Gau Dring Biology Report

GAU DRING BIOLOGY REPORT 

EDITION 1: CHOOLATES

Creature Type: Fungus

Habitat:  Wilds of Gau Dring and beyond

Eating Habits:  Carnivorous, will consume all but a few bones. Prey is anything with flesh. Non-herbivorous. 

Behavior:   Choolates live in packs that travel across Gau Dring. Hostile toward anything that moves, they are to be avoided at all costs unless you are experienced with hunting them. Despite their cute, puff-ball appearance, choolates have a maw filled with razor sharp teeth that are honed to devour anything that crosses their path. Prey is often surrounded before it even sees the first choolate, and is then viciously ripped apart in a choolate- tornado of fluff and teeth. Usually all that remains is a few bones due to the ferocity with which the prey is consumed. This can make it difficult to call the soul of an adventurer as there isn’t a body left to call it back to, and civilians are quite frankly, shit out of luck. There have been unfortunate villages found scattered with bits of bone but no people in sight unless they managed to get into a basement in time. Choolates hate the dark and the cold, so they tend not to be so aggressive during the winter time.

Uses: Samples of choolate fur and teeth have given insight into the structure of the choolate. The spell “Identify” and the knowledge of the civilian healers has shown that their teeth are made of Adamantite, Silver, and the remaining bones of whatever they’ve eaten. The fur is made of strong, silky fibers that can be dyed and woven into very soft, fine fabrics. Choolates are also considered a delicacy in Gau Dring. They are mashed up and often served in the form of pies, cakes, and pastries.

What to do if you see one: If you encounter a choolate, your best bet is to scream “CHOOOOOLAAAAATES!!!!! RUUUUN!!!!” as loud as you can, and try to run. Don’t expect to get very far though. If you’ve seen a choolate, it’s most likely that the herd has surrounded you and you will die in a few seconds. At least if you yell out, your companions have a chance of getting away and coming back to try to find your bones.

Physical Description:  Fluffy pink puff-ball. The maw is almost as large as the choolate itself and filled with a spiral of sharp, flesh-shredding teeth. The fur of this choolate appears pink from the bloodstains of its victims. The vortex within the maw is comprised of its teeth and the bony remains of prey.

Feel free to reach out with any questions you may have!

What You Missed: Gau Dring Presents: Mountain View

by Alyssa "Esper" Lee

We were summoned to the city of Dahme within Gau Dring. The Guild of the Guilty had taken over the growing town, and we were called to help. Past the city gates, we found the streets in chaos. As soon as we entered, we were met with lost citizens and hordes of the Eshkin, white goblin like creatures aligned with the Guild. We were able to fight our way in, but unfortunately not without civilian casualties.

We continued our quest, weaving through back alleys and greater parts of town, doing our best to clear the streets of invaders. However, the Eshkin weren’t our only problem. We were met with a rampaging minotaur. It was only by luck that a collapsing building separated it from us. However, in our mad dash to flee, we left behind one of our own: Borjid.

The party continued on to an outpost within the town. One of the city guards warned us of an impending attack, imploring us to shore up our defenses for a gruelling battle. However, many of us couldn’t take our minds off the comrade we’d left behind. We returned to the scene of the collapse, intent on digging our friend out. It was amidst this split that the attack began.

The outcome of the battle was not certain, but finally we emerged victorious. Instrumental in our victory was the town’s ballista, which we ultimately used to slay the minotaur. With the area clear of hostile combatants, we continued our search for Borjid. We found his skeleton, picked clean by the Eshkin.

Through the dismay of our loss, we continued into more treacherous territory. Scattered throughout the pits and alleys, we found items left behind by the ill-fated populace. Among these items were Borjid’s own possessions. Using these, his remains, and a bit of magic, we were able to return our friend to the land of the living.

Borjid was not the only person we had to rescue. We split up to save more citizens of the town, some who had been kidnapped, some who had been left behind in burning buildings to die. Meanwhile, a third contingent stayed behind to guard what little of the town we had taken into our control. How could we rescue the people if they didn’t have anywhere to go after?

After the rescues, the party reunited to combat the onslaught of Eshkin. We were successful in pushing them back. Our defense became a pursuit. The fight was all but won until we came upon a large monster the size of ten men. The beast was ravenous. It devoured its own allies, the Eshkin, without abandon, and surely would have done the same to us if we had gotten close enough. Fortunately, we were able to employ the town’s ballista again to slay it, slinging bombs down its cavernous mouth.

Finally, only one Guild outpost remained within the city limits - the town hall. While we staved off waves of Eshkin, we took the helm of the ballista once more to destroy it. Their attack dismantled, the Guild was defeated and we were victorious.

What You Missed - Storytellers XI by James "Tao" and Emily "Kara" Murphy

[Editor's Note: Event was run as three separate short "stories" with PCs asked to play for two and NPC for one. The three Storytellers:  Ryan "Orion" Welch, Gau Dring, and Rua Thar Cinn.]

I was looking for new markets to offer my services and ended up in Chimeron where I came across a gathering of heroes. While I was figuring out if I could open a franchise of Tao’s Tea and Lucky Noodle Emporium, a band of heroes were called upon to go through a gate. Never one to not try to find new markets for casinos and such, I followed a bit late. We stumbled into a field and found a farmer that was aware of some local problems. With the farmer was also a fighter of some kind with a very funny accent.

I am not sure why but we headed downhill where we encountered some dark-star-faced creatures (like Orion but dark). We were able to defeat the dark-star creatures using both direct combat and distractions. We were in some kind of headquarters. We found a map, but it was white lettering on black paper. We also figured out that north was South. There were also some things that could have been orders and a cryptex that was obviously protecting some other information. One of our group really hates puzzles so he used his force of will to remove the cryptex. With this new information we were able to tell that dark-stars were going to attack the farmer’s crops next. 

We quickly traveled up to his fields for a climactic battle. We quickly were outmatched and most of us were down or dead.  Only with guile and luck were we able to repel the attack. We learned that they were trying to open a new gate to bring in more reinforcements which fortunately did not happen. 

Once we got back, we learned that there were problems that had happened in Gau Dring that we had a chance to fix.

We started by going back in time, breaking my first two rules of time travel, again. We were moved back in time to before the events of a few months prior. The first thing we were asked to do was to help the merchant make it to town this time so he could bring necessary supplies.  

We had to fight several waves of brigands who claimed that the merchant owed them fees. As they were not willing to negotiate the fees, they had to be killed. It was sad. 

 

This continued where we tried to fix some of the things that may or may not have gone badly a few months ago. We collected ore, we recovered a large axe (felling a tree’nt in the process) and a few other things. But in the end the one thing that we really wanted to accomplish failed. We did not prevent the son from joining the cult, again.

Fun little quests.

 - Sir Tao 

  After dealing with World Horizon and taking small nap,  the adventurers still around went into the dreaming to learn more about the Risen Kingdom. It started out with us being sent to a town long before the nations of the realms (I hope). The adventuring party helped fortify the town with wards due to an incoming attack from the Voidlings of the Risen Kingdom. Soon after, we were..well, we became the attacking force. It wasn’t pleasant to say the least. 

We were sent to get a child named Jack, he was protected by his mother and her own ward she held up. After a grueling fight, we...we managed to get it down by killing the mother’s husband right in front of her. I...I almost threw up if I am to be completely honest, However the next part, the next part is what will haunt me. 

We were suddenly in a ritual room and they had us stand in a circle, repeating some chant over and over and over again. Eventually after everyone was chanting they...they killed the boy, Jack, and used him as a vessel of some kind for their leader. It was at this point the adventuring party woke up from the dreaming. I...apologize if this account isn’t very detailed, kind of my first time being shaken up like that in a while.

- Kara Akiak,

Petitioner of Thorne Valley