Company of the Random Encounter ('complete' 14 Nov 2004)

[The Padre]

Thank you for making me out to be a complete money grubbing low life, it's completely uncalled for and completely correct

It's not just you buddy. We're all become money hungry to the extreme which is not how I remember it.......exactly!

A note for the readers, whilst we expect to be well rewarded for our exploits, I'm sure that if it came down to a choice between saving someone/doing the 'right' thing and a large pile of treasure we would chose the 'right' thing.

Though all bets are off if we find a magical mighty composite long bow

Dave
a.k.a. Padre Wolfgang Priem

 

[Capellan]

"Hooberan's Stockade" by Wicht - Part 14

It is obvious that the ghoul has made some attempt to enter the room in the past - there are numerous claw marks in the dark, hard wood - but the sturdy material has weathered these attempts with ease.

"I doubt we'll be able to force it." the Padre glances at the two rogues in the party, "Think you can pick it?"

Mantreus doesn't bat an eyelid.

"Give me a couple of minutes. If it can be picked, I'll do it."

The rogue proves as good as his word. Almost exactly two minutes later, the lock clicks open.

Beyond the door is a room filled with yet more shelves of books. At the centre of the chamber is a large, oak desk. On the far side of the desk is a heavy, cushioned chair. Sitting at the chair, half sprawled across the desk, is the body of a man.

The corpse - for it is obvious that the man is dead - is dressed in finely made robes, obviously expensive. He lies face-down on the desk, one hand outstretched and blotched with ink.

"I think he might have been writing something just before he died." Sirdros points to the man's ink-stained fingers, which are quite at odds with his otherwise elegant appearance. "Can someone help me move him aside?"

Stormstrider gives his fellow elf an amused look and lifts the corpse bodily off the table with one hand, revealing a creased sheet of parchment. Sirdros quickly snags the sheet, and the ranger then lets the body drop heavily back onto the table. This earns him a reproving stare from both priests, though he makes no sign of having noticed.

Sirdros places the sheet of parchment on the table, smoothing it as best he can with his hands, and struggling to piece together the erratic, jagged handwriting. He reads aloud as he works his way through the note.



Everyone in Hooberan’s is dying.

We burned down the house he was staying in but it was not enough. The fire was very bright and he screamed. The fever is taking us all. I can barely see to write and it grows worse.

Was it the water? The Festival?

Hooberan tricked the things and locked them in the shrine to the Farmer’s Wife. It is now an evil place where are the dead. My head burns and I cannot burn the town for I cannot leave my room here. There are things I fear clawing at the door. But they will not kill me. The fire kills me and burns my hand to the touch.

The town must burn. There is oil in the packing crates. Stay away from Hooberan’s and don’t read this. Burn the town.



"I thought they grew berries here, not nuts ..." Twinkle quips.

"It's obvious he was delirious at the end." The Padre concedes, "But his intention of burning the town was sensible. We will have to complete the task on his behalf."

Elspeth nods in agreement,

"It also sounds like we were right about what happened, here." She observes, "the Death Cultist intended to kill or control everyone here, but he either revealed himself too soon or was discovered, and they managed to destroy him."

"Unfortunately, it was too late to save themselves." The Padre looks genuinely saddened.

"Tough break." Mantreus agrees, then slaps his hands together, "Next house, anyone?"

 

[Capellan]

"Hooberan's Stockade" by Wicht - Part 15

The next building turns out to be a charnel house.

The family that lived here had no less than five children, and the bodies of all five are strewn about the lower floor of the building. Each of the bodies has been mauled and partially consumed after death, but it is obvious from the contorted expressions on the faces of the sprawled bodies that they were hunted through the house and murdered.

Twinkle dashes back outside, hand covering her mouth, as the Padre slams his fist against the wall. He glances at Mantreus, and the usually flippant rogue looks back with a haunted expression, knuckles white as they clench around the hilt of his sword. Finally, Mantreus speaks,

"Burning was too good for this guy."

As the Padre nods his agreement, the group begins to head up the stairs. Stormstrider and Elspeth take the lead, with the still greenish Twinkle the last in line. Moving as quietly as they can, the group makes it onto to the upper floor, and walks slowly along the hallway. There are several closed doors leading off the area, but also one that stands ajar. This open door gives a clear view of the master bedroom, and that is their first destination.

Just as Elspeth reaches the room, however, one of the other doors bursts open, and three ghouls come swarming into the hallway.

The undead beasts charge forward, tearing and clawing at the adventurers, but the Company is not in a mood to be trifled with. The Padre reacts first, first bodily checking the lead ghoul, then slamming his mace into its skull. Any living creature would have been felled instantly, but the ghoul is only staggered, and rakes the cleric with one of its claws. Fuelled by adrenaline, the Padre shrugs off the numbing effect of the creature's paralysing touch.

Beside him, Stormstrider and the second ghoul are trading blows at a furious rate, both bleeding from several light wounds already. Mantreus also steps into the fray, lancing the ghoul in the side with his blade.

As the third ghoul gashes Sirdros with its claws, apparently recognising the cleric as a major threat, the Padre hammers his opponent once more, driving it to the ground with the force of his blow. Stormstrider and Mantreus continue to work on their opponent: Stormstrider trying to keep it busy while Mantreus' sword again draws blood.

Even Twinkle has scampered into the fray by now, slashing at the legs of one of the ghouls as she circles to try and pin it between Sirdros and herself.

The ghouls are not done, however. Angered by the second sting from Mantreus, the first remaining ghoul turns on the rogue, tearing into his flesh with both claws and following with a bite to his shoulder. Mantreus crumples to the ground even as Stormstrider cuts down the ghoul.

"Sirdros! Help him!" Elspeth gestures to the fallen rogue, then leaps forward to drive the third ghoul back before it can savage Twinkle in the same way. Pressed by the elf, the undead staggers too close to the Padre, who swings his mace double-handed into its back, smashing its spine and dropping it twitching to the ground.

Sirdros channels healing energy into Mantreus, and the rogue is soon on his feet again. The combat has released some of the tension from the adventurers, and they give one another pleased grins at their victory. They have won some revenge for the children downstairs, and lifted a weight of gloom off their own shoulders.

Kicking the bodies aside, the group continues their exploration of the house. It proves to be empty of further occupants, though they do discover an exquisitely crafted longbow and an armourer's mannequin garbed in well-fashioned studded leather armour.

"I could use this." Elspeth remarks, examining the armour on the mannequin.

"Why do you get it?" Mantreus asks automatically, without looking up from where he is scrabbling under the bed in search of anything valuable. Elspeth raises her eyebrows as she stares at the breast cups of the armour, which has obviously been sized for a woman.

"I don't think it would fit you very well." She replies impishly. Mantreus glances up, sees the elf poke one of the cups with her finger, and shrugs his response,

"That's OK. It's not my colour, either."

 

[arwink]

It's not just you buddy. We're all become money hungry to the extreme which is not how I remember it.......exactly!

This from a man who spent four week carting copper coins out of a treacherous mine?

I think you have to admit to a *few* mercenary traits

 

[Talix]

Nice to not have to worry about things like morals for the most part.

Really loving the story!

 

[Capellan]

Nice to not have to worry about things like morals for the most part.

Really loving the story!

Well, in defence of my players, their characters are actually reasonably moral. I don't think would ever knowingly take on an 'evil' task.

They are, however, acutely aware of the value of their services, and they intend to make sure that others are, as well

Glad to hear you are enjoying the story hour!

On a related note, I'm way behind with writing this, at the moment. I hope to pick up the rate of posts in the next couple of weeks, as I will away interstate on business. That means that when I finish in the office each day I don't have much else to do but write, so hopefully progress will be made.

As a teaser for what's coming up, I can promise:
- sewer showdowns!
- undead hordes!
- secrets uncovered!
- pranks and pratfalls!
- villains revealed!
- and one will fall

 

[Capellan]

"Hooberan's Stockade" by Wicht - Part 16

The group moves on to check two more houses, but finds little of note. Only one building is now left for them to explore: a large, warehouse-like complex in the back corner of the settlement. Two sturdy wagons stand before this structure. The first is typical in construction and appearance, but the second is quite unusual. It appears to be a huge barrel, mounted on wheels, with a seat placed at the front for driving. At the top of the barrel is some kind of platform, while the back has doors that can be easily opened to access the contents.

"This must be how they transport the wine." Mantreus slaps the side of the huge barrel. "Do you think there's anything in it?"

"One way to find out." The Padre marches to the back of the barrel and throws open the doors.

The contents of the barrel flood out in a solid wave, knocking the Padre off his feet. Unfortunately, it is not wine. Instead, a thick, reeking slurry of manure, waste and other compost items pours forth, completely soaking the unfortunate cleric, who is left lying on his back amidst a spreading pool of the foul slime.

As the Padre slowly gets to his feet, expression stony, the others do their best to avoid meeting his gaze. Well, except Mantreus. He just stands there with a big grin on his face, as a particularly large lump of manure slides off the Padre's shoulder and plops onto the ground.

"What are you so cheerful about?" the cleric grits out.

"I thought that the only thing people were going to remember from this adventure was me falling in the ditch." The rogue replies cheerfully, "But you've made sure that won't happen."

"I'm glad I could be of assistance." The Padre squelches out of the pool of liquid manure, then sits on a patch of clean grass to remove his boots and tip out their contents.

"No more healing for you." Twinkle tells Mantreus, sotto voce. She does her best to look innocent when the Padre flicks her an exasperated glare. "Maybe you could clean over at the well?" she offers brightly, while moving to stand upwind.

Eventually the Padre has cleaned himself off to his own satisfaction, and the group enters the warehouse. It quickly proves to house the entire wine-making process: there are dry rooms for storing the berries; pressing rooms to extract the juice, and a single large chamber filled with barrels.

"Here's the oil that was mentioned in that note." Elspeth announces, gesturing to some packing crates in a store room at the back of the complex. "There's heaps of the stuff - we could burn the town three times over with all this."

"Good." The still 'fragrant' Padre responds, "Because I've just been through the dry rooms and every last bunch of berries seems to have been infected with some kind of sickly, yellow mould. I'd say that's how the disease was spread."

"The berries?" Twinkle squeaks, her eyes going wide. "But I! - In the fields! - And they! - You're sure?" she runs around in a circle, occasionally spitting out incoherent fragments of sentences.

"Do you have any idea what she's going on about?" the Padre asks, wearily.

"She ate some berries in the fields outside the town." Elspeth replies. She gestures to the first barrel of oil and the Padre nods. The two of them begin to roll it toward the door, ignoring the hyperventilating gnome. "Quite a lot of them, actually."

"Oh. Is that all?" the Padre shrugs, "She should see the day I'm having."

They leave the wails of the diminutive rogue behind as they continue to roll the barrel out onto the grass.

"This shouldn't take long." Sirdros remarks, as he and Stormstrider follow, rolling another barrel together, "We'll need to make sure we douse everything flammable as much as we can, though. The weather's been damp."

"We should take this wagon before we go." Mantreus slaps the seat beside him. He's perched in the wagon, watching the others do the work. "We can drag it out of town and use it to carry the stuff we found."

"Could we pull it?" Sirdros looks doubtful.

"No problem." Stormstrider doesn't even look up, merely lifts the barrel they've been rolling casually onto his shoulder, and strides off.

"I'm convinced." Sirdros concedes.

Twinkle sidles out of the barn, looking a little pale.

"Am I going to die?" she asks plaintively.

"Not tonight." The Padre grunts in reply. "Show Stormstrider where to put that barrel. I'm sure you know more about setting things on fire than the rest of us."

"You bet!" Twinkle scampers after the elf, then jogs beside him, occasionally jumping into the air as she explains finer points of successful pyromania.

 

[Wicht]

I knew the "waste" wagon was a good idea.




As an aside, it is really cool to see someone else running an adventure idea that I wrote and even cooler to see it make it into a storyhour. Thanks Capellan.

 

[Capellan]

As an aside, it is really cool to see someone else running an adventure idea that I wrote and even cooler to see it make it into a storyhour.

It's cooler still when one of ENworld's most successful Iron DM competitors makes his adventures readily available for me to steal

Anyone not reading Wicht's SH should really start: it's good stuff!

 

[Capellan]

"Hooberan's Stockade" by Wicht - Part 17

The group moves into action, functioning with the efficiency of a well-oiled machine. Which, given how many barrels of the stuff they have, is probably not surprising.

The Padre, Elspeth and Sirdros drag the normal wagon to the front gates of the village. It's hard work, pulling the heavy wooden cart over soft ground, but they manage it eventually. Having done so, they load the various treasures the group has found into the wagon, then call on Stormstrider to help them drag it well outside the danger area.

Leaving Stormstrider's wolf to guard the wagon, the whole group then sets to dowsing the settlement in oil. Every building is thoroughly daubed with the stuff, while linen and any other flammable materials they can find are spread out between the structures, providing ways for the fire to move from one building to the next.

Eventually, the group's preparations are complete. All the buildings have been liberally daubed with oil, particularly at their lower levels, and everything valuable removed to a safe distance.

"The wind's from the west. We should light the fires over there." Elspeth points out the spot she means, "That way, the flames will be pushed across the village, and we can be sure of destroying everything."

"I think we should stay and watch, just in case." The Padre muses, "It's the only way to be safe."

"You just want to watch the big bonfire." Twinkle accuses.

The Padre ignores the insinuation that he might have pyromaniac tendencies.

"We do need to stay." Stormstrider remarks. "The fire from the village could spread to the fields. We need to be here to stop that."

This seems to be the final word on the subject, and the group puts their plan into action. While the larger, stronger party members drag the wagon even further away from the village and the expectec conflagration, Twinkle prepares to 'light the fuse'.

Once she is sure the others are well clear, the gnome wraps an oil-soaked rag around the head of a crossbow bolt. After loading the bolt, she lights the tip, then fires it into a similarly oil-soaked part of the stockade wall.

The old, dead timber catches alight easily, and the breeze soon causes it to spread. Within half an hour, large sections of the town are ablaze. Even from their vantage point several hundred yards away, the adventurers are awed by the ferocity of the fire they have unleashed.

"You know, if that fire does spread, there's no way we're going to be able to stop it." Mantreus says at last, "And it's going to take days for it to die out enough for it to be completely safe. I think we should leave, and soon. Twinkle and Elspeth both have infected wounds. We need to get them back to town and healing."

Stormstrider is reluctant to depart, but the other five quickly unite in support of the proposal and gradually wear him down. Eventually, he acquiesces to the plan and the group departs, trudging back the long miles to Amberdale. Their progress is very slow, as they are dragging the cart with them. Everyone but Twinkle is required to pitch in on this effort (much to Mantreus' disgust), with three people hauling the cart at any one time, and the others taking a breather as they walk beside it.

It takes two full days to reach Amberdale once more, and by the end of the second day Twinkle is lying in the back of the cart, tightly wrapped in blankets. The tiny gnome's skin is pale, and sweat pours off her, despite the fact that she constantly feels cold.

"It's the rat bites." The Padre confides to the others during a period where Twinkle is asleep, "They're badly infected."

"You're sure it's nothing to do with the berries?" Sirdros frets.

The Padre nods,

"I checked the berries in the fields before we left. They were fine. This is just an infection." He glances at Elpseth, "I think you're going to come down with it, too. Despite our spells, your wounds aren't healing properly. The only reason that she's suffering more is that she's smaller. The poison is having its effects more quickly."

"As long as we get back to Amberdale before the High Priest leaves, we will be fine." Sirdros reminds them, "He can cure this easily."

"I'm sure he can." Mantreus grumps, "But will he be there? And can we afford to pay him?"

"I will ask him to provide the healing without charge." The elf replies softly, "The wounds were suffered in putting an end to an enemy of Pelor."

The adventurers look unconvinced of the Church's generosity, but say nothing.

Late that night, the tired group reaches town, only to discover that the High Priest has already set out some hours before.

The Padre mutters a most irreligious curse,

"There's nothing for it but to try and catch him up. Stormstrider, can you and Sirdros take Elspeth and Twinkle to him? Mantreus and I will stay here and let the others know what happened."

The burly elf nods,

"We will set out immediately. I intend to find the Priest tonight."

"St Cuthbert be with you." The Padre replies. Neither man says what they are both thinking: that if Stormstrider does not find the High Priest, it may mean the end for Twinkle.