Adventure: Food of the Gods (DM: ryryguy, Judge: renau1g)
Mewness
First Post
[sblock=ooc]I'm also thinking that taking a Magari person with us to help judge the taste of new and different zocalti might be a good idea. Maybe we could find Jaronel. I don't know, though... Don't want to saddle the DM with too many random NPCs to run 
I think that Papolstaanas might go have a look for Jaronel anyway, just to make sure he's all right.[/sblock]
I think that Papolstaanas might go have a look for Jaronel anyway, just to make sure he's all right.[/sblock]
ryryguy
First Post
Castofle agrees to accompany the group to the Kingdom of Jade colony. He still seems uncertain but his curiosity about the market there wins out.
The inn's rooms are on the small side and modestly furnished, but the beds are quite comfortable. The night passes without incident.
Outside, the day has dawned clear and crisp, with a cool breeze blowing in from the bay. There is a bit of activity around, especially down by the wharf, but it seems that most at Fulcrum-shore are not particularly early risers.
As the group prepares to depart, one of the passers-by stops short and gasps. It is Jaronel, his mouth agape. Since he was last seen, he has abandoned the Bacarte-style tricorner hat and sash, but still wears the toeless boots, torque, and brocaded vest.
"L-Ladies? Gentlemen? You - you alive! The zocaltipapatlaca didn't kill you?" He breaks out in a huge grin. "Allll right!" Then the grin vanishes just as quickly, replaced by a look of shame. "I - oh, I'm sorry sorry I ran away, ya, but..." he trails off and looks at the ground.
The inn's rooms are on the small side and modestly furnished, but the beds are quite comfortable. The night passes without incident.
Outside, the day has dawned clear and crisp, with a cool breeze blowing in from the bay. There is a bit of activity around, especially down by the wharf, but it seems that most at Fulcrum-shore are not particularly early risers.
As the group prepares to depart, one of the passers-by stops short and gasps. It is Jaronel, his mouth agape. Since he was last seen, he has abandoned the Bacarte-style tricorner hat and sash, but still wears the toeless boots, torque, and brocaded vest.
"L-Ladies? Gentlemen? You - you alive! The zocaltipapatlaca didn't kill you?" He breaks out in a huge grin. "Allll right!" Then the grin vanishes just as quickly, replaced by a look of shame. "I - oh, I'm sorry sorry I ran away, ya, but..." he trails off and looks at the ground.
Mewness
First Post
Letter from the Isle of Opposition
As everyone retires to their rooms, Papolstaanas slides a large, bulky object out of his backpack—his portable writing desk. He takes a fresh sheet of paper, sharpens a quill, and stirs its tip in the ink as he ponders what to say in his first letter to his mother.
[sblock=Papolstaanas writes in Draconic]Dear Mother,
I am writing to you from the Green Skeleton Inn in Fulcrum on the Isle of Opposition, where I have come with my new companions on an important mission for the Silverships Trading Company. The forests here are very beautiful and I have seen a great number of the most fancifully colored birds; you would hardly believe the calls they—[/sblock]
Papolstaanas pauses, meditatively brushing the end of the quill back and forth against his nose. His mother doesn’t much like birds and animals. At least, she doesn’t approve of the way that he likes birds and animals, so maybe it’s best not to remind her of it...
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]The forests here are very beautiful.and I have seen a great number of the most fancifully colored birds; you would hardly believe the calls they Unfortunately it has been difficult to enjoy them, as we have had to fight many Magari (that’s what the Bonites call themselves!). But I don’t mean to say that the Magari are hostile; most of them are really very friendly, you see—even their undead are actually sort of friendly! They just kind of live with everyone else (well, they don’t live, but you know what I mean) and you can walk up to one and say “hello mister mummified person” or whatever you want to say and nobody gets their brain eaten or their blood sucked or anything. But they have some of them, some of the undead I mean, on guard duty, and they have to stand there guarding twenty-four hours a day, which they can do because they’re undead and don’t need food or rest or anything, and that seems incredibly boring to me; it’s bad enough standing around doing nothing for hours when you get to break for meals and go to sleep at night. Imagine having to stand around doing nothing all day and night, every day! You’d be bored out of your mind and your legs would be so stiff... It’s really sort of cruel to the undead, isn’t it? Inasmuch as it’s even possible to be cruel to undead—[/sblock]
At this point, Papolstaanas can’t quite remember what he was originally writing about, and after looking back over his letter to find out, he can’t remember where he was going with the undead, either.
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]Inasmuch as it’s even possible to be cruel to undead But even though most of the Magari are friendly there’s a particular group of them whose name I can’t spell that are extremely hostile to outsiders, and they have done a great deal of damage to some Silverships property here, and that’s what we were sent to investigate. Not that our employer knew what was going on when she hired us; she just told us to retrieve some beans that hadn’t arrived on time—they’re needed for a religious ceremony—and it was only after we went to the plantation and saw it being destroyed by the unspellable people that we learned about them. And so we have been trying to recover the goods ever since, but it is very difficult and the unspellable people attack us at every turn, and they can do horrible things like turn into snakes and spit poison, but we have been able to defeat them so far.[/sblock]
Papolstaanas pauses again and sighs. He knows what his mother will really want to know about—his companions. And he can’t imagine that she would be very pleased with them: Jynxx is so frivolous, and his mother has a low opinion of bards. Cillani is rather scary, and he’s pretty sure that his mother wouldn’t like him spending time with someone whose head is on fire. He has no idea how to explain Azryah; his mother won’t even have heard of devas. She wouldn’t approve of Azryah’s worship of Merkari, either—his own brothers and sisters often say that they follow that god, so his mother thinks that Merkari-worship is something that troublemakers claim to do in order to appear more respectable. And Chaku—he can’t imagine his mother thinking very well of goliaths, either. Really, Kaeysari is probably the only one in the group that she might approve of, and only if she didn’t realize that Kaeysari is some sort of wolf-person.
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]But I should tell you about my companions. Mentioning them almost slipped my mind—we have gone through so much together that I almost forget that we have known each other only a few days! I didn’t join group that you met in the Hanged Man, incidentally; it turned out that the orc and the elf were very great friends, and so I thought that perhaps I should not go with them after all—I know how you feel about orcs. So let me tell you about my new companions and I think you will agree that I could hardly have done better.
Kaeysari is a citizen of the Imperium, and a more illustrious individual you are not likely to meet. She’s human, and a paladin of Palladys—that’s what they call Mireva!—and very serious about her faith and her honor. She has been immensely helpful to me, as you can probably imagine. In fact, when we met, I was reading that book that you gave me, Homilies of Azantia, and having some difficulty with some of the passages, and Kaeysari explained them to me. She gave me a great deal of insight into Azantia’s words—you might say that we bonded over it. She’s so knowledgeable! She has lots of fighting experience, too. I think I will learn a lot from her.[/sblock]
Papolstaanas feels quite pleased with this passage. And it’s not entirely untrue. And Kaeysari really does look quite human most of the time. At least he thinks so, and his mother probably would, too, if she ever met her.
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]Next I want to tell you about Lucky. He’s also human, and also very religious—he’s a priest of Apoli, and everyone calls him “Lucky” because he leads a charmed life; his god really does seem to watch over his fortunes. He is quite a master of Apoli’s arts—I mean archery and music, both of which he practices very rigorously every day to show his devotion and certainly not for cheap entertainment purposes like some people. He has been very helpful to us because of his miraculous healing powers; we feel quite blessed in his company.
Even more remarkable is the entity that frequently accompanies Lucky; Apoli favors his faithful servant so much that Lucky is able to call upon one of the god’s angels to help him. Her name is Cillani, and when Lucky calls her she comes and strikes our enemies down with the powers of the sky. Being an angel of the god of the sun, she is quite remarkable to look at—she constantly radiates fire and light and I am sometimes afraid that nearby objects will catch on fire! But they never do, unless she desires it.[/sblock]
Well, he can’t deny that there are a few small fibs in there. But that’s all fairly harmless, isn’t it? Nothing brings out his creativity like lying to his mother!
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]The biggest and strongest of us is called Chaku. He’s about eight feet tall and his arms and legs are like tree trunks. He can crush an armored man with little more effort than most people would use mashing a potato. He would be very frightening if it were not for the fact that he is utterly loyal and unquestioning. This is because he is a warforged.[/sblock]
Papolstaanas does feel a twinge of guilt at this characterization of Chaku. He likes Chaku a lot, and is it really fair to represent him as some sort of machine? And yet it really is quite clever, in its way, because it wouldn’t be hard to disguise Chaku as a warforged if it came to that; you would just need to put wood or metal all over his body. It wouldn’t even matter much if some areas were neglected since his skin looks so much like stone. And his mother would believe that warforged are just mindlessly loyal machines; she always just ignores them when she sees them—she even hung a coat on one once!
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]I don’t know exactly what it is that drives a warforged to go on adventures, and Chaku doesn’t talk about it. He doesn’t seem to have personal desires. There is really nobody more reliable or honest than Chaku; I don’t think he even knows how to lie. (It probably sounds strange that I’m referring to a warforged as “he,” but it’s an easy habit to get into, because he sounds male.)[/sblock]
Azryah is the only one that remains. What did that other deva, the one in the Temple of Lauto say? That devas are angels? His mother would never believe that. His mother would think he was fibbing, especially since he’s already claimed that Cillani is an angel and Cillani and Azryah look completely different. And Cillani is really more convincing as an angel, being on fire and all. Azryah could perhaps be human, if she wore some sort of makeup to color her skin... But then, the strange eyes... And then there’s Merkari. Azryah’s so serious about her religion, and Mother thinks that Merkari’s worshipers are just a bunch of con-artists and thieves.
Reluctantly, Papolstaanas decides not to mention Azryah in his letter at all. He feels oddly guilty, as though he is doing her a disservice—not that he is exactly doing the others a service by lying about them, but still, Azryah is so clever, and so sensible, and so skilled, and it seems a shame not to be able to mention those qualities, whatever else he might say about her. But it wouldn’t make any difference to his mother—and the important thing is that he actually likes this kind of life, Papolstaanas realizes suddenly: despite the danger and the uncertainty and the poison and the pointy fish, he actually feels useful and desired; his companions seem to have a genuine regard for him and respect for his skills—maybe not the highest regard or the highest respect, but everyone has to start somewhere, and he doesn’t really deserve much respect anyway, being very new to all of this, but still, what he gets from his companions now is far beyond anything he ever got from the people back home. And what if his mother decided that he couldn’t do it anymore, because his companions are such a bad influence?
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]So you can see that I have made a new set of friends who are very morally upstanding indeed, and I am sure that we will be finished with this mission within a day or two and return to Daunton. How pleasant it will be to have a dignified and tasteful celebration before we go to church to thank the gods for our good fortune![/sblock]
The end of Papolstaanas’s quill finds its way to his nose again. He considers a few endings, but finally cannot resist writing—
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]I have grown extraordinarily fond of my new companions. There are no better to be had in the Shifting Seas, I am sure; and it is a shame that you have so many social engagements and dislike traveling to Daunton so very much, or I should certainly ask you to come and meet them! In any case, it must wait until we return safely from this strange land; and however we might fare in the coming days, I remain ever
Your loving and dutiful son,
Papolstaanas[/sblock]
As everyone retires to their rooms, Papolstaanas slides a large, bulky object out of his backpack—his portable writing desk. He takes a fresh sheet of paper, sharpens a quill, and stirs its tip in the ink as he ponders what to say in his first letter to his mother.
[sblock=Papolstaanas writes in Draconic]Dear Mother,
I am writing to you from the Green Skeleton Inn in Fulcrum on the Isle of Opposition, where I have come with my new companions on an important mission for the Silverships Trading Company. The forests here are very beautiful and I have seen a great number of the most fancifully colored birds; you would hardly believe the calls they—[/sblock]
Papolstaanas pauses, meditatively brushing the end of the quill back and forth against his nose. His mother doesn’t much like birds and animals. At least, she doesn’t approve of the way that he likes birds and animals, so maybe it’s best not to remind her of it...
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]The forests here are very beautiful.
At this point, Papolstaanas can’t quite remember what he was originally writing about, and after looking back over his letter to find out, he can’t remember where he was going with the undead, either.
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]
Papolstaanas pauses again and sighs. He knows what his mother will really want to know about—his companions. And he can’t imagine that she would be very pleased with them: Jynxx is so frivolous, and his mother has a low opinion of bards. Cillani is rather scary, and he’s pretty sure that his mother wouldn’t like him spending time with someone whose head is on fire. He has no idea how to explain Azryah; his mother won’t even have heard of devas. She wouldn’t approve of Azryah’s worship of Merkari, either—his own brothers and sisters often say that they follow that god, so his mother thinks that Merkari-worship is something that troublemakers claim to do in order to appear more respectable. And Chaku—he can’t imagine his mother thinking very well of goliaths, either. Really, Kaeysari is probably the only one in the group that she might approve of, and only if she didn’t realize that Kaeysari is some sort of wolf-person.
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]But I should tell you about my companions. Mentioning them almost slipped my mind—we have gone through so much together that I almost forget that we have known each other only a few days! I didn’t join group that you met in the Hanged Man, incidentally; it turned out that the orc and the elf were very great friends, and so I thought that perhaps I should not go with them after all—I know how you feel about orcs. So let me tell you about my new companions and I think you will agree that I could hardly have done better.
Kaeysari is a citizen of the Imperium, and a more illustrious individual you are not likely to meet. She’s human, and a paladin of Palladys—that’s what they call Mireva!—and very serious about her faith and her honor. She has been immensely helpful to me, as you can probably imagine. In fact, when we met, I was reading that book that you gave me, Homilies of Azantia, and having some difficulty with some of the passages, and Kaeysari explained them to me. She gave me a great deal of insight into Azantia’s words—you might say that we bonded over it. She’s so knowledgeable! She has lots of fighting experience, too. I think I will learn a lot from her.[/sblock]
Papolstaanas feels quite pleased with this passage. And it’s not entirely untrue. And Kaeysari really does look quite human most of the time. At least he thinks so, and his mother probably would, too, if she ever met her.
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]Next I want to tell you about Lucky. He’s also human, and also very religious—he’s a priest of Apoli, and everyone calls him “Lucky” because he leads a charmed life; his god really does seem to watch over his fortunes. He is quite a master of Apoli’s arts—I mean archery and music, both of which he practices very rigorously every day to show his devotion and certainly not for cheap entertainment purposes like some people. He has been very helpful to us because of his miraculous healing powers; we feel quite blessed in his company.
Even more remarkable is the entity that frequently accompanies Lucky; Apoli favors his faithful servant so much that Lucky is able to call upon one of the god’s angels to help him. Her name is Cillani, and when Lucky calls her she comes and strikes our enemies down with the powers of the sky. Being an angel of the god of the sun, she is quite remarkable to look at—she constantly radiates fire and light and I am sometimes afraid that nearby objects will catch on fire! But they never do, unless she desires it.[/sblock]
Well, he can’t deny that there are a few small fibs in there. But that’s all fairly harmless, isn’t it? Nothing brings out his creativity like lying to his mother!
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]The biggest and strongest of us is called Chaku. He’s about eight feet tall and his arms and legs are like tree trunks. He can crush an armored man with little more effort than most people would use mashing a potato. He would be very frightening if it were not for the fact that he is utterly loyal and unquestioning. This is because he is a warforged.[/sblock]
Papolstaanas does feel a twinge of guilt at this characterization of Chaku. He likes Chaku a lot, and is it really fair to represent him as some sort of machine? And yet it really is quite clever, in its way, because it wouldn’t be hard to disguise Chaku as a warforged if it came to that; you would just need to put wood or metal all over his body. It wouldn’t even matter much if some areas were neglected since his skin looks so much like stone. And his mother would believe that warforged are just mindlessly loyal machines; she always just ignores them when she sees them—she even hung a coat on one once!
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]I don’t know exactly what it is that drives a warforged to go on adventures, and Chaku doesn’t talk about it. He doesn’t seem to have personal desires. There is really nobody more reliable or honest than Chaku; I don’t think he even knows how to lie. (It probably sounds strange that I’m referring to a warforged as “he,” but it’s an easy habit to get into, because he sounds male.)[/sblock]
Azryah is the only one that remains. What did that other deva, the one in the Temple of Lauto say? That devas are angels? His mother would never believe that. His mother would think he was fibbing, especially since he’s already claimed that Cillani is an angel and Cillani and Azryah look completely different. And Cillani is really more convincing as an angel, being on fire and all. Azryah could perhaps be human, if she wore some sort of makeup to color her skin... But then, the strange eyes... And then there’s Merkari. Azryah’s so serious about her religion, and Mother thinks that Merkari’s worshipers are just a bunch of con-artists and thieves.
Reluctantly, Papolstaanas decides not to mention Azryah in his letter at all. He feels oddly guilty, as though he is doing her a disservice—not that he is exactly doing the others a service by lying about them, but still, Azryah is so clever, and so sensible, and so skilled, and it seems a shame not to be able to mention those qualities, whatever else he might say about her. But it wouldn’t make any difference to his mother—and the important thing is that he actually likes this kind of life, Papolstaanas realizes suddenly: despite the danger and the uncertainty and the poison and the pointy fish, he actually feels useful and desired; his companions seem to have a genuine regard for him and respect for his skills—maybe not the highest regard or the highest respect, but everyone has to start somewhere, and he doesn’t really deserve much respect anyway, being very new to all of this, but still, what he gets from his companions now is far beyond anything he ever got from the people back home. And what if his mother decided that he couldn’t do it anymore, because his companions are such a bad influence?
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]So you can see that I have made a new set of friends who are very morally upstanding indeed, and I am sure that we will be finished with this mission within a day or two and return to Daunton. How pleasant it will be to have a dignified and tasteful celebration before we go to church to thank the gods for our good fortune![/sblock]
The end of Papolstaanas’s quill finds its way to his nose again. He considers a few endings, but finally cannot resist writing—
[sblock=Papolstaanas’s letter continues in Draconic]I have grown extraordinarily fond of my new companions. There are no better to be had in the Shifting Seas, I am sure; and it is a shame that you have so many social engagements and dislike traveling to Daunton so very much, or I should certainly ask you to come and meet them! In any case, it must wait until we return safely from this strange land; and however we might fare in the coming days, I remain ever
Your loving and dutiful son,
Papolstaanas[/sblock]
Mewness
First Post
"Jaronel! I'm so glad you survived!" shrieks Papolstaanas happily. "You shouldn't be sorry. Those zocaltiplapi--um, those people, they're simply terrible, so don't apologize, I don't blame you... But now we have something else to do, it's really important, you see Hulgrimi won't give us the zocalti we need unless he learns to enjoy it again so we're going to the other part of the island, you know the Kingdom Jade part, to find some new flavor that will make the drink really interesting and different, and I was just about to come looking for you, because would you like to come? Because it would really be helpful to have someone who knows Magari food, you see, to help us judge what works."
BenBrown
First Post
After a heavy but uneasy sleep, filled with dreams of feasts and of poison, Kaeysari awakens early, and sets about cleaning up the suit of armor the group found yesterday and adjusting it to fit herself. It's not precisely Imperial standard design, but it has a few improvements that look like they'd do some good.
After attaching her medallions and trinkets to it, she tries it on, adjusting the straps to get a better fit.
"What do you think?" she asks.
After attaching her medallions and trinkets to it, she tries it on, adjusting the straps to get a better fit.
"What do you think?" she asks.
LadyLaw
First Post
Azryah quietly enjoys her vegetable stew and bread roll then heads up to bed.
Upon waking, she heads downstairs and orders breakfast, enjoying whatever the innkeeper has to offer along with, hopefully, another freshly baked bread roll and butter drizzled with a bit of honey.
"It suits you," she says to Kaeysari, who is trying on her new armor.
She wipes the last of her breakfast away and prepares to set off. When Jaronel appears she looks upon him kindly.
"You had no weapon. What else were you to do? It all worked out in the end, after all. I am pleased that you came to no harm, since those monsters seem to be prowling all over the forest."
Upon waking, she heads downstairs and orders breakfast, enjoying whatever the innkeeper has to offer along with, hopefully, another freshly baked bread roll and butter drizzled with a bit of honey.
"It suits you," she says to Kaeysari, who is trying on her new armor.
She wipes the last of her breakfast away and prepares to set off. When Jaronel appears she looks upon him kindly.
"You had no weapon. What else were you to do? It all worked out in the end, after all. I am pleased that you came to no harm, since those monsters seem to be prowling all over the forest."
ryryguy
First Post
Jaronel appears only slightly confused by Papolstaanas' quick speech. "I'm so happy to see you too, ya!" He gives the kobold a hug. "I can try to help you - you want to go to the 'gray' side, ya? I can take you t'ere, been t'ere a few times, to the colony. And t'is taste stuff, with the zocalti, well..." He shrugs. "Not sure how much I can help, but I can try. I t'ink I told you before, I don't really like the zocalti too much. The time I like it the best, t'at was probably when the school teacher lady Miss Hyza make it at school. She put somet'ing in it, made it taste a lot smoother. Maybe you should ask her, ya?"
ooc: The villagers at Newhill also mentioned that the teacher was giving zocalti to the children; it was one of the reasons they thought the zocaltipapatlaca had it out for her...
The boy fingers the short club he wears on his belt. "Ya, well... it true, I'm not so good a fighter. T'is more for bashing snakes and rats and stuff like t'at to eat. But t'at's not all. The zocaltipapatlaca... my family had trouble with t'em back in the Valley of Bone. Tat's one of the reasons we left and come here. Not the only t'ing, but one t'ing that made us come here. So I'm really afraid of t'em, ya..." He smiles nervously. "T'at make me run real fast, real hard. I don't t'ink I stopped running 'till I got half way back to Fulcrum!"
[sblock=Insight DC 15]Jaronel is clearly reluctant to say more about his family's dealings with the zocaltipapatlaca in the past.[/sblock]
[sblock=ooc]Ok... sorry for so long between posts, lots of RL stuff going on now that it's summer!
Anyhow, you have two clear destinations: the school run by the Daunton woman, and the Kingdom of Jade colony. At the colony, you want to have Castofle check the market for exotic ingredients, and you may want to try to find out more about what Balsamae is doing there.
You can easily learn from Jaronel that Miss Hyza's school is located on a small farm that is about twenty minutes' walk from Fulcrum-shore. It's ten minutes down the main road towards the Kingdom of Jade gate, then ten minutes down a side path from there. So let me know if you'd like to visit there first, or hit it on the way back. (Or not at all I suppose.)
Also if you want to try to purchase any equipment, ask around for more information, or do anything else in Fulcrum-shore before leaving, just let me know. In addition to most mundane equipment, you can definitely purchase small quantities of healing potions (up to 3) or potions of resistance (1 for each energy type, except poison - 2 of those are available, due to the danger of ordinary venomous serpents that live in the jungle). Anything else, ask.
Finally, we kind of lost track of Krassus again. He accompanied you to the Green Skeleton Inn where he went straight to bed. He apparently left quite early in the morning. He left a note with the innkeeper for you, in which he thanked you once again for saving his life at the plantation, and indicated that he was going out to Fulcrum-sea to try to get passage back to Daunton as soon as possible.[/sblock]
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