Kal-Arath Playthrough #6 (finally here…)

Brief recap: Hal, Teela and Rauf come across 5 Pit Fighters who thankfully turn out to be friendly. (Probably saving their strength for the Pits!) Varek is the unspoken leader of the Pit Fighters. Hal gets critical information about the mysterious red banner he’s been looking for. He now has a name, Warlord Vlad the Bloodthirsty. Our adventuring group decides to follow the Pit Fighters quietly and unobserved, hoping that they will be led to the vicious killer and destroyer of their humble village. Hal, Teela and Rauf are still heading west, ready to pick up some caches that Hal had hid after the Warlord’s soldiers and slavers had left.

Day 13 Hex 9 Weather: light rain No foraging, not lost

POI: Cache #1 Coin: 31 Food: 9 rations Weapons: Flail Light Armor x2 Teela and Rauf take the light armor, thus reducing damage by 1. Hal takes the flail. They split the rations.

10 miles away is another cache easily located by Hal. Coin: 52 Weapons: 2 daggers, another light armor Rations x6

Feeling like they have enough provisions, they decide to forgo the 3rd cache and hit the road. First, they camp for the night. No nighttime encounter. -3 rations

(At this time I decided it’s time to level up to level 2. This helped increase stats and HP. Hal went from 8HP to 13. Teela went from 4HP to 8 and Rauf went from 7HP to 10. It’s also time to change directions and head North.)

Day 14 Hex 1 Weather: partly cloudy No foraging, but Teela lost track of pit fighters. (Oracle: Can Teela pick up the trail? Yes but…) It took a few hours of searching but Teela found the tracks of 5 humans heading North.

POI: 6, stone circle. The small group is very happy to finally find the tracks. The quest to save the villagers is moving forward. The mood is cheerful, until the group comes across a stone circle, similar to an arch. There are beautiful flowers and flora around, but as they approach, a strange fog rolls in, chilling, heavy and creepy thick. (I had rolled on an inspiration table and got heavy, harmful, complicated and flora) Hal, never really feeling these types of instincts, started to walk towards the circle. Both Teela and Rauf stopped him. Rauf said ominously, “This doesn’t feel right. We need to move on now.” Teela agreed but saw some herbs that might be helpful to them. (Rolled on herbs table-got Valkash x2)

They only managed 10 miles that day, made camp, and had an interesting encounter with a Giant Owl. As they settled to eat some rations (-3 rations) they heard loud flapping wings from above. Hal and Rauf jumped up, hands on their swords. Teela sat very still as a giant, vibrant colored owl of reds, browns and oranges looked coolly at her with green eyes.(Oracle: is the owl a sign? Yes) The same green eyes as her mother. Teela smiled as a tear rolled down her cheek. The owl cocked its head. Teela whispered to Hal and Rauf…”Don’t move. It’s harmless.” The large green eyes snapped towards Hal, and widened slightly. Then the eyes and head rotated to Rauf. The green eyes narrowed significantly. Rauf stood his ground, wondering if the owl was going to pounce. The owl huffed loudly, and settled nearby for the night.

Teela let out a breath. “Ok fellas, we’re good. I think that might be my mother?” Hal looked at her and rolled his eyes. “No really Hal, you know my Ma had the same eyes. I think she approves of you two. I think this is a sign that we are on the right path.”

Hal countered with a smug tone…”As long as it’s the path of vengeance, then I’m good.” Rauf shook his head sadly at Hal. “Are you ever gonna learn boy?”

That night, every time Teela woke up, she saw the green eyes looking at her softly, and she felt safe and loved.

Day 15 Still in Hex 1 Weather: Storm (1/2 travel speed, -1 getting lost)

Trail is lost again due to the storm (and a bad roll with a minus 1) No foraging.

POI: The group comes across a lone yurt, with the ceiling open to the sky. Hal peeked inside, and recoiled at first. The yurt was full of dead human skeletons. Rauf pushed him aside and looked for himself. “Heh,” he grumbled. “Bleached white. Been here a long time. Wonder what happened?” They searched for clues but only found 33 coins.

No encounter. Decided to camp, -3 rations. At half speed, only did about 10 miles again.

Day 16 Hex 2 Weather: Still storming (1/2 travel speed again)

I decided instead of rolling for lost, I will roll for tracking the Pit Fighters, using the same mechanics. Rolled a 12, success, Teela was able to pick up a trail of muddy, deep footprints. “Thank you Mother,” she whispered to herself.

Again, only half travel because of the weather, so half the hex, 10 miles or so. No POI, No encounter. Slogging along in mud, pouring, cold rain has made them tired and hungry. Hal is grumbling about needing horses or donkeys. They stopped for the night. -3 rations Nighttime encounter: YES!

The wet, hungry group find some semi-dry ground under a thick tree and were able to start a small fire. Warm food and tea made all the difference. As they were sipping herbal tea, sounds of the forest stopped, except very loud footsteps and snapping branches. Again, Hal and Rauf get prepared quickly for an attack. In to the clearing lumbers a huge giant, with thick flowing black hair tied back by a leather strap, craggy wrinkled orange tinged skin, huge arms and legs and feet!(I rolled a 12, that he is actively helpful and rolled on motivation: to obtain knowledge. Traits: odd and solemn.)

He sat down nearby on a huge fallen log, which cracked a bit under his weight. “Well met travelers. I hope I’m not intruding. I saw your fire and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Slurgem. Who might you all be?”

Teela smiled widely, but Hal and Rauf looked at Slurgem warily. Slurgem looked at them. “Please sit. I mean you no harm. Your tea smelled so good, and I haven’t talked to anyone in ages. It would be good to catch up on some news in the Kingdom. Oh, here, I have a cup for tea that fits my big hands.” He smiled crookedly and sincerely at Teela. Rauf sat down, but Hal remained standing.

Slurgem inhaled the aroma of the tea. He closed his eyes. “Ahhhhhh, I have not smelled something this enticing in a long time. I do not have a female yet to share my life, and I don’t know how to brew tea.” Teela sat next to him and for the next hour they spoke of nothing but tea, leaves, water temperatures and steeping. Slurgem clapped his hands loudly, causing some leaves overhead to fall off a tree. “I never knew that brewing tea is an art!” Hal and Rauf, you are so lucky to have this female with you.”

Hal narrowed his eyes slightly. “We do not own Teela. She makes her own way and her own decisions. It is our way.”

“Ahhh,” said Slurgem. “I have offended you? My pardon, Teela.”

“Oh no Slurgem, it’s fine. Hal is just grumpy most of the time.” Hal reminded himself to talk to Teela about being too friendly with unknowns, especially a giant. He spoke to the giant again.

“Tell me Slurgem, what rumors have you heard lately? Any news?” Slurgem pinched his chin, thinking. Suddenly, he brightened. “Yes Hal! There have been small groups of armed men patrolling to the North. I heard that many travelers have gone missing. I often wonder if the two are related.”

“What do these men look like?” Asked Rauf.

“Well, some are Pit Fighters, but some are definitely soldiers, heavily armed, flying a red banner. So tell me, what are you doing on these trails?”

Hal answered quickly. “We are a merchant family, headed for the Pits to sell our wares to the Pit Fighters and attendees.”

Slurgem smiled. “You don’t feel like a family to me. And you smell scared. I also smell grief.”

“Oh Slurgem” Teela interjected sadly. “How did you know? Our mother died recently. She was like a thick paste to this family, holding us together, and now we feel lost.”

Slurgem now looked sad too. “I give you all my condolences. I hope she is resting in peace.” With that, he clapped his hands again and stood up. “Time for me to go.” He bowed to them. “Thank you for the conversation, and the wonderful hot tea.”

“Slurgem?” Hal asked. “We could use a bodyguard. Would you be interested in the job? We can pay you.”

“Oh no Hal, that would be inconvenient for me at this time. Oh, I almost forgot! Please, take these cakes (x6 rations) as a gift. Thank you and good bye!”

The three of them watched the giant lumber off into the forest, and finally out of sight.

Teela turned to Hal and lamented, “I really hated lying to him about us being family.” Hal kept watching the forest.

“Sometimes Teela, lies will save your life. Remember that.”

And thus ends this chapter of Hal, Teela and Rauf in Kal-Arath. I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. Life has been super busy lately. I’m about to go on vacation, so I hope to write more newsletters, as well as catch up on reading some of the great stuff that you all put out too. Thank you for reading! (And for some reason my BOLD and ITALICs stopped working ) I’d like to leave you with a quote that I came across. I don’t know who wrote it, but it spoke to me.

DON’T BE AFRAID OF BEING DIFFERENT. BE AFAID OF BEING THE SAME AS EVERYONE ELSE.