In which The Horde climbs a mountain, finds a skeleton, and uncovers an ancient secret.

Our DM is   Sasha Rose Hansen  

The players, in alphabetical order:

Carbry -   Bryn Ziegler  

Gary -   Rebecca Michelson  

Renora -   Tori Chancellor  

Spencer Charlemagne -   Jacob Earl  

Tongs -  Grayson Abele 

We’re produced by Jacob Earl 

Our theme music is “Rathgars Theme” and is available through   LateMoonRecords.com  

Tune in next week at   RathgarsHorde.com  and as always, we may be cursed, but I promise will make it through alive. 

twenty

Out of Sdelka!  We encountered some wolves but the giant cast a spell and we snuck on past. Eventually we hit upon a sign made of iron, pointing up the mountain and inscribed with the words: “Svitoyas Forge” with a little arrow pointing off to a lesser path. 

As we went I was looking for a magic plant that I could maybe give to the giant to make something with, but I quickly realized I don’t know any plants. I did find this, it was sort of glowing in a cool way :

And when I gave it to the giant they gave me back an idea of some healing plants to look out for, from their own notes. 

The golem has learnt how to send messages across space & time — we hit up the bard but he didn’t (couldn’t?) give us a clue as to where he is. I had a thought that we could contact the little boy I scared on the spire of sleep and get him to lead all the children over to the spire of the innocents where they could have a good life, but the golem seemed reluctant, maybe because he didn’t want to lead a bunch of children on a different planet to their death on the promise of a better life.

At camp we read the smoke-gazers diary to little effect, and the giant got a hot tip on some kind of spooky pond from a tree. The monk woke me up before my watch by knocking me out of my hammock — she did not listen _at all & chased off after some sprites that passed by. 

The monk started bowing & waving and talking to these warriors, then she called them “pretty” and started demanding things! The sprites closest to me said that the only scary things around are them. We traded some shells & a rabbits foot for “safe passage” which, all things considered, I’m counting as a success. We eventually hit this crazy little pool, with a huge stone statue of a skeleton standing under a waterfall. The water is very cold, and exceptionally clear. It felt like a church. 

The demon and the golem made some kind of circlet and cooled it in the pool, I dipped my knife in and it didn’t freak out, whatever this is its not a portal to the faewild. I meditated and it was nice! It’s a calming spot. We camped on the shore and in the morning got back on track — I made 1 coffee (me) 2 teas (giant, demon) 2 waters (monk, golem) and the monk wanted the used grounds? What the hell could she want those for. 

As we followed the path here became giant statues with signs around their necks in many languages all saying “Thieves Beware”. I tried to teach the golem the language of his god but I’m not sure any of it sunk in. 

Svitoya’s Forge is a town made of metal, populated by people in headscarves and smoked glass goggles. The main road leads to a big building that’s some kind of civic palace. I just knocked on the door and we were let in to meet “The Mother” who is the leader of the town. 
Two notes: “we welcome any honest newcomers” and “metal for metal” both are the watchwords of this little world. They seemed willing to trade almost anything for more iron, it’s the main object there. It will become clear why in a moment. The golem and the demon went off to talk to some local expert about what the golem IS while the giant and I went to the library to talk to a local historian. She told me the little shard in the bottle I found so long ago is a shard of a shattered enchanted object, so far from whole it floats. Maybe its other parts are on a different plane? She then told the giant and me the story of the town, which I have included here in an abridged form:

First mother, name lost, Sdelkan daughter of artisans. Travelled in caravans — Beauty and skill grew with age, more interested in craft than love. Specialized in toys, mechanism. Her skill became the best in the world, which she travelled restlessly. Bold, she went to the Kingdom of Winter in Zamerzot, land of the immortal Fae. The fae court loved her work and she made many automata for them, and she was content for a long time. The King, the Archfae, offered her immortality, to stay in court with them forever, but she had grown lonely and restless and had decided to leave. Enraged, the Archfae cursed her to be unchanging, and so fearsome to look upon that anyone with whom she shared eye contact became forever unchanging. She had escaped, but was outcast. So she settled on the side of a volcano and, to be safe, built her settlement of iron, a metal the fae despise. She continued her work, and travellers came from all over to learn. One such person was a traveller named Kendra, and the two fell in love and started a family, safe in the iron embrace of Svitoyas Forge. 

and here in the official record version:

The First Mother grew up a human artisan from the trading city’s caravans. As she came of age, she bloomed in beauty and skill. The First Mother, being mechanically minded, specialized in intricate and often tiny toys and trinkets filled with clockwork hearts and minds. Soon, her skill outstripped all her peers and competition, and, with growing confidence, she set her sights on making her name and fortunes abroad.

She chose the Kingdom of Winter far to the south thinking that if she could win renown among the immortal fey, her name would live on forever. She packed her bags with gold and silver, for the fey abhor all ironwork, and set sail for Winter’s Heart.

Upon her introduction to the court, she astonished and delighted the fey nobility with her beautiful machines. She was indeed celebrated for what the nobility called her ‘mechanical magic,’ and was eventually awarded her own title at court by the Archfey himself. She traded metal for metal, and could often be found gazing out the windows of the palace- always with work in her hands. She was content.

Time passed, and seeing her happiness, the Archfey came one day to offer her immortality so that she could join the court properly and make devices for the fey forever. Medusa thought carefully, and while she was happy at court, she had started to dream a new dream— of finding someone to love and starting a family with children of her own to enjoy the toys she made.

She tried to explain this to the Archfey, but he was enraged by her refusal and her desire to leave his court, so he cursed her. At his vicious words, she became so fearsome to look upon that anyone with whom she shared eye contact became forever unchanging, the gift she had spurned. She took her tools and fled back across the sea away from the now terrible cold leaving all her glittering gold and silver miniatures behind.

Knowing that all settlements would shun her, she set up her own house on the side of a fiery mountain where her forge could always be warm. Living alone, she found that her fierce appearance was good protection under trying circumstances, and she learned how to reveal or conceal her nature as necessary.

Before long, travelers came up the mountain to trade metal for metal following the sounds of the forge. One of these travelers, Kendra, was a beautiful blacksmith coming to learn from a master. She and The First Mother fell in love and did start the family both had longed for.

All female descendants of The First Mother have shared her fearsome appearance and desire for the warmth of forge work. They are master smiths, but will only work in iron or steel so that their creations may never grace the halls of the Archfey.

I also learnt that a miserable, out of control woman on a thunderbird blew through town a few weeks ago. I thought I didn’t have anything to trade for that information, but I remembered twenty minutes ago that I do, that I could tell the historian the location of the cursed sword from which I freed the golem. We slept in an inn and the golem made a metal violin out of magic, and the demon mounted my tiny diamond into a stylus. The golem traded the violin to his local expert for a mechanical Salamader, and the knowing of the Sning, which we can now work. Then we headed up the volcano to the peak where—