Adventure #10 - Bear Night Blues

General Summary

Adventure #10 - Bear Night Blues 4/19/24
Players: Karl: Erberk Torunn Seth: Gimp Chris: Dimple Nackle
Synopsis: One week after the events on the beach, Erberk sits in solitude working at his forge one evening, cursing under his breath as he struggles to craft a weapon to his satisfaction. While he works, Pappy knocks on his door, and Erberk beckons him inside. Pappy inquires what Erberk has been up to all this time, especially since he hasn't been seen much since the incident at the beach, and Erberk explains that he's been trying to craft traditional orcish weapons and armor for Dubok, Xorakk, and Mazoga, but is unfamiliar with the style and just can't get it right. Erberk also explains that he feels guilty for the vitriol he spewed at Ulmug before he realized all the suffering he endured, and that he's trying to make these traditional orc weapons and armor as a way to apologize for his hurtful words. Pappy explains that perhaps it might be worth talking to the orcs about it, seeking their forgiveness and learning their needs with words instead of struggling alone in his forge, and that perhaps they could give him guidance on the craft. Pappy then invites Erberk to Aberystwyth's first annual Bear Night at the Elderflower, where the entire tavern is themed with bear decorations and patrons are encouraged to come dressed as bears. Erberk is confused at the theme, but reluctantly accepts his invitation. Erberk then hands Pappy a set of bear gloves with mechanically wiggling fingers that Helga had ordered, and admits now that these custom ordered bear gloves makes much more sense in light of the invitation. Pappy dons the bear gloves and departs, saying he'll meet Erberk at the tavern, and not long after Erberk departs wearing a bear fur cape.
Erberk happens to run into Dimple and Gimp as they head towards the Elderflower, with Gimp wearing a bear hooded cloak, and Dimple holding a fresh bottle of Bear's Strength potion for the occasion. After exchanging pleasantries and sharing mutual confusion about the bear themed party, they enter the tavern. At the door, the goblin Poog awaits with a tray filled with ornate bear-themed goblets, filled to the brim with Elderberry Brew, and welcome's them to Bear Night. Poog hands each of them their own goblet, and the party looks around at the decorations. Bear heads are mounted to the walls, bear rugs lay on the floor, and even the chairs have fitted bear furs on them. After a while, the party begins to notice that the tavern is packed almost exclusively with hairy middle-aged men who are all acting rather familiar with each other, and it then occurs to the party that perhaps there may have been some miscommunication about Bear Night when Pappy advertised it in the surrounding area. Pappy approaches them jubilantly in his bear gloves, welcomes them all to Bear Night, and announces how thrilled he is that Bear Night is such a big hit. Oblivious, Pappy boasts that the Elderflower has sold more rooms in this one night alone than in all the other nights combined, and is surprised that so many people could be brought together in the name of bear appreciation. To celebrate, Dimple offers to put a pour a bit of his Bear's Strength Potion in everyone's drink, and all accept some except for Gimp, who passed on the opportunity. After everyone toasts to Bear Night, Erberk walks towards the bar to grab another drink.
As Erberk approaches the bar, a mountain of a man with a hairy, sweaty chest exposed by a half-unbuttoned shirt and adorned with a gold chain takes notice of him, and offers him the only open seat at the bar beside him. The man introduces himself as Lionel Brownfoot, remarks how handsome Erberk is, and offers to buy him a drink. Erberk rejects his offer, but for a time the two go back and forth, Lionel with drink offerings and suggestive wooing compliments, and Erberk with rejections that lose its politeness with each attempt. Eventually, Erberk caves and allows him to purchase him a Dark and Dwarvy beer, and asks Lionel about himself. Lionel explains that his surname is from a mining family that were famous for mining without footwear, leaving their feet brown after a long day's work. As they chat, Bobblin the Goblin comes out of the kitchen to promote his newest dish "Bobblin's Mystery Meal, and Lionel generously offers to buy a plate for himself and everyone else in the party. As they wait for the meal, Erberk shares with Lionel that he runs a forge and can make anything, which Pappy, deep into celebratory inebriation, interjects to clarify that Erberk can indeed make almost anything, except Orc weapons and armor. This sets Erberk off, and he storms away from the bar as soon as the food arrives. Lionel and the rest of the party take a spoonful of their Mystery Meal, and Bobblin chases Erberk down and force feeds him a spoonful against his will. Despite its disgusting appearance, it's actually rather savory and delicious, but Erberk is far too upset to want to stay, and continues to storm off.
Just as Erberk reaches the door, a woman in bloody peasant garb bursts open the door and stumbles in, frantically crying out for help to anyone who would listen. Erberk immediately casts his anger aside, and runs to the woman to find out what happened. Between bouts of weeping, she manages to tell Erberk that something happened to her daughter Albie, that her voice was different, and that a monster appeared with her and attacked the woman. The woman managed to fight off the creature, but Albie wandered off into the fields surrounding Aberystwyth. Pappy takes the woman in to be healed, and Erberk calls the party to action, and dashes out the door. The rest of the party leap from the bar to join him, but something strange happens; Dimple spits out 15 mystery meal-covered gold pieces from his mouth into his hand, Lionel spits up blood, and Gimp spontaneously turns into a dandelion in a small pot. In the time it takes for Dimple to pocket the coin and Lionel to clean the blood from his face, Gimp spontaneously returns to his original form, confused and in pain from the sudden transformations. They collect themselves, and run off into the dusk after Erberk, and Bobblin happily takes notes in his notebook about the strange event.
Erberk follows the woman's blood trail, and it leads him to the woman's home. He scans the area for clues, and finds a woodcutters axe covered in a thick purple blood, as well as multiple sets of footprints. As the rest of the party (Lionel included) arrives, they work together to distinguish three sets of footprints; the mother's prints, Albie's prints, and a highly unusual set of prints that appear to be quadrupedal in walk pattern, yet with four different kinds of prints; one cloven, one clawed, one like a humanoid foot, and one like a tentacle. Alarmed by the new information, the party searches and finds a pool of purple blood, and a blood trail that follows the direction of the unknown creature's prints, as well as Albie's prints. The party is made even more uneasy when the blood trail and the creature prints stop abruptly, leaving only Albie's prints to follow. Lionel grabs the bloody woodcutter's axe, and urges the party give chase to save the little girl, and the four of them make haste into the darkening dusk.
After about 20 minutes of travel through the open plains, Erberk, who is taking point, stumbles into a sudden 4 foot deep recession in the earth. Unharmed, he rises with the help of Lionel, and the party takes a moment to examine the unusual change in terrain. Upon inspection and recollection, it appears to be a man-made trench that runs east and west as far as they party can see, and it's determined that this was once a wartime trench used in a battle long forgotten. Erberk and Lionel climb out to the other side of the trench, and see another trench further ahead, with Albie's trail walking straight across it. Erberk scans the area for potential lost artifacts, and instead hears a gradual hissing of grass movement coming from the west. On full alert, they pause in silence and search frantically for the source, as the sound gradually gets louder and closer. In the distance, Erberk sees the general shape of a carriage moving slowly in their direction (at about a walking pace), but not appearing to have any driver or horse pulling it. Lionel and Erberk step to the side and out of its path, and watch it slowly trundle along, noting that it doesn't seem to change its pace or take notice of their presence. The closer it gets, the more details are discovered; it appears to be a extremely weathered vehicle of some kind with metal walls, roof, and even a protected area for the drivers seat, yet no driver or passengers can be detected. Erberk is recalls scant historical details of such vehicles being used during wartime to transport supplies to soldiers or for the gathering of bodies after a battle, but it's not a clear recollection. Erberk commands Lionel to stay with Albie's trail, and then hoists himself inside the vehicle as it passes.
Once inside, he notices that an open area within the vehicle contains a pile of ancient skeletons, and Erberk quickly decides to leave, until a glint from the driver's booth catches his eye. Stepping inside, he finds a strange dusty surface covered with various buttons, switches, knobs, and a flat square with a hand-shaped recess into it. Erberk places his hand into the hand shaped recess, and it begins to glow blue, as a bright blue horizontal beam of light moves beneath his hand on the plate, moving from the tips of his fingers, down to the bottom of his palm, and then back up the tips of his fingers again. As soon as that is finishes, the vehicle rolls to a stop, and Erberk takes a moment to think about such technology, and only recalling scant rumors about such things. He thinks about going back to his party, and the vehicle begins to roll backwards and move in the direction of the party, and stopping when it reached them. Erberk steps out, tells the party about his discoveries and historical theories, and the party hops aboard, with Gimp riding on the roof of the vehicle, Dimple sitting among the skeletons in the back, and Lionel and Erberk sitting in the driver's booth. Erberk thinks about how to get the vehicle to drive in the direction of Albie's trail, and the vehicle suddenly begins to move again, following the path of the trail.
The vehicle travels quietly for another 20 minutes, and in the distance Erberk sees a faint blue glow low in the field. As they draw closer, the party discovers the figure of a little girl standing motionless and staring down at the ground, and a glowing pendant hanging around her neck, and Erberk hops out of the vehicle, causing it to immediately stop moving. The rest of the party join him, and Erberk calls out to Albie, asking if she's okay or if she's hurt. Albie replies in a deep, haunting voice, expressing that she is better than ever, and looks up with completely white eyes. She grins, and explains that she can finally finish the work she began so long ago, starting with the party, and begins to laugh darkly. She levitates 10 feet into the air and then snaps her fingers, summoning a cockatrice out of thin air. The cockatrice charges Erberk, biting him brutally in the forearm, and slowly turning his flesh into cold, grey stone. Working together to reach Albie, Gimp throws Erberk high into the air by his waist, and attempts to support the bottom of Erberk's feet and suspend him into the air cheerleader-style with his arms reaching straight up. Gimp's strength holds true, but Erberk clumsily loses balance and falls directly into the levitating Albie. Using the moment to his advantage, Erberk manages to grab on to Albie's waist with one arm and grab the glowing pendant with the other, and pulling it with enough strength to break the chain around Albie's neck. With the pendant in Erberk's hand, the levitation suddenly ends, and both Albie and Erberk fall toward the ground. Gimp reflexively catches Albie's limp body in the air, and Erberk lands deftly in the grass. Meanwhile, Dimple throws a dagger way over the cockatrice's head, and Lionel charges at the cockatrice, dealing a hefty blow with the woodcutter's axe. The cockatrice retaliates against Lionel, biting him viciously on the shoulder and causing his flesh to slowly turn to stone at the wound site. Gimp passes Albie to Dimple to bring back to the vehicle for safety, and then grapples the cockatrice into a headlock. Erberk and Lionel then bludgeon and hack the cockatrice to death, and it's body falls limp in Gimp's arms. They breath a sigh of relief, and check their wounds, noting that the stone color on their wounds is receding back into its original color. Erberk pockets the glowing pendant, the party loads up the cockatrice body into the vehicle at Dimple's request, and then together enter into the vehicle. Erberk thinks about going home, and the vehicle begins moving in the direction of Aberystwyth.
The vehicle stops in front of the Elderflower, and the party carries Albie inside. The mother weeps with gratitude at the sight of her daughter alive and safe, and Ahlysaaria Dryaalis, the head paladin of Sarenrae in town, immediately begins healing spells and tending to her needs. Erberk beckons Pappy for a word outside, and Erberk reveals all the discoveries they made about the battlefield, the vehicle, and the pendant. Pappy nods, and they make plans for looking deeper into the history of the battlefield, leaving the vehicle at the new local library for examination and study, and Pappy personally takes the pendant for investigation. The party departs to drop off the cockatrice corpse at Dimple's shop, bids each other farewell, and retire to their respective homes for rest after a long night.

Report Date

19 Apr 2024

Primary Location

Aberystwyth