Bright and early the next morning, Gannacus, Varris, and Dyvos leave town. Trailing their mule, a smart but stubborn beast named Gimpy, they hire passage on an empty barge going upriver. After a day and a night of travel, they are put onshore a few miles from Castle Trismegistus. The barge's captain is unwilling to stay near this cursed castle for long: the barge is moving again almost before Gimpy is off the barge.
As the barge floats away, the captain yells back, "Ye be only aboot two hours from yon Castle. Keep your eyes open though - there be goblins raiding into the area. Much good it will do you..."
In the distance you can see the tops of the three towers of Castle Trismegistus. Two gleam whitely, unaffected by the passage of thousands of years. The third tower is lower, with a broken and blackened top.
As you approach the castle, other signs of civilization become visible as well. First you notice old farm buildings and overgrown fields dating from only a generation ago, when Castle Trismegistus was used as an outpost by a nearby king. Soon after, you encounter the remnants of an ancient town. The buildings are built from an odd mixture of materials scavenged from earlier constructions.
Just beyond the town you can see the first of the curtain walls surrounding the Castle. The Trismegistus himself disdained walls, but later occupiers were less confident, and now no less than 4 walls surround the Castle's towers. Only the innermost wall is anything like intact, however, and the wall nearest the ruined town is little more than a short ring of rubble.
As you circle the Castle looking for the best way to pass through the mostly-intact inner curtain wall, you hear a woman's scream coming from a ruined building.
The building seems to be made of plaster-covered stone. It's about 50' square - half the building is 2 stories tall; another fourth of the building's footprint is a rickety, leaning tower; the remaining fourth has collapsed into rubble.
Varris and Dyvos notice footprints and the marks where something was dragged up and over the mound of rubble.
Varris and Dyvos notice footprints and the marks where something was dragged up and over the mound of rubble.
Gannacus moves toward the building, looking for trouble and the source of the scream. He keeps his polearm readied in front of him.
ReplyDeleteDyvos shrugs at Varris, draws his rapier, and follows.
ReplyDeleteGM: How do you approach the building?
Through the rubble if no other entrance is visible or apparent.
ReplyDeleteVarris raises an unwieldy flail and follows, about ten feet behind Gannacus.
ReplyDeleteThe party, following Gannacus, reaches the collapsed corner of the building. Loosely piled rubble reaches about waist high - the footing looks treacherous.
ReplyDeleteOver the rubble, you see into the ruins of a kitchen - a collapsed table, rotting counters around the rim of the room, and a fallen cupboard, half-buried in rubble. About half the room is still roofed.
Across the room is a dark doorway, standing open. A faint flickering of firelight and crazed shadows is visible beyond.
You hear another scream - this time it sounds as if it's coming from the tower.
Gannacus: You're at the base of the rubble. How do you want to proceed? are you rushing over, climbing carefully, stopping and peering around?
Dyvos, then Varris are following Gannacus. Unless I hear otherwise I'll assume you're following Gannacus's lead.
Notes:
A couple maps are up now. The big delay here was due to me trying to find the best way to get you a map of this encounter. I ended up just throwing it together quickly in SketchUp. Hope it works.
Since blogger won't let me put images in comments, I will probably start doing new posts for each turn in combat? I guess?
Gannacus will climb carefully over the rubble, using the butt of his glaive to steady himself. Then move toward the tower.
ReplyDelete