Monster Blood Tattoo: The Peltryman’s Behest 10

Haltmire, the very last fortress before the eastern borders of the Soutlands give over to the Ichormeer; built originally as a bastion, dormitory and storehouse for the engineers and laborers attempting the enormous work of building a road through the dread swamp. Not as large as Winstermill or the Wight, yet it is mighty enough to provide a permanent foothold in the isolated and threatened lands—with a reputation similar to the manse’s for impregnability. Stationed there is the Warden-General, who has secondary command of the “ignoble end of the road,” and is the highest ranking officer of the lamplighters on the road itself, topped only by the Lamplighter-Marshal. Like every other cothouse on the Wormway, Haltmire is undermanned…There was once a fulgar employed there who was lost in the Ichormeer protecting the wife of the Warden-General as she desperately searched for their young children gone missing in that wretched place. The lighters of Wormstool and Bleakhall joined a greater and near futile search for the wife and daughters in which Haltmire’s scourge was also lost and many lighters and auxiliaries barely returned with their lives... 
-Lamplighter

Haltmire
The Ichomeer

16-17 Calor 1602 HIR

The party was shocked to discover that what they thought would be the safe haven of Haltmire proved to be nest of fictlers, worshippers in the cult of Sucoth the Swallower of Men.  The grief of the Warden General at the losing of his family in the Ichomeer addled the poor man's mind and made him susceptible to the blandishments of these cultists who promised a world cleansed of evil. 

They were preparing to sacrifice Sister Perfidia, the harsh Soratche calendar whose wrath they had experienced in more settled regions.  The party also realized that the mysterious reddleman who had dogged their steps so many times was present.  He stepped forward and spoke soothingly in an effort to convince them to join with the cultists.  He was cut short by Fransalir, seconded by Badger and Lord Danny, who opined that the cultists were conducting the sacrifice incorrectly and would incur the wrath of Succoth.  The fast talk of the three confused the unstable mind of the Warden General who believed they had been sent by the Dark God itself.  Knowing the party's capabilities and sensing a disaster looming, the reddleman beat a hasty retreat and rushed from the fortress.

From a narrow window in the Great Hall, Danny perceived that the reddleman was rushing toward the approaching horde of cultist whom the party had so recently escaped.  There were more than a hundred of the angry cultists rapidly approaching the bastion.  No doubt the reddleman hoped to direct them against the party.

Lord Danny pursued the reddleman and launched a scathing wit attack on the man who dropped near the side of the road.

Accural had followed, and picking up the dissatisfaction among the surviving lamplighters, convinced their sergeant, one Marius Tuffnutte, to escape with them from this madhouse.

In the meantime, having duped the Warden General into obeying the party's commands, Alhambra approached the alter, intent on freeing Sister Perfidia.  Sister Angella proved equally adept at this deception.  She convinced the majority of the cultists that the ritual necessitated forming a line with hands held.  She directed  Prince Avi and Tanga to join each end of this line.  At the appropriate moment, the three fulgars would send a ferocious electric charge through the line, hopefully incapacitating the mob of fictlers.

Frensalir had noticed a bird cage near the alter in which a mournful sparrow was kept captive, no doubt intended as a sacrifice in defiance of the Sparrow Lord who opposed all false gods.  He quickly released the bird with a plea for help to its master.

Seeing the mob of cultists nearing the clearing in which Haltmire stood, the party launched their attack.  The fulgars' attack proved even more deadly then anticipated, the whole mob dropped dead in a thundering crash.  Alhambra struck at Perfidia's bonds.  The Sagaar then lithely joined Ottimo who was engaged with the two heavily armed and proofed troubadiers.  Within moment the two large warriors fell to the flashing blades of the two adepts. Badger and Tanga took the Warden General captive.

Danny unchivalrously dispatched to troublesome reddleman before the latter could awakend

The lamplighters, under Accural's direction engaged the approaching cultists.

The skill of the trained soldiers drove the cultists back for the moment, allowing the party and the lamplighters to make their escape.

They soon returned.  Ignoring the rag-tag party fleeing the fortress, the cultists streamed in, no doubt hoping to complete the sacrifice that would bring their god to awareness and destruction to the world.

However, the cultists discovered that Lorent and Fransalir had prepared for this eventuality by placing several barrels of gunpowder strategically about the lower levels of the castle.

As they left, the three fulgars brought down one last bolt of lightening through the open door to the great hall.

Haltmire would be in need of repairs.

As evening fell, they camped and Accural questioned the Warden General who seemed to be enjoying a moment of lucidity.  The Warden General admonished them, saying that they had the same goal, putting a stop to the evil being undertaken by Doctor Corvinus in the depths of the Ichomeer.

Lamplighter scouts had found the location of the black habilist's  encampment. It lay on the shores of one of the many streams found in the swamp.  A causeway joined the camp to the Wormway.  It was guarded by a battalion of Heilgolundian mercenaries and several lazhars.   The Warden General had intended to launch a frontal attack with the cultists to distract the hired warriors while his men used the boats of a nearby fisher's cabin to approach by water.  "But you spoiled everything with your self-righteous arrogance," the Warden railed.  "We could have been allies in this, after all, you are not much different from us, you use the knowledge of the Old Gods!"

When the party protested, the Warden returned, "How do you think man learned to make lazhars, to grow strange organs from the miasma, to add these new organs to the living, making commonplace powers no mortal ever conceived...."

...Why these secrets were whispered into the ears of the black habilists over the centuries, whispered by Lobe, messenger of the Old Gods, servant of mighty Succoth, dread be his wrath!"

Monster Blood Tattoo: The Peltrymam’s Behest 9

Sanguine or sanguinary draughts, various alembant concoctions properly called anima furia or cardifuriants that bring upon the imbiber what is commonly called war-spasm, making them brave, numb to pain, swollen with passion and even lusting for the fight, the best even rendering a person momentarily immune to the grim talents of a wit...- Factotum

The Wormway
Haltmire

11-16 Calor 1602 HIR

Having escaped the clutches of the cunning Lady of The Wight, the party continued the hundred miles or so to the edge of the Ichomeer.  The journey would take about five days.

They passed several abandoned farmsteads along the way.  At one of these, they heard the sound what at first seemed to a cow trapped in a barn.  Sister Angella, the memory of a bovine friend from her rural childhood echoing in her mind, rushed to see the animal. It proved to be other than a cow.  The horrific thing attacked but soon forced back into the barn which was set afire, accidentally burning some of the party who were too closely engaged.

On the fourth day on the road, the skies darkened and the wind grew to an enormous fury.  Soon the fury of a tornado raged towards them.

Thinking quickly, they unhitched the horses, abandoned the carriage and dove for the cover of a nearby rock formation.  The storm passed over them causing little injury.  Fortuitously, the carriage, although upended, proved easily repairable.

The next day, just a few miles from the fortress of Haltmire, the last Lamplighter stronghold on the Wormway before the Ichomeer, they came upon a smashed cart with its two murdered occupants lying upon the road.  This proved to be a corser cart, with two heavily preserved bodies within.  The two bodies were too finely dressed and armed to be mere grave-robbers. Accural found a paper hidden in one of the deadman's boots.  It was in a cipher he recognized as being used by the Silent Shadows, the corps of precursors and sicarian assassins serving the Archduke of Brandenbrass - another clue that the disappearance of Albany Reeves and the murder of her stepfather, the lamented Valentine Portent involved a far deeper secret.  Accural was able to decipher the missive.  It contained directions to the abode of Doctor Corvinus, the black habilist the party suspected of being at the heart of this mystery.

 As they examined the bodies, Lord Danny heard the sound of a multitude rushing through the woods toward the road.  He spotted numerous figures in the woods, with a ferocious demeanor and moving at a superhuman speed.

 Accural recognized the shield devices of the heavily armed attackers marked them as members of the Seven Seven, dread false-god worshipers of the slumbering horror Sucoth.  Seeing their speed and fury, Fransalir and Lorent recognized the effects of a sanguine draft.

Lord Danny hurled himself into the driver's post of the carriage and whipped the horses into gallop.  The rest of the party clambered aboard and the carriage rolled away.  The cultists charged after them.  With their preternatural speed they caught up with the carriage and began swarming over the sides fo the carriage. Flashing sword and crackling fulgar stave mixed with judiciously delivered combustants kept the fictlers at bay as the carriage rushed onward.

Up ahead, Lord Danny spotted a clot of red-hooded cultist crowded near a tree at the side of the road.  Flinging a witting attack at them while trying steer the coach simultaneously, he was unable to prevent the fall of the tree that blocked the road.  Several cultist armed with bows and crossbows took up position behind the tree and fired at the carriage.  

To the right of them, cultists came charging over a rise near the road.

To their left, more cultists appeared.  By small fortune, none of these seemed under the influence of sanguine drafts.  There numbers however were intimidating.

As Accural grabbed the reigns of the carriage, Lord Danny aimed his long rifle at a clot of cultists gathered about a hidden belch pot.  Danny's shot exploded the pot but as it did so, it roared forth and one of the horses took the full blast of the metal and stone from its contents.  Accural nimbly cut the traces from the dying horse and its companion labored on to pull them to safety.

Showing a legerity greater than his skill, Accural managed to drive the stricken carriage threw a gap in the trees next to the blocked load.  Again, blade work and combustive kept the horde of cultist from slowing their escape. 

Little over a mile down the road, the party encountered a group of lamplighters, a patrol from Haltmire, sent by the Warden General to investigate the sound of battle to their West.  The fortress still held fast with an ever diminishing garrison.  The lamplighters seemed surprised to learn that only the Wormway was in chaos; they had been led to believe that all of the Southlands, if not the entire human domain was dying at the hands of the monsters.

In short order they came to Haltmire, the last of the lamplighter fortresses; the fecund scent of the nearby Ichomeer was rich on the wind.  Although not as large or strong as fallen Winstermill, the fortress seemed secure.

They were taken to the Warden General, a stern old soldier, second in authority along the Wormway only to the absent Lampligher General. He proved a morose man, mourning his family lost to the monsters some time ago and lamenting the evil in this world.  However, he expressed the belief that he had found to the solution.  He showed them to the fortress great hall, opening its great doors while saying "Behold, the salvation to humanity's ills is only to be found in submission, submission to..."

"...the mighty Sucathes, Sucoth the Decayed, the Seven-mouthed Lord, the Swallower of Men, the Great and Terrible Maw, whom we shall awaken soon and bring the evil of all the world to an end!"

Monster Blood Tattoo: The Peltryman's Behest 8

(Note, the Era of Covid-19 put a crimp in my gaming group meetings.  Fortunately, after a short hiatus, we were able to reconvene virtually using the Discord app.  Although currently away from my regular residence, I was able to bring some of my scenery with me and so I hope to continue with these picture reports of our game sessions.)

The Wight, also known as Wightbury: Imperial designation of the Imperial fortress-city of Wightfastseigh, built to collect tolls on goods coming down from Sulk and eastern Catalain and the Undermeer states. It is ... the pivot between two themes of the Placidine and the Paucitine.... Yet despite its size and impressive fortifications, it has no direct jurisdiction over the Wormway or in political affairs in the Idlewild (though citizens of influence might have their say). Indeed the cothouses in the Wight are no larger than those along the lonely road; this city is all about taxation revenue and the protection of its collection and the trade route that most supplies it. The citizens of the Wight themselves are generally very concerned with the latest fashions, importing all the new fads and baubles they can from down south—where all the best people dwell. - Factotum

The Wight

10 Calor 1602 HIR

The party was traveling the Conduit Vermis to reach the Ichomeer where they believe that the body of Albany Reeves, step-daughter of their late friend peltryman Valentine Portent, is being used in experimentation by a black habilist.

About midway down the road, they had come upon The Wight, a seemingly friendly bastion in the chaotic circumstances along the Wormway following the fall of Winstermill.  Instead, they found themselves prisoners.

The day following their imprisonment, a long-lost friend, the sabrine adept Ser Firenze Ottimo arrived at the fortified town. He had heard of the imperial bounties being offered for the killing of monsters in the disturbed state along the Conduit Vermis and chose to join the hunt.  After several days endeavor and needing a respite, he came upon The Wight.

Ottimo was lured into the same sense of security by the fair words of the congenial Lady of the Wight, Tatty Swiggersby, a former enrica d'arma of one of the town's inns who had taken power when the quality fled the town.  Soon Ottimo found himself growing drowsy.

He awoke to find himself a prisoner but in the company of his former comrades of the Azure Aurangs who he had not seen in some seven years.  As well, several other individuals were present, including a pair of teratologists, Badger Barkful and Tanga Skamlindar, who explained Lady Tatty's scheme.  Not trusting the mercenary nature of most teratologists, she developed the plan of holding some of the captured monster-hunters as hostages while the others were to be used to defend the town. 

Their prison was the upper story of the former inn belonging to Lady Tatty.  The main floor was used a sort of treasure trove for important supplies and equipment while the upper floor was a make-shift prison.  The Lady did not trust the more regular establishments of the town for these scarce resources. 

All agreed on the need to escape.Being an accomplished lock-scarf as well as a grave robber, Osa managed to free himself and then Alhambra and Lorent from their shackles.  While the others distracted the two guards who were present in the room, Lorent began working to remove the ingenious wire cage placed upon the fulgar Tanga that prevented her from using her eclatics.  (Similarly, a strange metal crown was used to stiffle the wits' powers.) The two guards finally noticed and moved to stop the pair.

Freed now, Tanga sent an arcing blast through the first guard while the normally retiring dispenserist Lorent grapppled the other...

... flung the guard to his death.

Badger Barkful thrust his head out onto the adjoining balcony, wildly brandishing a musket taken from the dispatched guards, before retreating back into the room.  The three guards stationed there quickly rushed to follow the blind wit.

The guards were set upon by the party who had now all freed themselves.  One guard had his neck wrung by Lord Danny, while another fell to Sister Angella's arcing.  The third was grappled by Lorent who hoped to match his prior success.

As Lorent attempted to thrust the guard out of the window, the guard held tight and both plummeted out the window.  Landing upon the unfortunate guard, who was killed, Lorent, despite being severally injured in the fall, survived. Lorent then used the dead guard's body to batter his way through the crumbling wall of the old inn.  Above, however, the alarm had been raised and the town was in tumult.

Fransalir rushed down the stairs to the storage room below.  Seeing the pens filled with precious animals attended by a single stable hand, Frensalir moved to subdue him.  The stable-hand, a vigorous young man called, as Badger later recalled, Dennis, thrust his pitch fork heartily into the approaching skold, nearly killing him. Soon, however, Angella and Ottimo came to Fransalir's aid.  Ottimo's ancient therimoir easily dispatched the heroic but unfortunate Dennis.

The party found their equipage stored in a nearby cabinet as well as the two-horse carriage in which Badger and Tanga had arrived a few days earlier.  As a mob of soldiers and militia pounded at the doors, they hastily hitched the horses to the carriage, rearmed themselves, and crowded aboard the vehicle.  As the doors to the make-shift stable were being battered in, Fransalir threw a handful of concussives at it.  The door burst out onto the mob and Accural spurred the carriage forward. Alhambra lept onto the traces and began slashing at the soldiers who were trying to seize the horses.

With Sister Angella and Ottimo joining Alhambra outside the carriage, great carnage was wrought by their flashing blades and arcing fulgaris.  Lord Danny brought down several officers with his deadly musket shots while the two skolds flung loomblaze into the attackers.  The carriage made progress towards the town gate.

Seeing Lady Tatty screaming orders to her faltering minions, Lord Danny drew careful aim and the shot spun her elaborate red wig completely around her head.  Although this only enraged the Lady, it further disheartened her troops and the carriage reached the gate unmolested.

Accural, not being a trained driver, still managed to maneuver the carriage around the large ox cart that was used as a gate.  Sentries in the houses nearby fired ineffectually at the careening carriage.

Lord Danny used his witting skill to drive the ox recklessly through the small arch that constituted the town gate, causing the cart to tumble and block the entrance.  Lorent and Frensalir soon caught it on fire with their flung potives. 

 The speeding carriage soon made it to the high road of the Conduit Vermis, pursuit from the town having been foiled by the fiery blockage of the gate.

So the party, reunited friends and new acquaintences set off on the final leg of their journey down the Wormway to the Ichomeer and the fate of body of Albany Reeves.