Markus learns of his doom (again). The night sky is lit up by a meteor shower. Radomir summarizes. A new friend who loves to clean is gained. Infidelity leads to a new “enemy” and a loss of a boat. A return to the Windler House and laughing children. All this and (a bit) more happened in our most recent session. Oh, and of course, time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’…into the future, Details below the break.
Everyone was in attendance. There will, obviously, be spoilers for Nightmare Over Ragged Hollow from The Merry Mushmen along with our mangling of this very fine adventure. My GM comments, as always, are in italics.
87th of Summer
- Later in the evening, the party decides to patrol around town.
- Markus spots, down a short alleyway, some glowing green eyes…large eyes, about chest height and as big around as grapefruit. The rest of the group sees them as well. An animal-like voice growls out that Markus is a gambler, a philanderer, a cheater, and he should come face his doom. It tells Markus to come to it so it can dispense said doom.
- Markus, of course, does not. He slinks around the corner of a building. The eyes track him even through the building.
- The group keeps it talking while Liesl circles around to the other side of the alley, lighting a torch on her way. When she shines the light down the alley, there is nothing there. When she retreats back, moonlight does illuminate the alley…unlike the deep, dark black that had filled it moments ago.
- An hour or two later, the night sky is lit up by a meteor shower…of blood red meteors. They streak across the sky from east to west. Loud screams accompany them as they fly overhead.
- Tracking the path, it quickly becomes obvious that these meteors are heading for the Temple. The groups hustles over.
- The meteors are striking the Golden Veil. No lasting damage appears to be done. The barrage continues for nearly ten minutes.
- Marlena marks a line in the ground during this so the group can see if the Veil shrinks any after the bombardment. It has not.
- Only few folks come out to watch. Most stay in their homes.
- Dieter runs off to get Radomir so the wizard can see what is happening.
- Radomir has never seen anything like this.
- When it stops, Omar, who had come out to watch, says his son, Will, is dead and collapses to ground in grief. The group gets Omar home where the alchemist self-administers some concoction and passes out.
- The meteors are striking the Golden Veil. No lasting damage appears to be done. The barrage continues for nearly ten minutes.
- Tracking the path, it quickly becomes obvious that these meteors are heading for the Temple. The groups hustles over.
- After a chair is fetched for him, the GM…I mean Radomir…talks the group through everything that has happened so far and what is known.
- A panicked person arrived at the Temple one night. No one outside of the Temple knows who this was.
- A paladin came the next night and the priests were quite relieved. The group decides that the paladin probably put up the Golden Veil.
- The bell has begin to toll fewer and fewer times each dawn. Visions and nightmares are increasing and folks are convinced that their loved ones within the Temple are dying.
- This all seems to point (the players) to:
- some evil having been brought to the Temple by the original panicked individual,
- the paladin raising the Golden Veil going up to contain the evil,
- the Veil is weakening for some reason,
- people within are dying,
- and more will die and the evil might get out if someone doesn’t put a stop to it all.
- Radomir wishes the group the best of luck in taking care of things and heads back home.
- Markus spots, down a short alleyway, some glowing green eyes…large eyes, about chest height and as big around as grapefruit. The rest of the group sees them as well. An animal-like voice growls out that Markus is a gambler, a philanderer, a cheater, and he should come face his doom. It tells Markus to come to it so it can dispense said doom.
88th of Summer
- The Temple Bell tolls 21 times. One more death during the night.
- The group arranges for someone to keep an eye on Omar before heading off to see Beatrix, concerned that Severin and her friends may have done something to the “witch” in the cottage.
- Beatrix is fine. Severin and her friends were quite rude, but Broomy helped to see them off pretty easily.
- She had not seen or heard any of the night’s happenings, including the meteor shower even though she is not that far from town.
- There is some discussion about who could be responsible for what has happened. The only likely suspected that Beatrix can think of would be the hag that lives in the woods. However, Beatrix hangs bags of ground bone and lavender on the trees that line the river to protect Ragged Hollow. They should keep the hag away.
- When asked if someone might have taken down or otherwise tampered with these talismans, Beatrix shares that she checks on them quite regularly.
- Some more cookies are packed up for the group.
- Beatrix insists that they take Broomy with them, reiterating that she can just create another one for herself.
- When the group relents and accepts the gift, Broomy sweeps over to Liesl, a couple of little arms sprout out from his handle, and he holds her hand. (Randomly decided with the exclusion of Dieter…he’s already got Brancy the Bush.)
- There is some discussion about who could be responsible for what has happened. The only likely suspected that Beatrix can think of would be the hag that lives in the woods. However, Beatrix hangs bags of ground bone and lavender on the trees that line the river to protect Ragged Hollow. They should keep the hag away.
- The group decides, after some discussion, that the best place to continue their investigations (now that they’ve put all the Markus driven frolicking and f*ckery behind them) is close by at the Windler House.
- They get an unused rowboat and head over.
- Nazato is encountered on the way.
- He is reminded of his anniversary (since the group had asked Nataza about it) and then Liesl, thinking it would take the pressure off of him, shares that Markus has fertilized his wife’s eggs.
- This did not have the hoped for reaction…quite the opposite. Natazo was enraged that Markus did this and attacked the boat.
- Everyone was able to get ashore safely, but the boat was largely destroyed…definitely not usable anymore…and Natazo sunk beneath the waters.
- This did not have the hoped for reaction…quite the opposite. Natazo was enraged that Markus did this and attacked the boat.
- He is reminded of his anniversary (since the group had asked Nataza about it) and then Liesl, thinking it would take the pressure off of him, shares that Markus has fertilized his wife’s eggs.
- Nazato is encountered on the way.
- Heading up the path to the house, the group rings the “door” bell.
- The butler appears again.
- After a similar discussion about appointments and all that had happened before, Marlena offers him one of Beatrix’s cookies.
- He is stunned, explaining that no one has ever showed him such a gesture of kindness and gratitude.
- Despite being an incorporeal ghost, he is able to hold the cookie in his hands. As he takes a bite, he gets an expression of immense gratitude and happiness and fades away.
- The door to the house opens.
- After a similar discussion about appointments and all that had happened before, Marlena offers him one of Beatrix’s cookies.
- Nothing has really changed inside except that all of the windows Dieter had previously cleaned are dirty and opaque again. Dieter sets about cleaning again and then asks for Broomy’s help. With a boost from Dieter, Broomy is able to happily clean a window in no time.
- Checking around the lower level of the house, the group finds nothing new or overly interesting. They still have not figured out how to get through the “trapped” dining room where mirrors on the walls target a creature and the chandelier fires a crystal.
- They go upstairs, cleaning windows as they go. They elect to head to the part of upstairs that they had not explored yet.
- At the first door, they hear an intermittent clicking sound…metal and mechanical. Inside is a large workshop. Tools are very neatly arranged on various shelves and tables that line the walls.
- A table near the center of the room has a small wooden platform set atop it. There are a pair of metal boots sitting on this platform.
- The boots are the source of the clicking sound. There are various gears and contraptions incorporated into the boots, including wind-up keys on both.
- Leaving all of this alone for now. they head to another door exiting this workshop.
- Listening at this door, they hear what sounds like the laughter of children.
- The butler appears again.
- They get an unused rowboat and head over.
And before they could open the door, we ended the session.
Radomir’s recap helped the players put some pieces together more than I think they had before. I think there is also an understanding now that while the frolicking and f*ckery was all fun, they really do need to focus on saving Ragged Hollow.
We discussed a bit about how this is a sandboxy type of adventure and that everything they need to save the town is in the three hexes that make up the sandbox…amongst the Bleak Mountains, the Gloaming Wood, and the Wailing Hills…and that there is no “one true solution.” Multiple possibilities exist out there for solving and uncovering the mystery of what is going on at the Temple. They just have to find a solution…or come up with their own.
If they don’t and the Temple bell countdown hits zero, doom will come to Ragged Hollow…to their home, their friends, and their families. Except Markus, he isn’t from Ragged Hollow so I suppose he might run off before this happens. Of course, he has his own doom waiting out there…be it from glowing green eyes, the Lost Ox waiting for him in the Wailing Hills, or Bridgette of Hendenburgh (the unforgiving head of his home town’s criminal element to whom he owes quite a hefty sum of money).
