Gothic Earth Session 8: Curse of the Belalp Witch
It always takes so damned long to get
into the game, but once we do we have fun. Normally we play every 4
weeks, but this time it was only 2 weeks. It really didn't change how
much we remember the previous game. I will tell you that I love my
prep style for these last few sessions, it was a ton of prep work,
taking a full four weeks to design, but we are getting a whole lot of
bang for our buck!
Everybody was tired as hell, so I cut
everyone some slack. There was also some concern on their part that
they are getting dazzled again while the witch is getting away. They
had decided to go down the mountain and follow a lead, they had heard
that a reclusive goat herder who lives at the bottom of the mountain
between Naters and Blatten is the custodian of an old medieval church
that isn't used anymore because of it's location (out in the middle
of no where) called The Church of Saint Laurentius.
Due to bad weather, it was a long climb down the mountain, but
eventually they reached the herdsman. He told them that the church
hasn't been used since his father passed away, but loaned them the
keys to help them with their research.
The
Church of Saint Laurentius is an isolated structure located well off
the beaten path out in the wilderness. Opening the door of this
ancient building, they see a very odd sight; instead of a statue of
Jesus or crosses, the symbol dictate snails and features a larger
than life statue of Saint Laurentius, the patron Saint of Librarians;
against his leg rested a wooden rack, in his left hand he held a
glacier, and in his right a mountain; an odd curvy crack went from
his heart up his face and to a snail perched on his head.
This
was definitely a clue; my wife cheated with her smart phone, but it
kind of worked; she discovered that Laurentius was also the patron of
witch hunters. I think that it got the players more excited when they
found out that this was a real Swiss Saint, and they found a picture
of him to look at. Eventually they figured out that the caretaker had
removed all of the valuables from the church in case looters broke
in, among them an old mirror elaborately decorated with the images of
St. Sebaldus, when they hung the mirror up behind the statue, an
oddly plain window perfectly framed the nearby mountain peak.
Now,
the caretaker refused to let them borrow the mirror, as it was
priceless; but he did accompany them and since it was too dark to
travel back through the forest at night, they stayed in the church.
In the morning, as they were preparing to go, and the sun was rising
over the Reiderhorn, the diamond set in the pane of glass focused the
sun into a beam, which reflected of of the mirror and for just a
second, lit up the snail on his head. (Indiana Jones lifted once
again!) They found that St. Laurentius Day was just under a week
away.
Sam
White climbed back up to Blatten and sent a pigeon message up the
mountain for Van Helsing to come down, later he messaged back that he
couldn't, as there was an uproar in Belalp.
They
had a few days, so they did some low mountain investigation. They
were able to secure some real meat, hunting a deer that had wandered
near by, and found the Blatten Lumber camp that was said to had been
torn apart by yeti. The camp was badly damaged, but the mill, that
was the scene of something very large and powerful; entire logs
looked like they had been broken over one's knee, some logs weighing
hundreds of pounds had been thrown high up through the walls and were
lodged there. The scene told them of a giant creature who wanted to
shut this operation down, probably under the orders of somebody who
didn't want the lumberjacks in the area anymore. There was something
here, but they wanted to figure out what the church mystery was
first.
After
a couple of days, they saw the spot on the wall stay longer and
longer, finally they went back to the caretaker who had planned on
bringing the mirror on St. Laurentius Day, and talked him into
letting them borrow the mirror early (we've got some smooth talking
characters that know that CHA isn't a drop stat), on the long walk
through the woods, they were ambushed by giant men, at least 20 of
them! Hiding in the dense forest and hurling rocks; we have a
character whose player has a hard time making it to games, while
everyone else is at least 7th
level, he is only 2nd,
and as the giant men had gained a surprise, they tagged him, dropping
him down to low hp before the battle could even start! Sam, the
gunfighter, gave him the mirror and Charlotte cast Sanctuary
on him. I determine targets randomly, and my dice really hated that
2nd
level thief and wanted him dead! Luckily for him, the monsters sucked
at making their Saving Throws.
On a technical note, I had wished that I had laid down the play mat and used miniatures, but we didn't; however for enemies I had so many to track I just gave them 4 hits and dead, drawing circles for each one and dividing each circle into fourths; instead of rolling damage, the party was shooting wildly into the woods, I had them just tell me when they hit or not, if they rolled 20's then I took off 2 HD but mostly it was just 1 HD per hit. It kept the combat fast and much easier to track considering the number of enemies. A combat scene which normally would had been boring because I took to long, could quickly be played out without losing anything; in fact it was probably easier on the monsters as guns dish out 2d6+1 damage, they were naturally 5HD creatures. For determining the monster targets, I throw a d10, I had 1-6 represent players, 4-10 meant that the creatures missed and targeted the giant man across from them.
It
was pretty exciting as I was nailing the players and whittling them
down, the 2nd
level thief tried to escape, but a giant man caught him, and made his
saving throw; he attempted to grab the little man, but failed, and
gave a great target for the other players to shoot at. At the end of
the combat, the party was badly beaten, Charlotte healed the worst
off of the lot; examining the bodies of the enemy, they identified
them as giant wild men, they had no money and looked like they have
lived rough their whole lives. They deduced that some of these guys
had been behind the destruction of the Blatten lumber operation.
They
made it back to the church, locked themselves in; fearing that the
witch now knew that they were up to something and was trying to stop
them, somehow they had managed to save the mirror. They took it easy
that day, and in the morning, they had just enough time to draw the
cryptic drawings that were projected onto the floor by the sunlit
snail, and wrote down a weird written phrase in an unknown language,
however the name Belalp was clearly being refereed to.
That
task done, they made their way back up into the mountains, to the
village of Belalp satisfied that they had made some sort of headway,
they planed on showing the drawing to Van Helsing, believing the
language to be Latin, which he can read, however once they get into
town they see that a large wooden pyre has been constructed in the
village green. They find everybody all in an uproar, Van Helsing
could care less about their discovery, he is trying to talk sense
into a mob who is intent on dragging the old woman being held in the
jail to the village green and burning her.
A lot
has happened while the party was away, the Belalp Sheriff lay in a
coma, the victim of witchcraft, a totem exactly fitting the
description of the one that had been used against one of the party
members last game had been used on him. The thief was able to talk
the mod down, and give them a couple of days to either clear the
woman's name or prove that she is in fact the Belalp witch. They
immediately start investigating.
Sam
and David head up into the mountains to try and find some mountain
carrots which David knows can counter the poison and the spell of the
totem doll, meanwhile the rest of the party began the investigation.
Talking their way into the jailhouse, passed the armed officers who
have the old woman in protective custody, the part is allowed access
to the evidence and Van Helsing was finally able to get a good look
at one of the totem dolls, and was able to determine how it worked,
it was some sort of contact poison, the doll contained an article of
the sheriff's clothing and he was charmed into touching it. Van
Helsing fearing for the safety of the Relic of Sebaldus and quickly
returned to their rented cabin.
The
rest of the party went to the Sheriff's house to check on him; they
startle a woman who instantly tries to escape, but they won't let
that happen. Antonia a Prussian officer and master spy has assumed
responsibility for this investigation, she orders Bart (the 2nd
lvl thief) to see what the woman was doing, and he finds a weird
drawing under the sheriff's pillow. Charlotte is able to determine
that this is a weak protection from evil spell, and identifies the
woman as a faith healer, and a spiritualist. The suspect admits to
using magic, but for good; the party warns her against it, especially
while the villagers are on a witch hunting kick, and they send her on
her way.
Eventually
the two fighters come back down the mountain, it was hard finding the
herbs that they needed but they got it done. David Marshal brewed up
the bitter mountain carrot broth and administered it to the sheriff,
the man woke up, and while he would be forced to rest for the next
couple of days, he should be fine.
Sheriff
Hoffer is in no shape to do his job, he tries to get up instantly
verifying that the old woman being held is just a crazy old lady.
Hoffer says that there is no such thing as witchcraft, he's just
allergic to those damned Alpine skinks, he must had touched one
really good for this to happen.
Their
investigation has uncovered some unsettling facts:
- All of the wives take turns helping the bachelor sheriff with his housekeeping, so all the women had access to him.
- The totem that had been used on the party member Vanessa Smith, required someone who had access to her things, the only suspect being Nela Saner who offered herself to be their housekeeper right away.
- Ivan Hoffer also had access to Vanessa's property as he was sleeping in the tent with them at the time of the attack.
- Lynn Tuller, the woman who was caught administering Sheriff Hoffer and practicing folk magic is not above suspicion either. Van Helsing says that she is no doubt a practitioner of spiritualism, a relatively new pseudo-religion that is in vogue right now, and they rarely practice alone.
- Corinne Meyer, a none-native transplant and author who moved up here for the tranquility. She lives alone in the woods and has written a book on the Belalp witch.
- Agatha Gammenthaler, the old woman kept in protective custody to protect her from allegations of witchcraft.
- Van Helsing suggested that Charlotte refrain from using her skill set, else she becomes a prime target of the current local rage, and says that he believes that they aren't looking for a human witch, but fears that they are in fact dealing with the ancient undead. He says that the only way that they will be able to identify it, is by the aura of fear that all powerful undead share.
That
is where we left off, and that is where we will begin again in four
weeks.
Sunday, April 02, 2017
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