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The Kordovian Adventurers Guild
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 6693442" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 4: BAD HARE DAY</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 2</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 2</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Darrien, half-elf ranger 2</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 2</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Gilbert Fung, human wizard 2</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 2 (Moradin)</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 29 August 2015</p><p></p><p>This adventure, like the one before it, was designed as one big encounter. Also, as I'm rapidly running out of the desk calendar sheets that I habitually used to make my battle maps (it's a result of budget cuts at work: we used to have six desk calendars, one for each member of my six-person office, and I'd gather the six used sheets up at the beginning of each month; now, we only get one for the whole office, so I only get one new sheet per month), I've taken to using a new approach. I made an 8-by-10 table in Word with each row exactly one inch tall and each column exactly one inch wide. I print these out in quantity, and when I design my maps I try to stay conscious of the size of the geomorphs I'll need to build. This adventure called for a hunting lodge, which I designed to be able to fit inside the confines of two 8"-by-10" tables set side by side along their smaller ends, with a back patio of slightly smaller dimensions. So, four sheets of paper and I had my map layout. This also has the advantage of being able to fit inside a manila envelope when not in use; the desk calendars I turn into large geomorph battle maps I end up rolling up and sticking inside a toilet paper roll with the adventure's name written on it. I have several dozen such "desk calendar scrolls" stacked up between a filing cabinet and the wall in my "man cave" downstairs, and they're somewhat of a pain to get to when I'm looking to reuse a particular geomorph map.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>The six members of the Kordovian Adventurers Guild all sat in the wagon as Ingebold drove the two-mule team through the streets of the small town of Collinsdale, east of the Velverdyva River in the kingdom to the south of Kordovia. Spirits were relatively high, as the heroes had, for the first time, actually made it outside the confines of their own small kingdom.</p><p></p><p>A carriage approached them from the other direction, pulled by two strong-looking black stallions. Suddenly, two half-orcs jumped off of the back of the carriage and stood in the street, blocking the progress of Franco and Tantrum. Castillan took immediate notice and prepared himself for combat, not appreciating being accosted by those of orcish blood. Sure, he had long since accepted the fact that King Galrich himself was a half-orc, but he was an exception; the racial hatred between orcs and elves ran deep in the bounder.</p><p></p><p>Ingebold pulled on the reins and the mules obediently came to a stop. Castillan stopped himself from drawing his sword once he processed the full picture of the two half-orcs standing before him. They were dressed in upper-class finery, with silk shirts and tailored vests - why, they even wore gloves! "What's going on?" the elf demanded, nonetheless.</p><p></p><p>"Our mistress would like a word with you," responded one of the burly servants. At that, a young lady popped her head out of the carriage window. "Are you actually <em>adventurers</em>?" she asked incredulously.</p><p></p><p>"Aye, we are," admitted Ingebold cautiously.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, this is <em>excellent!</em>" squealed the young lady. "I'm <strong>Bunnihilde Cavelthorne</strong> - my friends call me <strong>Bunni</strong> - and I'm having my coming-out party tonight! But I ran into a bit of a problem earlier this week with some lowlife, and I'd like to beef up the security at my party, just in case he shows up and causes trouble. What do you say? I'm sure Daddy wouldn't mind hiring you on as extra security."</p><p></p><p>"Really?" asked Castillan. "For how much, may I ask?"</p><p></p><p>"For real adventurers? How does 100 gold apiece sound?" That sounded extremely good to the heroes, but first Finoula wanted some more information about this earlier encounter with the "lowlife." If they were being hired as protection, she wanted to know who they'd likely be up against.</p><p></p><p>"Some gutter rat," replied Bunni. "He dressed in rags, and looked like he hadn't bathed in a lifetime. Anyway, he just sauntered up to me as I was climbing into my carriage, bold as you please, and informed he he had decided I was going to be his mate. Can you imagine? The impertinence!"</p><p></p><p>"So what did you do?" pressed Finoula.</p><p></p><p>"Why, I had my two bodyguards thrash the impertinent scum!" sniffed Bunni. "They gave him a sound beating and then threw him into the gutter, along with the rest of the gutter rats. So what do you say? Will you come to the party as extra bodyguards? I'm sure Daddy will agree!"</p><p></p><p>The heroes looked among themselves, and each saw the same thought on the face of the others: 100 gold pieces - each - for a single night's work?</p><p></p><p>"We'd love to," announced Castillan, the smoothest-talking of the group. "It would be our deepest honor."</p><p></p><p>"Excellent!" squealed Bunni, and started giving the group directions on how to get to her father's hunting lodge, out against the edge of the mighty Vesve Forest. "The party starts at 6 bells - it would be best if you were there about two hours early, so Daddy can show you around and you can familiarize yourself with the lodge. Oh! And you'll need costumes - never mind, I can get those for you! Okay then, see you at four bells this afternoon!" And Bunni popped her head back into the carriage window and closed the curtains. The two half-orc bodyguards leaped back onto the back of the carriage, and the driver, with the snap of a whip, sent the two stallions racing off.</p><p></p><p>"Quite a charming young lady," admired Castillan, to which Finoula only wrinkled her nose in disgust. She supposed Bunni was pretty enough - for a human, that is - but Finoula wasn't particularly thrilled with a full-blooded elf like her bounder companion leering after a human girl, pretty or not. Why, those kinds of thoughts eventually led to the birth of half-elves like her little sister Feron Dru, and there was really no excuse for such dilution of elven blood.</p><p></p><p>"What kind of name 'Bunni' for daughter of nobleman?" asked Gilbert.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>By four bells that afternoon, Ingebold had driven the mules to the Cavelthorne hunting lodge - Bunni's directions had been easy to follow - and, at the direction of <strong>Lord Henry Cavelthorne</strong>, parked both the wagon and the mules behind a smaller building off to the side of the lodge. Now the nobleman was showing off his hunting lodge to the assembled adventurers.</p><p></p><p>"So, adventurers, are you?" asked Lord Cavelthorne. "Excellent, excellent. I've often admired the adventurer's life. Of course, my business pursuits don't allow me the time to follow such a path myself, but I daresay I get much the same experience through my hunting exploits. Come, let me show you my study! I've got a taxidermist on staff, he does quite excellent work. I shot that bear in the Great Hall there myself, with but three shots from a shortbow!" Lord Cavelthorne seemed quite pleased with having a sextet of actual adventurers hired on for the night as additional security, especially after Bunni explained the unpleasantness with the mangy sewer rat. And he didn't even flinch at the thought of paying them each a hundred gold coins for a night's worth. Seeing how easily he agreed to Bunni's quoted price, Castillan was tempted to try to raise their salary but ultimately chickened out at the thought of Lord Cavelthorne balking at the price increase and cancelling their employment altogether. It looked like they had a good thing going here; no sense in allowing greed to ruin it.</p><p></p><p>Lord Cavelthorne gave the group a quick tour of the lodge, pointing out the various features. It had three guest bedrooms besides the two reserved for Bunni and himself; a large dining room and spacious kitchen; his massive study just off the Great Hall, both filled with the preserved remains of animals he had slain while hunting (and the study sported a bunch of fish he had caught, as well). A vast wooden patio stood behind the lodge, where the majority of the party would be held; just to the side was a raised wooden platform where the musicians would be stationed.</p><p></p><p>As the adventurers took in the layout of the lodge, all manner of bustling about took place all around them. Extra wait-staff had been couriered in from his mansion in town. These ladies all wore gowns and wings fashioned to make them look like fairies, nymphs, and other fey-folk. The musicians, who trickled into the area in small groups or singly, all wore animal costumes of some type or another: there was a humanoid pig carrying a lute, a fox-headed violinist, several bird-people playing the flute, and so on.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, you'll need your costumes!" gushed Bunni, who had sauntered up while her Daddy showed the group around. "I didn't have time to have actual costumes crafted for you at such a short notice, but these should do just fine!" She passed out an amulet to each of the heroes. "Put them on!" she said excitedly.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink put the amulet offered him around his neck. Instantly, his features seemed to twist and blur, reassembling to take on the shape of a goblin. <em>Oh, great</em>, he thought to himself, <em>I'm a goblin.</em></p><p></p><p>Castillan put his amulet on, and the effect was much more subdued, for his leather armor changed hardly at all, but his skin darkened to almost pure black as his hair bleached itself white. "You're a drow!" squealed Bunni, shaking her clenched fists in excitement.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert put on his amulet and took on the shape of a myconid. "Look," he said. "My name Gilbert Fung...gus!" Then, just to be sure, he pulled the amulet back off, ensuring there were no lasting effects. There weren't; the illusion manifested only as long as the amulet was worn. Satisfied, he put the amulet back on and became a phony myconid once again.</p><p></p><p>Finoula wasn't exactly thrilled to take on the appearance of a medusa, nor Ingebold a harpy, but neither voiced their complaints. After all, a hundred gold pieces bought quite a bit of endurance of silliness. Darrien didn't seem to mind spending the evening appearing to be a mangy gnoll; he knew himself for who he was, and that was all that mattered.</p><p></p><p>"You guys all look great!" enthused Bunni, clapping her hands (<em>No doubt at her own cleverness</em>, thought Finoula to herself).</p><p></p><p>"And what will you be wearing?" Finoula asked Bunni.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, you'll have to find out when I'm presented at the party!" replied Bunni.</p><p></p><p>"Actually, I think it would be better if we all knew ahead of time what you'll look like during the costume party," replied Finoula. "After all, if we're to protect you, we'll need to know which one is you."</p><p></p><p>"She's right, Sweety-Bunny," replied Lord Cavelthorne.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, I suppose," groused Bunni, then brightened at the thought of getting to describe her most excellent costume. "I'm going to be a witch-princess!" she enthused. "With a big, flowing cape, and a shiny wand, and everything!"</p><p></p><p>"You might want to go get ready," suggested Lord Cavelthorne. At that, Bunni bounded off to her room, a stoic Finoula following in her wake. After all, it was in everyone's best interests if there were a bodyguard with Bunni at all times, and the only two available while she changed clothes were Finoula and Ingebold, and the ranger didn't trust the dwarf not to be too blunt to the nobleman's daughter. Castillan's expression said he wouldn't mind being Bunni's escort while she changed; Finoula's equally wordless expression said to forget it, buddy.</p><p></p><p>Six bells came too soon, and several dozen guests made their appearances, each wearing an elaborate costume of some type. The adventurers had been dispersed all around the lodge: the two half-orcs (now dressed in full "savage orc tribesmen" garb) were stationed at the front doors, so they could check the guests' invitations; Gilbert stood on guard inside the lodge, ensuring nobody entered the hallway leading to the bedrooms; Binkadink and Finoula were on the patio in back, mingling with the guests; Castillan walked in long arcs along the perimeter; and Darrien had been boosted up onto the roof, where he looked over the excitement on the patio. The first hour went smoothly; the heroes noticed that quite a few of the nobility had brought along their own eligible bachelor sons and nephews; this was, after all, a celebration of Bunni's 18th birthday and her subsequent elevation into the ranks of potential marriage material among the nobility of the kingdom.</p><p></p><p>Not unexpectedly, Bunni opted not to make her appearance until about 7 bells, to increase the anticipation and make her entrance all that more memorable. She was announced by her proud father, who then took her by the arm and formally introduced her to each of the guests. Bunni was radiant, basking in all of the attention focused her way.</p><p></p><p>Darrien, up on the roof, was the first to notice the sudden influx of new arrivals. These were rabbits, bounding in from the Vesve Forest in ones and twos, and then in entire family groups, merging together into vast swathes of brown, tan, white, black, and gray fur. "Hey!" he called out from above. "Incoming -- rabbits!"</p><p></p><p>The guests at the edges of the deck looked and saw the bounding bunnies headed their way and murmured appreciatively, assuming this was all part of the festivities. "Oh, very good show!" one guest called, and "Well done, Cavelthorne! How ever did you do it?" asked another. Lord Cavelthorne turned at the question with an inquisitive stare, not entirely sure what the question was about.</p><p></p><p>And then the bunnies started biting.</p><p></p><p>The guests cried out in shock as the rabbits began chomping down on their shins and leaping up to reach higher on the guests' bodies. One noblewoman fell backwards in trying to make her escape and was instantly engulfed, crazed rabbits biting her face, her neck, her arms. She screamed, and those on the deck who hadn't noticed the encroaching rabbits before were all suddenly aware of them now.</p><p></p><p>Finoula grabbed Lord Cavelthorne by his arm and said, "We need to get you inside, sir." He in turn had Bunni by the arm, and she was absolutely shocked at this violation of her party. "Daddy!" she cried. "Do something!"</p><p></p><p>Binkadink had approached the nearest swarm of rabbits and spoke to them in their own language. "What are you doing?" he asked them.</p><p></p><p>"Bite! Kill! Frenzy!" was their only response.</p><p></p><p>"You must stop!" pleaded the gnome. "You do not want to hurt these people!"</p><p></p><p>"Kill! Blood! Bite!" they replied.</p><p></p><p>One particular rabbit hopped over and stabbed at a guest who had fallen to his knees, the spiral horn on the creature's head penetrating the would-be suitor's chest. His heart pierced, he cried out in agony - and then froze in place, his entire body having been turned to stone in an instant. The almiraj leaped away, seeking new prey.</p><p></p><p>Castillan ran over to join Finoula and Binkadink at the deck, and the three started herding the guests into the lodge via the double doors at the center of the building's back wall. Another door to the east led to the kitchen, but there was a large swarm of rabbits there and nobody was willing to try that entrance. The door to the west was locked, as it led to the residential hall and had been made off-limits to the guests. Some of the musicians, seeing the carnage before them, had stopped playing and had leaped from their wooden platform to the grass behind them. A few started to run around the west side of the lodge, especially now that two dire rabbits had joined the rabbit swarms that had flowed out of the forest. These rabbits were each the size of a small pony, and Binkadink judged the heroes lucky that there were only the two of them.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert exited from the lodge, fighting his way past the guests streaming in through the same double doors. "This crazy!" he announced, seeing the chaotic scene all around him. He immediately cast a <em>color spray</em> into the mass of fuzzy bodies, incapacitating a clump of frenzied rabbits and one of the dire rabbits. Then he helped push the surviving guests still on the patio into the lodge behind him.</p><p></p><p>One musician, standing alone on the raised platform, seemed unperturbed by the chaos all around him. While one of his compatriots, a heavyset man in a bird mask, tried climbing underneath the musicians' platform to seek some sort of safety there, the lone performer stood at rapt attention, his entire focus being given to the tune he was even now playing on a set of wooden pipes. Darrien was suspicious, and called out to the others, "Guys! Check out that guy in the bunny costume!"</p><p></p><p>Looking over at the lone musician, Castillan saw that he was indeed wearing a bunny costume - and a particularly ill-fitting one at that. Pulling out his shortbow, he reached behind him for an arrow from the quiver at his back. While Finoula was herding the last of the guests inside the lodge - those who were still living, as quite a few had been overcome by the bloodthirsty rabbit swarms - and closing the doors, Binkadink saw the latest arrival to the party: a creature the same size, shape, and general build of the two dire rabbits, but this one sporting an impressive rack of antlers growing from his head. He approached the musician as if to attack him, but then turned away at the last moment and sought elsewhere for his prey.</p><p></p><p>At the same time, there was a cry from underneath the musicians' platform, as the man who had sought safety there was slain. Crawling out from underneath the platform was a strange form: an artificial humanoid made from plants, its head carved from a small gourd. The gourd leshy stalked over toward Castillan, preparing to do some sort of mischief to the bounder, whose attention was focused on the performer in the bunny suit.</p><p></p><p>Darrien was having none of it. From his perch atop the roof, he let fly with an arrow from his longbow, piercing the gourd leshy through its head. The arrowhead protruded through the creature's chin and it staggered, nearly destroyed with one well-placed shot. Binkadink finished it off with a blow from his gnomish glaive.</p><p></p><p>Castillan let fly with his own arrow, striking the musician in the bunny suit in the arm, just before the bounder was overcome by a swarm of leaping and biting rabbits.</p><p></p><p>"Ow!" he cried, dropping to the ground.</p><p></p><p>"Ow!" echoed the musician in the bunny suit, dropping the pipes from his lips as he grabbed his bleeding arm in his other hand.</p><p></p><p>As soon as the music stopped, the rabbits (and various rabbitlike creatures) all stopped as well. Those unaffected by Gilbert's spell blinked their eyes in confusion and started loping away in panic, returning back to the relative safety of the forest. The antlered jackalope looked around in puzzlement as if just awakening from a deep sleep. Castillan, no longer being chewed upon by scores of rabbit teeth, staggered to his feet, bleeding from a dozen wounds. He desperately needed a healing potion, but the group had finished all of those off while fighting the orcs and goblins at the garrison tower the previous day. So, wanting to stay away from further melee combat but still wishing to do his part, he scrambled up the side of the lodge to join Darrien on the rooftop.</p><p></p><p>The musician, mirroring the fleeing rabbits, started fleeing as well, following the rest of the performers who had headed around the west side of the lodge. He still cradled his bleeding arm, but after a few muttered words the wound magically healed up. He said a few other words as he rounded to the front side of the lodge and a timber wolf loped up to him, eager for instructions.</p><p></p><p>"We're getting the girl," snarled <strong>Gunter Mossbriar</strong>, opening the front doors and allowing the wolf into the lodge, while Darrien and Castillan rained arrows down at him from the roof.</p><p></p><p>By this time, Finoula had positioned the guests to safety and flung off her amulet, tired of looking like a medusa. Lord Cavelthorne and his daughter were inside his study, the sole door to which was being guarded by the two half-orc servants. Those guests who had fled inside to safety had been lined up against the two sides of the Great Hall, out of the way. Gilbert had re-entered the Great Hall from the back deck, and stood ready to cast spells as needed.</p><p></p><p>On the back deck, Binkadink had a sudden inspiration. Approaching the jackalope and speaking softly and reassuringly in the language of burrowing mammals, he asked, "Would you like to help me catch the bad man who made you try to be bad?"</p><p></p><p>The jackalope thought for a mere moment before giving his assent.</p><p></p><p>"Can I climb up on your back?" asked the gnome.</p><p></p><p>"Ha!" laughed the jackalope, amused by the concept, but he allowed the gnome to crawl up onto his back. Then he raced around the corner of the lodge, reaching the front door just after Gunter had entered.</p><p></p><p>"Give me the girl, and nobody else gets hurt!" announced the druid. He had abandoned the bunny mask of his costume, allowing himself to see much better. After all, the costume hadn't been made for him but rather one of the other musicians - specifically, the one whose body Gunter had stuffed underneath one of the beds in a guest bedroom after having lured him there before the party started, among all of the hustle and bustle of preparation. And then, after Bunni's grand entrance to her own party, he had played the tune on the pipes he had crafted just for this occasion.</p><p></p><p>Of course, his original plan was to have constructed a pair of <em>pipes of the sewers</em>, with which to summon vast swarms of rats to overcome Bunni's guests and allow him to take her away with him as his unwilling bride. The rats would have been particularly appropriate, Gunter thought, after she had referred to him as a sewer rat while she sicced her half-orc oafs upon him. But constant thoughts of Bunni had swum to the forefront of his mind as he labored on the pipes, and somehow they had been corrupted, summoning bunnies instead of rats when he had first tested it. But he hadn't had time to craft another set of pipes, and bunnies should have done the job as easily as rats, so he carried on with his original plan.</p><p></p><p>But now these additional members of Cavelthorne's security staff were threatening to ruin his plans altogether.</p><p></p><p>"You no take girl!" announced Gilbert. In response, Gunter motioned with his finger and the timber wolf raced forward, biting at the nearest target - one of Cavelthorne's half-orc servants. Finoula stepped up and helped him fight off the beast, while Gilbert strode up boldly to the enemy druid. Gunter looked to be on his last legs, bleeding from some arrow-strikes that he hadn't had the healing spells on hand to deal with. Acting on a hunch, Gilbert opted to forego the spell he had planned on using, and instead slammed the back of his dagger into the back of Gunter's head. Gunter went sprawling onto the floor, unconscious, as the wolf Finoula and the half-orcs had been fighting disappeared, being returned from wherever it had come from before getting snagged up in Gunter's <em>summon nature's ally</em> spell.</p><p></p><p>The danger over, the heroes allowed Lord Cavelthorne and Bunni out of the study. Bunni, furious, positively identified the unconscious druid in the ill-fitting bunny suit as the "sewer rat" who had indecently propositioned her the other day. She gave him a kick in the side of his head for good measure, before her father pulled her away from him and had his servants bind Gunter with sturdy ropes. "He'll pay for the lives lost at the teeth of his...rabbit army...goodness, that sounds rather ridiculous when you say it aloud, doesn't it?" Still, Lord Cavelthorne was impressed with the heroes' efforts in keeping both him and his daughter safe, and in capturing the man responsible for the deaths of the party-goers. There would likely be some fuss about the deaths of some of the guests, but they were all nobility with relatively large fortunes...no doubt, their estates would have them resurrected in no time. Lord Cavelthorne might even have to chip in a bit on the cost, but no matter: his Sweety-Bunny was safe, and that was all that mattered.</p><p></p><p>As for the heroes: they were all going to get paid, and that was all that mattered to them....</p><p></p><p>Outside, Binkadink dismounted the jackalope. "It looks like we missed the excitement after all," he said. "By the way, what's your name?"</p><p></p><p>"My name is '<strong>Obvious</strong>,'" replied the jackalope.</p><p></p><p>"Obvious?" asked the gnome. "Hmm, let me think...'Horny?' 'Antlers?'"</p><p></p><p>"No, 'Obvious,'" laughed the jackalope, thinking this was a very silly gnome indeed. But the mental light came on in Binkadink's head, and he suddenly got it. "Ah, 'Obvious' is your name," he reasoned. "Why are you called 'Obvious,' if I may ask?"</p><p></p><p>"When I was little, we played 'hide-and-go-find,' my brothers and sisters and I. I never hid as well as they did. They always found me, easily."</p><p></p><p>"Makes sense," admitted the gnome. "Well, my name is 'Binkadink.'"</p><p></p><p>Obvious thought this was a particularly hilarious name. "'Binkadink' doesn't mean anything!" he laughed. "You're funny!" But he agreed to serve the gnome as a riding mount, as long as he was properly fed. Free food, just for carting around a little gnome on his back? That was a pretty good deal.</p><p></p><p>And Binkadink had been concerned that his size would be a hindrance to the rest of the group, since the elves, human, and half-elf were all nearly twice his size. He'd been giving some thought to maybe getting a riding dog, like the halflings he'd heard of tended to ride around on. But an opportunity for a jackalope mount, one he could actually speak to and have understand?</p><p></p><p>The choice was Obvious.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>T-Shirt Worn: Since this adventure took place on the same day as the "Garrison Duty" adventure, I was wearing the same wolf T-shirt. And again, I don't have any "bunny" related shirts in any case, so this shirt pulled double duty by also representing the timber wolf that Gunter Mossbriar summoned.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 6693442, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 4: BAD HARE DAY[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 2 Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 2 Darrien, half-elf ranger 2 Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 2 Gilbert Fung, human wizard 2[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 2 (Moradin)[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 29 August 2015 This adventure, like the one before it, was designed as one big encounter. Also, as I'm rapidly running out of the desk calendar sheets that I habitually used to make my battle maps (it's a result of budget cuts at work: we used to have six desk calendars, one for each member of my six-person office, and I'd gather the six used sheets up at the beginning of each month; now, we only get one for the whole office, so I only get one new sheet per month), I've taken to using a new approach. I made an 8-by-10 table in Word with each row exactly one inch tall and each column exactly one inch wide. I print these out in quantity, and when I design my maps I try to stay conscious of the size of the geomorphs I'll need to build. This adventure called for a hunting lodge, which I designed to be able to fit inside the confines of two 8"-by-10" tables set side by side along their smaller ends, with a back patio of slightly smaller dimensions. So, four sheets of paper and I had my map layout. This also has the advantage of being able to fit inside a manila envelope when not in use; the desk calendars I turn into large geomorph battle maps I end up rolling up and sticking inside a toilet paper roll with the adventure's name written on it. I have several dozen such "desk calendar scrolls" stacked up between a filing cabinet and the wall in my "man cave" downstairs, and they're somewhat of a pain to get to when I'm looking to reuse a particular geomorph map. - - - The six members of the Kordovian Adventurers Guild all sat in the wagon as Ingebold drove the two-mule team through the streets of the small town of Collinsdale, east of the Velverdyva River in the kingdom to the south of Kordovia. Spirits were relatively high, as the heroes had, for the first time, actually made it outside the confines of their own small kingdom. A carriage approached them from the other direction, pulled by two strong-looking black stallions. Suddenly, two half-orcs jumped off of the back of the carriage and stood in the street, blocking the progress of Franco and Tantrum. Castillan took immediate notice and prepared himself for combat, not appreciating being accosted by those of orcish blood. Sure, he had long since accepted the fact that King Galrich himself was a half-orc, but he was an exception; the racial hatred between orcs and elves ran deep in the bounder. Ingebold pulled on the reins and the mules obediently came to a stop. Castillan stopped himself from drawing his sword once he processed the full picture of the two half-orcs standing before him. They were dressed in upper-class finery, with silk shirts and tailored vests - why, they even wore gloves! "What's going on?" the elf demanded, nonetheless. "Our mistress would like a word with you," responded one of the burly servants. At that, a young lady popped her head out of the carriage window. "Are you actually [i]adventurers[/i]?" she asked incredulously. "Aye, we are," admitted Ingebold cautiously. "Oh, this is [i]excellent![/i]" squealed the young lady. "I'm [b]Bunnihilde Cavelthorne[/b] - my friends call me [b]Bunni[/b] - and I'm having my coming-out party tonight! But I ran into a bit of a problem earlier this week with some lowlife, and I'd like to beef up the security at my party, just in case he shows up and causes trouble. What do you say? I'm sure Daddy wouldn't mind hiring you on as extra security." "Really?" asked Castillan. "For how much, may I ask?" "For real adventurers? How does 100 gold apiece sound?" That sounded extremely good to the heroes, but first Finoula wanted some more information about this earlier encounter with the "lowlife." If they were being hired as protection, she wanted to know who they'd likely be up against. "Some gutter rat," replied Bunni. "He dressed in rags, and looked like he hadn't bathed in a lifetime. Anyway, he just sauntered up to me as I was climbing into my carriage, bold as you please, and informed he he had decided I was going to be his mate. Can you imagine? The impertinence!" "So what did you do?" pressed Finoula. "Why, I had my two bodyguards thrash the impertinent scum!" sniffed Bunni. "They gave him a sound beating and then threw him into the gutter, along with the rest of the gutter rats. So what do you say? Will you come to the party as extra bodyguards? I'm sure Daddy will agree!" The heroes looked among themselves, and each saw the same thought on the face of the others: 100 gold pieces - each - for a single night's work? "We'd love to," announced Castillan, the smoothest-talking of the group. "It would be our deepest honor." "Excellent!" squealed Bunni, and started giving the group directions on how to get to her father's hunting lodge, out against the edge of the mighty Vesve Forest. "The party starts at 6 bells - it would be best if you were there about two hours early, so Daddy can show you around and you can familiarize yourself with the lodge. Oh! And you'll need costumes - never mind, I can get those for you! Okay then, see you at four bells this afternoon!" And Bunni popped her head back into the carriage window and closed the curtains. The two half-orc bodyguards leaped back onto the back of the carriage, and the driver, with the snap of a whip, sent the two stallions racing off. "Quite a charming young lady," admired Castillan, to which Finoula only wrinkled her nose in disgust. She supposed Bunni was pretty enough - for a human, that is - but Finoula wasn't particularly thrilled with a full-blooded elf like her bounder companion leering after a human girl, pretty or not. Why, those kinds of thoughts eventually led to the birth of half-elves like her little sister Feron Dru, and there was really no excuse for such dilution of elven blood. "What kind of name 'Bunni' for daughter of nobleman?" asked Gilbert. - - - By four bells that afternoon, Ingebold had driven the mules to the Cavelthorne hunting lodge - Bunni's directions had been easy to follow - and, at the direction of [b]Lord Henry Cavelthorne[/b], parked both the wagon and the mules behind a smaller building off to the side of the lodge. Now the nobleman was showing off his hunting lodge to the assembled adventurers. "So, adventurers, are you?" asked Lord Cavelthorne. "Excellent, excellent. I've often admired the adventurer's life. Of course, my business pursuits don't allow me the time to follow such a path myself, but I daresay I get much the same experience through my hunting exploits. Come, let me show you my study! I've got a taxidermist on staff, he does quite excellent work. I shot that bear in the Great Hall there myself, with but three shots from a shortbow!" Lord Cavelthorne seemed quite pleased with having a sextet of actual adventurers hired on for the night as additional security, especially after Bunni explained the unpleasantness with the mangy sewer rat. And he didn't even flinch at the thought of paying them each a hundred gold coins for a night's worth. Seeing how easily he agreed to Bunni's quoted price, Castillan was tempted to try to raise their salary but ultimately chickened out at the thought of Lord Cavelthorne balking at the price increase and cancelling their employment altogether. It looked like they had a good thing going here; no sense in allowing greed to ruin it. Lord Cavelthorne gave the group a quick tour of the lodge, pointing out the various features. It had three guest bedrooms besides the two reserved for Bunni and himself; a large dining room and spacious kitchen; his massive study just off the Great Hall, both filled with the preserved remains of animals he had slain while hunting (and the study sported a bunch of fish he had caught, as well). A vast wooden patio stood behind the lodge, where the majority of the party would be held; just to the side was a raised wooden platform where the musicians would be stationed. As the adventurers took in the layout of the lodge, all manner of bustling about took place all around them. Extra wait-staff had been couriered in from his mansion in town. These ladies all wore gowns and wings fashioned to make them look like fairies, nymphs, and other fey-folk. The musicians, who trickled into the area in small groups or singly, all wore animal costumes of some type or another: there was a humanoid pig carrying a lute, a fox-headed violinist, several bird-people playing the flute, and so on. "Oh, you'll need your costumes!" gushed Bunni, who had sauntered up while her Daddy showed the group around. "I didn't have time to have actual costumes crafted for you at such a short notice, but these should do just fine!" She passed out an amulet to each of the heroes. "Put them on!" she said excitedly. Binkadink put the amulet offered him around his neck. Instantly, his features seemed to twist and blur, reassembling to take on the shape of a goblin. [i]Oh, great[/i], he thought to himself, [i]I'm a goblin.[/i] Castillan put his amulet on, and the effect was much more subdued, for his leather armor changed hardly at all, but his skin darkened to almost pure black as his hair bleached itself white. "You're a drow!" squealed Bunni, shaking her clenched fists in excitement. Gilbert put on his amulet and took on the shape of a myconid. "Look," he said. "My name Gilbert Fung...gus!" Then, just to be sure, he pulled the amulet back off, ensuring there were no lasting effects. There weren't; the illusion manifested only as long as the amulet was worn. Satisfied, he put the amulet back on and became a phony myconid once again. Finoula wasn't exactly thrilled to take on the appearance of a medusa, nor Ingebold a harpy, but neither voiced their complaints. After all, a hundred gold pieces bought quite a bit of endurance of silliness. Darrien didn't seem to mind spending the evening appearing to be a mangy gnoll; he knew himself for who he was, and that was all that mattered. "You guys all look great!" enthused Bunni, clapping her hands ([i]No doubt at her own cleverness[/i], thought Finoula to herself). "And what will you be wearing?" Finoula asked Bunni. "Oh, you'll have to find out when I'm presented at the party!" replied Bunni. "Actually, I think it would be better if we all knew ahead of time what you'll look like during the costume party," replied Finoula. "After all, if we're to protect you, we'll need to know which one is you." "She's right, Sweety-Bunny," replied Lord Cavelthorne. "Oh, I suppose," groused Bunni, then brightened at the thought of getting to describe her most excellent costume. "I'm going to be a witch-princess!" she enthused. "With a big, flowing cape, and a shiny wand, and everything!" "You might want to go get ready," suggested Lord Cavelthorne. At that, Bunni bounded off to her room, a stoic Finoula following in her wake. After all, it was in everyone's best interests if there were a bodyguard with Bunni at all times, and the only two available while she changed clothes were Finoula and Ingebold, and the ranger didn't trust the dwarf not to be too blunt to the nobleman's daughter. Castillan's expression said he wouldn't mind being Bunni's escort while she changed; Finoula's equally wordless expression said to forget it, buddy. Six bells came too soon, and several dozen guests made their appearances, each wearing an elaborate costume of some type. The adventurers had been dispersed all around the lodge: the two half-orcs (now dressed in full "savage orc tribesmen" garb) were stationed at the front doors, so they could check the guests' invitations; Gilbert stood on guard inside the lodge, ensuring nobody entered the hallway leading to the bedrooms; Binkadink and Finoula were on the patio in back, mingling with the guests; Castillan walked in long arcs along the perimeter; and Darrien had been boosted up onto the roof, where he looked over the excitement on the patio. The first hour went smoothly; the heroes noticed that quite a few of the nobility had brought along their own eligible bachelor sons and nephews; this was, after all, a celebration of Bunni's 18th birthday and her subsequent elevation into the ranks of potential marriage material among the nobility of the kingdom. Not unexpectedly, Bunni opted not to make her appearance until about 7 bells, to increase the anticipation and make her entrance all that more memorable. She was announced by her proud father, who then took her by the arm and formally introduced her to each of the guests. Bunni was radiant, basking in all of the attention focused her way. Darrien, up on the roof, was the first to notice the sudden influx of new arrivals. These were rabbits, bounding in from the Vesve Forest in ones and twos, and then in entire family groups, merging together into vast swathes of brown, tan, white, black, and gray fur. "Hey!" he called out from above. "Incoming -- rabbits!" The guests at the edges of the deck looked and saw the bounding bunnies headed their way and murmured appreciatively, assuming this was all part of the festivities. "Oh, very good show!" one guest called, and "Well done, Cavelthorne! How ever did you do it?" asked another. Lord Cavelthorne turned at the question with an inquisitive stare, not entirely sure what the question was about. And then the bunnies started biting. The guests cried out in shock as the rabbits began chomping down on their shins and leaping up to reach higher on the guests' bodies. One noblewoman fell backwards in trying to make her escape and was instantly engulfed, crazed rabbits biting her face, her neck, her arms. She screamed, and those on the deck who hadn't noticed the encroaching rabbits before were all suddenly aware of them now. Finoula grabbed Lord Cavelthorne by his arm and said, "We need to get you inside, sir." He in turn had Bunni by the arm, and she was absolutely shocked at this violation of her party. "Daddy!" she cried. "Do something!" Binkadink had approached the nearest swarm of rabbits and spoke to them in their own language. "What are you doing?" he asked them. "Bite! Kill! Frenzy!" was their only response. "You must stop!" pleaded the gnome. "You do not want to hurt these people!" "Kill! Blood! Bite!" they replied. One particular rabbit hopped over and stabbed at a guest who had fallen to his knees, the spiral horn on the creature's head penetrating the would-be suitor's chest. His heart pierced, he cried out in agony - and then froze in place, his entire body having been turned to stone in an instant. The almiraj leaped away, seeking new prey. Castillan ran over to join Finoula and Binkadink at the deck, and the three started herding the guests into the lodge via the double doors at the center of the building's back wall. Another door to the east led to the kitchen, but there was a large swarm of rabbits there and nobody was willing to try that entrance. The door to the west was locked, as it led to the residential hall and had been made off-limits to the guests. Some of the musicians, seeing the carnage before them, had stopped playing and had leaped from their wooden platform to the grass behind them. A few started to run around the west side of the lodge, especially now that two dire rabbits had joined the rabbit swarms that had flowed out of the forest. These rabbits were each the size of a small pony, and Binkadink judged the heroes lucky that there were only the two of them. Gilbert exited from the lodge, fighting his way past the guests streaming in through the same double doors. "This crazy!" he announced, seeing the chaotic scene all around him. He immediately cast a [i]color spray[/i] into the mass of fuzzy bodies, incapacitating a clump of frenzied rabbits and one of the dire rabbits. Then he helped push the surviving guests still on the patio into the lodge behind him. One musician, standing alone on the raised platform, seemed unperturbed by the chaos all around him. While one of his compatriots, a heavyset man in a bird mask, tried climbing underneath the musicians' platform to seek some sort of safety there, the lone performer stood at rapt attention, his entire focus being given to the tune he was even now playing on a set of wooden pipes. Darrien was suspicious, and called out to the others, "Guys! Check out that guy in the bunny costume!" Looking over at the lone musician, Castillan saw that he was indeed wearing a bunny costume - and a particularly ill-fitting one at that. Pulling out his shortbow, he reached behind him for an arrow from the quiver at his back. While Finoula was herding the last of the guests inside the lodge - those who were still living, as quite a few had been overcome by the bloodthirsty rabbit swarms - and closing the doors, Binkadink saw the latest arrival to the party: a creature the same size, shape, and general build of the two dire rabbits, but this one sporting an impressive rack of antlers growing from his head. He approached the musician as if to attack him, but then turned away at the last moment and sought elsewhere for his prey. At the same time, there was a cry from underneath the musicians' platform, as the man who had sought safety there was slain. Crawling out from underneath the platform was a strange form: an artificial humanoid made from plants, its head carved from a small gourd. The gourd leshy stalked over toward Castillan, preparing to do some sort of mischief to the bounder, whose attention was focused on the performer in the bunny suit. Darrien was having none of it. From his perch atop the roof, he let fly with an arrow from his longbow, piercing the gourd leshy through its head. The arrowhead protruded through the creature's chin and it staggered, nearly destroyed with one well-placed shot. Binkadink finished it off with a blow from his gnomish glaive. Castillan let fly with his own arrow, striking the musician in the bunny suit in the arm, just before the bounder was overcome by a swarm of leaping and biting rabbits. "Ow!" he cried, dropping to the ground. "Ow!" echoed the musician in the bunny suit, dropping the pipes from his lips as he grabbed his bleeding arm in his other hand. As soon as the music stopped, the rabbits (and various rabbitlike creatures) all stopped as well. Those unaffected by Gilbert's spell blinked their eyes in confusion and started loping away in panic, returning back to the relative safety of the forest. The antlered jackalope looked around in puzzlement as if just awakening from a deep sleep. Castillan, no longer being chewed upon by scores of rabbit teeth, staggered to his feet, bleeding from a dozen wounds. He desperately needed a healing potion, but the group had finished all of those off while fighting the orcs and goblins at the garrison tower the previous day. So, wanting to stay away from further melee combat but still wishing to do his part, he scrambled up the side of the lodge to join Darrien on the rooftop. The musician, mirroring the fleeing rabbits, started fleeing as well, following the rest of the performers who had headed around the west side of the lodge. He still cradled his bleeding arm, but after a few muttered words the wound magically healed up. He said a few other words as he rounded to the front side of the lodge and a timber wolf loped up to him, eager for instructions. "We're getting the girl," snarled [b]Gunter Mossbriar[/b], opening the front doors and allowing the wolf into the lodge, while Darrien and Castillan rained arrows down at him from the roof. By this time, Finoula had positioned the guests to safety and flung off her amulet, tired of looking like a medusa. Lord Cavelthorne and his daughter were inside his study, the sole door to which was being guarded by the two half-orc servants. Those guests who had fled inside to safety had been lined up against the two sides of the Great Hall, out of the way. Gilbert had re-entered the Great Hall from the back deck, and stood ready to cast spells as needed. On the back deck, Binkadink had a sudden inspiration. Approaching the jackalope and speaking softly and reassuringly in the language of burrowing mammals, he asked, "Would you like to help me catch the bad man who made you try to be bad?" The jackalope thought for a mere moment before giving his assent. "Can I climb up on your back?" asked the gnome. "Ha!" laughed the jackalope, amused by the concept, but he allowed the gnome to crawl up onto his back. Then he raced around the corner of the lodge, reaching the front door just after Gunter had entered. "Give me the girl, and nobody else gets hurt!" announced the druid. He had abandoned the bunny mask of his costume, allowing himself to see much better. After all, the costume hadn't been made for him but rather one of the other musicians - specifically, the one whose body Gunter had stuffed underneath one of the beds in a guest bedroom after having lured him there before the party started, among all of the hustle and bustle of preparation. And then, after Bunni's grand entrance to her own party, he had played the tune on the pipes he had crafted just for this occasion. Of course, his original plan was to have constructed a pair of [i]pipes of the sewers[/i], with which to summon vast swarms of rats to overcome Bunni's guests and allow him to take her away with him as his unwilling bride. The rats would have been particularly appropriate, Gunter thought, after she had referred to him as a sewer rat while she sicced her half-orc oafs upon him. But constant thoughts of Bunni had swum to the forefront of his mind as he labored on the pipes, and somehow they had been corrupted, summoning bunnies instead of rats when he had first tested it. But he hadn't had time to craft another set of pipes, and bunnies should have done the job as easily as rats, so he carried on with his original plan. But now these additional members of Cavelthorne's security staff were threatening to ruin his plans altogether. "You no take girl!" announced Gilbert. In response, Gunter motioned with his finger and the timber wolf raced forward, biting at the nearest target - one of Cavelthorne's half-orc servants. Finoula stepped up and helped him fight off the beast, while Gilbert strode up boldly to the enemy druid. Gunter looked to be on his last legs, bleeding from some arrow-strikes that he hadn't had the healing spells on hand to deal with. Acting on a hunch, Gilbert opted to forego the spell he had planned on using, and instead slammed the back of his dagger into the back of Gunter's head. Gunter went sprawling onto the floor, unconscious, as the wolf Finoula and the half-orcs had been fighting disappeared, being returned from wherever it had come from before getting snagged up in Gunter's [i]summon nature's ally[/i] spell. The danger over, the heroes allowed Lord Cavelthorne and Bunni out of the study. Bunni, furious, positively identified the unconscious druid in the ill-fitting bunny suit as the "sewer rat" who had indecently propositioned her the other day. She gave him a kick in the side of his head for good measure, before her father pulled her away from him and had his servants bind Gunter with sturdy ropes. "He'll pay for the lives lost at the teeth of his...rabbit army...goodness, that sounds rather ridiculous when you say it aloud, doesn't it?" Still, Lord Cavelthorne was impressed with the heroes' efforts in keeping both him and his daughter safe, and in capturing the man responsible for the deaths of the party-goers. There would likely be some fuss about the deaths of some of the guests, but they were all nobility with relatively large fortunes...no doubt, their estates would have them resurrected in no time. Lord Cavelthorne might even have to chip in a bit on the cost, but no matter: his Sweety-Bunny was safe, and that was all that mattered. As for the heroes: they were all going to get paid, and that was all that mattered to them.... Outside, Binkadink dismounted the jackalope. "It looks like we missed the excitement after all," he said. "By the way, what's your name?" "My name is '[b]Obvious[/b],'" replied the jackalope. "Obvious?" asked the gnome. "Hmm, let me think...'Horny?' 'Antlers?'" "No, 'Obvious,'" laughed the jackalope, thinking this was a very silly gnome indeed. But the mental light came on in Binkadink's head, and he suddenly got it. "Ah, 'Obvious' is your name," he reasoned. "Why are you called 'Obvious,' if I may ask?" "When I was little, we played 'hide-and-go-find,' my brothers and sisters and I. I never hid as well as they did. They always found me, easily." "Makes sense," admitted the gnome. "Well, my name is 'Binkadink.'" Obvious thought this was a particularly hilarious name. "'Binkadink' doesn't mean anything!" he laughed. "You're funny!" But he agreed to serve the gnome as a riding mount, as long as he was properly fed. Free food, just for carting around a little gnome on his back? That was a pretty good deal. And Binkadink had been concerned that his size would be a hindrance to the rest of the group, since the elves, human, and half-elf were all nearly twice his size. He'd been giving some thought to maybe getting a riding dog, like the halflings he'd heard of tended to ride around on. But an opportunity for a jackalope mount, one he could actually speak to and have understand? The choice was Obvious. - - - T-Shirt Worn: Since this adventure took place on the same day as the "Garrison Duty" adventure, I was wearing the same wolf T-shirt. And again, I don't have any "bunny" related shirts in any case, so this shirt pulled double duty by also representing the timber wolf that Gunter Mossbriar summoned. [/QUOTE]
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