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Aphonion Tales: Adventures in the Spice Lands and the War in Hanal, a tween and teen D&D game (edited notes, posts Tuesdays, most recent 3/7/23)
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<blockquote data-quote="CPaladin" data-source="post: 8902693" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>Session 50 (January 8, 2023)</p><p></p><p>11 Kas (cont'd)</p><p>So as they catch their breath, a young, middle aged woman, maybe late thirties or so emerges from the ruins, looks them over, and says, "So, what are you lot? And why do you have that thing with you?"</p><p></p><p>"Given that you just got bombarded, I presume you're not on the side of the houses of the Green."</p><p></p><p>"We are common folk. The matters of the houses of the Green and such don't concern us very much."</p><p></p><p>"Put simply, we are adventurers," continues Noah. "We're working for the forces of the Inquisition and Queen-Empress Anastasia. We've just recovered a quite powerful artifact from the clutches of the enemy, and we're currently working to reunite with our forces, so we can begin plans for a large scale incursion into enemy territory. I apologize for my lack of finesse. We just got out of a very difficult situation where we lost some some good people."</p><p></p><p>"I'm sorry for your losses. Let me tend to your wounds. I'm a midwife and a healer."</p><p></p><p>"That would be excellent."</p><p></p><p>She makes her way around, basically bandaging them up and putting on poultices. Their wounds respond to this much more than they ought to from just conventional bandages, disinfectants, and herbs, and she mutters under her breath as she tends each of them.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, though they do not know this, the army following them has now passed by the secret passage, and are headed along the underground passage continuing southwest, and will continue along through the Underdark until they're finally slaughtered by the drow.</p><p></p><p>While the midwife tends their wounds, a tall, slim figure that appears human approaches the group from the ruins. "My name is Merritt Aster. I prefer an honorific, so you can call me Mx. Aster for the time being. We don't get newcomers very often." They have ash-blonde hair, pale skin, and green eyes, and they are dressed in a somewhat proper fashion for a commoner.</p><p></p><p>"We did just come up from the Underdark."</p><p></p><p>"Probably not the best idea to go down there in the first place, but live and lit live," comments Mx. Aster.</p><p></p><p>"There is a very powerful thing that we are currently trying to get back to our army."</p><p></p><p>An old man with a crooked back says, "He says he came out of the Underdark. You came out of the old tunnel, then? Nothing's come out of that tunnel alive since I was a boy. You must be powerful."</p><p></p><p>"I like to think our group is relatively experienced."</p><p></p><p>"And you have to get to the border. Now, you've got a mage, that's good."</p><p></p><p>"I think that if you're willing to help us, we're currently trying to return to Dwarf Mountain and also determine what to do with the artifact."</p><p></p><p>The old man turns to the midwife. "Goodie Trudie, you need to tell him that's insane.</p><p></p><p>"Well, it certainly is touched by the moons, but nonetheless they may not be wrong," responds Trudie. "So what is this thing? It seems to be some sort of torture device."</p><p></p><p>"Basically, as long as you don't put a person or corpse in it, we think it doesn't do evil things."</p><p></p><p>"You hope it doesn't do evil things," mutters Mx. Aster.</p><p></p><p>"Necromancy, then," comments Trudie.</p><p></p><p>"My current running theory is that it absorbs the life energy of a person and transforms it into usable magical energy."</p><p></p><p>"You're not wrong, then, that this cannot fall into the hands of..." Trudie gestures vaguely in the direction of the capital. "But the thought that the six of you would carry this device all the way to Dwarf Mountain, past the armies in between..."</p><p></p><p>"The good news is that one of the armies is on our side."</p><p></p><p>"Lad, in a war like this, no army is on anyone's side. They're just forces of destruction."</p><p></p><p>"Look, how many people do you have here who need to get to a safe haven?"</p><p></p><p>"We have about 30 survivors."</p><p></p><p>"I don't suppose any of you are divine spell casters? We need to make a sending to our allies."</p><p></p><p>"Who would you be trying to reach?"</p><p></p><p>"If we could signal one of the elven vollers..."</p><p></p><p>"They blew up our village," says the old man.</p><p></p><p>"Wait. The elven vollers were the ones that did this?"</p><p></p><p>"Yes. Some of the villagers set up some weird thing up at the north end of the village, and after the one of those crystal ship passed overhead, it shot purple rays down and blasted it and the village with kind of ... what's that long word that means they didn't care who they were hitting?"</p><p></p><p>"It was indiscriminate, is what he's saying," explains Trudie. "There might have been reasons why they might have needed to deal with that altar."</p><p></p><p>"If it's anything like the altars that I've encountered during my experience adventuring, it needed to be destroyed. As you might imagine, the altars are part of a system erected by a cult."</p><p></p><p>"So would the elves assist you if you could contact them?"</p><p></p><p>"I believe so. At the very least, I am certain that they would think that they would definitely prefer the idea that the resonator--the artifact-- was in their hands rather than anyone else's."</p><p></p><p>"If that thing is connected to the same cult, if any of the elven vollers pass over it, they'll likely blast it and anyone with it."</p><p></p><p>"And you, lad," says Trudie, as she points at Iados. "Are you a tiefling who happens to have wings?"</p><p></p><p>"Indeed."</p><p></p><p>"So you're not a bound devil, or the like."</p><p></p><p>"No."</p><p></p><p>"What if you flew up to one of the vollers? Could you do that?"</p><p></p><p>"Indeed I could."</p><p></p><p>"Would they allow him to approach?"</p><p></p><p>"I think that if he approached they would probably attempt to shoot him down," says Noah.</p><p></p><p>"Not just attempt," says the old man, glancing around the ruins of the village.</p><p></p><p>"If you need a divine caster," Trudie says, "There is an abbey of the Weeping Woman, not terribly far from here. I'm known to them. They sometimes ask me to handle difficult births anywhere in this area."</p><p></p><p>"That could be a good move," says Noah. "To be quite frank, I think that that currently is your best option as well. And in the best case, we can get your survivors out by getting them on board the voller. I think that our best bet is probably to make for that abbey."</p><p></p><p>The survivors of the village decide to go with them to the abbey. They gather up what supplies they have, on their surviving mules, and a wagon for the device.</p><p></p><p>Trudie mounts up on a riding horse that is surprisingly nice for a peasant to have. "I was out of the village, attending to a difficult birth, when the bombardment happened. It's the only reason I survived when our family home and the forge did not."</p><p></p><p>They depart south towards the abbey. The group forms a tight group around the resonator, while Trudie positions the surviving villagers well clear of the resonator on its right-hand side, and rides herself a little bit further out from the villagers, almost like a picket or outrider.</p><p></p><p>The first day of travel is uneventful, though through the biting wind and the snow.</p><p></p><p>When they make camp, they mount two sets of guards. The resonator is some three hundred yards from the camp of the villagers, with a couple of guards there. They then post a separate set of guards around the sleeping people. In the middle of the night, Noah and an uruk are on watch at the resonator. The first warning of a problem is a horrible scream from one of the mules. The mule is being carried away by a large winged shape. Two more are still circling with it, and they fly away to the east. They were definitely animals, not dragons, but the group could not recognize them. The rest of the night passes peacefully, although fretfully. In the morning, the villagers quickly divide up the goods that were carried by that mule, and they head on.</p><p></p><p>12 Kas</p><p>The next day passes uneventfully, as they pass a number of farms that appear abandoned and a few that are locked up as tight as a drum. They also pass through a small, abandoned thorp.</p><p></p><p>The night passes uneventfully, except that Mx. Aster reveals that they are a shapechanger, showing their true form--a much less well defined form, about the same build and size, but with entirely blank white eyes, with no pupil or iris visible at--to Noah.</p><p></p><p>13 Kas</p><p>Another day passes.</p><p></p><p>In the early hours of the morning, during the second watch, four large figures stride out of the darkness and stop outside the perimeter. A fifth, leading along something that looks like a small elephant piled high with parcels, stops. And they look at the group. The figures are roughly nine-feet tall, in armor, but without weapons drawn. The fifth one is somewhat larger, but still much larger than any human.</p><p></p><p>Iados approaches, and the closest waves at him.</p><p></p><p>"Hello, friends," says Iados. "I'm sorry--do you speak common?"</p><p></p><p>The figures shake their heads, "No."</p><p></p><p>"Do you speak any languages?"</p><p></p><p>They open their mouths and show no tongues.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, I'm sorry. What are you doing?"</p><p></p><p>They gesture at the parcels, and Iados concludes that it's mail of a sort, before realizing that they are merchants. Iados invites them in.</p><p></p><p>They lay out a variety of goods--mostly food, with jerked beef and pemican, along with some bundles of not-well-preserved healing herbs. Iados buys some jerked beef and pemican, and Trudie--who recognizes the figures as from one of the civilized ogre tribes up in the hill, whose tongues are cut out by the Empire of Hanal to keep them disorganized, while not killing them because they're viewed as potentially useful--buys the healing herbs, along with some of the cheapest foodstuffs they have to provide to the villagers.</p><p></p><p>She tells them, "I'd recommend that you head back to your village. There's not good markets now, with the armies about and the war, and there's a danger you'll be pressed into service. Go home to your wives, stay safe."</p><p></p><p>The ogres nod in understanding, and after finishing the deals, they quickly pack up and head back towards the hills.</p><p></p><p>14 Kas</p><p>After a half day of travel, they come up on a large abbey. It has significant fields, and some fortifications--not really fortified, but walls and defenses that would keep out bandits or the like, and open gates, though the snow has been moved out of the way so the gates can be sealed.</p><p></p><p>A knight stands outside the abbey gate, keeping guard. He tenses as he sees the group approaching, but then relaxes once he recognizes the locals. He asks, with worry in his voice, "I hope you're not all that's left of the village?"</p><p></p><p>Trudie grimly responds, "You can hope that, but your hopes will not be granted."</p><p></p><p>"Well. I know the Mother Abbess will want to welcome you. I've managed to draw a few other lyans in to help guard the abbey."</p><p></p><p>"That thing. It needs to be within the walls, but not near any people."</p><p></p><p>"I can sense it... trying to reach out, trying to do something..." He rings a bell. Another knight, this one not fully armored, emerges, and he orders that knight to bring the resonator in and position it next to one of the exterior walls, and then to take them to the Abbess.</p><p></p><p>The Abbess greets Trudie.</p><p></p><p>"Our village was destroyed by the elven vollers, but they had some reason."</p><p></p><p>"I am na-Strom Noah of the Stromate of Arrendale. I request your most capable cleric for use of a sending. I'm willing to pay for confidential information to be sent to to the right hands."</p><p></p><p>The Abbess replies, "The servants of the Weeping Woman do not request payment."</p><p></p><p>Trudie scoffs. "Oh, some noble is willing to offer you money. Take it, you can give it to the poor, or something."</p><p></p><p>The Abbess smiles. "There is that. Very well." She calls for an elderly anchorite from deep in the abbey.</p><p></p><p>The anchorite sends the message Noah drafted to the Inquisitor General, who she met when they were both much younger: "Resonator obtained. Suffered minor casualties. Strike team weakened. Currently at Abbey of [ ]. Requesting voller to recover resonator or guidance. Refugees with us. Plan accordingly."</p><p></p><p>She then writes in chalk on a slate the response, performing automatic writing, but refusing to speak at all: "Enemy massive air superiority. 15 iron legions between Abbey and Mountain. Leave refugees with Abbey. Flee South, skirt army. Darkness keep you and the dead."</p><p></p><p>Noah says, "I think that our best plan, and I mean for our group as well as for your people, is for the refugees to stay in the Abbey and for the rest of us to attempt to travel with the resonator to Dwarf Mountain, avoiding the armies to the best of our ability. I would greatly appreciate it if either of you were willing to work with our our group to get the resonator to Dwarf Mountain. Doing so would be a major victory for the forces of good, as it would allow us to better both understand and destroy it. I understand that you two have connections to this community, and so, if you would rather stay here and protect the Abbey, I would understand that."</p><p></p><p>"There's nothing left for me in that village anymore, or with those people," says Mx. Aster. "Most of them never liked me, and honestly trying to be a human is really freaking boring. I think I'd be happy to go with you."</p><p></p><p>Trudie says, "The best thing that we can do for the villagers is to get this resonator far away from them."</p><p></p><p>"Look, I'm certain that there's a bunch of of important rules that say I'm not supposed to tell you people about this," continues Noah. "I'm gonna be frank with you. The conflict here has a decent risk of if we--and by we I mean the entire Inquisition and expeditionary force-- if we fail, resulting in the destruction of the world as we know it." He begins explaining what they know about the Lady of the Pale Bone and the gods.</p><p></p><p>The Abbess gestured all of the less senior nuns away when Noah mentioned the Goddess of the Pale Bone.</p><p></p><p>Trudie mostly just listens, but she will occasionally interject to correct errors in what Noah is saying. It seems strange to the rest of the group, but Trudie seems very familiar with what they are talking about--even more so than the Abbess.</p><p></p><p>Noah looks at her in confusion. "I don't mind the corrections, but I'm a little concerned by how much you know about this..."</p><p></p><p>"Oh, my people have been taking care of threats like that since... how to phrase this... since before these threats came to the attention of either the Light or the Dark."</p><p></p><p>The Abbess rushes to her feet and sends the anchorite back to her cell.</p><p></p><p>"Your people..." asks Noah. "Do you have halfling ancestry?"</p><p></p><p>"No."</p><p></p><p>"Sorry, it just seemed worth the guess."</p><p></p><p>"I just mean villagers who know about these things and take care of these problems as they arise. There's more that villagers know than you nobles will ever realize."</p><p></p><p>"I'm well aware, and I'm trying to... This isn't the time, but I've considered campaigning in the court for a public education system. I think that letting community figures spread knowledge would be an excellent step. Like the Church is already much better at communication than a lot of our institutions, and so I think that connecting education more with the church, combined with the idea that everyone has a right to learn more than just the skill they're apprenticed, could be really useful."</p><p></p><p>He has the Abbess's full attention. "You're an interesting young man. Hopefully, there'll be a court for you to advocate in. I will have that thing covered with a lead blanket."</p><p></p><p>"That is almost certainly for the best, for multiple reasons."</p><p></p><p>"It's constantly reaching out. I suppose that's something that the more magically attuned of you would definitely realize if someone like me did. We run the risk of being blasted because it's here. I've been trying to figure out the patrol pattern the two elven vollers take, but I can't do it. They never come close to one another, which is fortunate, I think."</p><p></p><p>"Alright. We'll set out in the morning," says Noah definitively, which is just as well: the abbey will shelter the village's people gladly, but they will not allow that thing to stay here more than one night, even with a lead blanket.</p><p></p><p>"Take the blanket when you go. It mutes it, it diminishes its power, but even lead does not eliminate it."</p><p></p><p>"While I'm here, Mother Abbess, may I visit with my straw-for-brains daughter-in-law and my grandchild?" asks Trudie.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, of course."</p><p></p><p>Mx. Aster says in shock, "Your straw-for-brain daughter-in-law?"</p><p></p><p>"Let's be clear. It was not for her mind that my son married her. To be honest, I don't think he intended to marry her at all until things happened, but certainly not for her mind."</p><p></p><p>She visits them--they had already fled to the abbey before the bombardment-- and they are there, and clothed and warm, which is all that can really be hoped for at the moment. There are some others from the village who are here as well. All told, about a third of the village survived. Trudie's daughter-in-law is very glad to see her, in her way, and Trudie is very glad to see her grandchild.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Noah thinks about the fact that this was a side operation from the main plan of dropping the energy shield around the City of Hanal. He says, "This is the exact same issue that happened last time where I got sidetracked and lots of people died because we weren't focusing on the important stuff. And once again, we decided to go on this whole side thing to get the artifact of doom rather than just focusing on cutting off the bad stuff at its head."</p><p></p><p>Mx. Aster says, "Look. I'm sure that they probably would not have wanted you to waste even more time talking about this and talking about your regrets, because there's honestly nothing you can do. That's the first thing that you have to learn when you're losing someone or something that you love is that there's nothing you can do. Keep going. Keep going and use the opportunities that they wish they would have had."</p><p></p><p>"Alright team. We're going to get back to Dwarf Mountain, and then hopefully, we're going straight to where we were going originally." He pauses. "Trudie. Is there anyone in the village who at one point worked in Hanal City?"</p><p></p><p>"I've likely been into the city more than anyone else in the village, except maybe the old priest, but he's dead. And I I must say, I tried to avoid the City as much as possible. There were unpleasant people there who are not as cooperative as the people out in the countryside."</p><p></p><p>"If there's one thing that the City was really full of, it was unpleasant people who are good at seeming like really pleasant people."</p><p></p><p>"No, mostly they were really unpleasant people, who seemed like really unpleasant people, but it's an understandable mistake for something like you to make."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, honestly, that's fair. I think that if I wasn't in the position that I am, most of them would have just tried to have me murdered for stepping on their front door."</p><p></p><p>Eventually, Trudie decides to cast a Divination, asking how they can best meet up with the elven vollers--the plan is for Mx. Aster to then cast an illusion to draw their attention and open communication.</p><p></p><p>The response to the Divination is: "Any path you take will eventually intersect one of the vollers. To maximize your chance seek the trail of the shad, where they cling the vollers regroup."</p><p></p><p>Shad are ocean fish, so they plan to head south to the coastline and look for fishing villages to find out where the shad are most dense, and then plan on using Mx. Aster's illusions to try to draw the attention of vollers without them directly seeing the resonator.</p><p>[End Session 50]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8902693, member: 7030144"] Session 50 (January 8, 2023) 11 Kas (cont'd) So as they catch their breath, a young, middle aged woman, maybe late thirties or so emerges from the ruins, looks them over, and says, "So, what are you lot? And why do you have that thing with you?" "Given that you just got bombarded, I presume you're not on the side of the houses of the Green." "We are common folk. The matters of the houses of the Green and such don't concern us very much." "Put simply, we are adventurers," continues Noah. "We're working for the forces of the Inquisition and Queen-Empress Anastasia. We've just recovered a quite powerful artifact from the clutches of the enemy, and we're currently working to reunite with our forces, so we can begin plans for a large scale incursion into enemy territory. I apologize for my lack of finesse. We just got out of a very difficult situation where we lost some some good people." "I'm sorry for your losses. Let me tend to your wounds. I'm a midwife and a healer." "That would be excellent." She makes her way around, basically bandaging them up and putting on poultices. Their wounds respond to this much more than they ought to from just conventional bandages, disinfectants, and herbs, and she mutters under her breath as she tends each of them. Meanwhile, though they do not know this, the army following them has now passed by the secret passage, and are headed along the underground passage continuing southwest, and will continue along through the Underdark until they're finally slaughtered by the drow. While the midwife tends their wounds, a tall, slim figure that appears human approaches the group from the ruins. "My name is Merritt Aster. I prefer an honorific, so you can call me Mx. Aster for the time being. We don't get newcomers very often." They have ash-blonde hair, pale skin, and green eyes, and they are dressed in a somewhat proper fashion for a commoner. "We did just come up from the Underdark." "Probably not the best idea to go down there in the first place, but live and lit live," comments Mx. Aster. "There is a very powerful thing that we are currently trying to get back to our army." An old man with a crooked back says, "He says he came out of the Underdark. You came out of the old tunnel, then? Nothing's come out of that tunnel alive since I was a boy. You must be powerful." "I like to think our group is relatively experienced." "And you have to get to the border. Now, you've got a mage, that's good." "I think that if you're willing to help us, we're currently trying to return to Dwarf Mountain and also determine what to do with the artifact." The old man turns to the midwife. "Goodie Trudie, you need to tell him that's insane. "Well, it certainly is touched by the moons, but nonetheless they may not be wrong," responds Trudie. "So what is this thing? It seems to be some sort of torture device." "Basically, as long as you don't put a person or corpse in it, we think it doesn't do evil things." "You hope it doesn't do evil things," mutters Mx. Aster. "Necromancy, then," comments Trudie. "My current running theory is that it absorbs the life energy of a person and transforms it into usable magical energy." "You're not wrong, then, that this cannot fall into the hands of..." Trudie gestures vaguely in the direction of the capital. "But the thought that the six of you would carry this device all the way to Dwarf Mountain, past the armies in between..." "The good news is that one of the armies is on our side." "Lad, in a war like this, no army is on anyone's side. They're just forces of destruction." "Look, how many people do you have here who need to get to a safe haven?" "We have about 30 survivors." "I don't suppose any of you are divine spell casters? We need to make a sending to our allies." "Who would you be trying to reach?" "If we could signal one of the elven vollers..." "They blew up our village," says the old man. "Wait. The elven vollers were the ones that did this?" "Yes. Some of the villagers set up some weird thing up at the north end of the village, and after the one of those crystal ship passed overhead, it shot purple rays down and blasted it and the village with kind of ... what's that long word that means they didn't care who they were hitting?" "It was indiscriminate, is what he's saying," explains Trudie. "There might have been reasons why they might have needed to deal with that altar." "If it's anything like the altars that I've encountered during my experience adventuring, it needed to be destroyed. As you might imagine, the altars are part of a system erected by a cult." "So would the elves assist you if you could contact them?" "I believe so. At the very least, I am certain that they would think that they would definitely prefer the idea that the resonator--the artifact-- was in their hands rather than anyone else's." "If that thing is connected to the same cult, if any of the elven vollers pass over it, they'll likely blast it and anyone with it." "And you, lad," says Trudie, as she points at Iados. "Are you a tiefling who happens to have wings?" "Indeed." "So you're not a bound devil, or the like." "No." "What if you flew up to one of the vollers? Could you do that?" "Indeed I could." "Would they allow him to approach?" "I think that if he approached they would probably attempt to shoot him down," says Noah. "Not just attempt," says the old man, glancing around the ruins of the village. "If you need a divine caster," Trudie says, "There is an abbey of the Weeping Woman, not terribly far from here. I'm known to them. They sometimes ask me to handle difficult births anywhere in this area." "That could be a good move," says Noah. "To be quite frank, I think that that currently is your best option as well. And in the best case, we can get your survivors out by getting them on board the voller. I think that our best bet is probably to make for that abbey." The survivors of the village decide to go with them to the abbey. They gather up what supplies they have, on their surviving mules, and a wagon for the device. Trudie mounts up on a riding horse that is surprisingly nice for a peasant to have. "I was out of the village, attending to a difficult birth, when the bombardment happened. It's the only reason I survived when our family home and the forge did not." They depart south towards the abbey. The group forms a tight group around the resonator, while Trudie positions the surviving villagers well clear of the resonator on its right-hand side, and rides herself a little bit further out from the villagers, almost like a picket or outrider. The first day of travel is uneventful, though through the biting wind and the snow. When they make camp, they mount two sets of guards. The resonator is some three hundred yards from the camp of the villagers, with a couple of guards there. They then post a separate set of guards around the sleeping people. In the middle of the night, Noah and an uruk are on watch at the resonator. The first warning of a problem is a horrible scream from one of the mules. The mule is being carried away by a large winged shape. Two more are still circling with it, and they fly away to the east. They were definitely animals, not dragons, but the group could not recognize them. The rest of the night passes peacefully, although fretfully. In the morning, the villagers quickly divide up the goods that were carried by that mule, and they head on. 12 Kas The next day passes uneventfully, as they pass a number of farms that appear abandoned and a few that are locked up as tight as a drum. They also pass through a small, abandoned thorp. The night passes uneventfully, except that Mx. Aster reveals that they are a shapechanger, showing their true form--a much less well defined form, about the same build and size, but with entirely blank white eyes, with no pupil or iris visible at--to Noah. 13 Kas Another day passes. In the early hours of the morning, during the second watch, four large figures stride out of the darkness and stop outside the perimeter. A fifth, leading along something that looks like a small elephant piled high with parcels, stops. And they look at the group. The figures are roughly nine-feet tall, in armor, but without weapons drawn. The fifth one is somewhat larger, but still much larger than any human. Iados approaches, and the closest waves at him. "Hello, friends," says Iados. "I'm sorry--do you speak common?" The figures shake their heads, "No." "Do you speak any languages?" They open their mouths and show no tongues. "Oh, I'm sorry. What are you doing?" They gesture at the parcels, and Iados concludes that it's mail of a sort, before realizing that they are merchants. Iados invites them in. They lay out a variety of goods--mostly food, with jerked beef and pemican, along with some bundles of not-well-preserved healing herbs. Iados buys some jerked beef and pemican, and Trudie--who recognizes the figures as from one of the civilized ogre tribes up in the hill, whose tongues are cut out by the Empire of Hanal to keep them disorganized, while not killing them because they're viewed as potentially useful--buys the healing herbs, along with some of the cheapest foodstuffs they have to provide to the villagers. She tells them, "I'd recommend that you head back to your village. There's not good markets now, with the armies about and the war, and there's a danger you'll be pressed into service. Go home to your wives, stay safe." The ogres nod in understanding, and after finishing the deals, they quickly pack up and head back towards the hills. 14 Kas After a half day of travel, they come up on a large abbey. It has significant fields, and some fortifications--not really fortified, but walls and defenses that would keep out bandits or the like, and open gates, though the snow has been moved out of the way so the gates can be sealed. A knight stands outside the abbey gate, keeping guard. He tenses as he sees the group approaching, but then relaxes once he recognizes the locals. He asks, with worry in his voice, "I hope you're not all that's left of the village?" Trudie grimly responds, "You can hope that, but your hopes will not be granted." "Well. I know the Mother Abbess will want to welcome you. I've managed to draw a few other lyans in to help guard the abbey." "That thing. It needs to be within the walls, but not near any people." "I can sense it... trying to reach out, trying to do something..." He rings a bell. Another knight, this one not fully armored, emerges, and he orders that knight to bring the resonator in and position it next to one of the exterior walls, and then to take them to the Abbess. The Abbess greets Trudie. "Our village was destroyed by the elven vollers, but they had some reason." "I am na-Strom Noah of the Stromate of Arrendale. I request your most capable cleric for use of a sending. I'm willing to pay for confidential information to be sent to to the right hands." The Abbess replies, "The servants of the Weeping Woman do not request payment." Trudie scoffs. "Oh, some noble is willing to offer you money. Take it, you can give it to the poor, or something." The Abbess smiles. "There is that. Very well." She calls for an elderly anchorite from deep in the abbey. The anchorite sends the message Noah drafted to the Inquisitor General, who she met when they were both much younger: "Resonator obtained. Suffered minor casualties. Strike team weakened. Currently at Abbey of [ ]. Requesting voller to recover resonator or guidance. Refugees with us. Plan accordingly." She then writes in chalk on a slate the response, performing automatic writing, but refusing to speak at all: "Enemy massive air superiority. 15 iron legions between Abbey and Mountain. Leave refugees with Abbey. Flee South, skirt army. Darkness keep you and the dead." Noah says, "I think that our best plan, and I mean for our group as well as for your people, is for the refugees to stay in the Abbey and for the rest of us to attempt to travel with the resonator to Dwarf Mountain, avoiding the armies to the best of our ability. I would greatly appreciate it if either of you were willing to work with our our group to get the resonator to Dwarf Mountain. Doing so would be a major victory for the forces of good, as it would allow us to better both understand and destroy it. I understand that you two have connections to this community, and so, if you would rather stay here and protect the Abbey, I would understand that." "There's nothing left for me in that village anymore, or with those people," says Mx. Aster. "Most of them never liked me, and honestly trying to be a human is really freaking boring. I think I'd be happy to go with you." Trudie says, "The best thing that we can do for the villagers is to get this resonator far away from them." "Look, I'm certain that there's a bunch of of important rules that say I'm not supposed to tell you people about this," continues Noah. "I'm gonna be frank with you. The conflict here has a decent risk of if we--and by we I mean the entire Inquisition and expeditionary force-- if we fail, resulting in the destruction of the world as we know it." He begins explaining what they know about the Lady of the Pale Bone and the gods. The Abbess gestured all of the less senior nuns away when Noah mentioned the Goddess of the Pale Bone. Trudie mostly just listens, but she will occasionally interject to correct errors in what Noah is saying. It seems strange to the rest of the group, but Trudie seems very familiar with what they are talking about--even more so than the Abbess. Noah looks at her in confusion. "I don't mind the corrections, but I'm a little concerned by how much you know about this..." "Oh, my people have been taking care of threats like that since... how to phrase this... since before these threats came to the attention of either the Light or the Dark." The Abbess rushes to her feet and sends the anchorite back to her cell. "Your people..." asks Noah. "Do you have halfling ancestry?" "No." "Sorry, it just seemed worth the guess." "I just mean villagers who know about these things and take care of these problems as they arise. There's more that villagers know than you nobles will ever realize." "I'm well aware, and I'm trying to... This isn't the time, but I've considered campaigning in the court for a public education system. I think that letting community figures spread knowledge would be an excellent step. Like the Church is already much better at communication than a lot of our institutions, and so I think that connecting education more with the church, combined with the idea that everyone has a right to learn more than just the skill they're apprenticed, could be really useful." He has the Abbess's full attention. "You're an interesting young man. Hopefully, there'll be a court for you to advocate in. I will have that thing covered with a lead blanket." "That is almost certainly for the best, for multiple reasons." "It's constantly reaching out. I suppose that's something that the more magically attuned of you would definitely realize if someone like me did. We run the risk of being blasted because it's here. I've been trying to figure out the patrol pattern the two elven vollers take, but I can't do it. They never come close to one another, which is fortunate, I think." "Alright. We'll set out in the morning," says Noah definitively, which is just as well: the abbey will shelter the village's people gladly, but they will not allow that thing to stay here more than one night, even with a lead blanket. "Take the blanket when you go. It mutes it, it diminishes its power, but even lead does not eliminate it." "While I'm here, Mother Abbess, may I visit with my straw-for-brains daughter-in-law and my grandchild?" asks Trudie. "Yes, of course." Mx. Aster says in shock, "Your straw-for-brain daughter-in-law?" "Let's be clear. It was not for her mind that my son married her. To be honest, I don't think he intended to marry her at all until things happened, but certainly not for her mind." She visits them--they had already fled to the abbey before the bombardment-- and they are there, and clothed and warm, which is all that can really be hoped for at the moment. There are some others from the village who are here as well. All told, about a third of the village survived. Trudie's daughter-in-law is very glad to see her, in her way, and Trudie is very glad to see her grandchild. Meanwhile, Noah thinks about the fact that this was a side operation from the main plan of dropping the energy shield around the City of Hanal. He says, "This is the exact same issue that happened last time where I got sidetracked and lots of people died because we weren't focusing on the important stuff. And once again, we decided to go on this whole side thing to get the artifact of doom rather than just focusing on cutting off the bad stuff at its head." Mx. Aster says, "Look. I'm sure that they probably would not have wanted you to waste even more time talking about this and talking about your regrets, because there's honestly nothing you can do. That's the first thing that you have to learn when you're losing someone or something that you love is that there's nothing you can do. Keep going. Keep going and use the opportunities that they wish they would have had." "Alright team. We're going to get back to Dwarf Mountain, and then hopefully, we're going straight to where we were going originally." He pauses. "Trudie. Is there anyone in the village who at one point worked in Hanal City?" "I've likely been into the city more than anyone else in the village, except maybe the old priest, but he's dead. And I I must say, I tried to avoid the City as much as possible. There were unpleasant people there who are not as cooperative as the people out in the countryside." "If there's one thing that the City was really full of, it was unpleasant people who are good at seeming like really pleasant people." "No, mostly they were really unpleasant people, who seemed like really unpleasant people, but it's an understandable mistake for something like you to make." "Yeah, honestly, that's fair. I think that if I wasn't in the position that I am, most of them would have just tried to have me murdered for stepping on their front door." Eventually, Trudie decides to cast a Divination, asking how they can best meet up with the elven vollers--the plan is for Mx. Aster to then cast an illusion to draw their attention and open communication. The response to the Divination is: "Any path you take will eventually intersect one of the vollers. To maximize your chance seek the trail of the shad, where they cling the vollers regroup." Shad are ocean fish, so they plan to head south to the coastline and look for fishing villages to find out where the shad are most dense, and then plan on using Mx. Aster's illusions to try to draw the attention of vollers without them directly seeing the resonator. [End Session 50] [/QUOTE]
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Aphonion Tales: Adventures in the Spice Lands and the War in Hanal, a tween and teen D&D game (edited notes, posts Tuesdays, most recent 3/7/23)
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