Introduction:
This is a summary of a week within the MYFAROG RPG. The sessions ranged from one to three hours a piece, at about 1 session per every two or three weeks, starting on January 17th, 2015. The party members are Aquillius, Marcomer, Hecitas, and Eleni. I, the mythmaster, began by telling them a minimal description of the land and background, and the session begins..
On the 13th day of Braidoblika, a band of young Halogi met for the first time in and around the small and rustic village of Beach. Here they met an old fisherman collecting mussels, and a mother who told them her son had not come back from a recent coming of age festival. The party investigated a nearby cave where they encountered a few wild dogs. The remains of the child were unfortunately found in the cave. It appeared he had tried to climb a wall of the cave to avoid conflict, then slipped and sustained a great injury when he fell. After informing the mother of the terrible news, she thanked them and the party left Beach after some light trading and foraging in the area. During their departure, they met a boar hunter who told them of boars in the nearby forest. No boars were found, but the party did manage to hunt some other large game. Marcomer also found an unidentified herb while foraging; which was later identified by a local nobleman who dabbled in alchemy as the main ingredient in a healing salve.
The party then journeyed east, deciding not to enter a deep and dangerous-looking hole in the ground to the mountains to the west, they came across a small cottage with a simple fence around it. They met an old, odd woman who lived alone there who spoke of missing turnips and “rabbit man”; whom she said was a rabbit covered in ragged fur who stood as tall as a man and only came out at night. She had determined that this man-rabbit was responsible for the recent great loss of her turnips.
The party continued east, and spotted two suspicious looking men along the side of the road. The men did not bother them as they continued. After another day of travel, Hecitas had become rather ill on his stomach and had a hard time moving. It was around this time by chance they came across a man in fancy clothes who introduced himself as Cincius, a merchant. Cincius had a thrall named Aufidius who was in debt to him chained to a cart. The merchant had left a key item at Streamy Cove, and offered to take Hecitas there in the cart if he were to escort the thrall. The party agreed. Marcomer also made a trade with the merchant, despite local animosity towards merchants.
In the village of Streamy Cove, the party met Drest the tanner & taxidermist, as well as Nulls the fletcher & spear-maker. Both of these men almost exclusively craft for the local militia that protects the village and surrounding areas. Marcomer convinced Nulls to get him to assist him in making two quivers in exchange for resources. This process took around six hours, during which the rest of the party foraged the nearby area and investigate more. When speaking with Drest, they learned that cattle had gone missing from the local cattle-farmers land, and 2 heads had been placed on stakes right outside of the farm.. a sign of Kopparmen. This was the first the party learned of this strange race from another land.
While Eleni was fishing at the coast, she noticed a pod of dolphins off-shore, led by a mysterious small humanoid being. The being turned out to be a sea nymph. While the sea nymph did not speak, it communicated with Eleni through gestures. When it was clear that the nymph suggested Eleni grab onto a nearby dolphin, she proceeded to do so and quickly disappeared into the sea. The remaining party who witnessed this followed her lead, and after being briefly submerged, they arrived in a pitch black cave, still floating in the sea with the assistance of the dolphins.
They swam a few feet from their positions to feel for a way out of the hole and onto the surrounding dry cave floor. Then, with the aid of knocking rocks together to create sparks for faint light to see by, they barely make out the rough dimensions of the cave as well as notice the nymph floating silently near them in the water. The sparks and noise alert a centipede nearly as long as a man. Due to the position of the centipede, and a stunning initial blow to its head, the party managed to slay it without anyone being poisoned.
Once the centipede was destroyed, the sea nymph emitted a blue radiant light which filled the cave, revealing a door at the end of the tunnel the monster had crawled from. This was far too small for anyone to squeeze through, but was just the right size for the nymph. The light also revealed some ancient, secret runes on the side of the cave. While they could not be translated, Aquillius scratched them onto his staff for future reference. The group then jumped back into the water, latched onto the dolphins one last time, held their breath, and emerged back in the open sea where they rode back to the beach of Streamy Cove.
A woman named Tamara who cooks for a local inn of sorts in Streamy Cove and has two children has complained that her husband, who runs the cattle farm, went hunting for the Kopparmen and has yet to return two days later. Based on rumors and the cow heads placed on stakes in Streamy Cove, the party decided to journey to the north, towards Rottenwood where they have heard there is recent Kopparmen activity.
The party did not get far when they detected a scout trying to track them. He was scrawny, dark-skinned and has sharp teeth. He also has a string of what looks like human ears dangling from his belt. Assuming he was dangerous, he was sniped with arrow fire before being finished off. Hecitas decides to go back to town and convince some of the local militia to journey with them in the direction they saw the scout. As night approaches, they see smoke coming from a small fire on a hilltop a couple hundred meters from the road. They stealthily investigate and discover 2 scrawny, dark-skinned men and one female.
The source of the smoke was a fire pit which they are spit-roasting a pale, human torso on. The two savages puts up quite a fight, but only manage to score light and medium injuries before being overtaken by the party and their followers. The female ran away. The party then went back to rest at the inn at Streamy Cove to recover from their injuries and fatigue. The militia members are relieved.
The next day, the party checked on the campsite once more to find no signs of further activity, then went to Rottenwood. Aquillius is afflicted with thsse same sickness Hecitas previously had, and has to camp out by himself for a brief time until he can catch up with everyone else. During this period, he has a bizarre dream involving a hallway with giant rats, a half-arrow shaped room where he sees the sea nymph again, a bonfire, and a man with the head of a rabbit behind a secret wall who leads him up stairs, transforms into a bear, then jumps down a slide that Aquillius follows him down, to be awakened.
Rottenwood was an almost vacant and wretched place, surrounded in foul bogs and bad, rotting lumber. Only a tavern (clearly marked by a stone on the ground right outside the door of the medium-sized shack), a large warehouse-looking building, and another building resembling a tobacco barn are visible aside from run down huts and smaller shacks. However, a large and almost pristine ship dock lines the ocean-side. The explanation for the lack of ships there and lack of population in general was given by the large woman running the local tavern was “It’s not fishing season.”.
In this tavern, they met a male and female couple who were traveling hunters. They were there to hunt boars and other game around the bogs. The group also meets an old man there drinking by himself, dressed in robes. It is revealed through the couple and the barkeep that this man is a mute and from an area to the north known as “Spell Lake”, but he himself remains nameless. The young couple also mentions not to stay the night here, and that they will be leaving shortly.
The old man suggests they buy him another drink, then suggests they follow him outside into the night and towards the bog. He pauses at the edge of the bog where the party observes many wisps floating through the air. He bends down and gathers mud which he smears on his face in a certain pattern. The party members mock this gesture, and the wisps are revealed to be many lantern men. Eleni, the most charismatic of party, interacts with one of the nearby lantern men who shows her a mass grave deep in the swamp before floating away.
This grave was filled with naturally mummified remains of a battle from long, long ago. The rest of the party decides to head back to the tavern once they realize their elder guide has disappeared, but Marc insists on searching the dead, on which he finds 1 ounce of gold.
After arriving back at the Rottonwood tavern shortly before midnight, they spot their guide asleep outside the door. Inside was a new patron to the tavern, an older Halogi who also had a ring of ears on his belt. This man was revealed to be the missing husband of Tamara, on his way back home to Streamy Cove. He was grateful to hear of all the Kopparmen the party managed to take care of, then left as the party began talking to the barkeep once more. The party asked if there was a nearby inn, and were told a man named “Carl” owns a place where he rents out rooms, yet the barkeep strongly suggests not to stay there, instead offering to let the party sleep on the floor.
Apparently, outside of the tavern was the old man’s common resting spot when in town, although this seemed unusual when the barkeep boarded the doors from the inside and midnight approached. So the party slept on the floor of the tavern for the night, to the sounds of the old man snoring outside.
The next morning, the party awoke a bit later than usual to find all normal in Rottonwood and the old man was gone. It was Easter, when people wander upwards into the hills for ceremonies, but it was too late in the day to participate in tradition with anyone else in the area, including the barkeep. After some debate, it was decided that the party leave Rottonwood as soon as possible and continue north to this land known as Spell Lake. On their way out, they were reunited with Aquillius, who spoke of the strange dream he had as they filled him in on what he had missed.
Along the way, they run into another young man named Aldin, who claims he is also from the area of Spell Lake. He kindly invites the party to be escorted by him there. They make quick progress to the north with the assistance of Aldin until they come across a fork in the road. They choose the north-eastern fork, and Aldin has no objections. Further up the road, they detect a chain sound and grunting. They spot two more Koppermen walking right off the road, with a dog leading them.
Perhaps the deities were upon the party this day as they were downwind from the dog and were detected. These Kopparmen, while perhaps slightly more strong than the last, were no match for the group of young adventurers assisted by Aldin once the dog was killed.
Now, it is the evening of the 22nd of Braidoblika, and Aldin tells the party his home in Wedgewood is only another 4 hours or so of road ahead..
