Colostle Season 2 Part 3: The Journey to Beacon Bay

 Hi!

Here's the next instalment of my Colostle Campaign!

Campaign Log Day 11

Following the encounter in the scrapyard, EM-RY5 sets off towards the settlement of Beacon Bay (I rolled it up randomly using Table Fables!) steadily descending the massive staircase but always on guard as there are more and more tracks of the bandits and rooks he's been tracking for over a week. The cluttered junk piles are obviously slowing them down which is possibly why the mysterious Dryad and member of the Order of the Black Tower set an ambush the previous day.

The Scrapyard on the Stairs

As he ponders on this, his new companion, the small floating Rookling he has nicknamed Bronwyn comes to a stop and begins worriedly chirping at him. Suddenly two Rooks burst from cover in the junk and lumber towards our hero.

The Pugilist 1

The first is a medium Rook and while it doesn't appear to have any magical attack focus, it is armed with a pair of massive crushing fists which it has raised and ready to attack. 

The Scrap Crusher

Its companion is massive and has a pair of what appear to be battering rams for arms. The ground shakes as the pair move but fortunately for EM-RY5 the cluttered terrain means only one can attack at a time and the medium Rook rushes to engage him.

The Rooks fist swings in an arc aimed at his head but EM-RYS is prepared and dodges the blow with ease and swings his own mace down on the extended limb. The weapon connects with a thunderous boom and smashes the arm off. While the Rook stumbles, off balance with the loss of a limb, EM-RY5 steps forward and rains blow after blow down on it and crushing it's core.

Before he can even catch a breath, the second massive Rook smashes the ruined Rook out of the way with a massive fist and is upon him. Fortunately the husk of the defeated Rook has slowed it's charge and EM-RY5 is able to dodge in and smash his mace into the massive machines knee. The Rook stumbles but keeps attacking and the melee swirls on with the Rook trying to smash the hero into the ground but EM-RY5 dodging each blow but unable to get close enough to strike back.

The ground suddenly gives way under the hero's feet and as he trips on some exposed cabling, the massive Rooks fist connects with his chest sending him flying. He lands with a crash into a nearby scrap pile and as he dazedly tries to reclaim his feet groaning as the pain blossoms in his chest. His armoured carapace has taken much of the damage but he knows he's been hurt badly. 

Bronwyn the Rookling

As he staggers out of the scrap, the massive Rook rumbles forward raising its fist to bring down on the hero and crush him to death. The fight is suddenly interrupted by a piercing shriek and a Gargoyle seizes up EM-RY5 and Bronwyn and soars up to the rafters.

The Gargoyle deposits the hero on the rafter and he has a brief sense of cool green vegetation before unconsciousness takes him.

The Rafters

Campaign Log Day 12

The next morning EM-RY5 wakes to find himself in a strange forest. The vegetation is as lush green with massive ferns, strange plants and tuberous growths while the rafter itself has a moss covered slab surface. Mist swirls thickly around and he realises he is above cloud level again. As he looks around he sees his Rookling companion bobbing nearby and as he hefts himself up, groaning in pain in the aftermath of both the beating he took at the hands of the massive Rook yesterday and having been buffeted by the Gargoyle as it carried him, Bronwyn floats over chirping happily and gently bopping his elbow.

Before exploring further, the pair are forced to seek shelter a storm blows in seemingly from nowhere. Looking up, he can see there are great sprinklers in the ceiling above and water sheets down in a torrent that lasts an hour and the hero is thoroughly soaked before it lets up. Fortunately the rain stops as quickly as it started and soon the forest is steaming as the heat of the great braziers that hang from the ceiling evaporates the rainwater.

As he begins to move along the poorly defined path on the rafter, an all too familiar shriek pierces the air and a Gargoyle swoops down and grabs EM-RY5 up in its talons but it is spooked by Bronwyn who unexpectedly unleashes an electrical charge at the stone beast and drops the hero. Unfortunately he misses the vegetation and lands with a crash on the pathway taking more damage. As he lies groaning, Bronwyn floats over and beeps sadly. EM-RY5 sighs and pats the Rookling before hauling himself gingerly to his feet. Not only is he somewhat winded by the fall he's also singed by the Rookling's electrical help.

It appears that the Gargoyle had a reason for picking him up though as he sees a rickety pipe that appears to lead down and back to the surface. The thing is a rusty looking deathtrap but EM-RY5 is badly in need of rest and the town he's headed towards is only a days walk once he gets back to ground level so grumbling, he begins the long descent, muttering about blasted Gargoyles and helpful Rooklings. Bronwyn floats after him tooting and chirping in agreement.

Campaign Log Day 13

Emerging from the rusty pipe back in the scrapyard staircase, EM-RY5 peers out from concealment. There doesn't seem to be any sign of the massive Rook he fought yesterday, something he is profoundly glad about as he is in no state to do battle with the beast he has nicknamed the Scrap Crusher and cautiously sets out down the stairs.

The terrain is still broken with large pieces of broken machinery and a river flows down in cascading waterfalls beside the switchback path he follows and more and more trees seem to be growing along its banks, their long frond like branches sweeping down into the water.

The settlement is only a days travel and EM-RY5 is beginning to feel a bit more confident as there has been no sign of the Scrap Crusher as the twisting pathway is far too narrow for the great creature to follow him. Somewhat worryingly there are no signs of the bandits he'd been following either but he reasons that he may have bypassed them via his unexpected journey to the rafters. Briefly he considers setting up an ambush for them as it would be rather poetic for the ambushers to become the ambushees but he's too badly damaged to face a battle so gamely limps on until he reaches a bridge that marks the end of the scrapyard.

Infuriatingly a medium Rook is ensconced in front of it and doesn't look like it's planning on going anywhere so with a sigh, EM-RY5 limps forward to fight it.

The Pugilist 2

The Rook appears to be a carbon copy of the medium Rook that had accompanied the Scrap Crusher in the skirmish in the scrapyard two days before. It appears to be waiting patiently for something or someone but as it sees me it lumbers forward fists raised.

All the distractions, delays, hurt and diversions of the previous few days boils up in the hero's chest and he bellows a warcry and rushes to meet the machine. Dodging under its swinging fists, he swings his mace as he charges and the head makes contact with the Rooks chest with a thunderous boom sending the Rook hurtling backwards.

As it hefts itself back to its feet, Bronwyn floats past chirping and buzzing angrily and unleashes a blinding bolt of searing lightning into the Rook sending it staggering back into the ground where it lies unmoving.

Cautiously, a flabbergasted EM-RY5 pats the small Rookling on the head before approaching the fallen Rook. The husk contains enough components for the hero to trade in the settlement ahead for parts to repair his badly damaged casing and he staggers on towards the settlement.

Within an hour he approaches the settlement but where he had been expecting a small fishing village, he sees a thriving town that sits on the shore of a sea. The town is built out onto the water atop a number of stone columns and the guards who stand watch rush to meet EM-RY5 as he approaches.

Beacon Bay

 Campaign Log Day 14 

Following a brief meeting with the towns mayor, EM-RY5 had been bundled off to the inn for a rest and repair. The Inn is well kept and called the Silver Violin and as he emerges into the main room the next morning he is met by a worried Mayor who tells him that he is the first traveller they have seen in almost a week due to the sudden appearance of multiple aggressive Rooks in the scrapyard between Beacon Bay and Bannervale. Seeing his battered state on the previous evening, EM-RY5 had shocked the inhabitants but his tale of fighting his way through the scrapyard has reassured them that aid has arrived.

The mayor explains that even before the Rooks in the scrapyard had begun acting up, the towns inhabitants had been having vivid dreams of a great Rook appearing from the sea to destroy the town and had sent to the Hunters Guild in Bannervale for help but the road had since been cut off and they had believed they'd been left to their fate.

When asked about bandits or mysterious Dryads, he states that nobody matching the description had been through the town so they must still be in the scrapyard outside town and worries that their activity may have got the Rooks riled up.

Having been badly mauled over the previous few days, EM-RY5 retreats to his room to rest and ponder on what has caused the Rooks to cut the town off so completely and what he can do about the issue. It is clear that he needs to go into the town to search for rumours and deal with the threat but he still needs to complete repairs on his badly damaged armour so puts off exploring until tomorrow.

Campaign Log Day 15 

The next morning EM-RY5 explores Beacon Bay in search of rumours that will guide him to both the Hunters Guild job he has and the quest that brought him to Balconia in the first place. The town contains an inn, merchants and Rook creche as well as a gourmet district that specialises in sea food but other than hearing variations on the same story, that everyone has dreamed of the same Rook and the town has not had any strangers or travellers visit within the last week or so, he finds out nothing.

Sighing, he heads to the local Hunters Guild. The guildhouse is ramshackle and the man behind the counter is ancient with mahogany skin and a profusion of scars and tattoos visible. Despite his age he clomps round the counter revealing he has a wooden leg and introduces himself as Captain Candlewick while shaking the hero's hand in a crushing grip and announces that he intends to head out to sea tomorrow to do battle with the Rook and suggests EM-RY5 can tag  along to give a hand. 

He further explains that the danger is a Rook that inhabits the deeps further out to sea, towards the doorway to the neighbouring Roomland and something has got it all riled up and its up to him and EM-RY5 as Hunters to deal with it before it threatens the town. 

Candlewicks boat, the Victory

Planning to meet at the wharf the next morning, EM-RY5 bids the crotchety old coot a good night and heads back to the tavern. As he sits in the tavern that evening, a small wiry man approaches. He has a large hat and red lensed spectacles and introduces himself as Greem Garnell, Investigator. EM-RY5 notes this is quite the grand title for such an unassuming figure but Greem smiles and offers to aid his quest as the town is going to suffer if trade between Beacon Bay and Bannervale cannot be re-opened. Similarly he is extremely worried about the fact that the entire town has been so effected by dreams and something must be causing it which needs dealing with as soon as possible. Therefore he suggests sharing resources and if he finds out anything he will share any results in his investigation with the hero. 

Realising the small man is serious, EM-RY5 agrees and the two part ways, EM-RY5 to go forth to battle a mysterious Rook and Greem to begin his investigation into the cause of the bandit activity and the mystery of the towns strange visions.

Well what an eventful few days our adventurer has had and he's found some companions to aid with his quest!

Captain Candlewick is only really a means for EM-RY5 to get out to sea at the moment but I quite like the character so he may get a bit more of a roll moving forward and Greem is going to be getting his own mini adventure using Tricube Tales, a free solo RPG set that I happened across and I'll see how things go.

I've really been enjoying playing Colostle as its allowing me to make up some really fascinating stories and I've become quite attached to my Golem adventurer and was quite concerned that he was going to die at the hands of the mighty Scrap Crusher but he's pulled through and is fully repaired now and ready for the next leg of his quest which I'll update onto here as soon as I get the illustration done but in the meantime, All the best!