Session 3 Downtime:

Lady Kophyn Mizzar hosted the party for 3 days while Louie recovered from the savage wounds inflicted by the Manes demons on the Blighted Tor. Brother "Face" Sully won over the castle's mistress with his inimitable charm and managed to extract some history of Castle Toad, as well as the area surrounding Valthrun.

As expected, the toads that give the Castle its name are not ordinary amphibians. Although they do seem to protect the castle (and its owner), they are never seen hunting, nor are they ever seen anywhere other than the surrounding moat and, most mysteriously, end every day facing southwest towards the Blighted Tor, crooning a baleful dirge until the sun has fully set and darkness covers the land. Nobody has been able to explain why they exhibit such frightening behavior and, being a warrior, not a sage, Lady Mizzar is not terribly inclined to investigate more deeply.

She is far more troubled by a large group of bandits that have been spotted in the north and their increasing raids on the northeastern roads. Her bondsman, Kophra Era, has led his heavy cavalry unit in scouting missions to better understand the size and strength of the bandit forces. He's met with mixed results. He's confirmed that the group is quite large, perhaps double the total contingent of her keep, but apparently very ragged and in apparent desperate straights, given their battered and disheveled appearance. They do not seem to be excessively cruel since local villages have been left unmolested, and seem to be focusing on merchant caravans that are carrying foodstuffs and basic trade goods. She has sent envoys to Belgos Trith, master of the small walled keep to the east, but has been unsuccessful in convincing him to join forces to deal with the bandits. Perhaps he has other concerns, and though he is known to be a good and kind man, but his sanity is...somewhat questionable. Rumors abound abound some past battles against fearsome otherworldly beasts have scarred Lord Trith in ways that cannot be seen by mortal eyes.

The situation weighs heavily on her, and in a moment of candor, she confesses to Brother Sully that she would prefer to try to come to some sort of accommodation with the bandits and try to win them over to her banner with promises of land and safety in exchange for an end to their predations. She further admits that she only fully trusts her squad leader Velgara (a long), and is starting to suspect that the others may be plotting against her for reasons unknown. Lady Kophyn bitterly laments that though she treats them all fairly and pays them generously, she cannot help but notice the hard stares and minor acts of insubordination from the remaining three squad leaders. Although she could easily beat them in combat if it were to come to it, she fears that will break the morale of the troops and force them to desert, thus leaving the castle defenseless and the villages under her protection vulnerable to the numerous dangerous surrounding the Castle.

"Face" Sully knows an opportunity when he sees one. He can win an important ally in Lady Kophyn if he helps with either the bandit problem or smacking around the squad leaders to get them in line. He's pretty sure Velgara will side with him, but three against one are not good odds, especially when the squads outnumber the party significantly. Perhaps a little of the Sully charm can win over some ragged bandits, so he elects to try to win over the highwaymen before the situation spins out of control.

...and they might have leads on loot. The group is running low on funds and nobody wants to owe money to the rapacious dwarf moneylenders that haunt the darkened alleys of Valthrun.

Brother Sully calmly looks Lady Mizzar in the eye and tells her, "My Lady, the Gods speak to us and the path is clear. The bandits are nothing more than wretched men fallen into despair due to their destitution. They can be turned to your side with the right words. Let me ease your burden and speak to them."

Holding his gaze, Lady Mizzar asks "And in return?"

"A donation to my order. We are a wandering brotherhood with no lands or wealth of our own. I would not deign to sully your honor by being so crass as to name a price, as a common fishmonger in the market. Whatever you decide will be sufficient."

"Done. Your compatriot, Louie seems recovered from his wounds. Leave in the morning and win these men over to my banner. Their camp is to the north, near the northern shores of the lake. Return to me with their fealty and I will be most grateful."

Session 3: Miracles of the Toad

With a newly healthy Mighty Redneck and Brother Fitzy in tow, Brother Sully saddles up and leads his intrepid group into the wilds of the Cold Wastes. He elects to begin their travels on the north road towards the Nameless Stronghold, before cutting west towards the Croaking Citadel of the Miraculous Toad and the more interesting ruins that lie to the southwest. While on the road, the group encounters 90 herd animals in hex 300.299 (let's say they're reindeer since we're in the tundra). The group continues to hex 301.299, and is surprised by a group of 3 tigers on the hunt. Fortunately, the reaction comes up as a 48 (neutral), so I rule that the tigers are uninterested in man flesh and continue upon their way to get some tasty venison in the next hex. Again, how cool is this? Random rolls and we've already established a plausible ecosystem. Old skool rules!

The remaining journey passes uneventfully and the party reaches the ruins in hex 299.298 (rolled a shrine when populating the hex). The party dismounts and leaves the horses with the men-at-arms before beginning their exploration of the ruins. At a distance, the ruins appear to be some kind of megalithic structure atop a tor. Spotting a particularly strange looking configuration of stones in the center of the ruins, the PCs slowly make their way to investigate. They are immediately assaulted by a horrible stench, a multitude of corpses left to rot in a foetid swamp/ They also notice that the stones seem to emit a faint phosphorescent mauve glow. Perhaps these unsettling effects are caused by the sickly algae and lichen that coat the obsidian stones of the monoliths, or perhaps they are caused by the strange fungi that blanket the ground as if they were some sort of twisted carpet. None can say and it is beyond the experience of the party members. It comes as little surprise when two of the masses rise up before them as 3 foot tall misshapen fibrous...things (2 shriekers) and begin glowing with a bright multi-hued deep purple sickly light as they emitting ear piercing screams. The glowing vapors that ooze from their surface begin to coalesce and form twisted shapes.

Surprise Round:

We roll for surprise and the party comes out on top (4 to 1) with an encounter distance of 18". Brothazar, Lightfingers Louie and Mighty Redneck waste no time laying down covering fire with their missile weapons, while Brogallo, Brother Fitzy and Brother Sully rush to engage before the strange vapors turn into something nasty. They land a few hits on both shriekers in surprise segment 1, but the fungi's fibrous hide remains largely unscathed. They score no hits on surprise segment 2, but our frontline bros finally close to melee distance. Segment 3 sees the missile bros holding their fire while melee bros finally start swinging. Both Brothers connect solidly with their warhammers, ending the surprise combat.

Shrieker Combat Round 1:

Melee bros will continue hand-to-hand and missile bros will spend the round closing to melee range. The shriekers will...shriek. We role for initiative and the party comes up winners (6 to 3). Brothazar and the Brothers both score hits on shrieker and destroy it while shrieker 2 successfully summons a wandering monster (44%). I roll on the Appendix C Dungeon I table and get a 15 (Manes Demon) with 3 of them appearing at 10" distance. I rule there is no surprise since the party knew something would be attracted by all the ear-splitting noise so proceed to combat.

Shrieker and Manes Combat Round 2:

Brothazar, and Slicer decide to finish the shrieker while the Brothers, Brogallo, Mighty Redneck and Light Fingers Louie decide to smite the infernal evil that has blighted the land. The Manes will lumber towards the melee bros at their 3" movement rate (that's pretty slow!). We roll for initiative and the party loses 3 to 1. The manes slog across the tor with unearthly cries of hate fueled bloodlust towards the melee bros. The remaining shrieker rolls a 12, so it successfully summons a character party (38 - this is so cool; see below) that arrives in 2 rounds. The melee bros close to combat range with the Manes, ending the round.

Shrieker and Manes Combat Round 3:

Opponents are already selected so we know what actions will occur. We roll for initiative and the party's lucky streak continues as they win  4 to 1. Brothazar and Louie easily finish the last shrieker (ah! blessed silence!) as Brogallo and the Mighty Redneck quickly dispatch two of the accursed demons.

Shrieker and Manes Combat Round 4:

The remaining demon wins initiative (6 to 5) and selects poor Louie (with a whopping 3hp) as his victim (so much for the backstab attempt) and does 3hp of damage taking Louie to 0. Redneck and Brogallo deliver the goods and quickly dispatch the remaining demon before attending to Louie. The character party appears and I rule it is one of the squads from the nearby Croaking Castle of the Miraculous Toad. I roll a d4 and get a 3 so 16 heavy infantry appear, led by Velgara. A reaction check comes up at 84 (with all mods - cuz Brother Sully is pretty charming), so Velgara is quite impressed with the way the party acquitted themselves against the corrupt denizens of the nameless tor. She invites them back to the Castle to discuss these developments with Kophyn Mizzar to see what the next steps should be.

The journey to the castle is uneventful, though the party notes that the entire area between the castle and the demon-haunted tor seems to be rancid with the same filthy lichen and fungi that infested the tor. Accompanied by Velgara and her squad, they enter through the main gates under the watchful eyes of the crossbowmen and other men-at-arms manning the ramparts. With Brother "Face" Sully acting as their spokesman, Velgara introduces the party to the Kophyn Mizzar, Lady of the Castle. Sully is absolutely commanding in his presence and charm (98% reaction check with modifiers) and when coupled with the brave deeds of the party, he easily wins over Lady Mizzar. She extends the castle's hospitality to the heroes and bids them a good night so that Louie may have some time to recover from his honorable wounds.

Let's see what happens next time...

Experience Points:

2 Shriekers (13,19) = 42xp

3 Manes Demons (8,6,5) = 73xp

Total: 115xp (divided by 7 = 16xp each; 18xp for those with attribute bonuses)