Session Start: Sat Sep 22 18:12:45 2007 Session Ident: #castlevania * Logging for #castlevania started [The intrepid party, tied up, dead monk in tow, must decide where to travel next.] * Skip eats a piece of stale bread and drinks some water. Replacing his waterskin, he stands and dusts himself off, "Now that we have the undying man, I think we should search his cave, then head back to town." Yes, of course. After that, I believe Boccob's Contact wanted a word with this troublesome undying monk. * Nyyx walks to the cave, meanwhile keeping an eye on the tied-up monk she's dragging with her. [After realizing that the party left their horses behind further down the slope, Nyyx and company just walk the quarter mile to the cave entrance.] [The cave entrance is dimly lit from within and about 6' wide by 6' tall.] [The tied-up monk offers no resistance, merely dead weight.] * Skip approaches the cave entrance with is comrades. "I think if it would be best if two of us watched over the prisoner here, while the rest quickly search the cave." I think I'd be better suited for searching. * Nyyx nods. "Would you and Charlotte like to take a look inside?" * Skip nods, "Come on, Charlotte. Let's be quick about this." Skip lights his torch and runs into the cave. Right! * Charlotte follows. * Nyyx stays behind with the monk and keeps a watchful eye on him. * Brute sticks around with Nyyx. "You want I should chop him some more, to be safe?" [Skip and Charlotte enter the cave. Apart from sparse living areas and a pen for the abominations created by the cleric, there is little of obvious value.] [After some searching around, Skip and Charlotte find a secluded area perhaps 100' back into the cave containing a small shrine and collection of pens, inks, a journal, and several prayerbooks.] * Skip begins to collect up the items and store them in his pack. * Charlotte also collects items. Charlotte, do you recognize this shrine? * Charlotte looks... * Nyyx says to Brute outside the cave, "Hmm. Well, if he moves, you can give him a good chopping, but take care not to cut the ropes." ... I"m afraid not. We should gather them and show them to a more experienced Priest. Or... hm. It could be... Ery-... somethiung thul. Bad stuff. * Brute nods. "We have to travel back with him, don't we?" * Skip examines the shrine, noting what the creatures look like so he can describe it to Roland. "Okay, let's get out of here." He heads for the exit. Right. * Nyyx nods to Brute. "Yes, I think the contact at Boccob's library wanted to talk to this fellow." * Charlotte heads off. [The party recollects itself without incident.] * Nyyx straightens up when she sees Skip and Charlotte. What did you find? We found some journals and prayerbooks and a strange shrine. Hopefully Roland can identify it. * Nyyx nods. "Good thinking. Thanks for gathering everything." It was a shrine to Eristhul. ...Who? Erinul. I can't say I've heard of him, but that's all right. I'm sure Roland or his temple will know what it is. * Nyyx helps carry the findings. "Let's head back to our horses and return to Misted Vale. Hopefully we can learn something about this cult." Right * Nyyx heads back in the direction of the area where they left their mounts. * Charlotte goes there too [The horses are where the party left them and doing just fine. On the way back, Roland indicted politely that he would like a look at what was found when the moment presented itself.] * Nyyx hands over the books she's helping carry. * Charlotte presents stuff. Do you think we should check in with the logging camp? To tell them their bandit problems are over, that is. Are they over? Roland: "Hmm... Well, Eristhul is likely Erythnul, the God of Slaughter, cast out of the Seven Temples centuries ago, but this shrine really doesn't fit the bill, precisely. More a general evil shrine than one devoted to slaughter. Trust me, you would have noticed the difference..." Huh. A general shrine to evil? * Nyyx nods thoughtfully. "No particular god?" Roland: "Well, it could be to a particular God, but what they described doesn't single one out, Lady Natalia. It is likely that the prayers themselves served that function." * Nyyx nods again. Roland: "I will examine the books when I have a chance to sit down. Those should shed some light on the issue." Thanks! * Nyyx nods. "Thank you, Roland." * Nyyx straps the monk onto the back of her horse and mounts up. "Let's return to Misted Vale, shall we?" Sure. Maybe we don't tell them about the body, though. Most people bury or burn. Carrying may be odd. * Brute scratches his head. "It is odd." Brute flips through the book of sayings tied to his belt. "If someone wishes you an interesting life, they are cursing you. Kill them if you can; if you can't, run away, very, very fast." Logging camp's closest, right? Let's go there and save time. We'll hit them all anyway * Brute nods. [The intrepid party rides down out of the mountains and travels back toward the logging camp, putting some distance between themselves and the battlefield before fatigue sets in.] We're going to need to set up camp soon. And make sure the monk stays almost dead through the night. * Skip nods and begins looking for a good place to camp. [Good campsites are readily found nearby as the local hills and trees protect from the wind and the party's rations and waterskins obviate the need to find a stream in the dark. Camp can be made quickly.] * Charlotte smiles and gets to work * NyyxAFK is now known as Nyyx * Nyyx helps set up camp. * Skip sets up his camp. "I can take the first watch with Roland." Skip, can I borrow one of your daggers? * Skip removes a dagger by flipping it up in the air and catching it carefully by the blade. He hands it to Nyyx handle-first. "Sure, here you go." Thank you. * Nyyx proceeds to stake the monk through the heart with the dagger. She leaves it buried there and checks to make sure it's firmly stuck. There. That should make sure he stays still. I'll leave him over here so those of us on watch can keep an eye on him. [The party heals and rests through the night. Apart from needing to replace the dagger a few times, the night passes quietly.] [The next day, the party breaks camp and travels to the logging camp.] [The noise from the camp is substantial. These folks start work right at sunrise apparently.] Do any tribes inhabit woods like these? I have no idea, Skip. * Brute flips through his book of saying as they near the camp. After a minute, he turns to look at Nyyx. "We killed all the bandits, right?" * Skip nods. "With all the industry, it would be difficult not to make war against the lumber camp." Skip looks sad for a moment, "I wonder if any of my tribe still protect my forest." As far as I know, Brute, we got them all. * Brute smiles. "Then maybe we should let them all know." * Nyyx nods. "Mrs. Cleff is probably at the barn, where we found her last time, I would guess." * Nyyx rides toward the barn. * Skip rides next to Nyyx. * Brute looks around for a central area of the camp. When he finds a suitable clearing, he runs to it and bellows, "The bandits are dead!" * Nyyx blinks a few times. "I guess that's also effective." [The barn is a hive of activity as trees are striped, planed and prepared for shipment. Mrs. Cleff is at a prominent place near the center, barking orders.] [The nearby loggers give Brute questioning looks, but appear apprehensive about wandering from their posts.] * Nyyx approaches her. "Mrs. Cleff?" "What is it? Oh, you're back. So, how'd the bandit hunting go?" Well, I think. We got them all, as far as I know, and cleared out their camp. Cleff: "How many did you find?" About thirty of them. Cleff: "And they are all dead?" Well, sort of. All except one, I guess. We can't seem to kill him. * Nyyx nods. "We're taking him back to the temple." Cleff: "I see. Well, do you have any proof for any of this?" * Brute enters the barn and joins the party. Well, we have their leader, if you'd like to see him. And their belongings. They were also in some weird freaky slaughtercult. * Skip turns to Roland, "Did you have a chance to read their journals yet?" Cleff: "I would appreciate seeing all of this." * Nyyx nods and begins unpacking the items they looted from the bandits. * Charlotte unpacks stuff too Roland: "Yes, most of the books were praybooks of various evil deities. The journal was in some kind of code and I will need more time to decipher it unfortunately. However, it is unlikely that they put something in code if it wasn't valuable." Cleff: "Quite the haul you have there. Well done. If you tell me where the camp was, I'll send a team to make sure it's cleared out." * Skip turns to Brute, "Could you lift the bandit leader off of Nyyx's horse and present him to Mrs. Cleff, Brute?" "Sure thing!" * Brute dashes off to the horses and returns quickly, mess of flesh and rope in tow. Cleff: "My goodness. This was their leader?" He was the aide of the leader, a cleric who presumably died while attempting planar travel after she was mortally wounded. This is the man they say cannot die. * Skip nods. "He regenerates very quickly." The bandit camp was located west of here, past the forest, in a cave on a mountainside. Cleff: "Cannot die?" His wounds gradually close, even after he is killed, so we've had to continuously wound him to keep him dead. Cleff: "I see, I'll send some scouts to check it out." * Skip reaches behind him and retrieves the dried out, shriveled hand. "I cut this off of him after our battle. It grew back over night." We're trying to keep him down, but it's a bit of a... well, it's not hard, but it's messy. [Mrs. Cleff has been growing increasingly pale and this revelation does not make the situation any better.] Cleff: "Really. I've never heard of that." I haven't either, honestly, but hopefully the Boccobites can help us get to the bottom of this. * Skip looks at Mrs. Cleff. "Are you all right? Is this disturbing you?" Cleff: "Are you seriously asking me that? You bring me a wandering vivisection and ask if it's okay." * Nyyx carefully repacks the loot. "I hope you'll excuse our friend Skip, Mrs. Cleff. He is from a culture far different from ours." Cleff: "I see. Well, you'll need to get that out of here just the same. Thank you for taking care of the bandits." You're welcome. I hope your business can continue peacefully now. Cleff: "Thank you." [Considering the matter closed, Mrs. Cleff continues with her work.] * Nyyx makes sure everything is packed, that the monk is tied back on her horse, and heads out. * Nyyx mounts up and prepares to head back to Misted Vale. * Skip follows the group, a little sad about making Mrs. Cleff upset. * Charlotte walks off. "Dont' worry about it, Skip. I'm sure in the long run, she'll be gladder for what we did. [The party marches onward.] Skip, if you wouldn't mind helping me, I'd like to bind this dagger tightly to the monk so that it stays in his chest while we travel. * Skip rides up. "I can help with that." Skip takes out another length of rope and begins tying the dagger to the bandit. Thanks. Let's keep a careful eye on him so we can adjust it if the knife falls out. [The party continues onward until it can see the border town about two miles to the west in the late afternoon sun. A crow can be seen flying overhead.] * Nyyx watches the crow for a bit as they ride toward town. [About a mile from town, the crow lands on a nearby bush and waits for the party to approach.] * Nyyx eyes the crow. "Why do I get the feeling that that bird wants something from us?" "We could give it some of our trail rations. Maybe it'll find something it likes." "What do birds eat?" This is a bad omen. This isn't good * Skip keeps his eyes on the bird as they ride toward the town. Bird: "Would any of you happen to be Theodore, Skip or Lady Natalia?" "Aye, some of us do go by those names." * Skip stops dead in his tracks. * Brute turns to the party, "My captain said that once. I thought it was very funny." * Nyyx blinks, not quite surprised, but not quite nonchalant, either. Bird: "Excellent, well the descriptions were accurate. I trust that your travels went well. I will have dinner summoned for you at the Inn." And you are...? [The bird takes off and rapidly climbs into the air.] Hmm. That was odd. * Skip watches the bird as it flies away. "I've been surprised so often since leaving the woods, I'm not really surprised by anything anymore." And to answer your earlier question, Brute, I think birds eat a variety of things, but I've seen crows eat corpses on occasion. Who knows what that one eats? [The party continues onward and rides into town.] I suppose we might as well see who's expecting us at the Inn. What do you think? Might as well. Get a good meal in too. * Nyyx nods and heads for the inn. * Brute chuckles. "I hope they have enough food." I hope so, too. It's been a long day. [After tying up their horses, the party finds its way into the Inn. Once, inside, a smallish robed figure beckons them to a table in the corner.] * Skip nervously fidgets with his lucky leopard tail as he looks at his party members, trying to decide what to do. * Charlotte goes towards the table... * Nyyx glances at the others, then advances cautiously. [The person at the table is perhaps a twelve-year-old child in robes of deep royal blue.] Child: "Please, sit, sit. How was the trip?" * Brute goes to the innkeep/barkeep and orders dinner for the party, and then a similar amount for himself as well. He then joins the others at the table. * Nyyx takes a seat. "Uneventful. Who are you, and how do you know us?" Barkeep: "Oh, that's already been taken care of, sir. It's on the way." Child: "How do I know you? Oh, yeah...." [The child grins.] "You may call me Adept Worst." [He winks.] Worst: "How was the trip?" Ah... hi. * Nyyx blinks at the boy. "Adept Worst." She pauses and studies him for a moment. "Have we met?" Worst: "Of course, we go way back." * Nyyx still looks a bit confused. "From?" Worst: "Um, the castle. You guys left me at Misted Vale to go get some guy. How did it go?" Worst...Liverwurst? Worst: "Exactly." * Nyyx looks pretty shocked. "You...look different from when we saw you last." Worst: "Alter Self is a fun spell. Master Theodore told me all about it." * Nyyx smiles. "I understand now. Good to see you!" Our trip went well, I would say. We found the undying man. I hope he's staying dead out there with the horses. * Brute stands. "I'll go check on him." He leaves for a few minutes. Good idea. Thank you, Brute. We had better eat while he's gone. Otherwise, there might not be anything left. * Nyyx laughs, but she falls abruptly silent. "Worst, what did you mean earlier when you said 'the descriptions were accurate'? If you really are Liverwurst, wouldn't you be well acquainted with what we look like?" Worst: "I never said anything like that. I know what you look like, Lady Natalia." * Nyyx blinks. "You weren't the crow that we talked to outside of town?" Worst: "No. That's my familiar, Cromwell." Oh! Oh, you got a familiar now? * Nyyx relaxes visibly. "My mistake. Well, congratulations. You seem to be getting on very well with your studies." Worst: "Well, thank you." [The food arrives.] Maybe now we can spend more time together * Brute returns after a few minutes of poking, prodding, and stabbing the not-corpse. It was very kind of you to order food for us, Worst. Thank you. Worst: "No problem, it's your gold anyway." * Skip laughs. "Magical skills, a pet crow, and very talkative. You've come so far is so little time, Adept Wurst." Worst: "Thank you Skip." Worst: "So, where are we going next?" We're going back to Misted Vale, to hand that fellow who can't die to Boccob's Contact. Worst: "Wow, so you got him?" That whole incident was a bit unusual. The bandits were led by some cleric, and the undying man. Mostly. He'll regenerate if we're not careful. Worst: "Wow. How does he do it?" No clue... We're not sure, but we're hoping the Contact can tell us more, or maybe that journal that Roland's working on decoding. Worst: "Excellent. The Misted Vale is a lovely town, by the way." How was your stay there? Worst: "Quite enjoyable. I've learned so much in such a short time. I was sent here to greet you as you made your way back to the Vale. It's my first real vacation." * Nyyx smiles. "So you can Alter Self, and you've gained a familiar. What else did you learn?" Worst: "Basic defensive magic. Unlike Master Theodore, I have chosen the path of an Abjurer instead of that of a Diviner." * Charlotte nods. How long can you hold Alter Slef/ I'm not sure if I know the difference, but it sounds useful. Worst: "About one half of one hour at a time, but I can renew it easily. It's what the outhouse is for. Everyone must think I have a small bladder." [He chuckles.] * Charlotte nods. * Nyyx laughs. Well, that's pretty impressive, I think * Skip smiles, then yawns. After we eat, I think I'm going to sleep for a while. It's been a long journey and too much fighting. [The party retires for the evening after a filling meal of stew and bread. 'Adept Worst listens raptly to everyone's stories and even helps the party conceal the monk's body while it is secreted upstairs.] [In the morning, the adventurers depart on horseback for the Misted Vale. The trip takes a full five days. The monk must be constantly watched for the duration and by the time the party comes within sight of the Vale, they are thoroughly exhausted.] [END SESSION.] Session Close: Sat Sep 22 22:15:26 2007