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Important Campaign History:
The Tale of Maxwell Silverhammer.
OOC:
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The party met Maxwell at 6:30 pm, about an hour before sunset. The initial conversation with Vega took only 5 minutes. It took another 25 minutes for Maxwell to finish eating. At 7:00 pm, the party purchased the ale, and rented the dolly from the restaurant for a 2 day period (the minimum.) Maxwell is happy to be the one to wheel it along. The party reaches Westgate at about 7:15, and by 7:45, which is 15 minutes past sunset, they arrive in Moresby Hall; Mr. Farrin returns quickly to town, as per Dewydd's instructions. He reaches Westgate by 8:10, and he reaches the Cartographer's Guild at 8:30, just as they are closing for the evening. Mr. Farrin convinces the Guildmaster to allow him a quick purchase; he quickly hands over 6 platinum and 5 gold for the regional map that Dewydd wanted, and bids the man good evening. This takes a mere 5 minutes. Luckily, the general sundries store is just across the street, and Mr. Farrin has some incredible luck: he catches the shop owner as he is locking up as well, and with a little "rare metal persuasion" (add 10% to the standard cost of these goods) he convinces the shop owner to allow him to come in and gather Dewydd's requested supplies. By 9:00 pm, Mr. Farrin is on his way back, with all supplies in-hand; he pays a city guardsman who is just coming off duty 5 gp. to escort him back to Moresby Hall; after all, it is now dark, and he is unarmed, and alone. The guard agrees, since it is such a short trip, and he'd like to have extra money for drinking at the tavern, which he plans to do before returning to his barracks. Mr. Farrin arrives at 9:45 pm, at which point, Maxwell has been talking for about 30 minutes...
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Maxwell (To The Party, In Common): "There were 7 of us, two Humans, a couple of brothers named Earl and James Miller, and then there was myself, and two other Dwarves from the New Kingdom, Trevin Ironspear, and Gavin Goldbraid. Then there was the Elf, a big fella' named Mallin Quickblade, and last, but not least, the most honorable of the group, ironically: a Half-Orc by the name of Kromdek Shieldbreaker. Every one of us was a scrapper, hungry for a fight. We thought we'd be unstoppable... We wiped out a whole tribe of marauding Goblins in the Kron Hills, and people called us heroes."
Maxwell takes a long swig of ale, as if he hopes it will give him the courage to continue: "I told 'em to stick to the living. I'm older than any of you, I says, even the Elf, I says. Goblins are one thing, the undead are quite another, I says. And you know what they did? THEY LAUGHED! The fool Elf bragged about his Greatsword, and how nothing could stand against it; Trevin bragged about his spear, saying that zombies would never get past its reach. Even the Miller Boys laughed, calling me 'too cautious,' and asking if 'maybe I should consider retiring'! So... fine, I says, let's have at it then. So we went; we loaded up on grain for the horses, and food and beer for ourselves, like we were going on a damned picnic! Not one of them purchased a single vial of Holy Water! Nor Alchemist Fire! You'd have thought we were going to visit relatives!"
Maxwell chuckles halfheartedly, taking another big swig."When we got there, we found almost nothing. The place had apparently been picked clean. There were a few humanoid corpses, and a few Human and Demihuman corpses, none of which had any gear worth salvaging. Apparently, Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Orcs still frequent the area, and it's my guess that the adventurers coming out there to hunt undead ran afoul of them. Anyways, none of the corpses looked to be in danger of rising as undead. They were just your run-of-the-mill, stinky, bloody corpses. We scouted the place, and near the south end of town was where we found something peculiar... There was this big well. It was obviously the main well for the village, back when this place was alive. But there was this big statue in front of it, must've been about 9 feet tall, made entirely of clay. The statue was ugly as sin; it looked like a person, but whoever the sculptor was, made it disfigured and creepy. Its arms were too long, and so were its legs. We had no idea at that time what it was. Anyways, I says, is the well still usable? I'm a bit parched, I says. We all go and look, and as soon as we get near it, we can smell fresh death, the smell that comes from LOTS of dead bodies piled in a single place. Not the smell of a battlefield, where the corpses are scattered about. The smell of a freshly dug / not complete mass grave. We look down the well, which was about 10 feet in diameter, and we can see that it went about 30 feet down. At the bottom, there was all these spikes, and there was people impaled on 'em, still wiggling around and moaning, trying to get off 'em! There were also walking corpses, what Human folk call 'Zombies,' and 'Skeletons,' milling about. But they were all at the bottom of the pit, about 50 of 'em, and didn't seem to be aware of the fact that we were watching them from above."
Maxwell fixes a cold stare at each party member before continuing: "That's when the fool Elf says, 'it's like fish in a barrel, let's get some rope and go down there, and round us up some easy coin!' Can you believe that? He wasn't scared at all; dead folks walking about didn't phase him in the least. I was about to scold him, when we all hear this voice behind us, that says, 'I don't have any rope, but perhaps I could lend you boys a strand or two of webbing?' that's when we turn to see that while we poking our noses down the well, this HUGE spider and his little spiderlings had all crept up behind us! And the blasted thing could TALK!"
This is how Maxwell describes the spider who is talking.
Maxwell looks really upset, trying to take another big swig, but only managing a mouthful, because of his shaky hands. "The other little spiderlings were the size of small dogs; there must've been about 30 of 'em. But this big, talking thing was truly scary. I knew we was in trouble when it talked to us. I could feel that something wasn't right. Then Mallin goes and speaks some blasted spell! It was only a single word, and all it did was make Mallin's eyes glow, but it upset the talkin' spider something fierce! So they all charge us, the big one and the little ones, too, and as we engage them, the statue starts to move! And its eyes light up with blue fire! ... We squished a lot of the spiderlings, pretty easy. But the blasted statue grabbed both of the Miller boys, one at a time, and threw them both down the stinkin' well! Both of 'em met their end on those spikes. The fall was brutal, but I imagine the spikes were poisoned, too. I couldn't believe my eyes! I hammered the statue over and over again with my trusty mallet, to no avail. It was like I couldn't hurt 'em. Or if I did, he didn't react at all. A couple of folks around here have said that it must have been a Clay Golem, but I don't know if they're right or not. All I know is, the statue was hard to deal with, even after we all started concentrating our efforts against it. We ignored the spiderlings; it was me and Trevin and Gavin on the statue, and Mallin and Kromdek on the big talker. That's when things got weird..."
Maxwell pauses a moment, with a tear in his eye. "The big talker looks at Mallin, and says, 'come, surface Elf, do my bidding!' and the next thing we know, the big Elf is swinging his sword at Kromdek! That damned Greatsword was nearly Kromdek's end! That's when we all fled, each of us in different directions. I don't know what foul magic that talkin' bug was using, but I knew that if we fought it out, we were doomed. I think the other fellas got the same idea, too. We all kinda fled at the same time. We re-grouped a week later at the Minotaur & Kobold, and that's when all the squabbling began. Me and the half-breed both wanted to go back, and try to fish out the bodies of the Miller Boys, before they rise as undead. It ain't right to leave a brother-in-arms behind, even if he's dead. But the others wanted no part of it. And those two have the nerve to call themselves Dwarves! But no matter... I suggested we find Mallin also, and try to free him from whatever spell it was that the spider put on him, but even Kromdek was against that one... So I called them all cowards, they all called me crazy and suicidal, and after making a scene in the restaurant, we all went our separate ways. Three days passed; I had stopped for a hot meal and one last plate of cheesecake when you folks found me today. The rest of the Seven are scattered, like dry leaves in the wind. I got a cousin just up the road by the name of Vale Stonegallows; he's staying in the village of Caltaran, about 45 miles west of here. He was on his way to join us on our trip to Skorane, but he got delayed. He sent word by courier that he would need to stop a few days in Caltaran, while his foot healed. Apparently, he got some sort of infection that gave even him a hard time trying to heal it. He's a cleric, ya know. Acolyte of Clangeddin. Solid sort of fellow. I wish we had been able to take him with us to Skorane. An extra weapon in that fight might have made a difference. Anyway, since he came all this way, I figured I'd go escort him home. It's the least I could do. It's been awhile since I've seen our ancestral halls. When I go back, I might just go back to stay."
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