Rotvalan Reveries Ep13: Are We the Baddies?

Run Date: July 21, 2024

PCs
Adelbert: Lv1 Paladin
Gwendolyn: Lv3 Fighter
Helena: Lv3 Bladedancer

Hench
Mercedes: Lv1 Priestess (WtW)
Lothor: Lv1 Vaultguard
Eduardo: Lv1 Mage
Athena: Lv1 Priestess (Clotho)
Hugo: Lv2 Ravager

Are We the Baddies?

After their frustrations with the Unhidden Temple, the party decided to try checking out a different point of interest. They pulled out the handy map and plotted their route to a place marked down as the Ruined Mausoleum. Then they hopped on their horses and headed out.

The trek into the hilled areas of the Greenwood can be a slog, and today was no exception. The party passed through some cliff-like rocks and were nearly crushed by a falling tree, and their camp was attacked by a pair of feral lynxes while they tried to sleep. The following day they spotted a scout of parasitic wasps and promptly, and easily, evaded. As the day pressed on and the cloud cover shifted into a lightning storm, the party discovered the rocky valley that housed the mausoleum. It was shrouded in a thick fog, not unlike Silent Hill.

The party and their entourage descended into the fog and found that the area was built like a small settlement. Upon a particularly muddy path, the hired scout spotted footprints and immediately informed Helena. After a bit of back and forth on bare feet vs bear feet, the group had a guess as to the numbers involved and a hope for more human than less. With this knowledge, the group tried to track where the creatures had come from, and found the trail ending in a tiny plaza built around a stone well. The group moved around the area and discovered that one of the larger buildings still had walls large enough for cover.

The group split off after leaving some of the mercs and henches to set up a temporary camp back at the plaza. Their goal was to scout the are and see if they couldn’t hunt down one of the groups. It took about an hour of wandering the foggy paths before they stumbled, almost physically, into something. I used the Dungeon Encounter Distance for this area due to the fog, and it came up extremely close. The party spotted a heavily cloaked man with wooden half-mask and beard with shadows marching just behind him. As the scout took point in evasion, Helena took the chance to glance back and spot several zombies rushing forth.

Evasion’s easy when the terrain is on your side. Moreover, the scout did a solid job of mentally mapping their paths and got them back to their temp camp quickly. The camp was on high alert and prepared to ambush any followers, but none came. For the next hour or so, signal horns went up around them. The camp split their attention in shifts to maintain ambush posture and waited. Nothing discovered them in this time and the horns faded.

Soon after, the ambushing group heard muttering down the stairs and just at the edge of their sight; it was near the well. The creature spoke an unknown tongue and seemed to throw out commands at things in the shadows. He then drew water from the well and began drinking when he realized something was off. He quickly commanded his flock to spread out and check the nearby buildings, upon which Helena gave the signal to attack.

Helena rushed down the stairs and wheeled her horse toward the man, hoping to cut him down and negate his command of the zombies. She soon discovered, however, that the thick robes hid armor! The rest of the party unleashed their volley then the Cav mercs engaged the zombies closest to their camp. Their attacks did little and the melee continued. Adelbert attempted to help clear them out, but stumbled through the fray to no effect. The priestesses readied themselves to support any wounded or fallen.

Two wings of zombies collapsed into Helena and her horse while the masked man (different from the first one they saw) cut at her. She took a few blows and was nearly dragged into the mob. Helena took advantage of Lay on Hands to delay her demise while the Mercs continued to push back the zombies that had them hung up. Gwen tossed aside her bow and rushed into the fray to save Helena; her morningstar brought a reckoning that cleared Helena. Shortly thereafter, the Cav managed to push through and the man was surrounded and beat down.

Helena brought her priestesses in and they patched, and tied, the man up. They began to notice horrific features beyond the mask, and that his canines were larger than average. He also carried a stone that looked like a Celtic rune. After some back and forth, and hesitation at delving further into the mausoleum without information, the party agreed to drag him back to their FoB (the Shrine of the Golden Sun). No delve today, I guess!

The trip back was more peaceful.

Upon returning to the base, Helena and her priestesses set to work on interrogating their half-feral prisoner. What this means is that Command Word and Confess! are shouted very violently until the target’s will breaks. If that doesn’t work, limbs are severed. In this instance, it was both. The party discovered several things during questioning:

- He served the Horned One, an animal-headed god of the wilds
- There was free treasure laying out in a room at the mausoleum, and owned by the Horned One. He dared them to take it.
- He wasn’t alone, and there were 4-5 others of his kin. The leader gave bestial blessings to the faithful using an altar within the mausoleum.

The party rested the following day while the scout sketched a map of the first few rooms of the mausoleum, as told by their captive. “I dare you to take it,” was repeated several times.

With the clock running low and many days having been burned, the group decided to haul their wounded friend to a group of “hags” living near the lake. The trip would take them about a day, but they hoped to trade the one-armed cultist to them for more information regarding the Avarian shrines. Along the way, they spotted a band of elves; and promptly ran away before they were seen. I guess a warband of solidified dreams is terrifying.

When the party arrived at the “hag” lair, they tossed their offering on a butchering stump and shouted at a cave entrance. The horrific creature that came out had red skin, ugly make-up, and large talons. It came up to the offering, paralyzed it and tasted its blood, then invited the group inside. Adelbert noped out (he was already unsure if he wanted to continue down this chaotic path), leaving only Gwen and Helena to manage negotations.

The hollow in the cave would have been homey if not for the vomit-inducing stench that hung in it. Both PCs managed to keep their stomachs settled while they took a seat at the table and noticed the creature’s twin pop the head off a rabbit and chug its blood like a cold beer in the hands of a frat boy. This set the tone for discussions as Helena took point. She offered the werewolf captive they had in trade for information, but the creatures also favored gemstones and real payments. Not being in a place to argue, Helena hoped for a strong foundation for future deals; her plan being moving Ryder into the Mausoleum and building their empire from there. The “hags” gave the PCs an offer of a squirrel or rabbit from their “snack basket,” and they all drank to the new deal.

Adelbert was disgusted by what he saw when they came out of the cave. “I need a loyalty check at this point, wtf am I even here for?” The pair bathed in the lake and the group set up camp for the night. The following day, they returned to the shrine and began planning their next adventure.

Rewards (Totals)

60 XP

Afterword

I feel like I adjudicate slower than I should, always trying to make sure I remember how things work and being as far as possible. It’s also impossible to prepare overmuch since the players will take advantage of their autonomy. I do enjoy seeing how things play out, though.

“Why would Adelbert even be here?” Paladins are lawful, and heroic. The player has never played an RPG in his life and randomly picked some things out. With today’s session crossing into the Chaotic (as arguably the previous were neutral), we’re planning to go over some ideas. Floated were borrowing Arbethril’s 2e Anti-Paladin, converting to Ruinguard, or bringing in his drunken PTSD mage (the one that survived Anthonie’s fall). Regardless of what he chooses, the party is quickly becoming the villains of the Greenwood; ripe for adventure potential if I ever ran a second table.