The Third Warren.
After much long winding road and extended trip to get to it, the party has finally come upon the 3rd Warren.
And as written, it's not a place then can knock over and wipe out.
Well defended, blocked off in cells, walls and guards and kobolds in the hundreds plus tons of other goodies - it's not the kind of place you just march into and "F-Pwah!" everyone with a heartbeat within.
Write up follows:
Since it was so late in the afternoon and we can hear the echoing sounds of industry (saws, hammers, and the like) the party decided against going to see the Warren now, instead wanting instead to find a cave and hole up while we still can. So we started looking at higher elevations on the trailing ridge running off the western slope of Whitetop mountain until we came up a crack in the stone. Vertical for 8 feet, obscured by trees, it was difficult to enter for Negan and Einar who had to remove packs and armor, but once inside it ballooned up to 20’ tall, ran back 70 feet or so, stayed around 8’ wide, and had a natural chimney running up 60’ or so towards the rear giving us a constant source of fresh air.
The group spent a half hour cleaning the cave up before setting up bedrolls, assigning watch, and getting some much needed rest.
Workmonth the 22nd broke early and by 6:30 the party woke up, broke their fast, and decided to go from the cave and investigate the Warren. We stayed in the tree line as we made our way East, forced due to uneven and greater sloping rock to head to lower and lower elevations until we had made it as far east as we could go. Still some 500’ from the edge of the “Warren” as there was no more trees to hide behind, we had a chance to see the place in its entirety for the first time.
There was a walled town and keep on a plateau some 100 to 150’ off the valley floor, butted up against the sheer sloping “L” of Whitetop itself. A series of cuts and runnels ran down the steep slope and spilled into a cistern and aqueduct, feeding fresh water to the city and to the fields on the eastern side of the plateau. There were caves cut into the eastern edge of the plateau into the mountain itself and we could hear echoing mining in there. The city itself was pretty sizable and although there were larger building within, everything was in good repair.
The passage up to the plateau was a cutback road on the east side with 4 guard towers at each cut. A large forested area was beyond it and we could hear the whine of a timber saw and many whacking sounds of axes. A line of kobolds were walking back and forth from the city to a mountain lake a bit over a mile north of here, making a path in the tall grasses. We continued to look about. The base of the plateau had a smaller walled section of rubble and battered former buildings, a slope ran from the walled section up into the city above. Wandering the walled section was a humongous large fat pig. Like 4 ton, wheezing, and miserably fat pig.
Closer still was a “+” shaped building with two large statues of Odin and Frigga in front of it, and 3 smaller statues of guards with spears. It appeared to be a temple with a small garden outside of it and it looked as if behind it there was a cleft in the steep valley that led to a cave.
Everywhere we looked we saw kobolds. Dozens, scores, hundreds of them. There were also slaves – something we didn’t normally associate with K’Morat since they typically eat everyone and everything. After watching for an hour, we decided it was folly for everyone to be out here so we sent half the party back to the cave to avoid detection while we scouted the and observed the Warren.
The trips back and forth to the lake was a constant, with many of the kobolds coming with the odd fish or two, bundles of reeds, or even buckets of clay or dirt. The fields were worked often and there was a leeching pool between the walled part of the plateau and the fields – providing fertilizer. As for the Temple, we did see two K’Morat come out and take care of the small garden there but they went back in and the area has been quiet since.
The pig was in poor shape, had a hard time breathing, and moved real slow and rested often. Many of the K’Morat had colored sashes which we assumed were factions to the 7 shaman in the area. At 11, a group of 20 K’Morat came out of the city and tossed food and similar down the slope to the pig who waddled up and let forth a large enough cry to alert everything in a 2 mile radius it was so loud. The two frost giants eventually left the city and made their way with lots of friendly hellos and goodbyes back towards the mouth of the Valley and gone from sight. There was movement on an off all day and at 5, there was shift end or change as the industry slowly wound down. Slaves were moved and groups of 10 K’Morat came out and exchanged places with other K’Morat who returned to the city. At 6ish, throughout the area, one by one, 7 or 8 flying animals were let out and sent to fly in differing directions, finches and starlings and bats and ravens and crows – each eventually returning within 20 minutes or so. Scouting – Shaman totem animals scouting. Shit – even more of a reason to remain hidden.
By 7 we had returned to the cave before it got too dark and once there we shared what we had learned and discussed the Warren and possible ways to assault it.
It was a stupid idea all around.
Too many of them, well dug in, multiple guard areas, and well defended . We were not going to be able to “flush” them out like we had done the other warrens and the other thought of going after the High Shaman was difficult since it seemed to stay in the city proper. How to get up there? Through the pig area, sure. Up the main road? Not likely. From behind the temple? Possible. We needed to scout some more.
So We had a sacred guardian spell cast on a mouse that the sneaking team would “kill” should we be in trouble and around 9 PM, we left the cave, snuck down slope to the forest floor, and made our way as close as we could to the temple area.
Dizzy went to scout. The area around the temple was raked with stones that made it obvious if anyone walked upon it. The main door was closed but there were two windows there, the class long busted out. There was no way to sneak around the back of the temple as fallen rocks had blocked that off long ago, but he could sneak up to the crossed part of the “+” to look in the windows there. He crept very close and didn’t want to risk looking around and being seen via infravision. He did look at an oblique angle and saw a long arcade of columns, some main prayer room of the nave, and at least 4 kobolds in there. BUT, he heard decidedly more through the tall echoing chamber – 10 to a dozen? More?
He snuck back to the group and we decided to hold off on assaulting the temple until we went and checked out the wooded area next. During the shift changes and what not we estimated 10 kobolds and a dozen or more slaves, maybe 20. And one of them was a cyclops with its eye put out. They did not go up the slope and into the city so we hoped to check that out next.
We crawled through the tall grasses and made our way to the flattened area. With less than a half moon and clear skies, we snuck across the lack of cover one at a time. All went well until Connal tripped on an uneven ridge of earth, fell, but rolled to a quiet stop braced off the ground as we held our breath and waited.
Nothing. No one heard us.
So we all reconvened and started making our way to the edge of the tree line to scout the lumbering part of the Warren operation next.
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Meet 63, Adv 4.2, 10/6/18
When looking ahead on my weather rolls I ended up with "Special" on my random checks (typically 1 in 30) I gave a short glance at my possible listing and ended up spot picking Aurora Borealis (we're in the right latitude on my world to have one). Don't think I've ever had one at the table for this group in this area and it was nice to go through the effects of it. Since we're in a Norse Mythos area, I'm pretty big on the entire Bifrost/Asgard/Midgard thing and the consensus is that the Aurora is typically the reflection of the underside of the Bifrost - meaning one or more of the gods or their avatars are striding the earth at this time.
Ok, nothing more than that.
Then it's the next day and I run a spot check ahead again and AGAIN get special. Ok, weird. Two in a row? The temp is within a few degrees of the same so I "assume" the Aurora is lasting 2 days instead of picking again. But this time they are camping about half a mile from a Rock Drake lair I have on the map and the wandering monsters are limited in this area - most of them will come up Rock Drake or kobold hunting party.
I end up with Rock Drakes, Wolves, and Men.
WTF? I'm going to discard the Men roll when on a whim I roll to see how many men are in the area (1-20) and get 1.
And right there, Odin (or an avatar of) sprung into being to bid the group a hello, get some shelter for a bit, advise them to move on because of the Rock Drakes, and impress upon them the 4 Courtesies: Exchange of Names, Exchange of Drink, Exchange of Company, and Exchange of Farewells. A few small blessings were passed on to the group and then he was gone just as soon as the Aurora ended.
Some DM's shy upon gods in their games and for the most part, I agree - however - there are two mythos in my world where I would allow them to show up: the frozen north and the Norse gods, and the Ostara Desert and Efreet/Djinn powers. My thought is the North gods are on the edge of the world and are always aware of the end of things - Ragnarok is there, coming, and inevitable. They take a vaunted interest in the world and strive always to keep the great end back as long as they can. The central part of the world, the Great Irog and Ostarian Desert and the Caliphates around it tapped into the elemental plane of fire and air on accident millenia ago and blasted a huge area of my world into sand, sun, and wind. The gates closed but the fabric was weakened and the spirits of fire and air are always nearby, waiting to come over if at all possible to sway the balance of men.
Long and short - Odin showed up, it wasn't planned, and the dice made it happen. :)
Write up follows:
By 10:30 AM the exhausted party had the chance to rest and catch up on the missing sleep they had lost sneaking across the scree field on the slope below the Spire Keep Pass early that morning. Most everyone took advantage of the respite and a few party members scribed a few scrolls to pass the time before resting as well.
It was around 2:30, after lunch and feeling rested, that the group discussed our approach to the Valley beyond the Beacon House. The valley entrance there wasn’t very large and the base of Whitetop Mountain was steeper than the surrounding ridges and mountains, not giving as much of an area to hide. If we crossed the valley or the grasses to get to the base of the other mountain, we would be seen by the Beacon House – and that would be the end of that.
Surprise and stealth were our watchword and this was no time to let that slip. So we left the cave and decided to make our way east to the next valley and a bit out of view of the Beacon House. Staying in the treeline and a good 1,000 feet off the ridge floor, we made our way with slow deliberate care through the dense foliage until we went north…and then south and east into a natural “V” shaped set of ridges and valleys. Just a bit under 2 miles on each leg of the V, we looked for a cave to sleep in, finding one about 1,500 feet over the valley floor and then set about cleaning it out and setting up bedrolls and relaxing.
It was about 7 when we set up 5 sets of watches and the group settled in to get some rest. It was about 10:30 when we noticed a faint greening to the light filtering down from the stars above, and as the night progressed it spread out from horizon to horizon as the Aurora Borealis took place overhead, the panoply of lights and grandeur had a quelling effect on everything. The sound of the night animals faded and even those on watch were loathe to disrupt the midnight air with any noises. The aurora rose and crested around 2 where it faded as the night and early morn swept on.
Those on watch did hear the sound of creatures moving through the woods much further down slope but the wind was in our favor and they did not come up to investigate. And the same happened an hour or so later when a larger group, heading east to west this time trod through the forest primeval. The second passing had us figuring based upon the noises and sounds that it was bears. Lots of damned bears.
Yeah, we kept quiet.
It was Workmonth the 20th and we had all wakened by 5:30, studies, prayed, and broke our fast, ready to move on by 6:30. We traveled the same as before, part of the way up slope, 1,500 feet or so over the valley floor, following the “V” east and then north to the end of the other point. Once here, we looked out, being it was 9 AM, the sunlight gleamed off the glass and metal sides of the other Beacon House near the valley entrance to Whitetop Mountain and the suspected Warren. Darius had been very good at picking these places out, but based upon the angle of the Beacon House, he suspected there was another one unaccounted for on the western slope of a large ridge to our east. The way the sun was shining, we’d never get a glimpse of it. He suggested we wait till afternoon and when the sun was on the other horizon, it should pick up the gleam of the other Beacon House.
The group agreed it’d be stupid to step out and try to cross only to be seen by the K’Morat and the Warren alerted. Care and luck had been with us so far, so we decided to wait. This meant our food stores was getting low so hunting was once again on the menu. We went back to the “V”, returned to our cave, and then Grygmiir, Einar, Barb, Avulstein, Thalin, and Darius all went out to hunt once again and return with what they could.
They got lucky and a small standing of pronghorn deer fell to the hunters after a few hours, netting 5 or 6 of the herbivores. Ranging from 85 to almost 200 lbs, we roped our quarrey and made our way slowly back up the slope until we arrived at the cave.
A smoking fire had been lit inside the cave with the hunstmen eviscerated the deer, removed the offal, and stripped the skins off. From there we dragged large swaths of meat to the cave where it was roasted slowly and smoked to make it last a bit longer. After many hours we had enough usable food for everyone for 3 days. Before we were finished, Thalin restricted as many of the bones as he could along with a head and some legs, raising the remains of a larger deer back to necromantic life.
The skeletal (mostly) pronghorn was a bit off kilter as it was not the original head and maybe legs, but it replied to Thalin’s call of “Rudy” and came with us after we buried the offal, skins, and unused meat in a hole and piled a few large rocks upon it. We headed back off to the north and east until we arrived at the end of the “V” again – and looking east, Darius was right – there WAS another Beacon House here – and looking at the map and line of sight, it was in view of not only the Beacon by White Top – but also a straight line view to the ridge where we assumed Spire Keep Pass was.
We would not cross now in daylight and would wait to hit up an area east of the ridge we were on and south of the newly discovered Beacon. We made our way through the trees until we came to where we expected to cross, waited until 8 or so, and then quietly made our way down the slope and over the valley, watching everywhere for any sign of trouble. At the other side of the valley we hit the tree line swiftly and made our way upslope to get away from the assumed to be killing floor.
We had heard the shrill cry of a Rock Drake earlier and were on guard for it. As we made our way up we came upon the smashed eaten remains of a mountain elk. The trees above had been smashed and branches were everywhere as if a large heavy creature slammed through the canopy above to hit the elk. The outdoors types assured the group the impact was a few weeks old as we kept heading upslope looking for a cave.
We found other areas of smashed branches and signs of Rock Drake hunting the further uphill we went. Some of them were older, others fresher. One was barely a week old. We grew nervous as we travelled and the few caves we found we inadequate for the entire group. We risked higher elevations and it was after a good hour of searching that we came upon a cave we could use. 2,500 over the ridge’s floor, it opened to the north and gave us a wonderful view of the slope with the Beaconhouse on it as well as Whitetop Mountain.
The cave was 20’ tall and 8’ wide at the entrance, 30’ deep, but the height only lasted barely 10 feet before it sloped down to about 7’ in height. If a Rock Drake came, anyone near the front would be an easy target. The party made sure they were ALL set up to the back of the cave. We were pretty tired and by 10 that night, finally rolled to sleep. Thalin positioned Rudy by the front of the cave with explicit instructions for the undead pronghorn deer to bleat if something approached him.
By 11, the Aurora was starting again but the group did not want to chance being out where Rock Drakes were in the sky. Every so often we heard the beating of wings but it was at 1ish in the morning when the sound of snapping trees and falling limbs woke everyone up just in time to see a ton and a half of angry Drake slam into the undead form of Rudy, grab the deer, and launch back into the sky with a raucous cry and a wailing fading bleat.
Holy crap.
We hunkered further back and stayed quiet while during the night we heard continuous sound of the Drake passing back and forth overhead. Each watch was a tense situation as we waited for the Aurora the end and the dawn to eventually come. It had to be about 4 in the morning when Gryg and Hjalgrim who were on watch heard the plaintive cries of wolves howling somewhere below and in the valley, the muting light of the Aurora coloring the area outside in a dying greenish light. No one wanted to go check as the wolves howled and we heard drake (s?) drop out of the sky and try to attack the wolves, screaming in frustration as they either missed or were outclassed by the wolves.
The noises continued for many minutes until we heard quite plainly a gravely male voice call out in Common, “Hail the cave! Can I come in?”
What the…?
Gryg gave the ok and striding in, looking up at the fading light was an older human male in his late 50’s or so. He was wearing well made yet worn grey and brown travelling clothes, many layers thick, and had a broad hat on his salt and light peppered bearded head. He thanked us, said he was known as “Traveler” and asked to share names with the two dwarves.
They spoke for a bit, he talked about the drakes and the nest being upslope from here only a half mile or so and that we shouldn’t tarry come the dawn. He then offered to share some ale which Gryg seemed to have gotten from somewhere and a pipe and some weed. The ale was hearty and damned good, and Hjalgrim’s smoking of the pipe gave him a brief glimpse of what he assumed was the K’Morat Warren. He couldn’t stay, saying he had to go as his road was on the way. But he thanked the group for their time, patience, courtesy, and respect, left just before the Aurora completely faded, climbed aboard some horse we hadn’t seen and was gone from sight.
The guess was Odin, or something like it. No one would believe us and we had no proof of it (ale and pipeweed?) but the Aurora was known to be the underside of the Bifrost Bridge so this was not outside the realm of possibility.
Workmonth the 21st by 8 AM had everyone up and we shared our stories of the night and then broke camp quickly, wanting to be gone and out of the Drake’s territory. We went downslope quickly to almost at the valley floor, stayed in the tree line for a mile or two, and then wound our way back upslope as we travelled north, climbing to 3,000 feet at least and coming upslope and behind the Beacon House. We saw no K’Morat and were happy to avoid them.
From there we were on the south slope of Whitetop Mountain, the top shrouded in clouds, the sides steep. We had to drop in elevation from 3,000 to only 750’ due to the sharpness of the slope and even then, we had to occasionally drop to 500 or even less when the angle grew too much for the party to navigate. The croup doggedly made their way west, getting closer and closer to the valley entrance.
If was almost 5 PM when we managed to make our way around the western most side of Whitetop’s Ridge, moved north, and then turned back to the east. We could hear the sounds of hammering like a smithy, many hammers banging away ringing off the mountain echoes. We could hear the chopping of trees and the sussurous noise of many creatures living together. There was a haze ahead of us, maybe half a mile away and dimly seen through the trees. We stopped to eat real fast and then a bit after 5, we were ready to go on and see the Third K’Morat Warren at long last.
Ok, nothing more than that.
Then it's the next day and I run a spot check ahead again and AGAIN get special. Ok, weird. Two in a row? The temp is within a few degrees of the same so I "assume" the Aurora is lasting 2 days instead of picking again. But this time they are camping about half a mile from a Rock Drake lair I have on the map and the wandering monsters are limited in this area - most of them will come up Rock Drake or kobold hunting party.
I end up with Rock Drakes, Wolves, and Men.
WTF? I'm going to discard the Men roll when on a whim I roll to see how many men are in the area (1-20) and get 1.
And right there, Odin (or an avatar of) sprung into being to bid the group a hello, get some shelter for a bit, advise them to move on because of the Rock Drakes, and impress upon them the 4 Courtesies: Exchange of Names, Exchange of Drink, Exchange of Company, and Exchange of Farewells. A few small blessings were passed on to the group and then he was gone just as soon as the Aurora ended.
Some DM's shy upon gods in their games and for the most part, I agree - however - there are two mythos in my world where I would allow them to show up: the frozen north and the Norse gods, and the Ostara Desert and Efreet/Djinn powers. My thought is the North gods are on the edge of the world and are always aware of the end of things - Ragnarok is there, coming, and inevitable. They take a vaunted interest in the world and strive always to keep the great end back as long as they can. The central part of the world, the Great Irog and Ostarian Desert and the Caliphates around it tapped into the elemental plane of fire and air on accident millenia ago and blasted a huge area of my world into sand, sun, and wind. The gates closed but the fabric was weakened and the spirits of fire and air are always nearby, waiting to come over if at all possible to sway the balance of men.
Long and short - Odin showed up, it wasn't planned, and the dice made it happen. :)
Write up follows:
By 10:30 AM the exhausted party had the chance to rest and catch up on the missing sleep they had lost sneaking across the scree field on the slope below the Spire Keep Pass early that morning. Most everyone took advantage of the respite and a few party members scribed a few scrolls to pass the time before resting as well.
It was around 2:30, after lunch and feeling rested, that the group discussed our approach to the Valley beyond the Beacon House. The valley entrance there wasn’t very large and the base of Whitetop Mountain was steeper than the surrounding ridges and mountains, not giving as much of an area to hide. If we crossed the valley or the grasses to get to the base of the other mountain, we would be seen by the Beacon House – and that would be the end of that.
Surprise and stealth were our watchword and this was no time to let that slip. So we left the cave and decided to make our way east to the next valley and a bit out of view of the Beacon House. Staying in the treeline and a good 1,000 feet off the ridge floor, we made our way with slow deliberate care through the dense foliage until we went north…and then south and east into a natural “V” shaped set of ridges and valleys. Just a bit under 2 miles on each leg of the V, we looked for a cave to sleep in, finding one about 1,500 feet over the valley floor and then set about cleaning it out and setting up bedrolls and relaxing.
It was about 7 when we set up 5 sets of watches and the group settled in to get some rest. It was about 10:30 when we noticed a faint greening to the light filtering down from the stars above, and as the night progressed it spread out from horizon to horizon as the Aurora Borealis took place overhead, the panoply of lights and grandeur had a quelling effect on everything. The sound of the night animals faded and even those on watch were loathe to disrupt the midnight air with any noises. The aurora rose and crested around 2 where it faded as the night and early morn swept on.
Those on watch did hear the sound of creatures moving through the woods much further down slope but the wind was in our favor and they did not come up to investigate. And the same happened an hour or so later when a larger group, heading east to west this time trod through the forest primeval. The second passing had us figuring based upon the noises and sounds that it was bears. Lots of damned bears.
Yeah, we kept quiet.
It was Workmonth the 20th and we had all wakened by 5:30, studies, prayed, and broke our fast, ready to move on by 6:30. We traveled the same as before, part of the way up slope, 1,500 feet or so over the valley floor, following the “V” east and then north to the end of the other point. Once here, we looked out, being it was 9 AM, the sunlight gleamed off the glass and metal sides of the other Beacon House near the valley entrance to Whitetop Mountain and the suspected Warren. Darius had been very good at picking these places out, but based upon the angle of the Beacon House, he suspected there was another one unaccounted for on the western slope of a large ridge to our east. The way the sun was shining, we’d never get a glimpse of it. He suggested we wait till afternoon and when the sun was on the other horizon, it should pick up the gleam of the other Beacon House.
The group agreed it’d be stupid to step out and try to cross only to be seen by the K’Morat and the Warren alerted. Care and luck had been with us so far, so we decided to wait. This meant our food stores was getting low so hunting was once again on the menu. We went back to the “V”, returned to our cave, and then Grygmiir, Einar, Barb, Avulstein, Thalin, and Darius all went out to hunt once again and return with what they could.
They got lucky and a small standing of pronghorn deer fell to the hunters after a few hours, netting 5 or 6 of the herbivores. Ranging from 85 to almost 200 lbs, we roped our quarrey and made our way slowly back up the slope until we arrived at the cave.
A smoking fire had been lit inside the cave with the hunstmen eviscerated the deer, removed the offal, and stripped the skins off. From there we dragged large swaths of meat to the cave where it was roasted slowly and smoked to make it last a bit longer. After many hours we had enough usable food for everyone for 3 days. Before we were finished, Thalin restricted as many of the bones as he could along with a head and some legs, raising the remains of a larger deer back to necromantic life.
The skeletal (mostly) pronghorn was a bit off kilter as it was not the original head and maybe legs, but it replied to Thalin’s call of “Rudy” and came with us after we buried the offal, skins, and unused meat in a hole and piled a few large rocks upon it. We headed back off to the north and east until we arrived at the end of the “V” again – and looking east, Darius was right – there WAS another Beacon House here – and looking at the map and line of sight, it was in view of not only the Beacon by White Top – but also a straight line view to the ridge where we assumed Spire Keep Pass was.
We would not cross now in daylight and would wait to hit up an area east of the ridge we were on and south of the newly discovered Beacon. We made our way through the trees until we came to where we expected to cross, waited until 8 or so, and then quietly made our way down the slope and over the valley, watching everywhere for any sign of trouble. At the other side of the valley we hit the tree line swiftly and made our way upslope to get away from the assumed to be killing floor.
We had heard the shrill cry of a Rock Drake earlier and were on guard for it. As we made our way up we came upon the smashed eaten remains of a mountain elk. The trees above had been smashed and branches were everywhere as if a large heavy creature slammed through the canopy above to hit the elk. The outdoors types assured the group the impact was a few weeks old as we kept heading upslope looking for a cave.
We found other areas of smashed branches and signs of Rock Drake hunting the further uphill we went. Some of them were older, others fresher. One was barely a week old. We grew nervous as we travelled and the few caves we found we inadequate for the entire group. We risked higher elevations and it was after a good hour of searching that we came upon a cave we could use. 2,500 over the ridge’s floor, it opened to the north and gave us a wonderful view of the slope with the Beaconhouse on it as well as Whitetop Mountain.
The cave was 20’ tall and 8’ wide at the entrance, 30’ deep, but the height only lasted barely 10 feet before it sloped down to about 7’ in height. If a Rock Drake came, anyone near the front would be an easy target. The party made sure they were ALL set up to the back of the cave. We were pretty tired and by 10 that night, finally rolled to sleep. Thalin positioned Rudy by the front of the cave with explicit instructions for the undead pronghorn deer to bleat if something approached him.
By 11, the Aurora was starting again but the group did not want to chance being out where Rock Drakes were in the sky. Every so often we heard the beating of wings but it was at 1ish in the morning when the sound of snapping trees and falling limbs woke everyone up just in time to see a ton and a half of angry Drake slam into the undead form of Rudy, grab the deer, and launch back into the sky with a raucous cry and a wailing fading bleat.
Holy crap.
We hunkered further back and stayed quiet while during the night we heard continuous sound of the Drake passing back and forth overhead. Each watch was a tense situation as we waited for the Aurora the end and the dawn to eventually come. It had to be about 4 in the morning when Gryg and Hjalgrim who were on watch heard the plaintive cries of wolves howling somewhere below and in the valley, the muting light of the Aurora coloring the area outside in a dying greenish light. No one wanted to go check as the wolves howled and we heard drake (s?) drop out of the sky and try to attack the wolves, screaming in frustration as they either missed or were outclassed by the wolves.
The noises continued for many minutes until we heard quite plainly a gravely male voice call out in Common, “Hail the cave! Can I come in?”
What the…?
Gryg gave the ok and striding in, looking up at the fading light was an older human male in his late 50’s or so. He was wearing well made yet worn grey and brown travelling clothes, many layers thick, and had a broad hat on his salt and light peppered bearded head. He thanked us, said he was known as “Traveler” and asked to share names with the two dwarves.
They spoke for a bit, he talked about the drakes and the nest being upslope from here only a half mile or so and that we shouldn’t tarry come the dawn. He then offered to share some ale which Gryg seemed to have gotten from somewhere and a pipe and some weed. The ale was hearty and damned good, and Hjalgrim’s smoking of the pipe gave him a brief glimpse of what he assumed was the K’Morat Warren. He couldn’t stay, saying he had to go as his road was on the way. But he thanked the group for their time, patience, courtesy, and respect, left just before the Aurora completely faded, climbed aboard some horse we hadn’t seen and was gone from sight.
The guess was Odin, or something like it. No one would believe us and we had no proof of it (ale and pipeweed?) but the Aurora was known to be the underside of the Bifrost Bridge so this was not outside the realm of possibility.
Workmonth the 21st by 8 AM had everyone up and we shared our stories of the night and then broke camp quickly, wanting to be gone and out of the Drake’s territory. We went downslope quickly to almost at the valley floor, stayed in the tree line for a mile or two, and then wound our way back upslope as we travelled north, climbing to 3,000 feet at least and coming upslope and behind the Beacon House. We saw no K’Morat and were happy to avoid them.
From there we were on the south slope of Whitetop Mountain, the top shrouded in clouds, the sides steep. We had to drop in elevation from 3,000 to only 750’ due to the sharpness of the slope and even then, we had to occasionally drop to 500 or even less when the angle grew too much for the party to navigate. The croup doggedly made their way west, getting closer and closer to the valley entrance.
If was almost 5 PM when we managed to make our way around the western most side of Whitetop’s Ridge, moved north, and then turned back to the east. We could hear the sounds of hammering like a smithy, many hammers banging away ringing off the mountain echoes. We could hear the chopping of trees and the sussurous noise of many creatures living together. There was a haze ahead of us, maybe half a mile away and dimly seen through the trees. We stopped to eat real fast and then a bit after 5, we were ready to go on and see the Third K’Morat Warren at long last.
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Meet 62, Adv 4.2, 9/22/18
The biggest obstacle for wilderness adventuring is the party going off the rails on what you planned and expected. The party did not want to risk climbing up to Spire Keep Pass, thanks to the difficulty in the terrain and my own description of the place, so they referred to the map and made a different choice than what I expected and trailblazed over a differing ridge. This actually knocks a day plus off their travel and brought them to a place where they can sneak upon the K'Morat Warren still relatively unnoticed.
Write up follows:
The group discussed what all out options were for a few hours after breaking our fast before looking to leave Damlagast’s Tower. No matter how it played out, at no point did we want to enter the valley during the daylight hours and risk being seen by the unknown location of the suspected Beacon House there and our presence announced back to the K’Morat Warren.
By 9, we had loaded up into the canoes and with slow great care made our way back towards the north side of Broken Tower Lake and then pulled the canoes ashore. We made our way east to where we had hid them earlier and stowed them here again, buried under enough underbrush and natural deadfall that they should not be found even casually. Barb, Einar, and Gryg blazed a few trees nearby for further marking and the group then entered the treeline at the box shaped valley east and south of the valley. We stayed upslope and under the cover of trees as we made our way east and then north. A pack of boars were near our path in the later afternoon and we allowed them to pass. As evening was approaching a Giant Eagle made its passage far overhead, scanning the ground for miles before winging away.
As night was falling we ventured further upslope, pretty close to the mouth of the valley on the south east tip of an ending ridge. The goal was to find a cave large enough for the group to stay in and we wanted to make sure that we lit no fires. With five dwarves in the group it was close to 8 when we came upon a cave large enough for the party’s needs. Cramped we could get 10 in the cave with 3 stuck outside and 2 on watch.
The party spent a half hour clearing out the detritus, setting up bedrolls, and swapping blankets around to combat the cooler temperatures at this altitude and time of night. We set up a rotating round of 2 on watch for 5, 2 hour watches and the group fell asleep. Most of the watch was without issue except at one point a 12 point dirty white stag came into the area, sniffed around, and then wandered off. It was thought it might be a good omen, but no one was sure. Around 5:30 in the morning there was a light coming from the floor of the valley, steady and whitish, moving through the valley floor, turning east, and was then lost to our sight around the mountain.
On Workmonth the 18th the group awoke, broke our fast, and made plans to leave as soon as the priests and druids finished their prayers for the morning. This was going to be a difficult portion of the trip because once we circled around the ridge line, and headed east, we would be in view of the valley and most likely the Beacon House. This meant we would NOT be coming off the slope or down the treeline, or through any clearing. And we would do our damnedest to do it quietly.
We made the circle around and started heading east towards the direction of the rising sun. It had crested the ridges which were shrouded in local clouds around 4,000 feet up. And due to that and its angle, be constantly looking behind us to the west as we travelled, we were able to spot a glint of metal reflecting up slope on the western end of the valley, about 2,500 feet up. Unable to tell what it was except metallic, stationary, and large, we assumed it was the Beacon House and within half an hour, the further rising sun no longer shone directly on the structure and its reflection was lost to us in the trees. Be that is at may, the group made careful note of it on the map where it was for us to avoid or conflict with on our way back.
Our hyper vigilance paid off as through the space of the trees and downslope, the group saw a line of fast moving lightly armored K’Morat warriors running through the grasslands between the ridges, coming from the east and heading west. We covered our armor with cloaks and stayed rooted as we counted 2 dozen making the run with flatbows, spears, and similar weaponry. As we were mulling over the merits of risking an engagement at over a mile away, we saw 6 more K’Morat coming, these with bristleback short-hair boars on chains, running behind their charges as they made their way through the valley to catch up with the larger pack.
We waited as they all arrived in the valley together, conferred briefly, and then spread out in a large 100 yard circle watching all directions as 4 of them broke away and ran towards the slope where we assumed the Beacon House was. It was almost 20 minutes later when they came down with 4 other kobolds and they all once more collected together and had a long conversation. It was almost 15 minutes later when 6 of the K’Morat warriors shouldered their packs and ran up the slope towards the Beacon House, while the other almost 30 kobolds gathered their gear and started running their way south in the direction of Broken Tower Lake and beyond; boars and original 4 kobolds going along with them.
While we discussed how lucky we were not to be in the grasslands when this occurred and coming to the conclusion that these were the “elite” kobolds scouts and rangers we had suspected the Warren would have, the Beacon House on the slope behind us lit up and flashed four times in the direction we were travelling to the east, a blast of light before shutting down. Even during the day, the flash was visible at 4 miles away and we assumed would be also to whoever ahead of us was looking for it.
This must have been the signal for arriving and/or changing of the guard and we took note of it, and with greater care, continued on our trip east, staying a good 1,000 feet upslope and deep in the treeline.
Eventually the valley turned from east to north and it was at around 2 that we slowed down and came to a stop. The slope ahead of us had been denuded of trees as the soil had been washed away some time ago, leaving bare stone with many cuts and steps hacked into the rocks. Looking downslope we could see the base of the mountain here was a hillock of gentle slopes where we assumed the soil had washed away to, and the slope when uphill to the east higher and higher until it was lost in the clouds. The spacing across here from the sparse trees at the edge to the opposite side had to be 500 feet and then some.
Clear ground with rock, slope, lichen and no cover.
Nope. Not going to risk it.
We wanted to get past this area and suspected that upslope at the top would be Spire Keep Pass. They would see us, or the Beacon House would see us – and that would be it. The decision was to head back away from here to the southern ridge we had just come from, find a cave, do some hunting, and then come back here at night and cross then. As for the slope, Gryg did notice one thing of interest – the ground had a preponderance of salt and gypsum crystals across its surface. Gypsum normally grows within a cave and not naked on the side of a mountain but it was another thing to make the dwarf give his voice to the party heading back and coming here again very early in the morning. We didn’t know what defenses the Keep had at the top of the ridge and no one wanted to risk it.
We headed back and then around the curve from south to east, the party headed upslope to find a better cave to hole up in. It was around 3:30 when we came upon one large enough for everyone and then some. Five of the party went off to do some hunting while the rest of the group cleaned up the cave and the surrounding area.
A stand of badgers fell to the hunters along with many game birds so it was by 6 that we returned to the cave, a fire was lit in the cave, and the skinned animals were set up to cook and smoke for an hour or two. We ate well, including Shog and Avulstein on the offal and bits of skin. Thalin took one of the badger remains and animated it, while the party placed one of the skinned faces back on the beast.
It was 9 when we had the cave aired out enough to sleep in and the party rested, again cycling 2 on watch in 2 hour increments – hoping to get up at 3 AM and make their way back to the slope and across in the dim predawn hours and be away before being seen.
Everything went as expected except around midnight when a hunting party of bugbears (7) came upon our cave following the faint smell of cooked/smoked meat. Sybil and Dizzy were on watch and under the cloak, with no light, and Sybil being behind dizzy, to the infravision of the bugbears; they appeared to be a small ettin.
Conversation followed and they were looking for food, hungry and tired. They reported escaping from a kobold Warren maybe two days away and had crossed a keep upslope not far from here. Closer we were able to see missing fingers, scars, burned patches, and other signs of abuse and torture. We gave them a day’s worth of smoked meat and they passed us a rabbit’s skin pouch with a couple dozen brass chits with no markings as thanks.
They went on their way and reported that we should keep clear of Whitetop Mountain, as that was where the kobolds were.
It was 3ish when the group woke up, we reported the bugbears and their information, and the group gathered up all our belongings and then made our way through the darkness to the east and then north, eventually coming once again to the large cleared area. We could not see clearly in the dark the other side where the trees were but we knew they were there in the faint starlight. Nothing upslope seemed to be watching us and there was no way in the dark that anyone in the Beacon House at this point 5 estimated miles away could see us.
We began crossing one at a time, then two – with the more surer footed members helping those who were having trouble crossing the sloped stone to the other side. It took some time, with many a pebble or rock dislodged to fall away down slope into the darkness. Nothing came out to accost us, no one showed up, and within a few tense minutes the party reconvened on the opposite side of the of the cleared slope.
Pressing on yet feeling tired, we continued along the tree line as the sun came up, the cloud cover having rolled in and obscuring everything from 3,000 feet and up. We travelled on until the ridge we were on went from north to west again. According to the map, there was a ridge top above us and it would lead to a valley on the other side should we be able to get to it.
So the decision was made to link up with lengths of rope and climb up into the cloud bank. The degree of the slope increased to 35, 40 and we had a rough time making our way along. There were gouges in the stone where the whipping wind had dug furrows along the peak area here, making footing treacherous and slips all too easy. Darius actually lost footing, braced by Gryg and caught by Barb, he was lucky not to fall any further or upset the roped line of adventurers.
We did top the ridge in the cloud cover and then made our way down slope until we emerged once again. The valley was laid out ahead of us and in the distance at the mouth of another valley a good 4-5 miles away, we caught the telltale glinting reflection of a Beacon House some 2,500 feet upslope. According to the map, it was around that valley and to the east was the foot of Whitetop Mountain – and where we suspected the K’Morat Warren was located.
We went looking for a cave here to hole up, discovered one easily enough, and decided to stop here, rest for the truncated sleep we had earlier, and discuss our options on the approach of the suspected locale.
Write up follows:
The group discussed what all out options were for a few hours after breaking our fast before looking to leave Damlagast’s Tower. No matter how it played out, at no point did we want to enter the valley during the daylight hours and risk being seen by the unknown location of the suspected Beacon House there and our presence announced back to the K’Morat Warren.
By 9, we had loaded up into the canoes and with slow great care made our way back towards the north side of Broken Tower Lake and then pulled the canoes ashore. We made our way east to where we had hid them earlier and stowed them here again, buried under enough underbrush and natural deadfall that they should not be found even casually. Barb, Einar, and Gryg blazed a few trees nearby for further marking and the group then entered the treeline at the box shaped valley east and south of the valley. We stayed upslope and under the cover of trees as we made our way east and then north. A pack of boars were near our path in the later afternoon and we allowed them to pass. As evening was approaching a Giant Eagle made its passage far overhead, scanning the ground for miles before winging away.
As night was falling we ventured further upslope, pretty close to the mouth of the valley on the south east tip of an ending ridge. The goal was to find a cave large enough for the group to stay in and we wanted to make sure that we lit no fires. With five dwarves in the group it was close to 8 when we came upon a cave large enough for the party’s needs. Cramped we could get 10 in the cave with 3 stuck outside and 2 on watch.
The party spent a half hour clearing out the detritus, setting up bedrolls, and swapping blankets around to combat the cooler temperatures at this altitude and time of night. We set up a rotating round of 2 on watch for 5, 2 hour watches and the group fell asleep. Most of the watch was without issue except at one point a 12 point dirty white stag came into the area, sniffed around, and then wandered off. It was thought it might be a good omen, but no one was sure. Around 5:30 in the morning there was a light coming from the floor of the valley, steady and whitish, moving through the valley floor, turning east, and was then lost to our sight around the mountain.
On Workmonth the 18th the group awoke, broke our fast, and made plans to leave as soon as the priests and druids finished their prayers for the morning. This was going to be a difficult portion of the trip because once we circled around the ridge line, and headed east, we would be in view of the valley and most likely the Beacon House. This meant we would NOT be coming off the slope or down the treeline, or through any clearing. And we would do our damnedest to do it quietly.
We made the circle around and started heading east towards the direction of the rising sun. It had crested the ridges which were shrouded in local clouds around 4,000 feet up. And due to that and its angle, be constantly looking behind us to the west as we travelled, we were able to spot a glint of metal reflecting up slope on the western end of the valley, about 2,500 feet up. Unable to tell what it was except metallic, stationary, and large, we assumed it was the Beacon House and within half an hour, the further rising sun no longer shone directly on the structure and its reflection was lost to us in the trees. Be that is at may, the group made careful note of it on the map where it was for us to avoid or conflict with on our way back.
Our hyper vigilance paid off as through the space of the trees and downslope, the group saw a line of fast moving lightly armored K’Morat warriors running through the grasslands between the ridges, coming from the east and heading west. We covered our armor with cloaks and stayed rooted as we counted 2 dozen making the run with flatbows, spears, and similar weaponry. As we were mulling over the merits of risking an engagement at over a mile away, we saw 6 more K’Morat coming, these with bristleback short-hair boars on chains, running behind their charges as they made their way through the valley to catch up with the larger pack.
We waited as they all arrived in the valley together, conferred briefly, and then spread out in a large 100 yard circle watching all directions as 4 of them broke away and ran towards the slope where we assumed the Beacon House was. It was almost 20 minutes later when they came down with 4 other kobolds and they all once more collected together and had a long conversation. It was almost 15 minutes later when 6 of the K’Morat warriors shouldered their packs and ran up the slope towards the Beacon House, while the other almost 30 kobolds gathered their gear and started running their way south in the direction of Broken Tower Lake and beyond; boars and original 4 kobolds going along with them.
While we discussed how lucky we were not to be in the grasslands when this occurred and coming to the conclusion that these were the “elite” kobolds scouts and rangers we had suspected the Warren would have, the Beacon House on the slope behind us lit up and flashed four times in the direction we were travelling to the east, a blast of light before shutting down. Even during the day, the flash was visible at 4 miles away and we assumed would be also to whoever ahead of us was looking for it.
This must have been the signal for arriving and/or changing of the guard and we took note of it, and with greater care, continued on our trip east, staying a good 1,000 feet upslope and deep in the treeline.
Eventually the valley turned from east to north and it was at around 2 that we slowed down and came to a stop. The slope ahead of us had been denuded of trees as the soil had been washed away some time ago, leaving bare stone with many cuts and steps hacked into the rocks. Looking downslope we could see the base of the mountain here was a hillock of gentle slopes where we assumed the soil had washed away to, and the slope when uphill to the east higher and higher until it was lost in the clouds. The spacing across here from the sparse trees at the edge to the opposite side had to be 500 feet and then some.
Clear ground with rock, slope, lichen and no cover.
Nope. Not going to risk it.
We wanted to get past this area and suspected that upslope at the top would be Spire Keep Pass. They would see us, or the Beacon House would see us – and that would be it. The decision was to head back away from here to the southern ridge we had just come from, find a cave, do some hunting, and then come back here at night and cross then. As for the slope, Gryg did notice one thing of interest – the ground had a preponderance of salt and gypsum crystals across its surface. Gypsum normally grows within a cave and not naked on the side of a mountain but it was another thing to make the dwarf give his voice to the party heading back and coming here again very early in the morning. We didn’t know what defenses the Keep had at the top of the ridge and no one wanted to risk it.
We headed back and then around the curve from south to east, the party headed upslope to find a better cave to hole up in. It was around 3:30 when we came upon one large enough for everyone and then some. Five of the party went off to do some hunting while the rest of the group cleaned up the cave and the surrounding area.
A stand of badgers fell to the hunters along with many game birds so it was by 6 that we returned to the cave, a fire was lit in the cave, and the skinned animals were set up to cook and smoke for an hour or two. We ate well, including Shog and Avulstein on the offal and bits of skin. Thalin took one of the badger remains and animated it, while the party placed one of the skinned faces back on the beast.
It was 9 when we had the cave aired out enough to sleep in and the party rested, again cycling 2 on watch in 2 hour increments – hoping to get up at 3 AM and make their way back to the slope and across in the dim predawn hours and be away before being seen.
Everything went as expected except around midnight when a hunting party of bugbears (7) came upon our cave following the faint smell of cooked/smoked meat. Sybil and Dizzy were on watch and under the cloak, with no light, and Sybil being behind dizzy, to the infravision of the bugbears; they appeared to be a small ettin.
Conversation followed and they were looking for food, hungry and tired. They reported escaping from a kobold Warren maybe two days away and had crossed a keep upslope not far from here. Closer we were able to see missing fingers, scars, burned patches, and other signs of abuse and torture. We gave them a day’s worth of smoked meat and they passed us a rabbit’s skin pouch with a couple dozen brass chits with no markings as thanks.
They went on their way and reported that we should keep clear of Whitetop Mountain, as that was where the kobolds were.
It was 3ish when the group woke up, we reported the bugbears and their information, and the group gathered up all our belongings and then made our way through the darkness to the east and then north, eventually coming once again to the large cleared area. We could not see clearly in the dark the other side where the trees were but we knew they were there in the faint starlight. Nothing upslope seemed to be watching us and there was no way in the dark that anyone in the Beacon House at this point 5 estimated miles away could see us.
We began crossing one at a time, then two – with the more surer footed members helping those who were having trouble crossing the sloped stone to the other side. It took some time, with many a pebble or rock dislodged to fall away down slope into the darkness. Nothing came out to accost us, no one showed up, and within a few tense minutes the party reconvened on the opposite side of the of the cleared slope.
Pressing on yet feeling tired, we continued along the tree line as the sun came up, the cloud cover having rolled in and obscuring everything from 3,000 feet and up. We travelled on until the ridge we were on went from north to west again. According to the map, there was a ridge top above us and it would lead to a valley on the other side should we be able to get to it.
So the decision was made to link up with lengths of rope and climb up into the cloud bank. The degree of the slope increased to 35, 40 and we had a rough time making our way along. There were gouges in the stone where the whipping wind had dug furrows along the peak area here, making footing treacherous and slips all too easy. Darius actually lost footing, braced by Gryg and caught by Barb, he was lucky not to fall any further or upset the roped line of adventurers.
We did top the ridge in the cloud cover and then made our way down slope until we emerged once again. The valley was laid out ahead of us and in the distance at the mouth of another valley a good 4-5 miles away, we caught the telltale glinting reflection of a Beacon House some 2,500 feet upslope. According to the map, it was around that valley and to the east was the foot of Whitetop Mountain – and where we suspected the K’Morat Warren was located.
We went looking for a cave here to hole up, discovered one easily enough, and decided to stop here, rest for the truncated sleep we had earlier, and discuss our options on the approach of the suspected locale.
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