[LP] Blood Valley: The Quarry

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angelfromanotherpin
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[LP] Blood Valley: The Quarry

Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Anyone on the Hunter team (or contemplating being on the Hunter team) should not read this thread until the game is over.
The Valley of Gad

You have chosen to be a prisoner owned by the Archveult. He is the undisputed lord of the Valley of Gad and has lived in his castle for three hundred years. When he began his reign of terror after slaying the old king, his subjects renamed his home Castle Remorse. He is feared and hated by all people.

His appearance alone is enough to terrify even the stoutest of heart. He is a Firedrake, one of the elder races of Orb that live north and east of the Mountains of Undying Solitude, but he is also an Archveult, a rare thing even amongst the powerful Firedrakes. The Firedrakes are a naturally cruel race but he has taken their lust for cruelty to the greatest lengths and is never happier than when demonstrating his superiority over his pathetic human subjects.

He stands eight feet tall and his fierce head is topped by a bony spiked carapace like that of an ancient giant reptile. His eyes are smoldering pits of fire and when he is angered they ignite, burning with a deep red flame that also bursts out over the blue scales of his body. He has large blue wings which, when spread, cast an awesome shadow.

You know nothing of the Valley of Gad save that it is ruled by the Archveult and has a city called Askelon. You know that it is ringed by mountains but that there is a way out of the valley at the western end, at the town of Gap. There are rumors of other less well guarded ways out of the valley, but you know nothing of them as yet.
The Hunt

It is spring. The month of Weir has just begun but you feel little joy for as a slave you have been taken to a place that is infamous throughout Orb as a hell as bad as any in the lower planes. The man who led the caravan in which you were but a piece of helpless baggage, a harsh warrior named Kritos Bloodheart, revelled in telling you your coming fate. At this time of year the ruler of this valley indulges himself in his favorite pastime, the annual hunt. One slave is set free from the standing stones near the castle and hunted down like an animal. If found, the slave is torn to pieces by the Archveult's Hounds of Hell, giant dogs with flaming breath, which came from the nether planes, and were a gift from a Demonlord. If the slave escapes the valley he will go free. But the slaves seldom escape.

Bloodheart has scoured the slave pits of Upanishad for slaves and has brought three back to the Valley of Gad. The Archveult will mercilessly hunt down one of these slaves until at last, exhausted and broken, the slave will beg him to end their wretched life. The doors to your cell are opened: it is Bloodheart and his guards. You are chosen as the one to be taken before the ruler of the valley.
Slaves

You must choose which of the three types of quarry you wish to be: priest, barbarian, or thief. As you have been bought as a slave by the Archveult, you must tell him your choice.

The Priest
Image

Languishing in your dank cell you rue the day that you - an intelligent young priest of the temple to Avatar in Pokeel - decided to travel to Segesvar. You went in search of a sage who knew of an ancient prayer, much used there in times past, to find the favor of Avatar but while you were there, an innkeeper drugged your ale. A good and zealous man, you were ill-prepared for life in the slave caravan that took you to the market of faraway Upanishad. You vow that the innkeeper who duped you will pay, should you escape the valley. Kritos Bloodheart paid a high price for you in the slave pens, for he knew you would give the Archveult good sport.

Dressed only in your torn white robe and manacled, you are dragged by the castle guards into the Archveult's presence. Flame plays over his blue-scaled body and his voice is deep and resonant.
'He looks weak,' he complains.
You try to speak, but you have been gagged, lest you cast a spell. All that comes out is a muffled gurgle. Kritos cuffs you into silence.
'He is a priest, magnificence, he knows spells, he nearly escaped on the road from Upanishad. He speaks the Word of Helpless Palsy and has the Touch of Harm, and,' he chuckles, 'he has Avatar the One on his side.' There is a gale of laughter as he says this.
'Oh Avatar, where are you now, free thy servant from thisevil place of torment,' the Firedrake mocks. There is silence in the chamber. 'Your god has deserted you,' he cries, and with that he claps his hands and you are dragged away, head held high and contempt in your eye for the cruel Archveult.

The Barbarian
Image

Almost a year ago you left your home town near the city of Strand in the Great Valley Reaches. Like many northern barbarians before, you found that your strength and ferocity were highly valued in the softer southern lands. But your dreams of becoming a captain in the army of one of the manmarcher cities was shattered when you were tricked into becoming a gladiator. You have won all your contests but your success only makes you the more highly prized. You fled the manmarch but were tricked again by a beautiful courtezan whose kisses sent you into a deep slumber. When you awoke you were destined for the Arena of Death in Mortavalon, but Kritos Bloodheart has met your price and now you are the Archveult's slave.

When you are led before the ruler who owns you, your arms are tied to a yoke, as if you were being prepared for crucifixion. You are stripped to your loincloth, revealing the bruises you gained while trying to escape.
'I had to pay a small fortune for this one, magnificence," says Kritos. 'He was to be sent back north to become a gladiator in the Arena of Death at Mortavalon. He is the strongest man I have ever met and still barely more than a boy.'
You growl a curse at the Firedrake, overcoming your fear, but at a sign from Kritos, pressure is applied to the yoke and you are slowly forced to your knees, grunting all the while with the effort of trying to avoid abasing yourself before him. He claps his hands and you are taken away. The Firedrake did not even deign to address you. Soon you are sweating with rage in the dank clammishness of your cell once more.

The Thief
Image

The cold damp of your cell reminds you of your folly. Three tendays since, you were striving for control of a chapter of the Thieves' Guild of Upanishad but you had made too many enemies. When Kritos Bloodheart came to the city and let it be known that he was interested in unusual slaves your enemies leaped at the chance to remove you from the city. You were knocked unconscious and sold to Bloodheart, then kept bound hand and foot during the long journey to the Valley of Gad.

At last Kritos Bloodheart comes to take you from the cell. Before the leg irons are struck off, you are chained to two hulking guards who stand on either side of you. Then you are taken into the presence of the ruler who now owns you.
'I have saved the fairest till last, magnificence,' says Kritos. There is a murmur of appreciation from the guards.
'It's a woman!' the Firedrake exclaims. 'They are weaker than the men.'
Kritos does not look unduly troubled by his master's displeasure. 'Not this one, magnificence, she is a skilled swordswoman and, until she was delivered into our hands, was a master in the Thieves' Guild of Upanishad.'
You note every detail of your surroundings, hoping for a chance of escape, but Kritos has ensured there is none. The guards force you to your knees and invite her to beg for mercy, but you reply: 'It is you who will beg for mercy out in the wilderness, Firedrake.'
He smiles and orders you to be taken back to the dungeons, confident that he will force you to change your tune.
Escape

You will have to find a way out of the valley. There is a large gate in the fortified walls enclosing the valleyat its western entrance, by Gap town. This is the only known exit, but it is, of course, heavily guarded. Gap town and the wall all belong to the Archveult.

Other exits must exist, but finding them may not be easy.
The Archveult's Allies

Your opponent has three allies or henchmen: Kritos Bloodheart, the Captain of the Archveult's guard, an evil and bloodthirsty warrior; Ka-riim, the Hashishin, the Archveult's assassin; and the Demiveult, a large winged reptile which some say is a Firedrake in its larval form, while others believe it is a product of the Archveult's genetic experiments.

In any case, the Archveult will have placed his allies somewhere in the valley and you may encounter them. Beware, the ally will inform the Archveult of your location before attacking you!
There's a fair amount of rigamarole with codes and such that I'll be taking care of behind the scenes.

Your first decision is to choose your character. The relevant character sheets are below.
The Priest

Wound Levels:
Healthy/Bruised/Injured/Wounded/Badly Wounded/Crippled/Dead

Combat:
-2 Strike (until you find a weapon).

Equipment:
Nothing.

Special Abilities
Poor Swimmer
Spells

Spells: (Spells are lost once used, Vancian style.)
Paralysis x2 (Auto-wins a combat against a human.)
Heal x4 (Restores 1 wound level, cannot be cast in combat.)
Cause Wounds x5 (Once per combat, fight at +1 Strike, ignoring all other modifiers.)
The Barbarian

Wound Levels:
Healthy/Bruised/Stunned/Injured/Wounded/Badly Wounded/Crippled/Dead

Combat:
-1 Strike (until you find a weapon).
+1 Damage.

Equipment:
Nothing.

Special Abilities
Good Swimmer
Strength
Stamina
The Thief

Wound Levels:
Healthy/Bruised/Injured/Wounded/Badly Wounded/Crippled/Dead

Combat:
-1 Strike (until you find a weapon).
+1 Strike (with a weapon).

Equipment:
Nothing.

Special Abilities
Weapon skill
Stealth
Average Swimmer
Contacts
The game will start once the quarry is chosen. Also, check out the common information (on combat and such) in the neutral thread.
Mr Shine
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Post by Mr Shine »

I think I'm the only Quarry player at the moment. I'll put in a provisional request to be the Thief, as the Priest's spell don't look extensive enough and I'd rather have skill than brawn. I'll give it a bit before making it official though in case anybody wants to join me, (and would prefer a different character).
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Yeah, I'm going to give it about a day for more people to join in.
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Post by Starmaker »

I'm in for the Quarry, and +1 to the Thief. According to the main thread, Stealth is really damn useful.
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angelfromanotherpin
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Re: [LP] Blood Valley: The Quarry

Post by angelfromanotherpin »

The Beginning

You are returned to your cell, but the first ray of hope shines at sunset. Before they come to take you to the standing stones, one of your fellow prisoners shakes a powder all over you, explaining that it has magical properties which will confuse the hounds as they try to track you. You are now ready to begin your flight from Castle Remorse, unarmed, with no more than the few scraps of clothing left to you.

Image
Sorry about the scan, the double-page spread makes it tough. It's not actually clear where the map comes from, it could very well just be your vague idea of the valley's layout gleaned from conversation with other prisoners. The blurry area in the very center is supposed to look swampy.
Image
Ra's chariot lights the sky, but the coming of dawn does not lift your spirits. You havespent the night, without furs or cloak, chained to one ofthe strange circle of standing stones near the western end of the Valley of Gad. Behind you towers the Archveult's castle and even now you hear the unearthly baying of the Hounds of Hell. As the sun climbs the sky you can see more of your surroundings. A grisly exhibition of trophies adorns the stone monoliths, the heads of the Archveult's previous victims. Some are too decayed to tell even if they were once human, but the more recent ones have been crudely embalmed. Last year's victim appears to have been a young woman, the one before a large man with a barbarian's plaits still swinging in the wind, his face a mask of agony split by a terrible wound. Suddenly the chains fall away from your wrists and a mouth opening up in the face of the grey stone which faces you speaks, 'Run, run for all you are worth, you cannot escape me and my Hounds of Hell. You have a few hours grace before I take up the chase.'

The stones are on a conical hill-top. Behind you the dark towers of Castle Remorse deter all attempts at escape to the east. A track leads north towards high ground and a road of beaten earth winds south towards a range of hills. To the west lies a rising swell of rough moorland.
WAIT TWICE

• Search the standing stones and surrounding area?
• Head due west across the moor?
• Take the road south?
• Take the track north?
The WAIT TWICE is just to simulate your actual release time, it doesn't cut into your designated head start. You shouldn't actually wait to make your choice, I'll advance you when the opposition has caught up.
Mr Shine
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Post by Mr Shine »

There musrt be some loot here. Search.
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Post by Starmaker »

I'm thinking their spirits maybe haunt the area and are helpful. Search.
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

The sight of those who had been in your shoes but who fared so badly makes your heart flutter with fear. There is little left of them and you are about to abandon this waste of precious time when you discover the hilt of an old iron dagger in the grass. You pull it out to find the blade still serviceable and you at least have a weapon of sorts. The dagger will not deal more than one wound level when you strike with it.
WAIT

• Head due west across the moor?
• Take the road south?
• Take the track north?
A nice little benefit; let's hope it was worth the time lost.
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Post by Mr Shine »

I want to investigate the unlabled builting to the north whilst we're still on free time.
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Post by Starmaker »

Sure, let's do it. Since our enemy is "feared and hated by all people", we should probably look for allies, and a building means there could be someone living in it. (Well, there could be rebels in the swamp or something, but it's huuuuge. (I'm just rambling to have an "at least we tried" excuse for if/when we become hellhound chow.))
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

(Kritos Bloodheart is not patrolling the cataract.)

You are on a twisting track running virtually north to south across high ground. It clings to the spurs of the hills and is partly paved with flints. The track runs south towards the standing stones where your ordeal began. To the north it winds gradually higher into the hills. To the west is hilly broken ground where stunted trees warped in the direction of the prevailing wind point forlornly at the horizon. To the east is the impenetrable mass of the Mountains of Remorse.
WAIT

• Cross the broken ground?
• Follow the track north, climbing into the hills?
• Follow the track south, descending towards the standing stones?
edit: This paragraph instructed you to record a tracks keyword, which I'm behind-the-scenes-ing. In general, you leave tracks most everywhere you go and there's very little you can do about it.
Last edited by angelfromanotherpin on Fri Mar 11, 2016 6:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Starmaker »

Damn, he's ahead on allies as well. West, I suppose -- it's where the building is, and the way the paragraph is phrased, we might throw the doggies off scent.
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Post by Mr Shine »

Sounds good to me, let's go west.
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

You cross two hills topped by the forlorn wind-ravaged trees then come to the lip of a gorge through which a river cascades down a series of rapids. The other side of the gorge is lower than the side on which you stand and you can see a flatter more tame country beyond. There is no way to bridge the gap.
WAIT

• Follow the lip of the gorge southwest?
• Climb higher up the gorge to the north where you can see what looks like a rope bridge in the distance?
Mr Shine
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Post by Mr Shine »

Head for the rope bridge.
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Post by Starmaker »

Mr Shine wrote:Head for the rope bridge.
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

There's an alternate reference you'd be going to here if either you or the hunter had a particular codeword, but neither of you do, so...
You soon come to the lip of a great gorge. An old rope bridge is the only way of crossing to the other side. Far below are the white waters of a cataract which pours into a deep blue pool, where the river whirls and eddies before plunging on down a series of rapids.

The rope bridge looks a little frayed and rotten, but you think it would probably still bear your weight.
WAIT

• Cross the bridge?
• Return to where you came from?
Some info you could glean from the section numbers: returning 'where you came from' actually puts you back on the track north of the stones. And indeed, if you'd gone north from there (instead of west) you'd have wound up here. But for some reason, the trip NE from the broken ground to here is one-way.
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Post by Mr Shine »

The code probably means the bridge can collapse, probably giving the first person to encounter it a free crossing. I would be inclined to go for it, otherwise we've wasted our time getting here.
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Cross it. It's a risk, but we can probably cut it once we get to the other side, which we totally should do.
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Post by Starmaker »

^^ ^ This.
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

(Kritos Bloodheart is not stationed near the cataract.)
(Neither of you has a particular codeword.)
(Your opponent does have a different, relevant codeword!)
The rope bridge gives a little as you step out onto it, with a screech of tearing fibres. As you reach half-way there is an explosion that blasts to smithereens the stakes holding the bridge to the far side of the gorge. The bridge collapses and you fall headlong towards the foaming water below. Far beneath the surface your body crashes into a jagged rock. Lose a wound level. If you are still alive you are extremely fortunate to grab a piece of the planking that was once part of the shattered bridge and try to keep your head above the raging torrent as you are borne away through the rapids. The Archveult had trapped the bridge magically; you almost fell to your doom.
(You now have the code you did not have above. You guessed correctly that it indicates that the bridge is out.)
(There is a die roll to determine the next entry you proceed to.)
You have lost anything you may have been carrying, including any weapons. You struggle to keep your hold on the planks and at last climb on top of them only to be knocked unconscious as you float beneath a low branch. Lose another wound level. If you are still alive you regain consciousnessas the raft on which you are lying is tipped up and you are pitched once more into the water. You strike out for the shore but something sinuous and powerful rubs your leg. You look down into the clear water to see the green coils of a huge water serpent closing round your thighs. You are pulled below the surface and must fight free.
WATER SERPENT
Healthy (Damage -1)
Hurt (Damage -1)
Discouraged

Round 1: Thief: 6-1=5, Serpent: 2; Serpent is Hurt.
Round 2: Thief: 5-1=4, Serpent: 3; Serpent is Discouraged
(That serpent just didn't want it.)
You succeed in discouraging the serpent from making you its next meal, it glides away unseen beneath the reflective glare of the water, and you drag yourself, exhausted, onto the far bank. WAIT.
Ouch! A vicious trap, but you still have your legs and wits, so nothing's over yet. And at least river travel leaves no tracks. In other news, it's approximately noon; only another 7 WAITs until sundown.
The Thief

Wound Levels:
Healthy/Bruised/Injured/Wounded/Badly Wounded/Crippled/Dead

Combat:
-1 Strike (until you find a weapon).
+1 Strike (with a weapon).

Equipment:
Nothing.

Special Abilities
Weapon skill
Stealth
Average Swimmer
Contacts
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

(Kritos Bloodheart is not patrolling the Moorland.)
You have reached the northwest corner of the moor. The going is slow. The moorland is strewn with boulders and the ground is heavy and wet underfoot.
WAIT TWICE

• Seek a hollow in which to hide? There is some promising land to the east.
• Go west, where the land changes completely into an incredibly lush and unnaturally flat meadow?
• If you are the barbarian or thief, swim the fast-flowing river to the north?
• Travel east without seeking a hiding place?
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Post by Mr Shine »

half a vote to hide for 3 turns to get one of those wounds back.
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Post by Starmaker »

Swim to the north. Swimming doesn't leave tracks (at least it shouldn't).
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

(The hunter has asked for a tracks keyword that you do have. He has crossed your trail at some point.)
(The Priest must turn back here.)
Halfway across, at the deepest point, something sinuous and powerful rubs your leg. You look down into the clear water to see the green coils of a huge water serpent closing round your thighs. You are pulled below the surface and must fight free.
WATER SERPENT
Healthy (Damage -1)
Hurt (Damage -1)
Discouraged

Round 1: Thief: 12-1=11, Serpent: 5; (2 WLs) Serpent is Discouraged.
(Unfortunate repeated encounter, but your thief was having absolutely none of that bullshit.)
You succeed in discouraging the serpent from making you its next meal, it glides away unseen beneath the reflective glare of the water, and you drag yourself, exhausted, onto the far bank. WAIT.
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