Zobeck Se01Ep04

General Summary

From the diary of the late Mistress Arashi, dated Highsummer 96

While my afternoon tea is brewing, I'll try and catch you up on where we left off yesterday, diary. Atticus, my dear Tortle friend, had managed to bewitch a wolf from the local woods, and bid it take us to where all that cursed noise was coming from. The noise, mind you, that was driving all the local wildlife blind with rage. Or perhaps deaf. Yes, deaf with rage. It being noise and all. Unfortunately, wolves aren't too bright when it comes to cardinal directions, I'm not even sure they *have* a pope. But I digress. The wolf couldn't lead us to the source of the noise, and if it weren't for my keen sense of everywhere I've ever been forever, we'd surely be lost still. (There is a portrait of a grinning wolf wearing a red kerchief around its neck.) The next morn, we decided to check out the ruins of the Griffin Towers themselves. It was ostensibly what we'd been sent here to do, after all. For lack of a better plan, Gummy and I climbed to the top of one to get a better view. The stone was still sturdy, but the wood within had rotted through. We didn't see anything of note though, until we climbed back down and Gummy's horse went berserk and nearly trampled her. It seemed as though our own animals would soon fall prey to this curse if we stayed too long. We redoubled our efforts to root out the source. (There is a drawing of Arashi and Gummy silhouetted against the forest’s horizon from atop a tower.) Chasing down another lead, we visited the parents of the girl who had disappeared into the woods some days ago. Karda was her name, and her mother had taken their truffle hunting pig and also disappeared after her that morning it seemed. We hurried after her, hoping to catch the two of them before it was too late. We had the scent of Jarka, the mother, thanks to some old clothes of hers given to us by Marn, her husband. With a little more to go on, our new wolf friend proved much more useful in this regard. We found Jarka not long after setting out but tragically, we were too late to save young Karda. She'd been attacked by some swarm of vile insects guarding their hive. These bees were big, blackened and particularly gruesome. After we took turns flailing at them, we were able to disperse them with extreme prejudice. Their hive was just as sick, filled with green honey that didn't look right at all. If those bugs didn't have something to do with the maddening influence of these woods, I'd eat my horns. At the end of the day, Marn and Jarka were happy to be reunited, if devastated by the loss of their daughter. Minos rest her soul. (There is a closeup anatomical drawing of one of the aforementioned bees. Far from being entirely scientific, it has a cartoonishly angry human face on its head, and its various parts are labelled rudimentary names like “horrible fat little body” and “wings too small to lift it - how?”) Feeling restless in my bones, I thought I could do more good for the village in the short term by helping out around town than by stumbling about the woods. I found myself fixing the village's old Lyme Quarry and charcoal pit chimney. No great task for someone as skilled as yours truly in stonework. My days of making beautiful statues were decades of arthritis behind me, but your hands never forget the knowing of a chisel, or the will of a hammer. (There is a portrait of an unarmored Arashi leaning on her warhammer: a cane shaped like a shepherd's crook, with the curved part plated in heavy metal. She looks pleased with herself as a plume of smoke rises up from a mound of stones in the background.) That night, the village had another visitor besides us. A great wooden golem stalked out of the woods, kicked down a door, and took the head of a kindly farmer (who'd helped us in our inquiries) clean off with a wicked scythe. We gave chase, and he disappeared into the trunk of a tree like a ghost. Upon further investigation, we noted a rune carved on the tree, which we were able to track a trail of deeper into the woods. (There is a drawing of the trunk of a tree with the rune in detail.) At last, we'd arrived at the thing's grove. At the center of the clearing was a great tree, choked with moss and mushrooms. As soon as we got close, the big wooden man, the Hollow Man, leapt out of it to defend his territory. Despite the fact that he was made of wood, we barely made a scratch on him with our weapons. We beat a hasty retreat after this became apparent. (There is a drawing of a great shadowy figure crouched in front of the giant corpse of a tree, its mouth open in a roar.) Back at the village, we knew we'd stirred this thing's ire, and come nightfall, we'd have to deal with him again. We planned to trap the beastie before he returned to the village to do more harm. Brother Arkady suggested we use some of the dry kindling the village had stored up to burn the thing alive. The sap in the wood would send the flames licking high. We agreed, and dredged the local pond. It had been dubbed The Witch Pit since ancient times, and the bones at the bottom told us why. With our mantrap set, we established a perimeter about the village with some early warning bells on string. Xanza whipped the frightened villagers into fighting shape with some marching drills and terrified them into something approaching ranks. Atticus, Leo (our bard, such a handsome young man) and myself hid in barrels nearby the firepit. We planned to shove the big bastard in if he got too close or tried to veer off course. Illomen and Tannis positioned themselves as sharpshooters atop the thatched roofs of a pair of huts across the pit from each other. For her part, Gummy was the bait. She waited atop the branches and debris we’d hidden the pit with. It held her tiny weight, but would collapse under *his* bulk, however hollow he might be. Ten feet tall is ten feet tall. Night fell, and like clockwork, the hollow man made another appearance. Illomen and Tannis lit him up with shot after shot, but he didn't go down. Acting on Xanza’s orders, the villagers closed ranks and cried “remember the wolves!” Waving their torches at the thing’s face, he made a noise almost like fear and dashed for our pit trap. Leo burst from cover along with Atticus and hit it with a pair of Thunder Wave spells. The first blast caught it off guard, but the second met resistance as he braced himself. He stopped just short of the pit and hefted his scythe in a menacing manner. I knew that for our plan to succeed, I’d have to take the bull by the horns. I exploded out of the oak barrel and charged straight for him. Goring him in his hollow chest, I was stuck fast. Knowing that if I stopped now we’d have no hope of corralling him, I barrelled on ahead, and plunged the both of us into the pit. Gummy had beat feet just before, and had a flaming arrow nocked to light the pit as soon as the big lug fell in. What she wasn't counting on was me coming along for the ride. The flames started climbing higher, and I had very little time in which to extricate myself. Then, uncoiling out of the soot in the air and the black night sky, a rope fell in my lap. I grabbed tight and ascended to safety, with a few parting words for the behemoth that had given us so much trouble. (There is a picture of a wooden man with a crude frown twisted in pain and anguish as flames envelop him. Arashi has one hand on a rope being pulled up by Atticus and Xanza, and is triumphantly waving goodbye to the beast. The caption reads “Welcome to your TOMB, motherfucker!”) After much rejoicing, we led the whole village into the heart of the woods and burnt the singing tree down to the roots. As it collapsed into ash, we saw something glittering beneath where it had once stood. Many bones lay coiled in the earth, and they had the trademark fretwork, mottling and filigree one tends to see where the corrupting influence of fey can be found. They were quite shiny though, and such scrimshaw can fetch a high price. So, well done us. (There is a simple cartoon of Arashi and Lady Marack having a cup of tea.)

Notes

Greetings all! This is the "What are we doing?" thread for this coming Friday's game. Y'all know the drill: keep everything related to the next game within this thread for Rich's convenience.
I have to admit, I'm a little lost about what exactly happened at the end of the last session. I know Leo tried to sell some of our loot but failed the check, so I think we only got a certain amount of money for what we sold. But then something happened and a few of us (including me) will need to use our other characters for the next game or two, correct? Can somebody explain that to me?
Also, Tristan wanted to make sure we have everything straightened out regarding "the buying and selling of goods and services" as well as figuring out who can/should be at level 2 within the next session or so, so I think it's important we discuss that as well. Thoughts?
Rodger Devito
I think Leo or the next charismatic person should try to roll for those prices on here. With everything sold, we can buy armor for our frontliners, as well as health potions to hold in reserve now that our druid will be awol for a mission. I can level my Paladin to 2. And with luci’s bard and/or leo that should help make up for the healing.
Alex Gentile
I can do that, but I thought Leo was indisposed for the next mission or two, correct Richard Merrill Fraser?
Richard Fraser
leo needs to take a week to sell the ring, yes. if you want to roll again, then its 2 weeks. there is nothing saying we can skip forward in time, but there may be negatives to that; in game plots advance with time.
Lucielle Marie Belle
Gummy is gonna start working on making some poisons since we are going to be at lower levels for quite some time. So she is out for at least 2 weeks of time. And since Tom isnt going to be there next Friday, we will need a healer. A paladin and Cleeic work for that and I won't have access to Gummy so I'll be playing the secondary character.
As goes for the selling of things, we passed the check to sell it for the price it needs BUT there is going to be something that happens while selling it that may need to be dealt with. Alex Gentile
Leo has a healing spell, but I'm not sure I can use him next game. I'll see if my secondary has any access to healing spells and make sure I bring one if I do. Otherwise, I like the poison idea!
Richard Fraser
I thought the roll was 14, its a 10% chance.
William Flowers
I want to ask about Xanza's pelts he got from before and how much he could get from them. I recall rolling extremely well to simply skin them, but would I need to make any other rolls for tanning and/finding a buyer for them?
Richard Fraser
you can sell them as is for 1g, or take one day off and work them into crafting material and sell them for 2g. No roll for something so easy. you can also use them in lieu of paying to craft leather or hide armor (3 wolf pelts per suit), but selling it wouldn't be worth it at half price.
William Flowers
I also want to ask if, for a week or two, depending on how long it takes for our bard seller to sell the magic item, to search and compete in a Fighting Pit activity. Recall it has 3 checks from either 1 Athletics check, Acrobatics check, a special con check, or a weapon attack.
Richard Fraser
We can discuss tonight.
Alex Gentile
Speaking of tonight's game, I've been CRAZY busy these last two weeks and I may need a few minutes before we start tonight to finish a few things on my secondary character sheet. I think I have to add my proficiencies and pick some spells or something like that, but I'm not totally sure at the moment because I don't have the sheet in front of me. I'll try to get to it this afternoon, but I can't guarantee that I'll have time. It will just be a few minutes, I promise!
Richard Fraser
we always take some time out in the beginnin, just remind us and we'll be gklad to throw in our 2 cp.
Alex Gentile
Thanks Richard Merrill Fraser!
Lucielle Marie Belle
OUR 2 CP....
Okay. Thanks. I needed that laugh. That is hilarious to me.
Jeff Diaz Are we switching to our secondary characters tonight?
Lucielle Marie Belle
Dont have to if you dont want to. If you are and they have a downtime activity they can do, have them do that.
William Flowers
So aside from what our characters are doing for their days off and such. What is our plan of action for the active party? I know this is late right before the game, but wanted to bring it up if anyone is still looking here. I want to do the "find the kidnapped noble" mission asap.

Date

Highsummer 7-12, FY 92

Report Date

01 Jun 2018