Week 1: Deadly Weather

The storm has tormented us for several days now. Most of the crew is dead, only four of us still clinging to this sinking ruin of a ship. Fenja and Menja, sisters in arms and blood both, Saoirse of Ker, whose unearthily beautiful yet unintelligible voice has grown weary with fear, and of course I, once a petty scribe in the services of queen Ereshkigal, but now nothing more than a half-drowned wretch.

May whoever finds this note think of us in their prayers.

Browsing through several bestiaries for
a table of mechanical enemies, I eventually
rolled a HD 80 (?!) battle titan. Friendly one.

Jan 1, Monday; Snowy drizzle

We were shipwrecked on a swampy shore (#6.13) before sunrise. Praise the stars for their little mercies, for we all still live. We salvaged what little could be found in the wreckage and ventured into the swamp.

Around noon, we happened upon a troglodyte village. They were not outright hostile, but demanded a tribute to their god. Said god turned out to be an ancient thinking war-machine, but it was quite friendly. It offered us shelter in the village.

We explored a bit to the west (#6.12), but found only barren plains, so we returned to village for the night.

Jan 2, Tuesday; Blizzard

The storm that shipwrecked us come ashore, we cannot go anywhere in this weather.

Jan 3, Wednesday; Blizzard

The wind and cold has not subsided, but at least Saoirse's songs have won us favour of the chieftain and we are fed for free. It's disgusting but filling; raw fish, roots and berries.

Jan 4, Thursday; Snowy wind

Saoirse was challenged to a singing duel by the village's storyteller. She has lost and we couldn't stop laughing. Who knew a stinky lizard could have such a clean voice?

The weather is getting better. We will set off tomorrow, if nothing goes wrong.

Jan 5, Friday; Light snowfall

Finally, a travelling weather! The troglodytes won't take our money, but we traded a bear trap for 10 rations.
We travelled west (#6.12, #5.11, #5.10), trudging over the half-frozen marshland. In the afternoon, we were accosted by demi-human hunters who seemed just as surprised as we when we came face to face, but they attacked us anyway.

Fenja charged ahead, stumbled and fell. Only through sheer luck she didn't get beaten to death. Menja and her dog took down two foes each and the last one ran away.

5x Demi-humans = 25 XP and some dead rabbits

We found a secluded place to set up camp, afraid of retaliation should the last demi-human return with allies, but the night was uneventful.

Jan 6, Saturday; Light snowfall, shooting star

Sick of the swamp, we turned back west in hopes of finding the dry plains again. Come evening, we were out of the swamp (#4.11, #4.12) and completely exhausted.

Jan 7, Sunday; Blizzard

The night was awful. Caught in a snowstorm with no proper shelter, we nearly froze to death. Menja now has a stubborn cough, but Saoirse somehow seems to have endured the biting cold with stoic ease.

We need to return to the village and somehow get better equipped for this kind of weather, but we won't survive the journey in the blizzard. We decided to gather as much firewood as possible and build a makeshift shelter.

We were all exhausted come evening, but Chani was the worst off - she fell into a frozen pond, lost her weapon, tainted all her food and got a minor frostbite before she could get to the fire. And still Saoirse seemed troubled by something worse that she insisted was coming.

And it came, except it was a salvation. An outrider group of Amazons, lost in the blizzard just as we were, who deigned to share their tents and stories with us.

5x Amazons, friendly

They even divulged a location of their city (#3.6), though they had other duties to see to before they will be returning there.

With firewood and shelter, we slept well, even though the wind was wailing throughout the whole night.