LFG Session 14: A Request From An Old Friend

Run Date: October 18th, 2022

I've been rather mechanical with my reports of late; coming home and just jotting down things before I forget. I find it difficult to get into a flow, and then writing everything out ends up taking longer than I expect. Nonetheless, it's been fun and I hope to one day view these records for insight of how far I've come.

With that out of the way: Today's session was one on one. One player was busy managing things at the library, and the other couldn't make it. The bright side is that managing things with 1:1 timekeeping and "return to base" means I don't have to mess with cancellations. This is new territory for me, and I hope to learn what I can.

PCs

Baldur: Lv2 Barbarian

A Request From An Old Friend

We began the session with updates on the situation with scheduling and the missing players. After that, P (Baldur's player) weighed what he wanted to do and which character he was going to play. He decided on his now-level-2 barbarian Baldur. His first action? Hit up the Tankard and ask around about work.

The Red Tankard has been busy of late with the festival season in full swing. Baldur found himself squeezing between patrons and trying to speak above the din of the inn. What he found was one of the first henchmen ever hired by the group (only one PC of which is still alive: Rebel). The man with a (former) death wish invited him over to munch on some fried peppers. Vance, as the man introduced himself as, noted they'd be out of season and his former drinking buddy used to love them. Baldur's mind was on money and would have preferred a quick and direct command, but he let the ex-pirate reminisce.

Vance told Baldur about Merek, a former colleague he'd traveled with for some years. They were a brash duo, ready to take on the world or die trying. Merek, unfortunately, met a terrible end. This was the beginning of Vance's wake up call. Vance noted that he'd later join up with his old bosses for another trek into the wilderness, and that despite being overwhelmed, he managed to survive. On top of that, he'd managed to make enough money to drink himself to death thrice over. These two events shaped his current situation.

Baldur's eyes were glazing over at this point, but his patience was rewarded. Vance told him that he'd spoken with local Laurenian priests about giving his late friend a peaceful send-off, and that they would need a token from the fallen. Vance told Baldur that he knew of the Oldtown Graveyard's curse, and that all he wanted was Merek's shield. The bounty: 200gp. Baldur, imagining an easy smash and grab, accepted the mission and immediately began hunting... for a table.

Baldur began with the innkeeper, who more or less shooed him out. He then hit up a carpenter and purchased one for a few silver. After that, Baldur went to the town center, stood upon his table, and began shouting. Hours passed as this muscled man shouted about a quest to find a shield and a pricey reward. Few paid attention to the rambling, and many more just assumed he was part of a theatre group. As evening rolled around, however, someone came up to introduce herself: Dura.

Dura asked many questions, and Baldur answered with gusto. At some point, the phrase "cat-like reflexes" came up and she kicked his table out from under him. Baldur's people skills may have been poor, but his body was sharp; he landed on his feet, grabbed the table, and hopped back up. This impressed the young lady, and she decided to tag along. Baldur did not manage to find anyone else before night fell and took his new companion with him to the Tankard.

At first, Baldur planned to introduce Dura to Vance, but upon seeing the ex-pirate was nowhere to be found, sat and ate dinner with his new partner. Dura continued to ask questions, and Baldur rambled on about his experience with the Oldtown Graveyard. As they finished up, he offered to let her sleep on his "couch." She was disappointed to find out that it was a shoddy bench, but given the chill weather of late it could have been worse.

Before settling in to sleep, Dura asked Baldur about his display piece: Cleaver. He explained that it had been shattered by a living statue he fought the week prior. He then asked Dura if she had a Ghosteel weapon, to which she was oblivious. He gave her the run down, the value, the whole shebang. It was around this point that the player became suspicious. As they settled in to sleep, Baldur stayed up just a little later to keep an eye on his new friend.

Morning rolled around, and as the rays of the sun shone through cracks in the shutters, Baldur awoke. The first thing he noticed was that Dura was missing. He immediately checked on Cleaver then rushed out the door; and right into a tray of oatmeal and rolls. Turns out, Dura was just getting breakfast.

The plan was simple: Finish breakfast, get into the graveyard, hit the mausoleum, grab the shield, get out. I don't need to go over the risk of simple plans. As the two headed into the streets and worked their way to Oldtown, Baldur noticed a food cart. He'd heard about it from the raving reviews of an Eskel and Sibert a week or so back. Since it was on the way, he ordered himself the cheap snack option with two sauces: the tropical and the fire. The manager, Charkin, talked his ear off while cooking.

When the duo finally arrived at the usual entrance, they found a shifting of the guard taking place. Baldur asked about what had happened and the guardsman explained that the squads of undead had become aggressive of late. Over the past week, they'd been making small assaults on the gate, injuring or killing several guards. The festival had the guard spread thin, and the Trade Council didn't care much about what happened outside the Trade Quarter. Baldur then explained his business, and the gate was opened and shut with the all-too-familiar SCHUNK.

Traversing the graveyard as a pair allowed for more flexibility and easier evasion of enemy patrols. Despite running into several enemy groups, Baldur and Dura managed to maintain a safe distance and avoid notice. Moreover, Baldur managed to spot several of the "generals" that were leading some of the undead squads: A Skeletal Knight with a glittering bracelet, and a Zombified Woman missing half her throat. After managing to sneak their way up to the central mausoleum, Baldur was faced with a new obstacle: the sealed skeletal door.

Dura and Baldur had quite a bit of whispered conversation about what the hell the thing was and how they'd get past it. The shield, after all, was supposed to just be a few steps in. Smash and grab, right? Baldur was confident in his ability to break through, and left Dura to watch for approaching enemies. With a mighty strike with his Ghosteel hammer, Baldur started tearing through the door. He realized quickly, however, that it was more than bone that held the door in place. The evil magic proved to be a greater obstacle than he'd expected, and Baldur continued to try and force his way through. Each successful strike splintered more and more bone and he could nearly see inside. Before he could complete the breach, however, Dura spotted a pair of taut-skinned humanoids on all fours charging their position.

Baldur continued to lash out at the door, but couldn't quite finish what he'd started. He was so close, yet so far. Dura, meanwhile, started firing shots at the encroaching monsters. Her first shot missed, but the second landed true. Too bad it wasn't enough to kill because the moment they closed the gap she was mauled. Baldur, watching his ally drop, flew into a rage. The creatures quickly turned away from their easy meal and began clawing and biting at the barbarian. He resisted their paralyzing poisons and shrugged off their blows as in one mighty swing he tore away one's head and crushed the other with it and a follow-up drive through the skull. (Being one on one, I finally had a proper chance to do a walk through of what Major Exploits can do. More to come...)

The two monsters dead, Baldur was faced with a conundrum. He looked back at his progress on the door and looked down at his fallen companion. There was only time for one... Baldur grabbed Dura's body, hoping her life had not left her, and charged for the gate. He was swift, still coming down from the adrenaline rush from a few minutes ago, and managed to escape the attention of patrols on the way back. Unfortunately, he had one last obstacle to overcome.

When Baldur saw the gate, he spotted a pair of the ghoulish monsters standing on the shoulders of zombies while lashing out at the guards that were trying to spear them back down. Meanwhile, another pair of zombies were chopping away at the wooden gate with splinters of metal.

Baldur set down Dura's body and charged in hollering and screaming. With his newfound power (and understanding of Major Exploits), he felled the two chopping at the door in a monstrous crushing blow. He caught both with his hammer, threw them over his shoulder, and drove their bodies into the ground. Meanwhile, the guards and ghouls traded blows. One ghoul managed to pull a guard over the wall and was about to fall into mauling position when Baldur rushed the creature. He threw it aside, caught the guard and used the zombie-step to throw the guard back over (hell of a rescue). Afterward, Baldur dropped from the zombie's shoulders and tried to drive one creature into the other, same as before. Unfortunately, he could only fell the zombie before the ghoul hopped up and re-engaged.

The guard that Baldur saved loaded up a heavy crossbow and fired, hitting the wrong target. Baldur's rage only grew as he shouted "FRIENDLY" and smashed the ghoul's face in. Meanwhile, the other ghoul-zombie combo continued their back and forth. The spearman ran the ghoul through, but failed to kill it and ended up getting pulled into the graveyard. Baldur's luck ran short, and he couldn't save this one. Instead, he and the sniper finished off the last two monsters.

With the gate cleared, Baldur retrieved Dura. The guards retrieved their spears and fallen ally, and everyone began desperately patching up wounds. Dura, despite the odds, managed to make it out with only some minor scarring. Alas, the gate was two guards down now; one injury, one death. Baldur asked the captain on duty who he could speak with about working the gate; and after a quick conversation, he and Dura left.

It was mid-morning at this point, and Dura was still hazy from the ghoul's poison. Baldur decided to grab another snack from Charkin's Chunky Chewables before heading back to the Tankard. It was at this point, one of the players had a chance to enter:

Rebel was going about her morning and thinking about the recent death of her friend James, a Khairnite she'd met some weeks back. While mulling over it and some watered ale, an old friend plopped down a bowl of fried peppers and took a seat. Vance greeted her with a smile and they spent time catching up. They were both reconsidering their place in the world, actions of late, and where to go from here. Vance mentioned he'd put out a bounty for Merek's shield and was waiting on some people to return, and as it goes, Baldur entered the Tankard right on cue.

Baldur marched directly toward Vance and Rebel with Dura staggering behind. He told the two about what had happened this morning, and apologized to Vance about his failure. After this, they sat down to try and make plans for their next adventure.

Baldur

Baldur's focus for the week was two-fold: help guard the Oldtown Graveyard gate, find some assistance for a proper assault against the undead. The first was simple enough. Baldur hit up the local barracks and asked to be assigned to the gate. The captain had no issues, nor opportunity, to refuse. He told Baldur the time, the pay, and sent him on his way.

Since Baldur's shift didn't start until the following day, he decided to hit up quarters of the Trade Council. Alas, he only got to meet with a secretary of a secretary that gave him quite the runaround. He tried to explain the situation in the graveyard and she laughed it off, noting the festivities and tell him that it's the guard's responsibility to deal with ruffians. She then offered to schedule him for an appointment, but after finding out it was 2 months and 4 days out, he left.

Rebel

Rebel, missing out on the mini-adventure of Baldur, decided to take it easy until next week. She swung by the community center where a lottery was being held. For 100gp, she could draw a single card. Proceeds went to various funds within the community, managed by the Trade Council. The odds weren't great, but she decided that the money would at least be going somewhere good, and she drew her lot: Nothing.

Rebel shrugged off the loss, but stayed to watch a couple other draw cards. Several more losses, and then two prizes. The first was a young, arrogant lady of noble heritage. She'd hoped to win a fantastic prize of jewels, or a free spa day, but alas she drew XV. The lady wept and threw a fit as the card transformed her into the Monster King, a grotesque half-man, half-beast monstrosity with goat feet and ram's horns. There were chuckles and cheers from the crowd as this year's leader of the final day's parade had been chosen so early.

The second winner was an old gambler. He was well-groomed and getting up in years, but overall seemed to enjoy the thrill. He drew X, and the assistants wheeled out a decorative chest. When they opened it, a fist-sized diamond was within. The gambler chuckled at his continued luck and took his winnings. Rebel left shortly thereafter.

During the following days, Rebel would investigate the shanty town outside Riversmeet that was serving as the temporary Weebury after the invasion of the giant ants. She had learned there was a Khairnite working as the gravekeeper, but had been displaced. Luckily, it didn't take long to locate the Khairnite; the old lady having settled into the next town over to help dig.

When Rebel arrived in Layal, she found the former gravekeeper 6 feet under. Rebel was careful not to spook the old lady, and introduced herself. Rebel learned the lady's name was Agatha and she'd spent some time working with James in years long gone. After a bit of conversation, and treading familiar ground regarding the Khairnites, Agatha agreed to teach Rebel a bit more: an apprenticeship of sorts. From here, Rebel would spend a day or so getting acquainted with Agatha before returning to Riversmeet to prepare for next week's venture.

Rewards

4 XP to Baldur for his new friend and daring heroics.

3 XP to Rebel, who'd been lining up henchmen for the party for the past week (which I didn't cover)