Audrey, the Monstrous Tree of Life
Special credits to Sarah MacMillan and Yianni Yessios for helping to develop this scenario.
Run 1 "Investigating the Deaths of Tunnel Workers" left Fri 17:15 #
Player Characters #
"Runt", a Rock Troll (Tim DeCapio)
Geronomo, a Gargoyle (Michael Brokes)
Gregory, a Werewolf (Christopher Cavender)
Haroun Al-Mari, a Djinni (York Dobyns)
March, a Beholder (Alan Zitomer)
Miasma, a Sea Hag (Steven Wolfson)
Mirror, a Doppleganger (Tony Macaluso)
Suu'kath, a Mind Flayer (Ken Silverman)
X'zax, an Umber Hulk (John Kliminski)
On the Expedition #
Our intrepid adventurers, the now-fabled Hand of the Dusk, began their careers as investigators for Glum the Cyclops, who needed answers for the sudden and mysterious deaths of approximately 300 goblins that had been part of the work force on a crucial project at the monstrous forge in the north. Glum believed the forge to be vital to the war effort, for its talented forgers would create the new weapons to defeat the enemy. However, the forge was dangerously low on fuel, having exhausted nearby wood supplies, and the elves had mounted a new offensive that was dangerously close to the forge. In spite of these problems, an ambitious project to tunnel under the mountains to the Blackwood forest was underway, but the deaths of the goblins had now put it behind schedule. They were told to report to Quinn, who was in charge of Local Monstrous Operations. When they asked how they could recognize Quinn, Glum told them, "Um, Quinn is dwarf, and werewolf, and human, and..." "Oh, Quinn is a Doppleganger" the party finished.
Travel to the forge was faciliated by a teleport plinth from Henchling Hole, and upon arrival the party could see Cyclopi and Rock Trolls hard at work, building makeshift defenses for the siege to come. Runt, Haroun, March, and Miasma then suddenly made saving throws, and the party looked about for a source, but all that was to be seen was a (to Gregory's eyes) very attractive werewolf. This was Quinn. Since Dopplegangers don't normally cast spells, they revised their original conclusions and decided Quinn was a Succubus.
She led them inside the forge to her observation deck, which commanded a view of the plains and the monster/elven front. The PCs met her adjutants; Abercrombie, a Beholder, and Fitch, an insane Sphinx, chosen by the Dark Command for their resistance to Quinn's wiles. Quinn interrogated the PCs on their mission, and those who hadn't made saves found themselves compelled to answer truthfully. She also exhorted them to consider the forge a lost cause, claiming that she was under orders to remove the forge's repository of weapons to Henchling Hole and destroy the forge when finished. However, Quinn had been unable to find certain items that had been requisitioned over the last few years, and was having difficulty getting answers from the master forger. Finally, Quinn told Suu'kath to report back to her and dismissed the group.
The party then went to the forge, which was mostly empty. Amaranthe, a Drake and the Master Forger, explained that the others were working on the Tunnel project. The party made some investigations around the forge to see if they could find hiddens caches of magic items, but only found Amaranthe's hoard; she offered to share some items with the PC's if they could get the Tunnel back on schedule.
So they traveled over the mountain to interview Saito, the Rock Troll in charge of engineering the Tunnel. He was very proud of his efforts overseeing the work on the Tunnel (it was his idea), but very concerned that the loss of the goblins would delay construction by another two weeks. Saito thought that a troop of dwarves, active in this area, were responsible, but he showed them the dead goblins, having taken care to not to disturb the bodies for the detectives. It had been nearly a week since their deaths, and the bodies had become just rank enough to satisfy a Sea Hag. However, the PC's saw no evidence of a violent cause of death, Miasma could not find poison in the bodies, and rats summoned by Gregory did not die from feasting on rotting entrails. Dwarves seemed unlikely culprits at this point, and the PC's asked Saito about the forest, who told them that several goblins and a few Rock Trolls that had wandered too far into the forest had been lost to carnivorous trees.
While Miasma thought of more foul things to do with the decaying corpses, Haroun cast Analyze Magic to see if there were Foul Arts at play. There was no trace on the goblins, but he found that Geronomo, Gregory, Miasma, Suu'kath, and X'zax were all under the effects of a Dominate prayer! [out of game, the players quickly consulted their manuals to find that Dominate is a 6th level Succubus prayer -- 8th level massed!]
While deciding what to do about the enscorcelled party members, Gregory found recent dwarf scent and tracks on the other side of a nearby stream. Gregory, Haroun (invisible), and Mirror then scouted ahead. Mirror, disguised as a dwarf, was challenged by the sentries and taken inside the dwarf lair. Haroun took a quick peek inside, didn't see Mirror, and went back out for the cavalry. The assault on the dwarf lair proceeded in a few easy steps:
- X'zax, with Haroun along, burst into the guard's "ready room" and immobilized 4 dwarfs with a web
- Geronomo dive bombed and squashed a guard
- Runt, Saito, and 8 accompanying Rock Trolls had a major bottleneck trying to get in via the sentry entrance to the lair
- Gregory and March tangled with some dwarves pouring out of the main entrance, but soon got help from the others
- Col. Nicholson, the dwarf leader, was captured and held airborne with a Telekinesis spell from March
- Mirror kept his head down and out of sight during the fight, but took Nicholson's form to convince the dwarves to surrender peaceably.
X'zax felt surrender was odd behavior for dwarves, but not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, they led the dwarves back to the Tunnel project in chains, as replacements for the lost goblins. The Hand did not have any solutions for the cause of the goblins' deaths, and decided to leave that, and exploration of the forest, for the next group. They also concluded that Quinn was working for her own purposes and not the good of monsterdom, and blasted her activities in their report to Glum. Gregory still had a soft spot for Quinn, and moderated the report with some kind words for the succubus.
Directives from Suu'kath as a result of the run:
- There is a force in the northern woods that hampers our work. It must be destroyed!
- When the tunnel to the northern foresst in complete, burn the dwarves for fuel.
- Reinforcements MUST be sent to the forge! The elves cannot prevail!
returned Sat 02:34 (9h19m)
Run 2 "We Are Happy in Our Work" left Sat 08:48 #
Player Characters #
Char, a Drake (James Morales)
Grulvex, a Rock Troll (Jason Pierantoni)
Saiene, a Bughieman (Sang Lee)
Special K, a Succubus (Hugh Huntzinger)
Turrus, a Gargoyle (Jeff Houston)
Urlgaren, a Werewolf (Tavis Allison)
Wilson, a Beholder (Christopher Vigfusson)
On the Expedition #
There have been more inexplicable goblin deaths, so the Monsters Without Hats were sent to discover the cause. As a side job, they were asked to escort Col. Nicholson back to the dwarven troops. Saito wanted all the dwarf-power he could get, because the dwarves weren't as fast as he expected.
Upon arriving at the forge, they discovered that Quinn was now under investigation, as a result of the Hand's report. Abercrombie and Fitch were conducting the inquiry, with Quinn complaining vociferously to the PC's about A & F's botched handling of the monstrous forces on the front. The PC's didn't investigate these claims, but did notice that the elves were closer than they expected.
A quick stop by Amaranthe's forge netted some more shared items from her hoard.
Special K spent some "quality time" with Col. Nicholson, and found out he was not primarily interested in the forge, but had been sent to the Blackwood Forest by Hireling Hall, looking for answers to find out whether monsters belong on the Tree of Life and/or if they have souls. If captured, they were supposed to "play their part as prisoners with dignity", which the PC's interpreted as "dig slowly". Special K gave Col. Nicholson a command to motivate them, but the attempt to force the dwarves to abandon their own mining practices in favor of trollish ways was still causing friction and slowing the tunnel. Thus, the PC's arranged a contest to see whether dwarven or trollish methods are superior, then quickly headed off into the forest to look for answers to the goblin deaths.
Within the forest, Urlgaren befriended a raven asking help "for her" because "she's sick". Intrigued, the party followed. After a few hours, they noticed a sucking/slithering noise in the distance. The raven became very agitated -- "Run! Run! They don't know you! Run!" -- but Grulvex was having none of this, and watched and waited as a mobile tree slouched into view. A titanic struggle ensued, in which Grulvex dealt mighty blows with his axe but soon found himself in the crushing grip of the tree. Turrus managed to brake one branch, but was also wounded. Char had some success burning the tree, but had no fire left to finish it off. Special K decided discretion was the better part of valor and simply tried to provide prayer support. Saiene simply couldn't buy a good hit. Urlgaren discovered that he was more tasty to the tree than the tree was to him.
Finally, into the fray stepped Wilson, firing lances and biting hunks out of the tree [only now, at 12 noon on Saturday, discovering that he could cast and bite in the same round -- finally entering "Beholder puberty"]. Under these assaults, the tree swayed and fell, and a bloody Urlgaren was extracted from its maw.
A few more hours from the carnage, they found a spot where the canopy rose up around the trunk of a massive tree. Its branches extended miles in all directions, twisting through the tops of the surrounding forest. As they approached, the PC's could hear a humming noise from inside the trunk. Turrus (using his Perfect Pitch) hummed along, and in response, a great bud-like head lifted itself from a cleft in the trunk, and the humming resolved into song:
Nobody knows the trouble I see
Nobody knows but Ratri
The tree introduced herself as Audrey, and called the PC's her children, then led them in a round of "Succubus Eyes". Further conversation led the party to believe that Audrey was the monstrous equivalent of the Tree of Life. Audrey appeared ill, but would not admit to it, and was very unwilling to talk about her condition. The party did obtain a copy of a fragment of writing in Audrey's possession (which she could not translate) and a linguistic document, then returned to HH.
returned Sat 16:27 (7h39m)
Run 3 "We Make House Calls" left Sat 18:13 #
Player Characters #
Aspre, a Bughieman (Jonathan Soto)
Hothar the M(ighty?), an Ogre Mage (Michael Ferrante)
Nog the Inescapable, a Werewolf (Rick Crist)
Quee-Quak, a Doppleganger (Steve Szczepanik)
On the Expedition #
In possession of an Increment Borer, the PC's had the tool necessary to prove beyond a medical doubt that Audrey was ill. Once in her presence, they took a core sample and convinced her that she was dying of extreme old age. However, she still had no answers for how to cure herself. Eating a demihuman seemed to make her feel better, but it was temporary.
Aspre took some shrooms and had a vision in which a shadowy being enters a gated garden, takes a sprig, and while leaving is also in the possession of blood. They thought this might be nonsense, and became more convinced it was nonsense after talking to Fitch, who rambled on with a long explanation about dream symbolism (but see between runs below).
At the forge, they found the dwarves were working ahead of schedule and largely under their own supervision. The party reported this as worrisome behavior from dwarves, but had no answers. They also felt there could a danger in completing the Tunnel, for should the forge fall, it would give an unimpeded path to Audrey.
Abercrombie and Fitch had completed their investigation, and found there were some items reported as moved to Henchling Hole that were missing from the stock rooms. They returned to HH with the party and Quinn in tow, who was then locked away for the duration of the Con.
returned Sat 21:11 (2h58m)
They worked on translating Audrey's document fragment at HH, confirming it was about Audrey's genesis:
"In times long gone, the Queen of Shadows stole into the garden and took a cutting from the Tree of Life and noble blood. However, the cutting did not breed entirely true, and the resulting tree's flowers gave rise to monstrous brethren of those from the true Tree."
Run 4 "Madness, Madness, Madness!" left Sat 22:55 #
Player Characters #
Aetrix, a Succubus (Harry Grannis)
Gadak, an Ogre Mage (Johann Hibschman)
Leuconoe, a Sphinx (Paul Anderson)
Lynx, a Sprite (Sean Hart)
Ozymandias, a Sprite (Greg Arzoomanian)
Rask, a Gargoyle (Matthew Allen)
On the Expedition #
The previous party returned with more questions than answers about the mess at the forge, so this group set out to get answers. There, they found that Abercrombie has been placed in charge of Local Monstrous Operations, with Fitch as his second. They also found the tunnel finished, and a ceremony commemorating the completion scheduled for the next day. Aha! a perfect time for something to go wrong! And as if in confirmation, some Cyclopi guarding mountain paths were found dead, so Abercrombie sent our heroes out to find the intruders.
Unfortunately, they set out without casting See Invisible, so on their way to the Cyclopi corpses, they missed the group of demihumans that passed a half-mile over their heads. This was Feyt, a crack Fey assassination squad comprised of:
Fredo, Mage 8
Flitter, Hero 8 (Archer, Double Fire, Halfmove)
Flatter, Hero 8 (Archer, Double Fire, Halfmove)
Flutter, Hero 8 (Archer, Sharpshooter, Halfmove)
Fleeter, Hero 8 (Ranger, Sixth Sense, Running)
Flighter, Gaia Cleric 8
Floater, Gaia Cleric 8
Fluter, Gaia Cleric 8
Eventually, they were able to follow Feyt's path with the aid of a Magic Trail, courtesy of Leuconoe, and they intercepted Feyt on their way from the forge. A swift battle ensued in which Leunconoe found out what it was like to be a pincushion, the fey heroes covered the escape of the spellcasters, and then fled themselves. Given the firepower of the fey heroes, the PC's were confused as to why they ran away, until returning to the forge and finding that Abercrombie, Saito, and several other Rock Trolls had been slaughtered in Feyt's attack. Fitch awarded the party medals for driving off Feyt and preventing them from causing further mischief... of course, Fitch is insane.
returned Sun 05:15 (6h20m)
Run 5a "With Monsters Like These..." left Sun 09:51 #
Player Characters #
Grulvex, a Rock Troll (Jason Pierantoni)
Rillydor, a Sphinx (Tavis Allison)
Saiene, a Bughieman (Sang Lee)
Turrus, a Gargoyle (Jeff Houston)
Zzazz (formerly Wilson), a Beholder (Christopher Vigfusson)
On the Expedition #
At Henchling Hole, the Monsters w/o Hats and the Hand of the Dusk plotted an "exit strategy" should Audrey's death be inevitable -- the plan was to transfer their own flowers from Audrey to a root of the Tree of Life, using knowledge gained from Tabernaculus (see Steve's scenario). The MwoH's task was to retrieve the flowers, then signal the HotD through an ingenious goblin-warning system (the Hand took three goblins with them; the death of any, caused by the MwoH crushing that goblin's flower, signaled a particular course of action to be taken in Steve's final run).
So the MwoH set out at top speed; unfortunately, none had the ability to See Invisible, for they were tailed by none other than Feyt, now all 9th level and tickled pink that the monsters were so easy to follow.
In Audrey's glade, the MwoH found her unresponsive; the Raven warders were frantic in asking for help, but the PC's had little to offer. Zzazz set about Locating the flowers with a prosthetic eyestalk provided by Amaranthe -- normally, Audrey can Protect flowers from locates, but could not in her current condition. Very carefully, they snipped off the flowers, with each making a system shock roll and taking damage as they were severed from "mom". Zzazz then rested a while in order to regain the necessary spell points to Locate the flowers of the Hand of the Dusk.
After a few hours, the party detected a distinct smell of smoke, and the ravens began screaming something about FIRE! Turrus popped above the canopy for a look, and sure enough, there were 8 separate blazes, with 3-4 clustered southeast of Audrey and a stiff prevailing wind directing them toward the main trunk. Turrus, Grulvex, and Rillydor made some initial attempts to put out the flames and dig a trench to protect Audrey, but were driven away by the stinging arrows of Feyt. Sticking to the exit streategy, they woke Zzazz, gathered up the flowers of the Hand of the Dusk (who, somewhere else in the world, were now making mysterious system shock rolls and taking damage), blew the goblin trunk off Audrey in order to send a final signal to the Hand, and fled towards the root that would be their flowers' new home.
Feyt, surprised but pleased by the lack of resistance, did not interfere with MwoH's escape and concentrated on killing Ravens and feeding the flames.
Run 5b "Could We Please Save Audrey Now?" #
Player Characters #
All Yr Gld B Mine, a Drake (Tom Carman)
Aspre, a Bughieman (Jonathan Soto)
Flash, a Bughieman (Kate Oliver)
Leuconoe, a Sphinx (Paul Anderson)
Quee-Quak, a Doppleganger (Steve Szczepanik)
Rillydor, a Sphinx (Tavis Allison)
On the Expedition #
Henchling Hole got word that Audrey was in trouble (perhaps 10% of their forces dropping dead clued them in?) and sent reinforcements to help. On their way to save Audrey, they passed the Monsters w/o Hats fleeing at top speed from the conflagration with their flowers in hand. Rillydor, in a moment of conscience (?) and concern for the welfare of his fellow-monsters, made sure that the dire nature of Audrey's plight was impressed upon the Dark Command; then he sped back to help save Audrey.
The Dark Command, perhaps spurred on by the sudden deaths of 25% of all Manticores, Cyclopi, and Sphinx, hacked off the Fey branch of the Tree of Life in desperation. Thus, Feyt's success as a strike force ultimately led to the downfall of their entire people.
The monsters trying to save Audrey still had a raging fire to deal with, and made noble efforts. The turning point in this battle, perhaps, occurred when Rillydor cast a Toll which woke Audrey from her stupor; finally aware of her mortal danger, she summoned helpers (the carnivorous trees) to dig the trench that would stave off the burning. Many monsters around the world died that day, but many more were saved because of the determination of these few.
returned 14:39 (4h58m)
Consequences / Questions for Pcon XXX #
- how many years later does Pcon XXX take place?
- the blossoms of the Hand of the Dusk and Monster w/o Hats are on a root of the demihuman Tree of life. do they share this technology with others? does Audrey still like them?
- whither Amaranthe (the Drake who was the master forger)? she went with the Monsters w/o Hats and her blossom is with theirs and the Hand of the Dusk on a root of the tree of life.
- new Wardens of the Raven for Audrey. her old ravens were killed by Feyt, and and she will want new ones. the characters in run 5B likely have become the chiefs among her new wardens.
- Fitch still at Forge (w/ visions of Fey assassins dancing in his head)
- whither Quinn? she escaped from Henchling Hole sometime during the Sunday confusion, and is somewhat bitter about her treatment, and blames the Hand of the Dusk.
- all the fey are dead; are they restless?
PrinceCon 29 Summaries & Run Recaps: #
- Audrey, the Monstrous Tree of Life by Alex Reutter