The party went around Smyrmi, successfully avoiding the Grand Mockeries. The next day they met a gnomish merchant named Gwarnright Gilad and his hill giant bodyguard, Hallan. Gwarnright bought much of their loot from them, including the altarpieces from the shrine to Faedir and Arturio, and the brazier and candelabras from the shrine to Thūda. In return, Gwarnright sold them thirteen +3 spell catalysts, a length of Spinner Silk rope, 3 jugs of acid, 3 Witchwood teas, an aged but legible map of Abhata province, 25 weeks of dwarven trail rations (5 weeks for each), a spear and Gnomish fine clothes (quite Garish) for Cynthia, 2 dwarvish expanders, and 2 climbing kits. They were thrilled with the new rations, which consisted of dried garlic chicken livers, smoked and peppered cheese, spiced pork sausages, hard tack, dried vegetables, and dried wild mushrooms. The party came out ahead in the exchange, gaining 5 Wyrmgeld, 13 rubies, 1 emerald, and 54 p.
REFEREE’S NOTE: The description of Dwarven rations comes from the image below. Unfortunately, I can’t remember where I downloaded it from.
That night Anders was visited in his dreams by Thūda, God of Knowledge, who cursed him for helping to defile his shrine. For the rest of tonight’s adventure, Anders could not use his Intuition.
The next day, they rode into Baft. Cynthia tried to use the Lens Darkly, but lost all of her END temporarily in the attempt. Leaving her unconscious body in the care of Ben and Hadlof, Sunnhild found a rusty locked box, and Anders located the local church. Exploring the church, Anders fell through the floor into the crypts, where a haggard and starving vampire attacked him. He awoke later after Sunnhild had hauled him bodily up. He could not remember the attack, but was much weakened. Sunnhild examined him but failed her Medicine roll and therefore missed finding the bite marks.
That night, the vampire attacked again, this time sucking from Sunnhild. Both Sunnhild and Anders awoke still exhausted, but Anders was determined to search the crypts, despite that. Cynthia tried to talk them out of it, but Anders would not hear it. In the crypts they stole 2 rings (1 silver, 1 gold), an emerald bracelet, and a silver beaded necklace from the dead. As they began to leave, Sunnhild wandered off in a daze, heading north into the wooded hills. Cynthia and Anders followed and woke her, and then all three headed north casting Detect Life and Detect Spirits. Anders thought he caught a glimpse of a spirit but couldn’t see where it disappeared to. Sunnhild and Cynthia found a cave behind a nearby waterfall, and searched it. Anders was attacked by a Cave Terror that they quickly defeated, and then they walked into the den of a very angry cougar. They backed out without combat. They discovered that the cave had another exit at the other side of the hill. If there had been a spirit, it might have escaped that way.
REFEREE’S NOTE: I hadn’t planned on them pursuing the vampire, so I had to come up with a set of caverns quickly. I used Dave’s Mapper (https://davesmapper.com/) to which my daughter Lorna and I had contributed some tiles years ago. I quickly had the caverns I needed, and whenever they entered a new room, I rolled 1d6. On a 6, I dropped an animal in for them to encounter. Meanwhile, Orvid Weatherston (the vampire) managed to evade them.
They camped next to the waterfall, and the vampire returned to drink from Anders. This time the vampire failed his Mesmerism roll. Anders saw him and remembered him, but the vampire fled. Anders tried to Locate the creature, but fumbled and turned a shade of patina green. Sunnhild examined him and declared it was the result of poisoning, so Anders drank a Witchwood Tea and recovered. After that, the party decided to head in the opposite direction. The party still doesn’t know what attacked them, as they failed their Folklore Creatures rolls. All they know is what Anders described: a pale man with green tinged skin, wearing an ancient, tattered suit of leather armor and a sword on his hip. What Anders could not tell was that the man was no longer starving.
On the way to Durem, they stumbled into a goblin ambush that had been set for a cave bear. Cynthia nearly fell into a 12 m. pit, but was saved by her Sixth Sense. Sunnhild’s horse Lightning was not so lucky, and bolted into the pit to a grisly end. Sunnhild was surrounded by five Waelful goblins and nearly put to sleep by Wrakanx, a goblin witch, but was saved by using a Fortuna.
Fortunately, once Anders understood an ambush was underway, he shot Wrakanx in the abdomen with an arrow. The shot was a critical hit and she was no longer able to fight. The Nightmare she rode laughed and took her to Hell with him. She screamed all the way.
REFEREE’S NOTE: Wrakanx was not powerful enough to bind a Nightmare, so she had made a pact with it so it would serve her until the end. Which it did, but the end came much sooner than she anticipated.
The treasure from the six dead goblins was 6 scimitars, 6 medium shields, and 60 shillings. The date is now Aquae 18. Nearly two months have passed since the adventure began.
lostdelights 