that impossble
1:11 Gray: rolling 3d6 vs 15 to summon Ally (Raven)(1+6+6)= 13
The Raven appears, seeming to draw herself out of Gray’s back like an inky cloud. Her form is fuzzy, like she’s smoking in a fire. As she emerges, you hear her groan loudly, as if in pain
1:13 Raven: “What… have…you….done…here?!” she gasps
1:14 Gray: “Magic sustains you as well? Would it be best not to summon you here? Roderick used the Ansible as a weapon, with little choice given we were hard pressed by a score dragons.”
1:14 Suðri Skornbrekker: “I think reality broke for a short while.”
1:15 Raven: “I am….a being…of magic!” she rattles and coughs, sooty black trailers of her feathers escaping from her form “I cannot stay….among you….for long”
Gray nods. “I won’t ask more of you then. Until next time, rest.” He unsummons the shadowy avian, allowing it to return to him with a frown of worry.
Raven melts through the air, settling over Gray like a stain of shadow. She blends with him again, gasping as if drowning.
Suðri Skornbrekker mental note: try and find out how to drain an area of magic to make anti-elf moats/chambers
Gray touches the dark tattoo on his back, patting it a moment reassuringly before his attention turns to the others a moment and he walks over to start loading Falkirk and some of the supplies onto Roderick’s horse.
Roderick grasps the hilt of his magic sword to see if it has been affected
1:21 (To Roderick): There is a dull feeling, like your hand is numb, but the force is still in the sword. You can’t pinpoint the exact emotion, only that it is there.
Bomrek moves to help gray, sorting through the packs, setting aside the dry packed food that can be left behind. The dwarf makes sure, again, that the gold heap you collected is still safe in a big bag, which he hefts
1:24 Joush M.: Not saying he’s a gold digger. Just that, given the chance, he’d really enjoy digging gold
Syviis Adjeon moves as if in a daze. Stiff limbed and tired looking. She helps where she can, making sure everyone has a day of food and water packed on hand form the stores.
Gray loads much of the remaining supplies onto a frame to carry himself, lashing them to poles.
1:25 Ken (GM): [kind of a skid thing? drags behind you, laden with packs?]
1:25 Joush M.: Strapped to the back rather then dragging. Aiming for Move 3 for the group once we divide things up. He wants to stay under 582 pounds on his back, he has 172 pounds of gear now, so there’s a decent amount of slack there
Suðri Skornbrekker looks at the tools they have available[Did we have axes? Any trees nearby?]
Roderick has no backpack but his saddlebags have enough provisions for a few more days
1:30 Ken (GM): You have seemed to touch down the mountain in a black wood, so yeah, there are trees down the hillside of rubble, cracked and broken. Theres quite a bit of rubble down to it, but you can source some good wood, I’d think. I recall you packed shovels and such. Was there at least a single axe between y’all ?
1:31 P.P. A.: I’m not sure but didn’t we fell some trees earlier already? when we barricaded the doors of the Dreugar fort?
1:31 Ken (GM): benefiet of the doubt, I’ll say Bomrek packed at least one in that bundle of your ‘tools’ you took
1:32 Joush M.: Thanks, an axe is a really useful camp tool
1:32 Doc: Someone probably has a hatchet at least
Suðri Skornbrekker proposes fashoning a crude wagon with large wooden wheels
Gray nods in agreement. “There’s worth to the idea. I’m no carpenter though, I could not fashion axles or a wheel worth using.”
1:34 Ken (GM): lol
Gray looks to the others, seeing if anyone can handle that part. His own craftsman skills were limited to tying poles and supplies together to carry on his back.
1:34 Roderick: “How much do we truly need to carry?”
1:35 Suðri Skornbrekker: “I would not want to leave the cannons or any firearms behind, but I suppose we could do away with half of our rations.”
1:35 Ken (GM): Youre about 2 or more days hike back to Glardenfen from here, but that’s approximate. [Someone might roll navigaiton (land) to check the GM’s math]
1:35 Gray: “Fourty two pounds of food, weapons, powder, water, Falkirk, Sixteen pounds of oats” Gray makes a quick estimate. Retaining enough food for about a week.
1:36 Roderick:rolling 3d6 vs 12 Navigation(4+6+4)= 14
1:36 P.P. A.: default is INT?
1:36 Gray: rolling 3d6 vs 9 for Land Nav(4+1+2)= 7
1:38 Ken (GM): Hah, So Gray and Rod take a lay of the land, and using Falkirk and Syviis’ maps, re-plot where you landed the mountain.
Seems you landed quite a bit further West, but once you spotted the tar pits on the horizon, you triangulated a bit better
Suðri Skornbrekker tries to understand the method 14v12 IQ
Suðri Skornbrekker doesn’t really learn how to effectively navigate on land but mentally retraces their route and recognizes some parts of the landscape, so he concludes that Gray is probably right.
1:40 Gray: “It should only be a few days. We will play it safe and retain a week of provisions?”
1:42 Bomrek: “seems reasonable, considering I’m not leaving the good guns behind in hostile territory” he pats the working cannon, and spare muskets bundled in a tarp “We may as well not drag the broken cannon along though. It’s slag until it gets rebuilt anyways”
Gray nods “Care to spike it?” He offers Bomrek a chance to make sure the weapon can’t be captured or used on them, though it seems unlikely anyone in Gorgoth would have the skills to service and repair the weapon. He doesn’t bother torching excess booze and food though.. May as well leave those provisions there, in case they come back or some poor soul needs them.
Bomrek laughs off Gray’s suggestion “If they can get that cannon re-hammered, we deserve to be shot with it”
1:45 Roderick: “I could carry perhaps a musket or two, but not much else. I simply rode in with what I could wear as armor or carry in my saddlebags.”
1:46 Ken (GM): Falkirk will be safest carried on the horseback, tied down. Or on some poor soul’s back.
Roderick would definitely prefer to ride rather than walk
1:47 Gray: “Thank you. I think if we can put Falkirk on your horse that would be best. I’ll carry the tools, food and powder. You could ride double and steady Falkirk, or walk”
1:47 Joush M.: Can everyone make move 3?
1:48 Bomrek: if you leave behind that much? Yeah, with everyone hefting a pack or two. Leaving behind the shovels and such as well?
Suðri Skornbrekker looks over his backpack’s contents.
1:49 Suðri Skornbrekker: “Only essentials here, but I could use the rope to bundle up some muskets, or to tie a saddlebag to my backpack.”
1:51 Doc: Rod can carry 24 lbs more and still be Move 3, but he’s also not even used to walking at all so he’ll probably bitch a lot
1:51 Joush M.: If we have to drop the tools, yeah those are the first on the chopping block
1:51 Ken (GM): If he rides on Bavieca with Falkirk it should probably gag his whining 😛
1:52 Joush M.: Gray has about.. uh.. 400 more pounds while staying 3+, so they should be fine
1:52 Doc: >can carry another 400 lbs
you’re a big guy
Suðri Skornbrekker with his backpack is at Heavy encumberance (Move 2.4), but if he’s going to be Heavy anyway he can shoulder another 90 lbs.
1:53 Joush M.: Might make more sense for Gray to take Suori’s backpack then
Yeah, Gray is huge, and has huge lifting ST
1:54 P.P. A.: backpack weighs 43 lbs.
1:54 Ken (GM): yeah he’s like, half a horse
it’s hard to grok, but he can shoulder an immense pile of crap. Assuming you lash bags together
Roderick is less than 0.5 lbs away from Medium encumbrance and can carry another 24 lbs before going Heavy, also he has no backpack
Suðri Skornbrekker could either give Gray his backpack and carry muskets and other stuff instead, or give Grey one item from his backpack, and carry it himself, but nothing else
1:55 Ken (GM): RIGHT So that fixes y’all. I’d suggest eating a meal from the stuff left behind before setting out, but the day awaits!
Gray does just that. He suggest Suðri go with a combat loadout and be ready to fight, and transfer his pack to Gray or the Horse.
1:56 P.P. A.: well
I could be combat-ready with my backpack (minus one item)
but then I couldn’t carry anything other than my usual equipment
(musket, bardiche, never-used falchion)
1:56 Joush M.: That sounds good
Roderick rides Bavieca while keeping an eye on Falkirk
1:56 Ken (GM): GURPS: Oregon trail edition
1:57 Doc: >caulk the wagon and float it
Suðri Skornbrekker leaves behind two flasks of oil
Medium encumbrance, ho!
1:58 Joush M.: Everyone has Drowned. What would you like on your tombstone?
Gray walks, massive boots digging into the broken stone as he climbs from the fallen mountain and down into the half crushed forest, sparing a worried look for Syviss and Falkirk, then scenting the air like an animal and looking around for danger.
Roderick is going to feel incredibly foolish at night when he realizes everybody else has a tent
1:59 Ken (GM): hahah
>huddles with horse, for warmth
>”wtf the beggars make this shit look so easy”
>”they don’t even have pants”
Ken (GM) Bomrek and Syviis clamber down. Ration-fed, and scanning the dusty air for enemies. The air is very still, no sounds but for the occasional falling stone or rush of gravel down the new hillside
2:01 Suðri Skornbrekker: “Wait up.”The canny dwarf realises something “Can we chop off any parts of those dragons and sell them?”
Suðri Skornbrekker looks at Bomrek, expecting him to know the market value of dragon claws and fangs, off-hand
Bomrek scoffs “We’ll, cross that bridge when we get to it Lad; theres gonna be dragon corpses in the woods here, around the fallen mountain”
Gray considers and looks around for fallen dragons as they move. “As long as we don’t spend very long doing it. An hour or two at most”
Suðri Skornbrekker nods
Bomrek shrugs, “The last one we boiled and skinned was dead-heavy. I canne think it will be worth trading that weight for my gold, or your water ”
2:04 Suðri Skornbrekker: “Those damn merchants would rip us off anyway,” the dwarf complains, “but eh, if there is a claw loose, might as well cut it off.”
2:04 Doc: tfw Rod has the Finance skill but not the Merchant skill
how to manage money, but not how to make it
2:04 Joush M.: Sounds like family money to me
2:04 Doc: ;_;
2:05 Ken (GM): >”So when the peasants are done mining corn, or whatever it is they do, we take that sum of gold here…”
2:05 Joush M.: He knows how to go from $10,000 to $12,000 in two years, but has no idea how to go from $0 to $10
2:06 Doc: >”mining corn or whatever it is they do”
this is genuinely not far off, he’s pretty autistic about normal people stuff
also he doesn’t really comprehend that $10 is money
2:10 Ken (GM):
2:12 Joush M.: Roderick’s mom is Lucielle: I can’t think of it as anything else now
2:12 Ken (GM): lol
Gray watches for dragons as he marches. “Roderick could use it for a trophy. Something to mark the victory.” The giant brute suggest as he works though the morning forest.
Roderick perks up a bit. “A dragon trophy would be worth at least some renown. Far better than returning completely empty-handed.”
2:13 Suðri Skornbrekker: “We should pick aught that dragons only have one or two of. Eyeballs might not be a good idea, but a specific tooth perhaps.”
Ken (GM) The black stone of the mountain has broken away in sheets and stones, but the mountain fortress is surprisingly intact (due mostly to a soft landing). As you clamber down, you can see above the devastation the dragons wrought before the weapon was used. Smoking ruins of towers far above burn in the morning light, black smoke trailing on high winds.
Down to the forest floor your group makes time well with the help of gravity. Once to the forest floor the dead land meets you like an old friend. Soft gray dusty earth hushes your bootsteps, and dead black trees stretch away in all directions. The dawn breaks way to a ruddy orange light, and the clear skies above are muddied with gray smoke from the ruins around you
2:15 Roderick: “Perhaps we ought to try and find their leader?”
2:15 Ken (GM): You do recall you broke reality to kill him right? There was a hole in time and space when you were finished with him….he was [REDACTED]
2:17 Doc: yeah but the loot
2:17 Ken (GM): lol
2:17 Gray: “I’d like to face him in a place with no magic to aid him, but we have a more pressing mission and our companions to consider.” He clenches a clawed fist. Gray doesn’t look at Syviss but worries for the elf in this magic-less place
Syviis Adjeon hikes along with you, keeping pace. She labors a bit, but clasps to her magic stone like a lifeline. She keeps one hand on her bow and an eye into the woods
2:21 Ken (GM): Its a fiss!
2:22 Fiss: >_< Many apologies my friends. Caught up in Dad/Husband stuff all morning. Anyway. I LABOURING
Syviis Adjeon puts on a strong face
2:22 (To Fiss): Long story short, youve left a bunch of tools and food behind and are hiking back to Glardenfen. You are personally terrified of starving from mana, but it hits you with HP drain once a day so its a bit like starving.
2:23 (From Syviis Adjeon): 10-4 got it, I’ll read the backlog and play along
Ken (GM) The woods are dead, and full of corpses. The trees died ages ago. The moss and lichen itself is gray, clutching like dead hands to tree limbs. When you come to the first red bloodroot, it lies lifeless in the black dusty earth. The red limbs seeming squeezed of all jices, crushed as if by giant hands. A dark pool of wet earth surrounds it.
2:26 Syviis Adjeon: “How long have we been in the Keep?” She realizes she doesn’t really know and looks slightly worried by the fact, looking to the sky
2:27 Gray: “We were in there about a day and a half” He says in that deep voice, sounding relatively confident of the answer.
Syviis Adjeon nods unsteadily but hopes/accepts the answer “It seemed so much longer…”
2:30 Suðri Skornbrekker: “A lot happened,” the Skornbrekker notes stoically.
2:30 Ken (GM): oh which reminds me guys, Happy anniversary
2:30 Ken (GM): weve been playing Grimwyrd for a YEAR
2:30 P.P. A.: wait what Already?
no way
2:30 Ken (GM): I know, right?
2:32 Gray: ooc Damn! That’s amazeing. Great game Ken, it’s been a heck of a ride
2:33 Ken (GM): pats self on back
2:33 Doc: tfw latecomer
Fiss sends virtual high-five-pat
2:33 Doc: congrats though
P.P. A. thumbs up
2:35 Ken (GM): But anyways, back to the story at hand…
A dead bloodroot at your feet, pressing on North-East to civilization?
2:36 Joush M.: Yep! onward to civilization. Watching out for any easily harvested dragon bits for Rod’s hat
Gray studies the BloodRoot a moment then starts to march again. “Did the lack of magic kill it?”
2:37 Roderick: “It would seem possible that it needs magic like a normal plant needs water.”
2:38 Syviis Adjeon: “It certainly seems like it. The rot and the powers controlled by the Keep must have grown together like a vine and a branch. But the withering…it’s so quick. It’s more like the magic source was…sucked out. Even if they could subsist on water like a regular plant, I think it may have grown too accustomed to the vile fertilizer to survive the shock.”
Ken (GM) The dark forest looms; as Gray treads on leading a winding path between the trees, you see a shape materialize out of the dim morning light. One of the aforementioned dragons! Crashed through the withered canopy, it’s broken form in a crumpled heap.
A heap, the size of an elephant
Suðri Skornbrekker approaches it carefully
Ken (GM) the dragon was MASSIVE, easily forty paces long. It’s hide was a twisted sheet of scales, each ending in a barbed hook. It’s wings were leathery and wide, with horned hooks on the joints. The head, (buried at an obviously broken angle) is a bleeding mess of exposed bone and flesh. it looks as if it’s head exploded from the inside out.
2:43 Ken (GM): [this thing is about four or five times bigger than the one you killed in Glardenfen, way back when]
[Gray would fit in it’s maw]
Syviis Adjeon sighs softly, feeling drained in more ways than one. “Well, I’m glad we didn’t have to fight them individually….”
Gray makes a low sound like a growl and nods in agreement. “Our situation was hopeless. Roderick’s choice saved us, no matter what the consequences were”
Suðri Skornbrekker nods, in awe at the sight of the creature.He investigates, if there are any loose fangs or spikes peeking out of the flesh that could be cut off easily?
2:46 Ken (GM): The face is shattered. A bit of prying could net you a tooth the length of your forearm. Hard as steel too. Barbed backs, smooth faces. Nothing this thing bites down on escapes
Suðri Skornbrekker gets out his falchion and works on prying out a tooth, hacking away some flesh if necessary
Roderick helps
2:49 Ken (GM): You notice, the sword doesn’t even chip the bone. but one of the teeth eventually knocks loose, broken at the base
Syviis Adjeon looks it over and grabs scales/smaller teeth, or anything that could be used for her arrowcraft?
Gray watches the dwarf dentistry, studying the size of the monster. “I had no idea they grew this large.”
Bomrek takes a short respite with his pipe. “Ah dinna know they existed until we shot one in the face last month”
2:51 Suðri Skornbrekker: Between shaking at the fang and stemming his legs against a jaw into which he could fit at least twice, he adds: “Likewise.”
Roderick looks for any smaller teeth which could form a matching set for the party
2:51 Ken (GM): The scales are segmented, twisted together like armor. Syviis finds they easily separate from the wounds though, and pries off a bag full. They’re light, but incredibly hard.
The smallest teeth are about a foot long, at the back of the jaw. But there are many to go around 🙂
Syviis Adjeon runs her hands over the wounds and the dragon’s body, seeking something she knows will likely not find, eyes closed, feeling for magic.
2:53 Doc: wew that’s… bigger than I thought
Gray assist with the work, interested in seeing it done quickly
2:54 (To Syviis): Hey guess what; this thing’s soul is gone. No magic, no aura. It barely even feels like flesh
2:54 (From Syviis Adjeon): she is terrified that she guessed that to begin with, but not surprised.
Syviis Adjeon looks up from the corpse and turns to the lifeless trees, finding a spot to keep watch while the salvage continues.
2:55 Roderick: “Perhaps we should take a handful of the scales as keepsakes. Or maybe it would be better not to be reminded of this place.”
2:55 Syviis Adjeon: “I don’t believe I’ll ever forget this place…let’s take what value we can from it.”
2:56 Ken (GM): so, harvesting bits n bites, then soldiering on?
2:56 Doc: ye
2:56 Fiss: DRAGON KIBBLES N BITS
2:56 Ken (GM): heh
Gray! Some kind of navigation yo; youre leading the group into the dark woods with your nose, like last time?
2:59 Syviis Adjeon: The elf can also assist, as she has been the map-folk
2:59 Joush M.: Yep, that should work.. Hopefully.
Perception or Navigation roll? We figured out where we were at the start of the day, now just got to hold the course right?
3:00 Ken (GM): your choice; gray can keep the path with either, so pick your higher
3:02 Gray: rolling 3d6 vs 14 Perception with Night Vision 5 and +4 to Scent from Discriminatory Scent. (2+1+1)= 4
3:02 Joush M.: Well damn
3:02 Fiss: YOU ARE GPS
3:02 Syviis: Gray Positioning System
3:03 Ken (GM): hahah!
Gray finds and keeps the path like some manner of savage animal, nose sharp as a bloodhound and the brute tirelessly breaking a path though the dark forest.
Ken (GM) The morning passes easily, even with the heavy loads. By midday, the Scorned has wound a safe path straight and true, with a comfortable stride for all. Judging by the thinning of the trees, you’ve made good time North
Suðri Skornbrekker looks forward to treading on green grass again
3:05 (To Syviis): Even after all these miles, you still dont feel any mana in the air
3:06 (To Roderick): Even after all these miles, you still dont feel any mana in the air
3:06 (From Syviis): she’s worried, but not panicing – mostly because she know it won’t help, but also she knows that most of the wastelands is due to the power and radius of the Keep, and is hoping that a bit of travel will fix that..OR WILL IT DUN DUN DUN
3:07 Ken (GM): so, break for a meal now? or press on?
Gray keeps an eye on the others, calling a rest if they seem to need it and staying alert for dangers, though he relaxes noticeably as they near the edge of the forest. “We could stop here, or try and get clear of the trees.”
Roderick glances at Syviis. “I still don’t feel any mana. How do you fare?”
Syviis swallows back the dryness in her throat and shakes her head sadly.
3:08 Syviis: Survival for camping-site knowledge?
3:09 Ken (GM): Yeah, survival for a suitably useful site, if there is one
Suðri Skornbrekker looks around for a defensible position that provides some cover
3:09 Syviis: rolling 3d6 vs 13 (5+4+4)= 13
That’s a match unless there are neg modifiers
3:11 Ken (GM): Syviis eventually points out a clearing with some felled trees nearby. Theres a nice high spot for a fire and at least some cover/seating
Suðri Skornbrekker leaves the cooking to the others as he sets down his backpack, gets out his shovel, and digs out a few small sandwalls to crouch behind, perhaps using the felled trees and pushing them around a bit
Ken (GM) you unburden yourselves, and break for a meal. The water is life-givingly refreshing, and you realize how much the dust caked your mouth and throat as you drink.
Bomrek fashions a small cook fire immediately so you can all enjoy some charred bread.
Gray settles in with the others, nodding to them and unloading the pack then looking around while the food cooks. The beast eats the food on offer and nods his thanks for it.
3:16 Syviis: On the trek through the woods, have we seen ANY signs of life? Even distant/sky stuff?
3:18 Suðri Skornbrekker: “The journey hither was rather barren too, was it not? We did sometimes see birds or game, but not frequently.”
3:19 Gray: “Yes.. it’s brutal country here. Few things can survive in Gorgoth” He agrees with the young dwarf.
3:20 Ken (GM): nothing flies through the air or crawls the earth; much as before, the land of Gorgoth is dead. The bloodroot vines you see are quashed of life. Only lichen moss and mud
3:20 Syviis: “Perhaps I’m just imagining it more lifeless than usual… My opinion of the poisoned land hasn’t changed much, but at least with magic it was alive…even if only a parody of the life we enjoy up North.”
3:21 Ken (GM): [movie map magic!]
3:21 P.P. A.: if that’s what the situation looks like, Suthri would have made a small earthen wall here [indicates on map] about waist-high
3:23 Ken (GM): Hahah, ever the paranoid
3:23 Doc: Aren’t we just stopping for lunch?
3:23 P.P. A.: Wherever I go, I must also dorf
wouldn’t be a work of art, very shoddy work
3:24 Syviis: I think even dwarven sand-castles actually have DR. 😛 I’m sure it will be fine.
Gray settles the massive piles of supplies and prowls around a moment while staying alert, though he expects to find little alive in this ruined and twisted forest.
3:25 (To Gray): Perception!
Suðri Skornbrekker chews on his bread, thinking that it tasted better without all the dead sand between his teeth and the hairs of his beard
3:25 Ken (GM): ewww
Suðri Skornbrekker combs his beard at some point
Syviis eats gratefully, carefully blowing away ash and sand as needed, hoping to keep up her strength the best she can without mana….though her glowing necklace never leaves her free hand as she eats
Roderick eats quietly, recent events having left him more sullen than usual
3:27 Gray: rolling 3d6 vs 14 Perception with Night Vision 5 and +4 to Scent from Discriminatory Scent.(3+4+2)= 9
3:28 (To Gray): You were followed! Something is lumbering up on your trail! Something big! Plodding steps are beating the ground headed closer!
3:29 Ken (GM): Falkirk remains steady and asleep. Bomrek gets him to take some water, and sees about heating up a jerky-stick broth too
Gray steps away a moment and goes silent, gazeing back the way they’ve come. “Something follows. Large, at least as big as a horse.” He draws his sword as he warns the others.
Suðri Skornbrekker stuffs the piece of bread he was finishing between his teeth and gets out his musket
Roderick stands and dons his helmet, wrapping his cloak around his hand and drawing his sword
3:30 Suðri Skornbrekker: “Which direction?!” He picks up his bardiche as well.
Syviis slips an arrow down from her quiver and stands in one smooth move
3:30 Ken (GM): A great broken Giant strides into the clearing edge! He clutches a slung arm to his chest, and has a massive hammer over the other shoulder
3:32 Krall: “YOU!” he bellows breathlessly “BASTARDS!”
Gray points to the massive beast and steps forward. “Pain-Smith.”
3:33 Suðri Skornbrekker: “Hate-Smith,” Suðri corrects him
Ken (GM) It is indeed the Black skinned giant who swore fealty to Roderick in the keep; his face is slick with sweat, and his chain armor torn in a dozen places. The arm he holds to his chest is bandaged, a stump where his hand might be!
Suðri Skornbrekker sticks his bardiche into the ground to use it as a rest for his barrel, just in case. “What happened to you? Did any dragons get inside ‘ere the lot of them fell?”
3:35 Krall: “END ME YOU COWARDS! FINISH THE JOB!” He screams into the wood, his voice booming in all directions “WHAT AM I NOW BUT SPOILING MEAT!?”
Gray nods to Suðri, the correction taken well then nodding at the questions before he looks to the giant. “I have no use for your wrath or meat.”
3:38 Krall: “BY THE SOULS-FORGE: WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! THE MOUNTAIN HAS FALLEN! OUR BASTION IS RUINS!”
Roderick steps forward and raises a hand. “Was is the dragons or the fall that crippled you so?”
Krall juts his stump of an arm forward “IT WAS YOUR TREACHERY WHAT DID THIS! YOUR HAND O LORD” he inflects in a mocking tone “YOUR DOING! YOUR HAND!”
Bomrek sights on the giant, taking a knee, leveling his gun on the giant’s face
3:40 Gray: “There was no choice, no chance to do anything else. All would have died when the dragons attacked”
3:40 Roderick: “How is it treachery to slay the dragons you could not?”
3:41 Suðri Skornbrekker: “Roderick did what he could to defend the fortress against the assault it faced from all sides. It lies broken, but unlike the enemy, who is broken also, it may be repaired.”
Krall chuckles to himself “You think we will survive this? ” he sweep his hammer to the dead wood around you “The Horned King will surely ride in now at our moment of weakness. His dragons may be slain, but they are not his only tool to dispose of traitors!” he spits on that word like it was distasteful to speak “Following you was a fools errand, Foul wizard!”
3:44 Suðri Skornbrekker: “Temper your hatred, Hate-Smith! To fling it about raw is befitting of brutes, not masters of their craft.”
Gray considers a moment, then puts his sword away. and stands there. “Nobody promised it would be easy, Giant”
3:44 Suðri Skornbrekker: “You have forged chains that bound demons from beyond this realm, and you cower in fear from some dark lord whose forces fell from the sky like flies?
3:45 Krall: “WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF PAIN? OF RAGE?! MY HOME IS DESTROYED BY DRAGONFLAME AND DECEIT!”
3:45 Suðri Skornbrekker: “So repair it! Take back with your own hand and your skill and your might what they have tried to take from you.” He stands firm “Make it better, make it harder, that the next time the dragons come, their fire will do naught! ‘Tis a mighty fortress still, and the land around it is barren and offers no shelter. It fell, but it has not fallen. You are a Hate-Smith! Make it so that when it does fall, it will drag down hundreds, thousands of attackers with it!”
Gray stands there, the beast finding he has little to say here. His attention turns from the giant to hunt for dangers around them, for anything that might use the brute as a distraction to sneak up on them.
3:49 Krall: “I would have JUSTICE DONE and paint the halls with RODERICKS BLOOD”
3:49 Roderick: “Your terms are unacceptable.”
Syviis aims square at the giant’s eye
3:49 (To Gray): You scan the trees, but the horizon seems clear of any but for the giant
Suðri Skornbrekker starts aiming at this point.
3:50 Suðri Skornbrekker: “Dig a moat and fill it with the blood of any besiegers instead, if you have a shred of honour as a guardsman and as a craftsman left in you!”
3:50 Bomrek: “Right, take it down” he mutters (Bomrek is taking a shot, so if anyone wants to react to /that/)
INITATIVE!
Roderick evaluates the giant in case he charges forward and still lives
3:51 Syviis: rolling 1d6 + 7(4)7=11
3:51 Roderick:rolling d6+5.5(4)5.5=9.5
3:51 Suðri Skornbrekker:rolling 1d6+5.25(3)5.25=8.25
3:51 Gray:rolling 1d6+7(6)7=13
3:51 Ken (GM): rolling 3d6(3+3+6)= 12 vs Guns(long aim, all out, Skull)
A hit! But does the giant dodge?
rolling 3d6(1+5+6)=12 vs dodge
…noooo
rolling 3d6 + 1(6+3+1)1= 11 Pi++
Ken(GM) The conversation falls to a quick conclusion; Bomrek fires his musket, and a lead ball slaps into the Giants cheek. A wide welt opens, and Krall falls flat on his back with a thud
Gray frowns, but he doesn’t say more as he watches Bomrek take decisive action. “Your words were reasonable, Suðri . The ‘man’ wasn’t”
Bomrek wipes the musket barrel clean, and begins cleaning the barrel, whistling a bit to himself as Krall bleeds.
Suðri Skornbrekker shakes his head. “It was inevitable.”
3:55 Roderick: “Well done, Bomrek. Put him down swiftly.”
3:55 Doc: it is terrifying
Syviis relaxes slightly and lets her arrow drop
3:56 Bomrek: “Neat thing about magic I learnt; doesnt seem to do too well against bullets to the brain” Bomrek goes back to brewing a jerky broth for Falkirk, setting his rifle to sling
Roderick moves up to investigate the corpse of the fallen Hate-Smith
Syviis covers Roderick as he approaches
Suðri Skornbrekker keeps his musket aimed at the giant, dead as he may or may not be
Ken (GM) The Hate-Smith is bleeding freely from a hole in his face. The back of his head is a mess of broken bone and brains. His leg spasms once
3:57 Joush M.: Humm! I had a lot of fun today. I think I’ve got to head out though, I’ve got something I need to take care of over here. I’ll see you all next week though?
3:57 Fiss: Absolutely. Hopefully with less pre-game travel time for me
3:58 P.P. A.: aye
3:58 Doc: ye
3:58 Ken(GM): sounds good joush!
3:59 P.P. A.: Good session
farewell Krall, may he rest in angery
3:59 Ken (GM): lulz
4:00 Doc: F to pay respects
4:00 Syviis: nods and slides her unspent arrow away
Rest in Anger? 😛
4:00 Ken (GM): 4 xp for everyone certainly!
4:00 Doc: woo
4:00 Ken (GM): I’m still baffled its been a year
4:01 P.P. A.: 31 unspent points :DDD
me too
4:01 Fiss: I think I joined what…April-ish?
4:01 P.P. A.: it felt much shorter
4:02 Doc: I’ve got exactly 25 points, not sure what I should spend it on
4:02 Ken (GM): jesus you guys
4:02 Doc: How fast can he learn to use a musket?
4:03 Ken (GM): hahah well, retcon-powers are always fun. it would be plausible for him to have been familiar with them before, and you just spend points on it now
totally within the realm of possibility at least, musket and pistol
4:05 Doc: I do have things I want to spend my points on but it just hasn’t been long enough in-game for that kind of personal growth imho
like this isn’t going to be where he stops being angry
Maybe he’s seen enough combat to justify Combat Reflexes?
but he also literally fainted after his first combat less than 24 hours ago
4:08 Fiss: I’m thinking Syviis is going to save up some points for some proper magical stuffs…and possibly suffer through mana deficiency and learn to sip it slower. 😛
The latter is situational relevant, but for mage-stuffs she’ll probably have to wait till shes Home.
4:09 P.P. A.: I’m probably going to put a few points into Diplomacy since that’s something Suðri often ends up attempting/doing even without rolling
4:10 Fiss: Diplomacy is always good.
Saves you from the occasional “I REALLY shouldn’t have said that in Character.” …Well…maybe.
The Gaming Musings of a Mad GM 
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