Adventurer Conquerer King: Session Eight
Aug. 2nd, 2013 12:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicollAs the session opens, the group is still in the keep. Given their wounds, this may not be a good idea.
Present:
Sage Renaldo Hashton Bryce
Scout Otho
Vault Guard Iatro Sirequake
Former Legionnaire Titus
Cleric Patience
and a number of allies from the town. Sadly, the group is down one: a townie got killed by an arrow in the last session. In fact, while I think some consideration was given to just forging ahead despite the fact half the PCs had recently been close enough to death to see a bright white light but in the end the group collected its treasure, the fallen militia man and headed back to the town.
The high priestess was willing to deal with the candle of defilement recovered from the desecrated chapel but could offer no advice about the cursed shield and mace also recovered from the orcs (aside from "those are evil and it would be a bad idea to use them). Some major temple in The Big City could deal with them but the town lacks the resources.
The dwarf considers jamming the sacred chalice the party recovered down his pants to deal with his terrible groin wound but is talked out of this, which is probably for the best.
After the group had recovered as much as they were going to, they headed back to the keep. The high priestess offered her moral support and also a level 2 acolyte I assume she won't miss too much; the acolyte can finish the job of cleaning up the chapel.
The party encounters an imperial patrol (not the same one as before, I think). They relay the information some large animal ransacked a farm. It's probably either the owlbear, having gotten a taste for human from its encounter with Otho, or the orge that Otho led into the woods. Otho declines to share his interaction with the ogre with the imperials after they point out his run in with the owlbear may explain its subsequent behavior.
Once at the keep, the acolyte heads to the chapel while the party heads to the wizard's underground workshop. It is filled with what could be statues or well preserved dead bodies; Otho spends some time feathering them with arrows to see if they react. They do not.
Of course, once Iatro and Titus climb down into the room, things get more active. Worms begin to crawl out of the bodies; worried that they could be rotgrubs, the two lash out. This gets a reaction from the undead seated around the table, who begin to shuffle towards the dwarf and legionnaire; the pair immediately stand back to back as the ... zombies? close in.
Combat ensues! Otho provides "cover", which is Otho-speak for trying to put off closing to hand to hand for as long as he can, despite the fact he is tied for best armour class in the party. Eventually everyone else is in melee and since he cannot fire into melee he has no choice but to pull his sword and join in.
The cleric tries to turn the undead, an laudable effort that does not end well. Titus, who is having a very good day, mows down two of the undead in the first round; the dwarf is having a somewhat less good day and not only misses but slips and falls down before taking a wound that eats up 80% of his hit points in one go.
The wizard does have his one daily spell prepared but since undead cannot be Slept opts to try lashing out with a torch. He is astoundingly effective with it, although he loses the torch when it becomes lodged in a zombie's head (my notes are unclear but I think he got two of them before the torch got stuck).
Otho manages to cut one zombie down but loses grip of his sword during the follow through. Happily, he also carries an axe, although he didn't need it because Titus mowed down the last pair of zombie before they could turn on Otho (or the dwarf, but Otho is primarily concerned with avoiding a repeat of his near death experience a few sessions back).
Having wiffed every slash at the undead, the dwarf makes a point of gishing all the worms so at least he can say he contributed to the fight. He is rather put out and who can blame him?
The high priestess had mentioned she thought the fellow who built the keep was avoiding her. He apparently was rumoured to have been looking for a way to unnaturally extend his life and while he probably lacked the skill to do that, who can say what horrors his failures produced? Probably the party, once it gives the underground tunnels a good look.
The wizard loots the library, which is full of dusty and very flammable looking scrolls. A search of the nearby tomb reveals a wizardy-looking skeleton on a dais surrounded by six sarcophagi; the group is genre-savvy enough not to trigger *that* little trap. At least, not until next session...
Present:
Sage Renaldo Hashton Bryce
Scout Otho
Vault Guard Iatro Sirequake
Former Legionnaire Titus
Cleric Patience
and a number of allies from the town. Sadly, the group is down one: a townie got killed by an arrow in the last session. In fact, while I think some consideration was given to just forging ahead despite the fact half the PCs had recently been close enough to death to see a bright white light but in the end the group collected its treasure, the fallen militia man and headed back to the town.
The high priestess was willing to deal with the candle of defilement recovered from the desecrated chapel but could offer no advice about the cursed shield and mace also recovered from the orcs (aside from "those are evil and it would be a bad idea to use them). Some major temple in The Big City could deal with them but the town lacks the resources.
The dwarf considers jamming the sacred chalice the party recovered down his pants to deal with his terrible groin wound but is talked out of this, which is probably for the best.
After the group had recovered as much as they were going to, they headed back to the keep. The high priestess offered her moral support and also a level 2 acolyte I assume she won't miss too much; the acolyte can finish the job of cleaning up the chapel.
The party encounters an imperial patrol (not the same one as before, I think). They relay the information some large animal ransacked a farm. It's probably either the owlbear, having gotten a taste for human from its encounter with Otho, or the orge that Otho led into the woods. Otho declines to share his interaction with the ogre with the imperials after they point out his run in with the owlbear may explain its subsequent behavior.
Once at the keep, the acolyte heads to the chapel while the party heads to the wizard's underground workshop. It is filled with what could be statues or well preserved dead bodies; Otho spends some time feathering them with arrows to see if they react. They do not.
Of course, once Iatro and Titus climb down into the room, things get more active. Worms begin to crawl out of the bodies; worried that they could be rotgrubs, the two lash out. This gets a reaction from the undead seated around the table, who begin to shuffle towards the dwarf and legionnaire; the pair immediately stand back to back as the ... zombies? close in.
Combat ensues! Otho provides "cover", which is Otho-speak for trying to put off closing to hand to hand for as long as he can, despite the fact he is tied for best armour class in the party. Eventually everyone else is in melee and since he cannot fire into melee he has no choice but to pull his sword and join in.
The cleric tries to turn the undead, an laudable effort that does not end well. Titus, who is having a very good day, mows down two of the undead in the first round; the dwarf is having a somewhat less good day and not only misses but slips and falls down before taking a wound that eats up 80% of his hit points in one go.
The wizard does have his one daily spell prepared but since undead cannot be Slept opts to try lashing out with a torch. He is astoundingly effective with it, although he loses the torch when it becomes lodged in a zombie's head (my notes are unclear but I think he got two of them before the torch got stuck).
Otho manages to cut one zombie down but loses grip of his sword during the follow through. Happily, he also carries an axe, although he didn't need it because Titus mowed down the last pair of zombie before they could turn on Otho (or the dwarf, but Otho is primarily concerned with avoiding a repeat of his near death experience a few sessions back).
Having wiffed every slash at the undead, the dwarf makes a point of gishing all the worms so at least he can say he contributed to the fight. He is rather put out and who can blame him?
The high priestess had mentioned she thought the fellow who built the keep was avoiding her. He apparently was rumoured to have been looking for a way to unnaturally extend his life and while he probably lacked the skill to do that, who can say what horrors his failures produced? Probably the party, once it gives the underground tunnels a good look.
The wizard loots the library, which is full of dusty and very flammable looking scrolls. A search of the nearby tomb reveals a wizardy-looking skeleton on a dais surrounded by six sarcophagi; the group is genre-savvy enough not to trigger *that* little trap. At least, not until next session...
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no subject
Date: 2013-08-02 05:47 pm (UTC)Presuming the answer to not involve any memetic prophylactic warnings, the dwarf's terrible what?
no subject
Date: 2013-08-02 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-03 08:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-03 01:10 pm (UTC)The groin wound was rolled randomly on the permanent wounds table and the chalice was sacred to Freya. The Fisher King symbolism is obvious once you say it, but I had too many other details obscuring it to notice it.
I just thought, roleplaying a depressed angry drunk dwarf, that it was the only powerful good magical artifact we knew about, and I had a wound, and, well, they ought to go together...
no subject
Date: 2013-08-04 05:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-02 06:32 pm (UTC)<Emily Litella>Never mind</Emily>*
[*] Not to be confused with the tag <Emily Dickinson></Emily>, which requires your browser to sing any enclosed text to "The Yellow Rose of Texas."
no subject
Date: 2013-08-02 06:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-02 07:07 pm (UTC)