Shadowdark: Bloggah's Blog Part 4, Poking the Bear

Saw some movement from my office. "Hello? Oh, it's you..."

A goblin wearing what looked like a tattered bathrobe stomped in. "Here's you magic tablet thing. Fukking Columbo..." He tossed it on the couch and stomped out. 

"Yo, what's up?"

"Read about it..." he grumbled over his shoulder, slammed the door, and disappeared into the night. Ok then. Let's see what we've got here.  

***

Hi. Been a week. We been hanging around Hound's Head, getting resupplied and rested. I got my fancy silver dagger, plus found that I could read that scroll Rig-Rot found out by his magic tree. Lets me see magic stuff. Could be handy.

Elinar kept trying to talk to the voices in her head, but they don't really seem to be answering. 

Columbo got his fancy ring from some dwarf god, but wants to get rid of it. I don't get that. Never satisfied, that guy. 

Jer-Jom and Elinar's orphans are itching to get out, and we got a map to a Northman barrow. Sounds good. Talked to Blake. He likes curiosities. Turns out the map is a copy of one of his. He points out a couple of landmarks, might save us some trouble. Or not. But Blake's eager to learn what we learn, so gives us a couple of healing potions. After all if we don't get back, he don't learn nothing.

Time to head out. We got a good wagon road to follow, so easy walking, and no killer deer, as far as we see. But someone had some bad luck in front of us. Find a couple of stinky bodies. Human and halfling. Looks like something killed them and rifled their pockets. I poke at them with my pole. Some flies rise up, but at least the dead don't. 

Dremond decides to poke at them more directly. My granduncle Moldgut always said to watch to things that eat dead things. Dremond didn't have an uncle, I guess, as he screamed like a little girl when a rot grub latched onto him. Roll eyes. Burn it off (and him too a little, oops). I take my pole to remove a necklace from one of the bodies. See? No rot grubs. It looks liks a holy symbol to Delaquain. Didn't help them.

artist's rendition

Down the road, we hear someone lamenting something. This forest is full of joy... Find a homestead, with a poor guy trying to get a plow horse off its last legs. Dremond goes to see if he can help. Nope. Unless sending the horse to its reward counts. Now the poor guy is really sad. We pool some silver for the poor guy. His name is Turgal, and he's deaf as a doorknob. But we make some progress communicating, and get ok to stay the night. He's got a stout little palisade around his house, and we drag the horse to the stable so that scavengers don't get drawn in. We butcher some meat off it. Waste not want not.

Cook it up and cram into Turgal's cabin. He's nice, but a bit dense. From the city of Scorn, left for no clear reason. He's got a black spear, though. Something associated with the god Serath. Anyway, time to turn in.

Middle of the night, some scratching and thumping at the wall. Columbo and Jer-Jom climb in top of the cabin to see over the wall. Of course it's a bear.

Well, as my granduncle Moldrot used to say, "Sometimes you eat the bear, usually the bear eat you." I pull on my robe, scamper out to the stable, hack a leg off the horse, and huck it over the wall. Bear takes it. Problem solved.

No Columbo! Don't shoot it! Dammit. Bear turns around, now with arrows in his ass. Fine. They can sort is out. I'm going back to bed.

artist's rendition

Bunch of commotion. More fighting and screaming. Now the bear is on the roof. Turgal is really deaf... Elinar, Dremond, and the boys run out and try to lend some aid. All I hear is a bunch of missing. And more angry bear. I roll over. Elinar does some sort of illusion thing. At least that gets the bear off the roof. Columbo jumps on it. Silence. He botches skinning it at least.

We leave in the morning before we "help" Turgal any more.

Working our way through the foothills and following the map, we find a soddy built into a hillside. Hmm. Poke around inside. Looks like an old shrine, buncha melted candles. And stairs down. Columbo goes first. Go ahead, brave boy. Good, he stepped on the trap step. Darn, it's broken.

Anyway, we find a broken sarcophagus. Very empty. This place has been swept clean. Maybe not. I try out my new magic seeing trick. Ooo. Something glowing on that shelf over there. Columbo pokes at it. It doesn't blow up. Darnit. But it jingles. A rip, and a bunch of hard silver coins fall from an invisible bag. 

We decide to hole up for the night. Behave yourself Columbo. Shithead. 

Actual play here on the Youtubes: King Cenwal's Barrow