Before widening your horizon and exploring your ambitions, you decide first to take inventory of the place that may well be your new home. Most of the containers are completely empty, but a few of them are none-the-less notable. Two unsealed barrels are full of detritus from some sort of fish processing opperation; One contains fish skeletons, and the other the pale shells of some sort of subterranian crustation. A few of the other containers are made of rusty iron, and should be able to hold a flame and serve as low temperature furnaces with proper modification.
You then flip through the logbook and journal of your brother and his wife, hoping to find some sort of final message from either. You are not disappointed. Srinx leaves a brief note to whoever was lucky enough to be packed with the rations. Included is a brief will, leaving everything on his person to the gang member who survives the trip and all his possessions at home to his infant son Verixnop, and a few notes on the situation.
Srinx's Final Notes-There is a peephole in my crate, and I can sort of see what is going on. I think we are fixing to enter the caverns through the caves below Mt. Topcrag. This means our final destination likely falls somewhere in lands belonging to the Throne of the Divine Osprey or the Papacy of the Purple Lakes.
-I keep a ledger of those who owe the Bloodcog Gang major favors on pages 4-6. Many of these people will blow us off if they know our strength is broken and most of our number is dead, but if you play them correctly, they can help rebuild the gang. Judging on the direction we are headed, Wurntest, Gastlin, and Glenidow might be closest to wherever we end up.
-I feel this lethal detour is no mistake, and that we were killed by somebody. If you find your way back home, look for the Mephit Fizalkabaz. He was our go between with the client for the job, and the only person who knows the client's identity. If the Mephit is alive, he likely set this up to take our cut, if he is dead, whoever was behind this job was trying to clear up loose ends by taking out everybody who knew what happened.
Paying extra attention to the second of your brother's bullet points, you flip to the ledger of favors and read the entries that he suggested. As your brother's second in command, you have dealt with each of the people mentioned before, and know more about their context and situation than the book tells you.
Favors Owed in the Crag Range Region of Caverns:-Wurntest leads a small and war-like tribe of Underents, which large beings made of woodlike fungus. The gang once helped him sabatouge a drawbridge keeping them out of a Drowen village, so that Wurntest and his followers could pillage it. You had been promised all the bronze bars and equipment in the village as payment, but it turned out the local Redsmith had just made a major shipment to the city, and there was little to take. Wurntest promised a future favor to supplement your surprisingly meager cut. Wurntest's tribe lives on the Everspore Peninsula, and should be fairly easy to find once you get your bearings.
-Gastlin is a rather corrupt guard at the Dwarven Prison Compound of Shackleboned, which sits right above the Crimson Pits. Awhile back you helped him fake a prisoner escape to get his boss in trouble and earn Gastlin a promotion. As payment, you were to receive all the 'escaped' prisoners to sell at the Orcish Slave Markets, but Gastlin slightly botched up his end of the plan, and was only able to hand over a few sickly halflings, which didn't sell for that much. Your brother's notes indicate that when pressed for further payment, that Gastlin said he had a scheme to get out another prisoner or two should the gang ever return to pick said prisoner up.
-Glenidow is the head of a Drow Noble House who sent her daughter Ashlyn to spend some time with the Bloodcog in its early days to learn the art of Scrap Druidism from Skrimplin. In exchange, Glenidow swore that her home would always serve as a place of refuge for the Bloodcog Gang, and has also offered a Zero Intrest Credit Line of up to ten thousand gold good for as long as she lives. Ashlyn herself was a good friend and lover during the years you knew her, and has two half-gremlin sons that could belong to any of the male gremlin gang members, and one mixed-elf daughter who is surely Skrimplin's. Glenidow's estate sits on the southern end of the Spore Forests.
Ingrinip, on the other hand, seems to have known that you were the lucky one packed away with the food and water, and took the time to write a rather emotional notes to you before taking her own life.
Ingrinip's letter to You:Grikxtnak,
Fate sucks. If any of us deserve to survive it is me. The thought has crossed my mind to leave my box and draw attention to the rest so that we may all die together, but I have decided revenge and destiny are more important, and so I shall die in silence. You are now forever indebted to me. Go to my father, show him this letter, and swear before him that you will find and kill whoever did this to us, and he will love you as a son once more. Live long and do great things to give my life and death meaning. You are no longer allowed to fail.
You shudder at the note. The concept of inherited destiny is strong among your kind. Those who survive because of another making the ultimate sacrifice are forever burdened and blessed by the sacrifice(s) obligations, relationships, and unfulfilled potential. If you returned to him, Ingrinip's father, the Coglord of the Fallen Holes, would have no choice but to make you his son, support your attempts to avenge his daughter, and do his best to forget the past unpleasantness between you and him. If you are where you think you are, of course, the Fallen Holes are at least a month and a half's travel away, and a small, weak, and generally hated creature like a Gremlin is ill advised to travel long distances alone and in the open on the surface.
Present Setting:Current Region: Crag Range Caverns
The Crag Range area of the global tunnel system sits largely beneath the mountain range from which it draws its name. This region resembles a long, thin, line on the global map, but the rough terrain and multiple layers of tunnel stacked upon one another makes travel into or within the region no joke. A pair of dwarven governments share this region, as well as the mountains above, but the lands of the Drow sit below and to the north, and the home of the Drugar is below and to the south, and each of these sinister neighbors have at least a minor geographic and cultural foothold in the region.
Current Site: Unknown Dwarven Village
You are in some sort of civilized underground settlement that your guesswork suggests is tied to the Papacy of the Purple Lakes. Because you were hauled here in a crate, there is likely easy wagon access from this site to the surface road system maintained by the humans and dwarves. Judging by the contents of the alley you are in (see below), it can be assumed that some sort of fishing industry exists here.
Current Environment: Alleyway
There are containers here, full of more fish skeletons and shucked chitin than you could possibly carry away with your current equipment. The containers provide great cover from people on the passing street, but also suggest that this alley gets at least the occasional visitor. There is a dead dog here, which you suspect is a stray slain by your Slag Squirrel. Flies are starting to gather.
Status:
Filthy
Heartbroken
Ambitious
Determined
Skills:
Adept Mechanic/Tinkerer
Talented Animal Trainer
Talented Liar
Skilled Biologist
Skilled Scrap Druid
Skilled Diplomat
Skilled Sneak
Skilled Disguise Artist
Adequate Unarmed Fighter
Adequate Furnace Operator
Adequate Metal Smith
Novice Engineer
Equipment:
Waste Smeared Cloak (Full Body, Bonus to Disguise, Provides 1 Small Item Slot)
Waste Smeared Apron (Upper Body, +3 Small Item Slots)
Toolbox (Left Hand, Provides 4 Standard and 2 Small Item Slots)
Tarnished Silver Wedding Ring (Left Middle Finger)
Tarnished Silver Wedding Ring (Left Ring Finger)
Bloodcog Gang Signet Ring (Right Ring Finger)
Gremlin Ear Necklace (Neck)
Inventory:
Basic Gremlin Toolkit
Sewing Equipment
3 Days Food and Water Rations
Mummified Dove Corpse
Bloodcog Gang Coinpurse (Small, Contains 16 Gold, 14 Silver, 4 Copper)
Lesser Healing Potion (Small)
Pack of Voodoo Powder (Small)
Bloodcog Gang Logbook (Small)
Grimdark's Field-guide to The Anatomy and Torture of Common Races, 7th Edition (Small)
Ingrinip's Journal + Interrogation Notepad (Small)
0 Empty Standard Item Slots*
0 Small Item Slots*
*You can fit two small items into one standard slot. You do not presently have any slot to place a large item in, but I'm sure a creative way to take a desired large item with you can be found.
Author
Topic: (SG) Gremlin - Stranded (Read 3975 times)