Kyrila, Hygelak and Baldur had recently explored a cavern into which they had fled from an unnatural weather phenomenon (acidic rain). In the cave they had freed an infernal creature called a “Child of Norimaar”. The cavern floor had then collapsed beneath the adventurers’ feet and they fell into a fast-flowing subterranean stream, lost consciousness and regained it only as they had been washed ashore on a sandy beach from which they could leave the cave and step out onto a moonlit rocky outcropping above a forest valley that was rising towards a mountain ridge behind which the heroes suspected the ancient city of Cantopia.
In the last session, the three explorers travelled through the forest valley, Baldur successfully tested his Beginner’s Luck Firebuildung and finally they reached the rocky slope leading up to the ridge. Kyrila took the lead and climbed up there but failed her Beginner’s Luck climbing test, tripped, fell and took a superficial wound from which she recovered instantly. After tying her rope to a solid rock on the ridge, Hygelak and Baldur could follow without risking to fall down.
Up there, the party discovered a mountain plateau dotted with huge boulders and dwarf-pines. On the horizon to the east they spotted the outlines of a walled city. The heroes decided to wait until nightfall so they could cross the plateau without being noticed. They failed their Stealthy tests, anyway, so one of the inhabitants of Cantopia who have been turned into spider-hybrid monstrosities by infernal magic, decades ago, spotted them as they approached the city in the silvery light that the full moon cast over the rocky plateau.
The three of them entered the ruined city through a massive city gate and began to walk down a formerly wide and heavily used street that was covered with piles of debris from the ruined buildings that rose against the night sky at both sides.
After some paces, all three PCs succeeded at their Beginner’s Luck Observation tests vs. the Beginner’s Luck Stealthy of one of the Cantopian spider-hybrids, so they spotted the monster as it crawled down from a pile of debris into a shadowy alley. The adventurers decided to bypass said alley on the other side of the street and try not to disturb the human-headed beast.
Anyway, after another 30 meters or so, they heard a pebble roll down from one of the piles behind them, turned and now spotted the spider-beast in all its glory sitting atop the pile and observing them warily. It turned out that the spider could actually talk (surprise!), yet there wasn’t much conversation as both sides were full of mistrust, and when Baldur decided to light a torch to keep the approaching vermin away, the spider interpreted that as an aggressive act and cast The Horror – successfully. Kyrila and Baldur both totally failed their Steel tests and ran screaming deeper into the city while Hygelak decided to Stand and Drool.
He had earned the Hellbound trait in the last session, however, and we are using a variant of the Raw Talent rules from the Magic Burner. So we rolled the dice and Hygelak got the Horned trait for the duration of the scene: Suddenly a pair of large curved horns emerged from his forehead. This caused the man-spider to halt and hiss: “Interesting, so you’re alleged to the Dark Master as well!”
I don’t remember completely, how the situation finally escalated but it began with Hygelak saying something about Norimaar. The spider had an instinct that said “Never speak the Dark Master’s name aloud”, so it begged Hygelak not to do so neither – which he ignored and finally the situation grew so threatening that Hygelak reached for his sword that he had dropped to the ground before and a Fight! emerged.
Hygelak acted very defensively and the superior spider attacked him with vicious blows from its Bladed Tarsi but didn’t manage to lock the sculptor which would have sealed his fate most probably (lucky dice for Hygelak in this one!).
Finally, Kyrila entered the conflict and targeted the spider with her bow. The first arrow didn’t hit the spider but the second one produced a superb hit, B10 damage, spider gone.
That’s when the session ended so next time, the players will have to figure out why Hygelak could suddenly grow horns and they will have to explore the ruins of Cantopia and find the Mystificator – whatever that might be.
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