October 11 Game Notes

Game play began with the party beginning their journey to Barovia. On foot, this required them to pass through a sparse, unpopulated wedge of Silar. En route to Barovia, Scaramouch returned. He delivered the report of Fifty Gnome agent Rashoman on code Burrowmaster, revealing Gruth’s spy to be Terick, who had been unwittingly enchanted. The enchantment was dispelled, and no further disciplinary action against Terick was taken. In addition, Scaramouch reported that in accordance with Floyd’s request, the publication of Guy’s autobiography had been expedited, and was now being sent out for duplication.

In addition, Scaramouch delivers a visual image spell, recorded by a spell casting Fifty-Gnome agent:

In what appears to be a room at an inn somewhere, Visgoth is talking to Harves Raeth. As viewed through the keyhole, Visgoth tells Raeth that the Order of the Abbey destroyed his previous lieutenant, and he means to make Raeth his new one. Raeth expresses reluctance at the thought of this idea, indicating that the party has beaten him before. Visgoth assures him that his new powers will make up for the insufficiency, and shows Raeth the Imperial Scepter, revealing that he also has Malus in his thrall. Visgoth then performs the ghastly ritual on him that transforms Harves Raeth into a vampire. Visgoth then teleports from the room (Virgil recognizes the spell), and the Fifty-Gnome agent attempts to get away, but he is caught and killed by the newly vampiric Raeth.

As the boys are left to contemplate the implications of what they have just seen, they begin their journey into Barovia.

Journeying into Barovia, they discovered a vast amount of farmland, and eventually happened upon a Half-Orc named Heinrich who engaged Axe in a friendly manner. Through this, the party was invited to the Village De Feo, a small commune of Half-Orcs that had been rescued and cared for by a devout Halfling woman named DeFeo, now deceased. The party was invited to dine with the commune. Over dinner with Heinrich, the party learns more about Barovia. There are not many towns in the nation. Its capital, Breckendorf, is the largest. In addition, there are towns known as Eagles’ Peak and Ostrogoth, and settlements such as Oslov’s Bones and Gwyneth Crag. There are also two church abbeys, following the teachings of St. Isadora and St. Zachariah.

Due to recent Orc raids in Barovia, trade has been cut off to DeFeo by Eagle’s Peak, who supplied the settlement with meat. The party agrees to help negotiate a new deal for the Half-Orcs and the people of Eagle’s Peak, and to do their best to discourage the Orc raids (Heinrich informs them that the Orc king is known as Thaddanus).

That evening, Virgil tries unsuccessfully to woo a Half-Orc woman. After spending the night, the party wakes up to find the Half-Orcs practicing combat maneuvers outside. Although they are a peaceful people the Half-Orcs practice these maneuvers out of self-defense and as a means of physical fitness training. Impressed, Guy asks Heinrich if he would be willing to train the Freelands army, to which Heinrich replies that it would be best left to Guy or someone else to conduct this training. However, Heinrich is willing to share his knowledge, and a plan is devised to send a military representative here for training to pass on to the army.

Afterwards, Guy, Virgil, Axe, and Brix venture out far from the village to test the Apocalypse sword again, now that it is filled with the blood of the boys. Guy draws the sword, summoning a vastly intimidating storm cloud with lightning, stirring up winds and darkening the world surrounding. After some time spent contemplating this magic, Virgil determines the effect of the Apocalypse Sword:

The Apocalypse Sword creates a 5-foot circle of safety around the wielder. Outside of the circle, for 60 feet surrounding, all living objects take 2D6 points of Constitution Damage – no save, and suffer from a constant (every round) Call Lightning Spell. This circle expands 60 feet per round for as long as the sword is drawn, presumably until it engulfs the earth. As a weapon, the sword is a Maximized +5 Vorpal Brilliant Energy Longsword of Greater Dragonbane. The Sword is sentient, and desires to be disarmed, granting a -8 penalty to the wielder to defend against disarmament.

Armed with this mind-blowingly frightening knowledge, the party once again hides the sword from view, and heads off to the mountains to deal with the orcs.

On the first day in the mountain pass, they encounter a ravine that appears to be an open canyon into a river of molten lava. They camp for the night, and it passes uneventfully.

On the second day, they find an ancient shrine to the Dagda. It seems to have a very old version of a calendar on it, marking such events as the day of the High Feast and each new moon. Scrawled over these letters in old celestial script is the phrase, “Beware the Bellmaker.” Floyd recalls that the Bellmaker is a figure of legend that appears in, but never has a prominent role in many ancient legends and tales. He is an artificer, a creator of magical bells.

The party travels a bit farther, and camps for the night. On Guy’s watch, he notices a familiar low-lying fog creeping in, and immediately awakens the party, informing them that the Wild Hunt has returned. In what is perceived to be in acquiescence to the Hunt’s wishes, the party attempts to flee in terror, deciding to head for the Dagda shrine in the hopes that the Hunt will be unable to enter.

The party manages to get close to the shrine when they are attacked by one of the Hunt’s dogs. Although Guy is able to destroy it, they notice that it requires a tremendous amount of effort to subdue even one dog, and there are many of them and to Floyd and Scaramouch’s dismay, they can fly. Finally, the party fights their way back to the shrine, where the dogs dare not enter. The Hunt Lord, on the other hand, seems to have no such hang-ups about the shrine, and enters to combat the party.

Floyd engages the Hunt Lord in a two hour discussion, trying to convince him to call off the Hunt, but his negotiating tactics eventually come up short against the Hunt Lord’s zeal. He moves to combat the boys, but Virgil manages to dispatch the Hunt Lord with a Dismissal spell. The Hunt Lord is forced to return to his native plane (the dogs follow) for the time being, but from his conversation with Floyd, it is clear that he intends on returning until he finishes the job. The party manages to sleep that night, albeit fitfully.

The remainder of their journey is uneventful until they happen upon the village of Oslov’s Bones, so named because the original city wall was comprised of the skeleton of a Titan. There, they see a parading band of fifty orcs. A couple of well placed Fireballs later, the orcs are dead, and the party proceeds to the Bones.

The original Oslov’s Bones lies in ruins, with a prominent collapsed Bell Tower in the center. On the other side of bones, however, is a new village that has cropped up. The party opens the map with the guide to Visgoth’s soul pieces to obtain the piece in Oslov’s Bones, but are shocked to discover that the piece has since been claimed since the party last looked at the map. The boys decide to head for the new village to investigate.

In the town’s tavern, the party sits down for a drink. Shortly after, a hard-looking fellow comes down the stairs, notices the party, and tries to head back up. However, Floyd snares him with his bardic music, fascinating him, and suggesting that he come down and talk to the party, which he does.

The man identifies himself as Number Four, a member of the Fist of Set, one of the other parties on the hunt for pieces of Visgoth’s soul (this was the group that nearly destroyed Harves Raeth). He reveals that he is one of a five-member team, the leader of which is called The Thumb, and the others are One, Two, Three, and Four (not necessarily in order of importance). Four reveals that the Fist of Set did not get the last soul piece in Barovia, but they know that the Council of Shadows (Jarrod’s organization) did. The Council of Shadows is planning to auction the piece off to the highest bidder, and it is known that in addition to the Fist of Set, Harves Raeth and the Half-Orc group will be there to bid on it.

Having exhausted their questions, Floyd puts a bag on Four’s head, but this has the unintended effect of breaking off the fascination. Four begins to thrash, and the party makes a run for it.

They return to the ruins and to the Bell Tower specifically. Guy is interested in exploring further, so the party ventures down the bell tower steps, discovering a cavern full of fire and lava (it’s very hot down here).They cross a large bridge (over which they see a creature swimming in the lava – something large and serpentine), and come to a set of huge double doors, where they hear hammering within. Venturing inside, they happen upon a fire giant who identifies himself as The Apprentice (the last follower of The Smith). The Apprentice is aware of the party as the legion who brought down Strom, but his allegiance was not to Strom, and he harbors no ill will towards the party. The Apprentice spends his time forging weapons and armor, and the party asks if he will make Axe a suit of armor, which he agrees to do if the party will release the Bellmaker, who is currently being held in captivity in Breckendorf by – guess who – Mitchell.

Brix asks The Apprentice if he has ever heard of Graxx, and The Apprentice warns Brix that he should be careful who he says that name to. Confused, The Apprentice tells him to visit the Baldun Tomb north of Gwyneth Crag for more answers. The Apprentice also tells the party that the creature swimming in the lava is a Hellfire Wyrm, an insidious creature whose stomach is a pipeline to Hell. The boys pledge to return, having freed the Bellmaker, in exchange for a suit of armor for Axe.

The party exits Oslov’s Bones and heads north to Gwyneth Crag. At the cemetery of the Crag, they find many burial plots, but there is only one mausoleum, dedicated to Brix’s family. As they had heard, the tomb is the site of an old-fashioned grave robbing. The body of Hargrove, who has been dead four-hundred years, is missing from its spot.

The party heads into town and chats up the local barman, who directs them to a sage outside of town. The gang travels to his house, finding a lanky old man (still very spry) in a room full of maps. The man, who calls himself Charles (Fox), demands money for the information he has, and after being paid, directs Brixmore to find his answers about Graxx and his family by traveling a couple of days northeast to Darkenhold.

With a whole slew of new action items on their plate, the party departs Fox’s house and heads towards Darkenhold to discover more about Brix’s family.

End of Session

The party is awarded 1,000 XP for the session.