[The Delvers continue exploring the complex under the Moon Manor Ruins.]
[This game uses the Fifth Revised Edition of the Hero System rules along with the Fantasy Hero supplement. This session happened July 1, 2019.]
Player Characters:
Jala – human female – a person of discretion, studying aspects of the Law [to avoid them] at the Dust Academy
Zarek – fox male – a cerebrally-unfettered spell researcher [read: Mad Scientist] turned into a talking fox, studying Natural Philosophy at Monarch University to find a way to become human again
Vorgand – human female – professional porter and Adventurer’s Aide, irregularly attends classes at The Tested military academy, practitioner of Steel Serpent martial arts
Ricky the Astrologer – human male – has a thirst for knowledge but doesn’t know what he’s searching for, currently studying Astrology at Monarch University
Nick Stalwart – human male – part of the Stalwart family of merchants, studying Mathematics at The Interesting Institute of Profitable People, a college at Monarch University
Non-Player Characters:
Torsten, Fish, Harek, Kol – surviving bandits and now torchbearers for the Delvers Guild, currently MIA
Lester “Les” Stalwart – human male, younger brother of Nick and general tag-along [DNPC]
Unavailable Players
Clarence – human male – studies Religion in Temples district, coincidentally the group healer
Freysday, October 18th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
Earlier the same morning, back in Little Wytheford, Vorgand left the inn she spent the previous night in. She caught the Noon ferry from Aegea the previous day and arrived in Little Wytheford last night. Today she had plenty of time to get to the ruins and join in the explorations with the other Delvers.
At the farriers she found a teenaged human boy attempting to talk the farrier into giving over Vorgand’s horse. Vorgand claimed her horse and asked the teenager why he was trying to steal it. The teenager claimed he only wanted to borrow it as he had a vital message for Nick Stalwart. Slightly intrigued, Vorgand offered to take the message to Nick herself as she was heading that way. The teenager insisted that it was a confidential message that he had to deliver personally to Nick. With a shrug, Vorgand agreed to take the teenager to Nick and rented a horse for the teenager, expecting Nick or his family to cover the cost. The teenager’s name turned out to be Les.
Vorgand and Les spent the morning riding south along the Moofolk River and then around Faemount Mountain to the Moon Manor ruins. When they got close, the magic earrings that she and Jala were wearing started working and they could talk to each other. Jala explained where the Delvers were and how to get to them. After tying up their horses, Vorgand led Les into the complex under the ruins. After half an hour on the stairs down they reached the flooded area in time to hear Ricky trigger the shriekers.
Noon
Jala announced to the rest of the Delvers that Vorgand had arrived just as Ricky triggered the shriekers. Jala threw her magic dagger at the extremely noisy purple fungi, slicing it from the wall. The shriekers fell into the two feet of water and went quiet, slowly floating down the north passage from the intersection the Delvers were standing in.
Nick looked back down the east passage and saw Vorgand with a torchbearer. This was curious as all the torchbearers had fled while the Delvers before the Delvers returned to the ruins this weekend. Then he realized the torchbearer looked familiar…very familiar. The torchbearer was his younger brother, Les Stalwart! The two brothers talked while the rest of the Delvers brought Vorgand up to speed on what had happened so far [see Session 5]. The “important message” Les claimed to have was just an excuse to join his older brother on an adventure. Nick asked Les if their parents knew he was at the ruins, but then realized they probably didn’t know he, Nick, was there either and it would be best if they never found out [or at least best for Nick].
As this was being resolved, the Delvers noticed surges in the water indicating something was moving through the water in the room to the west and seemed to be approaching the corridor. This prompted the Delvers to quick action and then went south to the ramp out of the water. The ramp was a shallow slope, so at the top, nearly ten feet higher than the flooded areas, they were on dry footing but could still see the flooded intersection. The southern corridor continued past the ramp and their torchlight illuminated the entrance to a side passage on the west wall. Zarek and Ricky went to go investigate so nothing would sneak up on the Delvers while they dealt with whatever was in the flooded corridors to their north.
The side passage was short and ended in a pair of double doors. The something in the water to the north turned out to be two humanoid shapes with mushroom cap heads, one of which carried a spear of metal. While the others dithered as to what to do, Jala threw her magic dagger at one of the things and hit it. In response, one of the two let off a spore cloud and then both advanced on the Delvers. In the ensuing fight, the fungoids proved hearty and took a lot of damage before they went down. Their hides were tough enough that Jala’s dagger was clearly barely doing any harm and they could also release a nauseating cloud of spores that threw most of the Delvers into uncontrollable retching fits [CON-based Entangle]. Vorgand had much more success with her sword and Steel Serpent fighting style [one of the martial art styles I use in my Fantasy Hero games] once she got her nausea under control. In the end the fungoid with the spear was killed and the other driven deeply unconscious by Zarek’s fire magic. Then Vorgand performed a coup d'grace on it.
The Delvers caught their breath and verified none of them were seriously injured. Those able wiped spores off the faces of those still retching. Just as everyone recovered, four more fungoids came around the corner of the intersection. The Delvers attacked with their strongest range attacks. Zarek used fire magic while Nick used lightning attacks that blossomed out in the water, hitting all of the fungoids at the same time [although never for as much as he hoped]. When one of the fungoids fell to the assault, another released a spore cloud and the three standing fungoids picked up their comrade and retreated back around the corner. The Delvers were greatly relieved, fearing another spore attack.
Choosing to not pursue the fungoids, the Delvers instead moved south to the next side passage. The double doors opened easily enough, revealing a 10-foot length of corridor with another set of double doors facing them. Those doors would not budge. Suspecting the inner doors would not open while the outer doors remained open, all the Delvers but Jala and Ricky [who both have the Shadowstep spell] stayed in the 10-foot area between the two sets of doors. The outer doors were closed, which allowed the inner doors to open. Jala and Ricky reopened the outer doors and told the rest what they had discovered. The Delvers chose to explore whatever was beyond the sets of doors.
On the other side of the inner doors, the Delvers discovered a an eerily lit chamber, 30 by 30 feet in size. Four large apparatuses whose primary components were 5-foot diameter, 10-feet tall glass tubes. The glass tubes of the right two were broken, with large shards on the ground and standing in the apparatus. The third apparatus was completely full of something that seemed composed of eyes and mouths on shapeless flesh. The fourth apparatus was filled with a liquid and semi-floating in the liquid, held by a harness was an elf.
Investigating the broken devices, the bottom of each was full of elf bones and skulls. The Delvers did not like to look of whatever was in the third device and so left it alone. Zarek, Jala, and Ricky investigated the controls of the fourth device and after discussing it amongst themselves [assisted Deduction roll], Zarek worked out which button would release the elf inside and indicated this by pressing that button. This caused the liquid inside to drain away through attached pipes, some of which leaked. Ricky and Nick gathered samples of the leaking fluid for later study.
Once all the liquid was gone, the glass walls of the containment tube sunk down into the floor, exposing the elf in the harness. The elf stirred a bit and then started convulsing in the harness!
End of Session
[Ended on another cliff-hanger for suspense and so we could delay what happened next until the following session when Clarence’s player would be able to show up. As he is the party’s healer, he is the one with the appropriate skills to do things next, so I wanted him to be at the game. It was close to our normal stopping time, so the timing worked out well.]
[I’m also happy I finally worked Les Stalwart, Nick’s younger brother and DNPC into the session. I’ve forgotten to do so for the last two sessions, so Vorgand showing up late to the adventure was a perfect opportunity.]
Delvers Guild
Session A, Character Creation Part 1
Session B, Character Creation Part 2
Session 01
Session 02
Session 03, Part 1
Session 03, Part 2
Session 04
Session 05
Session 07
[This game uses the Fifth Revised Edition of the Hero System rules along with the Fantasy Hero supplement. This session happened July 1, 2019.]
Player Characters:
Jala – human female – a person of discretion, studying aspects of the Law [to avoid them] at the Dust Academy
Zarek – fox male – a cerebrally-unfettered spell researcher [read: Mad Scientist] turned into a talking fox, studying Natural Philosophy at Monarch University to find a way to become human again
Vorgand – human female – professional porter and Adventurer’s Aide, irregularly attends classes at The Tested military academy, practitioner of Steel Serpent martial arts
Ricky the Astrologer – human male – has a thirst for knowledge but doesn’t know what he’s searching for, currently studying Astrology at Monarch University
Nick Stalwart – human male – part of the Stalwart family of merchants, studying Mathematics at The Interesting Institute of Profitable People, a college at Monarch University
Non-Player Characters:
Torsten, Fish, Harek, Kol – surviving bandits and now torchbearers for the Delvers Guild, currently MIA
Lester “Les” Stalwart – human male, younger brother of Nick and general tag-along [DNPC]
Unavailable Players
Clarence – human male – studies Religion in Temples district, coincidentally the group healer
Freysday, October 18th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman
Earlier the same morning, back in Little Wytheford, Vorgand left the inn she spent the previous night in. She caught the Noon ferry from Aegea the previous day and arrived in Little Wytheford last night. Today she had plenty of time to get to the ruins and join in the explorations with the other Delvers.
At the farriers she found a teenaged human boy attempting to talk the farrier into giving over Vorgand’s horse. Vorgand claimed her horse and asked the teenager why he was trying to steal it. The teenager claimed he only wanted to borrow it as he had a vital message for Nick Stalwart. Slightly intrigued, Vorgand offered to take the message to Nick herself as she was heading that way. The teenager insisted that it was a confidential message that he had to deliver personally to Nick. With a shrug, Vorgand agreed to take the teenager to Nick and rented a horse for the teenager, expecting Nick or his family to cover the cost. The teenager’s name turned out to be Les.
Vorgand and Les spent the morning riding south along the Moofolk River and then around Faemount Mountain to the Moon Manor ruins. When they got close, the magic earrings that she and Jala were wearing started working and they could talk to each other. Jala explained where the Delvers were and how to get to them. After tying up their horses, Vorgand led Les into the complex under the ruins. After half an hour on the stairs down they reached the flooded area in time to hear Ricky trigger the shriekers.
Noon
Jala announced to the rest of the Delvers that Vorgand had arrived just as Ricky triggered the shriekers. Jala threw her magic dagger at the extremely noisy purple fungi, slicing it from the wall. The shriekers fell into the two feet of water and went quiet, slowly floating down the north passage from the intersection the Delvers were standing in.
Nick looked back down the east passage and saw Vorgand with a torchbearer. This was curious as all the torchbearers had fled while the Delvers before the Delvers returned to the ruins this weekend. Then he realized the torchbearer looked familiar…very familiar. The torchbearer was his younger brother, Les Stalwart! The two brothers talked while the rest of the Delvers brought Vorgand up to speed on what had happened so far [see Session 5]. The “important message” Les claimed to have was just an excuse to join his older brother on an adventure. Nick asked Les if their parents knew he was at the ruins, but then realized they probably didn’t know he, Nick, was there either and it would be best if they never found out [or at least best for Nick].
As this was being resolved, the Delvers noticed surges in the water indicating something was moving through the water in the room to the west and seemed to be approaching the corridor. This prompted the Delvers to quick action and then went south to the ramp out of the water. The ramp was a shallow slope, so at the top, nearly ten feet higher than the flooded areas, they were on dry footing but could still see the flooded intersection. The southern corridor continued past the ramp and their torchlight illuminated the entrance to a side passage on the west wall. Zarek and Ricky went to go investigate so nothing would sneak up on the Delvers while they dealt with whatever was in the flooded corridors to their north.
The side passage was short and ended in a pair of double doors. The something in the water to the north turned out to be two humanoid shapes with mushroom cap heads, one of which carried a spear of metal. While the others dithered as to what to do, Jala threw her magic dagger at one of the things and hit it. In response, one of the two let off a spore cloud and then both advanced on the Delvers. In the ensuing fight, the fungoids proved hearty and took a lot of damage before they went down. Their hides were tough enough that Jala’s dagger was clearly barely doing any harm and they could also release a nauseating cloud of spores that threw most of the Delvers into uncontrollable retching fits [CON-based Entangle]. Vorgand had much more success with her sword and Steel Serpent fighting style [one of the martial art styles I use in my Fantasy Hero games] once she got her nausea under control. In the end the fungoid with the spear was killed and the other driven deeply unconscious by Zarek’s fire magic. Then Vorgand performed a coup d'grace on it.
The Delvers caught their breath and verified none of them were seriously injured. Those able wiped spores off the faces of those still retching. Just as everyone recovered, four more fungoids came around the corner of the intersection. The Delvers attacked with their strongest range attacks. Zarek used fire magic while Nick used lightning attacks that blossomed out in the water, hitting all of the fungoids at the same time [although never for as much as he hoped]. When one of the fungoids fell to the assault, another released a spore cloud and the three standing fungoids picked up their comrade and retreated back around the corner. The Delvers were greatly relieved, fearing another spore attack.
Choosing to not pursue the fungoids, the Delvers instead moved south to the next side passage. The double doors opened easily enough, revealing a 10-foot length of corridor with another set of double doors facing them. Those doors would not budge. Suspecting the inner doors would not open while the outer doors remained open, all the Delvers but Jala and Ricky [who both have the Shadowstep spell] stayed in the 10-foot area between the two sets of doors. The outer doors were closed, which allowed the inner doors to open. Jala and Ricky reopened the outer doors and told the rest what they had discovered. The Delvers chose to explore whatever was beyond the sets of doors.
On the other side of the inner doors, the Delvers discovered a an eerily lit chamber, 30 by 30 feet in size. Four large apparatuses whose primary components were 5-foot diameter, 10-feet tall glass tubes. The glass tubes of the right two were broken, with large shards on the ground and standing in the apparatus. The third apparatus was completely full of something that seemed composed of eyes and mouths on shapeless flesh. The fourth apparatus was filled with a liquid and semi-floating in the liquid, held by a harness was an elf.
Investigating the broken devices, the bottom of each was full of elf bones and skulls. The Delvers did not like to look of whatever was in the third device and so left it alone. Zarek, Jala, and Ricky investigated the controls of the fourth device and after discussing it amongst themselves [assisted Deduction roll], Zarek worked out which button would release the elf inside and indicated this by pressing that button. This caused the liquid inside to drain away through attached pipes, some of which leaked. Ricky and Nick gathered samples of the leaking fluid for later study.
Once all the liquid was gone, the glass walls of the containment tube sunk down into the floor, exposing the elf in the harness. The elf stirred a bit and then started convulsing in the harness!
End of Session
[Ended on another cliff-hanger for suspense and so we could delay what happened next until the following session when Clarence’s player would be able to show up. As he is the party’s healer, he is the one with the appropriate skills to do things next, so I wanted him to be at the game. It was close to our normal stopping time, so the timing worked out well.]
[I’m also happy I finally worked Les Stalwart, Nick’s younger brother and DNPC into the session. I’ve forgotten to do so for the last two sessions, so Vorgand showing up late to the adventure was a perfect opportunity.]
Delvers Guild
Session A, Character Creation Part 1
Session B, Character Creation Part 2
Session 01
Session 02
Session 03, Part 1
Session 03, Part 2
Session 04
Session 05
Session 07
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