A Savage Tidings Tale

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Morderas rowed the small dinghy out to a large piling in the center of the harbor a hundred yards beyond the piers. Tied to it by a thick rope was a large, three masted caravel, with torches burning at bow and stern. The ship was obviously in disrepair -- wood was warped and damged, ropes were strewn about rtaher than being neatly coiled, and the sails hung slack rather than being secured to the topmasts.

Morderas secured the dighy to the piling and began to clamber monkey-like up the mooring line to the port side of the ship. Thalas followed, with Athal, Arjan, and then Krystith behind. They crawled over the railing and on to the deck, quietly. Two guards stood on the main deck, one opposite facing out to sea, the other near the aft deckhouse, also looking away. Atop the forecastle to the left, another guard paced, and a fourth was atop the aft deckhouse. All four were armed and armored, but for the moment, not looking toward the group. An open trapdoor and a large grating were on either side of the mainmast in the center of the deck, and doors led fore and aft into the fore- and aft-castles of the ship.

"What now?" Morderas whispered. "Let's kill the guards."

"Guard the stairs," Thalas pointed to the steps up to the forecastle. "I have an idea."

He concentrated, reaching deep inside an grabbing the spark of magical energy he could feel deep in his gut. He'd always had difficulty with his formal magical studies; though he grasped the basics the actual execution continued to elude him no matter how much he studied. But he'd always had a knack for a few magical tricks, particularly when he had a weapon in his hand. His sword was sheathed and his bow and glaive were secured across his back, but the magic flowed anyway, blossoming as a glowing, human-like form that crawled over the aft rail of the ship onto the deck of the aftcastle.

The guards turned in surprise, moving aft, and Thalas lunged toward the near door to the forecastle cabin, motioning for the others to follow. He slid through the door, as the others quietly slipped in behind him without a hue and cry being raised from the deck. "No need for unnecessary killing," he whispered," but I hope there's another way out since that trick won't work twice."

They were in a small wardroom, unfurnished except for card table and some stores. Doors led to a small side cabin and what must be a larger forward cabin. Athal listen at the side door, reporting heavy snoring on the far side. Morderas listened at the forward cabin door, smirking: "Someone is having a lot of fun on the other side!" Sure enough, the sounds of noisy, sloppy lovemaking -- or at least a moaning female voice that approximated the same -- came from the far side of the door.

"Guard the doors," Thalas said, "We'll surprise them forward and see if they won't tell us where this ring is kept. Should save us some time." He drew Demonbane and readied himself to open the forward door as Morderas drew a short sword and prepared to slip inside. Athal and Kyrsith also drew weapons -- a longsword and wicked-looking falchion respectively. Arjan produced a spear from under his voluminous hides.

Thalas eased the door open quietly as Morderas slipped inside. Then suddenly there was a creak as Morderas stepped on a loose board, followed by a cry of "You dogs!" and the sound of a wet sticky thump followed by a thud. Thalas leapt into the forward cabin, reaching inside for the insight of where his next blow would land.

Inside the room, Morderas stood atop a bed kicking the body of a half-naked woman from his short sword, while a disgusting fat man scrambled back into the corner waving a blade in front of him -- Silar Vark, from his appearance. The man wore a breastplate, but from the woman's appearance it was clear she was doing some sort of "entertaining".

"Up you fools! Intruders! Burn it all!" Vark shouted, and from the room of snores Thalas could hear fumbling as well as running footsteps from the deck outside. He channeled, a thin stream of blood running up his sword to tinge the blade red, and then he plunged the blade into Silar Varks chest.

The man slipped aside at the last second and so avoided impalement, but was still greviously wounded. "Yield!" Thalas growled, as he and Morderas continued to fence with Vark. Outside, the sound of weapons clashing was punctuated by thuds as bodies dropped to the deck. Finally, Thalas was able to connect with a second blow that sent Vark reeling. The man dropped his sword and whispered "Yield" as pink blood frothed to his lips.

"Watch him," Thalas commanded, and he spun on his heels and ran into the outer cabin.

Outside, Athal was guarding the door to the deck, fencing with two deck guards while the bodies of two more lay at his feet. Kyrsith was down, unconscious and bleeding as Arjan tried to bandage her wounds. The body of a sailor lay in the doorway to the side cabin, as a wounded man stood reeling in the doorway. Athal danced back and forth, sword alive as he first struck and one man, then spun to strike another. Thalas dropped his sword and pulled his polearm free just as Athal dispatched another deck guard. The remaining guard spun on his heels and ran, with a large splash sounding a moment later. The wounded sailor dropped his blade and sank to his knees, crying "Mercy!"

Athal growled: "Can you swim?" He opened a path to the deck, and the sailor bolted, a splash sounding a moment later.

Thalas retrieved his sword. "See to Kyrsith," he said, and headed back to the forward cabin. Vark still bled on his knees, as Morderas toore the cabin apart. "Find the ring?" Thalas asked. Morderas shook his head.

Thalas put the tip of his blade an inch from Vark's throat. "Tell us where the signet ring is, and we'll let you live," he threatened, though it took Morderas putting a boot to Vark's head before the man coughed: "In the headboard, secret compartment."

Morderas got to work, and soon secured a heavy gold ring that had a roll of parchment through it. He glanced at the parchment, then passed it to Thalas, who read:

Chimera looks to sunrise,
Cyclops looks to sunset,
Meduse looks to sunrise,
Umber Hulk looks to sunset,
Basilisk looks to sunrise.

Bloody riddle, thought Thalas. The smell of smoke was beginning to waft up from the floorboards.

"Kyrsith's up," came Athal's voice from the outer cabin, "but they've fired the hold. We need to get moving to find the ring and the money."

"We've got the ring!" Thalas shouted back.

Morderas turned toward Vark. "We've got what we came for. Let's kill him and be going."

"No!" Thalas protested. "We can probably get a reward for turning him over to Lavinia. Besides, he yielded to me. We shouldn't kill him." But it was too late -- with one stroke, Morderas slit Vark's throat.

"We're not done with this," Thalas growled, as Morderas pushed past him.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

In the outer cabin, Kyrsith was moving about, weakened but with wounds that were visibly healing up as time passed. Thalas couldn't take time to marvel at that as he followed Morderas out onto deck.

"Did you find the money?" Athal asked. Thalas shook his head, as did Morderas, though Kyrsith cocked her head at the lack of response. "Guess we'd better search below. If we can put the fire out, Lady Vanderboren may be in our debt." He rushed aft to the steps down to the hold, as Arjan and Thalas followed.

Kyrsith pulled Thalas aside. "I don't trust Morderas -- he's hiding something. I think he found the money," she told Thalas.

"Watch him," he replied, as he followed Athal down into the hold.

It was fairly dark below, but redish light could be seen coming through an open doorway to the main hold. A woman's scream could be heard from the main hold, which cut off suddenly. Athal came running back. "There's a spider-thing the size of a small horse in there," he panted as he slammed the door behind him. "It just sucked the brain out of some poor woman. There are cages and cages of animals in there, too -- parrots and monkeys and things. The fire is in a pile of rags. We could probably put it out, but left uncontrolled, it will burn the ship to the waterline. But I don't want to go face that spider thing!"

Thalas thought for a second as an idea came to him. He ran back up on deck, drawing his bow. Standing on the grate that opened on the main hold, he could see the profile of the spider-thing illuminated by the burning rags below him. He nocked, drew, and released, putting a shaft into the thing's hide. It squealed and scuttled out of sight.

Athal bounded up on deck, just as Kyrsith shouted a warning: "Morderas is running away!" Thalas turned just as Morderas began to clamber over the side of the ship. Kyrsith scooped up a crossbow from a dead guard and moved to the side of the ship, leveling it at Morderas. Thalas did likewise, calling up his magic from within, and drawing another arrow.

"I'll forgive you if you return, but if not, I'll put this shaft into your head!" he screamed at Morderas.

Just then Arjan came running up on deck. "It's loose!" he screamed in panic. The sound of talons scrabbling on the wood decking could be heard behind him, as the giant spider thing-pursued him up onto deck. Arjan leapt between the creature and the rest of the party, moving into a defensive stance. Thalas cursed, turned, and loosed his shaft and prepared magic at the creature, striking it in the thorax. As he did so, he heard a splash from near the railing where Morderas had been.

Arjan, meanwhile, had thrown open the trapdoor to the hold, clambered down inside, and was freeing parrots from cages as quickly as he could move. Athal was dueling the beast, but wounded it was clearly no match for the elven warrior, as after a moment of sparring he deftly put his blade through its mouth and out the back of what sufficed for a head, and the thing slumped to the deck, bubbling ichor.

Thalas paused long enough to look over the side of the ship. Morderas hadn't resurfaced, but Kyrsith had slid back down the mooring rope onto the piling, and was looking about. Morderas popped up from underwater at the edge of the piling to find the point of Kyrsith's falchion in his face.

"Going somewhere?" she asked with a wicked grin.

"I told you, we've got what we came for!" Morderas replied. "I've got the money. Let me up!"

"I think you can just tread water for a while," Kysith responded.

"I'm saving the animals!" Arjan shouted from the hold.

Athal and Thalas were forced to cease their argument over whether they should bring the spider-thing's body to town for sale. Arjan had put the fire out and was coming out of the hold with cages of parrot and monkeys to set free.

Shame, Thalas thought. Those critters would bring quite a price to the right folks in Sasserine. But Athal's probably right; we'd have to answer too many hard questions dragging the body back through the merchant district.

They dumped the body of the mysterious and terrifying spider creature overboard.

 

[KingCrab]

Hmmm, I'm pretty sure Arjan had put out the fire by himself and let out the birds before anyone else had come down into the hold (it was while the battle with the spider creature was still going on). He also didn't ask for help with freeing the animals. Aside from that, you have a pretty incredible memory. I'm surprized you can reconstruct all this without having played secretary all game.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

When in doubt, take poetic license.

 

[Failed Saving Throw]

Hmmm, I'm pretty sure Arjan had put out the fire by himself and let out the birds before anyone else had come down into the hold (it was while the battle with the spider creature was still going on). He also didn't ask for help with freeing the animals. Aside from that, you have a pretty incredible memory. I'm surprized you can reconstruct all this without having played secretary all game.

I'm rather amazed at this as well. There was a lot of information packed into the first adventure.

 

[carborundum]

Great story hour, guys! I know how much work it is to be secretary for the STAP, so I can take my hat off to you
(Mine's in Dutch though, or I'd post it too)
/me hits the subscription button!

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

One trick: it's easier to write from one character's point of view than it is to capture what is going on with the entire group. Since I play Thalas, I have a much better recollection of what he did than I do of everyone else's actions, and it's easier to maintain a coherent story.

Another trick is to not worry about the blow-by-blow of D&D combat, but abstract it a bit so it flows (plus it helped for this session that Thalas was in a separate room for about 4 rounds of combat, so I didn't have to worry as much about keeping track of what the other characters were doing).

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Battered and bloody but victorious, the company of five -- "Vanderboren's Vassals", as Thalas was beginning to think of them -- returned to the Vanderboren manor just as the sun was beginning to appear over the eastern horizon. They were quickly escorted in to meet a tousled but alert Lavinia Vanderboren.

" ... And that's what happened, my Lady," Athal concluded, after recounting the night's events. "Here are the key and the money. The ship was apparently being used as a base to smuggle exotic animals."

"We brought proof!" Thalas interjected, waving a hand in Arjan's direction. The green-faced human was cooing over two cages full of lemurs that he had schlepped from the docks. The exotic birds had been allowed to fly free.

"Yes," Athal continued, "and we saved the ship, which the smugglers attempted to set on fire."

"You've done quite well," Lavinia Vanderboren agreed. "Well enough that I'll give you a bonus -- say 300 gold nobles each. Is anyone hurt? Please, each of you take one of these restorative vials with my compliments." She passed out stacks of coin and gave each a small stoppered clear vial that contained a thick translucent blue liquid that smelled faintly of almonds.

Arjan protested. "I have no need of reward nor potion, my Lady. Please keep them. unless perhaps you could provide leashes for these creatures, so I might free them from their cages until I can lead them back to the jungle to set them free."

"Jeweled leashes at that price," Morderas whispered sotto voce.

Lavinia took Arjan's reward back, promising to find a way to help Arjan take care of the rescued animals. Thalas pulled Arjan aside.

"Look, Arjan," he said, "I don't know what you have against accepting perfectly good money earned in honest work. But if you really don't want it, why not share it among the rest of us? We'd be happy to help care for your animals in return."

"Money corrupts," Arjan replied, "it's the root of all evil."

"I'll take my chances." Thalas turned back to the group, as Lavinia had returned.

"I have one more item to offer, my heroes," she began. "I intend this very evening to return to my family's vault under Castle Terakaian, and retrieve my family's valuables. I would like you to accompany me as my protectors, after which I'll offer you a suitable contract for long term employment ... at say 100 nobles per month?"

"100 nobles! Can't beat that. I'm in!" Morderas replied. Athal, Arjan, and Kyrsith also nodded assent, though Arjan insisted that he required no such payment so long as a place to bed down and a regular supply of food -- especially pink frosted cupcakes -- could be provided.

Thalas sighed. "I'm really not interested in long term service, Lavinia. But I will accompany my companions, and this seems like a perfect chance to stick it to the man. 100 nobles will buy a lot of scrolls. Count me in, for this next task, at least."

"Very well," Lavinia replied. "Go and get some rest. We will meet again as night falls."

And at that, Thalas left the others to get some hours of trance at his room at the Hunter's Trap. His purse was full, and his art with sword and spell had both been tested and not found wanting. His companions were an odd and, considerering Morderas, perhaps not entirely trustworthy bunch, but interesting things seemed to be happening. And though working for the Vanderborens rubbed him raw, thus far it did not seem that Lavinia either recognized him or had some further sinister purpose in mind.

That evening was sure to bring more excitement, he was sure.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Session 2: Raid & Betrayed.

After a day of rest, study, and training Thalas returned to the Vanderboren manor to find the rest of his comrades gathered in the manor's dining room. Lavinia Vanderboren, dressed in serviceable garb rather than her traditional finery, was waiting on them, accompanied by a short, heavily armed human male garbed in leather.

"So, are we off to storm the Castle?" Thalas asked.

"You are to accompany me to my family's ancestral vault," Lavinia replied. "Though I have never myself entered it, stories handed down for generations say that the vault has some terrible guardian. This signet ring will gain us entry, but what lies beyond will be quite dangerous. You services as guard will be required."

"So we aren't storming the Castle?" Thalas whined to Athal. So much for sticking it to the man. "Surely you have to know more about what awaits us. What if we are forced to kill guards to gain entry?"

Lavinia blanched. "I'm certain that will not be necessary. Castle Teraknian has served as the traditional vault for noble families of Sasserine for centuries. But do as you must. Unless you object? And may I introduce Quinn, who will be joining us." At this she motioned to the short man. "His skills may be useful."

"Are you suggesting we need help?" asked Morderas.

"I know little enough about what we need," Lavinia replied, "but certainly more help is welcome. The vault is guarded by something, but what that is I am not certain."

"So long as we don't have to split our share with him," Morderas grumbled.

I'm not sure I like this ... but she's paying the bills, for the moment. "Very well," Thalas replied, "You paid the piper; we'll dance to your tune."

The group exiting the manor and climbed aboard a waiting carriage, which Lavinia swiftly directed through the streets and across the bridges of Sasserine, eventually arriving outside the gates of the imposing fortress that is Castle Teraknian.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

The carriage arrived at the gates to the large and imposing edifice that was Castle Teraknian. Towers rose from its crenellated battlements, and Thalas could feel the weight of hundreds of years of construction in stone pressing down on him as they approached the walls.

Four guards armed with polearms waited near the entrance, rising to bar their way. Lavinia silently took out here signet ring and presented it, causing the guards to bow and step aside.

"They are with me," she said, motioning the company of adventurers forward. Thalas gave the guards a wry smirk as the six heavily armed and armored adventurers passed into the intrior of the castle.

A scurrying clerk met them not beyond the entryway. "Lady Vanderboren. We just received your summons, and it is an honor to meet your acquaintance. Please, follow me -- the vault is this way."

They followed the small stooped man in silence down immense flag stoned halls until they reached a grand spiral staircase that led downward under ground. Spiraling down its iron-grated steps, they eventually arrived in a small circular room that served as the intersection of eight radiating hallways. The clerk motioned to one, indicating "Your vault lies at the end."

Lavinia turned and with the adevnturers behind her moved the fifty feet or so down the hall, which ended in an imposing steel-shod stone door which was set with a rune showing an eight-pointed star. There was a door handle, but in place of a lock was a small circular depression, just big enough for a signet ring. Lavinia hestitated for a moment, then sighed and placed her ring in the lock. There was a click, followed by a flash of blue light that illuminated the narrow hallway, and the door swung inward.

The chamber beyond was well lit by some form of lantern set near the top of the thirty-foot high domed ceiling. The chamber itself was rectangular, roughly forty feet wide, with large pillars supporting the dome above. Two alcoves were inset into the walls to left and right, flanked by pillars carved to resemble giant cobras.

"Was your family into snakes?" Thalas asked.

Lavinia only shrugged. "I know nothing of this place."

"We should look for storage or a secret passage," Athal suggested, and Morderas, Quinn, and Thalas immediately began seacrhing the room, while Kyrsith mumbled a prayer and closed her eyes, concentrating.

"I find no magic auras, except for the arcane lock which held shut the door," Kyrsith said after a moment.

"Aha!" Morderas exclaimed. "There is a button carved into the eye of one of these cobras. It doesn't appear to be trapped ...." He pushed the button, and there was a click followed by a grinding sound as a portion of the wall slid aside, revealing a narrow passage.

"I'll lead," Athal volunteered. Thalas moved up behind, unlimbering his glaive, as Quinn and Lavinia followed. They started into the narrow passage, and had moved perhaps twenty feet when Quinn gave a shout.

"Something is moving behind us," he warned, and as Thalas concentrated he, too, could hear what sounded like rattling chains being pulled across the ground. Quinn spun, pulling his bow and loosing an arrow back down the passage just as there came a scream from Kyrsith, back in the entry chamber.

"Snake creatures!" Morderas shouted from back down the hall, and Thalas charged back into the large chamber.

Two long snake-like creatures, which looked to be formed from overlapping plates of iron, were weaving and undulating across the floor, attempting to strike at Kyrstith, Arjan, Morderas, and Arjan's giant Saint Bernard, Korlick. The dog dashed back and forth, growling, defending his master.

One of the snakes moved near Thalas just as an arrow when whistling overhead. Thalas struck the snake with all his might, and succeeded in driving the glaive between two scales, but the creature kept coming, and he was forced to dodge backward to maintain fighting room. Athal plunged past, closing to strike the snake behind Thalas.

Thalas' snake hissed and snapped, then closed, striking quickly, biting down on Thalas' thigh below his armor. Thalas howled, and he could feel an oily substance left behind in the bite. "Their bite is poison!" he warned, dancing back and slashing at the snake thing again. He now had a pillar guarding his flank; behind the pillar Kyrsith, Arjan, Athal, and Korlick had cornered the other creature.

Thalas channeled, prehaping to strike a carefully aimed blow to bring the snake down, when Quinn, who had obvioously been observing the creatures quite closely, suddenly shouted: "Lavinia! Order them to stop!"

"Wha-?" Lavinia responded, hesitating.

"Order them to stop!" Quinn demanded.

In a quavering voice, Lavinia said "Stop your attacks!" and, miraculously, the snakes ceased striking and coiled, watching her. Thalas let his magic dissipate.

"I noticed they were watching Lavinia," Quinn explained. "It may be they are enchanted to not attack Vanderborens, or the bearer of the ring. You may want to lead us onward, Lavinia."

Shaking, Lady Vanderboren nodded her head, and the party moved back into the narrow passage, carefully watching the snake constructs behind them. Thalas took the opportunity to quaff the vial of liquid Lavinia had provided the day before, restoring some of the energy he had lost fighting the snake, and easing the pain of his wound.

Lavinia and Athal the way down the narrow corridor.