They ended up bargaining with the Barrow Lord - who was pissy because his his barrow was opened and robbed. He and his minions hunted down the thieves, and then continued 'securing' the area.

Like a previous game, the Barrow Lord is demanding repayment in the form of cows. Lots of cows. To be delivered live, then ritually slaughtered. One point made is vaguely amusing to me - the Barrow Lord has no problems with people eating the cows after the ritual sacrifice, nor does he have a problem with their being lots of witnesses, who can then eat the sacrifices. In fact, the more the merrier.... The barrow has been found, it will be found again, better to have it protected by tradition than by secrecy, and if the ritual sacrifice (on a smaller scale) were to become an annual thing, well, the Barrow Lord won't complain. If this happens then the anchor won't go away, but the nature of the area will change. Scary, forbidding, creepy, but the hunt will more likely chase trespassers out then kill them.

And the town will get a minor benefit as well - a bonus to hunting (Survival) in the forest by those who participate in the ritual sacrifice. Hunting in the forest by participants will not be considered trespass, unless the hunters linger around the barrow.

The party got full experience for realizing that doing battle under the circumstances would end in their death or capture, and the paladin (?!) began with negotiation rather than grabbing his sword and having at. As soon as they entered the barrow he realized that things had changed. (And yeah, I gave him a bonus).

The game ended up going until one in the morning, on a work night.... Everyone had fun though, and if the PCs can convince the townsfolk to participate in the ritual then they will pick up some good reputation, with both the townsfolk and the local undead. (And, over time, the local undead are likely to become Fey instead of undead - the line between the two can become blurred....)

Next up, after they deal with the town, they will finally arrive at the mine - they are finally in the right area. (If you think that I deliberately used the barrow hunters to lead them to the right area, then you could be right. )

The Auld Grump

It does seem that I spend a disproportionate amount of time painting for others - I am as susceptible to praise as the next man, as long as the next man is very susceptible to well founded praise.... (Also how I ended up running so many games. Thankfully this one has only a single session to go, then two or three critiquing the new GM and running an NPC for him. I am going to play the Devil. Any bets on how many PCs I can corrupt? )

All told, I will have spent twelve weeks on what was originally planned to be four... I think that they have gotten their money's worth.

And they still haven't gone to the mine that was supposed to be the hook - they headed off to the quarry to deal with the hag and the merrows. They were horrified to discover that they were far too late to rescue the children, by the time they had even heard about the abductions they children were long dead and drowned. They were killed the same night that they were taken. If all goes as I expect then they will sever the first (second) anchor next week - killing the hag and destroying her focus so that she cannot come back from the dead.

I really wish that I had had the time to get, print, and assemble Hinterlands Cliffs for use as the Quarry, maybe next time.

The Auld Grump

One of the things I love about running games - the same scenario or encounter can end so very differently between two groups.

I ran The Hunt encounter for the kid's game today (well, yesterday afternoon, actually... I need to watch how much Dr. Pepper I drink during games...) Only fair, since they had been the guinea pigs for much of the rest of Ghoul Wood.

The kids were a lot more organized - none ran, the sorcerer and the witch went to cover, with the rogue covering them, while the cleric tried to Channel at the Hunt, not accomplishing much of anything, and the cavalier and paladin wheeled their mounts around and... Charge! *Ker-SPANG* BOOM! You know, with Smite and a charge with a cold iron lance a paladin can do a lot of damage, especially if he crits.... Between the two charges, Smite, some supporting magic, and the crit the Lord lasted two rounds. Most of the damage done in the initial charge. The rest of the hunt faded as he went down. The Lord of the Hunt will return, some day, unless the PCs can find a way to lay him to rest. But meanwhile the team has just gotten their first serious magic items - a long spear and a strange helmet shaped like a deer's skull.

The paladin checked both for Evil, with the skull helm glowing quite nicely, thank you very much. He wants to destroy it, but the cleric recognized it as a symbol for a god of the hunt - one who is not evil. He wants to cleanse it. He has no idea how as yet, but he is pretty sure about this.

The first time around it was the Lord of the Hunt who could be redeemed, the party going into negotiation with him. This time it looks like he may be laid to rest and his trappings cleansed.

The Auld Grump