Carrion Crown, as told by Inquisitor Victoria van Helm.
Esteemed Witch Hunter Coim,
We finished searching the cult, and found they were pretty well off -- far too wealthy given the plight of the local people. I suspect they're being bankrolled by these "Neighbors".
As we finished cleaning up the temple and left, a well-to-do coach rolled into town, pulled by a quartet of horses. It appears that Lucia has a paramour who has followed her here, and this will hold her attention for the day or so.
We report the outcome of our inquisiting to the Mayor, who wanted us to permanently remove the cultists from his town and life in general; for some reason, Hecathia decides to tell him we resolved the solution diplomatically, to his horror. I decide to roll with the lie for a bit.
I ask if he knows where the "Stones" are -- that's where the Father took the child to. He thinks of the Rock -- I understand, but it's not the answer I'm really looking for.
Before we arrived in town, there was a drifter who got sentenced to the Rock for killing a man while drunk, over a card game; I doubt it's related to the cult, it seems like a relatively mundane murder, but duly noted.
The Mayor knows the pair we found in the Temple -- Rufus and his wife Emelba. Hecathia wants to go ask them questions.
For some reason, Hecathia and Ronan see fit to pressure the Mayor into a corner; I'm not exactly sure what purpose this has served, but by the time I give up and leave the conversation, the Mayor's spirits are pretty low, and he's imbibing some.
During the day, I help Ronan, the town's Sheriff, figure out a deputy. The only potential candidates are the local shipbuilder (who is also ancient and busy as hell) and the apothecary.
Hecathia goes to ask Rufus and Emelba where they think the stones might be, and gets "directions".
We are heading out to where the stones are when we spot lights in the distance in the swamp; we scoot closer under stealth, and encounter an unusual fog.
Amidst the fog are humanoids -- they hail us, and Hecathia responds, claiming to only be with her "Bodyguard". She approaches a ring of small campfires, and the humanoids within. She exchanges a few words with them, but I'm more concerned that there's something out there stalking me.
I'm suddenly attacked by something from behind; It's twice as big as me, a hunched-over creature, and must be some form of Swamp Witch. It mangles me.
The two humanoids morph into more swamp witches, and the battle is joined; it's touch-and-go, but Ronan earns his keep, and carries the bulk of the battle.
Returning to the road, we find a lake; we see some bubbles briefly emerge from the middle of the lake, and decide to go swimming to see what it is.
At the bottom of the lake was a cart, buried in mud. It didn't just get here and sink, it must have been here for a long time, or somehow buried itself instantly.
We start to surface, but there's something on the lake where we went in; something big and invisible. We surface on the opposite side and the creature realizes it's been noticed, and enters the lake, towards us.
Time to run.
Glory to Pharasma,
Vic
Sunday 30 April 2017
Saturday 22 April 2017
Rogue Trading for Fun and Profit, Episode 13
Rogue Trader: A quest for profit in the grim darkness of the 41st millenium. But dying in mediocrity and misery is for poor people and losers, and a Rogue Trader's retinue is anything but.
Rogue Trading for Fun and Profit is bought to you by:
Lord-Captain van Hohenheim - Rogue Trader. Hero. The last of his line. That's like a unicorn!
Magos Abigail von Thannhausen - A magos who possibly takes too much pleasure in the craft of Servitors. Accompanied by her servo-skull.
Archaius Wash - A gunnery sergeant with an irritatingly low-quality accent and a poor-grade artificial voicebox.
Sebastian LaMarck - A seneschal with a silver tongue.
Winter York - Astropath Transcendant. Monstrous willpower. Your glorious narrator and remembrancer.
We're travelling through warp to Port Wander. The warp is always weird, but this time it's stranger than usual -- we all hear whispers in the air. Exactly what varies, but I hear an accusatory voice tell me I "ran" for about 3 hours.
We're in warp for about 9 days and arrive to a strangely quiet Port Wander. It turns out that this is because we're walking into a civil war between the Iron Hounds (Established) and the Rusted Hands (newcomers).
The Iron Hounds aren't looking for help, and advise that it's extremely unsafe to be on-station right now. The Rusted Hands are a warband assembled of what seems like smaller mercenary groups united under a single leader. We dock anyway.
A bit of a plan is concocted; what if we found the leader and killed them? The warband may disband, or even better, fall under our control! I suggest starting with a bar and hoping we find a drunk Rusted Hand. The Lord Captain finds a bartender.
We talk with the Navy. Long story short, the Navy broadcasts the Lord Captain's offer of a peace talk / mediation. Sadly, nobody's interested.
The crew decides to involve themselves in the civil war, and try to decapitate the leadership of the Hounds. The party splits slightly, the Captain remaining on the ship while everyone else goes looking for a fight in Port Wander.
We find one, and throw down. We win, but not as easily as we'd envisioned. With bigger fish to fry, specifically the client who *hired* us to transport her, we decide discretion is the better part of valor and depart for the ship.
Rogue Trading for Fun and Profit is bought to you by:
Lord-Captain van Hohenheim - Rogue Trader. Hero. The last of his line. That's like a unicorn!
Magos Abigail von Thannhausen - A magos who possibly takes too much pleasure in the craft of Servitors. Accompanied by her servo-skull.
Archaius Wash - A gunnery sergeant with an irritatingly low-quality accent and a poor-grade artificial voicebox.
Sebastian LaMarck - A seneschal with a silver tongue.
Winter York - Astropath Transcendant. Monstrous willpower. Your glorious narrator and remembrancer.
We're travelling through warp to Port Wander. The warp is always weird, but this time it's stranger than usual -- we all hear whispers in the air. Exactly what varies, but I hear an accusatory voice tell me I "ran" for about 3 hours.
We're in warp for about 9 days and arrive to a strangely quiet Port Wander. It turns out that this is because we're walking into a civil war between the Iron Hounds (Established) and the Rusted Hands (newcomers).
The Iron Hounds aren't looking for help, and advise that it's extremely unsafe to be on-station right now. The Rusted Hands are a warband assembled of what seems like smaller mercenary groups united under a single leader. We dock anyway.
A bit of a plan is concocted; what if we found the leader and killed them? The warband may disband, or even better, fall under our control! I suggest starting with a bar and hoping we find a drunk Rusted Hand. The Lord Captain finds a bartender.
We talk with the Navy. Long story short, the Navy broadcasts the Lord Captain's offer of a peace talk / mediation. Sadly, nobody's interested.
The crew decides to involve themselves in the civil war, and try to decapitate the leadership of the Hounds. The party splits slightly, the Captain remaining on the ship while everyone else goes looking for a fight in Port Wander.
We find one, and throw down. We win, but not as easily as we'd envisioned. With bigger fish to fry, specifically the client who *hired* us to transport her, we decide discretion is the better part of valor and depart for the ship.
Sunday 16 April 2017
Carrion Crown: Session 40: Feeling It Now, Mr Krabs
Carrion Crown, as told by Inquisitor Victoria van Helm.
NB: I missed session 39...
Esteemed Witch Hunter Coim,
It is my greatest shame; I got lost. While I was lost, the party discovered a cult.
As I have not been seen by them, and Hecathia is believed to be one of them, I join her on an infiltration of the cult.
We walk into the Recondite of the Order of the Indomitable Sea, past a somewhat outdated depiction of Gozreh. Something seems off -- her hair is, on closer inspection, tentacles.
Cultists are worshipping quietly, so we scoot on past and open up a room on the right.
On the far wall is a mosaic of a Scum, a race of fish-like creature. Monstrous humanoids that live underwater in large broods called "Cabals". They're functionally immortal, not dying of old age, but cannot reproduce within themselves. Any spawn of their unholy relationships have a certain "look" about them, and become like their monstrous sire. Darkvision, multiple attacks, sentient and capable of casting magic in certain cases. Resistant to cold.
There's an altar filled with fish guts, the source of the positively charming odor in the room.
We move into the next room; it's a dormitory of some sort. I search it and find some interesting books on fishing, and a dusty tome of Gozreh, Hymms of the Wind and the Waves -- doesn't look like it's been used for a while.
The far wall has an aura of magic about it; Hecathia dispels it, and we pass through into a SECRET ROOM.
The secret room has a wooden bench, next to a pool of dark water. Also two people. They seem wary of us. Hecathia asks how they are, and what they're doing; they're just waiting for the Father to come back.
I wish them fun with that, and they take it literally; it's no fun at all, the Neighbors haven't taken the offerings lately. Hecathia bluntly implies they're doing it wrong. They mumble about how the Father told them to, and they've sent a 3-month old baby to the Neighbors.
Hecathia throws up in her mouth a little bit, unable to hide her disgust. I cover for her, explaining that the child is a bit young, and move on.
The next room's walls and ceiling are covered in carvings of fish, including an unsettling illustration of a woman mating with a fish man. A semi-circular pool of water stands in front of a bloody altar.
The chief priest is here, and so is a big crab-like creature covered in jewelry. It sees us, and immediately aggros.
Hecathia bluffs with "I bring an offering to Father Dagon"
The priest can't understand how we got in. The crab doesn't care and wants to hurt us good. We run as fast as we can, but by the time we get back to the entrance, the crab is already there! He locks the door with magic.
I charge in, and stab at the crab, but it scoops me up and sqeezes me.
Lucia smashes through the window, a literal blur of motion, and begins mutilating the crab.
Ronan clambers through and joins in.
The cultists who were praying at the statue stop that, and finish pumping before they charge in with sickles.
We battle them, and the head priest who emerges from the room, and I take a bad hit but we eventually win.
When exploring the temple, we found three reddish-gold statuettes of unholy creatures, and hidden in the deepest reaches of the hidden rooms, headless corpses, one of which we identified as Undersherriff Grumph.
One of them seemed rather well-to-do, with 21 gold coins that appaear to be freshly minted in Kalathas (I take 5), and a ceramic egg. Hecathia promptly drops it, and it splits open to reveal a metallic symbol; a gagged skull.
The mystery deepens.
Glory to Pharasma,
Vic
NB: I missed session 39...
Esteemed Witch Hunter Coim,
It is my greatest shame; I got lost. While I was lost, the party discovered a cult.
As I have not been seen by them, and Hecathia is believed to be one of them, I join her on an infiltration of the cult.
We walk into the Recondite of the Order of the Indomitable Sea, past a somewhat outdated depiction of Gozreh. Something seems off -- her hair is, on closer inspection, tentacles.
Cultists are worshipping quietly, so we scoot on past and open up a room on the right.
On the far wall is a mosaic of a Scum, a race of fish-like creature. Monstrous humanoids that live underwater in large broods called "Cabals". They're functionally immortal, not dying of old age, but cannot reproduce within themselves. Any spawn of their unholy relationships have a certain "look" about them, and become like their monstrous sire. Darkvision, multiple attacks, sentient and capable of casting magic in certain cases. Resistant to cold.
There's an altar filled with fish guts, the source of the positively charming odor in the room.
We move into the next room; it's a dormitory of some sort. I search it and find some interesting books on fishing, and a dusty tome of Gozreh, Hymms of the Wind and the Waves -- doesn't look like it's been used for a while.
The far wall has an aura of magic about it; Hecathia dispels it, and we pass through into a SECRET ROOM.
The secret room has a wooden bench, next to a pool of dark water. Also two people. They seem wary of us. Hecathia asks how they are, and what they're doing; they're just waiting for the Father to come back.
I wish them fun with that, and they take it literally; it's no fun at all, the Neighbors haven't taken the offerings lately. Hecathia bluntly implies they're doing it wrong. They mumble about how the Father told them to, and they've sent a 3-month old baby to the Neighbors.
Hecathia throws up in her mouth a little bit, unable to hide her disgust. I cover for her, explaining that the child is a bit young, and move on.
The next room's walls and ceiling are covered in carvings of fish, including an unsettling illustration of a woman mating with a fish man. A semi-circular pool of water stands in front of a bloody altar.
The chief priest is here, and so is a big crab-like creature covered in jewelry. It sees us, and immediately aggros.
Hecathia bluffs with "I bring an offering to Father Dagon"
The priest can't understand how we got in. The crab doesn't care and wants to hurt us good. We run as fast as we can, but by the time we get back to the entrance, the crab is already there! He locks the door with magic.
I charge in, and stab at the crab, but it scoops me up and sqeezes me.
Lucia smashes through the window, a literal blur of motion, and begins mutilating the crab.
Ronan clambers through and joins in.
The cultists who were praying at the statue stop that, and finish pumping before they charge in with sickles.
We battle them, and the head priest who emerges from the room, and I take a bad hit but we eventually win.
When exploring the temple, we found three reddish-gold statuettes of unholy creatures, and hidden in the deepest reaches of the hidden rooms, headless corpses, one of which we identified as Undersherriff Grumph.
One of them seemed rather well-to-do, with 21 gold coins that appaear to be freshly minted in Kalathas (I take 5), and a ceramic egg. Hecathia promptly drops it, and it splits open to reveal a metallic symbol; a gagged skull.
The mystery deepens.
Glory to Pharasma,
Vic
Saturday 8 April 2017
Rogue Trading for Fun and Profit, Episode 12
Rogue Trader: A quest for profit in the grim darkness of the 41st millenium. But dying in mediocrity and misery is for poor people and losers, and a Rogue Trader's retinue is anything but.
Rogue Trading for Fun and Profit is bought to you by:
Lord-Captain van Hohenheim - Rogue Trader. Hero. The last of his line. That's like a unicorn!
Magos Abigail von Thannhausen - A magos who possibly takes too much pleasure in the craft of Servitors. Accompanied by her servo-skull.
Archaius Wash - A gunnery sergeant with an irritatingly low-quality accent and a poor-grade artificial voicebox.
Sebastian LaMarck - A seneschal with a silver tongue.
Winter York - Astropath Transcendant. Monstrous willpower. Your glorious narrator and remembrancer.
Weeks pass, and we're about a day out from Scintilla. The Lord-Captain has recovered from his fugue state and we find him on the bridge, drinking his Breakfast Amasec.
Winter has defrosted. She's covered in scars and ambulatory, but still extremely tender.
The Lord-Captain wants to have a word with our Psychic friend, Lizbutt. The Magos wants to put a bomb collar on her.
We split the difference and wheel her bed into an airlock and put the collar on her neck.
We take out the IV and wait on the other side for Lizbutt to wake up.
"Where am I? What- What is this?"
Winter: "This is an Airlock. You are in an airlock. The Lord-Captain wants a word with you, please hold."
The Lord-Captain quickly confers with us to recap what he wants.
Lord-Captain: "You appear to have a green thumb. A red thumb." *off intercom* "What do you get when you mix Green and Red?" "Brown." *on intercom* "A brown thumb. You can tell us how you grew the ghostfire, and maybe survive, or you can be much less likely to die."
"Fuck you, and fuck your emperor."
*whoosh*
Back to business: We're going back to Scintilla to open a vault. The Ryn Dynasty vault.
The Lord Captain wants to rob a big vault or cause some trouble that leads back to Skekris, but we can't figure the best way to do this, so we put it on the back-burner.
We ride the gun-cutter down to what is apparently the Van Hohenheim family home in Scintilla's Hive Primarius. He says it's small, but it's pretty damn big by the standards of the common man. Truly a first-world problem.
The Lord-Captain is greeted by an Adept.
Magos: "Are you adept at your job?"
*deadpan*
Winter: "He gets that joke all the time, I think."
The Lord-Captain regains access to the Ryn Dynasty vault after passing some identity checks.
The vault door unlocks to reveal an extremely large chamber filled with ancient artefacts -- general dating suggests they're all about 3,000 years old, there since the Angeavan Crusade.
Sebastian is sealed in the vault with some Adepts so he can try and run an inventory on the damn place.
A few days later, the Lord-Captain receives a letter by courier from one Tibina Burden - an Archaeology expert who attended the Lord-Captain's going-away party, long ago.
The restauant is the "Pride of Scintilla", a swanky hive-top affair.
We arrive, and are shown to our table by a waiter after introducing ourselves.
The VIP area is fenced off, and gatekept by a burly sort of chap.
We take seats at a candle-lit table. Standing in the shadows is a pretty burly individual and I mentally tip-off the party.
We partake of drinks; I pick from the middle of the wine list.
The Lord-Captain and Tibina make smalltalk.
Tibina presents her motive; she wishes to hire us for a task -- an escort to a dig site in the Kronus Expanse, a private enterpise in Winterscale's Realm.
She requires the escort because she technically does not own the dig site yet, and the archaeology may not be human.
The actual rights-holders are Saul & Kask, a rather large mercenatile house.
The Lord-Captain and Tibina hash out the details of the plan. Escort and protection for three, but protection for two.
We ask why protection for two -- the answer is simple: Tibina's bodyguard is quite capable of looking after himself.
The bodyguard is introduced as Brother-Captain Raimer.
Rogue Trading for Fun and Profit is bought to you by:
Lord-Captain van Hohenheim - Rogue Trader. Hero. The last of his line. That's like a unicorn!
Magos Abigail von Thannhausen - A magos who possibly takes too much pleasure in the craft of Servitors. Accompanied by her servo-skull.
Archaius Wash - A gunnery sergeant with an irritatingly low-quality accent and a poor-grade artificial voicebox.
Sebastian LaMarck - A seneschal with a silver tongue.
Winter York - Astropath Transcendant. Monstrous willpower. Your glorious narrator and remembrancer.
Weeks pass, and we're about a day out from Scintilla. The Lord-Captain has recovered from his fugue state and we find him on the bridge, drinking his Breakfast Amasec.
Winter has defrosted. She's covered in scars and ambulatory, but still extremely tender.
The Lord-Captain wants to have a word with our Psychic friend, Lizbutt. The Magos wants to put a bomb collar on her.
We split the difference and wheel her bed into an airlock and put the collar on her neck.
We take out the IV and wait on the other side for Lizbutt to wake up.
"Where am I? What- What is this?"
Winter: "This is an Airlock. You are in an airlock. The Lord-Captain wants a word with you, please hold."
The Lord-Captain quickly confers with us to recap what he wants.
Lord-Captain: "You appear to have a green thumb. A red thumb." *off intercom* "What do you get when you mix Green and Red?" "Brown." *on intercom* "A brown thumb. You can tell us how you grew the ghostfire, and maybe survive, or you can be much less likely to die."
"Fuck you, and fuck your emperor."
*whoosh*
Back to business: We're going back to Scintilla to open a vault. The Ryn Dynasty vault.
The Lord Captain wants to rob a big vault or cause some trouble that leads back to Skekris, but we can't figure the best way to do this, so we put it on the back-burner.
We ride the gun-cutter down to what is apparently the Van Hohenheim family home in Scintilla's Hive Primarius. He says it's small, but it's pretty damn big by the standards of the common man. Truly a first-world problem.
The Lord-Captain is greeted by an Adept.
Magos: "Are you adept at your job?"
*deadpan*
Winter: "He gets that joke all the time, I think."
The Lord-Captain regains access to the Ryn Dynasty vault after passing some identity checks.
The vault door unlocks to reveal an extremely large chamber filled with ancient artefacts -- general dating suggests they're all about 3,000 years old, there since the Angeavan Crusade.
Sebastian is sealed in the vault with some Adepts so he can try and run an inventory on the damn place.
A few days later, the Lord-Captain receives a letter by courier from one Tibina Burden - an Archaeology expert who attended the Lord-Captain's going-away party, long ago.
The restauant is the "Pride of Scintilla", a swanky hive-top affair.
We arrive, and are shown to our table by a waiter after introducing ourselves.
The VIP area is fenced off, and gatekept by a burly sort of chap.
We take seats at a candle-lit table. Standing in the shadows is a pretty burly individual and I mentally tip-off the party.
We partake of drinks; I pick from the middle of the wine list.
The Lord-Captain and Tibina make smalltalk.
Tibina presents her motive; she wishes to hire us for a task -- an escort to a dig site in the Kronus Expanse, a private enterpise in Winterscale's Realm.
She requires the escort because she technically does not own the dig site yet, and the archaeology may not be human.
The actual rights-holders are Saul & Kask, a rather large mercenatile house.
The Lord-Captain and Tibina hash out the details of the plan. Escort and protection for three, but protection for two.
We ask why protection for two -- the answer is simple: Tibina's bodyguard is quite capable of looking after himself.
The bodyguard is introduced as Brother-Captain Raimer.
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