Walt moves from his protective stance over the orc mage and swings out with his staff at the undead horror before him.
Attack:
Damage:
PCs:
Walt strikes the undead Dessicated One, dealing 1 damage.
Charles likewise strikes an undead, dealing significant damage.
Grondor shatters the Dessicated One next to him.
Regulus misses the demon.
Tesswyn drinks some All-Flower Water and stops the evaporation of moisture from her body.
Enemies:
PCs.
Drot manages to escape the fray and get to relative safety.
Enemies.
The demon - seeing she may be on the losing end of this, tries to escape. She uses her action to Retreat (Move half speed, no provoking free attacks), and then uses her Move to move full speed.
Her insanely fast speed jets her to the back wall, where she follows it around to the door to try and escape.
Charles recoiled in pain. His vision was starting to blur but he gave a desperate jab to the things face. "You should never have awoken, return to your eternal rest!"
Regulus rushes after the demon. "Eliminate threat now to prevent future damages." Taking one hand off his sword, he reaches out to grab the fleeing demon.
"Don't let her escape!" Tesswyn readied her sling as she moves into the hallway. She hurls a stone at the fleeing demon!
PCs:
Charles swats at the Dessicated One, completely destroying it. It collapses to the floor in a pile of bones and frail skin.
Enemies:
The Dessicated Ones continue their assault.
It hurts Walt and grabs him! It tries to suck the Moisute out of him, but is unable to do so this round.
PCs
Regulus rushes out to the hallway to grabs the demon, but the Dessicated One next to him lashes out as he rushes after the demon.
The DO misses as Regulus runs after the demon. He catches up to her and grabs her, preventing her from escaping!
Tesswyn runs after the demon and launches a sling stone at her.
The stone hits her squarely in the head, and her body collapses and ichor oozez out of her wounds. She melts into a puddle on the floor, leaving a permanent stain in the stone.
Enemies:
The Dessicated One which previously had a free attack against Regulus is now alone - he moves after the closes target: Charles.
Charles is also grabbed! And again, the DO is unable to suck the moisture out of him.
Drot moves to help the seemingly overwhelmed Walter.
"GGGRRAHHH!!!"
Tesswyn cheers as the demon dissolves. "Yes! Melted that b!+$!!" She turns and hurls a sling bullet at the nearest desiccated one.
Finding their methods useful, Regulus turns his attention on the nearest dessicated corpse. Mechanically, his arm raises the sword and brings it slashing downward.
Charles nods at Tesswyn in thanks as he throws off the now still corpse. His wounds were adding up and his throat was dry. He wasn't sure how much longer he could last down here, let alone any more punishment he could take... and he definitely wasn't liking the idea of climbing back up the rope they'd used to get down here.
"Come on Walt, you can't die here!" he said before kneeling down next to the man and calling forth the blessing of the New God. He used his staff to help get him back off the ground knowing that if he didn't move then he would find it too difficult to do so.
"D-did we do it? Are they all gone?"
With the destruction of the last Dessicated One, the room falls quiet. It no longer feels dry, you no longer feel like the moisture is being drawn out of you.
Charles rushes over to Walt to heal him.
Tesswyn leans heavily against the wall and heaves a long sigh. Her legs feel weak and wobbly, and looking around, all of her companions are bruised and battered as well. Still, they had accomplished their task.
"We did it," she tells Charles. "Let's look for anything valuable here then get back to town and put this nightmare behind us. That spider can rot in its room for all I care."
She searches the room.
"I agree. The spider is easily dealt with at another time. Let's report back and rest up."
Searching the sarcophagi, you find a total of 12 copper pennies and one gold crown.
Which way do you leave? Through the hallway or through the spider's room?
Regulus nods to the others, helping Walt to his feet. "Objective accomplished. Preserve unit integrity. Exit through hallway to avoid spider?"
"Agreed," Tesswyn says.
Charles nodded at the idea of leaving and let the others who still had the energy to do so search the room while he moved slowly to the wall to use as support.
As he rested, he realized how close many of them had come to dying this day. It scared him to think how how easily things could have turned against them.
"We need to be better." he said slowly at first. "We somehow muddled through this time. But this was a lot more dangerous than even the day the rift was opened and I don't think it's the end of our troubles. Whether it's training, or equipment, or resolve. We need to become better than we are." he finished by looking around at the rest of them.
Gronder nods. "Yeah. Sounds about right."
Drot breaths heavy, looking around wildly still on edge, his eyes slowly losing the shine of battle. He slumps his shoulders and shakes his mind clear, nodding.
"Per'aps trainin' is in order, and a new weapon..."
Drot looks sadly at his staff, splintered and weary; it has seen better days.
"Let's get out ah'here."
Leaving the compound, you travel down the hallway one last time.
Tesswyn tries her best to disable the trap...
Tesswyn, the trap springs out in your attempt to disarm it, dealing damage to you as it cuts into you. You may try again.
Regulus attempts to hold anything in place that might make it easier for Tesswyn. "Safe exit high priority."
Regulus attempts to hold any visible triggers or pieces of the trap's mechanical still.
Charlemange staggered out into the hallway. His eyes were wild and darting as he looked around, his breathing labored and ragged. He spotted Drot'ook and began running at him.
"Your blood, Drot." he rasped, trying to tackle the orc to the ground. "Give me your blood!"
Charles lunges at Drot, attemtping to lick the blood off of the giant orc. The orcs strength is too much for the smaller human, though, and he cannot push back Drops immediately reaction to keep Charles away.
"What is wrong with you Charles!? You don't need blood, let alone mine, you know it could drive you to madness!"
Drot defends himself and holds Charles away if needed.
"Someone talk some sense into this man!"
"No!" he cried in denial. "I need it to survive, but if I can't take it from you..." he said tearing himself away from the orc. "Walt will do."
He then ran at the older man.
Regulus moves to try to restrain Charles. New threat. May need to eliminate.
Charles lunges at Walt, but not before Regulus grabs him and holds him down.
Moments pass before Charles calms down, the feeling of bloodlust evaporating from him mind.
Tesswyn manages to disarm the trap, allowing everyone to safely pass through the hall. You crawl through the final tunnel, struggling through the dust of dead people in the tight corridors before re-emerging at the bottom of the well. With a call up, the townsfolk help lift you up and out of the well one by one.
Once he had come away from the bloodlust, Charles apologized for his actions to the others.
As they got outside and had a chance to recover, he realized and hated to admit it to himself but he'd been scared. He'd come perilously close to dying or at least being seriously injured. Not to mention the rest of the group as well. If it hadn't been for those potions of healing Tesswyn had, they would have been forced to retreat
He'd believed that his faith had been strong enough to see him through everything but the thirst for blood he'd been inflicted with had proven him wrong. He needed to be more cautious around strange objects like that in the future.
The demon, Laugher, had been worse than he'd wanted to admit. There had been far too many people who had met their demise from her and very little that he was able to accomplish even with the blessings of the New God.
He had already spoken his mind of training further with the others and they were in agreement. They would need to make sure that happened.
Questions that had been floating at the back of his mind came to the surface again. This demon of of evaporating had been abducting people for months. She had been released because of the cultists from a year ago. If she was released, and those other minor minions were too, what else had been released? And if she had been able to go for months without being noticed, then were there other things they had missed too?
Tesswyn curses as the trap slashes her fingers. The drama with Charles and Regulus plays out, and fortunately the priest calms down before he hurts anybody. She works at the trap again, this time managing to disable it. She sighs with relief when the group finally re-emerges back into the town.
She puts on a brave face until she makes it back to her home, but then she throws up a little bit and breaks into a fit of terrified sobs. She's painfully aware of all of her cuts and bruises, of how close she had come to being nothing more than a dried up husk from the demon's draining touch. What could have possibly motivated her to go on such a dangerous endeavor?
Friendship. Gods-damned friendship. She reluctantly admits that the group was starting to grow on her. Not just Drot, but Regulus and Grondor and Walt and even the insufferable Charles. She had been alone for several years after her father's death, and it seems she had finally latched onto a new surrogate family. Given a choice, she knows she would go down into that dungeon with them again, if only to make sure they stayed safe.
Tesswyn groans. This was going to be annoying...
Gronder takes a long look at the sky when they emerge. Never thought I'd look up at the sky and feel... relief? He looked around at his teammates... Can I really still call them that, after what we've been through? Comrades? Maybe friends? But I hardly know them, and they hardly know me. Still, I can work to change that, and that feels like the right thing to do. So, friends. ...and offered to help anyone who needed it get to their homes, before heading to his own for some much needed rest.
I've changed. Before, it was always, "Yeah, I carry an axe, and I've swung it a few times, and I'd fight if I had to, so I guess I am a warrior." I had no idea what I was talking about. Now... now, I do. Now I've fought, life and death, and not just for myself. I've seen the blood, the pain and fear, and Gods help me, I think I like it. Maybe... this is why the old veterans used to laugh at me for carrying my axe everywhere?
Tired and bloodied Drot hits the ground and sprawls out, trying to gather a little more energy. His mind is filled with ifs and buts and should haves regarding the time he and this rag tag team spent below the town.
There was more I could have done. I need to learn to use my magic efficiently and effectively. Training with the others should help this... But that feeling I get when I destroy my enemies... I can't ignore that. I need to find a way to direct my ancestral ferocity toward my foes and end our battles quickly. Perhaps I need to ask the other fighters what they do...
"We need to make sure are wounds are tended to, there's no telling what those monstrosities could have been infested with..."
When he can he heads back to his home and sleeps off the days battles. This may take a few days but when he is closer to normal he will make a point to check on Tess and make sure she is healing well.
Regulus strode out of the dungeon, his mechanical mind doing its best approximation of satisfaction. Threats eliminated. Economic function preserved. Drought potentially eliminated.
He looked to the others, dragging themselves out of the dungeon. "Effective teamwork acknowledged. Objectives completed."
He recovers over the next few days then looks for the next caravan route to establish.
The crowd cheers as each of you successfully climb out of the well, covered in grime and dirt and blood and the dust of human remains. But with your survival comes coin and valuables and maybe a little bit of a fracture psyche.
You're generally regarded as heroes, even above and beyond the respect you earned last year during the Tear in the Veil.
As you make your way to your homes, visages of the Demon of Desolation haunt your dreams. But they become calm and fade away completely as a new sound enters your awareness: rain. It's raining. For the first time in a year fresh water has come.
Life seems to have returned to normal.
But normality does not last long in this world. Behind the veil, the Demon Lord continues to press his influence - the more chaotic the world becomes, the closer He is to breaking through. And a new chaos is about to be seen in the small town of Asylum.
The rains came, but did not stop. It was as if the Demon had kept the rains at bay, and they were intent on bringing back the entire years worth all at once. The creeks and rivers swelled beyond capacity. Mudslides buried trails and passes in the hill lands and mountains.
A month passed and the rains have not let up. Asylum was on a relatively flat area of land which would later be described as a “flood plain.” But for the residents of the small trading town, it was a home that was in the path of overflowing waters. As the rivers exceeded their capacity, the waters needed a place to go. Waters follow the path of least resistance, and that path led them through the small town, flooding the town in several feet of water.
The town was abandoned.
People went their different ways. Regulus joined up with Walt to head to the small town of Fletcher's Rest, where it is said the Martyr of the New God is buried. Walt became a religious figure there, while Regulus helped set up new trade routes and kept the nearby forest clear of bandits.
Charles and Grondoret up with Drot and Tesswyn and several others in the town to find a new home. As refugees, they were welcomed in Tomoal, a small town in the mountains.
Getting By: You earn enough to make ends meet. You likely have a rented room or a small hovel in a poorer part of the community.
Why did you go out? What monster was this? How did you kill it? This whole event - from the first outing to the final killing - took one month.
Additionally, you'll need to purchase a Lifestyle. See Page 100. If you purchase anything other than Getting By, don't forget to make the associated rolls that come with the lifestyle.
Oh, and also, you no longer suffer from your speech impediment. You are now free of the Bane on social rolls.
Tesswyn was unmoved when the floods forced her and her friends out of town. She had wandered from place to place ever since her father's death, never settling down in one spot for very long. Her stay in Asylum had been the longest one yet, but it always felt like a temporary stopping point. So she packed up her meager belongings and joined up with the trail of refugees as they made their way into the mountains.
They settled in Tomoal, and Tesswyn was able to find work at a local shop. She made enough to get by, augmented by the occasional bits she lifted off of unsuspecting customers. But she couldn't shake the feeling of dread that loomed over her. She knew it was only a matter of time before the Demon Lord sent his minions to attack the civilized lands again. It's just what he did. She had nearly lost her life in the battle against the Desolation Demon. She needed more than tricks. She needed to be better. Stronger. She needed power.
Her parents had raised Tesswyn in the tenets of the Old Faith. Contrary to Charles' proselytizing, she knew the true gods lived in the world and granted power to those who followed their rites. Tomoal boasts a small community of druids who worship and honor the Old Gods, and it was to them Tesswyn went. Professing a depth of faith that she didn't actually possess, the druids welcomed her into their fold to teach her the mysteries of nature magic. Tesswyn spent many a day atop a mountain's peak, naked save for patterns of woad as she sang the praises of the Maiden of the Moon, the Queen of Summer, and the World Mother. And at length what began as a long con kindled a spark of true devotion within her. Thus, Tesswyn's latent power awoke within her, as she mastered a few basic spells.
Now, Tesswyn is never seen without a few leaves and flowers woven into her hair, acorns spilling out of her belt pouch, and a carved symbol of a crescent moon about her neck...
After arriving in Tomoal, Drot met up with an old friend of his from his days as a slave. They shared a mutual appreciation for the arcane arts and it was quite a day of showing off and trading stories. His friend, Lemagrag, gave him a tip about magical creatures that lived in the mountain forests a weeks travel to the [direction]. It was said that these beasts held secrets regarding ancient magics and Drot wanted a piece. So he set off to find them and find them he did.
Narrowly escaping with his life he managed to take from them herbs and a single scroll. The herbs were used to imbue someone with greater magical affinity, it's what the creatures ate. The scroll was a spell Drot copied into his book and destroyed, thinking he'd rid himself of the evidence and his questionable deeds.
Unfortunately, what he now knows as Redcaps, followed his trail for over the week's travel back to the town. They ran rampant sneaking into houses and killing townsfolk by night. Drot knew he couldn't let this go on, so with some engineering genius and his newfound power he laid a trap for the little faeries, rounded them up and destroyed them. Not before they got the better of several people though; Drot still does not forgive himself for the losses...
Drot has dreams of starting his own shop, like the one back in Asylum, but this time it won't be fake trinkets and nic-nacs sold as relics. He'll make and sell small enchanted items to teach young people about magic and all you can do with it. Like his little metal ball that he keeps with him still, these toys and trinkets will make a difference to someone.
"I'm telling you Tesswyn, Drot'ook's Enchanted Emporium will be real some day!" Is a statement he finds himself saying more and more.
"Of course it will, Drot," Tesswyn says. "Assuming the whole village isn't slaughtered the next time the redcaps find their way here."
"You know that's a tender subject, one that I mean to pay back in full. Let's practice some combat maneuvers, I need to get better with this new mace before I'm forced to use it. "
Tesswyn smirks, letting Drot know she was only teasing him. She heads out to their training ground and brandishes her staff. "Let me show you a new trick I picked up. Courtesy of the Old Gods."
Tesswyn murmurs a prayer as she waves her holy symbol over the staff. It begins to thrum with power, sprouting shoots with bright green leaves. She takes a few practice swings of the shillelagh and points it at the orc. "Let's dance!"
Drot lumbers onto the field, impressed with how agile Tesswyn really is. He he feels the tinge of battle in his eyes and shakes his head.
This is not a real fight, relax.
"Praesidio!" He shouts and a shimmering layer of force wraps around him. At the same time he rushes toward the small woman; left shoulder in front mace behind, primed to strike.