Chronicles of Mesion: Considering Hiatus; Comments Needed.

[LordVyreth]

The Gate of Madness: Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom

For once, the party could put away their limited light sources, which was convenient, as they were running very low at this point. The cavern they entered was far more massive than any they had seen since they entered the Gate of Madness, save for perhaps the energy bowl. The entire cavern, in fact, looked less like part of an underground complex and more like a jungle, albeit an unusual one. Giant, slightly luminescent fungi replaced the normal trees, and the sounds of geysers and flowing water reverberated off of the walls and echoed eerily around the party.

“Are you sure you have friends here?” Ik nervously asked. She exchanged glances with the rest of the party, and it was clear that not everyone trusted their new partner just yet.

“Trust me!” Chitka replied. “They’re fun guys!”


Moments later, as they were exploring the fungal jungle and heading towards the sounds of the geyser at Chitka’s urging, the party was surprised when many tiny, vaguely humanoid mushrooms surrounded them. Chitka greeted them with a friendly wave, quickly halting the party’s aggressive plans. The mushrooms didn’t appear to respond, but one of them held up a strange sign, indicating some interest in communicating with party.

While some of the mushroom people left for unknown reasons, the party studied the sign, while Chitka looked at his new allies’ confusion with some amusement. “I think I understand it,” Ik suggested a few moments later. She pointed at what looked like a stick figure mushroom pointing its head at a stick figure human, with strange dots between them and an arrow pointing at the human. “The fungi folk want to shoot us with something, by the looks of it.”

“And this is supposed to be a good thing?” Anastacia responded skeptically.

“Well, look at this,” Ik continued as she pointed at a second picture. “This picture shows the mushroom and person talking. I think the stuff they shoot us with let us communicate.” As she finished, she glanced at Chitka for confirmation, who nodded enthusiastically.

Sure enough, the mushrooms returned with a much larger member of their tribe, and he immediately released a spray of spores over the party. The party, with some reluctance, trusted the mushroom and Chitka enough to let the spores settle on their minds, and as they did, they heard a strange voice in their heads. “Sup, bra?” the large mushroom telepathically asked them.

“Um, hello,” Luke replied. “We were told by our friend here that you are a peaceful…people. Can we rest with you for the night?”

“Oh yeah, we’re all chillin,” the mushroom replied in what was mostly affirmatively. “You can’t own land, man. We’re just enjoying nature and ourselves here.”

“I thought you said this stuff would let us understand them,” Enrique sarcastically replied to Chitka.

The most surprising response from the spores, however, came from the crab man. “At last, I can speak with my saviors!” he excited shouted through the mind of the mushroom, who the party learned was called a myconid. “I owe you my life! Thank you!”

Enrique instinctively backed away while playing some light music in his brain (the universal method for telepathically hiding thoughts,) but Lorren, fascinated with his new friend, replied just as happily, “Think nothing of it! We were happy to assist you! And we’re VERY sorry that you lost so many of your possessions in the water.” As he said that last part, he tried very hard not to look at Enrique.

“Oh, that’s right!” the crab man replied. “That means that the water flows deeper underground, doesn’t it?” He looked at the myconid. “Do you know where the river flows from here?”

“No problem, dude,” the myconid responded. “The river turns into a waterfall at the end of the jungle. Just watch out for the sand man.”

“Who’s the sand man?” Anastacia replied nervously.

“Oh, he’s a good guy,” the myconid explained. “But he’s a little too excited about making people sleep. We invite him to join us when we commune with nature sometimes. We don’t sleep, so his dust helps us expand our minds.”

The crab man quickly prepared to leave, but before he did, he turned the party and said his farewells. “I have to get back to my people, but if you ever find yourselves among the crab folk, seek me out. I will repay our debt to you. Just show my people this sign; it represents my name in our language.” The crab man scratched a rough symbol on the ground, and then he left towards the loudest sounds of the water.

The party looked at the symbol while Luke took the symbol down. Lorren looked at the symbol with a puzzled expression. “It looks like an eight on top of a seven,” he commented.

OOC Notes: The myconids were actually placed in the dungeon before I determined their general personality. The idea of mushrooms who themselves hallucinated amused me, and it struck me as a very convenient coincidence when I read about them and learned that was officially part of their core society. I apologize for the lack of updates lately; we couldn’t play two weeks ago because of Labor Day weekend, but there will be a game this weekend, and another Story Hour update from there.

 

[LordVyreth]

Sorry about the lack of updates lately. I had to skip another game last week due to a family obligation, but there's still enough material for me to get an update done some time this week. In the meantime, I'd like to hear from some of the readers about the game so far. I admit I'm starting to lose my enthusiasm for a Story Hour, since there have been so few replies to it up to this point. Some input would be helpful as I continue to improve my writing.

 

[LordVyreth]

The Gate of Madness: Few Moments are More Appropriate for Cursing in Orcish

The next morning, the party, refreshed and eager to finish their mission and finally escape the Gate of Madness before it warped them too much, began their raid on the orcs as soon as possible. The only exception was Chitka, who decided he would travel with the party when they leave the Gate and planned on spending his last day saying his goodbyes to the myconids that were so helpful to him. They realized as soon as they entered the first room, however, that everything they heard about the unusual nature of the land the orcs were forced into was absolutely true. Three orcs guarded the first room of the orc territory, but something had warped them physically. Their bodies were normal, but it was as if they were somehow leaking, to put simply. The skin, armor, and the very color of the orcs were seemingly leaking out of the unfortunate creatures, leaving others parts of their bodies literally empty of anything but a simple outline.

As soon as the incomplete orcs saw the party, they moaned, “We must destroy the intruders! Then, they may allow us back into the tribe!” They attacked as one, but despite their grotesque forms, the orcs were no match for the heroes. They tried to attack the party with blobs of their own oozing color, but nothing connected with the party. Meanwhile, though the party’s attacks occasionally struck the transparent gaps in the orcs, seemingly doing nothing to them, they were able to wear them down with only a few attacks.

As the party searched the remains of the orcs, they discovered that each carried a blindfold, and that there was an additional pile of them on the door leading out of the room. “This is…ominous,” Lorren commented when he saw the items. “I wonder what it exactly the orcs were so worried about seeing?”

“Personally, I’d rather not find out,” Luke replied. In response, Anastacia quickly snatched the one out of Ik’s hands before she instinctively tested it, much to the changeling’s disappointment.

“Fine, then,” Enrique grumbled. “I guess I, as usual, will have to find out.” He carefully opened the door leading from the gatehouse to the official orc territory. Once there, he noticed a cavern opening to the west, though he couldn’t see anything inside it from where he was standing, and a wooden bridge over a pit. As soon as he glanced over the pit, he had at least once guess as to what the orcs were so scared of. He turned as pale as a sheet and half ran, half crawled back to the party. “Man, I hate those things!” he stammered when he returned to the party.

Nervously, the rest of the party approached the pit, and each soon saw what Enrique was so afraid of. The entire bottom of the pit was covered with hideous, vicious maggots the size of small dogs! Oddly, they seemed extremely passive. They seemed to be sleeping on odd, opaque cocoons, and the sound of snoring could be faintly heard.

Elvis shrugged. “Hell, we could just shoot them from here, if they scare you that much.” He drew his bow, but he was stopped by Lorren, who was watching the monsters intensely.

“Don’t,” Lorren simply replied. “These are no ordinary insects, or even giant ones. They appear to be demons of some sort. Who knows what sort of powers they may have if they became aggressive?”

The point realized, the party decided to try to cross the bridge as carefully as possible. Enrique was initially reluctant to go first, until he realized that if the maggot demons somehow woke up, he’d be the only one to get across the bridge in time. As he crossed the bridge, though, he soon learned the real reason the orcs carried blindfolds. From the cavern, a trio of undead monstrosities took notice of Enrique. At first, they appeared to be nothing but slightly mummified zombies, but as the first neared Enrique, he could see into the creature’s eyes. They looked into his very soul, and he could feel his sanity rapidly draining from him.

As the bizarre undead drew near, Luke realized he would be needed to keep the strange creatures at bay. He drew as close as he could, braving their sanity-draining eyes as best he could, and gathered his faith to channel the raw power of Ehlonna through him. One of the strange creatures was immediately reduced to ash, and the other two were driven back, letting Elvis, Grim, and the others destroy them from a distance. With them defeated, the party could slowly and carefully cross the bridge. The demon maggots were awakened by the combat, but fortunately, they didn’t seem able or sufficiently motivated to climb out of the pit and directly attack the party.

The heroes, however, weren’t so lucky when they entered the next room. This appeared to be another guardroom, and while the orcs in this room at least looked normal, before they or the party could respond, strange vents suddenly burst out of the floor. A number of strange, eyeless insects shot up through the holes, where they immediately began to take note of their surroundings. The orcs froze in place, desperately trying to avoid attracting their attention, but one orc was unlucky and too close. The insect sensed it and, in a strange retaliatory measure, released a strange burst of energy around it. In just an instant, the orcs vanished into thin air!

Most of the party took the cue from the orcs and stayed clear of the bugs. Grim, unfortunately, was still raised a barbarian. He charged the nearest bug, intent on destroying it before it could send any of his friends away (not to mention possibly endangering the egg.) In a way, he succeeded; the bug instead sent him away! Fortunately, it, along with the first bug, died instantly after using its power. This left the field mostly empty for the six remaining heroes, who destroyed the last bug using missile attacks before closing and destroying the remaining orcs.

Grim, meanwhile, was having a much stranger adventure. He found himself on a floating island of land surrounding by more floating islands and seemingly endless storms. Next to him was the orc who was sent “away” earlier. Unprepared for this situation, he was doing little but uttering orcish curses to himself. Some beings, when trapped in an unknown situation with an enemy, would seek a truce until the greater environmental threat could be resolved. Grim was not such a being. After quickly killing the orc, he investigated the island and found a strange glowing rune. Lacking other options, he stepped into the rune and found himself on another one of the islands. He continued to use the teleporting runes to reach other islands, stopping occasionally to destroy more of the sanity-draining undead, and while they affected his mind as well, he found that slaying the creatures was more than sufficiently therapeutic to recover from the effect! At the last island, he found a larger and more unusual rune, which he used to transport back to the party!

After the party expressed relief at Grim’s safety and visa versa, it was time to move on. After all, the orcs were surely aware of the party by now, so if they don’t hurry, they’ll be able to mobilize an offensive that could make all their efforts worthless, at best! They quickly dashed into one of the doors in the room, hoping it would get them closer to the orc chief.

Their hunch soon seemed correct, as the next room was clearly set up to be a defensive checkpoint. Only three orcs guarded the room, but they were better armed and armored than the ones the party encountered to date, suggesting that these were elite troops. As soon as Enrique and Grim entered the room, they were bombarded with spears that the orcs threw while behind cover, prompting them to wisely withdraw. However, the party couldn’t wait forever, so they eventually and carefully entered the room. Anastacia, the first to enter, received the focus of the next volley of spears. Two of them managed to penetrate her armor, but she endured the pain as she led the charge on the first orc. No sooner did she and the rest of the party reach him, however, than he suddenly emitted a deafening roar as he began to froth at the mouth. Grim knew this combat “style” implicitly, because it was little different than his own temperament when the fury of battle becomes too great. He realized these orcs were very dangerous.

“Anastacia, look out!” he yelled, but he was too late. As soon as the party defeated the first orc, she charged at the second, who became enraged just like his partner. Anastacia was cut down in one blow, prompting her enraged (in both senses of the word) allies to finish the final two orcs with enough time to bring their comrade back from death’s door.

The orcs defeated, the party looted as normal and began to search the room for clues to learn which door led to the orc chief. Enrique had an idea, at least, after listening to one of the doors. He quickly gestured to the party, indicated that they should listen as well.

“It sounds like…rain,” Ik suggested.

“But that’s impossible,” Luke countered. “We’re deep underground. We can’t find a way outside here.”

Elvis look apathethic. “Well, maybe it’s a waterfall or something,” he commented. “Either way, it sounds like something we should check out.”

After what happened last time, the party charged in as one, hoping they could take the element of surprise or at least stop the enemy from ganging up on one of them. It turned out that what they heard was indeed a waterfall. Water poured over every wall of the cavern, constantly dampening the rocky pathway the party found themselves. The ground they were on was quite a distance from the outer walls of the cavern, and with the damp floors, there was a real risk of falling off the side. As the party carefully glanced over the edge, they could see fog or even clouds obscuring their vision, but the sound of thunder and dark shapes that resemble massive birds further dissuaded the party from going near the edge!

But they had other concerns. This room was also inhabited. Four orcs, again armed with primitive spears or javelins, were guarding the path, and a fifth was resting on an ornately carved stone throne. The gaudy nature of the throne, along with general appearance and equipment, suggested that they found their target.

While the orc chief watched, studying his enemies, the party quickly closed on the lesser orcs guards. They also thought to hide behind cover while attacking from a distance, but they clearly were not of the same caliber as the warriors guarding the checkpoint. One fell screaming down the falls after being struck with one arrow, and the others fell just as quickly.

When the party reached the chief, however, things proved to be slightly more difficult. Like the orcs at the checkpoint, he quickly worked himself into a battle fury, making him almost unstoppable to the inexperienced warriors. Nonetheless, it was seven against one, and even with the party’s clumsy attempts to knock him out instead of killing him, they soon overcame the chieftain.

The orc awoke later in the fungal jungle, where he, along with all the treasures the party found and even the giant snail shell, was strewn about the ground. As the orc came to, he saw his captures surrounding him. Grim, being the most logical translator, explained the party’s intentions. “We want the name of the man from Effervo Vesica. The one who hired you to attack Fra Dane.”

The orc chief shrugged as best he could. “I have no idea what those names mean.”

“Fine, then, let’s try another approach,” Grim replied. “This one apparently caused a bit of trouble when he approached you. He had black armor that looked like it was alive.”

As soon as he said that last part, the orc responded. His eyes went wide, as if remembering something terrifying, and he uttered just one word, “Malordonus.”

OOC Notes: I noticed a problem when working on this dungeon. Notably, when the party is free to explore in any direction they chose, it’s hard to estimate the level the party will be at for any given challenge. I actually upped the level of the orc barbarians before the adventure, but there were still some slight balance issues later on, particularly against the undead and the orc chief. This also has made me consider some changes for the turning rules; they work mostly well, but it’s a bit too easy to turn them.

Most of the unusual monsters in this adventure are adaptations from the Eternal Darkness video game. Readers of my last Story Hour might remember I used these before, but the party was much higher level and couldn’t really be challenged by the lower levels ones. This campaign “might” change that. As for the demonic maggots, my source on that one is one of my ideas, but the details will have to stay regrettably classified for now. Next time, the adventure will FINALLY leave the Gate of Madness, and a new, even more twisted adventure will begin!

 

[LordVyreth]

Welcome To...ure Chaos at its Most Depressed State

As usual, the party had a prisoner to deal with, and as usual, Luke had to lead the argument about why simply killing him was wrong. Again as usual, appealing to the party’s general greed seemed to do it. The orc chief agreed to lead the party to his tribe’s treasure room and disable its traps in exchange for his life and the lives of the rest of his people. And so, the party had to once again enter the orc territory to enter the orc’s treasure room. On the way, they had to pass through the orc’s prison. There, the rotting remains of a human or near-human humanoid could be seen chained to the wall. At least two other cells were in the room, though both had solid walls, preventing the party from seeing the prisoners. Luke was disgusted at the sight of the dead being. “Why would you do this?” he demanded of their orc captive.

After Grim translated, the chief looked unconcerned. “I wouldn’t worry about that one,” he replied. “They’re allies of the Squeakers that ended up in the wrong place. They invaded our home; there’s nothing wrong with defending your home.”

The party considered complaining further, but Grim glanced at the body and noticed it too had the tattoo of a dragon eating its own tail. He suspected that whoever this man was, he got what he deserved.

While the party was debating, though, a voice could be heard shouting from the more well-maintained of the two cells. “Who is out there?” the voice inquired in surprisingly well enunciated Common. “Will I finally be rescued from these mental savages?”

The voice continued to plead, despite the orc chief orders to shut it up, but the condensation in the speaker’s voice made it hard for even Luke to find much sympathy for him. Besides, the party had to quickly escape the Gate of Madness to get to the town Callis mentioned that was only a day from the Gate. They weren’t entire sure if the caravan would actually stop at the entrance to the Gate itself or just the town, and they weren’t eager to find out!

The orc chief led the party to the next room, which seemed to be a more natural cavern, but not before flipping a seemingly random number of switches in the prison. As he opened the chest in the next room, the chief explained the switches through Grim. As he explained, he pointed at several wooden doors located on the walls of the cavern. “We trap our treasures. If you opened the chest without the levers, those doors would open and release some of the monsters we captured. They look like much worse monsters, but they actually explode when attacked.”

Lorren nodded as he heard the description. “If these things are what I think they are, it’s a very good thing we didn’t find this place before.”

After looting the orcs’ treasures, the party decided that their business was complete, and they didn’t want to further incur the orcs’ (or Luke’s) wrath. Leaving the orcs in relative peace, the party used the goblin’s stairway to return to the first floor. Despite the goblin chief’s offer to again give their sauna a try, the party opted out and began what was a surprisingly uneventful journey to the nearby down. When they reached Crimmor, the town, they were a little overwhelmed at its size.

“I, I though Callis said it was a tiny town,” Ik stammered. “This place is about half the size of Fra Dane!”

“Say, does anyone even remember the name of the town that Callis gave us? Maybe we’re in the wrong place,” Elvis asked, but everyone (besides Chitka, for obvious reasons,) looked like they couldn’t remember.

“It only took us a day to get here,” Anastacia countered. “This must be the place!”

Anxiously, but eager for a real meal and a place to sell their treasures, the party entered the town. There, they soon learned that the town had recently had economic boom in the last few years, primarily as the result of commerce coming out of the Gate of Madness and the trade that resulted. The story sounded a little fishy to the party. After all, if that was really true, why would the continent’s largest caravan company only have a stop every 2-3 months? Nonetheless, the excess of wealth did come in handy both in unloading the many items the party obtained and to quickly obtain new magical and other items. Soon, though, Elvis and Ik noticed something that bothered them, even if they didn’t understand it. Almost one in every ten or twenty people they saw had at least some of a strange tattoo visible. It resembled a dragon eating its own tail. Confused on its meaning, they asked the rest of the party about it, but as usual, Grim didn’t seem interested in giving any details. However, he definitely was far more careful in his journeys through the city from then on.

Soon, the party realized that the caravan was apparently running late, and it was getting late in the day. As a result, while the rest of the party was selling their equipment and buying new supplies, Anastacia once again taking advantage of her “Prophesized One” status to find a decent inn for herself and her friends. The innkeepers here were less receptive than earlier ones, but she still managed to find rooms in one of the nicer inns. When she went to her room for the night, though, she soon discovered another inhabitant. From the other side of the window, a small cat was plaintively wailing at her. Anastacia suspiciously looked at it, but after seeing that it just looked hungry, she apprehensively let it into her room and gave it something to eat. Soon, the rest of the party, save Enrique who was more comfortable in a traditional dive, joined her at her inn.

Before they could rest for long, though, their sleep was interrupted by an entire different cry outside. The party (including Enrique, who could even hear the scream from his inn much farther down the road,) went to investigate, but they didn’t even have to look past their windows to see what happened. A body was lying in the road, a pool of blood slowly growing underneath it! Only Chitka, who apparently didn’t even hear the scream, remained behind in his room.

By the time the party was outside, a small crowd had gathered. This town gave the impression of a tough frontier town, but a brazen attack like this was enough to even attract the populace’s attention. Even worse, the clothing of the man suggested that he was a nobleman, making this a very serious issue indeed. Before the Crimmor law could arrive, the party gave the body a cursory once-over. Elvis and Luke easily confirmed that he was dead, and that he apparently died of only one wound. His throat was slit, and while there were some signs of struggle, it apparently ended very quickly. Even more importantly, they once again saw the dragon tattoo on the body, letting Grim realize that this was more than it seemed.

Finally, the law arrived. A woman wearing the colors of the local guard quickly announced her presence. Captain Gilliam Coldclence, as her medal read, quickly investigated the body and drew the same conclusions the party did. “Gerard Ophal,” she muttered as she looked at the body. “The son and heir of the Ophal noble family; this is a very serious crime.” She appeared to have a hurried look about her, though, as if she was too busy to deal with the situation or simply didn’t want to in the first place. Her gaze fixated on the party. “You, I heard of you. You’re the adventurers who arrived to town yesterday, right?”

The party exchanged glances; achieving notoriety might not be such a good thing in this situation. “Yes, we are,” Luke finally replied with reluctance. “Is there a problem?”

“Oh, not at all,” Gilliam replied. “Actually, I might be able to use her help. We’re understaffed and buried in reports tonight.”

“Are murders like this common?” Grim replied with concern.

“Oh, no, nothing like that,” Gilliam responded quickly. “It’s mostly just bar fights, muggings, that sort of thing. Nothing unusual. But each one still must be investigated. Reports must be made, suspects questioned, and paperwork filled out. We don’t have time to get this body to its proper place. I heard enough about you to think that I can trust you to bring this body safely to the town’s noble crypts. I’m willing to offer 2,000 gold.”

Something didn’t seem right about this situation, but the party couldn’t say no to the price. “I don’t suppose you’re willing to raise the price to 2,100?” Enrique asked. “After all, there are seven of us here.”

“Sure, no problem,” Gilliam tensely replied, raising the party’s suspicions further.

“Where is this crypt?” Luke asked.

Gilliam pointed to the southeast. “There’s a hill just ten minutes outside of town. The crypt is located inside it.”

Counting the trip outside of the city and the return trip, that was a reward of thousands of gold for an hour of work. Even so, the party carefully agreed and began the journey to the crypt. A few minutes after they began, while they were still in the city, the sound of a bell could be heard. It sounded like some sort of alert or warning alarm, most likely to announce the death of a noble, but it apparently didn’t evoke the concern of the rest of the town. As they left, Anastacia noticed that the cat was still following her.

The party reached the crypt without incident. When they arrived, though, they found that the gate to the crypt was poorly maintained. Moss covered the name of the crypt and most of the rest of the gate. It nonetheless opened properly, and the party easily entered. There, they followed instructions Gilliam gave them to leave the body in the Embalming Room for study, possible clue gathering, and preparations for either resurrection or final burial. Doing so, however, would involve using a simple hand-operated elevator. As the party descended, they could hear a strange, inhuman sobbing coming from below. When they reached the floor of the Embalming Room, they could see three gigantic, vaguely humanoid frogs bawling near the door to the room.

After they realized that the frogs seemingly had no interest in them and weren’t obstructing their path to the room, the party mostly seemed intent on ignoring them, but Lorren couldn’t suppress his curiosity. “What are you crying about?” he asked.

One of the frogs contained his burbling weeping long enough to reply. “We can’t find our master,” he(?) explained. “We know it must be here, but we can’t find it.”

Ik seemed touched by the sad beings. “Well, maybe we can help. What does it look like?”

The frog’s apparent ambassador replied, “It looks like everything.”

That bothered Lorren. “How do you know one of us isn’t your master, then?”

The frog looked up and replied. “You looked the same for too long. You’re one thing.”

This suggested, to Lorren at least, that this master must be some kind of shape-changer, but that didn’t help the party find it, and they were in a hurry. “We hope you find your master,” Luke added as the party moved past them into the Embalming Room.

As soon as they entered the room, they could tell that something was amiss. The light of the Everburning Torch that Luke wisely purchased shone throughout the room, revealing that the walls, floor, and ceiling were covered in dozens of magical runes. Lorren quickly examined the runes and explained their purpose. “They appear to have some times to another plane. This might be a summoning circle of some kind.” However, the runes seemed to have no effect, so the party placed the body in the room. According to Gilliam’s instructions, they were supposed to wait for the official crypt’s undertaker to be awakened and taken to the crypt, which should only take a few more minutes than the party’s trip. However, one minute later, the entire room went black, and the party soon realized that this job was not everything they were told it would be!

The light soon returned to the room, but it was not the same. The runes were glowing, and the very door the party used to enter the room was gone. Instead, another tunnel led upwards. As soon as the party came to their senses, they could see what looked like a spectral version of Gerard was rising out of his own body! Almost instinctively, he left the room using the new tunnel. As he left, though, he dropped a piece of paper, which turned solid upon touching the ground. The party quickly looked over it and saw what appeared to be a map of Crimmor, with several locations circled in red.

With some hesitation, the party prepared to follow Gerard. However, as soon as she set foot in the tunnel, Ik felt her backpack vibrate. Remembering what Lorren said about the runes and the letter Guillermo left about the Infernal Egg, she immediately ran back into the room, where the egg harmlessly returned to normal.

“This means that we’re entering a different plane of reality entirely!” Lorren exclaimed.

“I’m more worried about the Egg,” Enrique replied.

“Well, we can hide it in this room,” Luke replied. “Once we figure out how we got here and find a way back, we can go back and get the Egg. There are plenty of places to hide it here. There are urns, body wrappings…”

“The body itself…” Enrique suggested.

Everyone glared at him, forcing him to reply. “What? It’s not like he’ll notice now. Who would look?”

Ik chuckled. “It would be funny if we somehow found a way to bring him back to life, only for him to die because of the giant egg inside his body.”

While everyone was talking, an annoyed Luke simply grabbed the Egg and hid it in the urn. Now satisfied, he left the room, and party immediately followed. The path took them, oddly, to the same entrance the party used to first enter the crypt, even though the original hallway and all other paths to the room were gone. In addition, the gate suddenly appeared better maintained, to the point where the party can read its name: The Silent Hill Crypt.

OOC Notes: This game will hopefully start a tradition in my game; an October horror-themed story. Anyone who regularly plays video games or is into horror movies probably has some idea of what’s coming at this point, but I’ll leave the details for the next update.

 

[LordVyreth]

Welcome To...:Who was that Masked Man?

The party surveyed the land beyond the crypt. The hill itself appeared normal, but the weather was completely different. For one thing, though it was night when the party entered the crypt, it seemed to be daytime now. However, it was hard to tell, as a thick fog covered the land, and it even appeared to be lightly snowing. The ground was not as strange, at least where it was present. The hill itself seemed to be floating on an island of land with nothing but the fog and empty air around it. However, a bridge of land connected the hill to another island which apparently held the whole town of Crimmor. Lacking options, the party carefully made their way back to town.

When they got there, they were a little surprised to find that it was completely abandoned. An almost tangible silence could be felt in the normally busy town, making the party even more nervous than expected. The continued presence of a semi-welcome visitor didn’t help, either.

“Do you have to bring that cat with you?” Ik asked irritably.

“What’s wrong with it?” Anastacia replied. “It’s just a normal cat. It didn’t do anything wrong.”

Lorren looked doubtful. “Why would a normal cat be so comfortable in a place like this? I bet it’s evil or something.” Lorren’s comments, though, just made Anastacia protect the cat closer.

Trying to regain control of the situation, Luke looked at the map and tried to figure out what the party should do next. “A couple of the circles are actually labeled,” he noticed. “The one at the top simply says ‘headquarters.’ That might be the base of whoever sent us to this place.”

Grim pointed at the other labeled circle. “I think I prefer this one. Listen to how it’s labeled. ‘In the darkest times, I will watch over you. I will keep you safe until the light of day.’ That sounds more inviting for now.”

The party agreed that a safe harbor in a place like this could be helpful, but when the party reached the circled area, they found that it was circled with stone walls and the gate was shut tight, with the same message printed on the gate itself. Enrique tried the lock, but soon he leaned back and shrugged. “I can’t open it,” he admitted, “but that’s no surprise. Didn’t the message say something about the darkest times? Maybe this doesn’t count.”

“Or maybe it doesn’t mean us,” Lorren postulated. “What if the message is for Gerard, not us? Maybe it’s keeping the ghost safe here.”

Regardless of the message’s meaning, it also meant the party was back at square one. With only one other location standing out to the party, they reluctantly began their journey to the headquarters.

As the party neared the headquarters, Anastacia’s cat started to act very strangely. It suddenly started hissing in the direction the party was heading. The party stopped, concerned that the cat was attracted to something the party couldn’t sense. Sure enough, moments later, four figures could be seen slowly shambling towards the party, and at the same time the sound of wings could be heard over the muffled sense of the fog. As Grim and the rest of the party’s leaders approached the figures, Ik was suddenly surprised when the flying monster flew right at her! It resembled a flying reptile, what the scholars tended to call a dinosaur, but all of its skin was removed, revealing nothing but its hideous musculature. Before the party could react, it struck Ik with its claws and flew off again, pausing only long enough for Lorren to get off a simple attack with its staff.

Meanwhile, the other four figures closed in on the party. Three looked like similarly skinned wolves with disturbingly human heads, and the fourth was an ape with similar features. The ape and one of the wolves converged on Grim, while the others split up to attack Anastacia and Enrique. The fight was a brief one, however. Only the ape could stand the party’s onslaught for long, especially with Lorren and Elvis providing long-range support. However, just as the fight was starting to wind down, the flying monster struck Ik for a second time!

“What is with this place?” Ik complained as she struggled to stay conscious. “What did I ever do to that thing?” While Ik struggled to find some cover from the assault, only to be forced to duck behind the wizard of all people, Elvis drew his bow again and watched the skies. He wouldn’t let the creature make a third attack. As it emerged from the fogs, Elvis buried an arrow in its chest, but it had enough momentum to make one last dive at Ik. Only a surprisingly solid whack from Lorren’s staff was enough to bring it down.

After defeating the monsters, the party reached the location the map claimed was the headquarters, only to find an empty crater leading seemingly to nowhere. As the party neared it, though, a spectral image of a soldier wielding a bloody sword appeared. “Speak my name,” a voice boomed out of the empty fog itself. Lacking any knowledge of who the soldier was, however, the party was forced to guess names at random, and the image simply disappeared.

“I think we must’ve gotten it right,” Enrique guessed. “If we got it wrong, it probably would’ve attacked us.”

The rest of the party, though, expressed doubts. “Maybe this is what we are here for,” Lorren postulated. “If we can determine what this man has to do with Gerard, we can find his spirit or soul, or whatever is powering this place.”

Picking one of the circled locations based on nothing but their proximity to the party’s location, they soon came to what clearly looked like some sort of tawdry nightclub or possibly even a brothel. Inside, the party saw two strange monsters. They were humanoid in appearance, but they seemed to be lacking arms. However, they moved as if they had arms, but the arms were somehow trapped in the front of their own bodies, as if their very skin was a living straitjacket! Horrified by the abominations, the party quickly attacked the creatures. Initially, it appeared that both were killed easily enough, but just as the party was ready to continue exploring the building, one of them suddenly rose up, almost like a snake, and lunged at Grim! However, the creature was stabbed by Anastacia and finally killed before it could pose a further threat.

As soon as the monsters died, a number of spectral images, including Gerard, appeared in the club. The spectral image of Gerard was collecting some sort of tax of protection payment from the club’s owner. The owner seemed reluctant to pay him, though, and even offered some sort of special “arrangement” instead, but Gerard seemed uninterested. Suddenly, a number of soldiers burst into the room. One of them, who looked just like the spectral image the party saw at the crater, announced himself. “I am Lieutenant Douglas Cartland of the Crimman Guard. Gerard Ophal, you are hereby under arrest for the murder of the town’s mayor.” Gerard, panicked by the sudden arrest, tried to escape, but he was caught and stabbed by Douglas on the way out. The attack was too much for Gerard, and he immediately lost consciousness. Douglas showed little emotion from the attack, save perhaps for disgust. He quickly pointed to one of his soldiers and said, “Take him to Bha-Ael’s Grace. We’ll make sure he stands trial for what he did. And,” he paused, showing some hesitation, “Tell his family what happened. They deserve to know.” After Mr. Cartland finished message, the spectral images faded, leaving only a blank scrap of paper.

Lorren was the first to examine the page, and as soon as he touched it, writing began to appear. Lorren read it to the group: “Our new allies are an amazing lot. Mortals have always sought us for supplication, their awe of the darkness and the depths too great for them to live without it, but these mortals, the so-called Unmaking Legion, are different. They embrace the destruction of their own world, or at least their civilizations, and they embrace the power of the Far Realm regardless of its consequences. Despite this, they retain their own individuality. However, they know better than to work alone. Their masters are a clear example of this, as is their allegiance with the Kaorti and our own alliance. They may be all be completely mad, but at least they know how to gain power.” Lorren shrugged. “I have no idea what any of this means,” he admitted.

However, as he said it, he could hear a voice whispering in Draconic, a language only he among the party knew. “The Eight shall oppose the remaining six,” the voice whispered. Lorren relayed that to the party as well, though he again admitted his confusion.

Meanwhile, Luke was carefully writing the name of the guard down, but the rest of the part didn’t seem interested in going back to the headquarters crater so soon. Either they thought that it couldn’t be that easy, or they wanted to know what happened to Gerard! “What’s Bha-Ael’s Grace?” Ik asked.

“Well, Bha-Ael is a goddess of the Sisters,” Luke explained. “It sounds like it’s a temple, house of healing, or possibly both.”

Enrique looked up. “I think I saw that place when I was exploring town! I can take you there right now.”

Almost eagerly, the party traveled based on Enrique’s directions, and indeed it appeared that the destination was one of the five remaining circles. In fact, they passed another circle on the way, but the party didn’t seem interested in stopping.

When they got to Bha-Ael’s Grace, it did indeed appear to be a house of healing, and as soon as the party entered the building, the spectrals began the next scene. This one, though, took place all over the building, forcing the party to split in order watch all of it. In this scene, a woman and two small children entered the house of healing. The woman was addressed as Juliet and she asked to see her husband, suggesting that this was Gerard’s wife. However, as soon as she entered the building, a number of assassins burst in from the front door and a side corridor. Panicking, Juliet fled down the hall to the room where her husband (not to mention Grim and Lorren) was waiting. However, no sooner did she enter the room, but the assassins caught up to her. As Gerard could only look on helplessly, his wife and children were killed before his eyes. The assassins quickly went to work on the witnesses, leaving Gerard alone but killing another patient in his room and three of the nurses. Even more horrifically, as soon as the scene image and the spectral images faded, monsters appeared where the four innocent witnesses were killed!

The three nurses appeared as ghoulish creatures, and the patient appeared as another horrific monster with a living straightjacket. The three ghouls were fortunately near Luke, who used his powers to destroy two and drive away the third long enough for the rest of the party to finish it from a distance. Grim and Lorren, however, were less lucky. This time, they were unprepared for an attack, and the monster responded by spitting a powerful acid at Grim. Even though it, burned, however, Grim simply let the pain fuel his anger and charged the monster. The frail Lorren, however, was not so courageous. Low on magic, he simply fired a magic missile, one of the last spells he had today, and then fled down the corridor to warn the others. Soon, Enrique joined Grim, but by the time he got there, Grim was just finishing up the creature, his clothes and much of his body still burning from the acid.

When the last of the monsters fell, things started to change again. A puddle of blood started to bubble up from where Juliet’s image was seeing lying. Soon, the dark puddle suddenly spread until it covered the floors, walls, and ceilings of the entire building and beyond. Where it touched, things changed. The abandoned but normal walls of the building transformed into rotting metal, coated with blood or worse, or even seemingly living flesh. The floors, meanwhile, transformed into a metal walkway. Below the ground, there no was seemingly nothing, as if the entire building was floating above oblivion. However, the change also revealed a trap door in Gerard’s room. Showing hesitation after the complete transformation they saw around them, the party cautiously descended.

In the building’s basement, the party could heart the sound of roaring water beneath their feet. Unlike most of the grating, it appeared that there was a river or something else real underneath. The tunnel that the stairway opened up into led immediately to a slightly larger room. It was seemingly empty, save for what appeared to be a slightly weaker patch of the grating in the room’s corner. The party prepared to examine it, but as they entered the room, a swarm of monsters rose up out of the water and through the gratings. They resembled cockroaches, but they were larger and had twisted, vaguely human faces! They hungrily descended on Enrique and the rest of the party. Desperately, the heroes tried to fight them off, but nothing was helping. Either the party was using edged weapons that had a hard time striking enough of the monsters, the monsters suddenly and mysteriously recovered from the wounds, or both. Even fire didn’t seem to help, as Grim was disappointed to learn after throwing a vial of oil into the monsters. Lack other options, Elvis led another group to the weak part of the ground in an attempt to make another way out.

Suddenly, the party could hear the sound of a horn being blown off in the distance. After the horn sounded a third time, the cockroaches fled back into the water, as if they were afraid of something. The party collectively decided to work on destroying the grating, but suddenly, more spectral images appeared. In this one, the same assassin that killed Juliet was speaking to another woman. The assassin had his mask off, revealing a relatively normal human with messy blond hair. The woman, meanwhile, was an elderly woman who also seemed normal, though her stance and clothing suggested that she was some sort of noblewoman. In the scene, the woman was specifically instructing the assassin to chase Juliet and her children to Gerard’s room and kill them in front of Gerard’s eyes, making it obvious that this attempt to torture Gerard was no accident. When the images faded, another blank piece of paper appeared. Lorren, having decided that he would be the one to gather such obviously arcane and mysterious information, grabbed the paper, but it remained blank. Puzzled, he gave it to Grim, the one closest to him at the time, and this time, the paper filled just as it previously did for Lorren.

Grim read the letter to the others, just as Lorren did. “Is the theory of the Adversary true? It’s doubtful, and yet our allies of the Unmaking Legion accept it without question. Most likely, it is nothing but the mindless ideology of mortals infesting the minds of even the most seemingly free of their kind. They somehow instinctively think that if there is a monster, there must also be a hero. Why can’t they accept that the “monster” has always been the default; the mortals are themselves the imposition on reality? No matter. The Legion, regardless, is obsessed with the Adversary’s identity, even wiping out entire villages to try and destroy him, or at least break him, making him incapable of resisting their plans.”

As he spoke, more voices whispered to him in orcish, which he again translated. “The Eight shall unite the discordant five,” he interpreted for the party. Before they could try to figure out either of the cryptic messages, though, a figure slowly descended the stairs. It was humanoid, but little of its skin could be seen. It wore a thick apron that was coated in blood and that might have been made out of skin, though the party didn’t care to get a good look! Its most notable feature, though, was a triangular red metal helmet that it wore, which obscured any chance to see its face. It carried a massive sword as long as its arm, and while it looked like the helmet and sword were weighing it down, it moved with surprising speed. Something about this creature made everyone uneasy at best, and by working together everyone was able to quickly destroy the grating. Preferring the unknown to the blood-stained abomination, the party quickly leapt into the river. Moments later, they were washed back outside, but things were no better out here. The town, like the house of healing, had changed. There was no normal ground to be seen at all, just the damned walkways crisscrossing paths throughout town. Besides the house of healing, few buildings at all could be seen. However, the sound of grinding gears and shifting metal reverberated throughout the air. As the party looked wildly around their surroundings, they realized that darkness had come to this place, making it even more dangerous than before!

OOC Notes: This puts us halfway through the adventure and at the end of the first session the party played in it. All the monsters in this adventure, at least up to this point, were based on the original games in the Silent Hill series. The story of Gerard Ophal, though, was my own creation, and as the party learns, it will tie in to the demi-plane more as they learn about it. I should warn you, though, that updates may be limited next month. Nanowrimo, the national novel writing month challenge, is coming up in November. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, so I’ll be mostly busy doing that, and what free time I have left will be mostly dedicated to finishing up the actual next adventure. I’ll see what I can get done, though, and I’ll try to get at least an update or two done.

 

[LordVyreth]

Just letting everyone know that I know there haven't been many updates lately. Like I warned, last month was busy with other writing projects, but we missed a game due to Thanksgiving vacation, so I'm not much behind. I have a game this Saturday, and expect the next update a few days from there.

 

[LordVyreth]

Welcome To...:Sympathy for the Unspeakable Horror

“What do we do now?” Anastacia quietly asked, her voice quiet out of fear shock at what she saw around her.

Luke had pulled out the map, desperate for answers. “We should try the park again,” Enrique suggested as he looked over Luke’s shoulder. “After all, it’s night now. Maybe the park is open now.”

Lacking any better options and not especially interested in exploring this even more warped version of Crimmor, the party agreed and sprinted to the park as quickly as possible. Just as Enrique thought, the gate was now open, and the park itself was almost normal by comparison. The only unusual trait, besides yet another blank card lying in the middle of the park, was a gigantic statue. A memorial plaque under the statue read, “Dedicated to Mayor Amelie Horsen, brutally murdered while she had dinner at the Burning Wagon.”

Meanwhile, the party examined the card and passed it to another party member who hadn’t used a card yet. Anastacia looked at this one, and while the now expected voices said, “The Eight shall balance the extreme four,” she read the message seemingly meant for her.

“The one we are most interested is known as the “’prophesized one,’” Anastacia read. “We know not which one she is, but we believe she will have some sort of tie to the demi-plane. She is tied to the event that sealed this world’s fate. We believe that if she is not stopped, she could bring about the end of the world. As we would still be inhabiting the world at this time, this is not our ideal solution despite it nicely removing our other enemies”

As she read, her cat casually moved up to the statue of the slain mayor, which was so large the party couldn’t even see the top, and curled up to go to sleep. Trusting that the cat seemingly knew what it was doing, the party rested as well. And so, night turned back into day in Crimmor, and the park itself remained safe and peaceful. It didn’t even seem to be foggy here, unlike the rest of town. The party woke up peaceful, refreshed, and calm…until somebody looked up.

At last, they could see the top of the statue, and they were horrified to discover that while most of the statue was as solid as expected, the head appeared to be organic. Even worse, it was bloated and gigantic to match the size of the body, and it appeared to be quite dead. As it rotted, a wound in the head/statue’s neck started to bleed, leaving a trickle down the stone body.

Not eager to spend any longer in the park, the party planned their next move. “I think I remember seeing the Burning Wagon,” Ik said while pondering the peaceful day spent in the original Crimmor. “Maybe we can investigate that, now that we knew the mayor was there.”

The party followed her lead to what appeared to be a fairly typical tavern and restaurant. As they reached the restaurant, the ghostly image of Gerard and others appeared outside the restaurant. Gerard was dressed similar to the assassins who would later attack him. Meanwhile, more spectral images of the mayor and the various restaurant patrons and staff went about their days as normal. The mayor ordered the local meal of rabbit pouches and a greensplatter with groundspears, which the party realized was just rabbit meat stuff with cheese and a salad with asparagus. Gerard’s image chuckled and commented, “Heh, her last meal.” Sure enough, midway through the meal, he and the assassins burst into the restaurant. While the others assassins distracted the mayor’s bodyguards and the witnesses, Gerard lunged at the mayor and cleanly slit her throat in one swipe. She collapsed, dead instantly, in her own meal, and Gerard made his escape while the crowd panicked. As the image faded, monsters materialized to again fight the party.

Two of the creatures looked almost exactly like humans, but they initially appeared to be wearing masks. As the party looked more closely, though, they realized the creatures were not wearing masks; they seemingly had metal or stone masks where their faces should be. The third monster was much worse, however. It resembled to human bodies that were seemingly conjoined and wrapped with black, tattered rags. Both lacked lower bodies, and instead the entire being was supported by three metal legs. The party charged in and made short work of the two masked beings. However, in the interim, the conjoined creature leapt into the air and began spinning, and despite having any form of support, it managed to float in the air. Worried about what this being could do, Elvis pulled out his bow to shoot it, but it immediately charged into and past him, striking him with its sharp metal legs. Before it could have another chance, the party surrounded and overwhelmed it.

Once again, a card fell out of nowhere. Voices spoke, “The Eight shall terminate the living three,” as Ik picked up and read the card.

She quickly read it to the party, “Despite our new allegiance, some of our “neighbors” have grown too attached to this world. I refer specifically to the feared; they seem to need the very emotions of their food to live. More importantly, they seek to expand beyond our home. The ones known as the ‘teller of tales’ and the ‘singer of songs’ are the primary threats in this case. While not ‘ordered’ in any reasonable sense of the world, they are surprisingly ambitious. We believe they may even be secretly forming an army in a nearby city.” She looked up at the party and shrugged. She wasn’t sure what this one meant, either.

Interested in learning the rest of Gerard’s story and escaping this horrible place, the party quickly traveled to the second circled area just next to Bha-Ael’s Grace. This next building turned out to be a store called Belnare’s Bootery, which appeared to be a simple cobbler’s shop. When they entered this building, though, all the furniture was removed or placed in a circle around the building, and dark symbols covered much of the building, suggesting that it was a front for the very cult that trapped the party. Six more of the mask-face humanoids were here. The party startled them by suddenly charging, and several were defeated before they could even respond. However, the party got extremely nervous when one of the robed figures, instead of fighting back, raised a horn to its mouth opening and blew one long, low note. It sounded just like the sound the party heard the last time the world turned dark, but it sounded three times in that case. Afraid of what was coming, the party quickly killed the creature with the horn along with the others, causing more spectral images to again appear.

Gerard, now without any assassin’s clothing, stood in the center of the room, surrounded by more cultists, including an elderly woman and a now very familiar man with wild, blond hair. Gerard noticed him too, and it was clearly making him mad. The elderly woman was issuing orders to Gerard about a party of adventurers who recently arrived in town. According to the woman, they were some of the cult’ greatest “subjects,” and she ordered Gerard to give them a very special greeting. The party members nervously looked at each other. They had no idea of knowing when this happened, but it was certainly possible that these spectral beings were talking about them! Gerard, however, was not interested. In fact, while looking directly at the blond man, he told them that he had no interest in staying with the cult; he was quitting! A few of the cultists rose, ready to kill him where he stood, but he warned them not to do so, because he had many allies outside of the cult, and the elderly woman told them to let him go. As soon as he left, though, she calmly turned to the blond man and asked, as if she knew this would happen all along, if things were taken care of. The blond man simply nodded and replied, “Uther has been told. It will be done.” Moments after he said that, a very familiar scream was heard outside, solidifying when this happened.

As the images faded, another card appeared. Enrique picked this one up, and the voices again spoke, “The Eight shall unite the opposing two.”

Enrique, meanwhile, read the party the next message. “It is in play, yet again. We don’t know where, but we believe it may be close. Ironic that the very item that gave us our home is now a threat to us all, yet this can not be questioned. The masters of both our new allies and ourselves are very worried about it, for if it is not destroyed correctly, it could impose a new order that none of us could oppose. If found, do not destroy it, and definitely do not bring it into the proto-plane! Wait until the test is complete, and give it to the emissary of the masters,” Enrique looked up with a worried look. Could they have been talking about the Egg?

Besides the headquarters, two more circled areas remained on the map. Picking at random, the party chose what turned out to be The Theater of Joy, a combined church of Tsykie, the goddess of joy and children in the new pantheon, and a school of sorts where the children of nobility are regularly tutored. When the party entered the school, they discovered that it too was inhabited by more of the face/mask, beings, but unlike the earlier ones, who simply wore robes, these wore armor. Unlike the earlier creatures, they were prepared as well, and no sooner did the party arrive than the most heavily armored of the creatures pulled out another horn and sounded a note!

Aware of how poorly things were going, the party tried to charge through the door to stop him, but before they could, three of the other armored creatures blocked the door and pulled their swords on the party. Before they could be defeated, the leader sounded the horn two more times, and soon the world again changed. The school/church was transformed into a temple of evil, and the pulpit became an altar stained with the blood of many sacrifices. Though they knew it was too late, the party quickly finished the surviving warriors and quickly examined the church. They saw another series of spectral images appear. In this scene, Gerard was much younger; the age of a young child, and he was surrounded by many other children, including a distinctly familiar blond-haired boy. That boy was apparently leading the other children against Gerard. According to the blond boy, Gerard apparently killed his brother Vincent, a claim that he didn’t exactly dispute. Soon, the children were on Gerard, beating him unconscious as a result of the blond child’s claim. As the images faded, Elvis noticed a staircase built into one of the temple’s support columns. It was apparently hidden, but the false wall vanished with the day. Since there was no card again, the party realized they weren’t done here.

The basement, like all of the dark version of Crimmor, was rusted, rotting, and stained, and the floor was again nothing but a simple catwalk. Here, the party found another spectral scene. Several cultists were meeting below the school, and though they were masked and unidentifiable, they were clearly talking about Gerard’s fate above. According to them, they were the ones who told the blond boy about Gerard’s previous actions specifically so he could be beaten. Even Lorren looked shocked this one. “This guy had no chance from day one,” he gasped.

Otherwise, there was nothing but a locked door and another card. Elvis took this one, and he heard voices say, “The Eight shall hold the apocalyptic one.” As they spoke, he read his card.

“The planes may be massive, perhaps infinite, but we know so little about the true nature of reality,” Elvis read. “There are even hints that the great artifact is not of this reality at all, but rather of another dimension entirely. If so, it is not unreasonable to assume that it still serves as a link to other dimensions, suggesting that events affecting the artifact have also drawn others to our dimension. The strange visitor we had earlier, who spoke of a world of forests without end and dragons who permeated the very air, claimed that he was from such a world. If so, he is likely cursed to remain here, for the capacity to cross the dimensions is beyond even the power of the gods.” Elvis sighed at the card. Forests without end sounded a lot like home.

But he had little time to worry about such things. As he finished reading the card, the pyramid-headed figure slowly descended the stairs, again blocking the party’s only means of escape! Enrique quickly retreated to the door to try and get it unlocked while Elvis stayed behind to fire at the creature and hold it off. However, whenever he fired an arrow at the creature, they just bounced off of his helmet or skin apron. Was this creature as invincible as it seemed?

Fortunately, Enrique got the door opened before they had to find out. Everyone, including Elvis, dashed out of the door and into the very relative safety of Crimmor’s streets, or at least the streets that still existed.

“Back to the park?” Ik asked as she examined the nightmarish world.

“No,” Luke said as he shook his head. He wasn’t even sure if he could sleep after knowing what was watching above them. But his argument sounded more resolute. “We have to finish this. Who knows if Gerard or the other spirits are trapped here, suffering? And what about that master the frogs were talking about? We should examine that last circle and get out of here as soon as possible.”

The last circled location turned out to be Durndraaven Manor, the home of the Ophal noble house and presumably Gerard’s own home. However, like the rest of the city, when the party arrived, it was twisted into a house of horror, a barely stable mess of metal and unidentified flesh. Three more of the armored face/mask creatures were waiting for the party, along with another acid-spitting patient. Eager to escape this nightmare, they made short work of them, but it was a costly battle, and by now, some of the party was barely able to walk. Nonetheless, they held on long enough to explore the house and find Gerard’s room, where an even younger spectral Gerard was playing with a stuffed lizard while a woman was speaking to an unseen person outside of the room. She was younger as well, but she was clearly the same woman that was issuing the adult Gerard orders in the earlier scene. Ik suddenly placed her face. “I think that’s Lady Zharnn Ophal, the noble house’s matriarch!” She explained. “I heard about her. There always were rumors that she was involved in some shady activities. But I couldn’t have imagined this!”

While Ik explained this, Zharnn continued her half of the conversation. According to what they learned, she actually adopted Gerard very recently at that point after being impressed with his skill at surviving without a home or parents. She even specifically mentioned what he did to “the other boy,” suggesting that the blond child’s rage might not have been unfounded. However, the other being apparently explained that they wanted Gerard to be the “ideal subject.” If this meant what they thought it meant, the party realized that Gerard’s entire life was building toward the construction of this plane. The images faded, and Lorren noticed that the room contained both another card and the now rotting stuffed lizard. He glanced at the lizard and realized that the name “Winslow” was written on the bottom. Some sympathy, or perhaps madness, touched Lorren as he claimed the lizard for his own. Meanwhile, Luke claimed the final card as voices chanted, “The Eight shall control destiny, opposed by none.”

“Though both are infants compared to us, the ‘new’ pantheon intrigues us,” Luke read. “Where did it come from? Most of the theories suggest the so-called ‘primals’ brought it to the people. This makes no sense. Were the primals not themselves servants of the gods? Why would they need to introduce new gods never heard of before? We believe the primals came from another source entirely, bringing their gods with them to this world as a result. The one known as Bas is particularly fascinating. Why, of all the pantheon, is there only one evil goddess? Was this a contentious subject among the primals? Were her servants especially vocal or powerful, and if so, what became of them?”

This left only one place to return to, but the party looked reluctant. “I don’t think we can handle a place that serves as their headquarters in this condition,” Anastacia admitted, and Luke had to agree with her. With no small amount of reluctance, they returned to the park to rest another day, and the horrors and injuries weighing all of them down were enough for them to sleep even with the realization of what was watching them sleep.

The next morning, after the basic preparations were made, the party wasted no time in reaching the headquarters. The crater was no different compared to the last time, but the image was different. It showed Gerard’s wife, and when Luke shouted the name, “Juliet!” the world changed again. For the third time, the warning bell sounded out from nowhere, and day somehow became night. The empty crater was replaced with a catwalk bridge leading to a windmill. Even the mill wasn’t immune to the grotesque nature of this version of the town; a body was tied by the legs to the one of the windmill blades, and whenever it tilted down, the body fell back and struck the ground with a sickening thud.

Ignoring the macabre display as best they could, the party entered the windmill to find whatever force controlled this twisted plane. They found a corridor leading towards another chamber. More of the masked creatures were inside the walls themselves, working on various machinery in an apparent effort to maintain the plane itself. There were hundreds of them, but they ignored the party’s arrival, and for their part the party thought better of confronting them. They had their leader to contend with. As they neared the chamber, a loud, inhuman laughter could be heard echoing across the walls, along with dozens of screaming voices.

The chamber the party discovered had circular walls and was dominated by a single cage in the center. It was made of metal bars, but the four bars at the corners of the cage were most notable, as they were larger and contained a spike that pointed inward into the cage. Inside the cage was a pitiful beast being pierced by the spikes. It seemed initially to be a mess of seemingly random body parts, but they continually appeared and disappeared as the party watched it. Suddenly, a bolt of energy emerged from the four spiked bars of the cage and struck the beast. With an alien roar, it was briefly trapped in a single semi-coherent state before altering its form again.

The party, however, was more concerned with the monster above the cage. It slightly resembled a jellyfish, but it floated through the air. It also only had four legs, but they were long and ended in a series of cruel barbs that were, for now, wrapped around the bars of the cage. It had a more spherical, pod-like head, which was filled with a green fluid. Worse, ghostly heads, including that of Gerard, floated in the pod and gave off constant wailings. The creature itself, however, was doing the laughing despite not actually having a mouth.

Negotiations were brief. “Welcome,” the creature greeted the party when they entered the party. “How have you enjoyed the journey through my new world.”

“We haven’t especially,” Grim acknowledged. “Is that trapped thing keeping this place around?”

“Yes…” the jellyfish admitted, but before he could begin the traditional evil speech, Grim shrugged.

“That’s all I wanted to know,” he grunted before charging one of the bars and striking it with all of his might!

However, it soon became obvious that it wouldn’t be that easy. While the jellyfish uncoiled from the cage to confront the party directly, a wall in the corridor leading to the room suddenly split apart. From the opening, Pyramid Head stepped out. It turned to face the party and raised his sword.

Anastacia was at the rear of the party when the fight began, but she courageously held her ground. Even though it didn’t seem to have any effect, she even tried to stab the monstrosity while dodging his gigantic blade. While she was dodging, however, she suddenly felt a dark force strike her in the bad. She turned for a moment to see the jellyfish had descended in the middle of the party and was unleashing orbs of dark energy in every direction. Save for Lorren, who wisely retreated to the far end of the room, everyone was caught in the blast. Some managed to get out of the way, but Anastacia wasn’t so lucky. Acting on her brief hesitation, Pyramid Head drove his sword straight into her chest. She was killed instantly as her heart was ruptured!

Fortunately, the party wasn’t the only one to take casualties. After unleashing its dark energies, the jellyfish grabbed Elvis in one of its tentacle and began to thrash him about while digging its blades into him. However, this left the creature partially undefended, and Enrique took advantage of the opportunity to dive his blades into the creature’s pod head. As vile green fluid leaked out, Grim stopped attacking the bars to take advantage of the opportunity. He sliced at the creature with his own sword, and the leaks grew until the creature’s entire head split like a crushed tomato. As the body twitched and fell to the ground, the souls of Gerard and the countless other beings drawn to this plane happily escaped, flying to their true eternal rewards.

But none of this stopped Pyramid Head. He turned his attention on the next victim, which turned out to be Enrique, and dropped the wounded rogue with one strike as well, though he at least still breathed. Luke was the next closest target, but fortunately he at least had a way of curing himself. Pyramid Head constantly inflicted wounds on him, but Lorren by now noticed that though the creature never seemed to physically take damage, the magical energies that sustained him were weakening. He fired at Pyramid Head using every spell he had. Finally, Pyramid Head apparently could no longer manifest itself. With one single, grisly action, he turned his sword inward and drove it into his own chest, pinning him to the ground!

With both of their enemies destroyed or at least stopped, it was easy to destroy the cage. When the four bars were destroyed, the creature’s amorphous form slipped around the now non-threatening normal bars of the cage. The instant it left the cage, the entire plane seemed to fade away, and instead the party found itself inside an entire different windmill. This one was covered with more cultist circles and paraphernalia, including some very expensive-looking artwork of the dragon eating its own tail, but it at least it was the real world again. The party cautiously stepped out of the windmill, and as they left, Elvis could swear he saw a black-armored, winged figure flying away. Evil was certain, but the creature’s metal armor looked almost alive, similar to the armor Malordonus wore.

The city watch, meanwhile, found the party almost immediately. “You were missing for days!” the first guard gasped. “You’re lucky the caravan didn’t leave yet. It would have given up and left a day ago if he didn’t intervene.”

Luke was confused. “Who stopped them?”

“I did,” a voice said behind them. The party whirled to find Operative Vel behind them. “Now, could you explain to me where you were?”

The party did their best to explain the situation, and meanwhile they learned that Vel, along with many other Fra Dane guards, were already in the very caravan the party was planning on using. They learned the party went missing and investigated the whole city, soon learning of the cult’s existence themselves. Already, most of the cult was arrested, including a dwarf named Uther who was guilty of murdering a local noble. However, some of the cult apparently escaped, including Zharnn Ophal, who was last seen fleeing towards the Gate of Madness with a messy-haired blond man.

Vel was surprisingly understanding and helpful towards the party, suggesting that he expected big things from the party’s success in the Gate of Madness. He even offered to pay for Anastacia’s resurrection. While the clerics pleaded for her soul and Ik watched over her friend’s recovery, Enrique and Elvis made their way back to the Silent Hill crypt. They had to retrieve the Egg, after all.

Meanwhile, Luke and the others sat down to began their briefing with Vel. As usual, they weren’t sure how much to tell him about their discoveries and how much to keep secret.

To their horror, Elvis and Enrique found all of the masonry and urns of the Embalming Room shattered, and the Egg was gone. They realized that Vel mentioned a full investigation when the party vanished. If his investigation was this thorough, he now had the Egg.

Back in town, Vel smiled as he asked Luke, “Now, what can you tell me. I want to know everything.”

OOC Notes: And so ends my first official Halloween adventure. In 10 months or so, we’ll see if I can manage to make it an annual tradition. Fans of the last campaign I ran may recognize the jellyfish monster as one of my many unique monsters. Anyway, the adventure’s ending was tied to how long the party spent in the proto-plane, and this was admittedly an ending I expected. What they do next, however, completely threw me for a loop. But you’ll have to wait until next week for that update, which will be admittedly a little than this one.

 

[LordVyreth]

Swarm's Hive: Surrendering Your Way to Victory

Vel studied his contacts carefully, eagerly scanning their every move and emotion. This was where he must utilize all the skills he learned as an Operative. He knew that his so called underlings were hiding something, but now he had something of theirs, and he suspected that by now, many of them knew as well. He would have to discern the truth from the lies, filter out the facts, and even use them as pawns for his own plans, luring them into his machinations and tricking them into doing exactly what he wanted them to do. But there was one response even a master of analysis like Vel couldn’t expect…

“Very well,” Luke replied. “I’ll tell you everything.” And he did. He told Vel about the Infernal Egg and about Enrique’s uncle with the Hivekeepers. He even showed them the very letter that Guillermo wrote for the party!

If there was anything that Vel didn’t regular expect, it was complete capitulation. “Well, that’s, excellent work,” he muttered. “We arrested the curio shop owner at Ciudadbonita; now we’ll have to free her thanks to what you told us.” He tried another tactic, though. “So that Egg your letter mentioned is likely the one we discovered in the Silent Hill crypt?” he asked, almost hoping that he would actually react to this shock.

“That would be it,” Luke just as happily admitted. “You may have it. After that last trip, I don’t think it would be safe with us. You can protect it better than us.”

Vel gave up. Nobody ever willingly handed an obscenely powerful artifact over to him before. It just shouldn’t be this easy. “Very well then,” he accepted. “Given what you told me, I believe we have all we need to continue your investigation from here. I leave you to your own initiative for now. We will let you know if we could further use you to assist in then needs of the Fra Dane nation.”

A short time later, the party, free of almost all needs and responsibilities, prepared for their next move. “What should we do now?” Luke first asked.

“I vote we go back to the Gate of Madness!” Elvis offered. “That place is probably full of treasure, and this time, we don’t have to take anyone alive!”

Lorren and Enrique were similarly excited about this option, though Enrique wasn’t so sure about abandoning his uncle’s dying request. “What about that Effervo Vesica fortress the goblins gave us the location of?” he suggested. “Vel has to go back to Fra Dane before he could even start to plan an attack. If we leave first, we can beat him to it and find out their secrets much faster.”

Since they lacked any real destination or goal in the Gate and they realized it got notoriously worse and more chaotic at later levels, they eventually all agreed to head to the Effervo Vesica fortress instead, especially after they realized they could get there in as little as three days from Crimmor, if the map the goblins gave them was accurate. All that remained was to say goodbye to Chitka, who decided that since he knew little of the surface and the party seemed to attract trouble, he would prefer to set off on his own. Besides, he heard far too many unpleasant stories about how Fra Dane treated unusual creatures like him, and he didn’t want to be anywhere near such a place. After seeing him off and spending the rest of the day doing the usually shopping, the party rested and set off for adventure the next morning! A few hours later, they set off back for Crimmor when Enrique came down with a disease he got from something back in the Proto-Plane, and since he guessed he got it from the rat-sized demonic cockroaches, he decided to play it safe and get it healed magically.

And so, that afternoon, the party set off for adventure! Again! At least initially, things went more smoothly this time, but soon the signs of civilization vanished, and the party found itself isolated on a pathless, hilly wilderness. That first day of travel was uneventful, which is unsurprising given how little ground they could cover before nightfall, but by the second day, they were within the territory of the enemy, as soon realized. In mid-day, Elvis noticed a tiny pair of dots floating in the sky. As he feared, they were getting closer.

“We’re under attack!” he shouted as he drew his bow. Before the party could react, the two dots got close enough for Elvis and a few of the other more sharp-eyed members of the party to see who the threat was. They appeared to be strange creatures that were half wasp, half spider. Each one had a humanoid rider in black armor, but one was clearly more heavily armored than the other. Both were heading right for the party, though, and they didn’t seem friendly. Given the nature of the mounts, the party realized this was almost certainly a scouting party from Effervo Vesica’s fortress.

The lightly armored of the scouts took the air above the party and began to rain down arrows at them, selecting the weak and defenseless Lorren as his first target. Before the unfortunate wizard could even open his mouth to cast a spell, an arrow plunged deep into his chest, causing his to instantly collapse, dying!

Luke ran over to administer to his wounds while Elvis began to fire at the archer and his mount, but the rest of the party was more concerned with the second rider, who eschewed melee weapons and was slowly descending to fight in close combat. As soon as he neared the ground, however, Grim and Anastasia moved to block his path, forcing him to descend while surrounded by enemies, and Enrique leapt at him from behind, driving his blades into the scout’s back and killing him almost instantly. His mount struggled to fight back, but it could barely scratch the party before being brought down. Meanwhile, Elvis finally finished off the second mount, sending the already wounded archer plummeting to the ground, snapping his neck when he hit the ground.

“Well, if they are scouts, they’ll know something is up when they don’t return,” Grim commented while the rest of the party did the usual looting.

“Look at the bright side!” Ik countered. “We prevented them from warning the fortress that we’re coming!” she pointed out, a little too cheerfully.

“I’m more worried that they had scouts out in the first place,” Enrique added. “How would they know to look for us?”

Elvis, meanwhile, continued too search the terrain nervously. “What made you think they were looking for us? Maybe there’s something else out here…”

Despite Elvis’ concerns, the party otherwise had an uneventful day, and when night neared, they found shelter in a nearby valley. As they set up camp, though, something bothered Elvis about the rocks strewn across the valley. He quickly gathered Grim and Enrique before traveling to a nearby hill and look into the valley. It was already dark at this point, but he could see the lights of the party’s campfire illuminating the lights.

“It looks like the rocks are arranged in some pattern,” Enrique commented as he strained his eyes.

“It’s not just any pattern,” Grim added. “They look like…numbers. Why would anyone arrange rocks to look like seventy-nine from above?”

Their questioning ended abruptly, however, when Elvis raised his hand. “I heard footsteps,” he whispered.

The three quickly drew weapons and looked around anxiously, but the source of the noise identified itself without difficulty. It was a rider, but his mount was another Environ, one of the ever-shifting beasts that were so profitably used by Hensen and Children.

“Lower your weapons,” the rider spoke as he approached the three. “I mean no harm. I would simply like a place to rest for the evening. I have lived in this land for most of my life, but it has gotten increasingly hostile in recent years.”

Enrique shrugged with apathetic acceptance, but Grim was curious. “What has happened here? We’re approaching where we think a fortress of our enemy is located. Are they responsible for this place becoming hostile?”

The rider shook his head. “No, but they seem to be attracting their attention. There is a strange…cult of sort that has taken up residence here in recent years. They have been very unfriendly to me, presumably as a result of my mount.” The rider then explained about the cult, including their holy symbol. As soon as he described it as a triangle filled with the weapons of animals, the three remembered the werewolf cleric they saw in the earlier forest, and given what they heard about the Environs, they guessed what made the cult so hostile.

Suddenly, Grim got an idea. “Do you know why the rocks in this valley are arranged like numbers?”

The rider looked at the outcroppings and shook his head. “The cult possibly used this valley as a gathering place, but I can’t understand why they would make numbers out of the rocks.”

The three decided that the rider seemed trustworthy enough, so they led him into the valley when they returned. There, despite their suspicious guest, the night passed uneventfully, and the rider, lacking any specific destination, decided to follow the party and see more about the fortress for himself.

As the party neared the fortress, their suspicions about the cult became more accurate. They passed more valleys that were teeming with wolves and other ferocious animals of all sizes; exactly the kind of army werewolves and other lycanthropes would raise. Even worse, as the day continued, what appeared to be a pack of wolves was bearing down right on them! As the party watched them approach, though, they noticed a strange flickering of lights behind the wolves, and soon they realized that what they thought was an attack was something else entirely. The wolves, presumably part of some scouting party, were desperately fleeing from a small swarm of the wasps. Each one looked just like the one the goblin chief in the Gate of Madness was bragging about. Considering that he claimed they came from Effervo Vesica, these insects were likely more defenses from the fortress.

The party quickly dove for cover to evade the wolf stampede and ducked behind rocks whenever possible, hoping to stay out of the fight entirely. However, when the wolves passed by them, the wasps neared the party and, lacking any capacity for more complicated tactics, recognized them as the closest threat. Some, who had recently fired at the wolves, paused to gather energy, but the others fired orbs of magic at the party, striking with perfect accuracy. However, the six insects were small and fragile, and they easily were destroyed by some concentrated fire. The wolves, meanwhile, were too busy fleeing to even notice, or at least care about, the party, and they passed into the distance without incident. With a better idea of what to expect when they finally found the fortress, the party continued onwards.

OOC Notes: Vel’s surprise was based on my own in this adventure. Given how mistrustful and tight-lipped the party was to Vel before, I expected them to only share a little information this time, learn that Vel had imprisoned, and might torture or execute, an innocent woman as a result of their earlier evasiveness, and they would return to Fra Dane to free her and get the Egg back. Instead, they folded completely and gave away the world’s most powerful artifact. In other words, I had to improvise the entire first half of the adventure, basically everything up to this point, from scratch. Given that, I don’t think I did so badly.

 

[LordVyreth]

Swarm's Hive: Crazy Moon Cultists, Best Friends Forever!

The party drew ever closer to the fortress, but by the time night fell, they were still several hours away. Not eager to finish the journey in those conditions, they made camp for the night. As he stood watch, Elvis noticed that it was an unusually bright evening. Sure enough, when he looked up, he saw that the moon was almost full, and that the full moon would likely begin tomorrow. Based on what they already learned from Narean, the traveler that joined the party the other night, this was a portent for violence.

The next morning, they rushed to the fortress and neared its boundaries by early morning, but as they traveled, they saw that the wolves and their (currently) humanoid masters have already surrounded it. They were in numbers too great for the party to face on their own, so once again they were forced to actually use diplomacy.

Ik took the lead after she located a woman that seemed to be in charge of a pack of wolves. “Excuse us, but what do you intend to do with this fortress.”

The woman looked at Ik suspiciously, but she shrugged and explained, “These people are invading our territory. Even worse, they use the beings that drive nature to chaos. They have driven our animals insane and are using horses to create their monsters. We intend to make an example out of this fortress: burn it to the ground, slaughter its inhabitants, and make these people realize they are not welcome here.”

“Yeah, the thing is,” Ik meekly replied to avoid making the bloodthirsty woman angry. “We need some information about these people. Would it be possible to let us examine the place first?”

The woman considered Ik and her friends carefully. “I can advise my peers to leave you alone, but I can’t promise your safety. Our soldiers are animals after all, and while we can lead them, we cannot control them. Besides, when the battle begins, my allies and I tend to be a bit…harder to control. If you want anything from this fortress, I advise you to get it quickly and try to stay out of our way.”

After their discussion, Ik returned to the party, so they can discuss their strategy. “We should attack right away, to stay ahead of the lycanthropes,” Anastacia recommended. “Even if they follow us in, it will still be daytime, so they won’t be too powerful.”

Enrique disagreed. “I don’t think we should launch an attack on a defended and alert fortress on our own. We’d just be outnumbered. Maybe the lycanthropes will help us, or maybe they’ll just cut off our only avenue of retreat.”

“Let’s wait until night, then,” Luke suggested. “We let the cult draw their fire and weaken the guards, and then we can sneak in ahead of them. We’ll be done with the fortress before they can start to burn it.”

“And then we can kill the werewolves when they’re wounded, too!” Elvis gleefully added, only to see that everyone (except Lorren) was staring at him, shocked. “Well, I thought it would be a good idea,” he muttered.

That night, the party watched from a nearby hill as the pack of wolves surged towards the fortress. Their attack was met by immediate defenses, including archers and attacks by more of the energy-shooting phase wasps, which were regularly patrolling around the fortress. However, the cultists soon encountered a larger problem when the wolf pack abruptly broke as soon as it neared the fortress’ front and apparently only gate. They immediately moved to surround the fortress, but it was obvious that this wasn’t planned; something was driving the wolves away from the gate. In response, some of the cultists, who appeared unaffected, began to assault the gate, while others began to climb the walls and attack the guard towers.

Seeing an opportunity, the party carefully snuck to the back of the fortress, away from the fight and towards an undamaged guard tower. The wolves, worried by the force repulsing them and the enemies with ranged attacks they couldn’t fight, let them pass, and soon Enrique made his way towards the wall. He swung a grappling hook towards the wall’s battlements and grunted with satisfaction when he heard it connect with the stone. As he began to climb, however, an archer on the wall noticed him and began to fire at him and the party, while two more guards burst out of the guard tower. At the same time, two more of the phase wasps, continuing their patrol, turned the fortress’ corner and noticed the party’s attack. All five of the fortress’ defenders engaged the party.

Grim and Ik carefully followed Enrique up the rope and to the top of the wall, while Anastacia, Elvis, Lorren, and Luke attacked from the ground using ranged weapons and magic. While Enrique and Grim stormed the guardhouse, making short work of the archers now that they were no longer protected by their arrow slits, Ik surprised everyone by finishing the archer on the wall by herself! “Wow, I forgot what it was like to contribute without the Egg,” she carefully admitted. Meanwhile, a pair of arrows from Anastacia’s rarely used bow finished one of the wasps, and some of Lorren’s magic missiles and Elvis’ arrow finished the second.

It took some effort, especially for the heavily armored Anastacia and Luke, but everyone managed to climb up the wall. From there, they noticed that the keep was right next to the wall, and the second story was smaller than the first, letting them actually walk on the edge of the first floor roof. Some of the more agile members of the party did just that, while Luke and the others found a latter to enter the courtyard. There, they saw the reason the wolves were driven away. Two of the shape shifting Environs were chained just inside the front gates, and the party remembered that animals tended to be driven mad by their presence and instinctively shied away from them. The magical lycanthropes were unaffected by this, but the natural animals wisely fled in either direction.

As far as they were concerned, this was good news for the party, who were happy to see the cultists delayed until they could finish their business. They quickly began to plan their next move. Elvis pointed upwards as they prepared for their next move. “I noticed that the fortress was unusually high, compared to the walls. This thing’s five stories tall, though the last couple floors are little but a ramp and a spire. I think I saw something moving up there when the attack first started. We might be able to find their leaders that way.”

Those on the roof carefully climbed down, and they collectively entered the keep through its front door. They saw a small building attached to the main keep as they entered, and Grim guessed that it was a stable, but they decided it wasn’t worth wasting their time investigating it. Similarly, when they found the first floor unguarded, they decided not to risk the time and danger of traps or ambushes that a full investigation would lead to. Instead, they dashed upstairs, pausing only to note that the keep used ramps, not the usual stairs, and spent as little time on the second floor as they ran up to the third floor. From here, they quickly found an archway that led outside to the start of the ramp. Here, at last, they found something.

A black-armored figuring riding a giant wasp flew in circles around the ramp. Near the party, a half-human, half-wolf woman who was seemingly fighting without a weapon angrily watched her prey. The werewolf had the holy symbol of the cult tattooed on her body, but she otherwise didn’t possess one, and Luke realized the cult had more forces than direct worshippers. The cult’s advance guard and the Effervo Vesica officer were already waiting for the perfect moment to strike, so the party’s arrival proved the perfect distraction. “I will teach you not to meddle with the affairs of Phellis Mune!” she growled as she pulled out and fired a sling just as the officer charged her.

Out of nowhere, Enrique shuddered as soon as he heard the name of the cult’s god. “I don’t know where THAT came from,” he admitted as he joined the fight.

He didn’t have time to worry about it, though. From the floor below, a door burst open, and two armored guards, apparently waiting for one of the ambushes the party avoided, instead responded to the renewed sounds of battle. Similarly, additional archers from the walls below saw the fight beginning above them and fired at the werewolf and the party in an attempt to protect their apparent leader. “Where did all of these guards come from,” Lorren muttered irritably. “You’d think the ones at the walls would have better things to do during an attack.”

Grim moved the block the archway and fight off the guards while the rest of the party moved inward on the ramp to stay out of firing range and help the werewolf assist in the fight against the officer. The officer narrowly evaded the werewolf’s stones; it was clear she was not used to combat that impersonal. However, Elvis, Lorren, and the rest of the party were far more effective against him and his mount, and in desperation he urged his mount down to strike his foes directly. This soon proved to be a mistake, however. In one quick set of motions, the werewolf lunged at him with both paws, flipped in the air to strike with her feet, and then came down biting. The first strikes of her paws found weaknesses in his armor and struck him right in the chest, knocking the air out of him. He was briefly disoriented while he regained his breath, and in the interim the werewolf dragged him off of his mount and onto the ramp. There, the party made short work of him, and then turned to fire on the wasp as it retreated from the battle. In a matter of moments, both foes fell.

Grim, however, was having far more difficulty with the guards. The party rushed to his aid, but as they did, Anastacia lingered to watch the werewolf. She rather gruesomely hunched down on the unconscious Effervo Vesica officer, and in one quick motion, she ripped his throat out! Effortlessly removing his head, she held it high and gave a howl of victory; a howl that was echoed across the fortress. There was now little doubt that the cultists of Phellis Mune had this fortress under their control, or at least they would soon. The werewolf glanced at Anastacia. “You have five minutes,” she growled at her. “Then this place burns.”

Anastacia caught up with the party, who had made short work of the guards and were busy doing the usual looting. “We have to go!” she insisted. “The werewolf told us that in five minutes, they would burn the entire fortress!”

Lorren nervously looked down at the pack surrounding the fortress. “I don’t think it would even be safe leaving now. I don’t trust those creatures.”

“I told you we should have killed them when we had the chance,” Elvis muttered.

Grim, however, had another idea. He gestured to the top of the ramp, where an even larger wasp was waiting, but its stinger was removed, rendering it harmless. It was tied to a giant crate as large as the wasp itself. Grim pointed at a bell on a wall next to the wasp. “I believe the Effervo Vesica use these wasps for transport. If we ring the bell, it should travel to wherever the society gets their orders and supplies. We can hide in the crate and learn the truth about our enemies that way.”

Without much time to discuss it, the party agreed, but they decided it would be better to investigate the rest of the fortress before it was too late. They quickly dragged the bodies of the two guards and the officer into the crate before exploring the rest of the fortress. In the room that the guards burst out of, they discovered a large chalkboard with the next two priorities of this Effervo Vesica branch listed. The rest of the room was filled with scattered and ripped or burned papers; the guards were apparently destroying all that they could before the party attracted their attention. Lorren was able to make some headway with the scraps while Ik wrote down the completed priorities on the chalkboard and Luke and Elvis left to explore further.

Eventually, Lorren managed to get at least the titles of the first six priorities completed. Ik wrote those down above the remaining two:

1. Confirmation of Hypothetical Target, Priority 1: The Fiendish Control Rod.
2. Initiation of Recovery Mission. Mission Leader: Captain Malordonus
3. Use funds granted from benefactors for use in recruiting local humanoids to assist in acquiring Priority 1.
4. Insertion of Mission Leader into Target Location. Gain assistance of local mercenaries and invite ignorant mercenaries of minimal effectiveness (See Dossier 29Q,) to serve as distractions.
5. Recovery of Fiendish Control Rod. This is listed as Priority 0 and above the lives of any and all personnel.
6. Promotion for current Captain, receive new lieutenant and promote current to captain.

She then read the two left on the chalkboard.

Annual Priority Target #7:

Confirmation of Egg Tracking Theory A42 is requested. Said theory speculates the specific creatures have some affinity to the egg. This theory is based on Classified information shared by our benefactors. Details of how this information was obtained are classified. The creatures in question have some ties to insects and seem to fly to specific locations where the egg is located. Last suspected Sighting: Rosavilla. Projected success: 74%.

Annual Priority Target #8:

This theory was put forth by former captain Malordonus. Following the success of Priority Target #5, our benefactors recommended further investigation due to correlation between the resting place of said target and this one. Speculation is that the second target, officially codified as the Celestial Rod, has a similar protective barrier. Zoridel is known for crystalline statuary that uses that form of structure. If confirmation is obtained, The benefactors are to be noted, where if they receive sufficient collaboration on this confirmation, the second Hammer of Shattering will be supplied. Projected mission leader: Undetermined. Projected Success: 83%.

“That certainly brings new meaning to organized evil,” Lorren whistled, impressed.

Meanwhile, Luke and Elvis finally found something interesting in the stables on the first floor. The remaining Environ, along with another guard, were both brutally killed, presumably by the increasingly successful cultist raids. However, the room also contained a simple mechanical platform that lowered into a basement. Cautiously, the two lowered themselves down, where they saw a seemingly normal horse. However, it was chained to a wall with thick manacles, and given the number and depth of the hoof prints in the wall, it was clear that this was no ordinary horse. Even more obvious was a giant iron mask that covered most of the horse’s head, leaving just a little room for the nose and mouth. Despite the uncomfortable mask, the horse was calmly grazing the food scattered across the floor, but neither Luke nor Elvis had any interest in getting near this thing. Instead, they found a nearby door and fled down a hallway.

The next room was far more interesting. Stacked across the walls were countless gold bars! But the fortress’ treasure was not left unguarded. Seemingly unaware or uninterested in the battle all around them, a pair of warforged were chained the center of the room. Reacting out of instinct or some deeply ingrained order, they raised their weapons as soon as Luke and Elvis entered the room. Making note of the chains, the two simply backed out of the room and the warforged’s range, but in response, the warforged just as simply closed the door! Sighing with frustration, they kicked the door in again and pulled their bows just as the warforged drew their own. A brief ranged battle proceeded, but the two warforged were no match and quickly were de-activated by the attacks. Luke and Elvis quickly grabbed the money, but Luke looked guiltily at the warforged as he left.

“Do you think they’re still…alive?” he asked Elvis.

Elvis, who was used to warforged from his days on Eberron, shrugged. “They’re damaged, but they’re still functional. If they healed, they can be brought back to activity.”

In response, Luke began to attack their chains. “Get everyone down here!” he insisted. “We can’t leave them to burn to death. You see these chains. They’re not part of this group; they’re slaves.”

Elvis looked reluctant, but he sighed. “I don’t think we can transport all this treasure to the crate in time by ourselves, anyway.” With less than a minute to spare, the party, the armor and treasure from all the guards they fought, the two unconscious warforged, the treasury gold, and the information they salvaged in the meeting room were in the crate. Elvis throw a rock at the bell. Instinctively, the giant wasp took off, flying northwards and towards the ocean. As the party ventured off into the unknown, aware that once they reach the ocean, they had little opportunity to escape, they saw the fortress start to burn. Suddenly, a pillar of fire shot out of the fortress while a loud, unearthly neigh echoed across the night. It seemed the cultists found the horse…

OOC Notes: I enjoyed this adventure because of its non-linearity. I let the party generally plan their attack, including the direction of attack, when to attack, whether or not to ally with the cultists, and so on. The only “railroad” thing I feel sort of bad about were the four archers that showed up in the final battle. The players thought they shouldn’t have worried about us with the fight going on below them, and I have to admit they had a point.

That being said, they almost freely chose to make a huge mistake near the end. Despite the five minutes (of in-game time) that I gave them and the fact that we had almost an hour before the normal end of game time, they were all set to leave right after killing the officer. This would have meant leaving all the plot information in the meeting room. Oh, and the 25,000 gold in the treasury. If they missed that, I would have so taunted them about it. I’m glad they decided to stow away with the wasp; though. I already had quite a few plans for where that path will lead them.

 

[LordVyreth]

The Scream of Steam: the Right Paranoia at the Wrong Time

As the wasp flew over the inky, black ocean, the party had no idea what was in store for them. One thing they didn’t guess, though, was how long it would take for them to get there. The hours passed, and soon the sun rose again. But still the wasp flew on, until the hours became days, and the days became weeks. The wasp rested only briefly once or twice a day, when it deliberately landed on strange, artificial islands that dotted the ocean but were colored to be almost invisible. The wasp, however, had no trouble finding them, possibly as a result of the fragrant, honey-based food supplies that the wasp consumed while resting. It didn’t even notice or care about the party on these rest stops, giving the party a chance to stretch their legs, enjoy the sun, and eat something other than iron rations or magically created oatmeal.

In the meantime, the party healed the two warforged they took with them. They immediately regained their approximation of consciousness, and despite initially fighting the party, once separated from their guard post, they had no aggression at all. However, they also had no answers for he party, at least for now. They only could explain that they were created to be slaves, and they lived their whole lives in servitude. They were recently purchased and forced to guard the treasury the party just discovered, and there they stood, never sleeping, eating, or resting, for the indeterminate amount of time they worked as guards.

Finally, three weeks after the party started their journey, they could see the wasp coming towards a large mass of land, and they realized they reached the northern continent. However, that was not the wasp’s actual destination. Suddenly, it turned and landed on an airship flying near the shore. Lorren, who spent his weeks improving his magical formulas and formulating new spells, was especially eager to put them to use and release the pent up aggression from weeks of boredom, but when he saw that archers were trained on the wasp as it landed and he realized he had no idea how many defenders this massive ship had, even he decided to wait. They closed the crate’s hatch before they could be seen, and they could only hear the crate as it landed and somehow descended deep into the airship. Surprisingly, as they waited, a note suddenly slipped into the crate. Grim, the only one who could read the note in the total darkness, quietly read it to the party.

He began, “I assure you, this message is given in only the friendliest of intentions. You are in a dangerous position, but you will be safe as long as you stay hidden. You are currently in the ship’s cargo hold. The journey should only last another week or so. They think the crate is uninhabited, but I will sneak food to you. Once the ship lands, wait until the crate is taken away for processing! If you are discovered beforehand, you not only will have to fight the ship’s crew, but you’ll likely crash before you can escape! Once you reach processing, someone will finally check the crate. Take care of them as you must, and then meet at the Lucky Numbers. When you attract attention, if someone asks you a question, respond with ‘It always ends up sixes.’ If you want to succeed here, or even get out alive, you will need friends!

“Someone who shares your goals,” he finished.

“Well, it’s a good thing we didn’t attack,” Luke replied while glancing at Lorren.

Another week passed, and the party grew even more restless in the ship’s hold. At last, the party could hear it descend, and soon their crate was moved outside of the ship. A toneless voice loudly echoed, “You are cleared for Terminal Seventy Seven. Please land and remove all cargo for inspection and transport.”

The crate was again moved and then lowered by some seemingly constant mechanism. Finally, it was quiet, at least initially. As the party prepared to spring into action, they could here two casual voices chatting. “Looks like another package for Mr. Vespal,” one of them commented.

“Oh, he has been busy lately,” the second added. “He must be doing something big to keep us employed.”

Before they could continue, one of them opened the crate just enough for the party to respond. Luke and Enrique previously requested that the party leave them alive, but theirs was an idle hope. Eager to the point of near-mania, Lorren launched a volley of magic that killed one instantly. Enrique sighed and realized that now there was no choice. He killed the other guard before he could raise an alarm or the noise of a battle attracted a much larger threat.

The party quickly determined their location. By the looks of things, they were in a giant warehouse full of crates like their own. A wagon, pulled by four of the same magical lions as the spare car from the caravan the party previously used, was apparently about to be used to move the party’s crate, so the party took advantage of it as well. However, there didn’t seem to be any doors or other normal exits, just a moving platform like the one the party saw in the Effervo Vesica fortress, but it was far more advanced. The party moved the wagon and lions onto the platform and pulled the lever next to it.

In a matter of moments, the dark building they were in vanished, and the party found themselves descending down the side of a massive wall hundreds of feet high! The building they emerged from was just an extension of the wall itself, in fact. Below and all around them, a massive city opened up. It appeared to be night, but the city was still brightly lit, as geysers and glass tubes dotted the city and painted it in many different colors. Even so late, it seemed to be a bustling place, but it made the party nervous.

Luke shivered, though it was warm out. “There is something unsettling about this place. I can feel an evil throughout it, in the very air.”

The constructs, however, put it more simply. “We are home.”

Finally, Ik realized where they are. “This city-it must be Orr Kalen!” She immediately looked worried. “This is not a pleasant city. It was built in a crater left over from the war. That’s why the walls can be so high; most of them are connected to the sides of the crater.”

In fact, nobody looked happy to be here, but there was no obvious escape, they were still too weighed down with equipment and money, and besides, they were here for a reason. Somewhere, some of the secrets of Effervo Vesica could be found here.

Taking the note’s advice, the party went straight to the Lucky Numbers, eager to find a sanctuary and a place to hide their valuables. They discovered that the Lucky Numbers was more than just a bar; it also was, appropriately enough, a massive, garishly lit casino. Except for Enrique, the party quickly split up to find their contact. Enrique, however, ignored the staff and simply sat at the bar to order their cheapest drink. As soon as he saw Lorren glancing at him, though, he again smiled and said, “That’s right, I’ll have the best drink in the house!”

Grim was more effective. One of the servers noticed him and casually asked, “Have you gotten any lucky sevens tonight?”

Trying to stay conversational, he shook his head and replied, “It always ends up sixes.” As soon as he said it, the server suggested that he can find help in one of the private rooms, and Grim quickly led the rest of the party with him to meet with their supposed benefactor.

Inside the room were two people, a woman dressed in the same uniform as the casino’s staff and a gnome who looked at the party eagerly. The woman spoke first. “My name is Janice Nayona, the owner of this casino,” she introduced herself, “but everyone just calls me Chance. But I have a much more important role in this city. Orr Kalen is an evil place, a tyranny ruled by one despotic ruler named Salia the Unquestioned. All kinds of monstrosities are commonplace here, especially slavery of the warforged and shifters. I represent a resistance group dedicated to slowly bringing them down and freeing our city.”

Luke was impressed, but confused. “What do you want with us? How do you know who we even are?”

The gnome raised his hand. “I told them about you,” he explained. “I was in Fra Dane when you performed that daring raid on the float. Since then, I was so impressed with your work that I researched what you did. I realized that you were just the kind of heroes this city needed, so when I learned of its plight and moved here, I let them know about you.”

“Great, we have a fan,” Anastacia said, rolling his eyes.

“This is great, but we’re not really against the city’s government itself. We have a specific target in mind,” Lorren pointed out.

“Yes, I know,” Chance replied. “Effervo Vesica. We know of them, too. We don’t know if the government has anything to do with them here, but we do know that most, if not all, of their organization is centered here. And we believe this connection is tied to one man: Mr. Vespal.”

Ik had a look of recognition. “I remember him! He was the one that was supposed to receive our package.”

Chance nodded. “That’s not surprising. Mr. Vespal is a very powerful businessman in Orr Kalen. Once, he was a lowly druid, but one day his knowledge of certain animals led to a major commercial breakthrough. Because of his skill with new strains of wasps, he created creatures both for everyday use and the city’s military, making him very rich and powerful. He also is very highly ranked in the Effervo Vesica. After the captains who run individual fortress like the one you destroyed, there are three ranks in the society: Hive Seekers, Hive Keepers, and finally the single Hive Master. We don’t know what rank Mr. Vespal is, but if he isn’t the Master, he’s very close to it. He is responsible for most of the society’s nonhuman forces. We don’t personally have much concern with the society now, but you cold potentially prove a relation between them and Salia. Even if you don’t, bringing down Effervo Vesica will weaken Mr. Vespal and Orr Kalen’s military.”

“Okay, but how do you propose we do anything to him?” Anastacia asked, with a voice full of pessimism. “We barely got out of that fortress alive. I don’t see what chance we stand against someone this powerful.”

“Well, I don’t expect you to destroy him that easily,” Chance admitted. “But perhaps you have a chance to damage him and Effervo Vesica. We have a contact who is obsessed with the secret society. When you’re ready, I can set you up to meet him. Until then, you’re welcome to stay under out protection while you adjust to the city and can resupply. We’ll also rehabilitate the warforged you brought with you and find a way to sneak him out of the city.”

The next few days passed quickly, and soon the days turned shorter and colder as the month of Jolia began. The second to last month of the year, it was getting closer to winter weather, though the perpetual steam of the city kept everything unusually warm. The party barely noticed, though, as they were eager to unload the almost thirty thousand gold worth of treasure they earned and buy new supplies.

Finally, after equipped new magic weapons, items, and other items more worthy of their new stature, they agreed to meet with Chance’s contact. “His name is Semi-Sane Tristam,” she whispered.

“Semi-sane,” Anastacia repeated, dubiously.

“I know what he sounds like,” Chance admitted. “But he’s just a little paranoid; he’s been obsessed with Effervo Vesica for so long that he sees dangers at every turn, and he may have a point. However, as he is extremely cautious, he won’t meet you just anywhere. He wants to meet you at the Gas Garden, and only at night when the public can’t see him.”

That evening, the party entered the above mentioned garden. Despite the name, the Garden was apparently more like a stone gallery or display. Instead of plants, some of the steam vents that line their way throughout the city partially empty into glass tubes. Each vent gave off a differently colored light, creating an eerie hodgepodge of lights casting prismatic shadows.

“I was told to expect you,” a figure said, as he stepped out of the shadow. “I was told we have a common enemy.”

“If you mean Effervo Vesica, then yes,” Lorren replied, glancing at Luke to make sure he didn’t reply first and thus mispronounce the name.

Suddenly, Elvis looked. “We have company,” he growled. Indeed, soon the rest of the party noticed dark figures were surrounding the Garden.

Tristam panicked. “They’re hunter-seekers!” he shouted. “They found me!” Terrified, he took off down an alleyway.

Sighing, Elvis followed him, while the rest of the party moved to defend themselves from the attackers. The four figures got closer, partially revealing themselves in the Gas Garden lights. They looked humanoid, but they were also primitive and feral. “Shifters,” Grim said with recognition. “But they look more savage than most. What did this city do to them?”

The creatures howled as one, and their forms became even more animalistic. One charged at Lorren, another leapt into the area Tristam was once at, and two more flanked the party and attacked Ik and Anastacia. Lorren cautiously backed up while firing magical missiles and rays of fire, and soon Luke and Anastacia moved to support him. They made short work of all four, but soon they had to turn their attention back to Elvis and Tristam.

Meanwhile, Elvis tried to calm Tristam, but to no avail. Giving up, he simply dove at the fleeing informant. Tristam struggled to escape, but Elvis managed to hold onto the weaker, untrained fighter and pinned him to the ground. “Stop running!” He yelled. “We have it taken care of! Don’t worry; we can protect you.” As he was saying it, though, he noticed more dark figures were approaching on the rooftops.

Fortunately, the party noticed the other attackers as well. Lorren noticed not only more of the hunter-seekers, but he also could see one of the leani, identical to the ones that pulled the party’s wagon. “Finally,” Lorren added, and he could barely contain his excitement. He launched, for the first time, a tiny marble of fire that struck the roof and immediately expanded into a globe of flame. The seekers and the lion survived, but all of them were scorched and not pleased!

But then the creatures retaliated. The lion leapt off the roof and, with incredible speed, dodged and weaved through the alleyways to near Elvis, while a second emerged out of hiding to stop the party from reaching Elvis. This one had an oddly serpent-like head, and it suddenly leapt on top of Grim, pinning him to the ground and biting with its poisonous tongue.

“I’ll take care of these,” an increasingly confident Ik shouted as she approached on the hunter-seekers wounded by the fire. Luke gave some supporting fire, while Enrique and Anastacia moved to help Grim. Lorren focused on helping Elvis and Tristam and fired his second favorite new spell. A lightning bolt shot past Grim and struck both the leani approaching Elvis and two of the hunter-seekers. Despite his work, though, the second leani, who had the rear legs of a wolf and incredible speed as a result, attacked Elvis, leaving him wounded and bloody.

“I can’t take any more of this,” he admitted, and he let Tristam go to focus on defending himself. As a result, a remaining hunter-seeker fired at the panicked informant as he continued to flee, but Tristam wasn’t left alone for long. Grim managed to escape the snake leani and moved to help Elvis. Anastacia and Enrique finished it off just as Luke arrived to heal Elvis as well. With the wolf leani’s focus split, Elvis was able to fire at the hunter-seeker on the rooftop, and the wounded creature lost consciousness and fell off of the roof, quite dead.

Within moments, the second leani and remaining hunter-seekers were defeated. Finally safe, Tristam began to calm down. He began to explain his plan. “Mr. Vespal has a party planned at the end of the month for the Affective Harvest holiday. I learned that he had an artifact of some sorts in his possession. I propose that you use the party as a way to enter his home and steal the artifact. If you can find it and the rest of the treasure in his vault, it will cause a serious problem for the society and will end or delay their plans.”

Enrique was happy as soon as he heard the word “vault,” but Anastacia looked doubtful. “How do you propose we actually do this?”

“Don’t worry,” Tristam replied. “I have a plan.”

OOC Notes: I was really excited about starting this adventure. The whole fantasy version of the classic “heist” is one I’m looking forward to, even though the power disparity between the party and much of the city limits their options somewhat.

As for Urr, you may remember as a character from the first part of the game’s original adventure. No, the player hasn’t returned; but I dislike it when characters lose their players and disappear into the vacuum. A “groupie” for the party struck me as an amusing way to link them to the Orr Kalen vents.

The Affective Harvest, by the way, is a holiday on Mesion that resembles Valentine’s day. Expect a new excerpt in a few days containing the officially calendar: I didn’t have it when the campaign started, but I developed it for this game and future planning.

Lastly, the lion-creatures are another of my unique creations; I plan on using a lot more of them as the game starts to hit the high levels. I originally made them as units for a real time simulator game I was working on years ago, albeit at the brainstorming/design doc level only. The main trait of the creatures, the ability to adapt one of six special abilities, was retained to this day.