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(Cydra) The Year 271 Campaign (Low Magic experiment)
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<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 3667320" data-attributes="member: 1210"><p>Lord Cedric screams like a girl as the weird, wormy growths that seem to be extending from the floor of the wine cellar tighten around our heroes. “By the power of my pinkie finger, we mutht dethtroy thethe thingth!!” he howls, drawing forth his sword and hewing about him. Sirs Colder and Fwaigo do likewise, cutting the mass of worms and causing them to spew forth a foul ichor. </p><p></p><p>Sheriff Jorgen stabs at the mass, but several coils wrap themselves wetly around his arms and legs. Struggling, shouting, Jorgen is jerked to the ground. The sheriff jerks and tugs, but it is all he can do to prevent more of the worm-things (or thing?) from looping around his neck and cutting off his breath. “Help!” he shouts.</p><p></p><p>The others continue to hack at the net of worms. Sir Percival- the half-orc called Me- gives a great smash with his magical mace, pulverizing a writhing mass of the worms. With a great howl of rage, Me continues to lay about him. He sees Jorgen- his friend- struggling to hold off the mass of worm-stuff and leaps to his side. Roaring, he continues to smash the worms </p><p></p><p>“Get back up the stairs!” Sir Fwaigo cries, slashing some more of the worms near Jorgen. He grabs the sheriff by the hand and hauls him to his feet. Gasping, Jorgen staggers over to the stairs. </p><p></p><p>“Yeth, up the thtairth, my friendth!” Lord Cedric roars, batting away another glistening greenish cord of worm stuff. Our heroes fall back, and as they retreat up the stairs, the wormy net heaves and settles down, seeming to sense their departure. Shaking his head, Cedric thinks, <em>We had best mark this place in our minds, lest we run out of other alcohol! We might then have to come back here.</em></p><p></p><p>Exiting the building, our heroes go back into the street for the moment. “There are a lot of houses, my lord,” Goer points out to Cedric. “We could check some of them out.”</p><p></p><p>Otis sighs. “I don’t know what we’re hoping to find here,” he grumbles. “Certainly not Harth!”</p><p></p><p>“No, but perhapth there will be a clue to hith location,” Lord Cedric replies.</p><p></p><p>The party proceeds to investigate a few of the houses. The first one yields a trio of corpses, but nothing more; the next is infested with a multitude of spiders, big and small, and after a quick battle, our heroes destroy them.* </p><p></p><p>“Maybe we should rest,” suggests Sir Colder afterward. “Is anyone badly hurt?”</p><p></p><p>Nobody is. Goer declares, “Forget resting, I want some action!” </p><p></p><p>“All right, let’s move on to the next house,” Dahlia snaps. “We’re wasting time!” Otis nods in agreement. </p><p></p><p>The party moves across the street to another house, but they stop. This home is boarded up from the outside. “Well, that’s interesting,” murmurs Sir Colder. “I wonder what’s in there.”</p><p></p><p>“And who boarded it up,” adds Dahlia. “It could have been the villagers- or it could have been Harth and his gang.”</p><p></p><p>“Hey, I hear something,” Goer whispers. “There’s something moving around in there!”</p><p></p><p>The party hushes, and everyone listens intently. Indeed, they can all hear the muffled sound of movement from within. </p><p></p><p>“Hello?” calls Goer.</p><p></p><p>The sound within the boarded up house ceases. A voice calls out from within, weakly. Our heroes do not understand the language, but it sounds like a cry for help.</p><p></p><p>“I’m taking a board off the window,” Goer announces, and begins prying at one of the wooden planks barring the window. It is nailed on quite securely, and it takes several minutes of efforts to pry it loose. When he has done so, Sir Fwaigo tries to peer into the room. “Hello?” he calls. </p><p></p><p>Something grabs at him. “Hey!!” he shouts, as razor-sharp claws and hooks tear across his skin. The hand that swiped him appears to be metal- a mass of torturous instruments. “Ow!” he cries, jerking back. The thing fails to get a hold on him, but that hand is <em>vicious.</em></p><p></p><p>Me roars and throws himself against the door. There is a loud <strong>boom!</strong> as it shakes on its hinges, but it does not give. Goer, meanwhile, backs off, and Lord Cedric prays over his weapon, imbuing it with magical power. </p><p></p><p>Otis steps up and unleashes a blast of fire from the strange rod that he has. It shoots into the window and spatters onto the creature, giving off enough light that the wizard can see that it seems to be robed, but its face is some sort of metal mask. A charnel stench is coming from within the house. </p><p></p><p>Dahlia sees it too, and attempts a <em>heat metal</em> on it. Unfortunately, it resists her magic- but then it has worse things to worry about, as Me smashes the door in with a stout blow from his mace. </p><p></p><p>Now the party can view more of the interior of the house- and it is appalling. The place has been converted into a torture chamber. Dahlia gasps. The bed has been converted into a fixture onto which victims can be strapped, and there are the remains of several victims in the small house.</p><p></p><p>Me rages and rushes to meet the thing in battle. </p><p></p><p>The monster turns and slashes back with the strange metal hand. Its robes flutter, and Cedric’s eyes widen at what he sees as its robes swirl and move: the hand is actually a gauntlet, and its metal face is actually a mask. Its skin is corpse-grey, and the stench is only partially from the dead victims. <em>It is undead,</em> he realizes, and pulls out his holy symbol.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Goer attacks it through the window, as there is not enough room in the house for him to fit. He thrusts his now-magical sword at the thing but misses, and then it grabs him with that hooked and bladed gauntlet. Goer screams, tearing himself loose at the cost of several bloody tears and rips. His sword whips upward, slicing into the thing’s arm with a meaty <em>thunk!</em></p><p></p><p>The creature seems to be focusing on him now, tearing at him in a very painful way, clearly meant to be disabling but not lethal. <em>It wants to take me to torture!</em> he realizes, fear rising in his throat. The hooks and blades on the gauntlet are excruciating, and it seems to feed on his pain, growing more powerful! </p><p></p><p>But it is not strong enough. Cedric channels holy power, and for an instant it falters; and while it does so, Me roars and smashes it twice in the chest, utterly slaying it. Goer gags and cries out in pain; it has ripped large chunks of skin away. Immediately Cedric and Dahlia tend him with their healing magic. Goer hisses as the pain recedes. “Thanks,” he groans, then glares at the corpse. “Let’s get out of here,” he groans.</p><p></p><p>“Just a minute,” Sir Colder says, and he bends down and begins unstrapping the torturous gauntlet from the corpse’s hand.</p><p></p><p>“Are you <em>taking that?</em>” exclaims Goer. “That is so gross.”</p><p></p><p>“It might be useful,” Sir Colder answers absently. The gauntlet is a mess of bloody dead tissue. Gingerly, he wraps it in a sack and puts it in his backpack.</p><p></p><p>“Do we continue?” asks Dahlia. She glances at Goer. “You were the one that wanted some action. Are you up for continuing, or should we rest?”</p><p></p><p>“Let’s go!” Sir Fwaigo replies. “I’m okay, thanks to you and Cedric.”</p><p></p><p>Lord Cedric claps him on the shoulder and leaves his hand there. “Good, my former thquire! We thall continue.” He rubs Goer’s shoulders for a moment in a very friendly way before withdrawing. “To the nextht houthe!”</p><p></p><p>“Hey, actually,” Dahlia points out, “that house has its door open.” </p><p></p><p>“I wonder if that means anything,” wonders Otis. “We should investigate- all of the rest of the buildings that we have seen have their doors shut. Perhaps Harth and his cronies opened the door while they were here.”</p><p></p><p>The party troops over to the house, but there is nothing unusual about it at a glance. After a thorough search, however, the party turns up a secret trap door. </p><p></p><p>“Well, well,” Lord Cedric crows. “We have thertainly found thomething!” He leans down and digs his fingers into the cracks around the edge of the trap door. With a manly groan he pulls the door open.</p><p></p><p><strong>BOOOM!!!!</strong></p><p></p><p><em><strong>Next Time:</strong></em> What happened to Cedric? Plus: a tragic misunderstanding as our heroes find the missing villagers at last!</p><p></p><p></p><p>*To be precise: three spider swarms and three medium spiders.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 3667320, member: 1210"] Lord Cedric screams like a girl as the weird, wormy growths that seem to be extending from the floor of the wine cellar tighten around our heroes. “By the power of my pinkie finger, we mutht dethtroy thethe thingth!!” he howls, drawing forth his sword and hewing about him. Sirs Colder and Fwaigo do likewise, cutting the mass of worms and causing them to spew forth a foul ichor. Sheriff Jorgen stabs at the mass, but several coils wrap themselves wetly around his arms and legs. Struggling, shouting, Jorgen is jerked to the ground. The sheriff jerks and tugs, but it is all he can do to prevent more of the worm-things (or thing?) from looping around his neck and cutting off his breath. “Help!” he shouts. The others continue to hack at the net of worms. Sir Percival- the half-orc called Me- gives a great smash with his magical mace, pulverizing a writhing mass of the worms. With a great howl of rage, Me continues to lay about him. He sees Jorgen- his friend- struggling to hold off the mass of worm-stuff and leaps to his side. Roaring, he continues to smash the worms “Get back up the stairs!” Sir Fwaigo cries, slashing some more of the worms near Jorgen. He grabs the sheriff by the hand and hauls him to his feet. Gasping, Jorgen staggers over to the stairs. “Yeth, up the thtairth, my friendth!” Lord Cedric roars, batting away another glistening greenish cord of worm stuff. Our heroes fall back, and as they retreat up the stairs, the wormy net heaves and settles down, seeming to sense their departure. Shaking his head, Cedric thinks, [i]We had best mark this place in our minds, lest we run out of other alcohol! We might then have to come back here.[/i] Exiting the building, our heroes go back into the street for the moment. “There are a lot of houses, my lord,” Goer points out to Cedric. “We could check some of them out.” Otis sighs. “I don’t know what we’re hoping to find here,” he grumbles. “Certainly not Harth!” “No, but perhapth there will be a clue to hith location,” Lord Cedric replies. The party proceeds to investigate a few of the houses. The first one yields a trio of corpses, but nothing more; the next is infested with a multitude of spiders, big and small, and after a quick battle, our heroes destroy them.* “Maybe we should rest,” suggests Sir Colder afterward. “Is anyone badly hurt?” Nobody is. Goer declares, “Forget resting, I want some action!” “All right, let’s move on to the next house,” Dahlia snaps. “We’re wasting time!” Otis nods in agreement. The party moves across the street to another house, but they stop. This home is boarded up from the outside. “Well, that’s interesting,” murmurs Sir Colder. “I wonder what’s in there.” “And who boarded it up,” adds Dahlia. “It could have been the villagers- or it could have been Harth and his gang.” “Hey, I hear something,” Goer whispers. “There’s something moving around in there!” The party hushes, and everyone listens intently. Indeed, they can all hear the muffled sound of movement from within. “Hello?” calls Goer. The sound within the boarded up house ceases. A voice calls out from within, weakly. Our heroes do not understand the language, but it sounds like a cry for help. “I’m taking a board off the window,” Goer announces, and begins prying at one of the wooden planks barring the window. It is nailed on quite securely, and it takes several minutes of efforts to pry it loose. When he has done so, Sir Fwaigo tries to peer into the room. “Hello?” he calls. Something grabs at him. “Hey!!” he shouts, as razor-sharp claws and hooks tear across his skin. The hand that swiped him appears to be metal- a mass of torturous instruments. “Ow!” he cries, jerking back. The thing fails to get a hold on him, but that hand is [i]vicious.[/i] Me roars and throws himself against the door. There is a loud [b]boom![/b] as it shakes on its hinges, but it does not give. Goer, meanwhile, backs off, and Lord Cedric prays over his weapon, imbuing it with magical power. Otis steps up and unleashes a blast of fire from the strange rod that he has. It shoots into the window and spatters onto the creature, giving off enough light that the wizard can see that it seems to be robed, but its face is some sort of metal mask. A charnel stench is coming from within the house. Dahlia sees it too, and attempts a [i]heat metal[/i] on it. Unfortunately, it resists her magic- but then it has worse things to worry about, as Me smashes the door in with a stout blow from his mace. Now the party can view more of the interior of the house- and it is appalling. The place has been converted into a torture chamber. Dahlia gasps. The bed has been converted into a fixture onto which victims can be strapped, and there are the remains of several victims in the small house. Me rages and rushes to meet the thing in battle. The monster turns and slashes back with the strange metal hand. Its robes flutter, and Cedric’s eyes widen at what he sees as its robes swirl and move: the hand is actually a gauntlet, and its metal face is actually a mask. Its skin is corpse-grey, and the stench is only partially from the dead victims. [i]It is undead,[/i] he realizes, and pulls out his holy symbol. Meanwhile, Goer attacks it through the window, as there is not enough room in the house for him to fit. He thrusts his now-magical sword at the thing but misses, and then it grabs him with that hooked and bladed gauntlet. Goer screams, tearing himself loose at the cost of several bloody tears and rips. His sword whips upward, slicing into the thing’s arm with a meaty [i]thunk![/i] The creature seems to be focusing on him now, tearing at him in a very painful way, clearly meant to be disabling but not lethal. [i]It wants to take me to torture![/i] he realizes, fear rising in his throat. The hooks and blades on the gauntlet are excruciating, and it seems to feed on his pain, growing more powerful! But it is not strong enough. Cedric channels holy power, and for an instant it falters; and while it does so, Me roars and smashes it twice in the chest, utterly slaying it. Goer gags and cries out in pain; it has ripped large chunks of skin away. Immediately Cedric and Dahlia tend him with their healing magic. Goer hisses as the pain recedes. “Thanks,” he groans, then glares at the corpse. “Let’s get out of here,” he groans. “Just a minute,” Sir Colder says, and he bends down and begins unstrapping the torturous gauntlet from the corpse’s hand. “Are you [i]taking that?[/i]” exclaims Goer. “That is so gross.” “It might be useful,” Sir Colder answers absently. The gauntlet is a mess of bloody dead tissue. Gingerly, he wraps it in a sack and puts it in his backpack. “Do we continue?” asks Dahlia. She glances at Goer. “You were the one that wanted some action. Are you up for continuing, or should we rest?” “Let’s go!” Sir Fwaigo replies. “I’m okay, thanks to you and Cedric.” Lord Cedric claps him on the shoulder and leaves his hand there. “Good, my former thquire! We thall continue.” He rubs Goer’s shoulders for a moment in a very friendly way before withdrawing. “To the nextht houthe!” “Hey, actually,” Dahlia points out, “that house has its door open.” “I wonder if that means anything,” wonders Otis. “We should investigate- all of the rest of the buildings that we have seen have their doors shut. Perhaps Harth and his cronies opened the door while they were here.” The party troops over to the house, but there is nothing unusual about it at a glance. After a thorough search, however, the party turns up a secret trap door. “Well, well,” Lord Cedric crows. “We have thertainly found thomething!” He leans down and digs his fingers into the cracks around the edge of the trap door. With a manly groan he pulls the door open. [b]BOOOM!!!![/B] [i][b]Next Time:[/b][/i] What happened to Cedric? Plus: a tragic misunderstanding as our heroes find the missing villagers at last! *To be precise: three spider swarms and three medium spiders. [/QUOTE]
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