Earthdawn: Adventure Log 39 - Smells Like Victory

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

Adventure Log – 039 Smells Like Vicotry

Written By: Ting V'strimmon of Urupa

Date:  25 Riag - 02 Teayu, 1508 TH
Group Name: Mismatched Steel

Group Members

Bongani the Scout
Elmod the Nethermancer
Honeysuckle Sunspray the Warrior
Ting the Swordmaster
Uriel the Illusionist

After going over the stolen map and notes(1), we make our way back into the Badlands(2). The notes are very vague. I don't understand why they won't make a map without making clear notes on it? We've decided to start by going back to the research cube (or where it was) to orient ourselves, as it shows on the map. Probably why there's no treasure inside.

Oh for fucking, fuck's sake, Wendel is back(3). On the plus side, he's covering his brain(4). With a pot. And seems more coherent. On the super bad side, he's wearing a rotting meat suit covered in maggots. It smells atrocious. So, so bad(5). I actually spent time talking to him to try and convince him to take it off so I wouldn't have to touch him to get it off. I know there is no getting rid of him. But since that didn't work, I had to hold him down while we stripped him and burned that shit.

So an odd shaped airship sped overhead. Bongani said it was Thera's Sword(6). A while later three smaller wooden airships came by following the same-ish path, way slow though. After a day or so, they passed overhead and got eaten by a giant tentacle beast. So that exists. One got away. I wanted to check out the wreckage, but was overruled. My party members have no vision sometimes. We ended up giving it a wide berth.

Even still, we ran into some survivors just as they were walking into an espagra nest. We fought off the monsters, but the survivors were still devastated. Of the 40-some folks we first saw, there was maybe a dozen. We spent some days salvaging one of the crashed ships for supplies so that we could send these folks on their way. We made them water skins, gave them one of our mules, and pointed the way out.(7)

*     *     *

(1) Based on the dates of this log, two weeks have gone unrecorded. Based on this statement, I am forced to wonder if this omission wasn't deliberate. If they're saying up front they stole things - what did they deliberately leave out? Also, there seems to be a new member of their group? What happened to Coriolis, he was pretty easy to look at?
(2) That didn't take long. Most people make it a point to never, ever go back to the Badlands once they have been there. I am one of those people. Based on this, it seems they didn't leave Travar, or at least didn't go far. There was quite an event during that time, which corroborates the earlier theft. A local antiquities dealer (aka hoarder) was murdered. His estate was put up for auction and contained a lot of stuff, but his offspring were upset about how it was being divided. Family drama. While being cataloged and held for the auction, a lot of adepts got the idea to steal things, rather than buy them during the auction like chumps. Apparently they pulled it off. I can only assume the new addition had a significant role to play in this because a) Illusionist and b) I have read all of their adventure logs - this is not their wheelhouse. Or they jumped someone who did steal it or purchased it. That would be in their wheelhouse. What I'm saying here is they aren't a whole lot better than thugs. Definitely better, just not a lot.
(3) This is somewhere in the middle of the Venn diagram of horrifying, fascinating, and adorable.
(4) Now more horrifying and less everything else. Why was this not mentioned previously? That seems like a detail which should have come up previously.
(5) Now just horrifying.
(6) We've been collecting reports of Thera's Sword's movements across Barsaive. Admiral Lokrun isn't just patrolling our skies. He seems to be looking for something. This needs to get passed along to the Eye.
(7) Received and edited by Ela Pono

It wasn't specifically mentioned, but this continues their long search for a potential lost citadel within the Badlands. The previous two sessions had some intrigue within Travar that built up to venturing out once more. Also, one of the players moved and was replaced by a somewhat similar character (Uriel). His introduction has changed the dynamic of how the group approaches problems since they don't just have a hammer anymore.

Like so very often, this had some foreshadowing. There was a lot of foreshadowing.