The Secret of Bone Hill - L1 DCC conversion Play By Post

[beermotor]

Hey what's "Spell by Proxy" say? Book isn't handy.

The effect is basically that I can 'give' someone else the spell as I cast it, and then they can actually sling it within the spell level in rounds. It'd be mildly cool if I had someone I was tying to the same Patron... But as a Mercurial result, it'd so much cooler on an attack spell or a 'save our butts with this!' utility spell.

Haha, um... yes well... it's pretty cool in this instance, too. Considering the Patron.

[beermotor]

Hector attacks the large bugger, but misses badly. The thing chitters at him, it's many eyes glitter in a mesmerizing reflection of light. (Just flavor, not for-real mesmerizing...

Flavia and Darrow are down, bleeding out.

Chendris suddenly kneels in the dust, and essentially sets himself (arms, mostly) on fire with his torch, and begins screaming in agony, hoarse, throaty cries in a strange language...

Bypeld roars like a man possessed and neatly chops one of the remaining un-dead down. The other one, which Tonunt had splashed with holy water, seems to slowly unravel and dissolve into a puddle of goo and viscera in the sand...

Cathbad the Meek didn't declare an action this round (that I saw?) ... but no matter, because ...

... there's an earthquake. A violent one. A VERY violent one. The bugger on the walls of the ruined castle falls inward with the falling walls and screams a strange cry, and a spray of goo shoots into the air. The one standing toe-to-toe with Hector bolts, provoking a free attack from Hector, except the ground is shaking so much that he can't do anything except fall (unless he makes a Reflex save, DC 20). The ruins topple inward, crushing and grinding everything to dust. The earth stops shaking, and still the thing seems to be imploding, collapsing inwards on itself. A vile stench, as of a thousand opened graves, wafts upwards from the ruins, and everyone who remains conscious doubles over, retching.

Chendris, badly scarred and burned by the fire, suffers one GREATER corruption roll, and two MINOR corruption rolls. He loses 2 points of Luck, too. Words echo in his mind: "Build an altar in this place to me." It describes a strange, large pentagonal object, made of black glass. "In return, secrets will be revealed unto you. Beware that you do not fail me."

Finally, the dust settles, and the remaining bugger is gone (or dead, if Hector makes his save and kills it with a free attack). The ruins are completely destroyed, now just a pile of rubble (bye-bye, all that alchemist stuff). The stench hangs over the place, though.

+4 XP to all, +5 XP to Portly Trim, +6 XP to Chendris.

Fritz, Darrow, and Flavia are all down and may be dead... anyone else?

[beermotor]

(As an aside, before anybody says "WTF? That was just Patron BOND, not INVOKE Patron..." Fear no rule! It fit with the narrative. This particular Patron is very powerful, of course. And because of the location, it was very likely to be "listening" in on what was going on. Because the bonding was so plaintive, the Patron took action on its own.)

[Sveden]

/ooc I don't think anyone has any actions left, let alone any way, to save any of our bleeding comrades.

[Raven_Crowking]

Cathbad starts rolling over bodies to see who survives, then helps Portly Trim to his feet. She will guide him back to town.

[Sveden]

Oh yaaaah! Roll over checks. Fritz' luck score is 13.

Fritz' Luck Check 1d20-1= 7

[beermotor]

Everybody who survives, remember to subtract 1 from a randomized physical state (d3 for Str/Agi/Sta).

[GnomeBoy]

Chendriss falls back on the ground, his chest heaving to get air into his lungs, his eyes clasped shut tighter in agony than ever.

With Cathbad, Hector begins checking to see if Flavia and Darrow are alright as soon as the temblors start to subside...

Luck check: Flavia Luck 7: 19 ~ R.I.P.

Luck check: Darrow's Luck 12: 11!

Darrow comes to groggily. He may make it home, but he'll never be quite as good a hunter as he was... (Str loss).

Hector begins to try to figure out how to get Flavia's body back to town -- at the very least he can't see leaving her, too, in this foul place.



Over the coming days, Chendriss manifests the following changes:

He develops a beak like a bird in the place of his mouth over the next 11 months.
His gait changes on the journey away from here, as one leg becomes longer than the other (2").
He shivers constantly, his teeth (or eventual beak) rattling as he shakes.

[Sveden]

Fritz loses one Agility Point.

[Sveden]

Portly Trim gladly takes the arm of Cathbad.

When Portly Trim learns of his party members deaths he insists on bringing their bodies outside the range of these accursed ruins.

With help he will remove them from the complex(or to town) and perform last rites and let the carrion birds complete the cycle.

[beermotor]

The battered and bruised party gazes about at the now fully crumbled ruins, dazed. Chendris gags a little bit, then flexes his jaw and feels a tooth pop out. He quickly tries to hide it, wiping at the blood coming from his mouth, his eyes a little wild, and wide, with some inner terror.

Portly Trim, blinded by the Great Spirit, shuffles along beside Cathbad. It's slow going for the two.

Fritz still clutches the black blade with a fierce determination, and won't let it go (absent a Will save, DC 18).

Darrow, Hector, Orastes, Bypeld, and Tonunt can alternate two-man-carrying the body of Flavia, if they wish. It will take several days to hike back to Portsmouth. Portly Trim feels a strong desire to ensure that Flavia is properly buried according to religious custom. While it almost certainly won't bring back his sight, he does feel that it's a step in the right direction.

Y'all may want to take stock of what things you found, what coins you found, that sort of thing. I'm happy to explain anything unusual or whatever, once you've had some down-time to study things, experiment, etc.

[GnomeBoy]

Darrow wraps Flavia in her cloak, and shoulders as much of her gear as he can. Leaving the 10-foot pole behind. Hector holds up her jar of honey, gazing through it, as if it holds some secret for him. The dwarf also takes her sword, and hefts it as if it were of some rare weight and make. Darrow puts his hand on Hector's shoulder, and it is clear that he could make use of a blade. Hector hands the cleric his own sword, keeping the warrior maiden's weapon for himself. Darrow nods.

Chendriss wipes his bloody mouth with the back of his hand and groans at the stinging pain in his arms, only just becoming aware of it as the phantasmagorical visions in his head fade. He senses a pattern in his visions, but one beyond his grasp - for now. He slides the snakeskin tome out of his satchel and eyes it like a terrible obligation that cannot be avoided.

When the time comes, these three wearily start to stagger back to town.



[I don't have any notes of treasure, per se, I admit. Beyond things like the black sword and the tome, did we get much?]

[Sveden]

Fritz seeing the need for as many free hands as possible attempts to find a place to safely store the black blade for the journey home.

Fritz Will Save 1d20+2= 9

Portly Trim will discuss Flavia's burial with Darrow and Cathbad.

"Do we bury Flavia once free of this accursed place or would her family prefer to perform those rites themselves? I shall have no say in this as my burden upon this band of adventurers is great."

Orastes and Tonunt although weak, have endurance. They will attempt to help anyway they can.

[Sveden]

Bypeld has a metal buckler and a longsword for gear. He will gladly part with the buckler to any that will take it.

He also collected several books which he longs to have the time to read.

Spellcraft and Ye Warlike Denizenes Auf Europa in particular seem to be jostling for attention in his heavy pack. He also picked up around 10lbs of any other alchemy books that looked interesting to him.

Tonunt, for only the price of a deep seeded corruption in her lungs, acquired a small pile of gold and silver coins. She longs to buy a set of thieves tools.

Fritz has a "black book" in his inventory.

/ooc I'll search the thread for where he got the black book.
/ooc I think that's all we grabbed. :/ Maybe we can come back and poke around the edges while Demon-boy makes his pointy altar.

[beermotor]

Fritz seeing the need for as many free hands as possible attempts to find a place to safely store the black blade for the journey home.

Fritz Will Save 1d20+2= 9

If he just wants to put it in a scabbard, that's fine, no Will save is needed... if he wants to put it down, off his person, or give it to someone else, that's when a Will save is needed.

[Sveden]

Fritz sheathes the black blade and helps carry the dead.

[beermotor]

Portly Trim will discuss Flavia's burial with Darrow and Cathbad.

"Do we bury Flavia once free of this accursed place or would her family prefer to perform those rites themselves? I shall have no say in this as my burden upon this band of adventurers is great."

He knows that the religious customs require the body to be washed, usually by the family members, and buried as soon as possible. There is, in fact, a very large graveyard area in Portsmouth... something something Barrow Mounds something something...

It is permissible to bury a body without following the proper customs and rites if there's some great need for speed or there's a plague or some seriously good reason. But even though it'll be a heck of a hike, it's still better to haul the body back, in his view. He isn't sure whether that will appease the Great Spirit or not, but it certainly is unlikely to be helpful if they bury the body here.

He feels no particular stress about leaving any of the other bodies behind in the crumbled ruins, though.

[beermotor]

Fritz has a "black book" in his inventory.

/ooc I'll search the thread for where he got the black book.
/ooc I think that's all we grabbed. :/ Maybe we can come back and poke around the edges while Demon-boy makes his pointy altar.

That is the grimoire that came off the "Gandalf" character who got whacked in the first room. He was a 0-level wizard's apprentice. The book may contain a spell or two, or it may be the worthless diary of a newbie mage.

[Raven_Crowking]

Cathbad is still carrying a book as well, I believe.

[beermotor]

Cathbad is still carrying a book as well, I believe.

Yup...more obviously a spell book.

[beermotor]

Shall we fast-forward to town, then?

With each passing day, Chendris, the hike becomes more difficult, and a terrible pain develops in one leg, which seems to be withering slightly, shortening. He grows pale, anemic, and puts on extra layers of clothing, as he seems unable to get warm, despite the heat of the desert suns. And his teeth feel loose... he loses another one by the time they make it to Portsmouth. Each night, his dreams are filled with insane colors swirling wildly in the darkness, forming obscure shapes and symbols and morphing into each other, symbols he cannot quite understand but has a vague notion that they mean great, terrible power... magical power. Each morning he awakens with a phrase echoing in his mind: "Remember my altar, mortal." He gets the feeling his Patron is content to wait for a while, but he better get to building the altar as soon as he can rest up and recuperate from the trip... and study that darn book, which stays on his mind.

[For the Clerics, deity disapproval does not decrease each day. Here's why.]
Portly Trim shuffles through the sandy waste on the arm of Cathbad, and a peace enters his doubting soul as he grows accustomed to the darkness. His ears become sharper, and he begins to almost see people's expressions in their words, the inflection of their voices, and he thinks he hears ... angels ? ... singing softly on the wind. He feels that burying Flavia in Portsmouth is the right thing to do. He also feels humbled, very humbled... and wonders what the established clergy will think of him, a blind barber turned Cleric. He expects he'll have some time to serve others in the mosque and meditate upon his place in the order of things.

Darrow, for his part, feels disconnected from Rudra, and it troubles him. His friend, Chendris the alchemist, seems to be going through some strange changes, and he doesn't like being near him. And the hunter in him wonders, what became of the last bear-bug that fled? Did it escape? Where did they come from, anyway? Why didn't the un-dead attack them, too? And what caused the earthquake, was it some sorcery summoned by Chendris? Or something else entirely? His god is silent. Darrow will just have to be patient, it seems. He'll feel better when he reconnects with his people.

Bypeld, Orastes, and Cathbad watch Chendris with fascination and alarm. Each thinks of his or her own innate potential for magic, and wonders what terrible bargain Chendris made to save them.

Tonunt, who saw the power of the holy water, walks quietly behind Portly Trim. She's lost in thought, her weaver's logical, methodical mind trying to fathom the unknown, and unknowable, power of the Great Spirit in particular, and secondarily, the magic and sorcery that seems to have captured several of her companions' hearts.

[beermotor]

Finally, the party makes it back to Portsmouth. The body of Flavia is returned to her family, and the imam performs the burial rites with her family, and she is buried. Portly Trim feels at peace, and is welcomed by the imam to the mosque. Since he can no longer read, he spends most of his time sitting and listening to the words of his religion being spoken aloud, trying to memorize them. [His deity disapproval finally starts to decrease.] Soon, he is regarded as a holy man, and respected even by the imam. The power of the Great Spirit returns to his hands, and he is once again able to heal the injured.

Among his own people again, Darrow feels Rudra's grace return to him. [His deity disapproval finally starts to decrease.] Still, the escape of that last bear-bug nags at him.

Upon being informed of the destruction of the ruins, Roberto Salazar, the merchant, makes good on the deal, paying each party member 10 gold coins. (Don't spend it all in one place!) Seeing what they've been through, though, he kicks in another 5 gold coins as a bonus. "And you can keep the packs. Mr. Pollux thanks you."

[beermotor]

And one last thing: Hector, there's not many dwarves in Portsmouth. In fact, dwarves are generally persecuted and hated by humans. They tend to keep to themselves and be as unobtrusive as possible.

[GnomeBoy]

Chendriss, after a night's rest in his own home, sets to preparing to build an altar in the terrible place. He researches costs of materials of those to match the visions in his mind, and enough labor to get the job done (unless his visions make it clear that he must do the building himself).

In evenings, he's tinkering with the snakeskin tome, working to get it open without damaging it, and (assuming he does so) exploring the contents...

He further studies and practices the spells that he has been so near to understanding since before the expedition, and becomes proficient enough to rely upon them (somewhat).

He asks Darrow to join him in returning to the fallen keep, when preparations are complete. And, he asks Hector, too.


And a couple of questions:

• Does he know his master's name? or any sort of way to reference him ("Master", "Most Exalted", etc.)?
• Can we assume he has something to sell off to finance this construction (a home, a car, a fat stock portfolio), or does he have to make money the old fashioned way ("he eeaaarns it")? His current 'wages' ain't gonna cut it, I'm sure... Unless it's an alter like Spinal Tap's Stonehenge...
• He's got 13 points of attribute damage to heal back. Will two weeks pass before we go 'active' again? if not, I'll need to know how many days pass, so I can adjust numbers accordingly

For fun - Mercurial effects for his other spells:
Charm Person: 79 - Plague of Rats (because that's so charming, amiright?)
Invoke Patron: 60 - no change
Cantrips: 21 - Corrosion Touch

Either of those results would be cooler on the Invoke Patron -- but somehow I suspect Chendriss' Patron is going to be ralphing on him right and left, and wouldn't be surprised if he influenced these outcomes...

[GnomeBoy]

Hector is fairly miserable. He can't focus on his work. He just keeps thinking of Flavia, and the inner strength she had just started to show before she was gone...

His life was fairly miserable before, anyway. He'd had visions of glory, or returning to town a hero and no longer a marginalized outcast, visions that melted and rolled away well before that dawn sun and quaking ground.

So when Chendriss shows up and asks him to come along in a return to the keep, Hector is all in. He might get to smash more of those bugs that killed Flavia. And he'd have a good reason to get away from this town. And maybe some of Chendriss' power might rub off on him...