Shadowdark #6: 'Tower of Doooom'

Having acquired the 'purple stone of doom', the party explore the rest of the cavern, finding a giant spider guarding the exit ...seemingly infected by the purple stone of dooom in some manner (it can't be good). In bad shape, the party make for the spiral staircase in the hope of outrunning it, though 'mad Bjorn', with very few hit points left, decides to jump madly from the stairs onto it as it scuttles about in thick webs...eventually killing it.

Kicking the door in...uhh the webs in

Scuttler hangs about in the roof after each attack (the jar came in handy again)

Bjorn tears the spider a new web hole...

 

The party need a rest, as they are out of spells and low on hits, but determine to push on, leaving the complex with the stone. Despite the dryads' insistence that the way out is 'that way', and that they should hand over the stone, the party tell them they will guard it to its destination. 

The dryads are upset, but obviously under the malign influence of something more powerful.

After travelling deeper into the forest, and narrowly avoiding a nest of spiders, they emerge into a small clearing, dominated  by a three storey tiered and fortified tower, imposing in its obsidian majesty - and seemingly with a griffin either stuck, or imprisoned on top. They knock the door, though the dryads seem to gain easy entry, as a metal golem appears asking the characters what they desire.

As the characters state that they want to hand over the stone, they are informed that 'Lady Morgana will see them now' ...predictably, the dryads bugger off.

They start up the spiral staircase, shrouded in magical darkness, realising (with damage from a nearby warning statue) that spells do not work on this floor...Another floor, with a tame (for the moment) Otyugh hiding in the corner ready to strike...and they are presented with 3 stones in place in a statue, and a gap for a 4th. Obligingly, Jeralt the paladin places the purple stone...and immediately falls under the charm of Lady Morgana, who is also obligingly, just up the stairs.

The party emerge into her private chamber, and are invited to sit and eat, drink, though they hear both Otyugh and Steel Golem..making their way up.

'Oh I have just made tea? One lump or two?

 

Balin keeps climbing, determined to see what is in the roof, and tries to use his 'move stealthily' advantage roll - and fails utterly...as Lady Morgana says 'stop that young fellow' ...then follows it up with an acid bolt which almost kills him (he is one round from death at one stage until saved by Dagmara)... as her face melts away into the guise of the Weald Hag that she truly is...AAAAAAAND FIGHT!

"Uhhh...where'd everybody go?'

 

Lots of stuff happening now, as attacks go in, acid arrows flying everywhere from the hag, and the wily characters move tables to block the approach of the monsters from below. Bernard and Dagmara the sorceress race to the roof, to release the griffin which is slowly being sucked dry of its life essence on a sacrificial altar of doooom. The hag is eventually defeated, after Dagmara puts Jeralt to sleep lest he attack them and support the hag whilst ensorcelled in her charm.

Getting off the dang roof...

With one round before the monsters break through (d4 timers are superb ideas), they reach the roof...but now they have a problem in terms of getting off the roof three at a time as the monsters try to break through. They manage to move the altar across the roofhatch, with effort, delaying the monsters further, such that the griffin can ferry them from the tower to a safe area in groups...aaaand relaaax... until next week!

 

The Hag with make-up...

...aaaaand without

 (I mean, this band came up during play?)

 

Call of Cthulhu, Episode #11 - 'The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets'

 Resolving to finally investigate the dig site, where (1) Sinead had been consulted in an advisory capacity with regard to 'blowing part of the cliff down', and (2) the party have researched Roman remains, the group, with Fergus (of the witch cult) in the boot (trunk) of the car. What could go wrong?

Discovering Roman remains, and a deserted site, the party first check Henry and Adam's tent HQ.

Sinead has been here before, though of course at that time, it was tidy and ordered - by now, the former witch's minions have effectively destroyed the place in their apparent search for a fragment of the disc! 

I bet he drinks Carling Black Label...

 Searching through the wreckage, the eagle-eyed Sinead (05 on spot hidden) finds a crumpled fragment of notepaper. Henry has recorded that Adam...'worked something out' ...and not in a good way.

 Continuing their search, the party realise that the ruins are in fact an old temple - Roman?...they guess, though the Professor (still recovering) manages to wake up just long enough to alert them to the fact that there are older, even pre-pagan writings at work on the architecture...and then, they find, the ruined temple.

Every Blakes 7 and Dr Who set from the 70s

Dominated by a blacker than black, almost but not quite obsidian, obelisk like altar, with an odd looking faceless sphinx,... McDaid realises that it represents the dark messenger (some might say 'admin manager') of the outer void...none other that Nyarlathotep...and within the body of the altar, lie the openings for three small blocks. A key mechanism? But to open what exactly?

'Yer gettin' better AI...'

McLeoud manages to work out that the symbols are related to alchemy, and the party decides to position the sun facing the east, with Earth to the left..however, the strange direction of the third symbol confounds them, until they use melted wax to determine the nature of the insert shape...as they place the final key ... and hope that nothing goes wrong...

'Oh yes, it all seems perfectly clear...'

 A hatch opens in the base of the sphinx...to reveal the third piece of the sacred disk, most likely hidden there by Adam...although, far below, through holes in the base of the obelisk, something dark, viscous, malleable, big!...is stirring. The characters quickly pull the keys out. still hearing the surging blackness below...did it want a sacrifice?

Thinking upon the situation, they consider, that they still have Fergus, and he is evil...right?...Sinead speaks what everyone else is thinking...suggesting that he might be sacrificed to this 'thing that should not be'...what could go wrong? ...I am sure whoever makes the decision won't have any repercussions for sanity - (as all look at Sinead)...

The cover of the original 'Trail of Tsathoggua' - perhaps a little too 'human' in this case

 The bound Fergus realises what is happening as he is dragged from the car ...as Sinead replaces the keys, and waits for the thing to engulf their 'offering'. As he melts, and Sinead remembers his terrified face as the last thing to be eaten...the black ichor like spawn of Tsathoggua..retreats back into its lair...and it is over. ...for now, as the Keeper of Arcane Lore wonders why so little SAN was lost in the entire encounter. Damn those dice.

...better...

End of the chapter? Not quite. They get the heck out of Dodge, or Cannich...getting the train to London after juggling their cars about. They realise however, that they are being tailed. Confronting the man in trench coat and hat, he reveals himself to be Tommy Hayes, of Scotland Yard, though of course, the characters remain suspicious - even more so when he seems un-phased by the deaths of Ian McDonald and his wife under horrible circumstances.

As McDade makes the witness in the carriage forever indebted to him (01 in fast talk), and takes her for tea and gin, McLeoud and Sinead watch as poor Tommy, 'accidentally' slips, falls, and bounces along the track for a bit. McLeoud even feels bad, for a minute or so. I am sure no one else saw it...

 

Excited passengers wait to see who the characters will get rid of next...

Arriving in London, the recovering Professor returns to his office, to hear that Elaine (from the first adventure) is worried about her stage magician boyfriend having disappeared, while the rest of the party go to the British Museum Library..and determine from an ancient map, that the island pictured on the disk, matches a mythical place, known only as R'Lyeh...

Not Dora's map

 A telegram from Edward Call has also arrived, advising the characters to take the Liner Mauretania to New York in a week...giving them time to check up upon this stage magician...

 

Call of Cthulhu, Episode #10...'Lights Out!'

 Realising the probable error in sending back Margaret with Ian, and having ascertained the true nature of the French witch, the party rush back to Cannich, which is terribly quiet (though they stop for bread and milk and a psychology roll of 100 from McDaid, tells him that nothing can possibly go wrong). Sinead plots to use the milk bottle to house her recently acquired acid... 

Rushing then to Ian's farm, all is even quieter, the curtains drawn...and bloody footsteps at the entrance. Sinead and MacLeoid go into to find a charnel house of horror inside - with Ian and his wife having been skinned alive by the witch and her minions, and a bloody note left in Enid's mouth...

Add blood to taste...

 The witch wants her 'baby-back'! ...and not in a good way, as she clearly seeks a new host for possession of her rotten soul. In addition, she has the Prof.!

They need a plan, a good one...

There is talk of explosive vests, dolls, stealthy approaches (which goes horribly wrong), and finally, fillling the car with the last of Sinead's dynamite, with special extras, in the hope of making a portable door (or mountain) opener.

They discover that the door to McBain's house is left open - invitingly so, clearly in an attempt at parley...though the irony of the witch's methods is not lost on the characters. The wreckage of the green car, and the wreckage of McBain outside his cottage, with every window smashed by the explosion, still smokes as they approach..

Meanwhile McDaid tests his new found magic that night, summoning...a Nightgaunt to do his bidding. Is he able to bind it...or does he risk attack from that which he called from the darkness of the netherworld? Luckily, McDaid has a run of good fortune and orders the thing to proceed through the open door and kill the terrible serpent men that they encountered earlier...a nod of its faceless black head is all they need...a flap of black leathery wings and it is gone, into the night... 

There is the sound of otherwordly shrieks inside the cottage and the cavern beyond as morning dawns...the witch and her minions clearly having expected a party of three for dinner, rather than a Nightgaunt...a glittering 'beam weapon' of some nature is seen to be used. 

Appearing in the dark, and needing to eat more...a Night Gaunt

 

Sinead directs the car up the narrow lane, and places the brick on the accelerator at the last moment...rolling an '08' for direction and ease of use...practically stepping from the running board in the nick of time, as the car smashes into the cottage, and goes up...bringing a large part of the mountain down around the cottage...and more importantly, opening up the cavern behind.

NO AI! This is NOT what I asked for...

 

Seeing the opened front of the cavern amongst the smoke...with the Nightgaunt 'troubling' three snake people, and the witch standing by a large black coffin...MacLeòid opens up with the Lewis gun, as McDaid moves toward the witch hoping that the Professor...is inside the coffin...even as she moves to use a sacrificial dagger upon him, and possess his very soul (only as an interim measure you understand).

*sighs* you told me you wuz smart AI!

 The Nightgaunt performs well, though is badly injured. Sinead evades a snake-man, and McDade wounds the French Witch...though has a tingling feeling that tells him not to kill her...a strange French voice inside his head...his friend...?

McEloid ends the discussion with some Lewis gun fire...McDade shakes his head and recovers, emptying the shotgun.

Meanwhile, Sinead picks up a beam weapon, and gives it to McDade taking whatever he found upon the witch  ...  ...the beam weapon makes sure that the French witch won't be re-possessing any time soon. They grab the Professor's limp body from the coffin, ensuring he is still alive, having no time to search for his belongings (including his rare book).

Snake people now start to emerge from the deeper cavern and the party skedaddle, leaving the Nightgaunt to do whatever it can...on the way out they pick up the remnants of the cottage's steel safe.

In safety, well outside the perimeter, they use the acid to open the safe...and find the members of the coven listed, as well as, another part of the disc, realising that is is in fact a map, of an island which does not exist.

Either an island which could not possibly exist...or a pizza

 Returning to Cannich and being somewhat heavy handed with Fergus at the Inn, now known to be a member of the coven, he is saved by Margaret's appearance, and she tells all - that the French Witch had been sent by the Order in America, and that the disk was important to them...and that Henry must have hidden the third piece at the dig site.

They resolve to go to the dig site, ...with Fergus in the boot (trunk)...so that they can deal with him later.

 

 

Shadowdark #5 'When is a Gelatinous Cube, not a Gelatinous Cube? When it's a jar of course!'

 Moving into the 'perfectly safe forest way - what can go wrong?', in order to find way to the caves of chaos, our intrepid party pretty much lose their bearings amongst the giant trees, the dank forest floor, the impressively tall trees...and the weird Dryad folk.

Not Brian...

Encountering a group of three of these (Evie, Sevie and Bryan(!) ), the green treefolk beg them to find their home-stone, which has been stolen by a Forest Troll (what can go wrong?). They agree to guide the party out of the forest, if the 'stone of great magic' is returned to them.

The dank and shiny...forest floor

Guiding the reluctant party to a ruined castle, wherein they find reference to an 'Ancient King', the delve into the dungeon level.

That first corridor seems remarkably clean, and somewhere in the distance, they see...a floating skeleton, with remains of Dryad around it..wait...floating, clean corridor, chemical smell...

That can mean only one thing! They have contract cleaners! ..or, it's a GELATINOUS CUBE!

"Gelatinous Cube!!!!"...with a brass top...not a jar...no, honest.

 

"LIDDA! NOOOOOOO!"

it fills the corridor and engulfs Lidda Puddlefoot the halfling, after almost killing Bjorn, who collapses paralysed, Lidda rescued in the nick of time by Bernard, who hacks in with a pick and wrenches her to freedom. The party flees back to the surface as the G Cube 'horrifically tidies up after them'....therein, lies the secret to defeating it!  

The party duly assemble all the rubbish up top, before dispensing it in front of the G Cube with clean freak OCD, who snuffles up the rubbish, almost impervious to the party that hack at it with weapons doing half damage, before fleeing. Just on the verge of having used all the crap they can find, a critical hit manages to split the cube in two and it melts into the cracks in the corridor, finally releasing the long dead dryad skeleton that gave it away in the first place.

Dumping crap, and running away bravely...

 Entering the chamber at the end of the corridor, the party encounters the Forest Troll in the middle of a venison lunch! 

 

The hungry troll, and the baaaad dice rolls

"So, your honour...I was just having lunch and they broke into my kitchen like..!"

Combat ensues, with possibly the worst set of party dice rolls EVAR!...but the unlucky troll, who seems somehow possessed by the strange arcane rock fragment that glows purple in its nest, is ultimately defeated...despite a cleric spell fumble, a few knockdowns, and the breakage of the holy, Elven magic sword 'Quenya'..'you have broken..what could not be broken!' ...oh well ...

 The party takes the stone...and decides what to do next, as the cleric is compensated by finding a weird mace amongst the troll's gear.

Call of Cthulhu, Episode #9 'Night of the Witch'

 Having rescued the MacCrae baby, the characters retreat from the hill...a few minutes later, the boom of the 'device' that Sinead planted satisfies them that at least somebody tried to start the car at McBain's cottage...

But...all is not well with the Professor, who passes out from the poisonous snake bite, and who seems to be in a coma of sorts. They take him to Ian's house and leave him there with Ian's wife as, they journey to return the baby to the MacCraes.

As the MacRaes are tearfully reunited with their lost daughter, Sinead keeps watch from the barn, hearing a ...soft song, a chant, out at the tree line ...a chant that becomes ritualistic, mournful, magical...and louder...

The party sees her now...the French witch, hundreds of yards away, summoning something which threatens to engulf the woods from which it comes, a goat slaughtered at her feet to pay homage to the 'thing' coming from the night, toward them, with ill intent.

The Thing from the woods...

 

Opting quickly, to get the hell out of Dodge after firing a few ineffective shots from the Lewis gun, the characters almost fail to start the car, but manage to get away, ultimately secreting the MacCraes up north, then returning to Inverness to check on Margaret and Erma at the guesthouse...they are clearly being followed, but decide to research the local library. Taking precautions, and realising that Margaret has leaked information to her brother back in Cannich, they send her back ...with Ian. What could go wrong?

 

Not a Scottish stereotype

Later, in the library however, they find that the witch, Anne Chantraine, bears remarkable similarity to the seventeenth AND eighteenth century witch 'Anne de Chantraine' burnt at the stake...twice. Once could be an accident, twice just seems downright careless. 

Anne Chantraine with her make-up on...

 

...aaaaaand without

Now they realise what they are dealing with, is not altogether wholesome...they immediately phone Ian's farm to ensure that he got home, with Margaret, who seems completely trustworthy. Doesn't she?

There is no answer... 

 

Call of Cthulhu, Episode #8, 'Snakes! Why'd it have to be Snakes?'

 Resolving to interview Margaret to determine how and why she knew Henry Hancock, the Professor and Sinead knock on the door of the tenement house they saw her enter. 

Determining that she lives with her brother, she confides in the characters, telling them of the witch cult in the town, and that Henry ended up uncovering too much.

She knows that the coven has one piece of the disc, and Henry had two (the characters rescued one of these). The disc is vital to the witches, and the French woman Anne Chantraine, arrived to secure the pieces for 'some larger shadowy organisation with cosmically ill intent' (of course).

Outside MacLeoid and McDaid spot that they are being shadowed by teh green car. The characters resolve to head to Inverness with Margaret - where she will be safe with Erma at her guesthouse (they hope). 

The green car follows, and they plan a bloody ambush, just as it turns off and heads back to Cannich.

The next day they return to Cannich, and Ian McDonald's farmhouse, speaking with the local mad drunk Willy Wassel...who tells them of all the things he had seen at 'the standing stones'. Professor Von Junzt correctly determines that Willy is not drunk, but has been driven insane by something he has seen... at the stones.

 

So AI interprets 'mad Scottish drunk from the 1920s as a 'dodgy looking bloke in a kilt and DM boots'

Using the 'Scooby Doo'; rule, they head straight for the standing stones, armed to the teeth.

There they find four large obelisks, and the remnants of ancient central stone- all very similar to what they once saw at Loch Fein a year previous. At the base of the drumlin, on the other side of the hill, is of course the green car, outside the cottage of Duncan McBain...

Honestly - I was very specific. AI? Not so much.

 As Sinead subtly disappears (on an 04 sneak roll) she decides to booby trap the car at teh base of the hill, with her demolition skill...it won't end well. As the party wonder where Sinead has disappeared to, McDaid swears he hears a baby crying inside the hill (on a listen roll of 07).

Yeah. I wouldn't drive this one for a while. It's gonna fail MOT

 With Sinead's return, they find a secret entrance under the central standing stone, and a flight of ancient stone steps. Moving downward, heavily armed, they find the missing MacCrae baby, under the shadow of the central stone's foundation...and then they see the snake- things. 

Sssss ssss ss s

 Scarcely men and only part serpent, they are attacked by two of them, with a mass of snake men behind that...the one with the weapon is disposed of first, but not before the second takes a bite on the Professor. I'm sure it's not poisonous or anything...

"And so what did you say? Did you complain? ...'Oh yeah. I said .I'm not payin' for that, and went down the pub like...'

 

McDaid however, fails everything to do with SAN...and runs away screaming for 10 rounds.

Grabbing the baby, the characters manage to get out...and return to Ian's farm...

Looking to the bottom of the hill as they leave, Sinead sees McBain and the French woman emerge from the cottage.  I wonder who will start that car. 

'Ohhh you crayzee guys are in zo much trouble now. ...unless i start zee car of course...'

 

Shadowdark#4 The Keep on the Borderlands

 Guiding Tredegar Monchburger to the Keep on the Borderlands, the characters that inadvertently released 250 Dwarf zombies from the ruins of Kazad Mor, feel little remorse.

From left to right...Dagmara, Karlyle, Bjorn,Lidda Puddlefoot, Bernard, Jeralt the Holy, Balin...let's see who makes it...I mean, uhhh,  heroes all!

 

Amongst the survivors of the party of 12 that left Borderfell (or 'Boderfell' depending upon whether you belong to the government faction or the 'Free Boderfell' movement...) :

A nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there...

• Dagmara the 1/2 orc wizard
• Karlyle the Elf Priest of Madeera
• Bjorn the big chinned fighter
• Bernard (that's Bernaaarrrrd), the Dwarf Priest of St. Terragnis
• Lidda Puddlefoot, the halfing fighter with plate armour (long story)
• Jeralt the Holy - Paladin to the Holy House of the Loyal Dread Chapel of Lady St. Terragnis (loyal faction)
• Balin the wily dwarf thief 

Within hours, and having met but a few of the locals (including, from afar, the strange Witch of the Tower, and old JoMaMa, the head of the Chapel...), Tredegar, in a panic tells them that his brother Justin has been kidnapped by forces unknown at the caves of chaos...can they help?

 Tooling up, the merry band heads out, hoping to outflank the caves by heading through the haunted woods to the north.

Totally makes sense to outflank the caves, by going through the haunted, cursed, deathly hallows, spider, woods of the dead priest emperor...

 What could go wrong?