Castle Amber: A D&D Adventure

Lynda takes the:

*Glaive
*The bag of supplies
*The dagger
*The torches

"Alright, lets get the hell out of here before something wicked comes this way. We can debate who gets what later."

As Lynda scoops up the Glaive and other items, she finds her Handy Haver sack is full. The Glaive and the bag of suppiles will not fit. Carrying them is awkward.

Lynda drops the stuff.

"Drat. I've been foiled by inadequate bag space. I've been kinda wondering when the whole bottomless bag would end..."

Kalar turns to the ghouls and says:

"Very well, this is what we shall do. Hrulgin and I shall teleport out, but I want you four to remain here. This will be our stronghold, and you for shall be my lieutenants, second in command only to Hrulgon and myself. This shall be the start of our army, and it is here where we shall build our strength.

"Two off you should return to the ghoul lands, recruit as many zombies as you can and set them to work here. There are resources here, build weapons, items, anything. If you can find bodies to bring here, then do so. Pile them up and we can use those to further bolster the size of our army.

"Also set the zombies to building tunnel out to under the river. Be sure to have them tunnel far enough away that when they emerge from the river, they will be far enough away from this area that they will be relatively unseen.

"I shall return periodically with more resources and to check progress or give new orders. Any questions?"


Leadership score: 17 (19 with stronghold)

Limit is: 30/3/1/1 (40/4/2/1/1 with stronghold)

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Being from the third world, I reserve the right to speak in the third person.

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Ardan raises his ghostly, horribly damaged candelabra.

"...W-what will I do? Though I do enjoy not being in hell, now I'm in a whole other type of Limbo...I've just been wandering these hallways with my candelabra. There aren't even any candles to light anymore. There's nothing left for me to grab, even if I could grab it. I'm even more lost in death than I was in life."

Rachelle offers to throw them into her bag instead, as well as any of the other stuff that seems worth keeping around.

"We should probably leave. I don't know how long ago this attack was, but waiting around here in the middle of the woods is hardly a good idea"

"Somethin' wicked's already here. Name's Harvey. How are ya?" is how he responds to Lynda's cowardice with a laugh and a shake of the head. He's clearly too fascinated to leave in a hurry.

Harvey tucks the rapier into his belt and attempts to unscatter the contents of the backpack that was near the torches. Once he's got the stuff re-stowed, unless he finds anything that gives him pause, he'll shoulder the pack and wait for Lynda to figure out what she's doing. Her havin' her hands full gives him more time to take in the scene.

"What a bear it musta been..." he whistles, as his eyes glaze over and visions of the giant creature roaring in pain, smashing down the woods begin to flood into his mind. Every time the bear starts to calm down, another arrow flies from the woods enraging him again. "What a bear."

He's ready to leave when the others are, but clearly hopes that this isn't the last they'll see of the giant bear.

"Excellent question. If you wish, you may remain here to act as a scout for these four."

Kalar thinks a while, and says, "Incidentally, what are your names? I cannot simply refer to my lieutenants as 'these four'."

He then turns back to Ardan and says, "Alternatively, you could come with me."

Kalar reaches into his pack and holds up his skull of undead sight.

"Possess and take refuge in this. You'll be bound to the skull, but you'll be able to see through it and perceive the world, and a few times a week you should be able to manifest a physical form. Alternatively, once we are with the others, I can purchase something more suitable for you, something that will allow you to move around on your own like a suit of armor. It won't grant you a physical body, nor will it grant you the ability to feel, but you will be able to experience new things. The choice is yours."


Hoping to use the haunting presences variant rule from Libris Mortis (page 6) for this.

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Being from the third world, I reserve the right to speak in the third person.

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"I get to become a skull?" Ardan says. "Well...these ruins really are quite small once you get to know them. I don't really have much elsewhere to go, and you've certainly grown to know the art of the occult."

"Lets go."

Ardan attempts to possess the skull.

Rob extracts a small battered lute from his bag, and picks out a tune on it.

"Poor Gerard de l'Automne,
what was he doing yesterday?
What was his quest? Where did he hark?
On what adventure did he embark?
With magic glaive, and twanging lyre,
Did he set out to slay vampire?
Was he wandring without a care,
when he was eaten by a bear?
..."

Rob stops short. "A Vampire Bear? Hey all you! Do you think it could have been a vampire bear?"

Rob also realizes that Gerard's musical instrument was nowhere to be seen. Back in the days when they were closer, Rob remembered that Gerard de l'Automne was never seen without his fine Lyre, or at least some kind of instrument. It seems very strange that an instrument would not now be among his possessions at the place of his death.

"See any giant tooth holes?" A vampire bear... that's something to run away from. "Why'd he move the bodies? Must've dragged 'em to leave a trail like that.. and then he didn't eat the rations? Someone rooted through their things.. and what were they gonna do with the torches? Vampire bear..."

"Well, on second though. There is a lot of blood around. Vampires have a reputation for taking the blood with them, not leaving it behind, so maybe I am wrong."

"I know giving these poor souls a proper burial will slow us down more than we would like, but maybe we can throw together a quick and simple cremation pyre with one of these nearby trees. I do hate the thought of leaving good old Gerard's corpse here to be further desecrated by... wild animals."

Rob says "Wild Animals" but he is visualizing Gaspard's zombified face patchworked into Kalar's Carnex

Harvey sees a dwarf staring at him off in the woods. Even while Harvey spots him, the dwarf does not break eye contact. The dwarf is hard to see at it's current distance of close to 100ft into the woods, but Harvey can see blood on his shirtless chest. Then, somewhat slowly, the dwarf walks behind a large section of bushes, out of sight.

"Betcha that dwarf knows something about it!" Harvey says, pointing into the gloom and darkness underneath yonder trees with a frown. "Got blood on him. Fancy he wants a bit more?"

A *DWARF*. Where's the fun in that? Harvey's imagined scenario has got a lot less interesting, and this shirtless bum is going to pay for that.

While the team investigates the mysterious dwarf, Kalar is greeted by the names of his ghoul lieutenants. Andel, Rewis Cere, Behrtio, and Nichye spoke their names well, as if they were close to the same level of intelligence as Hrulgin. Then they set on their assigned duties. Arden, with a flash of ghostly light and a loud pop, successful entered the skull. Things seemed to finally be coming together for the necromancer.

Back at the blood scene, the team began to hear something big moving through the forest. It sounded like it was coming their way.