Tuesday, July 15, 2014

(Hackmaster) Burning Trogs Rule! #5 Sorority Girl Confidential

When we last left Cecelia Darkspruce, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric of Sif, she had been picked up by squad Valkryies.  She and her horse were transported to Valhalla.  She was told that her friends were take part in great peril, but she was too important to risk it. 

1st of Octdec 1132 - Valhalla
While the time in Vahalla seemed to last forever, the skirmish with Sif and some unrecognizable beast men took a little over a month of real time.  The Valkyries repaired her armor and dropped her off at Pojunct Lock.   She couldn't find anyone, so she went looking for work.  There was a peculiar posting outside the ramshackle tavern for employment opportunities at "Dalmar Manor" in Saltmarsh.  Could it be?  Dalmar alive?

9th of Octdec 1132 - Village of Saltmarsh, Kingdom of Crosedes
Cecelia arrived at Saltmarsh, and luckily no one remembered her from the group's previous visit.  Dalmar Manor was the name of the old haunted house along the shore that the group had anticipated investigating, before the Thundarr the Half-Ogre got angry and picked a fight with the entire militia. 

Inquiring at the manor, she found out that Dalmar had died defending the village against pirates (Are you sure, this is the same Dalmar Sworin?), leaving a pregnant wife and friends, including Thundarr the Barbarian (Dalmar hated that barbarian, plus a pregnant chick?  Can't be Dalmar).  They told her a story of how they were all under the spell of a Naga who lived outside of Orlane.    Dalmar broke free first and as the others shook its influence, ambushed the Naga and resettled in Saltmarsh.

At dinner, a message addressed from the Red  Wizard on Anon-Maxis arrived addressed to Dalmar.  Cecelia decides Dalmar is "away" and recruits Thundarr to escort her to the Red Wizard's "Summer" Tower..

17th of Octdoc 1132 - Undisclosed Location, Crosedes
The Red Wizard's "Summer" tower, looked to be in a constant state of repair, with old scaffolding surrounded by newer ones in some sections.  The Red Wizard was looking for Dalmar to seek out a metallic mineral "Mythrrl" that comes from the remains of falling stars. Such an act was tricky to normally accomplish. However, there were a certain series of tombs rumored to possess a map to a "Graveyard of Fallen Stars".  Cecelia and Thundarr ventured to a oddly normal graveyard with a few out of place crypts.  One tomb was protected by a very powerful ghost of the deceased, but Cecelia used the power of Sif to dispel the specter.  The map was recovered and the she headed back to the Graveyard of Fallen Stars.

26 of Octdec 1132
The Graveyard came to be a giant crater site.  A mine had been built within it, but it had been overrun by goblins!  Through hit, smash, and run tactics, they dispatched most of the goblins with little trouble.  They managed to secure about two pounds of Mythrrl from the site.  Upon leaving the crater, they noticed a small cottage just on the edge of the forest.  Upon further investigating the door to the cottage was chained on the outside, to keep something IN.   Thundarr snapped the chains and inside they found a lone dwarf, working franctially at a forge.  Despite freeing him from his shackles, the dwarf stayed, saying that "it wasn't finished."    From out off the normal chimney in the cottage, a witch appeared, violently angry, but oblivious to the half-elf and her half-ogre friend.  She demanded the dwarf's work, but he protested, claiming the "coin" wasn't finished.    Raising her hand, the still-molten coin flew out of the forge and into her palm, painfully searing into her flesh.  Cecelia and Thundarr attempted to intervened, and when that drew the attention of the witch, green electricity formed around her hands.  Bolts of this green energy arc from her towards the duo, but, for some reason, the dwarf jumped in way and took a tremendous shock.  He hit and the ground, and the witch disappeared just as fast.  Cecelia did everything she could, but could only manage to revive him enough for a few dying words.  He warned that the coin was very powerful, but very raw, as he did not finish it. The woman must be stopped!  His brother, if found, could forge another coin to defeat her!  "With that he died, and I found my cause for living, the cause Sif saved me for, to save the world!"

32 of Octdec 1132
Six days later, Cecelia may have had change of heart as they arrived back at the Red Wizard's tower.  They got paid for the Mythrrl, split the proceeds, and Thundarr bid her adieu to go back to his new family at Saltmarsh.  For Cecelia, "...I needed to find my friends or at least what happened to them."

10th of Nondec 1132
She rode hard for days, finding nary a clue to the status of her friends.  She passed through Agenmoor quickly, Drow magic pervaded through much of the forest, old friends were long gone and familiar places overgrown with evil.    She travelled across the southern lands of the Empire of Ras-Prythax. In the werewolf and vampire infested lands of Vlachia, she encountered a group of Nubian performers who had travelled with Mutumbo!   They had split ways with him in town called Califon in the Kingdom of Marakeikos, only a half week's ride away!

Next:  Episode #6  Shadows Over Celsior

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