Wandering Subherd:
Alpha: Unamed Minotaur Bull (you)
-Healthy
-Leather Armor
-Minotaur Sized Bronze Machete (Adept)
Other Bulls:
Unnamed Aggressive Bull - Healthy
Unnamed Wandering Bull - Healthy
Unnamed Beast Master Bull - Healthy
Cows:
Mazlyn the Elf Cow - Healthy
Lady Braith Ellering the Human Cow - Healthy, Unfit to Birth Calves
Nesh the Dwarf Cow - Healthy, Touched by Darkness
Pets and Tag Alongs:
Frell the Ravenkin Bull - Healthy, Elderly, Frightened
Unnamed Swinedragon - Healthy, Tame
It takes seven days to reach the tree-line which is widely acknowledged as the northern border of the Tropic Empire: two days to prepare and mobilize your party, and five to cross the mountains. Had it just been you and your Swinedragon, you figure that you could have made the trip in a day and a half. As annoying as they delay is, however, it does provide an opportunity. Combining your long rest stops with your newfound sentience and curriosity, you spend the trip trying getting to know the non-minotaur members of your group.
You get to know Frell, the Ravenkin, best as he is your chief translator for the others. The winged one, you learn, is actually of respectable age, having already raised a half dozen clutches of bird-calves and outlived his mate. Most of his children are indentured sailors in the navy of the Tropic Empire, although some actually earn a wage aboard merchant ships, and one is the first officer aboard a privateer vessel. Frell himself is the rare civilized Ravenkin who never got involved in seafaring work; He was a successful minstrel youth, and made friends in the courts of powerful humans, dwarves, and elves. Although age has ravaged his singing voice, and his wings have become too weak to fly from town to town carrying a harp, he still retains a handful of contacts from his singing days, and occasionally checks in with them to preform odd jobs or receive their generosity.
The Elf Cow is named Mazlyn, you learn, but she is far more interested in asking about your plans than talking about herself. Mazlyn is very enthusiastic about your quest to seek justice for the slaves of the Tropic Empire, but you know that her motives are far from pure as she smells of greed and wrath. Revolution presents opportunity for criminals such as herself, opportunities to exploit chaos, get rich, and seek revenge.
It takes a few days, but you eventually get Mazlyn talking about her contacts, skills, and enemies. She is affiliated with two major criminal organizations, the Moonrunners and the Southern Knives. The Moonrunners are active nearby in the northern parts of the empire, and are primarily smugglers and black market dealers. The Southern Knives make their home in the distant Southern Ports of the empire, and make their money running protection rackets at the docks and serving as hired goons for one of the noteworthy imperial high houses. Mazlyn has served as a thug, assassin, and bodyguard for both groups in the past.
As for why she was exiled, Mazlyn explains that she managed to make an enemy of the Imperial Coinage Guild, a group that arguably wields more power among the elves than the Empress herself. Apparently Mazlyn's father died indebted to the guild, so the "damn bean counters" tried to collect from her. When the elf-cow refused to pay up, the guild sent Mazlyn a gift basket containing the head of one of her close friends. In response to this offense, Mazlyn made the rash descision to pratice her trade, broke into the home of one of the guildmasters, and brutally dismembered said guidlmaster's three young children.
Mazlyn explains that she had initially planned to cross the mountains, move onto the human cities, and find work with her contacts there. After stopping at the labyrinth along the way to rest for a few days, she found that herd life suited her; No real labor, free food, and a different horned brute in her bed every night was too good an offer to pass up. She admits that her skills may be rusty; She has been living with your herd for the better part of two years, and fears that she may have gone soft in that time.
You also learn quite a bit about the human cow, whom as the slowest member of the group is typically allowed to ride with you on the Swinedragon. She introduces herself as Lady Braith Ellering from the Human City of Port Kong, and a scholar of language and history. Although she wont discuss why she was banished to the labyrinth (you smell deep shame and great fear on her when you bring the topic up), she does tell you that before her fall she had the favor of her city's king; It was arranged that she was to marry his youngest son, and succeed the royal librarian once he retired or died.
Surprisingly, you learn that Lady Ellering can actually read and speak the ancient language of the civilized minotaur, and although that tounge is far removed from the bestial pidgin that your kind speaks today, she can sometimes understand parts of what the herd is saying; She knows, for example, that you have saved her life by stopping the herd from inflicting a lethal pregnancy upon her. On that note, Lady Ellering is quite thrilled that you have gained sentience, as now her guardian can be her friend as well, and that you know possess the wisdom to perhaps someday allow her to repay the great debt she owes you.
While you learn much of the other two females, the stinky dwarf, who you learn is named Nesh, remains an enigma. It is not that she refuses to tell her story, but that she never tells the same story twice. Sometimes she claims to be a dwarven commoner who learned dark magic to woo a prince. Othertimes she is a fallen queen who turned to the black arts in a quest for immortality. She will claim to have been born an elephant, who learned how to take dwarf form while serving as a mount for a terrible warlock, or even that she is the mighty dark idol of destruction Ganesh Manyarms, stripped of her powers by the gods and forced to birth minotaur as penance for her many crimes. That you cannot discern which story is true fascinates you; Perhaps she is so adept at lying that she can do so without feeling detectable guilt or deceptive intent. Perhaps the stink of dark magic is strong enough to mask any odors relating to such dark feelings. Perhaps her grip on reality is so fragile that she cannot even tell what is true herself.
The one element that remains the same in each of Nesh's backstories is her desire to claim the fortress Grimspikes for herself. According to the strange dwarf Grimspikes is a fortress in the All-Earth Mountains that was once home to one of the wicked and mighty Dark Lords, but is now ruled by a lowly hobgoblin chieftain. In some versions of Nesh's story, she was wronged by the Hobgoblins of Grimspikes and wishes to deprive them of their home as vengeance, and in others she merely claims that it is her birthright and/or destiny to own the place. Regardless of the telling, however, Nesh always claims that only by sitting on the throne of Grimspikes will her true power be unlocked.
---
As the journey drags on, your newly awoken wisdom and perception begin to notice relationships and trends between your cohorts.
You quickly pick up on something going on between the dwarf Nesh and the aggressive young minotaur bull who recently challenged for your title of Alpha. The bull is very protective of Nesh, who in turn seems to dote on the mighty beast. At first you think they must favor each other as mates, but as the days pass, you notice no attempts between the two of them to lay together, which is strange because the young bull is usually quick to try and fuck anything remotely resembling a humanoid cow. Eventually it dawns on you: the pair must be mother and son. You talk to Nesh to try and confirm this, but the dwarf claims to actually be a terrifying demon from another realm, and that any offspring of hers would be likewise horrifying. You suppose you will have to ask again next time Nesh offers you a backstory with room for reproduction.
While the relationship between Nesh and the Agressive Bull is harmless, if not actually cute, the same cannot be said for the other things you notice.
A relationship has also formed between the weak bull designated as Beast Master and the rather violent elf cow called Mazlyn. At camp on the first night of the adventure, Mazlyn beat the beast master up in an impressive display proving that she is at least as dangerous as a puny minotaur. Ever since that night, however, the beast master has more or less been the elf's bitch. She forces the bull to carry her on his back, mend her clothes, and provide her with regular massages and romantic encounters. This makes it difficult for the beast master to preform his job as trapper. Luckily, the wandering bull is still capable of feeding the party with his greatbow, but you find the whole situation to be unsightly and inconvenient.
Lady Ellering, meanwhile, is proving to be very unpopular. You can tell the other two cows resent her because she gets to ride on your Swinedragon and rarely has to do anything for herself. She doesn't get along with the other bulls either; The Beast Master and the Wandering Bull are both experienced enough to understand that Braith would not survive birthing a calf, but their primitive minds fail to see any value in a cow that is incapable of breeding - to them she is just a confusing burden. It is worse with the aggressive bull, who doesn't yet understand why Braith is not to be touched; To his young and bestial brain, your orders regarding Braith are arbitrary and frustrating. This frustration is then channeled into anger and directed at Braith - without warning he will occasionally get in her face and unleash an ear-splitting bellow that often leaves the human cow with soiled pants.
Aside from yourself, the only member of the party on good terms with the human is The Ravenkin Frell, and you are unsure how much longer he will be around. The old bird reeks of fear; He finds Mazlyn, Nesh, and the Aggressive Bull all terrifying in their own unique ways, and refuses to approach any of them without your supervision. To make matters worse, he is coming to fear you as well, or at least your intentions; Frell is quite convinced that your quest to bring justice to the Tropic Empire will be the end of him, or worse, will put him in conflict with his own children in the Imperial Navy.
As night passes, the stink of fear on Frell is joined by the odors guilt and intended direction of duty. You can tell the bird is mulling over the idea of abandoning you, flying back to the labyrinth, and joining up with a safe herd of mindless minotaur. This would not only break your heart, as you have come to enjoy his company, but also seriously inconvenience you; You depend on his services as a translator to communicate with the cows.
---
It is sundown, the seventh day of your journey. The party has set up camp just above the tree line, and the camp is, at least for the moment, peaceful. Below you the jungle stretches out as far as the eye can see. The lands of the Tropical Empire do not consist of wild rainforest, but are a fairly orderly criss-cross pattern of the various shades and hues of green.
Frell takes the initiative to approach and explain what you are seeing. The lightest and clearly treeless spots are plantations, where the improvised elves work side by side with enslaved animal-folk to produce cash crops for the rich. Next lightest are the garden estates of said rich, which consist of acres of folliage, trees and otherwise, arranged to best please the eye and nose. Darker still are the orchards, row upon row of fruit bearing trees, each the same species as her neighbor; Frell explains that the larger orchard patches produce the fruits that feed cities of the elf empire, while the smaller ones provide food for the slaves, who build their huts at the base of the trees. The darkest patches are preserves, fenced off pieces of wild jungle for the wealthy few to hunt upon and enjoy as they see fit.
In the distance, near the edge of your vision, the walls of a large city rises. Frell says this town is called Durgurth, and it was originally built by the dwarves to serve as a military installation, and houses the entrance to an ancient tunnel that goes beneath the mountains, connecting the lands of the humans and the elves. Because of this tunnel, the city is the largest trading hub in the northern part of the Tropic Empire. Frell then explains that there is another nearby city called Lithsnows, that is even closer, hidden from view by the small peak to your immediate west. Lithsnows is a small resort town, known for good sledding year round. Assuming you are traveling with your whole group, Frell advises you that the former city can be reached in a day and a half (longer if you choose to avoid roads), and the latter is only three hours hike away from your camp.
You spend the night consulting with the others. Your main orders of business are finding a shrine, and confronting the injustice of the Tropic Empire. You get plenty of ideas to meet those ends, and some of your companions offer their own proposals as well.
Finding a Shrine:-The nearest public shrine is in Lithsnows, and it belongs to The Dark Idol Ineqx, matron of hedonism. Although the Dark Idols are gods by most definitions, and as such you could contact one through its shrine, they are aligned with the forces of evil, so it is no sure bet that Ineqx would be inclined to help a minotaur.
-Mazlyn offers to lead you to Cresent Grotto, which is the headquarters of the Moonrunners gang of Smugglers. The Moonrunners worship Krowl, a god of werebeasts and night-time travels who belongs to both the human and elfish pantheons, and keep an active shrine to him. Mazlyn could make the journey to the Grotto in five days, but she guesses that it would take the party well over a week to make the trip.
-Frell points out that many of the garden estates kept by wealthy elves feature private shrines to various members of the elfish pantheon. There is no guarantee that a rich elf would just give you access to their shrine, or that a private shrine would be well enough maintained to count as sacred ground, but if you knock on enough doors you should eventually find something.
-Frell also informs you that the animalfolk slaves tend to keep private shrines to Kirral, the elfish goddess of trickery, mischief, and the downtrodden. You suspect it wouldn't be too hard for a minotaur to convince a bestial slave to offer his shrine, but finding one well enough kept to count as sacred ground may be difficult.
Challenging Injustice:-Lady Ellering suggests that the best course of action would be to establish yourself in Durgurth as a friend rather than a threat. Reserve your judgement for a spell, exploit your novel position as the first sentient minotaur in ages to earn respect and allies, and only then start making demands on behalf of the slaves.
-Frell strongly favors Lady Ellering's plan, but proposes you might be better served trying it at Ly'Ring, a city at least two weeks to the South. Ly'Ring is a far more politically influential town, as the governor happens to be the imperial Crown Princess, and Frell has more friends and contacts there than he does in Durgurth.
-As a natural king among beasts, you don't doubt your ability to incite an uprising amoung the animalfolk slaves, but your intelligent companions all warn you that the imperial military is more than capable of putting down whatever poorly armed and trained rabble you recruit. Mazlyn suggests establishing a camp in the mountains where you can train whatever rebels you recruit to carry out guerrilla warfare.
-On that note, Mazlyn adds, if you want to raise an army, you are going to need supplies. She would be willing to call upon her contacts in Durgurth, and arrange to exploit minotaur might to carry out some sort of large heist. You could then return to the mountains, travel to the dwarf cities, lay low for a bit, and purchase weapons.
-Nesh cryptically offers to "make dangerous" any escaped slaves you can lure back to her quarters at the labrynth, if you are willing to indulge her dark powers.
-The Wandering Bull, oblivious to the bigger issues of rebellion, admits to occasionally sneaking into the garden estates right up against the slopes of the mountains in pursuit of livestock and elf cows to carry off, and encourages you to join him on such an adventure... You suppose if done right, a minotaur raid on an estate could send a message.
Other Ideas:-Both the Wandering Bull and the Beast Master wish to test themselves against the beasts of the jungle by setting up camp in a preserve and spending a few days hunting and trapping. Mazlyn helpfully offers to find buyers for any meat or skins they can poach. You suppose you could make them take the Aggressive Bull with them if you wish to peacefully visit civilization without the risk of the youngster starting an incident.
-The Wandering Bull claims to have visited the resort town of Lithsnows before, and that the locals offered him their food, beds, and cows. You find this hard to believe, but don't smell any deceit on him, nor do you think him capable of inventing such a story in his bestial state.
-Mazlyn notes that the Imperial Coinage Guild she hates so much keeps an office in Durgurth, and you can just smell the hate on her as she mentions it. It would likely mean alot to the elf if you were to help her hurt her enemies.
-Lady Ellering mentions that it would be great if you could convince one of the Garden Estates to host the party for a few weeks. She reckons the estates all have libraries, and that she wishes to teach you to read.
-Nesh claims that the hobgoblin tribe she hates will be sending a trade caravan through the area in about two weeks. She wishes to kill them all, and is willing to go with just the Aggressive Bull if you don't want to dirty your hands. You have no clue how Nesh knows this, as this is the first time she has been out of the Labyrinth in years, but Hobgoblins are children of evil that you can smite with your blessed touch.
How do you Proceed?
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Topic: (SG) Minotaur: Awakening (Read 4691 times)