KidCthulhu's Scarred Land story hour

[Iron Chef BBQ]

Creature Battle pt 1 (end of run on 02-03-04)

Lionell approaches Kira. “My dear Annabella, may I introduce you to his lordship, Duke Edmund?” The duke is impressed. “Call me Eddy,” he croons as he takes her hand. Lionell inserts himself between them and ushers them both downstairs. The others follow.

The basement is a single large wooden-paneled room. Chairs have been set up around a 20x20 square with low walls. The inside of the square is filled with sand and sawdust to create an impromptu arena. Each corner contains a large box with holes, presumably for air. Caerwyn feels the hair rise on the back of his neck. Those boxes are no good.

The duke settles himself into the only upholstered chair in the room. Vignor bows, “Ready, your grace?” The duke grins with anticipation. “You’re gonna like this,” Vignor whispers. Then to the crowd, “Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce tonight’s contestants.”

With a flourish of his hand he motions to four burly men who quickly open each box to reveal a glass panel so the crowd can see inside. In the largest box they spy a creature our group has seen before, a giant ball of snakes. The middle-sized box opens, but appears to be empty. Marja prepares to cast see invisible when she notices a blur and detects a whirring sound inside. There’s a bang as whatever it is smashes itself against the glass. In the two smallest boxes the crowd can see a giant frog and a small frightened dark-haired puppy.

“Where did you get those things,” sputters Borin.
“Gotta know people,” confides Vignor. “Snakes were the hardest to get. They’re controlled by law, ya know.” He swings his thumb toward the duke. “Knowing him don’t hurt,” he laughs.

Lionell hands the duke a bag of coins as the bookie shouts the odds. The puppy is 20 to 1. The blur is 30 to 1. Our intrepid band places a wager on the puppy. The duke bets what must be the budget for a small town on the toad, and Harnett wagers on the snakes. They do look impressive.

Once the bets are secured, Vignor rings a bell. The four burly men pull up the glass walls. The frog runs into the center of the arena and tries to scream blasphemies at the crowd, but two of its vocal cords are cut. The crowd is stunned. The air is filled with a stench that must be unbearable in the ring.

Suddenly the blur rushes in and stabs the frog in the neck. “Hey, that’s a quickling,” someone in the crowd. The frog looks groggy, but shakes it off. The quickling reels backward from the smell.

The snakes roll in, unaffected by the smell. They pounce on the frog, but miss. The wide-eyed puppy bounds out of its box and breaths fire across the arena. Marja catches a glimpse of the quickling as it zooms out of the ring. “Oh, this is going to end badly,” she whispers.

The frog pulls a chaos hammer from beneath the folds of its chin and stuns the hell hound pup as the quickling lunges for the door only to find it locked. As the snakes pounce again on the frog, Marja whispers to Kalina to cast fairy fire toward the door. Suddenly, the crowd can see a pink object zipping around.

Now the puppy is no where to be seen. The frog attacks the snakes. The arena is on fire from the hound’s breath. The crowd begins to panic, running for the doors only to find them all locked.

The snakes pin the frog to the sand as the pup lunges out of nowhere and bites. It’s momentarily sickened as its teeth pierce the frogs putrid flesh, but it holds its bite. People are screaming now, but the Duke, oblivious, is standing on his chair rooting for the frog. Kel throws his weight into the door which breaks with a crash.

 

[Graywolf-ELM]

It's been so long, I'm gonna have to read back to remember what has been happening. Thanks for the update.

GW

 

[Iron Chef BBQ]

Creature Battle pt 2 (run of 02-10-04 pt 1)

With the door open, the quickling darts to dash up the stairs and out of the building. It can feel the cool air from the street rushing against its face. A voice from behind says something. “Sleep.” Although the fresh air of night calls, the command to sleep sounds at the moment so much more appealing. The quickling obeys, and where there was a pink glow buzzing and zipping a moment ago, now there is a pink glow emitting a faint snore. Kel nods his head in satisfaction even as he and the quickling are swept up stairs by the rushing crowd. Once in the open, he draws his sword and swings at the quickling. One moment there is a snoring pink glow over his head. The next there are two pink glows falling to the ground. Now that Kel can see it he bends down to touch tiny hands, like a baby’s. He feels a pang in his stomach until he turns over the head and sees two rows of sharp tiny fierce teeth.

The hell-puppy dashes away from the fights. He puts his paws on the edge of the wall to watch the rushing crowd. His tail is wagging, and he belches fire at the crowd in a playful way. 6 people fall to the ground. More scream as their clothing catches on fire.

As the frog grows still to cast a spell, the ball of snakes jumps upon it, pinning it to the ground and pummeling it with each snake head. The frog emits a terrifyingly loud “rabbit.” The sound echoes off the walls and seems to congeal in the air. Caerwin jumps over the wall (albeit not gracefully) and swings, but is overcome by the toad’s stench.

Borin grabs the axe off of Lucre’s back and leaps over the wall in front of the duke. “Oh, pwotect me! Pwotect me!” the pitiful duke pleads. Hartnett runs for the door, and Terri and Kira run after him. Kalina casts quench and every fire in the room goes out, including the torches. “Sorry,” she calls as she pulls out flint to relight the one nearest her.

After quickly scanning the room for anything that might be invisible, Marja sends four magic missiles at the toad. Lucre attacks the hell-hound. “I can’t believe you’re kicking the puppy!” Marja chides him even as his sword is buried deep into the pup’s shoulder. The dog looks around with a sorrowful face and falls over dead emitting a plaintive puppy yelp as it falls.

Caerwyn reaches through the thick green stench and finds the holy flame of Corean and smites at the frog. Unable to speak, the creature thinks every blasphemy he knows. Borin rushes in, less affected by the smell, and strikes. Kalina takes his place in front of the duke and draws her flame blade. He screams. “Chill,” says Kalina, rolling her eyes. The duke jumps behind his chair. “Protect me, brave citizens!”

Marja sends four more magic missiles at the frog then Lucre jumps in holding his breath and makes the kill. “The snakes win!” Borin shouts as he and Caerwyn move in to dispatch the last remaining creature.

In the quiet aftermath, Kalina turns to the duke, “Shall we go?” “Oh, spwendid.”

 

[Iron Chef BBQ]

A Little Night Espionage (end of run of 02-10-04)

Harnett picks the lock on a back door and heads down a long hallway and up a narrow staircase with Kira and Terri hot on his heels. As he reaches the open air of the courtyard Kira jumps to sap him, but misses. He turns around suspiciously, but only sees her dancing. “I was just trying to get your attention,” she blurts out.

Kalina motions toward the door Harnett opened, and she and the duke make their escape. When the duke reaches the courtyard he has regained his composure. “Move awong,” he says to Harnett. “I was trying, but she attacked me,” he cries pointing at Kira.

“I so didn’t,” she protests. “It was an evil bird,” she croons in her most convincing voice. To Terri’s and Kalina’s surprise the two men start looking around in the sky for the vicious creature.

Kalina advises that they keep moving away so they all start walking. The duke prattles on about the beautiful women who came to his rescue. He’s really enjoying himself. The visions of those creatures, people on fire, and blood have faded until all he can remember is a spectacle created for his pleasure. He begins to retell the story, creating an heroic part for himself in it.

Kel is muscling his way back down the crowded stairs when he meets Vignor coming up with the bag of betting money. “Out of my way,” Vignor growls. Kel replies with a stern “No!” and pushes back. “You don’t understand. If they get away, there will be panic.” What were you thinking arranging a fight with those creatures?” “The duke is a hard man to please.” At this Borin runs up behind Vignor, grabs him and slams him against the wall. “Look at what you’ve done,” the dwarf/elf growls.

Caerwyn and Kel move around healing whom they can. Four people lie dead. Vignor doesn’t move as he stares at the bodies. Borin jerks his head around, “Who are the Mormo worshipers you got that snake thing from?”

“Thieves guild,” Vignor squeaks. “Triskelon. He’s no Mormo worshiper, though.”

Borin grabs the money. “We’ll take this as a fine.” “But people made wagers!” Vignor protests. “Pay them out of your take.”

Kel heals two men who get up and brush themselves off. “You will be hearing from our attorneys,” they warn as they flounce off. Borin whispers, “The snakes won,” and they smile as they make mental notes to pass that on.

Vignor tells them that he contacts Triskalon by leaving messages at the Split Ear Tavern. Usually he just supplies exotic food and drink or exotic acts like jugglers or knife throwers or cocks for fighting.

Caerwyn lays out the dead and rises wiping his bloody hands on his face. “What are you going to do the next time you have one of these fights?” His voice booms in Vignor’s ear who looks sheepishly at the floor. “Not going to have any more,” he whispers.

“I don’t know,” Lucre obliviously chimes. “If you raise the walls and get creatures who don’t cast spells…” His voice dies down as everyone stares at him.

Vignor gives them more information on the duke. He runs with a fast crowd and gambles a lot. There are rumors that he owes quite a bit to the thieves guild. He bets on everything. He likes particularly to watch fights and struggles. Harnett doesn’t work much, but always seems to have lots of money.

Caerwyn and Kel start lecturing him again, but Marja gently silences them. “I think we’re finished here,” she says quietly. “Come on.” And they leave to find the others.

Meanwhile, the others are walking down quieter streets. Kira notices that the duke wears a brooch that used to have many jewels in it, but almost all of them are missing. The duke is obliviously ready to head back to Vignor’s for the next fight. “I’d love a pup like that for my stables,” he muses. “Pups grow up,” Kalina warns.

“You’re such a great fighter, your grace,” Kira coos. “Do you know Maj Kieien?”

“Oh, deadwy boring chap,” yawns the duke. “Always going on about some boring battle or other. I always seat him at the far end of the table.”

Harnett leads everyone to his place for a bracer.

“These are the three most spwendid wadies I’ve ever been wescued by,” beams the duke. Terri gags.

Harnett’s apartment is very nice, but not lavish. He pours everyone drinks, and drains and refills his cup immediately. He was shaken up by the events even if the duke was not.

“Who did you bet on?” the duke asks him. “I don’t bet, your grace,” is the sullen reply. “I think I won,” the duke answers cheerily. “I bet on the snakes!” “You bet on the toad!” Kira reminds him.

They all sit for a short while then the duke excuses himself. He offers the ladies an escort home, but they decline. Kalina and Terry leave shortly after the duke.

Terri tails the duke and manages to slip into the palace after him. His room is like a child’s. There are clothes strewn everywhere.

Harnett continues to drink. He makes a comment that he’s so wealthy he lends money to the duke, but then he falls asleep. Kira wanders around the apartment as Kalina, in cat form, glides out of the shadows. They find the room that is his study, and Kalina motions to a trunk that has a strong scent. It’s locked, but Kira opens it easily. Inside are bags of money, but only a small amount. They find a leather portfolio with correspondence. They rifle through finding several IOU’s from the duke and letters from someone called Spider. The letters ask Harnett to keep the duke occupied and distracted, and he will be rewarded with money. Spider is bringing something into the duchy he’d rather not pay duties on. One letter asks him to keep the duke away from information on troop movement. Kalina retakes her human form. She and Kira take one letter and the bags of gold and shred the rest. They ransack the place. Kalina leaves with the letter and gold while Kira removes her clothes and climbs into the tangled sheets next to the sleeping Harnett.

Terri slinks back out of the palace, not passing anything worth steeling on her way out. She finds Kalina, and they arrive at the inn together. In the common room the rest of the group are in heated debate. Caerwyn, Kel and Lucre are arguing with Marja and Borin about what to do with Vignor’s money. “We killed those bloody things,” Borin protests. “We should be paid for our services.” “The money should be paid to the victim’s families,” Caerwyn is indignant. “People lost their lives tonight.” With Kalina’s new information, the money debate falls to the side.

Lucre suggests showing the letter to the duke and asking him to do the right thing. “He’s too much in debt,” Keri responds. “I learned from a guild member that he owes the thieves over 70,000 gp.” “We need Harnett to lead us to Spider,” Borin insists.

“Hey,” asks Lucre looking around. “Did Kira sleep with Harnett?”

“Meow,” answers Kalina as she heads off to bed.

 

[Iron Chef BBQ]

That night, Marja dreams:

You are in a black, lightless space. You can feel that you are not
alone there. And there is a sensation of great weight all around you,
mountainous and looming.

"Are you ready, child?" whispers a sinuous voice in your head.

Without your willing it, your legs carry you forward. You're walking
in complete blackness. Black so complete that you can't tell if your
eyes are open or shut. And yet, you know where you're going. You hear
your guide moving behind you, wingtips dragging on stone.

The sensation of open space in front of you brings you to a stop. Your
toes stretch out, and like a child testing a stove to feel if it's hot,
feel the edge of a cliff. Quickly, you pull back from the edge.

Then you see them. Glowing in the dark. Eyes. Enormous, luminous
yellow eyes. Some quite close, and as big as your head. Some
infinitely far below you in the depths. All watching you.

"Welcome home" slithers the voice.

And you wake up.

 

[Iron Chef BBQ]

As soon as Borin is awake he goes and readies his horse to leave. He then goes to Marja's room. He makes sure she is alone and then tells her the following:

"Last night I was visited in my dreams by Morgaine...I think. I do not know if this dream is real or just an attempt by our enemies to distract us. I need to go into the wilderness and think about this...alone. I can not think well in this town. The buildings are stifling."

Marja offers to go with him, but he refuses. He must go alone, he explains. She asks for more details about the dream. “I had a dream, too.” she offers, and quickly fills him in, but her dream is similar to many of her other dreams. Borin’s was different. “Morgaine has told me I can not remain an elf. However, becoming a dwarf again will involve another quest. As such I must determine in my heart if this is just a distraction or is real."

Borin asks her to keep some of his things safe for him and leaves her with all of his non magical possessions (except his Masterwork Great Axe), his breast plate, his bearskin leather armor, his periapt of wisdom, and his sheepskin of polymorph.

He then leaves to seek out Lucre.

As Borin awaits the arrival of his compatriots in the tavern hall, he growls at anyone who sits close enough to his table to listen in on conversations. When everyone arrives in the common room for breakfast, Borin stands and quietly speaks, doing his best to be overheard by no one but them.

“I have had a strange dream last night. Some of you appeared in it, but not as yourselves. And while I do not think I should discuss the details right now, I do think it is important for me to determine if this is a real vision or a false vision. I can not hear myself think in this town and so I am going into the wilderness to sort this out...alone. I must know in my heart if this is real before I burden any of you with it.

“While I am gone, I know you will do what is best, but I wanted to share my thoughts with you.

“For the reasons presented by Caerwyn last night, I do not think the Captain is our best source of information. In fact, I think he will only serve to give warning to our enemies. I think that the Merchant is our best bet. He is greedy and self serving. Therefore it should not be hard to make him realize that it is in his best interests to help us.

“I also think that we must pursue the thief as an information link. I do not think he knew what he was doing, but someone up his supply chain did. He was provided with a creation of Mormo. Some of us have dealt with Mormo worshipers before and failed to prevent them from recovering a piece of Mormo. This was the first failure that started us on the path towards that dream we shared. If he provides a link back to worshipers of Mormo we may be able to correct our mistake. More importantly, that dream we had makes me think that all of these titan worshipers who are trying to recover pieces of the titans are or will be working together. Do with that what you will.”

Borin then chugs the rest of his ale and turns to leave. As he strides towards the door, some of the group notice that he is wearing nothing more than a simple set of traveling clothes. Across his back is his old Great Axe.

As he passes Caerwyn silently hands him a wand with a wink (cure light wounds, 41 charges). Borin, turns to Caerwyn and says, "Thank you, but I prefer to travel light." He then hands the wand back.

He goes through the door and is gone.

Kel looks out the window watching him mount his horse and ride away: “You know, I'd ask where he's going, but somehow I don't think I'd get an answer”

 

[Iron Chef BBQ]

Star Crossed Lovers (run of 02-23-04)

Kira wakes up to pounding at the door. Harnett’s man is knocking in earnest to wake him. “Sir, we’ve been burgled!” Harnett jumps out of bed. The two men dash about the apartment yelling to each other.

Kira dresses and timidly wanders down the hall as if she’s never seen this part of the house before. Harnett is berating his servant, demanding to know how this could have happened. He seems mostly concerned about the loss of funds. It doesn’t appear that he’s even bothered to look through his papers yet.

Kira steps gingerly into the room. “I’m sorry you have to witness this, my dear. Perhaps it would be better if you were on your way.” Kira takes the cue, tells him to look her up some time and quickly exits the building.

Once around the corner, she picks up her skirts and runs to the tavern where she finds the others at breakfast. Borin is not among them. Kalina and Kel have vague memories of dreams that they can’t remember. Marja is sullen. Lucre is out of sorts. “What’s up with you?” Kira asks. “You have dreams too?”

“I feel used,” Lucre replies, and then realizing that he’s not making sense he expounds. “Not in the ‘I’ve bought Marja drinks and now she won’t sleep with me’ used, but like my mind was used. I’ve also been thinking about Morgan this morning. It’s very odd.”

Kalina and Terri go off in search of the thief who sold Vignor his goods.

Kira noticed a portrait at Harnett’s of a young woman who bore a family resemblance to him. She appeared to be about 13. The frame of the picture was scratched and worn. She and Lucre head back toward the Duke’s residence to see what they can find out about this young lady.

They meet a jolly young woman with keys around her neck just coming out of the palace. She’s very chatty and introduces herself as Emily Hurcomb, the duke’s housekeeper. When Kira mentions a young woman related to Harnett Emily becomes quiet. They final coax out of her the sad story. She name is Liza. She’s Harnett’s younger sister. She and the duke were very close growing up. After the duke, his father, married Lady Silvey, it became harder for them to spend time together. The duchess wanted to marry Miss Liza to Sir Silvey, the duchess’s brother. Liza took vows at the temple of Madriel a number of years ago to avoid the marriage. After that, the young duke began to withdraw and become different.

Kira and Lucre gather our band of intrepid adventurers together with this new information. They travel to Madriel’s temple. Caerwyn goes in to consult with the priestesses about talking with Miss Liza Harnett. He comes back almost an hour later. He’s had to make some promises, but he’s gained admittance for the women of the party.

As the women follow a priestess into the temple, Kel and Lucre decide that Caerwyn can buy the first round. “We have so many leads to follow. Don’t you think we should go do something?” “We are doing something,” Lucre punches his arm. “We’re drinking!”

“Come on, Caerwyn,” Kel pleads. “We should really wait for the brains to come back before heading off anywhere.”

The Cloister is a beautiful building of stone that runs along the back of the temple. It’s large inner garden is cool despite the weather, and the faint rustle of leaves gives the place a far away, rural feel. Liza Harnett is standing under a cherry tree in full bloom. She’s wearing dark robes and a head scarf, but the women can see the similarity she shares with her brother. She looks calm, but Kalina can sense her nervousness. An older woman is sitting nearby in the shade, close, but not within earshot.

The women explain the events of the outside world as quickly, but with as much compassion as possible. The sisters of Madriel keep a careful eye on what’s going on, but Liza is surprised to hear how low the duke has fallen and that Mormo worshipers may be involved.

“My brother, Lionel, is a vain bully. All he cares about is money. I would be very surprised is he’s actually involved in any Mormo plot. More likely, he’s a pawn – a very well paid pawn. Edmund, the duke, is a frightened child. He was deeply affected by his mother’s death. He confided in me that he felt like it was his fault, if he had only been a better boy. The new duchess took pleasure in scaring him. I can see he’s lost his way. You must bring him here to me.”

Kalina leaves the temple and returns to the palace where she turns into a pigeon and scouts for the duke’s window. She has no trouble finding it. He’s only just waking up and is loudly complaining that despite three closets filled with clothes, he has nothing to wear. He complains to his valet, a patient old man, these styles are so last week! The old man sighs and heads back into a closet.

Kalina grabs the opportunity. She flies into the room and lands on the duke’s side table. He is in mid shriek when she turns back into her human form. The old man in the closet ignores the shriek thinking it’s still about the clothes.

“Do it again,” the duke pleads.

“I have someone who wants to talk to you,” she says and pulls Liza’s picture from her pocket. Suddenly staring at the duke is like looking at a small boy. His face is rosy and hopeful and almost cheerful. “Do I get to be a bird?” he asks hopefully.

Kalina hides behind a curtain while the duke dismisses his valet. With another sigh the old man leaves the room. “What color do you think Liza likes?” Edmund asks as he scurries into his closet. “Don’t you remember?” Kalina asks. “Oh yes,” Edmund responds clapping his hands, “Blue!”

Five minutes later he emerges from the closet wearing blue, but every piece of clothing is mismatched. It’s endearing somehow. Kalina sits him down and works very hard at keeping his attention. “There are rules,” she explains. You must only follow me. If you stray, you could be eaten by a cat. If you get to far away from me, the spell will break and you will fall,” she fibs. He nods his head emphatically. “Just, I don’t want to be a dirty pigeon,” he offers.

Kalina puts on an act of large hand and body movements to make the spell seem more impressive, then they are both little sparrows and in an instant they are rushing across the wind to the temple.

They are ushered with the others into a private room where Kalina turns them back. Liza walks in. Edmund and Liza stare at each other in silence for a long time. The others hold their breaths not wanting to be noticed.

Finally, she extends her hands and touches his face. “I thought by now you would have forgotten all about me,” she whispers. “Never.” His voice is barely audible. “You’re lost and hurt, I can see.” She strokes his hair. “I can help” “But I’m having a jolly good time,” he lies to her then he bursts into tears.

Liza embraces him. “It’s taken me ten years to receive Madriel’s healing, but if you will stay, we can help you.” Edmund nods, “I just want to sleep again.”

“Don’t we all,” whispers Marja under her breath.

Liza ushers Edmund into the hospital wing, and the others turn and silently leave the temple.

 

[KidCthulhu]

This was really a very beautiful sequence. The hints about the Duke's background of abuse and his very sad childhood were fairly subtle. The party's first few encounters with Duke Edmund had them fairly firmly in the "Let's kill him and worry about the consequences later." camp.

But they responded very strongly to the clues that were there and did a great job handling the NPCs, who were by no means inclined to blurt all this stuff out. The decision to redeem and heal him rather than write him off was theirs alone, and it was a beautiful scene.

They really came away from this whole adventure feeling good about themselves, which is the whole point!

 

[Graywolf-ELM]

Is the group of players here, completely different than the other groups with DOD and Abernathy's?

GW

 

[Iron Chef BBQ]

Is the group of players here, completely different than the other groups with DOD and Abernathy's?

GW

Let me see if I remember everyone:

KidC GM's this game and is Ernie in Abernathy's and was Nolan/is Eve in DoD.
PirateCat is Lucre in this game and is Dranko in Abernathy's and GM's DoD.
Aravis is Borin in this game and is Aravis in Abernathy's and Galthia in DoD.
Jobu who was Deke in this game was also in DoD, but I forget her character.

The rest of us don't play in the other games. The players of Marja, Kalina, Kira (and Morgaine and Xenia who are no longer in the game) are all new players and all women.

Chef.