Dark Paths 32

Dark Paths of Riddleport
Session 32
July 7, 2013

Following Zincher

Map Tool Chat Log

Session Summary

After settling in at Zincher's camp and having some dinner, the Crew is ready to watch and follow Zincher if he leaves the camp, as Erix hinted at earlier. Erix has re-arranged the watch duties so that the Crew won't be missed if they spend the evening out trailing Zincher. Paal takes up a hidden spot just outside of camp to where he can see the back of Zincher's tent while Aethel took on his usual Body of Air form and floated above the camp, watching out of sight in the dark night sky. Aragon and Guy remained at the campfire while Snargash took care of some of the camp's wounded and Bodi spent some alone time with Samaritha Beldusk, the Cyphermage.

Guy Greystone - Telekinetic Gnome

Soon enough, the watchers saw someone sneak out of the back of camp and they followed him, though the figure was making no attempts to be stealthy at all. He skirted around the camp then came out onto the path about 300 yards away from camp and proceeded to head up toward Witchlight, the ruined settlement at the top of the islands ridge. Paal headed back to tell the others while Aethel continued to follow.

Back at camp, Paal told the others what he saw. They spoke to Erix, who confirmed that Zincher was no longer in his tent and then urged them to go out and find out what he had been up to.

Meanwhile, Aethel followed the man as he walked up the path for about a half a mile before turning off toward the steep cliffside and began climbing down a narrow and treacherous path to a ledge some 20 feet above the quiet, rocky surf below. Aethel watched his quarry disappear between to large outcroppings of rock, but did not approach any closer. After about 20 minutes, the figure reappeared and climbed back up the path to the road. Aethel was sure it was Zincher now and when he turned and headed back toward the camp, the Elvish wizard flew quickly back to camp to tell the others. 

Meanwhile, before Aethel could return, the rest of the group (minus Bodi, who was indisposed) got anxious and finally left to go seek Zincher on their own. Paal led them through the forest and to the road at the same spot where he saw the man get on the path. Aethel soon appeared and told them what he had seen. He also told them that he expected Zincher to be coming along the path toward the camp shortly. Aethel then flew back to camp and continued to watch over the quiet camp through the dark of night. 

Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, Zincher was seen walking quickly toward the camp. Everyone had taken up hiding  places to watch for him, though he spotted Snargash crouching awkwardly behind a

Snargash trying to hide behind a tree...

nearby tree. Snargash pretended to be praying and Zincher seemed agreeable to that charade. Zincher told the Half Orc to be careful and then headed back to camp, following his previous path through the forest. Snargash followed him back to camp while Paal, Aragon and Guy went on down the road, looking for wherever it was that he had gone. 

Realizing that Aethel had not given them good enough directions to sufficiently track where Zincher had gone, Paal, Aragon and Guy give up on their search after a few hours on the trail and return to camp.

The next morning, Erix asks them what they had discovered and is disappointed that they had not done a better job at following Zincher. He gives them their assignments for the day, which is to try to capture another of the strange creatures roaming the island while providing security for a skymetal excavation team near the crater. This was completely in the opposite direction of where they wanted to go, but they carried out their duties as assigned. Snargash remained at the camp and attempted to treat two men who had been ill due to bites received from some of the creatures. They were in bad shape and their wounds had become swollen and black. Taking his time, Snargash attempted to cure the disease on one of the men, but his ritual ended up taking too long and the man died. He quickly changed his tact and was able to heal the 2nd man without further incident. The first man was burned to prevent him from returning as a zombie.

That night, after dinner, Erix tells them that he has pushed their guard times back for several hours so if

Zincher's cliffside path

they wanted to go check out where Zincher had gone, they could, though they would be expected back soon to relieve others for guard duty. With Aethel showing the way, the path was easy to find and the Crew carefully made their way down the steep and narrow path. Bodi slipped and fell but caught himself before falling over the edge to the rocky shoreline below. Once on the beach, the group attempted a stealthy crossing, but that was not to be as several folk shuffled around and even knocked a small avalanche of rocks plummeting over the edge to the water below.

magical glyph - fire trap

They found the small alcove that Zincher had disappeared into the night before, and with some searching, Aragon was able to find what appeared to be a well hidden secret door and an opening latch for it. Asking Guy for assistance in opening the door, Aragon opened it and in doing so, triggered some sort of magical glyph trap which exploded in flames, searing Guy and Aragon, though the Elf was able to roll out of the way, staying out of the main focus of the blast.

The door was now open, and anyone inside potentially alerted by the explosion of magical flames.

Scenic ocean front ledge complete with secret door and FIRE TRAP!

Session Notes

We were plagued with all sorts of problems getting to this session. It was almost a month late due to computer and network issues. One player had MapTool connection issues due to an operating system upgrade (but eventually made it online), another could not connect to MapTool from work and another had to leave an hour early, so we were down one and a half players. I was also using a different setup than usual since my network was having problems, and continued having trouble throughout the session (which I think we got under control when we dropped the video feed from the hangout and just kept it to voice chat) though it did allow me to use dual monitors, which was nice for MapTool and Hangouts and having character sheets and PDFs of various references open at once. 

There will also not be a direct continuing story for this session due to being right on the brink of the campaign arc final encounter. Each player has the option of doing a 'flashback' type of continuing story if they wish.

Cast of Characters: 

Aethelarian "Aethel" Flitterseed (265 pts) - Noble Elf wizard played by +Daniel White 
Aragon Whisperwind (270 pts) - Elven Bladedancer played by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Bodil "Bodi" Jantzen - suave and smooth swordsman played by +Mike Biancone 
Guy Greystone (259 pts) - Gnome telekinetic played by +Gren Drake 
Paal Ulfsun (256 pts) - Northman Human ranger played by +Ben Zittere 
Snargash Windblown (265 pts) - Half-Orc monk played by +Amergin O'Kai 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM

Dark Paths 31

Dark Paths of Riddleport
Session 31
June 16, 2013

A Quiet Stroll Along a Path

Map Tool Chat Log

Session Summary

Forest trail on Devil's Elbow

With the help of Akron Erix and three of Zincher's men, the crew headed back to their camp to retrieve their supplies, as they would be staying in Zinchers' camp. Erix showed them a different approach to the dock area that did not require hiking all the way up to the highest point of the island. This trail took them close to the crater site and followed near to the northern shore of the island.

When they arrived back at the camp, Samaritha and Harik told them that some of the tentacled beast dogs had come by the camp earlier but were kept at bay by Snargash's magical mist. The group quickly loaded the remaining supplies onto their wheelbarrows (and one Zincher's men brought with them) and began the hour long trek back across the island, hoping to make it back before dark.

When the group was about halfway there, suddenly Arlon, Zincher's man who was out on point, called that an attack was coming! The blue/purple tentacled lion beasts were upon them. The creatures silently  charged in from all sides, slamming and biting their way through the ranks. As the Crew moved to attack, Erix called for everyone to regroup at the center, though only a few heeded his call. Quickly, Arlon and Harik the young Cyphermage were down with the beasts upon them.

Guy, floating just above the forest floor, began mowing through the creatures with handfuls of psionically projected rocks and sticks. Bodi ran around with several of them, drawing them out for Guy to target. Aethel zipped around near the canopy above, dropping lightning down upon the creatures. Aragon danced his dance, weaving his twin blades, Zenith and Nadir about, acrobatically slicing and dicing.

Soon after the melee started, Snargash called out from the rear of the group that he was being surrounded by several of the monsters. The creatures, though seemingly devoid of intelligence, possessed a definite grasp of pack tactics, trying to pick off the last member of the group with large numbers while others distracted by attacking the front of the line. Aragon quickly fell back to help his 'ugly' friend while Guy, Bodi and Aethel repositioned to be of assistance as well.

After several more tense moments, the creatures were finished. One ran off, wounded, one lay unconscious with a shattered rear leg and the rest lay dead or dying in the surrounding forest. The live one was loaded onto a cart to be taken back to camp. Snargash quickly used his healing magics to fix up Arlon, Harik and himself, who had taken several bites from the beasts.

Then Paal ran back toward the group, having been scouting ahead on the trail just a little too far to be of use to the group. After that, they all stayed much closer together and eventually made their way back to Zincher's camp.

Continuing Story Doc

Continuing Story Summary

The Crew made it back to Zincher's camp with the captured (and wounded) creature. It was placed in one of the many cages that Zincher had made his men craft. Guy was gently interrogated by Akron Erix about his time in southern Varisia before coming to Riddleport. Aragon went to Zincher to get the payment promised for capturing the creature. Zincher conceded to pay 200 of the 500 gold since the beast was severely

Tents in Zincher's camp

wounded and promised to pay the rest in the morning if it still lived. Aragon agreed and went to inform his compaions. Aragon then sought out Erix to question him about some perceived strange behaviors of Zinchers. Speaking aside, Erix agreed that Zincher had been acting weird and he suspects that he has been sneaking out of the camp at night and going somewhere, but who knows where. Erix had wanted to follow him, but due to the lack of able bodied men to guard the camp he had not done so, now with the Crew in the camp, he thinks that they could possibly follow Zincher and see where he has been going. Erix offers to re-arrange the watch schedule to allow the Crew to sneak off after Zincher when he leaves.

Session Notes

This was a make up session because we missed last week due to to me having some storm related internet issues. It was a Happy Father's Day session. It seems like it's been so long since the last session, but our next session will be next week, and then the following week I will have my table top group session!

Cast of Characters

Aethelarian "Aethel" Flitterseed (262) - Noble Elf wizard played by +Daniel White 
Aragon Whisperwind (267) - Elven Bladedancer played by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Bodil "Bodi" Jantzen (260) - suave and smooth swordsman played by +Mike Biancone 
Guy Greystone (256) - Gnome telekinetic played by +Gren Drake 
Paal Ulfsun (253) - Northman Human ranger played by +Ben Zittere 
Snargash Windblown (262) - Half-Orc monk played by +Amergin O'Kai 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM

Dark Paths 30

Dark Paths of Riddleport
Session 30
May 26, 2013

Old Friends, Unfamiliar Places

Map Tool Chat Log

Devil's Elbow at night

Session Summary

The crew heads back from the ruined lighthouse on the western tip of the island after finding nothing interesting. The hike back was much more strenuous and difficult because of darkness falling before they got back. Several members of the group were able to see in the dark, but all the Humans were hampered by lack of daylight. Eventually they made it back to camp. The camp was as they had left it, though there were many booted tracks all around the place, as if a group of people had been there and at least examined the outer edge of the campsite. None of the tracks went into the mystic mist that Snargash had used to protect the camp.

The Drow are REAL!

The next morning, the Crew decides it is time to head off to check out the campsite that Aethel had scouted out. Paal had refilled all the water and Snargash had healed Harik up to full health. As they prepared to leave, Bodi decides that it is time to share with their companions the true purpose for the Crew being on the island. He tells them that Drow are real and that they have tracked them to this island and that is what they are looking for. Samaritha and Paal take the news ok, though Harik seems considerably worried about this.

The group sets off to explore the camp, leaving Samaritha and Harik behind to watch over the camp. The hike up to Witchlight is difficult, but everyone makes it ok. They decide to forego lunch and a rest and head off down toward the camp, planning on stopping and resting a mile or so out. 

Akron Erix

Before they can stop for a rest though, Snargash and Aethel both spot folks hiding up ahead, behind a large rock. Paal and Bodi both sneak out through the woods to try to get a better vantage point while Aethel, in body of air form, flies up and over to approach from behind. As everyone is getting into position, Aragon calls out, "Hello! We saw you there behind the rock! Hello!" The men, four of them, come out with bows. They star talking, not being threatening at all, then one of them spots Bodi and calls to him to come out. Bodi tries to get smart, then stands up and the conversation continues. A large shirtless man appears on the path behind Aragon, Snargash and Guy. He introduces himself as Akron Erix and seems fairly friendly, though he carries with him a huge maul tossed easily across his shoulder.

The two groups parlay and eventually come to the agreement that Erix will lead them to his camp and introduce them to his boss under the pretenses that they will purchase supplies from the camp.  Erix indicates that he knows that an Elf and a Northman are somewhere in the nearby forest watching them, but does not seem too concerned. When they arrived at the large camp, Erix then asked them if they would be willing to surrender their weapons. The request was met with an very definite no. He merely shrugged and asked that their weapons be kept sheathed while in the camp.

Good Clegg

The camp was large, though not many men were visible around the the place. Erix led them to a large tent at the far end of the camp and led them inside. There standing in the middle of the room, looking over a map of the island was their old nemesis  Clegg Zincher. Just as surprised to see them as they him, he stands and greets them and then offers them a job hunting the strange creatures that are present on the island.

Continuing Story Doc

Continuing Story Summary

After the surprise introduction to none other than Clegg Zincher, the Crew’s former rival, if not enemy, Zincher gets down to business. Since the Crew wants to buy supplies from him, he offers them a job working for him, in exchange. He says he has supplies, but isn’t interested in cash for them. He wants Noqual and some of those strange tentacled beasts captured live to take back and fight in the arena.

He takes a sip of his drink and looks to see if anyone else is drinking, then tips his glass to them. He drops down into one of the four comfortable chairs in the middle of the area.

Finally taking a moment to look around, the Crew sees that Zincher likes to travel in style. His tent is easily 15 feet tall and 20 feet wide and 30 feet long, larger than some buildings in Riddleport! It is a bizarre place of opulence despite its isolation, the inside of this pavilion is divided by a curtain that runs from roof to floor. In the open front half, a massive, iron-banded wooden trunk rests along the north wall while a row of boxes lines the south wall. Four heavily cushioned leather chairs sit in the middle of the open space in pairs. A tall, wrought-iron candelabra stands in the center of the area, its twelve evenly spaced candles burning merrily and giving off a mixture of pleasant aromas.

Zincher goes on to explain to you that he will pay you 500 gold for each one of the live creatures you can catch for him. He will also pay you 60 gold per pound of skymetal, which he says is considerably more than the Gas Forges will pay. He also invites you to come stay in the camp if you like, though he will require you to pitch in with some of the work around the place, including guard duty and what not.

Bodi sits down and joins Zincher for the drink.   He knows that if he doesn’t comply he will be offending their new host and if they were going to come out of this with any sort of deal, they were going to have to play nice.

“Okay Clegg......we are definitely here for a means to make some coin, and I think I speak for most of us by saying that it would benefit both of our groups to work together.  Especially with the oddball creatures abound here, safety in numbers for sure.      Clegg, we don’t expect you to totally trust us, because we won’t totally trust you either, but I know my word is good and we’re going to hold you to your word.     Sounds like a viable deal.    But, as with the others who tried to screw us over before, one way or another, we would find a way to get back at you if you tried to pull one over on us.     Its bad enough you want us to capture one of these creatures for you, so maybe you’re figuring if we fail, you are rid of us, and if we succeed, well then maybe we have more worth and could prove useful to you in future plans.”

Bodi takes a draught from his glass in front of him and continues, “We’ are going to need food, water, supplies, and also a means of trying to store or capture the creature.  If you don’t have a cage or the means to build one, than we need to find a way to either construct one or improvise a means to contain said beast.”

Bodi continues to drink and looks to his companions to see what they have to say.

Zincher nods as Bodi speaks. “Fair enough, fair enough. I may not like the lot of you, I may have sent swords against you in the past, but like I said, I’m a businessman, and anyway, it was NEVER personal toward you. I had a problem with Saul. I suppose it’s not really your fault he hoodwinked you. I’ll give it to him, he could talk his way out of a rabid Ghoul’s nest! Food and water is easy. Cages, well, I’ve got several of them already made up. How many are there in your group? I know there’s more of you than is here now, my scouts have kept tabs on you for a few days, since you knocked that tower down the cliff anyway. Some of them Cyphermages with ya? But anyway, yer all welcome to hike it up here and stay in our camp. I can send some of my boys to help you carry your gear up. Might be able to get it all up here by nightfall. You have any run-ins with them zombie things? What’s your take on them?”

Aragon also takes a drink and sits down.  He listens to the negotiations and discussions.  At the talk of the zombies, he perks up.  “They go down if you hit them hard enough, we know that.  Something weird about their tongues, too, if I recall.

“As for the lion-things, have you noticed their reaction to water?  They attacked us down near the surf, and it seemed to destroy them in short order.”  He turns to Bodi, “We may be able to use that as a way to trap them, since that is becoming a lucrative avenue.”

Bodi looks over to his friend, “Yeah, actually you have a point.....I have a plan for that...with some of our clever work, we could create some of those dead-fall pit traps, and using that flying trick again with water, maybe herd some of them over and drop them into the pits.   Then a matter of some apportation or levitation work to plant them inside the cages.”

Bodi then frowns for a moment.  “Hmm, that’s all well and good, but how the hell are we going to get them back?”

Cleeg nods absently at Bodi’s suggestions, “Yea, just gotta catch the critters. As for getting them off the island, I’ve got that taken care of. My ships will be back soon enough. I’d like to get working on this as soon as possible, say first thing tomorrow morning?” He leans back over and studies the map of the island. “So we have a deal? I can send some of my people to help you all get your gear and the rest of your crew up here to our camp. I think it’s getting dangerous out there. We’ve spotted several handfuls of those zombies in the area, no need to tangle with them if we don’t have to, right?” Zincher then motions to the large shirtless man. “My man, Erix there, will help you transport your stuff.” If there are no further questions, Zincher excuses himself and steps into the partitioned off back half of the tent.

Aragon nods and turns.  “I’ll go and help get our gear.  Snargash, Bodi, you coming?”

Akron Erix and a few of Zinchers other men go to help retrieve the supplies and gear from the base camp near the docks. Erix leads the way and shows the Crew a shorter route that does not require climbing up to the top of the island. “It’s a lot easier if we go this way, though we gotta watch out for those creatures. They seem to shy away from this path though, it leads much closer to the shoreline in many places.” Erix continues to be quite friendly and talkative, trying to chat everyone up in the group, though Zincher’s other men seem a bit more standoffish and quiet, more concerned with getting where they are going and doing what they are told than socializing.

Aragon watches the big fighter.  Muscular, mostly melee, the reach on that maul the same as Zenith and Nadir, he would be a decent opponent.  “So, Erix, I don’t think I saw you around the arena.  Are you new to Zincher’s employ?”

“Ehh, yea, I haven’t done much in the Arena recently. I’m here and there, you know, move around some. When I’m in Riddleport, Zincher and I can usually come to some sort of agreement. I stay out of the arena, though, cause it just don’t really seem fair, you know. Not challenging enough,” he smiles wryly at Aragon. “I remember you though. Made a good showing in your first few rounds. Not bad. Keep it up, you might just yet best that lot of grog blossoms.” He laughs and produces another of his cigars, lights it and begins to take large puffs.

Aragon shrugs.  “I’ve been getting enough of a workout just hanging with these guys.  Anything that takes me further down the Steps.”  He looks at Erix.  “Have you encountered any foes besides the blue lions and tongue zombies?  We had a small scrap with a manticore...”

Inside Zincher's tent.

Cast of Characters: 

Aethelarian "Aethel" Flitterseed (260 points) - Noble Elf wizard played by +Daniel White 
Aragon Whisperwind (265 points) - Elven Bladedancer played by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Bodil "Bodi" Jantzen (258 points) - suave and smooth swordsman played by +Mike Biancone 
Guy Greystone (254 points) - Gnome telekinetic played by +Gren Drake 
Paal - Northman Human ranger played by +Ben Zittere 
Snargash Windblown - Half-Orc monk played by +Amergin O'Kai 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM

Dark Paths 29

Dark Paths of Riddleport
Session 29
May 12, 2013

Something Bugging You?

Map Tool Chat Log

Session Summary

Running low on supplies

After determining that their supplies were running low, the Crew decided it was prudent for some for some of them to spend the morning out on the island hunting and foraging for food and searching for a source of water. Paal, Aragon, Bodi and Guy all used their survival skills to hunt up some grub for the group. Several small springs were discovered nearby and their 7 water barrels were refilled.  Guy even manged to take down one of the islands many wild dogs with one of his psionic projectiles. Paal attempted some hunting as well, but was not as lucky. A good supply of nuts, berries and other edible vegetation was found as well. 

While the hunters were out, Aethel decided to do a little aerial scouting of the island. He flew down to the far eastern end of the island to check out the lighthouse reported to be there. He found the lighthouse with no problems and it appeared to be in decent shape on the outside, though, upon looking inside, it was clear that time had taken its toll. All the interior walls and floors had rotted and for the most part fallen away. There were no signs of any recent habitation to be seen from Aethel's vantage point so he moved on along the southern edge of the island, following the ridge-line up toward the top of the island. 

Beautiful beachside property... not!

A mile or so along, he came upon the the location of the plume of smoke that had been seen rising from the forest since the Crew had arrived on the island. It was coming from a large bonfire at the center of a fairly good-sized camp. 

The entire camp stands in a wide forest clearing just off the western side of the trail and about 200 feet south of two partially collapsed buildings. One massive tent dominates this encampment, with three lesser olive-green tents to the south and a line of relatively small canvas tents along the north end. Ahead of the massive tent and between the lines of the others slowly burns a huge bonfire, creating a tremendous plume of white smoke. Sections of high palisade walls offer minimal protection around the edges of the camp, although stacked tree trunks and lines of narrow, deep trenches indicate the palisade is meant to eventually engulf the entire camp, it is far from finished though.

Four or five people can be seen moving about in the camp doing various light duties.

Not wanting to engage them or get himself spotted, Aethel kept near the tops of the trees and headed in a roundabout fashion back to his own camp.

Back at camp, Snargash had spent the morning tending to the wounded Cyphermage, Harik, who is finally feeling a bit better. Once the others arrive, they eat a quick lunch and decide to head out and do a little more exploring of the island, though instead of heading toward the camp Aethel found, Aragon suggests that they go the other direction and look for the other lighthouse that was supposed to stand on the western tip of the island. Instead of hiking up the hill back to Witchlight and then back down, the Crew decided it would be best to follow the north coastline around to the lighthouse. This possibly took a bit longer, but was easier and afforded the protection of the nearby surf, which seemed to be a good deterrent to the strange creatures inhabiting the island.

Eventually, after several hours of hiking, they made it around to the lighthouse, which sat on a small

Abandoned lightouse.. or is it?

island just off the tip of the main island. An ancient wooden bridge spanned the shallow water dividing the two islands. The wood of the bridge bowed and creaked, but held up under the weight of those passing over it. The tower looked to be in a bad state of disrepair. It showed signs of having sustained a fire at one point and some signs possibly pointed to the fact that the tower had never been finished being built.

Aragon and Paal approached an opening in the side of the tower and peered inside, only to discover serveral enormous centipedes, each nearly 6 feet long with blood red back segments and black legs. The creatures quickly scurried out to attack. Aragon did his best to master his fear of the bugs and was able to engage them, though clearly he was visibly shaken. Paal quickly jumped back just outside the door with his axe ready to smash the first one that exited the structure. Bodi flung a knife from out on the beach that struck one of the creatures while it was still inside.

That's a big bug!

 Two more centipedes approached the gathered companions from outside and joined the fray.

Continuing Story Doc

Continuing Story Summary

The battle rages on with the monstrous, red-backed centipedes, but within a few more moments, all of the giant vermin have been dealt with. Aragon stabs his blades into the sandy ground in front of him and lets out a gasp as his whole body shakes. He quickly composes himself and sheaths his blades. Luckily, no one had sustained any injury in the fight. Looking west across the wide sea, the sun can be seen quickly descending toward the horizon. If they don’t leave soon, the Crew realizes that it will likely be after dark before they get back to their camp and supplies.

Paal lops off a few choice bits of the defeated critters, particularly anything that is edible or poisonous, being careful to keep the two separated and says “these could be useful” as he wipes his knife clean and sheaths it.

Aragon looks around.  “We are here.  It will take us just as long to get here tomorrow.  I say we should at least check it out.  The *shudder* creatures are dead.  We are all still fit.  Why are we hesitating?”

While Paal finished up butchering the enormous bug carcasses, Aragon tentatively takes a step back inside, looking around for anything interesting and watching out for more bugs. Near the center of the tower, he steps on a thick bed of leaves and thousands of tiny centipedes come rushing out in all directions.

Aragon freezes as the horrible creatures scuttle this way and that across the floor.  If any of his comrades could see his face, they might notice a lot more whites to his eyes than usual.  His breath catches as they scurry over his boots.  After a few moments to swallow and get under control, he carefully steps backwards to the door and exits.

Striving for nonchalance, he says, “Of course, if I’m the only one who feels that way, we can always come back another time.”

Paal says, “No, this is as good a time as any. If there is a reason to come back, we probably shouldn’t leave yet.”

 “I agree, we’re here now let’s make the most of it while we can”, Bodi says as he sheaths his main-gauche.   He keeps his rapier out, occasionally using it to steady himself as he walks around the broken ground.   “Just keep your eyes open for any more signs of danger as we make our way along.”

Besides more of the little centipedes, the ruined tower contains nothing but mounds of wet and partially decomposed vegetation inside. A quick search of the surrounding area in the fading light reveals nothing as well. A decision has to be made as to whether the Crew is going to camp out here for the night, away from their supplies or try to hike back, knowing now that it will probably be dark before they make it back.

“Well, that was disappointing.  Let’s get back to camp.  Paal, how is your nightsight?  Would you like Aethel or I to lead?”  The Northman shrugs, so Aragon leads off back the way they had come, hoping to get back to camp for a late dinner.

Cast of Characters: 

Aethelarian "Aethel" Flitterseed (257 points) - Noble Elf wizard played by +Daniel White 
Aragon Whisperwind (262 points) - Elven Bladedancer played by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Bodil "Bodi" Jantzen (255 points) - suave and smooth swordsman played by +Mike Biancone 
Guy Greystone (251 points) - Gnome telekinetic played by +Gren Drake 
Paal Ulfsun (253 points) - Northman Human ranger played by +Ben Zittere 
Snargash Windblown (262 points) - Half-Orc monk played by +Amergin O'Kai 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM

Dark Paths 28

Dark Paths of Riddleport
Session 28
April 14, 2013

There's a Hole in the Bucket

Map Tool Chat Log

Session Summary

After dealing with the threat of the manticore, the party decided to focus its search for skymetal in the actual water filled crater. Guy, using his Wave Bracelet that gave him the ability to move and breathe freely underwater, went into the crater lake in hopes to find more of the noqual. After about a half hour search, he came across a distinct hole in the bottom of the lake that seemed to have something in the bottom of it. Unfortunately it was too far down for his short, Gnome arms to reach, so he reached out with his psionic powers and grabbed the object and slowly but surely pulled it out. It turned out to be a 3lb chunk of the skymetal!

He returned to the shore to share his find and he was informed by the others that they had spotted something moving in the tree line 1000 feet away, but whatever it was did not show itself. Guy went back to work searching the bottom of the lake, and while he discovered several more possible locations of skymetal chunks, he was not able to actually see or retrieve any of them.

As the day was getting longer, several groups of the strange zombie like creatures presented themselves. The creatures slowly clambered toward the group on the shore of the crater lake. Due to the distance and difficult terrain, it took considerable time for each of the three groups to arrive. Some talk of making traps and other deterrents was had. Paal even built a trap involving bent back tree limbs, but when he tired to start a fire, and was unsuccessful, he gave up on the traps idea.

After some thinking, the Crew thought that these zombies might have some sort of vulnrability to water like the other strange creatures did and since the zombies were said to have risen from people bitten by these tentacled lion-dog creatures, it was worth a shot. Bodi had found a small chunk of wood that could hold a gallon or so of water. Aethel then cast a spell on him allowing him to fly. Bodi took off, resisted doing some loops in the air, then flew over to the slow-going zombies and dumped the water right in its face. The zombie fell to the ground hissing and screaming. The water had great affect on the zombies. Bodi flew back and Aethel used his shaping magic to great effect and crafts several bowls out of downed tree wood.

Everyone then stepped back into the water as the zombies approached and began splashing them. It seemed that the zombies were not scared to walk a little ways into the water, but when the water hit them in the face, they fell to the ground, dead again.

After some time, all three groups of approaching zombies were dispatched of with no injury to anyone. It seemed that the hour was very late and the Crew decided to head back to camp. Guy remembered the way and the hike back home was almost worse than the hike earlier that day.

Samaritha and the wounded Cyphermage, Harik, were still there, safe. Harik was feeling and looking a bit better. Samaritha said that Snargash's magical mist protected the camp but she thinks that some of the dog/lion/tentacle creatures had been nearby earlier that day.

Continued Story Doc

Continued Story Summary

After returning to the base camp and making sure their two guests are still safe, the group took a moment to examine the 2 chunks of skymetal they had recovered. It was a very tough, yet light material. It was pale green and seemed to sparkle or even be slightly translucent in bright light. It resembled a chunk of crystal more than metal.

Paal sits on a log and starts whittling shavings into a pile in case we need to start a fire. “So, with three days left before our ship arrives, what do we plan to do with the rest of our time?”

At Paal’s question, Aragon looks sideways at Bodi and Aethel.  He knows that ultimately, their quest is to find if there are more of the mythical Drow on the island.  But when is the right time to tell the newcomer?

Unaware of his teammates potential treachery, Paal continues to work for the good of the group.

Bodi looks around at his companions.   “Well we sure have run into our share of trouble on this rock.  The strange animals with tentacles, the manticore, zombies, and one can only imagine what else is here.      The bottom line is, there is a lot more at stake here than just star-metal.   But while we have 3 days left, I think it would be in our best interest to not only look for more star-metal, but also maybe uncover some other secrets yet unknown on this island.”

With that last comment Bodi flashes a wink towards Aragon and Aethel.

“I have heard some tales about this island and while we’re here, it may benefit us to scout them out.    Sure we have this massive crater, but we also had the Witchlight tower, which gave us that nasty tumble, and the lighthouse to check out as well.    I suggest we agree on something and continue to investigate, especially now that our two cypher mages are ready to roll.,

Bodi expected to see the male cyphermage flinch, and picks up on it right away.

“Oh don’t worry there (male mage who’s name I can’t remember), it’s all good.  I have played that wounded rabbit role once or twice before to get into a woman’s drawers, but Samaritha here is too smart for you to get away with it on her, so you may as well just man up and admit now that you’re healthy enough to travel with us.    Or, if you like, I can have Aragon inflict a real wound upon you that WILL keep you grounded.”   

The last line again said with a sneering smile and a darker tone than Bodi normally speaks with.

Bodi then considers his next set of statements.   “We all heard the story of the man and the woman and the Witchlight Tower and the Siren and the love story of death.    Well there are a few more things that may have happened on this island.    Remember folks, there were people who tried to make a community here.    Sure there are some random monsters around that could have made things hazardous, but some of these creatures seem more like they are ‘created’ by foul magic, which leads one to think that there is much more going on here than just random acts of violence by randomly fantastic critters”

“That star or rock or whatever it was that fell was directed to fall  and aimed to land here.   There is something more to this than a random falling piece of metal and rock.   I think the answers to all of that can be found here and we may be in for some surprises on what we find.   But the potential for profit, fame, and fortune are too good to pass up, if you catch my drift.”

Paal says, "Interesting Bodi, what sort of rumors have you heard? If we are to look for something specific we should probably pool all available knowledge on it.”

“The story was about a man who led a group here to settle. they built witch light but he had fallen in love with the Siren. The settlers got upset at this and killed the Siren cause she was a monster. The man got sad and killed himself as well. The settlement failed. that was several decades ago.”

Bodi shrugs.   “Though I have heard other tales.   Like that there are other things, best not named, possibly living or have infiltrated this island.   That alone may be worth more of our effort.”

Paal says, "Other tales like what, exactly? Do you believe them or are they best ignored? “

Aragon shrugs.  “Zombies, not unlike the creatures that attacked earlier.  Ghosts that haunt places where people have died, tragically.  

Once again, the camp is set and Snargash casts his Mystic Mist spell to protect the camp through the night. A watch is set and everyone settles in for the evening. Nothing happens during the night, though several folk report that they heard sounds of movement in the nearby forest during their watch, though nothing too close to the camp.

Taking a quick inventory of their supplies, it seems that with the addition of the Northman Paal and the two Cyphermages, their food stores are being depleted faster than they expected. Already, about half of the weeks supply of food is gone in just 3 days on the island and 4 of the 7 water barrels are already empty.

Paal says, "Well, we know there are buzzards on the island, and there are plenty of gulls to eat. Since there was a colony there must have been a source of fresh water. We should be able to restock our supplies fairly easily. If not, we should be able to survive on what we have with a little rationing."

Cast of Characters: 

Aethelarian "Aethel" Flitterseed - Noble Elf wizard played by +Daniel White 
Aragon Whisperwind - Elven Bladedancer played by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Bodi Jantzen - suave and smooth swordsman played by +Mike Biancone 
Guy Greystone - Gnome telekinetic played by +Gren Drake 
Paal Ulfsun - Northman ranger played by +Ben Zittere 
Snargash Windblown - Half-Orc monk played by +Amergin O'Kai 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM