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Of Sound Mind the Halfling Way
- Thread starter the Jester
- Start date
the Jester
Legend
Brain said:
Hmm, I could be misremembering, but wasn't the first judge (the one who was 'tampered' by Lita) a dwarf?
I'm not sure, at this point...
the Jester
Legend
The Verdict
7/16/368 O.L.G., 7:30 p.m., the courthouse
Our heroes exchange nervous glances as the judge emerges from his chambers. His deliberations lasted only thirty minutes.
This doesn’t look all that good....
Judge Lunder takes his seat and looks the party over. His face is not filled with joy.
“All right,” he begins without preamble, “first of all, I’m striking all records of Lita Alexander even being accused of these crimes. She is completely exonerated as far as I’m concerned, and shouldn’t have even been here and had to go through this.” Lita smiles at the judge but he ignores her.
“You, Timothy- you were broken free of the institute in question and taken away. I’m returning you to their care.” Martini grimaces, his face growing angry. “You there,” the judge snaps at him. “Martini. Disposing of Dr. Zimmer was a noble act. The evidence shows that he was a doppelganger. But you let the lunatics go free. Moreover, you seem to have a real problem with anger, so I’m sending you to the Asylum for Advanced Mental Treatment for evaluation.”
Martini is thunderstruck. “No!” he gasps. He looks around wildly, tensing, almost ready to run, but he sees all the guards and knows this is not the time to resist. He collapses into his chair, seeming small and frightened.
I won’t let them lock me up, Martini vows to himself.
“Now then- the lunatics must be rounded up. There are fifty inmates who got loose. I expect it will cost the state 200 imperials to round each of them up. Therefore I’m fining your group a sum of 10,000 gp.”
More silence. Ten thousand! Sandy thinks despairingly.
“You will have one year to pay it off. Also, for each of the lunatics you return to the institute in question your fine will be reduced by 200 gp.” He turns his hard gaze on Sandy. “Phenyl Sandybanks, as you were the ringleader, I’m fining you an extra 2000 gp.”
“The ringleader!” splutters Sandy.
“As to the kobold- after some consideration, I have decided not to have him castrated. He seems completely tame.”
“Oh, I am, sir, arf,” Federico replies timidly.
Timothy holds up his hand.
“Yes, what is it, Timothy?” the judge asks testily.
”Please, Your Honor, don’t send me back to the place,” Timothy begs. “I’m getting better with my friends’ help, I really am. He turns his big puppy eyes on the judge. “I’ll do what you tell me, but they’re helping me more than the place ever did.”
The judge hesitates for a moment, then nods to himself. “Very well, I want you re-evaluated. So let it be done.” He bangs his gavel.
And the party, escorted by guards and the two orderlies, begins their journey back to the Asylum for Advanced Mental Treatment.
Next Time: Return to the Asylum!
7/16/368 O.L.G., 7:30 p.m., the courthouse
Our heroes exchange nervous glances as the judge emerges from his chambers. His deliberations lasted only thirty minutes.
This doesn’t look all that good....
Judge Lunder takes his seat and looks the party over. His face is not filled with joy.
“All right,” he begins without preamble, “first of all, I’m striking all records of Lita Alexander even being accused of these crimes. She is completely exonerated as far as I’m concerned, and shouldn’t have even been here and had to go through this.” Lita smiles at the judge but he ignores her.
“You, Timothy- you were broken free of the institute in question and taken away. I’m returning you to their care.” Martini grimaces, his face growing angry. “You there,” the judge snaps at him. “Martini. Disposing of Dr. Zimmer was a noble act. The evidence shows that he was a doppelganger. But you let the lunatics go free. Moreover, you seem to have a real problem with anger, so I’m sending you to the Asylum for Advanced Mental Treatment for evaluation.”
Martini is thunderstruck. “No!” he gasps. He looks around wildly, tensing, almost ready to run, but he sees all the guards and knows this is not the time to resist. He collapses into his chair, seeming small and frightened.
I won’t let them lock me up, Martini vows to himself.
“Now then- the lunatics must be rounded up. There are fifty inmates who got loose. I expect it will cost the state 200 imperials to round each of them up. Therefore I’m fining your group a sum of 10,000 gp.”
More silence. Ten thousand! Sandy thinks despairingly.
“You will have one year to pay it off. Also, for each of the lunatics you return to the institute in question your fine will be reduced by 200 gp.” He turns his hard gaze on Sandy. “Phenyl Sandybanks, as you were the ringleader, I’m fining you an extra 2000 gp.”
“The ringleader!” splutters Sandy.
“As to the kobold- after some consideration, I have decided not to have him castrated. He seems completely tame.”
“Oh, I am, sir, arf,” Federico replies timidly.
Timothy holds up his hand.
“Yes, what is it, Timothy?” the judge asks testily.
”Please, Your Honor, don’t send me back to the place,” Timothy begs. “I’m getting better with my friends’ help, I really am. He turns his big puppy eyes on the judge. “I’ll do what you tell me, but they’re helping me more than the place ever did.”
The judge hesitates for a moment, then nods to himself. “Very well, I want you re-evaluated. So let it be done.” He bangs his gavel.
And the party, escorted by guards and the two orderlies, begins their journey back to the Asylum for Advanced Mental Treatment.
Next Time: Return to the Asylum!
the Jester
Legend
7/27/368 O.L.G., 3:10 p.m., the Asylum for Advanced Mental Treatment
The week’s journey to the Asylum for Advanced Mental Treatment has seen Martini and Timothy become more and more agitated, fearing that they will be locked away in the institute. Again and again Martini has muttered to himself that he’ll die before being locked up. Along the way they encountered a mysterious man beneath a waterfall, who gave Timothy a strange, gelatinous morsel that made him wiser for a few short minutes. He begged some more of the stuff from the creature, hoping it will help him pass his exam, and the man agreed. Now, as the group finally arrives at the asylum, they instantly notice a heavier security detail than the orderlies that were present during their assault; this time the security looks like it’s being handled by professionals. The guards are better armed and armored than their predecessors, and there are significantly more of them as well. There will be no more easy midnight break-outs, that’s for sure.
Orderly Zagly Brown has become ever more sympathetic throughout the journey. Martini, Federico and Sandy keep hammering at the point that the prior head of the asylum was replaced by a doppelganger. Funny stuff is afoot. Something fishy is going on.
Or so he seems to believe.
The new head of the Asylum for Advanced Mental Treatment is named Doctor Avendzo. He is an impressive-looking and somewhat pompous gnome whose attitude seems somewhat disciplinarian. He scolds Orderly Brown for speaking out of turn, he locks Martini and Timothy in the institute pending the results of their evaluations and allows them no contact with their friends in the party.
***
7/28/368 O.L.G., 8:30 a.m.
In the morning, the rest of the group looks for leads to the escaped prisoners, and they learn several helpful pieces. One of the escaped dwarven inmates came originally from a village only a few miles away to the north. Two of the inmates went everywhere together, and one of them has a gimpy leg; if they’re still together, they can’t have gotten too far. And one of the escapees had a sick obsession with the Buzzing Fens.
“Let’s go out in a spiral,” suggests Federico, and the party slowly begins a search, aided by Orderly Brown, who quickly finds some tracks.
”Two people,” he reports, “one with a gimpy leg.”
The group finds the two in a little cave that’s barely more than a crawlspace. The two escapees look awful; haggard, half-starved, weather-bitten... Our heroes pass them food and water, and soon the two are escorted ‘home’ to the asylum.
Dr. Avendzo congratulates them on their early success. They discuss the escapees with him, and discover that the one he wants caught the most is named Manson- a mass murderer of six hundred and sixty one people. “That’s scary,” squeaks Federico.
The day is still young at this point- it can’t be later than one in the afternoon- and so our heroes strike out for the dwarven village to the north. Along the way they fight more of the hippogriffs, but nobody is wounded very badly. One of the hippogriffs escapes, flying shakily away, and they track it, following the leaking splatters of blood that dropped from its wounds. This technique takes them quickly to the creatures’ nest, where they finish the survivor an d harvest a considerable amount of meat from the dead creature.
And in descending the mountains back to the road- by now evening has fallen- the group spots a single figure, not far off in the mountains, that looks like... another halfling! Perhaps it’s Roscoe? But no... it looks female. And clearly, she’s spotted them as well.
Soon they meet.
She is indeed a halfling. She is pleasantly fat, large-bosomed, with a head shaved of hair except for a thin line bisecting her head from the scalp to the base of the back of her skull. She’s tattooed up and dressed fairly simply. She eyes our heroes suspiciously, then looks at Orderly Brown with a... somewhat different expression.
“Hi!” Sandy greets her. “My name is Sandy, and we’re a bunch of experienced halfling adventurers on a quest!” He puffs up proudly. “And you?”
“A quest, eh?” She licks her lips and picks at her teeth momentarily, gazing hungrily at Brown. “Well, pleased to meet you. I’m a halfling, too, kind of, em, searching around the mountains here.”
“Oh, really? Well, these mountains are very dangerous! I recommend that you not try these things on your own. Maybe we could join forces,” Sandy suggests.
“Mmmm... at least for the moment, that sounds fine.” She smiles at Brown, then turns to the others. “So, what quest are you on?”
“We’re wrangling loonies,” explains Federico. “We let a bunch of people go from an asylum, and now we’re trying to collect them again.”
“You let them loose? And now you’re...? But why?”
Sandy yammers, ”It’s actually very complicated, and it involves strange mental treatments, a disease called the buzzing bowels, the sheriff and a trial and a bunch of people who aren’t even here. Trust us, though, we’re seasoned adventurers. Stick with us and you’ll be fine.”
Naomi shrugs and falls into step with the group. They haven’t gone a quarter mile when she leans over and surreptitiously whispers to Federico, “When do we cook the human?”
Next Time: Wow, this Naomi girl is creepy. Will she remain with the party? Is she really as she appears? And what terrible monsters will ambush our heroes??
The week’s journey to the Asylum for Advanced Mental Treatment has seen Martini and Timothy become more and more agitated, fearing that they will be locked away in the institute. Again and again Martini has muttered to himself that he’ll die before being locked up. Along the way they encountered a mysterious man beneath a waterfall, who gave Timothy a strange, gelatinous morsel that made him wiser for a few short minutes. He begged some more of the stuff from the creature, hoping it will help him pass his exam, and the man agreed. Now, as the group finally arrives at the asylum, they instantly notice a heavier security detail than the orderlies that were present during their assault; this time the security looks like it’s being handled by professionals. The guards are better armed and armored than their predecessors, and there are significantly more of them as well. There will be no more easy midnight break-outs, that’s for sure.
Orderly Zagly Brown has become ever more sympathetic throughout the journey. Martini, Federico and Sandy keep hammering at the point that the prior head of the asylum was replaced by a doppelganger. Funny stuff is afoot. Something fishy is going on.
Or so he seems to believe.
The new head of the Asylum for Advanced Mental Treatment is named Doctor Avendzo. He is an impressive-looking and somewhat pompous gnome whose attitude seems somewhat disciplinarian. He scolds Orderly Brown for speaking out of turn, he locks Martini and Timothy in the institute pending the results of their evaluations and allows them no contact with their friends in the party.
***
7/28/368 O.L.G., 8:30 a.m.
In the morning, the rest of the group looks for leads to the escaped prisoners, and they learn several helpful pieces. One of the escaped dwarven inmates came originally from a village only a few miles away to the north. Two of the inmates went everywhere together, and one of them has a gimpy leg; if they’re still together, they can’t have gotten too far. And one of the escapees had a sick obsession with the Buzzing Fens.
“Let’s go out in a spiral,” suggests Federico, and the party slowly begins a search, aided by Orderly Brown, who quickly finds some tracks.
”Two people,” he reports, “one with a gimpy leg.”
The group finds the two in a little cave that’s barely more than a crawlspace. The two escapees look awful; haggard, half-starved, weather-bitten... Our heroes pass them food and water, and soon the two are escorted ‘home’ to the asylum.
Dr. Avendzo congratulates them on their early success. They discuss the escapees with him, and discover that the one he wants caught the most is named Manson- a mass murderer of six hundred and sixty one people. “That’s scary,” squeaks Federico.
The day is still young at this point- it can’t be later than one in the afternoon- and so our heroes strike out for the dwarven village to the north. Along the way they fight more of the hippogriffs, but nobody is wounded very badly. One of the hippogriffs escapes, flying shakily away, and they track it, following the leaking splatters of blood that dropped from its wounds. This technique takes them quickly to the creatures’ nest, where they finish the survivor an d harvest a considerable amount of meat from the dead creature.
And in descending the mountains back to the road- by now evening has fallen- the group spots a single figure, not far off in the mountains, that looks like... another halfling! Perhaps it’s Roscoe? But no... it looks female. And clearly, she’s spotted them as well.
Soon they meet.
She is indeed a halfling. She is pleasantly fat, large-bosomed, with a head shaved of hair except for a thin line bisecting her head from the scalp to the base of the back of her skull. She’s tattooed up and dressed fairly simply. She eyes our heroes suspiciously, then looks at Orderly Brown with a... somewhat different expression.
“Hi!” Sandy greets her. “My name is Sandy, and we’re a bunch of experienced halfling adventurers on a quest!” He puffs up proudly. “And you?”
“A quest, eh?” She licks her lips and picks at her teeth momentarily, gazing hungrily at Brown. “Well, pleased to meet you. I’m a halfling, too, kind of, em, searching around the mountains here.”
“Oh, really? Well, these mountains are very dangerous! I recommend that you not try these things on your own. Maybe we could join forces,” Sandy suggests.
“Mmmm... at least for the moment, that sounds fine.” She smiles at Brown, then turns to the others. “So, what quest are you on?”
“We’re wrangling loonies,” explains Federico. “We let a bunch of people go from an asylum, and now we’re trying to collect them again.”
“You let them loose? And now you’re...? But why?”
Sandy yammers, ”It’s actually very complicated, and it involves strange mental treatments, a disease called the buzzing bowels, the sheriff and a trial and a bunch of people who aren’t even here. Trust us, though, we’re seasoned adventurers. Stick with us and you’ll be fine.”
Naomi shrugs and falls into step with the group. They haven’t gone a quarter mile when she leans over and surreptitiously whispers to Federico, “When do we cook the human?”
Next Time: Wow, this Naomi girl is creepy. Will she remain with the party? Is she really as she appears? And what terrible monsters will ambush our heroes??
the Jester
Legend
The Jackal-Things
10:30 a.m., 7/30/368 O.L.G., in the Brown Hills
When they encounter the weird jackal-creatures, it almost ends their tale once and for all.
The party is traveling through the hills, still heading north for the dwarven community. Their new... friend? Traveling companion, anyway- Naomi- ambles along with them, her hands digging in her pouch for bits of jerky almost constantly. Something about her is creepy- perhaps her continued attempts to persuade the group to eat Orderly Brown.
“That’s wrong,” Federico protests.
“Why?” demands Naomi. “It isn’t like it’s cannibalism. He isn’t a halfling, after all.” Hmm, neither are you- and you look sort of like a chicken, she reflects, staring hungrily at the kobold. Kobold’s good, as long as it isn’t too tough, but this one looks awfully scrawny. Something to think about, anyway. She licks her chops.
Later in the morning, the group encounters a gnome named Boddynock. Poor Boddynock, it turns out, was sort of exiled from his village when he played a practical joke of some sort that went awry, or offended the wrong person, or something. The details are hazy; nonetheless, Boddynock mentions that he is a wizard, and as he is a small folk, the rest of the party is happy to welcome him to the group. He joins the party, at least for the moment, but he is a little taken aback by their quest to return the escaped inmates to the Asylum for Advanced Mental Treatment when they are the ones who let the escapees out in the first place.
“Oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” Sandy says. “We’re seasoned adventurers; it all makes sense.”
The group’s journey takes them through a small valley with a brook running through it. Several large rock piles are nearby, and as they thread their way through them, they suddenly find themselves confronting a trio of what appear to be humans. “Who are you?” calls Federico, cautiously casting mage armor on his dog Ethel.
The figures grin wordlessly and their features change. It’s like watching wax melt and flow into a new configuration. Before they know what’s happened, the ‘human’ heads have changed into jackal-heads... and Orderly Brown’s legs fold from under him as he drops into a deep sleep!
Things go from bad to worse as the jackal-headed creatures prove nearly immune to halfling weaponry. Their blows glance off the monsters, leaving little more than scratches! Sandy drops into slumber a few moments later, and Federico, Naomi and Boddynock are hard pressed to hold out against the strange jackal-men, who press in with scimitars, slashing and cutting at all of them. Ethel, growling fiercely, pulls one from its feet, and though her teeth don’t hurt it as much as they should, she manages to keep it out of the fight as it tries to get up only to have her trip it again!
Namoi’s potent mind helps. The monsters’ supernatural resistance to weaponry avails them naught against her mind thrust; and when Boddynock manages to stun one of the creatures with a color spray, the group cheers. This allows them to focus on the standing one, but he swings his scimitar at Ethel and connects, knocking out her two front teeth! She yelps but keeps fighting.
Then the monster that stands gives a great howl and clutches its head. Its blade falls to the ground at its feet. Blood begins to pour from its nose, mouth, ears and eyes, and it collapses. Behind it, Naomi grins a sharp-toothed grin.
Once this happens- with a second creature struggling to fend Ethel off long enough to regain his feet, and failing, a the final one in a stupor from the color spray, it’s only a matter of time before they whittle the conscious one down. And when Boddynock, once he’s expended his offensive spells, wakes up Orderly Brown and Sandy, they simply choke the stunned one to death, cutting off its air supply and suffocating it.
Shaken, the group is nonetheless intact. “If only one more of us had succumbed to the sleep gaze,” groans Federico, “we’d probably all be dead!”
Indeed. Fortunately, they all survived. And unbeknownst to them, reinforcements are on the way!
Next Time: The return of Thelonious, Martini and Timothy’s psychological evaluations, and bugbears!
10:30 a.m., 7/30/368 O.L.G., in the Brown Hills
When they encounter the weird jackal-creatures, it almost ends their tale once and for all.
The party is traveling through the hills, still heading north for the dwarven community. Their new... friend? Traveling companion, anyway- Naomi- ambles along with them, her hands digging in her pouch for bits of jerky almost constantly. Something about her is creepy- perhaps her continued attempts to persuade the group to eat Orderly Brown.
“That’s wrong,” Federico protests.
“Why?” demands Naomi. “It isn’t like it’s cannibalism. He isn’t a halfling, after all.” Hmm, neither are you- and you look sort of like a chicken, she reflects, staring hungrily at the kobold. Kobold’s good, as long as it isn’t too tough, but this one looks awfully scrawny. Something to think about, anyway. She licks her chops.
Later in the morning, the group encounters a gnome named Boddynock. Poor Boddynock, it turns out, was sort of exiled from his village when he played a practical joke of some sort that went awry, or offended the wrong person, or something. The details are hazy; nonetheless, Boddynock mentions that he is a wizard, and as he is a small folk, the rest of the party is happy to welcome him to the group. He joins the party, at least for the moment, but he is a little taken aback by their quest to return the escaped inmates to the Asylum for Advanced Mental Treatment when they are the ones who let the escapees out in the first place.
“Oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” Sandy says. “We’re seasoned adventurers; it all makes sense.”
The group’s journey takes them through a small valley with a brook running through it. Several large rock piles are nearby, and as they thread their way through them, they suddenly find themselves confronting a trio of what appear to be humans. “Who are you?” calls Federico, cautiously casting mage armor on his dog Ethel.
The figures grin wordlessly and their features change. It’s like watching wax melt and flow into a new configuration. Before they know what’s happened, the ‘human’ heads have changed into jackal-heads... and Orderly Brown’s legs fold from under him as he drops into a deep sleep!
Things go from bad to worse as the jackal-headed creatures prove nearly immune to halfling weaponry. Their blows glance off the monsters, leaving little more than scratches! Sandy drops into slumber a few moments later, and Federico, Naomi and Boddynock are hard pressed to hold out against the strange jackal-men, who press in with scimitars, slashing and cutting at all of them. Ethel, growling fiercely, pulls one from its feet, and though her teeth don’t hurt it as much as they should, she manages to keep it out of the fight as it tries to get up only to have her trip it again!
Namoi’s potent mind helps. The monsters’ supernatural resistance to weaponry avails them naught against her mind thrust; and when Boddynock manages to stun one of the creatures with a color spray, the group cheers. This allows them to focus on the standing one, but he swings his scimitar at Ethel and connects, knocking out her two front teeth! She yelps but keeps fighting.
Then the monster that stands gives a great howl and clutches its head. Its blade falls to the ground at its feet. Blood begins to pour from its nose, mouth, ears and eyes, and it collapses. Behind it, Naomi grins a sharp-toothed grin.
Once this happens- with a second creature struggling to fend Ethel off long enough to regain his feet, and failing, a the final one in a stupor from the color spray, it’s only a matter of time before they whittle the conscious one down. And when Boddynock, once he’s expended his offensive spells, wakes up Orderly Brown and Sandy, they simply choke the stunned one to death, cutting off its air supply and suffocating it.
Shaken, the group is nonetheless intact. “If only one more of us had succumbed to the sleep gaze,” groans Federico, “we’d probably all be dead!”
Indeed. Fortunately, they all survived. And unbeknownst to them, reinforcements are on the way!
Next Time: The return of Thelonious, Martini and Timothy’s psychological evaluations, and bugbears!
R-Hero
Explorer
I starded to try my hand at a story hour but it has already been done.
One of the few games I DM was "Of Sound Mind" and the twist I had put on it was assingning pre-rolled halfling characters to my players, (by random drawing)
Some in the group were 'kick in the door' type of power gamers and I was trying to get them to rely on more role playing, just for a change. (They were almost a party of sprites, but I thought that might be a little much.)
Great Story Hour, b.t.w. I look forward to reading more. I'm surprised your title didn't catch my eye earlier, but I've only been on En-World for a little while and playing in JollyDoc's Shackled City for a little longer than that.
One of the few games I DM was "Of Sound Mind" and the twist I had put on it was assingning pre-rolled halfling characters to my players, (by random drawing)
Some in the group were 'kick in the door' type of power gamers and I was trying to get them to rely on more role playing, just for a change. (They were almost a party of sprites, but I thought that might be a little much.)
Great Story Hour, b.t.w. I look forward to reading more. I'm surprised your title didn't catch my eye earlier, but I've only been on En-World for a little while and playing in JollyDoc's Shackled City for a little longer than that.
the Jester
Legend
R-Hero said:
Sorry I beat you to the punch!
However, my halfling group wasn't pregenerated. Thanks for the feedback, welcome to the boards, and hey, don't let the fact that I've done it myself stop you from writing a SH! In my opinion, it's a ton of fun to write a SH, even if nobody reads it much.
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