Lair of the Mountain King - Turn by Turn

7/29/2019 Lair of the Mountain King - Turn by Turn

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Lair of the Mountain King: Turn by Turn

Introduction

"Ours was once a mighty clan. Living in the mountains of the north had made us

strong and cunning and we knew a great many secrets of those wild lands and the

ancient magics that shaped them. Our lives were hard, but the mountains were

rich with metals and magic and we learned to forge wondrous tools and weapons

and treasures there. But the mountains were cold and barren and we were forced

to trade with outsiders to feed ourselves as the clan grew in numbers, and slowlyword of our tribe began to spread.

Inevitably, people grew jealous of our wealth and wanted to take them for

themselves. And so, they started coming adventurers of different species and

talents all of whom believed that mere goblins were not worthy of such treasurers,

even those we made with our own hands and wove with magic from our own

songs. But, we were strong then and we had all the defensive advantages of a

mountain riddled with caves and although we lost a few trinkets, we held onto

everything of value.

But that was before the Fall.

It was inevitable in the end. An enemy came that we could not defeat, who knew

something of the secrets of our magic and could turn them against us. In the end,

we believe that the Chief and a small group of elite goblin warriors and magic-

weavers managed to lure the enemy deep into the caves, before sealing the


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entrances, trapping him and themselves forever. No-one knows what happened to

any of them, as no goblins ever returned to the mountains to find out.

Without access to the wealth and protection of the mountain, we were forced

further and further south, living hand-to-mouth as we tried simply to survive the

passing seasons, selling off what little we had kept with us simply for a little food

or clothing to last another winter. We few are now all who are left of our clan, and

I do not believe there will be many generations after us unless we make a change.

Though we have forgotten much of what we once were, I intend to take us back to

the mountains of the north and we will reclaim them for our own. I am your Chief,

the descendant of Chief Lost-in-the-Mountains who was lost in the mountains that

day, and I will take back what is rightfully ours. Who will join me?"

RULES

This is a game somewhat in the vein of Goblin Defence, and contains a mixture of

fighting, looting, exploring and puzzling to get through to the end. It is a much

larger adventure than the Apprentices and has the potential for a lot more

creativity in the way you play. Oh, and you'll have pictures all the way

through

Goblins all start with: 5/5HP, 1 ATT, 1 DEF (including the Chief)

Otherwise, the rules are pretty standard. Each turn you get 1 move, 1 major

action and 1 minor action and combat follows the normal formula:

DAMAGE = ATTACK - DEFENCE.

If a goblin hits 0HP they will be disabled and will die on the following turn if not

healed immediately.

As usual, entering a new area or attacking something will end your turn so plan

your actions accordingly.

Magic exists in the game, but you will need to work out how to use it for

yourselves in-game. It will follow slightly different rules from normal though, and

will require a bit of creativity to get the most out of it. I fully intend to be

surprised by what you guys come up with


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All goblins have ESP which they can also use to communicate with each other.

Updates will be 2-3 times a week depending on my schedule, but I'll try and get

them done Mon, Wed & Fridays whenever possible. I should also say upfront that

it is possible that I may need to take unexpected breaks from the game every so

often depending on my work (I'm a marine biology PhD student so occasionally

get sent off on boats at short notice). I will however promise to see the game

through to the end regardless of how long it takes.

Missing the occassional update is ok (though I can't promise the safety of your

goblin), but if you're going away for longer periods please let me know or arrange

a subsitute player. Anyone who misses 3 updates in a row without explanation

will permanently lose their goblin to another player.


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Player List: The Clan of the Mountain Halls

1. M0rtimer: Burned By Flames (CHIEF)

At his naming ceremony, Flames was officially dubbed as Burned-by-Flames: and

later on in his life, told what the teller had seen: surrounded by fire, trapped, that

he would be one day. And worse of all, the teller couldn't say wether or not he

lived through it: only that he would not come out the same way he went into it.

One would expect such a fate to lead to fear of fire, always trying to avoid it. Theywould be wrong. Burned was a strong minded goblin: if asked how he could be so

calm, maybe even enjoying looking at the fire, his reply would always be: "Hey, if

it's gonna happen anyways, why run away from it? Besides- You don't think I'm

gonna let some petty flames really burn me that easily, eh?"

2. Kurik: Splits His Focus

Splits is interested in tinkering with weapons, and magic. Making them, using

them, playing with them, it's all good. It's close to being all he thinks about.

(Magic and weapons, weapons and magic, magic weapons, weapons that shoot

magic. Ooh! Magic that shoots weapons! Genious!) And he's eager to help reclaim

the clans lost glory. And the stuff. Stuff is always good. You can use stuff to kill

stuff and trade for other stuff... and junk, which isn't as good as stuff, but

sometimes you can hook a bunch of junk together and turn it into stuff.

3. askstoomuch: Questions the Nature of the Multiverse

Questions has always been weird. He was always curious as a child, and seems to

think understand something that most goblins can't, something about mysteriousqualities creatures have called and how these qualities define how good those


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creatures are at things. He's always been seen as moderately crazy, but perhaps

that's just the way he examines tools closely to determine their "bonuses" before

using them, and he says he functions on a different timescale, where simple

actions that take seconds fill two days, sometimes more. In other words,

Questions has a limited understanding of the fact that he is in a game. He is

loosely based on a 4.0 warforged I play who was aware of the real time going by

and of dice that landed on the grid. It was interesting.

4. Saithed: Envies Turtles

Forced into being the errand runner at a young ages Envy had had to run to and

fro on others whims most of his life. His only solace was found sitting by the river

when time permitted and watch the turtles play out their slow and relaxed lives.

Envy desire if simply to have more control over his own life and choose his own

path what ever it may be.

5. Quarg: Travels to the Mountain / The Quack

At the edge of the clearing stood one goblin, set apart from the others, since

technically he was not part of the Clan. His slightly narrower, taller frame and the

scar across his cheek all marked him as different that the Clan goblins he now

lived with. The Quack's goblin common is sparse at best and that when he loses

his temper he swears in unholy elvish, dwarfen, demonic, and a few other

languages, has cemented his reputation as being a tolerated outsider.

The only reason that 'The Quack' is tolerated is because he is a better healer than

even the clan Teller herself, and a decent fighter to boot. He has proved himself

several times in medicine by saving goblins, both sick and injured, that the Teller

had all but written off. His first encounter with the Teller had given him the name

'The Quack' because he had worked on saving a young goblin with the 'Red Fever'

without trying to use high magic. She had informed every goblin within shoutingdistance that any goblin who tried to use only potions to cure the 'Red Fever' was


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a "Quack of the First Order". The name had stuck, mainly because the phrase

"Da'haib la Ques Naraheim" ("Travels to the Mountain" in elvish) is a pain to say

constantly.

Although no one in the Clan knows it, The Quack, was born on a distant coast in

the Clan of The False Isle. As a young goblin, he was named 'Travels to the

Mountain' by his clan elders. The Clan of the False Isle lived on a stretch of land

surrounded by water except for two small strips of land that connected it to the

shore. Although the land was easy to defend from shore, it was difficult to defend

from the sea. And it was the sea that claimed Travels and a few other of his clan

mates one morning.

On a balmy spring day, Travels was out in a small canoe with his fellow clan

mates, Silver Lungs, Bites a Fox, and Regular Guy spear fishing in the shadow of

Fish Rock. None of the group saw the tall masts of the Yanksee as she silently

glided down from the north around a nearby headland. Nor did the goblin

youngsters hear the muffled oars of her long boat as it crept up. No they noticed

the dregs collection of dwarves, humans, elves, and haflings in their boat far too

late to escape or call for help. After a moment of furry, Regular floated dead in

the water while Travels, Silver, and Bites were in the grasp of the pirates from theYanksee. The Yanksee had been traveling south down the coast grabbing humans,

goblins, and other creatures to sell to the Lesser Thuntopia cinnabar mines.

Travels, Silver, and Bites were thrown with the rest captured into a fetid hold

filled with the accumulated offal and stink of goblins, hobgoblins, and humans.

But fate intervened for Travels, less than a day after being thrown in the horrid

hold, the Yanksee found herself engaged in a desperate battle. The battle was

with the infamous pirate captain Greenhair. Many of the crew of the Yankseewere wounded or killed under the punishing attack of Greenhair. The elven

wizard Uso, acting as ship's surgeon, grabbed Travels from the hold to act as a

loblolly boy. Travels assisted in holding down men as arrows were pulled from

their wounds, or while whole limbs were hacked from their bodies. He did the job

well enough, and so many of the crew were injured after the battle, that Travels

continued to serve as the loblolly boy. While his clan mates lay in darkness, filth,

and hunger, Travels worked watch after watch, washing patients who fouled

themselves, disposing of cut off limbs, feeding sick crew members, and grinding


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up various components for potions. A few months later, Travels found himself

considered a member of the crew, while his clan mates were sold to a Lesser

Thuntopian merchant to work in the mines.

As Uso's loblolly boy Travels learned much. He learned the art of healing using

knifes, saws, potions and spells. He learned how to set bones and bandage

wounds. He learned how to read spell books and alchemists notes. As a member

of a pirate crew, even the lowly loblolly boy, he was expected to assist in the

taking of prizes, so he learned how to fight with bow or a cutlass; at least enough

to cut down other sailors. Travels also learned how to speak elvish and soon

forgot almost all of his native goblin tongue, which proved to be a difficulty latter

in his life.

Fate again intervened in Travel's life when the Yanksee floundered off the nearby

coast in a violent storm. Travels, and most of the long boat crew, were able to

escape the sinking ship. On the shore, with no vessel to call home, the group

wandered into the village of Low Thub. Since the villagers of Low Thub thought

the only goblin was a dead goblin, Travels hid out in a barn while his crew mates

went to the local tavern, The Crossed Arms. The Crossed Arms proved to be a

disastrous choice for the surviving crew of the Yanksee. In the early evening,notified of their arrival, Lord Pompfree and twenty of his guards appeared, hauled

the pirates out of the inn, and hung them from a large oak tree; revenge for a raid

on the Lord's home some eight years prior by the Yanksee. Travels was left alone,

to seek a new home in a foreign, alien land.

Travels, aka Quack, came to the Clan when he stumbled into a hunting party sent

out to deal with a wild boar. The hunters had tracked down and wounded the

boar, but the creature had turned and fought rather than run and die. The painenraged creature had already wounded two of the hunting party goblins. Quack

intervened by catching the boar in a noose trap before it could injure or kill any

more of the hunting party. By saving them he had earned a place, even one

removed, in the clan.

6. Dusk9: Eaten By Rabbits


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For his entire life, Eaten has, quite understandably, had a pathological fear of

rabbits. The fact that rabbits are herbivores has done nothing to ease his fears,

especially since Says-stuff-that-could-be-true-but-probably-isnt claimed one day

to have seen a swarm of vicious rabbits take down an adult boar and strip it to the

bone in seconds. He is also terrified of many other small mammals, including

voles, hedgehogs and squirrels, however he is rather bizarrely quite friendly with

foxes and other carnivores - his line of thought is that making friends with

something that eats rabbits will help protect him.

At first, Eaten was so terrified that he refused to go out, and grew up hiding inside

as much as possible. However, that all changed one day when he was forced by

his parents to go on a hunt into the forest. Unfit from years with very little

physical activity, he was soon left behind by the other hunters, and, lost among

the trees, stumbled into a clearing. Poking out of the ground in the centre of the

clearing he found a small, circular clay talisman. However, when he looked up he

immediately saw a dozen large and angry rabbits, advancing towards him with

looks of hunger in their eyes (from his point of view, that is). When Eaten held up

the talisman in a defensive gesture it vibrated, and the rabbits turned and bolted -

he took it as a sign that the charm had protected him, and since then has alwayskept the talisman close around his neck, reaching for it when nervous or scared.

Since that day, Eaten has taken it upon himself to stop hiding from his destiny and

face it head on, so that when it finally comes calling for him, he can at least go out

fighting. He began by honing his combat skills, and eventually became a skilled

wielder of twin daggers, perfecting a self-taught fighting style designed for facing

lots of small foes at close range. Unfortunately, although it is highly effective

against small opponents, its only of average usefulness against normal sizedenemies, and pretty much unusable against larger foes - Eaten isnt too worried

though, since its the small ones that are dangerous.

Due to his preoccupation with destiny, and his focus on preparing for it whenever

he can, Eaten doesnt have any close friends; however he does get along well with

most other goblins, helping them when they require it. He is also quite smart, and

good at puzzles, but he doesnt really enjoy them a lot if they are very

complicated, preferring to let others look at them while he keeps an eye out for


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furry ambushes.

There are two reasons why Eaten wants to go on the mission. The first is to learn

more about his talisman, since according to the teller, the symbol on it appears to

be linked to Earth, but Eaten doesnt know much beyond that. The second reason

is his desire to learn defensive magics he realises that such a small talisman can

only have limited power, and wants to find more defensive options to help

protect him from the demon rabbits.

7. Donnigan: Finds Truth

Finds has been searching for something for most of his life. He doesn't really

know what it is, but it feels important. He hopes that heading to the mountain will

be what his soul needs.

8. dlover: Tugs Tails

Tugs Tails was a hunter who focused specifically on vermin with large tails-

Squirrels and such. He would catch them by finding where they nested and laying

traps which would snag their tail and hold them fast until he came along to collect

them.

(Formerly Loves Danger)


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Chapter OneMain objective: Find the Entrance to the Mountain Halls.

Turn One

And so it was that although many goblins volunteered to travel to the mountain

with ChiefBurned by Flames, only seven were eventually chosen as his

companions for the usual arbitrary reasons. Leaving everything they ever owned

behind in the care of the rest of the clan (in true adventuring style), the travellers

set out northwards for the lands they once ruled over.

After weeks of enduring indescribable horrors in the forests (during which timeno-one learned anything or collected anything useful), the goblins eventually

emerged from the great expanse of trees into the foothills of a vast mountain

range. Thank the gods you never have to go back into those woods again! Shame

about the rain, but at least you made it.

"So this is it? Where's do we find our fabled Mountain Stronghold then?"

"Yeah, where's the entrance? It's damned wet out here.

"...Ummm... Well, it's definitely around here somewhere. The map was a bit vague

on specifics, but it's definitely... somewhere. Look, there's the forest to the south,

the cliffs to the west and the river to the east - it's definitely in this area. We just

need to find it...

"And this is obviously the only bit of wilderness in the entire world fitting thatvague descr- Holy shit a rabbit!


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ITEM: [Clan Talisman] - Passed down the line of Chiefs for as long as anyone can

remember.

ITEM: [Rabbit Talisman] - Found by Eaten during his youth. Repels rabbits when

used.

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


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Turn 2

The rain eases off.

ChiefBurned heads west with Travels, while Eaten attempts to understand the

motivations of a small white terror-beast.

"Alright, the most obvious choice would be to get as far as possible from the beast

by heading east. However, what if that's what it wants me to think?!? It could be

hearding me into an ambush! With the river on one side, and them on the other,

I'd be trapped! Well, this is one goblin you aren't getting your filthy paws on, you

monsters!"

Eventually deciding that moving away from it is exactly what the Rabbits want

him to do, he turns and sprints past the tiny creature, who (understandably)

freaks the hell out and runs away. Eaten bursts out into the western area at full

speed, just in time to spotANOTHER goddamn rabbit sitting here too. The others,

who are less freaked out by small, cute and fluffy animals with teeny pink noses,

decide that this area is pretty boring. There is a dead tree at the edge of the forest

though.


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Heading north and higher into the hills, Turtles, Silver and Finds come across a

bubbling mountain spring. How pretty! It's definitely getting colder up here

though...

Following the forest to the east, Splits and Questions find a dead log and anotherrabbit.


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Turn 3

Travels and Flames investigate the dead tree, while Eaten clutches his amulet in

terror. It vibrates gently in his hand, seemingly sensing the presence of the

rabbit. Travels breaks off a large branch which could be useful as a crude weaponif need be. Even despite all the rain, the dead tree seems really dry and would

probably make a good source of firewood should you decide to start setting stuff

on fire.

"Well, my plan was to first meet with the cliffs, then head northwards, but I

assume that if you guys want to-"

"Oh Maglubiyet, they're eveywhere!"

"Right. Let's head north first then.""All because you like his sister..."

Moving north, the Chief and his group head further up into the hills. It's colder uphere than it was down at the forest, but not too bad yet. Sadly, there doesn't

appear to be much of interest here. No rabbits though (hooray!).

To the east, Turtles laments the lack of reptiles at this particular pool,

while Silver searches for hidden treasures (sadly none) and Finds samples the

water. It's crystal clear, ice cold and very refreshing. And wet. Obviously.


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Moving north, the temperature drops even further and it becomes very cold

indeed. You're pretty sure none of you are going to be able to stay up here for

long without warmer clothes or a fire or doing SOMETHING to stay warm, but for

now you'll cope. Oh hey, trolls!

"Hey Brian, there's goblins come up the mountain."

"Who cares, I'm probably dying. Shut up and pass me the

snot rag."

"You are nod dying, idiod. Hey you, goblids! How aboud we dob't feasd on your

carcasses and you do us a fabour?"

They don't appear to be in the best of health. Those blankets look warm though.

Disgusting, but definitely cosy.


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Back down at the forest edge, Questions tries to strike up a conversation with the

rabbit while Splits investigates the log. There seems to be an odd clicking sound

coming from inside...

"Do you not see that some person is controlling your actions? It is my god, the

Greater Master. The Master controls us all, through control of the lesser masters.

They control us individually. But not you. I sense you are controlled directly by the

Greater Master. Join me, small one."

The rabbit twitches its nose and stares blankly at Questions.

Inside the log, things aren't quite so cute.


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WTF is that!?

Ah right. Giant centipede. What did you expect? The centipede rushes Split,

inflicting 2 damage and bringing him down to 3/5HP. The rabbit freaks the hell

out (seems to be their thing) and scarpers.


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

ITEM: [Dead Branch]: +1ATT. 50% chance of breaking on impact.

Also, here's a map


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Turn 4

It starts to rain again...

Sensing something bad is happening to Splits back at the log, the clan goblinswaste no time in rushing to back to help him.

At the trolls:

"Well, that is not a nice way to ask for a favor. We might consider helping you if

you ask nicely when we get back. However, at the moment, we have a comrade to

save."

"we will be right back i swear just a few bugs to sort out"

In the foothills:

"... You guys hear that?"

"It's the sound of an insect that has no idea what he just walked into."

"Let's go help out our friend!"

"Dammit!"

"Naha'ba Naba..."

Flames, Travels, Finds and Turtles all make it as far as the starting area this turn.


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Keen to avoid the rabbits they passed on the way up the hills, Eaten chooses an

alternative route to the log, and comes across a large pile of standing stones.

There is something oddly familiar about this cairn, as though it's giving off some

kind of energy that he's felt before. The feeling vanishes almost as soon

as Eaten notices it, but he is left with the distinct impression that there is some

sort of magic in those rocks. He is also certain (though he has no idea why) that

the cairn is incomplete and missing a stone.

Back at the log, an epic battle is underway as Splits regains footing (and his ear

colour) and launches a full-on fisticuff attack on the centipede

while Questions wrestles with its mandibles. Together they manage to do a little

bit of damage, but the centipede also bites Splits again, reducing him to 2/5HP.


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Ouch.

Meanwhile back up the hill, Silver is oblivious to the problems of his clanmates

back down at the forest.

"Well that was rude!"

"So, are you lot going to help us or not?"

Since everyone else has run off, Silver decides that the Trolls aren't going to

attack him and heads off to explore to the west.

"Goddamn goblins..."


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To the west, Silver finds very little of interest. Seems to be pretty much rocks and

snow here. It's getting really cold though and he's starting to shiver. Next turn,

he'll need to head for a warmer (lower) area, or spend a full turn warming up to

avoid taking damage from the cold.

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

Ooh! Magic stuff!


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Turn 5

The rain continues.

Eaten contemplates the mysteries of the cairn briefly before being rudely awokenfrom his reverie by the battle cries of his clan mates...

"Hmmm, interesting. Maybe I could-"

"Hold on!"

"How is this environment able to support a giant centipede? Also, logically

speaking, something that large without an internal skeletal structure should just

collapse in on itself..."

"BLAAAAAAARRRRRGH""Oh yeah, right, that was a thing we were doing......"

He runs to join in, just as everyone else arrives to do exactly the same thing and

the centipede recieves a (nearly) full-clan ass kicking and is easily destroyed, butnot before biting Turtles and doing 1 damage, bringing him down to 4/5HP. Splits

retreats to the sidelines to avoid death. He is quite successful.

The centipede is slain! Its corpse is yours to desecrate however you see fit.


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To the west, Silver has made it back to warmer parts to the area with the dead

tree. He is no longer in danger of freezing.

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

Congratulations! You have slain your first creature of the game! As in my previous

game, corpses will not disappear for no reason so you can deal with themhowever you like. Additionally, unless a creature is carrying some specific

equipment you won't get 'loot drops'. The end result of all this is that you get a bit

more freedom with what you can pick up after battles, though some things may

require a bit more effort to make them useable depending on your ideas.


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Turn 6

It stops raining again.

Despite having been in the mountains only a short time and despite it being manygenerations since any living goblin of the Clan of the Mountain Halls set foot here,

there is something familliar about the place, like some vague memory from a

dream or half-remembered thing from childhood. It is a strange feeling, and

though none of you are quite sure what to make of it, you all feel as though you

are somehow welcome here...

Anyway, back to business! ChiefBurned gives some orders to his followers:

"Hah, silly centipede. Anyways, I guess these scales could make for some quick,

improvised armour: does one of you guys want to give it a shot?"

"Others, we need to continue our exploring. I am going to check out what the

three trolls want. I'll assume they will want a fire to keep them warm, so some of

you should also go and get some wood from the dead tree. Even if only to warm

ourselves later on."

"What the remainder of you does doesn't bother me much though: we still have a

lot of exploring to do, so feel free to split up a bit. But let's try to stick a little bitcloser to each other this time, we don't want something like this happening

again."

Saying that, he heads back towards the trolls and gets as far as the bubbling


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mountain spring. The others more or less ignore his advice.

"Well, now that that's done...", says Eaten, who takes his leave and heads back to

the cairn. As he examines the structure, he notices the strange feeling of

familiarity is a little stronger here than elsewhere in the hills. After studying the

cairn for a while, all he manages to learn is that the rocks appear to have been

gathered from around the foothills, which is extremely unhelpful... Still, maybe he

can use that strange force somehow? He doesn't have time to move east again

this turn.

Silver meanwhile continues east and arrives at the log where some of the others

are doing terrible things to a corpse. Turtles and Split get to work on the carcass

while Travels attempts to check their wounds. He's pretty sure they'll both live,but there's not much more he can do for them at the moment.


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"join a quest they said. Fame and glory they said. didn't mention anything about

being elbow deep in a giant bugs guts"

"Stupid bug. Nothing but crap left behind, not even any junk. Hardly worth the

effo... hmm, auctialy..."

"Stay there so I see if wounds do not go bad"

Turtles attempts to collect the mandibles, but breaks one in the process. Ah well,

at least he got one ok, and it looks like it will be useable as a makeshift blade. As

he pulls out the mandibles, a foul-smelling ooze runs out of a sac in the creature's

mouth. You're pretty sure it's poisonous, but with no way to collect it, it runs into

the grass. At least no-one got poisoned during the battle! He and Splits then go

about breaking up the rest of the carcass looking for meat and manage to collect

4 pieces. Of the 100 legs, they manage to successfull collect 33. They are too

fragile to be any use as weapons and there is no food on them, but

they're boundto be exceedingly valuable at some point so they get chucked into

the inventory space. Unfortunately, the carapace (exoskeleton) and what is left of

the head are completely broken up during this foraging exercise and are sadly

rendered useless.

Questions and Finds continue to complain about the presence of a perfectly

normal, if rather large bug, while apparently ignoring the paradox of their own

existence.

"Hmm...This whole digging into the viscera of a impossible arthropod is fasinating,


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but I would rather explore a bit."

"Why must the world have things taht exist soley to be killed by other things. That

creature should not logically have attacked us. this world we live in is strange

indeed."

They head east to a new area.

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

ITEM: [Centipede Legs]: The walking limbs of a bug. You have collected 33.

ITEM: [Centipede Meat]: Pretty disgusting. Might be edible if cooked. You have

collected 4.

ITEM: [Centipede Mandible]: Knife-type weapon, +1 ATT. 20% chance of snapping

when used. You have collected 1.

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


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Turn 7

Eaten pulls out his amulet and attempts to use it on the cairn, but it doesn't seem

to have any effect that he notices. Unfortunately, the bunny behind isn't quite so

lucky and is hit with the full force of whatever power the amulet uses. It is an ex-

rabbit.

Eaten moves east and bumps into Finds Truth. Turns out the odd pattern on the

rock that Finds wanted to examine was just a poor attempt at shading, nothing

more.


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Travels decides that the Chief could probably do with his help more than this lot,

so heads up towards him and the trolls. He gets as far as the spring this turn.

Burned makes it back to the trolls and again notices how cold it is up here...

"Hey look, another goblin. I reckon we should just eat this one and be

done with the lot of them.

"I apologize for my rude comrades earlier. We had a sudden unexpected event.

Rest assured, now that is cleared, I am willing to hear what the problem is: and I'll

try to help if possible. And of course, if the reward is acquedate."

Heh! A reward! How aboud we dob't ead you and make your bones indo soub?! Is

thad enough of a reward, goblid?

"Ah, shuttit the lot of you, my head is splitting! Right goblin, like my friend here


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says, you do us a favour and we don't eat you. In fact you can wander these

mountains all you like without fear of troll attacks. In return, you need

to make us a cure for this damn flu. Sound like a deal? Bear in mind that if you

refuse, we will kick your goblin asses, flu or no flu. So what do you say?"

Questions heads east and FINALLY makes it to the river bank. The river appears to

be flowing extremely fast here and looks pretty dangerous. Oh look! Tiny

terrapins!

Silver gestures to Turtle and together they try and move the dead log up the hill,

but it's way too heavy for the two of them to move on their own all that way.

Maybe if they had more help it could be moved? They both get some of the moss

on their hands though from trying to push the log, which tingles a


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bit. Turtles notices that the scratches on his hands from the fight and the log-

shoving have healed.

Splits meanwhile examines the log to see if it is any good for firewood and

decides that it is probably the least combustible bit of wood he's ever seen. The

wood is soaked through and rotten, but does appear to have some bits of fungus

and moss growing out of it. Drier wood is probably better if you are going to start

lighting fires. Splits heads east in the direction of the river. He can hear birds

singing and tweeting here... Maybe there's a nest nearby?

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


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Turn 8

Travels arrives to find the chief still in discussion with the trolls. He gets his stick

out and tries to look menacing.

"Oh, let's be honest here. If you guys were all well, then you would probally wipe

me and my fellow goblins of the floor in a matter of minutes. Problem is that your

sick. However, I'm a fair goblin, so I will help you. But, I will ask for one more thing

in return: some information, if you could spare that. Does that sound okay?"

"Hahahahahahahackhackhack . Ah, little goblin, you are a ballsy

one! I wasn't aware we were bargaining about this, but fine. If you get us our

cure, you can ask each of us one question, and we will answer to the best of our

knowledge. I'll tell you this for free though - there's a snow bear that lives up here,

and if you're all as poorly equipped as you look then you're better off running

away. You know, cos it'll eat you, and then we'll stay sick.

"Good! So we have a deal. I will look for a cure for your flu. Do you perhaps have

an idea what we could look out for?"

"Gods goblin, have a bid of patience... Here's a list ob the stubb you need. Pud id

all in this boddle and boil id. We need to dring id hot uderstand?"

Flames is given a [Metal Flask] and a scrawled list of items:


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What nice handwriting the trolls have.

Flames moves to the east into unexplored territory. He is getting very cold, and

will need to spend the next full turn warming up if he doesn't want to take

damage from the cold...


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Back down to the south, Eaten checks over the stones in this area to see if they fit

the cairn, but he doesn't find anything that feels like it's giving off the same

energy as the cairn did.

"Stupid cairn....".

FindsTruth arrives from the south, just as Eaten spots the rabbit and flips the hell

out. Again.

"Hello Eaten. How are yo- ...Goodbye Eaten."

"Oh for Maglubiyet's sake, where the hell are they coming from!".

Activating his amulet (with rather predictable results for the poor rabbit) he flees

east, and Finds heads north.


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*Nose twitch*

No rabbits here! Eaten makes it to the river and finds a rather large berry bush.


37/362

North-west of Eaten, Finds discovers a small cave in the rocks. It's also freezing

cold up here.

Turtles collects a [Handful of Healing Moss] from the log and departs,

"Nice talking to you Silver. Lets do this again sometime. When we get a few more

guys to help i will be more then happy to try again with the log, but for now lets

try find something to cut it up maybe. I will head towards the river and try find a

sharp rock or something"

Sensing that someone has found reptiles near the river, he hurries to the east. He

hears birds singing in one of the trees at the edge of the forest.


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Silver also gathers a [Handful of Healing Moss] and heads north, arriving at the

cairn. He is suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of power coming from the stones

which reminds him, in a not entirely pleasant way, of how he felt when he used

first his voice against the wolves... The feeling quickly passes.

Splits continues east towards the river and arrives to find Questions attempting to

domesticate the terrapins. It turns out they are quite docile little creatures, and

seem quite happy to take scraps of food and be handled gently. That, or reptiles

just don't function very well in cold mountainous regions.

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


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ITEM: [Handful of Healing Moss]: Ingredient. Restores 1-4HP when boiled into a

potion.

ITEM: [Metal Flask]: Can put stuff in it.


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Turn 9

Flames dances about in the snow, stamping his feet and hopping about to get his

cold blood flowing again. He quickly warms up and feels much better.

Turtles decides to investigate the bird sounds, and after identifying the correct

tree, climbs up.


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He finds a nest containing 2 eggs and a metal ring.

FindsTruth summons up all his willpower and walks away from the cave. I guess

he'll need to wait to find out what miraculous wonders it holds... Moving east

again, he comes to the river bank. He can hear a waterfall in the distance and

from here can see what looks like a cliff. Unfortunately, he's starting to feel the

effects of the cold and must spend the next turn warming up or else take damage.


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Travels takes the metal bottle and recipe from the trolls and heads south to the

spring to collect some spring water. It should do the job nicely.

Meanwhile back at the river, Questions and Splits play with the terrapins for a bit,

then head north. Questions brings his new bestest friend with him. They arrivejust in time to see Eaten get attacked by a super-sneaky camouflaged berry-bush

snake which bites him for 1 DAM and poisons him! He starts to feel really ill and

loses ANOTHER HP to the effects bringing him down to 3/5HP... On the plus side,

he did manage to grab 9 berries before the snake got him.

Silver is so overcome by the memories of the wolf attack he spaces out

completely.


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

ITEM: [Berries]: Purple berries, that look a bit like the snake's eyes. You have

collected 9.

ITEM: [Terrapin]: Question's new best friend.


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Turn 10

Silver adds the dead bunny corpse to his inventory. It's got very soft fur - a few

more of them and he could make some warm clothes. Next, he investigates the

cairn is again flooded with a sense of magic coming from the stones, as well as a

sense of incompleteness. Like Eaten before him, he is certain (though he doesn't

know why) that the cairn is missing a stone. Unlike Eaten though, he also gets a

sense that he has seen the missing stone already. He is sure that there is some

magical presence trying to communicate with him here, but - damn, the feeling's

gone again.

Questions asks Ptery if it can speak to its reptilian colleague about a truce, but I

suppose if he was able to speak to the terrapin he could probably speak to the

snake directly... As it is, the terrapin just nibbles his fingers a bit in what he


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assumes is an affectionate manner. Questions and Eaten decide a more direct

approach is therefore in order, and attackthe snake. Unfortunately neither of

them is able to grab the creature, and their attacks can't get through its defence.

The snake retaliates by biting Questions for 1DAM, but he luckily avoids being

poisoned. Eaten is still feeling the effects of the poison and loses another 1HP.

"OWCH!!! WHY IS ALL THE WILDLIFE HERE SO HOSTILE!!!!"

Splits, not wanting to get directly involved in the fight, pauses for a cool

refreshing drink of water.

So lovely and refreshing!

Then he selects a stone from the river bank and throws it at the snake. He misses

everything.

Further north, ChiefBurned isn't doing much better...

"Now for checking this out..."

Scrambling up the small rock face, he goes to investigate the small blue heap at

the top in the snow. Unfortunately for him, it is not a long-lost treasure trove, but

is in fact a Snow Beast. A grumpy one too, since it just got woken up. It attacks the

Chief for 1DAM, and he takes another 1DAM from the fall... Oof.


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Turtles is doing much better, and puts on the ring. Almost immediately he gets a

strange sense that there is a 'space' inside him somehow just waiting to be filled...

with... something? The strange familiar feeling of the mountain is also closer

somehow, as if there were voices whispering nearby, but he just can't quite hear

them. It's definitely magic... Could it be the ancient magic his ancestors once

used? The feeling doesn't fade, but neither is he able to make any sense out of it.

Maybe if he spent some time trying to focus on the strange energies he might

have more luck? Hurrying to the east, he finally reaches the terrapins. Yay!

Travels heads back to the log and takes another bit of moss. There's not very

much left but he takes a handful.


47/362

Finds dances about in the snow and warms up. He feels much better now!

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

ITEM: [Handful of Moss]

ITEM: [Ring]: ??? Seems to be magical.

ITEM: [Rabbit corpse]: Does what it says on the tin!


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Turn 11

Turtles speaks to the terrapins:

""hello turtles i spent a long time with some of your kin in a place similar but very

different to this very place. you must be very unique and brave turtles to live in a

harsh place such as this and if time permitted i would take time to study you and

this whole area in fact. However i am on a quest and i do not have the liberty to do

so .some day if i survive i will return if i am able too farewell until then"

Then, he settles down on the rock and starts meditating. The peacefulness of the

river and the terrapins help him relax and he quickly finds his thoughts drift to the

strange magic all around him. The feeling is becoming stronger, but it is still

vague.

"RUN AWAY!!!"

Eaten flees the snake south and comes to Turtles's rock, but does not disturb him.He loses another 1HP to the poison but now feels much better. Looks like the

effects have finally passed. He tries nibbling the healing moss. It's bitter and

makes his mouth all tingly, but doesn't seem to do much more than that. Seems

like ingredients need to be cooked before they become useful.


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Silver heads 2 areas west.

Back at the snake-tree:

Finds moves and joins Questions and Splits in their attack on the snake.

"Sigh...Why must my comrades get themselves into such combat..."

Splits gets a lucky shot with another [River Rock: 1ATT], while the others continue

to punch it. They STILL can't get through its DEF though... If only they had

weapons of some sort. The snake is happy using its fangs though and

bites Finds for 1DAM, but luckily doesn't poison him either.


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Burned throws a small tantrum and then bravely absconds to the south and finds

himself at the cairn. The snow beast does not follow him.

"WHY DOES EVERYTHING I EVER SPOT HAVE TO BE A TRAP?!"

"Everyone! To arms!"

As he approaches the cairn, he feels a sudden and very strong sense of power

emanating from the rocks, and the clan amulet begins to vibrate gently against his

chest. Then, as quickly as it appeared, the sensation passes.

Travels spaces out.

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

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


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Turn 12

It starts to rain again.

Turtles continues to meditate by the river. As he does so, he feels closer to an

understanding of the mountain's power. He can feel the channels swirling

through the air and the river, and in the little terrapins and the rabbit beside him.

He can even feel it swirling around him as if in response to his attentions. He

tentatively tries to reach out to it, but can't quite manage yet... He's definitely

getting close though.

Close by Eaten collapses in an exhausted heap. He has had a hard day

"So. Tired. Must. Rest."

He rests for the full turn and regains 1HP. He is now at 3/5HP.


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Questions tries to find a branch in the bush she can use as a weapon, but the

snake is darting about in there and she can't find one without getting bitten!

Splits throws another rock from the river bank, but misses again...

Finds flees west and looks for a rock to use as a makeshift club. He finds one quite

easily and gains: [Rock]. Travels moves two areas east towards the berry bush and

arrives here too. As he passes the cairn he gets the same sensation of familiarity

as everyone else has been getting.


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Burned investigates the cairn, touching his amulet to the rocks. It vibrates gently

again, as though in tune to some unseen force, but nothing more happens. It does

make him wonder whether the amulet might be magical though... Deciding

there's nothing more to be done here, he heads west and arrives at the spring.

Silver moves back up into the cold region of the mountain again. He feels a vague

hum of familiarity coming from somewhere here, but it's very vague.

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


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ITEM: [Rock]: +1ATT


55/362

Turn 13

Eaten feels much better and heads west towards the unexplored frontier. He gets

as far as the wet log this turn.

Burned also moves west and reaches a whole new area! Oooh! A cave!


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Turtles continues to meditate. As he reaches out to the energies swirling around

him, he feels them finally react to his touch and enter his mind, filling the space

he felt was there ever since he put on the ring. Turtles has become a Novice

Magician* and gains 1 Magic Point (MP)! As he feels the energies enter his mind,

he also understands that the ring he found is indeed magical.

The battle against the snake continues to rage back at the riverbank. Splits takes a

time-out and recovers 1HP, bringing him back up to 3/5HP, while Travels attacks

with his stick, but it unfortunately breaks on impact.Finds picks up a second rock

and takes it east where he gives it to Questions. He doesn't have time to attack

himself, but the combined attacks of the others FINALLYmanage to do a little bit

of damage to the snake. The snake bites Travels for 1DAM taking him down to

4/5HP, but luckily he doesn't get poisoned.


57/362

Silver overcomes a moment of inexplicable gender confusion and starts looking

for the missing cairn stone. The problem is, which one is it? Without any better

understanding of magic, he can't tell which stone is the correct one so chooses

one at random and hopes for the best. He starts to feel the cold though, and will

need to spend the next turn warming up or take damage.

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

ITEM: [Magic Ring]: +1MP


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Turn 14

The battle against the snake rages on. Turtles attempts to use his newfound

magical abilities to sooth the snake, focusing on transferring calmness and peace

from himself to the snake. It seems to work and the snake pauses in its attacks

this turn, but Turtles finds himself suddenly overcome by a storm of emotions and

attacks the snake in a fit of rage*.

Questions and Finds watch Turtles attempts, then join in the attack with their

sophisticated new rocks. All together, they FINALLY manage to do enough damage

to kill the damn creature! Its corpse is yours for the

looting.Turtles, Questions and Finds have first dibs.

Splits ignores the chaos at the bush and chills out, watching the river burbling

along. It's very relaxing and he regains another 1HP bringing him back up to

4/5HP.


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Eaten attempts to avoid the rabbits by heading north then west. He is successful

this time, and reaches the spring.

Travels heads west after Eaten and gets as far as the cairn. He gets that odd

familiar feeling again coming from the rocks.


60/362

Silver drops the rock he had picked up and instead dances around to warm up

again. He soon feels all toasty warm again, but doesn't have time to move this

turn.

Burned heads north, into another new area. It is pretty cold here and he starts tofeel chilly.

--------


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*Normally casting a magic spell counts as a full action for the turn; however, if

there are consequences which you cannot control, they may well occur

immediately. Incidentally, the red means 'rage', not some kind of weird demon

possession


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Turn 15

Silver heads west.

Flames heads east, and attempts to use his talisman to determine where the

magical energy is coming from. He is drawn to a small pile of around 10 rocks, but

he's going to have to check them individually somehow to find the correct one.

He's also getting really cold now and will need to warm up next turn.


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Eaten sprints as fast as he can to the west, but must have run into some kind of

singularity en route, because he only ends up 2 areas further on than he was

before. Looks like there's no way around that particular mechanic He arrives

at the small cave.

Splits moves west and arrives at the cairn. He too gets the (now familiar) sense of

magic emanating from the rocks, but it passes quickly.


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"i don't understand it should have worked we were calm......

Well...I don't know if that was a spell or not, but is was interesting. Now who's our

resident corpse desecrator?.

Finds and Turtles set about harvesting useful parts from the snake. Finds very

carefully attempts to remove the poison glands from the snake, which is tricky. He

messes up one of them, but manages to get the other one out in one piece and

gains a [Snake Poison Gland] and collects the [Snake Skull]. It will take a bit of

work to turn into a bracer, but should be possible to do in a couple of turns.

Alternatively, he could keep it as it is and use it as a slightly morbid glove

puppet. Turtles uses his centipede jaw to skin the snake and gains a [Snake Skin].

It will take him a bit of time to craft it into a useful item, but should certainly be

possible.

Questions tries to judge the depth of the river, but can't see the bottom. He gets

the distinct impression that attempting to enter such cold, deep, dark and fast

flowing water would be best left to stronger swimmers than the goblins... The

river is indeed impassable.

Travels gives up chasing Eaten and walks all the way back to the berry bush. He

doesn't have time to do anything else this turn though.

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


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[Snake Poison Gland]: Snake poison. Causes 1HP damage per turn for 3 turns; can

be applied to potions or weapons. One use.

[Snake Skull]: Skull and fangs from a berrybush snake

[Snake skin]: Skin from a berrybush snake


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Turn 16

Silver heads west into a brand new area. He finds himself on the edge of a

ridiculously high cliff overlooking a vast ice field below. To the north, he can see

another outlook at the base of a towering cliff, but right now he's getting cold and

needs to warm himself up a bit.

Eaten is equally intrepid, heading south towards the forest again. It's new, but it's

not very exciting...


67/362

Burned curses the cold while dancing around to warm up, and gets so carried

away with it that the rock-picking has to wait until next turn.

Splits goes as far west as he can and reaches the boring area with two rocks.


68/362

The corpse-desecrating team is hard at work back at the berry bush. Turtles turns

the snake skin into a crude (but ever-so-1980s) belt as a memento of his first-ever

magic use. It uses up all of the snake skin. He also realises that using his magic

cost him 1MP which hasn't restored itself yet (which was totally because of the

rage and absolutely nothing to do with the GM forgetting to mention it...

:shifty:).

Finds starts working on his snake skull bracer, but it's a more complex item than a

belt so is taking a bit longer to finish. He should be able to get it finished by next

turn though.

Travels picks 3 [Berry Bush Berries] and adds them to water in the flask before

stating, "Need Help..." and pointing SW.

Questions becomes mezmerised by the river depths and spaces out completely.

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

ITEM: [Snake Belt]: Purely decorative, but awfully fetching!


69/362

Turn 17

Burned scoops up 5 of the 10 rocks as best he can (including the slightly square

one which he has developed a (not at all inappropriate) fondness for and wobbles

off south with them. He is delighted to notice that he carries the feeling of

familiarity with him into a warmer area. Now he can check the rocks and not

worry about freezing to death at the same time!

Over ESP he helpfully recaps the potion ingredients to the rest of the group,

"Travels, why did you put those three berries in there? We're trying to brew a

medicine, and I do not think that it's one of the ingredients."

"Anyways, we still need a lot of ingredients... The only thing that's in there that we

need is the mineral water. We still need moss, ice berries, a brown mushroom, 3

beetles and some kind of heat force. Fire! Fire should be what we look for next."

"Anyways, guys, if you have some healing moss pass it to Travels so he can add it

to the flask to make medicine."


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"i am so close i swear this could help us all if i understood it"

Turtles settles down on a rock and meditates again. He recovers his MP and is

back to 2/2MP. Unfortunately he doesn't really learn much more about his magic

than he already knew, although he is aware that there is an overall sense

ofbalance in the environment. Maybe if he could find someone to help teach him

a bit more about it, or just practice a bit more and learn through trial and error?

"I am sorry, Travels, give me a moment to finish this. It is almost completed."

FindsTruth continues working and makes himself a kickass [Snakeskull Bracer]!

Hellz yeah!

Travels, perhaps offended that no-one wants to help him this turn, spaces out.


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Eaten continues his intrepid explorations to the west and also finds himself at a

cliff edge overlooking the ice fields. There is another weird fruit tree here, but

getting to it is going to be *really* difficult and involve climbing over that

precarious and slippery rock. One false move could see an unlucky goblin falling to

their deaths down there... Maybe he should get some equipment for this? A

rabbit sneaks in behind him.

Splits intrepidly heads west as well and finds himself at the cliff edge where he

appears to have stumbled upon a shit-ton of rabbits and a rather large warren.

The tan one seems to be watching him... Somewhere over the ESP he

feels Eaten shudder in horror. Off the edge of the cliff he can see the ice fields far

below and the mountains in the distance. To the north he can see the area

where Silver is warming himself up.


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Like so!

Questions snaps out of his reverie with a vague feeling that checking the river

depth somehow took 4 days of his life. Weird. He hurries west and gets to thecairn where he feels the magical aura from the stones surround him.

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


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[Snakehead Bracer]: +1ATT. 10% chance of breaking on impact.


74/362

Turn 18

Travels comes back to his senses, exclaiming,

"Fuza Ne'hama!"

"Bettle..."

"I'm waiting for you..."

"Alright, alright Travels. Let's go."

And points south-west again. Turtles goes to follow Travels, but he doesn't move

anywhere so they just stay at the bush.

Finds takes the initiative and heads south-west on his own to reach the log.


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"Also, I know it's you rock. I saw that it was you from the very first look. Now, you

and a buddy are coming with me."

Burned drops the rocks, then takes 'his' [Pet Rock] and another one and moves

west, where the magic feeling disappears. Damn, looks like he left the cairn stone

behind.

Questions heads towards the warren and gets as far as the boring area with 2

rocks.


76/362

Silver heads back to the small pile of stones. Now that Burned has moved some of

the rocks, he no longer feels any magic emanating in this area.

Much more interesting things are happening at the warren... Splits stares back at

the tan rabbit. (It blinks! Hooray! Splits wins!) Moving with kind of extreme caution that most

goblins would use when approaching a sleeping owlbear, he slowly moves over to

one of the rabbit holes and peers in. It's dark, but there appear to be rabbits in

there. He's not totally sure what else he was expecting. Looking around at the

rabbits, he isn't quite sure why Eaten gets so worked up about them...

So cute!

Eaten meanwhile is gradually coming to a decision with some encouragement

from the chief...


77/362

"Well Eaten, this is obviously it. You must face your destiny."

"I'm just kidding mate, chill out! You've got your amulet, you could kill all of the

little bastards at the same time if you wanted to. And it's not like they will actually

try to eat ya. I think."

Gripping his amulet, he charges north to the warren and is horrified by the sight.

Needless to say, he and Splits have rather different views about rabbits.

"Must....run....away........"

".....No! Chief is right! If I don't face my destiny now, I'll be living in fear for the rest

of my life."

"Alright you monsters, come and get some."


78/362

He storms in amongst the rabbits and activates the amulet! It's ...sort-of

effective...

The rabbits immediately next to the force are killed outright, and many more

appear stunned by the blast. All unaffected rabbits appear to be terror-stricken

and flee into the warren. Well, almost all. That tan rabbit is still here...

After a brief lull in the battle, the tan rabbit stamps a rhythm on the ground and

the warren erupts around the startled goblins! Eaten lashes out at the creatures

as best he can, but he is quickly overwhelmed and completely cut from Splits who

is held back by a separate large contingent. Held down by the tiny, terrifying

beasts, Eaten struggles vainly to break free as the tan rabbit and another, very

large brown rabbit approach. The tan rabbit jams something in his mouth that


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tastes vaguely like carrots and rabbit poop which makes his head reel.

After a moment, the brown rabbit hope onto his chest and speaks

to Eaten's mind...

"So my scouts tell the truth! You have returned, evil one, bending another pitiful

hunter to your will... So be it, we must end this once and for all.

"Eep!"

You, hunter - can you understand me yet?"

"Who, me?"

Yes you! Now listen. The amulet you carry contains the spirit of great evil which

will destroy all rabbit-kind if set free. Our kind defeated it once in the great

cabbage-patch wars of 150 generations ago in lands far from here and the amulet

was buried. However, my kind cannot touch the cursed thing so we cannot destroy

it on our own and it seems you have brought it back to end us once and for all.

This cannot be allowed to happen. So here's your deal, hunter. If you help us

destroy the spirit contained within that amulet we will not only let you live, but we

will reward you with one of our most powerful weapons. Do you agree? I assume

you realise this is not really a request...

----------------------[Pet Rock]: Very loyal, but pretty slow...


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Turn 19

Where were we? Ah yes... the rabbits! And chaos!

"Oh dear god what? Damnit! Hold on Eaten, I'm coming!"

"Back ye foul beasts! Eaten, hang on, I'm here!"

ChiefBurned responds badly to the rabbits threatening one of his own, and

wielding his trusty, faithful pet rock above his head charges to the rescue justas Questions also appears from the east. Questions however is more interested in

the philosophical implications of finding a warren that seems somehow mystically

linked to Eaten's fate. It's almost like someone planned this

"CHIEF, WAIT!"

"Help my clan mate... Play with the bunnies... help clan mate... play with bunnies...

Eh, their just bunnies, no harm in pla... did that rabbit just shove poop in Eaten's

mouth? Aww, that's nasty. Hmm, how to help... Ah, I know.

HOLY CRAP! IT'S FARMER BROWN! RUN!"

One rabbit is startled enough by Splits's outburst that it trips backwards over a

small pebble. It might just be the most adorable thing he's ever seen.

"....just......wait a minute..."


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-Gulp-

"..."

"Squueeeek, squeek, squeeeek?"*

"ee ee ee ee eee ee eeeee! Squeek squeeeeken squeek squeek. squeek squeek."

"Squeek."

His clanmates are now pretty convinced that Eaten has lost his mind in the

trauma. Still, they decide to make the best of things and play with the bunnies

while they wait for Eaten to stop rabbiting on (see what I did there? ).

In a slightly less insane part of the forest, Turtles, FindsTruth and Travels have

managed to get themselves to the same place at the same time and get to work

on the log. Unfortunately, it's still too heavy for them to move on their own, but it

feels like it's starting to give way. One more goblin helper should do thetrick. Travels takes the berries out of the flask and harvests some moss. Now the

flask only contains water.


82/362

Silver continues on towards the cairn and gets as far as the babbling mountain

spring.

-----------

[spoiler]Hooray! You've regrouped and I don't have to draw 8 different pictures

while hungover! Also, if you're wondering what Eaten and the rabbit said,

read on:[/spoiler]

*TRANSLATION:

......alright. Say I agree to this. Say...that I help you...destroy the amulet. There's

just one thing I want.....though that ultimate weapon thing sounds pretty good

too."

"......if I agree, and kill whatever's in this thing...then I want your word that no

rabbit will ever harm me. Ever. Again."

"Ever."

"..."

"......so......"

"Do we have a deal?"

"Ahhahahahahahahaha! No rabbit will harm YOU again? Hunter, you showed up

here in OUR hills and started murdering my cousins without even having the

decency to eat them like a normal hunter would. Still, if you were driven by fear I

suppose that explains things a bit. Still makes you kind of a dick though...


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"Anyway. Yes, fine we agree to your ridiculous deal. BUT, until you succeed, I'll be

having you watched by a special squadron who have apparently developed a

minor resistance to the amulet. We found that out right now when you tried to

commit genocide Anyway, if you try to kill them, we'll use the Ultimate

Weapon against you and your pack instead. When you least expect it! Mwah

hahahahaha! Right then, off you go!

"Wait, what? What the hell am I supposed to do?"

"It should work if we release the spirit back into the bodies of the hunters from

land, water, sky and spirit. But we need some kind of... token from these creatures

for the ritual to work."

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


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Turn 20

Questions attempts to introduce Pterry to a rabbit. They squeak and click* at each

other for a moment before the rabbit hops off.

"Er...ok. I may need a little bit more than just that. For example, where can I find

these spirits? And what are they like? Are they peaceful, or will they try to kill me

on sight or something? And ......sorry, about the whole.....attempted

genocide.....thing. But...well....my name is Eaten-By-Rabbits....and, y'know, goblindestinies....and all that......"

"Really, that's your name? Heh! You hunters are a strange lot! Anyway look, don't

worry about the spirit stuff for now. Just fetch the other tokens and we'll deal with

that when you get back. Anyway, duty calls!

The brown rabbit hops off and is followed by most of the others.

"Yup. Kid lost his mind.""Wait a second, is he getting rabbit pets? Oh well... Mr. Rock is still better

anyways."

"Okay guys, I'm going to check out that cave. Those of you that have enough to

take down some grues which are probably inside that place, accompany me! Yes,

I'm joking, there aren't any grues there."

"Just a bear or two at most."

"Hey, Chief. Long story, but the rabbits are (sort of) our friends now, and a couple


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are just tagging along until I can do.....something.....for them......"

"Anyway, we can probably just ignore them for now - they're only here

for........insurance."

"D'awww... silly little dumbass rabbit. Okay then, where we headed again?"

Splits collects up the tiny fluffy bunny corpses and then

follows Burned and Eaten east.

Once there, the goblins go to investigate the cave, but it's only big enough for

one. The others bravely let their Chief go first...

"We've totally got your back Chief!"

"Yeah, right behind you!"

Crawling, head first into a dark, dingy cave full of god-only-knows what terrible

creatures...


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Oh cool, it's only mushrooms! It smells pretty pungent in here...

Back at the log, the goblin team decide they've spent quite long enough in each

others company and split up again.

"Well, this has been less than productive..."

Finds investigates inside the dead log and finds quite the insecty ecosystem

inside. It's full of spiders, beetles, grubs, bugs and all kinds of tasty creatures, and


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not a giant centipede in sight!

Turtles hands his moss to Travels then heads north to meditate beside the cairn.

Almost at once he is assaulted by a powerful stream of energy coming from the

stones, which start to resolve themselves into a pattern. Focussing using his

newfound magical abilities, he is able to make sense of the message... It seems

like something is trying to show him something... Something that it wants very

badly...


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Hmm...

"Barsu", says Travels as he points west. Then he heads off to the dead tree.

Silver watches the babbling brook and spaces out completely.

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

OBSIDIAN PORTAL NEWS: Starting to work on an Obsidian Portal page for this

game so you can track what you have / maps etc. We'll see how helpful it is, but

the link over is:http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-

king. I've invited a few folk who I know are already signed up, and if the rest of
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-kinghttp://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-kinghttp://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-kinghttp://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-kinghttp://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-kinghttp://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-king


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you would like to give it a go please do. I'm still trying to work out how to use it

properly, but if you let me know your username I'll add you to the campaign.

*TRANSLATION:

""Hey"

"'Sup? Whatcha doing with the blue thing?"

""Dunno really. Got picked up and put in a really big empty space for a while, then

I got shoved at you. Could be worse though, at least it's warm.

""Huh. The big things are weird. Oops, warren business calls! Best be off! Say hi to

Fred if you see him!

"Will do! See you"


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Turn 21

Burned picks all the mushrooms and gains: [2x Red Mushrooms, 2x Brown

Mushrooms, 2x Yellow Mushrooms]. He also takes a bit of the [green and red

mossy stuff] for good measure. He also notices that there are little tiny baby

mushrooms growing here, so hopefully there will be more big ones to harvest

again soon. Much to his surprise, he isn't attacked by some random fungus

monster, and he leaves the cave and heads east.

Splits waits for the Chief to come back out the cave, all the while keeping an eye

on the rabbit. It hops off after Eaten - must be one of his new guards.

Questions and Pterry gleefully gallavant in from the west.

Eaten heads east, picks up the rightmost rock and carries on east again. He gets as


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far as the stream.

Silver finally arrives at the cairn again, where he finds Turtles meditating.

Although Turtles certainly feels it much more acutely, there is an almost

overwhelming sense of desperation and desire emanating from the

stones.Turtles can sense the energies are now almost entirely focussed on the

rock in Eaten's hands.

Finds grabs himself a tasty, juicy grub of some description while he rummages

around the log waiting for Travels. He also collects [3x Beetles] and pops them in

his inventory. Oooh! Tickly! He waits for Travels for a really long time, but he's

unfortunately spaced out again so nothing happens...

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


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[Mushrooms & Moss]: Ingredients. Can be cooked and used in potions. One use;

different colours have different effects.

[Beetles]: Tasty snack! Also, ingredients (same as above).

LOTMK on Obsidian Portal
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-kinghttp://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-kinghttp://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-king


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Turn 22

Burned heads over to the dead tree where he finds Travels has succesfully found

himself another (completely unique and not copy-pasted) [Dead Branch].

Splits & Questions rush east to reach the cairn where they suspect some

interesting shit might be going down. Pterry looks like his little reptilian mind is

being thoroughly blown by the speed they are moving. They run as far as the

spring and will arrive at the cairn next turn.


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Over at the cairn, Silver climbs up the rocks to see if there's any way to get further

north than they've already been...

"Maybe if we went over there... then the ridge... up the waterfall... hmmm...

Yeah, that should do it!", he thinks to himself.

Yup, looks like walking there should do the trick.

Meanwhile, FindsTruth and Eaten arrive to *finally* restore the cairn to its former

glory. Turtles meditates, ready to act as a conduit for the cairn-magic and the

others as Eaten carefully places the stone back onto the pile...


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Nothing happens. Oh wait, yes it does!

The four goblins are thrown backwards by a blast of powerful magic which

knocks Silver off the cairn and batters Turtles straight out of his meditative

state. Silver loses 1HP from the fall, and Turtles loses all his MP (2MP). Suddenly a

very loud, very excited girly voice explodes in their heads:


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"Ah hahahahahah! You did it! You repaired the stones! You have noooooo idea

how long it's been since that horrible dwarf tried to dismantle my memorial and

'release my spirit'. I TRIED to explain I still had a job to do, but noooooooo he

wouldn't listen and he managed to steal that little rock and tried to break the

enchantments on me. I smited him good for that one, but I've not been able to

speak to ANYONE in forever and I was soooooooo worried that whenever the clan

came back I wouldn't be able to guide you like I was supposed to, but you did!!

Yay! Will you stay and talk to me for a while? ...It's been sooo lonely being up here

by myself for so long... You don't need to worry about speaking though, silver guy,

I can hear you fine if you just think stuff.

So the mystic spirit is a youngling. Wonderful.

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

[Dead Branch]: +1ATT. 50% chance of breaking on impact.

I like to imagine that all the 'i's in the new girl's speech are dotted with little love

hearts

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


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Turn 23

ChiefBurned decides that speaking to the being at the cairn is sadly more

important than collecting firewood just now, so he chooses to delegate the task

to Travels... It doesn't go down too well.

"Bu- But fire... Sigh. Leader duty calls."

"Na'he Naboo Nacka Losa Nacka Frota..."*

"Speak common if you want me to understand what your saying mate. Though bythe way you said it I'm not sure if I want to know."

"Anyways, I'd do it myself, but we need a fire for brewing that potion. And did you

remove those berries out of there yet? Thanks."

Sensing some degree of confusion over the status of the potion, the benevolent

(heh!) GM provides a handy diagram for charting your progress. It will be updated

whenever you change the ingredients or alter the potion. Calling it a 'potion' is

somewhat generous at the moment.


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The 2 goblins head off in different directions, but no-one collects any firewood.

Again.

Burned gets as far as the mountain spring.


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Travels heads over to the log to collect [three more beetles], even

though Finds already collected some earlier**. Ah well, you can never have too

many beetles!

Up at the cairn, there is faaaaar too much excitement about the appearance of a

giant, mysterious, sparkly pink goblin girl for anyone to give a rat's ass about the

potion right now. Splits and Questions arrive just as the others are starting to ask

the strange new creature their questions.

Turtles settles down to try and use his magic senses to read the creatures 'mojo',

but the powers that be aren't particularly sure what mojo he is referring to.

However, he gets a very strong feeling of happiness eminating from the creature,

but also senses a deep sadness and loneliness beneath. The girl seems to be a


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spirit and... it's hard to say, but it seems like she's been here a reallylong time...

There's something else strange as well, but he's having trouble working out what

it is... The others begin to ask their questions.

"Wow, giant purple guy. Did not see that comeing. Hiya!"

Ew! I'm not a guy, stupid!! I'm a girl!

"Errrrr.....hi? So, I guess you're some sort of guardian, or something?"

Do you not listen? I TOLD you, I'm a GUIDE! Not a guardian. Guardians ask

stupid questions and are serious and soooo BORING! Hey you're not a guardian

are you? You definitely seem the type. I bet your name is Asks-Stupid-Questions

too!

Uuuuhhhh... no... I'm Eaten-by-Rabbits...

"Sooooo anyway ...How long have you been here? What do you mean by guide

us?"

A flicker of sadness crosses the spirit's face for an instant and she suddenly looks

very young...

...I.... don't remember how long it's been... I was really young when they left me

here but... Look, that's none of your business! What matters is that you aregoblins and I have to help guide you back to the city so you can get rid of that

horrible monster that's taken over in there. Of course, I can't just let any old

group of mongrels wander around the mountain - I need to see proof that you are

from our clan. Don't you have a weaver with you or something or is it really just

you lot?

"Who are you, and how can you hear my thoughts?"

About time someone asked! My name is... my name...I don't remember... You can call me

Princess Sparkles! Everyone always said I'd be a great weaver one day, because Iwas so good at learning! That's why they brought me here and made me into a

guide, because I was so good and smart with magic! ... I wish they didn't have to

leave me here on my own though... It's cold up here and I miss my friends... Hey,

will you be my new friends? I bet you will! And of course I can hear your thoughts!

I'm a spirit stupid, it's not like I have ears or working vocal chords any more. How

else would I talk to you? Gods! Don't you knowANYTHING?

?


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--------

I think I love Princess Sparkles

OBSIDIAN PORTAL NEWS: FYI, I've been updating the Items page a bit, so if you've

forgotten what your stuff is / does check it out. It's not quite complete as yet, but

you can see what you're carrying in the Character pages and can always ask me if

something's not up yet.

*TRANSLATION:"Listen you son of a retarded, syphilitic donkey who was raped by

a midget Orc, find someone else, I'm still working on this damn troll medicine you

wanted...find someone else to go bang rocks together and make fire. Lead damn

you...Lead!"Oh my!

**M0rt made a pretty good ingredients summary a turn or two ago - might be

worth recapping to avoid collecting multiple ingredients. Also, you can check what

everyone's carrying on the 'Character' pages over at Obsidian

Portal:http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-king. I

update it every turn or two so will be pretty up-to-date.
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-kinghttp://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-kinghttp://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-kinghttp://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/lair-of-the-mountain-king


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Turn 24

The conversation continues up at the cairn, but Travels has absolutely no interest

in deceased younglings and heads back to the dead tree in his endless quest for

firewood.

"...What's a weaver? If you mean magic user, well, EnviesTurtles over there seems

to have picked some up from a magic ring...Sort of. It's not working quite right yet.

The Chief should be here soon. He has the Clan Talisman...Would that prove who

we are?"

Right on cue, Burned appears and joins in.

"Greetings... Princess Sparkles."


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"I feel sorry for your loneliness. It must be terrible to have been, well, imprisoned

for so long. If there is any way that we can help, say so."

"That being said, I am chief Burned-By-Flames, leader of the Clan of the Mountain

Halls. This is our clan talisman, is it enough proof?"

"And finally, whilst I would love to stay and chat... I believe that time is of the

essence if what you say is true, and the remains of our old clan still live- even if

terrorized by some kind of monster. So, please, help us in any way you can."

"Oh, and for you other guys who have nothing else to do, get working on that

potion! Travels is doing well on it, bring him ingredients if you have them! Or go

and make some fire, since he didn't look like he wanted to do it. Pretty, pretty

fire."

Really? YOU'RE the Chief? And none of you know who the Weavers are? This is

going to be MUCH harder than I thought. It must have been a really REALLY long

time since we left the mountain if none of you remember the weavers or even

have a simple magical understanding... Unless you're all just really stupid... But

yes, the weavers are... WERE our most powerful magic users who could

manipulate energy b

Lair of the Mountain King - Turn by Turn

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