In our 12th session, the characters are travelling through Krakovar by boat and there’s a mysterious crate in the hold. Here’s the write up which contains spoilers for the campaign.
9th Redleaf, 92 FY (contd.)
The party return through the maze to the village of Ogrodu and tell Rektor Elena they have destroyed the Arborstoneand killed the corrupted Lord Mazar. Zygmunt breaks the news to Tulip’s father Wiktor that his daughter is dead. Working together the group are able to cobble together directions to where Tulip is buried so he can pay his respects.
11th Redleaf
The characters are attacked by will-o’-the-wisps and leech-spewing putrid haunts as they travel through the marshes.
They arrive in the village of Tochy that evening and agree passage upriver to Varshava with Gerwazy and his sons on the river boat, the Feisty Goose. They notice a suspicious-looking crate in the hold stamped with a black vulture symbol.
16th Redleaf
Five days into the river trip, a river patrol boards the Feisty Goose. The Red Sister asks where they are heading and on what business: Louthin claims to be a trader while Bubbles says she is hoping to hear some folk music. Penumbra’s story about travelling to a festival to experience the local folklore and religious traditions seems to satisfy the priestess – or maybe it’s the official-looking paperwork for the crate in the hold that does the trick?
17th Redleaf
Unable to resist the temptation any longer, the characters decide to open the mysterious crate. While Zygmunt distracts Gerwazy and his sons on deck, Bubbles casts silence and Penumbra jemmies open the crate. A vampire spawn leaps out of the coffin inside and attacks Penumbra. The adventurers fight back with swords and spells, then The Gears incapacitates the creature with guiding bolt. Bubbles drags the vampire back into its coffin while Penumbra sharpens a piece of wood into a stake. Zygmunt arrives and stakes the vampire, destroying it, much to the Gerwazy’s consternation. Penumbra casts darkness to conceal what’s going on, and the characters fumble around in the dark and get the lid back on the crate.
The fearful Gerwazy tells the party he and his sons will be killed by the powerful Voivode Ferenc if he fails to deliver the crate intact to Varshava and begs them to find a solution. The characters’ first idea is to fill the crate with rocks so it weighs the same as before and pay Gerwazy off.
22nd Redleaf
The party have come up with a new plan, removing the rocks from the crate and loosening the nails holding the lid on.
As the boat approaches Varshava, all but Zygmunt disembark and travel on ahead on foot; the paladin remains behind as a gesture of good faith, and to pay Gerwazy the second half of his agreed 200 gp compensation.
The advance party make it to the docks; Louthin spots a warehouse nearby marked with the same black vulture symbol. Bubbles casts misty step to reach a high window, and peers inside where she can see two vampire spawn, two humans, a wagon and lots of crates. Bubbles is keen to attack the vampires but is eventually persuaded by the others to go back to the docks.
The two men drive the wagon out of the warehouse to the quayside. The Feisty Goose arrives and is unloaded. As the crate is carried to the wagon, Louthin summons a swarm of rats to attack one of the men, while The Gears casts hold person on the other. They drop the crate, which breaks open. Penumbra casts major image to create the illusion of a body falling out of the coffin and bursting into flames in the sunlight. The plan has worked! As the two panicked men flee in their wagon, the characters slip quietly away…
Richard Green | Game Designer 