After months or years of wandering from one village to another and through trackless forests,
Kirioto and Ed were ready to try their luck again in the dungeons below the ruined moathouse.
They returned to Hommelet and offered their services to Burne who was, indeed still seeking the legendary pools that were the key to understanding elven magic.
Burne had a new assistant, Vegan, who eager to prove himself worthy, gladly joined the quest.
They recruited Phoenix, a brash warrior lass, ready to test herself.
The party was completed by Dane, a priest of Raud who was looking for Gerrilyn, a fellow disciple who disappeared from the mother church some time ago and last seen by the people of Hommelet about to venture out on her own expedition to the moathouse.
The guards at the moathouse (a.k.a. Burne's Badgers) helpfully moved the pile of rocks and debris that held down the dungeon trapdoor, whistling a syncopated version of a well-known funeral dirge. The party lit their torches and ventured down a flight of well-constructed wooden stairs, narrowly missing a glob of green slime that fell from the ceiling and began dissolving the wooden steps. Stepping over the slime, the party reached the bottom of the stairs and began to look around. Ed pointed out the hallway where their companion Vlad had met his death by zombies. Kirioto noted some newly-constructed doors. Locked.
Rebuffed by the threat of zombies and the locked doors, the party found a third option, a series of square rooms connected by old, unlocked doors. Listening outside one of them, Ed heard noises-- footsteps, the grinding of stone on stone. By the time they opened the door, there was no sound, not sound of what had made it. There was, however, a small cell, and within it a prisoner. Ed picked the lock and Dane addressed the prisoner. He was dressed in Burne's livery and seemed in decent health, though a bit smelly, and very confused. He offered them some food-- there was indeed a slection of bread, fruit, and wine in the cell. Dane declined and pressed him for his story. The man, who remembered his name was Sief, explained that he was one of Burne's Badgers and that, he had ventured into the dungeon alone. Because he was hungry. And met some talking bears. Convinced that he was harmless, the party escorted him up the stairs. "Watch your step!"
The other Badgers were happy and surprised to see him. "We thought you deserted!"
"Dessert? The Bears will bring us some pudding!"
The party went back into the dungeon. Emboldend by the successful rescue, the party broke down the first of the pair of new doors and found a cache of weapons and food, including dried fruit like that which Sief had been eating. Ed, feeling paranoid, convinced the rest of the party that they needed to deal with the zombies or risk being surprised later.
Phoenix led the way down the zombie hallway. As she passed the first of several large pillars, two zombies lumbered after her. Ed shouted an alarm and Phoenix whirled to defend herself. The battle was on.
A row of five cell doors opened and more zombies started to emerge. Phoenix leapt into action, holding one of the doors closed and one pair of zombies trapped inside. Dane tried to turn the zombies, but faltered, and, still gripping his holy symbol in one hand, also readied is war hammer. Kirioto drew his sword and slashed one of the zombies to pieces. Ed stepped back and notched an arrow. Vegan mumbled what sounded like magic words that didn't seem to have any noticeable effect.
As the crowd of zombies approached, Dane charged to meet them. The rest of his party hung back. Phoenix held the door, and Kirioto assisted her, fending off the remaining zombie that had attacked from behind the pillar. Ed shot an arrow that went wild. Vegan cast another spell. Dane bashed one of the zombies in the face before being surrounded and killed by the others. Ed gave the order to retreat. All responded. Phoenix hesitated, but at least released the door and ran her fastest.
The party ran back to the storage room and up the stairs. They heard the zombies tearing up Dane. On the other side of the trapdoor, the Badgers were a little slow in answering the call to open the trapdoor. "Back again? Again? Already?"
Not wanting to say anything that might discourage the guards from opening the trapdoor, the party didn't say anything about the zombies, who by, the sound of it, were slowly drawing closer. "Yeah," Kirioto explained, "we accidentally started a fire." This was also true. When two zombies appeared at the bottom of the stairs, Ed through his lantern at them, followed by a flask of oil. Both zombies burst into flames. "Yeah," Vegan added, "And I had to pee. It smells really bad." This was also true.
While the lackadaisical Badgers, rolled away the stones, the party watched in horror as two burning zombies began climbing the stairs. The first was completely consumed by flames, but the second kept climbing higher-- until it fell into the hole created by the green slime! Clouds of black smoke filled the air as the fire burned up the zombie, the slime, and-- by the time the trapdoor was opened, the flight of wooden stairs. The Badgers pulled the party to safety and then slammed the door shut.
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Saturday, January 6, 2018
Seven Zhounese Brothers Part 1 (Two Nights in Pasar)
As hoped, the Monastery of the Two-Fold Path welcomed Bi-Gon-Dang as their spiritual brother and offered hospitality to him and his friends. Over the next several weeks, Bi-Gon-Dang trained Sum-Dank in the ways of the Savage Tiger, a martial arts form that relied on sudden burst of raw strength to subdue one's opponents. Sum-Dank learned to use his nekode-- a strange claw-like weapon or climbing implement that he had inherited from a mysterious grandfather-- to master the grapple-and-throw techniques of the style. Because weapons were completely banned from Pasar, knowledge of a martial art seemed likely to come in handy.
While Sum-Dank was training, Bat, Bojing, and Sukh got to know the city of Pasar. Their young friend Bug became something of a liability to the trio of warriors, as they strove to be good role models while prowling gambling dens and drinking houses.
Enter the Seven Zhounese Brothers. These were deserters from the Imperial Army who, according to rumor, were rejected by the Black Flowers because they were too vicious. Maybe just too drunk. Regardless, even worse role models for Bug and thus, all the more appealing.
When Bug wasn't seen at the Monastery for a day, his guardians asked some questions and found out where the Seven Zhounese Brothers lived-- a run-down, two-story warehouse that had been built by the Silk Merchants Guild when they first established business in Pasar.
Waiting for dark, Bug's friends made a plan and went out to rescue him.
The rescuers:
Sukh, level 2 bushi
Bojing, level 1 samurai
Sum-Dank, level 3 bushi and his adviser/trainer, Bi-Gon-Dang, level 1monk
While they were staking out the house, an oddly-dressed man walked by, quietly laughing to himself. He stopped suddenly and addressed them. "Why not go inside? I'm sure they'll be glad to see you."
Sukh and Sum-Dank were half-surprised, half-outraged and peppered the man with questions. He laughed and started walking. They blinked and he was gone.
The house was surrounded by a low wall without an obvious gate, but easily climbed. Once inside the yard, dogs started barking. There was light in the top floor of the house but not obvious way to reach the front door. The stairs leading up to it had crumbled into rubble. On the bottom floor, the warehouse doors were boarded up, but looked like they could be broken down.
Bojing, Sum-Dank, and Sum-Dank found the weakest of the warehouse doors and began pulling at the hinges. Inside the dogs, started barking like crazy. With a little work, the entire door was pulled off and fell flat on the ground. The dogs charged out. One caught Bi-Gon-Dang by surprise, knocking him down and seizing him by the throat. The rest of the party were surrounded by snarling, snapping dogs. Sum-Dank seized one dog and slammed it to the ground, but another seized this opportunity to rip into his leg. Bojing pulled some cooked meat from Sum-Dank's ration bag and, with it, managed to distract one of the dogs, but the others seemed hungry for fresh food. Sukh fought his way towards Bi-Gon-Dang, still struggling on the ground, but without any weapons but a small knife, the rabid dogs were not easily intimidated.
When Bi-Gon-Dang stopped struggling, his friends gave him up for dead and ran to save their own lives. As they reached the hedge wall, the front door opened on the top story and the Brothers hurled curses and bricks.
The next night, sad, bitter, and nursing dog bites, the rescuers returned to the house with a new companion and a better plan.
They went to the back of the house and Sum-Dank. No barking. He heard the snores of content, sleeping dogs, and upstairs, the noise of bickering brothers. Staying well away from the entrance to dogs' lair, Sum-Dank climbed up the side of the house to the roof. The roof was in poor shape. Light shone through the shingles and there were gaping hole in several places. He pin-pointed where the Brothers were inside the house-- in a room near the front of the house, drinking and playing dice. Sum-Dunk tied a rope to a cross beam and dropped it for his friends to climb up. Together, they decided, that Sukh and Bojing would climb down to the landing in front of the front door. They would knock and when they did, Sum-Dank would climb down into the house and either find Bug or attack the brothers form behind r otherwise cause havoc.
Everything went more-or-less according to plan. The brothers first ignored the knocking and then began yelling threats and insults. Plenty of commotion to cover Sum-Dank as he climbed down into a room in the back of the house. This was the worst room of the house and of course Bug was found there. He was scared, hungry and beaten, curled up in moldy blankets. He started to cry when he saw Sum-Dank.
The noise might have attracted the Brothers if they weren't yelling so loud themselves. At last they decided, together, to go open the door, and thrash those &$%*!s. Bojing and Sukh started to climb down the front of the house. Slipping on the loose brickwork, they reached the ground well before the Brothers had opened the door. After giving the Brothers a chance to scream challenges and throw the most hand pieces of brick into the street, Bo Jing and Sukh pulled themselves up, rubbed their sprained ankles and hobbled toward out of the yard as fast as they could. Sum-Dank and Bug, meanwhile, climbed back out of the house, and made their own escape.
Bug's disappearance was soon discovered. "Good riddance! I was about to kill that whiny brat!"
While Sum-Dank was training, Bat, Bojing, and Sukh got to know the city of Pasar. Their young friend Bug became something of a liability to the trio of warriors, as they strove to be good role models while prowling gambling dens and drinking houses.
Enter the Seven Zhounese Brothers. These were deserters from the Imperial Army who, according to rumor, were rejected by the Black Flowers because they were too vicious. Maybe just too drunk. Regardless, even worse role models for Bug and thus, all the more appealing.
When Bug wasn't seen at the Monastery for a day, his guardians asked some questions and found out where the Seven Zhounese Brothers lived-- a run-down, two-story warehouse that had been built by the Silk Merchants Guild when they first established business in Pasar.
Waiting for dark, Bug's friends made a plan and went out to rescue him.
The rescuers:
Sukh, level 2 bushi
Bojing, level 1 samurai
Sum-Dank, level 3 bushi and his adviser/trainer, Bi-Gon-Dang, level 1monk
While they were staking out the house, an oddly-dressed man walked by, quietly laughing to himself. He stopped suddenly and addressed them. "Why not go inside? I'm sure they'll be glad to see you."
Sukh and Sum-Dank were half-surprised, half-outraged and peppered the man with questions. He laughed and started walking. They blinked and he was gone.
The house was surrounded by a low wall without an obvious gate, but easily climbed. Once inside the yard, dogs started barking. There was light in the top floor of the house but not obvious way to reach the front door. The stairs leading up to it had crumbled into rubble. On the bottom floor, the warehouse doors were boarded up, but looked like they could be broken down.
Bojing, Sum-Dank, and Sum-Dank found the weakest of the warehouse doors and began pulling at the hinges. Inside the dogs, started barking like crazy. With a little work, the entire door was pulled off and fell flat on the ground. The dogs charged out. One caught Bi-Gon-Dang by surprise, knocking him down and seizing him by the throat. The rest of the party were surrounded by snarling, snapping dogs. Sum-Dank seized one dog and slammed it to the ground, but another seized this opportunity to rip into his leg. Bojing pulled some cooked meat from Sum-Dank's ration bag and, with it, managed to distract one of the dogs, but the others seemed hungry for fresh food. Sukh fought his way towards Bi-Gon-Dang, still struggling on the ground, but without any weapons but a small knife, the rabid dogs were not easily intimidated.
When Bi-Gon-Dang stopped struggling, his friends gave him up for dead and ran to save their own lives. As they reached the hedge wall, the front door opened on the top story and the Brothers hurled curses and bricks.
The next night, sad, bitter, and nursing dog bites, the rescuers returned to the house with a new companion and a better plan.
They went to the back of the house and Sum-Dank. No barking. He heard the snores of content, sleeping dogs, and upstairs, the noise of bickering brothers. Staying well away from the entrance to dogs' lair, Sum-Dank climbed up the side of the house to the roof. The roof was in poor shape. Light shone through the shingles and there were gaping hole in several places. He pin-pointed where the Brothers were inside the house-- in a room near the front of the house, drinking and playing dice. Sum-Dunk tied a rope to a cross beam and dropped it for his friends to climb up. Together, they decided, that Sukh and Bojing would climb down to the landing in front of the front door. They would knock and when they did, Sum-Dank would climb down into the house and either find Bug or attack the brothers form behind r otherwise cause havoc.
Everything went more-or-less according to plan. The brothers first ignored the knocking and then began yelling threats and insults. Plenty of commotion to cover Sum-Dank as he climbed down into a room in the back of the house. This was the worst room of the house and of course Bug was found there. He was scared, hungry and beaten, curled up in moldy blankets. He started to cry when he saw Sum-Dank.
The noise might have attracted the Brothers if they weren't yelling so loud themselves. At last they decided, together, to go open the door, and thrash those &$%*!s. Bojing and Sukh started to climb down the front of the house. Slipping on the loose brickwork, they reached the ground well before the Brothers had opened the door. After giving the Brothers a chance to scream challenges and throw the most hand pieces of brick into the street, Bo Jing and Sukh pulled themselves up, rubbed their sprained ankles and hobbled toward out of the yard as fast as they could. Sum-Dank and Bug, meanwhile, climbed back out of the house, and made their own escape.
Bug's disappearance was soon discovered. "Good riddance! I was about to kill that whiny brat!"
Monday, January 1, 2018
Gua-Sar Caves
In the aftermath of the break-up of the Slavers' Stockade, a new generation of adventurers, heroes, wanderers, and fortune-seekers found each other in Kāi'ěrwén, a rough-and-tumble market town about a day's travel from Quitokai.
The company:
Shoji, level 4 shukenja
Sukh, level 1 bushi
Bojing, level 1 samurai
Bat, level 1 barbarian
Sum-Dank, level 2 bushi and his adviser/trainer, Bi-Gon-Dang, level 1monk
Bojing and Bat, despite their very different upbringings were distantly related. Their fathers, believing that the two could learn something from each other and grow up to be the broad-minded men that the next age would require, had conspired to send them on a vague mission to find the burial place of their common ancestor, rumored to be found in the mountains beyond the southwest edge of the empire. Interpreting this as a license to adventure and with a budget befitting their high stations in life (minor aristocrat of the imperial court and powerful khan of the high steppes), they found themselves tumbling roughly in Kāi'ěrwén, chasing rumors that someone deserved a righteous beat-down.
Shoji and Sukh had followed a caravan out of Pasar with every intention of assisting Gwinch in overthrowing the slavers, but had somehow been left behind in the Kāi'ěrwén market. After a few weeks of begging and odd jobs, their welcome was nearly worn out.
Sum-Dank and Bi-Gon-Dang knew there were more slavers to fight in Khanbaliq but also knew they needed back-up.
One night, Bat was on an evening stroll, and he saw a very big man threating a tearful boy. Not an uncommon sight in Kāi'ěrwén, but no less distasteful to Bat for its banality. The streets deserted, Bat knew it was his fate to stop it. He punched the man. The man drew a knife and sliced Bat. Bat punched the man again. The man ran away. The boy cried even more loudly.
Bat carried him back to his inn. The noise awakened everyone. Bojing asked the boy where his parents were. There was a language barrier. Either his parents were both dead or the mother was dead and the father had just received a righteous beat-down. Sum-Dank wanted to knw the boys name. Bug. Or that's what he was called. Little bug. Dirty bug. Squished bug.
Shoji suggested it was time for the boy to leave Kāi'ěrwén.
And so the inhabitants of the inn came to realize they were all tired of living in an inn. Shoji and Sukh volunteered that they knew of a much nicer town. Good food, nice people. Pasar. It wasn't easy to get to, without an imperial escort. The road was infested with bandits. And imperial armies. The mountain passes were high and cold. But Shoji and Sukh knew another way, a secret way, right through the mountains.
They set out the next morning. Bojing and Sukh had second thoughts about taking a child with them into a cave, even one paved with an attractive pattern of hexagonal stones. But Bug had no relatives. And Bat and Sum-Dank seemed to believe he had a special destiny that they each hoped to share. There were arguments, a vote, more arguments, threats, tears. Finally Bug decided. He trusted Bat and would go with him.
The journey under the mountain was long, dreary, and often dark. And it seemed that Sukh and Shoji did not have direct personal knowledge of the way or how long the tunnel extended. On the long straight stretches, the party rationed their torches by marching in near darkness, their way lit by a glowing ember.
After two days, they emerged in a small clearing, surrounded by steep cliffs. Behind a waterfall was another cave, flooded with glowing greenish-yellow water.
Happily, there were several small boats, one of for each of them. One of them was large enough to hold both Bat and Bug. They paddled slowly, letting the current carry them along. Bat thought he heard screaming. Bojing saw hands in the water. When they spotted a sandy beach, they landed and explored the caverns. Unlike the underground they had followed earlier, in the days previous, this was a circuit of winding natural tunnels. In a large, muddy cavern, everyone saw a hand reach up out of the much and grab Sukh by the ankle. At once, 4 more, disgusting undead creatures likewise rose up to attack. Bat and Bojing pulled Bug out of the room, leaving the others to fight the monsters. Despite their horrifying aspect and own lack of fear, the creatures were soon destroyed.
Bat and Bojing, in their flight had stumbled upon a tunnel that seemed to lead toward the light. Calling out to the others, the party reunited. This tunnel was paved in hexagonal stones. The party followed it steadily upward for several hours until they emerged on a verdant hillside. Climbing up into the hills to get a higher vantage point, Sukh and Shoji were able to confirm that they were almost to Pasar. Another day of travel, this one through steamy jungle that almost made them miss the cool darkness of the caves, the party arrived in Pasar.
The company:
Shoji, level 4 shukenja
Sukh, level 1 bushi
Bojing, level 1 samurai
Bat, level 1 barbarian
Sum-Dank, level 2 bushi and his adviser/trainer, Bi-Gon-Dang, level 1monk
Bojing and Bat, despite their very different upbringings were distantly related. Their fathers, believing that the two could learn something from each other and grow up to be the broad-minded men that the next age would require, had conspired to send them on a vague mission to find the burial place of their common ancestor, rumored to be found in the mountains beyond the southwest edge of the empire. Interpreting this as a license to adventure and with a budget befitting their high stations in life (minor aristocrat of the imperial court and powerful khan of the high steppes), they found themselves tumbling roughly in Kāi'ěrwén, chasing rumors that someone deserved a righteous beat-down.
Shoji and Sukh had followed a caravan out of Pasar with every intention of assisting Gwinch in overthrowing the slavers, but had somehow been left behind in the Kāi'ěrwén market. After a few weeks of begging and odd jobs, their welcome was nearly worn out.
Sum-Dank and Bi-Gon-Dang knew there were more slavers to fight in Khanbaliq but also knew they needed back-up.
One night, Bat was on an evening stroll, and he saw a very big man threating a tearful boy. Not an uncommon sight in Kāi'ěrwén, but no less distasteful to Bat for its banality. The streets deserted, Bat knew it was his fate to stop it. He punched the man. The man drew a knife and sliced Bat. Bat punched the man again. The man ran away. The boy cried even more loudly.
Bat carried him back to his inn. The noise awakened everyone. Bojing asked the boy where his parents were. There was a language barrier. Either his parents were both dead or the mother was dead and the father had just received a righteous beat-down. Sum-Dank wanted to knw the boys name. Bug. Or that's what he was called. Little bug. Dirty bug. Squished bug.
Shoji suggested it was time for the boy to leave Kāi'ěrwén.
And so the inhabitants of the inn came to realize they were all tired of living in an inn. Shoji and Sukh volunteered that they knew of a much nicer town. Good food, nice people. Pasar. It wasn't easy to get to, without an imperial escort. The road was infested with bandits. And imperial armies. The mountain passes were high and cold. But Shoji and Sukh knew another way, a secret way, right through the mountains.
They set out the next morning. Bojing and Sukh had second thoughts about taking a child with them into a cave, even one paved with an attractive pattern of hexagonal stones. But Bug had no relatives. And Bat and Sum-Dank seemed to believe he had a special destiny that they each hoped to share. There were arguments, a vote, more arguments, threats, tears. Finally Bug decided. He trusted Bat and would go with him.
The journey under the mountain was long, dreary, and often dark. And it seemed that Sukh and Shoji did not have direct personal knowledge of the way or how long the tunnel extended. On the long straight stretches, the party rationed their torches by marching in near darkness, their way lit by a glowing ember.
After two days, they emerged in a small clearing, surrounded by steep cliffs. Behind a waterfall was another cave, flooded with glowing greenish-yellow water.
Happily, there were several small boats, one of for each of them. One of them was large enough to hold both Bat and Bug. They paddled slowly, letting the current carry them along. Bat thought he heard screaming. Bojing saw hands in the water. When they spotted a sandy beach, they landed and explored the caverns. Unlike the underground they had followed earlier, in the days previous, this was a circuit of winding natural tunnels. In a large, muddy cavern, everyone saw a hand reach up out of the much and grab Sukh by the ankle. At once, 4 more, disgusting undead creatures likewise rose up to attack. Bat and Bojing pulled Bug out of the room, leaving the others to fight the monsters. Despite their horrifying aspect and own lack of fear, the creatures were soon destroyed.
Bat and Bojing, in their flight had stumbled upon a tunnel that seemed to lead toward the light. Calling out to the others, the party reunited. This tunnel was paved in hexagonal stones. The party followed it steadily upward for several hours until they emerged on a verdant hillside. Climbing up into the hills to get a higher vantage point, Sukh and Shoji were able to confirm that they were almost to Pasar. Another day of travel, this one through steamy jungle that almost made them miss the cool darkness of the caves, the party arrived in Pasar.
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