Lights! Camera! Action! Yes, there was some action in this session after a string of mostly discussion sessions. There was still discussion, but the group did start to take the fight to the Gray Maidens by accessing the area below the Hospice of the Divine Matron. But, before that happened, they also had to divvy up loot and do some more planning. After multiple sessions taking place on the same day, time advanced a good bit more quickly in this session.
Jen had to miss this session so Isabella spent much of the time keeping guard on Rolth Lamm. Although I do not think there are any specific spoilers for elements of the Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path, there are potential spoilers regarding some of the movers and shakers of Korvosa. As usual, my GM comments are in italics.
29th of Pharast
- The various magic items found are divided up amongst the party.
30th of Pharast
- Darcy’s Maidens need some additional practice before they are ready to go into the “field.” Time largely passes uneventfully.
- There is some discussion about what to do if the Gray Maidens come back to see Lamm. As a gesture of “trust,” Lamm teleports across the room to illustrate that he could have left pretty much whenever he wanted. (I’m not sure that was very reassuring to the group.)
- Fortunately, the Gray Maidens do not come back this day.
31st of Pharast
- More time passes.
- Darcy speaks to her Maidens and tries to enlist their aid willingly by explaining that they are trying to stop the same thing that happened to them from happening to anyone else. They do not seemed to be moved and continue to glare at Darcy with utter hate.
- Fortunately, the Gray Maidens do not come back this day either.
1st of Gozran
- Stefaneto and Isabella take a bound and hooded Lamm off somewhere in the sewers to keep on eye on him.
- The rest of the group heads to the tunnels leading to below the Hospice of the Divine Matron. Darcy’s Maidens accompany the group.
- At first, they group finds a few corridors. Darcy scouts ahead in hopes of not alerting any inhabitants.
- Beyond one set of doors, she hears soft sobbing. The group leaves those doors for now.
- After heading down another corridor, a voice can be heard saying something along the lines of, “I had hoped that you’d have lasted longer than this. Oh well.”
- Shortly after, a devil…an erineyes…comes through the doors from which the comment had been heard. The group is able to send her back to hell both quickly and quietly.
- The room she had exited is a torture room. A male member of the Sable Company lies on a table, dead and badly tortured. A nearby room contains only a meditation mat.
- Shortly after, a devil…an erineyes…comes through the doors from which the comment had been heard. The group is able to send her back to hell both quickly and quietly.
- Beyond another set of doors, opposite in direction from the sobbing, the group comes into a larger chamber with an insect statue, they immediately draw a connection between it and the Red Mantis…their helms definitely resemble the head of the statue.
- Beyond a set of double doors exiting from this chamber, Darcy hears the faint flickering of torches. Quietly opening a door, she spies a Gray Maiden standing guard right in from of the door, facing away from the doors.
- The rest of the group approaches the doors but make some noise.
- The doors open and a fight ensues.
- There are two Gray Maidens outside of the doors. One starts to run off to, from the brief verbal exchange between the two, to release something. The other stays to fight the group.
- Both of these Maidens are dispatched pretty quickly. The one that ran was heading to another set of double doors.
- It is a large cavern.
- Darcy listens at the double doors that the Gray Maiden had been heading for. She can hear the breathing of a large creature and what sounds like some scales scraping across scales.
- The group returns to the room with the insect statue.
- Another set of double doors from this chamber opens into some crypts…dry, musty air and niches for bodies. A few sets of smallish human footprints can be seen on the dusty floor. They are definitely not those of armored Gray Maidens.
- Some dead, clearly undead, humans are standing in the niches. They remain unmoving until Darcy’s Maidens are sent forward. They then attack.
- The fight is brief.
- Moving forward, the aroma of vinegar becomes stronger and stronger.
- A chamber is spotted up ahead with an open coffin and a woman sitting up within it. A female from a voice deeper within the chamber says, “You are not to disturb us during the day, only at night. Your lives are forfeit.”
- There are total of three coffins within the chamber. All three have women rising from them. One, the farthest from the party, has three vats of liquid sitting in front of it.
- Stan rushes forward to attack the closest of these women. She simply reaches up and grabs his arm to stop his attack. She is very strong.
- Some dead, clearly undead, humans are standing in the niches. They remain unmoving until Darcy’s Maidens are sent forward. They then attack.
- Another set of double doors from this chamber opens into some crypts…dry, musty air and niches for bodies. A few sets of smallish human footprints can be seen on the dusty floor. They are definitely not those of armored Gray Maidens.
- At first, they group finds a few corridors. Darcy scouts ahead in hopes of not alerting any inhabitants.
And that is where the session ended.
Stan’s attack missed and so I decided to embellish a bit and to show the potential danger of these individuals. I read somewhere that GMs should telegraph threat…even if the players don’t pick up on it.
One of the issues with “sneaking” around is that the party really only has one character that is any good at it. All of the others, except Pop with a d6, have a d4 in Stealth, including Darcy’s Maidens. Stealth in Savage Worlds is pretty forgiving UNTIL you get close to someone. You can usually sneak about pretty well until getting within some thirty feet and then that opposed check kicks in. That’s when things get difficult when everyone only has a d4.
