-
The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
KidCthulhu's Scarred Land story hour
- Thread starter Piratecat
- Start date
KidCthulhu
First Post
Piratecat said:
Am not. Well, maybe just a little. But only because I have studied from the masters (PC and Sagiro). Thanks for the bump, Capellan. Nice to know someone's reading!
Iron Chef BBQ
First Post
Piratecat said:
Make that a bagel.
Last edited by a moderator:
Hammerhead
Explorer
Cool story, so far. I particularily like the idea of "fast-forwarding" to higher levels.
Yoink!
Yoink!
Blood Jester
First Post
*Hands ICBBQ stale bagel*
Time to summon PC.
Time to summon PC.
KidCthulhu
First Post
Brief summary:
The party returns to Vesh with the spider tatooed captive. They debate long and hard about what to do with him. There are many votes for summary excecution, several votes for turnin ghim over to teh law, and a few votes for torture and then one of the above.
Finally, the 12th votes to turn the prisoner over to the law, who are better able to question him at length. The party leaves two members to guard the prisoner outside the city, while the rest go to consult with Lord Belgray. Beltray is fascinated by what they have to say, and congratulates them on their good work. He's particularly interested in the ritual that the spider man was using to try to free the shard of Thulkas. But after a brief digression into the fascinating (to Beltray at least) world of spellcraft, Beltray focuses, and makes some quick arrangements.
The party takes the prisoner to the local prison. Terri knows this place. You can't grow up in her neighbourhood and not fear the place. It's where they send the real hard cases. Impossible to escape from, and almost as impossible to be released alive from, it seems the ideal place for their find.
The party retires for the night, tired but feeling the glow of work well done.
The next morning they are breakfasting and preparing to visit Lord Beltray, to finish their briefing of the night before, when a messenger arrives at their door.
The prisoner has hanged himself during the night.
The party returns to Vesh with the spider tatooed captive. They debate long and hard about what to do with him. There are many votes for summary excecution, several votes for turnin ghim over to teh law, and a few votes for torture and then one of the above.
Finally, the 12th votes to turn the prisoner over to the law, who are better able to question him at length. The party leaves two members to guard the prisoner outside the city, while the rest go to consult with Lord Belgray. Beltray is fascinated by what they have to say, and congratulates them on their good work. He's particularly interested in the ritual that the spider man was using to try to free the shard of Thulkas. But after a brief digression into the fascinating (to Beltray at least) world of spellcraft, Beltray focuses, and makes some quick arrangements.
The party takes the prisoner to the local prison. Terri knows this place. You can't grow up in her neighbourhood and not fear the place. It's where they send the real hard cases. Impossible to escape from, and almost as impossible to be released alive from, it seems the ideal place for their find.
The party retires for the night, tired but feeling the glow of work well done.
The next morning they are breakfasting and preparing to visit Lord Beltray, to finish their briefing of the night before, when a messenger arrives at their door.
The prisoner has hanged himself during the night.
Last edited:
orchid blossom
Explorer
Woo Hoo! I've been going through withdrawl. I may have to go back and read the last few pages to refresh my mind.
Iron Chef BBQ
First Post
Spidey Gives Them the Slip (run of 12-23-03)
When our intrepid band of adventurers hears that the prisoner has hung himself, they rush to the prison. Carefully two guards are lowering the body to the floor, but one look and they know something is wrong. There’s the tattoo, and the face seems right, but the body glows with magic. After a quick dispel, they see the truth. This is an imposter, but how?
They are told that the prisoner had two visitors last night. Two men came in, and two men came out, but it seems obvious now that they weren’t the same two men. Our party leaves the prison dejected.
“You should have let us cut off that tattoo,” Marja snarls at Caerwyn. Caerwyn knows he did the right thing and sets his jaw in determination to find the escapee.
“Where would he go first, do you think?” asks Lucre. “To the box!” they all shout together and head off at a run to Beltray’s.
Beltray isn’t in when they arrive. The butler informs them that he has been called away to the Vigil Council. They quickly explain about the box, and the butler shows them to the library where it has been safely stored. Kalina detects magic, and it seems the same. They are anxious to head off after the man with the spider tattoo, but reluctant to leave the box unguarded. They have a quick discussion: Should they take it, leave it, or destroy it?
“Well,” muses Lucre, “Who can defend it better? Us or some wussy butler?” They agree it comes with them.
Before they hit the trail Kalina, Borin and Terri go to see Rossiter at the Temple of Enkili to purchase a strong curing wand (cure serious). Kalina’s been contemplating it for a while and finally approached the group about getting the money. At the temple Rossiter takes them into a room with several gates and a large wheel of chance. Borin says a brief prayer and spins it. Number three comes up and the corresponding gate slides open. Inside the corridor is a wand worth 11,000 gp. There’s also a small leather sling and a few other items. While Borin pays for the wand, Terri tries to pocket the sling, but Rossiter’s quick eyes are used to such things. He quickly spots her. Just as quickly Terri becomes nonchalant, picking up the sling like she was going to ask him about it all along. “Can I borrow it?” she asks knowing she doesn’t have the money for it. “Oh, and what does it do?”
Rossiter signs, “Yes, you can borrow it, but you will owe me a favor whenever I ask. It’s worth 18,000 gp, so it’s not a trifle. It will smite a victim of stricture (lawful) with the nature of Enkili (chaotic damage).” “Cool!” responds Terri as she shoves the sling in her pocket.
Meanwhile, Caerwyn stops by the Chapter House to hire out spare horses. They intend to ride hard non-stop. He’s done this before. It’s pretty perfunctory.
“Of course, sir. Seven horses for one of the cohorts? That’s no problem.” He pulls out a short form and a pot of ink. “Now, which cohort did you say it was for?”
“The twelth.”
“Indeed,” responds the stable keep. His face makes no reaction, but he reaches for several more forms for Caerwyn to fill out. “All standard, sir, I assure you,” he mutters.
None-the-less, in an hour from when they started they are on the road and riding fast. Fang will follow at his own pace. Kalina turns herself into a filcher, crawls into one of the saddlebags and falls asleep. They ride through the night.
At mid-morning the next day, Kalina checks that they are still on the trail. She spots a big burn track. “Could it be the remnant of another gate?” someone asks, but Kalina is pretty sure a single creature made it. A little farther along she finds tracks, not that they would be hard to spot. The marks are from wide claws, as long as a human arm. “It came through about a day ago, and it’s heading toward that tiny town,” Kalina warns.
Caerwyn is about to spur his horse after the beast. If a town is in danger, he feels there is no choice but to jump to its defense. The others are more wary. “What if Spider Face set this thing loose to keep us off his trail?” Marja asks. “If he gets that piece of Thulcas free while we fight this creature a lot more people are going to be in danger.” The others agree and turn their horses in the direction of the gate. When they reach the spot, the gate is gone. The Stone pillars are a pile of rubble, and the flames are out. The huge claw marks clearly came through here. They quickly surmise that this creature, whatever it is, knocked the pillars down as it came through. The good news is that unless there’s another entrance the man with the spider tattoo has been thwarted as well. They turn back around.
The horses are tiring rapidly. They’ve been riding for over 24 hours. Fortunately, the tracks are easy to follow. Occasionally at the side of the trail there are huge burned swaths of ground. After three hours the trail begins to look fresher. They find a large hollow where it looks like the creature lay down to rest. Kira starts to recognize landmarks. They are a few hours from Rensers Lodge, a small town where an aunt of hers lives. “She paints stuff,” shudders Kira, but it’s hard to tell if she’s shuddering at the thought of this beast attaching her aunt’s home, or at the thought of her aunt’s artwork.
As they crest the top of a small knoll they see and hear the town all at once. There nestled in a little sunlit valley lies a tiny weathered village with prim white cottages with blue trim. One, they can clearly see, has a multitude of painted rocks in the yard. At the moment that this quaint scene appears they hear the screaming. In the tiny town square a fiery black lizard sits on its haunches, its red and orange wings beat the flames around it like bellows. Its skin moves and cracks releasing great gusts of hot steam in red flashes like the surface of flowing lava.
The party rides swiftly into the town square. Kalina calms the horses and settles them down so they don’t bolt into the woods. Lucre tumbles off his horse and behind a building activating skate as he rolls.
Kalina turns from the horses and creates a sleet storm sending icy rain down on the creature creating hissing steam all around. The word, “Doooom!” resounds over the screaming and hissing as Terri casts, but to no affect.
The creature turns and stumbles, clearly affected by the ice and rain. It belches fire from its gut releasing furnace-like heat in a blast of pure hate and fury.
Kel spurs his horse forward, but as the horse’s hooves hit the slick icy ground around the fiery creature, the poor beast starts to slide. Kel manages to remain in the saddle, and the horse manages to keep its footing, but they both slide directly into the creature’s side. Kel’s lance glances wide in a move that is gallant, but utterly useless.
Lucre rushes in, hits the ice, lands on his butt and slides another ten feet. While Kira starts to sing, Marja and Kalina descend on Borin. Kalina casts protection from elements and Marja casts haste and fly. As Borin rises into the air, he rages. Both flying he and Marja circle the creature which tries to rise to its feet. The pelting sleet gets in their eyes. Marja’s ice knife goes wide, but the beast flinches from the splash damage as it falls again. Borin smashes into its neck. “Aim for the light spots,” he howls over the storm. “They’re softer than the black spots.” He swings again and missed, swinging just over the head of his cousin standing below.
“Hey,” Lucre rubs his head where he felt the swoosh of Borin’s axe. “When they say I’m a head shorter than everyone else…”
Finally the beast regains its feet, and as Kel and Borin attack again, it slashes out with fury tearing Borin’s left arm to shreds.
Caerwyn finally dismounts, but he hesitates to run in onto the ice in his heavy armor. Marja catches sight of him from the corner of her eye. “He fights about as much as Kenyan,” she giggles.
In quick succession Lucre scored a critical hit, Marja sinks an ice knife deep into its flesh, and Borin hits it twice then takes refuge behind Lucre who taunts the creature. It rises to its full height and exhales burning flames. They both dodge, but Lucre suffers minor burns. As the beast lowers its head to spray the ground with flame, Kel buries his great sword into its neck. Caerwyn charges, but it catches sight of him and opens its jaws wide. One fang pierces Caerwyn’s helmet slashing his neck.
Lucre power attacks, but misses. His sword, the Citadel, hisses in his head, “Foolish. Foolish. Concentrate.” “I’d have hit it if it were still lying on its back,” Lucre responds defiantly. “Are your foes to lie prone for you?” asks the sword in disgust.
Kalina circles the battle field with her wand and heals Borin and Caerwyn.
Borin thrusts his fist violently across the side of the creature’s neck. Kel climbs up on top of the beast preparing to attack. Lucre moves in below and extends his long stretchy arms. Remembering the words of the Citadel, he aims carefully and stabs his sword up between to swirling red scales. The beast falls dead on top of him. Muffled words burble out from under the huge belly. Kalina finds a foot protruding from underneath and sends healing power rushing through his body.
Borin and Caerwyn push at the body while Lucre heaves from underneath. They raise the creature enough for Kel to grap Lucre’s legs and pull him free giving him a body long brush burn as he does so. “Next time, pull with the scales,” Caerwyn points out.
Lucre stands and brushes himself off. “Thanks, guys. By the way, who struck the killing blow?”
“Why you did!” Kel exclaims.
“No, really.”
From behind buildings and down narrow alleys the townsfolk appear. Caerwyn heals those who are hurt. A shocked-looking woman with a straw head decorated with fruit appears. Terri approaches her with her hand extended, “You must be Aunt Matilda. We’re friends of your niece.”
“My niece Rosamund?” the lady asks puzzled.
“No, Kira,” Terri offers.
“Kira? I don’t have a niece Kira.” Terri points to Kira. “Isn’t she your niece?” then looking at Kira, “Hey, what is your name?”
”I like Sabine,” Kira offers sheepishly looking at her aunt.
“Esther, dear.” The woman embraces Kira. “What are you doing here?”
When our intrepid band of adventurers hears that the prisoner has hung himself, they rush to the prison. Carefully two guards are lowering the body to the floor, but one look and they know something is wrong. There’s the tattoo, and the face seems right, but the body glows with magic. After a quick dispel, they see the truth. This is an imposter, but how?
They are told that the prisoner had two visitors last night. Two men came in, and two men came out, but it seems obvious now that they weren’t the same two men. Our party leaves the prison dejected.
“You should have let us cut off that tattoo,” Marja snarls at Caerwyn. Caerwyn knows he did the right thing and sets his jaw in determination to find the escapee.
“Where would he go first, do you think?” asks Lucre. “To the box!” they all shout together and head off at a run to Beltray’s.
Beltray isn’t in when they arrive. The butler informs them that he has been called away to the Vigil Council. They quickly explain about the box, and the butler shows them to the library where it has been safely stored. Kalina detects magic, and it seems the same. They are anxious to head off after the man with the spider tattoo, but reluctant to leave the box unguarded. They have a quick discussion: Should they take it, leave it, or destroy it?
“Well,” muses Lucre, “Who can defend it better? Us or some wussy butler?” They agree it comes with them.
Before they hit the trail Kalina, Borin and Terri go to see Rossiter at the Temple of Enkili to purchase a strong curing wand (cure serious). Kalina’s been contemplating it for a while and finally approached the group about getting the money. At the temple Rossiter takes them into a room with several gates and a large wheel of chance. Borin says a brief prayer and spins it. Number three comes up and the corresponding gate slides open. Inside the corridor is a wand worth 11,000 gp. There’s also a small leather sling and a few other items. While Borin pays for the wand, Terri tries to pocket the sling, but Rossiter’s quick eyes are used to such things. He quickly spots her. Just as quickly Terri becomes nonchalant, picking up the sling like she was going to ask him about it all along. “Can I borrow it?” she asks knowing she doesn’t have the money for it. “Oh, and what does it do?”
Rossiter signs, “Yes, you can borrow it, but you will owe me a favor whenever I ask. It’s worth 18,000 gp, so it’s not a trifle. It will smite a victim of stricture (lawful) with the nature of Enkili (chaotic damage).” “Cool!” responds Terri as she shoves the sling in her pocket.
Meanwhile, Caerwyn stops by the Chapter House to hire out spare horses. They intend to ride hard non-stop. He’s done this before. It’s pretty perfunctory.
“Of course, sir. Seven horses for one of the cohorts? That’s no problem.” He pulls out a short form and a pot of ink. “Now, which cohort did you say it was for?”
“The twelth.”
“Indeed,” responds the stable keep. His face makes no reaction, but he reaches for several more forms for Caerwyn to fill out. “All standard, sir, I assure you,” he mutters.
None-the-less, in an hour from when they started they are on the road and riding fast. Fang will follow at his own pace. Kalina turns herself into a filcher, crawls into one of the saddlebags and falls asleep. They ride through the night.
At mid-morning the next day, Kalina checks that they are still on the trail. She spots a big burn track. “Could it be the remnant of another gate?” someone asks, but Kalina is pretty sure a single creature made it. A little farther along she finds tracks, not that they would be hard to spot. The marks are from wide claws, as long as a human arm. “It came through about a day ago, and it’s heading toward that tiny town,” Kalina warns.
Caerwyn is about to spur his horse after the beast. If a town is in danger, he feels there is no choice but to jump to its defense. The others are more wary. “What if Spider Face set this thing loose to keep us off his trail?” Marja asks. “If he gets that piece of Thulcas free while we fight this creature a lot more people are going to be in danger.” The others agree and turn their horses in the direction of the gate. When they reach the spot, the gate is gone. The Stone pillars are a pile of rubble, and the flames are out. The huge claw marks clearly came through here. They quickly surmise that this creature, whatever it is, knocked the pillars down as it came through. The good news is that unless there’s another entrance the man with the spider tattoo has been thwarted as well. They turn back around.
The horses are tiring rapidly. They’ve been riding for over 24 hours. Fortunately, the tracks are easy to follow. Occasionally at the side of the trail there are huge burned swaths of ground. After three hours the trail begins to look fresher. They find a large hollow where it looks like the creature lay down to rest. Kira starts to recognize landmarks. They are a few hours from Rensers Lodge, a small town where an aunt of hers lives. “She paints stuff,” shudders Kira, but it’s hard to tell if she’s shuddering at the thought of this beast attaching her aunt’s home, or at the thought of her aunt’s artwork.
As they crest the top of a small knoll they see and hear the town all at once. There nestled in a little sunlit valley lies a tiny weathered village with prim white cottages with blue trim. One, they can clearly see, has a multitude of painted rocks in the yard. At the moment that this quaint scene appears they hear the screaming. In the tiny town square a fiery black lizard sits on its haunches, its red and orange wings beat the flames around it like bellows. Its skin moves and cracks releasing great gusts of hot steam in red flashes like the surface of flowing lava.
The party rides swiftly into the town square. Kalina calms the horses and settles them down so they don’t bolt into the woods. Lucre tumbles off his horse and behind a building activating skate as he rolls.
Kalina turns from the horses and creates a sleet storm sending icy rain down on the creature creating hissing steam all around. The word, “Doooom!” resounds over the screaming and hissing as Terri casts, but to no affect.
The creature turns and stumbles, clearly affected by the ice and rain. It belches fire from its gut releasing furnace-like heat in a blast of pure hate and fury.
Kel spurs his horse forward, but as the horse’s hooves hit the slick icy ground around the fiery creature, the poor beast starts to slide. Kel manages to remain in the saddle, and the horse manages to keep its footing, but they both slide directly into the creature’s side. Kel’s lance glances wide in a move that is gallant, but utterly useless.
Lucre rushes in, hits the ice, lands on his butt and slides another ten feet. While Kira starts to sing, Marja and Kalina descend on Borin. Kalina casts protection from elements and Marja casts haste and fly. As Borin rises into the air, he rages. Both flying he and Marja circle the creature which tries to rise to its feet. The pelting sleet gets in their eyes. Marja’s ice knife goes wide, but the beast flinches from the splash damage as it falls again. Borin smashes into its neck. “Aim for the light spots,” he howls over the storm. “They’re softer than the black spots.” He swings again and missed, swinging just over the head of his cousin standing below.
“Hey,” Lucre rubs his head where he felt the swoosh of Borin’s axe. “When they say I’m a head shorter than everyone else…”
Finally the beast regains its feet, and as Kel and Borin attack again, it slashes out with fury tearing Borin’s left arm to shreds.
Caerwyn finally dismounts, but he hesitates to run in onto the ice in his heavy armor. Marja catches sight of him from the corner of her eye. “He fights about as much as Kenyan,” she giggles.
In quick succession Lucre scored a critical hit, Marja sinks an ice knife deep into its flesh, and Borin hits it twice then takes refuge behind Lucre who taunts the creature. It rises to its full height and exhales burning flames. They both dodge, but Lucre suffers minor burns. As the beast lowers its head to spray the ground with flame, Kel buries his great sword into its neck. Caerwyn charges, but it catches sight of him and opens its jaws wide. One fang pierces Caerwyn’s helmet slashing his neck.
Lucre power attacks, but misses. His sword, the Citadel, hisses in his head, “Foolish. Foolish. Concentrate.” “I’d have hit it if it were still lying on its back,” Lucre responds defiantly. “Are your foes to lie prone for you?” asks the sword in disgust.
Kalina circles the battle field with her wand and heals Borin and Caerwyn.
Borin thrusts his fist violently across the side of the creature’s neck. Kel climbs up on top of the beast preparing to attack. Lucre moves in below and extends his long stretchy arms. Remembering the words of the Citadel, he aims carefully and stabs his sword up between to swirling red scales. The beast falls dead on top of him. Muffled words burble out from under the huge belly. Kalina finds a foot protruding from underneath and sends healing power rushing through his body.
Borin and Caerwyn push at the body while Lucre heaves from underneath. They raise the creature enough for Kel to grap Lucre’s legs and pull him free giving him a body long brush burn as he does so. “Next time, pull with the scales,” Caerwyn points out.
Lucre stands and brushes himself off. “Thanks, guys. By the way, who struck the killing blow?”
“Why you did!” Kel exclaims.
“No, really.”
From behind buildings and down narrow alleys the townsfolk appear. Caerwyn heals those who are hurt. A shocked-looking woman with a straw head decorated with fruit appears. Terri approaches her with her hand extended, “You must be Aunt Matilda. We’re friends of your niece.”
“My niece Rosamund?” the lady asks puzzled.
“No, Kira,” Terri offers.
“Kira? I don’t have a niece Kira.” Terri points to Kira. “Isn’t she your niece?” then looking at Kira, “Hey, what is your name?”
”I like Sabine,” Kira offers sheepishly looking at her aunt.
“Esther, dear.” The woman embraces Kira. “What are you doing here?”
Blood Jester
First Post
I will point out that Caerwyn did stab the beast while it was chewing on his head. (He was using Toby tactics)
Similar Threads
