Bloodmäter

[matrix3]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Thanks for the write up!

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Written by one of my players, during the interlude:

 

--------------------

Alix yowled in pain as flames engulfed her.

 

"It's a glyph of warding!" Berrien shouted unhelpfully from the back rank, as Alix flung herself to the ground and rolled. After the first yelp, she held her breath to keep the flame from getting into her lungs. Fire twined around her like a spider's silk encasing a struggling fly, all her thrashing made its claws dig in deeper. Why weren't her teammates helping her? They were standing well back, laughing and pointing. The protection wards tattooed into her skin failed, and her skin blistered and blackened. Her muscles sear and shriveled, curling into a stiff crispy ball. She opened her mouth the scream, but only smoke came out.

 

"She done yet?" asked Brontus.

 

"Stick a fork in her," suggested Berrien.

 

"I get a thigh," Hakkoz rumbled tying a bib on over his beard. The bib had kittens on it, with pink bows.

 

"Now now," Cleo said. "Don't be so hasty. First we pray for her soul, and then we eat."

 

"First we see if she's cooked," Rody said. Poking her blackened, flakey skin with his longsword. Her sin tore and there was a slithering clinking noise as hundreds of gold pieces spilled from the gash in her side, and sprayed across the floor.

 

Alix woke with a start whacked her head on a beam, rolled over and vomited into a chamberpot. Nightmare. She realized--she still had all her skin, her hair, her breath-- though that didn't make the shakes go away.

 

Blinking in the dim light, of the smallest hours, she oriented herself. Red wizard's tower. Top of a large cabinet. Pillows. She didn't remember bringing the chamber pot up here, but perhaps it was ensorceled to appear where needed. Or perhaps this was another dream. Disturbing thought, that. One of the most horrible curses she'd ever heard tale of involved a man cursed to wake from one nightmare into another forever.

 

She doubted that was the case here. This didn't smell like a dream. It was most likely the real world, to a certain value of real. With wizards, one could never be sure.

 

She considered trying to go back to sleep, but the memory was still too fresh. She slithered off the cabinet, assuming the form of a house cat. Cat's were very intelligent creatures, but simple. Nightmares didn't bother them so much. She padded down the corridor toward the kitchen, but turned aside when she heard slurred... singing. Brontus was in the middle of a bout of competitive drinking against the only worthy challenger in the building; he was matching himself drink for drink.

 

She loped down another hallway seeking outside escape from interior problems. Why am I having nightmares? Because getting set on fire is no fun. True, but worse things than that had happened to her recently. In reality, her wards had held, and she'd escaped the flames with nothing more than singed hair and scalded pride. Both would grow back.

 

And why in her dreams had her teammates attacked her? We are more like pirates than most pirates, untrustworthy and treacherous. Except that wasn't true. Pirates typically preyed on the weak whereas troubleshooters confronted the strong. Sometimes a dream is just a dream.

 

She passed by Cleo's room. The teifling's voice oozed out under the door, words of prayer to the Raven Queen. She spent a lot of time praying, even under her breath which the party marched along. Alix wondered what had occurred that she needed to take such measures to get right with her goddess. Could penance become an obsession unto itself?

 

Further down the hall she heard a noise like a heavy chain being dragged through gravel. Hakkoz snoring. At least somebody was getting some rest tonight. There was silence from Rody's room. Either he was asleep, or, just as likely, out searching for treasure.

 

And what am I looking for tonight? Respite? Companionship? She'd been alone for so long she hardly knew how to speak to other people, but she had to admit, one of the reasons she hung around with the troubleshooters, in addition to their purported purpose of tracking down the Addertongue Pirates, was that they gave her a sense of tribe.

 

She approached Pax's room. Barmaid my tail. No barmaid could fight like she did. The woman had come to Alix's rescue before she'd ever been part of the troubleshooters, and that was enough to make Alix consider her a friend. Judging from the soft, fast excited moans coming from under the door, Pax wasn't asleep either, and neither were Hope or Mercy. Alix's own humors stirred at the passionate sounds. Her own sexuality was flexible enough to accommodate human females... but she hadn't been invited.

 

She eased away from the door and continued until she reached the spiral stair at the end of the hall. Up there were the Red Wizard's Chambers. Someone had killed, kidnapped, or driven him away, and the troubleshooters hadn't the faintest idea who or how. Everyone had been too afraid to come back here and look after Berrien, that little scamp, had told them the truth.

 

Well, now we're here. We might as well look. Alix started up the stairs.

[Panpiper]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Our thanks to your player.

 

You are giving me the idea of offering extra XP to players who write stories about their characters, the group's adventures, and extra tidbits such as this. Already the idea of offering a few XP for a proper character background is a sound one, used by many. But I think it might be quite appropriate to grant an additional XP (or more?) for a regular chapter in the experience of their character.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

You are giving me the idea of offering extra XP to players who write stories about their characters' date=' the group's adventures, and extra tidbits such as this. Already the idea of offering a few XP for a proper character background is a sound one, used by many. But I think it might be quite appropriate to grant an additional XP (or more?) for a regular chapter in the experience of their character.[/quote']

 

Yep, I think it's a great idea. Don't give too many, or one character might begin to seriously overpower the others (if the guy is a writing machine!). But don't be too stingy either, else it won't be worth the effort to the players. It's a balancing act. One or two XP in Hero is probably appropriate.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Recap for 11/14/2009

Finally, the heroes arrived back in town. They headed back to the Red Tower and, exhausted from their travails, they fell into a restful sleep.

 

Sometime just before dawn, Alix became restless and went upstairs to examine the Red Wizard’s lab. She found it pretty much as Berrian described: Bookshelves overturned, tables smashed, broken glass everywhere, the stink of spilled chemicals permeating the air. She examined the room and found blood on the floor in several locations. It definitely looked like there had been one heck of a fight.

 

Underneath an overturned bookshelf, she found a bloodied dagger with a distinct skull pattern on the pommel. She showed the dagger to Berrian, who recognized it as belonging to one of the Red Wizard’s former Troubleshooters, a rogue named Therai.

 

“I remember that name,” Hakkoz said. “Troubleshooter? More like trouble-maker! Him and his whole group decided there wasn’t much profit in helping people, so they went off the reservation. Dunno whatever happened to them, they left town a couple of years ago from what I hear.”

 

“If they used to work for the Red Wizard, they would probably be well-suited to getting in here undetected to attack him,” Justine said.

 

“But why would they do that, and where would they have taken him?” Clio asked.

 

“I don’t know,” Alix said. “We’re just going to have to keep looking into it, I guess.”

 

While everyone was talking, Berrian was going through the mail that had piled up while they were out of town. He found a note addressed to Hakkoz, and handed it over to the dwarf. Hakkoz read it out loud:

 

“Dear Mr. Stoneshanx, I got some more information about those rat-lovers! You aksed me to kep an eye out for them, and me and my friends think we found where they're coming from. There’s a neighborhood called Darkroot. There’s a lot of rat activity there. It’s a lonely part of town. I'm going to go there to dig deeper, but before I went I figured you might want to know about it. I should be back up in a day or two.”

 

“Damn,” Hakkoz swore. “If he went down there by himself, he’s probably already dead.”

 

“Or worse,” Alix suggested, “They could’ve turned him into one of those rat-men.”

 

“He’s had pretty good luck at getting out of scrapes before,” Brontus said, looking forward to the prospect of killing more rat-men. “Maybe he’s still alive. We should go down there and rescue him.”

 

As the Troubleshooters readied their gear to head down to Darkroot, Zacharaius asked if he could start cleaning up the Red Wizard’s library and lab. They told him that he could, and while he was doing so he should look for any books that talked about how to operate a Golden Helm. They left him in the care of Hope and Mercy and headed off.

 

The neighborhood of Darkroot was given that name because it lies nestled in the roots of a great tree that sticks out from the edge of the cliff. The tree is enormous, the base of the trunk is probably 100' in diameter. There are buildings nestled among its roots and up along the trunk. The air is actually more humid here than the rest of the city, probably due to a thin trickle of a creek that comes out of the rocks here to nourish the tree roots.

 

The people of the town seemed frightened of the Troubleshooters. They hushed conversations and headed indoors when these heavily-armed people walked by. Eventually, a burly man came up to them. “What do you want?” he demanded. “Ain’t no taverns or inns that cater to your type here. You’d best be off.”

 

“We’re looking for a friend of ours,” Clio said, diplomatically.

 

“Ain’t been nobody looking like you come into town,” he snorted. “Folks here ain’t got time for you. You should just leave.”

 

The heroes decided that he was being singularly unhelpful, so they ignored him and left him red-faced and sputtering as they went about their business. They decided to split up – perhaps in smaller groups they wouldn’t frighten the populace so much.

 

Justine and Clio tried to talk to the locals, but most people seemed afraid and were unwilling to talk. But they were approached by a battered old homeless man, who hissed them over. “You’re looking for someone?” he rasped. “Tonight is the night of the new moon! The harvest comes tonight, and any who do not bow down will fall! You should get out while you still can!”

 

They tried to get more useful information out of him, but he kept railing on about the harvest and the dark of the moon. “Well, what else do you expect from the Mist-Touched?” Clio asked.

 

Pax and Alix sniffed around (literally, in Alix’s case) for any sign of rat infestation. After some hours of searching, they were positive that this neighborhood was heavily overrun by rats, but they hadn’t seen any giant ones. They saw signs of them (tracks, spoor, and so on), but no actual rats. Obviously the creatures were keeping a low profile.

 

Hakkoz and Rody searched around fruitlessly for a while, until Hakkoz caught a bad feeling in the air. It felt like a great deal of arcane energy, building up somewhere below the neighborhood. Whatever it was, he knew it was a bad sign.

 

Brontus and Berrian tried talking with people, but everyone was too terrified to say anything. However, they got the impression that the people weren’t afraid of the Troubleshooters, but of something else. What that might’ve been, they had no idea. While they were hunting around, they got the feeling they were being watched. They spotted a guy following them, but as soon as they called out to him, he bolted. They followed and found a hidden pathway that led down around and beneath the tree. They hurried to find the others to let them know what they had discovered.

 

The heroes headed down the path, around the base of the tree, and found a grove of sorts. On the other side of it was a cave. There were four tough-looking guys in gray robes guarding the entrance, and another four men and women standing among the trees (well-armed, but not in gray robes). As soon as the gray-robes spotted the troubleshooters, they yelled, “Hey, get out of here! This is private property!”

 

The heroes knew that cultists were dangerous and fanatical, so they didn’t want to give them the chance to make the first move. They charged into the trees and the battle was quickly joined! The cultists were tough and completely unafraid, so even as their numbers dwindled they continued to fight on fiercely. But the Troubleshooters were blooded and experienced, and were able to work together to defeat their foes at last.

 

Now that the “doorstops” were finished, it was time for the Troubleshooters to see what lay beyond the dark, dripping mouth of the cave…

 

TBC!

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

I have in one sitting' date=' read your every installment, and read them much as I would have a fantasy novel. And I've enjoyed it just as much. Thank you ever so much for sharing.[/quote']

 

if you're interested in some of my older Fantasy Hero campaigns, check out:

 

The Black Blood River Expeditionary Company

 

and

 

The Fearless Monster Hunters

 

[Panpiper]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Thank you. I shall indeed.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Bloodmater Recap for 11-21-2009

The heroes entered the dark cave mouth. Up ahead of them, they saw a blood-red light glowing, and they approached cautiously. Before long, they came to a stretch of cavern where the walls were scrawled with blood-red runes, glowing like hellfire. They seemed to be words, but nothing the troubleshooters could make out.

 

Hakkoz tried to read them, but there was something evil about them that caused his eyes to bleed! Alix also concentrated on the words, and after studying the runes for some time, suddenly realized that they were written in the same language as that carved on the walls in the temple to the King that Crawls that the heroes destroyed some weeks ago! The words were names – the names of those people cursed by the evil god. And more than that, these words contained the trapped souls of those who died because of him.

 

The Troubleshooters knew that they had to free these peoples’ souls, so they continued down into the depths. Again, they saw a red glow ahead of them, and they also heard the sound of faint chanting. Alix and Rody snuck forward to investigate. They found an open chamber with two exits. In front of one exit, on the floor, was a glowing image of a skull. The chanting was coming from the room behind the skull.

 

Alix didn’t want to touch the glowing thing, so she had Rody pick her up (in cat form) and toss her over it. He did so, and the skull flared red as she flew over it. When she landed, she suddenly realized something that she should’ve known all along – that Rody and the rest of the Troubleshooters were her mortal enemies, and had to be killed!

 

Turning around, she transformed into a sabertooth tiger and grabbed a surprised Rody, tearing his flesh and dragging him across the glowing skull. At that point, he too realized that the Troubleshooters were his enemies!

 

The rest of the team, hiding in the corridor, heard Alix’s roar and ran into the room to see what was going on. Before they could say anything, Rody and Alix attacked! Rody stabbed Clio viciously, and Alix raked her claws across Brontus and Pax. Hakkoz noticed that their friends’ eyes were glowing red (just like the words on the wall, and like the red skull), so he called out for everyone to not harm them!

 

Brontus charged Alix and smashed her with the flat of his axe, hitting her again and again until she collapsed on the floor, unconscious. Hakkoz and Clio both rushed Rody and tackled him to the ground, banging his head on the stone floor. When the two of them eventually came to, they were back to their old selves – and more than a little ashamed at what they had done.

 

Rody then set about to disarm the magical trap. With a little advice from Alix and Justine, he managed to render it safe to cross. The heroes entered the room it was defending and found a small shrine to the King Who Crawls. However, the shrine was empty – the chanting seemed to be coming from some sort of magical enchantment in the room itself.

 

The Troubleshooters continued down the path that lay before them. Before long, they came to a wide, natural cavern. A huge number of rat-men were in there, apparently waiting for them! There was also a man dressed in wizard’s robes, and another large, barbarian-type. The wizard was guarded by a phalanx of living dead. But more frightening than anything was a huge, red, rat-like eyeball set in the wall directly behind the wizard. This was no mere set decoration – this was a real eye, and it was looking right at the heroes!

 

Before any words could be exchanged, the wizard yelled for his minions to “Kill the intruders!”

 

The battle was joined! Pax rushed forward and, with a sweep of her sword, dispatched several of the scurrying rat-men! Alix, knowing that the giant eye meant trouble, threw up a wall of obscuring thorns between it and the heroes (and sealing the wizard and his undead allies behind it as well). Brontus went toe-to-toe with the big brute, exchanging blows that would kill lesser men. Hakkoz attempted to help Brontus, but the big guy didn’t want any help! So the dwarf moved up to backup Pax. Clio also moved up into the room to help clear out the army of rat-men. Berrian unleashed a giant ball of fire that cleared out one flank of the enemy and let the heroes move further into the room.

 

But at that point, Brontus suddenly stopped fighting. The giant eye had somehow reached directly into his brain and now controlled him like a puppet! “Kill your friends,” it whispered. Brontus turned around and saw Berrian standing nearby. With a bloodthirsty shout, he charged the little wizard, nearly disemboweling him with a single blow! Berrian used his Gnomish ability to hide from danger to turn invisible and run away from his enraged former-friend.

 

At that point, Brontus regained control of himself. Wracked with guilt over nearly killing his little buddy, he turned around and charged at the eye! He tore through Alix’s wall of thorns and began hacking through the zombie bodyguards that stood in his way. Despite suffering wounds that would kill a half-dozen lesser men, Brontus remained standing, frothing at the mouth and screaming in rage.

 

The rest of the team rushed in to back him up, hacking the zombies apart and clearing a path to the giant eye. The eye continued to try to control the big barbarian, but Brontus was too furious to lose control of himself again! Soon, the zombies had been returned to the grave, and the eyeball had been hacked into a puddle of vitreous humors.

 

The heroes paused to catch their breaths and realized that the wizard was gone. How did he escape? They searched the room and found a trap door in the floor not too far from the eyeball. Despite the fact that they were all badly hurt, the heroes knew that they had to continue downwards, to confront and defeat the evil of the King Who Crawls…

 

TBC!

[matrix3]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

I've found that players always find it scary to lose control of their characters --for about a minute, once in a long while. Then they find it annoying. It seems like you found a good balance there, enough to make them afraid of losing control of their characters, without making them feel that you are playing their characters more than they are.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

I also gave the people who got dominated some extra XP at the end of the night, since they all did a good job of RPing the mind control.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Get out of my head! Out! Get. OUT! Alix railed futilely at the malignant presence that had usurped her mind. It felt like maggots gnawing holes in her brain laying trails of excrement in her soul.

Her body tensed and she slid from her bipedal skin into her saber-fanged one. In one fluid motion she turned, reached out with her the tendrils of her primal powers and seized Rody by the root of his instincts. Before he even knew what he was doing the impulse of her command impelled him into her waiting claws, and across the hellish icon in the floor as well.

And it felt good. It was not the satisfaction of a clean kill or the abandon of orgasm, but rather the sick relief of regurgitated poison. "Just empty out your soul," it seemed to say, "And the pain will go away."

The rest of the troubleshooters heard the commotion of her attempt to disembowel Rody and came hurtling into the outer chamber.

Stop! Go back! Alix howled insider her head.

"Kill," whispered the Other and her body sprang into motion . It was as involuntary as a sneeze. She sprang at Brontus --if the Other was hoping to get her killed, that was a pretty good start-- but the barbarian was so surprised by her duplicitous act that she raked him across the chest before turning inside her skin and slamming into Pax.

Oh no, not Pax. Alix didn't know why, exactly, but she felt closer to the human woman than to most of the rest of the party. Perhaps it was because she was the least obnoxious, or perhaps it was because the first time they'd met Pax had saved her life. Not that it mattered. Pax seemed able to take the party, Alix included, or leave them.

Alix's body clawed Pax, and coiled to spring at Justine who had come pelting through the line, throwing curses.

No! Alix could stop her body, couldn't dislodge the bloody maggots from her mind, but as her feline shape lined up on the beautiful agent, she threw all her will into trying to conjure a fire seed. The Other had not considered that she might try to attack her friends, had not blocked out this option, but she couldn't summon the fire seed as a beast. Her skin started to slide, stuttered, stopped in confusion, as the Other sought to reestablish control.

The battle only lasted a second, but it was a second too long, for even as the Other reasserted itself Brontus charged. With a roar like an erupting volcano, he swung his massive, bloodstained blade. Alix had seen those six feet of steel neatly bisect the ratmen at a go. She offered her soul to the world spirit. The blade struck her ribs--

+++

Why am I not dead? Alix's ribs ached. Breathing hurt. Even groaning hurt, which wasn't fair. Moaning and groaning were supposed to be free. She found herself gasping instead.

"I think she's coming around," Hakkoz said.

Alix opened her eyes. Her mouth was hanging open. Her mouth tasted like old boots. She fought the urge to gag, and sat up, very gingerly. "What happened?" She asked, though it was the wrong question. She knew she'd been possessed.

"Brontus used his sword on you like a cricket bat," Justine said. "And he doesn't even play cricket."

Alix essayed a grunt and rose unsteadily to her feet. Across the room, Cleo was attending Rody, who had a new lump on his head.

"I... am sorry," Alix said. It seemed an inadequate apology, but then, so did every other apology she could think of.

"S'okay," Brontus rumbled. He added philosophically, "Your eyes were glowing red, that means you weren't yourself."

"Let's hope I never get pink-eye then," Alix said. "I'd hate to have you knock me out of the stadium by mistake." She tried to make her voice light, but shame stuck like snot to the back of her throat. There were not too many absolutes in Alix's moral universe, but not betraying friends was one of them. It was the greatest of sins... but there was no time to dwell on it now. The Harvest Moon had risen, and the King Who Crawls Stirred in his gutter grave.

Alix spat on the deactivated rune. I am going to give you such a kicking...

[matrix3]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Get out of my head! Out! Get. OUT! Alix railed futilely at the malignant presence that had usurped her mind. It felt like maggots gnawing holes in her brain laying trails of excrement in her soul.

Her body tensed and she slid from her bipedal skin into her saber-fanged one. In one fluid motion she turned, reached out with her the tendrils of her primal powers and seized Rody by the root of his instincts. Before he even knew what he was doing the impulse of her command impelled him into her waiting claws, and across the hellish icon in the floor as well.

And it felt good. It was not the satisfaction of a clean kill or the abandon of orgasm, but rather the sick relief of regurgitated poison. "Just empty out your soul," it seemed to say, "And the pain will go away."

The rest of the troubleshooters heard the commotion of her attempt to disembowel Rody and came hurtling into the outer chamber.

Stop! Go back! Alix howled insider her head.

"Kill," whispered the Other and her body sprang into motion . It was as involuntary as a sneeze. She sprang at Brontus --if the Other was hoping to get her killed, that was a pretty good start-- but the barbarian was so surprised by her duplicitous act that she raked him across the chest before turning inside her skin and slamming into Pax.

Oh no, not Pax. Alix didn't know why, exactly, but she felt closer to the human woman than to most of the rest of the party. Perhaps it was because she was the least obnoxious, or perhaps it was because the first time they'd met Pax had saved her life. Not that it mattered. Pax seemed able to take the party, Alix included, or leave them.

Alix's body clawed Pax, and coiled to spring at Justine who had come pelting through the line, throwing curses.

No! Alix could stop her body, couldn't dislodge the bloody maggots from her mind, but as her feline shape lined up on the beautiful agent, she threw all her will into trying to conjure a fire seed. The Other had not considered that she might try to attack her friends, had not blocked out this option, but she couldn't summon the fire seed as a beast. Her skin started to slide, stuttered, stopped in confusion, as the Other sought to reestablish control.

The battle only lasted a second, but it was a second too long, for even as the Other reasserted itself Brontus charged. With a roar like an erupting volcano, he swung his massive, bloodstained blade. Alix had seen those six feet of steel neatly bisect the ratmen at a go. She offered her soul to the world spirit. The blade struck her ribs--

+++

Why am I not dead? Alix's ribs ached. Breathing hurt. Even groaning hurt, which wasn't fair. Moaning and groaning were supposed to be free. She found herself gasping instead.

"I think she's coming around," Hakkoz said.

Alix opened her eyes. Her mouth was hanging open. Her mouth tasted like old boots. She fought the urge to gag, and sat up, very gingerly. "What happened?" She asked, though it was the wrong question. She knew she'd been possessed.

"Brontus used his sword on you like a cricket bat," Justine said. "And he doesn't even play cricket."

Alix essayed a grunt and rose unsteadily to her feet. Across the room, Cleo was attending Rody, who had a new lump on his head.

"I... am sorry," Alix said. It seemed an inadequate apology, but then, so did every other apology she could think of.

"S'okay," Brontus rumbled. He added philosophically, "Your eyes were glowing red, that means you weren't yourself."

"Let's hope I never get pink-eye then," Alix said. "I'd hate to have you knock me out of the stadium by mistake." She tried to make her voice light, but shame stuck like snot to the back of her throat. There were not too many absolutes in Alix's moral universe, but not betraying friends was one of them. It was the greatest of sins... but there was no time to dwell on it now. The Harvest Moon had risen, and the King Who Crawls Stirred in his gutter grave.

Alix spat on the deactivated rune. I am going to give you such a kicking...

 

Great stuff! I take it this was from Alix's player?

[ghost-angel]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

I also gave the people who got dominated some extra XP at the end of the night' date=' since they all did a good job of RPing the mind control. [/quote']

 

Did a good job? Some were suggesting the best ways to use their powers against the party. . .

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Great stuff! I take it this was from Alix's player?

 

Yeps.

 

Did a good job? Some were suggesting the best ways to use their powers against the party. . .

 

Exactly! If I mind control you, I expect you to do your best to murder your compatriots!

[Enforcer84]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

I've done that without being controlled.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Bloodmater Recap for 11/28/2009

The heroes had found a trap door in the floor, obviously the route that the evil acolyte had taken to escape their wrath, so down they went. The tunnel was narrow and twisty, and as they continued down it the floor and walls grew soft, and damp – like they were crawling down a great throat instead of a cave.

Eventually, they found themselves in a large cavern. A half-dozen large rat-men were waiting for them, and attacked without mercy! These creatures were tough and fearless, but still no match for the heroes. After the critters were dead, the Troubleshooters searched the room and found a large pool of some sort of red, glowing liquid.

Hakkoz immediately identified it as the blood of the earth, a very rare liquid renowned for its healing powers. If you rest near the pool, it can heal your injuries almost immediately. Several of the heroes were hurt, so they sat down near the pool and rested. Its soothing energies filled them with a spiritual calmness and eased their wounds, and within about fifteen minutes they were back on their feet and ready for action!

While they were doing that, Justine and Hakkoz kept an eye on the tunnel that dug deeper into the earth. They saw nothing – even with Hakkoz’ keen Dwarven eyes. The darkness was simply too deep. It was the darkest darkness that they had ever seen.

Still, the heroes had a mission to do, so they lit torches and went in. But as soon as they crossed into the tunnel, the torches dimmed until they were giving off almost no light at all. They were still burning, but they were not illuminating anything. While the party tried to puzzle this out, suddenly something came up out of the dark and grabbed Clio and Hakkoz, dragging them away and into the black.

Berrian cast a light spell at whatever had grabbed them, though in this mystical darkness the powerful spell only gave off as much light as a dim candle. It was enough to show the rest of the team where the creature was, though! Justine blasted it with the radiance of the stars, and Alix lit it up with a faerie fire. Hakkoz and Clio managed to wrestle free from its life-draining grip and each of them hit it with the radiance of their gods. Finally, Brontus charged (not quite sure where it was but sure that he needed to kill it!) and cleaved it in two!

The mystical darkness faded as the creature crumbled to dust. The heroes still aren’t sure what it really was, but Berrian managed to collect some of the magic dust in the hopes of using it in some alchemical formulation at a later time.

They continued on, and entered another large cavern. There, the acolyte who had escaped them earlier was waiting, along with more rat-men bodyguards. “Kill them!” he yelled. “The King Who Crawls will not be denied!”

Once again, battle was joined. The floor was difficult to move on, as it was soft and wet and undulating like a tongue. And worse – all around the floor were large worm-like mouths that opened up and tried to bite the heroes as they traversed the tricky terrain. However, the heroes were onto the acolyte’s tricks this time, and they gang-rushed him, killing him before he could escape or fire off any spells at them! Then they mopped up the rats at their leisure.

The heroes felt that they were close… This maze of passages was nearly at an end, and so were the followers of the King Who Crawls. They entered the last room and found a large group of men. Another priest stood in the center, flanked by a bodyguard – the same man who told the heroes to get out of town earlier! The priest had a grip on Charles, the beggarman the heroes had come to rescue. “Come no closer, sinners!” the priest wailed. “You are too late! The harvest is upon us, and the King Who Crawls will rule this decrepit world once again!”

The battle was joined! Berrian threw a fireball into the room, roasting most of the rank-and-file cultists who had been getting ready to attack and clearing out a space for the warriors to run in and engage. Brontus went toe-to-toe with another big barbarian, trading blows left and right. Alix transformed into a sabertooth and rushed the priest, to get him away from poor Charles. Clio came in to offer some much-needed muscle, since this priest wasn’t about to go down as easily as his apprentice did! Pax charged the priest’s bodyguard, forcing his attention away from the rest of the party, while Hakkoz and Justine moved up more cautiously to offer support (and eldritch blasts).

The cultists were just speedbumps, easily eliminated. But the priest, the barbarian, and the bodyguard fought like demons possessed. But still – Brontus killed the barbarian, then rushed in to help Pax. The bodyguard was armed with several magical items which helped keep him alive, but even that was not enough. The priest, now all alone, turned to flee but was cut down before he could take three steps, and the battle was won. “The eyes!” he cried out as he died. “The eyes of the King Who Crawls are upon you! You will be cursed forever!”

Hakkoz went to tend Charles, who looked like he had been severely beaten. The old beggar came to long enough to whisper, “The others… It’s horrible, what they’ve done… They’re in there…” He pointed towards the only other exit to the room, leading into darkness…

TBC!

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Bloodmater Recap for 12-05-2009

The heroes knew that they had little time. They headed into the next room, weapons ready. They saw a huge crystal in the center of the room, glowing blood red and pulsing like a giant, corrupt heart. It was surrounded by four large pillars of similar material. The walls of the enormous cave had smaller crystals, partially transparent, within which the heroes saw people trapped.

Each pillar had a bunch of rat-men standing around it. By the huge crystal heart stood a tall, dark human. “So, Torrash was unable to stop you?” he sneered. “I always knew he wasn’t good for anything. Still, he held you off long enough. Now that the heart of the mountain has begun to pulse, it’s only a matter of time before the army of the King Who Crawls will march! You cannot stop him now!”

Clio recognized the man immediately. It was Abrihm, Countess Quintessa’s right-hand man! A more evil person probably didn’t live in Bloodmater. “That one is mine!” she said. “He will pay for his crimes!”

“Blah blah blah, too much talking, not enough killing!” Brontus snarled, rushing forward to engage the rats.

Clio and Rody moved up to deal with Abrihm, but he was quick, and deadly. With a few quick twists of his wicked blade, he had Rody on the floor in a puddle of blood. He roared at his rats to kill the paladin, and a handful of the beasts swarmed Clio.

Then the heroes saw what Abrihm was talking about when he said they were too late. The great heart pulsed, and each of the pillars echoed the beat. Then a newly-formed rat-man crawled out of each of the pillars! This infernal contraption was turning the helpless people trapped within into evil mutants!

Meanwhile, Pax fought her way up to one of the pillars. The rats swarmed her, but she pushed them away long enough to whack the pillar with her sword. The pillar trembled and began to crack. “No!” Abrihm shouted. “Defend the pillars!” More rat-men swarmed around, biting, clawing, and scratching viciously.

Hakkoz called upon the power of his god to bring Rody back from the brink of death. “Kord’s not done with you, son. Back on your feet!” Justine threw curses and eldritch bolts left and right, clearing rat-men away from the main combat. Berrian fired a bolt of electricity towards Abrihm, but somehow the man’s magic armor absorbed it and sent it echoing back at the tiny wizard, blasting him backwards. “OK, note to self: Don’t shoot him with lightning anymore…”

Clio continued to duel with Abrihm, trading deadly blows and finally dealing him a vicious cut. He tried to back away from the fight, but Rody and Hakkoz wouldn’t let him get away from them. More rats came from the pillars, and Brontus continued to hack them to shreds. Alix came up with the brilliant idea of surrounding each pillar in a column of flame, so when the rat-men came out they would be roasted before they could threaten the heroes.

Pax managed to finally shatter the pillar she had been hammering on, then she moved on to the next. “No! The plan!” Abrihm cried.

“Your planning days are over!” Clio said, ramming her sword into his gut. With a gasp, he collapsed on the floor.

The heroes managed to mop up the remaining rats, and destroy the pillars. Berrian rushed over to the great glowing crystal heart to try to see how to stop it. He saw that the heart was covered in glowing red runes. He began to chant the counter-spell to deactivate the runes, and after some slip-ups, managed to slow, then stop the heart.

There was a low moan throughout the cavern, and the crystals that entrapped all those people began to dissolve, freeing them. The great heart went black, and the heroes felt as if all the souls which had been trapped in this infernal place were now finally freed to move on to their final reward.

“Let’s get these people out of here, before this place collapses,” Hakkoz suggested. The heroes began to gather up the confused and ill people and herd them back up out of the cave and into the breaking dawn, leaving the temple of the King Who Crawls forever behind them.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Bloodmater Recap for 12-12-2009

After returning from the temple of the King Who Crawls, the troubleshooters took a day off to rest and recouperate. But before long, they realized that their job(s) were not done. They still had to kill the pirate captain Drudge, and get Zacharaius’ island back to him.

 

The first rule of the day was to find out more about him. At the moment, they knew almost nothing about the dreaded pirate, so they headed out and began asking around to see if there was any information to be had. They learned that the common folk of the city were reluctant to talk about the wicked and notorious pirate, but after spending a day hunting around for information they learned a few things…

 

Clio went and spoke with some of the grungier, shadier members of society. She was told that Captain Drudge is not a human, although no one was really sure what he is. He’s huge and burly. Maybe he’s got some giant blood in him or something? Furthermore, he's got a couple more guys like him that captain some of his other ships.

 

While Clio did the diplomatic thing, Brontus asked questions in his direct way – by dangling like-looking people over the edge of the cliff until someone talked. He was pleased to learn that Drudge is a member in good standing of the inner circle of the Addertongue Brotherhood – pleased because killing Drudge will kill two birds with one stone, as far as the barbarian was concerned.

 

Alix asked the birds of the sky if they had ever seen or heard about this Captain Drudge. The birds told him that Drudge’s fleet is made up of several large, noisy, steam-and-smoke belching machines. The birds hate them. She deduced from that fact that Drudge would need a ton of fuel to keep his ships in the air. She asked around for where a coal seam might be found, and learned that there was one lower down in the city, too close to the Mist for any sane person to want to dig.

 

Rody learned that Drudge’s flagship is called the Skallywag. However, his questioning was cut short by the arrival of some of Gordo’s men, who chased him around the city for a while before he managed to lose them.

 

Pax heard that the Skallywag is a huge ship; it has a crew of about 50-60 guys just on that one ship. He also has several smaller ships in his fleet. Drudge is a little too infamous to come to port very often, but the smaller ships are known to have a hidden dock somewhere in the city, hidden away from curious eyes.

 

Hakkoz heard that Drudge has at least one priest working for him, and what’s more, the priest is a Dwarf! His name is Adrik, and he’s a nasty piece of work. He’s got a gang of similarly hardened Dwarves that work for him.

 

When the heroes got back together, they compared notes. Alix suggested that the coal seam might be the place to start looking. So the heroes decided to head that way come first light.

 

But before they could do anything else, a stranger arrived at the Red Wizard’s tower. He was a strange sight – a Dragonborn warrior (most of the heroes had never seen one of his type before, though of course they all knew of the dragon-kin). He said that he was on a quest to become a hero, and that he heard the Red Wizard was recruiting people for his troubleshooting team.

 

“You’re a little late,” Brontus said. “He already recruited somebody. Namely, us.”

 

“Well, is there room for one more? I promise not to take any shares of any treasure found until I’ve proven myself. I’m a capable warrior and a good tactician.”

 

“Another sword can’t hurt,” Clio said. The rest of the party agreed.

 

“But if you turn out to be a spy working for the King Who Crawls,” Brontus threatened, “I’ll kill you myself.”

 

“Fair enough,” the dragonborn agreed, not even knowing who the King Who Crawls was. “My name’s Aester. Pleased to meet you all.”

 

“Oh, one other thing you oughta know,” Hakkoz rumbled. “We’ve all got a hefty price on our heads. If you hang out too long with us, you might end up with one too.”

 

“Thanks for telling me,” Aester said, a little nervously…

 

With introductions out of the way, the troubleshooters headed down into the lower reaches of the city. When they got to where the coal seam was supposed to be, they found a locked gate with a sign on it warning dire consequences for any who dared cross it. Alix and Rody, of course, crossed it. They went in to see what was the deal.

 

They found a group of grungy, mean-looking Dwarves sitting around a little guard shack, drinking and singing an old sea shanty. One of the dwarves spotted Alix and grabbed her, and the men began joking about making some nice cat stew. Hakkoz overheard them chatting in Dwarvish, and came up with a daring scheme.

 

He stomped down the stairs and into their midst, bellowing about how they were being derelict in their guard duties and demanding to see the boss. His sudden entrance and loud voice spooked the men, so one of them ran to grab their leader. A human dressed in wizards’ robes came out of the shack to see what the heck was going on. When he saw the heroes, he shouted, “Those aren’t our people, they’re troubleshooter! Get them!”

 

The battle began! Rody leapt over a startled dwarf and ran behind the wizard, savagely stabbing him before a couple of crossbowmen filled him with arrows, dropping him. Brontus, seeing his buddy go down, rushed over to help, With one mighty sweep of his sword, he killed the wizard and sent him plummeting into the depths of the Mist.

 

Alix leapt up onto the roof of the shanty. From there, she spotted a group of Halflings who were getting ready to ambush the heroes from a safe vantage point on the cliff above. “Not so fast,” she thought, turning into a saber-toothed tiger and leaping into their midst, scattering them like tenpins!

 

The rest of the heroes mixed it up with the dwarven warriors. They were tough combatants, but eventually their numbers were whittled down to one. “Surrender now, or face the wrath of the Raven Queen!” Clio demanded imperiously. The dwarf, realizing that the odds were against him, threw down his hammer and gave up.

 

The troubleshooters trussed him up and began asking questions. He didn’t know too much – he was just a lowly guard. But he told the heroes that Drudge was not in town. However, one of the ships of his fleet, the Brazen Whore, was. It was docked down below, at the main shipyard. He told the heroes that they could get there by heading down the stairs. First they’d run into the coal mine, where a mighty dwarf known only as The Overseer ran things. Past that was the refining facility, and below that were the docks. Further, he told them that nobody knew the heroes were on their way, since this group didn’t have a chance to sound the alarm.

 

Armed with this knowledge, the heroes headed down the rickety wooden stairs toward the coal mine…

[Enforcer84]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

yay!I can see it again!

[Kristopher]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Me too.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Our game had a guest GM this week...

 

 

 

Talk about a heartless killer GM!

[matrix3]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

What's on the whiteboard back there?

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

What? The colored things? Those are magnets from Alea Tools. We use them to mark status effects (blinded, invisible, flying, whatever) on the minis.

[matrix3]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Yeah, I could see that there was something written next to the different colors, but couldn't read what it was.

 

What's the cat's name?

[teh bunneh]

Re: Bloodmäter

 

Kitteh's name is Saturnine, AKA Saturn, AKA Gray Kitty, AKA Princess of all She Surveys, AKA Rat-Thing, AKA a whole buncha other names.