Conallglen Session 15

Sadly, in our last session, Drogar died a rather unheroic and pointless death at the hands (or I suppose hand) of Maeve as she inhabited the body of Hannil. Hannil was also slain by Bryn but Maeve’s spirit fled out of the temple. The party started to head back to the home of Glenis but noticed that they were being followed by goblins riding wolves. As it became more apparent that the goblins where herding the characters, possibly in preparation for an attack, our heroes looked for a defensible location. They found one when Romulus tripped over a root and tumbled to the bottom of a ravine. Built into the hillside was an ancient looking door with a rose motif.

This entry is from Todd.

RJ’s new character is Gareth, a human fighter.

There are potential spoilers below the break for the classic module, X2 Castle Amber. Very minor spoilers at best as we did not get to far into the module (and, of course, I made modifications).

Standing in the room, with our backs to the entrance, there are five doors. Two doors to the left. One door, across the room, in front of us. Two doors to the right.

Clarissa opens the closest door to our left. There is a short hall then it open in to a dark room, our light reflect off of something in the back of the room. Clarissa moves through the hall and into the room. When she steps into the room, the darkness is gone. There is no indication of a light source, maybe the ceiling itself.

Against the back wall is a glass display case. Inside the case is a long sword. The sword is suspended in the air. The sword looks pristine and is made of silver. The hilt is wrapped in a black leather, and the pommel is in the shape of a rose. Roses and vines are etched down the length of the blade.

Since we feel that we are pretty sure that the fey are responsible for wherever we are, it is decide to leave the sword where it is. When the last person steps out of the room, the light goes out. We move on to the next room.

Shory opens the next door, to our right. This room is also dark, our light reveals a table with a large box on it. As we move in to the room, no magical light comes on to banish the darkness. With a torch as our light source, we proceed to examine the box on the table. The box is fairly large, about the size of a bushel basket, maybe a bit larger. The top of the box is in the shape of a rose blossom. Brynn notices fine lines in the rose blossom and in the sides of the box. There are no discernible pattern to the lines. After a few minutes of examination, Brynn suggests that the box is a puzzle. As much as she would like to see what is inside, we decide to leave it alone for now.

Brynn opens the next door, the one across from the door that we originally came through, to this fairy place. This room already has a light source illuminating it. A white marble altar stand against the back wall, two white candles are lit. Propped up on the altar, between the candles, is a symbol of The Twelve, a twelve pointed star. Brynn steps into the room, and a light from above shines down on the holy symbol.

Romulus steps up to the altar. The holy symbol is made of gold. It is larger than his present symbol. There is a loop at the top of the symbol, so that it can be tethered and worn around the neck. Romulus kneels down and begins to pray for forgiveness. We leave him, to give him some privacy.

Back out in the main room, I come to the conclusion that there is a room for each of us. Clarissa’s room has the sword. Brynn’s room has the puzzle box. Romulus’ room has the holy symbol of The Twelve. I wonder what is in my room. I volunteer to open the next door.

Instead of opening the next door to our right, I skip it and go to the last door. I open the door and step in. The room lights up, and we see five cages on the floor. Four of the cages have forest animals, and the fifth cage has a pair of birds. All of the creatures appear to be agitated. There is a raccoon, a rabbit, a ferret, a squirrel and a pair of wrens.

Shory seems upset at the sight of the caged animals. She goes to the rabbit cage and opens it, taking the rabbit out and tries to calm it down. So much for not touching anything…

Seeing as there is only one room left, it has to be for me. I open the last door, I step in and the light comes on. It is an almost empty room, a lone bookshelf is against one wall. On the bookshelf is a single book. It could be a spell book! I go to the shelf and take down the book. I open the book, preparing to cast my spell that lets me read magical writings.

It is not a spell book, it is a story book. A cruel trick, by the cruel fey. I can hear Shory talking with the animals. I can hear Romulus mumbling his prayers. I can see Clarissa, all serious, standing guard. I have no idea where Brynn is. I slump to the floor, my back against a wall, and start to read the story.

Once upon a time…there was a man named Etienne La Floraison from Averoinge. He made some deals with a fairy, the Prince of Roses. Etienne takes more than was bargained for, and his family is cursed and banished to a pocket dimension. The curse can be broken if Etienne can be woke from his slumber.

Out in the main room, Clarissa opens the door that we had entered through. She says the outside is not the forest we came through to get here. Shory has opened all the cages and the animals are seeking a way out. The pair of wrens are the first to go through the door, and burst in to showers of rose petals.

Everyone gathers in the dining room. I tell them about the book I found and the story it tells. I place the book back on the shelf, in the other room. We decide it is best to not take anything, lest it bind us to a bargain with the fey.

We go through the doorway, out in to the new landscape. Day becomes night. we look back behind us to the door, but it is gone. The only thing behind us is trees and rose petals scattered on the ground. In front of us, a trail leads through the trees. Romulus prays for guidance from The Twelve, and tells us we should continue down the path.

We walk for a while, in the night. another trail merges with the path we are on. From this other trail, an armored figure emerges from the darkness and almost runs into Shory. He urgently asks if we have seen another person come this way. We have not. The armored man introduces himself as Gareth Timmons from Kilgroth. He is in hot pursuit of a murderer, names Tangene Tallows. Again, we tell him no one has come this way.

Gareth tells us his story of chasing Tangene into a hut. Inside the hut was a dining table, set for two, with many fresh cooked dishes. He says that Tangene ran in to another room. When he followed Tangene in to the room, Tangene was armed with a mace. As Tangene was not armed before going into the room, Gareth assumes that the mace was in the room already. They fought, but Tangene was able to get by Gareth, and ran back out the main door. Gareth says he was hot on Tangene’s heels, but when he passed through the door, Tangene was gone. Gareth ran following the trail until he found us.

Gareth joins our group, and we continue down the trail. After a while, we can hear music. The music is not familiar to anyone. A little bit further and the trail open in to a large clearing. A large two story building is in the middle of the clearing. No other buildings can be seen. A sign hangs over the front door, “Gitan Auberge”.

We go in the inn. The dining area is very large, but only three people are gathered within. A man behind the counter, a man on a small stage, playing music, and an old lady sitting in a dark corner, fiddling with some cards.

The man behind the counter introduces himself as Alexandre, proprietor of Gitan Auberge. He asks us if we would like some food and rooms for the night. We order some food, tell him our names, and start to ask our questions. The man playing the music is named Andres. The old woman in the corner is Madam Antionette. Madam Antionette laughs and cackles at our questions and answers. Particularly when I ask about Etienne La Floraison. Alexandre says Etienne has a place, less than a day’s walk from here. He strongly advises that we stay the night, and wait until morning, if we want to travel. He says there are very dangerous things in the woods at night.

We eat our food. Gareth has his fortune told by Madam Antionette. She tells him there are four keys to his future. The white rose, the black rose, the blue rose and the red rose.

We do decide to stay the night. I try to think back to my studies and research from years past to see if I remember any mention of the Prince of Roses. I do remember that there are four different aspects of his personality. Each is based on the color of a rose; white, black, blue and red. I feel fairly certain that we somehow ended up in Eteinne’s cursed dimension. Especially since the design of the furniture in the inn is the same as the furniture in the fey dining room

We are shown to our rooms. Romulus and I decide to share a room. I take the bed and Romulus takes a position against the door. I don’t think it takes me very long to fall asleep. I used to tease my brother about his dreams. I will not do that anymore. I now have my own dreams to deal with.

The time has come for prince Etienne to select his bride. Prince Etienne questions the heart of his potential brides. He walks in the forest, bearing gifts. He prepares the gifts for the Prince of Roses. The Prince of Roses appears before prince Etienne, and they both go back to the castle.

In the castle’s garden, the three potential brides are dressed in finery and look lovely. The Prince of Roses gives each of them an unblossomed rose bud. The Prince of Roses a rose bud to the gardener’s daughter, also.

Prince Etienne gets angry with the Prince of Roses, and yells at him in rage. As the Prince of Roses turns to prince Etienne, his crown of roses turns black. With a wave of his hand, the Prince of Roses causes vines to burst forth from the ground and hold fast everyone in the garden.

The Prince of Roses goes to each of the women holding a rose bud. He plunges his hand in to each of their chest and pulls out their beating hearts. He drops the four hearts at prince Etienne’s feet. The three noble ladies’ hearts sprout in to ugly thorn bushes, while the heart of the gardener’s daughter grows in to a rose bush. The rose bush blooms with white roses. Nightingales perch in the branches and sing a beautiful song.

Prince Etienne open his mouth…and a horrible scream wakes me from my dream. I scramble from the bed, kicking Romulus to wake him. We exit our room and hear Brynn and Alexandre having a heated conversation. Screams can be heard outside of the inn.

We go downstairs. Alexandre is guarding the door to the outside, guarding it from Brynn and Clarissa. He says that if the door is opened, we will all die, as the things in the night will get to us. It is horrible to listen to what is happening outside. Eventually the terrible sounds move away from the inn.

In the morning, Alexandre has breakfast prepared, before we leave to go to the Chateau. He reminds us that it is not very far, but we must get there before the night things come out. Outside Andre is cleaning the blood off the walls of the inn.

We head off down the trail, towards the Chateau. Shory can see that some large things had come up the trail, but is not able to identify what they might have been. A little farther down the trail, we see that something or somethings very large came through the forest on to the trail. We find bits of torn clothing hanging from broken branches. We follow the destruction through the forest for a while, but we do not find anything. Not wanting to get caught outside in the dark, we turn back to the trail.

We come to the Chateau. The Chateau and its grounds are competely overgrown with rose bushes. A foot path lead through the bushes to a set of double doors in the west wing of the Chateau. We contemplate trying to go around the Chateau to explore, but it would be impossible with out damaging the roses bushes. We do not want to take a chance of angering the Prince of Roses, so we knock on the double doors. We do not get an answer.

Brynn checks the door for traps and does not find any. We open the door and call out a greeting…no answer. We go in to a long hallway. Colorful tapestries hang from the walls. The light is muted in here because of the vines covering the outside of the windows. At the end of the hall is a set of double doors.

We go through the doors, in to another hallway. The hall has a door to the right, about halfway down the hall. We go to the door and knock. A man answers. We go in to the room. Everything that was in the room has been moved to the edges of the room. In the center of the room is a boxing ring. A man with very pale skin, in red trunks stands in a corner of the ring. His fists are up as if ready to fight. Sitting in a chair, near the boxer, outside of the ring, is a dandily dressed man. Behind the man, are two large, pale, armored men, holding great swords. The sitting man says his name is Jean-Louis La Florisan, and asks us what our wager will be and who is our champion. We tell him that we are not here to fight, and he asks why would we come to a boxing match if we are not there to box. The man is visibly getting angry as we try to take the conversation in a different direction. Romulus finally offers 5 gold pieces as a wager. Jean-Louis does not find any humor in the wager. We offer 50 gold. Jean-Louis says it is but a pittance, but we will box for it. Gareth volunteers to be our champion, and steps into the ring.

[That’s where we ended the session. I had to be out of town the following weekend and then it was Thanksgiving weekend. And then we ran into more scheduling woes. Todd’s work schedule changes pretty much every three months. His new schedule had him working pretty much all day Saturday and into the evening. That means he’s not going to be able to play for awhile. So we’re putting the Conallglen campaign on hold until he can join us again…or at least I hope it is just on hold until he can join us again and this wasn’t the end of it. As Evelyn recently put it from her distant vantage point, “Does anyone else still hope to find out what was going on in Conallglen at some point […] that storyline was really feeding the fires of my paranoid speculation.” I’m in full agreement. I have no idea where the storyline was going to go either but there was a lot of fuel for those fires.

So that’s it for now for the Conallglen campaign. Like I said, hopefully, more to come later.]