Storytime - Legend of the Ripper

[Jezza]

A series of mysterious murders had gripped the city of Dennovar. Some of them seemed similar to the infamous Ripper killings of 125 years ago, when prostitues had been mutilated. Only this time men had been killed as well.
Three heroes had decided to try and solve the murders: Aramin, a priest of Pelor (Cleric 1), his slightly dodgy brother Corwin (Rogue 1) and a hunter they had met called Talia (Ranger 1). These three had tracked the killer to a hovel in an abandoned inn called the Ten Bells, where the last of the original Ripper killings had taken place over a century ago - a young woman named Mari Kell.
Before they entered, they encountered a half-orc prostitute who propositioned them. Aramin explained he wasn't interested, but Corwin offered her a gold piece if she could shed any light on the murders. She led them down an alley-way to a mutilated watchman. Talia searched all around but was unable to find any tracks, but Corwin took the chain shirt from the pile of possessions in a corner of the alley.
Next they headed over to the hovel. Corwin crept down the side alley, and saw another body. Then a rabid dog ran out and attacked him, but he was able to dodge out of the way. His friends came to back him up and they surrounded the animal. Corwin hit it with his rapier and short sword and slew it before it could hurt any of them.
The body had had its throat slashed but was not otherwise mutilated. It was covered in little maggots however, and two clung to Corwin when he tried to search the body. Talia dragged him back and Aramin was able to remove one and fling it away from him. The other one burrowed beneath Corwin's skins, and Talia tried to dig it out unsuccessfully (and painfully). It took Aramin, with his greater healing skill, to remove it. Talia then went and put the other maggots to the torch without endangering herself. Searching around the body, Talia found a bloody footprint, and a trail she was able to track back up the alley to a hidden ironwood trapdoor. She made a ranger mark on it so she could find it again. The heroes went to the door of the hovel. Talia looked in the window, suddenly lightning flashed and she found herself looking into the mutilated face of a woman. Lightning flashed again and the face vanished. 'Did you two see that?' she asked the brothers. But they hadn't.

[Hind]

Hi. It's Andrew Hind, the author of Legend of the Ripper.

I always find it extremely rewarding to hear of the experiences and exploits of those who have played through the adventures I create. Legend of the Ripper was an attempt to go beyond the DCC formula as I saw it by introducing elements of gothic horror, urban adventuring, and mystery into the line. That said, it still had to be recognizable as a Dungeon Crawl Classic. It was a fun but challenging experience which I hope resulted in a unique adventure. But who, as an author, ever knows until the finished product is put before the intended audience.

That's why hearing your experiences is so rewarding. It sounds like you're having fun, so I feel as if my efforts were a success. But please do continue posting your gaming results----good and bad---because I'll read it all with interest and digest it for future reference.

Best of luck.

Andrew Hind

[Ogrepuppy]

But please do continue posting your gaming results----good and bad---because I'll read it all with interest and digest it for future reference.

What he said...but also because I wanna run this soon. Reading the storytime helps me forecast how events will go.

I used your Into the Wilds storytime, and I'm running that right now. Last week was the first week, but my players seemed to enjoy it.

...Well, except when our dragon shaman (with zero ranks in Spot and a 10 Wis) was pickpocketed by a Wildsgate thief in the Market Square (Sleight of Hand 7). They both rolled 4's on their opposing checks, thus the thief looted over 1,000 gold from him...hoo boy was he unhappy...

[/threadjack]