A Wine Cellars Tale: Of Ropes and Ladders

Of Ropes & Ladders

This delve took place on Feb 9th, 2019

The Players:
Nate: Grit the Goblin
Mike: Vexus Lustmort - MU & Apprentice
Scott: Ebony Maw - Black Knight
Selina: Maris Izar - Raven Heart

How do they know each other:
Grit the goblin knows Vexus because they both bear some strange resemblance to each other....
Vexus knows Ebony because they are old school chums that hate each other, and secretly plot the other's demise.
Ebony Maw knows Maris because they are step-brothers, that grew up together and are a s close as true-blood brothers.
Maris Izar knows Grit because they are the only survivors of a disastrous former adventure.

This group meets up at the Dog-n-Bone and decides to set off for the infamous wine cellars together. First they form a Group charter and get the local Agent to secure some hirelings for the expedition.

The group calls itself the "The Flesh Wounds".

After a brisk set of interviews the following hirelings were secured by the group:
Grit the goblin hires Freeza a Priestess of the AYU goddess of the winds, and a fearsome masterless War Dog known as Ghost and Derix a Man-at-Arms.
Vexus sends a dirty Torch-bearer named Gildoon off on a secret errand to the Gatehouse, but not before Grit pickpockets a "treasure map" the man reveals he has.
Ebony Maw secures the services of three torch bearers; Cordred former kitchen boy, Hillig of Local 1411 and Gilcox of Local 666. The latter being rivals in the Torch bearer unions.

The party set out at midday for the ruins of Marqest. They hired a wagon to take them to the base of the hill and drop them off. Instead of taking the path they walked up the hillside through the tall grass heading towards the break in the wall between the Square Tower and the Gatehouse.

Outside the ruins Grit produces the treasure map he stole and the party makes a new course of action based upon the following:

Treasure map

 Vexus thinks he remembers being in that old storeroom before, but he never went down the shaft. Grit believes they should try to see if the secret Tomb is actually there as it would be the best location of any possible treasure.

The group splits in two with Ebony, Maris and the torch bears passing through the gatehouse proper then breaking left while Grit, Vexus and their henchman & hirelings circle around the front of the gatehouse and come into the courtyard by circling around to the left and coming in from the right.

Ruined Tower

The courtyard is empty and a cool breeze blows through. Maris notices a flock of black birds atop the ruins of the Manor house proper, and feels eyes upon them.
The doorway of the ruined tower in front of them the group lights torches and prepares to enter...

The upper levels of this tower have fallen in some time ago, and the ground floor is mostly a debris filled disaster. In the torchlight the stairwell to the lower storeroom can be readily seen.

Grit commands Derix to descend the stairs which the Man-at-Arms promptly refuses by stating: "I'm here to fight stuff, not descend stairs first."

Ebony orders his torchbearers to light the darkened stairwell, and both men rush forward to show off their skills! Hillig's torch lands just about six feet down the stairs before they make a sharp circular turn, while the torch tossed by Gilcox expertly bounces of the curved wall and descends beyond the parties line of sight but does not go out!

There is then some arguing about who will descend first and in what order when the Black Knight decides to get things moving by kicking the former kitchen boy down the stairwell!! They watch as the lad tumbles down and around the curve out of sight....

After a few moments of calling out to Cordred and getting no response the group descends with Ebony in the lead.

As the group go down the circular staircase they all take note of the encrusted layers of soot on the walls, a fierce fire once raged down here at some point. Maris discovers the words "Ambrose was here" scrawled into the stone presumably some time after the fire. The circular shaft ends at a landing of some 10x10 feet and a set of straight stairs continues to descend another 20ft or so to an open doorway. Fresh blood can be seen going down the stairs and into the dark chamber beyond.

As the group approaches the doorway the sounds of rabid feasting can be heard and the coppery scent of blood assails the party. Entering the chamber followed by the Union torch bearers a horrid sight is revealed.

Fury of the R.O.U.S.

Cordred the former kitchen-boy turned would be Linkboy is being devoured by a quartet of large and vicious looking rodents!! Ebony Maw flies into action and attacks the rats, he is quickly followed by Derix, Grit and Ghost into battle! The torch bearers stand just inside the room to either side of the doorway with Freeza ready to give support. Vexus and Maris stay on the steps just outside.

The battle is quick and terrible!! In the ensuing chaos the Black Knight is severely wounded, and both Hillig and Gilcox are killed by the rodents as well as the Man-at-Arms Derix.

After healing Ebony, the party discovers there is a large wooden cover over the location of what should be the shaft as seen on the map. Above the cover in the rafters is a block & tackle assembly that can be used to raise and move the obstacle.

Looking into the now uncovered shaft the group sees a set of slick iron rungs set into the side and they just make out a small landing and doorway some thirty or so feet down. The shaft continues down into darkness. A torch is dropped and is extinguished with the sound of a splash from very far below. All agree that the map is probably correct in the assumption of the depth to the water cavern below.

The Black knight volunteers to descend by way of the iron rungs, but common sense prevails and Grit with a rope tied to him descends the rungs first. The wily goblin wipes the rungs off as he descends and discovers a couple are missing just before reaching the landing. Using the Block and tackle the group lowers a lantern at the same rate as the goblin continues to climb down looking for the secret tomb.

At this point Ebony decides it should be safe enough for him to descend to the landing and his brother Maris bids him to be careful. The Black Knight waves this off and climbs down the shaft, looking up to his brother he says, "See, no problem it's fi....aaaahhhh!!!"

There is a soft crack as the iron rung under the his foot gives way!!!

Vexus watches as Ebony Maw begins to fall and mutters a resigned "Oh noooo...." as his old chum falls.

Through a twist of fate, the Black knight lands heavily on the ledge and does not fall any further. Catching his breath and lighting a torch he sees a heavy iron door just a few feet away. The door is slightly ajar. Leaning back out into the shaft he calls up that there is a door here and he will investigate further. Maris thinks this is very unwise but cannot stop his brother.

Turning back to the Iron door Ebony notices it seems to be open a bit more than it was a moment ago!?! He moves forward cautiously and opens the door to the chamber beyond. He sees a small cavern with an exit just opposite of where he is. Notably this chamber floor is littered with a vast amount gnawed upon and cracked bones of all shapes and size. He can just make out in the torchlight that beyond this cavern is a larger chamber but an eerie chill and the call of his companions draws the warrior back to the landing.

In the meantime Grit is sure he has located the entrance to the secret tomb in the side of the shaft wall. Ebony agrees to climb down and help Grit as he needs help dislodging the stones to get in. The Black Knight falls victim once more to the aged and worn rungs as another snaps off and he begins to fall! Grit quickly uses his own rope and hook to catch the falling warrior like a fish!!    

Freeza is lowered by use of the Block & tackle and the three gain entry to hidden 3x3 tunnel that indeed leads to a small chamber housing a stone sarcophagus. Grit deeming the crypt safe allows Ebony to open the tomb and the three see a skeleton adorned in a winged helm, jewels, a shield & spear as well as at least a thousand coins and gems scattered about the corpse.

A thrill of excitement passes through Knight and Goblin as they reach in to scoop up the valuables when the sound of cracking stone echoes up the shaft!

Vexus and Maris look at each other then back down the shaft as they hear the rumble and cracking of stone and the whole room shakes slightly.

The entire floor of the tomb gives way plunging the trio of would be tomb-robbers into inky blackness!!

The ice cold water shocks them into action and Grit, Freeza and Ebony are just able to pull themselves from the dark underground lake. Ebony however had to ditch all his armor and equipment to not drown. Grit commands Freeza to heal his wounds, and she says there will be a price to pay for how many favors she has begged this day. Grit says so be it and has her call upon Ayu. There is a crack of thunder and a lightning bolt obliterates Freeza and knocks Grit out cold!! Ebony sees the cavern for a second in the lightning flash, then after this he scoops up the unconcious goblin and calls up to his brother.

What Ebony saw!

Using the block and tackle both the Knight and goblin are retrieved and brought back up to the storeroom level. The group then leaves the ruins of Marqest and returns to town.

THE END

A Wine Cellars Tale: What are flasks of oil good for!

This delve took place 12/15/2018

The players:
Scott: Lupin the Thief & his henchman Goemon - Lupin was betrothed to Ulia but he broke it off.
Selina: Ulia Lancaster Magic User - knows El Muerte when they worked as caravan guards together.
Sal: El Muerte de Tijuana the Luchador - released Aleric from imprisonment most dire.
Nate: Aleric the Fighter & his henchman (son) Ulric - Aleric is the older brother of Lupin recently re-aquainted after their separation at birth.

The group started their journey in the village of Marqest at the Dog & Bone Tavern. After procuring supply packs and getting directions to the ruins the group spent a few minutes getting some local information.

Lupin was informed by a patron that the tavern was full of Gnome Nationalists.
Ulia overheard another patron exclaim that he had seen a frog that was as big as a cow!
Both Aleric and El Muerte confirmed the ruins have more than 1 level below ground.

During the two mile walk El Muerte revealed to the party that his clan has an Death-grudge against the Goat of Marqest, and that the tavern keeper told him that the "Flying goats" had not been seen in awhile. El Muerte was put off by the "flying" part.

Upon arrival at the ruins the party agrees to head to the Square Tower by way of the break in the front wall. As they reach the opening a group about ten small naked humanoids are spotted in the courtyard hitting each other with improvised clubs.  

Not wanting to get into a confrontation the party opts to try and climb the crumbling wall so they can attempt to gain entry to the Square tower from the parapet door. As the group assembled at the base of the wall just out of sight of the creatures Lupin tosses up his hook & rope to get ready for a safe ascent. Aleric & Ulric take up a defensive position on the left flank of the party near the hole in the wall. The warriors note that the odd little creatures have noticed the group and are watching them and slowly approaching. It is with great disgust and worry that the men begin to urge their companions to greater spedd as the little creatures all begin to gyrate their pelvic regions in a sort of thrusting unision as they close in.

Lupin handily ascends the rope and makes it to the top of the wall. He scans about and sees there is nothing to worry about and urges the others to climb up! Ulia the Wizard climbs up followed by Goemon, as they reach the halfway point the hook shifts in the crumbling rock causing Goemon to lose his grip and fall! El Muerte tris to catch Goemon but it all happens to quickly and the young thief hits the ground with a sicking thud! The Luchador thinks Goemon may still be alive and ties the rope about the thief's torso then scales the rope himself while also pulling the unconscious fellow up behind him.

At the base of the wall both Aleric and Ulric have begun a sort of delaying action with the encroaching creatures. They are resilient beasties and seem able to take quite a beating! Ulric split the head of one open with a blow from his sword as Aleric also spears another directly through the head! The creatures begin to swarm about Aleric as the gut-wrenching sound of their knobby hides slap against his armor while they thrust, claw and seemingly eagerly rub themselves on him!

El Muerte sees his friends surround below and leaps down from the parapet to deliver an amazing Elbow Smash to the creatures scattering then back enought to allow the fighters a chance to scale the rope and gain safety.

Once back together atop the battlement, Lupin reveals the sad fact that Goemon has broken his neck and is indeed dead. Not wanting to stay outside any longer than they must Aleric charges and smashes open the door of the tower. Unfortunately his momentum carries him into the tower interior and he tumbles down a flight of stair just inside the door!

Lupin takes a few items from Goemon then wraps him in a blanket and leaves the body on the wall. The rest of the party quickly enters the tower to see where Aleric has gone.

The second story of the tower is a large room bi-sected by a wall with a single door to the other half of the room. The front half of the room they are in has a stairwell going down to the first floor (which they see Aleric lying at the bottom of), a stairwell ascending to the third floor, Arrow slits overlooking the approach to the castle itself and the door leading to the battlement which El Muerte secures so they cannot be followed inside.

Lupin, Ulia, and Ulric descend to the first floor to aid Aleric, while the Luchador climbs the stairs to the third floor. Muerte notices lots of thick webbing as he ascends and catches glimpse of a large arachnid. Deciding not to tempt fate the massive wrestler backs slowly down the stairs and goes to join his friends on the first floor.

Aleric is hefted to an upright position and Ulric begins to try and revive his Father. Lupin and Ulia search the chamber they are in and discover it to be a small mess hall with a single door leading out. The most unusual thing however is the six foot tall statue of an Owl-man dressed in robes complete with a staff that stands in the center of the kitchen. Lupin notes the door out of this chamber is closed, not trapped, but stuck in the door frame and would need to be forced to open. He also hears the sounds of something moving on the other side!!! Not footsteps, but a sort of sliding whish?!?!

Ulia deduces the statue maybe a rare and legendary Orinthrope! They are a race of intelligent bird-people, and by the look of it she thinks he may not be a statue at all but the victim of something that turned him to stone! Lupin relays that whatever may have done that, just might be on the other side of this door!! The Thief then proceeds to set the locks on this side of the door!

El Muerte reaches the bottom of the steps as Aleric groggily comes to! he relays to the men that there is at least one if not more very large spiders on the third floor!

The party decides the spider to be the bigger threat as it could sneak down on them, so they head back upstairs and  Aleric & Ulric lead the assault on the creatures.

A short but intense fight on the third floor stairwell leads to Ulric being bitten and killed by one of the creatures. Aleric and El Muerte are able to dispatch two spiders without any undo harm. A third spider cowers in rafters of the upper chamber and is left alone.

Aleric takes some gear from his fallen son, utters prayer over him then lights his body on fire after wrapping it in a blanket. The smoke trails out of the arrow slits and the group descends back to the first floor.

Taking into summation all the clues they have, the group decide to open the door out of the kitchen to see what lies beyond. Everyone is prepared to run back up the stairs to the second floor if  a creature is revealed beyond. Aleric takes the lead and they get the door open with use of Lupins pry-bar. Just beyond is a short hallway leading to an exterior tower door that is slightly ajar. The hall itself also has a pair of single doorways halfway between the kitchen and the exit to the courtyard beyond. Aleric slowly creeps down the hall and peers into the left hand doorway which is open using his small hand mirrior. He sees a terrible beast writhing about inside!!

The Beast!

Aleric falls back to the kitchen and improvises a plan to create a satchel stuffed with 14 oil flasks to be used to set the beast aflame. Much care was used and the Aleric soon tossed the lit satchel into the room with the now surmised Basilisk. The attack went off without a hitch and the thrashing of the beast itself actually caused it to keep setting itself aflame as more flasks were smashed open causing more and more damage.
 The scent of burnt creature permeating the tower the party decides to check out the doorway opposite of where the Basilisk was. Opening this door they discover a bunk room and an indoor privy, however a pungent odor overcomes everyone, making eyes tear and a stomachs turn. Also a gurgling bubbling sound is heard echoing from the privy chamber and the group quickly backs out and shuts the door.

In the Room with the burnt beast an iron lever is found that operates a hidden defensive pit trap just inside the tower at the base of the exit door leading out to the courtyard.

At this point a magical effect transpires and the Owl-man returns to physical form as the transmuting effect of the creature dissipates!

He thanks the party for returning him to life and reveals his name is Icarus.

The group then left the square tower by way of the exit door into the courtyard. The naked creatures from earlier were nowhere to be seen and they all made it back to town without incident.

THE END

Starships & Spacemen: Preliminary Mission

A Starships & Spacemen RPG introduction.

We are testing out Starships & Spacemen for a possible short run. The following are the results of our Session Zero: Character creation and short adventure scenario.


Space Fleet Log entry of the Confederation Frigate Nero.
Acting Captain: Drexel Miroth - Rank: Ensign

Initial Crew of the Frigate Nero

The Crew from Left to Right:
Cody Pain (Human) - Military / Security - Rank: Ensign, Player: Nate
HAM (Rigel) - Science - Rank: Enlisted Spaceman, Player: Scott
Dexel Miroth (Dreiped) - Military / Command - Rank: Ensign, Player: Mike
Fien  Tempest (Human)  - Military / Fire Control - Rank: Ensign,  Player: My Daughter
Nogah Kluh (Andromedan) - Science / Sentient life - Rank: Ensign, Player: Patrick

Log Entry: 001
   We have been newly assigned to Space Fleet Starbase 13 along the border of Confederation Space. Our initial orders are to conduct safety patrol of the 5 Light year area surrounding our base. In two weeks we are to expect the addition of two more Crewmen, a Technical Enlisted Spaceman and Brother of HAM; as well as a Technical / Navigation Ensign. Until then I have Spaceman Recruits filling in those duty stations.

Log Entry: 002
  The Nero has recieved a distress call from the MF Mentos, a Merchant Fleet light freighter . They are under attack by Space-pirates and need aid quickly. The crew assess our Energy usage and formulate a plan. We begin to prep a shuttle for a boarding action against the Intruder ship. This group will consist of Security Ensign Cody & Sentient Life Ensign Nogah, leading a team of 4 security Spacemen. The Nero once in range will close with the intruder and fire one salvo from our Beam bank, if hostilities do not cease we will follow up with a single Ion torpedo shot. The shuttle will then dock and board Intruder ship while the Nero gives aid to the Merchant ship.

We arrived at the coordinates provided by the MF Mentos and see the Pirate ship closing to dock with the now seriously disabled target. Nogah attempts communication with the Unidentified Pirate vessel declaring us as the "Confedration battle Cruiser Nero!" and they should cease hostilities and prepare for boarding. We get no response other than a salvo of Beam blasts which our deflected by our Half-shields.

Action on the Bridge of the NERO

Ensign Tempest is ordered to return fire with our Beam-array, and to provide cover as the Shuttle is launched. The Mentos has signaled us that there has been a Containment failure in the engine room and they have three crew suffering from severe radiation damage.

Our Beam salvo knocks out the Pirates shields allowing our shuttle to get in close. The enemy continues to fire weapons in a last ditch effort to hold us off. Narrowly missing our shuttle in the attempt. I order Ensign Tempest to disable the enemy ship with a single Ion torpedo.

The Nero has positioned itself between the Pirates and the Merchant ship so we lower our shields and use the teleporter to bring over the wounded crew form the Mentos.

The torpedo knock the Pirate ship down to barely functioning. Scans show their Power pile has only enough energy to keep life-support functioning.

HAM helps the injured crewmen

 Log Entry: 003
HAM rushes to work on helping the radiation burned crew from the Mentos. At the same time Cody & Nogah breach the Pirate ship airlock and get locked into a firefight with some Orion crew. Security Ensign Pain charges into melee with his laser sword under cover fire from Nogah and the boarding party. After cutting down a couple of the pirates the remaining crew gives in and are escorted under Beam pistol cover back to the Shuttle.

Airlock breach

The Nero docks with the crippled freighter and Ensign Tempset and I accompanied by a Technical repair team board the Mentos. As our repair team sets about securing the Mentos from further damage, Tempest and I head to the Bridge and detain the captain and begin a data-scan of the merchant ships files & logs.

We uncover the fact that the Mentos is running unregistered goods, and that they recently received a large deposit of Orion electrum. We quickly surmise this was actually an illegal transaction gone bad and the Mentos hoped we would save them.

Meanwhile, Ensigns Pain & Kluh along with a single Recruit head for the Bridge which has been locked down. Cody uses his Laser-sword to breach 2 sets of bulkhead doors and break into the bridge of the Pirate ship.

Entering the bridge of the Pirate ship, Cody announces that the Orions should surrender or face Galactic Justice from the blade of his sword! he then proceeds to use his innate Telekinesis abilty to lift the Alien captain off the deck and hold him in mid-air!

Ensign Kluh realizes the mistake of this too late. Being the Sentient Life Officer he remembers that the Orion's are Psi-phobic!! Meaning they deem any Sentient being that exhibits Psionic abilities to be "Unclean" and worthy only of death! Needless to say a firefight breaks out on the Bridge of the Orion ship.

Bridge standoff!

Beam pistol fire flares about on the Orion ships bridge. Cody takes down a pirate with deft swings of his Laser-sword. In a few quick moments the battle is won by the Space fleet crewmen and the surviving Orion pirates are taken into custody.

Bridge battle!

The Nero returned to Starbase 13 and handed over the pirates and criminal Merchant crew for judicial action. Before we arrived back at base we were able to secure some Orion Ale for ourselves as a reward for a job well done.

Log entry: 004
  Once we have picked up our newest crewmen, I have been ordered to plot a course for a newly established colony on Herculis IV. We are to drop off some supplies an conduct a standard wellness check of the personnel.

GAME NOTES:
Uniform colors - BLUE = Military Branch, GREEN = Scientific Branch, RED = Technical Branch
  *addendum: GRAY = all Enlisted NPC's only PC Enlisted will wear color specific to Branch.

Rigel Race = Use all stats for race as stated in Rule book. However ignore all reference to Human/Zangid crossbreed and loyalty issues.

Orion Race = use stats as Humans, will NEVER be PSI active, will ALWAYS attack with intent to kill any sentient that exhibits PSI powers in view of them. Notorious space-pirates, thugs and general ne'er-do-wells.

Stay tuned for more.