Plaese note this is a WIP
After several hours of rest the party wake to find that it is still pitch dark and no sooner are they up then it starts to bucket down.
Alexa tends to the parties wounds and Alane is mobile but still badly battered after her duel with the wizard.
The magical mark is slowly spinning around and around provinding no sense of direction and with the darkness there are no visible landmarks.
The party decides to wait to see if conditions improve. When they dont they decide to pick a direction and see where they end up. Grim Gorgson takes point walking ahead of group. After a couple of hours several of the group become convinced that they recognize some of the trees that they are passing and that they are walking in circles.
They halt and have a discussion during which grimgorson notices that the marker is spinning faster and in a different direction.
After experimenting a bit the party discovers that the marker spins faster or slower depending on the direction they walk.
They decide to walk in a direction that slows the spinning down. An hour later they reach a tipping point where the marker slows down and then starts to speed up but now spinning in the opposite direction. There does not seem to be anything special about the area this happens in.
Taking a right hand turn they head off again. Marking there trail as they go. The marker starts to spin so fast that it becomes almost a blur. The party once againtakes a right hand turn and attempts to find a spot where the marker stops spinning. Once again the marker starts to slow down and after and hour of walking it almost stops but then reverses its spin.
They group decides to backtrack to the point where the marker was spinning its fastest and investigate that area. When they arrive back at that point they begin a search of the area. Using their magic sense both Falandar and Alane detect a faint trace of magic emanating from a small pile of stones. Breaking open the cairn they find a round stone with magic markings drawn on it. Falandar rubs out the markings and the magic emanating from the stone disappers. Falandar identifies the stone as being lodestone.
The marker has stopped its bluring spin but continues to rotate. The party decides to see if they can find other areas where the marker spins at speed. Sure enough they manage to locate two other cairns with magically marked lodestones.
On
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Bogged Down
This is still a WIP
After vanquishing the giant, the party frees the captive workers. Grim Gorgson and Falandar collect blood, teeth and a toenail from the giant's corpse.
The party decides that they need to find a large town to re-equip. Several of the captives inform them that the is a large town roughly 5 days south of the camp. When the party makes it known that they intend to head to this town a group of captives (around 30) beg the players to allow them to travel along with the party for protection. The party reluctantly agrees. The party scavenges a cart and food supplies and start their slow trek southwards.
The first day of travel passes uneventfully. However around midday on the second day. Grim Gorgson notices the marker on the enchanted strip of cloth swing wildly around to now point eastwards instead of southward.
The party decides to ignore the marker and continue towards the city. Over the next few hours the strip of cloth starts to first itch and then eventual burn Grim Gorgson. He also feels an building compulsion to head east.
Re-evaluating the situation, the heroes decide to heed the marker and head east. The abandon the wagon, supplies and freed captives alongside the road and make their way into the wood.
After a half day of travel the party encounters the edge of some marshlands. They attempt to skirt them by heading south again, but once again the marker starts to heat up. Reluctantly the group decides to enter the marshlands. The weather is fine and the party easily navigates their way between the firmer patches of ground.
A few hours in Grim Gorgson is surprised to see the marker start spin and turn in random directions. The group also notices a dark storm front closing in from the north. Using the mountains in the distance to get their bearings they continue east.
Eventually the storm overtakes them. The rain is initially light but eventually becomes torrential. The going becomes harder and harder and visibility becomes severely limited. Unable to tell where East is, the exhausted group finds the highest point of land they can and they make camp.
Huddling between the horses and mules the party gets some fitful rest. Urgim creates a a fire but is unable to keep it lit.
Grim Gorgson and Alexa take the first watch and hour in they hear the sounds of something shambling in marsh. They wake the others. Falandar creates marsh lights and sends them towards the closing noises. In the pale light the heroes sees a 10 foot tall figure slowing walking towards then. Alane and Falandar cast light and the group waits for the figure to get closer. The figure starts to lope and when it finally enters the pools of magic light the party can see that it is made up of debris, dead animals and plants. It charges the party and a viscous fight ensues. Eventually Grim Gorgson strikes it down.
Out of the darkness comes several more shrieks and two more beasts shamble out of the night. The heroes are once again able to prevail but several are bloodied and badly hurt. More shrieks emanate from the darkness. Catching her breath Alane realises that the monsters are Fenbeast, magical constructs and that there must be a wizard nearby directing them.
The party hatches a plan. Alane will use her magic to cloak herself and seek out the wizard. The rest of the party will build a bonfire from the remains of the fenbeasts to act as a distraction and a beacon for Alane to find her way back to the group.
Setting off into the darkness, Alane begins her hunt for the wizard. Eventually she catches a brief glimpse of two figures in light of one of Falandars marsh lights. One appears to be another Fenbeast. The other seems to be of normal man height.
Conflicted, Alane looks back to see the parties bonfire in the distance. Worried that she may lose him in the darkness she decides to confront the wizard by herself.
She sneaks towards the wizard and launches a flurry of magic darts. Initially surprised the wizard retaliates with spells of fear. Unfazed by the wizards spells Alane presses her attack. The wizard responds with magic darts of his own.
Staring into the darkness the party sees the blinding flashes of light released by the magics of the duelling wizards. They grab there weapons and start slogging through the bog to lend aid to Alane.
Meanwhile Alane seems to be besting the wizard. Her last magic dart having sheared off the hand of the wizard leaving him collapsed and bleeding out in the marsh.
But her triumph is short lived as she receives a crushing blow from the Fenbeast she had forgotten about. She is flipped through the air is slams into a tree.
After vanquishing the giant, the party frees the captive workers. Grim Gorgson and Falandar collect blood, teeth and a toenail from the giant's corpse.
The party decides that they need to find a large town to re-equip. Several of the captives inform them that the is a large town roughly 5 days south of the camp. When the party makes it known that they intend to head to this town a group of captives (around 30) beg the players to allow them to travel along with the party for protection. The party reluctantly agrees. The party scavenges a cart and food supplies and start their slow trek southwards.
The first day of travel passes uneventfully. However around midday on the second day. Grim Gorgson notices the marker on the enchanted strip of cloth swing wildly around to now point eastwards instead of southward.
The party decides to ignore the marker and continue towards the city. Over the next few hours the strip of cloth starts to first itch and then eventual burn Grim Gorgson. He also feels an building compulsion to head east.
Re-evaluating the situation, the heroes decide to heed the marker and head east. The abandon the wagon, supplies and freed captives alongside the road and make their way into the wood.
After a half day of travel the party encounters the edge of some marshlands. They attempt to skirt them by heading south again, but once again the marker starts to heat up. Reluctantly the group decides to enter the marshlands. The weather is fine and the party easily navigates their way between the firmer patches of ground.
A few hours in Grim Gorgson is surprised to see the marker start spin and turn in random directions. The group also notices a dark storm front closing in from the north. Using the mountains in the distance to get their bearings they continue east.
Eventually the storm overtakes them. The rain is initially light but eventually becomes torrential. The going becomes harder and harder and visibility becomes severely limited. Unable to tell where East is, the exhausted group finds the highest point of land they can and they make camp.
Huddling between the horses and mules the party gets some fitful rest. Urgim creates a a fire but is unable to keep it lit.
Grim Gorgson and Alexa take the first watch and hour in they hear the sounds of something shambling in marsh. They wake the others. Falandar creates marsh lights and sends them towards the closing noises. In the pale light the heroes sees a 10 foot tall figure slowing walking towards then. Alane and Falandar cast light and the group waits for the figure to get closer. The figure starts to lope and when it finally enters the pools of magic light the party can see that it is made up of debris, dead animals and plants. It charges the party and a viscous fight ensues. Eventually Grim Gorgson strikes it down.
Out of the darkness comes several more shrieks and two more beasts shamble out of the night. The heroes are once again able to prevail but several are bloodied and badly hurt. More shrieks emanate from the darkness. Catching her breath Alane realises that the monsters are Fenbeast, magical constructs and that there must be a wizard nearby directing them.
The party hatches a plan. Alane will use her magic to cloak herself and seek out the wizard. The rest of the party will build a bonfire from the remains of the fenbeasts to act as a distraction and a beacon for Alane to find her way back to the group.
Setting off into the darkness, Alane begins her hunt for the wizard. Eventually she catches a brief glimpse of two figures in light of one of Falandars marsh lights. One appears to be another Fenbeast. The other seems to be of normal man height.
Conflicted, Alane looks back to see the parties bonfire in the distance. Worried that she may lose him in the darkness she decides to confront the wizard by herself.
She sneaks towards the wizard and launches a flurry of magic darts. Initially surprised the wizard retaliates with spells of fear. Unfazed by the wizards spells Alane presses her attack. The wizard responds with magic darts of his own.
Staring into the darkness the party sees the blinding flashes of light released by the magics of the duelling wizards. They grab there weapons and start slogging through the bog to lend aid to Alane.
Meanwhile Alane seems to be besting the wizard. Her last magic dart having sheared off the hand of the wizard leaving him collapsed and bleeding out in the marsh.
But her triumph is short lived as she receives a crushing blow from the Fenbeast she had forgotten about. She is flipped through the air is slams into a tree.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Lets rescue the...gold
Back-tracking the trail of the bandits, the party work their way towards the bandit's mine. Cresting a tree covered hill they hear the sounds of industry (punctuated with the occasional scream) and smell sulphuric smoke ahead.
Falandar climbs a tree and looks down into a valley to see a wooden walled camp surrounding a large pit. The camp sports several guard towers, a number of buildings and a large double-story barn like structure. Most surprising is the presence of a giant who is happily crushing the rock and ore getting hauled out of the pit by chained captives. Here is what he sees (each square is 5 yards):
After much deliberation the party decides that they could poison the well in the camp to take out the guards and perhaps burn down the wooden camp walls. So they head back to Sommeville to get supplies. In Sommeville, Alexa secures 3 casks of oil and Andreus uses his gossip skills to track down a herbalist. The herbalist (an old crone) reluctantly sells him some Belladonna but informs him that it will need to be administered to food not dumped into water.
The players head back and a couple days after first sighting the mine, the party are once again surveying the camp.
It appears that during the day the bandits leave the gates open but the towers on either side of the gate are manned by a guard each. Since it is late afternoon the party decide that they need to get into the camp asap to try poison the evening meal.
Alexa is convinced to sneak into the camp using her cloaking magic. Alexa nervously sneaks through the gates (the guards both fail to spot her), has a quick look around and races back to the woods before her spell wears out. Her quick look-see gives her two likely targets for the kitchen.
Next Alexa uses her doppelganger spell to make herself look like one of the guards and then cloaks herself again to sneak back into the camp. Once again the guards fail to spot her as she passes through the gates. Alexa runs behind her first target building and strolls out from behind it when her cloaking spell runs out.
Luck is with her and she quickly locates the kitchen. Unfortunately the kitchen is occupied by a grubby cook who attempts to engage Alexa in conversation. Since her doppleganger spell does not disguise her voice she decides to cast a sleep spell on the cook. Whilst the cook is knocked out Alexa dumps the Belladonna into the large pot cooking on the fire.
Cloaking herself again, she hurriedly makes her way out of the camp.
The party wait and hear what appears to be a dinner call and a while later the see a shift change of the guards in the towers. An hour or so after the gates are closed, the party sees one of the guards violently throw up from the top of the tower. The party hears the other guards laughing and mocking the ill guard. A half-hour later the other guard hurriedly leaves his post. The party hears then shouts of consternation and after another hour things go quite.
Alexa scales the gate with a rope and grappling hook (and a leg up from Andreus) and opens the gate. The rest of the party cautiously makes their way into the camp. They spot several bandits sprawled dead in the dirt.
They also spot the giant, leaning up against the barn, drinking from a beer keg. Unfortunately the giants spots the party too. He staggers to his feet, hefts a large chunk of wood and lopes across the compound to confront the heroes.
Urgim and Grim Gorgson charge the giant while Alexa, Alane, Andreus and Falandar hang back. Alexa peppers the giant with bolts from her repeater crossbow. Falandar uses his longbow and Alane fires off several magic darts.
Andreus fires off a devastating volley of shots from his pistols, drops them and pulls out a second set and fires them too.
The giant hammers on Urgim and Grim Gorgson, critically injuring them.
Then Urgim strikes a massive killing blow (23 points of damage), the giant staggers and collapses, falling on top of Urgim and Grim Gorgson, injuring them further.
The party regroups and Alexa uses her healing skills to heal the injured. Andreus shares out some healing drafts as well.
The party then proceeds to loot the camp. They recover over a 1000GC worth of gold and loot before heading off to free the captives...
GM Notes
Falandar climbs a tree and looks down into a valley to see a wooden walled camp surrounding a large pit. The camp sports several guard towers, a number of buildings and a large double-story barn like structure. Most surprising is the presence of a giant who is happily crushing the rock and ore getting hauled out of the pit by chained captives. Here is what he sees (each square is 5 yards):
After much deliberation the party decides that they could poison the well in the camp to take out the guards and perhaps burn down the wooden camp walls. So they head back to Sommeville to get supplies. In Sommeville, Alexa secures 3 casks of oil and Andreus uses his gossip skills to track down a herbalist. The herbalist (an old crone) reluctantly sells him some Belladonna but informs him that it will need to be administered to food not dumped into water.
The players head back and a couple days after first sighting the mine, the party are once again surveying the camp.
It appears that during the day the bandits leave the gates open but the towers on either side of the gate are manned by a guard each. Since it is late afternoon the party decide that they need to get into the camp asap to try poison the evening meal.
Alexa is convinced to sneak into the camp using her cloaking magic. Alexa nervously sneaks through the gates (the guards both fail to spot her), has a quick look around and races back to the woods before her spell wears out. Her quick look-see gives her two likely targets for the kitchen.
Next Alexa uses her doppelganger spell to make herself look like one of the guards and then cloaks herself again to sneak back into the camp. Once again the guards fail to spot her as she passes through the gates. Alexa runs behind her first target building and strolls out from behind it when her cloaking spell runs out.
Luck is with her and she quickly locates the kitchen. Unfortunately the kitchen is occupied by a grubby cook who attempts to engage Alexa in conversation. Since her doppleganger spell does not disguise her voice she decides to cast a sleep spell on the cook. Whilst the cook is knocked out Alexa dumps the Belladonna into the large pot cooking on the fire.
Cloaking herself again, she hurriedly makes her way out of the camp.
The party wait and hear what appears to be a dinner call and a while later the see a shift change of the guards in the towers. An hour or so after the gates are closed, the party sees one of the guards violently throw up from the top of the tower. The party hears the other guards laughing and mocking the ill guard. A half-hour later the other guard hurriedly leaves his post. The party hears then shouts of consternation and after another hour things go quite.
Alexa scales the gate with a rope and grappling hook (and a leg up from Andreus) and opens the gate. The rest of the party cautiously makes their way into the camp. They spot several bandits sprawled dead in the dirt.
They also spot the giant, leaning up against the barn, drinking from a beer keg. Unfortunately the giants spots the party too. He staggers to his feet, hefts a large chunk of wood and lopes across the compound to confront the heroes.
Urgim and Grim Gorgson charge the giant while Alexa, Alane, Andreus and Falandar hang back. Alexa peppers the giant with bolts from her repeater crossbow. Falandar uses his longbow and Alane fires off several magic darts.
Andreus fires off a devastating volley of shots from his pistols, drops them and pulls out a second set and fires them too.
The giant hammers on Urgim and Grim Gorgson, critically injuring them.
Then Urgim strikes a massive killing blow (23 points of damage), the giant staggers and collapses, falling on top of Urgim and Grim Gorgson, injuring them further.
The party regroups and Alexa uses her healing skills to heal the injured. Andreus shares out some healing drafts as well.
The party then proceeds to loot the camp. They recover over a 1000GC worth of gold and loot before heading off to free the captives...
GM Notes
- The map was created with AutoRealm a fantastic and free application for creating maps
- Poor Urgim had almost a 1000xp that he couldn't used as he need to kill a giant to progress his career of giant slayer. The mining camp seemed like a good way of working one in.
To the rescue...again
A day or so of travel sees the party working their way long a forest lined road. Suddenly arrows fly out from either side of the road. Alane takes a hit, one bounces off the heavily armoured Urgim and the others miss. Falandar jumps off his mule and draws his bow. Urgim turns his mule into the forest and charges, Andreus does the same but on the opposite side of the road. Alexa dismounts and follows Andreus. Cloaking herself in magic Alane sneaks into the forest and locates one of the attackers. She succeeds in sneaking up to the cloaked human and promptly slits his throat. Urgim in meanwhile has located a second attacker and is whaling on him. Falandar takes a hit from an arrow and decides to play possum on the road. On the other side of the road Andreus and Alexa engage the 3rd and 4th attackers in combat.
The combat is short lived, the bandits being no match for the heroes. Falandar sees a 5th bandit take to the woods and Alane manages to hit him with a magic dart but he continues to run away deeper into the woods. The group decides not to follow, loot the corpses and continue on down the road.
A couple of hours later Andreus & Urgim hear someone crying in the bushes alongside the road. Heading into the woods they find a small human child. Coaxing the boy back to the road they hear his tale of woe. His family farm was attacked and overrun by bandits and his family captured. Many of his neighbours suffered the same fate. The boy managed to escape the bandit's camp a few days ago and has been wandering the wood since.
Alexa loudly declares that party should just leave the boy behind and that they cannot stop for every snivelling brat they find. The rest of the party disagrees and they decide to see if they can rescue the boy's family. Alexa follows reluctantly.
Several hours later, the party finally tracks down the bandits camp. A quick recon turns up two guards, 8 other bandits pottering around the camp and a wooden pen holding 20 beaten and down trodden captives.
Once again Alane uses her magic to sneak up and dispatch the guards and the rest of the party swarm the camp. Once again the bandits fall quickly to heroes.
As they free the captives from the pen (and reunite the boy with his family) a man charges Alane and tries to strangle her, all the while ranting about the party spoiling his plan to free his family from the mine. Alexa pries the man off Alane and he takes off into the woods.
The captives explain that they were been taken to work on a mine that was run by the bandits and that the man wanted to be captured so that he could get into the camp to try free his family.
The party loot the bodies and discover that the bandits had a large number of gold nuggets and coin amongst them. Intrigued by this the party decides that perhaps they should investigate the mine...to rescue the slaves of course.
The captives arm themselves with the bandits discarded weapons and equipment and shuffle off into the woods making their way home.
The combat is short lived, the bandits being no match for the heroes. Falandar sees a 5th bandit take to the woods and Alane manages to hit him with a magic dart but he continues to run away deeper into the woods. The group decides not to follow, loot the corpses and continue on down the road.
A couple of hours later Andreus & Urgim hear someone crying in the bushes alongside the road. Heading into the woods they find a small human child. Coaxing the boy back to the road they hear his tale of woe. His family farm was attacked and overrun by bandits and his family captured. Many of his neighbours suffered the same fate. The boy managed to escape the bandit's camp a few days ago and has been wandering the wood since.
Alexa loudly declares that party should just leave the boy behind and that they cannot stop for every snivelling brat they find. The rest of the party disagrees and they decide to see if they can rescue the boy's family. Alexa follows reluctantly.
Several hours later, the party finally tracks down the bandits camp. A quick recon turns up two guards, 8 other bandits pottering around the camp and a wooden pen holding 20 beaten and down trodden captives.
Once again Alane uses her magic to sneak up and dispatch the guards and the rest of the party swarm the camp. Once again the bandits fall quickly to heroes.
As they free the captives from the pen (and reunite the boy with his family) a man charges Alane and tries to strangle her, all the while ranting about the party spoiling his plan to free his family from the mine. Alexa pries the man off Alane and he takes off into the woods.
The captives explain that they were been taken to work on a mine that was run by the bandits and that the man wanted to be captured so that he could get into the camp to try free his family.
The party loot the bodies and discover that the bandits had a large number of gold nuggets and coin amongst them. Intrigued by this the party decides that perhaps they should investigate the mine...to rescue the slaves of course.
The captives arm themselves with the bandits discarded weapons and equipment and shuffle off into the woods making their way home.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
You are our last, best hope...
An entire week of camping in the old woman's clearing, sees the party regaining their strength. All healed they set off west to reach Milo's rendezvous point.
After a half days hike through the woods they reach the edge of the woods. Stretched out before them is a bush filled plain. In the far distance they can make out the walled town of Sommeville. Closer by is a small hill with a ruined watchtower on top. This is the rendezvous point.
The party approaches the hill and locate a worn path carved into the hill. They also notice carrion birds circling the hill top. Alane cloaks herself in magic and goes ahead to scout. She finds signs of a viscous fight and beastmen corpses are strewn round the base of the ruined tower. Inside the ruined tower (one of its 4 walls has collapsed) she spies a staff stuck in the rubble with a piece of white cloth tied to its top.
Alane fetches the rest of the party who start to investigate the hill top. Paranoid that the beastmen may rise from the dead Grim Gorgson and Alexa start decapitating and de-legging the corpses. Alane having detected magic around the staff is eyeing it up cautiously when Urgim pushes forward and tries to grab the staff.
As his hand nears the staff a ghostly figure of an older man in robes rises from the rubble and says:
Urgim backs away and waits for the others to gather. They quickly determine that the message is triggered whenever they are near the staff. Grim Gorgson takes the cloth with its magical marker, which appears to always point in a particular direction and and wraps it around his wrist.
Alexa destroys the staff to ensure that no one else sees the message.
Taking up the grave mission thrust upon them party then makes their way to Sommeville to resupply. The farmer's market is on and the group splits up to buy supplies. Alexa and Grim Gorgon also acquire a supply of holy water from the church for a small donation.
Enquiring about buying mules and horses they are informed that old man Jenkins has some for sale and his farm is a few hours south of the town.
Since it is late the party decides to take advantage of civilization and spend the night in the local inn. Urgim and Grim Gorgson share one room, Alane & Alexa another and Andreus & Falandar share a third.
In the middle of the night Grim Gorgson awakes to find a cold blade pressed to is throat and a cloaked figure looming over him. The figure demands in a whisper that Grim Gorgson hand over the box. Grim Gorgson refuses loudly, which wakes Urgim. With the intruder momentary distracted by Urgim, Grim Gorgson attempts to grapple him. This fails and Grim Gorgson receives a nasty slash.
Urgim leaps up and grapples the intruder throwing him to the ground. Grim Gorgson then proceeds to stake the intruder's hand to the floor, with one of his vampire stakes, in an attempt to get the intruder to talk. The intruder promptly starts screaming.
Woken by the screaming, Alexa and Alane leap out of bed (Alexa wearing some rather skimpy night clothes by all accounts). Alexa grabs her axe and flings open their room door, surprising a second intruder. Reacting first, Alane blasts the second intruder with a magic dart, doing critical damage and knocking him to ground. Alexa pins him to the ground and demands to know who he his. The intruder merely smiles and then starts to convulse, after a few seconds he goes limp, apparently dead. A think oily black substance leaks from his clenched jaws.
Another scream (as Grim Gorgson stakes the first intruder's other hand) causes Alexa and Alane to rush towards the boy's room. Alexa bashes down the door with a mighty axe blow.
Unfortunately before the party can further interrogate the intruder he too convulses and dies with a thick black liquid dribbling from his lips.
By this time the other patrons of the inn and the constabulary arrive to found out what is going on. The party claim ignorance and bamboozle their way out of town to avoid any tricky questions.
With the sun rising they take the road south and head to old man Jenkin's farm. A few hours later and after a brisk negotiation, the party is equipped with two mules and a pair of ponies.
Saddling up the party continue southwards...
GM's Notes
After a half days hike through the woods they reach the edge of the woods. Stretched out before them is a bush filled plain. In the far distance they can make out the walled town of Sommeville. Closer by is a small hill with a ruined watchtower on top. This is the rendezvous point.
The party approaches the hill and locate a worn path carved into the hill. They also notice carrion birds circling the hill top. Alane cloaks herself in magic and goes ahead to scout. She finds signs of a viscous fight and beastmen corpses are strewn round the base of the ruined tower. Inside the ruined tower (one of its 4 walls has collapsed) she spies a staff stuck in the rubble with a piece of white cloth tied to its top.
Alane fetches the rest of the party who start to investigate the hill top. Paranoid that the beastmen may rise from the dead Grim Gorgson and Alexa start decapitating and de-legging the corpses. Alane having detected magic around the staff is eyeing it up cautiously when Urgim pushes forward and tries to grab the staff.
As his hand nears the staff a ghostly figure of an older man in robes rises from the rubble and says:
Well met,
We have been forced to leave, the forces of chaos were growing too numerous. Milo has entrusted you with the most precious and dangerous thing in this world. Alas my brothers and I are now no longer able to relieve you of this burden.
You will have to be the ones who destroy it and save our world.
The box must be taken to the Plain of Bones and thrown into the rift that has formed there. This will seal the rift. If this is not done and the rift is allowed to grow then chaos will gush into this world and all will be lost.
Under no circumstances open the box. The power unleashed will merely feed the rift and rip our world asunder. The power of the box must be released on the far side of the rift to seal it.
We will attempt to distract chaos. Hopefully your small band can make its way unnoticed to the rift.
Take this cloth its markings will show you the way.
Good luck. Hopefully we will meet again.
Urgim backs away and waits for the others to gather. They quickly determine that the message is triggered whenever they are near the staff. Grim Gorgson takes the cloth with its magical marker, which appears to always point in a particular direction and and wraps it around his wrist.
Alexa destroys the staff to ensure that no one else sees the message.
Taking up the grave mission thrust upon them party then makes their way to Sommeville to resupply. The farmer's market is on and the group splits up to buy supplies. Alexa and Grim Gorgon also acquire a supply of holy water from the church for a small donation.
Enquiring about buying mules and horses they are informed that old man Jenkins has some for sale and his farm is a few hours south of the town.
Since it is late the party decides to take advantage of civilization and spend the night in the local inn. Urgim and Grim Gorgson share one room, Alane & Alexa another and Andreus & Falandar share a third.
In the middle of the night Grim Gorgson awakes to find a cold blade pressed to is throat and a cloaked figure looming over him. The figure demands in a whisper that Grim Gorgson hand over the box. Grim Gorgson refuses loudly, which wakes Urgim. With the intruder momentary distracted by Urgim, Grim Gorgson attempts to grapple him. This fails and Grim Gorgson receives a nasty slash.
Urgim leaps up and grapples the intruder throwing him to the ground. Grim Gorgson then proceeds to stake the intruder's hand to the floor, with one of his vampire stakes, in an attempt to get the intruder to talk. The intruder promptly starts screaming.
Woken by the screaming, Alexa and Alane leap out of bed (Alexa wearing some rather skimpy night clothes by all accounts). Alexa grabs her axe and flings open their room door, surprising a second intruder. Reacting first, Alane blasts the second intruder with a magic dart, doing critical damage and knocking him to ground. Alexa pins him to the ground and demands to know who he his. The intruder merely smiles and then starts to convulse, after a few seconds he goes limp, apparently dead. A think oily black substance leaks from his clenched jaws.
Another scream (as Grim Gorgson stakes the first intruder's other hand) causes Alexa and Alane to rush towards the boy's room. Alexa bashes down the door with a mighty axe blow.
Unfortunately before the party can further interrogate the intruder he too convulses and dies with a thick black liquid dribbling from his lips.
By this time the other patrons of the inn and the constabulary arrive to found out what is going on. The party claim ignorance and bamboozle their way out of town to avoid any tricky questions.
With the sun rising they take the road south and head to old man Jenkin's farm. A few hours later and after a brisk negotiation, the party is equipped with two mules and a pair of ponies.
Saddling up the party continue southwards...
GM's Notes
- Falandar's and Andreus' players were not at the game so they did not feature that much in this episode.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The Fog
After several days of running and hiding the party seems to have shaken the pursuing Beastmen. Awaking after a brief and troubled sleep they find themselves in a thick fog. The fog is so bad that the heroes are forced to rope themselves together to avoid losing each other.
After an hour or so of walking it becomes apparent to the party that they are well and truly lost and they have no idea where West is. Alexa brings her outdoor survival skills to bear and figures out where West is using the moss growing on some of the trees.The party regroups and still clinging to their rope head in the direction they believe west to be.
The fog is a dirty grey and seems to swallow all sound. For hours all the party hears is the muffled sounds of their fellows pushing their way through the dense forest.
Suddenly Grim Gorgson hears what appears to be singing. After a hushed discussion the party decides to investigate the source of the singing.
Creeping towards the singing the heroes begin to make out the words...it appears to be gibberish, nonsensical, using words from a variety of languages the characters know. The singing suddenly cuts off and a crackling voice calls out "Well dears, don't stand out there in the fog. Come, sit by my fire. I wont bite"
After a moments hesitation Grim Gorgson forges ahead followed by the rest of the group. They step out of the woods in to a clearing remarkedly free of fog. Sitting near a small fire is an old woman, behind her is a rude hut constructed out of branches and poorly cured hides. The woman's eyes are missing and her eye sockets are a mess of scarred tissue.
She looks directly and Grim Gorgson and says "Welcome to my fire. Sit and rest. Perhaps I can tell your fortune to pass the time?"
Grim Gorgson sits and the old woman passes him some bones. Alexa and Alane remain standing looking suspicious whilst Urgim and Falandar start investigating the clearing. When Falandar starts towards the hut, the old woman, turns to look directly at him and asks where he thinks he is going.
The old woman instructs Grim Gorgson to choose a bone and to throw the rest. When he throws the bones, the old woman starts to chant in a low voice and then pronounces: "Not all are who they seem to be,listen carefully; The bravest one of you will die...Water I see water rushing, consuming!". Abruptly she cuts off exclaiming "oh my, this is not right. Please throw the bones again dear". Grim Gorgson gingerly picks up the bones and throws them again.
The old woman looks down at the bones, shrieks and starts to fit. Grim Gorgson and Alane leap forward to help the thrashing crone. She flails and grabs Alane by the shirt, pulls her close and says "The stars will fall and all will be consumed unless you choose the right path".
Alexa steps in and uses her healing skills to calm the old woman, who eventually falls into a deep sleep.
The party decides to camp in the clearing. Alane takes the first watch, followed by Alexa, Andreus and then Falandar. The party awakes in the early morning to find that Andreus failed to wake Falandar for his watch and he is now nowhere to be found.
Alexa freaks out yelling for Andreus, ashing her face. Eventually she calms down and locates some tracks leading from the camp. Urgim surreptitiously sticks Andreus's bed roll into the fire.Grabbing their gear they race off into the woods leaving the camp and old woman behind.
A short distance into the woods the group finds evidence of Andreus's pit-stop and further tracks leading away. A few yards along there is evidence of a struggle and drags marks continue deeper into the forest.
Grim Gorgson's dog picks up the trail and leads the party to a cave entrance. Alane and Falandar cast light spells and the party inches their way in. Alane asks (in a slightly paranoid tone) if there could be water in the caves. Grim Gorgson helpfully identifies the cave walls as being limestone and the caves most likely carved by the actions of water.
Hearing some grunting noises up-ahead the group bursts into a large cave and disturb a group of 5 ghouls feasting on some animal remains. The party and the ghouls launch themselves at each other and a viscous fight ensues. Grim Gorgson is savaged by a lucky blow and takes a critical hit. Alane kills a ghoul with single powerful magic dart but is also badly wounded however the party makes short work of the ghouls.
Proceeding more cautiously through the caves the party eventually find a Andreus. He is chained to the far wall of a cave chamber and appears to be unconscious and badly hurt. As the group enters the chamber, a bat flutters down from the roof and transforms into a humanoid form. The vampire launches a savage attack on Urgim injuring the heavily armoured dwarf in the head and shoulders. With Urgim yelling “Get it off, get it off” the rest of the group springs into action.
Without warning a further 5 ghouls rush into the cave attacking the badly injured Grim Gorgson and Alane who were hanging back from the fight with the vampire. At great risk to himself Grim Gorgson, ignores the attacking ghouls and instead attacks the vampire with his holy symbol and water. The enraged vampire retaliates striking a critical blow and incapacitating Grim Gorgson's right hand.
The fighting is brutal and Alane takes a critical strike which smashes her face in, leaving her unconscious and bleeding out. Falandar tired of failing to cast a magic dart, resorts to hitting things with his sword. After several rounds of combat, Alexa kills the vampire, cleaving through its arm and decapitating it. The ghouls fall to the group a couple of rounds later.
During the fight Alane dies from bloodloss but using up a fate point she avoids this messy end and instead slips in to a deep coma.
Alexa rushes over to Andreus and find him critically wounded. Urgim loots the vampires body, locating some grubby jewellery and a rusty key. The key unlocks the manacle around Andreus's leg.
Alexa attempts to heal the various members of the group with limited success. Urgim shoulders Alane, Alexa and Grim Gorgson grab Andreus between them and the party slinks out of the caves.
The battered group make their way back to the old woman's clearing. With the fog lifting the group stumbles into the clearing to find the hut collapsed and no sign of the old woman, in fact it looks like the clearing has been abandoned for years. The party makes camp and tend their wounded, wondering what will befall them next.
GM's Notes
After an hour or so of walking it becomes apparent to the party that they are well and truly lost and they have no idea where West is. Alexa brings her outdoor survival skills to bear and figures out where West is using the moss growing on some of the trees.The party regroups and still clinging to their rope head in the direction they believe west to be.
The fog is a dirty grey and seems to swallow all sound. For hours all the party hears is the muffled sounds of their fellows pushing their way through the dense forest.
Suddenly Grim Gorgson hears what appears to be singing. After a hushed discussion the party decides to investigate the source of the singing.
Creeping towards the singing the heroes begin to make out the words...it appears to be gibberish, nonsensical, using words from a variety of languages the characters know. The singing suddenly cuts off and a crackling voice calls out "Well dears, don't stand out there in the fog. Come, sit by my fire. I wont bite"
After a moments hesitation Grim Gorgson forges ahead followed by the rest of the group. They step out of the woods in to a clearing remarkedly free of fog. Sitting near a small fire is an old woman, behind her is a rude hut constructed out of branches and poorly cured hides. The woman's eyes are missing and her eye sockets are a mess of scarred tissue.
She looks directly and Grim Gorgson and says "Welcome to my fire. Sit and rest. Perhaps I can tell your fortune to pass the time?"
Grim Gorgson sits and the old woman passes him some bones. Alexa and Alane remain standing looking suspicious whilst Urgim and Falandar start investigating the clearing. When Falandar starts towards the hut, the old woman, turns to look directly at him and asks where he thinks he is going.
The old woman instructs Grim Gorgson to choose a bone and to throw the rest. When he throws the bones, the old woman starts to chant in a low voice and then pronounces: "Not all are who they seem to be,listen carefully; The bravest one of you will die...Water I see water rushing, consuming!". Abruptly she cuts off exclaiming "oh my, this is not right. Please throw the bones again dear". Grim Gorgson gingerly picks up the bones and throws them again.
The old woman looks down at the bones, shrieks and starts to fit. Grim Gorgson and Alane leap forward to help the thrashing crone. She flails and grabs Alane by the shirt, pulls her close and says "The stars will fall and all will be consumed unless you choose the right path".
Alexa steps in and uses her healing skills to calm the old woman, who eventually falls into a deep sleep.
The party decides to camp in the clearing. Alane takes the first watch, followed by Alexa, Andreus and then Falandar. The party awakes in the early morning to find that Andreus failed to wake Falandar for his watch and he is now nowhere to be found.
Alexa freaks out yelling for Andreus, ashing her face. Eventually she calms down and locates some tracks leading from the camp. Urgim surreptitiously sticks Andreus's bed roll into the fire.Grabbing their gear they race off into the woods leaving the camp and old woman behind.
A short distance into the woods the group finds evidence of Andreus's pit-stop and further tracks leading away. A few yards along there is evidence of a struggle and drags marks continue deeper into the forest.
Grim Gorgson's dog picks up the trail and leads the party to a cave entrance. Alane and Falandar cast light spells and the party inches their way in. Alane asks (in a slightly paranoid tone) if there could be water in the caves. Grim Gorgson helpfully identifies the cave walls as being limestone and the caves most likely carved by the actions of water.
Hearing some grunting noises up-ahead the group bursts into a large cave and disturb a group of 5 ghouls feasting on some animal remains. The party and the ghouls launch themselves at each other and a viscous fight ensues. Grim Gorgson is savaged by a lucky blow and takes a critical hit. Alane kills a ghoul with single powerful magic dart but is also badly wounded however the party makes short work of the ghouls.
Proceeding more cautiously through the caves the party eventually find a Andreus. He is chained to the far wall of a cave chamber and appears to be unconscious and badly hurt. As the group enters the chamber, a bat flutters down from the roof and transforms into a humanoid form. The vampire launches a savage attack on Urgim injuring the heavily armoured dwarf in the head and shoulders. With Urgim yelling “Get it off, get it off” the rest of the group springs into action.
Without warning a further 5 ghouls rush into the cave attacking the badly injured Grim Gorgson and Alane who were hanging back from the fight with the vampire. At great risk to himself Grim Gorgson, ignores the attacking ghouls and instead attacks the vampire with his holy symbol and water. The enraged vampire retaliates striking a critical blow and incapacitating Grim Gorgson's right hand.
The fighting is brutal and Alane takes a critical strike which smashes her face in, leaving her unconscious and bleeding out. Falandar tired of failing to cast a magic dart, resorts to hitting things with his sword. After several rounds of combat, Alexa kills the vampire, cleaving through its arm and decapitating it. The ghouls fall to the group a couple of rounds later.
During the fight Alane dies from bloodloss but using up a fate point she avoids this messy end and instead slips in to a deep coma.
Alexa rushes over to Andreus and find him critically wounded. Urgim loots the vampires body, locating some grubby jewellery and a rusty key. The key unlocks the manacle around Andreus's leg.
Alexa attempts to heal the various members of the group with limited success. Urgim shoulders Alane, Alexa and Grim Gorgson grab Andreus between them and the party slinks out of the caves.
The battered group make their way back to the old woman's clearing. With the fog lifting the group stumbles into the clearing to find the hut collapsed and no sign of the old woman, in fact it looks like the clearing has been abandoned for years. The party makes camp and tend their wounded, wondering what will befall them next.
GM's Notes
- This is the first time that the party has been significantly beaten up. I think I have the "monsters" at just about the right toughness level now.
- Poor Falandar is having a hard time keeping up with the group. He is a first career character, the others are 2nd & 3rd career characters.
- Grim Gorgson's player couldn't come out and play so we video conferenced him into the session using Skype running on my HTPC with a Logitech Webcam Pro 9000 sitting on top of my LCD TV. This worked really well. Here is a picture of his view of the rest of us. Note the iPad on the right which had a scan of his character sheet (in .PDF) and a dice rolling app installed (just for extra geek cred)!
Monday, April 12, 2010
What has gone on before..
The party, having to leave Karak Azgal in a hurry (and yes there was a fire involved) have been making their way North towards The Empire proper. After several months and many dangerous adventures they reach the walled town of Middledorf.
At the gates of Middledorf, the party meets Falandar for the first time. He has a message from Alane's master who instructs the group to stay in the town, find some work and keep a low profile. Needless to say the party fails to keep a low profile and even manage to burn down a section of the town (to be fair this wasn't entirely their fault). [GM's note: this was a slightly reworked "Sing for your supper" out of Plundered Vaults]
The next day they awake to find the town in turmoil. A vast force of Beastman are approaching Middledorf from the North and South, cutting the town off from any help. A call is raised for all able folk to report to the small army barracks (an Imperial Gunnery School) for conscription.
What follows is a rather farcical attempt by the group to convince the local commander that they are of more value then mere conscripted farmers. Highlights include:
Proceeding to the town gates, in an attempt to find a way out of town, the party convinces the captain of the watch (by inciting a mob) to open the gates to allow a survivor of a scouting party back into the city.
The scout turns out to be magically booby-trapped and promptly explodes wiping out the city gates, the mob, the guard and badly injuring several members of the party...
The party springs into action helping the injured and organising the barricading of the gate. They then head off to find another way out of the town. Urgrim quietly starts a small fire under the barricade (without anyone noticing) as they head off!
Meanwhile Alane wakes up and at the door of their inn is met by a man, Herr Milo von Shultz, who claims to be a wealthy merchant requiring an escort out of town. He has bribed a number of folk and has a way out of the town (over the West wall). The party jumps at the chance (and the large amount of money on offer).
Later that night the party and Milo lower themselves over the wall whilst the bribed guards look the other way. As usual Andreus (the only character with the Scale Sheers Surface skill) manages to fall and hurt himself.
Running into the woods, the group heads towards the West to a rendezvous point with Milo's people near the town of Sommeville. Suddenly war drums sound in the night and the yells and hooting calls of pursuing Beastmen fill the air. After several hours the group appears to have eluded the Beastmen, when they are unexpected set upon by a band of Bestigors.
Largely due to Alane's powerful magic dart spell (and some very high dice rolls) the party quickly cuts down their attackers. After looting the corpses they turn around to discover that Milo is missing, having been captured during the fighting.
With some cunning tracking they find Milo wounded, towered over by a huge Bestigor. They promptly dispatch the Bestigor and attempt to heal Milo. Alas his wounds are fatal...
Before passing away Milo entrusts a small black box encrusted with blood red gems to the group. He explains with his dying breath that they must get the box to his comrades and that under no circumstances are they to open the box. He claims that the box has the power to destroy the world.
The group examines the box, Grim Gorgson cannot identify the metal it is made from and it feels “wet” to the touch. Alane's magical senses detect a weird absence of magic around the box, as if the box is a hole in the winds of magic.
Crashing in the woods and the approach of wardrums spurn the party to turn West and start running again...
At the gates of Middledorf, the party meets Falandar for the first time. He has a message from Alane's master who instructs the group to stay in the town, find some work and keep a low profile. Needless to say the party fails to keep a low profile and even manage to burn down a section of the town (to be fair this wasn't entirely their fault). [GM's note: this was a slightly reworked "Sing for your supper" out of Plundered Vaults]
The next day they awake to find the town in turmoil. A vast force of Beastman are approaching Middledorf from the North and South, cutting the town off from any help. A call is raised for all able folk to report to the small army barracks (an Imperial Gunnery School) for conscription.
What follows is a rather farcical attempt by the group to convince the local commander that they are of more value then mere conscripted farmers. Highlights include:
- Grim Gorgson telling the commander that the party is a group of assassins but "not to worry as we are not here to kill anyone you know"
- Alexa trying to pick a fight with some soldiers to prove that she is not "just a girl"
- Falandar touching (in slightly camp way) the biggest conscript he can find, attempting to put him to sleep, to show how powerful a wizard is, failing to cast the spell and getting beaten up for his troubles.
- Alane sleeping through all of this
Proceeding to the town gates, in an attempt to find a way out of town, the party convinces the captain of the watch (by inciting a mob) to open the gates to allow a survivor of a scouting party back into the city.
The scout turns out to be magically booby-trapped and promptly explodes wiping out the city gates, the mob, the guard and badly injuring several members of the party...
The party springs into action helping the injured and organising the barricading of the gate. They then head off to find another way out of the town. Urgrim quietly starts a small fire under the barricade (without anyone noticing) as they head off!
Meanwhile Alane wakes up and at the door of their inn is met by a man, Herr Milo von Shultz, who claims to be a wealthy merchant requiring an escort out of town. He has bribed a number of folk and has a way out of the town (over the West wall). The party jumps at the chance (and the large amount of money on offer).
Later that night the party and Milo lower themselves over the wall whilst the bribed guards look the other way. As usual Andreus (the only character with the Scale Sheers Surface skill) manages to fall and hurt himself.
Running into the woods, the group heads towards the West to a rendezvous point with Milo's people near the town of Sommeville. Suddenly war drums sound in the night and the yells and hooting calls of pursuing Beastmen fill the air. After several hours the group appears to have eluded the Beastmen, when they are unexpected set upon by a band of Bestigors.
Largely due to Alane's powerful magic dart spell (and some very high dice rolls) the party quickly cuts down their attackers. After looting the corpses they turn around to discover that Milo is missing, having been captured during the fighting.
With some cunning tracking they find Milo wounded, towered over by a huge Bestigor. They promptly dispatch the Bestigor and attempt to heal Milo. Alas his wounds are fatal...
Before passing away Milo entrusts a small black box encrusted with blood red gems to the group. He explains with his dying breath that they must get the box to his comrades and that under no circumstances are they to open the box. He claims that the box has the power to destroy the world.
The group examines the box, Grim Gorgson cannot identify the metal it is made from and it feels “wet” to the touch. Alane's magical senses detect a weird absence of magic around the box, as if the box is a hole in the winds of magic.
Crashing in the woods and the approach of wardrums spurn the party to turn West and start running again...
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