Crash? site
Jun. 5th, 2010 10:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
terryclothLast night the party finally arrived at their initial destination, only to find that most of the good stuff had already been taken.
After leaving the river -- the far shore was shallow enough to just drive the cart out, although it was muddy and made a mess -- the party spotted some other tracks coming out of the river downstream, past the bridge -- a giant turtle! Armitage thought it might be a summoned turtle, like one of his mount figurines, but when they tracked it down it was just a turtle for hire, who'd brought another group of adventurers out after the treasure. He wasn't loyal to them or anything; he warned them that they had a bear, and a couple satyrs. And asked them to tell him if the other team was ever coming back, if they passed that away again, so he could stop waiting for them -- they'd been gone a while.
Then it was some hilly roads, leading to the mountain where the crashed ship was sort of visible in a crater halfway up the mountainside. There was a tunnel leading into the mountain -- the cave of 'Danger: Cave Ins!' -- and a narrow, treacherous path leading up the mountainside. Even though it was too narrow to fit their cart, they decided to take the path. Bits of the path kept falling off under their feet -- it looked like it had been recently patched together with magic -- but Carnelian was able to spot most of the patches so that people knew to be careful when stepping on them.
At the top, Armitage was surprised to find that his compass didn't point directly at the ship, which was sitting in the middle of the crater, surprisingly intact, considering that it was sitting in the middle of a huge crater. It had a hole in the side of its hull, but that was it. Even the two fragile wing-shapes extending to either side looked relatively unharmed.
That made it more interesting than whatever magic items the compass was pointing at. The obvious entrance was the hole, but there was an irregularly-shaped low-mana zone around it that kept Serene and Gamble (especially Gamble) from wanting to go in that way. So Carnelian and Armitage went in first. They found some strange crystal fragments near the gap, along with some dead giant spiders and bloodstains. There were some boxes, and a barricade, near the back of the room, so they headed over to get a look, and SURPRISE! They were attacked by giant jumping spiders with poisonous fangs. And swarms of little spiders with less poisonous fangs.
Carnelian was surrounded by spiders, and bitten a few times while she(?) shot out jets of flame to burn them... while Armitage used a wand of snow jet to blow the little spiders away from him. Serene ran in through the hole and got into a duel with one of the giant spiders, that stubbornly refused to die. Gamble... really didn't want to come in through the hole. As an enchanted object, she was in danger of shutting down in a low magic zone. Fortunately, there was a cargo bay door that she was eventually able to force open, joining the fight near the end, when only the difficult-to-damage swarms were around. She picked up a giant crate to get more surface area than her sword, and squashed one of the swarms in one blow. Inspired, Carnelian rolled a barrel over a swarm, and Armitage flopped to the ground and rolled over and over over the remaining swarms, crushing them with his body (and getting bitten repeatedly in the process of course).
Afterwards, they found that the cargo bay had mostly been emptied out -- there was some food and water in crates near the cargo lift, but the other crates were empty or missing. The 'bilge' (although on an airship, why would it need a bilge? asked Carnelian) was full of spiderwebs, with a webbed up body. Serene summoned its spirit to talk with it.
Armitage: "Where's the most valuable things on the ship?"
Spirit: "The ship's the most valauable thing! Or they had some special 'fragile' things in the cargo bay that they threatened to cut off our hands if we broke."
Armitage: "Why did you crash?"
Spirit: "They had us batten down for a hard passage, but something went wrong and everyone was screaming. Then a giant spider ate me."
There were a bunch of other questions that didn't really say much. It was obvious this hadn't been anyone important.
Upstairs, they found some cannon on swivel mounts, a huge telescope, and some magical kitchen equipment. Oh, and a magical gameboard of some sort that they shoved in a bag. And some incomprehensible maps. The only part of the ship that was locked was the captain's cabin, and even it had been mostly cleaned out, except for the furniture. So they stole the furniture. Hey, it wasn't nailed down! The bed was even magical!
After looting the ship, they searched around to find what the compass was pointing at... and found three hidden graves. Inside was a bear and two satyrs, apparently buried with their magical equipment, although someone had stolen their money. They'd been killed by what looked like fire jets or sunrays -- lines of fire across their bodies. Except for the warrior, who -- when they stole her armor -- had had her heart violently removed by magic. They figured that the people from the ship must have killed the first adventuring party, when they came to loot the wreck. They seemed to be long gone now, though.
To get everything down -- especially the furniture! -- they'd need to bring their cart up to the ship, though, so they decided to check out the mine after all. There was an entrance to it on the crater level -- someone had blasted it open with lots and lots of fire. They found a few random powerups in the mine -- nothing really awesome -- and indication that it had once had insects living in it like the ones they'd seen in the river, but someone had systematically wiped them out with fire. Which meant it was safe!
They repaired the elevator, brought their autowagon up to the ship, started loading furniture, and... Armitage's pants started vibrating. Time to party! They finished loading furniture first, though.
Selim (the familiar) showed up and looked around at the deserted crash site for an omen, as they were getting things set up. "This is going to be an awesome party," he proclaimed.
And it was, until the maenads showed up. A whole horde of them this time! The party collapsed the trail up the mountainside to slow them down, then took their autowagon to the elevator and headed down below ground-level, to the subterranean tunnels of the miner cats, to avoid the maenads. Well, most of the maenads. Armitage made one of the stragglers who'd wandered into the mines collapse with ecstasy, and Serene put another, a cat, to sleep just as it lept into the elevator shaft after them. He didn't land on his feet. Then she ran him over repeatedly until he stopped moving.
So, mostly unnoticed, they trundled off down the underground passage, bypassing the horde.
last session | next session
After leaving the river -- the far shore was shallow enough to just drive the cart out, although it was muddy and made a mess -- the party spotted some other tracks coming out of the river downstream, past the bridge -- a giant turtle! Armitage thought it might be a summoned turtle, like one of his mount figurines, but when they tracked it down it was just a turtle for hire, who'd brought another group of adventurers out after the treasure. He wasn't loyal to them or anything; he warned them that they had a bear, and a couple satyrs. And asked them to tell him if the other team was ever coming back, if they passed that away again, so he could stop waiting for them -- they'd been gone a while.
Then it was some hilly roads, leading to the mountain where the crashed ship was sort of visible in a crater halfway up the mountainside. There was a tunnel leading into the mountain -- the cave of 'Danger: Cave Ins!' -- and a narrow, treacherous path leading up the mountainside. Even though it was too narrow to fit their cart, they decided to take the path. Bits of the path kept falling off under their feet -- it looked like it had been recently patched together with magic -- but Carnelian was able to spot most of the patches so that people knew to be careful when stepping on them.
At the top, Armitage was surprised to find that his compass didn't point directly at the ship, which was sitting in the middle of the crater, surprisingly intact, considering that it was sitting in the middle of a huge crater. It had a hole in the side of its hull, but that was it. Even the two fragile wing-shapes extending to either side looked relatively unharmed.
That made it more interesting than whatever magic items the compass was pointing at. The obvious entrance was the hole, but there was an irregularly-shaped low-mana zone around it that kept Serene and Gamble (especially Gamble) from wanting to go in that way. So Carnelian and Armitage went in first. They found some strange crystal fragments near the gap, along with some dead giant spiders and bloodstains. There were some boxes, and a barricade, near the back of the room, so they headed over to get a look, and SURPRISE! They were attacked by giant jumping spiders with poisonous fangs. And swarms of little spiders with less poisonous fangs.
Carnelian was surrounded by spiders, and bitten a few times while she(?) shot out jets of flame to burn them... while Armitage used a wand of snow jet to blow the little spiders away from him. Serene ran in through the hole and got into a duel with one of the giant spiders, that stubbornly refused to die. Gamble... really didn't want to come in through the hole. As an enchanted object, she was in danger of shutting down in a low magic zone. Fortunately, there was a cargo bay door that she was eventually able to force open, joining the fight near the end, when only the difficult-to-damage swarms were around. She picked up a giant crate to get more surface area than her sword, and squashed one of the swarms in one blow. Inspired, Carnelian rolled a barrel over a swarm, and Armitage flopped to the ground and rolled over and over over the remaining swarms, crushing them with his body (and getting bitten repeatedly in the process of course).
Afterwards, they found that the cargo bay had mostly been emptied out -- there was some food and water in crates near the cargo lift, but the other crates were empty or missing. The 'bilge' (although on an airship, why would it need a bilge? asked Carnelian) was full of spiderwebs, with a webbed up body. Serene summoned its spirit to talk with it.
Armitage: "Where's the most valuable things on the ship?"
Spirit: "The ship's the most valauable thing! Or they had some special 'fragile' things in the cargo bay that they threatened to cut off our hands if we broke."
Armitage: "Why did you crash?"
Spirit: "They had us batten down for a hard passage, but something went wrong and everyone was screaming. Then a giant spider ate me."
There were a bunch of other questions that didn't really say much. It was obvious this hadn't been anyone important.
Upstairs, they found some cannon on swivel mounts, a huge telescope, and some magical kitchen equipment. Oh, and a magical gameboard of some sort that they shoved in a bag. And some incomprehensible maps. The only part of the ship that was locked was the captain's cabin, and even it had been mostly cleaned out, except for the furniture. So they stole the furniture. Hey, it wasn't nailed down! The bed was even magical!
After looting the ship, they searched around to find what the compass was pointing at... and found three hidden graves. Inside was a bear and two satyrs, apparently buried with their magical equipment, although someone had stolen their money. They'd been killed by what looked like fire jets or sunrays -- lines of fire across their bodies. Except for the warrior, who -- when they stole her armor -- had had her heart violently removed by magic. They figured that the people from the ship must have killed the first adventuring party, when they came to loot the wreck. They seemed to be long gone now, though.
To get everything down -- especially the furniture! -- they'd need to bring their cart up to the ship, though, so they decided to check out the mine after all. There was an entrance to it on the crater level -- someone had blasted it open with lots and lots of fire. They found a few random powerups in the mine -- nothing really awesome -- and indication that it had once had insects living in it like the ones they'd seen in the river, but someone had systematically wiped them out with fire. Which meant it was safe!
They repaired the elevator, brought their autowagon up to the ship, started loading furniture, and... Armitage's pants started vibrating. Time to party! They finished loading furniture first, though.
Selim (the familiar) showed up and looked around at the deserted crash site for an omen, as they were getting things set up. "This is going to be an awesome party," he proclaimed.
And it was, until the maenads showed up. A whole horde of them this time! The party collapsed the trail up the mountainside to slow them down, then took their autowagon to the elevator and headed down below ground-level, to the subterranean tunnels of the miner cats, to avoid the maenads. Well, most of the maenads. Armitage made one of the stragglers who'd wandered into the mines collapse with ecstasy, and Serene put another, a cat, to sleep just as it lept into the elevator shaft after them. He didn't land on his feet. Then she ran him over repeatedly until he stopped moving.
So, mostly unnoticed, they trundled off down the underground passage, bypassing the horde.
last session | next session
