[Landsharks, a side trip, and the first ruins.]
[This session took place August 21, 2004. We were playing Champions 5th Edition with the Second Edition Fantasy Hero supplement.]
Player Characters
Tim, a Wizard - male human from the Free City of Freegate, graduate of Outlands University
Dangar Stonekleaver – male dwarf from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom
Mord Worldfist – male dwarf bodyguard [and handler] for Dangar
Wendell Dorshield III – male gnome, Captain and Architect of the Yardbird
Malwyn – male High elf fighter and military expert
Darkfox – female human thief from Freegate, secret ID of socialite Karlyn Gryphshaw
NPCs
Rebecca – female gnome, part of the Gnome security detail for Wendell
Herschal “the Hunter” – also known as “Bearkiller”, male gnome, part of the Gnome security detail for Wendell
Yacov – male gnome, part of the Gnome security detail for Wendell
Horace the Mad – male human, a fur trapper and mountain man operating in the Southern Reaches
Session Begins
April 13, 20 IC
In the morning, the Outlanders reviewed the additional map information they had received from the Nozumi. To reduce the amount of time they would have to spend in the landshark territories, they adopted a strategy of paralleling the Mosel River above the falls but moving through the lower portions of the mountains.
After a day marching, they set up camp. The Outlanders pondered the map and then they decided to cut across the river plain leading from Ichta Valley (as labeled on the Nozumi map) the next day. They set watches, but it was a quiet night.
April 14, 20 IC
Just after they crossed an unnamed river they noticed a fin slicing through the flat plains as if the dirt was water. Wendell used his Rod of Excellent Engineering to create a rock slab laying upon the ground and everyone scrambled up onto it except Dangar, Mord, and Malwyn. The two dwarfs and the elf took dispersed combat positions and awaited the attack of the landshark.
The fin slicing through the dirt circled the party a couple of times, slowly tightening the radius of the circle. It then disappeared beneath the dirt. Rapidly looking around, the dwarfs and the elf tried to determine which direction the landshark would attack from, when it suddenly erupted from the ground under Dangar’s feet!
The landshark's beak gaped wide, its teeth exposed, as it bit at Dangar. The dwarf's strong chain mail armor deflected most of the blow and Mord and Dangar rained blows upon it that were rebuffed by the landsharks thick, tough hide. Malwyn scanned the landshark's hide, looking for a weakness until the landshark dove under the surface again. [Malwyn had the Find Weakness skill and was putting it to use.]
Mord drew his war hammer and prepared for the landshark to return. Dangar asked Malwyn if he had seen a weakness. Malwyn replied that he might have, but needed another look to verify. [The Find Weakness skill requires a fixed amount of time observing the opponent and he had not met that criteria yet.] When the landshark erupted from the ground again, it was directly under Dangar, who dove out of its path to avoid being swallowed. Mord unleashed a torrent of heavy blows upon the landshark, striking it five times in rapid succession. The only result was the sharp snapping of the hammer's shaft as it cracked in two from the fury of the blows upon the nigh invulnerable plates of armor on the landshark.
Malwyn had time to spot an unarmored spot on the back of the landshark, normally protected by the fin. With an acrobatic flip, Malwyn leaped onto the landshark's back and, saying the appropriate word of power, drove the ignited Flame Saber into the back of the landshark. Its bellow of pain was deafening. Now knowing the weak point of the landshark's armored hide, Dangar was able to deliver a fatal blow, killing the beast.
After determining that the landshark was dead and no more were approaching, the Outlanders made camp on the stone slab. Dangar, Tim, and Malwyn proceeded with butchering the dead landshark. Mord spent his time repairing his hammer as best he could. Horace made a fire and cooked several thick landshark steaks for everyone while Tim and Dangar packed the armored hide and additional "bits" into the stasis boxes for sale later.
April 17, 20 IC
The Outlanders traveled several more days north after defeating the landshark, skirting the mountains again, until they had to pass through a forest. Moving along the Mosel River, several of the Outlanders noticed that there was another party of individuals paralleling their path, but across the river. When brought to Horace's attention, he identified the other group as a kobold scouting party from Kerr Keep. He said they were only observing as the Outlanders were well outside and beyond the kobold territories to the east.
While discussing this, Darkfox and Malwyn spotted another landshark moving in on the Outlanders. The Outlanders all climbed trees and waited to see if the landshark would pass them by. They observed it apparently tracking Dangar's trail by smell. Tim was able to get an angle on the bare patch under the fin and blasted it with a spell – killing it outright. The party descended from the trees and quickly butchered the landshark.
April 18-21, 20 IC
With the stasis boxes getting full and Tim wanting to try and brew a potion with some of the landshark "bits", Horace lead them a couple of days northeast into the mountains to one of his hidden storage caves. There Tim set about brewing and the rest of the Outlanders enjoyed a couple days of rest. Malwyn scouted the area looking for useful herbs and collected some.
After days of brewing, Tim announced he had created three doses of an armor potion. It was untested, smelled awful, looked worse (but was minty tasting due to an addition by Horace), but Tim's notes indicated it should provide a "significant defensive bonus for several minutes". [Game terms: 5 PD Armor, PD Damage Resistance, lasts 5 minutes, CON check to keep it down, one use.] Tim gave one dose each to Dangar, Mord, and Malwyn. The Outlanders then packed up and continued on their trip.
April 22, 20 IC
The next day, the Outlanders finally came over a rise and into sight of the first set of ruins. They appeared to be the remains of a stone fort at the top of a tall hill. The surrounding forest below it was thick, but thinned out noticeably as it approached the fort, stopping completely approximately 50 paces from the ruins where stunted grasses picked up and closed to within 20 paces of the ruins. The ruins themselves were bleached and bare like bones in a desert.
Deciding to wait until the next day to investigate the ruins, the Outlanders traveled down the mountainside and made camp in the forest. They planned to approach the ruins in the morning and have most of the day to search them. Watches were posted and the Outlanders settled in for the night.
Second Watch
Darkfox started hearing sounds from the ruins. She woke up Malwyn and told him what she heard. Malwyn could barely hear anything over the breeze and told Darkfox and Rebecca that he would move in closer to investigate.
He quietly moved through the dark forest, periodically climbing a tree to keep his bearings and listen for any noise. As he got closer, he realized that the noise was of digging and periodically the sound of debris being dumped down the far side of the hill the ruins were on. Determining that whatever was going on was happening inside the ruins, Malwyn returned to camp.
After hearing Malwyn's report, the Outlanders decided to strike camp and move on to the ruins. They timed their approach to arrive at the ruins just before dawn.
April 23, 20 IC
Just Before Dawn
The Outlanders sneaked up the last remaining yards and looked into the ruins.
They discovered that the interior of the ruins were mostly hollow with a tarp of some sort acting as a roof. Inside were 10 skeletons using tools to clear rubble out of the ruins of the lowest floors. The skeletons were piling the debris into a crate that could be lifted to the surface via a rope and pulley system and dumped on the slopes outside of the ruined fort.
The Outlanders decided that this couldn't be good. Dangar pulled up the only ladder the skeletons could use to climb out and Tim fired his "arc light" spell into the hollowed-out ruins until the skeletons were bone bits. Dangar then replaced the ladder and the Outlanders climbed down to investigate. They discovered that while the ruins were very old, the tools the skeletons had been using looked to be relatively new peasant tools.
Due to the damage caused by Tim's magic, there was little left to learn inside the ruins. Searching outside the ruins, Malwyn and Darkfox found two sets of tracks. The prints were all of humanoids who walked heavy, some with boots or shoes, some bones. The older set of tracks was several weeks old and showed a large group arriving at the ruins from the east. The second set showed the same group leaving, heading west through the forest 4-5 days ago. The tracks heading west seemed to be on a route that would take them to the next set of ruins the Outlanders were heading towards.
The Outlanders paused to decide what to do next.
Session Ends.
NPCs Met
None new.
Happening Off-Stage
Locally
[The vampire, Apostol the Burning Wizard, and his entourage are heading to the Temple. He is aware that the skeletons he left behind were destroyed, but does not know by whom. He will briefly pause at each set of ruins to see if he can raise any additional servants and then continue on. He leaves an ambush at Caer Frya consisting of 2 lesser vampires, 5 skeletons, and 5 zombies and then presses on at best speed to the Temple.
The ambush is to determine if he is being pursued and by whom. The vampires will take turns scouting the approaches to the Caer and will arrange for a nighttime battle. The vampires are to judge the effectiveness of and possible weaken the pursuers by killing some of them and then escaping to report. The zombies and skeletons are disposable.]
In Freegate
[The Silverloc Royal Emissary, Yasha of Piriatin, has settled into her residence in Freegate. She has started meeting with representatives of the NDK and the Gnome Consortium to negotiate for airships for the Kingdom of Silverloc.]
DM Discussion
[Nozumi or Nezumi? My spelling changed between session and I’m currently sticking with Nozumi, the first spelling to appear in the session notes.]
Cultists, Cultists, Cultists
Previous session: Session 4
Next Session: Session 6
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