Forest of Death
Feb. 5th, 2005 05:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothLast night we had a session of the Neverwhereish GURPS game. I asked the guys, "Do you have any plans, or should I just try to railroad you into something?" and the answer came up "After the last couple games, maybe you'd better." So I did.
After a confusing episode in the morning, where John woke up to an amorous jackalope in the bed with him instead of the beautiful woman he'd gone to sleep with, John and Kitten were summoned to talk to chief Sun Bear about why he should or should not let them stay in the village. Don was a proper resident of Athens, of course, so he was allowed to stay like any other refugee...
Sun Bear told the party (when they asked for suggestions) that his greatest wish was to get the refugees out of his village. Since cleansing Athens itself seemed like a fools' errand (too many people had already been killed trying), he asked them to check out some failed settlements nearby that had been deserted for a while, but might have the infrastructure (== complex of subterranean tunnels to protect against vampiric wildlife) to protect the citizens of Athens while they got their lives back together.
Sun Bear showed the party the locations he was thinking of on the map. One of them was the Nobles' mountain temple -- John informed him of its nature, and he crossed it off the list. The other three were the other three points of the pentagram (the fifth being the native village/mine, of course).
Kitten didn't feel like traipsing all over the countryside, so he offered instead to cast protective magic, and spells that would increase movement speed, on Sun Bear's own scouts, that he could send out to take a look and see if any of them were even vaguely suitable. Sun Bear agreed that that seemed reasonable, but John still needed to do something to earn his keep... so he was tapped as one of the scouts. Along with a native warrior named Little Arrow, he was sent to scout the nearest of the prospects.
So, they started out running, enchanted by a quick march spell which let them basically run full out all day without tiring. An hour out from the village, though, John was contacted by his demon friend that we will call Mr. Smith, who informed him that Sun Bear had neglected to include him in the Obscurity ritual that he used to protect the other scouts. "He sent you to die... the enemies will see you and not your companion. But I can help you reverse that."
John refused, at first -- he didn't want to face suspicion of murder if he came back without Little Arrow. But when the scythe-'demon' reappeared and started chasing after him, he called out for help, and Mr. Smith teleported a mystical syringe into his hand. "Inject your blood into your companion, and that will throw your enemies off the scent."
Doing the injection was kind of a struggle while running away from the assailant, and John ended up on the ground wrestling with the native while the creature got closer... but his amplified strength allowed him to overpower Little Arrow and inject him with the syringe, at which point the scythe-creature sliced the poor man up into teeny bits, then vanished, leaving John unharmed. John tossed the 'murder weapon' into some bushes a few hundred yards away, and continued on his mission.
Eventually, he was able to spot the evergreen forest that supposedly marked the location of the lost settlement, but as he approached it he noticed a lot of dead animals lying around on the ground... and look, there was a bird falling right out of the sky! And... woah... he felt kind of sick... He tried approaching it from several directions, but apparently there was some 'field of death' surrounding the forest.
He did find a deserted farmstead on the edge of the field, with a decaying newsletter which he wrapped up carefully in some cloth to take home with him. Since the cloth he found seemed to be a whole dresserfull of well-preserved, expensive clothing, he filled up his backpack too.
So he headed home. Unfortunately, he was still an hour out from the village at sunset, when the quick march spell ran out, fatiguing him -- it would take him half the night to stagger back unless he took a quick rest. He climbed up into a tree for safety... and was attacked by a rabid raccoon.
Strike that, a *vampiric* raccoon. He had vampire speed too, though, and managed to put it down. But when he finally did head back after resting from THAT, he was assaulted by a flock of vampire crows, which he mostly ignored, since they couldn't get through his armor. He ran for a bit while they peckpeckpecked ineffectually, then crushed a few to scare them off.
Back in the village, Little Arrow's wife greeted him, and asked about his companion. "I'm sorry, he was lost." "Oh no! Well, at least YOU came back safely. I don't know what I'd do without you." Similarly, Sun Bear treated him as if he was a returning warrior of the village who'd 'unfortunately' lost an unwelcome guest on the mission, as opposed to the other way around. So *that* was how the demon's syringe had tricked the attacker!
John decided to go with it. Not that he had much choice -- the party (who'd spent the time while he was out scouting building a prosthetic leg for Kitten) was similarly unable to recognize him, except when wearing the mind-magic-nullifying torc he'd bought a while back. It only lasted as long as they were wearing it, though, and when he tried to get Don to wear it Don took it 'back'. "It's not yours! That was John's!"
However, Kitten was called back to Sun Bear's chamber, and he had 'Little Arrow' repeat the story of the field of death. "You seem to be a powerful shaman. If you could disable that field, I would like you to do so, as that might be the only reason the place was abandoned." Kitten was unable to refuse any request for aid, so of course he agreed to take on the near-suicidal task. 'Little Arrow' was sent along as a guide, along with two more warriors for protection.
But of course they wouldn't leave until morning. John went back to spend the night with Little Arrow's wife, figuring he might as well enjoy the benefits of his stolen identity, like a home-cooked meal. His wife started unpacking the clothing he'd scavenged, admiring it and asking to try it on. Of course, he said she could... a tragic mistake, as one of the vampiric crows had hidden itself in the backpack during the fight, and bit his wife before he could react! He quickly killed it, but the damage was done -- his wife was going to turn into a vampire.
He took her to the village healer and explained the situation, but there was nothing they could do. Well, except keep this quiet until he left on the mission -- he was advised not to come back, ever, as the punishment for bringing a feral vampire past the village wards was... well, they said 'you know what the punishment is', and left it at that. He took her then to the Nobles, and they asked him if he thought she had the exceptional strength of will that was needed to keep one's mind even with the Nobles' rituals. John indicated that she probably didn't.
"Then the kindest thing you can do is kill her now, before she turns." So he strangled her to death, right there. The nobles made sure he hadn't been bitten by her in the process (and of course he hadn't, because of the invisible armor), then told him they'd dispose of the body.
So, anyway, in the morning the group of five set out for the field of death, protected by everything that Kitten could layer them with -- most importantly, the vitality ritual that directly protected them from the field, and a chaperone ritual to save them from death once if that failed. Nothing stopped them from getting to the field, but once there it turned out that one of the warriors accompanying them had a defective vitality ritual, and had to be left outside.
Kitten could see the disturbance in the spirit world caused by the field of death, which manifested as a misty miasma generated by a series of pulses from some central area. After a few tries to trick the field, which didn't work as he'd expected, they headed straight for the center, where the field got stronger and stronger.
In the center, on the surface, was a small eastern settlement, full of the skeletal remains of the townsfolk... but the pulse was coming from far underground. Kitten used an earthvision spell to try to spot the source, but let it lapse when it was obvious that there was a large complex underground that they could just walk through, instead of trying anything cute with magic.
They headed inside and went downstairs to the bottom level of the city, which seemed to be the industrial level (breweries and chemical labs, for the most part)... but their goal was still far below them, so they started searching for another staircase.
Eventually, they found a very large room full of very dead people, with a strange corridor at the far end -- circular, instead of square like the ones they'd been going through. That seemed promising, so they headed towards it...
...and as they reached the center of the room, all the dead bodies got up! Oh no, zombies!
last session | next session
After a confusing episode in the morning, where John woke up to an amorous jackalope in the bed with him instead of the beautiful woman he'd gone to sleep with, John and Kitten were summoned to talk to chief Sun Bear about why he should or should not let them stay in the village. Don was a proper resident of Athens, of course, so he was allowed to stay like any other refugee...
Sun Bear told the party (when they asked for suggestions) that his greatest wish was to get the refugees out of his village. Since cleansing Athens itself seemed like a fools' errand (too many people had already been killed trying), he asked them to check out some failed settlements nearby that had been deserted for a while, but might have the infrastructure (== complex of subterranean tunnels to protect against vampiric wildlife) to protect the citizens of Athens while they got their lives back together.
Sun Bear showed the party the locations he was thinking of on the map. One of them was the Nobles' mountain temple -- John informed him of its nature, and he crossed it off the list. The other three were the other three points of the pentagram (the fifth being the native village/mine, of course).
Kitten didn't feel like traipsing all over the countryside, so he offered instead to cast protective magic, and spells that would increase movement speed, on Sun Bear's own scouts, that he could send out to take a look and see if any of them were even vaguely suitable. Sun Bear agreed that that seemed reasonable, but John still needed to do something to earn his keep... so he was tapped as one of the scouts. Along with a native warrior named Little Arrow, he was sent to scout the nearest of the prospects.
So, they started out running, enchanted by a quick march spell which let them basically run full out all day without tiring. An hour out from the village, though, John was contacted by his demon friend that we will call Mr. Smith, who informed him that Sun Bear had neglected to include him in the Obscurity ritual that he used to protect the other scouts. "He sent you to die... the enemies will see you and not your companion. But I can help you reverse that."
John refused, at first -- he didn't want to face suspicion of murder if he came back without Little Arrow. But when the scythe-'demon' reappeared and started chasing after him, he called out for help, and Mr. Smith teleported a mystical syringe into his hand. "Inject your blood into your companion, and that will throw your enemies off the scent."
Doing the injection was kind of a struggle while running away from the assailant, and John ended up on the ground wrestling with the native while the creature got closer... but his amplified strength allowed him to overpower Little Arrow and inject him with the syringe, at which point the scythe-creature sliced the poor man up into teeny bits, then vanished, leaving John unharmed. John tossed the 'murder weapon' into some bushes a few hundred yards away, and continued on his mission.
Eventually, he was able to spot the evergreen forest that supposedly marked the location of the lost settlement, but as he approached it he noticed a lot of dead animals lying around on the ground... and look, there was a bird falling right out of the sky! And... woah... he felt kind of sick... He tried approaching it from several directions, but apparently there was some 'field of death' surrounding the forest.
He did find a deserted farmstead on the edge of the field, with a decaying newsletter which he wrapped up carefully in some cloth to take home with him. Since the cloth he found seemed to be a whole dresserfull of well-preserved, expensive clothing, he filled up his backpack too.
So he headed home. Unfortunately, he was still an hour out from the village at sunset, when the quick march spell ran out, fatiguing him -- it would take him half the night to stagger back unless he took a quick rest. He climbed up into a tree for safety... and was attacked by a rabid raccoon.
Strike that, a *vampiric* raccoon. He had vampire speed too, though, and managed to put it down. But when he finally did head back after resting from THAT, he was assaulted by a flock of vampire crows, which he mostly ignored, since they couldn't get through his armor. He ran for a bit while they peckpeckpecked ineffectually, then crushed a few to scare them off.
Back in the village, Little Arrow's wife greeted him, and asked about his companion. "I'm sorry, he was lost." "Oh no! Well, at least YOU came back safely. I don't know what I'd do without you." Similarly, Sun Bear treated him as if he was a returning warrior of the village who'd 'unfortunately' lost an unwelcome guest on the mission, as opposed to the other way around. So *that* was how the demon's syringe had tricked the attacker!
John decided to go with it. Not that he had much choice -- the party (who'd spent the time while he was out scouting building a prosthetic leg for Kitten) was similarly unable to recognize him, except when wearing the mind-magic-nullifying torc he'd bought a while back. It only lasted as long as they were wearing it, though, and when he tried to get Don to wear it Don took it 'back'. "It's not yours! That was John's!"
However, Kitten was called back to Sun Bear's chamber, and he had 'Little Arrow' repeat the story of the field of death. "You seem to be a powerful shaman. If you could disable that field, I would like you to do so, as that might be the only reason the place was abandoned." Kitten was unable to refuse any request for aid, so of course he agreed to take on the near-suicidal task. 'Little Arrow' was sent along as a guide, along with two more warriors for protection.
But of course they wouldn't leave until morning. John went back to spend the night with Little Arrow's wife, figuring he might as well enjoy the benefits of his stolen identity, like a home-cooked meal. His wife started unpacking the clothing he'd scavenged, admiring it and asking to try it on. Of course, he said she could... a tragic mistake, as one of the vampiric crows had hidden itself in the backpack during the fight, and bit his wife before he could react! He quickly killed it, but the damage was done -- his wife was going to turn into a vampire.
He took her to the village healer and explained the situation, but there was nothing they could do. Well, except keep this quiet until he left on the mission -- he was advised not to come back, ever, as the punishment for bringing a feral vampire past the village wards was... well, they said 'you know what the punishment is', and left it at that. He took her then to the Nobles, and they asked him if he thought she had the exceptional strength of will that was needed to keep one's mind even with the Nobles' rituals. John indicated that she probably didn't.
"Then the kindest thing you can do is kill her now, before she turns." So he strangled her to death, right there. The nobles made sure he hadn't been bitten by her in the process (and of course he hadn't, because of the invisible armor), then told him they'd dispose of the body.
So, anyway, in the morning the group of five set out for the field of death, protected by everything that Kitten could layer them with -- most importantly, the vitality ritual that directly protected them from the field, and a chaperone ritual to save them from death once if that failed. Nothing stopped them from getting to the field, but once there it turned out that one of the warriors accompanying them had a defective vitality ritual, and had to be left outside.
Kitten could see the disturbance in the spirit world caused by the field of death, which manifested as a misty miasma generated by a series of pulses from some central area. After a few tries to trick the field, which didn't work as he'd expected, they headed straight for the center, where the field got stronger and stronger.
In the center, on the surface, was a small eastern settlement, full of the skeletal remains of the townsfolk... but the pulse was coming from far underground. Kitten used an earthvision spell to try to spot the source, but let it lapse when it was obvious that there was a large complex underground that they could just walk through, instead of trying anything cute with magic.
They headed inside and went downstairs to the bottom level of the city, which seemed to be the industrial level (breweries and chemical labs, for the most part)... but their goal was still far below them, so they started searching for another staircase.
Eventually, they found a very large room full of very dead people, with a strange corridor at the far end -- circular, instead of square like the ones they'd been going through. That seemed promising, so they headed towards it...
...and as they reached the center of the room, all the dead bodies got up! Oh no, zombies!
last session | next session
