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Maissen: Shades of Grey [UPDATE 12/12, post 199]
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<blockquote data-quote="Beale Knight" data-source="post: 2617043" data-attributes="member: 7033"><p><strong>Session 11 (end): Farunk, Ogres, Go Avarashan Go, Dropping into the Valley of Drayne.</strong></p><p></p><p>We made our way out of the mountains proper and to the foothills before noon. The hills slowly became less and less noticeable until finally we were on generally flat ground marked with an abundance of rock outcroppings. We were traveling through these when we heard the sounds of fighting up ahead. </p><p></p><p>Racing forward, we saw a half dozen farunk battling a pair of ogres – and losing. It took only a glance for us to each confirm that these farunk were of the tribe that had “adopted” us, and that was all the more reason to join the battle. </p><p></p><p>Aneirin charged. Avarshan’s hooves barely touched a high outcropping of rock as Aneirin slammed his lanced into the first ogre. Ren rode Sandy the war-lizard atop another outcropping and shot at the other ogre. Dumb Bear and Babrack surged forward as Bessie began a summoning. A moment later a hippogriff answered the druid's call and attacked the arrow-struck ogre. Aneirin’s sword delivered a punishing blow to the ogre he’d charged, and a raging Dumb Bear pounded his mace into the monster to finish it off. </p><p></p><p>The summoned hippogriff suffered two deadly blows from the ogre, but that saved the nearby farunk from taking them. Ren and Babrack peppered the ogre with arrows and were soon joined by Bessie with her crossbow. The farunk continued to shoot arrows at the remaining ogre, but to little effect.</p><p></p><p>With an annoyed scowl at Dumb Bear, Aneirin charged that second ogre, who proceeded to pound him with his club. Avarshan took great offense to this monster hurting his master so, and bit him. </p><p></p><p>To death. </p><p></p><p>The rest of us stared in stunned silence for a moment before breaking out laughing and cheering the valiant war horse. </p><p></p><p>We saw to the farunk dead and sat to share bread with the survivors. Through Bessie and her translating amulet, they told us that the world was ending. “Chakta are riding north, ogres are coming down from the mountain, and all is wrong!” they lamented. These ogres, the farunk said, were followers of Bron – a blue skinned ogre. A few pieces of information fell together for us. Balloong had warned us about Bron, and Angri had warned us that blue skinned ogres were powerful magic users. Bron was apparently powerful enough to strike out on his own from the giants and be a regional power. </p><p></p><p>The farunk had been on patrol when they encountered these ogres. Patrols had become more frequent since the world began to end. Brons’s ogre followers had been coming to kill farunk every few days. They were based in a cave house, they said, and another piece of information fell into place. With some questioning we deduced that this cave house was the plateau in Ghost Dragon Mountain where we had last laid eyes on the redbreasts, and Idien. The farunk confirmed this by saying the redbreasts had returned three weeks earlier and robbed the tribe of women and gems and more. </p><p></p><p>So now we knew what the redbreasts were doing, even if we hadn’t quite figured out why. But we weren’t going to just then, so we made ready to set forth again. </p><p></p><p>Through out our talk with the Farunk, Dumb Bear had busied himself with the practical task of looting the ogre bodies. Someone had been paying them, because they carried gold bars that we loosely appraised at ten gold pieces each. It was a tidy sum, but the farunk asked if they could take their share of the booty in the person of Wayden. They could use a slave skilled at cleaning things and digging holes, they said. Wayden was more than willing to go along with this, especially after we made it clear to him we expected to run into much more fighting. That settled, we divided the gold bars by five – six for each of us, three for Barbrack, and three to Maissen (we were going to have to present the elders with SOMETHING besides some kerbal skins).</p><p></p><p>The rest of the day was simple and peaceful travel. By evening we could see the clouds of endless storm in the distance. Though it was no surprise that the storm was still going, by the time we approached the Valley of Drayne on Day Forty One, it was still amazing to realize this was the same storm we’d seen weeks earlier. </p><p></p><p>At the edge of the valley we easily found a orange rock and loaded it into the rock case Patris provided. That left us with three to get, and those were clearly not going to be so easily obtained. The valley wall was virtually sheer, and there was no sign of the rocks we needed up top. Undaunted, we headed east to hunt for them, or a good way down. </p><p>We did not find either by nightfall. What we did find was where the river from the east fell into the valley. </p><p></p><p>At that point it dawned on us. We’d been here before! We were standing just across the river, a literal stone’s throw from where we had stood once before. We had traveled fully around the Ghost Dragon Mountains and returned to familiar territory. </p><p></p><p>It was a bittersweet moment. On the one hand, we had accomplished an amazing trek that few had tried and fewer matched. On the other we had lost two of our dear companions doing so, and we weren’t nearly home yet. Despite the magnitude of the moment, there was still plenty of time and chances to die. </p><p></p><p>We also still had a task at hand. After that little bit of reflection we continued east to the swamp. We met a group of farunk and children there, and were greeted with the casual pleasantries of tribesmen. They truly had adopted us into the tribe. </p><p></p><p>It was a relation made all the easier thanks, once again, to Bessie translation amulet. She was able to relate our problem to the farunk over dinner, and seek out a solution – hiring an experienced farunk to either go into the valley and retrieve the stones or to tell us how to do it. </p><p></p><p>As it turned out, there was just such a farunk. Malkirk had gone into the valley many times and readily told us how to do it. His method was characteristic of the farunk – simple and straightforward: jump into the river, float downstream and go over the falls. That had successfully gotten him into the valley each time. Getting out was harder – that involved a lot of tough climbing up a valley wall slick with rain water. </p><p></p><p>We didn’t really care to try his method. Without enough rope to safely reach the bottom, we began to negotiate with Malkirk. After a conversation that without Bessie wonderful amulet would have probably taken two days, we settled. Malkirk would go into the valley and retrieve the stones we wanted. We would give him Aneirin’s old scale mail and the gold coin necklace we’d taken from the ogre just outside Angri’s keep. If Malkirk died in the attempt, one of us had to marry his wife and care for his children. We agreed to this, volunteering Dumb Bear to the task (since he was out of the hut and earshot at that vital moment). </p><p></p><p>With everything settled, Malkirk was ready to go at it. We went with him to the valley’s edge and watched as he jumped into the river. His massive form floated with an odd grace to the falls and then tumbled over. </p><p></p><p>We held our breath and looked over the edge into the valley. After fewer tense minutes than it felt like we saw Malkirk emerge from the lake below. He waved at us and vanished into the rain. After what seemed like hours we saw him at the base of the cliff. He put one hand on the cliff and began to climb.</p><p></p><p>Malkirk climbed the valley wall like a champion. It was obvious he had done this many times before, and had probably learned this section of wall was best suited to the task. The farunk made his way one quarter of the way up. Then halfway. Then two-thirds. He was three quarters of the way to the top when his hand slipped. </p><p></p><p>He fell. </p><p></p><p>His hand reached out wildly and saved him. He grabbed hold of a bit of cliff and stopped his fall, but was in a precarious spot. We threw down our rope and he free hand was finally able to get a grip on it. All of us pulling together were able to assist Malkirk the rest of the way to the top. </p><p></p><p>The farunk’s pockets were overloaded with stones of all colors. Malkirk was taking no chances to get the wrong stones, or not enough. Aneirin handed over his old scale mail and the gold coin necklace as Ren gave the farunk one of the small gems from the drake temple. </p><p>Meanwhile, Bessie put as many stones as she could into the various containers of the box. </p><p></p><p>Once the box was crammed full with the stones, Bessie closed the lid and we beheld an unexpected sight. The box glowed with a multi-colored light and began to stretch and flatten. A few heartbeats later it was no longer a box at all. It had transformed into a six foot high staff of black, brown, orange, and yellow. </p><p></p><p>We could only hope that was what Petris had intended. </p><p></p><p>Tired and satisfied, we hiked back up river with Malkirk and settled in for the night.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Next: Requiem for a Giant, Witness to War POST 183</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Beale Knight, post: 2617043, member: 7033"] [b]Session 11 (end): Farunk, Ogres, Go Avarashan Go, Dropping into the Valley of Drayne.[/b] We made our way out of the mountains proper and to the foothills before noon. The hills slowly became less and less noticeable until finally we were on generally flat ground marked with an abundance of rock outcroppings. We were traveling through these when we heard the sounds of fighting up ahead. Racing forward, we saw a half dozen farunk battling a pair of ogres – and losing. It took only a glance for us to each confirm that these farunk were of the tribe that had “adopted” us, and that was all the more reason to join the battle. Aneirin charged. Avarshan’s hooves barely touched a high outcropping of rock as Aneirin slammed his lanced into the first ogre. Ren rode Sandy the war-lizard atop another outcropping and shot at the other ogre. Dumb Bear and Babrack surged forward as Bessie began a summoning. A moment later a hippogriff answered the druid's call and attacked the arrow-struck ogre. Aneirin’s sword delivered a punishing blow to the ogre he’d charged, and a raging Dumb Bear pounded his mace into the monster to finish it off. The summoned hippogriff suffered two deadly blows from the ogre, but that saved the nearby farunk from taking them. Ren and Babrack peppered the ogre with arrows and were soon joined by Bessie with her crossbow. The farunk continued to shoot arrows at the remaining ogre, but to little effect. With an annoyed scowl at Dumb Bear, Aneirin charged that second ogre, who proceeded to pound him with his club. Avarshan took great offense to this monster hurting his master so, and bit him. To death. The rest of us stared in stunned silence for a moment before breaking out laughing and cheering the valiant war horse. We saw to the farunk dead and sat to share bread with the survivors. Through Bessie and her translating amulet, they told us that the world was ending. “Chakta are riding north, ogres are coming down from the mountain, and all is wrong!” they lamented. These ogres, the farunk said, were followers of Bron – a blue skinned ogre. A few pieces of information fell together for us. Balloong had warned us about Bron, and Angri had warned us that blue skinned ogres were powerful magic users. Bron was apparently powerful enough to strike out on his own from the giants and be a regional power. The farunk had been on patrol when they encountered these ogres. Patrols had become more frequent since the world began to end. Brons’s ogre followers had been coming to kill farunk every few days. They were based in a cave house, they said, and another piece of information fell into place. With some questioning we deduced that this cave house was the plateau in Ghost Dragon Mountain where we had last laid eyes on the redbreasts, and Idien. The farunk confirmed this by saying the redbreasts had returned three weeks earlier and robbed the tribe of women and gems and more. So now we knew what the redbreasts were doing, even if we hadn’t quite figured out why. But we weren’t going to just then, so we made ready to set forth again. Through out our talk with the Farunk, Dumb Bear had busied himself with the practical task of looting the ogre bodies. Someone had been paying them, because they carried gold bars that we loosely appraised at ten gold pieces each. It was a tidy sum, but the farunk asked if they could take their share of the booty in the person of Wayden. They could use a slave skilled at cleaning things and digging holes, they said. Wayden was more than willing to go along with this, especially after we made it clear to him we expected to run into much more fighting. That settled, we divided the gold bars by five – six for each of us, three for Barbrack, and three to Maissen (we were going to have to present the elders with SOMETHING besides some kerbal skins). The rest of the day was simple and peaceful travel. By evening we could see the clouds of endless storm in the distance. Though it was no surprise that the storm was still going, by the time we approached the Valley of Drayne on Day Forty One, it was still amazing to realize this was the same storm we’d seen weeks earlier. At the edge of the valley we easily found a orange rock and loaded it into the rock case Patris provided. That left us with three to get, and those were clearly not going to be so easily obtained. The valley wall was virtually sheer, and there was no sign of the rocks we needed up top. Undaunted, we headed east to hunt for them, or a good way down. We did not find either by nightfall. What we did find was where the river from the east fell into the valley. At that point it dawned on us. We’d been here before! We were standing just across the river, a literal stone’s throw from where we had stood once before. We had traveled fully around the Ghost Dragon Mountains and returned to familiar territory. It was a bittersweet moment. On the one hand, we had accomplished an amazing trek that few had tried and fewer matched. On the other we had lost two of our dear companions doing so, and we weren’t nearly home yet. Despite the magnitude of the moment, there was still plenty of time and chances to die. We also still had a task at hand. After that little bit of reflection we continued east to the swamp. We met a group of farunk and children there, and were greeted with the casual pleasantries of tribesmen. They truly had adopted us into the tribe. It was a relation made all the easier thanks, once again, to Bessie translation amulet. She was able to relate our problem to the farunk over dinner, and seek out a solution – hiring an experienced farunk to either go into the valley and retrieve the stones or to tell us how to do it. As it turned out, there was just such a farunk. Malkirk had gone into the valley many times and readily told us how to do it. His method was characteristic of the farunk – simple and straightforward: jump into the river, float downstream and go over the falls. That had successfully gotten him into the valley each time. Getting out was harder – that involved a lot of tough climbing up a valley wall slick with rain water. We didn’t really care to try his method. Without enough rope to safely reach the bottom, we began to negotiate with Malkirk. After a conversation that without Bessie wonderful amulet would have probably taken two days, we settled. Malkirk would go into the valley and retrieve the stones we wanted. We would give him Aneirin’s old scale mail and the gold coin necklace we’d taken from the ogre just outside Angri’s keep. If Malkirk died in the attempt, one of us had to marry his wife and care for his children. We agreed to this, volunteering Dumb Bear to the task (since he was out of the hut and earshot at that vital moment). With everything settled, Malkirk was ready to go at it. We went with him to the valley’s edge and watched as he jumped into the river. His massive form floated with an odd grace to the falls and then tumbled over. We held our breath and looked over the edge into the valley. After fewer tense minutes than it felt like we saw Malkirk emerge from the lake below. He waved at us and vanished into the rain. After what seemed like hours we saw him at the base of the cliff. He put one hand on the cliff and began to climb. Malkirk climbed the valley wall like a champion. It was obvious he had done this many times before, and had probably learned this section of wall was best suited to the task. The farunk made his way one quarter of the way up. Then halfway. Then two-thirds. He was three quarters of the way to the top when his hand slipped. He fell. His hand reached out wildly and saved him. He grabbed hold of a bit of cliff and stopped his fall, but was in a precarious spot. We threw down our rope and he free hand was finally able to get a grip on it. All of us pulling together were able to assist Malkirk the rest of the way to the top. The farunk’s pockets were overloaded with stones of all colors. Malkirk was taking no chances to get the wrong stones, or not enough. Aneirin handed over his old scale mail and the gold coin necklace as Ren gave the farunk one of the small gems from the drake temple. Meanwhile, Bessie put as many stones as she could into the various containers of the box. Once the box was crammed full with the stones, Bessie closed the lid and we beheld an unexpected sight. The box glowed with a multi-colored light and began to stretch and flatten. A few heartbeats later it was no longer a box at all. It had transformed into a six foot high staff of black, brown, orange, and yellow. We could only hope that was what Petris had intended. Tired and satisfied, we hiked back up river with Malkirk and settled in for the night. Next: Requiem for a Giant, Witness to War POST 183 [/QUOTE]
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