Heroquest larp/lrp character reports
To save a Nazgul
It was a wet and windy night, a rag tag group of the Valleys most notorious had gathered:
Angel of Wolfhold, member of the Black Scab and master of the blowpipe.
Elbow, a fellow back stabber, an altogetha wily goblin.
Teppic Ulricson, A High priest of many talents, a man not afraid of holding his own in combat when neads must.
Cuddles, altogether nice lad and combat healer.
Cerridwen, a bard from the Four Plus One, rousing us with her song and Tambourine of War.
Renown, a warrior with greater skill I have yet to meet. He really hates Shadowsfall.
Althea, High Priestess - one of the good girls.
The Druid Jack, as steadfast as an oak, and man of many faces.
Kaliste, Door woman of the House of Fallen Blooms, a woman not ta mess wiv.
Lupus, who joined us later, is a fightin' priest with the heart of a wolf.
Finn Darkflame, Sorceror of Fire, keen intellect and master bolt throwa.
Me, I'm Cuthroat or Captive Jack Morgan, whichever takes yer fancy, lookout of the Black Scab crew.
We each had received a letter from our relevant guild superiors. Mine said I that I was a bloody murderin', womanisin', drunkard, only concerned with booty which was pretty much true. It also said I hadn't paid enough attention to me mission objectives, and due to previous dodgy dealings, it was lookin' like they might throw me out of me Guild. Most of the others gathered had similar letters too, all had one thing in common - this was our last chance to prove ourselves to our superiors and we were considered expendable. The letters gave us the name of one contact - Kasadre.
We set off into the night and met Sorceror Finn Darkflame, currently an outcast from the Valley, wanted for murderin' a group of Wolfholders, so we thought he would fit in great and made 'im our leader.
We slew some Uruks then met some Halmadonians guarding a gate, they didn't budge so we attacked. I tried to sneak up on one of 'em but he turned on me and begin to chase me. I sprinted through the dark and ran headlong into a figure wearing a black band of material across his eyes. The Halmadonian struck me in the back and it all went dark.
I woke up with Cuddles tending to my wounds, apparently the figure I ran into was Kasadre no less. He said we were to free his master, one of the Nine (now Eight) Nazgul of Morgoth. He would answer 3 yes or no questions, and give us two pieces of aid each day for the duration of our mission. His first piece of aid was to transport us to a place where "neither death nor life can see" a place called Safehaven, his second piece of aid I missed whilst drinking some grog ta ease me pain.
After he had finished is ritual to get us ta Safehaven we were attacked by a mixed group, some Denizens of the area, and some Shadowsfall assassins. Elbow, Angel and I took great pleasure assassinating the assassins . We found two amulets - scrying devices I fink upon their corpses.
Eventually we met some of the locals, they all ad funny accents, they took us to an Inn or sumfink like that. They offered us roasted Garlic, Onions and bread, which were pretty tasty really. Then their leader arrived, Duke Peir Ergmar Mort De Ville, who was apparently 66 years old. They seemed to like numbers allot and knowing peoples ages seemed very important. I got a bit worried since I was wanted by the Son De Ville for killin one of their Leaders son, but they didn't seem ta know nuffink about this.
About the Inn were 12 tablets each describing an aspect of Death, which made me feel right at home. Cuddles an Cerridwen didn't like the place too much though. It turned out 30 years ago the Kalid scum, had driven the De Ville Tower people from their tower on Orin Rakatha, and the families had had ta flee. The Mort De Ville decided to create a zone safe from tha mists.
The Mart de Ville used their power over numbers and knowledge of evil avatars to summon and bind Adunaphel the All Seeing. The Duke summoned an Avatar of the Grim Reaper and bound him into the Triangle, Livre Yak did the same to the Valkyrie and Bin Usa trapped an Avatar of Anubis. Thormog then summoned forth the Nazgul and the other three (Duke, Livre Yak and Bin Usa) compelled their three Avatars to hold the Nazgul in place. Once Adunaphel was bound within the Temple they drew upon his power to protct SafeHaven.
However the Nazgul excerted its evil will on the on the other trapped aspects and they begin to struggle against each other - in Safehaven this caused 3 sons had turned upon their father and each other, so all the people of Safehaven warred. But Death held no sway there and after they died the people returned remembering nuffing of their previous actions, only that what occurred before the ritual 29 years ago. Hence a cycle of endless violence perpetuated, and the Mort De Ville were trapped.
The first hangover
Kasadres and 'is men appeared in the morning ta give us some trainin, things like runnin, and doing press ups, or climbin across walls. Each of us ad a special type a trainin too, Finn blew a wizard ta pieces, Renown chopped someone ta bits, Cuddles ad ta save someone that they had beaten up especially for him, Cerredwin an' me add ta sneak up and kill a sleepin man whilst is guards weren't lookin. When we wuz done Kasadre made a pact of Death with us which made us stronger. Morgoth begin to talk in me 'ead.
We noticed some Denizens hanging around at the end of the field, so always up fer a fight we went ta kill em. Whilst checkin tha bodies we noticed some freshly turned earth. We inspected further and found a chest containing a really painful trap and some very old papers. Finn translated the pieces of worn parchment and they gave him more knowledge about the ritual that had been carried out 29 years ago.
So feelin all trained an ard we set off ta kick over the ritual. We needed to take out each of the 3 sons, and each son had two mates. Once we had done this we also have to take on the Father an' 'is two mates. Each trio had a ring and an amulet on each of 'em, and each person corresponded to one of the 12 aspects of evil. Their names were anagrams of their corresponding aspect. This gave them power over their aspect.
So First we went ta kill the first son and is men were like barbarians. It were wet an misty and mud were everywhere. We managed ta fight our way through the men, but they just kept coming back again. Eventually we found the point were they re-spawned, once all were dead we took the components off the ritual site and they didn't come back no more.
Some Dimwan turned up and did some ritual stuff at the door of the Temple, we tried to stop 'em but failed, bloody meddling corpse fiddlers.
Late that night 7 Morgul Wraiths arrived ta tell us that we better reverse the ritual OR ELSE. No pressure then.
The Next Hangover
The second son was pretty similar, his people were like those of Axos, an they ad Cats they moved so fast they turned scouts into mince meat, along with hissy spitty lizard men, and lots a Archers. The archers weren't so bad once you ran upto em, you could give em a good stabbin with no problem. During tha last battle Finn seemed to be swallowed by the earth itself. We thought he was a gonner, but it turned out he shadow shifted or summink and managed ta escape we didn't see him for tha rest of tha mission.
The last son used to worship Morgoth but he ad lost is way. I tried ta talk to em and tell em we was elpin Morgoth by letting is Nazgul go, but they weren't avin none of it. We so stabbed em afew times, but they ad a ward up which we couldn't get through surrounding their ritual site. Despairing we set off looking for someway to open the ward. Eventually we met a devout Morgothian that listened to our mission and understood its import. He said if we could kill ????? and is Uruk mates he would give us 'is amulet and ring that would allow one person to pass through the ward. So we set off and slew the Uruks. I met the Morgothian again and he gave me his ring and amulet.
We approached the ritual site once more. With some foreboding we approached as all those we 'ad fought before would be their together all chummy and read ta kick our heads in, but we had one advantage - they did not know we could pass through their ward. Tepic and Renown lead the Charge against all the foes, whilst I put the ring and amulet on and went around the back. I invoked Morgoths aid, and told 'im me cause was true, as I crossed the ward I could see their priest standing all smug like safe inside the warded area, he turned surprised to see my as I let him feel Morgoths will and Harmed him then stabbed im afew times ta finish the job. I then left the ward where a great battle raged between a Fire Sorceror with his Uruks against me valliant mates. I snuck up behind the Sorceror and tried to cut his throat, my first attempt unsuccessful but my second took im down. With neither Priest nor Sorceror alive the battle was over pretty quick.
On our way home we met some Halmadonians, Althea of the White retreat had a chat with them. They agreed our healers would be safe
from harm, which was most nice of em, cos it made stabbin em all the much easier. Being rather fond of Duelin'.
Renown bested one in Single Combat, whilst the rest of us gave em a good kickin'.
It had been a long day an we sat down fer dinner, Piere Ergmar returned and reviewed what we 'ad done. Unfortunately two of the 12 amulets ad got lost in the rain an' mud, but we 'ad all 12 rings. He said we needed a book also - the Mort De Ville family tree was inside it.
Kasadre turned up and did is usual, you av 3 questions but only yes or no answers which as usual were pretty bloody useless. However he did say he could replace the missin' amulets which were good. He also told us where the book woz. The Denizens leader ad it.
It turned out the Denizen leader were a tree, as usual we had ta kill all the Denizens around. The Tree said it would swap the book fer some pretty pictures, so I gave it me two lucky aces, and Hirstweare drew a picture of a naked lady and that settled the deal.
We returned to the Inn and Piere and his mates turned up this time he said we had to fight 'im for the rings and amulets. He offered to take one of our lives instead, but we thought it better just to give 'im a good kickin. We stood ready for combat, then it begin, the three rained Fatal Diseases, and great curses at us, but we returned with our own magics and invocations. I Harmed one and got a Fatal Disease for me trouble and by the time Cerridwen ad removed it, it were all over, the three lying dead. Cuddles had agreed to give up his own spirit strength to end the violence, being an aweful nice believer in life and sweetness and good stuff.
At that point we had pretty much killed everything on Safehaven, So we thought about undoing tha ritual.
Druid Jack begin to decipher the writings that Finn had made, both made great efforts to decipher the ritual and its components.
At last we were ready, and begin reading the tablets of the 12 aspects of Death. 4 high priests were chosen to each represent the Father and his 3 sons. Each high priest had three aids representing the lesser aspects of death binding the major aspect. Each triplet would read the 3 tablets their names corresponded too.
Here is the Mort De Ville family each person has the diety their name is an anagram of and their age:
Duke Pier Ergmar - Grim Reaper (66)
Manse Ruetat - Santa Muerte (42)
Norhac - Charon (60)
Ukano - Ankou (30)
Livre Yak - Valkyrie (48)
Argon Rim - Morrigan (48)
Phon Rep See - Persephone (30)
Ulnayo - Yan Luo (42)
Thormog - Morgoth (42)
Maya - Yama (24)
Shant Tao - Thanatos (42)
Tom - Mot (42)
Bin Usa - Anubis (30)
Rosisi - Osiris (42)
Mullein Itch Tact - Mictlantecuhtli (30)
Maniazi - Izanami (48)
First the Grim Reaper was summoned, he left in silence, and all averted their eyes that they might not glimpse 'is visage for seeing 'is face woz death.
Next the Valkerie was Summoned, She had a great golden hair and a golden Breast Plate, and when I say Breast Plate, I mean BREAST plate. But she also ad stubble which were a bit of a off puttin'.
Next Anubis arrived, Cerridwen, Jack and Kaliste ad met 'im once before an to be honest e didn't look too pleased ta see 'im again. He said we would never remember our dead again, and that none of the aspects of Death would aid our fallen into the afterworld. Someone mentioned that Suliman was there to guide us to the Hall of Heroes, so I wrote this down, but cant remember fer the life of me who Suliman was?
Finally the Seven Morgul Wraiths arrived, expecting their lost Nazgul to return. Angel spoke the final words and he appeared, starin at us with 6 blood red eyes. He asked Angel why we 'ad summoned him and he tried to explain, but all Angel got fer his efforts were a stab from a Morgul Blade. I tried ta explain how we was doing our best ta help Morgoth and I got tha same. The 7 Wraiths begin to chant Sumfink Sumfink return to Mordor and drew the Nazgul away from us. WHEW.
After lootin that temple for all its booty, we returned to the Inn, and healed our wounds, but Teppic and I both had a fragment of a Morgul Blade lodged in us, and the wound 'as never quite healed. To be honest I was a bit hacked off with Morgoth after that, I think Ushaz might be more rewardin'..
The Last Day
The next day we decided to try and find our way out of Safehaven. Hirstweare revealed that during the grand conjunction, Kasadre was created by the evil sphere - Kasadre is an anagram of Dark Sear. The Halmadonians discovered this and created Hirstweare - an anagram of White Sear. Hirstwear could use the Temple to create an exit for us but it would take him an hour, during which time we would have to defend against the Denizens. After a bloody good run around, 'e was finished and we returned to Orin Rakatha, Hirstweare said we had to meet with some Haldmadonians, this didn't please me too much since I is wanted by 'em fer robbin' The Vault, but Hirstweare guaranteed me safety, and they escorted us back to the Towers. Quite what the Halmadonians and the other good guys n gals around got out of releasing four aspects of Death, im still scratchin' me head about. But for me n Wolfhold job well done - I fink?.