All, I think it's time for a break. Here's my major issue.
I will not run for the player running Madeline. She or he has continued to read along, in the AP, describing her actions with terms that are specific to the AP, proving to me (without doubt) that he or she is reading ahead. She/he did it with the bog. And now with the "coracle." Obviously, I have no control over anyone reading the AP in the privacy of their own home, but I tend to trust my players won't. When they abuse, repeatedly, that trust, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
So, I'm done running for this particular player. I have tried and tried. I will not try anymore.
Secondly, we've lost Beau. We're down to Vaughn, Alexa, and Valen. I like you guys and would happily continue to run for you, but I honestly don't think I have the stamina to pick up more folks.
So, we have two options, at least as far as I can see.
1) The three of you can roll up secondary characters and run them, giving you six characters between three players.
OR
2) We can end this campaign and I can run you guys through my home brew. We can pick up 1-2 new players for that.
Madeline steps delicately into the small wooden coracle on offer and sits primly, if a little stiffly, in the very center. Hardy seeming even to breath as the group makes its way to the 'Boneyard'...
Fair enough. Smith will be weaker for the experience, however. Depending on the actual distance you travel, that is.
Lazne leads you to a pair of set of boats. He calls for several more boatmen, each who come armed with a long spear and some rope. When he has enough men, they lead you down into the boats. The boats are small and barely fit two men. It takes as many boats as there are members in your group, but once the logistics are hammered out, you depart.
The Boneyard is about a mile north of the small village and it takes an hour or so of navigating the strange, smelly swamps to reach it.
A tiny, miserable island rises from the swamp, a tangle of trees covering its dour, reed-choked surface. Hundreds of fetishes hang from the trees—simple, roughly humanoid figures made of sticks and bound with twine. Larger fetishes are planted in the ground on various parts of the island, leaning drunkenly in the soft mud. A large nest built of sodden swamp wood sits high in the boughs of a trio of tangled trees on the northwest side of the isle.
The flesh golem had no marks that indicated it had been bitten or marked my spears. In fact, you were quite certain it had no marks on it at all (flesh golems have DR 5/adamantine). From your recollection, the Beast stood over eight feet tall and easily weighed 500 lbs. Golems, to the best of your knowledge, do not heal on their own.
Lazne looks at Madeline and replies, "Albino or not, sumthin' aint right about that fella. He's too quiet and keeps lookn' at me all weird. Plus, I ain't ever seen no fella with metal woven into his arms like that."
When Vaghn speaks, Lazne looks over and raises an eyebrow. "Priest of the Lady you say? Well, I ain't one for trying to reclaim our Boneyard, but any blessings your priest might have for our new Boneyard would be welcome."
"Well, you seem like a nice enough boy, so I reckon I can help you out."
Lazne clears his throat and says, "Well, first we knew, the Beast was only attacking folks at night. Then it gots bolder and all, starting attacking folks in them homes. I got tired of it and gathered up a posse of folks, setting us a fine trap for it. We laid in wait for it. When it lumbered into the town, we sprang on it, got a whole bunch of torches and croc-hunting spears - the real long ones."
Lazne takes a moment, spits into the grass, then continues.
"We wounded it, and it was huge, almost seven feet tall. We ran it into the water, but before it could get away, we set on it in our boats. We ran it all the way to the Boneyard. It was cursing us, too, calling us all sorts of names. I think the city whores got cleaner mouths. Anyway, we ran it to the Boneyard and about the time it got there, luck on our side...."
Lazne makes the sign of Pharasma, then continues.
"Blessed Queen of Graves must have been on our side that night, cause a big ol' caimen roared up out of the water and lept at it. It was bowed down I guess, cause the caimen managed to get it on the shoulder and pull it down into the water. Pulled it right under and started a death roll. The waters were churning like butter, yellow and brown, blood gonna everywhere. We had to leave the Boneyard, since I reckon such bad thing would spoil the whole area - and we ain't burying none of our good folk on cursed grounds and the like. So we done and went and built a new grave site for our elders and all. Still, I'm a bit surprised the Beast done lived. I mean, that caimen had it good. Dead to rights I reckon. Still, if you city folks done gone and captured it, good on you. I reckon you should just go and burn it, save us all a lot of trouble if it gets loose again."
Lazne stops for a moment, obviously thinking, then says, "I reckon I can take you to the site if you want to see where it all done gone and happened. But only ya'll. I aint't taken that one..."
He points at Smith.
"I ain't got a good feeling about that fella. He's a bit too pale for my liking."
All those sense motive checks.... and not one above a 20.
The man strikes all of you as both annoyed and sincere. He eyes Madeline, then looks to Smith, and frowns. "I'm not fond of furreniers much, so you might as well just speak right on up about whatcher doing here so I can best get back to whats I was doin. What you folk want?"
"Okay then. Just you sit tight while we fetch him."
The men retreat, still talking amongst one another. They move to a nearby tree, about sixty feet away, and continue to watch your group. You can see them talking, but can't really hear them. After a few minutes pass, an older man, with ruddy skin and a white, ragged beard, starts toward you from the village. As he gets closer, you can tell them man is easily in his late fifties and is annoyed.
"Found it? Ain't no of us gon'n near there. You know what, why don't we fetch ol Lazne and you can ask him all yer fancy questions." And with a nod, the man before you sends one of his fellows off.
"AWait? What? Yer telling me it's alive? When ol' Lazne and we runned it off, we seen it attacked by a blood caiman - err... a swamp croc.... and it bit a big chunk outta it. I don't know how it lived through that? But yeah, it killed ten of our folk. If it still lives and yer keeping it in the city, well, good luck to you then." The man spits into the grass again.
After purchasing mounts, your group heads out shortly before noon. Luckily, Morast is only a few hours away and you arrive about two hours later. Morast is a small hamlet in the Dippelmere Swamp (about 8 miles east of Lepidstadt) and is a miserable collection of twenty or so wattle-and-daub hovels built on stilts above the swamp, each connected by soggy wooden boardwalks.
Hah! I don't plan on making any of your PCs meat shields or henchmen, so no worries there. I'm thinking your NPCs will simply be present at the funeral and will offer insights into the Professor's life.
I do think, however, Vaghn will trip over everything while he follows Kendra around. ;)
FYI - So I sat down with a bunch of old school gamers last night (1e and 2e guys) who want to get back into gaming. I introduced them to Pathfinder and we discussed what types of adventures I might run. After describing the basic APs, the group decided they wanted to play Carrion Crown! So it seems I'm going to be running this online, here, as well as locally. I must say I had to smile. I *may* be using some of your PCs as NPCs in my physical campaign, so I hope you all don't mind.
Ha! That's awesome. The green cloth is foreign, specifically of Qadirian origin. While you're not normally versed in such parts of civilization, you remember seeing it at some point in your past. Qadirian silks are hard to forget.
Dr. Crowl replies, "Oh, this is intriguing. I look forward to hearing what you find and, if you do find the effigy, it's safe return to the University."
Give me a profession (tailor) roll. You can ascertain, however, that this was a fine, silk material. It looks expensive and foreign.
Dr. Crowl stops, sits, and rests his chin thoughtfully in the palm of his hand. "Hmmmm... I can't think of anyone here in the university that favors green over any other color, but I suppose some folks do wear it. I don't think, however, we'd be able to comb the whole university for just folks who wear green. Still, it does suggest others might have had a hand in this. You mentioned you visited the Beast before coming here - were you investigating the creature? Do you have other information that might uncover these potential culprits?"
Dr Crowl looks at Alexa first and says, "Just some muddy, torn brown breeches... or so I'm told. I wasn't with the guards when they caught the creature, so I only know what they told me."
Alexa:
The Beast wasn't wearing any green in jail.
Then, Dr. Crowl looks at Herr Vaghn and says, "The only way into this room is the skylight, the windows, and the door that the guards broke down to get in. Personally, I don't now why they didn't just use their keys, but they aren't the smartest folks, either, and maybe they thought breaking it down would be faster. I don't know. As for the effigy, well, it was small, green, and looked like a strange, crouching Cephalopoda."
Madeline:
Possibly. You'd have to measure the creature's forearm to get a better idea.
Dr. Crowl walks over to the window beside Madeline and says, "Well, I'm no invesigator and just assumed it broke the window here.." He points to the single hole in the middle of the window. "Then he opened the latch and forced it past the safety and climbed through. Of course, that doesn't explain the missing effigy, though."
Dr. Crowl takes the tomes from Vaghn and smiles widely! "Ah, yes, thank you. I was saddened to hear of Dr. Lorrimor's passing, but I am equally grateful for your effort to return these tomes."
Then, Crowl walks over to a shelf and carefully places the books on it.
As the conversation turns to beeswax, he says, "Ah.... we use beeswax here to polish the bannisters. As for the bell, Herr Vaghn is correct - we had an alarm on the door, which the Beast set off, alerting the guards who broke down the door to get in. As for the missing, effigy, Herr Valen, well, I don't think it was very important. It was an odd, ancient item that I couldn't quite place. It certainly didn't have ties to any of the gods I know of. It was a murky, green stone
effigy we called the Seasage Effigy."
The both of you discover a fascinating bottle filled with the remnants of a green liquid that you're absolutely sure has something to do with this disaster.
Alexa:
You do not detect any undead or spirits in the area. You do notice, however, bits of green cloth attached to the window - as if something small passed through it. You also notice the hint of beeswax in the air and a small, silver bell hanging from the inner handle of the door. A small, silver wire lies broken beneath the bell. One part of the room, however, remains completely untouched.The window was broken in a single pane, however, and doesn't look like the beast could have moved through it. The window does look like it was forced open, however, possibly prior to being broken.
Valen:
You notice one area of the room that appears completely untouched. You also notice the smell of beeswax in the room.
Dr. Crowl replies to Valen,"When the guards arrived - about half a minute after it set off the magical alarm protecting this room - all they saw was the Beast ripping the place apart, banging on things and breaking other things. They didn't dare engage it directly, but used nets and hooks to eventually bring it down. When they had it securely bound, they led it directly to the jail. Sadly, the guards didn't find the missing effigy."
"You didn't hear? This is where they caught the Beast! It broke through my window and trashed the place! Look at this mess! Can you believe it? We're lucky the guards showed up when they did. It might have done so much more damage! It made a mess, I tell you. That thing is a menace."
Professor Cowl throws his arms up in the air in disgust.
After leaving the jail, Vaghn easily directs you to the University. After a few minutes of asking around, you are directed to Dr. Montagnie Crowl,Professor of Antiquities at the university. You instantly realize he's an an eccentric but likable man. As he walks toward your group, you cannot help but notice that his workshop is a complete mess. Broken bottles, torn books, and soiled scrolls line the floors. You also notice a broken window.
"Ah, Herr Vaghn, how are you? It is sooooooo good to see you again! How was your adventure? I'm sure it was fantastic and I fully expect you'll tell me all about it when I'm done cleaning up here. How was your dear Kendra, anyway? I know you still have a soft spot for that lass and you no doubt found it hard to..... oh forgive me, I've run off at the mouth haven't I?"
