Hexplore24 — Day 24
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Hex K10
Weather: 10, overcast
Cerulean Gauze
Dawn Watch Hazard: 5 signs
Type 8: Beast. Flightless birds.
Day breaks with thin clouds drawing a cerulean gauze over the sky. All can tell: today, they will travel.
As the group packs up, a flock of large, flightless birds are seen in the distance, picking about the mammoth carcass.
Mahbe and Anger are both recovering and can travel. Malla cheerily leads the camp in packing up. By the time the sun has fully risen, they are on their way.
Costs 3 points to enter K11, a forest.
Costs 4 points to enter K12, which is where they saw lights. Because they have 6 points, they will camp in the woods close to the foothills of K12.
AM watch hazard: 3, depletion.
They work their way across the snowy plains, reaching by mid-day a forest. On the far side of the woods are the low hills Satis and Belus had seen lights on - and the location they had been told to bring the ransom. As the group takes a pause for water, Malla, consulting her map, explains:
"We won't make it to the hills today, but we can cross most of the woods, so tomorrow, weather permitting, we may be meeting the ransomers."
PM watch hazard: 3, depletion.
The afternoon's travel goes well, though at times slow, the group carefully helping the mules, laden with frozen mammoth meat and ivory tusks, navigate the snow and ice-covered rocky soil of the woods.
As the sun begins setting, Malla finds them a campsite and starts setting it up while a group goes foraging for firewood.
10 hrs wood.
Dusk watch Hazard: 4, 9 Mythic event. PC Negative:
Belus. "Observe cooperation" "Boldly powerful" "Agree Animal"
Hmmm...- Rolled on Monster Overhaul's "Thinking Beasts" encounter table.1
As Belus takes a moment to soak in the calm, quiet woods before returning to the crowded camp and the smells of cooking mammoth, a flash of shadow and a sudden flutter of wings cause him to draw his mace.
But then a deep calmness comes over him. A massive flying creature appears and lands before Belus, and he can feel there is a touch of the divine.
Wings like an eagle's, body like a lion's, and the face of a bearded man, the figure speaks. "Belus, do not fear, no harm will come to you this night."
"Who are you?" Belus asks.
"I am Ilu-Mar," he replies in a deep calm voice, and Belus can smell sweet incense on the wind.
"I come to you out of pity," Ilu-Mar says, his eyes sad.
"Pity?" Belus asks, concerned.
"Your quest, it will lead you to a frantic conflict," Ilu-Mar says.
"The Capitol? Is it at war?" Belus asks.
"The conflict is not where you expect," Ilu-Mar replies, then with great flaps, he lifts back up into the air.
"You now know where to find me. Someday you will know it is when to find me. Take care, Belus." And with great flaps, the mysterious messenger flies off, leaving a confused and shaken Belus behind.
Dusk watch hazard: 3, depletion.
Cooking success.
Malla passes story.
FC: Do we see lights? Lights are seen on the hill.
Being in a new setting, and tired from a day of travel, eating cooked mammoth meat has everyone in good spirits. Even exhausted and bandaged Mahbe and Angor are laughing along as Malla tells a humorous story about...
Let's get a seed from 1 page.
Adventure crafter: Turnabout, law, possession, innocence, destroy.
Picking up the wrong package of fish at the Fish Mart, accidentally stealing fish meant for a noble and having to hide it when guards came investigating, only to discover alley cats had devoured it.
Just before people head to sleep, it is pointed out that lights can be seen up on the hills - lights just like Satis and Belus saw before.
"We may meet the witches again tomorrow," Satis says. Belus, distracted, agrees.
"Everything ok, Belus?" Satis asks. Belus, shaking his head, focuses on Satis - "Yes, I just, lots on my mind..."
Twilight watch hazard: 2, exhaustion.
Night watch hazard: 4, Mythic.
NPC Action, Goster. "Leave Cooperation" "Destroy Comfort." Sleep checks: All pass.
Tired from hiking, cozy from a hot meal and good stories, all sleep soundly.
Satis, though, has dreams that leave a troubling sensation: Goster is in her dream, upset her and Belus have not reburied his dead compatriots, and that they have no plans to do so for some time. "You promised me," his voice calls out, "You promised them."2
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This was a tricky encounter to come up with from the prompt. However, taking into account it being negative for Belus, and his larger quest, the prompt seemed to imply intelligent beings, so I found a table to roll on and got a Lamasau, a very cool being who is super peaceful. This inspired them to deliver a bad omen to Belus. What it means exactly I don’t know, though I have my suspicions.↩
Second night in a row Mythic pushes along the Goster subplot with random events. I love it when oracles feel like they have a specific story they want to tell. Anytime it feels like the story is revealing what it wants to be I know things are going well and I just need to not mess it up.↩