Vapourware [Play-by-post] Lamentations in Averoigne

[nikolokolus]

Marcus nods and begins walking stiffly westward toward the plundered barrow, serving as the wolf pack's makeshift lair. Meanwhile the troupe quickly lashes together a couple of door planks into a kind of litter and piles it with brush, sticks and spanish moss then dumps several quarts of lamp oil over the whole lot and then carefully and as quietly as they can they pad across the mossy ground to the open grave just visible through the mist. Nothing within seems to stir. One by one you take up your appointed positions and then in a mad dash Requin tosses his torch atop the litter and he and Finn grab hold of adjacent sides of the thing and rush forward and pitch it down the blackened stairs. Immediately flaming brush spills out across the steps and oil splashes across the slime-slick flagstone at the very bottom. There is instantly a startled uproar of yips, yelps, barks and whines echoing up the chamber.

Moments later three panicked wolves come sprinting up the stairs through the fire. Their hair is badly singed and aflame and if they don't succumb to their injuries they at least seem to be no threat as they try to barrel past the startled Requin and Finn as they try to hold the line. Thick black smoke starts to fill the chamber and and flames slowly dwindle and burn themselves out after about another 30 seconds. You hear a horrific guttural growl from below and see a massive black shape, nearly as large as a small horse with a horrificly large maw full of bloodstained teeth gallop up the steps. It is hacking and coughing as it comes and there are two gray wolfish figures (of a more normal sort) coming up behind it.

Roll Initiative!

Spoiler

Essentially you can take a free shot at the fleeing wolves if you like and still attack the wolves coming up the stairs. 30 seconds of smoke inhalation has probably done these creatures no great favors either . . .

 

[SoupNazi]

Finn exchanges a quick look with Requin by his side and draws his sword, charging at the giant beast with his sword raised.

"Leave the pups to flee, me and Requin will hold the beast in the chamber! That way the other puppers can't reach!"

Together, they sprint up to the animal, hacking at it while intent on keeping it within the confines of the improvised lair - as they notice the two smaller wolves would not be able to pass the big one in the narrow entryway.

Spoiler

Including Requin's roll and action as he went to dream of pillaging and lamentations later

 

[Grimgravy]

Ganelon blesses (and heals if he feels he needs it) Requin prior to the whole fire brigade charge if able. Otherwise he reserves action for further healing and stabs any wolfies that get close to him the magic dagger.

 

[L'ennui]

Guillemin tries to stick close to Finn and protects himself with his shield, stabbing with the spear from a distance when the opportunity presents itself.

 

[nikolokolus]

Requin bellows out a primal scream in the face of the monstrously large wolf that is charging up the steps and in 2 quick vicious swings he bludgeons the thing to death, pulping it's head into the flagstones, while Finn simultaneously drives the point of his sword into the thing's shoulder. As the great beast topples backward into the blackness, the two remaining wolves seem to panic and try to bolt past their slain pack leader, but to no avail, as Requin and Finn are ready again and quickly cut them down at the threshold of the darkened barrow.

XP

Everyone gets 36 Experience Points for killing or scattering the wolf pack, lead by it's supernaturally large alpha

The mouth of the barrow reveals an old granite slab broken into several large chunks at the top of the stairs leading down into the cold earth. The smells of a fresh kill and blood hang heavy in the air around the mouth of the barrow. It seems very likely that old one-eyed, Rolf and your trusty mule, Sancho, lie within.

 

[SoupNazi]

Spoiler

Wait, Rolf was one-eyed? So was Sancho. Perhaps that's how they missed the giant wolf, no peripheral vision on that side.

Finn twirls his sword, then cleans the rest of the blood off into the grass. Gulping, he looks down the barrow entrance and holds back vomit as he thinks the smell of blood is not of some wild animal, but an animal he was trusted to care for, and a comrade at arms.

"We're cutting it close when it comes to daylight, but I don't want them rotting down there in the dark, alone..."

 

[Grimgravy]

"Agreed."

 

[L'ennui]

"We already have fuel and fire... maybe a funeral pyre would be a fitting end."

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Ruling bushcraft to analyse the big dude's corpse.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Spoiler

rolled it here to give the roll feature a shot. Not sure how to add modifiers though.

 

[Grimgravy]

"Fire may well suffice depending on how much is left." Ganelon says with a frown.

 

[L'ennui]

Spoiler

So uhm how do you roll on this here Codex?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Spoiler

So uhm how do you roll on this here Codex?

Spoiler

Once you post you will have a button named More options. It expands into roll and choose from list

 

[L'ennui]

"Whatever we need to do, we should do it quick."

 

[ERYFKRAD]

"Right. Load the corpse on our litter and let us be off."

 

[nikolokolus]

Requin takes a moment to examine the immense wolf, the likes of which he's never seen before (Finn can also examine a dead thing to learn things about it's anatomy, which counts toward his Monster Lore skill, he just needs to pass a skill roll -- which he passed). This thing is at least three to four times as heavy as a the largest wolf he's ever seen; perhaps 500 or 600 pounds (~225 to 275 kilos) and twice as tall. It's fangs are black as coal and it has long, iron-hard, quill-like hairs, in the ruff around its neck. Its blood is also red-black and tarry, and smells of iron and sulphur.

Exploring the barrow reveals a smallish round chamber about 10 paces in diameter, with a domed roof. in the center of the barrow is an rough-hewn, rectangular slab of stone and the broken remains of a stone coffer. There are bones and gore scattered everywhere in here, but there is a mess of broken bone fragments and fresh blood in the middle of this slab. It's impossible to make heads or tails of what parts are Rolf, and what parts might be Sancho with careful sifting, but you do find a half broken human skull, slicked with blood and brains, and part of Sancho's skull. As for whatever they might have been carrying or laden with, it's all ripped and shredded beyond repair or recognition. It's a grisly business, but you pick up what bits you can be certain belong to your fallen hireling and beast of burden and carry it outside onto the misty plateau. You hastily collect some firewood from the copse of old, hoary oaks just north of you and erect a pyre and get it to burning (without the assistance of lamp oil). It takes about an hour to accomplish all of this, but eventually you get a fire going that is hot enough to at least scour the blood and flesh from the bones and hopefully reduce them to ash. With the lateness of the day, you decide that you will have to leave Sancho and Rolf's final rest to the fates and you plunge into the fetid waters of the swamp about 3 hours before nightfall.

 

[nikolokolus]

Before you depart and head back for Les Hiboux, Guillemin catches the glint of something laying in the piles of bones and other refuse. He bends down and plucks up a small golden ring, wrought in an intricate leaf and vine pattern. It has an empty setting where a stone once was, but even still it gleams deeply and lustrously -- likely worth a pretty penny back in town.

With all of your hard work done, you set off for the village and fortunately the journey passes without event as you find the old familiar, and now heavily rutted, trail you've been breaking over the last month and a half. You stumble back into town about two hours after nightfall and retire to your quarters. When you wake the next morning you learn that Grima has had enough risking his neck and with so little to show for everything and plans to take his cut and move on to greener pastures. Daphne confides that she's a bit worn down and wants to take a break from the constant dangers and devote her energies to more scholarly pursuits for the time being. You confer with one another and put all of your ill-gotten gains into a pile on the counter of Jakob The Moneylender, who picks over the ancient coins, necklaces and other odds and ends you've brought back to be assessed and assayed.

Final Tally

Grimgravy If you want to give me a break down of what you pulled out of the hole in the ground I'll work out the exchange rates for items and tally all XP. We can do all of this "off camera" in the OOC thread.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

"Right. Load the corpse on our litter and let us be off."

Spoiler

This is part of the tally I hope/

 

[nikolokolus]

"Right. Load the corpse on our litter and let us be off."

Spoiler

This is part of the tally I hope/

Spoiler

well . . . what was left anyway. Rolf's skull, a few bones. Sancho's skull . . .

 

[SoupNazi]

"Right. Load the corpse on our litter and let us be off."

Spoiler

This is part of the tally I hope/

Spoiler

well . . . what was left anyway. Rolf's skull, a few bones. Sancho's skull . . .

Spoiler

He meant the giant wolf corpse

 

[nikolokolus]

Spoiler

Sorry gents, the last couple of weeks have been a real bitch, I'm spread pretty thin right now (hour 65 of an 80 hour week in progress). Anyway, I'll tally up treasure/XP, get the next bit moving and get back into this at the end of the day -- in about 5 hours.

 

[nikolokolus]

Jakob looks over your assortment of mismatched coins and other grave goods and comes up with a final tally of 1,093 silver pieces (split 7 ways). Finn and Requin decide to depart for Vyones to try and relocate the man who had challenged Finn to a duel, but had been cowed and shamed and instead sword an honor debt (should Finn choose to claim it). After an uneventful journey, it takes about a half of a day to locate the former soldier. After a brief negotation, Armand de Santos agrees to serve until he has paid off his honor debt, by saving Finn's life. After that he agrees to at least consider longer term employment, but won't negotiate until or if his debt is repaid. The rest of the time spent in Vyones is tame and mild (especially compared to the drunken debauchery of previous visits) and the trio departs for Les Hiboux, arriving back in the small marsh-side village 5 days after originally setting out.

You each take quarters in normal rooms at the Cock & Strumpet, and when you awake the next morning, you stumble out of your beds as early as you can and gather in the predawn just outside of the Cock & Strumpet. When you exit the inn, you are somewhat surprised to see the rival Albanians have arisen and are mustering in the village square for another foray into the swamp. They have their three mules and four men armed with picks and shovels, hired from the village along with the seven rough and tumble looking foreigners. A pretty blonde woman among their number flashes a sly grin and winks at no one in particular, but most merely ignore you or give a brief unfriendly stare before turning around to secure belongings to their mules or to hoist packs off of the ground. In any event, you lot are travelling lighter and with no mule train to deal with, you plunge ahead into the swamp ahead of them and quickly traverse the ground back to the field of barrows.

The journey to the mounds is uneventful and there is no sign of the Albanians gaining on you. Eventually you come to the volcanic plateau and climb up out of the muck and mire and start the short trek back to the main barrow where you hope that Marcus awaits. However, before you can see it through the thick mist that has formed, you hear a man cry out and the clash of steel on steel, coming from somewhere in the vicinity of the barrow over the entrance to the under-tombs.

 

[L'ennui]

Guillemin runs towards the noise and tries to determine what is happening.

 

[Grimgravy]

Ganelon spends the interim restocking his goods lost with Rolf, praying, and commiserating with his widow (He gives her 100sp).

At he sound on combat, Ganelon follows Guilleman with a bit more caution.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Requin also offers 100 sp to the widow.

At the mound he takes position athwart Guillemin with characteristic abandon.