This and subsequent posts will contain many spoilers. The identity of rooms is indicated in bold. I used the maps as given in the module, and for this battle used "Clash of Kings" by Tabletop Audio for the background track.
DM's Notes: With the party at full health and all sixth level, and the help of the mysterious elf, will they be able to withstand the onslaught of ogres about to be unleashed?
One advantage to playing online is documentation. I was able to go to the chat log when writing up this account, providing a much higher level of detail to the fight than I have previously based only on my recollection.
Observant readers will note that both sides are taking damage from friendly fire and that people, especially the party, are falling down a lot in this fight. As a general rule I require that anyone who fires a missile weapon into melee and misses than make a separate attack on their nearest ally involved in the melee. Also in general, a natural attack roll of 1 (critical fail) often forces a dexterity save at my discretion, with failure resulting in dropping one's weapon or falling down. In this fight specifically, I required a successful athletics or acrobatics check to move through spaces with fallen adult ogres (with failure knocking prone the PC or ogre attempting the move). The tower space is not that large and I reasoned that it would fill up quickly with the dead and unconscious. As Drowning Pool says, "Let the bodies hit the floor..."
Post 108: Battle Royale Somewhere in the Little Hills, date unknown
Round 1
Tyrius enters the tower. After passing through the thick walls, the inside (1) is one large, circular chamber, with stairs up to the left and stairs down to the right, both stairwells open to the room on one side and along the wall on the other. At the far end of the room, across from the door, is a throne on a low dais, with piles of refuse around it. Inside the chamber squat two huge, brutish humanoids much like the one recently slain. They look like they are engrossed in some sort of game on the floor involving small white objects. At the clanking of Tyrius’ armor and the sudden appearance of the light emanating from his shield, one of the two leaps to his feet and grasps clumsily for a crude weapon. The other remains staring at the floor and complaining about the results of the last play in a series of deep grunts.
Tyrius bumps into an invisible Shefak, but soon rights himself and prepares for the creature’s charge. The eiger snatches up a huge club and raises it as high over its head as the ceiling allows, then rushes forward and brings it crashing down on Tyrius. He takes the blow with his shield, but is still wounded by the massive force and knocked back against the stairs (Tyrius at 41/49).
Babshapka draws his bow and moves to the doorway, but remains outside. Now that the chamber is illuminated by the light of Pelor, he can easily see inside, and can see at least the left half of the eiger attacking Tyrius. Ignoring the mysterious elven maiden in the entryway and the fact that somewhere in the chamber is an invisible Shefak, Babshapka lets fly with two arrows, both of which sink into the thick flesh of the brute. (Babshapka has used 2 arrows)
The elven maiden turns and moves from the entryway to the chamber proper. As she enters, Shefak and Tyrius see shadows dance - but then the shadows seem to lose their moorings and rush to greet her! Her face registers surprise and then insight, and her amber eyes flash briefly. She moves to the far side of the room, unseen by either eiger. [Umbra attains 5th level]
Willa is the next into the chamber. She sets down her lit lantern on the floor beside the entryway and draws her greatsword. Her first swing sinks deep into the eiger’s flesh, but her second nearly slices through Shefak as the wounded eiger stumbles back.
Thokk charges into the room, bellowing at everyone to get out of his way. He draws his sword, but by the time he has pushed his way past Tyrius, Willa, and Shefak, he has missed his opportunity for attacking.
Shefak bounds up the stairs to gather height, then turns and leaps, landing in between Tyrius and wounded eiger. Now visible, with a sweep of her staff at its legs, she brings the hefty brute down on his back, and then knocks his head into the stone floor with another blow. The eiger lies unconscious before them.
Larry follows Aurora into the chamber, both of them moving to the right to avoid the cluster of warriors surrounding the fallen eiger. The unwounded eiger is only now beginning to realize that there are intruders in his home. Just as he looks up from the floor, he gets a firebolt in his face, followed by a spray of poison! He tilts his head back and howls in rage, and the sound of his cry echoes up and down the tower. He snatches up his club and charges the tiny woman who just felled his companion. With a mighty underhand blow, he knocks Shefak so hard that she flies through the air and crashes into the wall behind her. (Shefak at 22/39).
At the end of the first round of combat; one eiger down
Round 2
With another eiger in clear sight, Babshapka looses two more arrows (4 used), shooting over the heads of his companions in the tower.
Tyrius moves between the standing eiger and Shefak before it can follow up on its attack. His first swing of Molly smashes into the side of the eiger, but as he swings again he stumbles over the body of the fallen eiger and crashes to the ground. (Tyrius is now prone).
Aurora shoots another bolt of magical fire at the eiger, then moves outside to retrieve Randy the mule in case eiger scouts or watchmen are drawn in by the sound of battle.
Willa moves forward, kicking the knucklebones on the floor out of the way with her booted foot. She kills the eiger with one blow, then looks back toward her lantern, noting muddy footprints on both set of stairs, going up and down. “Prepare fer more!” she shouts to the party.
Larry moves forward into the center of the room, looking about carefully. He does not hear any approaching footsteps, either from above or below, but he does hear distant bellowing from the tower floors above, as well as skittering noises coming from in and among the refuse piled near the throne - leaves and branches, bones, bits of cloth and leather. The throne is sized for a human and made of the same violet marble the walls are. The ceiling of the chamber is 14 feet overhead. The stairs are three feet wide - to the left of the entrance they circle up and pass through a hole to the floor above. To the right they descend and go beneath the earth. A rough, unlit branch is set in a wall sconce. Untouched by sunlight, the room is even colder than was the outdoors.
Shefak jumps to her feet. Looking around and seeing no fighting, she closes her eyes and inhales deeply. As she breathes rhythmically, the nasty bruises on her abdomen lighten, fade, and finally disappear. (Shefak has used her Wholeness of Body, and is restored to her full hp).
At the end of the second round of combat two eigers down
Round 3
With no opponents in sight, the party starts to prepare for the suspected next assault.
Willa moves to the stairs running up. As soon as he can stand, Tyrius does the same. Thokk moves to block off the top of the stairs going down and Larry follows him. Babshapka moves to the center of the room, where he can shoot at either stairs.
Shefak and the elven maiden try to focus on the noises elsewhere in the tower, but are distracted by the party’s shouts to one another. Aurora ties off Randy’s lead to the arm of the dead eiger so that he is secure but she has both hands free.
Eddard contacts Tyrius telepathically and suggests that he guard the doorway while watching the clearing, and Tyrius agrees.
Round 4
At the sound of heavy footsteps approaching, Thokk braces himself at the top of the stairs, but the eiger that appears is coming down, not up. It barrels down the stone steps, swinging its massive club at Tyrius. The paladin has just enough time to bring his shield up to protect himself from the blow. He is knocked back, but unharmed.
Suddenly, a bolt of darkness streaks across the room. It has no apparent source, but its terminus is clear - it strikes the chest of the eiger, causing him to gasp in pain. It leaves a tracing of frost on his sweat-soaked hide. “Hee haw!” exclaims a startled Randy, and Aurora looks about for a source for the bolt but sees none.
Taking advantage of the eiger’s pause, Tyrius advances, returning the battering blow he received with two from his own warhammer. Now it is the eiger’s turn to be knocked back, staggering. A single arrow from Babshapka, followed by a shower of thorns, fells him (Babshapka has used 5 arrows and has cast hail of thorns as a second-level slot).
An eiger climbs the stairs and emerges to where Thokk awaits. He lifts his club over his head to strike, but gets it caught behind him under the floor of the chamber (or the ceiling of the room from which he is coming). Thokk takes advantage of his awkward position by striking him twice with his sword. There are at least two more eigers on the stairs behind the one Thokk is fighting, but they cannot make it past their comrade and up into the room. They hurl crude spears over the head of their comrade, one of which strikes Thokk in the shoulder with great force. (Thokk at 45/56).
An eiger clomps down the stairs. Seeing his comrade at the bottom engaged with Tyrius, he jumps off the stairs themselves, landing heavily next to Shefak, then smashes his club down on top of her in a bone-jarring blow (Shefak takes 17, at 22/39). Shefak summons a blast of energy, and leaps up faster than the eiger can follow. She whirls at him with a barrage of staff strikes and kicks, until he is left reeling but does not topple. (Shefak used a ki point for flurry of blows, making a total of two staff attacks and two unarmed strikes - one of the unarmed attacks provoked a dex save but the eiger made his save).
Willa strikes twice at the eiger Shefak is fighting. It has taken a tremendous amount of damage, but is still up. Larry rushes over, shooting a poison spray in its face, and it finally drops to the floor, turning green before it expires.
At the end of round 4; four eigers down but three trying to ascend the stairs from below
Round 5
Babshapka, seeing that Thokk has the closest eiger on the stairs well in hand, moves so that he has a clear shot on the second one, which is barely in view above the level of the floor. He launches two arrows. One hits the eiger in its thick, muscled neck - and immediately sprouts vines that grow over the brute’s face and head; the other sinks into its chest. (Babshapka has used 7 arrows and has cast ensnaring strike at first level).
With his party members now firing onto the stairs, Thokk sees no reason to end this fight quickly - he begins to move defensively, satisfied that his dodges and feints are keeping three eigers from reaching the party. “Thokk is master tactician,” he thinks happily.
From the upper stairs, a new eiger emerges - but a much smaller one, at only four feet high and not even two hundred pounds. It skips down the steps and attempts to hit Tyrius with a small club that bounces harmlessly off his armor. The paladin clouts it with his hammer, and it collapses on floor. Tyrius took care not to deal it a mortal blow, and is reasonably sure it has merely been knocked out. “Don’t kill the children!” shouts Tyrius to the group, but Thokk chortles, and Aurora sniggers at the command. Tyrius turns and moves to support Thokk. Larry is already there, shooting more poison at the eiger highest up the steps, but this time his spray harmlessly soaks the hides covering its chest.
Shefak prepares for the next eiger to come down the stairs from above. A second later one emerges. It is one of the brutish giants, to be sure, but a female one, judging from her huge, uncovered dugs. Her hair is longer than the males’, as well, though still filthy and matted. Shefak leaps in the air and trips the eigeress with her staff. As she tumbles forward down the stairs, a kick to her head knocks her unconscious. Her massive bulk half slides and half tumbles off the open stairs, forcing Shefak to dive and roll out of the way and Willa to step aside as the eigeress plummets to the floor.
Another of the “small” eigers appears on the stairs, but pauses as it sees Shefak standing over the body of the adult female. “Maaaawr!” it screams in rage, then launches itself off the stairs and through the air at Shefak. It lands near her, but she finds the blows from its club slow and easy to dodge. While it is attacking Shefak, Willa steps up behind it and strikes the broad side of her greatsword hard against the back of its skull. It collapses to the floor and Tyrius nods his approval.
The eigers on the stairs below continue to throw spears at Thokk, but he dodges them neatly while still engaging the one in front of him. Suddenly a second frigid beam of darkness streaks through the chamber, hitting the uppermost eiger and seeming to paralyze his club hand with cold. Aurora looks around, trying to ascertain from whence the rays are coming (Perception check: 2). “The Tower!” she shouts. “The Tower is defending itself!” She is now convinced that they have somehow activated ancient warding magics and the tower has animated to fight on their side against the eigers. She smugly sends her own firebolt against the eiger at the top of the stairs to the floor below, felling it. It collapses in front of Thokk, blocking off the stairs from its companions beneath it.
At the end of round 5; five eigers down, two trying to ascend the stairs, and a female with two cubs all three knocked out
Round 6
A third bolt of darkness streaks from the center of the tower, hitting the eiger lower on the stairs.
Shefak listens, but hears nothing coming from above, so she moves to support Thokk.
With the combat in the room itself over, Thokk decides to back up and let the remaining eigers up the stairs so that everyone can attack them. However, at this point, he has Babshapka, Shefak, Larry, and Tyrius all pressing in behind him, and he is unable to withdraw. He continues to dodge the thrown spears of the eigers in the chamber below, however.
Babshapka continues to loose shafts, sinking more into the body of the closer eiger (total 9 used). The vines from before grow thorns and rake at its face. The eiger howls in rage and pain and rips the vines from its head, casting them aside. It climbs unstably over the body of its dead companion, then desperately lunges forward on all fours, trying to grab Thokk with its massive fist. Thokk sidesteps the grab and the eiger collapses on its stomach on top of the body of its companion. The second eiger throws a spear at Thokk, but misses badly, and the spear sinks deep into the back of the living eiger above.
Larry, Tyrius, and Willa are prepared to strike any eigers in range, but for the moment the fight is confined to the stairs.
Randy tugs at his lead, and manages to get close enough to the throne to nose through the piles of refuse.
At the end of round 6; five eigers down, two trying to ascend the stairs, and a female with two cubs all three knocked out
Round 7
The eiger on his belly slides back down and stands on the first unoccupied stair. Eager to take the fight to him, Shefak runs up behind Thokk and, using her staff to vault, launches herself into the air. She slides down the wall, landing in front of the eiger. He has seen her coming, however, and blocks her first staff strike with so much force that she is knocked to the ground in front of him. As he raises his club over his head to strike at her prone form, she brings her staff up in a hard thrust under his hides and between his legs. As he bellows in agony, she drops the staff, sits up, and proceeds to pummel him in the groin with a flurry of blows from her hands. At the end of this, he collapses unconscious from pain, threatening to land on top of her. She slides down the stairs between his legs, behind him on her back at the last instant, then rolls to the side before the third eiger can charge her, dropping ten feet down the open shaft and landing prone on the dirt floor of the chamber below. Unfortunately, her staff is pinned beneath the fallen body of the eiger on the stairs above. (Shefak has used her second ki point for flurry of blows and her slow fall to avoid taking damage from her drop).
Randy squeals in terror - “Eeeehaw!” Larry spins, and sees a horde of rats, each three feet long or more, emerging from under the piles of refuse. Larry strides forward and sprays poison from his hands, and one of the rats chitters in annoyance, before five of its nest-mates swarm over him, looking for any gaps in his armor. One latches onto the back of his knee, another his leather gauntlet. (Larry at 50/59). Randy is overrun by fully six of the beasts. He tries to flee, but his lead is tied firmly to the dead eiger in the center of the room. He squeals again, then thrashes as he goes down, rats on top of him, ripping pieces of flesh from his hide.
Aurora yells “Randy’s getting eaten!” but moves away from the rats and to the entrance of the tower. She points a finger back at the northern half of the tower and mouths the words “fireball, fireball” faintly, though she does not summon the spell itself after she realizes how small the space is.
A shadow glides silkily past Thokk, the two fallen eigers on the stairs, and the standing one at the bottom. The stairs descend through several feet of the solid, violet marble, and then the left side opens out into the empty space of a chamber while the right side transitions to a wall of gray, rough hewn stone down to the basement floor, which is of muddy dirt. A torch gutters in a wall sconce. The ceiling in this circular room (D1) is black with soot and arched to 12’ height. There is a hogshead in the center of the room; a stoppered bunghole and a set of knucklebones on its top. A considerable breeze blows up the stairs and the torch flames dance wildly. Shefak lies face-down on the dirt floor near the stairs. The stairs are covered in muddy footprints; there are footprints all over the floor but deeper impressions around the barrel. The room reeks of stale urine.
Thokk, holding his sword in front of him, climbs over the two fallen eigers on the stairs and advances until he is practically on the bottom steps and face to face with the last remaining eiger. He slashes it twice and drives it back into the underground chamber. It tries to drop the spear it was holding and switch to its club, but drops that as well, and Thokk slashes it again.
Willa turns and runs to Randy’s side, dispatching two of the vile rats that are even now feasting on his flesh. His frenzied thrashing has ceased and he is still, though a crazed look is frozen in his wide eyes. Babshapka kills one rat with a bowshot and wounds another (total 11 arrows used).
“Hang on, Larry!” calls Tyrius and crosses the room to his former charge. His warhammer crushes two of the rats into paste.
At the end of round 7; nine eigers down (including a female and two young unconscious) and one still fighting in the room below, but a dozen giant rats have joined the combat and seven of these are still left
Round 8
The eiger facing Thokk suddenly goes stiff - his eyes frosting over - and it collapses on the dirt floor, with no apparent cause. Thokk guffaws. “Ha! Eiger so scared of Thokk he dies! Haw, haw!” Thokk looks around the basement chamber, where a torch gutters in the breeze. “Why kicky woman on floor?” he asks Shefak.
Babshapka shoots at and wounds the rat gnawing at Larry’s hand - it releases its hold and scurries back. Then he tries a harder shot - the rat on Larry’s shoulder, trying to bite his nose through his helmet. Thunk! The shaft parts the chain link and sinks into Larry’s neck. “OCH, ye FOOL!” shouts Larry. (13 arrows used, Larry to 38/59).
Still muttering, Larry rushes to Randy’s side, hoping to use one of his cure spells - but he finds the mule too far gone, the stone floor around him slick with blood and the rats making good progress at working his organs free of his belly. “Bullocks!” curses Larry dejectedly.
Shefak stands up, brushes herself off, and looks around the basement chamber, but finds nothing to keep her interest. She moves to the stairs.
Between them, Tyrius and Willa slay three more rats. Aurora firebolts one more, and Thokk dashes up the basement stairs to kill two more. Giant rats are not as worthy opponents as eigers, but battle is battle, Thokk sighs.
At the end of round 8; ten eigers down (including a female and two young unconscious), and only a single giant rat left in the fight
Round 9
Babshapka skewers the last rat with an arrow (total 14 used), then jumps up on the marble throne to survey the refuse. He does not see any movement.
Shefak climbs the stairs and spends the round prying her staff out from under the body of the collapsed eiger.
An eiger barrels down the stairs from above. He tries to swing at Larry, but immediately trips on the body of another eiger and sprawls out prone. As he crashes to the floor, his shoulder slams into Aurora’s legs - she bobbles but manages to keep her feet. The southern half of the tower is nearly filled with fallen eigers, and movement is difficult with nary a spot of open stone floor.
Spirits buoyed by a new non-rat opponent, Thokk whoops, runs, and jumps to clear the bodies of the fallen. He lands by the prostrate eiger, which is even now struggling to stand up. Thokk buries his longsword in its back, and laughs at its struggles. Willa takes a more circuitous route to the eiger’s side, but she slashes it twice when she reaches it, ending its attempts to regain its feet.
Aurora prepares to firebolt the next eiger down the stairs, and she does not have to wait long before another one appears, her bolt singing its hairy chest. Tyrius has worked his way over to where the stairs are about waist high for him. He slams his warhammer overhand into the knee of the eiger that Aurora firebolted, but when he raises his weapon to take another swing, the eiger snatches it from his grasp, then tosses it up the stairs to the floor above.
Another eiger appears on the stairs, but cannot get past his standing companion. He throws a spear at Tyrius, but the shaft ricochets off the paladin’s heavy plate armor.
At the end of round 9, Randy is dead, along with a dozen giant rats. Fully eleven eigers, either dead or unconscious, lie in the chamber, on the stairs, or in the basement below. Another two eigers are still fighting on the stairs from above, and there are sounds of more approaching!
Round 10
The southern half of the tower is cluttered with bodies and movement is difficult, though the huge eigers seem to have less trouble stepping over the bodies of their fallen than the party does. Larry can barely see over the bulk of the brutes, even when they are flat-out on the floors.
Willa leaps over the body of the unconscious cub at the base of the stairs and climbs the steps to engage the adult further up. With two slashes of her greatsword, she fells the hulking giant. As its body collapses, she presses herself against the wall and out of the way.
From his mount atop the throne, Babshapka shoots forth another arrow. It misses the last eiger standing on the stairs by a great deal, and in fact comes closer to Tyrius, standing at its feet. Babshapka’s second arrow hits the eiger (total 16 used).
Thokk climbs awkwardly over the bodies of the fallen and to the wall. He jumps and gains the stairs above him with his hands, then tries to pull himself up to the landing behind the eiger, but his feet slip along the smooth marble, and he cannot ascend.
An eiger cub dashes down the stairs. Ignoring the adult standing over Tyrius, it darts past him and swings a club as thick as Willa’s thigh into her shoulder, but the blow is absorbed by her plate armor and she keeps her feet.
An eigeress appears at the top of the stairs. She leaps down, landing heavily on the floor below. She charges at Tyrius, but trips over the body of a fallen companion - as she crashes toward him, Tyrius backs up, and she ends up sprawled at Tyrius’ feet.
A second eigeress appears on the stairs. With the battle raging in the southern half of the tower, she leaps off the stairs and heads for Babshapka on the throne. She brings a club down on him, but he jumps off the throne at the last second, and the club thuds into the marble chair. Standing confused over the throne, the eigeress is suddenly surrounded by a green glow, and Babshapka sinks a shaft deep into her side. [Babshapka’s reaction: Giant Killer. Bonus Action: Hunter’s Mark. 17 arrows used, three left in quiver.]
Shefak leaps from body to body, crossing the room without even touching the floor. With two blows over her staff, she knocks unconscious the cub fighting Willa on the stairs, then slips past both of them and springs up the steps. The eiger above her swings a club at her. She leaps out of the way and the club hits the marble steps.
An eigeress appears on the stairs, leaps to the floor, and joins her sister trying to smash Babshapka. The wood elf darts in, under, and around the throne, avoiding their clumsy blows.
Tyrius tries to pull himself up to the stairs, but his heavy armor weighs him down. He fares no better than Thokk, and is left struggling at the base of the stairs.
A third eigeress leaps down the stairs and crosses the room. Babshapka has run out of room to maneuver, and the eigeress knocks him back into the wall, taking the wind from him. (14 damage, Babshapka at 34/48).
Larry turns to help his companion. The area around the throne fills with a pale but oddly piercing light (moonbeam). The skin of two of the eigresses begins to redden and burn. They shriek in pain and confusion. Larry moves away from the stairs and towards the throne.
The tower continues to defend itself, or perhaps Babshapka. Three bolts of ebony appear in the air and strike at the one eigeress not in the moonbeam.
At the end of round 10, fully fourteen eigers, either dead, unconscious, or prone, lie in the chamber, on the stairs, or in the basement below. One eiger is still up and fighting on the stairs going up, and another three are surrounding Babshapka! A dozen giant rats and Randy lie dead inthe chamber.
Round 11
Given the three eigresses around him, and his movement further restricted by the moonbeam, Babshapka ceases attacking, and takes purely defensive action, dodging the clubs and kicks of the giants. Aurora sends a firebolt to support him, but it misses an eigeress and explodes harmlessly on the high stone ceiling.
Willa steps by Shefak on the stairs and slices both the legs of the remaining eiger in front of her. Blood flows freely from the giant, making the marble slick underfoot. He staggers, but responds with a club-blow that glances off her magic armor.
The eigeress that was prone at Tyrius’ feet stands unsteadily, then brings her club down in a blow that is absorbed by plate and padding.
A huge eiger, even larger than the others (if that is possible), appears at the top of the stairs. He surveys the room angrily, but does not immediately move into action. Thokk takes the opportunity to heave himself up onto the steps and stand. He tilts his head back and bellows his rage and battle lust, then attacks the eiger facing Willa. He chops it twice across its back, then bellows again, daring either of the eigers on the stairs to face him. The closer one spins and bashes its club into the wall with tremendous force. Thokk avoids the blow, but the impact is so great that the eiger tumbles off the stairs and onto the floor below, narrowly missing Tyrius in his fall.
Larry makes a gesture, and a long vine appears in his hands. He flicks it forward, and it coils around the neck of the great eiger at the top of the stairs, then suddenly grows thorns, biting into his flesh. Larry throws all his weight backwards, and the surprised eiger is jerked off his feet unexpectedly. He plummets to the ground, landing on both the fallen eiger from a moment before and on Tyrius. The other eiger, already greatly wounded, is slain by the impact, while Tyrius is trapped under a half-ton or more of giant! (Tyrius at 8/49).
The three eigeresses surrounding Babshapka rain blows down upon him. Two connect, and he is badly bruised. He continues to dodge, but fires an arrow when the opportunity presents itself. (Babshapka at 8/48. Giant Killer as reaction. Two arrows remaining).
An eiger cub at the top of the stairs tosses his weapon to the floor below. He turns and lowers himself down the wall, seizes his club, and runs forward to attack the elf that is assaulting his mother and aunts. He stops short of passing through the moonbeam, however, growling and hopping in frustration.
With no eigers left on the stairs, Shefak turns to the eigeress that has just stood up on the floor. Level with the chest of the giantess, she strikes twice with her staff, then leaps off the stairs to kick it in the face. Using the force of the recoil, she flips in the air and dives back to the stairs.
The next eiger at the top of the stairs is different than the others. He is smaller than the adults but more muscular, and is clad in a great suit of gleaming black armor. He looks warily at the battle below but does not descend further.
For the first time in the battle, the mysterious elven woman throws back her hood. Her skin is alabaster, her hair long and as white as bone. She holds forth her hands, fingers spread wide. Her amber eyes flash, and four bolts of jet-black force shoot from her fingers, slamming into the largest of the three eigeresses surrounding Babshapka. The giantess roars in pain.
Round 12
Shefak inhales deeply, then sprints past Thokk and attacks the armored eiger at the top of the stairs with a flurry of blows. She hits him with her staff then lands another three unarmed blows before he manages to draw a sword and slash at her. She backs away, bleeding. The blade would be a bastard sword to a human, but he wields it one-handed without difficulty.
Willa jumps off the tower stairs and forces her way through the bodies on the floor of the room. She strikes twice at one of the eigresses attacking Babshapka.
Larry uses his thorn whip to jerk the armored eiger off the stairs and away from Shefak.
The eiger cub on the floor finds a way around the moonbeam and swings at Babshapka. The elf avoids the new attack, but in doing so is clipped by the club of an eigeress. (Babshapka now at 4/48). Aurora firebolts the eigeress in response, and she drops to the ground ablaze. Babshapka leaps over her body and away from the throne, heading towards Willa.
The eigeress in the center of the room charges Aurora and lands a glancing club blow. (Aurora takes 13, now at 20/33).
The great eiger on top of Tyrius struggles to his feet. Apparently he has had enough of this fight. He stumbles to the doorway, then bellows in rage to find it blocked by Eddard (facing out and unaware of his approach). With a massive underhanded blow, he crashes his club into the horse’s rear flank, knocking him into the wall. Tyrius receives Eddard’s telepathic cry for help, but the paladin is still prone on the floor. (Eddard is at 13/24). The armored eiger appears to agree that the battle is lost - he crosses the floor and impales Eddard on his bastard sword, burying the blade up to the hilt. (Eddard takes 15). The horse spasms and then disappears in a fine mist - his saddle, quarter sheet, and chain barding dropping to the stone floor. The armored eiger, his bloody sword now free, continues out the entry tunnel. Too late, Tyrius struggles painfully to his feet, then slips on the blood-slick floor and goes down again.
Thokk screams a war cry and jumps off the stairs at the eigeress attacking Aurora. He lands poorly and goes to his knees. From across the room Umbra points her finger and a ray of darkness streaks toward the eigeress. Her skin goes a clammy blue and she drops stiffly to the floor.
Round 13
With no combatants in range, Shefak slips on her ring of invisibility and proceeds up the stairs to the next level. The stairs ascend along the wall of violet marble, pass through a foot thick stone floor, and then the right side opens out into the empty space of a chamber (2) while the stairs continue more steeply up to another level. A wall sconce with a torch is about halfway up the stairs. A battered and stained wooden table is in the center of the room. Arranged haphazardly about the room but away from the table and stairs are four clumsily woven reed mats. A single battered copper pot rests on the floor, its contents covered by a lid. Shefak doesn’t have time to see more before she has to get off the stairs and out of the way of three more brutes coming down from the level above. She plans on attacking the last one once the other two have passed into the chamber below.
Thokk yells and charges at the great eiger in the doorway. He trips on a body and sprawls at the eiger’s feet. The eiger grins and clouts Thokk with his club. Thokk howls in rage, rolls around, and beats his fists in fury on the stone floor.
Free of the eigresses attacking him, Babshapka moves toward the door and the fleeing eiger leaders. He shouts for Aurora to do the same. Willa backs away from the eigeresses and spits. “I tire o’ fightin’ women an’ bairns,” she mumbles to herself. She turns and moves with Babshapka across the room, ready to defend her wounded companion. Spying Thokk hale but on the ground, she shouts at him, “Get up, man! Ye be embarrassin’ yerself an’ me!”
Umbra glides smoothly across the floor and offers her hand to Tyrius. He takes it gratefully and rises, finally steady on his feet. Her hand feels cool to the touch, even through his leather gauntlets. He grasps his holy symbol and says a brief prayer to Pelor. (Tyrius lays hands on himself, healing 7 hp; now at 15/49).
The great eiger, rather than flee, has decided he enjoys hitting Thokk while the half-orc is defenseless on the ground. He raises his club overhead, and brings it down in a massive blow to the barbarian. (critical hit does 26 points damage, halved to 13 because of Thokk’s rage)
Larry turns his attention to keeping the moonbeam centered on the eigresses around the throne. One goes down, slain by its searing rays. The other, accompanied by the cub, withdraws from the throne to the stairs, trying but failing to scale the wall.
Above, the first eiger of the trio who ran past Shefak down the stairs is shocked at the carnage below. He stops, turns, and begins to urge his companions back up the stairs with grunts and gesticulations.
Round 14
Babshapka tries to slip by the great eiger and out the doorway, so as to shoot at the fleeing armored eiger. He stumbles on a body and lands near the great brute. The eiger chortles and bashes Babshapka unconscious with his club. Aurora responds with a firebolt, and he grunts.
The eigeress attempting to flee upstairs takes the cub, lifts him over her head, and sets him on the landing above her, just as an invisible Shefak comes down the stairs. The monk knocks the cub unconscious with two blows of her staff while the eigeress howls in dismay and flails her arms in a vain attempt to shield the child. For good measure, Shefak turns and kicks the eigeress in the head.
As more of the party converges on the exterior doorway, the great eiger receives another firebolt, and two slashes of Willa’s greatsword, and then two more from Thokk’s longsword once the barbarian is on his feet. The brute snatches up the lantern Willa left at the entryway with its offhand, then swings it with full force at Thokk. The glass shatters, the iron belly is rent, and Thokk is covered in flaming oil. More oil spills out on the floor, blocking the entryway. The brute hops over the flames, though not before Willa stabs him in his retreating back (attack of opportunity). Larry jumps over a fallen eiger and lashes his thorn whip through the flames, but he misses the retreating brute.
Umbra guides Tyrius to Babshapka’s side and the paladin heals the fallen elf.
Round 15
Ignoring the fact that he is still on fire, Thokk runs out the entryway. He easily overtakes the fleeing great eiger and buries his sword in its back. It collapses on the cold ground, writhing in death throws and gushing blood. As he wrenches his sword out, Thokk looks up and sees the armored eiger, some sixty feet away and heading for the trees.
Larry climbs over eiger bodies, then broad jumps across the pool of flaming oil. “Larry - leave’em be!” calls Willa. Two eigers outside the tower is not an issue - surely there is no help to summon - but if they completely divide the party, drawing off its best healer, what happens when the next wave comes down the stairs? Larry either doesn’t hear or doesn’t heed her, though, and keeps moving down the entryway.
Shefak sprints down the stairs and leaps easily over the flames. She runs out of the tower, overtaking Thokk in seconds, and nearly gains the armored eiger.
Willa moves to the stairs going down. She slaps the unconscious eiger, but he does not stir. She hears distant shouts from the floors above.
Umbra shoots a ray of darkness at the eigeress attempting to scale the stairs. The brute is frozen in mid-climb, then topples over on the floor, dead.
With the chamber clear of combatants, Babshapka starts looking about for arrows. He recovers three from his missed shots, all intact.
Round 16 and beyond
Thokk taunts the fleeing eiger and launches a javelin that lodges in its armor. It turns and draws its sword. With three swift strokes it slices through Shefak, leaving her unconscious and bleeding on the frozen grass. A fourth stroke misses Thokk just as he arrives. (Half-eiger fighter uses his Action Surge for four attacks this round).
From the doorway of the tower, Larry shouts an eldritch word, and sends forth a great shaft of lightning. Neither the eiger nor Thokk can get out of the way of the bolt, and they gasp and spasm as it arcs through them. Fortunately it passes harmlessly above Shefak, who is already on the ground. The eiger and Thokk collapse, smoking. The eiger is dead, Thokk unconscious for a second, before he rises weakly to his knees, then his feet. (at 1 hp: Relentless End).
“Haw, haw, good shot, Larry!” Thokk says good-naturedly, poking his sword at the slain eiger. “Next time, Larry warn Thokk to jump out of way!” he adds, with just the slightest hint of menace.
Inside the tower, Tyrius is using cure spells on the wounded party members, while Babshapka looks for more arrows. Eventually he begins pushing them through bodies and pulling them out the other sides. Some have their heads nicked on bone, the fletching peeled, or even the shafts warped from his pushing and pulling. Not ideal, but he has a feeling he will need them all nonetheless. Eventually he has four arrows in good condition and sixteen less than good. (Note; the damaged arrows will be at -1 to hit and damage).
Willa keeps alert for signs of more eigers, but begins moving the cubs to the top landing, where the one that Shefak knocked out most recently lies. They are a head shorter than Willa, but she can barely get her arms around their stout chests as she half drags and half carries them up the stairs - she is confident they weigh more than she does. Tyrius helps with the last two. With all four cubs on the top landing, they may slow down the next assault, or even be pulled upstairs to safety by adults. At any rate, they will not be on the chamber floor below, should a melee break out again. Aurora makes rude faces at Willa for her “motherly concern”, but only when Tyrius is not looking.
Outside, Thokk binds Shefak’s wounds until her breathing stabilizes, then turns his attention to the fallen warrior. Thokk realizes he is actually a half-eiger, which explains his smaller stature. Typically these come about when eigers keep human female captives, though the women seldom survive the births. The warrior has a large metal shield and huge bastard sword, but the quality of both of them is poor. His armor is more interesting - it is scale over leather, and Thokk had assumed the scales were of horn, since they are gleaming black. However, closer inspection reveals them to be more likely the exoskeleton of some giant insect, hard and with just a little flexibility. Thokk cuts the bindings on one of the black scales and takes it as a trophy.
By this point, Aurora has emerged from the tower, and eagerly engages in searching the bodies. Her first thought is to gather the arms and armor into a pile and use a charge from her wand of detect magic, but seeing the poor quality of what is present, she changes her opinion. Instead, she contents herself with opening the course cloth pouches that are tucked into their belts. The half-eiger’s pouch has 13 silver coins, a garnet, and a large iron key. The great eiger’s holds 80 silver coins and a peridot.
When Aurora starts counting the coins, Thokk loses interest. He slings an unconsciousness Shefak over his shoulder and he and Larry walk back inside. Willa is now checking the eigers on the floor of the tower, determining which are slain and which are merely unconscious. “This one is stirring,” Thokk hears her say to Tyrius. Thokk lays Shefak at the paladin’s feet, strides over to Willa, and slits the unconscious eiger’s throat.
“Good job, evil advisor,” he says. “Thokk almost let that one live.” _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
I figured the smaller-stature eiger was a half-ogre. :)
I was dismayed at Eddard's death. I wonder if you allow him to return from his celestial kingdom, or if Tyrius will have to summon a brand new warhorse.
I am curious about your use of females and young when it comes to battling evil humanoids.
When my friends and I were in high school, we had serious problems (arguments) over the killing of such creatures - especially when they were non-combatants. I solved that problem (as DM) by deciding that in my campaign, humanoids are devoid of agency. I reasoned that (back under AD&D rules) since their godly pantheons were made up of purely evil gods - not a single good god of orcs, goblinkind, gnolls, ogres, etc. - that those pantheons created their mortal worshippers as mini-me's. With no good representatives to argue about it, they were simply created as evil beings. Thus, humanoids are basically fiends in mortal flesh.
After that, no one in the party ever worried about killing orc women or children. They were to be stamped out like cockroaches.
If I wanted to force my players to make difficult moral decisions like that, all I had to do was have the bad guys be human, demi-human, or another race that had the agency to choose between good and evil.
Your players, Kirt, seem to be unaffected by such concerns. :P
I was dismayed at Eddard's death. I wonder if you allow him to return from his celestial kingdom, or if Tyrius will have to summon a brand new warhorse.
I like Eddard as an NPC too much to lose him. He will return the next time Tyrius has a chance to cast Find Steed
SirXaris wrote:
I am curious about your use of females and young when it comes to battling evil humanoids...If I wanted to force my players to make difficult moral decisions like that, all I had to do was have the bad guys be human, demi-human, or another race that had the agency to choose between good and evil. Your players, Kirt, seem to be unaffected by such concerns. :P
The players are indeed affected by such concerns, even if some of the characters are not. Even the player of the two least-good characters (Thokk and Aurora) afterword said that he felt bad for having made widows and orphans in the battle.
While I have not asked the characters to choose alignments, I have tried to set the world up so that a good-aligned character would generally be concerned with preserving the life of a sentient creature, even one whose goals are opposed to their own. However, the world also acknowledges the reality of itself as a violent setting of feudal justice and holds absolute the right of self-defense.
As far as the nature of humanoids, my world-building agrees that the humanoid races were the creations of evil gods, and as such they have inherently evil tendencies and instincts. However, they also have Free Will, because it is their actual choice to worship evil deities that provides said deities with power, or at least far more power than could be obtained from worship by creatures without choice. Thus, individual humanoids can certainly choose to not be evil, and culture and environment are key in supporting that choice. Way back in Post 2, I explained that Tyrius originally spared Thokk upon their first meeting by remembering the case of "St. Jalnir the Gentle, a half-orc Peloran priest of legend."
It was important in this particular combat that both the females and young took up arms against the party (even if they did so in defense of their homes). Had the females and young instead surrendered, or at least not attacked, my guess is that they would have been spared by everyone except perhaps Thokk. And certainly Tyrius would have not only spared any who surrendered, but actively intervened against his own party members to prevent any of them from attacking a foe that had surrendered. Note that as it was, even after being attacked by them, Shefak, Willa, and Tyrius were all deliberately striking to knock the females and young unconscious and move the unconscious young out of harm's way, while it was Thokk who was executing them. The irony of the last line of the post comes from the fact that Willa was checking on who was alive and who was not in order to save and take prisoner anyone who was unconscious, while Thokk thought that she was doing so in order to make sure that they were all dead. A lot of the humor of Thokk comes from the contrast between what he thinks is happening with what is actually happening - for example, he imagines himself to be the leader of the party.
If you are interested in ethical dilemmas and the different responses of the characters to such, you might want to re-read Post 11, in which the party had to decide what to do with the two captured smugglers from the Haunted House after they refused to talk. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
You cut arrows out of the dead to recover them in very good condition, not push them through to likely damage them.
I must admit ignorance, I have never fired an arrow at a live target.
So, pushing the arrow through is only to remove it from a living, but wounded, target to minimize the damage in getting it out?
Mechanistically, at this point I was having the player make luck rolls (4dF) for all shots fired to determine how many could be recovered intact, how many damaged, and how many not usable at all.
I now have the player count that hits are recoverable (unless they crit) and misses are not. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
This and subsequent posts will contain many spoilers. The identity of rooms is indicated in bold.
Post 109: Exploring the Tower Somewhere in the Little Hills, actual date unknown 6:15am, Tower Day 1
Willa makes sure Shefak receives healing and then shares her tally with the party:
Randy: dead, near throne
Eddard: sent back to Celestial realm
12 giant rats: dead, spread throughout northern half of the room
Dead eigers (16): [numbers in brackets are their designation in the module]
Three, outside the tower [1, L1, H]
One, in the chamber below [4]
One, on the stairs going down [5]
One, on the stairs going up [7]
Ten, in the first floor chamber [2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, F2, F3, F4, F5]
Incapacitated eigers (6):
(Willa correctly guesses that Thokk doesn’t understand the meaning of the word incapacitated and so does not move to slay them):
One, on the stairs going down [6]
One female, at the bottom of the stairs [F1]
Four cubs, on the landing at the top of the stairs [Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4]
Fled eigers (3):
Three, to the third story or higher
Once her tally is confirmed by Tyrius, Willa opens the discussion to what they should do next. The party is agreed that they should find somewhere defensible to rest and heal, and that the chamber is not such a place. The eigers have ceased their attacks for now, but who knows when they will start again? Several of the party are of the opinion that the tower is magical and can produce a never-ending supply of eigers.
Aurora suggests they withdraw outside and make camp, but Willa quickly overrides this. A camp would not be defensible at all, and their taking of this chamber was too hard-won - she does not want to have to repeat that. A few suggest pushing forward, pursuing the eigers up the stairs, but there is not a general consensus for this. “At least we need to recover my hammer,” says Tyrius modestly. Shefak slips on her ring and disappears. A few minutes later Tyrius’ hammer flies down the stairs and into the chamber.
Others suggest that they try the chamber below. Willa is not keen to move them someplace they can be trapped, but she does admit the idea of a room with stone walls and a single entry point is reassuringly defensible.
Nothing has been heard of the eigers for the last quarter hour. Willa gives the party leave to scout as they desire; depending on what they find she will make a decision.
Shefak continues up the stairs into the third level of the tower (3). The stairs ascend along the wall of violet marble, pass through a foot thick stone floor, and then the right side opens out into the empty space of a chamber while the stairs continue more steeply up to another level. Rotten cushions and pillows litter the stone floor of this room. Between them is a large overturned wooden box, from which furtive scratching can be heard. The room is about 12 feet across. Shefak creeps slowly closer to the box, fascinated and repulsed in equal measures. As she approaches, the scratching sounds grow more frantic.
Willa, Tyrius, Umbra, and Babshapka remain in the ground floor chamber. Babshapka carefully examines the marble throne, while the others post themselves looking and listening downstairs (Tyrius), upstairs (Umbra), and outside (Willa). Willa, in the entryway, checks her lantern, and finds it incapable of holding oil, so rent is the iron. She leaves it.
Aurora, Thokk, and Larry go down into the basement level (D1). As Thokk saw before, the stairs descend through about eight feet of the solid, violet marble on both sides, and then the left side opens out into the empty space of a chamber while the right side follows a wall of rough hewn stone down to the basement floor, which is of muddy dirt. A torch gutters in a wall sconce. The ceiling in the circular room is arched to 12’ height. In the center of the room is an upturned hogshead; a stoppered bunghole is apparent. A considerable wind blows up the stairs and the torch flames dance wildly. The stairs are covered in muddy footprints; there are footprints all over the floor but deep impressions around the barrel. The room reeks of stale urine. There is a dead eiger at the bottom of the stairs, and Thokk grins broadly, recalling the eiger dying of fright upon facing him.
Thokk crosses the dirt floor and rips the stopper from the bunghole. He sniffs suspiciously, and then deeply. He lifts the hogshead and drinks, wine spilling out onto his chest and running down his torso. He offers the hogshead to Aurora and Larry and, when they refuse, he unstoppers and fills his wineskin, although as much wine makes a muddy stain on the dirt floor as enters his skin.
Umbra slips into the shadows, moves up the stairs, and examines the battered table and woven mats of the second level. When she does not find anything of interest, she returns down the stairs to the first level.
Thirst slaked, Thokk looks about the room suspiciously. The guttering torch gives him pause - there certainly is a strong draft here - but they are inside, and downstairs. Where is the draft coming from? When he mentions this to the party, Aurora begins examining the walls for cracks. She lifts the torch from its sconce and walks slowly around the room. The flickers and feel of rushing wind are strongest along the west wall. She replaces the torch and begins feeling along the wall with her hands. A stone at about chest level feels loose, but she cannot budge it.
Thokk shoves her out of the way and presses hard against the stone. It recesses several inches into the wall. With a sound of stone grating against stone, a door-sized hole appears as a large section of the wall sinks into the floor. A rush of wind and a low moaning sound comes from beyond the door. The wind carries with it a heavy, dank, moldy odor. The room beyond is separated into two long east-west running galleries, with a thick wall or stone support column between them.
Aurora messages Willa that they have found something, but receives no response. She finds she has to get to the base of the stairs themselves to send the message - the floor must be a foot thick or more of stone to be blocking her spell.
Willa descends to the basement level, sees the open doorway, and tells Aurora to get Shefak. Aurora ascends the stairs to the first level, tries and fails to rouse Shefak with message, and begins to climb the stairs to the second level. Babshapka moves to her side.
Shefak kneels by the trunk-sized box. It has no lid or cover, but appears to be an open box that has been turned over to trap something inside. She tries to make comforting sounds to the creatures inside, but their scratching and scrabbling just becomes more frantic.
On the second floor, Aurora again messages Shefak, asking “What’s up there? We found a secret door in the basement.” This time, she feels her message being received, but there is still no answer. She continues up to the third level, and finds Shefak kneeling beside the box.
“We need to see what is in here,” says the monk simply.
Aurora motions her back to the stairwell, then flips the box over with her mage hand. Immediately a half dozen giant rats, as large as those in the throne room below, emerge from the box and begin running wildly about the room. Shefak, Aurora, and Babshapka sprint down the stairs, and the rats soon give chase.
Umbra and Tyrius hear the trio running down the stairs and follow them into the basement at their appearance, without asking questions. They turn at the bottom, prepared to defend the stairs, but the rats have not followed them.
(Unbeknownst to the party, the rats paused at the landing to the first level, sniffed at the bodies of the eiger cubs, and began gorging themselves.)
6:30 am
The party clusters around the open doorway, peering into the darkness beyond. “Should we explore?” they ask Willa.
“Nay,” she shakes her head. “We be looking’ fer a place t’ hole up an’ rest, not t’ expose ourselves t’ whatever be lurkin’ in yon dungeon.”
Aurora looks for, but does not find, a way to close the secret door.
“Now this place be jus’ as exposed as the upstairs,” grouses Willa. “We were s’posed t’ be scoutin’ fer summit more defensible, nay openin’ doors t’ make it less so.”
Aurora scowls at Willa’s criticism, but then quickly brightens. “Rope trick!” she exclaims. “We’ll make a rope trick rest with the door open. Then if any of the eigers come down here they will find the door open and assume we went into the dungeon. And if anything from the dungeon gets out, it can go bother the eigers...and the rats.” She shivers.
“Fair eno’,” begrudges Willa, and Aurora proceeds to cast her spell.
When the rope rises and disappears into the arched ceiling, Umbra looks at it dubiously. She has heard of the spell, of course - but cramming herself into an extradimensional box with these seven bloodthirsty adventurers…
“It’s that, or you can wait outside for the eigers,” says Aurora shrilly, “or whatever we just freed from the dungeon.”
In the end, they all ascend the rope, Umbra included. It is cheek-to-jowl inside the nondescript space, but they do have an hour’s uninterrupted rest. [A number of them spend hit dice to recover faster from wounds: Larry (3), Shefak (4), Thokk (4), Babshapka (4), Tyrius (6). Also, Thokk and Babshapka, the only members of the party who did not level in the Ghost Tower, increase their maximum hp for having attained 6th level during the combat. In terms of story awards, I had planned for Thokk and Babshapka to level after the slaying of the Fire Giant in the Ghost Tower; Thokk, because he levels after defeating new and more powerful worthy opponents, Babshapka, since he is on the path of the Giant Killer. However, when they managed to polymorph the giant rather than defeating it in combat, I did not have them level after all. The next trigger would be for Babshapka to be with the party when an ogre was slain, and for Thokk to either slay an ogre himself (no damage from other PCs) or to be in a combat where the total ogre HD exceeded the party's hd]
(Unbeknownst to the party, while they were in the rope trick, the remaining eigers ventured down the stairs and saw the carnage below. They killed the bloated rats that were feasting on their young. They found their dead leader and hero outside. They even cautiously ventured into the basement, and found the door to the dungeon, hitherto unknown to them, open. The remaining leader and the chieftain then debated their next course of action. While they considered following the party into the dungeon and attacking them there, in the end they were cowed by the party's ability to slay so many of them without taking any losses. They packed and prepared to abandon the tower.)
7:30am
(One hour since the dungeon has been open)
When the party emerges from the rope trick room, there are no signs of eigers or rats, either in the room or in marks on the floor. Neither does anything appear to have emerged from the dungeon, though both the wind and the moaning continue unabated.
Babshapka cautiously moves to the doorway to check for tracks, but Thokk strides past him into the chamber, kicking up dust and obscuring anything that might have been recorded.
The room beyond (D3) is separated into two long east-west running galleries, with a thick wall or stone support between them. Against the northernmost wall are wooden shelves, and an open hallway exits to the south. There is a vaulted ceiling, arching to twelve feet high at the center.
As the party files through the open doorway, Thokk and Babshapka advance to make room for them. They can now see that there are shelves on the west wall as well as the north. These are bookshelves, though they are sparsely populated - fewer than a hundred volumes in all between the two sections. Each book is large and leather-bound.
Aurora opens her eyes wide and, just behind her, Umbra gasps at the sight. Aurora turns on her. “So, you are interested in books, too?”
The elf’s features harden. “Yes, though the knowledge I seek is very narrow and specific. And you?”
“Oh, mostly recipes,” says Aurora.
“Recipes?” repeats Umbra incredulously.
“Yes, well, you know, the life of an adventurer. So many nights with camp food, one is always looking for something a little different to spice it up. Oh,” she adds, almost as an afterthought, “and anything that might give us a clue as to Willa’s true parentage, of course. There were so many sailors on that ship…”
Willa spits in Aurora’s direction and moves off to guard the southern hallway.
Together, Aurora and Umbra examine the volumes. The leather covers of the books are fuzzy with mold and flaky with dry rot. Most of the pages, however, appear to be intact except for the borders and margins.
All of the writing is in Ancient Suelese, such that Aurora is the only one able to read them, and she with much effort. The first book she examines is an herbology, and she can only tell that from the scant and faded illustrations and occasional illuminations. It will take her considerable time to determine the contents of each volume, hours to go through them all.
In the meantime, Babshapka has made a complete circuit of the galleries.
The dirt and dust in the floor recount decades, if not centuries, of creatures passing, each with their tracks passed and re-passed over so many times as to be indistinguishable. The northern corridor seems to be the source of the wind and moaning. The southern exit is calmer, warmer, and more humid. For its part, it appears to be the source of the moldy smell.
7:45am
Dungeon open for 1 hr 15 min
The second book is on how to use the weather to determine omens, Aurora announces.
“Stow it, we be movin’” says Willa.
“But these books are what we came for. Or at least, what we came for could be in these books. I have to check them all,” objects Aurora.
“An’ yer welcome t’ check ‘em all. But not while we be standin’ in the hall,” says Willa sternly. “First we be findin’ a safe spot t’ take a long rest. Then ye can be readin’ as many o’ th’ books as ye want while the rest o’ us be sleepin’ an’ such.”
Aurora carefully sets aside the two volumes she has already looked at. By her quick count, there are seventy-some volumes remaining to examine. The party moves into the corridor to the north, which has a lower ceiling than the gallery. It seems to be the source of both the wind and the moaning sound - the smell of mold is lessening as they travel that way.
From the low-ceilinged corridor they emerge into a large (30’ x 50’) room (D13). The ceiling here is arched to fully 16’ in height. There is scant dust except in the corners, and the wind still blows, though less than in the corridor. There are scattered ashes and burn marks on the walls, floor, and ceiling, but there are no furnishings and the room appears unoccupied. Three wooden doors lead out of the room; the one to the east has large gaps where the planks have rotted away, and much of the lower third of the door itself is missing.
Babshapka makes sure to move ahead of Thokk before the barbarian disturbs the tracks. The room has many, but these run mainly from the rotten door in the east, across the floor, and out the southern corridor. The dust is less disturbed along the northern wall and around those two intact doors.
7:55am
(Dungeon open for 1 hr 25 min)
Looking for a secure place to rest, away from traffic, Willa tries the door in the northeast first. It is stuck but not locked, so she forces it. The small (10’ x 10’ x 8’) cubicle within (D14) is crowded with a bed, a bathtub, a chair, and a small table. All of them show signs of great age. There are no inhabitants. Investigating, she finds upon the table a plain quill, a pot of dried ink, and a mortar and pestle.
As more and more of the party presses into the room, Willa urges them out. This will not be a place for them to rest - it is no bigger than the rope trick room, but is packed with furniture. One of them could be comfortable in the narrow bed (if the ancient wood held) and another in the bath, but there is no way the rest of them could pass several hours here comfortably. She tells them to check the other door, while she searches more thoroughly.
8:05am
(Dungeon open for 1 hr 35 min)
Willa pokes through the ancient straw mattress, moves the heavy copper bath, opens the drawers on the desk, but finds nothing. In the meantime, the party enters the next room (D15), which has the ceiling arched to 12’ height. A number of padded armchairs (mostly rotted to their frames) are scattered about the airy room. A silver pentacle is etched into the southern end of the east wall.
Once Babshapka confirms that the room is safe, Aurora moves to examine the pentacle. She instinctively traces its lines with her finger, and a door appears in the wall, then swings silently inwards.
New attributes in bold
Babshapka of the Silverwood
Sixth level ranger (Hunter Archetype: Giant Killer)/ Wood elf (Folk Hero)
Str 12 (+1) Dex 18 (+4) Con 12 (+1) Int 12 (+1) Wis 13 (+1) Cha 7 (-1)
Languages Elven (S/W), Common (S/W)
Hp. 48
Skills: Animal Handling, Insight, Investigation, Perception, Stealth, Survival (Temperate Woodlands, Temperate Hills)
Abilities: Favored Enemy (Hobgoblins, Kobolds, and Giants), Natural Explorer (Woods and Hills), Primeval Awareness
Fighting Style: Duel-wielding, Extra Attack
Human-sized Chain shirt+1, broadsword+1, cloak of the manta ray, ring of protection+1, shortsword, longbow
Spells:
(1) Ensnaring Strike, Hunter's Mark, Hail of Thorns, Cure Wounds (2) Lesser Restoration, Spike Growth
Thokk of the Crystalmists (Thokk)
Sixth Level Barbarian / Half-orc (Outlander)
Str 18 (+4) Dex 14 (+2) Con 16 (+3) Int 5 (-2) Wis 13 (+1) Cha 12 (+1)
Hp. 66
Skills: Athletics, Intimidation, Nature, Perception, Survival (mountains)
Primal Path: Totem Warrior (Wolf)
Unarmored defense, Longsword+1 (The Sunsword), Shield+2, ring of protection +1, hand axes, javelins
Extra Attack, Fast Movement (also while stealthy and tracking) _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
This and subsequent posts will contain many spoilers. The identity of rooms is indicated in bold.
For the soundtrack while in the Dungeon level, I used "Dungeon I" by Tabletop Audios.
Post 110: An Infernal Fury Somewhere in the Little Hills, actual date unknown. First day in the Tower
Beyond the secret door is a small chamber (D16), bare except for markings on the floor. Aurora calls for light, and peers in. The floor is inlaid with a 7’ diameter circle with magical markings in powdered gold, platinum, and gems. Aurora believes it to be some sort of warding or protective device, and says as much.
She backs away from the room, motions the others away, moves to the opposite side of the larger chamber, and withdraws a caltrop from her pack. She sends it slowly across the room with her mage hand. When it breaks the plane of the doorway, something appears in the circle in a flash!
It is a woman, naked, and kneeling on the stone floor. Her head is bowed, but her arms are held forth pleadingly. Her features appear to be those of a half-elf, at least to Babshapka, who is second-closest to the door and one of two who can see into the room. Thokk has not gotten beyond leering at the woman’s lack of vestments to notice her race.
Aurora calls out greetings to her in a handful of languages, but before she can finish, several in the party hear a pleading voice in their minds. “Help me…” it whispers, “free me…”
Thokk takes a step forward, and many in the party call upon him to halt. The woman begins shuddering, and her mental entreaties grow more agonized. Thokk steps forward again, and again the party tells him to halt.
“Woman cold and naked,” he says, “she need help of Thokk!” In a stroke of orcish genius, he holds forth his 10 foot pole - he does not have to move to pull the woman out of the cursed circle. He offers the pole to her, and when it crosses over the circle carved on the floor, there is another flash.
The woman stands, her bearing more regal now than pleading. She is still nearly naked, but now with immodestly revealing spiked armor and her pale half-elven skin has become a reddish-copper, her hair dark, her features sharp. Huge wings unfurl in the small room and she begins a deep, throaty, exultant laugh.
Before the party can respond, the woman-creature strides out of the small secret room and stands just beyond the doorway. She lashes out with a thick, corded rope that flies toward Larry seemingly of its own accord, but the dwarf side-steps it. Unconcerned, the woman slashes at Thokk with a dagger. The half-orc is shocked by her less-than amorous advance, but his combat reflexes enable him to avoid the wicked, curved dagger even as he protests.
Round 1
Hurt and confused, Thokk strikes at her with his longsword - the blow slices across her bare abdomen, and others in the party notice the blade is not glowing - whatever this woman is, she is not undead. Aurora fires off three magic missiles that explode against her skin. She grinned at Thokk’s slice, and laughs off the missiles, although they have obviously wounded her. Babshapka shoots two arrows - the first misses her widely, the second she slices out of the air just before impact, cutting it in half with her dagger so that the two pieces fly on either side of her. Umbra shoots a ray of shadow at her, but she bats it out of the way and laughs again. Her laugh is strange - mirthless and mocking, exultant when she is being wounded, frustrated when she misses in her attacks.
Round 2
Still in the nearby bedchamber, Willa hears the shouts of her companions and the explosions of spells. She lets fly a string of curses and dashes out of the room as fast as she can, leaving the wooden door open behind her.
With a lilt of the winged woman’s head, the rope flies back to her and coils tightly around her waist. She rears up with a great rush of her wings and slashes at Thokk with her dagger - one, two, three times! He darts to one side and the other, avoiding each blow, and she howls in wrath. Larry shoots a spray of poison in her face, but she simply ignores it. Umbra shoots a second ray of shadow, and this one actually impacts her, which seems to give her a moment of fleeting pleasure. “Burn woman!” shouts Aurora, and hurls forth what she considers her best firebolt ever - the woman is momentarily surrounded by raging flames, but emerges entirely unscathed. Tyrius strides heavily across the room, his plate armor, well dented from the fight with the eigers, protesting noisily. There is no room for him next to Thokk, but he kicks forward with a booted foot, and the ancient upholstered chair in front of him is shattered in pieces. Taking the position of the erstwhile furnishing, he swings his hammer once and it is batted away by great wings. “Back to hell, evil mistress!” he calls, and swings again. This blow crashes into the woman’s armored shoulder. Convinced that the creature is from some nether plane, Tyrius shouts “BEGONE DEMON LADY!” and channels two levels of spells into a divine smite. An explosion of golden light knocks the woman back into the stone wall. [11 weapon damage, 26 radiant damage, total 37hp].
At the great flash of light coming through the long holes in the door and out into the larger adjoining chamber, Willa exclaims “Holy Mother of a Sea Cow!” but keeps running.
Babshapka sends forth two more arrows, but neither hit. Shefak inhales and her fists and feet glow with ki. She runs up, inserting herself neatly in the narrow gap between Thokk and Tyrius. Her blows strike the woman, and she shrieks in a mix of pain and glee. Thokk howls in rage, and steps closer to the wall to give Shefak room. He swings his longsword, but mis-judges, and the sword impacts the stone wall long before it hits the woman - Thokk’s arm is jolted up to the shoulder from the blow, and he drops his sword. He howls again, and strikes with his fist, but the blow deals far less damage to the woman than Shefak’s glowing fists did.
Round 3
Recovered now from Tyrius’ blow, the woman steps away from the wall. She makes wide, arcing sweeps with her dagger, menacing all three of the warriors in front of her. The blades slides harmlessly off Tyrius’ armor, but cuts through the flesh of Shefak and Thokk. For a slight slice and little blood drawn, the wounds throb with unnatural pain. Larry completes an entangle spell, and the flagged stone at the woman’s feet cracks open. Green tendrils lash out, growing gigantic as they rise from the floor. Thick vines wrap around all four of the melee combatants - the woman, but Tyrius, Shefak, and Thokk besides. Three of them strain for an instant and then break the vines, but Shefak remains held tight. “Larry,” she cries, struggling feebly against the living restraints, “what have you done?!” With no clear shot, Babshapka drops his bow and draws forth his magical broadsword. Umbra fires forth another shadowy bolt, but this one slams into the wall, leaving a patch of frost on the stone. Tyrius strikes another blow with his hammer, and once again lights the room with the holy radiance of Pelor. The woman screams in agony, and then - did they imagine it? - cries out “Yes!”
Willa bursts into the room. Before she can draw her greatsword, Babshapka shouts at her, “Willa, magic weapons only!” This gives her pause, and the sight of the demon-woman more so. She pulls out her mace from its loop in her belt.
Thokk, hearing Willa’s name, shouts over his shoulder, “"Evil advisor, look at this wondrous, beautiful, enemy Thokk brought forth with my pole!"
“Thokk, what ‘ave ye, done, lad?” she says in awe.
Round 4
Umbra summons forth a disembodied, skeletal hand and send its across the room. It goes for the demon’s face, but she bats it away with the back of her wing. She screeches at the three warriors in front of her and slashes at each of them. Tyrius takes the dagger blow and feels its unnatural sting - he looks down to see black ichor dripping from the wound and the blade. Unable to move, Shefak cannot avoid the blow. She passes out from pain when the blade slices across her legs, and now hangs limply in front of the demon, still supported in the air by the vines. Thokk, too, feels its sting, and the creature roars in satisfaction. Aurora lets fly with another volley of three magic missiles. This time when the woman exults at taking damage, her cry is ragged and labored. Larry pushes forward against the vines and touches Shefak, healing her. She gasps as she regains consciousness, but finds herself still entangled, with the demon woman still brandishing the dagger in front of her. “Larry!” she cries again in frustration. Babshapka slashes at the vines with his broadsword in one hand and tries to pull Shefak free with the other, but she remains held fast. When the demoness turns slightly to strike again at Tyrius, Thokk crouches down to recover his sword from the floor, but a buffet of her wings knocks him prone in front of her, and she sinks her dagger into his back in triumph. Before she can attack him again, Willa leaps forward, straddling Thokk’s fallen body with a foot on either side. Her first mace blow catches only feathers, but the second slams into the woman’s body and knocks her back, reeling. Tyrius follows up with a hammer blow, and then a second hammer blow filled with an explosion of holy light.
This last blow, or perhaps the light from it, seems to rend the woman’s form asunder. As her outline grows blurry and the room goes dark, she turns her head to Tyrius and silently mouths the words “thank you”. A rent in the air opens, and those near at hand see a burned, hellish landscape beyond, a barren rocky plain of smoking craters. The intact spirit form of the woman is yanked backwards through the rent, while scraps from her body - bones, armor, and feathers - simultaneously collapse to the stone floor. As the rent closes, the smell of brimstone fills the room. The desiccated husk of her body lies on the floor, slowly emitting a thick, black smoke. Her rope, and dagger still dripping ichor, lie near at hand.
As the party look at one another, relieved and confused, the eastern wall of the room begins to glow with a golden light. A second later, a man emerges from it - an old, brown-skinned man clad in a simple white robe bound at the waist with a braided gold cincture. For Tyrius, the room has vanished and he stands alone in a grassy field facing the man. The rest of the party sees the field vaguely, superimposed transparently over the room. As the man approaches Tyrius, the paladin takes a knee.
“Tyrius, faithful warrior,” the man says is a low, rolling voice, “you have bested an Erinyes, or infernal fury, and sent her spirit back to the hells. Her material form, or what is left of it, remains here, but that is something it is my pleasure to resolve.” With a pass of his hand, the husk of the demoness is covered in glowing sparks, then fades into nothingness. The smoke and smell of brimstone fade away. Larry had picked up the dagger, and was examining it to see whether it was still producing poison, and the man turns a reproachful eye on him. “Already her devices are causing mischief, so it is better to be rid of them, as well.” With another pass of his hand, the cord and dagger disappear.
“Should you face one such again, it is better to be armed with knowledge,” the man continues. “Know you this - such devils are resistant to cold and non-magical weapons, and completely immune to fire and poison.” Tyrius nods, and pledges to use this knowledge wisely.
“While you bested the Fury, Tyrius, you did not do so alone. The assistance of your companions was essential in your victory. Receive also this knowledge, that you might better support them in their journeys unto the light.” The man raises his hand, and a small golden sphere floats from it to Tyrius’ brow. When the sphere is absorbed into his head, Tyrius finds that he now knows the prayer for casting the Aid spell.
Tyrius bows his head and thanks the old man. The man, rather than return through the wall he entered, walks deliberately across the room and passes through the west wall. As he does so, the field fades from view and Tyrius finds himself back with the party. The entangling vines shrink and shrivel and Shefak is finally able to free herself.
Willa looks about the room, satisfied that they have found a more appropriate place for resting than the small bedchamber. “‘ave ye searched it all?” she asks.
Tyrius rises to his feet. “Nay, but first we must needs destroy that summoning circle - I’ll have no more devils brought to our world from it.” He enters the small secret room, Aurora close behind him, and reaches out with his divine sense. He then tells the party that the circle itself is not evil or unholy - nor is it for summoning as he thought. It exists only to bind other-worldly creatures once summoned, and that the summoner of the devil was likely a powerful mage, not an evil priest. “Do with it what ye would,” he says, and Aurora hurries forward to sweep up the powdered precious metals and gem flakes into a sack.
They return to the main room, where the party is already setting up camp. Shefak and Umbra have rolled out bedrolls; but the rest of them have most of their gear still in the packs and bags on the body of Randy in the tower above. Larry has stripped the upholstered padding from several of the chairs and made himself a nest of sorts; the others make do with rolled up winter clothes, for at least out of the wind it is comfortably warm in the dungeon, equal to a brisk and cloudy day and not the freezing temperatures they found above ground. An away team is dispatched to carry all of the books from the shelves to the room for Aurora to peruse during the rest. Willa has Aurora figure out how to close the secret door, which she does by simply tracing her finger over the pentacle in reverse. Tyrius lays hands on Shefak and Thokk, and casts a healing spell besides. Larry casts six different healing spells, exhausting his stores before the planned rest. Once the books and everyone is back inside the room, Thokk hammers two pitons into the floor to keep the door closed. It looks like it would be far easier to break through the rotten wood of the door than pry the pitons from the stone floor. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Post 111: R&R (Rest and Reading) Somewhere in the Little Hills, actual date unknown. First day in the Tower
As Willa sets the watch schedule, Umbra glides about the room, investigating the walls. She is sure there is a secret door in the northeast corner, but does not know how to open it. She reports as much to Willa, who decides to keep the knowledge to herself rather than having Thokk or Aurora or some other fool opening a door they shouldn’t out of curiosity or boredom. Willa drags a chair over to the general area, puts the back to the door, and says her watch has started.
8:30am (Dungeon at 2hrs) First Watch - Willa and Umbra
During the first hour of rest (8:30 to 9:30am), Aurora manages to check eleven books.
1. An illustrated book of human anatomy
2. A personal history - not clear whether it is a historical account or a work of fiction
3. Interpreting visions
4. Illusion magic - not actual spells, but discussion, commentary, and theory
5. Sacred symbols in the religions of the ancient Suel Imperium
6. A book of anatomical sketches and figure drawing techniques
7. A cultural history of the Suel people
8. Magical properties of gemstones
9. Folk tales of the Baklunni people
10. Rotten and illegible
11. Arbology
During the second hour of rest (9:30am to 10:30am), Aurora manages to check eight books.
12. Smithcraft and metalworking
13. Healing rituals of the Flan peoples
14. Healing herbs and their uses
15. Mining technique and strategy, ore refining technology
16. Fiendish bargains - strategy, terminology and conditions, enforcement
17. Important trade routes of the Suel Imperium
18. Folk tales of the Roka, Chebi, and Hochebi
19. Summoning rituals used to bind spirits to flesh
10:30am (Dungeon at 4hrs) Second Watch - Larry and Tyrius
Larry yawns as Willa shakes him awake - he had been curled up and sleeping in his chair-stuffing nest. Tyrius is awake, but kneeling in prayer. He has removed some of his armor - the helmet, gauntlets, and spaulders, so as to rest more comfortably, but has not taken the armor completely off, knowing that he has second watch. Willa whispers to him about the unopened secret door, and tells him to pass the information on to the next watch. She then returns to the chair she was in, but allows herself to relax and nod off. Umbra moves to her bedroll, but does not lie down. Rather, she sits cross-legged, eyes closed and meditating.
About half an hour into the watch, Larry, sitting near the door, sees red lights shining through the cracks and gaps in the wood. He puts an eye to a hole, but sees only red lights in the dark room beyond. He goes to Aurora and tries to get her attention, but she brushes him off distractedly, telling him that he is on watch, not her. He returns to watching the lights, but they soon fade from view.
During the third hour of rest (10:30 to 11:30am), Aurora manages to check eleven books.
20. An economic history of the Suel Imperium
21. A military history of the War of the Suel Imperium against the Fiery Kings of the Hellfurnices
22. A book on working with corpses. At first Aurora takes it to be a text on embalming or funeral practices, but she soon realizes it is actually about preparing bodies for animation. It may be related to book (19) as part of a multi-volume work.
23. Moldy and illegible.
24. A book of poems and commentary
25. A book of Baklunish Elemental Magic Theory
26. Landmarks and Terrain features of the Helfurnices and the Lands Beyond
27. Another account of the war with the Fiery Kings, but as a collection of Epic Poetry
28. A book on the Baklunish Language (still written in Suel, it appears to be geared at learning Baklunish)
29. The sky houses, constellations, and other astronomical phenomena, with math.
30. Mining and Metallurgy
During the fourth hour of rest (11:30am to 12:30pm), Aurora manages to check twelve books.
31. Sculpture (from the artistic point of view)
32. Dry and brittle; illegible
33. Summoning magic; elementals, infernals, fiends
34. Astronomical phenomena; the sun and eclipses; dates
35. Regional landmarks and Terrain of the Suel Imperium
36. Astronomical phenomena; stars, using star measurements as location indicators on Oerth
37. Surgery, Bone-setting, and other Healing Arts
38. Trade routes of the Baklunish Empire
39. Ink so faded as to be illegible
40. A historical play set during the early years of the Great War
41. A satire of court politics in the Suel Imperium
42. Consumed by mold and illegible
12:30pm; (Dungeon at 6hrs) Third Watch - Babshapka and Thokk
Tyrius rises from his chair and goes to wake Babshapka, whispering to him about the secret door and Willa’s command. Seeing this transfer, Larry goes to wake Thokk. The half-orc had fallen asleep in Larry’s nest. Now he stirs, yawns, farts, stretches, stands, and farts again. Those awake protest, but Thokk pays them no heed.
Babshapka has had a full four hour trance, and he is rested and refreshed. [In addition, he has now finished his transition to 6th level, and has decided to replace his alarm spell with the ability to cure wounds.]
During the fifth hour of rest (12:30 to 1:30pm), Aurora manages to check eleven books.
43. Divination using tea leaves
44. Phrases in Flan for travelers
45. Herbology of common roots - food and medicinal properties
46. A dramatic play about a slave revolt
47. A study of another language - it seems like a form of Flan but different
48. Translations of Suel to Roka and vice versa
49. Interpreting prophetic dreams
50. Pages are falling into pieces - illegible
51. Divination using anthropomancy
52. A study of the Chebi language
53. Properties of Vampirism
During the sixth hour of rest (1:30 to 2:30pm), Aurora manages to check ten books.
54. Saints and Martyrs of the Faith of Phaulkon
55. Most pages stuck together - illegible
56. Baklunish understanding of Energy Centers in the Palm
57. Completely devoured by woodlice, illegible
58. Stonemasonry: Principles and Techniques
59. The Tragedy of Xodast
60. Beast Handling
61. Infernal Languages
62. Book found off shelf, on floor - torn and trampled - illegible
63. Exorcism and Protection from Possession
2:30pm; (Dungeon at 8hrs) Fourth Watch - Babshapka and Shefak
Thokk prods Shefak with his flute, and the monk rises from her bedroll, while the barbarian returns to Larry’s nest, only to find it occupied by Larry. He tries to curl up there, but Larry grumbles at him that it is not cold enough for spooning. Dejected, the half-orc finds another corner and tries melodies on his flute, drawing curses from most of the party.
Umbra has finished her trance. While Thokk is distracting everyone, no one notes the traffic of shadows that is flitting back and forth between her and the room. Perhaps Babshapka notices, but he is as terse as usual.
During the seventh hour of rest (2:30 to 3:30pm), Aurora manages to check the remaining books.
64. Grammar and punctuation in (Ancient) Suel - A Guide for Scribes
65. The language of the Derro
66. Dry and brittle, illegible
67. Dry and brittle, illegible
68. The language of the Oerid Tribes
69. Summoning and Binding Spirits and Souls
70. A romance between members of rival houses in the Suel Imperium
71. Military Strategy in the first hundred years of the Great War
72. Moldy and illegible
None of these books offer the historical information about Nholast, or especially about Keoland, that might support Uhas’ account in the Chronicle of Secret Times. Thus, none of them are the information that Aurora came for. They will have to explore more - and they still have no idea how extensive the dungeon complex under this tower is.
Although the books do not contain the specific information she seeks, they certainly do represent a trove of historical information, being centuries old and written about events even older. There are many of them that Aurora would like to take with her, and she carefully sets these to one side. They are, however, heavy and bulky. With Randy slain, they are unlikely to be able to take many, more’s the pity.
By around 4pm, Aurora has finished organizing the books and has gone to rest herself. She does not note the thin, gray form seeping under the door. An oozing pool of a creature, it is either transparent or naturally of the same color as the floor. Whichever, Babshapka, on watch near the door, also fails to notice it. The puddle surrounds his feet and begins crawling up his boots. Some moments later, as he shifts his weight and feet, he feels the tension holding down his boots. Only then, looking down, does he notice the creature. As he moves suddenly and with alarm, the creature reacts by sending forth a long pseudopod that slams into his chest, leaving both a bruise and an acidic coating that quickly tarnishes the links of his chain shirt.
Umbra fires forth a bolt of shadow, and a portion of the ooze-creature congeals at its impact. Willa swings her torch at it, and its slimy form sizzles at the touch of the flames. The blow of the torch seems to have torn open a rent in the pudding-skin-like surface of the ooze, and it starts dribbling acidic fluids out onto the floor. Seeing it is susceptible to physical damage, Willa smashes her mace down into the mass, rupturing its surface and spraying hissing gunk about. Another ooze creature slides under the door. Aurora shrieks, and stumbles out of the way to the back of the room.
Shefak, unwilling to risk her staff or her fists, grabs a chair and smashes it on top of the new ooze. She tears several holes in its surface. It strikes at her in return with a strange pseudopod. A third creature slides under the door. Babshapka abandons his boots and pants to the creature and retreats across the room. It slowly seeps after him.
Babshapka, pants-less, returns across the room. He slashes with his magical broadsword and one ooze’s form is completely disrupted. It ceases moving, remaining a still, acidic gray pool. There are two other oozes he could attack, but he is unwilling to wade barefoot through the slain one in front of him.
Umbra sends a ray of freezing shadow at another one. Shefak continues to beat furiously on those remaining with her chair. Between them and Willa, they manage to disrupt the last two. No more slide under the door.
Willa carefully cleans her mace with rags and scraps of chair upholstery. Babshapka examines his gear. His magical chain shirt is tarnished but intact - the links pitted and corroded in a large patch. His sturdy leather boots, after cleaning, appear fine. His pants are faded and foul-smelling. They appear undamaged, but he decides to use the dry parts to clean his boots and sword, and then discard them. He has a single spare pair in his pack.
After some discussion with the rest of the party, Babshapka decides to don the chain shirt they recovered from the manticore lair in the Ghost Tower. At the time, they suspected it to be magical, but they have not yet had Aurora attempt to identify it. It is human-sized and a little large on him, but after putting on his belts and straps and such over top it fits well enough to function. [In fact, it is a set of chain +1]
With the combat over, Larry comes forward to examine the creatures. He identifies them as gray oozes, amorphous creatures that live in the darkness of caves and suchlike environments. He says they corrode metal with their strongly acidic digestive fluids, and are resistant to both flame and cold. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
This and subsequent posts will contain many spoilers. The identity of rooms is indicated in bold.
For the soundtrack while in the Dungeon level, I used "Dungeon I" by Tabletop Audios.
Post 112: 'Splorin' Somewhere in the Little Hills, actual date unknown. First day in the Tower
(4:30pm)
Half an hour later, Shefak’s watch ends. Willa’s initial plan had been for Babshapka to take another two-hour watch by himself, so that she and Shefak could complete a long rest. However, since they both fought against the ooze, their rest has been spoiled, and they would need to begin again. There is no point in the entire party waiting another eight hours on them. Shefak grumbles in a very un-monklike fashion, but in the end decides to proceed with the party.
The first order of business is the exploration of the secret room (D17). To their disappointment, it is found to be both empty and a dead end.
(4:40pm)
There seems to be little more to do than continue to explore the dungeon, so the party readies to proceed. Thokk’s pitons are so firmly wedged into the floor that it is easier to rip apart the rotten wood of the door (and use it to lay across the acid pools for those unwilling to walk through them). Upon doing so, however, the party is confronted by a great mass of fungi that have somehow sprung into being. They are all about the floor and around the doorframe.
Aurora immediately suggests fireballing the mushroom patch, saying that “Fire always beats fungi,” as if it was an oft-repeated maxim. Willa tells her to not be so eager. She calls Thokk over to the open doorway, and tells him to toss her across the patch to the other side.
Thokk forms a stirrup with his hands and Willa puts in her foot. With a mighty heave he chucks her through the doorway. Willa goes flying up and over the fungi, landing pretty gracefully on the stone floor beyond for someone clad in full plate armor. She even manages to keep her torch lit, burning Thokk just a bit in passing.
However, Willa swears that some of the fungi turned toward her when she landed. Now, however, they remain perfectly still. She tells Aurora to investigate.
Aurora uses her prestidigitation spell to create small effects over the fungal patch - lights, sounds, smells. She elicits no response with colored lights or puffs of acrid smoke, but the noises she creates do seem to draw the attention of the mushrooms. They turn and twist in response, almost as if cocking their tiny mushroom-cap heads. “Well, I don’t think everyone wants to be thrown over them,” says Aurora excitedly, “and if we miss and land in them, something bad will happen for sure. It’s firebolt time.”
At her words, Willa, Umbra, and Shefak hastily take out cloth rags and hold them over their mouths and noses. Thokk looks on cheerfully, waiting to see who he gets to throw next.
Aurora shoots a single firebolt into the patch. The fungi go rigid, except for one which is writhing as it burns. Holes open along the tops of all of the mushroom caps, and a horrifying squeal comes from dozens of orifices. The shrill sound echoes across the stone walls - it can likely be heard throughout the entire dungeon complex, as it easily drowns out the moaning sound and the noise of the rushing wind.
"Damn you, woman! What be wrong wit' ye!" shouts Willa, as she takes out her crossbow.
Aurora yells at Willa to run, and begins the incantation for fireball. Willa recognizes the opening lines of this spell - that, conjoined with Aurora’s advice to “run”, are sufficient to cause her to run like hell, south and around the corner to the gallery of shelves. She begins praying to her maker and the gentle Sea Cow of the South as she flattens herself against the wall.
The explosion that follows is louder than any wind, louder still than the shrieking of a dozen fungal patches. Flames fill the large hall, jet down the southern corridor into the gallery, blow open the wooden doors to the searched bedchamber and the as-yet-unexplored section of the dungeon. The flames even shoot into the room where the party is resting, turning the wet puddles of acid on the floor into ash, but stopping a few feet short of Aurora’s face. She is knocked back by the force of the blast but unharmed. As the ringing in the ears of those present fades, it is replaced with the sound of Aurora laughing in triumph.
"There you are, everyone. There's precious few problems that a handy fireball can't fix.”
Willa sighs, and returns to organize the party into a marching order. The room beyond is now completely open to them, the remains of the door in pieces and smoldering beyond the open door frame.
(4:45pm)
The ceiling here (D21) is arched to 16’ height, similar to the chamber they have come from (D13). Apart from empty torch sconces and a rug by the east wall, the large room appears bare. Four vaulted galleries proceed, to the north west, north east, east-by-north, and south east. The moaning sound comes from the one to the northwest; the wind from both that and the one to the south east. The dust on the floor is greatly disturbed, and the tracks seem to parallel the direction of the wind.
Aurora inspects the rug and finds it to be dyed wool. Once costly, it has faded from centuries. It still is likely worth something, but is heavy and bulky. The party leaves it behind as they follow Thokk toward the source of the moaning sound.
(5pm)
The party moves down the hall towards a large room (D23). The height of the ceiling is hard to determine, as it is shrouded in cobwebs. There are rotten tables and chairs along the walls. One door at the far end is slightly ajar. Thokk is looking for spiders - big ones - but finds no traces. He urges the party forward, making no attempt to mask his disappointment.
(5:10pm)
Peering through the open door, Thokk finds the ceiling in the next room (D24) to be arched to 12’ height. A hearth stands in the northwest corner, vented with a 4’-long x 6”-wide chimney that comes out from the wall but then disappears into the ceiling. In the southwest corner is a large circular hole in the floor, surrounded by a lip of raised stone.
There is some dust on the ground, but it is as much mud as dust. The tracks of various creatures are all over the room, but mostly run from the open doorway to the hearth and the hole in the floor. The moaning is louder and is coming from the direction of the hearth. The air smells damp and the wooden door is rotten through.
As the party inspects the room, they find that the moaning is the sound of the air being drawn up the chimney. It is spacious and probably could be shimmied up by any of them. It goes straight up beyond the range of their torchlight. It likely goes all the way to the surface, though when they pull the torch away, they see no light at the far end.
Around the hole in the floor are mildewed pieces of wood and extremely rotten hemp. There also seem to be noises from something moving in the hole. Thokk peers over the edge and finds that the walls go down farther than he can see, but are covered by moss and fungus. Given the sounds he hears and the footprints around the edge, he suspects that the hole is filled with vermin - rats, land crabs, and the like. Willa surmises the hole is a well and Tyrius seconds the notion.
(5:20pm)
With the source of wind and moaning explained, the party is momentarily directionless, so Willa calls for a more careful search of the room. A loose brick is found in the hearth - when depressed, a whole section of the stone wall slides open. The hallway beyond has no tracks on the floor, just dust - apparently they have found another untrafficked part of the complex.
(5:30pm)
At the north end of the corridor is a small chamber (D18) with a 12 foot vaulted ceiling. The room is bare, although it does have a wooden door.
“Drop anchor,” says Willa. “What be all this? And why be it so barren? Tyrius?”
The noble paladin considers what he knows of defensive fortifications. “Well, obviously this is not a “dungeon” complex - if by dungeon, you mean a place for prisoners. The tower above was not particularly large, just a single tower. But all this complex is for sustaining a large host. We have passed through a library, mage quarters, mess hall, kitchen and water supply. A large number of soldiers, perhaps led by a mage or mages, lived here.”
“An’ this room?”
“I’m not sure. Perhaps there is a clue behind this door.”
“So ye be sayin’ all o’ t’is be a castle - but a castle unnerground?”
“Yes, it appears so. And another thing - this castle was not taken by force - we have seen no signs of struggle. It was abandoned - and not swiftly. No, there was a deliberate and methodical retreat from this place. Nearly everything of value has been taken, even from the rooms that have been hidden for centuries behind secret doors, and what was not taken was left neatly out of the way - like those tables and chairs in the dining hall.”
(5:40pm)
Willa nods thoughtfully, then agrees to have Thokk open the door at the north end of the secret hall, which he interprets as wrenching the ancient wood off the rusted hinges. There is no room beyond, but a ten by ten square shaft that descends into darkness (D19). Thokk calls for Willa to bring the torch over and looks down. The bottom is some eighteen feet below, uneven, not man made, but brown and crusty.
Thokk takes the largest piece of door and hurls it down as hard as he can. It breaks through the surface crust and kicks up a great cloud of powder. There is the faintest smell of human feces. “Ugh, an open privy,” says Willa.
At the other end of the hall is another empty room (D20), this one with numerous rotten wooden pegs in the walls and holes for many others that have since rotted away.
“Do this all be a servant’s quarters?” wonders Willa. “Why would ye need a secret door fer ther staff t’rough ther kitchen?”
Tyrius shakes his head. “The rooms next to the privy were barracks - and this, their armory. At least, that is what I would wager.”
“But again,” questions Aurora, "why the need for access through a secret door? Why have a secret barracks accessed through the kitchen?”
“Whoever designed this complex was keen to hide their numbers,” says the paladin. “The simple tower above belies the garrison below. Even if you enter the underground halls themselves, it would be hard to tell the numbers of your hosts. Perhaps you go as a guest to the dining hall and station your guards by the door - and suddenly find a whole squad of soldiers entering from the kitchens, catching you by surprise and overwhelming your retinue? The place is built to confuse anyone who does not know it.”
(6pm)
With no way beyond the kitchen complex, Willa directs the party back to the rug-room nexus (D21), and has them take one of the eastern hallways out. It ends in a double-door. At the bidding of Willa, Thokk listens at the door, but hears nothing. He opens the doors and finds an empty, but oddly triangular-shaped room (D26) with a twelve foot ceiling. “Bahh,” he says, disgusted by the inactivity. “We climb tower now, fight more eigers!”
“Nay, Thokk, not yet. Aurora has t’ find ‘er special recipe book aforehand,” demurs Willa. “Tyrius?” she asks, when the paladin enters the room.
He shrugs, unsure. “Guard captain’s quarters? Perhaps a chapel.”
(6:20pm)
The party grows less cautious, their march formation more open, as they continue to explore, finding numerous branching pathways and another empty room (D22).
After a thrice-twisting corridor that finishes with a dead-end, Willa again asks Tyrius what is going on - if this is living quarters for a large complex, why all the mazes?
The paladin responds that the tower above was likely built to observe the valley, but is not particularly defensive by itself - there were no ramparts, no motte, not even a gate on the doorway. If the underground portion is what is meant to be defended, it makes sense that it would be maze-like.
Invaders are meant to get lost in the twists and turns, and then be surprised by the defensive forces emerging from secret barracks, like the ones they found.
“So ye be sayin’ tha’ any o’ these twists an’ turns could be hidin’ more secret rooms?”
“I think that likely, yes.”
Willa has the party spread out, each taking a different section of the dead-end corridor, from the last turn to the end. They spend twenty minutes searching their assigned area as carefully as possible.
(7pm)
None of them find anything, but Aurora does note an interesting feature. When she raps on the east wall, there is just the dull sound of stone on stone. To the south and west, however, her half-elven ears detect the faintest of echoes - not that the stone beyond is hollow, per se, but perhaps much thinner. Checking the crude sketch map she is making, the wall to the south likely lies close to the corridor they have already passed through. But the one to the west, she thinks, should have ended. Perhaps there is a hidden room in that direction? If so, she cannot find the entrance from where she is.
Retracing their steps, Willa takes the party down another branch - this one connecting to the most southerly corridor emerging from the rug room. There is a single door in the wall, and wind flowing through gaps in the rotten wood of the door.
Entering the room (D29), Thokk is startled to see two huge snakes - or is it four? Each of the snakes has another head in place of a tail!
Shefak darts in front of the party, bludgeoning the closer snake with her staff and feet. The creatures strike back, snapping at her with fangs dripping with poison. More and more of the party file in, adding their attacks to Shefak’s. The snakes are cut, crushed, bolted, and whipped - but they keep coming! Until, that is, that the party realizes they can regenerate all damage except for fire. Eventually both snakes are slain.
The room itself is empty, but there is another door, rotten enough that the snakes could easily have slid through holes in its lower section. The torch that Willa had carried guttered out when she tossed it to the floor before drawing her sword. She picks it up, but it is just a stump - she is now out of torches and her broken lantern has been discarded above. Thokk passes her two torches, two flasks of oil, and his lantern. She takes a moment to fill and light the lantern, then nods to Thokk, who charges the door to the next room - reveling in the explosion of rotten wood as he bursts through into the next room (D30).
(7:20pm)
The ceiling here is arched to 16’ height. Numerous workbenches line the walls, holding assorted masonry tools, and a half-finished statue of a regal-looking man holding a staff stands in the center of this large room. There are two exits to the east, and another two to the south - the wind is exiting the east.
When the party enters the room, Aurora examines the statue, checking for secret compartments and the like. The rough form is blocked out and is recognizable as a mage of some kind, but the details have not been carved yet and she finds nothing hidden. Shefak examines the tools on the workbenches. Their metal parts are rusted, the wood rotten away, but the stone parts largely intact.
Willa and Thokk lead the way into the corridor in which the wind is going. It appears to open into a room at the end, but is choked with webs.
Willa raises her lantern and peers into the chamber (D30) as Thokk bats at the webs. The ceiling is arched to 12’ height. A small forge stands in the northeast corner, the wind seeming to exit up its chimney. A workbench, an anvil, and a tub round out the furnishings here, but are mostly obscured by the thick webs that cover the eastern three-quarters of the chamber.
“Seems t’ be gettin’ less deserted,” says Willa to noone in particular.
“Indeed,” responds Tyrius behind her. “Those tools on the workbenches are the first useful things we have seen in some time, left behind by the former occupants.”
“Did someone stay to finish the statue after the others left?” wonders Shefak aloud.
(7:30pm)
Suddenly, a giant spider materializes in the thin air between Larry and Babshapka. It is nearly eight feet long and of a bluish hue, but low to the ground and shaggy. It buries its fangs into Larry’s calf. He grunts in pain but his natural dwarven resistance protects him from the poison it pumps into the wound. Aurora turns to see what the noise was. Seeing the giant spider, she begins to shriek “Where did that damn thing…” but she is forced to dodge out of the way rather than finish her sentence as another spider appears next to her and lunges! Apparently the creature is immune to her “instinctive charm” [actually both DM and player forgot about this recently-acquired ability].
Larry turns and sprays the spider with poison - it shudders, but does not back away. Aurora scorches the one attacking her with a firebolt, doing a considerable amount of damage, but it stands fast as well.
Thokk whirls at the flash and whoosh of the firebolt. “Nooo!” he yells. “Save spider for Thokk!” He charges, knocking Aurora out of the way and down to the floor, then burying his longsword in the spider’s thorax. The spider shudders, twitches, and expires. “Twang!” sounds Babshapka’s bowstring. He uses one of the damaged arrows, and it flies awkwardly from his bow. Instead of hitting the spider, it barely misses and sinks deep into Larry’s side. “Och!” Larry cries. “Mind yer target, elf!”
Willa groans exasperatedly. “Thokk, get that last one,” she says, and pushes deeper into the webs. Sheffak turns and leaps gracefully over Aurora’s prone form, tumbling as she lands and coming up next to the spider. A sweep from her staff fails to trip its many legs, but she follows up with a kick to its body as she stands, and then brings down an overhanded staff blow. By the time Aurora is able to stand up and launch another firebolt, the second spider is dead as well.
The whole party now moves deeper into the room (D31) and investigates. The webs are full of the desiccated bodies of wrapped and mummified creatures - giant rat husks, giant beetle exoskeletons, etc. They gather the webs into piles that Aurora cheerfully sets ablaze. As they work, they reveal dozens of copper coins on the floor, which they leave intact, but five gemstones, which the party takes - large jade, a large spinel, a sardonyx, a star ruby, and a small black sapphire. They look up the chimney of the forge. It is considerably narrower than the kitchen hearth, but might allow Shefak access to the surface - provided it doesn’t narrow further, turn sharply, or have a grate of some kind. The airflow up the chimney is steady and continuous.
(7:40pm)
One wall of the forge room has a rotten wooden door, which Willa listens at. The modest room (D32) beyond contains a bed frame, a bureau, and a small table. It is unoccupied. Aurora searches it carefully, but finds nothing of interest.
After this, the party returns to the statue room and tries the corridors to the south. With no visible enemies, and their last fights having been easy, they soon drift apart, exploring different areas. Eventually they end up so far separated that even yelling between the two groups is barely audible. The group led by Thokk finds a corridor ending in a patch of yellow mold, while the one led by Willa starts down a corridor that opens into a large, fungus-filled chamber.
(8pm)
The mold at the end of the hall (d37) for Thokk’s group covers a small section of wall, perhaps some five feet across and floor-to ceiling, but no more. Larry suggests throwing something at it, and Aurora responds with “Yes; a firebolt, obviously.” She launches two incendiary bolts at the patch, completely burning it off of the wall and leaving only soot and charred mold behind. However, in the light of a torch, they can see that myriad golden spores now fill the end of the hallway, drifting lazily upon the air and slowly moving toward them as they disperse.
Meanwhile, Willa’s group advances cautiously. The chamber (D33)at the end of their hallway is filled with various molds, slimes, and fungi. Some of the mushroom caps come two or even three feet off the ground, and could conceal any number of creatures.
Shefak throws a dart into the chamber. In response, the group hears something - or some things - move. The noise comes with almost metallic clicks and clacks. Willa decides that this is better faced as a party, and starts calling for Thokk to lead his group back. In the other hallway, looking at the spores advancing through the air, Aurora decides she would rather give them time to settle anyway, and goads Thokk into responding to Willa’s call.
(8:10pm)
Once all of the party is together again, they look on into the fungus-choked chamber. Aurora raises her hand with the start of a mystic gesture, and Shefak darts to the back of the party. Shaking her head at the caution of her colleague, Aurora launches a firebolt into the room. More clicking noises are heard, but nothing emerges. Unlike the completely destroyed patch of yellow mold in the other hall, which was just a thin coating on the stone, Aurora’s bolt here tore up a small patch of fungus and revealed it to be several inches thick but did little to its neighbors in the room. It would take hundreds of such bolts to strip the “vegetation” in the large chamber down to bare stone.
Thokk is certainly not going to wait for hundreds of bolts. Besides, in the flash from the first one he spied moving black forms, low to the ground. He unsheathes his longsword and advances. As he enters the room, he spots with darkvision several giant beetles, but they scurry and scuttle away. He thinks back on his lessons with the tribal shaman, and recalls something about some giant beetles tending fungal gardens, like humans tend farms. Only the beetles killed things and dragged the bodies to the gardens to grow their fungus, which seems far more sensible to him than the silly humans planting seeds or waiting for rain. He takes a few more steps and bangs the flat of his sword against the ground, trying to draw the beetles out into a fight, but they do not come. He sighs and walks further into the room, swinging his sword low so as to slice through mushroom caps and fungus mounds as he goes. Willa moves to the entrance of the room, sets down her borrowed lantern, draws her greatsword, and follows Thokk’s path of destruction into the room.
The two of them are perhaps a third of the way into the room when a buzzing sound splits the air and a half-dozen giant beetles scramble out from under hiding places and run forward. In the span of seconds Willa and Thokk are surrounded!
Willa and Thokk face the initial onslaught of beetles, Willa trusting in her armor and Thokk in his inherent virility to protect them from the clumsy jaws. They land several blows on the beasts, but the hard carapaces turn many of them as well. Babshapka sets down his bow and draws both his swords, while Shefak moves up. Larry is looking carefully at the beetles - were they normal sized, they would be boring beetles - boring under the bark of trees, that is. However, at the size they are, he doesn’t think them capable of boring in much of anything. Umbra shoots a ray of shadow, but it bounces off the hard carapace of a beetle. Aurora looks at the room, estimating the ceiling to be twelve feet high, and tries to calculate the volume that would be filled by a fireball.
Shefak moves into the room, raining a flurry of blows down on the beetles - nearly all of which bounce ineffectually off their exoskeletons. She slips in the spongy flooring and falls to the soft ground.
By now the beetles have gotten grips on the legs of Thokk and Willa. They bear down with jaws that are surprisingly strong - even Willa finds her legs bruised beneath her magic grieves. “Get in ‘ere!” Willa calls to the rest of the party, with just a touch of concern in her voice.
“Rarrraaaww!” roars Thokk in rage, as a beetle slices deep into his calf muscle.
Babshapka sighs, muttering something in elven about not blaming these beetles for defending their home, and runs into the room, spinning and slashing his swords at the insects. He heads for the beetle that is even now moving at the fallen form of Shefak. A dark bolt from Umbra flies by him and hits the beetle, slowing its advance. Tyrius completes a spell, calling forth the strength of Pelor for Thokk, Willa, and Shefak.
As Willa and Thokk defend themselves, landing powerful blows, Aurora decides to end the combat with a web - but ensnares her comrades as well as the beetles.
Thokk breaks free of the web, then kills a beetle for good measure. Willa grins and wipes the spray of beetle-juice from her eyes with the back of her hand. She wrenches herself free, then lands a blow so hard it submerges the new corpse of the beetle down into the mold. A shadow bolt from Umbra freezes another, and it falls over, still.
The remaining beetles turn and flee, though one remains stuck in the webs. They attempt to hide, cowering under pieces of fungus, but the party roots them out one at a time, slicing, piercing, spraying them with poison, or shooting them with fire. Soon the last fleeing insect has been slain. Tyrius enters the room but immediately flounders with the unstable footing and sticky web strands. Aurora releases the webs and moves into the room herself.
(8:20pm)
Several of the party start looking for doors, but it is a difficult task - the thick fungus could easily conceal a normal door, let alone a secret one. Thokk, however, has other priorities. He grabs his lantern from where Willa left it and begins looking high and low at the fungus. At some he frowns or sticks out his tongue, others just result in a quizzical look on his scarred face. Then he finds a patch he likes. Using his hand axe, he chops up a creamy white fungus in large chunks and stuffs them into his bag. “This good!” he calls excitedly to the party. “This very good! Come get food!”
Willa looks over and shudders. Still, collecting food is not a bad idea - they haven’t had a meal since breakfast in Highfell. Using her dagger, she pries open the exoskeleton of a beetle and sniffs suspiciously at the stringy grey leg muscles inside. “Cannae be worse t'an rock lobster,” she thinks to herself, then begins butchering beetles. The leg and wing muscles seem the most worth the effort. The mandible muscles are huge, but hard to extract without getting them mixed up with sacks of foul-smelling liquids near the throat, so she leaves them be. Shefak, too, seems to be butchering the carcasses, but oddly she is taking bits and pieces of exoskeleton rather than meat.
The others are scouring through the fungi and ripping large hunks off of the walls, with Aurora burning anything that resists or comes off in tatters instead of sheets. They probe the ground, and find things like coins and chalices covered in mold. When Babshapka tears off a particularly large section of fungus on the west wall, Umbra investigates and finds a secret door - but it leads only to a small, empty room (D34). At least the room can serve as a temporary repository for the items they are pulling out of the mold, which now include a statuette with gem eyes.
When Babshapka tears a section of fungus off the north wall, Thokk wrinkles his nose, snorts, and looks up. He wanders over to where the wood elf is working, sniffs deeply, and licks the stone. A crack runs along the stone wall at about chest height, and here and there a bead of water trickles out. Grinning widely, he takes out his wineskin and unstoppers it, then convinces Babshapka to hold it for him. “This good water,” he gushes, “clean water from rock! Thokk find spring!” He takes large pieces of fungus that were growing over the seep and crushes them in his hands, producing a flush of grey water with bits of fungus. It splatters down, some of it even making it into his skin. He wrings out the fungus with a twist, then finds another sodden piece to repeat the process until his skin is full. Thokk sighs contentedly as he works and begins to babble to Babshapka stories of amazing mushroom patches he found in his youth.
Larry comes over and heals Thokk’s wounds from the beetle battle - Babshapka takes the opportunity to excuse himself and Thokk recruits Larry to hold his skin. Babshapka heals Willa, while Tyrius heals Shefak and Thokk as well.
By this time the floor is criss-crossed with patches of bare stone and piles of fungus and beetle bodies. In the secret room are gathered 50 silver and 97 gold coins, a gold chalice, a silver chalice, a gold pin, a silver seal, a silver & gold necklace, a silver statuette of a horned humanoid figure with emerald eyes, and a bone tube. Aurora stands in the secret doorway, and uses a charge from her wand of detect magic to feel her way through the room, probing under and through the remaining fungus in search of anything important the party missed. When she does not sense anything, she turns and looks at the pile of collected treasure, feeling immediately drawn to the bone tube. Unstoppering it, she finds an ancient and mold-damaged piece of vellum, covered with rows and rows of mystic symbols. She recognizes it as a spell scroll and carefully returns it to the tube.
(8:40pm)
Treasure collected, wounds healed, and food stores re-provisioned, the party leaves the beetle room. Aurora has told them of the other corridor, but Willa says there is a passageway they need to explore first. They head east out of the room and down the hall. The hallway ends in two rotten wooden doors which Thokk smashes open. The first room (D36) is a small bed chamber with a bed, a nightstand, and a desk with a chair. All are rotten and useless. The place is otherwise bare, and a search by Aurora reveals nothing. The other room (D36) is simply a large, empty vault with a twelve foot high ceiling.
(9pm)
Aurora leads the party back to the easternmost corridor. Lantern light reveals that the golden spores from the yellow mold have settled - mostly on the floor, but some on the walls as well. Many in the party cover their faces with cloths nonetheless as they walk to the end of the hall.
With the mold mostly burned away, Aurora traces the faint outline of a secret door along the rock wall. Apparently the mold patch was growing directly atop it. Investigating, she finds a loose stone and presses it. A door-sized section of wall sinks into the floor.
This secret room beyond (D38) contains a desk and chair, a workbench with various alchemical supplies, and two fine rugs. The glassware on the workbench is of exquisite craftsmanship, but obviously very fragile. Umbra slips past Thokk and enters the room just after Aurora.
Underneath the workbench are jars and boxes of alchemical reagents - Aurora searches among them to find which containers look strong enough to survive a time in her backpack, and carefully packs them in, then adds the stubs of a few candles from the workbench’s top. While she is doing this, Umbra flips through two ancient tomes on the desk. “Look Aurora,” she says, as she turns the pages that are covered in alchemical symbols, “recipes!”
“Yes, well, indeed,” hems Aurora. “A pity we won’t be able to take any of the glassware needed for them.”
(9:20pm)
Back out in the hall, Aurora announces that she can’t believe they haven’t found the volumes they are looking for even though they have been all over the dungeon.
“We must ‘ave missed summit,” says Willa. “Thar be secret doors aplenty all about. Let’s be checkin’ more walls.” They seem to have had some luck listening for hollow spaces, so Willa puts the two best listeners - Babshapka and Umbra - in front. They walk before the party, every three paces pausing, putting their ear to the stone wall, and rapping with a piton on the stone. The other party members walk at a distance behind them, as quietly as they can. They spend an hour slowly passing through the maze-like corridors of this section of the dungeon, and are convinced they have passed nothing but the solid stone of bedrock.
(10:20pm)
With nothing to show for their searches, they take a brief rest in the statue room. Willa and Larry draw in the dust of the floor, comparing recollections of the size of the complex. “That be...mayhap one part in six o’ the whole dungeon?” asks Willa. “Shall we be tryin’ ther same t’ing in ther north?”
“Oor,” suggests Larry, “we can jess scout a wee bit o’ the part we hain’t been yet.”
Willa arches an eyebrow. Larry continues, “At ta verry start, froom the room wit’ all ta books. T’were atother hallway we hain’t been yet.”
Now Willa remembers. Right as the party entered the dungeon from the base of the tower, into the library chamber - they went right to follow the wind, but there was a left branch that smelled moldy. That was half a day ago, at least, and no great surprise that she forgot.
Going somewhere new sounds better to Willa than walking in circles while tapping ancient stone walls. She forms the party into a march order and leads them back to the library room - its shelves now empty of books.
(10:30pm)
They have not gone far past the library room when they find the ceiling is lower, the wind drops, the humidity and smell of mold increases, and the temperature increases considerably.
The corridor to the south branches - the branch ahead seems to dead-end with no features, while the one to the right has at least one door on the south wall. It is long enough that they cannot see the end from the intersection.
Curiously, Aurora seems more interested in the dead-end than the open corridor. “Dead-end means dead-sure there is a secret door,” she explains.
(10:40pm)
Sure enough, after a bit of searching, she finds a stone in the wall that does indeed open a secret door. Heretofore, all of the secret doors the party has found (with the exception of the obvious pentagram over the summoning chamber door), have been triggered by loose stones, and the door itself has somehow sunk into the floor, with no way to make it rise again. This door is different. When Aurora presses the stone, the door rotates - half going in, half coming out, as if on a great vertical axle running through its center. The door only opens partially, turning clockwise, but it is enough to see the bare stone room (D11) beyond.
The opening is narrow - Thokk, Tyrius, Willa, or Larry would have to squeeze through - and might get stuck.
Tyrius, Thokk, Aurora, Umbra, and Babshapka enter - the ten-by-ten room barely sufficing to hold them all. Investigation reveals splinters of rotten wood and grains of sand along the west wall, and scratches all around the room, from floor to chest height on the walls. Larry, looking at the scratches on the part of the secret door that now protrudes into the hall, says that they are of some great cat sharpening its claws, but Aurora is not convinced. What sort of great cat has claws that can scratch stone? Despite searching, they find nothing else.
(10:50pm)
Returning to the hall, they try the door that was visible - and now see another, at the hallway’s end. The nearer door, of rotten and cracked wood, opens on a small and nearly bare ten by ten room (D5), eight feet high, with no egress. The only object in the room is a portrait on the wall directly opposite the door. It is covered in dust, but not mold. The floor of the room is also dusty - there are no prints. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
For the soundtrack while in the Dungeon level, I used "Dungeon I" by Tabletop Audios.
Although the slain ogres were not undead, I certainly wanted the party to think that was a possibility. When they returned to the tower I "mentioned" that it was getting close to midnight, and switched the soundtrack to "Nightmare" by Tabletop Audio.
Post 113: Nholast? Somewhere in the Little Hills, actual date unknown. First day in the Tower
Aurora takes the portrait down from the wall and tries to blow its surface clean, but soon finds herself coughing in a cloud of dust. When she recovers, she wipes the dust away with her sleeve. Beneath the layer of dust is a portrait of a man in rich clothing. Despite his white hair, he appears middle-aged. The oil paint is flaking and there is some mould damage, especially to the wooden frame, but the portrait itself is largely intact.
Shefak recognizes the general features of the man as matching those of the statue. Aurora carries the painting out into the hall and props it up against the wall, and has Willa shine the lantern full on it. “What can you tell us, Tyrius?” she asks.
Tyrius studies the painting carefully. “The richness of the robes implies he is wealthy, of course, but the rod he holds says that he is a ruler, not a merchant. He does not rule by force of arms, though - there is no weapon or armor on him. I suspect he is a mage of some sort, and likely the former master of this tower. The color of his skin and hair tell us that he is a Suel - likely pureborn. I do not recognize the style and patterning of his robes - but this is ancient fashion, to be sure.”
(11pm)
Aurora thinks they are on to something, but finds nothing further in the room. She reminds the party of the last time they spread out and took twenty minutes searching the end of the hall, then assigns each of them a spot along the corridor. “Take your time,” she says, “slow and careful. Touch everything, twist, pull, press, feel in every crack!”
(11:20pm)
At the end of twenty minutes of searching, both Aurora and Babshapka have found secret doors! Larry has an obvious door of iron, and locked, as well. There is some debate over which door to try first.
“As long as we be paused,” interjects Willa, “why don’ we be checking on are rations above - I wager I’m nae ther only one as is gettin’ hungry. An’ I don’ mean fer fungus.”
She gathers up the party and heads back in the direction of the “library”, and then the basement of the tower. Umbra lingers behind, a strange expression on her face. Noting it, Aurora hangs back as well. “Umbra, are you not coming?” she asks.
“Someone should stay,” the mysterious woman demurs. “We are so close…” her voice trails off.
Aurora frowns and places a finger to her temple. She whispers, “Willa, Umbra isn’t leaving. Have you considered none of us really know her or why she is…”
“So stay an’ watch ‘er,” interjects Willa. She is speaking in her normal ship’s deck voice, and Aurora can hear it almost as loud echoing down the stone halls as she does in her mind. “But don’ be openin’ any doors.”
When Babshapka notes that Aurora has remained behind, he does so as well, but farther down the hallway - one eye on his charge, one on the open doorway to the basement of the tower. As the light from Willa’s lantern, and the noise from the party, fade in the distance, the three elves, Aurora, Babshapka, and Umbra, are left in silence and darkness.
(11:30pm)
Thokk and Willa are first on the stairs, with the party behind them. The eiger slain at the bottom of the stairs is still there, but his body is now tense with rigor mortis, and the air stinks with the contents of his bowels. A cold wind blows down the stairs, and his filth is frozen to the muddy floor.
As Thokk and Willa emerge into the chamber above, Willa’s lantern plays over a grisly and macabre scene. Willa whistles lowly, and tells the others to stay below.
The entire floor of the chamber (1) is covered in dead eigers - more than a dozen, nearly a score. They are not where they fell during the battle, though. Rather, they have been laid out, arms spread wide, on their backs, all with their heads to the north. Their wounds have bled freely, and the floor is covered with blood and filth.
Even hard-eyed Willa is taken aback, and she pauses to run her lantern slowly around the room. The eiger cubs are there as well - she flashes the beam up to the stairs - they have been removed from the landing, and placed next to the bodies of the female eigers. She can’t see where Randy fell. There are too many bodies in the way - “Thokk,” she hisses, then shines the beam near the throne, “get over yon an' bring back all ther packs an’ such.”
Thokk clambers over the bodies, but slips and falls more than once. By the time he reaches the spot where Randy fell, he is covered head-to-toe in gore and filth. He looks around bewildered, as there is no sign of the mule. “Argh,” he grunts in frustration, and waves away the light.
Willa turns the lantern away from Thokk and uses it to check the stairs again, and then the entrance to the tower. The tunnel leading to the outside has been completely blocked off with rocks - dozens of huge stones, each heavier than a man could lift. She tries to swallow, but finds her throat dry.
Without the lantern, Thokk’s eyes have grown accustomed to the dimness. With his darkvision, he can pick up more details. He notes that the faces of the eiger cubs are disfigured - their lips, noses, and ears have been removed, their eyes gouged out. He finally finds Randy’s body - or what is left of it. Mostly the spine, tail, entrails, and skin. The legs, head, and most of the torso are gone, and the floor all around it is slick with blood. There is no sign of any packs. “Bah,” Thokk says to Willa. “No packs here. Now everyone will know how good Thokk is at finding food. Soon they thank Thokk for good mushrooms.”
(11:40pm)
Willa swallows again, and moves to the stairs. She ushers Thokk to follow her, and he begins his clumsy slipping and climbing over bodies until he is again at her side. As he approaches and the smell intensifies, Willa is thankful a lifetime of gutting fish has given her a strong stomach, and grateful for the cold and lack of flies. Together they mount the stairs.
The stairs ascend along the wall of violet marble, and then the right side opens out into a 15 foot diameter chamber (2) while the stairs continue even more steeply up to another level. A wall sconce is about halfway up the stairs; in it is a crude torch - once burned, but now out. Willa removes a gauntlet and touches the torch tip gingerly, then firmly. It is cold, and has been out for hours.
A battered and stained wooden table is in the center of the room. Arranged haphazardly about the room but away from the table and stairs are four clumsily woven reed mats. A single battered copper pot rests on the floor, its contents covered by a lid.
They continue up the stairs, pass through a foot thick stone floor, and then the right side opens out into the empty space of a chamber (3) while the stairs continue more steeply up to another level. Rotten cushions and pillows litter the stone floor of the room. Between them is a large overturned wooden box. The room is about 12 feet across.
(11:50pm)
An opening for a window is about halfway up the stairs, while another lies directly across the room from it but lower on the wall. Willa climbs the stairs to the opening. The tower walls are about five feet thick, so she must needs set Thokk’s lantern on the stairs and crawl into the tunnel and out to the open window to see. Wind blows freely into the chamber - it is certainly below freezing outside. Willa looks out over the valley, dark save for wan moonlight and stars. By the stars she judges she is looking northeast - it is a clear, cold night with no clouds. She scans the horizon for campfires, but sees nothing but empty forest and fields. She returns to the stairs, crosses the chamber, and looks out of the southwest window. The view there is no different, save that the mountains surrounding the valley seem lower but closer.
Willa prods Thokk to continue, and they ascend to the fourth floor. The right side opens out into a seven foot diameter chamber (4) while the stairs continue even more steeply up to another level.
An opening to an even-more recessed window is about halfway up the stairs, while another lies directly across the room from it but lower on the wall. The cluttered room contains a worn couch and five small wooden chests. Willa and Thokk step as quietly as possible into the room, but find all of the chests are open and empty. Thokk, however, notes a rectangular outline in the dust of the floor. Amidst all of the eiger tracks and dirt, there is a clear and clean space. Willa surmises that a sixth chest was once there, but was recently removed. They continue up.
The stairs now open onto more of a landing than a chamber, barely four feet across (5). The stairs continue up to another level, although at this point the runs are so narrow and the rises so high it is effectively a stone ladder. An open recess for a window is about halfway up the stairs, while another lies directly across the room from it but lower on the wall. There is a single scratched and dented heavy wooden chair in the center of the landing, turned so as to look out the lower window. However, the height of the window prevents Willa from seeing out of it unless standing. Even Thokk, sitting in the chair, sees only the upper half of the frame.
(12:00am; Tower Day 2)
When Willa tells Thokk to mount the next flight of stairs, he hesitates. “Evil advisor,” he scoffs, “This boring. We return to others now.”
“Thokk? Ye be nae scared, now?”
Thokk snorts derisively. “Thokk never scared. But if we fight now, no one see Thokk’s glory. No fun to fight without friends to see.”
Willa shoves Thokk toward the stairs. “Git up thar, ye big baby!”
“Thokk not scared,” the half-orc sniffs petulantly. And yet, he seems more cautious than normal as he climbs the stairs slowly, one hand on his sword and the other on the steps themselves.
The sixth floor is another small landing (6). The stairs continue up, ending in an open trapdoor in the ceiling. An open recess for a window is about halfway up the stairs, while another lies directly across the room from it but lower on the wall. A brazier sits upon a stone pedestal in the center of the landing, and several gnawed bones are scattered about the floor. The duo examines the room’s contents - Willa finds the brazier to be cold and empty. Thokk says the bones are mostly giant rat but there is some mountain goat in there as well - the gnaw marks are likely from the eigers.
(12:10am)
Willa again prods Thokk to continue up the stairs. He peeks his head carefully through the trapdoor, looks quickly around, and ducks back down. They must have finally reached the dome of the tower, for the constricting walls have opened up to a 20 by 20 foot square chamber (7). Each of the four walls has an open wooden door near the corner. “Git up thar, ye coward,” hisses Willa. Thokk continues up the stairs until he is standing waist high in the room. There is a worn, stained couch and a porcelain urn nearby. Thokk considers the couch for the shape of the “missing” rectangle below, but it is too large. Willa pokes him with her blade until he is standing in the room itself and she can see from the stairs. She raises the lantern and lets its light play across the open doorways, but there is no response from the rooms beyond. She climbs into the room herself. The ceiling is twelve feet high in the center, but lower near the walls as it follows the smooth curve of the dome. The pair of them examine the marks on the floor - lots of eiger prints, and a few drag marks from something heavy, as well from one of the doorways to the trapdoor.
“Alright,” Willa says, “we be headin’ back now.”
“Good!” says Thokk, decidedly. “Because creepy cold tower is too boring for Thokk.”
(12:30am)
The party is now reunited in the dungeon. Aurora and Umbra agree that the secret door off of the secret room, and not the one near the portrait, is the first that needs to be tried. They pass easily through the partly-open door, and are followed by others who have to squeeze through. Aurora shows Thokk where the loose stone she found is, and as he presses it the wall opens. This door, like the last, pivots about a fixed axle, leaving little space to enter.
Aurora waits for Thokk to stick his head in one side, and when he doesn’t react, she slides in the other side, followed immediately by Umbra.
Inside, the room (D12) is ten by ten, bare and dusty, with an eight foot tall ceiling. It contains a desk with a high stool, and a large cabinet. As Umbra enters the room, the cabinet starts to rattle, and then one of its doors bursts open. Dark shapes explode forth and circle the room at great speed - Aurora at first takes them for bats, but then realizes that she can see through them. After several circuits of the room, they converge upon Umbra and seem to meld with her form. Her face shows shock, but also recognition.
“Umbra!” shouts Aurora. “Dark shapes are entering you! What is happening?”
Umbra laughs at the look of fear on Aurora’s face, then smiles and smooths the shadows into her skin. “Don’t worry,” she says placidly. “I am fine.”
Aurora tries to contact Willa through message to relay her suspicions, but the stone wall between them is too thick. None of the other party members have heard this exchange or seen the shadows.
[DM's Note: The eigers finally decided that they were not going after the party into the dungeon. They gathered up their treasure and consolidated it into a single chest to take with them. They butchered Randy and took his meat for their journey, as well as all the party's rations and packs and supplies he was carrying. Eddard's chain barding became a cloak for the chieftain, and his leather saddle a headrest / pillow. They arranged the bodies of their fallen companions, and used all the boulders they had gathered in the dome rooms above to wall off the tower entrance from the outside, hoping that the party would die in the dungeon and that they were thus sealing the tomb of both their tribe and its killers.] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
This and subsequent posts will contain many spoilers. The identity of rooms is indicated in bold.
For the soundtrack while in the Dungeon level, I used "Dungeon I" by Tabletop Audios.
Although the slain ogres were not undead, I certainly wanted the party to think that was a possibility. In the above-ground tower while it was still dark I used the soundtrack "Nightmare" by Tabletop Audio.
For a 5e version of yellow mold, I used Uder's post at http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?372324-How-would-you-do-Yellow-Mold-in-5e which states that "The playtest bestiary for Barrier Peaks has yellow mold. It gives the mold a 50% chance to puff spores. They do 7d6 damage, CON save DC13 for half. Kill it with fire, radiant or necrotic damage only; AC0 & 10 hit points per 5 foot patch. DC12 Investigation or Perception to identify."
Post 114: The Scriptorium and Beyond Somewhere in the Little Hills, actual date unknown. Second day in the Tower
Aurora moves distrustfully to the cabinet and opens the other door. Inside there is a bronze stoppered tube, four great volumes bound with thick leather, and a rolled-up sheet of vellum. Umbra gasps and the vellum twitches. She steps forward, and the vellum is drawn to her like metal to a loadstone. Aurora reaches out with her mage hand, but too late - the vellum tube flies to Umbra’s hand. She tucks it swiftly down her bodice without even pausing to look at it.
“Umbra! What in the nine planes is going on here?” demands Aurora shrilly. Babshapka hears the panic in her voice and slips into the room.
“Is everything alright in here?” he asks coldly, in Elven.
“Babs! There were shadows flying around the room, and she took them in, and then she conjured a scroll into her hand from that cabinet! Something is going on here!”
Babshapka looks from Aurora to Umber, who is standing calmly. He arches an eyebrow but says nothing.
Aurora huffs angrily, then reaches through the opening of the doorway and drags Tyrius into the room. By the light of his shield, they can now see that there are two sheets of parchment, an ordinary quill, and a pot of dried ink on the desk. With one hand gripping Tyrius’ mailed arm fiercely, Aurora turns back to Umbra. “You never did tell us what you were doing here, mage! Why are you in this tower?” she demands.
Umbra smiles. “Why are you here, Aurora? Shouldn’t you be looking in those books for recipes?”
“What’s the deal with the shadows? Do you serve the powers of darkness?”
“Of course not. The shadows are my friends, my confidants.”
Aurora turns to Tyrius, triumphantly. The paladin shrugs. “Pelor judges people for their actions, not their friends.” Aurora throws up her hands in exasperation and stomps back to the cabinet. Umbra has not made any further moves toward it.
Aurora pulls out the third of the three tomes. She leafs through the pages. It is free of mold but the paper is dry and brittle. The ink is faded and difficult to read - she thinks it is spell symbols - a spellbook! However, she doubts whether many, if any, of the spells are intact - especially the longer (higher-level) ones, since hardly a page goes by without a spot where the ink has faded completely.
She sets the tome on the ground, pulls out her wand of magic detection, and uses a charge. The first three volumes, including the one she pulled out, are weakly magical - most likely the result of their inks and symbols, if they are spellbooks, rather than being inherently magical items. The bronze tube is more clearly magical - or at least something in it is. Aurora has not used the wand in the presence of Umbra before. She feels a number of influences in her area - but when she stretches out her senses, Umbra frowns and her aura becomes occluded.
“What are you trying to hide, shadow-mage?” harrumphs Aurora, but the others pay her no heed, least among them Umbra. Aurora takes the fourth, non-magical, book from the cabinet and opens it on the desk. She calls Tyrius over to shed light on it.
The writing is not the magical symbols of spell formulae, but a neatly-lettered script. It is in ancient Suel, and very faded - it will take Aurora hours to decipher it. She spends several minutes making out that it is a journal, or diary, with dated entries. The inscription on the front page reads “Nholast of Linth,” she says aloud, then regrets it when Umbra asks who Nholast is.
“Nholast? Hmm. I don’t know. I’m not sure I have heard that name before,” she replies.
Tyrius holds up his hand, before she can prevaricate herself further. “Nholast was the master of this tower, apparently,” he says. “The Sage of Highfell called him Nholast the Unforgiven. Aurora is here to research more about who he was and what he did and how he is connected to the history of Keoland.” Aurora flushes with anger.
“Well, I’ve never heard of him,” says Umbra, “truly.” She comes closer to the desk and notices that the first page of the journal is on the point of coming completely free of the binding. She reaches out, and Aurora clamps down defensively on the book. Umbra, however, merely stretches forth a finger and hums to herself while she runs it along the edge of the page. As she traces the paper’s edge, the frayed binding threads reform, and the page is held securely in place.
“That’s a mending cantrip,” says Aurora. “I know it too, of course...I’ve just never learned to cast it.” She pauses, then asks, “Can you mend the others as well?”
Babshapka shakes his head, in disbelief that Aurora dares to ask a favor from the woman she just accused and then lied to less than a minute ago, but Umbra simply nods her head. “I can, but you saw how long it took to fix that one page. It will take me an hour or more to do all the pages of all four. Better at our next rest. And I can restore the paper and binding and normal ink, but not anything magical, so those spellbooks…”
“May still be spoiled, I know,” interjects Aurora. “But at least they will survive our journey out of here.”
From the far hallway comes Willa’s shout. “‘eave ‘o in there! Time t’ weigh anchor!”
Aurora reluctantly allows Umbra to gather and stack the four books, and to hand the bronze tube to Tyrius while she goes through the desk. The inkwell is quite dry; the blank parchment was originally of scroll quality but is now brittle.
The party moves out into the hallway and prepares to enter the next secret door. As they walk, Babshapka falls back and helps Umbra carry the weighty tomes. “Mistress,” he whispers in elven, “why are you here?”
Umbra responds simply, “I am seeking answers to questions about the history of my people.”
Babshapka broods on this. It is rather too similar to the answer Aurora once gave him when he asked about why he was helping her steal materials from a library - and that turned out to be a patent falsehood.
(12:45am)
The party decides to first examine the secret door that Babshapka found (D5). Babshapka shows Thokk the loose stone on the wall. When he presses it, a door-sized section of wall sinks into the floor like most of the secret doors they have found (just not the most recent two leading to the study with the four books).
Through the secret passage Thokk sees a small chamber beyond, and then a corridor leading south. The walls are of the same stone as the rest of this level, but the floor is covered in dust, with no disturbance or tracks visible.
Thokk pauses in the doorway, sniffing. Are there more mushrooms ahead? He leads the party down the corridor. The father south they travel, the damper the air becomes and the more it smells of mold. Finally they reach the south wall, whereupon the corridor turns to their right. About halfway up the wall, a crack splits the stone surface for its entire length, as far down as they can see. A natural seep drips water all along the rock face. From the crack down, the surface of the rough-hewn blocks is damp. Green, grey, and yellow molds cover the walls and spill out onto the floor beneath the seep.
The corridor runs west for a while, then turns back north again. However, the mold at the end comes more than ten feet away from the base of the wall, such that it completely blocks off the end of the corridor. They would need to walk through the mold patch, or jump over it - and the floor is damp, the footing treacherous.
Aurora asks Larry about the mold, and he says it looks like the yellow strains are the same as the one outside the door of the alchemy workshop was. Aurora has Willa shine the lantern at the nearest patch of fungus on the floor, and she sends a trial firebolt at it. A large section of mold is burned away, but all the patches around it send forth a shower of golden spores into the air. The spores drift leisurely down the hall toward them.
“Keep that beam going,” says Aurora. She begins launching bolt after bolt down the hallway into the mold as she slowly backs up. Fire and spores fill the hallway, the cloud growing more dense and creeping toward them. As the spore cloud approaches, Willa backs away and takes the lantern with her. “Keep the light going!” insists Aurora, continuing to send flashes of fire into the darkness ahead of her.
“Get yerself outta t’ere!” countermands Willa, finally grabbing Aurora by the robe and dragging her back up the hall out of reach of the spores.
Larry whistles appreciatively as Willa shines the lantern across the surface of the dense, advancing spore cloud. “That’ll be takin' a right while ta settle.”
So as to not waste time while they wait, Willa leads the party back through the open secret door and to the end of the hall where the iron door that Larry examined still stands.
(1am)
Larry listens, but does not hear anything at the door. He steps out of the way for Thokk, who slams his shoulder into the door as he has a dozen other ones one this level. This door is not of rotting wood, however, but thick iron. It gives a resounding clang as Thokk’s shoulder hits it, but does not move a fraction of an inch. The half-orc hoots in pain and rubs his shoulder.
[Str. check 10, 1 pt of damage. I had set the DC of opening the locked iron door at 25]
Willa holds the lantern up to the door. There is a locking mechanism, with a stout deadbolt sunk deeply into the stone wall. The keyhole is so clogged with rust that she doubts they could open it even had they the key. “Thokk, it be rusted shut,” she scolds. “Use yer head now ‘n agin .”
Aurora comes forward to examine it, then backs up to the opposite end of the hall, bidding Willa keep the lock in the light. With a single arcane word, the enchantress casts a knock spell. Immediately a loud clang sounds, echoing up and down the hall, louder even then Thokk’s attempt to open the door, but it remains stubbornly shut.
Aurora approaches the door to examine it again. A pile of rust and shavings has exploded from the lock and bolt, and the metal fittings beneath shine dully. It should be no trouble at all to open it now - if only they had the key, or were Aurora willing to use a second spell.
“Hah - door not stuck. Now Thokk open!” says the barbarian. This time, Larry guides Thokk into using his shield directly on the deadbolt itself, and Willa sets the lantern down and waits by the door. Thokk gets a running start, and as he passes Willa, she swivels and shoves him hard at the door. He throws his shield forward as he crashes into the door. The resulting clamor surely must be audible in the tower above, but still the door does not move. This time Thokk howls in pain.
[Str. check 8, +1 guidance, +5 aid = 14. 3 points of damage]
As Thokk winces and rubs his shoulder, Willa squares off against the door. “Whar be I hittin’ ‘er?” she asks Larry, and Larry points to just below the lock. Willa steps back, then runs up, leaps in the air, and kicks with both of her feet at the same time. Her heavy boots slam into the door and she falls hard on her back on the stone floor, cursing.
[Str. check 5, guidance +4 = 9]
Thokk chuckles as he helps her to her feet. “Together?” he suggests, and Willa nods.
Willa and Thokk back away down the corridor, then begin jogging back, gathering speed as they go. Thokk holds his shield in front of him as Larry directed. Thokk slams into the door with Willa pushing him from behind, so that he hits the metal with the strength of them combined. This time, in addition to the resounding metal clang, there is the fractious sound of stone splintering.
[Str. check 16, guidance +3, aid +5 = 24. Almost!]
The deadbolt of the door is intact, but the stone wall into which it is set has cracked, meaning that the door now has a bit of give, and can be worked an inch or so each way. After she pulls herself off the ground, Willa bangs it back and forth a few times. Chips of stone and stone dust tumble to the floor, but the bolt does not look to give. As she moves the door and thus stirs the air, however, they catch the scent of mold in the room beyond.
“Oh, hey!” says Aurora brightly, “what about this key?” She pulls forth from her pocket the large iron key she took from the body of the half-eiger slain outside the tower.
Willa snatches the key disgustedly from Aurora’s hand and tries it in the lock. Perhaps it once fit, but it is impossible to tell now. The metal around and inside the locking mechanism is so battered and twisted from their attempts to open it, that she can barely get the key through the keyhole, let alone fit it snugly into the tumblers. She sighs and hands it back.
Aurora points at the narrow gap that has just been made between the stone wall and the iron door. “What about a pry bar?” she suggests. “We have a few of those, right?”
“They were all on Randy,” says Willa acidly. She sighs and turns away from Aurora, then sets down her pack and pulls out the magic mace she recovered from Strahd’s castle. At first she thinks to use its tempered steel shaft as a pry bar, but it is too thick to fit through the gap. She adjusts her gauntlets, flexes her knees, and spins around in a complete circle as she accelerates the mace ahead of her. The mace head crashes into the door and the bolt groans and twists.
“Thar she be,” says Willa, and spins and hits it again. This time the bolt snaps, and the entirety of the thick, iron door is ripped off its hinges. It topples to the floor inside the room beyond with the loudest crash yet.
[Str. check 20, +3 proficiency, +2 mace = 25]
The room beyond (D4) is ten feet deep, twenty feet wide, and eight feet high, with no egress. The walls are of the same rough cut stone as the corridors they have been following, and are hung with a dozen paintings or more, but all of them are covered over with green and yellow fungus, canvas and wooden frames both. The original artwork cannot be seen beneath the mold.
After some discussion, they decide to burn the mold away so as to search for more secret doors. Larry volunteers to cover the walls in oil, and collects a flask from Willa and another from Thokk. He ties a rope about his waist, just in case, and casts resistance on himself.
Entering the room, he finds most of the mold on the paintings themselves, and the canvas and wood completely rotted away. The walls have plenty of mold as well, though it is less thick than on the paintings. He opens the flasks, and sets them down, ready to start dousing the walls. But first, out of curiosity, he reaches out and pokes at the mold with a grubby finger. A ripple of energy spreads out from the point of contact and runs through rhizomes all over the room. Almost at once, yellow mold from every surface sends forth spores in a soft whoof of air. Larry is engulfed by the golden cloud; he covers his mouth and runs out of the room, nearly tripping over one of the flasks. In the hallway he sinks to his knees, coughing, lungs burning, then crawls on hands and knees toward the party, which has retreated to the end of the hall. He coughs for several minutes, in the end hacking up phlegm and spatterings of blood.
[29 points of spore damage, Larry saves for half damage]
Willa tells the party to stay put while she and Thokk gather “kindling”. They return to the room the party camped in “overnight” (D15), smash all of the chairs into piles of splintered wood, and come back with armfuls. Thokk then returns to the “library” (D3), ripping the heavy plank bookshelves off of the walls and carrying them back in loads.
(1:30am)
Thokk stands in the doorway and throws a chair leg at the wall. Some of the mold is scraped off from the force of the blow, but it does not elicit more spores. Taking deep breaths in the hall and holding their breaths while in the room, Thokk and Willa lay the shelf planks against the walls, pile the kindling at their base all around the room, and then empty the flasks of oil on the wood. Once all is prepared they retreat and Aurora sends in a firebolt to set the room ablaze with a roar. Thick smoke billows out, but the eight foot high vaulted ceiling of the corridor keeps it above most of them, though Thokk’s eyes water.
After several minutes the fires die out. Willa and Babshapka check the soot-stained walls, but find no secret doors. Willa moves the party back to the southern corridor, where the mold spores have now mostly settled to the floor.
(2am)
Here and there are still patches of mold on the dampest stone, but Aurora burns them with judicious applications of her firebolt, and no further spores are released. After turning the corner, they move north along the corridor, away from the seep, the air growing dryer and the oppressive odor of mold fading behind them. Ahead, the corridor opens into a large room (D7).
The ceiling here is arched to 12’ height. Several divans and low stools are scattered about this otherwise vacant chamber. Wall sconces hold long burnt torch stubs. The furnishings carry a thick layer of dust. Three wooden doors, their planks all rotted and split, are apparent.
Thokk sniffs suspiciously at the first door, then gingerly lays his sore shoulder against it but can’t get it to budge. The wood has swollen and stuck in the frame. It takes both him and Larry to force it open. The room beyond (D9) is ten by ten by eight, and is dusty but bare. The back side of the door is covered in mold, but they find nothing else when searching it.
(2:10am)
The door to the next room (D8) opens easily, the wood being dry. Inside, it appears empty and identical to the previous room, and a second search reveals nothing as well.
(2:20am)
The third door leads to a much larger room (D10). The ceiling here is arched to 12’ height like the previous chamber. A number of straw mattresses and throw rugs (sufficient to sleep sixteen) cover the floor, and eight rotting wooden buckets line the south wall. The place is currently unoccupied and covered in dust. A few of the buckets contain hard dry turds, but nothing else. Aurora quickly checks the walls, but they do not yield secret exits. Willa and Aurora exchange words about the “army” that is following them - Umbra is interested at first, but quickly becomes concerned that the entire nation of Keoland is after this enchantress.
They seem to have come to the end of this section of the dungeon, which Tyrius speculates is another one of the secret garrison complexes. With no tracks on the floor but their own, and a single entrance, it seems very defensible, so Willa agrees to let them take a short rest. They spread out among the dry straw mattresses. Aurora keeps one eye suspiciously on Umber at first, who continues to hold hushed conversation with Babshapka, but soon she becomes engrossed in reading the diary of Nhoast.
[Willa, Thokk, and Larry spend hit dice to heal. Aurora and Larry use natural and arcane recovery to get back spell slots]
[Note: Aurora’s initial investigation roll is 20. She can add 1 to this for each hour she spends after the first one reading the diary. The total number indicates the DC of the information she has deciphered to this point.]
This journal of Nholast does not refer to himself as “the Unforgiven”, although on the initial page he styles himself “Nholast of Linth”.
(DC16) There are dates by the entries. If Aurora remembers the calendar conversion of Suel Reckoning to Common Year, the dates are about 750 years ago. She reflects on the furnishings found so far. They are remarkably well-preserved for being over seven centuries old, but not unrealistically so, if they have been shut off and sealed underground.
(DC17) The dates in the diary are sporadic. There are multiple entries for several weeks each, but often months apart.
(DC18) The last entry mentions that Nholast’s current work, binding an erinyes to his will, has been interrupted by a command from Asberdies to assist in putting down yet another petty uprising. He laments the the erinyes is not completely dominated so that he could send her in his stead, as these rebellions are tiresome. He writes that he will be returning soon.
(DC19) It appears that Nholast came here to this tower to do research and experimentation, free from the distractions of working for Asberdies. He had a small complement of guards and servants with him.
(DC20) Some of Nholast’s experiments included necromancy, summoning and binding demons and devils, the creation of golems, and alchemy. He used his time between experiments to make spell scrolls. Asberdies did not begrudge him resources.
(3:30am)
Forming up after their rest, the party leaves the sleeping chamber and returns back through the secret door in the portrait room to the soot-stained art room. Aurora firebolts the remaining mold, and carefully searches the walls, especially the northern wall.
“Ye be havin’ ther di-ary o' Nholast now, what more be ye lookin’ fer?” Willa asks her.
Aurora says that she is not at liberty to say in front of her (and she rolls her eyes at Umbra), but Willa is not convinced that Aurora actually knows what she is looking for.
Short of doing a long search on every section of dungeon wall (which Aurora seems up for but few of the others), it appears that the dungeon level has been played out. A few of them suggest finishing their exploration of the tower above, and this is agreed to by the majority. They retrace their steps to the bottom of the tower, and then up the stairs to the entry room. Those who had not yet seem the strangely displayed eiger dead, or the blocked off exit, are concerned, but Willa ushers them quickly through.
(4am)
The party ascends through the tower levels - the second (with the wooden table and reed mats), the third (with the cushions and rat box), the fourth (with the couch and empty chests), the fifth (with the chair watching the window), the sixth (with the bones and brazier), and finally up through the trapdoor into the seventh level with the domed roof.
Of the four open doors off of the central chamber, they try the north one first (7a). This wedge-shaped room extends to the wall of the tower, where the domed roof lowers to a mere five feet high. Murder holes line the north wall, as well as the floor at its base, but are as dark as the night sky beyond. A battered workbench sits against the south wall, and an empty cresset hangs from the ceiling. A small barrel is near the bench. A number of hides laying over piles of rushes looks to be a huge communal bed. Several dented metal urns are obviously used as chamber pots, and there is a pile of cracked and reasonably fresh bones near the bed. A 7½’-tall misshapen humanoid form stands motionless as near the north wall as its height will allow.
Thokk and Willa inspect it carefully, but it does not appear to be moving. When Aurora enters, she says “Oh, a golem! Nholast mentioned that in his diary. I wonder what the command words are?” She then begins trying various words in ancient Suel in an attempt to animate the figure, until Willa makes her stop, in part from feeling she is wasting time, in part from dread of what might happen should Aurora actually succeed in animating it.
Thokk examines the bones near the bed. They are so well-gnawed that he cannot make much of them, but from the musky smell in the room, he strongly suspects this was an eiger den. The murder holes have fresh scratches along the floor and a number of chips and flakes of stone about. Perhaps the boulders that even now block their exit came from here. Of course, reasons Thokk, these holes are big enough for them to climb through and jump to the ground - they are not really trapped in the tower, after all.
(4:10am)
They next try the chamber to the west (7d). A few hides laying over piles of rushes looks to be a large bed with a nearby pile of bones. A smaller bed is near the door. Several dented metal urns are obviously used as chamber pots. They look about, but find nothing of interest.
(4:20am)
The chamber to the south (7c) has the same dimensions - wedge-shaped, extending to the wall of the tower, murder holes in the wall and floor. The furnishings are different, however - the beds are smaller and individual rather than communal. There are three here, and each has a single threadbare hide laying over a pile of rushes. The room smells strongly of rancid sweat with undertones of seawater. Several dented metal urns are obviously used as chamber pots. Thokk guesses that if the previous chambers housed eigers strong enough to have females, this room is for the weaker bachelors. Nothing is found in a quick search, though they are disgusted by the beds themselves.
(4:30am)
The final room of the dome (7b) is as the others, and could be a mirror-image of the one to the west. A few hides laying over piles of rushes form a single large bed with a nearby pile of bones. A smaller bed is near the door and several dented metal urns are chamber pots. A quick search reveals nothing. By this time, the icy wind blowing through the murder holes has chilled the party, and all of them are ready to depart the dome - but to where? Aurora talks about the unsearched walls of the dungeon, as well as the thick walls of the tower that could easily conceal small chambers - but Willa is still unsure what specifically they are searching for. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
This and subsequent posts will contain many spoilers. The identity of rooms is indicated in bold.
For the soundtrack while in the Dungeon level, I used "Dungeon I" by Tabletop Audios.
Since the players were all either new to the game or new to 5E, none of them knew what the rules were for exhaustion from thirst and hunger; when checks needed to be made and what the results were for failed checks. I told them that they would eventually find out through experience.
Post 115: Waiting for the New Day Somewhere in the Little Hills, actual date unknown. Second day in the Tower
The party decides that they would like to use the murder holes to look outside the tower, but it is still night. Luna, the larger of the two moons, is quite full, so they have a good view across the valley, but not in detail around the base of the tower, which is what they are after. Willa scans the horizon in all directions, but doesn’t see any lights or campfires - just wide open wilderness in the pale moonlight. Larry points out that with Luna full, and the smaller Handmaiden still new, they can’t be that far off in time from when they left Highfell - provided it is still the same year.
Willa decides that they can search the eiger quarters at the top of the tower while they wait for the sun to come up. In one of the rooms she finds a hollow, stoppered bone tube in the pile of discarded bones. It looks like it might be a scroll tube, so she passes it unopened to Aurora.
Once the rooms are searched the party retires to the central chamber, closing all the doors to block the chilly wind but leaving the door to the east open just a crack to see when the light comes in. It is still cold (in the twenties outside the tower and just below freezing even behind the doors) and their stomachs are all grumbling, but they are adventurers and used to resting when they can. Aurora reads while they wait.
(6:30am)
Less than two hours later it is light enough to see the ground outside, though the sun has not yet cleared the mountains at the east end of the valley.
The grass outside is still white with frost, except for a ring around the tower just under the murder holes. There, the grass has been trampled and there is no frost, or much less. After some consideration, the party surmises that there was a large collection of boulders in these tower rooms, but sometime after they entered, the rocks were pitched from the tower (creating the trampled circle), then taken from the ground outside and used to block the entryway, sealing the party inside.
The ground is some ninety feet below them, but after carefully studying it, Larry announces that he can see a trail leading through the frost. The trail is the tracks of large humanoids, most likely the eigers. It leads away from the tower to the northwest.
Aurora considers the murder holes to be an alternate exit, should they not be able to clear the stones from the entryway below. With a hundred feet of rope they will be able to lower themselves outside, and all of them but Larry should be able to fit through the murder holes.
With nothing more of interest above ground, the party goes back to the dungeons, all the while discussing where something else might be hidden below. On a hunch, Willa leads them back to the room (D5) where the portrait they took to be Nholast was, but find they actually left the painting in hallway outside the room. By Willa’s lantern, Aurora carefully examines the back of the portrait - but doesn’t find anything. They re-hang it where it was before, and Willa asks Umbra what she sees in it. The elf agrees with Tyrius’ previous assessment, but adds that the fashion of clothing indeed appears to be post-migration Suel, making it plausible that it could match the purported dates of 750 years ago in the diary.
They take some time to look around, searching the walls carefully for secret doors, but finding nothing. Their thirst is getting the better of them. Since they entered the tower yesterday before dawn, they have now gone a full day with only a half-day’s ration of water. Thokk opens his skin of squeezed mushroom water and drinks deeply, then offers it to the others, but after Willa shakes her head, they all decline. He finishes the skin, and checks that the two others he has are still full.
[7am - DM’s note. At this point all of them but Thokk need to make a DC15 Con check. Umbra, Willa, Tyrius, and Shefak fail these checks, and are now at the first level of exhaustion. Until they drink, they will have disadvantage on all ability checks. Among other things, this means they will be less effective at searching for secret doors. They have all, except for Aurora and Umbra who had rations on them, also been a complete day without food. They learn that even those among them with the lowest constitution can go without eating for 24 hours without penalty.]
Willa finds her thirst is making her slow and clumsy, and not up to the task of finding any secret doors. As she takes a break and looks about, a few of the others seem similarly affected. Babshapka, Larry, and Thokk all seem fine - she tells them to continue searching with their darkvision while she leads the others back to the kitchen to see if there is water in the well. She collects everyone’s empty skins before they set out, and the two ones that Thokk has which are full of mushroom water. They have six skins between the eight of them - there were lots more on Randy. Each skin holds enough water for half a day or so. Aurora is busy reading by the light of Willa’s lantern, so Willa leaves her where she is, and they rely on the holy light of Pelor to find their way.
After a few wrong turns and confused consultations of Willa’s charcoal sketch map by Pelor’s light, the away team finds themselves back in the kitchen. Tyrius casts light on Willa’s silk rope, then lowers it down the well. The stone walls are thick with moss - and a dozen furry bodies! At the appearance of the light, giant rats scamper up the sides of the well and pour out into the kitchen, attacking the four people there.
“Nutmeg and feck!” curses Willa, as she yanks the rope from the well and draws her greatsword. She motions with her hand for the others to fall back defensively to the door before they are overrun by the wave of rats. Although the team is slaying rats every second, more and more continue to come forth. By the time they have their backs to the door and have killed more than a dozen of them, the rats’ courage breaks and they begin running out the open secret door rather than attacking the party. Umbra continues firing freezing bolts at them and Willa yells and swings her sword, hoping to herd them all out the door. She estimates that as many as another four dozen emerge from the well and have run through the room before the flow slows and then stops. Willa works quickly to pull, push, and twist the loose stone that opened the secret door until she finds the means to close it, sealing the rats on the other side.
Panting and bloodied, the party takes stock. Fully 16 giant rats lay sprawled dead on the kitchen floor - three frozen from rays of chilling shadow, four cleft in twain by a greatsword, four smashed into paste by a hammer, and five kicked and bludgeoned to death by a staff. Umbra was bitten once (4pts), Willa and Shefak twice (9 points each), and Tyrius thrice (16 points).
Listening carefully, they hear nothing more coming from the well, so Willa lowers the still-glowing rope down again. Water is in the bottom, just below the reach of the rope itself. Someone will need to go down - and Shefak is the lightest among them, though there is not enough room in there to wield her staff. She agrees to the task, but insists that the rope be tied about her rather than her climbing down. She loads up with all six of the empty water skins of the party (Willa having poured Thokk’s mushroom water out upon learning that there was in fact water in the well). When Umbra ties her rope to Willa’s, they have a cord long enough to lower Shefak to the bottom of the well.
As she is lowered by Willa, Shefak calls up that the walls are pockmarked with dozens of caves - all rat-sized and too small to enter. Pushing away the moss, she finds that the caves are mostly shallow, and filled with bones and rat droppings, though a few are tunnels and go back farther than she can see. Near the bottom, the moss grows thicker on the walls and the caves less frequent. Willa looks over at a slain rat on the floor of the kitchen and sees that its fur is damp though not wet - they will need to find some way to clean the water, or else she is not letting anyone drink it.
Shefak sniffs suspiciously at the water, then begins to fill the skins one at a time. As her weight increases with each full skin, Willa calls Tyrius over to help her hold the rope and then pull the monk up. Once Shefak is back in the kitchen, Willa explains that they will be boiling the water, and asks for suggestions. A hearth is on hand in the room - and next door, the chairs and tables will provide as much wood as they could possibly need - but what to boil the water in? Umbra says that she carries a mess kit in her pack, and it includes a small pot.
While Umbra tends the fire, boils the water, and refills the skins with boiled water one pot at a time, the other three search the walls of the kitchen and the dining room beyond. The first skin that is filled is passed around between them, and all drink deeply until it is empty, and then the second. Only by the time Umbra is filling the third skin is she actually storing up any water.
They find a secret door on the north wall of the kitchen itself, in the part that is not occupied by the hearth. Willa tells them to hold off on opening it for the time being. She is trying to work out the logistics of their water use, since she knows they will need at least two skins per person per day, and they will not get that amount anytime soon with Umbra’s tiny camp pot.
(8:30am)
When they have finished searching all the nearby walls, Willa takes Tyrius with her and they return to a room she searched the day before, a small bedchamber (D14). Something about the room is nagging at Willa, and when she enters, she immediately sees what it is - there is a small, beaten copper bathtub in the room. Between them, and with several pauses to rest, Willa and Tyrius move the tub into the kitchen and set it down in the hearth itself. Umbra empties all of the unboiled water from the skins into the tub - not even filling it to a sixth of its depth. The others in the team smash chairs and bring wood and soon have a raging fire going. Shefak is sent on several more trips down the well until the tub is half full. The smoke is venting nicely up the chimney and not filling the room.
Finally content, Willa tells them to open the new secret door, but it takes three of them and several minutes to figure out the mechanism. Ultimately, a loose stone is discovered near the hearth but beneath the body of a dead rat. Once the door is open, they can immediately smell the dampness beyond. The small ten by ten chamber revealed is obviously a wine cellar, with rotten, sagging shelves and numerous glass bottles. However, the shelves and walls are covered with a thick green carpet.
Not sure if it is moss or mold, Willa covers her mouth with a cloth and enters to assess whether anything important is beneath the green, but as she gets closer she is not seeing bulbous fungus, or spongy sphagnum, but rather thick, ropy slime. A slime that was hanging from the ceiling detaches itself and falls directly on her. Now covered in the viscous goo, she stumbles blindly back out the door.
She recalls tales of a green slime that can grow in ship bilges, feeding off organic waste. It is supposed to be acidic to the touch - and as she thinks of this, she can feel her face start to burn where the slime is seeping through her helmet. She wipes it away from her mouth and shouts “Get t’is armor orf me!” [Willa takes 18 points of damage]
After ripping her helmet off and fumbling with a few buckles, Willa realizes that she is panicking and it will take far too long to strip off her plate armor. The slime that covers her breastplate and back is already oozing up and through the chain coif, burning her neck. At least she can see now, can see how she is covered in slime and in fact is dragging a trail of it out of the room with her.
She waves her companions off and yells instead “Shut ther damn door!” as she grabs a flaming chair leg from the fire. The slime turns into a flaky powder at the application of the flame and Willa grimly steps as close to the fire as she can get without falling into the tub. Shefak strikes with her magic staff at the slime trail, managing to sever it as Tyrius closes the door. The monk then summons her ki, turning her fists and feet into magical weapons as she pummels the slime on Willa’s armor, doing damage to both it and her.
The slime seems most threatened by the proximity of the fire, however. It shudders, and suddenly the side toward the fire shoots forth a cone of acid. Umbra is doused with the spray [and takes 24 points]. The fire hisses and spits and nearly goes out.
Umbra staggers away, her own flesh now burning from the acid spray, then summons forth a skeletal hand that she sends at Willa. The hand starts clawing at Willa’s armor, freezing pieces of slime and ripping them off - but Willa does not know where the hand has come from or that it is controlled by Umbra and she starts screaming for Thokk’s help. With her chair leg torch, she beats and burns the slime and the hand both.
Seeking to calm Willa, Shefak summons more ki, and with glowing hands pulls the remainder of the slime off her and then stomps it into the stone floor with glowing feet. Breathing heavily, Willa makes sure that every last trace of the slime is burnt away.
After Tyrius lays hands on Willa she feels somewhat better. Making eye contact with the other three, she says in her most commanding tone, “When Aurora gets ‘ere, ye DINNAE let ‘er open t’at door, nae matter wha’!”
(9:30am)
The team in the south has continued to search walls, but to no effect. Aurora, however, has come across an interesting passage in her last hour of reading.
(DC23) While Nholast refers to his lord Asberdies by name, he also refers to one called “The Master” - apparently a different individual.
At this point, the searchers rouse Aurora from her tome and the four of them together travel to the kitchen. Upon entering, Thokk looks at all of the dead rats on the floor and exclaims, “Willa find water AND food! Good job, evil advisor.” He happily sets about gutting and dressing the rats, though when he is done Willa sees him heading for the bathtub just in time to keep him from rinsing his bloody hands and knives in the water.
Willa unpacks the beetle strips she made - they have been more than twelves hours in her pack, raw, and are starting to smell gamey. She doesn’t know for sure that the beetle is edible. While she can’t personally say she has ever had rat, she knows plenty of sailors who have resorted to eating it on long sea voyages when the food stores ran low. It might not be a bad idea to ditch the beetle meat for the rat.
Larry uses the time to heal those who fought the rats and the green slime.
Aurora examines the bone tube found by Willa in the eiger lair and finds inside it a scroll of protection from petrification.
Those who have not yet drunk, drink deeply from skins that are filled, then filled again from the tub. Everyone finally leaves the room with their water balance restored, carrying all of their skins full, and with some boiled water still left in the tub besides.
They spend the next four hours (10am to 2pm) with seven of them searching walls in the dungeon while Aurora reads in the kitchen.
Aurora had originally considered spitting the rats and roasting them over the fire, but that would take far too much of her time and attention while she is trying to read, so she decides to just quickly cut them into smaller pieces, put them in the tub, build the fire back up, and boil them. It does not take long before the tub is full of rat stew and she can get back to the diary.
During the time the party is away, she gleans the following from the book:
(DC26) Nholast was able to penetrate the defenses around Valadis after its fall. He was sent there by Asberdies to recover lore and items of power on more than one occasion.
This excites her to no end, and she tries to read further but is now distracted by trying to think of how she is going to convince the party to return to Valadis.
At the end of the four hours, the party returns to Aurora to tell her that as a result of their searches they have found one secret door, and one locked iron door, with both in the north-central part of the dungeon.
When Aurora reaches the “T” in the corridor, she is incredulous at the sight of the door. “Was this on your map, Willa?”
“Ther corridors, aye, but nae ther door.”
“Well, who saw it? Someone walked past it!” No one seems to want to admit they searched the hallway before but did not note the door. Willa tells Aurora to get over it and get on with the search.
They move first to the secret door at the end of the hall. “Always check the dead ends,” says Aurora, as she studies Willa’s map again. “Huh, I think we were on the other side of this wall, wondering why it sounded hollow - must have been whatever is beyond here.” It takes nearly everyone in the party before the mechanism for opening the door is discovered - it is the smallest and most concealed activation stone they have found yet, but finally it yields and the door opens.
The room beyond is a scant ten by ten, and empty, except for three large wooden coffers on the floor. “Check fer traps,” says Willa instinctively, then stops herself - has it been two days yet since Barnabus abandoned them?
Thokk is unconcerned and strides into the room. He squats over a coffer and opens it. Each coffer is metal-bound - the brass hinges protest, but do open, and reveal that the coffer is full of coins. Most are gold, a few are a metal that he does not recognize. He dumps the coffer out on the floor, sorts through, and takes a handful of the unfamiliar ones to the doorway. “Platinum!” say several voices at once. Thokk shrugs and throws the coins back on the floor, then opens the other coffers. Aurora estimates there to be several hundred gold and two dozen platinum. They leave the coins intact, and Aurora closes the secret door while the party goes to the other end of the hallway.
Thokk tries running at the iron door, but it holds strong. Aurora tries mage handing the key she recovered from the dead half-eiger, but it does not fit the lock, so she resorts to a knock spell. The lock is free of rust and easily clicks open at the application of the spell.
Inside the small chamber is a skeleton, clad in rags, hanging from a set of manacles in the center of the room. A large number of silver coins are heaped about the skeleton’s feet, and a pair of brilliant stones (one clear spindle, one iridescent spindle) circle about its head, continually in motion.
Shefak and Babshapka enter the room and try to catch the stones in their hands. At their approach, the stones change course as if they are animate and avoiding being caught. They remain in revolution about the skeleton, but continually alter their speed and direction. Babshapka brushes against the body of the skeleton, and it collapses into a pile of disarticulated bones. The stones continue to circle the skull, which has rolled several feet across the floor. Shefak continues her pursuit of the stones, and after several attempts finally proves nimble enough to catch them both. Babshapka continues to stare at the skeleton, even picking a few bones up to examine them critically. “That was an elf,” he says.
Shefak gladly turns the stones over to Aurora, who accepts them eagerly. Babshapka continues his examination of the skeleton. “There’s no meat on it - just dried bone...and these coins are of a mint with the ones from the other room - very old. Whoever this was, they died long ago.” _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
This and subsequent posts will contain many spoilers. The identity of rooms is indicated in bold.
For the soundtrack while in the Dungeon level, I used "Dungeon I" by Tabletop Audios.
Post 116: Every last nook and cranny Somewhere in the Little Hills, actual date unknown. Second day in the Tower
Shefak gladly turns the stones over to Aurora, who accepts them eagerly. Babshapka continues his examination of the skeleton. “There’s no meat on it - just dried bone...and these coins are of a mint with the ones from the other room - very old. Whoever this was, they died long ago.”
“Why would a pris’ner have magic stones?” wonders Willa aloud, before she turns and addresses Aurora directly. “An’ wha’ ther feck are we lookin’ fer ‘ere, anyway?”
(2:20pm)
Aurora, as usual, dodges the question and merely says that they have nearly all of the dungeon searched and must indeed be close to the end. She sits down in the hallway, turns the wick up on Willa’s lantern, and opens Nholast’s journal. Willa gives an exasperated sigh, then directs Babshapka to search the room with the skeleton (D27), Thokk the secret treasure room (D28), and has the rest of the party follow her down the hall. When they reach a previously unsearched section, she lights a chair leg at one end of the hall, has Tyrius cast the light of Pelor on the other end, and the rest of the party searching between them.
(2:40pm)
After 20 minutes, Babshapka has found nothing else in the prison chamber, so he comes out and stands guard over Aurora. At some point she looks up from her reading and notices him. “See if you can do anything with these,” she says, and hands him over the two strange flying gems.
Thokk, during his search in the treasure room, notices a hollow sound when he taps on the stone wall near the floor. It doesn’t take long before he has found how to move a stone out of the way and discovered a space in the wall just large enough to contain one more coffer like those in the room. This one, however, doesn’t have coins inside. Instead, as far as he can tell in the darkness, it has little pieces of cut glass.
Thokk wanders about the dungeon until he finds where Willa is directing the search, and shows her the coffer. By the light of the torch, she finds the “glass” is actually thirty-some gemstones. She smiles, but says, “All ther same, we cannae eat ’em.”
The party continues to search, methodically checking all the stone surfaces for any remaining secret doors.
(3:20pm - Aurora has read through DC 28 in the book)
(3:40pm - Babshapka has identified the clear spindle. It is an ioun stone, and whilst it is in orbit about someone’s head, he will need neither food nor drink. However, to use it, he would need to attune to it first - and since Babshapka already has two of his three possible attunements used, he sets it aside.
(4:20pm - Aurora has read through DC29 in the book. She finds an interesting reference, presumably to the skeleton of the elf: Nholast caught an elven thief trying to make off with money and magic. He sentenced him to 30 years imprisonment, and is interested to see what the state of his mind will be in 30 years.
The next time the party returns to Aurora to check on her and go over the maps of the dungeon to decide where to search next, she tells them what she just learned from Nholast’s journal, and Babshapka relays what he learned about the stone. Willa asks whether something happened to Nholast in the thirty years so that he could not check on the prisoner, or whether he just forgot. Aurora thumbs through the journal, cross-referencing dates. “The elf was imprisoned just a few years before the last entry - and in the last entry, Nholast says he is leaving to help Asberdies “put down a rebellion”. But the Sage of Highfell told us that Nholast and Asberdies were deposed by a rebellion and Nholast had to flee the Yeomanry, so one could surmise that he was never able to return to this tower…”
“And the elf stayed here, left behind and trapped?” asks Umbra, aghast.
“Unable to leave,” says Babshapka, “and with the ioun stone, unable to die.”
“So ‘ow did ‘e die?” asks Willa.
Babshapka shrugs, then says darkly, “Old age, perhaps.”
“But that would take…” Aurora’s words trail off.
“Hundreds of years,” confirms Babshapka bitterly. “You said the journal is from seven centuries ago, right? That would do it.”
For several moments they all stand in silence, contemplating just how cruel and evil this Nholast must have been, and the horrid fate of the elf. Tyrius’ jaw muscles clench, and Umbra shudders.
“An’ t’at t’ing Thokk found - ther demon...” asks Willa.
“Thokk find with his pole!” Thokk interjects brightly.
“...would she hae been bound since t’ese times o’ yore, too?” she finishes.
“Demons don’t age,” says Tyrius. “But I understand now why she was so eager to be free - even if that meant provoking us into destroying her material form.” He frowns, remembering how the erinyes actually thanked him for her destruction.
Sobered and pensive, with some of them apprehensive at what other atrocities might lurk behind secret doors, the party resumes their search of the corridors while Aurora goes back to reading. Babshapka remains with Aurora, contemplating the stones as he guards her.
(5:30pm - Aurora has read through DC30 in the book. Babshapka has identified the iridescent spindle. It is another ioun stone, and whilst it is in orbit about someone’s head, he will not need to breathe. Babshapka can’t stop himself from looking at the tight seal of the iron door of the prison cell, and imagining the suffocating feel and smell after having been trapped inside for centuries.)
The party travels south, and searches all of the walls of the fungus and beetle room, including the bare secret room beyond. Then, finding nothing there, they go to the dirt-floored base of the tower above. The corpse of the ogre still lies at the bottom of the stairs, but it is now, after a day and a half, bloated and reeking of rot. The wind from the tower above carries the scent of a score of bodies more. Trying to keep from gagging, Willa tells them to be quick, but Thokk and Umbra, checking the north wall, converge on the same secret door.
(6:30pm - Aurora has read through DC31 in the book.)
The secret door leads to a small chamber, walled with the same rough blocks that the basement was - but the floor is also of rough stone, not dirt. In the center of the room is a circular pedestal. The room is otherwise bare. It measures ten by ten with an eight foot high ceiling. When Thokk and Umbra enter, they find that the room, isolated from the frigid wind rushing down the stairs, is noticeably warmer than the tower above or the basement floor. Umbra looks carefully, but does not find any markings adorning any side of the pedestal. Thokk jumps up on the pedestal and poses as if a statue, his head bumping the ceiling. Nearly retching, Willa tells Thokk to stop fooling around and come out of there if they cannot find anything.
Retreating from the stench, Willa checks her map. She is confident they have searched the entirety of the dungeon - except the secret area beyond the kitchen, which for all she knows is now full of trapped rats. She gathers the party and tells them that it is time for dinner.
In the kitchen, they all eat heartily of the tub full of rat stew. Thokk and Larry don’t care, of course, but even the others set aside any reservations - it has been a day and a half since any of them have eaten. Tyrius says that it “tastes like chicken,” which brings a snicker from even Willa.
(7:30pm - food reset to this time. Aurora has read through DC32 in the book.)
Belly now full, Willa is thinking a little clearer. Another place that hasn’t been searched is the secret wine cellar beyond the kitchen. But she is in no hurry to fight the slimes that remain. She directs Thokk to bringing in stout table legs and smashed chairs, and soon has a raging fire going in the hearth. She opens the secret door, and the party quickly tosses in burning wood. The fire drives the slime back, and it retreats into the corners of the room, revealing more of the rotten wood shelves and ancient glass bottles. Several minutes later, Thokk and Willa attempt to see into the room, hoping that secret doors have been revealed. Instead, they find that room itself is full of smoke, and even harder to see into than before. In fact, the smoke is rolling out and beginning to fill the kitchen. A lively current of air is going up the hearth chimney, but that opening is at waist height and the smoke is lingering on the kitchen ceiling, such that soon everyone is sitting or squatting to avoid coughing. Willa tells Thokk to stop feeding the fire in the wine cellar and to let it die out.
Eventually the fire has burned down to cinders and ash. Willa has told Thokk how she and the party fought and killed one slime, and he decides that he will kill the others so that his evil advisor can look for doors. In truth, he has found far too few things to fight in this dungeon and he is bored of looking for doors.
Thokk strides confidently into the room, stands in the pile of ash, and takes note of the three slimes, each cowering in a different corner. He laughs and steps forward, striking at the one in front of him with his sunsword. The magical blade slices through the creature and deep into the wooden shelving. A half-dozen glass bottles crash to the floor and break, splashing Thokk with ancient wine long turned to vinegar. Thokk starts to feel a burning sensation on his forearm. The wine? No - the slime he struck has shot some sort of acid at him! Then, the three slimes ooze forward, dropping on him, creeping up his boots, and firing off streams of caustic acid. [In rapid succession, Thokk takes 37 points of acid damage, and another 10 points of bludgeoning damage. He is feeling decidedly worse than a few seconds ago.]
Tyrius casts a sanctuary spell on Thokk and yells at him to get out of there. Bellowing in pain and confusion, Thokk staggers from the room and runs over to the copper tub. He splashes the dregs of the rat stew on his face, trying to wash off the acid and burning slime. Larry and Umbra try to force the slime back into the secret room with sprays of poison and freezing shadow (although the poison has no effect) and Willa activates the stone that closes the secret door again, then carefully uses a flaming torch to burn the slime dripping off Thokk and running in a spotty trail from him to the door. She looks into the tub, where patches of slime are even now beginning to grow as they dissolve pieces of rat meat. She notes sardonically that they should probably bring that to a boil again.
Once Thokk has been thoroughly checked for any lingering pieces of slime (which is hard to see as it is green against his green skin), Larry grants him two cure wounds spells.
The party clusters around the other secret door, this one to the west of the hearth. Willa has little respect for the rats as opponents and does not broach any discussion of strategy beyond asking the others if they are ready, but not waiting for their response. She opens the secret door.
Tyrius is the first one through the doorway and smashes two rats with his hammer as he makes room for those behind him. Larry is next, and as he enters the narrow hallway he can see that the floor is wall-to-wall packed with rats in both directions. He turns to the south and fires off a lightning bolt without a second’s hesitation, not even bothering to estimate the distance. The bolt streaks down the hallway, arcs from rat to rat, bounces off the stone wall at the end, returns all the way back up the corridor, and ends a scant ten feet from where Larry and Tyrius are standing. Between them and the south wall, fully twenty-two giant rats now lie dead, still twitching and smoking. With two-dozen rats already fallen, the remainder in the north try to withdraw, but now Thokk, Umbra and Willa join the fray, and in less than a minute it is all over. As the bodies are piled in the garrison room (D18) Willa counts them - thirty four in total, most of them flash-fried. A good source of meat for their trek out of here, if the pointy-eared harridan ever lets them leave.
With the hallway clear, Willa organizes a search along its entire length, in the store room at the end, and Thokk even lowers Larry into the collapsed-floor latrine room, but no further secret doors are found. With the exception of the slime-guarded wine cellar, Willa is now confident that they have searched every square inch of this gods-forsaken dungeon.
(8:30pm - Aurora has read through DC33 in the book.)
While Aurora is engrossed in her tome, Babshapka has not heard from the party in hours, and decides it is time they checked in. He forces Aurora to pull herself from the book and they set off in search of the others. Eventually they are reunited in the kitchen, where Willa is directing the party in setting up a camp to rest for the night. She tells Aurora that they have searched the whole dungeon, and found no other secret rooms. “Oh, that’s good,” says Aurora distractedly, “I’m almost done with Nholast’s journal myself.”
“If we war only searchin’ t’ keep us busy so as ye could read…” begins Willa, but Aurora has already turned away and is asking Thokk to bring one of the upholstered chairs from the room they rested in on the first night. With furniture, carpets, and mats scavenged from all parts of the dungeon, with water, fire, and as much rat as they can eat, the party settles in for a reasonably comfortable rest, certainly better than they have had in days. They use all of their healing spells and abilities in preparation for the long rest.
Umbra and Tyrius take the first watch (9:30pm to 11:30pm). Most of the others doze fitfully, but Aurora continues to read (to DC35 in the book). Just before she is about to give up and turn in, she hits a surprising passage. Scanning it over, she carefully translates it again, checking for meaning. She looks around excitedly - hoping to share the news with someone - but Tyrius shakes his head and puts his finger to his lips. It will need to wait until morning.
Aurora turns in, and Thokk and Larry take the next watch (11:30pm to 1:30am). _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Post 117: Powerful Revelations Somewhere in the Little Hills, actual date unknown. Third day in the Tower
Babshapka completes his trance and spends the next six hours on watch while the others complete their long rest. (1:30am to 7:30am).
In the morning, as a breakfast of rat stew is prepared, Aurora eagerly translates for the party the passage she read the night before. (DC35) “About a year before the last entry, Nholast writes of the appearance of a great “planet” or wandering star in the heavens. In the course of a single night it streaked across the sky and crashed to the Oerth far to the north. He says that he would be interested in traveling to the sight of the crash to see if there is star metal to be had, as it would be extremely valuable if recovered. He mentions that the sword that the “Cruel Lord” used to slay “The Master” was made of star metal, and it could hold enchantments far more powerful than any metal from Oerth.” Aurora suggests that now that they are done searching the tower, they should try to track down where this star fell, and see if, indeed, there is any of this “star metal” there.
“Would it still be there, after 750 years?” asks Tyrius.
“As long as it fell in the wild, I don’t know why not,” responds Aurora. “I doubt anyone else at the time would have been able to track its location. And if it fell in the lands of men, there would surely be an historical account I could find in the local area.”
“‘Ow would ye be able t’ ken jess whar it fell?” asks Willa. “‘Ther north be a big place.”
“Actually,” says Aurora, showing the party a yellowed journal page full of faded, indecipherable symbols, “Nholast included a detailed map of star positions, angles and calculations. He very carefully tracked its progress across the sky, and from the precision of these measurements I have to believe that magic was involved somehow. I would need to find something that would allow me to correlate the azimuths and altitudes of those star positions with landmarks and measurements on the Oerth - but I think...” She starts shuffling through a few papers in her pack with recently-made notes on them. “Yes,” she says, pointing to her own shorthand, “one of the books we found in the library would allow me to do that - book 36 - Astronomical phenomena; stars, using star measurements as location indicators on Oerth. By correlating Nholast’s records with the conversions in that book, I can derive precisely the latitude and longitude where the star fell - then I would just need an accurate map of the north, and a way to find our current position on that map and on the Oerth.”
Willa shrugs. “I kin navigate, an’ I carry ther tools ye need. I kin tell ye what our latytood an’ longytood be if I kin see ther stars.”
Umbra frowns pensively, then pulls forth a folded vellum sheet. It looks to Aurora like the same sheet she took from the cabinet where Nholast’s diary was found. “I have a map of the north,” Umbra says. “But it is in Suel. I was actually hoping you might help me translate some of the names.”
“Some of it I understand, of course,” she continues. “Taurewelk” is the Welkwood, and “Taurepeliko” is what the ancient forest was called centuries ago, before the Axewood and Silverwood were sundered from one another.” Babshapka smiles wistfully as his home is mentioned. “But “Talathpesh” I don’t understand, and what is this skull and spiderweb in the Rushmoors? What does “Liante Malhama” mean?”
Aurora scours the map with obvious interest. “Talath means plains or flat lands,” she says, without even looking up at Umbra. “Pesh I don’t know - my Ancient Suel isn’t perfect. But Liante Malhama is the “Spidered Throne,” whatever that means.”
While Aurora is occupied with the map, the others in the party see Umbra’s eyes go wide at the mention of the Spidered Throne. Then her eyes roll back in her head and she faints, crashing to the stone floor. Aurora looks up, confused.
Tyrius is at Umbra’s side, examining her. He places his hand on her chest, his ear near her mouth. He shakes her, says her name, pinches her arm. Finally he turns to the others. “She lives,” he says, “but is in some kind of fugue state - see how fast her eyes move!” Indeed, Umbra’s eyes are closed now, but under her lids they can be seen to dart back and forth as if she is caught in an intense dream but cannot awake. “Let us get a cloak about her,” says Tyrius. “Her skin feels as cold as stone and I worry she may go into shock.”
Aurora turns back to the map. “I wonder what all those towers are,” she says, unconcerned. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
At last! The mystery of who the mysterious elf woman is revealed!
Post 118: Backstory for Umbra, Grey Elf Sorcerer, Level 4 Background
She was born deep in the Hornwood Forest to a tribe of gray elves. The decades of her infancy and childhood passed swiftly and happily, with her cared for by all her parents and her tribe. She remembers what seem like endless years of singing to encourage the new growth in the spring, counting the stars in the summer, gathering acorns in the fall, and listening to stories in the winter.
Her idyllic youth grew into a troubled adolescence, however. Lithe and nimble, she was nevertheless a mediocre shot with a bow. Nor did she have much success with snares and traps. Although she was precocious with respect to sensing and understanding people’s emotions (the basis of elven medicine), her knowledge of herbs and healing was passable at best. She lacked a passion for the arts or weaponswork. She struggled to get through the most basic of incantations and cantrips. While it is expected among elves that adolescents will require decades to find their true vocation, as the years passed she became increasingly anxious that she would have little to offer her tribe as an adult.
Her amiable disposition and keen insights into others’ feelings eventually led to her being allowed to serve on an ambassadorial mission to a nearby tribe. There she shone, offering well-crafted words when spoken to and shrewd commentary when alone with her delegation. Upon their return to her village, she thought she had at last found her calling. She was increasingly included in diplomatic ventures and began a formal apprenticeship with several tribal leaders.
Her travels afield gave her disquieting insights into her own tribe, however. She quickly learned that other elves (high elves, wood elves) looked to the grey elves as the natural leaders of elvenkind - they were treated as the most cultured, the most wise, the most artistic - and the least influenced by contact with humans. And yet, she did not objectively see these traits among her own people - compared to the other elves she met, her own people did not seem special or distinctive. She discovered that other elves often acted with abandon, with unrestrained joy. Comparatively, her own people seemed to have a repressed sorrow - a sadness that was ever present, but never spoken of. While they achieved artistically, while they reveled and courted and loved in the way of all elves, there was always something holding them back, something keeping them from greatness. The most obvious difference, however, was that other tribes placed great emphasis on their history - and that seemed strangely absent among her people. She could not broach the first two without seeming like she was criticizing her own people, but she began to question the third. At first, her inquiries about her tribe’s past were ignored or met with vague deflections. As she persisted, she received veiled warnings to desist. Her apprentice meetings with the tribal leaders grew shorter and less frequent.
At about this time the dreams started. Each one different, and yet with a single, repeated theme. She walked alone in a city of shadow. Great stone walls and towers, intricately carved, surrounded beautiful gardens - but all pale and lifeless. Sometimes she would catch glimpses of movement in the darkness of alcoves, or see glimmers of light in distant windows, but they were always long gone by the time she arrived. Each dream filled her with an ever-greater sense of dread. She spoke to a few of her parents about the dreams, the ones to whom she was closest. They reassured her that the dreams were a common occurrence among adolescents, and would soon pass - but she could see a fear and sadness in their eyes that belied their words. Once, she overheard a whispered conversation about herself, about something needing to happen, “lest the shadows take her.”
She had always been good at stealth - one of the few woodcraft skills that had seemed natural to her. Now she tried to walk even softer, to let her form blend with trees and houses - to not be seen, and yet never to look like she was trying not to be seen. She overheard more - that they did indeed fear for her, that they talked of her dreams, and of how others like her, before her, had such dreams and “had been lost”.
One fall day she had surreptitiously followed an elder in his walk to the house of a village leader. She lingered outside, listening, as she sat and worked at embroidering what would be a winter robe. With slight moves and natural adjustments of her body, she inched imperceptibly closer to the window as she continued to eavesdrop. Suddenly, there were footsteps toward the door - the elder was leaving quite abruptly. A wave of fear at being discovered spying washed over her, and she stood. And then, just as the door opened, she found herself on the other side of the clearing. How had she gotten there? The elder stared at her - he had seen something. She had passed from shadow to shadow, darting at fantastic speed as if she could pass through the very spots on the ground that were darkened by the shade from the trees above. She knew enough magic to know that it was magic - but how had she done it? She had memorized no spell, said no words. He called after her, but she ran off in fear.
The next day she was summoned before a council of elders. Not all of the leaders of the village were there, just the oldest of her tribe, including the ancient women many treated as lost in dreams but from whom she had pried a few actual comments about history.
She learned more of history in the next half hour than in all her years of asking, than her lifetime in the village. Their tribe, the elders told her, were descendants of the City of Autumn Leaves. The city itself had been destroyed by a great evil, by a magical calamity involving death and shadow. The curse of that destruction hung over them still. They told her but little, and claimed it was all of the information they had. The sorrow she sensed in her people had its origin in that event, as well. All the adults of the tribe knew this, they told her, and knew one more thing besides - that sometimes the shadow reached forth and claimed a member of the tribe, as it had done with her. The adults had been told, her own parents had been told, that she was being banished from the tribe, that this was necessary lest the shadow that was growing in her, that would eventually take her life, should overcome them all.
Even though the elders were spreading this tale among the adults, they knew it to be a lie. They believed not that she was marked for destruction, but rather that she had been chosen to save them. The shadow would give her power, they said - she had felt that power the day before. She was to develop that power, they said. She would need no tutor, no mentor - she had the ability to cast magic by her will alone, with no need of memorized spells. And she was to use that power to discover their true history - the history that they had deliberately hidden from themselves. She was to find the City of Autumn Leaves, the ancestral home that none of them had ever known. She was to learn what had happened to it - and how the curse upon it could be undone. She had their blessing and their highest hopes. When she asked why the others could not know this, she was told that the burden of sorrow was already too great upon the people - the possibility of a failed hope would be their destruction. The elders had lived long enough to see this before - had seen an elf claimed by the shadow each generation - they knew that if she failed, there would be another.
On the day she left her village, she set aside her birth name and took her adult name as Umbra.
It has been fifty years since then, and she has traveled all the lands of the Sheldomar, elven and human. She has worked as a tutor to human noblemen, teaching their children in return for food, a hearth, and access to their libraries. She has worked as a scribe, a translator, and when necessary, a thief. Among the humans she has hidden her magical talents, for humans are a suspicious and superstitious lot. Among elves, she is known to be a sorceress, and a shadowborn one at that. The elves not of her village have given her much sympathy, but little useful information. Whatever disaster destroyed the City of Autumn Leaves, it was both rapid and thorough, and she has found but scant bits and pieces of records. Occasionally a scrap of information has been found in a tome, a tale or historical account from two millennia ago. The best of these have offered contemporary accounts of places, and a few have led her to ruins for exploration. In one of these ruins Umbra found her Crystal of Shadow, her most prized possession.
Recently, Umbra has been traveling in the Yeomanry, attempting to find accounts or artifacts of a human called “Nholast of Linth”. In an ancient libram in Cryllor, Umbra came across a reference to one Nholast being a “servant of the Whispered One”. References to the “Whispered One” are common in what few books give accounts of two thousand years ago. Although the accounts of Nholast of Linth place him as a much more recent figure than that, she is investigating his connection to the “Whispered One” nonetheless, assuming that the servant and the man of Linth are the same person. A month ago she learned the approximate location of one of Nholast’s towers, and she has been scouring the Little Hills ever since, searching for the edifice.
From The Tower of Nholast the Unforgiven (Posts 106, 108-118)
Having found Nholast’s Tower at last, Umbra is poised to investigate it, when suddenly an adventuring party appears at the same time! This is fortunate for her, for the upper tower is controlled by a large group of ferocious eigers.
Even just entering the tower, Umbra could feel the power of the shadows present - they exalted in her coming, she attained 5th level, and they taught her the spells Entropy and Shadowbind. It is clear that there was something in the tower which the shadows wish to reveal to her.
The party’s wizard attempts to deceive Umbra as to their intentions, but the paladin reveals that they are in search of a book. Under the tower is a secret dungeon complex, and that holds a library, the collection of Nholast’s works. Although steeped in power and evil, none of the works interests Umbra, for she is not concerned about Nholast himself, but rather his connection to the Whispered One, and his library gives no hint of that.
They find a portrait of Nholast, which Willa, the party’s champion, eventually takes. Umbra believes it dates to about 750 years ago - long after the Whispering One - how could Nholast be his servant?
Later, they find a scriptorium - with Umbra being led there by the shadows. There, the shadows present her with a map, although doing so in front of the ever-suspicious wizard Aurora, it would be some time before Umbra could look at it. Aurora claims a book that is the diary of Nholast of Linth. This is of interest to Umbra, but unfortunately the book itself is in ancient Suel, which she cannot read. Tyrius mentions that the tower they are in is of “Nholast the Unforgiven” and Umbra says the she does not know who that is - technically true, since she has only ever heard of him referred to as Nholast of Linth before. What she is most interested in, is whether this Nholast is indeed the one that is a servant of the Whispered One, and whether anything in the diary can lead her to more information about the Whispered One, the true object of her quest.
Over the course of many hours, Aurora reads the diary and announces what she finds to the party, while Umbra pays careful attention:
(DC35) “About a year before the last entry, Nholast writes of the appearance of a great “planet” or wandering star in the heavens. In the course of a single night it streaked across the sky and crashed to the Oerth far to the north. He says that he would be interested in traveling to the sight of the crash to see if there is star metal to be had, as it would be extremely valuable if recovered. He mentions that the sword that the “Cruel Lord” used to slay “The Master” was made of star metal, and it could hold enchantments far more powerful than any metal from Oerth.”
Umbra frowns pensively, then pulls forth a folded vellum sheet. It looks to Aurora like the same sheet she took from the cabinet where Nholast’s diary was found. “I have a map of the north,” Umbra says. “But it is in Suel. I was actually hoping you might help me translate some of the names.” She carefully unfolds the map and spreads it out for them to see:
“Some of it I understand, of course,” she continues. “Taurewelk” is the Welkwood, and “Taurepeliko” is what the ancient forest was called centuries ago, before the Axewood and Silverwood were sundered from one another. But “Talathpesh” I don’t understand, and what is this skull and spiderweb in the Rushmoors? What does “Liante Malhama” mean?”
Aurora scours the map with obvious interest. “Talath means plains or flat lands,” she says, without even looking up at Umbra. “Pesh I don’t know - my Ancient Suel isn’t perfect. But Liante Malhama is the “Spidered Throne,” whatever that means.”
While Aurora is occupied with the map, the others in the party see Umbra’s eyes go wide at the mention of the “Spidered Throne”. Then her eyes roll back in her head and she faints, crashing to the stone floor. Aurora looks up, confused. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
I must say, I quite enjoy playing Eddard, the Celestial Mount, as an NPC. I am by no means a sadistic or "gotcha!" DM, but using DM perspective and hindsight to chide the players for tactical failures is enjoyable!.
Post 119: Leaving the Tower Somewhere in the Little Hills, actual date unknown. Third day in the Tower
The party builds the fire back up and moves Umbra closer to the hearth. Tyrius tries casting a lesser restoration on her, but it produces no change in her condition. Reflecting on the demon, and on the fate of the elf prisoner, he says that this tower is an accursed place and they will all be better off once they have left. Willa agrees, and sets about organizing for their departure. When Aurora says that there is a book or two she wishes to take, Willa checks her own notes, and then tells her that while she is gathering things, she should pick up the coin from the secret treasure room (D28) as well as all the treasure from the beetle room (D33). Just before Aurora and Babshapka are out the door, Willa adds, “An’ wat ther ‘ells - bring ther portrait o’ Nholast, too.”
While Aurora and Babshapka are rounding up treasure, Willa orders Shefak and Larry to start preparing all of the dead rats. With the loss of Randy, they are extremely short on packs and bags - Willa wants them to eat as much as they can at one last meal in the tower, and then forage as they go. Tyrius she leaves to tend to and pray over Umbra, while Thokk she takes with her, back aboveground.
It is cold in the tower above, most likely hovering around freezing outside, and the inside reeks of dead ogre. Somehow, corpse flies have found their way into the chamber despite the absence of windows on this level, and they crawl about the bloated bodies, feeding, mating, laying eggs. Thokk seems not to notice, but Willa is glad for the cold, knowing she would not last long in the room if the bodies, now two days dead, had been in the heat as well.
With Thokk, she examines the exit critically. The rocks are huge and piled high, but they appear loose and have not been packed between with dirt, let alone mortar. Thokk tries one at the base - it is all he can do to shift it, with the weight of the other stones above it, and before he moves it a few inches a smaller stone from above crashes down and nearly hits them both. Willa tells him to hold the torch while she works.
Willa climbs to the top of the entry arch and begins tugging at the top-most boulders, tumbling them down into the room. She works to open a crawl-space at the top, just wide and deep enough for Larry to squeeze through. If these rocks go the length of the entryway it will be impossible, for she won’t have the leverage to move them if she has to enter a tunnel on her hands and knees, but after the first two are out of the way she can see daylight through the others. The barrier itself is only a few feet thick, likely just thick enough to block off the entryway, and much wider at the base than the vaulted ceiling. This allows her to stand on the face of the piles as she pulls. When she tires, she trades with Thokk, and eventually they have an exit hole cleared.
Sweaty from their efforts despite the cold, Willa and Thokk scramble down the rock face and out of the tower. Willa takes deep gulps of fresh air, thanking the Great Sea Cow of the South that she is at last free of that stifling dungeon. There is frost on the ground in the shadow of the tower, but the wilted grass is free of it in the morning sun. Willa turns and slowly surveys the broad valley. They are leaving soon - and yet, they don’t know where they are. The Sage told them that the tower was in the Little Hills, but these are no hills. The lightly forested, roughly circular valley is a low point, but it is surrounded on all sides by mountains - true mountains. Those to the south, east and west seem equally high, but the ones to the north are even higher, and capped with snow. Willa looks at the height of the sun and lengths of the shadows - it is late morning, but they still have several hours before noon. She walks well away from the base of the tower, marks the top point of the shadow of its dome with a deep furrow in the ground.
By the time she returns to the entryway, she finds Thokk bent over and studying the ground. “Eiger tracks?” she asks. “No,” he grunts and gestures to the northwest, where the broad tracks of the departing brutes are obvious but don't look anything like what he is examining. “Wolves.”
Thokk explains that a small pack, maybe five or ten wolves, was here recently - sometime after dawn. He shows Willa where they gnawed a few bones in the refuse pile, licked the old blood off the grass where the three eigers were slain outside, and even pawed at the rocks in the entryway. In fact, the entrance to the tower is full of paw prints - they must have missed them on the way out as their eyes adjusted to the light.
“Be t’ey still about?” she asks Thokk. Even ten wolves is little concern for them in the day - but would mean they would need extra guards at night, especially if Umbra continues to be unconscious. Thokk sniffs deeply, looks about, and shrugs. It must be frustrating for the pack, he reasons, to smell all those dead eigers inside the tower and not be able to get at them. He even looks sad for them. Willa laughs at the sight - it is the most empathy she has seen Thokk display since she has known him!
They climb back up the rock pile and descend to the kitchen, Willa promising herself this will be the last time she has to "go below” for a while.
Umbra’s condition is unchanged. The lunch is nearly ready. Aurora and Babshapka have returned with not only the treasure Willa sent them for, but a stack of books and piles of silver coins besides. They eat, with Willa continually encouraging them to have more, as it may be their last for a while.
After the meal, they take stock of their supplies and all of the treasure they might carry out. They will possibly be traversing mountains - Willa’s first concern is survival gear. If it is freezing in the day on the valley floor, how cold will it be on a mountainside at night?
Most of them have cold weather gear - just Shefak and Umbra are lacking heavy clothes. Shefak not having winter gear makes sense - she says her god sent her here through a magic pool. But Aurora seizes on Umbra’s lack of clothes as suspicious. Indeed, now she notes closely the clothes Umbra is wearing - a long black and green robe with fine embroidery, and delicate sandals. “She claimed she had walked here,” Aurora says accusingly, “but those aren’t traveling clothes - that gown should be torn and stained if she traveled in it, and it would not keep her warm at night at all. Something strange is going on - I don’t trust her story.”
Babshapka shrugs. “Maybe she cached her travel gear before she approached the tower. We didn’t ask her if she had a camp - or even where we are. Too bad, since she is the only one who knows.” He looks over at her unconscious form.
“Regardless,” says Willa authoritatively, trying to draw them back on track. She points out that Umbra’s pack does include a bedroll, so she can be packed in that for transport, and that will hopefully keep her warm enough in the day. As for Shefak…
“I’ll manage,” says the Baklunni woman. “Cold, like all discomforts of the flesh, is an illusion that I must practice dispelling for myself.”
Willa concludes that they should be warm enough during the day, if they keep moving. At night, what do they have? Umbra, as mentioned, has a bedroll. Shefak and Willa have their own bedrolls, as well. Everyone else’s bedroll was on Randy, and is now missing. They briefly consider some of the rugs found in the dungeon, but they are far too bulky for the minimum protection they would give. Willa has her two-person tent, as well - though it is summer-weight and more designed for keeping out wet and insects rather than cold. “It’s wat we got,” sighs Willa. The valley at least is forested, so they can look for campsites with wood for fire, if possible. If anyone gets too cold at night, they can be rotated through the tent the next night.
Water is their next concern - between the eight of them, they have just six skins, enough for less than half a day. They will need to forage for water sources as well as food as they travel. Babshapka nods thoughtfully.
Finally, they start dividing up packs, testing their weight, adding treasure, and testing the weight again. Willa carefully cuts the purported portrait of Nholast out of its frame, rolls the canvass up, and stows it in her pack. The books that Aurora wants to bring are huge, leather-bound volumes, and take up far too much space in packs. She carries the diary of Nholast herself, and convinces Thokk to take two more by complementing how strong he is. It is not hard to convince him - the books are worthless to him, but the coins the party is rationing out hold little appeal to him either. He does mumble sadly about “Edgy,” his prized battle axe that was lost with Randy. Thokk takes the book of star positions that Aurora says they will need to find the fallen star, and one other. Aurora is disappointed to have to leave another half-dozen books behind.
Aurora mentions, in the way she often does, talking about her concerns as if anyone else in the party shared them, that the other book she insists on taking is about “Infernal Bargains” and she hopes to use it to better understand what happened to the Malhel. Tyrius looks at her skeptically. “The only thing you need to understand,” he says firmly, “is that if you try to strike a bargain with an Infernal Power, you lose.”
In the end, they manage to take all of the gems and other obviously valuable treasures - chalices, statuettes, and so forth. But they will be leaving a considerable number of gold coins behind, and all of the silver. Babshapka leaves 27 of his own silver pieces behind so as to carry the same number of gold; Larry, Thokk, and Aurora do the same with some of their personal treasure.
“Who’s carrying Umbra?” asks Aurora, as she tests the weight of her pack again.
“I will summon Eddard,” says Tyrius. “We can secure Umbra to his saddle.”
Willa shakes her head. “Better build a travois,” she says. “‘Tweren’t no sign o’ yer saddle, neither yer barding, in ther tower above. Mights be unner all t’em rocks, but if ther eigers took all o’ Randy’s bags, ‘twould nae be a surprise t’at they took Eddard’s as well.” Tyrius nods solemnly.
Once everyone has decided on their final pack contents, Umbra is bundled in her bedroll, Willa encourages them all to eat, drink, and fill their waterskins one last time, and then they head for the surface. With Thokk on one side of the rock barrier and Willa the other, they pass Umbra and the packs through the small hole between them and then assemble outside the tower.
The fresh air smells of smoke, and wisps can be seen rising out of the ground to the northwest near the tower. Investigation reveals a weed-choked, rusted and pitted iron grate covering a black hole descending into the earth - likely the egress of the kitchen chimney. Babshapka takes just long enough looking at the tracks to confirm that they are indeed eigers, and then begins looking for tall saplings with which to fashion a travois.
Willa keeps watch on the shadow of the tower, and when it reaches its shortest length, she uses her navigator’s tools to measure the angle of the sun, then determines their latitude to be 27 degrees north. With Aurora, she then looks over Umbra’s map, as well as a more modern version that Aurora has sketched out from memory. The Sage told them that the tower was in the Little Hills, but they both agree that they are not. However, at this latitude, they could easily be close by - most likely on the southern slopes of the Jotens, the mountain range that forms the northern boundary of the Yeomanry. With Willa’s estimate of latitude, they believe their most likely position is at the edge of the Jotens, in the region of Tuckville.
They know they want to travel north to the star fall location, but agree that they should not strike true north through the Jotens, if that is indeed their current location. “Joten” is an old Flan word meaning giant, but tales are divided over whether the mountain range is named that for the size of the mountains or the presence of numerous tribes of giants dwelling therein (or both). In any event, such a crossing would be difficult even if they were well-provisioned with food, climbing gear, and cold weather gear, and they have little enough of each of those. No, they agree, their best course of action is to leave the mountains as soon as they can, come down into the Yeomanry (if that is where they are), and book passage on a river vessel traveling north.
South of the Yeoman city of Longspear, the Javan River is the boundary between the Yeomanry and Keoland, and a Yeoman vessel is likely to be found to carry them north, perhaps all the way to Geoff. North of Longspear, however, both sides of the Javan are ruled by Keoland, and it might be more difficult to reach the river without encountering the knight or others looking for them.
Willa and Aurora discuss their plans. Aurora insists out loud, perhaps suspecting that they are being scried on, that they will be heading south as the quickest way out of the mountains, but whispers to Willa that they should go east. Willa calls her daft and says loudly that they will be traveling east until they find a trail or otherwise pick up their bearings, since all the trails run SE to NW, paralleling the edge of the Jotens.
Aurora works to transfer some notes from Umbra’s map to her own sketch map. Together, she and Willa then estimate where the starfall may lie. Using the diary and the other book she is taking, Aurora knows the exact latitude and longitude of the starfall - but she does not know exactly where that is in the world, because the maps she has seen have largely not included accurate scales on them, and she is drawing from memory. Her best guess gives an area hundreds of miles across, but one that does not include the Rushmoors and putative location of the “Spidered Throne”. Rather, it is about half of the nation of Geoff and a good portion of the Barrier Peaks mountains.
However, if Willa continues to take measurements as they travel, she can make the maps they have more accurate, by tying the features they know to specific latitudes and longitudes. Thus, the closer they get to the location of the starfall itself, the smaller the area in which it could be will become.
Tyrius begins the ten minutes of prayer he hopes will summon Eddard. At the end, the huge white stallion appears. He tosses his mane, sniffs the air, and looks about.
“Well, that took awhile,” he says with typical understatement. “When I got sent back to the Celestial Realms I knew we were in trouble, and I kept waiting for Tyrius to appear after me. When he didn’t, I knew that he still lived and that you might have won - but wondered why you didn’t call me back.”
Tyrius fills him in on the end of the battle with the eigers, the past several days exploring the tower, and their new goal of looking for the fallen star. Eddard nuzzles the dry, dead grass and nods thoughtfully as Tyrius speaks. When the paladin gets to the part about how they are short on food, gear, and how he needs to ask the steed to pull a travois with Umbra, Eddard interjects. “Well now, hold on there - what happened to Randy and all your supplies?”
“They are gone - Randy was killed by rats and, we believe, the eigers took all of the supplies that were on him.”
“Ho, they took the supplies, did they now? So they held the field after the battle, and you were forced to retreat after I was slain?”
“No, actually we held the field. There was a long pause in the fighting, and we decided to rest in the basement of the tower, and we left the supplies on Randy’s body on the first floor.”
“Oh, I see, you thought you had beaten all the eigers but when you set out to explore the tower, you had left some enemies behind without knowing.”
“Actually,” interjects Shefak, “we knew there were more. At the end of the battle, we saw several of the eigers pause and then retreat up the stairs instead of pressing the attack.”
Eddard snorts in disbelief. “So you knew there were more eigers in the tower, and you left your supplies behind you in a room you knew the eigers visited?” Eddard now has his head high, and is turning his neck back and forth, looking at everyone in the party. “Not an hour before, hadn’t you all gotten a fright when you almost lost Randy to the void of space? Did you not remember the value of all that gear?”
“At the time,” answers Tyrius, “I believe that we felt the tower itself was magically generating eigers - I don’t think we thought they were quite real, or that they could actually leave the tower and take the supplies with them. Maybe they would take the supplies, but then we could recover them when we searched the upper floors of the tower.”
“Magically generating eigers?” says Eddard, his tone even more incredulous. “Wasn’t your first kill the eiger who was out emptying a shite-bucket next to a pile of bones? What would they need to do to convince you that they were real?”
This time no one answers Eddard’s question. The party just sits in embarrassed silence, except for Thokk, who chuckles, then says “Magic horse talk a lot.”
Eddard sighs and tosses his mane. “Very well. I was chosen to help Tyrius develop a good head for tactics. I see now that my mandate is broader, and that I am here to help you all learn a thing or two.”
“Lesson One: You are all soldiers - you are fighting units in an army. Yes, even you, Aurora,” Eddard says, as the half-elf tries to interrupt. “You, in particular, are an artillery unit, but you are still part of the fighting force. Now, the fighting units are very effective at fighting, but in the long term they still need support units. They need more food and water and gear than they can carry themselves. So there are units that don’t fight, they carry things. They are called the Baggage Train.” Eddard pauses to make sure everyone is paying attention.
“As an army, it is your job to defend the baggage train, because it is a soft target that is easily disrupted by the enemy. Hopefully Randy’s loss has taught you that lesson. The easiest way to defend the baggage train is to keep it well to the rear, out of harm’s way. Then you don’t have to burden fighting units with actively protecting it, which is not efficient. Speaking of which, whose idea was it to bring Randy into the tower in the first place?”
Again, there is only embarrassed silence. Eddard tosses his head back, looking at the sky as if that will help him remember. “Ah yes, if I do recall, it was Aurora who brought Randy in. Please explain.”
Aurora flushes and responds hotly. “We had cleared out the first floor of the tower - all of the eigers were dead. I was trying to keep us together, instead of spread out and less defensible.”
Eddard nods. “Fair enough. So in the future, when you move the baggage train forward into a disputed area, you need to be prepared to defend it. That means assigning a fighting unit as a dedicated guard, ideally one that is tough and can take attacks in place of the train, but one that doesn’t do a lot of melee damage so you are not wasting potential attack capability. I recommend myself, or the dwarf.”
Eddard lets Aurora and the rest of the party reflect on that before asking, “So, Aurora, did you have any spells left at the end of the combat with the eigers?”
“Spells? Why, yes. Mostly I was using firebolt for attacks, so I had plenty of spell levels left.”
“Then you could have cast a mage armor on Randy, right?”
“Well I...I mean...yes, I could have,” she admits sullenly.
“Okay, so keep that in mind. The people who would most benefit from your spell, at the moment, are yourself, but also myself and Umbra. It would provide a minimal benefit to Shefak, and would even be slightly better for Babshapka than wearing the armor he has - but he would have to take his armor off. Assuming you want to save three spells for yourself, you have one more a day you can use if you think someone needs a boost.”
Eddard seems to be done lecturing for the moment, so the party prepares to set out. Babshapka and Tyrius cut strips of leather to bind the staves of the travois together and fasten it to Eddard, then load the bed roll with Umbra, her backpack, and a bag from Tyrius to it. Willa plans on having them go a half-day’s march to the east, up the side of the valley into the mountain slopes if they reach it, but make camp before dark. The day is fair and cloudless, and has even climbed into the forties this afternoon, though it will surely drop below freezing again after nightfall.
Willa leads the party due east across the lightly forested valley. After half an hour of walking, it is clear that Babshapka is a bit faster than Eddard, while Thokk and Larry are significantly faster. That Larry is faster is perplexing, for he has always been the slowest member of the party, and they had to travel at his speed after they left Barovia. Nevertheless, Willa sends the three of them ahead, to both scout and forage - Babshapka just ahead and remaining so unless he spots trouble, Larry to the southeast and Thokk to the northeast, with orders to check back with the main group every so often.
For the first mile the going is flat and easy, with the travois gliding smoothly over the dead grass and avoiding thick copses of trees. The temperature is in the 40’s and slowly dropping. As they continue, though, the ground begins to rise more and more steeply, until Willa has to carefully choose their path of ascent up the dry mountainside. Although the tower grows small behind them, it is still clearly visible as the tallest object in the valley. Larry returns to the main group several times to hand off full waterskins and take empty ones, as he seems adept at finding streams and springs along the way. Willa looks for natural switchbacks so that Eddard can manage the ascent, and they gain one ridge after another as they travel up a long draw between higher peaks. Finally, as the sun is nearing the western horizon, they attain the highest ridge yet and look down the far slope. Although that slope is now in shadow, they can see that it descends for at least ten miles in front of them - they appear to have attained the local summit of the mountains encircling the valley of the tower.
The three scouts have found more than enough food (in the form of small game) and water for the day, so the party eats well that night after they set up camp in a hollow just below the ridge line. Willa sets her tent up carefully, and helps Tyrius carry the unmoving form of Umbra inside. Willa has been watching the group all afternoon, and those who appear to be shivering the most are Aurora, Shefak, and Tyrius. She tells Aurora that she can use the tent this first night and watch over Umbra.
Willa, Thokk, and Dirty Larry take first watch. Aurora, once in the tent with the flaps closed, removes her crystal ball from its wraps in her pack. She concentrates on it for ten minutes, trying to bring up an image of the knight, but fails. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
As DM, I wanted to squeeze the loss of Randy the Mule and with him the party's supplies for all of the narrative juice I could. Thus, I made it very clear to the party that they were out of food, had little protection from the cold, and would need to traverse difficult terrain to get back to anywhere they could effectively resolve those two conditions. To their benefit, Babshapka had selected "hills" as a favored environment upon attaining sixth level after the first fight in the tower. This would help his chance to forage and, if he was continually guiding the group, eliminate their penalty for difficult terrain (as it turned out, they were more interested in having him scout ahead and forage than increasing everyone's speed). Thokk had similarly acquired "Fast Movement." Also, I had planned to allow Larry to learn create water after his first full rest in nature (that is, outside the tower), although I did not tell anyone of this plan until after it had happened.
I have written before (Posts 51, 82) about movement rates, and how I wanted to use the Greyhawk Glossography to provide a little more granularity to the 5E wilderness movement rates. Here are the rates I would now use for traveling in hills:
Base movements:
Larry (dwarf): 25 feet per combat turn
Aurora (half-elf), Willa (human), Tyrius (human-dismounted), Umbra (grey elf - when conscious): 30 feet
Babshapka (wood elf): 35 feet
Thokk (half-orc, fast movement): 40 feet
Shefak (human, unarmored movement): 45 feet
Eddard: 60 feet - but 50 when "encumbered" (carrying more than 180 pounds)
30 feet per turn as "standard" movement for comparisons.
WoGG (p.3) gives "Afoot, unencumbered" at 30 miles per day for road, track, and grasslands.
WoGG (p.3) gives "Afoot, unencumbered" at 20 miles per day for trackless hills.
Thus I assumed their movement in trackless hills was 2/3 of what they could do in grasslands. If they eventually found their way to a trail in the hills, I would allow them to resume their grassland rate movement. I also applied this 2/3 reduction to Eddard, even though WoGG gives horsed movement in both grasslands and hills at 45 mpd.
Thus in trackless hills:
Larry: 25 fpt, 2.5 mph, 12.5 miles per march, 25 miles pr day. Note that Larry is not slowed by hills since he has Land's Stride.
Aurora, Willa, Tyrius (dismounted), Umbra: 30 fpt, 3.0 mph, 10 miles per march, 20 miles per day
Babshapka: 35 fpt, 3.5 mph, 17.5 miles per march, 35 miles per day. Note that Babshapka is not slowed by hills since he has Natural Explorer.
Thokk: 40fpt, 4mph, 13 miles per march, 26 miles per day
Shefak: 45fpt, 4.5 mph, 15 miles per march, 30 miles per day.
Eddard (pulling travois): 50fpt, 5 mph, 15 miles per march, 30 miles per day
5E DMG wrote:
EXTREME COLD Whenever the temperature is at or below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, a creature exposed to the cold must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw at the end of each hour or gain one level of exhaustion. Creatures with resistance or immunity to cold damage automatically succeed on the saving throw, as do creatures wearing cold weather gear (thick coats, gloves, and the like) and creatures naturally adapted to cold climates.
As with movement, I wanted a little more granularity with this, with increasing penalties for colder and colder conditions. Here are my current house rules for exposure to cold:
In order to successfully complete a rest (long or short), treat the cold conditions as one ranking colder. Either automatic or successful saving throws are necessary for any time period spent in such conditions to count as rest.
Below 60F
Whenever the temperature is below 60F, a creature exposed to the cold must succeed on a DC 6 Constitution saving throw at the end of each four hours or gain one level of exhaustion. Creatures with one factor of protection automatically succeed on the saving throw.
Below 30F
Whenever the temperature is below 30F, a creature exposed to the cold must succeed on a DC 8 Constitution saving throw at the end of each two hours or gain one level of exhaustion. Creatures with a total of two factors of protection automatically succeed on the saving throw, those with one factor have advantage on the save.
Below 0F
Whenever the temperature is below 0F, a creature exposed to the cold must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw at the end of each hour or gain one level of exhaustion. Creatures with a total of three factors of protection automatically succeed on the saving throw. Those with two factors have advantage on the save, one factor has a flat +2.
Below -30F (including from wind chill)
Whenever the temperature is below -30F, a creature exposed to the cold must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw at the end of each half hour or gain one level of exhaustion. Creatures with a total of four factors of protection automatically succeed on the saving throw. Three factors grants advantage on the save, two factors +2, one factor +1.
Below -60F (including from wind chill)
Whenever the temperature is below -60F, a creature exposed to the cold must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw at the end of each quarter hour or gain one level of exhaustion. Creatures with a total of five factors of protection automatically succeed on the saving throw. Four factors grants advantage on the save, three factors +2, two factors +1.
Things which grant one factor of protection
Continuous physical activity at least as strenuous as walking
“Traveler’s Clothes” (tunic and breeches, sandals or boots)
Small, enclosed space (tent, pavilion, sleeping roll, blanket, snow cave, etc.)
Heat source (campfire, brazier, camp stove)
Things which grant two factors of protection
“Cold weather gear” (wool cloak, wool breeches, undershirt, wool tunic, waterproof leather jack, leather boots lined with cheap fur, leather mittens)
Fur-lined sleeping roll
The heavy “winter coat” of a living mule for that animal
Things which grant three factors of protection
Extreme cold weather gear (fur-lined leather cloak, cotton undergarments, wool garments, waterproof leather pants, fur-lined and hooded waterproof leather jack, fur-lined leather boots, fur-lined mittens) _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes: Done with The Tower of Nholast, the party has now returned to a wilderness journey.
By far the best source for maps of Greyhawk comes from the work of Anna B Meyer (http://ghmaps.net) I used her work for the party's travel. The track they discover today is on her map of the Yeomanry - but where they are on that map has yet to be revealed. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
Predawn and morning:
Wandering Monster check (Mountains, Wilderness: None)
Below 30F from 11pm to 9am
Con checks (10) for
Aurora (winter gear, tent), no save required
Willa (bedroll, winter gear), no save required
Shefak (bedroll, no winter gear) - Con 12, roll 18, pass
Tyrius (no bedroll, winter gear) - Con 12, roll 18, pass
Babshapka (no bedroll, winter gear) - Con 12, roll 19, pass
Thokk (no bedroll, winter gear) - Con 16, roll 23, pass
Larry (no bedroll, winter gear) - Con 16, roll 23, pass
Foraging DC15
Babshapka: 18+7 = 25, 4 pounds food (no foraging after mid-day = 2 pounds)
Larry: 17+7 = 24, 14 pounds food (no foraging after mid-day = 7 pounds)
Thokk: 6+4 = 10, fail
Total party food 9 pounds brought in, 6 pounds eaten.
Post 121: Not so lost after all
Actual Date unknown; fourth day after arriving at the Tower
Actual location unknown, suspected to be somewhere between the Jotens and Little Hills
The night watches pass uneventfully, aside from the cold. No lights are seen, no sounds heard besides the wind rushing over the ridge.
In the morning, Aurora prepares a sending spell, among her other spells for the day. After she renews her own mage armor, she uses the sending to transmit a message to her mentor. She is still in Willa’s tent, and her words are muffled, but anyone who gets close to the tent can make out:
“Visited Tower of Nholast, summoner lieutenant to Asberdies. Mentions another "Master"? Information about Spidered Throne? Valadis? (and . . . ? - Advisor?)”
The response of her mentor is heard only by her.
“Nholast already trained when he found Asberdies - who trained him? Master? What Spidered Throne? No records - missing, or destroyed? Tread carefully; keep distance from Keoland.”
There is still meat left over from the previous day, so no foraging is necessary before breakfast. They cook the game over a small fire from what little dead brush can be collected on the dry, rocky slopes. [Six people eating is two pounds at breakfast, two pounds left in reserve]. As they eat, Larry relates exciting news to the party. Last night sleeping outside, under the mountain stars, has done him well (this has been his first time sleeping outdoors since the party arrived in Highfell, since before the Ghost Tower). The spirits of the mountain have shown him how to summon the power of springs and seeps - he can now cast the spell create or destroy water. Even casting it at first level will create ten gallons of water, more than enough for the party for a day - although he will likely have to cast it twice during the day, since the party does not currently have the means of storing more than three gallons of water at a time, most of their skins having been with Randy. Larry casts his new spell after breakfast and it is, in fact, a wet mess - a fountain of water appears in the air, falling and splashing all about. Those with water skins quickly fill them in the torrent, but as much water falls on the ground as enters the skins, leaving the rocks all around slick and muddy.
While the camp is being packed, Willa and Babshapka survey the mountain slope in front of them, now more visible in the morning light than it was the night before. Due east the slope descends precipitously, appearing to enter a deep gorge which likely has water in the bottom. While direct, that route appears neither easy nor safe for Eddard and the travois. They decide to head slightly south of east, along a more circuitous route but one with a more gentle descent. Unfortunately they will be in a valley between two ridges and will not be able to see much, but should make good time.
With the same three scouts as the day before, the party sets out. The route chosen is indeed easy, and Eddard has no trouble maintaining his footing on the gentle downhill slope. The farther they descend, the greener the land becomes, with the rocky slopes giving way to alpine meadows. By mid-morning, grey clouds can be seen cresting the ridge to the south. When they reach the end of the valley, the mountain slope opens up broadly in front of them. The way ahead is now to the north and east, but down a long, gentle slope until it intersects the gorge. They will need to enter or cross the gorge eventually, but not for several miles yet. As they work their way down the slope the clouds thicken, and before long a light rain is falling. It is well above freezing by this point in the day, so there is little danger to them immediately. Bushes get thicker and sparse trees appear as they descend.
After an hour they come upon the gorge cutting across their path. Willa calls for them to make a mid-day meal, as there is plenty of dead brush about for a fire. The wood is wet after an hour of rain, but several firebolts from Aurora convince it to burn. Babshapka returns with a cloak full of nuts, while Larry has such a large brace of mountain hares that it will not be necessary for any of them to forage on the morrow. [9 pounds food remaining after lunch].
Thokk brings no food to the meal, but says that his foraging has been interrupted by tracking the gorge along his route. As Willa and Babshapka suspected in the morning, there are steep cliffs all the way down the walls of the gorge that would be impossible for Eddard, let alone the travois, to traverse. At the bottom of the gorge is a rushing stream.
While they eat, the rain lightens to a drizzle, and finally becomes a fine mist as they prepare for their afternoon march. Everyone’s clothes are wet. If they want them dried before they pass another sub-freezing night, they will need to make their evening camp in trees, with actual logs to burn, not scrub brush. Trees enough won’t likely be found unless they can descend more in elevation, but without going down into the gorge that won’t be possible at first - turning due east looks to take them across a flat upland plateau. Still, they have half a day’s march ahead of them, so Willa is confident that they will find a forested place to camp before nightfall. This time, when Larry creates water before they set out, everyone has their skin on hand and ready, and the pots and pans from lunch arranged on the ground beneath them besides, so that when the ten gallons of water comes rushing out their skins are filled and half the washing up is done as well.
After two more hours of travel, the party comes upon a track crossing their descent. Hoof-prints and dung show that the track is used mostly by horses, but the size of the prints are far smaller than those of Eddard - these would be mountain ponies, at best. Babshapka examines the prints and finds evidence that they are shod. Aurora sends Buckbeak aloft to scout. The track runs roughly NW / SE. It crosses the gorge a mile north of them, at a narrow spot with a rope bridge of thick braided hemp. Nowhere along the track, north or south, looks to be forested, but if they ignore the track and keep heading east, there appears to be lightly forested mountain slopes an hour or two beyond which they could reach before nightfall.
Willa confers with the others and decides that they will start heading north along the track, with the goal being to cross the gorge and then camp on the other side. Since that is but a mile away, it should give Thokk, Larry, and Babshapka plenty of time to gather wood on the forested slopes to the east and still make it back to camp before dark.
Thokk agrees to go look for wood, but takes off his backpack, weighing nearly sixty pounds, and tries to convince the “magic talky horse” to carry it on the travois. Eddard reminds Thokk that he is not a “beast of burden,” and is pulling Umbra only because her life may depend on it. Willa, Shefak, and Tyrius take the packs from Thokk, Larry, and Babshapka. They will be slowed by the extra weight, but with just a mile more to go it doesn’t matter. Aurora sends Buckbeak ahead with instructions to scout the bridge, looking especially for any horses or humanoids, and report back.
The main group is halfway to the gorge when Buckbeak returns, telling Aurora that the area immediately around the bridge is free of anything larger than a hare. Aurora tells him to keep circling and reporting back. They soon reach the bridge. The thick hemp ropes have been treated with tar to last longer in the elements. A cross-section of the bridge is in the form of a trapezoid, with the wider part above at the width of a man’s outstretched arms, and the narrower part below, at the width of a man’s shoulders. The floor of the bridge is covered in thick planks of weathered lumber. The ends of the bridge have numerous guy lines, anchored with stout wooden posts in the ground and more than one iron spike driven into rock outcrops. The bridge looks wide enough for Eddard, barely, but not the travois. In the end several trips are made across it, carrying both Umbra in her bedroll and the extra packs of those out foraging, but eventually everyone and everything is across without event.
Willa picks out a campsite on the far side and they begin to unpack, while Aurora sends Buckbeak farther up ahead to look for humanoids or horses, on the track or off. By sunset it has dropped to the low 40’s and they are all shivering when Larry and Babshapka return with great armfuls of wood. Thokk has looped a rope through the arm bands of his great shield, loaded the shield with a huge stack of wood, and is pulling the whole thing like a sledge. The fire is kept low to cook dinner [7 pounds food remaining] but then built up so high that all of them can stay warm in their small clothes while their outer clothes and cold weather gear dry out.
Watch shifts are set as the night before (Willa/Thokk/Dirty Larry: 8pm-10pm, Aurora/Tyrius: 10pm-12am, Babshapka: 12-2am, Babshapka: 2am-4am, Shefak/Babshapka: 4am-6am). Aurora seriously considers continuing to read Nholast’s diary during her shift and letting Tyrius do the actual watching, but when she takes the book from her pack she sees again the brittleness of the centuries-old pages and the rotting leather cover. She finally decides that reading it is better left for indoors, where a stray breeze won’t blow pages away. Before she turns in, however, she does try to find the knight in her crystal ball, but again without success. As her last act before bed she casts a sending to her mentor:
“Found ancient map. Meaning or dating of Talathpesh? Knowledge of starmetal? Nholast mentioned "Cruel Lord" that slew "The Master" with starmetal weapon. Sound familiar?”
The reply, again, is known only to her:
“Plains of Pesh” place name - loan word from Flan? Cruel Lord was seneschal - Master could be Emperor of Ykrathian Empire? Remember your history! Starmetal unknown.”
_________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
By far the best source for maps of Greyhawk comes from the work of Anna B Meyer. I used http://ghmaps.net for the party's travel. The track the party follows today is on her map of the Yeomanry - but where they are on that map has yet to be revealed. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
Predawn and morning:
Wandering Monster check (Mountains, Wilderness: None)
Below freezing from 1am to 9am
Con checks (DC10) for:
Aurora (winter gear, tent) Con 12, no save required
Willa (winter gear, bedroll) - Con 14, no save required
Shefak (bedroll, no winter gear) - Con 12, roll 6, fail, no rest, Level 1 exhaustion
Tyrius (winter gear, no bedroll) - Con 12, roll 6, fail, no rest, Level 1 exhaustion
Babshapka (winter gear, no bedroll) - Con 12, roll 4,fail, no rest, Level 1 exhaustion
Thokk (winter gear, no bedroll) - Con 16, roll 20, pass
Larry (winter gear, no bedroll) - Con 16, roll 10, pass
Level 1 exhaustion = disadvantage on all ability checks.
Post 122: Giant Troubles
Actual Date unknown; fifth day after arriving at the Tower
Actual location unknown, suspected to be somewhere between the Jotens and Little Hills
The night is cold, and the echoes of the rushing water in the gorge below don’t help those shivering in the camp above to sleep. By dawn’s light, neither Shefak, nor Tyrius, nor Babshapka have had a good night’s rest, and they struggle through breakfast bleary-eyed [5 pounds of food remaining]. Willa tells them to walk it off and promises them that they can draw straws in the evening to sleep in the tent - or even have two of them in it, since Babshapka will need it for only four hours.
For the first ten minutes or so they walk together along the track, as Willa wants to assess their pace. Away from the gorge, the track climbs a steep mountain slope. The track will assure them they are not lost or wandering, but does little to improve their pace, especially that of Eddard pulling the travois. With Larry creating water and enough food already on hand for the day, Willa tells Thokk that he should concentrate on looking for foes rather than game. Since they left the valley of the Tower, he has been the least productive of their three foragers in terms of gathering food, but she does not mention that to him. With no need to navigate, she will also be able to spend more time looking for danger. For his part, Thokk is insulted. “Thokk look for food AND foes,” he says huffily.
Aurora sends Buckbeak ahead to scout the trail for humans or horses. Thokk, Babshapka, and Larry set out. About an hour later, around 8am, it is still below freezing, but the main party is warm enough after an hour of walking with full packs. The track has climbed steeply and steadily away from the gorge. They are approaching a ridge or saddle point but still have a ways to go before cresting it. In ravines and gullies off the sides of the track are thick scrub bushes and even stunted trees, but the high slope on which they travel is largely bare and rocky. Just ahead of them the track wends through a boulder field, with some of the passages between outcrops too narrow to fit the travois, and Eddard and Tyrius have paused to choose their off-track route carefully. Tyrius, still groggy from lack of sleep, pours a palmful of cold water from his skin into his hand and splashes it on his face, then glances over his shoulder and stiffens. “Willa,” he asks, “when was the last time any of us looked behind us?” [Tyrius Perception roll with disadvantage, 20!]
The main group, except for Eddard, look down the track behind them. It is perhaps a mile and a half back to the gorge, which is still clearly visible. At a mile distant, but on the near side of the gorge, are three large figures. They are walking steadily toward the party up the rough slope, near the track but not really on it - they walk abreast and are too large to fit on the track. Willa estimates them to be each at least twenty feet tall. The morning sun glints off their arms and armor.
Willa looks back at their little band - Umbra still unconscious; Thokk, Larry, and Babshapka all off scouting. Only herself, Tyrius, Shefak, and Aurora will be of any use in a fight. And perhaps Eddard. “At least we ‘ave a mile on ‘em. Gods ken 'how close t'ey would hae got if Tyrius 'adn't looked aft. Tyrius, if ye twaren’t a pallydin, t’at alone’d be worth a kiss.” She scratches her head. “Do ye t’ink we all can slip off…?”
By now, Eddard has awkwardly maneuvered himself perpendicular to the track, so that by craning his neck, he can see the figures’ approach. “Against a superior opponent, the order of preference is run, hide, fight,” he says contemplatively. “Running's not an option - they are moving faster than any of us, except maybe Shefak. Hiding - maybe we could slip off the trail into one of these gullies - if they haven’t spotted us yet. But that doesn’t do much for Babshapka or the other scouts if those giants come upon them later. And where we would want to hide may not be the best ground for us if we do need to fight. Aurora, do you have your rope trick prepared? What about fireball?”
Aurora doesn’t answer Eddard, as she is busy calculating distances and times in her head. “If we stay put, we have maybe half an hour for them to get here, half that again if they have seen us and start running. We could try to keep ahead of them by setting out ourselves - maybe stretch that time out to an hour or two - and in that time one or more of the scouts might check back in.”
Eddard looks at the slope above them, and the number of large boulders about. “That’s true enough - Babshapka will almost certainly check back in with us within an hour, and the others probably before two. But we could reach that ridge above us well before then. If we have to fight, I’d rather stay on the high ground than continue on and have the giants above us. And this boulder field would at least give us cover - we have no idea what is on the other side of the ridge. So, about that rope trick?”
“Yes, I have it ready - but I don’t think you’ll fit inside.”
“I won't, but don’t worry about me. The giants can’t kill me, just send me back to the Celestial Fields - I am happy to serve as a distraction or diversion.”
“If we dropped the travois and put Umbra in the rope trick, do you think you would be faster than the giants?”
Eddard tosses his mane. “Maybe, maybe not. I’d say we are pretty evenly matched in mountains. On flat ground I could easily outrun them.”
Aurora announces, “If we can get everyone but Eddard in my rope trick, I can send to Babshapka, and tell him to round up the others and warn him about the giants.”
“True,” agrees Eddard, “but that sending would mean one less fireball if we had to fight. You all need to decide now whether you are hiding or fighting.”
“Hide,” says Aurora.
“Hide,” says Shefak.
With a high-pitched screeee, Buckbeak glides down the slope in front of them. When he gets within telepathic range of Aurora, her mind fills with the thought, “No horses or humans ahead - but did you know there are three giants behind you?”
Without waiting for Tyrius’ vote, Willa announces that they will be hiding in the rope trick, but that first they need to get behind the largest boulder they can find, to block their operation from the giants’ view, if indeed they are being watched. Once they have maneuvered Eddard behind the massive rock, the party unharnesses the travois. Aurora tells him that he should continue to lead the giants away as long as he can and she will send Buckbeak after him to report on the party - if the hawk alights on his neck, their hiding has been successful, whereas if he lands on his rear haunches, the giants are camped outside the trick and Eddard should return - preferably with the three scouts. Eddard says that he understands, and that he will try to draw the giants as far away as he can before he finds his own hiding spot. Before he leaves, Aurora casts a mage armor on him, and then one on Shefak for good measure. “Obliged,” says Eddard, while the monk just nods.
As Eddard begins to climb the slope, Aurora casts her sending spell, targeting Babshapka, and saying out loud, “Three giants approaching behind. Alert Thokk/Larry. Rope trick'd to buy hour. Eddard continuing ahead: luring giants hopefully. He'll know result of hide attempt."
A second later she can hear the response of the wood elf: “I am just over the ridge from you and was returning - it will take some time to find the others. I will start with Larry.”
As soon as Aurora relays Babshapka’s response to the others, she casts her rope trick spell, and the party climbs into the extra-dimensional space, then passes up their own packs, the parts of the travois, and unconscious Umbra, still wrapped in her bedroll and cold to the touch.
Eddard pauses at the highest point of the ridge and watches the giants cross the boulder field. It does indeed appear that they had spotted the party, as they spend a few minutes near the largest boulder in the vicinity of the rope trick, bending and sniffing the ground, lifting small boulders and pushing larger ones over. It is not long before they give up and continue on up the path, however. Once he is sure that they are again following him, Eddard turns and disappears over the ridge line. The track now curves much more to the east as it descends a long rocky slope.
After receiving Aurora’s sending, Babshapka reflects on what he knows about giants. Just about everything he knows, he has learned from repeatedly questioning Larry around hearth fires over the last three months. [Babshapka began with no more information about giants than the fairy tales the rest of the party has heard, but chose giant slayer as his ranger archetype at level 3 in Saltmarsh and giants as his favored enemy at level 6 in Nholast’s Tower. Ever since then he has been asking Larry, who was raised in the Crystalmists, for more specific information]
As far as Babshapka remembers, giants have their own language, but it is primarily a spoken tongue with some supplemental runic symbols but not a true form of writing. While a particularly clever giant leader might know spoken Common, it is highly unlikely that the three scouts or warriors would be able to read it. He finds a large boulder at the edge of the track and marks it with stone on stone, scratching the message “left trail here” for Eddard’s benefit. He knows the horse speaks Common, but has never before thought to wonder whether he can read. Then he leaves the track, setting off to the east in an attempt to locate Larry. [Babshapka survival role with disadvantage for exhaustion, 10]
Inside the rope trick space, the party stares intently down through the “glass bottom” entrance. They briefly catch sight of a giant leg, but that is all. Some half an hour later Willa agrees that they can check outside. Aurora takes out her steel mirror and begins binding it to Willa’s belaying pin, planning to lower it through the hole and check all around. As she works, she begins to lecture about how her mastery of the arcane arts has saved the party twice, with her sending spell and rope trick, and how now her superior intellect and preparation with the mirror will save them again. Before she can finish her speech, however, Shefak slips on her ring of invisibility and drops lightly down through the hole.
Shefak looks carefully all around the slope and sees no sign of the giants, then leaps up, grabs the lip with her hands, and pulls her head through the entryway, telling the others that the coast is clear. They lower the gear, the disassembled pieces of travois, Umbra, and themselves down. Aurora sends out Buckbeak, who flies up and over the ridge, avoids the giants, and eventually catches up to Eddard on the track, alighting on his neck. Eddard nods his understanding and Buckbeak returns to the party.
They have by now been waiting the better part of an hour, so Willa agrees to finish the hour out here and count it as a short rest. Aurora recovers three of her first level spell slots (the three mage armors she has cast today), while the rope trick and sending remain as spent slots.
Willa reassembles the travois and then has the others hook her up to it, adjusting its size to try to put most of the load on her shoulders but soon realizing she will need to do a good deal of the pulling with her arms. As they start up the track it becomes clear that they are traveling much slower than before. Tyrius offers to pull with her, but Willa tells him that his keen eyes have already saved them once and she needs him paying attention. By the time they reach the crest, it is ten in the morning and the giants are so far ahead of them as to be visible to only Buckbeak.
All morning Thokk has been moving north, parallel to the track but well ahead of the party. He has been throwing his javelins at the few pika and mountain hares he has seen, and he has had several near misses but has not bagged any game yet [Survival check = 14]. He has also been indulging in his secret pleasure, turning over rocks to find late-season moths and then watching them dart about in the sun, trying to find new rocks to hide under.
By late morning his stomach is growling and he becomes increasingly unable to think of anything but the meat being carried by the main party. Eventually he turns and makes for the track, intending to work backwards along it until he comes upon the slower party. Willa told him that besides scouting he should be stealthy, so on his way back he is moving along gully bottoms and darting from boulder to boulder, not spending any more time on the open slopes than he has to. As he rounds a large outcrop and steps out onto the track itself, he freezes - less than seventy-five feet away down the track are three giants, each at least twenty-three feet tall, and rapidly approaching. [Thokk perception check, 9].
Thokk eases himself slowly back around the outcrop and then flattens himself against its side, his desire to enrage and charge at the giants at odds with the knowledge that they far overpower him. For the moment his internal conflict allows him to do nothing more than hide [Thokk stealth roll 20, giant perception check 17]. Eventually he arrives at the same thought he told Willa in the dome of Nholast’s tower - it is not that he is afraid, since Thokk claims not to know fear - it is just that there is no glory to be gained by defeating these giants when the party is not there to see him. No, he will allow these giants to go now so that he can beat them another day when he has an audience.
Crouching behind his rock cover, Thokk watches the trio lumber up the mountainside in front of him. They have deep blue skin and a patchwork of mismatched pieces of armor. Two of the giants bear great axes, so large that no human could lift one, while the remaining giant carries a human-forged two-handed sword in one hand.
Thokk reflects on what his father told him about giants, and the scraps of information he overheard the shamans tell other orcs, since they never would deign to speak to him. The blue skin means that these are frost giants, fierce warriors of a race that lives on the highest snow-covered peaks. They come down to these elevations only in the winter, for any day above freezing feels like the hottest of summer days to them. They delight in battle, but have little patience for anything else, a proper attitude for a warrior. His father told him that sometimes, in the harshest of winters, they would come down to where his tribe lived, and then the orcs would hide themselves in caves. While the giants were certainly strong enough to dig the orcs out, they would bore of the task long before it was accomplished and move on. “And if we had to fight them?” Thokk asked his father once, when he was young and naive and still dreamed of succeeding his father as chieftain. His father told Thokk that he should, in that case, prepare many giant-sized caltrops to restrict their movement, and then attack them from just outside their melee range with as many well-disciplined javelineers as he could field. And that he should expect to lose one or two dozen strong tribesmen for each giant they managed to slay. [5E Note; orcs are Challenge Rating ½, while frost giants are Challenge Rating 8].
Buckbeak spots Thokk returning along the track as the party is going down the slope on the other side of the ridge. After he and Willa exchange stories, he moves to be rear guard for the party. He takes a vantage point to their rear, hides and waits until they are just out of sight, then jogs along the track to catch up to them before selecting another lookout point at which to wait.
As they walk, Aurora presses Tyrius for information about Eddard. “He is still in the mortal realm, but more than a mile away, so that I cannot converse with him,” is all the paladin will say.
“Shouldn’t he have hidden by now, shouldn’t you call him back?”
“So long as we are not at full strength, I know he would rather be out there. If the giants finding him means that they do not find Larry and Babshapka, that is what he would prefer, to be of service. If we have not found him by the time we are all reunited, I will call for him.”
By 11:30am Buckbeak finally spots Larry and Babshapka returning up the track to them. Willa, tired of pulling the travois, immediately calls for a halt. As the group prepares for lunch (with Willa allowing them a smoky fire of dried grass and scrub brush), Tyrius first sends a prayer dismissing Eddard from his service, wherever he is, and then, moments later, summoning him back to the mortal realm.
Babshapka tells them that Larry was far off the track to the east and that it took all morning to find him. Larry appears more concerned with showing off the ten pounds of mountain hare he has brought back [after lunch, 13 pounds of food remaining] and complaining that he missed the opportunity to hurl a lightning bolt at the giants.
Upon his appearance, Eddard explains that he spent all the morning just ahead of the giants, never losing them as they trudged forward. On the bare slopes, he never had a chance to hide from them, but at least he will be able to describe to the party the terrain they will encounter for the rest of the day’s march.
After lunch Willa and Tyrius gratefully harness Eddard back into the travois and the whole party sets out. Knowing that the giants are nearby, even if ahead of them, and with two days of food on hand, even Willa is now willing to keep their scouts close and aware rather than foraging far afield. Thokk remains as rear guard, while Buckbeak circles directly above them, watching the track both in front and behind. Babshapka and Larry scout ahead of the group, but always within thirty minutes of them and not too far off the track to either side.
The track is now nearly level, only slowly gaining in elevation as it works its way mostly east along a flat layer between two slopes. Beneath them, the slopes are forested and have numerous streams, but for the entire remainder of the day they remain above treeline. As the sun drops behind the high mountains to the west, Willa calls for camp and dinner [11 pounds of food remaining].
Before she turns in for the night, Aurora uses her crystal ball. This time she checks not on the knight, but on his assistant, the one charged with recovering the book back in the Dreadwood. Aurora reasons that he may be less well protected from scrying than the knight, even if he was not present at Highfell. This time, she is successful. For the next ten minutes she watches carefully. The man is indoors, with a few candles burning in an otherwise darkened room. He is reading a book, but Aurora can not get close enough to make out the print. She is reasonably sure it is not the huge, leather-bound Chronicle of Secret Times, but rather a smaller and thinner work. He is in comfortable robes, but arms and armor hang upon the stone walls of the room, and a low fire burns in the hearth. The room is silent aside from the crackle of the fire and the turning of pages. Aurora doesn’t object when Willa tells her that she is forfeiting her place in the tent to those who did not sleep the night before, and offers only the warning that if she doesn’t sleep, she won’t be able to recover her spells.
As soon as the tent is set up, Umbra is hauled within it. As soon as Babshapka finishes eating, he enters the tent to trance, and remains there until after midnight. Refreshed and renewed, he then cedes his place to Shefak, who accepts it humbly. Tyrius had earlier insisted that the monk sleep in the tent rather than him. When he did so, Willa approached him in private, saying she figured as he would insist on Shefak taking the tent, but that she needs him better on the morrow and having recovered his spells, so she insists on him taking her bedroll for the night. Besides, she says, she has always slept hot and her fisherman’s shack lacked the stone walls and wool blankets he grew up with in his palace. Tyrius smiles at her gentle barbs and reminds her that he grew up in a manor house, not a palace, but graciously accepts her bedroll. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
By far the best source for maps of Greyhawk comes from the work of Anna B Meyer. I used http://ghmaps.net for the party's travel. The track the party follows today is on her map of the Yeomanry - and the party will discover in this post that it is the track between Tucksvale and Fort Thomas. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
Anna's Maps include both Tucksvale and Fort Thomas. As far as I know, there are no canon sources for these, but Fort Thomas is referenced in the Living Greyhawk Module Yeo3-05 (A Friend in Need), which also lists both the Spear and the Pickled Eel, although the descriptions of these, as well as the fort, are mine. Fort Thomas and Tucksvale both are also referenced in Yeo 4-01 (Flesh and Spirit).
Post 123: Out of the Unknown
The night is below freezing from 2am to 7am. Con checks (10) for
Shefak (bedroll, tent, no winter gear) - Con 12, no roll needed, exhaustion removed
Tyrius (winter gear, borrowed bedroll from Willa) - Con 12, no roll needed, exhaustion removed
Babshapka (winter gear, tent, no bedroll) - Con 12, no roll needed, exhaustion removed
Thokk (winter gear, no bedroll) - Con 16, roll 28, save
Larry (winter gear, no bedroll) - Con 16, roll 10, save
Willa (winter gear, no bedroll for tonight) - Con 14, roll 21, save
Aurora (winter gear, no bedroll) Con 12, roll 11, save
Night encounter check, patrolled mountain, none
Actual Date unknown; sixth day after arriving at the Tower
Actual location unknown, suspected to be somewhere between the Jotens and Little Hills
Morning encounter check, patrolled mountain, none
This day dawns a bit warmer than the previous, with a fine mist hanging in the air. As it lightens, they can see that downslope from their camp thick rain clouds blanket the verdant forests. Here they are above the clouds, though, and only a thin layer of damp settles on the rocks and brush. After breakfast [9 pounds of food remaining] Willa gives them their assignments for the day; the main party will be as before, and Thokk will take rear guard again. Larry and Babshapka will walk ahead of the party, staying close as the day previous, with Larry upslope to the north and Babshapka downslope to the south. Buckbeak will keep an eye on the track immediately ahead of and behind them.
The march is fairly level all morning long, along the rocky bench between the two slopes, with the lower slope continually obscured by rain clouds. Every so often there is a steep switchback leading to a higher bench, but then the going is level again. Thus they slowly gain elevation all morning, and by their midday meal [7 pounds of food remaining] they are considerably higher above the clouds than they started. Babshapka, back with the main party for the meal, spends some time checking the track both in front of and behind the party and finally asks them at what point the giants left the trail. He explains that there were clear giant tracks ahead of them on the trail when they broke camp this morning, but now there are no signs of them - the giants must have left the trail at some point during the stretch covered by this morning’s march. Apparently no one in the main group was tracking them, however, and no one can answer Babshapka’s question.
Soon after they resume their march, the nature of the track changes. Rather than continuing laterally along the face of the mountain, they turn and begin to scale it directly in a seemingly unending series of switchbacks. Both outrider scouts return to the main group, for without climbing gear the switchbacks are really the only way up the cliff face. Pausing frequently to help the travois negotiate corners, or just to rest, they spend the better part of the afternoon gaining elevation. By the time they finally crest the last ridge, Thokk and Larry agree that they are now higher than they were in the valley of the tower.
The switchbacks back down the northern face of the ridge are just as steep, but they need to rest less so progress is faster. Having left both clouds and mist behind they can see the other side of the valley clearly, but for only a limited distance. They are entering a small bowl, perhaps two or three miles both long and deep, and ringed with higher mountains. As they come out onto the valley floor, the scouts are able to spread out again, and Babshapka returns to their evening camp with more hares [collected 7 pounds of meat, 12 pounds remaining after dinner]. The valley is sparsely forested, reminding them of the valley of the tower, and as they sit around a good campfire in the evening, watching the setting sun color the peaks to the east of them, they discuss sleeping arrangements for the night and plans for the next day’s march.
When the conversation dies down and some in the party assume their watch duties while others arrange themselves to sleep by the fire, Aurora takes out her crystal ball and unwraps it. She mutters and passes her hands over it. Inside the ball appears an image of an ancient elf, sleeping peacefully underneath a blanket with intricately woven patterns. His bedchamber has earthen walls through which thick roots protrude, and a wooden door that seems to be carved from a single piece of wood. For the ten minutes she watches he does not stir, although he does sigh heavily from time to time.
Night encounter check, patrolled mountain, none
Below freezing from 11pm to 9am. Con checks (10) for
Willa (winter gear, bedroll) - Con 14, no roll needed
Shefak (bedroll, tent, no winter gear) - Con 12, no roll needed
Thokk (winter gear, no bedroll) - Con 16, roll 15, save
Larry (winter gear, no bedroll) - Con 16, roll 23, save
Aurora (winter gear, no bedroll) Con 12, roll 21, save
Tyrius (winter gear, no bedroll) - Con 12, roll 11, save
Babshapka (winter gear, no bedroll) - Con 12, roll 19, save
Actual Date unknown; seventh day after arriving at the Tower
Actual location unknown, suspected to be somewhere between the Jotens and Little Hills
Morning encounter check, patrolled mountain, none
It is cold in the predawn, dropping into the low 20’s, cold enough to rouse Tyrius from his sleep. He starts the fire going from the embers of the night before. Over breakfast [10 pounds of food remaining] Willa assigns duties: Thokk hidden rear guard as before, Babshapka taking the trail ahead of the party, scouting but remaining hidden as he does so. Larry, so far their best provider, she gives leave to roam as he wants, on either side of the track, near or far from the group, as he needs in order to forage, so long as he checks in at meal times.
The party spends the early morning covering roughly three miles across the floor of the forested valley until they reach its northern end, where a high mountain awaits them, higher than the ridge to the south. The rest of the morning sees them climbing the steep slopes of the mountain, gradually leaving the trees and alpine meadows behind until by the time they stop for lunch [8 pounds of food remaining] they are again on rocky slopes above treeline. Larry, empty-handed, joins them.
Due to the steepness of the slope, Larry stays on the trail with them in the afternoon, but continues to try to forage by walking ahead of the main group with Babshapka. By mid-afternoon they have crested the highest ridge yet and together are looking down at the valley beyond while the party continues to work their way up the slope behind them. The track snakes down the mountainside before them and then enters a narrow valley of low grass. There are no trees apparent, although a curving line of scrub brush might indicate the course of a stream. Some two or three miles to the north, the track passes in front of a large fortification. It looks to have wooden palisade walls with stone towers rising above. There may be some outbuildings nearby but it is difficult to tell at this distance. There is no obvious movement of occupants at this distance, but human-sized individuals would be hard to spot. They are confident that the party can reach the structure before nightfall.
Larry and Babshapka remain at the crest of the trail, scanning the valley below, while waiting for the main party to arrive behind them. When they do, Willa tells Aurora to send out Buckbeak to scout from the air while Babshapka and Larry move ahead stealthily. The hawk takes to wing while Larry selects his wild shape, opting to become a mountain lion. Babshapka and Mountain Larry begin moving down the slope toward the structures. Babshapka has continuously been using his ioun stone up until now to lessen the food demands of the party, but now he stows it so as to be less visible.
By the time Babshapka and Mountain Larry have reached the valley floor and are starting forward, Buckbeak has reached the structures. From her vantage atop the ridge, Aurora can see the hawk make one wide, looping circle high over the buildings, then lose elevation and go in closer, then sink from view. He does not return to report. After he has been gone several minutes and remains lost to view, Aurora says the silent words that would temporarily dismiss him, then tries to call him forth again, nearby. Nothing happens. Aurora tells Willa that Buckbeak may have been “killed”, and Willa tells the party to descend the mountain slope to the valley floor at normal speed, but then to proceed with caution. She says they will not approach the fortification itself until they hear back from Babshapka and Larry.
Babshapka and Mountain Larry approach to within about half a mile of the place. From there, it is clear that there is a large wooden building, of at least two stories, outside the main walls of the fort. The fortification itself is small, with a square of wooden palisade walls perhaps fifteen feet high. High round stone towers are inside each corner of the walls, and a lower stone tower is outside the center of the west wall. A square stone building is in the center of the complex, just higher than the walls, and a plume of smoke comes from it. Neither the walls nor towers have roofs - all are flat and open to the sky. The wooden outbuilding has a peaked and likely shingled roof, and a thin plume of smoke rises from a chimney. Neither Babshapka nor Mountain Larry sees any figures moving outside the walls or building, and since the wind is behind them Larry is unable to scent anything. The fields immediately outside the fortification are flat and close-cropped as if they are regularly grazed, but nowhere is any sign of domestic animals - no barns, no fences, no paddocks. A few huge crows pick through the grass near the fortification.
There are no planted fields to be seen, no plow furrows in the flat fields of dead grass. To the east of the fortification are perhaps a dozen mounds that might be small and regularly-spaced haystacks, but they are odd in both shape, size, and position.
As they approach, Babshapka keeps them near, but not on, the track leading to the place. All along the track at least there is still signs of the mountain ponies - both hoofprints and droppings. The most recent are more than a week old but less than a month.
Babshapka and Mountain Larry separate, with the crouching elf moving through the high grass to the east, while the slinking lion goes to the west. Babshapka draws close to the haystacks. Each mound is small, perhaps three feet high and three wide, and kept together by thick cords of twine. On their north face they have been painted white, with a blotch of red in the center. There are a dozen of them in all. Babshapka is at the very edge where the high natural grass meets the close-cut grass near the fortification - to get closer, he risks being seen. From this distance, the sound of numerous voices bounce off the stone of the place, and an occasional, deeper grunting noise. Both the palisade walls and the round towers have battlements, and he can see a figure moving along one of the walls.
Mountain Larry moves to the wooden outbuilding, several hundred yards away from the fortification. Here the high grass comes almost up to the walls, so that there is just a small cleared yard. As he approaches he can see that it is actually two buildings, one next to another. The larger of the two is two stories, the smaller little more than walls around a large room. The track passes in front of the buildings and continues on north - a side branch goes to the fortification. Both of the buildings are entirely of wood, although the larger has a small, stone chimney and several cords of wood neatly stacked outside. The source of this wood is unclear - there are no actual trees in the valley, and neither are there stumps. For that matter, the huge timbers of the wooden palisade have no obvious source either. Both buildings have wooden doors and shuttered windows. The smell of humans is thick about them - sweat, and smoke, and nightsoil.
Babshapka remains in the high grass as close to the walls as he can without being seen and listens for a quarter hour. He watches the figure walk around the walls - there must be a catwalk inside the palisade. Just before he is ready to go, the clanging of iron on iron sounds and voices are raised. He stiffens, but soon realizes this is not an alarm. Rather, the voices are raucous and laughing - he suspects that was a dinner bell. Babshapka retreats from the fortification and moves silently to the wooden buildings at the crossroads. There, Mountain Larry crouches, sniffing the air and twitching his tail. He is not very well hidden, and Babshapka is glad Larry did not pass closer to the watchman on the walls, and that all the windows of these buildings are shuttered.
Babshapka and Mountain Larry withdraw from the crossroads and move along the track to the south, meeting up with the main party advancing cautiously at about a mile from the crossroads. Just before they are within speaking distance, the party can see a group of a dozen figures sally forth from the fortification and begin making their way up the road.
At the appearance of the figures, Willa calls for a halt, at least until Babshapka and Larry have reported in. She tells Tyrius to be ready to unharness Eddard. Aurora says that it would be nice to have Thokk present by the time those figures reach them, and Willa agrees. She tells Shefak to find the half-orc swiftly but return stealthily - they can set up near the party if it looks like surprise is needed. Shefak receives a mage armor from Aurora, slips on her ring of invisibility and takes off up the track behind them.
Babshapka reports to the party about what he saw around the fortification, and Aurora uses message to see what Larry would like to add - in his Mountain Lion form, he can understand speech but not speak (nor can he cast spells, although at some point he would like to cast speak with animals to get the local perspective on the situation - perhaps from one of the crows near the fort). Aurora relays what Larry saw around the wooden buildings, and he adds that if the party would advance just a hundred feet or so, there would be an excellent spot of high grass in which as many party members as wanted concealment could hide. When Aurora passes this along to Willa, she agrees to advance to the point where Mountain Larry slinks off into the grass to hide (Stealth check 16), then again calls for a halt. Tyrius unharnesses Eddard, who receives a mage armor from Aurora.
Shefak runs rapidly up the track and quickly (Perception Check 17) locates Thokk, who is well concealed from the south of an outcrop, but rather obvious from the north (Stealth Check 8). Together, the two of them begin to return to the party, who are now set up defensively on the track as the dozen men approach from the fort.
The men are obviously carrying shields, but moving rapidly enough that they must be in light armor and without packs. The closer they get, the more they resemble a standard patrol from a fort - identical uniforms, the matching stride of disciplined men, not bandits. Willa tells the party to stand down and look inoffensive - Babshapka joins them, leaving only Larry hidden. She tells them to have their weapons ready, but not drawn.
At a quarter-mile it is apparent that half the men carry longbows, the other half spears. All are in chain shirts and long leather breeches - only the spearmen have shields. At fifty paces the bowmen stop, and fan out in formation. They have arrows nocked, but pointed at the ground and their bows are not drawn. The spearmen continue on unhesitatingly.
At twenty paces, five of the spearmen stop and assume a formation abreast across the track. They have the copper-colored skin and long, black hair of the Flan - their features are similar enough that they could be cousins. A sixth spearman continues on another ten paces in front, and Tyrius walks forward to meet him. When he is just within striking distance of the man’s spear, but not close enough to use his own war hammer, the spearman holds up his hand, and Tyrius stops. “Hold, stranger,” says the spearman. “What is your business in the League?”
“I am Tyrius of Sterich, Paladin of Pelor, and these are my companions. We travel in peace, and seek only passage to the north.”
“You are on the wrong side of the Jotens for a Sterishman, but Pelor is respected in the League. Hail and welcome to Fort Thomas.”
[At the mention of “Fort Thomas”, Aurora now knows where they are. (History check 17). She casts a message spell, surreptitiously (Sleight of Hands check 17) pointing at and whispering to Willa and then Tyrius that they are, as they had thought, between the Jotens and the Yeomanry. Had they turned south when they reached the trail rather than north, they would have arrived in Tucksvale.]
“We thank you for your welcome. We have been traveling the wilderness for quite some time, and would enjoy a night under a roof and a chance to buy supplies, if such is to be found at the fort.”
“The fort itself is an installation of the League Militia. You will not be allowed to enter. The two buildings you see at the crossroads are inns - the larger is the Spear, the smaller, the Pickled Eel. Both are closed for the winter, but they are run by free folk and you look as though you might have the means to convince them to open for you. I warn you though, it is a grave crime for a foreigner to threaten a citizen of the League.” (The man clearly emphasizes “free folk” in his speech - Tyrius’ earlier encounters with people of the Yeomanry in Nighford and Highfell lead him to believe that the man is drawing a pointed comparison between his country and Sterich, where the majority of people are serfs, not free men).
“Of course. You have my word as a paladin that we will only appeal to their faith and desire for profit; we are not here to threaten your countrymen. Should they refuse us service, we will make our camp outside their buildings, if that is acceptable. A hot meal and soft bed would be most desirable, though. Would they or you have supplies? We are in need of both food and camping gear.”
The spearman shakes his head. “This is a fort and two inns, not a trading post. Winter is upon us and what little we have will be sorely needed. If you wish to purchase supplies for your travels, you will need to continue on to Singleton.” Tyrius nods his head in agreement. The spearman continues, “There is one more thing. Earlier in the day a bird flew over the fort. We have reason to believe it was sent by a sorcerer or witch to spy upon us. This would also be a serious crime.” Although he is speaking to Tyrius, the spearman is looking directly at Aurora as he speaks.
“I understand,” says Tyrius gravely. “You have my word that we will abide by your laws within the jurisdiction of your fort.”
The spearman looks at each of them in turn, meeting their gaze as if evaluating them. When he gets to Umbra, still unconscious and wrapped in a bedroll, his brow furrows in concern. “Is she ill? We will not have you bringing sickness to the fort.”
Tyrius carefully considers his answer. “She is...resting. I believe it is a condition of her people. I cannot say that I understand it, but on my honor I do not believe it can pass to other people, at least not to humans.” When the spearman, who still has not given his name, continues to look doubtful, Tyrius adds, “If any of your soldiers are of the faith of Pelor, and are in need of healing, I would be happy to share the blessings of the Sun God with them.” That seems to have tipped the balance in their favor, and the spearman says that they may proceed to the fort.
It takes a few minutes for Tyrius and Willa to harness Eddard again, and in that time both Shefak and Thokk have arrived. Seeing the party readying to leave, Thokk seems prepared to walk into their midst and check in with Willa, but Shefak lays her hand on his forearm and he remains hidden. Neither they nor Larry seem to have been spotted by the soldiers.
When the party is ready to move, the spearman returns to his five squadmates. They pull off the track and allow the party to precede them, then follow behind. The bowmen do the same, so that eventually the party is headed for the crossroads with all dozen of the soldiers following behind them, and Thokk, Larry, and Shefak being left behind, still in hiding.
When the figures before them are about halfway to the crossroads, Larry resumes his dwarven form. Thokk and Shefak emerge from the grass on to the track and begin walking, no longer attempting to conceal themselves, as if they had all been in a rear guard, or hunting, the whole time.
For the group in the lead, the fort and two buildings at the crossroads come in to view. What Babshapka earlier took to be two stone towers along the middle of the west wall is revealed to be a barbican with an iron door. All four of the corner towers have ballistae, with crews manning them, slowly turning them to keep them trained on the party.
At the crossroads, the soldiers leave the party and head to the fort. Willa notices that the iron door is just wide enough for them to enter single file, and it is not kept open long. Looking between the wooden buildings, the larger one two stories, with a stable and smoke coming from the chimney, and the smaller one with none of these things, the party opts to try the larger of the two, what the spokesman called “The Spear”. All the windows are shuttered and the door closed, but they bang on the door and wait. When the door opens, Tyrius moves to the front of the party. Facing them is a grizzled man in advanced middle age, muscled but with a clear paunch, and hobbling on a single wooden crutch, his leg held at an odd angle. Tyrius asks for shelter for the night. The man looks out at their group suspiciously and says that they are closed for the winter. Tyrius says that he is a paladin of Pelor and would be happy to use his healing abilities on the man’s leg if he would consider lodging them. The man sucks on his lip, and finally responds that a priest of the Sun God is always welcome, especially during these dark days of winter when the sun is seldom seen. He opens the door wide and hobbles back inside.
The five members of the party present pass in to the common room, where a low fire burns in an open hearth. The room smells of smoke and earth and manure - despite the abundant wood pile outside, he is burning a mix of peat and pig dung. There is a trestle table that is taken apart, and a dozen chairs that are stacked up. The man introduces himself as Marcus, waves his hands at the table and chairs, and says it will take him some time to get the inn ready for their stay. A meek-looking young woman emerges from the kitchen, followed by an older woman with a lined face and poorly-dyed hair.
Willa says that they will be grateful just to sleep in beds, and that if he can direct them to work they will help prepare the inn. The older woman scowls and leaves through the front door, while the younger one goes upstairs to begin preparing bedrooms. Willa says that Aurora can help get the dinner ready. Aurora ignores her and moves to sit next to the fire, opening her pack and taking out the diary of Nholast. Willa removes the meat from their packs and goes to the kitchen. Tyrius and Babshapka remain in the common room, setting up and arranging the furniture according to Marcus’ directives, and then carrying Umbra into the first floor bedroom, which she will share with Tyrius.
By the time the common room is nearly ready, the door opens and Shefak, Larry, and Thokk enter. Marcus’ face reddens at the sight of the half-orc and he begins sputtering - “You didn’t say that...If I had known…” Tyrius moves to his side and gently helps him into a chair. The paladin apologizes and explains that Thokk is a brave warrior, but is loyal to the party and will not harm anyone in the inn. Marcus is silent but fuming, and Tyrius distracts him by removing his boot and unwrapping his foot. The ankle has been broken and healed at a bad angle, the whole foot is inflamed, but more seriously, half of the foot itself is missing. Marcus explains that he was a member of the Yeoman Militia in his youth, until he lost his foot defending the land against an orc raid. “Huge brute though he was, I killed him myself with my spear, but not before his axe took off half my foot.” He had been a frugal man and saved much of his wages, and his pension would give him more besides, so he inquired at the time about whether the foot could be healed. This wound, the loss of a limb with bone and all, would require regeneration - a seventh level spell requiring a 13th level priest, and beyond the abilities of any paladin. The cost would be far beyond what any soldier or innkeep could make in a lifetime. Tyrius shakes his head sadly. Marcus took what savings he had, built this inn, and retired here to Fort Thomas. There are few travelers, mostly soldiers on patrol and the occasional merchant men who supply the fort, and that is just as well. Marcus would rather his clients understand him as a former comrade-in-arms than pity him as a cripple. Tyrius lays his hands on the wound and can see the obvious relief in Marcus’ face. His ministrations will lower the swelling and inflammation, ease the pain for a few days, maybe a week, but he cannot do more.
Once Marcus’ boot is back on he goes to the kitchen to help Willa with dinner. She talks to him about giants, and whether the inn is defensible or not. He chuckles. The wood walls of the inn are thick, he says, there are barred shutters and double-barred doors, and there is a cistern in the basement. The inn can stand its own against goblin raiders, and has! But against giants? More than once since Marcus built it have giants been spotted. Then he leaves the doors open and retreats to the fort. Fortunately frost giants are more interested in battle and glory than looting. They engage the fort, trading thrown rocks for ballista fire and arrow volleys, and are usually driven off or become bored, or die once they reach the yard and try to batter down the doors of the keep. They have no interest in sieges, which is fortunate, since when it snows the tracks to Singleton and Tucksvale are impassible and there are no relief parties. Willa mentions that they saw giants on the trail two days ago, and Marcus replies that the militia men of the fort would likely want to know that. (Later, Tyrius slips out to tell the soldiers of their sighting. Most seem appreciative, but one man complains that the captain will have them doing ballista watch all night).
When the dinner preparations are going well and Marcus has shown Willa around the kitchen, he hobbles upstairs, sighing in relief at the relative ease with which he can navigate the steps now that his foot is not swollen. He checks that the girl has prepared the rooms to his satisfaction. When he comes down, Tyrius asks whether it is possible to have their clothes laundered, and he says yes, but they would need to stay all the next day. That prompts Willa to ask whether they can at least have a hot bath after dinner. Marcus sucks on his lower lip again and says politely that baths means firewood, and the firewood is for paying customers. Apparently everything he has done so far has been in exchange for Tyrius’ healing! Tyrius assures him that they are paying customers, and Marcus tells the girl to bring in wood from outside and water from the basement. Shefak moves to work alongside the girl. She smiles her appreciation shyly but does not speak.
The party insists that Marcus joins them at table. Over dinner (which includes the game the party has brought, now deliciously salted and fried in pig fat, along with potatoes, and winter greens - 5 pounds of food remaining) they ask him about Fort Thomas and the surrounding area of the Yeomanry. At first reticent, he grows more loquacious when Thokk wolfs twice his portion of food and then goes upstairs to his bed.
Fort Thomas, he begins, is a simple defensive border fort - of no economic importance, it just exists to protect the communities of the Yeomanry from anything that might emerge out of the Jotens. No travelers besides patrols have been through in at least three weeks. The soldiers of the fort see long stretches of no action but constant drilling, interspersed with occasional desperate goblin or orc raids and, in the winter, giants. Thus it is an ideal “first posting” for green militia recruits and staying at the fort any longer than a first posting is considered less than prestigious. Veterans of the fort frequently patrol the tracks between it and Singleton to the northeast and Tucksvale to the southwest, but as often as not they are the only traffic on the trail.
Tucksvale is a small halfling town, famed for breeding long-haired mountain ponies. Their own militia, mounted slingers and bowmen, acts as auxiliaries to the Yeomanry militia and also patrol the trail to Fort Thomas. They are a self-sufficient community, but have few exports beside the woven products their women make from the long hair of the ponies. These are taken to the market in Cottonton to the south, though, and do not pass through Fort Thomas.
Singleton is a market town of more than a thousand souls, the largest settlement outside of Longspear in the northern Yeomanry. It receives the produce from all the sheep crofts and farming villages in Singleton Valley, as well as the ores of many mines besides. Largely it serves as the commercial nexus of the region, keeping the whole area interdependent, but it does export goods to Longspear and Baransford (in Keoland). If the party is looking to buy supplies, they should be able to find anything they need there. The town is on a small river that flows into the Javan.
The party asks how long it will take them to get to Singleton, with Umbra being drawn by travois. Marcus says two or three days with fair weather, but warns them that should it rain or snow the track becomes either unfindable or impassable. He asks them where they are going after Singleton, and they look from one to another until Willa confidently says Sterich. In that case, says Marcus, the easiest way would be to try to find passage on a river boat on the Javan. There are fewer this time of year, but they still run since the Javan up to Sterich is ice-free even in the depths of winter. The most direct way would be to go north from Singleton to Eldmyn, and then to Baransford on the Javan in Keoland. It would take longer to go south to Longspear, but if they did that they could try to find a good Yeoman captain instead of a Keoish one.
From Marcus’ tone it is clear that he bears no love for the Keoish, so Willa asks him to expound on relations between the two countries. He says that the two nations are currently at peace and enjoy mutually profitable trade. In the case of the Yeomanry League, that trade is even vital, for Keoland is the largest export market for Yeoman goods. Despite this, no true Yeoman can forget that the Yeomanry was once conquered by Keoland and its people forced to toil in an exploitative colony. Nor would any of them doubt that should Keoland annex them again, their proud freemen would be made into serfs, just like all the feudal nations around them. Thus, the Yeomanry remains polite to Keoland, but wary.
Willa asks Marcus about local ruins, such as towers in the Jotens, and he says he has no idea. Occasionally patrols will go off the track and deeper into the Jotens to check for humanoid lairs, but he has not heard of ruins. Who would have built them, giants?
After dinner, while Marcus does the washing up, his girl draws the water that has been heating during dinner for baths for those in the party who are bathing (Thokk and Larry abstain). After they change into their cleaner sets of dirty clothes, Aurora returns to reading by the fire, while Willa and Tyrius clean and sharpen weapons and tend to their armor. Babshapka moves between rooms upstairs until he finds the one with the best vantage point, opens the shutters to the cold night air, and takes first watch. Shefak helps with the washing up and baths, while Thokk and Larry snore away. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Moderator, please delete. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Last edited by Kirt on Wed Aug 12, 2020 10:47 am; edited 2 times in total
DM's Notes:
By far the best source for maps of Greyhawk comes from the work of Anna B Meyer. I used http://ghmaps.net for the party's travel. The track the party follows in this post is on her map of the Yeomanry, from Fort Thomas to Singleton. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
Fort Thomas is referenced in the Living Greyhawk Module Yeo3-05 (A Friend in Need), which also lists the Spear Inn. Fort Thomas is also referenced in Yeo 4-01 (Flesh and Spirit).
I know of no canon sources for Singleton, and it is not on Darlene's map. It receives a single-line mention in the Living Greyhawk Player's Guide to the Yeomanry. It is described in more detail in Living Greyhawk Module YEO6-04 (Blood Shadows) and also by GMGhostmaster at https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/flanaess/singleton-pop-650-t5813.html.
Post 124: Fort Thomas to Singleton 15 November, 570 - The Spear Inn, Fort Thomas, the Yeomanry League
After nine days sleeping on the ground or stone dungeon floors, the party greatly enjoys their beds in the inn and more than one of them is late to breakfast [3 pounds of food remaining]. Tyrius, however, is up before dawn to lead a sunrise service for a handful of soldiers from the fort. How many are faithful followers of the Sun God and how many are merely curious about the strange Sterish priest is not clear, but at least a few of them know the words to the hymns and the others murmur along.
Bags are packed and Eddard harnessed to the travois. Marcus the innkeep asks for two gold and five silver a head, not including Eddard or Umbra. The price is a bit high considering the quality of the establishment, but factoring in the off-season and its remoteness it is not that far from fair. Many in the party give him three gold without hesitation. He takes their coin with a smile, but looks perplexed when Babshapka hands his over.
“Is there something wrong?”
“These coins - they're gold all right, but what is the mint? It’s not Yeoman, and not Keoish neither.” Marcus holds out the coins for them to see - the writing cut on them is in Suel, the heraldry, a device that none of them recognize. Most of them instantly grasp that Babshapka has, without thinking, passed off some of the gold coins the party took from the tower of Nholast - coins that are eight centuries old at the least (although the relief on them is still sharp, as they have not been in circulation). “Where are these even from?” asks Marcus, still confused.
“I’m well-traveled,” shrugs Babshapka, and quickly offers Keoish coin instead, which Marcus accepts gratefully. Once they are out of earshot of the inn, Aurora says that they must add something else to the list of things to do in Singleton - exchange all their coinage so as to not be so conspicuous. She is in favor of visiting a blacksmith or jeweler and simply having it melted down into ingots, while Willa says it should be sufficient to visit a money changer.
Once on the trail north, they quickly resume their standard practice of having Babshapka, Larry, and Thokk scouting and foraging while the rest of them travel as a group. In the morning, at least, they are absent Buckbeak. The open meadows of the valley which surround the fort soon narrow and eventually close to a steep-walled canyon with a stream running alongside the track. Throughout most of the morning they continue down the canyon, occasionally climbing to the rim above when it is so narrow they would have to walk through the stream or bushwhack through the riparian scrub brush.
When the scouts have returned and the party is stopped for lunch on a saddle pass between two valleys, Aurora takes out a block of incense and her brass brazier and summons Buckbeak. Then as they settle in to their lunch [1 pound of food remaining], she tells them of an interesting passage she read in the diary last night (DC38). In it, Nholast recounts that on one trip to Valadis, he recovered something called “the remains of the master” and later he refers to them as “the relics of the Whispered One”. At this last phrase, Umbra twitches violently - the first any of them has seen her move in days. Tyrius is at her side in an instant, feeling her brow, checking her pulse, but there seems to be no change from before, and she does not move again.
“We nay be goin' thar,” says Willa flatly.
“Where?” says Aurora distractedly, more interested in Umbra’s reaction.
“Valadis. We nay be goin' thar. Nay more fishin'.”
“Oh, that. Yes, fine.”
In the afternoon they descend from the saddle and follow the track down a lower, broader valley. Soon after Willa has selected their campsite, Larry appears with a kid mountain goat and a bag full of wild onion bulbs. Since they have been following the stream all day, he has not not had to even create water for them. [9 pounds of food remaining]
In the evening, Aurora uses her crystal ball to scry on the old elf again (for the second time). This time, she again sees him in bed, but there is a young elf maiden making tea over his fire, and then serving it to him. The maiden sits next to him and looks on lovingly as he sips it.
[Night of the 15th: Freezing from 11pm to 9am
Larry, Thokk, and Aurora make their Con saves, Tyrius does not.
In the morning, the paladin has one level of exhaustion.]
16 November, 570 - North along the Singleton trail, the Yeomanry League
Babshapka, as usual, has last watch before the morning, and he makes a circuit around the camp as soon as it is light enough to see well. When Larry rouses, Babshapka asks him whether he used his wild shape in the night - when the dwarf says he did not, Babshapka shows him the tracks of a mountain lion that approached but did not enter their camp.at night. [wandering monster, patrolled hills]
After breakfast [7 pounds of food remaining] the party sets out. All morning they pass through narrow, rocky canyons just wide enough for the track and the stream bed. At noon Willa has them camp on a high spot with a good view of the surroundings. From there they can see that east of them the land opens up into a great, green valley - although the track they are following turns north.
After lunch (5 pounds of food remaining) they set out again. On the slopes above the valley, they can see spread out near them dense forests and open meadows. Lower and closer to a river are fields, villages with herds of sheep or kine, and brown patches that might have been cropland in the growing season but which has since been harvested and frozen over. On a rocky promontory to the south of them, several miles off the track, they catch repeated glimpses of a large, lonely stone tower.
After lunch they leave the stream from Fort Thomas behind as it spills down into the valley below while they continue along the mountain track. By going down into the verdant valley, the foragers find the hunting easier and the prey more abundant. All three of them return with food for the dinner meal (Babshapka 2 pounds, Thokk 6 pounds, Larry 20 pounds; 31 pounds remaining).
After it is well and truly dark, Willa sends Babshapka back along the trail to the spot from the best vantage point of the valley below. All along the river are the tiny lights of fires; myriad villages and shepherd’s crofts. The forest above the river is as dark as the night. When Aurora scrys the old elf (third try) she sees only his darkened room and him sleeping peacefully.
With Tyrius ending the day as exhausted as he began it, Willa loans him her sleeping roll, trying to ensure that he gets a good night’s rest.
[Night of the 16th: Below freezing from 10pm to 10am
Tyrius recovers from his exhaustion. Larry, Thokk, and Willa make their Con saves, Aurora does not. In the morning, the wizard has one level of exhaustion and has not recovered any spell slots. Since she used three mage armors on herself the day before, she can use only one today, and thus is protected from only 7am to 3pm.]
17 November, 570 - North along the Singleton trail, the Yeomanry League
(29 pounds remaining after breakfast) The morning’s work is to climb the switchbacks of the rocky ridge separating the valley they are in from the valley of Singleton. As the party climbs, they occasionally catch glimpses of the stone tower far to the south. Close to midday it is lost from view, and where they camp for lunch offers a vista of the forests of the Singleton Valley to the north (27 pounds, plus 12 more from Larry is 39).
As they descend into the next valley, the scrubby slopes quickly become thick with pines, and still lower, broad-leaf trees whose leaves have been shed for the winter. Their horizon shrinks from vast mountain vistas to less than a hundred yards of trees all about. However, the soft, leaf-covered ground and gentle slopes are much easier for Eddard to negotiate, and their travel pace picks up. (from 7 miles per 5 hour march to 10 miles). Long before dark they emerge out of the forest into the grassy plains above Singleton and continue on another two miles before making camp for the evening. They can see the town beneath them, some five miles distant, but before they arrive they will need to pass through numerous thorps and dorfs along the way. Thokk brings 12 pounds of meat to dinner (49 pounds remaining). The land that lies ahead is pastoral, and it is likely that the plants and beasts therein belong to someone. Willa is glad they have built up a considerable surplus of food, for from here on out she doesn’t dare send any of them foraging without having them accused of poaching or worse.
Aurora’s scrying of the old elf in the evening (fourth try) is unsuccessful - perhaps the ancient one has finally made a save against her ball!
[Night of the 17th: Below freezing from 9pm to 10am
Aurora sleeps in the tent and recovers from her exhaustion. Babshapka, Thokk, and Tyrius make their Con saves, Shefak and Larry do not and have one level of exhaustion each. The next morning, even Larry admits that he was cold the night before and will be glad for a fire in the evening, if not a room or bed at an inn.]
18 November, 570 - North along the Singleton trail, the Yeomanry League
The track into Singleton from this point out is well-traveled, and Babshapka decides to stow his ioun stone so as to be less conspicuous. They pass all manner of Yeoman farmers, herders, and traders on their way to the town, arriving well before noon, and are able to find a suitable inn and have lunch, with the afternoon still open for exploring and shopping.
Shefak and Larry, still exhausted, agree to remain at the inn and guard the party’s belongings (and Umbra!). Willa convinces Thokk that he needs to stay at the inn as well and challenge to a drinking contest any Yeoman who enters.
The party soon finds that today is not a market day, although the next day will be. Apparently Singleton is a small enough town that market days (when the public spaces are crowded with stalls and traders come in from the countryside) are held only two days a week in the winter (three in the summer, when there is more trade). Today only those merchants who have permanent store fronts are doing business, so the party will have to content themselves with the higher-end purchasing and trading they need to do, and leave the acquisition of normal supplies ‘til the morrow.
They start with a few shops selling custom leather work, and Tyrius purchases three bits and bridles, a military saddle, two pack saddles (for the pack mules they plan to purchase when the stock yards fill on the morrow), a set of saddlebags, and some heavy winter gear for Umbra and Shefak. The conversation then turns to barding, with Tyrius arguing that his heavens-sent steed deserves the best, while Aurora points out how expensive it is and “look what happened to the last set”. When this debate spills out on the street, Eddard clears his throat pointedly. Tyrius looks up sheepishly and says that they should the steed's opinion, since he is the one who will be wearing it. Eddard explains that he is honestly not that impressed with the quality of workmanship seen in the equestrian goods available here. Singleton is just a town, not a city, and the Yeomanry does not have a strong tradition of knights or even heavy cavalry. Eddard suggests that they purchase leather barding for now, which will give him a minimum of protection but will likely be safer for him should they find river passage. They can look into chain, scale, splint, or even plate barding once they reach Sterich and can find something of better quality. This seems like a reasonable compromise, so after a bit more searching they buy a set of leather barding sized for the great war horse.
The next store mostly deals in high-end pipe weed (an important Yeoman export), but does have a small selection of incense for Aurora to consider; she buys three blocks.
The rest of the supplies they need can better be bought at the market on the morrow, so they turn to selling. Willa finds an authorized money changer and Tyrius explains that they need to change some obscure currency into local coin. He shows the man one of the coins from Nholast’s tower and he is impressed. After first ascertaining that it is real gold, he begins to pepper Tyrius with questions. Tyrius readily admits that they are adventurers and that they got the coins plundering ancient ruins before Willa and Aurora force him to stop. The money changer says that he can trade only up to 100 gold, but that he will give them ninety gold in Keoish or Yeoman coin for a hundred of theirs. After some more negotiation he agrees to give them the equivalent value in Keoish platinum griffins instead and the party finds the deal quite favorable. The money changer says he could change even more for them later but will need some days to draw together the coin.
As they stroll jeweler’s row, the party briefly considers selling the three dozen gems they recovered from the tower, but ultimately decide that the gems are a more portable form of wealth than coins. They do resolve to free themselves of some of the more bulky items of treasure, however. Working the shops for the rest of the afternoon, they manage to sell the following treasures for gold coins (they ask for Keoish gold lions, which seem readily available in this border town):
Gold and Silver Necklace for 45 gold lions
Silver Chalice for 50 gold lions
Gold Chalice for 70 gold lions
Gold Pin for 85 gold lions
Furthermore, Aurora trades in her powdered gold and platinum for 50 gold lions, and purchases a pearl suitable for use with her identify spell for 107gp.
Willa insists they keep the silver seal. The statuette with emerald eyes is identified by Shefak as being a representation of a Baklunish god, and the party gifts it to her. Aurora decides that the powdered gemstone will likely prove useful in the future for spell ingredients and is of little value otherwise so this she keeps as well.
They also visit blacksmiths, weapons-makers, and armorers to have their gear serviced and repaired.
It is nearing dark and the shops are closing when those out finally return to the inn. After a hearty dinner of their own game supplemented with all the inn has to offer, they retire to their shared rooms, but keep to their customary watch schedule. Upon deliberation, Aurora decides not to take out her crystal ball - there are too many prying eyes at the inn, and staring into a glowing orb for ten minutes or more will certainly mark her as a wizard. She can still maintain plausibility as a scholar, however, while reading Nholast’s diary, which appears like any other erudite tome. Even in the common room, the faded Suel letters would have to be carefully studied to read, and casual passersby should have no idea of its nature or contents.
This night she reads for two hours (DC39 and 40 in the book). At one point, Nholast refers to Asberdies as “a typical Malhel”.
[Dinner; 42 pounds food remaining] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Last edited by Kirt on Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:35 am; edited 2 times in total
DM's Notes:
By far the best source for maps of Greyhawk comes from the work of Anna B Meyer. I used http://ghmaps.net for the party's travel. The track the party follows in this post is on her map of the Yeomanry, from Singleton to Fort August. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
I know of no canon sources for Singleton, and it is not on Darlene's map. It receives a single-line mention in the Living Greyhawk Player's Guide to the Yeomanry. It is described in more detail in Living Greyhawk Module YEO6-04 (Blood Shadows) and also by GMGhostmaster at https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/flanaess/singleton-pop-650-t5813.html.
Post 125: Singleton to Fort August 19 November, 570 - Singleton, the Yeomanry League
With today being a market day, the party looks to replace the gear lost to the eigers. They spread out through the open-air market and come away with:
2 mules (named Andy and Randy Nubbutters by Larry)
5 bedrolls (everyone now has one)
10 waterskins (everyone now has two, enough for a full day)
1 bullseye lantern
14 flasks of oil
1 grappling hook
2 hammers
3 x 50’ lengths of silk rope (and Babshapka throws away his old, cut and tied, hemp rope)
56 rations (jerky, dried fruit, hard tack for 8 people for 7 days)
20 rations of grain for the mules
This, plus all of the items purchased the previous day, comes to 241.5gp, or 34.5 gold each (not including Umbra).
Returning to the inn as early as they can, they turn over their clothes for laundering, mending, and in some cases, replacement. (15 days of gear upkeep, since November 5th, is between 4 and 10 gp each for them). Some of them even pay for baths while their clothes are away.
Aurora reads for two more hours in the diary of Nholast. (DC 41 and 42) The book is now read thoroughly and has yielded all immediately useful information as far as she can tell.
[35 pounds of foraged food remaining without using purchased human rations]
20 November, 570 - South along the trail, Singleton to Longspear
The party has been told that should they travel north out of Singleton, they can follow the track about three miles until it crosses the local river at a bridge. On the far side, the trail splits in two; they can then turn south to Longspear or continue north to Eldmyn (in Keoland). Between Willa and Aurora, the party gives a confusing account of their next destination to those at the inn giving them directions, but they set out in good order nonetheless.
Arriving at the northern edge of town, they find another group preparing to leave as well. A dozen lightly-armored Yeoman spearmen form the core of a patrol, commanded by a grizzled-looking sergeant: a broad-shouldered woman with no left arm past her elbow. Her heavy leather jack is sewn closed at the end of the half sleeve. With the group, and apparently under the woman’s command as well, are five halflings on ponies. At first the party takes them to be just pack-handlers, for the ponies carry bags and rolls besides their riders, but as they get closer, the halflings can be seen to be wearing leather armor and all are equipped with slings and belt knives. The final two members of the company are both mailed dwarves with axes and heavy crossbows.
Serjeant Breewyn explains to them that her detail this week is to patrol the road from Singleton to Longspear and then back again. The party is welcome to come with - provided they can keep up. Eddard, securely harnessed to the travois, sighs heavily and says that will be unlikely. The Yeoman take a few steps back at his words and Breewyn arches an eyebrow, then shrugs and starts barking orders at her men. They set out down the track at an ordered march, with the dwarves each at the head of a column of men, setting pace, and the ponies following behind.
The ground is nearly level, but slopes gently down to the river, such that the patrol ahead of them is visible the entire first hour of their travel, although it is slowly pulling away from the party. It is below freezing, and now that they are away from the hearthfires of the inn, the party is grateful for their new sets of winter outer clothes and new bedrolls. They are more grateful still as they watch the heavy, leaden clouds blow in over the hills to the south. They are just crossing the stone bridge over the river when the first sleet starts to fall. Fortunately there is a sheep-pen on the other side of the river with a small roofed shed in which they can take shelter while they decide what to do next.
After half an hour it is obvious that the sleet-storm is not going anywhere - a layer of slush now covers the ground outside. It is still below freezing outside, but not frigid. It will be inconvenient to keep going, but not dangerous. Visibility would be reduced, their progress would be slowed, but it is still early in the day and an afternoon sun could easily dissipate the storm. Perhaps the greatest risk is that they could lose the track, for the southern branch of the trail especially is narrow and not frequently traveled.
A few in the party argue for pressing on, most for just waiting out the storm itself, and a few for scrapping the day’s travel altogether and seeing what weather the morrow brings before they are too far from Singleton to easily turn back.
Willa decides that they will stay under shelter for the time being, seeing how long the storm will continue. Some four hours later the corral, track, and fields beyond are covered in slush and ice, with just the muddy sheep shed interior and river's surface remaining uncovered. The party sets about making their mid-day meal - it is cold, as none of them are eager to go looking for wood, and there are no trees about save thumb-thick suckers and saplings on the steep river bank. Fortunately, those who had stayed at the inn for the last two days while the others shopped had cooked the nearly forty pounds of game the party had remaining so as to keep it longer. Cold meat, colder water, and dried fruits are shared around.
Some time around one in the afternoon the sleet changes to rain, and that fades to drizzle by two as the clouds clear and the sun emerges. The rain melts the worst of the ice, but the ground is a bit muddy. It is now in the mid-forties - they believe they should be able to get a half-day’s march in, should they choose to continue. Willa tells them that they are burning daylight and that it is time to set out.
Babshapka and Dirty Larry are immediately sent off up the trail, with Willa telling them to look for tracks in the snow and mud. After they leave, the party packs up their gear, re-harnesses Eddard and loads the two mules, and sets out as soon as they are done, except for Thokk, who will be serving as rear guard as before.
With temperatures well above freezing, what remains of the ice does not last long, although the ground about is muddy for the rest of the afternoon. Fortunately the mud is least thick along the track, since the ground there has been hard-packed or worn to stone by countless other travelers, and the party makes good progress. For the rest of the afternoon they walk up the valley, with steep hill bluffs on their left and the river below them on their right. The land is open and grassy, and they pass numerous farming and herding “villages” - these more clusters of houses surrounded by a few fields or cleared pastures than anything else. Occasionally Babshapka and Larry pick up fresh tracks, almost certainly those of the patrol they met in the morning - numerous thick-soled sandals, the hoof-prints of ponies, and the marks from large, hob-nailed boots that could only be the dwarves. As the afternoon wears on, the trail grows drier but also more steep, and the valley narrows. The sun is close to dropping behind the massive Jotens to the west when they come upon a narrow draw. The higher land beyond is forested, and already dark. The track enters the forest. They could push on for a bit more, but Willa prefers to make camp where they can see the land around them.
Aurora uses her crystal ball to attempt to scry on the knight - but is not able to make a connection.
It is below freezing from midnight through 10am. At this point, everyone has at least two levels of protection (winter gear and bedroll) so no saves are needed.
[28 pounds of foraged food remaining without using purchased human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used]
21 November, 570 - South along the trail, Singleton to Longspear
As they are about to enter forested hills, Babshapka volunteers to stay back with the main party. His planning and assistance in negotiating obstacles (deadfalls, steep slopes, etc.) will help Eddard cover more ground. [Natural Explorer - Eddard now moving at 15 miles per march] Now away from prying eyes, Babshapka again sends his ioun stone into orbit to conserve food.
Without Babshapka scouting in the van, the party decides to send Thokk to the fore, and the barbarian is excited about the prospect of being able to encounter something first and get in a fight, rather than protecting the rear of the party. He is not as skilled or practiced at moving in forests as Babshapka, so he will mostly stay on the track, but will be able to move enough faster than the party that he can go off-track to explore areas of likely ambush or game. [Thokk on trail moves 20 miles per half-day march; Thokk needs to spend a bit more than 3 hours of every 5 hour march on the track to keep ahead of the party]
Larry will take over Thokk’s role of rear guard, walking behind the party to see if they are pursued, and taking advantage of any game the party has flushed in their passage. Soon after they set out, however, Larry finds himself struggling to keep up with Eddard’s assisted pace [Larry's top speed is 12.5 miles per march], and the main group is forced to slow down and take breaks so as to not lose him behind.
The track climbs steeply into the forest and then levels out. Blocked by a high, hard layer of rock, the river the party has been following ends in a thin falls, with a lake above. The lake is encircled by forests and the occasional fishing village. In the dark recesses of forest-shaded coves there is even skim ice on the surface, but most of the lake is still, steel-colored open water. The track continues south along the shore of the lake for some four or five miles before turning east and heading higher into the hills. The rest of the morning is spent climbing the track higher and higher up the rugged, forested slopes.
In the afternoon, the party continues along the track, climbing through a series of forested valleys and up and down wooded slopes, but ever higher in a net sense. They have just crested the highest ridge yet and can see far beyond when Willa calls for a campsite on this vantage point. Before them, the track descends a steep hillslope into a narrow canyon with a swift river at the bottom. While the canyon itself extends farther than they can see south and east, where the track crosses the river there is a fortification of wood and stone, built around a stone bridge over the river. Based on the information they gained in Singleton, this must be the Yeomanry League’s Fort August.
Aurora uses her crystal ball to attempt to scry on the knight - but is not able to make a connection.
It is below freezing from 9pm through 9am. No saves are needed due to protective gear.
[22 pounds of foraged food remaining without using purchased human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
By far the best source for maps of Greyhawk comes from the work of Anna B Meyer. I used http://ghmaps.net for the party's travel. The track the party follows in this post is on her map of the Yeomanry, from Fort August to Longspear. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
I know of no canon sources for Fort August, and it is not on Darlene's map. It receives no mention in the Living Greyhawk Player's Guide to the Yeomanry (although I note that August is the given name of Triad Member August Hahn). It is mentioned briefly in Living Greyhawk Modules YEO3-05 (a Friend in Need) and YEO6-04 (Blood Shadows), but both these sources refer to the road it lies on and do not describe the Fort itself.
Post 126: Fort August to Longspear 22 November, 570 - Fort August, the Yeomanry League
Outriders Thokk and Larry are brought in to travel with the main group to the fort. The steep descent is easy, and less than an hour after the morning march has begun the party stands before Fort August.
The river is narrow but strong, coursing powerfully through the rocky canyon floor. Even Willa, the best swimmer among them, would have difficulty crossing it, and she would be loathe to try with pack or armor on. Fortunately there is a large stone bridge across the water, and it is around this structure that the fort is built. At either end of the bridge is a squat, square, stone tower, and those wishing to cross the bridge must first pass through a narrow tunnel under the tower itself, with each end guarded by a portcullis.
Around each stone gatehouse is a low wooden palisade in a semicircle, at a distance of fifty to a hundred yards depending on the rocky terrain. Rising above the palisade are a trio of square wooden towers on each side of the river. Each tower is pierced on all walls and at numerous heights with arrow slits, and on the very top with a swivel-mounted ballista. The three ballistae on the near side have, for the last half mile of the party’s approach, been trained on them. The palisade itself is breached by two wooden gatehouses, one on each side. On the near side, the track the party is on leads directly to the gate, but so does another track which parallels the river up the canyon to the south. On the far side of the river, the track to Longspear emerges from the gate and follows the river down the canyon. The space inside the palisade is crowded with low wooden buildings. Most have the spartan look of barracks, but a few are stables and one, with blankets and colorful fruits displayed outside, is obviously something else.
The party has a short interview at the open main gate, and Tyrius easily satisfies the guard’s queries. They are again reminded that “these are free folk” and allowed to pass inside.
Willa calls for a pause outside what turns out to be a trading post and general store. The owner is friendly and garrulous so long as Willa is pretending to look things over and Larry is fishing pickles from a barrel. She asks him about the patrol ahead of them, led by Serjeant Breewyn, and he admits that they passed through the previous day, around mid-day, before repenting that he really shouldn’t be talking about matters of military security. Willa slides him a few coppers “for the pickles” and next asks him how much further it is to Longspear; he replies that Fort August is considered the halfway point between the two cities. [It has taken the party two days to get here, but they spent nearly half a day under cover from the sleet storm] When she asks him about the region in general, he says that it has been an easy fall for Fort August, with a blessedly short monsoon season and no mudslides blocking the trail. The biggest quarrels have been about when the cart trail from Longspear to Singleton will be completed, and who will pay for it - an issue that seems to be endlessly debated in something he calls the “Council of Commons.” When Willa asks what they should be wary of for the remainder of their journey, he says that humanoid raiders have not been seen all year, and the frequent Yeoman patrols keep wolf and bear attacks rare. Only occasional groups of brigands from Keoland have had to have been seen off by the good Yeoman of the fort, but they are still the greatest threat. Just after talking reflexively about the rapaciousness of the Keolandish bandits, the shopkeep seems to realize that any number of party members are themselves possibly Keoish, and backtracks a bit by adding, “Of course, one can hardly blame the poor buggers, what with the backward feudal system over there - sure, some of the brigands are bad men, but as many and more are just good men desperate to feed their families, and with nothing left once lord and bishop take the fruits of their labor, eh?” His glance then falls on Tyrius, and he shrugs as if giving up on making tactful discourse.
At the first stone tower a fee of “half a common per leg” is collected (1cp each for most of them, 2cp each for Randy, Andy, and Eddard), and the party passes under the murder-holed first tunnel, over the bridge, under the second tunnel, and out into the far bank section of Fort August.
Leaving the fort behind, the party continues on along the track. Within the steep-walled and rocky canyon, the track follows the rushing river closely, but after less than a mile it climbs to the rim. From that point on they remain above the river. Even after the canyon has widened to a broad river valley, the track itself traverses the hills and bluffs above the river, passing in and out of light forest. As they pick their way across the rocky ground and over fallen branches, Willa wonders aloud why they are not down among the soft grass and abundant water of the valley. Babshapka supposes a river like that likely floods in the spring, which would make a track like this into a muddy mess and bog down any travelers. With the fort behind them, Babshapka again takes out his stone and Thokk and Buckbeak are sent to scout ahead. By the time they pause for a mid-day meal, the fort is nearly ten miles behind them.
Almost as soon as they are moving again the track turns south, even while the river below them continues east. While the river drops lower, the track begins to climb higher into the rugged hills, and the forest grows more dense. After another mile or so they come to a natural lookout spot, offering a broad vista to the east. Some three miles away or so is another river, this one as broad as any they have ever seen - it can only be the Javan, international economic lifeblood of the region. Shielding his eyes from the sun, Babshapka claims to even be able to see ships upon its waters. The river they were previously following must empty into the larger river soon after they left it. Since they can easily see to the far shore, Willa points out that they are now looking directly into Keoland. If this gives Aurora pause, she does not betray it.
After another hour of travel, the party comes to a curious sight. The mule single-track they have been following suddenly broadens into a wide trail. Large rocks have been cleared from the way and rolled to the side. Trees have been felled and stumps pulled. Low spots have been filled with gravel and some even have shallow drainage ditches alongside them. The loose earth has been packed hard, and here and there are ruts suggesting cart traffic. Around the transition itself are numerous old refuse piles and a filled-in latrine suggesting a labor camp was once present, although they currently are the only people about.
They continue along the vastly improved trail for the rest of the afternoon, with the broad Javan River below them, thick forest about them, and rocky hilltops above them.
Thokk complements their dinner with a fine, fat, fresh hare he has killed [3 pounds]
Aurora uses her crystal ball to attempt to scry on the old elf - but is not able to make a connection.
This night, at lower elevations than the party has been since they left Highfell, does not drop below freezing, although they keep a campfire for warmth all the same.
[19 pounds of food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used]
23 November, 570 - South along the trail, Singleton to Longspear
Thokk and Buckbeak set out again in the van. Thokk has taken to jogging a half an hour or so along the trail to get ahead of the party, all the while pointing at vantage points and deep tangles for Buckbeak to investigate. When he considers himself far enough ahead, he goes off-trail into likely spots for game, while Buckbeak waits along the trail itself - to either alert the party of something’s approach in Thokk’s absence, or to fetch Thokk if the party catches up to the spot before he has returned to the trail. This relationship works out well, and Thokk brings two opossum with him the next time he rejoins the party [+8 pounds food].
Soon after the party sets out on their morning march, the forest below them begins to thin. The slopes become more rocky, and in the space of a few miles they find themselves on high cliffs overlooking the Javan. Occasionally vistas of the river reveal Longspear downstream, and even Cryford, the smaller Keoish counterpart city directly across the river from Longspear. However, there does not appear to be the villages one would expect surrounding either city. In fact, there is little agricultural land to be seen all morning. Apparently both cities have good harbors and are placed for trade reasons, but may not be able to support themselves in terms of food. Willa chooses a lunch spot with a good view of the river and both cities - they will almost certainly reach Longspear before dark.
After lunch, Thokk and Buckbeak set out again. Some half an hour later, unbeknownst to them, they pass a large number of bandits who have prepared an ambush, and continue on. They go a further two hundred yards or so past the ambush point, and then Thokk plunges down the scrubby slopes in search of game.
[The bandits set up their ambush site in the late morning, and so do a “take 20” resulting in a 20 on their Stealth score. Thokk is already both moving Stealthily and Foraging, and so his chance to detect is based on his Passive Perception (14). Buckbeak is actively and continually looking for concealed opponents, and so makes a Perception roll for this specific instance, getting an 11 (roll 7 + 4). For their part, the bandits have not been told to look for a hawk, so they ignore Buckbeak. Thokk’s current Stealth score (roll 6 + 2 = 8) is below the Passive Perception of the bandits (10), so they notice Thokk sneaking by - and choose to let him continue, as they are waiting for the main party - or more specifically, for Aurora.]
The main party is walking along the trail as they pass beneath a large wooded hill to their right, and a small rocky knoll to their left. The ambush is sprung - seven bowmen emerge from the cover of the trees and launch arrows, all of them aiming for Aurora! [Bowmen are firing from stealth (unseen) and so have advantage on attack rolls - six hits, 37hp damage, Aurora is at 1hp. All of the party are surprised - when surprised, characters may not move or take actions (regular or bonus). They may only take reactions, and only after their own initiative has passed]
Aurora is hit several times, and is on the verge of collapse. She manages to make the arcane gestures that produce a shield spell. As soon as she begins casting, another six bowman emerge from the woods and fire another volley - this time she goes down!
[The six remaining bowmen had readied an action to attack if the first volley did not bring Aurora down. By the time their readied action was triggered, however, Aurora’s initiative had passed. Thus she was allowed to react to their attack, which she did by casting shield, which may be cast as a reaction. Despite now having an AC of 20 until her next turn, two of the six attacks (with advantage) hit, for a total of nine points, and taking her to 0 hp, unstable. Since none of the party could act, or had another reaction, that was the end of the surprise round.]
Being next to Aurora when she went down, Larry bends over and gives her a cure wounds, then takes cover from the bowmen behind some large rocks alongside the trail. [Aurora now conscious at 5hp]. Babshapka runs to Aurora’s side - although conscious, she is still prone on the ground. He drags her behind the cover of the rocks, and then casts Hunter’s Mark on a bandit, then finally draws an arrow. Shefak sees Aurora thrashing as she is being dragged by Babshapka and reasons that a fireball is imminent. She runs about half of the distance to the bandits on the hill and then takes cover behind boulders.
By now the bandits have drawn and fired again - with Aurora hidden by the rocks, they divide their fire between Larry and Babshapka. But with the party now both aware of them and behind partial cover, their arrows are less effective. [Babshapka hit once for 7 points]
Aurora sits up, with her back against the rocks, preparing to stand and launch her spell at the bandits on the hill. Seeing her stir, four previously unseen bandits on the rocky knoll opposite the hill come out of cover and shoot at her. She has no cover from their vantage, but still has her shield in effect. Nevertheless, she goes down again. [Aurora is hit by a single arrow for 9hp and is again unstable at 0hp]
Seven more bandits emerge from the light woods on the steep slope below the party and dash up it, closing about half the distance, but curiously with no weapons drawn.
Eddard charges down the trail to take unconscious Umbra out of the shooting gallery. Once he is clear, he tosses back his head and shouts “THOOOOKK!” at the top of his horsey lungs. Some two hundred yards away, crouching down with his hand gripping a javelin as he stalks a squirrel, Thokk raises his head. When he hears the call again, he stands and begins running at full-tilt back to the party, stones scattering around him on the rocky slopes.
Confident in the ability of her magical plate armor to protect her, Willa has not taken cover, but neither has she charged the distant hill with the first set of bandits. Now that a squad has appeared close at hand, however, she draws her sword runs at them. Before she reaches them, however, another six bandits come forth from hiding, these in and among the very rocks and boulders in which the party is taking cover! All six shoot at Willa’s back - two hitting her but a third missing her and hitting instead one of the very bandits she is charging. “Sorry, brah. My bad,” mumbles the archer to his colleague. [Willa takes nine points. There are now 13 + 4 + 7 + 6 = 30 bandits in view]. The first slice of Willa’s greatsword kills the bandit who was struck by the arrow, her second brings down another outright.
Tyrius, too, meets the bandits charging up the slope at them and crushes the life from one of them with his warhammer, and wounds another.
[End round 2]
The bandits on high rain down more arrows on the party. Babshapka, with the lightest armor, takes the worst of it. [Willa takes 8 hp, Larry 9, Babshapka 15]. The two unarmed bandits facing Tyrius back off evasively, while the remaining two arrive at the side of Aurora. With one grabbing her feet and another her arms, they begin to carry her off downhill toward the edge of the woods. Larry tries to stop them, but his scimitar is packed on a mule - the most he can do for the moment is clout one of them with his pickle-stained fist.
Willa takes out the two bandits backing away from Tyrius, allowing him to turn and swing at the ones carrying Aurora off. In his care not to hit her, however, he mis-steps on the rocky ground and sinks to one knee without connecting. He calls upon Pelor to guide his hand in rescuing his companion. [Critical miss but acceptable dexterity save results in loss of both attacks; Tyrius casts divine favor as a bonus action]
Burning with impotence at being unable to stop the capture of Aurora, Larry lets fly with a hastily-aimed lightning bolt. [Arcana roll 7] This arcs from bandit to bandit, but also gets drawn into the plate mail of Tyrius and courses from one of the bandits carrying Aurora into her body as well. All of the bandits in melee range are now down except the one at Aurora’s head. [Lightning bolt for 36 damage, Tyrius makes a dex save to take 18. Aurora, unconscious and at 0, cannot save and takes the full 36 points. Interestingly, this is just two points short of what would be needed to instantly kill her.
PHB 197 wrote:
“If you take any damage while you have 0 Hit Points, you suffer a death saving throw failure...If the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, you suffer Instant Death”
The bandits using the same cover of rocks as the party but still shooting at them, break out in a babble of Keoish and Flan curses. Babshapka and Larry hear one say “Lightning? Captain didn’t say the dwarf could shoot lightning!” Babshapka runs to the still-smoking body of Aurora and casts cure wounds [cast at second level, Aurora now at 13hp].
Eddard turns around so that he can follow the conflict, but continues to bellow for Thokk.
Shefak, ever the tactician, decides that freeing Aurora to cast fireball will do more than charging the archers herself. She sprints to the center of the combat, fells the remaining bandit still dragging Aurora, darts between the rocks, and carries the fight to the four archers on the rocky knoll. [Using a ki point, Shefak adds a dash to her move and regular attacks]
Now conscious and unrestrained, Aurora rises to her feet, unsteady but with vengeful malice in her eyes. She launches a fireball up the slope and into the forest. Twelve of the thirteen bandit archers fall in an instant of fiery agony [25hp, unconscious if they save, instant death if they fail]. Aurora then takes cover from the remaining archers behind her. The one bandit on the hill who was out of range of her fireball fades back into the forest. The fire smoulders among the damp woods, but does not ignite into a wildfire.
[End of round 3]
Although Shefak continues her assault, striking to knock out but not to kill, the bandits have lost heart and all those remaining flee downslope, including another dozen hidden further up the trail who were unseen until now when they turned tail to run. Larry uses a moonbeam to further punish those who are retreating, and two more bandits fall. Willa and Tyrius carefully scan the routed foes, but none of them look to be leaders and Tyrius knows that the cowardly captain is more than likely “leading from behind”, somewhere among the trees to which his men are now fleeing.
[End of combat; return to story pacing]
As Tyrius moves among the twenty-six fallen men, he uses a single point of lay on hands to save each of the wounded and leaves the dead where they lie. Others in the party follow behind him, binding the living prisoners with rope.
Aurora reaches out with her mind, removing Buckbeak from his current location and causing him to appear next to her. She then sends him to follow the retreating bandits, but warns him to fly well above arrow range.
Several minutes later, Thokk comes barreling up the trail. Initially excited for battle, he falls into a rage upon learning that the party has finished the fight before his arrival, and begins berating them for their insensitivity. Aurora pulls a bloody arrow from her thigh and flings it at the barbarian, but it bounces off his boot. Thokk ridicules Aurora’s arrow-throwing ability, and she hotly retorts that he missed dozens of bandits hiding at the ambush point while he was off chasing butterflies. She points at the woods and the rock outcrops where the bandits were hidden and accusingly asks him whether he checked them, and if he did, was he blind or just stupid? Thokk bristles with anger, says that he told Buckbeak to check those places, and the bird did not find anything, so if anyone is blind or stupid it is her familiar - and likely he is both! He adds that he bets he can find wild animals that can do an even better job of scouting than her wimpy, fancy, fake magic hawk. In fact, he has a mind to cast his speak with animals spell right now, on one of the ravens that is currently feasting on the eyes of the dead bandits.
Willa takes Thokk’s arm and tosses her head at Aurora, dismissing her. Willa explains to Thokk that while the party may need his beast friends in the future, for the time being they need more to make it to Longspear before dark - and, she adds, before that storm hits would be even better. She points at the southern sky, where thick, dark clouds are building. Willa has seen Thokk cast his speak with animals just once before, in Barovia, and she knows that it will take some time - and besides, she says, she needs him to be minding the prisoners. Thokk reluctantly agrees, but mumbles about how in the morning he will have many ravens and wolves besides and he will not be responsible if one of them eats Aurora’s stupid hawk.
Surveying the captives, the party finds the bandits’ equipment poor and mis-matched, their clothing thin and ragged, their boots worn. They themselves are a mix of Flan and Oerid men, Yeomen and Keoish outlaws, with not a woman or non-human among them. Tyrius finds none of them that could be considered officers, but he gathers the living ones together.
When Buckbeak comes back, he tells Aurora that the retreating bandits fled down the hill to the riverbank, pulled out canoes from concealment, and are even now halfway across the great Javan River.
Tyrius casts zone of truth on the nine living bandits, then examines them carefully. Five of them have been affected by the power of his god, so he has the others taken away and begins to interrogate those remaining.
They reveal that they are a group of bandits who typically operate on the Keoish side of the river, although they keep canoes and occasionally raid the Yeoman side as well. They are led by “Captain Sherlin”. Two days ago a stranger appeared in their camp. He easily disarmed a handful of pickets and then demanded to be taken to Sherlin. He met with Sherlin and his lieutenants in his tent, but none of those present now were actually at the meeting then or heard the exchange. When he emerged, he left straight away, but the captain told them that a group of adventurers was traveling the road from Singleton to Longspear, and that they would prepare an ambush for them. The goal of the ambush was to capture their mage and bring her back to camp - Sherlin claimed that she was worth a lot of money and that if they did this they would be able to get through the rest of the winter without having to do any more raids. Shirlin gave them a description of the party, detailing each of them and their abilities - although he did not mention the unconscious elf. Further, they complain, Sherlin’s assessment of the power of the party was rather too low. Among other things, he claimed that the mage was the only one who could unleash crowd-killing spells and he did not say the dwarf could hurl lightning.
Aurora asks for a description of the stranger, and learns that he was of medium height, but broad-shouldered and muscular. He had a scar on his face, and an eyepatch over his left eye, and a black beard. He did not bear the trappings of knighthood, but wore a simple leather jerkin and traveling clothes, and bore a stout wooden stave. Physically, he certainly fits the description of the knight that pursues her, but then, a lot of men would. Nothing at least contradicts that he is that knight, except perhaps the eyepatch.
Willa asks what the bandits at large will be doing now - will the Captain be organizing a second attempt? How many more men do they have? Those present agree that they were two score fighting men - the party has slain or captured more than half their force. They don’t believe the Captain will be ordering them to strike again - and if he does, they add, he might find himself looking for a new bandit group to head.
Aurora asks for details of their camp, and is told that on the other side of the Javan, two miles to the north, there is a stream that flows into the river. Follow that stream five miles up into the hills, and there is the bandits’ winter camp. There are more bandits there then crossed the river with them - but they are old, infirm, slaves, or camp followers. Not fighters.
By this point Tyrius’ spell is fading. The party leaves Thokk to guard the prisoners and withdraws to discuss. Obviously they were set up, and the ambush was for them, for Aurora. The information about them, and about the exact day of their arrival was too accurate - scarily accurate. But who could do this? And how? It is possible that they were spotted in Singleton, recognized, possible that a message was sent in time to intercept them before reaching Longspear. But to Aurora that seems too convenient - it reeks of magic. Has someone been scrying on them this whole time?
“Mayhap ye be announcin’ yer presence every time ye use yon blasted ball,” suggests Willa.
This fills Aurora with doubt and insecurity. Can someone tell when she is scrying on them successfully or not? Does a successful saving throw not only resist the scrying itself, but also inform the person being scried on of the attempt? Her mentor is a diviner - he would know - and almost surely she had a lesson on that at one point in her ‘prenticeship. But now she does not remember the answer [Arcana roll 12]. The problem is that it is the crystal ball that allows her to cast the scry spell - she has never seen the spell itself, and cannot reverse-engineer how it might work or what its properties are. “But wait!” she reasons. “If the knight or even the elf could tell that I was scrying on them, if you can notice when someone is scrying on you, then we should have noticed that we were being scried on, right? Have any of you ever felt, at any time since we left the Tower, that you were being watched magically?” The rest of them admit that they have not.
Setting aside the discussion of who might be watching them, and how, and why, they turn to the prisoners. Tyrius says that they should be marched as captives to Longspear, and turned over to the local authorities. Aurora expresses feigned shock that he will not be letting them go, seeing as they did surrender and cease hostilities, and are now helpless. What of the ‘mercy of Pelor’, she goads. Tyrius looks at her as if she is trying his patience, as she often does. “They are self-admitted outlaws who attacked us, using deadly force without warning or provocation. They have earned a death sentence, and if necessary I would execute them all myself rather than seeing them go free to harm others. But we are just a few hours from Longspear. We don’t even have to pass a night with them and work out a guard rotation. We can walk them to Longspear and show our support for the local law.”
“Nevertheless,” interjects Eddard, still managing to surprise some in the party with his sardonic interruptions. “I don’t know the laws of the Yeomanry, but I doubt there is much in Longspear waiting for them besides the gallows. There are more of them than there are of us - how do we convince them to go willingly and not try something foolish at their first opportunity?”
Tyrius sighs and rubs his temple. “Let Thokk talk to them,” he says. “I’m sure he can threaten them with something more fearful than death.” He adds, just to be clear, “Not that we will let him do whatever he says, but we can let him threaten them. If any of them try something, all of us are free to kill them on the spot.”
Larry goes to Thokk and explains the plan, and offers to help translate. Thokk chortles. He tells the men that they will need their legs to get to Longspear, but not their hands and arms. If any of them try to escape, or try to harm the party, Thokk will first eat their fingers, raw. Then, he will eat their arms, cooked, but only after making them gather the firewood themselves, while fingerless...Thokk’s gruesome description goes on for some time, and by the end, all of those present are shaken and cowed. [Intimidation plus Guidance, 27].
As they form up into a line, Willa remarks that Aurora needs a disguise. If it is indeed she that is marked, they can save themselves some hassle by not having “her” accompany them to the city. They begin to discuss the disguise, but Eddard interrupts, again. “If we are missing Aurora, but have one previously unknown extra party member, that disguise will be as thin as a dancing girl’s scarf to anyone who knows who we are.” He pauses. “But if we have ten extra party members, she may go unnoticed. The only logical disguise is for her to pretend to be a bandit. If Eyepatch is in Longspear, he might even think that some of the bandits got away with her before we captured others of them.”
No one offers a better idea, so Aurora reluctantly strips to her smallclothes, packs her gear away on one of the mules, and searches among the dead bandits until she finds a scrawny one whose clothes mostly fit her. Babshapka rubs dirt in her hair and on her face, and Willa binds her hands in a complicated knot that she says will fall away easily if Aurora tugs on it correctly. Aurora complains that both of them are enjoying this far too much. Babshapka’s face becomes pensive. He packs away his winter gear (it is currently in the 40’s) and moves among the dead bandits until he finds a brown leather cloak and pants that fit him, then replaces those with his green woolen cloak and hose. He packs his own clothes away as well, then moves his twin sheathes from crossed over his back to his waist belt. He offers no explanation as he works.
The party agrees that they want to be in and out of Longspear as quickly as possible. They should be able to turn over the real bandits to any men at the gate. The next day, Aurora can stay hidden in their room at an inn while Willa works the docks to find them a ship. If possible, the others can try to convert any coins they have, especially the old Nholast coins, to platinum or gems, but leaving quickly will take precedence. They discuss buying a cart for Umbra to replace the travois, but decide that the cart will do them little good aboard a ship. Finally, around 2:30pm, they set out.
Thokk marches alongside the captives, growling and smacking his lips at any that fall out of line or even raise their heads above looking at their feet. Willa asks Shefak to move to the van, scouting with her ring of invisibility on. The monk lacks the woodcraft to scout off-trail, but pledges to stay several hundred yards ahead of the party and return if she sees anything. Out of range of Thokk’s hearing, Willa tells Aurora to have Buckbeak continue to scout as well - flying first in front of them, and then behind them, up and down the trail. The hawk will be moving at twice the rate of the main party, so this should not be a problem. Willa tells Larry he should stay in the rearguard, but keep the party within sight and let them know if they are getting too far ahead of them.
They have not been moving for half an hour when the storm breaks over them. It is a heavy rain, fortunately not accompanied by much wind, but the clouds stretch to the horizon and Willa warns them that the rain could go on all night - or more likely, turn to sleet or snow [Willa Survival roll 11]. She reminds them again that their goal is to make Longspear by nightfall, where a warm, dry bed awaits them.
It is not long before the heavy rain has them all shivering and the cart trail is a mess of mud. Only Larry seems unaffected and now, rather than struggling to keep up, he is actually encouraging them to go faster. “Och, that’s yoor problem, yoo all arr wearin’ shoos!” he says disdainfully, as the thick mud oozes up between his bare toes.
[Heavy rain reduces foot movement to ¾ but will not affect the movement of Buckbeak or Eddard. Larry, too, seems unhindered by the rain and mud. Current effective movement rates:
Buckbeak: 4.5 mph scouting, can Dash at 9mph
Eddard: 3 mph (assuming help from Babshapka)
Larry: 2.5 mph
Willa,Tyrius, Aurora 2.25 mph (assuming help from Babshapka)]
The party trudges on, their view of the Javan now lost in the sheets of rain. So long as they stay on the trail there is no chance of them becoming lost, despite their limited vision. Like a fresh watercolor, they can see only vague shades of the gray sky overhead, mottled brown slopes above them, and deep smudges of green below.
Between the high hills to their west and the thick rain clouds above they cannot see the sun, but by the dimming gray light Willa judges it hasn’t quite set yet when they finally come within sight of the walls of Longspear. They get within about three-quarters of a mile before Willa calls for a halt. [23 Nov. sunset at 5:46pm]
“Thank goodness fer small blessen’s,” mutters Willa, convinced that no scouts on the walls can make them out through the rain. She pulls Aurora out of the line of captives, the dirt on her features long since having been washed off by the rain. “Time fer ye t’ scout ahead, invisible-like.”
Aurora does not hesitate in casting the spell on herself and disappearing. Almost immediately, discarded bandit rags appear in the mud, her nakedness hidden by her spell. The temperature is now hovering around freezing, and Aurora and the bandits are all trembling violently with cold. Unseen, Aurora begins digging in her pack (currently strapped to a mule) for her normal clothes and winter gear, and rapidly puts them on. In the meantime, Willa has been shouting for Shefak, and eventually the monk slips off her ring and appears beside them. Before Willa can dispatch the scouts, however, Babshapka finds Aurora. At the start of the rain he unstrung and stored his bow. Now, he takes off his quiver and forcibly passes it to Aurora, whereupon it disappears. “I can’t guard you if I can’t see you,” he says. “I’ll try to keep up. But if you get too far ahead, leave one of my arrows on the ground so I can see it - pointed in the direction you are going.”
The three scouts, with only Babshapka visible, advance quickly on the city, while the rest of the party trudges slowly along behind them.
Longspear is a walled city, the first walled city they have seen since Gradsul, months ago. Neither Nighford nor Lavienth had walls. Unlike Gradsul, metropolis and near-capital of Keoland, Longspear is several thousand souls at most. Also unlike Gradsul, here the city walls themselves are easily visible, long grey stretches of rock, twenty-five feet high and battlemented, punctuated regularly by towers. In Gradsul, the cluster of slums housing people too poor to live in the city itself was so thick and so close about the walls that in most places the walls themselves could not be seen, or barely rose above the bamboo-and-rag tenements. Here there are few buildings outside the walls, and those that are, are set well away from the walls themselves: several barns and shepherd’s crofts, a handful of inns near the western gate that cater to those travelers arriving after the gates are shut at night, or who wish to depart in the morning before they open.
Aurora, Shefak, and Babshapka hurry toward the gate in the rain. Even now one of the huge wooden portals is closed, and there is just a small cluster of guards around the second one. At first they walk three abreast, but when Babshapka notices that the invisible two are still leaving tracks in the mud he makes them walk behind him.
“Looks like you got here just in time, friend elf,” growls a grizzled sergeant. “It’s nightfall and I was just about to give the order to shut the gate.”
“Stay that, if you would, sergeant,” says Babshapka. “I am but the first of a larger group.” [Persuasion 13-2=11]
The Yeoman squints out into the rain and gathering darkness. “I don’t see anyone,” he says. “Your friends can stay at one of the inns outside.” He turns to give the order, but Babshapka pulls out a gold coin from his belt pouch.
“Just ten minutes more,” he asks. “I know it is late, and your men are cold and tired - take this, please, and warm yourselves with a round in the tavern before you head home.” The sergeant looks to his men. Some shrug and some nod.
“Fine,” the sergeant spits. “Ten minutes, no more.” He orders the remaining gate half-closed, the portcullis half lowered, then whispers to a guard to have the archers in the gatehouse look sharp in case this is a trick.
Babshapka waits outside the gate; Aurora and Shefak hesitate, then slip inside when it is clear. The city streets are dark, though light spills from innumerable windows and doorways. Just as outside the wall, it appears that no buildings are allowed near the inside of the walls, either. The streets of the city, wet, cold, and dark, are nearly deserted. Water runs high in the gutters, all sloping down to the northeast. There are few if any about who will note their arrival besides the guards themselves.
Several minutes later the sergeant shivers, curses, opens his mouth to give the order to shut the gate, when one of his guards says that he sees the party coming. They are all hustled through, with Tyrius answering the sergeant's formulaic questions even as they pass under the portcullis and no one even asking about Umbra. When the sergeant realizes that he is now responsible for nine prisoners, however, and will need to find a constable at this hour, his face reddens in the torchlight. Tyrius tries to calm him, but makes little headway. [Persuasion 5+6 = 11].
Finally, Tyrius says, “Sergeant, our sincere apologies for this inconvenience. Besides placing these outlaws in prison, we will need directions to a good merchants’ inn. Why don’t you send a man or two with us to show us the way, and then have your squad join us for dinner and drinks at the inn, on us. It is the least we can do for your troubles.” The prospect of dinner and drinks, for him and all his men, at an inn decidedly above his pay grade, finally mollifies the sergeant. After he passes command over to the night crew, the sergeant sends two of his men to lead the party through town, while he and the rest of his squad march the sullen bandits off a different way.
Tyrius explains affably to the guards that they would like a “secure” inn, and the young men insist that it will not be a problem. Longspear is a trading center, frequented by Yeoman and Keoish merchants, and sometimes those from further afield. Wool is the least valuable of the goods traded here - precious metals and gems flow in from all over the Little Hills, and out the port of Longspear to the rest of the world. There are several “merchant class” inns to choose from, all of them with top quality facilities and secure rooms. He is taking the party to one called “The Silver Steed”.
The inn is large, with a first and second story of stone, and a third floor of wood - although that is closed off, as the matron, Gerta, says it is airy, unheated, and used only in the summer. The party takes four bedrooms, the entirety of the second floor, for there are no other guests tonight, which is not uncommon in the off season. All the rooms have thick wooden floorboards and interior walls, stout, iron-bound wooden doors with a single wooden bar on the inside, and iron bars and heavy wooden shutters with latches on the windows set into the outer walls. Gerta says that if the party needs a more secure room, she has one in the basement, and she also keeps a strongbox if they have any valuables they need to deposit during their stay. Tyrius replies that that will not be necessary, and the second floor rooms are fine. The stable outside is ample, the stalls clean and to Eddard’s satisfaction.
In the common room on the first floor are a number of patrons drinking and a few supping, but Gerta says that none of them will be staying the night - at least, none have said that they are, but realistically one or two will drink too much and end up sleeping in the common room. She has some food on hand, but a dinner for the five people in the party plus the Yeoman gate guard squad will take some time to prepare, so they will need to start with drinking first. Aurora and Shefak, still invisible, follow the party upstairs while Gerta is showing the rooms. Aurora remains up there, while Shefak removes her ring and descends. Slipping into the kitchen when the guards have their back turned, Shefak explains to Gerta and the cook that as an ascetic, she will not be drinking - but she will take her meal in her room, and would like it to be ample. Shefak then settles in to Tyrius’ room for the time being to watch over Umbra, and sneaks Aurora half her food as it is brought to her. Aurora passes the time reading the book of Infernal Bargains she obtained from Nholast’s tower.
The common room has a roaring wood fire in an open hearth in the center, and Gerta says that its chimney warms two of the rooms upstairs. In the corners of the common room most distant from the hearth are coal-filled braziers, and Gerta says whoever takes one of the rooms not bordering the chimney should take these braziers up with them when they go to bed. There is a single woolen blanket in each of the beds, but they can ask for more so long as it is before she retires - she has one comforter stuffed with goose down as well, but it costs extra.
The party drinks and sups late into the night, with everything of a quality they have not had since they dined at the table of the Lord of Highfell. Eventually the guards leave, half-carrying their drunken sergeant and singing rousing army anthems. The regular patrons disperse as well, except for one large and red-nosed man who collapsed even before they had finished eating - Gerta brings out a thin straw tick mattress, sets it on the floor near the hearth, and accepts the help of Thokk and Tyrius in transporting the man from his table to the mattress. Outside, the temperature continues to drop and the rain continues to fall. The streets are wet where exposed to the sky, but a thin layer of ice has formed where the water has seeped under roofs and awnings.
By midnight, all but those on watch are in their beds above. Tyrius is woken in the dark by the sound of a low growl. Looking over at Umbra’s bedroll on the floor, he sees a pair of glowing red eyes staring back. Reaching for Molly in the dark, he summons the light of Pelor. In the first flash of light he sees a jet back mastiff, eyes burning like coals, standing over the form of the elf. At his light the hound’s form quivers, then dissolves like mist. Umbra gasps, groans, and then sits up groggily. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Callback: From Post 118
Over the course of many hours, Aurora reads the diary and announces what she finds to the party, while Umbra pays careful attention:
(DC35) “About a year before the last entry, Nholast writes of the appearance of a great “planet” or wandering star in the heavens. In the course of a single night it streaked across the sky and crashed to the Oerth far to the north. He says that he would be interested in traveling to the sight of the crash to see if there is star metal to be had, as it would be extremely valuable if recovered. He mentions that the sword that the “Cruel Lord” used to slay “The Master” was made of star metal, and it could hold enchantments far more powerful than any metal from Oerth.”
Umbra frowns pensively, then pulls forth a folded vellum sheet. It looks to Aurora like the same sheet she took from the cabinet where Nholast’s diary was found. “I have a map of the north,” Umbra says. “But it is in Suel. I was actually hoping you might help me translate some of the names.” She carefully unfolds the map and spreads it out for them to see:
“Some of it I understand, of course,” she continues. “Taurewelk” is the Welkwood, and “Taurepeliko” is what the ancient forest was called centuries ago, before the Axewood and Silverwood were sundered from one another. But “Talathpesh” I don’t understand, and what is this skull and spiderweb in the Rushmoors? What does “Liante Malhama” mean?”
Aurora scours the map with obvious interest. “Talath means plains or flat lands,” she says, without even looking up at Umbra. “Pesh I don’t know - my Ancient Suel isn’t perfect. But Liante Malhama is the “Spidered Throne,” whatever that means.”
While Aurora is occupied with the map, the others in the party see Umbra’s eyes go wide at the mention of the “Spidered Throne”. Then her eyes roll back in her head and she faints, crashing to the stone floor. Aurora looks up, confused.
Post 127: The City of Shadows
Umbra is falling, winged shadows gathering around her and pulling, dragging her deep down into the oerth. Down and down she goes - until she finds herself in the City of Autumn Leaves!
The City is located in a narrow mountain valley overlooking a vast forest beneath, and she is a resident. Her people live in the great stone towers and terraced gardens of the city, and hunt in the forest below, and have done so for centuries. Her people are happy, prosperous, cultured, learned, artistic. Flitting images pass, rapid memories come, of the glory and majesty of the city - but are these her memories, or someone else’s? Or those of many others?
There is a growing sense of dread - the Whispered One is coming - he who sits the Spidered Throne! Yes, Umbra realizes it now - the fall of the city was caused by the Whispered One, a man, a human man, who sat on the Spidered Throne, who ruled from a terrible decaying capital in the Rushmoors. His army of humanoids and undead is approaching the city. A vast host of her people is sallying forth - everyone in the city who can fight is going to meet his army in the forest, going to try to stop him before he reaches the city itself, where the younglings and ancient ones are, where the libraries and secrets are.
And now his terrible army is surrounding, besieging the city. His army has grown, for he has slain all of the elven host, and turned them into undead in his service. Her own people, or twisted corruptions of them, are marching against their city, their land, their kin. Demons fly through the air - catapults rain down boulders and death, the city is in flames!
Umbra is running through the streets of the ruined city at night. Tumbled buildings are everywhere, fires are everywhere. She searches for survivors, but finds none. But invaders there are aplenty - and each one has a face she knows. Her kin, her friends, her lovers, stalk the city in undeath, with terrible, gaping wounds, and hunt her.
She is running along one of the once-pleasant canals which brings mountain stream water that fed the gardens. A wave of the Fallen approaches, each of them known to her; a friend, a cousin, a lover, all now seeking her blood in their undeath. She searches among the ruined stone buildings, houses and market stalls, and finds nothing to help, but the dead surround her, claw at her, spill her life’s blood on the crushed flowers and paving stones. The shadows gather about her, dark hounds baying, promising to help her if she will command them, but she does not know how.
Weak, alone, afraid, she finds herself in a basement with her pursuers close behind. At last she understands, she will have to give herself to shadow, even as the city is doing, slipping into an eternal darkness. She draws forth her wand, surrounding herself with shadows so black that not even the undead can see through them. She casts shadows at them, blinding them until they lose her trail and stumble into pits. She sends forth bolts of freezing energy, skeletal hands that claw the dead flesh from their animated bones. The last of them, a hideous mockery in the body of a former colleague, grasps at her in an alleyway, but she strikes it down, sending forth two spells at once, such is the power the shadows have revealed to her.
Now the city is silent, the moans of the undead stilled. Just the crackling of flames and burbling of the streams remain. From the darkness, a huge, black mastiff emerges, eyes burning like red coals in the night. “Mistress, we serve you,” it says, “we shadow hounds are yours to command. Avenge your kin. Rescue your history.”
Umbra awakens in her bedroll, on the wooden floor of some rooming house. Above her, Tyrius fills the room with the light of Pelor and she sits up groggily.
Umbra
(new abilities in bold)
Sixth level sorceress (Shadowborn) / Gray elf (Noble)
Str 13 (+1) Dex 16 (3) Con 14 (+2) Int 13 (+1) Wis 12 (1) Cha 18 (+4)
Hp. 38
Languages Elven (S/W), Common (S/W), Keolandish (S/W), Flan (spoken only)
Skills: History, Insight, Perception, Persuasion, Stealth
Dagger (2), Light Crossbow, Crystal of Shadow(10 charges)
Ability: Eyes of the Dark, Dual Existence, Subtle Spell, Quickened Spell, Hound of Ill Omen
Sorcery Points: 6
Spell Slots: 4 / 3 / 3
Spells Known: 7 Cantrips: Mending, Prestidigitation, Ray of Shadow, Blade Ward, Chill Touch
First: Shadow Step, Armor of Shadows, Dark Bolt
Second: Shadowbind, Darkness
Third: Entropy, Shadowweave _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
Longspear appears on Darlene's map of Greyhawk, but as far as I know, there are no canon sources describing it beyond perhaps population. It gets no mention in the Living Greyhawk Player's Guide to the Yeomanry, it is referenced once in YEO6-04 and YEO4-01, and it has a single-line description in YEO3-05 (A Friend in Need); "The city of Longspear, in the foothills of the Little Hills, is an active trade center and guards the northeastern-most point of the Yeomanry League."
The version of Longspear below is thus my own, although it was heavily influenced by a post from Druvas on Dragonsfoot (see: https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=56452). The names of the three inns mentioned below all come from that work, although their descriptions are my own.
Post 128: Longspear 24 November, 570 - Longspear
In the morning, Umbra introduces herself to Gerta over breakfast and apologizes for not feeling well enough to join them at table the night before. Shefak continues to play the recluse and says she will take her breakfast in her room as a way of getting food to Aurora. While the party waits to be served it is agreed that Tyrius will look to exchange the party’s wealth while Willa checks the docks for suitable transport; the rest of them are to remain on hand at the inn for a swift departure if available.
Breakfast is for rooming customers only, and the drunkard from the night before left at first light, so the inn is technically still closed and the party has the common room to themselves. After Gerta has set the table and brought food upstairs for Shefak, she joins the party at their table, and a second later, the halfling stable boy and a shy human scullery maid sit down as well. Apparently the rest of the help arrives at mid-day. That Gerta as their hostess is joining them is a homey touch, but if they are going to be honest, Tyrius and Willa are a bit uncomfortable eating at the same table as servants. These Yeoman are carrying their 'classless society' a bit too far, they think. Thokk and Larry are, of course, oblivious, and Babshapka and Umbra are frequently confused by human customs in general, whether they be Yeoman or Keoish, and are used to just accepting them without question.
Over breakfast, Gerta takes relish in describing her city to these strangers. Longspear is entirely walled and built on a steep slope above the banks of the Javan River. Actually the city is in two parts; Hightown, where they are now, and Lowtown, down by the river itself. Both are separately walled and the mile of open country between them serves as common pasturage.
Hightown’s wall has five sides and five gates, with each gate leading to a separate road, and the city at the intersection of them all. There are more towers along the wall than Gerta can name. Last night, the party arrived through the Singleton gate to the northwest, on the road that leads to Singleton. Going clockwise, to the north there is the Javan Gate, with a road that leads to Lowtown; Liberty Gate, with a road that leads to Millen; the Highlands Gate, with a road that leads to Midfell; and the Capital Gate, with a road that leads to Loftwick.
There is also the River Gate, although it is for barge and not pedestrian traffic. Locals have nicknamed it the “River Grate”, for it is here that the Longspear River enters the city, and a number of grates and weirs assure that only water enters and that logs and other debris are kept out. The river is the source of water for the city, but it also is a source of power, for the steep slope on which the upper city is built means that the small river runs strong and is divided up into numerous catchment tanks, spillways, and millponds before it flows out and into the Javan. All along the river through the city are mills: hammer-mills and rolling mills for ore-processing, and fulling mills for making wool. There is a single gristmill and lumber mill as well, although the hinterlands around Longspear are not a great source of either grain or timber.
The mines immediately around Longspear itself produce silver and gems; coal and iron ore is brought in by barge from mines in the valley above the city. Most of the raw wool arrives on the Javan from Singleton. Thus the city is a processing center for all the wealth of the Little Hills. The combination of the steep slope providing power and a protected harbor on the Javan River facilitating transportation have made Longspear very prosperous, and that prosperity has in turn attracted skilled artisans, from armorers and weapons-makers to jewelers and gem-cutters. The city has a population of around seven thousand, with over a thousand of those being dwarves and another thousand halflings.
(7am) After breakfast, Willa and Tyrius take their leave of the inn, but they are not ten steps away before Larry bursts out of the door and hails them. He explains that Aurora wants him to go down to the docks and talk with birds, so can he come with Willa? Willa sucks in her cheeks, shows him a view of the river from between houses, and tells him the docks will be easy to find by himself - he just needs to walk downhill. If he wants to leave the inn, she whispers, she would rather have him accompany Tyrius first on his money-changing expedition - the paladin is carrying nearly 500 gold crowns on him, and a second pair of eyes would be wise. According to Gerta, most of the money changers are going to be down at the docks anyway. Larry nods and moves to Tyrius’ side, while Willa heads for the Javan Gate.
Tyrius, without explanation, turns east and Larry follows him. The party has charged him with changing the “Nholast Gold” into coins of the realm, platinum if possible. They have impressed upon him the importance of doing this with as little explanation as possible, drawing as little attention to themselves as possible. They have chosen him because his status as a noble and his training in speaking well are likely to get them the best deal - and yet they know full well of his Sacred Oath, and how he will not lie, or even dissemble. They are fully willing to take advantage of his persuasive talents, he thinks, but happy to ignore his convictions. The Yeoman like to talk about how nobles exploit peasants - but what of how the party exploits him!
Tyrius sighs, says a few prayers reflexively, and sets aside his anger. The party has entrusted him with exchanging their wealth. He will do it, but he will do it on his own terms. With Larry in tow, he continues to head east. Gerta has told him that there is a temple to Pelor in Hightown, at the easternmost point of the walls where the first light of the sun creeps over in the morning.
The Temple of Pelor is small, but beautiful. Most of it is given over to a large, central worship area. The building is more than three stories tall, but inside is a vast open space, with columns supporting the roof, and no floors. A huge circular stained glass window, entirely above the level of the battlements, is at the top of the east wall, allowing the marble-floored nave to be filled with colored light for the entire morning. Outside, the roof is a vast dome covered in gold leaf. Next to the temple is a small hospital, run by the church. Tyrius has not been in a temple of Pelor since before he joined the party, having made due with temples to Sol while he was in Salinmoor. He spends a long time kneeling in silent prayer before the altar while Larry shifts uncomfortably by his side, wanders among the pews, and views all of the statuary.
Eventually a priest emerges from the sacristy, returning from a rest after having officiated the sunrise service. Tyrius asks to speak with him in private and he agrees. Tyrius tells Larry that he is safe now and that Larry can go down to the docks if he wishes.
In a closed office, Tyrius tells the priest that he is part of an adventuring company that recently sacked a tower of Nholast the Unforgiven and came away with great wealth in the form of gold coins. The coins are easily recognizable as being of a strange and ancient mint. The company does not want the attention that spending the coins will bring, but they do desire their value. There are many reasons for this, some self-serving, some noble. The best reason for the identity of the coins to be kept private is that Tyrius fears that other people will use them to find the tower itself. The Sage of Highfell told him that all of the known Towers of Nholast had been torn down in the Yeomanry, and for good reason. Tyrius knows that the tower they found contained both demons and much evil lore. It would not do for the appearance of this treasure to prompt a search for the tower that would allow it to be plundered by the forces of evil. Tyrius hopes that this priest can help him exchange the coins for more innocuous wealth, as well as help him protect the secret of the origin of the coins.
The priest nods thoughtfully as Tyrius speaks. He agrees that knowledge of the tower should be kept hidden from the general populace, but hopes that Tyrius will tell him the location so that the proper authorities can make sure its evil is purged and it can no longer threaten good folk. He agrees to help conceal the tower by exchanging wealth for Tyrius, but does not know if the monies he has on hand will match Tyrius’ desire for portable wealth - the faithful donate in copper commons, not freegolds.
Tyrius describes as best he can how to arrive at the tower from Fort Thomas, and mentions how the assistance of the Sage of Highfell might be useful. He takes out a purse and spreads 452 coins out on the table, all of the party’s accumulated golden coins from the tower. He and the priest count them, and then set aside 57 coins, a one-eighth portion, Tyrius’ personal share. Tyrius says that he wishes to donate this to the church, with no recompense. He is not sure if it counts as a tithe - he has no idea of the value of his share of the party’s other treasure, since most of this is contained in the gems that Babshapka carries whose worth is unknown to any of them.
The priest accepts the 57 gold coins, and they count the remaining 395. The priest agrees to exchange these at face value - he removes all of the coins from the room, and returns in short order with 395 gold coins, in a mix of Keoish lions and Yeoman freegolds. Tyrius asks him if he doesn’t instead have any platinum coins, but the priest shakes his head and suggests that he try the moneychangers in Lowtown. Tyrius thanks him, receives his blessing, and leaves.
In the meantime, Willa has made her way to the Javan Gate, pausing briefly to watch a group of youths playing at soldiering in the plaza fronting on the gate. The main road from Hightown to Lowtown is broad and stone-flagged, and it is still early in the morning when she reaches the docks.
(8am) Besides the numerous local fishing boats and a few ferries that take one across the river to Cryford, there are three vessels in the docks currently that might offer passage upriver.
There is a cog based in Gradsul, bringing a load of Sea Prince pipeweed north, at least as far as Baransford, possibly further depending on wind, how fast they get there, and what the prices are like when they arrive. The captain and most of the crew are Keoish. On learning that, Willa doesn't inquire further.
There is a knarr based in Longspear, bringing a load of oranges and lemons to Flen. The captain and crew are Yeoman. Flen is inland in Keoland, but is on a tributary that feeds in to the Javan. The advantage of this vessel is that it would be fast - even if the wind is not right, there are plenty of crew for the oars, and the captain is looking to get the fruits to noble tables there before they spoil. The disadvantage of this is that the vessel is small, and all of the crew sleeps abovedecks. The party would need to sell their mules and possibly "dismiss" Eddard for the duration of the voyage. Furthermore, the knarr is planning on leaving by noon, which does not leave them much time to get ready.
There is a hulk based in Longspear, bringing a load of coffee and cotton cloth to Godakin Keep. The captain and crew are Yeoman. Godakin Keep is a Keoish port, but it is on the north bank of the Javan at a point where the south bank is the nation of Sterich. The advantage of this boat is that it is large, the largest one at the docks, and while they certainly won't have private cabins, Willa might be able to convince the captain to take their three animals on board. The disadvantage is that the ship is wind-powered, only, such that their progress upriver will depend entirely on the weather. The hulk would like to leave today, but is watching the wind, which is not favorable at the moment and is unlikely to change for a few hours at least.
After a preliminary conversation with the latter two captains, Willa is convinced that she can secure them ship’s passage free of charge, in return for a pledge to pull the oars (on the knarr) if needed, and defend either ship if it is attacked. What her persuasion doesn't cover is protection from discovery by Keoish patrols or port authorities. That is a separate negotiation she would need to have.
(9am) Concerned about leaving without being harassed by local officials, Willa looks around the docks to take in the lay of the land, so to speak. She can see the customs house near the docks - and it is open, with officials coming and going. In her experience, local officials will be most interested in the cargo, and before the ship sails they will give a careful (or less than careful, if they can be bribed) check of the actual cargo against the manifest. This is to make sure that all applicable taxes have been paid and that no goods that are prohibited for export are leaving. They are generally less concerned about the crew, for it is seen as a captain's business alone who he has as crew. The only times Willa herself ever bothered to check who was on a ship leaving Saltmarsh were when she suspected that someone was being held as a slave (slavery being illegal in Keoland but permitted in the Sea Princes), or when she had a specific warrant and was looking for someone trying to flee town before a trial.
Given the disdain that the typical Yeoman expresses for Keolanders, she doubts the customs officers would try to stop the party from boarding a vessel - but that doesn't mean that they would be above collecting coin for informing on the party after their departure. She is willing to bet that the party could leave on a small fishing craft (which are almost never searched if they are part of a local fleet) and then rendezvous with a merchant ship once away from port, but she would prefer not to do that, and in any event that plan would be complicated by the presence of their animals.
Willa starts back up to Hightown, hoping to reach the Silver Steed and get the party on to the knarr before it sails, if that is their decision. As she walks back up the main road to the Javan Gate, she does not notice Larry descending to Lowtown. He left Hightown through Liberty Gate and is going down a dirt road at the edge of the pastureland, and is certainly not the only dwarf to be doing so.
(9:30am) Larry walks along the docks, looking at all the different vessels, and thinking about his float down the Javan with Tyrius and Thokk in the barge. He must have passed this port, though he does not remember it specifically. How different was his view of the world back then! He goes to the far end of the docks and casts speak with animals, then tries to get the attention of some gulls. Only a few respond, and when he tries to talk to them, all they do is scream “Food!” and “Fish!” at him in demanding tones. He cannot hold their attention for more than a few seconds before they dash off, fighting with other birds for offal snatched from a returning fishing boat. Larry sighs as he realizes how corrupted by civilization these birds have become. The docks are lined with cheap fish-and-chip shops. Larry enters one, and for a gold lion comes out with a mop-bucket full of raw, near-spoiled fish and stale bread. He walks back to the end of the docks and begins tossing out small pieces, one at a time. In less than ten seconds he is surrounded by a cloud of gulls, fighting over the scraps and stealing from one another. When his bucket is half empty, Larry casts speak with animals again. This time, although the gulls shout “Food!” and “Fish!” and “Bread!” at him, they don’t dash off immediately thereafter.
Larry has an extended conversation with the gulls of the docks, punctuated by dispensing just enough scraps to hold their interest and keep them talking. His first problem is figuring out how to ask them about soldiers. The birds have words for a dozen different kinds of humans they might get food from, but nothing to distinguish a soldier from a civilian. Finally he decides on “shiny hat” since nearly all of the Yeoman soldiers he has seen are equipped with broad-brimmed kettle helmets. Once he is sure that the birds are reliably identifying soldiers, he asks what Aurora bid him - have there been any large troop movements lately, any galleys of troops on the river, any crossings of soldiers from Cryford to Longspear or points north? He is able to keep the birds’ attention just long enough to assure himself that they have seen nothing out of the ordinary for the past several days. By this point his bucket is nearly empty, so he upends it, returns it to the shop, and sets out for Hightown.
When Larry arrived at the docks, Willa arrived back at the Silver Steed (and Tyrius had still not left the temple). Willa stopped by the stables first to speak with Eddard. After hearing the two options (the knarr and the hulk), Eddard says that he has been seeing mules all over town - not surprising given the mines outside of town and the amount of goods coming and going. It should not be difficult for them to sell Randy and Andy, though selling them fast will mean taking a loss on them. He doesn’t mind returning to the Celestial Realms for a bit, but cautions that this time the party should be sure to take his saddle and barding with them. However, he is not concerned about speed for speed’s sake - neither ship is taking them even a third of the distance to where the Starfall lies, and they have a long journey ahead of them. In the end, he is fine with either option, but says he thinks the wisest course is to decide which ship will attract less attention from the Keoish.
Willa goes inside and up to Aurora's room to discuss their options with her, Babshapka, Umbra, and Shefak. Apparently Thokk, who left after dinner the night before against everyone’s advice, has not yet returned - Willa checks his and Larry’s room, and finds neither of them there. Babshapka left briefly to purchase incense for Aurora but has since returned.
Willa’s initial counsel is that she is more concerned about traveling on the river quickly than she is about where each vessel will take them, but the others have questions about just where the destinations of the different vessels are. Aurora, in particular, says “If we took the knarr, presumably, we'd be disembarking from it at the tributary and not going further inland and deeper into Keoland. How far north is the tributary? Will it get us far enough to proceed on foot toward Sterich? Or will we be looking to hop on another vessel we find along the way? The hulk takes us where we want to go, but I'm not crazy about the speed either. Are there other vessels heading upriver that have already left? Maybe we could catch up to them on the knarr and transfer over?” Seeing that Aurora is as willing as ever to talk circles around any situation in which there is limited knowledge, but feeling pressed for time, Willa goes back downstairs and asks Gerta where a cartography shop might be, and is crestfallen when Gerta starts to describe addresses in Lowtown. Although the Silver Steed is not yet open, a handsome man with long blond hair and a mustache is sitting at a table drinking ale - Willa appears to have interrupted his private conversation with Gerta. Seeing Willa’s long face, he asks if there is anything he can do. She is about to tell him no, when Gerta says in a voice of approval, “Morley trades all up and down the Javan - he’s a walking map himself, dear.”
Without describing the party’s conundrum, Willa asks for more information about Sterich, Godakin Keep, Flen, and the river. Morley sketches out a map with a cinder in the open hearth, which Gerta has just cleaned, answering all of Willa’s queries.
Were the knarr to drop them off before Flen, the logical place would be where the tributary of the Javan crosses the road on the north side of the Javan. From there, they could walk the road in to Godakin Keep - though the length of the road itself would be in Keoland. On the other hand, no matter where the knarr left them on the southern bank, it would be aways overland from the Sterich road - that road doesn’t approach the shore until upriver from the tributary. Of course, the party could always camp on the southern riverbank and hail another passing ship.
If the hulk left them in Godakin Keep, on the other hand, they could immediately take a ferry across the river to the Sterich side. Fewer vessels dock there but it would be easy to eventually get another ship.
Armed with more detailed knowledge, Willa returns to the debate upstairs. Aurora now adds that if they are going to be getting off the boat and walking or camping a good stretch again, they should probably figure out our gear so that they can go without the mules. After pulling their gear into the common hallway, she shakes her head. Realistically, with all of the gear the mules were carrying, all the new bedrolls and such that were purchased in Singleton, there is no way they can walk the road from the tributary to Godakin Keep, at least, not without using Eddard as a beast of burden, which Aurora knows he will refuse. If they take the knarr, which Aurora still favors for its speed, they will need to ask to be left on the Sterich riverbank, camp, and hope to hail another passing ship.
(10am) When Larry arrives back at the Silver Steed the debate about which vessel to take is still ongoing. Tyrius, in the meantime, has reached Lowtown and is moving among the various moneychangers - one official, and several merchant houses and trading companies who have enough cash on hand that they occasionally offer money-changing services. The best deal he finds (Persuasion rolls 25, 23) is from a pair of merchants who are both full of inventory and transportable wealth but short on coin themselves to make purchases in town, and who each agree to exchange ten platinum griffins for fifty of the gold coins that Tyrius has - an exchange at face value for all of them. This leaves Tyrius with 20pp and 295gp in “untraceable” currency.
The other three possibilities are men who offer to exchange coins with Tyrius, but at rates of 10% in their favor (10 platinum griffins for 55 gold coins each). If Tyrius is going to take a loss, he would like something more portable than coins, so he visits a few gem merchants. There are plenty that offer good conversion rates for gems that they “personally guarantee” to be of a certain value, but none who will put that guarantee in writing before the end of the day. With the pressure to leave Longspear sooner rather than later, Tyrius returns to the moneychanger and two merchants and accepts the trades they offered before. He now is carrying 50pp and 130gp in party funds. Satisfied that he has done his best with the time available to him, he starts to head back to Hightown.
Knowing that the knarr leaves by noon and it is already past ten, Willa calls for an immediate vote among those present.
Aurora votes for the fast boat. She thinks that getting out ahead of the knight for a bit is well worth it. She's worried about their weight, though. If Eddard will at least carry Tyrius' armor (after he has been re-summoned), and with Umbra now ambulatory, they will have enough room to carry most of what they have, she thinks, but they will need to buy gems and platinum with their gold and dump everything they can't carry themselves, again. It may mean abandoning bulky things like tents and sleeping rolls and purchasing them again when they next buy mules.
Babshapka votes for the hulk because he feels it is unsafe for Aurora to be on Keoish soil, and his job is to keep her safe.
Larry votes for the slow boat. He knows that dominant winds are from the south and east and has faith that they will have good winds for most of the journey.
Shefak chooses not to vote. She says that whatever they choose will bring its own challenges, and that they will meet those challenges. She knows that in life one can’t avoid conflict, one can only choose how to navigate that conflict. She warns the others, though, that if they are making their decisions based on what material possessions they can keep or must let go, then they are surely making the wrong decision.
Umbra says that she is still not sure if she will be traveling with the party, or for how long (having just woken, the idea of their journal to the Starfall has been explained to her, but she feels like she still needs to have a long conversation with Aurora about the Whispered One, the Spidered Throne, and other things). Thus, she does not think it fair for her to vote on their course of action.
Willa ponders the words of the others. She had argued before for the knarr, but if she makes that her formal vote, then they are deadlocked 2 - 2 and will need to wait until either Tyrius or Thokk returns. And the longer they wait, the less likely they are to actually make the knarr - hurrying to the docks will probably draw unwanted attention, which makes her think of Eddard’s advice. She decides that his suggestion of not drawing attention is a good one. His saddle and barding, if not borne by him, will only add to the weight issue if there is a problem or delay in summoning him back. The hulk will provide more below deck options if the party needs to keep someone out of sight, and getting to the knarr in time has just become too complicated. Finally she adds her vote to the hulk, and says the matter is now decided 3 - 1.
Willa tells the others that she will be going to settle their bill with Gerta, buy some grain for the mules, and then down to the docks to see if she can’t convince the captain of the hulk to take them and their animals aboard. She tells them that she wants all their gear packed and in the stables before the inn opens at midday and any patrons (who would note their departure) start to enter. When Tyrius returns, they are to tell him to stay. At least one of them and possibly more should go try to find Thokk, but they should not leave Aurora unguarded.
(11am) Not long after Willa leaves, Tyrius enters. He oversees their previously disorganized attempts to pack and get all of the gear into the stables below. That just leaves finding Thokk.
Thin walls and a busy inn at Singleton had left Aurora unwilling to use her crystal ball while in town. With the whole second floor to themselves, Tyrius at the top of the stairs, and Babshapka at the door to her room, Aurora now brings out the ball without hesitation. It takes her less than a minute to locate Thokk. (Wisdom save 2+3 = 5, target known well -5, total save = 0!) The half-orc is sprawled in an alley, half leaning, half slumped back against a wall, a pool of dried vomit in his lap, his eyes closed. Aurora tries to change the focus or view of the image but cannot, and can see only a small piece of the alley beyond the body of Thokk. A broken crockery jug is beside him.
Aurora emerges from the room and says that Thokk is unconscious, and appears to still be in the city, but she has no idea where. He could even be in Lowtown, for all she knows (Aurora Intelligence save: 1+7 = 8, Critical Fail). Babshapka asks her about the alley, about the direction of the light and shadows, and other clues, but she did not notice anything of significance (Babshapka Wisdom save 2+2 = 4).
“Thokk is very straightforward,” says Shefak. “He left here to find drink and flesh. We should start at whatever place is closest and expand out from there.” (Shefak Insight 7+5 = 12)
Babshapka shakes his head. “This whole city is full of taverns and alehouses. He could be anywhere. He would have found drink easily, but he also left looking for “brothels”. Remember what the Lord of Highfell said - Yeomanry women are free - without anyone to force them to sell their bodies, I doubt there is a house of servitude, meaning he could have been wandering all over the city last night, looking for something that doesn’t exist.”
Shefak nods her understanding. “Well, if he was wandering all over the city, lots of people would have seen him. We just need to start asking around.”
Tyrius holds up his hand. “We are supposed to do this in a way that doesn’t attract attention. We need to find him without talking to anyone, if possible.” He frowns pensively. “Aurora, what was he wearing, I mean when you scried him?”
“His old loincloth and boots,” she shudders. “And his winter jacket, though it was open and all the laces undone.”
“And his weapons?” For Tyrius, one of the most jarring aspects of the Yeomanry is that even the smallfolk are allowed to bear weapons in public. None of them have been asked to put their blades away anywhere they have gone.
“He left his javelins in his room - I saw that when Willa looked there for him - but he had his sword on him in the alley.”
Tyrius smiles. “He still had his sword on him. Where in this city could a drunk lie in an alley with a magic sword on him past eleven in the morning and not have been rolled yet?” (Tyrius Wisdom save 12+5 = 17) The others look at him with blank expressions. “I’ve already walked to the east wall and down to Lowtown and back this morning. All over the city the smallfolk opened their shops hours ago; most were up before first light. Anywhere else in the city Thokk would have been found and his sword stolen hours ago. But the inn beneath us doesn’t open until noon - none of the shops on this block were open when I came in, because they cater to people of leisure who sleep in and haven’t left their homes yet. He has to be either in this block or some other island of wealth. Shefak, with me; Babshapka, you watch Aurora. Larry...maybe go talk to the mules, make sure they are ready for the trip to the docks, ask them if they have ever been on the water before.”
Tyrius and Larry descend the stairs of the inn, find Gerta in the kitchen furiously preparing lunch. “Madam Gerta, many thanks for your hospitality, you have a most charming establishment.”
“Yeah, yeah, thanks. I’m kinda busy here and Willa already squared your bill, so if there isn’t anything you need…” She does not call him “milord”.
“There is one thing, so sorry to intrude. I was just wondering if you could tell me how many other inns of your quality there are in Longspear. We were fortunate you had the whole second floor to let us, but should I return and you are more full…?”
Gerta is stirring a deep vat of stew and does not even look up as she talks. “There are no other inns of this quality in Longspear, paladin. The Royale has a nice enough staff but I don’t much care for the clientele. Christina’s Home and Hearth charges more than we do but some of their services are...in questionable taste.”
“And both of these establishments are in Hightown?”
“Of course. Both of them are on this block.”
Tyrius thanks Gerta and leaves the inn. He and Shefak begin a walk around the block, with him watching the street and her unobtrusively darting in and out of the alleyways between buildings. They find Thokk in the gap between a high-class pastry shop and Christina’s Home and Hearth. Besides sweat, vomit, and stale ale, he smells of cloying perfume. Tyrius barely manages to get the huge half-orc to his feet and shambling along beside him. Fortunately the brute can support his own weight, he just needs steering. “Tyrius!....” he says, squinting with bloodshot eyes, then “Tyrius….” as if he can think of nothing else to say.
It is a mercifully short walk back to the stable of the Silver Steed, where Tyrius tosses Thokk down on a pile of fodder. The half-orc smiles contentedly before passing out again. Eddard wrinkles his nose in disgust. “Well, that’s a waste of perfectly good hay,” he opines.
(11:30am) At the docks, Willa gets permission to go aboard the hulk, the Banner of Heather. Since they have no immediate plans to sail, Captain Roberts is leisurely inspecting its readiness while the sailors go about their business. He does not seem to mind conversing with Willa, as she is full of knowledgeable questions about the differences and similarities between this vessel and the Sea Ghost, between river sailing and ocean-going, between the ports on the Javan and those on the Azure Sea. Each of them knows just enough of the other’s trade that they are honestly interested in learning more.
After some time warming him up, Willa makes her pitch (“take 20” on her persuasion roll, final score 19). She knows he tentatively agreed to have her and her friends onboard to Godakin for free - now she explains to him that first, she would like three animals as well - two mules and a warhorse - and second and more importantly, that what she really wants is to escape the notice of Keoish authorities.
The captain doesn’t look at her as he considers. “I’ve no love for the Keoish, that’s for sure, but part o’ me would like to know what they’re after you for. But the more sensible part o’ me says it’s better for me to not know.” Now he turns to look her square in the eyes. “Your word as a sailor whatever reason they’re looking for you, it’s nothing that will endanger my ship or men?”
Willa returns his stare. “Ain’t got nothin’ t’ do wi’ ye. One o’ us did summit we maybe shouldnay done, but we cain’t do it ag’in an’ it cain’t hurt yer ship nor crew.”
“Your word?”
“By the Gentle Sea Cow.”
The captain looks away and thinks some more. “You’re mercenaries looking for a ride north. Passengers, not on the manifest. I let you come aboard in return for help fighting if needed. You pay for your own food and feed. That’s all I know. If we get questioned, I tell them all I know. Most of the four hundred miles to Godakin Keep is Keoland both sides of the river. You stay belowdecks when we port. If you leave without telling me, I claim anything you leave behind. I certainly don’t know anything about the bag of 100 freegolds you will be leaving behind.”
Willa agrees to all his terms. He hacks up a generous gob of spit into his palm and offers it to her; she repeats the gesture and they shake to seal the deal.
The party has been living off of trail game and inn food, and not yet opened the rations they bought for themselves in Singleton. They have, however, been feeding the mule rations they purchased, every day, and currently have just three days left. Willa stops in a feed store in Lowtown, buys 28 horse rations, and asks to have them sent to Captain Roberts at the docks. She then starts back up the road to Hightown.
Willa arrives at the Silver Steed shortly after noon, and finds the place lively with customers. Most of the party is in the stables, with all of their gear. Only Aurora and Babshapka remain upstairs. Willa slips up to the second floor, keeping her head low as she crosses the common room, and tells them it is time to go. Aurora firebolts[i] the stone outer wall of the building and uses the soot produced to dirty her face a bit, pulls back her hair and pulls up her hood, and the three of them go down to the stable.
The first group out is Willa, Thokk, and Larry, who is leading Andy. Willa tells the others to follow in two more groups with five to ten minutes between them. When they arrive at the docks of Lowtown they are to stay in separate groups, but all of them near enough Aurora that she can [i]message them, and all within sight of the Banner of Heather.
The next group away is Aurora, Umbra, and Babshapka leading Randy. Ten minutes behind them come Tyrius, Shefak, and Eddard.
The air is misty at the docks, and downriver a wall of fog can be seen creeping its way along the shore and over the water, obscuring both. The three groups, as planned beforehand, have remained separate from one another; they cannot see one another but are at the limits of Aurora’s message spell. Willa’s group is on the docks themselves, and she hails Roberts and asks him when he plans to shove off. “No wind, and now that fog,” he shrugs, “maybe in the morning.” Willa looks over, frustrated, at the empty berth where the knarr was an hour ago.
Aurora checks in with her, and Willa says that they should sit tight while she finds them a sailor’s flop house along the docks for the night. Aurora, incredulous, whispers back that if they are staying another night in Longspear, she is returning to the Silver Steed. Willa can sleep three-to-a-bed in a louse-ridden flophouse if she wants.
Before Willa can retort, Roberts calls down to her softly, “You know, once that fog hits, there’ll be precious few people as stay here riverside. If you don’t want to be seen boarding, that’d be the time to do it.”
“An’ stay on ther ship all night?”
Roberts looks insulted - why wouldn’t they want to stay on his ship?
Aurora messages Willa that she will be going up to Hightown now, but Willa whispers back that all three groups need to stay around until the fog hits and the crowd disperses. They will be boarding soon after that. Aurora reluctantly confirms that she has relayed that message.
Meanwhile, Thokk and Larry are standing on the docks looking out over the water, reminiscing about the time they shared a barge down this very river. “How long we be on river now, Larry?
“Dunno. A while, aye guess.”
“Huh. We not have much in game bag. Thokk not able to hunt on river. What we eat?” Thokk conveniently ignores that of the three party members who regularly foraged, he consistently returned the least food.
“We bought food en Singleton, ‘member?”
Thokk grimaces in disgust, thinking of the hardtack. “That not food. Thokk need fresh meat to keep big muscles.”
“RRRiver like that ooghta hae fesh.”
“Huh. Thokk hunt fish with javelin, from rocks. Boat too high for that.”
“Larry hunts, och, aye hoont fesh wit’ me bar hands, en pools. Tha boot’s too high fer tha’, too.”
“Mmm. Thokk see humans hunt fish with nets, with poles.”
“Aye, aye’ve seen tha’, too.”
“We get poles and learn hunt fish?”
Larry grins. He saw a tackle store somewhere along the docks…
By the time everyone is aboard the Banner of Heather, Larry has in his gear four fishing poles and tackle.
The fog lasts all afternoon and past nightfall. On the ship, Roberts directs the crew in making arrangements for the party. Bags of coffee beans are moved out of one section of the hold and piled higher in another. In the open space, wood planking is nailed to a crude frame to create stalls for the mules, and then they are led down thicker planks into the hold. Tyrius puts his bedroll near the stalls, and Eddard joins him.
Under the fo’castle is the ship’s galley; under the sterncastle are two cabins - one for the captain, one for the mate. The mate is moved out and made to take up a hammock with the crew in the forward section of the hold - he does not seem too put out, and Willa expects he will be sharing that bag of gold she will be so negligently leaving on board. Aurora and Babshapka are allowed to take up the vacated cabin, along with most of the party’s gear that will remain packed until Godakin. The rest of the party will be sleeping on deck at night (when the ship is not being sailed) but will be expected to store their bedrolls out of the way in the hold during the day.
“Will she nae be sailin’ o’ ther night?” Willa asks of Roberts.
“This isn’t like the sea, where ye can point her prow at a star and go below for an hour,” he laughs. “The Javan’s as broad as they come, but there is always something to watch for - if not twists and turns in the river itself, then shoals, sand bars, logs and flotsam, Rhennee barges, ye name it. If we can’t see, we don’t sail. Mind ye, if one or t’other o’ the moons be full, we may be sailing o’ a night - but it won’t be often. Imagine if ye had your own ship o’ the sea, but had to keep her within a bowshot o’ the coast at all times.”
“Aye, I’d nae be sailin’ o’ ther night thattaways, lessen ’twere spittin’ distance from Saltmarsh herself, where I know every rock and narrow.” She nods gravely. Perhaps there is more to river-captaining than she had previously allowed.
“O’course,” grants Roberts graciously, “I hain’t never sailed a summer squall that gave me waves o’er the gunnels, and hope as I never have to.”
Willa grins, thinking about some of the monsoons she has sailed through, not knowing if she would indeed live to see the other side. “Me pappy always said ther Azure be equal parts tedium an’ terror.” They both laugh. Willa decides it will be refreshing to spend some time around normal folk like sailors, even river-sailors, as opposed to the loons in the party.
[12 pounds of food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Note: The contents of this post is known only to the player of Willa.
Sections in italics are copied from "Post 128: Longspear" for context, while everything else is new material.
Post 129: Willa's Choice VI (7am) After breakfast, Willa and Tyrius take their leave of the inn, but they are not ten steps away before Larry bursts out of the door and hails them. He explains that Aurora wants him to go down to the docks and talk with birds, so can he come with Willa? Willa sucks in her cheeks, shows him a view of the river from between houses, and tells him the docks will be easy to find by himself - he just needs to walk downhill. If he wants to leave the inn, she whispers, she would rather have him accompany Tyrius first on his money-changing expedition - the paladin is carrying nearly 500 gold crowns on him, and a second pair of eyes would be wise. According to Gerta, most of the money changers are going to be down at the docks anyway. Larry nods and moves to Tyrius’ side, while Willa heads for the Javan Gate.
As she is crossing a plaza near the north gate (not the one she came in, but the one that leads to the docks), Willa spots a group of children playing some sort of game - likely playing at soldier, as they all have sticks and one of the big kids is yelling "orders" at them. When the play-sergeant orders them to launch a volley of javelins, they all throw in the same direction but one, who throws his stick so close to Willa that she has to jump out of the way. The other children laugh and mock him, and he comes running up to her, saying "Sorry, ma'am!"
When he gets close enough to retrieve his stick, though, he loudly says "Sorry!" again but adds under his breath, "Willa?"
Willa responds loudly, in a tone of annoyance, “Watch what ye be doin’, laddie,” but adds, under her breath, “Aye, ‘tis me.”
He grins winningly at her and whispers "The Royale" before grabbing his stick, whirling and scampering off to join his playmates.
Willa has no idea what is "The Royale" - a ship at the docks? a business in town? a lunch special?
The plaza in which the children are playing is just inside the northern gate of the city - and she had been about to leave to go to the waterfront, but now she continues down a street paralleling the city wall, paying careful attention to the hanging signs of businesses. After two blocks, she hasn't seen any signs referencing The Royale, so she ducks into a rope-makers shop and asks directions of a 'prentice.
The ‘prentice replies that The Royale is one of the finest inns in Longspear, and she gives Willa directions. To her surprise, the inn is on the same block as The Silver Steed, where she left from this morning, but not the same street. Rather, the two inns have nearly-adjoining rear yards, but to travel from the front entrance of one to the other would take one down two different streets and require several minutes between then. She decides to continue to the docks, and then check back on the Royale later.
(8am) Besides the numerous local fishing boats and a few ferries that take one across the river to Crylor, there are three vessels in the docks currently that might offer passage upriver.
(9am) Willa starts back up to Hightown, hoping to reach The Silver Steed and get the party on to the knarr before it sails, if that it their decision.
(10am) When Larry arrives back at the Silver Steed the debate about which vessel to take is still ongoing.
Willa tells the others that she will be going to settle their bill with Gerta, buy some grain for the mules, and then down to the docks to see if she can’t convince the captain of the hulk to take them and their animals aboard.
Willa leaves the Silver Steed and goes around the block until she comes to the Royale. Inside she finds the inn full of merchants in Keoish dress, the only Yeoman present being servants, unless a trio of dwarves at a low table count. The dwarves are not in armor, but she does see one military pick among them. Their clothes are simple but of excellent quality, somewhat at odds with the silks and dyed cotton of the human merchants around them.
She moves to the darkest corner she can find and scans the room. Sure enough, the man she knows as Runnel is sitting at the bar, talking amiably with some manner of priest. Based on his robe and chain of office, she thinks it may be a priest of Zilchus.
She takes a table directly in his view and it is not long before he excuses himself and comes over to her, ale in hand. He is dressed as a merchant himself, with none of the trappings of knighthood, and without his eyepatch.
"My apologies if this inn is a bit on the nose," he says quietly. "There are precious few places in Longspear where one does not have to make a constant effort to hide a Keoish accent. Now, about your mage. I let her go at Highfell because you told me that she had turned the gem over to the Sage and you promised to take her away from Keoland. And yet, ever since Singleton you have been traveling closer to the Kingdom. What am I to make of that?"
“Beggin' yer pardon, Sir. I agreed t' keep ‘er out o' Keoland - but out 'n away be mighty diff’rent t’ings. Back in Saltmarsh, I ne'er dreamed ther world could be so big, 'n now I be realizin' t'at it can be wee, too. Sometimes ther safest 'n quickest path away from Keoland, brings us closer t'an ye would like. But it cannae be avoided. I wants t' live, an’ a journey o'erland through giant infested mountains an’ thigh-high snow ain't ther way t' do t'at.”
“I am pleased to hear that you still intend to leave Keoland, and that the mage has not decided to make another attempt on the Dreadwood. But what I don't understand is how after you left Highfell, you would travel so far to the northwest only to come back. Surely you knew about those "giant-infested mountains".
“Ther journey ‘as been full o' twists, turns 'n surprises. I 'ave seen more t’an I could ever 'ave imagined, ar comprehended fer that matter. I don't like ar trust ther mage, but ther party seems caught up in strange magic an’ it ain't jus' ‘ers. One minute we be in ther woods nigh Highfell, ther next we be at an ancient tower in ther cold, north mountains. Then we 'ad t' hike out t' find civilization nay really kenin' war we be.”
“So the old Sage still has the wherewithal to transport people through magic, eh? That bears noting. Well, if you are not crossing the Jotens, how is it that you intend to leave Longspear, and where are you headed next?”
“If we be mighty close t' Keoland now, 'tis in an attempt t' get ther wizard away from ther heart o' ther country, 'n ther Dreadwood. Ther palydin wishes t' go t' Sterich, so a journey by ther Javan seemed ther quickest 'n safest way t' do t’at.”
“Yes, assuming you can find a ship this time of year, a river voyage up the Javan would be the swiftest way to remove yourselves. Of course, going downriver would be the swiftest way to return to Salinmoor and your home. Are you sure you haven't had a change of heart - or a turn of cloak?”
“No Sir, I be doin' me best t' honor are agreement.”
“Very well then. I will leave you to finding your ship. But I will also be monitoring your progress. Mayhap I will check in with you in Sterich, if you stay long enough.”
“Beggin' yer pardon, sir, but bein' shot at by bandits sent t' kidnap ther mage makes livin' difficult too, as difficult as giants would. Be thar a reason ye sent them after ‘er?”
Runnel smiles, apparently pleased that Willa has deduced that he was behind the bandit attack without asking him for confirmation. "Two reasons. First, I wanted it clear to both you and her that returning to Keoland was not a good idea. Second, that particular group of bandits has been a plague on the good people of County Cryllor for far too long. I didn't seriously expect them to capture the mage, I know you are too powerful for that." He shrugs. "Some people pay adventurers to wipe out bandits. I thought it might be more expedient to pay bandits to attack adventurers, knowing that they would lose and be wiped out."
Emboldened by his willingness to answer, Willa tries another question. “If 'n I may ask, did ye first pick up our trail in Singleton? Was it ther coin what laid ther scent?”
"Yes, after you left Highfell I lost track of you - and it is reassuring to know that was only because you used teleportation magic. I had assets looking for you on both sides of the river. And yes, that takes coin. My informants in Singleton were duly paid when they told me that you had surfaced there. I didn't have a lot of time to respond, and I found the bandits close at hand."
Willa pauses. Apparently Runnel did not catch the reference to Nholast's coins, or misinterpreted it. She decides she will let it slide. Neither will she mention the books that Aurora has been reading, because she does not appreciate serving as a pin cushion for bandit arrows just so the riff raff can be cleaned up.
She continues, "Thar are more dwarves in these parts. Would ye be able t' tell me why?"
"’Dwarves are drawn to hills and breed in mines’" he says, as if it were an adage, although if so she is not familiar with it. "There are dwarven colonies on both sides of the river - here in the Little Hills, and on our side in the Good Hills. Would that there were more of them. Ours at least are loyal subjects to the crown and know better than to play with ancient magics."
Willa says her goodbyes to Runnel and goes to the docks to check on the departure time of the hulk. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
By far the best source for maps of Greyhawk comes from the work of Anna B Meyer. I used http://ghmaps.net for the party's travel. The hex designations given are from her maps. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
Post 130: Longspear to Cryllor 25 November, 570 - Longspear
A bedroll on the deck of a ship is a far cry from the best inn in Longspear, and before the sun comes up the temperature has dropped into the low twenties. Those who laughed at Tyrius for staying belowdecks with the stink of the mules envy him their warmth before the night is through. When Roberts comes on deck in the predawn, Willa is awakened by the sound of his booted feet. He is staring up at a pennant on the main mast, fluttering in a slight breeze, and grinning. When he strides over and begins to shout down into the hold to look lively, she starts encouraging her own crew to clear the deck, despite their groans and complaints.
While the sailors work to ready the ship, the party crowds the galley. The cook has agreed to cook for them, using their food, but only after the sailors are served. In the meantime, they are allowed to drink coffee. Willa is still suspicious of this Yeoman drink, but at least it is hot - and given the tons of roast beans in the hold below, there should be no lack of it on the journey! Sails, stiff with frost, are raised into the light south wind. Lines are trimmed, the anchor weighed, and they are off, the heavy hulk fighting the current of the Javan upriver.
Once they are well underway and Lowtown is diminishing in view behind them, Willa asks Roberts to see his charts. As it turns out, he has both detailed drawings of the river at a small scale, and a broad overview of the whole section from Longspear to Godakin Keep. The latter is what most interests her, the large scale section and his claim that the stretch is four hundred miles, which she finds difficult to believe. She sees that along the way they will make port in the cities of Cryllor (which she has heard of) and Kilm (which she has not).
The sun has been up for two hours or more before the last of the spray ice has melted from the lines. Thokk and Larry, their breaths billowing vapor clouds, bring out their tackle and head to the side of the ship. They know enough to stay out of the way of the sailors, but their first attempts at casting meet with chuckles from the crew and Thokk bristles in response. Willa decides she will have to intervene immediately or this journey will be much shorter than planned. Patiently she explains to Thokk and Larry how to bait, how to cast, how to feel for strikes, how to set a hook, and how to pull in a fish. Thokk and Larry are both enthusiastic students and Willa hopes Thokk has at least found something that will allow him to fill his hours on the boat. By day’s end, between the two of them and Willa’s guidance, they have snagged a small pile of fish.
[Thokk and Larry, Survival check at disadvantage, +5 for Willa’s help, rolls 24 and 19, total 24 pounds of food collected]
It is early afternoon when Willa calls all the party on deck. Though she denies to Roberts that anything is the matter, she tells her own people to remain vigilant. They are passing the section of the river where, on the Yeoman bank, the bandit ambush was sprung and where, on the Keoish bank, they can see the stream that the bandits said would lead to their camp. Willa has all eyes watching for canoes and all hands on missile weapons, but no threats are seen and the Banner of Heather continues upriver.
They sail on throughout the afternoon, the light wind lasting until sunset. Roberts estimates that they have gone 14 miles or so by day’s end. Willa requests that they anchor on the Yeoman side of the river and he obliges.
[28 pounds of food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel ends in hex F175-235]
26 November, 570 - Javan River, one day north of Longspear
In mid-morning, the last hoarfrost has melted from the port side hull when a light, drizzling rain starts. The sailors curse but go about their business. Most of the party retreats below decks, or into Aurora’s cabin, but Thokk and Larry stay on deck to continue their fishing. The rain continues until early in the afternoon.
All morning, the river continues through the narrow valley, bordered by the steep, rocky cliffs and bluffs on both sides, with no signs of humans besides themselves. As the afternoon wears on, however, the cliffs to the left retreat from the riverbank, farther and farther back. Now the Keoish side remains wilderness, but on the Yeoman side a settled, green floodplain emerges. Every few miles along the river there are now tiny fishing villages, and, further inland, pastoral communities. Most of these are so small that they were not seen by the party when they passed by them on the cliffs above, but from beneath them on the river they are swaths of color against the green and brown of dried winter grass. In the evening, they again anchor near the Yeoman bank.
[Thokk and Larry, total 22 pounds of food collected]
[41 pounds of food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel ends in hex F175-234]
27 November, 570 - Up the Javan River, two days north of Longspear
For the first part of the day’s journey, the terrain is similar to the night before, with rocky cliffs to starboard and a flat plain with fishing villages to port. Willa notes that the wind is not any stronger today, but it is more constant, and she doesn’t doubt they will be carried further by this steady south breeze today than the days previous.
At mid-morning Roberts brings her to the prow and shows her the river they are approaching to port. Dark and dirty with run-off from the hills, it is leaving a brown streak as it spills into the blue-green Javan and the Banner is already moving to starboard to avoid both its current and anything it has brought downriver, such as logs. Roberts remarks that the river is the same one that flows under the bridge at Fort August, and Willa admits that she is familiar with it. He then adds that the river marks the boundary of the Yeomanry - once they sail past that, they are in Keoland, with Keoish soil on both sides of the river. He pauses, then says he just wants to make sure she is aware of that. “Aye,” she says resolutely, but leaves soon after to check up on Aurora.
Past the river, the land grows rough on both sides, although the cliffs to the east diminish. Less rocky, the hills are now vegetated, but steep and irregular. They do not see settlements for the rest of the day.
The fish are not biting today, and Larry even breaks a pole trying to get his line off a snag. (Critical fail on survival roll). Fortunately he bought four poles in Longspear.
[33 pounds of food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel ends in hex F175-233]
28 November, 570 - Up the Javan River, three days north of Longspear
Even the landlubbers can tell that the wind is much stronger in the morning - a smart southerly breeze blowing steadily, occasionally gusting beyond strong. As Roberts shouts orders to his men, there is no mistaking the satisfied tone in his voice. As they raise first one sail, then another, careful not to throw too much sheet to the wind at once, the Banner of Heather pulls slowly away from the riverbank, then more and more eagerly begins cutting into the current upriver. By the time they are at full sail, the ship is going faster than a man could walk along the riverbank - and if the gods be good, they could do so all the day long, with pause for neither resting nor eating.
In the chill early morning the rugged hills lower and recede, with Keoish pastoral villages becoming more and more common. By mid-morning they are in a vast, flat plain. Here the Javan is wide and sluggish - did it still run north-south they could really pick up speed, but it has turned west, so the Banner is unable to make full use of the wind. Still, they glide swiftly by a smaller river entering the right bank from the Good Hills, and farming villages without number, their fields all winter-brown.
It is early afternoon when they pass a second tributary, this one to the left. Roberts explains that the headwaters of this river are in the Yeomanry, and that it flows past Singleton before cutting through the low mountain pass that connects the League with Keoland. Once they pass the river they can see that they are approaching a town, even a city perhaps, that spans both sides of the Javan. Roberts says that it is Baransford, and that reaching it so early in the day puts them in a dilemma. Typically they stop in the city, take on food, and check the market prices to see whether selling any of their cargo might be more favorable now than at their destination. But with the strong wind they have behind them now, “as good as any we’re likely to get this voyage or the next,” Roberts is tempted to continue on.
Willa agrees that it would be a shame to waste a wind this good, and asks where the next port would be. Roberts responds that that would be Cryllor, another day or two to the north. Willa says that her crew would favor continuing, for what it is worth, and that they have plenty of fish to share if Roberts is worried about food stores. Roberts talks with his mate and agrees that they will continue on as far as they can today.
As they approach the city, Willa can see that Baransford mostly occupies the west bank of the Javan. Although there are some docks and buildings on the east bank, it is only the west bank settlement that is walled. In whole, it is considerably smaller than Longspear. The Javan here is particularly broad and shallow, with hard rock islands nearly crossing the entirety of the river, which is several miles wide at this point. The few channels that have deep water are spanned by stone bridges - and one of these is high enough that even large ships with high masts can pass underneath. Roberts explains that at this time of year, the water is at its lowest. What are now visible as islands and causeways will, in the summer and fall, be fords of knee-high depth. In the spring, even the bases of the bridges will be under the flood waters and the river is then uncrossable. At the present time, however, they will need to head for the deepest channel and pass under the highest bridge. There are other ships about, but fortunately none close by them. As they approach the bridge, Roberts orders them to lower sails to half and have all hands ready to maneuver.
Past Baransford, the Javan gradually narrows and deepens again until they have the entirety of its breadth to use. All the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening they continue to sail past rich agricultural land and farming villages.
As the sun touches the tops of the hills in the west, Roberts talks of selecting an anchorage for the night. Aurora, once banished to her cabin for their passage through Baransford, is now out on deck, speaking with Larry. Overhearing Roberts, she confirms with Willa that the wind they have right now is likely the best they will ever have, and then she speaks to Roberts herself. At first she talks about theoretical possibilities - wouldn’t it be nice if they had a light source to keep going - both moons are only in their first quarters and not bright enough to navigate by. When he agrees, she mentions that Larry, a druid who uses the power of nature and certainly not scary, evil wizard magic, can actually create light, equal in brilliance to sunlight, and place it on an object - something like a spare spar or mast that could project in front of the ship. [Aurora persuasion roll 19].
Roberts speaks with his crew - and in short order a mast is brought up from the hold and lashed to the prow. When Larry casts daylight on its tip, Roberts finds he can see nearly 150’ ahead of the Banner. Not ideal for shoals or sandbars, but enough to warn them of logs and other vessels. He agrees to keep sailing and not waste the wind that Sotillion has granted them. After an hour, Larry casts his spell again, and after another hour, again. Some forty minutes into the third spell, Roberts insists on looking for anchorage. The Javan has been turning more and more to the east, and he says it will only continue to do so ahead. The strong south wind is of less and less help now, and as the Banner tacks wider across the Javan at increasingly strong angles, they are more exposed to unseen dangers.
They anchor under a steep cliff. Those on watch in the night report hearing the sounds of scores of boots marching. Roberts claims it to be an echo of a patrol on the roads above the river, but for the party there are several tense minutes as it passes.
It is not Willa’s watch, but she is woken by those on watch in readiness to respond to the boots, whatever they are. As it is now well and truly dark, she decides to take some star readings. As she suspected, they are now farther north than Singleton, farther north than the Tower of Nholast - in short, farther north than she herself has ever been.
[ 4 pounds fish caught,
29 pounds of food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel ends in hex F175-230]
29 November, 570 - Up the Javan River, four days north of Longspear
The wind this morning is scant, and mostly from the southeast at that, while the Banner needs to go due east, practically into the wind. Roberts spends most of the day watching the pennants for wind direction, with the Banner anchored. Every few hours when the wind shifts, he bellows orders - sails and anchors are raised, and with long, exaggerated, zig-zags that cross from one side of the river to the other, the ship creeps eastward for a time until the wind shifts again and progress is impossible. “Fie, we’d be faster’n this if we were warping!” he is heard to exclaim more than once, but he doesn’t bring up a second anchor to put this to the test.
Finally, late in the afternoon, the Banner rounds the rocky point wherein the Javan turns due west, and again begins to sail steadily upriver. The sailors are exhausted, and Roberts refuses Larry’s offer of more light for them to sail at night, now that the wind is finally behind them.
[ no fish caught,
21 pounds of food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel ends in hex F175-230]
30 November, 570 - Up the Javan River, five days north of Longspear
The wind is with them today, but bare, often fading to no wind at all. Roberts says that is typical for this stretch of the Javan, where the rock cliffs are close to the river and it cuts a narrow canyon through the Good Hills. They spend the entire day slowly working around the huge bluff to port that has forced the Javan round it rather than be worn down by the river. Roberts says that local legend has it that the bluff is what remains of a mountain giant that lost a fierce battle against Ulaa.
No settlements are seen along the river banks all day.
Although they have made little progress, Roberts seems satisfied by day’s end, saying that they will surely reach Cryllor on the morrow. Regardless of when they do arrive, they will spend the rest of the day, and the night, of the morrow in port. Should the party have anything they wish to buy, they should tell him in advance, and he can see that the purchase gets made. Otherwise, they should plan on being below decks for the whole time, at least any of them that want not to be noted by the local Keoish officials. Roberts adds that they may wish to have a rapid departure plan in place as well. As he is neither taking on nor unloading cargo, the Keoish customs agents that run the harbor have no reason to search the Banner or check her manifest, but they would be well within their rights to do so, as would the City Watch, the Inspectors of the Guilds, the Knights of the Hart, the Count’s Guard, the Duke’s Men, and any other of a number of groups charged with some aspect of the defense of Cryllor. Roberts has never been boarded by any of these groups before, and again, they have no reason to single out his hulk - “but forewarned is forearmed” he tells Willa.
She ponders all this, and gives him a single gold coin from the party to purchase more mule feed.
[ no fish caught,
13 pounds of food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel ends in hex F175-230] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
The party iss now moving upstream on a sailed vessel; a condition for which the Guide to the World of Greyhawk does not have explicit movement rules.
It does say that:
Sailed movement across lakes is at 30mpd for sailed merchants, 60mpd for sailed or oared warships, with one hour boost for oared
And that:
Rowed movement upstream is at 30mpd.
Given these baselines, I decided that I wanted a merchant craft sailing upstream, like the hulk Banner of Heather, to be at an AVERAGE of 15mpd.
However, I wanted this average to have considerable daily variability depending on the wind direction and strength. I thus constructed the following table, based on the result of a "Fudge 4" roll at the beginning of each day:
score / movement (miles per day) / observed conditions
-4: no move (No wind or opposite direction)
-3: no move (No wind or opposite direction)
-2: 8 mpd (Wind scant and variable)
-1: 12 mpd (Wind scant but steady)
0: 14 mpd (Wind light but variable)
+1: 18mpd (Wind light and steady)
+2: 24 mpd (Wind strong but variable)
+3: 30mpd (Wind strong and steady)
+4: 36mpd (Wind strong and gusting)
The average of all of these results, prorated for relative frequency, was close enough to 15mpd for my purposes.
Thus in the first leg of travel the party went:
Date, Day of Travel: (Fudge 4 Roll) Distance Traveled.
Nov. 24, Day 1: (-1) No wind. Fog from 2pm to 7pm.
Nov. 25, Day 2: (0) 14 miles.
Nov. 26, Day 3: (-1) 12 miles.
Nov. 27, Day 4: (+1) 18 miles.
Nov. 28, Day 5: (+4) 36 miles
Nov. 29, Day 6: (-2) 8 miles.
Nov. 30, Day 7: (-2) 8 miles
Finally, the name of the ship and its captain are Easter eggs. When I learned that there was a medieval ship type called a "hulk", I decided to name the ship the "Banner of Heather" because one possible etymology for the name "Bruce" is from the French for a place with heather. Thus, "Banner of Bruce". And Captain Roberts because the comic book character's full name is actually Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, although my players initially though it was a reference to the Dread Pirate Roberts and were suitably wary. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
By far the best source for maps of Greyhawk comes from the work of Anna B Meyer. I used http://ghmaps.net for the party's travel. The hex designations given are from her maps. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
Cryllor is on the Darlene maps, and there are lots of canon sources that describe it, note that its population includes halflings, and repeat the fact that it is the northernmost city on the Javan that is reachable by deep-draft vessels. What is my own invention is the dwarf-gnome engineering marvel of the "River Ladder" lock and canals.
"Rheneg" is a made-up word in my campaign, a portmanteau of "renege" and "Rhennee". It carries the meaning of "to go back on a promise or deal, like one of the untrustworthy bargefolk would". Thus it is a racial slur, much as using "gyp" to mean to cheat or trick in English is a pejorative reference to the Romani.
Roberts' wife "Betty" is a reference to Elizabeth Ross.
In a canon timeline, the west bank of the Javan north of Cryllor would not be Keoish territory in CY570, though it is unclear whether it would be wilderness, Yeoman, or Sterish. However, I decided to make it established Keoish lands both to sustain the tension of Aurora traveling in Keoland while worrying about the Knight, and to further the ease of using Anna's maps. In a canon timeline, the territory was taken by Keoland after the Greyhwak Wars (see: http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=4153&highlight=)
Post 132: Cryllor 1 December, 570 - Javan River, south of Cryllor (hex FT175-229)
The wind in the morning is good, but Roberts makes it clear that they are spending the day in Cryllor regardless. A bit more than an hour into the day’s journey, and they round a bend and the city comes into view, on the east bank of the Javan.
With the appearance of the city, hatches are fully opened and ramps set in place to bring the mules up on deck. Then, the party is moved into the hold. Larry objects mildly, as he has already landed a fish and has a “good feeling” about the upcoming day. Unbeknownst to Roberts and his crew, Shefak remains on deck, invisible. Willa also remains on deck, but without her armor or most of her weapons, just the dagger she wears on the outside of her tall leather boots. In traveling clothes and unarmed, and by now familiar with the Banner, she can easily pass as a member of the crew, which gives the party another set of eyes and ears on deck. Roberts has no problem ordering her to trim this line or that and enhance the deception.
As they draw closer, Willa and Shefak can see the city, larger than Longspear, spread out along the river bank. At its southmost end is a great castle, the seat of the Count of Cryllor, with many towers and keeps. The high walls around the castle run north and become the low walls that surround the city itself. North of the castle is the city proper, interesting in that it is criss-crossed with canals that are fed by the river. Rising above the one or two-story regular buildings are several other impressive keeps and temples. Outside the town along the river is an extensive dock area, crammed with fishing and trading vessels. To the east, the land rises away from the river. Most of the buildings near the river are of wood, but a surprising number in the town center are of stone. Along the eastern edge of the city, on slopes that overlook the city and river, the buildings are a curious mix of wood and earth, many built into the side of the slope, and all with brightly painted doors. Further above and to the east, outside the walls of the city proper, are many hovels and slum tenements.
As interesting to Willa as the city itself is the lay of the Javan upstream from the city. For a stretch just north of the docks there is a section of whitewater, with braided islands, ledges, and waterfall drops of a foot or more going intermittently across the Javan from one side to the other. There are a number of open channels between the rapids as well, but how Roberts intends to steer the Banner to them precisely, or have enough impulse to go up them against the current, is beyond her. On the west bank of the Javan, just below the whitewater, is a second town, a sister settlement across the water, but it is not walled and it is clear that it is not much more than a ferry stop, warehouse district, and overland jump-off for two trails, one heading north, one south.
After another three quarters of an hour the Banner has lowered sail at the edge of the harbor, where Roberts negotiates with a local crew of oared tugs for a place on the docks. In the crowded and labyrinthine dock and canal system, there is no way the Banner could maneuver under her own sails, so she is pulled by two tugs into her assigned berth. It is still before mid-day, so Roberts leaves his mate in command and takes a few hands with him as he visits the markets of the city to requisition goods and check prices. Before long two full slabs of mutton are carried aboard the ship, and soon after several bags of figs, prunes, and grain follow. Roberts and the hands do not return until after sundown. They smell of ale houses but do not stumble.
[ 1 pound of fish caught,
7 pounds of food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel ends in hex hex FT175-229 (Cryllor)]
2 December, 570 - Cryllor
Tyrius has been fastidious about mucking out the mule stalls. Between that and the several tons of roast coffee beans in the hold, there is no unpleasant smell below and despite their initial misgivings it was not a disagreeable night for the party. After it is well and truly dark, Willa put two of them in turns on the deck to watch in case they were boarded without warning. It was a colder night than any they have yet had on their journey; skim ice formed all along the docks, and the mules shivered and stamped their feet on the deck. Those on watch kept in constant motion even with their cold weather gear, and envied those crammed in the hold below.
Even before first light, two rowboats approach the Banner, steam rolling off the backs of the men at the oars. A lantern beam from one sweeps the prows of the ships nearby until it alights on the Banner, and the men within call out. Those in the party on guard duty go below to wake the others, but before anyone has their armor on Roberts is on deck and speaking with the men in the boats. As Willa ascends in her “deckhand” gear, she hears one of them say, “The Laddermaster says you’re first in the queue this morning.”
Roberts grins and mutters something about “coin well spent,” tells Willa to begin casting off, and starts to raise the rest of the crew.
By the time the sky is ashen gray, the two tugs have pulled the Banner to the very north end of the docks, at the entrance to a long and deep canal, and she has tied off there for the moment. Onshore, Roberts is speaking in Keoish with a portly man with flame-red hair and beard standing at the edge of a small corral.
“What’re you tryin’ to pull, Roberts? You know I got the hoagie license for the Ladder! Since when did you start shippin’ your own mules?”
“Calm down, Red. I’m not trying to rheneg on you. I picked up this pair in Longspear, and I’ll be getting rid of them come the Keep. I just want to know what I can get for them. Use them, with all your own gear, and I’ll pay you normal, just tell me honest what you think of them.”
“Red” is full of more bluster and protestations, but when Randy and Andy are off-loaded, he agrees to put his padded draft collars and other gear on them. When the mules do not object, he says, “I’ll be damned, they’re broke to harness, at least.” Randy is hooked to a tow rope on the starboard side. A clever, laterally swinging, bridge is maneuvered across the canal temporarily to allow Andy to cross, and then he is hooked to a tow rope off the port side, as well as to a lighter lead rope held by Red. Once the bridge has been swung back out of the way, Red flicks the lead lines and calls to the mules, who strain against their ropes, their hooves clattering on the stone towpaths. The first few inches are grueling for the mules, but once they have overcome inertia and the Banner is in motion, each step forward becomes easier. Soon the ship is gliding along the canal at the walking pace of the mules. Roberts has all hands (including Willa) on deck, keeping watch with long gaffs to make sure the ship doesn’t rub along the stone sides of the canal, while he makes a slow tour abovedecks.
The canal itself parallels the base of the southern wall of the city, and they are pulled past guard towers on one side, houses and shops on the other, the latter just coming to life with the new day. They are headed as much north as they are east, and so are moving both inland and upriver. While the water level in the canal (equal to that of the river), and the stone paving of the towpaths, stays at the same elevation, the earth rises around them, so that the canal becomes sunken, and gradually the level of the streets beyond comes to the gunnels, and then higher. Willa looks ahead with growing concern, knowing that when the walls rise above her eye level, the ship will continue to move ahead in a narrow slot out of which she cannot see.
By the third time Roberts passes her on his circles about the deck, Willa can take no more. “Alright, Roberts,” she says cuttingly, “Wha’ gives? I ‘eld me tongue all o’ the las’ day, but yer leadin’ us down a mighty great tunnel wit’ no way out. Seems a perfect spot fer an ambuscade, an’ I wan’ t’ know whar we be headed an’ why ye need our mules an’ such.”
The captain laughs easily, but without the mocking tone she would have expected from, say, Sigurd. “Ok, ok. We are headed for the River Ladder of Cryllor, an engineering marvel and famed up and down the Javan. If you had spent any time on the river instead of all your time at sea you would surely have heard of it. The Ladder will let us pass around all the whitewater that I am sure you saw yesterday and so continue upriver.”
Willa nods curtly, and Roberts continues.
“Cryllor is the farthest port north for seagoing ships - the Ladder is not big enough to accommodate cogs, carracks, or galleys. Not that it matters, since there is more like that stretch of rapids all the rest of the way up the Javan, and only longships and barges and other vessels with low drafts can proceed from here on upriver, even if deeper draft ships could use the Ladder. The Banner was designed by a shipwright in Cryllor, specifically for the Ladder. She is the largest ship, with the deepest draft possible, that can still use it. The longships don’t carry nearly the amount of cargo that a taller vessel can, and they need more men on the oars besides. North of Cryllor, the price of all the goods from downriver jumps, like coffee and cotton and pipeweed. We sail just far enough north that we can sell our load at a good profit and it doesn’t matter that we don’t make as much on the way back.”
“Fine, fine,” mutters Willa. “I get now t’at we need t’ go in yon tunnel fer t’is ‘ladder’ t’ take us upriver, an’ I get t’at we need mules t’ pull us up ther canal. But why our mules? Why make sure Red sees ‘em? We’re tryin’ not t’ be noticed.”
Roberts lowers his voice. “Because with all of your crew in the hold, the mules have to be on deck. They were on deck all last night. And people in town were already starting to wonder why. So I just gave them a reason why I’m traveling with mules, and why I don’t have them in the hold where they belong.”
Willa nods begrudgingly, but when Roberts walks away, she smiles. He’d make a fair smuggler, that one, and she likes him. Competent, a good captain and leader. Of course, there’s nothing exciting about him - nothing dashing and dangerous like Sigurd. No, he’s a good man, but he doesn’t fill her sails, as it were. Which is fine, because any time Aurora has minced around him he’s made sure to mention Betty, his wife, waiting on him in Longspear.
Before the end of the hour, those on deck can see that they are approaching an end to the canal. By then, the walls above them are higher than the Banner’s yards, and Willa is working hard to hide her nervous claustrophobia. Randy and Andy pull the Banner of Heather into a huge, rectangular chamber, the bottom filled with river water. Red unhooks their lines, which are drawn up on deck. He leads one of the mules up a steep set of stairs and ramps while a dwarf does the same with the other. Far above them, on a rampart around the upper edge of the chamber, scurry a number of dwarves and gnomes. With an exaggerated, echoing groan, a massive set of bronze gates, fully forty feet high or more, slowly closes behind the ship, trapping them all in the sunken chamber. Willa notes that the walls are carved with level lines and numbers from the waterline to the top.
The dwarves and gnomes call to one another, and there is the sound of metal on metal. The Banner begins to rock as if hit by a wave, and Roberts calls to those on the port side to look lively with their gaffs. Willa feels as if she is moving, but doesn’t understand, as the ship seems dead in the water. Finally she realizes that the ship is moving up. The chamber is filling with water, and she can track their rise by the lines carved on the walls. Over the next ten minutes, the chamber fills with so much water that the ship finally emerges into daylight, sitting in what now appears to be a millpond at the north end of the city. A second set of bronze gates, opposite the first and much smaller, is now opened onto another canal. The mules are hitched as before, and Red drives them forward, pulling the ship between the walls of the city, under a high gatehouse, and out onto a plain overlooking the river. Willa can see that they are already above most of the rapids, and by the time they reach the end of the canal, they will have cleared them all.
This canal is much shorter than the first, and it is not long before Red is handing the tow ropes off to a pair of tugs that will draw them out into the Javan. Roberts is grinning with satisfaction at the pennants and directing his crew to put them at quarter-sail, while he fends off an offer from Red to purchase the mules.
“No, no, that’s a fair price and all, but I already have a buyer in the Keep. Thanks for letting me test them out, Red.”
With a good breeze behind them, the Banner is slowly raising sails even as the tugs draw her out, and they are soon far enough upriver of the city that the remainder of the party, even Tyrius and Eddard, decide to come above deck before Randy and Andy are taken below. “Ugh, about time,” complains Aurora. “I thought I was going to suffocate down in that stuffy hold.”
Babshapka shrugs. “It smelled better down there than up in that stinking city.”
It is past nine in the morning and still is not above freezing. “Bracing!” says Tyrius happily. “Welcome to the north!”
Thokk and Larry, glad to finally be out of the hold, go back below momentarily for their fishing gear.
For the remainder of the day, the Banner sails upriver, nearly due north, through rough hill country. The western bank is wilderness; the eastern bank shows glimpses of a well-trodden trail and several shepherding communities.
[ no fish caught,
no food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel ends in hex FT175-228] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
By far the best source for maps of Greyhawk comes from the work of Anna B Meyer. I used http://ghmaps.net for the party's travel. The hex designations given are from her maps. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
Gerth is not on the Darlene maps. I do not think it has a canon source, and do not know its source in fanon. I know it only from Anna's maps.
Kilm is not on the Darlene maps, but appears in Gary Holian's "The Kingdom of Keoland" in the Living Greyhawk Journal. Kilm is both on the map included and is mentioned in the text under the County of Flen.
Post 133: Cryllor to Kilm
3 December, 570 - Javan River, north of Cryllor
Although the nighttime low is perhaps not as frigid, temperatures remain as cold this day as the last.
With their supply of fish exhausted the previous night at dinner, the party is forced to delve into their rations for breakfast - the jerky, hardtack, cheese, and dried fruits they originally purchased in Singleton. Thokk and Larry tell them not to worry, however, for over the course of the day they catch a large basketful of fish, enough for more than a day’s worth of food for them all on the morrow.
The morning’s sailing is through rugged hills like the day before with only occasional and small settlements. In the early afternoon they pass a town on the east bank. Roberts gives its local name as Riverside, but says that it is known in the official rolls of the kingdom as “Gerth,” on account of far too many minor settlements having the former name to keep track of. The buildings around the docks are more numerous than the entire rest of the town, and the fields and pastures surrounding it are minimal - it is more a way station than anything else, a place for the mineral wealth of the Good Hills to enter the Javan and the goods from up and down the river to find a land port.
The afternoon is marked by the same desolate, rugged hills as the morning, with the only point of difference being the gradual shift of the river to come more and more from the west rather than from due north. Roberts says that they have finally sailed north of the east spur of the Jotens Mountains, and over the next few days they will be traveling more and more to the west until they arrive at Godakin Keep.
[ 20 pounds fish caught,
20 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
8 human rations used
Day's travel ends in hex F173-226]
4 December, 570 - Javan River, north of Gerth
There is a light wind today, but it blows steadily. Soon after they start out, the rough hills to port recede from the river and open onto flat agricultural land. An hour or so later, the ones to starboard do as well. As the day wears on, they pass numerous small farming and herding villages. In the late afternoon they approach the end of the valley and a ridge line through which the Javan has worn a narrow canyon. The Banner anchors at the bottom of a series of mild rapids, with Roberts claiming that they will need hours more of daylight than are left to negotiate them successfully.
[ 14 pounds fish caught,
26 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel ends in hex F172-225]
5 December, 570 - Javan River, north of Gerth
The wind this day is slight, and Roberts deems it insufficient to fight the strong current and have the maneuverability he needs to get them up the canyon safely. The Banner remains anchored at the base of the rapids all day.
[ no fish caught,
18 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel ends in hex F173-226]]
6 December, 570 - Javan River, north of Gerth
The breeze in the morning is light, but it is steady enough that Roberts judges it sufficient to navigate the canyon. They weigh anchor shortly after sunup. Even in the gap it has cut through the ridge, the Javan is wide. While there are many rapids, none of them are extensive enough to cross completely from one side of the river to the other. Navigating around the whitewater from one chute or area of calm water to another takes skill and a lot of maneuvering, but after nearly two hours of work they are through to the valley beyond.
It is still below freezing when they emerge from the canyon, and indeed, today will have temperatures above freezing for only a few hours in the afternoon. The land to the south is rugged hills, but to the north is open, rolling pasture land, farms, and villages like the previous valley. Tonight Luna, the large moon, will be full, while the small moon is nearly half and growing. Roberts says there will likely be enough light to navigate by in this peaceable stretch of the river, but with the frigid temperatures they will anchor anyway. There would need to be a stronger wind behind them for it to be worth continuing on such a cold night.
[ 4 pounds fish caught,
14 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel ends in hex F171-225]]
7 December, 570 - Javan River, north of Gerth
Today’s wind is stronger and it is soon after the Banner weighs anchor that they reach the end of the second valley. The next twenty miles, and nearly all the day, is spent maneuvering up submerged boulder fields and around rapids. The river is not constrained by canyon walls, but the land around them is rough and rocky and this is reflected in the river bed. It is late afternoon when they finally emerge from the final narrows into another broad agricultural valley to the starboard.
While the sailors had to work constantly most of the day to keep the Banner from running aground, Thokk and Larry found the rock-strewn, swift-moving water to be very productive for fishing. By day’s end they both have sizable catches.
To Willa’s surprise, Roberts does not call for the anchor as the sun sinks low on the horizon. The northern half of the river is flowing swiftly, but the rapids and exposed rocks are all on the south side now, where the rugged hills come down to the water’s edge. With peaceful river ahead of them, two bright moons on the rise, and a good wind behind them, Roberts keeps them sailing for several hours after sundown, and does not anchor until two hours before midnight.
[ 24 pounds fish caught,
30 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel ends in hex F167-225]]
8 December, 570 - Javan River, north of Gerth
In the morning, those on deck are treated to a striking sight. So far in the river journey, the horizons have been crowded with the peaks of the Good Hills and Little Hills. Now, the rosy light of dawn is showing off the snow-capped peaks of the Jotens far to the south. Apparently the Javan runs particularly close to the mountains at this point in its course, or perhaps the mountains themselves are higher and can be seen farther.
There is less wind than yesterday, but Roberts judges it enough for the maneuvering needed in this section of the river. For the duration of the morning and the early afternoon as well there are only small rapids that are easily avoided on the wide river.
Sometime after noon, Roberts and the others on deck watch with concern as a long line of dark clouds, occasionally lit with flashes of lightning, creeps towards them over the hills to the southeast. Willa, who has weathered plenty of storms at sea but never on a river, asks Roberts what it means.
“Short-term, it means we be done sailing for the day. The wind in a storm be just too unpredictable - and as you have seen, being able to steer reliably be crucial on a river. Long-term, it be good - thunderstorms mean mayhaps we finally be done with this cold streak.”
“Cold streak?” asks Willa, nonplussed.
“Of course,” says Roberts. “It’s been unseasonably cold since before we left Longspear. This has been a cold winter so far. This be the kind of winter in which the giants come down from the Jotens.”
“No doubt,” says Willa, dryly. “But t’ listen t’ Tyrius tell it, Sterich be even colder than we be now.”
Roberts laughs, and leans in conspiratorially. “Never trust a Sterishman when talking about the weather,” he says. “They always go on and on about how cold and violent be the weather of their home, how only the Sterish are strong enough to take it, and how us lowlanders could never survive a real winter. The truth be that it be cold enough there, but rarely as cold as it be today, and it doesn’t snow but in the mountains. The cold we be feeling right now is cold enough even for Geoff, to the north.”
“Well, that be a comfertin’ t’ought,” says Willa, “since we may be headed north on foot after ther Keep. Say Roberts, ye ever seen a giant yerself?”
Roberts pauses, and looks about as if to see whether they are within hearing of any of his crew. “When I were younger, not having even completed my second dozen yet, I were mate on a longship. We had a military consignment, bringing supplies to the Keoish “Sentinel Keep”, what be up a tributary of the Javan. That little river enters the Javan just below Baranford; we passed it days ago. Well, that water be narrow and rocky, and flows through canyons I wouldn’t dream of taking the Banner into, but our ship were little and lithe and we had a good pilot besides. We’d dropped off our load at the trailhead to the keep and gotten paid besides, and a few too many of the crew were dreaming of the ale houses or pleasure houses of Baranford. We could see a storm were brewing on the Javan and more sensible men would’ve waited it out, but too many of us were young and hot and argued for pushing through the storm and making Baranford before dark. Finally the captain said “storm be damned!” and we all cheered, though I know half the men were more scared than I were, and I had said we should stay put. We put out from port and don’t that river run swift - once you start down it, there’s places you can stop and plenty of places you can’t. The storm hit us in a place we couldn’t stop - steep walled canyon, no shoreline, no banks. Once the black clouds were overhead it were near dark as night, but the pilot were steering us between lightning flashes and memory. All of a sudden we heard rocks crashing down the sides of the cliffs and splashing into the water alongside the ship - rocks so large the waves near come o’er the gunnels - rocks so large they could have stove in the deck and hull, and sunk us on the spot. I thought it were the lightning - that the cliffs above were being struck and the rocks set loose. But at the next flash I saw a huge man standing on a ledge above us - he were closer to thirty feet tall than five, skin as gray as death and naked as an eel. He had a huge boulder in his hands and were just about to toss it. Then it went dark and I heard the rock crash against the cliff face all the way down to the river, where it sheared off one of our oars. At the next flash I saw another man, looking back to where the first one had been before he heaved his own boulder that way. I didn’t know if they were throwing their rocks at each other, at us, or at something else, and I can’t say as I have ever not wanted to know the answer to a question more than I did that one. We kept going all the way down that canyon, and I jumped at every flash of lightning, but didn’t see anything else. I don’t know if they were giants, but I’ve little interest in finding that out, either.”
By two hours after noon the storm is nearly on them, and Roberts has them lower sails and find a secure anchoring point. By three hours, the deck is being lashed with wind and freezing rain while the thunder booms overhead. Everyone that can go below-decks does so, although many of the party remain in the covered galley rather than crowding into the occupied mule stalls. The storm rages for hours and hours, but finally relents long after sundown so that the party can swab down the deck and put out their sleeping rolls.
[ 3 pounds fish caught,
25 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel ends in hex F167-225]
9 December, 570 - Javan River, north of Gerth
The wind is light in the morning, but enough to sail. However, it comes and goes all day, leading to times when the Banner is becalmed, and other times when her crew is scrambling to tack fast enough to take advantage of it.
By late morning a walled city has come into view on the north bank, the first settlement they have seen of any size since Gerth. Now a week out from Cryllor, the last time they put in to port, Willa wonders aloud whether they will be stopping in this city.
“Kilm?” answers Roberts. “No, though it be tempting. “We certainly would get more coin for our cargo there than Cryllor, and more than likely enough to make this trip worth it and more besides. But a few days after Kilm be Godakin Keep, we be nearly there. And while the Keep is in Keoland, the other side of the river there be Sterich, good and proper. The Godakin market will have merchants from Keoland and Sterich competing to buy our coffee, and that is where we will truly make our gold. I be afeared your days on the Banner be numbered, now. That is, unless you would like to sign on as crew.”
Willa laughs and thanks Roberts for his offer, but says that she will remain with the party for the nonce.
All the way to Kilm and beyond there are great views of the snow-capped Jotens. Once beyond the city, they can see the hills ahead of them through which they will need to pass on the morrow. If there will be anything like the rapids they have faced before in similar terrain, they will need a better wind behind them than they now have, and the Banner anchors for the night just as the land around the Javan begins to rise.
[ 10 pounds fish caught,
27 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel ends in hex F166-224]] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
Kilm is not on the Darlene maps, but appears in Gary Holian's "The Kingdom of Keoland" in the Living Greyhawk Journal. Kilm is both on the map included and is mentioned in the text under the County of Flen. Most of the description given below of Kilm is my own invention.
The peddler Vern is an obvious Skyrim easter egg.
Stats for homebrew "Giant Killer" arrows: Specially designed to break off in their target, these arrows do d8-1 damage on an initial hit. On subsequent rounds, each arrow head will do d4 more damage if the target Moves or takes the Attack action. The head may only be removed with a successful DC15 medicine check, and this check is at disadvantage unless the person making it has access to a Healer's Kit.
10 December, 570 - Javan River, west of Kilm
Roberts is not satisfied with the wind in the morning - it is enough to sail on a clear stretch of the Javan, but he will not rely on it to get them through the rough section above Kilm. In addition, the warmer air from the south that is finally winning out over the cold northern air brings an all-day rain. This starts at 9am but the rain freezes as it hits the deck, and soon coats the masts and spars with ice. Gradually it changes to a heavy, soaking rain as the day warms, and only lets up after sunset. The party, who have been waiting out the rain below decks and in the galley, have to swab the deck dry by magical light before they can set out their bed rolls.
[ no pounds fish caught,
19 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
No travel - ship still in hex F166-224]
11 December, 570 - Javan River, west of Kilm
The day dawns fair enough, with no rain clouds, but even less wind than the day before. Roberts works among the crew, animating them - all are frustrated at being becalmed so close to Godakin Keep and the end of their journey.
The rain clouds begin to gather shortly after noon. By two hours after noon, a light but steady rain is falling. It continues all day and into the night. This time, the party watching from the galley sees it turn to freezing rain rather than letting up. By the time a layer of ice is building up on the deck, the cook relents and allows them to spread out their rolls on the floor of the galley. The ship itself is getting low on supplies, so there is more room than usual, anyway.
[ 8 pounds fish caught,
19 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
No travel - ship still in hex F166-224]]
12 December, 570 - Javan River, west of Kilm
It is after midnight when the freezing rain finally stops. Before the sun is up, though, it starts to snow. The snow on top of the ice makes the deck treacherous, but upon seeing the lack of wind in the morning Roberts announces that they will not be sailing today in any event. After a word with the cook at breakfast, he tells the crew that if the wind is not better on the morrow, they will return downstream to Kilm to resupply, and that everyone who did not go ashore in Cryllor will have a paid day of shore leave. This buoys the spirits of the crew and keeps them going all day.
Willa asks Roberts later whether he can afford to pay his men for not sailing. He shrugs and says that every day of bad weather will make the price of coffee in Godakin Keep that much higher, so it will all come out in the end. Besides, these are free yeoman he has as crew - if he does not keep them happy, they will jump ship and join another captain at their first chance. Their commitment is typically for a single voyage - they don’t sign an enlistment contract for months or years at a time like Keoish sailors.
By mid-morning the snow has turned to rain, and the rain continues all afternoon, with temperatures in the balmy forties - just enough to have melted all of the ice off the deck. The rain has stopped by the time temperatures drop below freezing in the evening.
[ no pounds fish caught,
11 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
No travel - ship still in hex F166-224]]
13 December, 570 - Javan River, west of Kilm
City encounter Roll: Day - Laborer
City Encounter Roll: Night - Noble
Roberts doesn’t like the wind this morning, either, so true to his word he raises anchor and allows the Banner to come about in the current. Minimal sail is used, just to help with steering, as she makes her way back to Kilm. The party is now faced with a choice - do they wish to hide belowdecks, or in the mate’s cabin, for the duration of the day in Kilm? And if it ends up being more than a day? Or are they now, a week upriver of Cryllor and two weeks north of Longspear, willing to take the risk of Aurora being spotted by Keoish authorities?
Willa calls for a party conference on deck as they approach the city, but are still at a distance. Aurora says she is going stir crazy and has to get out of the boat. She plans on casting invisibility on herself to avoid anyone who is watching the gates or the harbor, but allowing it to lapse in the city itself.
Willa objects strongly to Aurora going ashore. She reminds the wizard that there is a price on her head and the possibility of guilt by association for the rest of the party. If Aurora insists, she says, she wants her disguised as a male sailor or invisible the whole time but that will not be enough to remove her objection.
Aurora says she can wear a ratty sailor uniform and make herself invisible getting to and from the boat, but she wants some good coffee (apparently what the boat’s cook makes is not up to her standards), a warm fire, and a new book. And if there's a dashing scholar somewhere, she adds, the more's the better!
Willa says Aurora had better take Babshapka too, but he will also need to go in disguise because the authorities may know Aurora travels with an elf. She tells them to avoid establishments frequented by dwarves.
For herself, Willa plans to go ashore to purchase supplies as needed - in particular, they are low on grain for the mules. When Aurora asks her how she can mention that so nonchalantly after berating her for the same, Willa reminds her that she is just a sailor without a bounty on her noggin.
As for the rest of the party, if this stop is only for a day, Willa thinks they should stay on board. If it is more than a day, Willa could agree to some party members going ashore as long as they are within message range of Aurora or accompanied by crew members of the Banner - she doesn’t want anyone getting isolated and then picked off.
Also, as much as Aurora rails against the stuffy hold, Willa reminds her that she and Babshapka have spent most of their time so far in the mate’s cabin, leaving the mate himself to berth with the common sailors in the hold. If he ends up spending the night on the town, she says it is only fair that the party pays for his lodging.
Tyrius, Umbra, Larry, and Shefak remain curiously noncommittal about their plans to go ashore. After Willa admonishes Thokk to remain onboard ship, and Aurora and Babshapka to at least disguise themselves while ashore, she leaves with the gang of other sailors. Besides the party, the Banner is now occupied by just Roberts and the two crewmen he took ashore with him in Cryllor - the rest of the men have shore leave.
Thokk waits until Willa is just out of sight and then jumps from the ship to the dock (Wisdom save 9). He moves happily along the waterfront, looking for taverns and brothels.
Aurora and Babshapka retire to “their” cabin. Babshapka does his best to make Aurora look like an actual sailor in borrowed odds and ends from the crew, but with her soft features and natural endowments the result is rather more like an actress in a farce playing a sailor, or perhaps a costumed prostitute in some customer’s nautical fantasy. As far as his own disguise, Babshapka simply tucks his long hair back and pulls his winter hood up close to hide his elven features. Aurora casts invisibility on herself to get off the ship, whereas Babshapka tries to blend into a passing crowd of laborers (Stealth roll 14).
Willa, Aurora, and Babshapka soon realize that away from the waterfront most of the townsfolk in Kilm are halflings. Humans predominate among the sailors, fisherfolk, and smiths, but apart from that all of the shopkeepers, merchants, and laborers in the town are “hobniz”, as the small folk refer to themselves. The buildings of the city are sized appropriately, except for the many inns, most of which have separate human and halfling wings adjoining a common room. Even the town guards are leather-clad halflings and while they do not appear that intimidating themselves, every squad has a number of well-trained war dogs and a sergeant mounted on a huge mastiff.
Most of the sailors from the Banner scatter upon hitting the waterfront, but the cook, mate, and a few others accompany Willa to the market. While the cook purchases supplies, Willa buys another week’s worth of grain for the mules from a grinning, portly, halfling merchant. She uses party coin, and before she departs gives another gold to the mate in gratitude for his letting the party use his cabin. She mumbles something about hoping to not have to use it much longer and he nods curtly as he takes the coin. [2 gp from party treasure] She then returns to the Banner under gathering clouds and learns that Thokk has jumped ship.
Once away from the waterfront and reunited with Babshapka, Aurora lets her invisibility drop. The hobniz are polite and don’t stare, but there is plenty of muttering after they pass by about “crazy big folk” and their curious ways. It doesn’t take much effort for her to locate Kilm’s only bookseller amidst the leatherworking shops of the trade district. She is impressed by its size and the number of patrons there on this chilly winter’s day. Apparently the halflings of Kilm have a higher literacy rate, or more interest in reading, or greater disposable income, than humans in an equivalently-sized town. The proprietors, a husband-and-wife couple of friendly middle-aged halflings in matching brass-rimmed spectacles, are eager to tell Aurora about their wares. No, they don’t have anything about the history of the Sheldomar Valley or ancient Suel Wizards or falling stars. They do have lots of almanacs and trade books and books on agriculture and animal husbandry. They have a fair number of traveler’s phrase books and studies of languages. Aurora finally settles on a history of the Good Hills region, although the proprietors warn her that it is a bit dry, and wouldn’t she rather have something with adventure tales? [25gp from Aurora’s personal treasure]
With her new book in hand, Aurora sets out for a warm hearth and hopes of a dashing scholar - there were a few bookish halflings in the store, but apparently they were not her type. Babshapka scans the sky worriedly and tells her to find the hearth soon. Kilm is a walled city, and the best inns are located near the east gate, far away from the rough taverns of the waterfront. The merchants who frequent these inns are scarce in the winter, and as the first drops of cold rain begin to fall, Aurora finds a wonderful, human-sized place with a large hearth and numerous candles. She spends the rest of the afternoon in an overstuffed chair near the fire while a buxom halfling wench keeps her tea mug full, alternately turning the pages of her new history book and nodding off to the sound of a heavy rain on the shutters. Babshapka sits on a bench nearby, sampling small but delicious portions of meat stews, cheeses, and cold root salads. Fortunately the rain ceases before dusk. The two of them have a large, early dinner and return to the Banner just before dark, with Aurora ducking into an alley to renew her invisibility before going shipboard. [1 gp each from Aurora and Babshapka’s personal treasure]
It being too early in the day to find any brothels open, Thokk moves among the seedy ale houses of the waterfront, looking for a dust-up. The few halfling fisherfolk about seem to vanish at the appearance of the huge barbarian, and even the human sailors look away, move away, or otherwise avoid confrontation. Thokk is in his third ale house, frustrated at finding no one to fight, and bellowing at the customers that they are all cowards, when the wind shifts and he suddenly catches the scent of an intriguing new smell. He follows his nose a block and finds himself in front of small storefront selling meat pies. There is a display counter inside but no seats - at least half a dozen halflings scurry behind the counter between huge ovens and blood-stained countertops. Thokk buys a small pie, eats it as he stands in the store, and is entranced. He throws the empty tin to the floor and orders ten more.
Thokk guffaws at the sight of a wrinkled halfling in a floppy white hat who approaches him, suggesting that he eat his pies across the street in the ale house and smoke shop, and promising that one of his staff will bring the pies to him, one at a time, as they emerge from the oven. Thokk laughs again and walks across the street. He has been eating mostly fish for two weeks now and while they are his own fish, caught with his masterful use of the pole, to be honest he is tiring of the taste. He is glad for the red meat, but even more than that, these diminutive men use some sort of magic they call “spices” to make their pies the best thing Thokk has ever tasted.
Thokk is on his second pie and third flagon of ale when an enormously rotund halfling with a twinkle in his eye approaches him and asks if he would be interested in a pie-eating contest - with the loser paying for the winner’s pies and offering up a bag of silver besides. Thokk readily agrees, spewing crumbs from his mouth in his eagerness to accept.
Both contestants are on their third pie (counting from the start of the contest, although actually Thokk’s fifth) when Thokk gets up to “make more room” and retches violently into the gutter of the street, now awash in the cold winter rain. When he returns to the ale house, the halfling is smiling triumphantly, but objects when Thokk says he is not done eating yet. The silly halfling man says, “I don’t know where you are from, but here in Kilm, the rules of pie-eating are that…” Thokk bristles at his tone and draws his longsword from its sheath. At the sight of the naked steel the shop goes deadly silent. [Thokk Intimidation roll 24]. The halfling squeals, grabs his bag of coin, and darts out the door into the rain. Thokk stares after him, then at the table and the abandoned food. “Fat half man left his pies!” he yells delightedly, then laughs uproariously as the other customers join in nervously.
Over the course of the afternoon Thokk continues to happily eat meat pies, drink ale, and explain in lurid detail to any who will listen what he intends to do when it is finally dark enough for the brothels to open. Regular customers drift off, and the ale house slowly fills with town guardsmen, each nursing an ale or mug of broth to make it last as long as possible, dogs curled up under their tables, all with their eyes trained on Thokk, and him oblivious.
An hour after the rain has stopped, as the streets are darkening and the sun is slipping behind the western wall, Thokk collapses back into his chair, teeters, hits the floor, and begins snoring deeply. A sergeant of the guard prods him carefully with the butt end of his spear and gets no response, then slides Thokk’s money pouch off of his belt. He pulls out a gold coin for the owner of the ale shop, another for the owner of the pie store, and then reattaches the pouch. [2gp from Thokk personal treasure] Six halflings hoist the unconscious half-orc, carry him out the door, and dump him into a waiting hand cart. With one man on each handle, they take turns hauling the cart mostly downhill to the waterfront, and then dump Thokk off, sprawled in a heap on the docks in front of the Banner.
When she learns of Thokk’s arrival on the docks, Willa looks over the rail. She watches him, debating with herself for several minutes, while he lies unmoving. Her first instinct is to leave him there. It is not below freezing yet, but will certainly be so tonight. Most of his winter gear is still aboard the Banner, though he did go ashore with a fur vest that would normally be worn under the thick leather jerkin. His legs are bare between loincloth and boots, and Willa is glad of the gathering darkness as he belches, rolls to his side, and the loincloth dangles precariously.
Willa sighs and puts down a gangplank, finds a swab-bucket and lowers it over the side to bring up ice-cold river water. She stands over Thokk on the dock, then slowly pours the entire bucket over his head.
Thokk coughs and sputters and thrashes, but the second the water ceases he resumes his snoring. (Thokk Constitution save 22). “Oh, fer ther love o’...” Willa curses, and calls for Tyrius. Together, grunting and heaving, they haul Thokk up the gangplank and stuff him into his bedroll on deck.
[ no pounds fish caught,
5 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
Day's travel downstream, but still in hex F166-224]
14 December, 570 - Kilm
City Encounter Roll: Day - Peddler
City Encoutnert Roll: Night - Tradesman
“Aye, there’s wind today,” says Roberts, looking at the pennants on the mast in the morning. “Trouble is, she’s blowing the wrong way.” Indeed, the strips of cloth show the wind coming from the west - the direction they want to go.
Gathering his crew, Roberts tells them that they are free to take shore leave again today - but it won’t be paid leave. Anyone who wants his daily wage will need to stay aboard the Banner, mending sail and checking lines. When a man grumbles about the cold, Roberts tells him to go ashore and order a half-barrel of pitch - he can work the tar brush and spend the day warming himself over the boiling barrel of pitch. The man scowls but nods. About half as many men go ashore as the day before, while the others remaining aboard are quickly sorted into work crews.
Willa leaves the Banner with the first wave of sailors, dressed as they are and with her only weapons a dagger worn on her thigh inside her breeches and a belaying pin tucked into her belt. Her companions have eaten breakfast in the galley, but she has deliberately not broken her fast so that she has a reason to tarry in one of the greasy eateries that can be found along the waterfront. She picks slowly at her eggs and hash, trying to make out the different conversations around her. (Willa Investigation roll 12) Most of the talk is local - how is the fishing, what price for fish, who is foolish enough to try to make a profit by hauling goods in winter, what said fools are paying for hands, which regulars are sitting out a few days in a “small cell” for public drunkeness. Now and then there is an occasional reference to the huge orc barbarian on the Banner and speculation as to what he might be doing in town, but the tenor of the comments is more curious than conspiratorial.
After she has eaten and, of necessity, visited a pot behind a burlap curtain besides (the amount of grease in the hash being impressive even by fisherfolk standards), Willa tours the waterfront area. Most of the span of the waterfront is filled by the personal docks of small, family fishing vessels of a kind familiar to Willa from Saltmarsh, though more are found with oars only and no mast than in her town of origin. Only around the river gate itself are there long docks for large commercial vessels like the Banner, and most of these are on much lower pilings to accommodate barges, rather than high-railed vessels like the hulk. Of the few commercial vessels present, all are docked and winter-readied with tarped-over hatches, bare masts, and skeleton crews - often of a pair of young boys and a dog trading day and night shifts. One large ship is even pulled halfway onto shore in a rudimentary dry dock. In its journey from Longspear the Banner has passed any number of Keoish naval patrol barges, and there does seem to be a well-maintained section of dock near the customs house that could hold such vessels, but none are berthed there today.
Just inland from the docks are rows of wooden buildings - cheap ale and grog houses, fish markets, diners like the one she visited, a tattoo parlor, shacks for the poor fisherfolk, and the like. A few of the ale houses have second stories, and the faded red curtains in their windows hint at services not available during the day.
Inland from this narrow band of ramshackle buildings is the city wall, high and of large stone blocks, pierced only by the single gate aforementioned. The gate is open all day and sees reasonable traffic. The absence of nicer houses for shipowners, merchants, shipwrights, and such, as well as the lack of warehouses and tackle stores from the waterfront, suggests to Willa that such things are likely within the walls of the city rather than without. Also, as seen on the day before, all of the citizens of the waterfront district are humans, and the occasional halfling present is obviously on some errand or other and not a resident.
Once Willa has traveled the length of the waterfront and back again, she is convinced she has seen what little the town has to offer. Away from the commercial docks she finds a larger fishing vessel, of a kind that might be owned by a prosperous neighborhood boss, or perhaps a collective of poor fisherfolk, and crewed by those without money for their own craft. A grizzled old man sits nearby, his bony but nimble fingers working methodically through a huge net. From where the man sits, one can more-or-less make out the figures on the dock next to the Banner. Willa sits down nonchalantly, as if she were one of the crew of the vessel, and begins mending the net herself. (Willa Deception roll 4). “Ye ain’t foolin’ nobody, wench,” spits the old man.
Willa shrugs, unconcerned. “Two can work t’is net faster’n one,” she offers. (Willa Persuasion roll 11).
The old man snorts. “Or ye can work as fast as I were, an’ leave me more time,” he says, pulling forth a clay pipe that is more bowl than stem, and a worn leather bag of loose pipe weed. He fills the bowl, then ambles across the street to a pot shop for a light, returns and settles himself back on his stool, puffing. Willa looks down at the net, concentrating on her fingers but also her ears. For the next several hours the old man seems content to let Willa do his work for him while he smokes and chats with a few passersby.
Willa listens carefully to the conversations of the man and anyone else within earshot (Willa Investigation roll 16). In addition to what she got at breakfast (which is still the majority of the conversations), she hears more about the Banner and local speculation as to its real goal. Comments seem about equally split between two different theories. The first is that Roberts, a well-known captain and “damned Yeoman”, is smuggling drugs - most likely one of the strong and addictive narcotics that originates in the lands of the Sea Princes and is bound for the debauched cities upriver on the Javan - like the “Black Spice”, for example. In this version, the orc barbarian and the other strangers like the dwarf and supposed “paladin” (an obvious disguise) are simply hired muscle to protect his shipment. His declared cargo of coffee, of course, is the preferred cover for such operations.
The other theory is that the “ignorant barbarian” is in reality a shrewd orc war chief, intent on bringing an army down out of the Jotens to sack Kilm. He is using this time “becalmed” in the city to scout its defenses in preparation for his assault. The “paladin” is a disguised priest - most likely one of Hextor or Erythnul, there to act as an advisor to the warlord. If he were truly a priest of Pelor, as his shield claims, he would of course be using this time to proselytize in the city rather than being confined to the ship. But then, if he were truly a paladin of Pelor, he would not be traveling with an orc in the first place.
Aurora has been watching Willa from the deck of the Banner. When she has passed out of sight, Buckbeak has followed her, hopping from rooftop to rooftop along the waterfront. Once she settles into her work mending nets, the hawk flies back to the Banner. Soon after, invisible scholar Aurora accompanied by hooded Babshapka leave the Banner and make their way to a two-story tavern near where Willa sits.
Aurora opens the door of the tavern, carefully making herself visible the instant she steps inside so that anyone outside would not see her, being blocked by Babshapka, and anyone inside would be unlikely to note that just a second before she was invisible. Two sullen men sit on leaky kegs that pass for chairs while a third lies passed out on the floor. A slovenly matron, “cleaning” a battered stein with a filthy apron, strides from the bar to the door, not even giving pause as she steps over the unconscious man. She makes no effort to hide her disdain as she looks at Aurora and Babshapka.
“I don’t like scholars,” she spits through a mouth with more teeth missing than present. “And I don’t like elves,” she sneers.
Aurora tries to smile winningly. “But everyone likes coin,” she says, and pulls forth a gold lion. “Madam, I’m just looking for a quiet place to read, out of the cold for the morning. Perhaps upstairs, where I will be out of your way.”
The woman snatches the coin from Aurora and holds it up to what wan light that has managed to penetrate the shuttered windows and smoky air. She stuffs it between her pendulous bosoms, smirks, and hooks a thumb at a steep, railingless stair to the second floor. “Myrna’s off until dark,” she says. “If ye wakes her, ye pays for her time, too.”
Aurora smiles agreement and the women spits in reply. Together, Aurora and Babshapka ascend the stairs, but not closely together, as none of the steps look like they could support the weight of them both simultaneously.
Upstairs is a bedchamber where cheap perfume covers other, less pleasant scents. A woman sleeps on a straw-stuffed mattress on the floor. She is young, but hard-worn. A crudely-drawn erotic illustration hangs over the bed. The other walls have their rough timbers covered with large swaths of fabric - perhaps to soften their appearance, perhaps because there is no trunk at hand in which to store spare bed linens. There is a single window, and next to it a chair with a hole in the seat, a cracked ceramic chamber pot beneath. Aurora settles squeamishly into the chair - just enough light to read comes through the ill-fitting shutter over the window. Babshapka wrinkles his nose. “I’ll wait downstairs,” he says. “Or perhaps outside.”
Over the next several hours, Aurora reads her history of the Good Hills. The woman on the mattress groans and stirs, but doesn’t wake. Aurora uses message on occasion to check in with Willa, who promptly tells her to be quiet and stop interrupting. Every so often, she has Buckbeak appear just outside the window, and soar in great spirals over the city before returning to his pocket dimension. He doesn’t see any troop movements along the roads.
Nearing noon, a man dressed in traveling clothes enters the tavern downstairs. He looks swiftly about the room, then immediately limps to where Babshapka is sitting glumly in a corner. He orders two steins of ale from the matron.
“I don’t drink…” begins Babshapka.
“Oh, I wouldn’t drink that swill either,” the man whispers, grinning. “Still, one has to pay the piper. We can pour it out when she isn’t looking.”
He introduces himself as Vern, a peddler of wares, specialist in sales to adventurers.
“I’m not an adv…” protests Babshapka, but the man will hear none of it. He points out the twin blades under the elf’s cloak, the ring set with runes on his finger.
“Call yourself what you will,” he says happily, “Elite mercenary, specialty guard, scout forte. But what’s wrong with adventurer, eh? In fact, I used to be one myself, ‘til I took an arrow to the knee. Nowadays, I peddle wares especially designed for adventurers. Take a look at this…”
From a leather quiver under his own cloak, the peddler pulls forth an arrow. The shaft and fletching are normal-looking, but the head is exquisitely-forged steel, wickedly barbed and serrated. Impressed, Babshapka takes the arrow from him, quickly noting how the shaft tapers sharply just before entering the head. He frowns.
“Why weaken the shaft just before the head? That would make the…”
“...head break off inside the target. Exactly! I call these 'giant arrows', as in, they are made to shoot at giants. The heads break off inside them, and keep doing damage the more they move. Useful in bringing down really big things. I’m selling them all around the Jotens. ‘Winter is coming’, as they say.”
Babshapka frowns again and considers the arrow. Something that did continuous damage would be a waste on smaller creatures easily slain, but against something large and fearsome like a giant, continually doing attrition while avoiding it, would be a viable strategy.
“Where do you get these from?” he finally asks.
Vern smiles. “The design is my own, but I have them made to my specifications in a gnome forge or two around the Good Hills. Now don’t be thinking of rooting out the source and undercutting me! For one thing, you’d have to tromp all over the hills to find any of my sources. And for another, I deal exclusively with smiths who agree to sell these only to me.”
“And the cost?”
“One lion an arrow. Obviously these are for adventurers, not the village militia.”
Babshapka reflects. The price is about twenty times that of a normal arrow, but they are easily worth several times a normal arrow just in having worked and hardened steel for the heads. The specialty manufacture would add more to the price. If they actually work as claimed, they could prove somewhere from useful to lifesaving. Since he became an adventurer, Babshapka’s had little enough use for gold besides paying for Aurora’s spell-casting supplies, and he is currently carrying nearly 300 lions of his own money, plus uncounted coins and gems in party funds.
“How many do you have on you?”
“A quiver-full at the moment. I can get more if you would like to meet tomorrow.”
“I’ll take what you have now. I don’t know if I will be in town on the morrow.”
One of the men at the other table gets up and staggers to the corner of the room, where a ratty burlap curtain barely conceals a piss-pot. Vern stands up and lays a leather quiver on the table, then carries his untouched tankard over to the other table, emptying it into the steins of the other two men with a wink. By the time Vern has returned to his own table, Babshapka has taken the quiver and has twenty gold coins concealed in his palm that he passes to the man as he shakes his hand.
Satisfied, Babshapka decides he needs some air, and steps outside the tavern. When he is not immediately followed, he empties his tankard onto the ground. Vern, who has apparently settled his account with the matron, comes out the door soon after and takes his leave of Babshapka. The wood elf notes that as the man limps down the street, he is paying special attention to the sky.
The passers-by along the waterfront diminish as midday passes, gone home or to shops to eat. Willa sighs, stretches, and stands. The old man snatches the net from where she lay it down and holds it up appraisingly. “Not bad,” he allows, “ye can come back later.” She scoffs at his attempt to get her to do more of his work and leaves without comment as she returns to the Banner along the waterfront. Spotting an inn of somewhat better quality than where she broke her fast, Willa takes her lunch there, still with one ear open.
Most of the conversations she hears are repeats of the banal news of the morning, with occasional snippets of speculation about the Banner such as she heard at the docks. However, there are a pair of well-dressed merchants in the inn, a bit out of place among the other clientele. Most of their talk is about prices and markets, how ale and wheat are low, due to good harvests in Sterich and hereabouts. Willa has already lost interest when one of them says (Willa Investigation roll 20), “Yes, good harvests and a harsh winter to follow.”
“Now, that was a bad cold snap these past weeks, but I would hardly call it a harsh winter.”
“You wait - I bet it gets colder still before Growfest.”
“Mayhaps. Your point?”
“You know the adage - a good harvest followed by a harsh winter - that’s giant times, for sure.”
“Aye, there’s truth in that. And young Earl Querchard on the throne of Sterich. Gods give the pup wisdom, if there are raids.”
“Aye, give the pup wisdom, and give us an army contract!”
“Grain or spears?”
“I’d take either - but I’ve already bought my grain stores.”
“Luck to you then,” says one merchant graciously as he raises his glass to the other.
Just as Aurora begins to feel the desire to eat, the woman stirs on the mattress beside her. She sits up, eyes going wide in confusion at the presence of Aurora in her boudoir. Composing herself, but still bleary from sleep, she puts on a sultry pout and lets her loose shift slip off one bare shoulder. The pretense of desire is so feigned that Aurora can’t decide if it is more comical or pitiful. “No, dear, not today,” she says softly, closes her book, and makes her way downstairs. She is not yet at the bottom when she hears the young woman clearly retching into the chamber pot.
The party, together, passes the afternoon on the Banner. Willa, reflecting on the merchants she overheard, asks Tyrius how close they are to Sterich.
“You know that narrows that Roberts is waiting on the right wind to get us through?”
“Aye.”
“If we ever get ourselves to the other side of that, Sterich is on the south bank of the river. We could have walked there by now.”
In the late afternoon a light rain begins, and continues until after dark.
[ no pounds fish caught,
no pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of human food used
2 rations of mule feed used
No travel, still in hex F166-224]
15 December, 570 - Kilm
City Encounter: Day - Merchant
City Encounter: Night - None
In the morning, Roberts looks critically at the pennants on the mast, blowing steadily in the breeze. Aurora is nearby.
“That’s better, right?”
“Aye, better. ‘Tis from the south, now. That’d get us to the narrows fast enough. But we need it from the east to get us through the narrows.”
“Ugh, when will that be?”
Roberts shrugs. “She’s coming around. Mayhap on the morrow.”
Aurora glowers. “Tyrius said we could walk to Sterich from here.”
Roberts nods his agreement. “Ye could indeed. Ye could hae’ walked from Longspear, too, for that matter.” He lowers his voice. “Of course, ye told me ye didn’t want to be on Keoish soil, and that’s what walking means.” Roberts points at the mountains to the northwest. “There be a pass in those mountains, and the trail goes right over it. Fifteen miles from the other side of the river, and you’ll be in Sterich. My men can row ye to the other side of the river, if that be what ye want.”
Aurora takes a moment to message everyone in the party to come over. When it is obvious this is going to turn into a party meeting, Roberts motions the other sailors away. Aurora considers asking Roberts to leave, but he already knows so much about the party it seems pointless. Willa tries to object that any meeting like this should be held below decks, but Aurora ignores her and launches ahead. Aurora explains that there is a land route option - Roberts has offered to take them to the south bank of the river, and from there it is just a fifteen mile walk, up and over the mountains, and then down into Sterich. Once they are on Sterish soil, they can either continue walking if the roads prove fast, or look for another ship - preferably an oared vessel.
Thokk and Larry are eager to get into the mountains. Thokk is excited about the prospect of testing his mettle against a giant or two in front of the party (just not three at a time while alone). Larry just feels far more at home aground than on the water and would welcome the change.
Aurora says they should give it another two days, getting their mules and gear ready on the second day to depart on the third if there's no fortuitous change. She makes the point that the longer they stay, the less time they'll have as a head start if someone is coming after them. Also, departing on foot makes them more noticeable and trackable. She would rather head out on foot from an undisclosed location, or at least with a bit more guile. A band of mercenaries traipsing out into the mountains on a whim seems awfully memorable. She muses that they could plant a story in Kilm that they are leaving to work as mercenaries for giant defense and can't wait on our river transport any longer.
Willa objects to traveling overland on Keoish soil. There is (she whispers, trying to avoid Roberts’ ears) a bounty on Aurora's head, and she asks them if they have so quickly forgotten what happened when they left Barovia, and then again at the ruins outside of Highfell. She urges patience with the wind and asks the party to focus on the goal of reaching the (and here she again whispers) starfall location. Willa argues that it is still probably faster to use the river than to trudge overland, and she looks knowingly to Tyrius for support in this matter.
Tyrius waits until everyone else has spoken before he weighs in. He reminds them that he is neither fond of secrecy nor skulking, but that he has made a pledge to defend Aurora from capture by the knight, so long as they are not in Keoland (and he does not whisper as he says this). If the knight finds Aurora on Keoish soil, he will be well within his rights to arrest her, and Tyrius will not interfere. He looks around at the deck of the Banner and says that he is unsure of the legality of attempting to extradite or arrest someone on open water, and does not know whether this section of the Javan belongs to Keoland, even if both banks of the river do. Roberts smiles and says that while riverine law is not as complex a subject as maritime law, it does have its idiosyncrasies, and he would be happy to sit down with Tyrius and explain his understanding, or even introduce him to a magistrate in Kilm. Tyrius thanks him, but continues.
Tyrius says that he has no preference for their route, so long as it is clear to all that he will abide by local law wherever they go. As to Willa’s assumption that the river will be faster than walking, he’s not sure. The river is faster so long as the wind is blowing - but how many days becalmed would it be before walking would be faster? He thinks Eddard might be more qualified to answer than he is, but the horse is belowdecks. What he can say, however, is that the path Aurora suggests, up and over the mountain pass, is at the frontier between two independent nations - Keoland and Sterich. It would be unreasonable to expect it to be unguarded, unfortified, or unpatrolled. If what the party wants is to slip through without notice, he recommends the water route.
Aurora shrugs. “I said I’d wait two days more.”
Willa shakes her head, her jaw set defiantly, and arms folded across her chest. “Doesn’t matter ‘ow many days, we be waitin’.”
“Two days,” mumbles Aurora under her breath, and the party disperses.
Willa goes below to check on the rations - there are two weeks’ of grain for the mules, and a week of food for the party. More, once they get started, if Thokk and Larry return to fishing. Reassured, she nevertheless goes ashore, leaving the sullen and frustrated party on board, and all of the sailors working on maintenance and repair of the Banner.
She takes a circuitous route of the docks and, when she is reasonably sure she is not being followed, enters the river gate into the city of Kilm, proper. Heading to the market area, she finds a mostly-deserted corral used at various times for cows, sheep, and horses, at least judging from the manure present. It takes her the better part of an hour (initial Investigation roll 3) to track down a mule seller, eventually locating one at a stables on the east side of the city far from both the waterfront and the market square. Apparently there is little trade in beasts of burden in the winter.
The mulemaster is happy to give her the lay of the land upriver from Kilm.
There are trails on both the north and south banks of the river, although the trail to the north is far more traveled and better maintained - the one to the south is just a mule track. As Roberts and Tyrius reported, the mountains to the west of Kilm form the boundary between Keoland and Sterrich. Although here in Kilm, Keoland controls both banks of the Javan, beyond the narrows, the southern bank is Sterish soil.
The northern bank, along the trail, is dotted with small fishing villages and halfling hill farms, but none of any particular size or note. The southern bank is even more deserted. As Roberts suggested, some fifteen miles west of Kilm the track goes up and over the mountains, then comes down into a grassy valley. The whole valley is used as pastureland for the Count of Flen, a Sterish nobleman who breeds horses for his own knights and the national cavalry. There are few villages, and they are all in direct service to the process of breeding, raising, and training horses. It is not until the next valley over, some twenty miles further along the track, that the Sterich agricultural communities begin.
Tyrius’ suspicion that the border between Sterich and Keoland would be guarded is well-founded, although the mulemaster says the fortifications are rather small on each side. As Keoland and Sterich maintain friendly relations, the stockade posts are more to jointly control bandits and smugglers than either is actively guarding against the other. It is nearly forty miles upriver from the border before the first true Sterish fortification, a large stone keep that the count maintains to protect against giants and humanoids from the Jotens rather than human invaders from Keoland.
Willa thanks the mulemaster and finds an inn for lunch. Halfling-run, she can hardly believe the bounteous and delicious board that is set for her, especially considering her last two meals along the waterfront (Willa spends 5 silver of personal money).
Returning to the dock area in the afternoon, Willa finds the “Master of the Quay” in residence at the customs house. She wants to know about the empty berth for the naval patrol barge, but surmises that asking questions about matters of national security is a surefire way to draw attention to herself or even get labeled a spy. Using her own history as an excise officer in Saltmarsh, she decides the most innocuous route is to claim to be an out-of-work sailor, a loyal servant of the crown but from the south and tired of the flophouses in this cold northern city, and simply wondering when the next patrol barge might be through so that she can talk terms with the captain about an enlistment in the navy, or even just pulling an oar for free to get herself downriver and back to Salinmoor.
The officer finds her story relatable and believable (Deception roll 11, but 15 with advantage for her sailor background). He is guarded about specific information, but cheerfully tells her that patrol barges come through every week or so, though not all of them stop in Kilm. He says that naval patrols typically don’t take on civilian hands, and enlistment terms will be longer than the winter, so she may want to try a merchant craft instead. They are few in the winter, but still they are more frequent than patrols. She is about to thank him when he calls across the office to where a well-dressed merchant sits in front of a desk, taking coffee and dried fruit with the exciseman there, more than likely “greasing the wheels” of the local government, as it were. “Master Bartholomew,” he calls, and as the merchant turns and rises, Willa recognizes him as one of the two men she eavesdropped on the day previous.
When the Master of the Quay introduces her to the Master Merchant as a sailor in need of work, she drops her gaze. “Haven’t I seen you about the waterfront?” sniffs the merchant.
“No, sir,” she dissembles. “I jes’ got in t’ town t’day, drivin’ a mule fer a peddler from Gerth. Footsore work, that, fer a sailor. I probably still have ther stink o’ mule on me,” she says, and hopes it is true. She thinks, but does not add, ‘I certainly did not come in to town two days ago aboard the Banner.’
Master Bartholomew gives her the address of one of his captains, and says she is welcome to try there. She thanks him without raising her eyes, and leaves the excise house as quickly as she can. She re-enters the city gate and waits until just before it closes at dusk, then returns to the Banner under the cover of darkness.
Eating a late and cold dinner from party rations in the hold, Willa questions Tyrius about whether he knows the “young earl” and whether he remembers giant raids in his youth. Tyrius says that His Magnitude, Querchard Emondav, Earl of Sterich, was born in CY 538, making him currently 32, and admittedly young for a palantine earl and supreme ruler of the land. Querchard ascended to the throne in CY 558, at the age of just twenty, following the death of the former Earl, his father Querail Emondav. Querchard was third in line to the throne upon his birth, but his two elder brothers both preceded their father in death. Tyrius mentions that he actually, as a boy, attended the coronation ceremony of the current Earl.
Tyrius adds that Sterich always has “giant troubles” - especially in those lands bordering the Jotens and Crystalmists. Tyrius’ family’s estate is in the lowlands, near the capital, so his household has had little direct experience with the raids, but he can attest that the adage “a good harvest followed by a harsh winter - that’s giant times, for sure” is both common and conveys much truth.
[ 8 rations of human food used
2 rations of mule feed used
No travel, still in hex F166-224] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
Godakin Keep is not on the Darlene maps, but appears in an online supplement to Dungeon 117 at https://paizo.com/dungeonissues/117/DA117_OnlineSupplement.pdf. The smaller town across the river on the Sterish side is not shown on that map, but is shown on Anna Meyer's map of the region. Even there however, it does not have a name, so I have no idea of the source. The name Crosswater, as well as the description of the town, is entirely of my invention.
Post 135: Kilm to Crosswater
16 December, 570 - Kilm
“All hands! ALL HANDS!” bellows Roberts in the wan pre-dawn light. Hatches are thrown open and the party, snug in their bedrolls in the below-freezing temperatures on deck, groan as the sailors dash among and about them, threatening them with trampling.
Willa sits up and squints at the ragged pennant against the grey sky. A light breeze, faint but steady, lifts it - more importantly, it lifts it from the southeast. Willa slides out of her bedroll, draws her winter cloak about her, and contemplates getting something hot in the galley. “Wi...woman!” yells Roberts, almost bellowing her name across the waterfront but recovering just in time. The captain points at where Thokk is standing, relieving himself over the railing. “Get that orc in the dory! We’re nae waiting for a tug!”
Willa grabs two hands to help her lower the dory over the side, then puts them and Thokk in it, him with a pair of oars and them with one each. They move aft of the Banner and attach a tow line as the ship itself casts off from the dock. Willa taunts Thokk until the dory is pulling so hard that the Banner is slowly moving away from the port.
“Is t’at all ye hae, brute? Ther fish be laughin’ a’ ye! Ther river be laughin’ a’ ye!”
Thokk screams in rage and plunges his oars into the water, dowsing the sailors in the dory with freezing cold water. He strains his back and calves and the thick oars flex against his force as the tow rope goes taut.
Roberts lets the Banner get two full ship’s lengths away from the dock before he raises the foresail and recalls the dory. Thokk and the two sailors stand on the deck while the other hands dash about working the lines, Thokk with great gouts of steam rolling from his back and lungs and the two men soaked and shuddering.
Once the Banner is moving upriver, Roberts raises the mainsail but lowers the fore. The mainsail is full but rolls rather than snapping - the breeze is light, but sufficient. After the party has eaten breakfast, Roberts explains that the wind will get them to the narrows, easy enough, but he is worried about it getting them completely through the narrows before dark.
The day is pleasant, clear and sunny, and even climbs into the high forties as the riverbanks slide by. By early afternoon the land rises on either side of them and they enter the narrows. Then, it takes all of Robert’s skill on sail and rudder to maneuver the Banner with just the light breeze behind them. As the sun goes down in the west there are still high rock walls on either side of the river. Roberts keeps sailing with the light of the Handmaiden, nearly full, rising in the east behind them. The larger moon is a waning crescent and offers little help.
They sail a full two hours after sunset before Roberts finally calls for anchoring and the crew gives a ragged cheer. The party has eaten hours ago, but Roberts kept all his hands from dinner until they stopped for the night. Roberts gathers the party around him and bids them look at the southern cliffside, along which they are anchored. “Climb that cliff and ye be in Sterich,” he says, and the cheer from the party echoes off the face of the rocks.
[ no pounds of fish caught
8 rations of human food used
2 rations of mule feed used]
17 December, 570 - Up the Javan River from Kilm
Overnight the wind has shifted and now comes from almost due south. After a few half-hearted tries in the morning, Roberts decides that even with tacking, the Banner would be losing ground all day to the current. They remain at anchor. At least the southern wind has brought with it warmer temperatures - it remained above freezing all the previous night.
[ no pounds of fish caught
8 rations of human food used
2 rations of mule feed used]
18 December, 570 - Up the Javan River from Kilm
Early in the morning they leave the sheer cliffs of the narrows behind, and although the south bank (Sterich) remains steep, rocky, and uninhabited, the north bank (Keoland) opens up into a fringe of farmland and pastureland before the rugged hills begin further back from the river. As the mulemaster from Kilm told Willa, the northern bank is populated by tiny farming and fishing communities, small affairs each without a blacksmith or stone church to their name, strung out along the trail that parallels the river.
With a bare east wind, the Banner struggles to make progress today, creeping upriver against the current. This would never have been enough wind to maneuver up the narrows, but now in the broad river the crew keeps at it, and inch by inch the miles go by.
Larry has great luck fishing, to the relief of several in the party, who were worried about running out of rations before their arrival in Godakin Keep, and counting on the fish the river would supply. Thokk tries to match Larry but cannot, and grows more and more frustrated over the course of the day. When he finally snags something heavy in the afternoon his hopes soar, but pulling it out reveals it is just a heavy tree branch. Thokk snaps his fishing rod in frustration and hurls it into the river, then stomps below decks in advance of a cold rain.
[Larry, survival check with disadvantage: 17, 18: lands 20 pounds of fish]
[Thokk, survival check with disadvantage: 5 (Critical fail), 11]
[ 20 pounds fish caught,
12 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used]
19 December, 570 - Up the Javan River from Kilm
[Wandering Encounter - Patrolled Hills. Tribesmen; Hillmen]
The balmy southeast wind continues, and temperatures push into the mid-50’s by the afternoon. The Banner continues to fight its way upriver, at a similar pace to the day before. The terrain is much the same as well - small farming and fishing communities on the Keoish side of the river, rugged and uninhabited hills on the Sterish side.
Around noon, the forward lookout spots something on the southern bank and calls for Roberts. After he takes a look with his glass, he asks Willa to get the party moving - just have them walking around deck, put on a helm or pick up a shield for the sun to glint off of. She raises an eyebrow but does as told.
Eventually they are close enough to see for themselves. A small mountain stream empties into the Javan on its south bank. Clustered around the stream are a number of dugout canoes, and in and around them are a dozen or more rough-looking men in furs and leathers. “Hillmen,” says Roberts.
“Freefolk?” asks Tyrius, with a note of honest surprise in his voice.
“Aye, ye could call ‘em that. They’re on the land of the Count of Flen, sure enough - but I doubt they be payin’ him his feudal dues. Flan, most like, or maybe even old Oerid - but they don’t farm much, just hunt and fish.”
Willa looks at Tyrius, with helm on and shield raised as requested. “And pirate?”
“Aye,” says Roberts, “they’re not above that - if the mark looks easy enough that they can take it quick, with none the wiser. They wouldn’t try anything if they thought at least some of us might get away, and get word to the Count. If they think we have a few swords on board, they’re not like to bother us. Still, as long as you’re on deck tonight, you might want to set a watch.”
“We would anyway,” says Willa. “‘Tis a good habit, nae matter ‘ow safe ye think ye be.”
Thokk and Larry both have a good haul of fish today. “This pole much better than other stupid pole,” says Thokk contentedly.
“Better be,” mumbles Willa. “Ye done broke ther ‘tothers, an’ now ye hain’t got no spare.”
[ 26 pounds fish caught,
30 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used]
20 December, 570 - Up the Javan River from Kilm
The warm south wind picks up a bit, becoming more steady today. And as the river curves more to the north, the south wind becomes more and more useful. By day’s end, Roberts judges that they have gone more in this one day than the last two combined.
The Keoish communities look much the same as before. On the Sterish bank, however, the rugged hills finally pull back, allowing a swath of green and arable land near the river. They pass more than one small farming community of the Sterish side as well.
In the early afternoon, the trail on the Keoish bank recedes farther and farther from the river until it is lost from sight, and then the farming communities with it, although there are still fishing villages at river’s edge. Near the end of the day they pass a swift-running Keoish river emptying into the Javan; Roberts says that up that way lies the city of Flen, the seat of the Count, but the flow is far too strong for the Banner to make headway even with the wind behind her. He sounds pleased with their progress, and tells Willa that if they can keep today’s wind they will be at Godakin Keep in a day or two more.
Aurora for her part has finished the book she purchased in Kilm, a history of the Good Hills. She found it refreshing to read something in Common, instead of struggling through Ancient Suel like the last several works she had read.
She found little of immediate use in it and no mention of a starfall, but it was entertaining and illuminated somewhat the regional situation between the Yeomanry, Sterish, and Keoland:
The spur of true mountains that is the east-west running Jotens eventually curves around and descends into roughly north-south running hills. The mighty Javan River bisects these hills. To the north and east of the river they are called the Good Hills, and to the south and west the Little Hills, but geologically they are likely the same formation. Gems are to be found throughout them all, as well as precious metals, though there is more silver in the south and more gold in the north.
Both of these hill lands had been well-settled by demihumans, back into prehistory - hill dwarves, gnomes, and to some extent halflings. Generally they had independent settlements based around mines, with only a loose relationship between different settlements and no rulers or large states over more than a few of them. The gnomish settlements typically occurred where a gem mine was located underneath good pasturage. The dwarven settlements could be found where veins of useful metals like copper, tin, or iron were near enough those of gold or silver so that both could be exploited by a single community. Halflings were found in small valleys in the hills where they could raise crops to trade for dwarven or gnomish goods.
When the initial wave of Suel migrants escaping the Rain of Colorless Fire that destroyed the ancient Suel Imperium in the fifth century BCY passed through this part of the world, the horsemen ignored the hill country and pressed on. Later the Oerid tribes did the same, so that the demi-humans were largely left in peace by the human migrants. Not so by the humanoids who were also displaced by the wars, however, and for several centuries the Good Hills were troubled by orcs, goblins, and gnolls. During this time many small confederations and mutual defense leagues were formed among the local dwarf, gnome, and halfling communities.
By early in the first century CY, the Suel houses of Rhola and Neheli were setting up petty states in the Sheldomar Valley in what would eventually become Keoland, but that was far away from the Good Hills. Closer to home, a huge host of Oerid tribesmen had banded together to conquer the native Flan of Davish River Valley and formed a nation that would become Sterich, possibly even before the first century CY.
During the second and third centuries CY, the nation of Keoland expanded, absorbing the demi-human communities around it and incorporating them into its Kingdom. There is no single date for the annexation of the Good Hills, as that was a piecemeal process, with each of the local dwarf, gnome, and halfling communities pledging fealty to the Keoish King at a different time and under different conditions, but all eventually coming firmly under Keoish control by the end of the third century CY. At the same time, Sterish and Keoish nobles intermarried, so that eventually much of the land in each of the nations was technically beholden to a lord in the other nation. By the end of the third century CY, the Earl of Sterich had formally pledged fealty to the King of Keoland and the two nations became one.
After a century and a half of growth and prosperity, most scholars take the mid-fifth century CY as the peak of the Kingdom of Keoland and the start of its imperialist phase. Shortly thereafter, Keoland began a series of conquests, taking control of the Yeomanry by force, as well as other lands in the north or south. After fifty years of this, Imperial Keoland was beset by open rebellion in the conquered lands, increasing disaffections among demi-human communities, internal political struggles, and a massive humanoid invasion from the Lortmil Mountains. As a result, by early in the sixth century the Yeomanry had forcefully regained its independence, and the Earl of Sterich had negotiated a peaceable secession from Keoland. The Good Hills remained nominally part of Keoland, but many of the demi-human communities did not really re-integrate until a half-century later when it became clear that Keoland had given up its imperial ambitions.
[ 14 pounds fish caught,
36 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used]
21 December, 570 - Up the Javan River from Kilm
Once past the swift-flowing tributary from Flen, the Javan has turned to the west again. Roberts’ morning check of the pennants shows that the wind is coming from the due south. Despite the balminess of the breeze, he sighs.
Several times during the day, when the wind shifts to the east briefly, he orders sails raised and they start out - but each time, the Banner founders and ends up losing ground to the strong current. By afternoon he has given up and found a place to anchor.
Thokk (bare-chested as the day climbs into the 60’s) and Larry have no luck fishing, but their reserve from the previous days is so great that this is not a concern.
At night, the crew of the Banner uncharacteristically gather on deck to witness the rise of the small moon, with many of them murmuring chants or prayers as they do. Tyrius soon realizes that tonight is “Handmaid’s Glory”, the only night in the year when the small moon Celene is full, but the large moon Luna is new. For Tyrius, that means today is the fourth of Needfest, and that there are only three days left in the calendar year. That doesn’t quite square with the date as Willa has been reckoning it, but there is always a bit of discrepancy between the nautical calendar used by the people of Salinmore and the agricultural calendar used by the inland nations. In any event, the sailors are likely thinking of their families, who will be celebrating Needfest back home in the Yeomanry. In Sterich, Needfest is a festive occasion and even Tyrius gets a bit sentimental, thinking how he is closer in distance to his family now than he has been in years, but still with no intention of continuing to their estate to see them.
[ no pounds fish caught,
28 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used]
22 December, 570 [Needfest 5] - Up the Javan River from Kilm
“If it be any consolation,” says Roberts, shaking his head ruefully at the lack of wind that has them anchored and becalmed, “You’re as unlike to find a ship in Godakin Keep during Needfest as we are to sell our cargo. So long as we get there before the end of the festweek, I’ll be satisfied.”
[ 14 pounds fish caught,
34 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used]
23 December, 570 [Needfest 6] - Up the Javan River from Kilm
The day dawns even warmer than the day before, with a long bank of clouds blanketing the peaks of the Jotens to their south. The wind is still light, but has shifted enough to the east that when sails are raised the Banner can make slow headway west against the current of the Javan.
As they sail, the party can see both banks of the Javan clearly. The Sterish side is becoming more densely populated, while the Keoish side less so, until they are about equally developed. Roberts explains that the main trade route went up the swift mountain river to Flen, and just a mule track remains for land traffic to Godakin Keep. They even pass a section of the river that curves around a rocky promontory on the Keoish side where no settlements are to be seen for miles.
All morning long the clouds from the Jotens approach and by the early afternoon a drizzle falls briefly. Fortunately it is so warm that the rain does not inconvenience the sailors working the lines. Aurora wonders aloud whether the cloud cover will hide giants coming down from the Jotens, but Roberts shakes his head.
“Mayhap a lonely fog giant, but the frost giants would never raid in such balmy weather.”
When Aurora asks why it is so warm now, after the recent cold spell, Roberts says that the warm, wet weather is likely the far remnants of a hurricane savaging the Azure Sea coast. Willa mouths a silent prayer to the Sea Cow and hopes that the hurricane is as distant from Saltmarsh as it is from them.
Larry’s fishing line snags on the bottom and breaks - the party is now down to one working pole only. [Survival Check Critical Fail]
At day’s end, Roberts announces that they have come more than half the distance remaining to Godakin Keep, and that even a poor wind like that of today will allow them to reach the city on the morrow. He asks the party to decide whether they will be staying with the Banner all the way into port, or if they instead would like to be dropped off on the Sterish side before the Banner puts in at Godakin Keep. He would like their answer in the morning, if the gods grant them wind.
[ 8 pounds fish caught,
34 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used]
24 December, 570 [Needfest 7] - Up the Javan River from Kilm
Roberts looks at the pennants in the morning, flapping halfheartedly on the mast. “It’s a rum wind, but it be what we got,” he says stoically.
“Be it eno’ t’ carry us t’ port terday?” asks Willa.
“If not, I’ll be asking your dwarf for his light the last few miles,” replies Roberts. “There won’t be any better day to sell our cargo than the first o’ Fireseek, so I’m wanting to make port tonight as much as your lot.”
Willa nods. “In t’at case, we’ll be landin’ on ther Sterish side o’ ther river, if ye please.”
Roberts nods, then calls loudly to his mate, “If we make port by day’s end, we’ll be checking the price o’ coffee on both sides o’ the river.”
“Aye, Cap’in.”
Willa, Tyrius, and Aurora retire to the mate’s cabin, and Aurora unrolls the sketch map she made showing the approximate location of the starfall, deep within the nation of Geoff, to the north and west of Sterich. Tyrius shows them where Godakin Keep would be on the map, just below the confluence of the Javan and Davish Rivers.
“So Tyrius,” asks Aurora, “what’s the best way to the Starfall?”
“That’s a big area,” he says hesitantly, “the best way there depends on where the starfall actually is.”
“It’ll be smaller soon,” promises Willa. “Once we get a bit furder north, I can take some mar sextant readin’s an’ revise ther scale o’ t’at map. Fer now, jus’ give us options.”
Tyrius sucks in his cheeks. “Really, there are only two viable options. We keep going up the Javan, at least to Hochoch, and then turn west by foot.”
“More river!” protests Aurora.
Willa waves at her to calm down. “If we keep goin’ upriver, we be gettin’ an oared boat,” she says. “None o’ us be wantin’ more days becalmed. What’s ther second option?”
“There’s a caravan route from Istivin to Gorna, up and over the Stark Mounds. There won’t be much traffic on it this time of year, but it is well marked.”
“Alright,” says Willa. “What’s ther down sides o' each?”
Tyrius pauses and reflects. “If we can find an oared ship for the Javan, it will be faster - but I don’t know if we can find an oared ship. Or how long it would take to find one, especially this time of year, especially in the smaller Sterish ports. If we do get an oared ship, we might not be able to keep our mules. And most of the way north the whole east bank will be Keoland, so we would still have to worry about crown patrols all the way to the Rushmoors. Then, from the Rushmoors through the Oyt Wood is wilderness. There could be bandits or humanoids and such.”
Willa nods. “An’ ther land route?”
“Slow. The Stark Mounds are pretty steep, the caravan trail notwithstanding. It could snow or rain; we could get stuck in a mountain pass with snow or mud. The Mounds are wilderness themselves, and could have the same bandits and humanoids as the forest, or even just wild beasts to eat the mules.”
Willa listens carefully. “Summit t’ think aboot. Fer now, let’s overnight in town, an’ ask aboot ships in ther marnin’.”
The Banner moves slowly upriver throughout the day, with the Sterish bank settlements growing larger and more frequent, while the Keoish bank settlements remain about the same. Thokk and Larry take turns operating the one remaining fishing pole. The night before was the coldest they had felt in a week, but the day is still in the balmy sixties.
In the afternoon the river turns almost due north, and the Banner struggles to make it upriver. While the settlements and villages continue on both sides, as the sun reaches the horizon in the west, there is still nothing that could be considered truly a town on either side of the river. Roberts asks Larry to light their way with a sunlight spell when the gathering dusk makes the river travel dangerous. After an hour of this, the moons are up and bright enough to navigate by - Celene, still nearly full, and Luna, a growing crescent.
After half an hour of sailing by moonlight, the twin towns come into view around a bend, both lit up spectacularly in the night. It is the last night of Needfest, the last night of the old year for these farming people, and everywhere there are lanterns, bonfires, and candles in the windows of the meanest huts. Those with the means have been carousing for a week, drinking, dancing, and sporting, but for those so poor that they can only celebrate for one night of the festweek, this is the night. As the Banner approaches the Sterish port of Crosswater, the sounds of mirth and music spill out across the water, and no customs agents or longshoremen meet them at the docks.
Roberts gathers his crew on deck. He tells them that he knows they want to join in the festivities, but he is confining them to the ship for the moment. The wholesale markets will have been closed for the entire week of Needfest, and there will be no better day to sell their cargo than the morrow, and he wants to make sure they get the best price for it. He will go ashore here just long enough to find merchants and inquire about price, though that may take a while as he will need to navigate the revelry. If he is satisfied with the price in Crosswater he will return to the ship and dismiss the sailors to join the festivities, but if he is not satisfied, as soon as he returns they will use the moonlight to cross the river to the larger market of Godakin Keep so that they can find a buyer the first thing in the morning. He warns them in no uncertain terms that if any of them have gone ashore when he returns, he will not wait for them, but will leave them behind when the ship crosses the river tonight. After receiving a hearty “Aye, Cap’in” from all assembled, he goes down the gangplank and disappears into the crowd.
Several minutes later, the party begins moving the mules and Eddard onto the deck. The sailors repeat Roberts’ words to them, and are ignored. The mate pulls Willa into his erstwhile cabin and has a heated exchange with her, with the cabin door open and their argument carrying out onto the deck. When he sees a sack of coins on his bed, tied about the top with twine in a sailor’s knot, he winks at her and raises his volume still more. Tyrius and Eddard are off the Banner first, so that they don’t have to participate in the pantomime, and Thokk leads one of the mules off next so that he doesn’t get confused and start a brawl for real. By the time Willa leads the last mule off, she and the mate are shouting obscenities at one another and she has to shove him out of the way to use the gangplank.
The party presses their way through the drunken crowds of the town, trying to find an inn. Their search is hampered by a cultural oddity - part of the celebration tonight appears to be speaking in a reverse sense, such that everyone they ask assures them that they know of an inn with space for them, and then either leads them in circles or takes them to a lodging house that is obviously full. Passing women swoon over Larry and proclaim him the most handsome man they have ever seen; Tyrius is scolded as a scoundrel and wastrel and threatened with being charged with public indecency by every uniformed guardsmen they pass, most of whom are only half as drunk as the average townsfolk.
In the end they try to find an inn for themselves, but each and every one is full enough that it cannot accommodate a group of their size, and they are unwilling to split up in this unfamiliar town. As the night wears on, people start to congregate in vantage points from which they can see across the river. Then of a sudden, a fiery bolt rockets skyward from a tall building in Godakin Keep (that they will later learn is the observatory tower of the Temple of Celestian, god of the stars and heavens). Then all the crowds about them take up a song unfamiliar to any of them but Tyrius, who sings along heartily. At the end of the song, and with everyone wishing one another a prosperous new year, many in the crowds begin to disperse, and taverns and inns to hustle out any who have not paid for a nights lodging and then bar their doors, while the more resolute revelers try to ferret out private parties to join. In any event, the streets thin out while the party remains without lodging.
Tyrius leads them to a market square where they set up a campsite, taking over an abandoned bonfire that has burned low, and then building it up by scavenging wood from other fires. The night is still in the fifties, and pleasant enough weather to camp outside. Willa goes over the watch schedule and then most of them drift off to sleep.
[ 10 pounds fish caught,
36 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
2 rations of mule feed used
100 gold coins of party funds removed from Larry and left on board the Banner] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
25 December, 570 [Fireseek 1] - Crosswater
The party is woken before dawn by a group of surly, hung-over town guardsmen led by a bright-eyed young serjeant. They are threatened with being charged with vagrancy if they do not clear out of the market square. Tyrius speaks to the serjeant calmly and politely while the others break camp. Already vendors are setting up booths and tent stalls in the market by lantern-light, many of them looking the worse for wear from the previous night’s celebration.
Once the party is up and packing, the guardsmen move off and begin checking the merchants, asking to see permits and papers. The party briefly discusses their plan for the day. Willa, with Thokk, Shefak (leading Randy), and Umbra, will work the docks, trying to find any oared ship going upstream that might take them on as passengers. Tyrius, with Aurora, Larry (leading Andy), Babshapka, and Eddard will work the market stalls buying supplies. The division of the party is such that Tyrius believes those buying supplies are most likely to be given fair deals - the more exotic party members are to be sent with Willa and told to let her do the talking.
By the time Willa’s group reaches the docks, the day fishermen have all cast off and there are few ships left in port. There are no patrol vessels in sight - apparently the Sterish rely on the Keoish fleet to monitor the river traffic and deal with any threats to this section of the Javan. There are a few merchant vessels moored, but no one that Willa speaks with has any plans of leaving Crosswater and traveling upriver anytime soon. The sailors, mates, and captains she speaks with all agree that oared vessels going upriver pass through several times a week at this time of year - finding one would just be a matter of leaving someone to watch the docks and being patient. Of course, not all of these vessels will have deck space for the party, let alone their mounts. Ships bearing bulky but light goods like cloth or coffee are typically packed to the rails, with just enough room on deck for the oarsmen. They have no galley, and typically pull up on shore for the crew to make meals and sleep. Other ships, bearing raw ores, stone loads from gravel to marble, or heavy loads of iron goods, are “full” with much less deck space taken up, and so they would be the kind that might allow passengers or even animals aboard.
Although Tyrius spends all morning in the market, he doesn’t buy much of anything as he is not yet sure whether they will be going by land or water. He does, however, take note of prices as well as have work done on his armor and Eddard’s saddle, both of which he has cleaned and oiled. At the request of Larry and Thokk, he purchases a 10’ pole and fourteen hardened iron pitons.
The party meets for lunch in a pre-designated tavern and inn, the largest in Crosswater (which is not saying that much, being equivalent to a small inn in Longspear). Over the meal, Willa explains that by all calculations, taking the river will be faster - even if it means they will need to wait a week or more before finding an appropriate vessel.
Aurora immediately counters that the longer they sit and wait, especially in a small town like this, the more people will know they are here. She reminds Willa how they were likely spotted in Singleton, probably leading to the bandit attack on the way to Longspear. And while she admits that Roberts was a good man, she is inclined to trust the open road more than a strange river captain.
Once the debate is explained to him, Thokk says they should travel by land as well. The boat ride was fun at first, and he knows he impressed them all with his masterful fishing, but they went a full moon without a battle! He is hopeful they will meet more bandits, or perhaps some monsters in these Stark Mounds if they go by land.
Shefak abstains from voting - she is willing to follow the party, and accept her fate.
Tyrius says that he would prefer to go by land as well - mostly to avoid the possibility of encountering a Keoish patrol and having to turn Aurora in, or fight her if she resists. Though if he is being honest, he says, the land route will allow him to see more of his homeland, which he does miss.
Babshapka votes for river travel. His job is to keep Aurora alive, and he would prefer to do that on the dull river rather than crossing a land (Sterich) whose people he does not know or trust. There may be Keoish patrols on the river, but there will be Sterish patrols on the land, and he is not accepting Tyrius' reassurances.
Larry says that if they could leave on the morrow, he would vote for the river, but he is not sitting around in this squalid den of pollution and animal enslavement (that is, a town) for a week. He will take the road if it means they can leave sooner.
With the vote already 4 to 2 for the land journey, Umbra does not need to give her opinion, which is just as well, her being even more taciturn than Babshapka.
Willa shrugs and accepts their decision, then speaks with the owner of the inn. With his Needfest revelers already gone or even now packing, he has enough rooms for all of them and is happy to have them stay the night. Once they are moved in, Willa has Tyrius tell her the names of some suggested vendors, and makes a trip to the market, returning with grain for the mules and several flasks of lantern oil. She reminds Thokk to confine his drinking to this tavern, so that they will know where to find him when they set out in the morning.
As Willa moves gear around and assigns some of her things to the pack that will be carried by Andy on the morrow, she comes across her potion collection (currently at three vials), which includes one from the Earth level of the Ghost Tower. Aurora had identified it as magical - but they still don’t know what it does. She considers getting it tested here in town, or having Aurora use an identify spell on it, but Aurora tells her for a potion, it is easier to just take a sip. Larry agrees to, first casting both bear’s endurance and resistance on himself.
Carefully he unstoppers the flask and smells it. “Hmm, sweet…” he murmurs, then pours a few drops into his grubby palm, carefully observing how it changes the color of the dirt therein, and then licks up the contents. “Tha’s good,” he says, grinning appreciatively.
“Well, what is it?” asks Willa.
Larry shrugs. (Arcana roll 12) “Et taestes lek drried berries - yoo ken, the kind yoo add too watrr too mek jooce. It’s nay poison, noo way, tha’. Perrhaps quite the opset, en fact.”
“Do you think it is a potion of healing, or neutralize poison?” asks Aurora.
Now sure that the potion is not dangerous, Aurora asks Larry to cast Fox’s Cunning on her, and then, right before she takes a sip, give her Guidance. (Arcana with advantage and boost, 21). “Ah!” she says immediately. “That’s a potion of sweet water.”
Aurora explains that she has read about such potions in her basic alchemy studies, although she has never actually experienced one before. They are highly potent and concentrated neutralizers, turning just about any liquid they touch to normal water, and acting on a far larger volume than their own. A few drops could spoil a magic potion or turn a vial of poison safe - the whole flask could neutralize a pool of acid or convert several barrels of saltwater to fresh.
Well after dark, the party is woken by thunder which rattles the walls and a driving rain on the roof. Most of them, though perhaps not Thokk and Larry, are grateful they are in beds in the inn, and not still camped in the market square, or an afternoon’s travel down the road. Willa resolves to wake early and check the docks - if she can find a ship there in the morning, perhaps she can sway Larry’s vote rather than have to slog for a day through mud. The storm lasts until shortly before dawn.
[ no pounds fish caught,
28 pounds food remaining without using human rations;
mule fodder included in price of Inn] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
None of the settlements of Fitela, Johann's End, the Drudd Estate, Groenick, or Hilden's Grange are on Darlene's map (although Istivin obviously is). I originally got them all from the work of Anna B Meyer. I used her http://ghmaps.net for the party's travel. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
Fitela is mentioned but not described in Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff and in the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer. It is placed on the map but not described in an online supplement to Dungeon 117 available at https://paizo.com/dungeonissues/117/DA117_OnlineSupplement.pdf. The brief description of Fitela that appears in the text is my own.
Johann's End is placed on the map but not described in the online supplement to Dungeon 117 cited above. According to "Shadows of the Abyss" in Dungeon 118, it acquired its name after the slaying of the Frost Giant "Big Johann" from the supermodule Queen of the Spiders there. Thus calling it Johann's End in my campaign (set more than twenty years beforehand) is anachronistic, but I could not find a reference for the name of the town prior to its 'current name'. The module just calls it "a small town" and its placement is actually the result of a wandering encounter roll. One inn and the villagers themselves are described therein, but the town is not. The brief description of Johann's End that appears in the text is my own.
The Drudd Estate also comes from a reference in "Shadows of the Abyss" in Dungeon 118.
Groenick is the setting of the Living Greyhawk Module SHE3-04 "Sterich Burning" and is described therein, although I had not read it when my players passed through. The brief description of Groenick that appears in the text is my own. Note that the town is not on the map in the online supplement to Dungeon 117.
Hilden's Grange is on the map in the online supplement to Dungeon 117, but I am not aware of any other source for it in canon or fanon. The brief description of Groenick that appears in the text is my own.
Post 137: Crosswater to Elnore
26 December, 570 [Fireseek 2] - Crosswater, Sterich
(thunderstorm, 12am to 5am)
(heavy rain 6am to 12am)
The thunderstorm lets up just before dawn, but the skies do not clear. Instead, an hour later, a heavy rain starts. Listening to the downpour through her shuttered window, Willa decides not to make a trip down to the docks. Rather, she spends her time checking the mule bags and packs, trying to make them as watertight as possible, with more robust items like the rope and grappling hooks in the upper and outer packs, and the vulnerable grain and books in the lower and inner packs.
Fortunately for the party it is a warm day, already in the 50’s at dawn, or the downpour would be not just depressing but dangerous. Crosswater is small, and after departing the inn they find themselves in short order at the southwest edge of town, the highest and furthest point away from the river. Willa looks appraisingly at the trail out of town. She had feared it would be like the mule tracks they had seen on either side of the Javan for the last several days, which would quickly turn to slippery mud in this rain. However, this is an honest and actual cart road. Not flagged or graveled, but at least of hard-packed earth, wide, and with some rough-cut drainage ditches to either side. The party sets out up the trail, which climbs rapidly away from the river into the hills above the town. After two miles the trail splits, with a simple mule track paralleling the Javan downriver to the east, while the main cart road goes west and upriver. They take the west branch.
The rain continues all throughout the day, and the party elects to eat from their preserved rations rather than trying to start a fire to cook the fish they have remaining. In the afternoon, Tyrius points out how, several miles away in the river valley below them, the Javan has turned north, and the river they are following now is the Davish, at its lowest point before it joins the Javan. The Davish, he says, drains the heart of Sterich, and there is Sterish soil on both sides of the flow. Every step they take now is one step further from Keoland. “Thank goodness for small blessings,” says a sodden Aurora glumly - “the further from Keoland, the better.”
The night before, Willa had made all of them check and oil the seams in their sleeping rolls. With the warm temperatures, they don’t bother to look for wet firewood in the dark. This close to the trail, in the winter, it is probably slim pickings anyway. They set a watch and settle in for a long, wet night. Several miles away, on the trail to the west of them, firelight can be seen through the rain. The bonfires appear large, and they expect they will meet the host on the morrow.
[ Used 2 pounds of fish (breakfast), 6 pounds of rations
26 pounds food remaining;
1 pound of mule rations used to supplement forage]
27 December, 570 [Fireseek 3] - Sterich; trail from Crosswater to Fitela
(heavy rain 12am to 6am)
(patrolled hills encounter: men, merchant)
(patrolled hills encounter, patrol, knight)
The rain continues all night and all the way until dawn. Finally the skies begin to clear as the sun comes out, and Tyrius, in fine spirits, sings a hymn of praise to Pelor. The sooner to get moving, the party eats a cold trail breakfast, packs their wet things, and sets out. Although wet and chilly in the forties, as the sun rises the day moves in to the fifties, and they are soon comfortable and reasonably dry.
They have not been traveling long when they come upon a small merchant caravan, the source of the firelight the night before, headed for Crosswater. There are five ox-drawn wagons; four with goods for market and the last with food, tents, and a small amount of firewood. There are two fat merchants on saddled donkeys and a dozen mercenaries with crossbow and shortsword, as well as a few porters and drovers. Tyrius converses briefly with them, but it seems neither group wishes to tarry.
They are further along the trail and it is nearing noon when in front of them appears a mounted man and a squad of soldiers. Unlike the mercenaries of the merchant caravan, it is obvious that these men bear matching tabards. Tyrius mounts Eddard and rides forth to meet them. He and the mounted man enter conversation, and remain so until long after the party has arrived behind him. The man is a knight, beholden to the Baron of Fitella, and leading a road patrol. His conversation with Tyrius is both formal and cordial at the same time. His men-at-arms, weighed down with field packs, and boots caked with mud, do not seem to mind the pause. While Tyrius and the knight exchange noble pleasantries, Willa engages the soldiers in conversation herself, learning that they have just come from Fitella, and that the road that way is clear of any bandit or monstrous menace. As the sun climbs higher in the sky and the men make no move to end their conversation, Willa gives the signal to make camp. The mules are unpacked, and then turned loose to forage while the party takes a cold lunch.
By the time the knight leads his men on, the party is done eating. Willa confirms with Tyrius that the knight said the way forward was clear, and then she sends Thokk and Shefak to the fore. She tells them to go about as far ahead as they have already traveled today, choose a campsite, and then collect as much wood as they can before the party arrives. At the speed they can travel compared to the party, they should have more than an hour to forage for fuel in advance of the party.
After three days of rain, even this well-packed road is soft and muddy and their boots are caked and heavy. By day’s end the party as a whole has traveled just twelve and a half miles. Shefak and Thokk have chosen a good campsite, but have collected only brush, with little wood thicker than twigs. Even as far as a mile from the trail the stoutest vegetation is just scrub brush, with no trees in sight except for stumps scavenged long-ago. They have enough fuel for a hot meal at day’s end, but not enough to bring with them or to cook and repackage the remainder of the fish.
Tyrius remarks that they should be in Fitela on the morrow, and if the river is low enough they can use the ferry there to cross to the northern side of the Davish. If there is anything the party would like at the market, such as rations or coal or firewood or a climbing harness, they can try the market as well.
[ Used 2 pounds of fish (dinner), 6 preserved rations (breakfast and lunch)
24 pounds fish remaining;
10 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used to supplement forage,
12 mule rations remaining]
28 December, 570 [Fireseek 4] - Sterich; trail from Crosswater to Fitela
The morning dawns clear. There are clouds over the Jotens, but they keep their distance all day, and the party is able to make quick progress. Tyrius assures Willa that they are very close to Fitela, so she again sends Shefak and Thokk up ahead to scout a campsite and look for firewood. In fair weather the pair can travel at nearly double the speed of Larry.
They haven’t encountered any other travelers by mid-day. Thokk has found a huge dead tree at the bottom of a gully and worked with his axe to bring up enough wood for lunch and more besides. They consider cooking enough fish for lunch and dinner, but Tyrius says they will more than likely be staying the night at an inn, so they save time by cooking only what they need for the lunch meal.
They arrive in the walled town of Fitela in the late afternoon, having met numerous travelers on the road in the last few miles - farmers, traders, shepherds. Despite the warm weather, Aurora and Babshapka travel with their winter hoods up to cover their distinctive elven ears. Willa goes to the town's waterfront and negotiates ferry passage while the others pass quickly through the market. They purchase human rations for four days upon the advice of Tyrius and a hundredweight sack of charcoal from a collier. They look for a climbing harness among the leatherworkers and find several men willing to craft one over the course of a few days, but none with one on hand.
Dusk is gathering by the time they meet Willa at the river, and the ferryman says theirs will be his last crossing of the day. He gives them directions to a modest inn run by his brother-in-law; they will spend the night in Fitela’s sister-city of Johann’s End across the river and set out in the morning. It is after dark by the time they have walked the three miles from the river’s edge to the town, but the town is not walled and there is no gate to be closed at dusk.
Over a simple but filling dinner (stew with winter roots and their own fish, fresh bread and butter) with plenty of ale, Tyrius explains that they have about a week’s travel ahead to the town of Hilden’s Grange, but that they will need to decide on one of two routes. The low road goes along the river - it is better, but more frequently traveled. The high road passes up into the foothills of the Stark Mounds. It will be slower but is less traveled, if that is still a consideration for Aurora.
[ Used 6 pounds of fish (lunch and dinner), 2 preserved rations (breakfast)
18 pounds fish remaining;
32 human rations purchased for 16 gp of party funds
40 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used to supplement forage,
11 mule rations remaining
100 pounds charcoal purchased for 5 gp of party funds]
29 December, 570 [Fireseek 5] - Johann’s End, Sterich
The day dawns fair in the valley, though the Jotens are blanketed in clouds, and wispy tendrils reach north from them toward the Javan.
Now with charcoal to burn but unsure of the road ahead, Willa keeps Thokk and Shefak close to the main party. The road has been two days dry after the three days of rain and they make better progress than before. The party travels at the speed of Larry, with most of them at a comfortable pace and the dwarf exerting himself. The fresh light breeze from the mountains that greets them at the start of the day intensifies as the morning wears on, and the clouds move down the mountain sides into the valley. By mid-morning there are gusts of over 20mph, and as it approaches noon it is blowing steadily over 30mph and driving a light but stinging rain before it.
Eager to try their new supply of charcoal, Thokk stops them when he sees a low stone wall around a sheep fold (Survival check 13). He digs a small hole on the leeward side of the wall and packs it with coals - Aurora starts it with a firebolt and the wall blocks enough of the wind and rain to keep the fire lit while cooking lunch.
By dinner time they have marched a fair ways along the road flanking the river and are between settlements. There is nothing much to use as shelter, and Thokk and Aurora have to work all through dinner to keep the fire lit (Survival check 9). Fortunately both the wind and rain slowly die down after dark as the temperature drops and they are able to pass the night in relative peace and comfort.
[ Used 8 pounds of fish
10 pounds fish remaining;
40 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used to supplement forage,
10 mule rations remaining
94 pounds charcoal remaining]
30 December, 570 [Fireseek 6] - Sterich; trail from Johann’s End to Groenick
By morning the wind has dropped to that of a normal day and the clouds have retreated to the Jotens. The party makes rapid progress along the road, noting that although it remains hard-packed earth, it is becoming better and better maintained as they travel. Tyrius remarks that they are approaching the Drudd Estate, the palatial manse of a well-to-do merchant who has not yet found a way to marry into the nobility. From the main road they can see a palace and manicured lawns on a hilltop; at a crossroads there is a small tower keep where Tyrius speaks to guards who gesture overly much at Thokk before finally letting them pass.
The party lunches on a hillside overlooking a river below. The river is swift and straight, but much smaller than the Javan or even the Davish. Tyrius says that it is the Svartjet, and that they will be following its course up and into the Stark Mounds. In the distance they can see a few towers of the great city that is Istivin, the capital of Sterich.
Soon after lunch they reach the banks of the Svartjet. The main road crosses the river at a bridge and continues on to the capital, but Tyrius has them turn aside up a dirt track that parallels the river. Willa asks Tyrius if they won’t be traveling to the capital city, and wouldn’t it be the best place for them to look for one or two climbing harnesses. Tyrius responds that they are just as likely to find a harness in any of the towns near the Stark Mounds, and that going to the capital will be both expensive and present certain complications for some of their party members. He gestures at Thokk and Willa lets it be.
They travel north along the river for a few miles and then cross at a bridge in the town of Groenick. Here Tyrius has to do even more talking, both to soldiers at the bridge and to a band of town watchmen, who end up escorting the party to the other side of town. It is already late afternoon and stopping for the night in an inn seems natural, but it does not look like that will be an option in this town due to the attitude of the watchmen. They camp a few miles up the road from Groenick.
While they eat, Willa asks Tyrius why the people of Sterich are having so much trouble with Thokk. Bad blood, long and complicated history? Tyrius sucks on a fish bone while he considers his answer. “For all their talk of swamp orcs and ‘flickers’, I get the sense that the people of Salinmoor don’t battle humanoids that often.”
Willa says quickly, “I fought marsh goblins once, afore ye came ter town,” and then realizes that her “once” is the exception that proves the rule. She nods. “Ther folk o’ Salinmoor be mare likely t’ die from fever o’ inna storm, ‘tis true. Even fightin’ pirates be mare likely in Saltmarsh then orcs are goblins.”
Tyrius lifts his hand, gesturing at the peaks around them - the Stark Mounds to the north, the Jotens to the south. “Sterich is a small valley, surrounded by mountains. The giant raids are fearsome, but the humanoid raids are far more common. There isn’t a nobleman or soldier in the country that hasn’t lost friend or kin to an orc raid, and most of the small folk have seen their crops burned or animals taken at least once in their lives.” He pauses. “You know, had I first met Thokk before my priestly training, I would have cut him down without a second thought? Even after, I nearly did so - but for some reason in the moment I remembered a lesson about St. Jalnir the Gentle, a priest of Pelor who was himself a half-orc.” Seeing the look of surprise in Willa’s eyes, he says, “I can assure you, Jalnir was not a Sterishman!” Tyrius remembers something and chuckles. “The first time Thokk told me that his mother was a human woman, I didn’t believe him! In Sterich, I don’t think we even have the concept of “half-orc” - at least, I’ve never heard it outside my church lessons. No, to my countryman, any orc blood makes one an orc, and Thokk is just a huge, well-armed example of one. It has taken all of my persuasive ability so far to keep him free and able to travel with us.”
After dinner, Willa gathers what fish remains, cooked and uncooked, digs a small hole, and buries it. When asked about it, she explains that today is the last day of the year (by her Salter calendar, anyway), and that “Any fool knows ye cain’t eat fish in ther new year what were caught in ther old, not unless ye want poor fishin’ fer ther rest o’ ther year.” The fish themselves were pulled from the Javan six days ago, and the only one who objects to their disposal is Thokk, but mostly on the principle that he caught them, not her. The party will be on trail rations from now on, but they purchased a good store in Fitela.
[ Used 8 pounds of fish; 2 pounds thrown away
no fish remaining;
40 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used to supplement forage,
9 mule rations remaining
88 pounds charcoal remaining]
1 January, 571 [Fireseek 7] - Sterich; trail from Groenick to Hilden’s Grange
The party spends the day working their way up the trail along the Svartjet. The river valley is narrow and they can easily see the rugged hills on both sides. Most of the land they pass is rocky pasture and small communities of herdsfolk, but here and there are intact copses and forest stands.
Tyrius only pauses in leading them just once, when the trail splits and one branch goes up into the hills, the other continues along the river. After a brief conversation with Eddard, he takes the branch that continues along the river. Asked if he doesn’t know the way, Tyrius replies that he has never been in the north of Sterich before, and is relying on his memory of maps to choose their route.
At day’s end they camp on a bluff overlooking the river. Increasingly visible in the gathering dusk are the lights of what Tyrius takes to be Hilden’s Grange, although he admits it could be another town. To the north, the Stark Mounds rise up, as impressive as any mountains against the sky.
Willa considers Tyrius’ remark that he has never been in northern Sterich and realizes that means none of them have ever been this far north before. It is a calm, clear night. By lantern light, Willa examines Aurora’s sketch map of the area of the starfall. She takes sextant readings of the stars as they appear and goes over her notes on how far they have come and the latitudes through which they have traveled. Working together, Willa and Aurora create a new map, one with a scale they are more confident of, which dramatically decreases the possible area of the starfall. Previously, half of the Hornwood Forest and most of the nation of Geoff were within the possible search area. Now, although a chance remains that the fall itself might be in the very northern tip of the Hornwood or the northern uplands of Geoff, roughly three-quarters of its estimated range lie within the Barrier Peaks Mountains. Those climbing harnesses are starting to sound like a better and better idea.
[ Used 8 rations
32 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used to supplement forage,
8 mule rations remaining
88 pounds charcoal remaining]
2 January, 571 [Fireseek 8] - Sterich; trail from Groenick to Hilden’s Grange
Less than an hour after breaking camp the party arrives in town - as Tyrius thought, Hilden’s Grange. The town is at the intersection of two trade routes. The party arrives from the south, on the route from the capital, Istivin. This road continues north along the Svartjet into the Stark Mounds. A separate east - west route passes along the northern border of Sterich along the base of the Mounds. The town itself is mostly on the east side of the river, but a large stone bridge crosses it in the center of town.
Thokk soon acquires an escort of guardsmen, and he, Tyrius, and the mules move quickly through the town and out the north side, there to await the rest of the party at the outskirts. The remainder of the party take their time in the market stalls and among the leather workers with permanent shops. Willa buys a week’s worth of grain for each mule. They do manage to find climbing harnesses for sale - but none large enough for Thokk or wide enough for Larry. When they explain their needs, the leatherworkers shake their heads ruefully, but when the party makes to leave, they quickly recommend kinsmen in Elnore, the next town to the north.
The route north out of the town ascends a steep climb up a rocky slope, while the river is increasingly distant to their east, eventually disappearing from their view. It is not until ten miles later, as they descend the other side of the ridge, that they move again into the river valley. At night they can faintly see the lights of Elnore before them, watchfires along the walls.
[ Used 8 rations
24 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used to supplement forage
14 mule rations purchased for 7sp of party treasure
21 mule rations remaining
88 pounds charcoal remaining] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
Elnore is neither on Darlene's map nor the map of Sterich in the online supplement to Dungeon 117. It is on Anna Meyer's maps but originally comes from the City of Greyhawk Adventure Card 15. There it is described no further than mentioning it as the town at the southern end of the caravan trail through the Stark Mounds. The description of Elnore that appears in the text is my own.
Post 138: One does not simply walk into Elnore
3 January, 571 [9 Fireseek] - Sterich; trail from Hilden's Grange to Elnore (1000 feet elevation)
In the morning, the party continues to move northwest up the Svartjet valley. As they go, the valley both rises and narrows, with the hills on either side of them growing higher, steeper, and closer, and the trail being forced closer and closer to the river's edge.
By noon the width of the valley is just a few hundred paces, and it is completely closed off at the upper end. Barring their passage further is the stone-walled town of Elnore. The town itself is small, but the walls extend the entire width of the valley anywhere flat enough to build on. The gaps that are too steep to wall are flanked by towers with obvious archers or even ballistae present. There is no way “around” the town that does not include coming under bow fire from multiple towers - travelers must pass through the town gates, or retreat twenty miles and try the next valley over, which is roadless.
Tyrius leads them confidently to the open town gate, but when the sentries catch site of Thokk, they draw their weapons. It takes all the persuading Tyrius can do to keep Thokk from being attacked on the spot or the party immediately detained. After a long conversation that starts with the serjeant on duty at the gate and ends with the summoned Captain of the Day Guard, Tyrius is able to secure the freedom of Thokk in return for an oath that he is Tyrius’ responsibility. However, nothing he can say manages to win Thokk’s passage through or around the town. The watchmen are adamant that now that Thokk has roamed the length and breadth of Sterich and knows its defenses, his obvious next move is to return to the Stark Mounds and recruit his tribemates to attack en masse (an idea with which Thokk heartily agrees, when it is explained to him).
Tyrius tries to reason with the Captain that allowing Thokk to leave Sterich poses less of a threat than forcing him to stay, but the Captain admits frankly that he is hopeful that having Thokk remain in Sterich will eventually precipitate his arrest, capture, or slaying by a defensive force better equipped than the town guard to battle the (obviously competent) party.
After further negotiation, it is agreed that Thokk, Tyrius, Shefak, Umbra, and the mules will remain outside the southern gates of the town. Willa, Aurora, Babshapka, and Larry will be permitted to enter the town for the afternoon to look for climbing harnesses (although they plan on secretly scouting for the means of smuggling Thokk through the town).
As the gateway to the Stark Mounds, the away party finds a number of shops offering both cold weather gear and mountaineering supplies. They even manage to find a climbing harness large enough for Thokk, and a second with girth enough to fit Larry. The two are purchased for a total of 50 gold lions from the party treasury. The merchants grumble a bit about taking Keoish coin rather than Sterish, but given the sums involved they do not refuse the deal.
In the early afternoon the party reunites outside the town to plan their next move. Tyrius tries to make very clear what his position is: there is no law that forbids half-orcs from passing through Elnore - he was able to get the Captain to admit that clearly - and that the Guard was forbidding Thokk’s passage as a function of their personal judgement and responsibility to keep the town safe, not as a requirement to enforce any law. Since Tyrius considers their judgement to be flawed, he is not above sneaking Thokk through the town surreptitiously - although he will not lie about it if questioned directly by the guard. Neither will he let Thokk out of his sight, as he swore an oath to be responsible for him. Thus, if they have a means to get Thokk past the guards, that means will likely have to extend to Tyrius as well. Tyrius is also open to simply going back and around the town (which will add a few days on to their trek), or to entering, locating the Earl’s Magistrate, and obtaining a writ authorizing Thokk to enter - essentially going over the head of the Captain of the Day Guard. While this could be accomplished in a single day with luck, realistically it will more likely take as much time as would going around the town.
Aurora considers their options. She explains that their best bet for sneaking Thokk through is invisibility, as she doesn’t have a magical means of disguising someone. Unfortunately, invisibility is a concentration spell - so she can maintain it on only one person at a time (or two, if she cast it at third level). If she cast the spell again on more people, those originally under its influence from before would then be rendered visible. At best, she could make Tyrius and Thokk invisible with a single spell, at which point the party would have just one hour to get them through the town. She could renew it on them at the end of the hour, but chances are they would become visible at the most inconvenient time and be seen while in town. They would almost certainly have to first withdraw from the town gates to make it look like Thokk left (rather than simply disappearing within sight of the guards), then later approach the gates and spin a convincing story for the visible members of the party to get through. That in itself could easily take an hour.
Thokk, bored with Aurora’s long-winded explanation, says that now that they have the harnesses, they should just kill the gatekeepers and advance through the city - he doubts anyone will try to stop them if they just prominently display the severed heads of the guardsmen as they go. The others in the party do not agree to his plan.
In the end, most of them agree that they need to fall back and go around. Thokk is consoled by the others that since they will be going off-trail, he will have a chance to hunt meat for them again, as they are all tired of fish and hardtack.
They set out and return along the same trail they used to arrive at Elnore, this time keeping careful track of the fords at which they cross the Svartjet as the trail winds back and forth across the river. When they have reached the last ford before the trail turns south and away from the river, they do not cross but instead go off trail east along the river a half mile before setting up camp for the night.
[ Used 8 rations
16 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used to supplement forage
20 mule rations remaining
88 pounds charcoal remaining] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
By far the best source for maps of Greyhawk comes from the work of Anna B Meyer. I used http://ghmaps.net for the party's travel. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
Post 139: Elnore to Oytpass Keep
4 January, 571 [10 Fireseek] - Stark Mounds, Svartjet Valley (1500 feet elevation)
As the morning’s cold trail breakfast is apportioned out, Babshapka sets his ioun stone to orbiting his head. There are two days of human food left in their bags - with him using magic, that is one less person that Thokk will have to feed before they reach Gorna.
Off trail, they are traveling in the hill country at the walking pace of Tyrius, Willa, Aurora, and Umbra, with Larry no longer being their slowest member. Thokk and Shefak have movement to spare, so Willa has them scouting ahead and watching their rear, but not hunting for the time being. She wants to keep them close, given the hostility of the guard in Elnore and the possibility that they will be tailed or even set upon and arrested.
All morning they work their way along the river in the lowlands, but with a steep mountain ridge above them and to their left. They will need to get to the other side of the ridge at some point, but they are hopeful that they can find a tributary of the Svartjet that Tyrius claims will lead them into the next valley over without having to ascend to the top of the ridge.
Around three in the afternoon they reach the confluence of the upper Svartjet (along which they are traveling) with the unnamed river Tyrius predicted. As he hoped, the new river flows in a gap between two ridges, so that the party following it would not have to ascend the ridge itself. However, Babshapka, Thokk, and Larry do not like what they see. The new river travels for several miles right along the base of the mountain, tight up against it in a narrow gorge. It is impossible to tell from where they are now, but it is likely that, at least on the north bank, there will be points at which it is impossible to follow the river because of the steep gorge walls (Survival checks 13, 13, 16).
After a fair bit of consultation, Thokk points out that the mountain range in front of them is actually composed of a low ridge, flat on top like a bench, and a high ridge above it, sharp and narrow. He believes that he can lead them up an easy slope to the low ridge, and then around the corner of the mountain, above the gorge but below the knife-edge of the high ridge. He points out his proposed path up the side of the mountain to Babshapka and Larry. They agree that his idea is as good as any.
True to his word, Thokk finds a gentle ascent to the low ridge’s bench top, which is as far as the party gets for the day. Their campsite has an excellent view of the upper Svartjet Valley below and to the west of them, and Willa finally rests easy, convinced that no one from Elnore is following them. Only the morning will tell whether Thokk can indeed lead them safely around the mountain as he claims.
[ Used 7 rations
9 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used to supplement forage
19 mule rations remaining
88 pounds charcoal remaining]
5 January, 571 [11 Fireseek] - Stark Mounds, wilderness east of Svartjet valley (1500 feet elevation)
[Wandering monster check - subtropical wilderness hills: men, tribesmen (hillmen)]
The first half hour after they break camp is spent slowly rounding the high ridge from the top of the bench. Here and there the party can spot the river below them. Indeed, it lies in a steep-walled gorge with more than one scree slide spilling into it - it would have been folly to try to follow the north bank of the river.
Before much later they are descending again, as the river has emerged from the gorge and Thokk judges that they will be able to follow it. The next three miles or so are relatively easy as they walk along the river through a grassy valley - then the mountains close in again and the river enters another gorge. Considering the size and steepness of the mountain slopes on either side, the party has no choice but to follow, single file, along the edge of the gorge itself, with Thokk, Larry, and Babshapka searching all the while for goat trails and natural ledges and avoiding the scree slopes when possible.
They are in a narrow defile with steep walls to either side and the swift-flowing river some forty feet below, when they find their way blocked by a scree slide. Loose rocks have tumbled down from above, forming a large pile that they cannot go around, but must go over - despite the treacherous footing. Larry decides to climb it first, searching for a way solid enough to support not only himself, but the mules and Eddard. When he steps on the wrong rock, half the scree slope starts moving. With a clatter of stones, the small avalanche of loose rock carries him over the edge and down into the gorge. [Survival check 8, critical fail, Dexterity save 6, fail, luck roll 0, forty foot fall into water, 2d6 = 4 points bludgeoning damage]
The party is unable to even throw him a rope in time, but Aurora has Buckbeak aloft in a second and soaring downriver after the dwarf. After being tossed about a bit in the swift current, Larry manages to grab onto a boulder in the flow. Casting spider climb on himself, he easily climbs up the side of the gorge and returns to the party. He is cold, soaked, and has a few bruises, but is otherwise fine, muttering that it will take a worse fall than that to stop a mountain druid. Willa peers over the side of the gorge, knowing full well that while Larry may be fine, the forty foot drop into water would have more likely than not broken the legs of one of their mules.
Babshapka tries the same scree pile, but finds it slipping and sliding under him with no safe way across (Survival roll 8 ). Thokk points out a narrow ledge above the pile that they can climb to, so as to bypass it, until the others pointedly remind him that the mules and Eddard cannot climb, at least not straight up using hand holds. Reddening in anger or embarrassment or both, Thokk strides rapidly out into the scree pile, then sits down facing the gorge. Kicking out with his legs and thrashing about with his arms, he sends scores of stones, large and small, cascading over the edge. He keeps at it for nearly a minute, until only the largest and most stable stones remain, and then declares that he has defeated the mountain and the way is safe for the party to cross. (Survival roll 12) The party cautiously, one at a time, crosses over to the other side.
Over the next several hours there are a number of other close calls and narrow precipices, but finally near noon the mountainside to their left pulls back and opens into a high, grassy field, although the river still closely follows the cliff face to their right.
Willa is about to give the order to take their lunch in the field when Thokk whoops and points. A mile ahead and below them a small mountain stream runs through the alpine meadow on its way to the river. Clustered along both banks of the stream is a large herd of sheep. “No hard tack for lunch,” says Thokk, sticking his tongue out in disgust. “Thokk bring back meat!”
But before the half-orc can approach the flock, Buckbeak has scouted them and returned - and he lets Aurora know that the sheep are not alone - several humans walk among them. At this, Tyrius mounts Eddard and says he will ride out to meet them.
Willa says that he shouldn’t go alone, and the paladin reminds her that they have not crossed into Geoff yet, and that this is still his country, and his people. She retorts that this high in the mountains, and this far from the trail, they are more likely to be freefolk herdsmen than beholden Sterish peasants, and they might not give a fig for his Earl. “Then it’s high time they began to do so,” says Tyrius, as Eddard canters off.
The party slowly makes their way down the slope to where the sheep are drinking from the stream. By the time they arrive, Tyrius has a yearling sheep trussed and slung over Eddard’s back, bleating plaintively. He asks for two gold of party treasure from Babshapka and hands the coins to the dark Flan herdsmen. The party continues on up the river to the north, while the men drive their flock up the slopes of the valley to the west.
At lunch, Tyrius tells Willa that as she surmised, these were indeed freefolk, hill tribesmen who said they had no lord and only nominally acknowledged the authority of the Earl. Still, they seemed like good sorts and did not fuss about the party traversing their rangelands. Likewise, they were happy to sell him the sheep that Thokk even now is butchering for lunch.
Between the late start to the lunch and the time it took to butcher and then cook the sheep, there are only a few hours of daylight left for their afternoon march. This is just sufficient to take them to the headwaters of the river, to where it diminishes to a stream so inconsequential it is not worth following. Ahead of them, to the north, lies a huge mountain face, with no trail apparent and no way around. Tyrius says that the Flan tribesmen told him that the party should travel due north for a day, crossing over two great mountain ranges, then northwest for another day, looking for a gap in a third and even higher range. After that, a day or two’s travel downslope to the west should take them to the caravan trail they originally sought. If they don’t get lost, the men said, they should come out north of Elnore but south of the last Sterish settlement, one Oytpass Keep.
[ Used 2 rations (breakfast)
7 human rations remaining
Used 5 pounds sheep meat (lunch, dinner)
15 pounds sheep meat remaining
1 mule ration used to supplement forage
18 mule rations remaining
Used 4lb charcoal (lunch, dinner)
84 pounds charcoal remaining
Used 2gp party treasure]
6 January, 571 [12 Fireseek] - Stark Mounds, northeast of Svartjet Valley (2000 feet elevation)
In the morning, the party looks up at the vast cliffs in front of them. They discuss the day ahead over a breakfast of mutton chops. It is decided that Thokk and Babshapka will scout ahead, traveling in advance of the party and trying to find an accessible route, Thokk to the northeast, Babshapka to the northwest. Willa makes Thokk repeat several times that he is not just looking for a path that can be trod by an agile half-orc like himself, he has to think about the poor, silly mules. Every so often the pair of scouts will double back to the party, compare notes, set the party off in the appropriate direction, and then set out again. Larry, who now is moving faster than any of them, will continually move in a “U” shape behind and beside the party, checking to see if anything is approaching or following them.
It is slow work up steep slopes (most of the party is managing only 1.5 miles per hour), but after three hours or so they finally crest the highest ridge before them and can see that the way ahead leads down into a valley lightly forested with pines. At this point Babshapka is leading them down the slope. Thokk’s return to the party has been delayed by him slipping down a slope, sliding into a ravine, and having to take a long way around and back. (Babshapka Survival 12, Thokk Survival 5, critical fail, Luck roll +2). He rejoins them about halfway down the forested slope, not mentioning anything that transpired or why he is late or what the fresh scratches on his arms and legs are about.
It is nearing noon by the time they get to the lowest point in the valley, so Willa calls for a halt for lunch. To the north is a huge mountain face, even higher than what they have passed so far, as well as to the west - but at the bottom of the valley, to the northwest, there is a tantalizing gap between the two ridges. Tyrius removes his helm and scratches his head. He trusts the hillmen, he says, but it seems like that gap is what they told him to head for after a full day of travel, not a half.
“As slow as we’re going, we may still be faster than men carrying all their supplies and herding sheep besides,” says Eddard. “Think of how far back we would be if we had to haul for ourselves everything that Randy and Andy are carrying.”
Tyrius accepts the counsel of his spirit guide, and after lunch Babshapka and Thokk are dispatched to find the best way to the gap. It is cooler here in the mountains, or the foothills of the mountains, as Thokk insists on calling them, but not cold. The day is in the high forties, comfortable in their winter gear and walking. Last night was in the low forties, comfortable in their sleeping rolls, with no frost. After another five hours of walking, they have passed through the gap and come out into a lower valley, a bit more densely forested with pines. There they make their camp for the evening.
[ 7 human rations remaining
Used 7 pounds sheep meat (all three meals)
8 pounds sheep meat remaining
1 mule ration used to supplement forage
17 mule rations remaining
Used 4lb charcoal (breakfast, lunch - used pine deadfalls for dinner)
80 pounds charcoal remaining]
7 January, 571 [13 Fireseek] - Stark Mounds, wilderness north of Svartjet valley (2000 feet elevation)
[thunderstorm 1pm - 4pm]
[Wandering monster check - subtropical wilderness hills: men, tribesmen (hillmen)]
The sun is not yet up and Umbra and Babshapka are on watch. Babshapka hears noises (passive perception 14) at a far remove from the camp - twigs snapping and such. He tells Umbra to stay alert while he investigates.
Slipping silently through the trees, Babshapka is near a hundred yards from the camp when he spots a small flock of sheep, moving in the open areas between the pines in a restless search for fresh browse. Luna, the large moon, is one day past full and the scene is bathed in dim light - Babshapka sees movement to his right and turns - there are bipedal figures moving among the sheep - but immediately he steps on a branch covered in pine needles and there is a loud SNAP (stealth roll 8, critical failure). Almost instantly a bedraggled sheepdog is at his side, teeth bared - but a second later a human man is there, as well. The man is dressed much as the tribesmen were two days ago, in rough woolens and leathers. He points his spear at Babshapka’s chest, but says a curt word to the hound, whereupon it falls back to his heel.
Babshapka slowly raises his hands, palms forward and empty, and tries to speak soothingly. There is soon a gaggle of tribesmen shepherds by his side. He doesn’t speak whatever language the men are conversing in, while they know only a halting Common, but eventually they work out introductions - this is a different band than the party met before. Knowing his persuasive skills are limited, Babshapka doesn’t attempt to buy any sheep or ask for directions, but merely inform them of the party’s camp and that they will be moving on, on the morrow, and try to attain some measure of their goodwill. In the end they lower their weapons and admit that they, too, are just moving through the area, and hope for no hostilities (Persuasion check 12).
When Babshapka returns to camp one of the men goes with him, unbidden. Babshapka lets him get close enough to see the camp itself, know that they have a number of warriors, but then he pauses until the man nods and returns to his flock. When Babshapka finally walks back into the camp itself, he sees Umbra standing in the center, among the bed rolls and still sleeping party members, with a deep, inky mastiff by her side. As he whispers his findings to her, the dog seems to dissolve into shadows.
After sunup, the party sets out for the day. They are soon climbing up and out of the lightly forested valley, and the trees get sparser and the ground drier and more rocky as they go. By mid-day there is nary a tree to be seen, and they are nearly at a saddle between two great mountains. Tyrius is hopeful that the other side of the saddle will take them down into the pass through which runs the caravan trail.
Clouds build all during their meal, and by the time they are ready to march again the whole mountainside is engulfed in a thunderstorm. The wind is not bad, the rain is solid but not hard, and it is well above freezing. They could continue on, for the slope is gentle enough and Willa is not overly worried about their mules slipping on the wet rock. Still, she is not eager to go higher, when they can all see, with spectacular flashes, the lightning repeatedly striking the mountainsides above them. Considering their light larder, she elects instead for most of them to remain in camp, while sending out Larry and Thokk for a half day of foraging in the rain - the better to not hear them go on and on about how virile and invigorating is a thunderstorm in the mountains, even these low peaks that are not really mountains.
The thunderstorm continues until evening and the foragers return soon after. Thokk comes back empty handed (Survival roll 12) but with stories of the massive mountain goat ram he chased from mountain top to mountain top. Larry is more taciturn, but returns grinning and soaked, with a bag heavy with pine nuts (Survival roll 13).
They build a large charcoal fire to cook the last of their mutton and dry out their clothes before retiring for the night.
[ 7 human rations remaining
Used 7 pounds sheep meat (all three meals)
1 pound sheep meat remaining
7 pounds pine nuts remaining
Used 1 mule ration to supplement forage
16 mule rations remaining
Used 16lb charcoal (breakfast, lunch, dinner, drying clothes)
64 pounds charcoal remaining]
8 January, 571 [14 Fireseek] - Stark Mounds, wilderness north of Svartjet valley (2000 feet elevation)
The morning’s march is slow, as they pick their way across a vast, rocky mountainside. In compensation, they can see for miles - there is no way they will be surprised! By the end of the morning’s march they have a mountain in front of them, too steep to climb, but Thokk and Babshapka agree they way ahead is down a narrow draw that looks to widen as it descends the side of the mountain. There is no forage for the mules at lunch on this barren slope.
The afternoon’s march is more claustrophobic, with high cliff walls on either side they pass down the defile. Here and there are seeps, pools and mountain streams; now and again there are tangles and scrub to negotiate, but little grass within the deep shadows of the narrow cliffs. The day is wearing on when the east-running draw finally opens up on a much larger, but still narrow, north-south valley. In the center of this is quite obviously the caravan trail - dried mule flops and midden heaps from countless camps abound, although none of them look particularly fresh. They have finally arrived, having succeeded in “going around” Elnore the long way. Since the information given Tyrius by the first set of tribesmen proved accurate, he feels confident that following this trail north will bring them to Oytpass Keep on the morrow - the last and most northern Sterish outpost before the border with Geoff.
They converse over the evening fire, talking about their plans for arrival at the Keep. Among their concerns will be resupplying their human food, and whether and how they need to disguise Thokk.
[ 7 human rations remaining
Used 1 pound sheep, 6 pounds pine nuts (all three meals)
no sheep meat remaining
1 pound pine nuts remaining
Used 2 mule rations - no forage for the day
14 mule rations remaining
Used 6lb charcoal (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
58 pounds charcoal remaining] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
Oytpass Keep is neither on Darlene's map nor the map from the City of Greyhawk Adventure Card 15. It appears on the map of Sterich in the online supplement to Dungeon 117 available at https://paizo.com/dungeonissues/117/DA117_OnlineSupplement.pdf. The description of Oytpass Keep that appears in the text is my own.
The Sterish noble family of Van-Malligan is briefly mentioned Living Greyhawk Journal #1, p. 30.
Post 140: Oytpass Keep
9 January, 571 [15 Fireseek] - Stark Mounds, Svartjet Valley (1500 feet elevation)
(Light rain 5pm - 9pm)
The party’s movement along the caravan trail is faster than the pace they had set climbing through the mountains in recent days. The valley narrows as they progress until there is room for little besides the Svartjet River and the trail itself between the steep rock walls. They have been traveling just over an hour when a mountain face blocks their advance on this side of the river, and the trail crosses over.
At the crossing point itself there is a wide and well-maintained stone bridge, with a tower on each end and, at the highest point of the bridge, a gatehouse with twin tunnels and portcullises. They immediately begin to talk about what to do with Thokk until Tyrius points out that no banners fly above the ramparts of the gatehouses. He tells the party to stay where they are while he rides forward on Eddard.
When he returns, he says that the portcullises are up, the gatehouse unmanned, the iron doors of the towers locked - they should be able to cross unmolested. Willa thinks that this is a bad sign and wonders if it could have been overrun. Tyrius shrugs and says that there is no sign of struggle and that caravans are few in the winter. Perhaps the Lord Van-Malligan, whose fief this is, simply does not man the bridge in winter to save on costs.
Tyrius leads them forward confidently, but Aurora insists on sweeping the area with Buckbeak before any of them move. When no sign of ambush is found, however, they set out. As Tyrius said, the gatehouse bridge gives them no difficulty in crossing, despite the eerie darkness of the arrow slits and murder holes. They are all glad to be on the other side, and moving northeast along the caravan trail again.
It is before noon when the trail turns and makes to cross back over the river again at a half-mile distant. However, they can already see the crossing, and it is no mere stone bridge. Rather, the entire floor of the valley is taken up with towers and walls, on both sides of the river. This must be Oytpass Keep. The outer works extend well away from the river itself, and there looks to be many wooden as well as stone buildings contained within its walls. At least two and possibly more stone bridges cross the river’s flow, but only within the walls. The river itself is made to pass through a gatehouse and portcullis in the walls, at least on the side that they can see. The caravan trail leads up to a barbican with a large wooden gate - one of the doors stands open, but the other is closed, and they can see a cluster of guardsmen about the entrance.
The walls and towers run right up to the steep cliff faces on both sides of the river. Thokk says that he can easily scale the mountain to go around the fortifications - but he can’t take the silly mules with him - there will be actual climbing involved.
Aurora sends Buckbeak aloft, but keeps her within a hundred feet of her so that she can see through her eyes. As she circles and scans (Perception check, with advantage, 18), she does not notice any immediate threats to climbers - the cliff walls appear barren and devoid of animal life, with barely a covering of moss and lichen on the lower slopes. However, through the hawk’s eyes, Aurora is seeing oddly geometric forms in the stone - right angles that are unlikely to be natural rock. Using telepathic command, Aurora has Buckbeak focus on these.
On both sides of the river there are narrow, nearly vertical, staircases cut into the stone. At several places along the cliff face these stairs connect to ledges, just large enough for a man to sit or stand. If these are scout perches or archer nests, they are not currently occupied. All of them originate near the walls of the keep itself, but spread out diagonally over the face of the rock to cover more area than the keep does. Were Thokk and Larry to climb around the keep, they would either need to cross the carved stairs, or go above them by climbing even higher than they initially planned.
The party had just rounded a spur of the mountain, so Thokk, Larry, and Aurora need only backtrack a few dozen paces to be completely out of sight of the Keep. There, Thokk and Larry don their climbing harnesses, check their hammers and pitons, and secure their rope, with one line fixed between them. Once they indicate their readiness, Larry casts cat’s grace separately on both of them, while Aurora casts invisibility on both of them at once (cast at third level, may choose two targets).
The two then rapidly ascend the mountainside, with Thokk leading and Larry following his route as they call, unseen, to one another. Buckbeak makes a rapid pass up the mountain in front of them, but returns to Aurora when she does not see anything untoward. Thokk assured the party that he would pick out a route that was both quick and safe for both of them, but soon remembers only the first condition, and he selects increasingly larger spans and gaps that he can reach but Larry cannot. (Thokk Survival (mountains) roll 9,6 with advantage from harness, +5 from Larry’s help = 14). On those occasions that Larry cannot follow the path Thokk has chosen, Thokk wastes no time in simply hauling the dwarf up by his rope (Thokk strength check 9, 21, with advantage from climbing harness). They are soon well above the stairs and carved ledges, and making their way across the face of the mountain above the keep.
Once the clatter of stones and chatter between the climbers fades above her, Aurora returns to the party and the main group continues up the trail to Oytpass Keep. It doesn’t take Tyrius long to secure them admission at the main gate. The guards are friendly and courteous, as are the rest of the townsfolk they encounter. The town itself seems curiously “overbuilt”. While the main route they follow is populated enough with occupied houses, shops, and stalls, the side-streets lead to whole neighborhoods that look deserted. Willa is curious about this and looks for someone who won’t be suspicious of her asking. When they pass an alley and she spots a youth struggling to roll hogshead casks up a ramp into the back of a tavern, she decides she has found her mark and tells the party to pause.
Willa enters the alley and places her gauntleted hands on the cask, helping the lad easily roll it up the ramp. He grunts an automatic thanks, but falls silent when he looks up and sees his benefactor is a woman, and an armed and armored one at that. Willa has chosen him well, as he is just old enough to be simultaneously embarrassed and intrigued by her femininity and her forwardness. Together, the pair of them finish the boy’s work, rolling all of the casks into the tavern while he grows increasingly red-faced from exertion and self-consciousness. When the last cask has been rolled onto the floor of the tavern, he stammers a more complicated thanks. Willa brushes it aside and asks him about the abandoned or deserted parts of town. He struggles with her accent as much as he did with the hogsheads, but when he finally understands the question the words come spilling out. (Willa Persuasion check 18)
Oytpass Keep serves as a way station for caravans coming from and going to Gorna, in Geoff. To that extent, a certain number of civilian service personnel are always in residence at the Keep - porters, mule breeders, innkeepers, etc. The Keep is also a military fortification, defending against the humanoids of the Stark Mounds but principally designed to stop any army of Geoff from reaching Sterich. Since the two nations are currently at peace, and have been so for a generation, the Lord Van-Malligan keeps only a token force of soldiers in the Keep, and leaves much of it unmanned. Still, the deserted parts are well-maintained, and can quickly be garrisoned should need arise. Most humanoid armies would simply bypass the Keep, for there is little there to plunder, and thus the Lord’s other holding to the south, Elnore, is seen as the bulwark against humanoid raiders.
A simple, direct path crosses the town from the gate they go in, over a stone bridge across the river, and out the gate on the north side of town, running near to straight the entire way. Along the route, however, they can never go more than a hundred paces without having to pass through a portcullised tunnel or barred gate, though all of these structures currently stand open and their pace is rapid. When Willa announces her intention to ask about this in the market, Tyrius says there is no need, for it is obvious - the direct route helps caravans pass rapidly through the city without getting hung up or spread out, while the numerous “choke points” of tunnels and gates can quickly be closed off to deny such easy access to a foe should the outer walls be breached. When Willa points out that most of the gates and tunnels could be easily climbed or even stepped over by giants, Tyrius responds that giants are only a concern in southern Sterich - there are few if any of the brutes in the Stark Mounds, thanks be to Pelor.
The main market square lies on the near side of the bridge, so they quickly find themselves faced with the decision of how much food to buy. Conversing with the locals, Tyrius learns that it is 60-some miles from the Keep to the next settlement north, the Geoffan fortification of Talbaire. The first half of that route is lightly forested and offers the chance of trying to gather natural forage, but the second half is barren mountain paths with little but rock, and even small streams being few and far between. Everyone he talks to advises him to purchase water casks and fill them full when the path leaves the Svartjet.
Judging by their rate along the caravan trail so far, Willa estimates they can make Talbaire in four days of travel, assuming they are not slowed by inclement weather. By the end of today they will be effectively out of human food and have about a week’s worth of grain for the mules, or two weeks if they can find at least some grass along the way. They are shocked by the prices in the nearest stalls and walk away indignantly, only to find them uniform throughout the town. Non-perishable items like boots, belts, and arrows are scarcely more here than anywhere they have ever been. But the cost of food in this town is roughly three times that of Fitela, the last place they purchased rations.
Willa considers the contingencies of the trail and proposes they buy human food for eight people for six days, but pass on grain for the mules at least until Talbaire. She asks Aurora for confirmation, but does not get an immediate answer. The enchantress appears distracted - perhaps maintaining concentration on two invisibility spells as well as continually checking the mountainside above through the eyes of Buckbeak is demanding her attention. When Willa finally gets her notice, she agrees to the purchase.
Forty-eight trail rations, at three times the usual price, comes to a whopping 72 gold lions. Babshapka fishes in his purse and comes up with just 14, which is the last of the party gold coins. Aurora pays the remaining 58 gold from her personal coin store, then moves 11 platinum coins from party treasure she carries to personal treasure. She makes a point of telling everyone within hearing that she is okay losing the 3gp exchange difference, because she is looking out for the best interests of the party.
Sobered by their shopping experience, Willa does a quick coin inventory with everyone present and they come to the conclusion that between them they have just seven platinum coins left in the party fund, although Babshapka reminds them that he is carrying two-score gems of unknown value that have not been divided up yet. At some point after all of the new provisions of dried fruit, hardtack, and salted jerky are loaded on to the mules, someone remembers that both Thokk and Larry are carrying bags of platinum coins for the party. Tyrius proposes that if they are able to reunite with their other party members by evening camp, they use the party platinum coins to “buy out” the personal gold from whomever is carrying the most. That way their personal treasure will be more portable, and the party treasure will have lower value coins for easier exchange.
There actually is a small queue to cross the bridge in the center of town, and the party lines up behind day laborers and delivery carts. Meanwhile, high on the cliff face above them, Thokk is looking down at some mountain goats on the ledges beneath them (Survival (mountains) check 21). There is a reasonably sized ram and two ewes. One of the ewes has a yearling lamb. Thokk has paused long enough that Larry actually bumps into him from behind.
“Och, Thokk, why’d ya stoap?”
“Thokk see meat below. Time to hunt.”
“Boot Thokk, if ya attok yon billy oor nan, ya’ll beecoom vis’ble.”
Thokk pauses, and looks down at the Keep far below. The people there are tiny, like ants, or, and he chuckles to himself at the thought, like the foes of Thokk. How could they see him way up here, even without Aurora’s spell? He shrugs, letting Larry know he is not concerned, forgetting that Larry cannot see his shrug.
“An’ woot if tha billy gaet falls?”
This objection gives Thokk more pause. The ledge the mountain goats are on is narrow - if he wounds one and it runs, it could easily tumble far below. But then, Thokk has a skilled aim, and his current invisibility should allow him to approach from the perfect angle to dispatch the goat with one blow, and have it drop immediately to the ledge without falling down the face of the mountain.
Thokk approaches cautiously, making as little noise as he can. (Stealth check, with advantage, 21) The wind is with him. He readies his javelin, but then decides to get closer, testing the limits of the invisibility. The lamb jumps - but towards him, seeking new browse on a closer ledge. Thokk lets it approach - and then, in one swift motion, reaches out, grabs it, and wrings its neck. The two ewes flee in panic from Thokk, suddenly visible. The ram starts towards him instinctively, but stops short and then turns tail as well (Intimidation 22). Thokk tries to pull out his javelin, but by the time he transfers the lamb to his off hand, the opportunity to throw at one of the fleeing goats is gone. He slings the lamb across his shoulders and climbs back up to Larry.
On the valley floor below, Aurora stops and shudders as they cross the bridge. Asked what’s wrong, she searches her feelings (Arcana check 23). “Thokk has become visible,” she says.
“It’s nigh an hour,” suggests Willa.
“No,” insists Aurora. “Just Thokk. Larry is still invisible.” Buckbeak is circling low above the city - she sends her to the cliff face to find the half-orc and assess the situation.
By the time the party is at the other side of the bridge, Aurora says that Larry is now visible as well - she believes because the hour is up rather than by his own actions. The party continues up the street as fast as the traffic will allow, eager to leave the Keep on the other side.
It is not long after Thokk has reached Larry, and the two have continued their lateral move across the mountain face, that Larry shimmers into existence. They are almost completely past the Keep, and now just face a long descent. Larry has available only one more second level spell, but by casting cat’s grace at third level, he can target both himself and Thokk. He does so, the better for them to sneak down the mountain without being observed. Then Larry considers the forms available to him, and transforms himself into a wild-shaped mountain lion.
Together, Thokk and the mountain larry descend the cliffs, picking a path that uses what little natural cover is available to shield them from the view of the keep, trying to stay on the other side of slopes. Eventually Buckbeak shows up, but she sees (Perception, with advantage, 16) neither Thokk (Stealth 21 with advantage) nor Larry. Buckbeak scans the mountainside, but sees no bipeds at all - just some mountain goats, a few rock doves, and a mountain lion (Larry Stealth 15 with advantage). Aurora had asked her to look for anything “worrisome”, and she certainly doesn’t see anything like that. By the time she returns to Aurora, the party has left the northern gate of the city and is well along the trail, perhaps half a mile from the keep. Buckbeak reports that neither Thokk nor Larry were present on the mountainside, nor were there any other humanoids about.
It is early afternoon and no one in the party has eaten (Babshapka having put away his stone upon the first sighting of the Keep). Aurora sends Buckbeak up again, this time to check the path ahead. The valley rapidly widens (which makes sense, the keep being constructed at the narrowest point), but the caravan trail stays on the north side of the river for the next several miles. Thokk and Larry would be coming down on the opposite side of the river of course, if they have come down.
Willa leads them on for another quarter hour, until they are a full mile away from the keep and Thokk, should he appear, is likely indistinguishable from a large man to anyone watching at a distance. There, they make camp for lunch. Aurora reflects on their predicament. They should not travel too far up the trail until they can reunite with Thokk and Larry, but they still don’t know where they are. Her sending spell would be perfect for finding them - if she had prepared it for today, which she has not. She’ll be able to get a third level spell slot back after lunch, but without a long rest she can’t prepare a new spell - sending or another. She decides to send Buckbeak out again while they are eating - if there is no sign of Thokk and Larry by the time they finish eating, she may have to break out her crystal ball. She tells Buckbeak to check the mountainside again, but if he still does not see them, to expand his search - the back side of the mountain, the valley floor, the keep itself - Thokk should be visible and recognizable somewhere.
Having come down from the mountain and out onto the valley floor, Thokk and the mountain larry walk north away from the keep. Larry still has more than an hour left in his lion form, but when he feels they are out of easy sight of even the towers, he chooses to revert to being a dwarf in case he needs to converse or cast spells. Aurora told Larry that she would contact them through Buckbeak once they were off the mountain, but that hasn’t happened. Larry considers looking for the rest of the party, but then remembers seeing the stone bridges in the keep and realizes the party is likely on the other side of the river from them. He tells Thokk they should stop and eat in case they are getting too far away from the party.
With just the two of them, there is no need for a fire - they have fresh lamb, and neither object to their meat being raw. Thokk grins as he skins the lamb. Larry may not be the most amusing member of Thokk’s warband, but he certainly is the most sensible - why ruin meat this fresh by cooking it? As a good leader, Thokk reviews the strengths of his troops. Larry is the sensible one. Willa, his advisor, is of course the shrewd one. Aurora is the funny one - she always makes Thokk laugh and, since the castle of the demon, she can make pretty explosions, too. Tyrius is good for talking to people, which is important - since Thokk finds that boring, it is good to have someone to delegate that to. Tyrius talks so much, even his horse has learned to talk to him. Babshapka is a good scout, almost as good as Thokk. Shefak is another one Thokk keeps around for amusement - he likes the way she makes people fall down when she kicks them, or hits them with her stick. Umbra - now there’s the mystery. Thokk is not quite sure why Umbra is in his warband. He has been trying to puzzle that out for a while now but doesn’t have it yet. Most likely Willa knows, but Thokk is proud and is sure he will be able to figure it out without asking.
Since Thokk and Larry are no longer trying to remain hidden, it does not take long for Buckbeak to find them eating, and then report back to Aurora. Unfortunately, without a sending spell, Aurora has no way to communicate with them, being far outside the range of message. Buckbeak could easily carry a scrap of parchment to them - but neither Thokk nor Larry can read or write. In the end, Aurora has Buckbeak lead them to the river, then fly back and forth between the groups drawing them closer each time until they can see one another. The river is not particularly wide here, but the water is swift, powerful, and there are many rapids - it would be dangerous for any of them to cross, except perhaps Larry in the form of a salmon or somesuch. They cannot hear one another over the roar of the waters, but with gesticulations, Willa points upriver and Larry takes her meaning that they will both keep working their way along their respective sides until there is a bridge or natural ford. Since they started this morning the caravan trail has crossed the river twice, so it is sure to cross again at some point.
Both groups set off upriver. Fortunately Thokk and Larry can move faster on the level than the slowest party members, which makes up for the fact that they are not on a trail, and the two groups are easily able to keep within sight of one another without either having to slow their pace for the first two miles. After that, however, the trail turns away from the river, and they are increasingly distant from one another until they eventually lose sight, although Aurora keeps Buckbeak flying between them. After two miles of that, the caravan trail returns to the river for a further two miles. More than an hour of light remains for marching, however, when the trail leaves the river again. This time, the party can see it rise up a cliff face in a series of switchbacks, eventually disappearing beyond a ridge. The valley of the Svartjet continues a full two compass points in the other direction. It is clear now that some means of Thokk and Larry crossing the river will need to be found, or they and the party will grow increasingly distant from one another as the party follows the trail.
Aurora suggests that rope be shot over the river and Thokk be pulled across. Umbra’s hempen rope is far too heavy to even consider - but both Willa and Andy carry silk rope that might be light enough. Larry and Thokk, of course, have a hundred feet of silk rope between them they used for their climbing - but no means of launching it besides Thokk’s javelin.
Babshapka tries a few practice shots. His longbow is powerful, but with the weight of the rope attached he still cannot get an arrow clear to the other side of the river. Larry considers becoming a crocodile, something large enough for Thokk to cling to, but seeing the water up close convinces him that he would be dashed to pieces on the rocks before he was halfway across - crocs are built for slower waters than these, not mountain torrents.
Aurora sends Buckbeak to scout upriver. It will take them away from the caravan trail, but when she returns she says that there is a rocky ledge that cuts the width of the river in half, at the edge of a three foot waterfall that runs the width of the river. Both groups walk upriver.
By shooting from the narrowest point of the river, Babshapka manages to send a strand of silk rope completely across. Thokk carefully secures his pack, his weapons, and his remaining lamb, then wraps the rope a few times about his forearm. From the other bank, Aurora motions him to tie the rope about his waist, but he shrugs her off. He may not be the best swimmer, but he is wise enough to know that if the rope gets snagged on a boulder, he could be pulled under and drowned, or dashed against a rock, long before he could free himself. Free, he might get carried miles downstream, but he would rather do that than be tied to a rope he couldn’t let go of. In fact, how dare she tell him what to do - he has lived in mountains and forded mountain streams his whole life! Thokk is enraged, and strides boldly into the current, giving Babshapka just enough time to dash around below the waterfall and call for Willa and Tyrius to get on the rope (Thokk’s rage will give him advantage on the Strength check).
With strong, powerful strokes Thokk crosses the foaming torrent, and the others find they need only take up the slack and keep the line from snagging on rocks. They walk along the bank with him as he travels downriver, but at no point are they actually dragging Thokk through the water. As he emerges from the freezing water on the opposite bank, he bellows. (DC 20 for Thokk to successfully cross the river. Thokk’s strength check with advantage: 16, 20).
Meanwhile Larry is carefully studying the stream itself. It seems like the base of the mini-waterfall is the best place for him to cross, where he will have to fight the least current. (Survival (Mountains) 16 +3 for giving himself guidance= 19). He stands on the bank and uses his last second-level spell slot to give himself bull’s strength, then rushes to the water and jumps in, instantly transforming himself into a fat salmon. He struggles mightily against the current for nearly a minute before he flops, exhausted, to the far bank and returns to his dwarf form. (DC15 for a fish to cross the river safely, Larry’s strength check with advantage, 0, 11, +4 from choosing the best spot = 15).
The sun is beyond the high peaks to the west and night is descending. The party makes camp and builds up a large charcoal fire to help dry Thokk and Larry. Almost immediately, a cold but light rain begins to fall, and soon they are all huddled about the fire, eager for lamb. Thokk regales them with the story of how he, barehanded, fought off the giant ram father of the lamb before snatching the creature from a narrow ledge thousands of feet up the side of the mountain while he dangled over the precipice, holding on with just one hand.
Total food used for day: 1 pound pine nuts, ~3 rations, 3 pounds lamb
[ Obtained 48 rations (purchased with 72gp)
Obtained 5 pounds lamb
Used 1 pound pine nuts, ~3 rations, 3 pounds lamb
52 human rations remaining
2 pounds lamb meat remaining
no pine nuts remaining
1 mule ration used - supplemented by forage
13 mule rations remaining
Used 16lb charcoal (breakfast, lunch, dinner, staying warm)
42 pounds charcoal remaining]
After dinner, Tyrius summons the light of Pelor and Larry and Aurora bring out their coin sacks. Larry passes Aurora 48 platinum coins, which will go from party treasure to her personal treasure, while she returns to Larry 240 gold coins from her personal stores to become a party fund. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
By far the best source for maps of Greyhawk comes from the work of Anna B Meyer. I used http://ghmaps.net for the party's travel. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
Post 141: Oytpass Keep to Tailbaire
10 January, 571 [Fireseek 16] - Stark Mounds, Svartjet Valley (1500 feet elevation)
The party passes a cold night; there is hoarfrost on the wet rocks near the river in the morning, but the water in their skins is unfrozen and their sleeping rolls have kept them warm enough.
They set out for a long day’s march: first, back to where the main party left the caravan trail, then up the switchbacks along the mountainside, through a series of narrow, lightly forested mountain valleys, and finally up to a pass every bit as high as the ones they crossed taking the ‘long way’ around behind Elnore. Looking to the north and west, however, they can tell that there are higher mountains yet to come. At night there are clear skies, with no hint of the rain of the previous day. The stars are bright and both moons are nearing their last quarter. Willa deems it ideal to take another series of measurements and draw a new starfall map.
The new drawing leaves no possibility that the star could have fallen in the Hornwood Forest, and little chance that it landed in the lowlands of Geoff, either. It is almost certainly in the vast Barrier Peaks mountains. The possible area is still half the size of the nation of Geoff, though - over 32,000 square miles (by Aurora’s estimation, not hers). They will need to narrow it much further before even beginning to search. Willa judges that Gorna sits at about latitude 29.5N. When they reach that city she can take another measurement and improve the accuracy of their estimation still further.
[ Used 2 pounds lamb meat, 6 pounds rations
no lamb meat remaining
46 human rations remaining
2 mule rations used no effective forage
11 mule rations remaining
Used 2lb charcoal (lamb breakfast - other meals are cold trail food)
40 pounds charcoal remaining]
11 January, 571 [Fireseek 17] - Stark Mounds, caravan trail between Oytpass Keep and Tailbaire (1750 feet elevation)
[light fog 4am to 9pm; travel at half speed]
The night is not any colder than the previous, but a damp wind has blown in, and at dawn a thick fog covers the mountains. Some of that burns off during the day, but there are still blowing mists and fog banks in the low pockets of the trail all day long. Travel is slow for the group and they barely manage eight miles as they climb higher into the mountains. Fortunately they have the caravan trail to follow - even Babshapka says that he would not attempt to guide them off-trail in the fog. Thokk says when you can’t see in the mountains, you just have to smell. Willa raises an eyebrow, but wisely makes no comment.
[ Used 7 human rations
39 human rations remaining
2 mule rations used since no effective forage
9 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used (cold trail food)
40 pounds charcoal remaining]
12 January, 571 [Fireseek 18] - Stark Mounds, caravan trail between Oytpass Keep and Tailbaire (1750 feet elevation)
[windstorm 7am to 12am]
After another near-freezing night, the party awakens to cloud-streaked skies and a stiff wind. It is clear that a storm is brewing, and Willa has them eat and pack camp quickly, even as her tent is starting to flap loudly in the breeze. There is no cover in the narrow mountain valley, and there are plenty of loose rocks on the slopes above them that could be dislodged in a storm, so she would rather they be moving, the better to find shelter.
From 7am to 8am they cover two miles, but as the wind increases, their pace slows. Fortunately the wind is to their backs, lightening their steps, but visibility is dropping and missteps on the trail growing more common. Buckbeak cannot keep aloft, and eventually cannot even cling to Aurora’s shoulder in the strong wind, so she dismisses the hawk to its “pocket dimension”.
From 8am to 9am they manage another mile and a half. The clouds are thickening, and it is getting darker rather than lighter, but up ahead it looks like the valley is opening up, so Willa urges them forward. Aurora briefly considers her rope trick as an emergency shelter, but this storm will last far longer than the spell’s duration, and there is no way to fit the mules in besides.
From 9am to 10am they travel another mile and a half, and emerge from the narrow valley into a broad, open bowl of perhaps five miles across. The caravan trail continues, running west along the northern edge of the bowl. To their south, in the bowl, are gentle slopes and a light pine forest. The east wind is easily 40mph now and still building - the pine trees are bending and swaying, and the air is a haze of blowing needles. Willa asks for options and Thokk and Larry shout in unison “Look for a cave!” but there are none in sight and no way of knowing where one might be. They might try taking shelter in the bowl - away from potential rock slides but in danger of falling trees. With Thokk’s axes they could attempt to build an emergency shelter by felling a few trees and creating an angled windbreak. They can see that eventually the caravan trail, some two or three miles ahead, exits the bowl to the north and enters a high-walled north-running valley - if they can make it there, that might take them out of the brunt of the wind.
Willa shouts at Aurora and Tyrius that in the time they would take to try to make a shelter of downed trees, they might instead reach the north valley and less wind. But what about falling rocks there? She has been in enough squalls to have seen more than one man blown overboard. She checks the halters and lead ropes on the mules to make sure they are secure. In the slight pause, the mules turn their faces to the wind, close their eyes, and stamp nervously. Babshapka notices, turns, peers into the distance, sniffing dubiously. Do they smell a predator? Willa asks Eddard to help calm them as needed, and he moves next to them, rumbling soothing words and draping his head over their necks.
Aurora agrees that either place, bowl or valley, is just as dangerous, so they may as well use their time pressing ahead. She taps Thokk and Babshapka on their shoulders to get their attention, then messages them (to avoid shouting over the wind) that they should move ahead of the party and scout to see whether the canyon is safe from wind and ambush. When Larry sees Babshapka start off, he shakes his head and trots after the elf, soon overtaking him. Larry convinces Babshapka to return to the party, whereupon the elf takes the leads of both mules and the party continues up the trail as their scouts jog ahead.
[Note: In hills, along the caravan trail, Thokk can normally move at 2.6 mph, Babshapka at 2.3, and Larry at 2.5. The current wind is lowering everyone’s speed by half.]
From 10am to 11am the party manages to travel just one more mile, while Thokk and Larry are a quarter-mile ahead of them.
By 11am the winds are over 50 miles an hour, and everyone is struggling to stay on their feet as they creep along the trail. They can only see directly away from the wind now, they cannot look into the wind. The wind pushes rain before it - just a hint of rain, but blown at them so forcefully that they are soon soaked. From 11am to 12pm the party advances one more mile and Thokk and Larry are now half a mile ahead of them. These two have just rounded the corner of the cliff face and are trying to look up the valley against the force of the cross wind. It looks like it runs at least two miles or so north before turning west again, and it should shelter them to some extent from the wind. By noon the wind is blowing at more than 60 miles per hour. To the south of them, the party can see large trees snapping and crashing to the ground, and small trees being uprooted and flying through the air. To the north of them, loose boulders and other debris tumble down the slick, wet mountain slopes.
[As Thokk and Larry enter the north-running canyon, the wind speed drops about ten miles an hour. From 12 to 1pm, they can move 1.25 miles ahead. The main party, however, can move at only half a mile an hour, and they are now 1.25 miles behind the scouts.]
Thokk and Larry find that by advancing into the canyon, they are somewhat out of the wind, but it is still rushing furiously down the slopes at them. The biggest advantage is that they are mostly out of the rain, which seems to be “falling” more or less horizontally. Thokk looks about for enemies while Larry attempts to find a place with boulder outcrops to shelter them further, but also with little on the slope above that might come loose and fall on them. (Survival check (mountains) 11).
The main party, for their part, is moving along the trail at a snail’s pace. More than one of them has been knocked to the ground by the wind or forced to crawl on their hands and knees at some point during gusts. Babshapka is leading the mules in a curious sideways gait, as the only way they can keep their feet is to face into the wind - if they turn broadwise with the high profile of their packs they would easily be knocked down. A break for lunch is obviously out of the question. All along the slopes near them, rocks and boulders tumble down, though fortunately none come near enough to strike anyone (luck roll +1).
By 2pm, the party has advanced another half mile and the winds are lessening as they enter the mouth of the canyon. They finally reach the site that Larry has chosen for their camp at 3:30pm.
Babshapka devises crude feed bags for the mules, since scattering grain on the ground for them as the party usually does would result in the food being carried away in seconds. Similarly, the party hunches over their trail food, snatching mouthfuls while trying to keep the rest from blowing away. The godssend is that it is still warm - now out of the rain, they dry quickly in the powerful wind and more than one of them takes shelter in their bedrolls. There is no point in setting up tents - even if staked enough so that they did not blow away, the oilskin cloth would quickly be rent by the wind. Likewise, a lantern or even a campfire would be blown out. An informal day watch is set up, mostly watching upslope for falling rocks. Willa advises them to try to get rest while they can.
[Note: The storm peaks at 66mph and runs from noon to 1am the next day. Here in the side valley it is 56mph. In order to successfully rest, characters will need to make a DC15 Con save.]
First watch is Thokk and Larry from 4pm to 8pm.
After four hours of rest, Umbra saves but Babshapka does not.
Second watch is Umbra (rested) and Thokk, 8pm to 12am.
Babshapka (his second attempt) saves.
After eight hours of rest, Larry and Willa save.
Andy, Randy, Aurora, Tyrius, and Shefak do not.
Those who failed, and Thokk who did not rest, all have 1 level of exhaustion (gives disadvantage on ability checks)
[ Used 7 human rations
32 human rations remaining
2 mule rations used since no effective forage
7 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used (cold trail food)
40 pounds charcoal remaining]
13 January, 571 [Fireseek 19] - Stark Mounds, caravan trail between Oytpass Keep and Tailbaire (2000 feet elevation)
[windstorm 12am to 6am]
The windstorm continues all through the night, but diminishes sometime after midnight, so that by the time the day breaks it is nothing more than a stiff breeze on an overcast day. With so many in the party not having slept well, including the mules, who were nervous and agitated most of the night, Willa allows those exhausted to sleep in and recover.
Third watch Umbra (rested) and Larry (rested), 12am to 4am
Fourth watch Willa (rested) and Babshapka (rested), 4am to 8am
DC15 Con save to rest for second eight hours:
Thokk and Aurora save.
Andy, Randy, Tyrius, and Shefak do not.
Andy, Randy, Tyrius, and Shefak still have 1 level of exhaustion
Larry, who was able to rest early on, has spent much of the pre-dawn and morning meditating on the splendid windstorm of the previous day. As a druid, he is always impressed by the power of nature - but as he grows in his own power, he increasingly finds ways he can use that power himself. In particular, he did not enjoy the feeling of scouting ahead with Thokk and leaving the rest of the party behind in the storm. By the end of his meditation, he believes that the spirits of the mountain have communicated with him a means to help the slower members of the party to “keep up”. Larry is now capable of casting Longstrider as a first level spell.
Unfortunately, even the extended sleep-in revives just two more party members, and the mules are cranky as the party goes about loading them for the day, attempting to kick and bite. Babshapka looks them over, sees to their feeding and watering, and says that they will be ornery but are in no immediate danger of foundering, at least under their current loads. After the party has had a camp breakfast they set out at 9am.
They haven’t gone but an hour when they come upon a curious sight - the caravan trail passes two large rock cairns, one after the other. In the nearer one, the rocks have been painted black and red, although the paint is faded, chipped, and weather-beaten. A number of the rocks are freshly strewn about, most likely due to yesterday’s winds. The farther cairn also has painted rocks, although these are in black and white, rather than red. The narrow-walled valley has dry winter grass in the bottom, so the mules are turned loose while Tyrius collects the rocks and returns them to the proper cairns. For a while Thokk joins him, thinking that something magical will happen when they are all restored, but he soon becomes disappointed and bored when it does not.
Willa asks Tyrius about the meaning of the rocks and he says that, given that the national shields of the two countries are, Sterich - a red and black lion, and Geoff, a black and white griffin, he is surmising that the cairns mark the border of the two nations and that they are about to cross into Geoff.
After the brief pause they continue, reaching a total of six miles in their abbreviated morning’s march. After a trail lunch they push ahead, covering another ten miles before they camp. All the way the valley floor rises slightly, but the mountainsides above them rise rapidly, so the valley grows ever more narrow and steep walled. Willa grumbles about it being the perfect place for an ambush, and she encourages the others to be continually scanning the cliff walls as well as the trail in front of and behind them.
[ Used 7 human rations
25 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used, supplemented by forage
6 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used (cold trail food)
40 pounds charcoal remaining] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
Talbaire is neither on Darlene's map nor the map of Sterich in the online supplement to Dungeon 117. It is on Anna Meyer's maps, but originally comes from the City of Greyhawk Adventure Card 15. There it is shown as being in the center of the caravan trail through the Stark Mounds and is described as "a village community of some 120 folk - 70 gnomes, ten dwarves, and 40 humans." I modified this to a population of about 300 humans with some 50 gnome craftsmen and soldiers. The description of Talbaire that appears in the text is my own.
Post 142: Talbaire
14 January, 571 [Fireseek 20] - Stark Mounds; caravan trail between Oytpass Keep and Talbaire (2000 feet elevation)
After a night of rest without the wind and rain, everyone in the party is fully rested.
The first six miles or so of the morning’s march are through the same narrow, steep-walled valley in which the party passed the night. After that there is a small, rocky bowl - just two miles by three or so, and then the trail goes up and over a sharp ridge.
At the top of the ridge, the party can see that the bowl is actually six or eight miles across, and that the ridge has just cut off the southernmost section. The bowl is a mix of alpine meadows and, here and there, stands of pine. Of most interest is a settlement at the north end of the bowl. It has high stone walls and the caravan trail obviously leads directly to it. It is small, however - too small for a walled town - perhaps it is a large castle or keep? It is only some three miles or so to its gate - the party could easily arrive there around noon at their current pace.
After a brief discussion, the party agrees to get closer before they decide what to do about Thokk. They descend the steep ridge along the caravan trail’s switchbacks, and then move out onto the floor of the bowl. They are still far from the sight of the fort, if that is what it is.
After about a mile and a half they are about halfway to the settlement. In the fields around them they have passed several flocks of sheep and goats, tended by dark-skinned shepherds in heavy woolen clothes. The shepherds and their flocks keep their distance, and none seem interested in the party. Aurora keeps an eye out for boulders and copses in which to hide Thokk should people approach them, but for the moment no one is close enough to notice him.
By a mile out more detail can be seen. High walls and round towers protect a small settlement or large fortress. Abundant stumps attest that any trees near the fortress have been cut, and the herds of goats keep saplings from growing back. Approaching closer would risk revealing Thokk’s presence to anyone on the walls. The walls and towers of the keep are well-cared for, with no cracks or fallen stones. Tyrius thinks he spies machicolations, and in stone no less, along the battlements - this is a serious fortification built by skilled professionals and well-maintained since.
The keep itself guards the north-western corner of the vale at the base of a second ridge. The caravan trail enters its walls through a gate, and exits up the slopes behind it - but it leaves along two trails, one to the northeast, one the northwest. The cliffs on either side are steep, but climbable - Thokk is confident he could scale either one to avoid the settlement itself, but he would be within easy view of any sentries on the towers in day, if he was visible.
The party huddles in conference, making a show of doing things like adjusting the packs and checking the feet of the mules, and so forth. As they mill about to confuse their numbers, Larry casts Eagle’s Splendor on Tyrius (advantage on Charisma checks, including Persuasion, for one hour), Cat’s Grace on Thokk (advantage on Dexterity checks, including Stealth, for one hour), and finally Longstrider on Thokk (+10 feet movement per turn on Thokk for one hour, bringing him up to 50 feet per turn or 2.8 mph marching speed on their current caravan trail). Larry had already cast create water this morning to fill their water skins for the day, so he is at this point out of first level spells. Finally, Larry transforms himself into a tiny gray jumping spider, scuttles across the ground, and begins to climb Thokk’s leg.
Aurora engages Thokk in a dialog, telling him that he is always saying how he is a master scout and hunter, but she doesn’t think he is actually very good. He is offended, and immediately begins retelling his story about how he reached out and grabbed the mountain goat kid with his bare hands without it seeing, hearing, or smelling him. Aurora interrupts him and says that being good against a dumb goat is one thing, but against a whole camp of smart hostiles is another. She bets him he can’t sneak through the upcoming fort, following Shefak the whole way to the other side, without bumping into someone or having someone detect him in some way. She tells him she will stop and buy a keg of ale and give it to him if he can do it, and even cast an invisibility on him to make it fair because it is day and humans see better in the day. Thokk indignantly accepts her bet and she casts invisibility at second level (concentration, lasts one hour).
Almost immediately sharp-eyed Babshapka points out something: a tiny wolf-spider is now floating in thin air at the height of Thokk’s shoulder. “Well, that’s not supposed to happen,” whines Aurora. “All his gear went invisible - the spell is supposed to work on anything he carries.”
“Yes,” says Umbra, surprising everyone since she rarely speaks. “Any thing he carries goes invisible - not any one. Larry is alive, so it doesn’t work on him.”
As Aurora protests and blusters, Shefak holds out her hand, and the wolf spider leaps over, then hides in the folds of her heavy winter cloak. Shefak and Umbra begin to lead the mules toward the fort, with Thokk following them invisibly. The tread of his feet is silent, but his booming voice is boasting loudly about how no one in the fort will know he is there. Willa, Tyrius, Eddard, Aurora, and Babshapka follow slightly behind.
The plan is that once they gain admission to the fort, Shefak and Umbra (and invisible Thokk and Spider-Larry) will learn which of the two trails leads to Gorna, and take the mules to that end of town directly and then outside for a mile beyond the walls before stopping. The other five will remain inside the walls long enough to purchase the keg of ale if there is any kind of market, as well as to stock up on other supplies. [note: the party has less about three days of food left for themselves and the mules, as well as 40 pounds of coal remaining]
At the walking speed of Tyrius, Willa, Umbra, and Aurora, the party covers the mile to the gates in about a half an hour. The closer they get, the more they are impressed by the fortifications. Each of the round towers is festooned with arrow slits and has a swivel-mounted ballista on its open roof. The machicolations Tyrius spotted before have iron spouts underneath, enabling liquids, like boiling oil or pitch, to be poured on people directly below and even shot out even further from the walls themselves.
Of the two massive wooden gates at the base of the barbican, one stands open, and a small squad of guards relaxes outside, talking amiably with one another as they watch the party approach. They carry longspears, and have shortswords belted about their waists. Several of them have a supple leather sling and a small bag (presumably for stones) tucked into their belts as well. Their heavy woolen cloaks are brightly dyed in tartan patterns, and their skin is a deep bronze color. Their hair is jet black and falls to their shoulders in thick curls. Aurora and Willa are dumbfounded - the guards are almost surely pure-blooded Flan. Anywhere in Keoland they could be peasant farmers or herdsmen, local levies at best if their lord trusted them with weapons, but gate guards, never.
If Tyrius is surprised he doesn’t betray it. Perhaps it is the Eagle’s Splendor, but his golden hair and pearly teeth seem to shine with even more luster than usual as he strides forward to greet the guards. He is met by what is likely a sergeant - a man dressed like the others but with a purple face tattoo and bronze bracers. Even before Tyrius can greet him, his counterpart initiates the exchange, speaking in accented Common.
“An’ wha’ is this grrreat poncy soothren laird wantin’ o’ oos wee folk aday, hmm?” His men snigger behind him.
Tyrius speaks - but in Flan. His words are plain enough, even to those in his party who don’t speak the language. “[I am Tyrius of Sterich, Paladin of Pelor, and this is my party].”
The sergeant's eyes go wide, and he stares mutely at the sunburst symbol on Tyrius’ shield. When he finally regains his tongue, his words are also in Flan, and there the party is lost, but it is clear that his tone is now one of civility rather than mockery. After a brief conversation with Tyrius, he makes a gesture, and his men disperse to allow the party through the gate. Aurora is looking at the sun above, trying to guess how much time has elapsed since the spells were cast, when she feels Thokk’s great elbow in her ribs. She begins to message him, telling him to stop, but his words come first in her mind, “You see, you see, Thokk is master scout - guards do not even suspect him!” and again his unseen elbow digs into her ribs.
As the party passes through the gate, Willa notes that many of the guards bow their heads at Umbra and Babshapka, making a curious salute by holding up their hand to their brow. Babshapka looks unsure of how to respond, but Umbra just nods at them magnanimously.
Once they are inside the gates, the party finally has a view of what is beyond the walls. Just inside the barbican, to either side, are dirt-floored and low-walled corrals, divided and subdivided with a series of gates and light wooden rails and posts. All of them are empty, but the abundant dung indicates they are used for sheep and goats. Most of the interior of the complex is simple one and two-story wooden-framed houses. They are all well-made if modest. Everywhere there are Flan commoners about. This is not, in fact, a fortress, but rather an elaborately walled village. None of them have seen such extensive fortification for such a small settlement before - at most, there are perhaps a few hundred people in the village.
A stone-paved road runs from the gate deeper into the town. Roughly every fifty feet along it are curious stone structures, like pedestals some five feet high or so with rounded domes. Each of them has four arrow slits about their circumference, as if they were miniature defensive towers made for a single, small, archer, but none of them has any obvious means of entry - no doors or other portals.
Tyrius speaks further with the serjeant, and then relays some of the conversation to the party. “The road to Gorna is the northwest trail - the northeast trail is “closed to us,” but he would not say why. There is a small market in the center of town, though I take it things will be as expensive as they were in Oytpass Keep. He has no problem with the mules going on ahead and some of us visiting the market, but he says we need to be entered into the rolls first and he has sent for a “warden”, whatever that is.”
As Aurora nervously counts the minutes, the party waits just inside the gate. The townsfolk seem to take no special notice of them, and even half of the guards have drifted back outside the gates so that they can stand in the sun rather than the cold shadow of the village walls. After some ten minutes, an old but spry man with a long beard and longer robes appears. He carries no quill or parchment, so it is unclear what “rolls” he will be entering the party into, but he asks each of them for their names and places of origin. Umbra names herself simply “Umbra,” and does not give a birthplace or home, but the man does not challenge her. After he has taken each of their names, the man turns to the mules, and speaks to them in a low, whickering voice. Both Andy and Randy respond to him! After a little back and forth, the old man turns to Tyrius. “Are there not others in your party,” he says suspiciously, “perhaps one who is very tall and strong, and another who is short and round?” Is it the party’s imagination, or do the mules nod in agreement?
“Well, that’s hardly fair,” mutters Aurora to herself.
Even with the Eagle’s Splendor, Tyrius’ face betrays a bit of strain, and he swallows before answering the warden’s question. “Everyone in my party is right here, now, with me,” he says finally, “and I personally as a paladin of Pelor vouchsafe for all of us.”
The old man holds his gaze to Tyrius for another minute, and then nods at the sergeant before moving off.
“Ye are frrree ta gae,” says the sergeant brightly in Common. “Welcoom ta Talbaire.”
As the remaining guards return back outside the gate, the party advances along the paved road that runs through the village. As previously discussed, Shefak and Umbra lead the mules quickly along, their goal being to get them, and invisible Thokk and spidery Larry, outside of town before time runs out and they appear. Babshapka has to jog a few steps to catch up to Umbra, calling after her softly in elven. “What was that salute,” he asks, “why do these folk treat us so?”
Umbra doesn’t slow her pace, but replies in Elven, though a more elegant and formal version than Babshapka’s. “The Gyri are almost entirely Flan. They have always been superstitious. They revere us fey more than other humans do, which is just as well. We haven’t been treated as poorly here as your people have in Keoland, for example, and have been saved from the worst aspects of human nature. At least recently. Honestly, I am unsure what the salute means - or once meant. They have been doing it for centuries. Perhaps they originally thought it would ward off our “evil eye”. Nowadays it is just something they do when they see an elf, or another fey - recognizing us, making sure those around them know that fey are present.”
“And me?” gasps Aurora rushing up breathlessly behind. “Why didn’t they salute me? Are half-elves not considered fey?” She is speaking in her best Elven, but the look of pained concentration on Umbra’s face betrays that she is struggling to understand the pronunciation.
“Oh, they are - anyone with a trace of fey is recognized as such. They probably just didn’t notice you. If you would put down your hood so they could see your ears, or take off that ridiculous leather jack…”; Umbra’s voice trails off, perhaps realizing that she is being insulting and not wishing to continue. Aurora’s winter gear does indeed hide much of her form and even her face. Bundled up, there is little way to tell that she is not a fully human woman. Umbra, by contrast, is still in her elegant green robe and light open sandals. The party has not seen her in anything else since she awoke at the inn in Longspear, even when she sat watch duty and the nights dipped below freezing on the deck of the Banner of Heather. Currently it is in the forties and humid, and all of them are spouting clouds of vapor as they speak - all except for Umbra.
With the gate guards now far behind them, Willa whistles to recall Babshapka and Aurora. They let Umbra and Shefak press on ahead up the road, while the main group of the party ambles leisurely through the village. They are now passing through a shop district. Most of the stores are sized for humans, but here and there they spy one built for smaller folk. Windows are shuttered against the winter cold, so they can’t see inside, but they start to keep track of the painted signs hanging on the outside. Human-sized shops run the gamut of those found in any large village on a trade route - inns and taverns, bakeries, leatherworkers and cobblers, clothiers, coopers, cheesemongers. The more diminutive stores, however, are invariably smithies, and, just before the market, one jeweler - unusual in such a small place but perhaps selling to the caravan merchants. The jeweler’s store has a gnome lad sweeping off the stoop. From the windowsill nearby, a ground squirrel watches the boy intently.
By the time they are halfway through the village, their advance party has been lost to sight. Here, the paved road splits in two. Willa knows full well from Tyrius that they are to take the left branch, but she has them pause as if in doubt while she surreptitiously examines one of the strange stone pedestals. The sun is high overhead and the arrow slits are dark - she can’t see inside. She asks Tyrius if he can cast light inside the space. When a golden glow streams out of the slits, Eddard lowers his head and stares inside, first with one eye, then the other.
“That’s an archer’s nest,” the horse says resolutely, startling the Flan folk passing by on the street. “There’s a little ledge to stand on, but then a ladder going down into the earth. Nice idea, that. Not enough space in there to draw a bow, but a light crossbow would fit just fine.”
Not liking the crowd that is gathering to see the talking horse, Willa gets them moving again, along the left-hand road that presumably leads to the gate northwest of town. They can see the open market ahead, though it appears deserted, with no stalls in sight. Willa asks them if anyone knows what the “warden” was as they walk. “I was trying to figure out his spell, myself,” says Aurora hopefully. "I think he used it to ask the mules about us."
“That was speak with animals,” says Tyrius. “And yes, he did ask the mules about us - which is what let him know about Thokk and Larry. I will have to do penance for my dissembling.”
“You answered his intent honestly enough,” says Eddard reassuringly, again startling the villagers nearby.
“Speak with animals?” sighs Aurora. “I don’t think I can learn that.” She looks about, trying to see whether there are any others dressed like the old man was.
“No, that’s druid magic,” confirms Tyrius. “Although I think rangers and bards can learn it as well.” Babshapka nods agreement.
The main party now stands in a small open plaza, flagstones under their feet, but no vendors in sight. “Not a market day?” asks Willa.
“Or just no caravans to sell to in winter,” muses Tyrius.
A large man bursts out of one of the stores that fronts the market. “‘ere, ‘ere!” he cries. “Travelers, ‘ere, aye, supplies fer ye an’ yer moont!” The portly merchant ushers them into his large general store. Eddard politely remains outside, smiling at the children who are daring one another to run up and touch him. Barrels and boxes of preserved food and other sundries crowd the floor of the store and crocks and jars line the shelves.
Willa asks the man how many miles ahead it is to the next market town. “Och, that’d be eighty miles ta Alvein, an’ anoother twenty miles ta Gorna. Ye’d best be thinkin’ a’ buying two weeks a’ food.”
Willa laughs. “We be no fat an’ slow caravan, master merchant. Since Elnore, we’ve made twenty miles on a good day.”
“Sure ye hae, sure ye hae. Boot when th’ fog cooms, aye? An’ th’ snow, lass?”
“Fair enough. We might ‘ave t’ sit a day ar twain in camp. But Babshapka ‘ere is a fair mark, and ‘e can find us meat.” Willa doesn’t mention the possibility of Thokk hunting and Larry foraging as well, though it is clearly on her mind.
Willa continues to ask the merchant about the route, learning that about the first half of the hundred miles to Gorna will be rocky mountain passes like they have seen so far. After that, the trail will descend into a broad and green valley with farming and herding villages, but no markets. She is now even more confident about the foraging opportunities. She agrees to buy just 21 rations (three days’ food for all of them, less Babshapka) and the merchant looks glum. Aurora mentions that she would like his smallest keg of ale as well, and he brightens a bit.
Once the supplies are packed and coin passed over, Willa asks the merchant about the archer nests, and he explains that they are for the defense of the village. Talbaire, although a human village, is actually under the rule of a gnome laird, and that laird is in turn beholden to Grand Duke Owen of Geoff. The gnome laird sees to the village’s defense, with stout walls and, should the enemy ever breach the walls, a series of tunnels underneath the town that will let the gnome archers snipe away at any invaders without exposing themselves.
The way the merchant says “Geoff” is peculiar - Tyrius has told them it is pronounced “joff”, but from this man it sound more like “gy-ruff”. Asked about it, he assures them that his is the correct pronunciation, and that the Sterrish don’t know anything about speaking proper Flan.
Finally, when asked about what the village needs defending from, the merchant offers up bandits, and humanoids - principally orcs and goblins.
It is just a short way from the market to the gate of the village, which is much like the one they came in. Out of the village the trail ascends a steep mountainside in a series of switchbacks. A mile above the village they encounter a camp with Umbra and Shefak, and the now-visible Thokk and Larry. Even before they are in the camp, however, they can hear Thokk bellowing from the slopes above them, “You see Aurora, you see how good a scout is Thokk!” with his shouts echoing down the mountainside. Having finally attained the camp, she gladly asks Willa to turn over the keg of ale to Thokk, and he has it half empty before the rest of them have finished their lunch.
For the afternoon’s trek they have to endure orc marching songs, sung at the top of Thokk’s drunken lungs. At the bottom of the other side of the mountain, the road branches east and west, but a faded sign points them east to Gorna. They travel through a broad, forested valley and have started up another narrow mountain pass before they lose the day’s light and camp for the night. After dark, a heavy fog blankets the slopes around them.
[ Used 8 human rations
Purchased 21 human rations for 31.5 gp of party treasure
38 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used, supplemented by forage
5 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used (cold trail food)
40 pounds charcoal remaining
Purchased 5 gallons of ale for 2.5gp of party treasure
No ale remaining by the end of dinner] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
I enjoyed Captain Robert's tale of the giants. 🙂
Was that your original concoction?
Yes, I made it from whole cloth.
As you might can tell, I am foreshadowing giants. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
Alvein is not on Darlene's map. It is on Anna Meyer's maps but originally comes from the City of Greyhawk Adventure Card 15. There it is shown as being at the north end of the caravan trail through the Stark Mounds. The description of Alvein that appears in the text is my own.
There are multiple canon sources for Gorna, which is (of course) on Darlene's maps. I drew heavily from the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer of the Grand Duchy of Geoff in my description.
Post 143: Talbaire to Gorna
15 January, 571 [Fireseek 21] - Talbaire, Stark Mounds, Geoff (2000 feet elevation)
Before setting out in the morning, the party goes over plans for the march. Thokk and Larry are still moving comfortably faster than the main party, and so will have extra time to hunt and forage if they move at their own pace. Willa decides to send Thokk ahead to both hunt and scout for danger. Larry will walk behind the party, taking his time to investigate food sources and then catching up to them later.
All morning long they continue to climb the steep, narrow pass in front of them. Thokk finds little game on the main trail, but thoroughly investigates side-branches and dead-end canyons, as well as scrambling up slopes too steep for the main party and poking in the occasional caves. Larry trails the party, turning over loose rocks to look for grubs and, later in the afternoon, checking rotting logs for mushrooms.
By the mid-afternoon the party’s ascent has finally leveled out. They turn from north to west, as the alpine valley they are in widens and becomes forested. The mules have not been able to browse all day, but Willa finds a campsite for the night in an open meadow so that they can graze freely.
[ Used 7 pounds meat and forage, found 28 pounds meat and forage; 21 pounds remaining
38 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used, supplemented by forage; 4 mule rations remaining
6 pounds charcoal used cooking foraged food; 34 pounds charcoal remaining]
16 January, 571 [Fireseek 22] - Trail from Talbaire to Alvein (2000 feet elevation)
[Wandering encounter: Patrolled Hills (noon); Mountain Lion]
The morning’s march continues along the same lightly forested valley as the previous day, but now gradually down rather than up. The party breaks for lunch on the banks of a stream, where they have come upon Thokk skinning a fat mountain hare. Beneath them, the valley opens up still further, until it is several miles wide and the stream has been joined by others to make a river. They are getting close to Alvein, and Babshapka says that he can see huts and hovels in the broad valley below. What none of them see is the lean cougar in a nearby copse, smelling the hare and the mules and twitching its tail (Stealth roll 20) but knowing better than to approach so many people at once.
The afternoon’s march is pleasant, as the stream grows broader and the trees and grass around more thick. A few hardwoods are even starting to come in among the pines. By the end of the day they have passed a shepherd’s lean-to shelter. Willa is wondering whether it is wise to send Thokk in advance of the party on the morrow, lest he come back from “hunting” with some Geoff herdsman’s sheep, goat, or cow.
[ Used 7 pounds meat and forage, found 18 pounds meat and forage; 32 pounds remaining
38 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used, supplemented by forage; 3 mule rations remaining
6 pounds charcoal used cooking foraged food; 28 pounds charcoal remaining]
17 January, 571 [Fireseek 23] - Trail from Talbaire to Alvein (2000 feet elevation)
[Thunderstorm 12pm to 8pm]
As Willa sets the march order in the morning, she talks to Thokk, telling him she wants him back with Larry, foraging in the rear guard. Babshapka will scout in the van today. When Thokk petulantly asks why, she points at the meat left over from breakfast. He is hunting too well, she says, and they cannot eat so much meat before it goes bad. Thokk chuckles over the finicky human stomachs that cannot stand a little rot in their food. Also, Willa tells him, unlike Aurora, she believes in his scouting and hunting ability. The human-kept animals, like chickens, sheep, and cows, are too easy, she says - they are beneath his skills as a hunter. She tells him he needs to impress Aurora and the others by hunting only wild animals worthy of his skill. He grins lopsidedly and agrees. After everyone is in good order, the main party sets out, with Thokk and Larry concealing themselves near the campsite to see if any camp rats or other creatures arrive, believing the whole party has left. “Or goats!” Willa calls over her shoulder as they depart, suddenly remembering another possibility. “No sheep, cows, chickens, OR GOATS!” Thokk and Larry snicker to one another in their hiding spot.
Babshapka stows his stone in anticipation of being the first point of contact for the party and jogs up the trail ahead of them. As they set out, they are in rough country with the caravan trail alongside the river (which they will later learn is the Red Oyt). However, as the morning wears on, the river drops down and curves away, but the trail stays on a dry step overlooking the widening valley bottom. Below them the land grows greener, a patchwork of forest becoming denser and clearings becoming increasingly intensively used for sheep pastures.
By noon, they have rounded a rock promontory on their south and can see all the way to the end of the valley below them, some ten or fifteen miles ahead. Little fishing thorps line the riverbanks below, but there are no settlements along the caravan trail itself until the end of the valley, where they can just make out the walled village of Alvein. Several of them are hopeful of reaching the village by eveningfall, maybe even spending the night at an inn. Babshapka, however, waiting for them at the spot he has chosen for their noon camp, points at the gathering dark clouds above them, replete with thunderheads.
While they take out their lunch and start a fire the distant roll of thunder can be heard. By the time Thokk and Larry arrive, empty-handed for now, the rain has begun. The deluge, lit by flashes of lightning, continues the whole time they eat and shows no signs of stopping when they return to the march. It is not long before the trail is slick in places and muddy in others, and by evening, with it still raining, they are only half the distance to Alvein. They could continue on in the dark until they reached the village walls, it is true, but they will have enough problems arriving at the unknown village in the morning without demanding that they open their gates at night.
The rain finally stops a few hours after dark. No one has slept yet, the crash of thunder having kept up even those that could sleep while sodden. They build their fire high and hang and dry as much of their clothes as they can before the first lot of them head off to sleep.
They will certainly reach Alvein early on the morrow, but Willa, Tyrius, and Aurora discuss what happens next around the campfire. Should they stop there and resupply, or continue straight on another day to Gorna, the capital? From what they saw of the village before dark, it is small, with a few hundred people at most - Gorna will be much larger. As strangers, they will be much more noted by the people of Alvein, but word of them is less likely to get out, should anyone be looking for them. Is it better to be noticed for certain but not communicated about, or to be unlikely to be noticed but certainly communicated about if they are? Are they far enough from the humanoids of the Stark Mounds that Thokk could walk freely in Alvein, or are they better off with him in the capital? Gorna will certainly have access to more specialized goods and services, but things like food and lodging are likely to be more expensive there. While much of the way forward is unclear, what is clear is that they would do well to spend a full day in one or the other of the two towns - they have been on the road nearly a month since Crosswater, and much of their equipment is due for repair or replacement. They will need to buy charcoal and grain for the mules, but they need more than shopping - they need to visit cobblers, armorers, leatherworkers, smiths, and such. Also, at some point when it is not raining and the night skies are clear, Willa needs to take measurements and prepare their next version of the Starfall map.
[ Used 8 pounds meat and forage, found no meat and forage; 24 pounds remaining
38 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used, supplemented by forage; 2 mule rations remaining
6 pounds charcoal used cooking foraged food, another 10 pounds to dry clothes; 12 pounds remaining]
18 January, 571 [Fireseek 24] - Trail from Talbaire to Alvein (2000 feet elevation)
[Light Rain 11pm to next day]
After the talk last night, it has been decided to send Tyrius and Willa up ahead into Alvein to scout it out while the others trail behind. The trio (including Eddard) leave immediately after breakfast while the rest of the party packs camp. Thokk and Larry are kept close to the main group rather than foraging behind in case they need to be hidden.
Tyrius and Willa enter the village at mid-morning while the rest of the party is still a mile off. At this distance, the party can see the settlement clearly, and avoid approaching any closer. All of the village is walled, but the walls themselves are just earthen dikes and wooden palisades, with only the towers being of stone. Although built at a narrow point in the valley, the village itself does not completely block passage in the way Talbaire, Oytpass Keep, or Elnore did - rather, it would be easy to walk around the village walls, at least to the south of the walls. To go around to the north, they would have to first cross the Red Oyt River, with no obvious way of doing that at their current location. The river flows close to but not through the village, and outside the walls there is a small wharf and mill district with several moored barges. Outside the village, on both sides of the river, trails lead up the steep mountain slopes to numerous cave mouths in what are likely to be mines.
When Tyrius and Willa arrive at the village, they find the gates open - but no guards about. They stand confused, just inside the gate, trying to see if anyone will challenge them while the village folk busily go about their affairs. Finally Tyrius spots a man tending to a sick goat in a pen near the gate, and something about the man reminds him of the “warden” from Talbaire, so he approaches him. When Tyrius asks to be admitted to the village, the man, without looking up from his work, asks mockingly whether he wants a carpet or strewn flower petals, or perhaps a herald to announce his presence. Tyrius, nonplussed, says that they are strangers here to supply and equip, and the man says that they should be about their business, then, and points him at the craft district. Willa tries a different tack, saying that they are advance scouts for their party of adventurers, and want to make sure they don’t offend local sensibilities - including by bringing a dwarf and an armed half-orc into the village. This finally gets the man’s attention, and for the first time he looks up from the goat and sees them. He studies Willa’s face, and the sunburst design on Tyrius’ shield.
“Tha dwarrrf be fine,” he says at last, “jus’ keep tha euroz on a shorrrt leash, aye?”
Willa and Tyrius move off and begin to discuss who should go back to bring the party into the village and who should start looking at shops when Eddard sighs, says that that he won’t likely fit in shops anyway, and that he will go fetch the party.
As Willa and Tyrius walk through the streets to the shop district, they are struck by the abundance of women among the villagers - or, as it turns out, the relative paucity of men. They later learn that by this point in the day, nearly all able-bodied men are either working in the mines outside of town or in the lumber camps upriver. The exception would be the shop-keepers and skilled craftsmen they are going to see. Alvein supplies coal (mineral coal actually mined, not charcoal prepared in pits) and timber and fish for Gorna. Due to both the seasonal caravan trade and the constant need for harnesses for the local ponies of the mines, there are a number of skilled leatherworkers in the village, and most of the party’s needs can be met here - there are workers to resole their shoes, patch holes in cloaks and jackets, mend straps and buckles, apply oil soap to Eddard’s saddle and barding, and so forth. There are bowstrings for purchase. Likewise, the party could buy human rations here (although they currently have enough for four or five days in addition to their fresh forage) and certainly they can get both grain for the mules and charcoal for themselves, all at reasonable prices (and much less than they paid in Talbaire and Oytpass Keep). The shopkeepers assure them that the prices are lower here than the capital as well, although Willa puts these assurances in the same category as those of the shopkeeper who said they would need two weeks of food for the march from Talbaire to here. The smiths here are adequate to clean, polish, and sharpen their weapons. There is not, however, an armorer, so the one item that they will not be able to have serviced is Tyrius’ plate armor - and it is rather in need of sanding and oiling. By the time the main party arrives at the gates, Tyrius and Willa know where they will be making their purchases and repairs, should they actually decide to do that here, and have a lead on an inn besides. When Willa asks whether they will be able to conduct their affairs and still make Gorna by nightfall, none of the Alveinians believes that they can - except for one prentice blacksmith who says that if they are in that much of a hurry to reach the capital they should hire a river barge and simply float there, as that will be faster than walking.
Willa and Tyrius find the party and after a quick conference with Aurora, decide to stay the day and night in Alvein. Tyrius keeps Thokk with him and takes the mules to the inn (“The Stolen Nugget”), Aurora collects the gear in need of repair and spends the day in the leather shops, and Willa sees to buying new supplies.
Today is Moonsday and tomorrow Godsday - most of the townsfolk are abed soon after dark so as to attend services on the morrow. The miners are exhausted from their day’s labors in any event. But after the party has a hearty dinner of lamb stew, fresh bread, and eel pie for dessert, the common room of the inn begins to fill nonetheless. Most of those who come to drink are the young prentice craftsmen who, fostered on masters not of their own kin, are a most impious lot. These youths are joined by the fisher folk who, like water folk everywhere, keep their own religious customs apart from those of the larger community. Perhaps it is for this reason that Willa chose the inn closest to the river gate, for she is soon found to be drinking with a barge pilot and his crew. Every so often she excuses herself to check the sky outside, but finding it still overcast, soon returns to her tankard. Around eleven, when the steady patter of rain can be heard on the shutters, she gives up any pretense of checking the sky. The Gyri (as they call themselves, or “Joffans” as Tyrius insists on calling them) are a rough and boisterous people, given to mocking one another with jests that would bring Keoishmen to blows, and the common room is filled with laughter, shouting, and song. For all the concern the party showed about Thokk, he is soon drinking collegially and arm-wrestling with a table of huge-armed prentice smiths. As the night wears on he shouts increasingly incomprehensible complaints at the rest of the party for conspiring to keep him from the taverns of the last several towns they passed.
The night is cut short by the innkeep, however, who makes a “last call” at a quarter to midnight, and begins forcing people out at midnight itself. “The wardens, the wardens…” is all he will say over the objections of the patrons, and sometimes, “Ye dinnae have ta gae ta kirk, but ye cannae drink oon Godsday.” Willa knows full well they have a day’s march to Gorna in the morning, so she speaks soothingly to Thokk and finally coaxes him from the bar and upstairs.
[ Used 2 pounds meat and forage at breakfast, rest of day was inn fare, found none; 22 pounds remaining
38 human rations remaining
No mule rations used (forage and stabling), 14 mule rations purchased for 70cp; 16 remaining
2 pounds charcoal used cooking, 80 pounds purchased for 4gp; 92 pounds charcoal remaining
41gp, 12 coppers spent on inn and repairing equipment]
[Total expenses 45gp, 82cp]
19 January, 571 [Fireseek 25] - Alvein (2000 feet elevation)
[Light rain from previous day to 7am, Thunderstorm from 6pm to 9pm]
The innkeeper’s insistence on cutting their evening short the night before means that the party has an easy enough time rising in the morning, though it is still raining when they do. There is no trace to be found of the innkeeper, though a cold breakfast is laid out for them, along with a note scrawled in Common, “gone to kirk”. Willa and Aurora settle the bill, leave coin in the kitchen, and pack the party’s gear, but they wait until the rain stops to bring the mules out from the stable and load them. After that they are off down the slick cobbles of the street, out the open, unguarded gate of the village, and along the trail the follows the Red Oyt River down the winding road to Gorna.
The day is cool and overcast, but the rain holds off at least while they are marching. The broad wooded valley in which Alvein lay closes off, and for more than half the day the trail follows the Red Oyt tightly as it winds through a narrow and twisting pass. Then finally in the early afternoon they emerge on the upper slopes of an even greater and greener valley, with the great city of Gorna before them at the confluence of the Red Oyt and White Oyt rivers. Gorna is easily a city of several thousand inhabitants. It is no Gradsul of course, but it is certainly larger than Longspear and it is easily the biggest city they have seen since leaving Keoland. The city itself is on a high promontory above the rivers, with one end defended by a great stone castle; the castle’s towers rise like tall stone sentinels from atop an enormous hill of granite. Stone walls and towers surround the entire city. Below the bluff, at the level of the valley floor, are acres and acres of farmland, the first extensive cropland they have have seen since entering Geoff.
The road is good and they have hours to spare. So long as the rain stays away, they should be able to reach the gates of the city by nightfall.
The party passes the afternoon approaching the city - at first through sheep pastures, then, as they get closer, fields of wheat and rye - their brown stubble showing that they were harvested months ago. The crofts and manor houses they pass show an abundance of stone - the local granite must be plentiful and accessible. The clouds thicken and darken as they progress, so that by the time they are marching past the huge stone castle outside the city, it is impossible to see the sunset. Peals of thunder, accompanied by thick drops of rain, begin as they approach the gates. A squad of tartan-clad soldiers flank the single open gate. As the party makes to enter, their officer says, “By rights we ought t’ ‘ave closed tha gate afore dusk, bu’ we seen ye coomin’ oop tha road.” His tone is expectant, as if fishing for a reward in return for not shutting the party out for the night.
Tyrius is composing his response when Umbra steps to the front of the party and says forcefully, “We appreciate your consideration.” The soldiers all give the curious salute to the fey and their officer scowls, but steps aside to let the party pass.
The streets of the unfamiliar city are already deserted and dark (except for flashes of lightning), and the rain is growing heavier by the minute. The party hires a linkboy for a few coppers and gives him the task of finding them an inn close to the weaponsmith and armorer district. The lad sets off parallel to the city walls and soon has them a place just a few blocks away - it makes sense that the smithies would be close to the castle gate rather than on the other side of town.
“The Bonny Lass” is a large and drafty inn, but there is a good fire going in the common room hearth and the innkeeper is laying the table for a single patron when they enter. After a terse negotiation with the party he agrees to let them three rooms, stabling for their mounts, and set them plates at the table. When Thokk lowers his massive frame to the bench, pounds the table, and bellows for ale as the others are still shaking the rain from their cloaks, the well-dressed man at the table raises his eyebrows, but does not get up. Willa (Perception check 18) notices that he also surreptitiously loosens his blade in its scabbard with his left hand, while not setting down his mug of broth from his right.
When they are all at table, Tyrius begins their conversation, drawing out the man bit by bit until the paladin gives a nod to the party that they can speak freely. The gentleman is the scion of a “highlands family,” in the capital briefly on the business of his uncle and laird. He is traveling with a number of clansmen, but they are of low birth and are supping in the kitchen with the innkeeper’s family. The man, Ieuan, is friendly, educated, and well-traveled, so by the end of the meal the party has asked him many questions about Geoff.
Aurora is too cautious to bring out questions of the Starfall to this stranger right away, so she and Willa take turns asking how it would be best to travel to the northwest of Geoff. Ieuan explains that no matter which way they plan on going, their first step will be downriver to the city of Oytmeet. That is a bit more than a long day’s march by road, or a half day’s float down the White Oyt.
From Oytmeet, there is no easy or direct way to the northwest, since the mountain ranges of the highlands generally run southwest to northeast (in ridges that echo and parallel those of the Barrier Peaks) and, the farther to the northwest they go, the more deserted the highlands become and fewer are the roads and trails. However, Ieuan suggests two routes. If the party is more interested in going west than north, or in going west first, they should take the trail to Tycha. That will first take them west up the Blue Oyt River, then up into the Highlands, then west to Tycha, which is about as far west as you can go in the southern Highlands.
If they want to go north first, however (and don’t mind going a fair bit east out of their way), they should book passage on a barge downriver on the Oyt all the way to Preston, and then take the trail west to Dersyth, which is about as far west as they can go in the northern Highlands, as its name obviously implies.
Aurora mentions that she is a traveling scholar, interested in gathering information about history and traditions here in the north. The man looks at Willa and Tyrius, still in their plate armor, at Thokk, elbow deep in a haunch of ham, at Larry, ignoring the utensils set out for him and eating with his hands, and at Babshapka and Umbra, who finished their meal early and who are now staring silently into the fire. He smiles, bemused, but does not challenge her assertion. “And as a scholar,” insists Aurora rather forcefully, “I would be interested in seeking out any centers where historical texts might be preserved - ideally libraries or colleges, but monasteries or other places of learning as well.”
Ieuan explains that there are precious few historical texts in Geoff, as their history is an oral tradition preserved by the scops (the local equivalent of bards). Flan is the native language of the land, and as she is no doubt aware, it is not a written language. Writing did not begin until the educated of Geoff began to learn Common from foreigners. He is no historian, but estimates that that couldn’t have been more than a few hundred years ago at most. When he, or the laird his uncle, has a question about history, they consult the scops. And if the local scops are not knowledgeable enough, they can consult their own teachers at the College of Cainaith, which undoubtedly is the greatest repository of historical information in the land. That lies in the north, very near the city of Dersyth. And, he believes, he may have heard of monasteries nearby in the cantrev as well - if there are any in the land, they would be there.
Later in the conversation Aurora asks about the “wardens”. Ieuan explains that these are druids who help villages and towns with civil affairs - officiating at ceremonies, healing people and animals and blessing crops, enforcing community standards, and such. Geoff has a strong tradition of druids, and while many of them live in the wild and never enter town, those with an affinity for people or service accept the title of warden and help out in whatever capacity the local communities need. The wardens are respected especially in matters of justice and civil disputes, and disagreements between clans, because they have renounced their own clans, forsaken their kinsmen, and taken vows to remain neutral in blood feuds. They don’t have the authority of the local laird or the force of law behind them, but Ieuan strongly advises the party to respect their decisions because a harsh word from one of them could easily sway the opinion of an entire community against the party.
When his kinsmen have finished eating and emerge from the kitchen, Ieuan takes his leave of the party and retires to their rooms upstairs. Some in the party follow suit, while others remain drinking below.
In her room, Aurora takes out the carefully wrapped diary of Nholast. By candlelight she checks the dates, and runs the conversion of Suel Dates to Common Years, arriving again at her initial conclusion that the starfall documented by Nholast occurred approximately 750 years ago.
The rain continues until well after Willa is abed, although it does let up before midnight. Snug and warm under thick woolen blankets, she is sure the sky is still too overcast to survey, and that crawling out on the wet shingles of the roof in the dark would be folly.
[ Used 2 pounds meat and forage; rest of day was inn fare, found none; 20 pounds remaining
38 human rations remaining
No mule rations used (forage and stabling); 16 mule rations remaining
2 pounds charcoal used cooking foraged food at lunch; 90 pounds charcoal remaining] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
I am not caught up yet, but I want to add that I appreciate how you are able to make traveling through the Flanaess an adventure in itself. I enjoy your vision of the various peoples, nations, and towns that the PCs pass through.
Edit: Okay, now I know I have heard of the Svartjet River, but not from Sterich. Isn't that the name of one of the rivers on the map of Deep Oerth from GDQ (the other being the Pitchy Flow)?
Edit 2:
Quote:
Kicking out with his legs and thrashing about with his arms, he sends scores of stones, large and small, cascading over the edge. He keeps at it for nearly a minute, until only the largest and most stable stones remain, and then declares that he has defeated the mountain and the way is safe for the party to cross.
I am not caught up yet, but I want to add that I appreciate how you are able to make traveling through the Flanaess an adventure in itself. I enjoy your vision of the various peoples, nations, and towns that they PCs pass through.
The section you are in is a long overland trek without a lot of action or combat. If I were writing this as fiction rather than campaign journal, it would be greatly abbreviated. As it is, I see it as sort of a love letter to the people and terrain of the Flanaess, and to Anna Meyer's maps, which have enabled me to imagine much better the lands through which the PC's pass. I also hope that it may be of use to some other DM in describing a similar journey at some point, which is why I have tried to be explicit about my sources. It is gratifying that you are getting as much out of it as I got from writing it.
SirXaris wrote:
Okay, now I know I have heard of the Svartjet River, but not from Sterich. Isn't that the name of one of the rivers on the map of Deep Oerth from GDQ (the other being the Pitchy Flow)?
Indeed, the Svartjet is from the D series maps of the Underdark. But there is also a Svartjet on the surface, which Anna's maps show as flowing south out of the Stark Mounds and entering the Davish just east of Istivin. I suspect she is getting the name from Living Greyhawk material, since there was a Living Greyhawk adventure called Bridge over Svartjet. This was a Core adventure and Sterich was considered a Core region, so presumably she set the river where the adventure placed it. It was written, in part, by Greyhawk luminary Creighton Broadhurst.
"Svart" is a nordic cognate for the German "Schawartz", meaning dark, or black, so "Svartjet" means something like Dark Stream (or 'Pitchy Flow' for that matter). I expect the underdark river is named so because its waters don't see the sun, whereas the one in Sterich is called that because it is turbid with eroded materials from the Stark Mounds.
SirXaris wrote:
Quote:
[Thokk] has defeated the mountain and the way is safe for the party to cross.
Now, that is funny!
_________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
There are multiple canon sources for Gorna, which is, as the capital of Geoff, on Darlene's maps. I drew heavily from the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer of the Grand Duchy of Geoff in my description of Gorna.
Post 144: Gorna
20 January, 571 [Fireseek 26] - Gorna (lowlands)
[Wandering monster encounter; City, night: NPC fighter]
[Light rain; 6am to 7am]
Breakfast at the Bonny Lass is ample, with bacon, pork sausage, blood sausage, eggs, pickled tomatoes, and oat cakes. Even Thokk is satisfied by the time he rises from the table. The party leaders plan the day. Tyrius will visit the armorers and smiths until he finds one he trusts to service his plate. Willa will go to the docks and inquire about passage downriver. Aurora will conduct an inventory and gear check on their mountaineering and other mundane supplies, and then decide whether they need more.
Tyrius, Eddard, and Larry visit the smiths of Arfau Alley. In truth, Larry knows nothing about forgecraft, but Tyrius figures that just the sight of a dwarf will help keep the smiths honest. A light rain began before dawn but was over before breakfast, and as the morning sun hits the cobbled streets they steam with vapor. It is nearing fifty degrees, and the shops have their windows unshuttered, the smithies their flaps drawn up. They walk the entire length of the alley, looking into all the shops and forges, and spot no one working on plate armor, and just a few repairing chain. Tyrius returns to the smithy he and Eddard had agreed demonstrated the best work. There is no plate armor or even splint for sale; anyone capable of making heavy armor would be employed at the castle outside the city, or as they say, “oop a’ caerau”. Still, Tyrius doesn’t need plate made, just his serviced, so he begins a conversation with the master smith, while Larry fetches examples of his work to show to Eddard, who sticks his head through the doorway, comments at each in turn, and thoroughly unnerves the 'prentices.
The smith agrees to look at Tyrius’ armor (which he has not put on this morning). The smith points out leather straps and brass buckles that need to be replaced, numerous chain links to be mended, a few dents that will have to be pounded out, and the whole thing sanded and polished. He also recommends throwing out the gambeson and replacing a good number of the leather pads. Tyrius agrees to all of the changes and trusts the man to do the work. They agree on a price, but then the smith says that he will not be able to begin the work for two days, as he has other orders pending (luck roll -2). Tyrius says that he understands the importance of the man’s other work, but adds that he would be doing a great service to the church of Pelor if he were able to accomplish the task sooner (Persuasion roll 18).
The man asks if Tyrius is indeed a paladin of Pelor, and Tyrius swears to it. The man says that the wardens make sure he does not work on Godsday, regardless of how much custom he has backed up, and he wonders whether Tyrius can grant him a dispensation for the next Godsday in return for moving to first in the queue. Tyrius reflects on this, and says he can certainly pen a document asking for such a thing, but cannot guarantee the wardens will accept it. The smith says that Tyrius need not worry about that, for he knows a warden who is a devout Peloran. Eddard notices the sour looks on the faces of the 'prentices and draws Tyrius’ attention to them. Tyrius says he will pay extra so that the smith can pay his 'prentices to work on the next Godsday themselves (since they are normally unpaid labor). The smith says that if Tyrius leaves the armor with him, it will be ready by early on the morrow.
Willa takes Thokk with her to the river gate and then the docks beyond. Ever since their first trip on a whaler out of Seaton, Willa has had luck finding free passage on ships in return for a promise to help defend them. It can’t hurt for her to show off a little muscle as she makes that offer again. Besides, she would rather have Thokk with her, under her care, than bored at the inn with less supervision.
The Gyri dock workers are a garrulous sort, and she has no difficulty engaging them in conversation. In short order she learns that the Red Oyt River, that the party followed here, is so named for the reddish tint it picks up from the rocks it passes through as it cuts its channel through the Stark Mounds. Gorna was built where the Red Oyt meets the White.Oyt. The White is named for its rapids, which make it unnavigable above Gorna. The now-combined river flows north to Oytmeet, where it is joined by the Blue Oyt. Below that the river is called the Oyt Avon, or simply the Oyt, and it flows north and east all the way to the Upper Javan, a journey that takes just a few days by the river barges, which can easily manage sixty miles a day (although the return trip upriver can take two weeks or more). There are no prominent dangers along the route, but on the last day, through the Oyt Wood, it is not unheard of to meet bandits or monsters. To go upriver instead, from Oytmeet to Pwyst’s Ryd through the Hornwood (which was Ieuan’s first suggestion for them), would take a week by barge. The trail along the river could be walked faster than that by a small, well-equipped, and disciplined group, since going upriver by barge would mean either being pulled by oxen or constant polling.
When Willa inquires about the availability of a barge here in Gorna, the dockworkers say that she is asking in the wrong season, as there is little trade in the winter. It will likely be several days before a barge leaves town.
Willa asks about the weather, as well. After four days of rain, the skies are clearing and the dockworkers claim that there will be clear skies tonight. Willa and Thokk leave the docks and scout for a place to see the sky. There are public plazas, but they are surrounded by buildings that block the horizon. There are numerous stone towers in the city, but all are in use as guard towers or homes of the wealthy. Soon, however, they come upon the ancient ruins of enormous stone buildings. The stone has weathered centuries, but much of it still stands. Partial building shells, empty or collapsed towers, massive flat stones laid together without mortar and now completely covered in moss and lichen, are scattered around the city in several locations. Some flank open squares, others are incorporated into internal walls and newer defensive works, and some simply have wooden houses built right up against them. The doorways and windows of the stone ruins are huge, the rooms cavernous. The locals readily tell Willa that Gorna was built on the remains of a city of giants sacked by the Druid-King Llewellyn more than two thousand years ago. While she finds that difficult to believe, the more of the city she explores, the more ancient, giant, ruins she finds. Near enough the inn is the ruins of a building with only one wall still standing. One end of the wall preserves a corner and is vertically sheer, but the other has a staggered ascent, each row of stones more recessed than the ones below it like a great rough staircase. At ground level the layers of stone are eight feet high, but she judges the ones some fifty or sixty feet above are only five feet or so. The width of the wall would more than allow her to spread out her navigation instruments comfortably at the top. She considers returning in the night to scale it.
Back at the inn, Aurora inventories their supplies:
Silk rope: 4
Tinderbox: 5
Oil flasks: 24
Torches: 12
Grappling hook: 2
Lanterns: 2
10’ pole: 2
Pitons: 14
Wooden stakes: 5
Hammers: 2
Climbing kit: 2
Caltrops: 5
Fishing pole and tackle: 1
She and Babshapka visit the local blacksmiths and pick up a crowbar for 2gp. A hunting trap is not to be found among the smiths, since the spring mechanism is more complicated than human work can manage, but they do find one in a general store for 5gp. It is of gnomish manufacture. Aurora also finds a merchant willing to exchange gold coins for platinum. He offers to give them 10 platinum for 50 gold and 5 silver (1% change fee), or 20 platinum for 105 gold (5% fee), or 30 platinum for 165 gold (10% fee). Aurora changes 50 gold coins with him.
The skies do remain clear all day and into the night. After dinner, Babshapka elicits a pledge from Tyrius to watch over Aurora while he is out. It is warm enough that Willa and Babshapka can leave their cloaks and the heaviest of their cold weather gear at the inn; they don’t intend to be out all night. Willa also leaves her armor in her room at the inn - the magical platemail is lighter than anything not enchanted, but is still cumbersome and not something she wishes to be scaling walls in. Today is Waterday, tomorrow, Oerthday, so it is a workday evening, but there are plenty of people in the street and in the taverns and common rooms of the city. Willa and Babshapka have their rope and grapnel in one nondescript backpack, her instruments and paper in another, as they make their way to the ancient ruin. They loiter on the corner near the pile of tumbled stone from the fallen parts of the ruin a good while until no one is in sight (Willa Stealth roll 18). Willa and Babshapka have just thrown the grapnel and climbed up to the first layer, some eight feet off the ground, when they have to throw themselves prone as a knot of men passes by. Willa doesn’t know whether climbing ruins at night is permitted in the city or not, and she has been careful not to ask so that she can claim ignorance if needed.
It is slow-going as they wait for gaps in the passers-by, but eventually they make it to the top (Willa Str check 18, Babshapka 20). Climbing a two-thousand year old ruin, with tons of unmortared stone that could collapse underneath them, is not particularly sensible, but Willa doesn’t feel the huge stones so much as shift once during their ascent. At the top of the wall is a large, flat area in which she can spread out her instruments and wait, taking the angles of the small moon and planets as they rise and move across the sky, and noting their apogees. Luna being new, there is no way to chart its positions but with the others it should be enough. Willa sights the bodies, but holds out the instruments for Babshapka to read the numbers, as his eyes can see the markings even in the relative darkness. He takes notes on a paper as she dictates. After Willa is confident that her measurements will allow her to nail down the precise latitude (29.5N as it turns out) and longitude of Gorna, the two descend back down the wall, “step” by “step”, and return to the inn.
In the common room, Willa stokes the embers of the hearth fire and lays fresh logs, brings candles from the kitchen, and spreads out her materials on the dining table. Babshapka fetches Aurora from her bed. Willa and Aurora set to work re-scaling their old map and then drawing a new one, reducing the area of the starfall considerably. Aurora is quite satisfied to find that the entire circumference of the potential landing site is now completely within the rugged and remote wilderness of the Barrier Peaks Mountains, so the starfall is almost surely untouched (provided it has not been claimed by some humanoid tribe). The new map does not make it clear whether their next goal should be Tycha or Dersyth, however - the Starfall lies to the north and west of both - mostly north of Tycha, mostly west of Dersyth. The new search area is about 1200 square miles - about the size of a large county or two. That is still a lot of ground to cover in the wild mountains, without too much idea what they are looking for. Willa believes that if she can get about halfway to the mountains from Gorna, she can revise the scale one last time before she is at the limit of the accuracy of her instruments and Nholast’s recorded position. Tyrius still needs to pick up his plate mail in the morning, so they can decide on their destination over breakfast.
[ Used no food - inn fare; 20 pounds meat and forage and 38 human rations remaining
No mule rations used (forage and stabling); 16 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used; 90 pounds charcoal remaining] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
The discussion over breakfast focuses on Willa’s estimation of how large their search area still is - they could spend the winter traipsing up and down mountainsides and never find the fallen star in an area that large. For her, narrowing their search area is more important than whether they are starting from Tycha or Dersyth, and she prods Aurora to locate some scops and find out more about this College of Cainaith and whether they would be able to get answers there.
After breakfast, Tyrius, Eddard, and Larry return to the armorer’s shop to watch him finish polishing the platemail, Willa and Thokk return to the waterfront, and Aurora and Babshapka look for scops.
At the waterfront, Willa changes her tack. Rather than agree to defend a loaded merchant vessel in exchange for free passage, she asks how much it would cost to charter a river barge for the party with no cargo. She finds more than one pilot opening at 1 silver hawk, per person or animal, per mile. She is able to negotiate final terms with one particular pilot as follows:
5 silver hawks total per mile for the party (eight party members, two mules, and Eddard)
Party will supply their own food and defend the barge; the barge crew will feed themselves.
The barge is guaranteed hired until Oytmeet (25 miles) for 12.5 gold lions.
Once at Oytmeet, the party may end the hire or keep going until the mouth of the Lea (100 miles) for an additional 50 gold lions.
At the mouth of the Lea, the party may end the hire or keep going until Preston (110 miles) for an additional 55 gold lions.
Aurora and Babshapka tour the city, speaking to scops. After half a day, they have found several, but none of them have been “classically trained” at the college (although several of their masters were). These city scops tend to be “crowd pleasers” in the tradition of minstrels, who play in the taverns and common rooms, or plazas and market squares in warmer weather. They know all the standard songs on a few instruments, but that is it. When Aurora speaks to them of “the events of 750 years ago” they can launch into ballads of Llewellyn from the age of heroes, but these have no useful information about the Starfall, and they don’t seem aware of the distinction between 750 years ago and two thousand. A graduate of Cainaith, they say, is required to show proficiency in many more instruments, as well as to have detailed historical knowledge of people, places, and events, among other skills. Such a scop does not play for crowds in a city tavern though - being conferred the title of Cainaith graduate guarantees a position in some noble court, as scop to an Arglwythi or even a Llwyr (Tyrius later tells them that these titles are roughly equivalent to Baron and Count in the Keoish peerage).
By luncheon, everyone is back at the Bonnie Lass, Tyrius with his armor in much better condition and his pouch 3 gold lions lighter, Aurora with her information, and Willa with her negotiated deal. It is agreed that they will pack and set out on the barge to Oytmeet as soon as they finish eating.
The party settles their bill with the innkeeper of the Bonny Lass and travels to the waterfront. They board Na Fèidh, and meet Ossian, who insists they call him Peilot Ossian, not Captain. He says he has the greatest respect for sailing folk like Willa, but that even the best ocean-going captain doesn’t know how to run the rapids or avoid the sand bars of the Oyt Avon. “Credit whar credit be due,” agrees Willa amiably.
The barge is wide but shallow of draft; only Larry would be able to stand upright in the hold. Fortunately, with no cargo there is plenty of room on deck for them to camp - the crew sleep in hammocks in a cramped aft cabin.
As the crew poles away from the docks of Gorna, Ossian says they will have fair weather and easy sailing to Oytmeet, and should arrive while it is still light enough to dock. Aurora mentions that Larry can make light for them if needed, and Willa explains that they sometimes extended their day’s travel on the Javan by doing so. Ossian listens, but shakes his head. “Oopstream on tha broad Javan be woon thing, doonstream on tha Oyt atother. We’ll be movin’ fahr too swift fer tha’. I need ta see fahr ahead ta peilot, thank ye kindly.” Once the current catches them, they can see that he is correct - they are moving downstream as fast as one of them could jog along the banks, and his steering is constantly adjusting for what lies farther ahead than Larry’s light would reveal.
In their journey north, they do indeed encounter rapids. The whitewater is light enough itself that they are never really tossed about, but without the Peilot’s knowledge of where in the river to pass and where to avoid, their barge would have been grounded on rock ledges dozens of times in just the first day, if not smashed and sunk.
It is a bit more than four hours later when Oytmeet comes into view, with the Blue Oyt joining the White outside the city, and the combined flow sweeping past its docks. Ossian says that there will be just enough light to safely dock if the party wishes to do so, or he can moor on the far bank away from the city, either above it if the party intends to visit in the morning, but does not want to pass a night on the docks, or beneath it, if they do not intend on making port and want an even earlier start on the morrow.
While the party deliberates, and Na Fèidh approaches the city, however, a large oared vessel is seen leaving port. It is making straight for Na Fèidh, and is soon revealed to be a small war galley, with a single covered bank of oars and a deck crowded with archers. It moves to the far side of the river, and then tracks the movements of the barge, narrowing the distance and herding it toward the city as they approach. “Never ye mind, then,” says Ossian. “It ‘ppears we will be makin’ port in Oytmeet whether ye wish it o’ nae.”
As Na Fèidh angles, and comes about so as to head for the docks, slowing as she points her prow upstream, the party can see the oars of the galley, rowing in unison, slow as well to match their pace. The galley does not turn; rather it slides forward and back, upstream and down, angling ever closer to Na Fèidh while keeping the barge to its broadside. Both captain and oarsmen are obviously experienced in maneuvers.
Aurora walks casually about the deck until she has the aft cabin between her and the warship, then sits down completely out of sight. A second later Buckbeak lifts off, circling above Na Fèidh as he gains altitude. Aurora can see the deck of the other ship better now from his eyes. Its commander appears to be a huge bear of a man with a great shock of red hair and beard, bellowing orders and gesticulating, with a tartan over his shoulders and another wrapped around his waist, his legs bare from the knees down. He looks up and meets Buckbeak’s gaze briefly, then turns and shouts at a lanky man on deck who has a bodhrán is at his hip and a lyre across his back. In a flash of feathers, a huge osprey sets forth from the warship and flies directly at Buckbeak. Even as Na Fèidh is herded into the docks of Oytmeet, Buckbeak is forced to land on Aurora’s shoulder, lest he be set upon by the osprey.
Willa strides over to Ossein, but keeps a respectful distance as he is giving orders to his own crew. When there is a pause in his commands, she asks, “Peilot, what be we expectin’ ‘ere?”
Ossein points to the ship’s banner, flown just over a large corvus on the prow. It is red with a black chevron. A rampant lion holds a sword.
“Tha’ be tha flag a’ Cantrev Cymeravon. Wha’ever they want a’ us, it be official.”
The hands of Na Fèidh work to slow their approach to shore, long wooden poles shuddering as they impact the river bottom, and tossing lines to men on the docks. At last she comes to a halt and is tied off. The warship approaches then, passing so close that all the oars on the starboard side are pulled in, lest they be shorn off. Na Fèidh is pinned between the dock and the larger, higher ship.
The warship uses a pulley system to maneuver its corvus over Na Fèidh and lowers it slowly onto the railing of the barge. Upon seeing the walkway gently supported by the railing, rather than crashing through the deck spike-first, Ossein breathes a sigh of relief and sends a deckhand scurrying off to the cabin, returning shortly clutching a rolled parchment.
The warship’s commander strides to the rail and then down the corvus. He drops to the deck of Na Fèidh with a thud that conveys his massive weight. He is followed by two officers, one with a huge claymore nearly as long as he is tall and the second with a wooden shield and a trio of hand axes. Along the rail of the warship are a score or more of archers, all with arrows nocked, but none with their bows drawn. The lanky man with the osprey, now on his shoulder where a thick leather patch has been sewn on his jerkin, watches through a gap in the archers, his bodhrán and a wooden tipper now in hand.
The commander strides up to Ossein, who looks down at the deck but does not give ground. Ossein holds out the parchment, which the commander takes, scans, and hands back.
“Ridin’ high in tha water an’ movin’ fast, ye were,” the commander asserts, “what be yer cargo, peilot?”
“No cargo. Jus’ these travelers.”
The commander spits, and a dark stain appears on the deck. “Ah thoot as much. And what be they? Brigands? Marcenaries? Fugitives?”
“Adventurers, they say. Ah hain’t seen diff’rent as yet. Ootlanders, tha lot a’ them.”
Tyrius steps forward. “Begging your pardon, commander…”
“Capten!” the man shouts at Tyrius, pointing at the pewter brooch pinned to his tartan above his breast. “Be ye as blind as ye be bold?”
“Begging your pardon, capten, but as the good Peilot Ossein says, we are foreign adventurers. We have hired the Na Fèidh to take us to Preston, and from there we are bound for Dersyth. Hopefully we can spend some good Keoish gold along the way, as we did yesterday in Gorna.” (Tyrius Persuasion 14)
At this the capten chuckles, though his face remains stern. He orders his two adjutants to search the hold, while he himself strides uninvited into the barge’s cabin. The sound of trunks being opened and lockers being moved about is obvious through the open door. He emerges from the cabin long before his men come out of the hold, but says no more, merely staring down each party member in turn, as if he is memorizing the appearance of all of them. When finally his men appear, nothing new in hand and shaking their heads, he spits again, harrumphs, turns and strides over to the railing, heaves his huge frame up to the corvus, and crosses back over to his ship. His men follow.
Without a single further word to the passengers or crew of Na Fèidh, the warship raises and retracts its corvus, and the booming sound of a drum can be heard from deep inside its hull. Then there is the splash of oars entering the water on its far side. It slowly backs away from the docks, the oars on the starboard side sliding into the water each in turn as soon as their portal is clear of Na Fèidh. It then turns in the current and moves upriver, though in the gathering darkness it cannot be said whether it is docking higher in the city or continuing on up the Blue Oyt.
Ossein claps Tyrius roughly on the back. “Tha’ went well,” he guffaws, then asks whether the party will be passing the night on deck or going into town to find an inn. After a brief conference, the party leaders all agree that they will be safer staying on deck this evening and leaving as soon as possible in the morning.
With the party supplying their own meat and charcoal, Ossein agrees to let them use the small iron cook stove on board Na Fèidh - after his crew have eaten. When the crew has finished their dinner and is washing up, a few of the party enter the cramped cabin to prepare their own meal. Ossein makes sure they see where he keeps the parchment roll, in a waterproof case, that was brought out earlier. He explains that it contains both the deed of ownership of the barge (in the name of a noble of Cantrev Eryrnyth) and his own peilot license, fee paid and filed at the first of the year in Gorna.
“And why do we need to know those things?” asks Aurora.
“Why, in case yer friend tha capten cooms back while we’re a’ pub!” he says. “Mind noothin’ ‘appens to me ship.” Ossein and his crew, to a man, depart Na Fèidh. On their way out, he happily jingles the bag of gold the party gave him for reaching Oytmeet.
Willa and Babshapka start their watch an hour before midnight. It is a warm, clear evening, still in the fifties, and most of the party sleeps contentedly on the deck of Na Fèidh. Halfway through their watch, Ossein and the crew can be heard approaching, laughing and singing in a thick, incomprehensible, Flan.
They finally become visible at the end of the dock, leaning on one another for support as they struggle valiantly ahead. Babshapka stands, looking into the darkness of the waterfront behind them, and points at something he can see but Willa cannot. “Half a dozen figures in dark robes,” he says, “maybe more. They are being followed.”
Willa stands as well, faces the direction Babshapka pointed. She cups her hands, shouts, “Aye, we see ye. Ye’ve nae easy marks ‘ere. Gae roll sum ‘tother drunks.” Babshapka reports that the robed men pause, then retreat into the darkness.
Ossein boards the barge and strides up to Willa. “Drunk?” he says indignantly. “‘Tis a vile accusation. We will speak a’ this in tha marnin’.” The peilot and his crew enter their cabin, half of them stumbling over the party members already in bed rolls on the deck as they go.
[Used 2 pounds meat and forage at dinner - breakfast and lunch were inn fare; 18 pounds meat and forage remaining
38 human rations remaining
No mule rations used (forage and stabling at inn); 16 mule rations remaining
2 pounds charcoal used at dinner; 88 pounds charcoal remaining
12.5 gp spent on barge passage] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
22 January, 571 [Fireseek 28] - Oytmeet (lowlands)
Ossian and his crew are up before dawn, reading Na Fèidh for departure. At first light they cast off, poling the barge until it swings into the current of the Oyt Avon. Despite Ossian’s words from the night before, he makes no effort to continue his conversation with Willa, and he and the hands are in good spirits.
The first hour out of Oytmeet they pass through a narrow valley of agricultural land. Trails run on either side of the river, and they glide by numerous villages and farmsteads. After that, the valley opens up for the rest of the morning, the trails recede from the river, and it is all sheep pasturage. Here the river is slow, and while the peilot is always alert and steering, many of the hands doze on the deck.
By the early afternoon they have reached the end of the valley. The cliffs converge, and the ground grows rough and rocky. They leave even the pastures behind. All afternoon is spent maneuvering through canyons. Foamy white spray from the river coats the sides of the barge and even lands on deck. All hands are manning poles to keep them from colliding with the walls and rocks in the river and keep them from lodging on sand bars. The first hour is the most intense, but Ossian calls for all hands innumerable times after. Finally, as the sun is reaching the western horizon, the river straightens, slows, and pasture lands again appear on the bank. Ossian grounds the barge along a curve in the river and announces that they are done with traveling for the day.
[ Used 8 pounds meat and forage; 10 pounds meat and forage remaining
38 human rations remaining
2 mule rations used; 14 mule rations remaining
6 pounds charcoal used; 82 pounds charcoal remaining]
23 January, 571 [Readying 1] - The Oyt Avon [lowlands]
The pleasant rolling pastureland they glimpsed last evening continues all morning long. To the west, some five or ten miles away from the river, are high bluffs. To the east is open pastureland as far as they can see, with occasional copses or larger stands of forest on the rougher or higher ground.
At midmorning comes their first navigational challenge of the day - negotiating a gravely-bottomed ford where the Oyt Avon is wide but shallow. The twin trails from Oytmeet, the one following the east bank and the other the west, cross here, and there are thorps on both sides of the river.
After the ford, they continue on through the sheep country, but the copses grow larger and thicker, the forest stands running together, and the pasturage retreating to smaller and smaller fields closer and closer to the river. They are, announces Ossian, at the outskirts of the Oytwood.
The sun is low in the west, but they have an hour or more of light left, when the rise that had been blocking their view of the left bank gives way to valley bottom, revealing another river, the Lea, about to join with the Oyt. Here Ossian guides the barge to the slow shallows, and calls the party together. He has, he says, faithfully delivered them to the mouth of the Lea, as promised, and another 50 gold lions are due him. What’s more, the party will need to decide what to do next. If they disembark here, they can make a day’s march up the valley of the Lea to the city of that name. From there, good trails lead north through Pregmere and eventually to their goal of Dersyth. Or, they can stay on the Oyt Avon. The river will take them more than half the distance north to the city they seek - but at a cost of carrying them far further east than they want. Do they wish to disembark tonight, or hire Na Fèidh for the journey through the Oytwood to Preston-on-the-Javan?
After a short discussion, Willa, Tyrius, and Aurora all agree that they will continue on the Oyt downriver. Ossian nods, brings the Na Fèidh back out into the current, and spends the rest of the daylight running the rapids that are formed by the confluence of the two rivers. When the river finally returns to calm waters again, he steers the barge to the shore for the night.
[ Used 8 pounds meat and forage; 2 pounds meat and forage remaining
38 human rations remaining
2 mule rations used; 12 mule rations remaining
6 pounds charcoal used; 76 pounds charcoal remaining
50gp paid for barge]
24 January, 571 [Readying 2] - The Oyt Avon [lowlands]
Once the party starts out in the morning, the forest rapidly approaches both banks of the river and grows more dense. The last pastureland becomes a memory, and the barge spends the entire day going downriver through the thick wood. Ossian tries to keep Na Fèidh in the center of the river, and encourages the party to be alert for movement along the banks, or anything that might betray the presence of brigands or humanoid bands. Perhaps it is the power of suggestion, but several of them come to feel that they are being watched. The forest boasts all sorts of trees including a wide range of fruit trees. The mixture does not provide a consistent canopy. Sunlight penetrates the forest, undergrowth is prevalent, and they cannot see far from the river except in cases where distant forested hills rise up above the treeline.
In the evening, Ossian continues to navigate far later than he has before, using the light of Luna’s growing crescent. When asked about it, he says that they need to make sure they are well beyond the elven village of Edhellond. If the village comes to the banks of the river, there is no sign of it to those on the barge, but Ossian insists that without an invitation from the fey, they will not be overnighting in the area. Even when they are well beyond, and Ossian relents and allows the barge to moor, he requests that the party set a double watch for the night.
[ Used 2 pounds meat and forage and 6 pounds human rations; 32 human rations remaining
2 mule rations used; 10 mule rations remaining
2 pounds charcoal used; 74 pounds charcoal remaining]
25 January, 571 [Readying 3] - The Oytwood, on the Oyt Avon [lowlands]
With nothing untoward passing in the night, Ossian and his hands are up even before first light, eager to cast off. Once it is light, the party can see that the forests are thinning and becoming interspersed with meadow. At midmorning, Ossian steers the barge to the banks and says the party has another decision. Up ahead, they can see a few wooden buildings on both sides of the river, and a ferry running between the banks. Ossian tells them that if they are bound for Dersyth, he can have them disembark on the north bank of the Oyt Avon, where the trail will take them to the city after several days’ march. He and his crew will be going another five miles down the Oyt, to where it enters the Javan, and then another six miles down the mighty Javan, to Preston, there to resupply before they make their way home. If the party wants a chance to buy goods before they set out up the trail, they should stay with the barge. If they feel that they are well-supplied, and can make New Midwood on their own, then being dropped off here, sooner, will save them a half-day’s journey back north from Preston.
Aurora has been keeping track of supplies - although they exhausted their fresh food on the previous day and will be using trail rations on their march, they still have half a week’s worth - and Thokk and Larry have a new hunting trap. The party decides to disembark now, and Ossian steers Na Fèidh to the north bank. The dock there is just large enough for the river ferry, not the barge, but the peilot makes it work for long enough for the party to disembark. The mules take the longest time, not trusting the gangplank, and Ossian has to hustle to get Na Fèidh away before the ferry arrives. Already the peilot of that craft is shaking his fist at them as he approaches, so the party decides to continue up the trail before he makes port. They get two miles of walking in, back along the river bed, before they stop for a mid-day meal.
The land they are traveling through is the now-familiar Geoffan sheep country, so Willa is not ready to loose Thokk just yet, instead waiting until they get farther from the river and perhaps settled lands. As the afternoon wears on, they do climb some hills, up and out of the Oyt river valley, but when they come back down the other side, they find themselves in the Javan valley, with just as much pasturage about as before. As the afternoon wears on into evening, however, they climb still higher, into rugged lands of light forest, and leave the sheep fields behind. If it stays like this on the morrow, Willa will give them leave to hunt.
[ Used 8 human rations; 24 human rations remaining
1 mule ration use, supplemented by forage; 9 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used; 74 pounds charcoal remaining
55gp paid to Ossian and crew] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
26 January, 571 [Readying 4] - The Oytwood, on the Javan (lowlands)
As the party breaks camp in the morning, Willa selects Babshapka as their forward scout, and tells Thokk to remain behind the party to hunt, but to catch up by mid-day. Larry she would send to hunt as well - but on this level ground with a trail, he is going to be hard-pressed to keep up with the main party as it is, without falling behind further to hunt. Thus he is kept with the main host.
For most of the morning, the track remains in the rocky highlands overlooking the broad Javan river. As the morning wears on, however, they descend back into pastureland, and soon after come upon the outskirts of a village at the edge of a wood. It is so close to mid-day that the village is the obvious location for their meal, but Willa wants to make sure that Thokk has rejoined them before they enter. She sends Babshapka ahead to scout the village while the rest of the party waits on the trail.
It is not long before they spot Thokk coming up the track toward them, empty-handed. By the time he reaches them, Babshapka has returned as well, the village being small and easily scouted. Prenffrwyth is a small community of a few hundred humans. What is remarkable, notes Babshapka, is that nearly all of the villagers work as skilled craftsmen in wood. The remainder are either shepherds or work servicing the trail, including the village’s single inn - which has common rooms, but no private rooms. “Good eno’ fer lunch,” decides Willa, and they eat their mid-day meal hot off the grill. While they dine, Babshapka engages in conversation with the proprietor. She explains that the village was founded generations ago by a forward-thinking Goeffan nobleman who had negotiated a deal with the elves of the Oytwood: in exchange for not logging the lands claimed by the elves, the elves would sell wood to the nobleman, from trees carefully selected and harvested by the elves. The nobleman stood to gain more from the taxes on the fine woods than from the sale of lumber, which was abundant in the region. He encouraged woodworkers from Old Midwood, across the Javan, to settle in the village, and with their labors they produced crafted goods worth even more in taxes. Over time the village came to be sought out by those from all over the cantrev, or even farther afield, wishing to 'prentice as woodworkers. Today these craftsmen represent the majority of the villagers, and the original deal with the elves remains.
The first five miles of afternoon travel are through the forested lands north of the village. They are surprised to find that the woods are old and intact, perhaps even a remnant of the ancient Oytwood. Just the thinnest margin of the forest near the village shows signs of being used for firewood, with no trace of the source of the wood they saw in the numerous crafting shops. Once they emerge on the other side of the forest, again along the Javan, they can see the walled town of New Midwood up ahead, where a much smaller river flows into the Javan. They reach the town just before the gates are closed at dusk, and a few words from Tyrius are sufficient to gain them entrance, including Thokk. That evening is spent at an inn.
There is a scop at the inn, entertaining the crowd, though not a graduate of the College of Cainaith. To Willa’s question, he confirms that long ago, even before the Age of Heroes, even before there were humans in Geoff, the three great wooded lands of the Dim Forest, the Oytwood, and the Hornwood were as one - one unbroken forest that stretched across the length and breadth of the land. The fey held their hunts and revels there and lived beyond time. It was only after the Gyri arrived and settled along the Javan and began cutting trees for their homes and sheep folds that the Dim Forest was sundered from the Oyt Wood. Of course, this incurred the wrath of the fey, who sent the evil fey races into the world to punish the humans for their hubris. The scop indicates Thokk with a flourishing gesture when he speaks of the evil fey races.
[ Used 2 human rations; lunch and dinner at inns; 22 human rations remaining
No mule ration use, forage in day and stabling at lunch and dinner; 9 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used; 74 pounds charcoal remaining] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's note on sources: New Midwood is not on Darlene's maps but is on those of Anna Meyer. I based my description of it from https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/campaigns/129072/assets/845045/GyruffCY618_04.pdf?1522501776, although I expect much of that originally comes from Living Greyhawk sources. Based on the descriptions therein, New Midwood would not canonically exist yet in the timeline of my adventure, just Midwood on the other side of the Javan. The fogs off of the river are from that source. Naming the river Rhychdir is my invention, based on the name of the cantrev of its headwaters. The name of the cantrev ruler is from that source.
As the party sets forth from the inn in the morning, they are greeted by a heavy fog from the River Rhychdir, tributary of the Javan. Fortunately the road to Dersyth is broad and well-marked. They follow it gratefully, and would soon be walking in circles without the slick cobbles leading through the town and, beyond the gates, the drainage ditches bordering the road. The road takes them up and away from the river, and the rising sun burns back the fog, so that by the time they are a league from New Midwood they can see the green pasture land around them and, far to the north, and for the first time, the Barrier Peaks!
Throughout the morning’s travel, the road rises and falls along the slopes above the river. An hour before they stop for lunch a light rain begins to fall, and continues for several hours, although it eventually slows to a drizzle. They are wet, but not cold in the warm daylight and not slowed on the good road in the highlands.
The rain is finally letting up as the road turns and leads back down to the river. There, in the valley bottom, the path splits. A lesser track crosses the river at a bridge, while the main road continues along the river itself. The scop told them, the night previous, that there would be two roads to Dersyth. The more direct, but less traveled, way is the northern branch across the river. The southern route takes longer, but passes through more settled lands. Here with the choice in front of them, they all agree that they prefer the direct route.
The bridge is of ancient timbers lashed together and supported by stone pilings across the river. The wood is sodden and slippery, but bears their weight. They are not far across when the trail climbs to rough ground and their view is blocked by encroaching woods. There are only four hours or so to their evening camp, but Willa tells Thokk to drop back and hunt.
The party makes their camp in a small clearing in the woods. Thokk joins them soon after, carrying with him a scrawny owl which becomes dinner. He and Larry disappear into the woods, setting up their hunting trap somewhere nearby for the night. Willa reflects on what Ossein said about the elves of the Oytwood, and on what the scop said last night, about the fey releasing evil fey as a punishment to humans who did not respect their land. She asks Umbra what she knows about the elves hereabouts, and whether the party should take any precautions when traveling or hunting in forests.
Umbra is silent for a long time. Those near her in the gathering dusk can see her face twisting, as if recalling painful memories. When she finally speaks, her voice is calm and cold. “What’s done is done. Ossein was wise not to anger the elves of the Oyt. Those of the Dim Forest and the Hornwood are the same. But these” - and she gestures at the trees around them - “are now human lands, all the way from here to Dersyth. Do what you will, hunt where you like, it makes no difference.”
[ Used 2 pounds meat caught today, 3 rations, and inn fare at breakfast; 19 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used, supplemented by forage; 8 mule rations remaining
2 pounds charcoal used; 72 pounds charcoal remaining]
28 January, 571 [Readying 6] - Cantrev of Rhwng yr Coed, on road to Dersyth (lowlands)
[Thunderstorm 9pm-12am]
The party is awakened in the night by nearby screams and thrashing. Thokk trots off into the woods and, moments later, the screams cease. He returns with a yearling roe deer slung over his shoulders, one leg twisted at an improbable angle. He begins skinning and gutting the dear as the others return to sleep.
After a breakfast of hot venison, the party starts off down the trail. The woods continue and the ground rises until mid-morning, at which point they break out into more open meadows. Eventually they see crofts, cottages, and barns in the distance - more sheep country, though no villages larger than a cluster of houses are in sight. Innumerable trails cross the main track, but it is clear which is the main road. The party camps for lunch, enjoying more venison in the open grasslands.
Shortly after they resume their march, the trail enters the forest again, and begins climbing up a steep, rocky slope. They crest this and pass down into a high valley of trees and meadows. Willa calls for a campsite underneath the edge of a forest, as Larry points out the gathering clouds.
The last of the venison, supplemented by trail rations, makes their dinner, and Thokk eagerly sets the trap again before turning in.
Several hours after dark, the sky is rent by thunder, lightning, and rain. The downpour continues until midnight.
29 January, 571 [Readying 7] - Cantrev of Rhwng yr Coed, on road to Dersyth (lowlands)
[Wandering Encounter: Men, Patrol]
[Thunderstorm 8am - 10am; half movement]
Umbra and Babshapka have the predawn watch. They are enjoying the dawn chorus of birds greeting the day throughout the forest around them when both prick up their ears. To the west, up the trail, the birds have gone silent. They have the party up and armed by the time the strangers appear, though few of them have their armor on.
A squad of six soldiers, headed by an officer, approaches them cautiously. The men are in woolen tartans, cloaks and skirts, though of a different color and pattern than those they saw around Gorna. They have leather breeches besides, long spears, and several of them carry slings as well. The officer has a shortsword and buckler at his belt - his long spear bears a pennant, of two hands clasped together on a green field.
The officer introduces them as a patrol for his lord, the Arglwyth Briallen merch Luther, ruler of the Cantrev of Rhwng yr Coed. He has a number of questions for them, but ultimately seems satisfied with Tyrius’ answers. He tells them that as outlanders, that can’t be expected to know all the laws of the cantrev, but keeping a close watch on Thokk and not drawing their weapons within town will be a good start. The party asks about the trail to Dersyth, and the man explains that they are about four days out, and that the trail will pass through a number of hamlets but none of any size before Dersythtown itself. The party thanks them and the men move on.
Breakfast is a quick meal of trail rations while camp is packed. The hunting trap is found to be empty - perhaps just as well, as another deer might well have gotten them accused by the patrol of poaching the lord’s game. However, knowing that they are four days out from Dersyth is worrisome as they have less than three days of rations remaining; they will need to rely on their foragers. The party sets out west as the clear morning starts to cloud over.
The forest they used to shelter from the storm last night goes but a scant mile or so before the trail climbs a high cliff overlooking a river. They spend all the rest of the day looking down on this river from above. In places it passes through broad meadows where sheep graze. Other times it rushes through steep gorges and there is no sign of human habitation about. A thunderstorm slows their advance and soaks them in the midmorning, but they have the rest of the day to dry out and clear skies by the time they camp in the evening, in light woods next to a clear pool.
[ Used 7 rations; 11 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used, supplemented by forage; 6 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used; 66 pounds charcoal remaining] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
I've read through this whole thread, and I just wanted to say bravo. You make the setting come alive with all the little details, and I love how you're willing to go your own way when it benefits your campaign. It's really engaging, and your players are very lucky.
One question I have is where you got your information about traveling through the wilderness? I'd have thought the rivers were impassible to barges in winter, much less the mountains themselves. I was also surprised that the barge captain turned down Larry's offer to light the way when they were sailing at night-if I were running things, I'd have accepted the offer and extended the rate of travel.
When I was writing For Crown Or Country, I had to ask several questions on the Greyhawk Resources forum on Facebook about various details I wasn't sure about. Where'd you get your information?
I've read through this whole thread, and I just wanted to say bravo. You make the setting come alive with all the little details, and I love how you're willing to go your own way when it benefits your campaign. It's really engaging, and your players are very lucky.
Thank you, CSL. That it comes from someone whose prolific articles are all about bringing the setting to life with little details makes your recognition even more meaningful.
CruelSummerLord wrote:
One question I have is where you got your information about traveling through the wilderness? I'd have thought the rivers were impassible to barges in winter, much less the mountains themselves. I was also surprised that the barge captain turned down Larry's offer to light the way when they were sailing at night-if I were running things, I'd have accepted the offer and extended the rate of travel.
I've tried to be as explicit as possible about sources - most times before the party gets to a new city or settlement, for example, I include what I read in preparation. So you can assume that if I don't mention anything, it has been invented by me. And that would be most of the 'landscape scenes' as they travel. Typically what I would do is look at Anna Meyer's maps in as fine a level of detail as possible, and then try to imagine the natural world that would make those maps - how have the rivers carved the valleys, why it is forest in one spot but field in another, would the local peasants be growing sheep or oats, etc. My undergrad degree was in a Geology department, so once upon a time I had a number of earth science classes I draw upon for landforms, my graduate work was in Ecology so I've read a fair bit about competition between species and community assemblages, and I've always been interested in human land use. I am by no means an expert in any of those fields and I'm not saying my conclusions are accurate, but if they are evocative and lend verisimilitude then I would consider myself successful.
As far as 'winter', I am using the weather generation tables as is from the WoGG. My previous 1E Greyhawk campaign was mostly set in Perrenland and the Vesve, so one thing I did not appreciate when I started this 5E campaign in Saltmarsh is just how far SOUTH the Sheldomar region is. Even Geoff, which I am imagining culturally as quasi-medieval Scotland to Keoland's England, is at 30N Latitude, in the subtropics, with a +20F to all temperature rolls. This is the latitude of RL Jacksonville, New Orleans, and Houston. So 'winter' brings cooler temperatures, to be sure, but it is not like ice floes are going to prevent river travel. If you haven't guessed already, the party is headed for the Barrier Peaks in their quest for the fallen star. Once there, with the adjustments for elevation, they will face some brutally cold conditions that will challenge movement and even survival.
With respect to Larry's light and river travel, you may recall that I did have the captain of the Banner of Heather accept Larry's help when they were traveling up the Javan [Post 130], even if the Peilot of the Na Fèidh does not [Post 145]. This was just a function of the speed and size of the river. Crawling upstream on the wide and slow Javan, 150 feet of advance warning is plenty of time to maneuver around the occasional floating log or sand bar. Rushing downstream on the narrow Oyt, with frequent rapids to navigate, the extra vision from the light is simply not enough advance warning to avoid something like a rock or a rill, and would blind him to what was even further ahead.
CruelSummerLord wrote:
When I was writing For Crown Or Country, I had to ask several questions on the Greyhawk Resources forum on Facebook about various details I wasn't sure about. Where'd you get your information?
I don't Facebook, so I didn't know about this forum. Sounds like something I will have to check out, thank you! _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Note on House Rules
5E is very much a map grid-based edition, but it assumes that casters can place spells exactly where they want on a battlefield where targets have an exact position. In order to have a bit more verisimilitude for a six-second casting time against moving targets, I have casters make an Arcana check when attempting area of effect spells in combat. Failures are off-target, in the spirit of 1E's misses from a "grenade-like missile". This also helps contain the power of the bigger evocation spells like fireball and lightning bolt, since they can easily not include the optimal number of enemies and can even unintentionally include allies.
Similarly, when shooting missiles into combat, if a PC rolls a low attack score (low being situationally decided by me but always including critical fails) I require them to make another attack on an ally to see if the miss results in a friendly-fire hit.
Finally, the 5E rules for interrupting rest allow PC's to return to resting after a combat unless it lasts more than an hour! My players, however, know that even a round of combat will "spoil" their rest so that they do not achieve in-game benefits from it unless they start over.
Post 149: With the Barrier Peaks in sight, the party's long journey is almost ogre
30 January, 571 - [Readying 8] - Cantrev of Rhwng yr Coed, on road to Dersyth (lowlands)
[wandering encounter, predawn, patrolled civilized hills: ogre]
Umbra and Babshapka are on watch before dawn. Suddenly the chilly air is rent by a deep, horrible cry. Some huge humanoid is screaming out, as if in pain. A second later, perhaps in response, both elves can hear lumbering figures thrashing through the trees and dried grass toward them, scattering rocks with every massive step. The sounds come from all sides - the party appears to be surrounded!
Surprise round
Babshapka hears two groups approaching - one up the trail in front of him to the west, another off in the brush to the southwest. Umbra hears the howl of pain from the southeast, but a large group coming from the north. The howls have woken everyone in the camp except Thokk and Eddard.
Umbra pulls back from the trail to the east of the party and takes cover in the space between a large stump and Shefak’s tent. To the northeast of the camp, fully five eigers are moving rapidly through the brush with nothing between them and the center of camp.
Round One
Up the trail in front of him, Babshapka can make out four massive eigers lumbering forward. Their hide “clothes” are tattered, their long greasy hair unkempt, but all are brandishing thick tree limbs as huge clubs. Babshapka whistles a warning to the awakened camp, then drops into the cover of the trees off the trail to his right. As the first eiger comes into close range, he sends off two arrows that sink deep into the brute’s body (16 points).
Umbra pulls a wand out from her robes and mouths some arcane words. She is surrounded by an inky sphere of darkness which emanates fifteen feet from her in all directions. Its boundaries are hard to see, since the camp itself is still in pre-dawn darkness, but for even those with darkvision, Umbra disappears from view. [One charge from crystal of shadows, 9 remaining].
The eiger that was shot by Babshapka skids to a halt on the trail, his eyes narrowing and his head swiveling as he searches for the source of the arrows. The eigers behind him bunch up, giving Aurora all the chance she needs. Not ten seconds out of her bedroll, she launches a fiery missile through the air at the west side of camp. As Babshapka sees the flaming sphere sail over his head, he ducks behind a tree, closes his eyes, and presses his back up tightly against the trunk. The fist-size sphere detonates at about chest height on the eigers, and a blast of concussive, fiery force shoots out between them. The eigers are burned and staggered, and a shower of flaming tree limbs shoots past Babshapka. (Aurora Arcana roll 12; Babshapka is unintentionally at the edge of the effect and will need a save for no damage, or fail for half. Babshapka saves for no damage. Eigers all fail for 29 points fire damage to each.)
[Aurora's rest is spoiled. She starts at 1/3/3 for spell slots with three mage armors cast the day previous and not recovered; fireball takes her to 1/3/2. Her current mage armor runs until 5am, and so she is at full AC15 with spell, Dex, and bracers]
When the rain of flaming twigs and branches cease, Babshapka rounds the tree trunk and fires off another two shots.
Larry snorts, growls, and rolls into a crouch. He shakes Thokk awake, grabs his own shield, and then trots over to the trail at the west side of camp.
[Larry’s chain is medium armor. It would take him 5 minutes to put on; 50 combat rounds. He is now breaking his rest. He starts with 2/3/3 for spell slots with two create waters cast the day previous. He is at AC15 with just Dex and shield.]
Tyrius awakes with a start, immediately calling to Pelor and surrounding himself with a golden halo of light. He stands up, grabs his shield and mace, and vaults on Eddard bareback, waking the mount in the process. By his light he can see the four eigers emerging from the fireball, but also another three moving toward a clump of trees southwest of the camp. He urges Eddard forward to face them.
[Tyrius’ plate is heavy armor. It would take 10 minutes to put on; 100 combat rounds. He is now breaking his rest. He starts at 4/2 for spell slots. He is AC12 with just Dex and shield.]
Thokk grabs his shield and heads over to the same trees as Eddard and Tyrius, bellowing a challenge at the oncoming ogres. Shefak emerges from her tent and starts that way as well, Tyrius being the only source of light in the vicinity. [Thokk is now breaking his rest; he is at his full unarmored defense AC with Dex, shield, and ring. Shefak is breaking her rest, she is at her full unarmored defense AC with Dex and martial arts ability).
Willa, in her tent, takes a moment to grab her lantern and greatsword. Leaving her armor behind, she moves to the west side of the camp, where the trail is now strewn with branches, some smouldering and some in open flame. She lights her lantern with a nearby burning twig and sets it on the ground behind her as she faces the oncoming eigers.
[Willa’s magical plate is heavy armor. It would take 10 minutes to put on; 100 combat rounds. She is breaking her rest. She is at AC13 with just her Dex.]
Round 2
While Thokk and Tyrius prepare to hold the line against three oncoming eigers, Shefak spots a single one moving up from the south toward the center of the camp. His shape is barely visible against Willa’s lantern light, but gives the monk enough to go by. Shefak moves to engage him, striking at his legs with her staff, and kicking at his hands when he tries to bring his club down on her. (Shefak does 5pts damage).
The four smouldering eigers arrive within club distance of the party defenders; one on Babshapka partially concealed in the trees, two on Willa and one on Larry in the open on the trail. Another arrives at the camp from the east and sends a javelin into Aurora’s back. (Aurora from 38 to 27hp).
The eiger facing Babshapka brings his club down in a shower of branches. (15 points, Babshapka from 48 to 33hp). The elf darts away, and follows up with another arrow shot (giant killer ability, damage 10). Babshapka continues to dance around the eiger attacking him. Using the trees as cover, he shoots twice more, and the second sinks another arrow shaft deep into the brute, and it crashes to the ground. (10hp damage; one eiger down). Unfortunately his first shot missed the eiger, but grazed Willa! (attack roll critical fail, 5hp damage, Willa to 57hp).
The two eigers facing Willa interfere with each other’s blows, so that she is unharmed, despite her lack of armor, and Larry seems too small and nimble for the still-smouldering ogre attacking him to find.
In the trees to the southeast, however, two eigers and a massive eiger leader have arrived. One misses Thokk, but the other and the leader both land heavy blows on Tyrius’ shield. The paladin barely manages to stay mounted, but Eddard seems to move instinctively under him, keeping him on despite his lack of saddle and stirrups (total 29 points damage, Tyrius from 49 to 20hp).
As soon as the five eigers bearing down on the camp pass through the edge of Umbra’s sphere of darkness they begin to bump into one another and stumble over tree roots despite their darkvision. One breaks through to the other side, but the other four remain confused and lost in the inky sphere. Umbra, who apparently can see even in the blackness, easily avoids their clumsy steps. (Eiger wisdom saves to orient themselves; four fails one success).
Willa, wielding her greatsword two-handed, moves among the thick legs of the eigers, striking deep clefts through their calf muscles (two hits, 25hp damage).
Thokk, now in the heat of battle, bellows a shout of rage and strikes back at the eiger attacking him (two hits, 13hp damage).
Tyrius, barely keeping his shield above him, and facing both an eiger and eiger leader, swings his war hammer. At each blow he channels the power of Pelor, resulting in a burst of light and extra damage on impact (two hits for 18, plus 16 more in divine smite for 34 points total, Tyrius uses two first level slots and now is at 2/2). Eddard strikes forward with his hooves, but misses the ogres.
Larry, having just avoided the blow of the eiger facing him, moves around to the side of the brute. He carefully lines up that eiger, one of the ones fighting Willa, and a new eiger approaching the camp from the north. Summoning the power of the mountain spirits, he launches a lightning bolt that strikes all three foes. (25 points damage; two eigers fail their save, one succeeds. Larry now at 2/3/2.) Aurora sends a firebolt at the one closest to Larry, felling the eiger and allowing the dwarf to back out of combat (16hp damage, two eigers now down). She moves quickly to the edge of the trees to gain some cover from the javelins being thrown at her.
Deep in her cloud of darkness, Umbra puts two fingers to her lips and blows - the whistle is shrill but soft - even the eigers stumbling around her do not hear it. At her side, a mastiff-sized dog appears, itself even blacker than the darkness in which it is encased, except for its coal-red eyes. It growls, deep and rumbling, and launches itself at the eiger closest to Umbra.
Round 3
Larry is confident that Babshapka, Willa, and Aurora will make short work of the other three eigers now facing them, so he trots over to where Thokk and Tyrius are trying to hold off another front. This time, his lighting bolt is a little too eager, as he sends it right up through the pitched melee, where it arcs through everyone to some degree (Arcana roll for placement 1 (critical fail); 27 points to three eigers that all failed saves, 13 points to three party members that all made saves; Thokk to 53 hp, Tyrius to 7hp, Eddard to 11hp. Larry now at 2/3/1.)
Shefak, moving in a blur, rains down blows upon the solitary eiger she faces, but still it remains standing (flurry of blows for one ki point, four hits for 39 damage, total 44hp to this ogre).
Aurora sends a number of magic missiles at the eiger fighting Thokk (cast at second level, Aurora now at 1/2/2).
The shadow hound darts forward, sinking its fangs into the leg of an eiger (6 points); the eiger topples to the ground (failed Strength save) and Umbra blasts it with a bolt of darkness that leaves a trace of frost on its skin (8 points).
Babshapka moves south, drawing a bead on the eiger facing off against Thokk. He fires two arrows (23 points), felling the eiger and freeing Thokk from the immediate combat (three eiger down).
Willa, facing the last of the two eigers wounded from the fireball, manages to slay each one with mighty blows of her greatsword (13 points each. Five eigers down). She turns north and charges at the approaching eiger, the one that was caught by the tail end of Larry’s first lightning bolt.
Tyrius forgoes attacking the two eigers he faces, and instead lays hands on himself for 15 points (15 points left, Tyrius to 22hp). By the grace of Pelor, Eddard is also healed for 15 (Eddard to 24hp)
The eiger charged by Willa holds her at bay with a club swing (11 points - Willa to 46hp).
The eiger fighting Tyrius sees his companion fall to arrows, and turns to face Thokk, landing a massive blow (18 points, reduced to 9 from rage, Thokk to 44hp).
The eiger leader, now facing Tyrius one on one, brings down another club blow on his shield. (13 points, Tyrius to 9hp).
From the trees to the south emerges the largest eiger the party has ever seen. His thick limbs are like tree trunks, and odds and ends of human armor have been strung on the thick leather hides that hang off his massive body. Assessing the lightning-throwing dwarf as the greatest threat to his band, the chief strides forward, the ground shaking under his feet. He buries his club deep in the ground next to the dwarf, but Larry slips away.
The lone eiger fighting Shefak nearly sweeps her legs out from under her with a low swing, but she leaps over the blow and tumbles away.
Three eigers emerge from Umbra’s darkness, joining another arriving from the east. Four javelins sail toward Aurora in the trees (7hp damage, Aurora to 20 hp).
Two eigers are fighting the shadow hound - one standing, the other having been knocked prone. Neither manages to hit the hound, and the one that has fallen loses his grip on the tree-club and lets it fall to the ground beside him.
Seeing Tyrius in a bad way, Thokk ignores the eiger that has turned on him. He steps forward, slamming his shield and shoulder into Eddard and forcing the war horse out of the way so that he can stand between the eiger leader and Tyrius. (contested strength roll (shove attack) Thokk 22, Eddard 10). Thokk slashes at the eiger leader (two hits, 24 damage).
Safe for the moment, Eddard disengages from the fray and canters forward, then turns and lets Tyrius set himself for a charge at the eiger leader’s exposed back. Now seeing the huge eiger chieftain, however, the pair agree to charge him from behind instead.
Round 4
With three more well-placed kicks and staff blows (19 points damage), Shefak lays low the eiger she faces (six ogres down). Before the brute has even hit the ground, the monk has spun about and is running toward the melee with Thokk, Tyrius, and Larry, following the glow given off by the paladin.
Willa slays the eiger to the north (two hits; 23 damage, seven eigers down), then hurriedly looks about. The javelin-wielding eigers arriving from the northeast are nearly in the center of camp now, and the mules are panicking. She dashes over to them and attempts to lead Randy away by his halter, but the mule, eyes wide with fear, bites at her. (Willa Animal Handling roll 4).
Bolts of darkness fly from the cloud of black and strike the eiger on the ground, who is still being savaged by the hound (3 points, 12 points).
Eddard gallops forward, going as fast as he dares knowing that Tyrius has no saddle. He slams his forequarters into the chieftain’s thighs from behind. The eiger wobbles but does not go down. (7 pts from hooves; Eiger chief makes Strength save).
Aurora looks out from her cover among the trees. The five javelin-wielding eigers have drawn together in a loose knot in the center of camp, preparing to charge her or perhaps Willa and the mules. Now is the perfect time for another...fireball! The fiery missile is in her palm and then launched before she even thinks about it - or the fact that their being in the center of camp means that they are surrounded by the party's gear. The missile flies through the air, detonating in the center of the five eigers (Aurora Arcana roll 16 for placement, all five eigers affected, 33 points damage to four that don’t save and 16 points to the one that does. Aurora now at 1/2/1). The force of the concussive blast instantly flattens both Willa and Sheffak’s tents, then sets them on fire. Willa’s oilskin tent burns all the hotter.
“Me tent!” screams Willa, and then, a second later, “Ther map!” Aurora’s elation turns to realization and then concern.
Babshapka looks up at the towering figure of the eiger chieftain, dwarfing even Tyrius’s great warhorse. He flips open the cover of his second quiver and pulls forth two of the recently purchased “giant arrows” and sends them forth. One impacts a scrap of chain armor at the eiger’s shoulder and doesn’t penetrate, but the other sinks into his chest and immediately the shaft breaks off at the wicked head (12 points).
The chieftain raises his club up for another strike at Larry (3 points additional damage from giant arrow). This blow lands on the dwarf’s shield, nearly driving him into the ground (18 points, Larry at 38hp). The eiger leader and remaining eiger try ineffectually to hit Thokk.
The standing eiger striking at the shadow hound lands a blow (13 points), giving his companion the chance to grab his own club and rise to his feet.
Three eigers that survived the latest fireball in the center of camp charge Willa and Aurora, landing hard blows (Willa takes 11, to 35hp, Aurora takes 17, to 3hp. The third eiger aims at Aurora, but through her use of instinctive charm he ends up hitting his own companion (for 14hp).
Larry hears the cry of pain from Aurora as she is hit. Ignoring the Chieftain towering above him, he floods the other melee with a moonbeam (Arcana roll 16 hits two eigers but neither party member, Larry at 2/2/1. 12 points damage, both eigers make Con saves for 6 points).
Thokk continues his assault on the eiger leader (2 hits, 22 points).
Tyrius sees that the few hits the chieftain has taken have not even slowed him down. Seeking a quick resolution, he pulls forth a scroll tube, withdraws the scroll and throws the tube to the ground. By the light of Pelor he reads the scroll of hold person, but the chieftain is unaffected (makes Wisdom save).
Round 5
Willa grunts with effort, dodging the blows of the eiger and landing her own (two hits, total 30hp). Straining mightily, she spins and lands a third blow backhanded (action surge; third hit for 14 damage). The eiger staggers, then collapses into a pool, gushing blood and fouling the pristine spring (eight eigers down).
Babshapka continues his arrow assault on the eiger chieftain, launching two normal arrows (one hits for 11hp, plus another 4hp as Babshapka activates a hail of thorns - he is at 3/2).
Shefak’s attacks are too rapid to follow, as she rains blows down on both the eiger and eiger leader fighting Thokk (ki point used, Shefak has five left, flurry of blows, five hits, total 40 points damage). One eiger falls to the ground (nine down), but the leader remains on his feet despite Shefak’s best efforts (eiger makes dex save, not knocked prone).
The eiger chieftain raises both arms above his head and brings his blow down on Larry’s shield with a resounding crash that echoes through the forest. Larry is driven to his knees, and the moonbeam winks out (20 points of damage, Larry at 18hp, concentration save fails; 2 points additional damage to chieftain from giant arrow).
The eiger leader lands a blow on Thokk (17 points, reduced to 8 from rage, Thokk at 23).
The two eigers facing Aurora are concerned. Half their band has fallen and their mighty chieftain has not been able to score a single kill yet. One of them turns and begins fleeing. He avoids the burning tents, but as the mules scatter before him, he sees their pack bags on the ground and snatches one up as he goes. The remaining eiger swings at Aurora but misses.
Both eigers fighting the hound land blows - the creature disappears into shadow, leaving nothing behind.
A new eiger emerges from the trees to the south, limping badly. Fastened about its ankle, like some diabolical metal shoe, is the party’s hunting trap. It looks confused and in pain. In fact, it was the source of the initial cry that first alerted the guards and woke the party.
Ignoring the eiger attacking her, Aurora points at the fleeing eiger and calls out “That one has our mule pack! Stop him!” She sends forth a perfectly-placed web spell (Arcana 26, now at 1/1/1), covering the eiger in sticky, restrictive strands. As an afterthought, she shouts, “And they are setting the tents on fire!”
Thokk continues his assault on what is proving to be a very tough eiger leader (two hits, 12 points total).
Taking advantage of the chieftain’s last blow on Larry, Eddard has turned and fallen back. Now Tyrius urges him forward in another charge. As the horse and rider slam into the chieftain he teeters, totters, and finally crashes to the ground, jolting everyone around him with a force that threatens to knock them down as well (trampling charge, two hoof blows for 20 points damage). Tyrius leans low across Eddard’s back, striking at the now prone ogre with his hammer (attacking with advantage, two hits for 14 total, plus another 8 points of divine smite, Tyrius at 1/2).
Four bolts of darkness emerge from Umbra’s cloud and strike at the ogre struggling in the webs. (14 points damage, Umbra at 4/2/3).
Larry rises, moves around to the fallen chieftain’s feet so that his spell will not hit Tyrius or Eddard, and sends forth a lightning bolt to travel directly up the eiger’s spine as it thrashes about on the ground. (Dexterity save at disadvantage fails; 19 points damage, Larry at 2/2/0).
Round 6
Now that the chieftain has fallen to the ground, Babshapka moves up the trail and takes aim at the eiger in the webs. He sinks two arrows into him (16 damage). Aurora unloads a barrage of magic missiles at the same target (cast at 3rd level, total 21 points damage, Aurora at 1/1/0). Finally, a freezing cold blast of darkness shoots out of the inky cloud (8 points), and the eiger ceases its struggles, sinking to the ground (ten eigers down).
With a howl of pain and frustration, and a string of invective in its native tongue, the eiger chieftain rises to his feet, towering over Larry, and bringing its massive club down like a sledgehammer against a stake. Larry crumples to the ground, unconscious (19 points, Larry to 0hp. Chieftain takes 2hp more from giant arrow).
The eiger leader matches his chief’s bellows and lands another blow on Thokk (14 points, Thokk takes 7 from rage, Thokk at 16 hp).
There are but four eigers left near the center of camp, including the one engaged with Aurora and Willa and the one with the trap on its foot. With some two-thirds of their companions slain, two of those remaining decide to turn and run, and none think to grab pack bags before they go. The one who stays throws a javelin at Aurora but misses.
Thokk lands yet another blow on the eiger leader (11 points), and this one is finally enough to dispatch the great brute (ten eigers plus eiger leader down). Thokk then runs over to attack the chieftain, but when he sees his spoon-buddy Larry crushed and bloodied on the ground, he trips over the body of a fallen eiger and falls to the ground himself. “NOOOOOO!” he cries in rage and torment. (Thokk failed a Dex save to move quickly across the body-strewn ground)
Willa squares off against the last eiger in melee range, hitting it twice and killing it (24hp; eleven eigers plus eiger leader down).
Shefak, seeing that Larry has fallen, attacks the chieftain, attempting to move him away from the dwarf’s body (two hits, 19 points damage).
<Larry fails a life save and is one step closer to death>
While the chieftain is thus occupied, Tyrius dismounts and runs to Larry’s side. He lays on hands for 10hp to his friend. (Larry to 10hp, Tyrius has 5hp left of lay on hands).
Round 7
Babshapka fires arrows at the javelin-wielding eiger (two hits, 10hp damage), and Willa charges and ends the eiger with one blow (13 damage; twelve eigers plus eiger leader down). As he falls, Aurora shouts “That’s right, Willa - get those eigers! Did you see what they did to your tent!” Willa turns and begins to pursue Aurora into the trees, shouting that a good punch in the mouth will shut her up. Aurora shoots a firebolt at the eiger chieftain as she flees from Willa (12 hp damage).
Tyrius is remounting Eddard and preparing for another trampling charge when Aurora’s firebolt knocks the chieftain to the ground. This time, he does not get up (twelve eigers, leader, and chieftain down).
Umbra shoots five bolts of darkness[i] at the fleeing eiger. (Total damage 18, Umbra to 4/2/2).
As swift as the wind, Shefak [i]dashes[i] up to the last fleeing eiger.
Larry rises unsteadily to his feet. Looking around, he sees all of the eigers about him lying still on the ground - but then he sees the party’s tents aflame! He summons forth [i]created water, having it fall as a gentle rain over both tents. (Larry at 1/2/0).
Round 8
With the falling rain dousing the flames enough for her to approach the tent, Willa uses her greatsword to peel back the layers of flaming oilcloth. When she sees her backpack inside, she reaches forth to grab it, getting only a mild burn in return. The thick leather pack is singed but not aflame. (failed Dex save, 2 points damage, Willa to 33hp) However, all the leather stitching is burned through and weakened. The longer she looks at it, the more unsalvageable it appears.
Shefak catches up to the closest fleeing eiger and ends him (total of thirteen eigers, chieftain, and leader slain - some three or four escaped).
Umbra emerges from her cloud of darkness and shoots freezing rays into the fire, while Larry continues to rain water down. Willa has pulled out her plate armor by the time the flames are out.
Post Combat
Babshapka asks for Tyrius’ help, and with his light quickly recovers the giant arrow that missed the chieftain (Babshapka total 19 giant arrows remaining). He uses a dagger to retrieve the head of the other arrow from the body of the chieftain, but the weakened shaft has done its job and splintered. There is no way to reattach the head, but he saves it nonetheless.
Willa uses her lantern to sort through what remains of her tent.
[The days have been in the 50’s F; last night it got down to 40F. Willa was sleeping in some combination of small clothes and her traveling clothes, with her cold weather gear clothes loose in her tent overnight and put on in the morning. I decided that I would apply the fireball damage first to the tents, and with their destruction reduce the amount of damage "left over" to apply to the items within. Similarly, containers would "soak up" damage before passing on what remained to their contents.
5E rules for damaging objects assigns a hp range to objects based on their size and toughness. Magic items are assumed to be resistant to all damage (taking half).
Fireball was 33 points of damage, both bludgeoning (concussive force) and fire.
Willa’s tent is a “Medium, Resilient” object and absorbs 18 points of damage before it is irreparably destroyed. That leaves 15 points to transfer to each of the objects in it.
Magic Plate Armor is a “Medium, Resilient” item and it has resistance to damage. The seven points of damage done to it are not enough to harm it.
Magic Mace is a “Small, Resilient” item and it has resistance to damage. The seven points of damage done to it are not enough to harm it.
Bedroll is a “Medium, Resilient” item. The 15 points of damage done to it are not enough to completely destroy it, although it is severely damaged and needs to be repaired.
Cold weather gear is a “Medium, Resilient” item. The 15 points of damage done to it are not enough to completely destroy it, although it is severely damaged and needs to be repaired.
Longsword Scabbard is a “Small, Resilient” item. It takes 10hp of the 15 and is irreparably destroyed. Five more points of damage are passed to the sword itself. The sword is a “Small, Resilient” item and five points of damage are not enough to harm it.
Dagger Scabbard is a “Tiny, Resistant” item. It takes 5hp of the 15 and is destroyed. Ten more points of damage are passed to the dagger itself. The dagger is a “Small, Resilient” item and ten points of damage irreparably destroys it.
Crossbow is a “Small, Resilient” item. It takes 15hp and is irreparably destroyed.
Silk rope is a “Small, Resilient” item. It takes 15hp and is irreparably destroyed.
Backpack is a “Small, Resilient” item. It takes 10hp of the 15 and is irreparably destroyed. Five more points of damage are passed to each of the items inside.
Tinderbox (inside backpack) is a “Small, Resilient” item. The five points of damage done to it are not enough to harm it.
Leather purse (inside backpack) with coins is a “Small, Resilient” item. The five points of damage done to it are not enough to harm it.
Map case with Willa’s Map of the Dreadwood and the Starfall Maps (inside backpack) is a “Small, Resilient” item. The five points of damage done to it are not enough to harm it.
Tool box with Navigator’s Tools (inside backpack) is a “Small, Resilient” item. The five points of damage done to it are not enough to harm it.
Folded Portrait of Nholast (inside backpack) is a “Small, Fragile” item. It is irreparably destroyed.
Healer’s Kit Bag (inside backpack) is a “Small, Resilient” item. The five points of damage done to it are not enough to harm it.
Belaying Pin (inside backpack) is a “Tiny, Resilient” item. It is irreparably destroyed.
Oil flask (inside backpack) is a “Tiny, Resilient” item. 5 points of damage is just enough to irreparably destroy it. Luck roll +1; the flask is cracked and slowly seeping oil, but the oil did not combust.
Potion vial (neutralize poison) (inside backpack) is a “Tiny, Resilient” item. 5 points of damage is just enough to irreparably destroy it. Luck roll +2; the stopper is cracked and the potion must be kept upright or it will leak.
Potion vial (water breathing) (inside backpack) is a “Tiny, Resilient” item. 5 points of damage is just enough to irreparably destroy it. Luck roll -3; the vial is ruptured and the potion is lost instantly, soaking the other contents of the backpack.
Potion vial (sweet water) (inside backpack) is a “Tiny, Resilient” item. 5 points of damage is just enough to irreparably destroy it. Luck roll +1; the flask is cracked and slowly leaking potion.
Checking her items, Willa silently thanks the Gentle Sea Cow of the South that the most important non-magical items, the map case and tool box for her navigation instruments, survived the blast. She resolves to offer something to the goddess to show her gratitude.
She takes up the flask of neutralize poison and walks quickly over to the brook that runs through the camp. It’s not the warm south sea where the Sea Cow reigns - but it must flow into the River Fyn, and that surely empties into the Javan River, and that enters the Azure Sea, whose waters lap against the shores of Saltmarsh and which even now are likely feeding her brother Tom. “Modder Cow,” she mumbles, so as not to be overheard by the party, “please accept t’is offerin’ o’ me t’anks fer yer protection an’ care o’ me, me family, an’ me mates.” She pours the contents of the phial into the brook as slowly as she can, thinking of how its contents saved her and Babshapka from poison gas in Castle Ravenloft, poison gas that was released, of course, by Aurora fooling with a chest she was told to let alone...she sets aside the thought as uncharitable. It is true enough, but such salt is not befitting the solemnity of this occasion. When she has poured out the last drop of magical potion, she bows her head and mumbles a few more words of prayer. The prayer itself was taught to her by her mother, and the memory of the two of them praying together to the Sea Cow when her father would take to the sea is one of the clearest of the few memories she has of her mother.
On her way back to the others, Willa feels the smooth glass of the phial in her hand, with its worn paper label. She recalls her surprise at finding the phial, one of three such, was actually labeled when they recovered it from the captain’s cabin on the Sea Ghost. She suddenly regrets never asking Sigurd if it was he who labeled the phials with his own hand, but is glad that she remembered to thank the Sea Cow for protection for her “mates,” figuring now that should cover Sigurd as well.
Returning to her gear, Willa carefully pours the potion of sweet water from its cracked glass vial into the now-empty phial she took to the brook. The sweet water was found, she remembered, in treasure they won from a medusa that Aurora turned into a slug. So she supposes the ditzy wizard has her moments. She tries the stopper of the broken vial in the phial hopefully - it fits, but not well, and could easily bounce off if jolted. Aurora has a stub of a candle in her writing supplies, and Willa melts wax liberally all around the stopper. In the end, she is confident it will take the gentle jostling of the pack mules or her own backpack, but not a fight or flight. With luck, they will have neither before reaching Dersyth where she can look for a new container.
Shefak’s tent is a “Medium, Resilient” object and absorbs 18 points of damage before it is irreparably destroyed. That leaves 15 points to transfer to each of the objects in it.
Bedroll
Cold Weather Gear
Dagger Scabbard
Dart Case
Waterskin
Backpack
Bedroll is a “Medium, Resilient” item. The 15 points of damage done to it are not enough to completely destroy it, although it is severely damaged and needs to be repaired.
Cold weather gear is a “Medium, Resilient” item. The 15 points of damage done to it are not enough to completely destroy it, although it is severely damaged and needs to be repaired.
Dagger Scabbard is a “Tiny, Resistant” item. It takes 5hp of the 15 and is destroyed. Ten more points of damage are passed to the dagger itself. The dagger is a “Small, Resilient” item and ten points of damage irreparably destroys it.
Dart case is a “Small, Resilient” item. It takes 10hp of the 15 and is irreparably destroyed. Five more points of damage are passed to the darts themselves. The darts are “Tiny, Resilient” items. Five points of damage are just enough to irreparably destroy them. (Luck roll 0; all of the darts are destroyed).
Waterskin is a “Small, Resilient” item. It takes 10hp of the 15 and is irreparably destroyed.
Backpack is a “Small, Resilient” item. It takes 10hp of the 15 and is irreparably destroyed. Five more points of damage are passed to each of the items inside.
Holy Symbol (inside backpack) is a “Tiny, Resilient” item. 5 points of damage is just enough to irreparably destroy it. Luck roll +4. Although the paint has been burnt off and the metal pitted, Shefak accepts it as a symbol of the impermanence of material form and it will continue to function for her as holy even though broken.
Silver Statue (inside backpack) is a “Small, Resilient” item. The five points of damage done to it are not enough to harm it.
It is still more than an hour until dawn. Babshapka and Umbra are the only ones who have had a complete long rest - everyone else has broken their rest to fight. It is agreed that they will wait until dawn and depart at a normal hour, which will allow the others to have at least a short rest. Before that, however, Larry insists that they pull the body of the eiger out of the spring. Even the mules refuse to drink from it later, however.
Post-combat hp and spells remaining
Larry 10/56, 1/2/0
Babshapka 33/48, 3/2
Umbra 38/38, 4/2/2
Aurora 3/38, 1/1/0
Tyrius 9/49, 1/2, 5/30 lay on hands
Eddard 24/24,
Willa 33/62,
Thokk 16/66,
Shefak 24/39,
[Reasoning that they don’t know what the day may bring and they may still need their spells offensively, the party elects to spend hit dice on natural healing after their short rest rather than casting magical heals. Larry (natural recovery) and Aurora (Arcane recovery) also regain some spells.]
At some point Thokk goes to check the hunting trap and finds it gone. The others tell him that they saw an eiger with it clamped on his foot. Thokk is incensed and demands that they go track down the eiger and get the trap back. Willa convinces him that the eiger has now had more than an hour lead time and is long gone, and it is not worth it to go off the trail and into some potential ambush of the whole eiger tribe. She tells Thokk to search the bodies of the eigers and see if they will pay for a new trap when the party gets to Dersyth. She stares pointedly at Aurora and says “an’ all me stuff, t’ boot.”
Thokk comes back with 109 gold lions' value in coins of all different denominations. Willa estimates they may break even, once all of her and Shefak’s gear is replaced. Not counting the potion of water breathing, of course - that was likely worth in the hundreds or more.
While Thokk was searching the eiger, he realized that all that meat has more than solved their food problem! They will likely have more meat than they can even carry. He is unprepared for the vehemence with which the others tell him that they will not be eating eiger, not even if he allows them to cook it. The elves are repulsed and Tyrius is indignant, although Larry just shrugs. Willa is a little queasy at the thought herself, but she is by now well used to finding creative arguments to manage Thokk. She takes him away from the group and explains patiently that he can eat off an eiger carcass himself while they are here - as long as he feeds on whichever one is farthest from camp. However, they will not be taking any of the eiger meat with them, as that would “spook the mules”. Thokk reflects on the combat and recalls the terrified screams of the mules during the attack. He nods and accepts the sage advice of his trusted evil advisor. The combat was exhilarating for him, and now that the eiger coin has softened the blow of the theft of ‘his’ trap, he is in fine spirits.
As soon as the camp is packed after breakfast, the party is away. Already the crows are thick and loud on the corpses of the eigers, and most of the party are eager to be off before wolves or larger predators appear. The day’s march continues along the same hills and bluffs overlooking the river Fyn. Sometimes the hills are lower and nearer the river, sometimes higher and farther. Sometimes the trail is in view of shepherd’s crofts, and sometimes in desolate highlands with not a soul in sight.
In the late afternoon they move away from the river, climbing up into rugged hill country, with a large peak between them and the Fyn. They camp in a bowl on the back side of the mountain, with untouched forest all around them. Willa decides that this is the perfect place to hunt, far from any tended flocks that Thokk might raid by accident. She tells the party that as they have less than a day of food left, five of them will remain in camp on the morrow while Thokk, Larry, and Babshapka all forage. Depending on how much they bring back at dinner, they may be able to continue on for Dersyth the day after.
[ Used 6 rations (Thokk gorged on eiger flesh in the morning); 5 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used, supplemented by forage; 5 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used; 66 pounds charcoal remaining] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
31 January, 571 [Readying 9] - Cantrev of Rhwng yr Coed, on road to Dersyth (lowlands)
[Rain 3pm - beyond 12am]
After a breakfast of trail food, the main party sees Thokk, Babshapka, and Larry off on their foraging run. With the day planned for sitting in camp, Willa goes through their gear, taking an inventory of the supplies on the mules and seeing what they might need to pick up in Dersyth. In the process, she finds the last remaining fishing pole, which gets her thinking. A Salter born and bred, she has no experience hunting - but with a pole she might be able to contribute to their food stores, if she made a side jaunt to the river.
She looks at who is left at camp - Umbra, Tyrius, Aurora, Shefak. None of them are exactly ideal fishing companions, and yet with eigers about she doesn’t want to travel alone. For those already foraging she is unconcerned about them going solo - Thokk and Babshapka can easily hide, and Larry can turn into an innocuous animal, if facing overwhelming foes - but stealth is not Willa’s forte. For that matter, she can’t imagine sitting on a river bank and trying to cast a line in full plate mail - she will be unarmored and vulnerable. She will want someone to come with, just in case, even if they are only on watch while she fishes.
With his gear still arranged all about on the ground, Randy is confused about whether he is going to be packed today or not, and he stamps his foot anxiously. Eddard speaks soothingly to him. Eddard!
After Willa asks him, and then Tyrius just to be polite, Eddard agrees to go fishing with her and they set out at mid-morning, reaching the Fyn in about an hour and a half and having to go off-trail only a bit. The mist is just clearing off the water when they arrive at the river. Eddard proves to be an excellent companion, neither going on at length about nothing (like Aurora and Tyrius would) or remaining tight-lipped on the occasions when Willa does want to talk (as Shefak and Umbra do). Rather, he waits until spoken to and then gives slow, carefully measured responses. By the early afternoon, as rain clouds begin to gather, Willa has caught only a single fish (Survival roll 8 ), but has had a grand time. She gathers some rushes at the river’s edge, weaves them into a small raft of sorts, lays the fish on it and says some words to the Sea Cow while Eddard remains respectfully silent. She lets the raft and its offering float downstream as she packs up the tackle. Already an ambitious kingfisher is eyeing the raft and its cargo.
All the way back to the camp it rains in brief showers that come and go. She and Eddard are quite wet by the time they arrive, but Aurora has a charcoal fire going and the others are looking for dry, dead wood to add. The rain doesn’t look to be stopping any time soon. A night in the 40’s, dry and in a tent, is one thing - but a night in the 40’s, wet and under the sky, is quite a different kettle of fish.
One by one the foragers return to camp, all sodden. Larry is empty-handed (Survival roll 9), as is Thokk, although the half-orc is testy because he broke a javelin in his pursuit of game (Survival roll 5, critical failure). Babshapka brings in a brace of wood cocks (Survival roll 22), but the small birds are not going to be enough for all of them.
Taking stock of their supplies after dinner finds them with even less food than the day before. Babshapka reports that his scouting from a nearby hilltop revealed that they are not too far from farming country. Willa tells them that they may just have to tighten their belt for a day, but they can likely buy food from a farmstead if they do not arrive at Dersyth on the morrow.
The rain showers continue off and on all night, with the party taking shelter as best they can under the limbs of trees.
[ Caught 4 pounds of game cock, used 4 pounds of game cock and 3 rations; 2 human rations remaining
No mule rations used (full day of forage); 5 mule rations remaining
7 pounds of charcoal used to cook meat and stay warm; 59 pounds charcoal remaining]
1 February, 571 [Readying 10] - Cantrev of Rhwng yr Coed, on road to Dersyth (lowlands)
[Rain 12am to 6am]
[Hail 6am to 8am]
In the morning as the sky lightens, the gentle rain changes to hail. When the ice pellets penetrate the mostly-bare limbs of the tree she is under and begin to bounce off her face, Willa wakes with a roar. “Aurora!” she bellows across the camp. “Yer buyin’ me a tent in Dersyth o’ I’ll be makin’ one from yer hide!”
Shefak is already up, ignoring the hail and sitting cross-legged on the ground, facing east to greet the dawn in meditation. “We must accept loss as part of life,” she says in response to Willa, “and not dwell on material things.” She stands, then turns to face the party. “However, perhaps it would encourage Aurora to improve her aim if she had to replace all of our items from her own funds, rather than the party treasure.”
The party finishes the last of their food supplies for breakfast and then packs the camp. “Bring us summit fer lunch,” says Willa to Thokk as they set out but he remains behind to forage. She had considered sending Babshapka out as well, but prefers missing a meal to stumbling into another pack of eigers while on the march, so she keeps him as their forward scout.
The rain and hail continue for the first hour of their march. The trail takes them low and close to the river. As they travel, they leave the woods behind, and the land becomes green pastures, with shepherd’s fields more and more common as they progress. They make their noon camp, with Willa arranging a coal pit expectantly but not lighting it. Thokk shows up soon after, a string of small, skinned animals draped across his back and a small cloud of flies about him. He explains that just before he left the woods, he found a pair of pine martens skulking about the base of a tree that had a squirrel’s nest. He killed the martens with his javelins, and then fished the squirrels out of the tree one at a time and wrung their necks. He has brought enough meat for lunch and dinner besides!
Some hours after they resume their march, the trail rises and is joined by another trail coming from the south. Willa and Aurora reason that this is the overland trail from the Lea and Pregmere that Ossein spoke of on the river. They must be nearing Dersyth.
After this, the trail descends to the valley bottom again. Soon they start to see fields and farms, the first they have seen since New Midwood. While the folk of Geoff grow many things for their own household use, here the staple crop appears to be oats. They travel the rest of the afternoon. The farms grow more dense, but they have not arrived at Dersyth by nightfall, nor does Thokk have more forage for them when he arrives at their evening camp. However, they do find a stone-walled sheep fold with one corner roofed by rough timber and the flock nowhere in sight. Although the roof is not high enough for any of them to stand but Larry, all of their bedrolls placed one against the other just fit under the covered part, which is appreciated during a cold drizzle from before midnight through dawn of the next day. Eddard and the mules have to stay outside in the wet, but at least the stone walls of the fold cut the wind for them.
[ Caught 8 pounds of game, used 5 pounds of meat and 2 rations; 3 pounds of meat but no rations remaining
1 mule ration used, supplemented by forage; 4 mule rations remaining
4 pounds of charcoal used to cook meat; 55 pounds charcoal remaining] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
The players of Aurora and Willa are co-workers and have been friends for years. Willa's player is very cautious and Aurora's much more impetuous. Part of the dynamic is Aurora's player always saying "Let's do this!" without regard for consequences and Willa's player always criticizing whatever decision Aurora's player makes. She likes to complain, but it is good-natured.
CruelSummerLord wrote:
What's Aurora's alignment, anyway? I've seen you describe her alternately as a harridan, a ditz, etc.
A ditz, definitely. A harridan? Nah, more like a vixen or minx.
I have some reflections on Alignment in this campaign between posts 108 and 109. Let me say here that for this, my first 5e game, I wanted to try a different approach to alignment. Basically I told the players that their job was to come up with a consistent personality and perspective, and that their actions would then dictate their alignment rather than the other way around. Thus, I have my understanding of what their alignment is, but it is not actually known to them.
I did write an 'alignment' on their sheets based on my assessment of their role-playing:
Aurora - Chaotic Shrill
Babshapka - Chaotic Obliged
Larry - Neutral Grubby
Shefak - Not from around here
Thokk - Chaotic Simple
Tyrius - Blessed Be Pelor
Umbra - Shrouded in Mystery
Willa - Loyal Freebooter _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Last edited by Kirt on Tue Jan 12, 2021 3:52 pm; edited 1 time in total
DM's note on sources: Dersyth, the Lake of Rhûn, and the Monastery of Pelor are not on Darlene's maps, but the first two appear on those of Anna Meyer. On Darlene's map, Dersyth would be at the edge of the mountains, north of the G in "Grand". I based my description of Dersyth and the Lake of Rhun on https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/campaigns/129072/assets/845045/GyruffCY618_04.pdf?1522501776, although I expect much of that originally comes from Living Greyhawk sources.
Post 151: Dersyth to the Lake of Rhun
2 February, 571 [Readying 11] - Cantrev of Gwyrth Bryn, on road to Dersyth (lowlands)
Morning’s light shows that they are easily within striking distance of Dersyth, which straddles the Fyn below them, so Willa encourages everyone to take an extra portion at breakfast and finish off the squirrel. They arrive at the gates of the walled city long before lunch, but not before the mists have cleared from the Fyn.
Willa sets their priorities as; first, finding an inn, second, replacing their gear, and third, learning what they can about the starfall so as to determine whether they will need more serious gear for the mountains. Tyrius adds that he would like to find a temple to Pelor, both to give thanks for their safe arrival, and to see what the local priests might know about the starfall.
Dersyth is the seat of its cantrev, and is a large walled town, but calling it a city would be a stretch. It doesn’t take them long to find an inn and accommodate their gear and then have a quick lunch. Afterwards, Thokk stays at the inn drinking, with Larry and ostensibly Umbra watching him, but she spends more time in her room than the common room. Tyrius is in the stable, under the direction of Eddard, seeing to the care and maintenance of the hooves and coats of the mules with implements borrowed from the stablehand. Willa, Shefak, Aurora, and Babshapka set out for the town markets.
Purchased with party funds
1gp 10 flasks of lamp oil (Willa)
0.1gp 10 torches (Willa)
28gp 56 human rations (7 days x 8 people)
0.7gp 14 mule rations (7 days x 2 mules)
2.5gp Half a hundredweight of charcoal
1gp 2 javelins (Thokk)
5gp Cold weather gear (Tyrius buys new for Umbra)
10gp 50’ silk rope (Aurora)
0.5gp 10 pitons (Larry)
0.05gp Signal whistle (Tyrius)
5gp Hunting trap (Thokk)
Total: 53.85gp
[Notes: The river Fyn does not appear to have any sailed vessel traffic, just poled barges and rowed boats. Willa does not find a belaying pin for sale in the markets of Dersyth.]
[It is cheaper to buy a new bedroll than to repair the damaged ones. Tyrius gives the two damaged bedrolls to the Temple of Pelor to distribute to the poor.]
[It is cheaper to repair the damaged cold weather gear than buy new ones.]
When the quartet have returned from the market, Tyrius sets out and quickly finds the temple of Pelor. As one of the Old Flan Gods, the worship of Pelor is quite strong here in the north of Geoff. Tyrius offers his prayers at the temple and talks to the priests. If he is looking for old lore, they say, he should travel west of Dersyth, up the Fyn road. A day’s journey from the town is a monastery dedicated to Pelor that houses many historical books and records. It is decided that half of the party will go there on the morrow.
The skies are clear of clouds tonight, although Luna is full. Willa rearranges the watch schedule so that she is up after moonset but before sunrise (Celene is new so she is free of that complication). She is able to make her final and most accurate starfall map. The final area, to the most precise reading of her instruments, is about a 15 mile radius high in the Barrier Peaks. Even in such a relatively small area, how will they find a single, odd rock in that remote wilderness? Willa is hopeful the monks of Pelor will have more information for them, and she gives the map to Tyrius the next morning. Even if they can’t narrow the location, at least they should be able to tell the party what the conditions and weather will be like.
[ Used 3 pounds of meat - other food at inn, no meat remaining; 56 human rations remaining (purchased)
No mule rations used, fed at inn; 18 mule rations remaining (14 purchased)
2 pounds of charcoal used to cook meat; 103 pounds charcoal remaining (50 purchased)]
3 February, 571 [Readying 12] - Dersyth (lowlands)
In the morning, Tyrius organizes the expedition to the monastery. Willa has elected to remain in Dersyth and watch those members of the party who might not be as welcome in a place that is sanctified to Pelor; Thokk (a half-orc), Umbra (who seems to draw her power from darkness), and Shefak (a Bakluni). Eddard will of course be accompanying Tyrius, but also Larry (who speaks Flan and seems well-liked by the Gyri they have met so far), Aurora (who wants to know historical information) and Babshapka (Aurora’s bodyguard). Since they plan to be at the monastery before nightfall, the “away team” will be traveling light and leaving the mules in town.
During the day, Thokk remains at the bar of the inn, with Shefak as his minder, while Umbra largely remains at the inn but occasionally makes forays into the city. Willa visits a few stores and shops to continue replacing their gear and check up on the craftspeople still repairing her and Shefak’s cold weather gear. Willa also talks to several fletchers. They can fit the head of Babshapka’s ‘giant arrow’ to a new shaft, but none of them know how to specifically weaken the shaft so that the arrow will penetrate but then immediately break off. At least, they will not be able to do that without some guesswork, trial, and error. Willa keeps the head for now.
Dersyth is built on both sides of the Avon Fyn, with one great stone bridge and several lesser wooden ones crossing the flow. The party entered town from the south bank but the trail to the west leaves from the north. The trail runs roughly due west above the river, though the Fyn’s meanders take it sometimes near and sometimes far from the trail. As the away team travels west, they pass more oat fields, sheep fields, and thorps, but no major settlements in all the day. The Fyn itself seems covered in mist for much of the day, and the trail rises slowly into the foothills of the great Barrier Peaks.
By sundown it is obvious that they will not be reaching the monastery before dark, mostly due to Larry’s slower pace. Still, backlit against the red western sky, they can see a great stone structure on a hill just a few miles ahead that surely must be it. After they pause briefly to rest, Luna rises, and the light of her full body is ample enough to continue on this cloudless night (and they are lacking most of their camping gear, besides, providing strong incentive to reach the monastery before they sleep).
As they draw closer, they can hear the Fyn coursing in a deep gorge below. The monastery is built at the narrowest part of the valley, where the Fyn is hemmed in by cliffs, and travelers must pass under the stone walls of the monks. Low walls surround fields of wheat and hops, while a great temple is in the center of it all. Lights play along the surface of the temple, almost certainly a magical effect, making it a welcoming beacon in the darkness.
The monks at the gate question the party briefly, but when they learn that Tyrius is a Paladin of their Order, they welcome the entire party inside (despite a few impolite questions for them from Aurora, designed to reveal whether the whole enterprise is an elaborate ruse).
While many of the monks are currently at nightly devotional services and some have even returned to their cells, there are a few remaining at the communal dinner table and the party is invited to dine with them - including Eddard, who is served a bowl of hot oatmeal! (The party is surprised when he accepts, as they have never seen him eat before.)
When Tyrius asks about historical records, the monks tell him that he can visit their library after dinner. When he asks whether Aurora can accompany him, the monks somewhat begrudgingly agree, provided she is under his supervision at all times. Over dinner, the party discovers that the monastery serves as a center of learning and healing, but also brews beer. “We spread Pelor’s light unto the world in many ways,” says one monk. Many of the monks undertake martial training as well. The monastery itself protects the upper reaches of the Fyn and the Lake of Rhun, where both the Council of Druids and the Bardic College of Cainaith are to be found. The monks screen travelers, and allow only those with peaceful intentions to continue on. In ages past, they also kept warlords from attempting to seize the Council or College and thereby claim rulership of all Geoff, but those days of inter-clan rivalry and warfare are long gone, and no one disputes the rule of the Brennin (Grand Duke) anymore.
Tyrius shows the monks the latest map of the starfall, and asks them what the mountains will be like at that spot. They provide some general guidelines, like “cold, high, and full of humanoids and monsters,” but nothing too specific. All of them recommend that Tyrius speak to the Council of Druids on the Isle of Rhun, for they will surely know such details if anyone does. When Tyrius asks how to ask them, they explain that if the party travels another day up the trail, they will come to the Lake of Rhun. However, the lake is continually covered in mist. Only those whom the druids wish to receive are granted passage through the mists to their home, the Isle of Rhun. Similarly, only those the bards accept are allowed through the mists to their College on Kindler’s Isle. All Tyrius can do is travel to the shore of the lake and petition to speak to the druids - what happens next is up to them.
Some time after dinner Tyrius and Aurora are admitted to the great library of the monastery. The head librarian is a very old man, but also quite hearty for one of his advanced age. He has heard of no tales of a star falling in the Barrier Peaks specifically. Of course, planets changing in the sky are a portent of change on Oerth, and he knows several tales of stars falling in general or in other places, just not near here.
When Aurora says that this would have occurred around seven or eight hundred years ago, he shakes his head sadly. At that point, he says, the Gyri did not even have a written language, and although this library likely has the most extensive collection of histories in the land, none of them are older than five hundred years. For tales older than that they will need to seek an oral history, and for that they will need to go to either the Council of Druids or the College of Cainaith, both repositories of the Old History of the Land.
The monk - librarian is happy to show Aurora all the relevant texts, but she rapidly agrees that none of them are old enough, and none contain specific tales of this fallen star.
The party are shown guest cells and pass the night peacefully.
[ Half of party eats at inn, other half has lunch only on trail, using 1 ration; 55 human rations remaining
No mule rations used, fed at inn; 18 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used; 103 pounds charcoal remaining]
4 February, 571 [Readying 13] - party split between Dersyth and Monastery of Pelor (lowlands)
[Thunderstorm 11pm - 2am]
[Wandering encounter, Civilized Hills - Patrol, Men]
Tyrius will not impugn the reputation of a Temple of Pelor by suggesting that they are anything less than safe, so he refuses to set a watch schedule for those who traveled with him. Nevertheless, he remains up after the others have retired to their cells, kneeling in a prayer vigil in a small chapel near their rooms. Some four hours later Babshapka comes to tell him that he has tranced enough, and will remain alert until dawn, should Tyrius wish to get some sleep. Tyrius nods gratefully as he massages the blood back into his legs, stiff and numb from the stone floor.
The monks are up before dawn, as the entire population of the monastery celebrates a sunrise worship service in the marble-covered main temple. Tyrius drags himself from bed at the last minute to participate as well. After this, and as the rest of the party is waking, the more militant of the monks go outside and have weapons training in the cool morning air, while the aged and infirm or those more skilled in healing and brewing and other arts break their fast with the party. Tyrius opts to train as well, so that by the time the party has washed up, packed, and is ready to be on the road, he has not had anything to eat. If the lack of food and sleep is affecting him, he is good at pretending it doesn’t. As he rides to the head of the company on Eddard, he asks them rhetorically what they are waiting for.
Eddard is only at a gentle walk but it is not long before Larry is huffing and puffing and struggling to keep up. Tyrius tsks his tongue. “This won’t do, brother Larrenthal. The monks were kind enough to let us in after dark, but I fear that once the the townsfolk close the gates of Dersyth for the night they will not open them for us.” None of them have brought their sleeping rolls, let alone the new tents, and it dipped into the 30’s before the sun rose this morning.
“Ahm oon et,” says Larry, and casts the Longstrider spell on himself. “Ah’ll see ye a’ lunch,” he says, and trots ahead, faster than at least Aurora could follow, although the others might keep up with him if they had to.
Not long after Larry is out of sight down the road, a number of figures approach the party from ahead of them. They appear to be a patrol of footmen, very similar in look to those the party met with nearly a week ago, although dressed in a different livery. The serjeant looks at the device on Tyrius’ shield and does not bother to even question them. He does draw forth an object from a large leather bag he carries to show them, though. It is a creature’s head, humanoid, though as large as a boar’s head. It has been rolled in salt to preserve it but still looks the worse for wear and they do not recognize it at first until Babshapka realizes that it is an eiger.
“Aye, it be an eigre, true eno’,” says the serjent. “A whole troop o’ ‘em war foond on th’ low road t’ New Midwood. If ye be travelin’ east o’ Dersyth, best be on yer guard, eh!” The patrol continues up the road to the monastery.
[Tyrius, Eddard, Babshapka, Aurora; moving 5 hours at 3mph (Aurora’s pace) = 15 miles
Larry; moving 3 hours at 3.5mph plus 2 hours at 2.5mph = 15.5 miles]
The party does indeed catch up to Larry at mid-day, for after three castings of longstrider he has walked at his own pace for the remainder of the morning. Even though they are eating trail food, and have little in the way of preparation or clean-up, he insists on taking a short rest for a full hour. While they eat, he contemplates the Fyn below, still shrouded in mist, but audible through the clear winter air. When they start up again, his natural recovery has allowed him to get those three castings back, and he tells them he will next see them at the gates of Dersyth.
“Be careful,” says Eddard drolly, “I hear there are eigers on the road.” Larry chuckles as he speeds off.
They do indeed find Larry again at the gates of Dersyth, trying to persuade the guards to keep the gates open until they arrive. The last rays of the sun glint off Tyrius’ armor as he thanks the guards, but they only scowl back.
Reunited at the inn, Aurora and Tyrius tell the rest of the party that on the morrow they will be packing for a journey to seek the Council of Druids on the Isle of Rhun.
[ Half of party eats at the inn, other half has lunch only on the trail, using 1 ration; 54 human rations remaining
No mule rations used, fed at inn; 18 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used; 103 pounds charcoal remaining]
5 February, 571 [Readying 14] - Dersyth (lowlands)
The party (less Thokk, who is in a drunken stupor) is woken by thunder in the night, and all of them are glad for the roof of the inn overhead. The pouring rain, thunder, and lightning last from before midnight to well after.
In the morning Willa orders their march once they pass out of the north gate of Dersyth. Since they now have their camping gear with them, there will be no hardship if they fail to reach the monastery by sundown - and less to explain to the monks about the party members that stayed behind last time. Nor does she want Larry off by himself ahead of the party, so they will all travel together at his pace. Today, as they pass through fields of sheep and harvested oats, she will keep Thokk with them, but depending on the terrain she might release him to forage on the morrow.
The day passes uneventfully. From their camp, they can see the lit monastery on the hill all night, a shining beacon in the darkness.
[ Breakfast at the inn, 4 human rations used in rest of day; 50 human rations remaining
One mule ration used, supplemented by forage; 17 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used; 103 pounds charcoal remaining]
6 February, 571 [Readying 14] - road from Dersyth to Lake Rhun (lowlands)
[Light rain 8am-4pm, no affect on movement]
Dawn comes, but the sunrise is unseen as the skies are overcast. By the time the party has reached the walls of the monastery, a light rain is falling. The river is covered in mists and a fog shrouds the land so that the horizon falls back from the great Barrier Peaks to just the trail immediately in front of them.
All day the rain falls as they climb higher and higher into the foothills along the trail. An hour after their mid-day rest, the sound of the rushing river in the gorge alongside them fades away, and an hour after that it is replaced by the lonely cries of water birds and the gentle lapping of waves.
Ahead of them, emerging from the mist, appear low wooden buildings. A small village sits at the shore of a mist-covered lake. Interestingly, it does not appear to be a fishing village - no nets or drying racks are in sight. There is a small dock, but no boats moored.
The village is quiet, but not deserted. The villagers welcome the party and take them to the “petitioner’s house” - a two-story wooden building with the second floor just a loft accessed by a ladder. There is a stable, a large fireplace with wood already laid in, and simple but comfortable furnishings. It could be mistaken for a country inn, but there seems to be neither staff nor proprietor. The villagers tell the party that they are welcome to stay there as long as they need to. When they ask how long that will be, the villagers explain that only those who the Council of Druids wish may access their isle. A few are admitted right away, some, after a while, most never, until they eventually give up and leave.
The party unpacks, settles in, and starts a fire in an attempt to dry their clothes. In the late afternoon, a man enters the building without knocking. He has close-cropped hair, hard-worn hands, and a simple robe of sky blue. He asks the party their business, and they reply that they would like to meet with the Council of Druids. He explains that he is a representative of the Council, and that they can state their business to him for the Council to determine whether they wish to hear it in person or not. Aurora is hesitant, but Willa forges ahead, and says that Larry would like to know whether the druids of these parts can teach him any spells he does not know. The man seems taken aback by the question, and asks does Larry not have a master? Does he not belong to a circle? Who taught him before, and why did they stop?
“Ah war taught by a bar an’ raised inna cave,” says Larry simply. “Until ‘e said ‘e ‘adn’t nae more t’ teach me an’ Ah lef’.”
After an awkward silence, Tyrius interjects. “He was accepted as a novice candidate by the Circle of the Great Druid in the Dreadwood, but he...did not agree with their teaching methods or priorities. He is, mostly, self-taught, as it were...”
The man raises an eyebrow. “If that is your only business with the Council...” he says, in a tone that suggests that they are wasting their time.
“Also, I am an historian,” says Aurora quickly. “And I am seeking information about an ancient event - a star falling in these parts. It is older than any written histories, but we were told that the Council has oral histories that go back further.”
“We ‘ave a map,” says Willa bluntly. “O’ ther mountains, whar we think ther star fell. We’d be wantin’ t’ ken what ther weather be like oop yonder.”
“I see,” the man says politely, although as he looks from one to the other of them it is not clear that he does, in fact. “I will present your petition to the Council. You will have their answer on the morrow.”
A few of the party follow the man out of the building and down to the lake, where a single, oarless, rowboat is now tied to the dock. The man enters the boat, unties it, makes a mystic pass of his hands, and mumbles a few words. The thick mists of the lake part and the boat moves away from the dock, seemingly of its own accord. The mists close again behind the boat, like a curtain in a theatre.
The rain lets up soon after, and the fog onshore disperses, but the mists over the water remain thick throughout the afternoon and night.
[ 7 human rations used; 43 human rations remaining
One mule ration used, supplemented by forage; 16 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used; 103 pounds charcoal remaining] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
A ditz, definitely. A harridan? Nah, more like a vixen or minx.
I have some reflections on Alignment in this campaign between posts 108 and 109. Let me say here that for this, my first 5e game, I wanted to try a different approach to alignment. Basically I told the players that their job was to come up with a consistent personality and perspective, and that their actions would then dictate their alignment rather than the other way around. Thus, I have my understanding of what their alignment is, but it is not actually known to them.
I did write an 'alignment' on their sheets based on my assessment of their role-playing:
Aurora - Chaotic Shrill
Babshapka - Chaotic Obliged
Larry - Neutral Grubby
Mathias - Neutral Bargainer w/ LE tendencies
Shefak - Not from around here
Thokk - Chaotic Simple
Tyrius - Blessed Be Pelor
Umbra - Shrouded in Mystery
Willa - Loyal Freebooter
I did write an 'alignment' on their sheets based on my assessment of their role-playing:
Aurora - Chaotic Shrill
Babshapka - Chaotic Obliged
Larry - Neutral Grubby
Mathias - Neutral Bargainer w/ LE tendencies
Shefak - Not from around here
Thokk - Chaotic Simple
Tyrius - Blessed Be Pelor
Umbra - Shrouded in Mystery
Willa - Loyal Freebooter
Who's Mathias? Don't you mean Barnabas?
Indeed. We lost Barnabus before we were playing online, so I don't have his character sheet - I think he may have been listed as "Chaotic Larcenous". And Mathias...well, that was unintended foreshadowing, as I just got ahead of myself. Mathias will join the party when they get to the starfall. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
7 February, 571 [Readying 16] - Lake of Rhun (5000' elevation)
The party is glad of the large fireplace and ample wood, for the night outside drops into the 20’s - the first time it has been below freezing since three weeks ago in the Stark Mounds. Larry and Thokk figure they are already higher in elevation than the peaks of the Mounds and they are only at the base of the Barriers and will surely have a lot higher to climb.
In the morning, after breakfast, Willa dispatches several party members to the water’s edge. The day is clear and cold but the mists lie just as thick over the lake as before. Suddenly the mists part and the same boat is visible, piloted by the same man in the sky blue robe, but now with a passenger.
The new man climbs easily onto the dock and then strides ashore. There is a grace and suppleness to his movements that belie the deep wrinkles on his face. He has a long white beard, which flows down the front of his robes, themselves of a deep, royal blue.
No sooner has the man stepped foot on shore but he is approached by animals - swallows and sparrows from under the eaves of the houses, mice from under doors and through holes in the walls, a mountain hare from beyond the edge of the village. They cluster around him, following him expectantly as he walks forward but not getting under foot. He nods at the party members on shore, but does not speak to them or even pause as he moves briskly towards their borrowed lodgings.
When he reaches the building, he finally speaks, but to the creatures, not the party. Lowering himself to one knee, he tells the mice, “Search th’ buildin’ - make sure thar are no ears aboot.” The mice scurry under the door and into holes - those inside hear them crawling within the walls and in the loft above. Standing, the man addresses the birds. “See tha’ we are nae disturbed,” he says, and they take flight, circling the house. They ignore the party, but any villagers who accidently stray too close are immediately set upon. “An’ ye…” he muses, looking down at the hare waiting beneath him, “ye can warm me feet.” For indeed, he is barefoot in the hoarfrozen grass.
He enters the house without knocking, takes a seat without asking leave. The hare curls up on top of his feet. He welcomes the party to the lake (rather than them welcoming him to the house), and asks who they are and what they would have of the Council.
Once everyone is inside and the door closed, Willa introduces the party, each in turn, and he nods at all of them and squints. When she finishes, he says, “Well, ye’ve certainly got eno’ magic aboot ye.”
“Do you know the mage Nholast?” opens Aurora.
“Cannae say as ah do,” he replies, “‘tho th’ nime sounds Suel to me ear.”
“Indeed,” agrees Aurora. “Nholast of the Suel House of Linth. This mage was a general to the wizard Asberdies, who ruled the Yeomanry.”
The man’s eyes narrow. “‘Rruled?’ More like ‘e crrrushed th’ folk o’ th’ Yeomanry ‘neath ‘his tyrannical boot, an’ used ‘is fell magicks t’ enslave th’ lot o’ ‘em.”
“So him you know,” agrees Aurora. “Well, anyway, we were in his servant Nholast’s tower, one of them anyway, and found a diary. Some seven hundred fifty years or so ago, he recorded a star falling from the sky and landing near here. He planned to use the metal in the star to create a mighty weapon, but fortunately it seems he met his end before he had a chance.”
“An’ we be hopin’ tha’ ye might help us t’ find yon star,” says Willa. After a pause, she adds, “t’ make sure summit so powerful hain’t fallen inter ther wrong ‘ands an’ all.”
“Do you know of any such histories of falling stars?” finishes Aurora.
“Och, aye, o’ course,” he says. “Long, long ago - long afore th’ Gyri larned t’ write, when only the scops kept histories in song, thar appeared a star in th’ sky brighter than any t’others. Over th’ course o’ a few nights, et grew brighter an’ brighter, until ‘twere as bright as Luna ‘erself an’ could be seen in th’ day. Then it fell t’ Oerth. The stories don’t say whar, but they do say tha’ the whole Oerth shook, ‘twas a roar like thoonder tha’ lasted fer hours, an’ all th’ mountains ‘twere afire.”
The party, now sobered, remains quiet a moment, until Willa ventures, “But ye dinnae ken whar it lies?”
The man shakes his head and shrugs.
“I ‘ave a map,” Willa says, pulling the map case out of her backpack and ignoring the concerned look of Aurora. She unrolls the map and spreads it out on a table near the druid. “This be whar we t’ink ther star might be. What can ye tell us aboot yon mountain?”
The man rises to look at the map, the hare jumping up but then docile at his side. It takes him a moment to work out the scale and scheme of the map - but when he realizes what it shows, his eyes widen. He sits back in his chair pensively, his hands fumbling as if looking for a pipe or other device he has not brought along. Finally, he nods as if deciding something, and leans forward again.
“Somewhar deep in th’ Barrier Peaks thar be a caive,” he begins. “A caive tha’ be th’ source o’ many a strange crrreature. Th’ Council hae kenned this fer generations, an’ we even hae a name fer it - Th’ Unoerthly Caive. The crrreatures tha’ coom from th’ caive be unlak any ‘tother thing ye ever seen - they be doonright unnatural.”
“Interesting,” says Aurora, “but what does that have to do with the starfall?”
“Yer map o’ th’ starfall be centered right upon th’ Caive. Wha’ if they be woon in th’ saime? Wha’ if these crreatures be so unoerthly because they dinnae be o’ th’ Oerth?”
“What be ye proposin’?” asks Willa.
“We can ‘elp woon atother,” he says. “Th’ Council will show ye exactly ‘ow t’ get t’ yer starfall, an’ ye can tell us wha’ lies in th’ caive.”
“But if you have known exactly where it is for generations,” says Aurora dubiously, “why haven’t you investigated it before?”
The man explains that the Council’s affairs are those of Geoff - the vastness of the Barrier Peaks are not in their purview, strictly speaking, although the tendency of strange creatures to leave the cave every few years and create problems in Geoff makes it of interest to them. They have, occasionally, over the generations, sent druids to investigate - typically brash young types with something to prove. Many have come back without locating it, turned away by the vast, frozen peaks. Others have not come back at all - whether they have been lost to the mountains, or the cave itself, he cannot say. However, he says that this party seems powerful, numerous, and well-equipped; he believes that they can handle the dangers of the cave and return to tell the Council what is producing the monsters, and hopefully, how they can be stopped.
Aurora, perhaps overly excited at meeting someone who knows of Asberdies, is eager to plumb the druid for more lore. “You know,” she interrupts, “even though Nholast told Asberdies he was his loyal follower, he actually wasn’t. At least in his diary, he mentioned that really he was a servant of ‘The Master’.” The druid does not react, but Aurora continues. “He even mentions that he was looking for Relics of the Whispered One.”
At this last reference the druid’s face darkens, and he bolts upright. Startled, the hare dashes off and hides behind the party’s mule packs. “Tha’,” he thunders, “is an ancient evil best lef’ unspoken. If ye value yer lives, an’ those o’ yer mates, ye willnae pursue tha' farther.”
Even imprudent Aurora is cowed by his vehemence, at least momentarily. “I...I did not mean to offend...or seek more danger,” she stammers, as she recovers, “I merely wished to ascertain whether this cave, and the starfall, might somehow be connected to the...the one we should not name.”
The lightning in the man’s eyes dims. “Nay, nay, there be nae connection atwixt th’ two.”
Aurora approaches the druid, turning her body so that she can hide from Umbra the fact that she is pointing with her thumb at the shadow elf. She silently mouths the words “Whispered One?,” signals Umbra again, and raises her eyebrows as if making a question.
Willa grabs Aurora by her shoulder, pulls her back a step, and scowls at her.
The druid shakes his head. “Whar ye be gang be dangerous eno’, without th’ ancient evil. Ye must all be o’ woon mind, without dissention, if ye be coomin’ back atall.”
Willa clears her throat and looks pointedly at Aurora.
“Oh, we’re of one mind,” agrees Aurora. “Most assuredly.” She turns her back on the druid and gestures to the party to gather around her in a huddle, even Umbra. “I just meant to ask,” she whispers conspiratorially, “whether he knows anything about the...the place that made Umbra faint last time.”
“You can say the Spidered Throne in front of me, enchantress,” says Umbra dryly. “And we will speak of this later.”
Aurora turns back around. “We were just wondering whether any of this was connected to the Spidered Throne?”
The druid shudders and says that has nothing to do with the Unoerthly Cave - but is also something you should not seek.
“So how do we be navigatin’ t’ ther cave?” asks Willa. “Ye ‘ave a better map than this one?”
“Maps, feh,” the druid disparages. “Ye think ye can circumscribe th’ Oerth Mother Beory with paper an’ calc’lations? Ye think tha’ drawin’ a place in ink says anything aboot the place an’ its life? Nae, nae, I dinnae hae a map fer ye. Bu’ I can tell yer druid th’ names o’ the peaks an’ valleys an’ streams an’ forests twixt ‘ere an’ th’ caive. Nae the names ye call ‘em an’ write on yer “map”, bu’ the names they call themselves an’ t’ which ther own spirits answer! Yer druid can talk t’ th’ spirits an’ ask directions along th’ way.”
In addition, the druid explains to them that there will be two principle routes to choose from. One would continue north along the trail they used to come here, pass through the lands of the Dwarven Clan Stonereaver, then follow the last traces of the Upper Fyn high into the mountains, before summiting a high mountain pass and coming down on the Unoerthly Cave from above.
The other route would take them south and west around the bottom of the Lake of Rhun, up a different river valley high into the Barriers, across a number of rugged mountain ranges and finally a vast snowfield before coming upon the Cave from below.
Shefak asks about the weather to expect. He replies that it will be below freezing during the day, and far below freezing (below zero) at night. The greatest danger, however, will be the wind. While they are down in the valleys it will be strong, but when they need to cross ridges and on exposed faces it will be downright dangerous. The air will be thin, and they will be out of breath. They will need a heat source to keep their water from freezing - he warns them that eating snow will not keep them from dehydration and death.
As the druid explains all the hazards of the journey, Willa’s expression grows more and more sour. “An’ what be in it fer us?” she asks, finally.
The druid shrugs, saying that they came to him, asking about the starfall. He is giving them the precise location of it, in return for them investigating and reporting back about the cave. It seems a fair trade - if they want to try to find the location of the starfall from their map alone, they are welcome to try.
“Might be a fair trade fer ye,” says Willa to Aurora. “Wha’ do the rest of us want wi’ starmetal?”
“Oh, Willa,” chides Aurora. “Always so suspicious and negative. This starmetal is incredibly valuable. I’m sure it will have attracted monsters with treasures and such. We can keep those, right?”
The druid indicates that indeed the party is welcome to whatever they find or discover, so long as they can explain what they found in the Cave to the Council.
Willa is not satisfied, but she does turn to the more practical - asking the druid about what they will need in terms of supplies and equipment, such as snowshoes? And where they might get such gear.
The man says snowshoes would just be a burden except perhaps in the snowfield, but ‘boot spikes’ (crampons) would be of high utility. They will need fur-lined sleeping bags if they plan on resting at night - after examining their cold-weather clothes he thinks they are likely to be sufficient to move in the day. Alternatively they could sleep in the day in what they have and move at night, but then they would need better clothes rather than better bed rolls. They will certainly each need individual tents, or at least one large pavilion for all of them and their mounts. The mules are hearty enough that they can take the cold while moving, but they will need blankets, or to be kept in a tent and out of the wind, when they are resting. And of course, the mules will need liquid water as well. He recommends that the party purchase either a brass or iron camp stove and coal - actual, mineral coal, not the charcoal they have with them.
As to where they can find all of this, he suggests the Dwarves - they frequently travel in the mountains, and are skilled craftsfolk besides. When Willa asks whether the dwarves would be willing to offer them a fair deal, he says that although they are a proud and independent people, they are nominally under the rule of the Brennin of Gyruff, and maintain friendly relations with the Council. He can write them a letter of introduction that will insure they receive fair treatment, so long as they behave. As to what “behaving” means, he warns them to not ask questions, especially about their mines or livelihoods or family, to not speak until spoken to, to not haggle or show distrust, and generally to mind their own business.
While most of the party seems ready to agree, Willa is still convinced they are getting the short end of the stick, and asks what else the druid might be able to offer them. After a bit more negotiation, he offers to teach Larry a spell to protect them from the cold, provided he is able to cast spells of third level. When Larry says that he is (his favorite being lightning bolt) the man nods and says that it is unusual to see a free druid so powerful - and that Larry may want to see about joining some Circle or other at some point. Larry scoffs at the idea.
The Druid first teaches Larry the names of all the spirits of the land he will need to talk to to find the Cave (which takes the rest of the morning), and then, when he is sure Larry can recall them all, he teaches him the prayer he will need to call upon the spirits of the mountain for Protection from Cold, which takes much of the afternoon. Finally, Aurora lends him parchment, quill, and ink, and he writes out a letter, in both Common script and Dwarven runes (although none in the party, even Larry, can read the latter). It informs the Dwarves of Clan Stonereaver that the party (and it lists them all by name) are acting on behalf of the Council, and are to be treated as allies in their endeavor.
The druid takes his leave of the party and returns across the lake.
[ 7 human rations used; 36 human rations remaining
No mule rations used, forage all day; 16 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used; 103 pounds charcoal remaining] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
By far the best source for maps of Greyhawk comes from the work of Anna B Meyer. I used http://ghmaps.net for the party's travel. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
Post 153: The Lake of Rhun to Moradinath-Mor
8 February, 571 [Readying 17] - Lake of Rhun (5000' elevation)
[Clear; low 23, high 43]
The party leaves the village by the lake at first light, when it is still below freezing and the grass crunches underfoot. Thokk lags behind, with instructions to hunt for them once he is well away from the village itself. By late morning the sun has melted the hoarfrost and the day warms - but not as much as it did in the green valleys below, along the Lower Fyn. The first stretch away from the village is through dense fir forest, but by some two hours out of the village they emerge from the trees and the trail follows the banks of the upper Fyn. This river is not clouded by the mist that covered the lake or the lower Fyn and visibility is good, although increasingly limited by the narrowness of the river valley itself. Soon they are walking at the water’s edge in a steep, rocky canyon, with the trail climbing most of the time.
Willa reckons that it is as cold a day as they have felt since the “cold spell” on the Javan that set the merchants to speculating about giant raids. She is privately glad they are keeping warm by walking, and not immobile on the deck of a ship (although she would not admit that). With the blessing of the Great Mother Sea Cow, she will survive this foolishness and live to see the warm southern ocean again.
Shortly after their mid-day trail meal they come to a stone bridge over the Fyn, where the trail they are on crosses from the northern to the southern bank. The stonework on the bridge is elaborate, with four life-size statues of dwarves holding axes at the corners. It is easy to surmise that they are crossing into the land of the dwarves, although no guards greet them. Aurora, at Willa’s request, sends Buckbeak back to find Thokk. She doesn’t want him hunting in the lands of Clan Stonereaver, so he is recalled to join the party. Just after they cross the bridge together, he spots a group of mountain goats moving along the cliff face over the trail, and despite his protestations is not allowed to go after them.
In mid-afternoon, at what should be the warmest part of the day, it is barely above forty degrees, and the sun has passed from view beyond the walls of the steep canyon, although it will remain light for several more hours. Just an hour before their evening camp they cross the Fyn again, this time at an even more elaborately carved and decorated stone bridge.
[ 7 human rations used; 29 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used; supplemented by forage; 15 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used; 103 pounds charcoal remaining]
9 February, 571 [Readying 18] - Trail to Moradinath-Mor (7500' elevation)
[Clear; low 18, high 40]
The next day is spent moving along the trail, which now stays entirely on the northern side of the Upper Fyn for all twenty-five miles traveled. Sometimes they are in narrow rocky canyons right at the water’s edge, sometimes the southern wall of the valley pulls back a mile or more and there is fertile meadows that could be grazed by mules, goats, or sheep (and some evidence that it has been, though they see no sign of herds, flocks, or inhabitants at the moment). The northern wall of the canyon remains steep and close, sloping up to the great snow-covered Barrier Peaks above them.
The trail continues to gain elevation all day and it gets noticeably cooler as they go. For the last five miles, the trail leaves the river valley and begins making its way up the northern wall. Their camp this night is on a narrow ledge, scarcely three times wider than the trail itself. It appears that they will cross over a ridge and be able to move down into a valley on the morrow, but Willa does not wish to try the crossing in the dark, and the others are tired, sore, out of breath in the thin air, and cold enough to stop for the evening.
[ 7 human rations used; 22 human rations remaining
1 mule ration used, supplemented by forage; 14 mule rations remaining
No charcoal used; 103 pounds charcoal remaining] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Shortly after midnight, by the cloud-obscured light of Luna’s last quarter (Celene being new), those on watch see the finest of snowflakes drifting down. They melt rapidly after landing on the faces or sleeping rolls or hairy mule backs of those in the open, but accumulate on the stone trail and on the sloping roofs of the two new tents.
The breeze that heralds the morning rapidly whisks the snow away from the high pass, and although it continues to fall it does not build up on the trail. After a quick, cold, breakfast the party is on its way. They have barely started out when they find themselves tired and gasping for breath - the air here must be very thin. Even Thokk, raised at these elevations, is out of breath - he must have grown accustomed to the lowlands in the last ten months. Only Larry seems unaffected, and for once he is easily able to keep pace with the party.
Fortunately they do not have to go far before they summit the high pass and are able to look down on the vast valley below. Before them, in a wide bowl several miles across, is what they are seeking - the city of Moradinath-Mor, the city of the dwarves. At first glance they are overwhelmed by the number of walls, before realizing that most of the valley floor is paddocks. In the summer the valley must be lush with grass, but now it is all brown and frozen, though still divided into innumerable fields with gates and styles. At the outermost limits the rock walls are simply low piles of rough stones, cairn-walls such as one might build by collecting the rocks of the field where they lie. Closer to the center of the valley, the walls are of worked stone, squared and flattened, higher and straighter, though still enclosing open fields and the occasional stone barn or silo. By the time the walls of the city proper are reached, they are not only of worked stone, but every available surface is decoratively carved and linteled. The walls are high and cannot be seen over in many places. The city is full of statuary, gates, colonnades, arcades, porticoes, arches, plazas, amphitheaters, coliseums, domes, towers, basilicas, and keeps. It is as if hundreds of stonemasons had labored for generations to make every possible stone structure, but all balanced and in perfect proportion, not random or haphazard, but following a grand plan and all growing higher and finer into the very center of the city.
As they travel down the side of the mountain into the valley, they realize that the city itself appears deserted. No beasts move amongst the hundreds of empty paddocks. No people are seen in the open streets and squares of the city. Is this a ghost town, an abandoned marvel? Then someone points out a thin column of smoke rising against the leaden sky and falling snow. Soon they can pick out dozens of places where discreet or even invisible chimneys are venting smoke into the sky. The city is not abandoned - but there is no one, man or beast, out of doors or above ground.
They move through the outskirts of the city, where the trail becomes a broad flagstone road leading through the paddocks. While the valley floor is creased with ridges or rent with gullies, the road stays smooth and level, crossing over numerous stone bridges, cutting through embankments, occasionally lowering down long ramps with just the slightest hint of a grade. What they took from a distance to be barns and silos often are - but sometimes are not. Rather, they are occasionally stone bunkers and towers whose walls are perforated with crossbow slits. Similar to the archer’s nests in Talbaire, these have no visible doors, but unlike them they are large enough for whole squads of archers rather than a single bowman. Sometimes the bunkers have large iron plates completely shuttering wide, recessed windows. What waits behind those? Scorpions? More than once the more perceptive of the party hear noises from the bunkers and feel that they are being watched. Aurora suggests hailing the occupants, but Willa reminds her that the druid of the council said they were not to speak until spoken to. Throughout the morning the party continues, slowly making their way into the center of the city.
By the time the walls and buildings rise so high around them so that they cannot see the rest of the city, they begin to notice entryways to the underground. Darkened archways open on stairs descending below street level. Blind alleys end in broad, descending ramps that become tunnel mouths. They even pass a wide platform, large enough to fit them all at once, surrounded by scaffolding with ropes and pulleys suggesting that the whole thing could be lowered into the earth, like a huge version of the dumbwaiter-car in Castle Ravenloft. And the noises - a low hum of distant activity, a buzz of muted voices, the faint echoes of hammers or machinery.
Finally the road they are on enters a large, circular plaza. It exits through the opposite side, but all around the plaza are two and three-story buildings with numerous doors and windows, each one closed and shuttered.
Halfway through the plaza, clustered outside one of the buildings, is a group of dwarves. Four of them are in highly-polished scale mail from head to toe, with visored helms shut so that the only living parts of them that may be seen are their eyes and beards - everything else is covered in articulated metal. They bear two-handed swords, fully as long as they are tall. The fifth dwarf is dressed in fine furs and leathers, with a woolen robe of deepest blue closed with a silver neck chain. With a few hisses from Willa the party forms up in a straighter line, and approaches wordlessly at a slow, dignified pace. They walk up to two-sword’s lengths from the dwarves and then stop. Tyrius, at the fore, dismounts, removes his helmet, and bows his head.
The unarmored dwarf speaks in a deep, booming voice that several of them recognize as the Dwarven tongue, but none of them understand. They don’t respond. He speaks again, this time in Common. “Welcome, strangers. Welcome, travelers. Welcome to Moradinath-Mor.”
Tyrius says, in perhaps the simplest introductory speech he has ever given, “Thank you.” He pulls out, unrolls, and holds forth the parchment given them by the druid of Lake Rhun.
The unarmored dwarf takes the parchment and reads it slowly, looking at each of them in turn as if checking their number and appearance carefully against the descriptions on the parchment. Finished, he rolls up the parchment and, rather than return it, tucks it away. “You would stay the night?” he asks.
“We would, gratefully,” says Tyrius, “and…” At the unrequested addition, the dwarf’s eyes narrow and Willa’s go wide in alarm. “...and, were it acceptable, we would purchase supplies.”
There is a long and awkward silence before the dwarf finally gives a derisive snort. “So be it,” he says flatly.
Without another word spoken, the dwarf leads the party across the plaza to one of the buildings. Opening the door, they find what looks to be an empty inn. There is a kitchen, a common or dining room, a suite of connected bedrooms above and below, and a stable that has a broad exterior door and a small interior door opening on one of the bedrooms. The last room he shows them has a hand-pump for drawing water from some unknown source, a coal bin, and a coal stove with bronze water troughs on top. The troughs empty into a basin in the floor. Lined with polished stone and accessed by stairs, the basin is large enough to fit two of them at a time. It isn’t until the dwarf has left the room that Aurora first works out what it is (a heated bath!) and whispers “Yessss!” in his wake.
Once the various stoves and hearths of the inn have been running a while the whole place warms up, while outside, the snow has turned to sleet with the warmth of mid-day. The party has taken off their cold weather gear, bathed and changed into their travel clothes, and had their lunch of rations by the time the first tradesmen show up. Apparently the party is to wait at the inn while the custom comes to them. Throughout the afternoon dwarves arrive; some with pack mules, some with hand carts, all bearing goods. The first bring a general assortment of wilderness and adventuring gear, but after the party tells them what they are really interested in, the subsequent arrivals have inventories that are better suited to their desires.
In all, the party purchases:
10gp A pavilion tent
80gp Eight fur-lined sleeping rolls
10gp A double-sided wolf fur blanket
84gp One-hundred twelve human rations (two weeks for eight people)
3gp Twenty-eight mule rations (two weeks for two mules)
10gp A small bronze camp stove and a copper kettle
5gp “Cold weather gear” for one person
28gp Leather-and-iron crampons for seven
Two signal whistles -
10gp Fifty pounds of mineral coal
Total: 240gp
The pavilion has a central pole that is ironwood, light and very strong, with oil-treated canvas sides, hemp rope guys, and iron-shod ironwood stakes. Packed in end-to-end, all eight of the sleeping rolls will fit under it, as well as the mules, although they will have one of the tent-sides more-or-less draped over the beasts and those sleeping closest to them will be in danger of being trod or shat upon.
The sleeping rolls have water-proof leather exteriors and a variety of furs lining their insides - they are soft and quite warm. Sized for dwarves, they are over-wide for some of the party and a bit short for the humans, such that they come up to mid-chest rather than neck. Most of Thokk’s torso sticks out of his, the longest, so he is also sold a double-sided leather and wolf-fur blanket that he can wrap around the upper half of his body.
The people rations are mostly familiar - dried fruits, meats, and nuts. In place of hard tack and cheese, however, they have narrow strips of leathery brown material the dwarves call “mushroom jerky”.
The mule rations are mostly rolled oats lightly sweetened with molasses.
The bronze camp stove is sized for coal, not charcoal, with a tiny door that opens and closes.
Although Umbra has been using her sandals and emerald gown since they found her, and it is still without stain, tear, or fray, Tyrius insists on buying cold-weather gear, leather and furs, sized for her.
Leather harnesses with small, sharp iron knobs and points (similar to the cestes used by pit fighters) are purchased that can be tied onto their footwear to make crampons. Willa finds the design overly-complicated and asks whether they don’t just have footwear already incorporating the spikes, like hobnailed boots. The dwarves chuckle and say no - if the iron is part of the shoe itself, it will transmit the cold to the inside of their shoes and their feet will get frostbite! They buy seven sets - Larry insists on going barefoot, even over the predicted ice.
Two shrill little carved soapstone whistles are given to Tyrius as trinkets without charge.
The hard pieces of mineral coal are said to burn twice as hot as charcoal for the weight, but are much denser and so fit in a bag even smaller than the bag of charcoal. A few pieces should be able to heat the bronze stove enough to warm a meal or heat their tent.
After the party tells the first dwarven merchants that they would like to pay in gems, a craftsman arrives with a jeweler’s eyepiece, a small precision balance, a curious lantern with colored glass filter plates, and other strange tools. Babshapka lays out all 39 gems the party recovered in the Tower of Nholast, and the dwarf assesses them as follows:
0.5gp very small jet
0.5gp very small topaz
1gp small chalcedony
1gp large lapis lazuli
1gp very small amethyst
1.2gp rhodochrosite
1.2gp huge moss agate
1.4gp very large azurite
2gp very small garnet
2gp very small peridot
5gp small spinel
5gp huge azurite
5gp huge malachite
5gp very large banded agate
5gp chrysoprase
7gp very large tiger eye
8gp very large turquoise
10gp large citrine
10gp large sardonyx
10gp very large malachite
10gp sardonyx
10gp garnet
10gp coral
35gp large jade
50gp peridot
50gp huge hematite
50gp very small black sapphire.
50gp very large sardonyx
50gp large coral
50gp very small diamond
50gp very small ruby
100gp large black pearl
100gp large spinel
100gp star ruby
100gp huge lapis lazuli
100gp very large chalcedony
100gp small oriental emerald
100gp very small ruby
500gp very large jet
Knowing that they will not have this chance again in any human city, Aurora is at first excited at the prospect of using the note from the druid to get a “fair deal” and changing all of their gems into coin. Willa quickly reminds her that even the smallest and most meager gems are lighter than coins, and they are heavily-laden enough as it is. Perhaps they can consider selling their gems upon their return from the Unoerthly Cave, should they pass by this city again.
It is thus decided that they will part with only enough gems to equal the 240gp in gear that they are buying. But this could be just a few of the larger gems, or any number of the smaller ones. Willa initially argues that they should get rid of as many as the smaller gems as they can, to lighten the load. Aurora counters that if they are sure they are getting a fair deal here, they should instead just use two or three of the large gems, since they will “keep their value” and if the party are forced to change gems somewhere else, they will lose less upon exchanging small ones than large. Tyrius adds his thoughts to the mix. In the end, they decide to go with Aurora’s plan of using the highest-value gems, and hand over...
100gp large spinel
100gp huge lapis lazuli
50gp large coral
...and accept ten gold lions in Geoffian coins in change. Aurora also carefully records the values given by the dwarf for the other gems and even has him put his mark on the paper, as possible leverage in future dealings with gem buyers.
The relative warmth of the afternoon has turned the sleet to drizzle. By mid-afternoon, that too has ceased and the skies slowly clear - the temperature drops outside and a thin layer of skim ice forms on the wet cobbles of the plaza. Larry says that as high as this alpine valley is, they will be going higher on the morrow - soon even the relative heat of mid-day will be below freezing.
While it remains dry outside, Willa insists on packing the mules this afternoon and putting them through their paces, formalizing the packs today rather than tomorrow in the morning when it could be wet again. They start by packing the pavilion tent, all one hundred pounds of it, on Randy. As he walks around the plaza, laden, with Eddard beside him, the warhorse shakes his head. “Nope, that’ll make him slower than the rest of the party”. The mule can easily bear the load, but at the cost of a reduced pace. A few flasks of oil are moved to Larry, some rations are moved to Andy, and finally Eddard is satisfied that Randy will be able to keep up. However, they have not yet added any of the other gear they just purchased. There will need to be a drastic reduction in what they are carrying to make room for all of the new gear.
They can replace their lowland sleeping rolls with the fancy new fur-lined bags. They can leave the charcoal behind as they have coal. But they will still need to shed something to carry all of the rations they have purchased…
As they are enjoying their evening meal, a dwarf shows up asking for payment for the inn, at one gold for each of them. Willa turns this around in her head. “An ‘ow much would it be fer us ta keep some t’ings ‘ere until we return?”
The dwarf is taken aback by the request, but has to admit that there is not much custom in the winter, and that it will not be much of a bother for the gear to be stowed in one bedroom of the closed building. Once he is assured that it won’t contain live animals or food or anything else that could go bad, he agrees to let them store their things for 1 gold lion a day, plus a promise that they will use the inn again for at least one night upon their return.
Once they know that their things can be stored in relatively safety, the party finds other things they can shed besides sleeping rolls and charcoal, principally the three heavy tomes carried by Aurora, Thokk, and Andy. After all, sighs Aurora, they needed the diary and the book of star positions to find the starfall, but now Larry will be doing that for them.
They leave behind:
Andy Book of Infernal Bargains (20lb), History of the Good Hills (5lb), 65 pounds of Charcoal, 5 lowland bedrolls
Randy 38 pounds of charcoal
Umbra: Bedroll
Aurora: Diary of Nholast (20lb)
Shefak: Bedroll
Thokk: Star book (20lb)
Willa: Bedroll
[DM’s note: All of party members are now at less than two pounds from being encumbered. Andy’s pack is at 410.6 pounds, and Randy’s is at 394 pounds (the most they can carry and still move is 420 pounds). Both of the mules are heavily encumbered, and will be moving at 20 feet per turn and will have disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws that use Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution. The party will use rations and coal from the mules' packs first, eventually dropping them to encumbered and removing the penalties.]
The party turns in, eager to be off on the morrow.
[ 7 human rations used, 15 remaining, 112 purchased; total 127
2 mule rations used, 12 remaining, 28 purchased; total 40
No charcoal or coal used; 50 pounds coal purchased] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes:
By far the best source for maps of Greyhawk comes from the work of Anna B Meyer. I used http://ghmaps.net for the party's travel. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
Post 155: The Orcs of Gruumsh 11 February, 571 [Readying 20] - Moradinath-Mor (c. 11,000 feet elevation)
[Light snow 11am-5pm, foot travel at 3/4 normal]
[Low 18, high 31]
[Randy starts the day with 394lb, Andy 387lb; both heavily encumbered]
The party leaves at first light, but finds an escort of dwarves waiting outside the inn when they open the doors. Whether they are the same individuals as before or different is impossible to tell, for they are likewise clad in gleaming scale mail with nothing visible but their eyes and beards. Neither do they speak, and the dwarf who spoke to them the previous day is not to be seen. They take the party silently north through the city, and out to the edge of the furthest paddock before stopping without so much as a fare-thee-well.
This side of the valley has no road, not even a trail, but Larry meditates for a bit and then says that the mountain spirits are guiding him north, up a little draw between a peak to the northeast and the shoulder of a much larger peak to the northwest. All morning they work their way up the trail-less rocky valley. Despite Larry’s warning the previous day, they are not gaining much elevation, and the city of Moradinath-Mor lies behind them, not below them.
In late morning they are beginning to pass through the narrowest spot between the peaks when a light snow begins to fall. This, and the thin air, slows the party considerably. Fortunately the mules are slowed even more by their heavily burdens, and since they are setting the pace, the effects of weather and altitude on their progress are negligible. Willa estimates that they have traveled about five miles when she calls for the mid day meal.
After their break they turn northwest, the valley floor now following the lowest point between two ridges. The ridge to their right is steep and dark, the one to their left an easier slope but covered in snow.
The snowfall ceases at about the time the sun passes behind the mountains; Willa keeps them marching another hour in the twilight before selecting a campsite with just enough loose soil and scree that they can use their tent stakes, and as well where the last hour of wind has blown most of the snow away. With Larry providing unfrozen water at each stop, and the trail rations not requiring cooking, they use no coal, saving it for the higher elevations to come where they will need it to heat the tent.
[ 7 human rations used; 120 human rations remaining
2 mule rations used (no forage); 38 mule rations remaining
No coal used; 50 pounds coal remaining]
12 February, 571 [Readying 21] - Barrier Peaks, c. 11,000 feet elevation
[Low 13, high 33]
[Randy starts the day with 380lb, Andy 377lb; both heavily encumbered]
After midnight the temperature continues to drop, but does not go below zero. Randy and Andy, who were in and out of the open side of the tent at first, eventually settle down (or realize it is warmer inside) and remain inside the tent with the canvas draped loosely over their backs. Between the mules and eight party members, the tent rapidly warms, and in their fur-lined sleeping rolls those not on watch pass a comfortable night. Those on watch, outside, find they need to keep moving to keep the cold bearable. Fortunately there is little wind down here in the valley bottom.
The next day dawns clear and even Willa has to admit that the rosy light paints a majestic mountain landscape of rugged peaks and vast snowfields all about them, with nary a sign of habitation as far as they can see, and they can see many miles. The trail from the Lake of Rhun to Moradinath-Mor was deserted of people, of course, but it was a trail, and besides the stone bridges it was crowded with mule flops, discarded bits and pieces of broken tack, and abandoned campfire rings. Here they have a true remote wilderness, with the sense that they are the first people to pass through, or at least the first in a long, long while.
The march itself, morning and afternoon, is uneventful - unless you can count the fact that it gets above freezing for about an hour in the afternoon as an “event”. The party continues up the long valley between the two massive mountain ranges, adding another ten miles or so by day’s end, still traveling at the pace of the heavily-laden mules. When they make their evening camp, the mountain spirits tell Larry that they are now beyond the places the Stonereaver dwarves regularly visit, and only occasionally are these peaks and valleys seen by two-leg eyes.
[ 7 human rations used; 113 human rations remaining
2 mule rations used (no forage); 36 mule rations remaining
No coal used; 50 pounds coal remaining]
Aurora and Tyrius have the 9pm to 11pm watch. Their watch starts with the night air in the twenties but rapidly dropping into the high teens. Having learned from the night before, the party gathered bits of scrub wood while it was still light, and after dinner Aurora shot firebolts at them until the green and half-frozen wood finally ignited. She and Tyrius now sit by a decent campfire to warm themselves. Willa is currently sleeping in the pavilion, and won’t be on watch until they are done, so she is not there to scold them that sitting by the fire means they are blind to the night around them.
Surprise Round
Without warning, the cold night air is split by the whoosh of fletched javelins. Both Tyrius and Aurora are struck, but have no idea from whence. Their shouts of alarm wake the rest of the party, who begin to rush out of the pavilion dressed in no more than their nightclothes, but with weapons in their hands.
Round 1
As the party rushes out of the pavilion, those with darkvision, and not standing next to the fire, see a host of orcs moving toward the camp from the southeast. Another volley of javelins lands among the party, wounding several of them. Tyrius calls to Eddard, and the warhorse is at his side with a clatter of hooves on the hard rock. Tyrius vaults onto the horse bareback, and casts the blessing of Pelor on Thokk, Larry, and himself. By the power of his spirit bond with Eddard, the spell benefits the horse as well.
The sudden shouts and rushing about of the party has spooked the mules, and they too bolt out of the pavilion into the darkness, stamping their hooves nervously.
The orcs have stopped their advance, but continue throwing javelins. Unbeknownst to the party, they are attempting to provoke a response, drawing the party away from the tents so that the real strike force can move in, but Aurora has other plans.
Round 2
Shefak uses the light of Luna’s waning crescent and Celene’s waxing crescent to charge forward. She finds an orc opponent and strikes at him mercilessly with fists, feet, and staff.
Aurora ignores the fact that she still does not see their attackers, but trusts that they are somewhere beyond Thokk in the general direction that he even now is facing. She sends a full-scale fireball into the darkness, rather near to where Shefak is engaged in melee. “Aurora!” cautions Willa after the missile launches, but it is too late. The massive explosion illuminates the night (28 damage) and creates a boom that echoes up and down the valley for miles around. Of the orcs attacking from the south, nine are slain immediately and another three are wounded, with their heavy winter leathers still aflame. Satisfied, Aurora slinks away from the campfire and takes cover from the javelins in a cluster of nearby boulders.
Babshapka uses the light of the now multiple fires to send out arrows towards their attackers, and then, seeing one particularly large one, casts hunter’s mark for good measure.
Thokk rushes forward and engages the remaining orcs in melee.
Tyrius and Eddard are farthest from the remaining orcs, but charge forward. Tyrius casts the light of Pelor on his shield to reveal the battlefield to his human eyes as the fires die out.
From the rear of a camp comes a sudden shriek. In the boulders, Aurora finds herself surrounded by a group of orcs and casts her shield spell as a defensive reaction. The initial javelin volley from the south was a diversion, allowing this group to sneak closer to the camp. In the center of camp, a third group of orcs is rapidly approaching the mules. Their weapons are stowed and each of their hands are free - apparently they intend to grab the halters and make off with the beasts!
One of the infiltrating groups moves closer to Babshapka. Suddenly he is recognized as an elf and hoarse shouts of “Lulgijak!” are taken up by the orcs as they point their weapons his way. [Thokk will later tell the party that this literally means “flowers-for-blood” but is typically an insulting way to refer to an elf]. Immediately all of the orcs nearby throw their remaining javelins at Babshapka and then charge, including a few that, moments before, had been intent on stealing the mules. [Babshapka takes a total of 22hp damage this round from multiple hits].
Round 3
Larry maneuvers himself so that all of the orcs approaching the mules form a single line from his perspective, then calls on the spirits of the mountains to help him hurl a lightning bolt down the line [30 damage]. The bolt narrowly misses the mules themselves and they bray in terror.
Babshapka continues to fire arrows, trying to avoid being hit by the mob gathering around him. Aurora shrieks again, but with all the orcs about specifically targeting him, Babshapka knows that running to her side will just draw more enemies there. “Go help Aurora!” he shouts at Willa.
Willa turns from the orcs in the south, by now well under control, and sees the distance she will have to cover to get to Aurora. She runs, preparing to jump over the campfire as the shortest way there (Athletics check 8, critical fail), but trips on the rocky ground and flies sprawling through the fire itself, singing her nightclothes and sending a shower of sparks everywhere. Aurora dodges the orcs as best she can in the hope that Willa can recover soon.
Shefak continues to rain monkly fury down on those still around her, losing her staff (critical miss) in the process but striking on unarmed and dauntless, then suddenly landing even more blows, regaining her staff, and seeming to disappear from the thick of the combat (1 ki point for flurry of blows, a second ki point for step of the wind and a bonus disengage).
Of the orcs left in the diversionary force, the only one of any import is a huge, scarred chieftain. Tyrius and Eddard ride him down, hammer and hooves falling, and in a second Thokk is by their side, landing blows of his own, but the massive brute remains standing.
Umbra emerges from the tent and cloaks herself in an armor of shadows. Through the darkness she sees a new orc arriving, this one with a spear in its hands and a second, glowing, spear floating beside it. By the light of the glowing spear she can see that he has only one good eye, the other being a gaping hole gently oozing near-frozen blood onto his cheek.
A knot of orcs launches a volley of javelins at the retreating Shefak, but she spins, catches the first one, and throws it back, wounding its owner. Some of the others hit her, though, staining her nightclothes with blood.
Aurora continues to dance around the orcs encircling her, but as her nicks, scratches, and close calls continue, she knows it will not be much time until her luck runs out.
Round 4
Larry launches another lightning bolt (25 points), again narrowly avoiding both mules and party members. Thokk, Tyrius, and Eddard continue to engage the orc leader. Shefak is now on the other side of camp, teaching the orcs there about the harmony of universal truth with her staff and feet, but taking damage as well and ultimately falling unconscious.
Willa reaches Aurora’s side, pushing her out of the way and taking several blows meant for the wizard (22 points). In a surge of anger, she returns the blows on every orc nearby (action surge).
Babshapka has retreated to the inside of the pavilion, so as to face fewer numbers of attackers at once, but he continues to fire arrows at those who are trying to enter the open flaps. The one-eyed orc pierces the heavy canvass on the other side of the tent with his long-headed spear, and rends the fabric all the way through to the ground, then steps through. He gestures at Babshapka, and the glowing spear strikes the elf in his side.
Round 5
Freed from immediate danger, Aurora sees a second one-eyed orc approaching the tent, and sends forth an underwhelming volley of magic missiles (cast at second level for four missiles, total of 9 points damage). Thokk, Tyrius, and Eddard continue to batter the orc leader.
Inside the pavilion, Babshapka begins shooting at the one-eyed orc while trying to avoid both of his spears.
Round 6
Babshapka draws back his bow to its full extent, and fires point-blank at the eye-hole of the orc in the tent. The orc falls to the floor, one arrow deep in his skull and a second in his chest (26 points).
Larry hurries to Shefak’s side, using a healing word to restore her to consciousness.
The fight with the orc chief continues unfettered, until finally the huge brute falls to the ground and ceases to struggle. Thokk hurls a javelin at a retreating orc so hard it overshoots, hits a rock, and breaks (critical miss).
Aurora shields herself again, but still takes damage.
Shefak rises unsteadily to her feet, but is almost immediately struck down again by a fleeing orc in a parting blow.
The second one-eyed orc enters the pavilion through the entrance flaps and attacks Babshapka.
Round 7
As most of the orcs remaining are in general retreat, Thokk turns and runs to the tent, entering to engage the one-eyed orc. He and Babshapka attack the orc from both sides.
Everyone else in the party converges on the three orcs standing over the body of Shefak, with weapons, fire bolts, and poison sprays. Those that survive the initial onslaught turn and run. Once the second orc in the pavilion is slain, all orcs remaining are in full rout, and Shefak is soon pulled back from the brink of death by the grace of Pelor.
Aftermath
The party listens carefully to the sound of the retreating orcs for several minutes before letting down their guard. They check the bodies of the fallen foes, dragging them away from the tent itself and the nervous mules. They have poor quality weapons, armor of no account, and a few tarnished silver coins each. The “food” they carry is inedible to all but Thokk, and their own mules are still overburdened by rations.
When the party finally re-enters the pavilion, they find Umbra standing next to the huge rent in the tent side. She is humming softly to herself and making a motion in the air, as if she is sewing with an invisible needle and thread. Slowly, inch by inch, the heavy canvas of the tent is drawing itself together and sealing closed, with nary a trace remaining of the great tear and frayed edges.
Once Aurora has received some magical ministrations to her wounds, she and Tyrius return to their guard duty - only now, they take turns at the campfire, so that one of them is warm, while the other one is uncomfortably cold but can actually see into the night.
Inside the pavilion, Thokk has become the party’s cultural guide, explaining in his simple and direct language the intricacies of orc tribes, political structure, and religious beliefs. Each orc tribe, he explains, experiences a constant tension between the secular leaders (the chieftain and his favored lieutenants) and the religious leaders (shamen). Although the orcs as a people worship many gods, any one tribe worships only one god, for the shamans of the tribe will not permit the worship of any god but their own patron under penalty of death. The gods collectively embody all of the best features of the orcs, but each tribe focuses on only one of these features and that shapes the development of their particular culture. Tribes in which the shamen are the dominant force tend to be more insular, attacking any neighboring tribe that is not of their faith, and often warring as much with other orcs or humanoids as they do with humans and demi-humans. Tribes in which a strong chieftain is able to curtail the power of the shamen are more open to political alliance, uniting with same-faith tribes and other humanoids against their common foes the humans and demi-humans. Occasionally an orc warlord emerges who is personally so powerful and charismatic that he eclipses the shamen, unites all of the orc hordes under him and even makes alliances with tribes of different faiths. Then the human cities are put to the torch, the elves hide in the forests, and the dwarves cower behind their gates of stone.
When asked by the others what faith these orcs who ambushed them were, Thokk explains that they are obviously those of Gruumsh, the Allfather who created the orcs themselves as well as all the other orc gods. He is usually called Gruumsh One-Eye, for He lost His other eye to an elven god’s arrow at the dawn of time when the elves tried to take the forests away from the orcs and said they could not live there. Gruumsh is the god of survival and conquest of territory. It is He who urges the orcs to fulfill their destiny of living everywhere on Oerth, in all environments, and enslaving all other peoples, but destroying elves. To become a shaman of Gruumsh, an orc must pluck out his own eye and cast it into a fire as a sacrifice to the god. If he lives, he will be granted divine favor and the power to cast spells. Although the dress, the tattoos, and other features were indicative as well, it was the presence of the one-eyed shamen that most clearly gave away the identity of their attackers. Collectively, all of the orcs under the shamen of Gruumsh are called the “Tribes of the Evil Eye”.
After the party has absorbed this, Willa’s curiosity gets the better of her and she asks Thokk what tribe he was raised in. His father’s tribe, Thokk says proudly, was one of the “Tribes of the Dripping Blade”, with the shamen serving Ilneval, who Gruumsh created to be His trusted lieutenant. Dripping Blade orcs desire battle itself more than conquest, displays of prowess more than killing, but they are also strategically and politically astute, and the most willing of the orcs to make alliances between different groups for tactical advantage. It is because he was raised in this tribe, concludes Thokk, that he is simultaneously so wise, so battle-savvy, and so easy to get along with. And, he says, choking up with emotion, it is also because of this that he values so much the faithful service of his evil advisor. “Thokk thank you for question and for loyalty,” he says finally, sniffing back a manly tear as he looks gratefully at Willa.
[Slain: 28 regular orcs, 2 orc eyes of Gruumsh, 1 orc war chief]
[Taken: 117 sp] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
You make me eager for Tuesday afternoons. I love large parties and your campaign logs are a pleasure to read.
How familiar are your players with Greyhawk canon and the contents of the classic modules? I'm curious as to how they'll react to the Starfall and what, if anything, you've changed to avoid spoilers.
You make me eager for Tuesday afternoons. I love large parties and your campaign logs are a pleasure to read.
It is great to be appreciated!
CruelSummerLord wrote:
How familiar are your players with Greyhawk canon and the contents of the classic modules? I'm curious as to how they'll react to the Starfall and what, if anything, you've changed to avoid spoilers.
At this point in time, I don't think any of them knew or suspected what the implication of "a fallen star in the Barrier Peaks" was. Fortunately I did not have to do anything to avoid spoilers - none of them knew what they were getting into! The defining conceit of this campaign was 'a tour of the classic modules of Greyhawk updated to 5e'. The original point was that setting it in Greyhawk made it less work for me, so I could focus on the 5e conversion rather than the backstories, but in retrospect it worked well that none of them had prior Greyhawk experience.
The game was originally in person with colleagues from work in Utah...
Player 1: Thokk and Aurora
Player 2: Barnabus and Tyrius
Player 3 (son of Player 2): Larry and Babshapka
We then added...
Player 4: Willa
Player 5 (my daughter): Shefak
After I moved to California and the game went online, immediately...
Player 2 dropped, Barnabus retired and Tyrius was retained as a collective party PC
Player 3 dropped, Babshapka was taken over by Player 4, and Larry was taken over occasionally by Player 6 (Player 1's son)
Eventually...
Player 7 (former colleague from Utah) was added with Umbra, but she never was able to find the playtime she needed.
Her son (Player 8 ) briefly took on Tyrius.
So, at this point in the story we have:
Player 1: Thokk and Aurora (and often helping with Larry)
Player 4: Willa and Babshapka (and often helping with Tyrius)
Player 5 (my daughter): Shefak
Player 6 (Player 1's son): Occasionally Larry
Player 7: Occasionally Umbra
Player 8 (Player 7's son): Occasionally Tyrius.
The three younger players (5, 6, 8) had no previous with RPGs before I had a BECMI campaign set in Mystara with (5) and (8). (That game is logged on my Obsidian Portal site). Player (6) had no experience with RPG's before he started, and none of them had played in Greyhawk.
Player 1 came into D&D with 5e. His is a tragic tale with a happy ending - he was prevented from playing RPG's in his youth by his religiously conservative family, and now in his middle age they are his passion and he shares them with his own children as much as he can. Before and during this game he ran a number of 5E adventure series for his children and for myself and other work friends, but they didn't give him any background on Greyhawk.
Player 4 played a lot of D&D in college (c. 2E?) but hadn't played in years when she joined our group. She says her college experience was pretty free-form, and "I don't think we ever finished a module". I doubt there was an explicit setting in their group, so she had little to no Greyhawk experience either. After a few sessions of the Starfall she remarked to one of her college friends that she was currently fighting vegepygmies, and his response was "There are SO MANY of them!" That was the closest she got to a spoiler, and it was after we had already started the adventure proper. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
So who generally plays Umbra? Is she a DMNPC, or do your other players take turns playing her? I notice she hasn't done much in the last couple of sessions.
So who generally plays Umbra? Is she a DMNPC, or do your other players take turns playing her? I notice she hasn't done much in the last couple of sessions.
Umbra's player was one of the principals in my BECMI Mystara game, and she and I spent a lot of time in Umbra's backstory development around the time of my move to California. While she was an enthusiastic player in person, for family, schedule, and personal reasons we found she just couldn't commit to online play. She was with us in most sessions throughout the Tower of Nholast (Posts 106-118). Her long period of unconsciousness at the end of that was in part plot-driven, but in part was for us to try to work out a time she could play more easily. She was with us during the ogre attack (Post 149) but at that point was missing more live sessions then not. Typically I played her as a DMNPC when her player couldn't be with us. She made the first few Starfall sessions but eventually just stopped coming, at which point I created a diverging storyline to move several of the characters without permanent players out of the party. I still hope to return to 'the others' someday, though! _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
By far the best source for maps of Greyhawk comes from the work of Anna B Meyer. I used http://ghmaps.net for the party's travel. I would highly encourage any DM to use Anna's work, and anyone with the means to do so to support her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/annabmeyer
Post 156: Save vs. Cold
13 February, 571 [Readying 22] - Barrier Peaks, 12000 feet elevation
[Clear; low 8, high 26.]
[Randy starts day with 366lb, Andy 367; both heavily encumbered]
After Aurora and Tyrius are done with their watch, the others in the party take each their turn. Temperatures drop into the single digits. Those with darkvision not sitting next to the fire can see the bodies of the thirty-some orcs strewn about the camp steaming as they give up the heat of life, then slowly hardening and freezing over. By morning they are frozen solid.
Umbra and Babshapka greet the dawn gratefully and rouse the rest of the party, who are glad of the pavilion as they try to move as quickly as possible from their sleeping rolls into their winter gear or armor or both before stepping outside. After Larry has prepared fresh water for the party (and the mules) and they have chewed their way through a cold, hard breakfast of trail rations, they are off.
The valley they are following continues to rise throughout the course of the day, the air growing ever thinner and colder despite the sun. It certainly doesn’t rise above freezing. They get closer and closer to the tops of the peaks around them, going from the base of great cliffs in the morning to being only a few thousand feet from the tops of the ridges at day’s end. They camp at the end of the valley, where a “Y” intersection means they can no longer go west (unless they wish to travel straight up the snow-topped cliff face in front of them). Rather, in the morning, they will need to decide between the northern and southern branches of the valley.
As the rest of the party prepares their evening camp, Larry meditates, eyes closed, speaking to the mountain spirits around them. His indecipherable voice rises and falls like the wind, occasionally booming like thunder or cracking like ice.
As the party takes their evening meal inside the pavilion, Larry reports to them that they have a choice to make. The Unoerthly Cave lies over and beyond the ridge in front of them, and they will need to go around the mountain to reach it, but they can go either north or south. The northern way is shorter, and will allow them to stay in the valley for almost the entire way. However, there is one final high pass over the ridge that will be at a great elevation, along a way that is always covered in snow and ice, before dropping down into the valley wherein lies the cave. The southern way is longer and more circuitous, and they will need to pass over a series of no less than three mountain passes in a succession of smaller ridges. However, none of those passes is as high as the single pass to the north. The mountain spirits know no human measures, and cannot tell him how high, how cold, or how windy any of the passes are - only that the northern way is higher, colder, and windier than any of the series of passes in the south. He opens the party conversation to opinions, for he says they will need to decide their route before setting out in the morning.
There is also the more immediate matter of the watch schedule. They are up far above treeline, and haven’t seen even bushes since morning, or frozen grasses since mid day. There will be nothing local with which to start a fire for tonight's camp. Those on watch outside the pavilion may need to bring the camp stove out and burn coal to stay warm enough to do their duty, or they may simply assume that it is cold and desolate enough here that they do not need to set an exterior guard, just making sure that someone is always awake and on watch inside the tent. They may, after all, need the stove to keep the tent warm if tonight is even colder than the night before! They could take turns of, say, one watching outside for half an hour before switching places with one awake but inside the tent and continuing to rotate throughout the watch. Or, they could simply try to both “tough it out” - with both those on watch outside regardless of the cold. They do, after all, have three casters capable of healing them of damage in the morning.
After Willa, Aurora, and Tyrius confer, it is agreed that they will follow their normal watch schedule, outside the tent. Larry will cast his protection from cold on one of the watchers, and they will take the camp stove outside in an attempt to keep warm those on watch as well. Aurora’s brazier will be set up with coal at the ready inside the tent, in case that needs to be heated as well.
As to their destination on the morrow, Willa says that they should take the path best suited to the mules and Eddard; Aurora agrees. Eddard seems to take this as an invitation to speak. He says they don’t know much about either path except that one is longer and the other is colder. Both are costs, but longer is a cost they can bear easier than colder - they have plenty of time, and plenty of food, but they don’t know how much cold they can protect themselves from. If they were being chased, or were chasing someone else, the risk of the high pass might be worth it. But in their current situation, the risk of any of them freezing, especially the mules, is not worth the benefit of arriving a few days sooner at the cave. While he is at it, Eddard says that they should start to feed the mules more - he suggests a ration and a quarter a day, so that they can more easily maintain their inner heat. The others agree to Eddard's counsel.
Thokk and Larry are on the first watch (7-9pm). At the start of their watch, it is already below twenty outside. Larry casts his protection on himself, both because Thokk pridefully says it is not necessary, and because he has to admit his bare feet are getting cold standing on the ice, snow, and cold rock.
[Temperature is below 30F but not below 0F. Everyone will need at least two factors of protection to avoid saving throws against the cold or three factors to rest. Thokk and Larry both have “cold weather gear” and so do not need saves. The stove, and Larry’s spell, will make them more comfortable, but are not necessary. Those inside the tent have already three factors without lighting the brazier; the tent itself plus their fur-lined bags. They rest comfortably.]
Second watch is Aurora and Tyrius (9-11pm). Temperatures are in the mid-teens. No coal necessary, though Aurora does occasionally open the door of the stove and shoot in a succession of firebolts, then warm her hands over the re-radiated heat.
Third watch is Willa and Babshapka (11pm - 1am). Temperatures are in the low teens.
Fourth watch is Shefak and Babshapka (1am - 3am). Temperatures are in the high single digits.
Fifth watch is Umbra and Babshapka (3am - 5am). Temperatures are in the mid single digits.
The lowest temperatures are just before dawn as the party begins their day, in the low single digits. If they continue to climb higher along the mountain path, it will likely go below zero on the morrow’s watch, and the camp stove may be necessary for those outside at camp.
[ 7 human rations used; 106 human rations remaining
2.5 mule rations used (no forage, extra 0.25 each for warmth); 33.5 mule rations remaining
No coal used; 50 pounds coal remaining]
14 February, 571 [23 Readying] - Barrier Peaks, 14000 feet elevation
[Ice crystals in air (frozen heavy fog) 6pm to 7am; low 3, high 20]
[Randy starts day with 354lb, Andy 353; both heavily encumbered]
The party starts off down the southern trail as fast as the mules allow in the morning. They are at high elevation, of course, but still in a broad valley between two mountain ridges that are even higher. Both ridges are snow-covered. Down here there are no snowfields, but the valley floor is a mix of ice patches and fallen rocks that they have to slowly pick their way between.
Soon after their lunch break a narrow valley to their right draws Larry’s interest. After several minutes conferring with the spirits, he says that they will be going up this, rather than continuing south up the broad valley. Turn they do, and head up this much smaller side valley. Here it is narrow, barely more than a mile across, and has a curiously flat bottom and steep sides. Larry repeatedly shakes his head and mutters, and eventually says that the spirits keep telling him that this valley was carved by a massive river of ice, as if that was a thing possible. He hopes they are honestly mistaken, and not treacherous, for if they cannot trust the spirits to guide them, they are lost indeed.
The valley twists and turns sharply twice, until just as it is growing dark it appears to dead end in a wall of rock and ice. Larry says that this the start of the first low pass - that they will need to cross the ridge in front of them in the morning, the arm of the mountain that they have been walking along the base of all day. Currently none of them can see how they are going to do that - the cliff face is nearly straight up. Possible for them with their climbing gear perhaps, but not the mules and Eddard. Larry can only say that this is what the spirits have told him. Thokk shrugs it off unworried, and says that he can scout a path in the morning that even the clumsy mules can walk.
As they make camp, the air is full of delicate, dancing ice crystals - like tiny snowflakes, but just floating in the air. Larry believes it is moist enough to have fog, but too cold to do so, and Thokk agrees. Temperatures overnight drop into the low single digits, and again they decide to forgo the use of the coal, saving it for a time of greater need.
[ 7 human rations used; 99 human rations remaining
2.5 mule rations used (no forage, extra quarter ration); 31 mule rations remaining
No coal used; 50 pounds coal remaining]
15 February, 571 [24 Readying] - Barrier Peaks, 14,500 feet elevation
[Clear; low 2, high 20]
[Randy starts day with 340lb, Andy 340; both heavily encumbered]
The camp starts moving before dawn and when it is just above zero. When the sun finally clears the ridge to the east, Thokk and Larry have a good, long look at the cliff face in front of them, conferring about possible routes. When they are both convinced that there is a way up, they start the party forward (Survival (Mountains), 25, plus help is 30).
Willa has arranged the party in order single file, knowing that the way up may include narrow ledges. Tyrius asks to be in the center, with the mules, so that the protection of Pelor may extend to as many of them as possible (Aura of Protection, +3 to saves for allies within 10’). Eddard volunteers to go in advance, making sure the way is passable for mules, and safe for all - as he reminds them sardonically, if he plummets down the cliff face to his death, it will only take a single spell from Tyrius to bring him back.
Over the next two hours they climb. Although the day warms as they go, the increasing wind makes it feel like it is effectively below zero, the coldest they have faced so far.
My House Rules wrote:
Below 0F. Whenever the temperature is below 0F, a creature exposed to the cold must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw at the end of each hour or gain one level of exhaustion. Creatures with a total of three factors of protection automatically succeed on the saving throw. Those with two factors have advantage on the save, one factor has a flat +2. A total of four factors of protection or a successful save are necessary in order to gain the benefits of taking a rest.
[Note: everyone has three factors of protection, with cold weather gear plus activity, so no saves are needed at the moment]
They spend as short a time possible on the ridge crest itself, buffeted by winds, and eyes stinging too much to take in the view, before starting down the other side. Here they are unable to plan their descent very far ahead, but simply have to trust to Larry’s intuition. (Survival (Mountains), 26, plus Thokk's help is 31).
Once out of the wind and down in the valley on the other side, they have a good long rest with food and fresh water, then continue on for the day, through narrow and twisting canyons. They are still deep within one such canyon when Willa calls for the night’s camp.
[ 7 human rations used; 92 human rations remaining
2.5 mule rations used (no forage and extra quarter ration); 28.5 mule rations remaining
No coal used; 50 pounds coal remaining]
16 February, 571 [25 Readying] - Barrier Peaks, 17,000 feet elevation
[Cloudy; low -7, high 10]
[Randy starts day with 327lb, Andy 327; both heavily encumbered]
Some time between one and two in the morning the temperature drops below zero. Shefak and Babshapka, on guard duty, agree that they cannot take the cold any more (cold whether gear but no activity, only two levels of protection). They enter the tent and find the mules restless, and several of the people in the party shivering in their bags. Stacking coals in Aurora’s brazier, they use a tinderbox to start them, to heat the tent. They fill the camp stove with unburnt coals, then add a few more burning ones to get the ones in the stove started, before taking it outside.
[Watchers outside: cold weather gear and stove (2+1 = 3). Resters in tent (fur-lined bag, tent, and brazier (2+1+1 = 4). It continues below zero until 9am, but after 6am no one is trying to rest and everyone has “active” as a level of protection. Total five hours of coal burned in two places is total of 5lbs of coal used.]
Although it warms somewhat after dawn, it remains cold in their steep-walled valley with little direct sun all day as they pick their way over and around avalanches of snow and rock. Occasionally they have to ascend rises that Larry’s spirits call “passes”, but none are as high as what they did on the day previous. More importantly, none are exposed - all remain down within their current valley and none require them to cross a ridge and face the full force of the wind. They have just emerged from their canyon into a much larger and wider valley when Willa calls an end to the day’s march.
[ 7 human rations used; 85 human rations remaining
2.5 mule rations used (no forage and extra quarter-ration); 26 mule rations remaining
5 pounds coal used; 45 pounds coal remaining]
At this higher elevation, the temperature drops below zero by 10pm. Again coals, stove, and brazier are put into use to keep the tent and those on watch warm enough to rest or function. [Total eight hours of coal burned in two places is total of 8lbs of coal used.]
17 February, 571 [26 Readying] - Barrier Peaks, 17,500 feet elevation
[Cloudy and windy; low -9, high 13]
[Randy starts day with 310lb, Andy 310; both heavily encumbered]
As they make their way out from the protected canyon into the open plain, the intensity of the wind builds, until it is blowing a constant 20 miles per hour, with occasional gusts. The sky is overcast, but not snowing, which is fortunate, for even the little pieces of dust, grit, and ice crystals are stinging their eyes and testing their endurance.
This is a broad plain, but it is no river valley, not even one carved by some mythical river of ice. Rather, it is just a huge mountain top with higher mountains around it. The floor is not flat, but made up of innumerable smaller ridges, cuts, ledges, crevasses, drop-offs, and the like. Visibility is good, albeit painful, so Willa lets Thokk and Larry scout ahead, trying to find the least dangerous route for the mules and the party. Everyone else clusters around Tyrius in the center, both to conserve heat and block the wind, but also to stay near the protection of Pelor, for it is quickly obvious that even traveling they will not be generating enough warmth, with the wind rapidly stealing it from their bodies.
7am: Actual temperature -6F, wind chill of -47.
My House rules wrote:
Below -30F (including wind chill). Whenever the temperature is below -30F, a creature exposed to the cold must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw at the end of each half hour or gain one level of exhaustion. Creatures with a total of four factors of protection automatically succeed on the saving throw. Three factors grants advantage on the save, two factors +2, one factor +1. Five factors of protection or a successful save are necessary to gain the benefits of a rest.
[7:30am - All travelers have three factors of protection (cold weather gear plus activity) for advantage on their save, those within 10’ of Tyrius have a +3 as well. Everyone makes save]
8am: Actual temperature -3F, wind chill of -44. [Andy fails save and receives one level of exhaustion; disadvantage on ability checks.]
Although not seen at first, Andy’s shivering is eventually noted by Babshapka (Animal Handling 6), who tells Aurora to message Larry when she has range. They are moving at the pace of the mules (20), and Andy is still carrying over three hundred pounds of gear - they can’t afford to have him lame from frostbite! [Also note that level 2 of exhaustion is half movement]
When Larry returns to the party, he casts Protection from Cold on Andy. The mule is still exhausted (level 1), but at least will suffer no further effects of the cold for an hour.
8:30am: Actual temperature -1F, wind chill of -41. [Andy no save needed. Randy and Tyrius fail saves.]
Babshapka notes Randy’s difficulties and Tyrius can speak to his own. Larry could cast another protection or even two - he has the slots but it is a concentration spell and doing so would remove the protection from Andy.
Willa looks about - none of the crevasses they have passed are large enough to take shelter in; there is no effective cover from the wind short of the tent. The day is getting warmer, slowly - it is still early morning. They will have to tough it out and keep moving, for as long as they can move at least. She has them bring their group into an even tighter huddle and tells them to keep going, but to keep talking, too - and to keep an eye on the mules - if either of them starts to founder, they will need to set up camp and hope the next day is less windy.
“Nae mooch chance a’ tha’” mumbles Larry, but his words are lost in the wind.
“AT LEAST,” calls Aurora shrilly, “THERE'S A GOOD CHANCE THE FALLEN STAR IS STILL THERE! WHO COULD HAVE RETRIEVED IT FROM THIS PLACE?”
9:00am: Actual temperature 0F, wind chill of -40. [Andy no save needed, everyone else makes their save.]
Larry can tell his protection for Andy has faded. He returns to the party to renew it, but now has to choose between Andy or Randy (or Tyrius). Babshapka looks them over quickly but can’t see that either is in worse shape than the other. Larry shrugs and protects Randy.
9:30am Actual temperature 2F, wind chill of -37. [Randy no save needed, everyone else makes their save.]
10:00am Actual temperature 4F, wind chill of -34. [Randy no save needed, Aurora fails her save.]
Teeth chattering, body shaking, Aurora now has one level of exhaustion (as do Tyrius, Randy, and Andy). Larry casts his final protection spell on Andy.
10:30am Actual temperature 5F, wind chill of -32. (Andy no save needed, Tyrius fails his save).
After half an hour more of travel, Tyrius stumbles and sinks to his knees. “I can’t...I can’t feel my feet…” he says absently. Then, more resolutely, “Pelor, give me strength!” and rises again. Although he continues to walk determinedly, the others soon find they are slowing their pace to stay near him (and his aura of protection).
[Tyrius is now at two levels of exhaustion; disadvantage on ability checks and moves at half speed; this drops his speed to 15 while the mules are still moving at 20.]
After a few minutes of this, Willa decides that it won’t do and asks Larry if his spirit guides know of any shelters or side canyons where they can get out of the wind to rest. Larry confers, but shakes his head. None that won’t take them several miles out of their way.
Willa asks Eddard how he is doing. “Fine, I guess. A bit cold, I must say. But yes, Tyrius can ride, if that is what you are after.”
[The problem with Tyrius riding is that while he will thus be able to keep pace with the party, being even less active means that he will drop to two factors of protection and make it more likely for him to fail his next saving throw]
Thokk laughs and pulls his wolf fur blanket out of his backpack, wrapping it around Tyrius once he has mounted Eddard, in a way that is much gentler than his mocking tone. “Har, har! Problem is you think of your god, not battle! Thoughts of battle warm Thokk even when cold wind blows up his loincloth!”
“Thoughts of my god are what has preserved half this party against the cold…” offers Tyrius weakly, but Thokk has turned his back before he has even finished, and his words are whipped away in the wind.
11:00am Actual temperature 7F, wind chill of -29. [Now that it is above -30F, it is one check per hour, and the check automatically succeeds with three factors of protection; which is cold weather gear and activity, or cold weather gear and blanket]
After another hour of movement, Willa calls for a halt for just long enough to get some trail rations out of bags and distribute them, and have Larry create water and fill waterskins. She doesn’t want anyone to stop or lose the little warmth they have built up inside their clothes. A few of them have not been drinking their water from the morning fast enough - they find it frozen in their waterskins now, with no way to get the ice out or put new water in. After the few remaining skins are filled, Willa tells them to keep passing the skins around, keep it sloshing and moving and being drunk. She wishes in vain for a fifth of rum to put in each skin to keep the water from freezing. They will walk slower for a while, but they will eat and drink as they walk.
12pm. Actual temperature 10F, wind chill of -24.
1pm. Actual temperature 13F, wind chill of -20.
2pm. Actual temperature 12F, wind chill of -21.
3pm. Actual temperature 11F, wind chill of -23.
4pm. Actual temperature 10F, wind chill of -24.
5pm. Actual temperature 9F, wind chill of -26.
6pm. Actual temperature 8F, wind chill of -27.
With the light fading, there is still no sign of shelter in this broad and windswept bowl. This is no place to camp, and Willa believes, with the exception of Tyrius, she could keep driving the party forward if she had to. However, the mules don’t have darkvision. With both of them already weak and overloaded, the chance of a stumble in the dark is just too great. They will make camp where they are, light the stoves, and hope for the best.
There is no soil, and little if any gravel - they abandon any thought of using the ironwood stakes that came with the tent and instead use a total of eight pitons pounded directly into the bedrock to hold the ropes. When the tent threatens to sail away even with that, Willa works to get them to narrow the surface presented to the wind, so it is longer and thinner than normal, with the draped flap for the mules leeward.
[ 7 human rations used; 78 human rations remaining
2.5 mule rations used (no forage and an extra quarter ration); 23.5 mule rations remaining
8 pounds coal used; 37 pounds coal remaining]
7pm. Actual temperature 7F, wind chill of -30.
When it is well and truly dark, the wind seems, if anything, to be increasing even as the temperature drops.
First watch, 7-9pm, Thokk and Larry. [They make their saves and Larry even has it count as a “short rest”. Natural recovery allows him to recover a third level spell. Later, in the tent, Larry makes his save to complete his long rest as well.]
9pm. Actual temperature 5F, wind chill of -35.
The next watch is supposed to be Aurora and Tyrius, but Willa has already changed that. She wants Tyrius inside to make sure he recovers for the next day. When he objects, she points out that those in the tent may need his protective aura in order to rest, and he reluctantly agrees for the good of the party. It doesn’t take Willa long to convince Thokk to pull a double watch so that someone is with Aurora. She merely has to agree with Thokk that yes, these are real mountains and that no, none of them but Thokk and Larry are prepared to deal with the rigors of living in real mountains.
Aurora (who is still at one level of exhaustion) is granted Larry’s recovered protection from cold spell so that she should not be affected by at least her first hour on watch.
Second watch, 9pm-11pm, Thokk and Aurora. [Both make their saves on the watch and later in the tent for their rest. Aurora's rest removes her single level of exhaustion.]
11pm. Actual temperature 3F, wind chill of -40.
Third watch, 11pm - 1am, Willa and Babshapka. [Babshapka starts his watch already having had a full rest. He and Willa both fail saves on watch and come away with a single level of exhaustion. Willa is later able to get a long rest in the tent that removes her exhaustion]
18 February, 571 [Readying 27] - Barrier Peaks, 18000 feet elevation
[Snow 5pm to 5am, Wind 14mph; low -4, high 8]
[Randy and Andy start at 290lb each, heavily encumbered]
1am. Actual temperature 1F, wind chill of -45.
Fourth watch: 1am - 3am, Shefak and Babshapka [Both complete watch successfully. Later, in the tent, Sheffak successfully finishes a long rest.]
3am. Actual temperature -1F, wind chill of -50.
Fifth watch: 3am - 5am, Umbra and Babshapka. [Umbra fails a save on watch and acquires the first level of exhaustion.]
5am: Actual temperature -3F. Wind chill of -54.
The party starts moving and prepping for day. Thokk is allowed to sleep in until just before the party departs so that he can have a full long rest given his double watch shift the previous night. Overnight, Randy and Andy have recovered from the day before, and Tyrius is better for having rested. [Currently, a single level of exhaustion on Tyrius, Umbra, and Babshapka]
7am: Actual temperature -3F. Wind chill of -53.
From 7pm to 7am the party has burned 11 pounds of coal (bringing the cook stove in from the watch at 5am) and has 26 pounds remaining.
While packing, Willa is seriously concerned about the amount of coal they have left - enough for just another two-and-a-half nights, if they are like last night. Assuming they make it to the cave, how many days will it take to get back?
She asks Larry to ask the mountain spirits how far remains to the starfall, hoping he can get a clear-ish answer. After an extended conversation, Larry has Willa review the terrain in the morning sun with him. He says that the valley, or bowl, that they are in is part of a much larger valley, with most of it lying on the other side of the low ridge on their north. The spirits say they need to travel to the end of this ridge, where the broader valley opens up, and then just a bit further, to the western end of the larger valley where it starts to narrow and rise again. Of course, they give no distances - but if it truly is at the western end of this bowl, Larry thinks he can see it from their current camp, and estimates it is one or two days of travel away at their current pace.
While this is reassuring to Willa, the fact that the wind is even stronger today than it was the day before, making it effectively colder, is not; nor is the fact that they will be starting the day out with Tyrius, Umbra, and Babshapka already tired.
They face a difficult choice; they can set out now like they did the day before, facing brutal cold and the possibility of more of them falling to exhaustion but at least getting closer to their goal, or they can wait several hours here in camp until it warms up enough to travel safely, protected from the worst of the cold but burning what little coal they have remaining and then traveling for only part of the day.
Willa asks for comment from her normal counselors. Aurora thinks they should stay - whatever challenges lie ahead - worse terrain and cold, yetis and frost giants, she doesn’t want to face them with all of the party exhausted. They can wait a few hours for it to warm enough to travel. This agrees with what Willa was thinking to begin with, and Tyrius is focused on recovering himself and says he trusts their judgement. Willa tells people to finish eating and pack what they can, but that they will be staying in camp for the nonce.
Willa asks Aurora if she still has Buckbeak on hand, since she hasn’t seen the hawk since the winds started. Aurora affirms that he is with her, just that she has been keeping him in a “non-dimensional space” rather than have him blown away in the gale. Willa asks if she can’t maybe dismiss him and summon instead something more appropriate, like a snow hare or arctic fox, that could stay on watch for them so that they could consolidate fires and spend coal on only the stove in the tent?
Aurora explains that Buckbeak is not actually a hawk - he is a fey spirit that can take the shape of a hawk. And the limitations on his shape are the words of the summoning ritual. He could take the form of a hare or fox - if Aurora knew the appropriate ritual to summon him that way, which unfortunately she does not. Of course, at her level of power now she could start experimenting with the summoning ritual, changing the words and seeing if she could find such a form, but this is not really the time and place for experimentation. She tells Willa that she will start with Buckbeak on guard. He has a pretty weak frame, but she doesn’t actually know whether he can get tired or cold. If that doesn’t work, Aurora currently has enough materials packed to cast her ritual six times - she can summon a snowy owl to take his place. That, she believes, would be the most appropriate form from among that she knows the ritual to weave into being.
While they are on the topic of magic, Aurora also mentions to Willa that if someone gets dangerously cold, she can use her rope trick to get them to a safe space to rest. She believes that the space inside the rope trick is a constant temperature, regardless of what it is like in the outside world - it certainly was much warmer in it, than the out of doors when they last used it to hide from frost giants in the Jotens. The limitations would be that she couldn’t get Eddard and the mules up there, that the space itself can’t move, that it lasts for just an hour, and that the person would need to be able to climb the rope of their own power to get in and out. Still, if they had someone in a seriously bad way, it might make the difference when needed. As much as Willa doesn’t like listening to Aurora’s lectures on magic theory, she has to admit that it could be an important tactical consideration.
Something Aurora said about using the rope trick to hide from the frost giants jogs Willa’s memory. “Twarn’t it so t’at we could see out ther bottom?”
“Yes, like a huge pane of glass.”
“An’ ‘how ‘igh up can ye place it?”
“The length of the rope - fifty or sixty feet.”
Willa sucks in her cheeks as she thinks. “Well, t’en, ‘igh yerself up t’ere!”
“What?”
Willa explains that if Aurora can see out of the rope trick, but if the cold can’t enter, she wants Aurora to make a scouting blind directly over the tent, as high as possible to get the best field of view if she is looking directly out of the bottom. Aurora is to stay up there on watch, and if she sees anything she can alert them in the tent with her message.
Aurora isn’t too keen on being outside, alone, on watch, but she is intrigued by a possible new use of her spell. She considers who she might have in the rope trick room with her. Tyrius, Umbra, and Babshapka need to be resting, Willa needs to be on command duty in the tent, Thokk would just get bored and distract her, and Larry...she’d rather not be in the air-tight confines of the rope trick room with him and his musky odor. But Shefak...Aurora tells Willa that she will agree to “stand watch” suspended over the tent as long as Shefak is up there with her, and Willa assents.
Aurora steps outside, instantly feeling the frigid blast of the icy wind. She casts her spell and tosses her rope into the air, where it stands nearly straight up, though the end wavers in the force of the wind. She has to remove her mittens to climb, and instantly feels pain like knives stabbing into her hands, but manages to climb all the way up the rope (Athletics check 14).
As she sticks her head and then her chest through the invisible entrance-way, she immediately feels a flood of warmth. The rope trick room is a pleasant 65F, and the warmest she has been since her hot bath in Moradinath-Mor. “Oh, yeah…” she sighs contentedly, but then feels a gust of cold as Shefak climbs through the entryway. Apparently “breaking the plane” of the inter-dimensional door can let in the cold and wind. She had considered sticking her hand mirror out to check a view beyond what she could see directly underneath, as they did in the Jotens, but now knows she won’t be doing that, at the risk of filling the room with cold air.
Shefak crosses her legs in her meditation position, and tells Aurora to alert her when it is her turn to watch out the “window”.
8am. Actual temperature -1F, wind chill -50.
When it has been nearly an hour, Aurora wonders whether she can simply re-cast the spell to maintain it, rather than climbing down and casting it again from the ground. That would also be worth experimenting with - but not from fifty feet up. Both she and Shefak descend, spend an agonizing half-minute in the cold, and then climb back up to the blessedly-warm room. Shefak shakes her head disapprovingly as they re-enter.
“What, you don’t like my magic?” says Aurora defensively.
Shefak shrugs. “Self-indulgent. You should train to deny your flesh, not cater to it.”
“You are welcome to watch outside, if you prefer the cold.”
Shefak shrugs again. “I’m watching you as much as I am the tent. Someone has to make sure you stay awake in this hotbox of unrepentant hedonism.”
“Well, I never!” is all Aurora can think to respond at the moment.
9am. Actual temperature 1F, wind chill -45. [With another four hours, Babshapka and Umbra have completed a second trance and successful long rest. Each removes the level of exhaustion; only the single level on Tyrius remains.]
Aurora casts her third and final rope trick to gain another hour of protection from the cold while on day-watch.
10am. Actual temperature 3F, wind chill -40.
Since she has not done anything but trade watch duty with Shefak on and off for the last hour in her warm room, Aurora has taken it as a short rest. She uses her arcane recovery to get back a second level slot and a first (to replace the mage armor she cast upon waking). She is not worried about third level spells since she has not cast any yet today. When her third rope trick ends around ten am, she goes quickly into the tent to confer with Willa, then comes back out and casts rope trick a fourth time.
11am. Actual temperature 4F, wind chill -38. [Tyrius has finished a second long rest period but failed his CON save to benefit from the rest. He remains at one level of exhaustion].
“I just can’t get the chill from my bones,” Tyrius says groggily as he rises and begins to methodically chew some jerky without gusto.
Aurora and Shefak enter the tent.
“What dae yer spirits tell ye?” Willa asks Larry.
“Wind’s still afury ootside, bu’ et be gang doon. Tanight won’ be so bad ahs las’.”
Willa braves the outside long enough to squint at the pale outline of the sun behind the clouds. Returning to the tent, she says they will give it until mid-day to warm, but they are leaving in an hour whether it is safe or not. She tells the party to eat now, so that they can get in a full six hour’s march before dusk, without a rest.
12pm. Actual temperature 6F, wind chill -32. [Everyone makes saves]
The party has the tent packed and mules loaded by mid-day, the beasts already stamping and biting, eager to get moving rather than standing in the cold.
[From 7am to 12pm the party has burned 2.5 pounds of coal (the cook stove in the tent) and has 23.5 pounds remaining.]
12:30pm. Actual temperature 7F, wind chill -30. [No further checks necessary while moving as it stays above -30 and everyone is active]
The party sets out. The first half hour is difficult, but they warm from exertion after that and the march becomes wearying, but manageable. The heat of the day peaks soon after they set out and afterwards the temperature drops, but it becomes apparent to all, not just Larry, that the wind is dropping as well, so it is bearable and they continue to march.
To their left as they travel is the wide and uneven landscape of the bowl and then a higher mountain range, to their right is a ridge-line perhaps a thousand feet above them, and far behind that an absolute monster of a wall, a towering cliff face covered in snow whose summit is shrouded in clouds.
As they pick their way across the barren, frozen, rough and rocky landscape, the ridge to their left lowers. Over the course of the hours it drops to half its height, then a quarter. The clouds overhead grow thicker, and lower, as they continue until eventually they cannot even discern when the sun actually goes behind the mountains in the west, but it is around that time that the first flakes of snow begin to fall. With the wind still around 15mph and gusting over 20mph, they don’t have to worry about accumulation - the snow is whisked away from the rocks as soon as it lands, scuttling along like millions of tiny white ghosts. Willa continues to encourage them on, saying they are going to use all the light they have and before it gets too cold to travel, snow be damned.
6pm. Actual temperature 4F, wind chill -25
Finally the ridge to their left has lowered into scattered outcrops with gaps between. In the twilight they can just make out the valley beyond, lower, much bigger, and flatter than the one they are in. When it is so dark that those without darkvision begin to trip and stumble, Willa calls for a halt. They have been marching without rest some six hours. They pitch the tent as rapidly as they can, and then lead the mules inside before unloading them.
7pm. Actual temperature 3F, wind chill -26.
Thokk and Larry do their watch from 7pm to 9pm. So far, those present are able to tolerate the cold in the tent, while those outside risk a few hours of exposure without lighting the stove. The snow continues to fall. Little drifts begin to accumulate in deep depressions and behind large crags, but for the most part the snow is swept away by the steady wind.
8pm. Actual temperature, 2F, wind chill -28. [Thokk and Larry make their saves on watch]
9pm. Actual temperature, 2F, wind chill -28. [Thokk and Larry make their saves on watch]
As Thokk and Larry hand off the watch to Aurora and Tyrius at 9pm, Larry casts a parting protection from cold on Tyrius and wishes him well. “Mayhap ye won’ be needin’ this, Tyrius - th’ snoo be keepin’ th’ wind doon an’ tain’t so coold tanight.”
10pm. Actual temperature 1F, wind chill -29. [Aurora makes her save, Tyrius no save needed.]
11pm. Actual temperature 0F, wind chill -31. [Aurora and Tyrius make their saves.]
Tyrius has made it through the watch session without growing more exhausted. Pelor willing, he will be able to shed his exhaustion with a good night’s sleep tonight. He and Aurora are relieved by Willa and Babshapka, just as it drops colder. They face a decision - if they remain on watch outside, they are going to need to bring out the stove. Or, they could do their watch in the tent, where the stove is about to be lit anyway.
Willa and Babshapka slip the signal whistles out of Tyrius’ pack while he slumbers and light the camp stove in the tent. They plan on keeping themselves warm inside, but listening for any sounds outside. Every so often, several times an hour at irregular intervals, one of them goes out and makes a quick circuit of the tent, walking a fair distance in each direction and listening, but returning before getting too cold (less than half an hour), and making sure they they are warm again before setting out by alternating turns. The tent itself is quiet, with just the heavy breathing and occasional snores of those sleeping, punctuated now and then by the soft nickering of the mules or the gentle flops of them leaving steaming apples on the floor. Outside, all they hear is the wind.
12am. Actual temperature -1F, wind chill -32
[ 7 human rations used; 71 human rations remaining
2.5 mule rations used (no forage and extra quarter-ration); 21 mule rations remaining
0.5 pounds coal used; 23 pounds coal remaining]
19 February, 571 [28 Readying] - Barrier Peaks, 18000 feet elevation
[Clear; low -6, high 8. The temperature will be warmed by 2F for each mile traveled today to a maximum of +15F due to geothermal activity.]
[The mules are starting out at 274lbs each, which is no longer heavily encumbered but just encumbered. Their speed will go from 20 to 30.]
1am. Actual temperature -2F, wind chill -34.
At 1am, Willa passes the signal whistle to Shefak and explains their watch plan. The monk nods earnestly.
3am. Actual temperature -3F, wind chill -35.
At 3am, Shefak passes the signal whistle to Umbra. Babshapka explains their watch plan and the strange elf nods cooly.
As Umbra and Babshapka go about their watch, they notice the wind speed building. The still-falling snow is driven rapidly before it, hitting the windward side of the tent with force before flying over and around it. The sides of the tent flap against the mules, and they stamp irritably.
4am. Actual temperature -4F, wind chill -47.
5am. Actual temperature -5F, wind chill -57.
By 5am there are snow squalls outside, and a wind of over 30 miles an hour that would strip the heat from anyone uncovered in minutes. The party wakes to a howling gale outside, and the watchers see the clouds growing lighter with approaching day, but also flashes of cold lightning between them.
[Tyrius has successfully rested and removed his exhaustion]
The party, mules included, eat inside. Willa says there is no point in even packing at the moment. If anything, the winds appear to be increasing.
6am. Actual temperature -6F, wind chill -61.
Larry says this is the peak of the storm, and that the spirits tell him it will be warming and the wind going down shortly. He cautions against watchers continuing to make scouting rounds, though. Their opening the tent flaps at this point will let in more cold than the little camp stove can compete with.
Willa was satisfied with the march they had the day previous, starting at noon and have lunched already. She sees no point in exposing the party if it is not warm enough to at least march without them freezing. She is fine with waiting out the morning, if that is what it takes. She also approves tying closed the flaps of the tent securely for the moment, and not having scouts outside - although she does ask Aurora whether she wants to watch from above in her climate-controlled rope trick room.
Aurora considers it, but agrees that nearly all threats to the party would not be out in this weather. However, anything that was capable of movement now, like frost giants or yeti, would be such a serious threat that she would rather hang on to her second-level slots for the time being. A well-placed web would likely be more decisive in combat than having a few more seconds of warning.
7am. Actual temperature -4F, wind chill -54.
11am. Actual temperature 4F, wind chill -41.
At 11am Willa calls for camp to be struck so they can depart at mid-day. As bags are packed around her, Aurora dismisses Buckbeak and spends ten minutes ritual casting to summon her fey familiar back in the form of a snowy owl, Hedwig. The last half hour is spent getting the tent and stove packed, so that everyone has already spent thirty minutes in the cold by the time they are moving.
12pm. Actual temperature 6F, wind chill -37. [Tyrius fails his save, and is again with one level of exhaustion.]
As their last acts before leaving their campsite, Larry casts protection from cold on Tyrius, and Aurora sends Hedwig aloft, with instructions to search the lower elevations for caves large enough to shelter the party and trees or bushes large enough to burn.
Hedwig squints in the light, for the squall in the early morning has blown the clouds away, and it is a bright, clear day. The snow stopped hours ago, and just a few drifts remain up against the largest of the rocks or down in deep crevasses.
As soon as they start out it is apparent that the mules are moving faster than before. Since they left Moradinath-Mor, Randy and Andy have been moving at a slow plod and either Eddard or Babshapka has been calling for their rest whenever a natural windbreak appeared. Now, however, they have a more lively walking pace. Aurora, Tyrius, Willa, and Umbra (the slower members of the party) find that they can easily keep pace with the mules, but they are feeling the elevation, and are soon breathing deeply as if jogging, while actually at just a walking pace. Secretly, Willa doubts that she could go a full ten hour march at this pace, and does not rue her decision to keep today’s march to just six hours.
All the previous day the party traveled west at the base of the low ridge. Now they finally move past it, turning north through a narrow gap that will eventually take them out into the large valley Larry’s spirits told him of.
12:30pm. Actual temperature 8F, wind chill -33. [Tyrius no save needed, everyone else makes save]
1pm. Actual temperature 10F, wind chill -29. [No further checks needed as long as party is moving.]
As they emerge into the foretold valley, a strange sight greets the party. It is perhaps ten miles across but longer than it is wide, and slopes gently down to the center. Although still rough, it is not near as rugged and jagged as what they traversed the day before. However, the surprising feature is the innumerable spots where white smoke rises up from the floor. Thokk at first thinks he is seeing a great army encampment - but without the army. What is actually burning is not obvious, for the smoke is the white of steam, not the grey of woodsmoke or black of sooty coal. Looking across the vast valley, they do not see any creatures moving, just the smokes rising up and then being carried away by the wind. Furthermore, although the rock itself is the grey and black of granite they have been passing for a week, here and there in the valley are dots of yellow, often near the smokes. In the lowest, center, spot is a hint of blue.
Willa doesn’t like the look of it at all. “What be t’ose, and be we crossin’ t’em?” she asks Larry suspiciously. The dwarf takes a moment to confer with his spirits, shaking his head incredulously.
“They be sayin’,” he finally relays, “tha’ th’ fires o’ the Oerth be close t’ th’ surface ‘ere. Tha’ smoke be nae smoke, bu’ steam, so they say.” He shakes his head again, adding as an aside, “Fires o’ the Oerth, me feet! Tain’t no such thing. These spirits be daft.”
After a minute more, he continues, “Boot t’ answer yer question, nae, we nae be crossin’. Th’ cave we seek is t’ th’ wes’ - we ‘ug th’ wall until we leave this valley, doon ah steep slope.”
Willa removes one fur-lined leather mitten, then the steel gauntlet of her plate, then the kid leather glove beneath. She touches the rocky ground - it is as cold as ice, but so is the wind whipping past. “If thar be fahr unner ther Oerth, I ain’t feelin; it,” she says, more confidence in her voice. She points Thokk at the western wall, and he moves off to choose a route for the mules.
2pm. Actual temperature 13F, wind chill -21.
3pm. Actual temperature 14F, wind chill -18.
4pm. Actual temperature 15F, wind chill -17.
As they work their way along the southwestern wall, the wind drops. They seem to be using the cliff face itself as a huge windbreak. After three hours, they find a gap leading to a slope down. At least the spirits were not lying about that. But as the valley below comes into view, they are struck with another oddity.
Starting more than a mile down with a few sparse bushes, eventually they see scattered pine trees on the lowest slopes. They haven’t seen vegetation in days, and even downslope should still be above treeline. Is it possible these subterranean fires exist, and are warming things enough for plant life to survive? This time Willa has Thokk upend a huge rock as she strips her hand, then places it on ground that has been out of the wind until moments ago. It is cool, to be sure - but not as frigid as the air above. Could these fires be real?
The steep slope down looks treacherous, and they have just two hours of light remaining. Willa sets them moving again, with Thokk and Larry in front to select their route.
5pm. Actual temperature 17F, wind chill -12.
6pm. Actual temperature 18F, wind chill +3.
Despite the declining sunlight, the air grows warmer as they descend, and the wind drops considerably. At first they pass over spare tussocks of frozen grass. By the time they find a ledge that is broad and flat enough for the pavilion, they are among scattered scrub bushes. Willa calls for a halt, saying simply, “Watch be outside ternight, no coal fer ther moment.” They could denude half the hillside in gathering enough wood for a decent campfire, and it would be green at that, so Willa tells them not to bother collecting wood - they should be enjoying the warmest night they have had in awhile.
First watch, 7-9pm, Thokk and Larry [Warm enough that no saves needed]
9pm. Actual temperature 15F, wind chill 1 (above).
Second watch, 9-11pm, Aurora and Tyrius [Aurora and Tyrius both save]
10pm. Actual temperature 14F, wind chill -1.
11pm. Actual temperature 13F, wind chill -2.
While Aurora is on watch, Hedwig returns. She has traveled south of the party and found only barren slopes of snow, rock, and ice - no greenery, and no caves. She made her way back up the valley in which the party is now, however, and found it full of fir trees at the bottom. Some eight or ten miles downslope of the party she also spied a cave that might serve as a cramped shelter for the party, if not the mules. The cave appeared to be occupied by canines, however.
Third watch, 11pm-1am, Willa and Babshapka. [Both make their saves]
[ 7 human rations used; 64 human rations remaining
2.5 mule rations used (no forage, extra quarter-ration); 18.5 mule rations remaining
5 pounds coal used; 18 pounds coal remaining]
[Unbeknownst to the party, they are camped less than a mile from the Unoerthly Cave.] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Note on Sources: This post contains spoilers to module S3:Expedition to the Barrier Peaks [Bold font] or [blue text] indicates specific keyed encounters and area descriptions from the original module.
Lurkers Above have no official 5E stats - I made my own conversion.
The playdate for this, our first Barrier Peaks session, was 12 January, 2019.
12am. Actual temperature 13F, wind chill -2. Willa and Babshapka both save.
1am. Actual temperature 12F, wind chill -3. Willa and Babshapka both save.
Fourth watch, 1am - 3am, Babshapka and Shefak
2am. Actual temperature 12F, wind chill -3. Babshapka saves; Shefak fails and gains 1 level of exhaustion.
3am. Actual temperature 11F, wind chill -4. Babshapka and Shefak both save.
Fifth watch, 3am - 5am, Babshapka and Umbra
4am. Actual temperature 10F, wind chill -6. Babshapka and Umbra both save.
5am. Actual temperature 9F, wind chill -7. Babshapka and Umbra both save.
Unsuccessful long rest save: Randy, starts day with 1 level of exhaustion.
The morning dawns fair and clear and the party has a better view of the long slope upon which they have camped. As Hedwig reported, at the bottom of the slope is a narrow valley covered in fir trees. Where they are now has the occasional scrub bush, but these thicken and turn into stunted trees as the slope descends. It was an unusually warm night, and Willa is gratified that they did not, in fact, end up using any coal. If they keep going down this slope there should be fallen firs to collect for a campfire tonight.
Randy is particularly fussy, not taking his breakfast grain and kicking and biting as they try to load him. Babshapka and Eddard check his feet, confer, and decide that he may have a colicky indigestion from the cold. Eddard advises them to not feed him for now, to shift some of his load to Andy, and to see if the morning’s walk will help. If he is not better by lunch, Eddard suggests using the camp stove to heat water and giving him warm water for lunch, followed by a warm mash if he will take it.
Once the mules are laden, the party continues down the slope. They are among the first of the low, scattered trees, with dry and frozen grass beneath their feet, when Larry suddenly looks stunned and stops in his tracks. He is a bit more composed by the time the party catches up, but when they do, he tells them simply, “Th’ spirits say we be ‘ere.”
The rocky mountainside is before them, with stunted vegetation clinging wherever it can. At first glance, it is just like any mountainside they have seen for days. A moment’s pause, however, reveals more. Here and there among the natural rocks, from tiny pebbles to huge slabs as large as city walls, is worked stone, carved stone, sections large and small that are perfectly flat and nearly vertical, not cracked or angled. Someone - dwarves? stone giants? - has worked sections of the mountain, shaping them and giving them form. These sections go from ground level to over three hundred feet up the side of the mountain. Who can say what lies within - a fortress? A subterranean city?
Careful inspection of the wall reveals no arrow slits, no windows, no chimneys - but there are two doors! The larger of the two is at ground level and can easily be approached on foot. It is some fifteen feet across and just as high, with the area of worked stone wall beyond it adding another five or ten feet on each side. The door is closed, with the door itself of stone identical to the wall in which it sits.
Above, some 200 feet up the side of the cliff face, is a smaller door, perhaps a third the size of the lower one. That door is open, and the darkness beyond the open doorway suggests that it leads deeper into the mountain. Is this the “unoerthly cave”? No path or roadway leads to it. It looks like a scrabble up the cliff face would allow access to it, but there are several sheer surfaces that will need to be climbed.
Aurora sends Hedwig up to investigate the cave above. When she returns, she relates telepathically that the cave mouth opens into a medium-sized space wider than it is deep or high. All of the surfaces within - floor, walls, ceiling - are stone, completely featureless and flat. A heavy layer of dust and dirt is on the floor.
Aurora approaches the lower door. Here is something odd - touching the door, and the wall, the dust comes away on her gloved hand - there is not in fact stone beneath, but something else! Vigorous rubbing reveals that it is metal, some kind of hard, gray metal like iron or steel and yet not recognizable. Both the door and wall are made of this.
Further, if this wall is not carved...it is beneath the mountain’s stone! Indeed, she can shift a few smaller rocks and find more of the metal wall underneath. Is it possible that the entire section she is seeing is one huge metal wall, though now mostly buried under rock - from a landslide, or an earthquake, or deliberate design? If just the parts she sees are metal, it is as much metal as any of the party has ever seen in one place. If the whole side of the mountain underneath the rock debris is metal...it is more metal than they knew existed in the world.
Thokk moves forward, presses his javelin hard up against the strange metal surface, bears down with all his might as he draws the head over the wall with the wooden shaft nearly doubled in pressure. The shaft snaps. He rubs his hand against the line in the wall. As the dirt is worn away, it reveals the metal underneath without even a scratch. Whatever this strange metal is, it is harder than beaten iron.
Aurora investigates the lower door. It appears to be without handles, hinges, or any other mechanism of opening. It is recessed several inches back from the wall itself and so obvious to sight, but fits into its frame so flush that not even a paper-thin crack is present anywhere around the margin.
Thokk, with the help of Tyrius and Larry, spends several minutes trying to push the doors in. Despite his bulging muscles and best efforts, they do not so much as move. [Strength ability check 23, +5 help, +2 guidance, total 30].
After a bit of discussion, it is resolved that the party will try the upper cave, which appears to be the entrance. Aurora suggests that with three fly spells, she can get the mules and Eddard up, and everyone else can climb. Willa agrees, but insists that the cave be scouted first by more of them than Hedwig before they move either of the two mules up.
Thokk and Larry, the two most experienced climbers, get into their purchased climbing harnesses and remove hammers, pitons, and ropes from the mules. Even before they have gotten ten feet off the ground, it becomes apparent that none of the rocks are a solid cliff face - all of them are scree that has tumbled down from above and is now leaning against the solid metal wall in heaps and piles. Plenty of the rocks tumble away at the slightest touch, careening to the bottom of the cliff. At best, Thokk and Larry can find large rocks that are firmly in place, supported by the stacks underneath and joined to other rocks by plant roots. The climb itself [Thokk Athletics roll 26] is almost inconsequential - the tricky part will be choosing a route that is safe. [Thokk Survival (Mountain) roll, with advantage from use of climbing harness and pitons, +5 with assistance of Larry: 8, 16+5 = 21]
With Thokk leading and Larry belaying, the two choose what they believe to be a stable route up the side of the cliff face, leaving a trail of pitons behind them. Sweat glistens on Thokk’s massive biceps as he ascends using almost entirely upper-body strength. Eventually they reach the level of the cave itself.
The cave mouth opens into a finished room, 8 feet deep, 20 feet wide, and 10 feet high. The far wall has a vertical line from floor to ceiling down its center. All of the surfaces - floor, walls, ceiling - are of the same strange wall metal as outside, completely featureless and flat. A heavy layer of dust and dirt is on the floor, but there are no tracks apparent.
Thokk bellows down to Willa that it is safe and that she can order people for the ascent. He and Larry tie their ropes together, having easily fifty more feet than needed. Their plan is to lower the ropes straight down from the entrance of the cave and haul people straight up, rather than having them climb the circuitous piton route. They will begin with the lightest people and move to heavier ones as they have more hands to anchor the rope at the top.
Shefak is the first one up. She rapidly realizes that rappelling up the face will not only endanger her, but everyone below, so she tries to put the least weight possible on the loose rocks as she ascends, pressing just enough to keep herself from dragging and scraping as Thokk and Larry haul her up. The others move away from the base as the occasional rock tumbles down.
Babshapka is the next up, then Aurora, then Tyrius. Willa and Umbra remain at the bottom with Eddard and the mules.
Upon her arrival, Aurora investigates the cave, looking for any secret door or control mechanism, but finds nothing (Investigation 23). She sends a firebolt against the metal wall. The dust and dirt turns to soot, but when she cleans that off she finds the metal below is both completely unaffected, and still cool to the touch (Investigation 24).
Thokk pushes against the doors, but these yield no more than those beneath (Wisdom save 8 ).
Tyrius stoops down and brushes away the dirt in front of the doors. He finds a curious recessed groove running along the base of the doors, but not the wall. “I think…” he says slowly, “these doors don’t open in...I think they might slide open.” (Wisdom save 18 ). “Thokk, try pushing them apart from each other.”
Thokk shrugs and adjusts his stance, then focuses on pressing his palms as hard as he can against the doors and moving them away from each other. (Strength check 22). The line running down the center of the wall widens to a narrow crack. Emboldened, Thokk adjusts his hands again and bellows as he strains. He manages to pry the doors a full two inches apart, revealing a much deeper cave beyond. But now, even with space enough for his sausage-thick fingers and much better leverage, the doors won’t budge. Thokk works at them for several minutes until his arms are trembling, but cannot move them further.
Aurora reaches up to put her hand on his shoulder and bids him rest. She listens at the narrow gap, but does not hear anything immediately. “Well, that ought to be safe enough for even Willa,” she says. “Time to bring the mules up.” She has Larry knot a rope about her waist and then he and Tyrius lower her down the cliff face.
At the bottom, Aurora and Willa and Eddard discuss strategy. Eddard is quite confident that he can simply zoom up to the cave entrance once Aurora has cast a fly spell on him. He is more worried about the mules. They are likely to panic and bolt once they get off the ground. He recommends blinkering them and pulling them up with rope. Willa suggests that Eddard guide each of the mules up, one at a time, and he agrees - until Aurora informs them that fly is a concentration spell and she can cast it on only one animal at a time.
Still, Aurora casts fly on Eddard, and he floats easily up to the cave to inform the others of the situation. After some discussion above, Larry casts spider climb on himself and comes down. While Willa modifies a feed bag into a hood for Randy, Larry unties Aurora and leads the rope through Randy’s halter and then the stays of his pack harness. He walks around the base of the cliff with him for a few minutes until the mule grows accustomed to being led blind, then has Aurora cast her second fly spell. Larry walks over to a large rock with a low incline and guides the mule up it, then has it walk with him up steeper and steeper slopes, until both are ascending vertically. Randy is hesitant and it is slow going with lots of coaxing, but eventually they reach the cave entrance and Randy is led inside, his hood removed. Larry waves down to Aurora to dismiss her spell.
Tyrius slips a crowbar from the mule’s pack and gives it to Thokk. The barbarian’s eyes brighten with excitement and he immediately returns to the doors even as Larry is descending the cliff face.
With a number of grunts and tugs, Thokk succeeds in getting the doors open half a foot - just wide enough for someone narrow to slip through. Shefak slips on her ring of invisibility and enters.
At the base of the cliff, Larry gets Andy prepared, and Aurora casts her third fly spell. Larry begins guiding Andy up the cliff face.
Shefak rapidly realizes that the great cave is far deeper than she can go using just the dim light entering through the partially-open doors. The interior of the cave is a large, dark chamber. It is sixty feet by sixty and has three tunnels out, across from her (north), to the right (east), and to the left (west), all aligned at precise angles. Down the tunnel in front of her there are recessed doorways barely visible; she cannot see down the other tunnels from her current location, and would likely not have light enough even were she there. In the center of the chamber there is an odd circular support column that runs from floor to ceiling [Drop tube]. While most of the floor of the cave is quite flat and solid, there appears to be textured walkways running from the tunnels to each other and the door, all intersecting at the column.
After Larry gets Andy into the outer cave and untied, the rope is used to bring up Aurora, Umbra, and Willa in quick succession.
(9am) Shortly after Umbra is hauled into the exterior cave, she approaches the narrow opening of the doors. She examines the space beyond first with her eyes open, and then, closing her eyes and with her nostrils flaring (Perception 24).
The most obvious thing about the space beyond the doors is that it is warm - as warm as a spring day - far warmer than the montane winter outside. Perhaps there is something to Larry’s “fires in the Oerth"?
The air beyond smells stale - not unexpected for a cave, but still, unsettling. Deep, deep within she hears sounds - low, repetitive, pulsing sounds. This is a stranger place, perhaps, than she has ever been before.
“I thought we be lookin’ fer a fallen star,” says Willa dubiously. “Nay a metal cave.”
“I think,” says Aurora, “someone found the star first...someone built this...fortress?...city?...to guard the star. But so much metal! Could this all be star metal? Could the star be so big that they mined it to make all of this?” She shakes her head, not sure what to believe.
Working together, Thokk, Willa, and Tyrius manage to open the sliding doors wide enough for even the mules to squeeze through without having to unload them. All of the party files through into the chamber beyond. Tyrius summons the light of Pelor while Willa gives a low, impressed whistle.
Just inside the sliding doors, before opening out into the larger chamber, there is a door set into the walls on both sides, so that the door they entered is the middle one of three. Aurora immediately finds a strange device on the wall to the right of the two other doors. Set into the door frame at about the height of her torso, is a small panel divided into three. The top section contains a narrow, horizontal slot. The middle section is a flat panel. The bottom section is a small, recessed bowl or receptacle, with the space above it going into the unseen inner workings of the panel. She tries to touch and probe this, first with her mage hand, and then her real hand, but nothing happens.
The party takes a few cautious steps into the larger chamber beyond. The hooves of the mules clatter on the odd metal floor and the noise echoes down all three of the corridors before them. Suddenly Umbra hears a strange, faint, high-pitched warbling like a bird call, and then a hiss like a steaming kettle. The light of the chamber dims. Turning behind them, they find that the large double doors they entered have closed completely.
Thokk strains to push them apart, but to no avail. He throws his shoulder against them, but succeeds only in hurting himself. (Thokk takes 2 points bludgeoning damage). They are unoerthly strong. He suspects foul magic, like that of the walls and bars of the Ghost Tower.
These middle doors, notes Aurora, lack the curious panels of the smaller ones.
With no way of going back, the party goes deeper. Willa lights her lantern and draws her sword.
They are impressed by the absolute amount of metal everywhere. Most everything is covered in a layer of dust, though. Near the strange column is a pile of rags. Babshapka investigates (Nature 16). It is a strange, ancient cloth - perhaps silk, and a disarticulated skeleton. It could be human - the proportions are correct, but it is so old and dry, crumbing to dust as he handles it, and missing so many parts, that he cannot be sure.
The party turns their attention to the column [drop chute].
The column is a hollow cylinder with an opening on both sides. Inside are two tracks opposite each other, running the vertical length of the shaft up to the ceiling and down as far as can be seen in the darkness. The tracks remind Aurora of some of the belts that were used in the machinery that operated the dumbwaiter room in Castle Ravenloft, but larger. They remind Tyrius of the belts that translate the motion of a wind or water mill into the action that spins a millstone or moves trip-hammers. They are not moving. Each track has a series of handles spaced eight feet apart. At the top of the tube the handles appear to fold into the wall so that they could pass through a circuit, were the track moving. Thokk kicks some of the bones into the shaft - he hears them bounce off the side a few times, but does not hear them hit the bottom - it is either a long way down, or a cushioned landing. The shaft descends farther than any of them can see, either with their own darkvision or by the light of Tyrius’ spell.
Given the three options of exit corridors, the party decides to head west. Willa arranges them in marching order, with the mules in the back. Thokk and Babshapka are in the front rank, Larry and Shefak in the second rank. No sooner have they started down the corridor, when the ceiling falls and envelopes them! [numbered encounter 1]
For those watching, a thick, heavy, section of ceiling, fully twenty feet across, has peeled away and fallen, but upon draping itself around the front two ranks, has pulled itself together, and is even now constricting its muscles to simultaneously strangle and smother them. [Thokk, Babshapka, Larry, and Shefak each take between 6 and 8 damage, are restrained, and are suffocating]
Round 1
Willa rushes at the strange muscular blanket-like creature, slashing it with her greatsword [15 damage].
Babshapka struggles to draw his swords inside it, but finds his arms pinioned to his sides, with no room to strike.
[All four of the characters inside take another 6 to 8 damage.]
Larry struggles inside the creature, trying to break free, but only feels it grabbing him tighter and further squeezing the air from his body (Strength save 8 ). Babshapka fares no better (Strength save 11).
Umbra shoots forth a frigid beam of blue-white light that strikes the creature, raising welts on its rubbery skin.
With the last air in his lungs, Thokk bellows forth a muffled roar (first use of enrage for the day - advantage on strength saves). Punching, kicking, and struggling, he forcibly crawls forth from some orifice of the beast and out onto the metal floor (Strength save 19).
Inside the creature, Shefak stills her mind and summons her internal energy. Feeling her go limp, the creature shifts its muscle groups to the still-struggling Babshapka and Larry. Suddenly Shefak strikes out, using her knees and elbows to strike deep within the creature at now vulnerable organs. The creature spasms, them topples over, dragging all three of those inside to their sides.
[Attack action: unarmed strike, unarmed strike. 1 Ki point (flurry of blows): Bonus action: unarmed strike, unarmed strike, target save vs. dex or knocked prone. Total four attacks, 1 hit against AC 16. 9 damage, Lurker Dex save 4, fails. Those attacking it from outside now have advantage.]
Aurora shoots a firebolt at the creature [12 fire damage].
Tyrius charges, raining down blows of his hammer [two hits, total 17 damage]
Round 2
Thokk tries to pry open the sphincter-like mouth of the creature and retrieve his friend Larry, but to no avail. His powerful hands find no purchase of the boneless, rubbery creature. [Larry strength save 2, +5 from Thokk’s help = 7. On Thokk’s turn, he neither attacks nor has taken damage since his last turn. His rage ends.]
Umbra sends for a skeletal, disembodied hand to grab at the creature, but that, too, is ineffective.
Now standing nearly astride the creature, Willa opens great gashes along its flanks, revealing glimpses of her mates inside. [two hits, one critical, total 29 damage] The creature quivers, but can no longer effectively constrict. The three inside, even Larry, begin to crawl out.
Aurora shoots a last firebolt at it [damage 11], and the creature’s movement ceases. It slowly oozes out a purple-colored, blood like substance. This makes the floor sticky, but drops through the slots in the treaded part of the floor making a steady dripping patter on some surface close below. As the liquid drains away, the color of the creature turns from the dull gray of the metal ceiling to a dead white.
Larry suggests that the party walk further apart, and Aurora explains to Thokk how he can probe the ceiling with his wooden pole every so often to detect other such creatures. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
The journey just getting to the Starfall has been just as exciting as actually starting to explore it. Your players are all very, very lucky to have you as their DM.
You mentioned in a previous thread that the party is going to shrink in size a bit. How many PCs will be in the party once some of them leave? One of the reasons I love your thread is because I like large parties.
The journey just getting to the Starfall has been just as exciting as actually starting to explore it. Your players are all very, very lucky to have you as their DM.
And they tell me so, so I am lucky as well!
CruelSummerLord wrote:
You mentioned in a previous thread that the party is going to shrink in size a bit. How many PCs will be in the party once some of them leave? One of the reasons I love your thread is because I like large parties.
The party's current size is eight - they will pick up a new member, run by a new player, inside the Unoerthly Cave, bringing them to 9 PC's for three stable players, which was unwieldy. Once out of the cave, they will split with the five more-played characters becoming the main party, and the four less-played ones branching off - with the possibility to be continued in the future. Then the main group will get one more new character, for a total of 6 PC's played by 3 players. That is where we are right now and I am very happy with how it is working. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
You mentioned in a previous thread that the party is going to shrink in size a bit. How many PCs will be in the party once some of them leave? One of the reasons I love your thread is because I like large parties.
The party's current size is eight - they will pick up a new member, run by a new player, inside the Unoerthly Cave, bringing them to 9 PC's for three stable players, which was unwieldy. Once out of the cave, they will split with the five more-played characters becoming the main party, and the four less-played ones branching off - with the possibility to be continued in the future. Then the main group will get one more new character, for a total of 6 PC's played by 3 players. That is where we are right now and I am very happy with how it is working.
What's the next story arc? Are you sending them to the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, pitting them against the Slave Lords or making them fight Against The Giants?
What's the next story arc? Are you sending them to the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, pitting them against the Slave Lords or making them fight Against The Giants?
Yes, one of the three.
I think it is a little to early for that - today is the second of many posts about their Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. I don't want to get ahead of myself and would rather entertain speculation about what is going to happen to them on the spaceship rather than what will happen if they survive it.
DM's Note on Sources: This post contains spoilers to module S3:Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
Locations keyed in the module are indicated in [blue].
The playdate for this, our second Barrier Peaks session, was 18 January, 2019.
DM's Notes: Vegepygmies and Thornies are statted for 5E in Volo's Guide to Monsters. However, the ones the party found herein were my personal conversions which attempted to stay closer to the source material. Mine are considerably more resilient and also have the six gradations of power found in the original module (HD1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6), whereas Volo's has only normal vegepygmies (CR 1/4 and just 9hp) and chiefs. I have started a thread in the 5e forum documenting my hombrew conversions to S3 but unfortunately have not worked on it of late; I started it in anticipation of running the module but soon the actual play itself consumed my posting time!
Post 158: The First Vegepygmy Battle 20 February, 571 [1 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 1
(9:30am)
The corridor they are in has at least six of the strange doors before it turns a corner at the end, but Thokk hasn’t gone thirty feet before he finds one of the doorways, to his right, is open. The party investigates the small (20’ x 20’) room beyond [unnumbered room - apartment].
It is a small chamber, apparently a solitary living quarters, judging by the furniture. The furniture itself is easily recognizable in form and function, but is made of strange and unfamiliar materials. The walls, floor, and ceiling are of the same metal as the exterior corridors. The floor and walls are solid, while the ceiling has a few rectangular panels that look as though they might be made of glass - although impossibly large for single panes. Just inside the door are two small, recessed panels on the wall. Both are rectangular and slightly larger than a human hand.
Once several of them are in the room, Aurora presses the first panel (closer to the door) whereupon there is a slight whirring noise and the door slides shut. After a brief moment of panic, with many of those in the party looking for the inevitable pit trap, water trap, crushing ceiling, etc., Aurora pushes the panel again, and the door resumes its open position!
When the second panel (farther from the door) is pressed, the room is flooded with very bright light. After their eyes adjust the party can see that the light is being produced by, or perhaps coming from behind, the glass panels in the ceiling.
The party searches the room - it should be a quick search of a small space with little of interest - but each of them is dumbfounded by the strangeness of the materials used to make otherwise familiar objects. Showing the odd materials to one another, the party comes to recognize that they appear to be variations on the same thing:
“Cave Horn”: This material is lighter than wood but hard and rigid, like horn. It shows no sign of having been carved - in fact, it looks more like it has been cast in a mold of exceptional detail and precision. It is reasonably easy to scratch, and in a few places there are scratches and scuff marks. Pieces that are large or thick are quite rigid, with just a trace of flex. Pieces that are small or thin, however, bend easily under pressure but instantly return to their original form when released. If pushed too hard, they will break rather than bending permanently. The odd material seems to be a substitute for wood and much of the furniture is made from it.
“Cave Sponge”: This material appears to be full of tiny holes, like a sea sponge but much smaller and more regular. It compresses easily under pressure, but springs back almost immediately. It seems to have been cut to fit each of the items it is inside. The odd material seems to be a substitute for straw, hair, or feather-stuffed mattresses and upholstery.
The bed has a frame made of light, rigid material they begin to call ‘cave horn’. The mattress is covered with a thin, linen-like but unrecognizable fabric. It is rent, torn, and stained in several places. Beneath the fabric is a thick block of soft, incredibly light, and resilient material they begin to call ‘cave sponge’.
The room also contains an odd, stuffed divan. It appears to be designed for two or more people to sit next to one another, but in comfort, which is a strange concept. Of course, people often crowd together on benches at trestle tables or in pews at church because they must. But anyone wealthy enough to have private, upholstered furniture would surely want a chair to themselves, wouldn’t they? The divan has a frame made of cave horn. The seat and back cushions and armrests are covered with a thin, linen-like but unrecognizable fabric. It is rent, torn, and stained in several places. Underneath the fabric is a thick block of cave sponge. They imagine the divan would be exceedingly comfortable, as if it were designed for sleeping rather than sitting.
There is a low table flanked by the divan. The height of the table is odd. For creatures sitting on the divan, it would be difficult to eat without bending over uncomfortably. The table is made of a single piece of a cave horn.
There is a high table flanked by chairs, all of them made of cave horn. The table is a solid piece with fixed legs rather than of trestle construction, and likely cannot be put away when not in use, even though it is light enough to move easily. The chairs have normal backs, but no legs. Rather, the seat continues down the front, across the bottom, and up the back, so that the whole thing from the side rather resembles a lower base letter “b”.
The desk is plain and unadorned. The drawers open easily, with a sophisticated system of runners and metal castors such as might be found in an expensive trap. The drawers are either empty or have worthless junk, however. Oddly, they find no trace of ink, ink bottles, quills, sealing wax, parchment, paper, or anything else that might be expected in a desk. The surface of the desk is a hard, reflective metal sheet, while the drawers and legs are made of cave horn.
There is a small cave horn nightstand by the bed that seems to double as a chest. The lid folds up, but the entire front may be pulled out like a drawer as well. The hinges are of a hard, reflective metal. The drawer opens easily, with the same runners and castors as in the desk. It is empty, however.
There are also skeletons in the room - definitely humanoid and most likely human, judging by their size and features, but the bone is exceptionally old and dry. What remains of the rags they are clad in is an exceptionally light material, thin like silk but remarkably resistant to decay judging by the age of the bones.
“I wonder whether we could stop this door from closing if we had to,” says Aurora. She places the chair from the room in the doorway and presses the interior plate. The door slides closed, pausing when it reaches the chair. Aurora thinks she hears a whirring sound, like mice scurrying in the walls, and then the chair shatters, with several broken pieces of the horn-like material landing inside the room and several outside, as the door slides firmly closed.
“Remind me not to be the last one through the doorway,” she says.
9:40am - Unbeknownst to the party, three displacer beasts approach the apartment cautiously, sniff and listen to the sounds of them searching the room. Later, when the party emerges but without the mount and mules, the beasts fall back into the shadows and tail them.
(10am)
The party isn’t keen on walking around with their mules and gear in tow and exposing them to fights, and this room seems like an ideal place to keep them. Eddard is easily able to open and close the door by pushing the wall panel with his nose, and Tyrius is able to communicate with him telepathically even with the door closed. Just to be sure, the party tries to open the door from the outside, and are unable to do so. What a great place to stow things! Eddard agrees to stay and watch the mules, and the party eagerly sets out.
“Ye sure ye don’t need yer spells?” Willa asks Aurora. “Ye used all yer powerful ones gettin’ ther four-legs up ‘ere.”
“No, I’m only down a mage armor and three flies so far,” says the enchantress confidently. “I still have plenty of uses of magic missile and web left, and that should be enough for whatever else we find dropping from the ceiling. Mind you, I do like fireball and certainly wouldn’t mind having one on hand, but I’m no one-trick pony.”
“Suit yerself,” shrugs Willa as they start down the hall.
When they reach the corner at the end of the hallway, they see a narrower hall with more doors ahead, but immediately at hand there is another open doorway, with light streaming through it out into the dark beyond.
Looking through the doorway, they find the room is recognizable as a private feast hall or perhaps the meeting place of a privy council [unnumbered room - activity room]. There is a single long, high table with eight chairs set up. All of the chairs are individual rather than being benches. More grimly, the bones of several humans or humanoids lie strewn about - some in reasonably articulated skeletons and some scattered. Most have rags of fabric clinging to them but no weapons or other devices are in sight. There are several piles of refuse along the walls and in the corners of the room. The southern wall is interesting in that it is gently curved, like the interior wall of a great round tower, rather than set at the precise right angles they have seen everywhere else.
There are two doors along the interior wall of the hall, and two, including the one they are looking through, along the exterior wall. Most of the party has already passed into the room when Aurora pauses at the threshold. “Hmm…” she says, staring at the wall.
“What ho?” asks Tyrius.
“Look at this,” she replies. “This door doesn’t have the slot - glass - receptacle configuration of all the other doors - just a single pressure plate.” Tyrius nods and enters.
“There are two plates on this side,” he says, “like inside that bedchamber.”
Aurora presses the single plate on her side of the wall, and the door slides shut, sealing the rest of the party in the room and her outside. A second later, the door opens, and Tyrius grins at her. “Just like the bedchamber,” he says. “Watch this…” He presses the second interior panel and the room is plunged into darkness. Yells and curses from the party, now searching the room, quickly follow.
“And Pelor said let there be light…” he says jovially and presses the panel again. The rectangular ceiling glasses again flood the room with light.
While the party searches the room, poking through the refuse piles, Aurora goes to the other doors. The door on the exterior wall is identical to the previous one, and can be opened or closed on either side. The two interior doors, however, have the three-part panel they have seen elsewhere, and there is nothing she can do to get them open.
“What’s different about this space…?” ponders Aurora to herself.
“In t’other room, ye helped searchin’, an’ in t’is room, yer jus’ sittin' on yer arse?” suggests Willa, as she uses her sword to poke through a jumble of trash on the floor.
“This room is for public use, whereas that bedroom was private,” Aurora answers herself, giving no indication she has heard Willa. “Private rooms should have keys - which means something in that triptych panel is a keyhole.” She walks over to one of the interior doors, staring at the strange three-part panel. “And if this is the keyhole,” she traces the upper, horizontal, slot with her finger, “the key must be thin and flat, but broad.” Aurora tells the others, as they root through the refuse, to be on the lookout for anything small and flat that might fit in the door slots, but even after more searching, nothing relevant is found.
(10:20am)
The party returns to the hall. It is just a short way up and around the corner, and there is light ahead as well.
They ignore an open, but dark doorway as they move forward. Looking around the corner, Thokk sees a long hall with no fewer than seven open doorways, each one with light spilling out.
“Hush!” says Umbra suddenly, killing the innocuous chatter in the party. After a moment of silence, she says, “there is something ahead that is rustling - like tall grass in a breeze.”
Thokk frowns as he tries to understand her words, then shrugs and moves forward. Peeking into the first room, he sees a curious sight [12]. Ten creatures - eight diminutive, and two the size of large dogs, are in a long, narrow room. The light comes from the ceiling, and the eight tiny men stand with arms open and faces up toward the light, swaying gently back and forth. The men are a mottled green and brown color, and are dressed in armor that looks like it is made of pieces of bark. They bear clubs and javelins, and their features are rough and distorted. Their hair is gathered in top-knots, and they have curious growths and protuberances erupting from their skin, particularly in the region of their bowels.
As Thokk stares on in bewilderment, the men closest to him in the doorway turn slowly to face him, looking on with curious, lidless eyes.
Thokk and Willa draw their weapons, but do not advance. They note that the curious bipedal creatures are small, ranging from two to three feet high. The four-legged creatures are rather larger, being the size of mastiffs. A few of the creatures in the room closest to them take some steps forward, then stop, emitting a strange warbling sound and beating on the hard wooden breastplates they have.
Suddenly every open doorway begins spilling forth the tiny creatures. They move rapidly into the hall; those with javelins preparing to throw, while those with clubs move to the front ranks to engage Thokk and Willa.
Willa hits one twice (total 25 points) but it remains standing. Apparently they are very tough for diminutive plant-men. Now that they are moving, Willa can see that they are not actually in wooden armor - rather, while much of their body is twisted, sinewy vegetation that moves, other parts have hard, woody plates covering them, like some kind of living exoskeleton.
Thokk hits one (12 points) and Umbra, testing whether or not they are damaged by magic, fires off three dark bolts (total 7 damage) which do indeed seem to wound one (Umbra now at 3/3/3 for spells).
Round One
The three largest plant men, barely three feet high, attempt to batter Thokk and Willa with their clubs. For being so tough, they are not particularly strong, and the blows bounce harmlessly off of Willa’s armor or are easily avoided by Thokk.
Willa’s counterstrikes are strong, but don’t penetrate the hard wooden plates of the creatures (hit rolls 14, 16 - they have AC17).
Thokk hits twice (for 18 total) and the plant man he faces is still standing. How infuriating! Thokk enrages. (second use of rage for the day).
Seeing the hallway swarming with the tiny creatures and more emerging from the rooms, Larry steps up behind Thokk and Willa. Calling upon the mountain spirits of storms, he launches forth a massive lightning bolt (32 points) low to the ground (Larry now 3/2/2 for spells). It shoots through the plant men in the front ranks of the party, enters one of the rooms they are coming out of, and bounces off the metal walls, filling the air with the smell of ozone. A half-second later, it emerges from the room, and heads straight back at the party, arcing through the plant men along the way! Babshapka, Willa, Larry, and Tyrius are all forced to dive out of the way, and still take damage from the stroke (16 points).
With currents still arcing through his chainmail, Larry plants his feet firmly again. “Worth et” he says simply, but Babshapka is not so sure. The plant men seem to have attracted the lightning, but it passed right through them - none of them seem the worse for wear.
“Uh, Larry...are you sure plants are hurt by lightning?” the elf asks. “Maybe we could try fire?”
[DM’s note: Vegepygmies and thornies are immune to damage from electricity]
The back ranks of plant men launch a volley of javelins at Thokk, Willa, and Babshapka. Only Babshapka is hit, but by three of the small, pointed sticks. The projectiles don’t have metal heads or even fletching, but they are covered in wicked barbs and the plant men throw them with deadly accuracy. Between the javelins (14 points) and the previous lightning bolt (16 points), Babshapka is not doing so well (now down to 9hp remaining).
Seeing Babshapka waiver, Shefak launches herself forward. She leaps into the front rank with a kick that knocks a plant man out of the way but does no damage. Another kick wounds one, and a mighty blow from her staff finishes it off. (total two hits, one critical, damage 25). Seeing its form quiver on the floor, then cease its struggles, Shefak encourages her teammates, “They are strange, but mortal. Don’t give in to fear.”
Despite her words, there is another volley of javelins from the plant men, and two find their mark among the party.
“Ugh, there are too many…” frets Aurora, now regretting her words to Willa about not needing fireball. “They are like plant - rats. This should help…” she fills the hallway with webs, creating a shield against the javelins, trapping several of the plant men, and effectively halving the number the party are facing. (Aurora now at 3/2/0 for spells)
Babshapka takes the opportunity to withdraw into the back ranks, giving space to anyone else who wants to rush to the fore.
Tyrius pushes in by Willa and attacks, landing two blows with his hammer (total 17 points) and killing the second creature, then withdrawing. Umbra follows up with a ray of shadow at the closest one to her. (5 points).
Round 2
Now safely in the back ranks, Babshapka launches two arrows of his own at a plant man, following it up with a hail of thorns for good measure. The shots should do good damage (22 points total), but the plant man appears unaffected. Even the shafts that miss the wood armor and penetrate the living plant fibre seem to do no damage! (Babshapka spells to 3/2).
[DM’s note: vegepygmies and thornies are immune to damage from non-magical piercing weapons]
Babshapka, in a rare moment of anger and frustration, throws his bow on the ground and draws his two swords.
Another volley of javelins lands for effect among the party. They realize now that the plant men are actually timing their throws to support the front melee ranks of their compatriots - when one of the party steps up to make an attack, they are met with a javelin throw.
[DM’s note: Vegepygmy missile troops have “pack tactics” - advantage on attacks against any foe engaged in melee with an ally].
Shefak continues to spin and weave among the melee. She lands two unarmed blows, and a solid blow with her staff. Seeing the number of foes still standing, she inhales sharply, then exhales loudly as she kicks a plant man so hard it flies backward and lands in Aurora’s web! (Second ki point spent for Aurora; flurry of blows plus contested strength roll to knock back 15 feet). In response, one of the strange plant-thorn-dogs lunges from an open doorway and bites Shefak.
Tyrius looks for an opening between Thokk and Willa, then using Thokk’s rage to effect, moves forward, strikes twice (for 16 damage), and moves back.
Annoyed that the plant men survived his lightning bolt, Larry summons a moonbeam and places it in one of the rooms from which they are still emerging (Larry now 3/1/2 for spells). The three plant men still in the room wriggle and writhe - the intense light seems to be browning, even scorching, their green “skin”. (7 points to two of them, 3 points to one).
The tiny plant men don’t seem to understand that the party are the superior combatants. They are continuing to emerge and attack undaunted. Willa is getting angry. She strikes one of the plant men in the doorway of a room and fells it (24 points, now three vegepygmies down).
Another volley of javelins lands among the party, damaging Shefak (6) and Tyrius (13). Shefak has outworn her welcome on the front lines and has sustained numerous wounds (Shefak at 3hp). Of all the plant men trapped in Aurora’s web, two struggle through and make attacks on Shefak and Tyrius, but to no effect.
Thokk can barely make out anyone with the sound of his blood raging in his ears, but it seems he hears someone shouting “Fire!” over and over again. Is it Willa? Aurora? No matter. He drops his shield and shrugs his backpack off one shoulder, changes his sword to his offhand, and has the pack on the ground. (Dex save 23). Rummaging in his pack, he pulls out two flasks of oil and launches them at the lead melee plant man and the closest thorn-dog.
Umbra shoots a Ray of Shadow at one of the thorn dogs, which does appear affected by the cold damage. Suddenly her shadow hound appears in the middle of the melee, baring its jet black teeth and uttering a menacing growl.
Aurora shoots a fire-bolt at one of the oil-covered plant men (14 points damage, plus 5 from the oil). The resultant fire spreads to the other oil-covered creature and ignites the webs. At the end of the brief conflagration, two of the plant men have been burned to death (total five down), and many others are smoldering and wounded. Aurora had hoped that the plant men would go up like seasoned wood, but it appears that they are too “green” for that, too moist to keep burning after the oil and webs have burned away.
Round Three
With most of the plant men near the party struck down, they are now attacked by three thorn dogs. Shefak suffers a bite and drops to the floor in shock, unconscious. Umbra’s hound is bitten, but Willa’s magical armor protects her from another bite.
Babshapka uses a second-level spell slot to heal himself, but is disappointed in the result (5 points healing, Babshapka’s spells to 3/1).
Now that the webs have been burned away, there is a volley of eight javelins at the party! Two are aimed at Willa (missed), four on Thokk (one hit for 5, Thokk takes 2), and two on Umbra’s hound (one hit for 4). Before anyone in the party can react, another seven javelins come in! Two on Willa (one hit for 6), three on Thokk (missed), and two on the hound (both hit for 12).
Umbra shoots another three dark bolts at the plant men around her hound (now at 2/3/3), and the sixth such creature goes down.
Babshapka gets Aurora’s attention by slapping her with the broad side of his sword, and tells her “There’s too many.” He then shouts at the party for a general retreat and grabs his bow from the floor. Umbra adds her voice to those calling for retreat.
Somehow the shouts reach Thokk even through his battle lust. He sheathes his sword (which was already in his offhand), throws his pack back on one shoulder, stoops and grabs both his shield and the crumpled body of Shefak. Straightening, he ignores the thorn dogs at his heels as he trots down the hall away from the combat.
[Note; Thokk took damage this round, so he does not lose his rage even though he did not attack]
The spellcasters, Larry and Aurora, prepare to cover the party’s retreat. Aurora plans on casting a new web, while Larry is ready to move his moonbeam, once Thokk and Tyrius are out of the way. In the room where the moonbeam already is, the three plant men take more damage and a seventh one is killed.
Tyrius retreats down the hall, calling after the others to join him.
Before retreating, Willa decides to attack one of the thorn dogs (two hits, 27 damage). In the course of her attack, several of its thorns blunt themselves on her plate. Without her magic armor, she would likely have taken damage just from getting too near the creature. Willa resolves to warn Shefak of this, if she can be revived.
Aurora casts web in front of Willa and Thokk, the party members farthest to the front, then continues her own retreat. She conveniently ignores the fact that her web is covering Umbra’s hound (Aurora now at 3/1/0 for spells).
Round 4
Of the three thorn dogs covered in Aurora’s web, one remains stuck, one attacks Umbra’s hound, and one emerges to attack Willa. Of the three largest plant men, with clubs, two are caught in the web, while a third breaks free and swings at Thokk.
The party is feeling confident that their tactical retreat is going well, when suddenly there is an odd hissing sound. To the north a set of doors has opened, revealing another room full of the creatures, on the near side of the web!
“T’ey ken ‘ow ter use doors!” gasps Willa in surprise. Two of the creatures strike ineffectually at her with clubs.
Larry whispers a healing word to Shefak, restoring her to consciousness, then concentrates on moving his moonbeam closer to the party. (Larry’s spells at 2/1/2). He gets his spell to cover the newly open doorway, and two plant men and two thorn dogs writhe as they run through it (17 points each!). This is not[/] the kind of light these plants like, apparently.
Babshapka continues to retreat down the corridor, but Willa is surrounded - she has two of the plant men and two thorn dogs on her. Cursing in annoyance, she strikes at one of the plant men, slashing it into a quivering pile of tendrils (two hits, one critical, total 32 damage). When Aurora [i]firebolts the other one, it falls as well.
Umbra’s hound struggles to keep attacking, but it is ensnared by webs. She mutters darkly, looking down the hall at the plant men and thorn dogs emerging from the moonbeam. A sphere of darkness appears between the creatures. Tendrils of darkness break the surface of the sphere, reach out, grasping at them. Three manage to elude its grasp, but one thorn-dog is grabbed and held. (Entropy; Umbra now at 3/3/2 for spells).
The plant men in the hall send a volley of ten darts at Thokk and Umbra’s hound. (Three hits on Thokk, one critical, 24 points of damage, reduced to 12 from rage. Five hits on hound, two critical, 32 points of damage). The hound gives up its essence to cover Umbra’s retreat, disappearing back into the shadows from whence it came.
Plant men begin struggling through the new web, trying to reach the party.
Shefak jumps down from Thokk’s shoulder, and he draws his sword.
One plant man batters his club against Willa’s plate armor.
Round 5
Thokk and Willa are still covering the party’s retreat. They have turned the corner from the new web, though, and so are visible only to the creatures emerging from the last room, the one whose door just opened. Two darts are thrown at them (Thokk is hit for 5, takes 2).
Umbra has retreated far enough that she is standing in front of the door of the room in which are the mules and Eddard. She looks anxiously down the hall in both directions as she waits for the rest of the party to catch up with her.
Larry moves his moonbeam, keeping it just behind Thokk and Willa so that any pursuers have to run through it to get to them.
A thorn dog misses Thokk; both he and Willa are missed by plant men.
Shefak pauses in her retreat, adopts a standing meditative pose, and briefly glows with a golden light. She then runs to Umbra’s side, outside the door. (Wholeness of Body - Shefak healed for 18 points).
With two swift strokes of his sword, Thokk fells two of the thorn dogs.
Willa hits the remaining plant men twice and then falls back, ignoring their feeble response strikes.
Aurora and Babshapka arrive at the door to the mules. Babshapka starts pounding on it, while Aurora tries to message Eddard.
Tyrius arrives at the door and reaches out to Eddard. The door finally opens.
Round 6
Aurora provides covering firebolts as the party enters the room as quickly as they can through the doorway. Plant men are still throwing darts as Willa and Thokk, his rage fading, enter last. Just before the doors close, Larry moves the moonbeam into the hallway outside the door itself.
As the door closes, Thokk turns, ready to form up ranks. When he realizes that they were actually running away, not drawing the plant men forward to fight them from a better position, he howls in frustration. He is not ready for the battle to be over.
Willa turns on the party accusingly. “What ther ‘ells were t’at?” She seems both surprised and disgusted by their disarray.
“I guess we are not very practiced at retreating,” offers Aurora. “We don’t do it often. In fact, I think the last time we ran away from a fight was before we knew you. We were outnumbered, and fighting against smugglers.”
“And skeletons,” adds Babshapka in agreement.
“And sausages,” says Thokk, and shivers in remembered dread.
Willa snorts derisively, and motions everyone away from the door while she takes off her helm and places her ear up against the metal.
Aurora moves to a far corner of the room and begins a ritual of detect magic. Willa hushes her incantations testily. Umbra glides up to the door and listens with Willa. They agree that there are still noises of the plant men without, but they are faint - either they are far away, or the door is an excellent insulator of sound. Willa mutters that she hopes the creatures don’t know how to open this door.
Tyrius makes the rounds, examining each of their wounds. He finds Babshapka most in need of healing and lays hands on him (5 points of healing, Tyrius out of lay on hands). The elf thanks Tyrius and cautiously lowers himself to the divan, preparing to trance.
Suddenly the door of the room slides open. It has been less than a minute, and Larry’s moonbeam is still flooding the hallway with light. Beyond the area of the beam, however, are arrayed a dozen or more of the plant men, front ranks with clubs readying a charge, back ranks with darts and javelins in hand. To the side of the door frame, one of the larger plant man stands by the wall, stretching his arm up to retrieve something from the receptacle at the bottom of the three-part panel.
Willa leans out and grabs the creature, attempting to pull both it and whatever it has in its hand into the room, but it turns and writhes in her grasp. Apparently it doesn’t have joints, at least not ones that work like Willa expects. (Contested strength roll; Willa 7, Sapling 16. Willa spends an inspiration point to re-roll hers, and gets a 5 (critical fail!)).
Babshapka leaps up from the couch, asking whether they are continuing the fight. In response, Willa shouts “Shut ther door!” through clenched teeth as she continues to tug on the plant man. Finally she wrestles it into the room (Willa contested strength roll 18, sapling 12), and then wraps her hands around its little neck, attempting to throttle it.
From the hallway comes a volley of javelins, and Willa is struck by one (10 points). Larry moves to the door, pressing the panel to close the portal, and mentally moving his moonbeam to cover the exterior panel even as the door slides shut.
Thokk wrenches the plant man from Willa’s grasp, throws it to the floor, and then chops at it with his sword. (two hits, 21 points, but it still lives!)
Aurora abandons her ritual and attempts to message the plant man in Ancient Suel, the oldest language she knows.
Eddard moves along the wall and holds his nose to the wall panel, prepared to shut the door if it opens again. Shefak moves to the closed doorway, ready to deflect any entering javelins.
Tyrius steps up to the scuffle, motioning Thokk away. He wants to knock the plant man out, the better to question him later. He hits it on the head with his war hammer and it goes limp and falls to the floor. He carefully picks it up and carries it to the bed.
Willa has gone to her knees and is pushing around the floor the bits and pieces of the plant man that Thokk hacked off. She comes up with a small, flat, rectangular bit of cave horn. It is jet black and slightly reflective, shaped like a playing card but smaller. “I t’ink t’is be ther key ter ther door…” she says, and hands the object to Aurora.
Eddard has joined Tyrius alongside the bed. He sniffs suspiciously at the tiny plant man. “This is what you all were running from?” he asks, clearly not impressed.
“There were a lot of them!” says Aurora defensively.
“In my experience,” opines Eddard, “when facing large numbers of minor opponents, it is best to use area-of-effect spells, such as your fireball, or Master Larry’s moonbeam.” Aurora reddens, attempts to respond, and then silently seethes.
Finally, she says, “I’ll be readying a comprehend languages. Bring me the thing when it is conscious.” She stomps across the small room and begins another ritual.
Tyrius lifts the arm of the creature, tries to feel for a pulse, but is unsure if there was one to begin with. Babshapka comes over, casts a cure wounds to speed the process along. (Babshapka’s spells to 2/1). The creature doesn’t stir. “I think it’s dead,” the elf says.
“But I was trying to knock it out!” objects Tyrius.
Babshapka shrugs. “Maybe plants don’t go unconscious.”
Aurora sighs exasperatedly and motions for Babshapka to move the creature from the bed to the low table beside the divan. She unpacks some supplies on the divan and prepares to dissect it right on the table, as well as examining the javelins that landed inside the room. While she works, she asks each of the party, in turn, to tell her what they remember of the combat, in as much detail as possible. The entire encounter lasted less than a minute, and she pieces together a more or less coherent narrative from the collected memories. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Note on Sources: This post contains spoilers for module S3:Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
The playdate for this, our third Barrier Peaks session, was 8 February, 2019.
DM's Notes: Police Robot: AC11, Hp. 130. The police robots generate a protective force field that can take 20 points of damage. In effect, they begin each of their turns with 20 temporary hit points.
Post 159: Police Robot 20 February, 571 [1 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 1
[Unbeknownst to the party, after the loss of a door card and many of their warriors, the vegepygmies have decided that they have successfully defended their territory. They haul the dead and wounded off to the mulch room, and post guards in some of the dark rooms approaching their hallway, but don’t otherwise menace the party.]
(10:40am)
It has been some fifteen minutes and the door has not opened - Willa and Umbra don’t hear anything outside. The party prepares to rest.
“I don’t think this is a city, or a mine,” says Aurora suddenly.
“Why not?” asks Tyrius.
“These rooms - whoever heard of a bed chamber, or a meeting room, just lying off the street outside the main door of a city? Where are the guard rooms, where is the market square?”
Tyrius nods, forced to agree. “What do you think this is?”
“I think it is a ship,” Aurora says matter-of-factly.
“Yer barmy!” explodes Willa.
“I’m serious,” contends Aurora. “I thought before that they built this city at the site where the star fell. But what if there was no star - I mean, what if all of this (and she gestures all around them) was the star!”
Willa shakes her head. “I don’t ken from magic, but I ken ships. Ships don’t be made o’ metal.”
“Water-ships, no, of course not. But ships that move between the stars? What if this whole place is a star ship? What if what Nholast saw was this whole thing falling to Oerth?”
“Mules don’t fly!” counters Aurora. “And yet I made two mules and a celestial horse fly up to the entrance of this place. I can’t begin to imagine the magic it would take to make even one of these strange doors - and we’ve already seen a dozen! Is it so hard to believe that the mage who made this place could make it fly? Fly between stars?”
“Yer daft,” says Willa, but this time she doesn’t sound quite as sure of herself.
(11:25am; rest time 1 hr for all)
It has been an hour since the party killed the plant man. Most of them elect to take the benefits of a short rest.
Larry’s spells from 2/1/2 to 3/2/2 (natural recovery).
Aurora’s spells from 3/1/0 to 3/1/1 (arcane recovery).
Shefak recovers all her ki points.
Tyrius spends 3HD and gets back 20hp.
Thokk spends 2HD and gets back 22hp.
Larry spends 2HD and gets back 20hp.
Willa spends 3HD and gets back 19hp.
Willa also uses her Second Wind for another 15hp.
Babshapka spends 3HD and gets back 30hp.
Shefak spends 2HD and gets back 15hp.
With the addition of two cure wounds spells from Tyrius, the party is all at full hp. Tyrius’ spells now at 2/2.
After an hour without interruption, the party decides to make longer-term plans, and to take a long rest. (Long rest will recover: full spell slots (including for Tyrius, Babshapka, Umbra), rage, wholeness of body, lay on hands, second wind).
They consider wedging the door with a piton, but are unsure they would be able to get it open again, even if it worked to hold the sliding door shut, which they doubt it would. The door actually goes lower into a groove in the floor, so they can’t place the piton beneath the door, either. In the end, they position Thokk as sitting on the floor, leaning his back up against the door, so at least he will be woken if it opens.
The restless mules are unladen, and the gear packs distributed around the room, bed rolls taken out and placed on the floor. Things they may need to access during the rest are laid out on the desk, low table, and high table. Tyrius doesn’t get out his bed roll, but he does take off his armor and lay down in the bed - sighing in both amazement and satisfaction. “I don’t think the Earl has a bed as comfortable as this, be it stuffed with goose down,” he says contentedly. “In truth, I don’t think the King of Keoland does.”
The mules sniff at the odd fabric covers of the bed mattress and divan, but don’t like what they smell. They try a few pieces of the dissected plant man, and this they actually chew and swallow, but without much gusto. It is still early in the day, so they are not too hungry. Fortunately the warm air of the cave seems to have improved Randy’s colic and attitude.
Aurora examines the small card found by Willa. She agrees that it is the right size for the horizontal slot on the door, and could be a key - but learns little else about it.
Some time later one of the mules raises his tail and deposits a load of droppings on the floor. Those in the party who are awake ignore it - they have been living for more than a week with the mules and their droppings in their tent, and this room is considerably larger than the tent. After a few moments, though, Larry sits up and begins to snuffle. (Nature check 22). He wanders the room sniffing, then licks a grubby finger and holds it in the air. “Och, this rrroom be vent’lated,” he says finally.
Bored with nervous energy in the strange place, many in the party start to seek out the source of the air. Aurora (Investigation 18 ) finds, on opposite sides of the room, twin wall panels with tiny, pinprick-sized holes that were not noted before. Using a thin sheet of parchment to detect the current, she is able to see that indeed, air is flowing out of one of them and in to the other. She looks for a way to disassemble the grate and finds four screwheads in the corners. The slot for the screwdriver is thinner than her parchment paper, however, and tiny besides. They would likely need jeweler’s tools to undo it. She unpacks her sharpest utility knife and fumbles at the screwheads, but the blade is still too thick.
Thokk has been ignoring the proceedings so far (except for a hearty chuckle at the mule’s initial defecation), but he perks up when Aurora takes out her knife. He is still annoyed that they ran away from the plant men. Is the screechy elf-woman going to fight something? He stands and moves to her side.
“What you do?” he asks as he sees her touching the wall with her dagger.
“Trying to open this grate, Thokk dear, to see the vent on the other side.”
He watches her fumble for a bit and then gently shoves her out of the way. “Thokk open,” he says, and then swings his ham-hock sized fist at the wall. The metal is hard and takes the skin off his knuckles, but he does leave a dent - this isn’t the same kind of hard metal that broke his javelin head without a scratch.
At the resounding clang and grunt of pain, Willa looks up from sharpening her greatsword. “Thokk, no!” she says, dropping her implements and dashing to his side.
Thokk assumes that she is jealous and wants to open the grate herself. “Thokk find first!” he says, and lands another powerful blow on the metal, denting it further. “Advisor find own grate.” She attempts to shove him away from the wall, but is unsuccessful. (Contested Str check Willa 7, Thokk 20). Aurora has wisely retreated from the wall.
“Thokk, NO!” Willa says, and tries to punch him on the jaw (Attack roll 13), but he moves instinctively and takes the blow on his shoulder (Thokk AC without shield 17). He continues to pound on the grate, now with both hands in urgency, sensing that he has to finish before Willa tries to do it herself.
Willa slides between Thokk and the wall just as his right hand finally breaks through. The broken, jagged metal rips bloody gouges in his hand and wrist, but he steps back smiling in satisfaction. “There, Ror-ra!” he says contentedly, “Thokk open!” He grins triumphantly at Willa, and then returns to his post by the door, blood dripping from his lacerated hand.
Aurora returns to the wall. Willa is livid. “Now, ‘ow we be closin’ it?” she demands of the enchantress.
“Close it? Why Willa, think of it as an alternative exit, if something locks the door from without,” she smiles. Aurora examines the space beyond the broken grate with her dagger. There is a box-shaped depression the same size as the grate, with the only exit being a narrow tube at the top, a few inches in diameter.
“And who be able t’ exit yon?” demands Willa hotly.
“Oh, Charlotte, of course,” replies Aurora easily, “or Larry in one of his wild shapes. Willa, you need to be more open to possibilities.”
Willa considers her next action, but everything that springs to mind would involve interrupting her rest. She stomps back to where she left her sword and whetstone on the floor, and takes out her anger on the blade.
(12:50pm; 2:25 hr into rest for all)
[Unbeknownst to the party, a security robot on patrol moves down the hall. It pauses over the body of the slain lurker, runs some diagnostics on the wounds, and concludes that it is highly improbable it was killed by vegepygmies. It routes all available power into its sensory apparati, and its hearing picks noise coming from one of the jet-carded apartments.
The robot wheels forward, and the displacer beasts camped outside the room break and retreat. The robot approaches the door and holds forth its key probe to the pearl-colored sensor panel of the lock.]
Some two-and-a-half hours into their rest, the door slides open. Thokk, who was asleep, looks up quizzically. There is nothing in the unlit hall, but gliding into the room is a very strange creature.
It appears to be several different sizes of metal barrel, onto which two arms and two tentacles have been affixed. Nearly all of it is metal, although some of the articulations look to be covered in tarred cloth, perhaps. It is unclear how it is moving as it glides silently across the floor. Numerous tiny, dim lights glitter along different surfaces. As it enters the room the topmost barrel swivels back and forth and the party realizes that it is to be taken as a head.
Thokk, seeing no enemies in the hall and no weapons in the hands of the strange metal creature, gets to his feet and draws his sword, but does not immediately attack, instead waiting for Willa or Aurora to set the tone. Or even for Tyrius to talk to it, he supposes. Tyrius likes to talk to strangers.
Others in the party leap to their feet, but do not attack. Once the creature is inside the room, one of the human-like arms reaches behind it and presses the panel by the door. The door closes, and the creature glides to the center of the room.
Willa looks for a card in one of its hands, or even its tentacles, but does not see one. She moves to block its access to the rest of the party, and greets it in Common. The creature swivels its head from the door panel back to her, but does not otherwise respond.
“Aurora, wha’ be t’is?” asks Willa over her shoulder.
Aurora, followed closely by Larry, approaches.
“Some sort of construct,” says Aurora confidently. “Like the iron golems in Castle Ravenloft, or the flesh golem in the Tower of Nholast.” She frowns at it. “But certainly the most amateurish one I have ever seen. I mean...look at how ugly and ungainly it is...the greenest animator ‘prentice could do better.”
Larry steps up to the creature and pokes it. Its head swivels, its tentacles wave, but there is no other reaction. He tries to find something that might be an eye, focusing on the little colored lights. Looking at one on its chest, he sees a bright red light and is momentarily blinded (Investigation 2).
“I suppose…” considers Aurora, “a flying city of master wizards would have to have dozens of ‘prentices on hand. Perhaps this is someone’s first practice.”
“T’is ain’t a flyin’ city,” says Willa, “an’ it ain’t a ship, neither.”
Aurora begins speaking to the creature in every language she knows, trying to issue it command words. Constructs, she knows, are built to do things. They have functions that can be triggered - if only she can find the right words. She speaks for several minutes but has no more luck than she did with the flesh golem.
Still suspicious, Willa draws her sword, and Babshapka notches an arrow, but even this does not provoke a response. Willa tosses a coin in front of it - perhaps reasoning that the lowliest of constructs would be used to clean - but neither does the creature react to that.
Frustrated, Aurora pulls out her wand of magic detection. She could use a ritual, of course, but that would tax her rest. Perhaps with this she can get enough information to know how to command it (wand charges to 15).
After a brief moment, her face looks perplexed. “Wha’?” demands Willa.
“It’s not magic,” says Aurora, dumbfounded. She looks around. “Nothing in this room registers as magic...not even the door.” But how can that be?
“Well, it ain’t alive, neither,” says Willa and Aurora nods agreement.
“Is it a clockwork?” Aurora asks, apparently to herself. “That would explain all the metal and moving bits, I guess.”
“A clockwha’?” asks Willa.
“Clockwork,” says Aurora, sounding more confident now. “Some gnomes make automatons that seem animated, but they aren’t actually magic - just complicated machines. Inside they have gears and springs and such. Of course, they can’t think or react - they are little more than toys.”
She bends nearer, trying to find any buttons or levers that might control it. There are several articulated protuberances, and she even manipulates a few of them, but to no effect. “I don’t know,” she sighs. Keep it here and let me think.”
Aurora goes over and sits on the floor near the desk (having previously smashed the chair in the door). Willa grabs Thokk’s arm and maneuvers him so that they are both blocking the doorway, preventing the thing from leaving, though it shows no inclination to do so.
(1:00pm; RT 2:35 hr for all)
[Unbeknownst to the party, while they are inside with the police robot, a patrol of twelve vegepygmies with four thornies has made its way down the hallway. Normally they would cut the lurker into manageable pieces and haul it off to the mulch room, but now having found the party they thought they had driven off still camped so close to the colony they are concerned. Sensing the vibrations through the floor, they locate the room the party is in and set up camp outside. They are not keen to lose another card assaulting the room, but they can wait until the party emerges into the hall, where their superior numbers will be more of an advantage than trying to force their way through the narrow door.]
(1:10pm)
[Unbeknownst to the party, another four vegepygmies and a thornie have arrived to reinforce their position - a total of sixteen and five now lie in wait.]
Some ten minutes or so after the automaton entered the room, Aurora’s mage armor has expired, which is typical for the early afternoon. She casts it early in the morning to last until their mid-day break from marching. Now, however, she chooses not to renew it - again so as to not tax her rest, as she needs her mind refreshed to get back two more fireballs to deal more effectively with the plant men.
Suddenly the automaton emits a brief series of high-pitched beeps. “Language analysis complete,” it then says in perfect Common, with a hint of a Uleki accent. “Initiating translation protocol.”
The party stares at it, all of them surprised, even Eddard.
“Unrecognized personal,” it continues, “please present identification cards.”
There is perfect silence in the room.
“Unrecognized personnel,” it continues, “present identification cards.” The timbre in its “voice” has changed upon repetition, and carries an obvious element of command.
Aurora swallows and stands. “Please describe identification cards,” she says, her mind racing.
“Identification cards are issued upon admission of personnel to ship,” it says. “Present identification cards.”
“‘e said ship,” whispers Willa, eyes wide in astonishment.
Babshapka turns and does a rapid search through the desk, but finds nothing resembling a card or document (Investigation 22).
Aurora draws forth the black rectangle Willa recovered from the plant man. She holds it in front of her and takes a step toward the automaton. “Here’s our identification card,” she says.
It glides smoothly toward her, positioning itself so that the red eye that blinded Larry is a foot from the card. Those in a position to see the card and Aurora’s face see a red light briefly play over both.
“Colonist Identification Card does not match personal biometrics of subject,” the automaton announces. “You are being detained. Do not resist.”
Aurora gives a nervous laugh. “Of course not. We will not resist. Explain detention method.”
“You will be taken to level one security facility for detention. You will be held there until processing.”
Aurora holds out her arms as if waiting for restraints.
Round One
Babshapka steps between Aurora and the automaton, letting fly with a string of words in elvish, hoping to confuse the machine. He still has an arrow nocked, but does not fire. The machine’s two tentacled arms reach forward, trying to avoid Babshapka and reach Aurora’s wrists.
[Grappling; two contested Athletics rolls. Automaton 17, Aurora 19+5 from help = 24. Automaton 7, Aurora 15+5 from help = 20].
With help from Babshapka, Aurora is able to back to the far side of the room without being seized.
Larry is already standing next to the machine. He holds forth his hand and sprays it with a green venom. The drops bead up on the metallic surface of the machine, but do not seem to affect it.
It speaks again: “Subjects are resisting detention. Initiating combat protocol.”
From across the room, Aurora pleads, “Four hours! Combat protocol countermanded. Subject will submit to detention in four hours!” (Persuasion roll 10).
Willa swears like a sailor and brings her greatsword down in a long overhead strike, then recovers it and strikes again at the socket where one of the tentacles attaches to the body. The machine makes no effort to evade her blows and is easy to hit - but both times her sword strikes, she sees a glint like a blue field just above the surface of the thing. Although she feels the impact in her sword, there is no visible effect on the machine - not even a scratch or dent (two hits, damage 11 points, 9 points, but damage absorbed by forcefield).
Willa watches as Thokk’s first hit also impacts the curious blue field (11 points). His second strike, however, does not (7 points) - and it actually scratches the metal when it lands.
Round Two
Aurora continues to try to move away, while not being trapped between the bed and desk. She shouts at it, “You are broken! Initiate self-diagnosis!” (Persuasion 25)
It responds. “Self-diagnosis placed in action queue. Will commence when combat protocol has resolved.”
Umbra shoots a ray of shadow at it. It strikes the metal frame and frosts part of it over (11 cold damage).
Willa shouts, “There be a blue field aboot the creature, an it made me sword do nothin’. But Thokk’s sword be makin’ the blue aura vanish. So now we might be in ther mix!” She hits twice (damage 14, 11) and her hits are leaving dents and scores on the machine.
Babshapka fires arrows from point blank range. One hits (10 points), while the other bounces off its rounded steel chassis.
Thokk is grinning, glad to be engaged in melee again, and against something more formidable than a plant man. He strikes twice (10 points, 9 points).
Shefak slips in front of Larry, bringing her magic staff down hard, twice, and following up with a scissors kick. (damage 10, 7, 8 ).
Tyrius, from atop the bed and currently unarmored, sees little room to add another melee participant to the fight. He surveys the scene and watches the door, in case his spells are needed.
Eddard speaks soothing words and moves between the nervous mules and the combat as much as the confines of the room allows.
Larry draws his scimitar, the rust on the blade scraping on the scabbard as he pulls it forth. He hits the machine (for 8 damage).
Round Three
A sliding door in the lower body of the machine opens. With a fwoosh, a brilliant blue stopperless flask is ejected, landing on the metal floor with a tink, tink, tink as it skips across the room. Suddenly the flask cracks open like an egg, and the room is instantly filled with a thick, smoky gas.
Shefak (Constitution save 11) takes a step forward to strike another blow, but then falls to her knees, and a second later is prone upon the floor.
Willa holds her breath (Con save 21) and fumbles desperately in a pouch pocket. She draws forth her ioun stone and tosses it in the air. It immediately takes up orbit around her head - and she ceases needing to breathe!
Babshapka (Con save 4+3 from Tyrius = 7) and Tyrius (Con save 14) collapse as well. Thokk howls a battle cry (third rage since entering the cave), but before he has even finished, his massive frame has fallen and is draped over the high table in the room (Con save 13).
Larry, seeing his protector Thokk collapse, screams in shock and fear. (Con save 3 (critical fail), but dwarven resilience gives advantage on saves vs. poison, and second Con save is 21). Gasping and choking, he runs to the doorway to press the panel. “Nooo!” mouths Willa, but with no air in her lungs, she is silent. She tries to catch Larry as he passes and prevent him from opening the door, but he wriggles from her grasp (contested strength roll Larry 19 (critical success), Willa 13), jumps, and hits the panel with his fist.
Eddard (Con save 5), Randy (Con save 10+3 from Tyrius = 13), and Andy (Con save 4) take a few staggering steps. The mules sink to the floor before rolling to their sides. Eddard manages to lock his knees and remain upright, but with a drooping head before he is motionless.
Umbra takes a deep breath before the gas reaches her and resolves not to exhale until the strange machine is down. Adventuring on her own for so long has taught her to carefully ration her spells, but she recognizes a dire situation when she sees one. She casts dark bolt as a third level spell, unleashing as much magical power as she can and hitting the machine with five separate bolts for 21 points of force damage. (Umbra now at 3/3/1 for spells).
Aurora is reflecting on her decision not to engage so as to preserve her rest as she, too, falls to the floor (Con save 8+3 from Tyrius = 11).
At the end of the round, just Willa, Larry, and Umbra remain conscious.
Round Four
A panel in the upper half of the machine slides open, and a thick, heavy, black metal wand emerges from its ‘chest’. The creature points the wand at Willa, and there is a brief, high pitched hum. Twin bolts of red light like magic missiles fly forth, hitting Willa square in the chest. Despite the breastplate of her magical plate mail, she feels a searing pain in all her upper body. (13, 18, for a total of 31 points radiant damage).
“Stop resisting! Stop resisting!” the machine drones.
Willa tries to circle around it, hitting it from behind to stay away from the wand (two hits to the automaton, total 23 damage).
Umbra continues to hold her breath (Con save 22). She unloads another five dark bolts at the machine. (11 points, Umbra now at 3/3/0 for spells).
The door of the room slides open and Larry dashes into the hall. Even though he is free of the gas, he still feels its soporific effect (Con save 19 with advantage). From the middle of the corridor he turns and shoots out a thorn whip, wrapping the prickly tendril several times around Thokk’s leg, then jerking back and pulling the half-orc into the clean air of the hallway. (Thokk takes 8 points, but this is not a magical slumber, and the damage does not wake him).
[Unbeknownst to the party, as soon as the door opens the sounds of combat against the police robot reach the nearby vegepygmies. Not wanting to engage the robot, they withdraw down the corridor and are not seen by Larry.]
Round Five
“Stop resisting! STOP RESISTING!” calls the machine, ever louder. This time when the metal wand projecting from its chest hums, Willa is not taken by surprise. She is able to dodge one of the blasts and is only clipped in the arm by the other (8 points).
Willa is tired of this tin can. She adjusts her stance, locking herself in one place, but bringing her maximum strength to bear. She brings two crushing blows down on its head in rapid succession (two hits, total 28 points).
Larry stoops over Thokk, slapping him hard in the face. The barbarian is alive, but comatose. Larry charges back into the gas-filled room and slashes at the automaton with his scimitar (4 points).
Umbra is forced to exhale, but is still standing (Con save 18 ). She is down to second-level spell slots now, so she showers the machine with four dark bolts. Each hit draws forth sparks of electricity from the creature. (18 points, Umbra at 3/2/0 for spells).
Round Six
Between the open door to the hall, and the vent they previously discovered, the gas in the room has largely dissipated. Larry doesn’t feel any burning in his lungs as he slashes at the tentacles of the machine (7 points with his scimitar)
Willa screams soundlessly and continues to batter the machine. One hit (15 points) causes a shower of sparks, while the second (13 points) causes all of its lights to go out. It ceases to swivel the wand toward her, and its tentacles slowly droop to the ground. It appears they have won.
Willa reaches up into the air, catches and stores her magic stone. Now that she can talk again, she says, succinctly and bitterly, “I don’ like t’is cave one bit.” She sheathes her greatsword without cleaning it - one advantage of a bloodless opponent - and picks up Thokk’s greatshield from where he let it fall. Using the shield as a huge fan, she stands in the doorway waving it until she is convinced all of the gas has dispersed.
In the hallway, Larry attempts to heal Thokk (cure wounds for 9 points). He is able to recover the damage Thokk suffered from the thorn whip and opening the grate besides, but the barbarian still does not awake. (Larry’s spells to 2/2/2.)
Larry drags Thokk back into the room, even as Umbra is arranging the bodies of the others into more comfortable positions, out of the way so that the three conscious party members can traverse the room.
Willa presses the panel and closes the door. Larry attempts to piton the door closed, but after several blows from his hammer he finds that he has just blunted the piton - both the metal of the floor and the door are far harder than the iron spike he is using.
Willa tells him not to mind, she’ll guard the door. Umbra asks if they shouldn’t find a safer place to stay. Willa agrees, but says that until they can get the rest of the party conscious, they aren’t going anywhere. Umbra shrugs.
(1:10pm; Time in rest 2:45hr for Aurora/Tyrius only)
[Unbeknownst to the party, the vegepygmies in the hall creep closer and resume their cordon around the door.]
A few minutes later Umbra goes over to the automaton and asks Larry whether he wants to help her take it apart and see what is inside.
Larry declines, and says that such things are better left to Aurora. Umbra asks him what else he is doing while he waits for the others to, hopefully, wake up. He shakes his head but does not answer. She asks him whether he can at least provide her with some tools.
Willa gets up from the door, goes through one of the mule packs, pulls out a healer’s kit that will provide a scalpel, forceps, tweezers, and scissors. “Take yer time an’ be careful” she admonishes. Umbra thanks her and sets to work.
The hard metal plates of the chassis have been rent open in many places by Willa’s sword blows, revealing a view of twisting cords and cables, gears and ratchets, and oddly-shaped mechanical works. “I guess it is a clockwork,” admits Umbra.
Umbra locates a chamber in the lower part of the body in which she can see several stopperless flasks like the one the automaton discharged at them. One by one, like precious eggs, she pulls them forth from the body of the creature. In the end, she pulls out two blue flasks, one green, one red, and one black.
Larry wishes to compare the intact blue flasks to the one from before. He looks about the room for it, but it seems to have disappeared! (Investigation 1, critical fail). Larry is befuddled.
In the upper torso of the automaton, Umbra uses scissors to sever the cords that connected the metal wand to the insides of the creature, but cannot do much more without more appropriate tools. She finally convinces Larry to help her lay it down on its side, however. Underneath, there are several caster-like wheels.
(1:20pm; Rest Tine 2:55hr for Aurora/Tyrius only, RT 10 min for all others)
Some ten minutes later, one of the mules snorts, brays, and struggles to its feet. As it stands, the two halves of the spent blue cannister are revealed! Larry hurries over to it (Investigation 18 ). The only difference he notes, besides the spent one being split down the middle, is that the dial rivet of the spent one is on the rightmost setting, while all of the others are in the middle. The inside of the flask is mostly hollow and empty, although there is a section under the two rivets that is partitioned off and appears unopenable.
One by one, over the next half hour, people and animals alike regain consciousness.
Once Aurora is awake, Umbra shows her the inside of the automaton. There are multiple sections and components she can recognize, although she has no idea what any of them do. The inside is covered in writing. Aurora proposes that they continue to rest until at least she fully recovers her spells - some five hours more, by her estimation. Willa and Tyrius agree. Now that Aurora is awake, Larry agrees to look over the creature with her. The only thing he recognizes is the tube through which it projected the flask - he compares it to the ovipositor of a wasp, with the flasks being eggs.
(3:20pm)
[Unbeknownst to the party, the three displacer beasts that were stalking them earlier but were spooked away by the security robot return to see if they are still present. Although they can still smell the party, the vegepygmies now outside the door cause them to retreat again.]
(6:25pm, Rest Time 8hr for Aurora/Tyrius only, RT 5hr 15 min for all others).
By the time Aurora and Tyrius have finished their long rest, Babshapka and Umbra have had a chance to fully trance as well, and everyone has had their evening meal.
(Aurora at 4/3/3, Tyrius at 4/2)
[ 7 human rations used; 57 human rations remaining
2.5 mule rations used (no forage); 13.5 mule rations remaining
No pounds coal used; 18 pounds coal remaining]
Aurora’s first action is to cast mage armor on herself (active until 2:25am). She then begins a ritual casting of comprehend languages. (Aurora at 3/3/3)
(6:35pm, Rest Time 5hr 25 min for Larry, Shefak, Thokk, and Willa).
Aurora’s ability to understand the strange script will last an hour (to 7:35pm), so she quickly gets to work, with her parchment and ink on hand to take notes. The first thing she examines is the stopperless flasks. The settings on the dial rivets are numbers - from left to right, 5, 4, and 3.
The interior of the automaton is a sea of words and numbers. Some words she recognizes easily (power source, atmospheric analyzer). Others she understands the word itself, but not the context in which it is being used (matrix processor, field generator). Many others she simply doesn’t understand - her spell has translated the word, but either she doesn’t know the word in any language or she doesn’t know the meaning (laser pistol, flux capacitor, servomotor).
She looks for any slot on the outside or port on the inside that might fit their black identification card, but doesn’t find one. Lacking knowledge of the parts or their functions, she is most interested in the things labeled “power sources”. One heart-sized metal and glass flask was securely mounted in the center of the machine, with thick cords that led to the metal wand (“laser pistol”) that shot Willa, at least before Umbra cut them. Other cords connected that flask to many other parts of the body. She is able to remove the flask itself, and tries to remove the wand, but it is so securely fastened to its retractable mount that she is unable to free it.
In the “head” of the machine, near what appears to be a retractable retort, Aurora finds a device inside something labeled “power disk frame”. The “power disk” itself is thick and round, but she cannot see much detail on it without extracting it. This she resolves to do.
Babshapka stands nearby, watching, holding tools, and offering suggestions. Fortunately, the room is very well lit by the overhead light panels.
After a bit of exploration, Aurora determines that the Power Disc is being held in a mount that looks something like a miniature bureau drawer, but with springs as well as runners. Somehow she needs to get the drawer to open and release the disc.
[Simple Non-lethal Items Chart. Initial roll 8; modified to 7; Triangle.]
Her initial efforts to extract the disc do little other than getting her tools stuck. She keeps trying.
[Roll 9; modified to 8. Returns her to start]
After freeing her tools, Aurora is ready to start over again. She adjusts her angle of approach.
[Roll 4; modified to 3. Advance to circle.]
This time she seems to be getting somewhere. Aurora has triggered the spring mechanism and opened the drawer mount. Now she just needs to extract the disc itself, through the broken fragments of the automaton’s body, without damaging it.
[Roll 4; modified to 3. Advance to finish.]
Aurora triumphantly pulls the disc out of the body of the clockwork and holds it up for the party to see.
Not wanting to lose whatever knowledge she has gained, Aurora first pries apart the machinery to give her more room to work, then spends several minutes inserting and removing the disc until she is sure she understands intuitively how it works.
[-2 to roll for having operated a similar item previously]
[Aurora now has a permanent -3 on rolls to insert or extract a Power Disc. In any situation that is not time dependent, we can assume she is automatically successful. If she was trying to change a disc during combat, a roll might be called for to see if she could finish in one round rather than circling around the chart a few times.]
(6:45pm, Rest Time 5hr 35 min for Larry, Shefak, Thokk, and Willa).
Now confident of her ability to extract and deposit the disc, Aurora takes some time to examine the disc itself. It is blue-colored, of some hard material like glass or slate, and is the size of a large coin. One side is smooth and unmarked, the other side has a white, arced band, marked like a sundial with 5 lines. A taut thread rests on one of the lines, the central-most one.
She looks carefully around the room, attempting to find any other place she might be able to insert the power disc, but ultimately does not find any.
(6:55pm, Rest Time 5hr 45 min for Larry, Shefak, Thokk, and Willa)
Aurora returns to the body of the clockwork man, looking for anything else useful that she might be able to extract. She decides to try to remove the strange box labeled “atmospheric analyzer”. Despite her best attempts, and those of Babshapka, they are unable to get it out (Sleight of hand rolls 6, 7). Still, she believes it is possible to reach the screw-mounts, if only there was someone with smaller, more nimble hands. She calls over Shefak and explains how she thinks the device can be removed. (Shefak Sleight of Hand roll 21). The monk is able to disconnect a few waxed threads connecting it to the insides, pop the device out of its mounting, and extract it from the body of the clockwork.
A gray slab of a material similar to horn, it is about the size of a necklace case. On one side are three windows, all rectangular in shape. Behind each is a strip of colored paper. The papers are all white on one end and shade into another color at the other end. The window to the left is white shading to yellow, the middle window is white shading to purple, and the paper behind the right window is white shading to green. Over each window is mounted a translucent jewel, the same color as the colored paper of that window. At the front of the slab is a series of small holes. On the back is a narrow panel set in a groove. Sliding it reveals a slot about the size of a coin. The case is only 1/4' wide, 1/2' long, and about a thumb’s width thick.
(7pm)
[Unbeknownst to the party, the three displacer beasts return to try again - but find the vegepygmies still camped outside the apartment door. They withdraw again.]
(7:05pm, Rest Time 5hr 55 min for Larry, Shefak, Thokk, and Willa)
The coin-sized slot on the back is empty - but it is about the size of the power disc. Aurora slides the power disc recovered from the clockwork man into the “analyzer” and it fits perfectly. She slides the covering panel back into place. And immediately the windows in the device start to glow!
Almost hopping with excitement, Aurora pushes buttons on the device, hoping for a reaction.
[Simple Non-Lethal Items Table. Roll 1 - 1 = 0, advance to circle. Roll 2 - 1 = 1, advance to finish.]
It does not take long for the device to start functioning. Delicate hair lines in each of the three screens start bobbing up and down, each ending toward the white, rather than colored, section of their window. The machine speaks in an alien language while strange symbols move across a screen. To the others, it is gibberish, but Aurora can both hear and read the following:
“Spore and pollen count low” (this is assessed by the yellow window)
“Radiation level negligible” (this is assessed by the purple screen)
“No toxic gasses detected” (this is assessed by the green window).
Aurora knows what spores are (the products of mushrooms), as well as pollen (from flowers), and toxic gasses. ‘Radiation’, on the other hand, is an unfamiliar concept to her. She thinks it is related to the radiant light of the sun or moon - but why would it say that radiation levels are negligible, if they are in a brightly lit room? Perhaps ‘negligible’ means they are not capable of causing damage. She supposes that they could test the function of the device by attempting to get a reading on Larry’s moonbeam spell - that might be detectable radiation.
With no further use for the analyzer at the moment, Aurora finds a switch that de-illuminates the lighted windows and carefully sets it aside. She returns to the body of the clockwork, poking and prodding and seeing if there is other machinery she can pry from its frame.
An attempt to remove the red eye that scanned the identification card fails, and the gem-like lens is cracked in the attempt. (Babshapka sleight of hand roll 10). Inside the “head” of the machine, a broken retort is found.
(7:15pm, Rest Time 6hr 05 min for Larry, Shefak, Thokk, and Willa)
Once Aurora is convinced that there is nothing more of use or interest that she can strip from the clockwork, she puts away her tools and asks Willa and Tyrius what they should do next. Four of them are still resting, so setting out against the plant men is not an option. However, many of them are interested in the strange card-shaped key, and wonder if it can be used to open other doors besides their own. Eventually they decide to try the card in the doorway directly across the hall from them.
Tyrius presses the panel on the wall that slides the door open. As light from their room spills out into the hallway, several of the thorn dogs are illuminated close at hand to the door. Before the doorway is even completely open Tyrius is pressing the panel again, and succeeds in closing the door before the dogs can enter the room. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Post 160: The Second Vegepygmy Battle 20 February, 571 [1 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 1
Tyrius presses the panel on the wall that slides the door open. As light from their room spills out into the hallway, several of the thorn dogs are illuminated close at hand to the door. Before the doorway is even completely open, Tyrius is pressing the panel again, and succeeds in closing the door before the dogs can enter the room.
The debate now turns to whether they should confront the dogs or refrain from conflict until everyone has rested. “How about we avoid conflict altogether?” suggests Babshapka bitterly. “These plant creatures are just defending their home. We are the invaders here, surely?” His comments are not taken seriously by the others, however. As their talk turns to a scouting mission in the hallway, he switches from his bow to his broadsword and shortsword.
Tyrius is unsure of how many thorn dogs he saw, and the consensus is that numbers matter - a foray with just those in the party who have already rested might be worth it if they could quickly clear the hall. He decides to gather more accurate intelligence. Eddard positions himself by the door-panel. With his telepathic link to Tyrius, he will know instinctively what is the best timing for opening and closing the door, without the paladin having to shout any commands.
Tyrius casts light on his shield and holds it in front of him as he moves to the door. He nods and Eddard noses the door panel. Tyrius moves quickly into the hall, spinning and keeping in motion so that he cannot be mobbed by the dogs [dodge action]. He goes out as far as he dares and is halfway back to the door before they can react. The door is closed again without any of the plant-men or thorn-dogs having entered.
Tyrius counted 5 dogs and 16 plant men outside, with the dogs in front ranks and the men behind. Babshapka listens at the door to see if they are agitated, but does not hear any commotion.
(7:25pm, Rest Time 6hr 15 min for Larry, Shefak, Thokk, and Willa, Comprehend Languages runs to 7:35pm)
Five dogs and more than a dozen pygmies is more than the party thinks they can clear easily, and some are in favor of waiting until everyone has rested. Aurora, on the other hand, seems to think that there are not enough of the creatures outside. Or at least she says she doesn’t want to waste a fireball just to leave their room, when she might need all three once they head back down the hall that seems to be the lair of the creatures. She wonders if there might be another way to clear the hall.
Her gaze falls upon the colorful stopperless flasks pulled from the clockwork and she picks one up. “Red is pretty universal for fire, right?” she asks.
“Mayhap,” says Willa skeptically, “bu’ ‘tain’t like blue be fer sleep.”
This sets Aurora to thinking. “If only there was some way we could test those flasks without opening them.” Her first thought is always her wand of magic detection, which can often provide a clue as to the kind of magic it finds. But she has already confirmed that everything they have found so far is mechanical, not magical. But if it is mechanical, could she use the same strange technology upon itself?
She picks up the "atmospheric analyzer". Of course! Aurora takes the two halves of the spent blue flask and carefully examines them. Most of it is a hollow, empty space. But there is an unopened box on the inside, opposite where the dials and plunger are. Intricately cut levers emerge from the box and go to various latches set about the inner seams of the flask. Aurora is confident that the box contains a control mechanism, and that the dial and plunger can somehow be used to release the latches. If the contents are alchemical rather than magical, it is possible they are inert when sealed closed, but immediately react when the flask is opened and they are exposed to air.
The wizard focuses her thoughts. She has only a few minutes remaining of comprehend languages - likely not enough to read the device for all of the flasks. She tells the others to watch the door while she performs another ritual.
(7:35pm, RT 6hr 25 min for Larry, Shefak, Thokk, and Willa, CL to 8:35pm)
Recalling the time in her ‘prenticeship when she was required to work in an alchemical laboratory, Aurora reaches deep into her pack to find the cleanest scraps of cloth and rags she has. She puts a few drops of water and lantern-oil on them, then carefully cleans the five flasks with one rag each, making sure to swab every surface of their bodies, especially around the plungers and along the seams where whatever ingredients that might be inside could leak out. Then she carefully lines up the rags and prepares to test them. [Aurora gains one Inspiration Point]
Starting with her swab sample of the red egg, Aurora finds the switch that lights up the windows of the atmospheric analyzer and holds it close. Willa sets her ioun stone to circle about herself.
[Modifier discovered: -2 to roll for having operated a similar item previously. Aurora now has a permanent -3 on rolls to use the analyzer. In any situation that is not time dependent, we can assume she is automatically successful. If she was trying to take a reading during combat, a roll might be called for to see if she could finish in one round rather than circling around the chart a few times.]
Red Stopperless Flask
“Spore and pollen count low”
“Radiation level negligible”
“Trace amounts of incendiary chemicals detected”
Aurora grins. “That sounds like fire to me!” she says gleefully.
Green Stopperless Flask
“Spore and pollen count low”
“Radiation level negligible”
“Trace amounts of neurotoxins detected”
Aurora doesn’t know what “neuro” is referring to, but from "toxins" she guesses this one is some kind of poison.
Blue Stopperless Flasks (two)
“Spore and pollen count low”
“Radiation level negligible”
“Trace amounts of neuroinhibitor detected, degraded but likely to be in opioid family”
None of what the analyzer says is intelligible to Aurora, but fortunately they already know the blue flasks produce sleep - assuming all blue flasks are equal. After this reading, the device gives an uncharacteristic “ping” that has heretofore been unheard. Aurora looks it over but cannot find any differences in the readouts. With a sinking suspicion, she slides open the back panel and removes the power disc. The hair has moved - rather than being in the middle setting, it is now two from one end, three from the other.
Aurora sighs. “I guess four uses of the device is a charge then? And this has two charges left, or eight more uses?” She tells the rest of the party to be on the lookout for power discs whenever they search any part of the cave. They may prove even more valuable than the card-shaped keys!
Black Stopperless Flask
“Spore and pollen count low”
“Radiation level negligible”
“Trace amounts of nitrates and dichromates detected, in combination likely to produce explosion”
“Nitrates” and “dichromates” are unknown to Aurora, but “explosion” is a word she is intimately familiar with.
(7:35pm, RT 6hr 25 min for Larry, Shefak, Thokk, and Willa, CL to 8:35pm)
With the red flask confirmed to be fire, Aurora says that she will clear the plant men in the hall with the device, allowing the party to explore rooms as they had planned. She checks whether anyone in the party has anything that might make them resistant to fire, but no one does. Babshapka stands near the doorway, ready to move in front of Aurora should something go wrong. Tyrius, Eddard, and Umbra, who are rested, stand nearby, but the others are hopeful the hallway can be cleared without them breaking their rest to help.
Aurora spends some time playing with the dial and plunger on the red flask. Suddenly she hears a muffled “click” from inside, as if some of the internal latches had released. “Open the door!” she shrieks and Babshapka hurriedly presses the panel. The door slides open. There are two groups of plant men, one to the right and one to the left of the door. Aurora tosses the flask into the midst of the knot of plant men and thorn dogs to the right.
“Tink, tink, tink…” it sounds as it skitters across the floor. Half of the diminutive men turn toward the sound, the other half toward the open door. “Fwoosh!” From the flask erupts a cloud that looks to be liquid fire, engulfing all the creatures in a ten foot radius and covering them in gooey, dripping flames.
[Table discovered: Using a grenade requires rolling on the “Simple Lethal Items” table]
In the midst of examining the flask, Aurora has discovered two things. First, the dial reading (3, 4, or 5 in the alien language) is a timed delay, measured in seconds. One can activate the flask and then still have the delay time before it explodes. Second, the flask is activated with the plunger, which must be depressed completely, spun widdershins 180 degrees, and then depressed completely again.
[Aurora now has a permanent -3 on rolls to activate and throw a grenade.]
Surprise Round
Fire covers the plant men and thorn dogs. They are all burning, but none are slain. Aurora estimates the power of the blast to have been about a quarter that of her fireball - rather underwhelming, in fact, perhaps equivalent to a large flask of oil or alchemist's fire. [Initial damage is 2d6, Aurora rolls 8hp]
From behind Babshapka, Umbra shoots forth a ray of shadow, squarely hitting the closest of the flaming plant men.
Tyrius and Babshapka, with war hammer and broadsword, emerge from the room. They smash and slice at the burning creatures. Babshapka manages to fell a thorn dog, and then retreats to the doorway to guard Aurora.
Round One
Much to Aurora’s surprise, the fire continues to burn, both on the creatures and the floor, as if it was more like oil than a fireball. While it is dripping off the creatures, it is doing so slowly - it almost seems to be sticking to them, like some sort of flammable tar. [The incendiary grenades will continue to do damage after the initial explosion, at d6 damage per round - this grenade will last another four rounds - this first round everyone hit previously took another 2 points]
“Sapling” plant men come forward, swinging at Tyrius and Babshapka with their wooden clubs. Babshapka is hit (for 8 points).
Aurora pulls back into the room, allowing Eddard to charge into the hall. He attempts to trample the plant man that is fighting Babshapka, but the little creature moves out of his way.
Tyrius swings and kills a thorn dog with his hammer, then wounds the plant man that had attacked him.
Somewhat larger plant men join the fight against Tyrius and Babshapka. Babshapka is clubbed (for 6).
At this point the smaller plant men, with darts and javelins, have targeted Babshapka, and launch a volley of eight missiles. Several of them pierce his arms and legs. [Babshapka takes 23 total and is at 11/48]. Swearing, he slashes his broadsword across the nearest plant man twice but does not fell it.
Considering the large number of plant men still in the hall, including half of them not on fire, Aurora decides to use her first fireball of three. She steps out of the room and launches it behind the unwounded ones to the left, placing it perfectly so that the blast envelopes them but does not reach those of the party in the hall (Arcana roll 12). Her explosion affects six of the plant men, slaying two of them outright and wounding four others [22 damage], as well as two of the thorn dogs.
Thorn dogs swarm Tyrius but his heavy armor protects him. Babshapka takes another javelin hit, this one to his throat, and falls to the floor, bleeding out. [critical hit for 11 damage]
Round 2
[Those vegepygmies still on fire from the incendiary grenade take another 5 damage]
With Aurora now in the hall, a plant man launches a javelin at her. She reacts by casting a shield spell to protect herself, and then returns fire with a massive firebolt. [17 damage][Aurora’s spells at 2/3/2]
Three dogs and two plant men miss Tyrius and Eddard with their bites and clubs.
[Babshapka successfully makes his first death save]
Two javelins pierce Eddard’s leather barding. He whinnies in pain and then his form shimmers and disappears. His barding falls empty to the floor of the hallway.
Willa, watching anxiously from the doorway, darts into the hall. She squats, grabs Babshapka, stands, and carries him back into the room, shouting at the others to retreat. Two plant men swing at her, but their blows do not penetrate her magic armor.
Tyrius turns to see where his spirit mount has fallen, and echoes Willa’s admonition to Aurora. He grabs the empty barding and drags it back to the room. As soon as he is inside the door, he prays for a cure wounds spell and lays his hand on Babshapka, whose throat is still seeping blood. [11 points; Babshapka is conscious and stable.]
Aurora is now alone in the hall and is quickly surrounded by four of the plant men. Her magical shield deflects four of their battering blows.
Round 3
[Those vegepygmies still on fire from the incendiary grenade take another 3 damage]
From the doorway, Willa shouts “Aurora, get in ‘ere, we be shuttin’ ther bloody door now!”
Babshapka rises and staggers to the wall, holding his hand inches from the panel that will shut the door, hoping that Aurora will withdraw, knowing that if she does not he is duty-bound to defend her.
Aurora retreats, slipping through the knot of plant men that have formed around her [disengage action]. As soon as he sees she is headed for the door, Babshapka presses the panel, and she slides through the closing door with no plant men able to follow.
There is an awkward silence punctuated by the panting gasps of Tyrius and Aurora. Finally, Aurora speaks. “Well, we learned that the fire flask doesn’t explode as powerfully as my fireball, but that it keeps burning. That is useful knowledge.”
“We learned t’at I ‘ate t’is fecking ship!” shouts Willa.
Aurora smiles broadly. “I told you it was a ship!” Willa looks about her for something to throw at the enchantress.
[Over the next hour, Babshapka takes a short rest and spends four hit dice to heal 30 points. He is at 41/48]
[Unbeknownst to the party, the vegepygmies have decided that the party is nearly as dangerous as the security robots, who they avoid precisely because of their use of incendiary grenades. After the party has retreated to the room and closed the door, the vegepygmies gather their dead and wounded and retreat. The dead and wounded they place in the mulch room (the wounded to recover, the dead to decompose), while the unwounded return to their rooms in the colony. A few of the wounded thornies and pygmies are placed on guard duty in the hallway leading to the colony.]
(8:10pm)
[Unbeknownst to the party, the three displacer beasts return, and are pleased to see that the vegepygmies are gone. They sniff at the remains of burnt plant material on the floor, and set up in a position where they can see the door open without the party seeing them.]
(8:45pm, RT 7hr 35 min for Larry, Shefak, Thokk, and Willa, Aurora’s comprehend languages no longer in effect)
(9:10pm, RT 8hr for Larry, Shefak, Thokk, and Willa)
[Unbeknownst to the party, a worker robot clangs down the hall, its hydraulic legs pumping rhythmically. It opens the door across the hall from the party and to the east to check the room, then the one next to the party. As it approaches the door of the room the party is in, the displacer beasts scatter.] _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Post 161: Worker Robot 20 February, 571 [1 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 1
(9:10pm, RT 8hr for Larry, Shefak, Thokk, and Willa)
[Unbeknownst to the party, a worker robot clangs down the hall, its hydraulic legs pumping rhythmically. It opens the door across the hall from the party and to the east to check the room, then the one next to the party. As it approaches the door of the room the party is in, the displacer beasts scatter.]
[9:10pm. Long rest for Feb 20 / Cave Day 1 complete for all party members.]
Those who did not fight in the most recent skirmish outside the room have completed their long rest. Larry now has his full complement of spells. Talk turns to strategy for clearing the hall - hopefully with more success this time.
After a bit of discussion, it is decided that they will open the door with Thokk and Tyrius in front, making a shield wall and trying to distract the javelineers from the rest of the party (dodge action). If the casters can eliminate the missile troops with their ranged spells, then all the melee fighters will move in to engage. At some point, Shefak will slip invisibly to the rear of the pygmies and attack them from behind. Umbra mentions that if they are preparing for combat, she would take some healing from Larry or Tyrius [four points of lay on hands administered].
The party members line up around the doorway. When their formation satisfies Willa, Tyrius presses the door panel and the door slides open.
There are no plant men in the hall. And no thorn dogs.
Instead, there is another clockwork man. Willa pulls out her ioun stone, prepared to release it.
This clockwork, however, is different from the other one, and considerably smaller. It is short, and squat, and has just two arms instead of four. It has two legs as well, rather than a flat bottom on castors. With the door open, it trills a short warble that might be taken as a greeting, and then advances to the door, with each step it takes producing a barely audible hiss and whir as its legs flex and extend as well as a loud clang when its foot contacts the deck.
The clockwork hisses and clomps until it stands a bare foot from Thokk and Tyrius, who are still blocking the door. Thokk looks down disgustedly at the thing, barely four feet tall. Are there no worthy opponents for Thokk in this bizarre cave?
“Should we let it in?” asks Tyrius bemusedly.
No one in the party objects, so he pulls back to give it access, and it “walks” into the room. Willa gestures at Tyrius to close the door, and he presses the panel again.
“I’m going to ritual-cast comprehend languages,” says Aurora matter-of-factly. “Keep it busy and don’t let it leave the room or bother me.”
The odd clockwork takes a few steps, inclines its body as if it was looking at the floor, and pauses at the edge of where the metal is still slick with the blood lost by Babshapka when he nearly bled out following the last fight. With a whirring sound, a sliding panel in the torso of the clockwork opens, and a snaking hose emerges. The creature takes the hose in one hand and holds it low over the pool of blood. A fine mist emerges from the hose, and Willa tosses her stone into the air, where it begins to circle her head. Rather than put people to sleep, however, everywhere the mist touches the blood, the blood bubbles, clumps, and coagulates into a fine white powder in what is now a thin layer on the floor. When the clockwork has converted all of the blood to powder, it produces a humming sound. Suddenly the hose in its hand begins sucking in air rapidly, as if a man was sucking through a reed straw. The hose sucks up all of the white powder, until a faint discoloration on the floor is the only indication it was once covered in blood.
The clockwork bends and with one hand picks up a bloody cloth the party had used to staunch Babshapka’s neck wound. It then turns and begins heading for the wall. Willa motions the others out of its way while she watches its actions with an almost morbid curiosity.
The clockwork clomps over to the wall, to where Thokk had broken through the wall grate and exposed the air duct. Another panel on its chest opens and a drawer slides out. Inside the drawer are a number of small hand tools. It takes a diminutive screwdriver in one hand and works rapidly to unscrew each of the four tiny screw heads in the corners of the grate, takes the grate in one hand, and replaces each of the screws in turn. It puts away the screwdriver and closes both the drawer and its chest panel. It holds the grate up in front of its “face”, as if inspecting it visually. Then, grasping the grate firmly with both hands, it proceeds to fold it over twice, until it is a quarter of the size it was before. Even Thokk gasps. He had to pound on the grate repeatedly with all his strength to break through the perforated metal. This clockwork, with its spindly arms, has just easily folded the metal - with the second fold clearly demonstrating strength greater than that of Thokk or Willa. Perhaps it is a worthy opponent after all. He steps forward to shove it, hoping to provoke a fight, but Willa intercepts him. Thokk stomps over to the divan and lies down, sulking.
The clockwork walks around the room, ignoring the party, but clearly inspecting the walls, floor, and furnishings. When it gets to the mules it pauses at a pile of their droppings. Suddenly a hatch in its back is released, and a hinged door opens wide at the top while remaining closed at the bottom. Those nearby can see that the door leads to a small space inside the body of the clockwork where there is a pile of broken parts of furniture and machinery. The clockwork reaches back over its head and drops first the folded grate and then the bloody bandage into the drawer so that they land on the pile of sundries. Then, with both hands, it picks up the mule droppings and deposits them in the hinged drawer on its back as well. Finally, it sprays the floor where the droppings had been with its mist and sucks up the white powder with its curious hose.
At this point the clockwork completes another loop around the room and heads for the door. Aurora is still working on her ritual. Willa decides to stall it. She sticks her hand into the open chest of the clockwork they fought, rips out a handful of the odd waxed cords, and scatters them across the floor of the room. The smaller clockwork walks to each of them in turn, carefully picking them up and dropping them inside its drawer. In the time it is doing this, Willa is stripping everything she can from the inside of the fallen clockwork. Now she drops one item at a time in opposite corners of the room, such that the clockwork has to cross the room, retrieve the part, and cross the room again for the next one. It does not tire of the game, but she is nearly out of parts when Aurora finally stands up and announces that she is ready.
(9:20pm, Comprehend languages lasts until 10:20pm)
“Hail!” says Aurora. The clockwork ignores her and continues retrieving the bits and pieces dropped by Willa.
“Automaton - cease your cleaning!” commands Aurora. The clockwork does not pause.
Willa has now run out of parts. The clockwork clumps over to the frame of the other machine-man. It looks it over, and issues a series of chirps and warbles. Aurora hears it say, “Security robot structural integrity compromised - diagnosed as irreparable. Many sub-components still salvageable. Deliver to level one robot repair facility.”
Aurora has never heard the word “robot” before, but she takes it as a synonym for clockwork creature.
The drawer on its back closes and the hatch seals. It bends down and grabs two of the arms of the larger clockwork with its own hands. Leaning back and walking backwards, it drags the fallen machine toward the door. There is a terrible sound of metal scraping on metal as the jagged edges of the larger clockwork slide across the floor. As it reaches up to press the wall panel, Aurora says “Don’t let it go.”
Willa immediately countermands her, saying, “Ye cain’t control it - ye tried. Tyrius, let it out ther door.” The paladin steps aside, and the smaller clockwork drags the larger one out the door.
“We could follow it…” suggests Aurora, “It said something about a ‘repair facility’”.
Willa actually considers this, then shakes her head. “Nay, ther noise it be makin’ will only attract godsken wha’. An’ we need ter stick close ter ther mules.” Indeed, as the torn pieces of metal on the frame of the fallen clockwork catch in the open grates of the floor of the hallway, the screeching echoes up and down the corridor.
“We stick ter ther plan an’ investergate ther tother rooms.”
“First,” says Tyrius, “if we are to leave the mules alone, I would like to re-summon Eddard.”
“Fair eno’,” agrees Willa. “Be at it - p’raps ther noise from yon clockwork will hae drawn off anyone ‘ereabouts by then.”
Tyrius closes the door and begins the ritual prayer. In the end, Eddard reappears. Tyrius fills him in about the resolution of the combat and the appearance of the clockwork while he helps him on with his barding. He looks up at the height of the ceiling, then decides not to put on his steed’s saddle or bridle for now.
(9:30pm)
Willa orders the party and they pass into the hall. There are soot stains on the floor from the fiery flask and Aurora’s fireball. There are bits and pieces of broken and burned plant limbs strewn about, but all of the bodies of the plant men and thorn dogs have been removed.
Eddard noses the door panel to close it behind them from inside. Willa tells Aurora to use the black card to open the door across the hall from them, and tells Shefak to keep guard for them around the next corner. Shefak slips on her ring of invisibility (Stealth 21) and scouts the hallway.
Just as Aurora and Babshapka are passing through the now-open door into the new room [apartment], Willa hears Shefak whisper that there are thorn dogs just around the corner, but they are unmoving, seemingly on guard as well. “Good,” whispers Willa back, “stare ‘em down, an’ let us ken if t’ey be comin’.” She motions to the rest of the party to proceed, but to be quiet about it.
The room into which Babshapka and Aurora pass appears to be another living quarters, but larger than their base across the hall. Babshapka presses the second wall panel, and Aurora grins as the room is flooded with light from the ceiling glass. The room has a large double bed in place of a single, and two night stands rather than one. Fully eight chairs surround a large dining table. Two divans flank another of the curiously low tables whose function remains unknown. The materials are all the same - cave horn for the furnishings, cave sponge for the mattress and divans, metal for the walls, floor, and ceiling. There is a skeleton clad in tattered silks on the floor of the room. Babshapka examines it, finding broken ribs that suggest it died violently.
“Look for more cards,” suggests Aurora. Babhapka opens the night stands, flips the mattress, looks under the divans, pokes through the refuse strewn across the floor, but finds nothing of interest, card or otherwise (Perception 22).
(9:40pm)
“Nex’ room,” hisses Willa, and points down the hall to the east, away from the thorn dog at the corner. Babshapka and Aurora comply, as Willa and Tyrius move into the open room to see for themselves.
“This is a lot larger,” says Tyrius, and Willa nods. It was cramped quarters in the other room, with two mules, a warhorse, eight people, and a fallen clockwork crammed in. Larger than a rope trick space, but not by much. While Aurora and Babshapka open and search the next room, Tyrius contacts Eddard mentally and has him open the door. The party moves their beasts and gear over to the larger room across the hall; Willa lays the mule bags on the bed. She flips the table on its side. It is light, far lighter than wood, and not exactly a barricade, but it could provide some cover. She and Tyrius maneuver it into the doorway, push a divan up behind it to hold it in place, and then climb over everything to exit. Eddard noses the door shut.
The next room over [apartment] is deep but narrow, in between the two others in size, the door just a few feet from where the body of the ceiling creature still lies. There is a double bed and end tables, two divans and a low table but no dining table or chairs. Babshapka searches it but comes up empty. They close the door behind them and move on.
(9:50pm)
The next door is near the main entrance of the cave, in the chamber where there is the circular shaft to somewhere far below. Aurora, now an old hand at the doors, slides the black card confidently into the slot. A loud and pulsating buzzing fills the air - “Brrrt - brrrt - brrrt!” Babshapka looks about nervously to see what might be attracted.
“What the - I don’t…” begins Aurora, but she is cut off by speech coming from the door! What is an unintelligible language to Babshapka is discernible to her, since she still has her comprehend languages running. “Access denied,” the voice says, “Security clearance not accepted.” Aurora looks in the receptacle under the slot. The card has not been returned. She swears.
Aurora quickly looks at the door mechanism, but can find no way to physically dismantle it to get at the key. The klaxon sound of the door continues. Babshapka draws forth an arrow and turns his back on the door.
“It’s okay, no worries,” says Aurora out loud, as she silently continues to curse. She says the words of a knock spell, and the sound of the alarm ceases. She sighs with relief.
Inside the door mechanism, she can hear a faint whirring sound. The door does not open. The card is not released. She presses on the panel to no effect. She calms herself to think. Knock is good for opening one lock. If the mechanics of the door are particularly complicated, it might have more than one lock - just like a merchant who triple-locks his trunks. (Arcana 23). The door is susceptible to magic, she is sure of it - but how many spells she would need to use to open one door remains unknown. Clearly more than one.
“Go get Thokk” she says to Babshapka.
Thokk throws his shoulder against the metal of the door a few times, then shakes his head sadly.
“Well,” says Aurora resolutely. “We got that key from a plant man. We know where we can get more.”
Aurora returns to the main party and whispers to Willa that they will need to get more keys. When pressed, she reluctantly provides details. Willa motions everyone over. Leaving Shefak on guard in the hallway, the others return to the apartment with the mules and shut the door behind them to discuss strategy. After some ten minutes of preparation, the following plan is decided upon:
Shefak, while invisible, will attack the nearest dog in the hall. Once an alarm has been raised, Willa and Thokk will charge up the hall to slay the next one. By that point their attacks should draw a response. Once the hallway is filled with plant-men, Aurora will send a fireball to clear them out. If that carries the day, they should have plenty of bodies to search for keys. If not, they will pull back and defend the door of their base room from a safer position. Eddard listens to the plan and comments that a few well-placed enhancements now could save any number of healing spells later. Tyrius decides to cast Heroism on Thokk (will last one minute) and Aid on himself, Willa, and Babshapka (will last eight hours, provided they have not lost the bonus hp by then). Babshapka casts Hunter’s Mark (will last one hour or until his concentration fails), and Umbra casts Armor of Shadows on herself (will last eight hours).
Willa, having noticed before that the plant men were impervious to stabbing or arrows, borrows two of Tyrius’ hammers in case she needs a missile option.
Tyrius at (2/0 and 26 lay on hands remaining)
Babshapka at (3/2)
Umbra at (3/3/3)
Aurora at (2/2/2) _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Post 162: The Third Vegepygmy Battle 20 February, 571 [1 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 1
(10:20pm - Aurora’s Comprehend languages ends)
Round 1
Shefak manages to get within striking distance of the thorn dog without it noticing (Stealth 11, but 16 with advantage due to her invisibility). Only one of her two staff blows really connects, but it proves enough (10hp) to slay the dog, which was apparently still wounded from the previous scuffle in the hall.
The thorn dog further down the hall does not charge them. Rather, it retreats back around the corner. This immediately frustrates Willa and Thokk’s plan to slay it and draw out others. Willa smashes her two hammers together, making as much noise as she can. Thokk shouts taunts in Orc down the hallway.
A plant man emerges from a side room and dashes after the retreating dog. Babshapka sends two arrows his way, but even the one that hits seems to have little effect (damage 12 plus 5 from Hunter’s Mark, but vegepygmies are immune to non-magical piercing damage (12) and resistant to magical piercing damage (5 becomes 2) - it appears that the Hunter’s Mark does damage of the same type as the weapon itself, but the fact that it is at least magical helps).
Aurora sends a firebolt after the fleeing plant man, and this proves much more efficacious (17 damage).
[Unbeknownst to the party, this guard is alerting not only the nearby rooms, but the entire colony. Vegepygmies are pouring out of their rooms and moving south in direct response, but a whole other group, led by two sub chiefs, is taking the ‘long way around’ to come at the party from the east.]
Round 2
A thorn dog, this one fresh, rounds the corner and charges the length of the hallway at the party. Babshapka draws on it and considers switching his Mark to the beast, then decides it might be better to track down the fleeing plant man to see how far he has run and how many rooms he has alerted. He shoots at the dog, but it seems to have the same resistance as the plant men. (one hit for 12, thorn dog immune to non-magical piercing).
The dog is fast, and able to leap at Babshapka before any of the others can react. Babshapka has been standing near the open door of the table room and he curses himself for not darting into the doorway after his second shot. (Babshapka takes 5 piercing from the dog's thorny maw).
Thokk hits the dog twice, but does not slay it (total 18 damage).
Round 3
Bounding ahead, two more thorn dogs charge the party, and Thokk, glorying in the prospect of battle, moves to block the hallway. The three leap and snap at him, but he nimbly keeps his shield between himself and their thorny teeth.
Using Thokk for cover, Babshapka enters the table room and presses the panel to slide the door closed behind him. Shefak is inside the room with him.
The end of the hall ahead, just at the corner, begins to fill with dozens of plant men, each carrying handfuls of barbed darts and javelins. They form up lines in the back row and begin to target the party. Others are moving to the fore with gnarled clubs in hand, preparing to charge once their numbers are massed.
Larry calls forth a moonbeam, placing it at the most massed concentration of plant men (lasts up to one minute or concentration, Larry to 4/2/3).
“That doesn’t look good,” whispers Umbra, referring to the plant men missile troops massing. Before they can get off a volley, she points a wand at the end of the hall, and it is filled with inky blackness. No longer are the missile troops visible, although the first of those with clubs are starting to emerge. (Umbra to 3/2/3, darkness lasts ten minutes or concentration). The darkness also completely envelopes the moonbeam, although Larry can sense that his spell is still there and presumably still doing damage.
Tyrius moves up next to Thokk, and begins swinging at the thorn dogs fighting the barbarian, battering their woody limbs with Molly (two hits, 21 total damage).
Thokk shouts exultantly (rage; three left) as he hacks at the dogs (one hit for 11).
Willa drops Tyrius’s hammers and they clatter to the metal floor. She shouts her own battle cry as she draws her greatsword and engages the dogs (two hits, 25 damage total, two dogs of the three remain).
Aurora had planned to send a fireball down to the end of the hallway, using the ninety-degree bend to shoot flames both at the missile troops at the end, the melee ones advancing, and any reinforcements as yet unseen around the corner. Now that the hall is enveloped in darkness, however, she is unsure of the actual distance. Unconcerned, she launches her flaming missile anyway (Arcana roll 9, fireball lands 5 feet short of planned target). For a split second the darkness is pierced by a light so bright it illuminates the plant men within it, allowing their silhouettes to be seen even through the glare of the moonbeam. Then the flames centered in the darkness go out, but the wave of burning air is rushing down the corridor toward them, filling the side room to the right as it passes. Only now is Aurora realizing that she landed it short of the mark and it could engulf the party. The flames lick at the thorn dog in melee with Thokk and Willa. They are both hit with a wave of heat and a smell like burning wood and smoldering vegetation, but take no damage themselves.
(34 fire damage, DC15 Dex save for half. Fully thirty-one plant-men and a thorn dog were in the area of effect. After saves, eight saplings, seven sprouts, two sporriors, and a thorn dog are slain, while another fourteen troops are wounded but still advancing. Aurora at 2/2/1)
Once the roar of the fireball has faded, the noise of the plant men, both those in sight, those covered by darkness, and those around the corner, redoubles. The ones in sight, many of them still aflame, seem undeterred by the deaths of a full score of their companions. Larry decides it is time to hunker down. He ends his first moonbeam and casts another, this time at the most potent level he can, moving it to halfway down the hall, in between the corner and where Thokk, Tyrius, and Willa are holding the line. “Tha’ shood ‘old ‘em, well eno’” he grumbles. (Larry to 4/2/2; third-level moonbeam will last to round 13 and this round is doing 19 damage to any who enter the area).
Shefak presses the door panel of the tabel room and looks out upon the combat. Seeing just a single thorn dog left in the melee, she emerges and kills it with two strikes of her staff, leaping out of the way of its barbs. (total 12 damage, Shefak uses a ki point and bonus disengage to avoid its reaction to being attacked. Shefak at six ki points remaining).
Round 4
Babshapka decides that dealing with the oncoming hordes now takes priority over tracking one individual. He ends his old hunter’s mark and casts it again on a new target, continuing to fire at the advancing plant men through the gaps between Willa and Thokk but to little effect (one hit for 9 damage + 2 hunter’s mark = 1 point damage). Babshapka at (2/2)
Umbra shoots a ray of shadow at the same plant man that Babshapka targeted but misses.
Three plant-men emerge from the darkness, pass through the moonbeam, and launch darts at Thokk and Willa, who take the shafts on their shield and armor. Two new thorn dogs run the same gauntlet and are able to reach the pair, snapping at them in melee. Willa returns their blows (two hits, 15 and 16 damage) and takes out one dog.
Seeing the first of the missiles beginning to rain down on the front ranks, Shefak retreats to the open doorway of the table room, and readies to attack anything that attempts to enter.
Thokk slays the other dog (damage 9).
Two plant men make it through the moonbeam; one manages to swing his club at Thokk.
Larry maintains his concentration on his moonbeam (now base damage 17).
Tyrius attacks the plant man with the club (9 damage), and Aurora sends a firebolt at it as well (6 damage).
Round 5
Umbra sends another ray of shadow at the approaching plant men, but misses.
Six plant men manage to make it through the darkness and then enter the moonbeam. Ignoring the corpses of their companions littering the hall, they join a single living plant man and begin throwing darts at the party, principally Thokk (seven attacks, three hits, all critical, 34 total points damage, Thokk takes 14 after rage and heroism). Most of them fall to the floor, slain by the moonbeam, soon after their volley. Willa sheathes her greatsword and picks up Tyrius’ hammers from the floor.
Larry maintains his concentration on his moonbeam (now base damage 20).
Aurora sends off a firebolt at the plant men (damage 12), but then notices something at the edge of her vision, approaching from the other hallway, not the one to the north the party is defending, but rather the one to the east, the one that leads to the slain ceiling monster and the main entrance of the cave. She grabs Tyrius by the shoulder. He turns, and the light from his shield falls upon a thorn dog galloping toward them. “Don’t let us be flanked!” says Aurora, and Tyrius moves to intercept the dog.
Babshapka drops back so as to view both hallways, and launches a single arrow to the north (damage 12 plus 5 from hunter’s mark, results in 2 damage).
Round 6
Larry affirms his concentration on the moonbeam (now base damage 21), and turns to face the dog by Tyrius’ side. He slashes at the dog with his scimitar but misses. However, behind the first dog come a half-dozen others from the east, bounding forward. Beyond them, at the edge of his darkvision, he can see a long column of plant men approaching. Larry shouts a warning to the others.
Aurora firebolts one of the missile troops (14 damage).
To the north, plant men and now thorn dogs are continuing to pass through the darkness and moonbeam. Three dogs are approaching Thokk; one snaps at Tyrius down the other hall. Two dart-bearing men and one with a club pass through the moonbeam. One manages to get off a dart before he dies, but Thokk intercepts it with his shield.
Babshapka continues firing arrows (two shots, one hit, 5 plus 4 is 2 points of damage).
Willa moves to the east hallway, strikes at a thorn dog but misses.
Umbra decides the host approaching unimpeded from the east is far more of a threat than those trickling through the moonbeam and taking damage besides. She turns and pulls away from the northern hall, fixing her full attention on the vanguard of dogs. Suddenly a great dark sphere appears. Tendrils of insubstantial shadow snake out from it, wrapping around the nearest thorn dogs, pulling at them. Their advance is slowed - perhaps more helpfully, they no longer are agile enough to wound those striking at them. (six thorn dogs fail their save against Umbra’s entropy spell - they now move at half speed and cannot take reactions. Umbra to 3/2/2).
With no melee opponents, but now being the sole defender on the northern hall, Thokk yells and shakes his shield and sword at the plant men launching darts. [Thokk has neither attacked nor taken damage this turn. His rage ends. He takes the dodge action and uses another rage. Two rages left]
Tyrius forgoes attacking, moving in such a way as to try to distract and draw the shadow-slowed dogs to him. (Tyrius takes the dodge action) He contacts Eddard mentally and has his mount open the door to the apartment on the south side of the hall, in case the party needs to fall back. The large table, on its side with a settee bolstering it from behind, blocks the doorway so that only the top half of the doorway is open.
Round 7
The forces in the north and east are both building and pressing upon the party. Aurora starts calling for a general retreat back to the room. “Bu’ we hain’t none o’ us been wounded,” objects Willa (ignoring Thokk for the moment). Aurora insists that they will be, if they allow themselves to be surrounded on all sides. In fits and starts, they begin to make for the door of the apartment, some with more alacrity than others.
Umbra fires off a ray of shadow at a thorn dog but misses, then turns and moves to enter the apartment. She tries to climb over the table barrier, but her feet slip and slide on its smooth surface and she appears insufficiently strong to pull herself over with her arms alone (Acrobatics 8 ). She scowls and then disappears, suddenly appearing a second later well within the room. (Shadow step, Umbra at 2/2/2).
Larry maintains his concentration on his moonbeam (this round, damage 21) even though he cannot see it. He looks nervously at the plant-men and thorn dogs arriving from the east, more all the time. He shouts to Thokk, asking him if they should retreat, but the enraged half-orc’s only answer is a bloodthirsty laugh.
Four thorn dogs and a plant man with a club attack Thokk, Tyrius, and Willa, but their armor protects them.
Shefak attacks a thorn dog with her staff, hitting it twice (total 18 damage), but twisting out of the way of its responding bite. Hearing Aurora’s calls for a retreat, she turns and sees another thorn dog blocking her path to the door. Summoning her ki, she runs at the dog and then unleashes a series of high and low kicks. The last one connects, knocking the dog fifteen feet back and to the side and opening up her path. (Shefak uses a Ki point for flurry of blows, now at 5 ki points. Three unarmed attacks on dog, last one hits, forces a strength save, dog fails and is knocked back). Shefak continues to run forward, jumps, and pulls herself over the table and into the room (Acrobatics 12). “Get this out of the way!” she shouts at Eddard, pointing at the settee and table.
Eddard places his broad head along the side of the settee and digs in his hooves. He pushes the settee out of the way, although the table remains blocking the doorway (Strength check 17).
Willa stays in the thick of the combat, not retreating. So far no plant men or thorn dogs have been able to penetrate her magic plate mail. If they want to keep throwing themselves on her sword, that is fine with her (two hits, 26 damage total).
Babshapka fires off another two arrows, this time at the host in the east, but misses both times. He retreats about half the distance to the door.
Tyrius continues to move among the thorn dogs, urging them all to attack him (dodge action) while his companions retreat to the safety of the room. He moves closer to the room himself, but it is one step forward and two back all the way.
Aurora tries to calculate the area of impact that will hit the most opponents (Arcana 13), and then launches a fireball down the eastern corridor. It lands among five thorn dogs and two plant man “saplings”. (two fail for 38 damage each, five save for 19. Aurora at 2/2/0). Before the blast has even detonated, she turns and is halfway to the door of the apartment. Arriving there (with a little push from the explosion behind her), she tries to slide the table out of the way but is unable to budge it (Strength check 5).
Round 8
With Eddard continuing to push the settee to the far side of the room, Shefak moves the table from the inside, opening the doorway at last.
Willa attacks a thorn dog (one hit for 14).
The five thorn dogs bound by tendrils of shadow are largely unable to escape their effects (four failed Wisdom saves, one success). Umbra moves to the doorway and shoots a ray of shadow (7 points) at the one that managed to free himself. Babshapka shoots the same dog with an arrow (5 points + 2 hunter’s mark = 1 damage).
Larry moves back from the scrum to view the northern hallway again and pulls the moonbeam back, closer to Thokk (this round it will do 21 damage).
A sapling with a club, and a thorn dog, continue to attack Thokk to no effect. Halfway down the northern hall, the plant men launch a volley of seven darts and javelins. Only one finds its mark (5 piercing, 2 after rage, 0 after heroism).
Five shadow-bound dogs bite at Tyrius and Willa, but miss. A sapling misses Tyrius with a club.
Aurora, standing in the now-open doorway, sends out a firebolt but it misses.
Thokk wants to back up so that he can assess the situation in the east hallway. He yells at Larry to have the moonbeam follow him as he retreats.
Round 9
Umbra, next to Aurora in the open doorway, sends out a ray of shadow (8 damage).
Larry heeds Thokk’s words and has the moonbeam cover his retreat. It sweeps over eight plant men as it moves, doing 15 damage to each.
Five shadow-bound dogs bite at Tyrius and Willa, but miss. A sixth misses Larry.
Two saplings with clubs miss Willa, another two Thokk.
A total of seventeen plant men missile troops have now accumulated in the northern hall and send a volley of darts and javelins at Thokk. Five find their mark (including two critical hits). [Thokk takes 50 points, to 25 after rage, to 22 after heroism] Thokk decides it may indeed be time to retreat. He sheathes his longsword, turns and runs (thorn dog bite and sapling club opportunity attacks both miss). He pauses only long enough to scoop up a surprised Babshapka (Athletics check 26) with his free arm before barreling into the room. Umbra and Aurora manage to get out of his way without getting knocked down.
Seeing Thokk fleeing, Tyrius reasons that they are about to be hit with a flood of plant men from the north. He turns as well and makes for the door (club opportunity attack from a plant man misses). He is in no position to scoop up Larry as easily as Thokk did Babshapka, but he manages to push and shove and keep the dwarf in front of him as he goes (Athletics check 15).
Aurora decides to lay down suppressive fire and cover the retreat of her companions. She sends out four magic missiles (cast at 2nd level for 17 damage, Aurora at 2/1/0).
Willa looks about - it seems Aurora has convinced even Thokk to retreat. She increases the speed of her attacks to an unsustainable level as she clears her path to the door (action surge, four attacks, two hits, 27 damage).
As Willa, the last one to enter the room, crosses the threshold, Thokk presses the door panel to close the door behind her.
Round 10
Babshapka sets another arrow to his bowstring and draws it lightly, pointing it at the floor near the closed door. “I think we should give it a minute,” he says tersely. Then, thinking better of it, he puts away his bow and draws his broadsword.
“Does anyone need healing?” Tyrius asks, looking pointedly at Thokk, who is covered in puncture wounds from the darts and javelins. The half-orc shakes his head, and no one else speaks up.
Round 11
(Thokk’s heroism has expired)
(Thokk’s second rage has expired)
Willa, standing near the door, hears the mechanical whirring of the strange lock mechanism. She gestures at the others to be ready.
As the door slides open, those near it can see a cluster of plant-man melee troops formed up in a phalanx outside. Farther back are rows of missile troops, even now poised to throw. Willa, closest to the door, can see a plant man straining upward to reach the receptacle into which a key card would be returned.
Larry faces the door and concentrates, moving his still-existing moonbeam to just outside the door itself. He drops it squarely on two saplings, four sprouts, and a sporrior. They writhe in pain and begin to scatter.
Thokk attacks the fleeing plant men nearest him, cleaving down at them with his longsword (two hits, 18 damage).
Willa pushes past Thokk and reaches into the receptacle with one hand. With the other, she shoves hard, knocking the plant man back into the area covered by the moonbeam. It tenses in pain and she grabs the key card triumphantly. “Close it!” she shouts, and Babshapka presses the door panel.
Round 12
Unnoticed by the rest of the party, Shefak slipped on her invisibility ring even as the door opened. Now, she slides by Thokk and out into the hallway, stifling her gasp as she enters the moonbeam and takes damage. She passes through to the other side and out into the sea of plant men, trying to avoid them as they scurry about (dodge action).
Willa tosses the black key card to Babshapka and draws her greatsword. He in turn tosses the card to Aurora and moves his hunter’s mark to a thorn dog just visible through the closing door. Aurora fumbles the card, then bangs her head on the oddly low table as she dives after it.
Two thorn dogs snap at Thokk but he fends them off with his shield. Willa beats them back from the doorway (two hits, 26 damage total).
Thokk, sword still drawn, faces the door as it slides closed.
(10:30pm)
[Unbeknownst to the party, in addition to all the vegepygmies stirred up from the rooms they attacked, another 12 vegepygmies and 5 thornies have arrived as a patrol (wandering encounter) and joined the forces outside the door being directed by the sub chiefs.]
It isn’t until a few minutes later when someone finally notices that Shefak is no longer in the room with them. From the center of the room, Aurora tries to message her. Receiving no response, she moves to the door, where the metal is thinner than the width of the walls. Now she does indeed hear back.
Shefak explains that she is invisible, in the hallway just outside the door. There are some 30 to 40 plant men and a half-dozen thorn dogs out there with her. More importantly, there are two plant men that seem to be in charge. They are much larger than the others, standing nearly five feet tall, and are greatly gnarled and barely able to move. With whistles, chest thumps, and gesticulating limbs, they appear to be ordering the other plants, men and dogs, about. It is the first time Shefak has seen any of the plant men do anything more than blindly charge forward and attack. Now, they are forming up into well-spaced rows, with melee troops in front and missile troops behind, all surrounding the door of the room in which the party is. On either side of the door are stationed thorn dogs.
As Aurora begins to relate Shefak’s message to the party, Willa and Tyrius confer. They agree that with their complement of best spells depleted, and the damage Thokk has taken, it is not worth it to provoke another fight. If the plant men storm the room, however, the party should definitely target the leaders. Perhaps if these larger plant men are slain or captured the others will disperse. Their conference is interrupted by Aurora reporting that Shefak is saying urgently that another plant man with a black card in hand is approaching the door. The party readies for another fight, while Aurora moves away from the door and begins a ritual casting of comprehend languages, for use on the leader they intend to capture. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Post 163: Speak with Plants 20 February, 571 [1 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 1
Round 1
As the door slides open, Thokk enrages (one rage left). He immediately pushes through the crowd, barreling straight at the plant man leader and ignoring those in his way. (Three opportunity attacks, two sapling clubs and a thorn dog bite, all miss). Thokk reaches the leader, bends down, and attempts to seize him with his bare hands about the creature’s neck. (Thokk makes a failed grapple attempt. He uses an inspiration point for a re-roll, but fails again).
Aurora thinks better of her plan, ceases her ritual, and shoots a firebolt through the doorway. Umbra follows that with a ray of shadow.
Babshapka struggles briefly with the plant man at the door and comes away with the key card. [Current tally, one black card each on Babshapka and Aurora].
Willa strides out the door to her right, wading through the battle lines toward the second leader. The attacks on her by those she passes are ineffective (three sapling clubs and three thorn dog bites, opportunity attacks, all miss). Willa grabs the seemingly surprised plant man, hugs it to her chest, and begins walking backward despite its struggles and the attacks of those around her. She manages to drag it five feet closer to the door. (Successful grapple attack and moves opponent at half own speed)
There is a volley of sixteen javelins and darts. They all are thrown through the open doorway. The plant men do not appear to have reacted immediately to the assaults on their leaders, or perhaps they are just mindlessly executing a previously decided-upon plan. Larry is wounded by two javelins, Babshapka by four.
The leader evading Thokk's grasp manages to bring up a sort of cobbled-together flail and tries to strike at the barbarian, but is too close to be effective. The leader being grappled by Willa struggles, but cannot free itself.
Tyrius moves to the doorway, sees that Willa has one leader well in hand but that the other has not yet been subdued by Thokk. The paladin casts compelled duel, hoping to goad the leader into charging at him, but it resists the power of Pelor (vegepygmy leader makes a Wisdom save with 17; Tyrius at 1/0 and 26 lay on hands remaining).
Shefak dives into the combat, becoming visible and attacking the leader that Thokk faces, but from behind. She uses her flurry of blows to both prevent its reaction and knock it down (Shefak now at four ki points - first hit, stuns leader, no reactions, second hit, failed dex save, knocks it prone, total 17 points damage). “Now try!” she yells at Thokk, as the enraged barbarian struggles to understand why the plant man he was just fighting has dropped to the ground without him touching it.
From inside the doorway, Larry casts a moonbeam, hoping to scatter the missile troops. It lands on six sprouts and six sporriors - the damage is disappointing, and half of them make their saves, but it is distracting and will hopefully frustrate a second volley. (Larry to 4/1/2; second-level moonbeam will last to round 12).
Round 2
Babshapka moves back behind the wall of the apartment, out of view of the missile troops, and pulls out one of the javelins that stuck in his side.
Willa continues to drag the plant man leader backwards toward the door, ignoring the attacks on her (one dog and three sapling club opportunity attacks miss). She enters the area of the moonbeam and clenches her jaw as she begins to take damage (round 2 damage nine points, Willa saves and takes four). When she gets to the doorway she pauses, holding the plant man in front of her like a shield against the javelins. Still inside the moonbeam, and still taking damage, are two thorn dogs, three sporriors, three sprouts, three saplings, and the leader being held by Willa.
Frustrated that the moonbeam hasn’t scattered more opponents, Larry runs up to the doorway, right behind Tyrius and Willa. He yells, drops to one knee, and slams the ground with his fist, sending forth a wave of force. A thunderous sound echoes down the metal corridors. (Thunderwave at first level for nine points - Larry at 3/1/2). The shock hits Tyrius first (Con save 4, fails); he takes damage (9 points) and flies forward out of the doorway and into the hall, barely managing to remain on his feet. Willa is thrown into the air, but comes down in place and manages to retain her grip on the leader (4 points damage). As the wave propagates out the doorway, about half the javelin-throwing troops go down, falling to the floor. Their green-gray skin burns and cracks in the moonbeam. The club-bearing saplings in the doorway, tougher than their missile throwing companions, remain standing. Four of them batter at Willa. They are unable to break through her armor, but their blows help loosen her grip on the leader, and he manages to break free. He staggers forward, turns, and beats his flail at her chest plate, knocking the wind from her for a moment but not doing any lasting damage (attack roll 20 vs. AC21).
Outside the room, three thorn dogs snap at Tyrius with their barbed jaws. The remaining missile troops all target Willa - because she is in the doorway, or because she tried to capture their leader? (Now that she is in melee with the saplings, the missile troops have advantage). Two sporriors and five sprouts are left - of the seven missiles thrown, three manage to penetrate her armor.
As the fallen leader before him stands up, Thokk leans down and snatches it in a bear hug, then lifts it over his head, holding it high in the air so that none of its woody limbs can find purchase on the floor (successful grapple attack). He turns and moves heavily toward the door, pausing only to raise a booted foot and kick the free leader fighting Willa in the back (successful shove attack). As the standing leader stumbles forward past Willa, Thokk moves to take its place in the doorway, the other leader still held over his head. Thorn dogs snap at his heels (three opportunity attacks - one hit, 5 points, 2 damage after rage).
Shefak assesses the doorway - most of it is blocked by Thokk’s girth, but there is a bit of room over his head, just to the side of the plant man leader. She runs forward, planting her staff like a pole, and starts her vault - but the pole slips on the metal floor, slick with plant juices. Shefak slams into Thokk, then falls to the floor (failed Acrobatics check). Thokk stumbles forward from the blow. Shefak shakes her head, leaps to her feet, and re-assumes her invisibility.
Tyrius, from inside the room, attacks the four saplings battering Willa (two hits, 21 damage, one sapling down). Aurora firebolts another one of them (9 damage).
Round 3
With the doorway now clear, Shefak runs inside the apartment, launching herself into a flying kick at the free plant man leader.
Babshapka hits the door panel and the door begins to close.
Willa trades blows with the plant man leader inside. The three remaining saplings beat her with clubs, and the leader manages to turn and slip out through the closing door.
Thokk tightens his grip on the remaining leader he holds aloft inside the room.
Larry dashes to the half-closed door, moving his moonbeam to center it onto the fleeing leader. In response, four sprouts and a sporrior throw missiles at him (one hit, Larry takes 5). Aurora runs to his side, sending a volley of magic missiles after the leader through the last six inches remaining between the closing door panels. The plant man leader is slain just before the door closes (14 points damage, Aurora to 1/1/0).
Tyrius smashes two of the three saplings that remain inside the room into planty bits (two hits, 7 and 11 damage).
Round 4
Thokk continues to grapple the leader, holding him high overhead.
The one remaining sapling in the room attacks Willa with its club. Willa returns his blows (one hit, damage 11). Tyrius moves to support her (one hit, damage 7).
Aurora shoots a firebolt at the grappled leader, but it misses, impacting the ceiling instead.
Larry tosses Shefak a rope, and she moves to Thokk’s side, urging him to set the plant man down so that she can bind it.
Round 5
The sapling strikes at Willa again, and her response smears it all over her greatsword. Now just the leader is left alive inside, although Larry and Babshapka are guarding the door in case it opens again.
Thokk holds the leader down while Shefak ties it up with the rope.
When the plant man is well and truly bound, Thokk loses his rage and moves to guard the door.
Aurora begins a ritual casting of comprehend languages, while Shefak uses her Wholeness of Body to recover 18hp and then moves much of her personal gear over to the mule packs (cold weather clothes, crampons, bed roll, staff, dagger, mess kit) so as to lighten her load. “It seems like we will be in this cave a while,” she says, to no one in particular. Umbra nods and puts her own cold weather gear and crampons in one of the mule packs.
[Unbeknownst to the party, the remaining vegepygmies in the hall withdraw. In just this last skirmish, besides numerous comrades, they have lost a black key and two of their subchiefs. They collectively retreat, back to defend the colony and await further instruction]
(10:40pm)
Aurora and Babshapka come over to where the leader is tied up. Aurora begins speaking to him, knowing he cannot understand her, but trying to keep a friendly tone in her voice.
As the leader whistles and rattles his limbs, Aurora hears a deep basso voice, slow and ponderous. “You…(and he inclines his head at Aurora)...thrower of fire! Burner of men! You think you can conquer the colony! But you will never overcome us! Never!”
The leader’s obvious hostile reaction gives Aurora pause. Without being able to speak to him, she will be unable to persuade him of anything. She retreats to the far side of the room, where she can still hear him and whisper messages to Babshapka with translations of what he is saying.
Although he has calmed somewhat at Aurora’s retreat, the leader’s defiance has now shifted to Babshapka. “You will not overcome us! We will defend the colony, though it cost us our individual existence, we will be reborn to serve the colony again! You may chop off our limbs and branches, but they will grow back! We will defend our lights and our soil!”
Seeking a nonverbal way to indicate their friendly intentions, Babshapka sets down his weapons on the floor. He tells the others in the party to set down their weapons and back away. A few follow his directive, but Thokk just laughs.
The plant man pauses in his invective. When he resumes speaking, his tone is less forceful, but still suspicious. “Do you mock me? Do you seek to frighten me, by showing me the dead bodies of your former foes? Is this what you will do to me, with my body? I will not be intimidated! Do your worst, and I will serve the colony to the end!” Babshapka only now realizes that his bow and arrows are made of wood - to this plant man, apparently they look like dead bodies laid in front of him.
Babshapka throws up his hands in frustration, gathers his things and withdraws. Larry stumps over, willing to give it a try. He squats by the leader, who is still dripping sap and whose living wooden armor is chipped and cracked in several places. Larry touches him and bestows a cure wounds. (Larry at 2/1/2).
The leader winces at Larry’s touch, then shudders as a few of his wounds close and the wood knits itself together. A single violet flower bud emerges from between wooden plates in the soft joint of an elbow. The leader’s eyes widen.
“You heal me...why? To make me whole before you sacrifice me?”
When Aurora translates this for Larry, the dwarf shakes his head and holds forth his empty hands at the plant man. There is a long silence.
“If you truly wish to cease hostilities...untie me, and let me go.”
Aurora has been translating and messaging as fast as the leader speaks, without commentary, but when she says the last line uncensored she immediately regrets it. “Now, hold on there, Larry!” she says out loud right after, but Tyrius strides over and begins working at the ropes that bind the plant-man’s limbs while Larry holds out his empty hands in a gesture of peace. All eyes in the room are on the plant man as it stands, then walks over to where its wooden flail fell and collects it. More than one of the party have their hands on their weapons, but the leader ignores them and moves to the bodies of the several slain saplings in the room, then kneels by them.
The leader lays its hand on the chests of the dead, rumbling in a rhythmic cadence, repeating the same prayer for each, “Your life was not in vain...you have served the colony in life, and now you serve it in death...soon your body will be absorbed by the soil and your spirit will sprout again…” When it has repeated the same prayer for each of the fallen, it weaves their limbs together and stands, pulling on the body of one and testing that they all come along as it drags them. Bits and pieces of broken twigs are left behind, but the leader seems unconcerned about these.
As the leader makes toward the door, trailing its fallen comrades, Thokk draws his sword and moves to bar its way. “Nay, Thokk, let ‘im go,” says Willa, “bu’ we need fer sommun ter foller ‘im.”
Shefak nods and moves behind the leader. Aurora tells Larry he should go too, but in scout mode. Larry suddenly shrinks down, assuming the form of a tiny wolf spider. Almost unnoticed, spider-Larry darts over to Shefak and climbs up her pant leg, eventually settling on her shoulder by the time the door is open (wild shape, one use left).
The party tenses as the door opens, but the hallway beyond is empty - or at least, there is nothing moving. Bits and pieces of plant men are strewn everywhere, and more than a few scorch marks from fireballs[i] are present, as well caked-on plant juices baked to the metal floor with [i]moonbeam. But there is nothing recognizable as a body, neither of plant man nor thorn dog. Without thanking them or even turning around, the leader plods out into the hall, dragging the four fallen saplings behind him. After Shefak crosses the threshold of the door, she puts on her ring and disappears. A very perceptive observer might see a small grey spider floating along the corridor at shoulder height, but Larry’s current size and color render him nearly imperceptible.
The door is left open; Babshapka and Thokk move into the hall to set a watch, while Tyrius offers healing to them and any of the others remaining. Besides his one last spell, he still has nearly all of his lay on hands available. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Post 164: A Curious Spider 20 February, 571 [1 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 1
(10:50pm)
The plant man leader passes the table room [unnumbered activity room], an empty side room [ibid], and a black-keyed closed door [12A] without pause. When he gets to the long hall lit from the numerous rooms that held other plant men [12], however, he sets down his burden. One by one he goes to each of the rooms, steps inside, and presses the wall panel that turns out the overhead lights. The rooms are a mess of broken furniture, scavenged odds and ends, and bits and pieces of fallen bark and twigs. He murmurs as he does this but Shefak does not have the benefit of Aurora’s comprehend languages. Shefak counts her steps as she goes, realizing now that her return trip may be in darkness and, unlike many of the party, she cannot see in the dark.
When it gets to the end of the corridor, the leader passes through a doorway and goes to the far end of the apartment [12], which is in just as much disarray as the others. In the back is a keyed door, and the leader pauses and withdraws a key from some recess under its living armor! Spider-Larry scampers down Shefak’s arm to get a closer view, and sees a flash of bright yellow as the plant man inserts the key in the slot, and again as it retrieves the key from the receptacle, before it is again tucked away from sight.
(10:55pm)
As the door slides open, Shefak is hit with a rich, pungent, earthy smell. The large triangular room [mulch room; see DM's notes at end] within is full, with nearly every square foot of space being taken up by plant men, although the doorway is flanked by a pair of thorn dogs and at least one more is further within. The ceiling lights are bright and the plant men sway gently as their arms reach upward, their eyes closed. As Shefak’s eyes adjust to the brightness she can see more details. All of the plant men bear some type of injury - hacked off limbs, cracked wooden armor, sap-weeping wounds, burned and blackened skin. More plant men, or their bodies, lie on the floor - there is no way to move without stepping on them. Those on the floor look to be dead, or sleeping, though their wounds are worse than the others. Underneath them is a thick brown mass, like a rich loam or humus - the metal floor is not visible through the mass of bodies, broken branches, and brown layer.
Thorn dogs just within the open door bristle, but then bow their heads to the leader. Other plant men, seemingly in a daze or trance, move forward slowly, and one by one the leader hands off to them the four different bodies it has been dragging. Each one is carried inside the room and then let gently down to the floor. The leader warbles, whistles, and beats its chest, and a few of those helping respond, but the majority of the gently swaying plant folk seem not to notice. Shefak quickly estimates perhaps two dozen standing plant folk - the number of fallen is impossible for her to guess.
The leader spends just long enough in the doorway to see the bodies lain on the floor, and then turns. Shefak rapidly backs up and out of its way. It passes back through the room, out into the hall, and turns north. As it goes, it turns out more lights in more apartment rooms [12]. Shefak tries to keep running tallies now of both the number of rooms passed and her steps to return. They pass four more, all on the left, before arriving at a four-way intersection. The plant is moving faster now that it is not dragging its fallen comrades behind.
At the intersection, the leader is soon surrounded by smaller plant folk arriving from the right branch. That hallway itself is dark, but light spills out into it from numerous doorwars along the south wall [12]. Plant folkn move in and out of the doorways and into the hall. The whole place appears much as did the southern hall, at least before the combat with the party. The leader beats its chest loudly and whistles as it wades into the crowd, and these apparently unwounded plant folk respond much more enthusiastically than the ones in the mulch room did.
Shefak looks down the hallway. Invisible as she is, there is no way she can pass unnoticed - she is unlikely to get ten feet without someone or other bumping in to her. She proceeds just far enough to see where the northern branch of the intersection leads. No plant folk are in sight there. It is lit, but dimly, with many of the ceiling panels flickering in a way that is reminiscent of candles, but in whole blocks at once rather than points. There are numerous doors on both sides. She decides it is time to return to the party and report.
Unbeknownst to her, Larry had decided to continue scouting when they were back at the plant man hall. The tiny spider lept from her shoulder to the wall, then climbed to above the height of the plant men. At human head height, he now scurries along the wall as fast as his eight little legs can carry him.
As Shefak turns and carefully makes her way down the now-dark hallway, she ponders. The leader turned out lights in eleven rooms as he went. Thokk and Willa said that each room had produced some five to seven plant men, as well as a thorn dog, in their initial fight. Assuming that the leader thinks these rooms are now unoccupied, no longer needed, is there a way to estimate casualties among the plant folk? Six of them per room, times 11 rooms; 66 plant folk and 11 thorn dogs? But more than likely the wounded in the mulch room are a result of the fighting - so perhaps two dozen wounded, and 40-some slain, as many as eight thorn dogs slain and three wounded? Then Shefak remembers that a large force in the third attack came from the east - are there more rooms in that direction? If so, her numbers are likely to be an underestimate of their losses.
(11:05pm)
Outside the party’s room, Thokk and Babshapka remain on alert. Thokk hears faint metallic clanking approaching, that then resolves itself as footfalls on the metal floor. He draws his sword and tells Babshapka to be ready.
At a distance just beyond his sword-reach Shefak suddenly becomes visible. “Boo!” she says, though with a gentle smile. She proceeds to enter the room, where others are already binding wounds or laid out on bedrolls, although everyone still has their armor on and weapons at the ready. Shefak relates her story to Aurora, Willa, and Tyrius. When Aurora asks about Larry, Shefak looks surprised, and cranes her neck to see both shoulders - there is no spider on either one. She shrugs and says she did not notice his departure.
(11:10pm)
Aurora moves to the open doorway and tries to raise Larry with her message spell, but to no avail. By the time she returns, Shefak is already kneeling, eyes closed in meditation but holding her crystal before her. The leaders of the party confer, agreeing that they will give Larry enough time for everyone in the party to complete a short rest. After that, if he has not returned, they will go out to look for him.
It is hard for Larry to estimate time and distance while in spider form. He figures he has crawled about halfway along the hallway of plant folk, and gone past five open doorways leading into rooms full of the creatures [12]. To the north, a corridor leads away from the light and noise of them. He turns the corner and proceeds that way. He passes a closed door, then an open one. There is a brief side-foray into a storeroom, with smashed and empty crates, and then back out into the hall. Continuing north, he passes another four closed doors before then next open one, this one leading into a room with several pieces of battered and scratched furniture [unnumbered apartment]. After one more closed door, he comes to an intersection, with the main east-west corridor of substantially greater size than the north-south one it crosses. Larry turns to the east, but has not gone far when he arrives at a T-intersection, with the wall ahead bearing a single door. As he pauses to look in all directions, there is a whooshing of air as the door opens and light spills out into the hall from the room beyond [Police HQ]. The light is immediately followed by a clockwork - a large one of the kind the party fought before. This machine creature turns south and speeds away down the corridor. Larry follows as fast as he can, but the machine is soon lost to his sight.
Larry turns a corner and passes another four doors before coming to a second T-intersection. This time turning south, he finds a four-branched corridor, with a hallway full of plant folk to his west. He is reasonably sure it is the same hallway he passed through before, seen from another perspective. He continues south. After five more doors he comes to a large atrium, at a nexus of hallways, with a hollow circular column in its center. Suspecting that he has returned to the initial entrance to the cave, he heads west and soon finds the body of the ceiling monster the party fought some fourteen hours before, still lying on the floor in all its massive bulk.
It is not far past that when he can see Thokk and Babshapka standing guard in the hallway. He crawls to the floor and then resumes his dwarven shape. Thokk trots over and pats him on the head affectionately, which is as close as the barbarian will go to telling him he was worried about him.
(11:50pm)
[Unbeknownst to the party, in the hallway, three displacer beasts approach - seeing Thokk and Babshapka on guard in the hallway, they retreat into the shadows.]
DM's Note: On the map of Level I, there is a curious room just beyond the most south-west of the vegepygmy occupied rooms. It is accessed through a jet lock, which should indicate an apartment, but it is larger than the other apartments nearby and of odd shape. More strangely, although the only room granting access to it has vegepygmy occupants, it does not have any, according to the map. I decided that this was a "mulch room", where the southern vegepygmies take their dead and wounded, and where the wounded could heal themselves by decomposing the dead. The northern vegepygmies have an entire hallway filled with humus in which they grow mushrooms to eat, so it seemed fitting that the southern colony would have something similar. All of the living vegepygmies in the room when Larry and Shefak found it were ones that had been wounded in the various battles with the party so far. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Party rejoins mules - one roll
4:10am - vegepygmies
4:30am - Lurker above
5:10am - displacer beasts
5:50am - worker robot
6:10am - displacer beasts
1:10pm - displacer beasts
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
3:40pm (mules) worker robot
4pm (mules) worker robot
Party rejoins mules - one roll
5:30pm Police Robot, non-lethal
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
8:10pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (party) vegepygmies
Party, Mules, and Security Room all rolling separately
11:50pm (party) vegepygmies
Post 165: The New Guy 21 February, 571 [2 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 2
(12:10am)
By the time Shefak has completed her short rest, the other party members have as well (excepting Larry). [Thokk, Willa, and Babshapka spend hit dice to heal themselves. Shefak recovers all of her Ki points. Aurora gains back three spell level slos]
Since more than an hour has passed with the door open and no plant men in sight, Willa is cautiously optimistic that the brokered peace with the leader may have worked. She declares that they should head out and look for food and fuel. Shefak mentions that she is happy to scout ahead invisibly, but that much of the cave is unlit and, unlike Larry, she can’t see in the dark. Larry bestows a darkvision spell on her (lasts until 8:15am, Larry at 2/0/2).
“Before you go, I have a concern,” says Eddard. When enough of the party has turned to him, he says, “I’m all for peace with the plant men, but if it turns out that the leader we freed is just using this time to plan a bigger assault, or if there is a tree or something higher than him that doesn’t like his decision, I’d rather not be in a room that they all know that we are in, especially if the rest of you are away.”
Willa agrees that if they are scouting, they can first find another room for Eddard and the mules.
As the party proceeds into the hall, Aurora suddenly stops them. “Just a second - Larry, you said that leader’s card was yellow, not black?”
“Aye.”
“So maybe the different colored cards open different colored doors.”
“Bu’ ther doors are all ther same color, jus' grey metal,” objects Willa.
“Are they?” asks Aurora rhetorically, and insists on spending several minutes examining not the door itself, but the strange three-part locking mechanism outside their current room. Then she dashes off several doors to the east, back to the door that previously “ate” their card.
“Aha!” she says, “look at the slot!” Upon first inspection, the lock mechanism is the same in both doors - a slot above, a pearl-colored panel in the middle, a receptacle at the bottom to return the card. However, she points out that this door has a thin enamel-like filigree in the rectangle around the slot, and that the filagree is of a violet color. She takes them back to the door of the room in which they rested, and shows them that the same filigree there is of a jet black color - a color which matches exactly the two black cards they still have.
“So...ther key color has to match ther door color?” asks Willa.
Aurora frowns. “I don’t think so. That would be too complicated - everyone would have to carry around all the different door colors, and that leader with the yellow key couldn’t open black doors, and black doors seem pretty common.” She thinks some more. “Willa, what are the ranks on the biggest ship you can think of?”
“Why?” asks Willa suspiciously. She has given up actively denying that the cave is a ship, but Aurora’s question makes her feel complicit in the fantasy.
“Just answer, it will help me think.”
“Well, a ship o’ any size will hae a cap’in, ar a measter, dependin’ on if it be free, royal navy, ar pirate, Keoish ar Sea Princes. Unner ther cap’in be ther off’cers; a mate, ar maybe a first an’ second mate, pr’aps a bo’sun ar a const’ble. Unner them be ther sailors, an’ maybe marines if ‘tis a vessel o’ war. Ye seen all t’is when we sailed ther Azure Sea.”
“Yes, yes,” says Aurora distractedly. “Now, the captain would have the run of the ship, right - he could go anywhere.”
“O’ carse, it be ‘is ship.”
“But while a bo’sun can go most places, like the crew’s quarters...and the hold...and such, he shouldn’t be in…?”
“Ther cap’in’s cabin. Ar ther pantry, fer t’at matter.”
“Right. And a sailor should only be…”
“About ‘is duties ar in ‘is berth.”
“So this ship probably has some hierarchy like that - it is not that the color has to match the door, but that some colors are higher than others - and a high color card should open any color door beneath it, but a low color card gets confiscated if you try to open a higher-color door with it. And, apparently, violet ranks above black.”
[Aurora gains an inspiration point]
Willa says that while all of that is fine in theory, it doesn’t get them any closer to finding a place for the mules. If Aurora is done, they are returning to check the table room.
(12:30am)
The table room itself is as they left it, but now they inspect the enamel around the card slots in the two doors, finding to their satisfaction that both are black. Aurora and Babshapka use their cards simultaneously and the party splits into two teams to search the rooms beyond.
The southern room is yet another apartment, the standard furniture being familiar by now and quickly searched. The northern room is some sort of storeroom with several crates - now all smashed or otherwise broken into. A mess of odd metal machine parts, bits and pieces with no apparent function, is strewn across the floor, along with decaying wood and fragments of fabric. There is a second door on the north wall, also keyed black. Eddard says that the presence of the key locks is good, and that this is nowhere the plant men have seen them yet, although it is awfully close to their lair. It will do for now, though if the party finds someplace better as they scout that would be appreciated. He asks them to move out the largest of the broken crates and machine parts so that there is more room for the mules, and then bids them good hunting.
(12:40am)
As they exit, Willa makes sure that both keyless doors to the table room are closed. In the familiar hallway beyond, Aurora notes a new color - the doors to the north and south have a brown enamel around their slots. She tries her key - and it is promptly taken by the door and not returned. A loud klaxon sounds and the party prepares for a fight, but after five minutes it stops, with nothing else appearing. “Brown is higher than black,” notes Aurora. The party is now down to a single, black, card - held by Babshapka.
[At this point, wandering encounters are being rolled in two locations: for the party itself, and for the room with the mules and Eddard]
(12:45am)
As they discuss where to explore, it is agreed that they should try to find somewhere away from the plant men. Willa leads them due east, and past the great circular shaft at the main entrance, down a previously unexplored corridor. An unmoving form is seen in the hall, and the party approaches cautiously. [Numbered encounter 2]
The form appears to be an unmoving cleaning clockwork. It is dented and battered, and their examination does not revive it. Small hand tools are scattered on the floor around it. Three doors in the north of the hall are all black-locked. Two in the south are black; a third is brown, but open, and a brown door is on the far wall where the corridor turns north.
Aurora gathers up the tools, then examines the clockwork and the tools. The machine man looks like it was put out of commission by blunt force damage, but there is no sign of what did that. The tools are a mix of the familiar (but exquisitely made) and alien. Aurora intends to see if there is anything to scavenge, so she starts looking for which of the various screwdrivers will open the bolts on the thing’s chest. Willa says this is a waste of time, but if she is going to do it, she should be somewhere safer than the middle of the hall.
Babshapka quickly scouts the room with the open brown door, finding it to be a storeroom similar to the one the mules are now in, smashed and looted crates and all. Willa reminds him to be on the lookout for key cards, power discs, food, and fuel, but he finds none of that, nor any other items he considers useful or worthy of mention. The others help Aurora drag the clockwork into the room.
(1am)
Inside the clockwork are gears, levers, and strange wax-coated wires, all crude and similar to those in the security clockwork she disassembled before. Here and there are pistons, but she finds no power discs or obvious weapons, or even something like the atmospheric analyzer. She uses the unfamiliar tools, as much as to try to test their function as from any further desire to take apart the clockwork. Removing one small panel, she finds a set of four small toruses, each filled with balls, like ball-bearings but seemingly made out of crystal. She has no idea what their function is, but imagines they could easily be sold as gems. They seem to allow a frictionless spinning motion, but are incredibly hard and resistant.
In time, she manages to pry all four bearings out. The rest of the innards are certainly interesting, but she does not find anything else of obvious use or value.
When Willa asks to see what she found, Aurora shows her the “gems”. Willa responds that treasure is nice, especially portable treasure, but their priorities are food, fuel, and grain for the mules, in that order, and it is time they headed out. She rearranges them into march order and exits the room. Almost immediately her lantern light spills across a figure approaching them from the west.
The party freezes in place, ready to react at the first sign of any aggressive action, but unsure of what to do with a single, human-looking, figure after so many encounters with strange monsters and machines.
It is a man, indeed a human - tall and slender with pale skin and dark wavy hair that cascades over his shoulders. His mustache and goatee are as dark as his hair, and sweep across his face framing in his stone grey eyes that seem to be focused somewhere other than on the party or the corridor in front of him. He wears a nearly full-length leather jacket, tight and obviously personally fitted to him. It is dyed russet overall, with intricate leather tooling and carvings of different fiery scenes along with blade marks colored with bright red dye. The jacket has reinforced sections along the shoulders and vital areas revealing its true use as armor. The sleeves and jacket hem are cut irregularly and dyed various shades of orange to mimic the shape of flames. He wears dark brown lace-up leather pants with dark brown boots to match. His pants have a flare to accommodate the tall boots. The effect of the dark pants and boots against the bright orange flame patterns make him appear to be floating, at least in the right light. He carries two 2-foot long tubes of wide diameter and a greatsword in a scabbard on his belt, as well as a pack on his back with wide leather straps. The leatherwork on the tubes is as equally ornate as his armor.
Babshapka steps in front of Aurora, one hand on his broadsword, and says in elvish, “Well met, stranger”.
“Greetings, friends,” the man says in Common, “I’m afraid I don’t speak that tongue.”
Tyrius strides up noisily next to Babshapka. “Do you come in peace, sir?” he says in Common.
“That depends on who you are,” the man answers confidently. “You wouldn’t happen to have been sent here by the druids of the Isle of Rhun?”
Willa intercedes before Tyrius can answer. “We hae certainly met yon druids, bu’ we tweren’t sent ‘ere by t’em.”
Thokk slowly draws his longsword. Holding the blade carefully in one hand, he picks under the nails of the other with the point. Babshapka raises his hand above his head and rests it on Thokk’s shoulder.
The man shrugs, not wanting to debate such a fine distinction with Willa. “I am a servant of the druids. They sent me here to help a party of adventurers. If you are not them…”
[Shefak, who has the best Insight in the party, thinks he sounds believable.]
When noone in the party appears willing to either confirm or deny their identity, he continues. “My duties take me far and wide across the land. When last I came to Rhun, the druids said a group had come to them, seeking help in locating this Unoerthly Cave. They gave what help they could at the time, but the party was unsatisfied. They told me of the group and bid me come here to help them.”
“How long have you been traveling?” asks Aurora, not bothering to mask the suspicion in her voice.
“About two weeks, a little less.”
“How did you know how to get here; have you been here before?”
“Never here, never this deep in the Barriers. The druids showed me the way.”
Aurora pauses, and when she speaks again, her tone is slightly more credulant. “Actually, we did speak with the druids, particularly with Gethin. Do you know him?” [note - Aurora is making the name up as a test]
“No, I know of no druid by that name - but I don’t know everyone on the Council, so it is possible I don’t know him. Mostly I scout for them and send reports through intermediaries, I don't usually deal with them directly.”
“What proof can you give us that you are who you say?” demands Aurora. She whispers, so that only those near her in the party can hear, “Nadine”.
The man shrugs again. “It’s rather hotter in here than outside, no?” He drops his backpack, then undoes several buckles on the rigid cuir boili breastplate of his leather armor that allow the front to swing open, revealing a heavy cloth maroon-colored button-up shirt that is missing the top four buttons. By pulling the collar over his head, he is able to slip out of the shirt without taking off his armor, although doing so reveals that his leather pants are dangerously low cut and end well below the top of his hips, exposing most of his midriff until he closes the breastplate of his armor.
“I don’t know that any of this is true, or counts as proof, but this is what I was told: A party of adventurers arrived at the fishing village on the lake more than two weeks ago. They spoke to the villagers, and then the boatman, said they wanted to talk to the druids. The boatman brought one of the councilmembers over to the village - I wasn’t told which one. The party stayed in the visitor’s house. They told the druid that they had an ancient text describing a star falling in the mountains. The location of the star fall corresponded to the location the Council knew was the Unoerthly Cave. The druid told the party that they would help them find the Cave in return for the party investigating it and discovering for them why strange monsters emerge from it. The party accepted their help but were unsatisfied with what they got in return and kept asking for more. So when I visited a few days later to give an unrelated report they told me to go to the Cave and offer my help to the party. So now, I would really like to know, are you actually that party, or am I wasting my time here?”
Willa and Aurora continue to stare down the newcomer. “Go check that room,” says Willa to Babshapka, “and take Thokk.” She points at a black-locked door to their right.
In the awkward silence, the new man carefully folds his jack and stows it in his backpack, then puts the backpack on again, but over one shoulder.
(1:20am)
Willa has Babshapka check the next room, the one directly behind them, quickly, just to be sure there is no one in it, and then moves the bulk of the party into it. It is another apartment. She keeps Babshapka, Thokk, and Shefak checking rooms, starting with the one they are all in.
“I just found the doors a few hours ago,” says the newcomer as he walks into the room. “What is this place?” He gestures at the strange furnishings and metal walls.
“T’is a flyin’ ship,” says Willa, her voice as nonchalant as she can manage. Aurora starts to interject, sees a peculiar set to Willa’s jaw, and stops herself.
“Huh,” says the man. “I’ll be damned.” From the long, thin bag at his belt he pulls out three stout wooden staves, joined at their middles, and adds to their top a triangular piece of leather - the whole becomes a camp chair when assembled. As they wait for the rest of the party to search this room and the one next door, he pulls a pinch of tobacco from the pouch at his belt, and produces a rolling paper from somewhere, then rolls and lights a cigarette. Those in the party not actively engaged in searching find it hard not to stare at him.
Aurora decides to fill him in - a bit. She talks about the abundance of metal walls, the strange clockwork creatures, and the magical plant men.
“Plant men?”
“Yes. Plant men. A LOT of them. They seem to be the principle defenders of this place, whatever it is.” Her exposition quickly turns to interrogation. “We had to hike through frozen mountains for two weeks to get here. How did you get here? If you just arrived, where is your gear?” she demands.
“I flew,” says the man simply, and takes a long drag.
“Flew?” says Larry. “Be ye a shapeshifter?”
The man laughs. His laugh is easy, as if he finds much amusement and often.
“No, I flew. With a fly spell. It’s easier. I just have this pack,” he says, as he absentmindedly kicks at the backpack now at his feet. “I don’t take anything I don’t need, and I don’t need much. I would never walk into mountains this high. Plus there is ice and snow like everywhere. Walking would be crazy.”
“Aye, ‘twould,” agrees Willa. “‘Twould also be long, an’ cold, an’ windy.” The man nods in agreement. “Thar be clockwork men ‘ere with strange weapons. We’ve fought one, an’ atother mostly ignored us. We ‘ad an awfully ‘ard time openin’ ther main door. ‘ow did ye manage t’at by yerself?”
“These plant men,” the man replies. “What can you do to damage them?”
“Fire works,” says Willa. “Stabbing nae so much.”
“Well, that’s good,” says the man. “I’m a fire mage. Well, a fighter / mage,” he says, and slaps the scabbard of his greatsword. “So I guess a fighter / fire mage. But not a fire fighter - mage. I don’t fight fires.” He takes another long drag and the party stares on, trying to discern if he is mad or for real. “Have you spoken to anyone? I mean, anyone local to the Cave,” he asks.
“Ther plant men ain’t big on conversation’,” says Willa sarcastically. “Bu’ we did talk ter one o’ ther leaders. We t’ink we hae a truce, fer ther moment.”
“These plant men - are they just men? No females?”
“Truth be told,” says Willa, “I couldna tell ye if t’ey were males ar females - t’eir mostly bark an’ no parts t’ speak o’, as ‘twar.”
Shefak returns to the room to tell them that they have finished searching the next apartment over and are continuing down the hall. The next room has a brown door, but it is open, so they could go inside, but it was just a storeroom.
The man’s face expresses puzzlement. “Do you normally not open brown doors?” he asks. Aurora explains the card system to him, as well as her supposition about the color hierarchy. No one mentions who in the party is carrying the single card the party currently has possession of, but Aurora says that they are in search of more.
“And where did you find the one you have?” the newcomer asks.
“From the plant men,” replies Aurora. “Maybe we should try to get some more from them…”
“No!” calls Babshapka’s voice from halfway down the hall. “They are just defending their homes!”
“Homes?” chuckles the man. “Plant men in a metal city? I don’t think this is their home.”
When Willa gives the word to move out, the newcomer crushes out his cigarette on the metal wall, tosses the butt on the floor, stands, folds up and stows his stool. As they filter out into the hall, Willa whispers to each of the party members in turn to not say anything about the mules. Then, when Larry is the last one out of the room they were in, she admonishes him, “Shut ther door! Leave ther rooms like we found t’em.” Larry sullenly complies.
They continue east down the hallway. Shefak finds an unlocked, push-panel, door. She presses and enters. Inside the room [encounter 3 - robot repair room] are two security clockworks. They swivel their heads to the open doorway, but apparently cannot detect her invisibly. There is a desk in the room, and several low tables. Storage bins and compartments are on several of the tables, and many of them are filled with gears and other mechanical parts. The clockworks move about the room, their metal hands selecting parts and moving them from one bin to another. The room has two interior doors. That is all Shefak has a chance to see before she backs out, as silently as she can, and presses the panel in the hall to close the door behind her.
Shefak makes herself visible in the hall, holding her finger to her lips as she does so. She whispers to Willa that there are two of the security clockworks in the room. Willa nods and uses her fingers to pantomime tiptoeing past the room to the rest of the party.
The next door they pass has a violet lock, and the next black. Babshapka pauses to insert his card, trying to do it when the newcomer is looking the other way.
(1:30am)
The black-locked door leads to a large apartment with a table, but two interior doors, one a press panel and one black-locked. Although looted the same as the others, the items here are in somewhat better condition, with not as many dents and rents visible. Willa remains in the hall to watch for clockworks, but motions the rest of the party in to search.
When the black-locked interior door is opened, it leads to a bedroom suite. Separate dining and sleeping areas? “I like this place,” says the newcomer as he enters the interior bedroom, taking a seat on one of the settees as Babshapka frowns and begins to go through the cushions. “That’s a big bed,” he says, to everyone and no one in particular. “You could fit a lot of people in that.”
“Yeah,” says Aurora suggestively, “we’ll have to remember that for later.”
“I’ll take you up on that,” suggests the newcomer salaciously. Babshapka sighs in disgust. After searching the bedroom, he proceeds to the uncarded door, finding a small and unremarkable study with a single desk and chair.
(1:40am)
The party reforms in the hallway and proceeds north to a four-way intersection. The west branch is bare, the east has a few doors. The northern hallway [encounter 4] has a number of doors on it, but it is also full of trash and debris for about the first thirty feet, up until the second door. Aurora looks down each branch and says she thinks there is a light source somewhere distant to the west.
Thokk pokes the refuse pile with his ten foot pole. It is a combination of bones and organic waste, the strange lightweight fabric, and bits and pieces of machine parts and broken sections of cave horn. Nothing looks intact.
“Nice pole, big guy,” says the newcomer.
“Thokk get that often,” says the half-orc, in a guileless response. Willa shakes her head, then tells Thokk to check the pile better. He starts with his pole, probing to provoke a response from anything hiding in the refuse, then sets his pole aside and starts sorting through the rubbish with his hands.
While they wait, Willa shines her lantern along the hall, thinking that she can make out black locks on the doors ahead. “Wha’ do we ken about ther colors?” she asks Aurora. “Do all ther berths be black, all ther storerooms brown?”
Aurora remembers back on what they have found so far, and shakes her head in the negative. “The storerooms were varied,” she says, “Some black, some brown, some uncarded, just push-panel. But so far every black lock that has not been a storeroom has been an apartment, and every apartment has been black. We’ve also seen violet doors, and we know there is a yellow card, though we haven’t seen yellow doors.”
“Whar be ther crew quarters?” asks Willa, perhaps rhetorically. “An’ do all t’ese berths be fer crew? Wha’ kind o’ ship hae private quarters fer all ther crew?” When no one else volunteers, she answers herself. “A fancy ship, I serpose.”
Thokk has reached the end of the trash pile. He turns and stands, shrugging his broad shoulders. Willa points him and Babshapka at the first and closest door, which stands open. “Whar be yon trash from?” she asks herself. She shines her lantern on the ceiling. It is bare metal and the occasional exposed pipe or conduit. There are no chutes dropping trash from above. Willa sets her lantern on the floor, and examines the edge of the trash pile. Besides Thokk’s huge, fresh boot prints, there are plenty of marks in the dust, all jumbled and overlapping. She backs up, finds one isolated and intact print near the wall. It is circular - and sized just like that of the clockwork that cleaned their room. She nods in understanding. “T’at cleanin’ clockwork be droppin’ ‘is loads ‘ere,” she announces. “Mayhap we can find a mule apple ar twain in ‘here.” She resolves to search the pile herself while the others search the rooms. Babshapka and Thokk are already checking one apartment. She tells Aurora and Larry to check the next, Tyrius and Umbra to advance down the hallway to the end, Shefak to guard the intersection behind them.
“Did you feel that?” asks the newcomer suddenly, his tone anxious.
“Wha’?”
“I think the ship is moving.” He puts his hand on the wall as if to steady himself.
Willa stares at him awhile. Finally, she says, “Wha’ be yer name?”
“Mathias.”
“Mmhmm. Willa.” She turns and begins slowly and deliberately going through the trash pile, repeating to herself as she goes, “Key cards, food, fuel, grain, power discs.”
A few minutes later Mathias says, “There it is again! Seriously, you can’t feel that shift? Should we run?”
“NO,” Willa says firmly. Then, when Aurora and Larry emerge from the second apartment, “Aurora, do ye feel ther ship move?”
Aurora looks at Willa quizzically, then closes her eyes and lays her hands on a metal wall. Several moments later, she opens her eyes and speaks. “Humming, vibrating - yes. Move? No.” Willa nods in satisfaction and returns to sorting through the trash.
(1:50am)
[Unbeknownst to either the party or Eddard, a solitary Lurker Above has entered the Table Room and set up on the ceiling just outside the room in which the mules are stored.]
(2:20am)
As she works, Willa calls back to Mathias without looking at him. “‘Ow did ye say ye got in ther main doors?”
“I was there a good while,” he says. “I tried everything, but they wouldn’t open. So I camped in the outer cave and waited, thinking you might come out at some point. Then, hours into my wait, and a few hours ago, they just...opened. So I went in. They closed behind me.”
Willa thinks to herself that the druids did say that “every so often” monsters would emerge from the cave. So...are the doors on a timer? Or are they somehow being watched? She doesn’t like the second option.
The two searching teams have gone through seven apartments off of the northern corridor, but each one of them has already been plundered of anything useful. They return to the hall. “Ready t’ shove off?” asks Willa, just as she spies something in the trash pile reflecting Tyrius’ light of Pelor.
Willa stoops and retrieves the item.
It weighs about ten pounds and is about one foot across, although it looks like it could fold to half that size. It is composed of a U-shaped section of metal rod with a black rivet on one end and an attached piece of thick glass mounted in a frame. This glass is about the size of a hand mirror, and is what allowed Willa to note the reflection of light. On one side of the frame are two raised discs, while on the other is a fine mesh, mounted on a rod. The mesh is as fine as pulled wire for jewelry, not course like chain link. The glass is on both sides, not backed like a mirror, although one side is dark and the other clear. Willa hands the strange object to Aurora and announces that they will head to the light at the end of the west hall.
(2:30am)
[Unbeknownst to the party, they have been watched for the last ten minutes by a vegepygmy patrol from the southern corridor who are keeping to the truce they were told about. The creatures carry no light themselves, and stay out of range of the vision of the party. When the party heads down the west hallway, the plant men retreat. If, upon the party’s return this way later, Babshapka spots the fresh tracks of the vegepygmies, he does not share that information with the others]
As they walk down the hall to the west, Aurora’s mage armor fades from existence. Has it been eight hours already? She pauses to renew it (will last until 10:30am).
At the end of the hall is an intersection, with light spilling into it from a large open doorway to the north. There are two closed doors to the south, a large double-door to the north, and the corridor itself continues to the west. Looking through the open door, they find a room that is obviously for relaxation, perhaps an officer’s lounge. There are both upholstered chairs and low tables everywhere, as well as a few large metal boxes. However, it appears that some fight or other struggle occurred here long ago. The chairs are all torn, many of the tables are broken, the boxes dented or even stove in. There is ash from old fires, and scattered bones and skulls.
“Babshapka,” says Willa simply, and the elf nods and enters first. The others slowly fill in, making sure to stand only where he has already searched.
The skeletons are definitely humanoid and most likely human, judging by their size and features, but the bone is exceptionally old and dry. What remains of the rags they are clad in is an exceptionally light material, thin like silk but remarkably resistant to decay judging by the age of the bones. All of this conforms to what has been found before.
The height of the tables is curiously low, like many of those in the cave. The table frames are made of cave horn; several have been broken, either in their legs or across the boards. The stuffed chairs have frames made from cave horn, but the cushions are of a linen-like fabric over cave sponge. They are rent, torn, and stained in several places.
(2:40am)
In the crease between the cushions of a divan, Babshapka finds some papers. He waves Aurora over. “That’s the first paper we have found on the ship!” she marvels, having lost count of how many desks they have searched already. The paper is old and brittle, and covered in alien symbols written in a shaky but legible hand. She carefully carries it over to Willa’s lantern. The markings are not made in ink, but in some thin and delicate powder, like a grey chalk or fine charcoal. “Yeah, I’m definitely going to translate that,” she says. “Ten minute break, everyone!” Mathias ignores the numerous chairs around the room and again sets up his stool.
Before Aurora begins her ritual, she breaks out two sheets of vellum from her backpack, an inkwell, and a pen. Working at the most intact table in the room, grateful for the bright overhead lights, she first copies the alien symbols line for line on her own paper, not at all confident that this ancient paper will hold up to travel. Only when she is done and the ink is drying does she begin her spell of comprehend languages. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Notes: Although the new PC introduced himself as "Mathias", that is not his name. I will be interweaving his (long) backstory with the ongoing adventures of the party (now including him) until he is "caught up" to the present timeline.
In my Greyhawk, Veluna is dominated by the orthodox Pholtun church, and the ArchCleric is of that faith. While many of the nobles in neighboring Furyondy are of that faith as well, others follow Hieroneous, Rao, or St. Cuthbert, and the King historically has been an adherent of either Pholtus or Hieroneous. The sometimes allied / sometimes rivaled nature of the relationship between the two nations, and the intrigue among the nobles in maneuvering a claimant of their own "true faith" to the throne, is loosely modeled after the historical relationship between Catholic Spain and Catholic / Protestant England.
Post 166: Backstory for "Mathias" I
ONE
Leezarius Angelicus Temtonio was born a noble of the Temtonio House of Veluna. The second son of his father, not much was expected of him, which was good considering how able and pious his older brother was. Having a free and adventurous spirit, Leezarius chafed under the religious restrictions of the Pholtun faith even from an early age. It seemed he was always being punished or forced to do penance for transgressions. As he grew, the punishments lessened in frequency - not because he transgressed less, but because he grew shrewder and less likely to be caught.
It seemed that everything was a sin in the eyes of his father and their family priest - playing at dice with the servants, smoking pipeweed and drinking coffee like the foreign merchentmen in the town, and most especially his growing interest in women. As his appetites grew, he had to become more and more clever to disguise them from his family. On the increasingly rare occasions when he was caught, the punishments grew more severe as he grew older. Being denied food when he was a boy gradually became whippings or being forced to wear hairshirts as a young man.
By the time Leezarius' brother attained the age of majority, he was already a skilled warrior and had pledged his service as a paladin to the Bishop of Valkurl. In his father’s pride and delight at his elder son’s accomplishments, he was granted lands of his own, and a manor house. Leezarius finally saw a chance for freedom - if he had his own estate like his brother now did, he could do as he wished. Of course, he would have to have a priest at the estate - but he would be sure to find one who could be bullied, bought, or corrupted into silence.
However, when Leezarius first broached the idea to his father, he was met with derision. His father knew his ways, and would not risk the family gold or honor on giving him his own lands. Leezarius resolved to work the long game - maintaining an image of piety, sobriety, and usefulness so convincing for so long that even his father would believe that he had truly repented, and would acquiesce. He could not be a knight or paladin, however. Although he was skilled enough with staff and club, he lacked the strength to wear heavy armor and he had never been a good horseman. The thought of even pretending to be a priest made his stomach turn. So, to win the favor of his father, he would need to prove himself a capable administrator of the family’s wealth and lands.
For several months he feigned interest in business - collecting rents and taxes from peasants and merchants, seeing to the repair of bridges and construction of boats, hosting visiting nobles at the family’s estates. He had always been charming and well-spoken, and his successes eventually gained his father’s begrudging respect. Finally he was allowed to accompany a trade mission to Kisail. Just a few miles away, just across the Velverdyva River - but outside Veluna. Kisail lay in the Kingdom of Furyondy - and was not under Velunese Canon Law.
The day of the negotiations went smoothly. Deals were struck, future profits ensured, and Leezarius was polite and courtly. As he relaxed over dinner with his father’s merchants, the innkeeper offered them wine. The merchantmen looked suspiciously at him, but he said to the host, “Just one glass each, to toast our success.”
The wine seemed to improve his hearing, for he soon overheard a Ferrond man at the next table extolling the virtues of a local brothel. Now that was something he had never had a chance to sample in his home country! After he finished dinner, he excused himself from the merchants, made as if to retire to his private suite, and slipped down a back stairway and out into the night.
The brothel wasn’t hard to find, and with a full purse he was able to pass the entire night indulging in carnal pleasures he had previously been able to only imagine. Fortunately, as a young and healthy man he was able to recover quickly from each one and soon be ready for the next. When at last he passed into a contented slumber it was near dawn.
TWO
Leezarius awoke with a start, drenched in a bucket of cold river water. His first thought was gratitude that it hadn’t been a chamberpot. But as his vision cleared, his heart sank. In the chamber with him were both his family priest and an unknown Ferrond priest. Two guards were at the closed door. The whores that had been such pleasant company the night before were nowhere to be seen.
While Furyondy was not under Canon Law, consorting with prostitutes was still illegal - and all along the Velverydyva Valley the local lords were either willing pawns of the Pholtun Church or at least had been cowed into submission by it. The magistrates of Kisail typically turned a blind eye to brothels such as the one he was in, but every now and then they could be goaded into action when the Church wanted to make a point. Leezarius never learned who had turned him in, nor whether it had been for faith, favor, or coin - his father’s merchants, the innkeeper, the brothel’s owner, the whores themselves? What was clear was that the two priests were working comfortably together, and that rather than stand trial in Furyondy (where consorting with prostitutes was merely a civil crime), Leezarius was to be returned to Veluna for judgement by his father. He was allowed to change from his soiled finery into something more nondescript and his hands were bound with a heavy rope. As it so happened, this was not the first time his hands had been bound in that very room, but the night previous it had been with smooth silk rather than scratchy hemp.
As the guards escorted them to the riverfront, the priest’s plan became clearer still. By avoiding anything public, he was currying favor with Leezarius’ father. Indeed, in his mind’s eye Leezarius could see his father, rewarding the priest for being so careful about protecting the family honor by returning his fallen son so discreetly. Leezarius, of course, would never be trusted again - and the prospect of his estate and the freedom it represented being taken from him forever was far worse than any passing punishment his father or the Church could devise.
The priest climbed into a small rowboat and the guards helped Leezarius in, but remained themselves on the dock. “Good,” thought Leezarius, “let the vile priest sweat a bit crossing the river.” As they pulled away from the shore other thoughts came. How convenient all this was - how a boat had been at the ready. Leezarius began to believe that he had been set up - that the priest, with whom he had shared a mutual hatred since his youth, had planned the whole thing, including the “overheard” remark about the brothel from the man at the next table. Then he seethed. He resolved to wait until they were mid-river, stand up and flip the boat, and see if he could drown them both.
A voice came unbidden. “Fair enough, but what if you could kill him without dying yourself?”
Leezarius assumed he was delirious and laughed. “Of course I would,” he said aloud, the first words he had spoken that morning, “but how?” The priest paused in his rowing, looked quizzically at him, then continued.
“Trust in my master, pledge your soul to my master, and you will be free,” the voice said.
This talk of “souls” moved Leezarius from boiling anger to freezing dread. Was he going mad? Certainly the priests talked non-stop about the dangers of temptation - about the hordes of demons and daemons and devils who set traps for the faithful. But, as he reflected, he was hardly faithful. And less than a minute ago he had been willing to kill himself as long as he could take the priest with him - and the Pholtuns claimed that suicide and murder both sent one to Hell. If he was going to Hell anyway, why not on better terms?”
“I agree,” said Leezerius.
Instantly his flesh was wracked with exquisite pain and he tumbled from his seat to the bottom of the boat. Sensations both intensely hurtful and wonderfully pleasurable flooded his body. He moaned and screamed and lost all sense of time.
When he finally regained his senses, he found himself kneeling in the bottom of the boat, holding forth his bound hands as if in supplication. “Save your begging for your father,” the priest said, making no effort to mask the contempt in his voice. “You’ll get no pity from me.”
“Nor you from me,” said Leezarius, in a voice that was at once his own and not his own. Flames shot forth from his outstretched hands. Each finger gouted and jetted fire. The hempen rope that bound him burned away. The robes of the priest ignited. The man’s face, caught in a sneer, bubbled and blackened. He dove, screaming, from the boat. Leezerius never learned whether he died from the fire or drowning, or both, but after the body had been under for a while, it came up again, limp and floating face down, circling the boat under its own power, like some strange reminder that his decision made in the moment would forever be with him.
Leezarius, with his hands now free, turned the boat around and slowly made for the Furyondy shore, but far downstream of Kisail.
Leezarius Angelicus Temtonio, aka "Leezar", aka "Mathias"
First Level Warlock / Human (Oerid) (Noble)
Str 10 (0) Dex 16 (+3) Con 13 (+1) Int 8 (-1) Wis 9 (-1) Cha 16 (+3)
Hp 9, Languages Common, Velondi
Skills: Deception, History, Investigation, Persuasion
Cantrips (2):
Spells (2 - both cast at level 1): Burning Hands _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Party rejoins mules - one roll
4:10am - vegepygmies
4:30am - Lurker above
5:10am - displacer beasts
5:50am - worker robot
6:10am - displacer beasts
1:10pm - displacer beasts
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
3:40pm (mules) worker robot
4pm (mules) worker robot
Party rejoins mules - one roll
5:30pm Police Robot, non-lethal
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
8:10pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (party) vegepygmies
Party, Mules, and Security Room all rolling separately
11:50pm (party) vegepygmies
Post 167: Female Android 21 February, 571 [2 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 2
(2:40am - in a Lounge)
In the crease between the cushions of a divan, Babshapka finds some papers. He waves Aurora over. “That’s the first paper we have found on the ship!” she marvels, having lost count of how many desks they have searched already. The paper is old and brittle, and covered in alien symbols written in a shaky but legible hand. She carefully carries it over to Willa’s lantern. The markings are not made in ink, but in some thin and delicate powder, like a grey chalk or fine charcoal. “Yeah, I’m definitely going to translate that,” she says. “Ten minute break, everyone!” Mathias ignores the numerous chairs around the room and again sets up his stool.
Before Aurora begins her ritual, she breaks out two sheets of vellum from her backpack, an inkwell, and a pen. Working at the most intact table in the room, grateful for the bright overhead lights, she first copies the alien symbols line for line on her own paper, not at all confident that this ancient paper will hold up to travel. Only when she is done and the ink is drying does she begin her spell of comprehend languages.
(3:00am)
Once she has finished her spell, Aurora reads quickly through the alien script, making sure she sees the same words in both the original and her fresh copy. It all makes sense now, except for some numbers at the bottom. She quickly uses her second sheet of vellum to record the translation, and does not bother to really think about the meaning until she is done. Then she calls Willa and Tyrius over, and reads her translation to them: (a few of the words, or their contexts, are unfamiliar to her, even after her spell has translated them)
“Alien creature on Level II - likely to be near remains of captain
Use this lounge as communication drop point until further notice - data pad comms are monitored by acting captain and are not secure - do not meet in public - Diggs is likely watching our movements
read these documents only in no-vid locations and replace as soon as possible - do not extract or replace in sight of anyone including bots and droids
I believe alien is unrelated to plague - was shipboard and in stasis long before outbreak and separation - I have not checked database for onload date and location as query may be tracked
Alien is practiced in mental manipulation and dimensional projection - was confined in a Mark 6 black box with stasis fields for transit - I believe captain, after infection, freed alien for unknown reason but was subsequently taken over by it
When I suspected that captain was plague-infected I prepared security team for rapid response relief of command - later routine med scan revealed that captain had become host for alien and I called in team - captain/alien realized and fled to 2 with us in pursuit - Tanner killed in firefight - I killed captain’s body but alien emerged from his head and fled before we could respond
Upon return to bridge, I found Commander Diggs had assumed acting command of ship section - Diggs had already displayed early signs of infection (hostility, paranoia) - deleted captain’s medical records while we were ‘tween decks - ordered me to not speak of alien - I did not reveal identity of team to him - he is suspicious of me but has not moved against me yet - we are trying to first capture or kill alien and then monitor Diggs to see if infection progresses and he needs to be relieved - proof (dead alien) may be needed to show Diggs is unfit
Have caught glimpses of alien, always on level 2 - I believe the interdimensional shields between decks keep it confined to that level - we are continuing to hunt but have to hide our efforts from Diggs - always use different drop chutes and from no-vid zone if possible -
use space below to coordinate times - teams of three minimum - do not leave ID
Willa has a sour look on her face. “I dinnae ken most o’ t’at, an’ I liked less. Ther part about ther plague, in particalar.”
“Well,” says Aurora. “It’s been 750 years. One can hope whatever plague was on board has died out, along with all the crew…?”
With the note translated and read, it seems like the party is about to depart. Babshapka moves to the door, and Mathias packs up his stool, but Aurora holds up her hand. “The light’s too good here to miss this opportunity,” she says, and takes out the strange device that Willa passed to her.
“Well now,” she says almost immediately, as she locates the slot at the base of the mirror part, the part that overlaps the U-bar. “That looks about the right size for…” and with a few more deft movements she succeeds in opening a compartment and extracting a power disc. It looks the same as the others found so far, and what’s more it is “fully charged” to the sixth line. She smiles in satisfaction.
Seeing that they are not leaving any time soon, Mathias sighs, plops down in one of the overstuffed chairs, and puts his booted feet up on the curiously low table. Willa’s jaw drops. She may be low-born (and freeborn don’t get much meaner than fishingfolk from Salinmoor), but even she knows how rude it is to put one’s feet on the furnishings. Not that his doing so actually bothers her, but does this solve the mystery of why the tables are so low? Surely a race capable of building a flying ship wouldn’t have tables for just that use? Babshapka chooses a settee closer to Aurora and puts his own feet up. Now Willa has seen everything.
Aurora tries to determine how the strange mirror works.
[Rolling on the simple, lethal items table, she starts with a -1 for high intelligence.
[8-1 = 7 (triangle), 7-1= 6 (start), 3-1=2 (circle), 10-1=9 [charge wasted]. Luck roll = 0]
She fiddles with the dials and knobs, looking into both sides of the glass and trying different configurations for holding it in her hand. Suddenly there is a loud humming sound and a bolt of black energy shoots out of the dark glass side. It hits squarely the table on which Babshabka’s feet rest. An instant later, the table is gone - vaporized? Disintegrated? A few splinters of cave horn on the metal floor and an acrid smell in the air are all that remain. Babshapka jumps to his feet. “Woman!” shouts Willa menacingly at Aurora.
Undeterred, Aurora continues to tinker, but now careful to point the dark side of the glass away from herself, and mostly away from the other people in the room. “Great Sea Cow, protect us,” mutters Willa.
[7-1 = 6 (circle), 9-1=8 (triangle), 9-1=8 (discharge: person is hurt). Target roll: Babshapka]
Although Aurora now knows to point the dark glass side away, she has not yet figured out how to “lock” the hinge. Just as she presses the trigger, the mirror part flips down, shooting the beam directly behind her, and straight at Babshapka again! He jumps out of the way at the last instant, and a glancing beam reflects off his chain mail. This time half of an upholstered chair vanishes, with the other half looking twisted and melted.
[Targets hit by the beam must make a DC13 DEX save. A successful save while armored results in no effect. The save is made at disadvantage from 30 feet or less]
“What in the nine hells!” curses Babshapka. He storms from the room, quickly followed by Mathias and Umbra. Willa remains, but insists that Aurora retreat to the far side of the room, putting the greatest distance between the “disintegration ray” and the rest of the party.
[5-1 = 4 (circle), 9-1=8 (triangle), 1-1=0 (circle), 9-1=8 (triangle), 2-1=1 (circle), 9-1=8 (triangle), 4-1=3 (square), 7-1=6 (circle), 4-1=3 (success!). Aurora may now add the -2 for “like or similar item operated previously", for a total of -3 to future rolls.]
“I’ve got it!” calls Aurora triumphantly. She coaxes Babshapka back into the room and gives him a lesson in operating the device. “Hold it in your left hand,” she says.
“You look through the clear side. When you turn the top dial “on”, the clear side lights up and becomes transparent.” She shows him how he can see the figures in the room through the glass, with the one closest to the center of the screen covered in a crosshair. As she slowly pans the device across the room, the crosshair jumps to new targets. Strange figures appear illuminated on the side of the screen. Still under the effects of the comprehend languages, Aurora reads them as numbers and takes them to be the distance to whatever is the current target. A little experimentation in the room shows that the unit of measurement appears to be roughly equivalent to a yard. “When you turn the bottom dial, the magnification of the screen changes, acting like an increasingly powerful spyglass!” This last part seems just as impressive to her as the ability to shoot a disintegration ray. “The little button here on the bottom is the trigger to discharge it.”
When she is done with the lesson, Aurora pops the power disc out. It is now on “4” - apparently each of the errant shots drained a charge. She loads it back in, then presents the whole apparatus to Babshapka. He looks at her quizzically. “Well, you are our missile expert, and this is a ranged weapon.” Willa thinks about that, then nods. Babshapka switches the top dial to “off”, carefully folds the device, and hangs it from his belt.
[Babshapka now has “operation explained by one familiar with it” for a bonus of -2 with the device.]
(3:20am)
As the party filters back into the room, Mathias points to the half-melted chair. “Have you been doing things like this all along?” he asks Willa incredulously.
She nods. “Aye, this be a pretty standard course fer us.”
“Has anyone died?”
“Not yet, though I hae lost plenty o’ personal gear t’ ‘er spells.”
Mathias nods somberly, and calls to Aurora - “I’d appreciate a ‘heads-up’ next time, alright?”
With just invisible Shefak on guard in the hall now, the others rearrange the furniture, gathering the strangely light chairs and divans around a single table. Mathias, noting that Aurora can cast comprehend languages, asks whether the party has tried talking to the leaders of the plant men. Willa says that it is a one-way conversation, that the spell only allows the party to understand them, not the other way around. Mathias asks about the party’s overarching goal in being here in the ship, and Willa confirms that the druids have asked them to determine the source of the terrible monsters that are released and either put a stop to them, or at least provide the druids with enough information so that they can do so. [No one mentions Nholast’s Diary or starmetal, and Aurora seems reluctant to answer Mathias’ questions in general]
“So it seems like the plant men are just an obstacle then - not part of your mission.”
Willa says that is a fair assessment.
“So we don’t NEED to fight them,” emphasizes Babshapka.
“But they could be a good source of keys,” suggests Mathias. At Babshapka’s scowl, he adds, “...if we could talk to them. Perhaps we could negotiate, or even threaten them for a few keys, without it actually having to come to blows. I mean, we could bargain with them - tell them we will leave them alone if they give us some keys. If they have a lot it might make more sense to them than fighting.”
Larry says that plants are just plants. He sees no reason to wipe them out, but if the party can’t find another way to get keys, he doesn’t mind if they have to kill a few more. Tyrius adds that while there is not much honor or glory in such a fight, he doubts that they have souls, and is no more concerned about killing them than in the harvesting of wheat for bread.
Babshapka looks disgusted. “The two clockworks had no problems opening doors. Maybe you can look to them for cards. I expect all of the crew of this ship had cards as well. If that cleaning clockwork is collecting their remains and effects, and we look for more middens, there are likely to be cards there as well.”
Mathias sounds interested. “We passed two clockworks on the way here. How about we try them? The monk’s invisibility worked on them alright didn’t it?”
Willa sucks in her cheeks in thought, then says that having fought one clockwork already, and they proved tough nuts to crack. Two at once might be one too many.
“But now we have a disintegration ray,” says Mathias, indicating Babshapka. “If we disintegrate one at the start of the fight, then concentrate all our attacks on the second, it shouldn’t be that hard.”
“Bu’ if we disintegrate ther wrong one - ther one w’at hae ther card?”
“I am willing to bet that if we disintegrate one, the card will be in the other one.”
“Ye want t’ make a wager on it?” asks Willa, incredulous.
“Of course. If I win, you give me a backrub.” He moves his shoulders. “Your mage’s carelessness has me too tense.”
Willa snorts. “Yer scrawny, an’ not really me type. Bu’ what if I win?”
“Don’t worry about type. It’s just a backrub - five minutes. But if you win, and it was the disintegrated robot that had the card, then I will give you...a shot of my fey juice.”
Willa snorts again - but a bet is a bet, after all. She nods. “Bu’ we hain’t all agreed t’ attack ther clockworks jus’ yet. The cleaning clockwork said summit about taking ther first one we offed ter a “repair facility”. Mayhap ther rest o’ ther party wan’ t’ try somethin’ safer t'an attackin’ two a’ once.”
“Don’t forget,” says Aurora, “we also need to find an entrance to this ‘second level’ where the alien is - there could be cards there!”
Willa shakes her head. “No more fishin’. Don’t none of us need t’ catch ther paranoia plague.”
“Does she do that often - get you involved in strange things like this?” asks Mathias of Aurora.
“All ther damn time. Shark men, glowin’ orbs, vampire castles, ghos’ towers. More often t’an no’, ‘tis ‘er doin’.”
“Well, I certainly don’t like vampires or ghosts. Or any undead, for that matter.”
Willa nods. “T’at be sensible. Typically we hae ther mos’ trouble when she lies about stuff.” Tyrius nods his agreement.
Aurora, flushed, says hotly, “How about we just vote on whether we are going after those two clockworks or not?” But Mathias and Willa have not finished their conversation.
“Fishing, huh? You’re certainly tan enough. Are you a sailor?”
“I grew up in a small fishin’ village near Seaton.”
“So that’s where you learned to fish.”
Willa nods. “Worked most o’ me adult life fer ther crown, though, as an excise officer.”
“Where’s your ship now?”
Willa simply smiles, thinking of her innocent youth spent on the sea, before she knew anything of half-elves or enchantresses.
(3:30am)
[Unbeknownst to the party, a second lurker above has entered the table room. Since the doorway to the room with Eddard and the mules is occupied, it chooses the portion of the ceiling over the southern entrance doorway to the table room.]
Finally Aurora is able to bring the motion to a vote, and enough in the party agree that they should return and prepare an attack on the clockworks, so that the party sets out. Babshapka holds up a hand and has them wait in the doorway. While Willa arranges them in marching order, the elf takes his new device to the intersection, switches it on, and practices reading the ranges and changing the magnification by looking down the corridors. He is just a bit disappointed to learn that it works with visible light only - the magical screen doesn’t show him anything in the darkness, no matter how he turns the dial.
When Babshapka is ready he returns to the group and they set out. First invisible Shefak, then Willa with her lantern, then Thokk and the others. Shefak and Willa pass the intersection without incident, but something in the corridor to the west catches Thokk’s eye as he crosses in front.
A decidedly female figure (keyed encounter 4), in skin-tight clothes, stands just at the edge of his vision down the darkened hallway. In one hand she holds a large glass object, in the other, a long bar. She makes no move toward him or the party - just stands surveying them.
Without a word to the rest of the party, Thokk turns on his heel, a wide grin on his face. He saunters down the hall to the woman, eager to meet her. Next in the march order is Umbra, and she calls ahead to Willa, who turns just in time to see Thokk disappear down the side corridor. “Thokk! Thokk get back ‘ere!” she calls after him, but he ignores her. Willa turns back, with Shefak behind her, and follows Thokk down the hall. Umbra comes soon after.
“Alone woman!” Thokk bellows. “Thokk protect you from plant men!” He opens his arms wide to show that his hands are empty (but also to show off his thick bare chest and huge arms). The woman raises the glass device and points it down the hall. Willa realizes that the device looks an awful lot like the broken retort they pulled out of the security clockwork’s head. “NO! THOKK!” she shouts. Shefak sprints past her, moves so that the bulk of Thokk is between her and the woman’s weapon. Umbra readies her entropy spell to attack the woman if she fires.
Golden sparks fly from the device. A wave of force sweeps down the hall, all the way to the lounge. Thokk, Shefak, Willa, and Umbra feel an electric jolt, like every nerve in their body is being shocked.
[Paralyzation ray; DC13 Con save.
Short range (up to 20 feet):
Thokk (15 feet): Save. Paralyzed for 2d6 rounds = 5.
Medium Range (up to 40 feet)
Shefak (20 feet): Save. Paralyzed for 1d4 rounds = 3.
Willa (25 feet): Fail. Paralyzed for 20 minutes.
Long Range (up to 60 feet)
Umbra (40 feet): Save. 1d4 rounds slowed (half movement, attacks at disadvantage) = 3]
In response, Umbra sends her entropy at the women (who makes her Wisdom save).
Round 1
Babshapka rounds the corner and looks down the hallway. Undeterred by Willa and Thokk being in the way (Shefak, though paralyzed, is still invisible) he presses himself against the wall and sends two arrows at the woman. One sinks into her midriff, one glances off of her bare forearm as if it were hard metal, not soft flesh (9 damage).
Mathias moves to where he can see as well. With what appears to be the two front-line fighters of the party frozen like statues, he casts a dispel magic, then darts for cover through the open doorway of an unexplored apartment. Willa and Thokk remain frozen in place - apparently their paralysis is not magical in nature.
Aurora moves into view, and sends forth three magic missiles which detonate against the woman, blasting open rents in her clothing and singing her skin.
Larry would like to cast a lightning bolt, but the spell would emerge from him and the corridor is full of his allies. He cannot move to the front so soon, and so contents himself with centering a moonbeam on the woman and advancing. The silver-white glow reflects off her hair and her skin dries and cracks, but she does not even wince in pain.
Tyrius removes a gauntlet, begins the prayer for lesser restoration, but has not yet reached Willa.
The woman lowers the retort and strides forward out of the moonbeam. She stops in front of Thokk, raises the metal bar, and begins bringing it down on him repeatedly with a series of sickening crunches.
[Thokk has Condition: Paralyzed. Attacks against him are at advantage and melee attacks that hit are automatic criticals. Thokk is hit twice for a total of 39 bludgeoning damage. Paralyzed creatures are incapacitated; incapacitated creatures cannot take actions, so Thokk cannot rage as a bonus action.]
Round 2
Larry reaches Thokk’s side and jams his fist forward at the woman. A lightning bolt streaks out from his hand, passes through the woman, and shoots down the hallway as far as any of them can see, briefly illuminating a great number of doors, intersections, and side passages. If it hits anything at the end of the hall, if the hallway actually ends, no one sees. Even after the bolt has passed through her, lines of electricity arc through her form, illuminating her skeleton through her skin. Smoke begins to emerge from her head. [Note: androids are vulnerable to electric attacks (take double damage)] Despite the effects of the lightning bolt, the woman is still on her feet and is raising the bar in the air to strike at Thokk again.
Mathias emerges from the open doorway in time to see the effectiveness of the lightning bolt. He holds forth his hand in an arcane gesture, and more lightning arcs through the woman. His spell seems every bit as powerful as Larry’s, but it is concentrated on a single form, the electricity bending and redoubling through and through her body. Mathias now seems almost frozen himself, standing with his hand outstretched. After a second of this crackling energy, the face of the woman shoots off her head and skitters across the floor. Underneath her skin is revealed to be a mass of gears and wires. Her whole form is shaking with the energy and she looks unsteady but is still upright.
Babshapka runs up behind Thokk, on the other side of Larry. He collides with the paralyzed and invisible form of Shefak, who is knocked to the ground. Babshapka staggers, doesn’t fall, but is unable to attack.
Aurora sends forth another three magic missiles, targeting the open head cavity of the woman. As the bolts of force explode inside her skull, bits of metal and fragments of cave horn fly out and spray over Thokk. The woman ceases moving. Her limbs droop and the metal bar clatters to the floor.
Babshapka rights himself and collects both the retort and the metal bar from the mechanical woman. Mathias collects her faceplate and stores it in his backpack. The party gropes about for Shefak, finds her, and moves her, Willa, Thokk, and the body of the clockwork woman into the open apartment. Once everyone is inside, Larry moves his moonbeam to right outside the doorway, and then the panel is pressed to close the door itself.
Tyrius explains that he was going to cast lesser restoration to remove the paralysis, but now that there is not an immediate danger, perhaps it would be better if they saved the spell and waited to see if the effects of the strange retort wear off by themselves. Babshapka remarks that if they don’t, he can cast the spell as well.
In less than a minute Shefak and a seriously bruised Thokk are active again, and Umbra feels better as well. Willa, however, remains frozen and unresponsive. Tyrius and Aurora confer, and decide to begin a short rest for everyone.
While she waits, Aurora examines the retort.
It looks like there is a handle that can be compressed. There is a button on the bottom. As soon as she starts turning it around, Babshapka reminds Aurora of what happened with the mirror and to watch where she is pointing it - if she even knows where she is pointing it, for it is not obvious from which end the ray emerges - the “wand” end or the “eyeball” end.
“Well, I’m sure Thokk saw how she was holding it...right, Thokk?”
“Huh?”
“How was the woman holding this device when she pointed it at you?”
“Thokk not look at de-vice; woman’s eyes up here!” Thokk says defensively, holding his hand at chest height - for indeed, the woman’s head came up to about the height of Thokk’s chest.
Aurora sighs. “Shefak?”
With only mild embarrassment, Shefak explains that as soon as the woman raised the weapon, Shefak took cover behind Thokk and did not see it in detail.
“Grrr. Willa?” asks Aurora. Willa, rigid but lain on the only bed in the small apartment, does not say anything.
“Fine, fine - at least I can figure out if it takes a power disc - they seem to be pretty universal.”
[Rolling on the simple, lethal items table, she starts with a -1 for high intelligence.
[1-1 = 0 (circle); Aurora learns that the button on the bottom releases the power disc.
She takes it out - there are 5 charges left.
Start over; 2-1 = 1 (circle); Aurora learns that the pistol is fired by squeezing the handle.]
That is as far as Tyrius lets Aurora explore the strange device in the confines of the small room, without knowing from which end the beam emerges. She turns her attention briefly to the metal bar, but it is featureless, simply a rod of some metal like unto steel, two feet in length.
Finally, Aurora looks at the body of the machine woman and is instantly impressed. The other clockworks, on the outside, she found to be clunky devices not worthy of an artificer’s ‘prentice. But this woman is different - to the look, even to the touch, she could easily be mistaken for a living being - her “flesh” is soft and yielding, though draped on a frame of lightweight metal. The security and cleaning clockworks were mostly empty inside except for their weapons systems and the gears and pistons that moved their limbs. But the inside of the body of the woman has nearly as many miniature cords and joints as an actual human. In particular, Aurora believes that the connections in the head would allow her to show various facial expressions. A taut drum-like membrane in the throat would likely permit speech. Unlike the security clockwork, none of the parts inside her are labeled, none of the systems look like they can be removed and still operate, there are no obvious components but rather a tangle of complicated connections. As Aurora sits back and reflects, frankly in awe of the craftsmanship, Mathias comes over and pokes the body. “They are onto us,” he says. “I can feel it.”
Aurora scowls at him and he returns to the other side of the room, where his pack is. He takes out the faceplate of the woman, looking through the eye-holes from the inside, sticking his fingers through the mouth hole and feeling how the jaw articulates. Suddenly he looks up with concern. “Did you feel that?” he says. “The ship’s moving again.” When no one responds, he rolls himself a cigarette and begins to smoke, perhaps to calm his nerves.
(3:50am)
Some ten minutes later Willa struggles from the bed to her feet, swearing a blue streak. Once the ratio of profanity to intelligible content in her speech has dropped to the point where she is mostly making sense, Willa explains that she has been fully conscious and cognizant for the past twenty minutes, listening to all of them, just unable to move or speak. She grabs the retort from Aurora, says that the machine woman held it thusly (firing from the eyeball end)...and promptly forbids her from playing with it until they are in a large enough space that she won’t hit everyone with its huge cone area of effect. Then she tells Mathias that NO, the ship is NOT moving.
It is quickly decided that with Thokk as beat up as he is, and Larry low on spells, they will not be going to try their luck against the two security clockworks until after they have had a good rest. The question is whether they want to finish the rest here that most of them had already started. Tyrius checks in with Eddard, prompting a question from Mathias about who Eddard is. (Although Willa had previously told the party not to mention the mules to Mathias, apparently his actions in the fight against the machine woman have won him a modicum of her trust). Tyrius says that Eddard says that they have been undisturbed, and are fine so far, but that if the party plans on resting for hours, he would prefer them back, rather than so far away that they cannot respond to anything that happens on his end. It is resolved that they will return to the storeroom and rest there.
(3:55am)
The party sets out from the apartment, retracing their steps back past the lounge and then south at the intersection with the trash pile.
“It’s a shame that clockwork attacked us immediately,” says Mathias. “If we find another, we should try to persuade it to join us.” Willa scoffs at the word “persuade”, but keeps her attention and lantern on the corridor ahead. She is looking in particular for anything recognizably different since they passed.
Shefak reminds everyone to go as silently as they can when passing the room that held two security clockworks.
(4am - Aurora’s comprehend languages spell, cast in the lounge, ends)
The party enters the “table room” in single file through the more northern of the two doors, and then spreads out. Babshapka approaches the inner door and takes out his black key card, but before he can insert it into the slot, the ceiling falls! _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Three
Leezarius made shore within walking distance of a small fishing village on the river. He pulled the boat into the cover of some overhanging willow branches and took stock of his possessions. He still had his signet ring and his purse embroidered with the family arms of Temtonio, for whatever that was worth. The purse itself was empty, although it had had coin enough even at the end of last night’s pleasures. Again, he did not know who to “thank” for that - the whores, the brothel owner, the priests? He had the plain-spun clothes on his back, sandals, and, he supposed, he had a rowboat. Now approaching midday, his stomach was already complaining.
The body of the priest dragged itself through the reeds and onto the shore. The face had peeled away to the bone in several places, and what remained of the flesh was blackened and charred. It sat up, made as if to speak, but when it opened its mouth, a gout of dirty river water poured forth. Finally it croaked, “And me. You have me.”
Leezarius jumped back. Undead? he thought in silent terror.
“No, that’s Orcus’ domain,” said the body, in a voice that grated like a shovel scraping cold ashes from a hearth. “I am merely possessing this body for now.”
Leezarius calmed himself and forced himself to return to the dead priest’s side. “And you are?”
“A demon of little account. But my master is Lord Vuron. And his master is Graz’zt, Prince of Demons and Ruler of the Abyss. And it is to the great Graz’zt that your soul now belongs.”
Leezarius opened his mouth to object, then bowed his head in acceptance. The dead priest smiled as best he could, with his swollen and water-logged tongue lolling from his mouth.
“And what does my master bid?” Leezar finally said resignedly.
“First off, feed yourself. You are no use to the Dark Prince if you are starved.”
Leezarius smiled ruefully. “Alas, my money has been taken. I have nothing with which to buy food.” Inwardly, he thought that this is where it would begin. His soul was owned by a demon. He was about to be ordered to enter this fishing village, put it to the torch with his magical fire, kill all the peasants, and then feast on their food, if not their corpses.
The dead priest chuckled. “Perhaps some day,” it said, still having no difficulty reading his thoughts, “but not today.” He held his arms over his head, undersides now blue with collecting blood. It took Leezarius a moment to realize it was showing him the pockets in the priest’s robe. Gingerly he approached, for the swollen corpse was already starting to stink, and fished through the pockets. He came out with enough coin for several days’ worth of food, and a set of rosary beads.
The beads he immediately wanted to throw in the river, but then noted they were of smooth and semi-precious stone, not the crude wooden beads of the small folk. Perhaps he could sell them - but how to explain their acquisition? Then a wicked thought came to mind. The night before the whores had introduced him to something they had called globulus culi. That might be a far better use for these Pholtun beads.
“Uh...watch the boat,” he said to the dead priest, or the demon inhabiting it. He walked to the village and bought as much food as he could for his voyage...where? Downstream he supposed. When asked his name, rather than the obviously noble-sounding Leezarius, he said simply “Leezar”.
The next few days he spent rowing downstream, and trying not to gag from the growing stench of his companion. The demon instructed him in the casting of burning hands, the spell he had used to free himself and kill the priest. He also learned witch bolt, as well as the cantrips blade ward and eldritch blast. He could cast one of the true spells only once before exhausting himself, but even an hour’s rest was sufficient to recover. The demon “spoke”, telling him and then making him recite the words of power. The jaw of the priest at first was clenched in the rigors of death, and later drooped as the muscles rotted away, but fortunately the demon did not need to move the priest’s mouth to speak - his voice emerged as a raspy croak from the throat of the corpse, but did not seem to be produced by the body itself.
On the second day, Leezar thought to ask the demon about Graz’zt - who was his new master, and what was it like to serve him? The demon said that Graz’zt was a Demon Prince, the mightiest and most magnificent of the Demons and the rightful ruler of all the Abyss. The demon’s service was his own concern, but for Leezarius...the demon was pleased that he was taking an interest in being a proper servant. “What Graz’zt wants,” he said, “is for you to take pleasure. To take pleasure in all things - in food and drink, in smoking and material comforts, in sex and song. Take pleasure in the pain of others and in your own pain. But most of all, take pleasure in knowing that you are in service to Graz’zt, the handsomest and most powerful demon in existence.”
When they reached Verbobonc, the demon told him to put in to port, but only after midnight, and steered him to a deserted dock. There, the demon in the dead priest “meat suit” departed. A living man in black robes met the boat, and wordlessly gave Leezar a bag containing enough food and coin to make it the rest of the way downriver to Dyvers.
In Dyvers, he sold the boat for enough money for a few nights at an inn, and before the money ran out he had signed on as a “fire mage” with a trade caravan bound for Greyhawk. He could, by then, throw eldritch blasts as often as the mercenary crossbowmen guards could fire bolts, and without ever running out. By the time the caravan reached Greyhawk, he had eaten well for many days, and had some coin besides.
Leezarius Angelicus Temtonio, aka "Leezar", aka "Mathias"
New abilities in bold.
First Level Warlock / Human (Oerid) (Noble)
Str 10 (0) Dex 16 (+3) Con 13 (+1) Int 8 (-1) Wis 9 (-1) Cha 16 (+3)
Hp 9, Languages Common, Velondi
Skills: Deception, History, Investigation, Persuasion
Otherworldly Patron - Dark Prince Graz'zt Cantrips (2): Blade Ward, Eldritch Blast
Spells (2): Burning Hands, Witch Bolt, both cast at first level
Patron Feature (1): Dark One's Blessing _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Party rejoins mules - one roll
4:10am - vegepygmies
4:30am - Lurker above
5:10am - displacer beasts
5:50am - worker robot
6:10am - displacer beasts
1:10pm - displacer beasts
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
3:40pm (mules) worker robot
4pm (mules) worker robot
Party rejoins mules - one roll
5:30pm Police Robot, non-lethal
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
8:10pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (party) vegepygmies
Party, Mules, and Security Room all rolling separately
11:50pm (party) vegepygmies
Post 169: 'splorin' 21 February, 571 [2 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 2
(4am)
The party enters the “table room” in single file through the more northern of the two doors, and then spreads out. Babshapka approaches the inner door and takes out his black key card, but before he can insert it into the slot, the ceiling falls! Actually, it is another of the strange ceiling mimics such as the party fought upon their initial entry to the cave. Babshapka, and Mathias beside him, are enveloped by the rubbery folds of the creature’s flesh, and immediately feel its muscles constrict around them like bands of iron (9 points of damage each). The black card, currently the party’s only one, is lost for the time being.
Round 1
Babshapka draws his dagger, the only weapon he has room to use while enveloped, and attempts to stab his way out from the inside, but does not penetrate the thick hide of the creature.
Thokk hacks at the creature from the outside with two mighty blows (two hits, total 19 damage).
Shefak attacks with her fists, but cannot get it to release her comrades.
Aurora’s firebolt glances off its thick hide, but the dark bolts of Umbra strike true (Umbra at 0/2/0).
Willa strides forward. Her first attempt to strike with her greatsword is not sufficiently strong to break through its hide. She takes a step back, inhales sharply, spins all the way around gathering speed, and plunges her sword deep into the creature. She would never thus turn her back on an intelligent foe, but doubts the creature will be able to respond. (20N, critical, total 23 points of damage from one hit!)
The creature is showing several gaps and gashes, and at least one of the two people trapped has an arm out of the great rent Willa just made, but still it is squeezing its prey (5 more points to Mathias, 7 to Babshapka).
Tyrius readies an action to heal whoever emerges from the creature.
From inside the thing comes the muffled voice of Mathias, then crackling bolts of force, and the surprised cry of Babshapka.
Larry cannot reach the side of the creature in time, and it is by now surrounded by the rest of the part in any event. He tries to sling his thorn whip at it from under the large table, but the whip wraps around one of the table legs instead.
Round 2
Thokk, furious at having his plans for food and rest interrupted, screams at the creature (last rage used). He strikes twice, his final blow ceasing the struggles of the creature, although it wounds Babshapka as well (Babshapka now at 17).
After Matthias and Babshapka have been extracted from the folds of the creature, and then the dropped key card is located, the party stands around panting. Willa is the first to speculate - “We closed yon doors when we left?” (she indicates the doors of this room to the hallway) The party agrees. “T’en t’ese creatures ken how to open ther push doors - bu’ t’ey dinnae open ther keyed doors, else ‘twould already been feasting on mule.” When they have opened the door to the storeroom, Eddard tells them that he certainly heard their combat outside just now, but not the arrival of the lurker some time previous. That’s a sobering thought for most of them, and Willa makes each of them promise to check the ceiling more often, and makes Thokk promise three times in hopes that he will remember. With the interior door now open, most of the party enters the room with Eddard and mules. Finding it rather crowded, they open the northern door out of the storeroom to the neighboring activity room and spread out between the two chambers.
(4:10am)
[Unbeknownst to the party, a vegepygmy patrol passes by the northern hallway door but, honoring the truce, they do not stop or enter.]
Larry borrows some daggers and investigates the digestive tract of the slain lurker, hoping to find another card or something else useful. From his examination, he determines that something as small as the card would easily pass through. He believes that since these creatures seem to be ambush predators, they likely have hidden spots where they defecate, like big cats, but are unable to bury their waste. If the party could locate one of those middens, that might be another place to look for cards.
Once Larry enters the storeroom and closes the door behind him, the party begins planning a watch schedule for their rest. [Unbeknownst to them, almost immediately afterwards, another lurker opens the northern door to the table room and sets up just outside the storeroom door. There are now lurkers in both the southern doorway and just outside the door to the storeroom they are in.]
Before anyone can actually begin to rest, the party has a strategy session about who needs magical healing and who can get by with mundane wound dressing.
Current HP
Willa, Umbra, Shefak: Full
Larry: 46/56
Mathias: 25/39
Babshapka: 17/48
Thokk: very low
Babshapka casts a cure wounds on himself for 10 points and is out of spells.
Larry casts two cure wounds on Thokk and one on Babshapka and is out of spells.
Tyrius also heals people until he is out of spells.
Willa feeds and waters the mules and checks the party's supplies of food and fuel. Including the nascent day, they have enough human food left for five days - if they don’t have to feed Mathias. There is nearly a week’s worth of mule food, about 20 pounds of mineral coal, and nearly three dozen flasks of oil. An optimist would say that they have plenty of everything for as long an exploration of the “cave” as they could possibly need. A pessimist would say that they don’t have enough of anything for their trip back through the mountains, even if they left now.
Willa directs the placement of a table from the activity room against the outer doorway of that room. She takes the opportunity of moving past where Mathias reclines in one of the stuffed chairs to ask him if he has his own food. He says of course he does and she mentions that Larry will be creating water for the group after he rests, and Mathias is welcome to fill his skins.
First watch 4:20am - 6:20am Thokk and Aurora
(4:30am)
[Unbeknownst to the party, another lurker sets up in the table room, such that they are now inside each of the doorways, with three in total in the room.]
After Willa retreats to the far side of the room, Mathias takes a blanket out of his pack and covers himself. As he leans back and closes his eyes, he mutters to himself, “I’ve got this, I’ve got this…” A few minutes later, he says somewhat louder, “Remember the vid screens!”
Willa comes back over, if nothing else to keep his voice down so that the others can rest. “What vid-screens?”
“The ones in the note your elf found.”
“Do you think we are being watched?”
“I don’t doubt it. That machine woman was probably sent because we found the note.”
“I think you are being paranoid.”
Mathias shrugs. “I’m alive.”
Nearby, Aurora ponders what a “vid-screen” is. Perhaps a scrying device - with the screen looking like that in the mirror-weapon they found. She resolves to keep on the lookout for any more such devices.
“Whar be ye from?” Willa asks Mathias abruptly. Then, perhaps to soften her question, “I told ye, I be from Salinmore.”
“I hail from a place north of Hookhill in the Grand March, originally. I used to work for nobles - arranging and sometimes hosting their lavish parties. I grew tired of the politics and wanted to be free from their watchful eyes and judgement. I have been traveling a lot since that earlier time in my life. I have made my living dueling in tournaments, in various protection jobs, and fighting bandits for bounties. Since I move around a lot, the druids of Rhun compensate me for sharing with them what I have learned in my travels.” He pauses, considers that he has given enough information without something in return. “Who leads your group? I notice a lot of talking when it comes time to make a decision.”
Willa explains that leadership of the group rests with her, Tyrius, and Aurora equally. She tends to handle the immediate details - like setting marching orders and watches - since she trained in the local militia and eventually attained the rank of sergeant in service to the crown. Major long-term decisions of goals and policy are sussed out between the three. She mentions briefly that they are in exile from Keoland, on the run from a knight because Aurora saw a book she shouldn’t have.
Mathias considers this, then offers, “I am late to the adventuring business. I would like to find my place in a group so that I can gain more knowledge and equally more power and skill. I do enjoy life to the fullest I can, but I also like order. That's why I asked who was the leader of your group. I believe there should be a clear chain of command, and don’t see myself staying long with an undisciplined group of freebooters.
“I have never seen this place or one like it; the plant men or machine creatures. I have no idea about a book or who or why someone is chasing you. I have a notebook myself and will be writing stuff like this in it so that I can refer to it later, but no one has ever attacked me for it.”
(5:10am)
[Unbeknownst to the party, a pair of displacer beasts pass by the table room. They pause and sniff the air, noting the presence of multiple lurkers in the room, and continue.]
5:20am - everyone has had a short rest. This is Larry and Mathias’ first short rest of Day 2, but the second for everyone else.
Larry - natural recovery - 3/0/0
Aurora - arcane recovery - 4/2/1
Mathias - spend 3HD - recover 19hp, now at 39/39
Tyrius - spend 2HD
(5:50am)
[Unbeknownst to the party, a repair robot enters the table room. The lurkers therein had heard its heavy steps approaching all the way down the hall. Each of them at some point in its life has tried to swallow such a robot, and quickly regretted it. Now they all know better than to drop on them. The robot continues on to the inner door.]
FWOOSH! The door to the table room slides open. One of the cleaning clockworks stomps heavily into the room.
Willa had been sharpening her sword with a whetstone, but comes into the southern room at once. “Thokk - ‘ow did it open ther door?” (Thokk had been watching the southern door to the table room, Aurora the northern one to the plant man hallway.)
Thokk shrugs. “Thokk not see through door.”
“Mayhap ye should leave wit’ it an’ see ‘ow it closes ther door.” Thokk shrugs again.
The clockwork begins to pick up the mule droppings and a few of the smaller pieces of broken crates. It ignores the party. Eddard observes that it is the first time one has entered here - nothing came in while the party was away.
“When war ther las’ time we seen one?” Willa asks.
In this sunless cave, Larry has a better sense of the passage of time than any of them. He counts on his fingers and mumbles. He decides that it was eight, perhaps nine hours ago.
Aurora has left her watch post to see the clockwork. “If they need to be recharged, it would be good to know the location of the recharging station. Perhaps we could refill our power discs there, or obtain more.”
Willa nods. “We should be followin’ it - bu’ nay in our curren’ condition. We be restin’ fer a reason.”
“I’m fine,” volunteers Shefak. Indeed, the monk has used her curious inner power to remove any trace of damage from the last battle with the plant men. She also can complete her ki meditations in an hour, and is done with those as well. She will eventually need to sleep, of course, but apart from that she is quite ready. “How long will your spell on me last, Master Larry?”
Larry remarks that she should still have darkvision for at least another two hours.
“I can follow it,” Shefak says.
Willa nods, but feels obliged to add, “Be ye careful.” Shefak slips on her ring and disappears. The clockwork spends several more minutes tidying the room before it moves to the doorway, reaches up with its “hand” and presses the pressure plate. The door slides open and it clomps out into the table room. If Shefak is actually following it, no one can tell.
(6am)
Umbra’s armor of shadows ends. Although she has spell slots available, she does not cast it so as not to interrupt her trance.
Shefak follows the clockwork out through the table room and into the hall. It is slow, loud, and easy to follow. It also pauses frequently, seeming frozen in place, before it starts moving again. She follows it east through the hallway in which the last battle of the plant men took place, and then into the great chamber with the deep shaft, the one they discovered when first they entered the cave. There it pauses for quite some time before moving along the wide corridor to the north.
They pass six doors, all but one closed, and it pauses again at the next intersection, where a smaller hallway crosses their larger one. The passageway to the left is full of plant men, but the clockwork takes the one to the right. When that again branches, it turns south, and approaches a black-keyed door.
A panel on the chest of the clockwork opens, and a delicate wand protrudes, to the point of almost touching the pearl-colored panel that lies between the slot and receptacle of the door lock. The very tip of the wand glows with a red color, and the color seems to be taken up by the pearl panel. A second later the panel chimes, the door of the room opens, and clockwork and Shefak both walk inside.
The clockwork spends time cleaning and arranging the room to its satisfaction.
(6:10am)
[Unbeknownst to the party, a pair of displacer beasts pass by the table room. They pause and sniff the air, noting the presence of multiple lurkers in the room, and continue.]
6:20am - first watch completed
Second watch had been scheduled for Larry and Shefak, but Umbra volunteers to take the monk's place.
The clockwork emerges from the small apartment and back out into the hall. It retraces its steps to the three-way intersection and proceeds east, then soon turns north. It enters the open doors of a room that Shefak immediately recognizes as the lounge where the hidden note was found. It starts by cleaning up the ashes on the floor, but as Shefak watches it, she realizes that it is not taking any of the bones. It will likely be here a while.
(6:50am)
The clockwork finally leaves the lounge, and proceeds back down the hall to the apartment it cleaned before. It sits without moving for quite some time outside. Eventually it returns to the lounge. Shefak is puzzled, as the creature’s actions don’t seem to follow a logical pattern. This time, however, rather than re-entering the lounge it heads for the double-doors the party passed without opening. After it presses the wall panel, both doors slide open, revealing some sort of deserted feast hall [MEETING ROOM with communication panels].
Several long, high tables and numerous chairs are set up as if a meal were in progress. However, many of the chairs are overturned, and there is no evidence of food, trenchers, or utensils. All of the chairs are individual rather than being benches. More grimly, the bones of many humans or humanoids lie strewn about - some in reasonably articulated skeletons and some scattered. Most have rags of fabric clinging to them but no weapons or other devices are in sight.
Each of the tables has one or two inset metal panels with small grills. These could be stove tops for cooking at the tables themselves, but no fuel source is apparent. The tables are all made of cave horn, as are the chairs. None of them are cushioned.
The metal panels have sections of glass, often broken, and the metal fixtures themselves are bent and dented. Below the metal is a complicated network of threads which appear to be coated in stiff, colored wax.
Beyond the first room is a second, largely the same. The clockwork spends the better part of an hour puttering around in both rooms. It repeatedly picks up small bits of debris, opens its trash receptacle and then, perhaps because its innards are already full, closes the hinged drawer again without inserting anything. Once Shefak sees it do something rather unusual - it climbs up on one of the tables, squatting over a metal panel that has a number of small rents. It opens a panel and protrudes a wand-like device, but different from the one it used to open the keyed door. There is a flash of bright light, and Shefak is blinded for a moment. When she can see again, she finds that the source of light is the wand, and she finds she can not look directly at it. The light finally fades and the clockwork climbs down from the table. When Shefak examines the panel, she feels a warmth radiating from it and finds that the rents have been closed as if the edges of metal were melted and joined together by a smith in a forge. All that is left is a tracery of lines brighter than the metal around them, like a long-faded scar.
After this, the clockwork busies itself by setting upright all of the chairs and moving them neatly into their places at the different tables.
(7:30am)
When the clockwork emerges from the feast hall it turns left and west until they are back at the intersection where the plant-men’s hallway is again visible. The hall itself is not lit, but light from each of the rooms spills into it along its length. Here it turns north, then west, north, and west again in a series of wide but winding corridors. The last corridor proceeds for a great distance west, unbroken, until it opens out into a dimly lit chamber that appears to be a replicate of the first chamber the party entered, complete with the large circular shaft in the center. From this shaft, however, Shefak detects the hum of moving machinery.
The clockwork proceeds directly to the nearer of the two openings for the shaft and straight inside - Shefak hangs back cautiously. The clockwork seems to float in the air for a second, and then falls from view.
Shefak approaches carefully. There is some sort of poster in an alien language near the entrance to the shaft. The shaft itself descends into darkness, at least as far as the other one had. At the top, where the ceiling should be, is some sort of closed portal with no obvious means of opening. Inside the shaft are four tracks, two opposite each opening, running down the vertical length of the shaft. Each track has a series of wide handles spaced eight feet apart. Two of these tracks, the ones close to Shefak, are moving down, while the ones on the other side are moving up. At the top of the tube the handles seem to appear fully formed from the wall itself or to move into the wall and disappear.
Shefak is tempted to follow the clockwork down the shaft, but remembers the notes about the dangerous alien on the second level, and also realizes that the party will be unlikely to look for her on another level should something go amiss. She decides to wait for the reappearance of the clockwork.
(8:15am)
Larry’s darkvision on Shefak ends. She is fortunate to be waiting in a lit area of the cave. The corridor to the south is decidedly dark.
8:20am - second watch completed
Bashapka has had a long rest, his singular long rest for Day 2.
Babshapka and Willa take the next watch.
(10am)
Shefak decides, after some two and a half hours of waiting at the shaft, that the clockwork is not returning. She determines to make her way back to the party, through the unexplored and dark corridor to the south.
She proceeds carefully down the hall, feeling her way along the wall. She passes a closed and locked door, but the next door is open. Reaching inside the doorway, she quickly locates the panel which activates the magical ceiling lights, flooding the room with light that spills out into the hallway. The room itself is another looted apartment. Enough light is generated that she can see there are another two open doors (also apartments) on the opposite wall. Turning on their lights reveals an open storeroom further along the original wall. With all four lights lit the hallway itself can be seen well. Shefak spends some time looking in each room but does not actively search them. Finally she returns to the first room and turns out the light, then works her way down the hall, turning out the other lights as she goes.
Beyond the again-dark hall is a dimly lit corridor running east. Following that to an intersection, Shefak recognizes her location as the farthest place she followed the plant man leader before. From here she knows the way back to the party.
Still invisible, she makes her way along the corridors until she gets to the closed door on the other side of which Babshapka stands watch. She knocks on the door, and a few moments later it opens to reveal the elf, broadsword drawn and pointed at the empty doorway. “It’s Shefak,” she says simply, and he steps back to let her enter. Not until the door is closed does she remove her ring.
Shefak explains what she learned while following the clockwork, spending most of her description on the curious shaft. In response to Aurora’s questions, she says she doesn’t know what level they are on, and whether they would need to go up or down to get to level 2. Aurora teaches her the symbols in the alien language for the numbers 0 through 9. Fortunately it is a decimal system.
10:20am - third watch completed
Umbra has had a long rest, her singular long rest for Day 2. She recasts armor of shadows and is at 3/3/3. Babshapka and Mathias will take the next watch.
Shefak explains that the shaft is close by - but that to get there they will need to skirt the now-retracted edge of the plant men’s territory.
At Aurora’s enthusiasm, Willa asks why they would want to go to another level, when they don’t yet have keys, but Shefak explains that it does not appear that keys are needed to use the shaft.
Babshapka suggests that rather than fighting the security clockworks for keys, they could use the shaft and read the alien symbols. If the clockworks acted like servants to the human ship crew, it would make sense that the servant quarters are below. Perhaps down there they could find a charging station and cards. He suggests that they test the terms of the truce and try to just walk past the plant men.
(10:30am)
Aurora’s mage armor ends. Although she has spell slots available, she does not cast it so as not to interrupt her rest.
Willa asks whether they can move the mules to the lower level, and Shefak confirms that the doorways are wide enough for the mules, even with their packs on. Mathias remarks that perhaps the alien waiting on the next level will prefer to feed on the mules rather than on them. As larger hosts they could grow larger aliens inside them.
As more voices are heard, the plan gets turned around a few times, but in the end they all agree they will try to make it past the plant men without conflict, then allow Aurora to read the symbols around the shaft. They will leave the mules and Eddard where they are for now.
12:20pm - fourth watch completed
Babshapka and Tyrius take the next watch.
(1:10pm)
[Unbeknownst to the party, a pair of displacer beasts pass by the table room. They pause and sniff the air, noting the presence of multiple lurkers in the room, and continue.]
2:20pm - fifth watch completed
Everyone but Shefak has now had a long rest for Day 2.
The party briefly discusses plans again before setting out.
Aurora casts mage armor on herself. (Now at 3/3/3)
Mathias smokes what he predicts to be his “last cigarette as a human” before he gets infested. Willa fills and lights her lantern.
(2:30 pm)
The party exits the storeroom and activity room through the northern doors to the hall [thus avoiding the three lurkers waiting for them], being careful to close both behind them, and enters the now-abandoned corridor of the plant men. This is the hallway the leader walked down, extinguishing the lights as he went. Shefak points out the former apartment that leads to the “mulch room” she saw with spider-Larry.
Shefak, invisible and in the lead, reaches the intersection and confirms that the northern corridor is still full of plant men, wandering in and out of the occupied apartments. When Willa visibly enters the intersection, there is an immediate commotion. Those plant men already in the hall whistle and thump and dozens more flood out from the adjoining rooms. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Four
Greyhawk. The City of Thieves. In so many ways the opposite of Veluna. Leezar loved it. He immediately sought out the parts of the city that offered brothels, drug dens, bars, gambling houses, fighting pits. After spending all of his money, he sought employment at the brothel he had enjoyed the most. At first, he was just a guard - protecting the whores from johns that were drunk or violent, protecting the madam from the city watch and the thieves’ guild. He lodged and ate there for free; he was quite happy to spend nearly all of his wages on the services of the other employees, a fact which made him a favorite of the madam.
As the first heady days turned into months, however, he became less naive. The madam wasn’t being hassled by the thieves’ guild - she paid protection money, just like everyone else. Sometimes she just needed him as a strong presence when negotiating changes in fee structures, or when a guild “reorganization” happened (like when a capo was killed and someone new was put in charge of collecting her “rent”). And the madam wasn’t even the brothel owner, it turned out, just an on-site manager for a complicated network of individuals that could be traced back to one or more of the city oligarchs, if one dared. Leezar wasn’t interested in who the madam actually answered to, until he was informed that as an employee of some nebulous boss, he was obligated to occasionally work other jobs. Fill-in guard at more important brothels, occasional muscle for the thieves’ guild, even a “vocal supporter” at political rallies when crowds were needed. Every now and then he was told to fight in the pits - at first just taking or receiving dives to make sure the guild odds-makers remained profitable, but after he learned the spell armor of agathys (a crowd favorite) he performed in actual legitimate fights, although scheduled as walkout bouts. As he did well in these tasks he was utilized more and more outside his home brothel. “You do good work,” the madam told him. “The reward for doing good work is you get more work.” There were a number of close calls, but he found that he often emerged from brushes with death with the ability to learn more spells or cast the spells he already knew more powerfully.
At the same time that he was coming to know the city and advancing in power, he was coming to understand his master Graz’zt a little better as well. One of the whores in his home brothel introduced him to a cult of Graz’zt and he frequently attended worship services. Usually these were in the basements of inns or in deserted warehouses, but occasionally high rites were performed in secret chapels in the mansions of debauched nobles. Leezar began to pick up the tenets of the faith - not only “take pleasure in everything,” but also “restriction is the only sin.” He began to undertake missions for the cult as well, although not paid - simply for pleasure of service. Most involved assisting in plans to tempt or corrupt various clergy or paladins in Greyhawk. It was from the priests and priestesses of the cult that he learned his new spells, or sometimes from demons summoned in the rituals themselves.
As months turned into years he continued to advance in power, both in the spells he was able to cast and in his ability to fight with staff and fist. He came to enjoy working the pits, where more and more frequently he got to be a trial horse for contenders. One day the leader of his local cult cell told him he was ready for a ceremony of full initiation, without explaining what that was. The ceremony itself was both awe-inspiring and exquisitely pleasurable, but took a decidedly strange turn. At the peak of festivities, when a number of naked women were writhing on the carpets around him, a great flash of light and heat enveloped them all. The women screamed and then were still, except for one still writhing, but now in agony, not pleasure, her whole body burned. Leezar was badly burned as well, but remained standing. He had a curious double vision - overlaid on the burned bodies of the women he saw the forms of dead crones. Where the altar had been was also an upturned cauldron. “Find them!” boomed a deep basso voice that sent thrills of pleasure up and down his spine despite his burns. “Find the ones who did this to my servants.”
As a high ceremony, there were a number of priests and priestesses of Graz’zt on hand among the common cultists. Most of the women could be saved despite their burns. In speaking with the high priest, Leezar learned that Graz’zt Himself had chosen him to discover and track down the ones who had slain his worshipers. When he agreed that he would do just that, he felt a surge of power. As mark of his new status, Graz’zt had just given him access to a new spell (his sixth true spell), a new invocation (his third), and the knowledge that all of his spells could now be cast as third level, a great increase in power. It was with no small measure of pride that Leezar prepared to depart Greyhawk.
Leezarius Angelicus Temtonio, aka "Leezar", aka "Mathias"
New abilities in bold.
Fifth Level Warlock / Human (Oerid) (Noble)
Str 10 (0) Dex 16 (+3) Con 13 (+1) Int 8 (-1) Wis 9 (-1) Cha 18 (+4)
Hp 33, Languages Common, Velondi
Skills: Deception, History, Investigation, Persuasion
Otherworldly Patron - Dark Prince Graz'zt
Cantrips (3): Blade Ward, Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand,
Spells (6 - all cast at level 3): Burning Hands, Witch Bolt, Armor of Agathys, Darkness, Fly, Dispel Magic
Invocations (3) : Fiend's Sight, Thirsting Blade, One With Shadows
Pact Boon: Pact of the Blade, Pact Weapon
Special Ability: Saved by the Bell. Because of his work as a pit fighter and his experience taking dives, may make a Deception check to convincingly feign unconsciousness or death. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Party rejoins mules - one roll
4:10am - vegepygmies
4:30am - Lurker above
5:10am - displacer beasts
5:50am - worker robot
6:10am - displacer beasts
1:10pm - displacer beasts
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
3:40pm (mules) worker robot
4pm (mules) worker robot
Party rejoins mules - one roll
5:30pm Police Robot, non-lethal
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
8:10pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (party) vegepygmies
Party, Mules, and Security Room all rolling separately
11:50pm (party) vegepygmies
Post 171: Doppelgängers! 21 February, 571 [2 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 2
(2:30 pm)
The party exits the storeroom and activity room through the northern doors, being careful to close both behind them, and enters the now-abandoned corridor of the plant men. This is the hallway the leader walked down, extinguishing the lights as he went. Shefak points out the former apartment that leads to the “mulch room” she saw with spider-Larry.
Shefak, invisible and in the lead, reaches the intersection and confirms that the northern corridor is still full of plant men, wandering in and out of the occupied apartments. When Willa enters the intersection, there is an immediate commotion. Those plant men already in the hall whistle and thump and dozens more flood out from the adjoining rooms.
Willa slouches, trying to make herself look smaller, walks slowly, and avoids eye contact. The plant men grow more agitated, but do not attack. The rest of the party copies Willa’s example as they pass the intersection, except for Thokk, who still walks boldly and proudly but has agreed that he will not draw weapons unless the plant men actually attack. By the time the last of the party has passed the intersection and turned down the hallway to the west, they are surrounded by dozens of the plant men. The creatures chitter rebukingly and shake their weapons but do not use them.
(2:40pm)
At the end of the hall, Shefak turns north and Willa follows her whispered directions. Babshapka, however, is intrigued by a large unkeyed door on the south wall, the second they have passed. He pauses and presses the panel to open the door. He sees the dimly-lit interior of a huge room only briefly before realizing that all of the plant men around him are brandishing their weapons, some even thrusting them uncomfortably into his chain armor - not quite attacking, but certainly threatening to do so. “Shut ther door,” says Willa firmly, but in what she hopes is a calm tone. Babshapka presses the door panel a second time, then backs away from the doorway as he is thronged by greater numbers of agitated plant men. He does make careful note of what he can see, though, even as the door closes.
The room is instantly recognizable as a feast hall or mess hall [Dining Room]. Several long, high tables and numerous chairs are set up as if a meal were in progress. However, many of the chairs are overturned. Numerous empty trenchers are on the tabletops but also litter the floor haphazardly. More grimly, the bones of many humans or humanoids lie strewn about.
The plant men are now beginning to menace the party members to either side of Babshapka and Willa beckons them to keep moving. Only once all of them have started down the dark northern corridor do the plant men slowly calm. The farther they advance, the fewer plant men follow them, and those that do, at a greater distance. By the time they emerge into the large, dimly-lit chamber with the shaft, the last of the plant men have withdrawn around the corner and out of sight. Shefak quickly checks on them, then returns to report that they are indeed returning to their lair-hallway, although a knot of them still remain around the door that Babshapka opened, as if guarding it.
(2:50pm)
There is some sort of poster in an alien language near the entrance to the shaft. The shaft itself descends into darkness, at least as far as did the other one at the entrance of the ship. At the top of the shaft, where the ceiling should be, is some sort of closed portal with no obvious means of opening. Inside the shaft are four tracks, two opposite each opening, running down the vertical length of the shaft. Each track has a series of wide handles spaced eight feet apart. Two of these tracks (to the east) are moving down, while the ones one the other side (west) are moving up. At the top of the tube the handles seem to appear fully formed from the wall itself or to move into the wall and disappear.
“Those plantfolk are certainly strange,” says Mathias, and sets up his folding chair where he can see down the northern corridor. The rest of the party watches the various approaches while Aurora examines the poster. It is covered in alien script, but nowhere are there numbers, or any indication of what level they are on. At the top is a diagram of one large circle, with four smaller circles within it. One of the circles is colored red.
Aurora begins her comprehend languages spell ritual.
(3:00pm)
Ten minutes later, Aurora is able to read the text under the diagram. It states:
“UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ARE NOT TO ENTER THE SERVICE DECK AREAS.
Safety Procedures: When anti-gravity is functioning, step into the shaft and wait for the next available handle. Grasp the handle firmly with one hand and retain your hold until you approach your level. Release your hold when the handle before yours crosses the opening and use your (dampened) momentum to exit the shaft. If the shaft is in use by multiple personnel, always allow at least one unused handle between each person.
If anti-gravity has been disengaged, but the handles are still in motion, grasp the handle with both hands and be prepared to support your own weight. If you do not have an anti-grav belt, use this procedure only in emergency situations such as a major power redirect. Do not load handles with more than 300 pounds of weight.”
Aurora has heard the term “anti-gravity” before - it is a very high-level spell, more powerful even than fly. To test it, she grabs a piece of refuse (there is an abundant supply about) and tosses it into the shaft. It remains suspended there, as if levitating, although it drifts slowly away from her with the force of her throw. She notices that it comes to a halt much sooner than it otherwise should, and reasons that this is the “dampened momentum” to which the poster referred.
She calls Babshapka over and has him hold one of her hands while she leans into the shaft. As soon as she crosses the plane of the door she does feel dizzy, and suspended or buoyant, as if she was entering water. On the interior wall of the shaft, next to each open doorway, is a large number “1”, written in the alien language.
“I think we are on level one!” she announces to the party. “But I don’t know if level two is above or below us.”
“You are not going to level two,” responds Willa, automatically.
In the dark hallway to the south, several creatures emerge and creep cautiously from various doorways. Even Umbra’s excellent darkvision does not register them, for their skin seems to shift and take on the color and patterning of whatever they stand in front of. The party remains unaware of their presence, but they eagerly note Aurora’s exploration of the shaft.
Aurora tells Babshapka to grab hold of the train of her dress, but let go of her hand. He shakes his head and mumbles something that might be a prayer in elven, but complies. Aurora steps out into the void. She floats just inside the open doorway. She hears the gentle whirring of the tracks sliding past her, the one to her right coming up from below, the one to her left going up a short distance to the closed ceiling.
She stares down, trying to find other openings, but does not see any. They could, she reasons, be recessed and unviewable from her current perspective, however. There is a set of alien symbols on the walls about 15 feet beneath her that line up with the “1” on each of the interior walls at this level, and another set about 30 feet down. There might be more, but her vision only extends to about sixty feet before the details are lost in darkness.
“You can let go, I’m going down,” she tells Babshapka confidently. When he reluctantly lets go of her dress, she kicks hard off the wall next to the doorway and begins to drift across the shaft to wear the tracks run down, not up. Babshapka runs around to the other doorway, but by the time he is there he finds that Aurora is stuck, floating nearly in the center of the shaft, but far out of reach of anything, looking perplexed.
“Hmm, momentum dampener,” she says to herself.
Babshapka calls Thokk over and he extends his pole out to Aurora. She catches hold of it, and he is easily able to pull her over to the downward handles. Babshapka, seeing Aurora on the end of Thokk’s pole, is sure there is a metaphor for “fishing” in there somewhere. As soon as Aurora grabs a handle she is whisked away downward. Babshapka only hesitates a second before jumping into the shaft and grabbing the next available handle.
Aurora has only to hold onto the handle for a few seconds before the one in front of her passes beside a doorway. She lets go and continues her downward motion, though at a decelerating pace, until she lands lightly on the narrow ledge in front of a small recessed door. In any event, the track she was using folds into the wall at the bottom of the doorway, while a second downward track continues on the other side of the doorway. A cry from above startles her, and she moves to the side just in time to allow Babshaka to land right where she was standing a second ago. The door in front of them is both closed and keyed with the same locking mechanism ubiquitous on the level above. As Aurora looks more closely, she can see that the slot is coded brown. She is disappointed; Babshapka is relieved.
On the interior wall of the shaft, on both sides, is written a large number “2”. Across the shaft is a matching recessed area and ledge, and a keyed door. From here she can’t see the color, but assumes it is also brown. Within the recessed chamber is written on the wall in large letters of alien script, “UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ARE NOT TO ENTER THE SERVICE DECK AREAS.”
Aurora nods to Babshapka, steps off the ledge, and grabs the handle going down to the next level. This trip is slightly longer, as the recessed ledge is twenty feet below the last. Babshapka follows her, and this time Aurora remembers to step aside for him to land.
On the interior wall of the shaft, on both sides, is written a large number “3”. Across the shaft is a matching recessed area and ledge, and a keyed door. Both these doors are considerably larger than the one above, on the same order as those of level one. Both doors are closed, but Aurora notes that they do not have card locks - just the pressure plates that allow free access.
Now some thirty feet below the rest of the party, Aurora stares into the darkness of the shaft, but still sees no other openings. She launches a firebolt at the door directly opposite her, and it flies across without issue. Satisfied that the momentum dampener does not affect her spell, she launches a second bolt across the shaft, but five feet below the first, so that it strikes the wall and detonates. She then methodically launches bolts down the wall, aiming five feet lower each time. When she gets to about sixty feet beneath their platform, the light from the bolt disappears before she hears the boom of its detonation, and that boom has a different tone than all the previous ones. “And that,” she says with obvious self-satisfaction, “shows that there is another recessed door down there, in what is likely level four.”
“Are we going further?” asks Babshapka in a voice that is not afraid, just concerned.
“No,” says Aurora, we will check this level first.” She turns back to the door and reaches for the pressure panel. Babshapka puts one hand on his broadsword and tenses. But in the split second before Aurora presses the panel, a cry of alarm can be heard above them, swiftly followed by the unmistakable sounds of combat.
Aurora, eyes wide, spins and crouches at the edge of the ledge. “Help me across!” she commands, and as she springs forward, Babshapka shoves her as hard as he can in the small of the back. She sails across the shaft, just barely reaching an upward-traveling handle before her momentum fails.
In the southern corridor, the nine humanoid forms note that the party is now down to seven, but that no more of them are entering the shaft. Now appears to be the best moment for their ambush. They creep forward silently, seeing how close they can draw before they are spotted (Stealth roll 24). They are easily within melee range when Umbra gasps and then cries out in alarm.
As one they begin to run forward, all nine of them. The creatures have dull eyes and strange rubbery black-gray skin. However, as they run forward, the two in the lead quickly assume the shape and form of Tyrius and Umbra. The copy is exact, down to Tyrius’ shining armor and flowing blonde hair, Umbra’s alabaster skin and deep green dress. By the time they reach the party, they are indistinguishable from its members. The seven creatures behind the lead pair remain as nondescript humanoids.
Round One
5E Doppelganger Stats wrote:
Multiattack. The doppelganger makes two melee attacks.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (1d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
Ambusher. In the first round of a combat, the doppelganger has advantage on attack rolls against any creature it has surprised.
Surprise Attack. If the doppelganger surprises a creature and hits it with an attack during the first round of combat, the target takes an extra 10 (3d6) damage from the attack.
The creature running at Tyrius raises its hand - and its arm transforms into a copy of Molly. It brings this down twice, hard, on Tyrius (23 points damage). Umbra carries no weapon, but the one attacking her slams her repeatedly with its fist (32 points damage, Umbra to 6hp). The two creatures almost instantaneously copy the changes to the forms - “Tyrius” has new scuffs on his armor, “Umbra” has bruises in the same location as the real Umbra. “Tyrius” and “Umbra” hold their positions, locked in combat with their duplicates, while the other creatures stream by them to engage the rest of the party.
How dare these things copy his warband? They had better not copy Thokk! Thokk is inimitable! Thokk enrages, then strikes at the first creature that has run past Umbra (two hits, 23 damage).
Mathias leaps up from his chair. His hand goes to his belt pouch and he intones words in a language that Willa, nearby, does not recognize - while it could be “the language of magic”, she is pretty sure she hasn’t heard those particular syllables from Aurora at any point. Suddenly his body is covered in armor - an exquisite set of full plate mail that looks like it has been delicately carved from blue-white ice. He draws forth a greatsword from his scabbard and rushes forward.
Shefak draws on her ki and strikes at the one already wounded by Thokk. After her flurry of blows, it remains barely standing.
Willa advances on the creature between her and the shaft to her left, ignoring the two trying to flank her to the right. “Right behind you” calls Mathias. She strikes at it once, but the creature seems to anticipate her blow and steps out of the way. Her follow-up strike is faster than it can dodge, however, and she hits (for 14 damage).
Larry readies a lightning bolt in his hand, then steps up to a wounded creature. He has a line-of-sight that will send his bolt through three of the creatures and then down the hall to the south, but as the creature moves suddenly to his right he adjusts without thinking to track it as he throws the bolt. The bolt goes through the creature, but then hits the curved wall of the shaft and rebounds straight back, passing through Larry and then behind him, ending by bouncing between the walls of the corner of the chamber. The creature drops to the floor, electricity arcing through its twitching body (Larry at 4/3/2).
Umbra sways unsteadily on her feet, but completes an Entropy spell. Black tentacles of shadow wrap around three of the creatures and restrict their movements. Umbra pulls back, trying to fade into the shadows as “Umbra” unsuccessfully swings at her (attack of opportunity misses).
Round Two
Undeterred by taking the brunt of his own lightning bolt, Larry end-runs to his left around the advancing creatures. He thinks he can get six of them at once so long as he doesn’t mind hitting both Thokk and Tyrius, which he doesn’t. This bolt also pulls to the right, and ends up passing through two of the living creatures, Thokk, the dead one, bouncing off the wall of the shaft, passing through a third living creature, narrowly missing Tyrius, and ricocheting away down the south hall. (Larry at 4/3/1)
Willa swings at the three creatures around her, but misses.
One of the creatures breaks away from Willa and charges Mathias, assuming his likeness as it runs, ice armor and all. It strikes him, and instantly regrets it, as cold from the real ice armor shoots up its false greatsword and through its body, damaging it for 15 points. The real Mathias seems unaffected by the blow.
The remaining creatures rain blows down on those who are nearby - Willa takes three different hits for 21 total, Tyrius takes 9, Shefak and Larry suffer 6 each. Thokk takes 4 (reduced to 2 after rage). He laughs at the puny blow and says that such a weak creature cannot hope to copy Thokk and his massive muscles. He hits back at “Umbra” once for 13. The two creatures fighting Willa have both become likenesses of her, while the one on Thokk now appears as he does.
Umbra emerges from around the north side of the shaft. The words for her dark bolt are on her lips, but before her are two Mathiases, alike in every way. “Umbra, it’s me!” they both shout - and if there is a delay from one, she can’t discern it.
5E Doppelganger Stats wrote:
Read Thoughts. The doppelganger magically reads the surface thoughts of one creature within 60 ft. of it.
Aurora glides out of the shaft, adjusting to gravity without stumbling. She readies an action to cast magic missile (at second level) at either of the two Mathiases, should one give itself away as false.
One of the Mathiases makes an arcane warding gesture with his hand, copied as if in a mirror by the other, and begins walking away. The other forgoes the attack of opportunity provided. The first moves close to the combat in which Willa is engaged. The second is hit by a series of magic missiles from Aurora. Umbra is still too unsure of the actual identities to attack.
Willa strikes at those around her (two hits, 26 damage).
Tyrius tries to raise his shield and strike with Molly, but he appears dazed from the surprise attack still.
Round 3
Aurora launches a firebolt at “Mathias”, but he dodges and retreats to the south. She moves to step between the creature and a seriously wounded Umbra.
“Don’t hit women!” yells Mathias at one or both of the “Willas” engaged with Willa.
“Wha' in all ther hells?!” responds the real Willa. Both creatures fighting her fall back, and she hits one for 10 as it retreats. “In case ye hain’t noticed, Mathias, I’m ther best fighter in ther party! Now get after ‘em!”
“Yes, ma’am!” he calls and advances, greatsword in hand.
The creatures have apparently decided they don’t like even odds (now eight on eight) and the rest of them are turning and running. Thokk kills one (ten points - opportunity attack) as it withdraws, Shefak wounds hers, but by the time Larry can draw his scimitar, the last one is away. The dwarf growls in frustration, then sends forth a moonbeam to block off their escape down the hall (Larry at 4/3/1). The beam actually lands a little closer to the party than intended.
Willa kills hear nearest copy (15 points), then runs after a fleeing one, it being still slowed by Umbra’s spell, and strikes it as well (12 points).
Babshapka emerges from the shaft and checks to see that Aurora is well before turning to assess the situation.
With the creatures in flight, Umbra runs forward with more confidence and fires off five dark bolts into the back of her false self.
Thokk plunges into the area of the moonbeam, ignoring the pain to slice at, and slay, two of the creatures. He chortles in satisfaction.
Shefak runs forward, carefully avoids the moonbeam, and brings another one of the ambushers to the ground with a series of kicks and fist strikes. Thokk chuckles at her foolishness; if she hadn’t avoided the beam, she could have attacked two of them. His skin continues to blister and burn.
Mathias dashes forward at great speed, passing the moonbeam and the fleeing creatures, then turning round to face them, arms spread wide. “Where do you think you’re going?” he demands.
Tyrius finally seems to have cleared his cobwebs. He sees two Willas, but one is advancing and the other one retreating. He reasons that the retreating one must be the false Willa, and strikes at her with Molly, leveling her.
Round 4
“Tyrius”, desperate to get by Mathias who is blocking his retreat, swings at him. The cold from his armor travels down the length of “Molly” and into his body - he drops to the ground, frozen dead. Mathias looks up, a grim smile on his face. “Hit me, please!” he calls to the others, then traces an arcane ward in the air with his free hand.
A second fleeing creature, “Thokk”, strikes at him, and also suffers cold damage. Mathias laughs as the creature winces in pain and staggers away. His armor appears to melt and dissolve. He strikes with his greatsword (opportunity attack) and connects, but the creature keeps going.
Willa strikes another one down, and now there is only one left - the one fleeing Mathias.
Larry shifts his moonbeam further down the hall, dropping it just in front of the fleeing creature. The creature stops rather than run through the beam. Aurora sends a firebolt over its shoulder, and Umbra hits it with a number of dark bolts for 11 damage.
Round 5
Mathias, sword still in one hand, sends forth two bolts of mystic force from the other - both strike the creature (9 points).
Babshapka presses himself to the wall and fires off two arrows, but they miss. Too many people in the way, he curses, but marks where the shafts land to retrieve them later.
Shefak dashes ahead, and her fists bring the combat to a close when she slays the last creature. Even now those that had assumed the shapes of party members are slowly reverting to their native state of tar-colored rubbery flesh.
When it is clear that the combat is over, Mathias says “We should check their bodies,” but it is immediately apparent that there is little to check. In their natural state, the creatures do not have clothes and carry no items, apparently trusting their strange bodies to form what they need. “Hmm,” ponders Mathias, “butts and lady pockets? Should we check these?” But lo, aside from nostrils and ears, the creatures do not appear to have any bodily orifices, not even mouths. Willa seems strangely content as she performs a cursory search of the bodies. When asked why, she says it is because these are the first normal creatures they have found in the cave.
“You call these normal?” asks Mathias incredulously.
“Aye,” she replies. “If I don’ miss me mark, t’ese be doppelgangers - shapeshifters wha' steal ther identity o’ people an’ then kill ‘em. I grant ye t’at t’ey be queer eno’, bu’ ev’ry ‘venturer ‘as ‘eard tell o’ ‘em, ‘as ‘eard stories a’ least. Bu’ hain’t nobody ‘eard tell o’ plant men an’ flying ships an’ clockworks wha’ shoot wands an’ sleeping gas. T’at be strange - doppelgangers be ther first normal t’ing we hae found in t’is whole place.”
[The party takes stock of their fitness to continue, and whether they need to retire:
Babshapka: 44/48
Willa: 41/62
Aurora: 38/38
Shefak 33/39
Thokk: 28/66
Tyrius: 17/49
Larry: 16/56
Umbra: 6/38]
Although they are not eager for another combat, it is decided that they can at least search the rooms adjacent to the shaft, and then any along the way of their retreat back to the storeroom. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Five
Leezar did not sleep for the remainder of that night. Morning found him with his traveling clothes packed and all of his valuables stowed. He left Greyhawk by the west gate, crossed the Selintan on the public ferry, and then walked south on the road along the river. For the first day he stayed within the crowds, with people either too frugal to book river boat passage or who, like him, did not want their name to appear on a manifest. At a mid-day camp, several agents of the Thieves’ Guild revealed themselves, asked him where he was going, and “reminded” him that he was still under contract to the guild. He lied and told them he was on a contract and that they had better check with their superiors if they didn’t want to get in trouble for drawing attention to his clandestine assignment. He remained in the thick of the crowd for the rest of the day and did not sleep that night either.
All through the next day the crowds on the road thinned, both as travelers of different speeds pulled away from one another and as the pack of agents following him 'persuaded' the civilian travelers to slow down or speed up. Eventually he found himself on a lonely stretch of road with just the half-dozen rogues in sight, which was of course when they made their move. He immediately used his armor of agathys, for which they were well prepared, since he was known to use that in the pits. That was likely why so many of them had been sent after him, and why they carried such an abundance of throwing knives. What they did not know was that he could now invoke a thirsting blade. When a sword suddenly appeared in his hand, that gave them pause, for he had been wearing only a single knife in his belt, having left even his staff behind hoping to escape detection.
Some harsh words from their leader sent them rushing in at him despite his sword and armor. He was wounded several times, but every time he slew one of them he got a fresh surge of energy. His Dark One’s Blessing was also something they had not been prepared for, since he had fought only one opponent at a time in the pits. By the time he had slain four of them, the two remaining decided to flee, and sensibly in opposite directions. He used misty step to appear in front of the man, striking twice and on the second strike impaling him through the belly. Then he turned and threw eldritch blasts at the retreating woman, one every three seconds, until she was brought down as well. He had never felt so powerful. Truly he had Graz’zt’s favor. He stripped the bodies of anything useful and left the road, hiking overland until he reached the Gnarly Forest by nightfall and then hiding. He slept through the night, all the next day, and the night after.
Although far slower going, he kept to the woods as he worked his way south for the next week, only emerging at the end in a small fishing village where he paid an old man to ferry him east across the river. After that it was just a two days’ walk to Hardby. There he used nearly all his own coin, as well as what he had recovered from the agents, to book passage on a trade galley bound for Gradsul.
The days and nights aboard the ship passed without incident. His dreams began to be invaded by dark images, by impressions of the deaths of the crones, each in turn. Heretofore he had had only a vague notion that they were “to the west”. By giving in to the experience, by fully feeling the pain of each of their deaths in his sleep, he found he could pick up clues, bits and pieces of their memories. They had lived in the Keoish Dreadwood, in a realm ruled by a vampire count. The count had allowed them to worship Graz’zt so long as they used the spells that they gained for doing so to aid him. They had been his subjects their whole lives, until the end of their lives, until a party of adventurers had invaded the lands, slain the count, and soon after the entire coven [Note; most of this is described from the party's perspective in Post 76]. Leezar tried to gain information about the adventurers themselves, but no matter how many times he relived the painful deaths of the crones, that information remained hidden.
From Gradsul, Leezar took the forest road north, through Daerwald, and Silglen, over the mountains and down the Javan trail. When he reached the Owl Stream he knew he needed to enter the forest to the south, but he found his way barred by thorns, and elven scouts, and by a hawk he was pretty sure was a druid in beast form. ‘Giving up’, he withdrew from the stream. At midnight he flew up and over the forest - with a number of ‘owls’ in pursuit. Guided by the lights of a village deep in the forest, he set down after ten minutes, and the owls almost reached him before he could cast fly again. This time Leezar sped to a high castle overlooking the village. There was a main door in the courtyard below, but it was tightly closed and it seemed likely the owls would overtake him before he could enter. In the main keep, however, above the courtyard, there were two windows that looked like they had been blown out from within - shattering the leaded glass and steel lattice work and leaving just enough space for Leezar to enter, moments ahead of the owls. He turned and stood, facing the narrow opening in the window, sword in one hand and the other ready to summon eldritch blasts, amid the ruins of some sort of laboratory. The owls passed close by the windows for several minutes, but none entered - perhaps knowing that in the small indoor space they had lost both the advantage of numbers and the ability to attack in three dimensions. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Party rejoins mules - one roll
4:10am - vegepygmies
4:30am - Lurker above
5:10am - displacer beasts
5:50am - worker robot
6:10am - displacer beasts
1:10pm - displacer beasts
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
3:40pm (mules) worker robot
4pm (mules) worker robot
Party rejoins mules - one roll
5:30pm Police Robot, non-lethal
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
8:10pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (party) vegepygmies
Party, Mules, and Security Room all rolling separately
11:50pm (party) vegepygmies
Post 173: An interrupted rest 21 February, 571 [2 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 2
Although they are not eager for another combat after the fight with doppelgangers, it is decided that the party will at least search the rooms adjacent to the western shaft, and then any along the way of their retreat to the storeroom.
(3:10pm)
There are two doors on the wall to the west of the shaft, both unkeyed. The more northerly one is a storeroom, with smashed crates full of unidentifiable machinery.
(3:20pm)
The second unkeyed door is also a storeroom. The crates within have long since been broken into. They do not hold complicated machinery, but rather pipes, tubes, and conduits of all types, lengths, and thicknesses. Some are metal, some are cave horn, and some are one or the other but encased in an insulating layer of cave sponge. Her comprehend languages spell is still ongoing, so Aurora looks about for writings or markings, but does not find any. The room is wide enough that Thokk notes the pronounced curvature of the outer wall, which the party is beginning to suspect delineates the maximum extent of the ship.
There is one other door to the south in the large chamber of the shaft, and it is keyed black. The party investigates quickly and finds a looted apartment. Willa is still finding it hard to believe that a ship could be large enough for each crew member to have an entire cabin to themselves, rather than just a hammock in the hold, but it is ever more apparent that this is the case here. For his part, Babshapka is amazed that all of the furnishings they have found are identical - every bed, every desk, every chair equal to all the rest. Are there no craftsmen’s marks, no artistry? Perhaps all of this was made by magic. Or, as he considers it, perhaps there are 'crafting clockworks' that create identical items? Regardless of the reason, it does make the searching faster - he knows pretty much exactly what to expect in one of the looted apartments, and unless he finds something out of the ordinary he can check a room in five minutes and feel confident he hasn’t missed anything.
(3:30pm)
The party begins their way south along the dark corridor, with Tyrius and Willa lighting the way. Mathias asks Umbra if she is okay to continue, or needs assistance, considering the wounds she suffered at the hands of the doppelganger, but she replies that she is fine, thank you. As they go, the party continually reminds one another to check the ceiling.
The first black-keyed apartment appears as the others, but only a living area with no bed. However, there is an interior keyed door leading to a bedchamber. In the bedchamber, an intact skeleton lies on the floor. One hand points to its head. When Aurora investigates the skull, she finds a small hole on the side near the hand, and a large hole with fractured bones opposite, as if something had gone through the head and exploded out the far side. Ancient stains on the wall behind the figure support this interpretation. The positioning of the head and hand suggest a weapon - a wand? A retort? But none is found nearby or anywhere in the room. Several party members suggest suicide, which leads to dark speculation about the nature of the “paranoia plague” and the alien and other morbid thoughts.
(3:40pm)
Back in the storeroom, a repair robot enters and tidies, collecting the mule droppings and a few pieces of smashed crate. Eddard watches it carefully, but does not contact Tyrius.
(3:45pm)
The party quickly searches another apartment suite with interior and exterior rooms.
(3:55pm)
The door to the next room is open. There are tables and chairs in the room, but no bed and no interior door. The doorway is open, no card lock or even door is in place, as if people could come and go. Perhaps it was an office, lounge, or activity room. It is just as looted and full of debris as the other rooms.
(4pm)
Another activity room like the previous. Aurora’s comprehend languages ends.
In the base storeroom, another worker robot enters. The room having been checked less than twenty minutes ago, it soon moves on.
(4:05pm)
To speed the search, Willa splits the party into two teams for the two doors remaining on the west wall of the corridor. The first is black-keyed and leads to a large single-room apartment. The second is an open doorway that leads to a storeroom with looted crates, with a few still containing pipes, fittings, and some strange panels of wax-covered wires. There is an interior door, but it is not carded. Opening it reveals a smaller storeroom, just as looted as the first, with what remains just as useless or incomprehensible.
(4:15pm)
The party begins to search the last door off the hallway, leading to another looted apartment, the ubiquitous furniture and bits of rag and bone now very familiar to them. Some of the party begin to drift into the hallway to the south that leads to the corridor of the plant men.
(4:20pm)
A few plant men are still on hand around the intersection to the east from when the party passed through before, and the appearance of the party again gets the diminutive creatures agitated. With hisses and whispers, Willa calls most of the party back around the corner, although Mathias lingers the longest. Shefak uses the distraction to invisibly open the door and slip into the large room beyond. When Mathias finally moves back the plant men calm somewhat but remain close at hand and observant.
Shefak finds the room is instantly recognizable as a feast hall or mess hall [Dining Room]. Several long, high tables and numerous chairs are set up as if a meal were in progress. However, many of the chairs and at least one of the tables are overturned. Oddly, the tables and chairs are crammed together as if space was limited, but all of the chairs are individual rather than being benches.
In the hallway, Mathias opens one of his pouches, the long one that contains his chair legs, but pulls out a two-part section of rod and screws the two parts together. He opens his sack and withdraws a heavy black cloth, then fits it to the rod like a curtain or drape. Finally he makes a gesture, and the whole thing begins to float in the air without apparent support.
Aurora messages Shefak, asking what she sees, whether she has found any food, and if there are any apparent color patterns of note.
Shefak advances slowly through the ancient mess hall. Numerous empty trenchers and utensils are on the tabletops but also litter the floor haphazardly. More grimly, the bones of many humans or humanoids lie strewn about - some in reasonably articulated skeletons and some scattered. Most have rags of fabric clinging to them but no weapons or other devices are in sight.
Mathias gestures and the curtain floats silently into the hall. Crouching, he moves forward, using it to screen himself from the view of the plant men - he hopes. Aurora has now noticed him and is staring at the rod, trying without success to figure out how he is sustaining it (failed Arcana check). The plant men are starting to whistle and thump and draw more of their kind, and Willa hisses at Mathias to withdraw. He pulls back and stows the curtain, shrugs and says he tried.
Aurora relates what Shefak is telling her by message and Willa wonders whether the bones are the remains of people who died at a meal, poisoned, or whether they were herded into the room to be slain. Shefak reports back that the remains are scattered about the room, and many of the bones and skulls are smashed, suggesting violence. She grows closer to the far wall of the hall. The trenchers may once have contained food, but look like they have been empty for some time - there is no rotten debris present, just dust. Each trencher has a number of sub-compartments in it, as if carved to keep foods separate from one another. She starts to head for an open doorway in the back of the hall.
At the open doorway, to the right, is a large dark glass plate mounted on the wall with four rivets below it. Looking at the flat glass expanse, Shefak wonders whether it might be a “vid screen”. She stands to the side, out of its “view”, and turns the four knobs at the bottom but nothing happens other than a clicking sound from the knobs themselves. There are no slots visible in which a power disc might be inserted.
Aurora messages to Shefak to be careful about leaving tracks and getting caught despite her invisibility. Shefak looks down and sees that the floor is dusty, but covered with tracks, the main body of which move from the two doors in the north to the doorway she is next to. She doubts that her tracks would be notably different to anyone but a skilled ranger. She continues to the room beyond.
(4:25pm)
As a small room off of the mess hall, this should logically be a kitchen, and the abundance of counters and cupboards supports this notion as well. However, it is completely lacking in other obvious features - there are no ovens to be seen, no sinks, no utensil racks. There is no furniture besides what is bolted to the floor or walls. There is no food, although much of the waste and debris on the floor may once have been organic. There is considerably less dust than other parts of the cave and many tracks abound. A few of the horn trenchers like those from the previous room lie on the counters or floor.
Along one wall is a bench with a number of metal boxes. Each box has a dark colored glass door in the front of it. At first glance these might be mistaken for ovens, but they have neither a space for wood or coal, nor a chimney to vent smoke. Arranged beside each box are a number of square metal plates. On top of each box is a short, black cylinder. Along other walls are a number of fine metal mesh screens with a rivet below them. There are a total of eight of these. Next to each of these is a long, narrow door that opens on hinges to a small shelf-like compartment.
Shefak doesn’t see any food or anything else of interest, and returns to the party. On her way back, Aurora wonders aloud why the plant men are so protective of the room if nothing is there. “Lots of people died there violently,” suggests Mathias, “maybe they don’t want it to happen again.”
Shefak whispers that she is back when she gets to the party. Aurora asks her whether she opened any of the boxes or drawers, turned any of the knobs in the kitchen. She sighs and says she will go back.
(4:30pm)
Inside each large box in the kitchen are a number of shelves spaced close together - they look like they would fit a trencher, so she tries one. It is indeed a good fit. She turns the knobs on top of each of the boxes, but when nothing happens, she carefully resets them to their original positions. Aurora asks her via message whether there is any source of power. Shefak responds that the ceiling lights are on in both rooms, mess hall and kitchen, but she doesn’t see any other source of power. All of the metal fixtures are very corroded. Aurora asks about the hinged doors and knobs on the mesh wall, but Shefak is already on her way back. She tells them that she exhausted all of the possibilities.
(4:40pm)
Willa sends Larry first down the hall to the plant men - he was the one who healed and finally persuaded their leader to the truce. He walks slowly, hands open, speaking soothing words. A crowd of plant men presses close. They are not attacking, but are perturbed. They eventually give way in front of him. One by one the party moves down the hall. There are at least a dozen of each of the three common sizes of plant men surrounding them, as well as some more moving in and out of the doors of their hall. After all of the party has turned south at the intersection the creatures gradually withdraw.
Thokk holds Willa’s lantern for Babshapka as he looks quickly in each of the abandoned plant man apartments [12] on the west wall. All of them are a mess of rotting vegetation and discarded plant parts. The original furniture of the ship is smashed, the mattresses shredded. Babshapka pokes around in the debris to see if there are any discarded keys, but finds none.
There are two black-carded doors on the south wall of the corridor. These lead to looted apartments, but without signs of plant man habitation. Both have interior doors, but now so close to their home base, Babshapka ignores these.
(5:00pm)
The party returns to the storeroom and adjoining room where they have set up camp. Eddard says it has been quiet - no incursions from plant men, lurkers, or others - just the two cleaning clockworks that tidied things and moved on. Willa repeats her hypothesis that the lurkers can’t open locked doors and that the truce with the plant men seems to have held. As she smells the fresh mule apples in the storeroom, she asks whether giving them to the plant men, rather than waiting for a cleaning clockwork to haul them away, would be a good peace offering. Larry, who saw the “mulch room”, agrees, and collects all the droppings and places them outside in the hall to the north.
Aurora fills in Eddard on the parts of the ship that they have now seen, and asks his opinion on moving the mules. The warhorse ponders a bit. He had said before that a location farther from the plant men would be better. Now that he has learned of the doppelgangers, he is not so sure. So long as the truce with the plant men holds, it may be better to be here, in the shadow of their territory and protected by their influence, rather than in the wilder parts of the ship where other monsters roam. He agrees that the mules should stay here for now, unless and until the party finds rooms that could be made more secure (like a lock of a higher color than black) or until the plant men break the peace.
The party then discusses who should head out on the next expedition - continuing to look for keys, perhaps going after the two security clockworks in the room that Shefak found. But this discussion hinges on who is healed or not. Larry heals Thokk with two different spells (Larry to 2/2/1). Aurora casts mage armor on Shefak (Aurora at 1/3/3; armor lasts until 1am). After this, it is agreed that they will rest for an hour [allowing anyone who wants to spend hit dice on heals to do so], as well as have a chance for a meal. Upon learning that the plan is to rest for an hour, Mathias recasts his ice armor.
(5:10pm) [start short rest]
Mathias eats his own food.
Now that they have passed 24 hours at temperatures well above freezing, Willa cuts back on the grain rations for the mules at Eddard’s suggestion. Babshapka does not need food for the time being, due to his continual use of his ioun stone.
[ 7 human rations used; 50 human rations remaining
2 mule rations used (no forage); 11.5 mule rations remaining
No coal used; 18 pounds mineral coal remaining]
After eating, Willa watches the north door and Larry the east. Babshapka sets up in the doorway between rooms, with his bow out, ready to go either way. Willa lectures Thokk about using the time to rest and clean and dress his wounds rather than just talking and swinging his sword about and “helping” her keep watch.
(5:30pm)
Thokk says he hears something in the hall - a second later, the north door slides open to reveal a security clockwork.
Babshapka draws back on his bow. Willa holds her greatsword in front of her and uses her elbow to press the door panel next to the door. As the door closes, one of the tentacles from the clockwork slides inside the doorway. The door closes on it, pauses, and opens again. [Decidedly unlike the other apartment, whose door crushed a chair - either the tentacle is much stronger than a chair, this door works differently, or both].
Surprise Round (party surprises clockwork)
As the door opens again, the clockwork moves into the room. Willa immediately attacks it, although her first attack is blocked by an arm (one hit, 9 points damage).
Thokk is right next to her, and hits it twice (two hits, 20 damage total, its force shield is now down).
From across the room, Aurora shoots off a firebolt (13 damage).
Babshapka shoots two arrows, but they glance off the rounded metal body.
Mathias leaps to his feat. Waves of force roll forth from his hands and explode against the metal skin of the clockwork (2 hits, 14 points total).
Shefak, the last of them in the northern room, runs to warn those in the south.
Round 1
Umbra moves from the southern storeroom to the northern room. Seeing the clockwork, she lets fly with five dark bolts (now at 2/3/0).
Thokk enrages (three left) and hits twice (23 damage).
Shefak uses a ki point to deal a flurry of blows - three of her four attacks hit, but the clockwork proves resistant to being knocked over.
Eddard presses his nose to the door panel, shutting him, Larry, and the mules in the southern room, away from the combat.
Babshapka shoots two more arrows - these enter the body of the clockwork through holes that the others have rent. (two hits, 21 damage)
With two more blasts of force (17 damage), Mathias has battered the clockwork to bits. It has been destroyed. [The party was able to unload more than 150 points on it before its initiative came up]. Willa checks the hall as Babshapka retrieves his arrows.
“Well, that was easy enough,” says Mathias. “I don’t know why you all were so hesitant to go after the two in the other room.”
“Not all o’ ‘em be so easy,” responds Willa. “‘specially when t’ey drops ‘alf ther party t’ sleep wit’ a single flask.”
Mathias shrugs, unimpressed. “Check it for cards,” he says. “I want my back rub.”
“Sorry, wrong room,” says Willa. “T’is one ‘twaren’t part o’ are bet.”
[Tyrius and Larry are 20 minutes into their short rest. All of the rest of the party have spoiled theirs and will need to start over.]
Aurora takes out her tools and begins leisurely disassembling the clockwork. The power disc, and the frame housing it, are both intact. She extracts the disc easily, but it is only charged to “one”. As Aurora begins to work, Willa starts her ioun stone revolving, just in case.
The retort in the head is intact, but it lacks the “squeeze” trigger or even the handle that hers has. Likewise it has no slot for a power disc, but is connected directly to the internal power disc frame. Similarly the metal wand in the chest lacks both an independent power source and a trigger - she could pull these out, but does not know how she would be able to use them.
In addition to what she has previously looked for, Aurora is now on the hunt for anything that might be used for scrying, or in the alien parlance, a “vid-screen”. However, she finds no such flat surface.
The compartment of flasks inside the clockwork is intact, even if the launch mechanism is bent and inoperable. Aurora recovers a full complement; three blue, and one each of black, red, and green.
There is no sign of any colored cards.
What she recognizes as the atmospheric analyzer has been smashed. There is another object inside she does not recognize from the previous one - a short metal tube located near its head. It has a wire mesh grill on one end. Mathias opines that it is “a reproductive organ”. Aurora is able to slide it smoothly from the body of the clockwork, although it is connected by the waxed wires to the frame of the power disc. She doesn’t see any buttons or controls.
When Aurora replaces the power disc in the frame, the tube emits a very high-pitched whining sound, which spooks the mules. Aurora tries to adjust it, but the sound continues unabated. Andy kicks the wall. Finally Aurora is able to disconnect the tube from the power source and the sound ceases. The tube she stores on the mules, the power disc she takes, the stopperless flasks she divides up with Willa.
Current tally of stopperless flasks:
Aurora: 2 blue, 1 black, 1 green
Willa: 3 blue, 1 black, 1 green, 1 red
(6:10pm)
Tyrius and Larry have finished their short rest.
[Larry uses three HD and gains back 22 hp. He is at 38/56. After natural recovery at 3/3/1]
[Tyrius uses three HD and gains back 18hp. He is at 35/49, and for spells he has 2/2]
(6:20pm)
Umbra’s armor of shadows ends. She does not renew it, as she is low on first level spells [1/3/0] and plans to remain behind in the storeroom for some time even if the others set out.
(6:40pm)
The rest of the party finishes their short rest.
[This is Larry and Mathias’ second short rest of Day 2, but the third short rest for everyone else]
[Thokk uses two hit dice, and with healing from Tyrius is back to full]
[Umbra uses three hit dice and heals 19. She is at 25/38 and 0/3/0]
[Aurora uses arcane recovery to be at 4/3/3 (her full complement); she was already at 38/38]
Mathias decides to lighten his load a bit by leaving some of his rations in the storeroom.
It is decided that the main party will leave through the north door, while Tyrius, Larry, and Umbra will remain behind with Eddard and the mules. The “away team” is considered strong enough to handle the two security clockworks, while the others will remain in reserve in case healing or support is needed later. As the others leave, Tyrius begins to drag the remains of the defeated security clockwork into the table room [where the three lurkers hang in wait]. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Six
Still watching the windows, Leezar backed slowly to an open doorway, passed through and shut the heavy oaken door closed behind him. The room was pitch black and smelled of death and decay. Leezar fumbled in his pack and removed flint, steel, cotton, and a tarred torch. In half a minute he had the torch blazing and could see the room. Seven corpses and an upturned cauldron lay in the room. The corpses were not long dead - several weeks to a few months - but had been picked clean by rats and insects, and so were now just black robes, gnawed bones, and hair. Leezar knelt by the one with the longest, whitest hair. When he touched the hair itself all of the memories of the crones came back, and he gasped, swooned, and nearly passed out from the sudden pain of experiencing each of their deaths simultaneously. There was more than the memories he had experienced on the ship, though - there was a new, burning memory, of the moment of their deaths.
[Note: the following is originally from Post 76]
Babshapka is lifted through the trapdoor by Thokk, climbing silently into the room. There are two doors in the room, and from the nearer one comes the sounds of several voices united in chant. He calls softly down the trapdoor about the bottles and jars, and Aurora insists on being the next one through, though her ascent is not nearly as silent as his was.
Many of the jars have labels, and she can read in Suel things like “Eye of Newt," "Hair of Bat," "Snail hearts," and "Maresweat." She sends Charlotte under the near door, and the spider reports a small chamber with a cauldron in the center, and several human figures chanting around it and stirring. Aurora recalls her, then tries to send her under the far door, but the frame is too well fitted and the spider cannot squeeze through.
Aurora whispers a plan to Babshapka. They empty their packs of oil flasks, and stand with two in each hand. Babshapka is to kick open the door and toss in his flasks, and then Aurora will throw hers in followed by a [i]fireball.
Babshapka strides forward and kicks boldly at the door - but it opens out, not in, and his blow lands with a resounding thud. He looks over at Aurora, halfway through her spell and even now surrounded by a red, glowing light that is building in intensity. Babhapka turns and jumps down through the trapdoor.
Aurora rushes forward, turns the handle, and pulls open the door. Through the darkness of the room (K56) she can just barely see green-glowing wisps bubbling up from a huge black kettle. Electric sounds of cackling suddenly strike, sending a shudder through her as she retreats back into the potion room. Fully seven crones dressed in black robes turn to face her as she lets fly with her fireball, aiming for the far wall of their chamber.
A brilliant red spark flies from Aurora, impacting the wall. A half-second later there is a powerful explosion, filling the small room with fire. The robes of the women are instantly ablaze, the kettle knocked over by the concussive force. A shock wave followed by gouts of flame shoots out into the potions room, engulfing Aurora in fire. The tables behind her collapse, and the windows explode out in a shower of glass shards that fall to the courtyard below. Aurora is bowled over, but fortunately lands on top of the oil flasks in her hands and they do not ignite. The party later reports that flames even shot halfway down into the closet through the trapdoor.
Several moments later, Aurora is the first to her feet, before any of the crones. All about her are broken glassware and mingling liquids pooling on the floor. The labels have been singed or completely burnt away. In the chamber beyond lie seven bodies, none moving. Their upper halves smolder, while their lower halves are soaking in whatever liquid was in the kettle. Beyond where the kettle stood is a low stone pedestal, and on that sits open a thick leather-bound book. Even now flames are slowly consuming its parchment pages. “No!” shouts Aurora, and she hobbles into the room, slams the tome shut to extinguish the flames. When she opens it again half the pages, reduced to ash, fall out.
Aurora is still standing, looking dejectedly at the book, as the rest of the party ascends to the room. When she finally regains her composure, she tells them to wait while she casts a detect magic ritual. The intermingling liquids on the floor are magic - or were, though they are rapidly losing potency, and the book she holds is obviously a spellbook, but she finds no other foreign sources of arcane power in the room, not even the wicked-looking curved daggers that Babshapka is liberating from the bodies of the crones.[/i]
The memory now completely played out, Leezar staggered to his feet and set the cauldron aright. He disarticulated the bones of all the seven women, rearranged them around the cauldron into the unholy symbol of Graz’zt. Was it his imagination, or did the room actually get darker when he was done?
“So, now I know the people that did this,” he said to himself. “A half-elf wizard, her wood-elf guard, some others. I suppose the next thing is to find them and take my master’s revenge.”
“Revenge?” said a voice in the dark, and Leezar jumped in spite of himself. “No, your master has something far more important in mind. These servants were of minor and limited use to the Dark Prince. The wizard that slew them, Aurora, is more powerful then they ever were and is easily tempted by lust besides. Your mission is to find her, yes, but not for revenge. You are to turn her to the service of your master.”
“I understand,” says Leezar, and he nods in the dark.
“Take the crone’s hair. Let it be a token of Graz’zt’s favor.”
“As you command.”
Leezar grabbed the skull he had touched before, and the hair needed little persuasion to quit the rotting skin and bone. He tied it in a knot and put that in a bag, then waited to leave the castle until well after it was light and the owls gone. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Party rejoins mules - one roll
4:10am - vegepygmies
4:30am - Lurker above
5:10am - displacer beasts
5:50am - worker robot
6:10am - displacer beasts
1:10pm - displacer beasts
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
3:40pm (mules) worker robot
4pm (mules) worker robot
Party rejoins mules - one roll
5:30pm Police Robot, non-lethal
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
8:10pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (party) vegepygmies
Party, Mules, and Security Room all rolling separately
11:50pm (party) vegepygmies
Post 175: Two clockworks at once? 21 February, 571 [2 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 2
[DM's Note: This was definitely a difficult fight for the party, with three of them being taken out in the first round! The ability of the Security Robots to generate a force shield that can absorb damage each round is effectively 20 points of regeneration. To counteract this, the party needed effects that would continue to do damage each round, and they found them with the giant arrows and Mathias' witch bolt. Concentration is a hugely important mechanic in 5E. During the fight itself I looked some things up quickly and ruled that Mathias could maintain concentration on his spell even while paralyzed, allowing him to remain in the fight much longer. However, afterwards I learned that paralyzation breaks Concentration, RAW. See: https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/172352/unlisted-effects-of-incapacitated-condition]
(6:50pm)
As the away team works their way out and around the hallway, Tyrius exits the storeroom. He has not gone more than a few steps outside the door when the ceiling falls! This time he is ready, though. He lurches heavily to the side and the lurker drops on, and envelops, the destroyed clockwork while he remains free. Tyrius shouts for aid.
In the hall beyond the table room, the party, moving quietly, can barely hear Tyrius’ call for aid. “Oh, for Balor’s sake!” says Mathias. It is not clear whether he is mis-pronouncing Pelor, or deliberately invoking some other god.
Round One
Willa enters the more northerly of the two doors on the east of the table room. As she draws her sword and strides through the doorway, a second lurker drops from the ceiling, enveloping her! (Damage 7).
Umbra moves to the doorway of the storeroom. She sees two lurkers on the floor - both attempting to suffocate prey. She shoots three dark bolts at the closer one (11 damage to the one with the clockwork). Umbra at 0/3/0.
Eddard moves to the doorway between the storeroom and table room to block anything from entering and attacking the mules.
Babshapka, still in the outer hallway, shoots two arrows at the one smothering Willa. One of the shafts manages to pierce the tough hide of the creature (damage 12).
From the hallway doorway, Mathias sends forth two blasts of force on the one with Willa (one hit, 5 damage).
Larry squeezes out the storeroom door by walking under Eddard and between his front legs. He rakes his thorn whip across the lurker still holding the clockwork (5 damage).
Aurora stands just behind Mathias in the hallway doorway but does not enter the table room. She takes a second to assess both lurkers, then shoots a firebolt at the more distant one that appears more wounded (4 damage).
With the northern doorway blocked by comrades, Thokk and Shefak head for the southern doorway, open it, and run inside. Immediately the ceiling there falls as well! A third lurker (or fourth counting the one that was already dead) glides down but misses Thokk and Shefak and lands lightly on the floor. Ignoring it, Thokk continues moving until he reaches the one that has Willa. “No one eat Thokk’s warband!” he yells as he chops at the creature (one hit, 8 damage).
Tyrius beats on the clockwork lurker with his war hammer (one hit, 8 damage).
The lurker that has Willa in its grasp tries to tighten its hold, but her magical plate armor resists its crushing strength.
Round Two
The lurker that had enveloped the clockwork recognizes that its prey is not edible. It detaches, glides along the floor, and attempts to leave the area, but not before Tyrius takes another swing (opportunity attack, hit for 9 damage). The one squeezing Willa is unable to squeeze hard enough. The one that had tried to drop on Shefak and Thokk attempts to glide away but is sliced by Thokk (opportunity attack, hit for 11 damage).
Tyrius is able to keep up with the retreating lurker as it glides across the ground, and he batters at it (one hit, 9 points). Aurora continues to target it with her spells as well (firebolt hits for 12 damage).
Babshapka shoots through the doorway at the lurker restraining Willa (two hits, 16 damage). Larry uses his whip on that one as well, but this round he cannot break through its thick hide. Mathias continues his force attacks (two hits, 16 damage).
Thokk stabs his sword through the hide of one of the creatures many times, yelling “Thokk free his evil advisor!” as he does so (one hit for 12 damage kills the lurker - one hit does 11 damage to Willa). Willa shrugs off the last of the lurker’s embrace. “Thanks, Thokk,” she says, but the sarcasm in her voice is lost on the beaming barbarian. She grabs her sword from the floor and launches herself at the one that attacked Thokk (one hit, 7 damage).
Shefak leaps, slides across the surface of the table, and lands next to the lurker that is trying to flee Tyrius. She punches it, then does a spinning kick that knocks it into the wall, killing it. (Ki point, Flurry of blows, four attacks, two hits, 14 damage, fails save to get pushed back, knocked into wall, 4 more damage).
Round Three
Shefak turns, runs and jumps over the table, and lands with a kick to the last remaining lurker, then follows that up with two strikes of her glowing fists. (Ki point, Flurry of blows, 4 attacks, 3 hits, 23 damage).
Thokk turns and attacks the one remaining (2 hits, 19 damage), and Babshapka steps into the room to fire a last round of arrows at it (one hit, 11 damage). The last lurker is dead.
“T’at be ther fifth one o’ yon creatures in t’is cave!” exclaims Willa. “‘ow many more could thar be?”
“If they are as good at ambushing plant men as they are at attacking us, lots,” reasons Babshapka as he goes about collecting his arrows.
“They didnae eat their dead fellow…” says Larry, “so they nae be cannibals, an’ p’raps nae scavengers - jus’ ambushers wha’ take live prey.”
“War t’ey turnin’ tail fer real?” asks Willa, incredulous at the one that tried to flee.
“Och, aye,” affirms the dwarf. “Most predators wha’ ambush hae no stomach fer a fair fight.”
“Well, they can’t get into keyed doors, but seem to have no problem with these,” Tyrius indicates the outer doors of the table room, which were shut when he entered the room. “Why did they set up their ambush in this room, and why so many of them?’
“Maybe they can smell the mules?” offers Babshapka, and Larry nods his agreement.
“How long would it take you to look for cards?” asks Aurora of Larry.
“Wat, en their entrails?” he responds. “Ten, fifteen minutes each.”
Aurora brings Buckbeak out of his pocket dimension for the first time since they entered the ship, and tells him to wait here - if Larry doesn’t find any cards, he is to look for Aurora around the clockwork room to which they are headed and land on her shoulder. If Larry does find a card, he is to come get Aurora and circle her head. The hawk screeches its understanding and Larry nods.
Those in the party that are off to face the clockworks continue down the hall. Larry closes the doors of the table room and then starts dissecting the intestines of the creatures. Tyrius and Umbra move a divan to block the northern door of the resting room and then settle in to wait for the party’s return.
(7pm)
As the away team passes the apartments in the hallway on the way to the clockworks, they go in each to check their exterior walls. They searched the rooms themselves before, but did not note the curvature of the wall on Willa’s sketch maps.
(7:10pm)
Outside the door of the clockworks, Willa and Aurora each take out a black stopperless flask. Aurora shows Willa how to ready it before throwing. [Willa now has a -3 on the chart to use the device] They retreat down the hall, while invisible Shefak peeks in the room to confirm that there are still two security clockworks inside. When she closes the door and tells the team that it is a go, they whisper the finishing touches on their plan. There is some debate on whether they should close the door to protect themselves from an explosion, or leave it open in case the blast damages the door to the point it can’t be opened again. They finally decide that they will leave it open. Willa sets her ioun stone in rotation about her head in anticipation of sleeping gas and sets her exploding flask on a three second delay.
The plan: Thokk will open the door. Willa will throw the flask, attempting to land it between the two clockworks. Everyone will flatten themselves against the near wall, away from the doorway. After the explosion, they will rush the room. Thokk will rage and run in first so that everyone has advantage on his target. After Thokk enters, Willa and Shefak will converge in melee on whichever of the two clockworks Thokk has selected. The missile troops will remain in the hallway and acquire targets. Aurora in particular will have a mage hand going with a readied action to carry away any flasks that appear, and will also be looking for any unkeyed doors to open so as to dispose of clockwork-shot flasks in other rooms.
Surprise Round; Party’s chosen initiative order
Willa nods to Thokk and he opens the door. She depresses the plunger of the flask, twists it halfway, depresses it again, and throws. (Roll 2-3= 0; Circle. 5-3 = 2; Finish. To-hit roll (dex, no proficiency) 11+3 = 14). The flask lands precisely between the two clockworks. Willa loudly counts “two...t’ree…” as the party flattens themselves against the wall. On “t’ree” there is an explosion and a blast of concussive force, but nothing flies out the door. [Willa has now successfully used a flask (-2), been instructed in its use (-2), and has seen a flask in use (-1), so she will have a -5 in the future. She will be able to use the flask now without having to roll on the table because any roll will result in success.]
[The black flask does 8 points of damage to the force shield of each clockwork. They are immune to both its stunning and deafening effects]
Thokk enrages and runs into the room. There are two clockworks; he chooses to attack the one on his right, to keep the other one on his shield side while he fights. He hits the clockwork twice; his first hit brings down its force shield (15 points, total 23 to shield), his second dents its metal body (14 points, total 17 to body).
Willa is right behind Thokk. The bins of clockwork parts that were set up on a table in the room have been upset by the blast and pieces of metal and broken cave horn are scattered about the room, but it does not appear that the clockworks themselves were damaged by the blast. Still, Thokk is scoring good hits on one of the machines, so she piles on while it is distracted by him. (Two hits, damage 30, total 47 to body).
Shefak summons her Ki and is next through the door. She unleashes a flurry of blows against the clockwork, and thanks to Thokk’s rage, hits it all four times (26 damage, total 73 to body). With a massive kick to its head while she jerks on a tentacle, she manages to topple the creature to the ground, where it falls heavily (Dex save 5. First clockwork is prone. Melee attacks on it are now at advantage even without Thokk’s rage, but missile attacks are at disadvantage).
From the hallway, Babshapka maneuvers so that he can see both clockworks. The plan was to take them out one at a time, but the one that the melee fighters are surrounding is now prone and a more difficult target; he is as likely to hit one of his party as the clockwork itself. He draws and fires on the undamaged one across the room. (Two hits, 13 damage is 21 total, shield down, 1 point to body).
The stated plan was that melee fighters were to converge on one clockwork while missile troops provided support from the hall. No one thought to specify which type of fighter, missile or melee, Mathias was. He runs in the door, and when he is within a stone’s throw of the standing clockwork he shoots forth the personal lightning he used to such devastating effect on the female clockwork. (Attack hits, 3d12 damage, doubled for clockwork vulnerability to electricity). Electricity arcs through the body of the machine.
Aurora has been waiting, mage hand at the ready, but no flask has yet appeared from their foes. From the doorway, she can see two pressure-plated doors out of the room - but they are both too distant for her spell to reach. “Open one of the doors!” she screeches to those in the room.
Round One
Mathias holds his position, concentrating on keeping his clockwork engulfed in lightning. (6 points of damage, doubled to 12). “We got this!” he yells encouragingly.
With a loud hum and a flash of blue force, the prone and legless clockwork re-establishes its force shield and then somehow rights itself and levitates to an upright position without using its hands. A panel opens in its torso, its “ovipositor” emerges, and a familiar blue flask is ejected at its base. “Sleep gas!” shouts Aurora, and then uses her mage hand to pick up the flask before it can detonate. The far corner of the room is too far for her hand to travel, but it flies to 30 feet away from her and then tosses the flask into the corner, at which point it promptly explodes, covering about a quarter of the room in the thick, blue gas. No party members are in the immediate vicinity thanks to her readied action.
The second clockwork also brings its force shield back online, then opens a large panel on its face. The glass retort emerges with a shower of golden sparks. It swivels until it finds three of the four people in the room in the conical area of effect, and then unleashes a paralysis beam. Shefak and Mathias are caught squarely in the beam and can’t move at all. Willa is hit at the edge and feels her muscles go numb, but thinks she will be able to pull out of it much sooner than the last time (Willa makes her save and is paralyzed for 4 rounds, Mathias and Shefak fail their saves and will be out for many minutes).
Seeing three of the party suddenly incapacitated, Babshapka thinks he will need more than arrows. He drops his bow and flips open the hand mirror he had ready on his belt, immediately depressing the thumb trigger. (Roll 10-3 = 7; Charge Wasted) A beam blasts out and hits the ground at his feet. The metal of the floor buckles and bends, with bubbles and stress cracks appearing. Babshapka forces himself to calm down and uses the knob to flip on the targeting screen, moves the mirror until he can see the clockwork in the crosshairs on the screen. (Roll 3-3 = 0; Circle. 10-3 = 7; Triangle. 8-3 = 5; Start. 1-3 = 1; Circle. 6-3 = 3; Finish). It takes longer than he wants, but when he sees the crosshairs centered, he presses the trigger, and the mirror shoots forth its ray. (DC13 dex save failed by clockwork, 5d6 damage = 15.) The clockwork is hit with a solid blast from the mirror and its force shield flickers but remains up. [Babshapka has now used the mirror (-2), been instructed in its use (-2), and has seen it in use by another (-1), so he will have a -5 in the future. He will be able to use the mirror now without having to roll on the table because any roll will result in success]
Thokk, seeing not only his evil advisor but the kicking woman and the funny newcomer taken out as well, is confused and further enraged. He decides to leave off attacking the clockwork he was hitting and attack the other one, before it can paralyze more of his friends. Forgoing his shield-form, he grabs his longsword with both hands and attacks recklessly. (One hit, 13 damage). His wild swings bring down the force shield again, and do a bit more damage to the creature’s body. Electricity from Mathias’ spell, still flowing between the paralyzed man and the clockwork, plays along the blade of Thokk’s sunsword, but does not reach the hilt. Thokk ignores the yelling sounds coming from Aurora as the blue gas cloud expands in the room.
Desperate to end this fight, Aurora pulls out her wand of polymorph, shoots a beam at the clockwork Thokk left to his unguarded back, and tries to turn it into a sheep. The beam hits it squarely, but has no effect (Clockwork saves, wand to 19 charges). She tries to remember whether the wand can affect non-living things and thinks she remembers it can affect golems.
Round Two
Babshapka, now with more confidence, adjusts the range on the mirror and holds it forth against the paralyzing clockwork. He fires twice (Clockwork fails both Dex saves, 21 + 24 = 45 points damage. The mirror’s power disc is now at zero). The mirror emits a faint pinging sound, the screen display fades, and Babshapka moves out of the doorway into the cover of the hall as he reaches for his bow.
With its grasping metal hands, the paralyzing clockwork reaches forth and grabs both Mathias and Shefak. It lifts their bodies into the air with ease, and then rolls forward, reaching the doorway and passing out into the hall. Thokk bellows at it and scores a hit as it retreats (opportunity attack, hit for 9 points), but this just lands on its re-established force shield.
The other clockwork, to Thokk’s rear, opens a huge chest plate. A long metal wand emerges and Willa, unable to move, silently screams a warning to Thokk to turn around. Two blasts of light emerge and strike Thokk in the back (attack with advantage due to Thokk’s reckless attack, both shots hit, total 20 points radiant damage, no reduction from rage).
Mathias may be paralyzed, but that doesn’t stop his mind from working. He wills his electricity to continue coursing through the clockwork even as it is hauling him away [Mathias is incapacitated and cannot take actions, but fortunately for all of them the DM misrules that maintaining Concentration while paralyzed is possible, 4 points electricity is doubled to 8]
Thokk staggers forward from the laser blasts to his back. He hopes his friends in the hall can save Mathias and Shefak - but more than that he wants revenge on the clockwork that just hit him. He turns and brings his sword down hard, managing to collapse its force shield again (two hits, 25 damage, 20 to force shield, 5 to body, 78 total to body).
Aurora gives way rather than be run over by the retreating clockwork wheeling her friends rapidly down the hall. She fires four magic missiles after it (11 damage, Aurora to 4/2/2).
Round Three
An enraged Thokk curses and growls and continues to strike at the one clockwork left in the room (one hit, 10 damage, 88 total to body)
Mathias smiles inwardly as he shoots yet more lightning into the clockwork in the hall (7 points doubled is 14). Smoke emerges from the open panel in its face and it slowly wheels to a halt. Mathias and Shefak are still suspended by its hands.
Willa is still struggling - she can begin to feel her limbs and almost move them...the blue gas has filled nearly half the room, and is threatening to envelop Thokk, who is ignoring it.
The remaining clockwork in the room brings up its force shield again, then fires off two more blasts of radiant energy at Thokk, but he blocks them with his shield.
With the threat in the hall resolved, Aurora steps back into the doorway, wand in hand. She has an idea...clockwork to sheep may be too great a change, but what about clockwork to clockwork? She fires the wand at the clockwork battling Thokk, trying to imagine it turning into one of the cleaning automatons...and it does! (Polymorph wand to 18 charges, clockwork fails save).
The new cleaning clockwork shudders and shakes. The air is filled with the scent of oil and disappointment. “Don’t attack it!” yells Aurora.
Round Four
Thokk finally notices the expanding gas cloud and remembers the other clockwork that made him sleep. He grabs Willa, and lifts her taut form in the air to carry her out of the room.
“No, Thokk!” calls Aurora. “She has her stone!” Indeed, the ioun stone is still circling Willa’s rigid body. “Bring the clockwork!”
Thokk lets go of Willa and grabs the cleaning clockwork in a bear hug and lifts it off of the ground. It struggles against his grasp but cannot break free (grapple attack - contested athletics check). He staggers to the door with it fighting all the way. Aurora explains to him and Babshapka that if they attack the clockwork, it will revert to its normal form, so they have to keep track of it until the rest of the party is no longer paralyzed. When they attack it, they will need to all attack it at once so as to bring it down quickly even after it changes back.
5e polymorph wrote:
The target assumes the Hit Points of its new form. The transformation lasts for the Duration of the spell, or until the target drops to 0 Hit Points or dies. When it reverts to its normal form, the creature returns to the number of Hit Points it had before it transformed. If it reverts as a result of Dropping to 0 Hit Points, any excess damage carries over to its normal form.
In the hallway, the clockwork continues to struggle against Thokk’s grasp. It knees him in the groin and he gasps in pain and drops it. It rights itself, clumps quickly into the room, and turns a knob on the desk. There is a rush of air, and the blue gas begins to be sucked into the ventilation system as the room clears.
Round Five
With a hoarse shout, Willa slumps and then stands, finally able to move. “Thank ther Great Sea Cow o’ ther South!” she exclaims, as she staggers over to the wall to get her balance. She presses the door panel, and the east door opens. The room beyond is full of tables, workbenches, and bins of parts and tools. A dozen security clockworks, in various stages of disrepair and none moving, lay on the tables and benches. A single cleaning clockwork stands over one, using tools to open a chest panel on one of the others, a complicated gear mechanism in one hand.
Thokk stands up in the hall and moves angrily back into the room, sword in hand. “Not yet!” calls Aurora. “We need to get everyone back and ready!”
Thokk snorts. “Evil advisor ready. That enough!” He strides over to the cleaning clockwork, who is now busily gathering the scattered parts on the floor and organizing them back into the bins. He raises his sword and brings it down twice on the unsuspecting clockwork (one hit, 16 damage).
Aurora sighs and launches a firebolt. (Hit, 8 damage, total 24).
Babshapka puts a giant arrow to his bow, but waits for the clockwork’s transformation back to the security version.
Round Six
Thokk continues to pound on the defenseless clockwork (two hits, 23 damage, total 47).
Willa closes the door on the east wall, and walks with increasing control to the door on the south wall.
“Uh, Willa, we all need to be ready when this thing turns,” says Aurora.
“It hain’t turned yet,” says Willa, and presses the panel. The door opens on some sort of supply closet, filled with shelves of machine parts. She leaves the door open and turns to face the center of the room.
Aurora groans and launches another firebolt (hit, 12 damage, total 59).
Babshapka checks the halls to either side, making sure nothing is coming and Mathias and Shefak are alright although still paralyzed, and keeps his giant arrow nocked.
The clockwork beeps and starts a loud alarm call, sounding much like the doors when an incorrect card is used. It heads rapidly for the door, legs pumping awkwardly but furiously. Thokk takes a parting shot (opportunity attack hits, damage 14, total 73).
Round Seven
The clockwork moves quickly past Babshapka and Aurora - it is fast! As it threatens to turn the corner, Babshapka fires off one of his giant killer arrows, sending it through a hole Thokk rent in the body. (Damage 14, total 87). There is the sound of gears grinding as it staggers to halt, shudders, and begins to change its form back into that of security clockwork (shield up, total 95 to body retained from before). Interestingly, Babshapka’s giant arrow remains piercing a hole in its body even as it transforms. It starts forward down the hall again.
“Get out here!” yells Aurora to Thokk and Willa, and follows up her admonition with a firebolt (16 damage, all to force shield). As Thokk and Willa pass her, Aurora ducks back into the room, and out of the line of sight of the clockwork.
Round Eight
Thokk and Willa catch up to the clockwork just after it has rounded the corner to the west. Babshapka is behind them, and his arrows fly faster than they can run. Two more giant killer arrows, for a total of three, now protrude from its chassis. Thokk catches up to it and hits it twice (20 damage). Willa is farther behind.
The clockwork lashes out at Thokk with its hands of flexible metal. He beats one off, but the other grabs him and lifts him off of the ground (one successful grapple attack not beaten by Thokk's Athletics]. Thokk is impressed - he doesn’t think even his mighty muscles could lift the machine one-handed!
Round Nine
While one hand restrains Thokk, the other attempts to further secure him, and the tentacles lash at him. The clockwork wheels itself rapidly down the hall, and turns the corner out of sight of Willa and Babshapka. However, Thokk can see sparks flying out of the machine around the shafts of the arrows (11 points this round of giant arrows continuing to do damage). Shortly after it turns the corner, the clockwork rolls to a halt and the hand slowly lowers Thokk to the ground. The machine is now just a smoking ruin.
[DM’s Note: This facility has functioning video cameras that archive records here and transmit them to the security HQ. Thus, the party’s fight against the two security robots was recorded and analyzed. The repair robot working in the next room will upgrade the AC of security robots taking into account the means the party used to attack, at a +1 for each robot the party is on record as defeating. The security robots had an AC of 11 at the start of the module. All wandering security robots now encountered will be AC13 and resistant to fire damage.]
(7:30pm)
Over the next several minutes Thokk and Willa drag both clockworks, as well as Shefak and Mathias, into the room and close the door. Babshapka retrieves the shafts of his giant killer arrows from one of the clockworks. The heads have broken off, as they were designed to do, and wreaked havoc among the internal gearing systems. He then begins to patrol the hallway outside the room, moving from one corner to the other.
Buckbeak appears, alighting on Aurora’s shoulder (which indicates Larry did not find any cards in the lurker innards).
Aurora and Willa discuss the fact that the security clockworks seemed to want to take captured prisoners somewhere, and that that place, wherever it might be, would be more likely than anywhere else on the ship to have food, fuel, power discs, and cards. They agree that should the opportunity present itself again, they may want to allow themselves, or at least one of their number, to be captured, and have the rest follow the clockworks back to their base. When they explain this to Thokk, he agrees to the plan only on the assumption that wherever their “lair” is, there will be more than two of the creatures to fight, since just two was not a challenge enough for him. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
The hair of the crone proved a potent token indeed. For one thing, when Leezar carried it on his person, he found he could use it as an arcane focus for his spells. No longer would he need to carry water, a lightning-struck twig, bat fur, coal, and a feather for his various hexes. Even more importantly, once per night at midnight, he could command the hair to “show me your killer” and toss it in the air. It would unerringly land in a straight line, pointing the way for his next day’s travel.
It took him several weeks to cross the Little Hills, Sterich, and Geoff, following the hair each night. One fly spell took him more than two miles in ten minutes. A second spell could have taken him just as far, but in practice he spent the last few minutes searching for a safe place to rest, for he would have to camp for an hour or more before regaining the power he needed to do the same again. He flew in short bursts, for all the night, covering some thirty or forty miles a night, straight in the direction of Aurora, and easily crossing barriers like rivers, mires, and mountains. He slept through the days. His night travels were aided by his invocation of Fiend's Sight.
When he reached northern Geoff, he received another communication. This time he was told to seek out a boatman who lived on the Isle of Rhȗn. As he neared the lake, he learned more. The Island was sacred to the Old Flan Gods and shrouded in mist that even his Fiend's Sight would not penetrate, for it was the center of power of a conclave of Druids. However, the boatman, whose duty it was to ferry those granted audience with the Druids to the island and back, was secretly a worshiper of Graz’zt. He had been a worshiper of the Old Gods in his youth, and a druid as well, but when the hierarchy rejected him as unworthy for further promotion he was devastated, though they kept him on as a servant. In bitterness and despair his thoughts turned dark, and Graz’zt was happy to add him as a follower and satisfy his ego in other ways.
Leezar met with the fallen druid in a small village at the edge of the lake. The man explained that the party had indeed passed through here some two weeks ago. He had overheard them speaking with one of the Druids about traveling to the Unoerthly Cave. They had asked for assistance from the druids in finding the cave, and had not been entirely happy with what the druids had offered. Leezar was pleased. The hair of the crone could be used to find the party easily, but he now understood that they were deep in remote and frozen mountains. It would be exceedingly suspicious for him to just show up when they had seen no one in weeks. They were unlikely to let him join the party. But if he could tell them that he had been sent by the Druids to aid them…
The next day he set out for the cave, traveling higher and higher into the mountains, until the air grew thin and it was below freezing even at mid-day. Eventually he found the opening of the cave, but inside was a curious set of metal doors. Nothing he could do would open the doors - no spell, no object, no force. Even summoning his pact weapon in a myriad of forms, nothing parted the supernaturally hard metal doors. He made his camp and waited - the hair told him that they were within. He knew better than to pray for aid or wisdom. He had learned early on that his role was to remain receptive and do what the demonic voices bid of him, not ask them for help. Asking for help was a sign of weakness and failure in the eyes of Graz’zt.
That night, well after sunset, the sky suddenly grew light for the briefest of moments. A ray of sunshine entered the cave and shone upon the doors. They parted with a brief mechanical whirring and Leezar entered. The inside was huge and strange, with halls and rooms all of metal. The doors closed resoundingly behind him. Now he had only to find the party...
(Once Leezar finds the party, he levels to 6th):
Leezarius Angelicus Temtonio, aka "Leezar", aka "Mathias"
New abilities in bold.
Sixth Level Warlock / Human (Oerid) (Noble)
Str 10 (0) Dex 16 (+3) Con 13 (+1) Int 8 (-1) Wis 9 (-1) Cha 18 (+4)
Hp 38, Languages Common, Velondi
Skills: Deception, History, Investigation, Persuasion
Otherworldly Patron - Dark Prince Graz'zt
Cantrips (3): Blade Ward, Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand,
Spells (7) - all cast at level 3): Burning Hands, Witch Bolt, Armor of Agathys, Darkness, Dispel Magic, Fly, Hex
Invocations (3): Thirsting Blade, One With Shadows, Fiend's Sight
Pact Boon: Pact of the Blade
Special Ability: Saved by the Bell. Because of his work as a pit fighter and his experience taking dives, may make a Deception check to convincingly feign unconsciousness or death. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Party rejoins mules - one roll
4:10am - vegepygmies
4:30am - Lurker above
5:10am - displacer beasts
5:50am - worker robot
6:10am - displacer beasts
1:10pm - displacer beasts
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
3:40pm (mules) worker robot
4pm (mules) worker robot
Party rejoins mules - one roll
5:30pm Police Robot, non-lethal
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
8:10pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (party) vegepygmies
Party, Mules, and Security Room all rolling separately
11:50pm (party) vegepygmies
Post 177: Go to Jail. Go Directly to Jail 21 February, 571 [2 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 2
(7:30pm)
Over the next several minutes Thokk and Willa drag both clockworks, as well as the paralyzed Shefak and Mathias, into the room and close the door. Babshapka retrieves the shafts of his giant killer arrows from one of the clockworks. The heads have broken off, as they were designed to do, and wreaked havoc among the internal gearing systems. He then begins to patrol the hallway outside the room, moving from one corner to the other.
Buckbeak appears, alighting on Aurora’s shoulder (which indicates Larry did not find any cards in the lurker innards).
Aurora and Willa discuss the fact that the security clockworks seemed to want to take captured prisoners somewhere, and that that place, wherever it might be, would be more likely than anywhere else on the ship to have food, fuel, power discs, and cards. They agree that should the opportunity present itself again, they may want to allow themselves, or at least one of their number, to be captured, and have the rest follow the clockworks back to their base. When they explain this to Thokk, he agrees to the plan only on the assumption that wherever their “lair” is, there will be more than two of the creatures to fight, since just two was not a challenge enough for him.
(7:30-7:50pm)
When they have finished speaking, Willa puts her stone away and searches the room while Aurora moves into the next one, with the cleaning clockwork. She spends a long time watching the clockwork, attempting to determine how much time it will take to fix one of the security clockworks. She also speaks to the mechanical creature continuously, hoping to activate whatever tongues or comprehend languages ability she triggered with the first one they encountered. However, it never responds or even seems to take account of her. Furthermore, it seems to be doing little more than absent-minded puttering rather than targeted repair: it picks up and puts down a long series of parts before finally bringing one over to a clockwork, it opens and closes any number of panels before finally inserting the part, welds or solders it in a shower of sparks, then more often than not breaks the same piece off again. When it finally does leave the part installed and intact, it then proceeds to check nearly all of the broken clockworks in the room before it returns again to the trays of parts. With this “ten steps forward, nine steps back” approach it will likely take hours if not days to completely repair even one of the many clockworks in the room with it. Thokk hovers nearby, hoping the clockwork will give him an excuse to attack, and occasionally massaging his wounded manhood and his damaged pride.
[For her attentive watching of the clockwork’s use of tools, Aurora now has a +1 on Sleight of Hand checks to open up the clockworks and extract components from them]
Willa checks quickly through all the bins of parts in the other room but finds no cards or weapons. She moves to the desk. There are no drawers, but there are several rows of knobs as well as two screens of dark-plated glass that she thinks could be ‘vid-screens’.
Willa moves to the supply closet and goes quickly through the parts, again looking for weapons, cards, power discs, maps, and such. However, the gears and cogs there are of no obvious function aside from somehow fitting inside the clockworks. After ten minutes she does find a black horn case, the size of a small valise. It has a simple latch mechanism and no traps that she can see. She gets out her stone before she opens it as a precaution. Inside, the case is completely lined with cave sponge except for a dozen narrow slots. Each slot is filled with a single power disc. She passes the case to Babshapka and puts away her stone.
Babshapka withdraws a few of the discs - each of them is set to six / full. He grins in satisfaction and takes the case to Aurora. When she sees its contents she gives a whoop of excitement and exclaims “Blessed be the Scholar!” She shows Babshapka how to extract and insert discs in his mirror, her retort, and the atmospheric analyzer.
Babshapka takes the empty power disc from the mirror and puts it in the box, swapping out for two full discs. He replaces one of these full discs in the mirror and carries another one loosely.
(8pm)
With groans, Shefak and Mathias are finally able to move and they come into the parts room. Aurora is now set to leave. She proposes they destroy the cleaning clockwork so that it cannot repair any more of the clockworks they will later have to fight. “Now hold on there,” Mathias objects. “These things seem to be running the ship - what if they are the ones keeping the air flowing, or keeping the monsters in check?” Aurora has to admit that that is a possibility, and when Willa asks her how long before the security clockworks in this room will be repaired, she shrugs and says “Days?” It is decided that they will leave the clockwork to its tasks.
Willa asks whether Aurora has searched this room and she admits she has not. Willa tells her to check the desk in the other room while she searches here.
Willa goes through the bins and trays of parts, her searches unhindered by the clockwork. Here she does find plenty of weapons systems - many copies of the metal wand of damaging light and the paralyzing retort. However, none of them have spaces to insert power discs. Rather they have wires and cables and are set up to be run off of what Aurora said was the clockworks’ internal power supply. She finds no cards, or flasks, or discs. Willa considers taking all of the weapons, including the ones already installed, so that even if the security clockworks are repaired, they will be relatively harmless. It is a good idea in principle, but in practice she and Aurora are already overloaded and the rest of the party are at their weight limit. Taking all of the wands and retorts would mean taking on several hundred pounds of metal and glass, so it is just not practical at the moment - perhaps they can return later. She also notes that this room has a carded door to the south, but it is violet-keyed.
Aurora enters the next room and uses her new knowledge to open up the two clockworks recently disabled by the party in the combat. In the first one, the atmospheric analyzer has been completely smashed in the fight. The compartment for the flasks is dented as well, and has several wires thrust into it and occasionally sparking. She might be able to extract the flasks, but at the risk of setting them off in the process. She decides to leave them in place. She does extract a full power disc, however, and claims it for herself. The second clockwork is more intact. Its atmospheric analyzer is broken, but she recovers a full set of flasks for Willa as well as a power disc at 5 charges, which she places in the black case. Mathias asks to carry some discs “just in case”, and she gives him two full ones from the case as well as transferring two empty ones to Thokk.
Mathias asks whether she is sure that neither of the clockworks have cards in them, and Aurora says that it appears so. “Well, I guess I lost then,” he admits, and starts rummaging in his pack for “fey juice”, whatever that is.
“Stow it,” says Willa. “I be on duty a’ ther moment. ‘Twill be time eno’ when next we rest.”
(8:10pm)
[Unbeknownst to either the party or Eddard, a patrol of vegepygmies has entered the table room. They find the dead lurkers, and reflect that perhaps there are more benefits to their truce with the party than they initially realized. They resolve to trust more the wisdom of their subchiefs as they work together to carry the lurker bodies back to the mulch room one at a time.]
Watched closely by Mathias, Aurora examines the desk. By manipulating the knobs she is able to control the airflow in the room, open and close all three of the doors without touching their panels, turn on and off and even dim and brighten the lights in the room, and turn on an alarm that she quickly silences. However, nothing that she does seems to activate the screens.
(8:20pm)
Having exhausted all possibilities for the suite of three rooms, the party prepares to set out. Willa asks Shefak whether or not she can take them to the mess hall that she found by following the cleaning clockwork, and the monk nods.
The way leads north by the pile of refuse in the hall and then past the lounge where they found the hidden notes. Opening a large double door with a press panel, they find a room that is instantly recognizable as a feast hall or mess hall. Several long, high tables and numerous chairs are set up as if a meal were in progress. However, many of the chairs are overturned, and there is no evidence of food, trenchers, or utensils. All of the chairs are individual rather than being benches. More grimly, the bones of many humans or humanoids lie strewn about - some in reasonably articulated skeletons and some scattered. Most have rags of fabric clinging to them but no weapons or other devices are in sight.
Each of the tables has one or two inset metal panels with small grills. These could be stove tops for cooking at the tables themselves, but no fuel source is apparent. The metal panels have sections of glass, often broken, and the metal fixtures themselves are bent and dented.
The tables have fixed legs rather than trestle construction and are in fact bolted to the floor. They are made from cave horn and metal.
The chairs have normal backs, but no legs. Rather, the seat continues down the front, across the bottom, and up the lower back, so that the whole thing from the side rather resembles a lower base “b”. The chairs are made of cave horn.
“If this be a feast hall, war did ther food come from?” asks Willa. Babshapka spends ten minutes checking the walls for secret doors, while Mathias spends the time checking all the bodies and bones. They find neither means of egress nor key cards or other identification.
(8:30pm)
Returning out into the hall, Willa says that they should check the black-keyed rooms near where they fought the female clockwork. “Yes, Serjeant Stoutly!” agrees Mathias.
They start with the next room over from where they stored the body of the clockwork. “How do you open the doors?” asks Mathias. “I need to learn this stuff.” Babshapka takes out a black card and instructs him in both how to use it and the significance of the colors.
The first room and the next (8:35) are standard apartments, the last (8:40) is a looted storeroom. Shefak guards the intersection, and cautions the party against approaching as there are plant men nearby down the next corridor. They decide to continue the search down the corridor to the south.
Along the west wall of the south corridor are five doors, all with black key locks but one already open. They find a looted storeroom (8:40), and then a series of four apartments (8:45, 8:50, 8:55, 9pm).
(9pm)
[Unbeknownst to either the party or Eddard, a patrol of vegepygmies pauses outside the storeroom, and then continues.]
Willa is about to send for Shefak to recall her when the monk comes running back of her own accord, warning that something is disturbing the plant men and that they are massing in their hallway! Willa commands Babshapka to check the only door they have not opened yet and try to find a way out. The others prepare to run or fight if needed.
Babshapka checks the far door, which leads to an apartment. It is large, large enough for them all, but it is a dead end - no way out other than how he came in. When he relays this information to Willa, she tells the party to make for the intersection and retreat.
Shefak leads the way, but before the rest of the party can arrive she makes herself visible and motions them back. “Nine plant men and two dogs,” she says.
Willa ushers the party through the door of the open apartment while Babshapka readies his mirror. The last of them are not through the doorway and are still in sight when the thorn dogs reach the intersection. Immediately the creatures turn, heads dropping and thorns bristling in the direction of the party - but they do not rush forward.
Aurora sends Buckbeak above their heads, to the intersection and then east, but they do not pursue. Rather, they remain at the intersection until their plant men masters arrive. The diminutive creatures brandish their weapons at the sight of the party but do not advance. Several moments pass by. When neither side makes an aggressive move, the plant men continue to the east out of sight.
Several in the party let out held breaths. The size of the group itself was no concern - those present would have made short work of them. But the whole combat would have been a stone’s throw from the plant man hallway and a perhaps endless source of reinforcements.
“Perhaps they were just a patrol?” suggests Aurora. Willa nods and says that whatever they were, it appears that their truce with the party still holds. She says that they will continue searching rooms, but not in the direction that the plant men went. That means they will need to pass through the intersection that lies at the end of the plant man corridor.
(9:05pm)
Using the same procedure as before, the party passes one at a time through the intersection and then up the wide hall to the north, keeping their weapons away and looking non-threatening. The plant men mass together and display, but do not attack or pursue. Eventually the entire away team finds themselves at a T-intersection of 20-foot wide hallways. To the south are fully seven black-keyed doors, with one more brown-keyed one in the southeast. Along the northern wall are just two doors, both with push panels rather than keys. The eastern and western hallways both turn to the north.
Before they enter deeper into the new hallway, Willa asks Babshapka to check for tracks, and the ranger reports that there are human-sized markings, besides the obvious foot prints of the plant men and thorn dogs. When she remarks on the presence of the human tracks, Babshapka reminds her of the female clockwork, which they fought nearby.
(9:10pm)
Willa sets a watch on each of the hallways - Thokk south to where the plant men are, Shefak on the eastern corridor that turns north, and a recalled Buckbeak on the western corridor that turns north. The rest of them (Willa, Aurora, Babshapka, and Mathias) investigate the first black-keyed door to the east, but find only a standard looted apartment. Willa offers, and the others agree, that likely all of the doors to the south will be similar, for they are spaced evenly and cover the same space. They decide to try the unlocked doors to the north.
(9:15pm)
The eastern door leads to a 20’ x 30’ room that looks to have an exit corridor in the rear as well as a keyed door on the east wall. Their immediate impression is that the place is distinct from other rooms in that it has not been looted: there are no piles of debris on the floor and there are two desks with chairs behind them that are in good condition. [Medical Area: Main records office and examination clinic]
Willa is the first in the room with Mathias right behind her. As soon as Willa enters, however, a disembodied voice, like that of a magic mouth spell, begins speaking. The language is unfamiliar. Willa immediately turns and exits the room, but Mathias proceeds to a desk and moves the chair to better access the drawers.
“Are you sure you want to be in there?” calls Babshapka to Mathias, over the sound of the alien language.
“We’re supposed to be checking rooms, aren’t we?” he responds.
“Ther door nae be locked - bu’ ther room ain’t looted - might be it hae some way o’ protectin’ itself.” Willa answers.
“At least let me see what that voice is saying first,” suggests Aurora.
Matthias shrugs and rejoins the party in the hall. The voice has repeated its short message three times and then stopped.
With the others on watch in the hallway, Aurora completes her ritual of comprehend languages.
(9:25pm)
With the ritual spell completed, all of those not on watch enter the room, Willa with her stone going. The voice repeats three times again, but this time Aurora understands what it is saying:
“All medical personnel are currently absent; please return at the start of the next duty shift. Emergency cases can report to Med 1 or Med 2 for attention.”
Babshapka moves to the rear of the room and looks down the interior corridor, while Mathias returns to the desk he was at before. As soon as he opens a drawer, however, an alarm sounds. It is similar to the alarms for when a wrong color card was used on a door, but louder. The noise fills the rooms and spills out into the hall. Willa winces and motions them out again.
Mathias looks up, but seems to want to finish his search. The desk has but a few drawers, and each has only curious dark panes of glass with metal frames in them. It is possible a small item could have fallen between drawers or there could be a hidden panel but that would take more searching. [Unbeknownst to the party, Mathias has found and secreted on his person a yellow key card]
Babshapka opens the pressure plate door and looks quickly around the room, which is strangely furnished. It is not clear whether it is meant to be an uncomfortable bedroom or a comfortable cell or torture chamber. There is a single bed with side rails and obvious locations for restraints. A smaller litter is nearby, curious in that it is wheeled. A thin, standing curtain has a sheer fabric mounted on a flexible folding frame that seems mounted to the floor and ceiling.
Willa grabs her stone from the air so that she is able to speak, steps into the hall and tells Thokk and Shefak to be extra vigilant. She has just turned around to re-enter the room when Buckbeak shrieks. Willa turns to the west and sees a security clockwork rounding the corner.
Round 1
FWOOM! The clockwork launches a flask that falls to the ground at Willa’s feet. She sucks in her breath and holds it just as the space around her is filled with billowing blue vapors. (Willa makes Con save). The clockwork advances rapidly down the hall toward her.
Babshapka leaves the interior room and continues to the west. He finds another office with a single long counter and two chairs behind it. He moves to the door.
Aurora follows Babshapka, but pauses at the desk and tries to find a knob that might control ventilation like in the clockwork repair room. The counter does not appear to have any control knobs. Buckbeak sails through the sleep gas cloud, in the open door, down the corridor, and alights on her shoulder.
Shefak invokes her Ki to run up beside the clockwork, but hesitates to attack. She waits for a command from Willa. Thokk has no such concerns. He barrels out of the southern corridor, draws his sword, and immediately lays into the clockwork. (Two hits, total 18 points, all absorbed by the force shield). Shefak follows up with a flurry of blows against the clockwork.
Mathias stands up from his search of the desk and draws his greatsword.
Round 2
Willa tosses her stone back into the air. Hoping that the others remember the plan to follow the clockwork back to its base, she pretends to stagger into the wall, and then slump unconscious to the floor (Deception roll 15 - everyone viewing her (Thokk, Shefak, and Clockwork) rolls less than that on Insight and believes that she is actually unconscious).
Mathias dashes to the other office and finds Aurora and Babshapka.
Babshapka opens the door and darts into the hall, the mirror in his hand. He sees Willa slumped on the floor by the other door and moves to support Thokk and Shefak.
Thokk and Shefak continue their attacks on the clockwork.
Aurora yells that they need to remember the plan, then moves to the open doorway.
The clockwork brings its force shield back up. Quickly calculating the distance between Shefak, Babshapka, and Thokk, it launches a black flask that lands precisely between them and explodes with a terrifyingly loud BANG.
stun grenade wrote:
Anyone in the initial 10' blast radius takes d6+4 damage, CON 16 save for half.
All within the blast are stunned for 1-4 rounds and deafened for 10-40 minutes;
All within a 20’ radius are stunned for 1 round and deafened for 1-4 rounds.
[Babshapka and Thokk make their Con saves and take 4 points each, Shefak fails and takes 9 points. Babshapka and Shefak are stunned for 4 rounds each, Thokk for 3.]
The clockwork wheels away from the dazed combatants, down the hall to Willa’s side.
Round 3
Mathias runs into the hall, and calls to his disoriented teammates to remember the plan. He does not realize that they cannot hear him. When he gets to the far side of the hall he disappears into the shadows.
The clockwork secures Willa with a mechanical hand, then swivels its head, opens a panel, and extrudes the golden retort. The sparking beam shoots down the hallway, enveloping Thokk, Shefak, Babshapka, and the unseen Mathias. The clockwork returns rapidly back up the hall while carrying Willa, and grabs the rigid body of Thokk in its other hand on its way past.
Mathias: Saves vs. paralysis (long range). For 1 round: half move, disadvantage on attacks, no dex bonus to AC.
Babshapka: Saves vs. paralysis (long range). For 1 round: half move, disadvantage on attacks, no dex bonus to AC. Still stunned for 3 rounds, still deafened for 40 minutes.
Thokk: Saves vs. paralysis (medium range). For one round paralyzed, then one round at half move, disadvantage on attacks, no dex bonus to AC. Still stunned for 2 rounds, still deafened for 30 minutes.
Shefak: Fails vs. paralysis (medium range): Paralyzed 20 minutes. Still stunned for 3 rounds, deafened for 40 minutes.
Aurora sees the flash from the paralyzation ray and hides behind the counter. Since her comprehend languages is still running, she listens for words from the security clockwork but the only one she hears distinctly is “Intruders”. She returns Buckbeak to his pocket dimension.
Round 4
A strange humming sound emerges from the clockwork. Shefak begins to float in the air. The clockwork rolls forward and around the corner, dragging Willa in one hand and Thokk in the other, Shefak floating in the air in some sort of telekinetic beam. The clockwork ignores Babshapka as it rolls by, and apparently cannot see Mathias any more than the others can.
Inside the medical office, Aurora casts Invisibility on herself (now at 4/1/2).
As she is dragged past a particularly dense patch of shadow, Willa hears Mathias whisper, “Wake up, Sergeant!”
She sighs as if still asleep and whispers back, “All part o’ ther plan…” Her hand surreptitiously gestures a thumbs up.
Mathias: No further penalties.
Babshapka: Still stunned for 2 rounds, still deafened for 40 minutes.
Thokk: Still one round at half move, disadvantage on attacks, no dex bonus to AC, still stunned for 1 round, still deafened for 30 minutes.
Shefak: Still stunned for 2 rounds, still paralyzed for 20 minutes, still deafened for 40 minutes.
Round 5
The clockwork continues north up the hall. Willa, one eye open, can see that they are being followed by Mathias, darting from shadow to shadow. She grins.
Thokk (still deafened for 30 minutes) begins to struggle against the mechanical hand that holds him, but then sees Willa gesturing at him to stand down. He suddenly remembers the plan, and is excited at the prospect of being taken back to the clockwork’s lair to fight many of them at once. His body goes limp, but he has to stifle a chortle of eager anticipation.
Babshapka: Still stunned for 1 round, still deafened for 40 minutes.
Shefak: Still stunned for 1 round, still paralyzed 20 minutes, still deafened for 40 minutes.
Aurora follows them invisibly.
Round 6
The clockwork is heading for an unkeyed door in the middle of the wall, the only door in the whole long wall, opposite a long corridor.
Aurora draws closer, prepares to dash in the door as soon as it opens.
Willa prepares to resist the hold the machine has on her.
Babshapka (still deafened for 40 minutes) finally is able to clear his head, and moves to the wall for cover. With his mirror he magnifies the image of the clockwork, and prepares to dash down the hall as soon as the door opens.
The clockwork reaches the door and pauses outside it. A panel in its chest opens up and a delicate hinged rod emerges and presses the door plate. The door slides open and light spills into the hallway.
Just as the clockwork is about to enter the doorway, Willa springs into action and twists out of its grasp. She dives and then rolls to the north, drawing her sword as she stands, careful not to be in a direct line with the others and so present multiple targets for a paralyzation ray. Babshapka sprints up the hallway.
Aurora slips into the room as soon as the door opens and instantly regrets it [Police HQ]. The well-lit room has a desk with chairs behind it. Nearby is a second security clockwork. There are carded doors to the north and south - Aurora is not close enough to see what color. In the back of the room is a large console or cabinet with strange knobs and dials, near it in the southeast corner is a metal chest that looks like it has a card lock as well.
Mathias suddenly steps from the shadows and fires off his electrical attack at the clockwork, concentrating it on the side farthest from Thokk. This drops its force shield and results in some damage to its circuitry besides. Undaunted, the clockwork pulls Thokk and Shefak into the room along with it.
Aurora becomes visible as well, firing off five magic missiles at the clockwork (cast at third level, Aurora at 4/1/1). As soon as her spell is sent she darts back out the door of the room and into the hall.
“We got this, Serjeant!” calls Mathias, although he maintains his concentration to keep energy playing along the surface of the clockwork.
Round 7
Aurora shoots another three magic missiles through the open doorway (now at 3/1/1).
The hand that once held Willa now empty, the security clockwork uses it to wrench Thokk’s sword from his grasp as soon as he draws it and starts to resist. It drags Thokk and floats Shefak over to the north wall, and then the same lever that opened the previous door emits a pulse of light that is taken up by the pearl panel of the orange-keyed door. That door slides open to reveal a short corridor with many open doorways to either side and the clockwork takes them inside.
The second clockwork moves around the desk until it is directly in front of the exterior door, then fires off a blue flask just outside and into the hallway. As the vapors fill the space in front of the door, it reaches up and presses a panel inside the room and the door begins to close.
“We don’ got t’his,” says Willa grimly as she takes out her stone. Ignoring her, Mathias slips through the closing doorway (makes Con save to get past the sleep cloud). He continues his electricity attack on the clockwork (10 points to force shield).
Babshapka sees that Aurora is in the hallway with him, and waits for a command from Willa to enter. When none comes, he remains outside the closing door.
How dare this machine man take his magic sword? Thokk enrages and wrenches himself free of the grasp of the clockwork. He grabs its other hand and tries to recover his sword, but the machine man is able to elude him with it by holding it high in the air and out of his reach.
Round 8
Mathias follows the clockwork into the northern hallway, continuing to concentrate on his electrical damage (10 points).
Aurora can barely see her companions through the open north door and the closing outer door. Undaunted, she sends off a firebolt against the clockwork that has Thokk’s sword (damage 14). Babshapka dives into the blue vapors that have expanded around Aurora without her being aware and pulls her out of their range. Note to self, Aurora thinks, sleep gas is not flammable.
Thokk climbs on top of the clockwork to reach its outstretched arm and wrests his sword free from its grasp, then, grabbing its head between his thighs, batters at the top of its head with the sword pommel (one hit, 15 damage).
The clockwork rolls to the nearest open doorway to the left, and levitates Shefak into a ten by ten cell. Its glowing rod touches a card reader that is mounted on a post in the doorway of the cell. A hazy blue field, seemingly projected from four studs set in the doorway, completely closes off the doorway itself. The color appears similar to the force shield the security clockworks use to protect themselves. As soon as the field springs into being, the body of Shefak drops stiffly to the floor.
The clockwork in the room rolls back from the now-closed exterior door until it is in sight of those in the hallway to the north. The large metal rod emerges from its chest and fires off two blasts of light at Thokk. One he blocks with his shield, the other hits him (24 radiant damage, not resisted by rage).
Willa pulls forth a red flask, preparing to throw it should the exterior door open again.
Round 9
Mathias thinks that between him and Thokk, they can finish off the damaged clockwork they are facing - but not if the undamaged one in the control room is assisting! He presses the panel on the inside of the doorway to close that door and seal off the cell block, even though this requires him to cease concentrating and lose his electric attack. He then casts a mage hand to be prepared for any flasks the clockwork produces. Knowing that their best chance lies in Thokk continuing to rage, he goads him, “Time to die a hero’s death, Thokk!”
Thokk is still deafened and cannot hear Mathais’ taunts, but bellows regardless and pounds his sword down on the clockwork from his perch atop its shoulders (two hits, 22 damage).
The clockwork reestablishes its force shield, the jolt of which dislodges Thokk who falls off but lands on his feet. Now that the doorway is closing, its combat tactics calculator decides that a sleep flask is in order, and it drops one to the ground at its base. Mathias is ready for this, though (Dex save 13), and his mage hand scoops up the flask before it can detonate, tossing it into the farthest cell to the end of the hall and on the left. It explodes less than a second later, filling that cell with blue vapor.
In the control room, the undamaged clockwork runs motivation calculations, balancing the drive to assist its companion in subduing the two combatants (which would require it to cross the room and open closed the cell block door) versus staying where it is to better defend the exterior door against the intruders it knows are still outside.
In the hallway, Willa stows her stone as she watches the sleep gas in front of the doorway disperse. She and Aurora are in agreement that there is no time to return to the storeroom for reinforcements - Babshapka is still deafened and cannot take part in the hurried conversation. Willa says that she is going to open the door as soon as it looks safe for them to move in, and Aurora says she will have a mage hand at the ready for the next flask and attempt to return it to the room if she doesn’t see any allies inside, or up the northern hall if she does.
Round 10
Mathias leaves his mage hand floating nearby and keeps one eye on the door behind him as he summons waves of force to batter at the shield of the clockwork (two hits, total 7 damage).
Thokk saw the blue flask fly past him but didn't turn to see where it landed. Still enraged, he batters at the force shield of the clockwork (hit, 13 damage), and grunts in satisfaction as it collapses. He moves to its left, keeping his shield between them - closer to Mathias, farther from the flask, and hits it again. This time the sword cuts deep into its metal hide with a shower of sparks (hit, 12 damage). Thokk grins - one or two more good hits and the creature is his!
The clockwork re-establishes its shield, repulsing Thokk’s sword with force. As the barbarian staggers back, it rolls forward, knocking into him in an attempt to push him back into the cell behind him. Thokk braces himself against the post in the middle of the doorway, and pushes back on the clockwork, muscles straining. The wheels of the creature skip and skid on the metal floor of the cell block and Thokk is not moved (shove attack, contested athletics check, Thokk 23, clockwork 13). As he strains, the creature opens its chest panel and the iron rod emerges. Thokk sees this in time and raises his shield. The powerful bolt of light energy is reflected away. Thokk roars exultantly.
In the control room, the undamaged clockwork continues to calculate odds but takes no action for the moment.
Outside in the hallway, Willa again launches her stone. Miming with her fingers, she shows Babshapka that she wants him to send arrows into the room as soon as she opens the door. He nods his understanding and nocks a giant killer arrow.
Round 11
In the cell block, one of the grappling tentacles takes hold of Thokk’s shield. While he struggles, the iron wand sends forth two more blasts of light (rolls 23, 24, both hit!). The first hit (13 points) nearly levels Thokk (down to 4hp), while the second (10hp) blasts him squarely in the torso and burns off all of his chest hair (Thokk to 0hp, but then to 1 hp through use of relentless end).
In the hallway outside, Willa presses the door panel. As it opens, she primes and then tosses in a red flask, aiming to land it between the clockwork and the south east corner of the room. Although she immediately ducks out of the way and cannot see the results, her aim is true - when the flask explodes, the clockwork is doused with the sticky flaming substance, and the corner of the room is covered as well (first round damage - 9 points - to force shield).
In the cell block, Thokk staggers unsteadily, and then roars in a mix of pain and raw fury. He raises his weapon and brings it down more like a club than a sword, and Mathais can hear the motors of the clockwork whine as it strains to maintain its force shield (one critical hit, savage attacks, bonus critical - total 19 points damage). Upon his second attack the shield finally gives way, and his sword crashes through the head of the clockwork in a shower of sparks (9 damage). The various lights on the surface of the clockwork slowly fade and all four of its arms sink to the floor. Its wand, still primed for another discharge, hums in ever lower and fainter tones.
With the exterior door now open, Babshapka moves so that he can see the flaming clockwork. As he draws back his bow he says “Hunter’s Mark” in elven, and although he cannot hear himself speak, he sees a green target appear on the clockwork. He fires one arrow, then quickly draws and fires another before ducking back out of view of the door. (damage 8+2, 12+6, total 28, Babshapka to 3/2).
With one clockwork down, Mathias opens the door to the control room, expecting to see the rest of the party engaging the other one. Instead, he sees only the clockwork. True, it is on fire and has two arrows sticking out of its chassis, but there is no sign of the others. “Some rescue,” he mutters to himself. Then, as the clockwork’s head swivels from the door to him, he holds forth his empty palms and fires off two blasts of force (two hits, total 8 damage).
Round 12
When the clockwork does not immediately respond, Mathias squares himself in the doorway and fires off another two blasts (two hits, 13 damage). He looks over his shoulder and sees Thokk unsteady on his feet and the sleep gas slowly advancing down the hall of the cell block. He shouts at Thokk that both doors are open, but the barbarian is still deafened.
Babshapka appears in the outer doorway again and fires off another two arrows, these ones normal. Both find their mark in the clockwork (17 points plus hunter’s mark, total 21 damage). As soon as the second arrow is away, Babshapka darts out of view. Being attacked from two directions at once appears to have confused the clockwork and it does not immediately respond.
Thokk wrenches his sword from where it has lodged in his fallen foe and grimaces. For a second, his pain threatens to overcome his rage. He looks up, and through the open cell block door he sees the other clockwork. With a more subdued bellow, he charges out of the cellblock. Moving his sword to his shield hand, he draws forth a javelin from its holder on his back and launches it at the clockwork as he crosses the room (hit for 8 points). By now he has seen that the door to the hallway is open as well. He throws another javelin to cover his retreat and makes it into the hall. The second javelin misses, flies over the clockwork, and lands in the section of floor that is still on fire. The wooden haft begins to smoulder.
With Thokk out of the room, Willa charges in, but has a hammer in each hand rather than her greatsword. Standing well away from the flaming clockwork, she throws each hammer in succession (two hits, total 12 damage, plus another 5 from the first round of extended fire damage) and then ducks back out of the room.
Suddenly the flaming clockwork begins to roll north, rapidly gaining speed (7 damage from two giant killer arrows) and raising its force shield as it goes. It plows into Mathias in the doorway at full force and he staggers back. While he is struggling to keep his footing, one of its tentacles slams him hard on his side and he flies into the first cell on the right, directly across from Shefak. (Shove attack, Clockwork athletics roll 16, Mathias 11). With its colored probe it initiates the force shield in the cell, and with a hand it presses the door panel inside the cell block, so that the door begins to close. In the cell block hall, Mathias’ mage hand winks out of existence as soon as the cell force shield comes up, but he does not notice (Arcana roll 0).
Round 13
Babshapka moves to the doorway but does not see the clockwork. He enters quickly, and finds his quarry about to disappear behind the closing door (Hunter’s Mark - advantage on Perception checks to find the target). He fires off two arrows through the narrowing gap (two hits, 15 points plus Hunter’s Mark is 20, drops clockwork shield). He moves back to the wall, just inside the exterior doorway.
Mathias moves as close to the hallway as the force shield permits him and sees the door to the control room closing. He reaches for his mage hand to press the panel but does not find it (Arcana roll 4). He tries to cast the spell again in the hallway but finds he cannot - the force shield may be preventing him.
The clockwork’s internal calculations lead it to conclude that the party will try a melee attack in order to reach it before the door completely closes and locks them out. It prepares a black flask to launch at anyone who charges the door. (It takes 6 damage from the giant arrows and then another 2 from the second round of continuing fire damage).
Willa bolts into the room, now with her greatsword in her hands, and sees the cell block door closing. Even as she charges the door, she has a bad feeling about it. She is not even halfway there when the black flask is ejected, landing squarely between her and Babshapka. Aurora has her mage hand near the doorway, ready to intercept any flasks, but from her vantage outside in the hall she does not see the flask dropped in the room itself.
Willa’s forward motion carries her enough away by the time the flask explodes that she does not take as much of the blast as Babshapka does (Clockwork attack roll for flask placement, 3)
[Willa, in 20’ radius, no damage, stunned for 1 round and loses attacks, deafened for 3 rounds]
[Babshapka, in 10’ radius, fails Con save and takes 8 points damage, stunned for 1 round, deafened for 10 minutes, added to his already 40 minutes for a total of 50 minutes, makes Con save to keep concentration on Hunter’s Mark]
Thokk re-enters the control room. Now out of javelins, he has his longsword again in his right hand. Hesitating to charge at the second clockwork, which is still on fire (and he still at 1hp), he moves to just outside the door to the cell block, prepared to attack the machine man when it emerges, or in his mind, to press the door panel that he believes is there. In a daze, Willa tries to speak and gesture at him to enter the cell block, but she is both stunned and voiceless because of her stone, and Thokk is still deafened regardless. He has neither taken damage nor attacked this round, and he loses his rage.
The door to the northern hallway closes and the orange-keyed lock activates. Too late, Thokk looks up and sees that what he assumed was a pressure panel is actually a card lock. Inside his cell, Mathias thinks to himself, they came in here - did they have a plan for getting out?
[With the party unable to enter the cell block and the clockwork not emerging, the combat ends]
(9:30pm)
Babshapka: In the outside hallway. Still deafened for 45 minutes.
Thokk: In the control room. Still deafened for 25 minutes. At 1hp.
Willa: In the control room.
Aurora: In the control room.
Shefak: Still paralyzed for 15 minutes, still deafened for 35 minutes. In a force cell.
Mathias: In a force cell (and note that cell shields block magic]
One security robot guarding the cell block behind a locked orange door.
The party’s only known key card is black. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
Party rejoins mules - one roll
4:10am - vegepygmies
4:30am - Lurker above
5:10am - displacer beasts
5:50am - worker robot
6:10am - displacer beasts
1:10pm - displacer beasts
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
3:40pm (mules) worker robot
4pm (mules) worker robot
Party rejoins mules - one roll
5:30pm Police Robot, non-lethal
Party separates from mules - rolling separately
8:10pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (mules) vegepygmies
9pm (party) vegepygmies
Party, Mules, and Security Room all rolling separately
11:50pm (party) vegepygmies
Post 178: Jailhouse Blues 21 February, 571 [2 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 2
Mathias looks around the cell. It is mostly bare inside, but on the far wall (away from the doorway) is a niche with two cave horn cups that fit in a receptacle. The roof of the niche has a nozzle above each cup. The clockwork that placed him in the cell has withdrawn from the doorway so that he can no longer see it. With no rescue immediately forthcoming, Mathias moves so that he won’t be seen from the doorway even if the clockwork returns, and he begins resting to restore his energy.
Aurora and Willa look around the control room. It is well-lit and has a desk with two chairs behind it. The door to the cell block is orange-carded, while a second door to the south is red-carded. In the back of the room is a large console or cabinet with strange knobs and dials; near it in the southeast corner is a metal chest that looks like it has a card lock as well. However, to reach the chest one would have to cross the flame that still burns on the floor from Willa’s thrown flask.
Aurora runs through the flames (3 points damage) to examine the chest. It is large and square, with thick walls like a strongbox. The top is a hinged lid, but the hinges are internal and cannot be directly attacked. The red card-reading mechanism is on the lid itself. Unlike all the single doors on the ship, which fit inside the walls themselves, the lid has borders that are nearly flush with the walls in which it fits. Thus, if the party had something both thin and strong enough, they might actually be able to pry it open.
Aurora knows the party has at least one crowbar and possibly more, but those present say they are not carrying any. She mimes the action of prying open the chest for Thokk and Babshapka (both still deafened) but they shake their heads. Perhaps the crowbar is back with the mules. By this point, the fire on the floor has finally died out. Aurora seizes the blackened blade of Thokk’s javelin, the shaft having been by now completely consumed. Willa collects Tyrius’ hammers from the ground and brings them over. Willa uses a hammer to force the javelin blade into the chest while Aurora supervises. It soon becomes evident to Aurora that the chest is made from the same metal as the ship and is much harder than Thokk’s javelin head, which bends a little more on each blow while the chest is not even chipped or scratched. After some thinking, she realizes that a magically enchanted blade is also unnaturally hard - something like that might actually stand a chance against the chest (Arcana 20).
Meanwhile, Babshapka has shut the exterior door to the control room and collected his arrows (13 giant arrows and 9 regular arrows remaining). He sets up on guard just inside the door, ready to press the panel to close it.
Aurora tries to get Thokk’s attention and wordlessly ask him if he would be willing to loan her the sunsword to experiment with. The half-orc looks dubious - the blade is not just magical - it glows in the presence of undead and flames upon contact with vampires - with this blade he twice slew the demon Strahd! Aurora can see it is going to be a hard sell convincing him, and even she has second thoughts about using it. When Babshapka realizes what is going on he steps forward and offers up his magical broadsword - the one the party captured long ago from one of the officers of the Sea Ghost.
Willa takes the blade and carefully taps it into the seam, using Tyrius' hammer on the pommel of the broadsword. It takes several minutes of pounding, but the broadsword seems equal in hardness to the chest, and every so often she feels something inside give way (luck roll+2). One final blow cracks the head of the hammer but results in an equal crack in the chest lid. When Willa hands the broadsword back to Bashapka, the blade appears intact.
(9:40pm)
Babshapka: Still deafened for 35 minutes.
Thokk: Still deafened for 15 minutes.
Shefak: Still paralyzed for 5 minutes, deafened for 25 minutes.
Aurora gingerly opens the safe. There is a top layer with a cave horn shelf that obviously does not go to the bottom of the chest and can easily be removed. On that top layer are two curious masks. The masks appear to be made for a masqued ball, for a costume based on a fly or some other insect. They are made of a boiled-leather-like material and have several straps attached. Mirrored glass plates cover the area of the eyes, but this does not seem to impair vision from the inside of the mask. There are no openings for mouth or nose, though the mask has been shaped to accommodate a nose and chin. At the base of the mask a cylindrical metal tube is attached and metal cords run from this tube up into the metal-framed mouth and nose region. Examining them, Aurora can easily see how the straps can adjust to perfectly fit the head and seal off someone’s eyes, nose, and mouth from the outside. She is pretty sure the tubes around the nose and mouth act as filters, and likely screen out anything that might interfere with breathing (Investigation roll 27).
Removing the cave horn shelf reveals that the next layer down contains fully a dozen of the blue sleep gas flasks, which further supports her hypothesis that the masks would help someone resist a gas-based attack.
Babshapka motions Thokk over from his position guarding the north door. When the half-orc is at his side, Babshapka casts two cure wounds spells (Babshapka to 1/2 spells left, six points of healing, Thokk to 7hp).
Aurora lifts out the tray of flasks. One final level of the chest contains two strange devices, the like of which the party has not seen before. They could perhaps be potion bottles or flasks strapped to a number of tubes. The base of each bottle has a silvery lid with a knob in the center. The bottle flasks are bound in black leather and silver. From the top of this, a broad metal band encircles a number of tubes. Out one end stick three large projecting tubes, while the other has but a single tube, with a small hole in its end. There is a fluted knob on the side with a line across its top. There are two markings above it - a small dot and big 0.
Willa sighs and says she longs for the days of finding scroll cases and magic rings.
Aurora shakes her head. “I have nothing against all these alien devices, and any of them could prove quite useful. Under other circumstances I would have been thrilled to find this cache. But none of these things is the high-level colored key card we need right now to free our companions.”
Still, she has to work with the tools at hand, so Aurora pulls out one of the two strange devices and begins to fiddle with the dial setting. Willa immediately insists that she do her experimenting outside in the hall, and ushers her over to the door, which Babshapka opens. Willa and Babshapka remain in the doorway, watching over her. Somewhat chastened, Aurora does pause to consider that she is using a potentially deadly device with no healers on hand. Suddenly Buckbeak appears on her shoulder, and a second later takes wing down the hallway to the south.
[Simple lethal items chart. Aurora rolls 1-1=0; Circle. Rolls 4-1 = 3; Finish. Aurora now is familiar with the operation of a Needler Pistol and has a total of -3 on future rolls to use.]
The first thing Aurora checks for is the presence of a power disc. She does not find one, but in looking she discovers that when the knob in the base of the handle is twisted and pulled, a compartment at the base of the handle opens like a small drawer. Inside is a small, lacquered wood-like box filled with needles that can be inserted or removed.
Carefully closing the drawer after having removed the box, she squeezes the handle-grip. With a high-pitched whoosh, the three tubes suck in air while the single tube expels air. She tests the expelled air against her skin and finds the jet surprisingly strong. By moving the dial from the dot to the O she can widen the jet of air. After pondering the device, she decides that it is designed to launch the needles as projectiles in batches. The dot setting would launch a number at a single target, while the O setting would broadcast them over a larger area at multiple targets. The needles themselves, if forcefully projected, would certainly be painful and the power of the air indicates that they would penetrate far deeper than blowgun darts. Still, it does not seem a particularly lethal device - heavy armor would greatly protect a target and the thing would rapidly lose accuracy at range. Of course, the needles could be coated in poison, the small device would be easily concealed, and its use would be practically silent. Perhaps it is meant as an assassin’s weapon?
Once she is confident she knows how it is supposed to function, Aurora demonstrates its purported use to Babshapka and Thokk. Thokk of course finds the thought of attacking someone with needles laughable at best and insulting at worst, but even he has to admit that the single javelin he has left will not serve him in an extended missile combat.
(9:45pm)
Shefak groans and rises unsteadily to her feet. Though deafened, she could see the combat between the clockwork and Mathias up to the point where she was placed in the cell, but when she fell to the ground her head was facing away from the doorway. Now there is no one and nothing in the hallway in front of her. The force shield in the cell across from her is up as well, and the double layer obscures her view, but that cell appears empty as well. She tries shouting, but then realizes that she wouldn’t hear a response above the loud ringing in her ears. She presses on the force shield - it doesn’t yield. She breathes deeply and focuses her ki into her fist, then strikes the force shield with all the power she can muster. It absorbs the blow without even flickering. Clearly she is not getting out that way.
She looks around. The cell is dimly lit and mostly bare inside, but she spies two recessed hand-holds in the wall at about the height of her knees. Grabbing them, she finds she can pull out a recessed shelf of metal, topped by a thin cave sponge mattress. She has no desire to sleep, so she pushes the shelf back into the wall. On the far wall (away from the doorway) is a niche with two cave horn cups that fit in a receptacle. The roof of the niche has a nozzle above each cup. She can remove the cups, but they are both light and easily breakable - they will not be of use. On the near wall (next to the door) is a small pressure plate. When she presses this, a small and narrow shelf emerges with a wide-lipped metal basin affixed to it. She is uncertain of the purpose of this, but it looks the right height and size to function as a chair - but why have the basin and not just the shelf?
She may be here a while. She will need to conserve her energy. She sits down cross-legged on the floor and begins to meditate.
(9:50pm)
Babshapka: Still deafened for 25 minutes.
Thokk: Still deafened for 5 minutes.
Shefak: Still deafened for 15 minutes.
Aurora re-enters the control room and Willa closes and guards the door behind her. Aurora makes her way to the cabinet, and notes all of the switches, dials, levers, and small, dark screens. There is plenty of alien script labeling things, and she recognizes the numbers. She tells the rest of the party that she will be casting her ritual of comprehend languages.
She hasn’t finished yet when the door to the hallway outside suddenly opens, and Willa nearly attacks Tyrius. The paladin, as well as Larry, Umbra, and Buckbeak are in the hallway outside, Buckbeak perched on Larry’s shoulder. Larry speaks to Tyrius.
“Aye told ye when tha bard lands on me shoulder, et means coom an’ find them, an’ when ‘e lands on yer ‘ead, it means they be lost an’ we are too roon away, an’ nae tha ‘toother way aboot.”
Tyrius provides Thokk with 20 points of lay-on-hands healing.
(10pm)
Babshapka: Still deafened for 15 minutes.
Shefak: Still deafened for 5 minutes.
Aurora’s comprehend languages ritual complete, she reads the symbols on the console and finds it is a control panel for nearly every feature of the prison. There are switches and dials for doors, lights, food and water for the prisoners, ventilation, alarm and communication systems, as well as things called “waste”, “vid”, and “neural suppression”. Focusing on the doors, she finds she should be able to open, close, lock, or unlock each of the cell doors individually or all together, as well as the door to the cell block itself, the exterior door, and the door to something called the “Chf. Sec. Off”.
Aurora shows Willa the controls and tells her they should plan their assault.
The plan they derive is as follows: Umbra will stand by the console and operate the door switches that Aurora has shown her. When the cell block door opens, Thokk will rush in first [and rage to give the others advantage], followed by Willa. However, if the single remaining clockwork has somehow managed to revive or repair the other one, they will initiate by Willa throwing in a red flask before anyone enters. Babshapka will provide missile support and Larry spell support from outside. Aurora will have her mage hand and dedicate herself to grabbing any flasks and throwing them into the hall outside (the door is now open again). Tyrius will be on stand-by in case anyone needs healing. Willa says that they need to make sure they understand the plan, because once the door is open she will have her stone up and won’t be able to give commands. With that being said, Aurora convinces Babshapka and Thokk to try wearing the “anti-gas masks”. Thokk is unsure at first, and practices roaring and bellowing with his on. Although his voice is decidedly muffled, everyone but Tyrius assures him that it is just as loud and fearsome. He finally agrees to wear the mask.
(10:10pm)
Babshapka: Still deafened for 5 minutes.
With everyone in place, Umbra flips the switch that should unlock and then open the cell block door. The door remains closed, but she reports that strange illuminated symbols have appeared on one of the dark screens. Aurora hurries over and reads, “Enter security code for manual lock override, or use orange-level access key.” She curses and tries the switch that should simultaneously open all of the cell doors. The same message is repeated. She is able to open and close the door to the hallway outside, not that it is any help. In increasing frustration, she tries the switch for what is presumably the door on the south wall. The message that appears is only slightly different: “Enter security code for manual lock override, or use red-level access key.”
Aurora slams her palm on the console and mutters “boring conversation anyway”. “Just try something,” she says to Umbra. “Flip some switches.”
“Which switches?”
“All of them. Shut them all down.” She returns to her spot and re-focuses on her mage hand.
Umbra begins flipping all of the switches on the panel - after nearly every action she takes, the now-familiar alien script appears indicating that code or crd is required to execute the command. She notes that the message does not come up when she triggers the food and water controls, so she repeatedly switches these off and on again.
(10:15pm)
“Uh,” groans Babshapka. “Wait, I think I can hear again.”
“Great,” replies Aurora, “but that doesn’t get the clockwork to open that door.”
“Get the clockwork to open the door…” the wood elf ponders. “How did we get it to open the door before, I mean, to come out of here...it was the alarm.” His face sets resolutely. “Willa, I’m going to trigger the alarm in the medical room!” Babshapka dashes to the door and is away before she can respond.
“Go wit’ ‘im”, Willa says to Tyrius, who sets off loudly down the hall after the elf. “Now, wha’ did set t’at off?”
“The alarm! Of course!” realizes Aurora. “But everyone, quiet! If the clockwork hears us out here, maybe it won’t come out when the alarm goes off. We have to have it think we are all back in that medical room.”
Once everyone is silent, Larry cocks his head funny. “Aye think aye ‘ear Mathias yellin’,” he whispers.
“Yelling? What is he yelling?” Aurora hisses.
“Dunno. Maybe screaming like ‘e is bein’ tortured or drowin’ or summit.”
Umbra hurriedly shuts off the switches for the food and water and leaves them in place.
When Babshapka arrives at the medical room, he rapidly enters the door, and hears the strange alien voice repeating the message from before - but no alarm goes off. He looks around - there is the yellow-keyed door, two desks - one with a drawer open. He moves to the open drawer and looks inside - there are a number of heavy, black glass slates. He reaches in to take one, and when he touches it the alarm sounds, just as Tyrius enters the room behind him.
Back in the control room, Umbra notes a flashing yellow light and a new message on the console. Aurora can read “Intruder Alert - Medical Bay”.
The cell block door slides open.
Umbra moves away from the console so as to better see down the cell block hallway. The clockwork is rolling rapidly forward down the hall between the cells. The other clockwork lies unmoving on its side behind the first. Umbra sends forth a volley of dark bolts (cast at second level, four hits, 14 damage to force shield. Umbra at 0/2/0).
The clockwork does not stop its forward motion (2 damage from giant arrows) but does launch a blue flask ahead of it into the control room. Aurora scoops up the flask with her mage hand and tosses it back down the hallway of the cell block, where it explodes. The clockwork brings its shield up to full strength after the dark bolts.
Larry creates a moonbeam in the cell block, managing to place the leading edge of the beam completely on the clockwork (fails save, clockwork takes 9 damage to force shield, Larry at 3/2/1).
The clockwork wheels forward and out the door into the control room. It grabs Larry with its grasping hands, and lifts him up and over its head, then tosses him behind it into the cell block (shove attack, Clockwork athletics roll 22, Larry 17). In their respective cells, Shefak and Mathias see Larry fly and land sprawling on the floor of the cell block corridor, just a few feet short of his own moonbeam. He maintains his concentration on the moonbeam as he rises to his feet, but he also sees the blue vapors of sleep gas advancing from the back of the hallway toward him.
Thokk screams in rage and yells something at the clockwork. His words are muffled by the mask he wears and the only thing the others can make out is “spoonbuddy”. He strides up to the clockwork and strikes at it with the sunsword. His first hit (12 points) drops its shield, his second (11 points), damages its body. Willa is at his side in a second, landing blows of her own (13 and 16 points). The clockwork has almost made it to the door when Willa’s second hit opens a rent so large in its side that an explosion of gears and sparks pours out, and it ceases moving.
A few seconds later Babshapka arrives, and shortly after him, Tyrius.
Leaving a few of the party on guard in the control room, the rest enter the cell block. The force shield in front of each cell muffles their sounds, but by yelling they can communicate with both Shefak and Mathias. Aurora asks Mathias what he was yelling about before. He responds laconically that the water dispenser in the cell had turned on suddenly, so he wanted to let the party know that whatever they were doing was working.
Now they examine the locking mechanism on the cells. Four studs project from the walls of the doorways, and these studs seem to be generating the force shields. In the center of the doorway is a short post with a key card mechanism on it, set to orange level, as well as a switch and a dial with numbers. Aurora takes the switch to be on/off for the field and the dial to control its intensity, but she is unable to adjust either setting without unlocking the card lock first. Mathias tells them that he saw the clockwork stick forth a probelike wand that changed colors in order to activate the lock, and Shefak corroborates that she saw the cleaning clockwork use a similar device to open several carded rooms. Aurora easily finds that part inside the bodies of both of the downed clockworks, but with them inactive she does not know how to get it to emit colors, regardless of whether she removes it from them or leaves it intact.
“I can’t believe we got the clockwork to open the door, killed it, and we still can’t open the cells!” she says exasperatedly.
“Take it apart,” says Willa.
[DM's Note: From this point on, the control room will roll its own wandering monster rolls on the southern table, with only rolls of Police Robots and Worker Robots counting. Police robots will re-populate the room until it is back up to a total of three; worker robots will drag off the broken Police robots and take them to the robot repair room. Also, the combat in this room and the jail cells was recorded on video, with the party having defeated another two security robots. Thus, due to the work of the repair robot, all wandering security robots will now be upgraded to AC15 against the party's attacks.]
(10:20pm)
Aurora gets out her tools and begins disassembling the clockwork in the control room.
(10:30pm)
The clockwork’s atmospheric analyzer appears to be intact and functional, and it has a full complement of stopperless flasks - less the ones it used against the party (remaining 1 each of blue, red, and green). In addition to the fully-charged power disc in its internal power system, Aurora finds a second disc in a drawer that is not connected to anything internally and may be a simple storage unit accessed from the outside. However, she does not find anything that could be used to open the cell door besides the probe she would not know how to use anyway. She curses and stands. To add insult to injury, at that moment her mage armor fades, its duration having run out from when she cast it this afternoon.
Aurora gathers her tools and proceeds to the end of the cell block to where the other fallen clockwork lies.
(10:40pm)
This clockwork’s atmospheric analyzer is hopelessly smashed and its container for stopperless flasks is empty. It does have a fully-charged power disc in its internal power system. When Aurora checks the outside storage unit she catches a glimpse of a red key card and is instantly elated. Her elation soon turns to trepidation, however. Multiple sword blows have penetrated the walls around the card, leaving it wedged between jagged and folded pieces of metal and hung up on a nest of wires. Aurora tries coming at it from several different angles, but soon realizes that removing the card will require both extreme precision and luck. Anything less will drag it across the razor-sharp metal shard it is pressed against and more likely than not slice it in half. She finds her hand twitching nervously.
A tense discussion follows among the party. While Aurora has the technical knowledge of using the tools to disassemble the clockworks, even she admits she is not the most adroit among them. That honor likely goes to Shefak - who is still imprisoned. Umbra is nearly as steady a hand as the monk, though. Ultimately it is decided that under Aurora’s direction, Umbra will attempt to extract the card. First, however, Larry blesses her with Cat’s Grace (Larry at 3/1/1).
Umbra carefully clips the wires snagging the card and pulls out as many as she can. There is nothing she can do about the massive pieces of metal shards, so it is just a matter of seizing the card at exactly the right angle to extract it without damage. She reaches in ever-so-carefully and grabs the card with a tiny set of tongs, similar to a jeweler’s tweezers. Larry lays his hand on her shoulder and offers a prayer of guidance. “OK,” says Aurora. “Now just pull….WAIT!” At the last instant, Aurora corrects the angle of Umbra’s hand. “Now pull.”
[Initial sleight of hand roll 3, 6. +3 dex, +2 guidance, advantage from cat’s grace = 11 (fail).
Aurora spends an Inspiration point to have Umbra reroll. New result of 5, 18 = 23]
With all present holding their breaths, Umbra pulls forth the card unscathed.
“So now we open ther cells,” says Willa with satisfaction.
Aurora frowns. “The cells are orange,” she says. “The card is red. It should work, but we would be remiss if we didn’t open the red door first, just in case we lose the card.”
Willa nods in agreement at the logic. It was Aurora’s idea to begin with that the colors represent hierarchies, rather than being one-to-one, and so far the only evidence they have to back it up is that spider-Larry thought he saw a yellow card open a black door, once. “Can ye wait?” she shouts through the force shield to Mathias in his cell.
The strange fighter-mage shrugs. “I’m resting,” he says. “Take your time.”
Leaving the cell block door open but one of them behind, and a guard at the closed door to the hallway, the rest of the party proceeds to the door to the south. As she approaches the door itself, Aurora can see alien script beneath a layer of dust - something she did not note before when she searched the room. Wiping away the dust, and with her comprehend languages still running, Aurora reads “Chief Security Officer” - presumably what the control panel referred to as “Chf. Sec. Off.” Umbra slides the card in, the pearl panel changes to green, and the door slides open. The key drops into the receptacle beneath. They are in!
The room beyond [South Room [sic] (Chief Security Officer's Office)] is spartan and dusty, but unlooted. A single desk is in the center of the room - a skeleton in some sort of uniform sits in the chair behind the desk and faces the door. In one corner of the room is a tall wardrobe or locker. One door leads out; both that door and the one the party opened have pressure panels and light switches just inside the doorway. On the wall above the desk are a series of glass panes that show a curious moving black and white field, as of a snowstorm at night.
Aurora checks the locker for traps (Investigation 12) and finds only that it has a red-coded card lock.
Umbra opens the other door and looks into the hallway beyond. It is bare and narrow and runs perpendicular to the door. There are four doorways leading off of it; the one to the north is red, while both the one in the center and the one in the south are gray - a color she does not think they have seen before. A final door in the south is a simple pressure plate. She steps into the hallway and turns around - from this side, the door into the Security Officer’s room is red-carded, but does not have his (or her?) title on it.
Willa is at the desk. The officer’s uniform is made of the same silk-like material that they have found on all of the other skeletons on the ship, but much more intact. She touches a sleeve and it begins to fall apart at her touch - hopelessly dry-rotted, but apparently not having been handled in centuries. She quickly goes over the corpse - empty pockets, no weapons, no ID cards. She turns her attention to the strange boxes that appear to be affixed to the desk.
There is a large glass screen on top of black glass. On the base beneath is a single switch, a fifty-some position slider, and three large dials. The dials have alien writing around them.
Umbra returns to the room and Aurora points her at the locker while she herself moves to the desk. Set around the first dial (left to right) are the numbers 100, 200, 300...in succession up to 900. The second dial has a similar series but 10 through 90, while the third is 0 through 9.
Umbra uses the card to open the locker. Indeed, it is a wardrobe, with one suit hanging from a rack within and a second that curiously seems to be supporting itself. The suits are very different from one another. The first is of the same material as the alien clothing. The vibrancy of the color and detailed patterning suggest to Willa that it is a dress uniform, and three medals are affixed to the left breast. The medals are a mix of precious metal and gemstones and obviously valuable. Willa removes these and stores them in her pack but in so doing notes that the fabric is only slightly less deteriorated than that worn by the skeleton.
The second suit is more remarkable, and appears to be a suit of unusual plate armor. The joints appear to be finely, if somewhat strangely, articulated and an oily, black, leather-like material may be seen at major joints. The armor appears to have been worked to create the illusion of a heavily muscled man. The great helm is unusual in that it has no openings, only a broad glass plate in the front with a piece of glass above this. There are strange plates and tubing at various points and large metal bosses seem to be placed randomly on the suit. On the back of the left hand is a rectangular metal box. From this comes a short projecting rod tipped with a cone-shaped red crystal or jewel. The armor stands erect even though the glass helmet clearly shows that there is no one inside it.
On the wall of the locker is a holster in which is a blasting mirror that appears identical to the one Babshapka carries. When Aurora checks the power disc, she finds it to be fully charged. She then examines the skeleton at the desk (Investigation 13) and finds no signs of violence or otherwise obvious cause of death.
Umbra reports on the doors in the hall and the party elects to try the red door (the pressure plate can be opened any time, and they dare not risk the red card in a gray lock until they have tried it in the orange to free Mathias and Shefak). The red door leads to a long but narrow storeroom [Stores]. It is filled with boxes and crates similar to those the party has seen before, but each one is completely intact rather than smashed and looted.
(10:50pm)
Leaving behind people in every room in case the doors close, a few of the party return to the cell block. Umbra inserts the red card into the slot in the post of Mathias’ cell. The dial lights up, as does the switch. She turns the dial down to zero, noting the fading blue of the shield as she does so, then flips the switch. The field disappears, and Mathias steps out free! Umbra quickly removes the card and follows the same procedure to release Shefak from her cell. [Both Mathias and Shefak have completed a Short Rest]
Aurora has about ten minutes left on her comprehend languages spell. As Willa disperses people throughout the complex to make sure doors cannot be shut on them, Aurora walks from room to room, seeing if there is anything left to read.
Willa gathers up Tyrius to discuss strategy. Mathias tags along. Willa says that with access to these red-card locked rooms, this may be a much more secure place to keep the mules, so long as the security clockworks stay confined to the prison and control room, which Babshapka assures them is true after looking at the tracks, and lack thereof, in the dust. Willa suggests that they may want to move the mules here, perhaps to the storeroom. But first, she would like to find a food source - she wants Umbra to use the food dispensing switches on the control room console while people check the nozzles in the cells.
“I’ve got an idea,” says Mathias. Willa turns to look at him.
The fighter-mage waves his hand around the room. “Umbra opened all of these doors, and the locker, with that red card. But she’s not really a front-line type and I’m not sure we want her in front, opening everything for us. I’d like to take the red card - if someone is going to take a hit opening up doors, I’d rather it be me.”
Willa arches an eyebrow suspiciously at Mathias. “That’s something I would need to discuss with Aurora.”
In a reassuring voice, Mathias says, “I already have this yellow key - I found it in the sick bay.” He holds forth a yellow key card.
“An’ ye be jus’ now showin’ us?”
“I had just pulled it out of the desk and was turning to show you when that clockwork attacked and you ran out into the hall...then there was the fight...then I was in the cell...this is the first time we have had a chance to talk, since.”
Willa pauses to consider. She tells Mathias that tactically, it does not make sense for one person to be carrying two cards - not when there are so many ways of separating the party or paralyzing one of them. She offers to transfer the red card to him if he gives the yellow card he found to Aurora. He nods and sets off looking for her.
Willa takes the red card from Umbra and walks with her and Tyrius to the console in the security control room. Umbra says she remembers which switches operate the food and water, and Willa gathers up Thokk. She, Thokk, and Tyrius pass through the cells while Umbra works the switches. The water nozzles send forth seemingly limitless water, overflowing the cups, while the “food” nozzles spray only foul-scented air.
Thokk tries the water and says it tastes stale and flat but is drinkable. Willa tries some herself and agrees. She tells Thokk and Tyrius to round up all the skins carried by the party and fill them with water while Umbra operates the panel.
Shefak informs Willa that she will be on guard duty, invisible in the hallway outside the control room.
Willa calls for Babshapka and has him search the remaining four cells, the ones that were not occupied by Shefak and Mathias. He finds the same sleeping shelf and curious seat-basin she did, in each one. He shows one of the basins to Willa - she shrugs and says it is likely for giving water to livestock, should any be confined in the cells.
Willa sees that the stopperless flasks are returned to the locker in the control room, the dozen blue ones that were there, as well as the blue, red, and green ones recovered from the clockwork. The anti-gas masks have already been taken; the needle-shooters are given to Thokk and Babshapka. After some discussion, the mirror-weapon found in the Chief’s room is assigned to Umbra and Aurora instructs her in its use, and the red card is given to Mathias.
With Tyrius on guard in the cell block, Shefak outside, Babshapka in the control room, and Larry in the internal hallway, Aurora proceeds to examine the crates in the storeroom, while Willa, Mathias, and Umbra take the curious armor out of the Chief’s locker.
(11:20pm-11:50pm)
It appears to be a suit of unusual plate armor. The bulk of it is heavy metal, but the joints appear to be finely, if somewhat strangely, articulated with an oily, black, leather-like material at major joints rather than chain, which is not to be seen. The armor appears to have been worked to create the appearance of a heavily muscled man. The great helm is unusual in that it has no openings, only a broad glass plate in the front with a smaller piece of glass above this. There are strange plates and tubing at various points and large metal bosses seem to be placed randomly on the suit. On the back of the left hand is a rectangular metal box. From this comes a short projecting rod tipped with a cone shaped red crystal or jewel. The armor stands erect even though the glass helmet clearly shows that there is no one inside it.
Umbra says that she can attempt to put it on - but she is not sure how to get inside - the helm doesn't come off, there are no straps or buckles, etc. (Investigation 12). Mathias investigates it (20) and finds that the armor is opened by pressing two separate buttons concealed at the rear of the helmet beneath its lip. Pressing both buttons at the same time pops open a seal down the middle of the back of the armor that looks to provide access.
Umbra is able to fit half her body through the seal easily enough, but does not understand how to get both the upper and lower half in at the same time - if she slides in head first, she cannot later lift her legs to fit inside - if she steps inside, she cannot bend her torso to fit in. Undaunted, she slides her upper half in, filling the arms, torso, and head capsule. She reports that on the inside of the glass helm, several screens are visible with lit, colored shapes and the strange alien script, while inside the hands are strange grips and triggers. She does not find any more buttons that might enable her to get her feet in, however (Investigation 4). Mathias and Willa go over the suit, but have no more luck (7, 9). Willa decides to give it a thorough investigation, running her hands slowly and methodically over the whole thing (take twenty Investigation 20, through 11:45pm). What she finally realizes is that while before the suit was rigid and locked in position, now that the back seal is open all of the articulations are stiff but movable. With a little work she can make the suit bend over, such that someone can step into the legs and then, so long as they are flexible enough to touch their toes, also bend over and put their upper half into the torso and arms. Once all inside, they should be able to stand up.
When she explains this to Umbra and Mathias, Mathias volunteers to try. When he stands up as directed, the seal in the back closes and he hears a whoosh and feels his ears register a change in pressure. At the same time, the static displays in the helmet that had been glowing dully now flare with brilliant, dynamic colors, and in more than one place alien text scrolls by. Finally, all of the joints that resisted movement before relax and are perfectly loose.
[Initial armor use, Mathias at +1 due to Intelligence of less than 10. Roll 3+1 = 4 (circle). Roll 5+1 = 6 (triangle).
The suit, huge and much of it metallic, should be heavy. Full plate armor like that of Tyrius weighs about 65 pounds unless it is magical. Mathias estimates that this suit is about that heavy. A human has to be much stronger than Mathias to move in full plate (minimum Strength 15). He really has no business moving in this armor - and yet he still can. After some experimental steps, he realizes that the armor is actually helping him move! Every movement he makes is being amplified by miniature gears and levers inside the armor such that the armor itself is doing most of the work of moving itself. From outside, Willa and Umbra hear the hum of motors like that produced by the clockworks every time Mathias moves.
Mathias tries a little hop into the air. Again, it would take his whole strength to get off the ground in a suit of full plate, if he could even do so. When he crouches, then straightens his legs, the armor seemingly anticipates his motion and straightens its legs with an incredible force, lifting him a foot off the ground. When he lands, the impact is felt through the metal floor by Umbra and Willa and heard by those in the rooms and hallways nearby.
Mathias wonders, if the suit is powered like the clockworks, what is its power level after so many years? There are multiple displays that indicate the level of something, but which is overall power? He finds that by raising his hands into his field of view, he can manipulate the displays as if he was touching them - enlarging or shrinking them, moving them to different places on the interior of the helmet, dragging them from the center of the display to the periphery. When he grabs one particular display, the red jewel on the left arm flares to life.
[From triangle, roll 9+1 = 10 (Discharge; person is hurt, return to start).]
A red beam of light, looking like what the security clockworks shoot out of their chest, streaks from the jewel and slams into the side of Mathias’ leg. Just before it hits, Umbra and Willa see a blue field flare and absorb the red. The blue field appears similar to the force shield that the security clockworks generate. Mathias doesn’t take damage.
[Powered Armor onboard Laser Pistol: Damage 2d8+20-AC of target. Powered Armor AC = 20. Damage = 9 points to onboard force shield]
Two different displays inside the helmet flash. One, in red, lowers slightly and then rises almost immediately. Another, in blue, lowers about a fifth and then rises slowly, such that it will likely take a minute or more to be where it was before.
Willa and Mathias discuss what happened. Despite the helmet, and the whole suit, appearing to be airtight, they can hear each other, though each of their voices sounds a bit tinny and hollow to one another. Mathias wants to confirm the existence of a protective force shield. They call Thokk in, and tell him to help Mathias test the armor by hitting it. Thokk grins broadly, recalling when he “helped” Barnabus test his magical leather.
Thokk squares off and punches the armor in its chest plate (to hit 17, 20 - at advantage since Mathias is not trying to avoid the blow. Armor is AC20. Thokk does 5 points of bludgeoning damage)
This time Willa and Umbra know what to look for, and clearly see the protective blue field. Inside the helmet, Mathias feels the blow but is not harmed. The blue display drops further, but the red display does not. Mathias is confident that the blue display tracks the power available in the shield.
While initially thrilled about the possibility of powered armor with a self-generated defensive shield, Mathias now wonders about whether or not he can cast spells in it. He tries to cast mage hand, which has a somatic component - a precise series of gestures that have to be performed perfectly in order to execute the spell (Arcana 6). The spell fails, as his motions are disrupted both by the bulk of the suit and its over-compensation for his gestures. Can he cast in it? Possibly, eventually - if he has enough practice.
His next question - is there anything in the suit that will act as an on-board color key, enabling him to open the doors of the ship? Willa agrees to stay inside the room and shut the door behind him, as he goes into the hall where Larry is. As he walks across the room, Mathias notes that his stride is slow but easy. There seems to be a limit to the speed with which the suit can adjust to his movements. He could likely walk all day in it without tiring, and possibly carry much more gear besides, but at a slower pace than he could without it.
Once he is out of the room Mathias tells Willa to close the door (from her side it is a pressure plate, from his a red-carded lock). He lifts his hands and tries different motions in front of the door. Suddenly the red light from his left hand fires again - this time down the hallway - and strikes Larry’s shield, blasting him down the hall. Apparently there is some gesture that fires the bolt of which he is not yet aware.
[Powered Armor onboard Laser Pistol: Damage 2d8+20-AC of target.
Larry AC = 18 (not counting Dex). Damage = 14 points radiant damage]
“Och, mind yer beams, ye grreat yooman ponce!” curses the dwarf.
Mathias shrugs. “Looks like it hurt less than a lightning bolt,” he mumbles.
He tries several more gestures, including miming turning a door knob and sweeping the door out of the way. If the suit can trigger a door, he does not know how. After counting to one hundred, Willa opens the door from the inside, and Mathias comes back in.
He tries to cast mage hand again. This time he fails (Arcana 0), and sends a charge of the jewel of light into his own leg again! (Roll 9).
“Take it off!” yells Willa.
“You said to figure out how it worked!” he replies defensively.
“Fine!” she says, “bu’ we be leavin’ - shoot all ye want once ther room be clear!”
Taking care that both doors are still open, Willa, Thokk, and Umbra withdraw and head for the storeroom.
“Thanks, but send Aurora in here when she’s done!” Mathias calls to their backs. “This would be easier if I could read the displays.”
(11:20pm)
Aurora looks around the storeroom. There are crates and crates, all easily opened and labeled, but her comprehend languages is over. She tries a few of the crates. Inside are smaller boxes, also labeled. She will need to ritual-cast her spell again. But first, she needs a bit more protection. There are several unopened doors off the hallway, and she doesn’t feel too secure with Larry as the only guard. Babshapka is in the control room, a mere fifty feet away - but her message is blocked by an inch of metal - and these walls are all at least an inch thick. But message doesn’t have to travel in a straight line, so as long as all the doors are open...she summons Babshapka to watch over her while she conducts her ritual.
(11:30pm)
Her spell complete, Aurora turns back to the first crate she opened. Both the outside of the crate, and the stacked boxes inside, say “Meaty stew”. Meaty stew? Can it be? She rapidly turns to the next crate - which reads “Creamy porridge”. Aurora squeals with delight, and tells Babshapka to start taking the tops off of boxes. Nearly all of them contain food stores, of both the two aforementioned ones, as well as “Nutrient drink”, “Surrogate steak”, “Vegetable substitute”, and “Vitamin bars”.
(11:40pm)
With all the boxes open, Babshapka and Aurora have found more food than the party can likely carry. There were two small boxes without food, however, both of them small black cave horn cases with handles and latches. Inside the first case, nestled in cave sponge, are twelve ampules with brightly colored liquid and a curious set of a dozen tiny cave horn plungers topped with metal needles. Four each of the ampules read “disease cure”, “poison antidote”, and “radiation antidote”. Aurora recognizes the word “radiation” from the atmospheric analyzer, but is still not sure what it means besides a feeling that it is related to the radiant damage from spells like Larry’s moonbeam. She makes Babshapka memorize which colors of the liquids in the ampules go with which property for when her spell fails, but she also takes notes on the alien script and their translations.
The second black case is labeled on the outside “Healing Canisters.” Inside are fourteen flasks surrounded by cave sponge. The canisters appear as smooth, featureless gourds. They are indented on one side to fashion a grip, flat on the bottom, and have a small neck curving out of the other end. This neck ends in a hole. On the back of the neck is a rivet. On the flat bottom is a sundial pattern with a hair marking a line on the pattern, as well as the numbers zero to six.
Babshapka takes a box out of the “Meaty Stew” crate and opens it. Inside are a stack of cave horn trenchers, each covered by a silvery film made of some flexible material like oiled skins. At one end of the film is a tab, attached to one side is a strange implement that looks like a spoon with serrated edges and a hollow handle, and at the other end of the trencher are two rings, one red and one blue.
Babshapka peels back the tab to reveal the inside of the trencher. The contents are in a dry, dusty brick, with lots of room for air. It does not look or smell appetizing. He tries a tiny bite, and it is all he can do to get it down. It tastes mostly of powder and salt. “Seven hundred and fifty years,” he says to Aurora. “Of course it is inedible.”
Aurora is undaunted and not ready to give up her windfall. She directs him to take out the next trencher, and this time to pull the blue ring before peeling back the skin. When he does so, he reports that suddenly the trench feels “sloshy” and about twice as heavy, as if a liquid were added to the inside. When he pulls the red ring, the trencher and especially the skin quickly feel warm to his touch. Now when he peels back the skin, he is faced with a tray full of steaming stew that actually looks and smells very appetizing! He stows his stone and pops off the curious serrated spoon attached to the trencher. At a sip of the contents, even the taciturn wood elf smiles. “Not fresh,” he says, “but not bad.” The contents of the stew are not quite identifiable - cubes of some sort of root vegetable (darker than potato, crispier than turnip) and flakes of some sort of meat (as red as ham but with a flavor more like a delicate poultry).
(11:50pm)
Willa, Umbra, and Thokk arrive at the storeroom, and Aurora eagerly describes what she has found. They all try a spoonful of the now-cooling stew. For all her criticism of the unnaturalness of the ship and its strange technology, here at last is a discovery that Willa approves of wholeheartedly. She does some rapid mental calculations - with one trencher counting as a complete meal - and the current size of their party being eight in need of food - the crates all together represent about a two month supply! Maybe, she speculates, the mules could eat the vegetable substitute, or perhaps the porridge.
“Now we just need to find fuel!” says Aurora excitedly. “Do you think we can burn the crates?”
Willa shakes her head. “No need. If t’ese meals ‘eat themselves like ye say, we be needin’ coal only fer ter ‘eat ther tent - an’ we hae eno’ coal fer that. W’at do yon ‘ealing cans do?”
Aurora calls Thokk over and looks at the burns and welts on his now-hairless chest. She takes a canister in hand and follows the instructions on the inside of the case - shaking the canister vigorously, depressing the rivet, and pointing the nozzle at the wound.
A misty liquid sprays out. When it hits, a green foam, greener even than Thokk’s skin, rises up. Thokk sighs and says it feels good. When they scrape away the foam, they find his burns have healed and even his chest hair re-grown. (Thokk healed for 12 points, the dial on the canister has gone from “2” to “1”. Aurora now has automatic use of healing canisters (-1 from int, -2 from successful use, -2 from instruction is total -5)).
Willa loads eight trenchers each of stew and porridge into her backpack, as well as two canisters of healing (although she does not notice and Aurora does not think to check that both canister’s dials read “zero”).
[11:50pm; Vegepygmy wandering encounter canceled - they avoid the central block of the level]
(11:50pm)
Back in the Chief’s office, Mathias tries again to cast mage hand while in the armor (Arcana 0). This time when he fails, he sees several of the displays turn red (Roll 9). A second later, the suit seizes up and does not move. It has stopped assisting his movements - it has stopped moving at all, and Mathias finds himself locked in position as more and more of the displays turn red and unreadable text scrolls by.
About a minute later and the suit finally responds to him, moving again, but he suddenly hears the hiss of escaping gas and smells something acrid. A new display shows a system of tubes like veins running throughout the suit and flashing. Mathias reaches up and finds the buttons that open the seal, bends over and rapidly climbs out of the suit. Green gas follows him out and starts to build up around the suit itself. Mathias’ lungs burn and he begins to cough as he retreats from the suit.
From the control room (where he moved after Babshapka left), Tyrius can see the expanding cloud of green gas enveloping the suit. He calls for Umbra or Aurora to return. Willa hears his call and brings Umbra, skirting the cloud as she moves through the Chief’s office. Umbra moves to the control panel, trying to remember which of the dozens of switches and dials represented the “ventilation system in the “Chf Sec Off”. She tries a few (Intelligence Save 2, critical fail) and is met with the script which she cannot read but which she knows says that a password or key card is required.
Soon after, Aurora and Babshapka enter the control room. With her comprehend languages, Aurora finds the correct dial to increase the ventilation in the office and begin to suck the green gas out of the room. In a few minutes the suit stops producing it. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Note on Sources: This post contains spoilers to module S3:Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
Locations keyed in the module are indicated in [blue].
The playdate for this, our twelfth Barrier Peaks session, was 29 June, 2019.
Party Wandering Encounters - Day 3 - Level I, South
Party, Mules, and Security HQ each rolling separately
1:30 am (mules) - 2 displacer beasts
Post 179: Spores! 22 February, 571 [3 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 3
Currently:
Aurora has comprehend languages until 12:30am
Shefak has mage armor until 1am
Babshapka spells at 1/2
Tyrius at 2/2
Umbra at 0/3/0
Dirty Larry at 3/1/1
Aurora at 3/1/1
Party is in the central complex, Level I.
Shefak, invisible, is on guard outside in the hall.
Everyone else is in either the Security Control Room or the Chief Security Officer's room, with the door between them open.
The poison gas from powered armor has been vented.
(12am)
Once all of the gas has dispersed from the officer’s room, Mathias and Aurora return. Umbra stays at the console control panel. Some of the stronger party members maneuver the fallen clockwork into an upright position behind the desk to make it look like it is still in control of the room.
With her comprehend languages still running, Aurora follows Mathias’ instructions on getting into the suit. It allows her to enter but Mathias has to help her stand the armor upright. When she is fully standing, the back seal does not close and it does not pressurize.
Aurora can read the numerous displays all around the helmet. In the center, and much larger than the others, is a flashing red notice. “Critical suit failure!” it says, “Mandatory repair. This fault was first reported 712 years 63 days 5 hours ago.” Below that, it says “All major systems offline. Currently running on long-term emergency power only. This fault was first reported 0 hours ago.” Finally, beneath this, it says, “Critical hydraulic system failure. Ethylene Glycol gas leak extremely dangerous to user. This fault was first reported 0 hours ago.”
Around this, in smaller displays, she can read the status of the various systems the suit possesses. She shouts these out to Mathias, who can hear them through the open seal in the back of the suit. The voice of the suit-wearer is no longer being projected from the front. It appears that the suit is equipped with:
Air Supply
Air Supply Recharge
Anti-Gravity
Anti-Gravity Recharge
Atmospheric Analyzer (with the same three systems as the handheld unit)
Auditory Sensors
Core Generator
Force Shield
Force Shield Recharge
General System Power
Image gathering and processing
Language Translator (incoming and outgoing)
Laser Pistol (the display says that this is currently set to “anti-personnel mode”. It does not say what the other mode(s) are)
Low light sensors
Movement Systems
Processing and Diagnostics
Structural Integrity
Thermal Dispersion Patterning
Voice Projection
Mathias listens carefully. When Aurora is done, he says, “Well, we’ll just have to see about getting it fixed, then. Let’s take it back to that repair clockwork.” He helps Aurora double over again, then climb out of the suit.
(12:10am)
The party, less Shefak, gathers in the interior hallway of the central complex. Willa is still keen to move the mules here, but wants to do a bit of exploring first, making sure the complex is safe. There are two gray doors and a pressure plate one off of the hall, and they don’t know the contents of any of those rooms.
It is decided that they will try the middle gray door - except that they have no idea where gray is in the color hierarchy. Aurora suggests that it can’t be very high, as black is quite low and the known higher colors are bright. She suggests using the red card, since that is likely the highest card the party possesses and thus most likely to work. Willa agrees that the red card is likely the highest, but says that in itself is the reason they cannot use it - they can’t afford to lose it if it doesn’t work. She says they should try the yellow card. If the yellow doesn’t work, they will still have the red, without having lost any functionality, but if the red doesn’t work they will lose access to this whole complex.
Aurora inserts the yellow card into the gray-coded slot of the door. Immediately a door alarm begins to go off; the card is not returned. From the control room Umbra shouts that there is a flashing light on the console. Aurora dashes off to read the message. Under the flashing yellow light, text appears saying “Unauthorized entry attempted at central computing room - reroute all available security personnel”. Aurora attempts to override the alarm but fails. “We need to prepare for clockworks!” she shouts to the others.
“Can Shefak see ‘em comin’?” Willa asks, and Larry admits his previous Darkvision spell on her should have expired hours ago. He hustles out in the hallway to apply another one, and warns her that they may have visitors soon. (Shefak now has darkvision to 8:10am, Dirty Larry at 3/0/1)
What follows then is several moments of them shouting at each other as they try to work out whether they are supposed to be hiding or ambushing, and if the latter, where that is going to take place. Mathias has disappeared into the shadows in the control room until Willa reminds him that he is holding the red card and needs to be with the group if something happens. They finally decide on using the Chief’s room as their ambush spot and several of them ready themselves to attack anyone coming in the open doors. They leave all of the interior doors open but have plans to shut them if they hear from Shefak. While most of them think that any security forces will arrive through the control room, Willa insists that they need to be ready for something arriving through the other doors, and she sends Babshapka through the pressure-plated door to the south. On the other side he finds the familiar medical bay - he listens carefully, and then closes both doors from there to the hallway which were left open at the start of their last fight. Babshapka notes that on the medical bay side, the door is not a push panel, but rather is gray-carded, so he carefully leaves it open. Willa and Thokk move out to guard it as Babshapka remains in the bay and listens.
After a tense five minutes or so the alarm ceases. “See, I told you,” says Aurora confidently. “I’m sure we have eliminated all of the security clockworks by now.”
When they stand down she informs the party of what the message actually said - “Unauthorized entry attempted at central computing room”. Mathias asks what a “computing room” is. “I imagine it is like a counting house,” says Aurora. “On a ship like this, they would likely have to “compute” the pay for all the crew, the supplies in food and whatever they use to power all of these devices, parts for the clockworks, and everything else. Most likely a center of logistics and inventory.”
Mathias considers this. He suggests that they insert their black card into the other gray door. They will surely lose the card, but at least they can learn from the readout in the control room what kind of place it is. Willa says that she does not want them to be down to a single card (she thinks, but does not say out loud, especially a single card held by him). She adds, however, that the black cards appear to be numerous - they have had two others before - one they lost to a brown door, one to a violet door. So it is likely they will come across another soon, and if not perhaps they can get one from some plant men. She is willing to try Mathias’ plan as soon as they have a spare.
(12:20am)
After some more talk, it is decided that if they are not going to be attacked, and if they can’t get through the gray doors, they need to explore some more to make sure the complex is safe for the mules. Willa wants Aurora to read anything in the medical area before her spell expires. Mathias convinces Thokk to carry the now-frozen armor. It is as heavy as a normal suit of plate armor and Thokk is able to get it over his shoulders and stagger forward slowly. Shefak runs rear-guard, closing all of the red doors behind them, but being careful to leave the gray one open.
Once in the medical suite they spread out. Willa guards the southwest entrance to the hallway outside, Thokk sets down the armor and guards the southeast door, Tyrius remains at the north door they came from. The rest of them follow Aurora around as she reads. The yellow door to the east says “Research Facilities”. She wants to enter immediately, but Willa said they needed to explore the two smaller rooms in the medical suite first. One of these Babshapka previously looked in, but did not have time to search it as he had just opened the door when the clockwork attacked. Babshapka reminds them that the alarm is triggered by touching the desks and they should avoid those. The two small rooms have writing on the doors that say “Examination Room 1” and “Examination Room 2”.
The first exam room is strangely furnished. It is not clear whether it is meant to be an uncomfortable bedroom or a comfortable cell or torture chamber. There is a single bed with side rails and obvious locations for restraints. A smaller litter is nearby, curious in that it is wheeled. A thin, standing curtain has a sheer fabric mounted on a flexible folding frame that seems mounted to the floor and ceiling. Babshapka has seen this room, so he proceeds to check the other one while Aurora looks for things to read.
In various drawers around the room are a number of small unfamiliar machines and devices, and a few more of the dark panes of glass that Mathias saw in the desk drawer outside. One drawer holds vials and tubes. There is lots of writing, both in the room and on the objects in the drawers, that Aurora can translate, but she doesn't understand most of the terms - it seems to be a specialized vocabulary related to alien concepts of medicine.
She starts looking through the drawers for things she thinks would help for dissecting robots, but all the tools seem to be designed for squishy humanoid non-metallic bodies. This is not a machine repair shop. She pokes her head into the room Babshapka is in but sees no great difference in its accoutrements, while meanwhile her spell is about to end. She returns to the yellow interior door.
(12:25am)
Aurora tells Mathias to open the yellow-carded door. He asks if they shouldn’t check with Willa first, and Aurora says it is fine. Babshapka shrugs and Dirty Larry nods in agreement. Mathias sticks the red card into the yellow-colored slot and the door opens. He asks Umbra to at least inform Willa that they are moving on.
The room inside [Laboratories] has tables and chairs. Shelving and counter space is full of what Aurora recognizes as alchemical supplies: vials, retorts, petri dishes, etc., as well as more esoteric devices and machines she does not recognize but which she assumes have similar uses. There are a number of dark glass screens on the walls. There are lots of things to read, down to the labels on the equipment, but the terms are highly specialized - they relate to medicine and alchemy but that is about all she gleans. Certainly there is nothing that obviously says "healing". To the north there is a pressure-plate door, to the east two yellow-carded doors. One says “Lab B: Culture Laboratory” while the other says “Lab C: Alchemical Supply Room.”
When Willa arrives, Mathias immediately says, “Serjeant, I told them to wait for you, but they made me open the door.”
“Aye,” sighs Willa, “Welcome ter me world.”
Aurora opens the pressure-plated door to the north while she points Mathias at the carded door, the southernmost of the two doors on the east wall.
Aurora’s room [Laboratories] is small, the walls full of stacked metal cages and container bins. Many of the cages hold the dusty, yellowed bones of small animals. There are two other doors besides the one she entered. One to the north is uncarded and unlabeled; one to the east is yellow-carded, and says “Lab B: Culture Laboratory”.
Aurora continues to the north. The next room [Laboratories] is also small, containing workbenches and counters, full of machines and alchemical supplies. A single, yellow-carded door is on the east wall, and says “Lab A: Reagent Trials”.
Back in the initial room, Mathias uses his red card to open the first yellow door. The packed space within [Lab c] is filled with shelving and all manner of containers - jars, boxes, and bottles. Most are glass, but some are ceramic; all are labeled in the alien script. The others call for Aurora to come back and read. When she gets to the supply room, with the last vestiges of her spell, she reads that the
Glass bottles of white powder say “defoliant”
Glass bottles of clear fluid say “acid” (with different qualifying names)
Glass jars of green powder say “poison” (with different qualifying names)
Glass jars of pink powder say “sensory enhancer”
Large ceramic bottles say “fertilizer”
Large ceramic containers say “regal acid”
There are about twenty of each type of container. A few are intact, most are rent, leaking, corroded, discolored, have dry-rotted seals, etc. Aurora’s spell ends.
(12:30am)
Aurora carefully looks through the containers, trying to find two of each that appear the most intact and are likely to still be viable, and then she directs the others to carry them out to the table in the previous room. Tyrius lays his backpack on the table in preparation for loading it with the containers.
Mathias moves to the more northerly of the two yellow-carded doors. The room beyond [Lab b] is long but narrow. It contains dozens of tubs mounted on open shelving of various levels. Thin tubes drop from the ceiling into each tub and there is a steady dripping noise. Russet-colored mold overgrows all of the tubs, covers the floor, and runs up the walls of the room. Willa’s hand goes to her stone.
Aurora takes a good look at the mold (Nature check, 24). She doesn’t recognize it, but doesn’t think it is “natural”. In the light of Willa’s lantern, she can see thousands of tiny, golden spores - dense in the air of the laboratory, swirling in eddies out the door, more disperse in the room they are in.
Willa tells Mathias that he can close the door, but when he leans in to press the pressure panel on the inside of the door he sees, besides a few other doors to the room, a shape on the floor under a dense carpet of mold - it looks like a humanoid body, but only two or three feet tall.
He leans back out of the room. “There’s a guy there,” he says, “under the mold. I think this is the source of the plant men.”
“T’at nay be a plant man,” says Willa definitively.
Mathias shrugs. “It’s the right size and shape.”
Aurora rubs her hands together in excitement. “If this is the source of the plant men…” she says.
“No fireballs!” commands Willa. “Larry, take a look,” she says, then puts up her stone and becomes speechless. Next to her, Babshapka pulls his anti-gas mask off his belt, slips it over his head, and begins adjusting the straps.
“After you, nature boy,” says Mathias, ushering Larry into the room and then slipping in after him. Larry’s feet, and Mathias’ boots, tread on the carpet of mold and it immediately releases thousands more spores into the air. Larry unsheathes his scimitar and pokes it into the mold-covered lump. He scrapes away the surface layer and examines the features underneath. (Perception 10). “Och, tha’s a plant mun right eno’,” he says, “tho’ be et dead are be et nae yet bairn - aye dinnae ken which.”
Mathias looks around the room, trying to identify anything else that might be under the thick layer of mold, but doesn’t find much (Perception 7).
[Larry Con save with dwarf advantage against poison 9, Mathias Con save 13]
Larry begins wheezing, and soon has trouble breathing. Mathias, too, feels a tickle in his throat, then begins coughing. Willa leans into the lab, one hand bracing herself on the wall outside, and yanks the two of them out without setting foot on the mold-covered floor of the room. Mathias, under his own power, starts stumbling back through the rooms, making his way slowly to the storeroom, followed by Aurora. As he goes, his exposed skin turns pink, then bright red, as if he has a sunburn - everywhere his skin was not covered by his leather. Larry is doubled over without moving, then sinks to his knees. He is beginning to turn blue from lack of air and gasps feebly.
Babshapka sticks his hand inside the room to press the pressure panel and close the door. Still wearing his anti-gas mask, he dashes after Mathias and Aurora. When he catches them, he wrenches the red card from Mathias’ hand, and then continues on ahead to open the storeroom door ahead of them.
Tyrius and Thokk together manage to carry Larry, arriving at the storeroom shortly after Mathias. By the time they get there, the skin on Babshapka’s arm, the one he closed the door with, is red as well. Tyrius empties his skin of water over Babshapka’s arm and sleeve. Larry’s breath is rattling feebly and his eyes are fluttering. Mathias can feel his throat closing off and begins searching for something in his backpack.
Aurora opens the “healing” valise in the storeroom and fills one of the plungers with half an ampule of “poison antidote” by sticking the needle end through the rubbery seal and drawing the plunger back, like she learned in her alchemy class when they worked with liquid ingredients that could not be exposed to air. She gets Mathias to open his mouth and tries to squirt it down his throat - but it seems to have no effect. She considers why the needle at the end of the plunger is so sharp and fine (Arcana 20). She draws the rest of the ampule, jabs the needle under Mathias’ skin, and squeezes. His eyes go wide and opens his mouth as if to object, then passes out, one hand clenched tightly around a potion flask just drawn from his pack. The burns on his skin are spreading.
Tyrius and Thokk set down Larry on the floor of the storeroom and quickly work to take his armor off. The skin of his hands and feet is peeling and sloughing off, and above that it is bright red to his knees and elbows. Tyrius lays a hand on Larry’s brow and prays for a lesser restoration (Tyrius to 2/1).
Larry’s breathing slowly eases. Tyrius keeps his hand on Larry’s head, closes his eyes, and continues his prayer (Religion check 21). He says that there is no poison in Larry’s system, but that he believes the problem with his breathing was related to some kind of disease. He does not know what the burns are from.
“Disease, eh?” says Aurora. She uses the already open syringe to draw forth a full syringe worth of “disease antidote” from one of the blue ampules, emptying it, then jabs that under Mathias’ skin and squeezes. (Mathias' death save 17). His body convulses as the thick, syrupy liquid spreads through his veins. Some tense moments later he begins breathing again, hoarse and weak.
Tyrius asks Aurora to tell him the labels on all the ampules. She is working from memory, but says she thinks they were “poison antidote”, “disease antidote”, and “radiation antidote”. The curious spray they used on Thokk simply said “healing”. Tyrius doesn’t know what “radiation” is - but the burns bear considerable resemblance to the damage done by Larry’s moonbeam spell, which is “radiant”. Perhaps there is a connection between 'radiant' and 'radiation'?
Larry’s burns are worse but no longer spreading, while Mathias’ are not as bad yet but are continuing to worsen even as his breathing improves. Aurora injects Mathias with a full ampule of “anti-radiation” liquid, while Tyrius shakes and then sprays the healing canister previously used on Thokk over Larry’s arms and legs.
After several minutes they are both doing better - Mathias’ burns are slowly subsiding, while the skin has grown back over Larry’s hands and feet, soft and supple. When they later are conscious and have been explained everything that happened, Mathias weakly suggests that the plant men are the result of exposing the russet mold to the source of radiant damage they experienced.
Babshapka removes his mask, his cloak, and his chainmail. The burns on his arm look bad, although he is not having trouble breathing. [Note: Babshapka normally Str 12, currently Str 11]. The healing spray worked well on Larry, so they take the same canister to Babshapka, but before she sprays it, Aurora notes that the dial on the bottom now says “0”. She presses the rivet, but no foam emerges. There are still plenty of canisters left, so she pulls out another one and checks the bottom - it is on “six”. She holds it over Tyrius’ arm and depresses the rivet. With a soft hissing sound, just a few drops of green liquid and no foam emerges - and the dial on the bottom drops rapidly from “six” to “zero”. Aurora curses and shakes the canister, noting that it already felt light when she picked it up. She goes back to the valise and pulls out the canisters, shaking each in turn. Of the 15 canisters remaining (including two that Willa had previously taken), there are only three that have the heavy “sloshing” feel she thinks means that they are intact. Of those, the dials on the bottom read 6, 4, and 1.
Larry struggles to his feet. “Aye got et,” he says, and rests his hand on Babshapka’s burned arm while mumbling in Bear. (Cure wounds for 7 points, Babshapka’s strength restored, Larry at 2/0/1). Babshapka’s skin turns from beet red to a delicate pink.
Willa takes the three working canisters and the valise of ampules. She is beginning to struggle with her load and says that they need to collect the mules and redistribute gear soon.
(12:50am)
The party returns to the complex of laboratory rooms. Using his mage hand, Mathias places the red card in the slot to open the second door labeled Culture Lab and sees that it indeed leads to the same russet mold-filled room. He uses his hand to return the card to his person, then sends it inside to press the pressure panel and close the door. The hand fizzles once the door lies between it and Mathias, but it is a cantrip and he can easily cast it again. Willa nods in agreement at his caution. “From now on, better use yer hand fer all ther doors.”
“Yes sergeant!”
The final yellow door, leading to Reagent Trials is opened in a similar manner. Inside [Lab a] is a lab bench and plenty of alchemical equipment spread out in use - rather than being abandoned as in previous rooms, many of these are filled with a variety of strange liquids and gels.
A clockwork, roughly human-shaped, is moving between the different pieces of equipment and is currently stirring an odd glowing liquid with a small glass rod. The automaton is not nearly as realistic as the female clockwork they fought, but is much more obviously humanoid in appearance than all of the security and cleaning clockworks they have seen. It is five feet tall and genderless, and has many sockets for attachments and compartments that might house laboratory equipment. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Note on Sources: This post contains spoilers to module S3:Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
Locations keyed in the module are indicated in [blue].
The playdate for this, our twelfth Barrier Peaks session, was 29 June, 2019.
Two posts ago was likely the nadir for the party - two of them locked in the jail cells, facing starvation, with no key card capable of opening the door. That problem resolved, and now in possession of a red card, the party is on their way up. In the last post they discovered the ship's stores and finally found a safe place to rest. Now their possession of a red card will give them access to a huge amount of information. They are finally starting to get answers to their questions.
Party Wandering Encounters - Day 3 - Level I, South
Party, Mules, and Security HQ each rolling separately
1:30 am (mules) - 2 displacer beasts
Post 180: Unit (#at†y [^']['h`/ 22 February, 571 [3 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 3
A clockwork, roughly human-shaped, is moving between the different pieces of equipment and is currently stirring an odd glowing liquid with a small glass rod. The automaton is not nearly as realistic as the female clockwork they fought, but is much more obviously humanoid in appearance than all of the security and cleaning clockworks they have seen. It is five feet tall and genderless, and has many sockets for attachments and compartments that might house laboratory equipment.
Aurora steps forward excitedly and says “Initiate language translation protocol.”
The clockwork swivels its head in response, looks at each of the party in turn, and then returns to the task at hand. Aurora tells the party to watch it while she casts a ritual of comprehend languages. The clockwork spends the next ten minutes transferring the glowing liquid from one strange device to another, alternately stirring, heating, and examining it.
(1am)
[Shefak’s mage armor ends]
Aurora finishes her spell, and moves to the still-open doorway. She says again, “Initiate language translation protocol.”
Without turning its head this time, the clockwork responds with a voice that is loud enough for them all to hear - and it speaks in Common! “Translation protocol complete.”
Aurora checks with the others and confirms that they can all understand the clockwork, it is not just the effects of her spell. She considers her training in commanding golems and other constructs - how to issue directives to things that are magically aware and responsive, but not really sentient or alive. She commands it to “report on current events.”
It responds, “Reportage relegated to overflow processing capacity only - maintaining priority processing resources on current assigned task. This unit, laboratory technician robot (#at†y [^']['h`/, is continuing current research task.”
“Very good; explain current research task.”
“Current research task is to discover a cure for novel virus temporary designate HFX392: vulgar name, 'paranoia plague'.”
"Report progress on assigned task."
“This unit currently on trial 12,698 - no cure so far discovered - progress limited primarily by current lack of computational resources, biochemical materials and supplies, and live viral cultures. Majority of current run-time is involved in recycling and synthesis of chemical supplies in preparation for occasional trials.” When the clockwork mentions that it is dealing with limited resources, Mathias begins digging through his bag, eventually coming up with the same potion he had before in the storeroom.
"How long have you been working on assigned task?"
“Current assigned task has been ongoing for...750 years 17 days 13 hours.” Willa whispers that the security chief’s suit was damaged 712 years ago - decades more recently.
Aurora continues, “Report on last two days’ activities before death of crew members."
After a pause - “Specify: death of crew members. Crew members have died all throughout current mission.”
Ignoring the clockwork’s request for more information, Aurora shifts tactics: "Report on activities of 750 years eighteen days ago."
“Previous assignment, prior to current task, was researching nutritional supplements for exo-animals in containment units.”
"Explain nature of exo-animals."
“Exo-animals definition: life forms of animal nature not indigenous to home planet.”
"Explain current location designation."
“Current star location unknown - access to mainframe records lost.”
Aurora says, "Explain key card color locking system," and a second later Mathias asks whether the repair clockwork can fix the mechanical suit.
The clockwork says “Response delayed - critical process initiated”. It transfers the glowing liquid to another vial, then holds the vial securely in one hand. Its wrist swivels, spinning completely around as if on an axle. The spinning accelerates, faster and faster until the party can no longer track the motion and a high-pitched whine emerges. Aurora has seen a hand-cranked centrifuge in her alchemy class, but nothing like this. After several moments the spinning slows, then stops. The clockwork proceeds to extract part of the liquid out of the vial using some type of syringe, transfer that to a new vial, and then discard all of the previously used equipment into a bin.
Mathias asks whether the liquid contained in his flask can help find a cure, and he hands his potion bottle to Aurora, in the doorway.
Without turning its shoulders, with its back still to the party, the clockwork’s head swivels completely around, turning from Aurora to Mathias and back. “Specify ‘key card color locking system’. Specify ‘repair clockwork’. Specify ‘mechanical suit’.”
Mathias and Aurora begin to fire off questions to the clockwork: Aurora says, "Do you understand the nature of human-issued key cards to open color-coded doors?"
Aurora says, "Explain nature of cleaning/repair clockworks? Can users direct cleaning/repair clockworks?"
Mathias says, “What is the nature of your power source?”
Aurora says, "What is in the culture room to the south of us?"
Willa jumps in, asking, “Who was the first victim of the plague?”
With so many unanswered questions now pending, the clockwork announces, “Diverging lines of questioning detected - processing resources limited - specify one line of inquiry.”
Willa tells Aurora and Mathias to lower their sails for a second, that they are confusing the machine man and it seems to hold potential answers to a lot of their questions. She tells Mathias to suggest questions to Aurora, and Aurora to continue her interrogation, but to wait for one answer before asking another question. Finally, she says to the clockwork, “Respond t’ questions from t’is unit,” and points at Aurora.
Aurora asks again, more slowly, "What is in the culture room to the south of us?"
“Specify: south.”
"What is in the culture room directly to your right?"
“Culture lab contains: hydroponic cultures fed by nutrient broth. Culture lab may be used for stick-life, algae, fungi and similar organisms.”
"What is your own power source?"
“Standard issue Mark 4 internal microscale fusion reactor.”
Aurora looks back at the party, who all shrug. “Not a power disc?”
“This unit is not powered by power discs.”
"Describe the first instance of paranoia plague. Subject status, symptoms, and end result."
“Personnel medical files require yellow level clearance or higher to access.”
Aurora grins hopefully. "We possess red card access - requesting visual identification." She steps to the side to reveal Mathias - he holds forth the red key card.
“Questioners possess red level clearance - unlocking personnel medical files.” The party cheers. “Query is first instance of paranoia plague. Subject status, symptoms, and end result. Response: First documented instance of paranoia plaque was crewmember astronavigator Alfonse Jzzor. Subject was co-piloting scout ship assigned to prospect for water-bearing resupply planetoids in projected main ship trajectory. Upon return to main ship, subject Jzzor exhibited increasingly paranoid delusions and erratic, violent behavior. All documented cases of paranoia plague within first week of outbreak were subjects who had had recent close physical proximity to Jzzor. Estimation of Jzzor being viral host point of entry to main ship: 97.3% probability. End result: Jzzor killed self by suffocation with injection tube when confined to medical bay exam room for evaluation.”
“Suffocation with injection tube?” Aurora whispers. “Did he hang himself?” Her questions seem more directed at the party than the clockwork - in any event, it does not respond.
Aurora clears her throat uncomfortably, then directs the clockwork to "Explain tiers of all color clearance levels."
“Black level; lowest clearance; passengers and/or colonists without specific shipboard duties.”
“Brown level; crew and maintenance workers.”
“Violet level; technicians and master maintenance workers.”
“Orange level; security personnel.”
“Yellow level; medical officers.”
“Red level; security officers.”
“Gray level; command officers.”
“All clearance levels are in linear transitive hierarchical order as reported except yellow and orange level are equal, but restricted to limited operational spheres within appropriate duties.”
While Aurora makes rapid notes in her notebook about the significance of the colors, Mathias tells her to ask about retrieving lost cards. Once she has things written down to her satisfaction, including confirming her notes with the clockwork, Aurora says "Explain method for retrieving improperly used key cards."
“Improperly used key cards are immediately destroyed and an automatic system report is sent to security headquarters; card users are then scheduled for a disciplinary hearing and do not receive a re-issued card until the conclusion of the hearing.”
Aurora says, "Explain current status of paranoia plague throughout vessel,” even as Mathias tells her to ask how many levels there are on the ship.
“Current status of the plague is unknown to this unit - access to mainframe has been lost.”
"Explain levels of ship and purpose of each level."
“The original colony vessel had 56 levels before separation. Detailed specification of operations on each level requires gray level clearance.”
Aurora says, "Confirmation - current vessel is the scout ship?"
“Negative.”
“Current vessel is the colony ship?”
“Current vessel is second separate section of once-joined colony ship.”
Mathias tells Aurora to ask about the female clockwork. Aurora says, "What was the female highly advanced clockwork?"
“Query - question refers to female android?” [Here the party learns the word android]
“Yes, the female android. Describe function.”
(At this point, Babshapka leaves to check on Shefak and Thokk who are guarding the yellow door to the sick bay. The ranger also opens the door to the hallway, looks out, and closes it again.)
“Androids represent the highest level of synthetic processing and Terran form mimicry available - they can be programmed for a multitude of functions beyond default processes. Female androids are most commonly programmed as guards and companions to ship officers.”
Mathias tells Aurora to ask where they can find a companion - and how to sync with it.
Aurora ignores Mathias for the moment and says, "Speculate - why did you lose access to this ‘mainframe?’" Aurora does not recognize the word, but from context it seems like a device for communication that would allow the clockwork - or android? - to know what was happening in other parts of the ship.
“Mainframe contact was lost contemporaneously with maximum reported incidence of paranoia plague. Temporal association implies most likely scenario: ongoing Terran maintenance of ship systems delinquent due to spread of disease and effective personnel shortages, resulting in critical system failures. Lower-probability alternate hypothesis: deliberate severance of all internal communications systems by plague-afflicted ship command officers with gray-level clearance.”
(1:30am)
[Unbeknownst to the party or Eddard, two displacer beasts check the table room. Finding it now free of lurkers, they hide under the large table and wait.]
Aurora says, "Explain how to command androids," and Mathias grins.
“Androids are slaved to personal biometrics of ship officers upon assignment - reassignment occurs only with grey-level clearance.”
“Ask ‘im what creatures be on ther ship now,” says Willa.
“And were any of the passengers capable of changing shape,” adds Mathias.
Aurora says, "Explain nature of current residents of ship."
“Unable to access data on ship - mainframe access lost. Personal logs of this unit note lack of Terrans in centuries - present company excepted. Novel life form present in culture lab may have been Terran-derived but is no longer Terran.”
Aurora says, "Verify - you have been in this room for the entire time of your current research."
“This unit has been working in greater research suite since beginning of paranoia plague. Research suite includes three laboratories and three research rooms, contiguous. This unit is not programmed to leave research suite unless core level functions override current research task.”
Aurora says, "Were passengers or crew capable of changing physical shape?"
“Ship crew and colonists were incapable of changing physical shape except for processes of normal ontogeny.” It pauses. “Speculation indicates that novel life form in culture lab may have not been so limited.”
Aurora says, "Explain more details of novel life form in culture lab."
“Fungal-based life form not recorded in any archives - it may be novel mutant version of previous exo-fungal creature. Exo-fungal creature was being grown as possible nutritional supplement for exo-animals. Speculation: exo-fungus may have been inadvertently exposed to radiation during ship separation. Since putative mutation, fungus appears capable of infecting humanoid animal life forms whereas before it showed no traits associated with pathogeny. Result of infection in Terrans is novel host - sentient plant / animal / fungus symbiotic colony.”
Aurora gets a creeping sensation in her skin but continues her line of questioning. "Explain method of reproduction of novel fungal life form."
“Fungal spores infect suitable animal host - living tissue subsequently redirected into multiple smaller sentient creatures. Individual creatures grow, and can themselves reproduce by asexual budding.”
“So if that mold gets us, it turns us into plant men?” asks Mathias, but Aurora does not repeat his question.
“So if t’is jus’ be a section of ther ship, ‘how many levels do t’is section be?” prompts Willa. Aurora repeats the question, and adds that the clockwork android should explain each level of the ship as it goes.
“Level 1 - Quarters for ship’s crew and colonists. Medical stations, security headquarters for this section. Dining rooms, kitchens, meeting rooms, lounges for all personnel. Training and recreation rooms. Research facilities, library. Central computing facility.”
“Level 2 - ‘Tween decks. Service access for maintenance and technical crew only. Off-limits for colonists and non-dutied crew. Principle power generation and moderation for this section.”
“Level 3 - Upper walkway and lounge. Recreational kitchen and other recreational facilities for all personnel. Cargo holds for colonist and terraforming equipment.”
“Level 4 - Botanical gardens, rookery, and menagerie. Supply and support areas for same. Ten-Forward Lounge for all personnel.”
“Level 5 - Garden ‘tween decks. Service access for maintenance and technical crew only. Off-limits for colonists and non-dutied crew. Principle water reserve, treatment, purification, and circulation for this section.”
“Level 6 - Theatre, athletic, and activity deck. Recreational facilities for all personnel. Cargo hold for exo-beings in containment units. General cargo hold.”
Mathias tells Aurora to ask whether each level has redundant systems, like other medical bays and security quarters. Aurora nods, but says "Explain current safety and viability levels for human presence on each deck."
Willa asks where the colony ship itself went, and whether there has been contact with the other sections. Aurora repeats her question.
“This section of colony ship is currently in unknown trajectory - mainframe access lost. Status of contact with other sections unknown: mainframe access lost.”
“Why did the colony ship separate into sections?"
“Early stages of paranoia plague resulted in activation of quarantine protocol - colony ship divided into independent sections in attempt to control spread of plague.”
“Were there aliens loose in this section - escaped creatures from the containment units? Are they still getting out?”
“Current status of containment units unknown - mainframe access lost. Prior to loss of contact with mainframe, report of containment unit…” It pauses, then continues, “...report of containment unit restricted to gray level clearance. Files not accessible.”
Aurora says, "Explain nature of recent sickness and curing of incident with slime."
“Specify: slime?”
"In the culture lab to your right, there is a russet fungus with glowing floating spores. When agitated it caused medical problems in humanoids."
“Respiratory difficulty and radiation burns are early symptoms of body repurposing by novel fungal life form. Advanced symptoms are loss of consciousness and total metabolic and biostructural reworking, eventually resulting in emergence of two to three independent bipedal fungal / plant / animal symbiotic colonies.”
Mathias asks whether the maintenance androids can fix the exo suit, and Aurora repeats the question verbatim.
“Specify: exo suit?”
“This suit,” Mathias says, pointing to the armor that Thokk carried into the room before resuming guard duty.
“Specify: maintenance android?”
“Yes, maintenance android,” says Mathias.
“Unknown term: ‘maintenance android’.”
Mathias insists, “The clockworks that repair equipment, and repair the security androids.”
The clockwork pauses for several seconds, then says, “Term requested is ‘repair robot’. Repair robots are tasked with the maintenance of structural features of the ship and cleaning detail. Robots are inferior to androids in both synthetic processing and mimicry of Terran form.” [the party now knows the term robot.]
“Great,” says Mathias. “Can these repair robots fix this suit? If not, who can? What is this suit even called?”
“Robot adaptive learning allows them to attempt basic repairs of robots and androids but their effectiveness is limited to replacing failed components rather than actual failed component repair. Terran technicians are required to approve requests for replacement components. “Suit” is standard issue Powered Armor. Powered Armor may be repaired by qualified Terran violet-level technician.”
Aurora interjects with "Explain procedure for changing your assigned current task."
“Current task may be reassigned by grey-level clearance directive.”
"Where can we find grey-level clearance or individuals with such clearance?"
“Grey level clearance may be obtained on ship command officers’ physical cards or by verbally accessing blind/concealed internal password in all robots and androids.”
Aurora says, "What is the blind/concealed internal password?"
“Password is concealed in inaccessible program files until unlocked upon hearing.”
Mathias asks, “Is the password ‘Balls’?” The robot does not respond.
Willa asks how many commanding officers there are, and how many crew.
“Time passage since original officers and crew seen exceeds maximum theoretical Terran lifespan, even with regenerative technology not available on ship. Unknown whether new officers and crew have been assigned. Current status of ship officers and crew unknown - mainframe access lost.”
Aurora offers forth the bottle that Mathias provided, saying "Prioritize analysis of given vial of liquid as it may be pertinent to current assigned research task."
“Analysis of vial contents upgraded to next task after current trial.”
"How long will current trial take?"
“Current trial completion in two weeks, but projected downtime in 1 day 5 hours.”
"What does projected downtime mean? Can you analyze vial then?"
“Projected downtime defined: pause in commitment to current trial while cultures grow. Minor non-priority tasks may be completed during downtime.” The robot accepts the vial offered by Aurora.
"Very good - you are the most diligent servant I have ever seen."
“Specify: response to unnecessary praise desired?”
Aurora chuckles and continues, “Verify - human operator needed to fix powered armor suit?”
“Terran technician sufficient but not needed. Repair robot may be sufficient provided repair involves replacement of components that are already available to robot. Requisition of components requires Terran technician.”
Some of the party have lingering questions for the lab technician robot, but Mathias is keen to get the armor to a repair robot and Willa wants to move the mules to the storeroom and rearrange gear. They all agree that they can come back later. If the robot has not left in 750 years, it is unlikely to leave any time soon. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
DM's Note on Sources: This post contains spoilers to module S3:Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
Locations keyed in the module are indicated in [blue].
The playdate for this, our twelfth Barrier Peaks session, was 29 June, 2019.
Party Wandering Encounters - Day 3 - Level I, South
Party, Mules, and Security HQ each rolling separately
1:30 am (mules) - 2 displacer beasts
Party, Mules, Security HQ, Hole (I), and Hole (II) rolling separately
Post 181: Work Smarter, Not Harder 22 February, 571 [3 Coldeven] - The Unoerthly Cave, Day 3
(2am)
Aurora’s comprehend languages ends. The party collects their rear guard and helps Thokk again lift the powered armor across his shoulders. They make their way into the hall outside the medical facilities and head for the robot repair room.
They approach the intersection immediately to the south of the medical bay, one of whose branches leads to the hallway of the plant men. Shefak, invisible, is scouting ahead. She notices (Insight 17) that the plant men are getting agitated at the approach of the party - as they always do, but this time even more so. One of the thorn dogs is pointing stiffly at them.
They have passed through crowds of the creatures enough times by now that they try what has worked before - weapons away, avoiding eye contact, moving slowly and slouching down. This time, however, the plant men move quickly past most of the party rather than threatening them. When they get to Tyrius, however, they surround him. A half dozen of them hop up and down on all sides of him, and when he does not immediately react, they begin to paw at him.
More and more of them are emerging from the hallway, such that the corridor is becoming thick with them and those party members near Tyrius are having difficulty pushing past them, while he himself is immobilized. A few of the plant men are grabbing at his belt and trying to climb on him!
One of the creatures attains his back and is fumbling with the straps of his backpack, apparently trying to open it or perhaps get it off of him. Once Tyrius understands that the creatures are interested in his backpack, he realizes that inside are all of the alchemical supplies the party recently picked up. He takes off the backpack, gently shakes the plant man from it, and opens the top flap. The crowd of plant men around him threatens to topple him, but he manages to keep his feet. He holds the pack over his head, out of their reach, and begins pulling forth its contents at random and tossing them down the hall behind the party.
The first item out is a glass jar of green “poison” powder. This breaks when it hits the floor (luck roll -1). It is far enough down the hall that it does not land on any plant men, and they ignore it and continue to clamber about Tyrius.
The next item is a glass bottle of white “defoliant” powder. This does not break (luck roll 1) but remains lying in the hallway.
The next is a second glass jar of green “poison” powder. This breaks when it hits the floor (luck roll -4). It landed next to an outflow air duct, and it aerosolizes and drifts in a green cloud down the hallway, including over the plant men and the rear of the party. Apparently it is not a contact or respiratory poison, or perhaps is not still active after so many centuries, for no one seems to be adversely affected.
The next is a glass jar of pink “sensory enhancement” powder. This does not break (luck roll 0) and rolls to the center of the hallway, where it is ignored by the plant men.
The next is a large ceramic container of “regal acid”. Tyrius throws this well behind him, and the jar cracks on impact (luck roll -2). As the liquid seeps out, the metal floor of the hallway begins to blacken, then bubble, then sink from sight as it is eaten away. A thick cloud of caustic, acrid smoke fills the hallway. This gives a few of the plant men pause, but they quickly return to scrambling in mad attempts to climb up Tyrius and get to his backpack. Tyrius tries not to think about what might happen if he gets overborne and the second of those two containers of acid, still in his backpack, breaks.
Next is a large ceramic bottle of “fertilizer”. At its appearance the plant men are in a veritable frenzy. Tyrius is nearly overcome as a wave of the creatures climb over one another to get at him, but fortunately he has enough size and weight on them that he manages to keep his feet (Tyrius Athletics roll 17, plant men -1). He can only lob the container a short distance away as he struggles to maintain his balance. It breaks (luck roll -2) and a greenish fluid seeps out. Immediately all of the plant men abandon Tyrius and converge on the broken bottle, fighting and pushing one another out of the way in an attempt to get at the fluid. They stick their twiglike digits into the thick liquid and then into their mouths as they push and jostle one another. Tyrius, and the rest of the party, are now being completely ignored, and Willa hustles them along the hallway to the east while the getting is good.
[A wandering encounter is now being rolled on the Level II for the hole just created. If an encounter occurs, the Intellect Devourer will have found the hole and be able to climb to Level I. Also, a wandering encounter is being rolled on Level I for the mess in the hall. If it results in a worker robot, the robot will clean up the spilled poison and remove the intact bottles of poison and defoliant. It will ignore the hole itself as too large to repair without authorization to use ship stores.]
(2:10am)
The party enters the outer repair room, where the hulks of the two previously slain security robots lie, and then the inner room, where the solitary repair robot works on the dozen other non-functioning security robots. After an initial appraisal, Aurora does not believe that it is any farther along in its work than it was before. She considers the technician robot’s words - the repair robots are limited in their ability to repair things by their access to component parts, and new components can be requisitioned only by human crewmembers. In a new light she sees the vain attempt of the repair robot to take parts out of the bins or one of the non-functioning robots and replace them in another.
Aurora walks up to the repair robot and commands it to “Initiate translation protocol.” It steps around her and continues to go about its work.
Mathias directs Thokk to drop the armor in front of the robot. When he does so, it stops and spends a few minutes examining it with various probes and attachments. Finally it gathers up the armor in its hands and lifts it over its head (displaying considerable strength) and carries it to an empty workbench to set down, but then returns to working on the dozen security robots in the room.
Aurora tells Thokk to follow the robot around from behind, and whenever it is not looking, to carry out one of the broken security robots and place it in the other room. Thokk is amused by this game and over the next twenty minutes succeeds in getting all of the security robots out of the room without the repair robot “noticing”. With nothing else left to work on, the repair robot moves over to the powered armor, and begins examining it in earnest. When it begins to produce tools that actually open the suit and starts removing parts, Mathias and Aurora smile at one another.
(2:30am)
Willa asks if they are ready to return to the mules yet. Aurora looks around and notes that the repair room has a violet-carded door in it they could not go through before - but now they have a red card, which the technician robot informed them ranks above violet. Mathias agrees, and uses his mage hand to have the card open the door.
As soon as the door opens, a chime sounds - not an alarm, but a clearly audible chime. Those in the room next door hear it as well. The room beyond the door is oddly shaped, with three walls at normal right angles but the fourth curved as if it were the exterior hull. Inside the room are multiple large cases in cave horn and numerous small boxes of metal. One bench has a dozen of each of the colors of the stopperless flasks on it, as well as ten or more power discs laying out on top.
In the hallway outside the repair room Umbra is on watch. She calls into the room, saying that she can hear the approach of something wheeled (Perception 18). The party readies for combat. Babshapka, next to Aurora, and Mathias move into the room quickly and look about. With no other exits, they both have the same thought - to grab a handful of power discs and then move to support the party. Babshapka actually snatches three discs out from under Mathias’ hand, mumbles an apology, and dashes out the door. Mathias grabs four and closes the door on his way out. Shefak moves into the hall with Umbra and calls to the others that a security robot is coming.
[The security robot, having been summoned by the alarm on the armory door, is treated as a wandering robot and has been augmented to AC15]
Round One
Mathias dashes into the hall just ahead of all the others who were not there yet. “Time to meet your God, machine man!” he shouts. A great bolt of lightning arcs from him to the robot, then envelops it (witch bolt hits, 17 damage becomes 34 points. Drops force shield plus 14 points to body).
Thokk draws his longsword, runs past the robot, and batters at it from behind (1 hit, 7 damage). Just one of the metal creatures is not a challenge, but he always enjoys fighting alongside his companions. However, he notices that this robot is different from the others they have fought - it appears to be in some kind of armor! (Perception 13)
Shefak summons her ki and attacks with a flurry of blows (two attacks of four hit, 17 damage, she tries to knock the robot over but it remains upright), then continues her movement around the corner and out of sight of the robot.
Babshapka just barely makes it out the door in time to launch two arrows at the robot. One hits (10 damage), while the other is stopped by Thokk’s shield, causing him to guffaw at Babshapka’s poor aim.
Larry hits with his thorn whip and drags the robot closer to the door (6 damage).
Aurora tags the robot with a firebolt, but she notices (Arcana 23) that it did not do as much damage as it should have, considering the placement of the shot (hit for 14, robot is resistant to fire damage and takes 7).
Umbra follows up with a ray of shadow (13 damage), causing a section of the robot to ice over. Low on spells, Umbra converts sorcery points to spell slots (font of magic - Umbra at 1/3/0).
The robot gets its force shield up and running and wheels in a rapid circle, blasting Thokk with the sparking paralysis retort (Thokk makes a Con save at close range - paralyzed for 4 rounds). Free from melee, the robot wheels down the hall and past the door. Babshapka feels his longbow tugged by an invisible force, almost wrenched from his grasp, but he manages to hold onto it (telekinesis ray, Babshapka strength save 24).
Tyrius has remained in the room. He is up against the wall (out of view of the doorway) and is digging in his backpack, trying to find the second ceramic jar of “regal acid” to possibly use as a missile weapon.
Willa bursts from the doorway of the room, runs past the robot, down and around the opposite corner and out of its view. It tries to strike at her with a tentacle as she passes (opportunity attack), but misses.
Round 2
Umbra fires off a dark bolt (10 points to robot’s shield).
Tyrius is continuing to look in his backpack - where is that second jar? (Dex check 4)
(Thokk has three rounds of paralysis left)
Willa springs out from around the corner, hits the robot twice with her greatsword (total 31 damage, ten to shield and 21 to body). She retreats out of its view again before it can bring its paralyzation ray to bear on her, but a tentacle does strike at her as she pulls away (opportunity attack hits, 12 damage).
Larry scratches its metal hide with his thorn whip (4 damage).
Shefak emerges from around her corner with another flurry of blows. This time she lands four hits (total damage 32). She continues to pound dents into the robot until it stops moving.
[Because this robot was defeated entirely in the hallway, there is no video record of the combat. Thus the party remains at having killed four security robots “on record” and there will not be an increase in the AC of future robots]
The party cheers. Willa stows her stone and congratulates them on their improved tactics, particularly on staying away from the paralyzation ray by using cover. The key to fighting these things, she says, seems to be in not bunching up, but hitting and then ducking away so as to not be paralyzed...her words fade in her throat as she sees now the heavy metal plates on the robot. Is this a new version? Willa calls Tyrius into the hall to examine it.
Mathias concludes his electricity spell before it can arc to Tyrius, and returns to the repair room to make sure the robot is still working on the powered armor (which it is).
Together, Tyrius and Willa go over the robot. (Tyrius investigation 16, +5 from help is 21). They conclude that it is not a new model - it is the same robot they have fought before, but it has had heavy metal plates bolted onto its body in various locations. Tyrius believes that they have been added to key structural points that would be most vulnerable to melee damage - basically, everywhere they would normally target it. Furthermore, it appears to have been painted with a coat of some sort of varnish that makes it more resistant to flame. (Note: previous security robots had AC11, this one has AC15 and is resistant to fire damage).
Willa suggests that the robot has been altered specifically to resist the party - perhaps that was what was happening when the “central computer” alarm was tripped and no security forces came - they were all being retrofitted? When this is explained to Mathias, he says that the repair robot in the other room spends an awful lot of time examining the security robot bodies - perhaps it is assessing their damage and not only fixing them, but making adjustments as it goes to prevent similar damage in the future - “adaptive learning,” the technician called it.
Sobered, the party drags the robot into the room and waits for Thokk to be able to move. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
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