Castle Amber: A D&D Adventure

Master K · Post by **Master K** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 2:52 am

Lynda agrees with resting for the night.

"These things can't quite be planned. Everything sounds good now, but who knows what'll happen when the colossus shows. In the spur of the moment, plans get tangled and scattered. We have the idea. When the moment comes, we'll all make it fall in to place, one way or another."

"We need to be well rested for this battle."

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 3:29 am

"This is strange, there seem to be no undead in the area. That is a good thing though. Very well, I had best be leaving. Should any undead happen to appear here though, send for me, and I will be here as soon as possible. Look for Kalar Kess, I shall be with the group that Gaspard hired to protect the town. I take my leave of you gentlemen."

As Kalar leaves, he takes a mental note of any possible entrances that Hrulgin might be able to sneak through at a later date. It seems that now is not the time to be replenishing his army, but knowing that this place is here will be of worth later on.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 5:42 am

As the party broke from their planning table and wandered of to sleep a man spoke up out of no where. "Are these really your plans, Gaspard?" Rob looked the man over. His dark leather armor, his shaved hair, and the way he snuck into the Inn without a single person noticing all hinted at something Rob couldn't placed until he saw the dagger on his side. The flowing silvery mercurial dagger of none other than the notorious assassin Jehan Mauvaissoir.
Jehan continued, "Would you really risk the city to keep a small mirror safe? Give Nathaire the artifact and he may yet call off his beast."
"Get out of here!" said Gaspard. "There are things at work here you know nothing of!"
Jehan smiled at that, "I know more than you think." Jehan looked at the party then, all of which had by then turned around from their trips to bed to see the new person that had arrived. "Do you really think this small band of misfits will be able to defeat that behemoth?" Jehan laughed.
Gaspard took pause at this and looked around at the party for support.

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 5:59 am

Voulton shrugs and walks off to bed. He's got nothing to prove to anyone. Least of all someone dressed like *that*. And who carries a knife like that? It'd be a waste of good darkness if a night went by without that thing finding its way into someones ribs.

It felt good the first time so he shrugs again. What's the world coming to? First the invisible man and now this sneaky sombitch. Voulton's going to be sure to put something noisy by his door tonight. Somebody's gonna be dead, might as well not be him.

EDIT: And later that night when things have quieted down a little, he's going to try to find some writing materials and record the events that have transpired since they left the library, with particular emphasis on time travel and the differences he can remember. "If we do mess this up" he writes, assuming he can find the material, "which seems rather likely, it would be nice for the next group of guys to have something to work with. Something to help them.. or you, I guess it might be. The people in Averoigne are friendly, but there are questions they're unable to answer and hopefully this will help you where we have failed."

He realizes after writing it that it might be a dangerous document in the wrong hands and is unsure who to give it to. Who's the most likely to get out of this alive? Who does he even trust? Something to figure out in the morning.

Master K · Post by **Master K** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:56 am

"Well" Lynda says "We've been through many things in our time as adventurers. We're a small band of misfits that have made it this far, and we intend on having the mirror for our own purposes. If you're going to call our efforts futile, don't waste your breath, because you are not the first to say it."

Lynda laughs slightly, and gives a smile.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 11:24 am

"Are you planning on stabbing any of us tonight with that shiny knife, Jehan?

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 4:10 pm

As Kalar leaves the graveyard, he decides to meet up with Hrulgin. He'll spend the night out in the woods with his minions, ordering them to guard him while he sleeps. He'll spend a few more hours finishing up the glove so that it will be ready the next day. It'll be a good idea to get an early start the next morning though, so he'll have Hrulgin wake him up before dawn so he can get ready for the day.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Wed Apr 22, 2015 9:46 pm

Jehan looks Lynda over, a wiry grin crossing his face. "You'll make a beautiful corpse. Worry not though, I won't be the one to do it. The collossus will see to that. Gaspard, at least have the mirror ready in case things get out of hand." Jehan began walking towards the door then. He waved a half hearted fairwell ove his shoulder and said, "I'd ask your names but whats the point? You'll all be dead soon. Anyways, I'm off to Ximes to avoid this disaster."

The party slowly began returning to their sleep preparations than. They slept calmly despite the ordeal they faced tomorrow. Having been through so much, they had grown used to sleeping before a deadly encounter. To them, tomorrow would be any different. The night passed slowly.

Hrulgin woke Kalar before sunrise, Kalar began getting getting ready for the day when Hrulgin stopped him. As an explaination, Hrulgin only had to motion towards the city wall. The guards were running around frantically. Ballistas were loaded and readied and fires were lit. The shaking ground told Kalar the rest of the story. Something was approaching. As the sun rose, a large shadowy figure could be seen on the horizon.

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 12:45 am

Kalar focuses his energies and then releases them in a mental message to Voulton. He tells him:

"In woods, can veil us from undead. Attack while invisible. I will stay here supporting you and holding off any undead. Do not shoot Bill."

That done, he climbs aboard Bill and straps himself in.

"Hrulgin, do be so kind as to climb up a tree and have a look around. Tell me what you can see. I would rather not reveal Bill until the moment is right."

While waiting for Hrulgin, Kalar focuses himself, gathering his thoughts and calming himself for the upcoming battle.

*Kalar's glove is finished now, yes?

Master K · Post by **Master K** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 12:59 am

Lynda, upon hearing the shaking ground, goes outside to try and see the distant colossus with her spyglass.

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:22 am

It's a strange sensation at first, getting a message like that, but it feels strangely natural too. Pretty neat trick. A quick point to the noggin, a "Kalar just uhh... something'd this into my head" and Voulton relays the message to Rachelle, Lynda, Gaspard, and the new guy.

"It sounds too good to be true, but if he can conceal us from the undead and there's not mortal eyes to worry about, it could be our best chance. We could hide *near* the walls and get the best of both worlds. Some of us stay on the wall and throw bags, the others conceal themselves in the area right outside the wall and strike. With any luck, one plan or the other would succeed. And if they didn't, well... then there was probably nothing we could do anyway."

There's a third plan, and one Voulton doesn't intend to reveal to the others because he hopes not to use it. But just in case things hit the fan the way they did against the werewolf, and since Tammy's not here to save the day, Voulton puts the mysterious potion on the top of the stuff in his pack, so he can get it quickly in an absolute, dire emergency of a situation.

Which reminds him! This new guy Rottlerwits is the perfect recipient for the record he'd kept of their adventure. The most likely to get out, and the most likely to spread it around as soon as the rest of us were dead. He'll take him aside and hand it to him. "Don't read it now, but it's related to breaking this curse. If things go bad today, someone else might have a chance to do better later and they oughta know what didn't work for us."

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:53 am

Rob's interest is peaked by the papers that Voulton hands him. He would love to learn more about the curse-- the curse that he has come to think of inwardly as "My father's curse". However, he very much agrees with the sentiment that he should not read it right now.

"Let Gaspard man the walls if he wants, I can't ride my horse up there."

Rob mounts Stumpy, and unsheaths his Rapier of Light Infliction and prepares to ride out and provide whatever support or distraction he can from the ground while Rachelle flies in and does her work. He is carrying 3 of Gaspard's Catpiss Bombs of Undead-Bane.

Stumpy trots with unconcealed excitement, but holds his tongue. The morning sun glints off his Horseshoes of Speed

Feenicks · Post by **Feenicks** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:56 am

Rachelle sighed, relieved that she wasn't going to have to directly dodge whatever the colossus was going to throw at them.
But the question of how they would actually defeat it still remained. Would she have to go up to the thing's mouth and stick the sword in there? Would just sticking it in one of the mouths of the bodies that presumably made up the undead colossus be enough?

...she shuddered at even the thought of a giant made of dead bodies. If all went well with the sword, though, there wouldn't be anything but dust left behind.

Golem-making, time travel, and raising undead. She couldn't wait to get back home, if only so she could force the books on those topics into a restricted section of the nearest library. Burning them would be nicer, but that ran the risk of Corellon thinking it was in tribute, and the last thing she wanted to think about was the idea of copies of those books awaiting her in the afterlife.

...that probably wasn't how the tributes were traditionally supposed to go, but Rachelle rid herself of that direction of thought as she went to look for Kalar and his skeletons. She had something about her undead-annihilating sword she wanted to test out before the chance went away.

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 3:35 am

To Voulton, it seems like this is the lowest possible point. He's probably never going to get home. He's going to die defending some town he's barely even spent the night in. Even if he survives, the party he joined that seemed so promising is likely to be shattered. One's already left, someone's surely gonna be killed by the colossus. The curse seems stronger now, smarter. Like it saps answers out of people's heads.

Still, for the first time since the Castle and the horrible things there, he's feeling something. Friendship! Hope! These are good people. Even Kalar, perhaps the second evilest person he's ever met, has proved a loyal comrade. Life has value, it's more than just someone else to satisfy the grizzly bear's hunger. When he first joined up with these guys, he considered them a means to an end. The easy way home. Now he truly considers them partners. We're all going to get home... except the ones who die.

Voulton hefts his axe. "My place is in the field. Where I'll do the most good. If we can, we'll let him get as close to the wall as possible before we make our move. You guys hit him with bows, arrows, piss sacks, whatever you got. Hopefully between my distraction, the sword, and the bags, something'll take him out. If it doesn't... well, thanks for everything. We tried, at least."

He takes one of the pee bags with him, but leaves his second one with Lynda. Got the feeling she'll make better use of it from the walls than he will. Wondering if Kalar is still listening, he tries to send a message back, using the same staccato style:

"Weird horseman coming. He's on our side. Rachelle too. Me too. Others at wall. Plan is simultaneous attack. Please leave my head, now."

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:07 am

Rob road out first. A single rider heading towards the massive being on the horizon. It wasn't long before he found himself joined by the others. Each of them moving at their own pace, everyone slowly joined with Kalar in the forest very nearby. By the time everyone was in place, the Colossus had come fully into view.
Standing at what the party could only guess was close to 70ft high, the large undead resembled a ghoul. It's purplish skin could be seen from what seemed to be a mile away. It was completely nude and carried a large dead tree as a club.

Lynda joined Hrulgin in scouting the area around the colossus. They reported back that there was a group of a dozen or so undead marching about 100ft behind the colossus. It was made up of wraiths, skeletons, ghouls, and something Hrulgin called a blood hulk. Lynda also confirmed that the silvery handed skeleton was in this group.

The colossus was moving fast. It would be at the city in a little over a minute.