Author: Stan Shinn (Page 43 of 111)

Katarina ‘The Claw’

March 7-16, Third Age 1331

March 7

Kat’s Claw

It is an auspicious day that begins with the heroes boarding Kat’s Claw—the ship loaned to the group by Lady Anna of Stonehelm.

The Ship is so named for the captain of this sleek vessel: the extremely hot Katarina. She’s no ordinary, beauty, however. She comes from the famed sailing-people of Oscarria. What’s more, she’s known as The Claw, because she carries at least a dozen daggers and seems to know how to use them—as the scars on her near-perfect face attest.

It is only natural that Quintos and Ghost Dancer, upon seeing Kat, immediately bet on who will win her affections.

The Parcel

Before the ship leaves port to find the Island of the Buffalo, a messenger delivers a parcel for Ghost Dancer. It’s a message from Zelni, the circus lady. It warns of Mezkal, a fellow explorer who seeks a fountain of eternal life on the same island our heroes are trying to find. He is a man of questionable character. Thus warned, the heroes take to the sea.

Zelni, the Circus Girl

A Bad Start for Quintos

Ghost Dancer takes the early lead in the battle for Kat’s affections. He asks her about her homeland and then he tells her of his people and his mission to find the buffalo. Quintos jokes that Ghost will mate with the buffalo to make a Centaur-like creature: the Buf-ar.

From there, Quintos engages Kat in a deep, complex philosophical debate. Her eyes glaze over. Then her eyes wander to the handsome loincloth of Ghost Dancer. Ghost literally, not metaphorically, gives Kat his tomahawk.

March 9

The Eagle Has Landed

Two days into the journey, Marcus and Quintos get permission to celebrate Feriae Marti, a sacred Roman holiday and militaristic dance ritual that honors Mars, brings the renewal of Rome, and opens the Season of War. At the conclusion of the celebration, Marcus seeks an augury.

His faith and devotion are rewarded with an amazing sight. An eagle flies from the west and lands on the mast of the ship. It peers into the souls of Marcus and Quintos, and Marcus feels that this is an actual incarnation of a god. The eagle then flies directly east. Marcus is able to interpret the sign: During the Season of War, the group’s destiny lies to the east.

Never Bet against an Unseen Servant

Drinking and gambling ensue. Marcus, Quintos, and Ghost Dancer gamble with Kat and some of her crew. Unknown to everyone but Marcus, Quintos deploys his unseen servant to make sure the dice roll favorably for him. He splits the gold he won with the group.

March 10

Let the Games Begin

The next day, when the wind dies and ship stalls, Kat calls for a triathlon of games to see who shall be the best of the best. There will be three events: swimming, holding breath under water, and wrestling. The prize? A sloppy, prolonged smooch from Kat herself.

Swimming

Ghost Dancer surprises everyone and speeds ahead. Marcus and Quintos are not far behind. The three heroes shame the entire crew of sailors. So, the only question is, who will win among the heroes?

Things get a bit unpredictable as the competitive heroes strive to win. Quintos deploys his unseen servant again to propel him through the water. Then, when it is obvious that Ghost Dancer is pulling away, Quintos casts Hex on him. Despite that, Ghost fights through the disadvantages and wins. Quintos places second. Marcus third.

Holding Breath Underwater

Who can hold their breath under water the longest? Wonder no more. It’s Ghost Dancer. Despite exhausting himself and nearly passing out, he endures the trial to win again, with Quintos in second, and a crew member in third.

Wrestling

Marcus kung-fu’s the crap out of Ghost Dancer. (Damn Roman warriors.) But then, Ghost wins against the crew member he wrestles against, guaranteeing him a point and the overall victory. Marcus then defeats Quintos to win the event and show that you shouldn’t mess with a Roman warrior-priest. Even one who always gets knocked unconscious in battle.

Tie Breaker

Marcus and Quintos must break the tie for second place. To do so they must tell the most compelling, entertaining story. They both tell great stories, but Quintos wins the day with a tale of Hashar at Bone Hill and his banishment to Bugbear Hell.

The Tables Are Turned

Ghost Dancer proudly takes the podium of victory and relishes his long, gooey kiss with Kat.

For winning second place, Quintos earns a hug from Kat. But then, during his hug, he spends an inspiration and makes a skill check. We discover that this was a legendary hug that makes Kat swoon, and suddenly, she is interested in Quintos!

Quintos’s two wingmen, Ghost and Marcus are getting a little pissed about always watching him score the chicks. Stan, therefore, rules that there should now be regulations governing how many babes a PC can “attune” to. Attunement for Women, Stan calls it. Out of game, Chris declares that it sounds like a perfume: Attunement for Women…by Calvin Klein.

March 16

I Scry with My Little Eye

Kat’s Claw arrives at the destination island. Only, there is a perpetual storm surrounding the island, and the island itself seems to only be two miles wide.

Quintos uses his crystal ball to scry and see the man called Mezkal. Sure enough, Quintos sees in the crystal ball the back of the man. He appears to be on a beached ship in one of the cabins flipping through pages of a journal. When he turns around, Quintos sees that the man is one of the living dead. With the crystal ball, Quintos is able get Mezkal to read aloud the pages of his journal. The grumbling zombie reads aloud and holds up the journal so that Quintos can read along with him.

The Tale of Mezkal

On the south side of the island, Mezkal found a perpetual vortex. Following a hunch, and despite a mutiny, he sailed into the vortex and arrived on another plane where they find the mythical island of Vridensia, 100 miles wide.

There, they found villages and a giant wall projecting the villages from…something big. Mezkal, against the villagers’ advice, traveled beyond the wall hunting for the well of eternal life. Along the way, they heard of cities with legendary riches in the interior of the island.

At last, they found the well. They drank from it, then filled barrels with the magical water, brought it back to their ship, and sailed back through the vortex. Back in their plane, the captain and two of his advisors kill the rest of the crew so they’ll have more money for themselves—temporarily forgetting, perhaps, that their crewmates all have eternal life. Strangely, though, they die. But not for long.

The well that grants eternal life does so by bringing back the recently deceased as undead abominations. The dead crew, now zombie-things, attack the captain and his conspirators, killing them and making them undead, too. Now, they are locked in an endless battle of vengeance and violence.

Through the Vortex

After hearing the tale of Mezkal from Quintos, Kat and her crew agree to sail through the vortex. They find it exactly where the journal said it would be, and plunge into it.

Kat the Claw, with some spiritual guidance from Marcus and bardic inspiration from Ghost Dancer, steadies the ship, avoids a giant sea serpent, and navigates successfully through the vortex into another plane—and they arrive at Vridensia!

Kat gets a Nat 20 on her piloting roll!

As they set anchor to rest for the night, Marcus helps Ghost Dancer compose a new song to honor Captain Kat. They call it: Cat’s in the Cradle. Meanwhile, Quintos gloats in his soon-to-be conquest of Kat.

LOOT REPORT

7 gp earned by gambling for Quintos, Marcus, and Ghost

March 3-6, Third Age 1331

Lady Annie

Some time passes as the heroes craft, do religious research, and carouse. Quintos makes his way to a party of nobles in Stonehelm and ends up accepting the challenge of Lady Anwendolin (or ‘Annie’) to avenge the theft of her prized horse.

Lady Annie was sister to King Corwyn’s wife, so doing a favor for the king’s sister-in-law seemed a good thing to do. All involved were sure it was all out of political posturing; it had nothing to do with Lady Annie’s charm and beauty.

Bori, A.K.A. The ‘Blade’, was last seen riding into the badlands to the west. He was said to be in disguise using the alias of a horse trader, of average height, lean and lanky, with black hair and black beady eyes. Lady Annie offered a reward of 50 gp for information leading to his capture, or 25 gp for proof of his death.

The heroes captured Bori and won back the horse. In appreciation, Lady Annie gave the heroes long-term use of a boat captained by a female captain of Osskaria of Greek descent

March 3, Third Age 1331

Our hero’s around midnight, emerge from the cave of the necromancer Dubois, still wondering where he is located. They have saved Burt and the 10 citizens of Stonehelm. The hero’s decide to bury Brice’s sister’s body and head to the temple district under the darkness of night. Brice has requested they take his sister’s body to “Our Lady of Sorrows” the largest temple, who are protectors of the soul as it moves to the afterlife. Duke Leopold heads back to the inn for a nights rest and thanks his companions for the adventure.

As our heroes (Lundie the Dwarf paladin of Moradin, Marcus the priest of Mars and Quintos Noble Warlock) move through the city, they encounter some town guards and deliver the two slavers who killed for money. They tell the town guards that the Stone Legion lead by Quintos has purged this evil from Stonehelm.

Our hero’s arrive at “Our Lady of Sorrows” and describe the necromancer Dubois’s evil acts. The temple adepts wake up much of the temple, including Father Archibald the head of the order in Stonehelm. Quintos has some glancing looks at the young nuns, as the head of the order ushers them out. Our heros speak to the Father and describe the acts of evil. The Father ask our heros to hunt down Dubois and join with a Ranger who has found information on a possible location of the Necromancer (Dubois). The father also says that St. Longirius (the roman who pierced Christ with his spear), was a convert to Christianity and if they Romans Quintos or Marcus ever wanted to join the order they were welcome.

Marcus watches the ritual of Gentle Repose they perform on the body of the deceased girl and trades some holy water from the Silver Chalice for a holy book, the Bible of “Volgate” a text of the Roman Catholics.

Our heroes leave on a boat, polling down with the ranger to the location of the Necromancers cave. As they enter the cave (approx. 6 hours from the city of Stonehelm, they carefully navigate through the cave avoiding vines. Then a large black form starts to rise beside the boat.

The undead ‘Necrocrocodile’

The Ranger fires his bow, as our other heroes ready actions. Then the giant necrotic crocodile a massive undead beast erupts from under the black dark waters, our heroes blast, hack, and fire arrows into the giant creature and with skill and luck, destroy the massive creature in less than 12 seconds. As the creature splashing under the water, a wave moves the boat…

The Ranger, off balance, falls into the water, Marcus drops to the ground to offer a pole to the ranger as evil creatures attempt to pull him under the dank water. We save the ranger and continue on our way.

One of advantage rolls was a ‘Sadvantage’ results — double ones!

We poll to a sandy beach inside the cave, when suddenly a strange undead skeletal serpent breaks behind the heroes. Then by surprise launches a lightning bolt down the middle of the boat, hitting the Ranger, Quintos and Nero (Quinto’s familiar). The lightning is skillfully dodged and only partially burns our two heroes, but the familiar disappears in the blast. Our heroes fight the undead serpent, during the fight Marcus is slept, but the heros finally destroy the creature with Lundie’s hammer and Quintos’s spells.

Skeletal snake!

They move quicker into the caves, find 10 people locked in a cage and free them. They tell them to stay put, until we can come back to save them. Our heros’ then break down a door into a tunnel, that looks like a trap. Sure enough as they get half way down the tunnel, green gas gets released. Lundie and Marcus rush the door to knock it down, Quintos blasts the door with Eldrich energy as the Ranger shoots into the gas vents to slow the bellows.. Our heroes break down the door before the gas can envelope them….. Seeing a vile scene on the other side….

Holy ‘Young Frankenstein’ Batman!

There in the room is a huge undead abomination, a monster created of pieces of different people and the evil Necromancer Dubios, laughing manically he yells “He’s Alive”. The monster starts to move as it’s connected to two strange magical machines on each sides of the creature, it pulls itself free…

The Legendary Actions were fun (for the diabolical GM anyway)

We fight a brutal battle, Quintos summoning the blackness of the void, to immerse the villains in a painful tentacles of death. The heroes blast the magical machine to destroy its healing power of the abomination. Quintos works with Lundie wearing the helm of true-sight and blessed by the goddess Caldrindia (the Lawful good goddess of war). And Lundie helps Quintos aim into the void to blast the Necromancer with Eldritch bolts, dropping Dubois after multiple blasts.

The Legendary Actions were fun (for the diabolical GM anyway)

Finally the Abomination leaps from the blackness, charred by cold and burned by Acid. Lundie and Marcus face off with the beast, as the Ranger fires and Quintos blasts.

Legendary actions included knocking folks prone — ouch!

Finally Lundie summons the full power of Moradin in his Warhammer and knocks the Abomination’s head from his unclean body… Silence fills the room as the heroes have defeated the deadly Dubois and his undead horror.

The killing blow!

The heroes in the black library of Dubois find a letter written to the Necromancer. It says in a Dark Tongue that only Quintos can read;

“Thanks for helping the destruction of Stonehelm, your actions provided a pivotal roles in our plans” The letter has a wax seal by an “ORC SKULL”.

Our heroes free the captured citizens of Stonehelm and return to the Temple of the Lady of Sorrows victorious over the undead of Dubois.

And once again the Stone Legion triumphs over evil.