Eastern Shadows

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Eastern Shadows
GM: Jono
Season: ~Spring 824 WK
Night: Starting Monday at 7pm on the 9th of September 2024 at Jono's place (dress warm).
Area: West of Carzala
Level: Low/Medium
Info: Information from players for Jono
House Rules: Jono Quickness and Slowness

Party

Character name	College / Skills	Race	Player
Ruby	Fire	Human	Kelsie
Sonny Holliday	Celestial	Hobbit	Michael M
Johann	Wicca	Human	Michael Haycock
Dae	Mind	Elf	Gus
Thornie	Earth	Dwarf	Michael P
Edwin	N/A	Shapechanger	Mark Scofield

Party leader - Sonny & Ruby
Scribe - Ruby
Mil Sci - Edwin

Employer

Mistress of Shadow (also known as Lulu Till). She is one of the local Guild leaders from Gugnir's Hope. Scouts have reported issue with a new band of Orcs. The guild master's wants more information.

Scribe Notes

• Under Cliffs & Hobbits

Having spent the night at the village of Green Goblins, and experiencing their usual 'hospitality' we notice three boats that are going along the river headed to the the cave entrance at the bottom of the hill, and we decide to follow them by taking the path that goes along the river. On the way we pass through their farmlands, and outer defensive structures.

The forest on the outskirts of the cave seems to have been cleared of dead trees, and any and all fallen or rotting wood, we conclude someone might have been harvesting them for kindling. Upon arriving here, Edwin takes the lead with his dogs, and shortly after we see projectiles headed towards the boats, after a while an Orc leader pops out of the bushes, berating his underlings for their poor shooting skills. While enthralled by the spectacle, we notice some brown or maroon hobbit-like creatures also looking over the ongoing combat happening between the shore and the boats, some of them, ridding what looked to be pigs.

Upon reaching them, we confirm they are hobbits, but not the ones we've previously encountered on the cliffs, these are dressed with a more wild flare, and carry themselves in a more road-seasoned fashion. They seem to belong to another plane, a fiery place. Sonny tries to Detect Arcana on them, but fails horribly, causing a black blob to raise from bellow his feet, it was quickly squashed by Ruby, whom didn't want any interruptions in finding out more about these unique flavour of hobbits. Karl, one of them starts communicating with Sonny, albeit on Dwarvish, making Ruby take on translating duties. They are in search for the goblins that have taken gear from them at an earlier time, some of which seem to be the Rain Staffs carried by Yohan & Ruby, which are two out of six of the missing staffs. They are also trying to find captives of these goblins, including a bottled princess, and a hobbit named Kurtis.

We've learnt that what has been driving these goblins out of these caves...nay...out of another plane, has been the Master of these hobbits, which they say it looks somewhat like our sickly looking companion, the elf, but were unwilling to share any more information about it, not even their name. We've set up a deal with the hobbits, to provide us further information on how to travel through the cave and control where we land (since if you don't you might fall into a random plane apparently), all we have to do is assist them with their hunt for items and captives. Meeting them can happen twice a month, at the beginning, and at the middle of the month, at the top of the cliff, during noon, the will wait for us no more than half an hour.

Once our encounter with the pig riding hobbits concludes, we return to the Green Goblin Village, with newfound information at hand. Once there we see the goblins treating some foreign women with reverence, these foreigners seem to be acting a little bit like water fountains, and they seem to be licking and drinking water from them. It is a bit chaotic when it comes to the Green Goblins, I might have just seen it wrong. The rest of the day is spent with Edwin trying to communicate with the goblins about some work to be done to his amulet, but with little success, and Sonny trying to improve his communication skills with them.

The following day, Sonny wakes up to a pile of trinkets (for the second time), most of them shiny, left for him, this time, he checks the pile, and decides to keep three large alligator teeth found there. We decide to head back towards Gugnir's Hope, stopping on the way to check with more hobbits! But this time, familiar ones, were we spend the night, and Sonny finds a message left for him by Antonella, which also leads us back towards home. Before hitting the sack, Sonny, Ruby, Johann and Edwin receive drinks. Sonny's and Ruby's drinks seem to have special effects, the former will help him with his sleep the next few days, while the later will make her move faster and further, for an unknown amount of time. Dae receives pansies, is it because he is an elf, or because he looks like he can't handle liquor?.

During supper, we discuss with them the fire breathing pigs, and their hobbit riders, and they tell us of news of a traveling circus in Amber, comprised of elves and humans. Also they tell is that there once was a princes in a bottle, a sister of a Nixie, who was saved some 30 years ago by some adventurers. It wasn't clear to me if one of them was Mordrin, or a relative of Mordrin, but she did follow him down to a cave with a River. I was too busy smelling the pansies to follow the conversation, wonder where they were cut from?. But there was also a rumor that the Nixie went with Clementine, and that she had made a well somewhere, Ruby was having a weird natured conversation with an equally weird old hobbit.

Ruby spent the night having weird dreams about Goblins, a whole horde of them chasing her. Sonny used detect arcana on her to determine if she was cursed, but fails to confirm or deny it. We leave the hobbits place next morning, and arrive at the lake where Mr Beaver has made his damn, we call for him, and he arrives, majestically riding his beloved steed, Mr Turtle. Elated to see us, in his dire time of need, he asks for our assistance during the next High moon, 'powerful creatures will try to steal salt from the rock in the middle of the lake'. These creatures are of dark magic, and expected to arrive towards the end of the month, in about 20 days, He fears they will put something on the water to drive him away, enabling them to perform a dark ritual. These creatures come from a place of darkness, perhaps a tower, cave, or plane. He offers potions to drive away death.

At Ruby's request, he provides us with some of his powerful salt, which will prevent the undead from rising, and 'make already animated dead more sluggish?'(not too sure, was smelling the pansies). Sonny inquires about the most powerful magic these creatures can use, and Beaver describes it very similarly to Thorns of Corruption. He gives us 6 potions, and mentions "they will likely come five days before the full moon". Other than that, he informs us that elf merchants visited him three days ago, and they were also headed to Gugnir's Hope.

We skip the pig farm on our way back, but still, during night-time, at the distance, come across some tiny dark creatures, casting long dark shadows. Sonny asks his friend about their allegiance, and receives the answer of not being problematic if we talk to them. We skip that suggestion, but Sonny gives his friend a fishing hook and POOF, the creature dissapears.

Whilst camping at night, during Ruby's watch, we are 'visited' by a 10 foot tall (maybe it was the grogginess of the night, and it was not as tall) figure with menacing black bat wings, carrying a whip at her hip, a sheathed sword, wearing black gloves. She is dressed entirely in black, and has a set of black bat-like wings on her...her features...seem elvish.

We decide to talk to her, it definitely wasn't an impulse of our elf deeming every other elf he finds friendly. She informs us she was in the search for Dae, his mother sends dark tidings about his 'sister', and confuses him, even more by calling it also half-sister, adoptive sister, and his uncle's child. When asked about her identity, she says she is one of the Zeladons (Cellar doors?).

She casts a spell on Dae, which seems to be Shadow form at rank 15 (double duration), and leaves alone, after being rejected both by Ruby and Dae, about bringing them with haste, leaving behind a warning "Remember, the woods are not empty..." </nowiki>

• A Welcome Home Turned Unwelcome

Early in the morning, the Jester Collective, set out and reaching the grove on the outskirts of a neighborhood where among many others, Dae's Family lives. A crowd of a dozen or so people...on closer count...fourteen, are occupying the front of the family workshop, which never gathers that much attention. On closer inspection, we find it might have something to do with the heavily decorated elves, more beautiful than or traveling water mage , standing there among them. Upon making our way through, Dae's mother takes him aside to let him know those elves, are from Elfheim, and they are looking for my sister, and on a lesser note, probably also Dae, due to readings made from the sky at Elfheim. His mother clarifies to him, upon his insistence, that it's not a biological sister, but a relative.

We leave towards the busy parts of Gingnir's Hope, where we find the streets are more busy than usual, before proceeding further we are seen by some lads of the keep, urge for us to talk to them. They bring tidings of folk looking for us, Dwarves, Elves, and Hobbits. All three part of different groups, and while Sonny is the one the hobbits are looking for, they are unsure of the rest. Weary of finding trouble, or trouble finding us, we decide to skip the village and head towards mistress Lulu, and with our keen perception we see strange movement occurring on the bathhouse, and later also see Thorny's people changing the color of horses (on of them, a rival, throws thorny an object, but he nonchalantly catches it with ease) but we chose to ignore both interactions until we report back to the mistress.

Upon reaching the forest were the Celestials dwell, we find a lot of folk carving pumpkins, and once we're further deep, we come across half a dozen Wiccans. It turns out, currently there are five rangers in Gungnir's Hope, while there are only 3 positions. It seems the elivish court has decided to replace some of the rangers stationed here. Additionally, the elvish court suspects Dae's father from sheltering and hiding dissidents here, al allegation that seems to emanate from an elvish faction from the past, that rased this claims against his family. And on the subject of the elvish court...they are also the ones who requested or summoner Gungnir's Water Mage to go to Elfheim, "I know that in good authority" Lulu states.

We are informed that the group of dwarves looking for the Whimsical Gang, is doing so in regards for things what might have been found by Edwin Sonny & Yohann a sometime ago under Gungnir's Hope. Lulu asks Dae if there are any shapeshifters in his family, before ending our meeting and asking us to return at midnight for further instructions, since she has to digest the information we brought her in regards to the situation about the visitors from other planes coming from the caves beneath the cliff.

We decide to head to the Bakery of Sonny's Family, go for some fresh Pies & Buns. Theresa gives us plenty of food, since she sees us so malnourished according to her standards. One of the lads working at at the bakery gives us some sausage rolls to lire the Water Snake, and as a tip Sonny gives him a silver piece.

To kill some time we decide to head to the sheriff, but we spot the elves looking for Dae & his sister and decide to bolt before they see us, rerouting towards the bathhouse, only to be informed along the way, that the Dwarves that are looking for us are at Ruby's Forge currently, Sonny decides to dance with the shadows to find out more about the Dwarves and their motives at the forge, but can only make out "....west.....trade...." from their conversation. He sees them wearing half plates, which usually means they are out to kill somewhere, or that there is violence to be expected, but inside of the forge at least, they are acting respectful. Sonny is not spotted by the Dwarves, but a figure standing in the fire of the forge beckons him but the heat is too strong for Sonny to get closer.

While we are keeping a low profile and awaiting Sonny's return, Ruby is approached in the street and is informed that the Baron wants to speak with her, and soon. Ruby goes there, and the rest of the Quirky Bunch decide to follow. We are intercepted by Caspar, the Baron's son. He is roughly 10 years our elder, and Ruby detects he is not the brightest of stars. He informs us that his father has been asking questions about her merry group of friends, and inquiring about our involvements with robberies. It seems someone is spreading rumors that our crew is involved with the robbery of thousand pieces. And the request to see us, has been put not only due to that, but also to comply with the court of elves demand. Casper is fast to let us know, that his interception is to avoid us showing up, leaving it to be read between the lines how much of this was his idea, and how much was his father's instruction.

With newfound awareness of how many eyes are out looking for us, we decide to skip the village and head northeast, towards puppy town. Where Sonny attempts to DA the name of some species, to find out they are Ork-man, and where Edwin proceeds to show us a bit of how they train their beasts. While waiting there and keeping an eye out towards the forest where the Celestials dwell, we spot the people of influence from the village heading there, probably holding a special meeting to discuss the current affairs storming the village. But...we don't only see the people of influence headed there...we see the elves that are looking for us skulking to spy on the meeting and the mistresses. We discuss a bit of the power dynamics of the town and how the real power is in the had of all the Mistresses. Gugnir's Hope is led by them. We have a supper that still moves, it's a dark substance, which the courageous eater, was rewarded with 4 points of fatigue restoration for their bravery.

Midnight comes, and we must go to meet Lulu, so we ask Edwin's mistress for assistance, and she startles the elves off, so we can proceed with a better chance of being unnoticed. Se gives us a contraption, a pink stone, that Dae's mother actually crafts, it's meant to stop elves, you put it in the ground and there is a high likelihood of them not being able to pass through them. We make our way to the forest, from which we see a purplish light emanating from it. As we get closer and deeper into it, we see a line of people, about a dozen or so there, primarily three of the Celestials, three of the Wiccans, and 3 of the blacksmiths.
We are to head out to Blue grass, or so Lulu state. Once in Blue Grass we will enter another realm through the ponds where we will take upon further training to prepare us, while also keeping out of sight of the elves that are on the look for us, away from Gugnir's Hope's area. We are offered to take the endeavor of flying to Seagate to get Helena, the water mage to come back, but due to the elven peril, traveling to Blue Grass directly, takes precedence.

We are given Strenght of Stone, and a blend of celestial magics, we are provided each with a torch, whose light shall only be seen by their holder. We head west, on foot, towards Blue Grass, upon arrival, we see the place covered by a blue lavander colour, a town made of stone round houses, with blue thatched roofs. In contrast to our town, this place is remarkably quiet.

Arriving at the pond, swimming magic is cast on us, there is a woman with reptilian features, and something that looks almost like gills, she is always restless, moving her feet, never still. "On the pool, swim around three times, alongside the current that goes clockwise, once you do the third loop, you can come up outside again" she says to all of us, and while staring at Sonny she says to him that he should dig in the beaches at dawn.

Once we hop on the pond, we almost lost Sonny, but luckily Ruby comes to his aid, and we surface on warm water, on a beach, where the climate is also warm, we hear the surf of the waves, and see a building in the distance and head there. We find Thorny's Mistress there, she is carving extra rooms.

We are warned that terrible people live above the cliffs, and that we should avoid making big smoke, like explosions and such. At dawn, Sonny goes down to the beach digging for treasure, he sees a lot of shipwrecks along the beach with the low tide.

This has been the first night that Ruby has slept with no nightmares recently

We take nine weeks of training.

Buffs & Mil Sci

Long Term (assumed always on)

Magic (caster)	Rk	Effects	Duration	Da	Ed	Jo	Ru	So	Th
Greater Ench.	here's hoping	+ to Res, Mag, Com, and S&S.	Var
Fire Protection (Ru)	6	vs normal fire	7 hrs
Fire Armour (Ru)	6	28 pt ablative vs magical fire	7 hrs
Self Only

Short Term

Magic (caster)	Rk	Effects	Duration	Da	Ed	Jo	Ru	So	Th
Shadow Wings (So)	6	36 mph, 126 miles range	3.5 hrs
Walking Unseen (So,Jo)	6		7 hrs
Weapon of Flames (Ru)	7	+8 SC, +5 Dam, +8 dam vs undead, cold, water	12 min
Mind Speech (Da)	20	Range 630ft	210 mins

Misc

Herbalist Lunch/Broth

...

Watch Order

8pm	9pm	10pm	11pm	12am	1am	2am	3am	4am	5am	6am	7am
Edwin + Dogs		Jo				Dae				Edwin + Dogs
Sonny				Thornie				Ruby

Marching Order

Skirmish Formations (Front)
Default ... ... ...	Double File ... ... ...	Single File ... ... ...