Beyond the Wall Solo - Bay of Spirits Session 2

 

Prolegomenon

When the air turns to ice the return of the hollow ones illuminates the way and sow great misfortune.

The Abbess Alene Gallach and Elzbeth the Witch are sat at the rickety old table in Grandmother Weavers little cottage, the gentle ancient matron walk's slowly over to a locked chest, she unlocks it opens the lid and pulls out an rather unremarkable looking robe.

"You say Crea said Abbess Alonia thinks the Woodsmaiden is related to St Agnes, on the contrary, her farther was related to the Necromancer, this robe belonged to him, a robe of bones*.  I keep it locked away here hidden secret from all, except you two now.  I know, you all think I gossip too much, how else to find out what goes in Winterton, but I keep many secrets here too" .  Grandmother Weaver lays the robe down on the table.

Elzbeth looks carefully at the robe "if what the young priestess says is true then its likely the Necromancer has returned, only he has the power to call the hollow ones back into existence, the girl will not stop him, indeed she may be more of a hindrance than a help"/

The Abbess Alene looks at her empty cup, "a refill of your most excellent tea maybe Grandmother, please, and what of the bones of St Agnus, they were stolen from us years back, who know where they are now,  even if they are found and found quickly, what use will they be".

Grandmother Weaver pours more of her warming herbal tea in to the empty cups of her two visitors, "The bones are safe and those that guard them may help, send the Crea back to her Abbey when she is fit and well again, Nessa Ridgerow the Ranger is back, I will ask her to accompany the priestess, make sure she gets back safe and Nessa may be useful to the Abbess Alonia in the coming struggle". 

The Old lady picks up the robe and locks it back in the chest, "also we need perhaps a willing hero to seek out the bones of St Agnus, I think I now the very hero".

Tools used in the session and other stuff.

For this game session we will be using the following Toolkit

Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures RPG
Further Afield supplement
My adapted Mune/Zathrum Oracle 
randomlists.com to generate verbs if I need a prompt to work out what happens next.

Location - Winterton, Lower bay region, Bay of Spirits

Date - 22st December 1512CY, day after the Winter Solstice.

PCs (click on name to open page with full character stats)

Culdus the young acolyte, Hugo d'Winterton the would be knight, Karina Lankrit the local performer, Rhian the young woodswoman, Strawberri Cottoncloud the fae foundling.

Table of NPC's which may be used in this session

1. Elzbeth the witch
2. Nessa Ridgerow the Ranger
3. Ranogg the old mercenary
4. Alene Gallach Abbess
5. Eidwick Stewart the steward
6. Grandmother Weaver

The Hollow Ones. Undead resurrected by powerful otherworld magic.  they look very much like they did in life but spells and magic which can detect the undead will reveal them as such.  
Hollow ones have no soul but can remember their past lives, they can speak and will talk to someone they where close to, like knowing the true name of a creature, if you know the living name of a hollow one you can attempt to command it to do something against its will.
Hit Dice 3d8 (14hp)
AC 16
Attack +3 to hit,  1d6+2 claw attack or as per weapon carried (50% chance of using a weapon, 1-2 Longsword 1d8 +1 hits, 3-4 Battle Axe 1d8+1 hits, 5 Great Sword 1d10+1 hits, 6 Great Axe 1d10+1 hits)
Alignment.  Chaotic
XP 100

Hollow ones do not age, 
Unsettling Presence,  A Hollow One can unsettle a creature it can see within 15 feet of it. The target has disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes within the 10 minute. Constructs, undead, and creatures that can't be frightened are immune to this feature. Can only be used once per day.

Dead & Mindless.  Hollow Ones are immune to sleep or charm spells.

Scene 2 22nd December , 11.34am (time generated randomly) (+2 intervention points carried over)

Weather is overcast and there are light flutters of snow but for the first time in days the heavy snow had stopped.

News of the arrival of Crea the Priestess from the Abbey of the Far Mountains has swiftly spread around Winterton, helped not in no small way by Hugo exaggerating his roll in the previous evenings events to everyone he meets on his morning watchman round.

question, does Hugo meet anyone important on his morning round? roll 1d6 and check on NPC table above, roll =5

As Hugo passes by the O'Meere manor house he is stopped by Eidwik Stewart the Steward

of the Estate

question, Does Eidwick Stewart know of Crea's arrival?  roll  6 on oracle, yes (+1 intervention point =3)

roll for intervention type - 2, entity positive.  Roll on NPC table =1 Elzbeth the Witch.

Standing next to the Steward is Elzbeth and the two local dignitaries stop Hugo and seek to talk to him. 

I get three random verbs to see what it is they say to Hugo. Empty Crack Complete.

Eidwick is the first to talk, he explains to Hugo that it is imperative that  the bones of St Agnus are recovered, it was believed that they were in a casket kept in the celler of the manor but on opening the casket it was empty.

Elzbeth tells Hugo that Grandmother Weaver remembered that the bones were taken to a barrow mound they need someone to go there, crack open the barrow, retrieve and bring the bones back to Winterton 

Eidwick continues "we need someone we can trust to complete this mission lad, I cannot trust the Wyvern Guard with this, I doubt they would even go but you and your friends proved your metal recuing that Merchant from the Red Caps and if you and your friends are willing, we would like you to try".

Hugo puffs out his chest, "I am your man Steward Stewart, I will round the others up, when do you wish us to start out?"

Elzbeth continues "Abbess Gallach has aready spoken to Culdus, he is a good healer and you may need his skills, Martin in the Blue Goose is talking to Rhian and Karina, their skills will be of use to, I think the Fae girl Strawberri will be important to this mission too but I was just on my way to seek her when we met you".

Eidwick concludes, "You will need to start out as soon as possible and get back quickly too, its a dangerous journey though and you will need to equip yourselves well, I'll speak to your farther and Cambell Birse at theTraders Emporium, you should get most of what you need from there and the Watchhouse, we'll gather everyone up and meet at the Watchhouse at noon".

Equipping the party.

The party meet up as arranged, it is midday and with only 3 or 4 hours daylight left at best, Hugo's Farther, Wintertons watchman, is arguing that the party should not leave until the morning, its unlikely that they will be able to travel further than 3 or 4 miles in what is left of the daylight in this snow.  Elzbeth argues that if they make decent time they should make the Grey Wolf Inn at the little hamlet of Dry Gulch before nightfall.

Question to Oracle, will the party be allowed to leave today?  roll 1 on Oracle = No.

Cambell Burse agrees with Hugo's Farther, it would be risky leaving at this hour and it looks like another snow fall is likely, in the end it is agreed by all to make sure the party are properly equipped and make ready to leave at daybreak in the morrow.

Each of the party get the following equipment to help them survive the cold snowy winery conditions.

Pair of Snow Shoes, 50' of rope,  winter blankets and boots, tinder kits 6 torches and 2 lanterns with oil lanterns. They are also loaned a pack pony which they will need to bring back the casket containing the bones of St Agnes.

They are also equipped with two snow shovels and rations for 7 days.

Each of them is offered additional weapons but only Strawberri takes up the offer and gains a short  Bow and quiver of Arrows.

Grandmother Weaver is able to tell the characters that they are looking for a Barrow some 3 days walk from Winterton, possibly 4 in this weather.  The Barrow will contain a large casket containing the bones of St. Agnes.  It is believed the casket is guarded by spirits but Granmother Weaver believes that these sprits are good and will help the party.

All five PC's have a restless night, all eager to get on with the adventure, in the morning they collect their gear, load up the pack horse, say fairwell to the village and set out on their quest.

In session 3, their journey begins, until then,

Adventure on!

* This sinister item appears to be an unremarkable robe, but a character who dons it notes that it is adorned with small embroidered figures representing undead creatures. Only the wearer of the robe can see the embroidery, recognize them for the creatures they become, and detach them. One figure can be detached each combat round. Detaching a figure causes it to become an actual undead creature (see the list below). The skeleton or zombie is not under the control of the wearer of the robe, but may be subsequently commanded, rebuked, turned, or destroyed. A newly created robe of bones always has two embroidered figures of each of the following 

• Human skeleton
• Wolf skeleton
• Heavy horse skeleton
• Fast goblin zombie
• Tough human zombie
• Plague ogre zombie