After a long haitus, I'm continuing the Green Pass campaign. A surprisingly large contingent of players assembled on Saturday night to generate fresh characters and pick up with the previous year had left off.
Nothing much happened on the first night, but at least most of the administrative preliminaries are out of the way now.
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| Another four players arrived late, and we had to scramble for space. |
May 23, Caudex Annales 70 AUP
After a months of combing the Elysian countryside for heroes, recruiting agents of the Durnovaric Expeditionary Force had little to show for their efforts. The keep remained as undermanned as before, and the sort of mercenaries who did express interest were self-interested freelancers and opportunists of a sort scarcely more elevated in intention than the infiltrators that threatened it. Nevertheless, the guard extended full courtesy when a contingent of aspiring heroes arrived from Centerpoint along with the morning caravan after overnighting in the Notch.
The castellan's scribe duly noted their company in the register of dignitaries, though none of them were landed or titled (or if so, they concealed it in both word and dress) save the gnome, and he only peculiarly. Among the fellowship of 11 were:
- Zegzinu Yeggtatt, a hulking saurian from foreign lands
- Helga Omega, wonderworker
- Terra Daystar, amiable elven nightblade and lover of novelty
- Dunflow Darcin, taciturn barbarian
- Malcom Hawk, mage and chief spokesman
- Bar Helm, another barbarian
- Meros Tale, elven nightblade of a less gentle spirit
- Finkle Bagnozzle ("not to be confused with the Bognozzles") the Winceworthy, a gnome
- Orym Elandril of the elven court
- Reed Stormcliff, shaman-druid and veteran of the previous foray, with the war dog Mort,
- and the Piper, a bard of questionable etiquette.
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| A few of the company, including Reed in precautionary lion form. |
The castellan bid them to seek the cause of such a great convocation of rival minions of a more typically uncooperative nature, including the observed warrens of goblins, orcs, and hobgoblins as well as the recovered scraps rumoring of sinister sects. He awarded them full rights of reclamation for any treasure recovered, regardless of its point of origin as plunder from caravans supporting the forward armies of Durnovar. And he humbly bade them to take care not to arouse the attention of any great evils sleeping beneath the haunted forest uplands north of the road.
With predictable ardor for the road and task, the heroes stopped only long enough to purchase a single 10' pole, then pressed onward into the nearest swamp. Finding a lone barrow, they encircled and assaulted it with terrible bardic music, perhaps expecting this to function as an alternative mode of exorcism in lieu of a priest. Instead, a company of vexed lizardfolk demanded silence and departure -- speaking tersely with their near kin, the saurian Zegzinu, in a language coarse on the ears of all the rest of the companions. The lizardkins' exchange yielded the information that nothing lay to the south but spiders, and that rough strangers were trespassing onto the swamp from the east.
A night in the swamp proved uneventful, whereupon the company rose to continue toward the chaos-infested forest valley. Just shy of destination, portions of the company trained in climbing (the barbarians and nightblades, mainly) elected to penetrate into the woods to scout above the valley. The woods made every effort to merit its reputation as a haunt of spirits, grasping unnaturally at anyone who passed, but no trees awoke and the effect proved to be little more than a trick of the mind. Nevertheless, Meros and the other scouts emerged from the dense wood to discover a midshrouded clearing on the moor, dotted with dozens of barrows in a crumbling state of disrepair.
The nearest barrow bore the sigil of a skull over a rose upon a menhir placed at its pinnacle, and its door was sealed with bronze bands from the outside as if to bar passage from within. A similar mound nearby was entirely overground. The entire field was deathly quiet, but bore traces of many abandoned camps that had been vacated in sudden haste. When the remainder of the adventuring party emerged from the forest, they pondered the wisdom of shattering the bands of the barrow to see what lay within. Upon reflection, and perhaps remembering the apprehensions of the castellan, they elected to lay debris outside the chamber to detect the passage of night walkers. The bard sprinkled dust to form the contours of letters spelling out an impertinent question: "WHO ARE YOU?"
They descended to form a fresh camp on the road, caring little to pass the night in a place of such desolation and ill report.
Casualties
None
Treasure and Experience
Coin: none
Kills: none
Exploration: 3 mounds discovered, none explored (300 xp)
Parley: 7 lizardmen (245 xp), 3 lizardwomen (60 xp)
Total experience from treasure: 0 xp
Total experience from kills: 0 xp
Total experience from exploration: 300 xp
Total experience from parley: 305 xp
Total experience per member: 605/11 = 55 xp
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