In the morning Endo wakes and goes outside to stand in the sun.
The party decides to spend another day in this town, with Skeeve studying the orb and Enoch studying the book. They hope the extra time spent in study will yield the answers they need on the road ahead. They also hope to change their sleep schedule so that they are no longer awake at night and asleep during the day.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Session 7, Part 2”
I’ve been reading back through some of the past sessions and I’ve noticed they seem a bit flat. This is not Heather’s fault. She does a fine job of recording events, but once she’s done I have to turn the notes she takes (in real-time) and turn them into a narritive. Obviously the more detail I add, the better the post will be. I can just post her notes, and be done in 10 minutes, or I can spend days converting the play-by-play into a proper story. As I’ve fallen behind schedule, the posts have become more the former and less of the latter as I’ve tried to catch up.
I would like to point out that I’ve written a book. I know how to write. If I found a chapter of my book wasn’t working, I’d trash it and start over. If it was large and detailed, I’d spent a lot of time on it until it was done.
But now I’m working on material that arrives at a fixed rate. Sure, I can spend a week and a half writing the most recent session, but by the time I’m done I’ll have yet another session in the pipe and I’ll be even further behind. It’s like working on parts on a conveyor that travel at a fixed speed: Spending more time on one unit eats directly into the time I can spend on the next one.
The trip I took two weeks ago only made things worse. I got caught up a bit by skimping on session 6, and it shows. The session is a bit lifeless, lacking in color. Of course, it was fun and interesting for the players, but reading my narritive makes it sound dry and dull. Sorry about that.
So, what we’re faced with now is the fact that I’m working a full two sessions behind schedule. At the moment, I’m transcribing session 7, we just had session 8 last night, and I’m working on preparing to run session 9 for next sunday.
My point is that transcribing a D&D campaign is turning into a bigger challenge than I thought. I suppose if I was some sort of uber-writer I could churn out quality material at a steady pace, every day. But as it stands, the sessions happen just a little faster than I can handle them.
I hope you can enjoy the story anyway. Thanks for reading.
They are in the Town of Tal Podere, and the party has just rescued their friend Endo. He’d been blinded and seemed confused. The party brought him back to town and brought him to Enoch’s room where he was healed. Now it is time to speak with him and find out what has been going on…
Also, Pat was late due to work. So his character (Eomer) isn’t going to do or say much for the first half of the session.
-Shamus
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Session 7, Part 1”
They travel west, heading for the town of Tal Podere. As morning draws near, they pass a number of the Queen’s elite guards walking along the road in the opposite direction.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Session 6, Part 2”
Allow me to draw your attention to the Gnome Homes add on the right side. Murray of Silent Running has pointed out that if you want a Gnome Home by Christmas you’d best order now. Perfect for the Geek who has everything or for the Gnome who has nothing.
I think these things are quite clever. Check them out:
Give it a look.
There is no D&D this week. Session 6 + 7 are still in the works, but I’ll be gone until Thursday, so I won’t be able to get my geek on until then.
The party was just tricked by a local official into going into a tomb and freeing some sort of lich. They have fled south and are still trying to get a handle on what they have done and what they are dealing with. They want to escape the island but they must rescue their friend Endo first.
-Shamus
Everyone is very tired. Eomer most of all. They left the city of Crossway about a half an hour ago and have been riding south at a steady pace since then. At last they halt and discuss their next move.
Eomer wants to split the party up, sending Enoch and Skeeve back north to the library in Breakshore while the rest of them head south and locate Endo. Beck doesn’t like this plan. There is a heated debate.
This is one of those situations where reasoning had to give way for the sake of keeping the game fun & manageable.
-Shamus
They decide to stay together for now and ride south to the next town. They recall that Noreeno said they would find Endo in one of the towns between the rivers. This means there are four towns where he may be found. Perhaps they can learn a bit more and then have a better idea of what they should do next. They review the map…
…and decide to head for the town marked “Dockhouse”. A little after midnight they have to ride over an arching bridge, taking them into Central Mar Tesaro.
At about 2:30 am they come to Dockhouse. The entire “town” is a collection of four buildings. Down by the lakeshore there is a Dockhouse where a large ferry sits quietly in the water. There are two other houses and some stables. The entire population of the town is doubtless less than two dozen. The town seems to exists simply to care for the ferry.
An Alidian solder is here. He has left off most of the standard uniform and is only wearing the red and white shirt. He is standing by the well, holding a lantern. He looks relaxed. This town obviously sees little in the way of excitment. The guard hails them as they approach and examines their travel papers. Once he’s satisfied, they learn that the basement of the largest house serves as a flophouse where they may spend the night. There is also a small stable available for the horses. They drop a few coins to secure the services they need, and then head to bed.
The flophouse is a crowded room with hard, military-style cots along the wall. There are beds for eight, although they are the only ones here tonight. The place is dusty and shabby. They tumble into the beds and begin to sleep. However, Skeeve decides to stay up an hour and work on his orb. He studies, but is very tired and has a rough time of it. Nevertheless, he does meet with some success and learns more about ownership.
They sleep all night and well into the morning. By noon they are up and wondering what to do next. They elect to spend the day here so that Enoch and Skeeve can study some more. The others spend the day outside. They feel safe in this quiet, out-of-the-way little town. Eomer suggests that they make an effort to move around in secret, traveling by night and sleeping by day. The others agree. In the meantime, Skeeve has some more success with his studies:
Night falls. As Enoch and Skeeve complete their studies they hear yelling outside. The party dashes outside.
In the center of town they see a hideous beast looks like an undead human. However, instead of moving zombie-like, it seems to move with inhuman speed and grace. The eyes give off a dim red light. It is dressed in flowing black rags. The body is dried out and wiry, but isn’t falling apart. It looks tough and hard. As the run from the basement into the moonlight, they see the beast is throttling the guard. Eomer concludes that it is after Skeeve. He orders that Enoch and Skeeve make for the stables and try to escape while the rest of the party deals with it. It is fast, but they doubt it can keep0 up with a horse.
The creature tosses the body of the guard to one side and heads directly for Skeeve. It moves to cut off his escape. The battle is joined.
Their blades flash in the moonlight as they fight. It is terrifyingly fast, but they overcome it with their numbers and fell the beast. Skeeve suggests they break its head to make sure it doesn’t rise again. Enoch decides to check on the guard and see if there is any way to help him. To his surprise, the guard is on his feet, walking towards him.
“Need help? You ok?”, Enoch asks.
The guard doesn’t respond. He is pale and silent as he makes his way over to Enoch.
Thu’fir rolls his eyes. He can see where this is going, and he knows its going to end badly.
Enoch tries again to address the guard but is attacked. He is clearly undead. Thu’fir dispatches him easily.
The Dock wardend emerge from their homes to see the aftermath. There is a very akward conversation as they explain why Thu’fir was killing the town guard. Things are tense for a few minutes until everything is explained.
The party realizes that Mordan must know where they are. They are placing this village in danger by staying. They decide to leave now. It is only an hour or so after sunset, and they should be able to cover some distance tonight if they depart quickly. The townspeople make it more or less clear that the party has worn out their welcome. They understand why their friend was killed, but there seem to be some hard feelings that would be best healed by distance.
They head north, out of town. Tal Podere seems to be the next closest town, so they head in that direction…
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