Tall Tales 2

In a town built on rumors and strange occurrences it is a little hard to convince the people that David is suffering from trauma after we just found out that the Andorah family is actually a vampire clan and not even all related. Made some progress at least, as its hard to argue with the fact that if I had a personal attack wendigo I would be walking it around town all day just to show it off.

Speaking of which, it is convenient at least that David did not see who the wendigo actually is due to the fog. That and Lara dresses a lot like Javier when she comes into town so few people have even noticed she has red hair let alone that the rumored “Laugh’s Hound” was her. That being said they’re mighty suspicious of everyone who hides their mouth and eyes right now…which includes Javier and Grimold from the Andorah clan. They’re right about one of those I guess.

Lara herself is back in the woods minding her own business so at least she’s out of the way. I told her to ask me to get stuff from town for her if she needs anything for a little while until people are less alert of masked figures. We should just have Hailey start a plague to make everyone wear masks so it won’t seem strange how many people have bandanna masks.

We’ve started to rebuild the town as best we can as a town effort. Everyone is chipping in at least a little bit of labor. Really bringing that small town spirit together.

John is off to Wallhalla to see if he can find any information about the invaders.

Hailey said she can set up the warning spell but the problem is just about anything will trigger it. Including wild life. She left a bell in your office that rings every time its passed over.

Also for the record, Hailey being a witch was heavily suspected but not currently confirmed. She generally wears a regular dress around town and there are only rumors of seeing her in her more witchy outfit before a job. Then the bitch went and made a big fuss about it so now I’m dealing with that shit too.

Rohaka is up and walking around again, though she’s a little nauseous at times and definitely can’t sustain Alihana again. She should be self sufficient in a week or so.

I’m not sure if your message helped or not, since they go from worrying about the wendigo to worrying about us. Also rumors making its way around town that Alihana is with us. Apparently even the foreigners know a little about her. Though they don’t know specifically about Rohaka’s relationship to her or why no one has seen her since.

As you requested I greeted the people and somehow that turned into what these people refer to as a ‘job’. Specifically I was asked to help with construction of new houses to replace the destroyed ones. Though for the most part I just carried wood around for them. I made three dollars for the day. I do not know if that is adequate or not.

The town is apparently more used to the creatures of the land than others but they’re still on edge after the revelation of so many denizens dwelling in their midst. To be fair, I am still wary of Kathryn as well. They are trying very hard to downplay the presence of a wendigo, and that creature was no ordinary one. Most like that belong to the Shiyo tribe, fully self aware and yet still complacent to kill and eat any others it comes across. Using their awareness to make plans and grow their power intentionally. This laughing wendigo living nearby might one day become equivalent to a shiyo. Insatiable and clever. Not to mention that apparently it knows the ways of the witches who can transform themselves. I have reason to believe a shiyo shaman created this thing to be a hunter of men….eventually. It may be to the town’s interest if we pushed back on her attempt to make us stop worrying about it, I can hunt it down myself even.

I’ll go back into the miasma with these Reclaimers as you request, but keep Rohaka close until we find out what is going on with this town, and its residents in particular.

We’ve sent the acolytes to establish the wayshrines. I made them some wards to keep the miasma at bay at least a little. Though any larger effect would require an active shaman to maintain them.

As for the yharl beast, Halona is out looking for it. More may eventually come but he’s not doing anything else right now anyways. Keeps him busy and sharp.

The village nearest to us is still standing. Though we’re still waiting for a report from those that are a little further away.

Noel is still at Rapidvale working on morale management as requested. It is likely that the initial panic has subsided by seeing her there. Though she’s having difficulty dealing with curiosities about the wendigo. If she lies and says its too far for her to find, it might bring the people’s faith in her and us to question if Lara shows up again. Since they know she can see through the forest and of course she knows exactly where Lara is. Though she is making sure no one goes looking for her, by her account Lara has a lair where she took the bodies of many of the bandits. It is not a place a citizen should ever lay eyes upon.

I have reason to believe those who attacked Rapidvale would have used the iron roads. Simply by nature of their technology combined with the amount of equipment they were moving. Though we are still seeking evidence of such, the nearby village also has no one that saw which way they came from let alone how they got here. I’ve asked them to keep an eye out for the airships of steam and iron as well as those trains of theirs that traverse the iron roads.

“less interested” is an understatement for Shen. He’d probably eat the villagers if you left him unsupervised for long enough. I’ve  been haggling with Kathryn for the bodies of the bandits. I always wondered why they didn’t all go to us by default. Knowing that a wendigo lives nearby explains this well, but the quantity of bodies they kept from us implies that either there is more than one or that creature has a dangerously voracious appetite.

The revelation of our existence has people on the fence. It is known that vampires live in the city, and they aren’t even terribly popular there. A few people in town already knew about at least one of us though it was a whispered rumor. Now everyone saw Sun Ai dressed in blades and kicking people’s heads off – quite literally. That one is the particular crux of the issue. Shen was already just weird, and Salvatore had some girls he managed to seduce for feeding. I’m considered a little bit weird by many. Sun Ai was the town’s ‘innocent happy energetic girl’. A lot of the oddities of Shen’s presence was offset knowing he was supposedly somehow related to Sun Ai and she seemed to like him just fine. For the rest of us, the shattered facade is sort of an ‘I knew it’ but a lot of people really trusted Sun Ai to be a normal person.

For the most part our presence is deflected by the ongoing back and forth rumors about the wendigo. Weirdly, they confirmed our existence but they’re more interested in the rumors surrounding Lara and Hailey. I’ve been casually reminding people that deer bleed just the same as people and there are plenty of those in this neck of the woods to sort of deflect the question. Which is true, Shen hunts bears and moose because he finds humans weak and unworthy of the challenge. Maaaybe Salvatore seduced a couple of women but they were into it!

In terms of our town reputation, might help to get some hunting trophies to hang around the place. Just as a “we eat these” type of announcement.Though I suppose it depends what role we want to play. Hailey and Lara are getting most of the attention as of late.

We’ve taken to rebuilding the house bit by bit, we got the outer layer repaired so it should be dark inside once more. The rest of the house is mostly for show so it’s really more of a warehouse at the moment while Shen keeps rebuilding the rooms but at least the walls are back in place.

I’ve asked Amber’s shop to look at the sword though after banging it around a lot they also haven’t quite figured out how to make it do anything. Though they have noticed it is remarkably durable. To the point that Sicily suggested using it as a foundational support pillar for something large since as far as she can tell, it cannot break. They did not tell me they were about to shoot it to test that, fortunately they were correct or I would have eaten that girl.

Wait why do I have to get a job? I already maintain the house and keep that idiot Shen out of trouble for you. I’m more of a…tell people what to do person yeah? I’m not cut out for labor! My vampiric strength does not mean I am any less a lady.

Enjoy your trip to the city, it’ll be a bit of a trip.

Grimold and Shen have been going into the miasma for awhile now, so they’ll be alright. Though we’ll see how the natives handle them being around. They tend not to like city folk, let alone the epitome of representation of the old world’s power. Vampires like us, even if we’re a little broke compared to our brethren.

By default if you aren’t specific about something, whoever is standing around managing the counter gets to pick. Which is usually me.

Kathryn knows about the artifact now, but she hasn’t told many others beyond the mayor I imagine. So the vault might remain necessary while Noel is in town. She can see through anything short of stone and detect objects of oddities. She’ll see it immediately if we take it out of the vault while she is in town. As for finding potential candidates, we know it works best with people that at least have a solid understanding of their surroundings but also are not smart enough to see something wrong with any evidence presented to them. Van Tien has mixed results in this. If people believe anything we tell them we can get the desired effect easily but they might believe a bunch of other stupid things that suddenly become real. If they’re smart enough not to let their first impressions become rooted beliefs, then we have to sort of ‘convince them’ of what we want to affect.

Nathan and I have taken to helping Lenard fix his chair. We refrain from giving him a shirt because they catch on fire due to the energy emanating from his gut that powers his own chair. Though he’s back up and moving now at least and we built the framework for a backup.

If we had to I suppose we could make some larger rifles for dealing with their armor. Though few people can wield them comfortably it would be alright to have them around. Lenard is actually the most effective against them, if it wasn’t for his decision to protect townspeople that whole fight might have gone our way before the wendigo appeared. Unfortunately, we cannot replicate the energy source that his body possesses. Though in the meantime maybe mount some sort of small cannon onto the roof of the shop?

Also are you going to implement mandatory sensitivity training for the whole town?

Tall Tales 1

All things considered, could have been worse. I could have been hurt too! It would have been a tragedy, you’d be so sad. I know you, you’d take it harder if I was shot than if you were. So really all this was probably for the best right?

Anyways, so now most of the town knows or at least strongly believes in rumors that you’ve been keeping a bunch of monsters hidden around town. They’re not wrong but now they suspect it. That and Arthur’s kid saw Lara respond to your commands. Vampires they might take some warming up to, the legendary death shaman…ey maybe they’re just a nerd. Huckster? Who wouldn’t roll the dice to become rich and successful. The wendigo though… that one is going to take some effort to explain.

On the upside, half the town is now terrified of you. On the downside they do think you might be a wendigo pack leader or something and that I might be one too. Noel is here since we just got back and she wants her twenty dollars, so at least you can stand next to her. The Reclaimers do have themselves a decent reputation around here so that might help since she also knew about all this…those eyes are cheating. That and if we threaten to tell people about that fallen angel they keep in the basement we can probably convince her to vouch for anything.

People still haven’t confirmed that Hailey is a witch and I’m not sure if its better or worse for the situation to admit to that one. They also think Javier is some sort of monster and that would be easy to disprove if he didn’t keep refusing to take his mask off.

Also we found the missing townspeople, they were a little beat up and are now traumatized by the trip back from the miasma. Few monsters here and there, not much of a problem for us but they’ve never seen a yharl beast before. I just regret we took so long to get back.

As it turns out, they were abducted by the raiders that came after Rapidvale and interrogated for information. They didn’t know that much but they also didn’t know what they were divulging that was important. It shows just how in depth our raider’s observations must have been. The only one they didn’t find out about was specifically the one that no town people have any idea about. Lara living in the woods and away from all contact meant even they didn’t know she was out there. Barring following me out there they had no other way to gain that information. Which tells me its not anyone in any inner circles who gave them the info they had.

I’ve also figured out what they were after. Amber’s shop has a strange object in it that can warp reality and is responsible for a few of their more…miraculous inventions. They had not divulged that information to me when they moved in. Though clearly someone powerful knows about them. The raiders knew all about our town and almost every inhabitant in it. If it weren’t for Hunwe and the wild card that turned out to be Lara I’m pretty sure the town would be a ruin. However, Hunwe said that their tribe was wiped out by the very same raiders. We still don’t know who they are or where they come from.

Judging from their arsenal, they’re backed by a city somewhere. At least someone rich and powerful within a city, but that’s all I’ve got to go off of for the moment.

Damage wise, the town is mostly standing. A few burned down buildings, a lot of bullet holes, and a few blasted chunks. But for the most part, half intact and a quarter needing repairs. Mostly centered around Amber’s shop.

Rohaka is still sleeping. She will likely be too ill to move much for awhile, Alihana’s presence takes a significant toll on her. For the time being she can’t travel and we’ll have to stay here in this strange town. I can’t help but be concerned about the rumors of a wendigo being under the control of their chief. No one kind or generous deals with a wendigo.

I’ve done some scouting, their wendigo lives north of the town. She was trained by a powerful shaman, as powerful as Alihana most likely. There is no other way a wendigo could remain so lucid nor cast rituals to shift their appearance. I have questioned this “Kathreen” about the creature. By her description, she is ignorant of the threat this “Lara” poses. Most wendigos are desperate and ravenous, this one has maintained its sense of self. Few outside of wendigo clans have this ability, and as you well know those clans tend to be very dangerous.

They also have vampires from the lands beyond the sea to the east. Though strangely, they practice magic from across the sea to the west. It implies they may be a very ancient and well traveled clan. The town is also host to a user of the Devil’s magic, and rumors are there are more.

There are other natives here though, those who once lived in the mist and moved away. I’m not sure we belong beyond the fog, but it is interesting to see others from our land.

The raiders that were attacking their town are likely brothers of those that attacked our village. They use many of the same clothes, colors, and weapons. However, I find no familiar scent among them. It implies there is a larger tribe they belong to, one that hates this town as much as they hated us. While Rohaka is recovering, it may benefit us to see where this “Kathreen”‘s nose leads her. She also seems interested in finding out who they were.

Kathryn also gave us sixty dollars for helping during the battle we stumbled upon.

This is a strange town.

Noel is currently at Rapidvale in the wake of all the trouble they’ve been having. Well actually she went because she was helping rescue some of their villagers. It seems she got wrapped up in the fall of their facade that the town was surviving on the frontier by the strength of their backs. I don’t know if they are more upset to learn what monsters lurk within their midst or more upset to realize the weren’t as tough and rugged as they thought. There were definitely a few of their townsfolk who thought themselves quite masculine for living out there without realizing that they were under the protection of a supernatural militia. So Noel is helping with that.

There might be some advantage to placing the mist wards along the path to Rapidvale. It would be a significant undertaking but they only have at best another decade before the miasma consumes them as well. It might be nice to have a road between the two towns. On the downside, their people might leave when that happens and all that work will be for nothing.

Two of our friendlier villages have disappeared, and judging from Hunwe’s description it seems there is an organized force moving through the miasma in this region. Rapidvale was almost another lost settlement. We may want to check on any other nearby villages to see how they’re doing. Perhaps see if anyone knows what they’re really after and why. Otherwise it might only be a matter of time before they come looking for us too.

Anyways, I brought you another trough of slop. I put spices in it for you this time. I don’t know if you can even taste anything. You didn’t even complain about the last batch…no there was nothing strange in it why do you ask?

For whatever reason, the raiders that came to Rapidvale knew where and who we were. That is likely why they chose to attack during the day and immediately set our house on fire. There were dedicated vampire hunters among their ranks, as you have no doubt learned. Half the clan died, and its just the six of us left. Took our savings as well. The only reason we’re still alive is that death shaman lady that showed up, clearly against their plans.

I’ve been looking into this Hunwe clan that showed up. They were definitely not a part of the raider’s plans but still we came to the very edge of seeing the town destroyed. Hunwe consists of two extremely powerful members. I don’t know if Shen could even stand up to their wolf man. It appears that the pale woman is the host for the spirit of the Deathweaver. So if your recount of that being one of the most powerful shamans is accurate, it means their three members should have made much more dramatic of an impact. The raiders were over-prepared, and even the surprise appearance of Hunwe just barely pulled us through.

So it stands to reason that whoever those bandits might be, they were very well organized. I’ve also heard rumors that there was something strange in that tech shop on the south side of town, and that was what they were after. Even if we left the city, it might be worth going back and seeing if any of the other vampire clans know anything about these guys. They’re clearly from somewhere with a lot of infrastructure, moving that many people and weapons around can’t go unnoticed.

For the time being it might help if you got a real job, our house burning down did not help our financial disposition. The basement is fine so we can still sleep down there, but that’s all we have at the moment. Also the twenty dollars Salvatore made helping Kathryn out. At least Shen and Sun Ai go logging while they train.

Granted now everyone in town knows who, or more so what we are. Things are a little tumultuous right now. I also imagine that the federal rangers will be coming by as soon as a rumor escapes this town.

I’m still not entirely convinced that the raiders knew about the Van Tien. Though evidence certainly points to it, I have no idea how they would know we have it. Unless using it in some way can be seen from afar through methods we don’t know about. Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to find the man who sold it to me again so I can’t ask him any questions. His whole shop just disappeared from the city within a week and no one knew who he was.

Obviously everyone in charge around here is looking into who they were and how much more of them we can expect. I’ve been investigating the hills outside of town, moving that many armaments could not have been easy. There is a lot of evidence of them having done so, coming from the direction of the miasma despite them attacking the town from the south and east. They looped around, and they had to have done so fast for no one to notice them coming. They clearly rehearsed this attack.

We’ll need new apprentices around the shop, half of them were killed during the attack. Though out here on the frontier there are few truly educated individuals to pick from. Not sure how many newcomers we can expect in the wake of this attack either.

Lenard is was badly injured and is on light duty around the shop for now.

If there is any silver lining to all this, it is that we were able to salvage the armor and weapons of the attackers. It’s a lot of usable parts at the least.