[This was a relatively short session as we started a bit late and there was a good deal of discussion during the first half of the session.]
Attendees
Hugo Underwood – Wood Elf shaman
Felix Lutsk – Human “acquisitioner”
Albrecht Artyom – Human Grey Wizard
Fritz Schmidt – Human scout
Alset Alokin – High Elf mage
Before heading out into the wilds again, the group spent time dealing with business in town.
Fritz became the patron of the owner/operator of a general store in town, Ditmar Lumm. Fritz directed Ditmar to start growing contacts and a supply chain to support the colony (when established). [Fritz spent experience points to buy a Follower.]
Uncle Felix’s Armor Shop opened for business and Felix started making plans to bring in weapons smiths as well as the high quality armor smiths he had hired. [Felix spent experience points to purchase a base with "followers" of it's own - the employed smiths. Note: the smiths are loyal to the shop, not Felix.]
The loot from the treasure closet was divvyed up*. The sealed lead chest was investigated and determined to have no traps on it, but it was sealed with a lump of lead instead of a lock. "Morrsleib" sounded familiar to the adventurers, but most could not remember why. Hugo remembered it was the name of the green moon, but could not quite remember the significance.
After the lead lump was removed, Felix opened the chest. Inside was an oversized skull made of glowing green crystal – it was pure warpstone!** As it’s corrupting energies washed over Felix, he could feel it trying to change him. Made of sterner stuff, Felix resisted its effects and slammed the chest shut. He then set about resealing it immediately. All the exposed skin on his front was red as though sun-burned. This triggered Alset’s memory: Morslieb was reputed to be the source of all warpstone, so the symbol embossed on the chest was a warning. [GM wearing an evil grin here.]
Alset commissioned two sets of three copper-covered iron rods from Felix’s smithy and was told they would be ready in a week and a half. He has plans for them relating to his teleport spell...
Finally, Albrecht decided to bring two handfuls of the unmagic dust with him on the current expedition and Fritz chose to bring three. The remaining three handfuls were left at F&A Holdings.
The next morning the group mounted up on their horses and headed east along Quarry Road. At Watch Tower 1 they turned off the road and headed northeast across the plains, aiming for the southern of the two towers out on the plains on their map. As they got near, their path crossed the fringe of the Wedge Wood, where the forest was growing around a barrier that only seemed to affect the forest. The adventurers searched the area, finding an abandoned logging camp. Hugo was able to determine that the camp had been abandoned for at least a year, but there was no indications as to why it had been abandoned.
The adventurers then continued on to the lone hill with a tower on it. Just like its neighbor to the northwest, Alset was able to locate lines of force emanating from inside the hill. One line headed to the northwest, directly towards the tower the adventurers had previously explored. One line of force headed northeast, to possibly link up with one of the lines from the other tower, and the third line headed due east, where the adventurers theorized another tower could be found. They deduced that there were a total of six towers with something at the center, possibly a seventh tower.
The adventurers examined the tower they were at. Like the tower to the northwest, it had no windows or doors. Albrecht teleported to the top of the wall and verified that the tower was completely hollow inside, just like the one to the northwest. Searching around the hill, they did not find the illusion covered cave entrance where they were expecting it [on the "inside" of the area delineated by the lines of force]. They did find a one on the southeastern edge of the hill, set into a low cliff face.
As it was getting late in the day, the group decided to camp, but back at the abandoned logging camp three miles away. They rode there and set up in the largest standing building [about the size of a barn]. The doors were long gone on the building, which was significant later, but the building provided cover for the adventurers and their mounts.
On second watch (Alset and Albrecht), Alset spotted a small group of creatures approaching. The creatures looked similar to the Cold Ones that Dark Elfs ride and were directly approaching the camp. Alset had Albrecht wake the rest of the group. The adventurers clustered at the front entrance and readied for the creatures to attack. All three wizards cast enhancing spells on Felix, increasing his Dexterity and armor protection significantly. He stood in the front center, ready for the rush of the beasts.
The beasts had been making clicks and trills at each other while approaching and when the rush happened, it did not go as expected. Two of the six beasts charged the front entrance, but the others broke off into two groups and moved around the sides of the building, heading for the wide open rear entrance. Felix stood his ground and fended off the two attacking the front, barely scratched by their ferocious attacks thanks to the magics protecting him.
As the fight progressed, the four flanking beasts charged in through the rear entrance and fell on the horses stabled in an adjacent side room. Horrible sounds of horses dying could be heard by the adventurers at the front, which angered the adventurers. The group started peeling off from the front fight to stop the slaughter of their horses. Felix cut down one of the two beasts at the front, driving off the other [who suddenly found its sense of self-preservation], ending the front fight.
The adventurers killed the rest of the attacking beasts, but not before losing all but one of their horses. With one horse left, the group decided to return to town. Alset could teleport the group back to town with the horse, but not if they found any significant treasure under the tower as the horse put him at the edge of of his teleportation spell’s capabilities.
Back in town, the group waited a few days until the full moon for the next monthly auction to happen. They sold off several items they had been holding on to: the wraith crowns, the ceremonial gold bowl, and the gold torc. They then split up the proceeds and made arrangements for Quetzal and Zoglug to get their shares.
End of Session
* The treasure consisted of:
1. Large dragonhide shield [50% resistant ED damage reduction to fire attacks, 11- Act.]
2. Pendant charm (minor magic) [2rPD hardened vs. missiles, 1 Turn per day]
3. Fingerbone charm (minor magic) [+5 DCV once per day]
4. Potion of Vitality [LS: aging, sleep, and food, plus 0 END Running and STR, lasts 1 hour]
5. Unmagic dust - took a while to identify [Dispel, 10d6 per handful of dust, bag of 8 handfuls]
6. Bronze torc with opals set in the caps (old-style Jicarilla work) - 350-450g
7. 10,000 copper coins, triangular in shape, with the face of an Elf on one side and the phrase "Through Darkness, Light" on the other.
8. 1000 silver coins, triangular in shape, with a skull on one side and the phrase "Through Darkness, Light" on the other.
9. 600 gold coins, triangular in shape, with the face of a Human wearing a crown on one side and the phrase "Through Darkness, Light" on the other.
10. Small lead chest with the Elf symbol of Morrsleib embossed on it.
** Yes, Kasey, the party just found a crystal skull. ;)
Showing posts with label F&A_Holdings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label F&A_Holdings. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Blood, Gold, and Lizards - Friday Group - Session 5
AttendeesHugo Underwood – Wood Elf shaman
Felix Lutsk – Human “acquisitioner”
Albrecht Artyom – Human Grey Wizard
Fritz Schmidt – Human scout
Zoglug Ironhide – “civilized” Orc warrior
Quetzal – Lizardfolk scout
Alset Alokin – High Elf mage
After some discussion, the group decided to return to the Hollow Tower and finish investigating the caves under it. The took the familiar path of the Estini Road and then along the northern edge of the Wedge Wood to arrive at the Hollow Tower shortly after mid-day. There was some discussion about whether or not to descend and explore for a few hours before camping or possibly exploring some of the nearby plains. It was decided to descend and explore.
Hugo had an idea for bypassing the Black Chandelier and getting to the areas beyond it. He cast his Cloud of Moths spell, pouring huge clouds of blue moths into the room. The chandelier immediately started burning them away, but Hugo’s spell poured enough into the room to temporarily completely obscure the chandelier. He was able to successfully run from the door to the passage out the far corner without getting burned by the chandelier’s magics. Impressed with the success, the group had Hugo cast the spell twice more so the rest of the group could safely make the transit (except Albrecht, who teleported himself and Alset across – wizards).
The passage beyond descended down a flight of stairs and curved to the left slightly before opening to a small chamber with an ornate door. The door was made of stone and carved with undulating waves across its surface. Layered onto the surface were metal triangles about the size of a child’s hand. They triangles were tinted various shades of metallic grey, creating a sense of flowing colors across the door. Albrecht checked the doors for traps and declared it safe, so Alset turned the (triangular-shaped) handle. This set off the trap that Albrecht missed. The metal triangles on the door surface stood up on one edge and then flew off, filling the room with spinning, flying metal!
Luckily, the edges were dulled by time and while some received scratches from triangles, no one was seriously hurt. [I rolled near minimum damage on the original barrage.] While the rest of the group scooped up the metal disks, Albrecht took another look at the door. He determined that the metal triangles on the door were replaced by a new layer, this one looking much sharper than the original disks [because, frankly, I had to roll better damage if the trap went off again] and that there was indeed a trap on the door. He took his time to disable the trap without breaking it, thinking they might want to take the door with them at a later time.
Beyond the door was a larger chamber: half cavern, half finished stone. The right wall of the chamber was finished stone and decorated depicting the flows of the winds of magic, with a door in the center surrounded by symbols. The left wall was cavern wall and had a passage leading out. Albrecht and Hugo identify the symbols as warning symbols, symbols usually placed to remind apprentices to leave a summoned creature alone. Alset activated his See Magic spell and saw purple light leaking around the door.
As purple is the color of magic associated with Death Lore, the group decided to hold off on investigating beyond the door. Heading down the passage on the opposite wall, they run right into two wraiths lurking in a side alcove. The wraiths grab Felix and Alset, withering them both. [It is possible that at this point, Felix screamed like a little girl, but it may have been the elf. Hard to say.] Fritz recognized the wraiths for what they were and called out that only magical attacks would harm them. Few in the group of adventurers had magical attacks.
The following fight was touch-and-go at the first. Albrecht cast his protective spell upon as many as he could. This benefited the group two ways: it provided a [minor] measure of defense against the withering touch of the wraiths and made their fists slightly magical. The tide was turned when Fritz and Quetzal individually called upon their respective faiths and were able to imbue their weapons with a measure of holy power.* With these weapons they were able to harm and drive off the wraiths [but not destroy them].
Once the wraiths had fled into the walls, the group stayed where they were to re-gather their strength and decide what they wanted to do next. Those touched by the wraiths slowly recovered from the withering touches, but patches of their skin remained devoid of all color where the wraiths had touched them. Zoglug dug around in the alcove the wraiths attacked from and found two dented golden crowns. Alset declared the crowns still had wisps of necromantic energies attached to them. Zoglug did not care and put them on to wear. While the debate of whether to advance or retreat continued, one of the wraiths returned and attempted to grab Albrecht. It failed to grab him, but this motivated the adventurers to return to the surface to camp for the night.
Alset used his long range teleportation to make several teleportation jumps to return to town that night to get the crowns blessed (or at least cleansed). He went to the Temple of Sigmar and cheerfully explained what he wanted. The High Priest of Sigmar was not very impressed by this vagabond elf and his wants. The priest suggested the elf try at the Temple of Manann [god of the sea] if he wanted anything unclean bathed. The priest did agree to bless the elf’s weapon to fight the undead. He was even less impressed with the elf when the elf admitted to not having a weapon. A loaner hammer was secured. A small one. And he had to sign for it. Alset then donated a single gold piece for the temple’s assistance.
Alset then went over to the Temple of Manann and talked with the priest there. The High Priest of Manann was a bit gruff, but much more helpful. At first he suggested Alset throw the crowns into the sea for purification and Manann would return them when they were purified. Alset wasn’t quite ready for that level of deific intervention and asked if there was something that could be done without throwing the golden crowns into the sea. The high priest then invites Alset in and has him stand in a large pool of salt water. The high priest then starts invoking the name of Manann and the water in the pool reared up as a wave and then broke over Alset. Alset checked the crowns and they were now clear of any necromantic energies. Surprisingly, Alset was not drenched with sea water. He thanked the high priest and gave a 10 gold piece donation to the temple.
Alset then cast his teleportation spell several times to get back to camp. When he returned, he related what he had done in town. There may have been some forehead slapping at this. Fritz was very interested in the blessed weapon…until he learned it was a hammer from the Temple of Sigmar, whom he and his sect consider heretics (though well meaning heretics). Felix took control of the small hammer at that point. Watches were set and the group rested.
The next morning the group descended back down into the caverns. Working their way back to the location of the wraith ambush, they quickly stepped past the area (ran, actually) and down the passage beyond. That passage started curving to the left. At the base of a set of steps leading up, they found a small side room with cloaks hanging from pegs on the wall. The robes were black with symbols stitched on them. No one could identify the symbols, but some of them seemed similar to those on the wall of the wizard’s laboratory they found previously. Quetzal quickly took one of the robes and, determining it was not covered in mold, rolled it up and packed it away. The other four robes were quickly packed away by other members of the group.
Going up the stairs, the group found a nexus of passageways. One passage led back to the cavern with the wizard statue and altar. Another led to a dormitory, long abandoned. Searching the remains of furniture, the group finds two lengths of gold chain and two skeletons stuffed in two chests. Zoglug quickly packed away one of the skulls. Hugo was able to examine the skull of the other skeleton and determines it was human. Felix carefully packed that skull away.
Having come full circle in the caverns, the group decided to go back and check door with the warning. Albrecht took his time to check the door and verified it was not trapped. He then opened the door. The room beyond was large and square with worked stone. In the center was a very large and intricate ritual circle with a skeleton lying in the center. There were three pillars in the room, each in a corner (one to the immediate right from the door and the other two in the corners on the opposite side of the room) and covered in symbols and glyphs. To the left was a wide passage out of the area.
Alset activated his magic sight and was nearly blinded by the purple energies contained inside the ritual circle. After a few moments adjusting to the intensities, he was able to determine that three beams of power emanate from the circle, each striking one of the pillars. The pillars crackled with energy and then each emitted a line of force into the corner behind them. The lines went through the walls without damaging them and looked very much like the lines of force he had seen emanating from the hill the Hollow Tower sits upon.
Hugo heard a quiet female voice asking him to free here. He did not mention this.
The group broke up into sub-groups at this point, each investigating a different part of the room. The three wizards and Felix checked the side passage, finding it ends in a set of double doors. Albrecht checks the doors and declares them safe. Meanwhile, Zoglug is poking at different areas in the room with his crowbar and Quetzal is contemplating the skeleton in the circle, which she identifies as Lizardfolk.
Over at the door, Albrecht opens them and the wizards and Felix are hit with a mind blank spell, draining away their minds and memories while they are affected.** This renders all four of them into drooling idiots for several minutes. Once they have their minds back and are told what happened, Albrecht re-checks the door and says the door is safe – the trap must have disused itself. The rest retreat out the original door and tell him to go ahead and open it. He does so, getting mind blanked again, but opening the door. While his mind is gone, the rest of the group enters the room beyond the double doors. This room appears to be a workshop for the final casting of the ritual circle – there are mostly empty bottles of reagents and paints and some test drawings of the trickier bits of the circle. There is also a small door on the far wall. Zoglug starts collecting the glass bottles and beakers, emptying them by the simple expedient of drinking the contents. He regrets the taste of some of them and his tongue ends up plaid at one point, but none of it kills him [immediately].
The group starts discussing what to do at this point. It comes up that Hugo and Hugo only is hearing a female voice asking to be freed. Quetzal is also interested in breaking the ritual circle as she is convinced that any mammal ritual that puts a Lizardfolk in a circle to die is inherently bad. Most of the group moved back into the ritual room to discuss the merits and possible dangers of breaking the ritual circle. The “Don’t Break It” group eventually convinced Quetzal that the potential dangers of breaking the circle and releasing unknown amounts of energies are too high to be safe right now and more knowledge is needed first.
While this debate was raging, Zoglug got bored and attempted to kick open the small door back in the workshop. This detonates a large fireball that filled the workshop and flooded back into the ritual room. Only those furthest from the explosion were still conscious and standing afterwards. When the wizards awakened, the first thing they checked was the ritual circle – it was still intact. They all breathed a sigh of relief at that.
Once the entire group was again awake and Albrecht had regained his mind (and been brought up to speed), the next room was checked. It was a treasure store with several crates of gold coins and other valuables. The destruction of the lab glass by Zoglug setting off the explosion was instantly forgiven and the group immediately set to looting the treasure room.
Seeing no reason to stay and not wanting to break the ritual circle yet, the group hauled their loot back out of the caverns and camped for the night. The next morning they rode back to New Zwicke.
End of Session
* Both PCs have faith-based skills: Fritz a Knowledge Skill in his faith and Quetzal has a Professional Skill as a shaman. Fritz’s player made his roll by a lot and I allowed he remembered enough of the appropriate ritual to make his bow able to smite the undead. Quetzal made her roll by less, but has practical skill in being a shaman, so she too was able to bless her weapon enough to deal serious damage to the wraiths.
** This was a big INT drain and knocked all but Albrecht down to 0 INT. I ruled that this wiped their memories of the events just prior to the drain and during the drain. If the trap had gotten everyone, no one would have remembered the trap going off, just a sort of blink and then they were just standing there wondering what they were up to. This could have kept them occupied for quite some time in that case.
Felix Lutsk – Human “acquisitioner”
Albrecht Artyom – Human Grey Wizard
Fritz Schmidt – Human scout
Zoglug Ironhide – “civilized” Orc warrior
Quetzal – Lizardfolk scout
Alset Alokin – High Elf mage
After some discussion, the group decided to return to the Hollow Tower and finish investigating the caves under it. The took the familiar path of the Estini Road and then along the northern edge of the Wedge Wood to arrive at the Hollow Tower shortly after mid-day. There was some discussion about whether or not to descend and explore for a few hours before camping or possibly exploring some of the nearby plains. It was decided to descend and explore.
Hugo had an idea for bypassing the Black Chandelier and getting to the areas beyond it. He cast his Cloud of Moths spell, pouring huge clouds of blue moths into the room. The chandelier immediately started burning them away, but Hugo’s spell poured enough into the room to temporarily completely obscure the chandelier. He was able to successfully run from the door to the passage out the far corner without getting burned by the chandelier’s magics. Impressed with the success, the group had Hugo cast the spell twice more so the rest of the group could safely make the transit (except Albrecht, who teleported himself and Alset across – wizards).
The passage beyond descended down a flight of stairs and curved to the left slightly before opening to a small chamber with an ornate door. The door was made of stone and carved with undulating waves across its surface. Layered onto the surface were metal triangles about the size of a child’s hand. They triangles were tinted various shades of metallic grey, creating a sense of flowing colors across the door. Albrecht checked the doors for traps and declared it safe, so Alset turned the (triangular-shaped) handle. This set off the trap that Albrecht missed. The metal triangles on the door surface stood up on one edge and then flew off, filling the room with spinning, flying metal!
Luckily, the edges were dulled by time and while some received scratches from triangles, no one was seriously hurt. [I rolled near minimum damage on the original barrage.] While the rest of the group scooped up the metal disks, Albrecht took another look at the door. He determined that the metal triangles on the door were replaced by a new layer, this one looking much sharper than the original disks [because, frankly, I had to roll better damage if the trap went off again] and that there was indeed a trap on the door. He took his time to disable the trap without breaking it, thinking they might want to take the door with them at a later time.
Beyond the door was a larger chamber: half cavern, half finished stone. The right wall of the chamber was finished stone and decorated depicting the flows of the winds of magic, with a door in the center surrounded by symbols. The left wall was cavern wall and had a passage leading out. Albrecht and Hugo identify the symbols as warning symbols, symbols usually placed to remind apprentices to leave a summoned creature alone. Alset activated his See Magic spell and saw purple light leaking around the door.
As purple is the color of magic associated with Death Lore, the group decided to hold off on investigating beyond the door. Heading down the passage on the opposite wall, they run right into two wraiths lurking in a side alcove. The wraiths grab Felix and Alset, withering them both. [It is possible that at this point, Felix screamed like a little girl, but it may have been the elf. Hard to say.] Fritz recognized the wraiths for what they were and called out that only magical attacks would harm them. Few in the group of adventurers had magical attacks.
The following fight was touch-and-go at the first. Albrecht cast his protective spell upon as many as he could. This benefited the group two ways: it provided a [minor] measure of defense against the withering touch of the wraiths and made their fists slightly magical. The tide was turned when Fritz and Quetzal individually called upon their respective faiths and were able to imbue their weapons with a measure of holy power.* With these weapons they were able to harm and drive off the wraiths [but not destroy them].
Once the wraiths had fled into the walls, the group stayed where they were to re-gather their strength and decide what they wanted to do next. Those touched by the wraiths slowly recovered from the withering touches, but patches of their skin remained devoid of all color where the wraiths had touched them. Zoglug dug around in the alcove the wraiths attacked from and found two dented golden crowns. Alset declared the crowns still had wisps of necromantic energies attached to them. Zoglug did not care and put them on to wear. While the debate of whether to advance or retreat continued, one of the wraiths returned and attempted to grab Albrecht. It failed to grab him, but this motivated the adventurers to return to the surface to camp for the night.
Alset used his long range teleportation to make several teleportation jumps to return to town that night to get the crowns blessed (or at least cleansed). He went to the Temple of Sigmar and cheerfully explained what he wanted. The High Priest of Sigmar was not very impressed by this vagabond elf and his wants. The priest suggested the elf try at the Temple of Manann [god of the sea] if he wanted anything unclean bathed. The priest did agree to bless the elf’s weapon to fight the undead. He was even less impressed with the elf when the elf admitted to not having a weapon. A loaner hammer was secured. A small one. And he had to sign for it. Alset then donated a single gold piece for the temple’s assistance.
Alset then went over to the Temple of Manann and talked with the priest there. The High Priest of Manann was a bit gruff, but much more helpful. At first he suggested Alset throw the crowns into the sea for purification and Manann would return them when they were purified. Alset wasn’t quite ready for that level of deific intervention and asked if there was something that could be done without throwing the golden crowns into the sea. The high priest then invites Alset in and has him stand in a large pool of salt water. The high priest then starts invoking the name of Manann and the water in the pool reared up as a wave and then broke over Alset. Alset checked the crowns and they were now clear of any necromantic energies. Surprisingly, Alset was not drenched with sea water. He thanked the high priest and gave a 10 gold piece donation to the temple.
Alset then cast his teleportation spell several times to get back to camp. When he returned, he related what he had done in town. There may have been some forehead slapping at this. Fritz was very interested in the blessed weapon…until he learned it was a hammer from the Temple of Sigmar, whom he and his sect consider heretics (though well meaning heretics). Felix took control of the small hammer at that point. Watches were set and the group rested.
The next morning the group descended back down into the caverns. Working their way back to the location of the wraith ambush, they quickly stepped past the area (ran, actually) and down the passage beyond. That passage started curving to the left. At the base of a set of steps leading up, they found a small side room with cloaks hanging from pegs on the wall. The robes were black with symbols stitched on them. No one could identify the symbols, but some of them seemed similar to those on the wall of the wizard’s laboratory they found previously. Quetzal quickly took one of the robes and, determining it was not covered in mold, rolled it up and packed it away. The other four robes were quickly packed away by other members of the group.
Going up the stairs, the group found a nexus of passageways. One passage led back to the cavern with the wizard statue and altar. Another led to a dormitory, long abandoned. Searching the remains of furniture, the group finds two lengths of gold chain and two skeletons stuffed in two chests. Zoglug quickly packed away one of the skulls. Hugo was able to examine the skull of the other skeleton and determines it was human. Felix carefully packed that skull away.
Having come full circle in the caverns, the group decided to go back and check door with the warning. Albrecht took his time to check the door and verified it was not trapped. He then opened the door. The room beyond was large and square with worked stone. In the center was a very large and intricate ritual circle with a skeleton lying in the center. There were three pillars in the room, each in a corner (one to the immediate right from the door and the other two in the corners on the opposite side of the room) and covered in symbols and glyphs. To the left was a wide passage out of the area.
Alset activated his magic sight and was nearly blinded by the purple energies contained inside the ritual circle. After a few moments adjusting to the intensities, he was able to determine that three beams of power emanate from the circle, each striking one of the pillars. The pillars crackled with energy and then each emitted a line of force into the corner behind them. The lines went through the walls without damaging them and looked very much like the lines of force he had seen emanating from the hill the Hollow Tower sits upon.
Hugo heard a quiet female voice asking him to free here. He did not mention this.
The group broke up into sub-groups at this point, each investigating a different part of the room. The three wizards and Felix checked the side passage, finding it ends in a set of double doors. Albrecht checks the doors and declares them safe. Meanwhile, Zoglug is poking at different areas in the room with his crowbar and Quetzal is contemplating the skeleton in the circle, which she identifies as Lizardfolk.
Over at the door, Albrecht opens them and the wizards and Felix are hit with a mind blank spell, draining away their minds and memories while they are affected.** This renders all four of them into drooling idiots for several minutes. Once they have their minds back and are told what happened, Albrecht re-checks the door and says the door is safe – the trap must have disused itself. The rest retreat out the original door and tell him to go ahead and open it. He does so, getting mind blanked again, but opening the door. While his mind is gone, the rest of the group enters the room beyond the double doors. This room appears to be a workshop for the final casting of the ritual circle – there are mostly empty bottles of reagents and paints and some test drawings of the trickier bits of the circle. There is also a small door on the far wall. Zoglug starts collecting the glass bottles and beakers, emptying them by the simple expedient of drinking the contents. He regrets the taste of some of them and his tongue ends up plaid at one point, but none of it kills him [immediately].
The group starts discussing what to do at this point. It comes up that Hugo and Hugo only is hearing a female voice asking to be freed. Quetzal is also interested in breaking the ritual circle as she is convinced that any mammal ritual that puts a Lizardfolk in a circle to die is inherently bad. Most of the group moved back into the ritual room to discuss the merits and possible dangers of breaking the ritual circle. The “Don’t Break It” group eventually convinced Quetzal that the potential dangers of breaking the circle and releasing unknown amounts of energies are too high to be safe right now and more knowledge is needed first.
While this debate was raging, Zoglug got bored and attempted to kick open the small door back in the workshop. This detonates a large fireball that filled the workshop and flooded back into the ritual room. Only those furthest from the explosion were still conscious and standing afterwards. When the wizards awakened, the first thing they checked was the ritual circle – it was still intact. They all breathed a sigh of relief at that.
Once the entire group was again awake and Albrecht had regained his mind (and been brought up to speed), the next room was checked. It was a treasure store with several crates of gold coins and other valuables. The destruction of the lab glass by Zoglug setting off the explosion was instantly forgiven and the group immediately set to looting the treasure room.
Seeing no reason to stay and not wanting to break the ritual circle yet, the group hauled their loot back out of the caverns and camped for the night. The next morning they rode back to New Zwicke.
End of Session
* Both PCs have faith-based skills: Fritz a Knowledge Skill in his faith and Quetzal has a Professional Skill as a shaman. Fritz’s player made his roll by a lot and I allowed he remembered enough of the appropriate ritual to make his bow able to smite the undead. Quetzal made her roll by less, but has practical skill in being a shaman, so she too was able to bless her weapon enough to deal serious damage to the wraiths.
** This was a big INT drain and knocked all but Albrecht down to 0 INT. I ruled that this wiped their memories of the events just prior to the drain and during the drain. If the trap had gotten everyone, no one would have remembered the trap going off, just a sort of blink and then they were just standing there wondering what they were up to. This could have kept them occupied for quite some time in that case.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
BG&L – Friday Group – Session 4
Attendees:
The players took some time examining the items and determined the following:
The group decided to buy all five items of interest for the purpose of returning them to the Jicarilla. Fritz did most of the bidding with some assistance from Zoglug (mostly by staring at competing bidders) and was able to get good deals on the jade beads and the blow gun (10g each) and fair prices on the rest (18g for the stone head, 100g for the cloak, and 1g for the wood plank). Fritz decided to pay for it all out of his own funds. He gave the blowgun to Quetzal, but took the rest to the lizardfolk enclave outside the town walls and presented it all to the Jicarilla representative as a gift. The representative was generally impassive (as most lizardfolk are around colonists), but Fritz may have gained some good will, something he wants for when he establishes a colony of his own.
The next morning, the group headed out of New Zwicke, intent on investigating the hollow towers they discovered just beyond the Wedge Wood. They took the Estini Road north and then cut east, following the northern edge of the Wedge Wood. They found the site where they had seen an orc camp and stopped to look around. The orcs had left heading north east several days ago and left little of value. After poking around some more and finding little, the group moved on to the nearest Hollow Tower.
Those who had been to the Hollow Tower previously brought Quetzal and Zoglug up to date on previous learnings. Zoglug insisted on investigating the interior of the Hollow Tower himself, and they let him. Once that was done, they entered the hidden cave mouth and followed the stairs down, down, down.
The spiral of steps eventually ended at a small cavern/landing, where they found the remains of a small campsite long abandoned. Before following the only passage out, they searched around the small cavern and Alset located a well concealed secret door. He outlined it in chalk so Albrecht could locate it. After verifying that it was safe to do so, Albrecht opened the secret door. Beyond was a bedchamber with some furniture and a regular door on one wall. The group searched the room and found a cursed fountain pen in the writing table. Alset examined the magics on the fountain pen and pronounced them extremely dangerous dark magics. Everyone agreed to leave the pen alone and meant it, even the orc.
The door led to a wizard’s laboratory with some tables, a few chairs, and a set of shelves full of books. Suspecting the books were very old and probably fragile, they left them alone and investigated the rest of the room first. One of the walls was covered with slate and had chalk writings covering most of it. There were several large triangles drawn on the walls with varying symbols drawn at the corners. The symbols were arcane in nature but not recognizable to spellcasters present, suggesting either a cypher or a new type of magical symbols. Many notes were made. The triangles seemed to tie into the writing Quetzal had been able to read on the wooden plank back at the auction and she suspected there may be a link between the two.
Felix decided to perform a test [I think it was Felix – I was not feeling well and hardly took any notes]. He took one of the less valuable looking books off the shelf to see if it would crumble at his touch. It did not – in fact it was in very good condition. Alset was able to detect some preservation magic on the room, so Felix stepped outside the room and observed the book. It started weakening immediately, with pages becoming loose and brittle. He immediately stepped back into the workshop and the decay stopped, but was not undone. All agreed that the books should stay in the room for now.
The group then exited the secret rooms and reclosed the secret door, erasing the chalk outline afterwards. They then followed the only passage out, descending further. The next chamber consisted of a larger cavern with a sloping passage hugging one wall. Halfway down the ramp was another passage out of the cavern. At the base of the slope they could see an ornate wooden door. At the bottom of the cavern, laying on the floor, was a very large skeleton chained to the wall below the ramp.
The group slowly moved down the ramp. They paused at the passage out to see what they could see and saw the passage continued a short ways and then split at a T-intersection. They continued to descend to the floor. Before touching the door in any way, they investigated the large skeleton. They determined it was a troll skeleton and the chain was still in good condition. One of the adventurers yanked a bit on the chain to see if they could get it off the leg bones easily. This, of course, animated the troll skeleton, which stood up and attacked.
The fight was short but potentially dangerous as even without flesh, the troll skeleton was fiercely strong. Combining their might, the adventurers put down the bones into a pile. Felix then collected the now-loosened bones in a sack and the chain was pulled out of the wall (which took some combined effort by the characters).
Beyond the door was a hallway that turned to the left after two separate bends in the path. Between the two was a door to an old storage room with three wooden crates. The adventurers took the contents (including some iron spheres the size of their heads) and moved on. [Again, I hardly took any notes as I was feeling poorly. I will update this once I work out everything that was there.]
At the end of the hallway was another room. The room was mostly empty, with a door in the far corner and a wrought iron chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The chandelier is twisted into the shapes of skulls, with each skull holding a black candle that was lit. The eyes of the skulls glowed faintly red. This did not look safe at all. Felix has Zoglug throw one of the iron spheres at the chandelier. As soon as the sphere entered the room it burst into flames, quickly burning away as it flew across the room towards the chandelier. By the time it reached the chandelier is was about the size of an apricot pit and it barely budged the chandelier. The adventurers immediately closed the door.
They then backtracked to the side passage from the troll skeleton room. They took the left branch at the T-intersection and found a series of partially completed rooms and passages. One partially finished chamber had three walls painted to give a view of a pleasant garden. Another’s floor was covered in thousands of needles standing on their points. If pushed over (by, say, an iron bowling ball rolled across the floor), the needles would immediately resume standing on their points once free to do so. A few needles were taken for later study.
Once they reached the end of the unfinished passages, they reversed course and took the right passage from the T-intersection. The next chamber had a raised platform on the left side and a passage out at the far end. On the platform was a stone statue of a man dressed in robes holding a plate out in one hand with an altar in front of the statue. On the altar was a large metal bowl full of sand. The stone plate that was part of the statue was deeply stained a dark color and had “magical splatter” that Alset could see with his magical vision spell, suggesting some sort of sacrificial offerings had been placed on the plate in the past, and often. There was gold writing around the base of the statue that no one could read.
The group decided that the statue was bad news and left it alone. The writing around its based was copied down for later investigation. Hugo decided that while the statue was likely dangerous, the metal bowl wasn’t and he took it, dumping out the sand in it. The group decided it was time to return to new Zwicke to see if they could learn more before going any farther. [It was late and they didn’t want to roll on the Table of Doom by not being back somewhere safe at the end of the session.]
They returned to the surface and immediately rode back to New Zwicke. Pushing it, they arrived at New Zwick at dusk, thoroughly exhausted.
End of Session
Felix Lutsk – Human “acquisitioner”
Hugo Underwood – Wood Elf shaman
Albrecht – Human Grey wizard
Fritz Schmidt – Human scout
Zoglug – “civilized” orc warrior
Quetzal – lizardfolk scout
Alset Alokin – High Elf magus
As it was the full moon, the New Zwicke Monthly Auction was being held at the start of the game session. Looking over the various things up for auction, five lots catch their eyes:
- A large boulder (5 ft in diameter) carved into the shape of a stone lizardfolk head. It was being offered by the Imperial Estini Logging Company. Zoglug estimated its worth at 20g.
- A short feathered cloak covered in colorful and rare bird feathers. It was being offered by The Jade Hand Explorer's Club. Zoglug estimated its worth at 100g.
- A collection of jade beads. They were being offered by The Jade Hand Explorer's Club. Zoglug estimated their worth as a group at 20g.
- A wood plank covered with lizardfolk glyphs, part of a larger whole. It was being offered by The Copper Wolves. Zoglug estimated its worth at 1g.
- A fancy blowgun, heavily carved and lacquered. It was being offered by The Jade Hand Explorer's Club. Zoglug estimated its worth at 15-20g.
The players took some time examining the items and determined the following:
- The cloak, the beads, and the blowgun are grave goods, possibly from the tomb of a famous skink hero (Quetzal couldn’t remember the name – it’s a skink).
- The Jade Hand Explorer's Club has probably looted the tomb, but might not have cleared it.
- The wood plank carvings are incomplete, but Quetzal was able to determine they were warnings about “triangles of power”.
The group decided to buy all five items of interest for the purpose of returning them to the Jicarilla. Fritz did most of the bidding with some assistance from Zoglug (mostly by staring at competing bidders) and was able to get good deals on the jade beads and the blow gun (10g each) and fair prices on the rest (18g for the stone head, 100g for the cloak, and 1g for the wood plank). Fritz decided to pay for it all out of his own funds. He gave the blowgun to Quetzal, but took the rest to the lizardfolk enclave outside the town walls and presented it all to the Jicarilla representative as a gift. The representative was generally impassive (as most lizardfolk are around colonists), but Fritz may have gained some good will, something he wants for when he establishes a colony of his own.
The next morning, the group headed out of New Zwicke, intent on investigating the hollow towers they discovered just beyond the Wedge Wood. They took the Estini Road north and then cut east, following the northern edge of the Wedge Wood. They found the site where they had seen an orc camp and stopped to look around. The orcs had left heading north east several days ago and left little of value. After poking around some more and finding little, the group moved on to the nearest Hollow Tower.
Those who had been to the Hollow Tower previously brought Quetzal and Zoglug up to date on previous learnings. Zoglug insisted on investigating the interior of the Hollow Tower himself, and they let him. Once that was done, they entered the hidden cave mouth and followed the stairs down, down, down.
The spiral of steps eventually ended at a small cavern/landing, where they found the remains of a small campsite long abandoned. Before following the only passage out, they searched around the small cavern and Alset located a well concealed secret door. He outlined it in chalk so Albrecht could locate it. After verifying that it was safe to do so, Albrecht opened the secret door. Beyond was a bedchamber with some furniture and a regular door on one wall. The group searched the room and found a cursed fountain pen in the writing table. Alset examined the magics on the fountain pen and pronounced them extremely dangerous dark magics. Everyone agreed to leave the pen alone and meant it, even the orc.
The door led to a wizard’s laboratory with some tables, a few chairs, and a set of shelves full of books. Suspecting the books were very old and probably fragile, they left them alone and investigated the rest of the room first. One of the walls was covered with slate and had chalk writings covering most of it. There were several large triangles drawn on the walls with varying symbols drawn at the corners. The symbols were arcane in nature but not recognizable to spellcasters present, suggesting either a cypher or a new type of magical symbols. Many notes were made. The triangles seemed to tie into the writing Quetzal had been able to read on the wooden plank back at the auction and she suspected there may be a link between the two.
Felix decided to perform a test [I think it was Felix – I was not feeling well and hardly took any notes]. He took one of the less valuable looking books off the shelf to see if it would crumble at his touch. It did not – in fact it was in very good condition. Alset was able to detect some preservation magic on the room, so Felix stepped outside the room and observed the book. It started weakening immediately, with pages becoming loose and brittle. He immediately stepped back into the workshop and the decay stopped, but was not undone. All agreed that the books should stay in the room for now.
The group then exited the secret rooms and reclosed the secret door, erasing the chalk outline afterwards. They then followed the only passage out, descending further. The next chamber consisted of a larger cavern with a sloping passage hugging one wall. Halfway down the ramp was another passage out of the cavern. At the base of the slope they could see an ornate wooden door. At the bottom of the cavern, laying on the floor, was a very large skeleton chained to the wall below the ramp.
The group slowly moved down the ramp. They paused at the passage out to see what they could see and saw the passage continued a short ways and then split at a T-intersection. They continued to descend to the floor. Before touching the door in any way, they investigated the large skeleton. They determined it was a troll skeleton and the chain was still in good condition. One of the adventurers yanked a bit on the chain to see if they could get it off the leg bones easily. This, of course, animated the troll skeleton, which stood up and attacked.
The fight was short but potentially dangerous as even without flesh, the troll skeleton was fiercely strong. Combining their might, the adventurers put down the bones into a pile. Felix then collected the now-loosened bones in a sack and the chain was pulled out of the wall (which took some combined effort by the characters).
Beyond the door was a hallway that turned to the left after two separate bends in the path. Between the two was a door to an old storage room with three wooden crates. The adventurers took the contents (including some iron spheres the size of their heads) and moved on. [Again, I hardly took any notes as I was feeling poorly. I will update this once I work out everything that was there.]
At the end of the hallway was another room. The room was mostly empty, with a door in the far corner and a wrought iron chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The chandelier is twisted into the shapes of skulls, with each skull holding a black candle that was lit. The eyes of the skulls glowed faintly red. This did not look safe at all. Felix has Zoglug throw one of the iron spheres at the chandelier. As soon as the sphere entered the room it burst into flames, quickly burning away as it flew across the room towards the chandelier. By the time it reached the chandelier is was about the size of an apricot pit and it barely budged the chandelier. The adventurers immediately closed the door.
They then backtracked to the side passage from the troll skeleton room. They took the left branch at the T-intersection and found a series of partially completed rooms and passages. One partially finished chamber had three walls painted to give a view of a pleasant garden. Another’s floor was covered in thousands of needles standing on their points. If pushed over (by, say, an iron bowling ball rolled across the floor), the needles would immediately resume standing on their points once free to do so. A few needles were taken for later study.
Once they reached the end of the unfinished passages, they reversed course and took the right passage from the T-intersection. The next chamber had a raised platform on the left side and a passage out at the far end. On the platform was a stone statue of a man dressed in robes holding a plate out in one hand with an altar in front of the statue. On the altar was a large metal bowl full of sand. The stone plate that was part of the statue was deeply stained a dark color and had “magical splatter” that Alset could see with his magical vision spell, suggesting some sort of sacrificial offerings had been placed on the plate in the past, and often. There was gold writing around the base of the statue that no one could read.
The group decided that the statue was bad news and left it alone. The writing around its based was copied down for later investigation. Hugo decided that while the statue was likely dangerous, the metal bowl wasn’t and he took it, dumping out the sand in it. The group decided it was time to return to new Zwicke to see if they could learn more before going any farther. [It was late and they didn’t want to roll on the Table of Doom by not being back somewhere safe at the end of the session.]
They returned to the surface and immediately rode back to New Zwicke. Pushing it, they arrived at New Zwick at dusk, thoroughly exhausted.
End of Session
Thoughts: I may make the New Zwicke auctions quarterly, rather than monthly. This would make them more significant and allow them to be fairs as well. Once I have a proper calendar up and running, I’ll probably do that. The Lucan’s Clock equivalent will still be monthly as it is more of a swap meet rather than a proper auction.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Blood, Gold, and Lizards - Friday Group - Session 3
Attendees
Felix Lutsk – male Human “acquisitioner”
Hugo Underwood – male Wood Elf shaman
Albrecht Artyom – male Human Grey Wizard
Fritz Schmidt – male Human scout
Alset Alokin – male High Elf mage
Hirelings:
Penrith the Steeplejack (Sergeant)
Lukyan the Fat
Fredek the Hare
Felix, recently returned from his sojourn to Lucan’s Clock (having received word that the heat had died down), told many stories about how different things are over in the Sartosan colony. He now has a healthy respect for orcs and the lizardfolk, having seen examples of them in action.
The group of adventurers that comprised F&A Holdings decided they wanted some more information about the areas outside of New Zwicke. To secure this information, they individually scouted the town for rumors. The most intriguing rumors they heard suggested that there was something up in the area known as the Dark of the Woods, that the lizardfolk avoided, but no one knew what. The group decided that that was not a strong enough lead to investigate and instead decided to finish their investigations of the Wedge Wood.
Before heading out of New Zwicke, the group tracked down and hired Penrith the Steeplejack and his two companions-in-arms, Fredek the Hare and Lukyan the Fat. The three had just about blown through their share of the last outing and were very willing to sign on for the same rate as before: 5s a day or a full share if there was any fighting.
Starting in the morning, the group road the Estini road north(-ish) out of town for two hours and then cut east towards Wedge Wood. An hour later they were in the Wedge Wood, looking for the tower they had previously discovered. Felix’s map was not as accurate as he had hoped it would be, but after wandering for nearly an hour Fritz took a look at the map and was able to get them to the correct place.
The tower was still buried under trees and other plant growth. The path they had hacked to the entrance to the tower was covered again with heavy new growth, despite it having been less than a month since their last visit. They started hacking through the plant growth again, clearing a path to the entrance to the tower. Fritz took this time to set out surveying markers around the tower as the first step towards claiming ownership of it. Hugo noticed the horses were nervous and used his Beast Speak power to ask them why they were nervous. The horses only said “something big is here” and asked for some oats. By this time the entrance to the tower was clear and the group moved in. The interior was exactly as they had left it: dry with a slight coating of dust. Despite there being no door covering the entrance, there was no plant growth intruding from the outside. The adventurers also checked the dust for footprints and found there were no extra footprints in the dust beyond the ones they had left before.
They made their way back up to the third floor and found that the moss once again covered all surfaces except the statue. Alset cast a new spell he had learned, one that allowed him to see the winds of magic and analyze them. He found the room was awash in green magic, emanating from the statue and flowing out through the missing wall section (see the previous expedition for details of the room). [http://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2013/06/bg-friday-group-session-1.html] Comparing to their map of the areas around New Zwicke, the adventurers are able to determine that the flow of energies follow the centerline of the Wedge Wood in a roughly northeasterly direction.
Albrecht realized that his newly developed Mage Sight had been indicating that while the third floor was awash in green magical energies, the first and second floor were a different magic. The group retreated back down to the second floor and Alset was able to determine that the energies on the lower two floors were High Magic (suggesting High Elves) and maintaining the environment and keeping the green out. Alset and Albrecht investigated the summoning circle found in the hidden chamber last time. It was not active but could still be used. That room also contained residues on the walls and floors that could only be described as “magical splatter” and reminiscent of Dark Magic (which suggested Dark Elves). Somewhat mystified, the group returned to the entry rooms on the first floor to camp and give some thought to their next actions.
During the night, an assassin vine moved through the area. Hugo and Fredek notice it, but decide to let it pass as it just seems to be moving through the area. Hugo does mention it to Fritz and Penrith when he wakes them for the last watch.
In the morning, the group decamps, having decided to explore the Wedge Wood more before tampering with the statue in the tower. Over the next several hours the group finds evidence of boars (or something very like boars) living in the forest and an abandoned (and extremely well hidden) elven camp. By the end of the day they had finished searching about a third of the Wedge Wood and made camp. During the night, a large shambling mass of plant-life with a vaguely humanoid shape attacked the campsite. Hugo noticed its approach early and awoke the group prior to its attack. Even so, the fight was tense if short. Felix was the first to approach the creature and was nearly felled by its held attack. This prompted Penrith and his men to step up and physically haul Felix out of danger, forming an impromptu bucket line as they passed the barely conscious man to the back of the group. After that, Fritz got a good shot in on the creature, stunning it. This allowed Penrith and his men to quickly and safely chop the creature down to a pile of mulch. Fritz took the time afterwards to cut out the fibrous heart of the creature, believing that it might be worth something back in town.
The next morning, the group resumed their exploration of the woods. About mid-morning they come across an elf hanging from his neck on the southern edge of the woods. Hugo recognized him as Pepin, another Wood Elf who lived here in the Wedge Wood. Pepin had been clearly killed by violence elsewhere and hung here after his death. There were some bloody writing on his body, but the handwriting was so bad it was illegible. Fritz and Hugo searched the ground around the area and found signs indicating that orcs had been in the area and were likely responsible. This was slightly unusual as there were no orcs tribes known to be in the area. Later in the day, after losing an hour to heavy rains, the group found a dead orc on the northern border of the woods with three elven arrows sticking out of its back. It was unclear as to whether or not the orc had been killed before or after Pepin died. They rolled the body and found a pouch of Old World coins attached to its belt. After another couple of hours exploring, the group camped again. The night passed quietly.
The next day they reach the eastern edge of the Wedge Wood. While exploring the corner of the wood, Albrecht spots a tower on a single hill out on the plains to the southeast. After some discussion, the adventures decide to finish exploring the Wedge Wood first, then look into the tower. Exploring the length of the eastern edge of the woods, they determine that the edge is a straight line. Reaching the northeastern corner of the woods, they spot another tower on a hill out on the plains. The line formed by the edge of the Wedge Woods runs perfectly between the two towers.
The adventurers begin to suspect that there is more to the Wedge Wood than they originally suspected. They speculate much as to its shape and form the opinion that there may be another tower near the “point” of the woods that forms the northern boundary to the forest. They head north onto the plains to get closer to the second tower they have discovered. They spot some unusual, lizard-like herd beasts grazing on the plains, but have no idea what they are. Not wanting any trouble or to get too close to the tower while they are tired, the group sets up camp on the plains for the night.
The next morning the group carefully approaches the tower on the lone hill. It appears to be three stories tall, but has a smooth stone surface with no windows. Once they get up on the hill, they see two things: there is no door to the tower, but there is an orc camp about 3-4 miles west of them. Using the company spyglass, they scope out the orc camp. They can see three large square tents set up and (what they assume are) some orcs walking around the camp. Initially they were not certain if it was orcs, but Alset spots a banner flying from one of the tents that clearly has orc glyphs on it. The number of tents suggests 10 or more orcs, which out numbers the adventuring party, so the adventurers decide to avoid the orcs and not pick a fight.
Albrecht teleports to the top of the tower and nearly falls in, all the way to the bottom – the tower is hollow. Alset casts his magic seeing spell and determines that the magic in the area is sourced from under the hill, not in the tower. Additionally, he can now see two lines of magical power emanating from the hill. One line runs roughly SE, but the other line is a surprise. Instead of running WSW and forming the northern barrier of the Wedge Wood, it goes NE! [RETCON: There is a third line running due east.] Alset also notices that there is a cave entrance concealed by magic nearby, leading down into the hill.
After some discussion and checking their rations, the group decides that they do not have enough supplies with them to pursue their investigation of the tower right now. Now is the time to return back to town (especially as they do not know what the orcs are up to. They mount up and ride along the northern edge of the Wedge Wood, doing their best to not be noticed by the orcs. Once they make it to the Estini Road, they ride hard and arrive at New Zwicke at dusk, just before the town gates are being closed for the night.
End of Session
Felix Lutsk – male Human “acquisitioner”
Hugo Underwood – male Wood Elf shaman
Albrecht Artyom – male Human Grey Wizard
Fritz Schmidt – male Human scout
Alset Alokin – male High Elf mage
Hirelings:
Penrith the Steeplejack (Sergeant)
Lukyan the Fat
Fredek the Hare
Felix, recently returned from his sojourn to Lucan’s Clock (having received word that the heat had died down), told many stories about how different things are over in the Sartosan colony. He now has a healthy respect for orcs and the lizardfolk, having seen examples of them in action.
The group of adventurers that comprised F&A Holdings decided they wanted some more information about the areas outside of New Zwicke. To secure this information, they individually scouted the town for rumors. The most intriguing rumors they heard suggested that there was something up in the area known as the Dark of the Woods, that the lizardfolk avoided, but no one knew what. The group decided that that was not a strong enough lead to investigate and instead decided to finish their investigations of the Wedge Wood.
Before heading out of New Zwicke, the group tracked down and hired Penrith the Steeplejack and his two companions-in-arms, Fredek the Hare and Lukyan the Fat. The three had just about blown through their share of the last outing and were very willing to sign on for the same rate as before: 5s a day or a full share if there was any fighting.
Starting in the morning, the group road the Estini road north(-ish) out of town for two hours and then cut east towards Wedge Wood. An hour later they were in the Wedge Wood, looking for the tower they had previously discovered. Felix’s map was not as accurate as he had hoped it would be, but after wandering for nearly an hour Fritz took a look at the map and was able to get them to the correct place.
The tower was still buried under trees and other plant growth. The path they had hacked to the entrance to the tower was covered again with heavy new growth, despite it having been less than a month since their last visit. They started hacking through the plant growth again, clearing a path to the entrance to the tower. Fritz took this time to set out surveying markers around the tower as the first step towards claiming ownership of it. Hugo noticed the horses were nervous and used his Beast Speak power to ask them why they were nervous. The horses only said “something big is here” and asked for some oats. By this time the entrance to the tower was clear and the group moved in. The interior was exactly as they had left it: dry with a slight coating of dust. Despite there being no door covering the entrance, there was no plant growth intruding from the outside. The adventurers also checked the dust for footprints and found there were no extra footprints in the dust beyond the ones they had left before.
They made their way back up to the third floor and found that the moss once again covered all surfaces except the statue. Alset cast a new spell he had learned, one that allowed him to see the winds of magic and analyze them. He found the room was awash in green magic, emanating from the statue and flowing out through the missing wall section (see the previous expedition for details of the room). [http://bugbearsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2013/06/bg-friday-group-session-1.html] Comparing to their map of the areas around New Zwicke, the adventurers are able to determine that the flow of energies follow the centerline of the Wedge Wood in a roughly northeasterly direction.
Albrecht realized that his newly developed Mage Sight had been indicating that while the third floor was awash in green magical energies, the first and second floor were a different magic. The group retreated back down to the second floor and Alset was able to determine that the energies on the lower two floors were High Magic (suggesting High Elves) and maintaining the environment and keeping the green out. Alset and Albrecht investigated the summoning circle found in the hidden chamber last time. It was not active but could still be used. That room also contained residues on the walls and floors that could only be described as “magical splatter” and reminiscent of Dark Magic (which suggested Dark Elves). Somewhat mystified, the group returned to the entry rooms on the first floor to camp and give some thought to their next actions.
During the night, an assassin vine moved through the area. Hugo and Fredek notice it, but decide to let it pass as it just seems to be moving through the area. Hugo does mention it to Fritz and Penrith when he wakes them for the last watch.
In the morning, the group decamps, having decided to explore the Wedge Wood more before tampering with the statue in the tower. Over the next several hours the group finds evidence of boars (or something very like boars) living in the forest and an abandoned (and extremely well hidden) elven camp. By the end of the day they had finished searching about a third of the Wedge Wood and made camp. During the night, a large shambling mass of plant-life with a vaguely humanoid shape attacked the campsite. Hugo noticed its approach early and awoke the group prior to its attack. Even so, the fight was tense if short. Felix was the first to approach the creature and was nearly felled by its held attack. This prompted Penrith and his men to step up and physically haul Felix out of danger, forming an impromptu bucket line as they passed the barely conscious man to the back of the group. After that, Fritz got a good shot in on the creature, stunning it. This allowed Penrith and his men to quickly and safely chop the creature down to a pile of mulch. Fritz took the time afterwards to cut out the fibrous heart of the creature, believing that it might be worth something back in town.
The next morning, the group resumed their exploration of the woods. About mid-morning they come across an elf hanging from his neck on the southern edge of the woods. Hugo recognized him as Pepin, another Wood Elf who lived here in the Wedge Wood. Pepin had been clearly killed by violence elsewhere and hung here after his death. There were some bloody writing on his body, but the handwriting was so bad it was illegible. Fritz and Hugo searched the ground around the area and found signs indicating that orcs had been in the area and were likely responsible. This was slightly unusual as there were no orcs tribes known to be in the area. Later in the day, after losing an hour to heavy rains, the group found a dead orc on the northern border of the woods with three elven arrows sticking out of its back. It was unclear as to whether or not the orc had been killed before or after Pepin died. They rolled the body and found a pouch of Old World coins attached to its belt. After another couple of hours exploring, the group camped again. The night passed quietly.
The next day they reach the eastern edge of the Wedge Wood. While exploring the corner of the wood, Albrecht spots a tower on a single hill out on the plains to the southeast. After some discussion, the adventures decide to finish exploring the Wedge Wood first, then look into the tower. Exploring the length of the eastern edge of the woods, they determine that the edge is a straight line. Reaching the northeastern corner of the woods, they spot another tower on a hill out on the plains. The line formed by the edge of the Wedge Woods runs perfectly between the two towers.
The adventurers begin to suspect that there is more to the Wedge Wood than they originally suspected. They speculate much as to its shape and form the opinion that there may be another tower near the “point” of the woods that forms the northern boundary to the forest. They head north onto the plains to get closer to the second tower they have discovered. They spot some unusual, lizard-like herd beasts grazing on the plains, but have no idea what they are. Not wanting any trouble or to get too close to the tower while they are tired, the group sets up camp on the plains for the night.
The next morning the group carefully approaches the tower on the lone hill. It appears to be three stories tall, but has a smooth stone surface with no windows. Once they get up on the hill, they see two things: there is no door to the tower, but there is an orc camp about 3-4 miles west of them. Using the company spyglass, they scope out the orc camp. They can see three large square tents set up and (what they assume are) some orcs walking around the camp. Initially they were not certain if it was orcs, but Alset spots a banner flying from one of the tents that clearly has orc glyphs on it. The number of tents suggests 10 or more orcs, which out numbers the adventuring party, so the adventurers decide to avoid the orcs and not pick a fight.
Albrecht teleports to the top of the tower and nearly falls in, all the way to the bottom – the tower is hollow. Alset casts his magic seeing spell and determines that the magic in the area is sourced from under the hill, not in the tower. Additionally, he can now see two lines of magical power emanating from the hill. One line runs roughly SE, but the other line is a surprise. Instead of running WSW and forming the northern barrier of the Wedge Wood, it goes NE! [RETCON: There is a third line running due east.] Alset also notices that there is a cave entrance concealed by magic nearby, leading down into the hill.
After some discussion and checking their rations, the group decides that they do not have enough supplies with them to pursue their investigation of the tower right now. Now is the time to return back to town (especially as they do not know what the orcs are up to. They mount up and ride along the northern edge of the Wedge Wood, doing their best to not be noticed by the orcs. Once they make it to the Estini Road, they ride hard and arrive at New Zwicke at dusk, just before the town gates are being closed for the night.
End of Session
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Blood, Gold, and Lizards - Friday Group - Session 2
Attendees
Hugo Underwood – Wood Elf shaman
Felix Lutsk – Human “acquisitioner”
Alset Alokin – High Elf magus
Hirelings:
Penrith the Steeplejack (Sergeant)
Lukyan the Fat
Fredek the Hare
The group started with some housekeeping. Hugo officially joined F&A Holdings. This tied down Fritz and Albrecht with getting the necessary paperwork through the New Zwicke bureaucracy [the players were unavailable]. Felix, Hugo, and Alset deposited their earnings from the previous expedition into the New Zwicke Bank for safe keeping. The group then used money from F&A Holdings to purchase healing potions at the Temple of Shallya, hire a trio of guards for camp security, and then food and extra horses for the entire group.
Originally the guards were simply going to be paid a flat salary for camp guarding. However, after some discussion the guards were offered a full share as a group if they also fought alongside the adventurers. Penrith negotiated a clause for payment of the flat rate if no treasure was recovered, but otherwise accepted the offer on behalf of his men.
The group headed north on the Estini Road, planning to return to the tower in the Wedge Wood and explore further from there. This plan fell by the wayside just outside of the farmlands surrounding New Zwicke when a pack of bandits attempted to rob the adventurers. During the ensuing fight, Hugo was shot off his horse by arrows [for being scary and dangerous with his Murder of Crows spell], Alset’s spells fizzled early on, but the hirelings proved their worth, keeping the bulk of the bandits away from the spellcasters and cutting many of them down. The fight ended with the bandit archers fleeing once the sword-weilding bandits were all dead or unconscious.
While the elves stripped the dead bandits of their gear, Felix interrogated the four bandits that were captured alive, killing one of them to make his point to the others. The remaining three bandits were very eager after that to share everything they knew, including that there was a raft hidden upstream where the archers were likely to run to and that the bandits had a camp in a small forest across the Arrow River from the ambush site. After Felix collected the heads of the dead bandits, the adventurers made their way to the location of the bandit raft [bringing along the manacles captives], discovering the archers just pushing off from the shore!
This battle was more of a slaughter as the bandit archers had no cover. One of the dead archers was recovered, as were all four long bows, but the other three bodies sunk (weighted down by their armor) and were washed away by the river current.
Alset used a series of teleports to move everyone across the river, except the draft horses the hirelings were riding. As the draft horses each massed more than Alset could teleport, Hugo had to swim them across. This took a couple tries as the horses were nervous, but eventually everyone and their mounts were on the western side of the river.
Hugo went ahead into the small forest to scout out the bandit camp but was immediately discovered. [He completely blew his stealth roll.] However, as he knew the password (“Applecake” – learned from the captives), Hugo was able to bluff his way in as a new recruit. [He aced his Acting roll.] The bandits took him in and the senior bandit gave him the tour and explained that this was a raiding camp, their winter camp was elsewhere. Hugo noticed that there were only five bandits guarding the camp and the front gate and the back gate were not within sight of each other. He started formulating plans…
When Hugo had not returned from scouting after an hour, Felix led the rest of the group straight up to the front of the bandit camp. As the bandits drew their bows, Hugo cast Cloud of Moths, obscuring the sight of the bandits (and himself) with mass numbers of glowing blue moths. This allowed Felix and the hirelings to charge the gate and get in without getting shot. It was all over for the bandits at the front gate after that. The rear gate bandits heard the fighting and their friends dying and fled out the back with their lives and little else.
The adventurers spent the next hour thoroughly looting the bandit camp. The take was mostly foodstuffs and the meager loot gathered by the bandits so far this season. Felix beheaded the dead bandits and freed the three captives, telling them to run and never come to his attention again. They ran.
With loot to sell back in town (and the majority of that being perishable foodstuffs), the group returned to New Zwicke. They turned over the bandit heads to the Guard, receiving a small bounty (5s) per head after filling out a report. [This was due to Hugo being a member of a registered adventuring company. Otherwise the adventurers would have been treated as vigilantes and forced to pay a fine.] After selling off the loot, shares were paid out: one to each adventurer, one to the group of hirelings, and one to F&A Holdings. Penrith and his men were very pleased with the payment and stated they would be happy to work with the adventurers again.
End of Session
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
BG&L – Friday Group – Session 1
Attendees
Albrecht Artyom – Human Grey wizard (co-founder of F&A Holdings)
Hugo Underwood – Wood Elf shaman
Fritz Schmidt – Human scout (co-founder of F&A Holdings)
Felix Lutsk – Human “acquisitioner”
Alset Alokin – High Elf magus
F&A Holdings (the adventurers) after discussion decided their first expedition would be to the Wedge Wood. Riding their horses along the Estini Road, they quickly cleared the farmlands surrounding New Zwicke and entered the point of the Wedge Wood. (The Wedge Wood is shaped like a long triangle, with the “point” an hour’s ride from the farmlands around New Zwicke. From there the forest spreads along some unusually well-defined boarders, widening as one moves to the northwest.)
Once they entered the forest, they started searching to see if there was anything interesting. In an extremely thick copse of trees inside the forest they noticed the stony walls of a tower almost completely covered in plant life, including trees, thick cables of vines, and other, less identifiable, bushes and plants.
Curious, they hacked their way to the entrance of the tower. Instead of being filled with roots or other plant life, they discovered the interior of the tower was completely clear of plants and contained the abandoned furniture of its previous inhabitants. The air inside is cool and dry, providing a contrast to the humid air outside. Alset created light so the group to see by arcing a ball of lightning around his hand. The furniture might be of elven make, but it might not.
The group explored the first floor of the tower, finding a guard post, several barracks (with latrines), stairs up, a mess able to serve 50 people at once, a kitchen, and two storage areas. The first storage area was attached directly to the kitchen and the interior was noticeably cool. At first they assumed this was a magical effect done on purpose, but they quickly found a large patch of russet mold covering one set of shelves. They were very glad that Alset’s light was lightning-based and produced no heat to draw the mold. They backed out of the mostly empty storage room and closed the door. They considered this a good find – if they decided to claim the tower, the mold would keep food from spoiling quickly. They just needed to be careful to not enter the food storage area with a torch…
The adjacent storage room appeared to have been a dry goods storage area. There were crates, barrels, and now-empty sacks stored around the rooms. The sacks once contained grain, but were now just husks of long-molded remains. The crates were mostly the same, but some of the barrels still contained liquids. Fritz checked the barrels – the first four were now vinegar, but the fifth one contained a black ooze! After a quick but unexpected fight, the group destroyed the ooze.
Panting from exertion (and maybe a small bit of fear), the group moved to one of the (easily defendable) barracks and camped for the evening. Watches were set in case trouble came looking, but the night passed quietly. After a quick repast, the group resumed exploring the tower.
The second floor was living quarters for people more important that the soldiers stationed in the barracks on the first floor. Even after the ruins of time, it was apparent that the furnishing on this floor were once opulent. This floor contained a library full of scrolls, but the scrolls were so old they crumbled at the touch. After several were destroyed this way, the group left the rest of the scrolls alone. Searching the floor thoroughly, a secret door was found. It opened to an alchemical laboratory full of unbroken glassware. A valuable find!
Leaving the glass beakers, vials, and flasks alone for the moment, the group proceeded up to the third floor. The entire third floor was a single chamber and had no roof. A portion of the wall on the northeast facing was missing and every surface was covered by a layer of moss. The sole exception to the moss covering was an abstract statue on a pedestal in the center of the room. The statue was made of some sort of green stone, perhaps jade, and while it was unclear what was depicted, there was a definite suggestion of femininity.
Carefully NOT touching the statue, the group investigated the room. Hugo was able to determine the missing wall section was blasted out, not in. The missing roof seemed to be part of the construction, but was now criss-crossed by plants and vines and partially covered by the branches of the taller trees around the tower. None of the plant growth actually drooped below the edges of the walls and the only growing thing in the room was the moss covering the floors and walls.
Alset fired a bolt of lightning at the floor near the pedestal, clearing away some of the moss. Exposed was part of a (now broken) containment circle encircling the pedestal. This filled the group with some measure of dread, but after nothing happening for a while, the group started clearing away the rest of the moss. They uncovered the rest of the containment circle and found a second breach that lined up neatly with the missing wall section.
After discussing the situation for a while, the group decided to pack up the valuables they had found so far (notably the alchemist’s lab full of glassware) and leave. Alset teleported back to New Zwicke with the glassware (rather than chance breaking it by packing it on the horses) and the rest rode their horses back.
End of Session
This session was short as the PCs were not kitted out yet and it took some time for everyone to get kitted out to their satisfaction. This was fine as it was the first session and I’d rather the players get kitted out and be happy with their gear up front. Plus, the Friday group is mostly new players and did not have the books yet. The Saturday Group is mostly experienced Hero System players and have the books, so they were ready to hit the ground. Even after just a single session with each group I’m seeing definite differences in the playstyles of the two groups. Should make it interesting as things progress.
Albrecht Artyom – Human Grey wizard (co-founder of F&A Holdings)
Hugo Underwood – Wood Elf shaman
Fritz Schmidt – Human scout (co-founder of F&A Holdings)
Felix Lutsk – Human “acquisitioner”
Alset Alokin – High Elf magus
F&A Holdings (the adventurers) after discussion decided their first expedition would be to the Wedge Wood. Riding their horses along the Estini Road, they quickly cleared the farmlands surrounding New Zwicke and entered the point of the Wedge Wood. (The Wedge Wood is shaped like a long triangle, with the “point” an hour’s ride from the farmlands around New Zwicke. From there the forest spreads along some unusually well-defined boarders, widening as one moves to the northwest.)
Once they entered the forest, they started searching to see if there was anything interesting. In an extremely thick copse of trees inside the forest they noticed the stony walls of a tower almost completely covered in plant life, including trees, thick cables of vines, and other, less identifiable, bushes and plants.
Curious, they hacked their way to the entrance of the tower. Instead of being filled with roots or other plant life, they discovered the interior of the tower was completely clear of plants and contained the abandoned furniture of its previous inhabitants. The air inside is cool and dry, providing a contrast to the humid air outside. Alset created light so the group to see by arcing a ball of lightning around his hand. The furniture might be of elven make, but it might not.
The group explored the first floor of the tower, finding a guard post, several barracks (with latrines), stairs up, a mess able to serve 50 people at once, a kitchen, and two storage areas. The first storage area was attached directly to the kitchen and the interior was noticeably cool. At first they assumed this was a magical effect done on purpose, but they quickly found a large patch of russet mold covering one set of shelves. They were very glad that Alset’s light was lightning-based and produced no heat to draw the mold. They backed out of the mostly empty storage room and closed the door. They considered this a good find – if they decided to claim the tower, the mold would keep food from spoiling quickly. They just needed to be careful to not enter the food storage area with a torch…
The adjacent storage room appeared to have been a dry goods storage area. There were crates, barrels, and now-empty sacks stored around the rooms. The sacks once contained grain, but were now just husks of long-molded remains. The crates were mostly the same, but some of the barrels still contained liquids. Fritz checked the barrels – the first four were now vinegar, but the fifth one contained a black ooze! After a quick but unexpected fight, the group destroyed the ooze.
Panting from exertion (and maybe a small bit of fear), the group moved to one of the (easily defendable) barracks and camped for the evening. Watches were set in case trouble came looking, but the night passed quietly. After a quick repast, the group resumed exploring the tower.
The second floor was living quarters for people more important that the soldiers stationed in the barracks on the first floor. Even after the ruins of time, it was apparent that the furnishing on this floor were once opulent. This floor contained a library full of scrolls, but the scrolls were so old they crumbled at the touch. After several were destroyed this way, the group left the rest of the scrolls alone. Searching the floor thoroughly, a secret door was found. It opened to an alchemical laboratory full of unbroken glassware. A valuable find!
Leaving the glass beakers, vials, and flasks alone for the moment, the group proceeded up to the third floor. The entire third floor was a single chamber and had no roof. A portion of the wall on the northeast facing was missing and every surface was covered by a layer of moss. The sole exception to the moss covering was an abstract statue on a pedestal in the center of the room. The statue was made of some sort of green stone, perhaps jade, and while it was unclear what was depicted, there was a definite suggestion of femininity.
Carefully NOT touching the statue, the group investigated the room. Hugo was able to determine the missing wall section was blasted out, not in. The missing roof seemed to be part of the construction, but was now criss-crossed by plants and vines and partially covered by the branches of the taller trees around the tower. None of the plant growth actually drooped below the edges of the walls and the only growing thing in the room was the moss covering the floors and walls.
Alset fired a bolt of lightning at the floor near the pedestal, clearing away some of the moss. Exposed was part of a (now broken) containment circle encircling the pedestal. This filled the group with some measure of dread, but after nothing happening for a while, the group started clearing away the rest of the moss. They uncovered the rest of the containment circle and found a second breach that lined up neatly with the missing wall section.
After discussing the situation for a while, the group decided to pack up the valuables they had found so far (notably the alchemist’s lab full of glassware) and leave. Alset teleported back to New Zwicke with the glassware (rather than chance breaking it by packing it on the horses) and the rest rode their horses back.
End of Session
This session was short as the PCs were not kitted out yet and it took some time for everyone to get kitted out to their satisfaction. This was fine as it was the first session and I’d rather the players get kitted out and be happy with their gear up front. Plus, the Friday group is mostly new players and did not have the books yet. The Saturday Group is mostly experienced Hero System players and have the books, so they were ready to hit the ground. Even after just a single session with each group I’m seeing definite differences in the playstyles of the two groups. Should make it interesting as things progress.
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