TSM Update: How do you defeat a Centaur?

IN OUR LAST SESSION…

… our heroes headed out for the lost Dwarven mine of Dol Seguria.  They were lead by Attickus, Lord Segur’s chosen guide.  They left Rankford on horseback, heading west into the King’s Wood.  Attickus indicated that he had been given a map by Segur, but that he didn’t know the exact location otherwise.  He was, he said, familiar with the King’s Wood and often works as a guide in that area.

The first day’s travel was fairly uneventful.  Near dark, Attickus led the militia into the wood north of the Road, and along a little-used trail to a forest cabin situated facing a cliff dropping off into the valley below.  A stout ladder had been firmly attached to the cliff face leading to an outcropping below, and a series of ladders leading, presumably, to the valley floor.

The heroes encamped.  Near midnight, the watch, Tovlakov and Norm’s familiar discovered that there seemed to be a man on the ladder, yelling that he had somehow become stuck.  His chest plate was stuck on a rung, he claimed.  After rousting the camp, and dismissing Attickus’ objections, Tovlakov descended the ladder, to discover that the creature stuck on the ladder was actually a centaur.

After helping the centaur, named Alamein free from the ladder, the party invited him to stay the night.  Alamein mentioned that he was an outcast from the resident centaur tribe.   The centaur was quite loquacious, and inquisitive.

Travelling on the next day, permitting Alamein to accompany the party, despite Attickus’ protestations, the party passed Fort Midway and Lord Segur’s residence.  Later, Attickus led the party on a meandering trail north into the woods, and eventually to a location with a precarious slope.

After struggling to descend the slope, the heroes arrived at a narrow stone stair leading to the quarry below.  The entrance to the mine, per the map, was located inside a stone structure near the foot of the stair.

Tovlakov, who had previously spotted some wordless communication between Attickus and Alamein.  At this point, he spotted it again and called them out on it.  Reluctantly, they agreed that they knew each other.  That they are friends, and that they had arranged to have Alamein “randomly” run into the party, both as a gauge of what kind of people these militia were (would they help a creature in need?) and as backup for Attickus should the party turn against him out in the wild.  Attickus had determined that the party seemed legitimately lawful and good-aligned.  He and Alamein would continue to accompany the party at least some distance into the mine.  Alamein, then transformed into a normal-seeming bipedal man in order to descend the stairs.  Asked if perhaps the centaur aspect had been an illusion all along, he claimed that he was a centaur, but one who could assume human form.  He hinted that it was this ability (perhaps passed down from his parents) that had caused he and his family to be cast out of the centaur herd — er, tribe.

The party navigated the stairs, and after Tovlakov defeated a stout lock on the blockhouse, entered it, and camped briefly while Alamein repaired his chest plate which had been severed at the leather joints when he had been “trapped” on the stairs.

Sounds of drumming, and perhaps more fell things came to the ears of our heroes, perched at this secret portal to a lost world.

TSM Update: Feed My Dog!

IN OUR LAST SESSION…

… Our heroes delved further into the lost dwarven kingdom of Dol Seguria. Tovlakov sought to confirm that the elven ranger Jacoba “Jake” Marius was still waiting outside the entrance to the dwarven site. He was. After informing Jake that the fugitive (“Diedrich”) that Azan and his rangers had chased into the dwarven underground was dead, he agreed to leave the body somewhere that they could fetch it. Tovlakov returned to the inner sanctum of the dwarven complex, and the heroes searched the fugitive Diedrich. On him, they discovered that he had, among his weapons, a shiny metal ring and a leather item on a chain around his neck that Norm was able to determine had a faint Evocation magic about it. The heroes dragged Diedrich’s body through the entrance to the dwarven complex and closed the door.

The heroes then moved forward, deeper into the dwarven complex. The already wide, high-ceilinged passage widened further and the ceiling stretched even higher away. Stairs carved into the bare rock led up. The heroes climbed the stairs. They searched the first “apartment.” Dain smashed the door open. Inside he heard a weeping sound. He moved further in, down a short hallway to a front room, leading to a hallway which continued into a bedroom. Two balconies extended into the main hallway. Dain followed the sound of the weeping into the hallway leading to the bedroom.

A dwarven woman, glowing like an apparition, sat in a wooden chair, weeping about her “Baby,” her “pet.” When Dain approached, she complained that there was nothing to feed her dog. The dwarven woman looked up at Dain and he could see that half of her face had been gnawed away. A rumbling growl had been growing in the back room. Now the creature, an enormous, horse-sized dog with two heads charged. It was emaciated. Some of its flesh was missing from its limbs and belly. The dwarven ghost faded and disappeared.

The heroes fought the giant “dog.” Dain was able to block the hallway and absorb bite after slavering bite, while the rest of the party was able to attack with missile weapons and spells. Eventually, the party wore the creature down, and with one final blow from his war hammer, Dain dispatched the beast. It began to quickly decompose.

Searching the house, the party found a few items. Most interesting were mithril coins.

The heroes decided to rest in the house. During the rest, Tovlakov noticed a small mob of undead of various races shambling down the main corridor in the direction of the entrance used by the party.

After some recovery time, the heroes decided to continue to climb the stairs. Two more tiers of homes perched above the home they had stayed in. Above the third tier, a 10 foot wide catwalk hugged the wall, the ceiling still high above; painted to resemble some long lost night sky.

The heroes proceeded along the catwalk. After a few hundred feet, the long corridor emerged into an even wider space. The catwalk seemed to end at the point that, it seemed, a perpendicular corridor interjected the passage the heroes had so-far pursued. Stairs led down to the corridor, stairs guarded by a human-like beast — a hobgoblin. The hobgoblin fired at Tovlakov as he approached. As the heroes rushed up to engage the guardian, he continued to fire his bow. The party was able to take down the hobgoblin before he could alert others: Tia’s arrow entered the bell of the guardian’s signal horn and emerged from the back side of the hobgoblin’s skull. Perhaps he could now play a nice tune in Hell.

Other creatures seemed to be on duty at the intersection of passages. Where to go from here?

TSM Update: Hey, let’s leave town, what say?

IN OUR LAST SESSION…

… our heroes headed to the Warden’s Office, presumably so that the recently-minted Warden, Tia Berenger could examine her holdings. The trip out of town was uneventful. When the heroes arrived at the Warden’s building, a tall, single-story structure with exterior doors, north and south and south-facing windows, hewed from the native pine, they first established that there were no obvious traps within.

Having tied the horses up at the bridge just 100′ away, they ventured inside. The large brass key that they had taken from Marver, in fact opened the door (and every other locked door that they encountered), but clearly operated in a magical way. These locks, and the key, are not simply mechanical devices.

The ground floor contained Marver’s office space, a small waiting room, a kitchen, a map (?) room and stairs leading down. It seemed clear that the space had been recently ransacked, but presumably by someone or someones who knew where to look and what to grab. It did not appear that the place had been randomly sacked, more likely it had been carefully separated from its most valuable contents.

The basement contained the Warden’s bedroom, a privy, a stoutly-fortified armory, and stairs leading further down. After having searched these rooms and mostly discovered that the likely most valuable items had already been removed, including identifying the residue of magical items (weapons?) that had been, until recently, housed in the armory, the party considered the stairs leading down. Two things served to dissuade them from further investigation: Norm began to seem unfit in some way, and an odd skritching sound seemed to emerge from below. The party felt that the noise perhaps indicated that kruthiks might be found there. Norm was experiencing a splitting headache, and one eye turned red with blood.

Also on the basement level was a moldering pile of clothing and odd items. They seemed to be decaying clothes and artifacts of children, including those of very young children.

Returning to the first floor, the heroes effected a more thorough search, which turned up several letters between Cormyrean officials and Marver over recent months and years. Marver was, it seems, not held in high regard, and the area around Rankford (County Seguria, apparently) seemed notable mostly for suspicious happenings: high rates of infant death, disappearances of those on the Starwater Road and reports of burglary.

While combing through the disarray of the Warden’s Office, Norm wavered then collapsed. His head split open and an…. armored slug emerged. It slithered under his clothes, and when the heroes sought to capture or kill it, it pushed back into Norm via his navel.

Combining the pile of children’s belongings and the notes about infant mortality seemed to indicate that… something bad had been happening in the Rankford area for some years.

Avoiding the noises from the sub-basement, our heroes felt it was perhaps time to head back to town. As they approached, a concerning pillar of smoke was discovered to be emerging from the Mitte.

Arriving in town, the heroes found near-panic. Mons Millmaster and his minions had, it seems, waited for the heroes to leave town, then had started a fire at the Grey Wolf Inn, perhaps as a distraction, then emerged from within the Watchtower. The fought and killed Pearl and Stem, hanging their bodies, by way of threat, from the upper windows of the Watchtower. Lex Walters was injured but not killed. The Temple of Gond was burned down its bare structure. No hint of what may have happened to Fatbeak.

The fires were extinguished. Eventually, the heroes secured the entrances to the subterranean passes they were aware of in Mitte, at the Watchtower and at the Taledo’s.

Asking around, Carly was aware that there had been a number of infant deaths. She seemed to think that was normal. That the frontier was a dangerous place, and there had always been a high percentage of infant deaths. She named a half-dozen or so families who had lost infant children over the past 24 months.

Norm, after a full rest awakened. He reported that he understood that there was this creature inside him, and that was just fine. The creature was a hatchling kruthik, and would serve as his new familiar. And that, perhaps, he now might be able to communicate with other kruthiks, based on his bond with this one, which had presumably been implanted in him by the large adult kruthik that had confronted the party at Fort Midway.

The heroes seemed angered by the actions of Millmaster, and wanted revenge. However, they sought to shore up local defenses, and realized that there had been traditionally a method for the northern reaches of the Rankford environs, the Commune and Mitte all to communicate: via signal towers. They helped to refurbish the tower atop the Grey Wolf Inn. Two party members were sent to the Collective, to check-in and to re-establish the signal tower there. A protocol of watching and responding to “keep alive” messages was determined; at sunup, midday and sundown an “All OK” message would be sent. A few basic types of messages were agreed upon, including “Are you OK?”, “We need help,” “All OK,” and “Stay Away.”

The next step would be to reinstate the signal tower that used to exist atop the Old Mill. And perhaps, simultaneously, signal Azan the ranger to see what help he might provide.

TSM Update: We’ve got to stop meeting like this

IN OUR LAST SESSION….

…. umm, how about a quick recap before we revisit this week’s game?

Our heroes had gone to Fort Midway as a remote spot where Garl Morningmoon could be interrogated, after Eeger had unexpectedly left town, presumably to meet with Marver, the Warden. However, at Fort Midway they were very quickly besieged by two — no three — forces. Mons Millmaster’s mill workers met up with a force of lumberjacks, organized initially by a bald human necromancer, and over the course of several hours assaulted the Fort, intending to capture or kill the heroes.

After the first assault failed, the two groups were joined by a third group of mostly orcs, seemingly led by ogres. The next assault was more coordinated, and grew to include zombies raised by the necromancer. Zombies who had been warriors slain by the heroes in the previous assault.

The heroes fought valiantly, destroying a makeshift siege wagon and slaying an ice dragon, along with many, many foes. Just as the forces of evil began to finally prevail, yet another force arrived on the scene: the dog-to-horse-sized kruthiks, who swept through the battlefield, making short order of those who did not flee.

A tense standoff then took place between the heroes and the kruthiks, who swarmed around the heroes, but seemed, under the mental direction of the largest of them, to be … waiting for something? Trying to communicate something? The standoff seemed poised on a knife’s edge, when someone at the base of the hill began to shout, attracting the kruthik’s attention. As they rushed to eat(?) this new party, the heroes were lured down to an escape hatch in the keep’s kitchen, which led via a muddy tunnel to a ledge halfway between the walls of the Fort and the basin of an old abandoned quarry. Lieber Longshanks, Farley Gleamsilver, Stem Followill and Lex Walters helped the heroes escape via a wagon in the quarry. The distracting figure that had taunted the kruthiks was presumably an illusion created by the sage Dirac, at the insistence of Marg and Lieber.

Our heroes learned, though, that Carly, who had provided them some initial support, had not returned. They were approached by a sullen elven lumberjack who claimed that Marver had Carly, but would free her if “they could work out a deal.” A meeting with Marver and the heroes was scheduled.

IN OUR LAST SESSION…

…. (for real) our heroes met with Marver at the crossroads. Marver was accompanied by Mons Millmaster and two dwarven millmen, two elven lumberjacks and two ogres. They produced Carly, bound, gagged and clearly not well-treated. Marver offered a chest full of thousands of gold that, with the promised release of Carly, was to be given to the heroes if they agreed to leave town and never return. The heroes declined. A fight ensued.

Norm magicked one of the elves, after being hit with a spear. Tia took out the other elf holding Carly. Norm moved in, grabbed Carly and took off, thinking that the plan was focused primarily on freeing her. The other heroes seemed more intent on defeating Marver. Unfortunately, with a mighty blow, one of the ogres took down Tovlakov. Marver, wielding a gleaming scimitar and his allies fell on Tia and Dain in numbers.

Tia used all of her warrior-wise to smash Marver again and again. The foes struggled to penetrate Dain’s armor, but he likewise struggled to make much of an impact on them.

So the fight went. After a few back-and-forth rounds, Norm returned and began to focus his attacks on Marver. Dain eventually fell. Tia and Norm continued to pound on Marver who moved from supremely confident to concerned to frightened to dead.

One of the ogres offered an exchange: “You keep girl, we keep gold!” Mons, realizing that suddenly he and his millmen were now facing the heroes alone, decided to retreat.

The heroes gathered up a wagon and five horses left by Marver, snatched up his corpse and items, and made their way to the Temple of Gond, where Pearl saw to Tovlakov, Dain and Carly.

The citizens of Rankford once again celebrated the heroes’ success. Dirac was brought forward and, reluctantly, conferred upon Tia the title of Warden, and on Norm the title of Sheriff.

Among Marver’s possessions was the magic scimitar (a weapon that Pearl insisted not be brought into her church), and a quite powerful Spellguard Shield. Also, he possessed a ruby ring of office (now worn by Tia) and a large key, presumably to the Warden’s office. As the session ended, the party, having borrowed a pony to go with the three riding horses they’d liberated from Marver, were traveling east on the Starwater Road toward the former demesne of the Warden.

DM Diary: Pulling out the Rug

This last week, a couple of things happened about which the players were clearly unhappy.  I think that one of those situations involved something that I did that I shouldn’t have done (or at least not have done the way that I actually did); and one involved something that I arguably did OK, but that, had I to do it again, would do differently.

In last week’s session (link here), the PCs were facing another wave of attacks as they attempted to, literally, “hold the fort” versus an enemy encamped at the gates.  They made certain preparations, most of which I respected in how they worked against the marauding foes.  However, I put an item, the Wand of Wonder (which I called “The Wand of Wondrous Might”; just as I have called the Deck of Many Things they have “The Deck of Many Wondrous Things,” into the hands of the party.

The party’s magic user, Norm, tried to use it several times.  Two of the five times he tried, it randomly turned him invisible.  Fine.  One time, it useless spat gems out of the end.  That is meant to be an actual attack, presumably, but the enemy that he was attacking was well beyond the range of the cascading gems.  It was the two other abortive uses that caused the consternation.

On the first use, the die roll to determine the “Wondrous” effect was in the range 21-25.  According to D20.net: “You cast Detect Thoughts on the target you chose. If you didn’t target a creature, you instead take 1d6 psychic damage.”  I clarified when the player attempted to use the item (this was the first actual attempt to use the WoW) that he was targeting an area, not an individual creature.  “You’re not targeting a specific creature?” “No, I’m targeting this area.”  Therefore he took 1d6 psychic damage.  I have no problem with how that played out.

Later, when the player was clearly targeting an area again (I didn’t ask this time, I was wary that repeatedly asking the same question would raise a flag), he rolled a result in the range 98-00.  That result, if not targeting a specific creature results in the wielder having to make a certain saving throw.  As written, if one fails, they are restrained and are beginning to turn to stone.  If they fail by 5 or more, they are instantly petrified.  The player made their save.  However, I still imposed a Slowed condition and they were clearly starting to turn to stone.

This result does not match the rules as written.  And it imposes a penalty, even though the player made their save.  That’s harsh, I’ll warrant.  My plan was to allow them to attempt a saving throw on each turn.  On a failed save, they’d move first to Restrained, then to Petrified.  Each positive save would move them in the opposite direction: Restrained ->Slowed -> Normal.  The players were upset that the individual had made a saving throw but still suffered a negative outcome.  I should have given some flavor text when the got the initial result that made it clear that something bad had happened, and that the save was only to determine how bad it would be.  Having things like the WoW and the DomWT require that the DM be flexible and think quickly on his/her feet.  An example:

On a roll of 63-65 the following result is produced: “An object of the DM ‘s choice disappears into the Ethereal Plane. The object must be neither worn nor carried, within 120 feet of the target, and no larger than 10 feet in any dimension.”  What?  What kind of object would I choose, on the fly?  I guess it would be good to familiarize myself with each of the options and make a note or two on what I might want to do if that object is selected.  Next time.

The other issue was one of tactics.  The players had learned from the previous session that one PC could effectively hold a staircase in the fortress against an unlimited number of foes by blocking their path.  As long as the PC could hold out, the bad guys couldn’t move past that character.  They (not surprisingly) deployed that tactic again in the most recent session.

The bad guys sent a stream of combatants against the stairs, and the PC cleric, AC 18 was easily able to hold them off, since the bad guys, buy and large, couldn’t hit him.  Eventually, with a lot going on, I had a raging berzerker hit the cleric successfully (on a fair roll, not that that matters), do a decent amount of damage, then move past him.  His allies followed on the same turn.  The players objected (not right away, but before much time had passed).  How had they managed to get by the cleric?  Just because he had been hit, he hadn’t been moved or knocked down.

The truth was, in the excitement of the moment, I had considered the hit on the cleric such a success that I had simply discounted the blocking maneuver.  I hadn’t consciously  decided that now the situation had changed.  It just seemed like such a watershed that the cleric had been hit at all, that naturally the bad guys could now move forward.  When called on it, I offered a lame justification.

Much better would have been, between sessions, to have given some thought to how the bad guys might have adapted to the tactics that had failed in the first assault and have them developed a new approach to the problem of the stair-block, given that it was almost certain to occur again.

The bad guys, for instance, could have started “shoving” the person on the stairs.  I had to just search for what that action was even called.  There used to be an “bull rush attack option in previous D&D iterations.  Now you “shove.”  I think “bull rush” or “overbear” sound better.  They could have shoved and probably would have been at least as successful.

But simply letting the bad guys get past the blocking maneuver, when I had previously established that it wasn’t possible to get past it, was not the way to go.

Lessons:

  1. before handing out an item like the WoW: print out a list of all the options and have a note on the sheet of any special results and any special rules you want to implement.
  2. Have some narrative fluff prepared for the outcomes of a new item like the WoW.
  3. If the PCs have implemented a successful tactic in one session, and it’s likely to recur in the next, have a plan that the bad guys would try as a countermeasure.  But live with the outcome if it doesn’t work.

TSM Update: Knock Knock

IN OUR LAST SESSION….

…just as our heroes were settling into the Purple Dragon’s fortress in the forest, albeit after poor Garl had an unfortunate stumble off the roof of a two story building, some new friends showed up.

The fortress is mostly made up of a high stone wall with a “front door” facing the road and a large main gate facing east, anchored by towers in each cardinal corner, and a single large keep in the center of the enclosed court. There’s also a stable, a small office building, an outhouse, a small door in the western wall, and various storage areas. A heavy hoist is mounted to the wall on the northern end. The northern wall overlooks a great pit or something hundreds of feet below. The ground along the western and (especially) the eastern walls has eroded over time and is precarious and unpredictable. There is little to no walkway left outside the northern wall.

The main keep inside the fortifications seems to serve as a garrison, mess hall and defense-of-last-resort for some previous soldiery. Atop the keep’s roof, a great ballista was found, alongside a stack of huge wooden bolts topped with hammered steel bolt heads. As is the case with each of the 4 towers, large barrels of oil stand here, next to an iron cauldron, and small barrels of arrows are deployed across the surface.

A catwalk ties the four towers together at the top of the crenelated fortress wall. Each tower is made up of a 2-story circular staircase, with barrels of spears and arrows at the intermediate landing and a trap door at each level, secured from above. A trap door and staircase inside a bulge in the wall separates the inner and outer doors in the western wall and allows access to the catwalk.

The office building in the northwest corner of the fortress is comprised of a single windowless room featuring a desk scattered with papers and a few books, and a single bed and footlocker.

Along the back (northern wall) are an outhouse privy, the hoist, and a pile of coal and firewood. From atop the northern wall, Tovlakov spotted a ledge a hundred or so feet below, and the remnants of a rope ladder descending from it. There was no obvious way to reach the ledge short of a dismayingly difficult climb. The privy at the back of the fortress is literally just three walls, a door and a large hole in the ground with a great drop beneath it.

As the morning wore on, two groups seemed to be converging on the road. One made mostly of elves, dressed in leathers and carrying axes from the west, another, mostly dwarves with hammers and heavy axes from the east. Here and there were individuals in armor, and the occasional torch-bearing Man. Keeping the peace and seemingly in charge of these two mobs was a human, bald-headed and robed. He brazenly approached the front gate and began to bang on it and call within. He was not welcomed inside. As the two mobs gathered together to form a single fighting force, the bald man revealed himself to be a wizard of some stripe, and caused the front door to be unbarred and opened. The heroes inside set about defending the fortress, mostly working from the battlements, casting spells, firing arrows and holding the southwest tower from those who made it inside and attempted to storm upwards. A ladder was employed, mostly unsuccessfully. Small groups attacked the eastern and western doors, those on the east quite unsuccessfully, given the pit trap uncovered there. Those doors though, were shattered under axe blows. One attacker made it through the western gate and pounded the trap door open leading to the catwalk there.

At one point the rival wizard instantiated a green glowing hound which assaulted Norm, but which eventually disapparated.

By the end of the session, the initial attack had been smashed. The rival wizard had faded back to his mob, which had been diminished by approximately one-third. The enemy was still encamped outside the fortress, seemingly gathering their collective breath and considering the next assault.

Morning is still a few hours away.

TSM Update: A Thieve’s Guild? In Rankford?

IN OUR LAST SESSION…

…it appears that the Purple Dragons are coming to town, which news seemed to have stirred Eeger, finally, from his perch.

Garl is pretty tough, it turns out, and fights dirty.  And his cell sits atop the entrance to a subterranean training area for local thieves, with it’s own tunnel exit leading north of town, and perhaps somewhere south as well.

After borrowing Hugo’s wagon under the ruse of taking supplies out to the ‘Dragons outpost west of town, our heroes stashed Garl, in chains, aboard it and headed to the outpost as a remote location for his interrogation.  Along the way, they passed the wood mill, sawing away in the middle of the night and arrived at the fortress outpost.  And just across the Road , so the heroes were told, slumped Count Segur’s residence, a mansion in the woods, though one perhaps not up to the standards — viewed from a distance, that one might expect from the Lord Regent of an ancient empire.

After falling and nearly falling off the cliff atop which squats the fortress, our heroes made their way inside the outpost, bringing with them the horse and Garl, and barred the entrance behind them, secure in the knowledge (?) that the Purple Dragons are due in 2 days.

Along the way, they heard from Garl, not at all reluctant, at least initially, to spill what he knew of the conspiracy.  It involves Eeger, the head of the thieves guild, Count Segur who seems to have some unknown sway over Ruddiger the Druid, and Marver the Warden.  They have some associates according to Garl: Mons Millmaster of the mill, and some “ogre,” supposedly.  Skank, he claims, worked for Eeger as a member of the thieves until he made some misstep.  Garl suggested that the Taledos must have likewise acted against the conspirators’ wishes in some way.

Garl said that the conspirators are simply involved in an effort to smuggle mithral from “a hole in the ground” through Rankford and ultimately to Immersea for sale.  It’s about money.  He said that he works for Eeger now, though he used to work for Millmaster until Eeger arrived on the scene.

Garl, perhaps bluffing, seemed very little concerned with his own death, but was enthusiastic in describing how the heroes were now certain to meet theirs, once the conspirators got a hold of them.  Towards the end of the session, though, Garl seemed more withdrawn.

TSM Update: Tunnel of Love

IN OUR LAST SESSION…

… our heroes (Tovlakov and Tia, anyway) explored the mysterious, previously hidden,  basement of the Taledo Transport shipping house.  The basement contained a series of now empty boxes, all bearing the mysterious symbol that we now associate with Count Segur.  And a tunnel heading north.  There was also a knot of rats fleeing the approaching heroes, as well as one dog-sized rat with red eyes.

T&T headed north, and after creeping along for a few hours, and discovering latent tracks of a heavy wagon previously pushed along the passage, they found that the tunnel met up with a much larger, smoother subterranean avenue heading generally east-west.  The uniformity of this larger tunnel led the heroes to believe that it had been bored by an ankheg.  The fact that there was wagon tread leading up to the ankheg tunnel and reappearing on the far side, but no such tracks of a wagon in the larger, smoother passage, seemed to indicate that the ankheg tunnel was newer than the last use of the wagon.

Eventually, after growing generally more damp, the passage from the Taledo shipping house led to a stairway that let out into a closet with a concealed door inside the Taledo office and residence.  T&T managed to slip out, unnoticed.

The entire group of heroes met up an their new hideout, an abandoned structure that Tia seemed to recall was some sort of ill-fated, low-reputation business from her youth.  The party members hid a number of the mithril ingot here.  There was a general planning session then, due to the extremely late hour, the heroes retreated to the Watchtower.

The following morning, Dain and Tovlakov headed to the House of Gond and met up with Pearl.  They convinced her that there might be memories, perhaps involving prominent individuals that she had lost due to the involvement of the satyr Lytus and that it might be important to regain.  She eventually committed to taking the memory restorative tea herself.

Dain had previously drawn a card from the Deck of Many Wondrous Things. He drew the Star card, and as a result became more wise.

Tovlakov confirmed, while Garl was sleeping, that his boots were muddied and covered with recent ash.

As the session began to wrap up, the heroes plotting what to do next, with Lord Segur presumably returning to town on the morning, an oddly-rapt rat, redolent with rare rationality, realizing the role-players recognition, fled, following the facility’s fragments to freedom.  Tia attempted an arrow assault and attained anticlimax.

There seemed to be some concern that the rat might be a servant of Ruddiger.

TSM Update: Let the Memory live again

IN OUR LAST SESSION…

… our heroes escaped from the War Wizards Tower, with the help of a mephit named Mike.  He offered a nice gift bag as consolation.

We learned a bit more about Lord Segur. Apparently he’s been around more than you realized.

Walter, supposedly, was encouraged to give himself in.  His regret at acceding, at least, was not long-lived.

The elixir mixed up by Pearl for the Taledos worked great.  So Norm tried it.  And recalled a meeting between Segur and Eeger that had been wiped out by the satyr’s magical pipes.  Also, that the druid Ruddiger had magically halted the group after the battle with the Ankheg and torn a page from Norm’s notebook containing a particular symbol, drawn from a blackened and burnt book found at the site of the first murder ritual.

Eeger and Segur?  The Warden Marver?  Ruddiger the druid?

Also, what about Skank?  Garl Gleamsilver?

Who can be trusted?

TSM Update

Last week, our heroes ventured out to the SmokeWorks, with the intention of filling in some of the gaps in their memories from Longshanks.  Tia also hoped to see if they could do something with the ankheg armor plates.  Longshanks promised to get started on the ankheg bits, and provided some forgotten information, in particular as it related to the slain ratcatcher Wolfshead.  While visiting with Longshanks, a stir at the SmokeWorks arose.  An elven lumberjack had collapsed, exhausted, after having fled an attack by strange light-skinned, hooved creatures who, he believed, had murdered everyone in his logging camp.

The heroes decided to try to deal with these monsters, presumably kor.  Dain set out with one of Longshank’s ponies to fetch Norm.  Along the way, he ran into a group of wild, enormous wolves who pursued and at various times stood like a man an hurled a javelin at him and the elf who Dain hoped to bring to safety in Rankford Mitte.  One of Longshank’s horses was slain by the wolves, but Dain and the elf managed to escape.

Having fetched Norm, dropped off the elf and returned to SmokeWorks, the party set out where they understood the logging camp that the kor had attacked was located.  They made their way into the wood, along a logging trail, through an abandoned logging camp site, and came to the bloody ruins of the objective.  As we stopped, the kor had noticed the heroes and were preparing for battle.