Beyond the Wall Solo - Bay of Spirits session 6

 

Prolegomenon

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

Image by Darkmoon_Art from Pixabay

An unusually cold and bitter winter has gripped Winterton and also to the west and the area around the remote abbey known as the monastery of the far mountains whose Abbess, Gabriella Alonia, believes it to be connected to the old prophecy which says that when the air turns to ice the hollow ones lead the way and sow great misfortune, she believes it is the work of an evil and powerful Necromancer who has returned from across the vail, she believes that the bones of Saint Agnus will somehow help defeat the Necromancer and has asked their return from where they were kept at the village of Winterton.

The bones have long since been hidden in an old Barrow to the east of the village and so a party of young village hero's have set off to recover the bones and bring them back to Winterton.  Along the way they have met a Lady of the Fae who is now obliged to help them in their quest.

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.

Bay of Spirits 12pk of adventure maps (link here)
Various other Bay of Spirits pdfs for background.
50 Winter Encounters by Beyond Horizon (link here)
My adapted Mune/Zathrum Oracle 

randomlists.com to generate verbs if I need a prompt to work out what happens next.

Location -  Hinterland , Lower bay region, Bay of Spirits

Date - 25th December 1512CY.

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.

NPC in this session.  Natitha Lady of the Fae (Warrior)
Hit Dice 6d10 (33hp)
A/C 17
Attack +6 to hit, 1d8+3 damage (magical sword)
Alignment Chaotic

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.

Session 6.

Scene 1,  25rd December.

The Lady of the Fae leads the party, (which now consists of 5 adventures from Winterton, 1 lady of the fae, 2 hounds and a pack pony), westward towards the coast, the further west they go the easier it is to travel, eventually she leads them off the road that leads towards Rossgull Harbour and they set out over the hills on the final part of their journey.  Although the snow on the hills seems quite deep, it is crisp and very compact making the going a little easier.

I roll to see if there is an encounter and get -

The tracks of a dozen humanoids and wolves litter the snow before you.

I want to see if they can tell how old the tracks are, none of the characters have any tracking skills but Rhian has hunting skill so I decide she should make a wisdom check with +2 for hunting skill, needing 15 or less she rolls 3 and is able to make out that the tracks are about a day old.

I also want to know if they can tell how many humanoid and wolves there are and in which direction they are headed, I decide that it should be fairly easy to work out the direction, less so the number of tracks as they are probably muddled up and perhaps partly obscured by fresh snow.  I discover that the tracks are heading in the same direction as the party and that there appears to be 3 or 4 humanoid tracks and 4 or 5 wolf tracks, its not possible to tell what type of humanoid the footprints are from but they do not seem human nor can they ascertain if the wolves are with the humanoid creatures or if one is tracking the other.

After several hours walking they finally make it to the Barrow Mound.

I ask the oracle if everything is quiet at the barrow, roll d8 on table 1 = 1 No.

I get three random verbs to see if I can get an idea of what has happened there, "want", "object", "stain".

Around the entrance to the barrow there are lots of blood stains in the snow and signs of a skirmish of some kind.

Question, are there other signs to help understand what has happened here? Roll d6 = 6 Yes (+1 Intervention Point, now 1 intervention point) 

I get three adjectives this time, Clean, Deeply, Giant.

The party look around the outside of the barrow and find a big giant of a man propped up against the side of the barrow, he is only just alive having been wounded deeply is several places, Culdus examines the man, his wounds are clean but it is clear that the cold has all but finished him off. 

In his last breaths the man points to the barrow and says 'devils in there, guarding strange object, we tried to take it, all dead now, all gone". The man falls silent, Culdus looks at him and realises the thief is dead. 

The party head to the barrow entrance, Culdus, Rhian and the one of the two hounds which seems to have made a strong bond with Rhian wait outside with the pack pony, the others try to enter the barrow.

Question, is the entrance to the barrow open, roll d6 = 1, No.

The entrance to the barrow is sealed with a large flat rock which cannot be opened easily.

Question, can it be prised open using the tools (shovels etc) the adventures brought with them, roll d6=2, roll d 20 on table 2 = 11, Yes (apparently).

The large flat rock has, apparently, recently been moved and it is possible to use the shovels they have to prise the stone away from the entrance which is wide enough for them to enter one at a time.

Question, is the barrow in darkness? roll d6 = 1 No

The barrow is very small, just the entrance , a short passage which leads down to a single larger area.  Just enough light floods in from outside to dimly illuminate the inside and allow the adventures to see.
The passage is just wide enough to allow them to enter one at a time, Hugo goes first, followed by the Lady of the Fae, Strawberri and finally Karina and the second hound, all have weapons drawn (except the hound) and at the ready although all they can see is a skeleton laid flat at the foot of a stone plinth on top of which sits a small casket.  

Assuming the casket must contain the bones of St Agnus, Karina and Strawberri go to it and pick it up, the Lady of the Fae stands at the foot of the passage and Hugo and the hound by the skeleton.

The hound growls and, as they turn to see what he is growling at, the skeleton gets to its feet, it takes Hugo by surprise and slashes its sword at him Roll d20 to hit = 2 (+1 bonus~), only a 3 so it misses Hugo.
The hound reacts quickly and grabs at the bones of the skeleton, Roll d20 to hit = 18 (+1 bonus), makes 19 so it causes 1d4 damage = 2 hp to the skeleton.
Hugo is slow to react and allows the Skeleton to slash at the dog who is attacking it, Roll d20 to hit = 16 (+1 bonus~), makes 17 so it hits the hound who takes 1d8 (rolls 4) damage. The hound yelps and lets go of the skeleton, it is badly hurt but still breathing.
Hugo now is able to swing at the skeleton with his Longsword, Roll d20 to hit = 10 (+4 bonus to hit), makes 14 so  Hugo hits the skeleton causing 1d8 + 3 damage (rolls 7), the skeleton takes 10 hits.
Hugos sword smashes the skeleton into just a collection of broken bones.

Everyone catches their breath, the Lady of the Fae picks up the hound and carries the injured creature out of the barrow followed by Strawberri and Karina with the casket, Hugo is the last out, no one notices the writing on the side of the plinth which reads 'a curse of death on all who want to steal from this barrow'.

Once back outside the barrow Culdus looks at the injured dog and lays his hands on it restoring 1hp to it.  The Lady of the Fae tells them that she has helped them all she can and departs taking the injured hound with her but not before she is thanked by Strawberri, the Lady of the Fae smiles at the young fae girl and tells her that she is sure they will meet again soon.
Rhian and Karina attach the casket to the pony, and once they have sealed the entrance again they set off back to Winterton.

The journey back is uneventful, for the first time in a long time the night sky is clear but frosty, they keep walking through the first night on their journey home, they stop at the Crying Wolf at Dry Gulch the following day and get some much need rest before making the last part of the journey back to Winterton.

At Winterton, Culdus goes to the Abbey to see the Abbess and relate what has happened, Rhian, her hound and Strawberri go to the fisherman's cottage (Strawberris home) and rest, Karina and Hugo take the casket to Elsbeth the witch.
Elsbeth thanks them and tells them to rest until the morning, but she says that the village has more to ask of my adventures, a second journey for them to make if they are willing and ready to

Adventure On!