(Savaged) Carrion Crown – Session 1/Part 1 (15/08/2013)
The Haunting of Harrowstone
Jonas Stent (Andy)
Slender and graceful, Jonas is a paid up member of the Duelist’s Guild in Caliphas. The edge on his wit is ever as keen as his rapier. This suave, dangerous man’s only weaknesses are a fondness for tobacco and an embarrassing phobia of horses.
Master Owl (Gary)
An aged, grey-haired gnome cleric, Owl is short of sight and hard of hearing. Somehow, he manages to lug around a warhammer that must weight more than he does! Long-term adventuring companion of Hartok ‘Bear’ Il’than.
Hartok ‘Bear’ Il’than (Doug)
Tall and heavily built, ‘Bear’ Il’than’s intimidating physical presence is offset by his jovial nature. Long-term adventuring companion of Master Owl.
Sharay (Steve)
Half-Elven sorcerer/monk, Sharay is one of Kendra Lorimmor’s oldest friends and closest confidants. A long scars shows up as a livid, white gash against her chocolate-colored skin, a remnant of the radical surgery attempted to help her control her unstable powers.
Dwayne [the Dwarf] (James)
Rough-edged and boisterous, Dwayne [the Dwarf] sports a tangled beard as shaggy as the pelt of the great, brown bear that he rides around on. If he’s not knocking back a brew at the nearest tavern, its likely because he’s comatose in a gutter, or banged up in jail for his disorderly conduct. The bear’s behavior isn’t much better.
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Although (mostly) unknown to each other, the PC’s all share a mutual acquaintance in the form of Professor Petros Lorimmor, formerly a lecturer at the Lepidstadt University. They are thrown together during the long, bumpy carriage ride to Ravengro, the sleepy little town where the professor lived – and more recently – died. The characters are among those named as principals in the deceased scholar’s will and have thus been summoned to attend his funeral and bear witness to his final words.
Master Owl and Bear Il’than spend the journey reminiscing over the adventures they’ve shared in the past, looting tombs and recovering relics for the Lepidstadt University. Jonas Stent is not listening, he is worrying about what the horses drawing the carriage might be planning… if only he could unravel their scheme, he might be able to foil them! Dwayne [the Dwarf] is untroubled by such deep thoughts (or any thoughts, for that matter), he is happy to hang out of the window, tongue lolling in the wind as the carriage rushes through the forest. His bear lopes alongside with a similar expression of idiot glee plastered across its hairy face.
In the grey light of a drizzly mid-morning, the coach pulls to a halt in the town of Ravengro. The passengers disembark and seek directions to the Lorimmor estate. The locals eye them suspiciously, while Jonas casts a similarly hairy eyeball over the horses.
A small group of mourners have clustered outside the home of the late Professor Lorimmor. They are struggling with the cumbersome weight of the coffin, both Bear and Jonas hurry to add their strength to that of the bearers. Sharay and Master Owl take position to either side of the professor’s distraught daughter (Kendra Lorimmor) as the somber procession winds towards the Restlands.
Trouble on the Dreamwake
Ever watchful for equine conspiracy, Jonas spots a clot of surly farmhands lingering amongst the gravestones. Obstructing the path of the dolent parade, the ruffians express their objections to a ‘necromancer’ being buried alongside their own kin. Kendra reacts poorly to these slanderous accusations against her beloved father. As the confrontation escalates towards an undignified brawl in the middle of a cemetery, Dwayne [the Dwarf] rides up astride his bear, which growls menacingly (as bears do). The bullies hastily decide that they can suffer Lorimmor’s body to be buried in the Restlands if it means they need not incite fisticuffs with a grizzly. They disperse with alacrity (and the lingering stench of soiled britches).
Before the funereal procession can rebuild speed, a cry of alarm is raised from the flock of black-clad weepers trailing behind the coffin. A number of flying skulls circle the graveyard, cackling maniacally and generally behaving in a thoroughly sinister fashion. Sharay drags Kendra out of harms way as the bony apparitions begin dive-bombing the column. While most of the party swat ineffectually at the flying skulls, Master Owl projects a sphere of pure, spiritual force around the party that shakes > destroys any skull fool enough to cross it.
The Burial
After destroying the skulls, one of the cowering locals emerges from cover and introduces himself as Father Grimburrow, the communities only priest and spiritual leader. He thanks the newcomers for driving the undead horrors from the Restlands. The funeral continues without further disruption and the earthly remains of Petros Lorimmor are committed to the churchyard’s consecrated soil. Each member of the party takes a moment to utter a few, poignant words about the man they had known (all except Master Owl – who takes a long time to say very little). The party remain at the graveside until Kendra is ready to return home.
While the bereaved young woman rests, Bear shamelessly raids her larder. Thoroughly bummed out by the miserable atmosphere saturating the dead man’s home, Dwayne and his bear go looking for a tavern with an ambiguous dress code.
Lorimmor’s Will
Meanwhile, Mayor Hearthmount arrives at the house to read the professor’s will. The majority of his possessions/estate have been bequeathed to his daughter, to the heroes he leaves a collection of forbidden books that would excite the attention of any witch hunter who became aware of their existence. The professor asks that these dangerous books be delivered to his old colleagues at the Lepidstadt University, but that they delay their departure for one month, while Kendra sets her affairs in order and decides whether she wishes to remain in Ravengro or travel with them to the city. While the party discuss these posthumous directives, Master Owl begins to snore softly, having nodded off during the reading of the will.
To be continued (in Part Two)....
(Savaged) Carrion Crown – Session 1/Part 2 (15/08/2013)
The Haunting of Harrowstone
Meanwhile, Dwayne [the Dwarf] has found his way to the local watering hole, a tavern called ‘The Laughing Demon’. He orders two buckets of whisky, then remembers he has spent all of his starting gold during character creation. When the bartender does not embrace the notion of opening a tab, the truculent dwarf falls back on his Intimidation skill. While this does result in the owner surrendering a whole cask of ale, he simultaneously sends word to the sheriff.
Petros’ Tomes
While the local authorities work up the courage to tackle the drunken dwarf and his equally inebriated bear, the rest of the party are rifling through Lorimmor’s library and chance upon his journal. Bear picks out several curious entries, detailing the professor’s growing concern that a cabal of necromancers calling themselves The Whispering Way are up to something nefarious at the old Harrowstone prison overlooking the town (which is, incidentally, where the professor’s body was discovered). Sharing this information with Kendra only reinforces her belief that her dear papa was murdered! Her heroic houseguests swear to uncover the truth of the matter and bring the killers to justice!
Crimes not Forgotten
The next day, Master Owl is woken by determined rapping on the threshold. He finds Sheriff Caeller and his two deputies on the doorstep, supporting an extremely battered/hung-over dwarf between them. It turns out that Dwayne caused significant damage to property during his (ultimately futile) attempt to resist arrest the night before. Patting down the prisoner revealed he was as poor as he was ugly, yet the dwarf suggested his new friends might be prepared to pay his bail. Owl peers blearily at the ragged drunk before him but fails to recall his face. Bear Il’than wanders over, his breakfast still hanging from the corner of his mouth. He confesses his familiarity with the dwarf, but still refuses to pay for his release. The paladin does ask Caeller why he and his men did not intervene in the fracas in the Restlands the day before. The sheriff explains that he had been occupied with an unsolved investigation to apprehend the mystery vandal who has been painting graffiti on the statue of Warden Hawkrin in the town square. Some scoundrel has scrawled the letter ‘V’ on the base of the monument. While the graffiti appears to have been made in animal blood, no amount of scrubbing can completely erase the stubborn stain. Master Owl meanders over to take a look and determines the writing is magical.
Sheriff Caeller explains that the statue depicts local hero Lyvar Hawkrin, the last warden of Harowstone before the terrible fire that claimed his life and saw the prison abandoned. Owl enthusiastically probes this mystery and learns of how a prison riot fifty years previously resulted in a fire that killed warden, his wife Vesorianna, some guards and pretty much all of the convicts incarcerated in Harrowstone at the time. Records in the town hall indicate the riot was instigated by some/all of the five most dangerous inmates…
Father Charlatan
The Lopper
The Mosswater Marauder
The Piper of Ilmarsh
& finally The Splatterman
As nobody is prepared to pay Dwayne’s bail, the party resolve to kick their heels in Ravengro until the sheriff decides to cut the dwarf loose. His bear has been chained up in the yard behind ‘The Laughing Demon’. During this time, the mystery vandal strikes again and several more bloody letters appear on the base of the warden’s statue. ‘V – E – S’.
Master Owl is meditating/sleeping in the church when his repose is disturbed by a haunting melody being played outside. Peering into the graveyard, the gnome cleric is rewarded with a disturbing sight – the long dead occupants of the Restlands are clawing their way out of the ground and shambling en-masse towards Ravengro! Owl fires a bolt of holy fire into the darkening sky, hoping that Bear Il’than will spot it in time.
Bear is enjoying an evening stroll when he spies his master’s arcane flare burst over the town. The paladin has been through enough scrapes with the decrepit old gnome to realize that trouble must be brewing. Readying his shield, Bear sets off at a speedy waddle, wishing he had not indulged in quite so much cake after his tea. Reaching the Lorimmor estate, he finds the house besieged by zombies! Bear wades recklessly into the horde and is almost immediately overwhelmed.
Inside, Sharay hustles Kendra upstairs and locks her in her bedroom before returning to the fray. Yielding the ground floor to the undead, Jonas Stent makes his stand on the staircase to the second floor. The zombies obligingly form an orderly queue so that the duelist may slaughter them at his leisure.
Elsewhere, Sheriff Caeller heads off to investigate the disturbance in the Restlands, leaving just one man to mind the dwarf. Dwayne conspires to escape his cell and clobber the unsuspecting deputy with a chair. Seeing its drinking buddy at liberty galvanizes the bear to break its own chains. Reunited, Dwayne mounts up and quickly overtakes the sheriff – before crashing into the zombie horde, just in time to prevent Bear Il’than from being torn apart (though the paladin will never admit it).
As the battle rages, Master Owl ambles along the road, maintaining his holy aura and causing any zombies that stray too close to burst into flame. He scarcely seems to notice the damage to the Lorimmor estate as he shuffles between combatants and falls asleep in his favorite chair.
To be continued (next week)....
(PS: Dwayne later assures the sheriff that it was a zombie that assaulted his man and opened the cell door, enabling he and his bear to single-hand/(paw?)edly save the day. Caeller doesn’t buy this, but lets the issue slide, as detaining the dwarf for any longer will likely cause one/both of his deputies to be taken ill due to stress).
(Savaged) Carrion Crown 2/8 [Part 1/2]
The Haunting of Harrowstone (22/08/2013)
New PC! Mannix Renne (Viggi)
For all his arcane power, Mannix Renne looks like nothing so much as a hobo with delusions of grandeur. Draped in tatty, blue robes, this gnomish wizard shuffles along with a pronounced limp, supporting himself with the aid of a huge, knobbly club.
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Having defended the troubled town of Ravengro from a horde of restless zombies, the heroes set to clearing the dismembered bodies from the streets – or rather, the rest of the party recline on Kendra’s porch while watching Bear do it. The heavyset paladin grumbles as he piles the corpses up on the lawn, casting dark looks at his companions as they sip lemonade on the veranda. After a while, Master Owl wanders over and ignites the whole heap with a spark of holy fire.
As the party toast marshmallows over the pyre, a shambolic figure approaches and plonks itself down in the circle of firelight. This newcomer introduces himself as Mannix Renne, a gnomish wizard travelling to Ravengro for the funeral of his old friend, Professor Petros Lorimmor. He was detained by the Lepidstadt constabulary due to an unfortunate case of mistaken identity. Mannix is disappointed to learn he has missed the ceremony by twenty-four hours, but is reinvigorated when the party share their suspicions regarding the professor’s death.
Bear persuades Sheriff Caeller to assign one of his deputies to watch over Kendra 24/7, as the baleful influence emanating from Harrowstone prison seems to be bent on making the young woman’s life as unpleasant as possible. The sheriff also informs the group that Mayor Hearthmount has called a town meeting and suggests that they put in an appearance. The meeting is scheduled to begin at dusk (“Great!” snorts Mannix, “Your town is attacked by zombies and you’re having your meeting in the dark?”), which gives the party ample time to poke around the old, haunted prison.
Return to the Restlands
Bear recollects an entry in the professor’s journal detailing a hidden cache of ghostbusting goodies secreted in the Restlands. When they arrive at the cemetery gates, the party find Father Grimburrow struggling to restore order after all the excitement of the previous evening. The overworked old priest recruits Owl’s aid rounding up the few stray zombies that didn’t join the assault on the Lorimmor house. While the geriatric gnome chases zombies around the graveyard, Bear leads the others to the false crypt marked in the journal. Their efforts to search the tomb are complicated by Dwayne’s insistence on bringing his bear down into the dark, dusty mausoleum (the bear has a greater chance of noticing something than the dwarf does, even without the wild die). Squashed up against the wall by the hairy brute’s massive bulk, someone inadvertently triggers the mechanism to reveal the forgotten stockpile....
6x vials of holy water
6x vials of Invisibility to (crap) Undead
3x vials of Healing
A sword without a blade
A quiver of arrows without arrowheads
A spirit planchette
Bear examines the seemingly useless weaponry. The light from the holy symbol strung around his neck illuminates the edges of a spectral blade - likewise, the arrows are tipped with spectral heads. It is the general consensus that these weapons will be effective against ghosts (this doesn’t stop Dwayne from flogging the ghost arrows for beer money when nobody is looking – it was the bear’s idea! Sharay claims the sword before the wretched dwarf sells that too). Meanwhile, Mannix opens one of the healing potions to check its potency. Critically failing his roll, he is convinced the potions are so far passed their expiration date as to have become poisonous to consume. The gnomish wizard shatters the bottles against the floor, then basks in the (unwarranted) gratitude of his peers, who foolishly believe he’s just done them a favour.
Harrowstone
Geared up, the party make the arduous hike to Harrowstone. The old ruin is blanketed with an oppressive silence. Passing through the main gates, Sharay’s scar suddenly screams with pain and the half-elf sees the prison as it must have appeared on the night of the great fire, fifty years previously. The searing pain in her skull lingers long after the confusing vision fades.
Master Owl and his headstrong protégé begin clearing away the weeds growing around the base of the building and discover the crumbling foundations have been marked with a series of runes. Mannix suggests the markings are part of a simple binding ritual. Determining that this arcane script serves some evil purpose, Bear attempts to erase it from the stone. For his trouble, a backlash of necromantic energy catapults him across the courtyard! Master Owl turns his attention to the task, forging his faith into a weapon with which to pierce the wards protecting the wicked runes. As the glowing scrawl fades, the gnomish cleric feels the weight of some malevolent intelligence turning to scrutinize his actions from afar....
To be continued.... (in Part Two!)
(Savaged) Carrion Crown 2/8 [Part 2/2]
The Haunting of Harrowstone (22/08/2013)
Meanwhile, Dwayne aligns his bear with the prison’s main entrance and rams it at full speed, but only succeeds in bruising the animal's thick skull. Poorly managing his frustration, Dwayne dismounts and attacks the door with his flail. Although it is nearing dusk, the party decide to have a quick poke around inside. They locate the warden’s office and the broken lift mechanism descending into the flooded dungeons. Unwilling to enter the dark water, the party return to Ravengro - just in time to claim their seats for the town meeting.
Smoldering Revenge
Mayor Hearthmount addresses the frightened townsfolk, but is interrupted by the sound of breaking glass, as a half dozen flaming skulls crash in through the windows! Belching balls of fire indiscriminately, they have soon set the building ablaze! Jonas Stent takes up a position beside the exit and helps the panicking villagers evacuate in an orderly fashion. Sharay focuses on protecting Kendra from harm, blue light crackles from her fingertips, disintegrating several skulls. Mannix freezes a few more, causing them to fall out of the air and shatter. Master Owl powers up his holy aura and yet more skulls are destroyed. Balancing precariously on his bear’s broad shoulders, Dwayne grabs hold of one of the flaming skulls as it swoops passed. The rest of the party roll their eyes as the dwarf if borne away. Despite the intense heat, Dwayne clings on for dear life as the skull accelerates, before crashing into the side of a house.
While Dwayne is digging himself out of the rubble, his bear is being harassed by the last of the flaming skulls. His furry coat catches fire! The bear stops, drops and rolls – straight through the wall of the building! Groaning in protest, one side of the town hall collapses, showering those still inside with flaming debris. Sharay shoves Kendra to safety as a heavy beam plunges towards her. Picking themselves up, the party help the last of the villagers escape before the whole building comes down on top of them.
As the residents of Ravengro watch their town hall burn, Bear Il’than notices that his master is not amongst the crowd. Fearing the worst, he bulls his way through the sheriff’s men and ducks back inside the burning building! Moving blindly through the dense, choking smoke, Bear stumbles upon the gnome’s body, trapped beneath the heavy beam that fell from the roof. It’s unclear whether he is dead, unconscious or has simply fallen asleep. Heedless of the flames, Bear heroically lifts the beam and pulls his fragile mentor from beneath. The anxious crowd erupts into applause as the paladin reappears, cradling the unconscious gnome in his severely burnt hands.
Resolute in their belief that the only way to stop the constant attacks on the town is to return to Harrowstone and put the smackdown on the evil spirits trapped inside, the party prepare to head out first thing in the morning. Restored to wakefulness, Master Owl seeks out the town blacksmith and presents a hastily drawn blueprint for a device that he feels will aid the group in this endeavour. This mysterious machine will take several days to construct – but the heroes don’t have any time to waste and resolve to tackle the ground/first floor of the prison, before venturing into its squalid depths.
Harrowstone (again)
A reinforced metal door inspires curiosity. Jonas (eventually) gets it open (after spending, like, ten bennies), beyond is a storeroom containing the items confiscated from the inmates upon their incarceration, forgotten and left to gather dust. Five items stand out, likely due to the strong aura of evil that clings to them. The party suspect these five items once belonged to the five most dangerous convicts detained at Harrowstone at the time of the fire.
A bloodstained hatchet
A string of holy symbols
A moldy, old spellbook
A masterwork smithing hammer
A set of tarnished, silver pipes
The heroes prudently decide that they want nothing to do with these cursed items until they have been purified of their vile taint, which Master Owl speculates will occur once the ghost affiliated with each item has been destroyed.
As the group continue their exploration of the prison, they hear snatches of music being played. Wary that they might soon encounter the Piper of Illmarsh (or his vengeful shade), the party proceed with caution – except for Dwayne of course! The dwarf powers ahead of the others and is ambushed by a cluster of giant spiders! One of the engorged arachnids latches onto his bear mount and begins pumping it full of venom. The beast collapses as more of the oversized critters pile on top of it. Dwayne is ensnared in sticky webbing and is powerless to help! Things are looking pretty grim by the time the rest of the party catch up. Master Owl drives most of the monsters off, but their apparent cowardice is just a ploy to distract his attention - as the biggest spider yet scuttles unseen across the ceiling.... Just as it is about to strike, Mannix blasts it with an icy bolt, showering his fellow gnome in chilled spider guts. Delightful!
To be continued.... (next week!)
(savaged) Carrion Crown (3/8) – (29/08/2013)
Haunting of Harrowstone (Part 1/2)
We rejoin the heroes during their initial foray into the haunted prison of Harrowstone. (Andy & Gary will be absent for a few weeks, so Master Owl & Jonas Stent will fade into the background until they return).
A ghostly figure appears before the heroes! The spirit coalesces into the form of a young woman wearing a dress decades out of fashion. The specter introduces herself as Vesorianna Hawkrin, late wife of the prison’s last warden. She explains that a group of necromancers have abducted her husband’s ghost. For fifty years, the shade of Lyvar Hawkrin was all that contained the evil spirits of the prison’s former inmates. Now that her husband’s ghost is gone, Vesorianna is doing what she can to hold them here, but she lacks the warden’s strength and is doomed to fail. Even now, the Splatterman scours her spirit. The arcane graffiti upon her husband's statue is the fiend's doing, once Vesorianna’s full name has been written there, her ghost will be banished and the undead prisoners will spill forth from Harrowstone’s gates, free to reap their terrible vengeance upon the town!
The warden’s wife implores the heroes to help her, if they can defeat the five most powerful ghosts haunting Harrowstone and return her husband’s badge of office, she can cleanse the prison – although doing so will also result in her own destruction. The party vow to seek a way of vanquishing the five ghosts without requiring Vesorianna’s noble sacrifice.
Vesorianna also reveals that the villains who bound and snatched away her husband were also responsible for the death of Professor Lorimmor. The leader of the necromancers killed him with a murderous touch, then staged the death to look like a tragic accident (by dropping a gargoyle on his head). She describes the culprit as a tall, grey-skinned man wearing a bone breastplate and carrying a black staff, upon the end of which a gagged skull had been impaled. Mannix notes that the gagged skull is a symbol of the Whispering Way, a notorious death cult that is commonly believed to have been wiped out (or perhaps not!).
Once Dwayne’s bear is feeling better, the party continue to explore the prison. Entering the room where new inmates would be branded for their crimes, Sharay picks up one of the branding irons and examines the crude ‘H’ scored into one end. Suddenly, the cold metal flares into light and grows unbearably hot to the touch! Sharay wrestles with the animated object, which seems determined to drive its glowing point into her eye socket! The half-elf rolls a Critical Failure on her Strength roll and momentarily loses her grip on the hateful brand, which smashes into her face for major physical disfigurement (Sharay gains the Ugly hindrance, it was that or become a cyclops).
The rest of the super-heated bars attack the group. One strikes Mannix from the rear, branding the letter ‘H’ into his ample buttocks. The gnomish mage shrieks with indignation! Dwayne’s bear overturns a brazier, trapping a brand beneath it like a spider under a glass. It rattles around ineffectually, unable to escape. After harassing the party for a few more rounds, the malign spirits animating the brands lose interest and depart. Dwayne’s bear picks up two of the bars and performs a banging drum solo on the overturned brazier. The rest of the group politely applaud.
Meanwhile, Bear Il’than tends to Sharay’s wounds, wrapping her face in more bandages than was really necessary, just to spare the rest of the group having to suffer her hideousness.
For once, Dwayne waits for the others before racing off on his own. The next door opens into the prison infirmary, a dusty - but well stocked – cabinet of medical supplies draws the cautious party into the room. The bear collapses onto one of the empty cots, perhaps remembering that he is supposed to be hibernating – not pissing around in some awful, god-forsaken dungeon. As Bear Il’than approaches the cabinet, it begins to shake violently and several flasks are hurled at the paladin’s head by some unseen force. Bear shields his face and backs out of the room, the door is slammed shut behind him, trapping the rest of the group inside with the bloodthirsty poltergeist! One bed floats near the ceiling, Dwayne’s bear still sprawled across it. The other two filthy, stray-stuffed mattresses flop around the room like a pair of fat, blind maggots. Glass bottles and surgical instruments hurtle around the room, creating a deadly maelstrom of jagged steel and broken glass. The flying bed flips upside down, unceremoniously depositing Dwayne’s slumbering bear onto the floor. The dwarf commands the disorientated beast to break down the door, allowing the party to flee in abject disgrace.
Nursing their wounded pride, the heroes continue to seek the Piper of Illmarsh, whose haunting music echoes throughout Harrowstone’s crumbling halls. The next unexplored room turns out to be the prison’s laundry. Having identified a pattern emerging, the party decide not to invite combat with a load of dirty, haunted pants and try the next door instead.
The heroes encounter the Piper in the main cellblock; three floors of squalid cells, connected by a network of rusty metal steps, the bottom level of which is completely flooded with cold, dark water. The Piper hovers overhead, playing a mournful dirge upon his ghostly pipes. The skeletal inmates (who were trapped in their cells and died of smoke inhalation during the fire) rise to answer his melodious summons. Bear Il’than sets to cleaving bone with his trusty longsword, while Sharay activates her Damage Field and engages the skeletons in hand-to-hand combat. Her entire body crackles with lighting-bright, blue energy. When she hits an enemy in unarmed combat, this energy causes her opponent to disintegrate, leaving nothing but a small pile of glowing, blue dust!
While Dwayne swings his flail in a wide arc to keep the skeletons at bay, Mannix clambers onto the bear’s back and digs his heels into the beast’s hairy flank. The gnome wizard clings on for dear life as the bear builds momentum, scattering skeletons to either side as Mannix tries/fails to steer the animal in the right direction. Every round, the Piper continues to animate more dead prisoners. Mannix manages to cast Lower Trait [Spirit] on the ghost before going down beneath a skeletal scrum. Shaken, the Piper drifts perilously close to where Bear Il’than is fighting. Seizing the opportunity, Bear readies the ghost-blade and leaps from the balcony, cutting the specter in twain before splashing down into the dark water. The Piper of Illmarsh is destroyed! Now that his infernal music has been silenced, the skeletons all collapse into a jumble of moldering bones. Bear drags himself out of the flooded basement, amazing everyone around the table, who had all expected him to drown.
Having cleared the ground/first floor of the prison, the party return to Ravengro to collect the device that Master Owl commissioned from the town blacksmith. The brainchild of gnomish ingenuity and dwarven craftsmanship, the machine turns out to be a powerful pump, engineered to drain the flooded dungeons beneath Harrowstone.
(To be continued....)
(savaged) Carrion Crown (3/8) – (29/08/2013)
Haunting of Harrowstone (Part 2/2)
As the party approach the Lorimmor house (where they are lodging), Kendra intercepts them with news that a large crate was delivered to her door whilst they were off gallivanting. It is addressed to her late father. The heroes break the box open and examine the contents, a most peculiar apparatus not unlike a vacuum cleaner. Mannix thumbs through the manual, a bundle of annotated illustrations and incomprehensible instructions, eventually deciphering that before Professor Lorimmor died, he wrote to his old colleague Professor Horace Croon (who was laughed out of the Lepidstadt University after voicing his crackpot theories regarding the supposed 'Elder Gods'), requesting his aid dealing with the ghostly infestation of Harrowstone. In response, Professor Croon packaged up his prototype Ghost Buster [Mark II] and shipped it off to Ravengro. The device has never been tested and Professor Croon is eager to hear how it performs in the field. The machine enables the user to capture troublesome ghosts in a ‘containment pack’ (a long, transparent cylinder) strapped to that individual’s back. A pair of ludicrous looking goggles also allow the wearer to see the ectoplasmic residue left in the wake of a ghost’s passage. Since the efficiency of the device is determined by the wearer’s Spirit dice, the party nominate Bear to operate it.
Checking in with the blacksmith, the heroes are told that the pump machine is good to go. They haul it up to the prison and begin draining the flooded levels of brackish lakewater.
Descending into the dank, dark dungeon, Bear takes the lead, following the trail of glowing ghost goo revealed through his stylish, new goggles. The tracks terminate at the threshold of the prison’s morgue. The grainy light from the paladin’s torch illuminates a shrouded figure lying still atop a table in the centre of the room. As Bear approaches, the corpse begins to thrash about and produce all manner of unsettling noises. Reacting instinctively, Bear raises the nozzle of the Ghost Buster [Mark II] and depresses the trigger. The grimy sheet covering the cadaver is sucked up and blocks the hose! Suddenly, one of the hollows in which bodies would have been stored bursts open and The Lopper pops out, screeching like a maniac as he swings his huge, ghostly axe at the paladin’s head! Bear soaks the damage. While he struggles to unblock the Ghost Buster [Mark II], Dwayne drives the murderous spook back into hiding. All of the little doors along the wall begin to bang open/closed, making a frightful racket! The Lopper intermittently pops up – takes a swing at someone – then disappears again before they can retaliate, much like a deranged game of Whack-A-Mole, played in the dark with a single murderous adversary. Bear finally clears the hose, then discovers that he has to make a successful Shooting roll to hit his target. The players consult their character sheets and realize that none of them have actually put any points into Shooting. Eventually, Dwayne manages to smack The Lopper with enough force to dislodge his spirit from this mortal coil. Bear scoops up what’s left of the ghost into a little dustpan and tips it carefully into the containment unit strapped to his back.
To be continued… (next week!)
(savaged) Carrion Crown (4/4) – (05/09/2013)
Haunting of Harrowstone
This was the last session that we played, as problems on the home front prevent me from completing the rotation. Hopefully we can pick this up in future, if the players feel any enthusiasm to do so.
Both Jonas Stent and Master Owl do not have much to do this week, as their players were on vacation in sunny Florida. Lucky b******s. :p
Having defeated two of the five ghosts haunting Harrowstone Prison, the party continue looking for the remaining three spirits. Squinting through the thick lenses of Professor Croon’s patented ghost goggles Hartok is able to home in on the nearest concentration of ectoplasmic residue. Following the paladin, the party enter a large room dominated by a carelessly stacked mound of human skulls. The Mosswater Marauder erupts from where he had lain, buried beneath the pile. Flying skulls circle the ghostly dwarf, who clutches an axe in one hand and a fragmented skull in the other. The skull looks like it has been shattered and stuck back together again (like one of those 3D jigsaw balls) and there is obviously a large section of bone still missing.
The Marauder hurls his ghostly hammer at Sharay’s head. She screams as a piece of her own skull is broken away by the impact. The deranged dwarven spectre begins feverishly trying to fit the loose fragment of her skull into the one he holds in his off-hand. Meanwhile, Dwayne begins to climb the pile of skulls. His ascent is complicated when the skulls begin snapping at his fingers with their bony jaws. Shaken, the dwarf fails to notice another skull swooping towards him - up until the point that it collides with his face. He rolls back down the pile and lies dazed at the bottom. The skull continues gnawing on his bulbous, red-veined nose.
Activating the Ghost Buster [Mark II], Hartok targets the Marauder and rolls a Critical Failure on his Shooting dice. The device sucks up one of the flying skulls buzzing around the dwarven spook and begins spewing black smoke into the air.
Elsewhere on the battlemap, Sharay gracefully scales skull mountain and engages the Marauder in melee, hoping to recover the stolen piece of her own skeleton. Dwayne summons his bear and instructs the beast to throw him at the Marauder. The bear cups its paws and flips its master into the air, completely misjudges the angle and bounces him off the ceiling. Spitting out a few bloody teeth, the stunned dwarf commands the beast to try again. The bear screws its eyes shut and hurls Dwayne into an adjacent wall (two Critical Failures in a row!). Barely coherent, he picks himself up and indicates that he wishes to be tossed again (evidently Dwayne’s player has not seen The Fellowship of the Ring). Success! Dwayne lands unsteadily atop the pile of skulls and drives the ghost blade straight through Sharay (the magical weapon does not harm the living) and into the Marauder! The skull pile collapses with the ghost’s destruction.
Dusting themselves off, the party debate which of the two remaining spirits to go after next. Hartok’s goggles reveal two ghostly signatures nearby, one of which is considerably stronger than the other. They reason that this is probably the Splatterman, located in an area of the prison signposted as Solitary Confinement. The walls, floor and ceiling of this long passage are smothered with crawling shapes. Upon closer inspection, these are revealed to be glowing letters, constantly shifting and reordering themselves to create new words. A voice on the edge of hearing whispers their names from the other side of a reinforced steel door. Lacking keys (or patience) Dwayne orders his bear to rip the door off its hinges. Beyond, the tiny cell pulses with eldritch light from several thousand arcane scribbles scratched into the stone. When the bear turns around, the party are somewhat concerned to note that its eyes now blaze with lambent green sorcery! Through his ghost goggles, Hartok can see the spectral form of the Splatterman emerging from his prison. Several other cells doors burst open, spilling a swarm of crawling hands into the corridor. The possessed bear lunges towards the distracted paladin, its claws leaving deep gouges across the surface of Hartok’s shield. Sharay casts Dispel to release the beast from the Splatterman’s baleful influence and Dwayne commands it to bugger off, before the ghost can cast Puppet again. Irritated that his puppet’s strings had been cut so quickly, the Splatterman writes Dwayne’s name in the air, causing the dwarf’s muscles to seize up and completely paralysing him. The ghost then turns his attention to the half-elven sorcerer/monk and puts her under his compulsion. She hacks at Hartok with the ghost blade, which passes straight through him. While the Splatterman puzzles over this, the paladin brushes off the crawling hands clambering all over the petrified dwarf.
Still under the effect of the Splatterman’s Puppet power, Sharay’s fists crackle with blue lightning and she strikes Hartok for massive damage! The paladin goes down, incapacitated. Fortuantely, after fighting the Mosswater Marauder, Sharay has now run out of Power Points and cannot finish the job. Dwayne can do nothing to protect his injured friend. Things are looking pretty grim for the party, until Sharay – mortified by her traitorous actions – breaks free of the Splatterman’s spell, snatches up the fallen ghost blade and chops off the ghost’s head! Sharay cradles Hartok’s head and pours several Healing potions down his throat, while Dwayne comforts his distressed pet.
Grievously injured and low on resources, the party return to Ravengro to lick their wounds. They stop to collect the magic items associated with the four ghosts that they have destroyed.
1: Tarnished silver pipes once belonging to the Piper of Illmarsh. With a successful Perform roll, animate dancing zombies. None of the PC’s have the Perform skill, but it doesn’t stop them trying.
2: The Lopper’s hatchet, a brutal weapon favoured by a serial killer. It inflicts +2 damage, but also imposes the Bloodthirsty hindrance upon the person wielding it.
3: The Marauder’s Hammer, a smithing tool – probably the same one he used to bash in his wife’s skull. Grants +2 modifier to all Repair rolls and the ability to summon a single flying skull once per day.
4: By reading the Splatterman’s mouldy spellbook, one PC with the Arcane Background [Magic] can learn the Puppet power, but can only use it on someone if they know their full name.
Now that the Splatterman has been destroyed, there will be no more bloody letters painted onto the base of Warden Hawkrin’s statue. The heroes can take their sweet time recovering from their near-calamitous excursion into the haunted prison. Although Hartok survives, his brush with death has permanently diminished his strength. Dwayne appears determined to replace all the blood he lost with hard liquor.
(to be continued….)