A Final Accounting (dm adventure log)

Inferno
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

A Final Accounting (dm adventure log)

#1 Post by Inferno »

Last edited by Inferno on Tue Feb 01, 2022 3:24 am, edited 22 times in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: A Final Accounting (dm adventure log)

#2 Post by Inferno »

Marching Order:
Here is the sequence in which our heroes will face their destiny:

Single file:
Mouser
(then 40 feet)
Telkis
Ingrid
Jerome
Faron
Urdur
Bo
Last edited by Inferno on Tue Feb 01, 2022 3:22 am, edited 20 times in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: A Final Accounting (dm adventure log)

#3 Post by Inferno »

Character Status:
Here we will monitor the adventurers' vital signs as they slide inexorably toward their final reward.

Faron, Human Thief 5: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 22/22
Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 4/5: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 21/21, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 5: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 14/25, Spells: 5/5 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl
Jerome, Human Paladin 4: Move: 9", AC: 3(1), HP: 23/23, Laying Hands: 1/1
Long Bo, Human Druid 6: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 41/41, Spells: 6/6 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl, 1/1 4th lvl
Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 5: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 37/37
Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 5: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 15/15, Spells: 4/4 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl, 1/1 3rd lvl
Last edited by Inferno on Fri Apr 14, 2023 9:35 pm, edited 540 times in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: A Final Accounting (dm adventure log)

#4 Post by Inferno »

Treasure:
Here we shall count the riches looted from the living and the dead:

40 sp from the Red Cloak Goblins of the Dim Forest

63 sp and 57 cp from the Golden Grain Inn (Mouser)

30 sp from the Abandoned Farmhouse east of Briarsgate (Mouser)

7 3 insidious serpentine daggers from the Foaming Mug Inn (Mouser and Pelias)

A ring from the finger of Misha Devi in the Temple of Merikka (Ring of Protection +1) (Grothnak)

From the profane chapel in the Hell Mouth:
A horrific tome that radiates magic (?) (Mouser)
A fiery orange concoction that radiates magic (?) (Urdur)

The former possessions of the cult's victims, found in the Hell Mouth:
Gems and jewels. (Hoom and Mouser)
Ornate gnomish ring. (Ring of Magic Detection) (Urdur)
A pair of soft doeskin boots of elven make. (Boots of Elvenkind) (Mouser)
A shield with heraldry from Hookhill. (+2, +3 vs Evil) (Brevos)
Eight One elvish arrow in a quiver. (+3 arrows) (Telkis)
A long sword from a lost human empire. (+2, +3 vs Chaos) (Pelias)
An iron halberd of unknown origins. (+2, +3 vs Evil) (Grothnak)
A pair of bronze bracers woven with intertwining motifs. (Bracers of Defense: AC 8) (Urdur)
A wooden shield blazoned with a lone tree. (+2, +3 vs Wooden Weapons) (Long Bo)
A mace from a dwarvish forge. (+2, +3 vs Undead) (Ingrid)
A large diamond in an iron lockbox. (?) (Hoom)
Scrolls: Clerical spells: (Cure Disease, Dispel Magic, Earthquake, Neutralize Poison) (Ingrid)
Scrolls: Illusionist spells: (Blindness, Blur, Deafness, Mirror Image) (Urdur)
Potion: (Heroism) (Grothnak)
Potion: (Healing) (Urdur)
Potion: (Speed) (Telkis)
Potion: (Extra Healing) (Pelias)

In the vestry of the goat-masked priest:
A serpentine sacrificial dagger that radiates evil magic. (?) (Urdur)
A beautiful, alien necklace that radiates evil magic. (?) (Ingrid)

Harvested from doomed Vicar's Head:
Clothes and Blankets (Pyotr)
2 Torches (Urdur)
50' of Rope (Ingrid)
1 set of Lockpicks (Rudolf)
1 Hooded Lantern (Ingrid)
3 Waterskins (Ingrid)
1 Large Sack (Ingrid)
2 Small Pouches (Ingrid)
1 Silver Mirror (Ingrid)
2 Candles (Ingrid)
2 empty Quivers (Ingrid)
2 suits of Chainmail (Hothhil, Telkis)
5 Shields (Brevos, Hothhil, Ingrid, Pyotr, Telkis)
3 Spears (Bo, Hothhil, Pyotr)
4 Shortswords (Brevos, Pyotr, Rudolf, Telkis)
3 Clubs (Ingrid, Pyotr, Telkis)
1 Hand Ax (Brevos)
9 Daggers (Brevos, Mondegreen, Mouser, Rudolf (2), Telkis, Urdur (3))
2 Longswords (Hothhil and Brevos)
1 Quarterstaff (Ingrid)

1 Thick Tome from the secret library in the tower (Mondegreen)


1 Ivory Tube hidden in the forsaken church, holding a parchment scroll (Exorcise) (Ingrid)

From the corpse of Hothhil Thornbush:
An Elvish ring (Ring of Protection +2) (Long Bo)

From the secret library in the forlorn stone tower of Vicar's Head:
A journal, a dead sprig of wolfsbane and a silver dagger. (Mouser)

Discovered in the Lost Shrine of Ancient Evil:
Powder of the Black Lotus (Jerome)

Brewed by Urdur the conjurer:
Eight three doses of the wolfsbane elixir (Cure of the Curse) (Urdur)

Uncovered in the Lair of the Wolfpack:
Three heinous tomes of forbidden secrets (?) (Urdur)
One dark glass bottle filled with liquid (Healing?) (Ingrid)

Recovered in the Labyrinth Beneath the Church to Saint Pentival:
Two one torch (Bo, Ingrid)
Iron wall sconce (treat as club) (Jerome)
Blade from a clockwork deathtrap (treat as saber or broadsword) (Jerome)
12' of rope (Jerome)
Spike from the bottom of a pit (treat as spear or club) (Telkis)
A dagger in a black case (?) (Mouser)
Vials fashioned from inhuman bones (?) (Urdur)
Last edited by Inferno on Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:45 pm, edited 62 times in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: A Final Accounting (dm adventure log)

#5 Post by Inferno »

Experience Points:
Here we shall tally the dead victims of our heroes' righteous wrath:

Chapter 2: The Haunted Wood:
5 Goblins of the Red Cloak tribe of the Dim Forest, including the wolf rider Urzogg the Desecrator, and Sligg (50 xp each. Total = 250 xp)
9 Wolves of the Red Cloaks' (225 xp each. Total = 2,025 xp)
16 Zombies of the Haunted Woods of the Dim Forest (200 xp each. Total = 3,200 xp)


Experience Points Award: 8/22/15
Total experience points earned: 5,475 xp, or 684 xp per person.
Everyone should now each have 3,186 xp. Please update your character sheets accordingly. Thanks.
I believe that Ingrid and Pelias both gain a level. Congrats and please PM me your new HP die roll, rerolling 1s. Thanks!


Chapter 4: Inn of the Damned:
23 Villagers of Briarsgate in the Golden Grain Inn, including Bertram Beswill (75 xp each. Total = 1,725 xp, excluding Avril, Ingrid, Moogeye, Mouser and Vodarte)

Chapter 6: Beneath the Inn of the Damned:
6 Zombies of the Tunnels under the Inn, including Bertram Beswill (200 xp each. Total = 1,200 xp)
2 Giant Snakes (600 xp and 500 xp. Total = 1,100 xp)
3 Ghouls (400 xp each. Total = 1,200 xp)
Bonus Experience for putting the Golden Grain Inn out of business (1,000 xp)


Experience Points Award: 4/18/16
Avril, Ingrid, Moogeye and Mouser: +500 xp
Bo, Grothnak, Hoom, Pelias, Telkis: +846 xp
Please update your character sheets accordingly. Thanks.
I believe that Avril, Bo, Grothnak and Telkis all gain a level. Congrats and please PM me your new HP die roll, rerolling 1s. Thanks!


Chapter 8: Against the Cult of the Reptile God:
7 Heinous Serpent Men lurking beneath the abandoned Foaming Mug Inn (300 xp each. 400 xp for the "leader." Total = 2,200 xp, excluding Hoom)

Chapter 9: Temple of Fear:
Annual bonus experience points award (+500 xp to each PC)
11 Church Acolytes (75 xp each. Total = 825 xp, excluding Hoom)
2 Guard Dogs (250 xp each. Total = 500 xp, excluding Hoom)
13 Skeletons (125 xp each. Total = 1,625 xp, excluding Hoom)
Misha Devi (500 xp, excluding Hoom)
9 Goblins of the Red Cloak tribe of the Dim Forest (50 xp each. Total = 450 xp)
5 Zombie Goblin Men (200 xp each. Total = 1000 xp)
Father Abramos (800 xp)
Undead Moogeye (200 xp)
Bonus Experience for putting the Church of Merikka out of business (1,000 xp)

Chapter 10: Blessings of the Church of Horror: (Grothnak, Telkis, Urdur)
1 Tentacled Screaming Horror (550 xp)

Chapter 11: Village of the Bodysnatchers: (Avril, Bo, Hoom, Ingrid, Mouser, Pelias)
5 Villagers with Knives, Pitchforks and Torches (75 xp each. Total = 375 xp)


Experience Points Award: 6/9/17
Avril, Bo, Ingrid, Mouser and Pelias: +1752 xp
Grothnak and Telkis: +1872 xp
Hoom: +1258 xp
Urdur: +566 xp
Please update your character sheets' experience totals accordingly:
Avril: 4754. Bo: 5784. Grothnak: 5904. Hoom: 5290. Ingrid: 5439. Mouser: 5438. Pelias: 5784. Telkis: 5904. Urdur: 3068.
I believe that Avril, Hoom, Mouser and Pelias each gain a level. Congrats and please PM me your new HP die roll, rerolling 1s. Thanks!


Chapter 12: At the Marshes of Madness:
10 Skeletons (125 xp each. Total = 1,250 xp)
10 Zombies (200 xp each. Total = 2,000 xp)
21 Green Slime (300 xp each. Total = 6,300 xp)


Experience Points Award: 8/28/17
Everyone: +955 xp
Please update your character sheets' experience totals accordingly:
Bo: 6739. Brevos: 3457. Grothnak: 6859. Hoom: 6245. Ingrid: 6394. Mouser: 6393. Pelias: 6739. Pip: 3457. Telkis: 6859. Urdur: 4023.
I believe Ingrid gains a level. Congrats and please PM me your new HP die roll, rerolling 1s. Thanks!



Chapter 13: Hell Mouth of the Dark Mother:
3 Swamp Monsters (500 xp each. Total = 1,500 xp)
7 Hooded Cultists (175 xp each. Total = 1,225xp)
Annual bonus experience points award (+500 xp to each PC)


Experience Points Award: 10/26/17
Everyone: +773 xp
Please update your character sheets' experience totals accordingly:
Bo: 7512. Brevos: 4230. Grothnak: 7632. Hoom: 7018. Ingrid: 7167. Mouser: 7166. Pelias: 7512. Pip: 4230. Telkis: 7632. Urdur: 4796.
I believe Bo and Urdur each gain a level. Congrats and please PM me your new HP die roll, rerolling 1s. New hit points and spell slots are added immediately. Thanks!



Chapter 13: Hell Mouth of the Dark Mother, continued:
7 Coffer Corpses (300 xp each. Total = 2,100 xp)

Chapter 14: Abyss of the Damned:
Wight attack on Telkis: (-3815 xp)
1 Goat-Masked Cleric: (600 xp)
7 Heinous Serpent Men (300 xp each. 400 xp for the "leader." Total = 2,200 xp)
1 Ghast (500 xp)
1 Wight (600 xp)

Chapter 15: The Slithering Chaos:
1 Immense Tortured Maimed Undead Abomination (500 xp)
11 Heinous Serpent Men (300 xp each. Total = 3,300 xp)
2 Wounded Coffer Corpses (150 xp each. Total = 300 xp)
1 Giant Spitting Snake (500 xp)
1 Black Oozing Horror (400xp)
The Heinous Abomination (1000xp)
Bonus Experience for saving Briarsgate from the sinister powers that beset it (1000 xp)


Experience Points Award: 7/29/18
Everyone: +1857 xp
Please update your character sheets' experience totals accordingly:
Bo: 9369. Brevos: 6087. Hoom: 8875. Ingrid: 9024. Mouser: 9023. Telkis: 5674. Urdur: 6653.
I believe Brevos and Telkis each gain a level. Congrats and please PM me your new HP die roll, rerolling 1s.
No training is necessary. New hit points and spell slots are added immediately. Thanks!


Chapter 17: The Thing in the Woods:
1 Wolf (225 xp)
3 Ghouls (400 xp each. Total = 1,200 xp)
1 Ghast (500 xp)

Chapter 20: Hungry Are The Dead:
2 Zombies (200 xp each. Total = 400 xp)
Returning From The Dead: (1000xp to each PC)


Experience Points Award: 3/23/19
Everyone: +1245 xp
Please update your character sheets' experience totals accordingly:
Bo: 10614. Brevos: 7332. Hotthil: 5247. Ingrid: 10269. Mouser: 10268. Rudolf: 5247. Telkis: 6919. Urdur: 7898.
I believe Rudolf gains a level in Thief, and Mouser gains a level in Magic-User and Thief. Congrats and please PM me your new HP die roll, rerolling 1s.
No training is necessary. New hit points and spell slots are added immediately. Thanks!


Chapter 21: Pact With The Devil:
3 Veiled, Undead Horrors (300 xp each. Total = 900 xp)
3 Witches (500 xp each. Total = 1500 xp)
1 Ghast (500 xp)
1 Ghoul (400 xp)
Bonus experience for destroying the Strange Black Altar in the Woods and freeing the Ents (1000 xp)
Annual bonus experience points award (+500 xp to each PC)


Experience Points Award: 7/21/19
Everyone: +1114 xp
Please update your character sheets' experience totals accordingly:
Bo: 11728. Brevos: 8446. Ingrid: 11383. Mouser: 11383. Rudolf: 6361. Telkis: 8030. Urdur: 9012.
I believe Telkis and Urdur each gain a level. Congrats and please PM me your new HP die roll, rerolling 1s.
No training is necessary. New hit points and spell slots are added immediately. Thanks!


Chapter 24: Human Sacrifices:
Journeying to the Outer Planes (3,500 xp to Jerome)
3 Robed Undead Horrors (400 xp each. Total = 1200 xp)

Chapter 25: Hell Vomits Forth The Damned:
38 Skeletons (125 xp each. Total = 4750 xp)
5 Zombies (200xp each. Total = 1000 xp)
Bonus experience for rescuing Amity Mantle (1000 xp)
Annual bonus experience points award (+1000 xp to each PC)


Experience Points Award: 7/18/20
Everyone: +1,994 xp
Please update your character sheets' experience totals accordingly:
Bo: 13,722. Brevos: 10,440. Ingrid: 13,377. Jerome: 10,995. Mouser: 13,377. Rudolf: 8,355. Telkis: 10,024. Urdur: 11,006.
I believe Bo, Brevos and Ingrid each gain a level. Congrats and please PM me your new HP die roll, rerolling 1s.
No training is necessary. New hit points and spell slots are added immediately. Thanks!


Chapter 26: The Possession of Amity Mantle:
1 Wolf (Mondegreen Cindereye) (225 xp)

Chapter 27: Mark of the Beast:
6 Cannibal Cooks (100 xp each. Total = 600 xp)
1 Wolf (Pyotr Whitetip) (225 xp)
2 Werewolves (450 xp each. Total = 900 xp)
Breaking the Summoning of the Dark Mother (1000 xp)
Wight attack on Telkis is Healed: (+3815 xp)

Chapter 28: The Exorcism:
Driving out the Demon that possessed Amity Mantle (1000 xp)

Chapter 29: Sacrament of Blasphemy:
1 Cadaverous Guardian of Accursed Treasure (550 xp)
9 Deathless Knights of the March (175 xp each. Total = 1575 xp)
Releasing Saint Pentival from his Torment (1000 xp)
Annual bonus experience points award (+3000 xp to each PC)


Experience Points Award: 9/28/21
Everyone: +4,179xp
Please update your character sheets' experience totals accordingly:
Bo: 17,901. Ingrid: 17,556. Jerome: 15,174. Mouser: 17,556. Telkis: 18,018. Urdur: 15,185.
I believe Jerome and Telkis gain a level. Congrats and please PM me your new HP die roll, rerolling 1s.
No training is necessary. New hit points are added immediately. Thanks!


Chapter 31: On the Trail of The Ripper:
1 Cutthroat Ruffian (325xp)
3 Giant Leeches (300xp each. Total = 900xp)

Chapter 32: From Beyond:
Ariadnax the Devourer (950xp)
3 Greater Almost Men (400xp each. Total = 1200xp)
5 Abominations Made of Human Corpses (400xp each. Total = 2000xp)
3 Lesser Almost Men (300xp each. Total = 900xp)
Demon Spiderlings (150xp)

Chapter 33: Nightmare House:
4 Heinous Undead (250xp each. Total = 1000xp)
4 Dire Shadow Creatures (400xp each. Total = 1600xp)
Annual bonus experience points award (+3000 xp to each PC)


Experience Points Award: 1/16/23
Everyone: +4,289xp
Please update your character sheets' experience totals accordingly:
Bo: 22,190. Faron: 19,289. Ingrid: 21,845. Jerome: 19,474. Mouser: 21,845. Telkis: 22,307. Urdur: 19,474.
I believe Bo and Urdur each gain a new level, and Mouser gains two. Congrats and please PM me your new HP die roll, rerolling 1s.
No training is necessary. New hit points and spell slots are added immediately. Thanks!
Last edited by Inferno on Mon Jan 16, 2023 6:17 pm, edited 97 times in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: A Final Accounting (dm adventure log)

#6 Post by Inferno »

The Story So Far:
Here shall be the account of the finals days of our doomed heroes:

Book l: The Horror at Briarsgate

Chapter 1: The Shadow Over Briarsgate:
Day 1:
The heroes set out from Hochoch to investigate the strange rumors they heard there: “Sinister and mysterious evil is at work in Briarsgate. The village itself is somehow being altered.”


Chapter 2: The Haunted Wood:
Day 3:
At dawn, on the road to Briarsgate, the adventurers enter the Dim Forest and are ambushed by Goblin Men of the Red Cloak tribe.
That night, they are beseiged by the living dead.


Chapter 3a: The Forsaken Village:
Day 4:
The heroes escape the Dim Forest and enter Briarsgate. There, they encounter for the first time the Magistrate, the Constables, innkeeper Bertram Beswill, and farmer's wife Felicity Gade.
While Bo explores the town, the Gade Family warn Grothnak, Pelias and Telkis of the terrors of Briarsgate.


Chapter 3b: Beyond The Veil of Secrets:
Day 4, continued:
Ingrid, Mouser and Vodarte are poisoned and captured by Beswill at the Golden Grain Inn.
Hoom investigates the inn in the aftermath of his friends' capture.


Chapter 4: Inn of the Damned:
Day 4, continued:
That night, the captives are liberated from the Golden Grain Inn by their companions after a pitched battle with two dozen deranged, murderous villagers. Beswill and Vodarte are slain.


Chapter 5: The Doom That Came to Briarsgate:
Day 4, continued:
The adventurers escape the Inn, encounter Avril, and return to the Gades' farmhouse to find the family has been forcibly taken from their home.
Brokenhearted, the party seeks rest for the night in an abandoned barn. There, they are attacked by unseen adversaries who set the barn ablaze with the heroes inside.
The adventurers flee Briarsgate and seek refuge in an untended farm, a league east of town, whose owners committed suicide, leaving a note that read, "You won't get us."
Day 5:
The heroes sleep, eat and regain their strength.
At sundown, they reenter Briarsgate and speak to the strange old hermit. The distraught hermit warns them of the Golden Grain Inn, the old Foaming Mug Inn and the Church of Merikka. The heroes hide at the arrival of Chief Constable Donavan Allard, who tells the hermit that the adventurers are wanted by the law for the kidnapping of the Gades.
After sending out their scouts, the adventurers resolve to return to the Golden Grain Inn to learn what lies beneath it.


Chapter 6: Beneath the Inn of the Damned:
Day 5, continued:
That night, the adventurers surreptitiously reenter the Golden Grain Inn and free a woman named Moogeye held captive in an iron cage in the stone cellar. They open the barred door and repel a plague of undead horrors. Then they descend into the dark, fell tunnels beneath the inn, where they face the ghastly revenant of Bertram Beswill, monstrous, gigantic serpents, and other deathless terrors.
Meanwhile, Hoom and Mouser burn down the inn above them.
Day 6:
After midnight, in the tunnels beneath the inn, the adventurers encounter an unspeakable horror within a blasphemous shrine. They escape into a crypt under the graveyard and then flee Briarsgate village.


Chapter 7: The Lurking Terror:
Day 6:
In the middle of the night, Hoom and Mouser flee the burning of the Golden Grain Inn and seek refuge in the Inn of the Slumbering Serpent. There, they meet innkeepers Belba and Ollwin Cralloon, and kidnap and interrogate a guest named Baltus. When the Magistrate and Chief Constable appear in the middle of the night, Hoom seemingly surrenders to them as Mouser flees.


Chapter 8: Against the Cult of the Reptile God:
Day 6, continued:
The larger group withdraws to the abandoned farmhouse outside Briarsgate and rests to regain their depleted strength.
That night, they return to Briarsgate to investigate the old Foaming Mug Inn. There, in its dark, cobwebbed cellar, reptilian abominations suddenly attack them and are vanquished. The heroes rest and recover for the night.
Day 7:
At dawn, they approach the Widow Hochstedt's farm and are confronted by the Widow and her son, Lem. They retreat and move west to the abandoned windmill. There, they interrupt a clandestine meeting between the hermit and a group of shadow-veiled villagers.


Chapter 9: Temple of Fear:
Day 7, continued:
That night, under cover of darkness, the investigators steal across Briarsgate to the Church of Merikka. They enter and witness heinous, unspeakable rites of profane blasphemy. They feel their sanity itself come under siege. They fight priestess Misha Devi and her undead servants. The heroes encounter the lost Goblin Men scouts of the Red Cloak tribe of the Dim Forest. Valiant Moogeye Comcra falls to a legion of the unliving. While under the church, Mouser frees Hoom and Urdur, and the trio join the fray. Grothnak and Pelias slay the Goblin Men and they rise from the dead! Then the unholy priest raises Moogeye Comcra from the dead as well. The evil priest of Briarsgate is killed. And Moogeye with him. A ghastly torture chamber is discovered in the church, followed by more chilling evidence of perversity and madness. They find the woman from the altar, Verity Clayborne. And another statue of the heinous abomination. Villagers closing in, they escape down a secret stairwell and find Misha Devi's bedroom. There, they discover a map marking a trail leading south to the Rushmoors. Verity confirms that all wealth in the village goes south, to the "Dark Mother." To escape their pursuers, the desperate heroes divide their number.


Chapter 10: Blessings of the Church of Horror:
Day 8:
After midnight, Grothnak, Telkis and Urdur escape the church by descending down a trap door into a stony cavern beneath the church. There, they discover a crypt made into a labyrinth. There, they find something unimaginable lurking within. The heroes flee deeper into the tomb maze. But the Thing finds them. A crawling madness takes hold before the ghastly horror is destroyed. They search the labyrinthine crypt for a way out and find one, filled with the stench of the abominable serpent men. They bravely enter the subterranean channel and emerge from the underworld alive and free. They head to the rendezvous at the windmill.


Chapter 11: Village of the Bodysnatchers:
Day 8:
After midnight, Avril, Bo, Hoom, Ingrid, Mouser, Pelias and Verity flee the church through a broken stained glass window and encounter the Widow Hochstedt in the courtyard. She kills Verity Clayborne. The heroes battle more villagers before making it over the wall. They flee into the night, scattering to the winds. Hoom encounters something in the wood. While Bo the druid wields impossible magicks to engineer their escape into the night sky by becoming a pegasus. From their vantage point, they see a light at the Gade family farm and fly down to investigate. They fly over the temple to the northeast toward Hoom who has been discovered by a village girl standing in a small copse. She screams, alerting the other villagers to come. The heroes rescue Hoom and escape into the night sky. They fly to the abandoned windmill and rendezvous with Grothnak, Telkis and Urdur, and with the old hermit a few fearful townsmen. They rest until dawn.
That morning, Avril and Ingrid heal the wounded. Tension and mistrust boil over. Harsh words are exchanged and Grothnak beats Hoom into unconsciousness.


Chapter 12: At the Marshes of Madness:
Day 8, continued:
Following the cultist map, the heroes escape Briarsgate and cross a bleak, silent landscape, reaching the edge of the swamp at sundown. There, they encounter Brevos and Pip who agree to join the effort to save poor Briarsgate. Night passes without incident.

Day 9:
Dawn comes without birdsong. The heroes set out into the eerie swamp. They don't get far. Unliving horrors, green with swamp blight, rise out of the stagnant waters of the bog. In astonishment, the heroes realize the viridian slime is alive! The marsh's evil power protects these fell things. Valiant heroes fall, into the dark swamp's waiting embrace. Avril is transformed into a ghastly inhuman thing, and put out of her misery. The rest of the heroes survive the battle and trudge deeper into the silent fen. Before sundown, they encamp on a small island.


Chapter 13: Hell Mouth of the Dark Mother:
Day 10:
The heroes survive another night. They cross an unnatural landscape and reach their final destination, a vast maw in the earth. Suddenly, the alien fungi that overruns the blighted land begins to scream. Horrific things in the swamp awaken, attack and are vanquished. The heroes descend into the hell mouth and are immediately confronted by hooded cultists. They survive the attack and bind the survivors. Thrown to a ledge below, Mouser and Telkis witness a rippling horror coming toward them. They escape as Bo illuminates the deepest regions of the pit with the glowing fungi. Then they illuminate it with an enemy's headless, burning corpse. More hooded cultists come to investigate. Sorcerous illusions are woven to deceive them. The heroes descend further and encounter unliving corpses, mutilated victims of blasphemous, unspeakable rituals. Bo is beset by a writhing horror and flees to rejoin the others in battle. The heroes endure and delve deeper, entering a chamber of ghastly new horrors. They carefully examine the perverse chapel's frightful contents. Some speak to a mysterious mirror. A foul book speaks to others. Hoom and Mouser learn forbidden blasphemies, at a terrible price. A secret cave is found, filled with the wealth of the cult's victims. The heroes arm themselves with the treasure of the damned and descend deeper into the hell mouth, finding a large cavern where iron cages hang from chains.


Chapter 14: Abyss of the Damned:
Day 10, continued:
As night falls, the heroes enter a reeking tunnel in the roof of the cavern of iron cages. They find an unholy sacristy where blasphemous preparations are being made. The heroes attack the unholy priest and his two undead acolytes. Ingrid drives off the living dead but not before one undead horror feasts on Telkis' soul. The blasphemous cleric falls. The heroes find hooded vestments in the sacristy and adorn themselves in them. Then they descend deeper, into the cavern of iron cages. Suddenly, serpentine abominations appear! The disguised heroes' ruse works for only a moment. Then all hell breaks loose. The heroes slaughter the first wave of reptilian atrocities and discover some prisoners, including Felicity Gade. Then the undead demons return! Ingrid drives them back as Grothnak cleaves one asunder. Then a new tormented undead creation of Hell emerges from the dark tunnels.


Chapter 15: The Slithering Chaos:
Day 10, continued:
Grothnak slays the grotesque, mangled atrocity as a malignant procession from out of hellish nightmare rises up from the tunnels below. Desperate heroes grimly prepare for death. The ghastly, unimaginable horde descends upon them! They glimpse the Abomination before Bo forms a barrier with a magic spell. Then they begin their desperate flight up the rope to escape the Hell Mouth! As they frantically try to flee the black abyss, the heroes are beset on all sides by ghastly horrors! It seems there is no escape. Grothnak and Pelias make a last stand to buy the others time to flee. Pip of Hochoch falls. The rescued prisoners reach the surface but they are not safe yet. Grothnak and Pelias glimpse the unimaginable and join the flight from hell. Telkis and Urdur fall before the twisted serpent atrocities. On the surface, the cultists enter Bo's sorcerous mists! Then Ingrid casts the apocalyptic prayer from the scroll. The earth shudders and quakes. Caverns collapse, killing Grothnak and Pelias. The surviving heroes flee for their lives with the freed prisoners. The Unholy Abomination rises out from the abyss before it is swallowed up by the collapsing sinkhole.


Chapter 16: Escape From Hell:
Day 11:
In the unimaginable aftermath of destruction, the survivors begin the long journey back. The heroes finally reach Briarsgate and the villagers descend upon them. In heartfelt, undying gratitude. The Gade family is joyously reunited. The sun sets on the village of Briarsgate.



Map of Briarsgate
NPC List for Briarsgate
The Story So Far (in pictures)
Last edited by Inferno on Fri Jul 17, 2020 1:34 am, edited 2 times in total.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: A Final Accounting (dm adventure log)

#7 Post by Inferno »

The Story So Far, continued:
Here we shall continue the account of the finals days of our doomed heroes:

Book ll: The Horror at Vicar's Head

Chapter 17: The Thing in the Woods
Day 1:

Relentless, the heroes set out on the trail of evil, seeking the origins of the malevolence that plagued Briarsgate. Joined by other adventurers, they journey into the ominous shadows of the black mountains. As weather threatens, they find a tiny settlement at the base of the thickly forested peaks. They surprise a girl and frighten her mother. The heroes are brought into a meeting house, fed and questioned by the reverend, Gideon Ashblood who leads this small colony of Pelor dissenters. The settlers ask for help against the Thing in the Woods, a lurking terror without name or shape that has stolen a child from them. As the heroes promise to search for the child, Long Bo foresees a snowstorm's coming. They investigate the missing girl's homestead and find tracks leading into the wood. With time running out, they follow the tracks. The heroes are lost in the woods of the doom haunted mountain as the blizzard descends upon them. They build shelter before they are claimed by the elements. Somehow they survive the night, plagued by dreams of unspeakable darkness. At dawn they are set upon by wolves.
Day 2:
The onslaught of the wolf pack is savage and merciless. Rudolf is first to fall. Then Pyotr. Then Mondegreen. Urdur and Mouser fall. Then Ingrid speaks in the ancient language of wolves and persuades the pack to leave, for now. Hunted by wolves, the lost, wounded heroes try to find their way out of the forest. They discover a strange black altar in the wood and cautiously investigate it. Suddenly, the top of the stone altar opens like a coffin and from out of it lunge fiendish, undead horrors! The trees themselves echo the monsters' bloodcurdling screams! Depraved fiends savage the heroes, sowing havoc and dread. The heroes prevail and tend to their wounded.


Chapter 18: A Fate Worse Than Death
Day 2, continued:
Night falls. The moon rises. And suddenly, horribly, the heroes transform into wolf-like monsters! They remember little of what transpired next.
Day 3:
The heroes awaken after dawn in the haunted wood, smeared with blood that is not their own. In despair, they try to find their way back. Lost in the haunted wood for hours, they come upon a cemetery and a town.


Chapter 19: Ghost Town
Day 3, continued:
The despairing heroes have found Vicars Head. Cautiously, they enter the eerie silence of forlorn desolation. There, they make dreadful discoveries including the grisly ruins of a battlefield in the center of the hamlet, plagued by rats and crows. The heroes enter the tower, desperately searching for a room in which to lock themselves. They find a dungeon beneath the tower and imprison themselves. Then they undergo their frightful transformation into otherworldly things.
Day 4:
They awaken at dawn. They and their cell doors have survived the night.
The heroes explore the tower, learning more of the dark fate of the ruined hamlet. They separate and continue their investigations into the doom that came to Vicar's Head. A desecrated church is entered. In the tower, a secret library of the occult is discovered. In the streets, hanged witches writhe to life! And in the dungeon, the massacred dead of the tower siege walk the Oerth again!


Chapter 20: Hungry Are The Dead
Day 4, continued:

An unholy legion of the living dead walks the streets of Vicar's Head! Some of the heroes attempt to flee the doomed hamlet. Pyotr falls, and Rudolf locks himself into the dungeon beneath the tower. Telkis and Urdur encounter a lone survivor. Bo, Brevos and Mouser are lost in the fog, and Hothhil, Ingrid and Mondegreen descend from the tower into the dungeon. Bo, Brevos and Mouser flee the town of the damned, racing headlong for its graveyard. They are not followed. Urdur and Telkis ignore the rantings of the madman and search the church, while in the dungeon, Ingrid heals Pyotr's wounds and Hothhil advances to rescue Rudolf! Then, in the church, the raving madman begins to transform into a beast! Urdur and Telkis flee and barricade the door against the wolf creature, as Hothhil joins the battle against the undead legion! In the haunted wood, Bo, Brevos and Mouser watch in horror as spectral figures emerge from out of the fog. They flee for their lives! Urdur and Telkis escape the church through a stained glass window, and the heroes in the dungeon are surrounded by a host of grisly undead! Hothhil and Mondegreen fall beneath their onslaught. The inhuman predator that the clean-shaven man has become hunts Telkis and Urdur through the streets. Suddenly, Urdur falls beneath the primal beast's claws and fangs. In the dungeon, Pyotr is beaten into unconsciousness by cold dead hands. In the haunted wood beyond doomed Vicar's Head, loathsome undead stalk Brevos and Mouser, and trap Bo in a tree! They slowly start to pull themselves up the trunk! Long Bo cries out to his god in this, his darkest hour of need. The tree itself answers, its branches writhing to life and holding the dead men tight. In the forlorn dungeon, Hothhil and Ingrid are the next to fall. Bo murders one of the trapped living corpses, as the host of undead break through the iron bars protecting Rudolf! Telkis falls beneath savage jaws, and Rudolf before a horde of undead. Bo, Brevos and Mouser flee the village of the damned. All the other heroes perish within its borders! Then the full moon rises and raises them from the dead! Once more, they undergo ghastly, harrowing transformations into things inhuman and unspeakable!
Day 5:
Dawn breaks cold and grey. The heroes awaken in the woods, lost and without their possessions.


Chapter 21: Pact With The Devil
Day 5, continued:
Forsaken and damned, the heroes lament their dark fate. Then wolves come to give them succor... if only they will join them. When the heroes will not see reason, the wolves depart, knowing it is only a matter of time before they come to their senses. Suddenly Urdur mesmerizes the pack leader and questions him! The wolves descend upon Urdur without mercy and the spell is broken! The wolfpack withdraws with their prize, the immortal soul of Pyotr Whitetip.
After recovering, the forlorn heroes begin their desperate journey across the mountainside. By nightfall, they approach the strange black altar in the woods. They search and locate their lost possessions where they were first consumed by the Curse of the Beast. The heroes silently reequip themselves. Close by, at the altar, blasphemous pacts with unspeakable entities are made by flame and by darkness. The heroes bury the beautiful necklace and the serpentine dagger from the Hell Mouth. Then Rudolf disappears into the shadows, in the direction of the heinous shrine. Soon, Hothhil ventures after him, alone. Time crawls on and dark blossoms of dread flower in the heroes' minds.
Then Hothhil returns,
urging them onward! They follow and discover witches and other shapes chanting and writhing around Rudolf as he lays upon the black sacrificial altar... willingly! Suddenly, Mouser plunges his dagger into Rudolf as half the heroes are deafened and all of them are blinded! Their sight returns in time to witness Mouser stabbing Rudolf again and again! Ingrid's magic holds Mouser still and heals Rudolf. The grey druid communes with the tortured Ents. Suddenly, out of the altar lunge nightmarish horrors from beyond the grave! The witches' eerie song entrances the heroes! Ingrid drives back the undead and the spell is broken! Female figures emerge from the darkness and say things dreamlike and ethereal that cannot be understood. Long Bo succumbs to their beguilement. Then the shrouded handmaidens lunge forward with a feral hunger that shall never be sated. Ingrid drives them off as Bo ensnares his friends with living plants. Witches are slaughtered by sword and bludgeon, stone and arrow; and by a new trick from up Urdur's sleeve. Their evil is eradicated from the Oerth.
Long Bo communes with the ancient towering trees as to how best destroy the heinous altar. Ingrid drives back the undead again as the grey druid begins chanting his most powerful spell! Long Bo is only halfway through casting when suddenly the lid of the unholy altar opens again! Ingrid struggles to hold back the tide of evil! The heroes vanquish the unholy scourge and the grey druid keeps chanting; building the storm! Suddenly a jagged bolt of electricity explodes from the heavens and strikes the heinous black altar in the woods, sundering it! Its diabolical power is broken, purified by fire from the gods! Then Brevos makes a startling discovery in the darkness of the haunted wood: the horrific, violated corpse of Hothhil! A second strike of lightning utterly destroys the black altar. The wounded, tortured Ents creep back toward the scorched earth and offer aid to the brave heroes who freed them from an unspeakable fate. Brevos and Ingrid reverently see to the gruesome remains of Hothhil and then the heroes sleep beneath the protection of the trees.
Days 6 and 7:
Besieged by nightmares and the eerie unsettling stillness of the haunted forest, the heroes journey for two days across the mountainside and return to Vicar's Head. At the gate of the forsaken hamlet, they meet Jerome an earnest young knight.


Chapter 22: The Horror at Vicar's Head
Day 7, continued:
At nightfall, the doomed heroes willingly reenter the village of the damned, and are overwhelmed by the terrible memories of their deaths. They find more frightful evidence of the atrocities committed here against those accused of witchcraft and werewolfry. The heroes reach the church were Telkis and Urdur were murdered, and recover the scroll. At the lone stone tower they enter the secret library and Mouser survives a poisoned needle in a keyhole. Beyond the deathtrap, he discovers a journal, a wolfsbane, and a dagger of silver.
The heroes plunge down the stairs of the forlorn tower and enter the town square. There, the dead do rise. A thing that had once been a nun of Pelor turns her terrible gaze upon them and they flee for their lives! Stricken with terror, fright ages them prematurely! In a nightmare chase, the heroes flee the village of the damned with their lives!
They ascend the mountain pass for hours, trudging beneath looming peaks of jagged darkness. The forlorn heroes rest near the top of the world itself, peering up into a fathomless chaos of night without end. A wolfsbane antidote is discovered in the journal from the secret library. Ingrid Esthof sleeps uneasily. The heroes suffer dreadful, reoccurring nightmares. Suddenly Ingrid bolts upright from out of a dead slumber.
Ingrid suffers a terrible nightmare where her reflection is that of the horrific witch nun of Vicar's Head! Jerome tries to awaken her, revealing a face that is not Ingrid's own! In her nightmare, Ingrid shatters the mirror and, in the waking world, becomes herself once more. Believing that Ingrid is no longer possessed, the heroes rest.
Day 8:
They survive to see the dawn. The heroes let themselves hope, after discovering a cure for the dread curse that afflicts them. They begin their arduous journey.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: A Final Accounting (dm adventure log)

#8 Post by Inferno »

The Story So Far, continued:
Here we shall continue the account of the finals days of our doomed heroes:

Chapter 23: Genesis of Evil
Day 18:
Ten days later, the heroes have survived the pass through the dark mountains. On the other side, they reach a humble settlement at dusk. With foreboding, the heroes enter the frozen hamlet's public house. They receive a a cold welcome. A mixture lies, truth and half-truths thaws the frosty reception as Long Bo converses with an owl. The heroes glean what information they can, learning dread lore of their destination, and settle in for the night.
Day 19:
After suffering their reoccurring nightmares, the heroes give donations to Banemourne. Tulach the barkeep accepts them gratefully. Telkis makes the acquaintance of a mouse as the heroes make ready to depart.
Long Bo's owl leads them to ancient steps carved into the living rock of the dark mountain. They climb all day and night until they reach a moonlit field of burial mounds without number.
As midnight approaches, Urdur brews a wolfsbane potion to break the Curse of the Beast. Bo, Brevos and Telkis drink it and horrifically, begin to transform as they scream in agony! The other heroes bare steel, ready to kill the unspeakable horrors! Suddenly, the three changelings cease their ghastly becoming! They slowly return to their normal forms; the dread Curse of The Beast lifted!
Day 20:
After midnight, within sight of their dread goal, the heroes falter. Then [url=httrp://www.unseenservant.us/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 71#p450171]they accept their fate. Suddenly, Jerome is struck down[/url] by overpowering emanations of unspeakable evil! The paladin recovers and the heroes press on, treading a road of bones through a strange gate to a dark maw into the mountain. They pass through a glacial cave and descend a steep stairwell cut into the living rock. It leads to a vast water-filled cavern on whose subterranean shore looms an immense brooding citadel limned in eerie green light. The heroes approach the partially opened stonegate of the lost shrine of ancient evil. Telkis, Mouser and Urdur roll under the monolithic portal! Suddenly, daemonic voices from beyond the stonegate shriek, "Thou art a gift to The Nothing! The Nothing!" The scouts return. The heroes steel their resolve.
Mouser casts a spell that deciphers the eldritch carvings on the stonegate. He reads them aloud in a voice not his own! Suddenly, Jerome lies down and opens his breastplate so that Rudolf can sacrifice him to The Nothing! Rudolf nearly kills the paladin before Urdur's mesmerism compels them to stop! The heroes take a moment to recover and then press on.


Chapter 24: Human Sacrifices
Day 20, continued:
Against their every instinct for self preservation, the heroes cross the threshold of the stonegate.
They willingly enter the subterranean temple of abominations into a hall whose every surface is carved with twisted, tormented faces that shriek in daemonic voices, "You are a gift to The Nothing! The Nothing!"
The heroes cautiously advance, discovering twin doors shaped like ghastly heads.
Beyond the northern devil door, the heroes discover a richly appointed room covered in dust. Without caution or hesitation, they enter and examine its eerie contents. Then they discover an immense painting of themselves genuflecting in worship before a black altar! In the shadows behind the heroes lurk the wretched ghosts of their dead friends, haunting them! Then Brevos slams the black door shut!
Ingrid resists the temptation to reopen it and the heroes retreat through the hall of ghastly tormented faces and into a literal gallery of horrors. Surrounded by heinous masterpieces of atrocities and evil, they find a powder rendered of the crushed petals of the fabled Black Lotus flower. Seemingly unable to resist its deadly allure, half of them draw nearer. Urdur touches his torch to it and smoke billows forth! All the heroes get clear except Jerome who breathes of the smoke of the death blossom! He sits in the spiral pew and his mind journeys beyond this world to the sanity-shredding horrors of the Outer Planes where he gains understanding. Wracked and harrowed, Jerome returns to Oerth and is saved by Telkis. The paladin recovers as Mouser is tempted by the beguiling Black Lotus and resists it.
The heroes approach the final frightful door with apprehension and dread. Beyond the demon portal is a towering chapel to an unspeakable god. The doomed heroes enter of their own volition. They find a grand high hallway extending from a bloodstained altar into pitch darkness from which emanates the eerie unrelenting sound. It is a lichway, the path by which the dead are carried to the grave. Its looming walls are lined end to end with stone slabs, each bearing inscriptions in the same blasphemous language as the stonegate. The heroes enter the towering corridor of heinous magnificence. Ominously, there is still no sign of defenders. They come to a great hall where looms an immense monolithic stone that is disconcerting to look upon. Disturbing angles and surfaces subsume a blasphemous geometry not of this Oerth. More corridors are discovered, also lined with stone slabs etched in sorcerous heresy. The heroes continue deeper, following the strange haunting tone until it grows strong enough to drown out their whispers and make the hair on the back of their necks stand up.
They advance and find a great mass of strange, vine-like fibers choking the lichway. Beyond it is a chamber of skulls holding withered corpses, an unholy altar, and the lifeless form of Amity Mantle. The heroes ready to carve a path through the towering alien skein and instantly, it comes to life! Urdur is almost strangled into unconsciousness by living, spiked tendrils! Engulfed, he realizes the mysterious tone is emanating from the otherworldly web of stalk and stem! Urdur breaks free of the grasping tendrils as the heroes attack! Suddenly, an immense horror crawls out from the black shadows behind them! Ingrid's divine power silences the writhing vine web creature! And the shrouded corpses on the floor of the skull chamber sit bolt upright! The situation grows more dire and then the tables turn. The gigantic tarantula is blinded and hacked asunder as the vine web is set aflame!
But suddenly comes a peal of thunder all around them! DOOOOOM!
The roaring sound does not relent. Nor do the heinous undead horrors as they descend upon the heroes, draining away their life force! DOOOOOOM! Then Mouser makes a terrible discovery. The ominous thundering is emanating from behind the stone slabs that line the vast towering walls of the lichway. DOOOOOOM! Jerome falls and then every stone slab ruptures and bursts! DOOOOOOM!


Chapter 25: Hell Vomits Forth The Damned
Day 20, continued:
DOOOOOOM! Countless crypts open in the lichway. The living dead are without number. The heroes start to flee for their lives, and the life of young Amity Mantle! The undead legion descend upon them! Surrounded, Brevos and Telkis make a desperate charge through the endless legions of living dead and break out of the teeming horde alive! Ingrid and Jerome drive back the filth of Hell with the fiery righteousness of the heavens! Urdur flees with young Amity Mantle, trying to save her life at least. Mouser produces the heinous tome of forbidden secrets, taken from the Hell Mouth of the Dark Mother! The heroes struggle to hold back the endless tide of living death.
With time is running out, Brevos touches the pipe organ keys and it blasts a sound identical to the eerie unrelenting tone that had haunted the heroes ever since entering this nightmarish place! Suddenly, the ghastly legion of horrors that throngs the lichway falls silent and still! And then they all lie down where they stand, returning once more to the cold embrace of Death! The heroes flee for their lives! As the organ pipes exhaust themselves of air and sound, the heroes lock the demon doors behind them and plunge through the two foot gap beneath the stonegate!
With the child they came to rescue, the heroes fly. They burst from the dark forbidding mountain at the top of the world and bear witness to a horrific sight! The vast snow-shrouded burial fields vomit forth their countless dead! The raging, shrieking nightmare of Perdition descends upon them. Death at their heels, the heroes reach their vast sled alive and frantically plunge down the steps in the mountain! They narrowly escape and plow the sledge into a deep snowdrift to stop before they kill themselves! The heroes recover a moment and then press on! Mouser rids himself at last of the blasphemous tome taken from the Hell Mouth of the Dark Mother! At dawn, the heroes discover more wolfsbane in the wild. The grey druid blocks the path of the dead that hunt them. The unimaginable apocalyptic plague they had unleashed is averted. The heroes descend the stone stair. Long after nightfall, they finally reach the village of Banemourne and enter its ramshackle public house. Ingrid reveals the sleeping child to the townfolk. Bo claims the cult has infiltrated Banemourne but no sign of treachery is found.
The weary heroes return to their humble lodging for the night. For the first time since they entered the mountains, unspeakable horrors from beyond the fragile veil of this world do not haunt their dreams. But deep in the night, while on watch, Jerome and Rudolf suddenly realize Amity Mantle is awake and staring at them from the edge of the darkness.


Chapter 26: The Possession of Amity Mantle
Day 21:

Eyes on the child, Rudolf readies a rope that suddenly flies around his neck, pulls tight as a noose and lifts him up off the ground! Amity coos sweetly to Jerome, "You are a gift to The Nothing." Rudolf cuts his noose and crashes to the floor, awakening everyone in the cabin. Rudolf lunges at the little girl with a dagger, forcing Jerome to mercifully subdue him. Urdur gets a lantern alight, revealing little Amity hiding in the corner, her big pale eyes filled with absolute terror. Ingrid carries the child back to bed as suspicion blossoms among the heroes. In the middle of the night, the door flies open and a pack of great wolves stride in! They have come for the girl, and to once more invite the heroes to join them. Pyotr and Mondegreen are among them! A murderous battle erupts when suddenly the wood-burning stove explodes! The fight rages on as outside, the wolves ensnared by Bo's magic howl a bloodcurdling chorus, terrifying the villagers of Banemourne who tremble in their beds. Bo and Ingrid crash through windows to escape being burned alive! The cabin is engulfed in flames as Brevos and Telkis make a desperate last stand! But not for long. Telkis falls beneath the ravenous jaws of the merciless pack! The heroes lunge from the burning cabin. Amity slits Rudolf's throat. Jerome is engulfed in flames. Half the heroes flee for their lives. The wolves surround Amity in unholy veneration, barking and howling in murderous joy. Then they disappear into the cold, black night, heading in the direction of the mountain pass that winds south. The surviving heroes regroup and flee the village of Banemourne, following the tracks of the depraved werewolf pack that bore away Amity Mantle. Bo sends an owl to track the pack. Ingrid Esthof offers the heroes a glimmer of hope when she reveals she may be able to cure Amity of her possession by the demon of the Lost Shrine of Ancient Evil!
The heroes live to see another dawn. Urdur the conjurer brews eight doses of the precious wolfsbane elixir.


Chapter 27: Mark of the Beast:
Day 33:

The doomed heroes survive the winter journey through the mountain pass. On the night of the full moon, they discover the wolfpack's lair. Some of the heroes drink of the wolfsbane elixir!
The grey druid's owl leads them to another cave mouth into the same jagged hill, and scouts it at Bo's behest. The heroes enter the cave and eventually discover a vast cavern writhing with bats. The grey druid calmly traces mystic symbols in the air before they are engulfed by the swarm! In the eye of the maelstrom, Long Bo speaks in the ancient language of bats! But the bloodthirsty predators will not comply with his request!
The doomed heroes escape the cavern of the swarming bats, delving deeper into the strange subterranean realm. After much tense exploration, they behold a sight that will haunt them for the rest of their days. Brevos searches the smiling faces of the happy children, eager for delicious treats. Amity Mantle is not among them. The heroes retreat to confer upon the unholy acts they will soon commit in the name of all that is holy. They lay an ambush. In an instant, the slaughter of the cannibal men is complete! The women and children flee screaming. The heroes give chase as Jerome wretches from the atrocities within the ghastly kitchen of horrors. More blasphemies are discovered. A demon circle is defiled. The heroes follow the sound of shrieking into a bloodcurdling torture chamber. Forbidden tomes and a cave tunnel are found, leading back to the first cave mouth! There, a terrible light flickers in the heavens and a faint baying pierces the night. Ingrid and Telkis take The Cure of the wolfsbane elixir. Bo sends out his owl to scout. Brevos tracks the pack and the thing that Amity Mantle has become.
The doomed heroes enter a wood older than time imaginable. Overgrown and forbidding, thick and dark, unknowable and primeval, untouched by Men or their quaint notions. They find a circle of towering megaliths. Within roars an immense bonfire, surrounded by countless shadows. They leap and dance and howl in dark ecstasy. Wolves frolic among them. Mouser and Urdur scout ahead. Harrowing screams, soul-chilling chants, murderous barks, and spine-tingling laughter emanate from the writhing black joy around that dancing devil flame. Urdur is struck by horrific remembrance. Mouser spies Amity but she is no longer human. The two scouts flee back to the party and report all that they have seen! Grimly resolved, the heroes prepare their ambush. A sickly blight of cold moonlight begins to infect the horizon! The climactic end of the unspeakable rite looms near! Suddenly, the alarm is sounded as Mouser's sorcery creates a diversion and Bo sends a crawling plague of insects upon the thing that was once Amity Mantle!
Within the great fire at the center of the writhing, chanting maelstrom of worshippers, a terrible shape slowly grows; inconceivable in form and meaning! The stars are right! The Dark Mother is come! Suddenly, the great blazing pyre explodes in a shower of white, burning light! The unspeakable rite is broken!
The moon begins to rise! And all the children of the Dark Mother start to scream. As the blasphemous servants of the Dark Mother undergo their frightful becoming, the heroes bear Amity away, fleeing back the way they came! They reach the cave mouth and plunge back through the eerie nightmare underworld beneath the Dark Mountains, reaching the ghastly torture chamber alive. But not for long.
Bloodcurdling howls fill the caves. With ten minutes left to live, the heroes urgently build a barricade to make their last stand. Gravely, Ingrid decides to embrace unspeakable evil to fight unspeakable evil. She would condemn her immortal soul to Hell to save Amity and her friends. She causes the dead to rise! Ingrid the damned transgresses against her god, wielding heinous powers of necromantic evil! And little Amity begins to laugh with malevolent joy.


Chapter 28: The Exorcism:
Day 34:
Past midnight on the first night of the full moon, deep in the wolfpack's lair, Ingrid begins the Holy Ritual of Exorcism. It could take hours, should they live that long. Amity barks with laughter as suddenly, Brevos' torch flares, setting the ranger and the bed beside him ablaze! Mouser, Jerome and Telkis knock Brevos to the floor and smother his flames! The bed still burns! Amity shrieks nigh to deafening and the floor itself trembles with her rage! The silencing spell on the coin dies and from beyond the shut door, distant sounds of rupturing wood and the howlings of Hell assault their wakening senses! "They're here!" screams the thing that was Amity. "IN HERE!!!" Shivering with cold, Ingrid holds aloft her holy symbol and beseeches her god to cast out the demon that possesses the child they are sworn to save! Brevos, Jerome and Telkis beat the fires out! Bo and Mouser uncover Amity and gag her, but not before she vomits on them both! Ingrid commands the demon to begone and the walls begin to bleed!
Suddenly the door to the bunkroom ruptures and gives way! The wolfpack of the Dark Mother has found them but cannot see them, thanks to Urdur's illusion! Brevos, Jerome and Telkis attack a feral monstrosity, drawing blood with unseen enchanted weapons! Ingrid raises her holy symbol and her quavering voice and drives out at last the heinous demon that possesses Amity Mantle!
The summoning ritual of the Dark Mother has been sundered! The demon freed from the lost shrine has been driven out of the human child! And now the pack is beset by disembodied voices that draw their blood and threaten worse! With only revenge to gain, and much yet to lose, the primal monstrosities fall back, snarling, barking, tails between their legs! The wolfpack of the Dark Mother withdraws from the heroes' sight, and its bitter, mournful howls slowly die off. Cautiously, the heroes venture forward into chambers and corridors eerily devoid of life until no door is left unopened, save one: Long Bo asks Ingrid to search for any evil lurking hidden among their number.
She finds it. Suddenly, Brevos the ranger is rent asunder from within! The ghastly, bloodsoaked ruin of Brevos is thrown down like sheep's clothing from a wolf, and a frightful form emerges from that terrible becoming, one that the doomed heroes recognize.
A duke of Hell has come to Oerth through a doorway of flesh and blood. It summons forth the wolfpack of the Dark Mother before Urdur can mesmerize it! A maelstrom of teeth and claws howls as Jerome drives his sword into the heinous embodiment of blasphemy! The beguiled demon returns to Hell! And the summoned pack is powerless to harm the doomed heroes who retaliate with righteous fury! Two inhuman abominations and one wolf that had once been their companion, Pyotr Whitetip fall beneath their virtuous wrath! The pack falls apart; feral beasts lurch and lunge away from the fierce onslaught of the heroes' attack, fleeing into the black caverns for the second time this night!
At last the heroes rest and recover. The wolves do not come for them in the night. Nor do the nightmares that have haunted their dreams for weeks now. In the morning they bury Brevos and set out. The next day, they find the evil of Vicar's Head has also been exorcised. Two days later they reach the hardscrabble Ashblood Colony of Pelor Dissenters. There is a joyful reunion of child and parents and a humble feast honoring the heroes with heartfelt gratitude.


Chapter 29: Sacrament of Blasphemy:
Day 37:

And then everything went wrong. The doomed heroes are gripped by paralysis and carried out in a procession to a church hidden in the woods. Within, they are stripped of their possessions and lowered into a stone pit. The dissenters of Pelor withdraw and sing ancient hymns from above. The paralysis leaves the heroes and suddenly they hear the distant echo of a dreadful slithering! They frantically survey their immediate surroundings as the ghastly sound grows louder with every second!
The doomed heroes flee for their lives deeper into the dank subterranean labyrinth! They reach a stone stairway descending into a hole in the floor. The ceiling is infested with crystals that twinkle mesmerizingly! Three of the heroes stand momentarily entranced! The others guide them down the steps and then they plunge headlong through twisting lightless corridors deep beneath the earth! Hunted, breathless, they find three locked doors, like those of dungeon prison cells! Beyond lies a partial tunnel collapse and a stairway up! The heroes investigate and then the horror is upon them! A great amorphic, slug-like mass that gibbers and screams in the loathsome voices of men, women, children, goats, pigs and horses! The heroes flee up the stone steps! Behind them comes the bloodcurdling sounds of the tentacled horror! The heroes reach the bottom of the pit! As they debate their next move, the abhorrent shrieking grows louder!
The heroes flee, following Bo's desperate stratagem and their previous path! They descend to lower levels, twist and turn through winding corridors and reach the trio of locked, barred doors again! They hear nothing behind them! Silenced by Ingrid's prayers, Jerome smashes down one of the doors. Imprisoned in the cell beyond lies only a wooden chest bearing the symbol of the Order of the Knights of the March. While hammering the bolts on the next door, a thunderous crash escapes! Mouser opens the chest, revealing a primed deathtrap. All of a sudden, Ingrid and Telkis hear an abhorrent peal of screaming!
The unspeakable abomination has doubled back upon them! As the loathsome horror crawls near, Telkis triggers a cave-in, completing the partial tunnel collapse!
When the dust settles, the trapped heroes see the cave-in has consumed most of the corridor. Mouser springs the clockwork deathtrap of the chest as Bo breaks down the northernmost door to discover a second chest. Mouser works loose a blade from the diabolical mechanism as suddenly, Telkis plunges into a deep, dark pit filled with cruel iron spikes! Then Bo hears the horrific sounds of the hair-raising abomination shrieking out of the darkness to the west and flees to the lower levels! Mouser and Urdur no longer hear the detestable cries of the heinous monstrosity! And then they realize they are deaf. In the dead end, the heroes examine the strange and powerful artifacts of the reign of Vecna, secreted away for safe keeping long ago by the Order of the Knights of the March. And Long Bo discovers the unspeakable horror now stalks him! He flees deeper into the labyrinth! Meanwhile, Mouser and Urdur help themselves to the evil treasures. The shroud of silence passes and a dreadful pounding comes from inside the shut chest! Long Bo runs headlong into a dead end! The lid of the ancient chest begins to rise! A deathless horror crawls out of it and lunges at Mouser and Urdur! It drains away their life essence! Ingrid smites it with but a single word, if only for a moment! Meanwhile, Bo conceals himself through means mysterious and arcane. He peers out from the mist as the shambling, horrific mass of eyes, mouths and tentacles writhes into view! Bo's sanity slips away and he flees into the impenetrable darkness of the labyrinth! Meanwhile, Ingrid lures the baleful revenant with the accursed treasure and it plunges into the spike-filled shaft! Long Bo regains his senses and discovers a hidden message in the darkness. The rest of the captives flee north and are reunited with Bo. Suddenly, a distant, sickening sound emanates from the nearby ladder pit! The doomed heroes run, slowed by having to bear Mouser and Urdur! Earlier, they could outrun the unspeakable, tentacled thing. Now, it might be able to catch them! They fly up the stone steps back into the mesmeric chamber! It is Mouser's turn to lead them. The next segment of the labyrinth key was his to memorize. But the stricken, trembling figure lacks the strength to speak! Ingrid heals him and the nightmare procession resumes! The doomed heroes follow the verbal map through twisting tunnels, countless stairwells and ladders; the obscene terror ever trailing, echoing in the endless catacomb of eternal night.
The trapped captives complete the labyrinth key and come to a great stout door! Behind them emanates the bloodcurdling sounds of the unspeakable horror! The terrifying bulk of the quivering amorphous mass lurches into sight! Mouser speaks a magic word that opens the iron door! The captives rush through to freedom! The malformed slithering atrocity does not follow!
Outside, the church of Saint Pentival looms over them. They peer inside the door and creep into the church! Entombed Knights of the March rise from their eternal graves! Jerome pleads to what honor may remain within these desiccated husks of men, and they stay their fleshless hands! The heroes discover an office and unspeakable secrets hidden within. The curtain on the altar is parted, revealing two doors.
Suddenly, from behind them comes a familiar, horrific sound! One door flies open! From its threshold bursts the gigantic, writhing tentacles of the shrieking, slithering chaos! The beleaguered minds of the doomed heroes are overthrown by madness! The loathsome thing's writhing tentacles embrace the stricken Telkis, and begin to absorb him into its horrific body! The deathless knights hear Ingrid's desperate plea and attack, rending the abomination asunder with a grim mercy. The thing dies before its heinous process of absorption is complete and Telkis parts from it and is himself once more. The Reverend Gideon Ashblood enters and mourns the monster's death. Then the church of secrets comes down around them!
The heroes escape with their lives, return to the Ashblood Colony and learn the unspeakable truth behind it all.
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

User avatar
Inferno
Rider of Rohan
Rider of Rohan
Posts: 21429
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 11:05 pm
Location: 1977

Re: A Final Accounting (dm adventure log)

#9 Post by Inferno »

The Story So Far, continued:
Here we shall continue the account of the finals days of our doomed heroes:

Book lll: The Horror at Hookhill

Chapter 30: The Horror at Hookhill
Day 1:

The doomed heroes set out to investigate the final loose end connected to the unimaginable events at Briarsgate. Their dreadful quest brings them to Hookhill, great capital city of empire. They pay the gate toll and enter a city of depravation and squalor. Descending into the sprawling slums, they enter a public house called The Cross Keys, asking questions about unspeakable murder. Their inquiries yield a startling discovery.


Chapter 31: On the Trail of The Ripper
Day 1, continued:

The doomed heroes take to the forsaken streets of Blackchapel to urgently hunt the murderous fiend this night! In the back alleys of Devil's Acre, they are blinded by witches, swarmed by rats and ambushed by ruffians! Suddenly, the night is pierced by harrowing screams! They find a young prostitute standing over the ghastly ruin of what was once a woman. Bloody clues and the testimony of vermin are gathered. The heroes pursue a trail of fresh blood as Ingrid animates the sickening cadaver in a macabre mockery of human life! The trail of blood leads to an ancient sewer grate.
Reunited, the doomed heroes descend into the heinous abyss. Determined to stop the Hookhill Ripper, they wade through a nauseating river of human waste. A rat swarm rushes past them in terror, and then unseen Urdur collapses without a word. Bo and Jerome pull Urdur up and discover two gigantic, bloated leeches attached to his invisible legs! Dreading what they might find, the doomed heroes each check their own legs and the deadly horror of their situation is suddenly revealed! The queasy, weakened hosts frantically work to extract the skin-crawling parasites from their flesh before it's too late. They stagger on and escape the sewer, following wet footprints to an abandoned, towering mansion that overlooks Blackchapel. The doomed heroes withdraw and find a burned out, crumbling structure to shelter them for the night. From the vagrants that huddle there, they hear rumors about the abandoned manor, and rest until dawn.
Day 2:
Through a thick smog, the doomed heroes return to the ominous, abandoned mansion they believe to be the lair of the Hookhill Ripper and cautiously investigate. They enter the haunted manor and after hours of searching they find only ruin and mystery.


Chapter 32: From Beyond
Day 2, continued:

Arcane spells of seeing reveal the accursed mansion is an evil doorway to somewhere else! A doorway that can open only when the stars are right. The doomed heroes await their fate. Then, at nightfall of Winter Solstice End, everything seems to change around them! Suddenly they are standing in the same chamber, entirely restored to its former breathtaking grandeur!
They dare venture deeper and discover a grand dining room hung with cocooned people that are still alive! Suddenly a gigantic hideous spider descends upon them all, beguiling them with its great demonic eye! The stricken heroes are helpless. Suddenly, Bo blinds it, breaking the spell of the great insidious eye! The doomed heroes see their chance and attack! By spell and by sword, the fearsome onslaught nearly kills the hideous monster! Then Ariadnax desperately turns its baleful eye upon them all! Surrounded by mesmerized companions, Long Bo hurls his spear, impaling the demon spider's brain! The great writhing leviathan crashes down dead!
Faron and Mouser scale the magnificent crimson walls to rescue the piteous victims trapped high above in the immense spider web. Suddenly, Ariadnax's eggs hatch within their bodies, and gigantic spiderlings without number explode from out of their hosts' screaming mouths, each as large as a child's hand! Faron and Mouser flee and Faron almost falls to his death! The crawling doom descends upon the heroes, surrounding them! They flee for their lives into a kitchen of unimaginable size and opulence, juxtaposed surreally against the frantic terror of the moment. At their heels follow the probing, writhing tendrils of the demonic spiderling swarm!
Telkis and Mouser topple one of the great simmering cauldrons in the direction of the inexorable, creeping doom! Blood and skulls pour from the pot, scalding the swarm and driving it back! Bo flees west and discovers countless dead men and women standing motionless and silent in the darkness! With blessed orisons, Ingrid douses the roaring flames in the great fireplace and they race through it!
With alarm, they discover that something dreadful is waiting for them on the other side. They are almost Men. The doomed heroes burst from the smoke-filled fireplace and surprise them! Ingrid drives off half their number with pleas to her god! Feral, wicked, depraved; the remaining carrion lunge at the investigators to devour them alive, as Ingrid strikes one dead! Telkis and Ingrid fall stricken as Faron, Mouser and Long Bo send the heinous fiends back to Hell.
Suddenly, from out of the immense, smoke-filled fireplace, the grisly legion of unliving horrors from beyond the grave lurch forth, howling in hellborne agony and malice! Seeing that Jerome and Telkis will soon be overrun, Urdur summons forth a spectral mist to blind the living and the dead! The warriors narrowly escape under cover of fog, regrouping with the doomed heroes and descending a secret stairwell!
Beneath the unearthly mansion, they find a horrific mound of some hundred corpses! Suddenly, a blood-chilling voice comes from somewhere inside the chamber of horrors, and tells them they have strayed into the Dreamlands!
The investigators surround the voice and suddenly, across the ghastly corpse pile, unspeakable shapes rise up and besiege them, lead by the abomination called Arthur! The doomed heroes survive, for now.
High above the heinous corpse mound, Faron climbs through a trapdoor in the ceiling. In the darkness, he hears the frightful sound of rats, numerous and large! Faron flees back to the cellar as his companions enter the grand hall and hear a voice. It leads them to a mustering of countless undead! Urdur conceals the doomed heroes just in the nick of time as the ghastly procession of depravity and death stalk past, hunting them! With his sacred power, Long Bo seals the door behind them and they flee into the kitchen of horrors!
The carcass of Ariadnix the Devourer is set alight and it unleashes a torrent of spiderlings. The doomed heroes escape into an abandoned wing of the accursed mansion.


Chapter 33: Nightmare House
Day 2, continued:

Suddenly, a door in the corridor opens! Dead grasping hands reach out as a chill wind bears the stench of rotting corpses and the unholy cries of horror and death! Ingrid and Jerome drive back the heinous undead and Telkis slams the door! Ingrid barely completes a glyph of warding before the door splinters asunder! The first living cadaver lunges through the door and is consumed alive in merciless flames! More follow as the doomed heroes are suddenly attacked by horrific, living shadows that devour their life essence! Urdur disperses them with an incantation of light!
Day 3:
After midnight, the doomed heroes try to flee the accursed mansion and make a shocking discovery. Outside the world is changed and looming over it is the Dark Mother itself! In horror, they stagger back inside the unearthly manor and seek refuge! They find old, disused servants' rooms in which to rest.
When they awaken from their sleep, they feel as if they are in a dream. They ascend the servants' staircase and find a once-lush chamber holding a locked coffin. They resist their curiosity and venture deeper into the mansion that bestrides reality, discovering a bookshelf that opens to reveal a secret passage! A ladder ascends to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
Suddenly, from a haunted mirror, dark reflections of the doomed heroes emerge and attack with devastating effect! The doomed heroes are defeated and placed inside the haunted mirror!
Trapped behind the looking glass, they discover strange portals to other spaces. Trusting in her divine prophecy, Ingrid raises her enchanted mace against the haunted mirror and shatters it, just as she foresaw!
A rushing vertigo maelstrom of infinite reflections and the heroes are all splayed across the frigid, dusty floor of the abandoned, dilapidated manor from their own world! They search their memories and the ruined mansion, and camp there for the night. Urdur makes startling discoveries while reading books he brought over from the Dreamlands!



Player Resources:
DM:
The Horror at Briarsgate (1e): Lovecraftian Gothic Horror (N1, homebrew)
Lost City of Eternity (1e): Hyborian Age Sword and Sorcery (B4, JG102, homebrew)
Once and Future Earth (1e): Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Dungeon Crawl (X1, B1, ASE1, homebrew)
Sauron Victorious (1e): Dire Saga for the Fate of Middle Earth (homebrew)

Player:
Agax Gryyg: Gamer of Urth, Ravenloft
Azoth Al-Aziz: Lovecraftian Cultist, Tamoachan
Blodget: Foolish Young 9th Level Hobbit, Dark Clouds
Dredd Doomsmith: Dwarven Deathtrap Engineer, Tomb of Horrors
Elijah Crowthorne: Marooned Prophet, Pirates
Jack in the Green: Ancient Child, Giants
P.T. Codswallop: Larcenous Impresario, Dimwater
Sir Ugghra: Bestial Half-Orc Aristocrat, Brotherton
Swilbosh: Savage Lizard-Warrior, Keep
Tantos Vek: Failed Paladin, Under Streets
Ulfang Chainbreaker: Barbarian Liberator of Slaves, Tharizdun

DM bio is here.

Post Reply

Return to “The Horror at Briarsgate (1e)”