What did we learn? April gathering.

[jwconvery]

All locations referenced here are in the Duchy of Thorncryf.

Kobolds:
They are everywhere. They breed like bunnies and have no natural predators keeping the numbers in line.
As kobolds live longer they get stronger. Some can shadow walk, and use all kinds of martial prowess. Not just infinite gasses, strong pure fighters as well. Some kobolds that are getting fed blood by the 'Thirsters' are terrifyingly strong. Two separate sources of power for kobolds. Age and drinking dragon blood. A kobold might have both, one or neither. As such they are a wide range of difficulty for adventurers.

Two main groups of Kobolds.
--Spooky Tree tribe: Identified by a tattoo on their forehead. It's probably supposed to be something scary, but they're kobolds, not artists, so it looks like a radish, or a plant. Certainly seem like the 'eviler' group of kobolds. Connected to the Thirsters, and were trying to infiltrate the Hugemongus Rock tribe, for unknown reasons. Located in the forest south west of the mountains, north west of the lake.? Someone please confirm.
--Hugemongus rock Tribe: Led by Thaum, Troll Daddy. East side of the lake. 'Boots', an older kobold, was quite helpful. Gideon thinks the tribe should be left alone, but certainly defend yourself. The younger, undisciplined rock tribe kobolds might not follow Thaums directions.

Thaum: not sure if that is spelled right. Also goes by TrollDaddy. Has respect for the adventurers. If you want to talk to him prepare for a fight, because troll. In a vision, he seemed like pure power of Nature. As caring as a tsunami, as intellectual as a forest. He is greatly threatened and concerned with the dark energy flowing out of Stonerest.

Shadow walking: Stay connected when travelling in the shadows. "Haha funny joke I'm going to let go" Enjoy your short cold life alone in darkness, and you've killed everyone behind you. Red eyed Shadows search for heat. If anyone sees an open portal to shadow, it's a big problem.

Thirsters: They drink dragon blood to gain power. Very strong fighters with powerful and unique martial skills. Gideon suggests a lot of alchemy if you assault them.
--Currently in possession of Jared Silverstar. They are holding him in the mountains on the north west side of the duchy. He is alive, and being used as a blood distillery. They make him drink blood, then drain it and drink it again for bonus power. Unsure where the initial dragon blood in coming from. They are trying to break Jared's mind.
--Very Very strong fighters.

Obelisks: Some kind of structures anchoring the floating mist pocket plane of Thorncryf. If we want Throncryf to stick around, we need to do something with them. Banradi?

Stonerest: Some form of dark ugly energy connecting Stonerest to the Shell of Order surrounding all the everything. Oni on the outside off the shell trying to get in. Oni in Stonerest, or Stonerest itself is connected to it. Thaum is very concerned about it. Not connected to planar war. Gideon is investigating.

Freyguard Nation: Basically jerks. "This is our land" blah blah. Very interested in any decent weapons, will steal them if given a chance. Quite smart and crafty. Also live near the lake, probably being corrupted by it.

Tainted Lake: It's big and it's at the center of a lot of groups. Something is in, or wrong with, the lake. It's slowly tainting those that live around it, which is a lot of people and groups. This 'may' be connected to the water issues we found in the north by Fort SomethingOrOther. Throncryf water comes through the mists. So a common problem might be the source. Not connected to planar war.

Planar War: A planar war is brewing. Both in Thorncryf and the other place we live. Unsure who is propagating it. Nigel, the lightning guy, came into town with a dust guy escort. Some form of currency/bartering passed verbally between them as Nigel was trying to give us information. Boots said that was how they fought.
Evidence of the planar war we've seen:
--A Chaos 'tear', not a node. Required a Limited circle to be placed around it, and the chaos energy itself eventually collapsed the tear.
--Perpetual Forest Fire in Thorncryf. Wind and fire fighting each other. Adventurers slowly killed the elementals, and things died down.
--Blocked river. Stone elementals were fighting water and Ice elementals in the North by Fort SomethingOrOther. Adventurers killed the elements there as well.
Things to remember about a planar war:
--The Prime plane loses.
--Don't pick sides. The proper fight is for balance.
--The main enemy is whoever is disturbing the balance. Find that entity and deal with them.

Kingdom of Alacar: They want to attack a small elven group near them maybe? It'll probably start a war, I think? Sir Mathis?

Duke Hayword: The rumors of his brutal murdering of a family were incorrect. Unsure what the truth is. Lady Cyn?

Renaut: Rich land owner, used to be a Noble. Has a master golem catalyst for sale. Trying to get back into Duke Haywords good graces. Trying to form a trade route around the lake, through Thaum's lands.

Hent Loyalists: They're around. Unsure how the Duke would want them dealt with.

I'm going to start some particular dreamings to cover the problems to discuss specific strategy.

Feel free to put stuff you learned here.

-Gideon

 

[Banradi]

Gideon,

Obelisks: Some kind of structures anchoring the floating mist pocket plane of Thorncryf. If we want Throncryf to stick around, we need to do something with them. Banradi?

To provide information on the obelisks at your request, a man hired by Duke Hayward (Dulayne) came to visit the adventurers to help him with field research. There are a number of these obelisks around that are keeping the plane afloat. We took a small group at Dulayne's suggestion, however we will need to come back with substantially more people to research more, as we were consistently attacked by extremely experienced kobolds (Shadow walking, blade skills, and so on). Understanding these obelisks will allow us to keep Thorncryf from detaching from Kundirk and moving to another plane. Once the obelisks no longer need to do this task, I can manipulate them and add them to the current Waymaker Network, allowing for faster travel within the duchy.

Also of note in case it was not understood in my notes above... The leaking chaos around is due to the fact that Thorncryf is in the process of detaching from Kundirk. People have seen this process take as little as a week, but also in some cases up to 5 years. We should focus on this with high priority if we desire to keep the duchy around.

Safe Travels,
Banradi Irani Moduri Newberry
Waymaker

 

[Banradi]

Hi Gideon,

Thank you again for sharing this information. There are many things here that I was unaware of. Here is some additional information I may be able to provide, as well as some additional questions.

Kingdom of Alacar: They want to attack a small elven group near them maybe? It'll probably start a war, I think? Sir Mathis?

If what you are saying is true, this would be a very bad thing. The Celestine Elves (Greater Elves with Glowing Blue Eyes) live nearby them. There are only a few of them left in existence (3?). They are master formalists, and without whose help we almost certainly would have lost the war against Bleak. I can absolutely see a war starting over this. Who told you this information?

Shadow walking: Stay connected when travelling in the shadows. "Haha funny joke I'm going to let go" Enjoy your short cold life alone in darkness, and you've killed everyone behind you. Red eyed Shadows search for heat. If anyone sees an open portal to shadow, it's a big problem.

Where did you receive this information? Do you know anything more than what you've already shared? What does a portal to shadow look like? Where is "Shadow"? How does one travel via shadow? Why is it dangerous to let go? What does a shadow look like, other than having red eyes? Why do they search for heat? Why is an open portal to shadow a big problem? Is shadow walking different than shadow rifting?

Stonerest: Some form of dark ugly energy connecting Stonerest to the Shell of Order surrounding all the everything. Oni on the outside off the shell trying to get in. Oni in Stonerest, or Stonerest itself is connected to it. Thaum is very concerned about it. Not connected to planar war. Gideon is investigating.

Oni are always trying to get to the prime plane. This is not surprising. The Order Wall is where the Oni live. The Order Wall is what keeps Void out. The wall is built in the completely opposite dimension from Void, so we should be completely protected, however this "dark ugly energy" is still extremely concerning and should be looked into soon. Who provided this information?

Safe Travels,
Banradi Irani Moduri Newberry
Waymaker

 

[jwconvery]

The leaking chaos around is due to the fact that Thorncryf is in the process of detaching from Kundirk.

I was mistaken. I thought Nigel said it was part of the planar war.

If what you are saying is true, this would be a very bad thing. The Celestine Elves (Greater Elves with Glowing Blue Eyes) live nearby them. There are only a few of them left in existence (3?). They are master formalists, and without whose help we almost certainly would have lost the war against Bleak. I can absolutely see a war starting over this. Who told you this information?

This information came from Nigel, a lightning Elemental. Who was very happy to get us this information, despite his Dust Elemental escort. Sloane or Sir Mathis seemed to have a better understanding of the situation. I was talking to someone else at the time of their conversation.

Where did you receive this information? Do you know anything more than what you've already shared? What does a portal to shadow look like? Where is "Shadow"? How does one travel via shadow? Why is it dangerous to let go? What does a shadow look like, other than having red eyes? Why do they search for heat? Why is an open portal to shadow a big problem? Is shadow walking different than shadow rifting?

This information came from Boots, an older Kobold sent into town by Thaum. He helped us travel around the duchy, using it. Shadow portals didn't seem like a common occurrence, but dangerous if left open. The Shadows could use an open portal to come into our world and kidnap living things. In our experience, Boots would bring us into Shadow, with the adventurers remaining in contact with each other, then we tried to stealth by the creatures with red eyes. Boots said the creatures search for living things using heat, and then presumably consume it. All we saw were the eyes. No idea about the rest of their look. Boots from the Hugemongus Rock tribe would probably have more information. Shadow Walking, may not be the proper name. It's what I called it. Walking seems to be more overland travel using portals. It seemed quite different what some were saying the older Kobolds were doing during combat. Boots might know that as well, but he did not demonstrate it in front of us.

Oni are always trying to get to the prime plane. This is not surprising. The Order Wall is where the Oni live. The Order Wall is what keeps Void out. The wall is built in the completely opposite dimension from Void, so we should be completely protected, however this "dark ugly energy" is still extremely concerning and should be looked into soon. Who provided this information?

I visioned Thaum on an unrelated matter, trying to determine his level of threat against trade caravans going through his lands. The vision did not proceed normally. Thaum seemed to notice I was visioning him, took my consciousness and control of the vision. He showed me the wall and the energy connection in Stonerest. I got the sense that the energy was in direct opposition to his being. His reason for showing me seemed to be, he was insulted I thought him a threat, when such other things were around to be dealt with. Of course, all of this information came in a vision, but it is my interpretation of what I saw.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. The more everyone knows the better.

-Gideon

 

[Banradi]

Thank you Gideon. This is helpful.

Banradi Irani Moduri Newberry
Waymaker

 

[brconvery]

Boots said shadow walking is for fast travel. A few steps in the shadows covers 10 to hundreds of feet in the real world. The shadows take people for heat as Gideon said. The shadows send a copy of that person into the real world to try to lure others into the shadows. Says it's cause the shadows are cold.