Short Beginnings
Echoes of the Empire Session 1
Dates
Participants
Locations
AOR 542-5-76
The last sun sank behind the horizon, leaving an orange glow that was all that kept the forest from plunging into complete darkness. With no time to lose, Kagbar snuck through the underbrush and silently scaled the mound of earth into which the bandits had dug their hideout. A Hyena-Kin lookout scanned the dimming landscape, unaware of the Cat-Kin stalking him. Once in position, Kagbar glanced to his left and spotted a patch of white fur clearly visible among the grasses even in the fading light. Ione was in position behind the Otter-Kin lookout.
A challenge rang out from the cave entrance below and both lookouts reflexively raised their bows and searched for a target. Barely visible in the light of dusk, a Bore-Kin stood a dozen paces from the cave’s opening. The Frog-Kin and Snake-Kin guards barked orders at him to leave or face the consequences. They claimed to outnumber Boris many times over and made it clear they were doing him a favor by giving him a chance to run; even the Echoes would give him a quicker death than the bandits would.
In a swift motion, Ione and Kagbar leapt from their positions and buried their blades in the backs of the lookouts, covering their mouths to suppress their screams. Below, the Cat-Kin and Snake-Kin guards repeated their warnings to Boris. The cries changed from anger and confusion to fear and terror. Ione’s gaze was focused on the guards, her Fox-Kin face strained in concentration.
Unfortunately, a pair of bandits emerged from deeper inside the cave, their shadows cast across the distance between them and Boris. With the sky darkening, the only source of light were the torches burning deeper in the cave. To buy Boris time, Kagbar pushed the body of the Hyena-Kin over the edge. He almost got the timing right. The corpse splattered beside the Wolf-Kin that emerged from the cave instead of on top of him. The Wolf-Kin nearly tripped over himself in surprise and looked towards the top of the mound in anger and confusion. This proved enough as Boris rapidly closed the distance and swung at his shocked and terrified opponents. However, an Ox-Kin also emerged from the cave entrance and began to circle behind Boris. On top of that, Ione was rubbing her temples as if to stave off a headache and the first two guards stood ready to fight.
Just as the Ox-Kin finished circling, five Racoon-Folk leapt from the nearby grass in unison and clambered onto her. A combination of blades, claws, and fangs tore at her flesh, sending her into a panicked frenzy as she tried to shake her assailants off. With the chaos at its peak, Kagbar and Ione quickly descended the mound and joined the fight.
It didn’t take long for the party to deal with the disturbed and surprised bandits. However, as the last of the bandits fell, an angry bellow resounded from deeper in the cave and the shadow of a hulking Scourge appeared. Boris bellowed back excitedly and beat his chest in challenge. He hurled obscene insults at the creature, which didn’t seem to be able to understand the individual words, but understood the message. It emerged from the cave entrance and rose to its full height, standing a full head above even Kagbar.
The Scourge charged forward, knocking aside the Racoon-Folk, stepping over Ione, and barreling past Kagbar. However, just before the brute was able to bring down the tree trunk it used as an improvised club, a barely visible silhouette stepped out of the tree line. The Scourge faltered, lurching back in fear. Boris delivered a powerful blow, knocking it back and staining the dirt in crimson blood. It stared at the Bore-Kin in terror before turning to run and finding itself surrounded by the rest of the party. It swung wildly in an attempt to clear a path of escape, but only succeeded in throwing itself off-balance. Blow after blow was delivered until the creature was barely able to stand and was finished off by a heavy strike from Boris, who followed up with a few more for good measure.
As the last roar of the Scourge echoed through the trees, the Racoon-Folk hurried towards the quadrupedal silhouette. A wooly Alpaca-Folk stepped out from the shadows and greeted each Racoon-Folk by name—Dono, Jynx, Lyko, Moka, and Ryph—and praised them for their success. Their excited chittering ceased abruptly as a gruff voice barked an order from deeper within the cave. Jonesie lowered his wooly head and whispered to the Racoon-Folk, then raised one of his front hooves and pointed toward the cave entrance. They immediately fanned out and scampered ahead, blades at the ready.
Invigorated by their victory and ready to take on the bandits that had chosen to remain hidden within their cave, the party rushed ahead with Boris in the lead. The moment he rounded a bend in the tunnel, he was hit by several arrows and a blast of magical energy. Thankfully, his armor took the brunt of the damage and he was able to retreat back around the bend to safety. However, the party was far more cautious knowing that the bandits were not only ready for their attack but had a mage among them. A Hawk-Kin neared the bend in the tunnel and served as the messenger between the party and the bandits’ leader to try and negotiate a truce, but he was shot in the back after attempting to convince the party to spare him. With no way to resolve this peacefully and the party not willing to risk further injury, they retreated into the night, assuring each other that the bandit threat had been dealt with and that the bounty they would receive for the bandits they had killed would be enough, even if just barely.
After traveling east by torchlight for about an hour, the party set up camp in a clearing and began tending to their wounds. Apart from Boris, the rest of the party had only taken a couple external wounds while Ione and Jonesie suffered a few internal wounds as well as fatigue. Boris had taken quite a few wounds, but declared they were mere scratches.
That night, as each stood watch while the others slept, the ghostly Echoes paced between the trees. Some walked in groups, others walked alone, and, on occasion, a couple would glide over the ground as if sitting in an invisible carriage, all taking no heed to the world around and passing through earth, stone, and trees as if they weren’t there. Any that drew too near their campfire faded in its light, though the heat of the fire never seemed to reach quite as far when they approached. Each party member that stood watch took extra care to ensure the fire burned bright to keep the phantoms at bay.
AOR 542-5-77
As the first sun peeked over the horizon, the party woke and prepared for the journey back to town. The forest of the Wild West was dense with undergrowth and they had to carefully navigate abrupt drops and hidden sinkholes, but they weaved across the terrain with familiarity, successfully avoiding many unfortunate tumbles. On occasion, they would see signs of a predator in the area, but continued ahead, sticking close each other and staying alert. They spent the night beneath the canopy, noticing a significant reduction in Echo sightings throughout the night.
AOR 542-5-78
With the second sun centered in the sky on the following day, the party stepped out from beneath the canopy and finished their journey. The dilapidated sign hung beside the gate. The faded outline of the two symbols that meant, “New Beginnings” could still be seen, though the symbol for “New” had faded and run to the point where it looked more like the symbol for “Short”. A single Cat-Kin guard stood just inside the gate, waving at the party as they approached. He said he was glad to see them return and asked if they had cleared out the bandits. They showed him the identifying flesh they had collected from the bandits, such as the tails of the Lizard-Kin and Otter-Kin, tongue of the Frog-Kin, horns of the Ox-Kin with their roots, and hand of the Scourge, and claimed they had finished off all the bandits. The guard was impressed and wished he could have gone with them, but their numbers were too few to spare a guard from their post for even a day.
Eager for a chance to drink and rest, the party continued one to the “town hall” that was more of a glorified shed with two stone plates forming a miniature staircase for it. Stand out front was Garrun, the Goat-Kin Guardian. He paid them a rusty Tick per piece of identifying flesh—two for the Scourge’s hand—and asked about the other four bandits that were known to be hiding out in the area. The party said that they didn’t see anyone else, which was technically true. Not fully convinced, Garrun told them that the bounty for any information on how the Dryn were crossing the Dinysin had been raised and that the local fishers had been forced to abandoned the Fishing Pit to the north. Exactly how much he could pay for filling either of these bounties would depend on what was remaining after the bi-monthly traders visited in a half-span. The party wasn’t thrilled about not knowing what the payout for their effort and time would be, but it was better than settling down in what was little more than a frontier outpost trying its best to be a proper village.
From there, the party split to attend to their own interests.
Boris ventured back into the forest to hunt some game before it grew too late.
Ione tried her hand at pickpocketing, managing to snag a few pouches before getting spotted, forcing her to go into hiding.
Jonesie and the Racoon-Folk preached the good word of Pan-Dah to all that would hear, urging them to work towards a world where Folk and Kin could live in harmony. Most passed without much heed, but a few stopped to listen.
Kagbar sought out Ryna, the Rat-Kin smith. He commissioned her to craft two pairs of manacles connected by a chain, all on silver and not so tight to be uncomfortable. Ryna explained that such an unusual order would cost extra, to which he had no objection. He paid her five Ticks upfront, promising to pay the remaining five Ticks upon completion. He also expressed interest in more than a strictly professional relationship between them, suggesting that they test out the new device together, to which she bristled and told him to return in a span and not a day sooner.
As dusk arrived, the party met at the only purchasable lodging in Short Beginnings: the Leaping Lair. For a Tik and a few Toks, they purchased a room with a single bed and some drink and food. Boris supplemented their meal with a few scamps, though it served as bit more than an appetizer for the nine of them.
Halfway through their meal, Garrun burst through the door, quickly scanned the room, spotted the party, and stormed towards them. Nearby patrons looked up from their drinks and meals and a hush fell over the room. When he reached the table, he demanded to know where their Fox-Kin companion was. He had received reports of her stealing coin purses from several locals. At that moment Ione emerged from behind a table with a pitcher and multiple mugs. Garrun shouted at her in accusation before stopping mid-rant. He squinted his eyes, then rubbed them, blinking numerous times.
Ione’s face was tense with concentration. She asked Garrun what the matter was in a much deeper voice than she normally spoke in, standing as tall as she was able with her head tilted upward. Garrun shook his head and refocused his gaze to a point a meter above Ione’s head. After a few moments or squinting, he apologize, saying that he thought he had seen the Fox-Kin instead of the Bear-Kin that stood before him. He could have sworn that the ninth member of their group had been a Fox-Kin and asked the party to notify him if they came across her. He glanced back several times as he walked away, still focused on the point above Ione’s head. The other patrons glanced back and forth between Garrun and the party and whispered to each other in confusion.
As soon as Garrun exited the inn, Ione’s face relaxed and she joined the others at the table. They chastised her for not only pickpocketing, but being spotted doing it. However, their criticism ceased when she revealed that she had used the coin to pay for mid-tier drink instead of the swill they usually purchased.
When only the party and Fennin, the Toad-Kin barkeep remained, Kagbar went to have a chat with their host. The conversation started simple enough, but Fennin became visibly uncomfortable as talk shifted from their drink of choice to whether or not it was true that the skin of certain Frog-Kin and Toad-Kin had hallucinogenic properties. Fennin insisted he did not know if that was true and that he knew for sure that he certainly wasn’t true for him. However, Kagbar offered to pay for a few drinks of the more expensive variety and would throw in a Tic for good measure if Fennin would let him take a lick of his skin and find out for himself. Fannin said he would agree if Kagbar purchase two glasses of his most expensive drink and add in an additional Tic. Satisfied, Kagbar downed his drink and continued to talk as Fennin sipped his drink.
Once both their drinks were finished, Kagbar said it was time to test his hypothesis and Fennin reluctantly obliged, turning so the back of his shoulder was facing Kagbar. However, instead of a little lick, Kagbar lifted the back of Fennin’s shirt and started a long lick from the seam of his pants to the base of his neck. Kagbar only made it a quarter of the way up Fennin’s back before the Toad-Kin leapt out of his seat and bolted out the door. Disappointed that he felt no different than before he had started the lick, Kagbar returned to his party’s table.
Shortly afterward, the party downed the last of their drinks and retired to their room. Boris slept sitting up with his back pressed against the door, Ione slept on the wooden floor with her cloak as a blanket and her pack as a pillow, Jonesie lay down on the corner with his head held high and the Racoon-Folk formed divots in his wool that they snuggle into, and Kagbar took the bed with his feet hanging off the edge.
AOR 542-5-79
The party was abruptly awoken by pounding on their door. Cautiously, they opened it to reveal a scowling Garrun. He jabbed his finger in Kagbar’s direction and opened his mouth, but froze when he spotted Ione peeking out from behind the bed. She tried to duck out of view, but it was too late. Triumphantly, he shouted that he knew she was a part of their group and demanded she return the coin she had stolen along with a steep fine for the troubles of him and the victims. She had already spent most of the coin, so the rest of the party needed to chip in. He also asked where the Bear-Kin he had seen the night before was, to which the party only responded with confusion.
Shaking his head and rubbing the bridge of his nose, Garrun turned his focus on Kagbar. He had also heard of the harassment Fennin and Ryna had experienced. While no fine was being charged, yet, he told the party that he wanted to have no more trouble from them. Their service to the community was appreciated, but it was not enough to allow them to take advantage of them or treat them with such disrespect. With that, he stormed off.
The party spent the rest of the day purchasing, trading, and working for bandages, firewood, rations, torches, and other basic wilderness survival gear. Ione and Kagbar had difficulty negotiating fair prices if they could get the shop keeps to speak to them at all.
Early in the day, Ione noticed a Monkey-Kin guard following her a ducked into an alley to lose him, only to find a Deer-Kin guard watched for her on the other street. They didn’t make any efforts to detain her, but nor could she go anywhere in the town without a guard immediately spotting her.
While Kagbar didn’t have guards following him wherever he went, those he passed often moved to their other side of the street and avoided eye contact. He ventured near Ryna’s smithery to see what progress she had made, but decided against it when he approached and she reached for one of her larger hammers.
By evening, the party had gathered the supplies they needed to venture back out into their wilderness at the expense of their coin purses. Their last Tik was spent to retain their room for the night.
AOR 542-5-80
With their purses empty, the party set asked the guards where the most recent word of Scourge activity had been reported, and followed their directions into the northwest, venturing forth in search of fame or fate once again.
Next Session: EOTE 02. Survival 101
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