I am still recovering from the events that occurred during the Full Buck Moon, many of which I cannot go into great detail about here. What I can say is, for the few cycles I was a guest in Chimeron’s lands, more occurred than I alone can give account for.
On a personal note there were a few events that will stay with me forever, I became blessed by Artemis during the buck moon and the height of her power, and with her blessing and our sacrifices we were able to cleanse a great amount of corruption from the realms. While what we accomplished was great, I feel this is only the beginning of what we must accomplish and it came at a great cost, as Artemis sacrificed her divinity, trading a child of a god for a child of a god... but enough of that doom and gloom instead I will regale you with the happier tales of the night of the full buck moon.
After a very long journey from Voraniss into the lands of Chimeron we set up our meager camp before heading to the tavern to see why we had been summoned. On the way to the tavern we found battles already underway so we quickened our step to make our presence known and see where we could be of the most help.
At the Tavern we found a fae couple pleading with adventurers to save their child. The child like many others in recent days had been kidnapped by the Red Tide and they feared for its safety. We were told that some of the children taken would eventually reappear stripped of their fae, while many more never heard from again. So the assembled adventurers set off in search of the kidnappers with little to go on.
Thankfully the most recent abduction was a very clever child. We began to find strands of yellow yarn, likely from the head of the child's favorite doll. As the night progressed we met some resistance and in our battle lust we lost sight of the trail for quite some time. Pieces of yarn are not the easiest to find in the forests of fae at dusk you see. Luckily our eyes were not the only source of direction we had at our disposal. With the aid of seer magics we found our way back to the trail and we continued to chase them into the night. Eventually we found the camp and were able to recover the child as the Red Tide swore to enforce purity of the fae. With the child returned unharmed and the parents overcome with joy we suggested they take the child and leave for safer lands far from the Red Tide and their influence.
Upon returning to the tavern we found yet another issue to address there was a dream gone wrong we were brought into the dreaming in the middle of a battle between a group of Kobolds and “the heroes of the realms”. The continual waves of heroes who would say nothing except “the kobolds need to die because that's what good heroes do!” It became quickly apparent the only way to fix this dreaming was to save the Kobolds. So we worked together to thwart the heroes and confuse them as others worked to move boulders to block the passage the heroes were coming from.
In yet another dream we helped restore confidence to a troll who will hopefully one day become a member of the Chimeron militia. Such an open mind in the hands of the adventurers of the realms is a ridiculous sight to behold. Some people had other amusing ideas but the party as a whole shut down the ideas of teaching the troll to demand “pay toll to troll” or to become a spellcaster. I was very happy with the results in the end, as he was taught the confidence to kill the kobolds and that it is even better to avoid combat with intimidation where possible.
The last event was my favorite of the night, we were called to investigate some floating colored lights that had been disturbing a village. These lights were hostile and we had to fight them back as they knocked out and then gave night terrors to us, and on occasion landing a killing blow. As we fought them back they dropped smaller motes of light. We discovered that we would need to create solid orbs of light out of the pieces and strike them down while in control of the similar colored light orb to defeat them. There was a great amount of teamwork among all the adventurers and it was quite enjoyable to have saved that village in such a cooperative manner.
This is all I am able to impart to you for now as I need to focus on my recovery and have not had sufficient time to finish organizing my notes from such an eventful trip.
IC:
I arrived in the lands of Chimeron a day later than the rest of Voraniss. Weary of the full moon I knew better than to bring the non lycans of The Broken Spears to travel and keep up with our werewolf companions under these circumstances. And so we arrived in the morning, and joined up with them to see what adventures we could discover in these strange lands.
We began getting our armor and weapons together in our camp and saw adventurers battling strange unidentified creatures across the field. Knowing my nocturnal brethren to be slow to rise, especially during this lunar stage, I quickly ran across the field to join in the skirmish with a fine assortment of adventurers who had also answered the call to these lands. We quickly vanquished our foes and were able to take refuge from would become the greatest enemy of the day….
The sun!
Within the shade we were joined by the rest of our pack and Hygar began some investigation and discussion with his fellow Templar Avendar. During this time many of the adventurers went in different directions to discover what else may be occurring in the forests of the land. Once my contingent of Broken Spears, plus Tulkan and Varmagn, was rested from the heat, we left Kindrianna and Hygar in the capable hands of Mogar and the rest of Voraniss for we heard rumor that there was magic that could be purchased to protect your body from harm without the need of armor. We purchased this “Troll Skin” and it’s cheaper variant for many of our warriors to keep ourselves unburdened in the heat.
While at the tavern we were approached by an apothecary who needed flowers for some potion and offered us a gold reward for escorting her. Simple enough. Easy money right? Wrong.
The flowers were guarded by an angry troll who was battling four werewolves. Hailing from Voraniss, I attempted diplomacy with the wolves. One of them muttered something along the lines of “put you with the thing in the ground” with drool dripping from his canine maw. We took that as a no and began fighting a battle on three fronts. For the battle royal began: Trolls vs Wolves vs Broken Spears vs Heat!!
We managed to somehow steal away a small bundle of flowers but were told that it was not enough. So we battled on, having my armor and weapon decimated by the trolls Boulder, once my body was healed I had the blade reforged at my camp while my Captain Helkias organized a tactical retreat. Upon my return, both Swoop of Gau Dring and Rubis Of Folkestone had joined my men in the battle. Once confirming the mission, Rubis made a mad dash to the flowers and quickly grabbed them. This resulted in the Spears completing their quest and after forty minutes of heat exhausting battle received…. seven gold. Which I then immediately spent on troll skin for myself and took off my sweat covered chain mail. Thanks guys! Later we saw the flowers on the back of a Fae in the council… we can only assumed we were tricked as well as duped.
After this we reunited with our nation who had created a shrine to Artemis which granted its three followers armor piercing missiles, the ability to repair armor at the altar as well as a connection the goddess herself.
Once reunited we ended up battling a large amount of nightmares that had invaded through a portal. Their leader was weak to magic and hated my sword Azure Wrath as it seemed to be the only thing that could hurt her. She fell, along with the rest of her minions.
After this battle we watched a council of Fae discuss what would become of the iron road. Many ideas were bounced around. Some of them good. Some of them bad. Some of them Baptiste. Ultimately the decision was made to wait until the following day and vote.
At this time the pack took some much needed respite. I took my sweat covered shirt off and then my nation decided to take the “troll skin” idea to the next level. We painted ourselves in woad and wore as little clothing as we could get away with.
We then patrolled looking for something to kill. After fighting what appeared to be a vampire werewolf, to no real success we found ourselves sitting and embracing the cool breeze that night provided, though subtle it was. It was at this time that I joined some brave adventurers in the dreaming, which would be first time there. And of course, I transformed into a lovely women named Ann who wanted nothing more than to enjoy a quiet evening at a dinner party with some friends. Of Course instead she uncovers a plot to kill a poor defenseless girl.
Once the dream ended we awoke feeling quite weird but no less concerned for the girls safety. Tulkan was pulled away then quickly returned to me for aid in removing something dark from Hygar. I take one nap…
So we cleaned Hygar which meant a ritual to Artemis followed by me killing him then some one else scalping him. Kindrianna was down and quickly raised. I called out to her if I should stop it, but she said nothing. Once it was done he was returned to us and purified of the dark parasite which had attached himself. The same was attempted on a piece of bone that belonged to an entity I believe was called “Wrake”? This resulted in the followers of Artemis being decimated and Artemis herself being called fourth. She made herself mortal to pay the price for the bones destruction and return her servants to life. She was then offered a place in Voraniss.
Tulkan very much agitated by the moon and even more so by the price his goddess had to pay, he was all too eager to hunt. And when our Fae guide returned to us with Lord Barengars location, whom we suspected was responsible for plotting the death of his niece, we were all too eager to confront the man.
Evie and Kara entered the modest home alone while I engaged in a stare down with his guard. When the guard heard the Lord shout he turned his head and I promptly knocked him unconscious. Tulkan, hybrid wolf form at this point, stood over the guard growling and drooling. The lord was very angry at this turn of events. At this point the Lord began spouting his accusations towards his nieces legitimacy as opposed to changing his tone to concern. With this information I threatened him openly and warned him if any harm should befall that girl that I would return with the full might of the pack. On the way back Evie told me the password to get into some party, at first I had little interest until I saw Thoril drinking and waving from the balcony. Upon entering the party which had been going on for some time I asked Tao what was going on. He told me that it was a seedy establishment and not to drink the punch. Moments later a man was dead and many of the patrons of the establishment were running into the back room.
It was at this point I gathered all the Voranians I could and we fled from the establishment, when we looked back it was on fire.
Upon returning to the tavern, we found the king to have been woken. And Syruss and Priest Z were on trial for what went down at the “Speak Easy”. After an entertaining trial it was decided that the tavern would be rebuilt by the accused and whoever was willing to assist. In addition Priest Z and Syruss would serve as deputies to the Sherriff of Chimeron and Work to uphold their laws. Evie, Kara and myself decided to aid them in rebuilding the tavern. After much hard work both magical, physical and mathematical we returned to finally get some rest.
I was the first to awaken of my nation the next day as usual and decided to keep to my tradition of “walking off the pain”. I was pleased to be joined by other early risers who I feasted with while recounting tales of glory in true Barbarian fashion.
Once we had eaten, I was approached by Orion. He told me that the main encampment of the Risen Kingdom Bandits had been found and that we needed to strike fast. As a veteran of the battle for the iron road, I felt a kinship with Orion in seeing this evil put down. And so I went to gather the pack.
Many of them were still weak after the full moon change. So I gathered who could follow me swiftly and asked that the rest join as soon as they could. With half of our force we joined with the many adventurers and fought hard into the bandit camp. And though it wasn’t easy, with a ballista and a score of angry adventurers from various nations, we stole victory from the Risen Kingdoms grasp.
Returning from the battle, weary and tired I overheard King Cecil in the tavern remarking about the Lord Barengar filing a complaint on Kara and Evie for the actions of the previous night. I approached him with respect and confessed my crime. He told me that court would be held and that he would hear what we had to say for ourselves then.
It was at this point that I knew what I had to do. I gave Azurewrath to my second in Command and told him it was his should I fail to return. Then warned Hygar and confessed the truth of my actions and intent, he offered to join me in court and support my actions which I readily accepted. I sat to King Cecil’s left and took full responsibility for my crime of assault on the Lords guard, and used my explanation as an avenue to accuse Lord Barengar of plotting his nieces death. Sir Avendar used his ability to determine evil and made the man proclaim that he was indeed evil in front of the court. And so King Cecil granted protection to Christine and made a very similar proclamation to the Lord that I had made just the evening before, except now it was made by a King. And so an innocent girl was protected and saved for the price of me paying twenty Chevron to compensate Lord Barengar for the recovery of his guard. As I walked to exit the trial, heroes of the realms from many different nations all tried to shove gold into my hands, one by one I waved them away and thanked them for their friendship and solidarity. Until one, who shall remain nameless explained where the gold came from… and I smiled and promptly paid my debt.
Before exiting the lands of Chimeron, Lako, Hygar and myself joined by a few strong Voraniss warriors elected to build a house in the dreaming for someone Thoril called “The Realizer?” so that Thoril could attend the Fae council with Evie. It turned out to be a maddening experience of killing “generic monster guards” and guessing their favorite colors. Hygars maddening laughter at some of their choices and our odd guesses will haunt my dreams for a lifetime. “The Realizer” then told us he owed us a favor which I was then told is a good thing to have. Exhausted I returned to Voraniss to rest and reflect on the confusion.
OOC: This event was amazing. The heat was a challenge for both players and staff but the open world format allowed for rest without shame. This in character portion of this is only a reflection of what I personally experienced. I heard tell of so many other adventures, puzzles, battles and more. I’m pretty sure after reading this that I left out much of my own experience as well but as you can see this is already a very long “what you missed”.
Here’s the short version… “You missed a great time.”