Here is the campaign log from the second session of our Quail Valley campaign. This was written by Rachel (who plays Isabel). My GM comments are in [italics and brackets.]
Note: There are potential spoilers for a number of different published adventures below. These include: Necromancer Game’s The Wizard’s Amulet, Crucible of Freya, and Vault of Larin Karr, Goodman Games’ Hive of Villainy, and the adventure, Through the Night, from Dungeon Magazine #29.
In this session, the party continues its journey towards Fairhill and encounters a rather strange mantel decoration. We pick up where we left off last time…during Isabel’s watch she was ambushed by a rather strange creature.
The creature that sprang towards me from the bushes was even stranger looking the closer it got to me. In fact, it didn’t even have teeth, it had these bony ridges in its mouth instead. As the creature charged toward me, I quickly drew my sword and yelled for the others. I swung at the creature and it snapped at me a couple times but we missed each other and just kept circling. On the creature’s third attempt, it bit me hard and did quite a bit of damage. While the creature and I were circling, I heard some muttering in the bushes off to the side, but was not able to make out what the person was saying.
Back at the camp, Eoin awakened the others and they got up, grabbed their weapons and shields, and headed toward the hilltop that I had gone over. Rithor and Eoin were the first to reach the hilltop and thankfully Eoin was able to hit the creature. I finally made contact with a swing of my sword as well. We all heard someone in the bushes speaking a language that we couldn’t understand, but the person did not sound happy. It also was starting to drizzle.
The creature kicked out at Eoin and then ran off toward the bushes. A similar creature, although twice the size of the one we fought, came out of the bushes and growled at us before running off after the smaller one. I went to check out the bushes but did not find whoever had been speaking there. I saw no sign of anyone except for the larger and smaller cloven tracks from the creatures. Aram made it down the hillside and was able to heal Eoin and me, then we all headed back to the camp and resumed our watches.
It rained harder during the night and there was some lightning in the distance. The rain ended by morning although it was foggy when we first awoke and for the first couple hours of our travel.
[One thing that Isabel was not aware of was the strange pattern of the lightning during Mookatel’s watch. The storm seemed to be the strongest during his watch and the lightning, though a good distance away, almost seemed to be focused on a single area. The lightning kept repeatedly striking that same area. Mook, I hope Todd doesn’t mind if I call him Mook, didn’t mention this to the other characters in the morning but its importance became clear later in the session.]
As we traveled along the River Wren, the fog burned off and we could hear some buzzing coming from the other side of the hills. Suddenly three large bees (each about a yard long) came over the hills toward the river. Once they saw us they started buzzing angrily and dove toward us.
Rithor and Eoin were stung, Rithor pretty badly. Aram took out two of the bees with his battle axe and I was able to take one out with my bow and arrow. Aram healed Rithor and we headed off, though Finch stayed behind to look at the bees more. He saw small mushrooms surrounded by small white hairs on their heads. Finch plucked a mushroom and pulled his hand back quickly, which was fortunate because a few spores flew onto his hand when he picked the mushroom. He poured water on his hand to try to dislodge the spores and then came after us. [I don’t think Finch has told the rest of us about the mushrooms or spores].
[Nope…Finch did not mention anything about this at the time.]
About a half hour before dark, we came upon a village. Rithor did not recall having seen this village on the map, but we decided we may as well seek shelter here for the night. We stopped at an inn and learned that we were in the village of Horvát, at the Kisbagi Inn. It’s a good thing we stopped—the innkeeper told us that it is storm season in Quail Valley, which lasts about two weeks. During this time it is dangerous to be out at night, as the storm elementals like to attack folks with lightning and are sometimes up to other tricks as well.
[Hmm…I wonder if that might be some of what Mook saw off in the distance the night before. ;)]
Rithor headed up to bed after supper while the rest of stayed downstairs. We heard a lot of rumors at the Inn. Some of the rumors came from the innkeeper and some came from a merchant named Jak, as well as other villagers who were at the inn. Mookatel had asked a few folks about the Birds of Prey and revealed that Myongo was his cousin (maybe this led to the theory that all half-orcs are related?).
[Theory might be a little strong…more of a question that turned into some comic relief.
Here are all of the rumors that were shared. It was a fun interaction as villager disagreed with villager on various details and even the factual accuracy of some of the rumors and gossip. Turns out that the fine folks at the Kisbagi Inn love to gossip.
- Grandpa Kisbagi was a monster when he was in his cups…at least according to Grandma K.
- The summer storm season has begun and the storm elementals are getting quite active. The most dangerous storms, those accompanied by such elementals, happen at night. Travelers caught out, unsheltered, often do not survive these violent storms. Travelers stay at inns in villages or, if travel takes more than a day between settlements, at one of the storm towers available for shelter.
- One of the storm towers between Presov and Borsod has been torn down.
- Gnoll bandits have been active on the road between Presov and Borsod and might be using the ruined tower as a base.
- Other bandits have been active around the Fairhill area.
- The old wizard’s tower outside of Fairhill is the home of a vampire. When folks go missing in the area, it is probably because someone had themselves a little snack.
- The old wizard Zakarias was in love with and in a relationship with Shandril, the Old Hag, or possibly both.
- Either Shandril or the Old Hag cursed the other woman and possibly Zakarias. Different patrons at the inn believed different stories about this.
- The Old Hag either lives near the wizard’s tower or near the Forradás.
- The Old Hag is raising an army of ratmen with which she is going to attack Fairhill.
- The Old Hag can’t be raising an army of ratmen because she lives near the old wizard’s tower and the ratmen live near the Forradás.
- An evil ogress lives in the Forradás…or doesn’t, depending on who was talking.
- The Forradás is not a place you want to go. It is a deep rift in the Gaskar hills and a poisonous forest, where nothing grows but gnarled and half-rotted trees and mounds of fetid mushrooms, lies at its bottom.
- The evil ogress has cursed the village of Méhkas and/or the beekeper Valter. Much disagreement on this one too.
- The normal shipment of honey isn’t ready yet because Valter, the most productive beekeeper in Méhkas, went into his barn and never came out. None of the villagers have been brave enough to go in and see what happened.
- Valter uses giant bees instead of normal ones and has far greater production than any other beekeeper in Méhkas. Some had heard that Valter was also using the giant bees to protect something extremely valuable or scandalous inside his barn.
- Valter’s death is mourned by pretty much everyone in his village except for Gaeran. Gaeran was a rival suitor of the woman who became Valter’s wife, Heléna.
- Gaeran and Heléna were having an affair.
- A young girl was recently killed by a swarm of bees in the fields north of Méhkas.
- Wolves from the Gaskar Hills have been attacking livestock lately.
- Faerie Folk have been seen more often lately and have even been seen in villages. Some are even breaking into people’s homes.
- The Birds of Prey passed through Horvát a few years ago on their way to search for the Vault of Larin’Karr. They were last seen in Presov before they set off for the Vault. They never returned.
- The Birds of Prey claimed to know not just that three keys are needed to open the Vault but also exactly what those keys are and maybe even where they were.
- Saying the name of Larin’Karr brings bad luck.
- No one has ever found the Vault of Larin’Karr and those that go seek it out never return.
- The wizard of the Birds of Prey was an arrogant son-of-a-bitch.
- The half-orc, Myongo, was a member of the Birds of Prey and a really strong guy…he won all the arm-wrestling contests at the Kisbagi.
- All half-orcs are related.
- Lannet, a halfling that lives in Fairhill, is a thief! One merchant claimed that Lannet had stolen a cask of ale from him but he just couldn’t prove it.
- All halflings are thieves!
- The Troll’s Tongue is a walled inn about a day’s travel north of Horvát. It is just past the old stone bridge that crosses the River Wren.
- Fairhill is a good day’s travel north of the Troll’s Tongue.
- Presov is the largest settlement in the Quail Valley.
- The Thorfax Mine is still operational and running. It is an iron ore mine and one of the merchants at the Kisbagi had a load he was taking to Bard’s Gate.
- Wynston Mélyen was the head of a family that established some silver mines in the Mélyen Hills. Rumor has it that the mines went too deep and unearthed something evil. Others say that Wynston went mad and killed his entire family. Regardless of what happened, the silver mine closed down but a small village still remains inhabited nearby.
- Orcs have been active in the Quail Valley and might even be attacking people around Presov.
Nope, this is not the entire campaign mapped out. I’m running this campaign in a sandboxy fashion with the Quail Valley as the sandbox mini-setting. These are just some of the most prominent gossips of the day at the Kisbagi Inn. I’d be remiss in my GM duties if I left anyone thinking that all of these (or any of them) are completely true…you know how gossip and rumors go.]
After sharing their rumors and stories, the villagers started singing and dancing. Our group joined in for a bit and then headed to our rooms to sleep.
The next morning we continued heading north, making sure we made good time so that we could reach the Troll’s Tongue before dark. We reached the stone wall around a 2-story building. The doors in the wall were closed, so we knocked but there was no response. The doors were unlocked so we went it. Rithor called out a greeting but there was no response except for a whinny from the stable. Finch and I headed to the stable with Flash, our mule. There was only one horse in the stable, who was very skinny. We gave some oats and water to Flash and the horse, then securely closed the stable doors and headed to the inn.
Rithor, Eoin, Aram, and Mookatel had headed to the inn immediately upon entering the walled area. They entered the inn and Rithor called out a greeting, but it was quiet. In the main room of the inn, the fire in the fireplace was out but it was full of lots of ashes. There was a body of a 16 or 17 year old man slumped over a table, dead and very pale. He appeared to have been drained of blood. Over the fireplace there was a green, 8-10 inch squirming tongue nailed to the wall. We eventually figured out that this must be the troll’s tongue for which the inn was named.
[The place also reeked of garlic…as garlic had been smeared all over the place as well as chopped cloves just sitting around. Wax covered many of the tables and bar from burned down candles as well.
It took quite a bit of time and a little prompting by yours truly before the players realized that the squirming thing above the mantel was a troll’s tongue. There are times where the obvious (i.e., a troll’s tongue being in an establishment named The Troll’s Tongue) eludes us all. The party learned a bit of the background story of the place in a later session.]
Rithor and a couple others headed upstairs but found no one in the bedrooms. Aram stayed below to check out the young man’s body but found no bite marks, wounds, or any visible cause of death. Finch and I entered the inn as Rithor and the others came back downstairs. We checked out the kitchen, pantry, and what looked like the innkeeper’s bedroom but no one was in them. Finch wanted to check out the footlocker in the bedroom so I stayed with him while everyone headed down to check out the cellar (there was no one down there either).
While Finch was checking out the trunk, I saw a very quickly forming, puddly, slushy thing on the floor turn into a blob and launch itself at Finch’s back. Finch jumped on the bed and the blob disappeared. Finch’s back was a bit wet and cold but he was otherwise okay. I called out for the others to come and told them that something had attacked Finch, but we didn’t see any sign of it.
[The thing quickly seeped through the floorboards to disappear.]
Mook headed to the pantry to get some flour and/or salt—folks thought that putting flour or salt on the floor might allow us to see the puddly slushy thing better next time. After a couple minutes, Mook had not returned so Aram went to check on him. Mook was frozen in place leaning against a shelf in the pantry. Suddenly Aram felt a cold blob hit him in the back, but fortunately he was okay.
We all headed back to the main room, Aram and I moving Mook as carefully as we could. Rithor poured flour all over the floor in the main room so that it would be easier to see the slushy blob and its movement. We laid Mook on the bar and we all perched on tables or chairs, which we moved to the edges of the room. We discussed staying in kind of circle so that if the blob appeared in the flour, several of us could try to attack it at once.
Despite our discussing a plan of attack, Finch decided that he should go check out the strongbox that was under the bed in the room off the kitchen. He poured flour on the floor in front of him on his way. Rithor went with Finch and lifted the bed so Finch could get the strongbox. As Rithor lifted the bed, the slushy blob suddenly appeared and hit him in the back, freezing him in place. Finch called out to us and the rest of us brought him into the main room.
After a couple tries, Finch picked the lock on the lockbox and found that it was filled with coins. We broke up a chair and set a fire in the fireplace. We moved a table in front of it and put Mook and Rithor on it, but the heat did not appear to change their paralyzed conditions at all, even after a couple hours. We decided to wait out the night in the cellar and took Mook and Rithor down with us. We saw no sign of the slushy blob while we were down there.
[The logic for the fire and attempting to warm the “frozen” characters was that both Finch and Aram and felt cold/chilled when the creature attacked them. The players hoped that warming the affected characters revive them.]
Aram let us know when he was sure it was morning and we all headed upstairs, still carrying Mook and Rithor. The flour was disturbed—apparently the slushy blob had cruised all around the main room and up onto the bar while we were in the cellar. We stocked up on provisions and headed out without seeing the slushy blob again. We took Flash and the horse from the stable, getting some oats to take with us as well. The chickens were clucking in the coop next to the stable. We released them and I shooed them out of the compound, spreading feed for them outside of the wall.
As we started heading north, we saw three relatively fresh dirt-covered graves right outside the compound on the north side. The wooden tombstones bore the names of one man and two women: Ferenc, Lina, and Katink.
After we travelled a few hours, Mook and Rithor finally regained consciousness [and full movement]. After a bit of discussion we decided that we needed to head back to the compound and take care of the slushy blob, or at the very least, leave some warning for other travelers who might stop by the Troll’s Tongue unaware of the danger within.
[I felt obliged to remind everyone at the end of the session that their actions (or inactions) do have consequences. I think this might have helped spark the notion that for them to have just survived the blob thing and escaped the next morning might not the most appropriate thing to do.
That’s where we ended the session.]
