/top/ - Board and Card games

Things just getting worse.

As Bailes and Makoto exited the Society building, Kinogre came stumbling through the alley, apparently having wandered there at random in a state of distress.
<Bailes> "we were just about to come looking for you back at the inn. we've done some sleuthing about paccinto"
<makoto> "We found out that Benito at the Goodfellows' doesn't remember Paccinto or that first job we did at all."

Makoto then proceeded to explain the events leading up to the acquisition of the job listing that proved Paccinto's existence.
<Gahoole> Then wat the fuck is going on here?
<Bailes> "that's the big question we keep running into"
<Bailes> "at the moment, at least, we have something that can point the guard to somebody other than us"
<Bailes> "if there's nothing else to look into"
<*makoto looks to Kinogre.>
<Bailes> "i'm still wondering if he shows up in any town records as being an actual resident. or if there's any records of that house. but it's not like we could get into the municipal building without dealing with the guards anyway"
<makoto> Let's go try to find the guard captain.

Our heroes, having had an idea that could certainly be described as an idea, decided to look for the officer from the capital so they could tell him what they knew and turn over their evidence. They found him where they had seen him last: in the town square near the local guard shack. The officer was in the middle of arguing with one of the local boys about something, and ended the argument by kicking the lad's dog. Then he approached the party, smirking and stroking his mustache.
<TheDunkinMaster> "Ah, you must be those adventurers my men told me about. The ones who knew about that nice little 'dungeon' in the swamp?"
<Gahoole> Ya that's us you like beatin dogs?
<TheDunkinMaster> "Oh? You saw that? Mangy little cur bit me. I let it off lightly for the boy's sake. It happens, in my line of work."
<Bailes> i try to whisper to kinogre "let's try and play cool. we're trying to get off the hook here, not assault the royal guard"
<Gahoole> Well that is completely fair then sir
<TheDunkinMaster> "More than fair. Now then, about what you can do for your country. Do you all think you remember the way to that place in the swamp?"

The party thought hard about that for a moment before remembering that there was a map on the notice they had brought. Makoto quickly produced it, explaining that there had been a job at the Goodfellows' Society. At this, the officer's smug demeanor vanished as he snatched up the note. He stared at the note, growing visibly more upset by the second.
<TheDunkinMaster> "You… retrieved something from this place, then?"
<Bailes> "as per his request, yes. we didn't think anything of it until recently"
<Bailes> "the magnitude of doing so didn't really hit until some things came to our attention"
<TheDunkinMaster> "What… was… the object… you retrieved?"
<Bailes> "a damaged rod or scepter"
<TheDunkinMaster> "Well, we're gonna need someone to blame."
<TheDunkinMaster> "And this Paccinto fellow, do you know where he is at the moment?"
<makoto> "He fled town shortly before your arrival."

Things went crazy pretty fast. The party was placed under arrest, with nearby patrolmen being summoned to restrain them. Kinogre aimed a kick at the officer's crotch but missed and started to run. Makoto froze in place. Bailes cast sleep, fortunately mustering enough power to down all of the nearby guards. Bailes then began looking for horses nearby, and by more good fortune found a number of them tethered to the nearby guard shack. Kinogre and Bailes quickly set about stealing some horses, but Makoto was still rooted in place.
<Gahoole> MAKOTO It's time to go lass
<Bailes> "what are you doing, come on, we're a little screwed here"
<makoto> "Go ahead, but I'm not going to run."
<makoto> "I have to face justice for my crime."
<makoto> "Even if it means also getting blamed for something else."
<makoto> "I won't be a fugitive."

Bailes and Kinogre continued to yell at Makoto. Kinogre even attempted to forcibly yank her toward the horses, but in that moment the cleric was as immovable and unhearing as a mighty oak. Her conviction in the forces of Law was so overpowering in that moment that strange connections began to open between her soul and the higher realms.

Makoto found herself in a vision. Standing atop a familiar, desolate cliffside from her home in the Northeast Isles, Makoto was once again face to face with the Great White Gorduck. The divine beast pointed a hand over the sea, and Makoto looked, and she saw. Looming over the stormy sea was the figure of Patrocles, the immortal ogre king of Tevechia, cradling a shadowy staff in his arms. And the staff was Chaos.

Then Makoto was back in Slapmarsh. The sleeping spell wouldn't hold the guards back much longer.
<Bailes> "makoto! makoto? hey, you good? come on, we gotta go!"
<makoto> Uh……..
<Bailes> "we can figure out penitence when we get somewhere that isn't here"
<makoto> Well, the guards can't all be bad, right?
<makoto> I mean, this captain is, and Patrocles is, but…
<makoto> Actually, I'd better go with my friends for now.
<makoto> I get on a horse.

And so, just as the guards were stirring to life, the party rode southward. Past the inn. Past the Goodfellows' Society. Past the magic shop. And finally, out of town, toward Janston and the inland.
<Gahoole> WE RIDE TILL NIGHT

By the time they arrived in Janston, night had fallen. As they neared the town, a few passers-by recognized the insignia of the Slapmarsh village guard on the horses and raised an eyebrow, and the party hastily discarded of the horses' barding in a nearby patch of saltmarsh before actually riding into town. They decided to ride on through the town and make camp just before the road to Dunkabury. They certainly attracted a few odd stares as they made their way, but nobody accosted them, and soon they were settling down for the night.

Tomorrow would certainly be the first day of the rest of their lives.

1XP for everyone for the odds and ends you found in those stolen saddlebags.

Tonight on /top/ Gear:

Gahoole, I swear.

THE WORST

>>887
>>884
It's funny because you can safely assume he hasn't run that fast since recording this.

>>890
I'm sure we'll just drink a nice cup of tea and move on.

>>891
Who knows? Maybe there'll be treasure.

The thread appears to be bast the bumplimit. Should we make a new thread or just keep this one going?

>>893
Eh let's wait til we slide to page 2. This thread will probably stay on the front page for months either way.

Also I've got some personal shit I need to take care of this Tuesday. Sorry about that. As always you guys are free to plan a one-shot without me, or even just use the channel to chat.

>>896
Next week, then.

Once on the other side of Janston, our heroes rode off the main road a ways to make camp and took their watches in shifts as usual. Their watchfulness was variable, to put it nicely, but nobody came to bother them in the night. At the very crack of dawn, Makoto saw an old man leaving Janston who spared the little campsite a lingering glance before moving on, but that was the most attention they'd attracted the whole night.

Having survived the night, the party then resolved to head back into town for supplies. The horses had grown a bit ornery, but they reluctantly allowed themselves to be ridden back. The adventurers managed to secure rations, horse feed, and lamp oil. They encountered a minor inconvenience in the form of an irate innkeeper demanding that they pay for the hitching posts where Bailes was watching the horses. The angry little man probably overcharged for the spots, but the party was otherwise unharmed from the shopping trip. So with that, they rode on toward Dunkabury.

On the way, a pair of giant ferrets walked out onto the road in front of the travelers. By sheer good fortune, the horses didn't bolt and the ferrets didn't attack. There was a tense standoff for a bit, but the party managed to ride around the wild animals without any trouble.

At about the midway point, they passed a little cottage on the side of the road. There, a little old lady was sitting on the porch. She called out and inquired if our heroes would like some cold tea. Bailes, Makoto, and Kinogre, beholding the neat little fence and the perfect little yard, saw no harm whatsoever in accepting this offer. So into the cottage they went.

I am gonna be really busy this week and probably the rest of the month while I get ready to move across the country. I might be able to play next week but I kinda doubt it. Either run without me or I can come back once we're in september. Sorry

>>902
>ogre on the move
Wew, what brought this on? What side of the country?

>>903
I'm moving to orlando florida

>>904
Gahoole is turning Cuban…

>>905
All it takes is a taste.

try that again

>>908
She seemed like such a nice old lady. Shame we'll probably have to burn her house down.

>>909
Arson, the answer to every question we're forced to ask.

So our heroes bravely ventured into the cottage of the friendly old lady. They had some tea and chatted for a while, until eventually the old lady revealed that she'd invited the adventurers in for a reason. That reason? Rats in the cellar. Big rats.

The party agreed to look into the matter. After they finished their tea, the old lady showed them to her cellar. As they descended the stairs, they heard the trap door close behind them.
<makoto> I have a bad feeling about this.


It wasn't long before they heard the rats shuffling around, and they charged into the next room to do battle. Bailes quickly dispatched a rat with her dagger. Makoto traded blows with another rat, taking a nasty bite in the process. Bailes intervened by stabbing that rat to death too, and in that same moment, Kinogre's axe came down through the skull of the last rat.

Bailes had saved her sleep spell in anticipation of future fights, but Makoto had gotten badly hurt in the rat battle. Makoto was also keen to save her healing spell. They remembered the honey from the killer bees that they'd gathered the day before damn it's really only been one in-game day since the bees and Bailes had to share half of her supply to restore the cleric to full health.

With that settled, Bailes decided to glance around the room. She saw a mummy with its heart ripped out lying on a stone slab.
<Bailes> "what the actual fuck"
<makoto> "We had better go have a talk with our hostess."
<Bailes> "yeah, i can't wait"
<Bailes> "i'm sure she has a perfectly innocent explanation"
<Bailes> "final nail in the coffin of me going out of my way to do anything for another old person again"
<makoto> Just a nice old lady who steals organs from the dead.
<makoto> Let's go back.
<Bailes> "how much do you want to bet the trap door is locked?"

And so, in a twist that apparently surprised nobody, they returned to the trap door and found that it was locked.

Will our heroes survive this woodland tea cottage of death? Will they escape with whatever treasures it may hold? We'll find out tomorrow.

>>912
Any xp for killing those god damn rats?

>>913
Oh right. 5 each.

the room by the stairs and the room where the rats were

>>917
and the hallway

>>918
treasure

The sands of time are a fickle mistress.

What surprises me the most is that she gave us genuine tea.

<makoto> I call up to the old woman. "Ma'am? The rats are dead. We're coming back up."

No response. Bailes sighed and went down into the cellar to explore, and Makoto stayed behind to knock a few more times. Bailes came across a room that seemed to be loaded with treasure, sent Kinogre into it to check for traps, and called Makoto over. Once they knew it was safe, our heroes walked in and found huge heaps of coins and other treasures, but Bailes detected that the horde was protected by some sort of magical trap and nobody touched anything. They sighed and went back to the trapdoor.
<makoto> "Any ideas how we might get it open?"
<Bailes> "how fastly shut is it? can you get any give? and light?"
<makoto> I step back so Bailes can examine it.
<TheDunkinMaster> it rattles a bit when you push on it
<Bailes> "hm. so there's nothing laying on top of it"
<Bailes> "seems like it could just be latched shut"
<Bailes> "maybe if we had a crowbar?"

As luck had it, Bailes had some metal spikes in her pack that were just long enough to shove under the door.
<TheDunkinMaster> it goes in
<TheDunkinMaster> and you feel a sort of magical "thread" break as it does so
<TheDunkinMaster> roll init :)
<Bailes> fug

Sand began to pour onto the cellar floor below, and slowly rose toward our heroes. Bailes and Makoto began to pound at the trapdoor with their weapons, but in their haste had a hard time working with the awkward angle.
<Bailes> "okay this is quickly looking real bad"

That's when another giant rat scampered toward the stairs, likely scared out by the sand. Thankfully, the rat stopped when it saw the party. It didn't seem willing to fight just yet, but soon it would be forced to flee up the stairs if something didn't change.

Bailes and Makoto decided that a more controlled approach was necessary. They sheathed their weapons and braced their hands against the door. Makoto gave a heave, Bailes gave a ho, and at last Makoto forced the door open. The rat darted between the adventurers and into the upper room, but skidded to a halt when it saw something that was up there. When the adventurers poked their heads out of the cellar, they saw two giant ferrets, who were apparently in the process of carrying two new giant rats into the house.
<Bailes> oh fuck off
<Bailes> fuck it
<Bailes> sleep

The animals all collapsed into a deep slumber. Our heroes were thoroughly done with this shit. They ran to the door, found it stuck, grabbed a chair, threw it through a window, and bolted outside.
<Bailes> FUCK YOUR HOUSE, OLD LADY

The old lady shouted down from a window on the second story, "Get them!"

That's when the house sprouted numerous chicken legs and began to pursue the party. Our heroes had one chance to dash to their horses and escape. Bailes made it. Makoto and Kinogre did not.
<makoto> kuso

A rug shot out from the cottage's open door and snatched up the cleric like a frog catching a fly. Bailes came up with a hasty plan to try and lead the house to Dunkabury to find help. Makoto and Kinogre were dumped back in the dining room. Makoto, eager not to awkaken the ferrets, and hearing the old crone's laughter up above, made her way toward the attic stairs. Makoto made sure Kinogre was following, brandished her club, and charged up the stairs.

There, in the attic, stood the old woman. In one hand was a dagger. In the other was a mummified human heart. She wheeled around and threw herself at Makoto. What followed was a brief flurry of swings and dodges, in which the first one to get hit risked certain death. Ultimately, it was the evil hag who found an axe in her spine, and she fell to the ground with a dull thud.

Outside, Bailes realized that the house had stopped following her. She cautiously approached it and called inside.
<Bailes> "so what is this, you want to parlay? i want my friends back"
<makoto> I shout back, "The fiend has been put to rest!"
<Bailes> "oh shit!"
<makoto> And wave out the window.
<Bailes> i happily wave back

The battle was over. The animals woke up and fled into the forest. All our heroes had to worry about now was what on earth they would do about the walking house, and whether or not they could make off with its treasures.

10XP each for defeating the hag. With over 4000XP worth of treasure sitting in the horde, will our heroes' hard work this past session pay off and push them into a level 2 party at last? We'll find out tomorrow.

>Mak'Karana
Oh mommy.

Rollin' for that second level health: {1d4}||[ 1d4 = 2 ]

>>935
Our heroes set about investigating a few things. Makoto went to check to see if the basement had followed the house, and found that it had. Bailes went up to check the slain hag, and took the dagger and the shriveled heart from her. The party then descended together into the basement, found a bit more treasure around the stairs, and proceeded to look at the mummy. Bailes had easily deduced that the hole in the mummy's chest and the mummified heart were related. She returned the heart to its hole.

The mummy's flesh immediately began to fill out, and its tattered rags mended themselves back into clothes. Before long the mummy had become a middle-aged woman, who sat up and looked at the party with an appraising eye.
<Bailes> "hello friendly stranger. welcome back to the land of the living"
<TheDunkinMaster> "Did you kill that bitch who lives upstairs?"
<makoto> "Aye."
<TheDunkinMaster> She slides off the slab and stretches.
<TheDunkinMaster> "Nice. It's been like 50 years since she broke into my house and stole my fucking heart."
<Bailes> "that's some time to be under. are you saying you were aware for that whole duration?"
<TheDunkinMaster> "Yep. Nothing like watching my life's work get misused for petty roadside banditry."
<Bailes> "i'm sorry, what is your name? this is makoto and kinogre. my name is bailes"
<TheDunkinMaster> "I'm Mak'Karana. Can I get you guys anything? Some tea? You look like a wizard, you want some books? You guys can take all the shiny shit the bitch stole, I don't need worldly bullshit cluttering up my sanctuary."
<Bailes> jackpot
<Bailes> "i'd love to look over some books, but you should probably be made aware that your sanctuary is currently sitting in the middle of the main road now"
<TheDunkinMaster> "Oh, I'll take care of it. You guys need me to drop you off some place before I take this thing back to the mountains?"
<makoto> "Mountains?"
<TheDunkinMaster> "Uh, yeah. The ones up near Duppa. Hey, hang on, where are we right now? I know there's a lot of trees outside. This is still Truthaust, right?"
<makoto> "We're actually in Tevechia. Near the southwest coast."
<TheDunkinMaster> She groans, "Oh, ew."
<Bailes> "as a point worth making, we don't really have a destination in mind. we're actually in some deep trouble"
<TheDunkinMaster> "Hm?"
<makoto> "We're on the run from the forces of Patrocles."
<Bailes> "yeah, some old wizard tricked us into collecting a chaos object. the crown opted to blame us for.. something?"
<Bailes> i'll look to makoto "maybe it would be possible to ask for a prolonged lift. again, we don't really know what to do at this point except run"
<makoto> "Miss Ma-Karana, might you be willing to let us travel with you?"
<TheDunkinMaster> "Yeah, no, totally. Patrocles is probably why all the magic in this country smells like ass. Ogres should not be necromancers. You wanna hitch a ride, sure. I can drop you off anywhere between here and the mountains.
<Bailes> "wait, wait, necromancer? this is the first i've heard of this"
<TheDunkinMaster> "Well he's been alive for a thousand years, hasn't he? Or, 'alive' more likely. Don't get me wrong, I use a few evil rituals to stay young myself, but at least I'm, you know, a person."

The woman was friendly enough, if a bit rude and disinterested. Critically, she had offered them a ride out of Tevechia. Disturbingly, she told them what exactly they were fleeing from. Bailes and Makoto began to piece more dots together.
<Bailes> "so much for homeschooling. makoto, kinogre, did you two know? i'm completely out of the loop here"
<TheDunkinMaster> kinogre is making popping sounds with his mouth
<makoto> "I am realizing just how woefully unaware I've been of who rules us."
<Bailes> "so, if patrocles is a necromancer, and paccinto had us get a chaos relic of power which he disappeared with, which led to royal forces being sent after him willing, what are we suppose to be getting from that? who was paccinto to patrocles?"
<makoto> "His rival, perhaps? A competing power?"

Mak'Karana interrupted their musings and insisted it was time to go. Were they going with her, or not?
<Bailes> "ma'am, if you'll have us for a bit, we'd be grateful to be your guests. we just need to unleash those horses we borrowed. give them a chance to make it back to civilization"

The former mummy shrugged and went to look for some tobacco. Bailes went and turned the horses loose. Makoto went to count the party's hard-earned treasure. And Kinogre did something too, probably. Before long, the house was scuttling to east to Truthaust.

And that's the story of how a band of novice adventurers got dragged into trouble, and how they dragged themselves out. Once they reached the mountains, they weren't such novices anymore, and surely they survived more and more adventures until at last they had the power and wealth for Bailes to raise her own wizard's tower, Makoto to build her own temple, and Kinogre to dig his own mining colony. Or maybe they wanted to do something else, who can say? And maybe Notim went on to become the sheriff of her village, too. And maybe Zach was raised as a zombie by some bored necromancer and killed again by some new novice adventurer.

Sadly, our story can't deal with all that. Some shit came up that I need to work on. I don't know how long it's going to last, but for the foreseeable future I can't run these games anymore. Sorry, I realize this is sudden. If anyone wants to take over as DM or run their own game in this setting, go right ahead. If any of you want me to transfer ownership of the irc channel to you, just ask. Thanks for playing this campaign.

That's 2057XP each for surviving the cottage and escaping with the treasure.

>>942
>Sadly, our story can't deal with all that. Some shit came up that I need to work on. I don't know how long it's going to last, but for the foreseeable future I can't run these games anymore. Sorry, I realize this is sudden. If anyone wants to take over as DM or run their own game in this setting, go right ahead. If any of you want me to transfer ownership of the irc channel to you, just ask. Thanks for playing this campaign.
Well shit. No hope whatsoever that "foreseeable future" means there's room for a possible eta?

Ironically, I was going to say as well that I couldn't make it tonight. Was still gonna post my updated character sheet and ask if we could reschedule for tomorrow if not next week. This is a downer. If it's the end, it's the end. I had fun all the same. You done did good.

All things reach their end sooner or later. We had some fun, and that's what really matters in a game.

>>946
bang

>>946
Here's their end credits song

>>942
That is a shame.

I miss our games.

>>1010
shame things turned out the way they did.

>>1070
Why are we still alive? Just to suffer?