Hogscape
11th level Troll
Stalwart of the Trollbridge
It's not the years, it's the mileage.
Posts: 2,126
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Post by Hogscape on Apr 25, 2011 8:55:10 GMT -5
OMG. So much imagination. Gone all tingly.
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Post by mahrundl on Apr 25, 2011 9:24:07 GMT -5
You need to cut back on the sherbet, man... ;D
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devadasi
5th Level Troll
maiden voyager
Posts: 603
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Post by devadasi on Apr 26, 2011 0:04:44 GMT -5
thanks so much!
I am looking SO forward to getting back to the states this summer and playing some TnT. I've got an adventure in my head ( and partly on paper) that I think is gonna be really amazing. I plan on playtesting it not only with my children, but with my gang of adult gamers as well. It will be slightly more psychologically gothic with the adult group, but that will just be window dressing, and the adventure is a good mix of horror and gonzo. I will throw some of my ideas out there for you guys soon ( right now I am packing up to leave after a five year stint in India.... so its too hectic)
As for Jaxxon, Muralie, Ella Noir, Gumby the goblin, and Speedy the fairy,.... they headed down into the Deep Caves.
Gumby knew the way initially. Water was often brought up from the deeper caves, so Gumby knew that route, but not much farther. The natural stone passage, dotted with stalagtites and thick tree roots, twisted and turned as it decended... in a few places having to be squeezed through. Then, the strong smell of ionized water, and even a wind.
The trail opened out over a huge natural chasm. the path was clinging to the walls of the cave ravine, skirting it and forming a ledge perhaps three feet wide. The depths of the dropoff where hidden in darkness, though the drop of a torch showed it to be at least a hundred feet down.
The obstacle to progress lay just ahead however. From the mouth of a stone demon head carved into the wall emerged a gusher of water strong enough to push an elephant ( an Ella knew well what kind of strength that required). An underground river was being funneled through the mouth of the statue, the spout of water jetting straight out over the ledge and into the dark depths below.
The path was mossy and slick here, and the group stayed close to the wall, tossing some water barrels in their way over the edge in order to give them more room to manuever. But upon examination it was clear that the jet of water could not be gone under... nor pushed through.
the party would actually have to climb over the slippery demon head relief to get to the other side.
"Only fester goes past here." the goblin informed Muralie.
But how to cross? I informed them that the path over the head was slick and the handholds narrow. It would take a second level dex SR for someone to negotiate the path without a rope. Ella could have achieved this roll easily.... but my daughter wasn't interested in being the pointman. The goblin deeply in admiration of his new master volunteered to go first, bearing the front end of the rope. Because of his cave experience, i ruled the goblin only needed a 1st level SR.
He made it! barely.... but he made it. Huge relief from the peanut gallery.... but the tension wasn'tt over yet.
with the rope secured on both sides, I decided only a first level roll would be required to get over the head to the other side of the waterspout.
Jaxxon made his, my son visibly relieved. Ella then easily made hers. Muralie being a half elf was certainly set up[ to make hers as well.
But she didn't. She rolled a three.
"you watch in horror as Muralie looses her footing and her leg hits the water stream.... the power tears her hand from the rope.... and she plummets, overpowered into the darkness below."
my children look stunned. upset.
"Is she dead?" they ask in unison
I shake my head sadly "Odds are pretty bad." I say. "she would had to have fallen a long way. who knows where she ended up?"
"But is she dead?"
"you would have to think so.... she fell a long, long way."
"but is she dead?"
"I don't know...... it wouldn't be easy to survive a fall like that."
I looked at the clock. what seemed like five minutes of gametime had been an hour and a half, and it was nearly eleven.
"Thess, is Muralie dead?" my son kept asking me as we prepared for bed.
i just shook my head sadly "she fell SO far." I said.
"but is she dead?"
I refused to provide hard facts, that the characters would not have been aqble to confirm.... telling them only what facts the characters would know.
Fact is, I didn't know at first whether Muralie would be dead or not. The obstacle was clearly fairly deadly...... but the kids were clearly kind of disturbed by the idea that she was gone forever.
But that fear of death is part of what makes the game exciting, and no one should get to comfortable with the idea of exploring a dungeon.
That night while son and daughter slept, I decided finding Muralie was a great motivator to get them deeper into the caves. I would let them hold on to the sliver of hope that she was alive.
and Muralie..... she will have been pulled unconcious from the waters below...... by slavers.
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devadasi
5th Level Troll
maiden voyager
Posts: 603
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Post by devadasi on Apr 26, 2011 6:26:56 GMT -5
fearful for the life of Muralie, the others hurry onward, hoping that the only established path of progression will eventually lead them to their friend.... whether alive.... or just a body.
the path continues its decent, though not steeply, before finally opening onto a huge cylindrical, brick walled, chamber with a staircase spiraling down its inner wall and into the black depths.
Unlike the rest of the caves so far, this chamber was clearly constructed, and at no small cost. By whom is a mystery lost to time.
Jaxxon, Ella, and Gumby begin their careful decent of the stairs.... for there are no gaurdrails... and a fall here, is undeniably a death sentence. Speedy follows on wings. the stairs are crumbling and broken in a few places and the adventures nervously jump over the small gaps. ( i do not require saving rolls for these jumps, as the distances are small and the characters fit and hale... though I do detail how the stairs shift slightly with the weight placed on them, and bits of rubble break off and fall for several seconds before sounding against the bottom of the chamber. I want them cautious... but this area is "dungeon flavor" and not meant to kill... at least not directly)
Eventually they begin passing niches in the wall, in which are placed large ceramic urns with sealed caps. these are spaced fairly evenly.... every fifty steps or so. I figured they would eventually become curious and open one.
But they don't. Jaxxon is single minded in his desire to find out the fate of Muralie, and Ella is, for once, willing to follow without causing friction.
Not wanting the secret of the urns to go completely to waste, I decide that Speedy the mischievious fairy will open one.... perhaps hoping to find a little gold.
Whoops! these were burial urns, and the spirits of the deceased aren't happy at being disturbed. the urn shatters as the bones contained within knit themselves back together and stalk down the stairs toward the delvers. Speedy, whose knitting needle is useless against the danger he has unleashed flies out to a safe distance.
"Agh! stupid fairy!" Jaxxon yells. The skeleton, moving without caution or regard for its own safety is almost upon Ella.
"Watch your feet guys! its a long fall" i intone with some gravity.
"Ella we have to attack it together okay?"
"okay"
together the two dispatch the skeleton in the first round. the skull falls at Ella's feet and she kicks it off the stairs.
"Let's go!" Jaxxon orders
At each niche in the wall he grabs the urn and hurls it off the stairs. the sound of ceramics breaking puntuates their decent from this point on. I tell the characters it took more than an hour to decend to the bottom.
They look relieved to be out of falling danger.
"Don't touch anything else Speedy." Ella scolds the fairy. "yeah, really." Jaxxon ads.
at the bottom of the stairs, jaxxons torch illuminates a wooden door. Swollen with water it no longer shuts properly and they are able to open it on its rusty hinges without delay.
The chamber beyond is like nothing they ever imagined. a dim purplish light ( I describe it as being like a blacklight whose batteries are running low) casts dim illumination over a natural chamber of almost unimaginable size. The light comes from phosphorescent viens of mineral in the surrounding limestone... and is bright enough to grant very basic outlines of things... but virtually no detail.
But perhaps even stranger is that they are standing on the pebbly shores of an underground lake.... the waters as black as night.
They have no idea what to do at this point.
the goblin asks for a piece of cheese. the party sits on the shores and consumes a light meal, trying to decide what to do next.
thats when the sillhuette of a skiff slowly moves across the water towards them, being poled by what looks like an upright humanoid toad.
the skiff is poled up onto the shore, making a soft scratching over the pebbles as it lands. The toad thing cocks his head ...but says nothing.
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cram
4th Level Troll
DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!
Posts: 271
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Post by cram on Apr 26, 2011 14:49:58 GMT -5
More...More...More
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devadasi
5th Level Troll
maiden voyager
Posts: 603
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Post by devadasi on Apr 29, 2011 5:54:54 GMT -5
The froglike creature appears a fell sort of creature, and has a foul smell to match, but does not seem openly hostile. His eyes are enormous, and even seem to produce light of their own.. the beams of which give the party of four a good looking over.
Jaxxon asks if he has seen a girl. the creature clearly understands not a word. jaxxon points at Ella and them at his eyes trying to pantomine what he is searching for.
the creature remains nonchalant. but with a gesture of his hand seems to inquire whether the group is in need of an old slimy boat or not.
everyone hesitantly prepares to climb in. the toad allows this but does not move the skiff from the underground shore. jaxxon and Ella are confused as to what to do next.
"maybe he wants gold?" speedy offers. ( me trying to make sure that the fairy is not entirely a problematic thing to have around)
"Oh!.... how much?" my son looks at me and asks
"I try to look toadlike while holding up five fingers."
Jaxxon has only 2 gold suns and five silver lunars remaining in his pouch. Ella, who has quite a bit more money offers to pay the remaining three, but isn't interested in paying for everyone. ( traditional girl, my daughter)
revealing a surprising strength in his thin wiry arms the toad with the flashlight eyes poles the skiff out onto the dark waters.
( more to come guys.... but I am tired, and the heat of late April in South India is rendering my mind useless... more soon)
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devadasi
5th Level Troll
maiden voyager
Posts: 603
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Post by devadasi on May 15, 2011 9:11:38 GMT -5
So I know i haven't yet finished transcribing the last episode of last summer's Tunnels and Trolls campaign with GenZ, but last night began the first chapter of this years game and it still has me excited this, the morning after, so i thought best to skip immediately to this years serial and come back later for the last installment of the previous game.
Last night my daughter went to her best friends house ( along with several others) for a sleepover. I had promised my son that his friend Fin could come stay at our house for the night, and that we would play TnT. Fin, was apparently quite excited, and his enthusiasm was indeed a driving force behind some of the amazing moments in last nights game.
Fin named his character ( a warrior/ bowman type with an archery talent) "Fin" saying he wasn't good at creating names. I figured "Fin" was exotic enough, and made no protestation. its THEIR game.
Then, as he rolled up his character I watched as he rolled TRIPLE SIXES and then followed up with a 12. his archer will start the game with a dex of 30!
Fin, having been fleshed out, my son decided to keep playing Jaxxon, as opposed to trying any of the new characters he had rolled up in anticipation of my returning home.
I start the game with the two of them arriving on the same boat in the ancient city of UR.
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cram
4th Level Troll
DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!
Posts: 271
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Post by cram on May 15, 2011 9:44:55 GMT -5
*Cram scooches forward toward the edge of his seat*
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devadasi
5th Level Troll
maiden voyager
Posts: 603
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Post by devadasi on May 15, 2011 14:38:17 GMT -5
I introduced UR, and the boys are somewhat dazzled by the bewildering variety of races that seem to call it home, and by the surprising conucopia of unusual goods available.
having hit it off as friends quickly ( what a surprise!) Jaxxon and Fin set about to do a little exploring and shopping. jaxxon takes some of the gold he lifted off of a slave lord in the conclusion of the last campaign to buy himself a light warhorse. Fin purchases a gladius with a very keen edge at the "DawnRazer Smithy" from a very adept elven metulurgist named: yes, "dawnrazor". His gladius cost 50 gp more than the one listed in the rulebook, but it does one extra ad in damage.
shopping finished, the two wish to initiate a plan hatched on the school playground in the previous week.
" we want to start our own theives guild" Fin announces. "oh really?" I raises my eyebrow. "yeah." my son echoes.
"Well, it so happens that their are already TWO thieves organizations in this town. you are likely to step on some toes..."
"okay, we want to join the theives guild" Fin says. i wonder how he knows about the whole "thieves guild" mythology thing.... he's never played tabletop...
"hmmmm. how do you plan on joining.?"
"we need to find some theives."
"were do you want to look?."
"the temple."
"okay"
I had explained at the outset that the largest physical stucture in UR, other than the palace of Agnivaraman and his naga queen Sinjade, was the temple of Great Klaatu..... a stucture built around a gigantic,, towering stone head. The head is actually said to belong to the dead God Klaatu, who was beheaded by a demon lord in an act of self sacrifice. the head is believed to have fallen to earth in precisely this spot, and continues to bless the citizins of UR to this day.... a powerful religious relic.
As they approach the temple, activity becomes more frenzied and fragrant. the smell of hundreds of thousands of fresh flowers and insense mingles with the scent of sour milk and sweat... creating a scent so different and overwhelming the characters are not sure whether to like it or hate it.
Drums, gongs, and horns ring out from every direction, and as the two get closer to the giant head more and more Rishis ( priests of Klaatu.... dressed in a simple white loincloth,,, and smeared with ashes or sweet smelling sandalpaste) and Dasis ( female temple dancers.... also rumored to be skilled and deadly assasins.... can be seen. Fin decides he wants a dog. "where can i get a dog?" "there are hundreds of stray dogs in the street." i say "go buy a cheap leg of mutton, and im sure you could find an animal willing to be loyal pretty quick,"
"where can i buy mutton?" "butcher shops will be outside the temple district."
"lets go jaxxon." fin says
"wait. I'm gonna make an offering."
"what are you gonna offer?" I ask
"a piece of my ball of wax." my son replies sniggering
"i bring the ball of wax to the rishi and i say 'this is my sincere offering to god." then he ads in an aside "its a bunch of bull, but still"
when i hear this i ask for a first level charisma save. jaxxon makes it. The rishi accepts the sarcastic offering.... god works in mysterious ways, and offers a blessing to Jaxxon.... he can at a time of his choosing alter any die roll by one point.
"oh cool!" my son laughed " i can't believe that worked!"
" I shoulda done that" Fin said.
they leave the temple, and make their way deeper into the maze of old alley ways that is UR. soon a dirty butcher shop is found... with flies crawling all over the freshly butchered meat. Fin buys a bone.
half an hour later he has a dog willing to be loyal companion.
"We need to find a tavern." Fin says ( how can he have never played before?)
"what kind of tavern are you looking for?, their are two within site of you now.... just off to your left is a sleezy looking dive called "ToadLiquors" and across the street is a place called the "Iron pig".... but its clientele seems mostly dwarven. ToadLiquors seems to take all types..... you have seen a troll..... end even an upright humanoid duck walk into that place."
"thats where we want to go!" Fin is totally takin command here. he appears to be a natural.....
Still outside, I ask my son where he wants to leave his horse.
"I tie it up outside."
"okay, while you are tying up your horse you see a smart-ass looking teenage guy.... and he says 'i'll keep an eye on your horse and make sure no one steals it for one gold piece"
"No. get lost before i kick your butt." jaxxon tells the punk.... then prepares to head inside with his friend for an ale.
"WAIT!" fin exclains "he's gonna steal the horse when we go in!"
i grin mischieviously..... this is a very perceptive kid. "you wait here" fin tells Jaxxon "i'll get the beers"
When Fin enters I explain "ale is available here.... but most people seem to be drinking a really wierd drink.... they pour alchohol in a glass then they are dipping a live toad in the glass a few times. People are drinking toadjoice!"
"whaaa?" "OMG" my son laughs. "we will try that!" they both say in unison.
"First time drinking the toad?" the barwench asks fin when she delivers the drinks "yeah."
"be careful" she warns slyly.
Outside, standing next to the horse the two begin drinking their unusual drink. Fin asks if the obnoxious kid is still hanging around.
"yeah." "i told him to get out of here." jaxxon says
"he just went far enough away that you can't catch him" i say
" I ask him if there is a theives guild" Fin tells me
"I ain't stole nuthin!" the kid yells back at him "no, no... do you know if we can meet the theif boss?"
"uhhhh. yeah. sure. I can help you meet him. wait here.... i'll be back in twenty minutes."
towards the end of the wait, i ask both players to make 1st level CON rolls against their base Con. fin, whose con is 11 fails first.
"okay Fin roll a d6"
he rolls, i crossrefference the result with a handy little table i drew up pregame.
"okay roll again" I crossrefernce second result with another table.
"okay.... Fin you see the duck i spoke of earlier.... you are just awestruck by the beauty and majesty of such a creature. you decide you want to take the most important or valuable thing you have, and just give it it to him as a gift. "here.... take it noble creature" you say "handing him your bow."
"arg. we are drunk aren't we?" Fin asks
I nod
"i stop him" Jaxxon says "fin, don't give him your bow, you need it."
"jaxxon, 1st level Con roll please" i say
jaxxon fails as well. "roll d6"
"okay, jaxxon, you pick the biggest meanest looking guy you can see, and you walk up to him and tell him how stupid, ugly and lame he looks."
"awg!" both boys exclaim.... "we should have known this was going to happen."
combat between Jaxxon and Billy the Bully begins.... Billy raises his fists... jaxxon his whip
"Fight like a man wimp!" Billy the Bully taunts.
Fisticuffs it is then. "No helmet or shield either" reminds the bully. Jaxxon looks nervous as he prepares for a street brawl. Fin stares admiringly at the duck as it waddles away, fondling its new bow.
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devadasi
5th Level Troll
maiden voyager
Posts: 603
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Post by devadasi on May 16, 2011 6:10:55 GMT -5
As it turns ot, Billy the Bully knows how to box. you might would say he's "talented". At the end of combat round 1 jaxxon has a black eye and 2 less constitution than he had the minute previously.
"Who's stupid and ugly now. punk?"
Fin, having watched the duck admiringly as he headed down the alley, now returns, at least partially to his senses and jumps an the back of Billy the bully... trying to initiate a choke hold. Billy has an MR of 30. I don't want this encounter turning deadly.... its really just flavor, and a warning not to spend a whole lot of time drinking toad liquor just because everyone else is doing it;)
Billy fails a first level dex save trying to throw Fin from his back, and as a result, I give jaxxon a full unanswered attack against Billy. As a result, its Billy who doesn't look so good anymore. At the conclusion of round 3, the Bully is out kowld, and is slumped in the dust outside of toadliquors.
the punk kid shows back up.
"uh. nice fightin' I guess. So anyway, i've set up a meeting with the cheif of the guild."
"good. lets go." jaxxon says "But Fin has picked something up in my shifty eyed portrayal of the kid."
"waitaminit. is there a place to hide my gold.... like in a corner somewhere while we go to this meeting? what if they ambush us.... i don't want them to take my gold."
i let Fin explore the alleyway, describing the piles of trash and broken wooden crates complete with rats nests that occupy yhe space he is searching.
he decides in the end to keep his gold with him, but is slightly more nervout the outcome of the meeting than before.
this time my son decides to spend a gold piece and have someone watch his horse.
the two intrepid adventurers then follow the kid through the maze of twisted alleyways and staircases that define the streets of owlde towne UR.
eventually they arrive at an abandoned godown whose door is a simple dirty blanket strung up over the rickety portal. "we have to go a little way in the dark.... then we light candles" the punk tells them.
but once they enter, sure enough it turns out to be an ambush. A group of local thugs.... perhaps even the inbread family of our young punk want some ( nay ALL) of that money that the boys have been seen spending around town.
the melee begins immediately. One of the "brudders" is a hulking thug with horrible teeth and even worse breath. A second swings a handax around in a way that can only indicate that he might have spent a few weeks in Sourbridge Asylum at one point. I girl, perhaps only a year older than our original punk but ornery enough that being a member of the fairer sex ( which is relative here anyway) elicits her no smympathy. Together these inbreeds surround or heroes and move in to deliver a good beatin'
And they do. At the end of round 1, despite the fact that both boys wear armor, jaxxons con has been reduced by another point, and Fins by two points. Both players have a look of "this thieves guild thing might not have been such a great idea"
Fin does a back flip (3rd level dex roll..... he has to roll a 3 to fail) to get behind one of his opponents, but I rule that as a result of his movement Jaxxon will take the full brunt of the whole gangs attack this round. Jaxxon loses another 4 points of Con.... bringing him down to seven.... and making him nervous.
s able to score an unanswered attack on the crazy axman as a result though and since that guy isn't waering armor, it very nearly kills him.
jaxxon decides to drink his potion of fire spittin. I decide not to require a saving role to execucute this manuever. concoction having been consumed jaxxon sprays the fire in an arc, trying to catch all of his opponents on fire.
the potion acts as a blasting power spell, giving Jaxxon 3 dice plus his adds against his attackers. the girl and the punk kid are completely engulfed in flame... not completely dead yet, but not able to attack any longer. This gives the other two a fighting chance one on one against the two most dangerous opponents. Fin manages to drop psycho on the next round. jaxxon and "bubba" are in a stalemate with niether likely to get past the others light armore without some new developement. The new development is Fin who when he jumps in tilts the balance and the last thug is brought down.
"they weren't the thieves guild were they?" my son asks.... catching on a little quicker now.
"nope"
nonetheless the boys leave the scene of the fight much in high spirits.... particularly enamored with the effects of the firebreathing potion. "I have one more of those too" Kit tells fin.
As they leave it is clear that outside the warehouse a bystander has been watching the proceedings.
"those were some nice moves." the stranger says "i'd like to talk to you if you will give me the time. i think we might be able to strike a deal mutually beneficial to both of us"
Fin is suddenly suspicious of everyone however. "he's probably going to try to poison us or something" "why of course not!" the stranger replies. "i wish to employ you. let me take you out to dinner. you are hungrey aren't you? you can choose the venue and i shall never touch your food."
the player's choose the innocuous looking "Aunt Daisy's homestays and homecookin" to eat in. Run by a fat hobbit woman who has gingham curtains over the windows..... this seems an unlikely place to run into any more trouble.
the stranger begins his tale. Fin i
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devadasi
5th Level Troll
maiden voyager
Posts: 603
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Post by devadasi on Jun 13, 2011 9:38:19 GMT -5
Wow. So the kids are off to their grandparent's summer home for a week, and other than having the grey dyed out of my hair this afternoon, I have nothing demanding my time save a cup of coffee, and a chilly mountain morning.
when I last left off, what? three weeks ago, the two young warriors jaxxon and Fin were having dinner with a stranger, who saw in them the possibility of fullfilling a desperate desire.
the stranger Wren.... clearly of some merchant caste... or perhaps minor nobility or scholar.... was in love. desperate, chaste, fanatical TRUE love with a young woman named gabriella Van Hexxen. The Van Hexxen's are a well known, and now rather infamous family of highest nobility. Though they are now regarded as decadent at best, and degenerates at worst by their fellow nobles, and are only spoken of by the lower classes as a kind of boogeyman ......( ala the children skip rope to "vanhexxen gonna getcha if you don't watch out").
The young merchant, ( he prefers "artisite"), fell in love with Gabriella Van Hexxen ( only female hier of Lord Otto Van Hexxen), at the University of High Art in Khazan, but last semester she was pulled from school by her brother and current ward, rudolph Van hexxen.... who claimed Gabriella was ill and needed to be safe at home.
Wren is upfront about the fact that the Van Hexxen's are known to be "batshit crazy", and that invading the home of high nobility caste people is, by law, the same offense as invading the home of the king himself.... and is punishable by death, if guilt is proven.
But Wren, despite being himself an "artiste" and not interested in "matters "bourgi-wa," is from a wealthy enough family that he can offer two thousand gold dinars ( half upfront) to the young rascals to go in a retrieve gabriella, that they might elope and be married..... once married, then Wren would be her legal gardian.
the boys at my gaming table had a gleam in their eye and were raring to go.
Wren could probably have offered half as much. oh well, daddy's money.
Fin used some of his advance payment to go to the stableyard and buy himself a horse.
The boys split up to go shopping though each wanted to go to a potions shop.
Fin fails a first level luck roll.... the potion shop he finds is run by the Wizards guild. He pays 200gp for 6d6 worth of potion and his coinpurse is getting light again.
jaxxon makes his luck save and finds "Granny Tituba's herbal potions shop" jaxxon buys 3d6 worth for only 50 dinars.
They ride out the following daybreak.... expecting to reach the small village of Ooglytown by evening. Ooglytown is a village of uglies, (7e monstrum codex.... basically stupid, malformed henchman slave stock..... Igors every one). All of the villagers are uglies.... all decended from the serfs and slaves of the Van Hexxens.... back in the days when the Van Hexxens were a coat of arms to be reckoned with.
Even as the horses pull into the wretched little pitstop, they spy a black coach, with a coal back skinned hobbit woman on the buckboard and a man in a trenchcoat with a wide brimmed hat and dark spectacles at the reighns.
They watch in disbelief as the black skinned hobbitess barges into one of the only huts with a cooking fire and takes out a young screaming girlchild with hideously crooked teeth and an arm bent at an odd angle. She is thrown spitefully into the back of the coach, and the hobbit witch.... remarkably spritely and malicious looking, jumps in behind.
the warriors continue to watch as the hatted coachman whips his grey horses and the well oiled coach trundles down the road towards the van hexxen estate at a good pace.
an old man comes out of the same hut, looking at the muddy ground and muttering. then he spies the young men. he looks shocked for a moment, then spits "its all over now, go on back weir ye came from."
"who are you?"
"I could ask you the same question.... but since I got nuthin left to lose, let me say that I.... Quasimodo Rottentoe am the VERY LAST living citizen of the once slightly pleasant little hamlet of Ooglytown.... and now... at age 52 or therebouts, i am off to shine boots or scrub floors in Ur."
"What happened here?"
"the crazy van hexxens had their way with us is what happened... created a little lottery few years back.. to see what young uglygirl could be cleaned up and possibly even educated...finally they was giving something back to the peoples what built that terrible manse of thayers. but pretty soon they ran out of young girls to "educate" and "send off to government jobs" never to be heard from again"
"so what happened?"
"nobody got educated I don expect.. go home now. nuthin good will every come from this place again.... even the soil is tainted by their madness. we implored the magistrates at Ur to send an Inquisitor two years ago!!! now you come...."
the uglie pulls a burning ember from his hearthfire and throws it on the straw roof of his home. as the flames grow higher and the village begins to burn he turns to the young warriors one last time. "go home. go back to Ur. nothing good will ever come of your being here."
"okay.... thanks." jaxxon replied thoughfully.... and a little nervously.
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devadasi
5th Level Troll
maiden voyager
Posts: 603
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Post by devadasi on Jun 13, 2011 10:46:39 GMT -5
firk ding blast! just lost a very big post!
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Post by ragnorakk on Jun 13, 2011 12:01:45 GMT -5
From the mouths of babes (!): "we need to find some theives."
"were do you want to look?."
"the temple."
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cram
4th Level Troll
DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!
Posts: 271
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Post by cram on Jun 13, 2011 12:52:20 GMT -5
Cram falls of the edge of his seat (having run out of seat)
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devadasi
5th Level Troll
maiden voyager
Posts: 603
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Post by devadasi on Jun 14, 2011 8:41:31 GMT -5
picking up prior to where the firk ding blast post loss of yesterday left me.
( my apologies to the moderators and readers for my language.... like too many others... i sometimes write before i think, and the post I lost had taken nearly an hour to write... again, sorry)
the warriors tie their horses in a small clearing a hundred feet or so from the burning village. a small trough ( used for watering goats?) is nearby, and whats left of OOglytown provides a fair bounty of hay.
"is anything going to happen to the horses here?" my son asks.
"i hope not."
"agh." "i'll say this... the spot you've found seems to be the safest and most sensible one to both of you at the current time." "okay. let's go then."
the two intrepid warriors set out down the road on foot. Are they nervous because of the words of the old man,.... or because all of this risky "adventuring life" is so new to them?
the road to the van hexxen estate, marked only with a stone pillar, on which is transcribed "Sourcastle" i is rutted by coach travel, but is otherwise easy terrain. A copper moon, only a day or two away from being full casts a bright light on the road, but as the two walk it takes on a forlorn appearance.
The trees to the left hand side of the dirt road become more twisted, and take on strange appearances, while the lowland to the right becomes almost swampish and smells of infection.
its as if the very soil has been tainted by the van Hexxen legacy. the young men on the road cannot help but shudder a little, but they do not speak of their fear to one another.
off to the right.
in the swamp.
is that a campfire??
no. its moving. its moving towards us!
loudly! wildly!
and its not a campfire! its a jack-o-lantern! with the body of a bear!!!!
Fin pulls out his longbow.
jaxxon reaches for whip.... NO! halberd! ( newly aquired and in need of a christening!)
The fiend is only fifteen yards away now. its bearfur is matted and foul, and in some patches, is falling away, reaveling greyish skin beneath. The head is a learing jack-o-lantern with hateful, malevolent eyes.
[SCAREBEAR] MR: 60 6d6+30 special damage: 2/ exploding hellfire gourd
Scarebears, ( inspired by an old runequest figurine) are the infernal creation of Rudolf Van Hexxen. Wondering what to do with the explosive pumpkins he found growing in the estate garden, he decided to mount them on top of the body of a slain grizzly bear and infuse them with hellish energy.
The first two scarebears were set loose on the grounds of the estate, to the detriment of any wildlife still willing to live nearby, and to the bemusement of Van Hexxen. He desired to obtain a Khazan bear for the experiment, but in the meantime one of the scarebears found its way onto the west wing of the mansion and proceeded to burn it to cinders before being "put down". the remaining scarebear still wanders the wilderlands around the estate.... attacking all life.
When two 6s are rolled the scarebear gets so angry that its head explodes. this causes 3d6 spell type damage to anyone ( except the bear) withing 10 feet. A new hellfire gourd will grow from the bears neck the following round.]
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