Chapter 19: Civilization's End

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra raises one white eyebrow, vaguely puzzled by Dahinna's comment- but says nothing.

We should leave, yes. Please allow me time to buy some provisions, and I will be ready.

when the discussion is over, Zahra hustles to Merchant's Row and buys another week's worth of iron rations.

character sheet updated

[ravenn4544]

Amethu scans the town but his slide to the dark forest ahead. Hesitant to delve deep into the dangers there, yet compelled to do to see his quest come true. "I fear we are unprepared in a true path forward. We have learned little except there might be a ghost city somewhere in that general direction. Perhaps the canoes would provide a way to speed us away from the eyes of the enemy that must indeed be on this fort" At Zahra's preparations, he too will supplement his rations with additional supplies. He inquires, "what else might we do to prepare for the unknown forest and it's hazards ahead?"

[Paladin]

Iago Vazquez de Quesada

Iago rejoins his large companion and offers Cruloc a helpless shrug. "I thought to find a widow or orphan brat and ease my conscience by giving them a purse of silver, but there are none to be found. Ah well." He grins. "I will find ways to spend it. I always do. Let us leave this place. We have blood to spill and glory to win."

[Inferno]

Fort Tuscelan, Conajohara Province, Aquilonian Empire, the World of Hyboria
Day Two. Sunset. 12th day of the month of Qrot, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia
Partly cloudy, cool







Beyond the outpost walls, night slowly overtakes the land.

The fires of Fort Tuscelan keep at bay a darkness that is nigh absolute.

The adventurers see their chance to steal away unobserved, they hope. Quickly, they restock their provisions in preparation for a swift departure. But here at the edge of the world, such things are dear. (All supplies in the PHB cost double)

Then they see a man about a boat.



"We can take you across, no charge," says Decius matter of factly.
"But if you'd rather go upriver, you're on your own. We can't spare any men. Cassius will pay you for a map, and all the scalps you can stomach, but we can't front you the boat as an advance. Nothing personal... the odds of your ever returning aren't good. For 150 gold, we'll sell you a longboat. So, what's your poison?"


Actions?


Map:

X marks the adventurers' position at Fort Tuscelan.





PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 14/14, Spells: 7/7 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 45/45
Dahinna: Zamoran Southwoman Thief 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 19/19
Grigor: Zamoran Nomad Cleric/Fighter 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 20/29, Spells: 4/4 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
Iago: Zingaran Southman Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 20/32
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 19/19, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl
Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: 27/29
Gnasher: Grigor's Hound: Move: 12", AC: 5, HD: 2+2, HP: 11/11, AT: 1, D: 1-4

PC Magic:

None currently.

Player Resources:

The Struggle To Survive (the story so far)
Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)
An Age Undreamed Of (maps and realms of the World of Hyboria)

[Bluetongue]

Grigor

Understands the sentiments. Even trying to bargain a boat down to half price is probably more than we collectively can spend.

The gypsy can trust the scout to at least row us to a concealed cove or creek. He boards a boat and calls Gnasher.

as swimming in armour is not easy, his banded mail is rolled up on his pack.

[ChubbyPixie]

Having procured more food and some wine, Kiri is ready to go. Assuming they'll accept a ride, since they can't really afford to buy a boat, he'll get in and make himself as comfortable as possible. He determines to summon grandfather as soon as they reach the other side.

[ravenn4544]

Amethu too considers his current readiness. While his reserves of food and water have been reestablished, his comfort level on being prepared to enter the forest is not. Too many unanswered questions. "I agree that is best to accept a ride then to purchase our own. We may yet be in need of coin in the days to come."

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra has no experience with boats and rivers, other than the nightmare trip to the demon's island. She says nothing.

[hedgeknight]

Dahinna's mouth drops open at the price of the boat...more gold than she's ever seen! Maybe even ever heard of before.
Like Zahra, she boards the boat, not giving Decius a second thought.

[Paladin]

Iago Vazquez de Quesada

"I fear our purses are too light for such a price, amigo," Iago replies. "But we will return laden with pictish scalps, and perhaps we may buy a boat then. Farewell." He happily accepts the offer of a ride.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Cruloc steps into the canoe. He sits, eyes fixed on the far shore.

The Pictish heartland awaits.

Unfortunately positioned between the twin anvils of Aquilonia and the northern viking kingdoms, Cimmeria has long feared destruction at the hands of their thundering armies. But on its western border, Pictland is the silent killer - the knife ready to slide between its ribs. His eyes blaze with a thousand conflicting passions – smouldering memories of terrors unguessed. Munga the Knowing, his tribe's foremost shaman and repository of their oral history, had spoken of the macabre fate of those captured by the Picts with their small, fiendishly sharp flint blades.

"To willingly go into this wilderness is to piss in Crom’s cup - only a fool would dare it. The night will hide our passage, but if we’re spied, our lives won’t be worth spittle."

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra boards the boat, visibly worried. Our lives have been worth less than spittle on too many occasions, Cruloc. What's one more?

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

"Aye, Verulian. We are still alive only because Hell has no more room for us. We've kept its furnaces amply stoked."

[Inferno]

Fort Tuscelan, Conajohara Province, Aquilonian Empire, the World of Hyboria
Day Two. Sunset. 12th day of the month of Qrot, 1280th year of the Age of Aquilonia
Partly cloudy, cool







At sunset, the adventurers choose their poison.

"Suit yourself," nods Decius as he leads them to the fortress dock. "Once you're in the boat, don't speak. Sound carries on the water. Leave the dog with us if you can't keep it quiet. When you return, shout across and we'll come for you."

With a shudder, Zahra remembers her nightmare journey across a starless sea, and the doom that awaited them on that alien shore.

Cruloc says, "To willingly go into this wilderness is to piss in Crom’s cup - only a fool would dare it. The night will hide our passage, but if we’re spied, our lives won’t be worth spittle."

"That's right," says Decius. "I hope you know what you're doing."

At a small pier that crouches beneath a towering outpost wall, they're met by Tauran scouts Flavius and Julius, the two hardy frontier folk of Western Aquilonia that will row them across.

The wall sentinels carefully ignore them so as not to draw unwanted attention. Decius whispers curt instructions to his men and steps back. Grigor removes his armor, lest it pull the gypsy down to the bottom of the river.

Then under cover of darkness, they push the long canoe out onto Black River.

Now the river is but a vague trace between walls of ebony. The paddles that propel the long boat, creeping out from the dense shadow of the eastern bank, dip softly into the water, making no more noise than the beak of a heron.



The longboat is mid-stream when suddenly, the stillness is broken! From deep within the forest, the nightly talking of the drums erupts.


Actions?!


Map:

X marks the adventurers' position near Fort Tuscelan.





PC Status:

Amethu: Verulian Grand Magus Cleric/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 14/14, Spells: 7/7 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl
Cruloc: Cimmerian Northman Barbarian 3: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 45/45
Dahinna: Zamoran Southwoman Thief 4: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 19/19
Grigor: Zamoran Nomad Cleric/Fighter 3/3: Move: 9", AC: 1, HP: 20/29, Spells: 4/4 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
Iago: Zingaran Southman Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 2, HP: 20/32
Kiri Khutan: Kambujan Easterner Fighter/Magic-User 3/2: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 19/19, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl
Zahra: Verulian Amazon Fighter 4: Move: 12", AC: 3, HP: 27/29
Gnasher: Grigor's Hound: Move: 12", AC: 5, HD: 2+2, HP: 11/11, AT: 1, D: 1-4

PC Magic:

None currently.

Player Resources:

The Struggle To Survive (the story so far)
Mysteries Strange and Deadly (player clues and notes)
An Age Undreamed Of (maps and realms of the World of Hyboria)

[Bluetongue]

Grigor

Bids Gnasher to heel and sit quietly. The drums could be an alert that we are spotted or just the normal midnight rythyms between tribes?

The gypsy fingers a rosary and places a lei of chained flowers over the prow for luck. He counsels the cox to alter course and go downstream a while. "We are just a log, floating in the current." He offers to cast a spell to mask their presence, 'Silence 15'ft radius'.

"If we don't move or retaliate any missile attacks, we have a good chance to convince them that we are flotsam from the forest. At least if you scream after being hit by an arrow, you won't confirm we are here. I know it means we can't hear them or each other but a temporary ruse may help us navigate any ambush or encounter."
he whispers to get some consensus on the action.


I am expecting that the river is quite wide so a bow shot from the treeline will still have distance penalties to hit us as well.

[hedgeknight]

Dahinna

Leaving the fort behind, Dahinna sits near Zahra and prays she doesn't fall overboard. It's been a long time since she went swimming. She still remembers how, she just doesn't want to lose anything she is carrying...especially all of the food she was graciously provided.
When the drums start up, Dahinna gasps and nearly chokes on her own slobber. Her hands immediately go to her darts, wondering if they can be seen on the river in the blackness of night.
Grigor explains an option in hushed tones and Dahinna, who doesn't understand how magic works, shrugs and gives him a thumbs up of approval.

[Urson]

Zahra
Zahra sits very still, afraid to rock of the boat. When the drums begin, her hand creeps to the hilt of her sword and her teeth clench.

[ravenn4544]

Amethu listens quietly to the drums and thinks back to those that he heard over the past day or so. He tries to discern if the pattern or tone is different that could offer some clue as to the signal being beaten out.

[Yrkoon]

Cruloc

Cruloc hunches over in the canoe, reducing his profile.

[ChubbyPixie]

Kiri hunches down as well, as much as he is able, while removing his short bow from its sheath at his hip.