Session 18 - A comrade lost

Paige 10

Everyone else seems tired of making the trek back to the village from our underground rat lair, but on top of the sunset and pleasant company, I'm enjoying the novelty of making the trip upright and intact. Maybe one too many bites to the head have affected my memory, but it seems like I can remember twice as many trips into the dungeon than walks back out again.

Bomani's not doing quite as well. Halessa took one look at his distant expression, quiet mutterings and occasional drool and whispered that it's what I looked like after my rat bite. Luckily Bomani doesn't seem to be roasting to death from the insides like I was, and Quill hasn't yet decided to dance around and purge imaginary rat spirits, but it's chilling to see our leader so reduced and needing help to stay on the narrow track home.

The fight itself was chaotic. Just as we'd finished off the glowing crabs, which taught me that the most absurd-looking creatures are capable of being absolutely terrifying up close, a group of seriously skinny woman (Ed note: Not actually female) corpses with huge claws came out of nowhere and hammered into the back of our group. I was checking the crab corpses for useful kit and by the time I turned around people were already down and bleeding. Thowick, who looks even more like a shopkeeper and less like an adventure having seen him in a fight, was shaking for an hour after his narrow escape. I don't think I can take him back there. This isn't for him.

Quill's magic hands helped Bomani back from the edge but Narvay took a claw to the chest and nobody could save her.  All we could do was hold her hand as she died - I hope Narmak, Tomf and Ramiri have a campfire waiting for her, and that their cooking beats Quill's. Whether or not you're on an island which was abandoned to plague and death centuries ago, iron rations or her latest food crime is a choice nobody should be forced to make.

Judges Perspective

 A couple of sessions have passed since the last update now, and a few things have happened. In session 17, the party spent some time exploring the area of the dungeon once inhabited by bandits, and after kicking in various doors they found where the bandits lived and slept. They've also determined (they believe) the location of a secret room but have not yet managed to find the door. After deciding the bandit area would make a vaguely decent bolt hole, they went off to investigate another corridor and found a plain room with a large crystalline rock in an alcove. Bomani grabbed it and the door shut them in. Opening the door they saw nothing odd. In the spirit of experimentation they did it again. And again. And then Quill stepped outside and they did it again. The door closed, it went dark for Quill and when she opened the door again the room was pitch black. When the party opened the door, Quill was no longer there.

Oh dear. So, they did it again and found Quill in the corridor. It was very confusing. They left the room and were disoriented until they came to the 'Zombie Theater' at which point Yannick realised where they were. Simples. Knowing their location again, and wondering why the hell someone would create such a seemingly pointless magical device, they ventured north down an unexplored corridor.

There, they found a large grublike creature busily consuming the corpse of the priest they had found in the entrance hall previously, with the bodies of his two fellows lying nearby. Combat ensued, in which the only victim of the Carcass Scavenger's paralyzing tentacles was one of the dogs (Aka a Carrion Crawler, and I was gutted that everyone made their saves bar the dog. Gutted! I'll have my revenge! - And I did!). Sadly there was no loot, the corpses having already been stripped. Paige took the 'adventurers' headscarf to return to Rufus in Sunstep.

The session ended just as a positive wandering monster roll came up. Next session then, the one described by Paige above, saw a small group of Fire Beetles wander into the area. Seen from a distance, they entered the Hall of Fungal Death and appeared to be merrily chomping away on the fungus. The party carefully approached, and then kicked off a fight as Paige shot one. It went well for the party at first, and then a beetle scored a telling blow on Yannick (biting 2 fingers off his shield hand) and Grey Wind (a wardog) was also brought low. Both were saved from death by fortunate rolls on the Mortal Wounds table.

Unfortunately, the clamor in the corridor attracted the attention of a trio of Ghouls lurking nearby, who took advantage of the party's distracted state and attacked from behind. Almost before they could react Bomani and Narvay were dropped to the ground, frozen and unconcious (Revenge is mine!!) The ghouls then failed to get any telling blows in for the rest of the battle and were quickly dispatched. I was sad when Quill failed to turn them, that would have been great to see. Treated quickly, it was clear that both the ghouls victims were a) paralyzed and b) bleeding to death (10 min deathcount). Unfortunately, the party had only enough Comfrey to make a single poultice. With a heavy heart Quill saved Bomani from death and Narvay's life was extinguished. Bomani has been left with a nasty head wound.

At that point, they retreated back to the nearby village to rest and lick their wounds.

Session 16 - Back to Sunstep (AGAIN!)

After the excitement of the new visitor to the village - A Priestess of some considerable ability, who looks like this:

 

 

 

 

the party returned to the town to re-equip and sell some of the supplies they found to the Court Wizard of Auriga. They turned a pretty penny from that (1000gp) which has helped them in no small way. By the end of the session some more equipment as well as a cart and a pair of mules had been acquired and the party were headed back to the dungeon via the village.

Paige 9

It's been a few days, or probably weeks, since I've been able to walk straight and think straight at once. Between rat bites, stone floors and rusty dogfolk knives, it hasn't seemed like my armour has really been achieving much - especially when Quill is flouncing around in far less and managing to come out scar-free.

Not that I'm about to ditch the trousers and show it all to the world like she does, but I could do with a quiet couple of weeks where I don't lose a knee, or too much blood, or most of my mind. I do feel better than I did, more capable of standing within a spear's length of a fight without collapsing with some sort of dramatic wound, but I might give it a few days before I test that.

Today was pay day for Halessa and Thowick, so they're currently singing their way through the wine at the only inn in town (surprisingly well, in H's case). I thought it was a week or two early, but when Yannick paid his war band I could hardly go and spend my share of the money on anything else. It might be the right time to pay them anyway. It seems like I've spent a lot of time unconscious or halfway there over the last month, so I'm not the best person to be keeping track of the calendar. 

I'm hoping that we can find some metal armour for H, since her current stuff is about as flimsy as mine. My pouch was full of wonderful clinking noises after I collected from the wizard, but buying or commissioning the armour will clean me back out after we pay for our new roof in our adopted home village. Adventuring is turning out to be expensive but it's better for my sanity, let alone my body, to spend the money on having H stand between me and the problem rather than paying the priests to mend me again.

Once I've found the armourer, it's hopefully time for us to join everyone in the inn to see if there's any wine left for latecomers. The novelty of walking freely has been great all afternoon, but knowing that there's a day's march between us and the village is making me keen to find a stool and drink on it until my feet are numb and it's time to sleep.  Maybe H will sing a lullaby, which has to be nicer than lying awake being serenaded by Yannick's snoring. Again.

Session 15 - The Mark of the Rat

This session report is from the last week in October. We had a dry spell over the Christmas period and have moved to a fortnightly game, with one of the other players running something on the off week. We have played a session of MERP in the interim which was a blast though perhaps a little rule/table intensive for Hangouts.

Anyway, here's the Barbarians take on session 15:

Yannicks Tale

 The Mark of the Rat was on her.

 

That's what the Priestess said, at least... mostly it looked like a fever to me.

 

When the morning came, Quill starter preparations to exercise the spirit from Paige in a ceremony that started when Sol was highest in the sky.  It wasn't much compared to the High Whatsit, but I was assured it would have been very effective if she had actually been possessed.

 

Turns out I was close enough when I figured it wasn't anything that couldn't have been explained by an infection and having her brains rattled in the fall.  Only, the Rat Fever they get over here is a pretty darn big deal... seems like she was going to die of it within the week 'less she got herself some treatment from a priest or a better healer than Quill.

By which I mean one who has more skill with herbs, not just one who doesn't bad mouth your smell while she washes wounds.

 

Narvay found some Go'darn Rod, which wasn't actually golden but seemed to keep the fever a little better.  It didn't see seem like breaking any time soon and we were left playing out ways to get the poor lass back to Sunstep.  Even while we could give her the strength to walk it would still be about four days for her to do it and I wasn't so keen on stripping us both down and throwing her over my shoulder for two days march.  Bah.  Fact is there was a wagon of supplies coming the next day and we'd still be quicker riding back on that than we would messing around with stretchers.

Plus, this way we could get a bundle of the crates back to civilization to divide the spoils and all.  Stack 'em under her, she wont mind.

 

That day I hunt and it got late, but we were dressing the stag we saw a whole flock of bats fly off for the night.  Verdugo didn't think much of it, but I'm thinking here that it means either there's a building what has its roof still, a cave or a second entrance to the palace of Rogger and Zod.

Turns out that's what it was we were kicking around, down there: the palace of Zod the Stargazer and his buddy Rodgar.  'course he can't have been much of stargazer, what with building his place underground.  I can just see his predictions now...

"Hmmm, the ceiling is in ascension again.  That mean it's an austpicious time to drink a bunch of wine from my ever-flowing fountain and boff a popsy in the big bed with Zs on it." - Lucky bugger.

 

Anyway, turns out him and Rogdar had a ossuary down there, sonething the fancy-lookign wizard in the expedition would like to see and would pay us to guide 'im to.  I have no idea what an Ossuary is, and I suspect Bomani is faking when he says he knows, so we're going back to talk to the bod... offering a crate or two of thing-bits for his spells might help, eh?

 

But that's for another day... we knew the roads were in a bit of turmoil, like, when we expected the supply train I took out my warband to meet them at the treeline... one of the likeliest places for an Ambush and all.
We saw nothing, but did start to hear off in the distance the sound of a woman giving someone a piece of their mind something sharp for best part of an hour before the pack-train came into view.  Cart, donkeys and all... backed this time by a sullen-looking sergeant and some conscripts trying to walk the line between being annoyed by the shouting and smirking at their sergeant being on the end of it.

 

The woman on the donkey that was doing the berating was of a fair size and not young, but had an authority about her.  I'd seen the like in temples of the Saints before (the robes gave the Good Mother away) and they all had the power to go behind the voice.  The Voice, I mean... this one deserved the respect of it.

I said we were here to be sure that all got to the village safely and she said about time too, before putting the guards fears to rest.  I had no desire to test them further, so we walked in front and nobody got harrowed by anything before the village came in sight.  She turned up her nose at Quill (which quick got the Solly's back up) and said as that a Saint had tasked her to free the one from the Mark of the Rat: which was Paige.  And so she did that, with no more than a sniff of fanciness.

She said that was a mission over and we should thank the saints, which we did, but also encouraged her to say to help the villagers.  She said that was all very well, but we'd still have to pay for further miracles... and we didn't have the cash to get Paige's bonce looked at so we're still bound for Sunstep.

 

Left the Good Mother with the new village elder, they'd see her well kept. Likewise the troops seemed to be making to stay, which was reassuring for me: gave 'em some advice on approaches and watchposts and suchlike.
 
The cart we loaded and rolled out... all round feeling better about it though and it wasn't just a good nights rest to explain the cheerful feeling of our latest return with spoils.