“What do you want?” That was the response from the priest as he realized that most (but not all) of the player characters had entered the church and were approaching him. And that’s where we picked up our next session (below the break). All of the characters had arrived in Bridgeford and had met in an inn during our Session 0. They began to gel as a group–if for no other reason than knowing that they are the player characters–and settled on following a lead which had brought Ellery to the Borderlands…a rumor that a ruined abbey, Valvur Abbey, might not be quite as empty of treasure as was as commonly believed. In the hopes of learning more about the location of these ruins, they had come to Bridgeford’s church to ask some questions.
All players participated this week.
So back to…”What do you want?”
- Things did not go very well at the church despite Ellery giving a pretty hefty donation (1gp). The priest quickly identified the group as “adventurers” (not anyone he had seen before, carrying weapons, asking questions about ruins) and claimed to not have any information about the location of Valvur Abbey or anything else about it. Once the group leaves and grabs Norfek, the women are subjected to some propositions from a couple of military types who are lounging around some nearby warehouse doors.
- Back at the Spider’s Bite Inn, the morning crowd has largely died down and Harold tells the group that he asked around last night.
- Aja reminds him a bit of a woman that he used to adventure with and so he discreetly asked around out of his fond memory for her. But…if the group does find some nice treasure, he wouldn’t mind a little of it for his troubles.
- No one he talked to was aware of the location of the abbey (it was 100 years ago), but they had heard of brigands in that general area who had been robbing small groups traveling along the nearby road.
- Others had heard about some scrablings (a creature of chaos similar in “role” as a goblin) who had taken up residence in a gully and some ruins in the same general area. These ruins are something of a landmark for the Borderlands and are called Goblin Gully. Creatures or brigands will periodically take up residence in Goblin Gully until adventuring types of the King’s Corps (army) clears them out. Goblin Gully is pretty easy to find and obvious. A door exists in some rocks at the top of a hill and a tree has roots that have overgrown these rocks around the door. A ravine at the bottom of the hill has two additional entrances into the chambers in the hills with an old rope bridge connecting those.
- The Corps hasn’t done anything yet because their forces are currently minimal in Bridgeford. Periodically, the bulk of the troops in the town will engage in preparedness exercise and march to The Fort at the far end of the Borderlands. They are not expected back for at least a week. (Aja was particularly disappointed to hear this news because Commander Varos Deathspire is an individual she was told to reach out to once she arrived in Bridgeford…he’d be able to help her somehow.)
- The Baroness is also currently traveling, visiting relatives or allies elsewhere in the kingdom. The details weren’t really available. No one in authority right now has looked to hire anyone to deal with either the brigands or the scrablings yet…it just hasn’t risen to a level of requiring that degree of attention. However, one of the merchants did say that he was robbed and a ruby ring was taken. He is offering a reward of 75gp for anyone that can recover and return it.
- Another merchant had been robbed by the brigands in some recent prior travels. One of the items stolen was a gold bracelet. On this current trip to Bridgeford, the scrablings attempted to steal from his camp. He could swear that one of them was wearing that same bracelet.
- Both the King’s Corps and Baroness being away does actually have some in-game reasons and is not just a tool to nudge the player characters into dealing with these issues. Sure…it helps, but that isn’t the reason both are away. 😉
- The party comes up with the idea of pretending that they are a small group of merchants traveling the road in the hopes of being robbed by either the brigands or the scrablings. They head to the local general store–meeting the storekeeper Alric–and purchased a few large sacks. As they head out of town, they gather up pine cones, leaves, grasses, and the like to fill the bags. Setting a leisurely pace, they travel for about a half-day and set up camp. The night is uneventful. In the morning, they set out again and after another half-day, come closer to the woods that both the brigands and scrablings were seen heading into after robbing travelers on the road. After a little (unsuccessful) fishing by Norfek (his first time ever), the group sets up camp.
- This night, during Norfek’s watch, one of their stuffed bags has gone missing. Norfek neither saw nor heard anything before he realized the bag was gone. The others are awakened, a torch lit, and Ellery (she’s a ranger) follows some scrabling tracks leading towards the woods. A short distance away, they find a pile of pine cones and leaves dumped on the ground but no sack (Norfek was quite upset at losing the more costly leather sack as opposed to the cheaper burlap sacks that had not been taken). The tracks do lead to the woods and then the path (which seems to be traveled regularly recently) splits. Scrabling tracks lead along a more established path going in a more northerly direction while booted tracks on a less worn path head west into the woods. The party heads back to the road and finish to rest for the rest of the night.
- In the morning, the party headed back to the fork in the path. Reasoning that scrablings are creatures of the night and they the party would have the advantage during the day, they followed that fork. They easily find the door of Goblin Gully among rocks and roots. Stairs lead down to a chamber empty except for debris…dirt and leaves. Another passage and stairs lead to an odd looking door. It looks like a series of overlapping scales made from a black, glass-like substance (similar to obsidian but matte and not shiny)…almost like a beaded curtain. Even though he’s a dwarf and knows much about stone, Norfek does not recognize this material.
- Pushing the scales aside, Norfek heads in. The room beyond is made of the same material…floor, walls, and ceiling…seeming to simply absorb any light that hits it. A statue composed of the same material is across the room from the door. It represents a tall (some 12 feet), incredibly slender elf-like being but is missing all facial features. The face is simply blank stone. Four scrablings are within and attack. The torch lighting the party’s way dazzles the scrablings momentarily allowing the party to prevail pretty quickly.
- Aja–being a bard and all–recognizes the statue. It is a Midnight Elf. She shares that they are creatures from the Underworld who are very dangerous and enjoy inflicting great pain. The bard is adamant that they need to leave because they’re doomed if they meet a Midnight Elf or a Dusk, a servant of the Midnight Elves. The rest of the party is not convinced and state that they need to take care of the scrablings before the creatures rob anyone else…or escalate and hurt someone. Aja asks, “When did we become heroes?” (She’s Chaotic in alignment while the others are Lawful or Neutral.) Aja is assured that the party will turn back before reaching the Underworld.
- A door is found concealed behind the statue. It leads to another chamber and door which leads out to the ravine. There is a rope bridge crossing to the other side of the ravine and another door to another chamber. Scrablings are encountered in each chamber and are dispatched (some dropped down from a shaft in the ceiling of the latter chamber), but Ellery is badly hurt. After retreating to a cleared chamber on the near side of the rope bridge, Ellery whips up some herbal remedies and feels much better.
- The party heads back towards the last chamber they had reached…on the other side of the rope bridge. Ellery opens the door of scales and at least three scrablings are within, shielding their eyes from the light…
And that is where we ended the session. Because the rope bridge looks a bit rickety, the party had been crossing one at a time. At the end of the session, Ellery was the only one that had crossed and the others remained on the opposite side. Will Ellery survive long enough for her compatriots to join the fight? Can she defeat the scrablings on her own? Will Aja convince the others to leave before they go too deep? Will they encounter any of the Dusk or, even worse, a Midnight Elf? Stay tuned for the Session 2 write-up next week. 😀
