My most recent game takes place in the Gorn River Valley. This is the setting of a game I am running over Discord, as described in this post. The following is a transcript of the In-Character channel from the first session of the game.
Characters:
Va'lar, Fighter, Level 2, HP 7
Armor: Gambeson Weapon: Axe
Mikkel Rosenbaum, Thief, Level 2, HP 9
Armor: None Wepons: Dagger, Sling
Dogs: Jesus, Odin, Muhammed, Buddha
DM - "The ground up and ate 'em!"
That's what the caravan driver was yelling when he rushed into the public house you two were sitting in having dinner. He shouted it over and over, lamenting his brother who he left in the hole for fear he would be next. "Just outside of town, his wagon was swallowed by the road. I'm beggin' ya, someone find him. Anything on the wagon is yours as long as you find him."
A bit of a talk lets you know you're searching for a skinny man, blond hair and missing his left ear. You look to your companion, the question of leaving now or in the morning is on both your minds.Todd - Mikkel scans the caravan driver up and down, looking for wounds or evidence of a fight on him.
DM - You see no signs of a fight, but the look of fear is unmistakable in his eye.
Shawn - Looks over at the stranger before turning to his traveling companion "What do ya think, could be a trick, some thugs trying to get the better of someone, or, could be easy money" Speaking in a hushed tone
Todd - "I'm hoping for easy money...every mouse trap has cheese no?" Mikkel replies in the same hushed tone, he motions his thumb towards the kitchen of the public house. "It would be nice to afford another meal..."
DM - The stranger sits at a table and holds his head in his hands. The woman working the kitchen brings him a hot bowl of stew and places her hand on his back for a moment. He doesn't eat.
Shawn - Nods a bit, feeling his own gut rumbling. Standing up he takes a few steps towards the stranger, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder "We'd be happy to help, but need some more information. Tell me bout your brother, what's his name, how old is he, and what all was on that cart?"
DM - "His name is Dagrock. He's 23, younger than I by two years. We were moving..." The man pauses and looks around. He looks you up and down first. His voice cracks as he starts to speak again; "You wear that war coat well, are you really a mercenary? Will you really help me?"
Shawn - Looks over at Mikkel and motions for him to come over with a small nod "I've been in my fair share of fights, and as you can tell, haven't lost one yet, we'd be willing to help, but heading out this late at night is dangerous, we need to know what you two were moving"
DM - He stands and leans close to you to whisper "Property of Duke Groleld. My wagon had rugs, clothes, and tapestries. Dagrock was moving the safe and chests of gold coins." He sits back down and looks at his stew. "I can't offer you any pay, I don't have much. But anything on that wagon is yours."
Todd - Mikkel slowly bites his lip and peers around, trying to spot people listening in or reacting to the response.
Shawn - Gets a small scowl, lowering his voice to match the mans "So we save your brother and then are stuck with a wagon full of stolen goods that'd get us hung, or worse..." He turns towards Mikkel "We could just take the coins, and leave the rest, don't want to get caught with stolen goods"
DM - Peering around, you don't see much. Most people here are trying to eat a meal or have a mug of ale. Some people are watching, notably two kids staring at the distressed stranger. No one reacts to his whisper. You do notice a man with two gold ear rings in his left ear sitting at the table in the corner, thief code for a fence.
The stranger stands again and leans close "We're not expected to deliver for another three days. They don't know your name or your face. You'd have enough time to be any where you wanted to with whatever he kept in that heavy safe."
Todd - Mikkel scratches his cheek and chin in an effort to hide his smile. 'That got my attention..." he whispers. 'I'm willing to help this man Val ole buddy. What say you?'
Shawn - Gives yet another small nod before standing up with a low grunt "Well, we best not be wasting any more time, don't want Dagrock thinking you left him out there all night, you wanna lead us to where he got sunken in?"
DM - "Yeah it's just outside of town." The stranger says as he jumps to his feet. "Just out of the north gate, come on."
You ride on the mans wagon for 10, maybe 15 minutes. Moonlight helps you see on your journey, dimly lighting the woods around you. The ride is cramped among the rugs, find shirts, and tapestries probably worth more than everything you own. "We'll stop here, I don't want this wagon to get eaten too. If you keep walking, keep to the right side of the road and you'll see the hole."
Todd - Mikkel scratches Budda's chin and motions his dogs off the wagon.
DM - The pack jumps off, ready to go where you lead them.
Shawn - Lighting one of his torches he starts to make his way to the hole, careful of where he was stepping
Todd - The pack and their leader will follow Va'lar close, on their left/right flank(whichever is closer to concealment)
DM - Walking down the road, Va'lar spots it first. A 20' hole taking up probably half the road and much of the ground of the forest near it. It doesn't look like anything fell into the hole, no trees lean into it and the edge looks like it was cleanly cut.
Shawn - Coming to a quick stop Va'lar motions towards the hole "Guessin' that's what we're lookin' for? Wonder what the hell could've caused it"
Todd - "Odd. Go Jesus go!" Mikkel says before making throwing motions towards the hole.
DM - The dog starts to run to the hole, but brings himself to a stop at it's edge, sniffing around, and starts to whimper back at you.
Todd - "Smart dog I guess. The edge looks so odd, think its magical?" replies Mikkel
Shawn - "I wouldn't be surprised, don't see why else something like this woud just appear" Va'lar walks towards the edge of the hole, trying to look down into it without getting too close to the edge
DM - Walking around the hole you find an angle that lets you see the moonlight on one side of the walls. It appears to be a cavern, more than 30' deep, and nearly twice as wide.
Todd - Mikkel walks to a point a foot or two away from the edge and retrieves a sling bullet from his pouch. He then rolls the bullet in a 'bowling ball' style and listens if there's a sudden drop or a steady roll.
DM - The bullet falls, silently for 1..2..3.. seconds before a loud "Chip!" followed by more as it comes to a stop. You'd estimate it's 60' down, no more than that.
Todd - "Well. If I had the time and money I'd cut a tree down over the whole thing and attach a rope." Mikkel says with a stumped tone in his voice.
Shawn - "I got a rope and an axe, but cutting down a tree that sized would take a couple hours, not sure how long the guy can stay down there" as he talks he grabs a couple od dead branches off the side of the path. Using his already lit torch he catches the branches on fire before dropping them down, hoping to get a better veiw of the sides
DM-Matthew — 06/12/2021
The branches fall, illuminating some of the cavern below. It's huge, domed on it's sides. You can spot what look like two caves leading from this cavern to somewhere else inside.
Shawn - "My rope ain't long enough for that, I'm going to head back to the cart and see if he has any rope" he starts to walk off
DM - Va'lar reaches the wagon and the stranger says "Back already?"
Todd - Mikkel walks around looking for drag marks or any signs of a scuffle.
Shawn - "You happen to have any rope? That holes deeper than we expected and can't get into it without breaking a leg or worse"
DM - Mikkel notices tracks on the road from wagon wheels, but they run right into the hole.
The stranger hops down, "Yeah, I have some here for tying down the wagon." He pulls a 50' length of rope off the side of the wagon. "Here"
Shawn - "Thanks, we didn't see your brother at the bottom, so I'm assuming he is alive down there somewhere, probably looking for a way out. Is there anything of his on the wagon, something the dogs could use to track him with?"
DM - "His jacket" he says as he passes it to you from the seat next to him. "Bring it back if you can."
Shawn - Va'lar takes them both "We'll bring it back, with Dagrock wearing it, don't you worry"
Making his way back to Mikkel "I got more rope, and the brothers jacket, your dogs can track by scent right?" He says as he looks for a nearby tree to tie the rope too
Todd - "Muhmmad and Odin might be the best bet on that. They aren't trained fully proper, another issue is delivering them down. One dog in my backpack per trip down is my safe estimate. I could leave the other two behind."
DM - Va'lar quickly finds a tree, half of the hole is very near the tree line, giving a good place to tie off at.
Shawn - Goes ahead and ties the fifty foot rope around the tree, giving it a few hard tugs to make sure it was well and secure, before tying his own twenty five foot rope the the end of the longer one, once again giving it a hard tug to ensure it's safety "Want me to go down first? I can take your pack and carry a dog down first, then tie the bag to the rope and have you pulll the empty bag back up, that way you aren't making three trips up and down the rope"
Todd - "Splendid idea Va'lar. Let's get these dogs moving" Mikkel says before calling Odin over.
Shawn - Takes off his pack, dropping it to the floor "bring this when you come down" He says before tossing his torch down into the hole, then the rope just after, making sure that they aren't in the same area as each other "C'mon pup, get into the pack" Trying to coax Odin in
DM - Odin sniffs the pack, and while he won't climb in on his own he doesn't mind being put in the pack by Va'lar.
Shawn - Manages to get the dog into the bag with relative ease before starting his decent down the rope
DM - Va'lar makes his way down the rope, carefully sliding down. The cavern is dimly illuminated as you descend, darkness enveloping you. The smoldering remains of burnt branches and the burning torch mix with the smell of wet earth, filling the cavern with a rich scent. You find that you luckily reach the cavern floor before the knot at the end of the 50' rope.
Shawn - Lets Odin out of the pack, giving him a small pat before untying the extra rope that wasn't needed, and quickly attaching the now empty pack to the rope "Mikkel, you're good to go" He yells out. As Mikkel pulls the rope up, Va'lar will roll his own rope back into a neat coil
Todd - Mikkel gets a good workout from all this lifting and lowering of canines doing this as quickly as he can.
Shawn - Is quick to take each dog out of the packs before sending it back up, trying to get a good look around the cave when he was able
DM - The dogs sniff around as they get out of the pack. Looking at the cavern floor you realize the middle 30' is covered in some kind of runes, carved into the stone. Four caves are here, one each on 4 sides of the dome.
Todd - "Last one in and first one out...' Mikkel murmurs to himself before making his way down into the cavern.
DM - Mikkel reaches the bottom as the torch on the ground begins to flicker and die. The moonlight is reaching deeper into the cavern, only 20' from the bottom now.
Shawn - Wastes no time to light up a second torch
Todd - The pack leader draws out his flint and steel, flicking it constantly to see his way around to Va'lar.
DM - With the new light you can see a cave roughly to the north, the south, the east, and the west. The cavern floor is huge, round and roughly 70' in diameter, If it wasn't for the moonlight you couldn't see it all with only the torch.
Shawn - Va'lar reaches into his bag and pulls out Dagrock's jacket, handing it over to Mikkel "Which one of the dogs would have the most luck finding his scent? Should still be fresh"
Todd - "I'm putting my money on Odin" Mikkel replies before whistling to coax the dog over.
DM - Odin and the rest of the dogs walk over as your whistle echoes through the cavern. They look to you for a moment before Budda's ears perk up. He puts himself between you and the southern cave, growling a low growl.
Todd - Mikkel readies his sling and a bullet, keeping close to Budda.
Shawn - Va'lar readies his axe in one hand, the torch in the other, peering down south to see if anything was coming
DM - It takes a moment for your eyes to adjust but then you spot what look to be four giant balls of hair, roughly 5 feet tall and three feet wide. Each has two eyes that reflect the light of your torch, seeming to glow. They are holding something long and thin in their hands, a pole of some kind. The creatures stand still.
Shawn - Va'lar lowers his weapon just a little bit, keeping it in hand still "Hey there, we don't mean any harm, we are just looking for a friend of ours"
Todd - "Blonde hair, missing an ear" Mikkel adds in, making a motion from his left hand to hide his left ear.
DM - The creatures speak to each other in a near whisper, their voices high pitched and mouse like. One speaks up "We know nothing of your friend. Do you know of the dog men?"
Todd - "No...tell us about them?" Mikkel replies in a concerned tone.
DM - Another of the creatures speaks up in a normal voice to the others "They know not, we should return." The creature that addressed you speaks loudly again "You may leave now, it is best." The four raise the poles they hold in your direction and begin to back away into the shadow of the southern cave behind them.
Shawn - Va'lar takes a small step forward, speaking up "We must find our friend, we will stay in the cave till we do. Should we be afraid of these dog men? Or anything else in the cave?"
DM - The four stop for a moment and talk in squeaked whispers once more before the one who has been talking to you speaks up again "Turn and walk behind you. The wagon fell and they travel into that cave. The walls are not safe, The roof is not safe. Walk safely."
"You meet dog men, you come back here, Whistle."
Todd - "I understand. Thank you." Mikkel says.
Shawn - Gives a small nod "Thank you, safe travels" He says towards the creatures before turning around, facing the cave they pointed at "Any idea waht they mean by dog men?"
Todd - "Men who look like dogs, hopefully they don't have the speed or fangs" Mikkel whispers. "I can't help but not desire to talk of runes or treasure around these folk. Could be their home and don't want plunderers." he continues.
Shawn - Reaches down and pets one to the dogs "hopefully they don't take offense to us keeping actual dogs as pets, Or maybe they'll just wanna join the pack, heh" He says trying to lighten the mood before starting to walk towards the northern cave "What do you think they meant by the walls and roof arent safe? Like they will collapse, or cave in?"
Todd - "Mixture of that and maybe a spike trap or two" Mikkel replies holding up two scarred fingers from his left hand.
Shawn - Lets out a sigh "Yeah, was hoping that they didn't mean traps, we'll need to keep an eye out for anything odd"
DM - Speaking as you travel you make it to the northern cave. Your torch illuminates the area, shining in 30' before you're unable to see any further into the 10' wide cave.
Todd - "Other than furballs" Mikkel replies with a dry laugh. He then puts away his sling and its bullet in exchange for his dagger. "My dogs will lead the way if that's fine with you Va'lar"
Shawn - Slows down just enough to let that happen "If we come to a cross road we can try and see if they'll get his scent"
Todd - "Great idea" Once Mikkel walks about 15 feet into the cave he will mark an arrow with his dagger on the right hand wall pointing to the clearing from where he climbed down from.
DM - Continuing into the cave another 20' it makes a sharp turn left to the west, Mikkel marks the wall with an arrow pointing to the way you've come from and Va'lar can see 30' west into darkness.
Shawn - As they walk, Va'lar will keep a close eye on the walls and roof, scanning for any sort of crevice, crease, or indent, anything that stands out
Todd - Mikkel will do the same.
DM - You walk the 30' into the west, finding that the cave continues only another 10' before opening up into a cavern again. Nothing stands out to either of you on the walls or roof, but Va'lar notices the smell of blood and a splatter on the floor just inside the cavern. The dogs sniff wildly as they near here.
Shawn - Va'lar takes the first step into the cavern, looking around to see if there is anyone, or anything in it
Todd - Mikkel follows close behind Va'lar with a nervous gaze.
DM - You enter a 40x40 cavern from the east wall, where it meets the south wall. Your torch reveals a cave on the east wall where it meets the north wall and a cave on the west wall where it meets the north wall. Once inside you spot what can only be described as a massacre. Corpses litter the ground around you, 7 by a quick count. Holes about 6 inches in diameter dot the walls and roof here and squeaking can be heard from the cave to the north east.
Todd - "Damn. I'm going to look for our man..." Mikkel murmurs before looking at the corpses giving him and the bodies as much distance between each other as he can.
Shawn - Va'lar stays back, looking at the bodies, trying to see if he can make out how they died from where he was at "Be careful, we don't know what killed them, could still be nearby"
DM - Looking around Mikkel looks over the bodies, making it near the north west corner of the room. None are missing an ear. Two of them are in chainmail armor, with a sword next to them or in hand.
Va'lar stands near the south east corner where they entered, looking at the bodies they have round bites on them, and are all pale. Very pale. Va'lar notices there should be more blood on the ground around the bodies.
The dogs sniff around. Odin nears the door to the north east, where the squeaking can be heard, and starts to whine.
A soft slithering sound is heard by Va'lar, something in the roof above is moving.
Shawn - Va'lar takes a quick look up, trying to see what was above him before quickly takin a step back, stepping away from the holes "Mikkel, somethings on the roof"
Todd - Mikkel looks up and scans the ceiling gripping his dagger tight.
DM - The slithering gets louder, before five worms fall from the roof. Their 4' long bodies stretch from the holes until they plop down near the middle of the room, almost landing on Jesus and Buddha, who growl at the creatures. One of them opens it mouth and latches onto a corpse it fell on, biting a chunk out of it.
Todd - A dagger flies at the worm the dogs are growling at.
Shawn - Va'lar will charge in, but stop about five feet from the worms, not wanting to be in the middle them all, he waves the torch at the ones closest to him, hoping to scare them off
DM - Your dagger flies at the worm, missing and clattering on the ground. The worms slither to face the dogs near them, none are near Mikkel or Va'lar as he moves in.
Todd - Mikkel hastily readies his sling and a bullet for it.
Shawn - Va'lar, seeing the dagger clatter to the ground will quickly make his way over to it, keeping an eye on the worms as he moves
DM - As Va'lar reaches the dagger, two of the dogs strike at the worms, barking and snarling. Two worms grab Muhammad and quickly drain the dog but not before he can bite one badly, leaving a large open wound. A worm strikes at Buddha, missing as the dog rears up on its hind legs and holds the worm down, chewing quickly and leaving the worm limp and dead.
Todd - With tears in his eyes Mr.Rosenbaum will launch a bullet at the wounded worm in front of Muhammad's slain body.
Shawn - Va’lar would drop the torch before bending over to pick up the dagger, and throwing it at the uninjured worm near Muhammad
DM - The dagger flies through the air once more, missing again and clattering to the floor near Mikkel again. The sling bullet flies true, striking the injured worm and sinking into the creature, causing it to squeak a bit before settling still, dead.
Todd - "You fucker!" shouts Mikkel as the creature squeaks.
DM - Holding your ground Va'lar and Mikkel watch as Odin, Jesus, and Buddha rush at the worms. Jesus bites at the worm ahead of him, missing and being latched onto, letting out a soft yelp before going limp. Odin turns from the door he was whimpering at, now snarling and bites at the worm behind him. The worm rears up and strikes, latching on to Odins face and silences the dog quickly. Buddha lets go of the worm he was chewing and strikes at another, quickly taking it down much like the first.
Shawn - With the worms backs to him Va’lar will take the chance and charge in, striking at the work closest to him
Todd - Mikkel lets his sling crack into the worm that slain Jesus. Budda with his fur standing up and a hint of foam in his mouth goes in for a bite at a worm.
DM - The sling cracks as a bullet strikes the same worm Va'lar rushes at. The worm recoils from the hit and causes Va'lars axe to miss, chopping into the leg of one of corpses. Coins roll out of their pocket. The worm spins around and latches onto Va'lars neck. The sensation of cold quickly spreads from your neck, the blood being sucked out of you. Buddha rushes the worm beside him, attempting to bite it. This time the worm opens its mouth first, taking the entire dog leg in its maw, swiftly drinking the blood of the dog.
Shawn - Va’lar, now with a worm stuck to his leg, will swing down at it, hoping to kill it, or at the very least free himself from its grip
Todd - Mikkel with determination plastered on his face makes a dramatic shot at the attached worm with his sling.
DM - Mikkel lets a sling stone fly, whizzing past Va'lars head and striking the stone wall. The worm that killed Buddha makes it way to Mikkel. Va'lar, holding the worm with one hand, chops at it's body, slicing it cleanly in two. Warmth slowly comes back, but Va'lar is pale in the face. The worm that approached Mikkel attacks, latching onto his thigh.
Todd - In a panic our thief swings a bullet in his sling and whips at the attached worm.
DM - Mikkel feels cold as the blood is sucked from him. Va'lar rushes to aid Mikkel with the worm latched on him. Axe raised high in one hand, torch in the other, His weapon strikes true severing the mouth from the worm. Mikkel improvises and strikes the body of the worm as it twitches and dies on the ground. Warmth slowly returns to Mikkel's leg.
Shawn - When the last worm dies Va’lar would put his hand on his neck, feeling how bad the bite was. “We should check the bodies, maybe one of them is the brother”
Todd - "Yeah...victims of traps from the walls and ceiling. I'm going to take that sword though so I can poke and prod better" Mikkel says while grabbing a slain worm. He then moves to a fallen man and tries to whip and push away a sword closer to him.
DM - The bite wasn't bad in that it's gory, three small holes roughly an eighth of an inch in a triangle shape can be felt, blood slowly pours from the wound. Mikkel manages to get a sword from a body in chainmail, noticing the same three dot wound on the arm of the corpse.
Shawn - Looks over the bodies, and after seeing none of them match the description he decides to strip the two of their chain mail. “You want my armor? I’ll take a set of the chain mail”
That is where we ended the session. A rough first combat against five worms, who rolled pretty well for HP, ended all the dogs Mikkel brought with him and injured the party pretty well, leaving them both in range of being one hit in the next combat they encounter. We'll have to see how they fair next week!
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