Anarenn: Rise of the ancient blood

Ambrus · Feb 3, 2008

Its warning having been delivered (and pointedly ignored) the concealed dragon doesn't make any efforts to prolong the tedious conversation or to follow the female as she departs the forest. The small mottled grey-brown wyrmling slowly uncoils itself from the tree bough upon which it had taken cover and watches the human pick her way down the hill through the underbrush on her way back to the nearby human village.

It had only ever tried to communicate directly with two humans thus far, and both attempts had proven to be less than successful. Apparently its observation of humans and its study of their literature had ill equipped the diminutive creature for the endeavor. Though the problem might in part be its choice of wizardly speaking companions, further reflection on the matter was clearly called for.

Mentally shrugging off the conversation, the diminutive dragon's hide lightens to a neutral ash-gray as it tastes the air with its tongue. Unfurling its wings, the wyrmling springs from its branch and beats the air mightily to quickly gain altitude. Breaking through the forest's canopy, the flapping dragon soars high into the air as it begins its long trek in search of the ruins described to it by its arboreal friend Oak.

OOC: Sorry for my slow posting rate of late, but recent events have left me a little disinterested in forum reading. I'm feeling better now however, and foresee resuming my regular posting rate. Incidentally, is there any chance of seeing that map of the area you'd been working on? I'm having trouble keeping track of orientations.

Nightbreeze · Feb 4, 2008

You start heading east, flying like an arrow at low height above the forest: you can't go any higher because you need to keep an eye open for the signs that Oak listed. A burned tree here, a low valley there...you keep going west, but you get the feeling that after a while you will be heading south.

This is the first time you get so far in the direction of the mountains, and you notice that the landscape is broken by multiple valleys, sharp hill, crest and ridges, forested cliffs and rivers. This could be a real nightmare for an explorer...an explorer without the ability to fly, of course.

However, it is not easy for you too: there are many signs that can't be seen from great height, others can only seen by a particular position on the ground an so on. You have to proceed carefully, and multiple times you have to scurry an area for a dozen of minutes before finding the right way.

When you have covered half of the distance (according to your indications), you suddenly notice some people low on the ground. It's a group of three people, each of them seemingly a hunter, or explorer. they seem to hail from the local villages, and there's nothing special about them (except for the fact that they are here, 7 miles from the nearest forest edge).

The sun is beginning to head down for the western horizon and you understand that you have to make hast, in order to arrive to the ruins and possibly explore them before darkness comes. You won't be able to come back at Drachenfell before night, anyway. You may have some minutes to spy on these other people, but you are taking a certain risk (well, not that darkness bothers you that much, anyway).

Ambrus · Feb 5, 2008

The curious dragon banks and dips down into the forest canopy to get a closer look at the trio of hunters. Being used to spying on those who enters its forest, the wyrmling is curious to see whether it recognizes these particular men (Knowledge, local +4). Having spied the men, their hunting weapons and any game they've succeeded in catching (Spot +7), the hurried dragon takes to the air once more as it continues its westward journey.

Nightbreeze · Feb 8, 2008

As you descend down, and settle on the green-covered crown of a tree, you spy the humans. You don't recognize any of them on sight, however you see that on of them is quite tall, but a scar under his left cheek, while the other has some inches less, but more muscles, and one of his eyes is a milky white, indicating blindness. Judging from that and their outfit, out decide that those are the Yorm brothers, know trouble-makers in Esthrar. You have never seen them, but sometimes you heard pieces of news about them and now everything connects in recognizing them. The third human instead is an average human, with blond and short hair (the Yorms are black-haired). He has better equipments and from the way he regards them it seems that he feels in charge.

It seems that so far they have gathered no game...but the mystery explains itself pretty quickly once you realize that they are not here for hunting. It seems that they just reunited, after splitting some time ago. The Yorm brothers report no success in finding whatsoever, and the blond man grows in frustration. He mutters something among the line that if someone else succeeds first, he will gain all of the praise and reward from their masters. The Yorms retort that it was his will to get separated from the other and search this far south: if they had stayed with them, they would find it together. Anyway, they don't seem to believe really in what they say, and you soon discover why: they are searching not only for whatever they are searching for, whatever it is, but also for other explorers, and they have reason to believe that they could find them here around, because they should be coming from the village south of Esthrar.

Do you want to go on listening, or you prefer to move?

Ambrus · Feb 8, 2008

OOC: The dragon will continue to listen in on the trio until they seem to have finished their conversation and have resumed traveling; at which point it will continue on its own quest. What kind of equipment are the three carrying?

Nightbreeze · Feb 13, 2008

The Yorm brothers have hunting gear, with a club, and strangely, a mace. As for the foreigner, he has a similar equipment, with some sort of horizontal bow...that would be the famous crossbow, you guess, and a short sword. Overall, it seems that he is more prepared for a fight, rather then a hunt.

Right now, the Yorm brothers are showing their typical lack of patience:
Hia, man, why the damn shou'l we find for tha friggin' stone ruins here around? Those are wizards, aa'nt they? Can't they just wriggle their hands and find them? I hate roaming around in tha stupid forests like an idiot, getting paid a misery - exclaims Yorshu, the younger one with disgust

The foreigner raises his eyes to the sky and replies with patience, mixed with some degree of anger: Well, if they could or wanted to find the ruins with their spells, they would do it. Then you wouldn't get paid anything at all. Remember, bull-headed idiot? The only reason that the guards didn't get you in prison for what you did back there in the tavern is the fact that one of them decided to employ you. So just shut your stinking mouth and look for the ruins. I will come back tomorrow morning to check on you, at the same place

Man, this sucks - mutters Grershu, the older brother, watching the foreigner walk away. Friggin Erothoir and his friggin masters

Ambrus · Feb 13, 2008

The eavesdropping dragon briefly considers offering these humans the same warning it had issued to the two wizards earlier, but decides against that course of action. So far, communicating with humans has proven rather disappointing and the wyrmling sees nothing to gain from another attempt.

The diminutive reptile watches the disgruntled group part ways and then stealthily takes to the skies once more. Beating the air, the soaring dragon endeavors to make up for lost time in its own search for the ruins.

OOC: Which direction are the two brothers and the lone foreigner heading when they part ways?

Nightbreeze · Feb 16, 2008

As the strange foreigner goes north, the tiny predator notices that the Yorm brothers are going west. They don't seem to make haste.

You soar high in the sky to regard the landscape and find again your signs. When your eyes find again a rock formation shaped in a particular, twisted way, you fly in that direction. The wind carries you with great speed and soon you think that you are approaching your destination.

You realize that you are entering the Berlenda mountains. The transition is not gradual: from a crested forest suddenly high and broken ridges form and devastate the landscape. High rock formations, hills, deep valleys cover the land. All of them are covered by thick forest, thus making the scouting really difficult.

You have a really hard time to find out the stone ruins that were described, and infact you realize that they are probably not visible from the air. So you have to fly at almost ground level, following the directions of Oak. You realize that it would be difficult for a human to reach the ruins, unless he knows that they are almost certainly here around, and spens a few days searching for them. Luckily enough, the humans are searching in a completely wrong area.

Finally, you are here: you settle on the top of a tall tree, and under the cover of the thick foliage, you observe the little and hidden vally. It is no more than 70m wide. On one side of the mountain, hidden by the rock from someone not standing in the valley, there are two stone towers, each of them once 15m tall. both of them however have crumbled. One is just a mass of stones covering the earth, while the ground floor of the another is still standing, forming what may be seen as a small house. There seem to be no signs of intelligent creatures nearby.

Ambrus · Feb 17, 2008

The diminutive dragon consciously shifts its scaled hide from the light gray it has assumed while flying to a mottled forest green to better blend in with the valley's bountiful foliage. The curious wyrmling tastes the air with its forked tongue while scanning the immediate area (Listen & Spot +7, taking 20).

Once satisfied that it's truly alone, the dragon unfurls its wings and glides down to the jumbled remains of the first tower. Scurrying over the mound, the diminutive wyrmling carefully investigates its nooks and crevices for anything of possible interest (Search +8, taking 20).

Assuming it doesn't find anything, the cautious dragon will slowly makes its way through the overgrown field grass towards the second tower. Moving stealthily (Hide +25, Move Silently +3, taking 10), it'll circle the structure while looking for a point of entrance through which to spy the interior.

Nightbreeze · Feb 17, 2008

You wait in there for some minutes, waiting and listening. At the end, you are quite sure that there is no one around in the valley. You start investigating the remians of the first tower, and after few minutes you arrive to the conclusion that whatever clue there could be about whoever lived in and whatever he did, it is either buried under the rocks, or it has been destroyed by rust, wind, rain or taken away by wild animals a lot of time ago.

As for the second tower, you approach the natural shelter that its first floor. As you take a look from the outside, you notice several signs of former human presence: there are some blackened stones in a circle in the middle of the room, and the remains of some broken bones. The rest of the floor is covered by rubble. While carefully investigating it, you find several things of notice: first of all, hidden nearby the circle of stones there is a fist sized and heavy stone of strange appearance. It is somewhat similar to quarz, and you suppose that it could be of some value. (although it is not a precious and shining gem like the others in your possession).

Another important fact is that under a huge amount of dust and light rubble you find an iron trapdoor. It is quite heavy and even without trying you know that you could hardly open it.

Lastly, you find some footsteps in the dust: they are 4-5 inches large, appear to belong to some reptilian creature, smaller than a human. They were hard to find and you think that they were intentionally hidden.