KidCthulhu's Scarred Land story hour
Okay, what follows is the story of our arrival in Otenazu, Morgaine's hometown. The backstory (still in the process of being written -- I'm trying to write and grade midterm exams/papers) is that we've come to Otenazu in search of clues and proof of our innocence. We're wanted in Amalthea unjustly. At any rate, this is the first part.
--Morgaine
*******************
Morgaine and her companions crest the hill and get their first glimpse of Otenazu, nestled as it is at the foot of the Keldar Mountains. A twin city, forming the boundaries of the Canyon of Souls, Otenazu is home to people from all walks of life. Its citizens are hale and hearty, with the rugged disposition that comes from making a frontier town home. The small city sprawls out before the troupe and the giant base of the Keldar Mountains seems to rise up from within its midst, overshadowing the entire area.
At the base of this hill is the cottage in which Morgaine lived with her grandmother for several years before the old woman passed away a year ago. Tears fill her eyes as she sees her home for the first time in over a year. “We’re home, “ she whispers softly. Borin grunts, “No, you’re home.” But she doesn’t hear him, running as she is toward the squat wood hut nestled just on the outskirts of town. Smoke curls up from the chimney and it looks as though someone has done some work to fix up the place – though she knows she did not leave anyone in charge. Morgaine left in too much of a hurry to think about those kinds of details. If the truth be told, Morgaine would not think of those details if she’d had a month to plan.
The painted wooden sign atop the door reads “Penderwen’s Rest” in bright gold letters above a small green bottle tipped in a perpetual pour. “That’s funny, that’s my name but I know we didn’t have a sign like that.” Morgaine muses to her companions who have by now caught up with her. Inside there is a clamor and loud shouts carry through an open window on the side of the two-story building. Deke looks inside the window and sees several large, burly travelers in a fistfight with some obvious local patrons. He ducks as a tall brunette in a traveling outfit is tossed out the window by two older men wearing suspenders. “How is this happening??” Morgaine despairs as she and Gemma tend to the unconscious woman strewn on the ground amid shards of glass.
In a strange twist of irony, the woman regains consciousness – thanks to the ministrations of Gemma – only to attack her healer with her fists. “It’s YOU!!!” she shouts as her fist connects with Gemma’s temple in a blow that knocks the hooded figure back a step. Gemma quickly returns the favor and the stranger is once again knocked unconscious. In the woman’s other hand is a wanted poster with the likeness of each member of the group hastily drawn and a reward offered for their successful capture and return to Amalthea. Marja takes one look at the picture and petulantly remarks “that looks nothing like me!” Borin decides to enter the tavern when he hears someone inside cry out in indignantly, “not our Morgaine!”
Once inside, it becomes obvious these bounty hunters are getting the better of the locals in the brawl. Xenia, anxious to use her new “waymaker” shield, also makes a beeline for the door. After all, she does enjoy a good bar fight. Kalina follows on her heels, casting flame blade once inside. Marja also enters the bar, muttering something about “at least they could have tried to make it a decent picture.” Gemma, Deke, Morgaine and Fergus are left outside, watching through the windows.
Inside the lodge turned tavern, there is a long wooden bar lining the back wall. Behind it are an assortment of libations, pint glasses and beer steins. Tables that were once neatly arranged are overturned and scattered about the room, some in splinters where several townspeople have been thrown into them. Mugs of ale spill languidly onto a now dingy, bloody floor and the place bears small resemblance to the quiet country inn Morgaine has described. In the center of the room are six motley bounty hunters, each holding wanted posters on yellowing parchment paper. A belligerent dwarf who is obviously the leader of this gang is threatening an older man, grabbing his lapels and waving the wanted poster in the man’s face. Various other townspeople are wildly swinging at a small, half-elven man who easily sidesteps their intended blows.
--Morgaine
*******************
Morgaine and her companions crest the hill and get their first glimpse of Otenazu, nestled as it is at the foot of the Keldar Mountains. A twin city, forming the boundaries of the Canyon of Souls, Otenazu is home to people from all walks of life. Its citizens are hale and hearty, with the rugged disposition that comes from making a frontier town home. The small city sprawls out before the troupe and the giant base of the Keldar Mountains seems to rise up from within its midst, overshadowing the entire area.
At the base of this hill is the cottage in which Morgaine lived with her grandmother for several years before the old woman passed away a year ago. Tears fill her eyes as she sees her home for the first time in over a year. “We’re home, “ she whispers softly. Borin grunts, “No, you’re home.” But she doesn’t hear him, running as she is toward the squat wood hut nestled just on the outskirts of town. Smoke curls up from the chimney and it looks as though someone has done some work to fix up the place – though she knows she did not leave anyone in charge. Morgaine left in too much of a hurry to think about those kinds of details. If the truth be told, Morgaine would not think of those details if she’d had a month to plan.
The painted wooden sign atop the door reads “Penderwen’s Rest” in bright gold letters above a small green bottle tipped in a perpetual pour. “That’s funny, that’s my name but I know we didn’t have a sign like that.” Morgaine muses to her companions who have by now caught up with her. Inside there is a clamor and loud shouts carry through an open window on the side of the two-story building. Deke looks inside the window and sees several large, burly travelers in a fistfight with some obvious local patrons. He ducks as a tall brunette in a traveling outfit is tossed out the window by two older men wearing suspenders. “How is this happening??” Morgaine despairs as she and Gemma tend to the unconscious woman strewn on the ground amid shards of glass.
In a strange twist of irony, the woman regains consciousness – thanks to the ministrations of Gemma – only to attack her healer with her fists. “It’s YOU!!!” she shouts as her fist connects with Gemma’s temple in a blow that knocks the hooded figure back a step. Gemma quickly returns the favor and the stranger is once again knocked unconscious. In the woman’s other hand is a wanted poster with the likeness of each member of the group hastily drawn and a reward offered for their successful capture and return to Amalthea. Marja takes one look at the picture and petulantly remarks “that looks nothing like me!” Borin decides to enter the tavern when he hears someone inside cry out in indignantly, “not our Morgaine!”
Once inside, it becomes obvious these bounty hunters are getting the better of the locals in the brawl. Xenia, anxious to use her new “waymaker” shield, also makes a beeline for the door. After all, she does enjoy a good bar fight. Kalina follows on her heels, casting flame blade once inside. Marja also enters the bar, muttering something about “at least they could have tried to make it a decent picture.” Gemma, Deke, Morgaine and Fergus are left outside, watching through the windows.
Inside the lodge turned tavern, there is a long wooden bar lining the back wall. Behind it are an assortment of libations, pint glasses and beer steins. Tables that were once neatly arranged are overturned and scattered about the room, some in splinters where several townspeople have been thrown into them. Mugs of ale spill languidly onto a now dingy, bloody floor and the place bears small resemblance to the quiet country inn Morgaine has described. In the center of the room are six motley bounty hunters, each holding wanted posters on yellowing parchment paper. A belligerent dwarf who is obviously the leader of this gang is threatening an older man, grabbing his lapels and waving the wanted poster in the man’s face. Various other townspeople are wildly swinging at a small, half-elven man who easily sidesteps their intended blows.
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KidCthulhu
First Post
For those of you wondering where this fits in, see PC's initial post. This is Episode 12.
Think of this storyhour as being a little like Memento. Only with less half-naked Guy Pierce. Which I consider to be it's major failing.
Think of this storyhour as being a little like Memento. Only with less half-naked Guy Pierce. Which I consider to be it's major failing.
Upon their entrance, the entire tavern stops short as Borin grabs his battle-axe and bellows, “what do you want with my friend Morgaine.” A flutter of whispers whips through the crowd at the thought that she is a friend of this unkempt, wild-looking dwarf. The bounty hunters stare at their fugitives in suspended belief for a few seconds. One half-orc pulls out his wanted poster, looks at the picture, looks at Borin, looks at the picture again and then charges the dwarf with a club. Kalina wields her flaming sword in wide arcs and attempts to intimidate their foes. She succeeds only in frightening the townspeople who quickly scamper behind the bar at her request. Twenty people cram themselves in the small space between the bar and the wall, whispering nervously to themselves and praying this wooden structure affords them protection. Marja casts “magic missile” at the giant bearing down on Borin, two glowing green orbs of energy sparking from her outstretched fingers and sinking deeply into his reddish flesh. He howls in pain, momentarily stunned, but quickly regains composure, landing a violent blow on Borin’s shoulder.
From outside, Morgaine pokes her head into the window and is greeted with cheers and warm wishes from several people behind the bar. She greets them happily with a winning smile. Trying her best to remain focused, she then casts “sleep” into the melee, as her “fans” ponder what she is doing. Drawing upon the powerful magic within, Morgaine utters the final words of the spell. Two rag-tag humans fall to the floor, snoring softly, sending a cheer through the crowd watching her every move. Fergus begins singing through the window – a rousing chorus of the bravery and triumph of an adventuring party, heartening his companions to act boldly and swiftly. Gemma ensures that her “patient” will not die from her wounds but will not pose any further threat to herself or her friends. She then binds the woman’s hands and feet together, tying the knots perhaps a tad tighter than they need to be. Very few people have the opportunity to cuff Gemma. Fewer still live to tell the tale.
Once hit, Borin becomes delirious with rage, foam spewing from his mouth, and swings his great axe with every ounce of strength he has. Not only has this beast attacked him, he’s spilt several pints of beer in the process -- both unpardonable offenses. As a dwarf, Borin has an innate hatred of these hulking creatures. A fact that becomes obvious when the half-orc stops mid-stride while his head continues its journey, landing with a sploot in the chandelier hanging from the second floor ceiling. At this, one of the bounty hunters dives out the window, landing in a heap at Deke’s feet. Unfortunately, Deke is too stunned to react and the mercenary leaps to his feet and takes off at a dead run in the opposite direction of town. Realizing this half-elf is faster than he is, Deke activates his “ring of jumping,” landing at the fleeing man’s feet. Unhappily, because it was a standing jump, Deke barely grabs the man, who trips but keeps running. Fang now begins to pursue Deke and the bounty hunter, quickly gaining ground on his “prey.” Once again, Deke activates his “ring of jumping” and in an impressive display of acrobatics takes a running leap and lands deftly on the retreating man’s shoulders, tackling him to the ground. After a brief struggle, Deke pins him down while Fang attacks brutally. In one swift motion, the rogue slices neatly into his throat with his rapier, killing the stranger instantly. He mutters something about half-breeds as he makes his way back toward the tavern.
Another man sails out the back window and disappears around the corner of the building. Morgaine gives chase only to find him standing just on the other side, panting furiously and obviously terrified. Chanting quietly, Morgaine methodically and rhythmically waves her hands in front of his eyes. In seconds, she watches his eyes lose focus and his mouth grow slack. “Hypnotized” as he is, she commands him to follow her back inside the building, where she ensures that no one attack him while he is under the spell. She also commands him to wipe his chin and is chagrined to realize that, seconds later, he is still wiping.
Inside, Xenia runs full tilt into a man slightly shorter than her 6’ frame, shield leveled into his chest and stomach. They trample back into a curtained alcove and the sounds of a struggle can be heard over the din in the main room. The greasy, filthy dwarf/leader stands toe-to-toe with Borin, hurling vile insult upon insult at the already raving barbarian. Some of the local patrons look horrified as they learn the translations of the dwarven obscenities. Borin charges at the ragged Dwarf and they tumble to the floor, also landing behind the thick blue curtain. The curtain sways and flaps haphazardly, occasionally revealing the wrestling match beyond. Periodically the patrons glimpse a foot or arm jabbing through the gap, but it is impossible to discern to whom they belong. Intermingled with unintelligible grunts and groans, are the sharp sounds of the dwarf still swearing violently at Borin. Some allege they also hear the distinct sound of bones breaking, but none venture into the alcove to check.
Kalina and Marja rush back into the storage room to find Xenia still repeatedly punching a young man in the face, though he is incapacitated and nearly unconscious. Borin is sitting atop a cursing dwarf who is bleeding profusely from his broken nose yet still struggling with him. Marja casts “ice knife” at the bounty hunter, watching the icy dagger spring forth from her hand. Unfortunately, because of the entanglement, she misses her target and looks on in horror as the glass-like shards burst in midair. As luck would have it, no one is seriously injured. No one except Marja, herself, that is. She gasps in pain as the shards bury themselves in her skin. She shivers uncontrollably as they melt into her bloodstream. Admittedly, this was less than effective.
Ultimately, Borin manages to subdue his insolent opponent, one last fist to his mouth renders it useless. Eventually the party manages to bind the bounty hunters in their own shackles. They drag all six mercenaries into the back room where Deke carefully searches their possessions and weapons. He finds little of value, but does take their remaining wanted posters. While deciding what to do with the outsiders, an old friend of Morgaine’s grandmother offers to accompany the gang to the town jail. Being a retired (and still honorary) member of the city Guard, it does not take much convincing that they should be charged with destruction of property. In the ensuing confusion, the townspeople gather around Morgaine, hugging her and inquiring about the reason the bounty hunters are after her. Borin exhaustedly slumps in a chair, demanding beer.
A plump, middle aged woman with graying hair hastily shoves everyone out of the way as she makes her way to Morgaine. Morgaine instantly recognizes her as Nelly Windlass, her grandmother’s best friend, and gratefully enters the woman’s outstretched arms. After a long, warm embrace, Mrs. Windlass dabs away her tears. She remarks how good it is to see Morgaine after so long then scolds her for leaving so suddenly and without any word. Morgaine quickly wipes her own moist eyes as she tries to explain, finding a sudden lump in her throat prevents coherent speech. Borin once again demands beer, this time much louder and more forcefully, reminding Morgaine of her surroundings. Introductions are hastily made and they all settle down with pints of beer. Mrs. Windlass sends her husband for lunch for the weary travelers and the townspeople gather around to hear Morgaine’s tale of life in the “big city” of Amalthea.
Several hours and even more pints later, with their story told and their bellies full, the group decides to head to the only inn in Otenazu. Since this cottage has been turned into a tavern, there is no place for the group to sleep. Morgaine becomes despondent upon learning that Mrs. Windlass sold her possessions to a gnome several months prior. “He told us that he worked for you, dear. You mean you never got that stuff? Oh, dear.” It may very well explain all the strange visions she’s been having lately. In an effort to soothe the forlorn young woman, Nelly offers to clean out Morgaine’s room the next day so that she may at least have some place to stay. With a sigh, she agrees and the party makes their way through the darkened streets of Otenazu en route to secure lodging.
From outside, Morgaine pokes her head into the window and is greeted with cheers and warm wishes from several people behind the bar. She greets them happily with a winning smile. Trying her best to remain focused, she then casts “sleep” into the melee, as her “fans” ponder what she is doing. Drawing upon the powerful magic within, Morgaine utters the final words of the spell. Two rag-tag humans fall to the floor, snoring softly, sending a cheer through the crowd watching her every move. Fergus begins singing through the window – a rousing chorus of the bravery and triumph of an adventuring party, heartening his companions to act boldly and swiftly. Gemma ensures that her “patient” will not die from her wounds but will not pose any further threat to herself or her friends. She then binds the woman’s hands and feet together, tying the knots perhaps a tad tighter than they need to be. Very few people have the opportunity to cuff Gemma. Fewer still live to tell the tale.
Once hit, Borin becomes delirious with rage, foam spewing from his mouth, and swings his great axe with every ounce of strength he has. Not only has this beast attacked him, he’s spilt several pints of beer in the process -- both unpardonable offenses. As a dwarf, Borin has an innate hatred of these hulking creatures. A fact that becomes obvious when the half-orc stops mid-stride while his head continues its journey, landing with a sploot in the chandelier hanging from the second floor ceiling. At this, one of the bounty hunters dives out the window, landing in a heap at Deke’s feet. Unfortunately, Deke is too stunned to react and the mercenary leaps to his feet and takes off at a dead run in the opposite direction of town. Realizing this half-elf is faster than he is, Deke activates his “ring of jumping,” landing at the fleeing man’s feet. Unhappily, because it was a standing jump, Deke barely grabs the man, who trips but keeps running. Fang now begins to pursue Deke and the bounty hunter, quickly gaining ground on his “prey.” Once again, Deke activates his “ring of jumping” and in an impressive display of acrobatics takes a running leap and lands deftly on the retreating man’s shoulders, tackling him to the ground. After a brief struggle, Deke pins him down while Fang attacks brutally. In one swift motion, the rogue slices neatly into his throat with his rapier, killing the stranger instantly. He mutters something about half-breeds as he makes his way back toward the tavern.
Another man sails out the back window and disappears around the corner of the building. Morgaine gives chase only to find him standing just on the other side, panting furiously and obviously terrified. Chanting quietly, Morgaine methodically and rhythmically waves her hands in front of his eyes. In seconds, she watches his eyes lose focus and his mouth grow slack. “Hypnotized” as he is, she commands him to follow her back inside the building, where she ensures that no one attack him while he is under the spell. She also commands him to wipe his chin and is chagrined to realize that, seconds later, he is still wiping.
Inside, Xenia runs full tilt into a man slightly shorter than her 6’ frame, shield leveled into his chest and stomach. They trample back into a curtained alcove and the sounds of a struggle can be heard over the din in the main room. The greasy, filthy dwarf/leader stands toe-to-toe with Borin, hurling vile insult upon insult at the already raving barbarian. Some of the local patrons look horrified as they learn the translations of the dwarven obscenities. Borin charges at the ragged Dwarf and they tumble to the floor, also landing behind the thick blue curtain. The curtain sways and flaps haphazardly, occasionally revealing the wrestling match beyond. Periodically the patrons glimpse a foot or arm jabbing through the gap, but it is impossible to discern to whom they belong. Intermingled with unintelligible grunts and groans, are the sharp sounds of the dwarf still swearing violently at Borin. Some allege they also hear the distinct sound of bones breaking, but none venture into the alcove to check.
Kalina and Marja rush back into the storage room to find Xenia still repeatedly punching a young man in the face, though he is incapacitated and nearly unconscious. Borin is sitting atop a cursing dwarf who is bleeding profusely from his broken nose yet still struggling with him. Marja casts “ice knife” at the bounty hunter, watching the icy dagger spring forth from her hand. Unfortunately, because of the entanglement, she misses her target and looks on in horror as the glass-like shards burst in midair. As luck would have it, no one is seriously injured. No one except Marja, herself, that is. She gasps in pain as the shards bury themselves in her skin. She shivers uncontrollably as they melt into her bloodstream. Admittedly, this was less than effective.
Ultimately, Borin manages to subdue his insolent opponent, one last fist to his mouth renders it useless. Eventually the party manages to bind the bounty hunters in their own shackles. They drag all six mercenaries into the back room where Deke carefully searches their possessions and weapons. He finds little of value, but does take their remaining wanted posters. While deciding what to do with the outsiders, an old friend of Morgaine’s grandmother offers to accompany the gang to the town jail. Being a retired (and still honorary) member of the city Guard, it does not take much convincing that they should be charged with destruction of property. In the ensuing confusion, the townspeople gather around Morgaine, hugging her and inquiring about the reason the bounty hunters are after her. Borin exhaustedly slumps in a chair, demanding beer.
A plump, middle aged woman with graying hair hastily shoves everyone out of the way as she makes her way to Morgaine. Morgaine instantly recognizes her as Nelly Windlass, her grandmother’s best friend, and gratefully enters the woman’s outstretched arms. After a long, warm embrace, Mrs. Windlass dabs away her tears. She remarks how good it is to see Morgaine after so long then scolds her for leaving so suddenly and without any word. Morgaine quickly wipes her own moist eyes as she tries to explain, finding a sudden lump in her throat prevents coherent speech. Borin once again demands beer, this time much louder and more forcefully, reminding Morgaine of her surroundings. Introductions are hastily made and they all settle down with pints of beer. Mrs. Windlass sends her husband for lunch for the weary travelers and the townspeople gather around to hear Morgaine’s tale of life in the “big city” of Amalthea.
Several hours and even more pints later, with their story told and their bellies full, the group decides to head to the only inn in Otenazu. Since this cottage has been turned into a tavern, there is no place for the group to sleep. Morgaine becomes despondent upon learning that Mrs. Windlass sold her possessions to a gnome several months prior. “He told us that he worked for you, dear. You mean you never got that stuff? Oh, dear.” It may very well explain all the strange visions she’s been having lately. In an effort to soothe the forlorn young woman, Nelly offers to clean out Morgaine’s room the next day so that she may at least have some place to stay. With a sigh, she agrees and the party makes their way through the darkened streets of Otenazu en route to secure lodging.
Iron Chef BBQ
First Post
game write-up #1
For the record, I am Marja's player.
This post and the one that follows are the beginnings of our Scarred Lands adventures. Enjoy!
For those of you who cross-reference, this is episodes 1 through 4 as described by PC in an early post.
In a little pre-Scarred-Lands background, Fergus, Morgaine, Xenia and Deke plus a character named Eleanor (played by KidC) were hired to go protect a temple deep in the forest. Once there, they met Borin and Marja, two travel companions who happened to be passing by and stopped to give their aid to the temple as well. The group has several adventures, which conclude in the unfortunate death of Eleanor – a perfect break to move the campaign to the Scarred Lands…
Fergus, Borin, Marja, Morgaine, Xenia, and Deke were hired to keep watch at the edge of the Forest outside of the city of Amalthea. It was rumored that some Druids of Khet were traveling toward the city and this motley crew was to be the first defense. They were sent with an armed, cloaked woman whom none of them had met. Cool and detached, saying few words in the hours they spent in her company, Gemma (as she turned out to be) was something of an enigma. She remained all but hidden beneath her dark cloak despite the warmth of the day, ceaselessly scanning the horizon.
The group had not been in their tree fort long when Gemma spies three figures cloaked in dark capes accompanied by an abomination the likes of which none in the party had ever encountered. Recognizing them for the Khet worshippers they were, the party springs into action. All except Marja and Morgaine, that is. Gemma had fired off a shot from her longbow before Morgaine is aware anything is amiss. Marja comments on the prudence of shooting first and asking questions later but her companions had already scrambled out of the tree and are running full tilt at the evildoers. All except Xenia who fell out of the tree, landing with spikes in the ground. Only Morgaine and Gemma are there to hear her, and Gemma is of no mind to discuss philosophy as she fires again and again.
There is a great battle in which Borin, while raging, chops the “creature” almost in half. Gemma turns one of the Druids into a pincushion. Marja abandons her pacifist stance and joined the melee with magic missiles. Morgaine (after gathering her wits about her) summons a fiendish hawk, with the aid of summon monster I. And Xenia shows them why no one messes with her when she is mad – after she extricated herself from the ground.
Upon close examination, these were not humans after all but appear to be some type of snake-human breed. They have scale-like skin and forked tongues but have limbs and human heads. Several in the party shudder with revulsion. After searching the remains, Deke finds Mormo holy symbols on each of the humanoids. In the pocket of one he also finds a piece of paper on which was written a name and the name of an inn in town. Deke brings the holy symbols to the city guard to get the reward for killing the Mormo worshippers while the rest of the group goes to the Inn. They rent rooms while Gemma addresses a note to the gentleman, placing it on the message board in the common room. It reads simply “the meeting is cancelled.” She then posts herself in the corner to keep watch for anyone looking at the message.
Marja remains with Gemma at the Inn, sending Morgaine to bring her back some food. Meanwhile, Borin, Xenia, Morgaine, and Deke go out to a bar down the street for food and some drinks. Already, this is a bad idea. Someone at the bar insults Xenia, who is quick with a retort and even quicker to anger. Standing, she challenges him to say it again and things rapidly deteriorate. From somewhere in the crowd, Deke’s voice is heard screaming “Bar Fight!!!!!” And that’s exactly what happens -- tables are broken, chairs swung, punches thrown, and a bar owner gets really pissed off. At which point Morgaine tries desperately to calm the atmosphere by casting hypnotize on anyone who can hear her. As rattled as she is, however, this spell is less than effective. It might have had more effect if she had not lost consciousness after being hit with a chair (The DM – PirateCat -- criticaled his roll).
Meanwhile, back at the Inn, Gemma notices someone glance at the note and then go upstairs. She and Marja follow him up to his room where Gemma promptly kicks down the door. The man in the room attempts to rip Gemma’s face off until he notices Marja standing just outside the room (who happens to be quite a bit more attractive than Gemma and looking far less menacing). Leaning forward, he starts tearing at the skin around Marja’s face. Gemma and Marja manage to hold their own and even have him momentarily dazed when the group returns from the bar fight. The guy, with part of Marja’s skin, jumps out the window and disappears. The party attempts to give chase but the man has vanished without a trace. Hearing all this commotion, the innkeeper hustles upstairs and is dismayed to see that the room no longer has a door and Marja almost no longer has a face. He sends for the Guard and a Druid to heal all their scrapes, bruises and shredded faces.
Upon searching the room, the party finds a large box with scrolls, a long sword (Spider Bite +1, critical casts web), and a piece of paper with two local addresses on it. If memory serves me correctly, the party did not find these things without a small explosion and a room full of smoke, but Deke can’t remember this happening. They also find a file on the Innkeepers family, their movements during the last couple of days, their schedule, a very detailed description of what the Innkeeper looks like and map of the Inn with tunnels and rooms leading from the root cellar.
The night passes uneventfully as the party guards the room.
In the morning, as the party gathers in the room to decide how best to proceed, the Innkeeper comes upstairs. Upon seeing Marja, he comments “What are you doing up here, I thought I just saw you downstairs?” The group runs down the stairs, all except for Borin. Borin – the dwarf – jumps out the second story window, and starts looking around for the second Marja. When they can’t find “her” they ask the Innkeeper if anything strange has happened in the last couple of hours. He says that some men went down into his root cellar/basement earlier and now he can’t get into it. He tells Deke that he will give them a healing potion and 5 GP if they will clear out the basement.
Borin use’s his “Key” (i.e. his dwarven battle axe), to open the door to the basement and peers down the stairs. Good thing he did this because they are covered in caltrops. With a little nifty footwork Morgaine, Marja, Deke, Borin, and Gemma manage to get down the stairs into a basement full of junk. Borin goes into the second room in the basement, only to get ambushed from both sides by two thugs waiting for the group.
Borin goes DOWN, Deke and Marja drag his unconscious body back into the room they are in, and Morgaine uses the healing potion they got from the Inn keeper on him. The two thugs in the other room say “We don’t want to hurt you, just go away and we’ll be out of here shortly” (not going to happen). Deke tumbles into the second room and attacks the thug on one side of the doorway moments before Borin starts to take his revenge on the other guy who knocked him unconscious.
Morgaine tries talking to the bad guys, but they are a little busy. Then they see Marja and say “What are you doing up here? And what are these guys here for?” Being very quick Marja figures out that the person who looked like her must have hired these guys to guard something down here and now they think she is the second Marja. She sorts out the “miscommunication” and pays them the money that her alter ego owes them and they leave.
What they were guarding is a hole in the ground, which appears to lead into another room under the root cellar. Amalthea is built upon a fallen city, so what the hole is leading into is in fact another building upon which the Inn is built. The group goes down the hole and lands in a room with marble floors that is on a strange angle (the building collapsed and is now leaning). There are heaps of rubble and debris along the walls and on the floors, some of the debris was partially blocking the doorway out of the room. They find a vial of an unidentified potion and are heading out of the first room when they find the second Marja and the chase is on. Down many flights of stairs and past a snake-man who is lying down in what looks like a ritual circle with black flames all around and a symbol on the ground under him.
Finally the group catches the “Face Stealer” and two other priests of Khet are with him. The battle takes place in a circular room with a pillar of black flame (which is going up through the floor and is where the flame is coming from in the ritual circle). Deke gets a spell cast at him that puts maggots in his stomach and drops him to 1hp. Figuring nothing much could be worse he tries to burn the maggots out of his stomach by jumping over the black flame. When he lands on the ground he has only managed to knock himself unconscious (-2hp). Morgaine goes over to him and feeds him the potion that she found earlier (she has no idea what it does, but figures he’s dying anyway). (PC asks Deke, what are you thinking about right now? “Well, maggots of course”. ) Deke is polymorphed into a maggot. Luckily the shapechange gives him back 2hp’s and he is at zero. He proceeds to attempt to get nearer to Morgaine sensing the warmth. The group finishes off the three bad guys, including the face-stealer.
They go to the Temple of Denev and tell them about the creature of Mormo under the Inn. The next day there is a new owner of the Inn (she is an elderly woman who is a priestess of Denev).
Once the group is healed and rested they head out to take a look at the two addresses. The first one is an abandoned house and the second one appears to be derelict as well. The group goes into the second house and hears a slithering noise. Marja’s familiar (the snake “Garnet”) says she smells another snake, only bigger.
That’s when the giant snake comes down the stairs in front of the group. There is a brief hesitation: group looks at snake, snake looks at group. Then Marja (for the first time) jumps to the offensive and fires a magic missile at the snake. In response the snake lunges toward the nearest figure, Fergus, swallowing him head first, all the way down to his boots. From somewhere down the hall a ball of something gets shot toward the group, slowly forming into a ball of wriggling snakes. Lot’s of hacking and even Fergus attacking the snake from the inside by biting it finally take down the giant snake and the “Ball o’ Snakes”.
Xenia and Deke head down the hall and to the room on the right where they surprise a thug who appears to have been waiting for a signal of some kind. He didn’t get that signal, instead he got smacked by Xenia and the sword Spider Bite. While stuck to the wall by the sword he is knocked unconscious by Xenia (and then disposed of by Deke).
The rest of the group goes into the room on the left where they find the man-snake who was responsible for the fun “Ball O’ Snakes”. Borin charges in while Gemma peppers him with arrows and very quickly he is knocked unconscious (not killed).
Searching the rest of the house they find two rooms upstairs, both locked. When Borin tries to break down the door on the right, and fails, Deke happens to mention that the key to the door is hanging from the doorframe (oops). They find a wolf inside, and he’s not real happy to be there. He appears to Gemma to have been drugged, so she takes some alone time with him and tries to calm him down.
The other locked room is also trapped; it appears to be some magical symbol on the door. With some work Deke manages to disarm it without setting it off. This time Deke gives Borin the key to the door before the poor dwarf hurts himself more by slamming his body into locked doors.
Inside they find a half-elven woman who is partially stuffed into a large sack and unconscious, she has also been drugged. Marja recognizes her immediately, it is her friend Kalina. A large jar of sticky liquid is found in the closet, at first thought to be honey (really bad alchemy check by Morgaine), and then figured out to be a poison of some kind, most likely what has been used to drug Kalina and the wolf.
When Kalina comes to she tells the group that she came to the city to find Marja, and didn’t exactly make it a secret. She had dinner at a bar and the next thing she knew here she was in this room. Kalina is given some food and water because she says she isn’t feeling real well (Deke’s comment on that is “Well, when we found you, you were half in the bag). Kalina has been training as a druid. She and Marja have not seen each other in about two years.
The group questions the surviving snake-man (through a charm spell cast by Marja) and discovers a plan for a meeting at a newly bought noble house. The guard is holding Kalina as hostage to keep the group away. He gives the location of the home and day/time of meeting. Borin kills him, and Marja feels guilty about lying to him about his safety.
Using town records the group discovers that the house was bought by Lord Geoffrey Dobrick with money from Darakeen. Borin, Kalina, Gemma, and Deke go to scout the grounds the night before and notice guards circling the compound. With Gemma’s and Kalina’s tracking ability they find a secret underground entrance to the house. The entire party comes back before sunset the night of the meeting. Gemma and Deke sneak up, well actually Deke sneaks up Gemma does a little jig on a pile of twigs just to make as much noise as possible. Just when the two human guards have their sights trained on Gemma with crossbows Deke leaps onto them knocking the weapons out of their hands. Even with lots of snakes all around the group takes out the two guards and sneaks into the basement of the house where they find a snake construct not taking damage from normal weapons, but Morgaine’s acid arrow gets it.
The two magic wielders send their familiars, Taylor and Garnet, to search the long hallway. They find a small room with a well in it. They debate if this is the potential meeting room. The group heads down the corridor and goes through a doorway. They emerge from a large crate into the basement of the house. (The crate is concealing the entrance to hallway from basement.) They hide in the crate as they watch a woman come down and get some wine. There is a long discussion of what to do next including the ideas of having Marja go upstairs, Deke burn the house down, or they all sneak into house. The door to the basement opens and a man in a butler’s uniform comes down. Everyone hides except for Marja (roles a 1 on hide check starting a long-running trend) who is of course, spotted by the butler. Marja bluffs that she is a new servant just arrived and casts charm person which initially takes affect, but before the group realizes that the spell has worked Kalina sends Fang (the wolf) to pounce on the butler. Borin and Deke seeing the wolf loping through the basement rush out and knock the butler out.
The group is unable to decide what to do next with the most vehement recommendation coming from Deke who wants to burn the place down.
To be continued…
For the record, I am Marja's player.
This post and the one that follows are the beginnings of our Scarred Lands adventures. Enjoy!
For those of you who cross-reference, this is episodes 1 through 4 as described by PC in an early post.
In a little pre-Scarred-Lands background, Fergus, Morgaine, Xenia and Deke plus a character named Eleanor (played by KidC) were hired to go protect a temple deep in the forest. Once there, they met Borin and Marja, two travel companions who happened to be passing by and stopped to give their aid to the temple as well. The group has several adventures, which conclude in the unfortunate death of Eleanor – a perfect break to move the campaign to the Scarred Lands…
Fergus, Borin, Marja, Morgaine, Xenia, and Deke were hired to keep watch at the edge of the Forest outside of the city of Amalthea. It was rumored that some Druids of Khet were traveling toward the city and this motley crew was to be the first defense. They were sent with an armed, cloaked woman whom none of them had met. Cool and detached, saying few words in the hours they spent in her company, Gemma (as she turned out to be) was something of an enigma. She remained all but hidden beneath her dark cloak despite the warmth of the day, ceaselessly scanning the horizon.
The group had not been in their tree fort long when Gemma spies three figures cloaked in dark capes accompanied by an abomination the likes of which none in the party had ever encountered. Recognizing them for the Khet worshippers they were, the party springs into action. All except Marja and Morgaine, that is. Gemma had fired off a shot from her longbow before Morgaine is aware anything is amiss. Marja comments on the prudence of shooting first and asking questions later but her companions had already scrambled out of the tree and are running full tilt at the evildoers. All except Xenia who fell out of the tree, landing with spikes in the ground. Only Morgaine and Gemma are there to hear her, and Gemma is of no mind to discuss philosophy as she fires again and again.
There is a great battle in which Borin, while raging, chops the “creature” almost in half. Gemma turns one of the Druids into a pincushion. Marja abandons her pacifist stance and joined the melee with magic missiles. Morgaine (after gathering her wits about her) summons a fiendish hawk, with the aid of summon monster I. And Xenia shows them why no one messes with her when she is mad – after she extricated herself from the ground.
Upon close examination, these were not humans after all but appear to be some type of snake-human breed. They have scale-like skin and forked tongues but have limbs and human heads. Several in the party shudder with revulsion. After searching the remains, Deke finds Mormo holy symbols on each of the humanoids. In the pocket of one he also finds a piece of paper on which was written a name and the name of an inn in town. Deke brings the holy symbols to the city guard to get the reward for killing the Mormo worshippers while the rest of the group goes to the Inn. They rent rooms while Gemma addresses a note to the gentleman, placing it on the message board in the common room. It reads simply “the meeting is cancelled.” She then posts herself in the corner to keep watch for anyone looking at the message.
Marja remains with Gemma at the Inn, sending Morgaine to bring her back some food. Meanwhile, Borin, Xenia, Morgaine, and Deke go out to a bar down the street for food and some drinks. Already, this is a bad idea. Someone at the bar insults Xenia, who is quick with a retort and even quicker to anger. Standing, she challenges him to say it again and things rapidly deteriorate. From somewhere in the crowd, Deke’s voice is heard screaming “Bar Fight!!!!!” And that’s exactly what happens -- tables are broken, chairs swung, punches thrown, and a bar owner gets really pissed off. At which point Morgaine tries desperately to calm the atmosphere by casting hypnotize on anyone who can hear her. As rattled as she is, however, this spell is less than effective. It might have had more effect if she had not lost consciousness after being hit with a chair (The DM – PirateCat -- criticaled his roll).
Meanwhile, back at the Inn, Gemma notices someone glance at the note and then go upstairs. She and Marja follow him up to his room where Gemma promptly kicks down the door. The man in the room attempts to rip Gemma’s face off until he notices Marja standing just outside the room (who happens to be quite a bit more attractive than Gemma and looking far less menacing). Leaning forward, he starts tearing at the skin around Marja’s face. Gemma and Marja manage to hold their own and even have him momentarily dazed when the group returns from the bar fight. The guy, with part of Marja’s skin, jumps out the window and disappears. The party attempts to give chase but the man has vanished without a trace. Hearing all this commotion, the innkeeper hustles upstairs and is dismayed to see that the room no longer has a door and Marja almost no longer has a face. He sends for the Guard and a Druid to heal all their scrapes, bruises and shredded faces.
Upon searching the room, the party finds a large box with scrolls, a long sword (Spider Bite +1, critical casts web), and a piece of paper with two local addresses on it. If memory serves me correctly, the party did not find these things without a small explosion and a room full of smoke, but Deke can’t remember this happening. They also find a file on the Innkeepers family, their movements during the last couple of days, their schedule, a very detailed description of what the Innkeeper looks like and map of the Inn with tunnels and rooms leading from the root cellar.
The night passes uneventfully as the party guards the room.
In the morning, as the party gathers in the room to decide how best to proceed, the Innkeeper comes upstairs. Upon seeing Marja, he comments “What are you doing up here, I thought I just saw you downstairs?” The group runs down the stairs, all except for Borin. Borin – the dwarf – jumps out the second story window, and starts looking around for the second Marja. When they can’t find “her” they ask the Innkeeper if anything strange has happened in the last couple of hours. He says that some men went down into his root cellar/basement earlier and now he can’t get into it. He tells Deke that he will give them a healing potion and 5 GP if they will clear out the basement.
Borin use’s his “Key” (i.e. his dwarven battle axe), to open the door to the basement and peers down the stairs. Good thing he did this because they are covered in caltrops. With a little nifty footwork Morgaine, Marja, Deke, Borin, and Gemma manage to get down the stairs into a basement full of junk. Borin goes into the second room in the basement, only to get ambushed from both sides by two thugs waiting for the group.
Borin goes DOWN, Deke and Marja drag his unconscious body back into the room they are in, and Morgaine uses the healing potion they got from the Inn keeper on him. The two thugs in the other room say “We don’t want to hurt you, just go away and we’ll be out of here shortly” (not going to happen). Deke tumbles into the second room and attacks the thug on one side of the doorway moments before Borin starts to take his revenge on the other guy who knocked him unconscious.
Morgaine tries talking to the bad guys, but they are a little busy. Then they see Marja and say “What are you doing up here? And what are these guys here for?” Being very quick Marja figures out that the person who looked like her must have hired these guys to guard something down here and now they think she is the second Marja. She sorts out the “miscommunication” and pays them the money that her alter ego owes them and they leave.
What they were guarding is a hole in the ground, which appears to lead into another room under the root cellar. Amalthea is built upon a fallen city, so what the hole is leading into is in fact another building upon which the Inn is built. The group goes down the hole and lands in a room with marble floors that is on a strange angle (the building collapsed and is now leaning). There are heaps of rubble and debris along the walls and on the floors, some of the debris was partially blocking the doorway out of the room. They find a vial of an unidentified potion and are heading out of the first room when they find the second Marja and the chase is on. Down many flights of stairs and past a snake-man who is lying down in what looks like a ritual circle with black flames all around and a symbol on the ground under him.
Finally the group catches the “Face Stealer” and two other priests of Khet are with him. The battle takes place in a circular room with a pillar of black flame (which is going up through the floor and is where the flame is coming from in the ritual circle). Deke gets a spell cast at him that puts maggots in his stomach and drops him to 1hp. Figuring nothing much could be worse he tries to burn the maggots out of his stomach by jumping over the black flame. When he lands on the ground he has only managed to knock himself unconscious (-2hp). Morgaine goes over to him and feeds him the potion that she found earlier (she has no idea what it does, but figures he’s dying anyway). (PC asks Deke, what are you thinking about right now? “Well, maggots of course”. ) Deke is polymorphed into a maggot. Luckily the shapechange gives him back 2hp’s and he is at zero. He proceeds to attempt to get nearer to Morgaine sensing the warmth. The group finishes off the three bad guys, including the face-stealer.
They go to the Temple of Denev and tell them about the creature of Mormo under the Inn. The next day there is a new owner of the Inn (she is an elderly woman who is a priestess of Denev).
Once the group is healed and rested they head out to take a look at the two addresses. The first one is an abandoned house and the second one appears to be derelict as well. The group goes into the second house and hears a slithering noise. Marja’s familiar (the snake “Garnet”) says she smells another snake, only bigger.
That’s when the giant snake comes down the stairs in front of the group. There is a brief hesitation: group looks at snake, snake looks at group. Then Marja (for the first time) jumps to the offensive and fires a magic missile at the snake. In response the snake lunges toward the nearest figure, Fergus, swallowing him head first, all the way down to his boots. From somewhere down the hall a ball of something gets shot toward the group, slowly forming into a ball of wriggling snakes. Lot’s of hacking and even Fergus attacking the snake from the inside by biting it finally take down the giant snake and the “Ball o’ Snakes”.
Xenia and Deke head down the hall and to the room on the right where they surprise a thug who appears to have been waiting for a signal of some kind. He didn’t get that signal, instead he got smacked by Xenia and the sword Spider Bite. While stuck to the wall by the sword he is knocked unconscious by Xenia (and then disposed of by Deke).
The rest of the group goes into the room on the left where they find the man-snake who was responsible for the fun “Ball O’ Snakes”. Borin charges in while Gemma peppers him with arrows and very quickly he is knocked unconscious (not killed).
Searching the rest of the house they find two rooms upstairs, both locked. When Borin tries to break down the door on the right, and fails, Deke happens to mention that the key to the door is hanging from the doorframe (oops). They find a wolf inside, and he’s not real happy to be there. He appears to Gemma to have been drugged, so she takes some alone time with him and tries to calm him down.
The other locked room is also trapped; it appears to be some magical symbol on the door. With some work Deke manages to disarm it without setting it off. This time Deke gives Borin the key to the door before the poor dwarf hurts himself more by slamming his body into locked doors.
Inside they find a half-elven woman who is partially stuffed into a large sack and unconscious, she has also been drugged. Marja recognizes her immediately, it is her friend Kalina. A large jar of sticky liquid is found in the closet, at first thought to be honey (really bad alchemy check by Morgaine), and then figured out to be a poison of some kind, most likely what has been used to drug Kalina and the wolf.
When Kalina comes to she tells the group that she came to the city to find Marja, and didn’t exactly make it a secret. She had dinner at a bar and the next thing she knew here she was in this room. Kalina is given some food and water because she says she isn’t feeling real well (Deke’s comment on that is “Well, when we found you, you were half in the bag). Kalina has been training as a druid. She and Marja have not seen each other in about two years.
The group questions the surviving snake-man (through a charm spell cast by Marja) and discovers a plan for a meeting at a newly bought noble house. The guard is holding Kalina as hostage to keep the group away. He gives the location of the home and day/time of meeting. Borin kills him, and Marja feels guilty about lying to him about his safety.
Using town records the group discovers that the house was bought by Lord Geoffrey Dobrick with money from Darakeen. Borin, Kalina, Gemma, and Deke go to scout the grounds the night before and notice guards circling the compound. With Gemma’s and Kalina’s tracking ability they find a secret underground entrance to the house. The entire party comes back before sunset the night of the meeting. Gemma and Deke sneak up, well actually Deke sneaks up Gemma does a little jig on a pile of twigs just to make as much noise as possible. Just when the two human guards have their sights trained on Gemma with crossbows Deke leaps onto them knocking the weapons out of their hands. Even with lots of snakes all around the group takes out the two guards and sneaks into the basement of the house where they find a snake construct not taking damage from normal weapons, but Morgaine’s acid arrow gets it.
The two magic wielders send their familiars, Taylor and Garnet, to search the long hallway. They find a small room with a well in it. They debate if this is the potential meeting room. The group heads down the corridor and goes through a doorway. They emerge from a large crate into the basement of the house. (The crate is concealing the entrance to hallway from basement.) They hide in the crate as they watch a woman come down and get some wine. There is a long discussion of what to do next including the ideas of having Marja go upstairs, Deke burn the house down, or they all sneak into house. The door to the basement opens and a man in a butler’s uniform comes down. Everyone hides except for Marja (roles a 1 on hide check starting a long-running trend) who is of course, spotted by the butler. Marja bluffs that she is a new servant just arrived and casts charm person which initially takes affect, but before the group realizes that the spell has worked Kalina sends Fang (the wolf) to pounce on the butler. Borin and Deke seeing the wolf loping through the basement rush out and knock the butler out.
The group is unable to decide what to do next with the most vehement recommendation coming from Deke who wants to burn the place down.
To be continued…
Last edited:
Iron Chef BBQ
First Post
game write-up #2
This covers episodes 5 and 6 as listed by PC in an earlier post.
When last we left our intrepid band they were standing over the prone figure of the butler lying unconscious on the floor. Many are pounding their heads into the wall in frustration while a wolf growls quietly in the corner.
Another noise is heard at the top of the stairs. Marja, still holding the bottles of wine, decides to meet the challenge and rushes to the top of the stairs. Everyone else hides except Morgaine who looks around in a fluster, but can’t seem to move from her spot standing over the butler. Also, Xenia hides her 6-foot spiky frame behind a delicate wine rack which now looks like a delicate wine rack with spikes.
A young maid opens the door. “What was that noise?”
Marja draws the girl’s attention. “Only me getting the wine.” The girl looks down the stairs and sees Morgaine, the butler, and spikes from Xenia’s armor poking out from behind the cask. She slams the door, and the group hears the click of a lock.
Borin rushes up the stairs as Marja pushes herself against the banister to let him pass. Determined to open this door, still stinging from his failure the last time, Borin hits the door with such force that the entire door frame falls forward with a crash. The group rushes into the kitchen shocking the cook. The girl is nowhere to be seen.
Quickly Deke and Marja bribe the cook into silence. The girl returns, and they attempt to bribe her as well, but she has already told the master what she has seen. He has requested their presence in the library.
Since the girl only saw three of them, Morgaine, Marja and Borin go to the library after Morgaine casts message on Marja, Deke and Kalina. Deke and Gemma go down the hall to the left while Xenia and Kalina go to the right. Fergus stays in the basement guarding the butler.
In the library they are introduced to the master of the house, Lord Geoffrey Dobrick, a middle-aged woman, a young blonde woman, and a young man, the Baronet Gobry. Lord Dobrick knows each of them by name and knows about the rest of the party as well. He let’s Marja know that he is holding a friend of hers captive. He is unaware that Kalina is free. Marja whispers this to Deke and Kalina. A lengthy stalemate where little information is gained ends when Xenia decides that Lord Dobrick isn’t going to do anything until the authorities arrive. She arranges this by jumping out of the comfy leather chair in which she and her spikes had been sitting and sits instead on Lord Dobrick. The older of the two women makes an “I’ve had enough of this” comment and approaches Xenia while casting. Xenia responds by smashing the woman across the chin with her fist. She is still able to complete her spell, and she and Lord Dobrick teleport out of the room. Morgaine runs out to find the others.
The young idiot Gobry attacks Borin, Marja and Xenia, challenging Xenia and then Borin to duel over the wrong against his “true love,” the older woman who just teleported away with Dobrick. He is subdued (by this we mean knocked unconscious.) The young woman disappears in a red cloud of smoke.
As Borin, Marja and Xenia stand there bewildered, two goblins appear out of thin air and attack Borin and Xenia. The commotion of the fight attracts several house guards who arrive with a large, snarling dog. The group is able to kill the goblins, and unfortunately the dog and one of the guards as well. They try to reason with the surviving guard, but he will not believe that his new master is a Mormo worshipper.
Morgaine finds Deke, Gemma and Kalina, and the four head to town to get help from the Temple of Denev. In the woods they are attacked by creatures riding giant bats. Deft use of an entangle spell and archery prowess plus the ferocious bite of a giant wolf bring an end to all the attackers.
This covers episodes 5 and 6 as listed by PC in an earlier post.
When last we left our intrepid band they were standing over the prone figure of the butler lying unconscious on the floor. Many are pounding their heads into the wall in frustration while a wolf growls quietly in the corner.
Another noise is heard at the top of the stairs. Marja, still holding the bottles of wine, decides to meet the challenge and rushes to the top of the stairs. Everyone else hides except Morgaine who looks around in a fluster, but can’t seem to move from her spot standing over the butler. Also, Xenia hides her 6-foot spiky frame behind a delicate wine rack which now looks like a delicate wine rack with spikes.
A young maid opens the door. “What was that noise?”
Marja draws the girl’s attention. “Only me getting the wine.” The girl looks down the stairs and sees Morgaine, the butler, and spikes from Xenia’s armor poking out from behind the cask. She slams the door, and the group hears the click of a lock.
Borin rushes up the stairs as Marja pushes herself against the banister to let him pass. Determined to open this door, still stinging from his failure the last time, Borin hits the door with such force that the entire door frame falls forward with a crash. The group rushes into the kitchen shocking the cook. The girl is nowhere to be seen.
Quickly Deke and Marja bribe the cook into silence. The girl returns, and they attempt to bribe her as well, but she has already told the master what she has seen. He has requested their presence in the library.
Since the girl only saw three of them, Morgaine, Marja and Borin go to the library after Morgaine casts message on Marja, Deke and Kalina. Deke and Gemma go down the hall to the left while Xenia and Kalina go to the right. Fergus stays in the basement guarding the butler.
In the library they are introduced to the master of the house, Lord Geoffrey Dobrick, a middle-aged woman, a young blonde woman, and a young man, the Baronet Gobry. Lord Dobrick knows each of them by name and knows about the rest of the party as well. He let’s Marja know that he is holding a friend of hers captive. He is unaware that Kalina is free. Marja whispers this to Deke and Kalina. A lengthy stalemate where little information is gained ends when Xenia decides that Lord Dobrick isn’t going to do anything until the authorities arrive. She arranges this by jumping out of the comfy leather chair in which she and her spikes had been sitting and sits instead on Lord Dobrick. The older of the two women makes an “I’ve had enough of this” comment and approaches Xenia while casting. Xenia responds by smashing the woman across the chin with her fist. She is still able to complete her spell, and she and Lord Dobrick teleport out of the room. Morgaine runs out to find the others.
The young idiot Gobry attacks Borin, Marja and Xenia, challenging Xenia and then Borin to duel over the wrong against his “true love,” the older woman who just teleported away with Dobrick. He is subdued (by this we mean knocked unconscious.) The young woman disappears in a red cloud of smoke.
As Borin, Marja and Xenia stand there bewildered, two goblins appear out of thin air and attack Borin and Xenia. The commotion of the fight attracts several house guards who arrive with a large, snarling dog. The group is able to kill the goblins, and unfortunately the dog and one of the guards as well. They try to reason with the surviving guard, but he will not believe that his new master is a Mormo worshipper.
Morgaine finds Deke, Gemma and Kalina, and the four head to town to get help from the Temple of Denev. In the woods they are attacked by creatures riding giant bats. Deft use of an entangle spell and archery prowess plus the ferocious bite of a giant wolf bring an end to all the attackers.
Last edited:
KidCthulhu
First Post
Re: game write-up #1
Don't ask me why, but someone is always getting Polymorphed into worms in Pkitty's games. It's a tradition.
A really icky tradition.
Iron Chef BBQ said:
Don't ask me why, but someone is always getting Polymorphed into worms in Pkitty's games. It's a tradition.
A really icky tradition.
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