Wastin' away again in MargaritaVale
We had a great time at PrinceCon this year, and were blessed with three particularly entertaining parties. Below, we've tried to reconstruct the general flow of events during each run, without digressing too far into certain details...
"Searching for ... we've no idea what" #
Player Character #
Bolger Hairfoot (C Gaia Hob)
Herb (C Gaia Dwf)
Kimi Snowmane II (C Gaia Fey)
Lomley (M Gaia Hob)
Posthumus (C Aru Hob)
Tamaran (H Mavors Hum)
Zippo (M Pan Hob)
"The Drive-by Shooting" #
Seven brave adventurers boarded the good ship Blue (named for our good
Lord Blue) in Weston, and sailed northwest to Crescent Isle. There they
turned south, and spied zombies at work building three large docks,
presumably for the great Bone ships from Magog. This sparks the first
intra-party debate. Some want to strafe the docks, others just want to
slip by and get to Adelphia. Those in favor of the drive-by win out,
and they successfully set fire to two of the docks and kill a slew of
zombies and a necromancer. Only one party member ended up overboard...
Unfortunately, the burning docks attracted the wrong sort of
attention, and the party fled several bone ships heading
towards their position.
"Forest trek with stoners, and the first splitting of the party" #
The party put ashore along the south branch of the river and set out
west to Adelphia. Along for the journey were a couple of Weston University
students, who had decided to join Lord Ethan Green after meeting
a recruiter at the university. The students explained that the basic
tenet of Green's Party was that human activity was the cause of Global
Cooling, and so we must stop cutting down trees and return to a more
natural state. The party was dubious of the legitimacy of Green's
organization, and when the students bid them adieu before reaching Adelphia,
the party warned them "not to drink the Kool-Aid".
However, curiosity got the better of Herb, who followed the students
away from camp. Kimi followed Herb, and Bolger followed
Kimi. Very powerful clerics in elegant treehouses seem to
be running bootcamps for ecoterrorists. Herb and Kimi discover
that the Greens have secret hiding places throughout the
Forest, and protect a mysterious vale called the Heart of
the Forest.
Bolger returns; this part of the party moves on to Adelphia.
"General Haldimand" #
In Adelphia, the party is made to wait a few hours in one of
Haldimand's conference rooms, and make nuisances of
themselves until Haldimand finally comes to brief them,
which is essentially a rant about the incompetence of his
officers at Fort Tyke and how the undead are using the
activity in the Donat Pass as a feint to disguise the true
attack, which will come from the East. He enjoins the party
to "help out" with whatever problems Fort Tyke is having,
then report back to him.
"Death of a Green" #
In the forest, part of the party discovers a few loggers and
guards loitering beneath a forest giant.
Work has been halted by Green tree-sitters, who heckle the
guards from a platform a few hundred feet above the forest
floor. The Gaia mage decided that tree-sitters must be
stopped at once, and creates the illusion of a roc to dive-
bomb the tree platform. Fred the Green is terrified and
plunges to his death below. Other Gaia-worshipers in the
party are less than pleased. The Greens, too, are less than
pleased.
At Fort Tyke, Herb and Kimi rejoin the party and everyone
exchanges information. Herb writes his Manifesto against
indiscriminate logging and indifference to the natural
world, generally declaring that "Furniture is Wrong!".
"The Rock-throwing Incident" #
While most of the party slept soundly inside the fort, Zippo and
Posthumus decided to go see Mt. Defiant for themselves. Sure enough,
they found that the fort was in great danger from a potential force on
the mountaintop. They decided to get a message to the rest of the party
by throwing a rock with a message tied to it into the fort (after all, a
message spell would cost spell points!), raising the fort's defenses and
starting a cat-and-mouse chase through the pre-dawn hours.
Each side was throughly convinced that the other half of the
party was setting a trap...
"Here We Go Gathering Nuts in Winter" #
Posthumus, Zippo, and Tamaran go off in search of
Lord Green. Bennington Hill is sought but never found, as
spells refuse to work and angry Green members refuse to
assist Fred's murderers.
"The Combat w/ Zombies" #
While scouting in bird form, Bolger discovers a squadron of
zombies clearing snow and making an advance camp north of
Fort Tyke, and leads the party to the camp. The trek takes
3 days, and the zombies are quickly dispatched. Strangely,
it appears that the zombies have done little work during the
days when Bolger would scout overhead.
Unfortunately, no one in the party though to cast a detect
undead, otherwise they might have found that most of the
mountain was sown with zombies carefully hidden under the snow...
"The 3-hour Hold Person" #
Frustrated by the unfriendly demeanor of the Greens after
Fred's death, Posthumus decides that party-Green
relations can only be restored by bringing Lomley up on
charges. The party launches into debate over whether the
town would recognize a manslaughter rather than a murder
charge and whether or not they should tie Lomley up. The
relative merits of palace-sized furniture are also
discussed. Eventually, Posthumus brings the ethical and
legal debate to an end by casting Hold Person. Three hours
later, most of the party is out in the hallway betting with
the fort's complement on whether or not Lomley will kill
Posthumus when he is finally freed. Interparty bloodshed is
avoided by the intervention of Tamaran, but tempers are
running high when the party returns to Hireling Hall.
"Some people claim that there's a Hobbit to blame..." #
Player Character #
Weed (C Gaia Dwf)
Bupkis (M Dwf)
EOL (H Elf)
Ozymandias (M Fey)
Yvennoranamei Turumbar (H Fey)
"The Ribbon Incident" #
The second group of adventurers decided it was time to investigate the
Green's claims of an "unnatural area of heat" further down the valley.
Along the trail up the valley, one mischevous Fey decided to
rifle the contents of a luggage train heading towards
MargaritaVale.
"Hi, Do You Have a Reservation?" #
The gate guards refuse to allow such underdressed and
servant-less types to enter as guests. Those of the party
claiming various talents (conversation, juggling, massage)
are permitted to enter through the employment office. Those
refusing to leave their weapons loiter around outside.
"Heat Lines & Undead Animals" #
The party members outside the resort discover there are heat
lines drawing energy from the ground and feeding it towards
the resort. While sleeping up a rope trick, the party
awakes to find a group of undead moose underneath their
position. One party member decides to escape
in gaseous form, which is safe enough but inconvenient,
since gas moves slowly and there is no way to outrun the
staggering moose... Eventually, the gas cloud wanders the
underground tunnels and discovers a massive Heat Repository
underneath the agave greenhouse at the resort.
The other two party members descend from the rope trick
and run for the gates to the resort. The guards, seeing
two people leading undead moose to the resort, blast the
moose and take the party members inside for some
interrogation.
"Lady Pink likes it the hard way" #
The party members inside have been working on leads for
potential undead contamination of the resort, but are
hindered by a suspicious Lady Pink (one of Queen Althea's
advance guards), who believes the Fey to be more than she
seems. Meanwhile, Lord Grey (one of King Ragnar's men) has
found the Elven hero suspicious, and taking him in for
questioning. Grey and Pink arrive at the local Mavors at
the same time, but as the party members have broken no laws,
he's of no help, and the two party members have to be let
go. Unbeknownst to the two heroes, Lady Pink sets
invisible servants to follow them. She then goes off to interrogate
the two prisoners taken at the gates, who are eventually let go.
"Lady Pink must Die!" #
The Fey hero, embittered by the rude treatment given her by Lady
Pink, decides to break into Pink's rooms to look for a weapon and
perhaps lie in wait to assassinate her. After rifling through various
kinky-looking implements and wishing she were big enough to wield the
2H sword over the fireplace, the Fey hero finally comes across some
wicked-looking daggers in a concealed location. However, it turns out
that waiting, even to assassinate Lady Pink, is too dull for our hero,
so she finally decides to go look for her friends -- but not before tearing apart Lady Pink's pillows!
"Should we kill the War Council?" #
By now, the party has made a contact with a member of Green's Party,
the young Lord Orange. As the resort prepares for the arrival of the
War Council, they have a conference in Orange's rooms in order to
discuss the Heat Repository and who may be implicated in this scandal.
At least once during the conversation, the party wonders if the
Council is responsible, and whether they should try to kill the
Council en masse.
"The Heat Repository" #
The party eventually tries to destroy the Repository, but are a little
too slow in determining their course of action once down there, and
are attacked by wendigos. A great battle under the greenhouse ensues,
and the party is forced to retreat, calling on the hobbit caretakers of
the resort as reinforcements, who then finish off the wendigos.
"Turning in the Hobbits" #
The party, muddy and battered, report to the War Council, who are in
session at the resort. They describe their findings to the Council,
and strongly suggest that the hobbit caretakers of the resort are
likely to blame for the Heat Repository. Grateful for their services,
they are cheered by the Council, while Lord Blue showers the party
with Heat Sink items, like blue fuzzy slippers and snowmobiles, and
promises to them that they can leave the situation in his capable
hands. Absent from these proceedings is Queen Althea,
who was rushed from the resort because her bodyguards, led by Lady
Pink, feared a Fey assassination attempt on the Queen's life.
"... but we know it's Lord Blue's fault." #
Player Characters #
Basilisk (Dwarf Guardian)
Granite Stormborn (Human Hero)
Ip (Fey Guardian)
Kimi Snowmane II (Fey Cleric)
Skippy (Hobbit Guardian)
The following characters joined during the run:
Dvorn Silverbeard (Dwarf Cleric)
Allenor (Human Hero)
Goldenrod Marshmeadow (Hobbit Cleric)
"Oops" #
The third run had the benefit of knowing that Lord Blue was EVIL, and
so Fort Tyke, and possibly the War Council, were in trouble.
"Expando-party" #
The run began with three party members, which grew to five before they
set out, allowing all five party members to have more-or-less permanent
Mass Bane III and telescopic vision. As the run progressed, more and
more PC's joined the party, making the task of keeping track of who
had what all the more interesting.
"A Deal with the Dead" #
As they approached Fort Tyke, the party saw that the fort was being
bombarded by catapult-fire from undead on Crown Point (across the
lake). The party decided to investigate, and quickly found that an
army of undead infested the forest by the lake. However, the undead
didn't want a fight, but a parlay. The party was introduced to Lord
Burgundy, the original owner of the lands in this valley, who had
returned to reclaim it. He was pleased to help the party destroy the
Well (a heat sink under the Fort), and furnished them with The Hedgehog
(a dire and nasty-looking thing with beady, glowing-red eyes) and
careful instructions that they shouldn't touch it with live flesh.
According to Burgundy, the Hedgehog, once thrown into the Well, should
destroy it.
"The Hedgehog's in the Well, the Hedgehog's in the Well..." #
The party infiltrates Fort Tyke and finds that it is being run by Lord
Blue-worshiping cultists. After dark, many of the cultists gather
around the Well and make offerings of live, small, furry animals, and
the party fits right in with their Hedgehog. After tossing the Hedgehog
in, they make their escape through a few strategically placed D-Doors,
and watch from afar as the Fort bursts into flame and Burgundy's zombies
hack fleeing cultists to bits.
The party was a little miffed, because the Hedgehog went off sooner than
Burgundy led them to expect, and some party members suffered third
degree burns, but then remembered that undead warlords were not well
known for their honesty... However, as much as they would have liked to
settle the score with Burgundy, they needed to see what had become of
the Council meeting at MargaritaVale.
"This is where the blue fuzzy slippers come from?!" #
Short hours ahead of Burgundy's army, the party rushes to the resort in
order to find what became of the Council. Upon arrival, they find that
a great battle has taken place between Lord Green's party and more of
Lord Blue's cultists. MargaritaVale's gift shop has been torn to
shreds, and bathrobes and blue fuzzy slippers are strewn about the
courtyard, prompting one party member to cry in dismay, "THIS is where
the blue fuzzy slippers come from??!!" (the robes and slippers were
heat sink items he had encountered in the possession of other PC's in a
previous scenario) The party quickly rounds up and destroys these
items, then goes to find out who's in charge. Unfortunately, no one
seems to be in control of anything... although a few war-torn members of
the aristocracy, looking rather worse for wear, do mention that the
Counsel is being Drained of lifeforce in the Council Chamber and no one
quite knows how to release them. The party does manage to break that
insidious little spell of the Dark Lord's, and disconnect the local Heat
Repository under the agave greenhouse. About this time however, the
Clock Strikes Three and everyone is irresistably drawn back to Hireling
Hall.
"The End?" #
Heck with this, we'll let Lord Green figure it out... that is, if Lord
Green and the deceased Lord Burgundy (and their respective armies) can
come to terms about who rules this valley. In the meantime, at least the
furniture plant has been burned to the ground...although the Gaia schism is still a gaping wound
and no one quite knows why clerical spells don't seem to work
near the Heart of the Forest. But the day is mostly saved, it would
appear...
Gallery: #
PrinceCon 27 Summaries & Run Recaps: #
- Wastin' away again in MargaritaVale by Alex Reutter & Sarah MacMillan