Elana - Human Holy Warrior of Melora, goddess of the wilderness and sea (250 points)
Masha Deathfoot - Human Martial Artist (250 points)
Puddin' Noddington - Gnome Thief (252 points)
Vaelcor Treehippie - Human Druid (250 points)
Jahn the Bear - Bear (187 points)
Zephyra - Half-Elf Wizard (250 points)
NPCs:
Emrich "The Lawbringer" - Human Cleric of Erathis, goddess of law and civilization (??? points)
Isabelle of Thrace - Human Holy Warrior of Erathis, goddess of law and civilization (??? points)
Amothius 9th, 2546
Masha ran at the necromancer, but missed a flying kick, and the spider-fiend biting Emrich's now unconscious body let go to get a mouthful of Puddin' "for dessert", while the other one continued to rip and tear at Jahn. Puddin', now well below 0, decided to Do Nothing rather than risk passing out, while Zephyra lightly toasted the spider biting her with a 3d Flame Jet.
The rat ogre ("It has HT14, there's no way it will pass out!") raised a fist to squash Argua, but then succumbed to its wounds and passed out, so she just re-readied her great axe with her remaining, un-crippled hand. Elana stabbed Puddin's spider in the vitals, and Vaelcor cast Major Healing on Jahn again, just as the bear broke free from the spider's fangs and tore it up some more with his own.
Isabelle used her boosted DX from Holy Might to make an AoA (Double), with the first as a feint; she won the quick contest by 14 degrees and then landed a savage blow (16 damage) to the skull with her flail, mashing his head into red paste. The zombie behind Jahn continued to carve out some bear steaks with its hatchet, and Masha landed a pair of All-Out Attack kicks on the spider wrasslin' with Jahn.
Another bite on Jahn pumped him full of more venom, and the other spider let go of Puddin' to go for Elana with an All-Out Attack but missed, and was punished by a Flame Jet from Zephyra's and a spear to the vitals from Elana. Argua landed a one-handed blow to the other spider's "neck" (do spider's have necks? Arachnoid Hit Location Table says yes!) with her great axe, but Vaelcor decided to do nothing, because he wanted to save FP to cure poison and didn't want to get close to a spider.
Jahn broke free from the spider's bite again while still biting into its thorax, and was followed up by attacks from Isabelle and Masha, though the first missed and the latter rolled poor damage. The spider then changed targets to try to bite at Isabelle with an All-Out Attack, but was blocked, and put down with a retaliatory All-Out Attack (Double) to the skull.
The last spider-fiend, seeing that the fight seemed to be turning against it, went back to biting Emrich's body and re-injecting himself with poison. Everybody started to gang up on the last spider, but it survived to fling Emrich at Vaelcor, who dodged, before dying after another two flail blows to the skull (one a crit for max damage - 18) from Isabelle. Argua and Puddin' finally passed out from their wounds, and Jahn finished off the zombie that had been cutting his right leg apart, ending the fight.
On her turn, Masha said a short prayer "for everybody about to die from poison", while Vaelcor ran to cast Instant Neutralize Poison on Puddin'. Zephyra started Fast-Drawing minor healing potions and, after Vaelcor managed to convince Jahn to calm down, fed it three Minor Healing Potions, somewhat mitigating the ongoing demonic spider poison. Isabelle ran over to bandage Emrich, but found he was already dead.
Elana went around slitting throats/stabbing eyes ("Hey, none of my characters took any damage!" "Except the bear, who took over 150"), and Masha headed over to the necromancer and started to loot; she took his robes, his wand, another strange wand with a metal end in a large wooden handle, a signet ring with the Shadowmantle coat of arms, and a leather-bound journal with a strange rune on the cover (which she left).
Zephyra took a look at the two stone pillars but failed Thaumatology and couldn't figure out anything else; she tried casting Shape Earth on them, but it had no effect. She also figured out that the purple dome that had fizzled her spells was an Utter Dome. Isabelle asked to see the wand with the wood handle, and shattered it in order to retrieve the metal bit, about 4" long, which she shoved into her backpack ("Hey, that was probably worth something!"), and told the others that they'd be compensated for retrieving it once back in town.
Vaelcor started doing First Aid on Puddin' with bandages borrowed from Isabelle, while Zephyra leafed through the last couple pages of the journal. It was a list of locations and dates, starting in Eastmark several months ago (Isabelle noted that she and Emrich were from Eastmark), and ending in Haverbrook yesterday, as well as another note about failure and a clone being killed. Zephyra tried consoling Isabelle about Emrich's death, but utterly lacked any skill and Isabelle seemed to have come to terms with it, remarking that he was always rushing in without thinking.
While Vaelcor did some healing, Isabelle said that she could probably heal some people with a magic item, but that she also wasn't sure how it worked, or how many charges it might have. Eventually it was decided that it would be tested on Jahn, because worst-case, he'd probably be fine, and she brandished a metal wand, said "Ruat", and golden light shot out, healing the bear. In an attempt to be fair, she then healed Argua, Puddin', Jahn again, Puddin' again, and then it ran out of juice.
Vaelcor did more First Aid, Veterinary, as well as Minor and Major Healing to get everybody back up above 0, and they headed out to the altar room with Emrich carried by Isabelle and Argua. Zephyra thought about closing the blasted passage with Shape Earth, but realized it'd cost way too much, and they just continued on to Haverbrook and the Bloody Raven Inn, where they (other than Vaelcor & Jahn, who stayed outdoors) spent the night.
Puddin' drank heavily while Argua and Zephyra discussed how they would "split" the manor; Argua suggested a contest of strength, which Zephyra turned down for some reason. Eventually, they decided to agree that whichever of them lived longer would inherit the full manor. Isabelle, as a servant of the goddess of law, drew up a divinely binding contract which they both signed, Argua only after some convincing, as she viewed it as "wizard trickery".
As though to prove Argua correct, Zephyra cackled internally, figuring that, as she was working towards becoming immortal, she would likely win. There was then some discussion of loopholes ("What if I accidentally hit and kill Zephyra while targeting somebody else in close combat?" "What if Zephyra uses Shape Earth to lock me in a room with 50 Skeletons?"), but this was shut down by Isabelle stating that it would be up to Erathis, and also that in the event one beneficiary murdered the other, the land would go to the church.
Amothius 10th, 2546, Haverbrook
Vaelcor did a bit more healing now that his spell penalties were reset, and then the party headed back to Isserno. The journey took most of the day, but was an uninteresting one through mostly farmland until they arrived at the great city, again with the exception of Vaelcor and Jahn, who stayed outside at an "urban" druid circle. First, they took Emrich's body to the temple of Erathis, where Isabelle conferred with a bishop of their order in private.
Shortly, they emerged and the party received a payment of 100 gold pieces ($10k) each. In private, though Puddin' managed to listen in, Isabelle told Elana that the temple had taken the metal wand and that the party should consider their payment to cover it as well. Isabelle wished the party well, and they went to recharge power items and get loot evaluated.
The robe turned out to be a Robe of Protection (made of spun adamantium, but apparently dyed brown), which went to Vaelcor, and the bone wand was a Wand of Fireballs, which Zephyra took. The ring was just worth $5k, but Zephyra decided to keep it as a power item. As this was unfair to the rest of the party, Vaelcor and Zephyra gave the rest of the party half and all of their payment, respectively, to balance it out.
Zephyra read the rest of the journal over the evening and the next day, and learned a ton of information :
- The journal used to belong to Lord Esterad Shadowmantle, the former Lord of Shadowmantle Manor and supposed distant relative of Argua and Zephyra
- 20 years ago, a group of adventurers had killed a necromancer, Albroghast the Putrid, who had taken up residence in the Shadowmantle family crypts
- The adventurers had given him the wand (that Isabelle had broken and taken for the church), which they believed Albroghast had stolen from the now-defiled tomb of Caedwyn Shadowmantle, one of Esterad's ancestors
- Esterad had been in communication with Brunhilda Bronzespire, a sage in Isserno, about what the wand was, and she had told him that she had heard of similar artifacts
- One was in the temple of Erathis in Eastmark
- Another was in the dwarven keep of Kral Aklaz in the Mirakh mountains
- According to pirate legends, a third was supposedly held by the pirate Captain Redhook, whose ghost ship sank in the Bonestorm ("The Bonestorm?" "Yes, the Bonestorm")
Amothius 11th, 2546, Isserno
The next day, Elana looked for a Weapon Master trainer, but didn't find one. Argua went back to Haverbrook to talk to Jeeves and spend some money towards the reconstruction of Shadowmantle Manor. Zephyra finished reading the journal and got more info:
- Over several months, Esterad's dreams became filled with visions of spiders and a steaming swamp
- Esterad started communicating with a being that referred to itself as the Wolf-Spider through the journal, where he would ask questions and something would respond in a different style of handwriting
- The Wolf-Spider revealed to Esterad that the other artifacts were merely parts of a larger rod, were stolen from his family, and rightly belonged to him
- Esterad, under the tutelage of the Wolf-Spider, faked his death and took up necromancy and demonology
- Esterad's process for creating the wolf-headed zombies could be recreated
- The journal also doubled as a spellbook for Control Gate, Utter Dome, Analyze Magic, and a spell Zephyra had never heard of called Imbue Demon, which was used to put a demon inside of a dead body, creating a "better" zombie
- Esterad had had a "counterpart" who had served as an agent, who was most likely a clone
- The places and dates in the last pages outlined his plan to herd the rod segment and its bearer, Emrich, towards Haverbrook, where they would be ambushed and the segment taken, though this failed
Everybody else went shopping.
Amothius 12th, 2546, Isserno
After Elana and Zephyra got a chance to do some shopping and Argua had returned, the party reconvened outside of town to discuss their next move. The party then went to Brunhilda Bronzespire's office and asked her to do some research into where the other parts of the rod that Esterad Shadowmantle had been asking after were, as they wanted to ensure they didn't fall into the wrong hands. Also, the church would probably pay them big money if they found others!
After being reminded of something she hadn't heard of in over a decade, Brunhilda said it would take two days to track down other leads, and the party paid her the required fee. While talking about the rod piece in Kral Aklaz, Puddin' mentioned that she thought all of the dwarves had died off, and Brunhilda pointed out that she was a dwarf. As the party left, Brunhilda put up a sign saying to leave a note as she was busy researching.
Amothius 14th, 2546, Isserno
The party reconvened with Brunhilda, who gave them some semi-useful intel:
- The segment in Eastmark had gone missing about six months ago, but turned up four days ago at the temple in Isserno, so they didn't have to worry about that one
- Kral Aklaz had gone dark for a year or so ("I'm sure they're all fine"), but it was only a week or two to the southeast on foot
- The segment lost in the Bonestorm had turned up on the Swordfish Islands, a tropical island chain in the Pirate Kingdoms which would take about 4 weeks (and several thousand dollars) to get to by boat
They then left and paid the town crier to ask any caravans or travellers were going to Kral Aklaz to contact the party at the Pudgy Dragon Tavern. After several hours, five dwarves showed up with relatives in Kral Aklaz; none were interested in going themselves, but would pay six gold coins to find out what had happened to their relatives.
Puddin' tried to negotiate with them, but failed the Merchant roll, and the dwarves, insulted, said that they'd pay something if they came back with proof of their families' fates, but not before. On the way out the door, one of them mentioned that the dwarves of Kral Aklaz had trained riding gryphons, and that they should send a message by gryphon if possible.
The party then hired a laborer, Mahk Strawngmussle, to help carry the SICK LOOT they'd probably get. When being introduced to the rest of the party, he asked "Hey Ahgwah, you lift?", she replied "Hell yeah!" and they arm-wrestled to establish dominance (Argua won). The next morning, the party set out.
Amothius 15th-16th, 2546, Plains
The party took the well-travelled roads through the farming villages along the coast before turning inland and starting off-road. On the second day, Argua, the lead hiker, just barely noticed a sinkhole before leading the party into it, and they were spared the nasty 20' fall onto rocks.
Amothius 17th-19th, 2546, Forest
As they travelled through the forest, Puddin' occasionally noticed giant spiderwebs overhead, but they were never interrupted by whatever had made them.
Amothius 20th-24th, 2546, Swamp
One night, just before sunset, the party noticed firelight off in the distance and, as they passed a copse of trees, saw that it was coming from a small hut, with a chimney gently wafting smoke. Puddin' was sent to scout ahead, and, though she was too short to see through the window, could hear a mechanical noise, fabric rustling, and a fire crackling. She regrouped with the party and they cautiously advanced towards the hut.
Argua, after cocking her axe, knocked on the door, and an elderly woman's voice replied, inviting them in, so, after readying her axe, Argua opened the door. Sure enough, inside was an elderly woman in worn wool clothes working at a loom who introduced herself as Edith, and seemed very pleased to have visitors. Vaelcor and Jahn stayed outside, but everybody else went in.
The inside of the cabin was cozy; a fire burned in the hearth, and a pair of hand-carved wooden chairs sat invitingly in front of it. Puddin' gave Edith some of their food, and she thanked her for her kindness. She offered the weary travellers a place to stay the night, and offered to weave their fates, if they wanted, for a reasonable price. Argua asked if she could make someone die, and Edith replied that she didn't like to, but that it was possible.
Edith also said that she could bring back the dead, which triggered an angry statement about necromancy from Elana, which in turn caused Zephyra to go into the usual "Hey, what do you have against necromancers?" speech. Argua was intrigued, but balked when Edith told her that the price of this service would be (Puddin' "Your soul!" Edith "your so- how about that, you got it!") Argua's soul.
While waiting for a response, Edith flashed Argua a crooked smile, and Argua said that she wasn't interested. The party settled in, and several minutes later, Edith and her loom simply vanished, with no trace she'd ever been there, though the cabin and the chair she'd been sitting in stayed. The party made sure to sleep in shifts ("Wait, don't we always sleep in shifts?" "Yes, but especially tonight".
In the middle of the night, Masha heard a wet sucking sound, and looked out the window to see a pair of hulking mounds, covered in vines and vegetation, shambling towards the cabin.
Notes:
I've determined that weekly upkeep will be paid per 7 days a character is present. This is only an issue because this game is (in theory, anyway) drop-in/drop-out.
Zephyra forgot about the spider-fiends being resistant to fire from last session. Luckily, so did I!
Neutralize Poison seems to be pretty much pointless, as I can't find a poison with a duration over 30 seconds in any of the DF/DFRPG books. Hooray for Instant Neutralize Poison.
Jahn the Bear took a metric ton of damage this fight, but with all healing multiplied by 3 thanks to HP 30+, it wasn't that big of a deal.
GURPS has hit location tables for everything and it is amazing.
I used the wrong name for the healing rod segment (Rex instead of Ruat). In my defense, Rex sounds way cooler.
Zephyra has Sense of Duty (Adventuring Companions), but Argua is a loose cannon with nothing to lose!
Urban Druids are reverse hicks, who have no idea what nature truly is.
Initially, Zephyra wanted to try to take the portal to the Hellswamp under Shadowmantle Manor to Kral Aklaz, but she was ultimately convinced not to.
I'm trying out a new, more abstract long-distance movement system. The gist of it is, every "leg" of the journey, players roll skills relevant to the terrain (usually Hiking, Navigation, and Survival, with optional Weather Sense), with success reducing the chance of a combat encounter and increasing the chance of a "postiive" encounter, and failure doing the opposite. Penalties get higher the further from civilization you go, and there is always one non-random encounter per "leg" of the journey, which cannot be avoided.
I'll probably add Camouflage as another optional skill in the above system.
Nobody sold their soul! I mean, what are they even going to do with them? They could have had cool shit!
I only realized afterwards that Mahk Strawngmussle would totally have sold his soul to live forever!
XP was 5 (2 for the final battle, 3 for loot), MVP (for this session and last) went to Vaelcor (and Jahn).
No comments:
Post a Comment