Warning: Potential spoilers below for the adventure, Lair of the Vermin Lord, from Triple Ace Games…we’ve wrapped it up but there may be still be references back to it. There may also be spoilers for the adventure, Jacob’s Well, from Dungeon Magazine #43. I’m not actually using it but it was certainly inspirational and provides a framework for the current situation.
[This entry is from Jamie and is from the perspective of a survivor of the current troubles in Dalsetter and is many years in the future. He took some significant liberties with backstory that, well, isn’t the actual backstory from the game (not that he or the other players know the backstory of what happened at Danr’s). As always, my GM comments in italics and brackets…there will be quite a few since a lot of what happened isn’t covered due to the creative form.]
“Grampy! Grampy! Tell us a story! Tell us the scariest story you know! We are old enough to handle it. We won’t tell Ma, promise!”
“All right, my lads, gather around the fire here and get comfortable. Aelinn, Bring your Grampy another horn of mead, there’s a good boy. Are you young’uns certain you wish to hear my scariest story? I know you seem pretty big and tough, but…”
“Grampy! I am Fenn Danner Foxcatcher, swiftest runner in the village, and yesterday I wrestled Ranulf Ox-Arms to the ground, and he’s a head taller than me! I am ready, and I vouch for the others!”
“Heh-heh, I like to see that spirit, my little Fox. Very well, I shall tell you a tale of The Coldest Winter, when I was a young lad shorter than yourselves, and when my life changed forever, and not in the nicest way. It was just after the Vermin Lord had tried to destroy and poison all the grain in the Jàrn Vale, and…”
[The Jàrn Vale is the area of Rassilon that I’m carving out and developing as the main locale for the “community-based” campaign. It is in the Freelands and is the area to the west of Aslov between the Jagged Peaks and the Withered Lands. There will be some departures from stuff as written in the Hellfrost books and, obviously, from anyone else’s Hellfrost campaign. I’ll put up a post about the Jàrn Vale sometime in the near future.]
“The Vermin Lord? Who was he?”
“Don’t interrupt! Aelinn, this is a little ram’s-horn, I need an ox-horn of mead at least, especially if I am going to be interrupted as I tell…”
“Sorry, Grampy! No one will interrupt again. Aelinn, not that horn, the one with the silver chasing, over there by the pie safe!”
“Where was I? Oh yes, so the evil machinations of the Vermin Lord had just been undone by a group new-come to Dalsetter, whose actions and nascent Glory had earned them the name ‘The Heroes of Dalsetter.’”
“THE Heroes of Dalsetter? From those statues by the Mead-Hall? You never knew them, surely!”
“Foxy, that’s both an interruption and a near slight on my honor! If I tell you it was the Heroes of Dalsetter, it were, and that’s that. Now hush up or I will just take my old bones off to bed instead of trying to tell tales to knuckle-heads what won’t listen…”
“Sorry, Grampy! No one will interrupt again! Marni, fetch Grampy’s pipe and some weed. Faster than that!”
“So, the village was mostly in a celebratory mood, what with the end of the threat of the Vermin Lord, and so almost everyone was over the Mead House tying one on. My Ma, my Pa, and my three beautiful sisters and I were at our little house, just barely hearing the festivities down the way…”
[These are the same festivities that were discussed in the prior session log…the ones that Modig’s recently recovered treasure was paying for and before he gave “birth” to the Velvetama.
The mayor, Agdi, was attempting to determine if anyone was not in the hall. As you can guess, attempting to determine if anyone was missing out of the 200 or so citizens was not an easy task. After some failed attempts, the mayor basically lined everyone up against the walls and went through to identify any missing folks. As he was doing this, a loud thud is heard from outside. The entire hall goes on alert and the heroes split up…Cuthbert, Lia, and Tor head out the back door of the hall while Skuli and Wulfwynn head out the front. The blizzard outside has limited visibility to a very significant degree…even Tor can’t see much more than ten feet in front of him.
The Cuthbert led group is slowly making its way around the building towards the area where the thud occured. Wulfwynn and Skuli hold their position outside the front door. Skuli can see a small form coming towards them…not from the direction of the thud. Both prepare to attack but, as the form gets closer, they can make out that it is a small boy (the boy that grows up to be Grampy in Jamie’s tale). He is not dressed well enough for the weather and is covered in blood.
The boy is quickly taken inside and is quickly bundled up and set by the fire. One of the guards just inside the door identifies him as one of Danr’s boys. Wulfwynn asks the guards to take them to Danr’s home…she, Skuli, and two of the guards head that way. As they do, the guards at the back of the hall yell for Cuthbert et al to come back inside.]
“Why weren’t you at the Mead Hall with the others, Grampy?”
“Ah, now that’s a proper question to be askin’ of a tale-spinner. That is, indeed, important in the tale, so I will explain. Ma and two of my sisters were down with a nasty fever, practically glowin’ with heat, so Pa, Merri and I were tendin’ to ‘em. Weren’t no fun, neither, believe you me. If I’m being honest, I was sulking a bit, what with missing out on the fun and all. We could still hear them rousin’ and carousin’ when I finally climbed into the furs with Ma and tried to fall asleep. There was some kind of hullabaloo at some point, I recall, with folks shoutin’ and what-not, but it was plenty warm with Ma’s sweatin’ like mid-summer under the skins, so I tried to ignore it. I couldn’t ignore the pressure in my bladder later that night, though, so eventually I steeled up the courage to pop out for a quick piss. Leavin’ the door cracked so I could see somethin’ in the blizzard, I stepped just to the side of the door, and got to pissin’. Oi! No need to giggle at that! Like you never pissed in your life, right? Anyway, I was startin’ on a little design in the snow when I heard the most horrible sound I ever heard in my entire life—a scream, followed by a slashing sound like when you open a bag of grain, then a sound like a bucket of water being thrown into the fire, then another scream, then another—I was so scared I ran around back of the house for a moment before I realized that in my skivvies in the snow I was not gonna last long like that. I went back around, stepped inside, and realized that there was something like a nightmare of ice and blood throwing redness all over the house. It was hard to comprehend what I was seeing until I realized that the mis-shapen sack in the corner had to be one of my sisters, and that some kind of horrible ice-thing was chewing on my Pa’s head! It looked over at me, then, I swear to you this is what happened, bit Pa’s head clean off and directed the spray of blood from his neck all over me! Next thing I know I am sprinting through the snow and almost running right into Skuli and Wulfwynn the Reaper of the Heroes of Dalsetter, who bring me into the Mead Hall, where I must have passed out. And that is the scariest story I know, and also how I happened to be raised by the old Mayor Agdi of Dalsetter instead of my own parents, as they died a horrible death that night. Sweet dreams, lads!”
“Grampy…you are not really going to stop there, are you? The story’s not over!”
“Not all tales have endings, Foxy, but you asked for my story, and my part in those events ended with my entry into the Mead Hall and the two pints of mead some kind souls poured down my gullet.”
“But don’t you know what happened next?”
“Well, of course I do, but it’s no longer my story. You wouldn’t want to hear events third-hand, wouldya?”
“Grampy! Finish the story! What killed your family? How did the Heroes of Dalsetter make everything all right?
“Well, there’s no guarantee that they did that, but I guess if someone will bring me a little more mead, and maybe one of those honey-cakes there, I can quickly tell you what happened next…”
“Here you go, Grampy! Two honey-cakes! Now what happened next?”
“Well, so Pa Agdi, used to recount, The Heroes of Dalsetter charged out of both ends of the Mead Hall heading for our old house. Wulfwynn, Skuli, and Tor Bearstrangler…”
“Freya says he’s not really a Hero!”
[The people of Dalsetter have not yet accepted that Tor is a part of the “Heroes of Dalsetter”…largely due to his blustering manner and appearance of trying to ride their coattails to success.]
“Of course he is, and Freya’s a brainless cow who should learn better manners. He joined the Heroes at The Cleansing of Ertha’s Temple, you know that story, and remained a steadfast member of the Heroes for years. Now, as I was saying, those three headed out the main doors and so arrived before the others. They found my old house covered in blood and saw an Ice Demon busy mangling the bodies of my family members. Wulfwynn tangled the Demon with Eostre-roots and Skuli, Tor, and some members of the town watch set to trying to destroy the foul ice-spawn. Its icy skin was hard to penetrate, and its jaws were deadly, so soon Skuli was on his last legs and both of the watch had been taken down. Wulfwynn’s longspear glanced off its hide and smacked into the forehead of Cuðbert, who had finally arrived, stunning him for a moment. Boxing in the foul creature between the dazed logger and the dwarf, Skuli used his mastery of crowd-fighting to bring one last blow down upon the creature, and it shattered into little pieces. Wulfwynn waved her hand and immediately closed all of Skuli’s massive wounds, and the Heroes headed back to the Mead Hall to report on the horrible slaying of my family.”
[It was slow moving through the early (and unnatural seeming) winter storm but Wulfwynn and Skuli reached Danr’s. As they rounded the corner to the front entrance, they could see that the door had been smashed in. Skuli took the lead and peeked inside to see a scene of carnage. Body parts were thrown about and frozen…and still freezing…blood covered most everything. In the middle of the room, munching on one of the body parts, was a small creature that looked to be made of ice. It stood about three or four feet tall and was mostly humanoid in shape (it looked much like this though at little more translucent). When Skuli told Wulfwynn of the scene, the creature looked up and let loose a roar that sounded like the wind of the blizzard.
A fight, obviously, was on. Wulfwynn stepped forward and, with the blessing of Eostre, partially restrained the creature (Entangle). Skuli stepped up to it and attacked. Skuli was badly injured during the fight and one of the guards was immediately killed when the creature tore his head off. The creature appeared to be heading for the front door to make its escape just as Cuthbert showed up to block the exit. Unfortunately, Wulfwynn’s attempt to skewer the creature went awry and she, instead, stabbed Cuthbert…and broke her spear on his hard head. (Rachel rolled Snake Eyes and accepted the Bennie in exchange for the “catastrohpic failure.” Fortunately for Cuthbert, she rolled pretty crappy damage.) Skuli, despite his grievous wounds, stepped up and struck a shattering blow to the creature…leaving tiny pieces of ice lying about. When Tor investigated…picking up a piece of the ice…it melted at his touch.]
“So the Heroes killed the beast and saved Dalsetter again! Hurrah!”
“Not so fast. The night was far from over. The guards were recalled from the watchtower and gates to help protect everyone in the Mead Hall. Then fire broke out in Rodwulf’s store, and most of the men went to put out the fire. In the confusion, Agdi’s former apprentice was killed and left frozen on top of a house, and the fire itself destroyed most of Dalsetter’s equipment and general foodstuffs. Then in the morning, Toldan, and I remember him, nice man, always ruffling my hair, was killed in the cellar of the Four Sheaves while fetching bacon or sommat for breakfast. The Heroes tracked what seemed to be the same kind of ice demon all over the village, but it seemed near invisible in the thick snow and they were unable to find it. Wulfwynn prayed for my family and then burned their pitiful remains in our house, it’s where that little cairn is next door to Heimo’s place, and then went to help out with the tending to the livestock. There was a rambunctious goat back in those days, terrified us kids, name of Erfifi. That blamed goat sprinted out into the paddock and Torlan Fennisunu chased after him. A blur streaked across the paddock, Torlan crumpled, and the pristine snow was suddenly a sea of scarlet dominated by a five-foot-tall ice demon, licking his icy lips…”
[After the Velvetama was slain Danr’s, the people of Dalsetter were still a bit nervous but still quite relieved and everyone settled down to sleep in the Hall. It was determined that the only other isolated people were the guards at the front gates and watchtower. They heroes set out and brought them back to the hall.
At some point during the night, those on watch heard shouting from upstairs. As they started to run for the stairs, they could make out the shouting a bit better…”Rudwulf’s place is on fire!” Everyone was quickly mobilized to go fight the fire. Wulfwynn suggested that a smaller group go out and the mayor agreed.
It was quickly apparent that the fire was not accidental. Not only did Cuthbert smell oil but the fire resisted the attempts to put it out. At one point, an explosion from within blew the door off and injured a few of the villagers (Wulfwynn tended to them). Nothing of Rudwulf’s stock…remember, he’s the merchant/general store in Dalsetter…was salvaged. Only the stone walls of his former home remained standing.
It was very clear that this fire was deliberate and most likely an attempt to hamper the village. The PCs also started to be concerned about other vulnerable/important locations in town. Penda’s flourshed was considered a likely target and the PCs checked to make sure it was intact…it was and there were no tracks around it. The same with the communal barn containing the village’s livestock…although one of the goats, Erfiði, did butt one of the guards. The guard commented on how troublesome the goat was and how it should have been made into food a long time ago (a bit of foreshadowing as you’ll see).
After everyone returned to the hall, Agdi started asking if anyone had seen Aelwic…his assistant and the boy that Ulfwyn had used as a battering ram in an earlier session. No one had and so a search party headed out. Cuthbert noticed a small pool of blood under a light dusting of snow near the remains of Rudwulf’s place. After digging into the snow and finding nothing, he looked up and noticed that the snow on the roof of the nearby building was disturbed. Climbing up…with the aid of Gaupa (i.e., Boost Climb)…he found Aelwic’s body, mauled and frozen solid. The peak of the roof was disturbed…as if someone had been there…and there was a furrow in the snow down one side to where Aelwic’s body was found. Other than that, there were no tracks. Still…it was enough to indicate that the defeated Velvetama was not the only one.
Guards were redoubled and the heroes all took a turn as well. A bit before dawn, Toldan…the “official” cook at the Four Sheaves…headed down to the cellar to fetch supplies. Wulfwynn went with him each trip and helped to carry supplies. Unfortunately for Toldan, this only delayed his death. As the players found out later, the remaining Velvetama(s) had cut through the bar to the outer cellar doors. It (or one of them) had actually been hiding in the cellar when Toldan and Wulfwynn came down for supplies. When Toldan later came down by himself, it killed him and then left through the cellar doors. Cuthbert was able to follow the beast’s tracks for a considerable distance…it seemed to circle around the village to some extent…before he lost them in the freshly falling snow.
After a discussion with Agdi and Gytha (the rather timid priestess of Eostre), the PCs and the mayor agreed that simply burning the entire Danr home would be a better pyre than attempting to gather up all the frozen body parts. The mayor also indicated that, if the village survived, a memorial would be constructed on the site.
After the difficult and disturbing work of creating and tending to the mass house pyre, the PCs returned to the hall. The Taiga Elves had made the decision that they stood a better chance in the storm than in the village and were leaving. Before they left, they spoke briefly with Wulfwynn and cautioned her that the creature will continue to grow each time it feeds on the “Life’s Warmth” of a victim. When it gets large enough, its skin will harden and it will be difficult to damage with normal weapons. When asked what could hurt it, Snowblade indicated that it would be vulnerable to fire…at which point Tor had his mug filled with lamp oil instead of ale. Lastly, Snowblade said that as the Velvetama got larger, it would emanate an aura of cold that one could feel before seeing it (stupid GM, I totally forgot to mention that last bit as we played this out and I just told the players later that Snowblade had also told them this).
Modig’s two companions also left…following the Taiga elves…laden with a couple of sacks of treasure. It was clear that the elves did not really consider them part of their group and did not seem concerned if they could keep pace or not. Snowblade had briefly lamented the fact humans were ill-suited to traveling in the fierce winter storm.
It was after this that the mayor told Wulfwynn of the need for tending to the livestock. The PCs accompanied a small group to the barn. There were no tracks or indications that the Velvetama was at the barn. As the villagers went about their work and the PCs stood guard, the goat Erfiði broke free and ran outside into the paddock. Before the PCs could really react, one of the villagers, Torlan Fennisunu, ran out after him. The Velvetama…standing a short distance away…sped towards Torlan in a blur of movement. The pristine snow turned scarlet as Torlan fell and the Velvetama…its claws stained scarlet. Tor started to charge towards it…and that’s where we stopped.]
“But Grampy! What happened next? And if the Heroes had killed the demon, why is it back? Were there more than one?”
“I think I’ve stirred you up enough for one night, and after all this mead I need to hit the privy. Sleep tight, little men, and remember that even now, you might already be a part of someone’s epic adventure!”
[I admit that I might have gotten some of the order of events a bit mixed up…I didn’t really have much in the way of notes prepped for this session. I also apologize if my comments interfere with the reading of Jamie’s tale…I just wanted to make sure a fairly complete chronicle of the events was made. Besides, you can always go back and read his story through by skipping over my intruding comments. ;)]
