Earthdawn: Adventure Log 25 - Jerris Crab Cakes

This is the twenty-fifth Adventure Log in an ongoing series about Earthdawn. Introduction and Index.

Note: This is not the canon version of Jerris.

Jerris. In this version of Barsaive, it is a sad place. It was once, and in many ways still is, a hub of industry. However, the city is beset with a feeling of malaise and decay. It returned from the Scourge not to the vibrant land it left, but a terrible blight.

Surrounded by the Poison Forest, Liaj Jungle, and Delaris Mountains, things are not working in their favor. They are not near the Serpent or any of its tributaries, and their closest trading partners are Iopos and Vivane. While the city still has a great deal of momentum, it is in a slow decline. One which nearly everyone who lives there has realized. The poison from the Wastes blowing in certainly doesn't help anything.

Adventure Log – 025 Jerris Crab Cakes

Written By: Ting the Merciless of Urupa

Date: 6 Rua – 14 Rua, 1508 TH
Group Name: Mismatched Steel

Group Members

Bongani the Scout
Elmod the Nethermancer
Honeysuckle Sunspray the Windmaster
Ting the Swordmaster

We leave for Jerris. It is drab and miserable and far more familiar. Bongani cased the town to find us work. The options were a Horror in the Wastes or mock Horror crabs(1) in some mountains. We went with the crabs and Bongani put, like, 500 silver on getting equipment for the expedition.

Arriving at the mountains, we amuse ourselves with camping antics and I spent half an afternoon throwing rocks in caves. Like a boss. Seemed to work because later that night the bat that Elmod enchanted finds a crab in a tree. A fight ensues.

At some point during the fight, Elmod thought it would be a good idea to shower the area I was kicking crab ass in with light lightning fast rocks. It hurt. A lot. Also got clawed pretty hard at some point. All the same, we stomped all of the crab beasts. Manage to scrap them all for meat and one for shell - possibly for armor later. Elmod passed out during the fight.

We figured that was enough and head out the next day. On the way back we were play attacked by the white espagra we saved forever ago. He was still hanging out with Karthalas, Questor of Jaspree. We traded him some of the crab for some magical bear armor. Dude cooks really well. We spent all night talking. Good guy.

We head back to Jerris, sell stuff, and work on gaining passage to Vivane.(2)

*     *     *

(1) Cave crabs.

(2) Received and edited by Ela Pono

For the most part, this was a filler session due to being one player down. Fun, but there wasn't a lot of substance. The characters' primary goal was to earn some money. It had been a while since they may money, a number of them increased Circle, and Iopos was expensive. What substance it had did serve some larger purposes.

In part, it gave a larger sense of what was going on in Barsaive as a whole. Particularly contrasting with Bartertown. Both cities are pretty terrible, but Bartertown is vibrant and growing, while Jerris is on the decline. There were a couple of larger plots setup here as well, though they may have faded into the background too well. Bringing back old friends who have parted was is a good technique to reinforce the history of the game and made the world seem a little more alive.

Yes, the cave grabs in this Barsaive climb trees and have great leap. Fear them.