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Aphonion Tales: Ravenskrag and the Shadowline, a preteen D&D game (lightly edited notes, COMPLETED on 1/20/23)
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<blockquote data-quote="CPaladin" data-source="post: 8831821" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>Session 52 (October 9, 2022)</p><p></p><p>20 Chund (cont’d)</p><p>They begin by opening a door to the west; they can tell from their map, that there is not much space there. At the end of the short hallway, there are three miserable, chained humans.</p><p></p><p>Merreep holds her hands out, showing that she isn’t holding anything.</p><p></p><p>“You don’t look like cultists…” says the bravest of them, an old man. “Does that mean you might not be cultists?”</p><p></p><p>“We’re not cultists. We’re enemies of the cultists,” replies Runor.</p><p></p><p>“Oh, that’s very good to know. They’ve been raiding our village for some time.”</p><p></p><p>“Where is your village? Is it in Shadow?”</p><p></p><p>“Five days mule ride, and yes. But we are Trueborn.” The word means nothing to the group. “Our patron fears their patron, so he does nothing. Who is your patron?”</p><p></p><p>“Glordiadel,” says Runor.</p><p></p><p>“Does he not burn you and eat your children?”</p><p></p><p>“Glordiadel? Lord of Light and Holiness?” responds Runor increduously.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, that's what we were always told. That he is the light, and the sun hates everyone, and so he selectively burns and tortures."</p><p></p><p>The whole group is silent for a while, shocked by this. Runor then starts responding: "He's the greatest god of all. He protects those who cannot protect themselves, and he shines light into where there was dark."</p><p></p><p>The old man decides he has challenged Runor far enough and nods vigorously. "We are at your mercy and are your slaves."</p><p></p><p>"We're saving you, but slaves... that's not how Glordiadel works."</p><p></p><p>The old man looks very confused. "Everyone is a slave to someone."</p><p></p><p>Runor spends some more time arguing with the old man, whose understanding of the world is so different from his own.</p><p></p><p>"If Aleep's friends free you, can Aleep's friends know that you will not tell any of the snake people about us?"</p><p></p><p>"The snake people are enemies. They raid our village and kill our people."</p><p></p><p>After some more discussion of Glordiadel and the wonders of the world beyond Shadow, the prisoners decide that, when the group returns, they will go with them to the city.</p><p></p><p>"Do you know how to get down into the basement?"</p><p></p><p>"Go east, and then south, and then west, and then south, and there are stairs. It is not far. But there are guards. This be a maze. It is not far—but you are lucky you did not go north.”</p><p></p><p>“What is north?”</p><p></p><p>“Much, much complex. Mostly abandoned, but there is much of it. It would be long before you found your way out. And some things have crept into the abandoned complex. Unclean things. I do not think you fear the guards.”</p><p></p><p>“Are the guards snake-people?”</p><p></p><p>“No, minor eaters from the Shadow. Rutterkin. But they have an alarm bell. You do not want the alarm bell rung. That will bring snake-people. There is something below that they want to protect.”</p><p></p><p>They try to set the prisoners free, but the priest had no key. The prisoners tell them that the priest would simply pass his hands over the cuffs and say some words when he wants them to open.</p><p></p><p>Ulgorio picks the locks successfully and releases them. They can tell that the chains have been on long enough to leave marks.</p><p></p><p>“Be careful of the rutterkin. Do not let them ring the bell.”</p><p></p><p>The group travels east into a small, 10 by 10 room, with a pile of vestments in the corner. There are no obvious exits, but in a small alcove to the south, there’s a section of wall that has what seems to be a door concealed in the stonework. They can’t figure out how to open it at first, but they scrabble at it until Ulgorio slowly and painfully slide the door half an inch open. Now, with the door partially open, they each take turns pushing at it and sliding it further. With the door open, they see a passageway leading to the south and then turning to the west.</p><p></p><p>This corridor looks like it is somewhat regularly used. After traveling to the south, the tunnel travels some 25 feet to the west, and then comes to a 3-paneled, wooden door. It looks like it was fine workmanship at one time—elven make, likely—but then debased with dreadful carvings. Bartix can hear movement and gutteral tones of conversation beyond the doors.</p><p></p><p>While the group quietly argues about what to do next—Runor wants to travel through and kill the rutterkin, while Merreep argues that they can’t attack the rutterkin if the rutterkin don’t attack first—the voices beyond the door fall silent, and Bartix hears heavy footsteps beyond the door, much heavier than the noises they’ve heard before. The group immediately decides to run, fleeing back into the big room. When they arrive, they realize that the priest’s body is missing. They rush into the small area where the “Trueborn” are, along with the body of the priest. A short while later, they hear three heavy footsteps coming from the east, and then proceeding south. The rangers both note the smell of the troll-ogre things that the snake-people use to patrol.</p><p></p><p>They make their way back down to that door, and they listen. They hear much quieter talking and occasional dice rolls, sometimes followed by cursing.</p><p></p><p>The group tries to quietly open the doors and then move through. In the northwest corner, there are six small, bedraggled creatures crouched around a dice game with coppers in small piles in front of them.</p><p></p><p>One of them abruptly shouts, “You cheat, Snozzlenose!”</p><p></p><p>Another shouts back “Snozzlenose not cheat!” and lunges for him. The others start cheering as a fight breaks out. While the rutterkin are totally enmeshed in their own fight, the whole group quickly makes its way through the room and through a door out in the southeast of the room. (Snozzlenose is getting the worst of it in their fight.) They enter a 30’ passageway, which ends in a plunging staircase down.</p><p></p><p>At the base of the staircase, there’s a short winding passageway, which ends in a door and a short dead-end passage. They promptly go through the door, into a very large, empty room, with an open doorway to the north and two more doors to the east. Aleep pokes his head through the open doorway. There is a slight musty odor, and a pile of humanoid bones in the southwest corner of the room to the north. There are also a couple of doors out of that room, to the north and to the east.</p><p></p><p>Merreep looks around the large room, and finds that there is some sort of ancient looking frame in the north wall, with something in it that is completely covered by dirt. Merreep examines it carefully, and it appears to be a wide, full-length mirror set into the wall. The frame sparkles a little—perhaps with small gems set into the frame. Some of the crystals, on closer examination, twinkle with their own inner light.</p><p></p><p>Aleep mentions that crystals that glow with their own light are sometimes associated with psionics. As Merreep, Aleep, and Runor examine it closely, they see that at the base of the mirror, there are some disturbing runes that have been slashed into the sill. Aleep casts mending, and mends away the runes.</p><p></p><p>The dust also disappears, and the mirror suddenly glows with a soft light. It’s as if they were looking at banks of white clouds. A voice speaks softly into all of their minds.</p><p></p><p><<Directions?>></p><p></p><p>“Aleep’s friends seek the matrix?”</p><p></p><p>The back of the clouds parts, and they see a large circular room with an open screen, with different crystals of different colors and patterns glowing in it. Standing back some distance, there is one of the snake-people, five of the large things, a couple of humans, and a couple of what are obviously corpses that look like they have been electrocuted.</p><p></p><p>“Aleep thinks this is a scrying device, not a mirror.”</p><p></p><p>They also notice that one of the twinkling crystals is not twinkling any more. There are five remaining twinkling crystals.</p><p></p><p>Runor says, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the coolest of them all?”</p><p></p><p>The mirror clears again, and shows an enormous ice elemental. Four crystals remain twinkling.</p><p>[End session 52]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8831821, member: 7030144"] Session 52 (October 9, 2022) 20 Chund (cont’d) They begin by opening a door to the west; they can tell from their map, that there is not much space there. At the end of the short hallway, there are three miserable, chained humans. Merreep holds her hands out, showing that she isn’t holding anything. “You don’t look like cultists…” says the bravest of them, an old man. “Does that mean you might not be cultists?” “We’re not cultists. We’re enemies of the cultists,” replies Runor. “Oh, that’s very good to know. They’ve been raiding our village for some time.” “Where is your village? Is it in Shadow?” “Five days mule ride, and yes. But we are Trueborn.” The word means nothing to the group. “Our patron fears their patron, so he does nothing. Who is your patron?” “Glordiadel,” says Runor. “Does he not burn you and eat your children?” “Glordiadel? Lord of Light and Holiness?” responds Runor increduously. "Yes, that's what we were always told. That he is the light, and the sun hates everyone, and so he selectively burns and tortures." The whole group is silent for a while, shocked by this. Runor then starts responding: "He's the greatest god of all. He protects those who cannot protect themselves, and he shines light into where there was dark." The old man decides he has challenged Runor far enough and nods vigorously. "We are at your mercy and are your slaves." "We're saving you, but slaves... that's not how Glordiadel works." The old man looks very confused. "Everyone is a slave to someone." Runor spends some more time arguing with the old man, whose understanding of the world is so different from his own. "If Aleep's friends free you, can Aleep's friends know that you will not tell any of the snake people about us?" "The snake people are enemies. They raid our village and kill our people." After some more discussion of Glordiadel and the wonders of the world beyond Shadow, the prisoners decide that, when the group returns, they will go with them to the city. "Do you know how to get down into the basement?" "Go east, and then south, and then west, and then south, and there are stairs. It is not far. But there are guards. This be a maze. It is not far—but you are lucky you did not go north.” “What is north?” “Much, much complex. Mostly abandoned, but there is much of it. It would be long before you found your way out. And some things have crept into the abandoned complex. Unclean things. I do not think you fear the guards.” “Are the guards snake-people?” “No, minor eaters from the Shadow. Rutterkin. But they have an alarm bell. You do not want the alarm bell rung. That will bring snake-people. There is something below that they want to protect.” They try to set the prisoners free, but the priest had no key. The prisoners tell them that the priest would simply pass his hands over the cuffs and say some words when he wants them to open. Ulgorio picks the locks successfully and releases them. They can tell that the chains have been on long enough to leave marks. “Be careful of the rutterkin. Do not let them ring the bell.” The group travels east into a small, 10 by 10 room, with a pile of vestments in the corner. There are no obvious exits, but in a small alcove to the south, there’s a section of wall that has what seems to be a door concealed in the stonework. They can’t figure out how to open it at first, but they scrabble at it until Ulgorio slowly and painfully slide the door half an inch open. Now, with the door partially open, they each take turns pushing at it and sliding it further. With the door open, they see a passageway leading to the south and then turning to the west. This corridor looks like it is somewhat regularly used. After traveling to the south, the tunnel travels some 25 feet to the west, and then comes to a 3-paneled, wooden door. It looks like it was fine workmanship at one time—elven make, likely—but then debased with dreadful carvings. Bartix can hear movement and gutteral tones of conversation beyond the doors. While the group quietly argues about what to do next—Runor wants to travel through and kill the rutterkin, while Merreep argues that they can’t attack the rutterkin if the rutterkin don’t attack first—the voices beyond the door fall silent, and Bartix hears heavy footsteps beyond the door, much heavier than the noises they’ve heard before. The group immediately decides to run, fleeing back into the big room. When they arrive, they realize that the priest’s body is missing. They rush into the small area where the “Trueborn” are, along with the body of the priest. A short while later, they hear three heavy footsteps coming from the east, and then proceeding south. The rangers both note the smell of the troll-ogre things that the snake-people use to patrol. They make their way back down to that door, and they listen. They hear much quieter talking and occasional dice rolls, sometimes followed by cursing. The group tries to quietly open the doors and then move through. In the northwest corner, there are six small, bedraggled creatures crouched around a dice game with coppers in small piles in front of them. One of them abruptly shouts, “You cheat, Snozzlenose!” Another shouts back “Snozzlenose not cheat!” and lunges for him. The others start cheering as a fight breaks out. While the rutterkin are totally enmeshed in their own fight, the whole group quickly makes its way through the room and through a door out in the southeast of the room. (Snozzlenose is getting the worst of it in their fight.) They enter a 30’ passageway, which ends in a plunging staircase down. At the base of the staircase, there’s a short winding passageway, which ends in a door and a short dead-end passage. They promptly go through the door, into a very large, empty room, with an open doorway to the north and two more doors to the east. Aleep pokes his head through the open doorway. There is a slight musty odor, and a pile of humanoid bones in the southwest corner of the room to the north. There are also a couple of doors out of that room, to the north and to the east. Merreep looks around the large room, and finds that there is some sort of ancient looking frame in the north wall, with something in it that is completely covered by dirt. Merreep examines it carefully, and it appears to be a wide, full-length mirror set into the wall. The frame sparkles a little—perhaps with small gems set into the frame. Some of the crystals, on closer examination, twinkle with their own inner light. Aleep mentions that crystals that glow with their own light are sometimes associated with psionics. As Merreep, Aleep, and Runor examine it closely, they see that at the base of the mirror, there are some disturbing runes that have been slashed into the sill. Aleep casts mending, and mends away the runes. The dust also disappears, and the mirror suddenly glows with a soft light. It’s as if they were looking at banks of white clouds. A voice speaks softly into all of their minds. <<Directions?>> “Aleep’s friends seek the matrix?” The back of the clouds parts, and they see a large circular room with an open screen, with different crystals of different colors and patterns glowing in it. Standing back some distance, there is one of the snake-people, five of the large things, a couple of humans, and a couple of what are obviously corpses that look like they have been electrocuted. “Aleep thinks this is a scrying device, not a mirror.” They also notice that one of the twinkling crystals is not twinkling any more. There are five remaining twinkling crystals. Runor says, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the coolest of them all?” The mirror clears again, and shows an enormous ice elemental. Four crystals remain twinkling. [End session 52] [/QUOTE]
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