I always love these player's eye views.
Have an MVP.
On Tue, 27 Aug 2019, 21:03 Posh-Tim, <monkeysthesecond@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Precursor: Sorry for the length of this one, I sort of started off and got
a bit carried away with it...
A personal account of the explorations made by Torin Silverwing
Working title: How I built a Kingdom.
I present this account of my travels as an act of posterity should those
after me wish to learn more of the creation of a nation. Alternatively,
should this account be found then as a demonstration of my hubris, but lets
hope it does not come to that.
Our trip across the formerly screaming seas went with little account, fine
weather preceeding me and my companions. We were a total of 9 in number.
Myself a knight of the boneyard empire and my beautiful wife Harann (an
aspiring Necromancer), her scales shining in the bright sea sun, the only
noble dragonspawn and leaders of our expedition. The rest of our party
comprised of our more discreet cousins, the kobolds. Our loyal retainers;
Hubert, Ducival and Louise. My wifes spiritual advisor, the cleric Tes Ett
Norn. Finally two brothers, Kruk Moss-Scale and Hagnar, a Druid and Ranger
respectively. They had come with the idea that should a new land be founded
that the natural order would be respected in its creation. We shall see how
that pans out... Not forgetting of course, Ed the Donkey, Tes' own pack
animal and beast of burden.
Now, I should take a moment to explain the purpose of our trip, as second
born in my family there is little room to make a name for myself in
Valyria. This is coupled with Tes, and now Harann's, obsession with finding
the true home of all the Dragonborn (due to some prophecy or some such.)
With the calming of the screaming seas it seemed like the perfect
opportunity to take up such a quest as finding or founding a home for
Dragonborn everywhere!
But I forget myself, now you know of our party and purpose I should return
to my account;
As our ship pulled within sight of the new world, we were filled with
excitement and trepidation. We disembarked quickly into the landing craft,
winching Ed down into it and made first landing. An inspiring moment.
This was dulled mildly by the small shanty fishing village that had been
established already, we spoke with the one man we could see. A commoner but
a genuine one, he told us many had passed here before us and pointed us to
the simple map that had posted of the continent explored so far.
Taking stock of this account we wasted no time and set forth, the initial
mission two-fold; To map in detail as much of the land as we were able and
to find a source of serviceable lumber, the first resource that would be
required for construction of any sort of civilisation.
Our first day passed in high spirits, the weather fair with a fine breeze.
We travelled eastwards, across fine plains and grasslands quickly finding a
water source with which to supply us. I decided that we would need to name
this land as we went, the first civilised travellers in an age if ever, so
I named them the Scale Plains. We travelled swiftly, with Kruk and Hagnar
scouting and navigating while Harann began the long work of charting our
travels and mapping what was found. Later in the day we came across a
broken campsite, it was of little interest, some bones that had sat in the
elements for at least six months were humanoid but little else was
discernible. Kruk, ever the pragmatist, took some of the ragged cloth of
the tents and passed onward.
Toward the end of that day we came across a series of shallow caves, ones
that had probably existed before the first sentient creatures ever walked
on this strange new continent. Those caves would be filled in equal measure
with revelation and drudgery.
We were able to explore a couple of the caves before night began to set
in. They had clearly seen a fair amount of passers by in the form, Hagnar
suspected, of Urukim travellers. These we had heard from others accounts
were native tribes to the land. There were also the signs of some other
strange creatures we would discover the owners of only that night.
As we settled down to camp, Tes discovered something that raised quite
some interest in our entire party. Marked in draconic upon the walls of our
cave was seemingly a prophecy. It spoke of dragonborn travellers finding
the mouth of a river and seeking their lost home at its source. Some other
stuff about following the neck of the dragon but it did seem to vindicate
her words and set both her and Harann quite alight. These words were
followed by a symbol so close to that of my old family crest I have decided
to adopt it as my own. As we settled down to sleep, Kruk performed a magic
trick to determine tomorrows weather and our hearts sank at the depiction
of one of the wildest storms any of us would have to experience. We took
what opportunity we could during the night to gather extra supplies and
prepared to settle into the shelter of the cave for the following day.
That night on watch we found the origin of some of the tracks, Kruk
reported the sight of a colossal spider. We slept well enough and sure
enough the following day wind and rain lashed the air and we sat and waited
for it to pass.
It seems that staying put can be just as revealing as travelling in such a
strange place, as we watched from our cover, we all saw the spider from the
night before (or so we presumed) a huge yellow and black monstrosity with
thick chitinous plating. It pulled itself from a small gorge and proceeded
to dig a hole and bury itself, no doubt laying in wait to ambush passers
by. Following that a series of strange shambling creatures Hagnar
identified as plants that would tear spikes from themselves to hurl at prey
they would proceed to feed upon. I declared that we should destroy such
dangerous flora if it would threaten other travellers in this land but Kruk
and Hagnar argued that they were a part of the natural order and I
submitted to the will of our group. Finally, a band of shambling hairy
humanoids, clearly some adults with children, began to pass us by. My
companions were like to stay and watch them pass but as we sat from behind
them crept a pair of other enormous arachnids. While Kruk argued we should
sit and "Allow the natural cycle of nature" I couldn't sit by and watch
clearly innocent creatures be cut down by such monsters. I called my battle
cry and charged the spiders just as they vomited some vile webbing upon the
hairy creatures. Combat was short and brutal, between us we cut the legged
fiends to pieces and released the hairy ones from their cage. Kruk cast
some spell that allowed him to converse with the creatures, I had rightly
identified they were simple creatures, they had been forced out of their
forests in the west and now sought more just south of our current position!
Given the events of the day we decided we had no interest in staying in
these caves, not when our objectives lay so close at hand. We pressed on
through the night and as we found the sound of the sea drawing nearer came
upon the forest we desired. As we entered we passed a number of totems,
clearly an indication of the territory of an Urukim tribe. Something we
would have to consider later if we wish to use this land. We found
ourselves in thick bramble patches and as our guide Hagnar found himself at
their mercy we were set upon by some demonic hound! It charged our group
but again, we were victorious with only Kruk taking a sharp bite from the
creature. It appeared he contracted some form of toxin from the beast for
he took himself off into the forest, to cleanse himself or find somewhere
to lay down and die I did not know. But after a great deal of wailing and
sounds of a thrashing of undergrowth returned refreshed and seemingly
healthy.
It is in this camp I now sit and write this account by the light of an
enchanted rock held by Hubert. We shall press on in the morning, perhaps
even meeting the Urukim that claim ownership of this land. No doubt our
adventure will have many further surprises for us as we continue, even now
I think I spy another marking of the draconic sort we have seen upon a
nearby tree...
