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Session #2
12 1st level characters and 9 0-level characters
The Module is a 3.5 DnD DCC Module converted over to DCC RPG, #35 Halls of the Minotaur.
STORY:
Upon returning to Dimsdale from the Portal Under the Stars in the Moon Mountains
to the west. The villagers returned with the corpses of the dead and the
treasure of the Ancient Wizard Warlord. Returning to town to the amazement of
the villagers that stayed behind. Sharing stories and spinning tales of the mysteries
of the magical portal and the legend of the alien power that existed amongst the stars
with the rest of their neighbors and friends back in their humble village home of Dimsdale.
Stories of heroism (yeah right) and songs of mourning (mourning over the dead
not having more loot when we looted their corpses) were sung by the Minstrel
Lucious the Loquacious in memory of those no longer amongst the living.
The remaining villagers were so impressed with the heroes return that they
deemed them more worthy of praise then the yellow Lord Humperdink to whom they
all payed taxes and who owned all the lands in the Dale.
They called them the heroes of the Four Seasons!
A few months rolled by as the village continued to be rampaged by the yelping
scaled dog men that ravaged the countryside for over a year, even before the veteran
adventurer Pleckian was ever in the picture. Old Uncle Ronton's prize horse,
one of the few horses in the town was stolen and bits of flesh and hair were
found near his stable along with a small wooden short-spear that was cleaved to
the side of his barn.
The heroes of the four seasons as the towns people were now calling them
continued to be petitioned for help by their neighbors and friends, as well as the town
sherrifs and constables who feared these small abominations. They beckoned the heroes
to protect the place they all called home. After all, Dimsdale may not be much but it was home,
and it meant more to the people of Dimsdale then all of the lands of Lord Humperdink combined.
The heroes were dumbstruck though, without any feasible leads as to where the
disappearances of livestock, and crops originated from, the entire calamity could
not be confronted.
In the few months many of the heroes of the four seasons went in the direction
of the winds (cities to the North, South, East, West) to pursue answers and
knowledge from things they had discovered in the tomes and tablets of the old
Wizard in the Portal Under the Stars. The ones that were fascinated by their
finding started to delve into the magicks of the tome learning it's forbidden
secrets and earning memberships into dark cabals that taught them proper ways
of manifesting the energies of the occult in exchange for access to the tablets and
texts that were found in the Wizard Warlords Star Portal Abode.
Others used there wealth to learn how to handle a sword by visiting the Guild of
Fighters in the city a weeks travel to the East. Training in the Capital where
fighting men are always needed and mercenaries from foreign lands earn great
wealth as guards, weaponmasters, gladiators, and adventurers. The ones who
enjoyed this life, returned looking like different people all together (or as if
they'd done P90X dungeon crawl style).
Still others felt it necessary to contribute to their respective churches and
seek guidance from their religions and take up the cause of the faith. Of great
note are two of the villagers, specifically the cousins Roslyn and Jazzibel,
whom both learned that they're bloodline was that of an ancient elemental people
who originated of the Thornwilde forests North of Dimsdale. A great omen, that led to
their indoctrination into the Druidic Circle of Illdavir, whom their families had worshipped
for generations upon generations. An honor and an object to great pride to their family.
And some (mainly the minstrel Lucious the Loquacious), just decided to squander it and
party with wine, whores and more whores (becoming a thief).
Ultimately they all returned to the place they called home, after months away
the 'four seasons' returned with the glittering hope of things to come. That hope
had become contagious as a few of the villagers left behind in the wake of the
journey to the portal, insisted in helping the returning heroes of the four
seasons and ultimately help Dimsdale.
The town of Dimsdale was now constantly being besieged by more and more fearsome
attacks, and now one villager a small child of seven winters called Terner, described as "the lizard dogmen".
They had become more daring than ever, recently
attacking a caravan that traveled near Dimsdale to the capital to the East.
Besides a few cuts and bruises on the caravan no one was harmed, unfortunately
they made of with some goods and wears from the caravan. Many of the villagers heard tell,
that one of the caravan guards could identify that they had retreated to the Thornwilde
forest to the North of Dimsdale. Some of the other villagers heard stories that some of the caravan guards and
passengers decided to pursue the lizard dogmen into the forrest never to be heard from again.
That night the town once again united itself at Mammy Magdaline's bed and
breakfast, to discuss what must be done. The entire town was in attendance and
ideas were tossed back and forth. Ultimately they decided, that the heroes were
the answer, if they could conquer a Warlord Wizard's Star Vault, they could deal
with the likes of the "Lizard Dogmen". And besides they would rather pay for
the heroes to protect the town than Mercenaries from the capital that were bank-rolled
by the Yellow good' for nothing Lord Humperdink. The town voted that the heroes take on the task if
they would agree. So...
The Heroes of the four seasons decided to once again unite (Team Summer, Spring, Winter, and Fall,
each team represents a player's group of 0-level characters, who are now technically 1st level), this time with a few
extra re-inforcements to replace those lost (Team Equinox, a new player who made 5 0-level characters),
and take care of this once and for all. So now it was Team 4 seasons and the Equinox marching
into the fray (5 seasons for short), as soon as they could lure the lizard-dog
men back into action they would follow them to their lair and take care of them
once and for all.
So the plan was, for a few of the farmers to leave their livestock unattended and tied with bells
around their necks. Finally Bunter Briscoes Cattle's Bell was rung less
than a day later by the lizard-dog men. Upon hearing the alarm, the 5 seasons came running,
giving chase to the creatures they had seen for the first time. They were about 3 feet tall, had the heads
of a dog, but the skin of a lizard, yelping and yapping back and forth to one another as if communicating.
Oddly though, they all walked like humanoids, on two feet, they were completely naked except they all
carried long sharpened stakes that resembled spears. Upon seeing the villagers they ran, some of them
doubling over and runnning on four legs with the spears in their mouths. Heading towards Dimsdale glades,
or as it's known by those outside of Dimsdale the Thornwilde.
Into the Thornwilde Forest went the 5 seasons in hot pursuit of the small
varmints.
ADVENTURE:
In the Thornwilde (aka Dimsdale forrest) synopsis:
-Chased the lizard dogmen to a campsight where Roxley the Wizard unleashed some occult
magicks (choking cloud rolled Natural 20+2) upon the small scaled looking men, killing them all in
one shot.
-Discovered that the camp-site was not made by these dog-men it was created
by the people from the caravan attack on the road near Dimsdale who went missing into the forrest.
This is confirmed by finding the skeleton of a man.
-We continued foward into the forest where we began to be followed by large Ravens, it
was like a scene from 'birds' by albert hitchcock where birds began landing on
the branches of trees and squawking loudly. Thousands of birds turning the
little light that sneaked through the canopy of trees into darkened twilight. 5 of
the largest of the birds, easily 6 foot tall each, attacked with their talons,
which were coated in white icor, that we discovered was poison. Jazzibel, being
a druidic follower of Illdavir incanted her Gods Aid and turned the evil magicks
away from the unnatural creations (Said some cole RPing stuff and rolled high on the 'Turn Unholy Creatures Chart'.
-The two druids of Illdavir Rosalyn and Jazzibel sacrificed the 5 6'tall birds
to Illdavir in a ritual to save the Elf who had been poisoned...fortunately we
succeeded in saving her (and keeping her from loosing 2 permanent points of stamina,
the ritual magic was just a bunch of RPing as well as sacrificing the Un-Natural Birds to Illdavir
the god of Nature, we just didn't want the Elf to lose the points of stamina so we justified a
cure through role-playing, part of what I like about this system.)
-We doubled back towards a nook we hadn't explored to be thwarted by a ravine.
3 pc deaths later after falling off a log bridge that snapped in two, we cross the ravine to find a
large cliff with a dock 20 feet below. The dock leads to a lake where grey mist
swirls above in a magical dance of images...a castle, knights in armor, horses galloping, blades
crashing together...all immense clouds of magical illusions that captivate us to travel forth.
-We approach the bank of the lake where the dock ends and we see two braziers
that instantly light as we approach. We find inscriptions of runic words on the marble floor
of the dock upon which we stand:
"Warriors Sworn, Prophets True, Seekers of Lore and Canting Crew, Never stray
from the path."
The brave warrior Roxley begins to walk forward into the lake from the dock and
discovers that there is an invisible bridge leading into the lake.
-We find an island where we discover that there is faerie magic that lingers as
we are all in a great mood and feel drowsy and relaxed. The entire party falls
into a magical deep sleep except the one Elf of Dimsdale, who is immune. We awaken three hours
later fully rested and continue to explore the island, we find a large Sea
faring boat stranded on the banks of the fresh-water lake. Searching through the ruins of the
odd wrecked sea vessel washed ashore onto the fresh water island of the faeries we
find a large two-handed sword that is lined in silver. We give it to the brave
Ygmar, to console the loss of his wife and his son during the expeditions beginning.
-We find another twilight invisible bridge that appears at the sunset as we
make out the shimmer of the magicks off the banks of the island in the mists. We
follow the bridge to a grove back on the mainland that would be inaccessible
except through these magical bridges over the lake. In this grove, there is a statue of Illdavir
and her unicorn mount. She is standing at attention with a wreath of flowers in one hand and another empty
(where she typically holds her scythe). The two druids are concerned and decide
that they shall rest here for the rest of the night to pray to Illdavir and convince the party to
continue in the morning. (Luckily our hunch about resting at the Grove was rewarded by a +2 to casting
spells, by a blessing granted by Illdavir, for 24 hours!)
Later we leave the grove of Illdavir across the twilight bridge and travel
back across the faerie island and again across the lake and towards the ravine. Managing
to cross it without to much of a problem this time.
-Follow the tracks of the kobolds and find tracks of humans also, follow the
human tracks, find a dwarf in a tree being sucked dried by bloodthorn, a
parasitic vine that grows in the forest and makes it mainly uninhabitable. The poor dwarfs dead body
is being eaten by wild ravenous dogs. We throw some stones and scare the dogs away after doing some damage.
We bury the dwarf who was a part of the caravan team and continue on.
-Later, some of the heroes Fall into quicksand, discover the tracks of the
humans end at the quicksand. Upon searching inside the quicksand with a 10'
pole we discover that the quicksand has dead bodies at the bottom, those of the
people from the original caravan that went to recover their goods. Also we find
the golden scythe that belongs on the statue of Illdavir.
-Further into the forrest as we follow the tracks We find a "sleeping bear" that
turns out to be a man-beast/bear. As we approach it (the Druids of Illdavir thought it was
a bear and dindn't want to harm it with Missle fire) we discover it's a trap set by the lizard dogman...
battle ensues, more lizard dogs come running in their yelping yapping battlecry.
5 party members and the man-beast/bear are ensnared into a large net.
We realize the Man-beast/bear can talk a few words of the common tongue and is not with the lizard dogs,
so we don't kill it. We do kill the 10 or so lizard dogmen that ambush us.
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End of Session #2
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