Lords of RPG

(Written by Mark Stinson)

They had just finished reading Torvi's note.

Timm looked up at his companions.  "Fuck."

Shade shook his head.  "That's not what I wanted...that's not the plan!"

Sympos smiled.  "Torvi seeks a different death.  I understand this."

Gabe had stoked up the fire, and had sausages sizzling on a pan.  "Won't do any good to plan on an empty stomach.  Are we headed back to the ship now?"

Shade stabbed a finger at Gabe.  "I think Torvi was on the right track regarding you!"

Gabe seemed taken aback.  "What do you mean by that!?!"

Shade waved his hand, dismissively at Gabe.  "You got no balls.  Maybe you once did...maybe you can again.  But from everything I've seen, you got no balls."

Gabe's face turned grim, and it was Shade's turn to be taken aback.  "You'd be surprised what I'm capable of, Shade.  You'd be surprised.  But, we make choices...and there are consequences.  Some of those consequences just aren't worth it.  Without Torvi...we're in trouble.  She was brave...and capable of great violence toward the right folks...or monsters."

Timm absent-mindedly weighed his belt pouch with his hand.  The coins inside clinked together.  "We took payment...and there's more payment to be had.  We can do this...even without Torvi.  We have the song that keeps the Fey away.  These bowman took us by surprise.  We won't surprised next time."

Sympos nodded.  "I suppose I will miss Torvi.  She was fair toward me."

The wind was blowing through the upper limbs of the trees, rustling the leaves.  It was the sort of sudden wind that marks the coming of a storm.  The leaves of some of the trees had turned, showing their silver side.  Shade shook his head.  "Perhaps we should find some shelter, and have a good long talk about how we're going to fuck up those Rangers."

---------------------------

Our adventurers chose to walk in an eastern direction, for a stone seemed to rise out of the forest to the east.  Perhaps there was a cave there, where they could shelter from the storm.

Upon approaching the large stone, it was more of a stony hill.  Circumventing the steep sides of the stone, they found a large black opening.  Gabe nervously shifted the pot on his head.  "Out of the frying pan...and all that."

Shade smiled.  "I'll check it out."

Sympos hefted his meat hook.  "Not alone.  I will go with you."

Under gathering storm clouds, the two entered the dark entrance of the cave.  The area inside the cave was about 10 feet wide, and 20 feet deep.  Toward the back, there was a metal cage suspended from a hook in the ceiling by a chain.  The end of the chain was attached to a loop sticking out of the back wall.

"What the hell?"  Shade crept forward silently, Sympos doing his best to tip-toe behind him.

The cage was a 7' cube on all sides, and crammed into it were two human bodied, dirty and half-naked.

(Written by Chris Stevens)

Shade hand motions to Sympos to ignore the cage and search for the things that put them there. (Shade was always good at the silent comms side of snooping'n poop'n.)

Just then Sympos squats down and begins making mud pies. "The hell?"

Shade goes up and whispers his idea to Sympos. "Stop eating dirt and lets find the current residents of this little shop of horrors. Let's go my sympatico brother."

(Written by Jay Broz)

Sympos stand up from his mud pie from which he has somehow uncovered a large edible mushroom.  He starts walking toward the cage.  “I am sure they will know if the master of this cave is about.  I do not yet smell death upon them.”  Shade curses under his breath but the shit covered man is already almost to the cage. 

(Written by Mark Stinson)

Shade was carefully observing the path that Sympos was taking, looking for trip wires or differences in the texture of the cave floor that might suggest a pressure plate or other trap-trigger.

Sympos poked at one of the bodies suspended in the cage.  "Still with us?"

Both humans in the cage were men.   The taller one startled awake, "Eh!...the hell...who are you!"

The second captive was woken by the exclamation of the first.  "You aren't with the Rangers of Oth!  Get us out of here!"

Sympos considered the two young men in the suspended cage.  "Who are you, and why are you caged like animals?"

The taller captive grasped a bar of the cage with each hand.  "I'm Vincent McPherson...of Gwent.  I were simply exploring the Wilds, when the Rangers...the Rangers of Oth, used magic on us...and took us captive."

The smaller captive pointed at the first.  "I'm Arvin...and I'm with him."

(Written by Mark Simon)

Meanwhile, outside the cave, Timm and Gabe idly passed the time chatting about food.  Timm's ears perked up a few minutes after Sympos and Shade entered the cave. He had been able hear them occasionally talking, but there was another voice now, maybe two...that he didn't recognize.

"Come on Gabe, or stay out here by yourself...it seems our friends have met someone." Timm said as he headed into the cave...forgetting momentarily that he's the only one who can see in the dark.

(Written by Mark Stinson)

When Timm entered, Gabe walking just a few paces behind him, Sympos and Shade were near the suspended cage holding to two half-naked men.  Sympos was talking.  "Vincent and Arvin...are you seeking the Fey Gate?  The Gate of Oth?"

Shade whispered.  "We should have just searched the place.  We don't know if these two are who they say they are."

Timm smiled.  Shade, being generally undependable, saw the world through a lens where everyone else must be just as duplicitous and self-serving.  Timm whispered, but at a level that most everyone could hear, "The bowman seemed to have us out-matched.  They would have little need to trick us in this way...or in any way, really."

Gabe pointed to a large chest sitting in the darkness at the back of the cave.  "Treasure...supplies...food stores, perhaps?  What sort of exotic spices might these bowman have gathered from the Fey forest around us?"

Vincent, the taller captive answered.  "I'm pretty sure that's where they put our gear.  Once they subdued us, and stripped us of our gear, they put us in this cage to learn or lesson, or some such nonsense.  They said they would come back once we had gotten a little hungry, and see if we still wanted to upset the peace with the Fey."

Arvin scoffed.  "Other than the look and quality of the forest changing, we didn't even know we had wandered into a fey space.  We had no agenda except to perhaps find a ruins to loot."

Vincent corrected Arvin.  "He's looting...I'm mapping.  The Wilds is mostly unexplored...and with the Grey King attempting to settle the region, there is a need for good maps.  And these bowman you keep talking about.  They call themselves the Rangers of Oth.  It seems to me they are self-appointed morons, waylaying innocent travelers in order to protect some deal that's been made with the fey folk."

The wind had picked up outside the cave, and rain was pouring down.  The storm had arrived, and occasionally the cave entrance was illuminated by flashes of lighting, as thunder rumbled through the forest.

Timm walked over to where the chain holding up the cage was attached to an iron loop extending from the back wall of the cave.  "Well, gentlemen.  Should we release Vincent and Arvin here, and see if their gear is in the chest?  These guys might be handy to have along our journey.  They don't serve much of a purpose locked in a cage."

(Written by Mark Stinson with an addition by Mark Simon)

Sympos looked at the two men in the cage.  "If we let you go, you can come with us...or you can meet your fate on your own path.  Every man should choose where and when they will die."

Shade followed up immediately, "We're not going to die."

Sympos just shrugged.

Meanwhile Timm had walked over to the check at the back of the cave, and confirmed it was full of the two captive's gear.  Timm looked closely at Vincent, Arvin and the chest full of gear looking for some indication of Fey magic or trickery.  Everything is not always at it appears, especially in the heart of a Fey forest.  As far as Timm could tell, there was no fey or illusion magic at work.

Timm gestured to Gabe, and the two of them lowered the hanging cage.  Shade picked the lock, which was out of reach of the occupants of the cage, and opened the door.

Vincent and Arvin climbed from the cage, stretched their sore muscles, and then went to the chest at the back of the cave and started putting on their gear.  The two men looked at each other.  Vincent had a questioning look on his face, and Arvin simply said, "Yes," with a nod.  

Vincent turned to the group.  "We're inclined to go with you.  We stand a better chance against the Ranger of Oth together.  Why are you guys here, and where are you headed?"

(Written by Mark Simon)

Timm responds, "Shade, why don't you fill Vincent and Arvin in on why we're here."  Tim stepped a few paces towards the cave's entrance, into a nice shadowy area where he watches and listens for anyone approaching, while Shade spins his story.  Timm was fairly sure Shade's explanation would be entertaining, but Shade also did a great job on negotiating our contract and our pay, so why not suggest he negotiate how these two are involved and potentially compensated?

(Written by Chris Stevens)

Shade tells the party's story that lead them here. He glosses over the facts and leans in heavy on emotion. 

When it comes to money, Shade explains they will need to negotiate with their benefactor. "Of course, I can speak to him on your behalf."

"See  all of us through the coming dangers and you both will be rewarded. The two of you won't make up for Torvi." With that, Shade whispers as if to the dead, "No one will match her."

(Written by Mark Stinson)

And so it was that Vincent of Gwent and his fellow traveller Arvin came to join the effort to travel deep into the fey forest, and close the Gate of Oth.