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The Cabal of Eight Pt.7: A Red Rat

The thug was nervously waving his dagger as he slowly backed away from the table while the group of The Bronzeheads red rat worn by the thugyoung mages tried to tighten the noose they had him in. Gornix (played by Gil) had already moved around to the opposite side of the thug between him and the door. Excor was keeping his distance but was approaching in a position angled just from where Fauna (played by Jenn) was standing trying to cut off a path to behind the bar.

Fauna was trying to “talk him down” but only accomplished in him pointing the tip of his blade at her. However, the druidess was able to discern the mark of the Bronzeheads on his chain-shirt; a fading painted red rat across his chest. In the meantime, Szoosha (played by Isis) was still at a nearby table eating.

After a few minutes, the Bronzehead seemed to resign himself to the situation. Taking a deep breath, he sheathed his dagger. He calmly wiped back his greasy hair from his face and then immediately lunged at Fauna. She sidestepped as he ran past her and around the corner past Szoo’s table. Excor, instead of running behind the bar to try to cut him off turned to pursue, as did Gornix pushing past Fauna. The thug stumbled drunkenly past the curtained booths and towards the door that led to the rear hallway. He threw it open and dashed in well ahead of his pursuers. However, he immediately smashed into a waiter with a tray full of food and beer who was standing just behind the threshold.

Bouncing off the unfortunate waiter the thug flew back, hit the floor, knocking himself out. The young mages caught up and helping the waiter to his feet gave him a small “tip” while excusing their “drunken friend”.  Gornix “helped” the unconscious thug to a chair pulled from the nearby-unoccupied table. He also took the “precaution” of searching him confiscating 50 gold devils, 8 gold pieces, and 7 silver pieces in the process.

Afterwards, the trio, plus Szoosha as he slithered up in mid conversation, began to argue about exactly what constituted “interrogation”.

Gornix: “I mean, … we gotta torture him, right? To get him to talk.”

Excor: “No. I mean … well I’m not gonna do it.”

Cris (Excor’s Player): “I’m good I can’t torture anybody! Hey wait … YOUR good too!”

Szoosha: “Yeah, yeah, let’s cut his fingers off!”

Fauna: “Guys? We’re in the middle of the tavern.”

Gornix: “Let’s take him to the cabal room!”

Excor: “We can’t torture him!”

Szoosha: “I’ll do it, he probably deserves it!”

Gornix: “See, Szoosha will do it.”

Excor (Pointing at Szoo): “NO! First of all I don’t want to bring somebody up there we don’t know! And we can’t torture him IN the room!”

After a short while the thug stirred in his seat as he began to come to. As a result, Fauna ducked around the corner into the rear hallway. Gornix readied his staff and Excor was going to try to “play it off”.

Excor (addressing the newly conscious thug): “Ah my friend you’re awake! We found you …”

Without a word, the thug erupted from his seat lunging towards the open doorway and pulling his dagger in a single fluid action. Excor leaped back and out of the way.

Excor (to Gornix): “You stole his money but forgot his dagger!?”

Cris: “You know that money goes to group right.”

Meanwhile, the Bronzehead was through the door and into the rear hallway heading for the backdoor into the alleyway. Fauna cast Invisible to Sight on herself and moved around the corner. Excor cast Blinding Flash not only blinding his target but also Gornix and Szoo. Gornix tried to blindly chase after the thug but wound up crashing into a wall and falling on his butt. Of course, Szoosha repeated that mistake and bounced off the doorjamb falling across the hallway floor. His tail tumbling underneath the feet of the fleeing thug tripping him up.

The fleeing Bronzehead slammed into the floor with a crash and the creak of over-stressed wood. His fine dagger flew from his grip clattering into a corner as his face met the floorboards.  Gornix, still blinded, got to his feet. Szoo, still blinded as well, also rose.

Though Fauna remained where she was should Excor let anymore spells fly. Gornix cast Invisibility I on himself disappearing from sight. Leaping over Szoo’s tail Excor ran past the thug on the ground and leapt onto the stairs (for some reason). Szoo cast Eternal Flame holding the bright red fire in his hand (for some reason). So, the thug jumped to his feet positioning himself to leap through the backdoor and out of the tavern.

Gornix regaining most of his sight rushed over to where the thug dropped the dagger and picked up the knife. Szoosha dismissing the crimson flame tried to press the thug into a wall with his scaly bulk but tripped over his own coils and face planted. Then the panicked thug jumped through the door smashing it open with his body and running out into the darkness.

Cris (to Jenn): “WELL! Track ‘em Druid, don’t you have tracking!”

Excor and Szoosha stayed behind and talked as Fauna ran after the Bronzehead hot on his trail with Gornix following behind her. So, the pursuing pair dashed through narrow alleys choked with piles of trash and filth. Their heavy steps splashed through dirty puddles and the salt in the warm summer night air set their lungs on fire. They passed under a massive white aqueduct arch that towered well over the surrounding three and four story buildings. Even the ghostly layer of smog visible in the moonlight hovered below its massive curve. Fauna shot around a corner with Gornix biting at her heels.

Suddenly she stopped. As a result Gornix slammed into her back forcing her face first into a filthy puddle and into a lot of what was hopefully mud. Fauna got up and collected her senses but found she had lost the rogue’s trail. Gornix remembering that he had the fugitive’s dagger cast Clairvoyance on it. But he didn’t get much, it was brand new and of superior quality. Although he did notice a maker’s mark stamped into its ricasso. It was a tiny acorn with a stylized Hyvalian character at center.

A little while after but still hot (and soiled) from the chase, Gornix and Fauna rejoined their companions at the Red Helm Tavern. They found Excor and Szoo at the bar talking with Draega Skullshine. They had the skinny on the red rat (the symbol of the Bronzeheads) and some semi-new information on Ssthris. The Bronzeheads were most probably protecting him for some reason or another somewhere within the old eastern wall or in the ruined tower. The red rat signified the rat fights that the Ezmerian mob oversaw.

Fauna: “That’s DIS-gusting! Poor little rats. Rat fights that’s horrible.”

Excor: “Rats pfft! I hope they all die! Disease carrying VERMIN! … Wait.”

Cris (to Gil): “Dude! Don’t you have a contact for that!”

Gil: “Um what? Oh yeah, um, Doubab? From the Pester’s Guild?”

Cris: “When’s the next cabal meeting? We should go talk to that guy after next meeting.”

The group of young, somewhat exhausted, and slightly sore mages decided to call it a night. As a result Excor left heading straight for his apartment to the southeast and Szoo headed back to the attic room he was staying in at the harbor across from the Rondel (a very successful seaside brothel in a reclaimed stone tower). Gornix accompanied Fauna to the central grove (basically Ezmer’s Central Park). Shortly, the pair ran across the groundskeeper who was familiar to Fauna.

So, she “scored” some yellow lotus from Anishi the groundskeeper and declared to the other two: “We’re communing with nature my friends.”

They were sitting near the center of the old menhir circle at the head of the park within sight of the city scaffolds. Anishi passed out the bumps and shortly after snorting the drug Fauna fell unconscious caught in a lotus dream. However, Gornix entered into a strange hypnotic state. As he leaned back and closed his eyes, he suffered weird visions.

His mind’s eye swirled into confusion and chaos and after what seemed forever, form began to emerge from the liquid darkness. There was blazing firelight without source in his eyes and faint rhythmic chanting rose in his ears. He could see a deep pit, a grave surrounded by a dozen blue-cloaked figures lowering another bound as a mummy in knotted cloth. Bronze masks detailed with curled locks, headbands, and smooth youthful faces covered all of their heads. The squirming mummy being lowered into the pit also bore a golden crown on his head, a king of old! His wide eyes glaring in horror from the eyeholes in his mask. The other figures were burying him alive! Gornix’s mind reeled and shot up into the air the strange blue druidic figures fading away replaced by the menhir circle under moonlight.

He could see his own body as well as that of Fauna sleeping on the grass. Without warning, his vision was propelled at tremendous speed southward over the tree tops of the grove to stop and sink into the darkness of the old amphitheater at the foot of the park. Among its shadows stood the dark outline of a wizard with a long beard, a sword at his side. Before that comparably imposing figure was a young boy, a street urchin with the impression of a pickpocket.

Gil: “Whhait!”

Me (the GM): “What?”

Gil: “Is this the guy we’re after?”

Me: “Nope. This isn’t Ssthris, the figure you see is humanoid not a naga.”

Gil: “Oh, okay.”

In silhouette, the wizard slapped the pickpocket after he presented both of his small hands as empty. Then a bright hot golden-white light began to sting his eyes. The next thing that Gornix could recall was sitting straight up dazzled by the late morning sun.  Gornix shot up and went looking for an alchemist’s shop. He had wasted valuable time. Eventually he found himself at a small out of the way shop after finding the dominant Sapphire-guilded alchemy shop too expensive.

The proprietor of this shop was a squat friendly and somewhat cheerful old man with a long white beard wearing plain brown robes fastened at the waist with a black cord. Gornix instantly recognized the proprietor as the old man who had referred him to this place just outside of the guild shop. Gornix was there to purchase some alchemist kits but the old man tried to recruit him for the Obsidian Guild. That mages’ guild was trying to get a foothold in Ezmer where the Star-Sapphire Confraternity dominated. Gornix tossed his gold devils and gold pieces onto the counter and turned to leave for his apartment.

However, he told the old man, named Wensaer, that he would consider his proposal to join the Obsidian Brotherhood. It wasn’t long before Fauna also stumbled into the very same shop also to purchase some alchemist kits.

Meanwhile, Excor had sequestered himself in his rooms and was busy crafting the copper spike. He was creating a Rod of Lightning Bolts, though with a Creator Level of 1. Gornix had intended to start formulating a new spell. Nevertheless, he would have to take a break in the middle of his research and experimentation. This was due to the cabal meeting being on the very next day.

The next day the cabal of seven, soon to be eight, convened in the clubroom at the east corner of the second floor of the Red Helm Tavern. Szoosha was present to put his mark on the group charter. Athfonia however, was conspicuously absent though when Belrae brought up her name our three (soon to be four or maybe five) heroes mentioned they had met her. Just before the meeting was to begin in earnest, Fauna thrust the Amber Bee into Bumble’s hand.

Fauna: “HERE! Take it! That thing’s trouble you should be careful and give back to your master.”

Jenn (to me, the GM): “We’re going to make sure after the meeting that she takes the bee to the Wasp. I want her to be safe.”

Fauna (to Bumble): “You know some pickpocket tried to snatch it from me on the way here? I put him to sleep though.”

Cris (Excor’s Player): “You had SLEEP this entire TIME!”

Jenn (Fauna’s Player): “Well. Yeah. Why?”

Cris: “The sleep spell!? This … You could’ve, the guy. We could’ve captured him! He wouldn’t have got away!”

Jenn: “I just forgot I had that spell.”

Cris just sighed in exasperation and throwing up his arms said, “Whatever.” Then he mumbled a little bit more under his breath.

To Be Continued…

The Cabal of Eight Pt.6: Gold Devil

It was still in the wee hours of the morning and dark outside of the Red Helm Tavern. The trio had

rat tails tied with a gold ribbon against a gray escutcheon
High Pesters’ Guild Heraldry straight from the GM’s Notebook.

already been introduced to a tall Ferenoi (Feren Amazon) named Athfonia (Played by Perla) by Draega. Apparently a new arrival to the cabal that their leader, Belrae had failed to mention.

Eager to talk business and naturally distrustful of the “new member” Excor urged her exemption (unnecessarily). This, as Draega guided them to the cellar. Immediately after the gold exchanged hands Excor was off to his apartment in the South Market District. His two companions and the newbie stayed at the invitation of publican Draega.

It wasn’t long before the drowsy bar-back allowed another into the quiet confines of the deserted tavern. It was the man famed as “Golden Devil”, a Lord of the Golden Devil Company. He was wearing a suit of leather armor under a gold carapace alive with flames and flying grimacing demon heads. At his hip on his wide gold studded black belt hung a coiled gold bull-whip. On his head was gold skull-cap with a top-spike and a brim of black fur. He wore a gold mask, an emerald eyed demon-face baring an expression of pure rage. A frozen rage that seemed to seep into his very frame and the carriage of his bulk.

With every heavy step the floorboards creaked under the devil’s weight. Immediately and without a word Draega led the supreme slave-master of Ezmer to the basement. Presumably to exchange the dagger of Dag-Athar for his reward. The three young mages rubbernecked with widened eyes as the devil walked by. As soon as the cellar door shut and the latch thrown, Gornix immediately ran up to it. He put his ear to the wood.

He could hear nothing and as he ran clumsily by, the bartender just shook his head. It wasn’t long before Gornix rejoined the other two. He could hear nothing. Fauna and Gornix entered into conversation with their (apparently) new companion.

Athfonia was a shaman from a semi-civilized part of the continent known as Fuglotia, a barbaric peninsula in the far north partially conquered and re-conquered by the Feren Queendoms. The amazon was dressed in furs with a grey fur-fringed cloak which billowed from her 6 foot 7 inch wide-shouldered frame whenever she turned to snatch and guzzle her drink from the bar. Under that she wore a grayish toga of thick wool trimmed in black and gold. On her feet a pair of wolf-skin boots secured with leather wraps. She had set her broad-tipped short spear to lean against the bar.

Later that day, by late afternoon, Excor was perusing the stalls in the massive bazaar until he found what he was looking for, a copper spike. After making his purchase the young mage headed to his main contact’s apothecary shop. The shop was located in a small box of a building at the crossing of two circumspect roads in the Old Market District with a direct view across a plaza of the Bazaar.

Babia (Sská in Split-Tongue) the shop-keeper was a slight woman in her later years. She wore a heavy white robe secured at the waist with a thick blue-felt band. She also wore a loose turban that also draped around her face in an effort to conceal the greenish scaling around her ears, on her cheeks, and along her jawline which in her later years has become increasingly prominent as well as her lack of ears. Of course, it only took a glance at her slit-pupil yellow eyes to reveal her half-Naga nature.

The atmosphere was pungent with the mixed scents of a plethora of exotic and fragrant herbs. Herbs which hung drying from the rafters of the shop like an upside down thicket in late spring. The potent umbrage almost completely obscured shelves upon shelves of jars and several multi-drawer apothecary chests. Excor was looking for some Yellow Lotus.

He was informed that someone came along and bought all of it up yesterday. So the young mage settled for 2 silver-pieces worth of shop-mix smoking herbs. Afterwards he left to meet up with Gornix at the Red Helm.

Gornix meanwhile was tracking down his contact, a ratter named Doubab in the un-policed Eastern District. The ratter who by chance was just walking back to the High Pesters’ Guild guild-house with a stave hung with at least a dozen dead rats. The experienced ratter had no news of any kind other than a bit of advice to not trust any “filthy” ratlings. However, when prodded a little more he did mention that there was a bounty of 1,500 gold pieces for a mage and assassin named Ssthris. The Bronzeheads were probably sheltering him but he wanted no part in that.

The Bronzeheads were the lords of street crime in Ezmer essentially the Ezmerian mob. A tattoo of a red rat was their mark. They have carte blanch within the ruined wall and tower in the Eastern District. Within the wall was a city within the city. Gornix high-tailed it to the Red Helm armed with new information.

Fauna at the same time was walking back to the Red Helm form the Bazaar where she ordered some “stylish” green robes from one Andras, tailor extraordinaire. She passed a bill-plastered wall and stopped to read a wanted poster that caught her attention due to its still-fresh glue. It listed one Ssthris, a half-naga sorcerer wanted for a series of assassinations in the Old Market District and one in the Bazaar. The reward was 1,500 gp. Suddenly, she felt a hand under robes.

She snatched the street urchin’s dirt encrusted little claw and saw that he had hold of Bumble’s “paperweight”, the fist-sized piece of amber with a golden bee at its center. She snatched the amber piece back and the kid ran for his life disappearing into the street traffic. The young druidess tried to follow only to find a bundle of rat-tails bound with a yellow ribbon that urchin had dropped.

That evening at the Helm, Excor and Gornix were already upstairs sequestered in the cabal room exchanging spells with each other. Fauna hit the front door at the same time as Draega was making his entrance to the establishment. He immediately comped her a jack of ale and began dishing about another new member to their “little club upstairs”.

Draega Skullshine: “Rumor has it he’s a black-scale Naga!”

It wasn’t long before the titular ninth member made his appearance slithering through the door and up to the bar to inquire upon the whereabouts of one Belrae Crokosa. Draega immediately glided up to the black-scaled Naga and introduced himself and Fauna. Szoosha was his name. He was apparently gifted when it came to fire.

Szoo (Played by Isis, Jenn’s sister): “I like to burn things.”

Szoosha had the ability to conjure a naginata of pure flame in his hands, the ability that marked him as a black-scale in the first place as well as being a Fire Elementalist. However, Szoosha was visibly uncomfortable with complete strangers suddenly knowing his name. Not long after Gornix and Excor wandered down and decided to buy food.

The group of four mages took up a table near the window across from the taproom. A bowl of boiled onions, a wood platter of bittles (honey drenched balls of ale-soaked bread), and for Gornix turtle soup in the shell. By the by, Fauna was busy scanning the crowded taproom and through the haze of pipe-smoke she saw a suspicious looking character at the end of the long table nearest the window.

She had caught him eyeballing the group and saw by chance (Natural 20) that he had a tattoo of a red rat on the side of his left hand. So, putting together what Gornix had told her of the Bronzeheads and their possibly sheltering the wanted sorcerer she decided to approach him and “charm him”.

She walked up to him and at the mention of Ssthris he shot to his feet and pulled his dagger. Excor and Gornix jumped to their feet but Szoosha was busy stuffing his face with handfuls of sticky bittles.

To Be Continued…

The Cabal of Eight Pt.5: Thug Life

It was nearly two hours before the trio of mages was able to make it to the necropolis gates. All the way Where the thug led them.the air seemed to become increasingly still and just before the gates the wind itself seemed to fear making any sound at all. They stopped just outside of the gates at the ragged edge of an old irrigation ditch just before the old road.

Accordingly, they surveyed the pitch dark for the evident light of a campfire but all was black. Suddenly, a shape rose from the shadow gesticulating wildly. All three of the young mages recognized the senior thug. He was signaling them as silently as he could to DUCK!

As a result and almost as a reflex, their heads turned in unison past the overturned wagon and the body of one of the thugs to where the Wher dragon was butchering the dead horses with its teeth and claws. Immediately the mages jumped into the ditch and pressed themselves hard against its slanted overgrown sides.

After an hour, every thug and mage present had kept a keen eye locked onto the dragon as they waited the situation out, the Wher flew off back into the necropolis bearing the better part of a horse carcass. Consequently, Excor decided to stay where he was for the rest of the night and sleep in the ditch.

Gornix dashed over to the thugs who were held up by the overturned wagon. The older thug was somewhat upset. Apparently he owned the wagon and was a bit angry that it had been broken up and both draft-horses eaten by the dragon. Fauna simply stayed in the pit with Excor following his example as well as being more comfortable in the thick tangled grasses.

Finally, morning came, the great purple moon and its rings darkened a large portion of the blazing orange dawn. The young mages and the thugs quickly wolfed down their iron rations and used what of the grog they could salvage to wet down the hard tack. After breakfast they assessed the damage to the wagon, it was determined a total loss. As a result, the old thug went on a tirade about “that double-dealin’ dishonest soft-skinned shiesty fop! Easy money my @$$! It weren’t enough! Not by a long toss! Owe’s me a pair o’ good horse an a WAGON!”

The angry old man roughly wiped the spit from his beard and flung his arm clean. He walked over to the other two thugs.

Jenn (Fauna’s Player): “So. What do we do now?”

Cris (Excor’s Player): “We walk.”

Gil (Gornix’s Player): “What!? Anybody have a flight spell or something!? Nothing? My CON’s not good.”

Cris: “You got anything?”

Gil: “No?”

Excor marched off by himself and looking back at his companions shouted, “C’mon! Let’s Go!”

The three thugs grumbled, “Who the hell does that guy think he is?” between themselves. After a few seconds, they shrugged their shoulders and followed. Fauna and Gornix searched the broken wagon for rations for some unknown reason. However, they found nothing. Therefore, the pair had to run to catch up to their party.

Come noon the sun was high and blazing like molten platinum down onto the backs of the young mages and the surviving thugs. Accordingly, all were drenched in sweat and partially stripped of excess clothing. Road dirt smeared their faces and collected in dark patches to their sweat-soaked clothes. Fauna and Gornix were exhausted. A young thug, the youngest of the remaining three, dropped passing out from heat exhaustion face first into the pale rocky jaundiced dust of the road.

Barely even winded the elder thug and his pal continued on at a brisk pace ignoring their fallen compatriot as well as the mages they had hardly tolerated. Excor decided to wait after some thought and squirt some water from his waterskin onto his dirty sunburnt face. While the crunching trudge of the deserters faded into the heat-shimmering distance.

Regardless Gornix struggled over to the unconscious thug and splashed his face with some water. The young ruffian twitched showing that he was alive but he did not wake up. The remaining group decided to rest where they were. Fauna set up her pup-tent and slept. Gornix tried to help the sun-struck thug but was too weak and so stripped down rest under the arid shadow of a nearby rock.

Cris (to me, the GM): “Hey! Am I carrying that dagger? I sure I am I got it wrote down!”

Gornix as he waited for his companions to recover enough to continue to foot it to the city walls identified the dagger they had taken from the sarcophagus of Dag-Athar. All he could get from the obviously magic item was its mystical connection to a demon. Some runes blazed into view like fire along the curved golden blade.

Cris: “That’s it. I stop touching the thing and wrap it in a rag and stash it away!”

Cris (to Gil): “Hey man you want to carry the dagger!”

Gil: “No. No. I’m passed out right now.”

The day progressed and by late afternoon (approx. 3 pm) Gornix was fully recovered however Fauna and the thug were still out of commission. Gornix summoned a pair of earth elementals (again barely hitting the control roll DC) and had them carry the druid and thug. After an hour when the creatures melted back into the yellow road Fauna had recovered but the thug was still out.

They paused long enough for Gornix to render first aid and when the thug finally was able to stand, barely, the mage lent him his staff to walk with. They soldiered on towards Ezmer. It was not for several more hours (till about 9 pm) that they reached their goal, the city gates of Ezmer. The gates were shut tight.

This was because the gates shut every day at sundown only to open again at the first light of dawn. So, to one side of the gates was a wayfarer camp and to the other a gypsy camp filled with music and Southern Nomads dancing wildly around their roaring bonfires.

Fauna decided to “check out” the gypsy camp. As soon as a pair of nomads approached her showing signs of the mixed blood of humans, faun, and Naga she freaked and left to rejoin Excor who leaning against the city-gate.

Gornix, on the other hand, was trying to follow the thug that had his staff and lost him somewhere in the wayfarers’ camp. For this reason, Gornix rejoined his companions at the gate where they had set up to sleep in a corner against the great wood and iron gates. He cast clairvoyance focusing on his staff and on the strength of his vision, he urged his companions to the western aqueducts.

Finally, they stumbled to one of the gargantuan aqueducts that fed the city water from rivers miles away to the south. They observed the white stone arches as they stretched over the wide and deep stone-lined dry moat. Constructed behind the moat were the battle towers and city bulwarks. The three mages heard a slight chirping from above.

Gornix caught his staff, tossed to him by the thug he had doctored. The young man was above them on a ledge of the aqueduct. He signaled them up. The only words he spoke were in a raspy whisper, “Shh. Keep quiet and follow my lead.”

Therefore, they carefully edged their way across the aqueducting along the narrow bird-dropping encrusted edge. Occasionally they suffered the nip of a beak on a finger misplaced in a pecked out burrow. About midway across the span and only halfway from their goal the leading thug signaled them to stop and lean in against the stone. At this point if any of their grips failed the height of the fall and the impact on the stone lining of the moat would’ve killed any one of the four sneaks.

The young thug sent a twittering bird-call across the moat to the other side. Consequently from the top of one of the battle towers they could all see the yellow-white flash of a signal lantern. The young thug looked back and signaled them to follow. Finally, they continued to the other side where a watchman armed with a crossbow helped them down into the battlements of the bulwarks and from there the thug led them into the streets after sharing a special handshake with the man. Only Fauna noticed this but was unable to memorize the handshake.

Soon after, they were somewhere in the Southwest District of Ezmer navigating a narrow alley among the small crowded multi-story buildings. At this point, the young thug turned to Gornix as he started to duck into a dark and narrow side-alley. “You’re a good man. I would’ve left you.” Gornix began to try to say something back.

The GM (Me): “Dude he’s already gone.”

After getting their bearings, the group headed out to the Red Helm hoping that Draiga had their pay in hand.

To Be Continued…

The Cabal of Eight Pt.4: The Tomb of Dag-Athar

The trio of young mages (Excor the Ivoran schemer played by Cris, Fauna the Southlander druid playedThe map of the titular tomb by Jenn, and Gornix the Ivoran Wizard played by Gil) slowly progressed down the dank ancient passage their lights pushing back against the smothering darkness of the tomb. Gornix led the group tapping each flagstone in turn before he stepped upon it with Fauna just a step behind him. Excor was 10 ft. behind her however.

Fauna (Played by Jenn): “Hey you! Get up here!”

Excor: “Hell no!”

Cris (Excor’s Player): “Hey ya never know! Am I wrong? Am I wrong?”

Gornix paused due to an unexpected floor feature. He carefully inspected it. Laid before him was a large flagstone with the graven image of the grinning horned demon. After contemplating how to proceed and after some needling by Fauna he decided to just jamb it with the butt of his staff. All three of them froze in place as the strained squealing of some hidden machine echoed from behind the walls presumably triggered by Gornix’s hasty action.

A stone slab slid and crashed down suddenly just in front of Excor sealing him off from his two companions. Gornix and Fauna inspected the other side of the stone drop-door.

Fauna: “Awww. It’s too heavy for us to lift huh?”

Gornix: “Do. You.  Have your crowbar?”

They searched for a reset or switch or anything to retract the door. They even checked for magic but nothing. The door was too heavy to lift, left no purchase for a crowbar, and was airtight. About the time Fauna and Gornix were shrugging in frustration, the grinning demon’s visage mocking them from the door’s face, Excor Ghost Step-ped through to join them.

Gornix: “There’s gotta be a way to get through that door around here.”

Excor: “No. It was probably meant to trap whoever comes down here. AND it’s airtight huh? Damn. We might die down here even if we get the dagger.”

They continued in a single group this time just behind each other proceeding just as slowly, if not slower, than they had been before. As the end of the tunnel was starting to become visible by their lights, they noticed the flags abruptly ended with the floor continuing as moist bare black earth.

Gornix: “I’m not touching that.”

They conferred for a few minutes ultimately deciding to use various spells to “ghost over” the patch of bare ground deeming it to be an obvious trap (it was, just your average 20 ft. deep concealed spiked pit). Excor cast Ghost Form and floated over. Fauna cast Gaseous Form over both her and Gornix. Their mist-forms drifted to the terminus of the tomb throat.

They all found themselves in a chamber identical to the entrance vestibule save that there were three narrow openings into passages that snaked so that they couldn’t look too far into them from the thresholds. A pair of thick stone supports and a stone lintel formed each of the three openings. Carved into one of the supports to the center opening was spiral design.

Excor (as he’s staring at the inscribed spiral): “I bet this one is where have to go. Hmmm. Not sure though.”

Fauna and Gornix solidified reverting to their normal mortal forms. Immediately, Fauna used her divination skill to determine that their goal was indeed through the center opening. As Excor’s Ghost Form spell was still active, he elected himself the first to proceed down the central snaking passage. At the end of the narrow passage was a small rounded chamber with a stone sarcophagus at its center.

Gornix’s spell expired then setting him down near the stone coffin. Suddenly a large golden scaled serpent struck him with its venomous dagger-like fangs. The creature appeared as an unnatural cross between a viper and a constrictor. Dropping his torch he reeled back away from the monster its venom searing along his veins to the other side of the sarcophagus. The torch continued to burn casting long shadows along the chamber walls and leaving the entire portion behind the sarcophagus black. This creature was doubtlessly the tomb’s guardian.

Cris (to me, the GM): “Damn! I’m almost dead. I do a recovery. I need to or I’m dead!”

To save his own skin Excor cast Blinding Flash but to no effect. Dropping her lamp behind the threshold, Fauna charged in and cast Arcane Bolt at the creature but the spell seemed to have no effect. Immediately behind her, Gornix jumped into the small chamber and cast Chrono-Missile but the creature dodged the missiles easily. Gornix again cast Chrono-Missile and again the guardian serpent dodged. So, the young wizard tried to summon some earth elementals (of all the spells to pick for his starting spells he picked Summon Elemental IV, hope he knows what he’s doin’ with that) but failed.

Three medium-sized earth elementals in humanoid form rose from the ground and walls, their bodies of clay and stone. Gornix had successfully cast his spell and lucked out with the control roll to keep the creatures under his spell. The elementals immediately fell upon the golden serpent but it dodged all three of their attacks. Fauna tried to cast Lightning Bolt but the spell failed.

Excor as well cast Lightning Bolt the electrical bolts erupting from his hands as the magic went wild but dealing some damage to the creature as it struck its target. Gornix also cast Lightning Bolt, twice, in quick succession each bolt finding the serpent but dealing very little damage.

The guardian serpent struck at one of the elementals retracting with nothing but a mouthful of dirt. Gornix readied as his elementals attacked. Two missed with clumsy but powerful swings of their rocky fists. The third trapped the monster within its stony grasp and held the squirming beast against the flagstones. Gornix saw his opportunity for a coup de grace striking its head sending the butt of his staff crunching through its skull and into its brain killing it instantly. The tomb-snake’s corpse melted away to nothing as a result.

Without missing a beat, the trio turned their attention towards the sarcophagus and hoped that it contained their quarry. All three left the room and stood behind the threshold. From behind the burial chambers threshold, Gornix commanded his elementals to throw off the lid of the stone sarcophagus. A sparkling cloud of poison dust burst into the air hovering in a dense cloud about the radius of the room. They waited for around 10 minutes while the cloud dissipated.

After the remaining dust settled, our trio carefully moved one after the other into the burial chamber of Dag-Athar. They peered over the chest high sides of the sarcophagus and within they saw a shriveled skeletal corpse with only shreds of pale blue material left clinging to its bones and grey bits of petrified flesh. Moreover, across its sternum under the mummy’s crossed arms rested a gleaming gold dagger.

The dagger was of mirror-polished solid gold with a curved and wickedly sharp blade. In its pommel was set a smooth polished emerald that sparkled venomously even in the scant light of the tomb. The three mages debated on whether or not they should just grab for the blade and hope for the best. They also argued about who would be the one to make the grab.

When the corpse sprung unexpectedly to a sitting posture, the group leapt back from the coffin and prepared for battle. The corpse began saying something in a voice that at first sounded faint and hollow as if echoing from an immeasurable distance. Slowly the eerie voice moved into the burial chamber with them. It was full and deep carrying with it unbendable authority. However, the voice was speaking in a language alien to any of them.

The GM (me)(to Jenn): “Um, don’t you have the Druid Secret Tongue as a language?”

Jenn (referring to her character sheet): “Nope.”

The GM: “Crap. That’s right you’re a rogue druid.”

Gil (sonsulting his character sheet): “Wait. I think. I have something.”

Gornix cast Comprehend Languages and began to translate for the benefit of the other two.

Dag-Athar (the corpse): “…a boon I grant to you tomb robbers though your fate will be that of any common thief to lie with me forever in this tomb. For now, you have 3 questions to ask of Dag-Athar the Golden.”

Gornix: “Where’s the dagger?”

The mummy of Dag-Athar the Golden presented the dagger to Gornix so he snatched it from the corpse’s claws.

Fauna: “Is the dagger magic?”

Dag-Athar: “Yes.”

Gornix (before Excor could say anything): “How do we defeat you?”

Dag-Athar: “By asking the last question.” With that the corpse fell back and completely disintegrated.

Jenn (turning to look at me): “We could have asked it anything huh? DERP!”

Cris just shook his head and gave a disgusted sigh.

Excor searched the remaining dust in the bottom of the coffin and came up with a wood bracelet with a small carved non-precious stone. He tossed it back into the dust of Dag-Athar. There was nothing of apparent value in the detritus. He was still terribly wounded from the snakebite.

The trio was trying to figure out how they were going to escape the sealed tomb. They decided on using Gornix’s elementals to search the remaining two branches of the tomb. The group remained 10 ft. behind the earth-creatures as they led the way into the West chamber. As soon as all three of the elementals were inside of the threshold, a stone door fell sealing them in.

Gil: “Aw man. I lose control of them?”

Cris: “Yeah man, they probably f*@#n’ melt into the floor and walls.”

GM: “Yup.”

After a little bit of in-game arguing Fauna charmed Gornix into leading the group into the last remaining burial chamber. They all pause as halfway to the room through the narrow bend of the passage a boulder that composed most of the ceiling and part of a wall moved and dirt fell (trap mechanical failure). Nevertheless, as it did not fall he continued on stopping at the threshold and visually inspected the chamber. He determined the whole thing was a trap. Possibly, the low ceiling which appeared to be a single massive stone would fall in if they were to make it to the sarcophagus at room center.

They backed out and sat in the antechamber. With the entire tomb explored, they were trying to come up with something, anything to get themselves out of this. They finally decided upon simply getting back to the drop-door near the entrance and “ghosting through” again though Excor was the only one that could actually do that. The air was already heavy. There was no proper ventilation to the tomb. They would soon suffocate. There wasn’t time for Gornix to learn Excor’s spell. Fauna channeled her powers from nature and so couldn’t learn any other spells aside from those she already knew.

When they reached the stone door that prevented their escape, Excor cast Ghost Step on himself and stepped through. In a sudden burst of inspiration, Gornix cast Mini-Portal and almost at the same time, Fauna cast Gaseous Form on herself and Gornix. Using the short-lived mini-portal they drifted through to the other side. They were reward immediately with a fresh gust of cool, breathable air.

Cautiously they wended their way up the stone steps to the surface and into the moonlit night. The cool air lightly tinged by ocean salt was such a great relief that they each spent a few seconds just taking deep breaths. However, they noticed something that left them somewhat uneasy. The graveyard was dead quiet. There were neither sounds of night birds nor the chirping of crickets or the tympani of cicada.

They stood crowded on the last few step with their heads sticking up from the subterranean tomb searching in vain for the whereabouts of the Wher. When they were confident that the dragon was nowhere in sight, they were definitely suspicious though, they made a break for it.

To Be Continued…

The Cabal of Eight – Pt.3: Navigating the Necropolis

A light cool, breeze drifted over the irregular crowns of the tombstones, monoliths, and various stone Similar to the one on the tomb at the Necropolis.memorials. The air was strangely fresh having blown from over the ocean, up the Ezmerian cliffs, and onto the foot of the headland. The horizon was dull red with a brilliant yellow white slash in the west.

Excor (Played by Cris): “Man. We don’t wanna be in no graveyard past sundown! Sheesh.”

Excor, Gornix (Played by Gil), and Fauna (Played by Jenn) were making their way across the impressive Ezmerian Necropolis proceeding in a north-easterly direction in search of their quarry: a tomb marked with a golden, grinning demon. They kept their bearing easily using a combination of Clairvoyance (courtesy of Gornix and Excor) and Fauna’s divination skill.

It had taken them almost 2 hours to get to where they were at and they knew they were real close. The strange place posed little hindrance to them in daylight though Fauna had almost stepped on a viper unknowingly. Fortunately Gornix had spotted the creature and warned her in time. He had taken the lead and led the group at a breakneck impatient and nervous pace. Suddenly, they found that they were lost.

Eeriness assailed the minds of the young mages brought to a ringing clamor in their brains now that they had stopped to catch their bearings. The groupings of the graves, the locations of the tumuli, the narrow paths, and wide avenues all bred a vague familiarity within the trio. It was only that they had a brief moment apart from their all-consuming goal that the realization hit them like an icy wave. The layout of the ages old Ezmerian Necropolis was identical to the current layout of the fair bustling metropolis of Ezmer.

Fauna took charge and pulled out a dowsing rod, and easily led them straight to the titular tomb, which was literally just around the bend of a large barrow. The tall age-worn monolithic stone stood among a small tight group of similar albeit shorter stones and was nestled in a sort of alleyway created by the surrounding above-ground sarcophagi and small mausoleums. All covered with heavy tufts of yellow grasses and weeds as well as a thick layer and clumps of stony earth. On the face of the tall stone was a deep carving of a grinning demon with a crown floating above it head inlaid with gold.

The group duly noted that the carven image in the stone resembled, greatly and probably not by coincidence (tee-hee), the banner of the Golden Devil West Company. The Hyvalian trading company, which specialized in slavery and spices, oversaw the Slavers’ Castle in the Slavers’ Quarter of Ezmer.

Excor cast Danger Sense and kept his concentration acting as the group sensor. The great purple moon was quickly fading into a faint shadow as the first stars of the evening began to shine. Fauna inspected the tomb.

At the base of the monolith was a pale coffin-shaped slab of slanted stone. She could see several fresh pry marks all around the presumed edge of the lid but the seal appeared to be intact. Fauna tested the capstone but it seemed immovable. She tapped at the weatherworn stone and contemplated trying to smash her way in but quickly abandoned that idea. They hadn’t the means. All the while the image of the grinning demon seemed to mock her.

Gornix searched around the perimeter of the tomb and found that the lid was a false one. It only appeared that there was a lid; it was a single piece of cleverly carved stone. There was no prying it open.

Gil (Gornix’s Player): “Why didn’t they take hammers to this?”

Cris: “They would assume it was magic if they thought the lid was real. Besides we don’t know what kind of protections this thing has on it.”

None of the mages was able to sense any magic over the tomb but they were picking up some ambient magic about the place.

Stumbling to the east side of the tomb Gornix located a large weed choked sinkhole. He climbed down and found a secret door down into the tomb half covered by the earthen wall of the pit. Recklessly he opened it and peering within found spiral stone steps winding down into the black earth.

Cris (to Gil): “Man! Watch it! You’re gonna get us KILLED!”

A loud groan emitted from a large dugout opening in the tumulus a mere 20 ft. across from them. Fauna immediately cast Invisible to Sight on herself blinking from view. Gornix fell to clearing the remaining debris in the way of the passage into the tomb. The sun fell into the sea and as the last rays of daylight extinguished Excor’s Danger Sense triggered.

The groan turned into a low rumbling growl. The young mages turned to see a pair of jewel-like eyes glaring with a multitude of angry colors as the creature emerged from its lair. It had bronze scales and gnarled claws on its four feet. Excor using his dragon-lore skill was able to discern it as a dragon, specifically a Wher.

Cris (Excor’s Player): “A DRAGON! Man, we’re only first LEVEL! You tryin’ to KILL US! How’re we supposed to fight this THING!?”

The GM (me):  “Who said ya had to fight it?”

Cris: “Yeah, well! Pfft! Whatever. We’re all gonna die.”

The Wher fully emerged from the burrow in which it was squatting and readied to pounce on any one of the three mages. Fauna’s invisibility didn’t seem to hide her from the dragon’s keen senses. Gornix ducked into the tomb entrance and made his way down the first few steps.

Gil (Gornix’s Player): “I stop after the first few to let the others in. Just in case! The steps are trapped. And I wait for those two.”

Excor cast Lightning Bolt at the dragon but dispirited as the bolt of white hot electricity harmlessly skipped off of its glistening hide. The foolish young mage stepped back towards the sinkhole stopping right next to an unseen Fauna. Thinking quickly Fauna snatched hold of Excor’s collar and leapt down into the ditch.

Just as the thing came bounding towards the pit, the druidess and the mage rushed into the stairway. Fortunately, the opening was too narrow for the beast to follow. It stayed for a few seconds testing the stone and earth with its claws. They could here its mighty lungs sniffing the air as it vainly plunged its maw at the opening.

Fauna (Played by Jenn)(to Gornix): “Okay lead the way.”

Gornix stepped carefully down onto each step and in turn tapped the next with the butt of his staff. After several agonizing minutes, they were deep underground having reached the bottom of the spiral steps. Fauna faded back into view her spell expired. The tomb air was stale, musty, and surprisingly dry. Gornix illuminated the crystal at the top of his staff.

Excor pulled out some steel and flint and lit one of his torches. Fauna extracted an oil lamp from her pack and lit it. Before them lay a long stone tunnel its other end shrouded in darkness. The tunnels walls were of chopped stone with monolithic supports. Large flat flagstones made its floor and its ceiling was of large flat stone sat against each other forming an angle creating a peaked ceiling. They were in some sort of vestibule or antechamber with a domed ceiling formed of stacked stone, the only other way to go besides back up into the maw of a hungry dragon was down the throat of the tomb of Dag-Athar.

Excor: “Well I’m not going first! I’m stayin’ back here at the rear. Go on, you go ahead.”

Gornix took the lead and slowly moved forward over the dusty flagstones tapping at them a little bit before stepping gingerly onto them. Fauna followed closely behind.

Cris (to me): “Oh yeah. I stay about 10 ft. behind her. Just in case.”

To Be Continued…

Arvan – Land of Dragons *Update*

The Bad News…

Unfortunately the Arvan setting will not be released on time due to the art simply not being done. We originally shot for a November 2016 release but a few unforeseen situations cropped up and the month of release kept getting pushed back until December. Of course, by the beginning of October we were out of money, the budget of the book was bust.

The Good News…

The art will be done and the book will be finished. So we have set a specific date of release. The date set is February 15, 2017. We will first release the pdf version through the normal channels and then by the end of March it will be available in its print edition.

The Arvan Setting

Dragons infest the land of Arvan a high-fantasy setting with the dark and brutal overtones of sword & sorcery. Set during the rise of an age of exploration and trade it’s a world fraught with the ruins of former ages inhabited by the folly of the Mad-Mages and dominated by Dragons!

Arvan The Land of Dragons

Player Races include Arboreans, Amazons, Fauns, Hill-Giants, Humans, Naga, and Ratlings!

The Book

This Dice & Glory world book includes a mass of general information on the planet and its peoples. Also a great many details about geography, flora, fauna, natural resources, places of interest, religions, cultural spheres, ethnic groups, and archetypal equipment for each of the 7 main regions of the sub-continent of Ar. There is supplemental and background information on the ancient nations of the eastern side of the continent, called Van. There is also introductory info on the world of Eu on which the continent of Arvan floats and a GM section dealing with time measurement and the multiple Moons of Eu among other GM-Only details!

250+ Pages!

Release Date: February 15, 2017

Written By: Robert A. Neri Jr.

Cover Art By: Jamie Noble <=== Facebook Link

http://thenobleartist.com <=== Website Link

A Quick Word about the Blog

For those of you who read my gaming blogs, the blog will return next week. Due to the Cabal of Eight campaign sessions being a little erratic my material is running up to the current game-play. Fortunately, we have a (hopefully) stable play schedule coming up through the holidays so it should resume weekly as usual. That is, weekly barring any information that may be given away to the players via the blog anyway.

*UPDATE TO THE UPDATE*

Arvan Setting Released!

The Arvan Game Pt. 11: The Horrors of Hornstone

Note: As Hornstone served as a testing ground for certain traps, set-ups and chambers that I’m using for the Obsidian Doom module I’ll be abridging the play-by-play in the ruins though a few I’ll have to mention as the results were just too rich not to mention.
In the trees outside of the ruins of Hornstone they decided to sleep through the day in order to confront the monsters within on their own terms (and sleep in safety as the monsters will probably be aware of them very soon anyway). They spied the ruinous tower which was as white as bone with hollow grayish pocks and pores due to the pecking/burrowing of birds throughout the centuries of abandon. They drank the whiskey they were hauling with themselves and both slept while hidden (luckily for them, no encounters). They woke as dusk approached and prowled (well, Dead-Eye was as quiet and unseen as a ghost, Bers on the other hand, stumbled up in the open making all kinds of racket) up to the sagging and slightly ajar double door, the entrance to the ancient tower.
They carefully, or should I say slowly rounded the tower circumspect to try to find an alternate way in besides the front door dissuaded by the cavernous darkness and musty smell. They found that they front door was the only way in and thus they walked in to the high ceiling octagonal foyer. On four of the walls in the dark and musty chamber were the open-mouthed reliefs of frowning yet laughing satyrs, an eerie and soft moan could be heard from each of their mouths caused by drafts. They proceeded carefully into the center of the chamber towards the only other door, a man-sized door barred by a rusted portcullis. The floor dropped open and they both failed their saving throws to dodge so they fell 50ft down into a lower chamber.
They landed onto a pile of bones that shielded them from the spiked floor as the trap-floor above slammed shut. The chamber they found themselves in was suddenly brightly lit without obvious source of illumination and a magic mouth appeared over the only exit a studded bronze double-door. Basically they stumbled into a labyrinth, a magical dungeon-maze used primarily for entertainment by powerful mage-lords. As I used this part of the campaign to test a few trap rooms and scenarios for the Obsidian Doom module I’m just going to relate a few of the best moments and glance over the rest.
In a one of a few chambers with a door at each of the compass directions under Hornstone Bers went to open a door with Dead-Eye guarding her rear watching an open archway in the opposite direction, of course the door was a trap it swung outward from her attached by a chain to a large solid stone block counterweight which was directly above her head as the door was recessed (the only recessed passage in the room by the way as well as the only door), she made her strength check to keep a hold of the door and found herself in a tight spot, Dead-Eye leapt through the passage into the next room after a successful Acrobatics skill check and splashed into a chamber with a flooded floor (the dungeon under Hornstone was a little decrepit after centuries of no maintenance) only to have two revenants rise form the water. They correctly identified one these as the farmer’s missing daughter, Bers dodged the falling block as she let go of the door latch and jumped backward, Dead-Eye had already immediately leapt back as a dodge from a claw attack. The revenants just went around waiting in the North room as it connected with no obstructions to the flooded chamber. As our duo passed through the North door-less arch Bers triggered a tripwire trap after Dead-Eye had already pointed it out and a barbed spring-loaded spear-trap shot out of a hole and nailed her in the knee crippling her leg, she easily pulled herself off of it after a successful Will-save almost tearing the leg clean off. The revenants attacked and she swallowed down a couple of healing potions, the battle was brief and our heroes easily slaughtered the undead corpses of two young girls. Another trap room which they had stumbled upon with no way back was a tabletop-boulder balance room, I thought I was clever with this one but turns out it’s a classic dungeon trap and one which has now appeared in the game I’m currently playing but with TWO boulders of course my mage has the Teleportation I eldritch ability so it was nothing, but enough with the aside.
Dead-Eye barely made it and tossed a rope to Bers who had to be quickly yanked to the opposite side as she stumbled at about the center of the balance-table-floor and the boulder nearly rolled over her. They eventually made it to the end and were a little disappointed to find an empty and long abandoned observation/entertainment room where a central crystal viewing orb gave the only weak flickering light in the room. They found steps and a wide stone step rising to a secret trap-door under the flags of the chamber above (the chamber behind the rusted portcullis) but decided to sleep in the deserted chamber as they were badly beaten up till the next night (hopefully). They missed the secret door leading to the still secret treasure vaults of the place even after a careful inspection of the area (tee-hee).
They got their timing right and woke at the desired time and continued to the upper chamber. They were ambushed shortly afterwards by a murder of Garkains which dropped on them from the high domed ceiling. They were both enwrapped within the stinking pale leathery wings of the monsters and each had three creatures on them and being drained of blood. Bers even had one of the fiends sinking its teeth into her boot and foot in order to suck blood when it couldn’t get in edge wise between its brothers. It looked like a TPK (total party kill) on my part when both Dead and Bers were able to break loose with Natural 20 grappling checks and quickly won the battle Bers even throwing her axe at a fleeing Garkain as she was a bit miffed about the whole thing. They ascended and were met with dusty ruined rooms, rotting wood floors and disintegrating plaster walls. They made their way up through the upper rooms and seemed to find no other monsters until Dead-Eye fell through a rotted bit of floor into a locked armory in the floor below (they couldn’t get the doors open) and onto the rusted spears still on the racks. As Bers was getting ready to lower a rope the vampire warrior had snuck up behind her and successfully used his Seduction ability on her and began to drain her blood, she was very pale and sickly at this point; ready to lose consciousness. Dead-Eye used a grappling hook he had bought upon gearing up before the leaving Fertum Dreyhawk (Cris, Dead-Eye’s player recognizing a dungeon hook when he saw one) to climb out just in time to save her life and they fought the vampire though this time they were able to land a few more blows chasing him off. They attempted pursuit to a rickety balcony only to run smack-dab into a Skrane (Bizarre Beasties #4 on the Ranger Games Publishing website) which they easily defeated but not before taking a few good blows. They decided to barricade themselves in a mostly empty room without a window as the dawn neared needing another bout of healing and rest.
When they awoke thy heard the same mysterious pipe-song they had heard in the barn several nights ago but were able to shake off the effects this time around and basically charged their way up to the top where they faced the vampire warrior again before reaching the top but were able to easily defeat him looting his corpse of a battleaxe, a gold helmet, spiked gold bracers and the strange black cape which seemed to take the shape of batwings when he flew. They left his dagger (a cursed item but other than that there was nothing special about it, guess that’s why they left it). They also ran into a few giant spiders and a shadow creature but took them out pretty quickly (in about 2 rounds) and ran into the final confrontation with a vampire Satyr, which I had named Manaan but they never did learn his name. The battle lasted 5 melee rounds and culminated with their ramming a sliver of shattered wood furniture into his heart after they beat him down with the hafts of their weapons and stripped off his bronze chest plate. They recognized the final chamber at the top of the tower as an old chapel of some kind though it was obviously desecrated. They quickly vacated the place while they had daylight without inspecting for any hidden chambers (which of course there were) and made sure they were far outside of Satyr’s Grove and near the North Spur before camping.

To Be Continued…

The Arvan Game Pt. 10: The North Spur

Our intrepid heroes find themselves at a feast with the Ivoran Paladin of the Hyvalian Theocracy Sir Chinsalis and his squire, Xingri after agreeing to and being converted to the Hyvalian faith of course. Sporting their new wooden chalice symbols around their necks they recline on pillows as servants pile smoking meats and dew beaded fruits on the low tables before them. They are introduced to the guests for which this feast was set to receive, three Hill-Lander warriors. The first, a half-faun/half-hill giant brick named Skran, the second a half-faun/half-human ranger/archer named Han and Baalkra a faun and fighter/satyr by class the leader of the three. The two adventurers immediately took a liking to the whiskey swilling three, especially Bers (Jen’s character) since Baalkra was flirting with her (she said she also liked Chinsalis since he treated her like a lady and he defeated at arms as well, sheesh).
During the feast the pair (Dead-Eye and Bers) learned that Chinsalis was awaiting “his master” who had commanded him to keep the bridge and his retinue, a small force of Hyvalian crusaders led by an exiled Hyvalian noble named Han-moro, a Templar. Realizing that they are in the nest of the enemy Dead-Eye immediately began formulating an escape plan (though since they converted Chinsalis, or “Chinless” as they kept calling him, would’ve let them go anyway, but…).
The next day they were waked from their whiskey/ale stupor by Xingri and told to “suit up”. They walked out in full gear and saw the Chinsalis being mounted on his Sleipnir in full battle armor and the Hill-Landers fully armed and ready for a fight. Across the bridge they could hear the shouts of a familiar and fanatical voice, that of the druid Siamnecca. He was inciting the farmers whom were still stuck on the opposite side and with him a female archer clad all in green bearing very good gear. It was at this moment or heroes immediately bolted with their donkey and cart (also rescued by the paladin) and continued on their way towards the North Spur to investigate the mystery of the missing girls. Needless to say they made record time. Later that night they could see the glow of a great fire on the horizon in the direction of Miller’s Bridge and were glad that they had had the “foresight” to flee.
They found their way to the Old High Road after traveling North from Miller’s Bridge for a night and walked the road Northward for 4 or 5 days (I can’t remember which) and then traveled East to reach the small collection of farms and ranches at the edge of the Granfor Forest and its spur known as North Spur to the North of the farmers. They noticed the road was an ancient paved road and millennia worn. They found distraught parents in farm after farm in the North Spur whom were missing their young daughters and complaining of a weird presence and overwhelming feeling of dread that something “unnatural” was wandering about the houses at night. Emanations or hideous fiends were wandering in from the forest, possibly originating from the cursed ruins of Hornstone to the North beyond the North Spur past the Horn Wood and Satyr’s Grove. None of the farmers have dared to go past the North Spur and those who did in the past were never heard from again (how’s that for cliché). They decided to stay in a barn at the farm closest to the Old High Road. In wait for something to happen, around midnight they heard a clattering as of hoofed feet on the roof and then a strange haunting tune such as the eerie sound of pan pipes playing in the distance. They failed their saves and fell asleep. In the morning they found the farm and family was unharmed though the now youngest daughter was ill with a fever and chills, Dead-Eye found the unmistakable mark of the vampire on her throat. They inspected the outside around the farmhouse and found hoof prints beneath the windowsill of the girl’s room. They decided to use her as bait and stay in the room with her under the pretext that they were “protecting” their daughter. They chose to get their sleep during the day. Later that night around midnight they heard the same eerie sounds of a pipe playing but through the beeswax that was plugging their ears and they readied to pounce, Dead-Eye was well-hidden under the sill on the inside, Bers was basically just squatting at the center of the room. They heard the sound of a very human tread on the roof after a fairly loud thump as if something had landed on the apex of the roof. They then spied a black-cloaked figure drift down from above before the window the creature appeared as a very pale human in obviously antiquated bronze plate armor and an open helm. His black cape had the odd penchant for flapping and resembling a pair of large batwings. He immediately locked eyes with Bers and Dead-Eye shot at his chest. He backed off as the two fighters leapt through the window and the fight was on!
It lasted for 1 minute (4 melee rounds) as the vampire was very hard to hit and was in fact laughing as he bobbed and weaved slashing at them with his scimitar he continued to hover and back into the woods. They eventually began to score a number of hits as did he and he hit hard. After 4 rounds he suddenly broke off and flew deeper into the woods past a ridge. Our two heroes made chase, Dead-Eye picked up a trail of broken branches but lost it at the other end of the North Spur. By the time they got back it was nearly evening again and they found that the daughter that they were supposed to be protecting was gone, only a small spot of blood remained of her on her pillow.
They got a few hours rest as it was in the afternoon and Dead-Eye would try to pick up a trail and follow it though he correctly surmised they would be heading towards the ruins one way or another anyway. At evening they were up and following a trail that consisted of broken branches, hoof prints and small barely perceptible drops of blood. Bers (and her player Jen) seemed somewhat concerned for the girl, a bit guilty maybe? They followed the trial back onto the Old High Road where it went cold but the general direction was of course heading straight for the ruins of Hornstone and the shortest path would be through Satyr’s Grove into Horn Wood to Hornstone on the other side. They wound up camping at the dead center of Satyr’s Grove and Bers was on watch around midnight when she a strange light in the woods and chose to investigate. She went a way into the trees and found that the light was a tiny dragon-fly winged fairy which suddenly flew to her and began dancing and flying all about her, she was charmed until it darted away and held up a very valuable gem, a fist-sized diamond that she had had on her person. As it flew away giggling she pursued at a full run and fell into quicksand, her yelling for help attracted a prowling wolf and thankfully Dead-Eye who shot the wolf, it ran away to basically die of its wounds, Dead-Eye lamented the loss of an arrow. Bers learned a valuable lesson: beware faeries! They emerged from Satyr’s Grove by late morning it was then that Dead-Eye noticed that the trees of Satyr’s Grove were too evenly spaced and some had the overgrown remnants of old druidic runes carved into their warty trunks.
The crossed a narrow meadow still following the ever fainter paving stones of the old road North into the tree line of the Horn Wood. By dusk they had to camp at the North edge of the Horn Wood and for obvious reasons decided to not have a campfire and made attempts to camouflage themselves while they slept. They could see the outline of the ruined tower of Hornstone hardly identifiable as a ruin by the deceptive black silhouette limned by dusk. On his watch Dead-Eye spied two forms fly from the top of the ruinous tower which flew in the direction of the farms of North Spur.

To Be Continued…

The Arvan Game Pt. 9: Duel on Miller’s Bridge

The knight introduced himself as Sir Chinsalis and, “none shall pass as I claim this bridge in the name of my Lord and of the Shuen [the pope-like figure of the Hyvalian Theocracy]. Those who wish to pass must convert to the true faith or defeat me in duel!”
Of course Bers challenged him.
Both of our fearless adventurers realized after the duel was agreed upon however, that they had encountered the crusader who has a bounty on his head (see Pt. 5) but were confident that Bers would triumph even though the paladin (it was obvious to Dead-Eye) had excellent equipment (full plate and a 6-legged [the Sleipnir] warhorse with chain mail barding). It was to occur at dawn at behest of Dead-Eye as he “had a plan.”
During the night before the duel while Bers rested in the farmer’s camp Dead Eye (Cris’ character) decided to sneak over the creek bed to feed Chinsalis’ camp and feed a Miniaturization potion to his warhorse to even the odds a little but was spotted by his squire whom was keeping guard (just in case something like that should happen, you can’t trust those barbaric Westlanders ya’know) and shot a bolt from his crossbow and missing by a mile after hailing the half-seen shadow in the depression of Farm Creek. Dead Eye slunk back off knowing he wasn’t seen well enough to be identified.
Dawn came and Bers faced down Sir Chinsalis whom was in full plate armor and mounted on a fully armored warhorse at the entrance to the bridge. The fight lasted for about 2 rounds with the horse dealing the majority of the damage to Bers and Bers severely wounding Chinsalis until the paladin backed down and purposed that they break and he dismount, to which she readily agreed and so they went back to their respective ends of the bridge and quickly drank potions as both were very near death. Once healed they went back at it with Chinsalis dominating the fight with his paired weapon: sword & shield ability using a shield bash to unbalance Bers and then to follow up with a sword slash, Bers was using her great axe with a two-handed grip through out the fight by the way. Of course, to regain her balance Bers would have to forgo an attack so she always chose not to catch her balance so inevitably she got knocked to the ground with a shield bash, on the first downing Chinsalis allowed her to get back on her feet the second time he held the tip of his sword to her throat and made her yield. This presented some cultural role-playing opportunities which never were explored (Jen’s new at this RPG thing so I let it go).
Westlanders (Bers’ culture) have a separation of society into civil and warrior and within those their own separate hierarchies or caste system. As Bers (and Dead Eye) are of the warrior caste they are bound by its laws and basically Bers was supposed to become the paladins thrall by Westlander law, now he is not a Westlander but an Ivoran whose culture is vastly different though sharing some similarity. Of course, the way around this is the paladin is not a Westlander and that he did not explicitly claim her life.
Anyway, after the duel our two faithful adventurers decided to walk around the bridge through the creek bed further up enough to not be seen even from afar but especially the bridge (the farmers couldn’t do this as they had fully laden wagons). They rested for another day to allow Bers to fully heal. During the night they had to fight off 3 medium sized trolls (probably latter generation trolls as they were bestial and had no equipment) getting them back into the good graces of the farmers whose lives they essentially saved. They had to wait another day as they both needed to heal after the fight. They left just before dawn and traveled North into the cover of a large copse named Old Grove and began to cross the creek just as they were able to pull their mule to the top of the opposite side they were confronted by an Otkid hunting party they were making quick work of the hunters and even slaying the chieftain but were unable to get to the real threat, their shaman. They both failed their saving throws and were transformed into rabbits. They were both grabbed by the feet and were about to be slaughtered and dressed for dinner right there.
Luckily this was when Chinsalis galloped up and having caught site of the situation as he came up was able to chase off the Shaman and the surviving faun savages and later restored the pair whom woke up in a tent realizing they were in Chinsalis’ camp after peaking out of the slit.

To be Continued…

The Arvan Game Pt. 8: Killing the Were-Beast

Later that night around midnight or so both heroes, Bers the fighter and Dead-Eye the Ranger, remained hid whilst a large creeping shadow (spotted by Dead-Eye initially but seemed unconcerned with staying hid as it neared the increasingly panicked cow) silently moved closer. The shadow kept getting bigger and as it got close enough for them to charge it they did erupting from teh bush that hid them. The caught a full glimpse of the creature revealing itself to be a Were-Bear. They both failed their Courage saves and Dead-Eye froze in his tracks and Bers immediately fled having rolled a Natural 1. The Were-Bear attacked Dead-Eye and they battled. Somewhat. Dead-Eye ran after getting hit and was actually able to outrun the beast by a narrow margin as Bers continued to flee for the next 2 melee rounds. Dead-Eye eventually turned and stood his ground suffering some decent damage (he was fighting with his Longsword and bowie knife) though the beast went into a rage (it was in hybrid form btw). Bers spent the next 2 rounds after successfully overcoming her terror and rejoined the battle and dropped her spear (the one embossed with Dragon Metal) on her first attack that round. They ganged up on the creature with Bers taking lead and Dead-Eye slinking back to shoot with his silver-tipped arrows. The battle continued for another two rounds before Bers landed a Power Attack on the last and 7th round (about 1 minute 45 seconds) causing the creature to bolt at full speed of course they didn’t pursue. Actually Dead-Eye convinced Bers not to try to chase it down since he was in pretty bad shape and she had suffered a critical bite attack leaving her more wounded than she had at first thought.

The next morning they at least returned the cow intact and drank down their remaining healing potions though Bers awoke less wounded than she thought she should be. They endeavored to rest for the next day and a half. Their rest turned into about 3 days. During that time Bers had increasingly strange nightmares of running through the wilderness nude tearing aprat animals with her bare hands (it doesn’t take a genius to realize what Cris [Dead-Eye’s Player] did). On the fourth day at morning they went to pick up the trail and began to investigate where the creature might lair, the Light Wood was immediately to the West across the Trade Route. As they reached a ranchhouse closest to the road approaching from the West. In front of the ranchhouse was a small plaza with a well at the center. From the South along the road they spotted the dust cloud of approaching riders, at least 8. They ducked into the tall grass and laid flat watching. They saw the riders were members of a Berserker Coven all with tattooes of crossed flaming axes on their chests. The eldest and biggest guy appeared to be the leader his second, a half human/half faun hybrid with fresh scabs, stood besides him as they muddy with road-dust and sweat as the rest began to harass the nearby farmers. They tormented the farmers for a few more minutes before moving along the road traveling North. Bers and Dead-Eye arose and decided to continue to the Light Wood.

They crossed the road and encountered the druid whom had road madly into Fertum Dreyhawk about a week previously praying at an old worn stone, the miriad carvings upon it barely visible due to age-long wear. He introduced himself as Siamnecca and asked them to pray with him and they did (basically just playing along both characters being on the atheistic side). They asked a favor in the form of a cure for Bers (for the Therian contagion) adn the druid dutifully removed the curse. They eventually asked if he could help them hunt down a Were-Beast, he agreed ecstatically to help extinguish “that offense against nature”. They traveled back to the Ranchhouse.

They skulked about the farms and houses later that night and stumbled upon the Were-Bear. Dead-Eye hit teh beast fairly hard with a silver-dipped arrow and Siamnecca the druid hit it hard with a Lightning Bolt spell. After only 2 actions/attacks the creature bolted for the road. They followed but after it hit teh Light Wood they lost its trail and decided to wait till morning to try to pick its trail back up. They camped without a fire in the forest and come morning they began again after a breakfast of trail rations. SOmetime in the morning they were come upon by an Otkid scout armed with a shortbow and behind him followed 3 Otkid savages. The battel was more of a single round slaughter. The scout was killed by single arrow from Dead-Eye’s bow, he engaged a savage with his paired weapons (longsword and bowie knife) and Bers clobbered the remaining 2. The fight lasted only a single round even though the druid simply sat out the fight in a defensive stance.

Dead-Eye was able to pick up the beasts trail after criss-crossing from where they last saw the creature to the edge of the woods. Its trail led them to the Berserker covens encampment from which they wisely kept a safe distance and stayed hid. The encampment sheltered at least 20 berserkers and the banners exhibited the sign of crossed flaming axes. They moved back into the woods and decided to lurk about the perimeter of the coven as they were certain the beast is one of the berserks whom probably hold it to be holy. During the night they were attracted to the sounds of battle and were charged by 2 berserkers foaming at their mouths one seemingly wounded. The battle was intense and Dead-Eye had to use a Recovery roll to saty alive on his first action in the second round, Bers was also grievously wounded and the Druid assissted by casting Mage Armor on both of them. The battle turned when the wounded berserk rolled a Natural 1 and threw his ae 20 ft out of reach and then tried to grapple Bers in order to rip her axe from her hands, it didn’t work and his belly was opened spilling his entrails all over Bers’ boots. SHe also took down the second berserker overkilling him to the extreme and covering herself and Dead-Eye in the splatter as the berserk’s corpse fell to the ground in two pieces. They quickly retreated to a nearby ranch-house and waited for the next night to continue their hunt.

The next night after having been fully healed by rest, potion and druid they met the beast in the fields it was plaguing and vanquished it with little difficulty the battle lasting about half a round. Basically Dead-Eye shot 3 silver tipped arrows into it and Bers chopped it into pieces. The next day they collected a 50 gp (gold piece) reward from the farmers and Siamnecca helped them to fully recover and then took his leave as the mission was completed. Bers and Dead-Eye traveled back to Fertum Dreyhawk and after spending the night and paying for baths and food they decided to travel to Northspur in the morning to check out the mystery of the missing girls in the area. It would take 4 days to travel from the Fertum to Northspur in the far North-East. They bought mounts and left on a new adventure.

They traveled about 8 miles on the Old Road with the Eagle’s Grove to teh North and a hill bordering the South side of the road. There they were robbed by a group of highwaymen in camo-painted cloaks. They lost their mounts and a bag of coinage. Teh highwaymen consisted of a Barbarian Hill Giant with a Bipennis Axe (the main reason that they just handed over the bag of coin), a Human Ranger and an Arborean Druid, all Westlanders. They continued walking East taking Miller’s Fork road to Miller’s Bridge. At the bridge they found several farmers with wagonloads of harvest camped out as in their words, “a crazy Ivoran Knight won’t let anyone pass.” They waited until morning to approach the bridge and found an Ivoran knight full-armored mounted on a war-trained sleipnir at the entrance to the bridge and his like-mounted squire on the other side with crossbow.

To Be Continued…