Dies the Fire

On day five you reach Phoenix (anything you want to do there?).

The rest of the trip is uneventful and you return to the Marine camp, ahead of schedule.

Everyone is now 4th level.

"I don't mind if we detour to see the shaman but I understand we have other obligations.  Your choice, guys," Sarah replies.

She didn't really have a strong connection to the town, yet.  More to the people who were her companions.

Aleister will lvl on the 'Ranger' side of things; Fighting Style: Archery!  Archetype: Hunter

OOC: Who's left in the Marine camp?  Has everyone headed north?  

Ooc. Well Uthvern will go that 3rd level into fighter and go with Samurai as the choice.

Sarah goes up another level in Warlock, increases her CHA to 18 and learns Mirror Image.

Quote from DirePilgrim >>

OOC: Who's left in the Marine camp?  Has everyone headed north?  

 They were waiting for you to return before starting the trek north.

'Well, now that the bands back together, I say let's make our way back to the coast and hitch a ride north.'

OOC - Thomas will stick with Arcane Rogue at 4th and pick the Feat - Resilient Constitution, and learns the Longstrider spell HP 3

Quote from DirePilgrim >>

'Well, now that the bands back together, I say let's make our way back to the coast and hitch a ride north.'

 You trip back to Yachats is without trouble. Any trouble that may have occurred saw 40 Marines and decided that it had better things to do.

You get back home. George discovers he going to be a daddy.

We are going to have another time jump

Day 850 AC

The Marines have settled in and have started farms or other businesses. They have also kept up their training and have become one of the town's major sources of income. Bandit removal, caravan guards and general muscle. There was an incursion of PPA troops into your territory that was routed by an ambush of 40 people hiding in trees firing high tech slingshots.

There where elections for the town executive. The Mayor tried to retire but the population wouldn't let her. She was pissed but in the end she succumbed to the inevitable. George is a daddy with twins. A boy and a girl.

What other things happened during the time jump?

Thomas and other casters use familiars for message delivery and secure communication between settlements. Warning/alarm rocks are now in widespread usage. Magical defenses reinforce physical defenses substantially. Thomas and his wife are running a school that is already showing promise for producing skilled magic users. The sailing fleet has grown into a low-key navy that regularly use Gust of Wind to out maneuver and defeat any water-borne foes. (Or run away from). Some magically-inclined Marines discover the advantage of the Alter Self, allowing them to give themselves gills and be able to infiltrate or defend from unexpected quarters.  Creatures of all types are employed by the Druidic casters to form a 5th column of scouts that patrol many miles out from both land and sea. Magic of various other forms make the crops grow as needed, in perfect health, making the town a city of great material wealth in these dark times. Various forays into the enemy castles have found weaknesses in their construction that have been able to bring them low by a few well-placed mono-filament slices. Oh and Thomas will be father in a few months, too. 

Sarah finds a house for herself and Granny, with Gramps being their tag-along.  Studiously, she ignores his urging to find a husband and do her duty to her name.  She suspects that Gramps just wants to find a new wielder and is tempted to do the exact opposite of what he's suggesting.  To help support them, sets up a business as a fletcher.  Sometimes she'll give archery lessons on the side or participate in scouting duties.  On a more personal note, she also seeks out more information on sentient objects and the strange things mentioned in the journal.  She doesn't know why but she just can't let it be.

George formalizes the 'Mayor's Own' guard and scout force.  With the Marines taking the lead on caravan guarding and bandit removal, the Scouts are able to split their time between Executive protection and roaming far afield to grow and nurture the Town's burgeoning spy network.

The bodyguards (who regularly use alarm) turn out to be well-founded practice as they foil a decapitation attack aimed at the Mayor and some other Town leaders.  In turns out the PPA have their own black bag teams - reportedly led by two teenaged ninjas.  'WTH has this world come to......' thinks George as he looks around at the broken bodies left in the wake of the assault on his home - completely oblivious of the irony of up-armored Girl Scouts cleaning their hatchets on the bodies of the ninjas in his living room.

The Mayor has also taken to teasing George and the teams about the bulbous black armor, referring to it as their 'superhero gear' leading to this rework of George's armor:

Mayor's Own

Aleister will design and help build stationary and mobile siege field artillery (scorpions, ballista, etc.); a heliograph/flag semaphore communication system between towns and watch posts; water powered stamping mills; organize a horse/mule drawn rail system, augmented with flywheels.

Just a brief sketch, I'll have more time later to filled this out a bit.

During the PPA attacks they had used the distraction to erect some of their quick-build castles on trade routs. The specific one you are interested in has blocked the main road between Corvallis/Eugene and Bend and the Mackenzie territory. The question is can Yachats special forces take the castle or will it require a full-on siege involving all the factions.

OOC: oh, Yachts SF is up to the challenge - or we'll die trying!  

Maybe we should have T-shirts made....

Sarah thinks that with the PPA lurking about, allies sound like a very wise thing indeed.  Besides, their forces were strong but why risk lives for your country when you can make some other bastard die for it?  An alliance would make other outside powers think twice too.  The world had been so very large and unfriendly when the Change first happened but now it was shrinking again.  If they could travel as far as ToC, others could travel to Yachats.

OOC:  Yes, yes, a terrible misquote ;)

Another thing that happened during the time jump.

A bunch of the town's kids where in the forest doing some hunting and skiving off from their chores when they where attacked by some wandering crazies (there's still a lot of people wandering around having never adjusted to the change). Eistein was with the kids and when they came back to town it was like...

Obviously without the guns.

Good Boy Einstein!

"Couple of things come to mind," Aleister opines, "One, castles don't move and everything they need to survive has to be brought in - scorched earth policy whenever possible; bio-war, I remember tales of plague corpses being tossed over castle walls, but care needs to be used if taking such an approach, hmmm, need some more thought on these things."

Note to self - train halberdeers and pikemen; wolf/dog breeding and training program,  both as independent patrols for things like the crazies and for general screening; canister rounds for catapult weapons (piercing type projectiles).

OCC - Is there any control elements magic allowed - in particular freezing/thawing water?

"Shall we go on a little hunt, for crazies that is?"