Elder-Basilisk
First Post
Padre--you missed your proper retort: "But I can shoot first and Speak with Dead later. I have 3rd level spells." Unless, of course, you don't.
-
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Company of the Random Encounter ('complete' 14 Nov 2004)
- Thread starter Capellan
- Start date
Capellan
Explorer
Elder-Basilisk said:
He didn't - he was only 4th level during this session
Besides this, the players in CotRE are one of the most enthusiastic group of multiclassers I have ever seen. The Padre was a Cleric 3 / Psychic Warrior 1 when this session occurred.
During the campaign, the group had:
Padre - Cleric/Psychic Warrior
Khore - Paladin/Fighter
Twinkle - Rogue/Bard
Sirdros - Cleric/Wizard
Anastria - Fighter/Wizard
Mantreus - Rogue/Sorcerer
Briar - Rogue/Druid (but the player moved 600 miles away just after getting the Druid level)
Seraphina - Rogue/Ranger (you haven't met her yet -- are you excited?
)It was after this session that the campaign went on a long hiatus - I was going to the US for a month, and 3.5 was coming out, and we were kind of hoping PCGen would update editions a bit faster than it has
In any case, the game went on hold for about six months. Briar and Macwood's players packed off and went to the other side of the state. Elspeth and Rose's players dropped out of gaming. Valkyre and Seraphina's players joined the group. Eventually, we actually started playing again (mainly thanks to Blackbart's HeroForge spreadsheet, which allowed me to more easily convert the PCs).
Capellan
Explorer
Piratecat updated. There can be only one response.
The Company are enjoying a leisurely morning in the late spring. The skies are blue and cloudless, and - if a little cool - the weather is at least dry and calm, with only a light sea breeze.
Three months have gone by since their last adventure. After the battle at the house, they explored the remainder of the caverns under Council Hill and found that - although there had clearly been lots more gnolls there recently, the place was now largely abandoned, with only a small rearguard remaining (which they had slain). They did, however, find a prisoner - a human women named Valkyre, who had been ambushed and kidnapped by the gnolls, and has more or less attached herself to the group.
Since those events, Sirdros has conducted the spring festival, Camiram's relationship with the local tribe of elves has recovered, and Stormstrider has returned from an arduous vision quest with said elves, his body weakened by the ordeal but his faith and insight stronger than ever.
Their relaxed gathering is disturbed by the arrival of a tinker, one Ambrose Tyburn, who storms up to them with an irate look on his face. A wiry, short-statured man who bears a passing resemblance to his own mule, Ambrose is not happy:
"You don't pay me enough to risk me damn neck! I'll not be goin' back to those blasted, haunted woods, y'hear? I was lucky to escape with m'skin intact!"
Most of the group are nonplussed, wondering who this newcomer is, until Mantreus clears things up:
"He's my honey boy."
This announcement requires some hasty clarification.
It seems Mantreus has begun a side business: he's taking the honey made by the giant bees of the wizard Sionaas, shipping it to the city of Marikest, and selling it there. It's not earning him a lot of money, but he has dreams of it being the first step in an eventual trading empire.
Ambrose, it emerges, is the person who is responsible for carting the honey from Sionaas' tower to the city. However, he was attacked by undead during his latest trip down to the tower, and now refuses to return to "those accursed woods" until the problem is resolved.
It takes all of Mantreus' considerable charisma to persuade his comrades(or at least Ming Li, Stormstrider, Sirdros and Valkyre) to help him look into the matter.
This group thus sets out for the village of Poisson, which is the closest settlement to Sionaas' tower. As they enter the forest to the north of the village, they are on their guard for undead. This proves wise, as a pair of ghouls try to ambush them. Valkyre invokes her strange northern god, however, and the undead flee.
Knowing that the ghouls will return to stalk them again, the group decides to stay where they are and organise themselves into a strong defensive position around the wagon, with Mantreus stop it to provide magical support.
After about ten minutes, the ghouls return, bringing several zombies with them. The reinforced undead charge, quickly swarming Stormstrider and dragging him to the ground. Things look grim for the elf, but then Valkyre lays the clerical smackdown, dusting five of the six zombies with another invocation to Dargrute.
The tide of the battle turns, and the two ghouls are quickly slain, while Stormstrider is restored to consciousness. The last zombie, however, proves highly resilient. Dargrute does not seem willing to contribute any further turning power, while Sirdros has apparently forgotten he can do it. Instead, the group surrounds the creature and batters it with their weapons.
And batters it.
And batters it.
And batters it.
And batters it.
And batters it.
And batters it.
And batters it.
And batters it.
Until it falls over.
Continuing their journey amidst much grumbling about the undead's lack of treasure, the group eventually reaches Poisson. The villagers all appear worn-out. When questioned, they explain that they are kept awake at night by undead creatures prowling the streets and pawing at the doors: one man has already been killed in his home, and another has gone missing. After spending the night in the inn, the adventurers have also experienced these night time prowlers, though they don't bother to do anything as active as getting out of bed and fighting them.
In the morning, the group sets out to follow the tracks left by the nocturnal visitors. This fails miserably, so they instead break into the dead man's house and have a look around. Because asking for a key would have been too much hassle.
They find traces of blood in the house, but nothing else of interest, so instead they return to look at the tracks once more. This time, Stormstrider actually puts some effort into looking for them, and the adventurers are soon trekking through the forest.
After a few hours, it becomes obvious from the winding, circulatory routes of the undead that they are moving randomly, without any real purpose. Ming Li climbs a tree and uses this as a lookout point, to see if there are any landmarks toward which they might head. She spots a plume of chimney smoke from deep in the forest. The group decides to head that way, stopping regularly to let the monk climb another tree and get a new bearing.
Eventually, they reach a small cottage in the woods. Noticing herbs in the garden, Valkyre starts looking through them, but is interrupted when the owner of the house opens her door and asks the adventurers why they are there.
The group explains they are seeking the undead, and the elderly woman expresses her delight at this news, mentioning that she often hears the creatures at night and has to keep her door tightly locked. She invites them in for a late lunch, serving bread and cheese with a malachite-handled knife.
The woman - whose name is Silyna - suggests that the source of the undead might be a "hollow black stump, which gave me a most terrible feeling" deep in the heart of the wood. She offers to take the adventurers there the next day. They try to persuade her to leave immediately, but she refuses. It will take a journey of several hours, she explains, and she has no intent of being out in the forest after dark.
Valkyre seems convinced that Silyna is up to no good, but can't produce any proof, even after surreptitiously casting detect undead. The group spends an uneventful night in the cottage, and sets out with Silyna in the morning. After a journey of about three hours, they reach the black stump of which the old woman spoke. The stump is set in a depression, the earth around it strewn with dead leaves.
Inspecting the stump reveals it to be hollow, as Silyna had claimed. Valkyre had suggests just burning it, but since she seems a little too fond of fire in general, the others go with a different plan, and affix a rope so they can climb down into the darkness. At the bottom, they find themselves in a damp, mud-walled cave.
It quickly becomes apparent that the cave is occupied, for Sirdros and Stormstrider discovers a pit trap in the floor. Their method of discovering it is foolproof: they fall in.
Close to a dozen small lizards appear from holes in the walls of the pit as the cleric founders in the black, stinking water at the bottom of the pit. They swarm over the two adventurers, biting at their flesh. Fortunately, they are easily slain, and do little harm.
Pulling the two elves from the pit, the group continues onward. The next chamber is empty of traps, but contains the body of a Halfling. The body is dressed in rags and badly rotted, and has been stabbed many times. Looking at the wounds, Sirdros and Valkyre agree that the Halfling was dead before he was stabbed: probably several weeks before.
Searching the body and finding it without treasure, the adventurers complain their way along the next corridor. They reach a fork in the tunnel, but one route has been barricaded off. In the other direction is a blue glow.
"Ooh! A blue glow!" says Mantreus, in case any of his comrades have gone blind.
Valkyre inspects the barricade and notes that it is braced on this side, indicating it is intended to keep something out. She wonders if it might be a dam, but sees no sign of any water seeping through.
Stormstrider seems intimidated by the blue glow, and complains about being the first into every room. Ming Li sighs and replaces him in the front rank, and the group presses on, deciding to leave the barricade for now.
The blue glow emanates from a cavern ahead, which is quite large, and braced with twelve stone pillars.
As the group draws closer, it can be seen that the pillars - each of which is about five feet thick - is scribed with ancient markings of some kinds, though there has obviously been an attempt at vandalism in the more recent past: deep scorings and blood-daubed symbols mar several of the columns.
Though of unworked stone, like the remainder of the complex, the cavern has a sense of 'completeness' to it, as if its naturally occurring walls were exactly what had been intended by the architect.
The blue light, meanwhile, emanates from an indentation in the floor of the cavern, which is lined with silvery runes. These runes give off the glow.
"The runes on the columns are in Sylvan." Stormstrider announces, then reads them aloud:
"Twelve stone trees;
Roots of the Earth;
Are ropes to Bind;
The Dark Font."
"These are in elven." Sirdros crouched beside the depression, "I am the Font of Light; Fill me, if you would drink." He pulls out his waterskin and empties it into the font, but nothing happens.
"Maybe it needs fire." Valkyre suggests.
"You think everything needs fire." Mantreus snorts.
"I mean a torch - if it's the font of light, that would make sense."
They try this, and it doesn't work, but it gives them the idea of trying a spell of light. Immediately, several items appear in the depression, which the adventurers greedily scoop up. Feeling a lot better for having finally got some treasure, they head out of the opposite end of the room, wrinkling their noses at the smell of rotting vegetation, which grows stronger in this direction.
Also in that direction is a huge black boar, with blood red tusks. The adventurers stare at this for a while, pondering what to do. Stormstrider wants to kill it, but the others shame him into trying to gain its friendship.
This doesn't work so well, as the boar guts him with its tusks.
A mad-eyed gnome-like creature suddenly appears, spouting poetic doggerel as it and its pet attack the adventurers:
"You think to make a sneak attack? You'll not murder, Bloody Jack!"
"The witch's bidding you won't do; Bloody Jack will be the death of you!"
"Come taste the steel of my knife; Bloody Jack will end your life!"
The fight is difficult. The adventurers' weapons don't seem to hurt the strange gnome very much, and when he flanks Mantreus, he proves more than capable of hurting them: the sorcerer joins the druid on the floor.
Fortunately, there are two clerics on hand with wands of cure light wounds, and between them they manage to keep getting people back in the fight. Sheer weight of numbers eventually ends to the death of the huge black boar. At this, the gnome screams in rage:
"Razoooooooooor!"
As he screams, his body swells and expands, until he looms over all his foes, standing nearly nine feet high.
The battle continues: Ming Li is knocked out of the fight, and brought back. Then it is Valkyre's turn. Charge after charge from the wands is burned in maintaining the battle, until - at last - the self-styled Bloody Jack falls before the Company, whispering his pet's name one last time as he dies.
The adventurers loot Jack's body, and his home. As they inspect the treasure, Ming Li opines that Jack's poems suggest Valkyre might be right about Silyna. Mantreus is aghast,
"I don't want her to be evil! She makes good tea!"
This is the last cavern, and the group now returns to the barricade. They discuss leaving it undisturbed, but Ming Li insists on investigating what lies beyond. This proves to be a trap, first of all, which harms everyone except the monk. People are even less enthusiastic about continuing, at this point, but Ming Li can be forceful when she needs to, and they reluctantly agree to press on.
At the end of the tunnel is a huge, subterranean lake. Mist rises off the water, and the air feels clammy. Sirdros shivers from more than the cold, however:
"This place is unhallowed." He grits his teeth, "Great evil lurks here."
'Great evil' turns out to be a bunch of zombies and skeletons, which emerge from the waters of the lake and attack. The adventurers easily dispatch the skeletons, but Valkyre's attempts to turn the zombies are thwarted by the aura of evil in the cave. Sirdros moves in to start bashing one of the walking corpses with his morning star, but by now the others are fed up with waiting for him to act like a cleric, and yell at him to make with the turning, already.
The elf invokes Pelor, and the zombies go boom.
Searching the edge of the water, the group finds a silver bowl, and a knife with a malachite blade: identical to the one they saw in Silyna's home.
"It doesn't look so good for the tea lady." Mantreus admits, sadly.
They decide to leave this place and confront Silyna. Emerging from the stump, they find her waiting for them. She has brought help: a younger human warrior who bears a family resemblance to the old woman, and a couple of ghouls. She offers the adventurers a chance to leave peacefully, but they don't take it.
The battle starts well, as the ghouls are sent running by Valkyre's invocation to Dargrute. Things get a little more difficult after that, however. Not to mention, seriously weird. Silyna spits out her own tongue, which grows as it flies through the air, wrapping around Sirdros and holding him bound.
"Ha! The joke's on you!" Valkyre opines, "He's covered in pooh!"
Mantreus magic missiles Silyna, and she returns the favour twice over, the first time with a pair of missiles that glow a strange, unearthly green.
Despite the strange magic the woman wields, however, and the strength of her son, the adventurers emerge victorious from this battle. They gleefully loot the bodies, burn down Silyna's cottage, and return to Camiram to let Ambrose know he can commence honey shipments again.
Only one thing mars their pleasure as they make their way home: the wounds Mantreus suffered from those green magic missiles remain unhealed, and curative magic does not seem to affect them.
The basis for this session was Jonathon McAnulty's "Feast or Famine" but I wasn't satisfied with that adventure's conclusion (Silyna invites the PCs to stay for the night and tries to kill them in their sleep). I added a short dungeon, based on one of the WotC maps of the week, and introduced Bloody Jack: a malevolent fey who had interrupted Silyna's own plans.
The Company are enjoying a leisurely morning in the late spring. The skies are blue and cloudless, and - if a little cool - the weather is at least dry and calm, with only a light sea breeze.
Three months have gone by since their last adventure. After the battle at the house, they explored the remainder of the caverns under Council Hill and found that - although there had clearly been lots more gnolls there recently, the place was now largely abandoned, with only a small rearguard remaining (which they had slain). They did, however, find a prisoner - a human women named Valkyre, who had been ambushed and kidnapped by the gnolls, and has more or less attached herself to the group.
Since those events, Sirdros has conducted the spring festival, Camiram's relationship with the local tribe of elves has recovered, and Stormstrider has returned from an arduous vision quest with said elves, his body weakened by the ordeal but his faith and insight stronger than ever.
Their relaxed gathering is disturbed by the arrival of a tinker, one Ambrose Tyburn, who storms up to them with an irate look on his face. A wiry, short-statured man who bears a passing resemblance to his own mule, Ambrose is not happy:
"You don't pay me enough to risk me damn neck! I'll not be goin' back to those blasted, haunted woods, y'hear? I was lucky to escape with m'skin intact!"
Most of the group are nonplussed, wondering who this newcomer is, until Mantreus clears things up:
"He's my honey boy."
This announcement requires some hasty clarification.
It seems Mantreus has begun a side business: he's taking the honey made by the giant bees of the wizard Sionaas, shipping it to the city of Marikest, and selling it there. It's not earning him a lot of money, but he has dreams of it being the first step in an eventual trading empire.
Ambrose, it emerges, is the person who is responsible for carting the honey from Sionaas' tower to the city. However, he was attacked by undead during his latest trip down to the tower, and now refuses to return to "those accursed woods" until the problem is resolved.
It takes all of Mantreus' considerable charisma to persuade his comrades(or at least Ming Li, Stormstrider, Sirdros and Valkyre) to help him look into the matter.
This group thus sets out for the village of Poisson, which is the closest settlement to Sionaas' tower. As they enter the forest to the north of the village, they are on their guard for undead. This proves wise, as a pair of ghouls try to ambush them. Valkyre invokes her strange northern god, however, and the undead flee.
Knowing that the ghouls will return to stalk them again, the group decides to stay where they are and organise themselves into a strong defensive position around the wagon, with Mantreus stop it to provide magical support.
After about ten minutes, the ghouls return, bringing several zombies with them. The reinforced undead charge, quickly swarming Stormstrider and dragging him to the ground. Things look grim for the elf, but then Valkyre lays the clerical smackdown, dusting five of the six zombies with another invocation to Dargrute.
The tide of the battle turns, and the two ghouls are quickly slain, while Stormstrider is restored to consciousness. The last zombie, however, proves highly resilient. Dargrute does not seem willing to contribute any further turning power, while Sirdros has apparently forgotten he can do it. Instead, the group surrounds the creature and batters it with their weapons.
And batters it.
And batters it.
And batters it.
And batters it.
And batters it.
And batters it.
And batters it.
And batters it.
Until it falls over.
Continuing their journey amidst much grumbling about the undead's lack of treasure, the group eventually reaches Poisson. The villagers all appear worn-out. When questioned, they explain that they are kept awake at night by undead creatures prowling the streets and pawing at the doors: one man has already been killed in his home, and another has gone missing. After spending the night in the inn, the adventurers have also experienced these night time prowlers, though they don't bother to do anything as active as getting out of bed and fighting them.
In the morning, the group sets out to follow the tracks left by the nocturnal visitors. This fails miserably, so they instead break into the dead man's house and have a look around. Because asking for a key would have been too much hassle.
They find traces of blood in the house, but nothing else of interest, so instead they return to look at the tracks once more. This time, Stormstrider actually puts some effort into looking for them, and the adventurers are soon trekking through the forest.
After a few hours, it becomes obvious from the winding, circulatory routes of the undead that they are moving randomly, without any real purpose. Ming Li climbs a tree and uses this as a lookout point, to see if there are any landmarks toward which they might head. She spots a plume of chimney smoke from deep in the forest. The group decides to head that way, stopping regularly to let the monk climb another tree and get a new bearing.
Eventually, they reach a small cottage in the woods. Noticing herbs in the garden, Valkyre starts looking through them, but is interrupted when the owner of the house opens her door and asks the adventurers why they are there.
The group explains they are seeking the undead, and the elderly woman expresses her delight at this news, mentioning that she often hears the creatures at night and has to keep her door tightly locked. She invites them in for a late lunch, serving bread and cheese with a malachite-handled knife.
The woman - whose name is Silyna - suggests that the source of the undead might be a "hollow black stump, which gave me a most terrible feeling" deep in the heart of the wood. She offers to take the adventurers there the next day. They try to persuade her to leave immediately, but she refuses. It will take a journey of several hours, she explains, and she has no intent of being out in the forest after dark.
Valkyre seems convinced that Silyna is up to no good, but can't produce any proof, even after surreptitiously casting detect undead. The group spends an uneventful night in the cottage, and sets out with Silyna in the morning. After a journey of about three hours, they reach the black stump of which the old woman spoke. The stump is set in a depression, the earth around it strewn with dead leaves.
Inspecting the stump reveals it to be hollow, as Silyna had claimed. Valkyre had suggests just burning it, but since she seems a little too fond of fire in general, the others go with a different plan, and affix a rope so they can climb down into the darkness. At the bottom, they find themselves in a damp, mud-walled cave.
It quickly becomes apparent that the cave is occupied, for Sirdros and Stormstrider discovers a pit trap in the floor. Their method of discovering it is foolproof: they fall in.
Close to a dozen small lizards appear from holes in the walls of the pit as the cleric founders in the black, stinking water at the bottom of the pit. They swarm over the two adventurers, biting at their flesh. Fortunately, they are easily slain, and do little harm.
Pulling the two elves from the pit, the group continues onward. The next chamber is empty of traps, but contains the body of a Halfling. The body is dressed in rags and badly rotted, and has been stabbed many times. Looking at the wounds, Sirdros and Valkyre agree that the Halfling was dead before he was stabbed: probably several weeks before.
Searching the body and finding it without treasure, the adventurers complain their way along the next corridor. They reach a fork in the tunnel, but one route has been barricaded off. In the other direction is a blue glow.
"Ooh! A blue glow!" says Mantreus, in case any of his comrades have gone blind.
Valkyre inspects the barricade and notes that it is braced on this side, indicating it is intended to keep something out. She wonders if it might be a dam, but sees no sign of any water seeping through.
Stormstrider seems intimidated by the blue glow, and complains about being the first into every room. Ming Li sighs and replaces him in the front rank, and the group presses on, deciding to leave the barricade for now.
The blue glow emanates from a cavern ahead, which is quite large, and braced with twelve stone pillars.
As the group draws closer, it can be seen that the pillars - each of which is about five feet thick - is scribed with ancient markings of some kinds, though there has obviously been an attempt at vandalism in the more recent past: deep scorings and blood-daubed symbols mar several of the columns.
Though of unworked stone, like the remainder of the complex, the cavern has a sense of 'completeness' to it, as if its naturally occurring walls were exactly what had been intended by the architect.
The blue light, meanwhile, emanates from an indentation in the floor of the cavern, which is lined with silvery runes. These runes give off the glow.
"The runes on the columns are in Sylvan." Stormstrider announces, then reads them aloud:
"Twelve stone trees;
Roots of the Earth;
Are ropes to Bind;
The Dark Font."
"These are in elven." Sirdros crouched beside the depression, "I am the Font of Light; Fill me, if you would drink." He pulls out his waterskin and empties it into the font, but nothing happens.
"Maybe it needs fire." Valkyre suggests.
"You think everything needs fire." Mantreus snorts.
"I mean a torch - if it's the font of light, that would make sense."
They try this, and it doesn't work, but it gives them the idea of trying a spell of light. Immediately, several items appear in the depression, which the adventurers greedily scoop up. Feeling a lot better for having finally got some treasure, they head out of the opposite end of the room, wrinkling their noses at the smell of rotting vegetation, which grows stronger in this direction.
Also in that direction is a huge black boar, with blood red tusks. The adventurers stare at this for a while, pondering what to do. Stormstrider wants to kill it, but the others shame him into trying to gain its friendship.
This doesn't work so well, as the boar guts him with its tusks.
A mad-eyed gnome-like creature suddenly appears, spouting poetic doggerel as it and its pet attack the adventurers:
"You think to make a sneak attack? You'll not murder, Bloody Jack!"
"The witch's bidding you won't do; Bloody Jack will be the death of you!"
"Come taste the steel of my knife; Bloody Jack will end your life!"
The fight is difficult. The adventurers' weapons don't seem to hurt the strange gnome very much, and when he flanks Mantreus, he proves more than capable of hurting them: the sorcerer joins the druid on the floor.
Fortunately, there are two clerics on hand with wands of cure light wounds, and between them they manage to keep getting people back in the fight. Sheer weight of numbers eventually ends to the death of the huge black boar. At this, the gnome screams in rage:
"Razoooooooooor!"
As he screams, his body swells and expands, until he looms over all his foes, standing nearly nine feet high.
The battle continues: Ming Li is knocked out of the fight, and brought back. Then it is Valkyre's turn. Charge after charge from the wands is burned in maintaining the battle, until - at last - the self-styled Bloody Jack falls before the Company, whispering his pet's name one last time as he dies.
The adventurers loot Jack's body, and his home. As they inspect the treasure, Ming Li opines that Jack's poems suggest Valkyre might be right about Silyna. Mantreus is aghast,
"I don't want her to be evil! She makes good tea!"
This is the last cavern, and the group now returns to the barricade. They discuss leaving it undisturbed, but Ming Li insists on investigating what lies beyond. This proves to be a trap, first of all, which harms everyone except the monk. People are even less enthusiastic about continuing, at this point, but Ming Li can be forceful when she needs to, and they reluctantly agree to press on.
At the end of the tunnel is a huge, subterranean lake. Mist rises off the water, and the air feels clammy. Sirdros shivers from more than the cold, however:
"This place is unhallowed." He grits his teeth, "Great evil lurks here."
'Great evil' turns out to be a bunch of zombies and skeletons, which emerge from the waters of the lake and attack. The adventurers easily dispatch the skeletons, but Valkyre's attempts to turn the zombies are thwarted by the aura of evil in the cave. Sirdros moves in to start bashing one of the walking corpses with his morning star, but by now the others are fed up with waiting for him to act like a cleric, and yell at him to make with the turning, already.
The elf invokes Pelor, and the zombies go boom.
Searching the edge of the water, the group finds a silver bowl, and a knife with a malachite blade: identical to the one they saw in Silyna's home.
"It doesn't look so good for the tea lady." Mantreus admits, sadly.
They decide to leave this place and confront Silyna. Emerging from the stump, they find her waiting for them. She has brought help: a younger human warrior who bears a family resemblance to the old woman, and a couple of ghouls. She offers the adventurers a chance to leave peacefully, but they don't take it.
The battle starts well, as the ghouls are sent running by Valkyre's invocation to Dargrute. Things get a little more difficult after that, however. Not to mention, seriously weird. Silyna spits out her own tongue, which grows as it flies through the air, wrapping around Sirdros and holding him bound.
"Ha! The joke's on you!" Valkyre opines, "He's covered in pooh!"
Mantreus magic missiles Silyna, and she returns the favour twice over, the first time with a pair of missiles that glow a strange, unearthly green.
Despite the strange magic the woman wields, however, and the strength of her son, the adventurers emerge victorious from this battle. They gleefully loot the bodies, burn down Silyna's cottage, and return to Camiram to let Ambrose know he can commence honey shipments again.
Only one thing mars their pleasure as they make their way home: the wounds Mantreus suffered from those green magic missiles remain unhealed, and curative magic does not seem to affect them.
The basis for this session was Jonathon McAnulty's "Feast or Famine" but I wasn't satisfied with that adventure's conclusion (Silyna invites the PCs to stay for the night and tries to kill them in their sleep). I added a short dungeon, based on one of the WotC maps of the week, and introduced Bloody Jack: a malevolent fey who had interrupted Silyna's own plans.
Capellan
Explorer
So. Wednesday morning. Sitting at work. The phone rings.
Can I come to Boston for a couple of months to help out on a project? Sure. When do they need me to go?
"Friday."
Running around like a mad thing will now commence.
Downside for you guys: no posts for a while, at least until I get halfway around the world and work out how to get online.
Upside for you guys: pretty pictures of the Battle of Brightstone Keep, since I won't be taking these with me.
Can I come to Boston for a couple of months to help out on a project? Sure. When do they need me to go?
"Friday."
Running around like a mad thing will now commence.
Downside for you guys: no posts for a while, at least until I get halfway around the world and work out how to get online.
Upside for you guys: pretty pictures of the Battle of Brightstone Keep, since I won't be taking these with me.
Capellan
Explorer
Note: This is proving to be a long recap, so I will post it in two pieces. The adventure took place over two days, so one day per update seems a good idea
Disturbingly (well, disturbing for the premise of CotRE), this adventure was created from scratch. I wanted to achieve three things:
1. run a 'city' adventure that wasn't just a dungeon with an urban façade tacked on the front
2. run a mystery before the PCs reached the level where they could just magic their way to the solution
3. introduce (or reintroduce) some NPCs who were intended to have important roles in the rest of the campaign. I'll talk about who these were at the end of the second update, but to clarify up front, Seraphina was a new PC, not an NPC.
Seraphina Tealeaf is concerned.
The young halfling is a tracker, hired by the city of Marikest to find and dispose of dangerous creatures. Of late, that's principally meant elementals. Fire and earth elementals, to be exact. They've long been known to lurk out at the abandoned Brightstone Mines, but for some reason they've been stirred up of late, and have taken to roaming the countryside. Which is rather dangerous for those they roam into.
None of this is specifically the reason for Seraphina's concern, however. What is concerning her is two-fold: first, the tracks of the elemental she has been following for the past day are much larger than those she has dealt with in the past. Second; they just vanished. The creature has gone underground, making it very hard for her to track its location.
Climbing down from Rufus, her burly riding dog, she examines the elemental's point of entry into the earth. It's fresh: the creature can't be very far away. Not that this is much help, when it could have gone in any direction at all.
As she ponders her next move, a group of travellers crests the hill to the south. There are five of them in all, one afoot and four riding on a rickety-looking wagon. Despite the wagon's age, however, the travellers themselves are well-equipped. Seraphina sees the gleam of both weapons and armour amongst them.
Which is just as well for the travellers, really, as the earth beside their cart suddenly bulges, then bursts open. The missing elemental rears upward, its stony body reaching nearly eight feet in height.
Seraphina shouts a warning, leaping onto Rufus' back as she does so. The travellers react quickly: evidently they are folk used to sudden action. A handsome human near the back of the cart is the first to respond, unleashing magical bolts at the creature.
The elemental roars like an avalanche, heavy fists swinging. The spellcaster crumples from a massive blow, even as one of his companions strikes the creature in the side.
Seraphina races toward the battle, swinging wide to get a clear shot with her sling. The stone misses its target, passing harmlessly above the melee. One of the travellers pulls the fallen spellcaster out of the elemental's reach, then begins to chant a prayer over the limp form. A third member of the group - a female elf - is shooting arrows at the elemental, while the last two strike at in melee. One of these, the man who was walking beside the wagon, wields a massive greatsword, which he now slams into the creature's side. Earth and stones spray from the force of the impact.
Closer now, Seraphina draws her shortsword. The creature is distracted by the adventurers - and adventurers they must be, to be so well-armed and blessed with so many spellcasters. The young halfling is able to charge in before the elemental becomes fully aware of her. Her blade bites deep into its back and - already weakened by the man's massive blow - the creature collapses in a shower of dust and dirt.
By the time the elemental is destroyed, the man it felled is already healed and on his feet. None of the others seem to have been harmed. Seraphina greets them, and learns their names. They are members of an adventuring group, and call themselves 'The Company of the Random Encounter' (well, all except the one named Khore, who disdains the term 'adventurer', though he seems to travel in their company). As she sorts through the creature's remains for its quartz-like heart, Seraphina explains her profession to the adventurers. It's hard not to notice their ears prick up at the mention of a reward for slaying the creature, and she suggests they travel back to Marikest with her, to share in the spoils.
As they travel northward, the adventurers explain that they are already bound for Marikest. Mantreus - the handsome human spellcaster - has been injured by some vile magic, which even the prayers of their clerics have been unable to heal. They hope that one of the temples in Marikest will be able to assist.
This proves a fortunate happenstance, for Seraphina's destination is the Church of Pelor, where she will be rewarded for the elemental's destruction. It's all so convenient, it's like someone designed it that way.
A few hours later, the group reaches the Church of Pelor. Seraphina hands over the elemental's heart, and splits the reward with her five new companions. With this done, the group asks about Mantreus' strange wound. After examining it, the Steward of Pelor indicates that it can indeed be healed, but the healing must be performed on ground that has been hallowed or consecrated. He chants a curative prayer, and the ugly wounds disappear.
The adventurers start to count out coin, but the priest waves it away, noting that the wound could only be the work of great evil, and healing a wound suffered in battle with such forces was reward enough. The adventurers find this very suspicious.
As they are obviously folk of good heart, the Steward continues, he has an offer of employment, provided they promise to be discrete about what they hear. The offer extends to Seraphina as well, and the six agree to listen to what he has to say. And to be discrete, a promise which the Steward might not have accepted so easily, had he known them a little better.
The Steward tells them of Margan Talhaus, one of the wealthiest merchants in Marikest, who married into the nobility and is now a member of the city council. It seems Margan's son, Feroden, is missing: a ransom note for 10,000 gold has been received. The note states that the boy will be killed if the town guards are told of his kidnapping. It makes no mention of adventurers, however, and it seems Margan is willing to chance this 'legal loophole' in an effort to get his son back, without the need for a ransom.
The group agrees to meet with Margan Talhaus, and the Steward gives them a letter of introduction.
The Talhaus family lives in a large estate in Marikest Bluffs, the most opulent of the city's neighbourhoods. Immediately the group shows the letter from the Steward to the Talhaus' butler, they are ushered into a meeting room. Margan Talhaus joins them a few minutes later. He repeats the Steward's story and asks for their assistance, noting that he would be very grateful to anyone who brought his son home safely. He also shows them the ransom note. It's neatly - even formally - written, and gives Margan a week to gather the money. The note was delivered two days earlier.
Khore immediately volunteers to assist, and for a wonder none of the others seems inclined to haggle about payment. Possibly they've got some inkling of what Talhaus' gratitude could mean to them: possibly they just feel that Khore's pulled the rug out from under them.
For the next half hour, the group quizzes Talhaus about his son's activities and friends. They learn that Feroden had two close companions, both noble-born. They get the youths' names, as well as the names of Feroden's usual haunts: Marikest Races, an inn named the Blind Harper, and Madame Sable's Rose House.
After they leave, Khore wonders why a wastrel would spend time at a gardening shop. Mantreus illuminates him,
"I'd say 'Rose House' is a euphemism. It'll be a bro... a house of ill repute."
"What? We should smite them!"
At this, the raven-haired adventurer Valkyre - who has a strange accent - questions Khore's sexuality.
The group decides to try the Marikest Races, first.
A few quick conversations at the races points them in the direction of Feroden's favourite betting house, but the proprietor can't help them much:
"Master Talhaus used to be a regular weekend visitor, but he stopped coming about a month ago. Last time he came, he settled up what he owed me, and that was the last I saw of him."
The group moves on to Madam Sable's Rose House, and discover that Mantreus' guess about its true function was a little off the mark. Rather than a bawdy house, the Rose House is a mixture of gypsy fortune teller and overpriced coffee shop. Madame Sable isn't able to offer them any information that seems useful. She hasn't seen Feroden for about a week, and can recall only that the last time he came, he was with one of his friends, and a girl she didn't recognise.
On to the Blind Harper, where Ealdswaith the serving girl definitely remembers Feroden: not surprising, given the 'memento' he's left her carrying. For a wonder, the group are fairly compassionate about this, and resolve to see what they can do to make sure the woman and her child will be provided for. Must be Seraphina's influence on them, or something.
Though Ealdswaith gives the group all the information she can, it's not much more help: she too has not seen Feroden in over a week "and I think I ain't likely too, neither". Prior to that, he used to visit at least once or twice a week, always in the company of the same two friends.
It seems the friends are the best lead the group has, and they call on the first of these immediately: a young man of wealth and good family, named Donal Cruith. Donal, on hearing Feroden's name, laughs sourly.
"I haven't seen him for more than a week, and I was seeing less and less of him before that. He and Polas had some 'new place' they were going to, but they never invited me.
'Polas' is Polas Vekkener, a cousin and sycophant of one of the most wealthy families in Marikest. He is evasive when the group calls on him, snidely making it clear that he does not feel he need explain himself to common adventuring riff-raff.
Or at least, that's what he does until Mantreus changes tack from questions to threats. The sorcerer's easy charm makes it easy for his companions forget that he grew up in the touch city slums: it's not something the quickly cowed Polas is likely to forget. He quickly confesses that he and Feroden had been attending an illegal duelling arena for the past two months.
"Feroden met a new girl there, so we went a lot." he stammers, "He was gambling on the matches all the time, too. He did pretty well to start with, but then he started to lose. I know he owes a lot of money from when he bet against the new one-eyed guy they've got fighting there."
Remembering the words of his dying father, the Padre is eager to investigate this arena, and in particular to meet this one-eyed fighter. Polas gives them the address, and tells them to arrive no earlier than three hours after dark.
Satisfied with what they have learned, Mantreus makes one last threat, and tousles the young noble's hair as he leaves.
That night, they arrive at the arena, which is held in an out-of-use warehouse. The door of the building is sturdy, with a viewing slit for those inside. They group knocks, and a guard answers. He grunts when they mention Polas' name, but lets them inside.
"First visit, go see the boss." He points up a flight of wooden steps to a small office.
The boss turns out to be a well dressed human woman, who gives her name as Sarissa. She's probably in her mid-30s, and would be attractive if it were not for a scar that pulls one corner of her mouth down into a permanent frown. She questions the group's reasons for coming and is clearly not convinced when they dissemble. Seeing this, Khore risks telling her the truth.
Sarissa offers them a deal: if they will fight in the arena against a couple of beasts she has purchased, she will let them stay and conduct their investigation. Reluctantly, they agree.
The 'beasts' turn out to be a pair of dire wolves, which give the group a very nasty time. Both Khore and Anastria come very close to dying, and almost all of the group is injured by the time the second of the two creatures is slain.
Their credentials proved, the group begins their investigation. First, they speak with the chief betting agent at the arena. He isn't as impressed by Mantreus' threats as Polas was, but once they adopt a more conciliatory tone, he confirms that Feroden got into heavy debt - about three thousand gold - but that the last time Feroden came to the arena (about five days before), he had paid the debt in full.
Perplexed - gambling debts had seemed like their best lead - the group continues to ask around. They meet Gar and Garran Dudley, a half-orc and gnome gladiatorial team, as well as several other members of the staff.
And then a seven foot tall woman with white hair walks in. Mantreus immediately makes a bee-line for her, but his attempts to strike up a conversation are rebuffed by her distant attitude. Any further attempts he might have planned are interrupted by the next fight, in which a dwarven berserker takes on a one-eyed human whose face and arms are wreathed in tattoos.
It is a savage battle, with the enraged dwarf throwing himself at the human. The one-eyed man, for his part, fights with almost clockwork precision. He concentrates on defending himself, striking only when the dwarf leaves an opening. Then, as his enemy tires, he takes the offensive, eventually forcing the fatigued dwarf to yield. By the end of the battle, blood soaks every inch of the arena floor.
Suddenly, the Padre is not quite so eager to face this one-eyed man.
Focussing on their investigation, the group learns that Feroden often spent his time at the arena with a young woman named Ulana. She is not present that evening, but it is suggested they speak to a 'merchant' (smuggler would be a more accurate term) named Barak, with whom both Ulana and Feroden were known to have dealings.
Barak proves a charming fellow, and more than happy to answer the group's questions. He confirms that Feroden sometimes bought 'exotic substances' from him, but says he doesn't know anything more. He offers to try and find out, however, if the group are willing to spend a few coins. They are, and agree to meet him at the arena again the next night.
The next morning, there's a new ransom note.
Disturbingly (well, disturbing for the premise of CotRE), this adventure was created from scratch. I wanted to achieve three things:
1. run a 'city' adventure that wasn't just a dungeon with an urban façade tacked on the front
2. run a mystery before the PCs reached the level where they could just magic their way to the solution
3. introduce (or reintroduce) some NPCs who were intended to have important roles in the rest of the campaign. I'll talk about who these were at the end of the second update, but to clarify up front, Seraphina was a new PC, not an NPC.
Seraphina Tealeaf is concerned.
The young halfling is a tracker, hired by the city of Marikest to find and dispose of dangerous creatures. Of late, that's principally meant elementals. Fire and earth elementals, to be exact. They've long been known to lurk out at the abandoned Brightstone Mines, but for some reason they've been stirred up of late, and have taken to roaming the countryside. Which is rather dangerous for those they roam into.
None of this is specifically the reason for Seraphina's concern, however. What is concerning her is two-fold: first, the tracks of the elemental she has been following for the past day are much larger than those she has dealt with in the past. Second; they just vanished. The creature has gone underground, making it very hard for her to track its location.
Climbing down from Rufus, her burly riding dog, she examines the elemental's point of entry into the earth. It's fresh: the creature can't be very far away. Not that this is much help, when it could have gone in any direction at all.
As she ponders her next move, a group of travellers crests the hill to the south. There are five of them in all, one afoot and four riding on a rickety-looking wagon. Despite the wagon's age, however, the travellers themselves are well-equipped. Seraphina sees the gleam of both weapons and armour amongst them.
Which is just as well for the travellers, really, as the earth beside their cart suddenly bulges, then bursts open. The missing elemental rears upward, its stony body reaching nearly eight feet in height.
Seraphina shouts a warning, leaping onto Rufus' back as she does so. The travellers react quickly: evidently they are folk used to sudden action. A handsome human near the back of the cart is the first to respond, unleashing magical bolts at the creature.
The elemental roars like an avalanche, heavy fists swinging. The spellcaster crumples from a massive blow, even as one of his companions strikes the creature in the side.
Seraphina races toward the battle, swinging wide to get a clear shot with her sling. The stone misses its target, passing harmlessly above the melee. One of the travellers pulls the fallen spellcaster out of the elemental's reach, then begins to chant a prayer over the limp form. A third member of the group - a female elf - is shooting arrows at the elemental, while the last two strike at in melee. One of these, the man who was walking beside the wagon, wields a massive greatsword, which he now slams into the creature's side. Earth and stones spray from the force of the impact.
Closer now, Seraphina draws her shortsword. The creature is distracted by the adventurers - and adventurers they must be, to be so well-armed and blessed with so many spellcasters. The young halfling is able to charge in before the elemental becomes fully aware of her. Her blade bites deep into its back and - already weakened by the man's massive blow - the creature collapses in a shower of dust and dirt.
By the time the elemental is destroyed, the man it felled is already healed and on his feet. None of the others seem to have been harmed. Seraphina greets them, and learns their names. They are members of an adventuring group, and call themselves 'The Company of the Random Encounter' (well, all except the one named Khore, who disdains the term 'adventurer', though he seems to travel in their company). As she sorts through the creature's remains for its quartz-like heart, Seraphina explains her profession to the adventurers. It's hard not to notice their ears prick up at the mention of a reward for slaying the creature, and she suggests they travel back to Marikest with her, to share in the spoils.
As they travel northward, the adventurers explain that they are already bound for Marikest. Mantreus - the handsome human spellcaster - has been injured by some vile magic, which even the prayers of their clerics have been unable to heal. They hope that one of the temples in Marikest will be able to assist.
This proves a fortunate happenstance, for Seraphina's destination is the Church of Pelor, where she will be rewarded for the elemental's destruction. It's all so convenient, it's like someone designed it that way.
A few hours later, the group reaches the Church of Pelor. Seraphina hands over the elemental's heart, and splits the reward with her five new companions. With this done, the group asks about Mantreus' strange wound. After examining it, the Steward of Pelor indicates that it can indeed be healed, but the healing must be performed on ground that has been hallowed or consecrated. He chants a curative prayer, and the ugly wounds disappear.
The adventurers start to count out coin, but the priest waves it away, noting that the wound could only be the work of great evil, and healing a wound suffered in battle with such forces was reward enough. The adventurers find this very suspicious.
As they are obviously folk of good heart, the Steward continues, he has an offer of employment, provided they promise to be discrete about what they hear. The offer extends to Seraphina as well, and the six agree to listen to what he has to say. And to be discrete, a promise which the Steward might not have accepted so easily, had he known them a little better.
The Steward tells them of Margan Talhaus, one of the wealthiest merchants in Marikest, who married into the nobility and is now a member of the city council. It seems Margan's son, Feroden, is missing: a ransom note for 10,000 gold has been received. The note states that the boy will be killed if the town guards are told of his kidnapping. It makes no mention of adventurers, however, and it seems Margan is willing to chance this 'legal loophole' in an effort to get his son back, without the need for a ransom.
The group agrees to meet with Margan Talhaus, and the Steward gives them a letter of introduction.
The Talhaus family lives in a large estate in Marikest Bluffs, the most opulent of the city's neighbourhoods. Immediately the group shows the letter from the Steward to the Talhaus' butler, they are ushered into a meeting room. Margan Talhaus joins them a few minutes later. He repeats the Steward's story and asks for their assistance, noting that he would be very grateful to anyone who brought his son home safely. He also shows them the ransom note. It's neatly - even formally - written, and gives Margan a week to gather the money. The note was delivered two days earlier.
Khore immediately volunteers to assist, and for a wonder none of the others seems inclined to haggle about payment. Possibly they've got some inkling of what Talhaus' gratitude could mean to them: possibly they just feel that Khore's pulled the rug out from under them.
For the next half hour, the group quizzes Talhaus about his son's activities and friends. They learn that Feroden had two close companions, both noble-born. They get the youths' names, as well as the names of Feroden's usual haunts: Marikest Races, an inn named the Blind Harper, and Madame Sable's Rose House.
After they leave, Khore wonders why a wastrel would spend time at a gardening shop. Mantreus illuminates him,
"I'd say 'Rose House' is a euphemism. It'll be a bro... a house of ill repute."
"What? We should smite them!"
At this, the raven-haired adventurer Valkyre - who has a strange accent - questions Khore's sexuality.
The group decides to try the Marikest Races, first.
A few quick conversations at the races points them in the direction of Feroden's favourite betting house, but the proprietor can't help them much:
"Master Talhaus used to be a regular weekend visitor, but he stopped coming about a month ago. Last time he came, he settled up what he owed me, and that was the last I saw of him."
The group moves on to Madam Sable's Rose House, and discover that Mantreus' guess about its true function was a little off the mark. Rather than a bawdy house, the Rose House is a mixture of gypsy fortune teller and overpriced coffee shop. Madame Sable isn't able to offer them any information that seems useful. She hasn't seen Feroden for about a week, and can recall only that the last time he came, he was with one of his friends, and a girl she didn't recognise.
On to the Blind Harper, where Ealdswaith the serving girl definitely remembers Feroden: not surprising, given the 'memento' he's left her carrying. For a wonder, the group are fairly compassionate about this, and resolve to see what they can do to make sure the woman and her child will be provided for. Must be Seraphina's influence on them, or something.
Though Ealdswaith gives the group all the information she can, it's not much more help: she too has not seen Feroden in over a week "and I think I ain't likely too, neither". Prior to that, he used to visit at least once or twice a week, always in the company of the same two friends.
It seems the friends are the best lead the group has, and they call on the first of these immediately: a young man of wealth and good family, named Donal Cruith. Donal, on hearing Feroden's name, laughs sourly.
"I haven't seen him for more than a week, and I was seeing less and less of him before that. He and Polas had some 'new place' they were going to, but they never invited me.
'Polas' is Polas Vekkener, a cousin and sycophant of one of the most wealthy families in Marikest. He is evasive when the group calls on him, snidely making it clear that he does not feel he need explain himself to common adventuring riff-raff.
Or at least, that's what he does until Mantreus changes tack from questions to threats. The sorcerer's easy charm makes it easy for his companions forget that he grew up in the touch city slums: it's not something the quickly cowed Polas is likely to forget. He quickly confesses that he and Feroden had been attending an illegal duelling arena for the past two months.
"Feroden met a new girl there, so we went a lot." he stammers, "He was gambling on the matches all the time, too. He did pretty well to start with, but then he started to lose. I know he owes a lot of money from when he bet against the new one-eyed guy they've got fighting there."
Remembering the words of his dying father, the Padre is eager to investigate this arena, and in particular to meet this one-eyed fighter. Polas gives them the address, and tells them to arrive no earlier than three hours after dark.
Satisfied with what they have learned, Mantreus makes one last threat, and tousles the young noble's hair as he leaves.
That night, they arrive at the arena, which is held in an out-of-use warehouse. The door of the building is sturdy, with a viewing slit for those inside. They group knocks, and a guard answers. He grunts when they mention Polas' name, but lets them inside.
"First visit, go see the boss." He points up a flight of wooden steps to a small office.
The boss turns out to be a well dressed human woman, who gives her name as Sarissa. She's probably in her mid-30s, and would be attractive if it were not for a scar that pulls one corner of her mouth down into a permanent frown. She questions the group's reasons for coming and is clearly not convinced when they dissemble. Seeing this, Khore risks telling her the truth.
Sarissa offers them a deal: if they will fight in the arena against a couple of beasts she has purchased, she will let them stay and conduct their investigation. Reluctantly, they agree.
The 'beasts' turn out to be a pair of dire wolves, which give the group a very nasty time. Both Khore and Anastria come very close to dying, and almost all of the group is injured by the time the second of the two creatures is slain.
Their credentials proved, the group begins their investigation. First, they speak with the chief betting agent at the arena. He isn't as impressed by Mantreus' threats as Polas was, but once they adopt a more conciliatory tone, he confirms that Feroden got into heavy debt - about three thousand gold - but that the last time Feroden came to the arena (about five days before), he had paid the debt in full.
Perplexed - gambling debts had seemed like their best lead - the group continues to ask around. They meet Gar and Garran Dudley, a half-orc and gnome gladiatorial team, as well as several other members of the staff.
And then a seven foot tall woman with white hair walks in. Mantreus immediately makes a bee-line for her, but his attempts to strike up a conversation are rebuffed by her distant attitude. Any further attempts he might have planned are interrupted by the next fight, in which a dwarven berserker takes on a one-eyed human whose face and arms are wreathed in tattoos.
It is a savage battle, with the enraged dwarf throwing himself at the human. The one-eyed man, for his part, fights with almost clockwork precision. He concentrates on defending himself, striking only when the dwarf leaves an opening. Then, as his enemy tires, he takes the offensive, eventually forcing the fatigued dwarf to yield. By the end of the battle, blood soaks every inch of the arena floor.
Suddenly, the Padre is not quite so eager to face this one-eyed man.
Focussing on their investigation, the group learns that Feroden often spent his time at the arena with a young woman named Ulana. She is not present that evening, but it is suggested they speak to a 'merchant' (smuggler would be a more accurate term) named Barak, with whom both Ulana and Feroden were known to have dealings.
Barak proves a charming fellow, and more than happy to answer the group's questions. He confirms that Feroden sometimes bought 'exotic substances' from him, but says he doesn't know anything more. He offers to try and find out, however, if the group are willing to spend a few coins. They are, and agree to meet him at the arena again the next night.
The next morning, there's a new ransom note.
Capellan
Explorer
The tone of the second ransom note is very different to the first. Whereas the original note seemed formal, and was written in a tidy hand, the new one has a much more frantic tone, and the writing also looks hurried. Furthermore, there are splotches where the ink has run or been smudged, as if the writer was anxious or distracted as they wrote.
It also cuts the deadline for payment to only two more days, rather than four.
The group discusses plans. Mantreus suspects that Feroden and his friends organised this disappearance in order to get money to pay off Feroden's debts. Although the young man seems to have cleared his debts with everyone they have spoken to, there is no clear explanation of how he got the necessary sum to do so. They delicately broach the question with Margan Talhaus, who readily confirms that he has never provided his son with anything like the amount of three thousand gold.
"So they got it from somewhere else." Mantreus surmises, "And now they're trying to extort it out of his father, in order to pay it back again."
With this in mind, the sorcerer sets his familiar, Shadow, to observe Polas Vekkener. The cat has instructions to let Mantreus know if the young man leaves the house. Meanwhile, Mantreus plans to do some snooping around town and see what he can learn about the one-eyed gladiator.
Seraphina, on the other hand, has learned from the Talhaus servants that the family keeps another estate, some hours' ride from the city. She volunteers to go and look around the grounds, to see if there is any sign of the boy there. Khore offers to accompany her, but the halfling demurs. She has seen enough of the Paladin to know that the words 'Khore' and 'stealth' are anathema.
Khore and the Padre thus find themselves at something of a loose end, as Valkyre and Anastria take it upon themselves to speak with Margan Talhaus about Ealdswaith, and the illegitimate grandchild she is carrying. Talhaus, though evidently annoyed with his son's indiscretion, readily offers the young woman a position amongst his staff, as well as a tidy sum up-front, to ensure the child is properly cared for.
Seraphina's and Shadow's scouting turns up nothing of interest. Mantreus also learns little, except that its not wise to walk the streets of Marikest alone. He is jumped in an alley by half a dozen thugs, who beat him senseless and steal the not inconsiderable sum of gold he was carrying. As he recuperates, he, Khore and the Padre spend several hours wondering whether the attack was random, or ordered by someone with something to hide.
That night, the group assembles once more and heads down to the arena to meet Barak. En route, they are attacked by a strange, otherworldly creature. The beast resembles a large dog, but it has only one, baleful eye in the centre of its forehead, and seems to be able to pass back and forth between shadows.
Despite the creature's shadow-jumping ability, and the magical gaze of its hideous eye, the adventurers defeat the beast fairly quickly. Seraphina strikes the killing blow, thrusting her sword right through the creature's eye.
At the arena, Mantreus once more catches sight of the tall, white-haired woman. He does not approach her this time, but the Padre takes it upon himself to play matchmaker.
"My colleague desires you." He announces boldly, pointing back at the mortified sorcerer. The woman seems confused by this comment, at least until the Padre explains what he means. The hand gestures help. The message understood, the woman strides over the Mantreus. Staring down at him, she asks:
"Why should I mate with you?"
"..." says Mantreus.
"Go on, this is your big chance." Khore gives him a nudge.
"..." says Mantreus.
"He's usually very talkative." The Padre assures the woman, pleasantly.
"..." says Mantreus.
Eventually, the woman tires of the sport,
"Come back when you have proved yourself, small man." She instructs.
"..." says Mantreus.
Ten minutes later, Barak arrives. Apologetically, he tells them he has not been able to learn anything about Feroden's disappearance, thus far, but that he will continue to do what he can. He expresses dismay when the group mentions the new ransom note, and assures them he will re-double his efforts.
Seraphina doesn't buy it.
Taking advantage of her small size, she blends into the crowd and trails the smuggler around the room. Thus, she is close enough to hear when he pulls aside the dwarven berserker from the previous night.
"I need some muscle for a deal that might get nasty, two nights from now." Barak whispers, unaware of the listening halfling, "Come by tonight, at the usual place, and I'll fill you in."
The dwarf nods his agreement. Seraphina slips back to the others and tells them of Barak's conversation. The mention of a 'nasty' job, at the same time as the ransom comes due, arouses their suspicions.
"A wealthy smuggler could easily have given Feroden the money to pay his debts." The Padre observes.
Mantreus nods,
"And now he's looking to get it back - with interest."
"Finally, someone to smite!" Khore is content.
The group swiftly puts together a plan: they will make a very public exit, but leave Shadow concealed nearby. The cat will then trace Barak to the meeting place he mentioned, before fetching the adventurers so that they can discover what the smuggler is up to.
As Company of the Random Encounter plans go, it's not only surprisingly coherent; it enjoys the even more rare distinction that it actually gets followed.
Barak's lair proves to be a set of secret tunnels, under one of the port city's many bridges. The door into the tunnels is trapped, but Mantreus is able to disarm the mechanism, and the group sneaks inside. A small rowboat has been pulled up into the tunnel behind the door.
"Not a bad operation." Mantreus admires Barak's larceny, "Keeps the boat out of sight until he needs it."
Moving on, they discover a store room, containing several barrels and chests. One of the barrels has been freshly tapped, and the dagger that was used to do so lies atop it.
"Talhaus family crest." Khore points at the dagger's hilt. "It's smiting time."
It is smiting time indeed: the sound of voices can clearly be heard from the adjoining room. There's a quickly whispered conversation, and the decision is made to attack, before the dwarven berserker arrives to help Barak and whatever friends he has with him.
Said friends turn out to be a four ragged smugglers, and a young woman with a purple tattoo around her left eye. The smugglers don't prove much of a threat: Barak and the young woman are a lot more dangerous.
As soon as the adventurers burst in, Barak leaps onto the table around which his men are clustered. For a few seconds, he finds himself frozen there: held fast by one of the Padre's prayers. But then he shakes himself free and plunges into the fray.
As Barak and the smugglers attack with their swords, the young woman concentrates. There is a sound like a deep bass hum, and suddenly strands of a sticky, translucent substance start to form around Valkyre. The cleric of Dargrute dodges aside at the last second, and strikes the woman with her mace.
"Spellcaster!" she shouts.
"Psychic!" the Padre corrects, recognising one who shares his gift.
The battle rages on: Valkyre produces jets of flame from her hands, while Mantreus lays on magic missiles galore. The others hack their way through the smugglers, and grievously injure Barak's woman.
"Ulana!" he calls, hacking down Valkyre to move to his companion's side. The woman merely frowns at the injury: her tattoo pulses and fades, and the wounds are gone. The Padre just as readily heals Valkyre, and the odds are back to six on two.
And then the dwarven berserker arrives.
He smashes his axe into Mantreus, knocking the sorcerer sprawling, then cuts down Seraphina with two quick blows. The halfling gets in a blow of her own before she falls, but the dwarf laughs off the injury, spittle flying from his lips.
Ulana weighs into the fight once more by summoning a rain of white hot sparks, which cascade over Khore and the Padre.
"I've had it with you!" the Padre snarls at the woman. "St Cuthbert, aid me!" The cleric unleashes a mighty blow with his mace, which glows with a dull red energy as it strikes.
Ulana's skull shatters.
Khore, not to be outdone, swings his greatsword in a massive two-handed arc.
Barak drops dead beside his lover.
Outnumbered five to one, any normal man might consider retreat, but the idea never seems to occur to the dwarf. Laughing with the love of slaughter, he hews into Anastria, nearly bringing the elf to her knees. Then he open's Khore's chest from navel to nape with another swing of his axe. The Paladin sways on his feet, remaining conscious solely by virtue of his refusal to fall.
The adventurers have been making hits of their own, and now they start to pour the healing on: both the Padre and Valkyre chant prayers for Khore, while Mantreus feeds Seraphina a potion.
The dwarf still drops Khore with his next blow. When the Padre heals the Paladin once more, the dwarf knocks him down just as fast.
Despite treating Khore as his personal whipping boy, the odds against the dwarf are simply too much, and the berserker's battle rage is beginning to dim. As he downs Khore for the third time in the fight, Mantreus buries a dagger under his ribs. Blood dribbles from the dwarf's mouth, and at last he falls, stone dead.
After more healing all around, the adventurers search the rest of the small complex, finding Feroden sobbing to himself in a grimy cell that is six inches deep in river water.
"I can't help but feel that there was more going on." Mantreus frets the next day, as the group recovers from their battles. Feroden has been returned to his father, and the Company has been assured of the Talhaus family's gratitude. It should be a day of celebration, but the sorcerer isn't confident they worked the whole tale out.
The Padre takes a more philosophical view,
"Maybe. But we got the brat back, and now his old man owes us a favour. We're on the verge of big things, mark my words."
He doesn't know how right he is ... or how badly those 'big things' will go.
NPC Notes (as promised)
The three important NPCs in this adventure were Margan Talhaus, Werner Koch, and Skye.
Margan Talhaus was intended to function as the PCs' sponsor for the next few adventures, concluding with a chance for the group to acquire their own Keep. He actually got a chance to fill this roll, before the campaign ended. It's a pity he didn't survive it
Werner Koch (the 'one-eyed man') was the Padre's real father. The Padre had been left with the people he thought of as his parents while he was still just a babe. The Padre's true mother had died, and Koch could not care for the boy, himself. That was what the Padre's 'father' was trying to say as he died. I'd intended for this to come out toward the end of the campaign, but we never got there.
I originally introduced the white-haired woman (her name is Skye) during Mantreus player's solo investigation into the Copper Pendant. At the time she was meant to just be a bit of otherworldly colour, and somebody who would be interesting to kill, eventually (I expected the group to fight the Ministry of Winds at some point). But when Mantreus' player started portraying Mantreus' interest in her, I felt the need to torment him a little by bringing her back
Skye's ultimate fate was also changed. Rather than a willing member of the Ministry's evil plans (as I had originally meant her to be) I made her an unwitting one. That way, the PCs could battle the Ministry without killing her, and she could end up as Mantreus' cohort. The CotRE's combat effectiveness really would have benefited from adding a high-Dex, high-Str fighter specialised in the spiked chain!
It also cuts the deadline for payment to only two more days, rather than four.
The group discusses plans. Mantreus suspects that Feroden and his friends organised this disappearance in order to get money to pay off Feroden's debts. Although the young man seems to have cleared his debts with everyone they have spoken to, there is no clear explanation of how he got the necessary sum to do so. They delicately broach the question with Margan Talhaus, who readily confirms that he has never provided his son with anything like the amount of three thousand gold.
"So they got it from somewhere else." Mantreus surmises, "And now they're trying to extort it out of his father, in order to pay it back again."
With this in mind, the sorcerer sets his familiar, Shadow, to observe Polas Vekkener. The cat has instructions to let Mantreus know if the young man leaves the house. Meanwhile, Mantreus plans to do some snooping around town and see what he can learn about the one-eyed gladiator.
Seraphina, on the other hand, has learned from the Talhaus servants that the family keeps another estate, some hours' ride from the city. She volunteers to go and look around the grounds, to see if there is any sign of the boy there. Khore offers to accompany her, but the halfling demurs. She has seen enough of the Paladin to know that the words 'Khore' and 'stealth' are anathema.
Khore and the Padre thus find themselves at something of a loose end, as Valkyre and Anastria take it upon themselves to speak with Margan Talhaus about Ealdswaith, and the illegitimate grandchild she is carrying. Talhaus, though evidently annoyed with his son's indiscretion, readily offers the young woman a position amongst his staff, as well as a tidy sum up-front, to ensure the child is properly cared for.
Seraphina's and Shadow's scouting turns up nothing of interest. Mantreus also learns little, except that its not wise to walk the streets of Marikest alone. He is jumped in an alley by half a dozen thugs, who beat him senseless and steal the not inconsiderable sum of gold he was carrying. As he recuperates, he, Khore and the Padre spend several hours wondering whether the attack was random, or ordered by someone with something to hide.
That night, the group assembles once more and heads down to the arena to meet Barak. En route, they are attacked by a strange, otherworldly creature. The beast resembles a large dog, but it has only one, baleful eye in the centre of its forehead, and seems to be able to pass back and forth between shadows.
Despite the creature's shadow-jumping ability, and the magical gaze of its hideous eye, the adventurers defeat the beast fairly quickly. Seraphina strikes the killing blow, thrusting her sword right through the creature's eye.
At the arena, Mantreus once more catches sight of the tall, white-haired woman. He does not approach her this time, but the Padre takes it upon himself to play matchmaker.
"My colleague desires you." He announces boldly, pointing back at the mortified sorcerer. The woman seems confused by this comment, at least until the Padre explains what he means. The hand gestures help. The message understood, the woman strides over the Mantreus. Staring down at him, she asks:
"Why should I mate with you?"
"..." says Mantreus.
"Go on, this is your big chance." Khore gives him a nudge.
"..." says Mantreus.
"He's usually very talkative." The Padre assures the woman, pleasantly.
"..." says Mantreus.
Eventually, the woman tires of the sport,
"Come back when you have proved yourself, small man." She instructs.
"..." says Mantreus.
Ten minutes later, Barak arrives. Apologetically, he tells them he has not been able to learn anything about Feroden's disappearance, thus far, but that he will continue to do what he can. He expresses dismay when the group mentions the new ransom note, and assures them he will re-double his efforts.
Seraphina doesn't buy it.
Taking advantage of her small size, she blends into the crowd and trails the smuggler around the room. Thus, she is close enough to hear when he pulls aside the dwarven berserker from the previous night.
"I need some muscle for a deal that might get nasty, two nights from now." Barak whispers, unaware of the listening halfling, "Come by tonight, at the usual place, and I'll fill you in."
The dwarf nods his agreement. Seraphina slips back to the others and tells them of Barak's conversation. The mention of a 'nasty' job, at the same time as the ransom comes due, arouses their suspicions.
"A wealthy smuggler could easily have given Feroden the money to pay his debts." The Padre observes.
Mantreus nods,
"And now he's looking to get it back - with interest."
"Finally, someone to smite!" Khore is content.
The group swiftly puts together a plan: they will make a very public exit, but leave Shadow concealed nearby. The cat will then trace Barak to the meeting place he mentioned, before fetching the adventurers so that they can discover what the smuggler is up to.
As Company of the Random Encounter plans go, it's not only surprisingly coherent; it enjoys the even more rare distinction that it actually gets followed.
Barak's lair proves to be a set of secret tunnels, under one of the port city's many bridges. The door into the tunnels is trapped, but Mantreus is able to disarm the mechanism, and the group sneaks inside. A small rowboat has been pulled up into the tunnel behind the door.
"Not a bad operation." Mantreus admires Barak's larceny, "Keeps the boat out of sight until he needs it."
Moving on, they discover a store room, containing several barrels and chests. One of the barrels has been freshly tapped, and the dagger that was used to do so lies atop it.
"Talhaus family crest." Khore points at the dagger's hilt. "It's smiting time."
It is smiting time indeed: the sound of voices can clearly be heard from the adjoining room. There's a quickly whispered conversation, and the decision is made to attack, before the dwarven berserker arrives to help Barak and whatever friends he has with him.
Said friends turn out to be a four ragged smugglers, and a young woman with a purple tattoo around her left eye. The smugglers don't prove much of a threat: Barak and the young woman are a lot more dangerous.
As soon as the adventurers burst in, Barak leaps onto the table around which his men are clustered. For a few seconds, he finds himself frozen there: held fast by one of the Padre's prayers. But then he shakes himself free and plunges into the fray.
As Barak and the smugglers attack with their swords, the young woman concentrates. There is a sound like a deep bass hum, and suddenly strands of a sticky, translucent substance start to form around Valkyre. The cleric of Dargrute dodges aside at the last second, and strikes the woman with her mace.
"Spellcaster!" she shouts.
"Psychic!" the Padre corrects, recognising one who shares his gift.
The battle rages on: Valkyre produces jets of flame from her hands, while Mantreus lays on magic missiles galore. The others hack their way through the smugglers, and grievously injure Barak's woman.
"Ulana!" he calls, hacking down Valkyre to move to his companion's side. The woman merely frowns at the injury: her tattoo pulses and fades, and the wounds are gone. The Padre just as readily heals Valkyre, and the odds are back to six on two.
And then the dwarven berserker arrives.
He smashes his axe into Mantreus, knocking the sorcerer sprawling, then cuts down Seraphina with two quick blows. The halfling gets in a blow of her own before she falls, but the dwarf laughs off the injury, spittle flying from his lips.
Ulana weighs into the fight once more by summoning a rain of white hot sparks, which cascade over Khore and the Padre.
"I've had it with you!" the Padre snarls at the woman. "St Cuthbert, aid me!" The cleric unleashes a mighty blow with his mace, which glows with a dull red energy as it strikes.
Ulana's skull shatters.
Khore, not to be outdone, swings his greatsword in a massive two-handed arc.
Barak drops dead beside his lover.
Outnumbered five to one, any normal man might consider retreat, but the idea never seems to occur to the dwarf. Laughing with the love of slaughter, he hews into Anastria, nearly bringing the elf to her knees. Then he open's Khore's chest from navel to nape with another swing of his axe. The Paladin sways on his feet, remaining conscious solely by virtue of his refusal to fall.
The adventurers have been making hits of their own, and now they start to pour the healing on: both the Padre and Valkyre chant prayers for Khore, while Mantreus feeds Seraphina a potion.
The dwarf still drops Khore with his next blow. When the Padre heals the Paladin once more, the dwarf knocks him down just as fast.
Despite treating Khore as his personal whipping boy, the odds against the dwarf are simply too much, and the berserker's battle rage is beginning to dim. As he downs Khore for the third time in the fight, Mantreus buries a dagger under his ribs. Blood dribbles from the dwarf's mouth, and at last he falls, stone dead.
After more healing all around, the adventurers search the rest of the small complex, finding Feroden sobbing to himself in a grimy cell that is six inches deep in river water.
"I can't help but feel that there was more going on." Mantreus frets the next day, as the group recovers from their battles. Feroden has been returned to his father, and the Company has been assured of the Talhaus family's gratitude. It should be a day of celebration, but the sorcerer isn't confident they worked the whole tale out.
The Padre takes a more philosophical view,
"Maybe. But we got the brat back, and now his old man owes us a favour. We're on the verge of big things, mark my words."
He doesn't know how right he is ... or how badly those 'big things' will go.
NPC Notes (as promised)
The three important NPCs in this adventure were Margan Talhaus, Werner Koch, and Skye.
Margan Talhaus was intended to function as the PCs' sponsor for the next few adventures, concluding with a chance for the group to acquire their own Keep. He actually got a chance to fill this roll, before the campaign ended. It's a pity he didn't survive it
Werner Koch (the 'one-eyed man') was the Padre's real father. The Padre had been left with the people he thought of as his parents while he was still just a babe. The Padre's true mother had died, and Koch could not care for the boy, himself. That was what the Padre's 'father' was trying to say as he died. I'd intended for this to come out toward the end of the campaign, but we never got there.
I originally introduced the white-haired woman (her name is Skye) during Mantreus player's solo investigation into the Copper Pendant. At the time she was meant to just be a bit of otherworldly colour, and somebody who would be interesting to kill, eventually (I expected the group to fight the Ministry of Winds at some point). But when Mantreus' player started portraying Mantreus' interest in her, I felt the need to torment him a little by bringing her back
Skye's ultimate fate was also changed. Rather than a willing member of the Ministry's evil plans (as I had originally meant her to be) I made her an unwitting one. That way, the PCs could battle the Ministry without killing her, and she could end up as Mantreus' cohort. The CotRE's combat effectiveness really would have benefited from adding a high-Dex, high-Str fighter specialised in the spiked chain!
Capellan
Explorer
This session was inspired by Mystic Eye Games' free adventure "Right Under Our Noses". Which basically means that I stole the hook (a hideous smell from the sewers is making people ill, and the engineers hired to fix it don't seem to be doing anything), some NPC names, and the maps, then re-wrote everything else.
The Company of the Random Encounter receive an invitation to Marikest Council Hall. Many of their number are off on personal errands, but the Padre is able to locate Ming Li, Sirdros, Twinkle (a recruitment he's not sure was wise) and Seraphina, who has been more or less adopted into the group and who now experiences the inevitable Tweedlefinkle introduction. Despite the halfling rather brusquely interrupting the gnome, the two soon become fast friends. Darn small-sized, animal-riding cliquey people.
At Council Hall, the Company learns that Marikest has been having considerable trouble with its sewer system, in recent weeks. A group of dwarven engineers were hired to alleviate the problem. Although initially the dwarves were successful, "The Stink" (as the councillors call it) is now back and worse than ever.
With people in the area of the Stink actually becoming physically unwell from the stench, and their patience with the dwarves running out, the Council (and specifically Margan Talhaus, who does most of the talking) ask the adventurers to look into it.
A significant amount of gold is mentioned, so the Company takes little time in agreeing to the proposal.
Travelling to the warehouse where the dwarves are based, the Company find it empty. There is, however, a sewer entrance gate, from which a nauseating smell is emerging. The fumes are so bad, Twinkle swears she can see them.
Wrapping scented scarves over their faces, the group descends, and begins looking for the dwarves. The first thing they find, however, is a dead beggar, wrapped in a ragged cloak. Approaching the body (surely to see if the man is alright, with no thoughts of looting the dead), the Company are startled (not to mention surprised) when the cloak suddenly flies into the air and attacks!
Five against one seems like good odds, but with only a narrow walkway to stand on, the adventurers are unable to get their numbers properly into the battle. The cloaker has a few tricks of its own, as well. It manages to down Sirdros during the course of the battle, but eventually the adventurers manage to get people on either side of it (thanks to the rogues eventually remembering their tumbling skills), and the creature is destroyed.
After healing Sirdros, the group continues their exploration. They find the dwarves, and also find them to be less than helpful. Sheer persistence, however, eventually forces the engineers to fetch their leader, a middle-aged dwarf named Haldan. Confronted by adventurers, Haldan admits that he and his men have been conducting their sewer repairs with stone they quarried in unauthorised excavations beneath Marikest. The stone is supposed to come from quarries outside the city, and is being charged to the Council on that basis.
Asked how this relates to the Stink, Haldan explains that, during the course of their excavations, the dwarves broke into a system of caverns, which were filled with vicious, noxious "slime monsters". The dwarves managed to drive off the creatures, but now the "monsters" keep attacking them, and the dwarves have not been able seal the cave back up. The cave is the source of the stink, as it is filled with pools of a strange liquid that gives off terrible fumes.
The Padre finds this story a little thin, and says so, but after a whispered conversation the group agrees to see what they can do about the monsters. By the terms of their agreement with the Council, the quicker the stink is resolved, the more they will be paid.
Entering the caves, it quickly becomes apparent that there is more afoot than the dwarves confessed. The first cavern is very large, and shows signs of a fierce battle. The corpses of many lizard-like humanoids are stacked in the cave, and a shattered throne made of bones and rocks is in one corner. Searching the area around the throne, the Company find a concealed cache containing two pink crystals of a kind they cannot identify. That's what happens when you don't put any ranks in Appraise.
Progressing onwards, the group are attacked by three spiny, slime-covered lizards. Each lizard is about six feet long from nose to tail, and - despite Twinkle's hopes that they will be friends for Rejjie - quite hostile to the adventuring intruders. A sharp battle follows, during which the creatures prove able to spit acid, but eventually all three of the beasts are destroyed.
(DM's note: the lizards were just hell hounds with a different appearance, and the fire-related abilities changed to acid)
Attracted by the sound of the battle, a small winged humanoid, with a body covered in slime, flies into the cavern. Seeing the adventurers, it immediately turns and flies back into the darkness, chittering in alarm. The Company follow it carefully, and emerge into foul-smelling cavern with a floor of slimy mud.
Several of the small winged humanoids are on a ledge on the far side of the cavern. They appear to be arguing as the adventurers enter, but the Company's arrival soon ends the dispute: three of the creatures launch to the attack.
The Company has a lot of trouble with these enemies. Most blows seem to slide harmlessly off the creatures' slimy skins, and the beasts are not easy to hit in the first place, as they fly out of reach of the adventurers, then dive down to attack. That is, when they aren't scraping the acidic slime off their chests and throwing it at the intruders, or releasing large clouds of noxious fumes from ... other parts of their bodies.
Eventually, however, the adventurers develop some effective tactics: those with magic weapons find these hurt the creatures just fine, while those without begin to flank their enemies, allowing the rogues amongst them to launch crippling sneak attacks.
When two of the attacking creatures have been killed, a wizened example of the race calls out, speaking in broken common;
"Cease this fighting! These are not our true enemies!"
The last fighter is in a berserk rage, and does not listen, but the Company shifts to non-lethal attacks to end the battle without killing it. This done, they speak with the wizened creature, which seems willing negotiate. It names itself Yolgru, and explains that its people (whom it names as "mephits") were attacked by a monster unleashed by the dwarves, which is why they attacked the adventurers. Asked how it knows the dwarves released the monsters, it explains:
"It looks like one of their race, except that the flesh of its face is misshapen, the jaw replaced by a four tentacles, and the eyes turned purple and lidless. When it spies our people, it stuns them with its mind, and then consumes their brains."
(DM's note: at this point, the Padre's player started whimpering)
In exchange for the adventurers killing the beast, Yolgru continues, the mephits will leave. Currently, they are unable to leave because the creature's lair blocks the only exit, except for going past the dwarves (which is another reasons they have been attacking the engineers). Once they can leave, Yolgru says it will also give the adventurers what treasure the mephits have.
The Company agrees to go forth to battle the tentacled, brain-eating dwarf. But first, they return to speak with Haldan and demand to know what's going on.
Eventually, Haldan admits that the cave had actually been home to troglodytes, rather than the mephits. He defends the dwarves' attack on the reptilian humanoids, saying that they are well known to be vicious cannibals. When pressed some more, he admits that one of the dwarves went missing after the fight with the troglodytes: the dwarves assumed he had become lost in the tunnels, or been taken as food when the last few troglodytes fled the battle.
The Padre passes on the description of the monster that was given to them by the mephits, and Haldan immediately wants to seal the tunnel With the adventurers there to stand guard, he asserts, the mephits will not be able to stop them.
"It's safer to leave that thing undisturbed." He argues.
More or less because Haldan doesn't want them to, the group decides to kill the creature, and go forth to find its lair.
As advertised, the first thing the creature does when they do find it, is attack them all with a stunning mental blast. Only the Padre manages to resist the creature's attack.
"It's Ulfgar!" he exclaims, recognising his old adventuring companion in the ruined face of the dwarf-thing they now face. Then he shrugs and puts two arrows into it.
(DM's note: Ulfgar's player went AWOL after the third session of the campaign. I tacked a level in expert onto the 2 of fighter he already had, slapped the half-illithid template on top of that, and waited to see how the PCs would react to having to kill one of their own. The answer: without compunction.)
It takes a lot more than that to put the creature down, and several times it has its tentacles wrapped around one or another of the adventurers' heads, but each time they manage to free themselves before it can suck out their brains. Twinkle, in particular, proves a very slippery customer.
(DM's note: damn dice!)
When the creature finally falls, the adventurers loot the body, get their reward from the mephits, and instruct the engineers to seal up the caves. They then make a full report to the Council, and - when the Stink dissipates within 48 hours - receive a handsome reward.
Explanatory Notes
the dwarves did indeed break into the caves while quarrying stone illegally. The true reason they decided to stay, however, was that they found several of the strange pink crystals. Haldan (an Aristocrat 2/Expert 2) recognised this as a little known substance called rosenkryste, for which he knew that certain subterranean denizens would pay well: specifically the illithid. (Those of you with the EN World Player's Journal #3 may be thinking "isn't rosenkryste valuable to aboleth?" - the answer is "not when I originally came up with the stuff, but then WotC released the monsters SRD with mind flayers removed, and I had to change it". Unfortunately, one of the crystals was damaged in the fight with the troglodytes. It just happened to have a larval illithid within it, and said larva infected Ulfgar, who was one of the engineers. Haldan had hoped to find more rosenkryste, but once the PCs mentioned the half-illithid, he was more concerned with hiding what he'd been up to than making any further profit. The PCs, for their part, never told Haldan about the two crystals they found. Nor did they ever find anyone who could tell them what the stuff was. So they just kept it. Sooner or later, that was going to get them into trouble ).
The Company of the Random Encounter receive an invitation to Marikest Council Hall. Many of their number are off on personal errands, but the Padre is able to locate Ming Li, Sirdros, Twinkle (a recruitment he's not sure was wise) and Seraphina, who has been more or less adopted into the group and who now experiences the inevitable Tweedlefinkle introduction. Despite the halfling rather brusquely interrupting the gnome, the two soon become fast friends. Darn small-sized, animal-riding cliquey people.
At Council Hall, the Company learns that Marikest has been having considerable trouble with its sewer system, in recent weeks. A group of dwarven engineers were hired to alleviate the problem. Although initially the dwarves were successful, "The Stink" (as the councillors call it) is now back and worse than ever.
With people in the area of the Stink actually becoming physically unwell from the stench, and their patience with the dwarves running out, the Council (and specifically Margan Talhaus, who does most of the talking) ask the adventurers to look into it.
A significant amount of gold is mentioned, so the Company takes little time in agreeing to the proposal.
Travelling to the warehouse where the dwarves are based, the Company find it empty. There is, however, a sewer entrance gate, from which a nauseating smell is emerging. The fumes are so bad, Twinkle swears she can see them.
Wrapping scented scarves over their faces, the group descends, and begins looking for the dwarves. The first thing they find, however, is a dead beggar, wrapped in a ragged cloak. Approaching the body (surely to see if the man is alright, with no thoughts of looting the dead), the Company are startled (not to mention surprised) when the cloak suddenly flies into the air and attacks!
Five against one seems like good odds, but with only a narrow walkway to stand on, the adventurers are unable to get their numbers properly into the battle. The cloaker has a few tricks of its own, as well. It manages to down Sirdros during the course of the battle, but eventually the adventurers manage to get people on either side of it (thanks to the rogues eventually remembering their tumbling skills), and the creature is destroyed.
After healing Sirdros, the group continues their exploration. They find the dwarves, and also find them to be less than helpful. Sheer persistence, however, eventually forces the engineers to fetch their leader, a middle-aged dwarf named Haldan. Confronted by adventurers, Haldan admits that he and his men have been conducting their sewer repairs with stone they quarried in unauthorised excavations beneath Marikest. The stone is supposed to come from quarries outside the city, and is being charged to the Council on that basis.
Asked how this relates to the Stink, Haldan explains that, during the course of their excavations, the dwarves broke into a system of caverns, which were filled with vicious, noxious "slime monsters". The dwarves managed to drive off the creatures, but now the "monsters" keep attacking them, and the dwarves have not been able seal the cave back up. The cave is the source of the stink, as it is filled with pools of a strange liquid that gives off terrible fumes.
The Padre finds this story a little thin, and says so, but after a whispered conversation the group agrees to see what they can do about the monsters. By the terms of their agreement with the Council, the quicker the stink is resolved, the more they will be paid.
Entering the caves, it quickly becomes apparent that there is more afoot than the dwarves confessed. The first cavern is very large, and shows signs of a fierce battle. The corpses of many lizard-like humanoids are stacked in the cave, and a shattered throne made of bones and rocks is in one corner. Searching the area around the throne, the Company find a concealed cache containing two pink crystals of a kind they cannot identify. That's what happens when you don't put any ranks in Appraise.
Progressing onwards, the group are attacked by three spiny, slime-covered lizards. Each lizard is about six feet long from nose to tail, and - despite Twinkle's hopes that they will be friends for Rejjie - quite hostile to the adventuring intruders. A sharp battle follows, during which the creatures prove able to spit acid, but eventually all three of the beasts are destroyed.
(DM's note: the lizards were just hell hounds with a different appearance, and the fire-related abilities changed to acid)
Attracted by the sound of the battle, a small winged humanoid, with a body covered in slime, flies into the cavern. Seeing the adventurers, it immediately turns and flies back into the darkness, chittering in alarm. The Company follow it carefully, and emerge into foul-smelling cavern with a floor of slimy mud.
Several of the small winged humanoids are on a ledge on the far side of the cavern. They appear to be arguing as the adventurers enter, but the Company's arrival soon ends the dispute: three of the creatures launch to the attack.
The Company has a lot of trouble with these enemies. Most blows seem to slide harmlessly off the creatures' slimy skins, and the beasts are not easy to hit in the first place, as they fly out of reach of the adventurers, then dive down to attack. That is, when they aren't scraping the acidic slime off their chests and throwing it at the intruders, or releasing large clouds of noxious fumes from ... other parts of their bodies.
Eventually, however, the adventurers develop some effective tactics: those with magic weapons find these hurt the creatures just fine, while those without begin to flank their enemies, allowing the rogues amongst them to launch crippling sneak attacks.
When two of the attacking creatures have been killed, a wizened example of the race calls out, speaking in broken common;
"Cease this fighting! These are not our true enemies!"
The last fighter is in a berserk rage, and does not listen, but the Company shifts to non-lethal attacks to end the battle without killing it. This done, they speak with the wizened creature, which seems willing negotiate. It names itself Yolgru, and explains that its people (whom it names as "mephits") were attacked by a monster unleashed by the dwarves, which is why they attacked the adventurers. Asked how it knows the dwarves released the monsters, it explains:
"It looks like one of their race, except that the flesh of its face is misshapen, the jaw replaced by a four tentacles, and the eyes turned purple and lidless. When it spies our people, it stuns them with its mind, and then consumes their brains."
(DM's note: at this point, the Padre's player started whimpering)
In exchange for the adventurers killing the beast, Yolgru continues, the mephits will leave. Currently, they are unable to leave because the creature's lair blocks the only exit, except for going past the dwarves (which is another reasons they have been attacking the engineers). Once they can leave, Yolgru says it will also give the adventurers what treasure the mephits have.
The Company agrees to go forth to battle the tentacled, brain-eating dwarf. But first, they return to speak with Haldan and demand to know what's going on.
Eventually, Haldan admits that the cave had actually been home to troglodytes, rather than the mephits. He defends the dwarves' attack on the reptilian humanoids, saying that they are well known to be vicious cannibals. When pressed some more, he admits that one of the dwarves went missing after the fight with the troglodytes: the dwarves assumed he had become lost in the tunnels, or been taken as food when the last few troglodytes fled the battle.
The Padre passes on the description of the monster that was given to them by the mephits, and Haldan immediately wants to seal the tunnel With the adventurers there to stand guard, he asserts, the mephits will not be able to stop them.
"It's safer to leave that thing undisturbed." He argues.
More or less because Haldan doesn't want them to, the group decides to kill the creature, and go forth to find its lair.
As advertised, the first thing the creature does when they do find it, is attack them all with a stunning mental blast. Only the Padre manages to resist the creature's attack.
"It's Ulfgar!" he exclaims, recognising his old adventuring companion in the ruined face of the dwarf-thing they now face. Then he shrugs and puts two arrows into it.
(DM's note: Ulfgar's player went AWOL after the third session of the campaign. I tacked a level in expert onto the 2 of fighter he already had, slapped the half-illithid template on top of that, and waited to see how the PCs would react to having to kill one of their own. The answer: without compunction.)
It takes a lot more than that to put the creature down, and several times it has its tentacles wrapped around one or another of the adventurers' heads, but each time they manage to free themselves before it can suck out their brains. Twinkle, in particular, proves a very slippery customer.
(DM's note: damn dice!)
When the creature finally falls, the adventurers loot the body, get their reward from the mephits, and instruct the engineers to seal up the caves. They then make a full report to the Council, and - when the Stink dissipates within 48 hours - receive a handsome reward.
Explanatory Notes
the dwarves did indeed break into the caves while quarrying stone illegally. The true reason they decided to stay, however, was that they found several of the strange pink crystals. Haldan (an Aristocrat 2/Expert 2) recognised this as a little known substance called rosenkryste, for which he knew that certain subterranean denizens would pay well: specifically the illithid. (Those of you with the EN World Player's Journal #3 may be thinking "isn't rosenkryste valuable to aboleth?" - the answer is "not when I originally came up with the stuff, but then WotC released the monsters SRD with mind flayers removed, and I had to change it". Unfortunately, one of the crystals was damaged in the fight with the troglodytes. It just happened to have a larval illithid within it, and said larva infected Ulfgar, who was one of the engineers. Haldan had hoped to find more rosenkryste, but once the PCs mentioned the half-illithid, he was more concerned with hiding what he'd been up to than making any further profit. The PCs, for their part, never told Haldan about the two crystals they found. Nor did they ever find anyone who could tell them what the stuff was. So they just kept it. Sooner or later, that was going to get them into trouble
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