Boar-ing down upon the problem …..
Our heroes began by leaving the town of Sorgusa, or at least most of them. They had to meet Elzy outside of town in one of his favorite copses of trees. Sylas, being quite polite, knocked on his tent, as he said his greetings from behind a tree. All four of them began discussing what they thought could be the situation with the boars attacking the farms. Grace began spouting all kinds of theories, but Sylas wanted to stay to the fact and stop speculating. They all agreed that they clearly needed to go talk to at least one farm. They decided on the one that was attacked last. The Cabral Farm.
The Cabral Farm was north east of Sorgusa on the outskirts. When they approached it, they could figure out very quickly that this was a very poor family. Slyas approached first and could see a little girl playing out front. As he was noticed, the father came out, shooing the girl back inside. But curiosity got the better of the little girl, and stared at Slyas with awe and admiration. She had clearly never seen a knight before. The Father explained that they had just moved to the area last fall. They had discovered that in a ravine north of their farm, grew Strapelot, a wild leafy green, that they were going to sell in Sorgusa to get enough money to purchase the seeds they needed to start planting. After loading up their hand drawn cart with the Strapelot leaves, four boars came rushing out of nowhere, attacking the cart and his wife, who was badly injured in the attack. Elzy asked them if they heard a whistle to which he demonstrated, by whistling for Harvee who flew down and landed on his shoulder. It was obvious that they had no idea how to recover from this.
While Sylas got stuck talking to their 4 year old girl, the others were able to wander around the farm to investigate. Sylas was eventually able to get away after promising to return. After investigating the cart, it was clear the boars attacked the cart and trashed the produce, but Eldaria could not find any reason the Strapelot itself was the cause. Grace found a copse of trees where the boars clearly attacked from. Elzy was then able to find boar tracks and they would follow them back well past the farm, but eventually losing them around the Silvason Farm. But not before it suggested the boars and whomever was controlling them came from the direction of Araxi, a small village about halfway between Sorgusa and Serro. Before they reached the Silvason farm though, Eldaria took a detour to the ravine. There they found where the Strapelot was growing and cast plant growth on the weeds to make them grow back. The reason this plant grows so well this early, is that the ravine allowed them to grow at a much warmer temperature than at the surface. It was also a hearty plant, and though many considered a weed, it was quite tasty as a complement to lettuce in a salad and sautéed with onions as a bed for roasted mutton. When farmers came back to the ravine, hoping against all hope they could find more Strapelot to sell, they will easily find enough to recoup their entire lost crop due to the magic of Eldaria.
Rules Break Out:
The spell of Seek Plant was used to find the Strapelot and Plant Growth was used to regrow quickly the plants.
The Heroes could not decide their next course as they debated amongst themselves. Though the boar tracks seem to have led towards the Village of Araxi, they had not much else to go on. They did realize though that their path around the farms led them straight past the first farm to have been attacked. The Silvanson farm. In sharp contrast to the last farm, this farm was clearly well off. There were scores of sheep penned in. The barns were in good shape, and the house was quite large with a stone fence around it. Like the last farm, Sylas went to the front door and knocked. Sylas unfortunately didn’t realize soon enough that they were very important farmers, and clearly knew who he was. Eldaria tried to whisper into Sylas’ ear, but it was already too late and Sylas just barreled on. The Silvanson Farm is one of only a few farms that are owned. They are very well respected and make most of their money from the wool harvest in the fall. The Heroes find out that the attack damaged their sheep pens, and only one boar got through. Silvanson laughed that four might have gotten away, but one was a fine dinner that night. Looking around the house, clearly showed that there were swords and spears about. This family were clearly quite able to fight off a boar attack, and probably something even worse. Elzy looked at both the fence that was patched up and at the hide of the slain boar. He noticed they were common boars from the region, smaller than perhaps elsewhere, but still quite capable of causing damage. If the other boars are from the same litter, he would notice them easily. He then found some trees in a small valley between two hills where they quickly realize is where the attack started from. He tried to use his magical powers to summon a bird to talk to, because these farmers also heard a whistle. As it turns out, the spell did not go as planned. Instead of summoning any birds, he just instead began to smell like bird guano. It eventually faded, but it was a bit embarrassing.
Rules Break Out:
The player for Elzy rolled a critical failure and got “spell produces nothing but a loud noise, bright flash or light, awful odor, etc.” given what he was trying to summon, bird guano was the most funny option.
While the Heroes waited for Elzy to stop smelling, they realized that the other two farms that had been attacked are also on the outskirts. Also if they had hiked straight to Araxi, they would not reached the village until after nightfall. Some of them had been to the village before, the inn was very rowdy and a good night’s sleep would be unlikely. So they quickly stopped by the second farm that was attacked. The Estavan Farm was on the outskirts of Sorgusa because they decided to turn a lot of the land into an orchard where they grew Apelon fruit. Because the budding trees hung low to the ground, the boars were able to do a lot of damage. Apelon fruit are great sliced and put into pies. They are sweet, but stay firm when baked. Though the Estavan farm was not permanently damaged, their crop would be poor in the upcoming summer.
The final farm they visited was the Ferope farm. Elzy was able to redeem himself and talk to a mule. Through this very opinionated mule, he was able to determine that the boars all had distinctive markings. The mule was very sour about the brand it had, but after complaining was able to tell Elzy that the boars smelled like humans, and all attacked the cart at once. From this final farm it was clear they were heading in the right direction, as the only location where the boars could have come from was from around Araxi. The Heroes also finally discovered the thread that the boars attacked the farms they could easy sneak up to and were attacked to cause as much damage as possible. The problem they did not know was ….. why.
In the end, they find a nice place to camp. Grace had traveled continents, Sylas had camped with mercenaries with nothing but a small fire, Eldaria felt more at home outside than in any town, and of course, Elzy spent all evenings sleeping in the woods. So, although this was the first time the four of them camped together, they were all used to it. Someone brought up telling ghost stories and Grace was able to tell a few chilling ones, but it was one that Eldaria told about the ghost of a fallen sea captain that spooked Sylas the most. Once upon a time, barely a decade after the fall of the Western Kingdom, there was a sea pirate who’s mother was Stygnor, and her father from what eventually would become Katen. She grew up in surrounded by chaos, and only found the sea to be her home. After five years of raiding, a flotilla commanded by none other than Prince Tempore, took down the pirate Elena. They say even today that on a foggy night, one could see Captain Elena’s ghost ship sailing the coast. Now that Sylas couldn’t sleep even if he tried, they heard rustling from the woods, and Eldaria’s sharp ears knew the direction.
Rules Break Out:
The player for Eldaria rolled really well which kept the party from being surprised by what they could only assume were …. Boars.
The World of Lycretia 