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Scream Peak

05 Sunday Apr 2020

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caskbound, play report

Clan Caskbound, played 3.27.20 IRL, 4.28.2121 IG.

  • Devron Leveller (Mark) Berserker. Chosen, Mason.
  • Dandel “The Dan” Deeptunnel (Simon) Berserker. Carouser, Miner, Brewer.
  • Korvask Wyrt (Michael) Vanguard. Enchanter, Scholar.
  • [Gudrun Caskbound (Iris) Mauler. Enchanter, Scholar, Armorer.] Character present, not player.
  • NPCs on the expedition: Nymeer, Helbek, Scout LePeek.

Possibly Relevant Details

Once the airship was some distance away from Ryvolko, their human guide, Scout LePeek, revealed that he was not totally forthcoming about where they were headed. There was a mine where the dwarves were based, and he spent a month and a half there at one point (for undisclosed reasons) and that’s how he learned some Dirit, their native language. They have a pretty friendly arrangement with the local orcs, who scout and hunt for them, but the Krung Throneshadow doesn’t want to look soft or admit they collaborate with dwarves.

This sounded highly unlikely to the Fellowship, who viewed their scout with fresh distrust. Still, one way or another, they had to investigate.

Rithbod and Scorns

They set the airship down, leaving Gudrun and Nymeer to protect it. Scout insisted they should intercept an orc, Rithbod, and his scorns, or ranger guards in the jungle. They navigated through the jungle well, reaching a vantage point where they could see Rithbod and the scorns feasting on some local animal they brought down. Scout went down to talk to them, and the nervous dwarves followed when violence didn’t immediately erupt. Rithbod spoke decent Dirit, and urged them to follow as he took them to the other stumpies.

On the way they were attacked by more of the bipedal jungle lizards, almost mount sized, called cave striders by the orcs. The battle was fierce, but the dwarves and orcs won through; Rithbod stuck it out, even though his scorns ran into the jungle to regroup later.

The Dwarf Gate

The Fellowship, led by an orc and a human, reached a hidden fold of the mountain with a rickety bridge stretched across a couple rocks to a back door into the mountain. Wary, they crossed the bridge to find a shaft sunk into the rock centuries ago, looking neglected. As they entered the mountain, they encountered another orc, Locrag, who was assigned to aid the dwarves that resided in this place. He led them to their kin.

The Fellowship met the local dwarves in a spare, utilitarian forge storeroom common room chamber in the mountain. They were introduced to the leader, Chimur, an enchanter engineer with an enchanted locked gauntlet, Hellbiter; a bane weapon against the infernal. His pick, Sagaba, and shield, Inoru, as well as Yabar and Droktho (who was currently assigned to guard duty deeper in.)

They celebrated together, draining The Dan’s gift keg and singing the old songs together, both delighted to fill in some gaps in times past. Finally, some answers.

Previously, at the Dwarf Gate

Over 400 years ago, the orcs approached Lorcrow, at Ryvolko. They were struggling with a problem that outgrew their shamanistic solutions, and they thought dwarven enchantment could help. A massive fire demon they called Mruloor was pushing out of a volcano, and they could not contain it.

As a proper Bloodcrag enchanter, Lorcrow knew how to use volcanoes to flow lava into channels and create large-scale binding runes. He led his people in an assault on Scream Peak, the mountain overhead. Again and again they drove at the demon’s forces, conjured out of thin air with infernal energy and flame and bone. Lorcrow lost his brothers and his son in the final assault, but the dwarves bound Mruloor long enough to construct the Seal Chamber to keep the demon restrained for centuries more.

The battered clan could not stay under Scream Peak, for the leaking infernal energy was too much to subject them to day after day for years on end. A handpicked elite stayed to maintain the site and its enchantments, and the rest were granted a nice location for their colony, protected in the Krung Throneshadow, relatively nearby. Lorcrow would not allow travel and visiting back and forth, to minimize the risks and preserve the secrecy. So most of the dwarves left, and over the centuries, those who remained dwindled to a handful.

Since the orcs handle hunting and defense, the main casualties were from leaking infernal energies pooling in them in secret; rigorous as their testing is, it is difficult to be vigilant decade after decade, and there were lapses.

The Seal Chamber

The Fellowship was keen to see the seal chamber, center of the runic defense of the site. Chimur and Inoru escorted them, and they met with Droktho along the way. Korvask detected infernal energies accumulated in Droktho, and quietly alerted the Fellowship.

When they reached the lava-baked column that anchored the seal chamber, they were alarmed to see how it had deteriorated. A surge of infernal energy shoved up out of the lava, creating a massive energy and lava cave king lizard that roared at them and attacked. Slagging weapons, they managed to batter it down to slop apart, and they withdrew.

Now that they knew the seal was badly weakened, and they knew the location and story of the Dwarf Gate, they could return to Whiskey Forge and send some specialists out to shore up the defenses–with orc permission, of course.

Covering and Defending

Lorcrag, the orc assistant, agreed to work with the locals and get permission to bring more enchanters out to anchor the site–as long as the dwarves weren’t preparing for expansion or war. They agreed.

The fellowship insisted Droktho return with them, as his infernal contamination could compromise the site at any time. He flatly refused, and as a vanguard, challenged them to move him. They let it go–but The Dan was a carouser with long experience in manipulating dwarven honor. He got Droktho drinking, regaling him with tales of Whiskey Forge, and tricked him into promising to come take a look.

In the sober light of morning, Droktho’s vow held, and he grudgingly left with the Fellowship. They began the long trip back to the airship, and from there, back to Whiskey Forge. Once they arranged for reinforcement of the Seal Chamber, they would check on the colony to see how the rest of the dwarves had fared in the Throneshadow.

The Lost Colony

05 Sunday Apr 2020

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caskbound, play report

Clan Caskbound, played 3.20.20 IRL, 4.22.2121 IG.

  • Gudrun Caskbound (Iris) Mauler. Enchanter, Scholar, Armorer.
  • Dandel “The Dan” Deeptunnel (Simon) Berserker. Carouser, Miner, Brewer.
  • Korvask Wyrt (Michael) Vanguard. Enchanter, Scholar.
  • Devron Leveller (Mark) Berserker. Chosen, Mason.

To Ryvolko!

The Fellowship was expanded as the honored scholar Helbek involved another of his nieces, Nymeer, because she was recently promoted to captain of a small airship, the Sea Scout. They also added Devron, a Chosen who could lend a hand in their expedition.

Croydon, the human they rescued from the clutches of a wizard, used his skill as an airship crewman to direct them across the sea to Ryvolko, the City of Spires. Districts in the city were separated by walls, and there were spires to dock airships. Moving from one area to another involved elevators to go over the walls using machinery.

Unsteadyness

They docked on a spire and went to a public house, where they met Kroy, a human cleric of the Church of Unsteadiness, and her assistant Pama. She agreed to help them make a contact who could possibly lead them into the Krung Throneshadow if they wanted to follow up on rumors of a dwarven presence there. She was impressed with The Dan and his partying and alcohol, and they headed off for a tryst.

The others in the Fellowship asked around for more information, and encountered a sneering orc slaver who offered to take them to join up with their friends, but they were suspicious of his “helpfulness” and declined, still strong enough that he kept his distance and watched them.

Touring 

The Fellowship got a meeting set with Tangler, a local fixer, at dusk. In the meantime they explored Ryvolko, trying out the elevator between walled areas, wrapping their minds around the human infestation of dwarven architecture and infrastructure.

They went shopping, and found some lore books that a merchant was keeping aside for a local wizard. Passing on that, they took in a number of sights and experiences, returning to meet their contact at the appointed time.

A Favor for a Favor

Tangler, a local fixer, agreed to send them on their way to check out a dwarven settlement in the Throneshadow. His fee was their airship. They declined, so he countered.

He was a smuggler, and he used the vaults under the local temple for storing his goods. A local noble pressed his business too hard, so he killed the man; but his lover was distraught, and loaded up the body with brittlestone (she knows magic) so now it is dangerous to move goods in and out. Sort that problem out, and he’ll send a scout with them to find the dwarves.

The Vault

They agreed, and followed Tangler to the unobtrusive surface entrance to the vaults below the temple. The sturdy locks on the dwarf-built vault had all been drilled out so the humans could use the place unobstructed.

They poked around for a bit before shadows coalesced and assaulted them; fortunately their enchanters had prepared them. Gudrun used her bloodbrush to enhance their weapons, and Korvask used his to provide them with sealed life force, protected from ghostly forces.

The dwarves were confronted by a more substantial apparition, and put it down handily. Still, they knew that it was just a projection. They had to find the source, or it would simply return.

The Well

They found a pit, but that didn’t seem right; the Chosen and enchanters didn’t feel the energy emanating from that. When they found a well-like shaft, they knew that was where the brittlestone was growing.

Gudrun guarded the top of the wellshaft in the undervault, and Devron climbed down. Dropping the last length, he found a fungal chamber with brittlestone over the remains of the source of the haunting. The corpse lurched up, armored for battle, and shadows formed to slay the intruder. Devron called for help, and set to work.

The Dan steeled himself for the hit and leaped down the shaft, crashing down into a roll and coming up fighting as Korvask climbed down. Together, the dwarves lay about themselves with enchanted weapons, repelling the undead assault; their defenses burst under the combined pressure of the attacks, but they tore down the dead, indomitable.

The enchanters helped Devron bound his ritual, and he called upon the powers of the Gods of Ur to drive the animating force from the brittlestone, rendering it inert. Exhausted, the dwarves knew they had defeated the haunting of the undervault.

Conclusion

True to his word, Tangler secured the services of Scout LePeek to take them to a dwarven settlement, deep in the Throneshadow…

Rescuing the Scout

05 Sunday Apr 2020

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caskbound, play report

Clan Caskbound, played 3.13.20 IRL, 4.12.2121 IG.

  • Gudrun Caskbound (Iris) Mauler. Enchanter, Scholar, Armorer.
  • Dandel “The Dan” Deeptunnel (Simon) Berserker. Carouser, Miner, Brewer.
  • Korvask Wyrt (Michael) Vanguard. Enchanter, Scholar.

On a rainy night in Klassa, Gudrun’s uncle Helbek, a respected scholar, caught up to her. He was quite pleased to find her with Korvask, he trained them both in dwarven scholarly traditions. He had an opportunity, and The Dan was welcome to come along and provide support as well.

Helbek was over 600 years old. His father, Lorcrow, was given leave to found a colony in the Waveprint Isles, in 1552 (568 years ago) and Helbeck only saw him a couple times after that. The colony was named Ryvolko, and they lost contact over five centuries ago when the sea witches closed the ocean traffic to dwarves.

Helbek’s topsider contact Uraboro in the human city of Brightstone informed him that a human soldier named Croydon showed up in town and claimed to be from Ryvolko. Helbek was beside himself with excitement to potentially find out how this soldier made it across the sea,and whether they could reconnect with Ryvolko and find out what happened to his father’s legacy–and maybe the dwarf himself.

Searching in Brightstone

The Fellowship traveled to Brightstone and found Uraboro, who was tipsy in a tavern. (As a carouser, The Dan knew to holler “Roll the rock!” in Dirit, to which any dwarf in any state will echo the sentiment.) Uraboro had not kept very good track of Croydon, but knew he liked to gamble, and where. The Fellowship headed to his favored den of iniquity.

At the Briarbush Public House, they weren’t the only ones looking for Croydon. A tough orc, Brandelbot, was also asking for his whereabouts–and hiring human muscle. After some flexing and growling, the orc backed off, and the dwarves (now keenly aware they were being watched) followed up on Uraboro’s lead and consulted with a human scoundrel, Meddel.

The information broker told them that Croydon was a card sharp who had fleeced Plendry, the apprentice of a local wizard. Plendry seemed pretty distraught right before Croydon disappeared. Maybe check out the Stellarium where Shoyara, the wizard, holds court.

The Fellowship secured Uraboro as their guide, and headed out of town towards the Stellarium. On the way, they were ambushed by Brandelbot and his hired thugs. They handily thrashed the thugs, and the survivors ran away. They also bested Brandelbot. They demanded to know why he was after Croydon, and all he would say was Daggerface (another orc) was waiting for him at the port and would come looking when he didn’t return. The Fellowship left him tied to a tree.

The Stellarium

The Stellarium was nestled into a cliff, under a dome, with no easy access points. There was a climb to a back door, and a grating for drainage, and the dome had been damaged in a previous siege and never repaired. They also saw a sort of sign that those seeking audience could bang a gong and the wizard might consult them from a safe distance. Not wanting to risk asking about Croydon and being denied (and losing the element of surprise) they decided to sneak in.

Climbing up to the drain was a challenge, and there were a few tumbles, but they reached it and bypassed the grating, slipping into the wizard’s lair. Wary of the layer of sand on the floor, they proceeded anyway. They found a trapdoor for dramatic entrances and tried to jimmy it open, but the old mechanism broke. Continuing to explore, they found Plendry at his studies.

The Apprentice

They surprised the apprentice Plendry, and persuaded him to show them where Croydon was being held. He reluctantly agreed, and took them to the broken trapdoor; trying to open it, he triggered a fall, and it bashed him in the head pretty hard. The dwarves revived him with some of The Dan’s brew, but it was far too strong for him, and he went a little berserk so they had to help him take a nap.

The Prisoner

They stealthed through the wizard’s lair and found Croydon, nude and hanging upside down as a decoration in the wizard’s posh quarters. They cut him loose and gathered up his gear, heading back down through the tunnels.

This time a perfume mechanism trap sprayed, and they were marked with a scent that aroused the sewer dumpling that guarded the drains. It attacked, and they managed to batter it down and slosh past, escaping the wizard’s lair.

Grateful for the rescue, Croydon cooperated fully. He was on an airship out of Mosobida, assigned to suppress pirate airship activity, and Daggerface attacked. His lifeboat made it to Stoneshadow, where he wandered to Brightstone. He knew the way to get to Ryvolko, if they had an airship he could guide them.

According to Croydon, Ryvolko was a human city now, though it had been built by dwarves. He had heard rumors that there might be some dwarves enslaved in a mine in the Krung Throneshadow, the orc domain, but he didn’t know anything for certain. The Fellowship resolved to find out.

The Orc

Brandelbot had predictably freed himself from his bonds, and headed up the slope, seeding it with boobytraps. He challenged the Fellowship, demanding Croydon, but they had put up with enough. Charging up the hill through his traps, they reached him and slew him.

Conclusion

With Croydon in tow, they returned to Whiskey Forge to mount an expedition to their lost colony.

 

Search for the Baroness

05 Sunday Apr 2020

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play report, rumbleseed

Clan Rumbleseed, played 4.4.20 IRL (in real life) and 10/15/2121 IG (in game).

  • Miraeg Dunn (Jonathan) Leader, Performer, Mechanic.
  • Ivo Flynt (Imre) Support, Gunsmith, Engineer.
  • Cagroot Hopstrider (KC) Skirmisher, Brewer, Delver.
  • Thoreson Grimeater (Anders) Berserker, Chef, Healer.

What’s Been Going On?

In the seven months since the last adventure, the dwarves were busy with various projects.

  • Miraeg was summoned by his aunt, whose health was failing. Her time to die was drawing near. She was instrumental in teaching him stories and songs as a performer, and as her memory was failing, he performed for her the material she taught him. He also used his expertise with machines to keep her life support machinery optimized until it was no longer needed.
  • Ivo spent time reinforcing the Deep Wall, one of the fortifications in the Lower Delve. He served there during his First Fifty and it was pleasant to be among those charged with defending the reach, whose perspective was perhaps clearer on certain issues than those safely entrenched up above. He supervised the critical cannon maintenance.
  • Cagroot invested in networking and study with some of the clan alchemists, continuing his life-long fascination with their art. His family insisted he become a brewer, but he had always been enamored of the alchemical arts, and he may yet master their secrets for himself. In the meantime, nobody parties quite the way alchemists do, and his brews were welcome mediums for experimentation.
  • Thoreson took on some secret messenger work for the Archon of the clan. Due to his success in dealing with the topsiders in the celebrated wedding (where he also happened to save Lady Kreshka’s life) he was allowed to satisfy a current Sinlayan noble fad for dwarven delicacies. He took loads of candied mandibular treats to the surface, a confection he called “elf noses” (and some of the elite versions had a point you could squeeze so the top peeled open, called “sneezers.”) He carried confidential messages back and forth on these trips as well.

Expedition to the Various Gardens

In the background, Torala Dunn continued his negotiations and jockying for position in the upcoming joint venture for Rumbleseed to send a new expedition into the Various Gardens. Their haphazard rush to snatch territory for each family of the clan created complications at the Delve access point that have only magnified over time, so breaching this new territory was to be a joint venture with agreed-upon articles of cooperation. The Dunn family had a seat at the table, and would have a delegation in the overall expedition.

Torala’s nephew Felvis, Miraeg’s cousin, considered himself a shoo-in for the position. An experienced delver, he was confident enough that he was getting in a lengthy hunting trip before Torala headed to Powder’s Rest for the Council meeting, since he would be too busy with the expedition for recreation later.

Supper with the Patriarch

Torala invited Miraeg and his friends to supper, where he usually had a dozen or so dwarves enjoying table fellowship. Over the course of supper, he explained he was headed to Powder’s Rest for the Council deliberations on the expedition to the Various Gardens, and the final roster would be revealed in three weeks, at the Palegate Festival.

An old friend had reached out to him and ordered three casks of a specialty vintage of wine (Torala was a skilled vintner.) Torala had been friends with Baron Jer Rennet, they went to war against goblins together. Torala was also friends with Jer’s son, they hunted together occasionally. Humans age so fast he lost touch for a bit, but now he got a request from Baron Henrik Rennet, great-grandson of Jer. The baron was throwing a harvest party, apparently it was that time in the weather cycle on the surface. Torala was sending wine he laid in the year Jer Rennet was born, 136 years ago, and it seemed a fitting exchange with his friend’s descendant. Besides, occasionally reinforcing friendships with allies was a critical peacetime activity, because when war comes it’s too late to make friends.

Normally Felvis would handle such a trip–Miraeg was quick to catch the drift, and offered to take the shipment. There was some clarification that this wasn’t a negotiation, no promises were made, but the service would be considered in assigning the Dunn faction participation in the Various Garden expedition. Miraeg was honored to handle the task as Torala’s shield, and Ivo smoothed the way diplomatically so everyone was on the page with no awkwardness.

To Rennet Hall

The paths between the surface hall and the Delve were mostly steep and narrow stairways, unsuitable for pack animals. The dwarves shouldered the casks and supplies and stoically undertook the three day trip through fairly safe territory. They arrived at Rennet Hall without incident in the late afternoon, noting that the hall looked somewhat like an inhabited tinderbox. It was pleasant to see the minotaur skull mounted over the doorway from a hunt almost a century ago, recalling that Jer’s son teased Torala about missing out on a good adventure. None of the current residents had been alive when that hunt happened, and it was already legend for them.

Servants were preparing the hall for a big party, and they were awed and respectful to the visiting dwarves. Baron Rennet swung out to meet them on his crutch, and was awkward but respectful, not quite sure how to handle them (as dwarves were not common visitors to his hall.) He invited them to stay for the celebration in three days, and they agreed.

The Butler

The discomfort soon eased. Rennet’s butler, Casic, saw to it that they settled themselves. As Thoreson deposited his live puppy-sized rollingbugs in the root cellar, to be prepared for the feast later, Casic took the opportunity to reveal a potential problem. The baron’s wife, Elenor, went to a celebration at a neighboring baron’s estate. She was over a day overdue. The baron had a difficult year, and loved his wife deeply, and to send out a search party would be to admit something was wrong. Casic asked the dwarves to follow the Outer Road to Lebrim Manor, about a day’s walk, because Elenor should be there or on the road back.

Baron Dav Lebrim just inherited his father’s title and lands, so the masquerade ball was a title-warming party as well as celebration for the summer’s end to the hostilities with Vandov, as well as a harvest celebration.

Thoreson swore he’d protect the baroness and see her home, and Lynn Casic was relieved; she would owe him one. He formalized the agreement by marking her hand with a circle of his blood, because favors are a solemn thing for dwarves.

The Baron

When Thoreson returned to the others, they were reflecting (in their native language Dirit) on the oddities of human culture (they burn wood!) He told them they’d go after the baroness tonight, not even resting overnight. They would “tour the local countryside.” But the cook insisted they stay for supper, and they agreed.

Over mealy human food with inoffensive drink, they chatted with the baron. Ivo asked when his new leg would arrive, and the embarrassed Baron explained the crutch was pretty much it. He lost his leg to Vandov horsemen in the summer battles, when he took an arrow to the knee. Shocked, Ivo promised to make him a prosthetic. The animated conversation that followed got the baron excited about the prospect of a fitted chitinous mechanical limb, and grateful for their promised gift.

To Lebrim Manor

As the human day wrapped up, the dwarves set out on their hike, weary from their long day but not exhausted. Navigating the surface was strange and difficult under the open sky, and they lost half a day trying to keep the wagon tracks humans call a road separate; the raiding with Vandov resulted in many signposts being defaced, so the “outer road” was not easy to follow.

They arrived as dusk was settling in, noting that there were no lights on in the manor and the decorations for the party appeared neglected. Circling the perimeter of the house first, they saw a stable, a guest house, and a pond in the back. They checked the stable, finding a number of dead horses. What killed them? Maybe poison, hard to say with surface creatures; no visible wounds, anyway. One terrified horse was still alive, and they left it alone. They did see three carriages parked behind the stable–the baroness probably didn’t leave.

Rain fell from the sky. Rather than check the guest house, they headed into the manor itself. An eerie silence saturated the main hall, and they looked to see where something bloody had been dragged from the dining room to the kitchen; something had gouged the door frame, also, and the manor was redolent with the stench of the dead and corruption. Miraeg and Ivo checked the dining room, while Thoreson and Cagroot checked the kitchen.

Leftovers of the Feast

Costumed revelers were sprawled around the dining room, and a mass of rats helped themselves to the remains of the meal on the table. Miraeg leaned in to inspect one of the revelers to try and figure out what happened to him. The corpse snatched his wrist, and a mass of the dead sprang to their feet with impossible energy.

Ivo fell back and blasted away with hollow tip and explosive rounds, and Miraeg blocked the doorway, battering away at the shamblers. As the corpses lunged for them, the rats swarmed off the table, pouring between the shamblers’ legs and springing up onto the dwarves in a frenzy.

The dwarves flung the rats off and leaped out of the way as Cagroot charged in, chewing up the incendiary beetles he kept under his beard so he could spray a gout of flame like a breath weapon, immolating the vermin before they could follow up. More shamblers hammered into the Fellowship’s flank from the kitchen, and Ivo scooted down the hall away from the melee, expertly flicking more rounds into his gun and continuing to blast the shamblers.

The Fellowship battered the shamblers down with minimal injury, and checked to make sure the baroness was not in their number. (They saw a portrait of her and the baron at Rennet Hall, painted in happier times.) They rested to catch their breath and tend their injuries.

The Cellar

Ivo heard an intermittent, almost aggressive heartbeat. No one else could hear it, and he assured himself there was nothing in the walls, using his expertise as an engineer. Wary, the Fellowship went into the kitchen, and saw something had previously burst out of the cellar below (because of course there was a cellar below.)

The Fellowship descended the stairs and saw a gooey mess of corpses and rancid wine in the cellar. Maybe something was stirring in one of the kegs in the basement, also. They needed to know if the baroness was here, but they also knew that disturbing the dead might provoke some of them to rise. Ivo was prepared to toss a grenade and be done with it, but he had evaluated the house’s structure, and it was a risky prospect–the hall might come down with them in the cellar. Then they could not know for certain that the baroness was dead. What if she was not among the corpses?

The Baroness

Using his combat training as a skirmisher, the ultimate lightfoot, Cagroot carefully stepped between the rotten dead, studying each. He found the baroness, then carefully returned to the others and reported back. Still, if they didn’t return her body, it was hearsay; would collecting jewelry be enough? They grimly agreed it would not.

Cagroot once again stepped through the corpses, this time to retrieve the body gently without arousing any attackers; a heroically difficult undertaking at long odds. He managed to get her in his arms, but before he could rise, the dead sprang up! He was sprayed in the effluvium gluing them to the floor, and surrounded by deadly danger.

Cagroot relied on his reflexes and strength, hurling the baroness’s body out of the scrimmage and scampering clear somehow. Miraeg slapped the baroness’s attacks aside, swept her up, and pounded up the stairs as Ivo hurled the lit grenade into the swarm of shamblers. The explosive detonated with a deafening crash, and the manor trembled and collapsed as the dwarves sprinted out. They swiftly pummeled the baroness’s corpse into passivity, then bundled it up.

A Glum Night

The dwarves hunched in the nearby woods under the pouring rain. Several of them had heard the intermittent heartbeat after Ivo mentioned it, but now Ivo could hardly feel it. Only Cagroot was troubled by the heartbeat. In his dreams, red and wet, something squirmed.

(3 Ledger, deferred until they can Tell the Tale.)

Wedding Chimes

29 Sunday Mar 2020

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play report, rumbleseed

Clan Rumbleseed, played 3.28.20 IRL and 3/25/2121 IG.

  • Miraeg Dunn (Jonathan) Leader, Performer, Mechanic.
  • Ivo Flynt (Imre) Support, Gunsmith, Engineer.
  • Cagroot Hopstrider (KC) Skirmisher, Brewer, Delver.
  • Thoreson Grimeater (Anders) Berserker, Chef, Healer.

Wedding Preparation

Lady Kreshka, Marchionesse of Sinlaya was to marry Lord Santeel, Count of Vandov, to unite their families. Border skirmishes between their domains had gone on too long, and a wedding was the way to end the fighting. The Sinlayans won the concession of having the wedding with their allies, the dwarves of Rumbleseed, in Dunn Hall. Miraeg was in charge of making sure everything went smoothly.

Of course, everything didn’t go smoothly. The hall steward, Dobbis, was a self-important toady managing the hall to keep him out of the way. He didn’t order the specialty mandibles Thoreson planned to use for the main dish, so Thoreson expertly substituted glazed carrots. The beverages special-brewed for the human palate were a day late, since the shipment was too late to ride the macropede across the chasm between Powder’s Rest and Dunn Hall.

Miraeg was practicing the puppet show and music for the wedding with Ivo’s help as his shield. They were interrupted by Elder Priest Murinor, who had gotten nowhere dealing with Lady Kreska as she struggled with cold feet and insisted on backing out of the wedding. Miraeg had a conversation with her, wary of her rapier as she armed up in her dress and considered cutting her way out of the deal, taking her frustrations out on her dressing dummy. Miraeg offered words of wisdom, noting that if you set issues of free will aside, you could be a craftsman to construct a marriage relationship, shaping your partner over time. Mollified enough to be resigned to her fate, she gave up thoughts of escape.

Guests Arrived

Cagroot had some close calls getting the beetles to carry the alcohol down the curving stairs to the hall, and barely got the barrels stowed in the hall before the groom’s party arrived. He greeted Lord Santeel, Count of Vandov, who was somewhat condescending. Daynell, the Count’s vixen agent, was somehow both flirty and insulting, but Cagroot wasn’t interested in responding to either attitude. Cagroot also greeted other guests, including the wizard Master Delter who arrived as a bird with his raven familiar, and Lady Litiska, an elven princess ally of Vandov.

Ivo set up the seating to evenly mix the limited delegations from each faction, thinking they would not be able to escalate and make plans and start fights if they were isolated from each other. The elven princess Lady Litiska (and her more diplomatic agent Nevesti) flatly refused to go by the seating cards, which Ivo had painstakingly hand-lettered. Ivo caved, and the guests sat wherever they wanted–predictably isolated by faction. The dwarves suspected the elves might be planning something underhanded.

Right before the wedding started, Lady Kreshka’s agent Hen got in a heated argument with the Vandov agent Daynell. When Thoreson shooed them away from the kitchen, the fight escalated to drawn steel in the hall. Ivo intervened, but Hen pushed past him to assault Daynell. Miraeg interrupted the fight, and the Count insisted Hen be removed. The dwarves managed that tricky issue as Ivo stepped up and offered to stand in as Lady Kreshka’s guard, in Hen’s place. Lady Kreshka agreed, and Ivo was delighted to escape puppeteer and musician duty.

The Wedding Commenced

Miraeg sweated through running a subtly satirical puppet show of two humans finding love, without the aid of a partner to run the other puppet. Then he played a musical piece using mechanical assistance. Exhausted, he was pleased to step back as the Elder Priest completed the handfasting between the sneering count and the grim marchioness.

As the handfasting was completed and the legality became binding, magical darkness plunged through the hall, so the only light was the dimly magical glowing of fossilized carapaces in the quartz streaks of the walls. Still up on the stairs, Cagroot gusted a flaming breath out to push the darkness back somewhat, and in that ruddy smear of light Ivo spotted a sleek figure diving down through the central column of the hall. He managed to snap off a couple shots, and the unnaturally lithe target dodged one of the bullets as the other one sent bursts of blue sparks off her supernatural defenses.

As the intruder leaped at the wedding party, Miraeg snatched a loaded dynamo from the torso of a mechanical puppet and jammed it into the dimly magical quartz, his force of will bridging between the stored energy and mystic residue; the magical darkness was dispelled, and Cagroot leaped down from the landing to try and tackle the intruder.

The intruder managed to flip around and over the dwarves, stabbing the startled bride through the back with a killing strike. The assassin sprang up the stairs, into the hall’s corridors; but there was only one way out.

Thoreson was wheeling the dessert cake into the room as the assassin struck, and he raced over to the bride and managed to preserve her life force so the killing strike was crippling instead. Cagroot and Ivo raced to the top of the stairs to keep the assassin from escaping. Cagroot managed to spot the ripple because of his delver training, and he blasted another jet of flame at the distortion, slathering the elven assassin in flame. Together, Cagroot and Ivo captured her.

The clan was especially grateful for not only avoiding embarrassment of a successful assassination, but capturing the assassin–alive. They got 4 Ledger.

 

 

Firing Griffinwatch Ruins

28 Saturday Mar 2020

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Played 3/21/20 IRL, 3/20/2121 IG.

  • Cagroot Hopstrider (KC) Skirmisher, Brewer, Delver.
  • Thoreson Grimeater (Anders) Berserker, Chef, Healer.
  • Miraeg Dunn (Jonathan) Leader, Performer, Mechanic. NW Warclub, animated legs.
  • Ivo Flynt (Imre) Support, Gunsmith, Engineer. NW Falkata.

Event Planning

Torala Dunn, patriarch of the family, operates Dunn Hall. A local human ally has rented the hall for a tense marriage to ally two skirmishing domains. Before inviting the humans to travel to the hall, Torala summoned his nephew Miraeg to take some of his friends and go flush the bandits out of a local ruin overlooking the road, prone to hosting bandits who prey on trade.

Miraeg took Ivo, Thoreson, and Cagroot with him. They first borrowed a pack of four grubblies and a cannon to haul out into the wilderness in support of their assault.

Offroading

After traveling through the night, they approached Griffinwatch Ruins. They left the road, knowing it would be watched, and guided the grubblies and cannon through the dense forest. They were delayed by going the long way around some nesting wildlife, and had to course-correct near the riverbank to get close enough to fire on the ruins with the cannon. In the final approach, they were spotted by scouts, who used birdcall signals to summon reinforcements. Grimly aware that they would soon be assaulted, the dwarves fell back to the river bank and set up the cannon on some boulders that would protect their flanks, herding the grubblies around behind the rocks to minimize their danger. No one wanted to explain to the handlers that they lost grubblies on their expedition.

Bandit Assault

Growing bold, a couple dozen bandits advanced on their position. In the rear, the two bandit leaders arrived with reinforcements. Darveen, a hard-bitten scoundrel with a history of piracy, and Carroway, a swordsman wizard assassin, led these mercenaries who turned to banditry in these hard times.

Ivo fired the cannon, wiping out a swathe of them, and the Fellowship boldly charged the approaching bandits. Tearing through them with brutal force, the dwarves knocked back the first wave. As Carroway led a flanking team of skirmishers around towards the cannon, Cagroot hurled a firebomb that torched the wizard and most of his troops.

Darveen called for the bandits to withdraw, and the dwarves let them–but set up the cannon to take aim at the ruin. They pounded a number of shots at the tower until it collapsed. Satisfied they had driven the bandits out and made their point, they packed up and headed back to the clanhome.

Conclusion

Torala Dunn was pleased by their efforts when they Told the Tale, and offered Miraeg the honor of becoming his Pick. Now a dwarf of some stature, Miraeg offered Ivo the honor of becoming his Shield.

With the road secure, the wedding could commence–and Torala wanted the Fellowship to make sure everything went smoothly.

New Clan: Shedding the Elfjacket

15 Thursday Aug 2019

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Ingdeth Copperback (Kristy) F. Vanguard, Engineer, Enchanter. Name weapon: hammer. Favors a squarish tower shield that can be set as a wall.

Gogrim Steelmane (Chloe) M. Mauler, Athlete, Chef. Name weapon: weaponized oven peel. Longs to be scary, naturally good at athletics but, as a poorly kept secret, loves cooking (but feels time in the kitchen detracts from an intimidating warrior image.)

Gilda Mountainbelt (Jake) F. Berserker, Gunsmith, Healer. Name weapon: “Scatterslicer,” a blunt scattergun with massive blades welded on the sides. (Terrible at ranged attacks, skilled at making guns but not really shooting with them.)

Delbaria Starchaser (Michael G.) F. Support, Adept, Alchemist. Name weapon: magic belt that shoots energy bolts out of its impressive girdle-buckle. Totally hairless, loves decorative details like fingernail painting. Named for a past Monarch of Stoneshadow. Wields a slide-whistle in combat, using it to concentrate and direct energy.

Cranky Elves

This Fellowship lives in Wyrmcast, and they were gathered by its mayor, Canwise, to take on a local challenge. As a local musician finished singing a ballad based on the Murder of Averline, Canwise bustled up to ask them to go check on the elves of Fenhollow Isle; the elves started taking shots at travelers, something has irritated them. (When punctured by elven arrows, the euphemism for the odd appearance of arrows jutting out of a dwarf torso is “wearing an elfjacket.”)

Feeling it would be best to prepare for diplomacy, Gogrim led the Fellowship back to his kitchen before they left, and he made a special no-bake berry loaf called a “jiggle” known to be non-toxic and popular for the elven palate. Also, he stocked up on some fish nibble, a treat known to appeal to the local magical fish population.

Poachers

On the road, Delbaria spotted smoke from a cookfire. The Fellowship decided to investigate, and spotted about twenty humans from the surface, setting up a wormlure and small barrels of gunpowder. Poaching wasn’t legal, and both the dwarves and the humans knew it. A grouchy bald wizard with a beard and staff hung back, letting a spokesman talk to the dwarves and pretend nothing was wrong.

Ingdeth took a firm tone with the humans and told them to leave; not liking the odds of an armed confrontation, the poachers withdrew. Delbaria trashed their lure, and the dwarves were content to let them off with a warning this time; they had business elsewhere.

Fen Ford

The dwarves reached the ford where dwarves occasionally built bridges, and the elves let them stand for a while (years or decades) before knocking them down again. Currently there was no bridge, and as the dwarves approached the fast-flowing but shallow river, Delbaria’s magical senses helped her spot a magical fish in the river. The dwarves lured it in close and fed it fish nibble, and they had a chat.

Gilbert the Elbowed Mudfish told them Frieda, the Wormcast war leader, led a band to Fen Hollow and killed one of the ghost stags the elves revere, dragging it off in a hail of arrows and eating it (deeply offensive acts from the elven perspective.)

As Gilbert swam away, Delbaria sprouted an elf arrow and staggered; rather than reacting violently to the ambush, Gogrim thought fast and whipped out his peel, brandishing the jiggle-loaf in hopes the elven noses would pick up the scent across the river. This offering gave the elves pause, and several pinched faces poked up out of the greenery across the river and grumbled about their stolen stag. They wanted the skull and antlers back, and an apology; then they would consider a ceasefire on travelers along the road.

Wingus Attack

As the dwarves followed the shoreline in the direction Frieda was supposed to have gone, they were almost taken by surprise by a diving pack of winguses. The leather-winged poison monkey-things nailed Gogrim hard, and scored a glancing hit on Delbaria, but the dwarves battered them down in an adrenaline-fueled reaction before the winguses could reposition.

Delbaria and Gogrim set to harvesting bits from the predator’s corpses, for alchemy and delicacy dishes; both were overenthusiastic on the pressurized wingus remains, and they were squirted by gland juices that threatened monkeyfever. Gilda used her healing skill to give them both an “eyewash” in the stream to prevent infection, then she went to to last of the bodies to get some untapped venom sacs for antidotes, successfully harvesting a few useful bits. They continued onward rather than lingering and risking another ambush now that the smell of blood was flowing away from the site.

Frieda

The Fellowship located Frieda and her warband of about a dozen dwarves, and they approached boldly. Frieda was heavily bandaged, and seated on a makeshift throne with the cleaned ghost stag skull mounted on the back as some of her warriors were scraping the hide. All of the dwarves had a bit of a glow to them, an after-effect of eating the ghost stag meat.

Ingdeth confronted Frieda over the act of war with the elves, and Frieda tried to shrug it off by suggesting the southern ford was better and they could make new, better friends there. The elves weren’t much of a threat, and their friendship was not important. The Fellowship persisted in their demand that Frieda return the ghost stag skull and antlers to the elves, and apologize.

Frieda reluctantly agreed to do so IF Gilda, her pupil in the berserk combat style, bested her in arm wrestling. The Fellowship agreed, and Gogrim gave Gilda some energy protein and a quick muscle rub to help out. Gilda and Frieda clasped hands and then had a vein-pounding bicep-bulging contest of strength and will. Gilda won, and Frieda was surprised Gilda didn’t throw the match.

Grumbling all the way, Frieda took the skull back to the elves and apologized, and the Fellowship returned to Wyrmcast successful.

Caskbound Strange Mission: Heart of Kyber

01 Saturday Apr 2017

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(I was the scene master, and I randomized “help the clan atone for angering the gods” in a “monster lair.”)

A greedy group of explorers from Clan Caskbound found their way to the Temple of Six Doubts and stole a fist-sized ruby, the Heart of Kyber, from deep within. Now the clan elders realize that the ruby was a key, turned in the lock of Prince Fasaash, a demon prince, who will be released if the ruby is not replaced by midnight tomorrow. The temple is defended by the People of Dust, masked sand elementalists.

Four dwarves volunteered to go. Tancred (Shaun), The Dan (Simon), Korvask (Michael), and Barteus (Andrew). They piled into a rowboat and headed for the island, unsure of what they’d find, with only the semi-coherent story of the surviving dwarven thieves to guide them. Korvask carried the Heart of Kyber.

Scene One. (Shaun. Crystals, Homestead. Hunting Monster.)

They saw a dock, and pulled the boat up onto the sand near it. There was also a tower and a house by it. The dwarves talked with an old man in desert robes and a turban and face wrapping, who was humanoid if not human. He told them if they fetched a book from inside the temple, thus transferring ownership of it to him, he would give them crystals that would ward off the monsters that would otherwise haunt their steps to the temple. They agreed, and as they followed the path they saw massive sand worms at a distance that did not approach.

Scene Two. (Simon. Vent, Redoubt. Hunting Monster.)

They came up to a 20 foot wall that stretched on both directions. Barteus threw a grappling hook and rope up to it, but a goblin popped up and told them there was an easier way. He led them 20 minutes down the wall to a goblin settlement with all sorts of goblintech, and told them he’d show them a better way in if they could trash his refurbished guardian that the last group of dwarves walked all over.

He activated a metal construct that operated on mystical fuel pumped into its back via cables, and the construct used its gripper arm and firehose arm to fight them. After being torched and battered, they knocked the metal monstrosity apart, featuring The Dan’s brutal berserk fury and annoying the goblin. Still, the goblin did show them a metal tube down into the ground, under the wall, so they could continue.

Scene Three. (Michael. Corrupted, Disputed. Hunting Monster. We decided not to honor any more hunting monster results after this!)

Following the pipe-like sewer-like tunnel, they came to a stinking room with big vats of waste. As they crossed the room, lumbering sewage constructs loomed out to fight them. They held forth against one of them, and tried for the exit when another emerged and they barely escaped. They found a mine cart on a track powered by goblin tech, and scooted on their way.

Scene Four. (Andrew. Dread, Fangs. Environmental Hazard.)

They drove the cart along the rails until they reached a place that smelled better, and Korvask successfully deciphered writing in big signs that warned they were about to need protective gear they didn’t have. Tancred managed to bring the cart to a halt, and he scouted ahead. His body experienced fear, and he saw translucent teeth in the darkness, attached to very unpleasant mouths. He retreated back to the cart.

Korvask’s education prepared him for this. Those things were the Formless Dread, a cosmic outsider attracted to where powerful otherworldly beings touched the material world. They were probably near the tomb of Prince Fasaash, and this was a guardian. He used his enchanting to make blood runes for armoring their life force to resist supernatural intrusion, and that was enough to hide them from the monster that was attracted to delicious fear. This cost about all his Resolve, and The Dan shared drinks and bolstered their resolve before they attempted the bridge. They passed the elementalist-built bridge with its goblin tracks (noting some goblin corpses along the way) until they passed through a massive gate.

Scene Five. (Shaun. Ice, Cache. Environmental Hazard.)

They came to an area locked in receding ice. They noted how the flame that always danced in the center of the Heart of Kyber drew heat from the environment here as it had back in the clanhome as they studied it. They found a square column with four holes, and Korvask studied the holes and discovered two were traps, and of the remaining two, he guessed which one was right. He put the gem back in place, and it sealed the Demon Prince in. The temperature dropped further, and it was time to escape; they scrambled up the ladder as fast as they could, ice swelling over everything far below.

Scene Six. (Simon. Ectoplasm, Transforming. CLIMAX)

They found a dead desiccated dwarf missing his name weapon, an with a moment’s thought they realized they were going backwards of how the escaped dwarves described their route. The other dwarves crossed a river of souls, then down to where the gem was, across the bridge, through the sewers, past the goblins, and down to the coast.

They came to an intersection, and followed the path with the greatest energy, hoping to find a way out. Instead they found a room with the spellbook described by the tower-dweller on a bookstand, chained in place. As soon as Korvask touched the book, he was locked in place as though by an electric current. The door to the room slammed, and a thirty foot ectoplasmic giant took shape with an axe, ready to kill them all.

Korvask struggled to vent the energy away from himself to not take damage while he was stuck to the podium. Attacking the podium just got shocks, so the dwarves took some of Korvask’s healing potions and turned their attention to fighting the giant. It walloped the dwarves around some before The Dan’s relentless assaults led the way to putting it down. Only name weapons could hurt it, as they were connected to their owners.

Tancred struck the killing blow, and as he stood in a swirl of luminous ectoplasm, he wrapped his wrench-hammer name weapon in it and gave up a permanent Resolve, so the weapon became supernatural and able to ignore normal armor.

The door creaked open, Korvask and the book were released, and the dwarves left the battlefield in search of an exit.

Scene Seven. (Michael. Foundation, Rapids. Movement Hazard)

As they approached what appeared to be the exit, a number of robed and masked figures leaped out at them, brandishing snakes from their sleeves. Pitched battle ensued, with The Dan plowing ahead and the rest of the fellowship killing off those he injured first. Gaping holes opened in the roof as the ownership of the temple shifted to the ones bearing the book, and the People of Dust fought back hard, even employing an area of attack snake-splosion. Still, the dwarves won free.

Conclusion.

They went to the tower by the coast and gave the strange man the grimore they liberated from the temple, and returned their guardian crystals. Then they boarded their boat and returned to the ship.

This was a Historical mission (it really happened) and everyone got 5 ledger except the Bearer of the Heart, Korvask, who got 6.

Caskbound: You Remind Me of the Babe

11 Saturday Mar 2017

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[We played a “Strange Mission” game, without a GM. I was the Frame Master, who set the scene based on the random elements, and everybody got two words and a type of scene was generated when we started it. Out of game comments will be in brackets.]

[To set the scene, I had the words “safe haven” and “minefield” and generated the location as a secret pocket realm, and the objective to destroy secret clan lore in the hands of others.]

The fey princeling Sardine was visiting Whiskey Forge with his diplomatic entourage. The archon graciously put on a sports event for him. While watching, Sardine got bored, so he snagged the archon’s son (Rensen) and vanished. The archon was furious, but this sort of thing is a risk you take when you have diplomatic dealings with the fey. Sardine’s entourage was very apologetic and offered to open a gateway to the princeling’s favorite hideaway, so a group could go after the baby. No one of blood relation could go, so the archon chose a stalwart group.

Tancred (Shaun), The Dan (Simon), Onexia (Elizabeth), Gudrun (Iris), Piker (Mark), and Barteus (Andrew) were picked for the job. Steeling themselves, they marched through the fey diplomat portal. They found themselves on a pretty sand beach with bones here and there, under a gorgeous sky, the ocean at their backs and the jungle ahead.

Scene One: The Beach [Environment Hazard. Autonomous, Artifact. Mark]

As they started across the sand, it twirled into sinkholes with bone cages in them that rose up around the trespassers. The Dan and Onexia were accustomed to uneven floors as carousers, and Piker got lucky, so they weren’t caught up in the cages that swayed up on stalks like deadly cage flowers. Tancred, Gudrun, and Barteus had to break out of the bone cages and jump down to the sandy beach, or slide down if the trap was damaged and listed to the side. They evaded the rest of the forming traps, making it to the jungle eaves.

Scene Two: The Vine Door [Movement Hazard. Riddle, Rotten. Iris]

A path led to the jungle, but it kept splitting like a delta, and they risked losing their way. They came to a wall, and it had a doorway that was grown through with vines that wove into a barrier. When prodded, the vines set forth a glimmer of a riddle, but none of the dwarves could read it. The vines tightened when pestered, and there seemed to be a chasm underneath that was emptying of vines as the door was reinforced.

Losing patience with this fey trickery, the dwarves assaulted the portal, hacking through in an explosive flurry of violence, and dashing past it. As they did, the ground ruptured, because the door pulled at vines from the ground to reinforce itself, tearing apart the tunnel behind the door and the ground beneath them. Gudrun, Onexia, and Barteus made it across, while The Dan and Piker (who tied themselves together) both fell, along with Tancred, into a foul rotten goop far under the vine door. The party was split!

Scene Three A: Tunnel Panther [Hunting Monster. Warning, Cache. Elizabeth]

The Dan, Piker, and Tancred won free of the horrible muck, and followed a pathway up. When it split, they were attacked by a giant puma from one side; focusing their efforts, they blasted it down in the initial clash. They went to its lair and poked around, but didn’t find anything they wanted to keep (except from the puma corpse, where they harvested the tail to make a belt, the four big fangs, and some claws.) They found a ladder leading up.

Scene Three B: Rrrumblecats Ho! [Movement Hazard. Tapestry, Lurker. Simon]

Gudrun, Onexia, and Barteus came to a big hall, where Sardine taunted them by flaunting the baby, then teleporting out on a platform. Two huge panthers with whips coming out of their shoulders had runes branded on their sides matching runes on the platform (so it would only work if they were on it.) They attacked!

As the dwarves fought the vibrating cat-things, the injured one retreated to the platform and cloned itself. Still, the dwarves killed all three, and dragged the bodies onto the platform, and teleported–

Scene Four: Pain is an Illusion [Dealer’s Choice. Adventurers, Scorpion. Shaun]

Gudrun, Onexia, and Barteus teleported into an alcove by where The Dan, Piker, and Tancred were following the tunnel to a ladder. Reunited, they headed up the ladder–only to find progress was an illusion and they weren’t going up at all. So they headed down the corridor, and came to a side chamber where there were gleaming bones and such, and an opening high above. It was where corpses were dumped; they saw about 9 bodies, with some humans, maybe human children, at least 1 dwarf and elf, all jumbled together. The bones were picked clean, but no one had the urge to look for loot.

Continuing on, they found a big room, dark, with a spotlight on an altar in the center with a gleaming Clan Caskbound axe–a rune weapon! They took the axe, and heard skittering, so they ran. Checking the axe once they got away, they saw it was a rusted piece of junk. (Barteus kept it anyway.) Continuing on, they came back to the same room, and the axe was there again! They went to retrieve it again, but this time they were attacked by two massive scorpions with saw-tooth stabbing tails.

As they battered the scorpions, dismembered scorpion pieces broke down into smaller swarms, and they attacked those swarms. Gudrun got far enough back from the fray to realize the scorpions were an illusion, and they all came around to seeing it. They also saw Sardine laughing at them, hefting the baby on the far side of the room. He ran, and they pursued.

Scene Five: Time Space in a Knot [Movement Hazard. Sorcerer, Thorns. Andrew]

They came to a sphere, with pole-tops sort of big enough to stand on in a field that curved up the sides, defying physics. On a platform on the far side, Sardine, with a marimba where when he struck a note, one of the pillars gusted magic. They had to cross the room to get to him, and save the baby.

Piker tried firing his rifle, but the bullet curved around the weird physics of the room and nailed him instead. He picked himself up and tied himself to The Dan and Onexia, and together they tried leaping across.

Tancred, an engineer, could not accept the broken rules of gravity in the chamber. While he struggled to come to terms with what his eyes were telling him, Gudrun rushed out and didn’t get much closer to Sardine, avoiding his magical blasts. Piker, the Dan, and Onexia fell. Piker got stuck at the bottom, waking swarms of imps, but that left The Dan and Onexia hanging from an odd angle with the rope, able to take advantage of their strange position to get much closer to Sardine. They cut the rope to Piker and closed in, swinging each others’ weight on the rope, reaching the far side as the others were stranded or trapped in awkward situations.

When they reached the platform, they leaped out of a gem, to find themselves in a nice jungle gazebo. Sardine was pinging the teeth of a comb, looking into the gem where everyone else was, and the baby was off to the side being cared for by fey critters.

Onexia and The Dan insisted they won and it was time to give them the baby, and Sardine agreed. He dumped the rest of the dwarves out of the gem, and let them keep it as a souvineer. They got the baby, and he opened a portal back to Whiskey Forge; they had a chance to make themselves presentable, then they strode out with the baby and the gem in hand.

The Conclusion

The fey diplomats apologized once more, and headed out through the portal. The archon expressed his gratitude to the dwarves who saved his baby, and he received the gem from them as a gift. Then they were all generally happy that they wouldn’t have to host the fey princeling for at least another year… [and they all got 5 Ledger, and agreed that this version of the story was the truth as it really happened.]

Caskbound: Scouting the Gorecyst

12 Saturday Nov 2016

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Sarbado, the general who assists the archon, called in Vecna, Gudrun, and Tancred. He told them that topsider agents in Brightstone were reporting that a human blood cult called the Summoners Argent was making noise about mounting an expedition to the Gorecyst. That was a corrupted corner of the Caskbound Pocket where Hellifino, a God of Ur, once battled a blood demon for weeks before vanquishing it. Where the battle unfolded, and the demon fell, the ground was corrupted and it became known as the Gorecyst.

The dwarves knew that a few decades ago a trio of medusa moved in, but they kept to themselves, so no one bothered to root them out. Also, the local wildlife was tainted with blood diseases and dangerous to visitors.

To the Cyst

The dwarves agreed to set out and investigate to see if all was well in the Gorecyst or if some further action was needed. They traveled for a few days, skirting the unhealthy center of the Pocket, and passed the settlement of followers of the Gods of Ur known as the Cysters of Mercy (mostly men.) They headed up to Tipsy Ridge, overlooking the Gorecyst, where a lone watch tower monitored the situation.

The lookout was an elderly dwarf who lived alone, with his liquorlizards and beetle pets. He insisted the sullen, unhealthy glow that suffused the plants and animals of the Gorecyst had changed its rhythm. They observed for a while from the tower, and resolved to get a closer look after they visited the Cysters of Mercy. When they visited the religious settlement, they heard stories of the ancient battle from the earnest believers, and they got a night’s rest before heading in.

After several hours they reached the Gorecyst. Its edges had been staked out with standing stones of warning, and the growths had continued 100 feet or so past the standing stones. As the dwarves approached, they saw one was covered in what looked like scabs. Upon closer inspection, the “scabs” turned out to be wings of blood moths, who tormented them briefly before Gudrun chopped them all out of the air with vicious axe sweeps. Where their blood fell, the mushrooms glowed.

Medusas

They headed in further, and were shot from ambush by a medusa. Averting their eyes as best they could while still fighting, they took her on. Gudrun was turned to stone, but the others survived the brutal fight more or less intact. They hefted their companion’s statue and returned to the Cysters of Mercy, who had an alchemist/healer expert with a vial of what was reputed to be the blood of a God of Ur, who managed to change Gudrun back to her fleshy self. After a few days for that process, they returned.

This time, they were attacked by both remaining medusas, and the following battle was savage. The first one fell quickly, but as they faced the other, Gudrun (already reeling from multiple snake bites) turned to stone, and Tancred struggled for victory only to be turned to stone also. The battle was down to Vecna and the badly injured medusa, and they raked at each other mercilessly–but the medusa survived long enough to turn Vecna to stone as well.

Whiskey Forge

The dwarves regained consciousness in Whiskey Forge, and found that when they did not return, the Cysters came out to look for them and retrieved the three statues (though the dead medusa were nowhere to be found, so a cure was difficult to manage.) They were shipped back to the clan home, where significant resources were bent to their recovery. Still, they did kill two of the three medusa, and they risked all for the clan, so Sarbado was grateful for their service.

He also told them that when the next expedition went to the Gorecyst, they would be considered veterans and likely sent along.

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