DM Brainiac's Age of Worms (Mostly Restored 5/12/06)

"Since the beginning of history, humanity has measured time in Ages. Ages of Glory, of Dreams, and even of Great Sorrows mark the human tally of years, giving a sense of order to the events of past centuries. But one age has yet to occur--an age of darkness, of decay, and of writhing doom. Witty bards and wrathful preachers know it as the AGe of Worms, weaving it into the peripheries of their passion plays as a mythic era of destruction that could begin at any time. Astrologers, diviners, and the servants of Fate know more. The canniest among them fear that the Age of Worms has already begun."

Greetings once again, fellow EN Worlders. Some of you may know me from my first Story Hour, Prison of the Firebringer. Now I'm proud to present another story hour based on a play-by-post game of mine over at Playbyweb.com, "Age of Worms," based on the new adventure path featured in Dungeon magazine. The game is being played here if you want to check it out and spoil the story hour for yourself. I hope you guys enjoy it; feel free to leave comments.

Dramatis Personae:
Carpal, male human paladin of Heironeous
Davi Knockdoor, female halfling cleric of Wee Jas
Ezreal Barrowson, male human rogue
Ju'lindra Amraphen, female half-elf monk
Keira Kalari, female human barbarian
Pyrius, male human cleric of Pelor
Sardonic the Sane, male human wizard
Tash Frelan, male gnome illusionist

Chapter 1

A chill wind blew around the building in the distance. An abandoned mine overseer's office, lain fallow now for decades, in the hills outside the decrepit mining town of Diamond Lake. But tonight it would bear witness to more visitors than it had seen in a long time, for a meeting was scheduled to take place there very soon. A meeting that would set in motion the wheels of destiny and change the lives of eight individuals forever.

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Sardonic waited for nightfall. It was darker out than he had wanted. He didn’t have a choice, because he needed to meet an opportunity. There was no telling when another would present itself. He stepped out into the fetid street. A light drizzle had muted some of the rank-smelling trash and soil from chamber pots. The smell was potent. It stung his bloodshot eyes with its aggressive tendrils.

He walked slowly at first and tried to get his bearings. His hangover began to fade into memory. His stride quickened. He had to get to the overseer's office.

What was that? A short haired mutt nudged at his leg. Sardonic looked down and smiles. It was cute, and its tail was wagging. The skinny young man squatted down to pet it. “Hey there boy…you are a boy right?” The mage looked under the dog’s tail. “Yep… how you doin’? You ok? You’re a cute dog aren’t you? Yes you are.”

Sardonic wrestled and played with the mutt. Eventually, the young wizard searched in his backpack for a treat to give his new friend. The dog took the treat with enthusiasm. Suddenly, Sardonic remembered he needed to be somewhere. “Damn it,” he cursed as he resituated his backpack. The mage started running awkwardly toward the old abandoned mine office. The dog barked and ran after him.

He reached the overseer’s office in the hills outside of town. A light flickered in one of the windows, and he could see two figures within. Good. He was not too late. Out of breath, he moved into the building. The interior was dusty and bare. The other two occupants proved to be a bearded gnome in simple traveler’s clothes, and an attractive half-elf woman clad in sandals, a loose shirt, and breeches. Both looked to Sardonic as he entered.

The half-elf looked at him for a few moments before clearing her throat. “Hello. I’m Ju’lindra Amraphen. And you are…?”

Sardonic looked behind himself. He turned back to the pretty half-elf. He pointed to himself as his eyebrows raised. “Me?” he asked. The young mage stretched out his hand to the woman, cradling her hand while bowing forward in respect to her gender. ”I’m Sardonic, beautiful Ju'lindra,” he said in Elven.

"Yes, but what's your name?" Ju'lindra asked.

Sardonic frowned a bit, clearly missing the joke. "My name is Sardonic."

“I’m Tash,” the gnome said, also in Elven. Sure, he wasn’t as pretty as Ju’lindra, but he still wouldn’t be ignored. “Tash Frelan. I’m assuming Davi sent you?”
Sardonic’s eyes lit up as he looked at Tash. A gnome! He had never seen one before now. Dainty, the mage thought. “Well met Tash,” he said, smiling.

A slight smile played around the corners of Ju’lindra’s mouth. “Well met, Sardonic. And well met, Tash. I am not sure who else will come. And who is this Davi you speak of? I have not heard that name before…unless she was the one who left that note for me.”

Before Tash could answer, the door swung open and a powerfully built red-haired woman strode through, closing the door behind her without even looking. I’d like to climb that mountain, Sardonic though, checking the new arrival out. It was obvious that she had come prepared. Strapped to her back was a large pack, to the back of which was tied a large wooden shield. To the side of the pack was a massive blackened steel glaive with a curved wooden shaft. The wood was dark and polished. On the other side, something cruder: a greataxe, no less imposing to the mage’s eyes than the glaive.

To the assembled people, she spoke after letting her eyes briefly roam. "I am Keira Kalari, Third Daughter of the Kalari tribe. Where is Davi Knockdoor? I am ready to leave at once and there are many hours of this night left." She shifted the pack on her shoulders, the glaive casting strong shadows in the lantern light. With no answer forthcoming from anybody called Davi, she walked to an empty space. "I will wait," she said calmly, settling herself in an relaxed stance, her fingers tucked into her belt.

"Though not for long," said a halfling woman, opening the door wide before her. She’s cute, thought Sardonic. This opportunity was getting better and better. He was glad he had invited himself along for the ride...

Chapter 2

Davi Knockdoor greeted all those within the mine office with an amiable nod. The halfling woman was neatly dressed in her priestly vestments, a deep scarlet in hue, though a thin layer of armor encased her form beneath the robe--a special provision for tonight's festivities. Davi left her backpack down on the floor by the doorway before venturing further into the room, where she smilingly held out her green-gloved hand for Tash, the nearest recognizable soul--and the only one anywhere near her height, at that.

"It's wonderful that you could make it, Tash," she said with all proper cheer, "I think you'll find this project will be quite worth your time."

Then, finding the barbarian just out of the corner of her eye, "And Miss Kalari! Bless you for lending your skill to this little venture. Forgive me if my tardiness tried your patience; I had to finish my evening prayers before coming." Davi flashed a unmistakably genuine smile towards Keira, accentuating her gratitude with a slight bow.

Then, turning to the others, she continued. "Now, then, greetings. I am Davi Knockdoor, a novice in the Church of the Witch Goddess, Wee Jas. I trust you are associates of Sir Carpal?" Davi made her way around the room, clasping each adventurer's hand in her own as a sign of formal introduction. If anything, Miss Knockdoor was a genial hostess, perhaps a bit more.

Once finished, Davi looked around the room once more, absentmindedly toying with her necklace as she took mental inventory. "By the way, where is that paladin?" she asked no one in particular.

As if on cue, a stout, strong man entered the building. Carpal squinted slightly, examining each person’s face in the lantern light until settling on Davi. Nodding as though satisfied, he moved to the corner of the room and rested the glaive he carried and placed the rest of things beside it.

“So…” He paused, as if searching for a name. “Davi,” he decided. “Well, it was where you said it would be. What’s next?”

Behind him, the door opened once more as a slender, sideburned man entered, his eyes darting around. Carpal nodded in greeting, seeming to recognize him.

Biting her lip, Davi took another scan of the ever-filling room while she considered Carpal's question. "Well, let's see..." she thought aloud. "Both Tash and Keira--my invites--have arrived. They both have excellent reputations, I assure you. And are these," said Davi in reference to the numerous others present, "all of yours?" To accent her question, Davi then lifted her hand in the direction of the huddled masses. Her eyes landed on the human magician, and her eyebrows raised as she noted his undue attention to the other females present. Could he be trusted?

If he numbers among Carpal's friends, thought the cleric, perhaps I've misjudged my errant knight.

“Ezreal is a friend,” Carpal said, gesturing to the silent, slender man. He peered again at the others. “This one," he said, indicating Ju'lindra, "would sooner gut me than accept an invite from me." He fixed Sardonic with a stern gaze. "Him I have no idea. If I didn't invite him someone I talked to probably did. He's here now. He'll only follow us if we tell him to leave." His gaze didn't leave Sardonic for some time. It was obvious that Carpal was appraising the young man, though what conclusions he drew were not shared.

Ju’lindra raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? I would rather gut you? Or am I misunderstanding you? I don't think I have given anyone reason to think I would do such a thing!"

"It's only an expression, miss,” replied Carpal as he continued to study Sardonic. “Given my personality and your matter-of-factness, I figured it was an apt one. I meant nothing by it."

Sardonic returned Carpal’s gaze with an amused smile. “I have found Ju’lindra very gentle,” he said sternly. “Such remarks are not worthy of a knight.”
the paladin's expression grew even darker. "I take back my prior statement. This one is obviously a spy and must be destroyed." He took a step forward as if to put action to his words, but he could hold his countenance no longer. His glare dissolved into a broad grin as he said, "As you obviously have no idea what it means to be a knight, I will take your words to mean I am doing quite well." He looked from Saronic to Ju'lindra and back again. "I like this one," he said, indicating Sardonic. "He is unafraid to turn a situation to his advantage. He can stay."

The door opened once more, and a blonde man in white robes stood on the threshold. Uncertainty crossed his face at the sight of so many people. Sweat formed on his brow, and he struggled to find words to say. “We-well. Hello there. Umm…I'm not late, am I? He he, umm…I'll just stand over here.” He moved beside Ju’lindra.

"Excuse me,” said Ju’lindra, looking warily at the new arrival, “but I would like to know who arranged this little get-together. More specifically, who invited me. From your words I understand it wasn't you. But this guy I have never met before,” she said, pointing to Carpal. “Someone must have had a reason to invite me and I would like to know who and why.”

"Davi Knockdown, are we all assembled?” asked Keira firmly, standing to accentuate her speech. “The paladin has arrived." She turned only briefly to nod to Carpal, "I see no reason that we should delay this excursion if we are all assembled. If you will show us the way, then I will follow." She let her head fall slightly forward and to the side, her eyes cutting a hole into the little halfling.

“Yes, why don’t you refer to your map, young knight,” Sardonic said to Carpal. “I am in need of coin. Lead us to your booty.”

Davi had remained wordless for the past few seconds, but when the last man entered and failed to introduce himself--another priest, must watch him--Davi could hold her tongue no longer. This was far too disorganized for her liking.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" she called out with her hands on her waist, raising her voice above the general clamor of the room, "I would like to once again introduce myself; I am Davi Knockdoor (she stressed this last syllable to correct Keira's earlier error), and I want to thank all of you for turning out for Carpal's and my own little expedition!" Once she felt that the attention was on her, Davi removed her hands from her sides and clasped them together in front of her chest, and a genial smile became apparent on her face. "I must admit, I hadn't expected quite so many, but the more the merrier, really." Her smile seemed a little forced at that statement, but she continued.

"Now, as most of you know, there is a tomb approximately ten minutes east of this office. Our sources indicate that it was known to the public at least 70 years ago, but in the following decades awareness of its presence seemed to, well, slip away. That is probably for the best, as it was on land owned by a former mine manager--which to me at least connotes wealth--and chances are bandits have not reached it in some time. Thus the purposes for our exploring party.

"In recompense for your services, each of you will receive a fair portion of whatever treasure (for a lack of a better word) we find, though I have one small caveat to that: Any items of value for records--be they mundane or of the more, er, irregular variety--are to be reserved for my church's library, where they will indirectly serve the public at large for many years to come. And also, the actual resting place is not to be touched or affected in any way by our presence; any who violates this rule with be dealt with by the Supreme Necromancers of the Stern Lady, who have sanctioned this trek of ours. And just as a friendly warning," she added with a girlish laugh, "they're really good at making people cry. Really good."

Davi paused here and took a good, long breath. The cleric hesitated slightly before continuing, as she unconciously shot Tash a rather defenseless look, like she wasn’t sure whether to go on or not. But, finally, tapping her gloved fingers together, she added, "I think that about covers it.”

There was silence for a few moments as the others took in Davi’s words, then Tash nodded. “Well then. We should get moving.”

“He speaks true," Keira boomed when, waving a strong arm in the direction of Tash. "We leave now. We can rest when we're done."

“Alright!” Davi cheered. “The Whispering Cairn awaits.”

Itclnlbrain,

Let me be the first (though I'm sure not the last) to say that I shall be watching this story with interest.

In all honesty, I wasn't that struck by the Whispering Cairn when I read through it in Dungeon - though the Diamond Lake backdrop was better - but I have enjoyed your tale in Prison of the Firebringer, so I look forward to your interpretation of the Age of Worms.

I'll be following this one. I've decided to dabble my feet in the GM pool by testing out The Whispering Cairn on a couple of friends. I'm surprised you have such a big party.

And, oh, some of those character names - cringe!

I was surprised I had such a big party, too! I had originally set the limit to six players, but I received so many requests to join the game within 24 hours of its creation that i let in a few more people. We actually started off with nine (!), but one had to drop within the first week of gameplay. The posting pace has been relatively fierce so far.

Regarding player names and actions, that's one area I have no control over. The players are responsible for the cringeworthy, so blame them.

I'm curious to see how you run it. I've considered running that adventure path series myself, as it comes out.

GW

Chapter 3

Though some confusion still lingered on how what was supposed to be a four or five-man expedition blossomed to include eight people, and who exactly invited who, everybody was eager to get underway and see what the Whispering Cairn might hold in store. Each person there had lived in Diamond Lake long enough to know that they needed to get out, and this was the best chance any of them had had in a long while to get enough coinage to afford to leave. So with doubts and questions on hold for the moment, Davi and Carpal lead the way out of the office and into the hills.

After a few minutes of travel and a few more of consulting Carpal's map and searching around the hills, they discovered what must be their destination, a wide monolith-lined portal partially obscured by underbrush and boulders. It seemed that nobody had been there in a long time. The more physically inclined of the party set to work clearing away brush and debris, and after about ten more minutes of work, the way into the tomb was clear.

Davi struck a sunrod, the light of which dimly illuminated a long hallway extending north into darkness. A faint breeze brought with it sibilant whispers that sounded almost like a sighing breath. It must have been a trick of the wind, but the effect was almost lifelike. The halfling peered into the cairn, then shook her head, tossing her dark curls about. "Actually, I really shouldn't be up front. There are many dangers in these crypts, and it's far better than one skilled to deal with such things be in a place to do so. Miss Kalari, would you?"

Keira removed her gauntlets from her pack as they reached the entrance of the mine. They looked handcrafted - rough leather, probably crocodile, covered in sharp spikes, curved and looking like they could hurt, again appearing to be crocodile teeth. She slipped a dangerous looking weapon on each hand, carefully pulling the leather guantlets onto her hands. She slipped the edge under her tough leather armor, tying them down with thick leather bracers to hold them in place. She shifted the leather bracers into place and the bunched her fists to stretch the gloves to her hands.

Around her neck she shifted her fur and leather cloak to give her arms more room, tucking in the cloak underneath her heavy pack. With a quick flick of her gauntleted fingers, she released the curved glaive, slowly bringing it forward. The weapon was well-crafted for a people as obviously rural as Keira's, those who lived off the land and wore and used what they could gain from it. She spun it around one, grinning almost wickedly at the thought. Into short slots in her belt went two throwing axes, while she left her bow and greataxe attached to loops on her pack.

Only then did Keira look down at Davi and nodded sharply. "I will lead the way," the barbarian said, taking the sunrod from the halfling.

"I'll use my lantern too. It's quite bright," Tash said as he retrieved a bullseye lantern from his pack, filling it with some oil and then lighting it. The light from the lantern was focused through the front slats and projected a bright cone of light into the tomb as the group entered.

The walls bore horizontal bands of deceptively simple geometric patterns at waist level. In places the bands revealed startling detail, but in others the walls looked as though they had been hacked apart with weapons or eroded by the rigors of time. Flakes of ancient paint, brilliant purple and a dull mustard hue, still clung to the walls in plaes, hinting at what must once have been a riot of color. A thin coat of dust coated the floor.

Just inside the darkened tomb, the hallway branched into shallow alcoves to the east and west. Here the walls bore the most significant damage. Dozens of clumsy etchings marred the beautiful ancient masonry like grafitti on a city wall. A clump of soiled cloth about the size of a halfling rested in the rounded terminus of the western alcove.

Outside, the wind picked up, and a chorus of almost human sounds rose from the darkened hall.

"Anybody want to check out that pile?" Tash asked, shuddering slightly from the eerie sounds echoing around him.

"I'm on it," said Ezreal. He set to work searching ground and the masonry walls for traps. Satisfied that there were none, he prodded the lump with one soft-toed boot. It cracked a bit beneath his touch.

"You will kill yourself that way," Keiar said matter-of-factly, frowning at Ezreal. "You give it the opportunity to strike back."

"I don't think we have to worry about that in this case," the rogue replied as he bent closer to examine the pile. "It's just a brittle old bedroll."

Carpal was squinting off to the north, where he could make out a flickering green light in the distance. "Davi," he said in a hushed tone.

The halfling turned from the examination of the bedroll to look in the direction the paladin indicated. "I see it. Let's move toward it...slow and cautious."

The party moved deeper into the tomb. After a short distance, the hallway again branched to the east and west. Fifteen feet down the east passage, a huge pile of collapsed rubble blocked the alcove from top to bottom. It looked like it would take weeks to tunnel through the densely packed debris.

The western hall extended perhaps forty feet, ending at a small marble platform raised about six inches off the floor. A strange, shattered arcane apparatus rested upon this platform, its curved ovular frame giving the appearance of a noble's dressing mirror. Only a third of this frame remained. An unusual arcane glyph about the size of a man's head had been delicately carved into the baseplate of the support platform.

Keira glanced at the apparatus but quickly turned away. "We go to the light," she said simply.

Yes, well," Davi hesitantly began her response to Keira, "I agree with you, but I do think that glyph bears closer inspection as well. I don't want any mishap to befall us just out of clumsiness.

"Tash," she called out to the gnomish mage, "let's you and me take a look at that--and Sardonic too!" Beckoning the two spellcasters forth, Davi turned back to the rest of the group, and the paladin in particular. "Carpal, would you like to lead the others up north while we investigate this? We'll catch up soon, I'm sure," she said.

Carpal nodded. "I would be lying if I said that light was of no concern to me. If you need us, give a shout. I don't want to lose anyone. Except maybe this fellow." He slapped Sardonic on the shoulder, but smiled and chuckled a bit to let the man know he was only joking.

"Hey, I haven't done anything yet!" Sardonic replied innocently, his face a mask of wounded pride.

Carpal merely laughed as he led the main group onward as the Davi, Sardonic, and Tash remained behind to inspect the strange apparatus.

fast paced action

Initially i was concerned with the huge party but so far, everyone's putting in lots of effort and we're speeding along like the wind. Now if we can start gaining some levels, level 1 can be so boring for a spellcaster.

Grundar said:

Initially i was concerned with the huge party but so far, everyone's putting in lots of effort and we're speeding along like the wind. Now if we can start gaining some levels, level 1 can be so boring for a spellcaster.

Click to expand...

Not to mention a 1st level monk that also has a problem getting decent results when rolling attacks.