Warning: Potential spoilers below 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 Robert. As always, my GM comments in italics and brackets.]
The Velvetama had just killed Taran, and Erfiði the goat was running around as goats are wont to do. We were prepared to do battle, when a fire bolt shot out of the falling snow, nearly hitting Tor. The velvetama then leap 25 feet, landing on the roof of the stables and out of sight.
Someone then walked up from where the fire bolt had come. Cuðbert was the first to see him. He introduced himself as Sebbi, Lord of Clachmor and Dalsetter. We were all surprised to find out that Dalsetter had a lord. We quickly introduced ourselves, and then Sebbi began drawing something in the ground with his staff. We deduced that he was a heahwisard. There wasn’t time to chat, we had to find the velvetama, so we went around to the other side of the building, going around both sides to lessen its chance of getting away. However, there was no sign of it, and climbing on the roof to see if it was still there was out of the question.
[As I mentioned in my last post, Sebbi ap-Howell, an Anari Heahwisard and Lord of Clachmore, is the character of Todd. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to introduce the character in the game. I gave one free action to Sebbi. Without the time to “prep” the spell and the cold weather providing additional penalties to a power with a Fire Trapping, Sebbi’s Bolt wasn’t successful. It was more fun and dramatic to have it miss the Velvetama (and almost hit Tor) than to have it just fizzle.
The players and their characters were rightfully surprised by the announcement of a Lord who ruled Dalsetter. No one had yet mentioned it. That, however, really isn’t all that strange. The past lords of Clachmore have largely left Dalsetter to its own. The prior lord, Berwyn, was often gone for months at a time. The mayor of Dalsetter has always been the de facto ruler as far as the residents are concerned.
Add to it that Lord Sebbi had only arrived a couple of weeks ago and then proceeded to follow in his predecessor’s footsteps by heading out to do some exploration. This is why no one had mentioned anything yet. Well, that and the fact that there was no lord or Clachmore until Todd decided to play a character with the Noble Edge. ;)]
We then heard a commotion from where we left Sebbi and his men. We returned to find the velvetama had jumped back down. It quickly ran away, and we were unable to follow. Out of options, the only choice was to regroup at The Four Sheaves. Meanwhile, Sebbi and his men headed back to his manor house a quarter mile west of town. He had left three of his huscarls, and Hervara, Eowyn’s daughter there, and thought it would be safer to bring them into Dalsetter with everyone else.
THUMP! Was the creature outside? All we found was a pile of snow. Perhaps it is on the roof. We checked the windows on the second floor, but it was secure. Cuðbert and Lia then went to the basement, to check the door there, as it had proved a point of entry for the creature before. The door was secure, but Cuðbert wanted to make extra sure, so he put his ear up to it to listen.
THUMP! An icy clawed hand punched through the door, hitting Cuðbert, but only shaking him. Lia called for the others to come down, but the creature did not show itself again. There was no sign of it outside the inn either. We agreed that the creature must be getting stronger.
[How could I resist a quick swipe? Isn’t that exactly what is supposed to happen when someone does something like this? I’m pretty sure that Jamie was fully expecting this to happen. Cuðbert’s fortunate that the door added some additional armor or he might have had more than just a flesh wound.]
By now, Sebbi had returned with the other people from his manor. It was then that Alric mentioned to us that he was running low on food supplies. His inn was not capable of supporting the whole town for this long. He needed bread and other food. We decided we would escort the baker to fetch flour and protect him as he baked, and the militia would help people fetch food from their houses as well. Amazingly, the plan went off without a hitch, but it did take all afternoon.
[The players had started to make sure that NO ONE went anywhere unless they were in groups of four or more. The Velvetama watched, with great interest, all of the activities throughout the afternoon…the gathering of supplies, the baking, the getting armed to the teeth, etc. It learned valuable information about how humans sustain themselves and important lessons that would serve it well as a general in the Hellfrost armies. I think this is one element that never took hold with the players. The Velvetama wasn’t just feeding…it was also learning. If the only thing driving it was feeding, it probably would have killed more people by this point. Instead, it was testing different methods of thinning the herd…so to speak. Jamie did seem to catch on a bit as, at one point during the session, he noted that the Velvetama seemed to be just toying with all of them…in a sense, that was exactly what it was doing.]
We then figured that we needed a plan to draw the velvetama out, but to do that, we would need bait: some person to attract it, that would likely die. But who could we possibly ask to do this? By now, it was getting dark, so we set up shifts to keep watch.
THUMP! Shouting from upstairs! Everyone rushed upstairs to find Rudwulf and the three Finnar smacking at flames, trying to put them out. Rudwulf had thought he heard the velvetama, and used a fire lance! Unfortunately, that was his last lance. The fire quickly got put out, and we finalized the watch rotation.
[In the aftermath of this incident, Rudwulf almost attacked the Finnar. He was quite embarassed by his action and was reluctant to describe what had happened. The Finnar, via Tyko’s translations, explained what had happened. They also had a bit of a chuckle at Rudwulf’s expense and gave him the nickname, Hiiri, which is the name of a small, nervous and jumpy mouse. When translated, that set Rudwulf off. He was restrained though. This was to help highlight the tense nature of the situation.]
THUMP! During the third shift, then crashing wood and glass upstairs. Tor was fast asleep, but Lia, Skuli, Wulfwynn get up and start rushing to the stair. Shouts awaken Sebbi and Tor. Upstairs, we find the female Finnar slumped against the wall opposite where her room door was. Skuli reaches the scene first. The velvetama is larger then last time. Now as big as an orc. One of the other Finnar is lying headless on the floor, and the third is being flung around. The creature then jumped out of the hole it came through, which takes up most of the wall, and is letting very cold air in. We block off the doorway as best we can to keep the old out. We manage to stabilize Tyko, the Finnar woman. Having lost both her traveling companions, she volunteers to be the bait to attract the velvetama.
[The Velvetama came crashing through the window…breaking some of the surrouding wall in the process…and attacked the three Finnar. Kaiju didn’t have a chance as the Velvetama immediately grabbed him and killed him. When Tyko jumped up to attack it, she was tossed through the door and stunned by the collision against the far wall. Vilho then attacked as well. He was mortally wounded in the process. If I recall correctly, Skuli was the first on the scene and could see the creature breathing in Kaiju’s “life heat” much as one would breath in the steam of a herbal boil. Wulfwynn was too late to save Vilho…he had lost too much blood by the time she arrived…but was able to determine that Tyko would be fine.
Since the players had been discussing the idea of using someone as bait, I went with it. I was particularly interested in seeing how they might respond to an NPC offereing to be the bait…especially given that a couple of them have the Heroic Hindrance. It didn’t turn out to be quite as dramatic as I hoped. Tyko continued to push the issue…indicating that there was no real choice but to somehow stop the creature.]
Later, more screams are heard from upstairs. We rushed upstairs to find the creature was back. The hallway was filled with webs, Rudwulf and Gytha were up there, but Gytha was dead, and the hallway was covered in blood. The velvetama grabbed Rudwulf and dragged him into the room it had entered previously. Screams and a crunch are heard. When we reached the room, the velvetama was gone again. On Rudwulf’s body, Skuli found an alchemical key, which one use of lock/unlock.
[After the attack on the Finnar, it was decided that no one would be staying upstairs. Everyone would sleep downstairs. It also cut down on the number of doors/windows/entry points that needy to be guarded. A small group of NPCs had gone upstairs to gather whatever blankets and bedding remained and the Velvetama, who was one of the rooms…waiting…listening, attacked. Rudwulf lived up to his name and nervously used an alchemical device he had bought from a merchant. Unfortunately, he was too jumpy to accurately aim it and it filled much of the hall with the webs (i.e., an Entangle power). This did little to slow the Velvetama with its d12+3 Strength but did entrap Gytha and Rudwulf. The other villagers who had been upstairs quickly fled downstairs as the PCs charged upstairs.
Skuli began to hack his way through the webs but he would never have been able to get through in time to save Rudwulf. It was his screams that were heard as the Velvetama dragged him back into the room and it was his head that went crunch as the creature fed upon him. When Rudwulf’s body was reached, it was already frozen.
It was Cuðbert that found and pocketed the alchemical device…a key that contains the Lock/Unlock power (one use). I kind of just tossed this in spur of the moment like. At least a couple of the players assumed that Rudwulf was responsible for the webs (others were afraid that the Velvetama could do it…if so, wouldn’t it be with an ice trapping?) and they knew he had used the Firelance device so it only seemed right to have one last device on his person. I just scrolled down to the Spells section of my Hellfrost pdf and more or less randomly picked one.
This worked well because the players started to discuss and speculate why Rudwulf would have such a device on his person. Some thought it was perfectly normal for a merchant type to have one while others seemed more convinced that there might be something a bit shady going on. All I can say at this point is that one or the other is correct…or maybe something in-between. How’s that for being vague and, hopefully, keeping the players a bit paranoid? ;)]
With all that was going wrong, we began to suspect that someone was helping the creature. We questioned the Danr boy. It turns out his family wasn’t in the inn because his father hated Modig, and the festivities earlier were payed for by Modig.
[I love it when players get paranoid. There are two reasons for this. First, I’m a GM and thus I must, by definition, have at least a small sadistic streak. Oh wait, that’s not right, the first reason is because the paranoia means that the players are engaged in the game and find it challenging…yeah, that’s what I meant. Second, it often means that the players themselves end up writing the future adventures! There have been quite a few times in my GMing “career” where the players get all paranoid about something that I hadn’t even thought about and it develops into a future scenario. Todd oftens says something like, “Shh…stop giving Tim ideas.” I know he’s only kidding (at least he better be only kidding) because this is a great part of the whole interactive quality of playing an rpg.
Unfortunately, in this case, I’ve already got a bit of a backstory about why Danr’s family was not a the festivities (hating Modig). Of course, maybe Danr’s feelings where just about something pretty mundane or the like (e.g., an insult) or maybe, just maybe, it is something a bit darker and dangerous…even after the death of both of them. Maybe, just maybe, it was fairly innocent but, after the paranoia, it is now something more of the later.
No one really knows why Danr hated Modig. They did know, however, that Danr was very unhappy when Modig showed up in Dalsetter. Danr had been in the village for about ten years.]
Morning arrived, and Tyko again says that she will be the bait to attract the creature. We were still hesitant, but she rushes out of the inn anyway, screaming for the velvetama to show itself. And show itself it did! It was huge now, and burst out of the remains of Rudwulf’s store. Lia, Tor, Cuðbert, and Skuli run out front after her, while the others rush out the back door.
[Sebbi and the others were discussing how to evacuate the women and children to Clachmore Manor as it was bit more fortified. Various concerns were raised and the discussions continued. There was way too much talking and planning going on for Tyko. Honor demanded vengeance for her dead brothers. Simple rightness demanded action be taken against the Velvetama. It was getting late in the session. So Tyko decked the guard at the front door and walked out into the village square, shouting for the demon. I was particularly interested in seeing the reactions of the players/characters. The party was pretty spread out at the Four Sheaves. Many were in the back of the inn. Those closest to Tyko didn’t seem overly inclined to keep her from doing this. Instead, they stayed a short distance back even though they could have easily reached her. Those in the back ran out the back door (given the crowds in the inn) and started running towards the square. It would have been absolutely epic if one of the PCs with the Heroic or Overconfident Hindrance would have stopped her and taken her place (and well worth a Benny) but none either did or where not close enough to do so. Tyko will definitely be getting a bonus on her Glory check.]
What follows was a battle that will go down in the annals of Dalsetter for generations. Mighty blows struck on both sides, the creature radiating a fell chill! We shattered it, but found the small orc sized version inside, ready to fight. We shattered that one, and the small one we originally saw now stood before us.
[Ahhh! It really sucks to have a big, bad baddie totally whiff on its attack and burn through a ton of Bennies in the process. Here I’ve got this creature that has been terrorizing an entire village and when it gets to a straight up fight, it can’t hit goat droppings (that one’s for Erfiði). Because the fight, which was supposed to be challenging and epic, was quickly becoming easy, short, and blah, I came up with the whole ablative monster bit on the spot. I think this sort of modification on the fly is a great strength of Savage Worlds. When Velvetama was first dealt a final wound, it caused a lot of the ice to shatter off, leaving a smaller version. This would be repeated until the “original” sized one was slain. It was actually trying to flee…having learned that it wasn’t quite yet strong enough for a full frontal assault but was slain before it could escape and start the growth (and terrorizing Dalsetter) process all over again.]
Lia then realized that perhaps when we shattered it in the Danr’s house previously, and thought it was dead, perhaps there was some small remnant of it left that survived, and regrew into the creature we now fought. Sure enough, when we shattered this one, a small cold blue gem was left. Cuðbert attempted to destroy it in a fire, but it did not seem to work, so Sebbi decided to hold onto it.
[Well, I’m not going to say anything about how the Velvetama survived its apparent death at Danr’s home…you never know, you might run into another one some day. Hell, maybe that small, cold, blue gem is a tiny little one that just needs to have the right conditions to grow again. On the other hand, maybe it is just a valuable gem. Maybe, just maybe, it is something different than either of those options…I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. 🙂
At the end of the session, there were a couple of things that happened. First off, Hervana Alricsdohtor (Eowyn’s daughter and apprentice healer) reminded Lord Sebbi that one of the nearby communities, Askvold’s Stead, was suffering from some sort of disease and needed help. After scolding/chastising him and everyone else around, she stomped off to her mother’s home to do some research on the disease and a possible cure.
Sebbi also spent some time discussing with Agdi the situation. With Rudwulf’s store destroyed and all of the goods it contained, the village is short of many things. Similarly, some key “personnel” had been slain leaving the village without a priest(ess) or a merchant. Hmm, might this be an opportunity for some of the PCs to integrate themselves into the community of a “community-based” campaign? We’ll have to see as these issues…and others…are dealt with in later sessions.
