Elohwyn recounts the recent exploits of the party: [GM notes in brackets]
So once we made our "deal" with the Uz, the night
passed uneventfully. At dawn, our
Lunar "friend" kept his word, recalling the spirit of Nikolai to his
body in exchange for that little lead matrix. He remains weak, but cute.
We found a lump of gold [10 ENC, or 6000L value!] with some kind
of trollish runes surrounding it [on the ground, not on the gold]. Gold being what it is to the Uz, and
what it is to us, we took it after some debate. Looks like that was the right thing to
do, or at least not the WRONG thing at any rate, as we haven't been molested by
trolls since. My share will be a
welcome addition to cult coffers come the holy day; Vinga will not mind the
trifle I spend on buables - if we ever encounter "civilization" again,
even to the extent of a single silversmith.
The days in the waste meld into one, with only occasional
change. This is more to my liking
than the trip to Moonbroth, when every day brought new, unpleasant
surprises. We encountered some
potential friends, occasional chaos, and the natural challenges found
throughout the waste. Dorgon has
been indispensible in our encounters with Nomads - twice we were able to gain
information from them. Toothless
Gootha [a shaman of the Bison tribe's Sword Clan who had six magical swords and
some twenty spirits in attendance, and walked the plains fat and naked] gave us
prophecy, and Dorgon an item that will serve him well once he is able to
activate it. Vinga send that this
is soon. The prophecy had something
to do with the three in white ["The three in white are rising!" "The moon rises prematurely in
Prax!" and "Red river, brown mountain mouth, stone tent food!" the shaman spoke], and there was mention
of the White Bull, probably some permutation of Urox, but we aren't sure
yet. White bull, white moon, and
white.... I'm sure this will all become painfully obvious to us all in due
time.
Dorgon has discovered a new kind of semi-gorp, or broo-doo. It may be vegetable in origin, but
thankfully, we haven't run into enough of it to make a "careful
study" as Tison might put it.
It put out a large cloud of acid when Dorgon stepped on it, eating away
at the blue moon cloak he was wearing, then his leg. The main result of this was one
destroyed cloak, and a new appreciation for these cloaks on our part - they
seem to provide more protection than ringmail [they are 6pt armor when worn
alone and weigh no ENC!!!], in addition to being soft on the skin and quite
comfortable in this heat.
The challenges of the waste... what can I say of these, other
than to say it is painfully ironic to have companions who are simultaneously
suffering the ill effects of both drowning and dehydration? We have forded two mighty streams in flood
losing only one of our remounts (those sable ridden by the Lunar assassins do
seem to bear some kind of curse), and, to everyone's great dismay, the bauble
we traded to Lukaros for Nikolai's life.
I have come up with an interesting solution to ferrying goods across
these streams; will have to share it with Tison and see what he thinks [she
criticaled her Devise roll on both occassions!!!!]. Naturally, we
encountered one of the infamous sandstorms of the region, but the winds spoke to
me, and we were guided through safely, despite encountering several whirlvishi
[three, which you dispatched handily before they could reach you].
We ran into more Nomads as well, all mounted on white bison. Very odd, this, to my
"rabbitfolk" way of looking at things, but also to Dorgon - these
white beastriders have something to do with prophecy, I feel sure. They greeted us, or rather Ji and
Dorgon, as fellowtravellers, and told us of our prey, Nolantor, who is making
quite a name for himself as the one mounted on a flying bison carried by an
evil wind.
[More braves of the Sword Clan; warriors of Humakt led by a war
leader named Akrid Everedge, and on their way with their whole clan to Pavis to
see the White Bull. They warned
that you were in an accursed area, a Dead Land, where chaos and other evil
things roamed freely; one night a Chonchon (flying vampiric head, evil darkness
spirit) befuddled Ji and Elohwyn on guard and tried to bite sleeping Lukaros,
but oddly could not harm him; then Ji killed it in one swipe. The braves said that their elders said
the Moon Man on the evil red wind was to be killed on sight, but warned that he
carried powerful curses. You found
his dead zebra, then a dead bison rider hunter unmarked with wounds, and signs
of a stolen bison.]
And finally, we encountered two chaos rhinos [Dorgon identified
them as Chaos Herd beasts; tainted herd animals. One had abnormally long legs and was
very soft under its hide (took double damage from all penetrating attacks! bad
chaos feature) and the other reflected magics and could teleport short
distances once in a while]. This is
painful to tell, for it entails the loss of our long time mascot,
Peck-peck. Though battlehardened,
he faltered at the wrong time, falling under the hooves of one of these fell
beasts. His leg was utterly
destroyed, and though we were victorious, it seemed sad to end the battle with
Dorgon using Peaceful Cut on his loyal mount. Peck-peck was as true in death as in
life, providing a welcome break from sablejerky at our evening meal.
Now we sit at the edge of the Hidden Greens, prepared to enter
and seek council, allies, rest, and above all, information on our foe's
whereabouts. [Dorgon quickly found the correct trail to the 'Greens and guided
you there safely; nice work.
It is now early in Earth Season and perhaps the worst of the weather is
past, although you are in a nasty nomad-infested desert now rather than
desolate hills. You have traveled
the 14 day journey from Far End safely, and Nikkolai has recovered from his
resurrection fully.