And off we go!

[Lefton]

Re: And off we go!

 

any chance for an update?

[Markdoc]

Re: And off we go!

 

Meanwhile, the others have been picking their way across the darkened mountainside. They arrive at the palisade and much as Gen did, creep close. However, they have Dalarna to help. He raises a mist and they cross the palisade under cover of the fog. In the blockhouse, Gen peers out through the cracks around the door of his cell – the guards react swiftly to the fog springing up, immediately taking defensive positions. Interestingly, two of the guards also take covering positions over his cell door as though they were preparing for him breaking out. He can’t however, and soon the mist disperses. It is clear, however that the soldiers are pretty jumpy.

 

The rest of the party goes their way unaware of how close they were to Gen and moves through the ruins. This is difficult – though the moon gives some light, the footing is treacherous – a combination of fallen ruins, trees and bushes. The deep shadows hide gaping cellars and rubble and they must proceed slowly, even with Dalarna’s magic senses to guide them. Dalarna catches glimpses of figures moving further up the mountainside, so they start looking for a defensible place to spend the night and settle on a space defended on two sides by crumbling walls. They have not paused there long when they hear stealthy movements and what seems to be heavy glutinous breathing. The party ready their weapons and then three burly forms rush out of the darkness. There is a brief by violent struggle. Although the party outnumber their attackers, only Bellona is unhindered by the darkness, and in the ensuing fight, Lamoniak is stabbed, and Bellona and Aquila are both seriously bitten. Their opponents are clearly not human, though they are manlike, since as well as weapons, they have a savage bite and cruel hooked claws. In the end though they are all killed, Bellona stabbing two to death with her swords, and Khelsen cutting one in half with his greatsword. Once the fight is over, they decide to risk a little light. Torchlight shows that their foes are horrid fusions of sharks and men, with grey skin and a shark’s head rising from powerfully muscled shoulders. While searching them, they hear sounds of movement in the undergrowth and on investigating find a boy, tied up but trying to wiggle away. They cut his bonds and assure him that that they are not going to hurt him. He informs them in turn that they have to get away and get away now. There are more of these creatures (he calls them Destroyers) and the light will bring them. He says that there is a fort nearby and he has a brother there – he can guide them. When the players question what he was doing, he explains that he was guiding a party of adventurers who were ambushed by the Destroyers. He was captured was being carried away for sacrifice – or worse: the Destroyers relish human flesh. The sound of rapid movement behind them galvanizes the party into movement – fighting three of these creatures inflicted serious wounds: they have no desire to face a larger group. They race through the ruins, stumbling through the darkness and eventually come to a stout stockade surrounded by a cleared area and well lit by torches. The guards on the walls refuse to admit them at first, but the boy (whose name is Garm) calls for them to send his brother up and his brother convinces the other guards to give them shelter. They are let into the fort through a small door that gives access to a small cell-like room, with heavy reinforced doors on two sides. Garm explains that no-one would readily admit anyone from the ruins at night into their fortification: there are too many monsters and some of them are shapeshifters or can cast illusions. This room offers sanctuary, but also protection to the fort’s inhabitants. The PCs persuade him to ask for food and after some haggling, Gennon - Garm’s brother provides them with beer, breed and qurrock meat, which is pushed through a sliding portal in the door. He also chats with them from the other side of the door.

 

After they eat, the PCs ply Gennon and his brother with questions about this strange city. He explains that the city was ruined by an earthquake which sunk part of the city into the sea and caused the volcano to erupt and buried much of what was left. This was a very long time ago (he says “thousands and thousands of years”) but that the strong magic which protected the city has meant that many of the buildings are still intact or partially intact. Sometimes, he says, the ruins even try to repair themselves, but most building are too damaged for this to have much effect. The original inhabitants hope to one day restore the city to its former glory, but that the destruction of the city’s defences left it open to invasion by barbarians and pirates, who still infest the ruins. He explains that the destroyers are the descendants of pirates who later came to the city and seized the big castle he calls Stone Mountain. Over time they fell under the influence of evil cultists who controlled powerful sea monsters. Garm explains that the Destroyers are not mindless monsters but are as intelligent as humans – it’s just that they are often seized by bloodlust, as seemed to be the case when they fought the PCs. The Samadrians are just the last invaders among many. They arrived 15 years ago but proved unable to completely conquer the ruined city. The original inhabitants have long fortified their dwellings within the city, and the ruins - and the things that stalk them - made a siege unattractive. In the end, the Samadrians contented themselves with conquering the town that had grown up outside the walls and sealing the ruins off. The buried riches of the city attract all sorts of fortune hunters (he assumes the party is here for that reason) and the Samadrians claim the right to tax – or purchase outright – anything hauled out of the ruins. As a result, adventurers also try to sneak into the city, to avoid this – and based on the way the party was sneaking through the ruins at night, Garm assumes this is what the PCs have done. Garm (and his brother) assure the PCs that since they owe them Garm’s life, they will let them leave the fort in the morning and Garm will guide them to what they call the “real city” – one of the last surviving bastions of the original inhabitants, now a fortified town in the midst of the ruins. If they stay in the fort here, Gaimon, the fort’s ruler, will probably try to enslave them: he has made a deal with the Samadrians and being in the ruins without a pass makes them outlaws. They also ask about Gen, but Gennon says that there are no strangers recently arrived at the fort.

 

The PCs sleep, and the next morning, true to his word, the external doors are opened and Garm guides the party through the ruins. They note that he does not take the most direct route, keeping to cover where possible, and he explains as they go that while all of the ruins are dangerous – they are home to monsters, cultists like the Destroyers, and outlaws, while the clans that live in the ruins are often at war over territory or blood feud. The town outside the walls originated from adventurers who established and then fortified a base from which to raid the ruins but over the years, the arrival of travelers and traders has turned it into a small city. Today, it is a polyglot place with arrivals from all over the world, and even with the arrival of the Samadrians is only a slightly more lawful place than the ruins. It is full of what Garm dismisses as “half-castes and semi-civilized barbarians all mixed up with the scum that washes in off the sea”. After an hour’s walk the PCs arrive at a hill, which is terraced and intensely cultivated. The top of the hill is girdled with a strong wall and a path leads up to a fortified gate. The party is briefly stopped at the gate but Garm vouches for them and leads them through. On the other side, it is like another world. Narrow streets, overlooked by 4 and 5 storey buildings are full of people going about their business like any city in the seven kingdoms – though the town’s walls are high and strong and the houses all have narrow, barred windows and strong doors. Garm leads them to an inn and introduces them to the owner, his uncle. After explaining how he met them, this uncle agrees to give the PCs an attic room to stay in until they find a place to live. Garm then runs off, saying he has to “report” but will be back later.

 

Meanwhile, Gen is taken out of his cell, hobbled and with several other prisoners, marched through the gate and under strong guard, they walk to the fort, arriving some hours after the rest of the PCs had left. There they are admitted to the centre of the fort, which is built around a huge open pit. There is some bargaining between the Samadrians and a powerful-looking fat man who is apparently the leader and it becomes apparent that they are being sold as slaves, to be used in excavating the pit. When a satisfactory deal is reached, the Samadrian soldiers take some items apparently excavated from the pit, and turn their prisoners over. The fat man introduces himself as Gaimon, and he explains “the rules”. The prisoners have been bought to excavate the buildings that lie buried under the fort. They are looking for “valuable items” and Gaimon explains that if they work hard they will be fed and treated well. Everything they find will be tallied up and they can buy their freedom: he says that if they work hard, they might be free in a few years. If they find a specially rich find they might even be free in weeks or days. But if they try to conceal anything they find, he’ll have them crucified. There are two crucifixes standing guard over the pit which lend grim weight to his words. He also explains that they should listen to their guards – the buildings under the pit are trapped and full of magical dangers. Obeying the guards’ orders is their best chance of staying alive. While this is being explained, Gen looks around. Most of his fellow prisoners look like ordinary people, but two of them are muscular, wiry men with heavily tattooed skin. They converse briefly in a language he cannot follow. The guards are a similar mix. Some look like Samadrians, others resemble the tattooed men, while yet others are dressed in clothing and armor he cannot identify. At the end of the speech, the guards start to remove the hobbles and attach ankle chains. Gen speaks up and says that he is a healer. Gaimon comes over to him and pulls him aside, calling the guards to fetch and injured man. This turns out to be a guard hurt in the pit. He tells Gen to prove his powers and when Gen does heal the man, Gaimon says, OK, he doesn’t have to go down the pit. He can earn his freedom by acting as a healer. Several guards lead him to small hut off to one side and then to his rage they fix him there by holding him down and driving a spike through his heel behind his Achilles tendon. This spike is hammered into a loop attached to a chain fixed to the wall. After they have gone, Gen swears vengeance!

[Markdoc]

Re: And off we go!

 

any chance for an update?

 

I'm sorry I have been so bad about this: the game is still ongoing - in fact next session is this coming Wednesday. However, I have also started playing in a game (next game tomorrow!), so time to write things up is at a premium. I do have about 120 pages of handwrittten notes from the game, however, so the "history" of the game is not lost!

 

cheers, Mark