Assault on Kron

Scribe Notes

Summary

Adventure: Assault on Kron
GM: Jillian Mitchinson
Session: Spring 806 wk
Night: Monday
Level: Low

Party

1. Rahne - Human E&E, played by Stephen.
2. Mavric - Dwarven Bard, played by Lisa Rose
3. Henric - Dwarven Mind mage, played by Chris C
4. Sam - Orkish Pacifist, played by Andrew Withy

Employer

Black Candles

Mission

To save a princess, the world of Kron, and Alusia, from being destroyed.

Pay

I think we missed this bit...

Narrative

Introduction

On the Vernal High Holiday of Candlemansa 806, Guild security received some black candles in the post – well, actually they appeared in someone's in-tray and no one claimed responsibility. They decided they would play a practical joke on some of the newer adventurers who had been giving them grief lately. They selected a pushy warrior enchantress from Kin Lu, a foul-mouthed orc, and an extended family of dwarves that Thoric had asked them to wet-nurse for a few months. Unfortunately they only had five candles, so only three of the dwarves got the candles. The recipients were each told to light their candles by their beds that night, and that this would fulfil a prophecy.

1 Thaw

The next morning, the five would-be adventurers got together pre-Guild Meeting and discussed their dreams. Most of them sounded prophetic, and the names Kron and Argamon were good leads. A bit of research in the Guild library by Rahne revealed a myth where Kron was a Dwarven God of War and Argamon was a God of Gold & Gems. The two were involved in a battle for cosmic good and evil – they couldn't work out which side they were on. The Stronghold of Kron is lost, mythical, or off-plane. The dreams hint it's real, alive, and in pain; also that the sacrificing of a dwarven princess by the Sword of Argamon will be bad news for more than the immediately concerned. They form a party to save the princess, and set out on their epic quest.

The trees seen in a dream were not clear, at least to a cavern-dwelling psychopathic rock-eater, so the party loaded up with several weeks of supplies and pushed hard for the nearest pub. An hour later, they managed to reach New Seagate, and recognised a tree – "that's a tree"; "that's a pub"; "lets go in here". They stormed the alcohol stronghold without a thought for their own safety, and through decisive brilliant and a wedge formation, soon broke free of the throng and entered the inner courtyard. There they espied their chosen tree, and realised that their intuition was well-founded – the innkeeper said that the 80 foot high Oak covered in vivid light green leaves had not been present the night before, and the flagstones were broken and pushed down, as if the Oak had driven its massive roots into the earth, rather than slowly raising the pavers upwards over time. Sam spoke to the Oak. It claimed it was a simile, and a method of transportation for the Chosen. The house refreshments made these claims seem reasonable, and the party girded its loins and set forth through the tree.

Kron

As they stepped out from the shade of a much darker and sinister Oak tree, the dark and roiling clouds raced across the blood-red sky and covered the fading sun. The Oak claimed it served a great and powerful Master. Turning, the party saw a walled courtyard nearby in an otherwise near-featureless set of bleak hills. They hastened towards the courtyard in the gathering gloom, and passing through a gate, walked through a beautifully tended garden to a well-crafted cottage. A knock on the door brought an elderly elven gentleman, who invited them in. Not being ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, the party entered the enchanted cottage for tea and cakes, and should have been never heard from again.

Mithras

The elven gentleman was a seer and magician called Mithras. He had rescued the dwarven princess, Princess Arlene, from Kron's stronghold, but goblins had re-taken her. He wished to hire the party to rescue the princess again. The longer that they waited, the more powerful "they" got. The magician was powerful (and later evidence showed him to be very powerful), so the idea of goblins overpowering him in his enchanted cottage and seizing the princess was far-fetched; Sam called Mithras on this, and accused him of hiring the party to break into the tower where she was staying and kidnap her for him. Mithras was amused. He said that Princess Arlene held a great diamond of power which was linked to her, and not to touch it while exercising a spell, ritual or talent. The Full Moon would be on the 7th of Thaw; the party had until then to rescue the princess before she was sacrificed by the Sword of Argamon, and the worlds fell into chaos. The party then ate the enchanted food, stayed the night in the enchanted cottage, and left the next day along the trail Mithras indicated.

2 Thaw

The world felt odd and small even under the open sky. The sun sat in the sky like a lantern, rather than gently arcing through the heavens. The party travelled through some copses of trees, the through sand dunes, tussocks, and a game trail through rough hills. Impatient of the shifting terrain, and wishing to reach the destination, the party broke into a jog (apart from the long-limbed Rahne, who continued to saunter). After several hours, the ground dipped, and a near-canyon opened up in front of them. Down the steep sides of the valley were trees and several cave mouths. The party went invisible and quietly snuck into enemy territory, the hush only broken by the spark of hob-nailed boots against stone, and the running commentary required to stop the invisible dwarves from walking into each other. Rahne and Sam exchanged several meaningful looks over their heads. The first cave seemed uninteresting, and the second spooky, but the dwarves had a good feeling about the third, so the party entered.

Goblins

For operational reasons, the technical details of what occurred will not be released. Suffice it to say that Mav'ric learned that when crawling through a tunnel, you should take the same turnings as the dwarf in front of you; Bodric learned that you don't need to kill every goblin and set fire to it; Rahne learned that wandering off in disgust at dwarves massacring naked helpless surrendering women is bad, but not as bad as watching them commit the atrocities; Sam learned why you don't push a lady down a mud slide and follow her; and Heinric learned very little. The goblin leader, and his two lieutenants were captured, along with valuable tapestries detailing the sword. No sign was found of the dwarven princess, and no knowledge of her wrung from the goblins. The goblins were rounded up to be returned to Mithras for further questioning. The walk home was long, and tiresome, full of whining and cringing from the goblins.

An Empty Cottage

The cottage was empty, but food was provided, along with warm beds, and almost anything named and looked for. The goblins were interrogated and fed. As night fell, the sun dimmed in the sky, and the world turned pitch-black. The cottage was locked and barred for the night. As the windows and doors were barred, magical runes glowed, sealing and warding the cottage. During the night, a stampede and much shouting was heard outside, but the party didn't lift the bars to peer outside. In addition, more prophetic dreams were dreamt. The next morning, with still no sign of Mithras, the party decided to return the goblins. Bodric decided to wait for Mithras to tell him what had happened, and primarily to examine the Runes more closely. Tracks outside the cottage revealed that around 8 orcs had chased a troll through the garden last night.

The Bandits

The goblins told the party of some human bandits in the first cave along the valley. Apparantly goblins traded slaves with these bandits, and perhaps they would know of the princess. After returning the goblins to their cave, the intrepid heroes snuck into the bandit cave. They bypassed the guards, without noticing them, and wandered through some man-made passages until they found a secret place where they could oversee a large pile of valuable trade goods being catalogued and inventoried. Some guards played dice while the merchants checked the goods against a list. They pushed on, and came to a door. Beyond were more merchant-types arguing. After a hurried discussion, they resolved to rush the merchants/bandits and put them to the question. Upon kicking open the door, an embarrassing scene played out, ending up with the party, having failed to have any impact after thirty seconds of surprise and combat, being the guests of the human merchants. They also knew of the legends of Kron, and once they were informed that the princess was about, were concerned about her being sacrificed, as they believed that this small plane, and all those connected to it, including Alusia, would be corrupted if the princess was killed. They decided to deal to the troll, which we had traced to the cave between them and the goblins. In return, they introduced the party to two of their other guests.

Hot Chicks

Selene and Jasmine were two hot elves. They were very dangerous. Selene was dressed in mithril chain, and Jasmine in skin-tight leather (with a whip!). Both had lots of amulets, rings, and other gee-gaws dripping off them, as well as many small sharp blades. Selene was a Namer, and Jasmine a Dark mage. They both had several out-of-college magics, and were definitely high-level assassins. They had planned to sneak into the orc cavern network and kill them, while stealing a huge diamond for their off-planar employer, a Seer (not Seir). When the party told them of the princess, and the link to the diamond, they didn't change their plans an iota. However, they did give Mav'ric a quickness amulet, and Heinric a stealth amulet, to help us. They also cast witchsight on the entire party, except for the orc. Much drooling ensued. The party's new plan was to try to get the princess from the orcs, while the elves took the diamond from the orcs in an independent action. Of course, as the gem and girl were linked, and had to remain close, it was all going to end in tears, but the party weren't going to spell that out in front of the twin embodiments of glorious sexual fantasy.

Through the Acid Pool

The party returned to the goblin caves, and bullied their way into the kitchen, where the goblins have a secret, sealed off tunnel leading to the Orc cave network. They were very glad to see teh back of the party, watching them go into certain death. The stairs wended down until they reached a steaming pool, like that in Sam's Dream #2. The water was burning, and damaging to the touch. A thin, crumbly stone ledge went around the pool, sometimes disappearing out of sight as the cave wall bent and turned. On the far side of the water was a small sandy beach - the only visible way out. Rahne and Mavric were happy to try to edge along the crumbling stone, bent backwards over the acidic, bubbling water, but Henric and Sam elected to put a five foot wide stone path throug the pond instead. The only problem was that the stone wall was too high to easily climb up. Both Henric and Sam were injuried climbing up, and got very wet when leaping off at the other end, but their sacrifice protected the wimin-folk, who both stayed dry upon the sturdy stonework.

Past the Orcish Guards

After towelling themselves off, and removing most of the burning acid, the party ascended up some stone steps to a solid door. Mavric used Clairaudience to investigate, and could hear some Orcs talking. Unfortunately she's a swarf and didn't understand anything. The door was then forced open, and Sam snuck unseen down the corridor. A large Orc guard was showing off to two Orcish ladies. Sam forced the guard to do press-ups to a number bigger than he could count, then escorted the ladies from the dangerous area, before impregnating them. Meanwhile, the more focussed party members scouted the other way, finding the dwarven princess unconscious in a cell, next to an impressive set of double doors with several Orcish voices eminating from within. Sam finally returned, re-buckling his trews. The party blocked the double doors with a wall, tunneled around the magically-sealed cell door, and picked up the princess.

Defeating the Undead

The princess burned to the touch, except to Henric, who may secretly be a prince! The party moved her from the cell, but needed the gem before attempting to get her further away. Further Investigation revealed a series of valve-like doors where people had to enter singly, closing each door before opening the next. Inside was a fearsome undead alchemist. A horrendous struggle ensued, with the party desperately trying to question the skeletal artisan before Sam's psychopathic pet rabbit shreded it. The skeleton's death sealed the party in his lair, with the princess still out in the Orc corridor. However, a grill from the lab overlooked a throne room containing the Orcish group the party had earlier overheard. There were only 7 of them, and the party decided that a frontal assault was the best option. They tunneled out to the corridor, threw the princess back along the tunnel into the sealed lab with Sam the Orc, and forced open the doors to the throne room.

Assaulting the Orcish King

Orcs are better fighters than Dwarves or humans. The Orcish celestial shaman was a better mage than Sam. The Orcs outnumbers the party two-to-one. Blackfires and Dwarf-stars clashed against Hands of Earth and Walls of Stone. The Shaman avoided four different hands, while Sam shrugged off Blackfire after Blackfire. Rahne cut her way herioically past the guards and fought directly with the mage and a single persistent guard, leaping onto their evil altar and striking down in all directions. Mavric, having backed her first opponent into a Hand, closed with her second, and stabbed him repeatedly with a dagger, like an embroiderer stiching a plate-mail covered tapestry. Henric held the double doors against reinforcements, but with three new Orcs running in, he was eventually overwhelmed by sheer numbers, and cut down like the dwarf that he was. Sam went catatonic from the last Blackfire and the death of Henric and some of the Orcs. The freshly arriving Orcs saw the amount of magic, and Rahne hacking their leader down, and threw lethal gas grenadoes before locking the doors.

Aftermath

Fortunately, Mavric was trapped under her slain Orc, and the green poisonous gas passed over her, while Rahne was further from teh door than any of the Orcs, and survived by keeping ahead of the gas. The Orcs were either trapped in or behind hands and walls, or were too injured to move, and all succumed, while Rahne dragged Mavric to safety. Utilising several side passages, they managed to make they way to in front of the throne-room doors, and un bar them. The gas had dissipated, and they recovered Henric, just as Sam tunneled himself and the princess through the corridor and 50 feet down into the rock. The party regrouped, and looked around. Under the throne was a locked casket chained to the throne. The party broke the casket off.

On the Run with a Hot Princess

What's next for our intrepid Quintet Quartet Trio ? ...

Information

There is a party order, but basically Rahne scouts ahead whenever she likes, and the dwarves scatter and run around hitting each other and anything else. There is a watch order, but no one knows what it is - people just wake each other up. It's not chaos, but it's close.

Loot to date

• Five fine gem-encrusted tapestries made from gold threads, depicting the Sword of Argamon. One of them has an extra-dimensional pocket in which the sword can be felt by dwarves, but not withdrawn from the tapestry.
• 1 coarse, pornographic tapestry, purely to protect and disguise the other tapestries.
• A large chest containing tarnished silver goblets, plates, candelabra, etc., with insignia, collectively weighing approx 100 pounds.
• A small chest containing around 3000 silver coins and some gold, weighing around 9 pounds + casket.
• A small chest containing a wooden stand holding four blue glass vials bound with containing magic. This chest also came wrapped in many feet of iron chain.
• Three goblins (returned).
• An Amulet of Quickness (5 charges, 15 minutes each, single target).
• An Amulet of Stealth, increases stealth by half again.
• A dwarven princess, burns to the touch.
• A casket that was chained under a throne.

Dream 1B –1S

Bodric

my first dream.

Henric

my first dream.

Mav'ric

I dreamed about a lovely dwarven princess. She was not me. She singed a lovely song and sewed gems and jewels into a tapestry with gold thread. The tapestry is of a short sword surrounded by flames. Then the princess says help me please you must find the sword and save me from the monster.

Did I mention the gems and jewels and gold thread? They were very nice.

Rahne

I had a dream of a large gem resting on a scroll and as I leaned forward to read the scroll the words warped and changed as I tried to see through the stone. I could make out a few words:

In the stronghold of Cron is a sword of Argaman ... Princess ... entrapped within ... the most precious jewel.

As the dream faded I could hear a lovely melody.

Sam

One moment I was romping in a cavern with some lusty wenches, and the next I was alone in a tunnel with a haunting melody playing in my ear. I saw I light and went looking for my wenches. The ground was rough under my feet, so I looked down and saw gems of all kinds. When I tried to pick some up, they faded through my hands. By touching them, though, I realised that the earth was screaming in pain. I slammed my hand against the wall and got seared with great pain. Then I woke up. Look, my hand still bears the mark of a little sword. Also, I have a map fragment from my dream.

Dream 2B –2S

Bodric

my second dream.

Henric

my second dream.

Mav'ric

That same princess is dancing in a cake like ballroom to the same song she was singing before. She sleep walks out, then disappears. I look for her and the room changes to a dark room with the princess chained to an altar. The song starts to sound discordant and nasty and the dream fades.

There were no jewels or gems or gold thread this time.

Rahne

I dreamed of the same scroll and gem. I could make out a few different words and heard the same melody throughout the dream.

... sacrifice Princess ... full moon ... changes to earth ... power.

Sam

I was underground in a steamy pool with slow-moving water. I was relaxing, and then four naked nubile women slowly joined me and started stroking my body <<censored>>. All the time, that familiar refrain played in my head. As the dream contined, I started to tingle all over, like pins and needles, and the melody got more discordant, the naked women fall away and become dead bodies floating in the water – the bodies look like the party. Breathing became harder and harder, and I woke up with another map fragment.

Personal Narratives and Comments

Henric

"I'm not quite sure what to write here, but its all been very exciting. Finally using my Warhammer to good effect and dealing to 'bad guys', well people that Mr Sam and Lady Rahne tell us are 'legitimate targets'! Sneaking around in tunnels and trying our luck would be a lot safer if we knew where all the people were.

I must get better in my College to perhaps be able to forewarn others in the future, but I get such bad headaches when I try and fail. Glad to have such well experienced senior SAG members like Sam and Rahne to lead us as the others could get out of line given the chance, especially the girls. Well girl really cos Lyric stayed behind this time to study more how to be an E&E which sounds quite useful for the future, much more so than bardy Mavric who doesn't really seem to do much except be annoying.

I'm glad I'm here with my siblings too, it's like the fun adventure we had when we were trapped down the darkened abandoned tunnels 6 years ago and were there for 7 days before dad got us out of there. Ah fond memories"

More later ...

Mav'ric

I will remember that if the orc I'm fighting is lots bigger but wearing lots of armour or carrying lots that I can get to use my dagger more on him!!! I'm a bit worried about whether we can finish this mission. Rahne is really good, but Sam doesn't seem to fight, which is a bit strange cos I thought he was a big tough orc. Heinie has got himself killed, which would be more sad except I know the Guild can bring him back. It's quieter without him. Now maybe they'll stop treating me like a little girl! I wish Boddy was still here, cos it was lots of fun not following him. I mean really, why should I follow him blindly? It's much more interesting to take a different way!

I don't think we should tell Mum about the whole Heinie dying and us taking on insurmountable odds thing. I don't think she'd be happy. Must remember to tell Heinie and Boddy NOT to talk about it in their next letter home!

I wonder if I should have chosen a different college than Bard? It was really useful at home (you should have seen Boddy and Heinie jump when I did that ventriloquism thing) but until I get better at it, I don't know if it will be very useful on adventures...

Rahne

Two worlds in peril,

Heroes, death and mayhem required.

For whom is it Spring?

Human, Orc and Dwarves

Lucky bunnies? Heroes by name!

By candle, tree and foot

To War's home are we despatched.

Dark maws, evil contents

Goblins suprised, an enemy allied

Clothed sword acquired

Foul bandits? Fair talkers.

Orcs raided, the princess ours

by Henric's corpse

Life's end reversed, our guild be-thanked

Henrik and Princess

sundered. Warily we parley:

Fair Elves, fair allies?

Their patience appreciated.

Night brings war

Earth, tree, and home our defence

The Wolf at our hearth.

Master of dreams

Matthias follows the sun

Pampered vigil ends.

Questions answered

Fey Elves chastised by Dream

Kron's winter ends.

Sam

The bloody dwarves are psychopathic, and Rahne stabs me whenever I accidentally fall on her or touch her, or push her down mud slides or lick her. At least Mav'ric lets me kiss her for 'Luck'.

I am down to one she-dwarf, one unconscious princess, and one she-human. If I can take Rahne's sai away I can lock us in that undead alchemists' room and wile away the time pleasantly until the Elven Assassin Chicks find us and kill me.

Hey everyone else, please post your dream sequences. Just 'cos I'm your boy-toy doesn't make me your slave outside the bedroom !!