Red Dead Annihilation: Campaign Thread

Mica drops his pack and squats down next to the fire next to Danica as she shares their story “The city is at the bottom of a rift in the jungle with mountains to the left and right.  We were hoping to get information on the path ahead here.”  Mica looks around at the nearby dwarves “and shelter, but it appears that not all is safe here.  Many of your people are injured.  What happened? Can we help in any way?”  Mica motions some of the freshly burned dwarves over and tries to clean and cover their wounds.  Medicine: 13.

.

Perception: 19 (nat 20) + 3 (Danica's guidance)

((Sorry for the delayed response. I'll post more within an hour or 2))

With the conversation taken care of, Meili allowed herself a moment to enjoy a relatively safe place. Only a moment, though. She joined Mica on his injuries investigation (Help to Mica if needed). "Our Captain is a good healer. But we all can help to some degree if you need it."

Nalomanterys follows the group out of the field, making sure that no pollen has clung to him. This is Nalomanterys' fist time hearing about how Hew lost his arm, but he doesn't seem too surprised; perhaps the discussion a few nights before after seeing a dragon hunting on the horizon clued him in.

Once they arrive at the camp, Nalomanterys joins in: "If you know of anywhere where great magic was recorded, as well..." He prompts the Dwarves, hoping against hope that they've heard of some of the same ancient libraries he heard about on the mainland.

Nalomanterys is clinical in his examination of the party for every last speck and smear of gumweed sap.  Once he is finished, your gear and clothing are clean and there are no residual sticky or hard spots.

Sithi removes a helmet dressed with fine brown feathers and sets it next to him on a log beside the bonfire.  He listens to all of you, but addresses Ran first.

"Some wouldha say ahll this was once Hrakhamar.  There wahs a time when villahges cahvered ahll these hills, ahnd moor up in the mountahns."  He points up in the direction of the old stone road high up above you.  "But the reahl heahrt, the soul of Hrakhamar, is up there... in the forge."

He goes on to tell how the dwarves of Hrakhamar had been driven out of the underground forge by volcanic activity.  A century ago, the Kobold Mountains had gone through a fit of vulcanism that rivaled the Peaks of Flame.  While many of the dwarves in the region left for more hospitable climes, the dwarves of Hrakhamar had remained, settling in the jungles and waiting for the time when they could reclaim their home.  Unfortunately, while they were away, others had made their lair inside. A tribe of fire newts, in service to one of the primordial gods of flame, had laid claim to the forge and will not give it up.  

So Sithi and his people have been engaged in a simmering war with the fire newts for a generation.  Answering Mica, the injured are the result of a raid they launched two days ago that got out of hand.  Some of their people were trapped inside, so Sithi led a larger force in to rescue them.  It was brutal fighting, and both the dwarves and the fire newts suffered heavy casualties.  

While he and his people know the nearby jungle well, he is not familiar with the ruins you describe.  "They ahr surely noht within a dahy or two of heyre."  What lies further inland or south, he cannot say with certainty.

He is more than willing to barter with you for supplies if you wish.

[The dwarves have survival supplies (rations, waterskins, insect repellent, rope, etc., but lack in weaponry, armor or most metal goods.  If there is something in particular you are looking for, let DM know and he can advise if the dwarves have it/will part with it.]

He appreciates your offer to assist the wounded.  Mica and Meili, you help with changing some bandages and debriding some burns, but these people need magical healing (cure wounds, lesser restoration) if you are to make much of a difference in their recovery.

While he thanks you for the help, he has a different proposal for how you can aid each other.  As much as it pains him to admit, he lacks true fighters.  His people are now more comfortable harvesting fruits and furs from the jungle than battling underground.  That said, the fire newts are freshly bled and likely at their weakest - and he cannot take advantage because his own people need time to recover as well.  He would ask the Seekers to reclaim the forge of Hrakhamar for him, either driving out or killing the remaining fire newts.  Failing that - if the fire newts are simply too numerous to be dislodged, he asks you to locate the treasury and find Moradin's Gauntlet.  Despite the weighty name, he explains, it is not a holy relic.  It is a gauntlet forged from gold, a symbol held by the keepers of the forge.  If you can reclaim that for his people, he can at last lead them away from Hrakhamar, their pride intact, if bruised.

He understands you cannot do something so dangerous without something in return.  While he lacks for warriors, he has half a dozen skilled scouts remaining.  If you help him with the fire newts, he will send his people out in all directions, seeking sign or word of these ruins you seek.  It might take a week or more, but over that time they can cover 10x the ground that your band can on their own.  If there is something out there, he promises, they will find it and report back.  Also, to sweeten the offer, he tells you of refined adamantium stored within the forge.  If you do this for him, you may each take 20 1-pound ingots of adamantium for your trouble.

If you refuse, he understands and will still allow you to camp here as long as you need, so long as you do not use up his people's resources (ie. you provide for your own food and water).

As he sees the severity of the burns, Mica uses his connection to the primal spirits to cure wounds for the most injured one of the dwarves, but holds off doing more for the moment. 

He moves back to Danica and discusses the offer with the rest of the party “It is a good offer, Cap’n.  All we have to go on is a few areas of the map with mountains on either side of ‘em. We don't really know what is at any of them. If we pick the wrong one we waste more than a week”  he shrugs “If the scouts can bring us back better information it will save time and trouble in the long run. We can use the time to rest and refit, and if we can give these people their home back we could gain some allies and do a bit of good.” 

Mica raises his voice and calls back over to Sithi “Are you a shaman or some such?  Can you remove a curse from the bird?” Mica nods over to the bird perched next to Ran.

"That would be the question to Hew, would not it?" Added Meili her opinion. "We can not afford to die before we reach our target. Stopping the Death Curse is the thing we are here for, anything else is secondary and our time is running out. Hew," she looked at their guide, "what do you say about that scouting parties in exchange for risking our lives in the hopeless battle these dwarves were fighting for decades? Are we better off with this deal or with handling our quest by ourselves and later on returning here to help the dwarves?"

Ran listens to the others, knowing he's not the best thinker in the group. But eventually he contributes.

"I get this whole death curse thing needs to be stopped," Ran begins "but if there's troops of wizards rattling about in this grotty jungle and a city full of beasties waiting for us on the other side, we need to be stronger."

He looks at each of the others.

"We're learning more and getting tougher by the day out here." Ran says. He pauses then nods up the hill to where the dwarf home is. "Fighting a few scorching salamanders might keep us on the path to getting stronger."

Eventually he shrugs, looking at Danica.

"You're the captain, and I'll go along with your call. But my votes with Mica."

Danica's eyebrows raise as Sithi explains that their fight against the newts had been going on for a generation, knowing just how long dwarves live. During his spiel, green eyes kept shifting towards Hew before nodding at Sithi. "Give us a moment to discuss if ya would Master Sithi." Before going off to the side with the rest of the Seekers. 

Danica couldn't help but grimace a little at Mica's insistence that it was a good offer and nods at Meili's point. "I'm not entirely convinced that the risk is worth the reward. Considering that these dwarves have been fighting these things for a generation with no true success, not even just getting their special gauntlet." She did seem to waver a little at Mica's last point however and gives Ran a skeptical glance. "Stronger yes, not worn out from fighting damned newts that have had a generation of fighting practice with dwarves. Though the rest afterwards would be welcome if time wasting..."

Running a hand over her sweaty and insect repellant stained face with an exhausted expression, she shifts her weight, the motion causing the symbol hanging from her hip to bump into her thigh. Looking down and thumb running over the silvered metal, Danica looked up and around at the scattered injured dwarves. "If anyone's deserving of compassion.....it's these folk." She mumbles before sighing and then giving a more determined nod, meeting the eyes of each of the Seekers and Hew and Nalomanterys. "They need guidance out of here and we can provide it and even get something out of it in return. If we can't drive them off, we can at least fetch their Moradin's Gauntlet. But maybe we can convince them to send out scouts now so we'll hear back sooner." 

Nalomanterys doesn't need to think it over for long. "I could use a break from this gods-forsaken jungle. What do they mean by newts, though? I thought newts were little lizard things about yea big..." He holds his hand about 8 inches apart.

"Ask Mr. Hew what you must, but if these Dwarves have been living out here for a Dwarven generation, I am quite convinced that they are more comfortable scouting this jungle than we are. I say we tell them the clues we have and let them find it for us while we finish off these... newts - if they find the lost city quickly, then we will save time overall for the death curse." Nalomanterys is sure of himself, as always, but he mostly seems excited to have a break from the jungle. In other words, he doesn't seem particularly dedicated to the quest and could be convinced by the group to continue on as they had been.

Ran pats Nalomanterys on the shoulder.

"We've a book you might want to read," Ran says. "Tells all about the friendly little guys that call this place home and how they all want to kill us. These firenewts are a touch bigger than what you're thinking."

“Tell him what the book says about the newts” Mica nods over at Meili, then puts on a shameful grin “and remind me, I may have dozed off when you told us the first time.”  He teases Meili, even though he paid close attention to the readings.  Mica looks over at Danica “Maybe Sithi can share more information on what they found in their last raid and what we can expect.”

[So... majority rule that we assault the forge of Hrakhamar?]

Hew abstains from the negotiations.  If pressed, he affirms that he is committed to his promise to see you through to the end of your quest, before turning his eyes back toward his own concerns.  If you want to accomplish that by working with these dwarves, he will accompany you into Hrakhamar.

Sithi shakes his head at Mica and instead calls over the druid.  This dwarf examines the bird, shakes a sprig of berries over it, casts a few spells (speak with animals, detect magic) and shakes his head sadly.  "Ahfrayd noht, Genahsi," Sithi says upon seeing his druid is out of ideas.

At Danica's request, Sithi reluctantly agrees to a compromise.  "Let meh give ouhr boys ah night's rest heyre.  Ah'll send them out in the mohrning to look fer yer ruined citahy.  And ah'll take you up the gaytes of Hrakhamar with the dahwn."

[Nalomanterys, I think we may have mentioned this to you earlier, but the group has an authographed copy of 'Volo's Guide to Monsters.'  Within its pages, it indeed has details on fire newts.  They have all read the book already, and if Nalomanterys wants he can review the relevant sections tonight.  You will all then have the following information...

firenewt warrior

firenewt warlock of imix

In character, you obviously don't understand this in terms of mechanical game concepts like AC and HP, but you have an idea of how tough they are, what sort of weapons and armor they like to use, and any dangerous abilities the monsters are known for.  Out of character you have the green light for a little meta-gaming in terms of combat strategies in light of this information.]

"These fire lizards are going to be hot and they're going to want to spit some fire," Ran says. "If anyone knows how to keep us cool during this, that would be a fair help."

The decision was made and Meili intended to use the short break in full - resting in the safety of the camp and preparing for the morning march and possibly the battle. Her weapons were in order but she wanted to know as much as possible about Hrakhamar - the gates and the whole mines, citadel, or whatever it was.

"What can you tell about the Hrakhamar of today? What do newts do there? Where or how deep into mines should we expect to run into them? Is there something we can do to draw them away or is the only way the total extermination?" (Would not be the first time. But she did not mention it.)

[You can all take a LONG REST.  I'm not sure if anyone actually needs it, but make sure you hit the button all the same.  If anyone wants to do anything with the dwarves or with more RP tonight, just post it and I can respond or you can respond to each other.]

In the morning...

Six dwarven scouts gather their gear, packing light with just freshwater and dried fruit, and set off with the rising sun.  "Thehy'll move quick.  Like junglhe ghoasts.  Thehy'll find what yer ahfter, if'n its out thar," Sithi assures you.

Once the Seekers are ready , Sithi leads you out from the their encampment to a set of narrow stone stairs hidden against the side of the mountain.  These lead up, steeply, and after a short climb you find yourselves standing on a mountain road cut from stone, looking down on the dwarven village and the sweeping vastness of the Chultan jungle beyond.  The sky is clear and their is a faint breeze.  After the last few days of sweltering heat, the air here is... almost pleasant?  Measured against almost anywhere else in the Realms this would still be miserably hot, but for your time in Chult this is perhaps the nicest, most breatheable weather you can recall.

Sithi is thoughtful about Meili's question and responds, "Ah was but a lahd when we abahndohned the forge.  It is noht so lahrge a cohmplex.  We did noht live dohwne thar, you see.  The vehntilashun is pour, and the heat and the smohke was tooo much, even fer dwahrvkin.  So it is just the forge, the metahlwerks, and the smelters."

"The nehwts, slippary bastarhds, they like ta wohrke aron and steel just the same.  But they love the heat tooo.  So they cozied up dohwn thar in the heat of the forge, just a hammerin' and breedin' and getting their hot, slimy finghers all o'er ouhr ancestrahl belongings."

He thinks at Meili's question about nonlethal solutions.  "Ah don't know, lass.  At the bottom of Hrakhamar, thar are tunnels that lead south, dohwn towarrd other dwahrvkin holds fuhrther dohwn the coast.  If you could push them out that wahy, we could hold them thar.  But how ta do that?"  He shrugs.

Ran breathes deeply when they get to the ‘fresh’ air. As he’s making sure his gear is all sound and ready, he listens to Sithi.

”.Where was this gauntlet of yours last kept, mate? If you were able to draw out the layout of what’s ahead of us, that would be a bit of a help.”

[The night before] Before the scouts take off to discover the lost city, Nalomanterys makes sure that they're up to date on the latest lost city information. He consults with his group to make sure that the scouts know all the clues from the vision AND the alleged dangers in the city. He speaks to them in technically fluent Dwarvish, but his accent is so atrocious it sounds like his first time speaking the language.

He also checks the goods for sale to see if the Dwarves have some serviceable ink and paper or vellum ((materials to copy spells into his spellbook)). He doesn't imagine that they do, but with nothing else to do, he checks nonetheless.

[The day of] "I may be able to do something about the heat, but only for a few of us..." ((DM, What do you think about prestidigitation cooling armor?)) "The heat may end up overpowering the cantrip, but if it does function then we shall have to take turns enjoying the coolth." Nalomanterys flips through his spellbook before stopping on dragon's breath "As for these newts, I have a nasty trick up my sleeves. If we meet more than a handful, one of you frontliners should come to me for a spot of fun! I shall give you the same spell I cast on Meili when we fought those ghouls or ghasts or whatever they were."

When the group breaches the canopy, Nalomanterys takes in a deep breath of air. "Ah... now there is a feeling I had forgotten: a breath that does not attempt to drown you with humidity." He takes a quick break and sits down to enjoy the view. His eyes scan the impenetrable jungle, as though he might catch a glimpse of the lost city from up here. Sighing, he stands back up and catches up with the group. "So these newts occupied your forge just because of the warmth and the metal?" Nalomanterys asks Sithi, and then becomes lost in thought before even hearing the answer.

((DM, going off of some of the text in Volo's Guide, what does Nalomanterys know about Imix? Is there  check I can make?))

Meili breathed the "cool" air with delight, enjoying the moment. "I wish we camped here... Can we stop for a few minutes? We need to plan anyway."

She did not start talking for a while, though. The "plans" sounded too grim for the pleasantries of the place. Eventually, Meili sighed and began. "This is Mbala all over again. Those newts need hot springs to live. Take them out of the volcano - and they die. Or so the book says. Yes, they stole the forge and drove dwarves away and they are not "nice" creatures by any measures. Yet, the dwarves can live somewhere else - and they do, while newts will die in a few days away from the hot streams, most likely not reaching other dwarven holds. I mean, just to be clear here, we kill them no matter what we do."

She looked at others almost pleadingly. "Unless, of course, we can somehow reconcile dwarves and newts. Get the gauntlet and let the newts smelt while dwarves will continue to hunt and exchange the bounty of jungles for the smithing and alchemy work from newts."

"Not sure how to begin such work, though."

"Unless we speak their language I think we can cross brokering a peace off the list," Ran says, while waiting for the dwarves to provide any sort of map of their old stronghold. "Maybe just pushing them away from the forge and further into the lava streams will be enough for them."