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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Capellan" data-source="post: 1759473" data-attributes="member: 6294">First, here is what is left of the session I was recounting.The Castle is very odd: obviously not designed for defence, it has an irregular, almost random shape, and large, airy windows (Ming Li describes it, almost approvingly, as "a very crooked house").  There is also only a single guard, who stutters his way through half of a challenge before the footman cuts him off and directs the adventurers - and Khore - inside.The group emerges into a courtyard, at the centre of which is a 10' long statue of a cat, as well as a small table.  A well-dressed man sits at the table, writing on a scroll with an ornate quill.  The Padre immediately asks him about the reward for finding his daughter, which nonplusses the man, who insists he has no children.  Ming Li suggests to the Padre that it might be wise to confirm with whom he is speaking, and it turns out that this is not the Lord, but his cousin, Horonimo.Horonimo, it emerges, is a Bard.  He's just started a new work - and account of the kidnap of the Lady Melina."Maybe you've heard of me?"No, they haven't.  Khore additionally expresses his opinion that it is in bad taste to begin the play so soon, with the Lady not yet recovered.  Horonimo finds this idea bizarre: obviously he must begin now, or his competitors will get a head start on him.  He's very pleased to meet the adventurers personally, as it will give him a much better insight into their characters when he writes their parts in the play.They eventually manage to get the self-absorbed Horonimo to stop talking about himself, and he takes them to see the Lord, a grey-haired man with a sombre expression.  He requests their assistance in finding his daughter, explaining that he believes she has been abducted by Jacobius Kranshup, Kranshup, according to the Lord, is a disreputable looking fellow who has been an occasional visitor to the township, usually staying at the inn, where he "met with unsavoury types" and "displayed an uncouth interest" in Melina.The group immediately decides that Melina has run off with this Kranshup - a suggestion that the Lord icily dismisses - and asks to take a look at her room.  The request is granted, and they spend a fruitless half hour searching for hidden love letters.  There are none, though they do notice that the room is all but overflowing with stuffed animals and similar items: the kind of toys one would get for a child.  They also see another room that is filled with dolls of all kinds.  They double-check Melina's age, and confirm that she is nearly twenty.In the course of their investigation, the group also meets Dame Dora Prisius, the Lord's mother.  This elderly lady is rather strange, rambling about her lost earring, which contained a ruby.  The Dame says that rubies are "red like fire", adding that "fire lights the dark places", and that she was recently stuck in a dark place, but that the ruby didn't help her.Still thinking that Melina may have left of her own volition, the adventurers check that all the family's horses are present and accounted for: they are.  They also check for magic throughout the building - the lord wears a few small items of magic - and ask where the Dame's "dark place' might be.  In answer, Lord Prisius shows them two secret passages, noting that Melina used to play in them as a child.  He also mentions that he has already checked the passages to be sure she is not in any of them, and makes it fairly clear that he is becoming impatient for the group to set off: the kidnappers already have a head start, and will be getting further and further away.Demonstrating their usual tact and diplomacy, the Company ignores the Lord's comments, and go to speak to Horonimo again.  The Padre and Khore are both suspicious of the bard, feeling that his eagerness to begin on a play about the event indicates some sort of complicity in the act.  Leaping from this dubious conclusion to the outright fantasy that the Bard would therefore have spilled all the details in the verses he is writing, they attempt to flatter him into showing them a copy.  Horonimo's refusal to do so simply increases their suspicions, and Khore goes so far as to invoke his holy power to discern evil, but cannot detect it on the bard, or anyone else within the castle.Finally, the group discusses leaving in pursuit of the missing woman.  Realising that none of them can track, they ask about hiring someone to help them.  Lord Prisius icily suggests that it would have been sensible to mention this some hours earlier, when they first agreed to the task, as it will take some time to find someone to help them.  The group are unperturbed: they can use that time to go fetch their wagon, after all.All these delays eventually add up to the loss of a whole day, and the group spends a comfortable night in the castle, though Lord Prisius is a far from effusive host.  You'd think he was anxious about something.During the night, the Padre gets a sense of being watched, but no-one in the group can see any sign of anyone spying on them.The next morning, they are introduced to a tracker from the village, named Ossal.  This taciturn fellow becomes positively sullen when the Padre tries to tell him how to do his job, but his tracking skills are better than his people skills, and he leads them swiftly along the road in pursuit of the robbers.  He does not, however, refrain from grumbling about the delay in setting out, and the fact that he is only able to follow due to the sheer numbers of men on horseback.After a few miles, Ossal turns off the road, dismissing the tracks that continue along it as 'a diversion' and pointing out a much less obvious set of markings leading into the forest.  Following these, the group reaches a small clearing containing a campsite.  The camp bears signs of having been hurriedly evacuated only a short time before: the embers in the fire-pit are still warm.As the group explores the camp site, two hideous, bloated zombies crawl out of the underbrush and lurch to the attack.  Both Sirdros and the Padre fail to turn the creatures, and the confrontation becomes a melee.  The zombies are easy to hit, but they seem to shrug off most of the force of the adventurers' blows.  Those injuries they do suffer weep a foul black ooze.  Khore, bearing a large and heavy sword, has the most success in dispatching them.Finally, the paladin lands a mighty blow on one of the creatures, piercing its black heart.  Foul ichor spurts everywhere, and then suddenly the zombie bloats and bursts, spraying putrid chunks of flesh and gore all over the place.  The force of the explosion knocks several people from their feet, and also causes the other creature to detonate as well, battering the adventurers still further.  Khore, at the ehart of it all, is knocked out.  The Padre heals him, however, and the group begins to look around.They find several small but valuable items, seemingly forgotten in the bandits' sudden rush to leave the camp, as well as a scrap of parchment marked with the foul sigils of the Devourer, a demonic entity of gluttony and greed.  Once their search is complete, the group gathers in the middle of the clearing to discuss their course of action.  As they do, a voice calls to them, asking if they "be friends o' the green."The Padre demands that the speaker "come forth and be recognised", which provokes the quite reasonable response that they've never met, so how will he recognise them?  As the cleric starts loading a crossbow, a satyr bounds into the clearing, bowing low and winking at the females in the group.The Padre demands the satyr's name, is told, then demands it again.  The satyr - one Redhoof - asks if the cleric is deaf or stupid, then suggests he not answer, since they both know he isn't deaf.  Briar nearly wets herself from laughing at this.Redhoof expresses his admiration for the group's killing the zombies, then faces interrogation from the Padre."Been here a while?""In this spot?  About a second.  Why?"Redhoof confirms that he saw the horsemen - "like centaurs, but two people rather than one" - but says that they did not have a girl with them.  He's very clear on this point, remarking that he definitely knows the difference."Where did the horsemen go?""Away?""Which way?""Well, that depends.  I could tell ye.  I could.  Because I know.  But how do I know ye are friends?  Ye killed the black, but maybe ye work for the white.  They're working together now, but that won't last.  Me, I work for the green.""Who are the black and the white?  Good and evil?""No, they're both evil, so they are.""We fight for good.""Good's all very well, but do ye fight for the green?  There are plenty as are good that don't.""How do we prove we are friends of the green?""It so happens as I have this amulet, this one here, which can tell if ye be friend or foe.  All ye need to do is put it on, and we'll know if ye be friends.  Now, I should warn ye ... I should.  But I may not.""Warn us of what?""Well, if ye be friends, that's all to the good, and ye can wear the amulet and be safe.  But if you're not, well, things could go badly for you, so they could.  At least, that's how it is supposed to work.  It's never failed before, at least.  Though there's always a first time, I suppose."Briar offers to try the test of the amulet , but also asks that Redhoof teach her about the forest and the wilderness, if she passes.  The satyr agrees, if she's willing to pay the price of tuition.  At first, the young rogue thinks he means money, but his eyebrow-waggling leer soon makes it clear what he really means.  After a few moments thought, she agrees to the conditions, asking:"Those old legends, are they true?""Depends which ones ye be meanin', though I am pretty legendary, if I do say so m'self."Briar dons the amulet and her hair turns a dark green.  Redhoof, pleased with this proof of her friendship, tells the group to travel north to the Caves of Night, where he overheard the bandits say they were headed.  Pausing only long enough to pat Briar's rump and tell her to hurry back, he bounds away into the forest, and the group continues on their way - though they do so without Ossal, who refuses to go near the ill-omened Caves.Arriving at the Caves of Night, the adventurers find a scene of carnage: over a dozen horses have been slaughtered and dismembered, their bloody remains spread over the churned up mud and grass outside the cave entrance.  Once of the poor creatures still lives, though it has been hideously mutilated and is currently.  Briar puts a crossbow bolt through its skull, killing it instantly and painlessly.This action disturbs a clump of rats that were feasting on the remains, and they attack the party in defence of their meal.  The battle is a quick and predictable victory for the adventurers, who move on into the caves themselves.Heading left from the first cavern, they find themselves approaching a cave filled with more of the verminous rats, which are feasting on further blood and offal.  The cave appears to be a dead end, and after a whispered conversation the group decides not to waste their time and energies on such foes.  Instead they turn back and follow another tunnel deeper into the ground.Emerging into a large cave which has many holes burrowed into the floor, they advance cautiously, expecting an ambush of some kind.  Their suspicions are confirmed as swarms of beetles burst out of the holes to attack them, but the fight is as one-sided as that against the rats.Beyond the large cave, the tunnel splits and splits again, winding and twisting and branching off in all directions.  Moving slowly and making a crude map as they go, the group carefully explores this warren, conscious of the risk of getting lost.  They soon become conscious of another risk as well: something is in the tunnels with them!  Briar's keen ears are the first to hear the slight skittering sounds of movement, but as they pause and listen, Rose and Ming Li hear them, too.The group adopts a defensive position, with Sirdros at the centre to provide healing to whomever gets attacked.  Unfortunately, the attack comes from a direction they had not anticipated: directly above.  A bestial, furred humanoid drops from the ceiling, raking at Sirdros with its claws.  The wounds are grievous, staggering the elf badly.  The creature is like none they have seen before, with huge ears and large membranes of skin hanging from its arms.Despite its fierce attack, however, the creature proves quite fragile: the Padre smashes his mace into its head, killing it with a single blow.And then the adventurers hear a voice calling:"Hello, is there someone there?"Most of the group suspect a trap, but Khore immediately calls back to the voice.  As the Paladin and the other speaker continue their conversation, the group slowly pick their way toward the voice's source - a slow and laborious process due to the difficulty of pin-pointing where sound is coming from in the twists and turns of these tunnels.  Eventually, however, they find a small cave off one of the tunnels.  The entrance to this cave is blocked with an iron grill, which has been padlocked shut.  Behind the grill are about a dozen men, all with a disreputable appearance to them.These men explain that they were the ones who attacked the village, under orders from their leader, who had been paid to 'ride in, make a lot of noise, and burn the inn'.  They claim to know nothing of Lady Melina's abduction, and insist she was not with them when they left.  They also claim not to know who hired them.  Their leader conducted all the negotiations, and told them only that the man was 'a toff'.Naturally, the group want to speak to this leader, but are told that he is dead: it seems that a man came to the bandits camp the night before, along with three companions.  He demanded to know if they had the girl, and when told they did not, he slaughtered two and took the others prisoner.  Khore is scornful of twelve men being bested by four, but the bandits swear these were not normal men:"Our weapons just seemed to slide off 'em , without doin' any harm."Since being brought to this place, the bandits have seen four of their number - including their leader - dragged out of the cell, never to return.  They offer a number of bloodcurdling explanations for what might have happened to the missing men, and beg the adventurers to release them, so that they might flee.The adventurers confer and decide that, while there is obviously a greater evil than the bandits at work, they are still criminals and should be taken back to town once the greater threat is vanquished.  Though there is little argument on this point, Briar does suggest leaving the men with weapons to protect themselves from whatever took them.  The Padre points out that weapons did not help them against these foes before, but would let them fight the Company, and everyone agrees that the men should not be armed.Moving on, they press ever deeper into the earth, finally emerging from the warren on tunnels into a cavern of substantial size, with a high roof.  Here, they immediately come under attack.The first hint of a threat is the huge bat that swoops out of the darkness to bite at them, but it is quickly followed by crossbow bolts, which are fired down at them from the ceiling.  Staring up, they can see dark figures hanging from the ceiling.  The figures begin to reload.  As the other adventurers try to engage the bat, which is the only enemy they can reach with melee weapons, the Padre casts obscuring mist in an attempt to provide the band with some cover.The attempt is an abject failure: neither the giant bat nor the crossbowmen seem inconvenienced by the fog, while it hinders the adventurers from landing their blows.  The others yell at him to dismiss his spell, but the spell cannot be cancelled in that way, and the group fights at a disadvantage for the remainder of the battle.  Thanks, Padre.The giant bat scores some nasty injuries on the group, but they eventually manage to fell it after it comes in reach of their weapons once too often.  The rain of bolts continues, however, and when they return fire, their arrows harmlessly glance off their foes, doing no harm.  It rapidly becomes obvious that unless they can think of more innovative tactics, they will be defeated in this fight.  It is also obvious that they will need to think of them soon: their injuries are mounting rapidly, and several people are on the verge of collapse.Briar remembers her magical dagger, and the injury it dealt the imp in Amberdale.  Hoping that it will work against these foes as well, she hurls it at one of their crossbow-wielding foes.  It proves a superbly weighted throw, the dagger plunges into the creature's neck, right to the lift.  With a choking screech, this enemy falls from the roof, landing with a sodden thud.Knowing that they cannot rely on so lucky a blow a second time, Rose manufactures a rough lasso with a length of rope, then casts it at the other foe.  She manages to snag it and pull the loop tight, but the creature is stronger and heavier than the halfling, and she cannot dislodge it from its roost.The Padre moves to assist Rose, but as he does so, Khore notices that the creature is quite close to one of the walls.  Running across the floor of the cave, the Paladin leaps up, his fingers and toes finding enough purchase for him to climb further, until he is nearly twenty feet above the ground.  Hissing, the creature fights its arms free and shoots a bolt into the knight's shoulder.  He nearly loses his grip, but manages to hang on from sheer determination.Then, with a shout, Khore throws himself off the wall.For a second, the Paladin seems destined to fall short, plunging to the stone floor below, but then his grasping fingers clasp around the creature's arm.  The foe squeals and tries to wrench free, but its reaction is too slow.  Unable to support the two hundred pounds of extra weight, it is torn free of the ceiling, and the two - man and beast - plummet to the ground.After killing the injured beast-man, and restoring Khore to consciousness (the latter is a task that will rapidly become a familiar one), the group moves on.  The first corridor they investigate proves to be a trap for the unwary, but Rose - who is scouting - dodges back in time from the pit trap that opens beneath her feet.  Undeterred by this, the adventurers try another tunnel, which eventually emerges into the largest cavern they have yet seen, and the first to be significantly obstructed by pillars of rock and changes in the level of the floor.At the far side of the cavern, on a raised platform of rock, stands a dark-haired man.  He has a rather thin-looking beard, though his forearms are quite thickly haired.  He invites the adventurers to leave, warning them that they will die if they stay, but the Company of the Random Encounter has never had much time for caution: they charge.Khore and the Padre are the first of the mark, and thus the first to discover that the stone pillars conceal ambushers.  Four grey-skinned creatures with staring, sightless eyes burst out of the darkness.  Though they are blind, the things are far from helpless, zeroing in on the priest and paladin through some means other than sight.Battle is joined, with the man on the platform changing into one of the bestial bat-things, and firing crossbow bolts at the adventurers, while they do their best to fight their way through to face him.  Things start badly: Khore, Briar and Ming Li are all injured, the monk taking a particularly ugly injury from the man's crossbow.  However, they fight back quickly: the Padre and Ming Li manage to down one of the creatures, while Briar guts another with a single vicious blow.Sirdros moves up and heals Briar with the wand, just in time to keep the rogue on her feet - the leader of the enemy has chosen her as his next target, hitting her squarely with a bolt.  Though wavering on her feet, she has enough space in the fight to load her own crossbow with a gleaming magical bolt and send it flying toward the man, clipping his arm with her shot.Recklessly battling two of the grey-skinned creatures at the same time, Khore is laid low by the wounds he has suffered.  Rose and Sirdros move to assist him, suffering wounds of their own for their trouble.  Fortunately, the Padre and Ming Li are on hand as well, and the four of them fell the two remaining creatures.Now only the beast-man remains, but he is not going down easily.  Ming Li wings him with a magical crossbow bolt of her own, but it nearly drops Briar with another well-aimed shot.  Too far from the clerics for aid, the young rogue quaffs a potion in order to keep herself in the fight.En masse, the group charges forward again, but it seems that for every blow they inflict, a more telling blow is made against them.  Briar's dagger cuts the bat-creature, but she is felled by the blow that comes in response.  Sirdros too is hurt badly, then Khore is downed.  Rose falls next, just as the Padre stabilises Briar and Sirdros brings Khore back to consciousness.  The Paladin tries to get fancy, twice attempting to trip his foe, but both times is thrown to the ground himself."Stop messing about and hit him!" is the Padre's advice, as he uses a potion to restore Rose to consciousness.The bat-creature tires of the clerics' interference, moving to attack them and negate the party's healing.  Both men fight back - the Padre in particular lands a mighty blow - but the enemy is strong, and has healing potions of his own.  Sirdros is forced back to heal himself, while the Cleric of St Cuthbert is knocked out, falling at his enemy's feet.Things could have gone badly for the Padre, then, but Ming Li snatches up Briar's magical dagger, which has fallen to the ground, and buries it deep in the creature's side.  As it screeches in rage and pain, Sirdros charges once more into the battle, and the monk and priest between them strike it to the ground.  As it falls, the creature returns to its human form.Many charges of the wand are expended in restoring the party to some semblance of health.  They then search the cavern, uncovering a chest of treasure, but no sign of the missing Lady Melina.  It seems that at least part of the bandits' claim was true: they did not take her.After severing the head of the powerful creature they have slain, the Company release the bandits from their prison, then bind their hands and march them back to town for justice. Back in town, they get confirmation from Lord Prisius that the man-creature they fought was the Jacobius Kranshup of whom he spoke when tasking them with recovering his daughter.  While he stiffly thanks them for slaying the man and capturing the bandits, Prisius makes it clear that they have not yet accomplished their task.  His daughter is still missing, and they must set out to look for her again, not returning until they do.The Padre has a nasty, suspicious mind, and there is something about the Lord's demeanour that ignites that suspicion.  He politely agrees that they will leave immediately - talking over the top of Khore, who wants to stay until the bandits have been tried - and ushers everyone out.  As soon as the Lord cannot see them, the priest goes to Horonimo, and - with flattering words of the bard's arcane knowledge - encourages him to demonstrate the use a wand of detect secret doors that the group has acquired.  Horonimo is so pleased by the flattery that he willingly complies.  Immediately he does, the Padre starts dragging him from room to room, demanding to know if there are any secret doors.And thus the group learns that there are three secret passages in the house, not two.  Suspicions of the Lord Prisius mount higher - suspicions that are proven when he enters the room and demands they step away from the door in question.The Padre insists that the door be checked, but when he does so the Lord gestures, his eyes burning with an amber light as he does so.  For a moment, the cleric feels his brain seize up in pain, but he battles through the sensation, and shouts for the others to attack.Battle is joined, the adventurers against the Lord.  Horonimo faints at the sight.  The Lord bellows for his guards, but he has made a mistake in coming to the room alone, and by the time his men arrive, he lies in a pool of his own blood.  During the fight, he has demonstrated strange powers, unlike any magic the adventurers have seen, but it was not enough to avail against so many foes.It seems now, however, that the group must be overcome and slain or imprisoned, but - as the guards gather to face them - Sirdros and the Padre smash open the secret door, revealing that the Lady Melina was indeed trapped within.  She vouches for their actions, revealing that her father imprisoned her when he learnt that she meant to leave the castle and study the healing arts in Marikest.  He had doted on her so long that he could not bear her to leave.The Lady pardons the adventurers, though she notes sadly that she would have wished her father not to be slain.  She tells the Padre also that his resistance to the Lord's attack is due to the fact that the same powers are latent within him.  She encourages him to remain and learn of the art from her, for she too is a practitioner, and the priest agrees.Briar too, takes her leave of the group, returning to the forest to seek out Redhoof for the training he promised her.Freed from the Padre's parsimonious eye, the other adventurers - and Khore, who loudly declares that he is a Knight, not an adventurer - take the opportunity to give away about five hundred pounds of mundane equipment, which the priest had been keeping in the hope of selling it.  Then they continue on their journey north.</blockquote>

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