Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
EN Publishing
[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 7556626" data-attributes="member: 79141"><p><strong>Session 212, Part Two - The Jaula</strong></p><p></p><p>Once again, they gained easy access to the walled ‘upper class’ Southern District - home to the Jaula and a prosperous restaurant district. They made a beeline for the Jaula, bypassing the arena-master’s villa. They noted that this whole area was covered in cerebral mesh.</p><p></p><p>Numerous archways led from a public courtyard to the arena’s outer breezeway. Linked chains of iron stretched across the archways, forming a barrier to deter passage, which could be easily climbed over. Affixed to the walls with brass bolts, thick slabs of slate provided a list of forthcoming fixtures, all of which were crossed off. Around the breezeway, a handful of staircases led up to the arena seating. Four barred wooden doors led to stone stairs that headed underground.</p><p></p><p>Before going downwards, they quickly inspected the arena itself, not expecting to find much. Eight tiered rows of stone benches surrounded an enormous elliptical field of gravel and sand. Dark stains mottled the sandy floor, and a ten foot high wall separated the lowest seats from the floor itself. Enormous canopies hugged the uppermost reaches of the arena, retracted and tied into position. On the northern side of the arena, portions of the seats were cordoned off into private seating, with colourful awnings stretched to cover them from vanished sun. Curling wisps of smoke rose from an enormous brass censer in the centre of a raised platform at the east end of the arena. From here, the master of ceremonies would direct events. (The brass censer, covered in stylized flames and comets and consecrated to a god of pyrrhic victory, hearkened to an ancient custom, Brakken told them. Many believed that the god’s favour would be bestowed on whoever touched the censer when it was lit.)</p><p></p><p>Listening carefully, they finally became aware of the same hiss-groan sound Salome had told them about: high over the arena, audible only when the breeze died down. They couldn’t see anything; not even Leon’s truesight helped here. Not wanting to be spotted themselves, they headed down.</p><p></p><p>Practising his newly developed ability, Korrigan created a clairvoyant eye on the far side of the barred door, noting that the coast was clear before they opened it. The stench of sweat, blood, and rot overwhelmed the senses in the dark corridors beyond. Beneath the arena floor, a deep thrumming vibration issued through the ground, inaudible, yet intense enough to make the teeth rattle and the bones shake. A maze of hallways had numerous side chambers for operations and storage, but signage pointed to the ‘animal cells’ and, undeterred by the labyrinthine layout, Brakken led them unerringly towards it.</p><p></p><p>Here, they could hear and smell the occupants of the cages before they saw them: dire bears. Most looked normal, but some looked distinctly odd, and as Brakken passed along the rows, looking for Feroz, he saw creatures that were no longer dire bears at all: skinless, or with bony, hooked forearms, tentacles or worse. He jumped back as one reached out to swipe at him. The bars did not look wide enough for that!</p><p></p><p>At last, he sensed a familiar signature in the final cage. It hid in the shadows to the rear, unlike the others, who pressed themselves up again the barred doors and sniffed hungrily at the newcomers.</p><p></p><p>“Feroz?” he called, tentatively. In response to its master’s voice, Feroz stood and shuffled forward. Brakken gasped in horror: Where his head should have been, was a glistening, flaccid sac, with limp appendages like an octopus’ tentacles. “Feroz? What have they done to you?” Feroz gave a melancholy moan. Despite appearances, Brakken could sense that his pet was the same, docile creature he had always been. Immediately, Brakken began to search for the means to release him. Each cage had two mechanisms: a simple lock – easily opened from this side, and a lever that could send the occupant up onto the floor of the arena. Brakken opened the cage, and embraced his poor companion. “I am sorry I left you here,” he said. Both Leon and Korrigan scrutinised the bear and determined that the change was neither magical – not a polymorph – nor medical (it had not been stitched together). The process whereby these animals had been warped was unknown. Hildegaard suggested that they give Feroz a good ending and put the poor thing out of its misery. Though well-intentioned, Brakken dismissed her suggestion out of hand and embraced Feroz more tightly.</p><p></p><p>They gave him a moment for his tender reunion and pressed south, through an iron door. The chamber beyond wasn’t very interesting: Just eight empty cells, with a note hidden in one. It read, “If you find this, please retrieve the evidence and weapon I hid in my quarters in the Executores Lodge.” No one recognised the handwriting. Nonplussed, they gave a shout to Brakken who followed them. When he did so, he was subject to a mental trap which he was able to shrug off and, on entering the foul southern chamber, immediately realised that no one else had, and that all save him now perceived events that were quite at odds to reality:</p><p></p><p>The true nature of the chamber was horrifying. It was nothing short of an abattoir – the source of the rotting stench that now permeated the whole labyrinth. Noticeably colder than the stone around it, this large chamber did indeed have eight cages along the north wall, but it was evident that the unit had not searched them. The skinned carcasses of many different animals dangled from hooks in the ceiling throughout the room, and a pit in the north lead to an open sewer tunnel. The metallic smell of spilled blood mingled with the omnipresent stench of offal, and underscoring it all was a constant bone-rattling vibration. A metal table held a selection of knives and saws, along with a half-dressed carcass. Upon closer examination, the carcasses were not cow and pig but rather minotaur and orc, their heads, hands and feet severed and their skin and organs removed. The other group members appeared to be blissfully unaware of these things, and stood nudging up against the bleeding carcasses. Worse still, some stood within, or alongside patches of brown mould that clung to parts of the walls and floors, emanating a deep chill that froze nearby flesh. They seemed oblivious to this too.</p><p></p><p>Feroz moaned in distress at the noise and Brakken finally located the source: in the far south end a fleshy orb like an eye was cemented to the wall with huge mats of cerebral mesh. This strange vesicle thrummed with vibration, the lens for some extraordinary power source.</p><p></p><p>Before Brakken could begin to communicate all of this to his friends, there was an alarming noise from behind: the sound of many cage doors opening at once. Bestial groans and snarls and shuffles followed. The bears were coming this way! Brakken could see them beginning to squeeze effortlessly down a passageway which should have been far too small for them.</p><p></p><p>In alarm, Brakken sought to disabuse his friends of their false memories, and succeeded in freeing Korrigan, Leon, Agent Doran and Glaucia, just as the first few fleshwarped dire bears oozed, stomped and slithered in to the room.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gideonpepys, post: 7556626, member: 79141"] [b]Session 212, Part Two - The Jaula[/b] Once again, they gained easy access to the walled ‘upper class’ Southern District - home to the Jaula and a prosperous restaurant district. They made a beeline for the Jaula, bypassing the arena-master’s villa. They noted that this whole area was covered in cerebral mesh. Numerous archways led from a public courtyard to the arena’s outer breezeway. Linked chains of iron stretched across the archways, forming a barrier to deter passage, which could be easily climbed over. Affixed to the walls with brass bolts, thick slabs of slate provided a list of forthcoming fixtures, all of which were crossed off. Around the breezeway, a handful of staircases led up to the arena seating. Four barred wooden doors led to stone stairs that headed underground. Before going downwards, they quickly inspected the arena itself, not expecting to find much. Eight tiered rows of stone benches surrounded an enormous elliptical field of gravel and sand. Dark stains mottled the sandy floor, and a ten foot high wall separated the lowest seats from the floor itself. Enormous canopies hugged the uppermost reaches of the arena, retracted and tied into position. On the northern side of the arena, portions of the seats were cordoned off into private seating, with colourful awnings stretched to cover them from vanished sun. Curling wisps of smoke rose from an enormous brass censer in the centre of a raised platform at the east end of the arena. From here, the master of ceremonies would direct events. (The brass censer, covered in stylized flames and comets and consecrated to a god of pyrrhic victory, hearkened to an ancient custom, Brakken told them. Many believed that the god’s favour would be bestowed on whoever touched the censer when it was lit.) Listening carefully, they finally became aware of the same hiss-groan sound Salome had told them about: high over the arena, audible only when the breeze died down. They couldn’t see anything; not even Leon’s truesight helped here. Not wanting to be spotted themselves, they headed down. Practising his newly developed ability, Korrigan created a clairvoyant eye on the far side of the barred door, noting that the coast was clear before they opened it. The stench of sweat, blood, and rot overwhelmed the senses in the dark corridors beyond. Beneath the arena floor, a deep thrumming vibration issued through the ground, inaudible, yet intense enough to make the teeth rattle and the bones shake. A maze of hallways had numerous side chambers for operations and storage, but signage pointed to the ‘animal cells’ and, undeterred by the labyrinthine layout, Brakken led them unerringly towards it. Here, they could hear and smell the occupants of the cages before they saw them: dire bears. Most looked normal, but some looked distinctly odd, and as Brakken passed along the rows, looking for Feroz, he saw creatures that were no longer dire bears at all: skinless, or with bony, hooked forearms, tentacles or worse. He jumped back as one reached out to swipe at him. The bars did not look wide enough for that! At last, he sensed a familiar signature in the final cage. It hid in the shadows to the rear, unlike the others, who pressed themselves up again the barred doors and sniffed hungrily at the newcomers. “Feroz?” he called, tentatively. In response to its master’s voice, Feroz stood and shuffled forward. Brakken gasped in horror: Where his head should have been, was a glistening, flaccid sac, with limp appendages like an octopus’ tentacles. “Feroz? What have they done to you?” Feroz gave a melancholy moan. Despite appearances, Brakken could sense that his pet was the same, docile creature he had always been. Immediately, Brakken began to search for the means to release him. Each cage had two mechanisms: a simple lock – easily opened from this side, and a lever that could send the occupant up onto the floor of the arena. Brakken opened the cage, and embraced his poor companion. “I am sorry I left you here,” he said. Both Leon and Korrigan scrutinised the bear and determined that the change was neither magical – not a polymorph – nor medical (it had not been stitched together). The process whereby these animals had been warped was unknown. Hildegaard suggested that they give Feroz a good ending and put the poor thing out of its misery. Though well-intentioned, Brakken dismissed her suggestion out of hand and embraced Feroz more tightly. They gave him a moment for his tender reunion and pressed south, through an iron door. The chamber beyond wasn’t very interesting: Just eight empty cells, with a note hidden in one. It read, “If you find this, please retrieve the evidence and weapon I hid in my quarters in the Executores Lodge.” No one recognised the handwriting. Nonplussed, they gave a shout to Brakken who followed them. When he did so, he was subject to a mental trap which he was able to shrug off and, on entering the foul southern chamber, immediately realised that no one else had, and that all save him now perceived events that were quite at odds to reality: The true nature of the chamber was horrifying. It was nothing short of an abattoir – the source of the rotting stench that now permeated the whole labyrinth. Noticeably colder than the stone around it, this large chamber did indeed have eight cages along the north wall, but it was evident that the unit had not searched them. The skinned carcasses of many different animals dangled from hooks in the ceiling throughout the room, and a pit in the north lead to an open sewer tunnel. The metallic smell of spilled blood mingled with the omnipresent stench of offal, and underscoring it all was a constant bone-rattling vibration. A metal table held a selection of knives and saws, along with a half-dressed carcass. Upon closer examination, the carcasses were not cow and pig but rather minotaur and orc, their heads, hands and feet severed and their skin and organs removed. The other group members appeared to be blissfully unaware of these things, and stood nudging up against the bleeding carcasses. Worse still, some stood within, or alongside patches of brown mould that clung to parts of the walls and floors, emanating a deep chill that froze nearby flesh. They seemed oblivious to this too. Feroz moaned in distress at the noise and Brakken finally located the source: in the far south end a fleshy orb like an eye was cemented to the wall with huge mats of cerebral mesh. This strange vesicle thrummed with vibration, the lens for some extraordinary power source. Before Brakken could begin to communicate all of this to his friends, there was an alarming noise from behind: the sound of many cage doors opening at once. Bestial groans and snarls and shuffles followed. The bears were coming this way! Brakken could see them beginning to squeeze effortlessly down a passageway which should have been far too small for them. In alarm, Brakken sought to disabuse his friends of their false memories, and succeeded in freeing Korrigan, Leon, Agent Doran and Glaucia, just as the first few fleshwarped dire bears oozed, stomped and slithered in to the room. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
EN Publishing
[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
Top