The below information is strictly Out of Character and relatively little of it will be publicly known, except (in most cases) by the characters involved. Please do not assume that, just because it's written here, your character might know about it. Also, much of the below information has been written from memory, so there are likely to be any number of errors and omissions. If you can help correct any mistakes or fill in any gaps, then please email the webmaster to let us know.
Run by Laura & Xan on 16th January 2005 (Sunday 1st week, Hilary term)
Players: "Ripper" Bill McKenzie (James), Jared (Fergus), Reimus Velasquez - RIP (Julian), Ryn Coth (Ellie), Shenya Cristofori (Helen W)
Mission Brief: Vincenzi Velasquez hires a group of adventurers to travel to the village of Redbridge in the great Western Forest, a place where humans and Children of the Vine live in peace under the guidance of a powerful sorceress and priestess of the Lady of Blood and Wine named Belladonna. Redbridge is known for producing some exceptionally fine wines, but no word or wine has arrived from the village for two weeks and the last letter Vincenzi received from Belladonna has him worried...
Original Plot Document (.rtf file)
Adventure Summary: After briefing them in the Black Griffin Vincenzi gives the party a bag of his homebrew healing potions and a bottle of good wine to ease negotiations with the Children of the Vine, asking them not to harm any wolves that they meet in the Forest and giving them a copy of the poem which the Lady of Blood and Wine spoke to him when he communed with her to try and find out more about the situation: "With lust intoxicated, - In crystal consummated. - From grape to glass - Unending thirst - Down splint'ring pass - With absence curst." The party head off westwards, after a few days' travel they're deep in the Forest when they see a young girl caught by animate vines and pleading piteously for help as she is slowly crushed to death - the party wade in to her rescue, fighting off the vines as they go, Ryn creates a protective shell of thorns around the vines' victim and reaches in to pull the girl free - only to find herself grabbing hold of a bunch of vines and her hand pierced by poison thorns. Ryn manages to hack at the vines and pull herself free, using Blood magic to counteract the paralysing poison. The plant creates illusions of another victim (a young Child of the Vine this time) and then a pitiful whining wolfcub as the party move on, giving the thing a wide berth and vowing to return with oil and torches at a later date. Some time later the party reach the outskirts of the lands around Redbridge, only to find their route onwards guarded by a line of wolves that sits blocking the path. The wolves have blood red eyes, which Ryn speculates may be the result of them having been Blood Tied to a Blood sorcerer, and seem to be acting in an unusually orderly and intelligent manner. The wolves move aside to let the party pass after they have tasted the blood of each adventurer. The party then find themselves travelling through vineyards, but the vines don't appear to have been visited or tended for some time and on closer examination it is apparent that the grapes have all turned to glass - each one is a glass shell containing a fragile honeycomb of glass and even glass pips, though the rest of the vines appear to be normal and healthy even down to their roots. Moving closer to the village the fields are seen to be empty of livestock and the villagers seem to be building some kind of barricade - they tell the party that terrible things come in the night hungry for blood, tearing their victims limb from limb with their inhuman strength and draining the bodies of blood. The villagers have run out of animals to sacrifice each night and are now in terror for their own lives, the messenger they sent to fetch help from the White City never having been seen again. They mention that the terrible things started turning up shortly after Belladonna vanished a couple of weeks previously, that she had taken a strange travelling scholar from the South dressed all in white as her latest lover and that if she's not left him or killed him by now then he's lasted longer than most. The villagers know nothing of the wolves, saying that Belladonna always blessed their travels before they left the village. They beg the adventurers to stay and help them, pointing out that it is getting close to dark. This the adventurers do - as darkness finally falls the terrible things turn up and are revealed to be three young women, two of them human and one a Child of the Vine, once beautiful but now gaunt and terrifying with fine webs of bloodless cuts covering every inch of their visible flesh, pale bloodless skin, wickedly sharp claws and teeth and long glass knives. Wielding both Glass magic and Blood magic, they toss the barricades aside with ease and a vicious fight ensues - Bill is almost immediately taken out of action after his mind is blasted by Glass magic, Reimus is dragged off by one of the terrible things and has his arms torn off and drained of blood before it is sated and retreats into the night, the other two terrible things are eventually killed by the combined efforts of the remaining adventurers. Reimus is rescued and healed and uses Blood magic to restore one of his arms to use, Bill eventually comes round and the villagers repair the party's leather armour and offer them hospitality for the night.
In the morning the villagers identify the two dead terrible things as having once been Belladonna's acolytes and give the party directions to Belladonna's cottage in the Forest. The party set off, but on the way there encounter three large creatures that look like skinless ogres with horns, fangs and claws, roaring in pain and wielding large clubs, which notice the party and move to attack. Ryn identifies them as being "Things That Get You When You Stray Off The Path", creatures sent by the Old Powers to avenge harm to the land and which can only be destroyed by appeasing the Powers that sent them. There is a desperate battle during which the creatures are dropped several times but keep rising again, eventually most of the party manage to outrun the TTGYWYSOTPs and flee northwards though Reimus is killed and his body carried off into the Forest. Ryn offers up prayers for his spirit. At Belladonna's cottage the party finds indications that four women used to live there but apparently abandoned the place in a hurry roughly a fortnight earlier. On a table is some kind of divinatory apparatus, a crystal pendulum suspended from a tripod over a stylised map of the area that appears to have been drawn in blood. The party manage to use the device and note that it seems to be indicating a nearby canyon. On leaving the cottage the party meet a group of hostile and suspicious Children of the Vine accompanied by more of the red-eyed wolves. After giving them the wine from Vincenzi the party manage to talk them round and show them the map, the Children are led by a seer who confirms that the canyon is likely to be some kind of place of power and tells them the easiest route to get there.
The canyon itself is a narrow gorge with a ledge along one side high above the watercourse - the ledge leads to a cave behind the waterfall at the far end. The party are forced to travel in single file along the ledge, fighting off the vines that line the cliff and appear to have razor sharp thorns of green glass growing from them. Passing through the waterfall they find a cave lined with glittering quartz crystals. Belladonna is pinned to the far wall by glass spikes through her wrists and ankles, her once beautiful face marred by a web of razor cuts, blood staining the crystals around her deep red - she seems to be in some kind of trance and barely clinging onto life. The air is heavy with the fumes of vainglory and silverleaf. Between her and the party are a pair of splinter-men and a man dressed all in white who smiles amicably and introduces himself as Lorenzo. There is a stand-off for some minutes as Lorenzo talks to the party, telling them that Belladonna is deep in meditation communing with her goddess and will likely come round and talk to them if they're willing to wait for a while - in reality he is stalling for time as Belladonna is heavily drugged and when the last of her life drains away his ritual to summon a Vitriarch will be complete. Midway through the discussion Bill charges Lorenzo and once again has his mind blasted into insensibility by Glass magic. Eventually Ryn Blood Ties herself to Belladonna, but then stabs herself in the chest to fatally Blood Curse Lorenzo forgetting that Belladonna will also take the damage - at this point Belladonna dies and her corpse calmly pulls itself from the glass spikes and begins walking out of the cave. More splinter-men form from the glass spikes and the crystals of the cave and the glass thorns of the vines along the canyon wall as Belladonna's corpse, now a living dead Crystal Vessel containing a Vitriarch, strolls out of the canyon. The party fight off the splinter-men, pick up Bill's unconscious body and chase after the Vitriarch. Jared hacks at the Vitriarch, forgetting that every blow he does to Belladonna's corpse does equal harm to Ryn - Ryn barely manages to survive, only sustained by her link to the remnants of Belladonna's life-force still contained in the bloodstained crystals of the cave, as Jared leaves gaping wounds in the undead Crystal Vessel that are healed over by glass almost as fast as he can deal them. Eventually the Vitriarch blasts his mind into insensibility and walks off, leaving Shenya to heal Ryn and wait for Bill and Jared to come round. The party build a raft and float downriver to the southeast (easily outpacing a TTGYWYSOTP that sees them from the bank and tries to swim after them) until they enter White City territory, at which point they disembark and trudge back to the White City. Here Vincenzi thanks them for their efforts and breaks the Blood Tie still linking Ryn to the undead Crystal Vessel and the bloodstained crystal cave, giving each of them some payment and promising that he owes them each a favour for doing their best to save Belladonna and the village.
Run by Ellie & Joe W on 22nd January 2005 (Saturday 1st week, Hilary term)
There is a gallery of photographs from this game available here, taken by Helen W & hosted by Chris N.
Players: Bartholomew D'Artois (Ben), "Ripper" Bill McKenzie (James), Gideon Vassily (Twitch), Captain Matteus De Almedia (Xan), Sebastian (Joff), Selena Curiana (Vicky)
Mission Brief: The merchant Marlin Carstel has come into possession of a map that shows the location of a city of gold on one of the Breathing Isles in the southern seas, which he hires a group of adventurers to investigate. At least, he has half of the map - first the adventurers will have to retrieve the other half from the Port of Glass.
Adventure Summary: Marlin Carstel pinned a notice to the wall of the Black Griffin tavern stating "Capable and fearless individuals wanted for investigative mission in the Breathing Isles! Rewards and excitement guaranteed. See Marlin Carstel if interested. (Cowards need not apply)". Six adventurers responded to the note and met at Marlin's premises, where he explained that a sailor (of euphemistically piratical nature) had seen a city of gold on one of the Breathing Isles while passing aboard a ship, noted its location on a naval chart and later disembarked at the Port of Glass. In the docks of the Port the sailor was mugged and half the map was stolen from him, but he made it to the White City with half of the map and contacted Carstel. Carstel hires the adventurers with some money in advance and the promise of more on their return, the amount depending on what they bring back with them. He gives them the half of the map he has in his possession and tells them how to contact his factor in the Port of Glass, who has a ship waiting for them, but informs them that they will have to recover the other half of the map for themselves - since the half they have shows which island the city is on, but not how to get there.
The journey to the Port of Glass is uneventful until the party are within sight of the walls of the Port, at which point they meet a large number of armed folk wearing tattered Broken Guard uniforms. These folk claim that the party must pay an official toll in order to enter the Port, but after some unconvincing dialogue between them and Bartholomew he turns one of them into a glass statue and the rest embrace discretion as the better part of valour. It is around this point that Selena first displays discomfort from the voices in her head - Bartholomew states that the voices are the words of her guardian spirit and that she should not be exorcised. Entering the Port and travelling to the docks, picking up some inconspicuous garb and appearances on the way, Sebastian attempts to hire some dockworkers as informants while the forewoman they were formerly arguing with about pay and some ladies of the street discuss mugging the party. Meanwhile Bill talks to an eccentric woman and strikes a secretive deal, then tells the party that he knows where the other half of the map is and leads them to a tavern. Here they meet another party of adventuring types who admit to having the other half of the map but demand a ridiculously high price for it - much bluster and bargaining later, Bartholomew arranges a deal whereby the two parties meet in the tavern the following morning and each copy the other's half of the map, such that both parties end up with complete maps. Despite some suggestions about attempted doublecrosses, this is indeed what takes place, following which both parties rush to their ships - the adventurers from the White City set off first, but the rival party have a Wind sorcerer amongst their number who summons a wind that enables them to overtake and vanish off into the distance. Later a pirate ship approaches and despite being turned to glass by Bartholomew manages to pull alongside, at which point swarms of pirates try to force a boarding and are valiantly beaten back by the adventurers as a terrible storm approaches. The remaining pirates retreat to their own glass ship as the storm hits, the adventurers tie themselves to whatever looks like it will float, the pirate ship and Carstel's ship are broken up on a hidden reef and all the pirates and crew are lost and drowned - but somehow the adventurers manage to survive and are washed ashore. Here they light a fire and rest for a while on the beach before setting off around the island - they're fairly sure it's the island shown on the map as having the city of gold on it, and want revenge for the storm they think was sent by the Wind sorcerer among their rivals.
Travelling around the beach, they find the boat from their rival's ship guarded by five sailors and negotiate to be allowed passage back to the mainland on board that ship. They then follow the rival party into the jungle, where they meet a large group of belligerent four-armed scaly lizard-people clad only in loincloths and wielding primitive weapons and bows. The party attempt diplomacy but end up having to fight off and kill the lizardfolk. Moving further along the path, they meet the rival party heading back to the beach - jibes and heated words are exchanged but nothing more, the White City adventurers turn and follow their rivals back to the beach and check that the boat is still ashore and the rival party have headed off to a different part of the island, then decide to travel up the slopes of the volcano instead. After some distance they catch sight of the city of gold, visible through Sebastian's spyglass as being inhabited by some two dozen lizardfolk (many with golden limbs) and a man of living gold - the ground, the buildings and even the trees also being made of gold. They journey on to the city, where several of the adventurers fill their pockets with golden leaves. The lizardfolk begin threatening them but are soon persuaded to back off by Mendoza, a human made of living gold whom the lizardfolk seem to respect. It transpires that Mendoza is a Light sorcerer who claims to have been sent to the island some time ago by others for some kind of mission, but cannot remember any more and seems to be generally addled of wit. Matteus drinks from the flask Mendoza offers him and finds his right arm turning to solid gold, only after frantically persuading one of his fellow adventurers to help him uncork and drink a purification potion does the effect stop spreading and his arm change from inanimate metal to living, moving gold. Mendoza speaks of how the gold is a sign of purity and a blessing of the Light and mentions the spirit of the volcano - Bartholomew ascertains that this is a powerful firebird spirit of the Old Powers which has been trapped within a large gold avian statue and talks to the spirit. After a little more discussion with Mendoza the party make their excuses and leave, then travel a short way down the path to discuss matters. Bartholomew tells them that the firebird wishes to be free, the volcano will soon erupt and the firebird will protect the party if they free it. All agree that Mendoza must be stopped before he can take his plan of turning the whole world into pure gold any further. Matteus finds that his golden arm is invulnerable to physical harm and speculates that Mendoza, being made entirely of living gold, will prove likewise invulnerable. A plan is concocted to take Mendoza to the lip of the volcano and throw him in after Bartholomew frees the firebird - the party return to the city and persuade Mendoza to show them to the volcano, but have led him and the lizardfolk only partway there (with Bartholomew remaining in the city) when the firebird is freed. Mendoza runs back to the city and a general melee ensues, during which Selena nearly dies but all the lizardfolk are slain, Bartholomew channels the Shattered Plain and turns Mendoza partly to glass (the effect spreading to nearly everything Mendoza has turned to gold), following which Matteus and Sebastian pick up Mendoza and run up the trail to the volcano's lip, where Matteus lifts Mendoza over his head and throws him into the crater.
At this point the volcano erupts and everyone but Bartholomew runs back to the beach, where the boat is preparing to leave. People cram into the boat and begin casting off, Bartholomew strolling into view surrounded by the lava the firebird is keeping respectfully away from him and wading out to join them. In the boat Bill attempts to exorcise the spirit in Selena's head but has his mind blasted into oblivion by its Glass magic. On the trip back Matteus questions the Wind sorcerer and communes with his god until everyone is satisfied that the storm was sent by one of the local Princes of the Breath rather than the sorcerer. On returning to the Port Bartholomew persuades everyone to sell their golden leaves (which have turned half to glass) to his father Lemuel D'Artois, though Bill is reluctant to do so. Then everyone returns to the White City, Matteus having a quiet word with one of the guards on the gate as the party enters. Carstel is distraught at the loss of the ship and the destruction of the golden city, but pays the agreed rate (though Bartholomew generously forgoes his payment and returns his advance). As people leave Matteus takes charge of the contingent of High Guard he had sent to meet them and orders Gideon and Selena arrested. Selena he orders arrested for her own protection so that she can be taken to the Exalted Church of the Light and exorcised, Gideon he orders arrested on suspicion of practicing Glass magic within the bounds of the White City. Bartholomew takes Selena under the diplomatic protection of the Port of Glass Embassy, while Gideon is arrested and put on trial but released for lack of concrete evidence. Matteus visits the Exalted Church of the Light and is told that Mendoza was a lost missionary of theirs and that his new golden arm is indeed a blessing of the Light, though it has become slightly less resistant to damage since leaving the vicinity of the golden city and requires the regular consumption of purification potions in order to prevent it from becoming an inanimate lump of metal again.
Part one of the "Naming & Binding War" campaign.
Run by Rich on 29th January 2005 (Saturday 2nd week, Hilary term)
There is a gallery of photographs from this game available here, taken by Joff & hosted by Chris N.
Players: Bartholomew D'Artois (Ben), Carlos de Mamushi (Joe W), Dante De Almedia (Chris V), Jared - RIP (Fergus), Shenya Cristofori (Helen W)
Mission Brief: A worshipper of the Bound Ones named Wate is recruiting cultists in the southern reaches of the great Western Forest. The De Courci Family hires some adventurers to kill the cultists and bring back their heads for sorcerous interrogation.
Adventure Summary: The party sets off southwest, where after a couple of days' travel they stumble across a group of bandits seemingly asleep. The bandits are woken, words are exchanged and Bartholomew vitrifies the bandit leader (despite still being within the boundaries of White City territory) at which point the rest of the bandits angrily attack and are almost all slaughtered, save some poor unfortunates left unconscious with glass shards stuck in their eyes. The party leaves White City territory and fights some wolves before arriving at a village whose inhabitants are complaining that Wate turned up and convinced all of their teenage children to join his cult, taking them off into the Forest. The villagers want their kids back and are pleased to hear that the adventurers are after Wate, begging them to bring the kids back home alive.
Continuing deeper into the Forest the party encounter a really, really, really big spider being worshipped by a Weaver. Both spider and Weaver ignore them until they disturb the Weaver, at which point the Weaver runs off into the Forest and the spider attacks; with great effort Bartholomew manages to vitrify one of its legs and eventually the party defeat it. Further on is a cave outside of which a large wounded female bear is surrounded by her distraught cubs. Jared cautiously approaches with some healing potions, pouring them into the bear's mouth and over the sword wounds in her side, until she is much recovered. Shortly afterwards an even larger male bear staggers into the clearing and the two bears enter the cave for some noisy hot bear lovin' while the adventurers manage to tear themselves away from the adorably cute bearcubs and move on, Carlos with some reluctance. The party meet a group of Children of the Vine who seem to be recovering from a party - the somewhat hungover Vinechildren offer them food and drink and ask to taste their blood, all of the adventurers but Bartholomew obliging; Carlos also goes into the woods with one of the Vinechildren to feed him some other bodily fluids. Later on the party pass through and end up fleeing from a swampy area filled with clouds of biting insects against which their armour offers no protection, before encountering a group of trolls who seem to be arguing over the best way to cook humans. As a debate over the relative merits of rosemary and oregano is about to degenerate into violence they spot the adventurers and attack, three of them succumbing to Bartholomew's Glass sorcery and the rest being swiftly dealt with by blade and brand.
The party's next encounter is with some outlying sentries watching the path to Wate's camp. The inexperienced and poorly equipped teenagers are swiftly slaughtered by the hardened adventurers, but one gets away to warn the camp and the party arrive to find Wate and his dozens of followers waiting for them. Both sides spend some time in tense conversation, but the party cannot be dissuaded from their mission to bring back his head and eventually attack. As the teenage hordes descend upon the party, their light armour and lack of experience slightly compensated for by the poison on their blades, Wate attempts to flee but is chased down and decapitated by Jared. The party head back to the White City with Wate's head, carefully avoiding the village they passed through on their way, but are ambushed by a large group of Weavers in steelsilk armour who seek vengeance for the death of one of their Spider-Queens at the party's hands. A pitched battle ensues in which Jared is slain but the rest of the party manage to deal with the Weavers and survive. The De Courcis are happy to have Wate's head and Bartholomew's illegal indiscretion is hushed up, though not without some favours to Carlos to keep him quiet.
Run by Joff & James on 5th February 2005 (Saturday 3rd week, Hilary term)
A sequel to "Ashen Memorial".
Players: Arik Blackthorne (Julian), Cassio (Glyn), Gex the Ratcatcher (Rich), Brother Jara (Xan), Phillippe de Navarro Velasquez (Gobion)
Mission Brief: A colony of troglodytes in the Western Forest is causing trouble, particularly since some of their number appear to be Ash sorcerers. The Temple of Ashes hires a group of adventurers to go and deal with them, bringing any non-Ordained Ash sorcerers back with them for conversion if possible.
Adventure Summary: A note is posted at the gates of the Temple of Ashes in the White City:
"Wanted: Sensible, virtuous persons with the physical and mental prowess to deal with an issue of theological delicacy and possible slight physical risk and hardship. Apply within."
Five worthy adventurers soon respond. They are hired by the Temple of Ashes to enter the Western Forest, find the colony of troglodytes which may or may not have been practicing Ash magic, and take whatever measures they see fit to prevent the troglodytes from continuing in their necromantic ways. Although a bonus is offered if they can bring any of the troglodyte Ash sorcerers back to the Temple to be Ordained.
When the party reach the borders of White City land, they encounter a small group of drunk, rowdy and ill-disciplined High Guardsmen who attempt to start a fight. The party prevent them from having their wicked way with Arik, who then claims that he was sent by Shenya Cristofori (see the adventure summary of "The Spider & The Fly" for the history of this enmity) to "restore order" to this outpost. After a couple of days' travel and some wolf-bashing, they enter the territory of the troglodyte colony. They are attacked by a mob of troglodytes who appear from underground warrens and insist that because the party have approached from the East, they should be dead; and since they are not already, they will "make you dead for Him". This assertion proves to be inaccurate, and leaving some twenty troglodyte corpses behind them the party venture onwards, largely unscathed.
Later, they come across a group of Weavers and spiders who have witnessed the full horror of Ash sorcery in the hands of troglodytes and seen the tribe's Spider-Queen Commended to Ash by a suicidal troglodyte sorcerer. Since these Weavers recognise Arik as "spider-friend", their leader and another of their number accompany the adventurers deeper into the troglodytes' territory. Sadly, one of the Weavers is soon immolated by a surprise attack from a troglodyte suicide sorcerer and the other is carried off by blind troglodyte warriors under the cover of yet another troglodyte necromancer's Ashen Cloud. As this sorcerer and his agents disappear, giggling, the party are told that they should return to the White City and await their doom in their beds.
Left to forge on alone, the party battle their way through a veritable army of troglodytes both alive and undead on their way to, and down into, the troglodyte warren. Here, after much slaughter, they find troglodytes worshipping at a crude facsimile of the statue of Ayun Boight, which "escaped" from the city square of the City of Crossroads in the previous year (see the "Ashen Memorial" adventure summary) and was later admitted to the Tower of Heroes thanks to the efforts of Arik, his erstwhile companions and a Crossroads Ash-priest called Dreshush (who was killed in the confusion).
The party slaughter the unarmed worshippers, who seem to be guarding something. Imagine the party's surprise when they discover that the entire horrible scheme has been orchestrated by the spirit of Dreshush, occupying the body of Marek, one of Arik's fallen comrades! He plans to raise an army of necromancer troglodytes in order to take revenge on the White City for sending out a party of adventurers, one of whom inexplicably (as far as he can tell) slit his throat during the confrontation with the statue of Ayun Boight. This deadly adversary faces off against the heroes and, while they are distracted by a treacherous troglodyte attack from the rear, sends his deadly TrogloFu-wielding martial artists to take the fallen Brother Jara hostage. He holds the Chain sorcerer's life forfeit, but his bluff is called (or possibly Jara's companions genuinely didn't care after all) and the undead necromancer is forced to open a gateway to the Burned Realm and beat a retreat, vowing revenge. The last words to be heard through the gateway, as it was gestured closed by a shadowy presence on the other side, were later reported as "Hah! And I shall return, to... oh. Oh dear. Oh... gods... no. Oh no - not you! Oh gods, the rending! The rending!" It can be surmised from this report that a number of Ashen Guardians were eagerly awaiting Dreshush's return to the Burned Realm, and that he was not pleased to see them.
Armed with Dreshush's journal as proof of their exploits, the party fight their way out of the warren and return to the White City, pausing only to avoid the Watchtower full of drunken guardsmen and briefly trip over a small bandit troop, before making it back to the Black Griffin in time for last orders.
Part two of the "Naming & Binding War" campaign, a sequel to "Heads & Minds".
Run by Rich on 12th February 2005 (Saturday 4th week, Hilary term)
There is a gallery of photographs from this game available here, taken by Fergus & hosted by Chris N.
Players: "Ripper" Bill McKenzie (James), Kit Fisable (Helen W), Selena Curiana (Vicky), Serafine D'Artois (Laura), Toquell Velasquez (Joe W)
Mission Brief: The word goes out through certain channels in the White City that somebody wants some people dead and is willing to pay very well for the deed. Five adventurers of dubious moral integrity come to the Rotting Badger Tavern to answer the call.
Adventure Summary: Having heard rumours through his shadier minions of someone who is willing to pay exceptionally well for a few innocent deaths, Toquell gathers his Band of Merry Bastards and arranges that they meet at the Rotting Badger tavern at dawn. They arrive in various states of disguise - Serafine using Glass sorcery to imitate someone else's face, Kit cowled and hooded, Toquell blindfolded and posing as a Priest of the Light. They are shown through to the back room by the bartender, where they wait for some time before a street urchin, apparently oblivious to their presence, enters the room and sits at the head of the table, whittling on a piece of wood. After a pause, the voice of the Bagman speaks through the urchin, explaining that the child is deaf and will be unable to report their conversation. He hires the adventurers to dispatch three sets of target - an old woman, a married couple, and a young noblewoman with child - before the end of the day. He refuses to explain why these people must die, but offers a princely fee of fifty Hexa per adventurer per kill. After some brief deliberation, the adventurers agree to take the mission; they are each provided with a fifty Hexa advance, and the Bagman's representative leaves.
The party briefly discuss whether they should fulfil the terms of the mission, and where they should investigate first. They agree that it could be useful to know who requires the deaths of these innocents, and why, and set off for the hamlet where they have been told the first target, a mad old woman, lives. On the way they encounter wolves by the path who seem unusually lean and vicious for the time of year, but the creatures are swiftly dispatched. On arrival at the village, the party talk to the villagers - Serafine and Toquell do most of the talking, while Bill hangs back to avoid attention being drawn to his eyes, and Kit tries to simultaneously conceal her forehead and prevent Selena, who is clearly mad, from communicating with any of the villagers. They are eventually directed to the hut where Mad Old Peg resides, and after talking to her briefly - establishing she has a daughter who lives with her husband at a smallholding outside the city, but little else of use - they have Bill suffocate her. Toquell reveals that Mad Old Peg's true name is "Great-Grandmother of the Destruction of the White City". Leaving the village with some speed, they make for the City and locate the house of the young noblewoman with her child.
Toquell discovers that the name of the noblewoman is - as expected - "Mother of the Destruction of the White City" and the name of the child is "Destruction of the White City". After observing the house, which is located near a busy market square, for some time - and having a great deal of furious debate in secluded alleyways over whether or not to leave the child alive, including communing with the Vitriarchs for their advice - the party decide to have Bill and Kit distract the guards while Toquell, Serafine and Selena break into the house and abduct the child.
Bill and Kit leave their weapons with Selena for safety then start a fistfight in the marketplace, but overzealous High Guardsmen, a paranoid parent and an unexpectedly competent bodyguard (keeping the child safe despite Serafine's attempts to incapacitate him with Glass sorcery, as she did the child's mother) combine to scupper the plan. The staged fight between Bill and Kit is quickly broken up; Kit is arrested, while Bill "The Better Part of Valour" McKenzie flees the scene; Toquell, Serafine and Selena are also taken to the local guardhouse, along with the mother and child and bodyguard, who are separated. On waking up without her child, and having had her mind blasted to the Shattered Plain with Glass sorcery, the mother manages to impale herself on a bar from the cell's window and dies. Kit and Selena both escape the cells - Selena using necromancy to turn the bars to ash (and carefully concealing the ash afterwards), Kit picking the locks and retrieving her sword and crossbow on the way out - and, freeing the others, eventually regroup with Bill.
Toquell consults Bartholomew D'Artois on their next move. Bartholomew alerts Rebecca De Courci to the danger of the child - by this time, however, sunset is fast approaching, and the party are already on their way to the smallholding where the man and wife - the last two targets - are located. On the way, they meet a peddler selling weapons. Already more than a little worried by the day's events, and impatient to complete their mission within the time specified, the adventurers murder him and take his goods. On reaching the smallholding, the party discover several children picking berries nearby - apparently adopted by the couple, but not their own children; they claim to have none. Their names, "Grandmother" and "Grandfather of the Destruction of the White City", thus seem to be less than literal. Toquell attempts to convince Kit to poison them; she refuses, and after some deliberation Toquell Names a large troll into existence, which kills the man and wife. Bill then defeats the troll singlehanded as the children of the smallholding run screaming.
The party are briefly attacked by bandits on their way back to the City, but swiftly dispatch them with the help of Toquell's Chain sorcery. On reaching the City, they discuss their next move and eventually decide to fire the guardhouse in which are held their arrest warrants and possibly the child. The fire is later reported as having started in two places at once, though the adventurers notice no other influence during their skulduggery. Joining with the bucket chains as a cover, they check the bodies but discover no child, although the bodyguard did die of smoke inhalation during the blaze. They are paid for the death of all five targets, though nobody will say what has happened to the child itself. Any guardsmen that are questioned about that day say that nothing unusual happened and they will keep to that story, whatever pressure is brought to bear. No mention is made of any of the adventurers involved being wanted for arrest, and after a little persuasion from Rebecca De Courci the Velasquez Family accepts Toquell back as one of their own.
Mad Dogs & Vitriarchs
aka
Purging the Low Guard
Run by Xan & Joff on 19th February 2005 (Saturday 5th week, Hilary term)
There is a gallery of photographs from this game available here, taken by Joe R & Chris V, hosted by Chris N.
Players: Carmina Curiana (Vicky), Dante De Almedia (Chris V), Gex the Ratcatcher (Rich), Quinn (Fergus), Phillionel Curiana - RIP (James), Winsel (Ben), Yana (Ellie)
Mission Brief: A small cell in the Low Guard has started learning Glass magic. Several factions within the White City, among them the Exalted Church of the Light, the Knights of the Shining Order, the High Guard and some factions of the Low Guard, are very concerned about this and send some of their members, along with some sympathetic hired adventurers, to find the cell's isolated base of operations and wipe it out.
Edited Original Plot Document (.rtf file)
Adventure Summary: The adventurers are discreetly contacted and asked to rendezvous at lunchtime in a secluded clearing in a patch of woodland half a day's travel northeast of the White City. Here they meet a large, outspoken Knight of the Shining Order and a Low Guard agent with a scarf hiding most of his face. The Knight tells the party of the concerns over a Low Guard faction learning Glass sorcery and informs them that a training encampment has been discovered five days' travel east-north-east of the White City, in an area of wooded hills. The encampment masquerades as a settlement for hunters, trappers, and dog trainers (who breed and train vicious attack dogs) but this is just a cover and somewhere in the encampment is the entrance to an underground complex where the real business is going on. There is believed to be a tutor from the Port of Glass and perhaps as many as half a dozen agents now skilled in Glass sorcery. The party are given a map which clearly indicates the villages of Wattlewold and Daubwold, the minor White City watchtower that marks the edge of this slice of the City's territory and the encampment itself. The party are also given a rendezvous point at which to meet on their return, and told that they will be rewarded appropriately for their work. The Knight offers the blessing of the Light to those of the adventurers who wish to accept it, while Gex and Winsel quietly confer with the Low Guard agent. That night, after another half day's travel, the party camp in the wilderness and Dante has a dream in which he is floating in front of a huge Low Guard badge against a background of darkness - the silver crowns gleam so bright as to be nearly blinding, while the ebony is so dark that it stands out as a blacker patch against the surrounding void. Slowly, starting at the lowest edge, the badge starts turning to glass, glass which has a slick, oily appearance that just oozes sickening, corrupt wrongness. Once the whole badge has turned to glass, small cracks start to appear in the centre of it and begin slowly but unstoppably spreading outwards, until the whole thing is a network of cracks and suddenly shatters, splinters of glass exploding outwards and two piercing his eyes, which strangely causes no pain - they slide in like water. At this point he hears the sound of barking dogs, distant at first but rapidly growing louder, and sees a dark cave from which peer dozens of gleaming feral canine eyes, burning with hunger. He rushes towards the eyes, past them into the cave, then finds himself falling down a pit, smashing through thin sheets of glass as he descends. Finally, surrounded by a hail of vitrine fragments, he lands on a smooth solid slippery glass surface in a room whose walls and floors are heavy red velvet curtains. Looking behind one of the curtains he comes face to face with himself, but a version of himself whose eyes are pits of endless evil and whose expression fills him with unimaginable horror... at which point he wakes screaming and, once he recovers his composure, discusses his dream with the rest of the party.
Moving on the next morning the party find the Red Sword mercenary band camped and training while they wait to meet the caravan they are escorting to the City of Crossroads, and ignoring the offer of some sparring or a duel with the band's leader Andreas the adventurers pass on. Around lunchtime they come to the village of Wattlewold, one of the Velasquez Family's holdings. They spend some time talking to the villagers, letting slip enough information about themselves and their mission that after they leave the local poacher (actually a Low Guard agent watching the road on behalf of the encampment the party is heading to) sends a messenger pigeon to warn the encampment. The next day at noon some spirits of psychotic madness from the Shattered Plain, visible to the exorcists in the party as large jagged spinning shards of glass whose edges drip constantly with blood, are sent to attack the party, having been summoned in a ritual at the encampment. Carmina succumbs to one of the spirits, as does Phillionel when he tries to exorcise her, and the two of them enter a berserk rage in which they try to kill each other until the rest of the party manage to knock them out and restrain them until the effects have worn off.
At dusk of that day the party arrive at one of the lesser watchtowers that guards the borders of the City's territory, a small wooden affair with a palisade containing a cluster of huts, manned by a High Guard sergeant and his seven guardsmen who are rather bored by staffing this quiet out-of-the-way position. Most of the party stay in one of the guest huts, except for Gex who stays in a hut with three of the guardsmen. During the evening Phillionel discovers the forged letter which Winsel has placed in his pack, reads it and tears it up in disgust, but Carmina later finds the fragments and pieces them back together, duly convinced by the letter's contents that her father Phillionel has disgraced the Shining Order and the Exalted Church of the Light by having a torrid affair. Meanwhile Gex is coshed unconscious and tied up by the three guardsmen with whom he's sharing, who have been corrupted into worshipping the Faceless Lord. These three cultists sneak out through a loose plank in the palisade but are spotted and followed by Winsel, who trails them some distance into the wilderness and sees them performing a ritual of worship while wearing blank and faceless white masks. The cultists are somehow alerted to Winsel's presence and chase him back to the watchtower, but by the time he can warn everyone else they have hidden their masks and daggers and join the commotion as Gex is found bound. Various accusations fly back and forth, the loose plank is hammered firmly back in place, the guard on the palisade is doubled and the party all hole up in the guest hut with guards on the door and some of the adventurers on watch. Next morning the party head off again, but the sergeant is suspicious of them and sends two of his men to follow them for a day to make sure they're not up to any mischief - these two men happening to be two of the cultists!
That morning the party encounter a group of local bandits who are allied with the encampment and accompanied by a Low Guard agent. A toll is demanded and a battle breaks out, during which the cultists who have followed the party from the watchtower don their ritual masks and break out their poison daggers and attack from behind. The Low Guard agent escapes, the bandits and one of the cultists are slain and the surviving cultist is captured and tortured for information, but is too much of a fanatic to be of much help so is soon killed. At around lunchtime the party come to the village of Daubwold, whose inhabitants are suspicious at first (suspecting the adventurers of being shapeshifted ogres) but eventually admit them and spend a while talking to them, healing them and mending their armour for exorbitant prices, only for the villagers to have all of their money stolen by Winsel before he leaves. That afternoon the party encounter a group of vicious dogs and their handlers, sent from the encampment to intercept them - the handlers set their dogs on the party under the pretense of suspecting them to be shapeshifted ogres, but handlers and dogs alike are all slain.
The next day the party encounter a group of genuine ogres, who have taken the forms of a schoolmistress and her class of schoolgirls; the pitched battle which follows results in the death of Phillionel Curiana. Carmina is so disgusted by what she read earlier in the forged letter that she refuses to give her father the Last Rites, this duty being carried out by Quinn instead. Phillionel is cremated and his equipment taken to be returned to the Shining Order. That afternoon the party enters the low wooded hills in which the encampment lies and finds a sleeping bear lying in their path; Winsel creeps up and coshes it, at which point a motley horde of animals attack from the undergrowth and when slain turn into human corpses, revealing them to have been Trapped Men. Eventually, as dusk falls, the party reaches the Low Guard encampment, a series of huts and dog pens scattered through the woods plus various curing frames and a cave. Several sentries with packs of dogs attack the party but are soon slain, bar a single sentry whose sight is bound by Yana who retreats into the cave, which contains many more dogs penned in by a sturdy wooden fence and gate. After thoroughly searching the huts of the encampment, and also finding a hutch full of messenger pigeons near one of the huts, the party build a fire outside the cave and Quinn uses Wind sorcery to blow the smoke in and smoke out the dogs, who emerge in a panic and are efficiently cut down by the waiting party. Then Quinn uses more Wind sorcery to clear the cave of smoke and Gex uses the huddled blind sentry for archery target practice despite his attempts to bargain with the adventurers.
Winsel searches the cave and finds a secret door, cunningly carved and painted to look like the surrounding rock and opening onto a short corridor sloping slightly down, which then turns into a spiral ramp. At the bottom of the ramp is a slightly longer corridor ending in a thick, heavy red velvet curtain - remembering Dante's dream the party keep their eyes lowered as they move onwards, avoiding looking at the large full length mirror fixed to the wall where the corridor turns a corner. The corridor then continues to another curtain, behind which is a heavy wooden door, beyond which is another curtain opening onto a large rectangular room. In the centre of the room stands a Glass Sentinel with a blank featureless oval for a face, while the walls and ceiling consist of rock coated with a thick uneven layer of glass filled with strange lines and cracks and bumps. As the party cautiously enters the room everything remains motionless until Yana touches the curtain hiding the door at the far end, at which point the Glass Sentinel animates and attacks her while the glass on the walls reveals itself as a horde of tessellated Splinter-Men who also attack. The Splinter-Men are relatively easily dispatched but the Glass Sentinel continues to give the party trouble until Quinn reaches into its chest and forcibly wrenches its fragments apart, taking some nasty cuts to the arms in doing so.
The party charges through the next door... to find themselves in a large and fairly empty room. Over on the left wall are a collection of mirrors and a lot of wooden boarding studded with holes from bow and crossbow practice and peppered with glass shards. Several wooden sparring-practice dummies stand nearby. On the far wall are four wooden doors, while over to the right are several curtained alcoves, some chairs and tables and a set of shelves. Behind the curtains to the right are found a privy, a small kitchen and washroom and a cell with stout iron bars. Behind the first door (Winsel manages to pick the lock and avoid the poison needle trap) is a spartan room containing furniture, an armour dummy, a weapons rack, a stout chest and a writing desk, behind the second door is a shrine hung with red velvet curtains and festooned with hooks and candles; a large mirror rests upon the altar, but with two exorcists among their number the party manages to easily dispatch the Looking-Glass Hunter that lurks within. The third room contains a large four-poster bed, an elegantly carved wardrobe, a large wall-mirror and opulent silk wall-hangings and looks to have been abandoned in some haste, while the fourth room contains beds and footlockers and armour dummies for four people, plus a large weapons rack. The whole place is deserted, but evidence suggests only for a day or so - on the writing desk in the first room is found a small note, smelling slightly of pigeon, describing the party and saying that they are on a mission for the Exalted Church of the Light and could be a danger. The party return to their rendezvous point to report the failure of their mission, encountering little trouble on the way back, and are given a small reward for their valiant efforts plus a slightly larger reward for uncovering the cultists in the watchtower - upon further investigation it is revealed that the three guardsmen had been corrupted by one of the Low Guard Glass sorcerers (posing as a hunter and trapper) during his travels between the encampment and the White City. The sergeant from the watchtower is demoted for his negligence in allowing this to happen.
[The rather anticlimactic ending was due to the LARP being cut short by overrunning and lack of light.]
Part three of the "Naming & Binding War" campaign, a sequel to "Heads & Minds".
Run by Rich & Chris N on 26th February 2005 (Saturday 6th week, Hilary term)
There is a gallery of photographs from this game available here, taken by Fergus & Jen, hosted by Chris N.
Players: Carlos de Mamushi (Joe W), Kit Fisable (Helen W), Sebastian (Joff), Vincenzi Velasquez (Xan), Yana (Ellie)
Mission Brief: Murmurs are going around the adventuring circles of the White City that information has come to light of a powerful artefact that could free the Bound Ones! Soon the High Guard and co shes the Cloistered Brethren of Chains will be forming a expedition to go and recover the artefact. Already various parties have left the White City in various directions to seek out this artefact, not knowing what it is or where it is. Various people are murmuring that if anybody was able to bring this thing back before the High Guard and the Cloistered Brethren got to it then they would be the toast of the City. It would be a powerful symbol of the fact the Bound Ones are going to stay bound, a massive reassurance to the City.
Everybody is rooting around for information on what this artefact is and where it might be. The more well informed adventurers may have heard that a Priest of the Bound Ones was apprehended out to the southwest of the White City and into the great Western Forest. Now if only somebody was to discover the information of what it was that was being looked for. One merchant, named Trab Bas, got a little more drunk in the Black Griffin than he intended and did go on about knowing what the artefact was. So rather than be mobbed or killed for the information he has put out word that he wants people to go and find the thing to bring it back to the White City and donate it to the authorities before people badger him so much that he has to give up work as a trader in the City.
Adventure Summary: Heading out into the Western Forest, the party first encounter a group of amateur treasure hunters after the artefact. Despite denying any interest in it themselves the party are offered a map to it, but negotiations for the map's possible purchase are hampered by accusations of pickpocketing flying back and forth until one of the amateurs is caught with Carlos' purse and swords are drawn; only two of the amateurs survive the battle (one of those crippled) and their map is revealed as cheap and worthless. Travelling onwards, some wolves and giant spiders are fought off before the party meets a troll that seems to be in pain from something stuck in its foot, leaving his sword behind Vincenzi goes forward unarmed to see if he can help it but is ambushed by its companions from the bushes, being sorely injured before his companions rush forward to his aid and the trolls are eventually slain.
Continuing deeper into the Forest the party find their path blocked by a group of men who, after some time in a standoff, claim at first to be members of the Low Guard with an important captive whom they ask the party to escort back to the White City for them - when their bluff is called and their pitiful attempts at faking Low Guard badges revealed, after Carlos recognises their leader as one of Wate's erstwhile followers (see the "Heads & Minds" adventure summary), they eventually admit to having been specifically sent there and ordered to delay the party. After some more discussion a battle breaks out during which they are all slain and their captive released - the captive claims to be a representative of some ancient secret order sent to that spot to observe an occurrence of great mystic significance at dawn on the next day, captured as a precaution by the others when they arrived, but the party are chary of any further delay so leave her there to observe it herself. They move on to spend the night in a small village full of remarkably incompetent people - the blacksmith who attempts to repair Yana's armour instead ends up ruining parts of it beyond use and is severely chastised for the harm he's done, the local Blood sorcerer faints at the sight of blood and the whores with whom Vincenzi spends the night give him a nasty infection which he has to use Blood sorcery to cure the next day.
Setting off the next morning the party first face a couple of battles with wolf packs who have been driven from their usual territory by treasure seekers. None of the wolves attack Vincenzi, but while the rest of the party is busy he is sought out by a Chain-Wraith and forced to defend himself from its psychic attacks. Not much further on the party is beset by a horde of angry Weavers out for revenge on the humans who have harried them also from their usual haunts, all of whom are slain in self defence. Some time later the party pass by a cave where the charred bodies of earlier treasure seekers lying outside it bear witness to the presence of a firedrake. Hearing the party pass by, the firedrake emerges and tries to give a warning blast but its fires are still exhausted from its earlier battle and as Yana binds its sight it retreats into the cave. Yana and Vincenzi wish to move on without delay, but Carlos, Kit and Sebastian go into the cave after the beast in search of trophies, with Carlos' Light sorcery to light their way, until they realise how unwise fighting even a blind firedrake in close quarters is and agree to travel onwards.
Reaching a narrow bridge, the party are faced by another gang of trolls demanding a hefty toll for passage. Sebastian challenges their leader to a duel, Yana keeping the other trolls occupied with Chain sorcery to prevent them from interfering while Vincenzi lights a cautionary torch, Kit covers them with her crossbow and Carlos creeps into position. As Sebastian's opponent falls defeated Vincenzi springs forward to torch the body and Carlos begins coshing the rest, all of them swiftly dispatched and cremated before Vincenzi heals Sebastian's wounds. Teamwork is rather less in evidence when deeper in the Forest the party find a group of Children of the Vine engaging in the prolonged and painful sacrifice of an apparently unwilling young human woman. Kit lurks in the undergrowth while Vincenzi goes up to the Vinechildren and joins the ritual and the other three adventurers express their disquiet, but before a diplomatic solution can be reached Carlos coshes Vincenzi as Yana and Sebastian wade in to subdue the Children of the Vine and free their captive, Sebastian killing one of the Vinechildren in the process. The young woman is healed and sent on her way, Carlos leaves a bottle of divine blood with the unconscious Vinechildren in substitution for her sacrifice and then Vincenzi is disarmed and brought round - after some tense talk he is given a dagger and goes off to commune with the Lady of Blood and Wine, who tells him that Carlos' offering is acceptable, leaving him to plot later vengeance on Carlos and Sebastian on his own behalf. So the adventurers move on again, but when they later encounter a group of vengeful spirits of the dead Vincenzi sulkily stands back and lets the other party members fend them off alone rather than use his skills as an exorcist to help.
Not long afterwards the party meets another group of warriors led by one of Wate's former recruits, who also admit to having been sent there with orders to block the party's path and delay them for as long as possible but refuse to reveal by whom. Vincenzi drops their leader with a succession of Blood curses and the rest are soon put to the sword. Finally the party reach their goal, a large flat rock surrounded by a stream running in a ring, but are somewhat alarmed to see it surrounded by a flock of Chain-Wraiths. After some hesitation the party move closer to the rock, on which lies a hammer, a six foot length of ancient petrified wood and a collection of crushed walnut shells. One of the adventurers cautiously creeps in and grabs the hammer and the length of wood, at which point all the Chain-Wraiths but one slink off into the Forest. The remaining Chain-Wraith stands there motionless until Kit swings her sword through it, at which point it takes umbrage and attacks her but is easily dispatched with Vincenzi's help. Examining their acquisitions, the hammer is immediately seen to be shiny and new with a White City maker's mark on it so the party theorise that the ancient piece of petrified wood must be the First Hammer, since the large rock is discovered to be rooted deep in the ground and too heavy to move. They are curious as to who left the new hammer there though, Vincenzi's attempts to track its owner from the rock are foiled when their quarry's trail leads over bare stone so he shifts into the form of a bloodhound and tracks by scent, eventually finding a frightened lad named Whisty who had been using the rock and hammer to crack nuts when the Chain-Wraiths turned up and scared him away, terrifying him so much that he abandoned his hammer in his haste to flee. Whisty's hammer is returned to him and the party head back towards the White City. On the way Kit pays a messenger to quickly carry news of their return to Toquell and the rest of his Merry Band of Bastards so that they can intercept the party and claim the First Hammer before it reaches the White City, but when the party arrive at the Western Watchtower with the First Hammer they are given an escort of High Guard and Low Guard which spoils Toquell's plans. The adventurers and their escort enter the White City to glorious celebration and formally deliver the First Hammer to the Cloistered Brethren of Chains in a ceremony overseen by the De Courcis and the High Guard.
Run by Joe W & Ellie on 5th March 2005 (Saturday 7th week, Hilary term)
Players: Belor de Velland (Peter), Gex the Ratcatcher (Rich), Marco di Falconi (Joff), Selena Curiana (Vicky), Stephano De Courci (Julian)
Mission Brief: There is a sickness in the White City. At first it was but a minor concern, those seriously ill being easily treated by the City's sorcerers and healers; now the numbers of people affected have spiralled beyond control - those lucky another to be cured early on can only watch as those close to them sicken. Last night the pestilence claimed its first life and by sunrise over a hundred more were dead. In the marketplaces people talk of plague and eye each other warily for any symptoms. Faced with this disaster the College of the Thousand Arts has put out a call for adventurers to step forward and do their bit for the City...
Adventure Summary: The adventurers are sent to meet Dr. Borne, a noted herbalist who has had some success in treating the disease, but find his house besieged by an angry mob demanding cures for themselves and their loved ones. The adventurers clear the mob with diplomacy and deceit, then escort the herbalist to the College. He tells them that he needs some eaglespan, a rare herb from the northern mountains, in order to concoct more cures and asks their help in fetching it. So they set off northwards, encountering on the road a man who claims to be a private emissary from the De Courci Family and asks that the herb is delivered to him instead that one of the infected De Courcis may be saved.
Passing through the territory of the Palace at Three Rivers the party are attacked by zombies, then later by wolves, before finally reaching the Whistful City, where they are beset by lunatics in their search for further information on the herb they seek. Moving further up into the mountains they find a village of the Bear Tribe whose last few inhabitants are being finished off by members of the White Eagle Tribe. The White Eagle warriors attack the party, but are slain or driven off, after which Selena attempts to speak with the spirit of the dead Bear Tribe shaman - but the spirit proves too strong for her and takes up residence in her mind. The party leave the village and travel higher into the mountains, along precipitous paths where they are attacked by Fears-of-Falling but save the one person who succumbs to the lures of the spirits by having roped themselves together. Eventually they reach the territory of the White Eagle Tribe, where they are recognised from the fight at the village as strong warriors and granted audience with the chief. The chief tells the party that their leader must defeat the tribe's champion in single combat in order to gain the help of the tribe - Belor accepts the challenge and triumphs, the defeated champion being revived by one of Gex's healing potions only to throw himself off a cliff in shame at his failure. The adventurers are tattooed with the stylised eagle mark of the White Eagle Tribe to show their acceptance (Belor and Stephano on their hands, Selena on her breast, Gex on his buttock and Marco on his crotch). The White Eagle shaman tells them where to find the Old Power known as the King of the Eagles, who can grant them the herb they seek, and gives them a mixture of herbs (mainly nightgrass and vainglory) which, if taken at the appropriate juncture, will enable them to cross the crevasse at Dream-Bridge.
Moving on to Dream-Bridge, all of the party but Stephano being attacked by small Snow-Riders on the way, the party take the herbs and are able to see the bridge as it was over a hundred years ago at the time of the legendary battle, complete with the memories of two warring armies locked in eternal conflict - fighting and dodging their way through the battle before the herbs can wear off, the party finally reach the eyrie of the King of the Eagles, who is attended by his court of Dream-Catchers and great eagles. The King tells them that he will grant them the herb - but only if one of them proves how much they are willing to give for it by jumping off the nearby cliff. Belor volunteers with little hesitation, falling most of the way to the ground before great white eagle wings sprout messily and painfully from his shoulderblades and enable him to glide to safety. One of the King's eagles swoops down and grabs him in its talons to lift him back up to rejoin his comrades, who are given the eaglespan they need.
Taking all but the dregs of the herbs to fight, dodge and run their way back over Dream-Bridge, the party make it back to the White City with only an encounter with bandits to slow their progress. As they travel southwards Belor's wings shrink into two ugly scars on his back and Stephano proudly preens the rose braided into his hair as the mark of the blessing of the Rose Prince of the North, whom he encountered on their travels. The eaglespan is delivered to the College, where Dr. Borne gets straight to work on formulating a cure for the sickness. For some weeks the situation in the City continues to worsen and a great number of people are brought low by the illness, but after this things begin to settle down; the College is active throughout the City, making the cure readily available to all, and within a month the epidemic has passed. Meanwhile the party make their rendezvous with the person claiming to be an emissary from the De Courcis, who Stephano knows is lying, but this trickster sees through their prevarications and gives them the slip. Selena seeks out Bill McKenzie to exorcise the dead Bear Shaman living in her head, but although the shaman's spirit is driven out his influence remains and Selena's mind becomes somewhat more ursine in nature.
Part four of the "Naming & Binding War" campaign, a sequel to "If I Had A Hammer" & "The Chain-Snake".
Run by Rich & Ellie on 12th March 2005 (Saturday 8th week, Hilary term)
Players: Bartholomew D'Artois (Ben), Kit Fisable (Helen W), Selena Curiana (Vicky), Serafine D'Artois (Laura), Toquell Velasquez (Joe W)
Mission Brief: Toquell Velasquez and his Band of Merry Bastards steal the First Hammer from the College of the Thousand Arts and head East to hunt down the Chain-Snake.
Adventure Summary: While the First Hammer is being kept under careful guard at the College of the Thousand Arts for further study Kit comes up with a cunning masterplan that allows her to use her burglary skills to drug the guards and steal the Hammer while planting papers in the office of Senior Lecturer Lidstone from the Faculty of the Arcane (previously appearing in the "It Came From The Forest II: Data Capture" LARP) which imply that he stole the Hammer on behalf of the City of Crossroads. As uproar erupts in the College and the City, Kit sneaks out of the gates with the First Hammer hidden in a longbow case and meets up with the rest of Toquell's Merry Band of Bastards at "The Grassy Knoll", a tavern on the East Road a short distance outside the boundary of the Watchtowers. There is a certain amount of consternation on the part of Kit and Serafine when Bartholomew joins them, having temporarily taken leave of his ambassadorial duties in order to travel incognito on this mission, but eventually tempers are calmed and the adventurers reluctantly agree to all work together. Toquell has bound his sorcery and left it in the White City as part of his progression in the art of Chain magic, so brings only his considerable martial skills and knowledge to the expedition.
On their way to the area where the Chain-Snake was last seen they are accosted by a Chain-Wraith and a group of bandits apparently under its control (each bandit having a chain around their neck). The Chain-Wraith knows that they have the Hammer, asks them their intentions and tells them that they must destroy the Chain-Snake - after some discussion the party say their farewells and move on. They are ineffectually attacked by a horde of troglodytes, then ambushed by a group of ghouls with one of their number playing dead as bait. Soon afterwards they find some more ghouls being cut down by a trio of Ashen Guardians. The Guardians turn to the party and demand that Selena, as a necromancer, is handed over to the justice of the Burned Lords. Kit and Serafine stand back and refuse to get involved, but Toquell and Bartholomew help Selena destroy the Ashen Guardians before moving on. The party is then attacked by a group of hungry trolls, whom they also defeat.
As dusk approaches, the party arrives at a small cave in the hillside where they are greeted by a mad old man surrounded by a flock of budgies. They try to question him about whether he's seen the Chain-Snake, but his replies are nonsense. They are about to move on as the sun sets - the old man falls asleep and cannot be woken, while the budgies are revealed as Trapped Men as they transform into their human shapes. While some of their number gather fruits, berries and seeds for the old man's meals on the morrow, others speak with the party and tell them where the Chain-Snake was last seen. It is discovered that the touch of the First Hammer fills them with agonising pain - following a lengthy discussion on the nature of the curse which binds the Trapped Men, the party stay the night and as the sun rises Toquell attempts to break the binding on one of the Trapped Men by striking him with the First Hammer at the moment of his transformation. Sadly his frail budgerigar body cannot stand the pain and dies of a heart attack - after his body transforms into human form for the last time Bartholomew conducts the Last Rites in his typical Vitriarch-worshipping manner and is ineffectually attacked by a flock of angry budgies as the party departs before the old man wakes.
As they continue on their path the party finds a large pile of glass shards which transforms into a horde of Splinter-Men and attacks them until every last Splinter-Man has been destroyed. Further on an unnatural blizzard approaches from the mountains to the North and the party are attacked by Snow-Riders out on the Eastern plains! Later that day they find a circle of sandstone monoliths which is not marked on any of Kit's maps. In the centre of the circle is a twelve foot sandstone statue, which they eventually notice is swaying slightly. This figure starts a conversation and is soon identified as the Old Power known as the Lord of Sand & Stone, spaced out on stonecap mushrooms. He tells them that he saw the Chain-Snake, that it was very rude, and that it went thataway. The party move on, but in doing so Toquell and Selena cross the boundaries of the circle and the Lord demands an apology. Selena refuses to say sorry and flees at high speed. Toquell apologises in an only slightly sarcastic manner and is persuaded to eat some of the stonecap mushrooms growing on the monoliths to prove his contrition, departing in a somewhat psychedelic state of mind.
Moving onwards, the party find themselves passing through a fractured land where time and distance stretch and flow in an unnatural and disturbing manner. On entering a vast graveyard they are attacked by skeletons, several of whom Selena commends to ash. They then meet an injured Chain sorcerer who tells them that He Who Walks Wilderness has been running in circles around the Chain-Snake, twisting reality as he travels so that it has trouble finding or catching Him. They find the Chain-Snake itself at the centre of the area and attack it with the First Hammer - the Chain-Snake binds Bartholomew's will and he vitrifies the First Hammer with Glass sorcery, but although the artefact turns from petrified wood into the blackest obsidian it doesn't seem any more fragile or any less potent for its transformation. Bartholomew and Serafine blast each other into unconsciousness with Glass sorcery as Toquell rushes in to take up the First Hammer, the Chain-Snake casts bindings about but through the use of potions against Chain magic the party shrug them off and eventually destroy it with blows from the First Hammer, at which point it unravels into a great deal of relatively ordinary chain with an ancient skull at the centre. Selena attempts to call up the spirit of the skull so she can speak to it, but things do not go well. The party head back home with the First Hammer and the remains of the Chain-Snake, pausing only on meeting a Red Gryphon patrol who initially seem hostile but respectfully step aside on Toquell's orders when they see his glowing purple eyes.
The Hunt for Shenya Cristofori
Run by Julian & Helen W on 26th March 2005 (a Saturday in the Easter vacation)
Players: Shardface (James), Sirius Panastra (Rich), ??? - the adventurer formerly known as "Tibs" (Joe W)
Mission Brief: Arik Blackthorne hires some adventurers to find and kill Shenya Cristofori for him.
Adventure Summary: The party is hired by a mysterious hooded man in the Black Griffin pub to hunt down and kill Shenya Cristofori, whom he claims has stolen an ancient family heirloom from him without which his family is doomed to fall into decline and ruin. Seeing no problem with simple murder for profit, the party set out to find Shenya, heading first to her house in the White City. On the way there the party is accosted by Reginald De Courci and his bodyguards, fresh from an all-night drinking session and eager to make some entertainment out of the motley band of adventurers passing through their neighbourhood. During the ensuing ‘conversation’ Shardface coshes Reginald into unconsciousness and runs off, pursued by Reginald's bodyguards, and Sirius takes the opportunity to smash Reginald’s skull across the cobbles in full view of a street full of nobles. At the same time, Shardface uses Glass magic to escape Reginald’s bodyguards. Soon, the party is being hunted throughout the White City by the High Guard.
Slipping away from the chaos for a short time, the party make their way to Shenya’s house, which the nameless adventurer (having used Glass sorcery to change his appearance) finds empty but for a High Guardsman on duty at the door and one of Shenya’s servants. He discovers that Shenya is hunting a group of bandits led by an exiled noble of the White City called Giovanno, and that she set out for the village of Minerva on the borders of the Western Forest some days ago. Meanwhile, Sirius and Shardface are hiding in a nearby alleyway when Shardface is spotted by a High Guard patrol and runs off and hides in a rubbish cart. The party eventually meet up again, but cannot immediately follow Shenya because the White City has been locked down by the High Guard to prevent the escape of Reginald’s murderers. Sirius suggests simply killing their way out through the main gates, but is eventually persuaded that this plan might be a little suicidal by the nameless adventurer, who suggests an alternative route in the form of a secret exit from the White City in a backroom of the Wall Inn in the poor district. Avoiding the traditional bribe by pretending to go upstairs to make use of the tavern’s whore, Sirius’ mighty strength is used to smash through the wall between the inn's rooms and rip the iron door from its hinges and escape the city, the inn's management and patrons soon abandoning their pursuit.
Making their way to Minerva, the party discovers that the place has already been attacked by bandits hoping to lay a trap for Shenya. Shenya has already passed through, but the bandits attack the party anyway, hoping they are carrying valuables. A short fight ensues and the bandits are killed (after a few are questioned), Shardface skinning some of their faces to take as souvenirs. Searching the houses of the village, the party finds that the village mayor has survived by hiding under a pile of corpses. He tells them Shenya headed down a wood-cutter's trail heading west. The party stay the night in the ruins of Minerva, but while they sleep the nameless adventurer is attacked and possessed by the spirit of a poor dead villager shown kindness by Shenya when she was there. This spirit waits in the back of the nameless adventurer's mind, hoping to prevent the party from killing Shenya.
Following the trail in the morning, the party come across a man named Eris who is fleeing down the path. He tells them that Shenya and her party were captured by Giovanno in a bandit ambush further down the path from which he alone escaped. Continuing through the whole day, the party meets a High Guard officer who is infatuated with Shenya and looking for her with some of his men in order to ensure she doesn't get into any trouble. Directing him to a different part of the Forest entirely, the party continue onwards and find the site of the ambush as it begins to get dark, the unburied bodies of many bandits being scattered about. They burn the bodies, but the smell of cooking flesh attracts a pack of wolves which the party are forced
to slay. In the night the party are attacked by the spirits of the dead bandits, who possess both Sirius and Shardface in the hope of later using them to take revenge against their killers: Shenya and her party.
Following the tracks made by the bandits the next day, the party finally finds Giovanno’s lair. After making short work of the sentries and entering the cave a mighty fight ensues, in which Shardface loses consciousness from overuse of Glass sorcery and Sirius is very nearly killed, having been struck by eleven crossbow bolts in the course of the fight. Shortly after the bandits are slain Shenya’s party arrives on the scene, having escaped from their bandit captors deeper in the caves. At this point the nameless adventurer is possessed by the spirit of the dead villager who hopes to save Shenya, while Sirius and Shardface are impelled by their possessing spirits to go on a killing spree. As they are already injured, though, a combination of force and Chain magic allows Shenya and her companions to subdue Sirius and Shardface, with the assistance of the possessed nameless adventurer. Sirius and Shardface are exorcised of their possessing spirits and taken prisoner, Shenya and company arranging for their conveyance back to the White City for trial. On the way back, however, despite his sight being bound Sirius manages to use his legendary strength to escape, and taking his companions with him he flees into the Forest.
Run by Rich on 9th April 2005 (a Saturday in the Easter vacation)
There is a gallery of photographs from this game available here, taken by Helen W & Laura, hosted by Chris N.
Players: David Southpaw (Arthur), Federico Velasquez (Joff), Captain Matteus De Almedia (Xan), Stephano De Courci (Julian), Winsel (Ben)
Mission Brief: Five adventurers are drinking in a tavern in the village of Treamdip on the borders of the Great Forest when a breathless villager runs in to announce that it's trollberry season again - so they decide to try their luck.
Adventure Summary: Trollberries are used to make trollberry juice, a rare and expensive delicacy occasionally drunk by the upper classes of the White City. The newly arrived villager mentions in a blatant stage whisper to the barkeeper that the trollberry bushes had been found some distance to the west, and on further questioning the adventurers are told that trollberry bushes bloom only for a relatively short period once every couple of years or so and get their name because the smell attracts trolls from miles around and drives them into a ravenous feeding frenzy during which they eat as many of the berries as they can. As the villagers start preparing to head into the Forest for the trollberry gathering, the adventurers purchase some sacks, torches and oil and set off to follow the tracks of the villager who brought the news back to their source.
The first couple of trolls the adventurers meet are easily dispatched, as is a wolverine who springs on Stephano from a tree as they pause to investigate the corpse of a bear it had slain earlier. Then a large group of bandits is encountered and after a brief bit of blustering a fight inevitably ensues. Most of the bandits are killed, a couple escape and all of the adventurers but Winsel (this becomes a theme of the expedition) take a considerable amount of damage. They rest and wait while David repairs people's armour and Matteus makes more makeshift torches from tree branches and the clothing and bootlaces of the slaughtered bandits. While this is going on a group of Weavers pass by and are told that trollberries have fruited nearby, which seems to worry them and they move off briskly. Once most of the party's leather armour has been repaired they move on, swiftly slaying a pack of wolves which has cornered a giant spider in a low isolated tree and letting the spider go free to feed on their corpses, then encounter a large group of hostile trolls who are unwilling to talk much and seem angered that the smell of the adventurers is drowning out the smell of the trollberries they're seeking. A fight ensues, during which Matteus loses the use of his leg and David nearly dies. Eventually the trolls are slain and everyone is healed at least enough to walk, after which David does some more armour repair while Winsel and Matteus fashion more makeshift torches from branches and their own cloaks.
A thirsty bunch of Children of the Vine bumps into the party not much further down the path, offering wine and eager for company, but the adventurers manage to tear themselves away (some with more reluctance than others). Farther on they find a pair of trolls in company with a pair of ghouls feasting on a couple of human corpses. The trolls and ghouls are slain, though the ghouls are captured and questioned first, and the party are also forced to deal with the two corpses which animate as zombies. Why the trolls were associating with the ghouls is unknown. The tracks lead through a swampy area, where the party run through clouds of biting insects as Stephano tries to blow them away by summoning up the Wind. Finally the adventurers come in sight of the trollberry bushes, which are being stripped bare by a bunch of trolls led by a particularly large and nasty specimen of their race. After some discussion of tactics the adventurers attack, with the plan of holding the trolls off while they grab the trollberries and retreat. Unfortunately this doesn't quite work, as a troll manages to break Federico's leg and he is left unable to move, leaving Matteus holding off most of the trolls while the rest of the party run off with the berries and the torches. Eventually Matteus manages to call their comrades back and most of the trolls are slain, the big troll running off after its arms are bound by Federico and being chased down by Matteus, who then drags it back to where his comrades are waiting with the torches. The berries are gathered, some healing is done and Matteus gives a brief rant on the subject of teamwork that degenerates into an argument with David and results in Matteus losing his temper and punching David in the face, Stephano stepping in to calm things down as David starts to draw his sword. Tempers calm, apologies are made, hands are shaken and the party move on before more trolls arrive, after following Federico's example by taking cuttings from the trollberry bushes in hope of later cultivation.
The adventurers meet another group of bandits on their way back to Treamdip, who initially pose as impoverished villagers and attempt to beg or buy some trollberries while Winsel leads others of their number on a chase through the woods. While the party are distracted by negotiations some of the bandits behind them load their bows and crossbows and attack, another melee ensues during which Federico comes close to death but the bandits are all slain or driven off and the trollberries brought through intact. At long last the party return to Treamdip to find the villagers setting out with nets and scoops to gather trollberries the easy way, the adventurers stay for a short while to learn the details of making trollberry juice before heading back to the White City. David and Winsel sell their share of the trollberries for a tidy sum, while the three nobles throw a trollberry juice party to great acclaim. As feared, the trollberry bush cuttings prove impossible to domesticate.
Run by Julian & Joff on 16th April 2005 (a Saturday in the Easter vacation)
Players: Abelard Velasquez (Rich), David Southpaw (Arthur), Kit Fisable (Helen W)
Mission Brief: Laodisia De Courci hires some adventurers to find her daughter Tithona, an explorer from the College of the Thousand Arts who has disappeared on a visit to the Whistful City.
Adventure Summary: Laodisia De Courci, a mid-ranking and rather vapid socialite of the De Courci Family, has lost her daughter Tithona. She puts out a few loud and public notices around the White City enquiring after adventurers of strength
and good moral fibre; she is answered, however, by Abelard Velasquez, David Southpaw and Kit Fisable. Laodisia reveals that Tithona was something of an embarrassment to the Family; she associated herself with adventuring types and spent a lot of time in the North, researching and exploring. She was apparently also a member of the Faculty of Botany at Thousand Arts. A certain amount of sniffing around ensues; little more can be
discovered about Tithona from sources inside the White City, and she certainly seems to be the upstanding young noble scholar that her mother makes her out to be. The Faculty would really rather like her back, please, as she's about the only academic there who's not on drugs. With this preparation, the party set out for the North.
The journey to the Watchtowers is largely uneventful, though later the party do run across a Southern merchant and his bodyguard suffering an attack by zombies as they approach Three Rivers. They rescue the merchant, who is named Renaldo and claims to be working the Whistful City - White City - Port of Glass trade route (though Kit believes him to be a spy). There is some discussion of the road further ahead - Renaldo says that nothing has been heard from the Whistful City for some weeks and that the weather is rumoured to be foul - and the two groups go their separate ways. Some nights later, while still well outside the range of the usual unpleasant weather to be expected in the mountains, the party run into a severe snowstorm. While waiting it out they are attacked by Snow-Riders whispering Tithona's name, who seem unusually aggressive and numerous considering that the party are not yet in the foothills. After fighting the creatures off, the adventurers move north and reach the Whistful City in good time. There, they investigate stories of Tithona's disappearance; it seems that she set out to map an as-yet uncharted glacier up the River of Whispers some weeks ago and has not been seen since. Various mystics and dreamers also seem to be under the impression that she has gained the favour of the Frost Prince, who wishes to take her as his bride. Gaining access to the lodging-house where Tithona was staying, they discover nothing left behind except a saffron dress and a note. The note gives directions to the area where
Tithona was mapping, in addition to a rough map and the location of a former guide named Grettern living in the City who might be able to offer further help. A storm begins to whip up as the party leave the house, and as they reach the doorway they are confronted by a number of dead-seeming, ice-bound humans who do not speak but indicate that they want Tithona's dress. Not being in the mood for a fight, the party hand the dress over and the storm abates. They then visit Grettern, who advises them of the best route into the mountains and offers to sell them various maps of the area - his lifetime's work. After a quick study of the maps, Kit goes pale and doesn't even try to haggle when he asks fifty Hexa for the lot. She promptly returns to their rooms, copies out the pertinent sections and stores the rest in a strongbox at the Exalted Church of the Light until their return.
Equipping themselves for cold weather, the adventurers set out on Tithona's trail. Soon, only a short way into the mountains, they encounter a stone temple to the Frost Prince where they are met by a group of his disciples who seem intent on stopping them by any means necessary. A frantic fight ensues, and though the party fight bravely they are no match for the powerful Wind sorcerer accompanying the disciples and his lightning bolts. David and Abelard are knocked unconscious and Kit, badly injured, flees, returning shortly afterwards to dispatch the surviving disciples in a surprise attack before they can sacrifice her two companions. Travelling onwards through the mountains, the adventurers discover the water of the River of Whispers to have an unexpected effect when they drink it, increasing their camaraderie and sense of well-being towards one another. Battered and nervous, the party follow Tithona's trail to a ford across the River (which seems to be whispering Tithona's name); a man stands on the other side of the ford, blocking the path but saying nothing. The party attempt to communicate with him, but he continues silent; after some worried discussion Abelard steps out into the river, which promptly freezes around him, damaging his legs and holding him fast until David and Kit pull him out. This display of hostility drives the party over the edge into full-blown paranoia and Kit shoots the man with her crossbow. He seems unconcerned by this, so she shoots him again. He shows no particular sign of concern (though appears to be bleeding badly) and, after some threats and posturing on both sides, the party are allowed to cross the ford via an ice-bridge. The anonymous man introduces himself as the Prince of Storms. After apologies from the mortals, the Prince indicates his opposition to his brother's wedding and convinces the party to agree to attend the wedding feast and somehow prevent the ceremony.
That night, as the party are camped with a fire burning and David on watch, an aged man caked in ice approaches the camp with jerky, puppet-like movements and introduces himself, in a voice that seems to come from the snows and mountains around them, as the Voice of the Frost Prince. He demands that the party turn back and leave Tithona to the Frost Prince. Things rapidly turn hostile, the Voice sending in more of the ice-bound dead to attack the party before casting a couple of lightning bolts, summoning a tempest and then flying off; it is discovered during a frantic battle that the ice-bound dead can only be stopped by hacking them to pieces near the fire, where it is warm enough to thaw the ice that encases their corpses. The next day the party reach the gateway to the path to the Frost-Prince's palace, deep in uncharted mountains, and the source of the River of Whispers. The large stone statues guarding the gates seem convinced by their story that they are carrying a blessing from the bride's mother, but require them to kneel in the snow and shed their cold-weather furs before they will be admitted to the wedding. At the palace, they come to a great icy hall and find the Frost Prince seated with his fiancée, who is encased in a block of ice, on enormous thrones of ice at the head of a grand feasting table laid only with jugs of ice-cold water and plates of sculpted snow. They keep up their story of bringing blessings from his future mother-in-law, but are not given permission to speak to Tithona - she must remain thus until the wedding the following morning. The other guests begin to arrive: the Rose Prince of the North, the King of the Eagles, the Prince of Storms (who pretends not to recognise the party) and - finally and most dramatically, appearing through a flame-filled gateway - the Lord of the House of Gods. The other deities seem respectful of the Burned Lord, whom the Frost Prince reveals will be officiating at the wedding.
After the celebrations end, the party are taken to their quarters for the night and locked in. David and Kit, who both have experience of adventuring in the mountains, know that they will freeze to death before morning if they cannot get out. All three are already suffering the effects of the cold, and they prepare to meet their deaths philosophically - having discovered that the Lord of the House of Gods is actually a really decent bloke, they all feel fairly positive about the Burned Realm. Before the cold can kill them, however, the Prince of Storms reappears to strike a bargain: he will release them from the room and ensure that they do not die of cold during the night if they agree to do his bidding at the wedding the next morning. They accede unquestioningly, and survive the night. At the wedding, the Prince of Storms requires them to ensure that Tithona rejects her future husband. Gambling that she is there against her will, the party convince the Frost Prince to release her from the block of ice; she immediately begs them to take her away from her abductor and clearly states that she is there against her will. The Frost Prince again encases her in ice, but not before the party can raise their objections with the Lord of the House of the Gods. He takes them aside, explaining that while he himself objects to the wedding, he has no power to act outside the code of laws known as Amroth which binds the gods. Under this code, the mortals may prevent the wedding - but only by winning in a challenge of chance against their opponent. The Frost Prince seems furious, but is forced to agree to the challenge -
the party choose dice after a significant exchange of looks with the Prince of Storms. The dice are manipulated; the party win the game, the Frost Prince gives Tithona his "blessing" in the form of a kiss on the cheek, and they proceed to leave the
mountains with Tithona at great speed, killing some innocent explorers to replace their lost cold-weather gear on the way. They are hunted and assaulted by Snow-Riders and other creatures all the way out of the mountains, but return to the Whistful City alive and
safe. Tithona sickens and wastes away as they leave the mountains, but the last anyone heard she was well on her way to a full recovery with the help of various powerful sorcerers. The adventurers are recognised, and well paid, by the De Courcis for their achievement and Kit is promoted to the Chief Professorship of the Cartography Faculty of the College of the Thousand Arts for her revolutionary new findings on the nature of the gods.
Run by Joff & Helen W on 24th April 2005 (Sunday 1st week, Trinity term)
A sequel to "Hammering the Snake" & "Mad Dogs & Vitriarchs".
Players: Belor de Velland (Peter), Carlos de Mamushi (Joe W), Brother Jara (Xan), Julia van der Meer (Laura), Yana (Ellie)
Mission Brief: Agent Verrone of the Low Guard calls some adventurers to the Grassy Knoll tavern and tells them that a highly placed politician and merchant in the City of Crossroads has come into possession of the First Hammer and is preparing a ritual to free the Bound Ones. The adventurers are tasked with recovering the First Hammer at any cost, in order to save the world.
Adventure Summary: The adventurers meet up with Verrone at the Grassy Knoll Tavern, outside the Watchtowers on the Eastern road. He tells them that the First Hammer (see the "Hammering the Snake" adventure summary for details of how the First Hammer was stolen and the City of Crossroads framed for its theft) has been traced to the house of a prominent merchant and politician in the City of Crossroads named Andre Daul, who is known to be a cultist of the Bound Ones and is believed to be preparing a ritual to use the Hammer to free them from their bindings. They are given Daul's address and instructed to memorise it, being warned that the future of the world could depend on their recovering the Hammer before he can use it, given a 10 Hexa advance to cover any expenses they incur and sent off to the East.
On their way along the road to the City of Crossroads they encounter a group of bandits who try to lure them into an ambush by asking for help with a "broken" cart and attack when this ruse is ignored, all of whom are slain and burnt on a makeshift pyre. Later on their journey they meet a mad Light sorcerer who lives in a cave near the road and emerges to rant at them. He and Carlos raise the Light together and he purifies Carlos without incident, but then he tries to purify the rest of the party and attacks Yana when she refuses the Light's "blessing", at which point the rest of the adventurers rush in to subdue him and, after some discussion, leave him by the roadside, finding nothing in his cave but crude paintings of smiling faces. As the adventurers camp that night they are attacked by wolves, while fighting off the pack of vicious animals the mad Light sorcerer catches up with the party and also attacks them, being subdued again then having his throat slit to stop him troubling them any longer.
Eventually arriving at the City of Crossroads, where Yana, Jara and Julia profess to be visiting their families while Belor and Carlos pose as their friends and tourists, they eventually convince the gate guards to admit them. The party hire rooms for the night in an expensive inn close to Daul's home in the wealthy quarter of the city, despite a great deal of anti-White-City sentiment from the management and locals (due to White City rumour blaming Crossroads for the theft of the Hammer) which leaves bad feeling all round but narrowly avoids degenerating into a brawl. Belor finds a smith to fix his armour, Carlos seeks out some seedy contacts to learn more about Daul and the rest of the party go for a stroll around the block containing Daul's residence, noting the high walls, stout gates with watchful guards, spacious gardens and lack of back alleys. It is discovered that Daul has a reputation as an upstanding family man with a loving wife and daughter whose politics support strong moral values. Returning to the inn, Carlos and Belor make public their interest in purchasing a property locally before the party retire for the night.
Next morning the party are approached over breakfast by an estate agent bearing details of several nearby properties which are vacant and available for purchase, some of which are in the same block as Daul's residence. Carlos waits until Daul has left his home for the day and talks his way in to an audience with Daul's wife and daughter, with Yana posing as his bodyguard, telling them that he is interested in purchasing a nearby property and would like their opinion on the area. Meanwhile Belor, Jara and Julia approach a vacant property whose garden backs onto Daul's and Julia subtly commends the lock on the gate to ash. The three adventurers enter the property as if looking round as potential purchasers, but have only spent a few minutes looking at the back garden when a large bunch of Crossroads Guards charge into the property and attack them! The guards are driven off with sorcery and swords, a couple of them killed in the process, and the three adventurers hop over the wall into Daul's garden and hide in the bushes. Meanwhile more Crossroads guards have burst into Daul's house and assaulted Carlos and Yana - one is captured and a knife held to his throat by Carlos, but with a cry of "For the CNP!" he forces his throat onto the blade and kills himself (CNP is later discovered to stand for the Crossroads National Party, a fringe political faction in the city). During this temporary lull, the two parties meet up and Jara searches Daul's house, finding no trace of the First Hammer nor anything else incriminating or out of the ordinary. Julia commends the door of Daul's safe to ash and flees into a nearby garden with Jara, Belor and the papers from the safe, but when read under cover of some shrubbery the papers are found to be merely mercantile and political notes containing nothing dubious or cult related. After persuading a new squad of guards that they are innocent of all wrongdoing, Carlos and Yana climb through back gardens to join their comrades and the party uses Jara's local knowledge to flee the city through the sewers as a citywide manhunt gets underway.
Heading East to check out rumours of cultists of the Eater Of Wings, the party are ambushed from the undergrowth by a group of rangers whose weapons bear the symbol of an eye overlaying the usual Crossroads shield. After all of them are slain or driven off Julia summons up the spirit of their leader and learns that they were members of "The Watchful", Crossroads' equivalent of the Low Guard, sent to capture and kill the party. More concerning is the news that the Watchful were warned that the party were coming to the City of Crossroads to assassinate Daul by an anonymous source some three weeks previously, before the adventurers themselves were even told of their mission! Continuing East, the party run into a group of cultists of the Eater of Wings - most of the cultists are cutting the wings from chickens and consuming them raw, while their large half-naked leader smashes chains with a hammer. The cultists spot the party and charge, a fierce battle leading to their swift demise. The mutilated chickens are put out of their misery and the party are slightly alarmed to discover that Yana and Carlos recognise the leader's hammer as the same one found on the rock next to the First Hammer (see the "If I Had A Hammer" adventure summary). Spirits of the dead cultists are summoned up - the leader says that the worship of the Eater Of Wings has been passed down through his family for generations and that the cultists are becoming more public because they're confident their god will soon be free! He also admits to eating Whisty, the young lad who previously owned the hammer. One of the dead cultists was a visionary who claims to have foreseen the freeing of the Eater Of Wings and the arrival of the party, also claiming to have seen rather vague visions of the First Hammer - carried by "a group of five people, some armoured, some not armoured, some male, some female, going around breaking stuff".
Taking a very circuitous route around to the north of the City of Crossroads the party head back towards the Eastern watchtower of the White City, staying off the roads. A day's journey from the Watchtower they are ambushed by a large group of bandits, but after a long and confused fight they win through, leaving some of the bandits unconscious with a warning to spread the word that attacking small groups of heavily armed travellers is a bad idea. Then the bandits' camp is searched and the party find a White City diplomatic pouch captured on its way from the White City to the City of Crossroads, broken open by the bandits and its contents read, said contents including an unsigned memo (which purports to be one of five copies) telling the White City embassy in the City of Crossroads to deny all knowledge of the party's Low Guard sponsored mission! The unconscious bandits are then slain to keep the White City's secrets. Arriving at the Eastern Watchtower, Carlos uses subtle Low Guard signals to make contact with a Low Guard agent there and tell him the news of what's really been going on, then the adventurers make a beeline back to the White City.
On the way to their various destinations in the White City the party are ambushed in a backstreet by a group of armed footpads, running from them to see High Guardsmen putting up posters bearing the party's faces and accusing them of associating with the wanted murderer Sirius Panastra! Jara and Yana flee to the Cloistered Brethren of Chains, where they are granted an audience with the order's Master and tell him what's been going on. Meanwhile Carlos leads Belor and Julia to the Governor's Palace and tries to gain an audience with Sir Francis De Courci, but as he is unavailable they meet with Governor Rebecca De Courci instead and explained the situation to her before being summoned to see the Cloistered Brethren by a messenger from the Master. Verrone, having been appraised of the situation by Rebecca, finds the party with the Cloistered Brethren and tells them that Rebecca has spoken to the High Guard and sorted out the problem with the wanted posters and that he believes the source of all the scheming is his superior, whom he knows only as "Silver" who reports to "Gold". With Yana watching through his eyes, Verrone meets Silver's messenger for their regular exchange of messages and follows him through the streets to Silver's mansion elsewhere in the city. Once the messenger has left Verrone barges in to confront Silver, with the party hiding outside - Silver blasts Verrone into unconsciousness with Glass sorcery, at which point the party burst in to subdue Silver and his Chain sorcerer bodyguard. Carlos gathers Silver's papers, refusing to let anyone else see confidential Low Guard information. Silver's house is found to be full of the mirrors used by some Glass sorcerers for communication. Once Verrone recovers Silver and his bodyguard are handed over to the Low Guard.
In the aftermath of these events everybody's name is cleared, the High Guardsmen investigating the murder of Reginald De Courci publicly apologising and declaring that there is no reason to suspect that those named on the erroneous poster have ever even met Sirius Panastra. Jobs are lost over the affair. Soon afterwards a remarkably heavily guarded courier, with a remarkably large and heavily laden wagon, rolls East from the White City, following which a story reaches the White City from the City of Crossroads about a band of Glass sorcerers who, having stolen the faces of citizens of the White City, attempted to burgle the house of a rich Crossroads merchant but were driven off by the brave Crossroads City Guard. The adventurers each receive a purse of money and an anonymous note both apologising and thanking them. Carlos receives an audience with Sir Francis De Courci, who 'asks' that all the papers (including those marked with coded notes in green ink and a map marking an important location in a desert to the south of the City of Crossroads) from Silver's study be handed over. Sir Francis also instructs Verrone to train Carlos as his replacement pending Verrone's own promotion to Silver status.
Soon after the papers are in the Low Guard's hands there is a series of brutal murders including apparently respectable merchants, rangers, High Guardsmen and even a couple of minor nobles. The High Guard explains these murders away as a disagreement within a smuggling ring. A White City merchant is left outside the Eastern Watchtower with an arrow through his neck, a mirror in his purse and the word 'LIAR' and a small eye cut into his forehead.
Part five of the "Naming & Binding War" campaign, a sequel to "Hammering the Snake".
Run by Rich & Joe W on 30th April 2005 (Saturday 1st week, Trinity term)
Players: Belor de Velland (Peter), Brynna Mortivelli (Helen W), Sebastian (Joff), Stephano De Courci (Julian), Vincenzi Velasquez (Xan)
Mission Brief: Sir Francis De Courci has a quiet word in Vincenzi's ear and asks him to put together a team of adventurers to head East and scout out the Army of the Red Gryphon in a manner which gives the White City full deniability.
Adventure Summary: After meeting Sir Francis De Courci in the back room of the Chalice & Barrel inn to discuss plans, expenses, cover stories et cetera the adventurers head out East, having relatively little trouble until they reach a site of slaughter - the ground all around is churned up from the passage of many feet and soaked in blood, one body lying on the ground and more bodies dripping blood from the branches of trees overhead. The party approaches cautiously, Vincenzi identifying the body as belonging to a Blood sorcerer from the White City who was obsessed with the concept of vengeance. His corpse appears to have died from blood loss and bears numerous small pinpricks all over it, his hands still clutching a letter written with a dagger dipped in his own blood. Vincenzi is able to translate the letter, which is written in a variant of one of the Oldest Tongues used by followers of the Old Powers and speaks of "the coming of Vengeance". The tracks in the area indicate that a small caravan was intercepted by a group of around a hundred soldiers, who then departed to the north. Brynna summons up the spirit of the dead Blood sorcerer, who tells her that he was travelling to the City of Crossroads with a small party from the White City including an envoy from the De Courcis when a hundred Red Gryphon soldiers ambushed and surrounded them. The soldiers kept them hemmed inside a wide circle and then parted to let through a huge man with glowing purple eyes and his face covered in pulsing black veins, who carried a blood-dripping sword that inflicted wounds which Blood magic and healing potions couldn't heal. The huge man seemed to harbour a particular hatred for those associated with the De Courcis and slaughtered the caravan one by one, breaking their bones with his bare hands and throwing their bodies up into the branches of the trees. Vincenzi surmises that the sword the huge man wielded is the infamous blade called "Vengeance" and worries that the huge man referred to could be Sirius Panastra.
The party heads north, following the tracks of the patrol, being ambushed along the way by a group of ogres disguised as trees. The land they travel over shifts and twists in strange ways, evidence of the passage of He Who Walks Wilderness, but they manage to follow the patrol's tracks to a small rocky outcrop in the middle of the plains, the outcrop being distinguished by containing a cave mouth guarded by a small group of Red Gryphon soldiers. The adventurers approach with weapons sheathed and attempt to parley, but are almost immediately denounced as spies and attacked - after killing a couple of dozen Red Gryphon soldiers, with more swarming out of the cave mouth every minute, they retreat to a safe distance to reconsider their approach. Leaving the rest of the party in cover, Vincenzi strips naked and circles round the outcrop carrying only one of Sebastian's throwing daggers, his plan being to use Blood sorcery to grow trees that will collapse the cave mouth with their roots, flying to safety as a bird if need be. On his way to the outcrop he meets a single wolf, which leads him to a small hole in the side of the outcrop just large enough for people to crawl through. Vincenzi thanks the wolf and leaves it by the tunnel while he climbs up the outcrop to above the cave mouth - but is assailed by vertigo when he peers over the edge and finds himself looking down upon a mountain pass from hundreds of feet up a cliff. Realising that collapsing a whole dimensionally warped mountain is beyond him, he returns to his comrades and they all follow the wolf through the small tunnel. This passageway continues for some distance before opening out onto a high mountain ledge, leaving no trace of the way back. The party find themselves looking out over a large valley ringed by mountains with a single pass leading through them, in the middle of the valley a vast army camp housing in the order of a hundred thousand men. An array of siege engines is practicing against mock-ups of sections of the White City's walls while overhead fly gigantic red gryphons thirty feet long, many of them bearing riders, some of them spotted transforming into huge ogres when they land. The adventurers spend some time observing the camp through Sebastian's spyglass and making notes of the army's disposition, then notice one of the gigantic gryphon's flying in the direction of their ledge. Before the party can be seen the wolf breaks cover and runs off down the mountainside, snatched up by the gryphon and transforming into a human as she dies, revealing herself to have been a Trapped Man. While the gryphon flies back to the camp with its snack the party decide to make for the pass and try to fight their way to freedom.
They reach the pass and fight their way through the first group of Red Gryphon soldiers, travelling on they are ambushed by ogres disguised as rocks and after dismembering them fight their way through another group of Red Gryphon troops. Then their path is blocked by three of the gigantic ogres - telling everyone to grab onto her, Brynna summons forth an ashen cloud and leads the party through, losing one of the gigantic ogres and giving the adventurers a headstart on the other two. The party flees down the pass but is unable to outrun the long legs of their two pursuers, eventually turning to face them and taking them down in an extremely challenging battle. The next group of Red Gryphon soldiers they meet includes a Chain-Wraith (swiftly exorcised by Vincenzi and Brynna) and is led by an officer with glowing purple eyes - after slaughtering the troops the party take the officer's head and the notes from his belt pouch for later examination and interrogation back in the city. They also take the uniforms from some of their slain opponents; posing as Red Gryphon troops allows them to get close enough to the next group of soldiers that they are able to attack with some measure of surprise. Vincenzi warns his comrades not to release the raggedly dressed young woman chained up nearby, as he suspects her to be a Fell Beast from the original Binding War. The ruse is rather less successful against the next group of Red Gryphon soldiers, who are numerous and well trained and nearly manage to take down half the party before being defeated, but at last the party limp out into the sunlight and finds that they have finally fought their way free of the outcrop. They start to head homewards, only to find their path blocked by a horde of troglodytes - as the trogs attack Vincenzi takes down most of the first wave with Blood curses, but things take a turn for the worse when one of the troglodytes reveals itself to be the gigantic ogre the party managed to outrun earlier! After a great deal of hard work the ogre is taken down, but before it can be fully dismembered Brynna decides to try out her latest experimental potion on it to see what happens. What happens is that the gigantic ogre is healed up and becomes able to fly in ogre form, resulting in an aerial duel with Stephano, another long hard battle and a certain amount of yelling at Brynna. After a night's rest, Vincenzi transforms into an eagle and flies back to the White City to bring them the news as fast as possible, leaving his comrades to catch up. Sir Francis De Courci is somewhat shocked by the news and the White City immediately moves to a war footing.
GMed by Rich, organised by Chris V, Ellie, Helen W & Joe R, a sequel to "Escape From The Red Gryphon".
Run at The Mitre on the evening of 6th May 2005 (Friday 2nd week, Trinity term)
There is a gallery of photographs from this game available here, taken by Chris V & hosted by Chris N.
PCs: Belor de Velland (Peter), "Ripper" Bill McKenzie (James), Carlos de Mamushi (Joe W), Dante De Almedia (Chris V), Edwin Lunn (Andrew), Erica de Velland (Vicky), Federico Velasquez (Joff), Johanna De Courci (Christi), Kisu (Dom), Professor Kit Fisable (Helen W), Lucia du Bois (Lucy), Neara (Helen L), Sebastian (Joff), Serafine D'Artois (Laura), Stephano De Courci (Julian), Toquell Velasquez (Joe W), Toramil Ayaron Loralion (Francis), Vincenzi Velasquez (Xan)
NPCs: Sir Alexander Monteveri of the Shining Order (Matt), Brand of the Temple of Ashes (Arthur), Captain Caraban of the Army of the Red Gryphon (Chris V), Rebecca De Courci (Ellie), Lady Sophia of the City of Crossroads (Tristram), Xerxes of the Port of Glass (Mark B), a skeletal emissary of the Necromancer of Three Rivers (Rich), a Sergeant of the High Guard (Rich), a Brother of the Cloistered Brethren of Chains (Rich)
Event Brief: With tensions between the White City and the City of Crossroads running at an all-time high following the theft of the First Hammer, a banquet has been arranged for the people of the two cities to mingle, politic and socialise in an effort to foster more cordial diplomatic relations while current events are discussed.
But soon afterwards, gossip goes through the White City like chilli through a short grandmother. And when the gossip is that an army is on your doorstep that chilli has extra peppers!
The city is now a-buzz as people are preparing for war. The blacksmiths have gone into overproduction. Food and goods are being called in from the city's hinterlands. Far from panic, people seem to have an attitude along the lines of "We knew something was coming" and they are just glad to get on with it. The De Courcis are overseeing the main efforts and the war chests are being broached. Money comes forth to pay for troops, the High Guard and Low Guard look busy. The entire city is galvanised, from the highest noble to the lowest sewer cleaner. Everyone has a sharp knife in waiting.
The De Courcis have announced that the small event they had organised to smooth things over further between the White City and the City of Crossroads now has greater importance. They wish, in the coming conflict, to see their allies stand with them so they can be counted and praised. Let the fair weather friends retreat before the storm. A storm the White City will weather.
Event Summary: The event has been organised by Rebecca De Courci, the Governor of the White City, in concert with the White City's embassy from the City of Crossroads. As well as the politicians, nobles and diplomats that one would expect the event is also open to adventurers, merchants, priests, sorcerers and scholars so that the people of the two cities may mingle freely and get to know each other, warts and all. The event takes place in the "Knight Inn", which stands alone on a small hillock just inside a small park in the White City. An excellent venue if one wants a trouble free event, as it is easily guarded and surrounded by a cordon of troops. Those who wish can make a grand entrance or sneak up unseen. Special measures have been taken to ensure that nothing interrupts this meeting. The Cloistered Brethren of Chains have brought out a huge chain which has encircled the Knight Inn. Those who cross into the chain are bound to do no harm and to use no magic or skill to harm another while within. It is traditional to carry a small chain to be seen to accept these conditions. Notable events at the banquet include:
Run by Joe W, Ellie & Xan on 7th May 2005 (Saturday 2nd week, Trinity term)
Linked to the "Naming & Binding War" campaign, a sequel to the "White City Banquet".
There is a gallery of photographs from this game available here, taken by Fergus, hosted by Chris N.
Players: Alexis (Tristram), Erica de Velland (Vicky), Erskine Uskglass aka "Roland the Subtle" (Matt), Johanna De Courci (Christi), Kisu (Dom), Lucia du Bois (Lucy), Toramil Ayaron Loralion (Francis)
Mission Brief: Louis Trentard, a priest of the Verdant Lord, asks a group of adventurers to travel West into the Great Forest to speak with a friendly tribe of centaurs in an attempt to persuade them to lend their aid in the war against the Army of the Red Gryphon.
Adventure Summary: Louis guides the party past the Watchtowers and into the Great Forest, guiding them past most of the Forest's dangers apart from a pack of wolves which attack the party's camp one night while Louis is deep in meditation (having turned himself into a tree). Meeting the centaur tribe with whom Louis has previously established friendly relations, the adventurers fend off the rude jokes and amorous advances of the younger members and talk to the elder, who asks that they prove their worth before being offered any help or advice that the tribe may give. To do this the party are sent off to destroy a small group of trolls who have set up camp not far away and are occasionally bothering the centaurs. Once the trolls are slain the party returns and are addressed by the centaur tribe's stargazer, who tells them that all living centaurs are descended from the First Tribe. This Tribe followed their leader and patron deity, the Old Power known as The Great Hunter, into battle in the original Binding War, but the Great Hunter was slain and their numbers decimated, the survivors travelling South over the seas a thousand years ago and not having been heard of since then. But the stargazer says that now the Queen of Lilies has passed through the constellation of the Hunt the tribe's wisefolk have judged it an auspicious time to search for their ancestors and say that if the First Tribe return and join the war, many centaur tribes from the Great Forest would follow them into battle. The party are advised to travel to the Breathing Isles in search of further clues. They head South to the coast, with only some minor trouble when accosted by a group of bandits along the way, and find a small fishing village friendly to the White City where they are able to hire a boat and its crew to take them on a sea voyage.
Arriving at largest island of the Breathing Isles, the adventurers find a small port ruled over by the so-called Pirate King. On landing they are accosted by a number of inquisitive buccaneers eager to learn their business, Erica soon ingratiates herself with the locals and everyone moves to a nearby tavern where the party drink and carouse with the natives, a couple of whom slip off surreptitiously amidst the confusion. There is a great deal of ribaldry and amusement when the adventurers claim to be looking for centaurs, a brief bar fight breaks out, various indecent proposals are made, but eventually the party learn that strange tracks have been seen near the northern end of the island and they set off, telling their boat to wait for them in the port. On their way north they meet a mad Glass sorcerer named Maximillian, accompanied by an escort of Splinter-Men. Maximillian tells th