Mercenary Backstory - Crush the Inox Brute

"Crush" a most unusual Inox Brute

The hu-mans call us brutes. They consider us simpletons of limited intelligence. They began to call me "Crush" after my one and only attempt to teach them speak my true name. The sounds of my name being unpronounceable with the sound apparatus of a human throat.  It is mildly amazing that something so easy to crush cannot vocalize my name.     

I find it appropriate that the word hu (as in hu-man) in my language most closely translates as vile.  So here I find myself amongst the vile-men to further what is most important to me. I do find myself with a group that may prove to be less vile the norms of that race.  I think they can provide food, gear, and entertainment as I continue my researches. 

It is ironic to work as a "Brute" when in amongst my race, I am considered a failure because of my diminutive size.   I taught myself to read and think once I realized what I must do.  Of course once that was finally discovered, banishment was my only course.  Still there are benefits: Crushing vile throats has proved an unexpected pleasure. 

I have much to explore and research if I am to learn what must be learned.  I think maybe these Whiskey Bandits are useful to my needs.  Maybe Crush is useful to them too.  Maybe some fun with these Whiskey Bandits can be had.  The Whiskey does make them less vile.

I will stay with them as I get my feet down on this foreign land.

Mike Kent wrote this up - thanks Mike!

Week 1 - Beginnings and First Steps

"Mercenaries need to eat" the introduction in the Quest book for the board game Gloomhaven tells us.

We selected our starting characters which you can see listed at the top of the sidebar for easy reference. Then we started:

While we were spending quality time in one of our favourite establishments, the Red Lion, we were offered a job. Jekserah, a wealthy Valrath woman wearing a red cloak wanted us to find a thief and retrieve some stolen documents - Reward 10 gold. She told us of the Black Barrow (Map Location #1) and also notified us that Gloomhaven had of late turned Militaristic (Global Achievement: City Rule)

Everyone spent all their gold on the recommended starting items. We were broke.

Before we left for the Black Barrow though we were also approached by a heavily scarred Inox and hired us to steal a figurine (City Event #28). "An interested party" wanted to hire us to steal a valuable figurine from a residence in the Battlements in two days. Being flat broke helped make the decision to take this job as well. Fortunately, it really was easy work with Jax and Mal's skills who managed to slip in and slip out without issue. Each of us were paid 10 Gold.

Once on the road and well into the wilderness, we encountered a group of mounted Inox Barbarians who surrounded us and demanded to know our business (Road Event #18). The leader suggested that perhaps we had come to murder more of his people. We let the Crush the Inox in our group speak for us and tried for a peaceful resolution. We  explained that we meant the Inox Barbarians no ill will. The leader did not seem to believe us nor want to fight us, so he Cursed us and suggested we leave immediately.

Upon arriving at the Black Barrow hill we immediately found a worn set of stone stairs leading down into the darkness. As we descended we noticed both light emanating from below and the unmistakable stench of death. Six Bandits were in the room and a battle began. Dispatching them lead us to another room with 3 more Bandits and 3 Archers. Going deeper we found a final room with 4 Archers and 4 Skeletons. Unfortunately, due to our inexperience, we were all low on resources and Jax ended up falling near the end of the battle. Mal Drake managed to open a small chest that had a map to a place called Sulphur Mine (Random Side Scenario #65). We were victorious!

After reviving Jax we discovered our quarry and the documents were not to be found amongst the dead and wreckage. We did however find the entrance to the Barrow Lair (Map Location #2) and decided that the Whiskey Bandits had taken their First Steps (Party Achievement) on what is likely to be a long road and exciting adventure.

This ended our first game session. It seems somewhat appropriate to equate each session with a "week" of time, so the title of each entry will have a somewhat chronological ordering - even if the story timeline within each game session doesn't quite match up. Eh, I think it will work.

I will try and highlight "notable" locations and game events in Bold for easier reference back to the game cards/stickers/elements. Hopefully it is not too cumbersome to read this way.

Peace,
Brent