Stories of Lore 20

Nickolce managed to find a beast born of fire and frost by means of following Hakenu’e’s party into the north in search of the kind of creature they encountered recently. He did manage to acquire some pieces of it though now the issue is getting them back to Auwana since the siege of Ragniva continues.

Meanwhile the drilling strategy as we try to build a new team is a little awkward. We’re doing our best with it but it may help if Kaya returned since she is the one who knows how the Asvald actually train, however other chieftains are becoming interested in the project.

The bees are still surviving the winter with the new little bee lodges we built around their hives for them. It would help if we could harvest more of those northern flowers or even their own bees but again…siege.

We’ve worked with the Xiaoshen to produce more cloaks and such for the warriors of the tribe and should be able to deploy them soon provided the trip is short. An extended campaign won’t do well for them as we’re kind of hurrying to put this together not to mention keeping them supplied in this cold will be hard. Though at the very least, if the tribe wants to make a single significant strike we will be able to do so. Albeit with some difficulty.

Greetings my chief, I am back. The Rahana send their greetings, and told the story of Ragniva’s exil- oh right scrying pool. On to more modern affairs then.

In regards to the formation of a second vanguard, Tehanau is currently away. Also having a bit of a berserker rage.

Haki is still following Hakenu’e around the north, so recruitment efforts are going well though he is currently still focused on defeating the Vargr and his quest for vengeance. So we’ll see how that goes in the long run.

Alihana is awake once again, and crankier than usual. I take it her nap was not refreshing. She’s currently with the vanguard and Hallvard coming up with schemes to get back to Auwana. I don’t think she likes being sick and stranded in the middle of the snow.

Unfortunately, even though Hallvard’s forces were holding in the northern border, the Asvald move faster and went straight for him. Tehanau was…interacting with the Ivor so we didn’t have anyone to play the role of scout for him. Wehilani and Kuari can’t act as flying scouts around the area or it would risk Haleh finding out where they, along with Hakenu’e and Alihana actually are. He survived if only barely.

Its clear to Haki that it would be in the best interests of Hallvard and the Thorin to ally with each other though the problem right now is distance. The Thorin are deeper into the vargr border than Hallvard, who has been sitting around waiting based on Zhuan’s advice for awhile instead of moving south. Now that the Asvald are there, that’s a whole mess. We can have the vanguard’s flyers regroup with Hallvard’s other two armies and reconvene towards Thorin in hopes of arriving before the Asvald destroy the village but the Hedin are also moving into position to assist with that one. Though I suppose if we were ready to make a bigger announcement of our arrival, Alihana is also there. She does have a talent for swaying large scale battles to her favor.

Eerihild says she would love to duel Hamund, though after some pressuring from Wehilani confessed that she intended to kill him in the process. Either way a conflict with him might be inevitable soon if Hallvard and the vanguard head to the Thorin village.

As for Hoskuld, we only know that he is under Haleh’s control and lives in the Vargr village under heavy guard. Often watched by Icno, who has returned to the village while they try to get Citlanal to help them some more with the Howling Horror. Getting to him will be the issue as Kaya is with the Asvald in the middle of their war so can’t slip away so easily. He is surrounded by Haleh’s loyalists. Turning him is another matter altogether, we don’t actually know how he feels about his current situation.

Harakino has returned to pride village after her trip to take the gryphons to the the Akoa.

Contact with the Ivor had been seen through thanks to kawil, though they are still wary of us. We did kill someone rather important to them after all, and they definitely are of a mind to hide within what is apparently a very impressive village hidden within ice.

Coszacatl has…issues and has become very suddenly very outspoken about them. Even assaulting Koamalu to the point of almost killing him. She is back to idly lingering about the fire though the clan is concerned about such matters.

The travelers continue to hunt for the Wyvern’s remains though haven’t had much luck. We are looking for a seasons old corpse in the middle of a foreign land after all.

Also yes the travelers have received their clothes.

Sakazai didn’t even have to go looking. She knows what Haleh does with the corpses of her enemies apparently, she feeds them to the warbeasts. Most of which are carnivorous monsters in the first place. Though the ritual circle that Lukia found is another matter entirely, though as Alihana has pointed out: they’re sacrificing people to the Spirit Keeper around the north.

Lokala’i has continued traveling around dueling everything he can, though finds no one he takes interest in for a full time partner. Though I haven’t been able to discuss his criteria at length with him due to the nature of him being so far away and the scrying pool only working in one direction.

The northern bone collectors met up with Nikolce from the Nezatl for their hunt. They actually were able to find something useful and bring it back to Sawiri who created the requested bones of ‘it isn’t chilly for me’ as he calls it. Though getting it back here is a whole other problem.

Speaking of which, while Harakino returning from such a distance is likely not as notable if we keep sending the harpies around after Haleh told us not to let anyone leave or enter the island…she is bound to notice since there is an army of undead standing right under the island watching us.

Silas seems more affected than Xacalli over the news of the Ashen Plains. He’s been quiet and just keeps wandering off to who knows where. Xacalli is still in her healing house. It is hard to tell if it has done much to her given that she is always grouchy and anti social.

As for this sword thing, it seems quite similar to the macuahuitl still. Perhaps just a little slimmer if we figure out how to make the blue stones sturdy enough. Hallvard and his people clearly have found a way, or more so found someone else who found a way. So there is potential, though we’ve yet to discover the purpose of the sacred water.

Esin says that she has no one with interest in a second vanguard. Her village is largely composed of traders, messengers, and herself as chief. She is the only true warrior among their number if you will recall and we can’t even convince her to fight anything most of the time. She does still have a way with words over her axe…which still is very bizarre to me.

The Akarona said they might be able to though most of their people are currently with the Nezatl and experimenting with their other project which is still in a state of ‘being figured out’.

As for the xiaoshen…

I would be the best candidate. Zhuan has too many other responsibilities and Caowei isn’t half the fighter I and the other elites are. Though unfortunately, I have other duties at hand serving Liling, especially with Zhuan away.