Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="mikeawmids" data-source="post: 6316977" data-attributes="member: 6776411">(Savaged) Rise of the Runelords > The Hook Mountain Massacre Rotation 2 / Session 5 (20/09/2012) - Part One Player Characters Val : Karrack (Lizardman monk with grand revolutionary ambitions. A political pioneer fighting for the rights of the little (green) man. Vive la Goblin!) Vic : Grogg (Gladiatorial champion of the downtrodden masses, this muscular half-orc is rarely parted from his beloved axe 'Monica' or his 'lucky' talisman, strung with tokens from previous champions) Mal H : Ben (The black sheep of a wealthy family from distant Minkai, after reading the journal of a demon-possessed serial killer, he has developed some disturbing hobbies....) Crusader Hank: Rast (Dwarven rogue with a diverse catalogue of curious scars/twitches. A dabbler in alchemy, with an unsavoury habit of drinking the foul humours he extracts from fallen foes - all in the spirit of scientific enquiry, or course!) Recent wed to Ameiko Kaijitsu.) Andrek : Asha (Crusading priest of Sarenrae, also turns out that 'he' is actually a 'she' - and not above using her body to get what she wants!) Cowed by Grogg's demonstration of TRUE STRENGTH, the remaining ogres surrender to the blood-soaked fighter. He cheerfully executes two - before remembering that by doing so, he is inadvertently helping the bad guys! Rast suggests that he scrub the sideheron star off the final prisoner before hacking off its ugly head, but Grogg (somewhat uncharacteristically) takes pity of the brute and spares its life. He instructs the ogre to release the second ranger; Vale Temros, from his cage. Shalelu Andosana rushes to the side of the wounded ranger with the eye-patch. Having sustained several nasty injuries during his fight with the ogre's pet spider, the creature's deadly venom is now coursing through the the man's veins. Shalelu reveals that this dying human; Jakardros Sovark, is her biological father and pleads with the party to save her dad! Asha draws the poison from the grizzled woodsman's wounds - which Rast eagerly bottles for future use. Meanwhile, the rest of the party prepare to assault the farmhouse, where they suspect the last of the surviving Black Arrows are being held. Grogg's new disciple is quizzed, re: the layout/denizens of the area, but quickly proves itself to be a font of ignorance. Its only worthwhile contribution to the discussion is that the farmhouse is the lair of Mama Graul and her many 'husbands'. Leaving Shalelu to tend to her weakened father, the party warily approach the forsaken residence across the muddy farmyard. Creeping ahead, Rast listens at a boarded-up window and hears movement within. The dwarven alchemist tries to break through the barrier, but it too puny to get inside that way. "WHO DAT' TRYING TO GET INTO MA' BOUDOIR?!" a gravelly voice roars from beyond. Grogg shoves passed the frail dwarf and applies his TRUE STRNEGTH to the problem. He is immediately thrown backwards by a blast of necromantic energy! Witnessing this, the rest of the heroes storm the front door! Ben Kotek reaches the portal first and reaches for the handle. Rusty saw-blades erupt from the woodwork, but Mal plays the MALFUNCTION Adventure Card and the (potentially) deadly trap grinds to a shuddering halt - mere moments before the spinning blades would have severed the ranger's outstretched hand! Ben, Asha and Vale Temros barrel headlong into the dark interior and narrowly avoid tumbling into a stinking pit as the floor gives way beneath their feet. Disdaining the front door, Karrack prepares to backflip through a boarded-up window - only to bounce ingloriously of the unyielding surface. While Ben chuckles over the monk's humiliation, he fails to notice the long, creeping tendril emerge from the gaping hole in the floor - until it wraps around his leg and snatches him into the hungry darkness below the farmhouse! (Why is it always Mal/Ben who gets picked on by the tentacled monsters? First the Tentamort beneath Thistletop, now a Tendriculos!) MEANWHILE... still reeling after receiving a faceful of Mama Graul's bad mojo, Grogg struggles to find his feet in the treacherous muck. Rast pours the foul tasting contents of a bubbling flask down the half-orc's gullet. Grogg chokes and splutters as the ogre-blood potion burns his throat on the way down - suddenly, the muscles on his right arm only ripple and enlarge to freakish proportions! Clambering in through the broken window, Grogg confronts the grossly obese ogre necromancer and her three undead 'husbands'. A Black Arrow cowers in the far corner of the room, cradling the bloody stump of his left wrist (Mama Graul had been snacking on the severed hand before being so rudely interrupted). Grogg wastes no time introducing 'Monica' to the ogre matriarch's face, forcing her to throw up a magical barrier to deter a more intimate relationship with the half-orc's beloved battle-axe. BACK IN THE BASEMENT... Ben Kotek finds himself dangling upside down in the foetid darkness below the farmhouse, suspended over the yawning maw of a HUGE carnivorous plant! The disorientated ranger panics and casts Blast - and rolls a CRITICAL FAILURE on his spellcasting die. The sorcerous explosion misses the tendriculos - but does destroy the floor above, showering the plant monster in debris. Karrack and Vale Temros plummet into the inhospitable hole and start hacking at the mass of writhing tentacles, while Ben is swung this way and that like a flag on coronation day. Asha invokes the wrath of Sarenrae and reduces the vegetative horror to ash in a pillar of righteous fire!</blockquote>

Verification