Gnomecalypse [5e solo hexcrawl]

[Smilex]

The terrain isn't really difficult as such, but there's hills. You see fine with your darkvision, but the distance is limited. This makes it a little bit difficult to optimize the route. You're sure one could find a more direct path than what you end up taking but you feel no hurry.

At one point you hear a bear somewhere to the west, but there's little to be gained from arguing with a bear so you end up continuing north a little longer.

The lake remains steadily on your right for a good while but then you reach the point where the lake simply ends. Now there's just hills. And at that point you hear the most curious sound. It is a series of clanking noises. They stop for a while and in a few moments they restart.

You sneak a little bit closer and you get to a small hilltop from which you can hear the sound better. A little bit beyond the edge of darkvision in the moonlight you can barely make out something moving. And when it's moving, it's steps are making the sound you've been hearing.

At this point you only detect one creature and its size is not much larger than you are.

[WindStruck]

At this point, Hushedfly could continue staying in place, listening for a while, to some rhyme or reason to the pattern.

Or, this probably being the case, if she felt it was reasonably safe, she could creep a bit closer until whatever this was was just within the range of her dark vision.

[Smilex]

You stealthily approach a little bit closer and you see a small flatter area between the hills. There is a gnome-sized humanoid. The individual has a widebrimmed hat and their feet glitter occasionally in the moonlight. When they walk around, there comes the clanking noise you've been hearing.

In the area there are a number of corpses on the ground. They seem to belong to a number of creature types. There's large many legged creatures with exoskeletons and long tails. There's mediumsized humanoids. There's a few canine creatures. Finally there are plant things with large stalks and larger bulbs at the top

Spoiler: suggestive image

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https://i.imgur.com/tEgYhLz.png

.

The walking individual is examining each corpse thoroughly. They don't seem to be particularly alert so you don't feel like you're close to being discovered.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly does not get closer, but she does continue observing for a while in confusion and/or fascination. She wonders, did this person kill all these things?

[Smilex]

The individual continues their examination for a while. At times you hear exclamations like:
-Bumnuggin owlpellets!
-Bleeding thieves!
-Crock and crickets!
-Vampires, why did it have to be vampires?

Finally he grabs one of the canine creatures and starts dragging it towards the position where you are. As he comes closer it looks like the animal is a coyote with its head crushed by something blunt.

As he's approaching you can see he's got metallic, likely silvery boots. Otherwise he's got a leather coat, a loin cloth and a straw hat. On his belt he seems to have a kusarigama. Oh, and he's got a single golden nipplering.

[WindStruck]

Uh oh.

Hushedfly tries to quietly slink away before this person gets too close and sees her.

Spoiler: rolls

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stealth: (1d20+5)[15]

advantage: (1d20+5)[15]

[Smilex]

You retreat back to the top of the hill and beyond where you notice he stops at the lower part of the hill.

He climbs on top of a large rock and lifts the coyote up from its hindlegs until the coyote is hanging and he ties it into that position.

Then he proceeds to lower himself back down. Then he makes a cut with his sickle into the neck of the coyote. Finally he removes his hat and lays it down to catch the blood that's coming out from the coyote.

And then he sits down and waits.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly's curiosity was far outweighed by her caution. She may have wanted to send a message inquiring what he was doing, but that would alert him to her presence.. even if he might not know where she was at the moment. And it seemed this person could be dangerous, too.

For now, however, she decided to get her information simply by watching silently.

Spoiler: ooc

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something about vampires. Does Hushedfly have any idea what that is?


Religion: (1d20-1)[9]

Also now that he took his hat off, is he more like a gnome or something else?

[Smilex]

Spoiler: OOC

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There were no undead in Faerie. The whole world was suffused with vitality of life so there was no way for undead to exist. Also technically religion was nonexistent too. No gods were known. Hence, no clerics or paladins either.

The individual looks like a gnome, but you're not quite sure of his subrace. His jaw is quite strong. He's a bit on the hairy side though all hair is short.

Both of you spend quite a bit of time just waiting. Eventually he drinks some of the blood he's poured out.

-Coyote, poor boy, we're just passing through history.

Then he puts the hat back on his head which results in the rest of the cloggy blood falling all over the rest of him. Then he simply rips off a front leg from the coyote and starts eating it.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly grimaces to herself, feeling like she has seen enough. She still couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, aside from the obvious: that this gnome was consuming a corpse.

She decides to head back to Notagem on a more direct south-southwestward route, foraging for a bit of food on the way. She'd prefer something like nuts, mushrooms, roots, berries, or maybe even grubs.. but no animals.

Spoiler: roll

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survival: (1d20+2)[14]

[Smilex]

It's relatively early spring in a relatively rocky, mountainous territory. Fare's poor. Digging for roots is also difficult with no tools. Even the insects haven't woken after winter.

You do find a few shrubberies which you can make sprout leaves with druidcraft. The leaves, you know, can be used as tea or as material for a herbalist's poultice.

You also find a few goats that are sleeping. You know that some of the clan members are experimenting with herding them and growing them for a regular milk source.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly might be lying to herself if she thought she wasn't even a little disappointed, but what the heck. It's not like she was a 'ranger' or anything. And it made sense that there's not really anything to eat just lying around. As long as the sprouted leaves weren't appealing to eat immediately, she wasn't really interested either. Oh well.

While she passes by the goats quietly without waking them, she does, however, make a mental note about them. Perhaps Hackbar would be interested in these goats. Hushedfly should probably at least tell her about them.. assuming she seemed to be in a good mood and interested in the information.

Before making it all the way back to Notagem, Hushedfly rests a while, gazing up at the stars and maybe she even naps. The quiet and solitude was something precious out here, and perhaps something she wished would last forever. It couldn't. But she'd rather prolong it.

[Smilex]

You find a ledge that's difficult to see from the surrounding areas and protected from the worst of wind. You lie down looking at the stars. At one point you see some large birdlike thing cross the moon and you wonder what that was.

You've walked a long way in difficult terrain and you're quite tired. It's no surprise when the sleep comes.

It's a deep dreamless sleep. Relaxing. Still, you wake up feeling very cold. While moving it's easy to stay warm, but after the sleep you're shivering.

It's still night. From the place of the moon you suspect that dawn can't be too far off. You realize there was a noise that woke you up. THere's a series of small rock slides. Something big is moving close by.

[WindStruck]

Ah! Hushedfly hoped it was just one of those goats or a bear or something.

She tries to stay as still as possible and not shiver, hoping this thing passes without noticing her.

[Smilex]

The sound of falling rocks draws nearer and nearer.

An enormous face of rock leans forward to look at you from behind another ledge and looks straight at you. It speaks gnomish.

-Hello. I am Chrnogor!

A stony appendage comes to view beside the face and twists into a slightly bent shape.

-Look! My arms are huge!

[WindStruck]

Drat, Hushedfly was seen. Somehow, this huge rocky being knew exactly where she was! Her father probably wouldn't be happy about that. But at least Chrnogor seemed friendly!

"H-hell-lo.." Hushedfly stammers, partly from cold and partly from fear. "Y-y-yes.. th-they are q-quite big.."

[Smilex]

Chrnogor emits a weird crackling sound and continues.
-Chrnogor rules the mountains.
-If it jiggles, it's fat. See... No fat!

He shakes his 'arms' and indeed there's no jiggling, just a rain of pebbles.

There's another crackling sound which might be laughter and the thing continues...
Did you find those gnomes you were looking fo?

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly blinks, rather confused. "Umm.. I w-wasn't l-looking for a-anyone. I w-was sleeping," she tries to say as matter-of-factly as possible.

Thinking perhaps an introduction was in order she says, "M-my name is Hushedfly." Though she was still awkwardly laying there on the ground.

[Smilex]

-Nice to meet you... Hushedfly. Chrnogor is pleased. You're sleeping close to the nest, not in the nest. Why? Nest is safe for little gnome. Gnomes in the ground, not over.

Chrnogor pauses and looks around.

-Black ones and goblins wander here. No more purple ones though.

[WindStruck]

It took a little while of thinking for her answer:

"Oh, um. I leave the 'nest' because .. it's.." Hushedfly shifts a little uncomfortably. "I just like it better out here."

"What do you mean black ones and purple ones?"

[Smilex]

-Well, you. You children of the ground. What are you anyway? Don't you usually have sleeves? Where are your sleeves?

-Yes. The guys that were looking for their friends had sleeves. You're not one of them.

-Did someone take your sleeves? Did the bad guys take your sleeves? Was it the goblins?

-Goblins, I tell you. They're no good. No good at all.

[WindStruck]

"No one took anything from me. Bad guys haven't found me," Hushedfly says. "I guess I just never had sleeves. Don't worry, I don't want any.."

Was the giant talking about clothes? Hm, probably.. Sleeves were a part of a clothing after all. As for his first question, she wasn't sure.

"Um.. I don't understand. Don't you know what I am? You said little gnome.. ground child.. Is something wrong?"

[Smilex]

Of course I know what you are. You speak the true language so you're one of the children of the ground. But what are you? A selkie? There's so many of you! We saved so many of you!

You think something is wrong? Nothing is wrong. We won! Faeries escape. No more lords! No more ladies! No more rain of blood. No more cullings of the walking. You see any bad guys, I'll take care of bad guys.

Chrnogor flexes both of his 'arms' and emits another crackling sound.

I won! But you know... It's not about winning. It's about maintaing a hard surface and a hard interiori. That way you always win. You grow up to be like me. You can beat an archfae, guaranteed.

You know what. I'll tell you a secret. The secret to hardness is pressure. You need as much pressure as you can get. That way you get hard, tough... Like me!

And then Chrnogor emits another crackling sound.

-Have you seen any fat gnomes? I'm looking for a gnome who's pro-fat.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly was growing more confused.

"Um.. I don't think I'm a Selkie??" What was a Selkie?

"Are you saying there was a fight with the Faeries? You fought against them?" That would explain why they disappeared? "I don't think any of us really knew what happened. We were all underground many years ago.."

"Fat gnomes? Um. Maybe in the 'nest'. Why are you looking for one?"

[Smilex]

-Selkies, them swimming gnomes. All that swimming so sleeves would get in the way. ... Or was that spriggans? Hmm... Redcaps?...Svirfneblin? ... There's so many of the chosen.

-Yes I fought! And conquered. We beat the Faeries. No Pity, no remorse. Faeries can't stop me.

-And you fought too. The rebellion. The fights against the fomorians. The shakings of the pillars! The pulling of roots! Underground, that's where you can win a fight against faeries. That's where the roots are. You got to get them by the roots.

-Let me tell you about fat. Fat's waste. When I was a young elemental I was full of oil. I sloshed when I moved. That's when I learned about pressure. Most elementals live in places full of crystals and meditation and geoids and all of that. Stale, calcified. So many oily guys. That's a place with no pressure.

... They say pressure creates chaos. They say that no movement is best, is most solid. But you got to have change to make you better. You got to go through the pressure to turn yourself into a winner. Besides you know what oil is? It's just dead ents! Pressure got that right out of me. Those fights against fomorians, wrestling a fomorian in a volcano, that was pressure.

[WindStruck]

"Uhm.. R-right..." Hushedfly says.

"H-hey, do you know how to whisper? Like whisper, really quietly, so no one else can hear you? Maybe I can show you a neat trick."

She tries to cast message, briefly pointing at Chrnogor: 'Like this.'

[Smilex]

Chrnogor waves his hands around his head and looks around.
He answers to the message.
-Who's there?
Then he looks at you and points at you emitting another crackling sound.
The message continues.
-That's a good trick. Let me show you one.

He sinks into the ground and his face reemerges on the ledge you are on in a way that you're on his forehead.

[WindStruck]

Hushedfly gasps and begins to climb to her feet before realizing it was Chrnogor's .. face?

"Oh! W-wow... That is a good trick," she says.

"You are like one with the Earth. Have you seen our home like that?"

[Smilex]

Chrnogor makes a weird expression that's difficult to read given that he's an earth elemental and you're viewing his face upside down.
-No. I am the boss of the mountain. I don't wander around like... like a sylph. I am Chrnogor, son of Chugush. I stand over the land.

Then he goes uncharacteristically quiet.

[WindStruck]

"Oh. Sorry.." Hushedfly says. Whether it was the bringing up of an uncomfortable subject or simply the fact that she got Chrnogor's duties wrong, it seemed pretty evident that the elemental was not happy anymore.

An awkward silence filled the air as Hushedfly simply sat on Chrnogor's forehead.