Session 2, Part 1

We had our second GURPS Dungeon Fantasy session on September 2. The players in attendance were Lisa (playing Sydney Swann, human swashbuckler), Phil (Finnegan Longstride, halfling cleric of the Stranger), Bonnie (Grizena, half-ogre barbarian), Caleb (Powder, wizard), Barry (Reggie, ogre monk), Kevin (Clint Carver, butcher and warrior), and Mike (Humphrey Hemmingsworth, holy warrior). Adam was unable to attend, and asked that his character, Ash, be run as an NPC.

Recap

Sydney and Finn have built a fire and set up camp while Ash scouts the area. When they notice that he hasn't returned, Sydney stands and draws his blades.

Five people emerge from the woods and approach the camp. Two are unusually tall. One is a blue skinned ogre dressed in a monk's robes. Another is a half-ogre in old fashioned bronze armor plates bearing a hooded falcon. With them is a fat bald man dressed in a leather apron, an albino dressed all in purple, and finally, a holy warrior. There is a tense exchange of introductions, but upon learning Finn's name, the holy warrior smiles broadly. He has heard of Finnegan Longstride, and couldn't be happier than to join forces with him.

It seems that the holy warrior, Humphrey Hemmingsworth, is searching for demons. He is accompanied by his half-sister, Grizena (the half-ogre) and some friends, the ogre monk Reginald, Powder, a lightning-obsessed wizard, and Clint Carver, a former butcher who has hit the open road seeking adventure. There have been rumors of demonic activities along the southern frontiers, and Humphrey wants to see if there is any truth to these rumors. He intends to put any heretics he finds to the sword, and root out any evil he discovers.

Finn tells Humphrey and his companions that they will have word of a particular band of demonic cultists the next day. He describes the destruction of the town of Haven. He goes on to describe the encounter they have just had with the kappa, Maki. The groups agree to join forces. At this, Ash emerges from his vantage in the trees.

That evening, before supper, Finn does a little scouting around. He gathers edible plants and sees evidence of many small animals active in the area. When he mentions this to the others, Grizena and Ash each decide to go off hunting. Ash returns with only a squirrel. A bit later, Grizena returns, as well. Her falcon, Peekaboo, has come back with a goblin's hand. This alarms the adventurers. They decide to set double guards for the night, and do some more extensive searches in the morning while they wait for the kappa to return.

The night passes without event, with none of the guards detecting anything untoward. In the morning, the party splits up to search for the source of this goblin's hand. Reggie and Powder will accompany Ash. Humphrey and Clint will accompany Grizena. Finn and Sydney will stay at the campsite and await Maki's return.

The two search teams make their way to the area where Grizena and Peekaboo were hunting the evening before. Grizena indicates the general direction that Peekaboo flew when released. Ash's team goes that direction, while Grizena's team searches closer in.

Ash finds something that he finds compelling, and beckons Reggie and Powder to follow him, quickly. The three start moving into the woods at high speed. Ash is always up ahead, moving quietly, while Reggie and Powder follow, making somewhat more noise. Ash stops periodically to wait for his companions, while scanning the woods or examining some further clue. After a time, they come upon a campsite with an extinguished fire. After examining the site for a minute, Ash says something cryptic to Reggie and Powder, then disappears into the woods. Reggie and Powder look to one another and shrug, then attempt to follow, but cannot determine where exactly Ash has gone. As they try to find him, they are attacked by archers. A first volley from the woods misses. Reggie starts running toward the source of the arrows, and Powder prepares a Ball of Lightning to throw. The second volley helps the two identify exactly where the ambushers are hiding, and Reggie continues his charge. He is hit by a pair of arrows on his way, but shrugs off the wounds and keeps running. Powder throws his spell at the attackers, but misses.

Reggie engages four goblin archers. He attempts to disarm them all, but is at first unsuccessful. Two of the archers have dropped their bows and one starts slicing up Reggie's flank. He doesn't do much damage to the ogre's tough skin, but does draw some blood. While Powder readies another spell and closes the distance a bit, Reggie is able to disarm the goblins readying new arrows and renders one of the knife-bearing goblins unconscious. The last turns to flee, and Reggie gives chase. About this time, Powder casts Concussion, stunning everyone (including the ogre). Three goblin throats are cut, and one goblin prisoner is bound. The adventurer's notice that one of the goblins has a strip of black silk, very much like the cloth Ash wears, wrapped around his arm. Reggie gingerly carries the prisoner back to camp for questioning.

In the clearing, Grizena finds many goblin tracks. Following them leads her back to the stream. Her team returns to camp to report.

At the camp, Maki returns to tell Sydney what he has discovered. It seems that his cousins upstream witnessed the cultists crossing back across the creek. Sydney and Finn surmise that the cultists, after raiding the town of Haven, have returned home. Maki teaches Sydney how to call him when he wants Maki's help. He tells Sydney that there is a fortress nearby with a fountain fed by a spring, and that the kappas' stream is connected to this sprint, too. Sydney gives Maki the head of the squirrel that Ash killed the night before, and bids him farewell for now. Maki takes his leave.

When the party is back together, save Ash, they set about interrogating the goblin. There is a lot of contention about how to proceed, and the goblin, Greegark, is hostile and not inclined to cooperate. Reggie acts as interpreter, and injects his own thoughts on how to go about questioning the goblin, who spits and makes threats and displays an unfortunate lack of fear. Eventually, Finn decides that showing the goblin some kindness might get better results. He is rewarded by a nasty bite to his hand. Sydney had wandered away from the interrogation, disliking the argument and the goblin itself. He hears Finn cry out when he is bitten, though, and leaps back to the goblin, stabbing him and slashing his throat. Thus ends the interrogation of Greegark the goblin. The companions sever his head to leave for Maki.

The party decides that they will have better light to track the goblins if they start the next day, so they set watches once more and get some more rest. Finn's cooking has improved dramatically, and he prepares excellent meals from the rations and foraged wild vegetables.The three doubled watches pass without event, and in the morning, everyone follows the route taken by Ash, Reggie, and Powder to see if they can find the goblins or Ash or both.

The site of the ambush is much as Reggie and Powder left it. Sydney and Finn agree that the black silk that the dead goblin wears is very much like the cloth that Ash wears. There is some debate about whether Ash is in league with these goblins or whether he has been captured by them. Grizena leads the adventurers the way that the goblin ambushers had come. She tracks them to a place where a battle has been fought. There is a lot of goblin blood, as well as a single shuriken, which Powder collects.

The goblin tracks lead onward, and Grizena leads the party in pursuit. They come to a old, stone-lined road, with grass sprouting from cracks. There are muddy footprints, which most of the party feels lead to the right. Powder interprets things differently, and argues that the track indicate that at least someone went to the left. He is over ruled, and the party turns to follow the trail most of them feel the goblins took, along the road.

The road winds to the east. Over the next few hours, the terrain changes. The road borders a swamp on the south side, with a ruined monastery building just visible off the road. The terrain to the north of the road rises sharply, and eventually the road climbs into the thickly forested hills. Finn and Reggie decide that the hike would be more pleasant if they had a few drinks from Reggie's cask of beer. With Reggie pouring, Finn is soon having difficulty walking, so Reggie carries him as they finish off the barrel. As the sun drops behind them, the companions see a break in the trees on the left. There is a broad path with conspicuous goblin-like footprints. They road ahead is even more broken, with thicker weeds choking it. It seems evident that the goblins the party is pursuing left the road here.

The companions follow the trail into the woods. It leads them to a steep walled valley. Smoke rises from various places along the valley walls. To the left, they spot a cave entrance. Looking right, they see other cave entrances. The left most cave entrance is tidy , with brush cut away and swept rock. Off to the right, a cave at the level of the valley floor is bordered by neat piles of bone, scrap metal, and dung. Higher on the right valley wall opens another cave, flanked by four platforms bearing skulls and severed heads.

The party starts toward the tidy cave on their left. They hear shouting from behind yet another cave near this, at first concealed by a big pine tree. “Give it back, Bree!” shouts a loud, deep voice. “No, it is mine now!” answers another deep voice. Examination of this cave reveals that the opening is covered by a large, poorly cured hide. The mouth of the cave is surrounded by bones, bodily waste, and bits of trash.

Clint calls out to the cave entrance. “Fair maiden! Do you require rescue or assistance?” He is answered by silence from the cave and pointed stares from his companions. The others find the silence from the cave a little bit ominous.

About this time, they notice that Sydney and Finn are missing. They backtrack and discover Finn asleep on the path at the opening of the valley. Reggie opens his empty barrel and stuffs Finn inside for safe keeping. Grizena finds tracks that indicate that Sydney has gone to the cave decorated with the skulls...

Session two continues here.