Brelich Shadowdark Session 15

Newlyweds, murder, an ogre, a PC death, and a new PC…naive and enthusiastic…are the main highlights from this session. This might be the shortest recap yet! A few more details below the break. The fact that no Markus shenanigans were called out above might be a hint to one of the main events this session.

Everyone was in attendance for this session. 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.

1st of Fall

• Markus eventually comes to from his slumber as Nefton explains the prior night.
  • Markus and Wunderbar were married by Grandmother Harpy the night before.
  • Each of the newlyweds has a gold “ring” which cannot be removed. These rings bind the pair together.
  • Grandmother Harpy, in no fashion whatsoever, was marrying them as retribution for Markus rejecting her earlier advances.
  • Wunderbar talks!
    • She hadn’t spoken before as she had nothing to say.
    • Olias had been her husband and her real name is Siga.
    • Siga is not at all pleased that she drunkenly got hitched with Markus. In fact, she’d like someone to kill him!
  • The group heads back to Ragged Hollow with the blushing bride and the gang of Black Goat of Doom kids all in tow. Nefton goes his own way.
    • On the way, the group encounters an ogre coming down the trail towards them.
    • Liesl spotted it early and everyone got a chance to scatter and hide.
    • As the ogre passes by, Siga greets him and begs him to kill Markus…who is hiding next to her.
      • The ogre, Earl, seems more than willing to do so until he learns that Grandmother Harpy married the pair. He has no desire to get on her bad side.
      • Earl is out looking for his sister’s husband, a no good human named Nefton.
  • The group gets back to Ragged Hollow and all settle down for the night.

2nd of Fall

• In the morning, the Temple bell tolls fourteen times. No one in the party had nightmares of a relative dying horrendously.
• The productive trio gathers at the Lost Ox Inn. Markus does not arrive in a timely fashion so they go to find him.
  • He is found in the woods where he had been camping for the night. He is dead with two wounds in his belly. A bloody dagger lies next to him as if he had held it and dropped it.
  • Pig tracks lead away from the site.
  • Both Siga’s and Markus’s rings lie broken on the ground.
  • Siga is not nearby.
  • All evidence suggests that they had camped here, Markus stabbed himself leading to his death, and Siga left.
  • The group loots and then buries the body.
• The trio then heads to Radomir’s.
  • The door is already open. He already has two guests.
    • One is Siga and the other is a young, definitely green around the gills, man.
      • Siga and Radomir appear to be acquaintances. She shares what happened the night before.
        • She rolled over onto a sleeping Markus in the hopes of smothering him.
        • Markus struggled and stabbed at her belly twice. She felt no pain or wounds in her belly, but she was struggling for breath and passed out.
        • When she came to again, Markus was dead with the two stab wounds and their rings had come off.
    • The young man is named Liam. He is a fledgling wizard come to find a new mentor. His naïveté is palpable and his enthusiasm is smothering.
    • The group shares what had happened at Mount Mourn and what they had found.
      • Radomir identifies the gifts from the kobolds.
        • The grappling hook is Klag’s Klaw. It will grab onto whatever it is thrown at. However, in order to function, it needs to be attached to Klag’s Khain rather than the rope currently attached.
        • The ring is Rellizo’s Ring. Each day it can drip off a duplicate of itself which remains until sunset. At that point, it disintegrates into nothing.
      • The wizard believes that the ooze at the Arvid’s Tomb may be the Dolorous Ichor, an ancient and evil entity. If Tobias encountered it and become possessed by it, it could account for what is happening at the Temple and in town.
      • Radomir then spends a good bit of effort on convincing Liam that it would be quite heroic to defeat this evil and save the town…even if it results in the heroic death of someone who could become a great wizard some day.
        • Liam elects to join the group in this quest and to give up his own life if it means defeating this evil.
        • As the others depart, Radomir has Dieter pause for a moment and the old man makes it quite clear that he would be perfectly happy if Liam did not survive this adventure. In fact, he’d be so perfectly happy that there could be a magic item in it for anyone that made sure it happened…even if by accident or just happy circumstance.
• The group then decides to go check on Beatrix and getting more of her cookies probably wouldn’t hurt.
  • She is not home. Even worse, her Broomy is on the ground having been violently snapped in half!
  • Broomy and Branchy see to a proper send off for this other Broomy. A private send off not attended by non-wood creatures.
  • The group looks about and Liesl spots a trail of cookie crumbs leading away.
    • Following it, the group finds it first leads to the Crossroads and then to the barrow of the hag that menaces the Gloaming Wood, turning goblins into rat goblins, and only held at bay from Ragged Hollow by the talismans of Beatrix.
    • The group arrives at the location of the Hag’s Barrow.
      • It is an evil looking mound of mud, surrounded by bleached bones. A dark tunnel leads in and down.
      • A goblin is sitting, asleep, leaning against the mound next to the tunnel.
      • Papers are tacked up on the nearby tears. Written, in dried blood, is the message, “Welcome! Come inside! Food and presents for all! This way! NOW!”
      • As the party approaches, they whisper to the goblin. It wakes, stands up, and loudly says, “Welcome to Hagglebee’s! How many are in your party? Please come in!”
        • It has a manacle on one leg attached to a chain. When asked about it, the goblin simply responds, “That’s flair!”
      • The goblin shares no real information, stiltedly repeating its message as greeter to the dining experience of Hagglebee’s.
      • When it is shared that the party consists of a dozen (or was it more?), the goblin calls down the hole for a table for twelve. A woman’s voice, elderly sounding, responds to send them down.
        • The group proceeds in, cautiously. to find a chamber, wholly evil feeling, with a large table and chairs. An elderly woman is standing on the other side of the table and encourages all to come in and be seated.

And that is where we ended the session.

Yes, Liam is RJ’s new character. Yes, any attacks on Markus or Siga were reflected on their partner. This was Grandmother Harpy’s “gift” to the less than happy pair. Yes, fishwine is potent. Don’t do fishwine kids or you might end up like Markus or Nefton.

I suppose we’ll find out next session if the eating is good in this particular neighborhood.