Game 6 (11/25/06)

Game 6 (November 25th, 2006; First reported in the e-mail "The Adventures of Immaculate Boy and Cruelty Girl")

ATTENDEES:
Loric the Castleer (Jim)
Titus the Legionaire of Disease (Jeff)
Gareth the Fire Friar (Terry)
Lily the Many-Armed and Dangerous (Michele)
Honshu the Lawdoggest (Darren)

We continue our journey on the velt. Last encounter last time was with the horrible wyrm that tried to suck into the river. I guess the 19th Scale (?) "Red Devils" thanked Gareth and Izzimond by making them honorary members due to their efforts to try and save them.

This time we start off with an encounter with lion(s). We get word that there's a disturbance and by the time we arrive, an oversized lion jumped the troops and the terrestrials showed up. Gareth filleted it with his nasty fire swords, but not before it tried to grab Tituse and run off with him, in a recurring theme. Unfortunately this left us way out on the fringes when an entire pack of lions moved on the carts and horses.

The soldiers and our heroes did their best to slow them down (except Michele's hero, who is more about the hiding, and Terry's, which is about the falling off the moving wagon). I believe it was 5 or 6 huge lions. They had no problem hurting horses and soldiers, but only put a small scratch on Mastovo the warrior/craftsman, and a big cut on Jeff's mortal monk hero. Basically, we tied them up and did little wounds to them until the terrestrials showed up and finished them off with ease.

We arrive at a town and go in to water horses and soldiers, and to ask a few questions. The heroes are sent in to communicate with the town elders. During their talks, the party discovers that they have indeed seen the lionhead symbol (The Golden Lion) which was on the sword we were given last game. When asked to present it, the elders do. This prompts the magistrate to call in the individual for questioning. Honshu grills the elder until he's confident he'll be executed and then he's excused, because he seems to be forthright.

Honshu then floats a theory: Each of these swords that have surfaced have been "Perfect Swords" and each was sold for only 5 pelts. While the local economy could only support about 5 pelts for the sword, it's obviously worth far more, and if one were simply coming into town to make money from selling swords they could do so with something far less value. Therefore he believes that this is all an elaborate trap. The swords and their emblem have been left for us like breadcrumbs and someone wants us, the only people who would care about such a thing, to come out into the desert. We still have a job to do, but I felt it was important to mention this.

I believe it is in this town that Loric decides to set up a castle so that he can spend two days casting spells; Namely a ritual to summon a friendly helpful "air bear", and to enchant some items for his assistant, Mastovo, and the terrestrial Lilly. The 4-hour ritual culminates in a successful casting of the summoning, but a tie on the binding, which means the creature is free. And he's pissed. The airbear is going to get even with him, with little care for Lilly who is also present (being a sorceror as well who wants to maybe learn this ritual). The combat begins with Loric smacking it on the nose hard enough to cause some damage. Lilly threatens it to leave else the two of them come after it. It then vanishes! But as Loric thinks about it, he realizes it may not be gone, it may have just dematerialized.

Indeed it has. It has moved outdoors and is raining down lightning bolts on the newly forged castle. Everyone outside is safe as long as they stay back from the falling rubble, but Loric is still inside, realizing this is about drawing him out into the bear's element.

A spotting contest takes place with Gareth attempting may spot rolls; Ultimately Lilly spots the creature and lets off a shot. Honshu, who held an action, lets loose lightning on the spot where the beat shrugged off Lilly's arrow, and the bear is dispersed back to the ether that formed it.

We leave town after doing the water thing and journey for a while, but I can't remember what we encountered in the way of wildlife.

Eventually we come to realize that we have water issues. First, there's a scale that is having trouble keeping up because of their overuse of their allotment. Honshu ends up going up high to scout. Most he can find is something that may be a village. He air-dahses that direction and eventually decides it's a small village about (botch) 1 day away. Titus throws the troops into a forced march, only to find that one day of high speed marching only leaves them a day short. Next day they do the same and arrive seriously parched.

We go through much the same scenario as last time except that no one here seems to have heard of the golden lion emblem. They're gracious enough, which is always suspsicious, but then who is going to confront us?

Anyway, we leave town and a couple days into the journey the soldiers report that they are ill. Sure enough, the vast majority of soldiers have come down with the Flox (sp?). Honshu tries some more reconnassaince and discovers a copse of trees ahead, and the village back the way we came. It's likely we got this in the village, but the trees may be the wrong "unknown" to rush ill soldiers into. Honshu makes the decision to himself go on and check out the grounds while a few stick around and wait for the signal, and the vast sick majority move back to town.

Investigation yields that the trees are indeed surrounding an oasis. Honshu signals with lightning at night and then settles on the fringe of the copse until the others show up from the mid-point. The soldiers reach town and discover that everyone there is fine. If we got the illness here, somehow they are immune, or perhaps they caused this.

One of those who is severely ill is Lilly, Terrestrial of the 1 Stamina. The rest of the dragonblood are fine. It's just the heroes and the troops that are ill. The terrestrials who are in town are Lilly and Loric, and the two set to questioning an elder about their seeming immunity. During their discussion, Lilly (aka Cruetly Girl) decides to utterly shred and destroy the man. Word of this gets out and the villagers become fearful, but there isn't much they can do. Loric plays good cop, trying to induce from another elder as much information as he can about the local gods.

The others (Titus, a scale of 25 soldiers, and Gareth) come out to meet Honshu. He relays to them what his aerial surveillance gained; Water, tropical plantlife, reasonably sized animals, and an old man-made ruin.

Upon entry it is decided by Gareth that this is likley the abode of a spirit. His vision shows many. As Honshu is about to drink from it and thank the dragons, one of the soldiers suggests that might be wrong. He has heard tale of the local goddess called the Frogwoman and believes she resides here. Immaculate-boy Gareth tries to call her out, but she seems to decline, making no apearance. Titus orders one of his men to drink from the oasis. Finally they all do, and the water is good. We stock up and head back to tell the others.

Funny thing happens on the way back; A storm forms around the oasis behind us and then suddenly lightning, then a massive wall of water! Honshu lifts the on-foot Immaculate up into the air. The others, all horsed, ride for the first trees they spot and climb them just before the 20ft high wall of water hits. The horses are lost, but the people live. We continue on our way.

Back in the village we all exchange information. Turns out that of the 25 men we originally left in town, only 1 was still alive when the first group returned; a sargeant, who had little to say aside from the fact that the villages never seemed to get sick while they were there. Loric's attempts to create elixers were successful, but they seem to do nothing to stave off the disease! It's bewildering.

The magistrate, Honshu, interrogates the elder from earlier. Cruelty girl is hauling around the young daughter from a family they interrogated, just to give them something to think about (and worry over). Immaculate boy and Loric are asked to search the area thoroughly. Start with the deceased elder's house. They find the place has been vacated of all trappings before they arrived. Cruelty girl decides to commune withe the guy she killed and discovered they he yet lurks around here and his spirit says that soon all the troops will be dead and he will have an army of a thousand and there's nothing we can do about it.

During a search of a subsequent elder's home, Loric finds the symbol of the golden lion hidden on the premesis. When he leaves, the family goes back to looking over the house to figure out what we've seen. When they do, Michele's mortal girl listens in and discovers the symbol of the golden lion is referred to as "Simba", as in "They found simba and took it."

The magistrate's interrogation of the old woman elder yields only that she is hiding something and that she doesn't seem to be afraid of the inevitable death of her tribe if she doesn't tell me about what is happening. It should be noted that Titus asks her who the town doctor is and she says it was the man who Lilly killed. Honshu finally goes last-ditch and uses a charm to track back through the premesis for clues. In a trance-like state, Honshu tracks down an idol in the bottom of the well, and similar idols hidden on the premesis of the elders.

When he snaps out of it he has one word. "Guilty."

He orders the whole town be dispatched. Loric objects, "Are the babies guilty? I want to know how far justice extends." Honshu replies, "Do you want them? We can't have an army crossing the desert towing children; Their execution will be a mercy." As no adult will be left standing.

An unhappy Loric heals the soldiers, the soldiers set out and kill the villagers and burn the plague-ridden place to the ground. Now that the idol is removed from the well, we can purify the water and continue treatment.

Lilly brings the child she had in tow and says that it is a perfect example of the sins of the village and should be publicly executed. While not a "perfect" example, I agree and order the child killed.

Law DO go around here, law dog.

We have a final discussion before the game breaks for the evening, having to do with the Frogwoman. It is decided that since we have enough water we don't need to go confront her just now. Perhaps on the way back. Or the immaculate might call on his bretheren to go stamp out that place. But for now we head on to our ultimate goal.


	Game 6 (November 25th, 2006; First reported in the e-mail "The Adventures of Immaculate Boy and Cruelty Girl")
ATTENDEES: Loric the Castleer (Jim) Titus the Legionaire of Disease (Jeff) Gareth the Fire Friar (Terry) Lily the Many-Armed and Dangerous (Michele) Honshu the Lawdoggest (Darren) We continue our journey on the velt. Last encounter last time was with the horrible wyrm that tried to suck into the river. I guess the 19th Scale (?) "Red Devils" thanked Gareth and Izzimond by making them honorary members due to their efforts to try and save them. This time we start off with an encounter with lion(s). We get word that there's a disturbance and by the time we arrive, an oversized lion jumped the troops and the terrestrials showed up. Gareth filleted it with his nasty fire swords, but not before it tried to grab Tituse and run off with him, in a recurring theme. Unfortunately this left us way out on the fringes when an entire pack of lions moved on the carts and horses. The soldiers and our heroes did their best to slow them down (except Michele's hero, who is more about the hiding, and Terry's, which is about the falling off the moving wagon). I believe it was 5 or 6 huge lions. They had no problem hurting horses and soldiers, but only put a small scratch on Mastovo the warrior/craftsman, and a big cut on Jeff's mortal monk hero. Basically, we tied them up and did little wounds to them until the terrestrials showed up and finished them off with ease. We arrive at a town and go in to water horses and soldiers, and to ask a few questions. The heroes are sent in to communicate with the town elders. During their talks, the party discovers that they have indeed seen the lionhead symbol (The Golden Lion) which was on the sword we were given last game. When asked to present it, the elders do. This prompts the magistrate to call in the individual for questioning. Honshu grills the elder until he's confident he'll be executed and then he's excused, because he seems to be forthright. Honshu then floats a theory: Each of these swords that have surfaced have been "Perfect Swords" and each was sold for only 5 pelts. While the local economy could only support about 5 pelts for the sword, it's obviously worth far more, and if one were simply coming into town to make money from selling swords they could do so with something far less value. Therefore he believes that this is all an elaborate trap. The swords and their emblem have been left for us like breadcrumbs and someone wants us, the only people who would care about such a thing, to come out into the desert. We still have a job to do, but I felt it was important to mention this. I believe it is in this town that Loric decides to set up a castle so that he can spend two days casting spells; Namely a ritual to summon a friendly helpful "air bear", and to enchant some items for his assistant, Mastovo, and the terrestrial Lilly. The 4-hour ritual culminates in a successful casting of the summoning, but a tie on the binding, which means the creature is free. And he's pissed. The airbear is going to get even with him, with little care for Lilly who is also present (being a sorceror as well who wants to maybe learn this ritual). The combat begins with Loric smacking it on the nose hard enough to cause some damage. Lilly threatens it to leave else the two of them come after it. It then vanishes! But as Loric thinks about it, he realizes it may not be gone, it may have just dematerialized. Indeed it has. It has moved outdoors and is raining down lightning bolts on the newly forged castle. Everyone outside is safe as long as they stay back from the falling rubble, but Loric is still inside, realizing this is about drawing him out into the bear's element. A spotting contest takes place with Gareth attempting may spot rolls; Ultimately Lilly spots the creature and lets off a shot. Honshu, who held an action, lets loose lightning on the spot where the beat shrugged off Lilly's arrow, and the bear is dispersed back to the ether that formed it. We leave town after doing the water thing and journey for a while, but I can't remember what we encountered in the way of wildlife. Eventually we come to realize that we have water issues. First, there's a scale that is having trouble keeping up because of their overuse of their allotment. Honshu ends up going up high to scout. Most he can find is something that may be a village. He air-dahses that direction and eventually decides it's a small village about (botch) 1 day away. Titus throws the troops into a forced march, only to find that one day of high speed marching only leaves them a day short. Next day they do the same and arrive seriously parched. We go through much the same scenario as last time except that no one here seems to have heard of the golden lion emblem. They're gracious enough, which is always suspsicious, but then who is going to confront us? Anyway, we leave town and a couple days into the journey the soldiers report that they are ill. Sure enough, the vast majority of soldiers have come down with the Flox (sp?). Honshu tries some more reconnassaince and discovers a copse of trees ahead, and the village back the way we came. It's likely we got this in the village, but the trees may be the wrong "unknown" to rush ill soldiers into. Honshu makes the decision to himself go on and check out the grounds while a few stick around and wait for the signal, and the vast sick majority move back to town. Investigation yields that the trees are indeed surrounding an oasis. Honshu signals with lightning at night and then settles on the fringe of the copse until the others show up from the mid-point. The soldiers reach town and discover that everyone there is fine. If we got the illness here, somehow they are immune, or perhaps they caused this. One of those who is severely ill is Lilly, Terrestrial of the 1 Stamina. The rest of the dragonblood are fine. It's just the heroes and the troops that are ill. The terrestrials who are in town are Lilly and Loric, and the two set to questioning an elder about their seeming immunity. During their discussion, Lilly (aka Cruetly Girl) decides to utterly shred and destroy the man. Word of this gets out and the villagers become fearful, but there isn't much they can do. Loric plays good cop, trying to induce from another elder as much information as he can about the local gods. The others (Titus, a scale of 25 soldiers, and Gareth) come out to meet Honshu. He relays to them what his aerial surveillance gained; Water, tropical plantlife, reasonably sized animals, and an old man-made ruin. Upon entry it is decided by Gareth that this is likley the abode of a spirit. His vision shows many. As Honshu is about to drink from it and thank the dragons, one of the soldiers suggests that might be wrong. He has heard tale of the local goddess called the Frogwoman and believes she resides here. Immaculate-boy Gareth tries to call her out, but she seems to decline, making no apearance. Titus orders one of his men to drink from the oasis. Finally they all do, and the water is good. We stock up and head back to tell the others. Funny thing happens on the way back; A storm forms around the oasis behind us and then suddenly lightning, then a massive wall of water! Honshu lifts the on-foot Immaculate up into the air. The others, all horsed, ride for the first trees they spot and climb them just before the 20ft high wall of water hits. The horses are lost, but the people live. We continue on our way. Back in the village we all exchange information. Turns out that of the 25 men we originally left in town, only 1 was still alive when the first group returned; a sargeant, who had little to say aside from the fact that the villages never seemed to get sick while they were there. Loric's attempts to create elixers were successful, but they seem to do nothing to stave off the disease! It's bewildering. The magistrate, Honshu, interrogates the elder from earlier. Cruelty girl is hauling around the young daughter from a family they interrogated, just to give them something to think about (and worry over). Immaculate boy and Loric are asked to search the area thoroughly. Start with the deceased elder's house. They find the place has been vacated of all trappings before they arrived. Cruelty girl decides to commune withe the guy she killed and discovered they he yet lurks around here and his spirit says that soon all the troops will be dead and he will have an army of a thousand and there's nothing we can do about it. During a search of a subsequent elder's home, Loric finds the symbol of the golden lion hidden on the premesis. When he leaves, the family goes back to looking over the house to figure out what we've seen. When they do, Michele's mortal girl listens in and discovers the symbol of the golden lion is referred to as "Simba", as in "They found simba and took it." The magistrate's interrogation of the old woman elder yields only that she is hiding something and that she doesn't seem to be afraid of the inevitable death of her tribe if she doesn't tell me about what is happening. It should be noted that Titus asks her who the town doctor is and she says it was the man who Lilly killed. Honshu finally goes last-ditch and uses a charm to track back through the premesis for clues. In a trance-like state, Honshu tracks down an idol in the bottom of the well, and similar idols hidden on the premesis of the elders. When he snaps out of it he has one word. "Guilty." He orders the whole town be dispatched. Loric objects, "Are the babies guilty? I want to know how far justice extends." Honshu replies, "Do you want them? We can't have an army crossing the desert towing children; Their execution will be a mercy." As no adult will be left standing. An unhappy Loric heals the soldiers, the soldiers set out and kill the villagers and burn the plague-ridden place to the ground. Now that the idol is removed from the well, we can purify the water and continue treatment. Lilly brings the child she had in tow and says that it is a perfect example of the sins of the village and should be publicly executed. While not a "perfect" example, I agree and order the child killed. Law DO go around here, law dog. We have a final discussion before the game breaks for the evening, having to do with the Frogwoman. It is decided that since we have enough water we don't need to go confront her just now. Perhaps on the way back. Or the immaculate might call on his bretheren to go stamp out that place. But for now we head on to our ultimate goal.