Quail Valley Campaign Session #4

Here is the campaign log from the fourth session of our Quail Valley campaign, written by RJ from the perspective–more or less–of Eoin. My GM comments, as usual, 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.

[After our last session, Franklin decided not play anymore. As his character, Rithor, was the central character for the Wizard’s Amulet element of the campaign (i.e., he had the letter and “key” for the tower and had “hired” the party for this particular expedition), it was going to kind of “derail” the direction the campaign had gone. So, instead of that, Rachel rolled up a Wizard, Morrigan, and we’re just acting as though Morrigan was always with the group in the role of Rithor.

We also had a new player join us…sort of. Bridgett, who used to play with us quite a few years ago, is no longer under a self-imposed banishment due to motherhood! She rolled up a ranger, Moyra, and joined the group.

When we last left the party, Aram had just peeked inside the barn and saw both a bloated body on the floor–presumably Valter–and a couple of giant bees flying forward rather aggressively. The door was quickly slammed shut and the bees battered against it.]

We were outside the barn, the barn where these bees had killed this Valter. They were his bees and something seemed to have driven these bees to kill him. We knew he was dead because Aram had seen the body when he looked in the barn.

Valter’s widow was in the house crying; she was very upset about the loss of her husband but it is the way of nature.  These people don’t understand the circle. Once we leave this life, we go on to the next in the circle…a new beginning. She should not have been crying for the loss but for not having the body to give it the proper burial.

These bees were agitated. They kept smashing against the door. I was concerned that they may get out and hurt others. I told the others that I was going to stay by the door just in case they got out. Mook and Moyra stayed with me. The rest went to the house to talk to the priest about Gaeran. He was said to be a lover of the widow.

When they came out of the house, Finch looked like he had been taken down a peg or two. I think the priest Bernat had his number. They are going to Gaeran’s place and ask him some questions. The priest told them that Gaeran walks with a limp (from a childhood accident), makes some money by harvesting honey (but doesn’t do a great job at it; he has small bees), and likes to make coffins as a hobby.

I stayed at the barn to make sure the doors remain closed. Mook and Moyra stayed with me.

Moyra decided to circle the barn again to see if she could spot anything out of the ordinary. She did not.

The others were not gone long. When they returned, Finch was rubbing his head and Aram looked like he wanted to hit someone.

They explained that Gaeran had no pride in his home. It was in bad shape with the windows boarded up and the boards on the porch loose and rotting. His work shop was attached and he was working within. He was rude, aggressive, and had not bathed. He claimed to know nothing about Valter’s death or why the dead man’s bees were so agitated. He was quite happy about the death and was working on a coffin for Valter, decorated with many scenes of death. Finch questioned Gaeran’s ability to keep a woman and the man threw his hammer at the little man, striking him in the head. Gaeran was enraged and threatened to kill everyone if they did not leave.

Aram wanted to meet the crazed man in combat but Isabel stopped him and they all left before blood was shed.

[Gaeran was clearly not a very nice guy. When the party opened to door to the workshop, he was muttering something like, “This one’s for you Valter my boy.” The coffin he was working on when the party arrived had many disturbing carvings upon it, carvings depicting Valter dying in rather gruesome and painful manners. Gaeran claimed to have had no role in Valter’s death or having had done anything to the bees but he was clearly pleased at the man’s death.

When Finch made a comment about Gaeran not being able to keep a woman like Heléna, the man become enraged. I rolled a natural 20 when the hammer was thrown and ruled that it struck Finch in the head. Gaeran began screaming that he’d kille them all if they didn’t leave. Aram wanted to take him up on that threat but Isabel convinced everyone to leave.]

We talked of what we would do next as Finch went off on his own again. I saw the little man speaking to some children. He returned and told us what he had learned of Gaeran from the young ones. The man had lived next to Heléna all of his life and courted her when they came of age. When Heléna chose Valter over him, the two men argued and Gaeran left Méhkas for a short time. When he returned, he was short-tempered and irritable.

Some of my friends worried that perhaps Gaeran had become infected like the bees we had fought many days before. None could remember seeing spores upon him. They were worried that he had gone to the Forradás when he had left the village.

[Finch did get some good information from the children about Gaeran and Heléna but also reinforced the stereotype of all halflings being thieves. Many of the players made a pretty immediate connection between Gaeran’s new personality and the aggressiveness of the bees, thus the assumption about his having traveled to the Forrádas. I’m not saying that is right or wrong…at least not yet.]

We went to speak with Bernát and Heléna. She said that we could kill the giant bees in the barn since they were no longer peaceful. Jak and Bernát would warn the villagers to remain inside when we attacked the barn. Finch told the priest of the concerns about Gaeran and our plans changed. We would go with Bernát to confront Gaeran and look to see if he had spores upon him.

[The party’s immediate plans quickly went from attacking the barn to going back to Gaeran’s. Heléna informed them that Valter had a dozen or so giant bees in the barn but it hasn’t sounded like there are that many in there…hmmm…

Given their concern that Gaeran might be infected somehow, Bernát agreed to go with the party. However, when they arrived at Gaeran’s home, the priest remained well back. He claimed that he was, after all, a rather old man.]

Gaeran gave no reply when we called out for him at his home. He was not in the workshop. Mook and Aram brought out the coffin the madman was working for Valter. Bernát was disturbed by its appearance and they returned it to the workshop before other villagers can see it.

I went to the front of the house with Mook and Isabel. Bernát waited a safe distance away. The others went to the back door. Aram soon came from the back and asked for my help. A small hall in the back of the house had a hole in the floor and Finch was at its bottom. I pulled the little man back up with some rope and I went back to the front.

After a few minutes, the others had looked through the house but could not find Gaeran. The inside looked as bad as the outside. Mud, dirt, and mold was everywhere and it looked like no one had lived in the house for a long time. Finch went to ask Bernát if Gaeran or Heléna had some place they would go as children. Moyra went into the workshop to search for something.

[The party also found another trapdoor just inside the front door of the house. It seems that Gaeran’s carpentry skills extended beyond just coffin-making.]

Moyra found a trapdoor at the back of the workshop. A ladder led down. Mook went first as his orc’s blood lets him see in the dark. At the bottom of the ladder was a room with dark mushrooms covering almost half of it. An altar was at the far side of the room as was another ladder leading up. A pile of foodstuffs in another corner was also covered in mushrooms. The room stank and smelled of fungus.

Mook stepped away from the ladder. There were tracks through the mushrooms. As he approached the edge of the mushrooms, he heard a whisper, “…you will be joined soon.” Gaeran stood up from behind the altar. He held an axe and walked towards Mook, his stride kicking up spores from the mushrooms. Mook defended himself but Gaeran’s smallest touch caused mold and mushrooms to break forth upon Mook’s body and the spores made it difficult to breathe.

The ladder made it hard to reach Mook quickly. Moyra went first as Mook’s battle cry echoed up to us.

As Moyra neared the bottom, Gaeran shook his cloak, sending even more spores into the air. He looked surprised that Mook was still standing. Moyra added more surprise to his look as her arrow flew true and killed the man.

[This was one of those situations where, as GM, I went with the flow of the game as dictated by the players. As written, Hive of Villainy has a single trapdoor in the corner of Gaeran’s home but the party did not look in that area. They were, however, pretty interested in finding Gaeran…so I obliged. Why not have a trapdoor in the workshop as well? The module made it sound like he really spent all of his time in his workshop and “basement,” so it just made sense to me and it went with the flow.]

As more of us reached the bottom, Mook warned us of the spores. Aram and Mook decided to bring up Gaeran’s body after the rest of us returned to the workshop. When Aram breathed some spores in the air, he was wracked by coughing, black blood stained his lips. The fit was short. Gaeran’s body was carried up to the workshop and Mook and Aram remained while we went to find Bernát.

Finch ran up to us shouting that Bernát warned we should not get any spores on us. The little man’s wisdom was a little late for some. We explained to Bernát what had happened as we went back to the workshop. The priest grew concerned that our companions were exposed to the spores and even more concerned at what we saw back at the workshop. Gaeran’s body was covered in mushrooms and they were slowly spreading.

Bernát closed the door with Mook and Aram inside and called for oil, much oil. Isabel began to argue with the priest and asked him to heal them and not to burn them. Ah, then I understood. The priest wanted the oil to purify the place in fire. If my companions were infected, they too should be purified. It is the way of things. I started to tell Isabel this but Finch spoke first. He offered to do both tasks for Bernát if he would heal our friends. He then claimed that all of us would assist in completing these tasks. I did not know what Finch spoke of and it looked as though Isabel did not either. Bernát agreed.

Mook and Aram had to remain in the workshop that night. Neither was pleased by this. Mook made some comment about dwarf stench and the two argued. We may not need Bernát to cure their diseases as they may not survive the night together. If it came to blows, I believe the dwarf would see the victory. Bernát yelled at the two to settle their differences as the group would need their strength against the ogress of the Forradás. Ah, one task the little man agreed we would help with. The priest quickly added that it would probably be best if we stole the Crucible of Ehlonna first though. The second task…the little man had much to explain. The shouting inside continued as the shouting outside started, shouting between Isabel, Bernát, and Finch, about the differences between stealing and recovering what is rightfully yours.

[Finch had to explain what the tasks were that he had agreed the party would do for Bernát. No one was overly happy about it but they were particularly unhappy at the idea of stealing from Shandril, the priestess of Ehlonna in Fairhill (one of my numerous changes to that module…Ehlonna not Freya). Bernát explained that he was a priest of Obad-Hai and that the Crucible of Ehlonna had orginally belonged to him. Shandril had taken it from him and he wanted it back. He never did really explain how it was that a priest of Obad-Hai had obtained a relic named for Ehlonna…somehow the topic got changed.]

Bernát’s call for more oil and more torches stops the shouting inside and out. Mook explained more of what he had seen below Gaeran’s home, including the altar. As the villagers returned from their fields, Bernát asked each to gather as much oil as they can but promised to not burn the home until Mook and Aram were healed. We decided to get some rest.

The elf did not sleep that night. Moyra wanted to watch the barn and see if the bees inside remained active at night. In the morning, she told us that they were less active most of the night. At one point, their activity was intense in a certain portion of the barn but the activity stopped after a few minutes. When the sun rose, mild buzzing began again.

[Hmm…seems strange doesn’t it? I wonder what that was all about.]

We returned to Gaeran’s home. The dwarf and half-orc had not killed each other during the night. The mushrooms on Gaeran’s body had spread throughout much of the workshop. Bernát said that the place would need to be burned that morning and that he could only heal either Mook or Aram but not both. Mook and Aram had a conversation within that we could not hear but Mook stepped out. Bernát asked him to agree to complete some tasks in return of the healing. Mook agreed. Bernát healed him and told him to begin to spread the oil on and around the workshop and house.

Mook did so with some enthusiasm but before the half-orc could light it, Bernát stopped him and explained the options available: the buildings could be burned, the buildings could be burned but Aram could be shot to spare him the pain of burning alive, or the priest could heal the dwarf. We went with the last option even if Mook looked a little disappointed about it. After the priest healed Aram, Bernát touched torch to the oil with an excited gleam in his eyes and smile on his face.

[Okay, so what the hell is going on with this old priest? He seems to have a thing for fire, doesn’t he? Obad-Hai is a nature god and not some fire god, right? Yes, that’s true but this is one of those things that kind of developed out of play. It started as a bit of comedy with Finch’s spores and cutting off his arm with a red-hot sword and kept going…there is a reason though.]

As we headed back to Valter’s barn to deal with the bees, the old priest reminded us: ogress and crucible.

At the barn, Mook opened the doors and…

[And that, of course, is where we stopped.]