The Free Republic of Garyburg: Days 1 and 2

A play report from the Mad Archmage campaign, protagonized by the Muleteers.

In the aftermath of the orcish invasion from the Castle of the Mad Archmage, the village of Garyburgh was left with only one guard (a young woman with green-dyed hair, the archer Winona), no innkeeper,and - as casualty reports came in from outlying houses and huts - no priest or village headman either.Only the adventuring parties who had defended it - the Muleteers' own recuperating Nixington and Erasmo, as well as the Lightning's Hand and Free Roamers - remained as an effective fighting force. The other Muleteers were blithely going shopping in the Grey City, visiting various establishments including the Charlatan's Guild, dogged by street urchins still hearing of how "them ums with the mule ridin' gnome" had given a whole sack of coppers to a mob of unruly apprentices. But in Garyburgh, a momentous council of the adventurers, Winona, and six landholding farmers was formed.

Young, but apparently, capable.

After debate and an election with colored pebbles (dice, in actuality) deposited in an urn, Winona became head of the Committee of Public Safety by a single vote, with the grand title Lady Protectress. The tax collector and his family having fled, a Free Republic was declared until such time as the Grey City should offer relations again. Mundane tasks such as burial and the building of barricades were delegated, a treasury (held by Dorn Ironfoot of the Lightning's Hand) and armory (held by Orna Jellek of the Roamers) established and contributed to.  Moreover, the tavern passed into public hands, and was renamed the Orc's Head, as the current name "Wizard's Wench" grated on the sensibilities of the female members of the committee. Nixington received a commission to limn the new sign.

Someone recalled that there was a free-ranging family of former adventurers, known as the Sharp Arrows, who lived the lives of hunters in a great patch of brambles known as the Twisted Thickets to the west. An embassy consisting of the Ygg-priest Grimnir and Farmer Magnus went out that very afternoon. Perhaps not the best choice, as it turned out the family were fanatics of Pholtus who had burned temples of Ygg, and seemed more interested in saving the village from heathen scum than helping. On the way back Grimnir and Magnus showed prudence in avoiding some eldritch thorn-men who were devouring a rabbit,and found their way back with little further incident.

On the next day it was decided that a scouting party enter the dungeon to find further intelligence of the orcs. Taking in some of the cow meat slaughtered in the raid for the kobolds, they were rewarded with a kobold on "punishment detail." This kobold, Yiktog, took forcible point and was quickly bisected by a giant ant, who dragged the unfortunate off leaving a clear path. After inquiring of the wizard Marquand the Merely Magnificent and finding nothing, they decided to explore in the area where the Demogorgon cultists had last been seen.

Here they found a spiral staircase going down and guarded by a lone juvenile orc,who was quickly taken by surprise and shot in the head despite some difficulties of working around a zone of silence spell. Pressing onward, the party went past the dormant Fountain of Snakes, which only coughed up a few rattlers, quickly slain. They found a secret door that led to the living quarters of the former cult, with a small amount of coins and jewelry, and eerie furnishings: a bed with snakeskin sheets, and hangings that suggestively formed demonic outlines. Pressing through, they came upon a small room with curtains on one side, ghastly bestial cult paintings on the walls, and ritual objects sitting around; at a shriek from beyond the curtain (actually, time being called on the session), everyone lost their nerve and  beat a hasty retreat for the exit.

Experience points yet to be awarded for snakes, juvenile orcs, and dealing with ants: 450.