Tags: Moonless
My boi peter started running Knave in his custom setting. I’m playing in it. It’s documented here. Swag.
One day in the past, the moon went out. Night was already dangerous. It’s worse now. Those things that can naturally see in the dark have taken all but a small corner of the world. That’s what happened to Oulwick. That’s why humanity ended up in Nest.
Three unlucky souls were conscripted into the militia. They’re running out of men these days, and these roads are too dangerous to travel unguarded. Captain Homer accompanies these wayward souls. His company of three. Four if you count the driver.
Night falls, and it doesn’t even last one watch before they came. Theron heard them in the trees first. Something small, but undoubtedly humanoid. Clumsy, they’d stumbled into branches and gave themselves away. Theron saw a lumbering doggish silhouette before the carts pulled away.
The carts entered a valley, and hell broke loose. From up on the ridge, three of them appeared. Doggish faces, bows in hand. They pierced the carts tent coverings. Took out a driver, and Zobin, arrow in their neck. Rosie managed to calm the horses. Homer took out a ’bold, then the wolf came.
Giant, shaggy, had another ’bold on it’s bag. Looked like a wolf, but squatter. Bigger, too. Pinned the captain, but Theron’s artistic intellect pulled through. Shoved some cloth in his ale, set the whole thing alight. Set the wolf aflame. The things retreated shortly after.
The cart made it to Ilmere, but ’bolds that can ride worgs are too dangerous to leave unchecked. The captain sends the duo back into the wilderness to find and clear them out. They’re joined by a dwarf calling himself Warthog. Speaks like a weirdo. Damn dwarves. This place was a lot simpler when only humans were around.
Rosie’s hunting hound finds the way to the cave easily. The single guard is executed with late Zobin’s crossbow. The pit traps around the outside are avoided easily enough.
The central cavern has a small island floating above a pool of water. Bridges coming from it lead to caves in the upper level, and there are 5 caves leaving from the lower level. Damn ’bolds build labyrinths for themselves. One of the bridges has collapsed, and there’s a kobold body dead on the ground. Scaly, draconic face. Different from the others.
A skeleton in the water clutched a spellbook. Theron picked it up. Got the idea it provided some sort of haste. Didn’t look into it further than that.
The three took the second passage, and it led up some stairs to a crude dragon statue. Theron plucked out it’s sapphire eyes. The passage behind it led across a bridge to the floating island. On top of the island, on top of a giant pile of golden coins, was a blue dragon.
The three contemplated methods of getting around it. They decided to go the other way. A room of crates revealed a staircase leading to the top of the hill. Might come in handy later.
Further exploration of the space finds a collection of sleeping ’bolds, easily executed. Further north has ’bolds playing guards. Just beyond them were their wargs. Wargs. Two of them. The three get the drop on them, and three of the four ’bolds die to flaming ale. One runs to get reinforcement. In the mean time, Rosie investigates the wargs. ’Bolds are known for being cruel and capricious. It proves to be their undoing: the friendship of the wargs is easily won with some spare rations. The reinforcements take down on of them, but their own beasts prove to be beyond them. The remaining warg escapes into the wilderness to live out happier days.
But there’s more to this cave. That dragon has the party nervous. They continue exploring, finding an altar with a kobold standing by. They try to swiftly execute it, but the bolt goes awry. The dragon thing speaks dragon words and fills the room with fog. Rosie sends her hound in to find it, but it escapes and the dog dissapears with it.
They find their way through the fog to the other side of the room, exiting into a small armory. The hound is there, sniffing at a sheet. The kobold is below, cowering. They get some information about it, then the dwarf smashes it’s head on the rock.
The gang returns to pondering the dragon.