A Darkened Mystery

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Summary

Adventure: A Darkened Mystery
GM: Anne
Session: Summer 820
Night: TBD
Location: Birdlands, Massey.
Level: Med

Party:

Employer:
Roland, Head Councilor of Aresford

Mission:
A messenger by the name of Felix has turned up at the guild on behalf of his council, requesting a party to aid them in a problem they have recently discovered with a trade city. Scouted out by Felix himself they discovered a large count of creatures that only moved at night which they have concluded to be some form of undead. They would like some people to come and work out exactly whats going on here.

Pay:
10,000sp each and any loot you salvage

Diary

Scribe will receive an EP bonus if the notes are up to date more than 24h before the next session, and the in game dates are correct.

Day 1

Our party employer, named Felix, came from offplane and told us about a village covered in fog and encounters with undead when someone went to investigate. So I ended up in Meeting Room 4 with the following:

  • Elderan – a fellow air mage
  • Kerry – human female Dark Celestial and shape shifter
  • Minerva – human female Solar Celestial and a merchant with connections
  • Lim – elven male water mage and alchemist
  • Rayne – human female air mage who’s more into birds and can’t fly under her own power
  • Carrie – halfling E&E, and the reason I’m only the second shortest in the party.

I’m Aurora, female elf airmage, reporter for the Seagate Times, and specialises in flying spells and the bow. I’m also a high ranked courtier and spy after spending a lot of time in the Western Kingdom.

Felix told us that commerce between his town and it’s neighbour consisted of an exchange of wagons every two weeks. The towns were roughly 56 miles apart and the trip took three days. Suspicion was raised when their cart didn’t arrive on schedule. So Felix led a team to find out what was going on.

Just short of the town, they discovered several houses that were deserted. They then spent the night in a barn and were attacked by zombie dogs (Carrie called them zogs). Those were easily dealt to but, upon arrival at the town, they discovered it enveloped in thick fog and there were bodies in the streets. Some of them Daed as undead (Felix was an earth mage). That was so strange that they pulled out and returned where he was instructed to come here and get some ‘adventurers with unusual talents’ to come and deal with it and were offering 10,000sp each for the assignment.

After dismissing our party employer we settled down to who was doing what. Bossy Minerva became the Military Scientist, the more sensible halfling was volunteered as the Party Leader and when the subject of Scribe was brought up, there was so much silence, one could hear a pin drop, then a round of ‘Not me’. I finally pulled out my notebook and offered my services – after all, someone has to do it, and I guess if I do it I can then cover up most of my mistakes.

Next stop was Greaters. Carrie was able to cast them but needed quite a lot of black myrrh for the ritual. So Minerva took us all to House Sulis to meet her uncle and, after a bit of negotiation, Carrie got what he needed for only 40,000sp, enough for us all to get Rank 11 Greaters over all areas.

While he started on the rest of the party, I slipped off to do some research. First I searched available records on the rest of my party members, including past scribe notes in order to find out more about them – and no, my intent was NOT to dig up some dirt for the Times, but if anything stuck .... well .. .not my fault if it got out. I then realised I didn’t know what Plane the employer came from so I sought him out and asked him. He was from Seratos, and, after searching through more records, I discovered that this was a Plane that the Guild had not contacted before. So I resolved to collect as much information about it as I could.

After getting a Lesser from the Guild Earth Mage, I sought out the rest of the party. They had been trying to negotiate cheap wiccan amulets but weren’t having any luck so it looks like we’re going to have to fly down to Slippery Rock first thing tomorrow morning after all. Elderan offered his Cloud, which he said had a Dragon Spirit in it and would eat anyone who offended it. Lim also handed out four potion bottle sized waterskins each, two marked with blue, one with green, and one with purple, all four filled with fresh water. He explained that if necessary, the blue ones would be Waters of Healing, green was Waters of Strength, and Purple was for Restoratives. He also wanted to know if we wanted the mild Restorative or the strong one. I asked for mild – never did like chilli in my restoratives.

Day 2

Next morning, spent the day at Slippery Rock getting some amulets. I went for one to keep Undead well away from me, another to do the same to Demons, as well as one for getting better sleep, one for detecting traps etc, and one for help against poison, just in case (Amethyst, Jet, Jade, Beryl, and Carbuncle).

When we got back from Slippery Rock, that afternoon, we decided we were ready to start our assignment. Felix was removed from the Guild Bar and he took us into the nearby forest where we found a tree that had grown a natural hole, i.e. the trunk had split apart then reformed further up. I suspected fae interference, especially when latent magic was detected in the gap.

Felix did his ritual to open the portal, while we buffed up. We then stepped through the portal, emerging in a very similar tree in a park located in a city. I was a little concerned about children jumping through the hole and accidentally going ‘elsewhere’. Felix reassured me that only a few people knew the key for opening the portal and, sometimes, a swing was set up in the hole for children to play on.

On top of the tree a large bird peered down at us. Felix told us this was ‘Pebbles’ a trained Haast Eagle. He then asked Pebbles to fly to the Council buildings and let Roland, the Council leader, know that we arrived. We then were led out of the garden and into the city which we were told had a population of fifty thousand entities.

When we reached the Council Building, we discovered that there were statues to town heroes which we paused to admire and read their plaques before going inside. Inside, he led us to a set of double doors which he knocked on, then flung open before any acknowledgement was issued. Inside was an older gentleman, who was wearing armour under clothing. This was Roland.

He told us there was a large undead problem in the neighbouring city (not a town as Felix had said). Even a mile from the city there was no sign of people. The fog was part of the city’s defense system and only really covered the centre of the city . Most of the corpses found Daed as formally living with only a few being undead. They didn’t know what sort of undead they were but suspected that they were only active at night. Also the first sign of trouble was a week and a half ago.

He also told us that he had heard that Karya, the leader in the other city, had sent out troops because the farmers were having problems. It was also said that Karya had been acting odd for the last month but there may well be valid reasons for that.

I was wondering if any other towns, or cities had been affected. He said no, but he did say that the affected city was to the east of here. (We’re on the coast). The other cities were roughly equidistant to the north, south and southwest. Since the task was bigger than we were told, he offered us more pay.

Roland had arranged for us to get durabilities, healing runes, etc, and once we had those we flew out to have a look at the affected city, using a mixture of wings, air flight, and cloud, to get there, taking an hour and a half to get there. We were navigating by following the road though so it wasn’t quite a straight line.

Upon arrival, we took stock of the situation. The city was built on a hill, where the city centre was then spread out to the surrounding plain. Around the edge was a wall. The fog covered the centre area completely, and all we could see was the top of the spire. The depth of the fog then decreased as it spread further out, becoming ankle deep as it touched the wall. Out this far, bodies could be seen lying in the streets. It looked rather eerie actually.

After flying around the city, we swung out into the countryside and landed. The entire area looked completely barren, and there was a prevailing aura of death and decay. I couldn’t see any birds or insects A few daisies were brave enough to bloom but all the rest of the plants, including the corn fields were dead. The plants had been waterlogged so badly that the roots had rotted.

Finally we entered the town itself and examined the bodies lying around. Most of them had been dead for days but we soon found one that had died yesterday. Both of them had an aura of ‘formally living’ and would rise at night as a ‘night-ghoul’.

A bit later, we found survivors, in the Church of Uriel. What had kept the undead at bay here was the fact that the building was consecrated. Of course the barricades across the doors and the boarded up windows would have helped too. We were let in and discovered that the whole thing started when the entire populace, including those in the surrounding area, had gathered in the city for a festival. Out of nowhere, the fog had blanketed the town and, something had happened. Unfortunately they weren’t sure what had triggered this but, every night since, the fog receded and the undead roamed the streets, killing everyone they could catch. Every dawn, the undead would collapse and the fog would pour out from the clock tower. No one had any idea where the night-ghouls first came from.

Daytime wasn’t safe either. Presences had been detected in the fog and it was suspected that they were vampires who kept themselves hidden in the fog. Months ago there were reports of blood drained cattle in the opposite direction from which we had come.

That recently fallen body had been caught out and clawed to death by the night-ghouls. Fortunately the children he had been trying to save had been successfully saved. We were able to retrieve the body and it was fresh enough for Rayne to resurrect.

A plan to get everyone out of the city safely was cooked up. Near to this church, in the same street, was the churches of Raphael, Gabriel, and Sammael. The Michaelines were somewhere in the military district. Interestingly enough, the Uriel priest was named Sammy. He was the youngest priest and more receptive of the plan of all the church priests working together. The plan was to fly out the priests, and what useful artefacts they had, and have them set up a consecrated area about ten miles or so from the city. Meanwhile we’d escort the people in all four churches out during the day so they can be safe in the new consecrated area at nightfall. We could then help them get to Roland’s city. We just needed to warn him that two thousand refugees were on the way.

It took some arguing and planning but, finally, the plan was accepted. That afternoon, we flew the more seriously injured to Roland’s city and reported. On the way out, we saw a strange figure in the fog.

Day 3

The next morning, we watched as the night-ghouls, all human, collapsed in the streets and fog billowed out of the clock faces on all four sides of the tower. The day was spent, finding enough horses and carts to move two thousand people. That evening everyone was camped out ten miles out on consecrated ground while we were a bit closer to the city in Minerva’s hut.

We spent most of the evening speculating on the situation. Were the plains we were currently sitting on past battlegrounds between the city-states? Would skeletons rise during the night? At least the refugee’s camp was consecrated but ours wasn’t.

Minerva - “Maybe we should trade in one of our air mages for a necromancer” Aurora - “I don’t think I could be a necromancer if I tried”

Fortunately, much to my relief, we weren’t assaulted by battle hardened undead during the night, but I did see a figure far in the distance. Was a vampire watching us?

Day 4

Next morning, there was more shuffling of refugees, ending up moving them another ten miles and a random twenty people, mostly the old and infirmed, all the way to Talville. At Talville, Rayne and I went to get parts to make specialised arrows. I was hoping to get hollow heads for putting holy water in.

Once we were done, we returned to Ordulin and attempted to scry for the Michaeline Temple using Crystals of Vision. We were able to find it but there wasn’t a Michaeline in sight. The temple itself looked to be in pristine condition but it was completely empty. Lim then used Waters of Vision and got an image of two identical looking people, one of which was chained up to a wall in what looked like an attic. Were we dealing with twins or a doppleganger? Lim then spoke to the refugees and obtained a description of Keren which matched what he saw. However, there was no record of him having a twin brother.

We then investigated another of Ordulin’s gates. There were lots more bodies piled up here. No traps were found but the gate house door was locked, which didn’t slow us down much. I followed Lim up to the wall and discovered bodies of guards that had been killed by blades. There were no wards against flying but wards were discovered that were triggered by assaulting the area, which would activate defensive spells.

For some reason, I was asked if I was able to handle a hand and a half sword. Aurora - “I’ve got a claymore. Does that count?” Elderan - “That’s a hand and a half that goes Och Aye Laddie” Maybe I should wear my Caledonian outfit, including McLoad tartan kilt later on.

Rayne was the best of us at conversing with the winds so she did so. The winds said that there were six people in the high city but lots of people in the low city. I hoped that the wind wasn’t counting the nightghouls as people. So we did a search and found ten more survivours hiding in basements. One of them was Harold who had his grandfather’s hand and a half sword, and knew how to use it. He told us that they had gone to Market Day and Keren had set the nightghouls on the city under the cover of darkness, maybe caused by big black clouds. We then flew our new refugees to the refugee camp and spent the night watching over them.

Day 5

Next morning we assaulted Keran’s manor as it was suspected that was where the vampires were. So we buffed up and flew in. The manor was a three story building with a left wing, right wing, a central part and a dome connected to the back. Our assault started with dropping rocks on the place to make entry holes. Attics were discovered in both wings containing rows of coffins so a lot of staking occurred. The central part didn’t have any coffins, or an attic, and below the dome was a dining hall.

Epilogue

People

  • Felix; A sort of Corporal, in charge of a squad of 10 specialist rangers. A type of Earth Mage. Breeds very large eagles.
  • Pebbles; A very large (but still 1 hex) Beast Mastered Eagle attached to Felix. Speaks common.
  • Roland; Head of the City Council.
  • Keran; Leader of the neighboring town (Name given by Roland)

Roland's Provided Information

Astrological Reading

'Evil has taken harvest,
Bodies devoid of life in the moonlight stand tall,
Havoc and death take buzzards form,
The Earl shall consume us all'

Requested list of Powers

•	Astharoth: The Terrible Duke
 Nastiness: 10/10
 Appears as a Dark angel all black with a bloody mouth
 Minions: Black Dragon, Fallen Seraphim, Spectre, Mamba
•	Bifrons: Earl of the Dead
 Nastiness: 5/10
 Appears as either as an insubstantial horned monster, or a handsome young man.
 Minions: Succubus/Incubus, Half-devil, Wraith, Bull
•	Bune: The Dragon Duke
 Nastiness: 9/10
 Appears as a small green dragon with 3 heads, 1 human, 1 dog and 1 griffon.
 Minions: Green dragon, devil, Half -devil, Spectre, War dog
•	Eligos: The Knightly Duke
 Nastiness: 5/10
 Appears as a Knight in black armour, riding a dark war horse.
 Minions: Devil, Half-devil, Dire wolf, Asp
•	Furcas: The Reaping Duke
 Nastiness: 9/10
 Appears as an old man with a long-plaited beard, dressed in pale armour, riding a pale horse.
 Minions: Greater Vampire, Devil, Half-Devil, Spectre, Rat
•	Malthus: Earl of Death and Havoc
 Nastiness: 8/10
 Appears as A huge filthy buzzard
 Minions: Greater Vampire, Devil, Imp, Harpy, Vulture
•	Murmur: Duke of Thrones
 Nastiness: 4/10
 Appears as a warrior in green armour, riding a gryphon.
 Minions: Fallen Erelim, Devil, Half-Devil, Gryphon, Hippogriff
•	Samigina: Marquis of Dead Souls
 Nastiness: 4/10
 Appears as a small ass
 Minions: Devil, Half-devil, Wraith, Donkey

Things we might want to get or find out

  • Quick Cast Potions, or components + a namers time. For counter-spells vs. vampires / necromancers.
  • What's different for a Greater Vampire vs a Vampire as far as these guys know.
  • Any ancient legends of the area, tombs, crypts, that kind of thing.
  • Maybe we should generate some kind of map of the region, so we can get our head around where these towns are, and where running water is.


Mil Sci

Mil Sci will receive an EP bonus for ensuring Combats run smoothly and quickly
Primary Mil-Sci: Minerva Secondary Mil-Sci: Carrie

Crazy combat thoughts

  • Flash Flood down the main streets. Pro's. Normal vampires can't cross running water, what happens when they are in the middle of it. Cons. Not well ranked at all in it.

Daily Pattern

  • Sleep/Camp 12 Hours
  • Ritual 1 Hour
  • Travel 8 Hours
  • Meals 3 Hours spread through day * 5 meals.

Default pattern, vary as wanted by party

Watch Order

Provisional watch order, needs completing & confirming.

 1st.  Carrie, Rayne
 2nd.  Kerry, Elderan, Aurora
 3rd.  Lim, Minerva.
  • Lim doesn't sleep, but does need rest.

Travel Magics

Plan A. Wings of Eagles

 Minerva + Kerry on Celestial wings.
 Elderan, Rayne, Carrie, Lim on Eagles.
 Aurora on Air Wings.
 Dire Wolf on Flying
 * Total speed: ??
 * Duration: ??
 * Ft cost per duration: 6 Casting Ft + ? / hour of travel each.
 * Effective travel distance:

Plan B. Dragon Cloud.

 Elderan, Summon & Bind Cloud
 * Total speed: 
 * Duration: 
 * Ft cost per duration: 0
 * Effective travel distance:

Plan C. On the winds.

 Aurora, Flying
 * Total speed: 50 mph 
 * Duration: 20.5 Hours*
 * Ft cost per duration: 16 Casting Ft + ? / hour of travel each.
 * Effective travel distance: 400 Miles a day.
 Travel per day limited by travelling time, not spell duration so can be extended if the party pushes.

Marching Order

General traveling.

 Front scouts: Lim?/Carrie?
 Main body front: Lim?/Carrie?, Kerry
 Main body rear: Minerva, Elderan
 Tail Guard: Aurora, Rayne

Formations
Open field combat.

 Carrie --- Lim --- Kerry
 --- Minerva --- Elderan ---
 --- Aurora --- Rayne ---

Buffs

Buffs listed in the table don't need to be detailed, other buffs not on the table must be mentioned at the time they are cast.
Y means always on, N/- means never on, 'Sit.' means when the party has time for buffs before a fight.
Weapon Spells which weapon/s it is going on normally should be noted also.

General notes.
Restoratives & Healing are available to allow people to cast all the buffs.
It is suggested that people drink one if they are lower than half Ft after casting.

Long Duration Buffs

Magic Rk Effects Dur Mi Au El Ke Ca Ra Li Di B1 B2 B3 B4
Waterproofing (Lim) 10 Waterproof Entity & Possessions from Harmful effects of water. 63 Hours* Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Water Breathing (Lim) 15 Can breathe water via gills, & see through water mage fog. 26 Hours* Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Witchsight (Minerva) 12 See in Dark & see invisbles. 11.5 Hours* Y Tal (??) Tal (14) Y Y Y Tal (14) ?? ?? ?? ?? ??
Enchant Armour (Carrie) 13 +28% Defence, +1 Ft AP 12 Hours* Y Y Y Y Y Y Y ? ? ? ? ?
Coruscade?/Shadowform? (Minerva?/Kerry?) ? ?? ?? N N N N N N N Y? Y? Y? Y? Y?
Greater Enchantment (Carrie) 11 +12% to areas selected 3 Months All All All All All All All Sta/Ski/Res Ski/Res Ski/Res Ski/Res Ski/Res
Vapour Breathing (Rayne) 9 Protects from harmful gasses etc. ?? Y Y Y Y Y Y Y ? ? ? ? ?
Feather Falling (Aurora) 10 ?? ?? Y Y Y Y Y Y Y ? ? ? ? ?
?? (Caster) ?? ?? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
  • Assuming Rank 10 Enhance Enchant on Duration.

Short Duration Buffs

Magic Rk Effects Dur Mi Au El Ke Ca Ra Li Di B1 B2 B3 B4
Enchant Weapon (Carrie) 10 adds 11% Sc and 4 DM 15 mins ? ? ? ? ? ? Hand & 1/2 ? ? ? ? ?
Waters of Strength (Lim) 20 (D-2)+20 PS 105 minutes ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
?? (Caster) ?? ?? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
?? (Caster) ?? ?? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
?? (Caster) ?? ?? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
?? (Caster) ?? ?? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
?? (Caster) ?? ?? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
?? (Caster) ?? ?? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Employer Buffs

Buffs provided by the Employer when in the City

Magic Rk Effects Dur Mi Au El Ke Ca Ra Li Di B1 B2 B3 B4
Durability 20 2Ft 2En on Armour Permanency Available ? ? ? ? ? ? Y(p) ? ? ? ? ?
Willow Healing 15 3 En per pulse for 17 pulses 30 hours ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Greater Heart Rune 15 10 En 16 days Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y
Heroism 14 15 Def, 15% vs fear, 15% reaction rolls Permanency Available ? ? ? ? ? Y(p) Y(p) ? ? ? ? ?
Strength of Stone 20 20 PS or EN 21 hours ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
?? (Caster) ?? ?? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
?? (Caster) ?? ?? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Other Casters are available upon request of college. These are the ones that they will advertise to you.

Map

Loot

SP

  • A percentage of recovered loot value from 4 major temples. May be paid in specials rather than silver.


Items


Gifts



Purchases

  • 6 * Quick Cast potion components.
  • 4 * Eagles (Bought with pooled party funds)
  • Multiple barrels of Greek fire. (provided by employer for use, not for keeping if not used)


Calendar

Summer

  Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
Beltane
Meadow (1)
  1 Guild Meeting 2 Travel to Aresford. 3 Flight to the Neighbouring Town. 4 Evacuation of the Temples. 5 White Lotus
Finding more refuges.
6 Seagate Light Festival
In main town(insert name).
7  Into the Manor 8  Expected refuge arrival. 9   10   11   12   13  
14   15   16   17   18   19 The Castellan Borderers Ball 20  
21   22   23   24   25   26 Seagate Crafters Ball 27  
28   29   30    
Heat (2)
  1   2   3   4 Seagate Guildmasters Ball
5   6   7   8   9   10 Seagate Races 11 The Duke of Carzala's Summer Ball
12   13   14 Midsummers
 Eve
 (Faerie Day)
15 Solstice 16   17 Seagate Summer Fair Day 18 Seagate Summer Fair Day
19   20   21   22   23   24 The Castellan of Brastor's Summer Ball 25  
26   27   28   29   30    
Breeze (3)
  1   2  
3 Day of Death 4   5   6   7   8   9  
10   11   12   13   14   15   16  
17   18   19   20   21   22   23  
24   25   26   27   28   29   30