shifty louts

Antarctica Campaign Session 6 - Little Alonzo of the Cordillera

Players

Summary

Josu Allorca, survivor of the Necropolis of Heriotza, and an armsman from the Axolittan Fenlands, the turquoise and sox Down Wind, are sent by the King of Pocete, Ebonglairosi the Red, as envoys to the Cordillera. They seek the secluded Three Sisters of Liobos, Quato, & Nalid for trade negotiations. Red Martian Cannabis for their famed llama fur coats, quinoa, and honey.

Along the Eestern Sea, their canoe finds an inlet. Sea birds dive for fresh salmon and chinook. Deeper in the coastal plain, a birch forest and wood smoke peak through the canopy.

The two armsmen disembark into the forest, reaching three great cedar totems that stand here. The first two display welcoming human forms, nearly forty feet tall. The third, a single uncarved totem, stands. Atop is a serpentine figure, daubed and rubbed with white ash collected from fires.

The armsmen learns that the mirror-masked of Liobos reside to the northwest, but the storyman of Pime has never left. Down Wind asks if any adventurers wish to accompany them for gold. Most of the villagers of Pime are disinclined to “axe-money”, for a creature once asked them for their “axe-money” for protection and never returned.

However, the youth Alonzo wishes to see the Cordillera and beyond, and offers to join. His javelin, Builder Knife shield, and pronghorn dagger are eager for grand sights.

totem

The group leaves Pime and heads northwest, with much of the day spent climbing the montane and arriving along a shallow river valley on the other side of the mountain by evening. The night is spent by Alonzo asking what lies beyond the Cordillera. Down Wind spins yarns, and they are believed by the youth. Alonzo trades stories of a flying creature called the Carukia, a thing as wide as three war canoes (180 feet), which has plagued the mountain passes for many years.

The morning arrives with Alonzo waking Down Wind and Josu, a telluric spirit has been heard, its grinding stones mark its displeasure at the group’s trespassing. An offering must be made, Pocete Root should be found to allow for dialogue or so says Alonzo

However, before the group can properly rouse themselves, the form of eleven hendecagonal stone plates slalom down from the mountainside. The smell of boiling pitch and chime-like bells can be smelt and heard.

Alzono drops to his knees, uttering something in the High Montane of the Cordillera while Down Wind and Josu draw their weapons. Josu’s Builder Tech rifle aimed at the telluric spirit

The spirit stops at Alonzo, spreading its eleven plates and shimmering them in a display. Its bell-like chiming continues as a puddle of urine forms around the youth. The spirit then forms itself into a camelid structure, extending one of its plates flat in offering.

telluric spirit

Alonzo retrieves his dagger and slices his palm open, smearing his blood upon the flat stone plate. Seemingly appeased, the telluric spirit slaloms back up the mountain face, merging into the rocks themselves.

The armsman has never seen such a creature, and Down Wind praises Alonzo for his courage in such danger. Alonzo thanks the warrior, but says they should find Pocete Root if they wish to properly commune with the spirit, or so says the herbwoman of Pime.

The group opts not to forage along the river’s shores for the herb and continues. Down Wind swims across the river with ease, lashing a rope as Josu crosses, while Alonzo is nearly swept away.

The group worries about the inexperienced youth. They refer to Alonzo as “Lil A” now. The next few days pass uneventfully, the weather is partly sunny.

They eventually find a nest of eight avian-headed camelid creatures who chirp and huddle for warmth within their nest. The group smartly reconnoiters southwest around them and gets a better sense of their surroundings.

They see to their southwest, the mountains give way to flatland, a village upon the plain. At the horizon’s mark, some sort of puddingstone stands guard. To their northwest, a stone-ring fort and metallic stone cubes further westward sit upon the mountain face.

carukia

In night passes and the morning enters, the group continues southward.  A screech and cuts the harsh wind, a zaffre and amaranth freckled transparent jellyfish crashes through the canopy and grasps for the party! It grabs at Josu, dodges out of the way, as Down Wind and Alonzo are grasped. Alonzo faints, while an electrical shock stuns Down Wind, but they remain conscious

Josu fires his Builder Tech rifle that blows a chunk of the creature away as Down Wind’s mace connects. The tentacle grips tighter and crushes Down Wind’s foot to pulp. Another electrical shock causes Down Wind to pass out. Josu fires another shot, cleaving it in twaine as Down Wind and Alonzo drop forty feet to the hard earth. Down Wind’s fall is broken by tree canopy, while Alonzo spikes himself neck first with a sickening crunch. The valley is quite now. Josu gathers the javelin, dagger, and Builder Knife shield of Alonzo to Down Wind as they crawl further upon the mountainside into evening.

The night is punctuated by a loud drone much to the dismay of our two adventurers, but nothing more occurs.

In the morning the group heads towards the flat shrublands toward vernacular longhouses, they meet a farmer using a giant guinea pig as a work animal. He greets them and pleasantries are exchanged. The group asks of Nalid, and he points towards the northwest mountain. He asks if they are alright. Josu speaks of felling the flying beast, the Carukia.

The farmer is surprised, and he’ll let a person named Ortle check it out and regale a tale of how the Carukia took three children a few weeks ago. The farmer once again asks if they are alright, given Down Wind’s condition. Down Wind offers money for the guinea pig, but the farmer replies that the giant guinea pig will cost “thirty reasons”.

Without the coin to spend, the group continues northward, finding the metallic obsidian cuboid city of Nalid. Its citizens adorned in harlequin-patterned bodysuits of red and blue. A group surrounds the adventurers, given their clear outsider status. A llama rider, Xabier, introduces themself as the group tells of their mission to enter into trade negotiations on behalf of the King of Pocete. The famed honey of Nalid for the Martian cannabis.

farm

Xabier speaks of their empty aparies and soured honey. It has been sitting for too long, stopped by the loud droning from the Amber Ribbon. The Duke,  Deunoro od Nalid, is unsure of what to do. His father, Peio, would have known what to do. Unfortunately, the town buried him, mellified, in the Great Hive last spring. The Carukia has taken soldiers to Salagrono and Ribbon prevents trade.

Xabier takes them to the otherside of the mountain, down below upon the Shrublands, a jagged, angular, crudely hewn shape of amber. Its form like a fluttering ribbon, frozen in time, dotted with amethysts, almond shape plates, and a leering skull. The area around the form has begun to crystalize and the spread of its amber is engulfing the fields of potato, maize, and quinoa.

The group returns to Nalid and asks for shelter. Xabier says some went to the Ribbon but haven’t returned seeking to prove themselves worthy of joining the Warrior Society of Salagrono, their houses lay empty for weeks. They can find shelter in Edur’s home. Xabier tells them they should adorn the dress of Nalid so as not to cast suspicion. There should be additional garments, skintight orange bodysuits, and harlequin-patterned bodysuits in red and blue as well.

Xabier bids them farewell as the group rests within the black metallic cuboid home of Edur.

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Aftermath

Treasure Found:

Foes Encountered:

Rumors:

Deaths:

XP Awarded:

Notes