Arabelle Adventurers Quest Notes 2011-10-01
Characters Involved: 
Book, 
Nora, 
Merry, 
Tempest, 
Ugly, 
Mahina, 
Lock, 
Stock, 
Barrel, 
Squirt
From Last Game
See Arabelle Adventurers Quest Notes 2011-08-21
Questing
Merryasks Ugly to carry Barrel over to his wagon and set him inside. The wagon has a corner that Merry calls "the sick box" which is where the dogs go when they are hurt. It has a worn blanket with food and water in easy reach. Merry checks on the bandage that Nora put on Barrel. The dog hasn't woken up yet, but Merry does his best to make sure the dog is comfortable before climbing back into the driver's seat.
Walker's Shade Village
The party arrives at a logging village safely thanks to Book's knowledge of the area.
Ugly asks what the sign says as they enter the town. Book replies that it means, "Urinate on this sign for good luck." Ugly proceeds to urinate on the sign.
Eins Walgorg, Jr falls off the cart. The party calls to Nora to check on him.
Nora runs to him to see why he fell. He seems poisoned again. Nora doesn't know exactly which poison it is but she suspects it was ingested poison. Mahina tries to find out more info about the poison but cannot.
Nora feels like he will be fairly stable but recommends that they go to the church and hole up there for the evening. Ugly agrees with this idea.
At the Church
They arrive at the church and Ugly introduces himself to the cleric outside of the church. She says her name is Jofrana and that she was just about to have dinner. Merry explains the situation to the cleric. Nora says she believes that he was poisoned from this vial. She hands the vial to the cleric. The cleric sniffs it then says, "Oh dear, come in" and ushers in the party.
Jofrana says this is a magical poison, was more common in war and used in assassination attempts- it's a good way of getting people buried alive. She says the antidote is made from a rare plant called Booleaf and she doesn't know of any in the area. She says the only place she has seen it is in the misty woods to the north, about "2 hills to the north". It's a pretty dangerous place as it is haunted and cursed, so typically people stay way from there.
Merry presses for more information. Jofrana says the area is very misty and most people get lost and/or eaten by monsters. There's a haunted tower and all sorts of ghastly things.
She says they are welcome to sleep in the church. The Booleaf plant as 5 pronged leaves, has blue berries (called booberries) and it's those berries they need. She offers food but says she doesn't have much, Tempest replies that they have their own food. It's body shock poison- she says to check your food because it's ingested. She mentions to detect magic on the food since it's a magical poison.
Merry asks if Jofrana could heal his dog and Book. Book thanks her for the healing. She also heals Tempest. Book asks if they have a library. She says she only has three books. Merry offers a volume of the book he's been writing for her help and gives it to her. She lets Book borrow her books, including the "Canon of Orthodoxy" with local notes in it.
Book memorizes the books, one of which is Gelthien Bracir's books.
Merry takes all the poisoned food, marks it, and locks it in one of his trunks.
The party rests for the night.
To The Misty Vale
Book gives the books back to Jofrana in the morning.
The party leaves Eins Walgorg, Jr, Eins Walgorg, Sr and the wagons with Jofrana and sets off for the Misty Vale.
The party arrives in a small valley filled with fog. Nora chants something from her vision, but nothing happens. We see a small bit of cloth tied to a tree just inside the fog. The party begins following a trail of cloth. It leads to a clearing with a pole sticking out of the ground with an orb on top of it. Excited, Nora says the incantation again and the fog clears. The trail of cloth leads deeper into the woods and ends at a ruined keep.
What we see: "You see before you the mysterious tower. Made of gleaming white marble, it is perfectly preserved amidst the ruins of an ancient keep. A shimmering blue force field surrounds the tower, encasing it from ground level to its top, a few feet from the walls. The ruins are old stone of granite, pulverized by years of neglect and occupation. You can still make out the basic outline of the ruined, four-cornered keep, and the perfectly preserved tower is startling by comparison. In the ruined corner of the keep where a sturdy tower once stood, you hear a commotion. In the midst of the rubble you can see three large beetles fighting over the bodies of several dead rats. As soon as the beetles notice you, they stop squabbling and advance. Before you have time to process your surroundings, you are under attack!"
Beetle Battle
Bombardier beetles rush at the party.
Nora blesses the party.
Book reaches into his back of tricks and pulls out a rat.
Ugly and Tempest shoot at the beetles with their bows whilst the others wait to see what will happen.
Ugly takes down one of the beetles. He then drops his bow, pulls out his sword, and lunges towards the other two beetles. He misses but makes an impressive show of it.
One of the beetles sprays acid at Ugly and Tempest, but they laugh in the beetle's face as it does no damage! The beetle now feels very sad.
The other beetle sprays acid and it also does no damage, not even to the rat.
Mahina casts flare & a burst of light appears in front of one of the beetles but it is not dazzled (or impressed).
Merry attacks and smacks around a beetle.
Ugly rushes forward and cleaves both beetles in half! The battle ends.
Into the Ruined Wizard Tower
They see what looks like a ghost that flits back and forth through the wall of the tower. It walks up to a shrub on the ground and it is quietly harvesting shrubbery. It picks it up and then walks through the wall again.
Book sends his rat to investigate. Merry has heard tales about blue shimmers that are force field walls. He doesn't know much about it other than that is what it is. Nora recalls a good bit about force walls.
Merry waits for the ghost to come back out so he can try to communicate with it. The ghost is about the carry the last bit of the berries back through the wall when Merry shouts out to him. The ghost looks at Merry wide-eyed and releases a loud, screamy moan.
Merry's dogs panic and flee at top speed away from the ghost.
The ghost is furious at the sight of living things. It bangs angrily at the force field. Merry tries to calm down the ghost and succeeds enough where he can understand the curses the ghost is spewing at them.
The ghost screams, "Let me out! I've been trapped! If you don't let me out I will kill you all! Get away from my home!"
Merry asks how we can let him out but the ghost isn't coherent enough to give a good answer. Merry tries to fascinate the ghost with rousing oratory but the ghost is not affected. The ghost screams again.
Merry panics! Merry runs off in terror. Mahina sits down and writes in her journal.
Merry comes back after a while and blows his signal whistle to get his dogs back.
The building to the left appears to have once been a barracks of some sort but is in serious decay. Merry continues blowing his whistle and his dogs come back. Book and Mahina search the barracks but find nothing.
Battle in the Orchard
Mahina runs into the overgrown orchard and looks for apples. Tempest follows.
Book correctly identifies an assassin vine in the orchard! Tempest, Nora and Mahina become entangled.
Mahina starts leisurely talking to Tempest. Ugly tries to hack at the vines. Nora looks terrified.
The vine slams into Mahina and she looks hurt.
Mahina produces flames in her hands in hopes it helps her break free. Merry tells his dogs to attack.
Barrel charges into the get the assassin vine. Unfortunately, he gets entangled and can't move.
Tempest lands a devastating critical hit against the assassin vine!
Stock rushes to attack.
Merry takes a shot up into the trees, hoping to hit the deadly vine.
Ugly rages and charges into the fray! He gets entangled.
Lock rushes to attack and gets entangled.
Book reaches into his bag of tricks and pulls out a bat.
Assassin vine is mad! He slams against Tempest and hurts her.
Mahina manages to take a step back but then the vines tighten around her.
Barrel squirmed his way back out of the vines
The bat flew off.
Tempest swung at the Assassin vine and missed
Stock jumped up and bit a vine hard while Merry reloads.
Ugly runs through the vines up to the Assassin vine.
Lock squirmed his way back out of the vines.
The vine slams into Tempest.
Mahina heals Tempest for a little bit.
Nora weaves through the vines to heal Tempest. The vine tries to hit Nora but misses.
Tempest tries to hit the vine again and misses. Merry tries to shoot at the vine but misses as well.
Ugly slashes the vine and kills it!
Mahina gathers up all the good apples with the help of the bat. She gets 11 good apples. Tempest urges Mahina to leave the forest. Merry searches for anything else of interest. He finds a rusty longsword, 27 gold & a lamp. He tosses the rusty longsword.
Mahina eats an apple.
Further Into the Haunted Keep
The party moves up and sees the ruined stables with nearby officers quarters. Tempest recommends visiting the officers quarters.
The quarters are relatively intact though severely damaged. There is shattered furniture but not switches, knobs, or levers. Book sends the bat into the building and it comes out unscathed so Mahina goes inside, followed by Tempest.
They discover a bedroom and a closet. There is a trap door in the closet. Book sends his bat down there.
They hear a squeak and the bat does not return. Book says he thinks it is dangerous.
Mahina and Book look in the bedroom but find nothing. The party thoroughly searches the quarters. Book finds a feather from an owlbear.
Book informs the party about owlbears.
No sign of life in the stables but as soon as Ugly steps in, a flock of bats rushes out of the stables. They circle around the party before flying away into the sky.
Ugly gets spooked. The only thing he notices in the stables, however, is a hole in the floor. It looks fairly deep. It does not look like it was excavated by tools. Tempest gets down on the floor and cautiously looks over it. She can see handholds and footholds along the side. Nora notices that a person would have to be very tall to make use of those handholds and footholds.
Mahina walks out and Tempest joins her. She then starts heading towards the corner before Tempest physically stops her.
The party sees a massive sinkhole that descends deep into the ground when exploring the corner Mahina discovered.
The party explores the rest and discovers a huge beetle. The party steps back. Mahina goes back into the officer quarters while the rest prepare for battle.
Stag Beetle Battle
Book reaches into his bag and pulls out a... BADGER! FINALLY!
The party throws things at the beetle and the badger attacks.
Mahina entangles it, though it temporarily breaks free soon after.
The attack continues.
Ugly hits the beetle hard with a powerfully fired arrow from his bow. Tempest also hits it with her bow.
The beetle gets entangled again and stays that way. The archers continue their onslaught.
Nora runs up to attack as does the badger, but Ugly gets the final blow with a powerfully shot arrow.
GAME ADJOURNED
Final GM Message
XP Awards
In Character
