AAR: Piabach's Faire Macabre

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Jason
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AAR: Piabach's Faire Macabre

Post by Jason » Tue Oct 31, 2017 3:45 am

Mission: Piabach's Faire Macabre
GM: Jason
Date: 2017-10-30
Difficulty and circle rating: Circle 3 Medium

Player Rewards:
Ceadda: 1400LP, 400 Silver, Tattered Overcoat (Thread Item)
Felsic: 1400 L.P., 100 Silver, +/- Last chance salve.
Jexel: 1400LP, 100 Silver, obsidian sword (Thread Item), Last Chance Salve
Gronk Longtusk: 1400 Legend, Death Cheat Charm, Last Chance Salve, Fur-trimmed Cloak, Grey Suede Boots (Thread Item)
Bortruk: 1400 Legend, 4x Wealthy traveler's garb w/ robe, circle 3 training

Rolls that were witnessed:
Borturk Research (10) for Gronk - Gloves of the adept.

Further Information:
Party interacted with Piabach, who seems to be the source of the roaming Faire. They broke the dark magic that caused the issue and Borgan's rest will slowly return to normal.
Play my game jam games - made by one person in a limited time frame (usually 48 hours)

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etherial
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Re: AAR: Piabach's Faire Macabre

Post by etherial » Tue Oct 31, 2017 4:24 am

6 Strassa
Clem Dawnmist sent a word to the Adepts who explore the wilds that some sort of carnival had come to Borgan's Rest and that everyone there was acting weird. It didn't mention Lareth banishing anyone, so that is definitely a sign that something weird is going on. I grab some of the guys and we head South to check it out.

8 Strassa
While setting up camp for the night, a shadowy figure claiming to be Piabach's came up to us and told us that his fair had been highjacked and if we recovered five items for him, it would free his faire. Creepy.

9 Strassa
Borgan's Rest is festooned with scarecrows, ravens, decorations of all kinds for the otherworldly faire that has taken over the town. The people within wander about with glassy-eyed idiocy and seem to not recall our previous interactions. When pressed, they seem to even forget the current interaction we've been having. Even Laurence's usual imperviousness to the world around him has been overcome and he has been highjacked by the faire's otherworldly magic. Lareth was consumed by the desire to forge, crafting flaying daggers of the like the Cultists use, but thinking only of their use on pumpkins.

Felsic and Jexel saw some faire games whose prizes they thought might be the items we're looking for. Felsic drank a foul potion and held it down, winning a magic rock, and Jexel solved a puzzle cube and won a sword. Bortruk entered a battle of wits and managed to Taunt his way to victory, being awarded a miniature Airship Oar. There was an Archery contest that I won easily, too.

Some looky-loos in the town tried to get me locked up in the stocks for ten minutes and Ceadda tried to egg them on, but I refused and for a moment felt a little sick to my stomach, not unlike the curses those Harpies threw out at us. At that point, another spectral form appeared, looking suspiciously like Vah, asking if we were having a good time.

I overheard some folks casting about looking for a mighty Warrior, so I volunteered Ceadda for the role in revenge. They had a log swinging on a rope that people were taking as a blast to the gut, but Ceadda sidestepped and cut the rope with his spear, taking the prize, a tattered overcoat.

The spectre reappeared and brought the scarecrows to life and they and the ravens attacked. I shot a raven and told my friends to set the scarecrows on fire. The ravens ganged up on Ceadda, but he was able to survive their flurry of blows and destroyed the first scarecrow. Bortruk Taunted and Distracted the second scarecrow, allowing Jexel to slip in behind it and double-team it with him. The crows surrounded Ceadda but we were able to kill enough of them that the rest ran.

After a brief rest, a glowing floating figure came into the town and begged me to dance with it. As we did, it began to drain my life force. I tried to connect with it, but in its hunger, it ripped at my flesh. The rest of the group stepped in to save me. Things were tense for a while, its body was not as there-there as we would have preferred. It floated up to snipe at us from a height. I asked Bortruk for an assist but he panicked and ran and so it was all up to me. I poured the last of my Karma into the shot and banished it to the realm it came from.

Floating in its place was the spirit of Vah, the one who'd betrayed his brother, which quickly floated northward into a cave. I snuck into the cave after it, quenching my thirst with a booster potion, and beheld a collection of dead bodies. Within, we heard chanting, and the chanting figure transigured into some sort of spirit-Brithan-abomination, sending energy out into the corpses to animate them as Cadaver Men.

The spirit-Brithan-thing charged Ceadda, who was able to kill it with assists from Bortruk, Jexel, and myself, but not without several of the Cadaver Men becoming enraged and felling Felsic, who was holding off a group of them so we could focus on it. Two of the Cadaver Men came after me; I slayed one and the other slayed me, but my Death Cheat Charm woke me and I was able to defend Bortruk and Ceadda while Jexel destroyed the foul book that summoned the creatures we fought. I crawled over to Felsic and was able to revive him with a Last Chance Salve.

We returned to Borgan's Rest and were relieved to see that the people had been freed of the cursed faire that had enslaved them.

Other PCs:
Bortruk, male Dwarf Air Sailor
Ceadda, male Human Warrior
Felsic, Obsidiman Scout
Jexel'thalas, male Elf Thief

NPCs:
Celembrian Dawnmist, male Elf Redneck
Piabach, scary shadow monster

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BattleChad
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Re: AAR: Piabach's Faire Macabre

Post by BattleChad » Tue Oct 31, 2017 4:42 am

The Great Library of Throal thanks Gronk for his contribution.

Journal Rewards: 70 Legend Points and 140 Silver.

Jexel
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Re: AAR: Piabach's Faire Macabre

Post by Jexel » Tue Oct 31, 2017 3:43 pm

Journal of Jexel’Thalas Thief

Adventuring companions:
Ceadda - Human Warrior
Gronk - Archer
Felsic - Obsidiman Scout
Bortruk - Normally dead Air Sailor

Investigate a strange fair in Borgan’s Rest where the commoners start acting a bit odd

On the trip to Borgan’s Rest a shadowy figure approached in the middle of the night.  Piabach said that his wandering carnival is not acting as normal and to retrieve five pieces from him. Piabach did not offer an artistic trait, which concerned us.

Felsic had heard stories of a wandering fair pre-scourge that matched this description.  Any details beyond the oddity of it are not known.

Upon entering we see the town has been overrun by a large fair and all the games that you would expect.  We also notice several ravens and some scarecrows that appear to watch you from the corner of your eye.  The normal inhabitants of the town do not recognize the members of the party. I have been there before but Gronk and some of the others have spent quite a bit of time in Borgan’s Rest. They appear in a trance, not able to think beyond the excitement of the carnival.  Some villagers are also creating more scarecrows. The blacksmith is making daggers similar to the ones the Cultists of Raggok use.

I find a puzzlebox game that is strangely designed just for me. Not only was it a test of my ability to circumnavigate locks. It had a beautiful black glossy obsidian sword as the prize. I quickly acquire the slightly serrated sword and notice some blood stains on it. The sword called to me which I tried to resist at first.

It appears as each item is designed for one of us. Bortruk gets into an insult war with a guest, wins an airship paddle. Felsic gets in a drinking contest and wins an amulet. Gronk wins an archery contest and awarded some boots. Ceadda wins an overcoat in a test of a great warrior

One of the spirits returns and it looked like a thief, Vah,some of the others had dealt with earlier. The specter appeared to command the ravens (5) and scarecrows (5) to attack us in the middle of the town.  They appeared upset we were not having enough fun. It took some time due to the numbers but none of them were a real threat. I was glad I saved my strength for later. They also may of been upset that Gronk didn’t want to go in the stocks.

Shortly later, a spirit descended and locked Gronk into some dark sort of dance. At first we were not sure if we should let the dance continue or to attack the spirit. As the dance went on it was obvious he was unable to please the spirit and she started to become upset. Gronk called out in pain and we descended upon the spirit. The others had some difficulty hitting the spirit, but we focused our attacks, knocked her down and forced her to flee into the air. Seeing this caused Bortruk to retreat screaming into a tent.

After Gronk finished the dancer off another blue spirit arose from it and retreated. We chased the spirit to a cave that we were certain was not there in a previous trips. Inside the cave we saw several dead bodies and heard a strange chanting.

Pro tip: Strange chantings are bad

As we rounded a corner we see a figure masked over a dark book on the portal. He transforms and takes on some of the features of a bear. The dead bodies come to an unnatural pained life and begin attacking us. We engaged the cadavar men as the man bear was some distance away. Fortunately they were unable to initially detect me and I avoided the first attacks while being able to get the surprise on one of them.

Pro tip 2: The dead bodies appeared in quite a bit of pain from the beginning but once you wound them they go into an amazing fury. Attacking with blind fury at an incredible rate. Take them down quickly.

We then begin to take down the man bear but unfortunately we had sent some of the cadavars into a frenzied rage. A cadavar got a solid hit onto Felsic. Seeing something as tough and large as Felsic killed from nearly a single shot was scarey as hell. From then on I wanted to have an escape route ready. Through distract from Bortruk that allows my surprise magic to shine I was able to inflict quite a bit of damage to the man bear.  Also enraged cadavar men are singular in purpose.  the toughness and skill of Ceadda was once again a life saver. Gronk was deadly with his bow until he attracted a frenzied cadavar’s attention. Fortunately his death cheat charm activated and saved his life.

During the melee after the man bear was killed I was posturing for a safe attack when I noticed the spirits retreating to the book. I took a chance with several cadavar men still up and two of our companions down and raced over to the book and slashed it with my sword. A wave of magical energy knocked me down and the cadavar men once again fell lifeless to the floor. This was difficult as there was no clear escape route if things went poorly.

Piaback returned and thanked us for cleansing the fair. We returned to Borgan’s Rest and was glad to see the villagers had returned to normal.

Additional notes: Although my skill grows the danger is increasing. I must train to become more deadly, silent and swift. If all else fails I must have the toughness to withstand something that can take down an Obsidiman.

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BattleChad
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Re: AAR: Piabach's Faire Macabre

Post by BattleChad » Tue Oct 31, 2017 5:47 pm

The Great Library of Throal thanks Jexel for his contribution.

Journal Rewards: 70 Legend Points and 140 Silver.

Quixotic
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Joined:Tue Sep 26, 2017 7:11 pm

Re: AAR: Piabach's Faire Macabre

Post by Quixotic » Thu Nov 16, 2017 8:17 pm

Borturk, Gronk, Ceadda, Jexel and I were headed to Borgan’s Rest and had stopped for the night when a shadowy figure enetted our camp. He stated that his faire had been taken from him and if we could return five items there to him he could take it back. As he drifted aimlessly out of camp I recognized the legend of Piabach’s Faire from before the Scourge and feared that a Horror endangered the newest human settlement.

As we came to the village it was cast in twilight with strange scarecrow built everywhere. I lit a torch to make sure I could see as my fellow adventurers spoke to the guards. No one was hostile but the customary ritual of art was ignored and no one knew their own name. We decided to split up and visit the faire’s attractions.

I entered the tavern and met the local Bawd whom challenged me to drink and keep a concoction down. After determining that it would not harm me I quaffed the drink and won a rock on a necklace that reminded me of a liferock. He then challenged me to an insult contest but I did not want to participate him and pointed out others in my party who might be more offensive.

It seems that after winning the five prizes we were successful at offending someone as three scarecrow and a number of crows attacked us. The lit torch came in quite handy as the scarecrows were vulnerable and caught fire quite easily. Ceadda was surrounded by crows but they fell quickly.

Borturk disappeared during this attack and once they were dispatched a lonely spirit appeared and started to dance with Gronk. I recognized it as a Spectral Dancer but it was too late. I tried to tell Gronk that he needed to connect with it but my advice was not helpful as what do I know of gender or matters of seduction?

Even though it was dangerous we attacked her. She flew up into the air and only Gronk and Borturk had a chance of reliably attacking. Eventually she was defeated and it turned into a small blue spirit that fled North.

We followed and tracked it to a cave system that no one remembered being there the last time they visited. I led the way through the caves looking for traps and when we rounded a corner we encountered an evil animal-man-spirit whom read a spell from a book and created six cadaver men.

I fell into a defensive stance and held four of them while the rest of our party dispatched the thing and two cadaver men. I was holding my own until one got a lucky shot off and darkness descended on me. I was resurrected thanks to Gronk’s last chance salve after the battle was over. Borgan’s Rest returned to normal after the book was destroyed and hopefully Piabach got his Faire back.

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BattleChad
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Re: AAR: Piabach's Faire Macabre

Post by BattleChad » Fri Nov 17, 2017 8:03 pm

The Great Library of Throal thanks Felsic for his contribution.

Journal Rewards: 70 Legend Points and 140 Silver.

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