Another regrettably short session. We're not in the dungeon yet, so I'm still trying to inch everyone into the highly-systematized, high-lethality jacuzzi, but I feel like maybe I went a little too loosey-goosey with the combat specifically. The Ghost Beggars are now canonically a much less capable and seasoned crew than they perhaps should have been, but on the other hand the party rolled really well for the most part, so it may not have mattered that much.
THE CAST:
Clariandra, 11 year-old little necromancer girl, looking for her dad
Krema Affogato, very tall mutated thief, coffee addict
Dave, teen barbarian, dumb as hell
Lucidius, street-preaching lunatic mystic of Mother Silicon, metal jaw
Lucidius' donkey, I believe at this point unnamed, who I forgot to mention last writeup
1. Clariandra, realizing she is alone in a dark wet cavern, begins to cry very loudly and pitifully. Three of the remaining seventeen bandits arrive and begin surrounding Lucidius, who is the only one remaining in the stable-cave.
2. He briefly attempts to convince them he is a simple pilgrim spreading the good word of Our Exalted Mistress of Chrome before picking up a rock and throwing it very hard at one of the boys behind him. He crits and crushes his target's skull, killing him instantly. Lucidius uses this opportunity to run the fuck away.
3. The bandits arrive in full force. Their leader, a large man with an eyepatch and a big shiny breastplate with a heraldric snail on it, starts screaming orders for a sweep of the hideout. He sends a group of three to investigate the pitiful weeping coming from the direction of the watch post.
4. Meanwhile, Krema, having successfully snuck back into the stables amidst the standoff with Lucidius, emerges from her hiding spot and cuts the remaining (incredibly panicky) horses free, rolling well and escaping back outside as they begin kicking the shit out of the rallying bandits.
5. The three brigands find Clariandra (whose skills include "crocodile tears") sniffling in the dark. They grab her and she asks through very wet eyes if they're going to be her new dads, which I decree forces a morale roll, shaking the confidence of one of her captors ("Don't know about this lads, don't seem right do it").
6. Dave, having shed his armor to appear like more like a civilian and holding his bloody sword behind his back, runs through the watch post shouting about his "lost sister". He thanks the bandits profusely for finding her ("We'll just be on our way, kind sirs. If only more people were like you three"). This succeeds in confusing them further, but they do not relinquish their captive.
7. The boss arrives, having gotten the horse situation mostly under control, and announces that unless the entire party presents themselves and all of their possessions RIGHT NOW, the girl's getting stabbed.
8. Clariandra is currently being restrained by three dudes, but one of them really doesn't have his heart in it. She succeeds at a heavily penalized roll to break free, and the group sprints out of the cave system down the cliff trail, Lucidius having at this point retrieved his donkey from its hiding place in a bush - and having killed another bandit on his way out. They catch up at the base of the trail, panting and relieved, and, as far as they can tell, unfollowed.
9. The canyon they find themselves in is none other than that legendary murder pit, the shaded entrance to STONEHELL! It's the cold dry season in the UVG, but warm mist issues inexplicably from a spot across the canyon floor, where a large waterfall thunders down the cliff and into a deep, clear pool, ringed by lush ferns and reeds. The group investigates and finds a silver hoop embedded at the bottom of the pool, through which the water seems to somehow be draining.
10. Krema is a mutant, and as one result of her genetic corruption she enjoys some limited aqualinguistic ability. She attempts to speak to the waterfall (named Walterfall) who doesn't have very much useful to say; he says that he is of two parts, that some of him sees day and night and some of him sees only darkness, and that his heat comes from a narrow place far away.
11. Lucidius and Dave step into a thicket of enchanted trees that turns you into a tree while you're in there, sliding around like the Chameleon spell in Dark Souls. This freaks Dave very much out.
11. Stock is taken of the rest of the canyon's contents: The ruined gatehouse to the south, a total of 8 natural and manmade tunnels into the cliffs, 5 crumbling foundations, the thicket, the waterfall, and the imposing entrance to STONEHELL itself.
Kills: 1 Ghost Beggar, 1 Highwayman (20 xp)
