Game Two (As detailed in "Jutting Chasm Ahead!"

ATTENDEES:
Atok (Robert)
Ignaminis (Jeff)
Maska (Alan)
Raysmith (Darren)
Judge (Paul)
Shumi Etso (Terry)
Khan (Jim)
Cheatificus Maximus (Mark)

Having fled the arena, we are pursued by two armies who follow the roads, while we reckless adventurers, cut across the swamps. We are hauling some NPCs whom we are responsible for getting into a little bit of hot water when they tried to help us. A man, his wife, son, and daughter, not to mention Quinion, the old man who was intended to be sacrificed along with us.

The swamps are full of restless spirits who come in the night to steal the essence of the living. And so Ignaminis, with the assistance of others, attempts to set up wards against the dead so that we might sleep through the night.

This works relativley well the first night, except for the one incident where the mother can't take it anymore and tries to flee the circle, prompting her two children to attempt the same. When she does, Shumi Etso manages to slow her up by hurling his chain around her, then he scoops up the two children. The group awakens and holds them down until Raysmith can sooth them with inspirational speaches about the glory of our goal.

As we travel up the road next day, shambling-mound type beastie arose from the swamp, accompanied by a woman's voice. The voice proclaimed that at last we had been delivered into her hands and that her revenge would be complete. And that even if we defeated her minions, she, the Bog Mother, would hunt us down if it took thousands of years. Then more of the shambling things arose, and we did combat.

Khan engages one and takes very little damage from one. It turns out this is the perfect lure for Maska, who engages one and gets hurt pretty good. Raysmith burns one with his holy energy, but gets smacked pretty good by another. These things can lash out with long, branch-like limbs and grab their foes. Atok turns himself to bronze to resist them. Ignaminis plies his magic on them. The Judge blazes away with this gun. Finally, when two of the team are being hauled off by these things, Maska manages to perform a multiple attack that pulps both plants. The last one is brought down in turn, and the presence of the bog-mother is no longer felt.

We're having to make resistance and endurance rolls all the way through the journey due to exhaustion, insects, etc. And then there is the danger of Jutting Chasms! Oh, be wary of those freaks of nature that both protrude and invert, are outties and innies (and all the confusion they cause during a narrative).

"And there ahead, jutting out is a chasm..."
"Um... What?"
(laughter)
"A jutting chasm?"
"Wow, that's everything!"
"I'm confused, I roll to dodge."

We come to a river and must cross it. For this we have the studly craftsman, Atok. He guides us toward building a boat, for he's a lumberjack (but he's ok). We cross the river and come upon the sleepy village of homle--er, um... Actually, I forget the town's name.

We go to town and meet the locals. They've constructed a town of small buildings, each surrounded by a wooden palisade. At the town's center is a tremendous apple tree, and not far off is an ancient grove. The townsfolk recognize Quinion and his four friends because they came from here originally. So we are allowed to sleep beneath the apple tree and rest up. It seems the place is protected by an apple goddess, one of the hundred gods heresy.

Some of us engage the locals, when they let us, but since Raysmith blows his roll, Khan takes over the speechifying for a while and we discover that the town has a brigand problem. Most villages have a problem with brigands, but thugs are usually smart enough to not take so much funding as to cause the town serious hardship. These thugs have suddenly decided they want more money. After a discussion, we agree to help. So we set to work.

Atok begins to forge a mighty chain for Shumi Etso. The sparks and light are so ferocious as to scare the locals.

Shumi Etso surveys the land to find where the brigands might spy from.

Ignaminis redisgns the landscape to make things more efficient. The lay-lines and feng-sui cause the expenditure of energy to be less. (Something I forgot to account for in the last fight; not that I wasted that much essence)

And Maska bags himself a goddess. Sure, he was supposed to be out tracking the general location of them. But the apple-goddess appeared to him and whisked him away to her private orchard for a round of "Granny Smith and the Grocer's Green Thumb". Worried, we do look for him, but a godly/ungodly tracking roll by the Judge tells us everything that transpired, down to the last detail. Knowing that he went with her and that it was voluntary, we do have a discussion with the local priest, but ultimately decide to leave him be for the night. Unfortunately, we do depress the priest with the idea that Maska was chosen for something that he himself had likely been wanting for himself all his life.

The chain is completed and it's a mighty chain, excellent and superior to all known chains before it. Next up, Atok builds Raysmith a staff. But not just any staff. The uber-staff, greatest staff of all creation. But by request of Raysmith, he makes it look 'Unimpressive'. It's meant to look not like a weapon and therefore be overlooked as an old man's walking stick. Third thing he made was a new gun for The Judge. Took two days, but it was ready for the next fight.

Quinion looks to the stars and recognizes... They are coming tonight!

When they arrive, they are... 20 Hyena-men armed with large axes and short throwing spears; 4 Ghosts (who approach from the other side of town) guided by a shaman; And an Owlbear-like creature driven by two Hyena Men, on yet a third front.

The fight divides up like this: Shumi Etso, the Judge, and Maska taking on the Hyena men. Raysmith taking on the the ghosts. Atok taking on the shaman. Khan and his wonder-horse taking on the owlbear and its handlers. Ignaminis lending assistance on the hyena men, but also calling upon god for his new power which neutralizes thumaturgies throughout the town. While that dispels the town's protections, it also hurts their shaman a lot, turning him into a simple madman with a spear.

The fight would probably bee to long and complicated to explain. But all the heroes survived it and remained conscious, and the enemy was routed. But as the night concludes, the stars align again and foretell the coming of something horrible. A calamity will befall the town soon.

The Wyld Hunt is coming for us. And they'll raze the village, whether we're here or not.

So we must lead the people out of the town.

So next game, I'll try to rally them to our cause, the wilderness types can scout a path out of here, and we can try to figure out a safe place to take these people. (Like maybe Helm's Deep)

NEXT GAME: I frankly don't know. There's rumblings that there may not be enough people available for the scheduled date. Mark will have to get back to us.