Last session, the adventurers emerged from the labyrinthine caverns beneath the Temple of Yezud, to find themselves looking upon Corinthia. They were nursing their wounds and recovering from a good deal of spider poison via a concoction prepared by Khenbish, the beautiful Hyrkanian nomad who so recently joined the group.
Things went from bad to worse when the first cold front of the year moved in. At their high elevation, it was snowing. Svetlana, the bride of Zath they just rescued, was wearing only ceremonial black beads patterned to look like a spider web. (If your imagination is struggling with this one, there is a good drawing inside Thulsa's wonderful HD3 adventure.) Plato, the stygian sorcerer, was wearing clothes that had been reduced to rags from their ordeal with Zath and company. And they had no supplies. Fortunately, Khenbish and Abaddon, the Shemite mercenary, had enough survival skills to save their hides. First, they found an uninhabited cave for shelter, and enough fuel to keep a fire going. Khenbish managed to hunt down a mountain lion, skin it, and and create a crude but warm cape for Svetlana. They waited out the weather, and made it down the mountain, cold but alive.
During this time, they began to notice Svetlana showing a belly. Was she pregnant? She had a glow about her as well.
In the foothills, they found a road and started following it. Off to the side of the road, they found what appeared to be a broken down wagon hidden in the bushes. Investigating further, they found a wagon which was dragged off the road and covered with branches to conceal it. Sitting on the ground along side the wagon is a small chest, which appears to have been broken open with an ax. Inside the chest is several brass coins and a torn piece of paper with some writing on it. They search the wagon and surrounding areas, and found more scraps of paper, with more writing. They manage to piece the writing together, which had a riddle written on it. They solved the riddle, which gave them the location of a stash of gold, which they then found.
GM's note: the above encounter is from Riddle Rooms 2: Wilderness Puzzles and Perils. The tinkerer who owned the wagon was set on by bandits. They killed him, and trashed his wagon, but were dismayed when they found his chest contained only brass coins and a note. They tore up the note in anger, hid the wagon, and rode off.
Also, we had a new player join the group, the gf of the guy playing Plato. She is playing Trinity, a Zamorian thief. I pulled her aside and proposed a back story, which she accepted: For one reason or another, Trinity had found herself in service to King Milo of Argos, a member of his "secret service" known as the King's Hand. A spy had been uncovered in Milo's court. They did their best to break the spy and learn of his affiliation and intentions, but the spy found a way to take her own life before they could learn much. Trinity was given an assignment, to track down where this spy had come from and learn what she could. To her surprise, she found that the spy had come from a small, remote village of Corinthia: Comune di Vita, or simply Vita. She traveled to Vita, and has been there a few days, staying at the town's only inn. The people were friendly initially, but when she didn't leave shortly after they became increasingly less friendly. It's becoming clear that they want her out, and their initial welcome was only superficial. She's found little, other than confirming the spy was indeed from this village. Everyone in the village seems to be members of some obscure cult she's never heard of before, with the town wise woman, Muriela, apparently being the high priestess.
Back to the main group. The characters continued down the road, and soon saw a village in the distance. As they came closer, they passed an abandoned castle, but did not investigate. Approaching the walled village in the bright of day, the gate was open and the people seemed friendly enough. They use their new gold to order some clothes and purchase other supplies. They got a room at the local inn. It's tended by Joka, a fat man with a full curly beard, and a horse shoe balding pattern. His teen daughter Anna is the bar wench. It is early in the day, and the place is slow. A couple obvious locals are having an ale at a table, and there is an unexpected site, a zamorian woman at the bar.
At this point, I pull the new girl aside, and tell her that she recognizes 3 of the people in the group that just walked in. They were popular gladiators in Messantia (Abaddan, Oleksandar the Zamorian thief, and Crucio the Koth assassin). And while it is not widely known who are members of the king's hand, even by other members of the king's hand, Trinity managed to find out that two of those gladiators (Abaddon and Crucio) also swore oaths to Milo, joining the King's hand. The question is what are they doing here?
GM's note. By the end of the session, Trinity had not revealed that she is a member of the King's hand. That's fine, it's likely wise for her to not reveal her affiliation until there is a good reaon to. What was annoying is that Plato, played by her bf, immediately introduced himself, and essentially welcomed her into the group on the spot. 24 hours had not passed since their characters met, and he was already trusting her with things he didn't trust any one else in the party with, FOR NO REASON AT ALL. He didn't know her from Adam. I don't blame the new player. Her character is searching for leads, and would want to know what this new group was up to. It would be very suspicious that other members of the King's hand would show up, and if they welcomed her in and were revealing their secrets to her, there is no reason for her not to learn all she can. But there was no logical reason Plato would trust her and act the way he did. A very clear case of poor roleplaying b/c your gf just joined the group. At this point, I'll be shocked if their characters are NOT hooking up by the end of next session. ** sigh **
While most of the group wanted to keep a low profile, just get supplies and get out of here, Plato started drawing massive amounts of attention to himself. He billed himself as a traveling glee man, and made an arrangement with Joka. He would bring in customers, and Joka would give he and his friends free room and board. Joka got the word out, and being a remote village, a gleeman visiting did indeed pack the house. In addition to story telling, juggling, and buffoonery, he performed magic tricks. Some of which seemed a little "too good" to be just smoke and mirrors, but when some one would mention this, most would tell them they were being foolish. "If he was a real sorcerer, why would he be doing tricks in a bar?"
Plato wasn't the only one catching local attention, however. The beautiful Khenbish noticed she was being watched by several villagers. Finally, a pretty 20 something blond girl approached her, and said she was to be an honored guest of Muriela the wise. Khenbish and Abaddon went with the girl, who was named Anna. She lead them to the nicest house in the village, which was surrounded by gardens and comely landscaping. As they reached to open the door, the door opened on its own. "Come in. Welcome." They met Muriela, an old woman with iron gray hair. Yet they could see in her face that she must have once been beautiful. Her eyes especially still held their charm. She had an odd birth mark at both temples, but it seemed to accentuate her beautiful eyes, not take anything away.
Muriela had many young beautiful female servants. Khenbish and Abaddon were treated like royalty, seated on lush couches and pillows, offered what ever wine and food they wanted, the servants washed their hands and feet and rubbed scented oils on them, rings were placed on their fingers. Abaddon was very suspicious of behavior that seemed a little too nice, but Muriela assured them that she loved good company, and that tales of their adventures to warm her blood was worth more to her than any jewelry at this stage in her life.
Muriela had a beautiful way of speaking, and it almost seemed she could get in their heads. She said she knew a better gift for Khenbish, and sent one of her servants off with a fat pouch. A short time later, the serving girl returned with a gorgeous riding horse, which Muriela then gave to Khenbish. The nomad Khenbish knew a good horse when she saw one, and this one was top shelf, a superb beast. It was too much. She took off the finest piece of jewelry she had to give to Muriela. Murila accepted it, but only under the condition that it was two friends giving gifts to each other. It was not payment. The two adventurers eventually left, but promised to return with more tales of adventure. Muriela promised to consult the stars, for she was wise in the ways of astrology, and see if she could not learn of this Hadramas they sought.
It was now clear to anyone that Svetlana was pregnant. Not a few weeks pregnant, but well on her way pregnant. By the looks of her, 5 or 6 months pregnant, but it had only been days. Clearly something was unnatural in this pregnancy, and the adventurers began to discuss what they should or could do about it. Abaddon was ready to gut her rather than allow an abomination into the world, but Plato stepped in. "As I have told you before, I have visions. Well, I've had visions of Svetlana and her child. Of course this child is unnatural, but I assure you, it is of dire importance that we let this child be born into our world. From there, give it to me. I have seen what must be done, and only I can handle this special child."
GM's note. Plato made a pact with his demon master to give Svetlana's child to him.
Back at the inn, yet another Zamorian had checked in. For a zamorian he was rather tall, broad and well muscled. Oleksandr suspected he might have some foreign blood in him. He had a scar across bridge of nose, dark hair and eyes, a thick mustache, a bald head, and wore baggy silk clothes, with a mace at his side. Naming himself as Fadir, an emissary from Ong, just passing through, having completed his business with Magistros Arcadius Moretti, the local lord who's estates were less than a day's ride away. He mostly kept to himself, and went to bed early.
Later that night, Khenbish awoke to the sound of her fine steed neighing loudly in the stables. Looking out the window, she could see a form moving in the shadows. Waking Abaddon, they went to investigate. In the stables, a fight ensued, as a masked man snuck up on them, and attempted to poison and subdue them. Khenbish fought off the poison. Out numbering him, the adventurers began to turn the fight in their favor. The masked man fled, but khenbish shot him down with a well placed arrow. Examining her wounds, she found she was not badly hurt. Even though he had landed some clean blows, he was apparently trying to knock her out and take her alive. Examining the poison, it was purple lotus juice, which would have paralyzed, not killed. Examining the masked assailant, they found it was the Zamorian with the scar across his nose, and he was alive. Khenbish was able to stabilize his wounds and revive him. At this point, people were waking and investigating, but the characters had time to question him. Mute Khenbish wrote down "Were you sent by Marko Tanin?" (Marko Tanin is the Zamorian lord who use to own her as a slave. He gave her the wound that stole her voice.) The slave catcher did not answer, but she saw something in his his eyes when he read it that made her think Tanin did indeed send him. The sheriff arrived, and apologized profusely for this inconvenience, and said that he would take care of the prisoner.
Trinity was watching, and could not help but notice how friendly all the town's people continued to be to these new arrivals, even though they were not very warm to her. Everything that she'd heard about Vita was that the town was not very accepting of outsiders. Very strange.
At this point, Plato insisted on going to the jail, where he told the demon he could have the slave catcher as a sacrifice. The demon reminded him that this did not count as his regular sacrifice, as for him to draw out the soul of the victim required a specific ceremony, but Plato said he could still have the slave catcher as a gift/play thing anyway.
The next day, the rest of the group learned that their assailants wounds were apparently worse than they thought, as he did not live through the night.
Abaddon asked Joka what he knew of the abandoned castle near the village. He told him that it had been abandoned for at least a couple centuries. A remnant from a time when the good country of Corinthia was stronger, perhaps, but he wasn't sure. "Some say it's haunted." Abaddon could see something in his face that made him think the bar keep was lying.
The session ended with the characters discussing going to the abandoned castle. This was last week. We play again tomorrow night!
Things went from bad to worse when the first cold front of the year moved in. At their high elevation, it was snowing. Svetlana, the bride of Zath they just rescued, was wearing only ceremonial black beads patterned to look like a spider web. (If your imagination is struggling with this one, there is a good drawing inside Thulsa's wonderful HD3 adventure.) Plato, the stygian sorcerer, was wearing clothes that had been reduced to rags from their ordeal with Zath and company. And they had no supplies. Fortunately, Khenbish and Abaddon, the Shemite mercenary, had enough survival skills to save their hides. First, they found an uninhabited cave for shelter, and enough fuel to keep a fire going. Khenbish managed to hunt down a mountain lion, skin it, and and create a crude but warm cape for Svetlana. They waited out the weather, and made it down the mountain, cold but alive.
During this time, they began to notice Svetlana showing a belly. Was she pregnant? She had a glow about her as well.
In the foothills, they found a road and started following it. Off to the side of the road, they found what appeared to be a broken down wagon hidden in the bushes. Investigating further, they found a wagon which was dragged off the road and covered with branches to conceal it. Sitting on the ground along side the wagon is a small chest, which appears to have been broken open with an ax. Inside the chest is several brass coins and a torn piece of paper with some writing on it. They search the wagon and surrounding areas, and found more scraps of paper, with more writing. They manage to piece the writing together, which had a riddle written on it. They solved the riddle, which gave them the location of a stash of gold, which they then found.
GM's note: the above encounter is from Riddle Rooms 2: Wilderness Puzzles and Perils. The tinkerer who owned the wagon was set on by bandits. They killed him, and trashed his wagon, but were dismayed when they found his chest contained only brass coins and a note. They tore up the note in anger, hid the wagon, and rode off.
Also, we had a new player join the group, the gf of the guy playing Plato. She is playing Trinity, a Zamorian thief. I pulled her aside and proposed a back story, which she accepted: For one reason or another, Trinity had found herself in service to King Milo of Argos, a member of his "secret service" known as the King's Hand. A spy had been uncovered in Milo's court. They did their best to break the spy and learn of his affiliation and intentions, but the spy found a way to take her own life before they could learn much. Trinity was given an assignment, to track down where this spy had come from and learn what she could. To her surprise, she found that the spy had come from a small, remote village of Corinthia: Comune di Vita, or simply Vita. She traveled to Vita, and has been there a few days, staying at the town's only inn. The people were friendly initially, but when she didn't leave shortly after they became increasingly less friendly. It's becoming clear that they want her out, and their initial welcome was only superficial. She's found little, other than confirming the spy was indeed from this village. Everyone in the village seems to be members of some obscure cult she's never heard of before, with the town wise woman, Muriela, apparently being the high priestess.
Back to the main group. The characters continued down the road, and soon saw a village in the distance. As they came closer, they passed an abandoned castle, but did not investigate. Approaching the walled village in the bright of day, the gate was open and the people seemed friendly enough. They use their new gold to order some clothes and purchase other supplies. They got a room at the local inn. It's tended by Joka, a fat man with a full curly beard, and a horse shoe balding pattern. His teen daughter Anna is the bar wench. It is early in the day, and the place is slow. A couple obvious locals are having an ale at a table, and there is an unexpected site, a zamorian woman at the bar.
At this point, I pull the new girl aside, and tell her that she recognizes 3 of the people in the group that just walked in. They were popular gladiators in Messantia (Abaddan, Oleksandar the Zamorian thief, and Crucio the Koth assassin). And while it is not widely known who are members of the king's hand, even by other members of the king's hand, Trinity managed to find out that two of those gladiators (Abaddon and Crucio) also swore oaths to Milo, joining the King's hand. The question is what are they doing here?
GM's note. By the end of the session, Trinity had not revealed that she is a member of the King's hand. That's fine, it's likely wise for her to not reveal her affiliation until there is a good reaon to. What was annoying is that Plato, played by her bf, immediately introduced himself, and essentially welcomed her into the group on the spot. 24 hours had not passed since their characters met, and he was already trusting her with things he didn't trust any one else in the party with, FOR NO REASON AT ALL. He didn't know her from Adam. I don't blame the new player. Her character is searching for leads, and would want to know what this new group was up to. It would be very suspicious that other members of the King's hand would show up, and if they welcomed her in and were revealing their secrets to her, there is no reason for her not to learn all she can. But there was no logical reason Plato would trust her and act the way he did. A very clear case of poor roleplaying b/c your gf just joined the group. At this point, I'll be shocked if their characters are NOT hooking up by the end of next session. ** sigh **
While most of the group wanted to keep a low profile, just get supplies and get out of here, Plato started drawing massive amounts of attention to himself. He billed himself as a traveling glee man, and made an arrangement with Joka. He would bring in customers, and Joka would give he and his friends free room and board. Joka got the word out, and being a remote village, a gleeman visiting did indeed pack the house. In addition to story telling, juggling, and buffoonery, he performed magic tricks. Some of which seemed a little "too good" to be just smoke and mirrors, but when some one would mention this, most would tell them they were being foolish. "If he was a real sorcerer, why would he be doing tricks in a bar?"
Plato wasn't the only one catching local attention, however. The beautiful Khenbish noticed she was being watched by several villagers. Finally, a pretty 20 something blond girl approached her, and said she was to be an honored guest of Muriela the wise. Khenbish and Abaddon went with the girl, who was named Anna. She lead them to the nicest house in the village, which was surrounded by gardens and comely landscaping. As they reached to open the door, the door opened on its own. "Come in. Welcome." They met Muriela, an old woman with iron gray hair. Yet they could see in her face that she must have once been beautiful. Her eyes especially still held their charm. She had an odd birth mark at both temples, but it seemed to accentuate her beautiful eyes, not take anything away.
Muriela had many young beautiful female servants. Khenbish and Abaddon were treated like royalty, seated on lush couches and pillows, offered what ever wine and food they wanted, the servants washed their hands and feet and rubbed scented oils on them, rings were placed on their fingers. Abaddon was very suspicious of behavior that seemed a little too nice, but Muriela assured them that she loved good company, and that tales of their adventures to warm her blood was worth more to her than any jewelry at this stage in her life.
Muriela had a beautiful way of speaking, and it almost seemed she could get in their heads. She said she knew a better gift for Khenbish, and sent one of her servants off with a fat pouch. A short time later, the serving girl returned with a gorgeous riding horse, which Muriela then gave to Khenbish. The nomad Khenbish knew a good horse when she saw one, and this one was top shelf, a superb beast. It was too much. She took off the finest piece of jewelry she had to give to Muriela. Murila accepted it, but only under the condition that it was two friends giving gifts to each other. It was not payment. The two adventurers eventually left, but promised to return with more tales of adventure. Muriela promised to consult the stars, for she was wise in the ways of astrology, and see if she could not learn of this Hadramas they sought.
It was now clear to anyone that Svetlana was pregnant. Not a few weeks pregnant, but well on her way pregnant. By the looks of her, 5 or 6 months pregnant, but it had only been days. Clearly something was unnatural in this pregnancy, and the adventurers began to discuss what they should or could do about it. Abaddon was ready to gut her rather than allow an abomination into the world, but Plato stepped in. "As I have told you before, I have visions. Well, I've had visions of Svetlana and her child. Of course this child is unnatural, but I assure you, it is of dire importance that we let this child be born into our world. From there, give it to me. I have seen what must be done, and only I can handle this special child."
GM's note. Plato made a pact with his demon master to give Svetlana's child to him.
Back at the inn, yet another Zamorian had checked in. For a zamorian he was rather tall, broad and well muscled. Oleksandr suspected he might have some foreign blood in him. He had a scar across bridge of nose, dark hair and eyes, a thick mustache, a bald head, and wore baggy silk clothes, with a mace at his side. Naming himself as Fadir, an emissary from Ong, just passing through, having completed his business with Magistros Arcadius Moretti, the local lord who's estates were less than a day's ride away. He mostly kept to himself, and went to bed early.
Later that night, Khenbish awoke to the sound of her fine steed neighing loudly in the stables. Looking out the window, she could see a form moving in the shadows. Waking Abaddon, they went to investigate. In the stables, a fight ensued, as a masked man snuck up on them, and attempted to poison and subdue them. Khenbish fought off the poison. Out numbering him, the adventurers began to turn the fight in their favor. The masked man fled, but khenbish shot him down with a well placed arrow. Examining her wounds, she found she was not badly hurt. Even though he had landed some clean blows, he was apparently trying to knock her out and take her alive. Examining the poison, it was purple lotus juice, which would have paralyzed, not killed. Examining the masked assailant, they found it was the Zamorian with the scar across his nose, and he was alive. Khenbish was able to stabilize his wounds and revive him. At this point, people were waking and investigating, but the characters had time to question him. Mute Khenbish wrote down "Were you sent by Marko Tanin?" (Marko Tanin is the Zamorian lord who use to own her as a slave. He gave her the wound that stole her voice.) The slave catcher did not answer, but she saw something in his his eyes when he read it that made her think Tanin did indeed send him. The sheriff arrived, and apologized profusely for this inconvenience, and said that he would take care of the prisoner.
Trinity was watching, and could not help but notice how friendly all the town's people continued to be to these new arrivals, even though they were not very warm to her. Everything that she'd heard about Vita was that the town was not very accepting of outsiders. Very strange.
At this point, Plato insisted on going to the jail, where he told the demon he could have the slave catcher as a sacrifice. The demon reminded him that this did not count as his regular sacrifice, as for him to draw out the soul of the victim required a specific ceremony, but Plato said he could still have the slave catcher as a gift/play thing anyway.
The next day, the rest of the group learned that their assailants wounds were apparently worse than they thought, as he did not live through the night.
Abaddon asked Joka what he knew of the abandoned castle near the village. He told him that it had been abandoned for at least a couple centuries. A remnant from a time when the good country of Corinthia was stronger, perhaps, but he wasn't sure. "Some say it's haunted." Abaddon could see something in his face that made him think the bar keep was lying.
The session ended with the characters discussing going to the abandoned castle. This was last week. We play again tomorrow night!
