It’s all over but the crying!

Here is the write up of the eleventh session of our Known World campaign, written by Todd. When we last left our adventurers, they had recently survived something of a night-time attack and Rizzo was missing. They found her–or Niccolo had–just as she leaped to her death from the cliff trail that the party was traveling along. They all reached the location where Rizzo was seen to have leapt from and found a cave. As they approached, Quintus and Niccolo spotted some movement in the cave.

While the party is still on the Isle of Dread, I don’t think there are actually any spoilers for any published adventures but just in case, there might be spoilers for the original X1 or for the more recent version in Dungeon Magazine #139.

Quintus was peering into the darkness of the cave. “Did you see that?”, he asked.

“I saw something move in there. What was it?”, Niccolo replied.

None of the others had seen anything. After a brief discussion, Mick was going to be the first in to the cave to see what or who was in there. Meravanni ordered Quintus in next. Niccolo, feeling empathy for his fellow mage, went in with Quintus and Mick.

In a matter of a few steps, a yell was heard from the darkness and a person with a spear attacked Mick. Mick defended himself, and saw that the attacker was Captain Rizzo. The assumed Capt. Rizzo recognized Mick also.

Things quickly got confusing as Rizzo claimed she had seen the other members of the group jump from the cliff-side trail into the ocean.

Mick said,”We didn’t jump. Niccolo said he saw you jump!”.

Rizzo shook her head, “You can’t believe anything Niccolo says!”.

Niccolo took offense, and the arguing increased as to who saw what.

While the squabbling was occurring in the cave, Moe, Meravanni, Rizzo, Erica and the two conjured guards were still on the trail outside. Little did they know they were about to have company, of the unwelcome kind.

A “flock” of pteranomen descended on the unsuspecting group. It was a coordinated attack. The pteranomen swooped in and grabbed the two guardians. The guardians were carried out in to the open air and dropped in to the ocean, a hundred feet below.

[The dropping of the two summoned guardians (summoned via Erica’s magics) was–or so I thought–a rather strong hint as to the danger of staying out on the cliff side path and there was a rather convenient cave for defense against the flying and swooping baddies. I figured that the party would take advantage of that tactical resource to negate the swooping advantage of the pteranomen. As you’ll see, that’s not quite how things worked out.]

Moe went on the defensive, and was able to give Meravanni time to flee in to the cave and immediate safety. A larger pteranoman landed on the ledge and his body took on the characteristics of the stone he was standing on. Rizzo went on the attack as best she could against the stone skinned leader. It seems survival of the fittest on this isle has a direct connection with size.

Niccolo was caught unawares, and was snatched up just outside of the cave opening. Luckily, he kept his head and was able to cast “Corpo della Bestia” and change into a mouse, thereby escaping the clutches of the pteranoman. He scurried into the cave for safety. He changed back into his human self and called for everyone to take cover inside the cave.

[Corpo della Bestia is Niccolo’s shape change spell.]

Doing the opposite, Mick ran back outside to help Moe and Rizzo. Erica cast her cone of fire at some of the retreating pteranomen, hoping to fry their wings before they could return for another pass. Alas, the pteranomen were too fast and escaped her blast of flames. She hurried into the cave.

The trio were able to get a couple of good hits on the cock of the flock [i.e., the stone-skinned leader]. Enough that it retreated from the ledge, and its skin lost its stony armor when it took to the air. By now the other pteranomen had swung around and were headed in for another pass. Rizzo was grabbed up and was cast out off the ledge. She did not give up the fight so easily. Instead, as she was falling to her death, she threw the magical spear at her attacker. The spear missed and plummeted in to the sea after her.

[At this point, I was starting to run out of NPCs to make an example of the significant danger faced by staying out where the pteranomen could make their swoop and drop attack.]

Finally realizing that there was little to be done against this flying menace, Mick and Moe tried to escape to the cover of the cave. Mick made it, Moe not so much. Moe was grabbed and cast into the sea. Niccolo in a moment of only the gods know what, ran and leapt out over the water after Moe. He changed into an osprey and followed Moe into the waves. He changed back to himself and hauled an unconscious Moe to the surface. With Moe in tow, he swam for the beach that they had camped the previous night, a half mile distant.

[And that right there is why we play rpgs (well, one of the reasons). Niccolo jumped off a one-hundred foot cliff with no guarantee that he’d succeed on casting his spell before he hit the water. It was a little tense. Actually, there have been quite a few tense moments in this little campaign. Good stuff.

We’re currently using the “Heroes Never Die” setting rule but I did rule that a drop like that into the ocean would probably mean Moe’s death unless someone came to his aid relatively soon.]

The remainder of the group, Mick, Erica, Quintus and Meravanni took up defensive positions in near the rear of the cave. The leader pteranoman landed in the cave opening. Mick engaged it in melee. The cave opening was wide enough for some of the other pteranomen to get in and attack the others. Quintus went down in short order. Mick, while in combat with the rooster, was quickly surrounded by the minions. In the end, he went down too. Meravanni and Erica were at the rear of the cave. Erica looked to Meravanni. As the pteranoman leader approached, Meravanni threw down his rapier, got on his knees with his hands behind his head, and said, “I surrender.”

With little else to do, except probably die, Erica did the same.

[And here is where everything pretty much went total improv on my part! I certainly had not expected the pteranomen to get the better of the party like this and had absolutely nothing planned for such an occurrence. Meravanni certainly wasn’t going to go down fighting…not his style.

Things worked out pretty well though.]

The pteranomen took to wing with their prisoners and flew across the bay.

Meanwhile, Niccolo was slowly making his way to the beach with Moe, but not unobserved. When he got to the beach, a small group of pteranomen were waiting. Unsure of what to do, Niccolo hesitated out in the water. One of the pteranomen dropped a sword in the sand and did the act of surrendering, and pointed at Niccolo. For a brief moment, a very brief moment, Niccolo couldn’t believe his good fortune. Then as he came on to the beach, dragging Moe, he saw that the sword was Meravanni’s rapier. He fell to his knees, knowing it was all over except for the crying.

The captured explorers were flown high up to a cave opening, and dropped on to a small ledge. With Mick and Quintus in dire straits because of their wounds, Erica set to trying to heal them. Meravanni stepped back to watch.

Eventually Mick and Quintus were back on their feet. After a quick study of the cave, the group feared that their stay would not be a long one. The rear of the cave floor was covered with bones. Cracked and broken bones that had been gnawed on. Some of the bones were human bones.

Not long after the first group’s arrival, more pteranomen brought Niccolo and Moe and deposited them on the ledge. Erica healed Moe and brought him back to the land of the conscious.

With the party more or less brought back together, Meravanni asked, “How are you going to get me out of here?”

[Signore Meravanni continues to endear himself to everyone in the party. In fact, I think he is fast becoming one of the group’s favorite NPCs of all time. He isn’t quite up to Ossic status (the NPC from our old Greyhawk campaign that Rachel had a bit of a crush on) but he’s getting there.

Sarcasm? Nope, never heard of it.]

Looking out of the cave opening revealed the easiest escape route was straight down, though survival of the fall was uncertain. The cliff face showed numerous cave openings. The pteranomen were nowhere to be seen.

The group’s weapons had been taken, but not their packs, at least those that had their packs when they were captured. Moe and Niccolo’s pack had disappeared during the nights of camping.

Quintus gave Niccolo the “look” to change into a bird. Niccolo pointed out that there were no other birds near the cliff, so a lone bird may seem suspicious. Quintus bellied up to the opening and was looking around. He saw something that put a smile on his face, and started to climb out on to the cliff face. Moe and Niccolo watched with great interest. Quintus told Moe to stop watching, that this was a private thing. Eventually Moe turned his head away. Quintus reached up and grabbed a small sprouting of grass growing in the side of the cliff. With a wink to Niccolo, Quintus “flowed” into the blades of grass and was gone.

[The party already knew that Quintus was a spellcaster but he had been private tight-lipped about the things that he could do. Even when he was questioned pretty rigorously in a prior session by Moe about his abilities, the most he offered up that it was a private spiritual thing. I suppose he felt that Niccolo was something of a kindred spirit and had not been quite so reluctant to use his powers in front of his fellow mage.]

After Quintus had been gone too long for the liking of the group, Niccolo had the idea that he could turn into a lizard to scale the cliff and see what was in the nearby caves. The first cave had pteranomen. The next cave he checked also had pteranomen in it. It also had a large fire being stoked by the pteranomen leader. One of the minions was prepping a long sharp pole, which looked very much like a spit for cooking.

The leader turned and flew out of the cave followed by four of his followers. Niccolo, in lizard form, flattened himself against the rocks and held his breath to not be seen. The pteranomen flew to the prison cave. Though not the brightest of creatures, the leader saw that two of his captives were missing. He let out some shrieks, and the other caves in the cliff spewed forth scores more of pteranomen. After the leader left to guide the search for the missing prisoners, Erica conjured two of her stone guardians. Niccolo was slowly and carefully making his way back to his companions.

After a short while, the leader returned to the prison cave. Seeing that it had its original numbers of captives, it ordered two of the minions to take one of the guardians. As the two pteranomen flew away with the guardian, Erica dismissed the conjuration and the guardian vanished from the claws of the pteranomen. In hindsight that was a bad decision. Though the other guardian was to the forefront of the prisoners, the leader pointed to Moe next. Two pteranomen took Moe and flew away. Niccolo had just reached the prison cave when Moe was taken away.

Stuck with two choices, the first to let his companions know they were going to be dinner, and the second to help Moe before it was too late, Niccolo chose the latter. He hurried back to the cooking cave. By the time Niccolo got there, Moe had already figured that he was more than just invited to dinner. As Moe was engaged in fighting the pteranomen, Niccolo crawled in against the cave wall. Once Niccolo had the fire between him and the pteranomen, he changed back to himself and cast “Lance di Pietra” at the pteranomen.

[Moe has the martial artist Edge and so he did fairly well against the pteranoman but their numbers were simply to great for him to handle alone.

Lance di Pietra is Niccolo’s bolt spell with his stone trapping…essentially stone spears.]

The skies outside were still filled with screeching pteranomen. Back at the prison cave, the others were trying to figure out what to do when they heard Quintus’ voice. Quintus was hanging on the side of the cliff, calling for the others to take his hand. Mick started to ask questions, which very much irritated Quintus. With Quintus yelling to take his hand, Erica finally did so, but the pteranomen had spotted them. The pteranomen flew towards Quintus. Mick grabbed Erica’s hand and Meravanni grabbed Mick’s hand. Linked together, Quintus and his fellows flowed into the grass, escaping the pteranomen. Soon, they popped out of a bush on top of the cliff.

[More tense moments. When Quintus returned, there was very little time for the others to grab his hand for him to whisk them away so to speak. There hesitation did not help. Each had to make a climb check in order to link everyone together. Instead of rolling for Quintus spell, I had one of the players do it…can’t remember who did it this time.

We’re using a no power point variation in this campaign. The penalty for the spell, especially taking three extra individuals with him, was pretty hefty. The roll had to ace. So, of course, it did ace and everyone escaped just before the pteranomen reached them.

Mick, Erica, and Meravanni all got to experience Quintus’ traveling through the green. This is essentially the burrow power but the caster can only enter and exit via plants and burrows through the plant world. To his “passengers,” it looked like they were just flowing through a sea of green.]

Back at the cooking cave, the fight went on. Moe had hurt the leader, but Niccolo’s spells had not. Moe took a nasty blow and dropped to the floor. Not being near the fighter that Moe was, Niccolo was soon on the floor, also.

At the top of the cliff, Meravanni wanted to set off without Moe and Niccolo, giving them up for dead. Quintus refused, saying, “You can go, Signore Meravanni, but you won’t survive to tomorrow morning with out me!”

With frustration and anger showing on his face, Meravanni took two vials and a dagger out of his pack. He stated that one of the potions was invisibility and the other was flying. The cost would come out of their share, should they survive.

[Quintus grew a backbone. He wasn’t about to abandon his friend, Niccolo, without at least checking on him. Meravanni didn’t take it well but Quintus refused to back down and even Meravanni had to admit (even if only to himself) that Quintus was right. Without a guide, it was unlikely that anyone would make it to Farshore alive. I wonder if any of the players have picked up on just how important Quintus is to their survival.]

Erica drank the potions and took the dagger. She would be able to heal Moe and Niccolo, if need be. Though not knowing where Moe and Niccolo located, it was decided that she should start at the cave with the smoke coming out of it. Quintus said he would go wait in the water in the sea below, in case aid was needed.

[There was some discussion as to who should go…Erica or Mick…but the ability to heal won out. Keep in mind that none of those up top actually knew where their companions had been taken. Niccolo had never reported back on what he had seen in the “cooking cave.” The smoke was a good clue and maybe just a little metagaming. 😉

Quintus burrowed through the green again, presumably to ocean as he had suggested.]

At the cooking cave, Erica saw a large fire and the pteranoman leader with its back to her. Moe was laying on the floor on one side of the cave, and Niccolo was chained to the spit on the other. Both were unconscious. Erica cast her cone of fire, frying the pteranomen minions. Because she was invisible, the leader did not know who or where the fire had come from. But Erica had to speak her spells. They circled the fire a couple of times.

The pteranoman picked up Moe, carried him to the cave opening, and held him out over the edge. Not being able to use her fire spell while the leader had Moe in its grasp without also hurting Moe, Erica healed Niccolo. As Niccolo woke up, the leader dropped Moe over the edge.

Niccolo changed into a mouse, and escaped the chain bonds. Still invisible, Erica cast another fire spell at the leader. Just as the leader fell to the floor smoking, and Niccolo turned back to human form to help, the cave opening was filled with pteranomen followers. The first few shrieked loudly, then the shriek was taken up by the others. Soon all of the pteranomen were shrieking and in a frenzy.

Niccolo, feeling alone, stood at the back of the cave with the fire between him and the angry pteranomen. Again, it was all over but the crying.

[That’s where we stopped for the night.

Moe had been dropped off another cliff into the ocean and “killed” twice in the session. Bridgett wasn’t even there to get to enjoy her character having such a fun experience.

Niccolo and Erica, even though she was invisible, were essentially trapped in a cave with dozens of pteranomen flying outside and about a dozen entering the cave.

Meravanni and Mick were “safe” at the top of the mountain, hiding under some bushes.

It was quite the session and pretty much all made up as we went. A lot of tense moments and heroic action and all to be continued in the next session.]