SESSION 288: Ascending Mount Strumpet (Season’s Beatings Pt. 2)
Hot on the trail of Orcus-Claws and his malevolent crueltide elves.
Day 247 Continued (Newville): They did not make haste to Lucinda’s cottage. First it as time to spread aid to the broken folk of Newville. Once done the thirty steps were taken to the mayor’s now hovel of a domicile.
Its door lies in a nearby snowbank. Wisps of white snow blow across the threshold and into the house itself. Inside, a large empty spot below a hole in the ceiling is where a cooking stove undoubtedly once stood. The timbers of a bedframe lie in the opposite corner. All the furniture in the room appears to have been disassembled down to its base parts. Even the nails that once held up the family portraits were gone. She invited them in as she sadly attempted to make home more welcoming than condemnable. Over a cold meal she explained the happenings of the previous evening. “a strange, demonic goblinoid creature came storming down from Mount Strumpet wearing a red suit and leading a small army of equally strange goblins clad in pointed shoes and wearing bell-topped caps. We News of Newville never saw them coming as we gathered to sing around the Festival Tree, we were uplifted in the singular rapture of holiday caroling. Orcus’ Claws announced his presence just before departing and it was then that we were torn from their reverie and realized that the strange creatures that served him (Crueltide elves) had stolen every piece of iron they could get their hands on. They had pried nails from walls, took hinges off doors, took plates from wagon axles, shoes off of horses, everything. With the village in shambles, I fear we won’t survive the winter, or worse that Orcus’ Claws will return and attack now that the village is completely defenseless”. She took a breath before continuing with more...
Bimbles jumped in, already at capacity for sob stories, “YAWN. Wow look at how late it is and we have been marching through the snow all day. I’m sure Green-Girl will have us chasing after that villain Orcus-Claws first thing in the morning. You wouldn’t want us to underperform now would you?”.
Lucinda being a somewhat naive little person did not get the underlying cynicism, “OH you are right Mr. Cleric. You should be at your best. Please make yourselves at home on my floor, it is all that I have left to offer”.
And so the night passed and with the coming of dawn they set out. Just as Bimbles rued.
Day 248 (Newvilleàthe Lair): With a crummy map in hand the group went north following the game trail into the pine forest for Orcus Claw’s lair atop Mount Strumpet. “Just follow the game path through the forest to the base of the mountain. May Festivus watch over you”, Lucinda pointed north beyond the Festivus tree to the ominous pine forest. Forward they as the skies darkened and the winds picked up. It was only a couple of miles of travel but it would not come easy as the weather arose and there were other things in this forest.
First they came across what appeared to be eight snowmen trail markers. They were such but had another overwhelming purpose – Kill Kill Kill. The snowmen animated and attacked swinging scratchy claws and stabbing with their detachable carrot noses. Two charged while the other six just disappeared into the snow only to reappear behind the hobos to backstab with frozen carrots. Once they ran out of tricks it was just a matter of pummeling the snowmen back into their constituent frosted flakes.
After a breather they pressed on to the next ordeal.
Winter Bones.
Over the howls of the growing blizzard and despite the muffling effect created by a blanket of snow, a merry singing rises on the wind. Much to your surprise, a black-clad skeletal scarecrow leaps from behind a tree. Inhumanly lean with overly long limbs, it stood more than seven feet tall and offered a grotesque grin to the hobos. Bones came on friendly and gregarious but noticeably giving birth to the clerics and paladin – “yeech”.
Bones asked a ceaseless stream of questions about winter, the holiday season, and the tiniest details regarding both. It is as if he had never encountered much of much before in his existence. He was a time sponge and would not stop his endlessly enthusiastic interrogation. Our gang had reached their limit and just began marching away no more questions would be answered. With an innocent mercilessness he began to dance around the hobos, “You will now be dancing fools just like Winter Bones”. This was old magic. The kind that is leftover from eons past and having great potency. To be taken by the dance was an excruciating affair as bodies bent in bone cracking configurations. Bones was fast and erratic. Many the action was disrupted and sword came up out of reach. However, eventually Winter Bones’s own incessance would lead to his disruption. Bones disintegrated into a sparkling and laughing cloud that was picked up by the wind and dispersed amongst the snow covered pines. For those that were dancing their suffering did not end with Bones’s abolition. These old magics refused to be dispelled and lingered until the Fool’s Dance had completed.
After a bunch of healing and such they marched on.
Finally they came to the base of Mount Strumpet. Conveniently, the trail continued up the mountain and it had been cleared of snow recently. The lair would be found at the end of the path. To reach the end and the penultimate chapter of this Winter adventure they would be visited by three ambushes this afternoon.
The first was now. Jumping from the snowbank a host of crueltide elves with wicked contraptions.
The second occurred along a treacherous portion of narrow path. Blightskrieg the demonic reindeer flew from a hidden position breathing fire and attempting to gore grumpy Bimbles to death.
The third was as they approached the entrance of Orcus Claw’s workshop. More rotten crueltide elves triggered an avalanche and then sent crossbow wielding wind-up tin men at our band, many of whom were buried waste deep in snow, rock and ice. The clerics taught them a lesson as they combined forces and unleashed a horde of snakes. Why didn’t they immediately freeze, don’t ask me I can only fight so many fights unlike our unstoppable horde.
Into the lair.
A large fissure split open after ten feet into a massive cavern that goes on far beyond the light of the many lanterns placed at very points around the room. Seemingly endless piles of various metal objects lie against the eastern and western walls, these mounds taller than an ogre. Nails, screws, heads for axes, picks, hammers, hinges, and wheel axles — all the resources stolen from the kindly people of Newville. Half a dozen Crueltide elves were working through the mounds in pairs across the room, one manning a wheelbarrow while the second shovels metal objects. They glowered and growled at the hobos. The barrow tenders reach into their wheelbarrows while their partners raise their surprisingly sharp shovels like broad-bladed spears. Goblins dressed like goofballs, even with strange contraptions, would not stop our seasoned murderers. Cleaning their blades the hobos prepared to take the singular passage leading deeper into Claw’s workshop.
The CBB-Team: Carla, Bimbles, Bunny, Saffron, Charles, Dolec, Nara & Lester
ROLECALL
Carla the Green High Priestess of TMB (C10) 356271 xp +10% <400001> CRT 1d12/III
Scars: permanent loss left index finger and scarring on arm
Bimbles the High Priest of GSS (C10) 320506 xp +5% <400001> CRT 1d12/III
+2 save to poison and internal body things; Double eat (gotta feed my baybay)
Bunny the Thief! (T10) 312116 xp <400001> +10% CRT 1d24/II
Light wound: permanent loss of pinky finger, off hand
The Henchmen
Saffron the Mad Fairy Queen of Ribbits (FY7) 198080 xp <200001> CRT 1d10/III
Moderate wound: Scar on abdomen
Lasting injury: -1 STR, mashed guts
Nara the Nearly Naked Purple Swami Girl (PS7) 112609 xp +5% <125000> CRT 1d16/II
Wraith Drained: -1 CON
Charles in Charge the Myrmidon (F6) 86207 <120000> +10% CRT 1d20/IV
Franz the Grave Return (Lawful; XXXX) Sword
Critical Wound: Punctured lung (-2 CON)
Mostly DEAD. (-1 CON)
Dolec Da the Hero (F7) 71196 xp +10% <120000> CRT 1d20/IV
Missing five teeth
Lester Flanders the Guardian of Oceana (P6) 48456 xp <95000> +5% CRT 1d16/IV
RESERVES
Elapsed Campaign Time
(702 b) days at beginning of session (Dreamlands)
688a (Bunny Group Newville)
701d (Ding-We Gang Liwil)
Join us for session Two-Hundred-and-Eighty-Nine when we ask the questions:
Why has Christmas dragged on sooo long?
What do these cruel contraptions do?
Do ya think anyone heard the avalanche?
Tale of the Tape
Nothing outside the norm here, fight fight fight.
KILLS
Frosted Snowmen (8)
Winter Bones
Blightskreig the Demonic Reindeer
Crueltide Elves (19)
Windup Toy Soldiers (2)
LOOT
Crueltide Contraptions assortment (12)
24 gp
