Session 7: Going on a Hunt, Dreaming of Hunting Gnafia Gnomes
One of the things you get appears to be a stick with a handle wrapped in green leather, with a little plus symbol where the handle meets the shaft.(the rest of the items will be described later)
Rutana takes the reins to drive the cart home.
A peace descends on the cart, like the world about it is hallowed. The Sprite, casting Detect Magic on their bag of goodies, remarks that they're absolutely surrounded with magic!
Rutana spots a massive stag, covered in scales and bearing a majestic mane.
This friendly little guy nods at Rutana and carries along its way, warding away any hostile encounters. It's a Kirin!
Sartorii says aloud, "You're really fucking pretty."
It responds, "Thank you."
His name is Ishamael!
The party offers him food, he vibes with them for the evening. In the morning, he says, "Thank you for your service in Greenwall," then walks into the woods and vanishes.
The implications of what happened at Greenwall were so vast that heaven took notice.
Something is incredibly wrong, and danger still lurks.
Rutana believes that as Kirin are agents of heaven, he may have been on his way to help, but the party had gotten to it first.
(Interimission: The players learn about False Hydras)
About halfway home from Greenwall, the party encounters a convoy of soldiers and one civillian carraige.
Naialah pops her head out of the carriage, surprised to see the party alive. The General at the front of the convoy pulls off his helmet and fixes his ostentatious mohawk.
General but not actually a General, Guard Captain Astrafel, who gave Sartorii her bow earlier, is also there! He and Naialah pull the party aside for their report.
Sir Clarence introduces himself to Naialah.
The Sprite gives Astrafel a very quick explanation of what happened, rather wild-sounding. Rutana clarifies by providing more specific details about what actually happened. Astrafel takes notes, and sighs.
He is very tired.
Astrafel pledges to assist Greenwall. His convoy carries on to Greenwall, while Naialah turned her cart around to return with the party. She has Cortez sleeping in her cart!
Clarence recognizes Naialah's pendant as from a southern continent.
Naialah animorphs into spider form for the ride home.
Exposition from Naialah!
Ever since Brevoy bent knee and the (someone) vanished, there's been no end of problems.
Back in town, humanified Naialah waves goodbye and splits off from the party.
Rutana offers her sleeve for Cortez to sleep in, and her house for Clarance. New Stetman is in one piece, if a bit tense and angry from the lack of ibueprofein and vicks.
The party returns to the apothecary to hand over the goodies.
Ginseng Thistle greets the party. She had heard rumors that there was some bad shit happening.
She elects to read the story in the Gazette newspaper instead of hearing first-hand.
The apothecary guesses the wand is a wand of healing.
Worldbuilding time!
The red circle is where the party lives, a tower keep bought with money her parents gave her in the hopes of getting her a home of her own.
Over time she moved the party into her keep, with each member having their own floor.
The keep is a bit dilapidated and in need of repair, but the lower floors are plenty safe.
Basement.
Basement, where Rutana works.
Ground floor, common area and living rooms.
Rutana's floor!
The Sprite's floor!
Sartorii's floor!
Guest floor for Clarence!
Wind and rain!
Late at night, there's a knock at the door.
Rutana stomps her way away from her books to answer the door.
The night is chilly and looks as if it might rain. Two tall men in hooded shawls, an orc and an elf, and a top-hatted gnome in the monopoly-man pose stand on the doorstep.
The gnome states he'd seen the party in the Gazette. He congratulates Rutana, and asks if they'd heard about the Mercenary Tax.
The Sprite had fallen asleep reading atop a bookshelf in a living room, and was woken by a door.
This is Besh Ipswom. He is an investor, investing in the Gazette and local businesses. They invest back into him to stay safe.
This is...*the Gnafia.*
At the end of the month, he'll come for 50 gold.
Rutana steps outside to talk to Besh in the hopes of negotiating down, instead of murdering.
"What about 20?"
Besh agrees to lower it to 15 for this month, and see how well the party does. Maybe he will havework for the party, non-taxable if directly for him!
The elf: Sly
The orc: Dunlan
Rutana places a box on the table, to collect the tax funds.
Rutana adds 5g.
The Sprite adds 10g.
The funds for the end of the month are already collected.
Rutana is growing weed in the basement.
She grows some non-weed rage-grilled cheeses, while the party bitches about the gnafia.
The Sprite wants murder. Clarence advises patience.
Terror Monster to Ruin then back home would be a three-day trip.
There is still the map left with Naialah. She hasn't made any progress, but she thinks it must have been in a frame.
Rutana pays Naialah two silver for taking care of Cortez
Naialah asks how the party has been since the Gazelle report. Rutana tells her about Besh. Naialah's face scrunches.
The ride to Terror Monster Lumberyard is very uneventful.
Eezy peezy ride to the abandoned ruins of the camp.
Hunts:
There is a monster here that is stronger than normal monsters.
If the party takes the time to prep and learn about the monster, it becomes easier.
The camp seems temporary, a lot of tents. The people got here, set up large tents, then something happened.
There are corpses on the ground, there are several tracks, and there are ruined tents.
Rutana starts with the corpses.
The wounds are piercing wounds. One guy has a nine-inch diamater whole in his chest.
There is dried blood on the sides of their heads, possibly running out of their ears.
No damage on the body explains the bloody ears.
Clarence checks the tents.
Something big knockedover the tents then clawed and picked through them.
The kitchen tent is the most torn up. The food stores aren't missing, the silverware is.
The people are not wearing any armor, though they should be.
All the shiny stuff is gone!
The Sprite uses Pocket Library to check the tracks, adding plus 1 to his roll for a total of 13.
It's about two feet from heel to tip.
Sartorii looks over the grounds.
There are quite a few weapons scattered around, broken swords and maces.
One spear is bloodied, with dark-blue feather down clinging to the tip.
Sartorii tries to recall what raptoric birds have blue feathers.
She does not know any around here that are this large.
Rutana checks the feathers.
This is likely a Terrorbird, a really big and mean one.
It uses an audio attack and is weak to piercing.
We each get one more general perception roll.
There is one burned out tent, the kitchen. The bird had kicked over an oven and stepped in coals.
Potentially weak to fire, and might have a bad leg.
The tracks make a straight trail right up to a bush with red berries, where the trail goes clear around it.
The red berries stink to high heavens when plucked. Stinkberries!
Some of the tracks are a bit deeper, as if the bird were running. These lead up to a wooden cart with a whole smashed clear through it.
The bird has a ramming attack, and is not afraid to use it.
There is a whole lot of blood around the bodies, more than there should be.
The bird may have an anti-coagulant in its saliva.
The Sprite tries to craft ear plugs to defend against the audio attack.
Rutana succeeds. +2 to saves against the sonic attack.
To be continued...