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02:34, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Hooves and Bunny Slippers.

Posted by BenFor group 0
Scolo
NPC, 366 posts
Parsnips and turnips,
that was good!
Tue 10 Sep 2013
at 01:57
  • msg #76

Re: Centaurs in the City

I'd be happy to move forward.

By the way, was there a spell or anything Mimay gave Scolo? It's no big deal, but if there is something ill add it to my sheet.

Also - do you want me to pick things I'm good or bad at?
Eadoin
player, 1096 posts
Adopted son of Charox
and Cora
Tue 10 Sep 2013
at 16:13
  • msg #77

Re: Centaurs in the City

That would be grand.  As the first major portion of my fall projects wind down in a couple of weeks, I'm hoping my semi-exile shall come to an end.  It'd be good to catch up after our tour of Belgica.
Ben
GM, 11978 posts
The Guy in Charge Here
Wed 11 Sep 2013
at 01:47
  • msg #78

Re: Centaurs in the City

Scolo and Eadoin hit the trail.

Melissa gets them back on the road the next day, and the head east towards Mos Trajectum.  The journey takes a few days, even though they make the trip with a minimum of distractions.  (How they manage this with Scolo is anybody's guess.)

As they travel, they draw a lot of attention... at least, the Centaurs do.  Eadoin actually has more than he started with, since Mayez and the others who joined at Hiricio haven't left yet.  Centaurs have a natural inclination towards travel, and they seem to think the journey isn't over yet.

Traveling with a group of Centaurs, Melissa and Scolo are virtually anonymous.
Scolo and Eadoin hit the trail.

Melissa gets them back on the road the next day, and the head east towards Mos Trajectum.  The journey takes a few days, even though they make the trip with a minimum of distractions.  (How they manage this with Scolo is anybody's guess.)

As they travel, they draw a lot of attention... at least, the Centaurs do.  Eadoin actually has more than he started with, since Mayez and the others who joined at Hiricio haven't left yet.  Centaurs have a natural inclination towards travel, and they seem to think the journey isn't over yet.

After crossing the countryside of eastern Belgica, the mob reaches Mos Trajectum.

Here, they were supposed to rendezvous with Theoderic and the others.  But.. something has gone awry.  There is no sign of any of the others here.

And we have a Mos Trajectum visitor's guide:

http://europa512adgame.pbworks...5235/Mos%20Trajectum
Ben
GM, 12011 posts
The Guy in Charge Here
Thu 19 Sep 2013
at 00:29
  • msg #79

Re: Centaurs in the City

Somewhat befuddled by what seems to be the king's inability to follow his own plan, Scolo, Eadoin, Melissa and the others try to figure out what's happened.

After making some inquiries in the town, they find out two things:  First, a nobleman named Heolstor was here with a sizable war band, and they left for the east, across the Mos Trajectum bridge, headed into “Hun Country”.  But no king with them.  That much was certain.

They also find, in the marina on the north end of town, an Elven boatman, who handles one of the Swan boats that frequently travel up and down the Meuse.  His is a smaller boat, typically used for routine trading runs, and he has recently come from the nearby Elven town of Lutosa.  Eadoin knows the Elven boats- he’s ridden in a few.  There are more than one that come this way, and he’s never met this particular boatman, but there’s some overlap in the names they know.

The Elf reports that a large party crossed the river south of here, at Lutosa, and traveled east.  He doesn’t know if that was the king, but from his description it certainly sounds like the kind of party Theoderic would be in.

Eadoin and Scolo know of only one Elf woman who travels with a Unicorn.
Scolo
NPC, 367 posts
Parsnips and turnips,
that was good!
Thu 19 Sep 2013
at 14:25
  • msg #80

Re: Centaurs in the City

OOC- Huh while I was traveling there must have been a problem posting this message.
FYI I rolled sanity for Scolo on arrival to Montiacum it was BAD

He is totally nuts highly magical and shooting at shadows and ranting on about the consequences of letting his organs enter into a collective bargaining agreement. It was a really good post but I don't have time to rewrite all of it now. Needless to say he may be a bit of a burden and not a help for figuring out where Theoderic is.


Damn it all lets go east! There's a scrum of lumfruckers schlanking that way -
I'LL GET YOU ! GAMSCHMAKIT!
Never let a lumfrucker sit on your gravity well - they skient. And it deGauses your Thaumetic field. I feel so hollow ... No helmet!


Scolo grabs his cooking pot and puts it over his head. He launches a fryer ball producing several succulent fried doves for dinner and continues shouting curses at the Lumfruckers.
...
Ben
GM, 12019 posts
The Guy in Charge Here
Fri 20 Sep 2013
at 15:46
  • msg #81

Re: Centaurs in the City


Despite the ramblings, Melissa gets the basic gist out it:  We’re going east.
She’d like to have a little time here to get some advance information about what lies “east” if she can, but today is not a good day to do it.  Scolo needs her attention.  It’s days like this… if he’s not watched, he’s liable to leave something magical just lying around, forgotten.

It prompts a thought:  stories are full of old magical things, lying around forgotten.  Did they have wizards like Scolo?  How strange is Scolo, after all?  Melissa hadn’t met all that many wizards, and those she knew who served the Blackguard were all somewhat “off” in their thinking.  Not in the way Scolo was, but definitely, a few crooked arrows in the quiver.  Maybe magic always did that to people, sooner or later.

So she gets the Centaurs to gather some information, as she gets Scolo ready to go.

 “Your slippers, where are they packed?  Are you sure?  Let me check.  No, no, this is breakfast, it won’t talk to you.  That’s toast.”

The way east, they learn, is the Mos Trajectum Bridge.

The Mos Trajectum bridge, around here simply called “The Bridge” is the reason the town exists- it is the only bridge over the Meuse for many miles, and across it, the Via Belgica connects all of Belgica to the northern Rhine area.

It is a great stone bridge, with multiple arches, wide enough for two lanes of wheeled traffic with pedestrians passing to the side.  Carvings of the Roman gods, and tributes to the emperors line the bridge, and there are still lamps on poles.  The ancient magic still works, and the lamps still have a soft- though reduced- glow.  .

On the Mos Trajectum side of the bridge, the west bank, the bridge entrance faces a large commercial plaza, the Mosae Forum. 

On the far side, the east bank, the bridge landing is surrounded by a maze of ruins, mostly just walls and tumbled piles of stone, brick, and moss.  This is the remains of the town that once occupied the east bank, across from Mos Trajectum.  It has been laid waste.  There is nothing to be looted here- these ruins have been fought over for years.  The ruins provide hiding places for the scouts of both sides, and those who have crossed the bridge … know that this is the first place one is likely to encounter some force of the enemy.  Since the battle, though, Huns have been few here- if anything, just scouts, here to observe the city.

The far side has been scouted often- Duke Gwalthus of Mos Trajectum sends regular patrols there.  But he knows he cannot hold the far side of the bridge, so he does not even try.  It is a “no man’s land”, patrolled, but not controlled, by both sides.
Scolo
NPC, 368 posts
Parsnips and turnips,
that was good!
Fri 27 Sep 2013
at 16:39
  • msg #82

Re: Centaurs in the City

Scolo follows the Lumfruckers waving wildly until they come down on the bridge and he sees her, she looks angry and hurt and .... What is it?

He slows watching

Wait!
He says to the Centaurs

She works for him! It's an ambush -
He whispers with intensity and then He disappears.

760 feet looks a lot farther when you are falling than when you are running ... But it goes by so fast so very fast.

Scolo feels the wind in his hair and he sees his friends Melissa and the centaurs near the bridge. Yes the bridge there was something about that ... It's someone he could see a reason he was now falling toward it ... Falling ... That can hurt sometimes like when you fall really far.

Scolo looks at his hands ... The bridge looks empty ... But there was an idea ... An ambush on the bridge. But for whome?

He sees her now - Zerova. She works for him. It was her ambush he screams at her while falling a scream that does immense damage but she doesn't notice she is being killed attacked by someone else.

He looks around this was a good idea to attack from above but ... What was he missing .. Oh yeah! Feather fall!

He casts the spell and it slows his fall so fast his skirts go up and he can't see. He swings his bag randomly at the ghost of Zerova the quickiron making it as hard as an iron club. And he falls on the bridge swinging and sputtering with magic sparkles off his bag until he sees the shade of her dead body - does she speak ? He falls lying next to her on the bridge when the others come for him.

That'll teach you! I've still schlanked a trick or two!
He says breathing heavy.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear mutters Edgar.
Ben
GM, 12047 posts
The Guy in Charge Here
Mon 30 Sep 2013
at 02:01
  • msg #83

Re: Centaurs in the City

Melissa takes a deep breath.  This is the moment  This bridge is the dividing line between “safe” land and the Huns' territory, and it is here that Scolo chooses to...

wait... he seems to be talking about what happened here.  In the past.

Wizards had strange senses, didn't they? Wizard sight, some said.  They could see forces and things that others couldn't.

Was he sensing something here?  Was he insane?  Or more sane?

There are people here who know more about what happened than she does... but Melissa cannot leave Scolo now.  So she sends back a pair of the Centaurs, with instructions.

And she takes Scolo's hand.

“It's me, Melissa,:” she says, just in case.  “Walk with me, across the bridge. What are you seeing?”
Scolo
NPC, 369 posts
Parsnips and turnips,
that was good!
Thu 3 Oct 2013
at 14:52
  • msg #84

Re: Centaurs in the City

Scolo looks up - Melissa yes
Well - right here they've got her hmmmm don't you see her and her enemies?


He stands looking around he had spent a lot of magic and is beginning to clear - the Lumfruckers are gone ...

I see Zerova - wicked girl - she was with the emperor .... Hmmm she died here I think. Left a big psi vector.

He stands up stretching his back and smacking his lips.
That was a long fall - it would have worked I think.

Hmmmmm .... Okay lets go!


He looks at the grisly scene as it fades... Then he moves on.
Ben
GM, 12074 posts
The Guy in Charge Here
Sat 5 Oct 2013
at 02:12
  • msg #85

Re: Centaurs in the City




On the far side, the east bank, the bridge landing is surrounded by a maze of ruins, mostly just walls and tumbled piles of stone, brick, and moss.  This is the remains of the town that once occupied the east bank, across from Mos Trajectum.  It has been laid waste.  There is nothing to be looted here- these ruins have been fought over for years.  The ruins provide hiding places for the scouts of both sides, and those who have crossed the bridge… such as Leanna… know that this is the first place one is likely to encounter some force of the enemy.  Since the battle, though, Huns have been few here- if anything, just scouts, here to observe the city.

They watch warily as the move through the decaying remnants of what was once the east side of Mos Trajectum.  This area was built low to the river plain, and parts of it close to the water actually appear to be slowly sinking.  (That is, on a year by year scale, not like you're going to see it!)

It's the kind of place where imagination can play tricks- the creaking of old beams, a stone occasionally skittering down from a pile of rubble, a rat running through shadows.  But as yet, no real signs of opposition.

The Centaurs notice the tracks first.

"Hooves, but pairs, not fours!" says one.

"Too large and too deep for Satyrs.  Minotaurs," says another.

"But going away... east, where we are going," the first concludes.
Scolo
NPC, 370 posts
Parsnips and turnips,
that was good!
Wed 9 Oct 2013
at 02:09
  • msg #86

Re: Centaurs in the City

Scolo wanders in following and wonders at bits of trivia as they talk.
Are miniatures vegetarians? Oh Minotaurs, yes that's right ... I suppose they are, hmmm because the teeth are like a cow ... But the belly is like a man? And legs like a cow or just the feet? Seems unstable do they trip easy?
What about thier stools? They can't get as much roughage as a cow with a mans belly - are they privy users or do they just drop as they walk?

Ben
GM, 12091 posts
The Guy in Charge Here
Fri 11 Oct 2013
at 01:12
  • msg #87

Re: Centaurs in the City

The Centaurs gather closer, and keep their weapons at the ready.

"What's going on?" Melissa asks.

"We do not know if they are near," Mayez explains.  "Minotaurs are brutish but cunning. They can lay traps and ambushes, and coupled with their strength makes them dangerous.  The tracks seem straightforward, but they might simply have put them here to be followed, and intend to lead us into a trap."

"You know much about them, I think."  Melissa says.

"They share some of our history.  In ancient days, when the light of mankind was on the shores of the Aegean and Rome not yet a village, Centaurs and Minotaurs lived on the fringes of Human civilization.  A great Human king captured a legendary Minotaur and imprisoned him, and used him as a living torture device.  He would have subject peoples send victims to be killed by the Minotaur.  Yet, the Minotaur was a prisoner.  Minotaurs have always hated Humans."

"Are we following the tracks?"  Melissa looked around.  Whatever subtle marks the Centaurs had spotted, she was oblivious to.

She tried Scolo.

"Scolo... is there a spell you might have that would reveal the presence of enemies?"
Scolo
NPC, 371 posts
Parsnips and turnips,
that was good!
Fri 11 Oct 2013
at 10:25
  • msg #88

Re: Centaurs in the City

Hmmmm ... Yes I could call on a cattle dog to round them up. Big fella maybe a thousand pounds of hair and teeth wit a super sniffer.
But that would lead to a fight for sure ... They are a herd - you are a herd. They hate people and for good reason. Hiding is logical for them.
Maybe Eadoin should talk first? Invite a parlay and ask for terms to pass their territory? Or ask about the king hmmm?

If they don't talk I can call the dog.


Scolo is looking down and figuring as he talks
Ben
GM, 12101 posts
The Guy in Charge Here
Mon 14 Oct 2013
at 01:09
  • msg #89

Re: Centaurs in the City

Melissa watches Scolo worriedly as they walk along.

"I don't know what he's doing." she tells Mayez the Centaur worriedly.  "But it is something... he is looking for something.  Wizards have special sight."

The Centaur has figured out by now the woman's "cover for Scolo" mode.  Why such commitment, though.. that is less obvious.

Mayez points out a few obvious marks.  She is not one of the more experienced trackers, but the Centaurs are wilderness nomads, and almost everyone has some experience with "reading" the forest floor.  ”It is not only Minotaurs, Melissa, many others have passed this way.  Humans, some with horses.  And Elves."

”Do you think they were following the Minotuars, or the Minotaurs following them?"

"I doubt they were traveling together.  But no doubt the Minotaurs felt this was too great of a force to defeat.  They do not have the same mindless rage as some others.  I think it was Theoderic.  He was supposed to be going this way."

They walk eastwards, following the tracks in part because it is the only sensible way to go.  By early afternoon, they are approaching a prominent rocky bluff with an old ruined fort atop it.  The tracks split up.  The Minotaurs went straight for it.  Everyone else wheeled around but at a respectful distance.

The Centaurs think they ought to do the same.
Scolo
NPC, 372 posts
Parsnips and turnips,
that was good!
Mon 14 Oct 2013
at 03:25
  • msg #90

Re: Centaurs in the City

One may recall in the heady days of the longboats, when Scolo was or seemed for time to be completely sane. He enjoyed then taking walks with Melissa and discussing her interests and future. He made several hints about his own fears and dreams at that time and promised to bring back his sanity, even if only for a time periodically as they go forward. His to do list reminds him of this promise as they ride along - following the centaurs. After a good long time of talking to himself as his mule walks slowly Scolo seems to awake as if from a trance. He takes off his hat and runs fingers through his hair and beard.

Hmmmm I could use a trim. He wonders.

He looks at his list and smiles then looks up at Melissa. Hello my dear, it has been a few days since I recall talking. hmmmm look - it seems we are straggling behind the king yes? And with Minotaurs of uncertain disposition at the fort.

He remains with the bulk of the force wheeling around away from the fort. He conjures his dog- dire wolves to keep nose and ears alert for other company or any strangers as they
Ben
GM, 12115 posts
The Guy in Charge Here
Wed 16 Oct 2013
at 00:12
  • msg #91

Re: Centaurs in the City


One of the Centaur warriors trots up to Melissa and Scolo.

"We are unmatched in running battles through trees or meadow," he says.  "But as we have just discussed with Eadoin, we are noticeably lacking when it comes to storming hilltop forts.  Or most adventures involving a steep climb."

The Centaur Consensus holds that skirting around, where the non-Minotaur tracks are, is in fact the wiser thing to do.

"Probably caves up in there anyway," the Centaur comments, with a suspicious eye cast towards the rocky hilltop.

There is another surprise involving tracks.

Just past the rocky hilltop, the road they have been following- the main road that connects Belgica to the Rhine River (the very reason for the existence of Mos Trajectum) continues straight ahead.  As it has for centuries.  It's supposed to do that.  But all the tracks veer south, into a broad, gentle looking valley.  There's no road there, but there is a wide brook flowing down through the middle, and lots of trees.

"If they went that way, it's a very pleasant way," Mayez says.
Scolo
NPC, 373 posts
Parsnips and turnips,
that was good!
Wed 16 Oct 2013
at 02:53
  • msg #92

Re: Centaurs in the City

Wouldn't think of it. Old forts are best left alone eh? But fluffy here will cover our backs.
Scolo says whimsically as he indicates the fiendish dire wolf the he just summoned.

Fluffy looks vicious, and eager and is larger than many of the centaurs.

Ooooh a pretty meadow ... Yes I agree lets go.

Edgar takes flight for some exercise, and also to remain out of fluffys reach.

Ill er ... Watch from up here then. Says Edgar.

As they walk, Scolo uses his new sanity to talk with Melissa. Remembering the places they've seen and wondering if there is a city she could imagine living in. When he is feeling sane Scolo really enjoys talking wit Melissa. He wants to be seen as a real person and not a dangerous ward.
Eadoin
player, 1098 posts
Adopted son of Charox
and Cora
Wed 16 Oct 2013
at 05:20
  • msg #93

Re: Centaurs in the City

In the intervening days, Eadoin would allow that he has been somewhat fey.  At times, he's seemed perhaps as distracted as Scolo.  In the young Centaur's case, it's far more about gathering wool than wandering in far realms in contemplation of the identifiable patterns within chaos.

Rather, he's been lost in his own head, travelling the border road between his own tendency to daydream and his periodic reverie with his Epona.  After long weeks of saying nothing at all about the goddess he calls the "White Mare", more than once along the way through Belgica, others might catch him staring at nothing more than a leaf falling or a bird flying, giving rapt attention to the garter snakes that make their presence known in spring or to the sound of wind through dry grass.

What he doesn't say aloud is that for weeks he's not heard his goddess.  The voice that held him rapt from his earliest memories was silent, the rustling of leaves nothing more than a movement of wind.  He's begun to hear Her voice again, feel the occasional warmth of breath on mornings that's still cool.  The young Centaur seems to find himself again in the regard of his goddess.

Outside the city and east into wilder lands, he says quietly, "Sorry, did someone say something about minotaurs?"

He looks somewhat confusedly at the summoned wolf Scolo creates, then up at the ruined hill fort, then back to those assembled.  "Umm…Is there something we're after up there?"
Scolo
NPC, 374 posts
Parsnips and turnips,
that was good!
Thu 17 Oct 2013
at 00:46
  • msg #94

Re: Centaurs in the City

Scolo smiles at the wistful dreamer.

It's all right nothing to bother with. Just enjoy the walk

Edgar moans in the air dramatically.
Eadoin
player, 1100 posts
Adopted son of Charox
and Cora
Thu 17 Oct 2013
at 22:45
  • msg #95

Re: Centaurs in the City

As if one needs to tell Eadoin to enjoy a walk in the early spring!  It's certainly a fine time of year with clear and cold mornings, everything holding its breath against the final graspings of winter as it departs.  Some druids pay homage to this faerie court or to the seasons, to this wood or to that field.  Others, follow a path that leads from birth to death, circling around in endless cycles of renewal.

Eadoin's calling, though, is generation, the coming together that leads to children of all kinds.  Autumn is his season, and spring!  They dance togther as equal partners between equinox and solstice, though never touch.  His omens are the harvest, the hooved stock both wild and domestic in the rut, courting swans, and nesting swallows.  Fledglings and the fox with her kits herald in his holy days.  There is little reason to tell the young Centaur to enjoy a single thing.

While inexperienced as a scout, he's well-trained and quite talented.  Whether its tracking the army or just finding lunch, Eadoin is in his element, his season, and in the renewed graces of his goddess.

Easily, he comments, "I'm torn, really.  If there's something watching the road, we should at least let others know."
Scolo
NPC, 375 posts
Parsnips and turnips,
that was good!
Fri 18 Oct 2013
at 12:57
  • msg #96

Re: Centaurs in the City

The Minotaurs? I'm sure they'll be okay.

The army already came through we are following them.


Scolo walks along occasionally chatting as he goes comepletely ignouing the beast he has watching their backs.
Ben
GM, 12139 posts
The Guy in Charge Here
Sat 19 Oct 2013
at 02:49
  • msg #97

Re: Centaurs in the City

“We are behind them, and not them behind us,” Mayez says.  “So yes, we should let the others know of the Minotaurs and their lair on the hill, but the only way to do it is to catch up with them.  We should keep moving, and camp out of sight of that hill, and then move again as soon as we can.  “

“It's been a long day of travel,” Melissa says.  And it has.  But it's nothing unusual for Centaurs.  Other than Eadoin, they were raised doing this.

“Not too much longer,” Mayez says.  “But we must be out of sight of the hill when we camp.”

It takes until early evening, with the sun already setting, before the Centaurs are confident of a place.  They are in a wide, gentle valley, lush and green with spring growth, with a swift moving brook running down the middle of it.
Eadoin
player, 1101 posts
Adopted son of Charox
and Cora
Mon 21 Oct 2013
at 22:27
  • msg #98

Re: Centaurs in the City

Despite the danger, Eadoin's beside himself, as if the rising sap of the green world coming alive moves his soul in similar fashion.  He's grown quite a bit in the last few months, but is still all legs and knees and angles, hinting he's years yet to go before he fills out that frame.

The young Centaur takes the time to circle the little valley, sticking to shadows and copses along the way.  He leaves no trail as he goes, but he spends some time looking along the trails at the edge of the wood and where they cross the little stream, endeavoring to see which creatures call this vale home and which ones have simply passed through.
Scolo
NPC, 378 posts
Parsnips and turnips,
that was good!
Wed 23 Oct 2013
at 02:16
  • msg #99

Re: Centaurs in the City

When a Fiendish Dire Wolf is summoned from the depths of hell by a powerful wizard and forced to obey, it can expect many things to happen. In all the imaginings of such a beast, the idea they would be so terribly coerced into an afternoon of prancing through the countryside with a pack of Centaurs smelling flowers and a couple of mules with dull riders smelling like rabbit and just chatting away in the sunshine .. well ... it must have been quite unexpected. With no battle and no blood eventually the creature winks back where it came from. Undoubtedly this particular fiendish dire wolf will never admit to this debasement, and he will be changed by it in some way.

Scolo remains a pleasant and witty, albeit nerdy conversationalist and even helps make dinner.

21:17, Today: Scolo rolled 18 using 1d20+9. craft cooking . +2 with Edgar's help for an even 20!

hmmmm fresh rolls, ham and wild veggie stir fry
This message was last edited by the player at 02:20, Wed 23 Oct 2013.
Ben
GM, 12162 posts
The Guy in Charge Here
Fri 25 Oct 2013
at 15:46
  • msg #100

Re: Centaurs in the City

Despite their various antics, and exploratory diversions, the party makes good time.  The Centaurs see to it.  Places to go, things to see… and nothing to be gained from lollygagging along the way.  Things went slowly back in Belgica, but now.. they are in “hostile territory” and the Centaurs take it seriously.

It’s something of a push for Melissa, who has never been used to long marches.  She seems winded.

But in the afternoon of the second day out of Mos Trajectum, the drive forward has paid off.  The trails… at least some of them… get fresher and fresher.  At one point, one of the Centaurs notes, “Where the grass is broken, the blades still bleed, they were here within an hour.”

And then at last, contact!  Eadoin and Scolo and the others can see the group traveling ahead of them.  Mostly Elves, and a Unicorn, and a few others.

They can meet up in the other thread; The Water Garden.
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