The Wednesday Knights
SESSION XIV.
Sunday 12th Fibber 2000
Year of the Dark
Sir Malcolm & the Kobold Mansions - part 3.
Dramatis Personae
Mallaria Half-Elven Barbarian 1
Whirlwind Human Fighter 1
Sam Fox Human Fighter 4
Karl Los Val Da Rama Gnome Priest of Pelor 1
The clean up operation.
The mob continues unabated, the Knights head off down the unlit corridor and are soon in the thick of it, again. Several chambers of Undead are discovered mostly Kobold sized Skeletons which are vanquished without difficulty, however they are soon supported by some much larger skeletons.
While Karl & Sam investigate a huge stone of unknown origin, which burns to the touch- Mallaria and Whirlwind wade into combat- this time it is Mallaria that destroys everything in her path.
The giant stone is finally abandoned, although a glowing sheet of paper and a blue crystal key are recovered- also a number of stone coffers locked and merged with the floor are found and later left unopened, there’s no thief present and they resist all attempts to smash them.
Eventually time is called and after one last check through the complex the group head out, there are no surprise attacks, ambushes etc- the Kobolds have fled.
The horses are recovered- one had wandered off but is persuaded to come back to the fold, and the journey back to Travensburg is uneventful, however the mood is somewhat lighter.
Moonday 13th Fibber 2000
Back in town the Knights remain guarded but the success of the second operation is undoubted- it seems Sir Malcolm will make a full recovery, however this will not be for several months. Sam and Karl, volunteer all the money they have found in the Kobold mansions to be given to the families of the mercenaries that died. Mallaria is reluctant but says nothing, seemingly tired after the fight, Whirlwind merely shrugs his shoulders.
The above Adventure entitled “Kobold Mansions” is by Dave “Dr. Skull” Nelson, his home page is at
www.hometown.aol.com/avenelso/ probably. For definite if you go to RPG Archive and fanny about a bit you’ll find it, go to
www.rpgarchive.com and try.
A Shocking Result.
Dramatis Personae
Liandri Elven Rogue 1/Wizard 1 &
Eric the Lizard.
Liandri has gone back to nature figuring the bustling metropolis (eh?) of Travensburg is no place to spend quality time with his number one Lizard. The time is spent relaxing and generally getting used to each other, Liandri also develops various talents in conjunction with Eric, and together they are more sensitive to their surroundings wit, Liandri’s hearing and vision seem to improve when Eric is about. It is also possible for Liandri to sort of sit in Eric’s mind- he can’t see through his eyes but he can kinda feel his surroundings- it’s pretty vague though, at least at first.
Several days pass with the two on first name turns, while not idyllic out in the woods, the weather is good and there’s plenty of food around- not game, Liandri stocked up on cup-a-soups and Pet Noodles before he left Travensburg.
About five days have passed when in the middle of the night an intense feeling of discomfort, a cross between fear and dislike, awakes Liandri. He is on his feet in an instant- looking around in the darkness, he can feel Eric approaching, he can also feel Eric watching something in the woods- something large, something very, very large.
Back in the real world Liandri hears the snap of trees and underbrush, Eric skitters up to Liandri and begins to wind his way about his body until he is up and inside Liandri’s jacket. There is a huge crash and a sapling comes falling down on the edge of the clearing- entering the area is an Ogre, the creature stands about nine feet tall. Liandri looks around for somewhere to run- the creature hefts the best part of a small tree and swings the club overhead at Liandri- who at the last minute dodges aside.
The club thumps into the ground- Liandri can feel the reverberations through the souls of his feet, he is off running to the edge of the clearing- 30 feet at a sprint, turn and, “whooosh-thud”, the Magic Missile hits home.
Suddenly he realises that Eric is gone- somehow in his haste to get away he must have fallen off. The Ogre recovers hefts the giant club again and charges- once more Liandri dodges, avoiding the blow he sprints behind the creature, and turns again to fire another Magic Missile into the creatures rear. The Ogre roars in pain and spins around, only 10 feet away from Liandri- who has nowhere to go this time.
The creature hefts the club once again and Liandri ducks down in an attempt to tumble through the creatures’ legs, he suffers a glancing blow as he does so but comes up on the other side. As he spins around there is a huge white-blue streak originating on the ground five feet away from the Ogre and culminating at the creatures’ chest.
“ZZZzzzzaaaPPPP”
The Ogre staggers and begins to fall backwards, Liandri tumbles again to avoid the falling giant. The creature is out cold- unconscious- Liandri shows no mercy and slits its throat.
Eric is sitting on the grass, the source of the lightning stroke, humming slightly. Liandri smiles and thanks the DM profusely for bringing Eric into his life, he picks Eric up and begins to stroke him- figuring that the static will build up the charge.
“Who’s a pretty little fella, daddy’s little lightning bolt… my precious.” He hugs the lizard to him and scans the woodland for those that would attempt to take Eric away from him (Social Services? The RSPCA?).
Down on the Farm.
Chewsday 14th Fibber 2000
Dramatis Personae
Mallaria Elven Barbarian 1
Whirlwind Human Fighter 1
Sam Fox Human Fighter 4
Karl Los Val Da Rama Gnome Priest of Pelor 1
Bob Human Ranger 2
Liandri is back from the woods and has spent a few days in Travensburg- seeking out a fellow Rogue; the town supports a small community of like-minded individuals. He finds a colleague and pays him a fair sum of money to advance his Rogue skills to level 2.
Xeolus is still at the church of Hieroneous learning how to be a priest- for which read sanctimonious prig, I’m surprised its taken him this long.
Endrin is appearing at The Scalpel (Inn) tonight, he’s still in training, but is having to brush up on his performance skills- he will be doing “I will Survive”, and, “YMCA”- worth missing. The group decide to go to the pub to witness his humiliation.
At just gone midnight the bar of The Scalpel is beginning to empty, Aaron the Barkeeper/Bard who is training Endrin is beginning to tidy away and clear the customers out when a young women enters gasping for breath, crying.
“It’s Richard…help us Aaron… please… he’s hurt bad.”
The women’s clothes are ripped and she seems frantic, Aaron quickly crosses the bar and begins to attempt to calm her down- she however pulls away, saying “Richard”, and, “I must get to him”, again and again between sobs.
Eventually Kyla (Aaron knows her) is calmed down enough to tell some of the story- it seems the farm she works with her husband, Richard, has been attacked- she escaped injury but Richard has been badly beaten. Aaron looks to the Knights-
“It’s not safe out there, you’re killing time- nothing to do- Endrin won’t be done for a week.” He looks at the group imploring them to help the poor woman.
Mallaria stands- “I’ll do it.”
Which is a surprise in itself- but who knows how or even if Mallaria’s mind/conscience works.
Bob agrees to help as do Whirlwind, Karl and Sam soon the six are on the road to the farm, the night is cool and light, a full moon overhead.
The journey takes only 40 minutes, when the group arrives Richard, Kyla’s husband, staggers out onto the porch of the farm to meet them- Kyla goes running over and begins to use the Potion of Healing she was given by Aaron to heal him. Karl wanders over and attempts to look at Richard’s injuries- he is rebuffed however; Richard grabs Kyla’s arm and pulls her to him-
“Who are these people? What do they want?”
“They’re here to help us Richard, please.”
“We don’t need any help- send them away.”
“But Richard…”
“Send them away- I’ll kill those little bastards if they ever come back here.” Richard stares out into the night his eyes glistening in the moonlight, his mouth set in a grimace.
With this Richard pushes through the door into the farm house- Kyla follows him leaving the Knights in the yard. Bob takes a moment to look around, he finds some clear tracks- and confirms that they were made by half-a-dozen or so Goblins.
A little later Kyla returns and states that Richard has calmed down, ”he’s just upset, that’s all”, and that they can stay in the barn- “if that’s ok”, the group agrees and heads over to settle down for the night.
It is two in the morning when the scream is heard- Mallaria is awake in seconds and hurriedly covering the distance to the farm building, Sam follows her as does Karl. Bob and Whirlwind begin searching outside of the farm to see if anything can be seen on the outside.
Inside the three find Kyla, it seems she slipped and banged her head, there is a pool of water by her side- the poor woman is in tears still upset from the Goblin attack.
After reassuring her the group head off back to the barn where Mallaria tells the rest of the group of her plan. Mallaria with a plan- how mad is that.
“I’m going to sleep on the roof of the farm tonight and then stay up there for the day while you go and have a look around.”
“What?”
“I think there’s something just not right about this.”
Woodnesday 15th Fibber 2000
The group dismisses Mallaria’s scheme and sleep till morning while Mallaria finds a good place to climb on to the roof of the farm building; she does so and then remains there being as quiet as possible. First having estimated where the bedroom is situated beneath the roof, eventually she drops off (to sleep), she has secured herself to the roof.
In the morning Kyla brings over a tray of breakfast and the group tell her that Mallaria has had to leave, she nods, seemingly unconcerned. After breakfast they head out to investigate the corn fields surrounding the farm, and the woods nearby.
For hours they wander idly and find nothing of interest- although later on in the afternoon the following takes place.
While moving through a cornfield- trampling it in fact, the group are approached by a Goblin- who steps out of the corn. The creature is unarmed, as far as the group can tell- he wears only a loincloth. The creature also shows the palms of his hands a universal gesture of peace.
After a brief contretemps, in which Karl advocates running the creature through or off, but is actually easily persuaded not to- a sort of conversation takes place, surprisingly with Karl- whom the Goblin takes to instantly, much to Karl’s chagrin.
“Me Grit, Grit good Goblin, no hurt Kyla, pretty.”
“He’s called Grit- er… he’s a Goblin, and er… he no hurt Kyla.” Karl translates for the other members of the group, even though the Goblin is talking in Common.
“Grit no hurt Human, Grit no hurt Gnomeseys, Grit hurt bad man.” At which point Grit makes a few imaginary chops in the air.
“Grit doesn’t hurt humans, or Gnomseys- Gnomes- he hurts the bad man.” Karl begins to make chopping motions and Grit smiles at him- almost excitedly.
“What are you doing?” Sam looks at Karl.
“Translating.”
“He’s speaking in Common- we can all understand him.”
Karl remains silent for a moment- then nods at Sam and turns back to Grit- “so then what happened?”
“Watch for bad man.”
“He says we are to watch for the bad man- I don’t know who he’s talking about, do you? I’ll ask him in a bit… Shhh, I need to listen to what he’s saying.”
Grit continues, holding out his hand to Karl- giving him something as he speaks- “Give Kyla. Pretty. Stop Bad Man hurt.”
Grit passes a folded leaf bundle to Karl- grins at him and then turns and heads back into the corn field, the group spy a number of other Goblins, which they were not aware of at first, they also turn and leave.
Karl sheepishly opens the bundle and discovers a pretty stone with a symbol scratched on to it- on the leaf is a Goblin poem of sorts.
“Kyla, spider-silk hair
Black-stone polish eyes
Twin pumpkin breasts
Grit will eat the bad man’s blows
Long before you suffer them again.”
Bob stops reading- “It’s Richard. Richard’s the bad man, he’s beating her up- the bastard.”
The Knights turn as one and sprint towards the farm.
Meanwhile…
Mallaria has been lying on the roof for hours now bored out of her mind, that is until she hears Richard’s raised voice inside- soon after she hears Kyla scream- time for action. Mallaria quickly makes her way across the roof although, alas, not safely or without incident- moving across the kitchen area Mallaria’s leg shoots through the thatch and for a moment she is trapped. Her position given away- she can hear Richard clearly now (through the hole in the roof)- he is screaming at Kyla for inviting the Knights to the farm. She catches the last words of his speech- “and now you and they must die.”
As she pulls herself from the hole a (Dire) rat appears on the roof about ten feet from her position- decision time, Mallaria rends the roof in an attempt to make the hole bigger. The rat meanwhile lurches forward to attack, it misses and at the same time Mallaria shoots through the enlarged hole and manages to land safely in the kitchen/dinning room of the farm. The rat looks through the hole before leaping down, a second (Dire) rat appears at the far side of the kitchen- Mallaria attacks, as do the rats- the result of which is one of the rats is killed outright while Mallaria is unharmed. The door is flung wide open and Richard appears from the bedroom- he is wearing black robes and is furious with Mallaria- a black ray leaps from his hands and washes over Mallaria, seemingly with no effect. The second rat races at Mallaria, who enraged leaps the creature and piles into Richard- who suffers a glancing blow only. Richard screams with anger and then disappears into thin air- Mallaria swipes but hits nothing- suddenly the door to the farm is flung open, from the inside, silhouetted in the doorway is Bob the Ranger- there’s no escape here.
Dun-Dun-Derr.
The session ends and the reprobates return to reality.
Thus endeth the session that is numbered 14.
Next week… Dead head Dick.