Session 49: “Fuck Their Goblin Hyphenation” | Spring
The Slaying Stone | Played November 14, 2020
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DOWNTIME:
Glint sets aside 8k gp/xp for Hibub, raising Hibub to level 4. Hibub now has 8k gold and has to think about what to do with it.
Glint built a cabin out in the woods as a private homestead for himself.
Ecco spent time with Bluepie, and arranged tutoring for her in all the social nicities she lacks, as well as in butchery to keep her invested in her education.
Ecco also spent 10k setting up a general public assistance fund in the Keep.
Ecco also spent 10k setting up an education program in the Keep.
Cozyglow spent time spoiling the orphans of the town as always, and also threw two big parties of 500gp each: Heartwarming Eve and the Fete au Fete.
Cozyglow set aside money for Pularch so he could get a matte pink breastplate & sword. Pularch advanced to a level 1 thief.
Cozyglow spent 4kgp to support Ecco’s education programs, and taught a course on Friendship.
======
After riding out the worst of Winter in town, spring brought a clearing of the roads and the arrival of Jenlar Temlin, assistant to Arckayz the wizard–the same who sent the party on their Journey to the Rock. He’d been sent to ask the party for their assistance in some new trouble, and they all set off for the city of Tuma. The road was much clearer than it was on their previous journey, and obviously in the midst of being surveyed and expanded (though the project had clearly only just begun with the coming of spring.) They party suffered only a single encounter: a group of goblins riding on boars. They greatly outnumbered the party and at first seemed to have an advantage, injuring Jenlar significantly, and nearly killing Bluepie, but their control over their boar mounts was…well they really didn’t control them much at all. Ecco was able to leap onto the back of one, discover that it WAS a trained mount the goblins simply didn’t know how to use, and quickly turned the tide of battle by confusing their mounts. The goblins were driven off, and the party brought a gift of 8 trained boar mounts into Tuma. Ecco also kept a ninth one for himself, and named it Breeyark as an insult and warning to warlike goblins.
In Tuma the party found a city severely underpopulated. Most of the peoples had died over their many centuries of stasis, as the imperfect spell failed to preserve them. A scant few thousand now inhabited a city built for a quarter million. They were hospitable towards the party. They provided food and lodging (Cozyglow helped them level up their rather rudimentary kitchen skills), Bluepie got healed, Cozyglow got 3 light healing potions for the road, and Arckayz laid out the situation:
• Back when Tuma was at war, the council made a deal with infernal arms merchants to produce 8 Slaying Stones. Arckayz was against this, but it was desperate times, and he was outvoted.
• A Slaying Stone is a single use magic item which allows 1 creature to be killed with a thought. It is a very painful way to die, and there is no known way to defend against it.
• All but 1 slaying stone was used in the war. The last Slaying Stone was in the posession of the Tuman Chief Armorer, and went with him into stasis.
• When the people of Tuma were brought out of stasis, they were somewhat scattered. The Chief Armorer appeared in the city of Kiris Dan, where he was killed. He definitely had the stone, but it is unknown what happened to it after he died. It seemed like no one at the scene recognized it as an object of power.
• (The above is known because Arckayz prepared a spell of scrying which allowed him to see all the people of Tuma as they returned from Stasis. Unfortunately, it followed the Armorer as he was killed and his body discarded, and the stone was left behind.)
• Kiris Dan was once a satellite city of Tuma. In the centuries since the fall of Tuma, it has become inhabited by Orcish Supremacist Orcs. The city also contains a minority of goblin refugees who are kept in ghettos, and regarded as a lesser order of creature by the orcs. The orcs are also in the process of being absorbed into an empire of Giants. There is a small delegation of Giants in the city, working on finalizing the arrangments.
• Arckayz feels strongly that the Tumans must take responsibility for the Slaying Stone, and destroy it using a special ritual so it can never be used.
• Treona is a Tuman who lived in Kiris Dan back in the old days. She was once Arckayz apprentice, and is the only other surviving wizard of Tuma. She has taken it upon herself to coordinate the finding of the stone, and has set up a forward base of operations in a crumbling tower 3 hours walk outside of Kiris Dan.
The party headed North from Tuma in the morning, fought off a group of wolves, and met up with Treona, who indeed had a very cozy house, and a room that was all prepared for a ritual of destruction. She was also able to provide the party with a map of the town.
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Loot: none
Session 50: Turns Out WE Made Them Refugees | Spring
The Slaying Stone | November 28, 2020
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The ventured out, and sent themselves up on a hill overlooking Kiris Dahn. The gate was guarded by orcs. Not particularly diligently, but never sloppily enough to make entrance simple. The party opted instead to travel down where the river was fairly narrow and the trees fairly dense. Glint removed his gear and armor, swam across the river (stinky work, the orcs are not at all ecologically concerned about where they dispose of their refuse), and tied off one of the party’s magical ropes. The rest of the party then used the rope to move across the river with subtlety.
They decided to move through the town in a confident posture, with Hibub standing in as their “leader,” and the human (and human-looking) characters standing a little behind with a subdued look to them. They’d need to move through the goblin ghetto to get anywhere, and that suited them fine. Since they did not know where the Slaying Stone was, a group of disenfranchised goblins seemed like the best place to start their investigation anyway.
Moving through side streets, the party came upon a goblin woman named Speelock digging through a pile of refuse. Glint thought he must have seen her somewhere before, just as Hibub (acting as leader) began to ask her if she’d seen any big black rocks recently. Speelock recognized the party immediately as the interlopers who had forced her and her goblin kin to abandon their home in the Sunless Citadel.
The party’s attempt to smooth the situation over was crushed by the snake-eyes reaction roll they made. Speelock gave a little speech about how the cosmos must really value balance, because after months of bad luck she had encountered the party on the very same day which she had managed to get a pair of iron golems to imprint on her. They came lumbering out of the workshop she’d been scavenging in front of, and were set to attack.
The battle was long and brutal. Elrica had some success using her darkness ability to frighten Speelock, but it turns out these iron golems were designed to echolocate using the squeak of their joints. They dealt heavy blows while the party tried a variety of tactics. Speelock was eventually killed, but Elrica was so injured she had to flee out of her darkness and into the building. There she scrambled to find something useful, and discovered a cleaning solution which warned that it ought never be used while the golem was in operation. She got Hibub’s attention, and the orc overcame his tendency towards toxic behavior to accept the cunning advice. He dumped the goop onto the golem he was fighting, severly wounding it.
Meanwhile, Ecco was sewing his tongue into the dead goblin’s mouth, and managed to work her chest like a bellows to order the golems to cease their attack using her voice. This was juuuust confusing enough to cause the golems to mentally lock up, allowing the party to hack them to pieces.
The session ended in media res.
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INJURIES: Glint -11hp, Elrica -5hp, Hibub -3hp
Session 51: Cozyglow Knows How to Serve the Pie | Spring
The Slaying Stone | December 12, 2020
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Moving further into the partially deserted city, the group came upon what looked to be a temple. Within they found only a single inhabitent: a very racist human who kept insisting he was human in a way that felt suspicious. The party took umbrage at his racism, sent him out to gather some goblin friends while Cozyglow baked a pie so she could try to teach the human to get along with green skinned folk. When he did return there were a good many goblins and orcs chasing him with intent to do violence. It came out that he was a were rat who had been terrorizing the city for weeks, and with the help of the party, they chopped the were rat up into tiny bits.
Notably, more than half the goblins and a couple of the orcs were missing their left eye.
The orcs were not happy to discover the party infiltrating their home, but a combination of several factors prevented them from jumping to violence. (Hibub’s nominal leadership + The Pie + The party’s help killing the were rat). Instead, the highest ranking of the orcs who were present (one Trifluk Silversword) offered to escort the party out of the town, on the condition that they go through proper channels next time they wanted to visit. The party agreed, and were escorted out the front gates by a small parade of orcs and goblins.
While walking, the party gently probed Trifluk for information about the Slaying Stone, which he claimed to know nothing about. He encouraged Hibub to seek out a less discriminating mate, (per the party’s cover story) since he would certainly not be allowed to roam free about the city searching for a special rock. Especially not during this awkward period of administrative transition between the Orcs and the Empire of Giants. The party also inquired about all the missing eyes, and were informed that a band of Trolls was loose somewhere in the city, and kept taking eyes from people. When the party offered to help with this problem Trifluk again demured. Nominally it was for the same administrative complexity he’d cited earlier, though also he confided that since the Trolls were mostly pestering goblins, the Orcs didn’t care all that much.
Trifluk focused his attention entirely on HIbub, who he believed to be the party’s leader, and went on a rather extended lecture about all the ways Hibub could beat his slives (ie the party) to ensure they behaved more correctly. Some in the party took the opportunity to slip back and speak with some of the goblins. One named Sidi acted as goblin spokeswoman. They all recognized the party and remained openly hostile, but were willing to listen once the party suggested they might do something about the Trolls. After all, the goblins knew the orcs were turning a blind eye to the problem.
A deal was struck: 3 days hence, Sidi would light a signal if she’d been able to find enough goblins to agree. They’d help the party to kill the Trolls, and once the Trolls were dead the goblins would help the party find their fancy black rock. While making this deal, Sidi wanted to know where the party had gotten into the city so she could light a small signal fire over there. The party pointedly refused to extend her that trust, and insisted she set up a somewhat more visible fire in the temple. Sidi agreed. She also informed the party of what the Trolls were doing: they were interrogating everyone they captured about the location of the same black stone the party was searching for, and taking eyes so they’d know who they’d already interrogated.
The party departed the city, and returned to Treona’s home in the crumbling tower. She was welcoming, if a bit antsy to have the party hanging around for three whole days, despite the fact that Glint helped chop wood, and Cozyglow helped with food prep. During this period of rest and recuperation everyone regained 9hp.
Three days later they returned to the ridge, saw the signal light, made their way into town, and met up with Sidi. A plan was quickly formulated to have Cowyglow’s wastrel ward Pularch wander around the streets alone until he got caught by trolls, which took most of the dang night such as it was perhaps 30 minutes to dawn when he was finally grabbed. Cozyglow moved stealthily along rooftops to trace the Trolls back to a hideout in a small building with a boulder across its door. Through Ecco’s eye (attached to Pularch’s leg) the party saw that there were no fewer than eight trolls surrounding Pularch, each fully decked out with arms and armor. They were just setting to asking him questions when Cozyglow made a racket about their window, forcing three of the trolls to go chasing after her. The trolls are divided, but there are still 5 surrounding Pularch. The session ended in media res.
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INJURIES: Glint: -2, (everyone else recovered in Treona’s house)
Session 52: Two Bastards Fighting Over a Gold Coin | Spring
The Slaying Stone | Played on December 26, 2020
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Cozyglow led the three trolls on a merry chase around the city, and managed to taunt them into revealing their presence to a group of inebriated orcs, some of whom had lost eyes at Troll hands. During the resulting tussle she slipped back to the building where they’d taken Pularch.
Meanwhile, Glint had darted straight there after seeing the situation unfold through Ecco’s eye. He jumped in through a window, darted past the first troll, and distracted two more by throwing oil on the hot coals they were threatening Pularch with (they took no harm). Pularch was being restrained in a burlap sack sinched about his neck, which Glint released him from.
Meanwhile, Cozyglow had made it back as well, and used a devestating sneak attack with her torch to set one of the Troll’s on fire, and it fled elsewhere. This nominally opened a path for Glint and Pularch to escape, but their luck in the struggle with the trolls wore deadly thin. Pularch was stabbed right through, and would have died if not for Cozyglow swiftly dragging him away and feeding him a potion of healing. Glint likewise escaped, and since the Trolls could not chase them out the tiny window, the party were able to get away clean. Ecco’s eye detached itself to stay behind (usefully, these trolls had whole collections of goblin eyes, so Ecco’s own animated goblin eye was easy enough to disguise among their posessions). The trolls attempted to follow the party’s trail, but weren’t able to keep up with it. They were more concerend with tending to their injured comrade, (who survived, but is severely injured), and extracating themselves from their compromised hideaway, so they could find somewhere new to lair.
Ecco was able to observe the Trolls as three of them arranged themselves in observation/ambush positions around their old hideout, and then the remaining 5 (including the injured one) as they found themselves a new place to lair. With such productive intelligence as this, the party decided to arrange an ambush of their own.
There was a brief verbal tussle between Cozyglow and Siccsi, with the former wanting some recognition and recompense for what the party had risked so far, and the latter insisting that the party’s risks didn’t matter to her, and that their results amounted to basically nothing of value whatsoever. It was also clarified in this conversation that the Goblins do not know the location of The Slaying Stone. They’re simply offering their assistance in finding it if the party kill the Trolls.
Once that was all settled, Ecco suggested that they return to the machine shop where they’d fought the Iron golems. Perhaps the cleaning grease Elrica had found was flamable? The location was nearby, so the party went to investigate, and indeed the grease was. They collected some, smeared some on spear hafts, and mixed some with lantern oil and clay pots to create firebombs.
As the party were getting this ready, a group of goblins fired a volley of arrows at them. Two of these goblins tackled Siccsi to keep her quiet and out of the fight, while the rest kept the party pinned down with fire from the opposite building.
The party hunkered down, and first expressed confusion. They were working to kill the trolls, why would the goblins attack them? The goblin archers shouted back that they hated the party more than they hated the trolls. Cozyglow, Ecco, and Bluepie then turned to making vague threats, and after a bit of silence Siccsi emerged. She said the other gobbos had fled, unwilling to fight the party since they hadn’t managed to kill even one during their sneak attack.
The session ended with the party close enough to plan and execute an ambush on the Trolls next session, without needing to make any traveling encounter checks.
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INJURIES: Glint -9
Session 53: Moon-O | Spring
The Slaying Stone | Played on January 9, 2021
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Starting the session with a party of 2, the players decided to take a brief diversion from their ambush plotting. They left Siccsi and much of the rest of the party to continue making some sort of preparation, while they diverted to the Temple of the Moon in the hopes of making contact with the disrespected and forgotten moon deity it was built to honor.
During the day they tidied up a bit, polished some of the remaining shiny objects, laid out a bowl of water to reflect the moon in, and ensured that the room had no candles or other lights which might diminish the Moon’s glow. Wob made a prayer to the deity, asking that it bless his dagger with the ability to inflict Lycanthropy, so that they could produce new worshipers for…”Moon-O?” Apparently this god’s name is Moon-O. The dagger was thusly enchanted, and Wob’s Lil’ Bottle Boy sucked up all the moonlight water, so he could speak on behalf of a tiny fragment of Moon-O’s vast deific consciousness.
Addelaide, already nebulously a moon worshiper, decided that this would be a good specific deity for her to hitch her metaphysical cart to, and chose to become a willing adherent of Moon-O’s teachings.
Now in need of people to stab, the party chose to check out the library, since presumably it would have people to stab and also possibly some good books to steal. And yes, indeed, there was a group of five orcs there which the party picked a fight with. The orcs were shortly joined by a muscular orc wizard who summoned four oozes, and who was lamentably not interested in comparing notes with Wob about the fine art of ooze conjuration. The battle was a harsh one, and the party took their licks, but ultimately came out victorious. They infected four of the orcs with lycanthropy, and killed most everything else. They then stashed one of the orc’s bodies, and fled back to the temple with three orcs and a dead wizard in tow.
Moon-O was reasonably pleased with this minor offering, and suggested that if the party were in search of the Slaying Stone, then they ought to prepare to sneak, slay, or socialize their way past a Dragon. Moon-O was not willing to offer any more information than that as yet, but it was a good start. It will likely be easier to ask people about where to find a dragon in town than it has been to ask them about a rock nobody cares about.
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INJURIES:
Glint (-9) (Carried over from last session)
Ornoc (at 0)
Hibub (-10)
Addy (-11)
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LOOT:
A lantern containing a will-o-the-whisp, which causes secret doors to glow fuzzily (Taken from the orc wizard’s corpse)
The orc wizard’s Book of Chaos spells, containing: Shocking Grasp, Black Bolt, Violent Crescendo, Explosion of Gore, and Page of Summoning
I need to figure out how that relates to our actual magic system.
Session 54: Defeating Trolls with Careful Planning and Somersault Attacks | Spring
The Slaying Stone | Played on January 23, 2021
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With their new information in hand, the party returned to their original plan. They would counter-ambush the Trolls who were laying in ambush for anyone returning to their old abandoned hideout. The party knew exactly where each one was thanks to Ecco. The first was taken out quickly, pulled out of hiding and set on fire before anyone heard anything. It was even kind enough to gasp in pain rather than crying out, so that it did not alert any of its companions.
The second Troll was slain with similar alacrity. Ignited by one of the party’s custom firebombs hurled in through a window by Cozyglow, and tripped down a flight of concrete steps by Elrica’s magic darkness.
The Troll in the most difficult to assail hiding spot was left for last. With three escape routes to pick from, the party had to split up to ensure it wouldn’t escape. They made similarly short work of the beast, but it was able to howl a desperate cry of alarm before being slain. Good news for the party that the other two Trolls waiting in ambush were dead–bad news for the party is that they rolled incredibly poorly on their encounter roll, and it turned out that two other Trolls were nearby. Presumably here to resupply the waiting ambushers. Cozyglow had the presence of mind to move to a spotting position, so the adventurers were not completely taken by surprise. None the less these reinforcements were able to fall upon the divided party and put up a much more ferocious fight than their companions had. Despite taking a few rough hits, the party was able to slay both the Trolls. Elrica slew the last by throwing her pulsating Vril infused dagger—taken from the island seclusium of Xenophon—which missed. But then the Troll stepped on it, which we ruled counted as the Troll making an attack against the floor, and it exploded, killing the creature and reducing the overall number of Severed Eye Trolls from 8, down to 3–one of whom was severely wounded.
The session ended immediately after the combat was complete, as we had already run over time. It must be noted, though, that the remaining Severed Eye Trolls will presumably notice very quickly that something is amiss when those who were sent out for resupply do not return. It’s not clear what their reaction will be, but the party must choose whether to press their advantage, or retreat to lick their wounds.
Also it didn’t come up in the recap, but Ornoc fumbled like a dozen attack rolls this session. Didn’t hit a single thing. Was hilarious. What a dork.
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INJURIES:
Glint (-27)
Ornoc (At 0)
Hibub (-10)
Addy (-11)
Elrica (-4)
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LOOT: None
Session 55: Mercy Isn’t for Mice | Spring
The Slaying Stone | Played on February 6, 2021
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The party pressed their advantage, moving immediately on to the lair where the final three trolls hid. All they encountered on the way was a philosophical disagreement between Hibub Karate, and Bluepie & Elrica, wherien Hibub insists that one ought to give their foes a clean death, and the other two prefer to relish in their foe’s protracted suffering.
Undetected, the party arrayed themselves around the Troll lair, and splashed oil and kindling around its exterior. Only after they lit the fire were there any signs of activity within. The party had a brief parley with the Trolls, encouraging them to surrender, while the Trolls questioned why the party would stick they necks out for a bunch of prey animals like goblins. The party were noncomittal and threatening, and the Trolls went briefly quiet. They then attempted to burst out running by throwing their boulder door onto the flames (which worked) and throwing out buckets of water (which didn’t, the oil fire flared up and slowed their escape).
The three trolls emerged in line: one in front ready to cut down blockers, one in back cradling the body of the injured Troll in its arms. They attempted to flee directly past the party, but their slow escape and the party’s prepared positioning prevented them from getting away. All three trolls were cut down and set on fire by waiting members of the party before they were able to make any notable action in self defense. One of the trolls begged that the party show mercy. Instead, the party put out that troll’s fire, bound it, and held the other two down with poles while they burned into heaps of ash. Ecco entered the lair to retrieve his eye, and also found a little chest containing some gold and a jar of salve.
The party’s despondant captive answered only a few questions: namely revealing that they’d been hired to search for the Slaying Stone by a human with yellow eyes from a place not far to the South of here. Confering among themselves, the party confirmed that the people of Tuma had an above-average rate of yellow eyes among them; and also that Tuma was indeed to the South. The party then cut off the Troll’s head (after confirming that this would not kill the Troll), stuffed the head in a sack, and carried the body to the goblins in the Temple of the Moon.
Siccsi the goblin accepted the delivered body with stocism. Holding up her end of the deal, she drew out a little map of the town and indicated an old natural spring that had been turned into a Spa by the ancient Tumans. It was in the part of town where goblins coudln’t go, but it was an open secret that a dragon had come to nest there before the Orcs took over the town. It seemed dormant, but she’d heard stories that loose bits of wealth had a way of winding up in that dragon’s hoard, though she couldn’t confirm that last bit with hard evidence. None the less, the presence of the dragon would seem to match with the prophecy the party had gotten from Moon-O. Siccsi further speculated that the presence of the dragon may be the primary reason why the Empire of Giants was interested in bringing this town under its influence.
Siccsi and the party parted ways here. Siccsi made clear that, though this business transaction was successful, the party should not mistake it for friendship. The party had best get their rock and get out of town, because the goblins wouldn’t hesitate to help the orcs and giants to kill them.
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LOOT:
2,000g
Bottle of Burn Salve
500 gp/xp each for Addelaide, Ecco, Glint, and Elrica
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INJURIES: (Unchanged from last session)
Glint (-27)
Ornoc (At 0)
Hibub (-10)
Addy (-11)
Elrica (-4)
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HOOKS:
Who hired the Trolls?
What is to be done about this dragon?
Does the party want to find the stone and escape, or attempt to change the situation in Kiris Dahn?
Session 56: “I Wouldn’t Tell ’em Where I Keep My Good Cakes” | Spring
The Slaying Stone | Played on February 20, 2021
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Having concluded their business with the goblins, the party decided to head back to Treona’s house to rest and recuperate a bit before attempting any sort of encounter with a dragon. They crossed the river out of town without any issue, but on their way through the wounds were come upon by a hunting party of 9 spear-wielding orcs. As the party were technically outside orc territory the group was not immediately hostile, but they did bluster a bit about how humans weren’t welcome ’round these parts. They suggested they might want to kill and eat the party. This was something of an empty threat, but young Bluepie made a point of bragging about how part of her had already been eaten, and that she had it on good authority that she was very tasty. So when the two groups parted ways, the Orcs surreptitiously grabbed Bluepie and fled.
The party gave pursuit, and managed to run the orcs down. A slogging match resulted in four dead orcs before the rest took flight. The party took a few more hits as well, including a punch to the face which knocked Bluepie flat. The party chose not to pursue the fleeing orcs, which means the survivors are still hanging around in Kiris Dahn, and the party has a greater chance of bieng recognized among the orcs there.
At Treona’s house the party made a particular point of being vague about their accomplishments. Glint, in particular, does not trust Treona. Treona, for her part, remains obviously uncomfortable with having the party in her home, though she smiles and assures them they’re welcome to stay as long as they like. In the end, the party stayed only one day and one night, eating well on the game animals they took from the dead orcs. They restored 1hd of hp each. Before they left, Glint asked the party’s talking horses if Treona had done anything suspicious. The only thing the horses could find to criticize was her apalling lack of apples.
The party returned to Kiris Dahn, managing to reach the hot spring baths without incident, but discovered that it was guarded by a group of eight orcs in full battle kit. The party chose to approach them openly and confidently, and in the opening parley the spokesperson for the orcs let some information slip by asking if Kontro had sent them. The party confirmed that yes, Kontro had, and that they were here to parley with the dragon on Kontro’s behalf, offering the severed Troll head they carried as a gift. The orc let them through, but sent one of his other orcs to inform Kontro that her emissaries had arrived. Rather than try to stop the information from getting out, the party opted to press on to the Dragon.
The hot springs had obviously been quite nice at one time, but were now overgrown with bugs, frogs, and swampy plant life. In the innermost pool the party found the serpentine bronze dragon wallowing in the water, coiled about its heap of treasure. Elrica prompted it to rant for a bit about the many failies of chromatic dragons compared to metallic dragons, while the rest of the party tried to spot the Slaying Stone among its horde. Failing to spot it, Ecco just asked straight up if the dragon had it, and she confirmed that she did. The party asked if they could trade for it, but the dragon disliked the idea. Acquiring treasure by trade sullies the purity of posessing treasure.
Elrica had the bright idea of a contest, with the party themselves as collateral. She proposed three tests: one of Mind, one of Body, one of Spirit, the exact form of each TBD, with a champion put forth by the party on one side, and the dragon on the other. The dragon accepted, specifying that if (cough when cough) she won, she wasn’t interested in slaves. Slavery is a practice as distastful as it is tedius. But she would be interested in garbing the party in her symbols, and obligating them to spread word of her greatness. The party agreed, and asked for some sign of friendship they could show the orcs to demonstrate that they were in the dragon’s good graces. She gave each member of the party one of her scales, engraved with her personal sigil by her own claw, though she warned that she had no particular sway with the orcs.
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LOOT: None
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INJURIES:
(After resting for 1 day and 1 night at Treona’s House)
Glint: (-18)
Addy: (-7)
Elrica (-1)
Hibub: (-4)
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HOOKS:
Is there a reason Treona is so shifty?
Who is Kontro? How will she react to the party, and why is she treating with this dragon?
What would being in the clientship of the Dragon look like?
What champion ought the party choose, and what games ought they propose?
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NEXT SESSION NOTES:
The party are mid-parley with a dragon. They must devise 3 challenges, one each for Mind, Body, and Spirit, and elect a champion for each. If they win the Dragon will hand over The Slaying Stone, if they lose the players must become Branded Adventurers! Also, Kontro has been informed, and will be arriving in 4 turns.
Session 57: “We Apply the Hard Sell to God” | Spring
The Slaying Stone | Played on March 6, 2021
As the session began, the party was just leaving their parley with the dragon, on their way out of the ancient sauna, just in time to be intercepted on the stairs. Kontro turned out to be a giant who had brought eight orcs with him, and attacked the party without a single word of greeting–despite Cozyglow offering him one. The attackers won the initiative and seemed poised to grievously injure the party, but their rolls were inadequate, and the party quickly achieved two devestating successes on the following round: Cozyglow tangling up Kontro’s legs with a well thrown spear, causing him to tumble down on top of many of his orc underlings, and Wob animating the fetied water using his own blood and chili powder, which was then further empowered by Elrica imbuing it with magical darkness. The horrible liquid void flowed around the room, drowning the fallen orcs. Kontro and two Orcs managed to escape, and the party made their way off to the temple of Moon-O.
The party waited until nightfall, then communed with Moon-O again. They offered to expand her congregation further by converting a dragon into a werewolf! (A Wagon!) Moon-O was enticed by this idea, and blessed water with a powerful sleeping draft, which would curse the imbiber with lycantrhopy.
Wob had sent his water creature out to terrorize the town to keep people busy, and the party took the opportunity to raid a local tavern Cozyglow had seen a few sessions back, and make off with a wagon load of orc booze. The party stashed the wagon in a nearby empty structure, and left Kiris Dahn to await the next full moon.
They went to Treona’s house, and over a lengthy 11 day stay their presence clearly made her quite frazzled. The party very intentionally did not make any effort to make her more comfortable. During the course of their stay that party noticed that Treona owned several small chests identical to the one they’d found in the Troll’s lair. Late at night the used the decapitated Troll’s head to confirm it. Treona had, indeed, been the one to hire the Trolls to find the Slaying Stone.
The party didn’t confront her about this directly, though on their way out Cozyglow did let her know that the party knew what she’d done by asking if she knew the best way to hire Trolls. Treona played it off somewhat, saying she’d heard that the enclaves to the east were amenable to making deals with outsiders.
Back in Kiris Dahn the party presented the Dragon with their three proposed challenges: For Strength, a drinking contest with amounts consumed indexed to body weight, followed by a baking competition judged by blind tasting for spirit, and for mind a contest of riddles. The Dragon agreed, and the party wheeled in the barrels of booze they’d prepared. Echo filled a flagon from the first barrel. He drank that, while the dragon drank the rest of the barrel.
The liquid blessed by Moon-O did not affect Ecco, instead filling some wine skins he’d sewn into his body for the occasion. The dragon, on the other hand, immediately failed its saving throw, and fell asleep atop its hoard of treasure. The party took some time looting what they could–they had promised Moon-O they wouldn’t take more than they could carry in a single trip–and skeedadled their way out of town before the consequences of their actions caught up to them.
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LOOT:
(Wob) Talisman of Zur: One spell targeting the wearer will instead be absorbed into their mind, becoming a known spell. After this the talisman shatters.
(Wob) Magic scroll containing the word: “Misrepresentation.”
(Ecco) Stair Slippers: If one mimes walking up stairs, the ground will rise to construct stairs beneath your feet.
(Bluepie) A dagger which can change its blade shape to whatever the wielder wants.
(Cozyglow) Braclet which allows the wearer to cause sounds of thunder to occur at will. Distant thunder is easy. Present thunder requires an action, and acts as a sonic attack. Everyone who hears it (including allies) must save or take d6 damage. Certain objects may also be shattered.
(Cozyglow) Statement necklace with little lizards carved in it.
(Cozyglow) Jade crown of 17 spires.
(Elrica) A Horn of Blasting, which sonic attacks in a cone. All affected are stunned for 2 rounds and take d10 damage, save versus paralyzation for half. If used more then once without being left under the sun to recharge for a few hours, there is a cumulative d6 chance that the horn will explode, dealing 5d10 damage to the wielder.
In addition to these personal items, the party was able to haul off 20,000 gold worth of treasure, which conveniently divides into 5,000g each.
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INJURIES:
All healed up during the nearly two weeks the party spent with Treona
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HOOKS:
What consequences might there be for reviving the worship of a forgotten god with limited intellect, and giving it a congregation of werewolves (including a mighty wagon), all of whom are personally inclined to hate the party, even if Moon-O likes the party well enough?
Will the Giants seek revenge?
What will Treona do? Did she just hire two groups to do the same job, or is there something shadier going on?
Session 58: “They Actually Killed Twilight Sparkle” | Spring
The Slaying Stone | Played on March 6, 2021
The party rushed out of Kiris-Dahn amid the confusion, and made it safely back to Treona’s place to retrieve their own horses. They claimed not to have been able to retrieve the stone. Too difficult. Perhaps they could hire the same Trolls Treona had used? Cozyglow got her to make a map for the party. Extremely detailed, since Cozyglow feigned ineptitude understanding the directions, much the Treona’s frustration and distress.
Back to Tuma, the party had a relatively peaceful journey, save for discovering an Owlbear nest, taking one of its eggs, and letting Bluepie smash the others. Owlbears are abberant creatures which subsist on devoured magics. They also took the time to decide what to do with the Slaying Stone. It was generally agreed that they didn’t want it to exist anymore, but it would be better to use it than to hand it over to be destroyed. It was ultimately decided to allow Cozyglow to use it to kill Twilight Sparkle. She clasped the stone, souls in hell were shoveled into an engine of abyssal destruction, and within the continuity of the Dangerous Neighbors D&D campaign, Twilight Sparkle died a horrible and painful death.
Back in Tuma, the party met with Arkayz. They handed over the Slaying Stone—now inert—and informed him about their dealings with Treona. He was concerned about her employment of evil Trolls, and took depositions from the entire party. He asked also to be allowed to keep the Troll Head for further interrogation, but the party had made a promise to care for it, and Arkayz (being of an oldschool 1970s Lawful-Good Quest Giver Being Run By A 12 Year Old Dungeon Master sort) accepted this as perfectly valid.
The party then returned through the woods to the Keep, where they settled in for a few months rest. Just as the really hot months of Summer began, a delegation of islanders from the second portal to Oserth arrived in the keep to petition the party. They said that a mysterious island had appeared just north of their own. One which was spoken of in their legends, but which none truly beleived in before it appeared. The abode of Foulmother, a terrible beast who would bring ruin and misfortune for a hundred years. Their people would be religiously befouled if they were to venture onto Foulmother’s island, but perhaps the party could go in their stead? Having already saved them from one terrible and ancient evil, perhaps the party could find a way to prevent this curse from befalling them?
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LOOT:
50,000g, to be divided among everyone who participated in recovering the stone. (Wob, Ecco, Cozyglow, Elrica, Adelaide, Glint, Hirelings) (7143 gp/xp each!)
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DOWNTIME:
-All injuries recover.
-Glint spends a few months tending to the bees, and keeping an eye on the road.
-Ecco spends a few months educating Bluepie, and using his immunity to ailments to help tend to the Summer ague.
-Ecco also keeps an eye out for a bard to chronicle the party’s adventures, and hires Zehaw (detailed below)
-Cozyglow spends a few months modeling for a pristine set of floral barding for herself, which functions as plate mail.
-Cozyglow also attempts to source magically silenced plate for Pularch, which will be resolved next session.
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HIRELING VIBES:
Hibub and Bluepie really feel like part of the gang. The party is home for them.
Pularch is uncertain of his place in the world, but the party has been good to him…hasn’t it?
Bulgurd and Ornoc are both surly. It is unclear if this is because they’re discontent, or if that’s just how they are.
Zehaw is a gossipy Bard, hired by Ecco to chronicle the party’s adventures. He calls erryone ‘honey,’ and winks suggestively way too frequently. He plays a variety of instruments, but carries only his Oboe and his Accordion.
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HOOKS:
-What will the become of Treona, faced with the justice of Tuma?
-Will killing Twilight Sparkle have consequences that reach as far as this world?