A party journeys to the western coast of Ruislip to chase down a bounty offered by a faceless man in Dorbog. They find and capture the face-thief in a sea cave and recover the treasures of its victims. The face is returned to the man, but the reward was stolen long ago, unfortunately.
Party
- Gest (Matt)
- Artair (Wren)
- Kel / Sonorant (Anthony)
- Roderico (Sergio)
- Refereed by Michael
Intention
Artair heard from the party that went to claim their reward from Cioran about the bounty put out by a man seeking his face returned from the beast that stole it. This group seeks to find the face and return it.
Summary
No longform summary was written this session, see full notes below instead.
Postscript
Detached from the shards of hatred in its tail, the creature slowly transitions from enraged, to moody, to whimpering on the boat ride back to the outskirts of Dorbog. You bring the netted beast to the Faceless Man, who feels it with his hands. Recognizing his former hound, the grief of years pours out of him and he hugs and caresses the thing, glad to have a companion.
The creature’s transformation is nearly complete… the face falls away from the dog thing like a rubbery mask, revealing a tentacled mass at the neck where the head should be.
But the man cannot see the horror, continues his embrace and eventually these too fall away until only a very relieved (tail-free) shaggy setter remains. The man recovers his face and places it back on, albeit at a slightly crooked angle. But this is a small price to pay to regain sight, smell, and taste. “I am Geirr. I am… hungry!”
He owes you a reward, but it was stolen many years ago. He can give you only his thanks. Thargol seems pleased with the finery you have brought him, and lets you split up the rest of the loot.
Loot
- 500sp in contemporary coins.
- The heavy leather covers of a Latin holy text. Worth 50sp to a bookbinder.
- Several suits of fine silks and furs - worth 400sp if repairs and cleaned.
- A vial of Poison
- A Fairypenny
- An inflexible, leathery disk - one face with the distinctive gills of a mushroom. Pleasant to turn over and over in your fingers. Dirty like an old coin. Only found in old collections, in basements and tombs. The origin is lost - perhaps from over-harvesting.
- Worth 50sp to a collector - 250sp in goods in rural communities.
- A mark of good fortune, and a gentle warning - the bearer is not to be cheated nor wronged. The punishments vary from spoiled milk to stolen children.”
- Library Flagstone
- A large stone, the top appearing slightly molten and very smooth. A flagstone from a library in a time and place where magic was learnt openly. Such a structure was inevitably burnt. The flagstone saw generations of learning - and some lessons well enough to repeat. Sleep upon it as a pillow, and resonate.
- Difficulty 3, but does not require study.
- Spiked Beast Tail
Boasts
Artair
After asking the priest of Dorbog about the plight of the faceless man, Artair says “I will return the faceless man’s face and learn his name” Successful!
Kel
Before setting off to the sea caves, Kel turns to Gest and says. “No one dies this time. I’ll be there.” Successfull!
Gest
Gest, after Kel is attacked by a bat bug, “I saw the bat bug that got you, I’ll shoot that damn beast down with my bow.” Failed. Gest missed the bat bug three times and it was understandably killed by Roderico once it started snacking on Artair’s neck.
Gest
Gest, upon seeing the face-stealing beast and taking out his net, “Strange as this beast may be, I’ll tangle it in my net all the same.” Successful!
Rumors
- Something has been going on in Dorbog (01,11) recently, will animals dying off and their carcasses filling the Dorbog River and its banks. Jarl Donnagh might know more and resolving it could possibly be the kind of great feat that gets the flotilla some good will if it wanted to set up nearby.
- A town the size of Dorbog would likely have other mysteries to uncover or merchants willing to trade. We know of at least one helpful baker named Jonathan but in a place of 800 there are surely more characters about.
- St. Olham’s Monastery (01,13) would likely be grateful to the flotilla for hearing that they resolved the matter, as they had been providing aid to the Faceless Man. Also could possibly be a place to sell illuminated manuscripts?
- Long ago, someone stole our rightful 1000 sp bounty from Geirr fka the Faceless Man. Maybe he could tell us who now that he has a mouth again?
Full Notes
Flotilla - Day 24
- Before Artair, Kel, Roderico, and Gest can set off in search of the bounty giver and bounty they are addressed by Thargol.
- Thargol demands that they be sure to bring back treasures, food (both for the flotilla and for the baby griffin), and warns them not to come back empty-handed
- The group decides to sail along the northern coast of Ruislip then head south to 01,11, where Artair heard the Faceless Man offering a bounty is rumored to be. Heavy rain on the first day, but clears up the 2nd for open sails and better visibility.
- A few interesting sights on the way:
- 2 standing stones on a hill next to a road leading west (01,09)
- A rock face littered with holes and a few larger sea caves (01, 10). Kel had heard a rumor of a beast with men’s faces in caves to the west.
- Arrive to 01,11 and see a very large town, which they later learn is named Dorbog
Dorbog (01,11) - Day 25
- Dorbog is a very large town of nearly 800 people, even larger than Culemwarden
- mostly Norse architecture, many mossy stone huts and wooden longhouses on both sides of a river
- a fortress in the center of town, more of a southern style flat stucco
- town is bifurcated by the Dorbog River, which appears to have something bad going on with it.
- air is still and free of bird song
- many dead birds and other deceased animals (livestock and wild) in and around the river
- overall stench of death (see above)
- town otherwise appears bustling, residents ignoring river while going about their day
- Dorbog is large enough that the flotilla could freeload for food for awhile if it set up nearby
- Party decides that the best course of action would be to find someone who might know anything about the Faceless Man and the bounty, maybe a mayor.
- Roderico goes up to the first person he sees, who turns out to be Jonathan the baker, and asks about the location of the mayor and of the Faceless Man. Jonathan the baker:
- The leader of the town is Donnagh, a jarl who lives in the fortress
- The Faceless Man is not in Dorbog, but everyone knows that he lives just a little way out of town to the north.
- has been faceless for at least Jonathan’s entire life (27 years)
- The monks of St. Olham’s Monastery to the south (10,13) have been helping to take care of the Faceless Man
- The animals in town dying near the river has only started happening about a year or so back
- Roderico thanks him for his assistance and the group heads off to the Faceless Man’s house
Faceless Man’s House - Day 25
- The house is very dilapidated and a large sign in Latin has been placed into the ground out front, unfortunately no one in the group speaks or reads Latin. Smoke is coming out the chimney so Roderico knocks and calls out a greeting in Pictish.
- The Faceless Man indeed has no face, it is not a bloody visage but totally smooth like an egg. His ears remain, and he signals that he can understand what is being said to him and attempts to communicate with the party.
- When told that the that the party has heard of the bounty, he points north and then to the sign
- He confirms that the monks come out about once a week to help out
- When asked about the nature of the beast that stole his face, he again points to the sign specifically to a section on the bottom
- Since no one in the group speaks Latin, they decide to go back to town to find someone who might. An attempt is made to carry the sign itself to town, but this agitates the Faceless Man so much they put the sign back and go in search of a church in Dorbog
Dorbog Church - Day 25
- The church does not seem to get a lot of use lately, but elderly priest name Father Caedmon is happy to answer questions
- Father Caedmon:
- The sign outside the Faceless Man’s house reads: “He sold everything he has to pay someone to recover his face from the dog who stole it.”
- Roderico is nervous about running into the dogfaced men again after his previous encounter, but Father Caedmon reassures him that this is just a man-faced dog
- It all happened a very long time ago, the man stumbled into town with no face, took the monks awhile to calm him down and somehow be made to understand that a dog had stolen it and now wears it
- This all concerns Father Caedmon deeply, if the eyes are the window to a man’s soul then does he have no soul if he has no eyes?
- Father Caedmon once knew the man’s name but now for some reason is unable to recall it
- Artair boasts to the priest: “I will return the faceless man’s face and learn his name”
- The group decide to head directly to the sea caves by karvi, before leaving Kel turns to Gest, both having been on the ill-fated hunting expedition that turned out to be more successful for a wyvern than for the party, and boasts: “No one dies this time. I’ll be there.”
Sea cave - Day 25
- Boat arrives in a light rain, waits about an hour for the tide to go low enough to move forward. A large sea cave is then revealed, it is clear that the tide will be back up soon so the group better make haste.
- The group progresses into the dark and damp sea cave with Artair in front with his toughness and greatsword, Roderico next with his dagger and torch, then Gest and Kel with their longbows. It is full of tidepools and smells of the sea.
- Faced with three potential paths ahead, the group decides to continue to hug the wall of the cave and continue to the left, which takes them through a room with a deep, dark pool as they go even deeper into the cave
- they enter into a cavern with a body on the ground wearing corroded armor and with two dark, boney spikes protruding from its face
- Artair takes a look at the plate mail, which breaks apart and clamors to the ground
- This appears to wake up six bat-like creatures on the ceiling with long bug-like proboscises
- Battling the Bat Bugs
- Between the low light and the swarming nature of the creatures the battle is a chaotic one with many missed attacks on both sides.
- The bat bugs seem to suck blood when they land a hit, which makes them fall easier to Roderico’s dagger. Those that do make contact with Artair’s sword are obliterated, and Kel is able to get one with her bow.
- After a bat bug drew blood from Kel, Gest boasted “I saw the bat bug that got you, I’ll shoot that damn beast down with my bow.” then failed to do so three times in a row.
- The Nesting Chamber
- The party returns back to the central part of the cave and continues a new direction, keeping right when presented with a fork and coming upon a room full of gnawed bones, coins, clothes, and a torn illuminated manuscript that looks like it is being used as bedding. There is also a strange, molten-looking flagstone.
- They decide to continue on and pick up these items on the way out and immediately after hear a laugh and skittering towards an adjacent chamber. The group follows the sound into the next chamber.
- The Face-Thief (the chase)
- When light is cast in the direction, two eyes appear in the dark as you’d expect to see with a cat, but they are very human yet oddly low to the ground
- Coming into the light, it appears to have the face of an old man and the body of a mid-sized setter that has not eaten in quite some time. Its hair is stringy and white, a very scraggly appearance overall. It has a long tail that ends in the same long, bone-like spines that were protruding from the face of the corpse earlier
- It can speak, and skitters around the room while cursing at the group
- There is a large pool in the middle of the room and then a ledge, which the beast has climbed up on. It appears to be heading towards a small hole on the other side of the room.
- While heading towards the hole it tells the group that its master was cruel so it took his face, realizing that it is about to escape Kel shoots an arrow near the hole as warning shot
- The beast retaliates by flinging several spikes at Kel, who mostly is able to get out of the way, then wriggles its way into the hole
- The Face-Thief (the capture)
- The group realizes that the hole must lead to a similar one in another room, so Artair, Roderico, and Gest head into the nesting chamber to head it off. Kel stays behind to set up a snare in case it turns back around.
- Gest boasts: “Strange as this beast may be, I’ll tangle it in my net all the same.”
- Now in the nesting chamber, the three party members hear the beast approaching. Gest readies his net and the beast careens into it, getting tangled up and falling to the floor in a thrashing heap. Boast successful
- Roderico, seeing that the spiked tail of the beast is still loose and thrashing about, puts all his strength into holding down the tail
- Artair tries to slash off the tail, but it is moving too much and he always hits Roderico
- Roderico holds firm on the tail and Gest joins by jumping on the body, Artair takes another swing but the beast is just too damn wiggly
- Gest and Roderico keep holding on, though it seems that the beast is starting to escape the net and their grasp. Artair takes a third swing and cleanly severs the tail, which moves a few last times more while the beast howls in pain.
- Artair, holding his sword menacingly, makes a threat to the beast to stop thrashing about now that it has lost its tail. The beast says no, as it still has the advantage of being in its lair.
- Kel, who had heard the noise and was heading over from the adjacent room, arrives and Roderico shouts to tie up the dog. Despite all the commotion and movement, Kel is able to fully bind the beast in just one attempt.
- With the Face-Thief fully immobilized and the tide creeping back in, the group decides to loot all the items they passed earlier and head back to the Faceless Man then the flotilla on the 26th day.
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