Episode Two: Mists of Betrayal redux
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SPOILER ALERT! Scenario is taken from Mists of Betrayal, one of FASA's official Earthdawn adventures.
Maxwell wanted to try his luck in Parlainth. Nasara was curious about the Forgotten City, too, and also wanted to visit her homeland. Gorin...was just tagging along. The three decided to travel together for safety.
The heroes walk into the small village of Tureem on their way to Parlainth and are rather shocked to discover that they are welcomed with open arms - a rare occurrence in Barsaive. The situation is soon resolved: it is a case of mistaken identity. The villagers of Tureem had called for some adventurers to deal with a pair of Jehuthra (arachnoid Horror constructs) that had been assaulting the village outskirts, but the real adventurers were long overdue. Perhaps these two young heroes would be willing to undertake the task instead?
Of course they would.
And so, our heroes boldly strode out into the forests surrounding Tureem. The dwarf had the Tracking Talent, thanks to his Beastmaster Discipline, so he immediately set about attempting to locate the fiendish beasts. He took a deep breath, concentrated upon his ability, and...
...failed.
AAARRRGH!
Occasionally even the best fail at the simplest of tasks - and, as a novice, he can be expected to fail more often than not. Perhaps a second effort would be more successful? He mustered his abilities again, and...
...succeeded.
With the plucky dwarf's assistance, the three adventurers soon found the Jehuthras' lair - and their inhabitants. The Jehuthra flung up their Spiked Webs, separating the three heroes by a maze of magical spikes. Max and Gorin had to face off against one, and Nasara went single-handed against another. All three kept dodging and retreating as they fought, bravely hoping to bring the spider-like constructs down before they were dealt a fatal blow.
When the dust cleared and the webs had faded away, Gorin was unconscious, Max had a broken arm, and Nasara had broken ribs and a slashed chest - but they are alive, and the Jehuthra were not. Nasara claimed as treasure one of the Jehuthra thorax webs and a magickal amulet. Max took the cash from the lair. Gorin didn't get anything, being unconscious and unable to protest. (Fortunately, Max was a good sort and shared his loot.)
And the play group decided that this new game system was kind of neat.
When the three finally limp into Haven, they seek out a mage to help identify the amulet, finally setlling upon Hiermon, a Human Wizard well-known in the Old Neighborhood of Haven. He agrees to check out the amulet if they would go to Blood Wood to deliver a treasure and a letter; the letter asks if the blood elves would trade some blood ivy (for Hiermon's experiments) in exchange for the treasure. The treasure is the fabled Everliving Flower, a relic of the Wood. Nasara agrees, Gorin tags along, and Max stays behind in Parlainth to hit the ruins. (Not being an Adept, thread items don't really concern him.)
On the trail, the two are attacked by highwaymen (sent by Theran agents), and (barely) succeed in routing them. Unfortunately, the Adepts are followed, and when they reach the Midland Trading Post, the outpost is attacked in the night by ork scorchers. Nasara bails out in the middle of the night in her nightshirt to aid in fighting them off, and then returns to her quarters to discover a thief trying to steal the Flower. He is surrounded and swiftly despatched.
Near Blood Wood, our heroes discover the remains of a caravan that had been attacked by a Horror. They wisely decide to slay it another day, and so continue to Blood Wood.
In Blood Wood, they are taken to meet Blood Warder Kalourin, who attempts to find out why they are here without showing it. Before he gets anywhere, Blood Warder Takaris - the one the letter is for - walks in. Nasara and Gorin hand over the flower, and he tells them its story (it was originally symbolic of a pact between Shosara and old Wyrm Wood, but was lost in transit, and then was trapped in Parlainth during the Scourge). However, he wants them to do something for him before he'll complete the transaction - search out a band of slavers led by Theran Fegis Kul.
Not having much of a choice, the two Adepts set out, and soon find the slaver band. Following steathily after, they discover that the slavers are working for Kalourin! They are able to free the slaves right under the slavers' noses, but then stumble into the village that they were heading towards and are captured.
The village is Akarem, held by the Horror Mist and cloaked in a shroud of unnatural fog. The inhabitants are held in unlife by the Horror. (Warder Kalourin has entered into a pact with the Horror, exchanging slaves for power.) Our heroes are locked in a room in an upper story of the Kaer until the slavers leave - when they are allowed to escape and locate their possessions. Escape from the village itself seems impossible; one walks into the mist and ends up getting turned around and walking straight back. After trying a couple of times, the two decide to explore the lower reaches of the Kaer. The villagers do not interfere.
Down below, they improvise additional weapons from the remains of old surgical embalming kits, with which they fight off shadowmants, ghouls, and cadaver men in the catacombs. Finally, they wander into the kaer's water source - a magical fountain.
Behind them, out in the corridor, they hear a noise. Nasara spins and fires an arrow down the staircase at whatever it is.
They hear munching noises, and the crushed remains of the arrow are flung back into the room.
The adventurers draw steel.
A moment later, the water in the room starts boiling and churning. Thick clouds of steam fill the room.
Then the Horror attacks.
It is a long, hard fight. Two low-level Adepts against a Horror of this magnitude? Were this a logical world, they'd be dead. Gorin burns some Karma to Claw the thing, and is flung into a wall for it, knocked unconscious. Nasara drains her Karma dry to hit the thing, and it flings her into a wall. She clings to consciousness just long enough to hit it again, then passes out.
When the two Adepts wake up, the water is cool, and all that is left of the Horror is a small marble upon the ground. They take it as a souvenir and decide to explore the rest of the Kaer.
On the Kaer's roof, they run into a spectral dancer. Gorin dances with it, nearly dying in the process, but finally he makes contact: the dancer tells him how to use the Horror's remains to destroy its hold upon the Kaer. They follow the instructions and the Kaer collapses as the villagers happily, finally, die. Gorin takes a stone from the Kaer to remember them by.
When they return to Blood Wood, they are attacked by thorn men sent by Kalourin, but manage to hold them off until a blood elf patrol arrives and orders the two heroes to surrender. They wisely do so. Kalourin tries to get rid of them, but Takaris shows up just in time, again, and they inform him of Kalourin's treachery. For this, not only do they receive the blood ivy, but they are also granted an audience with Queen Alachia. The Queen gives them a blood rose, which Nasara catches and keeps.
On the path back to Haven, they run into more ork scorchers, this time demanding tribute. Nasara, too tired to fight, simply stares them down...and finally manage to negotiate a lower price.
When they return to Haven, however, Hiermon seems a little out of it...and then Kalourin enters the room. Yes, he was controlling the wizard long enough to trap our heroes so he could get revenge. He tries to blast them with a spell, while his henchmen attack (the same henchmen who had attacked Midland, incidentally), but that makes him lose his grip on Hiermon, who casts a protection spell on Nasara and Gorin before slumping to the floor.
A few rounds into the fight, Kalourin screams as the Mist begins to use his lifeforce to rematerialize. Everyone else stops fighting. All the water in the room, again, begins to boil - but due to the various alchemical experiments present, a few things explode, blowing out a wall. One of the henchmen flees, while the other stays to help defeat the Horror! Gorin is wounded terribly in the fight, but then the brawl drifts out of the wall and into the streets. Nasara, standing on the ruined remains of fruit carts and barrels in the streets, slipping on boiling watermelon juice, finally puts paid to the Horror.
Hiermon was only unconscious, and soon recovers, and the two heroes become the toast of the town...for the next day or two, anyway. (Horrors don't usually attack Haven itself, so it is moderately noteworthy.) Hiermon analyzes the amulet and determines that it is of a defensive nature; one of Nasara's clan-mates, the Navigator of the Rattol, will later identify it as the Amulet of Dirac.
Well done, Adepts.