Mists of Ravenloft

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

OK, this takes place in Ravenloft (of course), BEFORE the Grand Conjuction. The party consists of 8 PC's backed by veteran players, and for something strange, I allowed people from Earth (some from Masque of the Red Death). Yes, I know we violated some canon rules, and altered some of the magic items.
We have.....
Babylonian Priest from Ur-dressed in ceremonial robes and still wielding his Staff of the Python
Sumerian Sorcerer-Still carrying his Staff of the Snake, wearing only breechcloth and beaded medallion holy symbols, along with his "bracelets of power" and sandals.
French Rogue-From the time of the Inquisition. Dressed in rags, tattered leather armor, and with a tatoo across his back that enables him to breathe in sewage water and gain an immunity to normal disease.
Roman Legionairre from the British Isles, around the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire, still wearing his Roman equipment, carrying his gladius, shield, and staff.
Mexican Gunfighter-Got lost in a sandstorm at the Mexican/New Mexico/Texas border. Still carrying both Army Colts, and her US Cavalry saber and Winchester .30-.30 repeating rifle.
Knight Templar-Lost during the Second Crusade, wearing Full Plate, tower shield, tabard, cloak, carrying his great sword, short sword, long sword, and dagger.
Incan Ranger-Carrying his obsidian studded war club, came to Ravenloft still face painted for war.
Chinese Monk-From the time of the 3rd Ming Dynasty. Keeper of her Houses Honor, was being persued by assassin's and got lost in her families garden of honor.

First night of gaming is introductions. Each starting in thier homeland. Now, we absolutely MANGLED history, but it was fun. Each player got to start out from outside of Ravenloft, interact with thier own culture (All those Time/Life books I bought at that yardsale got a workout that night) and then end up in Ravenloft. They found themselves in a village, with the rotted lacings of snow on the ground. They met one another, and found that not only could they speak thier own languages, but could speak the languages of these natives.
After meeting, and getting to know one another, and building character relations (The Sumerarian and the Babylonian hate one another, and view the Knight Templar with a combination of fear and awe, the rogue sees the Knight Templar as a Fist of the Church, and is afriad of him, the Chinese woman mistrusts and views all of them as barbarians, and so on, and so forth)
The party heads out into the great unknown, some mounted, some walking.

Next night of Gaming....
The party rides for several days, paying a strange, foul smelling hunchback to pole them across the river, and came in sight of a vast, walled city. Upon entering, the gates closed behind them, and they were stunned by the sights and sounds within.
A combination of Oktoberfest, Harvest Festival, Mardigras, Tet, and everything else is going on. Costumes, face paints, masks, beaded strings, everything imaginable.
It took them awhile, but they managed to secure lodgings in a hotel, and split up.
Now, stay with me here, because this is where it gets complicated.
Costume buying took up some time, and the gunfighter dressed only in a leather thong and her pistol belts, pasting her hair across her breasts. The Monk wore a mask of an Oni demon, the Knight Templar refused to dress for this pagan celebration, the Incan, Babylonian, Sumerian did not have to buy costumes. The rogue dressed as face painted freak.

Later-What happened in the city and the Hospice of St Andrew

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

The monk succeeded in getting her mask, and some silk ribbons for her costume, then found a jewelry store, where she bought a pair of earrings. The guy had obviously mismarked them as 900 copper, when they were worth at least 750 gp.
When she went out there, was enjoying the festival, when she was attempted to be mugged for the earrings. In the crowd, she managed to beat up the three guys attacking her, then continued to walk around and enjoy herself.
The Roman, exploring, was hired to follow a woman. She went to an brothel, and he managed to persuade the hooker in the room next to where she went to let him listen at the wall.
He escaped, got his payment, and came back to the inn.
The gunslinger managed to find a drinking contest and a card game, where she promptly got laid, got in a fight, and got thrown out into the street.
The Knight Templar, exploring the city, followed black robed figures into the grave yard, feeling a gut feeling that they were up to no good. There, he saw them beginning to perform a black mass, which he broke up with his greatsword. When the dead began to stir, he kicked over the undead creature into a coffin, slammed the lid, and left, taking refuge from the persueing undead in an abandoned school. There, he spent the night.
The "primitive trio" managed to get drunk, get rolled, and landed in a brothel. The Sumerarian, however, left his Babylonian and Incan cohorts behind, and returned to the inn.

The next morning, some of the group met for breakfast, the

 

[Spider_Jerusalem]

You know what, this start has got me genuinely interested for once.

I would absolutely love to play in a campaign like this - just for the sake of bringing a person from earth into the Ravenloft setting.

Sounds like the group dynamic is going to be a major playing point of this story hour. Like it already.

You've got me as a reader. Keep it coming.

Spider.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

OK, back to what happened (Sorry, real life intruded)
At breakfast, the party compared notes, and the rogue appraised the earrings at being worth at least 1500 gp. The wizard went up to ID a couple of things the rogue picked up, and the group returned to thier rooms.
Meanwhile, the Knight Templar began dreaming that he would wake up, and get attacked by a Moorish zombie. He kept making his save, so he wouldn't wake up. When he finally failed it (the willpower save to not scream and wake himself up) he had managed to pass each of the 4 madness checks he had racked up (The dream repeated over a dozen times. He'd wake up, and a Moorish Zombie would be looming over him, he'd strike, and the zombie would bite at his cheek. He'd make a fortitude check to see if he'd scream, and then would suddenly wake up, covered in sweat. Repeat 1 dozen times) The Paladin's cringing fingertips found a bite-shaped welt on his cheek that he could not recall.
Now, as the Roman Legionairre approached his room, he heard voices. Mainly, a man swearing vengeance on whoever it was that took away his sisters "flower of maidenhood" inside his room!
Thinking quickly, he ran up to the where the Priest and the Rogue were sharing a room (the Priest is homosexual in accordance to his vow of chastity, and the thief is bisexual, and attracted to power!). The Rogue rapelled out the window, and looked in, seeing several nobley dressed men in the room, and one was gathering up bloodstained sheets as "Proof of my sister's sluttish behavior!" while four others stood by looking angry.
Just them, someone in the garden/courtyard below saw the thief, but could not see the slender silk rope he was suspended by.
"WITCHCRAFT!" they screamed. naturally, everyone looks, and the thief panics, scrambling up the rope and into the room. To the people below, he looked like he scrabbled up the wall.
People below are screaming, and thinking fast, the fighter, the rogue and the Sorcerer run out in the hall and start yelling. When people look out in the hall, at the fighter holding shut the door while the rogue supports a "fainted" Priest, they shout that a demon flew in the window, he had 10 eyes, and a mouth full of 100 fangs, and was feasting on a whole pig!
Everyone panics, and the trio beats feet into the street.
Meanwhile, the Wizard/Sorcerer, is IDing everything, and hears the cries of "WITCH!" WOrried, he kicks over his brazier by accident, and stuffs his spellbook under his shirt. Unluckily for him, he is on the second floor. Here comes the city guard as he tries to slip out. The city guard shout at him to stop, and he runs for the stairs. The guard sees the brazier, and the incense, and raises the hue and cry. Guardsmen chase the PC up the stair, until, overcome with desperation, and cornered in the roof-garden, he jumps.
And doesn't cast featherfall.
And rolls a 1 on his tumbling.
And lands on the fence.
(I'm a merciful guy, as you are about to see)
The spikes drive through the spellbook first (bet you thought I forgot about that!) and then through him. The trio that beat feet see him hit, and run over to him.
"Oh my god, the witch threw this poor old man off the roof!" the Rogue screams, and the Priest "faints" again. "There he is!" the thief screams in "fear", pointing at the wildly gestulating gaurdsman on the roof.
Reacting instantly, the guardsman on the street beging to fire crossbow bolts at the guardsman on the roof.
While the crossbow fight begins, they pull the Wizard free and run for it.
The fighter runs into the whore he met at the brothel (Remember Grace Jones' character from Conan the Destroyer? Well, that's who it is!) who agrees to take her "sexy little yellow man!" to safety.
The party drags the critically wounded Wizard to the Hospice of St Andrew.

The Monk
Looking for work, wanders over to a place she had heard about: The Iron Butterfly. Word on the street has it that it is where women "partake of enjoyment without men" (The Players all thought that this meant it was a lesbian club) Figuring one of her skills might be able to find gainful employment as a bouncer, she heads over there.
The Iron Butterfly turns out to be a woman's Health Spa slash Turkish Bath house, no clothing allowed.
She gets hired, and overhears a conversation between two noble women. One has been brutally taken, and beaten, and the other is asking why she does not leave her brutal lover. The beaten one replies that "Who else has as much power and influence as him?"
There is a ruckus out in the main room, and she enters to find three men causing havoc, a fat, drunken, hairy lout screaming out a woman's name. The engages them, seeing the propetier down with a bad sword cut to the face.
She defeats the weaselly looking one, and the rat looking one, and begins to assualt the piggish/bearish one.
Who promptly reveals himself to be able to turn into half man-half wolf.

The Mexican Gunslingerr.
Having gotten drunk, laid, mugged, shot a thief in the face, the Gunfighter awakes in the arms of a really ugly guy, but manages to slip away without waking him up (who says escape artist isn't useful!) and wanders about the Festival, minus her shirt, but still carrying her pistols and rifle.
The Iron Butterfly looks like a nice place, and maybe these fumblehanded freaks will quit feeling up her (now) sore breasts.
She is inside, relaxing in a hot mudbath, when she hears the screaming. She rushes out, just in time to see a horrible half-man, half wolf slap the Chinese woman across the room.
She runs for her guns, and the creature rushes at the women, grabbing up a terrified looking woman. She snatches free her pistols and spins to face the dog creature, who is leaping from the building, but can't risk a shot without possibly hitting the woman. When she is flanking it, she puts two bullets (one from each gun) into it, but they blow through the creature, and the wounds instantly seal.
However, a woman on the other side gets her stomach split open.
Our heroine grabs the basket with her gear in it, and runs out the side door, following the Chinese girl, who has scooped up some woman whose been hit in the face with a sword.
The Gunslinger stops to pull on her clothing, when someone grabs her bare crotch. Looking between her legs, she sees a 9 year old little boy, who was grabbing for the purse on the front of the pants.
She grabs the kid by the ear, yanks up her pants one handed, and proceeds to spank the little street rat within an inch of his life.
She then follows the Chinese girl, who, after asking directions for a beggar, takes the wounded woman to the Hospice of St Andrew.

The Paladin? Ahhh.....
The PC in question emerges from the school, and joins the crowd that has packed the street in the celebration of the Festival (They still don't know the name of it). He passes by an alley, and a scimitar rings off the shoulder of his armor.
Turning, and drawing his greatsword, he sees a pair of Moorish Zombies carrying Scimitars grinning at him from inside the alley. Worse yet, he recognises both men as foes who fell before his might during the Holy Crusade.
The fight is over quickly, and he bows to the awestuck viewers, and says: "Next show in one hour, folks, now please, step back so that my comrades may repair thier makeup." (ooh, bonus XP for fast thinking!!!) He then whips out the silk cloth he keeps in his pocket (It was actually on his PC sheet, a fraggin silk sheet!) and hung it over the alley. He mimiced two extra vioces, as if they were getting ready, and ran down the alley after searching the Moors. All he took from them were an amulet from each of them.
Wandering about a bit, he spots the graveyard, and decides to see if he is indeed going mad, and is his body lying there, dying in the darkness of last night, in the graveyard, and goes through the wrought iron gates.

More later.....

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

As we continue.....
Priest, Sorcerer, Rogue
A thin, weedy man with circles of exhaustion approaches the trio, and the large Zulu prostitute. His hands shake from exhaustion, and he wavers in his place. He looks at the Sorcerer/Wizard and says "Please, take him to the back room. We shall care for him, no matter what his crime is." THe Zulu and the Rogue take the Sorcerer into the back room of the Hospice of St Andrew where there were many other people with wounds inflicted by weaponry were. The nun back there shook her head. "Another one? More and more the guards are killing for minor crimes." she sighed, and turned back to trying to make a young woman feel better as she passed beyond the viel.
As the Priest began to walk by, the exhausted man stated: "It would be easier, brother, if I took care of your friends injury. I sense you do not have the faith in your god to heal your friend, I do. If you could but ease my burden by attending to those you have faith that you can help, I will assist your friend.:
The Priest agreed, and the Zulu prostitute, Rogue, and grieviously injured sorcerer were escorted through a secret passage in the basement, across a rickety bridge in the sewers, and into a secret area where criminals were being cared for.
The Legionairre agreed to escort the Zulu woman back to the brothel where she lived, and they left the Hospice of St Andrew.

The Chinese Monk and the Gunslinger
The chinese monk carried the unconcious owner of the Iron Butterfly through the streets, following the directions the beggar gave her to a place where the woman could be cared for without the guard investigating too closely.
In the Hospice of St Andrew, they immediately took the owner of the Iron Butterfly into thier mercy, but she did not recognise the Priest.
The Gunslinger sees a pair of men veering toward the Chinese girl as she stands outside of the Hospice and watches the people enjoy the party.
The Gunslinger pushes her way through the crowd, relying on her strength and bulk, "using her naked breasts like the prow of an ice-breaker." Just before the two toughs reach the Chinese girl, who is reflecting that this party is much like the New Year celebration of her homeland, the Gunslinger grabs the first one, slams the barrel of the pistol between two buttcheeks beneath the loincloth the man is wearing, and pulls the trigger, muffling the sound of the shot.
The man's stomach explodes from the gunshot, and she points at his compainion.
"WITCHCRAFT!" she screams, then ducks into the Hospice, dragging the monk with her. The crowd begins pummeling the other man to death.

The Zulu Prostitute and the Roman Legionairre......
Returning to the brothel, the Fighter insists on stopping back by the inn, where he sees that it is burning down. His attention is drawn to the fact that several bums are sitting in the entryway of an abandoned house, and one is motioning to him. He whispers to the Zulu to wait for him a moment, and goes over to the circle. There he meets the man who hired him to follow the noble woman, surrounded by several other people. He is told that the noble woman he followed had given herself to the man that she met in the brothel, but they performed the act upon the fighters bed, and by doing that, implicated the fighter as being the one who "took her maidenhead." The fighter is now wanted for the "rape of a noble virgin." His friends are wanted for witchcraft, assaulting guardsmen, and arson. BUT, he can smuggle the party out of the city if they do a "few triflin' tasks for me, being such bonnie lads and lasses."
The fighter agrees to meet the man at the Rusty Frog Tavern at one bell past darkness.
The fighter and the Zulu return to the brothel, where the fighter purchases the Zulu from the madam with the last of his gold pieces, buying the key to her slaverly collar.
They then hide out in the basement of a ruined house for the night.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

The thief heads out, searching pawnshops, and snagging coin purses as he slowly moves through the city, investigating what is going on. He finds that the gates are sealed until the end of the Festival. He goes to each gate, to discover that each gate is locked and gaurded. All of his searching finds no way from the city.
Undiscouraged, he keeps searching, making friends with the owner/propetier of one of the pawnshops, who agrees to sell him some "specialized" equipment he needs for his trade.
Smiling with his ill-gotten wealth, and new tools, he is considering robbing a rather nice looking mansion when a hard, armored hand dropped on his shoulder.
The Tasks
At nightfall, the Roman Legionairre gathers everyone together, and they all head through the crowded streets of the city, pushing thier way through revelers, The Gunslinger supporting the badly wounded Wizard.
They sneak thier way to the inn, and give the password, being escorted to the back room, where they once again meet with the man who hired the Legionairre to spy on the woman who eventually went to the brothel.
The Babylonian Priest is amused by the exchange of pleasantries mixed with vieled threats between the Legionairre and the man who hired them, that the Legionairre now blames for the parties troubles.
The Sumarian keeps bleeding, slowly, and the Gunslinger takes him into the corner to change his bandages, since he is seeping through his bandages, and the blood is trickling down his naked stomach.
The man agrees to lead them out of the city, should the group finish for him, four tasks.
Sneak into a Wizard's lab, where the wizard has been unseen for 10 years, and no lights have appeared in five years.
Find a small gem at the large, patalital inn at the edge of the mechant's quarter.
Recover a few documents from the house of a high ranking guardsman (By the description, the one who turned into a wereworlf)
Steal a gilded, golden box from the Hospice of St Andrew.
The party agrees (minus the Knight Templar) and leaves the inn.

Knight by Day, Templar by Night
The Knight Templar entered the grounds of the cemetary, and began searching around, until he came across the battlesite where he slew the black robed cultists. Upon finding no bodies, but finding torn scraps of clithing, he looked about, searching for a trail, and when he found it, he tracked the drag marks through the cemetary.
The drag marks led into a small grove, where there was a large, ornate crypt. Kneeling in the grass were four figures, feeding on the remnants of the bodies of the slain cultists. Dressed in stained studded leather, and wielding falchions, they had laid thier weapons on the grass, and were tearing free bits of flesh and cramming it into thier mouths with both hands.
"The Lord's words must be supported by deeds!" the Paladin cried out, charging forward with his greatsword drawn. "I shall cleanse thee by steel!"
The Templar recoiled slightly, faltering in his charge, when the faces turn, and he sees Moors he had slain in the Crusade, still bearing the wounds he had inflicted, and touched by the corruption of the grave. He gritted his teeth, and continued his charge, reciting the Lord's Prayer between clenched teeth.
The fight was short, and brutal, and the Paladin, strenthened by God, left the twitching bodies on the ground. He recited a short prayer for thier souls, and then looked at the crypt, noting that the seal was broken, and examining the name on the crypt.
Searching the cemetary, he found a toolshed, and retrieved a shovel, then buried ALL of the bodies in the poor section, in paupers graves, recited a prayer, and then went back into the Sodom and Gamorrah that the city had become during the festival.
Heading about, he sees the thier, staring at a house.
Knowing what petty larceny might lie in the youth's heart, he walks up and grasps the young man's shoulder.
"Thou shalt not steal." he murmurrs in French, positive that the thief will understand.
"I was just..." the thief began, lamely.
"Learn to resist tempation, my son, for evil, like a worm, will try to burrow into thy soul." The Knight Templar replies. "I weary, prehaps we can find work for thy idle hands. Can thee lead me to a safe place where mayhaps I can rest without foul forces trying to reft away mine life?" (Yes, the player is long winded when he's in Knight Templar mode)
The thief leads the Knight to the Hospice of St Andrew.

Next: The Four Tasks, and what the Knight Templar learned.....