Six go mad on mescaline

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This adventure takes place on the plane of Alusia and others.

Summary

Adventure:
GM: Miles Jackson
Session: Summer 811WK
Night: Wed
Location Auckland CBD
Level: Low/Med

Party:

  1. The Lady Hope De Winter - A petite white clad courtier (calls herself a spiritualist aka Evil Necro). Human female. Party Leader
  2. Robinton - A pretty boy human Evil Illusionist with a Old English Sheepdog named Cuddles (I wouldn't if I were you).
  3. Pug - A young male dwarf Ice Mage who is barely sentient and rides a Spirit Bear. Our Military Midgit.
  4. Vladimir - A young human male with an contagious iron disease - Evil Mind Mage and party Scribe.
  5. Elenna - A shy human female, not very pretty but quite practical. Recently graduated as an Evil E&E.
  6. Skafloc - A wimpy Elf Earth Mage who you know is just looking for the chance to sacrifice you to his evil god's. Military Scientist


Employer:
The party employers are the Hunting Bear Tribe represented at the Guild by Kivour, who is the son of the chief. He has been sent to hire and transport the party to his home plain of Korinia.

Mission:
To investigate the disappearance of the animals they hunt.

Pay:
They are paying us in gems.

Briefing and Knoweldge

In the last month or so the herd animals (Bison, Elk etc.) that the Hunting Bear Tribe (and presumably the other 11 tribes) hunt have been disappearing, almost before their eyes. And they would like the party to investigate and return their happy hunting grounds. Oh and by the way, their Wise Old Spirit Shaman has died but his body is still walking around and talking. Now that just ain't normal! But that's something we can take care of and I start sharpening some wooden stakes.

We ask a lot of fruitless questions he doesn't have the answers to before we call it a day after electing Lady Hope to party leader, Skafloc to Military Scientist, press-ganging yours truly as party scribe and realizing with horror that Pug is the nearest thing we have to a fighter. We retire to the pub to drown our sorrows.

Sexual Misadventures

The party head out of Seagate and visit this old witch in the hope of getting some Greater Enchantments and useful potions out of her if she is in a good mood. What they neglect to tell us new comers is that her good mood depends on how satisfied she is with our sexual performance, thats she's uglier than sin and hornier than a Satyr on a quest to deflower The Seven Virgins of Macedonia, which as we all know has less VPSM (Virgins Per Square Mile) than the Gatar Depression. Lucky for me, she is blind as a bat and Pug is too stupid to realize he has been volunteered 4 times tonight to do the dirty with the old hag.

She sends us off to clear out some Ogres that have invaded her duck pond and are making out with her ducks while she goes and finds us some potions and pretty's herself up which will probably take a million years. It's nearly dark as we cunningly allow the Ogres to ambush us as we approach the pond. It's an Ogre to the front of us, an Ogre to the rear of us and two crocodiles up the jacksie. Before we know it we are Fireballed, have grenados bouncing off our skulls and the crocodiles have mistaken Pug for a wishbone. Oh and our evil E&E has backfired and slowed Robinton and yours truly taking us both out of the fight. And that was just the beginning. The fight is not going our way at all when a lucky blow kills one of the Ogres revealing him to be the very best kind of Gnome Illusionist, a dead one! Before we know it the fight is over, the rest of the party are busy looting and Robinton and I are failing miserably at keeping the mosquitoes from eating us alive. We trudge back to the hags lair. I think about giving Pug a swig of brandy to prepare him for his coming ordeal but decide he would only set himself alight and burn down the witch's house. I consider this awhile as I drink the brandy.

After dinner Pug and the Hag retire, the rest of us breath a sigh of relief. Despite his PPP (Piss Poor Performance) Pug somehow manages to survive the night with only minor brain damage, which is lucky as he has a VERY minor brain! Pug barely warms her up for Skafloc the Elf whom is dragged kicking and screaming into her boudoir. Now we all know this must end badly as the average elf has a willy smaller than my pinky and there is no way in the world that Skafloc could be described as average. To call him weedy would be an insult to every weed on the planet, he has less hand to eye coordination than a mole, two left feet and a small kitten could probably take him. Sure enough they are back in less than a minute and I push Pug into her embrace and slam the door. Did I mention the small kitten has more endurance than our Elf.....

Off we go

Having survived the night, mostly untouched, (despite my best efforts, the pretty young thing that was the old witch's apprentice had resisted my charm's) the party ran out the door as soon as there was a hint of sunrise. The hag had been sparing with her gifts due to our PPP but at least we came away with a Greater Enchantment Potion each and some Flying Potions to get us back to the Guild.

Kivour did some sort of portal ritual involving a small rug while the rest of us tried to forget the horrors of the night. Before you could say Bob's your uncle (can't be my uncle Bob unless he's clawed his way out of that hole I left him in) Kivour had opened a portal to Korinia. The party powered up and stepped into another world. A flat boring world with waist high grass.

Kivour consulted his navel for a bit and we set off to meet his tribe. Did I mention that Hunting Bear Tribe could run the legs off a wolf? Somehow we stumbled our way into their camp carrying the Elf and having chundered breakfast and lunch some miles back.

Pug - Don't go spreading any bad stories about Dwarves.
Robinton - How about good stories?
Pug - Are there any good stories?


The Hunting Bear Tribe number about 200 and like most tribal groups the males of the tribe are as nervous as cats on a hot tin roof around strangers particularly when the young women of the tribe wander nearby to have a closer look at us. Pug's Spirit Bear Thistle draws a lot of attention as they wonder why such a powerful spirit has attached itself to one such as Pug. The Spirit Bear is cursed I tell them and they slap their foreheads and say Doh! They leave Thistle presents of honey and other yummy treats which I feel obliged to eat on his behalf. After some primitive introduction ceremonies which mostly consisted Pug of running, jumping, throwing and beating his chest we were led to meet Chief Klan and have dinner.

After much discussion we learn that the Undead Shaman has wandered off into town. That Nanock, a tribal elder has taken a party of young boys into the mountains for their initiation ritual to become young men, which involves tracking and killing of beasts. Potential Shaman leave the tribe, only returning once a month to participate in a monthly ceremony to honour the hunt, during the annual tribal meeting or upon the death of the tribal shaman. That the annual tribal meet is only a few days away (8?). That some of the women of the tribe are healers and witches operating independently of the men and the shaman. Otherwise the women are treated as valuable possessions much to the disgust of the party's female members whom don't have much traction here. That whatever is making the animals disappear is also killing a few of them and leaving their bare bones behind. That it started around the time of the last full moon, soon after Nanock left which was after the monthly ceremony of thanks. That Legend Speakers (eg Chief Klan) tell the tales of the tribe history and traditions but can only tell us some of them as we are not tribe members. That Cuddles is smarter than the average bear. That Pug is thicker than two planks which in a place devoid of trees may actually give him some value. Just as well I brought my own wooden stakes. That some of tribal woman are damn cute and I shall have to try and separate them from the men for some pole dancing.

We resolve to go on a hunt tomorrow with the men so we will be up at the crack of dawn. We collapse in our beds. It's been a long day.

A hunting we will go

The next morning we are awoken before sparrows fart, have a quick bite to eat and head off with the hunters. Did I mention the tribesmen make wolves look like tortoises when it comes to running? We were chundering up our breakfast before we even spotted the herd. It is hard to muster much enthusiasm for the hunt whilst spewing your cookies all about the place. Pug flew off on his Spirit Bear to get a closer look at the herd. He reported back that some dark motes had appeared around the herd, which eventually turned into six large wolf-like creatures that opened some sort of portal, killed six of the herd and drove the rest into the portal which closed behind them. Case closed! Let's head back to the tribe for eating, drinking and wenching. What do you mean they want us to go investigate. Doh!

We stumble along following the trail of the herd and sure enough we spot the bare bones of six slain creatures and the sudden end of any herd foot prints, droppings or signs that a herd has passed this way. Things were pretty much as the hunters had described it the night before and Pug had related from his overhead view. Lady Hope started messing about with the corpses and before you can say Jack Robinson this large humanoid wolf-like creature appears and decides she must be his free lunch. Weapons (bone?) appear in his hands as he leaps on Lady Hope and she goes down under an assault of teeth and bone. After some hesitation the party leap into action once they see Lady Hope go down and the wolf creature is quickly despatched with a few good blows from my Lightning Mace, a flailing of Pugs axes and some bites from a weasel, which as it turns out was a shape-change of the Elf (I TOLD you he had been making sacrifices to his evil gods). The bad news was there was no loot, the good news was that Lady Hope was still alive (well it was good news to her, I wanted to see what happened when a spirit shaman died). Oh and there was no death buzz when the wolf died.

The chief was only moderately impressed by our martial prowess apart from Robinton whom had leapt straight to Lady Hopes aid and was presented with a tribal rug and invited into the tribe. I guess they don't give much weight to us spell caster types but they will learn the errors of their ways. The unconscious Lady Hope is dragged back to the tribe to be healed by the women while we discuss what we have learned and make eyes at young women. A night of feasting follows as Robinton is welcomed into the tribe. As he doesn't get his end away with any of the obviously willing young women I can only conclude he's one of those gay actor types. Great, another party member I shall have to keep an eye on and not let get behind me. I am running out of eyes....

Pugnapping

The next day the tribe heads off towards the annual meeting which is now only a week away. As the party couldn't outrun a crippled goat the women of the tribe give us something that boosts our speed and stamina but we risk a heart attack if we use it for more than an hour at a time. We head off in a vaguely northish direction but before we go too far Pug decides to fly off and get a lay of the land. He lands a few minutes later under the weight of numerous darts and dozy due to some alchemical effect. As he hasn't spotted his attackers he flies off again. We can only conclude that dozy and dopey are Pugs natural state. None of us are surprised when Thistle returns alone and explains that Pug has been captured by Goblins. While most of us are quite happy to leave Pug to the tender mercies of the Goblins, Robinton insists we go and rescue the midget idiot. We somehow follow the Spirit Bear to where Pug is being held (this doesn't bear thinking about).

The party find themselves in a tunnel that leads into a underground cavern where Pug is entertaining about 50 Goblins led by a Goblin Witch. Some Goblin Wargs lurk nearby behind some crude enclosure on the left. At the far end of the cavern a tunnel exits. Two Goblins sit atop some sort of mobile artillery pieces vaguely on watch but distracted by Pugs amusing antics. Pug is hanging naked from some sort of rack that I imagine is not for drying clothes on. The Goblin Witch is obviously chief torturer and putting on good show for her minions. Pug is obviously enjoying himself and loudly abuses everyone in sight, mostly the Goblin Witch, who cackles wildly as she grabs his dangley bits and whips off one of Pugs nuts and tosses it to her dog. As amused as we are by the Pug and Witch show we sneak into the cave in an attempt to rescue Pug before he loses too many more body parts. As usual Pug has his own ideas about the situation and much to our amusement his second nut soon follows his first. By now I am rolling around on the floor laughing helplessly (Ok our evil E&E backfired AGAIN and slept me). Robinton has overwelmed the distracted guard and taken over his dart spitter. The Goblins are all moving towards Robinton's projected image and away from the party. Someone kindly kicks me awake as the other dart spitter Goblin gets slept and I take over his weapon. Robinton is hosing the Goblins down with his captured dart spitter and I soon open up with mine. The Goblins realize they have been duped and take cover, sniping back at us with whatever they have in hand. In the mean time the Goblin Witch has been busy casting something horrible after she had clubbed Pug into unconsciousness.

Turns out the Witch Bitch was summoning a Lightning Elemental, lucky for us she failed to control it as she was blinded by Robinton's Flash of Light. The Lightning Elemental proceeded to hose down everything in sight with Lightning which fortunately for us was mainly Goblins. As I am wearing a suit which gives me some immunity to lightning I went and grabbed the unconscious and bleeding nut-less wonder and we beat a hasty retreat as the Witch Bitch dropped an Agony. Once again the party had pulled Pug's nuts out of the fire (OK not his nuts but we rescued the rest of him).

Return to the Witch Bitch

I had stolen the blinded Witch Bitch's black dagger as we retreated. A DA revealed it did Spirit Shaman stuff so I gave it to Lady Hope, our resident Spirit Shaman. Pug's interrogation had revealed that the Goblins held the Hunting Bear Tribe responsible for the failures of the hunt and they had kidnapped him in the hope of learning what the Hunting Bear Tribe where up to. Little did they know, Pug is an idiot and they learnt nothing.

Lady Hope sent us back to talk to the Witch Bitch in the hope that she would take pity on us and tell us what was going on. In the mean time Lady Hope would use the black dagger to clean her nails or something. Pug had been healed and was back on his feet, if moving somewhat gingerly. He persuaded Thistle to return us to the Goblin tunnels and we arrived to find that Witch Bitch had summoned Lady Hope to her through the stolen black dagger I had given Lady Hope and they were now happily swapping recipes. A long discussion ensues where we exchange information, from which we learn the following:

- The 12 Tribes had made a deal with The Hunt in the distant past and together they had locked away the Master of the Old (Wild) Hunt behind the Great Seal.
- Each of the 12 Tribes held part of the Great Seal.
- In return for The Hunts aid against the Master, the 12 Tribes had agreed to perform certain rituals honouring The Hunt etc.
- The runes say that the Hunting Bear Tribe haven't done their duty and the old hunt has returned.
- The Master of the Old (Wild) Hunt was stirring from his sleep or imprisonment (on the spirit plane) and was influencing others to work on his behalf.
- It started after the last full moon.
- The Goblins had captured the Hunting Bears undead shaman a couple of days ago and sacrificed him to their gods in the hope it would fix things but it hadn't.

We agree to work together with Pene the Goblin Witch to resolve the situation, which after all is what the party has been employed to do.

Astrology reading done on our behalf:

Not pure of heart, but their intentions are good.
Search for what is lost, they must find the ones that are lost.

We return to the Hunting Bear Tribe for further discussions. We resolve to try and locate and talk to the spirit of undead shaman and recover any of his possessions that may have survived. To do this we will need to return to Pene and ask her where he was killed. We twist Thistles tail to persuade it to take us back once more to the Goblin tunnels.

Return to the Witch Bitch 2

Pene has visitors and I don't think they were there because they liked her cooking. This is lucky for us as it gave us an opportunity to curry favour with Pene and maybe learn some more about what is going on by capturing and torturing some of them. As the 6 crocodile headed, battle axe wielding humanoids and their masked leader moved in to grab or kill Pene, the party started cooking. A tough food fight breaks out in which Thistle dies; Elenna, Robinton and I end up unconscious; all our opponents are dead (Only one of them was alive, the man in the mask, as the 6 others were undead); we get some loot.

A bunch of Goblins and Wargs turns up, lead by Chief Cleave (Assassin) and his lieutenant Scar (Warrior). Pene does the introductions and somehow Pug joins the Tiger Goblin Tribe.

Lady Hope returns us to the Hunting Bear Tribe so we can lick our wounds, unfortunately forgetting to ask Pene the questions we had gone there for in all the excitement. Pug is not welcome as he is now a member of an enemy tribe. Did I mention Pug is an idiot? If not, let the record show that Pug is an idiot! He spends the night outside the camp. On the plus side this leaves more tribal women for the rest of us. The tribe have arranged to borrow some horses for us in the morning so we don't all die of heart attacks.

It turns out that the masked man is but a boy and that he is Nosatin, a member of the Hunting Bear Tribe who had gone up into the mountains with a Tribal Elder Nanock in some sort of initiation into manhood ritual along with his twin brother Anang and some other tribe boys some weeks ago.

During the night Lady Hope gets attacked while she is asleep by a manifestation of the wolf spirit she has angered. Fortunately she is sleeping in a circle of protection that keeps her safe although Pug nearly dies as he goes to her aid. Fortunately he makes it into the circle.

A Place of Power

We decide to go to the nearest place of power (where the barriers between are thin) and travel to the Spirit Plane and see if we can kill the Wolf Spirit hunting Lady Hope and perhaps contact the undead shaman spirit and learn something useful. The nearest place of power is at the intersection of three rivers, so we set off on horse back.

We are wandering along minding our own business when suddenly the ground erupts, Robinton and his horse are lifted up in the maw of some gigantic worm-like creature! Robinton manages to jump clear before his horse is dragged underground. The ground about us shows signs of other worms moving rapidly towards us as we anxiously look around for rocky ground but we are caught on flat loamy soil. Another creature grabs my horse but I manage to leap clear while I fumble for my Shadow Wing potion, yelling that the others should do the same. The party scatter in all directions as Robinton and I take to the air. Somehow the others manage to get clear and we bravely flee as it becomes apparent that this is one GIGANTIC creature with at least 5 hungry maws feeding it's vast body.

We regroup and carry on to a river we can see in the distance. As we approach the river to cross a large humanoid skeletal creature covered in ice emerges from the river and attacks the four on horse back. Elenna's horse is smashed to the ground and she is lucky to be unhurt but is still at the mercy of this Greater Undead monster. Rather than try and control their panicked horses, the rest of the party leap off their mounts and start attacking. Robinton and I are still flying so we attack from above.

Those on the ground risk being trapped in some sort of Ice Shackles spell and Pug and Skafloc find themselves trapped. Pug manages to backfire and finds himself naked in the river but free of the ice. I use the Fireball Wand we got off the Gnomes and we are all surprised to find out how BIG a Rank 20 Fireball actually is as I blast the skeleton AND Pug and Skafloc! I will have aim better with the next one. Fortunately we kill it without me having to Fireball it again. Unfortunately Pug fails to engage brain and rushes to get his gear only to find him self once again trapped in the ice and we have to rescue him and Skafloc from freezing to death.

We spot what looks like an Imp spying on us and Robinton and I fly down to capture him but unfortunately Robintons idea of capturing him isn't so far off my idea for killing him, which would involve impaling him on a pole weapon. Unfortunately it is not an Imp but a very dead Kobold that Robinton has impaled and now he finds himself haunted by a Kobold Binder. After some discussion with the Kobold Spirit we resolve to see if we can't resurrect or have him reborn when we see the Keeper of the Well of Souls. We will see if we can't squeeze some loot out of him for this act of kindness.

We reach the Water Place of Power at the meeting of the three rivers and the party power up before Lady Hope opens us a path to the Spirit Plane. We step through and there is a howl as the wolf spirit picks up our scent (causing Skafloc to bravely flee) and races to attack us. After a short sharp fight we kill the wolf spirit (may have been tougher had we tried this at night) but unfortunately Lady Hope picks up a nasty Death Curse when it dies. We can only hope that Keeper of the Well of Souls can remove it for her and we quickly head there next. The only other thing of note is the triple effect Rank 20 Fireball I hit the wolf spirit with (OUCH) as I use up the last of the wands fireballs.

We chat to the Keeper whom is known to some of the party from previous adventures and he agrees to lift Lady Hope's curse in return for her future services (3 months) sometime in the near future, once she has dealt with whatever is interfering with the hunt. This allows us stop healing her, which we had been doing to keep her alive. We also learn:
- Our ally Gene, aka Witch Bitch has been fouly murdered!
- We are marked by The Master of the (Old) Wild Hunt. THAT'S NOT GOOD!
- Three of the twelve tribal items of power have been stolen and replaced by very good fakes which now that they have been used in rituals have weakened the Great Seal.
- The Shield has been stolen from Lady of the Horse Clan, the Spear has been stolen from the Shaman of the Hunting Bear Clan and the Bow has been stolen from the Eagle Clans Shaman.
- In addition to the death of the Shaman of the Hunting Bear Clan, the Lady of the Horse Clan and Shaman of the Eagle Clan have recently been assassinated, removing from play the three most powerful Tribal Shaman.
- The three stolen items of power have been pushed through into the Spirit Plane from their hiding places in caves on the mountain (which is a Place of Power) and are likely to be guarded.

We decide that we must recover these three items before the next ritual, prevent the fakes being used and warn the tribes. We leave the Kobold Spirit in the hands of Keeper of the Well of Souls. With the sounds of wolves filling our ears we travel back to the Water Place of Power to leave the Spirit Plane. Pug the Idiot has decided however to go elsewhere and as the wolves close in we leave the Spirit Plane without him.

Meetings and Journeys

We round up our two surviving horses and are about to set off when we spot some movement in the distance. Robinton and I fly off for a quick scout and see that it is our Goblin allies led by Cleave and Scar so we return to the party and head in their direction. From them we learn:
- Gene aka Witch Bitch has been fouly murdered by assassins. Shame, I liked her. Anyone who cuts bits off Pug CAN'T be all bad!
- The same assassins also stole the Goblins artefact, The Iron Stone of Shattering. THAT'S SO NOT GOOD!
- The Goblins also have a pact with The Hunt. The Hunt will refrain from attacking the Goblins provided the Goblins make an annual sacrifice of one of their own. (At this rate I can see us having to have some sort of pact with The Hunt. I can only hope that it involves ritually sacrificing Pug annually in some hideously painful manner.)

It's about now that Pug shows up. It must have been the promises of loot that the Goblins where going to pay us should we recover their stolen artefact. This loot includes: A Scroll of Wind Walking, Three Magic Beads (Black, Brown and Yellow), Goblin Healing Potions and Goblin Poisons.

What happened to Pug- insert here
- Potion of Regeneration - Potion of 4 Mysterys ????

After some negotiation we extract some Goblin Healing Potions and Goblin Poison in advance. With the assistance of the new Goblin Shaman, we Spirit Travel to somewhere near the Horse Clans camp.

As you might imagine, things at the Horse Clan camp where quite volatile, after all their Lady of the Horse had just been assassinated and their most holy relic (Shield) has been stolen and replaced by a fake. Even though the Goblins are on reasonably friendly terms with the Horse Clan, their new shaman decides to melt into the long grass, which is probably very wise. Fortunately for us our names and descriptions had reached them from the Hunting Bear Clan so we were only met by a token mounted charge meant to test our courage and as I had expected this we held our ground as they quickly surrounded us. Lady Hope is escorted into camp for a meeting with their very young and inexperienced shaman Glyth which takes place in some sort of sweat lodge. The rest of us are kept under guard outside camp.

In some sort of ritual that involved hot rocks, water and mind bending drugs, Lady Hope, Glyth and tribal elders spirit-walked to have a chat to the murdered shaman. Together they all resolve to let Skafloc join the Horse Clan, start making a new shield to replace the fake, loan us the fake so we can use it to lead us to the stolen shield and generally refrain from murdering us.

We spent the night in their camp as we celebrate Skafloc the Horse Clansman (he receives his horse blanket) and await Lady Hopes recovery from her drug tripping. We also find the time for a divination of the fake shield and learn it's about 6-12 months old, involves Wild Magic (Elven???) and draws from the original. This implies that someone had been working for MoWH for some time and had probably access to the original. That someone was probably Henna , whom was the aunt of Nosatin and Anang (the twins, we killed Nosatin a couple days ago, masked boy). She disappeared about 3 weeks ago and was known to be rebellious and she wanted to be shaman.

We Recover the Shield

The next day the party leave camp after breakfast along with Skafloc's new bum chum Kitai, whom has been making eyes at him ever since we arrived and has volunteered to accompany him. He carries a spear and bow so maybe he will be useful. We meet up with the Goblin Shaman, we power up and he opens a portal to the Spirit Plane. We arrive in a grassy circle. From there we use the fake shield to take us to the location of the original. We arrive on the edge of a settlement, where we can see a Long House (large, wooden hall with double door entrance, like you might see up north of the Western Kingdom) guarded by 2 armoured men. We quickly sleep them and enter the open doors.

Inside there is an armoured elf with Sword and Horn on his belt standing on a raised dais which also holds a throne and a woman. Below him are approximately 8 drunken Jeckles (Jackle headed humanoids). Their weapons lie close at hand and the walls are cover with hanging shields. Fighting breaks out, the woman is slept, a horn is sounded, doors slam and lock, spells are cast, fire arrows launched, the elf Necromancer laughs at us as he drains life from his minions to repair damage we inflict, Robinton recovers the stolen Shield, Pug is shrunk, bottled and appears on the throne, it all looks grim as we have clearly walked into a trap as this is the Master of Deception. We decide it's about time we were somewhere else and attempt to leave, however this is very difficult. Robinton and one of the others finally break free of the hall and dissappear, lending hope to the rest of us. However before we can attempt to follow them we find ourselves all together again back where we portaled into the Spirit Plane. Pug had used one of the doses from his Potion of Mysterys to rescue us. The only down side was that he and Lady Hope had swapped bodies, which didn't seem to bother Pug much but had Lady Hope in a lather.

We went and visited the Keeper of the Well of Souls where Lady Hope bargined some more of her soul away to reverse the Lady of Perversion and Corruption prank away. We then departed the Spirit Plane, but along the way Pug and Lady Hope got sidetracked somewhere.

What happened to Pug and Lady Hope - insert here

We returned to Horse Tribe and hand over the Shield we had recovered, then it's off to find the Eagle Clan. We rejoin Porsch, the Goblin Witch apprentice and Spirit Walk to somewhere near the Eagle Clan. After much talk we learn:
- Eagle Clan Shaman was killed yesterday by misshapen shadows and the Bow stolen.
- Lady Henna had an uncle in the Eagle Clan by the name of Avon who of course has disappeared.

I am invited into the Eagle Clan (given a small clan rug and chose a red thread which adds +1 Damage to my weapons when I am purified) and we stay for a night of drink, drugs and debauchery. The results of my attempt to seduce Elenna are lost in a drunken, drug filled haze but I awoke between two naked eagle women who where more than happy to welcome me into the tribe.

We Recover the Bow

Some time in the early afternoon we set off to recover my clans stolen Bow. The rest of the party are feeling seedy but as I have spent much of the night and all morning shagging half the women of the Eagle Clan my spirit is soaring! Thistle has returned to Pug after Purification (I guess Thistle's not smarter than the average bear after all). I am given a gourd of Mind Merge Potion (6 doses) and the Fake Bow. We wander away from camp to meet Porsch, power up and she opens us a portal to the Spirit Plane. We step through and find ourselves in a forest. We look around and spot 2 children (boy and girl) walking towards us. They appear to be about 9 years old and are carrying my Clan Bow! They drop the Bow at my feet and Carol (the little girl) tells us they have been promised their freedom if they deliver the Bow to us. A quick DA reveals that they are under the effects of Freedom. After some Mind Speech, chat, negotiation, bribery and Precog's we resolve to attempt to follow them out of the forest to Freedom.

I pick up the Bow and we follow the children for awhile until Lady Hope asks "How can we transfer the Freedom from the children to us?" to which I reply via Mind Speech "Well that would involve skinning them and wearing their skins." There is a loud childish shriek and the children disappear. After some finger pointing we carry on until we are attacked by some large ants (medium dog sized) which we kill in a short sharp fight.

Ahead we can see a clearing, towards the centre of which is a Circle of Hawthorns surrounding an iron column set vertically in the ground. The column is set into a black sphere half buried in the ground. As we move closer Lady Hope is seized by some unseen force and pulled towards the iron column. Robinton and I both manage to grab one of her legs and prevent her from being dragged off.

Vladimir - Make a wish!

We move closer cautiously and spot two spirits trapped by the columns magic (which seems to be its purpose). They are two demi-efreeti by the names of Claren and George who's attempts to free themselves by hosing the column down with fire have proved unsuccessful. Scattered on the ground around the column are the corpses of birds and as we watch a bird flies near the column, hits some invisible barrier and its corpse joins the others on the clearing floor. We investigate, discuss, make plans until our ears are filled with harsh laughter. A ghostly form appears complete with horns on his head, rattling chains and all and we realize we are in the presence of The Master of the Wild (Old) Hunt. He has turned up to taunt and tempt us and generally watch us squirm in his trap.

It's about then that Pug in his wisdom decides he's had enough and attempts to flee to his Mistress of Perversion and Corruption. There is an angry scream as the Mistress of Perversion and Corruption (MoPC) appears and as she is a powerful spirit is dragged towards the column! She manages to stop herself from being dragged all the way to the column but is trapped. She is NOT HAPPY! After we calm her down we continue to investigate, discuss our situation, bargain with MoPC and make plans.

The column is not iron at all, that is just an illusion. It is the backbone of some large creature that is sticking through some kind of gate (the black sphere at its base). Whatever this creature is, it is a powerful spirit magnet and it is holding us here. There are runes set into its spine but we cant read them from here. We hatch a plan to free MoPC which involves rope, a naked Robinton and the rest of us standing around with our eyes shut. Once she is free MoPC is able to read the runes and informs us that if we close the gate it will result in a big bang that is likely to be unpleasant for us all. We notice that Pug's skin is turning green, his nose is getting longer and his features are becoming Goblin like. In between laughing and Goblin jokes......

We come up with a plan to use the acid from the ant corpses to melt the spine of the creature holding us here. This involves telekinesis and finding and killing more ants but we quickly put it into effect. Once the spine is severed, whatever is holding us here is gone and we bravely flee. For freeing MoPC she tells us that the Shaman of the Rats (MoWH most trusted ally) holds the Iron Stone of Shattering (stolen from the Goblins) and that the Spear of the Hunting Bear Clan is being held by Gorgon, who rides around on a Trex who will challenge us to a big fight. We return with the Bow to my Eagle Clan minus Pug and Robinton whom are waylaid by MoPC. There is much drink, drugs and debauchery. Pug is now a GOBLIN!!!

We Recover the Spear

We learn that the bow we recovered was yet another fake and that the real one is safe. Which I must say I am none too happy about. Pug and Robinton have returned with presents from MoPC including a broach that does Illusion stuff. After breakfast and some discussion we head off to look for Gorgon and attempt to recover the spear (hopefully the real one). We arrive on the spirit plane in a desert on the edge of an oasis which is occupied by assorted creatures, mainly Goblins with silver collars around their necks. There is also a large metal lizard creature standing in the middle of the camp that must be this TRex thing we were told about. We wander in and ask for Gorgon. After a short while this large Troll like creature appears and we get down to talking terms for our contest.

Gorgon agrees to a spear throwing contest against Robinton where he puts up the Spear and we put up our freedom for a week as his slaves. The first person to wound the other in a non-fatal manner by chucking the spear at the other in the agreed time frame wins. As we know the Spear wont hit a Shaman of the Hunting Bear tribe and Robinton is Illusioned to be such a person with the aid of the second dose of Pug's potion from MoPC we should win this provided he can hit Gorgon within the time frame. Much to everyone's amazement it only takes him 9 casts before he wounds Gorgon and we have regained the Spear! We politely decline any further contests and depart. There are however some side effects of using the potion provided by the MoPC. We have all been cursed with a shape change into a different race (and or sex):

Skalok - male Hill Giant
Robinton - male Orc
Lady Hope - male Orc
Elenna - female Hobbit
Vladimir - male Dwarf
Pug - male Goblin (OK some things are just meant to be)

We recover the Iron Stone of Shattering

We depart the Spirit world and make plans to recover the Iron Stone of Shattering from the Shaman of the Rats Clan. After much discussion we come up with a plan. Using the Kobold potions provided by Goblins the party will infiltrate the Kobolds with Pug as a Goblin prisoner that we have captured who knows of a upcoming Goblin attack on the Kobold lair. Robinton has a magic flute that can force Goblins to tell the truth which he will use on Pug to force him to tell the Shaman the evil Goblin plan. Of course the flute will put all the Kobolds in a trance as long as Robinton keeps playing and allow him to implant a suggestion once he finishes. With the scrolls we have to protect us from the Kobold Shamans magic we should win the day!

Some how we got on to the subject of Goblin flags:
Lady Hope - Of course they are white... Vladimir - with a yellow stripe... Skaflok - and brown along the bottom.

Some dead guy once said "No plan survives engagement with the enemy" and ours was no exception. It worked as planed EXCEPT WE FORGOT to use our anti-shaman scrolls and the Rat Shaman had the Iron Stone of Shattering mounted on his staff and was immune to ALL our spells. But we were not immune to his as Pug soon found out when he was FROZEN DOOMED! On the plus side we added a couple more things to our 101 Things to do with a dead Goblin List which now also includes:

Provides a death buzz
Garden Ornaments
Possession

As the party battled to survive the Rat Shamans onslaught, Pugs corpse got possessed by MoPC and he/she grabbed the Staff off the Rat Shaman and Spirit Travelled away with our prize. The party quickly Spirit Walked after her, arriving just in time to see Pug, MoPC AND MoD open a rift between the Spirit World and the Real World and step through. The party quickly followed them, pausing only to pick up the Staff that they had dropped. Although the rift quickly closed, a number of beings managed to escape the Spirit Plane including this Scarab Beetle that quickly went from fist sized to 20 feet high and 45 feet long which caused us all some alarm. The rift opened just out side the walls of ??? and the guards quickly started shooting at the giant Scarab Beetle while the party did their best to avoid being stepped on and becoming Beetlejuice. The Beetle decided to attack Lady Hope for some reason, shattering 4 Hands of Earth on the way towards her before biting off her hand as she jumped down a Tunnelling in the hope that the Beetle would be too large to follow. Fortunately this proved to be the case and the Beetle decided to wander into town and check out the locale cuisine. The party ran up to the edge of the Tunnelling to see if Lady Hope had survived only to find the Tunnel empty so we bravely fled.

It didn't take long to catch up with Pug (Alas, alive again), Lady Hope and MoPC. Some discussion followed in which the party agreed to recover some items for MoPC from the hidden bedroom in her tent on the Spirit Plane in return for her removing her curse from the party (except Pug) and the 6 draw chest. Furthermore she would provide the party with the means to punish Pug in the future. It had become obvious that Pug had been making secret deals with MoD to hand over the Iron Stone of Shattering in return for promises of wealth and fortune. Promises that the MoD had no intention of delivering.

A journey to a ladies boudoir

After some discussion we decided that we wouldn't be able to get anywhere near the ritual as we had lost the support of the tribes. In addition we learnt that each tribe sacrificed a member anually to renew the ritual and if we were returned it was likely we would be the sacrifice for our respective tribes. So we decided that we would find the Kobold Shaman as he was MotH most trusted servant and provent him from completing whatever part of the plan he was to perform. Location pointed towards the Kobold tunnel. MoD illusioned us to look like Efreeti as LH Divinated the Belt of Skulls after she wished for the Namer Divination Ritual as her reward from the chest. Our Locate went down as we Divined so we Spirit Walked to the Kobold Tunnels in the hope of picking up his trail. We captured 4 Kobolds, quickly determined which one could speak Common and killed the others. The survivour led us to where the Kobold Shaman had opened a portal to the Spirit Plane. We learnt that he was accompanied by 2 Trolls and they had taken a wagon with them. We could hear sounds of persuit closing in all around us.

We opened a portal to the Spirit World near the Oasis where MoPC's tent was located as we belived that it would be the Place of Power that the Kobold Shaman would attempt to interfere with the ritual. Sure enough we found wagon tracks and foot prints (2 large and 1 small set) leading towards the Oasis. As we followed the tracks we spotted a large urn sitting on the trail which we decided was a trap and attempted to go around it. Unfortunately we must have gotten too close as the urn shattered releasing a HUGH swarm of insect which persued us into camp eating everything that got in their way. Fortunatly this didn't include any of us although we all got bitten.

We found the Trolls unloading 6 similar urns into MoPC's tent and decided to take them out with a Tunneling. Skaflok Tunneled out under the wagon, dropping it into 20 foot deep hole shattering 4 of the 5 urns left in the wagon. The Trolls dropped the urn they were carrying and fled. Our feeble attemts to contain the insects all failed and we piled into the tent and shut the door. We spent the next 30 seconds or so rolling around on the ground to kill the bugs that had made it into the tent with or on us. Pug had spotted the Kobold Shaman shattering an urn in the central room to prevent us from following him by the quickest route. LH had a chat to the recently dead spirits who gave her directions to bypass the central room and either face the spider or the snake.

We decided to take on the snake as Skaflok's spirit form is Mongoose and mine is Cobra so we figured we would have the edge. We took a rug to throw over the serpent if the opportunity arose. We entered the right-hand room which was empty of any serpents and loot so we pushed on. The next room contained a number of couches that had been overturned, a stoned toad which we decided indicated the serpent had a petrification bite and/or spit. The Mongoose warned us the serpent was near and sure enough it dropped down from above LH, bit her and she was fortunate to not end up as a ornimental statue. We quickly killed it and moved on. My Limited Precog indicated that the next room contained confusion and death which we decided was the likely the result of Nightmares, Phantasms or Spectral Warriors. Forwarned is forarmed as they say and we entered the room, cast counter-spells and rolled up the carpet from which the Spectral Warriors seemed to be emerging. Unfortunately it was too heavy to take with us, but we did find a beetle broach and an small urn covered in red flames.

The next room was some sort of hunting lodge, the main attraction being three Elves decked out for hunting and conversation quickly determined we were their prey. Pug hurdled the red flame urn at the Elves and there was a MASSIVE FIREY EXPLOSION which killed the Elves, Pugs Spirit Familiar and left most of us unconscious. We used ALL our healing potions (OK I saved 1 for emegencies) getting us back to some sort of state to carry on. Much of the contents of the room had been destroyed although we did find a urn with blue flames on it (which we would NOT let Pug carry despite his prolonged protests) along with 6 silver cups with lids secured with fine silver chains sitting on a silver tray. We took a cup each and the tray. As we knew we were adjacent to the final room I cast a Precog to provide us with some insight of what may lay ahead. Well it was either the best or worst Precog I had ever cast as it provided me with a wealth of information and resulting in victory or death.

The next room was octagonal, about 80 feet across. On the left wall were 4 Spirit Wolves bound to the wall with silver spirit chains. On the right wall were 3 Spirit Wolves similarly bound. About 10 feet from each group of wolves was a pulsating magic lantern. Two Wood Golems stood ready to attack us once we entered the room. The center of the room was dominated by the Kobold Shaman sitting on a wooden bench performing a Spirit Portal Ritual with his back towards us. Two skulls sat on the bench facing our door ready to cast spells. Two large insect swarm urns were in holes at his feet. Runes covered the floor around him and he was within a complex magic circle. A large swirling circle of broken glass prevented us from reaching him without being torn apart. I quickly sketched the layout of the room and we determined our plan.

Robinton and Elenna would Telekinisis the lanterns away from the wolves and deposit them behind us and out of sight. Pug and Skafloc would engage the Golems while LH and I tried to disrupt the Kobolds ritual with a Spectral Hand and Control Person. Pug was all for throwing in the blue urn and shutting the door but we decided this was far too risky as there were too many unknowns. Whoever found themselves at a loose end first would attempt to free the wolves from their chains.

Standard Buffs

Magic Rk Effects Duration Lady Hope Pug Elenna Vladimir Robinton Skafloc
Armour of Earth 6 14 Defence 3.5 hrs
Mind Speech 6 Silent party communication 70 min
Cold Resistance 6 Protects -12°C, -3 cold damage 7 hrs
 
 

Only if/when needed



Creatures & People Encountered

Loot

Mundane

From the Gnome Illusionist's
- 3 x 10 point healing potions (used)
- 4 x Sleep Dust - rank 11 (expired)
- A Wand with 2 rank 20 Fireballs (used up)

From the Old Hag
- 6 x Shadow Wing Potions - rank 15 (used)

From Nosatin (The Masked Boy)
- Dagger (non magical)

From Pene the Goblin Witch (later assassinated)
- Black Dagger - (Vlad)

To Pug from Lady of Perversion and Corruption
- Potion of Regeneration (rank 9) (used???)
- Potion of 4 Various Corrupt Wishes (at least 3 used)

Payment from the Goblins
- Scroll of Wind Warding (Elenna)
- 6 Goblin Healing Potions (used)
- 6 Goblin Poison Paralysis (Vlad)

To Vladimir from Eagle tribe
- Gord with 6 doses of Mind Merge (Mind Speech???)

First named Hoopy Magical Item

From Nosatin (The Masked Boy)
- Mask of Spirit Travel and Viewing - (Lady Hope)
- Cloak of Shadow Blending - (Skafloc)
- Belt with spirits trapped in skulls - (Vlad)

From the Goblins as payment
- 3 Beads; Black (-1 die roll modifier - Robinton) , Brown (+1 EN - Skafloc) and Yellow (+1 TMR - Robinton)

From the various tribes
- We each (except Elenna) received a woven token item e.g. Robinton has small rug with a white thread woven into it which increases his Purification Ritual rank by 1 when used. Vladimir has a small blanket from the Eagle tribe with a Red thread woven in (+1 Dm)
- additional threads; Black (-1 die roll modifier - Robinton), Brown (+1 PS - Skafloc), Blue (+1 MR - Robinton), Red (+1 PS - Skafloc) and White (+1 rank in Purification - Skafloc)
- Pugs Blue bead (+1 Armour of Ice) from the Goblin Tribe and Aura Alteration Bead (no doubt stolen from somewhere)

From Gorgon who rides a Trex
- Illusionary Broach for Robinton (won in spear throwing contest)

From Lady of Perversion and Corruptions tent
- Green Bead (Corruption and disease) - (Pug)
- 6 goblets - (1 each)
- silver tray - (Elenna)
- Metallic Scarab - Kite shield once per day for 5 minutes that floats and defends at owners shield rank - (Vlad)
- Chest with 6 drawers (1 wish each)

Calendar

Summer 810wk: Meadow
Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
Beltane

Full Moon

1 Guild Meeting 2 Visit Old Ugly and slay "the Ogres" 3 Return to SAG and portal to Korinia 4 A hunting we will go 5 Pugnapping 6 Place of Power
7 We Recover the Shield 8 We Recover the Bow 9 We Recover the Spear 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 ' 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 Full Moon 29 30 1 2 3 4
Summer 810wk: Heat
Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 Midsummer Eve (Faerie Day) 15 Solstice 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 Full Moon 27 28 29 30 1 2
Summer 810wk: Breeze
Moonday Duesday W'ansday Th'rsday Frysday Reapsday Sunday
3 Day of Death 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30