Chaos and Decisions

General Summary

The group finally discovers the secret Vania’s family has been hiding – and now things could take any turn.

Johann

The group stands face to face with a ghoul that appears to be the allegedly dead father of Yana, Lukas, and Donnic. Yana and Lukas confront them, threatening them with bow and sword, and both Mira and Harold give heartfelt and compelling arguments to convince the children that their father is lost. Yana at first seems unimpressed and says that her father has been healed – or at least isn’t in a state as bad as tainted people usually are once the illness has progressed so far. The man himself then asks everyone to lower their weapons, as he doesn’t want his children to get hurt – and reluctantly Yana and Lukas step back and the others who had their weapons drawn put them away as well. Harold, asked by Yana to see for himself that her father isn’t in a state as bad as it seems, then steps closer to the man on the ground who introduces himself as Johann indeed. Harold can definitely see that physically he doesn’t look good, but he’s not convinced until Jeska chimes in. The dwarf has seen tainted people before and due to living close to the deep roads she has to know a thing or two about the tell-tale signs of the taint – but something about Johann’s symptoms doesn’t add up. Physically he looks bad, there is no doubt about it, covered in bloody sores, skin blotchy and sick-looking. But mentally he seems completely unaffected by the taint. Junius, who knows a thing or two about healing magic, has a closer look as well and he agrees with Jeska. Going by what the villagers had told the group about when Johann returned to Schwarzstein and when he had allegedly “died” he must have been tainted well over a month ago. Usually, when someone was sick with the taint for so long they were not much more than mindless monsters that usually didn’t remember much about their past lives. Johann though can give relatively precise answers about his past as the group asks him.
He tells them that he was a soldier for the Imperium, and that he had been taking part in a secret mission. They hadn’t been told what their mission was for, and he didn’t even exactly know where it took place – somewhere far in the southwest. But he has witnessed other soldiers getting tainted – and the military did terrible experiments with them before they died a slow and painful death. At the latest at this point even the party members most eager about putting an end to Johann’s life change their minds and want to hear what he has to say. Harold immediately jumps from “we have to kill him” to “we need to try and safe his life”.
Johann then describes how he himself was injured and tainted during a darkspawn ambush he knew that he would rather die in the desert than going through the same pain and torture as his comrades. Two of his friends helped him to flee and brought him back to Schwarzstein, but he doesn’t know what became of them after they had dropped him off. Mira asks if he didn’t care about risking to infect his family by returning home, and Johann agrees that it was a great risk – but he had contacted his mother while on the road, who used to be a powerful bloodmage. She had worked for the Magisterium years ago, studying the taint, and she had assured him that she would be able to help him – as she did.
Harold asks Johann how he feels at the moment, Johann explaining that he feels as if he had the flu. He’s been better, but he’s been worse. When he came back to Schwarzstein he could hear strange whispers in his head, nearly driving him insane, but thanks to his mother’s treatment the whispers disappeared again. He then also confirms that his family had been hiding him in the mines, and Yana chimes in again. The family had staged the father’s death, although she wasn’t clear about how exactly they had managed to – but the plan had worked. In secret they brought Johann out to the mines where he had been hiding, two family members regularly visiting him to bring food and check on his healing progress. There was only so much Hulda could do though, and while he became better she couldn’t fully cure him – and this is why the family decided that they needed to take Johann to Minrathous. Hulda still had contacts to powerful mages there who would surely be able to find a cure for the taint, they only needed to be secretive. Junius then asks Yana about the adventurers – he knew now that the last time he asked her she hadn’t been telling the truth. Yana doesn’t try to hide the truth anymore, and she explains that the two travelers weren’t adventurers as they had told the villagers. They surprised her and Lukas one night as they visited their father, and then threatened to kill them as well as Johann. Yana says that they told them that the Magisterium had sent them to eliminate a threat. Scared for her life and protecting her brother and father Yana shot one of them in self-defence, and then still in shock prevented the other one from running away, because she feared she would warn the village about the ghoul in the mines. Yana explains that the villagers had already started rumors prior to Johann’s “death” that the whole family was slowly turning into ghouls, and maybe an “accident” of sorts would be needed to get rid of the threat. The family didn’t feel safe in the village anymore and they knew if the people found out that Johann wasn’t dead but just being hidden away a terrible fate would await them all.
This is also why Yana gets angry when Mira suggests that Johann can’t come along any further. They can’t return to the village, because the party’s own investigation would have nearly exposed their secret to the guards who were now investigating the mines and the disappearance of the “adventurers”. Mira is still convinced that Johann is a threat and could infect others if he stayed. The whole family could become sick and Valentin would have no choice to either kill them or leave them in the desert once it happened. Yana is enraged and calls Mira a knife-ear, and scared that she would harm her father draws her bow again. The insult alone is enough to almost escalate the situation much to the shock of Johann and some of the others, as Maxfield draws his bow as well and is ready to fire. Harold jumps in, fatherly trying to calm the situation down and puts a hand on Maxfield’s shoulder. Johann also wants to intervene, tugging at Jeska’s trousers, who is standing right next to him, and asking her to not let anyone harm his children. The situation remains tense, but the weapons are lowered once more. Johann then turns to the group and says that if they are worried that he is a threat he promises to not follow the caravan anymore. His children seem upset about the suggestion. Johann says he would like to speak to the group in private, and he would also like to say goodbye to his wife if they think it would be best if he doesn’t come along anymore. He already escaped the military and at a point thought he would die in the desert, and it is still a better fate than seeing his children get harmed on his behalf. Begrudgingly but obedient Yana and Lukas hurry back to the camp to tell Vania that their secret has been exposed and that Johann wants to say his goodbyes. When the kids are out of earshot Johann confides in the group: he didn’t want his kids to hear, but he doesn’t think that he will make the journey to Minrathous. He is sick and weakened, and he’s not sure how much longer he will last, following the caravan on foot. It’s also not sure yet how he would even get into the capital, even with the family’s best efforts – his appearance wasn’t exactly inspiring confidence about his physical health. The group offers that they could give him a clean and quick death if he wanted to, and while a little put off by the offer he didn’t reject it. His only wish was to speak to his wife once more and bid his farewells.
While waiting for the children to return with Vania, Junius pulls out ink and paper and asks if he could write down some sort of eyewitness report about Johann’s experiences in the military, and the tainted soldier agrees. The group hopes that this information could come in handy later, because what Johann described sounded very suspicious, even to a military veteran like Harold. Johann being a witness to secret experiments could also be why the Magisterium sent two bounty hunters to kill him – and potentially also the two friends that took him back to Schwarzstein, as their fate is currently unknown.
As Junius is writing down the last couple of sentences, the group suddenly hears the camp bell being rung – people can be seen running around screaming in the distance. The camp is under attack, probably by darkspawn. Hastily Junius finishes his notes, while Harold already dashes off into the direction of the camp, closely followed by Mira and Maxfield. Jeska and Junius follow after a moment of hesitation, while Claudia and Auron decide to stay with Johann – just to make sure he doesn’t try to run off and break his promise.

Attack at night

Harold is the first to arrive at the camp, and he catches a glimpse of Yana and Lukas who are chased by a genlock and two ghouls. All around them is chaos, the horses have gone wild, and people are running everywhere from genlocks and ghouls chasing them through the small tent city. The mercenaries are fighting, trying to push the tainted creatures back out of the camp. The group manages to get the attention of the genlock and the ghouls that chased Yana and Lukas and the teenagers disappear in the crowd – a tough fight ensues.
Harold takes quite the beating, because the gunlocks consider the tall, well-armoured man the biggest threat of the group. Regardless it is no big issue for him, Mira, and Maxfield though to take the first two opponents down. Jeska joins in and delivers a well-placed headshot with her crossbow, killing the last remaining ghoul – and unlucky Mira, standing right next to it, is yet again covered in unpleasant remains. Junius then notices that two further genlocks started to encroach on the group engaged in battle, and with a well-placed mind blast spell he can knock them off their feet for the moment – but also has their full attention now. He takes a bad hit by the genlocks nasty battle axe, and Harold immediately jumps in to aid the mage, pushing him to the side to stand inbetween him and the darkspawn. As Junius turns around though he sees another group of ghouls that snuck up on them unseen and startled Jeska quite a bit, but she could evade an attack. In a very badass manner the dwarf manages to make a backflip to get some distance between her and the first of the ghouls, and after he gets hit by one of her bolts as well as Maxfield’s arrow, Jeska can finish him off without problems. A well-placed sword into his chest makes him fall to the ground – but Jeska now has two more ghouls to face. Junius in the meantime finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. Behind him is Harold, fending off two sturdy genlocks, in front of him are the ghouls, to his left is one of the mercenaries’ carts, and to his right the tent of Maxfield and Mira. Quickly he decides to crawl into the tent, but it is not an ideal hiding place – and promptly as he enters he is hit in the face by a pillow thrown by Donnic, who had been hiding in there too. The boy is stressed and scared, but happy at least to see a familiar face. Junius tries to calm him down, but in the next moment the side of the tent is torn open by one of the ghouls, who then jumps down on Junius, slashing him with her sharp claws. Donnic is screaming, throwing everything he can get a hold of in the direction of the ghoul. Maxfield and Jeska manage to take out the second ghoul outside after it tried to wrestle with Max – but it was no match to the tall Avvar warrior and found its death through one of his arrows. Max and Jeska then notice the ruckus going on in the tent, as Junius fires an Arcane Lance of energy into the ghoul. She is struck by an additional arrow, and Junius then manages to finish her off with another blast of energy. She is blown out of the tent the same way she came in, crashes against the cart outside, and the magical energy smoldering in her stomach region slowly burns her from the inside out. Harold is still engaged in combat with the two genlocks, takes some serious blows, and as Mira sees this she manages to sneak up on one of them, delivering a devastating backstab.
In the meantime, Johann, Claudia, and Auron watch the fighting from afar. Despite his weakened state, Johann is starting to get antsy. He begs Auron and Claudia to let them go and help. Claudia is all for letting him go to attempt to save his kids, but Auron is unsure. He doesn’t want him to get hurt, and due to his appearance he fears that the mercenaries might attack and kill him, mistaking him for one of the attacking ghouls. Johann hesitates, because Auron makes compelling arguments, but in the end he then darts off, Auron going after him. Claudia, travelling as a civilian and remembering the beating she got in the last fight, decides to stay out of combat this time.
When Johann and Auron arrive at the camp, the rest of the party is engaged in a tough fight with the remaining two genlocks. Their nasty looking sturdy leather armour is absorbing the damage they deal quite well. Auron tries to follow Johann into the crowd, but loses sight of him quickly. Mira manages to slash the throat of one of the genlocks, almost decapitating it, and finally the last one is slain as well. The chaos in the camp is starting to reduce, and darkspawn and ghouls can be seen fleeing into the desert – among them suddenly Johann, who runs from mercenary Konstantin. Yana and Lukas are following their father too, but Auron manages to get a hold of Yana, while Harold can snatch Lukas. Maxfield jumps in and calls to Konstantin that he should let that one ghoul go and keep focused on the darkspawn still in the camp, and Konstantin nods and turns around, much to the relief of the kids. Both Lukas and Yana try to struggle free, but Harold demands that they should first see that their mother and grandmother are alright. Lukas explains that they are safe, that his father saved them from two genlocks. The group quickly makes sure that Vania and Hulda are truly save, and still in shock but relieved that her children are alright, Vania explains that Johann fought fiercely against two genlocks with nearly inhuman strength, but was injured in the process.

A Soldier’s Death

The camp still in chaos a few of the party members sneak out into the desert again, to see what became of Johann – and they find him at Claudia’s side, severely injured but relieved that he could indeed safe his family from harm. Junius determines that his injuries are too serious to recover from – he was hit by Konstantin’s bow, but the injury is only minor. Across his chest though go deep gashes resembling claw marks, sustained in the struggle with the genlocks. Junius manages to ease his pain and keep him alive just long enough so that Mira can run back to the camp and get the family to Johann’s side, so they can say their final goodbyes.
The party stands watch as Hulda, Vania, and the three kids sit by Johann’s side as he dies, not long after the fighting stopped. To not arouse too much suspicion with the mercenary leaders they need to act quickly and build a make-shift pyre for Johann, where his body is burned in the tradition of his village. Auron is particularly upset with the situation, sadly placing a button on Johann’s chest before the pyre is lit. Lukas leaves his father’s sword and shield by the pyre’s side, to mark his final resting place a soldier’s grave, not the one of a name- and faceless monster. Donnic cries on the whole way back to the camp, having trouble to calm down, but Harold reassuringly placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder does help him regain his composure at least a little. The other siblings are quiet, as is Hulda. Mira and Vania share a moment, after not having had the best start, and Mira says that she too lost people important to her and knows the pain the former tavern maid experiences now. Vania thanks her for being so understanding, and for her help. Mira asks what the family will be doing now that Johann has passed away, to which Vania replies that he wasn’t the only reason why they wanted to go to Minrathous, looking at Hulda. They can’t exactly turn around to return to Schwarzstein either. So it might be the best to stick to the plan and try to begin a new life elsewhere, where it’s safer and where no-one knows their background. As they walk on Mira notices Auron’s sadness and when she spots a nice rock in the sand, she hands it to him. The strange young man seems confused – not because she gives him a rock, but more because of the fact that he had apparently never received a gift before. Finally the group arrives back at the camp, which is still in disarray, and the mercenaries drag dead darkspawn out from in-between crates and underneath collapsed tents. Junius, Jeska, Harold, and Auron find their tent torn down and trampled on, and need to set it back up first before being able to retreat for the night. And Max and Mira experience a bit of a breeze as they sleep, their tent still torn open and not yet fixed after the ghoul attack.
In the early morning hours just before dawn the party finally manages to get some well-deserved rest, but no-one sleeps easy after the rough fight and losses.

The Aftermath

In the morning everyone who’s capable helps to create two large pyres just outside the camp – one with the corpses of the darkspawn, one with the travelers that died the night before. Eight civilians and three of the hired mercenaries were overrun by the darkspawn and lost their lives. Junius asks Teresa if there’s anything he and the group could do to help, and Teresa says that the injured need healing and Valentin needs help with finding some of the horses that couldn’t be recaptured yet.
Junius and Jeska end up helping the mercenaries’ healer Larius Ripanus, and end up being generously rewarded for their help. Mira, Max, and Auron in the meantime help Valentin recapturing the horses, and without too many struggles can take them back to the camp as well for a reward in the form of gold.
As everyone prepares to leave, Junius wonders about the reason for the darkspawn attack – the pile of genlock and ghoul corpses is quite impressive, the scale of the attack seemed large. Harold, who has some knowledge about military strategy and darkspawn behavior, explains that there was no leader, no alpha creature among the darkspawn. The high percentage of ghouls among the genlocks was a hint that this horde had probably attacked a bunch of human settlements before, the ghouls being the unlucky ones that they had snatched and tainted in the process. It wasn’t a coordinated attack most likely, only an unfortunate random encounter.
Finally the caravan is ready to leave – the burning pyre they leave behind as witness of the last night creating a gigantic pillar of black smoke that can be seen from miles away. A lonely figure in the distance sees the smoke, and wonders if it is bad omen…
Some of the group members are rocked to sleep by the movement of the carts after this short night, but Maxfield and Mira have to stay awake and keep watch. When Maxfield thinks he is out of earshot of everyone else, he decides to share a secret with Mira: in private Auron had confided in him that the story he had told at the campfire a few days prior wasn’t just a random made-up story. It was something he himself had experienced. Mira, not fully awake yet and struggling to understand what Maxfield hinted at, leads to Maxfield explaining that Auron is not a human or elf, but in fact a spirit. Mira’s loud exclamation of “Wait, WHAT?!” manages to wake everyone up again.

Notes

In-Game Date: 19th – 20th of Cassus; late night – morning
Highlights:

• Mira to Harold, as he asks her a question about Johann while standing right in front of him: “Don’t talk about him like he’s not there!” – Johann is very confused about these weirdos
• Harold: “Joooooohaaaaaaann!!! Johann, my dude!”
• Yana threatens that if something happened to her dad when she returns with her mom, someone will die; Mira, still pissed about the “knife-ear” comment: “Yeah, we’ll see who that will be!”
• As everyone keeps closing in on Johann Junius just keeps slowly backing up, yelling from afar to stay part of the conversation
• Neither Auron nor Harold getting why Mira got so upset about the word
• “Interview with a darkspawn”, the new blockbuster starring Junius Marten
• Mira: first covered in zombie dust, now in darkspawn brains (Jeska, quietly: “Soooooorry!!” ^^’)
• Maxfield has Abs of Intimidation, bringing all the lady ghouls to the yard and scaring off the rest
• Jeska pulls of a Mission Impossible style backflip, in the same movement reloading her crossbow and firing it
• *Junius crawls into the tent of Max and Mira* - Mira: “Did we put away all our toys?”
• The Loveshack Tent of Max and Mira
• Junius’ Arcane Lance creates a blacklight effect in the loveshack tent – and he sees unspeakable things and never wants to go into that tent again
• Also, his spell accidentally sets it partly on fire
• Genlock Jim is the new Templar Tim
• Auron’s awkard persuasion attempts when he tried to stop Johann from going to the camp (“UUUUMMMMMHHHH………”)
• Auron, running by everyone as he’s trying to chase after Johann: “I’MSORRYI’MSORRYI’MSORRY!”
• Mira only sees a colourful blur as Auron zooms by
• Junius gets out the hand sanitizer after dealing with Johann; Mira would like some too
• Maxfield confuses Konstantin and Valentin for a second after he convinced Konstantin to let Johann escape
• Mira: “Konstantin isn’t the boss, Valentin is!” – Maxfield: “Whatever, he believes my lies!”
• Mira: “Konstantin is Maxfield’s bitch.”
• Everyone going AAAWWWW ;_; at Auron, first when he placed the button on Johann’s chest, then when he said he had never gotten a present before
• Mira to Auron: “Most humans are idiots, only a few are exceptions. Like Maxfield. Try not to get involved with idiots.” – Auron: “So most humans are idiots, except Maxfield?”
• Auron to Mira: “I like you! :D” – Mira: “….. thanks. You’re okay too.”
• Max just refuses to take his arrows back from the darkspawn because of the tainted blood
• Mira really needs a bath but has no opportunity for one just yet; therefore Max will now sleep on the opposite side of the tent, because she’s stinky after being covered in so many undead remains
• Auron is confused by horse nose boops – some other horse was upset by his fashion choices

Report Date

03 Aug 2018

Primary Location

Anderfels