Tiger By the Tail

Tiger by the Tail Fall 792 Margo – Sylvie Hugh – Robert Tony – Gael Kris – Francois Kevin – Albus Redcap Arrival Vittano of House Mercere arrives. He has been sent in response to the letter about the fallen redcap. He was a friend of the fallen redcap (Brecchius by name). He will take the cap and sword (if offered). He will ask for details. He can be a friend if treated reasonably. He is an affable fellow, does not have the gift, and is skilled in road traveling sorts of things. He has access to maps. Villager’s woes Vittano has departed. A man representing Nohedes shows up with a request for help. Some sheep went missing, seems to be a big cat. Hunting party not returned, group of 5. He can show the direction they went. Village is asking because Steward has made efforts to help them with the hard winter and such, and they are now short 5 able bodied men (and don’t want to lose more). Trail is a couple of days old. The trail is easy enough for an experienced tracker to follow. Find a site where the men seemed to have taken a stand (footprints jumbled, but seem to form a circle with their backs together). Oddities at the site include the tracks of several different cats (unheard of in nature). The men are then herded off (kind of stumbling and forced) deeper into the woods. Defenseless After a short while, the tracks lead to an area where the men’s armor and weapons are discarded. They are destroyed (wood rotted through, armor in tatters). The tracks continue deeper into the woods. Examination of the goods makes it apparent that they were mystically destroyed. Altar Find altar, twin staves imagery, memory stone, one dead body without heart Find special stone, give Margo memories Blood sacrifice was performed here (body still here, no heart). Loyalty/Brave roll required by grogs (6+). Margo can make a good guess as to what the sacrifice was used for: the stone is still sticky. Memory Stone “Hail sister. You and I share common belief and, I hope, will share common cause. I like you am of the Druidic faith, but I am also an initiated priest. Those of the Order call us pagan, meaning to demean what we worship: the power Nature holds. Not all Druids have chosen the path of the Order. Some of us actively oppose their tyranny. You should remember the mysteries you were initiated into and what you were taught in this faith. You will begin to see the true power our faith holds. I hope you will learn that serving tyrants is not a true path and that you will come to join me in the fight. I warn you though: I cannot protect you from what is about to transpire if you remain with those of the Order and those who serve them. Know that I have declared war, and I will not be taking captives. If you wish to join me, think of ways to show your true allegiance. I will be watching.” Lost trail Lose tracks Track by scent (or maybe by magic; magic was used so strong Intellego might be able to detect it). If used as scout, Wolf gets turned, trap with other wolves (make really clever) If they do not get it, give them a little time, opportunity to play a storybreak, but just tell them if necessary. Wolf Attack (optional) An attack made by several wolves running in two or three groups. If the group does not actively specify watching for other attacks, at least one group of wolves will get surprise. Use tackle and multiple attackers to best benefit. This is another opportunity for a bravery/loyalty check. Hugh’s guys can break here. Unpleasant Times Bedrolls and such get infested with ticks and poison ivy (each one not carried by a magus gets one or the other). Noticing either before sleeping requires a 12+ Awareness roll. Getting ticks causes fatigue loss (1 long-term). Getting Poison Ivy causes -3 on all actions for 2 days (unless healed). Spoiled Supplies The supplies get spoiled. They need to make way to a village to get some more (or go hungry and thirsty). The way this is discovered is at least one person trying some or smelling the bad. A near village can be located with Area Lore. Barter will take place per who does it. Hugh is probably the best bet. Good relations will have the villagers offer up that they have seen a man out in the woods. He seems to be “friendly” with the animals. Bad Weather They are able to further track the bad guy or locate where to look based on the actions with the village. A couple of days from the village they find a makeshift altar. Another dead body (another loyalty/brave roll). The weather turns really bad (horrible storm). Margo can guess why. Area Lore for Hugh to remember some ruins they can wait it out in. Difficult hike, steep and very wet and slippery. Multiple botch dice. Athletics (Dex), Survival (Int), or Climbing (Per) required to make it to the ruins. Botch means damage from a tumble. Failure means longer exposure (and loss of long term fatigue, 1 per 3 points missed). In the ruins, the rains and wind come even harder. A landslide/mudslide occurs. The landslide has an initiative of -2. First actions count. The landslide will do +20 damage and a Size/Strength roll of 9+ is required to not be carried with it if you are hit. Once in it, an Athletics (Dex) roll of 9+ is required to escape without help. The ruins did some to protect. Getting caught in the open would have killed them. This is another opportunity for a brave/loyalty check. Scouring the Countryside A good tracking roll will allow group to find little tidbits of stuff in the woods. One of the captives is evidently leaving a slight trail. Failing that, they must use Survival to scour the countryside for signs of camps, or the like. This will take a couple of days either way. It will lead, ultimately, to a village. They can question the villages. This village is somewhat friendly to the Druid, know who he is, and someone knows where he lives. They will not willingly part with this information. The Druid’s Home He lives in a hut in the woods. It is guarded by two humongous scorpions. The trees in the area also join in the fight (mobile). He has various paraphernalia (herbs, blood, a bronze knife, leaves/branches, water in a silver bowl). He is not in evidence. That night, a big magic effect is felt by all the wizards. This is a bust. No further signs. Have to give up and head home. On the way back The village that they questioned are all dead, most in peculiar ways. Clearly something mystical killed them. Maybe more than one something. Some are burned to death (as well as some buildings; but not all) some died of poisoning, some just died (not clear how, but terrified). Looking around, they can find the water in the village is poisoned (quite virulently) and there are snake tracks leading away. Following the trail of the creature is not too tough. Look for dead things. It is headed roughly toward the covenant. They will have to decide what to do about that.

Lore Late spring and early summer in your new home have been gorgeous. The fields below the covenant are filled with beautiful blue flowers and a wonderful scent. The days grow warm and lazy early in the summer, but stay pleasant for much of the season. This clearly is a site worth its costs. The harvest of the Vis sources (Creo, Herbam and Vim) went fine, and things seemed to be running smoothly. Even the woodcarver and his wife were less annoying than usual. The middle of the summer was marked by the arrival of the Steward. He carried a letter signed by Bonisagus himself. The letter expressed regret over the lengthy, but necessary, delay in his arrival. It seems there were some difficulties in the Rhine Tribunal, and some serious illnesses among the leaders there. Preparations were delayed until those issues could be resolved. Then, on the heels of that disaster, the roads were beset by bandits (according to the reports from House Mercere), and men had to be dispatched to deal with the brigands, which left too small a contingent to safely escort the Steward. Then it was Winter. Finally, in Spring, the group managed to take off, but were delayed by the sinking of a boat (thankfully they were not on it!) and the need to acquire an alternate. But, here they are now, none the worse for wear. The Steward looked over the situation here, shook his head, clucked his tongue, and got straight to work. You did not realize how bad a shape things were in until he started correcting them. The late summer was marked by two events. First, an unseasonable fog poured out of the hills above the covenant one night. It rolled right up to the walls, but mysteriously stopped there. There was a strange clicking heard in the fog, and those on watch reported them, but the covenant did not seem threatened, so the Magi decided to watch and wait, fully expecting an attack in the night. Nothing came about, but in the morning when the fog burned off, the real intent of the attack became clear. The crops outside the walls were gone. Nothing but the nubs of the wheat remained. Upon examining the area, a number of grasshoppers were found in the area. It looked like locusts had descended and eaten all that was there. The creatures were natural, but the Magi could hardly credit anything but a mystical provocation to get so much to be eaten so quickly under the cover of night fog. This, of course, prompted the gathering of a buying expedition. You tried getting food first from Nohedes, and then from Prades, but they had similar problems with shortages. Even the Abbey had little to spare. So, Terryn, the Steward, and a magus (Kris’s Magus maybe?) set out with a group of men to get more food from Perpignan. A couple of days later, Inrisor and Filius returned to the Covenant. They told tales of derring-do (which would explain the wounded and singed condition of parties who shall remain unnamed). They highlighted their success against both Arabic war parties and an evil Basque shaman. As a second line of defense in what the grogs have come to call “the food war”, hunting parties were sent out. They always took a magus with them. The hunts ran into difficulties that, at first, were just attributed to bad luck (one guard slipped on a slope and caught his foot at a bad angle breaking his leg; a hunter was moving aside some rocks to get at some mushrooms and was bitten by a snake; another party was nearly killed when an old tree fell over in the midst of their party). It became clear over a short period of time that the forest was not safe. The hunting parties themselves were at times hunted and hounded back to the covenant walls by large packs of wolves (twenty or more; unheard of in the natural world), or found themselves the victim of multiple rockslides while out, or were unable to find any game because birds would be ahead of them in numbers enough to darken the sky and would chase the game out of the area. It became clear this really was a “food war” and was being waged by the same person or group who spoiled your stores in the winter. So far, no one has come up with a good idea for how to defeat this sort of attack. The biggest problem is that the root cause can not be spotted, found or tracked (and thus killed). The attacks are always oblique, never direct. As a result, hunting in the forest has been banned until a solution can be found. Reminders There are a number of things discovered, found, or acquired during recent adventures. Here is my list: Item From Effect Status Firestone covenant items capable of starting fires lost in Icon Lightstone covenant item produces light equivalent to daylight for sun duration at covenant Redcap’s cap Vignettes non-magical at covenant Short sword Vignettes unknown at covenant Redcap letter Vignettes A letter explaining that the Steward would be delayed at covenant Bottle of golden liquid Vignettes(found with Arabic sorcerer near Antaeus’ cave) unknown at covenant Ring Vignettes (acquired by Martain at festival) non-magical but suitable for making a magic item with Martain Season Amount Where Creo Vis Spring 1 pawn Under the granary Herbam Vis Spring 1 pawn Under the granary Vim Vis Summer 1 pawn Bee keeper Perdo Vis Spring 1 pawn Antaeus’ cave 3 pawns of perdo (identical to that found at Antaeus’ cave) By my understanding, a missive was sent to the Rhine Tribunal (your sponsors) regarding the things found with the redcap and informing them of his demise. Tiger - 2 a : a fierce, daring, or aggressive person or quality b : one (as a situation) that is formidable or impossible to control -- often used in the phrases ride a tiger and have a tiger by the tail Hugh Lore Your gang has periodic turnover. You lose guys for one reason or another (death, imprisonment, dissatisfaction). You currently have six guys. They are all from the Tough Guy template (p. 22). You have 12 total points to spend between Brave and Loyal personality traits for each (1 point of trait costs 1; -1 point yields an additional one; no scores above 3 or below -3). Parcel them out how you wish. (For Example: all six guys with +1 Brave and +1 Loyal; or 2 guys with +2 Brave, 2 guys with +2 Loyal, and 2 guys with +1 and +1; or 2 guys with -1 Brave and -1 Loyal, 2 guys with +3 Brave and +3 loyal, and 2 guys +2 Brave).