Riders of the Whistling Skull part 3
General Summary
Grolm 12, 578
about 7:00 PM
When last we left off, the SNAFU Posse had explored every room that ought to be present according to how the outside of the house is shaped. Team arcane type Miro Teague had more than half an hour left on his "cannot perceive magic" timer, so he dragged a slapdash wooden chest over in range for Bruthazmus to pry it open.
Shut off a Stormborn's magic vision for a while and you still don't shut off his natural inquisitiveness. There's stuff what he has yet to prod! And unless Jesse Devonshire uses Wild Shape to make himself more compact, Miro has only himself to do the prodding.
Unless one of the taller folk want to try standing on that fancy stone platform in the green room?
Maybe you can have one of the Alfredo Family or the Hesters try that out for ya.
The de Alfredo Brothers got no horses, not much health, but likely still have a spiritual tie to the land which would make them a tempting target for would-be supernatural overlords. The Hesters got no wahoo fiendish sturdiness to them any more. Princess is glad to see her brothers alive, but she's champing at the bit to cross all of Whippetal Ranch in pursuit of her would-be rescuer.
It ain't a great idea to go haring off into the night.
That still leaves the question of what will be done come daybreak!
I reckon a hefty chunk of the answer to that question has to do with the lead-up.
Who's gonna see to security?
Who is, in actuality, expecting to sleep?
It for sure is dark outside -- I can hear that mournful lowing call as it rolls over the hills.
Rewards Granted
Summary:
- Each member of the SNAFU Posse except for the missing Chef -- each of the Player Characters -- receives 4320 XP for exorcising the Hesters (overcoming them as a threat) and for rescuing the Alfredo Bros.
Remember, we have worked out that your Animal Companions determine their levels off of their Chosen Person, so going forward we will not include them in XP calculations.
General note: By this point in the campaign, everyone is probably past the necessary experience point accumulation that qualifies you for 7th level. Please remember that you can't Ding! and do the actual leveling up until you have time to train. Right now, it looks like you won't have a chance for that until after the end of this adventure. Record the XP, but don't level yet!
Recovered sort-of-Treasure
The demons formerly infesting the Hesters are now trapped in a single glass bottle. It might prove important to keep track of who has that two-demon bottle!
In addition to the vast supply of Rose Wafers made by Lee Chung over the course of Grolm 12th's daylight hours, the SNAFU Posse also gathered up ingredients for Miss Melinda Naknirore's Subcutaneous UnDemoning Serum and a crate of mastercraft glass vessels from the Bicchieri Caravan stash.
Princess Alfredo-Alston provided wearable Whippetal Ranch brands which allowed the Posse to traverse the warded borders of the Ranch silently.
Bruthazmus, noting that he is almost out of arrows without much prospect of gaining more, picked up a shepherd crook left behind by Miss Melinda in the Hidey House as she packed for emergency departure.
Investigating the room with the lowest ceiling, Miro Teague found and passed to the party not just some of those ingredients needed for the Serum but also some loose papers and handwritten cheap journals, with notes about The Cult of the Whistling Skull or about long-ago settlers in this area who no longer have descendants around. He also passed out a sack of dried up, pruney, rubbery, disgusting bits of either jellyfish leather or else someone once tried making Mimic Jerky! The Alfredo Bros eventually traded this sack to Bruthazmus as he hurried them into leaving for Ayrshire Farm.
Miro also has an empty "poison ring" that might be made of gold. He found it in the room meant to be only comfortable for Pisky-height people, but it is sized so that it will probably fit what Miro thinks of as "normal-sized hands" if not "oversized people hands".
Character(s) interacted with
- A discouraged dominie!
- An exhausted politician!
Mayor Jaeke Blaze
- A mesmerizing duet!
- A beautiful blonde!
Princess Alfredo-Alston, possible sole surviving heir to Whippetal Ranch
- A suspected sister-in-law!
Lucky Alston of Whippetal Ranch
- Cattle rustlers:
- Divertible devourer!
With Special Guest Star:
- An Undetected Unknown!
When Sephia joined them, she too left the front door unlocked and wide open.Jesse did not know that the ten-taper candelabra was an Aptupian Alchemist's preservation spell for an ingredient processing bench. How could he? It's not an official Trade Secret but the Piskies do not bring it up in conversation. When he wanted better light for the puzzle of the chained trap door, Jesse accidentally transferred the last several hours of "preservation" from the plant matter and the dead fowl over onto three members of the SNAFU Posse and their three animal companions.When Bruthazmus, Lee, Princess, and the Hesters came a-searching for their missing allies, they found the front door of the Hidey House closed and locked.In fact, Bruthazmus nearly snapped a lockpick in trying to get the thing open!They had to pull off the pisky-sized opening that contained the lock in order to reach the deadbolt.Once the party settled down for an overnight rest, Bruthazmus used wood fragments from other items in the house to form a temporary barrier, and then he slept in front of the door so that any hostile invasion would literally trip over him on the way in.So.Who closed and locked the door?No one in the Posse has considered this question!
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