Posted June 15, 2022, 7:44 p.m. by Ensign Kovan ch'Sirhc (Engineering & Communications Officer) (Abigail G)
Posted by Gamemaster CockRoach (GM) in Main Sim - Alien Planet - Landing Party 2 Inside Valiki
[snip]Spitting a thick wad of phlegm in disgust to the side into the lake Marzo gave the group another go over, “..You all here about that huh? Well I guess you all probably ran into these two when they tried slipping a little something something from your pockets and you caught’em right?” he said the last part directed to the girls who just shrugged. Waving it off then he made a ‘shooing’ gesture to the girls, who without another word made to run off the boat. “..Bah whatever, so you outlander folks want to know about that magic light show north east of here huh?..” he said turning back to begin winding thick rope for later use into bundles.
Rand stopped the girls as they started to run past. Keeping one hand on her bags to make sure they didn’t pocket something else, she dropped the coins into the nameless girl’s hand and let them be on their way.
Nearby two more men of similar stance like Marso were on the aft port side of the large fishing boat who gave gazes to the group too, along the forward starboard bow a woman with much whiter skin, and more elfen like pointed ears was busy sewing up some sails she did not seem to be giving the newcomers much notice beyond a simple glance.
Roman turned to the man who the girls had introduced as Marzo and nodded. “We are. We… research these kinds of events. We came a long way when we heard about it.” He said to Marzo. It wasn’t technically a lie.
Kovan eyed Marzo and his crew. If this goes south on thin ice their group could be in trouble. It was clear that the people of this town did not favor “outlanders” and any kind of altercation now would only end badly for their landing party. Best they get the information they needed and find a place to lay low for a while. Too much attention on their group. . . Kovan stepped forward, “You could say magic is a specialty of ours.” He said, in a calm, almost indifferent tone.
Marzo gave Roman his first look, “..Research huh,” he followed that with a more annoyed look at Kovan, “..magic specialty huh? Bah you outlanders are always poking your noses where they shouldn’t go. Last bunch that went poking their noses around strange happenings like this two of them came back to Valiki ranting crazy nonsense and having a desire to sacrifice people and drink their blood! Took those Sunkisser folks over a month to track those two down and deal with’em! By that point they’d killed 8 children and 2 adults to who knows what evil nonsense!” he spat off to the side of the boat then putting down a wrapped up bundle of rope.
Sighing then he shook his head, “..Whatever, you stupid outlanders want to go poke your noses into this light show nonsense, that’s on you, but if you all die, go crazy, or become twisted flesh eating monsters you better not come looking for my hide or crew!” he said.
Turning back to the bow he pointed off to the north-east. “..Was about a few days ago, my boat and crew were up along one of our usual fishing spots along the north-eastern shore of Lake Zarovich here. There’s a small deep water inlet that lets boats like mine find even primer choice spots about a mile off the lake down a side river. By that point you’re pretty far east along ole Barovia’s countryside, in fact if you wanted you could probably trek overland within a day or so through the Slavich Woods to Barovia Village proper. Assuming you survive all the wolf and worg attacks.” pausing he seemed to realize he was getting off track, “..Anyhow it was nearing sundown so my crew and I were bolting down the boat for safety with the coming night. About 4 hours after night fell a gloomy grey storm clouds rolled over the sky from the east further on. Next thing we see this eerie white-blue glow spark up from the mountain side over Barovia Village..” he then paused again seeming to make a strange gesture with his hands, likely some local superstious gesture to ward off evil or spirits. His crew did the same, though the elven woman seemed to do something different. “..Looked like it was coming from The Devil’s Castle..” he said in a much lower tone of voice, “..the blue-white glow seemed to be like covering a huge swath of the mountain area up there, and we all swore even from this distance we could hear a weird humming sound on the wind. The air seemed charged, no doubt from the strange magics afoot, and then suddenly there was this land and air shattering ‘pop’ sound and the magics ended as did the light show. Well after seeing all that my crew and I decided screw bedding down on the Lake, we risked rowing back to the docks here even at night with the risk of unknown night horrors in the sky or under the water..” he finished.
Roman gave a dubious look to the rest of the crew, and then turned back to Marzo. “Any chance we could catch a ride up that way?” He’d love to see more of the environment here, but those animals sounded less than safe, and he didn’t really want to spend a whole day trekking their way up there. On the other hand, with how superstitious these people seemed to be, he’d understand if Marzo said no.
~ Lt Cmdr Alden, XO/CSO
Rand studied their body language and mannerisms. The more she watched the more she would be able to blend in, such as picking up that sign to ward off evil. Getting a ride on the boat would certainly get them closer to the disturbance. Given how superstitious they were acting, if they agreed they would want a hefty sum. But out in the wilderness they could get more supplies from the Sentinel.
Yeoman Rand
Marzo rubbed his chin, eyeing the sky line. The murky overcast morning sun just barely peeking through in spots. “..Well it would be a tight run, but wind is with us and if you all provide extra rowing power my boat could make it there and back before night falls. It’ll be a hard row though, so I hope you all got muscles to spare..” he said. “..Plus taking the time out to make that trip is time out my crew and I loose preparation for tomorrow’s fishing run to the west, meaning we’ll have to put it off a day which means loss of our profits. So…” Marzo rubbed his chin thoughtfully again, “..Gonna need at least say 30 gold Wolf Fangs to cover that loss and still turn a profit later..” he said.
Thankfully the group together had the 30 gold wolf head marked coins put between them. It would mean that their overall coinage would be left with 9 gold, 50 silver, and 60 copper after the girls had taken the bunch Rand had.
GM CockRoach
Ugh. Hard labor. Kovan wasn’t excited about the prospect but if it would save them time then sacrifices were to be made. He caught the XO’s gaze and subtly nodded. They should have that coinage. After that Kovan got to examining Marzo’s recollection of the “magic” they witnessed, attempting to come up with theories behind each phenomenon described and how it matched the damage in the clearing that they investigated themselves. He recalled the strange radiation he found and his calculations of the trajectory.
Ensign ch’Sirhc COMMO/ENGR
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