Sour Spring Hollow

[Guang]

OOC: It's just as well our GM took a break. Life has been crazy this week. Busted pipes and everything.
OOC: Fire: yeah, just kinda wanted to get ahold of some holly to take down with us if possible.

IC: Luc and Gran hold position outside and hold aim. Nan climbs partway up the ladder and carefully peeks upstairs, ready to drop back down if anything jumps at her.

[Raven_Crowking]

I'm back.

Up in the loft, the area seems to have been a child's rooms. There are kid's pictures scrawled on the walls.

[Guang]

Does anything seem like it could be made out of holly? Anything unusual about the pictures, or are we talking about "My house" "My family" kind of pictures?

[Raven_Crowking]

So glad you asked.

Moving up the ladder to see better, Nan sees a whole series of childish drawings covering the pitched loft ceiling and walls. They seem to be drawn with clay dust, dried mud, and blood. They show the Hobb family engaged in various blasphemous rites of black magic, but they also show a sequence with a priestess...a cleric who confronts them, is captured, has her walking stick broken, and her holy symbol thrown down the well. In the end, she is sacrificed by being tied to a pole as a scarecrow, at the top of the corn field.

Twenty years back, a young cleric of the Sovereign, Shuyr Rilla by name, took it upon herself to rid the Shudder Mountains of that dark coven. Armed only with her hawthorne walking stick and her holy symbol, she went to Sour Spring Hollow. Neither she nor the Hobbs ever came out of that Hollow again, but folk reckon she must have had a measure of success, because the witchings stopped. Come to think of it, hawthorne may be as powerful against the dark arts as holly is....

[fireinthedust]

OOC: is it too late to change my character's name to Hawthorn? No? Yes?


IC:

Amalthia goes up after Nan, takes a look at the pictures.

"Okay, so we can get the holy symbol from the well. What about the staff? And what's up with the corn dolls of our dead friends? And are the ghosts our friends, or the Hobbs? ...and who the heck drew the pictures?"


OOC: My turn to pretend to be homeless. Back late Wednesday. (sheepish grin)

[Guang]

OOC: Sounds like we have a plan of action. I remember that walking stick......gonna have to search previous posts.

[Guang]

OOC: Looks like we had many of the clues in the first cabin....Thanks Raven for the kind reminder!
OOC: Luc already has 50 feet of rope.
OOC: Okay, the broken Hawthorn walking stick is in the first cabin. This cabin has the devil's thorn on the door. BTW, how heavy is that door?

OOC:The rest of what might still be in Cabin #1:
a hatchet for chopping wood....a bit rusty, perhaps, but definitely serviceable.
chests contain clothing - typical Shudfolk gear - but also three flasks of oil.
a lantern near the kitchen.
a small sack of salt
a bigger sack of corn meal that the mice have barely touched
A frying pan

OOC:Would also love to get my sling from Marissa's body in Cabin #3
Presumed contents of cabin #3:
Marissa's body with Sling 1d4, club 1d4, staff 1d4, 35cp, torch, knife 1d4.
2 knives
some old clothing
a lantern
1 flasks of oil
some dried meat and pickled vegetables in crockery jars
1 sp, 8 cp
firewood laid near the fireplace

OOC: Fire, we have rope. We need the Hawthorne walking stick from Cabin #1, and the symbol from the well. We could really use some lanterns while we're down there. Might split up. What do you think? Is it worth going back to cabin #2 as well? Is it worth disturbing whatever deadly thing is in cabin #4 by continuing to search?

OOC: I'm beginning to think we should have had Autoloot-On for this adventure.

[fireinthedust]

OOC: I'm back! Gosh I'm glad you looked through other posts.

I think we NEED the stick and the holy symbol. The challenge is that the cabin that ate Igor has his holy symbol in it. The well symbol is therefore more important, and Amalthia just cannot help in combat: one hp is a liability. I'd like to play her over the long haul, but this is DCC.

Flasks of oil is a good idea. Also whatever weapons. We got the book, we got the cards, we need the weapons and items.

I say we get to the walking stick asap. The cabin with the body (I think?) is between there and the well.

Sound like a plan?

[Guang]

OOC: How about we split up, and meet back at the well? I'm not quite willing for Amalthea to be a non-combatant, but I am willing to pair her with Nan, my most expendable PC. They could go to cabin #3, which is closer, and bring *everything* with them back to the well.

OOC: Gran and Luc would go to cabin #1, and bring *everything* back with them to the well.

OOC: The survivors could then mount an expedition down the well to get the holy symbol - although *anything* could be down there - I'm reminded of Rappan Athuk's "Don't go down the well!". We might regret not cutting open the mimic, but I'm excited to see what might be down there.

OOC: Fire, what do you think?

[fireinthedust]

OOC: I'd rather we stayed together. Amalthia can throw her dagger and have the goat attack. Plus splitting the party is a bad idea. We can at least aid another. Dead is dead anyway we split it.

[Guang]

OOC: Ok, cabin #1 it is then.

IC: Nan leaves the cabin carefully, taking the jug (What is in the jug?), fiddle, and lantern. She hands them to Luc, who goes first. Nan brings up the rear, with Gran and the elf in the middle, as they head back to cabin #1, intending to take everything there and bringing it back to the well. They prepare extra torches on the porch with firewood before they go, and carry weapons ready, Gran with her bow.

OOC: Remember my door question? Gran studied the door, way back when. Was it light enough to bring with us?
OOC: Fire, Amalthea being more passive is ok with me for now, but I'm losing people too. Maybe should change once I'm down to 2?

[fireinthedust]

OOC: Agreed on the passive. I think I'll fix that right now by grabbing things to throw: pieces of firewood, maybe that hatchet, and her dagger. If I lose her, I'm out of the game, so I'll go ranged. If needed, I'll have her swing around behind a given opponent. Any other weapons that we could throw?

[fireinthedust]

OOC: Agreed on the passive. I think I'll fix that right now by grabbing things to throw: pieces of firewood, maybe that hatchet, and her dagger. If I lose her, I'm out of the game, so I'll go ranged. If needed, I'll have her swing around behind a given opponent. Any other weapons that we could throw?

[Raven_Crowking]

IC: Nan leaves the cabin carefully, taking the jug (What is in the jug?), fiddle, and lantern. She hands them to Luc, who goes first. Nan brings up the rear, with Gran and the elf in the middle, as they head back to cabin #1, intending to take everything there and bringing it back to the well. They prepare extra torches on the porch with firewood before they go, and carry weapons ready, Gran with her bow.

From the smell of it, the jug is half-full of liquor.

There is no problem returning to the first cabin. You are now assembled outside of it. Indeed, a strong man might be able to carry the door with him, using both hands.

[fireinthedust]

OOC: Could Amalthia drag the door, horizontal from the front, back surface dragging, like carrying a sled (or a single person dragging another person on a stretcher)? Otherwise, she'll help carry as much as she can (torches, the walking stick) with her other hand holding her dagger ready to throw.

[Raven_Crowking]

OOC: Could Amalthia drag the door, horizontal from the front, back surface dragging, like carrying a sled (or a single person dragging another person on a stretcher)?

That seems extremely feasible.

[fireinthedust]

Okay, Amalthia will pull the door.

[Guang]

OOC: Sorry, lots of RL going on.
IC: Gran aims through the doorway, just in case. Nan and Luc go in and gather up everything.

[fireinthedust]

Amalthia will help them, and pull the door once we're ready to go.

Do we want to load up the door as a sort of sled, maybe have the goat pull it? That way all hands are free to weild weapons when needed. Tie the rope around the goat, thread it between parts of the door frame, then Amalthia pulls the goat's leash and have the other hand free for throwing the dagger. If it's a rustic cottage door, we could likely have some space to tie rope around so it'll hold.

[Guang]

OOC: I was thinking we could place the door over the well to offer it's protection to us while we are inside.
Of course, if it's currently keeping something we don't know about trapped inside the cabin, then we're screwed

[fireinthedust]

OOC: Yeah, I'm not sure myself. I mean, does the symbol need a ritual to activate, or is the door the bearer of a warding zone around it? When we get to the well, I suppose it couldn't hurt. If we can't defend ourselves, the phantoms could just phase through the ground and kill us. Maybe we'll find the source of them down in the well? If we can fight that, we could avoid them.

[Guang]

Are we waiting for me?

If so, back to the well. Gran carries all the cabin loot for now, including more torches, Nan goes first, and Luc brings up the rear, maybe carrying the back end of the door?

Luc ties the rope to the most stable part of the superstructure, takes a lighted lantern, and descends. Gran is ready to shoot down the well if neccessary.

[fireinthedust]

OOC: I thought we were loading up the door, tying it to the goat, and leading it towards the well. How are we bringing supplies down with us? If Luc is going first, Amalthia will ask how the water is doing: is it deep enough to drop Sir Cudsworth down, or will we need to carry him?

[Guang]

Ah, yes, sorry. Change that to what fire said pls.

Agree on the water......would be nice to have the option of jumping down.....although we have to be careful nothing cuts our rope.....maybe leave someone topside?

[Raven_Crowking]

I will resolve posts tomorrow.