At the Gilded Goblet, in Riverside, after their venture into the Spiderwood...
Having sent her hawk, Huck, with instructions to seek out the Master of Songbirds, Granny waits anxiously for a response from the druid. Though they've never actually met, there's a mystical kinship between the two--it's almost as if the wilderness around Riverside has been shaped by the druid's presence, or perhaps is a reflection of it. All of these feelings lead Granny to believe him to be a warm, caring person.
Many of Riverside's folks have met him--he breezes through town on occasion, usually to consecrate the earth when a new farm is started, or to attend a local festival. And all tales of the Master of Songbirds tell of his namesake companions, a loyal flock of songbirds that fill the air with harmonies day and night when the Master is about.
The silence of the chill night air, after imagining the pleasant background noise of songbirds, is foreboding, and Granny can't help but fear for the safety of Huck. So it's not altogether surprising when the night's silence is disrupted by the awkward flapping of heavy wings, announcing Huck's return--and in an injured state.
Rushing immediately to examine the hawk, it's apparent that one of his wings has been pierced by a bolt, or perhaps an arrow. It's not a grave wound, and should heal in time, but explains the hawk's ungainly flight. Nestled gently in the hawk's talons is a tiny songbird, alive but weakened as with some malady, as well as a small bunch of purple flowers.
Granny recognizes the flowers immediately, having stumbled upon them in her wanderings with Kragh. The flowers are not native to the region, thriving instead in the wetlands further south, but the pair encountered several patches of them in the woods north and west of Riverside, perhaps a half-day's walk from the town.
The full context of the message, however--as clearly both the songbird and flowers were meant to serve as a message from the Master of Songbirds--remains a mystery.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
outer reaches #2: rewards!
Here's a breakdown of the XP rewards from the second session. It was a short session, and there wasn't a lot of combat, though the group did cover a lot of ground and accomplished a fair bit.
Goblins: 81 XP total
Award for averting the lumbermen's attack on Magnolia & Petunia: 200 XP
Award for discovering the source of the goblin malediction: 750 XP
Bonuses: 250 XP
Total: 1,281 XP
Divided by four players at the session, result is 321 XP per player, plus any applicable bonuses due to ability scores.
No loot to divide, this time!
Goblins: 81 XP total
Award for averting the lumbermen's attack on Magnolia & Petunia: 200 XP
Award for discovering the source of the goblin malediction: 750 XP
Bonuses: 250 XP
Total: 1,281 XP
Divided by four players at the session, result is 321 XP per player, plus any applicable bonuses due to ability scores.
No loot to divide, this time!
Friday, May 9, 2014
outer reaches #2: spinning threads
Wherein the heroes make new friends in the Spiderwood, sample some tasty treats, and save some townsfolk from themselves.
Having come together again after a season of downtime, our heroes reconvene at The Gilded Goblet (this time, minus Kragh, who is off investigating the source of the goblin malediction) to discuss new plans.
After some discussion--spurred by rumors of lumbermen and townfolk who want to "burn the witches" out of the Spiderwood--the heroes decide that their own investigation is in order, if for no other reason than to save the lumbermen from a grisly end entirely of their own making. If they aren't witches, then the townsfolk aim to murder and if the they are, they're likely to be murdered in the attempt. Ultimately, the decision is made for the heroes to seek out these "witches," and to make their own judgment.
The Spiderwood is not nearly as ominous as rumored, though it is heavily populated by its namesake arachnids. Before striking into the wood, they meet with Ford--chief among the lumbermen antagonists who aim to confront the witches--to dissuade him from pursuing the task without further investigation. By virtue of the charisma of the heroes, they succeed in delaying the group--at the same time gaining maps to the forest trails, along with the location of the witches' hut.
The hut, situated in the middle of an unnatural clearing in the Spiderwood, is found in short order. In front of the hut is a bubbling cauldron, attended by a haggardly old woman who occasionally samples the contents of the cauldron with wooden spoon. Upon approaching the hag, her companion--a bubbly, gentle old woman--enters the conversation, and introductions are shared along with a tray of candied spiders, which everyone enjoys. Petunia and Magnolia are new to the area--they leave the source of their arrival, and of the hut & clearing, shrouded in mystery--and offer their help to investigate the goblins, claiming that to best do so, they need a live specimen.
Feeling that this is a task easily accomplished, the group leaves Petunia and Magnolia--only to find themselves shrouded in darkness, and that hours have passed outside of the clearing while they were only within a short while. Unable to explain the phenomenon, they leave the forest, passing by an iridescent trail of spider webs which seems to beckon the group further into the forest.
Following trails discovered previously by Granny and Kragh, the party heads to the barrens north of Riverside, to the last known location of goblin attacks. Knowing the goblins to be feral and vicious in their attacks, leaving the slaughtered and eaten corpses of their victims, Nash lays a trap for the goblins, which succeeds in drawing the attention of seven diseased goblin warriors.
By the virtue of Granny's forest magic and the shafts of the heroes, all but one of the goblins are defeated and the other is brought in due course back to the Spiderwood. Hoping to discern the nature of the seeming magical passage of time, the party splits to deliver the goblin--but this effort is fruitless. Is it some magic of the witches? Of the Spiderwood itself? Or is it some property of the candied spiders, eaten earlier?
Petunia, the haggardly witch, receives the goblin and, before anyone can react, unceremoniously dumps it into the cauldron, sampling the result. As a sign of good will, Granny also samples the "stew," and her stomach roils. Magnolia directs her to consume a tea of amaranth to soothe the ill feeling, and Petunia holds up her end of the bargain. She claims to have known the source of the problem all along--a foul, bubbling pit far to the north of Riverside--giving the party more clues as to the origin of the problem, if not much help as to actually remedy the problem.
The heroes make to part ways with the witches, and they offer their own task to the group, with promise of reward. They seek a bejeweled diadem, which apparently lies somewhere in the Spiderwood, and while sharing no information regarding the properties of the item, they express gratitude that the group may deliver information about the diadem, should they come across it. The group leaves on good terms, disappointed in that the temporal phenomenon does not happen again.
The party delays until night time, hoping to encounter the iridescent spiderwebs again--but are again disappointed. Not willing to give up quite so easily, the party investigates further and eventually Daisy--following a hunch about moonlight--uses her mirror to discover the strands, which the party follows to an old stone tomb, covered in shadows and overgrowth, deeper within the Spiderwood...
Having come together again after a season of downtime, our heroes reconvene at The Gilded Goblet (this time, minus Kragh, who is off investigating the source of the goblin malediction) to discuss new plans.
After some discussion--spurred by rumors of lumbermen and townfolk who want to "burn the witches" out of the Spiderwood--the heroes decide that their own investigation is in order, if for no other reason than to save the lumbermen from a grisly end entirely of their own making. If they aren't witches, then the townsfolk aim to murder and if the they are, they're likely to be murdered in the attempt. Ultimately, the decision is made for the heroes to seek out these "witches," and to make their own judgment.
The Spiderwood is not nearly as ominous as rumored, though it is heavily populated by its namesake arachnids. Before striking into the wood, they meet with Ford--chief among the lumbermen antagonists who aim to confront the witches--to dissuade him from pursuing the task without further investigation. By virtue of the charisma of the heroes, they succeed in delaying the group--at the same time gaining maps to the forest trails, along with the location of the witches' hut.
The hut, situated in the middle of an unnatural clearing in the Spiderwood, is found in short order. In front of the hut is a bubbling cauldron, attended by a haggardly old woman who occasionally samples the contents of the cauldron with wooden spoon. Upon approaching the hag, her companion--a bubbly, gentle old woman--enters the conversation, and introductions are shared along with a tray of candied spiders, which everyone enjoys. Petunia and Magnolia are new to the area--they leave the source of their arrival, and of the hut & clearing, shrouded in mystery--and offer their help to investigate the goblins, claiming that to best do so, they need a live specimen.
Feeling that this is a task easily accomplished, the group leaves Petunia and Magnolia--only to find themselves shrouded in darkness, and that hours have passed outside of the clearing while they were only within a short while. Unable to explain the phenomenon, they leave the forest, passing by an iridescent trail of spider webs which seems to beckon the group further into the forest.
Following trails discovered previously by Granny and Kragh, the party heads to the barrens north of Riverside, to the last known location of goblin attacks. Knowing the goblins to be feral and vicious in their attacks, leaving the slaughtered and eaten corpses of their victims, Nash lays a trap for the goblins, which succeeds in drawing the attention of seven diseased goblin warriors.
By the virtue of Granny's forest magic and the shafts of the heroes, all but one of the goblins are defeated and the other is brought in due course back to the Spiderwood. Hoping to discern the nature of the seeming magical passage of time, the party splits to deliver the goblin--but this effort is fruitless. Is it some magic of the witches? Of the Spiderwood itself? Or is it some property of the candied spiders, eaten earlier?
Petunia, the haggardly witch, receives the goblin and, before anyone can react, unceremoniously dumps it into the cauldron, sampling the result. As a sign of good will, Granny also samples the "stew," and her stomach roils. Magnolia directs her to consume a tea of amaranth to soothe the ill feeling, and Petunia holds up her end of the bargain. She claims to have known the source of the problem all along--a foul, bubbling pit far to the north of Riverside--giving the party more clues as to the origin of the problem, if not much help as to actually remedy the problem.
The heroes make to part ways with the witches, and they offer their own task to the group, with promise of reward. They seek a bejeweled diadem, which apparently lies somewhere in the Spiderwood, and while sharing no information regarding the properties of the item, they express gratitude that the group may deliver information about the diadem, should they come across it. The group leaves on good terms, disappointed in that the temporal phenomenon does not happen again.
The party delays until night time, hoping to encounter the iridescent spiderwebs again--but are again disappointed. Not willing to give up quite so easily, the party investigates further and eventually Daisy--following a hunch about moonlight--uses her mirror to discover the strands, which the party follows to an old stone tomb, covered in shadows and overgrowth, deeper within the Spiderwood...
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