The Grauls, or "Ogrekin are gross".
Yup. The Party returns to Magnimar, talks to the Lord Mayor, and meets their old friend Shalelu. She's resigned as Sheriff of Sandpoint because she heard about a family member stationed at Ft. Rannick who she hasn't seen in a while. Our Heroes find a boat willing to take them up to Turtleback Ferry - it's a paddlewheeler, where the wheels are run by a tame Earth Elemental who runs on a sort-of treadmill.
All Aboard! Antwon hangs out with the Halfling crew (4 of the 10 people on the crew).
Turtleback Ferry is a sleepy little town, which mostly serves two purposes. First, supporting Fort Rannick (Magnimar's northernmost defense post, keeping the local Ogres (and the occasional Giant) in check). Second, it's a hub for the artisans and crafters (mostly halflings and gnomes) who have small holdings and communities in the region. It has about a third as many people as Sandpoint, but has several merchants and tradesfolk.
The Party heads up to Ft. Rannick the next day, but a few hours outside of town hears the cries of a Big Cat of some sort - a cougar or firepelt, most likely. They leave the road and approach, and see a Firepelt, its leg caught in a trap, mewling to be set free - Antwon recognizes the intelligence in it's eyes and behavior, and thinks that it's a druid or ranger's animal companion. As Vig moves to free it from the trap Our Heroes hear voices coming through the woods, "Gonna eat some Kitty - get some kitty meat - c'mon dawgs! Let's go get kitty!" The Party moves swiftly to ambush... Rukus Graul, an Ogrekin (whose right hand is malformed to have one large finger instead of five seperate fingers) and his five hunting dawgs.
The combat is swift and sure, and Our Heroes do what they're best at. Mayhem!
Kendra heals the Firepelt, who wants the party to head back the way Rukus came. It seems like a Timmy-In-The-Well situation so of course Our Heroes, being Heroes, head towards adventure!
Adventure is - disturbing, sometimes. Our Heroes have faced haunted houses, serial killers, and demon worshipers - once, they opened a closet with thirty suits of skins, and later found a room of faces, mounted on plaques - but there's always new and strange horrors. And Ogrekin are - well, as the party emerges from a clearing, they see a field with corn, beans, and squash all planted together, a farm house, and a barn.
That's not the horrific part yet. I mean, I suppose if you have some particular ideas about farming you might be a little put off, sure. But here's the first horror: over by the barn the party sees three others of the Graul brothers - one of whom has cloudy, milky eyes and short stumpy legs, half as long as normal legs should be, who is sitting on a barrel clapping his hands and egging on his other two brothers. That's Jeppo Graul. That's maybe not the disturbing part yet.
Hograth Graul is seven feet tall, completely hairless, and has a third arm growing out of his back between his shoulders, which he's currently using to raise the bottom of his checkerboard night-shirt as he leans up against the barn wall. Meanwhile, Sugar Graul, who's almot six feet tall, has extra arm and leg joints, and is kind of twitchy, is unbuckling his pants.
You can fill in whatever blanks there you like, I suppose. The party - remember, what they're best at is Mayhem - plays to their strengths. Combat is joined!
After an initial sortie, Crowfood Graul meanders around the corner - he stands eight feet tall, and his head resembles nothing as much as a large rotten pumpkin. He's got an ogre hook and he's not shy when it comes to introducing strangers thereto. Vig leaps to the roof of the barn - peering in a window he sees Biggun' the spider, who launches out of the other barn window and enters the fray!
Biggun' can attack people fifteen feet away from her body. That's - that's a BIG spider. I suppose I should have a trigger warning for arachnophobes here? I suspect most of the saga of Our Heroes needs some sort of trigger warning or other, though. It's all gross and scary and weird - just maybe in different fashions each time.
But - did someone say gross and scary and weird? Bursting from the farmhouse come three ogrekin zombies - more of the Graul boys, reanimated after their deaths at the hands of the Black Arrows, no doubt. Benk has a pinhead and vestigal third leg, with three arrows still lodged in his chest. Kunkle has an extra nose, a hunched back, and a head split by the axe still lodged therein. Hadge is little more than a shambling bag of flesh around broken bones and floppy limbs.
They're followed by Mammy Graul - corpulent, greasy, and leering, with patchy hair and blotchy skin, wearing an old curtain as a kind of toga as she floats along behind her dead husband-sons.
I mean - her zombie bodyguards. C'mon. Those last few words are just egregious in their wrongness, no? Well, maybe the rules are different for Ogrekin, and husbands, brothers, and sons can all be the same person, sometimes.
Eeeew, though. You know it's ooky when the Giant Spider is the least disturbing foe.
Our Heroes are Vikings at Combat and do what they do. Mammy Graul is the only one who gets away - the party can tell she uses a Dimension Door spell to vanish, so Our Heroes start sweeping-and-clearing the area, until Shayliss uses her Mythic nature to cast locate object on the staff Mammy was holding - a dead human forearm, locked around a sponge Mammy uses to wash herself, with a stick stuck in the severed end.
Just - okay. It's gonna get worse before it gets better here, you know, since the party is most likely going to explore the inside of that house. Mammy's in the basement, seems like.
The house is filled with traps and horrors. The kitchen is filled with rotten 'meat', like a basket of hands, already starting to squirm with maggots. The chairs at the rough table are all made out of humanoid bones, tied together with - well, let's say 'rope', because 'sinew' is an unpleasant word at the best of times.
There's a box under the table that the party - perhaps wisely - does not stop to investigate. It's strange to think, if one lets oneself, about how all of Mammy's boys were just that - boys. Isn't it? Let's not question why there would be a box filled with smallish skulls under the table, or consider that Mammy doesn't like competition.
Okay. Deep breaths, now. That's the worst of it, and we're through it. I'm not sure I feel anything but bad and gross now, as if I were dirty on the inside, on a place that I cannot wash, and as Your Humble Narrator I would imagine you feel worse. So I'll just summarize, and say that Mammy and her husband/brother/son Hucker are discovered downstairs, with Hucker's Giant Dire Rats, and soon the Graul family line is ended for good.
Out in the barn are the last four Black Arrows. Kendra bursts with healing energies, which allows them to stand, shaky and weak but alive. Let's consider each in turn:
Jakardros Sovark was second-in-command of Fort Rannick. He and his men were out on patrol when the fort was attacked and taken by Ogres. They tried to retake the fort but were forced to retreat, and were then captured by the Grauls; the original force of twelve was reduced to ten when they were captured, and now these four are all who are left.
Shalelu goes up to Jakardros, says: "You left us! You left me!", slaps him across the face, and then hugs him close and bursts into tears. That seems pretty complicated so we'll let them have their reunion for now.
Vale Temros stands over six feet tall, very muscular, and fights with two axes. That probably paints a certain picture of him - but he's also the Fort's Engineer, and he has Some Ideas about How to Improve the Defenses of the Fort. When he talks you can really hear the Capitalized Letters there, a habit of speech that Your Humble Narrator can do Naught about but Approve. He and Shayliss hit it off almost immediately, talking about architecture and ways to use wood and stone to build strong and defensive structures.
I'm sorry. Wood and Stone, which can be used to Build Strong and Defensive Structures. That's better. He and Shayliss geek out for now - and it's nice to see that Shayliss, an NPC at the best of times, has something of a character arc here.
Tsuto - originally Tsuto Lonjiku, but now just Tsuto - we've met before. He was quite surprised to see Kendra and Shayliss, but has quickly adjusted and apologizes immediately to Our Heroes for his actions in Sandpoint. Nualia left him, his bio-father sentenced him to exile; but he has decided to use this new opportunity to atone for past wrongs and try to form a new life from the ashes of the old. That's his story, anyway, but The Heroes are a bit... reticent, to accept it entirely at face value.
Kaven Windstrike is tall and skinny. Kaven Windstrike has a sihedron tattoo on his arm. Kaven Windstrike caves, when questioned about it, and reveals that he was the traitor who betrayed the fort to Lucrecia.
It's a very strange day for all concerned, I guess is the point here. Jakardros turns to Vig and asks for a weapon - there's only one penalty the Black Arrows apply to traitors. Vig understands the meaning entirely - he walks Kaven out into the woods and puts a blade up into his brain.
Now there are only three Black Arrows left. On that somber note we bid farewell to Our Party - for now, at least!
All Aboard! Antwon hangs out with the Halfling crew (4 of the 10 people on the crew).
Turtleback Ferry is a sleepy little town, which mostly serves two purposes. First, supporting Fort Rannick (Magnimar's northernmost defense post, keeping the local Ogres (and the occasional Giant) in check). Second, it's a hub for the artisans and crafters (mostly halflings and gnomes) who have small holdings and communities in the region. It has about a third as many people as Sandpoint, but has several merchants and tradesfolk.
The Party heads up to Ft. Rannick the next day, but a few hours outside of town hears the cries of a Big Cat of some sort - a cougar or firepelt, most likely. They leave the road and approach, and see a Firepelt, its leg caught in a trap, mewling to be set free - Antwon recognizes the intelligence in it's eyes and behavior, and thinks that it's a druid or ranger's animal companion. As Vig moves to free it from the trap Our Heroes hear voices coming through the woods, "Gonna eat some Kitty - get some kitty meat - c'mon dawgs! Let's go get kitty!" The Party moves swiftly to ambush... Rukus Graul, an Ogrekin (whose right hand is malformed to have one large finger instead of five seperate fingers) and his five hunting dawgs.
The combat is swift and sure, and Our Heroes do what they're best at. Mayhem!
Kendra heals the Firepelt, who wants the party to head back the way Rukus came. It seems like a Timmy-In-The-Well situation so of course Our Heroes, being Heroes, head towards adventure!
Adventure is - disturbing, sometimes. Our Heroes have faced haunted houses, serial killers, and demon worshipers - once, they opened a closet with thirty suits of skins, and later found a room of faces, mounted on plaques - but there's always new and strange horrors. And Ogrekin are - well, as the party emerges from a clearing, they see a field with corn, beans, and squash all planted together, a farm house, and a barn.
That's not the horrific part yet. I mean, I suppose if you have some particular ideas about farming you might be a little put off, sure. But here's the first horror: over by the barn the party sees three others of the Graul brothers - one of whom has cloudy, milky eyes and short stumpy legs, half as long as normal legs should be, who is sitting on a barrel clapping his hands and egging on his other two brothers. That's Jeppo Graul. That's maybe not the disturbing part yet.
Hograth Graul is seven feet tall, completely hairless, and has a third arm growing out of his back between his shoulders, which he's currently using to raise the bottom of his checkerboard night-shirt as he leans up against the barn wall. Meanwhile, Sugar Graul, who's almot six feet tall, has extra arm and leg joints, and is kind of twitchy, is unbuckling his pants.
You can fill in whatever blanks there you like, I suppose. The party - remember, what they're best at is Mayhem - plays to their strengths. Combat is joined!
After an initial sortie, Crowfood Graul meanders around the corner - he stands eight feet tall, and his head resembles nothing as much as a large rotten pumpkin. He's got an ogre hook and he's not shy when it comes to introducing strangers thereto. Vig leaps to the roof of the barn - peering in a window he sees Biggun' the spider, who launches out of the other barn window and enters the fray!
Biggun' can attack people fifteen feet away from her body. That's - that's a BIG spider. I suppose I should have a trigger warning for arachnophobes here? I suspect most of the saga of Our Heroes needs some sort of trigger warning or other, though. It's all gross and scary and weird - just maybe in different fashions each time.
But - did someone say gross and scary and weird? Bursting from the farmhouse come three ogrekin zombies - more of the Graul boys, reanimated after their deaths at the hands of the Black Arrows, no doubt. Benk has a pinhead and vestigal third leg, with three arrows still lodged in his chest. Kunkle has an extra nose, a hunched back, and a head split by the axe still lodged therein. Hadge is little more than a shambling bag of flesh around broken bones and floppy limbs.
They're followed by Mammy Graul - corpulent, greasy, and leering, with patchy hair and blotchy skin, wearing an old curtain as a kind of toga as she floats along behind her dead husband-sons.
I mean - her zombie bodyguards. C'mon. Those last few words are just egregious in their wrongness, no? Well, maybe the rules are different for Ogrekin, and husbands, brothers, and sons can all be the same person, sometimes.
Eeeew, though. You know it's ooky when the Giant Spider is the least disturbing foe.
Our Heroes are Vikings at Combat and do what they do. Mammy Graul is the only one who gets away - the party can tell she uses a Dimension Door spell to vanish, so Our Heroes start sweeping-and-clearing the area, until Shayliss uses her Mythic nature to cast locate object on the staff Mammy was holding - a dead human forearm, locked around a sponge Mammy uses to wash herself, with a stick stuck in the severed end.
Just - okay. It's gonna get worse before it gets better here, you know, since the party is most likely going to explore the inside of that house. Mammy's in the basement, seems like.
The house is filled with traps and horrors. The kitchen is filled with rotten 'meat', like a basket of hands, already starting to squirm with maggots. The chairs at the rough table are all made out of humanoid bones, tied together with - well, let's say 'rope', because 'sinew' is an unpleasant word at the best of times.
There's a box under the table that the party - perhaps wisely - does not stop to investigate. It's strange to think, if one lets oneself, about how all of Mammy's boys were just that - boys. Isn't it? Let's not question why there would be a box filled with smallish skulls under the table, or consider that Mammy doesn't like competition.
Okay. Deep breaths, now. That's the worst of it, and we're through it. I'm not sure I feel anything but bad and gross now, as if I were dirty on the inside, on a place that I cannot wash, and as Your Humble Narrator I would imagine you feel worse. So I'll just summarize, and say that Mammy and her husband/brother/son Hucker are discovered downstairs, with Hucker's Giant Dire Rats, and soon the Graul family line is ended for good.
Out in the barn are the last four Black Arrows. Kendra bursts with healing energies, which allows them to stand, shaky and weak but alive. Let's consider each in turn:
Jakardros Sovark was second-in-command of Fort Rannick. He and his men were out on patrol when the fort was attacked and taken by Ogres. They tried to retake the fort but were forced to retreat, and were then captured by the Grauls; the original force of twelve was reduced to ten when they were captured, and now these four are all who are left.
Shalelu goes up to Jakardros, says: "You left us! You left me!", slaps him across the face, and then hugs him close and bursts into tears. That seems pretty complicated so we'll let them have their reunion for now.
Vale Temros stands over six feet tall, very muscular, and fights with two axes. That probably paints a certain picture of him - but he's also the Fort's Engineer, and he has Some Ideas about How to Improve the Defenses of the Fort. When he talks you can really hear the Capitalized Letters there, a habit of speech that Your Humble Narrator can do Naught about but Approve. He and Shayliss hit it off almost immediately, talking about architecture and ways to use wood and stone to build strong and defensive structures.
I'm sorry. Wood and Stone, which can be used to Build Strong and Defensive Structures. That's better. He and Shayliss geek out for now - and it's nice to see that Shayliss, an NPC at the best of times, has something of a character arc here.
Tsuto - originally Tsuto Lonjiku, but now just Tsuto - we've met before. He was quite surprised to see Kendra and Shayliss, but has quickly adjusted and apologizes immediately to Our Heroes for his actions in Sandpoint. Nualia left him, his bio-father sentenced him to exile; but he has decided to use this new opportunity to atone for past wrongs and try to form a new life from the ashes of the old. That's his story, anyway, but The Heroes are a bit... reticent, to accept it entirely at face value.
Kaven Windstrike is tall and skinny. Kaven Windstrike has a sihedron tattoo on his arm. Kaven Windstrike caves, when questioned about it, and reveals that he was the traitor who betrayed the fort to Lucrecia.
It's a very strange day for all concerned, I guess is the point here. Jakardros turns to Vig and asks for a weapon - there's only one penalty the Black Arrows apply to traitors. Vig understands the meaning entirely - he walks Kaven out into the woods and puts a blade up into his brain.
Now there are only three Black Arrows left. On that somber note we bid farewell to Our Party - for now, at least!
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