Straight to Summary
The mysterious and sinister figure of Pan Woodstock, looking decidely undead, was seen lurching around Genest again. The Militia are still desperately seeking to bring him Peace and Oblivion ... a reward is seriously being considered.
Village News
Bad Omen Curses Village
Mrs Oriole recently gave birth to A Blessed Child. It is generally thought that things were "not quite right" in some way with the Orioles new baby and certainly the midwife, Joy Healer, ran off screaming and will not talk about the ordeal. A small mob quickly gathered and demanded that Mr. Revarnos have the child forcibly "returned to the Goddess" before it brought "ruin and destruction" to all. However, on the advice of Father Groatalus, the child was later smuggled away to a special centre for Blessed Children. The elders of the village remain uneasy over this "Sign" and point at the recent spate of Deaths, Leg Sprouting and performance of the football team as proof of the most probable cause of such ill fortune - the moral degeneracy prevalent amongst the younger members of the village. It was concluded that as this is the second monstrous birth recently ..(cf Manish's messy death) and, as these things always happen in threes, "You Have Been Warned". A visitor from Newfaith staying at the Inn was at pains to point out that this event was entirely due to the "Sins of Genest", and that the village is certainly "Doomed".
Extraordinary Expedition by Cpl "Death" Woodstock!
A group of villagers travelled north into trouble, led by Cpl 'Death' Paniteles - and all survived! Well, okay, so maybe not quite all of Mr. Wodesman returned but hey, what's the 'arm in that?
Church News
Certain members of the congregation have been expressing an interest in an obscure Lunar saint "Erth" recently. Icilius Overholy has asked the Church to make clear that this is a Proscribed cult, and continued interest will be deemed injurious to your spiritual health and a Blasphemy punishable by something not very nice. All Praise the Reaching Moon!
Foreign News
Robbery in Thule
Thule, Sea 53 / 1622 - Robbers killed a guard and made off with several hundred Lunars in a raid on the Casino in the early hours of Sea 53. The fellons escaped over the bridge into Rathorela and have not been found. Casino owner Raoul Lette is offering a reward of 200L (or one night's takings, if you fancy your chances) for information leading to the apprehension of the five robbers.
Unusual Catch in Swamp
Stilton, Sea 37- A fisherman caught a monstrous lizard the size of a large child in his nets. He polished it off, with some difficulty, using a marlinspike and was feted on his return. The creature was roasted that night and was reported to have been "quite tasty".
Ceramic Havoc
Aquapor, Sea 33 / 1622 - A large bull destroyed a pottrep and brought panic to the centre of the city, before being restrained and led away.
Death of Squire Voss
Voss Villa, Bloodburst, Sea 35 / 1622 - A 10-metre tall Giant strolled out of Copperwood and calmly decimated the livestock of three farms, along with half a haystack. The local landowner, Squire Voss, rallied the Bloodburst militia and attempted to drive it away but was stepped on, apparently accidentally. It is unclear whether in fact the intruder ever realised he was under attack. Squire Voss's son, Shelley, will assume the stewardship in 1630 when he achieves his majority; in the meantime, his mother Mrs. Voss will act as steward. Stop Press! Unconfirmed reports allegedly indicate that the Squire may allegedly have been pushed into the alleged path of the giant - allegedly
Governor Dismisses "irresponsible scaremongering "
City of Kitor, Sea 40 - The Honourable and Munificent Provincial Governor dismissed strange rumors of a vampire army in the region as "irresponsible scaremongering rubbish put about by ignorant and superstitious Farmers seeking attention". When pressed, he pointed out that if any such undead "so-called army" did exist, the Imperial Government -May it last forever!- would surely be aware of it and have taken appropriate action already. "False claims such as this give rise to civil unrest and can be considered Barratry," he warned, "and I take a very dim view of this kind of thing."
SMALL ADS
New! Dodgy Doc Bart's amazing Firewater! Get pissed as a newt on 1 clack. It's so new, they ain't even taxed it yet! Buy in bulk now, before the revenuers get to hear about it.
Slave for sale. Female, possibly beautiful, young, blond, own teeth - 450L ono. Mrs Woodstock, New Farm, Genest.
Vacancy in Legion of Death due to recent losses. Anyone actually, legally or potentially dead considered. Box 13, Thule Undertakers Emporium - Callers only after Midnight please.
Big night out at the Saint Maria's Arms! Genest will be rocking this coming Fireday as the tavern has a special promotional day, featuring: - Live music from Yolanela Screech, the Queen of Yodelling! - The Famous Tunnel of Goats! - Granpa Riddle demonstrates how to round up dogs with sheep! Be there or prepare to be disappointed!
Summary
The PCs negotiated with the Newtlings of Meltwater Lake and seemed to get on OK with them. They cooperated on a raid into the 'abandoned' castle, then the intrepid PCs explored into the Grey Mountains as far as the Glacier, finding a hidden and still active Erath shrine on the way. At the glacier they discovered a magic Ice Bridge; a second, desecrated, Erath shrine; and, unfortunately, some Undead. They returned to the Newtling island as quickly as possible, but had a little trouble with a gorp on the way: Marcus' arm being severely burnt....off
Details
Dramatis Personae: Present: Pan (Charlie); Marcus (Lynne); Gelert (MarkB); NPC's: Ammerdale (Alan); Bart (MarkLD)
On the way up the mountain...(see map)....you will recall...the PCs came to an unusual ice-covered rock face:
It was a bit like a frozen waterfall, 30' high but there was no source for the water. There seemed to be a crevice at the side, where you could squeeze behind. Doing this, the PCs found themselves in a cave, brightly lit by the ice window and oddly, not cold.....
Inside was a pile of rubbish, a solid cartwheel with a Mobility rune carved in it and two red statues - Erath and A Bloke. They stood on a plinth carved with the runes Harmony/Truth/Ice/Mastery. Her mirror was formed from Ice!
The PCs tried turning the wheel but nothing seemed to happen. The statues, however, seemed undamaged and accepted Worship; the PCs postulated that whoever's destroying Erath shrines only knows about the ones their (few) agents discover, and this is so out-of-the-way that it ain't been discovered yet.
There seemed to be a beastie in the pile of rubbish, and eventually.... with persistent poking... it was successfully enraged enough to attack. The PCs were a bit taken aback to find a berserk wolverine in the same confined space as them - they hadn't prepared anything larger than a dagger - but two criticals and a slash in 2 rounds subdued it, then Marcus used his Hunter skills to finish it (the Peaceful Crush with a big rock).
Now if only they could get rolls these good when they're in real trouble...
Gribbit! ... or Marcus gets a licking
Having finshed their investigation of the cave they continued up the path.
As they passed a steep cliff, a 'lassoo' dropped round one of the larger PCs and jerked them up. But, as they were too large to hoist, it changed target and whipped round the smaller Marcus instead, and started winching him towards the ledge above.
Spotting a large Cliff Toad, everyone reacted quickly, Disrupting / missiling it. A good hit in its large fleshy bonce pulped it, and Marcus fell to the path below (ow!), followed a few seconds later by the SIZ 30 Cliff Toad (owowowow!), leaving him pinned beneath it and at 1HP in the chest. The others tried to cut their way through to him, but stopped when Pan's dagger penetrated the stomach and the digestive juices dissolved his dagger almost instantly.
The amphibian was eventually levered off Marcus and over the edge of the path, to squelch to a messy end far below.
Pan and Ammerdale climbed up to its ledge and found a little loot .
At length, they arrived at the legendary bridge. The spectacular sight took their breath away: a single beautiful, translucent blue arc of pure ice with a span of some 300 metres. It thinned a bit in the middle, but was still wide enough to let a wagon over - if you could climb anything that steep... although it did have some sort of a railing.....
Alys'
Bridge
Below, the dirty white of the glacier filled a chasm, peppered with occasional rocks on its surface.
On the far side, a large derelict building promised shelter...but as soon as they stepped on the bridge, they went head over heels! After all, one can't stand on almost vertical ice. But Pan seemed to have no problem - he could even hold on to the railing without feeling cold. They figured this was due to his Kalikos connexions (he's a Lay Member). But how could anyone else cross?
Bart was cackling about being the only trader who knew about this route over the mountains and that he could make a killing, maybe charge a toll... this gave Marcus an idea. He found that the end of the bridge had two runes, Ice/Magic, formed in it and that by worshipping these runes they could step on the bridge and climb it without falling over/off.
Pan volunteered to scout the building - although Marcus reminded him about the undead thought to have passed this way. However he was reassured by the sign on the door: "Alys' Inn - No Vampires."
Entering the derelict building, he found himself in a large drinking room, with several doors leading off. Three had runes marked on them:
Pan looked upstairs. There was a dormitory with a dozen beds. Occupied. By zombies, who rose up and... Pan did another of his Quick Exits.
They followed him to the bridge, where he stopped part way across to admire the view as they struggled to walk on the bridge. But the laughter died in the PCs' throats as a figure emerged from the inn, a man clad in dark clothing with an arrogant air who walked up to the bridge and began organising the undead. The PC's fled.
A mile later they risked a quick look back at the bridge, whose top section was picturesquely illumined by the setting sun, and saw the animated bodies were near the centre of the bridge - but something large, spidery, shiny and white was blocking the bridge and struggling with them, tossing them off to fall to the glacier hundreds of feet below. It then engaged the Man In Black. The PCs ran on, wondering what the hell that was about.
Night fell, finding the PCs huddling in a small cave off the path (not the Ice Cave) and drinking newtling Firewater to keep warm. ("'ere, that's moi Trade Goods!") It was cold and uncomfortable, but they weren't found. When dawn broke, they pressed on back to the Lake.
There was some trouble with a Gorp, the first the party had ever encountered in two years' adventuring. It masqueraded as a pool, then rolled downhill at them and caught Marcus' arm - which was very nearly burnt completely off. The PCs tried everything to destroy it: weapons... no use; critical arrowshots... no use; fire... no use!;... Pan used his entire POW in Disrupts... no use!!! But finally Ammmerdale got it with a couple of choice maximum Disrupts, leaving it lying ("like a burst condom") by the path.
Reaching Meltwater Lake, the PCs attracted the newtlings who patched up Marcus' arm temporarily (they don't know much about human metabolism). The PCs stayed overnight, then struck out South for the Magister's and home to Genest.
The trip back was abstracted with dice rolls to see what would be encountered on the way home - as there are one or two Nasty Things around at the moment. Fortunately, the worst "event" was the chilling howl of Wolves in the distance.
Predictions for next game: Gelert: "Pa, what's Yolande?"; Regrowing Marcus' arm; Myra sells Marilyn?...please?
Items aquired this game:
Experience checks:
