The Story

The Story Session VI (08/25/01)

May 25th, 183 2C. Darien and Shen Perr, a married couple camping in a hidden valley and collecting herbs, break camp and work their way through the beautiful pine forests toward a cave, the only known way in or out. They discuss the trip home and the herbs they collected. Meanwhile, Anastasia, Aliana, Creyton, Sperin and Thurton discuss what to do from here. Creyton climbs back down into the previous valley and fetches Lars. Darien and Shen, heading back to the main trail, spot him from a distance as he does so. Sperin and Thurton head back toward Fort Hancock to gather some supplies. Anastasia and Aliana stay near the cart and talk.Aliana decides to bury her bloodstained clothes, soaked with Cook's blood, not far from where the group camped. Eventually, Sperin and Thurton return. They have Eker's body with them. They weren't sure what to do with the evidence of his death. Creyton also returns with Lars, who really needs a good grooming. Creyton conceals Eker's body, doing his best to make it look like an animal attack just in case anyone actually finds it. Darien and Shen, who are hiking down the mountain, come across the body of one of the Gindam brotehrs and a soldier. They note that the rider was killed with an arrow and they reek of death. They decide to bury them. Ana, Ali, Sperin, Thur, and Crey start moving themselves, eventually spotting the makeshift funeral rites taking place up ahead. They two groups spy on each other a bit and eventually come together. Half-truths are told by both sides, but they all agree that there is safety in numbers and continue heading east, down out of the Westworld Mountains. As they come up over Whistling Pass just a little before sunset and gaze down into the next valley, they spot a small army camping around the shores of the lake. Soon after dark, Creyton and Sperin start to sneak down toward the army to determine who it might be and what they might be doing here since they didn't seem to be flying any colors. As they creep down the path, a pair of riders passes them, heading up toward where the rest of the group is camping. The riders are dressed in red uniforms that Creyton later indentifies as Isoc. Sperin and Creyton follow the riders back to where the group is hidden, just over the pass. Before the group is discovered and the men go back to alert the army, Sperin gives Creyton the order to kill them. Both riders are successfully snipered from the shadows. This does little to build trust between the two groups. They deduce that the army must be coming up else they would have seen them already, so they decide they need to hide, slip by the army, and head down. Darien says he knows a place they can hide after he talks it over with Shen. He leads them back into the valley they had just left. As the trail comes near the cliff, Creyton tosses the bodies of the two Isoc soldiers over the edge of the world, tumbling down into the darkness below. Darien then leads the group to the entrance of a cave where camp is set up. Everyone talks in the camp, trying to figure out what is going on with all of this. Again, half truths are told. Finally, watches are set and people get to sleep.
May 26th. The group gets their first sighting of an Isoc skyship and decide to head down the cave into the hidden valley. Darien and Shen lead the way. The cave meanders down and south until it finally comes out of a cliff wall. It is like a giant hole was punched down through the earth to make the valley accessable. At the base of the cliff, they travel west, toward the waterfall that can be seen in the distance, pouring over the cliff and into the valley. They reach it around midday and follow the river as it flows south, hoping to find another way out of the mountains. As they climb from rock to rock, moving down the river, they are spotted by a skyship. It turns, flying out over the cliff to investigate the group, which scatters into the trees. Lowering, the skyship hovers where the group disappeared and a pair of soldiers, again wearing the red uniforms, are lowered by a rope out of the bottom of the vehicle. The group panics and flees. Sperin and Aliana head off to the south. Anastasia, Darien, and Shen flee east. Thurton, on Lars, flees north. Creyton heads north a bit as well, but circles back to the ship. The two soldiers persue and are attacked. Sperin and Aliana manage to drop one while Darien, Shen and Anastasia kill the other, though Darien takes a large bruise to his head. Creyton, with help from Thurton, fends off the skyship, which rises, flying back over the cliff. The ship had a side door from which it shot balista bolts. It takes some doing, but the group finds each other. They continue heading south along the river, climbing over rocks and navigating small waterfalls. In the late afternoon, they come to a wide, cold lake. It is shallow and a currently runs through it. It butts up against a short cliff face, perhaps ten feet tall. Through a hole, the water pours down with deadly force into the next valley below. It is realized that attempting to navigate this will likely lead to death, so they move on. They cross the river, heading west through the valley until they decide to camp. Camp is set up and more conversation is had. People share and learn about each other. Eventually, watches are decided upon and most get to sleep. A troll is spotted during the night, but a lot of screaming and banging of swords and shields and pots and pans scares the creature off.
May 27th. A peaceful morning dawns on the hidden valley. People wake up to explore and hunt and forage during the morning hours. Creyton brings back some racoon he hunted and Darien and Shen return with some blackroot. From this, a suprisingly good stew is prepared. The realization hits from the explorers that the entire western end of the valley is also lined with cliffs. The group comes to the conclusion that the only way out is back down through the valleys which they had come up. Sticking to the trees, they head north toward the waterfall, then move along the rocks east until they reach the entrance of the cave by late afternoon. The night proves to be chilly and a small fire is built inside the cave. People sleep on the rocks after some talking. They learn a bit more about each other.
May 28th. Venturing up the cave and, once out, head south. Creyton inspects the trail, but even the most novice tracker can confirm that the army has passed, heading west and up toward Fort Hancock. Taking the chance that they will not run into the army, the group heads east. They find their cart, overturned, searched, and mostly ruined, near their camp at Whistling Pass. They press on, Aliana retrieving Drannyl's bag of nuts. They push a hard pace, not wanting to get caught, going by the lake and up through the Twin Needles in the late afternoon. It is there that Thurton performs something of a miracle. As the rest of the group was heading down the mountain after giving up on creating an avalanche or the like to block the pass and trap the army, Thurton lags behind. He then, somehow, causes vines to grow. The stretch from rock to rock, eventually sealing of the entire pass with a near impenetrable wall of ivy. Much time is spent in wonderment of this and what the heck it means. Everyone is a little bit freaked out by this. Finally, everyone starts traveling. Ask dusk settles, however, two of the skyships can be spotted coming behind them. They ships are signalling to each other with some sort of light, and perhaps to people on the ground below. One of the ships turns, heading back west. The second however, closes in on the group. The side door open, revealing the mounted balista. Half the group hides. Some succeed. Some don't. A rope is lowered and troops are dropped off. They move to arrest the group. There are some translation issues between Anastasia and the men. Thurton decides to resist, probably not thinking straight after his miracle. This leads to chaos! Thankfully, the Isoc troops certainly expected nothing of the sort. People on both sides of the conflict panic. Aliana ends up getting shot by the balista. Shen and Sperin, with varying degrees of success, manage to board the hovering ship. Shen proves her grace and learns she has what it takes to be an assassin. Creyton, with one arm broken, shoots the black arrow given him by the Grugach to kill the pilot of the ship, shooting right through the wall. The ship comes crashing down. Nearly everyone is badly wounded, but none so bad as Aliana, who is on the brink of death. Anastasia and Thurton pray her. Darien is asked what plant would save her. Thurton suddenly grows some Triktodite, which comes from Yohsits. An amazed Darien begins to make a healing salve from it. Anastasia and Darien perform some amazing and critical first aid on Aliana as everyone works to remove the giant bolt from her shoulder then stop the bleeding. The move a short distance from the crash of the ship and camp, too wounded to move on in the darkness.
May 29th. A stretcher is created for Aliana and strapped to the back of Lars. The wounded group meanders slowly down the mountains. Aliana is on death's door. Everyone is exhausted. It begins to drizzle. Three riders approach from the east. It is learned they are Rangers. Captain Comrin sends the group back with Mikel Seawind while he takes a wounded Creyton with him to scout the Isocs. Mikel leads the ground the rest of the way down the path toward the Ranger base camp at the foot of the mountains. There is a mute and deaf ranger there named Anon. Much time is spent talking with Mikel on the rainy evening. He elaborates on being a Ranger, wooing women, and eating apples. Finally, people go to sleep.
May 30th. The day is spent traveling. Mikel leads Aliana, Anastasia, Darien, Shen, Sperin and Thurton back to Akia. They talk quite a bit on their travels, discussing Duranor and more on Mikel's favorite topics. It becomes clear that Anastasia cares little for him. Shen falls quiet, realizing what she had done just a few days before, as does Thurton. Darien and Sperin engage Mikel further in conversation. Aliana flits in and out of awareness as she is near death. It rains the earlier part of the day, but the afternoon is beautiful. They head south along the stone road, then pass through the farms before reaching the Verde Woods and Akia. They set up camp inside the deserted Kiltin's Rest. More conversation is had about what to do and where to go from here. Finally, in various places, people drift to sleep.