When we last left our heroes, they had gotten themselves into quite a predicament. Pushing deeper into the complex below the Moathouse, they had leaped from the frying pan (an ogre) and into the fire (the “boss villain” Leighton and being trapped between some bugbears and gnolls). Griff sacrificed himself to break the bugbear defensive line to allow Brenwyn and Molly to escape. The pair did and made their way, battered, bruised, and defeated back to Hilltop, hoping that Griff would somehow join them. We pick up with the pair returning to the village after the break below.
A new player, Forest, joined us this session. He is playing a human thief by the name of Haemon Alcrist. There are definite spoilers for T1 The Village of Hommlet and possibly for A0 Danger at Darkshelf Quarry below the break. This recap is from Rachel and my comments, as usual, are in [brackets and italics].
After Griff sacrificed himself to break the bugbears’ line at the Moathouse so Brenwyn and I could get away, we made it back to Hilltop. Brenwyn and I went straight to Lady Katerine’s to report on having met Leighton finally, and his claiming that the moat house is his home. We let Lady Katerine know that Griff was caught by the bugbears and that we are still committed to dealing with Leighton and his cronies, but that we will need assistance. Fortunately, Lady Katerine had already realized we needed reinforcements and had sent to Verbobonc for mercenaries to assist us.
After Brenwyn and I returned to the inn (where we briefly had to tell Cahill that Griff would not be returning), we headed up to one of our rooms and the physiker came to tend to our wounds. Meanwhile, the mercenaries from Verbobonc arrived at Lady Katerine’s—four men named Simon (a.k.a. Si), Cowle, PoPo, and Haemon. Lady Katerine instructed them that they are to follow Brenwyn’s and my lead and that she will pay them each 2gp for each day they work helping us. They headed to the inn, where Si told Otmar that they are working for Lady Katerine and that she is covering their expenses. He promptly ordered drinks, rebuffed Cahill’s attempts to meet the new guys and possibly engage them in a card game, and asked Otmar how attractive Brenwyn and I are. Si sent Otmar up with a bottle of wine for us, hoping we would be liquored up before we came down to dinner, I guess.
[While I had already figured that the group was going to need some reinforcements, I had nothing specific planned. When Forest rolled up Haemon, I asked if he’d like to be from Verbobonc. No problem with that, he offered that maybe Haemon had left the city because he had some sort of falling out with the “Family.” I figured that it would be logical for have Haemon to show up with these reinforcements…maybe a friend of a friend of a friend or the like hooked him up with some mercs. This meant up front that they’d be more of a shady group of individuals than heroic. This direction definitely added some fun for this session.]
Otmar brought the wine up to us and told us a bit about the new arrivals. He somewhat hesitantly asked us if we knew whether Lady Katerine was covering expenses at the inn for the mercenaries. While we did not know their arrangements, we assured him we would check with Lady Katerine.
[The PCs expenses are being covered by Lady Katerine…but no more than one ale a night. Anything beyond that is up to the PCs to cover.]
After Otmar headed back downstairs, there was another knock at the door. A man who introduced himself as Haemon Alcrist was there and he let us know that he is one of the men who will be assisting us. He warned us that Si is a bit lecherous and suggested that we might not want to come down to join them for dinner. We agreed and said we would see him and the others downstairs in the morning.
Brenwyn went down briefly to ask Otmar to send our dinner up and had a brief introduction and interchange with Si, Cowle, and PoPo. Si had sent over PoPo to invite Brenwyn to join them and was having a laugh at PoPo’s expense as his speech impediment was quite prominent in his nervousness. Brenwyn went over and said we would see them in the morning.
[Since I hadn’t really prepared anything regarding the mercenaries, I asked the players for the names of the mercenaries. Muse threw out the name PoPo and the merc group started coming together. My brain jumped right to the idea that PoPo is something of a cruel nickname based on the fact that has has a rather bad stutter. His name is Poul but it comes out as Po…Po…Po…and so the nickname. Despite being the largest and strongest of the little mercenary group, the poor guy is the one that gets picked on by the others. This also makes him something of a sympathetic character in comparison to Si…a complete ass. I’m very happy at how well this all came together and the fun interactions that resulted. It’ll be interesting to see how the relationship between the mercs and the PCs develop.]
The next morning, Brenwyn and I headed downstairs. As Haemon left his room, he spied PoPo lying on the floor outside the door—apparently Haemon had not heard his knock the night before so PoPo slept in the hall. [I’m pretty sure that Haemon kept the door locked to make sure that Si didn’t share the room with him…like I said, Si is an ass.] PoPo went to get Si and Cowle to come downstairs as well. As we were discussing our plans, the front door to the inn burst open and a man carrying a box rushed in. He said he was to give the box to me and then return or his friends would be killed. He looked beat up and very upset, but we were able to find out his name is Kai and he is a merchant from Verbobonc. He and his friends were taken a few days ago while they were sleeping (they had been traveling from the Duchy of Ulek). I opened the box to find Griff’s hand (the ring he always wore was on it) and a note to me in it.
[Oh no! Does this mean that Griff might still be alive? This couldn’t be a trap, could it? Or is Leighton just one psychotic s.o.b.? All three perhaps?]
Before we could head out with Kai, Cahill pulled me aside and said I should not head out in my still injured state. He offered me two healing potions in exchange for my telling him all the information I have about where we have gone and what we have done and seen there. Cahill would not tell me why he wants to know the information or how he would use it (he said maybe he just has a cousin who is a bard and needs some good stories, but I don’t believe that for a second). When I started declining the offer, he said he would ensure that he did not use the information in a way that would bring harm to Hilltop or its residents, and he offered one of the healing potions in exchange for at least some information. When I said I would not give him information, he got a hard look on his face and said I had better not cheat him—I told him I had no intention of that and left his healing potion on the table by him. Cahill tried to say Griff owed him money and I assured him that that was not the case and he should not pursue that approach further.
[There might have been a little confusion here. From Cahill’s perspective, it sounded like Molly was going to accept one potion, possibly with the intent of not sharing information with him. That’s what he cautioned her about in terms of cheating him. Regardless, Molly and Cahill’s relationship is significantly “colder” than that the one he had with her brother.]
We escorted Kai to the area from which he was sent—it was in the woods off a road south of town [and not towards the Moathouse as had been assumed]. Haemon and I scouted ahead and found pretty clear tracks. A couple of pouches were hanging from trees in different spots. Haemon carefully checked for traps around the first one before pulling it down—he saw an ear and a note saying something like “Your brother would love to hear from you” but he would not show it to me. He did confirm it held a note and a body part […not that Molly has learned this yet but it was an ear.] I yanked the second pouch down—it included a couple of toes and another note [suggesting that Molly come to her brother]. The tracks circled back to the road a little closer to town and we lost them.
We took Kai to Lady Katerine’s, letting her know he is a merchant from Verbobonc who was abducted along with several others. After asking if we could speak to her in private, Brenwyn and I let Lady Katerine know that Si assumed she was paying his and the others’ tab at the inn (which she said she would handle, as her eyes flared), and we told her that Cahill was very interested in “buying” information from us about what we have been up to. Lady Katerine suggested feeding him some misinformation and trying to get some information from him.
[Ooooo…intrigue. So the Lady wants them to trick the con artist, gambler, information-seeking ne’er-do-well into giving away his information while not giving out their own. Fun! Now what if Cahill is actually a good guy and it is Katerine that the party needs to worry about. She does have eyes that look like flames after all. Her grandmother, Halcyon, did have something of a fallen angel partially reside in her soul after all. Perhaps the evil got passed down to Katerine.]
We headed back to the Moathouse, warning the new recruits about what we have encountered there thus far and should expect. The wooden boards were no longer bridging the moat to the courtyard entrance and the cart was nowhere in sight. We all jumped over the moat without incident. The courtyard and ground floor were unchanged since our last visit.
In the basement, the five cell doors were closed. They had been open when we left, so Haemon lightly knocked on the doors and heard the muffled tinkle of a bell inside the 5th one. All the doors opened and what looked like five zombie merchants emerged. We took them out but I was knocked unconscious as well. Brenwyn revived me and we checked out the ogre’s quarters, which were unchanged.
We tried to head down to the next level through the secret doors from the ogre’s room but the portcullis was still down. PoPo tried to lift it but was unable to and Haemon searched but did not find a lever to release it. We headed back and used the ladder through the secret door in the pillar to head down to the crypts. Haemon heard heavy breathing nearby and spied a big creature around the corner. Haemon tripped the ogre as it came out toward us, which made it a bit easier for us to take it out. Haemon quickly began checking the individual crypts with a torch and found that one has a small tunnel/passage at the back of it. We started moving through the passage until a spot where it opens into a larger chamber with a stone column in it. Brenwyn started to move into the chamber and heard something scurrying.
[Unlike the group’s prior “henchmen,” these mercs did participate in the activities and took the fight to the ogre. In fact, Si showed little patience for the group coming up with a plan for dealing with the ogre and simply charged forward, forcing everyone’s hand. I wonder if that will become a recurring theme with him.
As Brenwyn started moving into the chamber and heard the scurrying noise, that is where we stopped for the evening. A few fun NPCs have joined in the game, even if they might not be the nicest people. A new player has joined our table and fit in really well right away. A few more potential plot hooks have gotten tossed out. Some fun interactions, a few taunts by the big bad guy via notes and brotherly body parts, a tripped ogre, and a possible new area to go explore.
All in all, a nice little session.]
