Dark Paths and Wandered Roads: Giant Bugs

Showing posts with label Giant Bugs. Show all posts

2014-03-15

Reclaiming the Horses

Loshdain 9th of Thaumont, 1001AC

Following the easy to see trail of the stolen horses, the group heads south into the Dymrak Forest. After a short time, they come across a grisly scene. A score of dead goblins and handful of dead horses lay about a clearing. As they approach, the group sees six giant beetles feasting on the carcasses of a few of the horses. Wanting to examing the scene a bit closer, it is decided to try to drive off the 100+ pound vermin. Marcel and Draven urge their mounts in opposite directions, moving to flank the beasts. They both start banging their weapons on their shields, trying to frighten them. Meanwhile, Griffin readies his crossbow and begins moving into position to shoot if needed.

Dead horse feast!

Unfortunately the loud clanging sound does not deter the beetles. In fact, it catches their attention and they quickly abandon their meals of dead horse flesh for live Human flesh! The giant bugs scurry toward the sources of the noise, aka Marcel and Draven. Both men dismount, not wishing to be thrown in case their mounts are spooked by the creatures advance.

The beetles moved far quicker than was expected and they were on their quarry in no time. Marcel and Draven fought for their lives against the vermin while Griffin took a shot and missed. Taras, the homesteader approached on foot, swinging his two handed axe and proving to be quite effective, splitting a beetle in half with his first swing. Remar also dismounted and moved up to help Draven, who was locked in combat with two of the beetles. Marcel fared a bit better, putting his shield and spear to good use, wounding one quickly, then dispatching another one almost as fast before using the butt of his spear to flip the remaining beetle over on its back, revealing its softer, less defensible underside.

After just another moment of fighting, the beetles were either squashed or had run off. A quick search of the carnage revealed that the Goblins, who were Jaggadash (Vipers) based on their facial snake tattoos, and horses had all been killed by a mix of wolf bites and axe and spear wounds. All of the Goblins had been stripped of anything of value as well. Signs pointed to the Wolfskull tribe, as many of that tribe had been witnessed fighting with axes and spears in addition to the fact that they kept Dire Wolves in their ranks.

Another clear set of horse herd tracks left the area, still heading south. Some other Goblin and wolf tracks were also seen heading out to the east. Wanting to focus more on finding the horses and less on stirring up more Goblin trouble, the group headed south.

The tracks were followed for another hour or so until they came to a much thicker and overgrown section of the forest. The trail narrowed, allowing only 1 horse to pass at a time. They soon came across a crude wooden sign that was stuck into the ground. On it was printed in Traladaran "Equine Entrepreneur - Dealer in Fine Horses- Miss L. Fydorell" There was also some other script printed on the sign, possibly in Elvish.

Griffin dismounted and decided to take a sneak peek up ahead. He made his way through the thick woods and after a few moments came across what appeared to be some sort of encampment. He could see 3 covered wagons in a small clearing. Beyond the far wagon, he could see a fence and see a good number of horses, mostly white ones. Griffin saw a man in the camp and realized that the man saw him as well. They greeted each other and Griffin was invited into camp. They spoke for a moment as the rest of the group approached. The man in the camp asked if they were interested in buying or selling horses.

It is soon revealed that there is another Human man in the camp as well as the camp leader, an Elf female named Fydorell. Taras, recognizing his horses, demands that she return them, but she refuses, saying she bought them fairly from some Goblns earlier in the day. Marcel and Griffin both believe she is telling the truth and finally she agrees to sell them back for the same price she paid for them. This is unacceptable to Taras in addition to the fact that no one has that amount of coin to make a deal with.

Deciding to regroup and make a new plan, the companions head back toward where Remar was watching the horses. As they left the camp, they could hear something crashing through the nearby woods, coming right toward the trail. Everyone quickly readied themselves for an ambush of some kind, but the attack from the forest never came. Instead, they were ambushed from behind by Fydorell and her men. She leaped forward and ran Taras through with her longsword while the others engaged Marcel, Griffin and Draven. Griffin charged through the melee to trade some blows with Fydorell, though it was quickly evident that she was a better swordsman than he was. After a moment of fighting, another Human male leaped out of one of the wagons and joined the fray and then another climbed out from behind another wagon and engaged as well. Marcel was able to incapacitate one with a punch from his shield while Draven traded blows with two others. They called for Remar to come give them some assistance. Things were looking good for a moment until Griffin found himself receiving a telling blow and falling to the ground unconscious. As the others battled the Human henchmen, Fydorell managed to hop the fence into the corral, mount one of the horses and take off out of a rear exit. With their leader gone and one of their number down, two of the Humans fled into the forest while the remaining one surrendered.

Ambushed by the horse traders!

Draven quickly set to work, using his divine healing powers to help revive Griffin and Taras. Neither man was in danger of dying, but both had been rendered unconscious by their wounds. The others quickly searched the camp, making sure no further dangers lurked nearby. It appeared that Fydorell and the others had truly fled the area. The wagons were searched as well, turning up a good amount of gold and some usable equipment, in addition to what appeared to be a spellbook, probably Fydorell's. Two of the wagons were in very bad shape, not movable at all, though the third one looked like it could be hooked up to a few of the horses and pulled back to the homestead so all of the gathered loot and supplies were piled into the wagon and with 24 of the homesteads white horses and 10 additional horses in tow, the companions headed back toward the homestead.

Continued on GDA8 Preparing for the Drive

Cast of Characters:

Garrett "Griffin" Constantine, a Thyatian rogue of a gambler from Penhaligon rolled by +Arne Jamtgaard
~~Remar Umerus, an Alphatian battle mage that escaped forced service in the Thyatian army conjured by +Ben Lipe~~
Marcel Maas, a down on his luck Traladaran soldier turned mercenary commanded by +Christian Blouin
Draven Rickart, a Thyatian Acolyte of the Church of Karameikos piously played by +Jason Packer
and +Jason Woollard as the DM

2014-02-09

Wandered Roads 29

Wandered Roads of Varisia
Session 29
February 8, 2014

Campaign Timeline

They Delved Too Deep

Wealday 26th of Lamashan

After a day of recovering from the most recent exploits and some time to sort and sell gear, the Heroes of Sandpoint were ready to venture once more to the Irespan piling known as the Crow in search for the next shard of Thassilion. Before heading back though, they had to sort out the riddle of the runes that were found on the un-openable door that lead to the rest of the structure because each time the actual runes were touched, an eldritch blast of fire burned whoever was touching them. With some help from Sheila Heidmarch, it was determined that the runes said something like “Listen” on the left and “The Eyes” on the right.

Listen - The Eyes

After some time, it was decided that the runes should be rearranged to say “Silent” and “They See.” Confident that this would open the doors, the group headed back to the docks to make arrangements for passage. Word of their recent exploits had spread through the docks quickly, driving the price of good help up a bit, but that was of no consequence to the group who happily shelled out the required price to rent a boat.

Silent - They See

The Crow was reached with no incident and the boat master was told he would be contacted when passage back to the mainland was required. It looked as if no one had been here since they last left the other day so the group prepared for the long hike up the many stairs to the top of the structure. From there, they got to use their newly procured climbing harnesses to climb up through the trap door at the top of the 100+ foot tall entry shaft. Everyone made it with no trouble, except for Kallin, who just could not get the hang of the harness. He fell several times but was saved a gruesome death by the safety ropes that had been tied. After several tries, the sore Half Orc finally made it through. The group then trekked down through several more floors of the complex to the magical rune blocked doors.

It was decided that each attempt at switching the runes would be done by a different person to minimize the damage taken by the magical nature of the doors. After just a moment, the runes were placed in the correct order and the doors popped open, releasing a dusty waft of stale, ancient air. The heavy stone doors were then pulled open and blocked with some large pieces of stonework that Samad and Ehlyna carried over.

The group headed down the hallway whose only visitor in the last several thousand years had been Daellin just the other day. The Elf showed the group to the balcony overlooking the fetid pool of scum covered water where he had encountered the two giant amoeba creatues. As the companions stood at the top of the 20 foot balcony discussing how to deal with these dangerous creatures, Ehlyna stomped off down the stairs to take matters into her own hands, like she normally did. Trying to get the jump on the creatures, Calina started firing arrows down into the pool, which drove the two transparent blobs of goo into action. Ehlyna started

hacking with her axes as everyone else from above began firing down on them. During the fight, one of the blobs managed to totally engulf Ehlyna, its corrosive jelly-like insides burned her skin and threatened to eat away at her gear. Not to be destructively shown up by a giant one celled organism, Ehlyna opened an escape route with her axes, right through the creatures outer layer! After a few more moments, the beasts were nothing more than quivering piles of stinging goo on the ground. The surrounding areas were explored, revealing the presence of a huge swarm of bats and all their excrement. Not wanting to deal with that, the group went the other way and discovered dust covered stairs leading down. A small area at the top of the stairs and a narrow trail down the stairs had its dust disturbed. Something small had recently been here and retreated below. Undaunted, the group followed the trail down.

After going down several flights of stairs a good distance, Ehlyna states that they are no below the surface of the water in the bay outside. Calina shivered at the thought, a bit of claustrophobia kicking in. The corridor eventually opened up to a large room that looked to have at one time been some sort of catacombs, with burial niches lining the walls. The niches all appeared to be empty, though the center of the stone floored room was covered with six 10’ tall hills that resembled ant hills. While crossing the room to a passage leading out on the opposite side, their conclusions were proven correct as several giant ants (4 feet long each) emerged from the ant hills and scurried down in an attack! The ants were crunchy and dealt with fairly quickly. Wasting no time, the group moved on before more ants could venture forth from the ant hills.

They followed the worked stone corridor around a corner and stopped to search an odd shaped alcove in the middle of the hall. The search revealed a crudely constructed secret door that led to a narrow and short passage carved out of the stone. The passage was barely big enough for Leela to squeeze into and some of the larger members of the party were sure they would not fit at all so the passage was left unexplored for now.

The group continued down the hall until it opened into a large trash and rubble filled chamber that was covered in sheets and sheets of spider webs. It seemed that some of the rubble and trash had been stacked and organized into tiny chairs, tables, benches and other furniture. Before a search of the room could be mounted, its inhabitants revealed themselves. Tiny insect like humanoids with bulbous black heads, two of which were riding giant, furry legged spiders, leaped out and charged, filling the air with a strange, high pitched chittering and squeaking noise.

As they approached, Samad was suddenly overcome with an overwhelming fear. For some

Samad overcomes his fear and attacks with Ehlyna

reason, he was scared of these round headed little creatures. This feeling of fright did not stop him from joining in the fray with his companions though. After a brief clash left several of the insectoids dead or dying, as well as one of their spiders, the rest of them shrieked loudly and began fleeing for a passage on the far side of the room. The party pursued, though the rubble and junk in the room made pursuit difficult and the creatures got away. Calina did manage to take down the other giant spider with a well placed shot from Whisper.

Bug-man mounted on giant spider

Giving up the chase, the room was quickly searched but turned up nothing of interest or value. Ehlyna, ready for more fighting, urged the group to take up the chase once again. They followed the corridor around another corner that led to yet another set of stairs going down. With only a moments pause, the group descended further into the piling, realizing they were moving further and further below the surface of the water surrounding them.

The stairs let out at a corner of two hallways, one running to the south, the other running to the west. The southernmost passage was blanketed in spider webs and Calina was sure that she could see the tracks of the little bug-men in that direction. Deciding that they were done dealing with bugs for a moment, the group chose the other direction, which led to what appeared to be a prison block, with 3 hallways filled with iron doors. Before it could be searched, 4 large crab like spiders scuttled out of some open cells and attacked. These spiders proved to be more difficult to slay due to their hard and thick coverings. In time though, they too were defeated.

Calina moves HERE!

Kalling and Calina fighting the spiders

The far end of one of the cell blocks led to another passage. Following that led to some sort of torture chamber. Two cells lined the eastern wall. Curious what might have been in these ancient cells, Calina forces the rusty window in the iron door open to reveal a very much alive and raging prisoner. The growling face of one of the split jawwed creatures they had battled under Sandpoint was locked in the cell. It began screeching and banging on the door, though the rusty cage would not break. Calina closed the viewing window and stepped back. Ehlyna offered to open the door and slay the creature, but it was decided to leave it alone since it could not harm anyone from inside its locked dungeon. The group followed a passage south out of the torture chamber and discovered more stairs leading down.

Encountering a demonic worm

Not wanting to break tradition, the group descends the stairs, exploring deeper and deeper into the depths of this Thassilonian ruin. After descending several more flights of stairs, the passageway ends in a stone door marked with the 7-pointed Sihedron Rune they had come so accustomed to seeing. The door opens with a little force and they enter a large, 8 sided room with four doors leading out: one to the north (that they had just entered from) and others to the south, east and west.

Demonic larva and Runelord statue

overhead

In the center of this room stands a large red statue of Alaznist, the Runelord of Wrath who once ruled over the kingdom of Bakrakhan, the portion of ancient Thassilon that was centered over this part of Varisia. The floor around the statue was covered in crusty slime trails that were soon shown to be the tracks of a huge, 10’ long demonic larva that attacked the party by spewing mouthfuls of maggots and biting with acidic teeth. The heroes moved about the room and did battle with the slimy behemoth, trading sword, axe and arrow strikes with maggot sprays! Ehlyna was reduced to a vomiting mess after being hit in the face with demon maggots and Samad leaped to her rescue by flinging a vial of Alchemist Fire onto the creatures back. Eventually, the beast was laid open and the vile creature disintegrated into a stinky black mass of bubbling tar-like goo.

Maneuvering into position

Session Notes

Kabam!

This session was fun. We were short several players (1 expected and 2 unexpected) but we managed to get a lot done. The session started with a problem solving puzzle that they were able to unravel fairly quickly. I think the handouts were fun and helpful. The group explored a LOT of the dungeon, moving quickly through rooms, heading downward, downward, downward. They were TOO driven to move downward, in fact,and managed to get past where I thought they would go, leaving me in the 'seat of my pants' territory. Fortunately, that is some comfortable territory for me and it all worked out fine. The session ended with a squeal of tires, screeching brakes, several loud impacts and a horn stuck on just outside the window. Looking outside we see some truck in a neighbors back yard, somehow having crashed into the inside edge of an electrical pole, mowing down a line of bushes and then backing into the wooden fence. We called the cops and went outside to see if anyone was hurt. I had to pry the door of the truck open cause the driver couldn't get out. Were still not sure exactly how the accident happened. He said he hit a slick spot, though the entire stretch of road was clear and dry. The best part for me was when the cop rolled a Crit Fail on his Mechanics skill while trying to disengage the continually blaring horn and somehow made another horn start going off! Anyway.

This guy defied the laws of physics.

Characters Present:

Kallin Hawkril, Half-Orc shaman and budding Priest of Pharasma - played by +Daniel Ernst
Calina - Varisian Human archer and scout - played by +Carol Coburn
Leela Cardnool, Gnome scout, cartographer and Illusionist - played by +Lisa Smith
~~Daellin Silvanthalas, Elven Farstrider Ranger - played by +Ben Lipe~~
~~Vexeron, Human wizard - played by +Greg Grady~~
~~Ehlyna Fuzziface - Dwarven Warrior - played by +Jodi H~~
Samad Aldhul, Human ex-mercenary - played by +JeCorey Holder
~~Ellie - Halfling Finder of Things - played by +Megan McCarron~~

and +Jason Woollard as the DM

2013-05-14

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.