Olympus RPG Blog

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Spirits and Slavers

13 May 2014

The Heroes, glad of their return to the living world, made their way down from the ruined temple to the shore where the Gleaming Endeavor lay at anchor, and found the crew hard about their work at repairs, unaware that anything out of the ordinary had occurred. That evening, the crew were greatly amazed at the story told them of the Heroes’ travel to the Underworld.

But the Heroes had not forgotten their former business, the sense of a hostile presence aboard the ship which they had detected back in Craine. As the crew slept that night aboard the ship, Brother Mendel went to each and cast a Sense Foes spell upon him, but detected no hostility in any of them. Afterward, they supposed that there must be someone or something stowed away aboard that meant them ill, and Magnifico hatched a plan to discover it. On the morrow, the crew all went ashore. Brother Mendel, Magnifico, and Gestlin divided the ship into equal parts and cast Sense Foes, and as the hostile presence was detected in one sector, divided it further, continuing so until they had narrowed its location to the port-forward hold, but as they did, they found that the presence had moved elsewhere—it was avoiding their search. Gestlin commanded his staff, Smil-Blam, to grant him the ability to see invisible things, and as he did, he came face to face with a ghostly visage, as of a man, grim and hollow-eyed, now surprised to find Gestlin gazing back at him, following his movement, pointing, and calling out his location to the others. Gestlin challenged the spirit to know its purpose, but it spoke not a word. The others had no idea what to do in this matter, and could not see what it was Gestlin spoke to. As the spirit avoided the living, it hovered over the water alongside the ship, and Gestlin attempted to throw a Teleport spell, but his throw missed its target, just before the See Invisible spell ended. Later, speaking with the Captain on the matter, none could recall any that might haunt the ship, but supposed the spirit could do no immediate harm—though they declined to tell the rest of the crew what they had discovered.

15 May 2014

The repair of the ship was completed on the third day, and they departed with the first available tide, making their best speed toward Hadaton. All were glad to be under way again. They continued East for three days. Once clear of Keyhole Bay, they observed an increase in sea traffic, ships of all sorts, including regular patrols of Megalan warships of all sizes. Then they entered the Sa’azraq Straits, known for much pirate activity—slavers, mostly—where the Heroes’ information suggested that their quarry, Lord Wallace, in the custody of the Templars, was shipwrecked, and later recovered and taken further on to Hadaton.

18 May 2014

On the third day, well into the Straits, a pair of vessels were observed to be following the Gleaming Endeavor some distance behind, and gaining on her, and the Captain feared them to be pirates, slavers bent on taking them all captive. It was decided that they should spy out these vessels to see what they were about, and Gestlin volunteered to fly out to them, in the magical guise of a large bird, an albatross, to observe them. Brother Mendel cast the illusion spell upon him, and activating his magical winged harness, Gestlin took flight. But the disguise was too good, for Primus, flying about the ship catching fish, mistook Gestlin for a real bird, and attacked, and Gestlin narrowly escaped back to the ship. They tried again, this time securing the young dragons in their cages before Gestlin took to wing. And Gestlin flew between the pursuing vessels, and counted about thirty warriors aboard them, plus other crew—not looking at all like traders, but up to no good—and he returned, unmolested, to tell the others what he had seen. The Heroes decided they should try to slow down their pursuers, and Gestlin again volunteered to fly out to them: he would use Smil-Blam to make himself invisible, and cast Fireballs at their sails; it was agreed. So Gestlin flew unseen between the enemy ships, and set aflame the sail of the former ship, and then the latter. But the sails were doused, by magical means (as far as Gestlin could tell), and the two ships produced banks of oars and began quickly rowing, to the sound of war-drums. Gestlin returned to the ship, and the crew and passengers of the Gleaming Endeavor readied themselves for action, as the enemy continued to approach without their sails. As the enemy closed, Captain Finn tacked the ship to throw off their pursuers. Gestlin conjured up a mighty Whirlwind to sweep the enemy’s decks, but it was immediately dispelled—the enemy certainly had wizards in their company, possessed of some skill. The Heroes and the crew positioned themselves atop the aft-castle and readied themselves to fight.

At last, the enemy was upon them. They attacked first with volleys of arrows before closing in, and they pulled along either side of the Gleaming Endeavor, trapping it between the two vessels. Grappling hooks were thrown to catch the ship and pull them in tightly. Then the enemy warriors scrambled over the rails amidships, on both sides, and with a fearsome cry and brandished swords, charged the aft-castle.

Rainald and Merasiël held the port stair to the castle, and Gabriel held the starboard, with the others behind and between. The enemy swarmed up both stairs, and in the middle, climbed up the castle and over the rail. Gabriel, soon surrounded but unafraid, set about his bloody work with Misericordia, running the enemy through, taunting them in Arabic, and the dead piled up before him. Rainald loudly laughed and joked as he thrust his spear into the tide of pirates before him down the stair, while Merasiël slashed many throats of those that tried to get past Rainald or climb over the rail nearby. Brother Mendel reached out with his quarterstaff to disarm the enemy of their swords, again and again, as they clambered over the rail. Magnifico unleashed a nasty barrage of magical taunting in the enemy’s tongue, and cast Madness spells, stunning or incapacitating many, such that the crew could finish them, though he was greatly wounded in the process, before Brother Mendel healed him. Gestlin cast a Fireball or two into the midst of the enemy before flying off to defend against the enemy wizards, still on their ships. Dane swung down from the crow’s nest above and alighted to the rear of the aft-castle, and loosed lethal arrows upon those enemy that foolishly allowed him line-of-sight. A few of the crewmen were injured by the enemy as they held the defense, but Brother Mendel was able to give them aid before they should fall. As the enemy’s numbers were quickly diminished, and their morale near to breaking, Magnifico called in Primus and Secundus to harry the enemy from behind on the main deck. And the fight was over, so quickly that none were able to escape to their ships, as the grappling lines were cut and the enemy ships began to push off. To be continued…

Notes

• These two sessions marked our return to the campaign after a long end-of-year hiatus (due to the usual holiday scheduling issues), the first after our return from the Land of the Dead. Due to a number of circumstances, and a long fight sequence, I combined the account from the first two sessions here. For the first, Dane’s player was absent, and Dane said to be “grievously ill” below decks; for the second, Gestlin’s player was absent, but Dane’s was present, so they effectively swapped places mid-fight (we joked that Dane was in the crow’s nest projectile-vomiting, when he suddenly recovered and swung down to join, then Gestlin caught the same rope and swung away, to projectile-vomit elsewhere)
• We had been planning to deal with the “hostile presence” for some time, but the down-time for ship repairs was the prefect time to conduct the investigation
• The “fighter” PCs were in little danger during the fight, now with enough magical armor that the pirates were generally unable to penetrate. Those without real armor, including the crew, were vulnerable, and some took serious wounds. The pirates, however, despite their greater numbers, had no chance at all
• As the enemy ships separated, most of us wanted to leap over to them and take out the wizards and whomever remained in opposition; it was decided to end the scene in prose between sessions—to be concluded in the next write-up

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Gems and Stones

13 May 2014

Continued… The giant serpent squeezed Rainald, who struggled against it with some success in spite of the creature’s bulk, while the other Heroes set upon it to slay it. Gabriel sprinted forward to engage the serpent’s head with his blade, stabbing it through the eye; he was joined by Merasiël who did the same. Dane loosed arrow upon arrow into the creature’s head as he could achieve a clear shot from the other side. Gestlin, still exhausted, threw a small Fireball or two at the serpent’s hind parts. The creature now blinded in both eyes, its many wounds caused it to lose hold of Rainald, who began to strike it mightily with his hammer where he stood. The serpent attempted to flee, but ceased not far away, dead, or near to it. Afterward, the Heroes noticed as the large black cat that had followed them leapt down from its tree-perch and slinked back into the forest, as if, somehow, disappointed.

The Heroes continued onward along the path, still following Magnifico’s Seeker spell, and crept up to the small village as closely as they could without raising the alarm, up to a clearing in the forest that preceded it. Gabriel and Dane sneaked ’round to scout its defenses, but the village’s sentries had spotted the Heroes’ main force and assembled themselves into a shield-wall, armored and ready with long spears for the inevitable attack. While the scouts circled around the village houses to the rear of the formation, the others advanced openly toward the defenders’ ranks. As discussed briefly at the treeline, Magnifico performed some comedic routine before the village fighters, which received little apparent notice, though it served only to focus their attention upon Rainald, who produced from its wrapping the head of the slain Medusa and held it high; in moments, the entire formation of sentries (and perhaps some onlookers beyond) was turned to stone.

At this outrage, the goddess Persephone emerged from one of the houses and approached the scene, very sorrowful after her now-petrified subjects, and demanded to know why the Heroes had done this. Magnifico responded that they had brought a message, and mimicking Hades voice as if he were “possessed” by his spirit, entreated her to return to him. She was not tricked by this, but became angry, making it known that she cared not for her husband at all. She backed away from the Heroes, knowing Hades had sent them to slay her, though she could do them no harm for the spell he had placed on them; the grass about her grew up thick and tall, forming a tangled barrier against the Heroes, even as Gabriel and Merasiël circled at a distance to get behind her, prepared should they be required to attack. At Brother Mendel’s urging, Magnifico instead told Persephone the truth of their intentions, that they wished not to slay her but to convince her to return and treat with Hades, so they could destroy this false place. But she knew already that this place was not real, and even so, wished it to remain as it is, and would not agree to help them or have anything to do with her husband, whom she declared had not the power to release them as he had said. A tree suddenly sprang up behind her, as it would when she would travel through a tree-portal before. The Heroes instantly sprang forth to prevent her; Merasiël had chanced to notice a gemstone on a fine golden chain about Persephone’s neck, hidden below her bodice, and vaulted over the tangled grass-barrier to seize it; at Merasiël’s shout, Gabriel also tumbled over the hedge and produced his sword to cut the charm from the goddess’ neck; Gestlin had activated his harness and took winged flight, placing himself between the goddess and the tree, and swept her feet from under her with his staff, such that she fell, and the chain still in Merasiël’s grasp snapped from off the goddess’ neck, leaving the necklace in her possession. In moments the Heroes watched as the life in Persephone’s eyes faded away, and she became as the other lifeless, mindless shades that populated this realm. Thereafter, the light in the cavern also faded to darkness, and Brother Mendel cast a Continual Light spell upon a coin to light their way, and they could see that the forest remained, though no longer living and beautiful as before.

The Heroes then began their journey back the way they had come; they took pity upon Persphone, and brought her with them. They made their way through the forest and back up the waterfall-cliff. They passed through the mists of the gorgons’ lair and found the other side. They continued through the marsh, seeing the bones of the undead creatures they had fought before littered about the entrance where they had gathered, now harmless and broken. They picked their way carefully across the room of many stairs, now robbed of its magic, forcing them to climb awkwardly to reach the entrance. They emerged within the labyrinth, which no longer shifted about them; Magnifico cast a Seeker spell to find them a safe path to their boat that Brother Mendel had created, still resting ashore where they had arrived, and they pressed onward, as Gestlin flew above to help guide them along. They found the boat unmolested, and rowed it back across the river to Hades’ city. They traversed the city of the dead, and found Radskyrta there as before, mindless, and brought him also with them, that he might be restored with them.

The Heroes’ will had been greatly drained from them by the time they arrived at Hades’ abode, but they entered boldly and presented the evidence of their victory over his wife, Persephone. He took no apparent interest in the lifeless woman, but immediately demanded the “heart” of them, greedily, and the Heroes suspected they would be betrayed, though they knew it not in truth. Without warning or discussion, Brother Mendel commanded Merasiël to put the necklace back ’round Persephone’s neck, and in an instant, the goddess’ former life and power was returned to her. She was very wroth with her husband for his treachery, and they argued fiercely, and fought together; though neither could do the other any direct harm, their fury was wrought upon everything near to them, both living and unliving, and the temple crumbled around them, in fire and tempest. The Heroes fled from the temple for their lives, taking Radskyrta with them.

They ran as fast as they could to the river below, to the Boatman, hoping they might somehow convince him to take them across to the land of the living while the gods were distracted, but the Boatman would not in any way acknowledge them. Suddenly, mindless Radskyrta suddenly slammed himself into the Boatman and knocked him into the water, and seized the pole; the Heroes climbed in behind him immediately, and Radskyrta began to propel the boat across the river. They believed their old friend’s mind restored, but looked upon him to see that he was now clad in black robes as the Boatman had worn, staring blankly ahead with lifeless eyes. As the boat reached the far shore, Rasdkyrta spoke not a word, but stiffly pointed a finger toward the archway through which they had arrived in this place—whether commanding them to go, or wishing to go himself, they could not say. After they had exited the boat, they looked to their friend once more to take him away with them, but his face was now hooded and covered in shadow, as he pushed the boat away from the shore, and disappeared back into the mist.

Now before them were the heavy stone doors, wide open as before, guarded by the massive, three-headed dog creature, no longer a statue but living flesh; it growled a loud warning. Rainald did not hesitate to once again bring forth the head of Medusa, and he held it high, and the creature became a statue once again, posed just as it was before. The Heroes cautiously walked past the guardian statue, and each in turn passed over the threshold of the doorway.

At once, the Heroes found themselves, as if waking from a long sleep, in and around the banks of the river where they had fallen fighting the many-headed dragon-creature before. The wounds that had slain them were no more, and their belongings remained as they had fallen in battle. They started as the heavy stone doors at the far end of the cavern began slowly to close, as they had when they were trapped with the creature before; the Heroes did not tarry, but scrambled out of the waters of the river to flee, lest the creature catch them up and slay them once more; Dane saw the others through and was the last to exit, but was nearly caught by door except he passed through it as if a ghost, to the surprise of all. They continued down the tunnel as they had entered, and found the rope-ladders still fixed in their place, and each climbed up out of the excavation within the ruined temple, to see the sun once again, as if only moments had passed.

Notes

• Merasiël’s player rolled a Critical Success to notice the gem around Persephone’s neck, well-concealed as it was; but in her position at that moment, she could not tell anyone what she had seen without alerting the goddess, until she tried to escape. Of course, once the “heart” was pointed out, we all knew what it really was that Hades was after
• We were all in general agreement that we would rather not kill Persephone—assuming we could anyway—but we started piecing things together at that moment that made us wonder if Hades’ motives were true. When we were before him, and he demanded the heart, something in the way the GM phrased it caused red-flags to wave furiously—whether or not he intended it so. The GM had not forseen the plan to restore Persephone to herself, and was caught completely off-guard; he eventually decided to let the players dictate how the story would end after that, and after much back-and-forth, we arrived at a general consensus
• Due to the way the post-restoration events were generated, even afterward, there were differing interpretations of the results—mostly revolving around Radskyrta; what I have recorded here is my interpretation
• Dane’s having phased through the closing doors is the result of the Quirks of Mendel’s previous RPM casting of the portal, finally manifested

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Beauty and Beasts

13 May 2014

The Heroes surveyed this new cavernous chamber as they could through the thick fog within; they could see only a few paces away, and naught but shadows beyond. Beholding the many “finely-carved” statues of warriors scattered about the chamber, Gestlin and Brother Mendel agreed that this must be the lair of a creature from Earth mythology known as the “gorgon,” called Medusa, cursed by the gods such that anyone who beheld her formerly-beauteous face would be instantly turned into stone—the two disagreed whether or not she would have the lower-body of a large serpent, but they agreed that she would have hair made up of vipers. Gestlin and Brother Mendel were nearly exhausted of their magical energies, and would rest, but they knew they must hurry through lest they all be caught by some foes between this place and the undead-marsh they had just retreated from. They knew they would have to be as cautious as ever if they were to locate the exit without joining the statues here, so they proceeded inside, with trepidation, following the chamber wall, trying not to look directly upon what shadows might lie beyond.

A sound was heard before them in the mist, that of the flapping of wings. The sound preceded the horrifying sight of winged, severed heads, with vipers as hair, flitting about above the Heroes like some evil birds, attacking them; the Heroes fought back while averting their gaze, lest they succumb to their curse. Brother Mendel conjured an Illusion of a mirror and placed it upon Rainald’s shield, hoping to force the creatures to gaze upon their own reflections, though it had no discernible effect upon them. Magnifico, viciously taunted the creatures, such that they paused in momentary puzzlement, allowing the others to catch up to them; he had momentarily observed the creatures directly, but felt no effect, and said so. The first fell to Dane’s bow, pinned to the chamber wall. The second fell to Gabriel’s family blade; he flicked the impaled head from off his sword. The third eventually fell to Rainald’s hammer, smashed into the ground; after Magnifico’s announcement, Rainald chanced to look at his target, and also was not turned to stone. Meanwhile, Merasiël had drawn forth her captured magical bow, and was nocking an arrow when she caught sight of three more creatures creeping up behind the group; these appeared as horrible women with hair of vipers and the lower-body of serpents, armed with bow and arrow; the Heroes heard the sound of laughter from deep within the mist. The Heroes turned to face this new threat and closed to engage them in combat, but their enemy was joined by another; this one had not the serpent’s body, and was arrayed in a strange red gown, like that of the goddess they had previously encountered—they supposed this to be the one called Medusa—who called out to the Heroes to gaze upon her beauty. After loosing an arrow that struck one of their new foes, Merasiël failed to avert her gaze and was turned instantly to a perfect statue of stone like all the others about the chamber. Magnifico again turned his caustic wit upon the newcomers, though they were merely angered of him as a result, and loosed arrows at him; alas, but Magnifico also failed to avert his gaze, and was turned to stone. Gabriel slipped quickly into the mist to creep ’round behind the enemy, but as he spied the red-clad Medusa, even from behind, he was also turned to stone, though too far into the mist such that the others could not see it was so. Dane, after having slain one of the serpent-bodied women, also succumbed to the creatures’ cursed visage and was magically petrified where he stood. Meanwhile, after having smashed the flying head before, Rainald had been advancing step-by-step in the direction of the sounds of battle, holding his shield up before his face such that he could not see but the ground before him, searching perhaps for his enemy’s legs. Brother Mendel tried to heal those turned to stone, but it had no perceivable affect, and so instead lent his magical energy to the exhausted Gestlin, who turned to Smil-Blam and commanded Merasiël to become once again flesh, and it was so. Rainald found Medusa before him and, still covering his face, swung Gramjarn at her legs, but she dodged away and begged him to look upon her, struggling with his shield to lower it; then Rainald was struck in the side of his face by an arrow loosed by one of the other serpent-women. As Gestlin used what energy he had left to again command Smil-Blam, and return Dane to flesh, Merasiël fell upon the two remaining serpent-women with her blades, and slew them both, still averting her gaze. Rainald, through his wounds, struggled with Medusa as she tried to slip between his self and his shield, and he smashed her knee with his hammer. Dane, now flesh again, was able to loose an arrow into the creature’s side as she collapsed to the ground. Rainald then stepped aside and brought Gramjarn’s pick down upon the creature’s breast in a single mighty blow that slew her outright, though in that instant his shield failed to conceal her face from him, and he was turned to stone, his hammer frozen in place pinning her now-lifeless body to the ground.

The battle over, those that were able rested; Brother Mendel, with a little study, invented a weave that would return those turned to stone back to flesh, and so all were restored, and he healed those that had been wounded. Merasiël made certain all the creatures were dead; it was discovered by chance that those who had been turned to stone before were no longer affected by the creature’s curse. At Gestlin and Brother Mendel’s recollection of the mythology, they decided to cut off Medusa’s head and keep it as a weapon; Merasiël wrapped the severed head in her Wazifi gown and gave it to Rainald to carry. Gestlin cast about for any weapons and such amongst the statues that might have magical properties, and found a few—Rainald was glad to find him a good spear. They would not tarry for long lest they be caught unawares, but as soon as all were recovered enough and ready, they found their way through the mist to the exit.

The archway gave way to a long cavernous tunnel as had the others before it, and the Heroes followed it to an underground stream, that they dared not drink from. The stream led them to a new cavern, very large, covered in trees and grass, and flowers, and all manner of beautiful green things. They found themselves atop a ledge at a waterfall that emptied into a pool so deep they could not see its end, and they spotted a village of some sort in the distance beyond, through the trees; Dane’s sight enhanced by his captured magical ring allowed him to see farther, like a hawk, and he told the others of the defenses of the village, guarded by armed men in towers. They determined that they should go to this village to see if their quarry, the goddess Persephone, might be there, and so climbed down the slippery face of the cliff as best they could; Some of them fell into the pool, but swam out without incident, though they felt the presence of something lurking within, and so did not tarry. Brother Mendel weaved for himself a portal to take him to the floor below, but as he emerged, he was sickened as before, but could continue with some difficulty.

As they followed what passed for a trail toward the village, they encountered a large tree that bore the face of a man. Gestlin spoke to the tree, and inquired after Persephone; the tree told him that she would indeed be found in the village, in the garden. Gestin thanked the tree, and the Heroes continued on their way. As they walked, a creature like a large black cat was spotted stalking them; Brother Mendel called out and pointed to the creature, and it recoiled and fled back into the trees; none felt the need to attack it, and so let it go its way. As they pressed onward, they saw that the cat-creature again stalked them, and saw it climb into a tree as if curious to observe their progress. Just then, the ground about the Heroes was suddenly disturbed, revealing a giant serpent, long as a great ship, its coils constricting to seize them. Those that had seen it reacted to move the others free of its coils; Merasiël tackled Magnifico, Gabriel shoved Brother Mendel, and Dane dragged Gestlin away, but Rainald was left within as the serpent’s coils tightened. To be continued…

Notes

• It was difficult to separate player knowledge from the characters in this case; it was fortunate then that Gestlin and Mendel are from Earth (or similar), and were familiar with some Greek mythology, otherwise the group would have blundered right through into a TPK
• The creatures encountered in Medusa’s lair were not as martially capable as the PCs, and would have been fairly easily dispatched if not for the flesh-to-stone problem, which alone very nearly resulted in a TPK in spite of the characters’ foreknowledge of it
• Gestlin had to spend both available uses of Smil-Blam during the fight; it was fortunate that Mendel’s RPM could bring the others back, or the party would be a bit short on available manpower. As it was, according to the GM, even those trapped in stone were subject to the Will-sapping properties of this realm, therefore those statues that were already here (for however many centuries) would be completely lost to it even if they had been restored as well
• The GM declared that Merasiël was frozen in an “awesome Action™ pose,” having been petrified in the act of shooting, but Rainald’s pose at the end easily outmatched hers, being at the business-end of a massive hammer swing

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Paradox and Pursuit

13 May 2014

The Heroes proceeded through the archway and down the darkened hall, where it opened into a large, bizarre room, full of stairs and arches leading up and down in all directions, on the walls and ceilings; upside down, sideways and all points between. After some long moments of stunned amazement, and confusion at how they might continue, Magnifico took a chance on a Seeker spell to locate Persephone, and succeeding, pointed to an archway or two across the room. Gabriel was the first to test the strange room by attempting to climb “down” the nearest flight of stairs, and found that the customary downward pull of the earth fell in concert with the stairs and landings, such that one could walk up and down the walls and ceilings as if its orientation were perfectly natural. Gestlin activated his magical harness and took flight into the center of the room, and also found that “down” was not where he expected. The Heroes cautiously crossed the room to the archway on the other side indicated by Magnifico, with his guidance, Dane’s keen sense of direction, and Gestlin’s flying overview to direct them; Gabriel used his magic sai to cut marks in the stone along the way to indicate their path. Through the archway was a long natural cavern that twisted and wound in seemingly random directions, oft in the direction of their quarry and away from it, and after some time, as the tunnel ended, they found themselves back at the room full of stairs, at the same archway they had started from. This time they examined the room more closely, and determined another archway to be oriented to match the starting position, and made their way across the room once again to enter it.

Again, the archway led to a long natural cavern-tunnel, but this time it opened into a vast marsh, foggy, waterlogged and choked with trees and undergrowth. Magnifico’s spell effect seemed to indicate that they must cross to reach their quarry, so they set out cautiously, testing the water’s depth and finding it suitably shallow. Gestlin cast a Walk on Air spell upon Rainald at his suggestion, and Magnifico also, before himself taking flight—the tree canopy was quite high; those airborne followed along with the others. They passed near to a still pool, wherein they saw beneath the surface many faces, corpses of the long-dead though seeming somehow preserved; the Heroes did not give in to fear, but pressed onward.

As Gabriel lead the way, he leapt from one “dry” spot to another, but slipped in the mud on the other side and fell to his hands and knees there. Just then a skeletal hand reached forth from the water behind him and ensnared his foot, using him to pull the rest of its terrifying self wholly out of the water. Just then the other Heroes saw many more of these reach forth from the water as well, rising all around them, naught but muddy, rotted bones held fast by some evil will; in moments, they were beset on all sides, as the undead grabbed and bit at whatever flesh was exposed. Rainald, wielding Gramjarn, knelt in the air to smash the emerging creature holding Gabriel, even as Gabriel attempted to wrest free of it; some grabbed Rainald’s legs and climbed up him to reach his face, but he smashed them all with the pommel of his hammer. Brother Mendel and Dane fought back-to-back near a large tree, smashing and slashing, struggling to free themselves from the creatures’ grasp, Dane with his shortsword and Brother Mendel with his staff; Dane fared rather badly, bitten many times upon the face and neck, and Brother Mendel cast healing spells upon him lest he should fall. Gestlin was greatly unsettled at the sight of the creatures, and flew up higher out of their reach, even as they leapt to seize his feet; from above, he cast a mighty Fireball and blasted one of the enemy to ash. Gabriel and Merasiël broke free and felled some numbers with their blades as quickly as the creatures arrived. Magnifico had risen up out of the creatures’ reach and found himself to be of little aid to the others, and so he called out to Persephone to appear and answer for this maltreatment of guests in her realm. A nearby tree suddenly sprang to green life, and the goddess stepped forth from it, though only so tall as a “normal” woman; Magnifico began to approach her, still airborne, and chided her roughly for her “rudeness,” such that she was taken aback at the brashness of it, and stood dumbfounded. Magnifico intended the others to attack her while she was vulnerable, but the undead did not cease to rise from the waters and set upon them, such that Dane now cried out to fall back to the barely-visible archway beyond, lest they be overwhelmed, and they all did so (though Magnifico was reluctant to give up the opportunity to attack).

Those still airborne were able to remain out of the creatures’ reach as they fled; Rainald picked up Brother Mendel, the slowest among them, to carry him, before Gestlin cast a Walk on Air spell upon him as well. Dane, Merasiël and Gabriel continued on foot, being the most nimble and quick, all the while pursued by the creatures; though Dane fell and was immediately caught up and attacked, the others came quickly to his aid, and they were able to evade the creatures all the way to their intended exit. Once through the archway, the undead no longer pursued them, but returned to their watery rest.

The tunnel leading from the archway opened into another large chamber, filled with mist and lined with stone columns. Amongst the columns were many stone statues of men, arrayed for battle, of such exquisite craftsmanship that one might have supposed them to have been at one time living flesh…

Notes

• The “Escher” room is obviously inspired by the Labyrinth movie, as has been so much of this area; we had a bit of a time trying to justify how the characters might proceed, though their players knew (roughly) how it worked
• The GM was thinking of Game of Thrones regarding the skeletons, which made them a little scarier than standard Fantasy fare; they were quite fast (Move 7), which made the decision to run away difficult—they’re faster than most of the party. Individually they weren’t so bad, but en masse as they were, someone was gonna die
• There was a bit of a pause at the “decision point” of the fight, as we waffled between running for a more tactically-sound position, or attacking Persephone while she seemed vulnerable, or some compromise between the two; in the end, the decision came down to Dane’s in-game leadership, and his tactical instincts that were screaming, “Get un-surrounded!”—he’s supposed to be the “fight boss,” so we deferred to him in this case
• We all know what’s coming next session, but given the characters’ general lack of knowledge on Greek mythology, we’re not sure how we can overcome without losing a few of us, at least, to a more “statuesque” future

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Mazes and Monsters

13 May 2014

The Heroes emerged from Brother Mendel’s portal before the “temple” structure atop the hill in the center of the labyrinth without any detectable ill-effect, save for feelings of “strangeness.” They searched for some time about the structure for the expected entrance to its underground, but found none. As they expanded their search, down the hill, they spied a pair of small, ungainly-proportioned men clumsily fetching water from a well in the middle of an abandoned village of some kind. The Heroes observed as these small strangers finally filled their bucket and took it up, waddling their way down a path further down the hill, toward the labyrinth. Gestlin activated his magical harness and took winged flight, speeding to stop the small strangers to inquire of them the location of the goddess, Persephone, that governed this place. At the same time, Gabriel, followed shortly by Merasiël and Dane, quickly crept closer. The little men were frightened at Gestlin’s approach, and dropped their water-bucket to flee, slipping easily through a man-sized crack in wall encircling the hilltop structures, and continuing down the hill as quickly as they could toward a similar opening in the labyrinth’s inner wall. Gabriel lithely squeezed through the first opening and pursued them; their stubby legs were no match for the fleet-footed Gabriel, and as they ducked through a the crack in the labyrinth’s wall, Gabriel caught one by the coat, at the same time Gestlin, airborne, loosed a Fireball at the ground on the other side of the wall-crack, halting their escape. Meanwhile, Dane and Merasiël scaled the first wall with the aid of ropes secured in place by the flying Gestlin, followed much more slowly by Rainald, while the remainder of the Heroes were instead able to wriggle through the crack. At the same time, Gabriel attempted to calm his “prisoners” such that they might be of aid.

However, Gestlin’s aerobatics had attracted the attention of a distant harpy, one of many here and there atop the high walls of the labyrinth as far as could be seen; Rainald, still descending the first wall, caught sight of it as it approached and called out loudly to warn Gestlin, but his bellowing attracted the attention of other harpies nearby, and the one was soon joined by a few others. They attacked as before, but the foul, flying creatures were no match for the Heroes, and in moments they lay dead upon the ground, skewered, burned, and smashed. During the fray, the captured little-folk had fled through the opening, into the labyrinth—the Heroes were all reluctant to enter and pursue them, knowing the place would shift and change to entrap them, and began discussing what to do next.

Brother Mendel decided to attempt to use his magics to locate the end of the tree-portal, as he had before when Persephone had left through it. Though successful, Brother Mendel felt a wave of sickness wash over him, as if he were aboard a storm-tossed ship, and he could stand on his feet only with great effort; he could still point to their destination—into the labyrinth. So, the Heroes resolved themselves to go into it, in hopes that tracking the little-folk, combined with Brother Mendel’s guidance, would provide a sure route. Again, Gestlin fetched the ropes and secured them atop the wall for those too large to fit through the fissure in the labyrinth’s wall; Merasiël, Dane, and Rainald climbed, as the rest squeezed through.

The trail of the little-folk was easy enough to find and follow. The winding path was narrow, forcing them into a single file, and the walls high, and the way tended to close or change behind them, with the telltale grinding sound of heavy stone, as they passed. Ahead, as their quarry’s trail ended at a wall, Gestlin turned sideways to allow his wings room to span, and he flew to the top of the wall to spy the other side, and verbally guided the others to a detour from above. However, as they moved, the walls began to shift, and a few had to leap clear to avoid being cut off from the others. They pressed on with Gestlin’s occasional scouting, and further detours and close calls. At a dead-end that opened before them at their approach, they encountered a massive beast-man, nearly as tall as the walls, with the head of a bull, bearing an axe and flail too large and heavy for even Rainald to wield; it immediately charged at Dane with a monstrous roar, goring him with his horns and throwing him back. Rainald stood his ground against it; Merasiël moved into the void left by Dane and attacked, while Dane got to his feet; and Gabriel nimbly dodged his way forward from the rear to join the defense, but failed to tumble past the creature, instead striking from the corner. Then Magnifico began to sing a strange song and gyrate oddly, the sight of which caused the creature to pause in stunned bemusement; a lethal mistake, as the Heroes took advantage of its confused state and slew it quickly, lest its wits recover.

Some time later—they could not say how long in this place—the labyrinth finally gave way to a small village, that is, small in height more than apparent population; the tracks the Heroes had followed now mixed with others, and they deduced this to be the little-folks’ home. The denizens of this village shuttered their windows and slammed their doors at the Heroes’ approach, and would not come out for fear of the these tall, menacing-looking fellows. Glad to be rid of the labyrinth, the Heroes took their rest in the village square. Magnifico brought forth his lute and began to play, hoping to soothe the villagers’ fears and bring them forth, that they could speak to them of Persephone; of such beauty was Magnifico’s performance that not only did the villagers finally emerge from their homes to gather ’round, but even a little of the Heroes’ own inhibitions were loosed. Brother Mendel, remembering the dropped bucket of water, cast Create Water and filled all the buckets, barrels and troughs in the village. He then inquired of a more-important-looking fellow where they might find Persephone, and the little-man relented to send a guide with the Heroes to take them to the entrance to her demesne, though these folk were forbidden to ever enter there. And so the Heroes followed their guide a short distance to a wall much like all the others, with an ornate archway, long sealed up with brick—that is, it appeared so, until Rainald tapped it with his hammer and found it to be incorporeal, an illusion (Brother Mendel cursed himself for not thinking of it). They thanked their guide and sent him back to his village, and then boldly passed through the arch.

Notes

• The “weaving” magic learned from the Otherworlders is Ritual Path Magic; Mendel’s casting of the portal during last session ended up with a few quirks as a result of failures during the process. This session, the GM informed us of the results: attempts to use Path of Crossroads would result in some hours of dizziness (which occurred), and random “incorporeality” (which did not occur, yet)
• Gestlin made a great deal of use of the magical harness recovered from the previous fight with the adventurers. The GM said the wings would take on an aspect of the user’s personality, and Gestlin’s player decided they would be the wings of a parrot/macaw, bright red, blue and yellow. As he tried to sneak atop the walls, to avoid notice by the harpies, he rolled a Critical Failure—a brightly-colored, flapping silhouette
• Magnifico’s new “Confusion/Awe” power completely turned the minotaur fight from a potential PC bloodbath to an almost-sad beat-down; we’re pretty certain that minotaur could’ve done a lot of damage, but it never really got the chance
• The little-folk and their village were clearly inspired by Willow, but talk of little-folk and clowns (Magnifico) and dancing conjured the inevitable “Safety Dance” references. Again, Magnifico saved the day with a well-rolled Performance; so good it was that even the cold-hearted (and incompetent at dancing) Merasiël could not keep from tapping her foot, at least

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Gods and Prisons

13 May 2014

The Heroes stood before the towering God of the Underworld in appropriate awe. Magnifico strode bravely forward to address Hades, with Brother Mendel close behind, and declared that they were ambassadors from the God of Heaven bearing a message; Hades struck his staff on the ground, knocking them over with a blast of wind, and expressed disinterest in hearing any message from above. Magnifico tried again, entreating Hades that there would be no harm in hearing this message, and Hades, amused at the man’s bravery, allowed him to continue, and Magnifico bade Brother Mendel recite The Great Commission, along with some other supporting Christian scripture, of such things as “freedom” and “everlasting life.” Hades found it ironic and amusing, and quipped that the Heroes should go free if they had the power to do so; he revealed that he was himself a prisoner in this realm. Magnifico encouraged Hades to continue, and the god revealed that this realm was created by some long-gone people to gather souls for an unknown purpose, but over the eons, this traffic had ceased—until the Heroes’ recent arrival—and he had grown ever weary of his station here and longed for release, though it would surely mean his destruction. Magnifico pointed out to Hades the sign he had seen of another throne beside his, and the god told of his wife, Persephone, that she had gone mad, and now lived on an island some distance across the water—he pointed to the place. Seeing an opportunity in the Heroes’ presence, Hades declared that he would set them free if they would perform a task for him, to destroy the object that generated this realm, guarded by the very creature that sent them here; but before he could release them, they must first kill his wife, bringing her heart to him. Hades then cast a spell upon them all, that Persephone could do them no direct harm, and sent them on their way.

As they stood at the river, Brother Mendel used the “weaving” magics taught him by Pachacuti in the Otherworld—travel to the Underworld had given him a clarity of thought such that he now sufficiently understood those techniques—and created a magical effect that would automatically heal each of the Heroes a little, should they be injured. They all dared not set foot in the river, lest some spell befall them, so Brother Mendel wove for them a row-boat. The isle was some distance, taking an hour to reach.

Now ashore without incident, the Heroes disembarked. Before them were high stone walls, surrounding the isle as far as they could see; a mile or so distant, atop a high hill, they could see the “temple” at the isle’s center. All they could see was covered in degrees by vegetation of all kinds; the goddess was undoubtedly close to nature and its green things. As they examined the vine-covered walls for an entrance, they were suddenly set upon by a number of flying creatures, screeching and stinking of filth; their appearance that of a haggard old woman, with wings for arms and claws for feet. Some of the Heroes were caught by surprise as the creatures descended upon them, clawing at their heads or faces; injuries were healed by Brother Mendel’s spell. Gabriel set about skewering the creatures with blinding speed as they approached. Magnifico fuddled the creatures’ minds with ridiculous song and dance—with magical effect where there was none before. Brother Mendel cast a Spasm on the wing-arms of one or two, causing them to flop to the ground, setting them up for Dane’s bow, or the fast-approaching Gabriel. Gestlin produced two Flame Jets, one in each hand, and with them set afire his attackers. Rainald wrested himself free of one that tried to haul him to the ground, and smashed it with his hammer, and sprinted to the others’ aid. As the fighting ended, Brother Mendel tended the remaining injuries.

Gestlin activated the magical harness taken from the strangers they had fought with above, and sprouted wings, and took flight to see what lay beyond the walls. He returned with dour news, that inside was a massive labyrinth that shifted about randomly—anyone entering would surely be forever lost. As they discussed how they might circumvent the labyrinth, Magnifico decided instead to call out to the Queen of the Underworld by name, that she might come to them instead. Suddenly, a great tree sprang up from the ground, and from it, emerged a giant, beautiful woman, bearing strange dress. Immediately the goddess, Persephone, saw the slain creatures beside the Heroes and became exceedingly angry, and tried to smite Magnifico with her staff when he attempted to explain their actions, but the staff stopped short of him, and would not touch him, nor any of the others. At this, she knew it must be her husband that had sent them; she supposed they had been sent to slay her, but Magnifico spoke poetically of Hades’ love for her, and his desire for her return to him. She scoffed at Magnifico’s words, and instead picked up the slain creatures, and cradled them as if her children or cherished pets, and disappeared back into the tree just as she had come.

Brother Mendel wove a spell to trace the other end of the tree “portal” before them, where the goddess might have exited, and he determined that it was not atop the hill as they had expected, but inside the walls just beyond the labyrinth, possibly under the ground. Without being able to see the destination, they could not Teleport there; but they could see the structure at the top of the hill. So, Brother Mendel wove a portal, like Pachacuti had done so many times in the past, and they all walked through it to emerge atop the hill before the “temple.”

Notes

• This was the first full session using the new “rebuilt” characters, so some new capabilities were featured
• Gestlin is from Earth, brought over in the mid ’80s at the age of 10 or so; at that age, his knowledge of Greek mythology was pretty basic, so he wasn’t able to help sort things out quite as much as we originally supposed
• In the course of the dialog with Hades, the players worked out that this Underworld is actually a construct—like the Matrix—fashioned by the early men that lived on the Keyhole Bay island above, and that the hydra that killed the characters is likely sitting atop the artifact that fuels it

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Death and Afterlife

13 May 2014

The Heroes took some hours, into the afternoon, to rest and heal; Brother Mendel, through his own injuries, set about tending the others’ wounds as he was able, resting here and there to regain his vigor such that he could begin again. The arrows in Rainald’s face were teleported away, rather than digging them out directly. Soberly, the Heroes gathered up the strangers’ gear to see what might be kept of it; much of it was enchanted, no doubt accumulated over years of adventuring—some very valuable indeed—their properties having been recorded in some notes kept by their wizardess, Salren, along with maps and journals relating to the search that brought them to this place (though no mention was found describing what they sought). The dead were gathered outside the Pantheon in preparation for whatever method of disposal the victors deemed expedient, though Radskyrta’s body was wrapped carefully to be prepared for its transport to whatever church was within reach—Hyrnan, on the Northern shore of Keyhole Bay, was the closest Christian-held city they could think of. As Brother Mendel discussed his intention to see Radskyrta resurrected, it was asked whether or not Radskyrta would want to return to the living world, and Brother Mendel cast a spell to Speak with Dead to learn their friend’s preference on the matter; although he felt the spell had been cast without error, he could make no contact with the spirit of Radskyrta at all. He tried again, this time to contact one of the fallen strangers, but again, he could not reach the spirit of the dead man. The Heroes decided this must be a magical place, aspected in some manner such that it prevented contact with the dead, or possibly as an effect of whatever-it-was the strangers sought here. All the while, they saw no sign of the missing dwarf, Hargin, though they remained vigilant.

In time, as their wounds had been healed fully as they could be, a number of the Heroes remained curious as to what exactly it was the strangers had died to prevent them from finding, and peered into the excavation in the middle of the structure’s floor—a dark hole as far down as they could see. Brother Mendel offered his Continual Light coin, and Gabriel dropped it into the hole; it fell a long way indeed, perhaps a hundred feet, before landing in some water. With all the climbing gear lying nearby, already made ready for the strangers’ use, the Heroes gave in to their collective curiosity; the rope-ladder was fixed in place, and Gabriel descended first, followed by Merasiël, then Dane, to scout ahead. They were followed thereafter by the others.

The bottom of the shaft opened into a wide tunnel, flooded with cold seawater up to the Heroes’ waists. The floor of the tunnel gradually rose out of the water as they followed the tunnel forward, with Brother Mendel’s and Gestlin’s light-coins held aloft as their only illumination. The tunnel continued briefly and ended in a heavy stone door, wide open, intricately decorated and covered in runes—Brother Mendel examined it and determined that it was indeed magical, though he could not say what manner of spell affected it, but believed it to be beyond his ability to dispel. After a quick search for tracks of any who might have passed through before them, which left them certain none had done so, they cautiously proceeded through the door. On the other side of the door loomed a large cavern, ending in a wide pool, or perhaps an underground river. A large stone statue, a three-headed dog, stood vigil at the door. As some crossed the cavern floor to examine the skeleton of some large, long-dead creature they could not identify, Rainald went to the edge of the water to see what manner of fish might live there, and found it was littered within with coins—he fished one of the coins out with his spear and picked it up, to examine it, handing it to Brother Mendel who came to see what it was Rainald had found.

Suddenly, some tentacle burst from within the pool and snatched Gestlin away, dragging him into the water with great speed; Gestlin had scarcely enough time to call out to Smil-Blam, which failed to save him from being pulled beneath the surface. Gabriel ran toward the spot where Gestlin had disappeared and called out for Angrist; Merasiël held the knife out, and Gabriel snatched it from her hand as he dove headlong into the water. Rainald had also jumped out from shore, and was met there by two great serpentine creatures rising up suddenly from the deep. He and Merasiël engaged the creatures in melée, as Dane loosed arrows from atop a boulder just ashore, and they eventually slew them both, but not before Magnifico fell to a great gout of acid spat from one of the creatures’ mouths. Gabriel dove down to find Gestlin, and in the darkness, could barely make out a massive black shape before him, a single creature of many heads, and attempted to cut Gestlin free as the wizards struggled. The others had no time to collect themselves, for in the place of the two creatures they slew came now four, smaller, but growing all the while as they attacked without mercy. One by one, the Heroes fell in frantic battle, for each one of the creatures they destroyed was replaced by two more.

In turn, the Heroes found themselves on the shore of a wide river, much like the one they had encountered before. The colors in this place seemed drab and lifeless, and a gloomy mist rose up from the water. The three-headed dog statue remained, behind them, still vigilant. They gathered at the shore, wondering what had befallen them; they all guessed that they had perhaps died, though they were not in Heaven, nor any afterlife they had heard of. Gabriel chanced a swim out in the river, and after some time, could not find the other side of it, and so returned. Brother Mendel began to despair, most of all, as he was a man of God his whole life, and believed himself now abandoned by his Faith. Some time later—how long, they could not guess here—through the mist, a shadowy boat approached their place on the shore, guided by a figure in a black, hooded robe. Gestlin called this person “Charon,” and the river, “Styx,” and said they should get aboard and cross the river with him. The hooded man held his hand out to each, in turn as they boarded, clearly expecting something of them; Gestlin gave him a coin, which was accepted, and the others followed his example, except Brother Mendel, who refused (rather impolitely, and counter to his usual demeanor), before Gabriel discreetly offered a coin on his behalf.

They found themselves then at another shore, a dock, before some manner of city, of strange construction not unlike the ruined city on the island might have been; Gestlin called this place, “Hades.” As they disembarked, they saw many people there in the city, shuffling listlessly about, going nowhere—among them, Radskyrta. Rainald yelled, but Radskyrta did not respond. The Heroes gathered around him, but he did not seem to see them, nor did he speak, nor acknowledge them in any way—dead on his feet, as it were. Brother Mendel found another and struck him, and felt as if “many souls had cried out,” though the man struck did not. Gestlin pointed to a building with many columns atop a hill, and supposed that would be where the god of this realm, also called “Hades,” would be found—he wondered for a moment, and decided someone called “Persephone” would not be present at this time of year. As they traveled in that direction, having nothing better to do, they also saw the strangers they had fought before, as lifeless as Radskyrta. They could all feel a heaviness settling upon their souls, as if this very place were the cause of the residents’ lifeless state, to which they would also succumb in time.

At the temple-like structure, Magnifico stopped them all and explained that if this were truly a god, they should be exceedingly polite, and not look him in the eyes, and not speak unless commanded so—and, better to let Magnifico do the talking. Agreed, they proceeded through the columns to within, and found before them a giant of a man, as a simple description, strangely attired, majestically towering above them and looking down upon them. The Heroes kept their gaze low, and waited for him to speak.

Notes

• After the potential-TPK that was our last session, a number of the players realized their characters were not well suited to this sort of business. After much back-and-forth, the GM decided to allow everyone to rebuild their characters (under certain conditions). Some didn’t change much, some did; mostly, we were ready to get on with it for this session. We had no idea the GM had a “transition” in mind…
• In case you were asleep, the creature we fought was a hydra—a tough nut to crack, it seems. We had no idea when we engaged it that it was to be an “intentional TPK” as a gateway to the afterlife; some of us figured it out in the middle of it, some didn’t. At some point, when it started to look unwinnable, the GM let us off the hook, and handwaved the rest of the fight

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Victory and Loss

13 May 2014

Continued… About the time Rainald and the leader of the strangers, called Dicey, began to close with each other to duel, the other Heroes arrived at the scene and joined those already present. Rainald jogged forward intently, while Magnifico, Brother Mendel, and Radskyrta followed a pace or two behind; Dicey only took a few steps before standing still to receive. Brother Mendel caught sign of invisible footfalls in the dust near Dicey—that of Salren, their wizardess—and brought it to the others’ attention. At the same time, the rest of the enemy crew emerged from their hiding places behind the broken pillars of the “Pantheon”; Radskyrta squared himself before the black-clad Finn, a master of the Sahudese fighting arts by the look of him; Hargin, the broad-shouldered, axe-wielding dwarf, dropped back behind Finn and maneuvered toward the front of the ruined structure where Dane, Gestlin and Merasiël approached. Alfio, the elven archer from before, distanced himself from Dicey toward the middle of the floor, next to the hole they had excavated, and was immediately surrounded by a dome of impenetrable magical force; Gabriel found himself on the far side of the building from the rest, and approached the archer’s position behind the cover of the columns there. Just before Rainald and Dicey would meet at arms, Magnifico let fly an insult so devious and unexpected that Dicey and Salren momentarily lost all focus; Rainald took the advantage and swung Gramjarn at the leader.

• Rainald and Dicey exchanged many attacks, though little damage was done to either as they both expertly blocked the other’s strikes while maneuvering around each other. Dicey backed toward Magnifico and turned from Rainald long enough to deal the Clown a grievous blow before returning to Rainald; he avoided Brother Mendel’s attempt to disarm him of his sword with his staff. However, Rainald had managed to circle almost behind him, and after feigning an attack to the fore, struck Dicey at the back of the skull with such force that he was felled in one blow, all but dead.
• Dane, Merasiël and Gestlin scrambled to get into position. Dane loosed an arrow at Alfio, in his protective dome, but although the magical arrow passed through the dome without resistance, it immediately reversed itself and struck Dane instead—Gestlin recognized the Return Missile spell and informed Dane that his efforts were in vain. Hargin, on the run, without stopping, threw his axe at Merasiël, who narrowly vaulted over it; upon striking the floor beyond, the axe returned to the dwarf’s hand at speed. He took an arrow or two from Dane upon his shield, and Gestlin cast a spell to levitate him off the ground that ended up seizing his shield instead; the dwarf struck his shield with the now-returned axe, and the enchantment was broken, and he continued his charge anew, bearing down now upon the wizard. As Dane continued to loose arrows, Gestlin called upon Smil-Blam once, and it fizzled in a shower of multi-colored sparks, and then again: the dwarf was teleported high into the air, to fall to his inevitable death. Still-invisible Salren had approached, and had narrowly failed to bend the will of Gestlin and Dane to hers; upon seeing her dwarf companion falling, she managed to teleport him to safety, to some place only she knew, just before Gestlin cast a Sleep spell that caught her off her guard, and so she collapsed into an invisible heap, fast asleep.
• Radskyrta and Finn each challenged the other to attack, just before Merasiël joined their duel. Finn, armed with a pair of sai, fended off all attacks from the two with seeming ease, using the strange weapons to disarm them both in turn, though Angrist would return to Merasiël at her command. Now free of the charging dwarf, Dane began to loose arrows at Finn, but he evaded them all while maneuvering such that none of the Heroes could attack him from behind. Merasiël and Radskyrta were both wounded, but were unable to land a blow upon the exceedingly-nimble fighter; Radskyrta had defended himself furiously, but had fallen from one of the blows, and again after he got to his feet, after which Finn unsheathed his katana in the blink of an eye, and in a fluid motion, stabbed Radskyrta through the heart, slaying him. Gestlin had joined the effort, casting Flame Jet which Finn easily dodged, and upon seeing Radskyrta so slain, chanced a Sleep spell, to which the enemy surprisingly succumbed. Merasiël ensured Finn would not rise again.
• Gabriel abandoned stealth and broke into a run, still using the columns as cover from Alfio’s arrows, and after a pause, believing he could in no way penetrate the magical defenses, charged toward the Dome of Force anyway, leaping and tumbling; none of the elf’s arrows could find their mark. Gabriel rounded the hole in the floor and joined Brother Mendel, who had been struck with one of Alfio’s meteoric arrows, which ignored his Deflect Missile defense. As another was loosed, Gabriel threw himself in front of it, and was struck in the leg such that it was crippled. He rose on his remaining leg, with help, as Brother Mendel spun up a spell to dispel the dome, and again, Gabriel threw himself in front of the arrow, which failed to penetrate his cuirass. Brother Mendel’s spell failed to dispel the dome, so he tried instead to heal whom he could.

Meanwhile, Rainald, having just slain the enemy’s leader, brazenly approached the dome and began looking for a weakness, and finding none, began to taunt its occupant. Safe within, Alfio responded by loosing an arrow at Rainald’s face, which Rainald caught with his hand, having let go his shield. Again Rainald taunted the elf, who then loosed two arrows at once at Rainald’s face; but as he raised his shield, one of them was deflected by the rim such that Rainald was struck in his right eye. Rainald staggered but remained on his feet through sheer stubbornness, and the elf loosed arrow after arrow at the Northman’s face, and Rainald was struck twice more as he fell back to help Gabriel protect Brother Mendel, who was trying to find a weakness in the dome’s defense.

As Finn had finally been felled, now Gestlin and Dane were able to turn their attentions upon the elf as well, being the last that remained of the enemy. There existed a stalemate: Alfio had used the loosed the last of his meteoric arrows upon Brother Mendel, and knew that any others would be subject to the Heroes’ magical defenses, but he could not dismiss the the dome to leave it, and would have to defend himself as he could as he waited for it to fall of its own. No longer hurried, Gestlin retrieved a few of the elf’s meteoric arrows that had been deflected or dodged from a nearby column and handed them to Dane, who readied to aggressively return them to their former-owner, while Gestlin powered up a Windstorm to prevent any more arrows leaving the dome in a dangerous attitude. Alfio knew he had no chance to survive; he loosed a few arrows anyway that were easily deflected by the casters or caught by the wind as expected. As Gestlin launched an Explosive Fireball through the dome, Alfio dove over the edge of the excavation to the bottom of the protective force sphere, shielding him from the full force of the blast. As he climbed back up, singed but still healthy, Dane returned his meteoric arrows through his back. And it was over.

All had been wounded save for Gestlin, and Brother Mendel began to heal them. Rainald’s eye was lost, though Brother Mendel was certain it could be regenerated later. But there was no celebration in victory, as they saw that Radskyrta was dead; Brother Mendel insisted that they should take him to a church, that he could pray for his resurrection.

Notes

• This fight took up the entire session, and was easily the toughest this group has ever faced; we lost an NPC for the second time (in the last 4 years prior), and Rainald had to make Death Checks for the first time ever. Again, the enemies were PCs from the GM’s face-to-face group, three of which were 400+ points, with some long-established and thoroughly-tested tactics and procedures that the GM recreated here to deadly effect. If not for some lucky breaks (bad resistance rolls, etc), it could easily have been much, much worse for us
• The Red-Shirt, Radskyrta, joined the party so long ago, finally did his duty, though he may be returned through resurrection
• Along with the enemies’ superior natural capabilities, they had some nasty magical gear; through (Pyrrhic) victory, this gear is now ours
• The dwarf still lives, as far as we know, and will not take it well that we have killed his fellows, I think; one of the magic items found on their persons is one of a pair of magical earrings that act as two-way communicators—the dwarf undoubtedly has the other

Dramatis Personæ

Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Action and Consequence

13 May 2014

The Heroes arrived back aboard the Gleaming Endeavor, having been retrieved from ashore by Shaun, and discussed amongst themselves how they might see what it was these hostile strangers they had just encountered were up to. It was decided that they should ride the dragons in a fly-over of the excavation site—which Gestlin dubbed the “Pantheon” for reasons he explained at length but none heeded. Magnifico would go, of course (though he greatly feared the archer’s arrows might find him unable to defend himself), and Dane volunteered, being less encumbered by heavy gear and possessed of keen vision—he removed his armor and anything else he didn’t have immediate need of, to lighten his mount’s burden. They decided to do a test-ride, flying around the ship, to see if it could be done; Primus was used to bearing Magnifico by now, but Dane had some difficulty with Secundus at the start, being accustomed to more horse-like creatures with saddles and other riding accoutrements, but they managed it.

Satisfied with their test, the two made for the island at best speed; the dragons, normally quite swift in the air, flew much more slowly, burdened by their riders. They flew just above treetop height and scanned the landscape for activity as they approached the Pantheon. Below, amongst the ruins, Dane spotted the elf-archer from before, who upon seeing the dragons, bolted in the some direction, no doubt rushing to warn his fellows at the excavation site. The elf deftly scrambled, leapt, and ran, so fast that even Gabriel might keep up with some difficulty, though the dragons’ route was more direct. Dane glanced back to see that the elf had climbed atop a ruined wall and aimed his bow, so he warned Magnifico to dive down low, out of sight; as they did so, Primus failed to pull up in time to avoid smashing into another ruined structure, and crashed to the ground with Magnifico. Both injured, but not so severely, Magnifico collected himself quickly and spurred Primus back into the air, followed again by Secundus and Dane, having circled tightly around. Once again at treetop height, Secundus was struck in the shoulder by an arrow, and the two came crashing down, Dane falling into the boughs of a tree; Primus and Magnifico quickly followed them down to give aid. Secundus’ wing was crippled; Magnifico produced one of the healing-scrolls Brother Mendel had made for emergencies and used it to mend the dragon’s injury such that he could fly. Again they took to the air, this time intent upon fleeing back to the ship, but Primus was struck through the neck by an arrow; the wound was deep, but Primus managed to keep aloft, while Magnfico clung to him tightly, fearing another fall.

Meanwhile, upon seeing the dragons dive for cover at the first, those still aboard the ship hasted back to the boat, to get ashore and come to the aid of their endangered fellows. They arrived on the beach about the same time the dragons converged on their position on their way back to the ship, and so instead landed there to join the others. Gestlin cast a few spells to aid the fighters and got back into the boat, sliding down low so as not to be seen while he maintained his concentration, while Shaun rowed away from shore, keeping low also. Magnifico sent the dragons back to the ship without him, where Brother Mendel could tend to Secundus. Now ready, they moved cautiously inland toward where they had last seen the elf, and searched for some time, but their foe was nowhere to be found. Rainald was greatly angered at his friends having been cowardly ambushed without provocation, and began to loudly call out to their invisible foe, berating his cowardice and demanding he come forth and fight. Angered all the more by their foe’s refusal to appear, Rainald began stomping his way up the hill toward the Pantheon, calling out insults and challenges all the way; the other Heroes followed behind and beside Rainald at several paces, some keeping hidden as they could, all expecting an arrow to be loosed from some hiding place to strike him in the eye. Rainald reached the Pantheon and found it deserted of their enemies, while the other Heroes caught up to his position, spread out and watching for another ambush. Rainald continued to call out after the strangers, but none would reveal themselves, so he angrily began smashing and breaking their carefully-laid supplies and excavation gear. At this, the nobleman—who gave the order to the elf to have the Heroes followed and slain—emerged from behind a far pillar, and demanded that Rainald cease his vandalism. Rainald pointed his spear at the stranger, fire in his eyes, and demanded the nobleman fight him; his foe was cocky and self-sure, blustering, saying that Rainald would surely fall. Dane, slinking in the shadows behind Rainald, impatiently loosed an arrow at the nobleman—to Rainald’s irritation—but the arrow reversed its path and narrowly missed its owner instead, confirming the Heroes’ suspicion that the rest of their enemies were lurking nearby, perhaps invisible. The nobleman was unbothered by the bow-shot; he flexed and stretched, and swung his broadsword in the air, in preparation for the duel. Rainald cast aside his spear and drew forth Gramjarn, and beat his shield in challenge. Then the two began to advance toward each other, not in haste, but burdened with violent purpose. To be continued…

Notes

• Brother Mendel’s and Merasiël’s players were unavailable for this session, so we had to do without—otherwise, Merasiël might have been the other rider. Gestlin’s player was late as well.
• Once again we found ourselves ignorant of the dragons’ capabilities, and determined they had points that needed spending, especially to give them the Mount skill, to hopefully aid those attempting to ride them—seeing that the riding of them is becoming a bit of a habit
• The scouting flyover was meant to be nothing more than that—scouting—but Magnifico’s fears were realized when they were attacked; the two plus dragons were completely unprepared—though afterward, we figured they probably could have taken the elf on with a bit of tactical thinking, of which they were incapable in the heat of the moment
• Rainald’s tirade was a dangerous gamble on my part, but honestly, we didn’t have any better ideas at the time—and it was certainly in-character for him
• As a result of the late start, and the early finish to avoid getting into a big fight with half the group missing, we didn’t accomplish a whole lot in this session
• It was revealed afterward by the GM that the adventurers on the island are actually a group of PCs from one of his face-to-face campaigns; they had already faced ours some time ago, at least once

Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Myths and Legends

13 May 2014

The Heroes slept in late, having stood watch through what remained of the stormy night after a light was spotted in the distance ashore on the island, that they believed to be a campfire. By the morning, the foul weather had passed, and the crew of the Gleaming Endeavor rose early to begin working to repair the broken mast and ragged sail. The work was briefly halted as Shaun excitedly pointed out to everyone what he had discovered, what looked to be ruins of an ancient city under the water beneath them; as everyone marveled at the sight, they could see that there was more of the city ashore, overgrown by the local vegetation to the point of camouflage. Far inland, where they supposed the fire had been spotted the previous night, were what looked to be pillars of some temple-like structure. The construction was unlike anything any of them had ever seen before, though Brother Mendel thought it seemed familiar (as he had seen drawings in books he had studied of ancient Greece in his days on Earth prior to being brought to Yrth in a Banestorm); Gestlin, also of Earth (but a more “modern” age) and a student of archaeology, recognized the strong Greco-Roman influence in the ruined architecture. The Heroes, being of little use to the ship’s repair, decided to go ashore to explore the ruins, to see what they might learn. Shaun was tasked to row them ashore in the ship’s boat, so that he might return with it, though he would rather have gone ashore to explore as well; Radskyrta went ashore with his fellows, needing to stretch his legs after being laid-up by the storm, though he half expected to be killed by some wild beast; Magnifico let the dragons loose from their cages, and rode Primus across the natural harbor, Secundus following.

The Heroes wandered the ruins for some hours, heading in the general direction of the “temple,” listening to Gestlin prattle on about matters of archaeology, and comparisons of what they encountered to ancient Earth civilizations, long past. As they explored, though, they kept a wary eye for others, as they knew someone else must be present. They heard a noise of stones overturned nearby, and Dane examined the area for tracks, finding only the passing of animals of some sort.

Some time later, as the Heroes continued to explore, the nature of the beast that made those tracks was revealed when a pair of “hybrid creatures”—part lion, part goat, part viper—leapt from cover and attacked; one pounced upon Gestlin, and the other, Primus. As Gestlin was held fast and gravely injured, his attacker’s lion-head breathed a jet of flame at Gabriel and Dane as they closed in to defend him; Brother Mendel summoned water upon them in turn, dousing their burning clothing. At the same time, the other creature struggled with Primus, locking its jaws on the dragon’s neck and snapping at Secundus with its viper-headed tail, while Merasiël threw Angrist as she approached. The creatures’ goat-head cried out as a man might, having a dispiriting effect; Magnifico thought therefore the creatures might be intelligent, and taunted them to see if they might react, but they continued as animals might. Rainald finally gathered his wits and threw his spear at the first creature, striking it deep before charging with Gramjarn, while Gabriel danced ’round the creature, dodging more gouts of flame and stabbing it deep many times with Misericordia, but it was exceedingly hardy and would not easily fall; Gabriel was struck by its viper-tail, and felt the onset of its venom. Secundus also was bitten by the other’s viper-tail and so poisoned; Magnifico called out to the dragons to leave off and come to heel, and Secundus obeyed, while Brother Mendel healed him, though there was nothing in his power he could do to neutralize the poison, and Primus remained held fast. Radskyrta charged in to come to Merasiël’s aid against the second, and the two attacked as it dragged the grievously-wounded Primus away. Then Merasiël buried her dagger into its lion-head’s eye, and it released its prey, who limped clear of it. Meanwhile, now with the aid of Dane’s arrows as he finally got to his feet, Gabriel plunged his rapier once more into the first creature, and it died, and Gabriel turned to the other, now set upon additionally by Rainald. Seeing the lion-head hanging limp, Merasiël stabbed its goat-head in the eye as well; thrashing and blinded, its poisonous viper-tail found its mark, biting her, but the Heroes now surrounded and overwhelmed it, and slew the creature.

Gestlin declared the creatures to be called “chimeræ,” from ancient Earth-lore. Brother Mendel healed the wounded, while Gestlin, by Smil-Blam, cast a spell to remove the poison from those so afflicted. Merasiël seized the opportunity, as they rested, to collect what might remain of the creatures’ venom, for later use. Then they decided to continue their explorations, and set out once again for the “temple.”

As they approached the structure atop a hill, they were hailed by an elf, leaning there against a pillar; he was arrayed as an archer, and he held himself with the confidence of a seasoned warrior, demanding to know the Heroes’ business here. Magnifico assured the elf that they were only exploring this island as they stopped for repairs, but the elf remained suspicious, and called out to his fellows. Some others emerged from within the structure: a man, a sorceress, a dwarf of great strength, and a nobleman who spoke as their leader, all with the same formidable bearing. Just within, beyond these adventurers before them, the Heroes could see signs of an excavation, and Gestlin inquired what was this place; their leader did not seem to wish to speak of it to these strangers, but admitted that they believed this place to be the city of Hesiod. Gestlin knew of this place as one of the first cities of man on Yrth, lost to antiquity and obscurity, and could scarcely contain his excited curiosity, barraging the strangers with questions and facts he had heard of, and even suggested they might work together to study this place. This served somehow to magnify the strangers’ distrust, and they roughly demanded the Heroes depart immediately. The Heroes, not wishing to come to a fight for no good reason, did as they were bidden and left, near-dragging Gestlin away, still chattering. Gabriel chanced a look back and saw the leader whisper something in the elf’s ear, and reading his lips, knew that he had ordered the elf to follow and slay them; Gabriel kept this revelation to himself until they were a safe distance away, but by then the elf had disappeared from his perch. The Heroes hasted to the ship, plotting amongst themselves how they might confound their new enemy, and discover what it was they were so keen to hide from them.

Notes

• Once again we realized that we had mostly forgotten about Radskyrta; we figured he’d succumbed to seasickness during the storm, and made certain he was present for the rest—turned out he was needed, after Gestlin fell
• Though the fight against the chimeræ only featured two (technically), it took a really long time to run the fight; owing to a lot of factors, we suppose in retrospect, one of which being their possession of HT 15, which made it practically impossible for them to fail an unmodified HT check, combined with high HP totals, both increasing the number of Turns it takes to bring them down
• According to the mythology, the goat-head “taunts,” which doesn’t make sense as they have only a basic, animal intelligence; in the course of discussing, we supposed it might be the annoying “human scream,” which would certainly be off-putting during a fight