Here is the writeup from our tenth session of our Known World campaign. This writeup is from Bridgett who is playing Moe. The party is continuing their trek across the Isle of Dread and there continue to be potential spoilers below the break for the original Isle of Dread (X1) and the more recent version in Dungeon Magazine #139. When we last left the party, they had just exited a short-cut through the mountains.
So there we were out of the mountain. Captain Rizzo went swimming to get the canoe that Niccolo had not brought with him. He decided he would help her and changed into a bird and flew in the direction of the village. Of course while they were gone Meravanni asked to speak to Mick by himself. I couldn’t make out much of what was said but I did see Mick shake his head no several times and Meravanni just stared at him. Mick came over to me and told me that Meravanni wanted to speak to me. He told me that whatever Meravanni asks, the answer is no.
I went over to Meravani and he asked me if anyone had found anything in the crypt. I was torn by my loyalty to my friends and to my new employer. I thought for a minute, looked at Meravanni, and told him that nothing was found in that room. Actually, what was found was in the sarcophagus so I really didn’t inform on anyone. It’s tough being friends with people who are not truthful. Meravanni just stared at me, nodded, and thanked me for my time.
[Meravanni doesn’t trust the party…especially Mick…anymore than they trust him. Actually, he doesn’t trust Mick at all and pretty much assumes that Mick has been holding out on him. The party had agreed that all treasures would go to Meravanni and that they would receive a share. Of course, the amount of the share was never established but they still agreed to work for him. This is already taking its toll on both Mick and Niccolo and they have been chaffing under the agreement.]
The Captain came back in the canoe with Niccolo. She didn’t look happy with him, but again she has never looked happy with him. Niccolo got out and Meravanni got in. I started loading our gear in with Mick’s help. The canoe set off for the beach and the rest of us swam over. We followed the path and arrived at the [abandoned]village. Mick and I scouted it out and didn’t find anything so we camped for the night. [In, I believe, one of the more intact huts in the village.]
In the morning, we headed out. We found what looks like a road made out of stones. On our left is a drop off that looks out onto the bay and on the other side is a shear mountain cliff. The road went up and down, sometimes we were 100 feet up on the mountain and sometimes we were right next to the beach. Quintus said that he thought the road would take us pretty much all the way to Farshore…perhaps about 7 days travel.
[Quintus is such an optimist.]
We stopped for the night and decided to camp on the beach, we set watches and woke up in the morning [with no apparent interruption or threats]. I got up and discovered that my pack is missing. No one could find any indication of what could have happened to it. We spent some time trying to figure out who might have taken it but came up empty. We eventually moved on.
After a couple of hours of traveling on the road, a rockslide came down and hit us. We all avoided getting hurt or being knocked off the mountain. Captain Rizzo screamed in terror and was staring at the rocks. When I looked closer there were several heads among the rocks…and if that wasn’t bad enough, I recognized them as the crew members that had been with us…and it looked like their heads had been ripped off. Captain Rizzo tossed and kicked them as far as she could out into the bay. Erica went over to see if she could help the captain out. But Rizzo yelled at her and Erica backed away.
[It was noticed that the heads were those of the crew members who had made it as fair as the terror bird grasslands. There were, I believe, about five crew members who had survived the dangers of the Isle that long. I believe that there was some speculation that the danger stalking them–the one that Lithira (the old woman on the throne of webs and bones) had warned them about–might be responsible.]
Niccolo decided to investigate the top of the mountain. He changed into a bird and flew up to see who started the rockslide and put the heads in the rubble.
[Niccolo did find a spot where it looked like someone had moved a bunch of rocks but he didn’t really learn anything more than that.]
As I am looking out over the bay, I saw some birds coming towards us but they seemed to be too big to be normal birds. I started to push Meravanni further up the path and shouted a warning to the others. Quintus looks fascinated with these birdlike creatures. They resembled pteranodons but were more man like. I got Meravanni as far away as I could and then I moved back to see what is happening.
Captain Rizzo shouted in anger and fired her gun at the lead creature. Quintus tried to stop the Captain but was unsuccessful. She hit it and it cried out in pain. The creatures turned and started attacking us. Mick was attacked and the creatures went after Captain Rizzo. She dropped her gun, grabbed her spear with both hands, and attacked the pteranomen as they got close to her. She seemed very blood thirsty and was struck by them several times.
Erica tried to shoot one but her gun jammed. She used her fire spell and took one out. Captain Rizzo took out another one but not before she gets injured more. Erica moved towards the Captain when the Captain turned and attacked her. Erica was not ready for the attack and took a wound on her left side. Her guardian bodyguard attacked Captain Rizzo.
Then Niccolo came up with a stone dagger [from the sarcophagus] in his hand and tried to stab at the Captain. I think I heard him say that she needed to be put down. Mick got behind the Captain and swung at her spear, knocking it out of her hand. The Captain immediately stumbled and collapsed.
Erica rushed over and lay her hands on Rizzo to heal her. Rizzo grabbed her spear again and stood up. She looked confused and asked what had happened. We told her that she attacked Erica and was out of control. She responded that that was a lie and she didn’t do it. We tried to convince her that she did and that it seems that the spear might be causing these problems. We asked her to give us the spear, she gripped it tighter and said no. We were not sure what to do about this.
I thought that maybe the dagger might be helpful, maybe they are a pair and they can help each other. I asked Niccolo about the dagger and Meravanni came over and joined in the conversation. He asked Niccolo about the dagger and where he had found it. Niccolo came clean and so did Mick about the necklace he had pocketed. There was some discussion about shares, percentages, and forgiveness but Meravanni made it clear that he would not tolerate any more lies or deceits from anyone in the party.
We pushed on and camped on the beach again. We set watches and tried to get some rest. During the night, Niccolo yelled to wake up and that we were surrounded by a magical darkness. I opened my eyes but I couldn’t see anything. I heard people moving and occasionally things falling near me. I decided to head towards the cliff and put my back to a wall.
I heard Erica say to follow the cliff and that she was out of the darkness. Eventually we all get out of the darkness. As we gathered around the darkness and looked around, we realized that Captain Rizzo was no where around. We called out for her but we didn’t hear a response. Erica crawled into the darkness to look for her. She came out with something in her hand. Bringing it closer, we saw that it was a seagull that had been attached to two sticks tied together in the shape of an X and its head appeared to have been torn off. Erica found dozens of them as she looked for the Captain. We decided to wait until the sun comes up to continue looking for her.
[None of the birds had their heads attached and they were nowhere to be found come morning.]
Once the sun came out, the darkness dissipated. We looked for any tracks the Captain might have left, but just like the backpack there is nothing around to show where she might have gone. We gather our gear and head out, a little bit more cautious.
[I might be wrong but I thought that tracks were found on the beach and leading up the road.]
Niccolo turned into a bird to scout ahead and see if he could find any information on the whereabouts of Captain Rizzo. About 10 minutes later, he returned and told us he found Captain Rizzo about a half mile up the road but she is not there anymore because she jumped off the cliff. We reached where she fell and there is nothing but the drop-off and the water below.
[When Niccolo saw Rizzo, she was standing at the edge of the road–holding the spear–looking out over the water. Before Niccolo could reach her, she simply stepped off of the road to tumble some one-hundred feet into the water and rocks below.]
We moved on and came around another corner. Niccolo and Quintus were in front and spotted a cave mouth. Quintus nodded at the cave mouth and asked if we saw that…
[Quintus and Niccolo both spotted some movement…about man-sized…slip deeper into the cave. That, of course, is where we ended the session.]
