Brelich Shadowdark Session 2

Our new Shadowdark campaign made it the second session! In our first session, the party were on their way back to Ragged Hollow following the completion of the “Halloo” for two of the characters. There were some “shenanigans” by Markus involving a farmer’s wife which led to the party fleeing the village closest to Ragged Hollow as a small mob was forming. The group made it to Ragged Hollow after a few interesting encounters along the way, particularly the development of the legend of the Lost Ox which is the namesake for Ragged Hollow’s inn and for a mythical ox which appears to have focused its attention on Markus. Arriving at Ragged Hollow, Liesl and Marlena found their home in a bit of panic and chaos.

We were joined by a new player (for this campaign), John. John is playing Dieter, a human fighter from Ragged Hollow. We’ll pick up with Dieter and the others after the break.

There will, obviously, be spoilers for Nightmare Over Ragged Hollow from The Merry Mushmen. My GM comments, as always, are in italics. This recap is probably a bit more abbreviated than usual. This session was few weeks ago and I just haven’t gotten to writing this up yet and my memory is probably a but fuzzy.

76th of Summer

• Dieter had been returning to Ragged Hollow after his Halloo along with the rest of the party. He also had an added incentive to get back after hearing a rumor that his father had been turned into a toad by a witch by the name of Jethra who is said to be in the company of a bandit by the name of Bogdan. Dieter’s younger brother was trapped within the temple as well.
• As Markus waved to the onlooking villagers while he was making his way around the Temple of St. Halcyon, his ill-fitting and makeshift pants slipped from his waist to down around his ankles. Scandal.
  • Markus gathered his clothing up and left the scene.
  • Michel, the owner of the general store, made it quite clear that he did not approve of Markus and would be keeping his eye on him.
• Dieter joins Johanna in another attempt to reach the golden dome around the temple. Both are repelled.
• As dusk falls, the temple bell rings out. It chimes 35-40 times. No one in the party kept count, but they did notice that Omar the Alchemist was keeping count.
• Markus’ skin also began to glow slightly. Various runes, a total of twenty-six, were the source of the light. Dieter realized that the runes corresponded with where Markus had plastered the papers on his body…the papers found in a puddle this past morning. Papers that had not been there when the party had settled down to camp for the night.
  • Obviously arcane in nature, the local PCs decide that a trip to Radomir’s, the local wizard, would be a good idea.
  • Radomir warmly welcomes Dieter, Liesl, and Marlena back home.
  • When he spots Markus and the runes, he laughs uproariously.
  • Radomir tells the group about Zararatazarat (referred to as Z thereafter), a wizard who passed away some time ago. Z had a bit of a demented sense of humor. The runes were from “scrolls” created by Z and they “grant” the bearer the luck of a nilbog.
  • The wizard shares that a nilbog is a type of goblin who brings bad luck to those around it.
  • Based on the number of runes, twenty-six, Radomir thinks that Markus will bring bad luck to his companions that many times. Each time this happens, one of the runes will disappear.
  • The group brings up that Markus has also attracted the attention of the Lost Ox. Radomir says that he can hide Markus’ scent from the Ox, but he will need a number of supplies to do this. These include Michel’s strongbox, exactly twelve hairs from Omar’s beard, the glass eye of Jethra the Witch, and two “fresh” toes.
  • Throughout the conversation, Radomir keeps yelling for his wife, Marta, to make tea for everyone. As the locals know, Marta passed away years previously.
• The group then heads to the Lost Ox Inn. The innkeep, Kernan, is Liesl’s uncle. There is only one patron within.
  • Justin, an acolyte from the Temple, has been here all afternoon. He’s mostly been sitting at a table sobbing. He had been sent out from the temple to get more milk just before the golden dome appeared. The group sit with Justin and learn the following.
    • A couple of nights prior (74th of Summer), someone banged on the Temple doors and was let in.
    • During the next day (75th of Summer), the senior priests seemed to be a bit on edge, a bit more curt and blunt than normal, but shared nothing about what had happened the night before.
    • That night (still 75th of Summer), a knight and her squire arrived. The knight appeared rather concerned and the priests were very happy to see her.
    • He believes that there are nine members of the clergy, two visiting artists, the knight and squire, plus various children students and other villagers trapped within the dome. Probably around forty or so individuals.
• The group goes their separate ways for the night.
  • Markus spends the night at the inn and shares a room with sobbing Justin.
  • Marlena heads home to see her mother. She learns that Cousin Tobias has been missing for at least a few days.
  • Liesl heads home. Her parents share that Naomi, the owner of the paper mill and her father’s boss, is concerned about bandits in the Wailing Hills that are stealing her paper exports destined for Hendenburgh. She shares that she currently has the deed for the old Windler House in her possession.
  • Dieter heads home and sees his mother. Her mother pulls out a box and his toad father is within. The family, ribbiting toad included, have a conversation. It mostly focuses on how dad keeps getting turned into toads and his serial infidelity.
• The next morning, the temple bell rings out…once again in the 35-40 number of rings. The various characters went about different activities.
  • Markus heads down to the river to get a better look at the Windler House which he now owns (with Liesl holding onto the deed just for safekeeping). In the process, he attracts the attention of the owner of the Hooked Fin, Martine, with his various flexing and preening. She tells him that he is welcome to visit anytime and gives him a key. (Just to set the record straight…RJ is acting like Markus is quite the Casanova and ladies man. I am simply tossing hooks for him to catch himself.)
  • Liesl goes to see if there is any change with the dome around the temple. There is not as far as she can tell. A number of villagers, all with children inside, are in the square praying.
  • Dieter goes to the Inn after learning that Jethra has been staying there. She is leaving as he arrives. Dieter confronts her about turning his father into a toad. Jethra neither denies nor hides the fact that she did. Instead, she says she did it because he was not “satisfying” enough for her tastes. Dieter asks if it is only temporary and if she will restore his father back to his normal self and the answer to both is no.
    • Markus shows up during this conversation and tries to sweet talk Jethra a bit. As a result, she offers to pay him some gold to walk in front of her for the day…(as a piece of meat)…but then changes her mind.
    • Another individual, an armored man with a large sword strapped to his back, also left the inn. He, presumably Bogdan, was not interested in conversing or showed any concern for the goings on in the village. He essentially told Markus and/or Dieter to mind their own business.
    • Inside the inn, a third individual was sitting at the bar eating breakfast. He is a rather large individual, bald, with a tattoo of a face on the back of his head. The tattoo seems to track those moving about behind the man.
      • Markus strikes up a conversation. This man is definitely a bit shy and has a stutter. Markus learns that the man likes kittens. Remembering that he had seen some over by the Hooked Fin, Markus escorts the man to the kittens. He sits down and belying his large size and obvious strength, the man gently plays with him…utterly focused on nothing but the kittens so Markus departs.
  • Marlena headed over to visit her aunt, Susanna, and mother of her cousin Tobias. Aunt Susanna shares that Tobias is away, probably on some great heroic adventure…unlike Marlena who is obviously a sinner. Pushing past the blatant insults, Marlena asks if Tobias might have left a note or like about where he was going. Susanna checks and finds a note in Tobias’ room that indicates he has gone off to the old dwarven tomb up in the Bleak Mountains. She continues to heap praise on her son and offer nothing but scorn and dismissal for Marlena and all of the other sinners and demon-tainted people of Ragged Hollow.

And that is pretty much where we stopped for the night.

The players are very much driving these interactions and, I think, enjoying it all even if they haven’t done any “proper adventuring” yet. No worries…that part of the campaign will come soon enough and the characters will again long for the comfort a nice bed, hot food, and a hearth when they go traipsing about the surrounding wilderness again.

Oh, and somewhere in all of this, Markus was provided some new clothing that mostly fits with pants that shouldn’t fall down around his ankles. With the possible exception of RJ, I think all of us (players and characters) are quite happy and relieved that this occurred. Well, maybe not Martine or Jethra.