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quechianThere was time for me to sleep and practice for a while until Jack returned from his scouting trip to the farm.
Jack said that kathel came while he was watching, and they crossed the path (which we had thought they couldn't do, though they could go over it or through the trees). The path came to cart tracks that went to the farm, and the track seemed to be infrequently used. Not surprisingly, it dead-ended at the farm.
The farm had six houses outside the road, rather than inside, and not clustered together. Two were on the far side of the field, three on the left, and one on the right. There was a still by each house, each working. While Jack watched, only one drop came out; it seems to be a slow process, with perhaps a barrel filled each month among all the houses. Jack tasted it, and it tastes bad. They had two full barrels, and whatever was in the current buckets.
Jack saw three people working in the fields. Then he checked in the houses. In one, one person was making stew, while another was hitting a third with a hammer. The one being hit was all pipes and green inside, and the hammering sound was like wood on wood, rather than metal on metal. Some pipes were hammered in, then he was sewed up. The fixer took him outside, propped him up, then gave him a drink and slapped him, which woke the fixed one up. Then they all went inside and ate stew; they have teeth that imply they're carnivorous.
Jack went to the other end, and found the wagon, which seemed to be some sort of sledge, not drawn by animals. Jack said it would be easy to break the stills, but it would be noisy. He didn't see the backpack things, though he did see brightly colored skins in one house. The color wasn't unlike the kathel, but the shape seemed wrong.
As Jack debated breaking a still, he saw a kathel kid, bright orange, sitting on one of the houses. When a worker came out, the kathel attacked him, the two rolling on the ground, and the kathel biting a lot. Jack left while the kathel was distracted.
We debated what to do next. Should we do something to the farm? That was what was suggested by May's vision, but that would be a temporary solution, not a permanent one, and might disturb the political balance in the city in ways we can't predict. We could go to the city to figure out the politics, but it seemed unlikely that we'd then make it back(ward) to the farm. In the end, we decided to go to the farm and see what we could do to interrupt the making of this liquid that the Mother dislikes so.
The travel was fairly uneventful, being as Jack had described. At the fork, we could see the city in the distance, with huge walls that curved in, and a donut-shape above, and little rings on the rings, like Ult ships.
We got to the farm, and it was interesting to see that the buildings were made of wood, real wood, not this animal-like wood the trees here are made of. And the dirt is dirt, not something alive. It seems that they imported both (from the Ult traders? from elsewhere here?), at great expense. I wonder how they could have carved the farm out of the forest.
We debated again, about ways of interrupting farm production, and whether that's enough to fulfill the Mother's quest. Thymelixsen suggested that we could spray the field with the contents of the barrels. We'd need a distraction for that, and there are likely 12-18 people here. (Side note: the sky is alright here, but closer to the bad. It's blue, and Jack could go into Shadow here. The city is closer to the edge of the frayed sky; I wonder why that is.)
We went back and forth about what to do, and how to do it so we wouldn't be seen/known as who'd done it (lest we get ourselves killed when we go to the city). In the end, the plan was to get a backpack and poison the field with the spray, which would mean killing the workers. I wasn't very happy with this plan, though it seemed like anything we'd do would end up with some killing.
May put the Guidance of Nature on all of us but Jack, so we could hide in the woods, then Jack went scouting to find the backpack. He went into a house, and attacked the worker he found sleeping there. No backpack, though. Another house, and another attack. In the end, I think he killed three of the workers before he found the backpack.
Jack said that kathel came while he was watching, and they crossed the path (which we had thought they couldn't do, though they could go over it or through the trees). The path came to cart tracks that went to the farm, and the track seemed to be infrequently used. Not surprisingly, it dead-ended at the farm.
The farm had six houses outside the road, rather than inside, and not clustered together. Two were on the far side of the field, three on the left, and one on the right. There was a still by each house, each working. While Jack watched, only one drop came out; it seems to be a slow process, with perhaps a barrel filled each month among all the houses. Jack tasted it, and it tastes bad. They had two full barrels, and whatever was in the current buckets.
Jack saw three people working in the fields. Then he checked in the houses. In one, one person was making stew, while another was hitting a third with a hammer. The one being hit was all pipes and green inside, and the hammering sound was like wood on wood, rather than metal on metal. Some pipes were hammered in, then he was sewed up. The fixer took him outside, propped him up, then gave him a drink and slapped him, which woke the fixed one up. Then they all went inside and ate stew; they have teeth that imply they're carnivorous.
Jack went to the other end, and found the wagon, which seemed to be some sort of sledge, not drawn by animals. Jack said it would be easy to break the stills, but it would be noisy. He didn't see the backpack things, though he did see brightly colored skins in one house. The color wasn't unlike the kathel, but the shape seemed wrong.
As Jack debated breaking a still, he saw a kathel kid, bright orange, sitting on one of the houses. When a worker came out, the kathel attacked him, the two rolling on the ground, and the kathel biting a lot. Jack left while the kathel was distracted.
We debated what to do next. Should we do something to the farm? That was what was suggested by May's vision, but that would be a temporary solution, not a permanent one, and might disturb the political balance in the city in ways we can't predict. We could go to the city to figure out the politics, but it seemed unlikely that we'd then make it back(ward) to the farm. In the end, we decided to go to the farm and see what we could do to interrupt the making of this liquid that the Mother dislikes so.
The travel was fairly uneventful, being as Jack had described. At the fork, we could see the city in the distance, with huge walls that curved in, and a donut-shape above, and little rings on the rings, like Ult ships.
We got to the farm, and it was interesting to see that the buildings were made of wood, real wood, not this animal-like wood the trees here are made of. And the dirt is dirt, not something alive. It seems that they imported both (from the Ult traders? from elsewhere here?), at great expense. I wonder how they could have carved the farm out of the forest.
We debated again, about ways of interrupting farm production, and whether that's enough to fulfill the Mother's quest. Thymelixsen suggested that we could spray the field with the contents of the barrels. We'd need a distraction for that, and there are likely 12-18 people here. (Side note: the sky is alright here, but closer to the bad. It's blue, and Jack could go into Shadow here. The city is closer to the edge of the frayed sky; I wonder why that is.)
We went back and forth about what to do, and how to do it so we wouldn't be seen/known as who'd done it (lest we get ourselves killed when we go to the city). In the end, the plan was to get a backpack and poison the field with the spray, which would mean killing the workers. I wasn't very happy with this plan, though it seemed like anything we'd do would end up with some killing.
May put the Guidance of Nature on all of us but Jack, so we could hide in the woods, then Jack went scouting to find the backpack. He went into a house, and attacked the worker he found sleeping there. No backpack, though. Another house, and another attack. In the end, I think he killed three of the workers before he found the backpack.
