Chapter Twenty-Eight: The End...

I'd always hoped the campaign would end like these fantastic pieces of art by Leo Hao

The sky above them had turned red, fireballs were arcing through the firmament, and the roar of demonic monsters rent the air. The glacier had turned to water, leaving the Stellarium of The Vinteralf isolated on an outcropping of rock, flanked by torrents of boiling water.

Cobblethwaite's Companions decided to take a moment to explore the underground complex, beneath the stellarium, that they had found previously but hadn't really looked around propely.

Their explorations unearthed a strange, alien, complex of indescribable machinery, bizarre globes, metallic statues, and dismantled "golems" - all of which reminded them of their expedition to the "storehouse of the gods" out in the Badlands.

They were drawn into a scrappy fight with some small, feral, grey humanoids, where Marigold used the last charge of her Wand Of The Marrow Squid to pull the skeleton out of one; a sight that still sickened some of her comrades, even though they had seen her use this power before.

Then, as the roof was shaking and rubble falling down around their ears, they heard a booming demonic voice calling Kirchin by name.

It was Yuzaru The Barbed Devil that Kirchin has disrespected during the party's trip to Avernus Ridge. He had tracked Kirchin down and wanted his pound of flesh.

The battle against the heroes was brutal, with the devil's animated spikes causing damage whenever our heroes struck the monster, but eventually - although a lot of blood was spilled on both sides - the devil was slain.

Emerging back in the main dome room of the stellarium, where the enormous brass orrery bisected the room, they discovered more of the roof had been torn off and both the colossal Yellow King - his cape now sweeping the peaks of The Gargoyle Mountains and holding the dead corpse of the yellow dragon in one hand - and the terrasaque, a force of nature moving over the mountains towards the stellarium, were visible.

Enormous demonic creatures were swarming the sides of the building, and winged monkey creatures were swooping in and around the brass armatures of the clockwork orrery.

Inspired by the engraved wooden book they had found, which appeared to show the fate of the wielder of The Gauntlet Of Angelus, Harry headed for the ladder up to the mechanical structure, feeling that he needed to be elevated to activate the artefact... although still not 100 per cent sure what it did.

One of the flying monkeys went for Harry, jabbing with his trident, while the others attacked the rest of the party - some jabbing with tridents while others hovered further away and peppered our heroes (Kirchin in particular) with arrows.

[It was kind of at this moment that had this been a film Samuel Barber's Adagio For Strings would have swelled up, and the action would have gone into slo-mo, cluing the audience in to what was coming next.]

Harry, singing a final rousing tune to bring a tear to the eye of his heroic comrades, valiantly thrust his gauntleted hand into the air. He could feel the flames engulf him, but still he sung on as a pillar of light erupted from the gauntlet, fuelled by the fire of his body, and tearing a hole in the fabric of reality.

Harry's singing momentarily transformed into screams, then his angelic voice was silenced forever.

Davian, fallen to one knee, found his final thoughts were memories of his beloved dog (Spot) and he hoped they would soon be reunited.

There was a clatter from the gantry where the Gauntlet of Angelus had dropped to the ground, next to the pile of ashes that had been The Chosen One, Harry Cobblethwaite.

The hole in space and time opened into a white tunnel of light. Rather unexpectedly in the light was a red haired woman, gesturing to them to follow. It was Imogen! And Marigold realised that this was also what Imogen herself had seen in The Nexus Of All Realities, inside the hut of The Witch Of The Woods, some kind of 'future echo' of herself!

[Davian's player, Kevin, played his Plot Twist: Flashbacks card, acquired a looooong time ago (possibly more than two years ago in 'real time') from an encounter with the "memory mist", which served to accelerate the opening of the portal and signal the return of Imogen]

Marigold, battered and blooded, had evaded the flying monkeys and ran towards the tunnel of light as it sank towards the floor of the room.

Davian had died in a heroic final stand with two of the trident-wielding flying creatures.

The brothers Kirchin and Dirkin both ran for the tunnel of light but were cruelly cut down by arrow fire, dropping dead mere feet away from salvation.

Only Marigold made it into the light.

The portal closed behind her.

And Cidri was no more.

THE END OF EVERYTHING!

CAST:

• Davian (Kevin)
• Harry (Simon)
• Holly (Erica)
• Kirchin (Pete)
• Marigold (Clare)
• Dirkin (Erica)
• Imogen - special 'ghostly' guest appearance

Chapter Twenty-One: Siege Of The Welcome Back Inn...

The light of the blood moon presaged the blood that would be spilled during the siege of The Welcome Back Inn

For as long as Cidri continues to revolve, the bards will sing of the heroic defence of The Welcome Back Inn by the adventuring group known as Cobblethwaite's Companions.

After two weeks of travel through the Badlands, the party had rolled up at the inn, just over the border in their homeland of Elyntia. It was the night before Halloween, the night of the blood moon, and young Marigold seemed to be about to give birth, frightening early (although the latter stages of her pregnancy had been supernaturally accelerated).

They were greeted enthusiastically by landlord Tristiam Weed.

Marigold

Marigold was rushed to a bedroom upstairs, accompanied by Holly and Tristiam's wife Annabelle, while the menfolk remained in the bar, chatting with the tavern owner, swapping yarns and quaffing a few ales. Sasha, Tristriam and Annabelle's daughter, was sent upstairs with drinks for the 'midwives'.

There was a knock at the front door of the inn and Tristriam asked Davian to answer it. Peering out the dwarf immediately realised the "small child" on the doorstep was a goblin in a very flimsy disguise, who lunged at him with a knife, screaming: "For The Queen Mother!"

More worryingly, as he stove her head in, the dwarf noticed a wall of goblins approaching the isolated tavern from across the neighbouring pumpkin patch.

The adventurers immediately went into action, with Davian dragging a bench across the front door to block it, and Kirchin - unslinging his bow - racing up to the birthing room, where he started to take potshots at the charging goblins, while his brother, Dirkin, went to the opposite corner of the inn's first floor and set himself up to open fire with his own bow.

Harry's job - and it would prove crucial - was to boost morale with his incredible singing voice.

Tristriam was too slow getting to the back door, and ended up being knocked off his feet and down into the cellar by a contingent of goblins that got in that way.

As the battle raged all around, goblin bodies started to pile up (a couple were even felled by the primitive explosive weapon they'd planned to use to blow a hole in the inn wall).

Having screamed a tirade of abuse out the window at the gathering goblins below, Marigold found herself increasingly incapacitated by the contractions of her unnatural birth (at one point, she appeared to be ejecting smoke from her nether regions, before the pain got too much for her).

Despite the rain of arrows from the brothers Dirkin and Kirchin, a few goblins got into the inn.

While the near-indestructible Davian vented his goblin-hating bloodlust on pulverising as many as he could, Holly bravely took others on with her lightning fast rapier. Boosted by the tunes of the team's bard, every sword thrust found its mark - but unfortunately quite a number of goblin sword strikes also found their mark on her.

Nearing death, Holly was able to pull herself back up the stairs, where Annabelle did what she could to bind Holly's wounds (as the unnatural nature of Marigold's birthing process was putting the fear of the gods in her).

The last goblins died to the last arrows from Kirchin and Dirkin, who had moved onto the balcony over the main hall and had been picking off the greenskins that had gotten inside.

Had any more goblins decided to attack, the brothers would have been forced to engage them in hand-to-hand combat, alongside their comrades, as they were out of arrows for the moment.

However, the feared next wave of goblins never came, giving the adventurers time to regroup.

Davian found Tristriam alive, but bloodied, in the cellar, next to the corpse of the goblin he had killed, as Dirkin went round the corpses inside the inn retrieving any unbroken arrows.

[This was the end of Tuesday night's game session, the rest now is 'colour']

Sasha screamed even louder than Marigold as the twisted, tentacled creature was birthed into the world.

Instinctively she picked it up, cradling it, but simultaneously she was shaking with fear at the distorted and disfigured face and the tentacles that served as its legs.

Marigold had passed out, but even the battle-hardened Kirchin was repulsed by the creature. And all he could think was: "It's still growing!"

Holly and Annabelle cowered in the corner of the room (Harry stuck his head in, then immediately retreated in fear back out onto the balcony where he had been singing his rousing tunes, his mind racing back to the time they had all been 'cast adrift' in the strange hut of the Witch Of The Woods and their estranged companion Imogen had come upon a baby's crib. She had looked inside and fainted, never able to articulate what she had seen, but Harry now suspected he knew).

Before anyone else could get to the room, the Eldritch creature was already about five or six feet tall, and with an inhuman hiss, and snake-like movements, it propelled itself out of the window, scuttling down the wall and disappearing out across the fields towards the waiting goblin army.

Even as it slid/strode through the pumpkin patch it continued to grow in stature, while wisps of mist solidified around it into flowing yellow capes and a featureless mask that settled over its face.

Eventually, with the goblins around its legs/tentacles, The Yellow King disappeared over the horizon and - for the moment - was gone.

An eerie silence fell upon the inn, broken only by the sobbing of Sasha, whose mind had splintered at the sight - and touch - of the accursed, Cyclopean creature.

Eventually dawn arrived and the strange, discoloured light of the night before dissipated, leaving death and madness in its wake.

CAST:

• Davian (Kevin)
• Harry (Simon)
• Holly (Erica)
• Kirchin (Pete)
• Marigold/Dirkin (Clare)

Marking 24 Months Of Adventuring...

The Chronicles of Cidri has now been running for two years, which is definitely something of a record for the Tuesday Knights.

You can read about our first year of adventuring, in my take on the old Fantasy Trip default world of Cidri, here.

Unfortunately my health was more down than up this year, which resulted in an unforeseen break in gaming over the summer. After a busy April we didn't sit back down at the table until August, even though we'd left things mid-scenario.

As with last year, the games were initially drawn from the work of the industrious Tim Shorts (either from his fanzine The Manor or his Patreon campaign to produce micro-adventures), but then I changed things up by rewriting a very old adventure from an early issue of Different Worlds for the haunted house games, and the current 'dungeon' the characters are exploring is actually an Into The Odd scenario (which would explain why things are a bit... er... odd!).

LINKS TO CAMPAIGN CHAPTERS:

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Marigold Is Cursed: a one-shot ghost-busting adventure that set the direction for the rest of the campaign.

CHAPTER TWELVE: If You Go Down To The Woods Today and CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Lost In The Nexus Of All Realitity: In their quest to remove Marigold's curse, the group seeks out the legendary 'Witch Of The Woods' and ends up lost in the Realm Of Fairie.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: I Ain't Afraid Of No Ghost, CHAPTER FIFTEEN: The Hunting Of The Snark, CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Return To The Haunted Manse and CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Manse Raiders Of The Lost Art: after rescuing a lost child from a haunted house, our heroes return for loot and unleash a great evil on the world.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Into The Badlands: The party get a lead on a lost repository of Mnoren treasure and hope to find artifacts powerful enough to take down a tarrasque.

THE TUESDAY KNIGHTS: 

Meredith left us this year to start a new life with her husband Richard in New Zealand, but didn't want to kill off her rogue, Imogen, leaving the character 'in play' should she wish to continue the campaign via email.

After Meredith left we had a gap at the table and Erica (a work colleague of Rachel's) joined us in March as the young scholar Holly.

Clare's trainee wizard Marigold Weaver has become the unexpected focus of much of the 'story' element of the campaign after she was cursed by a ghost, which led to the whole 'Witch Of The Woods' adventure, and now the revelation of her unexplained pregnancy.

My wizard (Marigold's master), Peter Entwhistle, got bumped off during the exploration of the haunted manse (as a key element of the thread that brought the potentially world-destroying tarrasque into the game), and at the end of the year was replaced by the Robin Hood-esque Dirkin as either a GMPC for me or a replacement character for anyone who gets killed.

Pete's Kirchin has become the de-facto leader of the group.

Kevin is playing the group's tank, a beefy dwarven weaponsmith called Davian Battlebeard.

Simon is the group's moral support, morale officer and amoral thief, halfling bard Harry Cobblethwaite. 

What Has Become Of Imogen?

A thief matching Imogen's description has been seen imprisoned in Dranning gaol. If it is her, how did she end up there?

Holly's Story...

Holly

The distant niece of Bendwyn's resident apiarist, Holly has lived at her spinster aunt's home for years, helping on the bee farm.

The arrival of Kirchin, earlier in the year, and the reopening of The Temple Of The Lady Of Healing prompted her to take a part-time job there as a nurse.

A small, quiet woman, 21-year-old Holly is often mistaken for someone much younger than her real age, and most of her friends in Bendwyn are teenagers (including Imogen and Marigold).

Although she comes from an uneducated background, Holly is driven by a thirst for knowledge.

The recent departure of Imogen from the town has emboldened her to step out of the shadows and  join Kirchin and his colleagues on their adventures, with the aim of broadening her education and putting her skills to good use.

Unexpected Plot Twist: The Return Of Peter Entwhistle...

Captain Dexter Hammerhand

It is now early July, about three weeks since the "stand-off at Fort Bright" was resolved and the threat to Bendwyn was lifted.

Kirchin and Harry had been at the fort, having answered the summons of Captain Hammerhand, while Marigold had returned home to prepare her parents for the worst - or possible evacuation (as Kirchin had suggested).

Imogen had run away, leaving her father heart-broken, and Davian had locked himself away in his forge, trying to get his business up-and-running again.

Before heading to the fort, Kirchin and Marigold had discussed their hopes that the orcs would soon fall back on their old ways, turn on each other and their shaky alliance would collapse, but neither was wholly convinced that this would necessarily happen any time soon.

"Humans, eh?" Harry had scoffed, earning himself twin glares from both Captain Dexter Hammerhand and Kirchin, but before anyone could speak again a thunderous sound rent the air as a bright light lit the sky.

The trio made for one of the watch towers and Kirchin soon wished he had possession of Davian's "spyglass" to get a better view of what was occurring on the far side of the Bright.

Revoreesh

It appeared the orcish hordes had pulled back from the river bank and later he would learn that the light and sound show signaled the arrival of the mighty sorcerer Revoreesh along with Bendwyn's own wizard, Peter Entwhistle.

Some time passed, then a flock of black birds arose from the midst of the orc horde and headed north (this, Peter would explain, was a traveling spell of Revoreesh's own devising).

Harry, Hammerhand and Kirchin were all equally puzzled as to what was going on until it became clear that the orcs were breaking camp and heading back into Tanander.

Peter Entwhistle was left on the bank of The Bright River for the ferryman to collect and transport back to civilization.

Entwhistle was grinning from ear-to-ear when he was met on the nearside of the river by Harry, Hammerhand and Kirchin, as if he had negotaited the peace treaty himself.

He hadn't, he quickly revealed. Revoreesh had struck a deal with King Hoknath that Bendwyn would pay 100 silver dollars a month - for a year - to Hoknath as blood money for the orcs slain by "whoever". In return the orcs would continue to respect the boundary agreed at the end of The Thousand Year War.

On the first of each month, the $100 would be handed to Aberswyth The Merchant, who would meet a representative of the town at the ferry crossing, and he would deliver the money to Hoknath.

However, if a payment was missed, the orcs would return and extract the money in blood and flesh from the inhabitants of Fort Bright and Bendwyn.

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Later, in the warmth of The Golden Axe, Peter explained that he had been attending the annual Wizards Conclave at The Tower of Revoreesh, which lies in the foothills of the Gargoyle Mountains.

The Yellow King

As well as studying the Marvelous Golden Automaton of Omohundro - a mechanical man capable of playing chess and musical instruments (Harry wasn't sure if he was impressed or annoyed by this idea) - the small gathering of wizards had pored over the prophecies of Ja'rodidymus that suggested The Yellow King would be "rising" soon.

The Yellow King, Peter explained, was believed to be a dark avatar of Sateb (the god of the afterlife who judges a soul's worthiness), that ancient, near-forgotten, legends said was imprisoned in a shadow of Purgatory called Croatoa.

The legends stated that the impossibly strong magical forces restraining The Yellow King prevented him from setting foot on Cidri, and so Entwhistle wasn't particularly bothered by the prophecies of his return... except for one detail.

A single quatrain in Ja'rodidymus's text spoke of a "conjoined maiden, hag and mother creating a vessel" that would carry The Yellow King from the shores of Croatoa to the realm of men.

Chapter Thirteen Epilogue: Imogen Leaves Bendwyn...

Imogen slipped away from Bendwyn under the cover of night, heading to Dranning

As the orcish wardrums kept up their monotonous beat and while her fellow adventurers were seeing how Bendwyn had fared in their absence, Imogen scooped up her minimal worldly possessions and stuffed them into her backpack.

Harold

She hung the clever spyglass that she'd filched from Davian on the side of her pack, then crept into her father's bedroom.

Imogen knew in her head that Harold wasn't her real father, but in her heart she also knew she would always consider him as such. He had been so kind to her since rescuing her as a youngling on the streets of Dranning.

Sweeping her bright red hair aside, she bent over his sleeping form and kissed him on the forehead. The elderly potter mumbled something in his sleep and rolled over.

By the time Harold awoke the next morning, Imogen was long gone, well on her way back to Dranning. The woman she had seen in the witch's hut - in Dranning (if her eyes were to be believed) - had spoken to her, had called her.

She knew this was the right thing to do and if the Mnoren gods willed it, she would see her friends again sometime. But for now, she had a mission of her own...

Chapter Thirteen: Lost In The Nexus Of All Realities...

The Green Knight

Having slain the orc hunting party, our heroes plunged on deeper in to Huldre Forest, drawn by the sound of a running water, and soon came to the bank of river.

There was a narrow stone bridge across the fast-flowing river and on the far side stood a giant of a man, dressed in green armour and sporting a mighty battle axe, who declared that "none shall pass" and that the party needed to send forth its champion to best him in single-combat to earn the right of passage.

Marigold immediately recognised him as the "Green Knight" that guards the boundaries of The Realm Of Faerie.

The party discussed options and eventually settled on Marigold casting 'haste' on Davian so he could take on the giant.

The dwarf waded into furious battle, dropping his own weapon twice as he was so jacked up. The party tried a couple of sneaky moves - Marigold was to cast a web spell on the knight and Imogen wanted to swim across the river and sneak an attack on him, but every time they were thwarted by the magic on the Faerie Realm.

Eventually, after a quite brutal fight, Davian brought the knight to his knees and lopped his head off.

The knight's body, weapons and armour dissolved to leaves and blew away in the wind, leaving only his magical cape that Davian rightfully claimed as the victor.

Vasilia

There was a path here that the adventurers took, eventually being met by a beautiful, radiant woman who introduced herself as Vasilia.

It was her whistling that Davian had heard earlier in the forest - and, in true dwarvish style, he kept grumbling that he had a "bad feeling about this".

However, Vasilia said she was the daughter of the Witch of The Forest and would gladly lead the party to her mother - so the curse on Marigold could be lifted.

Vasilia led the party deeper into the forest, down magical pathways, until they found themselves in a clearing where a hideous crone was waiting outside a small hut - that lacked any doors and windows.

The witch, who referred to herself as Granny, appeared to know who everyone was, welcomed them and then transported them inside her hut - which was obviously bigger inside than out.

While she prepared her potion to lift the curse from Marigold, she told the others to "run along" and not get under her feet, so they climbed the vertigo-inducing stairs to explore further inside her strange hut.

Opening a door they immediately found themselves on a benighted street in Dranning, the region's capitol, and ahead of them a red-haired woman was calling out "Imogen, come to me" as she disappeared round a corner.

And so began a surreal chase through different planes of existence, and even through time, as every door the group opened appeared to take them somewhere totally alien and random. At different times they found themselves on sailing ships (one, crewed by mysterious luminous beings, was even in outer space), on rooftops, in orcish kitchens etc

At one point they even stepped back in to The Broken Blade tavern in Bendwyn - much to shock of Sir Browyrd, who was still holding court there - before disappearing through a portal that no one else in the tavern could see.

Imogen caught a glimpse of a creepy baby in a cot in one room and passed out from the horror and just as the group was starting to feel as though they were all going insane (they were in a particularly alien, spherical room where a floating cube was suspended in a sparkling beam of light, and had opened a door on one side of the room to see themselves - from the back - on the other side of the room!) they found the passage back to the main room of the witch's hut.

Granny: The Witch Of Huldre Forest

While they had been away, Granny had summoned the ghost of Mardrid The Gentleman Bandit, admonished him in an unknown tongue, and then banished him.

She then brewed a powerful concoction for Marigold to drink. This, the witch said, would remove the curse and when Marigold checked she noticed the 'mark of The Yellow King' had disappeared from her skin.

The reunited group was then transported back outside the hut and sent on their way.

Their hike back through the forest was surprisingly uneventful - really surprisingly uneventful - until they had almost reached the Bright River.

Imogen did some scouting ahead and (using a spyglass retrieved from one of the sailing ships the group had visited while 'in the witch's hut') saw a mass gathering of orcs, a war camp, on this side of the river, heckling the fort on the far side.

She also noticed that one of the orc banners was topped by the head of Tarl, the group's guide.

Unwilling to take on the orc army our heroes followed the river south-east, until they came to the ford by the ruined tower where they had found Margesh weeks earlier.

They crossed the river and made their way towards Bendwyn. This detour had taken almost a fortnight, rations had run out and the group were weak and hungry by the time they arrived at Kirchin's Temple Of The Lady Of Healing on the outskirts of the town... only to find that it had been ransacked.

Kahl, Kirchin's apprentice, had taken a beating in defence of the healing house but told his master that Sir Browyrd, Margesh Blackblood and Sir Browyrd's men had broken in, stolen the Sword Of Aquin and all Kirchin's silver and then left the town.

Meanwhile, in the town, our heroes learned that the orcs hadn't yet crossed The Bright River, but their numbers were swelling. At last estimation there were now several thousand poised on the far bank, waiting to invade...

Chapter Twelve: If You Go Down To The Woods Today...

Following on from the incidents of the last chapter, our heroes had returned to Bendwyn and cooked up a plan to cross The Bright River and plunge into Huldre Forest to find the legendary Witch, who they believed would be able to lift Marigold's curse.

Marigold said a tearful farewell to her parents (who she had just 'reunited' with after being kicked out of the house of Peter Entwhistle, her wizarding mentor), Kirchin had purchased some supplies, a brace of horses and a couple of mules.

Reluctantly, the group decided - much to Davian's chagrin - to hire a guide from Skarg's tavern. Marigold boldly went in there on her own and returned minutes later with a handsome forester called Tarl in tow.

Fort Bright

The group headed out of Bendwyn to the ferry across The Bright River, located outside the perimeter of Fort Bright which guards this entrance to the land of Elyntia.

Kirchin negotiated with the foul-looking ferrymen and got him to carry the party across for 25sp.

On the other side of the river, our heroes immediately felt a change in atmosphere, the air was hotter and clammier than they were used to and it wasn't long until they spotted a yellow dragon flying over head (which Marigold said wasn't a "good omen").

Tarl led them down the rough roadway, heading south, with the idea that at nightfall he would find the path he knew of that would lead to Huldre Forest, and eventually to the ruins of Landmaster Hall.

Tarl: Gone Too Soon!

Unfortunately, as they were making camp that first evening, they were ambushed by an orc war party - which included two boar riders. Tarl was killed in the first volley of arrows, much to the disappointment of both Marigold and Imogen who had both taken a shine to the rugged woodsman.

The fight was bloody and brutal. As Harry stood in the centre ground, singing a rousing battle song to boost the morale of the party, Marigold used her magic to accelerate Davian to "superspeeds" and everyone made a good accounting of themselves. Marigold's webbing again proved crucial as did the 'boost' that Harry's singing gave his comrades.

Eventually the war party was slain, but one of the boars managed to slip off into the darkness. Tarl was given a proper Mnorean burial and the other boar was slaughtered, then dragged over the rise, where our heroes made a new camp and cooked up the boar, away from the orc corpses.

Sleep was fitful as the air was rent with wolf howls, but eventually morning came (as did the carrion crows feeding on the aftermath of the battle) and our heroes headed towards Huldre Forest, even though Kirchin was unable to find the route that Tarl had spoken of.

Kirchin and Davian bring some light to the forest

With the ever-present stench and noise of the orc city of Dill on the southern horizon, the group made its way to the perimeter of the forest by nightfall and set up camp 50 yards or so inside the canopy of the dark, twisted trees of Huldre Forest.

They were quite unnerved by the constant mist on the ground, the creaking of the trees and the feeling that 'things' were moving and skittering around them.

They dined on boar meat and settled down for the night, taking it in turns to keep watch. Around midnight, while Imogen was on watch, her horse (Jimmy) - tethered nearby - gave a scream and fell over.

Flesh-Eating Critters Of Huldre Forest

Everyone was woken by the sound, and Imogen kicking them, and when the horse was inspected they discovered large chunks had been gnawed out of it (like 'cattle mutilation') and Harry spotted a dozen or so, tiny little furry critters disappearing into the darkness.

There wasn't much anyone could do, so they moved away from Jimmy's corpse and resumed sleeping. On Harry's watch he realised the little beasts were everywhere, running across the ground and through the trees.

The next day they set off again, pushing deeper into the freaky forest in the general direction (they hoped) of Landmaster Hall ruins.

Harry In Huldre Forest

At one point Davian heard a most unexpected sweet-sounding whistling through the trees and later Harry caught of a glimpse of a brightly-dressed man racing through the trees, but soon they came face-to-face with an orc hunting party.

A half-dozen orcs, carrying a couple of small, dead boar, were stood several yards in front of them. Marigold flustered her 'haste' spell on Davian and Harry's rousing battle song choked in his throat, but combat was joined.

Again, our heroes triumphed, but the battle was harder without Harry's morale-boosting tunes and Marigold's magical assist to Davian.

To be continued...

CAST:

• Kirchin (Pete)
• Davian (Kevin)
• Harry (Simon)
• Imogen (Meredith)
• Marigold (Clare)

Prologue To Chapter Twelve - Ninety-Eight Days To Go...

Gunther Treszhnak, the landlord of The Golden Axe

A contingent of dwarf miners were making quite a racket in one corner of The Golden Axe, but Imogen, Kirchin, Harry and Marigold were focussed on the landlord, Gunther Treszhnak, who was recounting some of the horror stories he had heard about the Witch Of Huldre Forest.

"The orcs of Tanander calls her their queen," he growled in his thick accent, "though I hear some also call her 'Granny'. Maybe thas 'cos she eats their babby's."

The dwarf smiled a slightly crooked smile at Marigold - who could also hear the grains of sand racing through the hourglass that was her mortal life - then slammed his fist down on the bar and roared with laughter.

"But she's mite strong with the magics, and no mistake. Whatever it is you want, she can make it happen, they say. Even Revoreesh treads lightly when it comes to Granny, they say. You cuddies and cubs need to be sharp in the wits if you're lookin' for Granny. You're best route is head down to Bright River Fort, get a ferry across the Bright then follow the track towards Dill. It's about a day's march from the river bank to Dill, but don't get too close - that's an orc town and they'd eat ya as soon as spit at ya."

He roared his slightly unnerving laugh again.

"Head south-east, towards the ruins of Landmaster Hall. Should take you another day or so to get in the forest good. From what I've heard the witch moves through the trees in that part of Huldre. If you don't find her, she'll find you soon enough.

"Once over The Bright, you're on your own. Trust no-one and expect to die. Have ye not heard the legend of Farthwane The Wanderer? A great ranger who travelled the land for years until he ignored the warnings and crossed the Bright. The orcs got 'im like that!" Gunther slammed his fist down on the bar again, making his audience jump. "And he was a better man than any of you."

The gruff dwarf lowered his voice conspiratorially and added: "For the most part these days, the orcs are feudin' amongst themselves, but that doesn't mean they're stupid. You see a green snout, you better run for the hills. They spot you, they'll gi'you more'n a knuckle sandwich. You've have it easy north of the Bright, but there ain't no rules in the south 'cept orc rules. Might even be an idea to get a guide, but Skarg's is the best place to find one and I hear he's no friend of yours, 'specially Davian, wherever the feck he is."

Our heroes exchanged glances. Harry gulped, quite audibly. Gunther bringing up his name reminded them that they had been wondering where Davian had got to. They hadn't heard from him in several hours (he'd left them after their audience with Sir Browyrd to attend to business at his forge). Kirchin rather suspected the old dwarf was asleep somewhere.

Epilogue II - An Audience With Sir Browyrd...

Sir Browyrd, Sheriff Of Dranning...

Sir Browyrd held up his hand, indicating to Kirchin that he should stop talking for a moment. He had been recounting the group's recent exploits and gotten as far as the goblin attack.

"Send a runner immediately," the Sheriff said to his assistant. "To Count Canigli. Tell him this just won't do, he must keep his kin in check as per the ordinances of the peace treaty signed at the end of The Thousand Year War. Tell him, I'm very disappointed." He shook his head, then gestured for Kirchin to continue.

However, instead, with a quiet subtlety the other members of the party did not normally associate with their dwarven tank, Davian Battlebeard stepped forward and whispered something into Sir Browyrd's ear.

[He's playing his 'flashback card' gained from the memory mist in back in Chapter Eight]

For a moment, the Sheriff looked slightly flustered, then addressed the assembled group - Kirchin, Davian, Imogen and Harry had been joined by Marigold, who looked as though she had been crying and was still carrying her backpack, despite popping home first. The pack actually looked fuller, Harry observed.

When Harry turned his focus back to the Sheriff, he realised the young noble was rattling on about Lady Zadell. Turns out she's the matriarch of the neighbouring duchy, Kel, which is a fundamental theocracy.

Kel and Dranning were allies in a conflict several hundred years ago against an evil death cult, The Duvan'Ku, who had spread terror throughout southern Elyntia from their secluded base somewhere in the Gargoyle Mountains.

Eventually, the cult is believed to have committed the ultimate apostasy by summoning its god, Ballor Mnoren, and then sacrificing him! Whatever the truth of the matter, the cult disappeared almost overnight and the mountain where they are believed to have hidden, Frost Mountain, remains shunned by all right thinking people.

This conflict had forged Dranning into a major martial power, but the people of Kel turned to their religion, the worship of the Mnoren Pantheon, for their strength.

The duchy became a theocracy and since then the Duke - or Duchess - has also been head of the region's church.

Lady Zadell, Duchess of Kel

The Duchess, Lady Zadell Kel, has held this post for about 35 years and was initially quite active in the community, often riding out to border towns and villages to deliver The Word Of Jen Mnoren.

But for reasons unknown, she suddenly changed her policy almost two decades ago, stopped her personal evangelising and began to rule the duchy with an iron first and words of 'fire and brimstone' from the security of Cathedral-Fortress Kel (the enormous, sprawling fortified complex that serves as  the capitol city of the duchy).

Sir Browyrd tells his audience the last he heard, The Duchess - now in her 80s - was on her death bed, and various relatives were jockeying for the right to succeed her.

Kirchin, Davian, Harry and Imogen all turned to look at Marigold.

The Sheriff, enjoying the sound of his own voice, failed to notice he no longer held the group's attention, but realising he'd gone off on a slight tangent, coughed and gestured to Kirchin to resume the account of our heroes' latest exploits.

Chapter Eleven: Marigold Is Cursed...

It's a couple of weeks since our heroes returned to their home town of Bendwyn with the captive outlaw, Margesh Blackblood, and sent word to Sir Browyrd, Sheriff Of Dranning, and they've been getting on with their lives.

Sir Browyrd eventually arrived in Bendwyn - swooping in, ostentatiously, on the back of a giant eagle (which he later explained was a "tarn", a gift from the Pharaoh of Starlight Empire, a land none of the group had heard of), before taking over a suite of rooms in The Broken Blade, the town's largest tavern.

Blackblood was granted parole - on his honour - and moved into Browyrd's rooms and eventually our heroes were summoned for an audience.

They were introduced to a peasant sheep herder called Timmon The Short who had a tale of finding silver coins in the foothills of the Gargoyle Mountains, near the source of the Bright River.

Sir Browyrd charged the group with accompanying Timmon to find an explanation for the appearance of The Duke's coin washing out of the hills and down the river.

It was a two-day hike to the spot where Timmon had left his apprentice Eric guarding the flock and the location of the treasure.

As they readied themselves to make camp in the wilderness on the first night, Davian caught a whiff of goblin in the air, which put everyone on alert.

Darkness fell and they gathered round the fire, listening to Timmon spin tales and crack bawdy jokes, when a strange barking rent the air.

Imogen bravely headed off into a nearby clump of trees to see what she could find and immediately discovered a pack of goblins, complete with a vicious goblin-dog.

Naturally a fight ensued, but the result was never really in doubt. The goblins were brutal, managing to wound Timmon (he was later magically cured by Marigold) and Davian, but even their superior numbers were no match for the hardened adventurers - especially when one of those adventurers (Marigold) was adept at weaving magically webs.

The battle lasted a little over three minutes and the goblins, and their dog, were slaughtered.

The following day the party made it to the foothills and rendezvoused with Eric. They saw where the river emerged from the hills and realised they would have to crawl through the cold water into the passageway to find the source of the coins.

Inside the hill, they found someone had been using the natural caves as a base, but also soon found a desiccated corpse that they believed to belong to the 'Gentleman Bandit' Mardrid, who had disappeared about 20 years before (local legend, Timmon had told them earlier, was that Mardrid's base had been in this area although no one knew for sure).

There was a well constructed bedroom/office off the side of one of the caves that held Mardrid's bed and some of his treasures, but still no clue as to where the coins were coming from.

Following the river deeper underground, the group came to a deep pool (too deep for Harry and Davian to enter), but off to one side was a beach and a tunnel that was unnaturally cold.

Entering the tunnel, our heroes were surprised to see a ghostly spectre resembling the corpse they had just left behind them. It was the ghost of Mardrid The Gentleman Bandit, who pleaded with them to help him find rest.

They asked how and he told them he needed them to bring him a certain Lady Zadell (of Kel Castle, which happens to be in the capitol city of the neighbouring duchy of Kel, on The River Kel) so he could exact his revenge on her for poisoning him.

The party weren't really happy about this - seeing Mardid as a serial robber who probably deserved to be poisoned.

However, Mardrid eventually lost his patience and grabbed the nearest character - who happened to be poor Marigold. The party panicked and fruitlessly attacked the non-corporeal spirit as it drained the life from young trainee wizard.

Marigold fell dead to the floor and Mardrid vanished...

...Marigold awoke in the afterlife, a bizarre, misty, grey and yellow realm, to be greeted by Mardrid who told her in no uncertain terms that he could return her to life as long as she agreed to bring Lady Zadell to him. She had 101 days to complete this task or she would not only turn into a spectral entity like him but be doomed to spend the rest of eternity as his ghost bride!

Marigold awoke - much to the shock of her companions - and quickly explained what had occurred.

The group reluctantly agreed to go along with the deal Marigold had struck in the "underworld" (or was it Purgatory?).

On the way out, Harry spotted a chain under the water of the deep pool, and Davian put his dwarvish mind to engineering a way for them to pull out the weighty chest at its end (Kirchin had waded out and found the chest, but wasn't strong enough to pull it up).

A rusted hole was seen in the side of the metal chest, and silver coins were spilling out! At least they had solved that mystery.

Loading the chest on to their mule - Charles - which had remained outside the caves with the two shepherds, the party headed back to Bendwyn, knowing that when they got home they would only have 99 days left to save Marigold from becoming a "ghost bride".

Duh-duh-duhhhhhhhh!!!

CAST:

• Kirchin (Pete)
• Davian (Kevin)
• Harry (Simon)
• Imogen (Meredith)
• Marigold (Clare)

Marking Twelve Months Of Adventuring...

The Chronicles Of Cidri has now been going for 12 months, which is something of a record for the Tuesday Knights.

It kicked off using the The Fantasy Trip mechanics, the very old system (dating back to the late '70s) from Metagaming, under Pete's guidance (always with the understanding that he and I would share the gamesmastering duties).

During the Tuesday Knights' early adventures, fellow blogger Chirine ba Kal (of the excellent Tekumel blog chirine's workbench) drew my attention to the Dark Fable miniatures of Dr Mike Burns.

Chatting with Mike, who was also a fan of The Fantasy Trip, he turned me on to Heroes & Other Worlds, a modern adaptation of TFT.

I did some investigating, got a couple of copies of the core HOW rules (one for me and one for Pete) and we decided to 'upgrade' our campaign to this more current engine. We haven't looked back.

The adventures I've run for the Tuesday Knights have all been based upon scenarios cooked up by the brilliant Tim Shorts (either from his fanzine The Manor or his Patreon campaign to produce micr-adventures), while talented cartographer Simon Forster (who is also running a Patreon campaign) has provided us with fantastic maps - updated from the sketchy originals in the TFT books - of the heroes' home town, Bendwyn, and the surrounding area.

Links to Campaign Chapters:

PREQUEL: Origin Stories - we all make new characters, using the TFT rules, in the wake of our TPK in Meredith's Warcraft campaign.

CHAPTER ONE: Dem Bones, Dem Bones and CHAPTER TWO: Zombie Sex Slaves - our heroes clear the undead taint from an old healing house near their town, so Pete's character (Kirchin) can restore it to its previous function.

CHAPTER THREE: Let's Hunt Some Ogre, CHAPTER FOUR: Battle Thong Of The Ogre Republic and CHAPTER FIVE: Frogroth Rising - Our heroes go to the aid of a neighbouring town that is being plagued by ogre trouble.

[At this point I took over running the game and we segued into using HOW]

CHAPTER SIX: Who Let The Pigs Out? Our heroes help the local salt pit owner to rid his mine of a troublesome pest.

CHAPTER SEVEN: The Hunt For Margesh Blackblood (part one), CHAPTER EIGHT: The Hunt For Margesh Blackblood (part two), CHAPTER NINE: The Hunt For Margesh Blackblood (part three) and CHAPTER TEN: The Hunt For Margesh Blackblood (part four) - our heroes travel all around the region in pursuit of an elusive bandit (taking in some side adventures on the way).

THE TUESDAY KNIGHTS: 

Meredith's first character, an apprentice wisewoman, was killed during the ogre adventure and replaced by her fiery young rogue, Imogen.

Clare made a welcome return to the Tuesday Knights during The Hunt For Margesh Blackblood arc, bringing with her trainee wizard Marigold Weaver.

My wizard (Marigold's master), Peter Entwhistle, retired to NPC status when I took over running the campaign, as I wasn't comfortable with the idea of having him around as a GMPC.

Pete's GMPC, Kirchin, stepped up to full player-character status when I became the campaign gamesmaster.

Kevin is playing the group's tank, a beefy dwarven weaponsmith called Davian Battlebeard.

Simon is the group's moral support, morale officer and amoral thief, halfling bard Harry Cobblethwaite.

Interlude II - Some Late Night Reading...

Betty Entwhistle

Betty Entwhistle's snoring could be heard from outside the wizard's house.

Marigold knew she'd be curled up in bed upstairs with her two young children - as Peter was still away - and so the young apprentice and her flame-haired friend Imogen tip-toed through the Marigold's own bedroom (which doubled as a storage room beneath the main sleeping area) making for the locked door that led to the wizard's library.

Imogen knelt down by the door, fished her lock pick set out of her belt and studied the lock. For someone of her determination and ability, it was a simple matter to pick the basic mechanism.

The door creaked open - the women froze, but no one in the house stirred - and a waft of dust, coupled with the smell of leather and mild decay, hit Imogen and Marigold.

Imogen gave a thumbs up sign and Marigold smiled. This was turning out to be easier than she'd expected.

The library was a small room, crammed floor to ceiling with books of various kinds and scrolls. In the centre of the room was sturdy desk, also covered in stacks of books. Some of the books were decorated with white splashes of bird excrement from Peter's pet raven, while others were coated in wax where broad candles had been placed on them for illumination.

Marigold lit one of the larger candle stubs and started to run her finger along the spines of the books on the closest shelf. 

She had briefed Imogen before hand about what she was looking for (primarily books about the "Witch Of Huldre Forest"), but as the potter's daughter was illiterate, they both decided it was safer if Imogen didn't go through the books.

Marigold knew the majority of Peter's collection were treatises on magic, but some were also books of magic and these were regarded as particularly dangerous in the hands of the untrained.

After about half-an-hour (it felt much longer), Imogen was starting to get bored and twitchy when suddenly Marigold let out a tiny squeal and pointed frantically at a green tome she had pulled from the shelf. Imogen shrugged.

'Legendes Of The Grayte Foret Of Huldre' was inscribed on the cover. Marigold excitedly began to leaf through this study of the various phenomena and folktales associated with the forest. She scanned over the section on ομίχλες της μνήμης (omíchles ti̱s mní̱mi̱s or 'memory mist'), which was clearly what she and her fellow adventurers had encountered the other week, before her eyes fell on a woodcut illustration:

The Witch Drowns A Peasant Woman

The accompanying text explained that the Witch Of Huldre Forest (Δάσος μάγισσα or Dásos mágissa) had first appeared at the court of King Ulfric (father of the present king) in Kaerater, the capitol city of Elyntia, about 76 years ago as an ambassador from an unknown land.

She was making outrageous demands on the court and Ulfric, who did not suffer fools gladly, had her entourage executed before she was stripped, beaten and driven from the city. With an escort of a dozen heavily armoured knights, she was then paraded through the land, from the capitol to the Bright River in the south, as a symbol of Ulfric's no-nonsense attitude.

When the party reached the Huldre Forest, the woman was cut loose, dressed only in rags and with no food, and left to fend for herself.

As the knights rode away, she was heard cursing them before she disappeared into the trees.

While most people believe she would have been immediately killed (and probably eaten) by the orcs of Tanander, rumours persisted in the decades that followed that the witch still lived and numerous child abductions (storytellers generally believe she wants to drink their blood) and drownings have been blamed on her.

Some said she became a queen of the orcs, while others suggest she magically travelled back to the kingdom from whence she came.

As Marigold finished reading, Imogen leaned in and tugged at her sleeves (the sign they had agreed to indicate that Betty was stirring).

They just made it out of the library (Imogen locking the door behind them) when the air was rent by an enormous farting sound as Betty heaved herself out of bed and, with a loud clatter and some fruity language, grabbed the bucket that was used for ablutions and stumbled, half-asleep, to the corner of the master bedroom.

The two young women couldn't help but giggle as they silently embraced, Marigold whispering her thanks to Imogen, who then slipped away into the night.

Marigold would have to pay a second visit to the library another night to swot up on the other matters she had an interest in.

The Entwhistle House: Peter's Library is out the back, accessed from the lower bedroom area on the left-hand side of the building

Interlude: That Was The Week That Was...

It is now a week since Davian, Kirchin and co. returned from their epic adventure and while Sir Browyrd has yet to arrive from Dranning to collect the captured bandit, Margesh Blackblood, our heroes have been striving to get their lives back to normal.

Margesh remains imprisoned in the one cell of Bendwyn's Watch House, but as befits a person of his rank, he has been well-fed, with the best meals available from The Golden Axe, and has also attracted the attention of a number of single women in the village, who pay him surreptitious visits late into the evening.

Having been warmly welcomed home by her adopted father, Harry (who had been increasingly worried for his ward's safety with her extended absence), Imogen took Blackblood's fine studded armour to a variety of craftsmen in Bendwyn to see if any were able to alter the garment to fit her petite frame.

Revoreesh

Sadly, none were able to oblige and James, Bendwyn's tailor, told her flat out that not only wouldn't he be able to adjust the suit of armour but that she should return it to Margesh.

"He may, presently, be under lock and key, but he is still of noble birth and a relative of the duke," he told her as he showed her the door.

Guess, she'll have to look elsewhere then...

Meanwhile, Marigold Weaver had discovered that her master, the town wizard Peter Entwhistle, had left the town shortly after he sent her to fetch an alembic from Syrius the Sage in Horst, to visit with Revoreesh, the most powerful conjurer in the duchy, on a matter of some importance.

He had left no further instructions with his wife Betty except that his library should remain locked and she should continue with his affairs as best as she was able.

Settling down to sleep on her rough cot, Marigold, the sorcerer's apprentice, was plagued with nightmares of dancing stick figures, cackling witches and blasted landscapes pock marked by spurting gas vents and dotted with dead trees.

The Yellow King

A boozy evening at The Golden Axe for Kirchin, Davian Battlebeard and Harry Cobblethwaite resulted in the canny halfing bard learning more about the name "Croatoan" and the mysterious "Witch Of Huldre Forest".

Croatoa, he was was reminded by landlord Gunther Treszhnak, was the name of an ancient land in a long-forgotten children's nursery rhyme about a supernatural entity known as The Yellow King who would steal the dreams of naughty children and replace them with wasps.

The Witch, however, Gunther told him, was not a fairy tale. She lives in the southern reaches of the mighty Huldre Forest, was known to eat lost travellers and commanded an army of demonic servants who move through the forest doing her bidding.

She is worshipped by some of the orc tribes of Tanander, who sacrifice captives to her in return for magical assistance in their internecine tribal conflicts.

Chapter Ten: The Hunt For Margesh Blackblood, The Conclusion...

Captured: Margesh Blackblood

With the ogres dead, our heroes quickly found the hidden room where their quarry - the elusive bandit leader Margesh Blackblood - was hiding.

The charming outlaw endeavoured to open negotiations, but the fiery-tempered dwarf Davian Battlebeard was having none of it and attacked, backed up by the magical webs of young wizard-in-training Marigold Weaver. Blackblood shrugged off a couple of Marigold's treacherous webs and gave a dazzling demonstration of his swordsmanship, landing a powerful blow on Davian while almost simultaneously disarming the sneaky Imogen (whose twin daggers of death had come into play).

Harry the halfling bard provided musical support, his tune bolstering the party's morale.

He was, however, soon overpowered and bound in ropes by our canny heroes. Marigold used her staff to bludgeon Margesh unconscious. He was then stripped of his possessions and secured across the back of the group's mule, Charles.

Kirchin, the only skilled swordsman in the group, took possession of Margesh's fabled Sword Of Aquin (for safekeeping), before the group headed off back through the forest towards Horst, a village they planned to avoid because it was a hideout for Margesh's band of ruffians, on their route back to Bendwyn.

As they approached the tree with the word Croatoan carved on it, that marked the start of the narrow trail back towards the "hellmouth" crypt they had explored days earlier, they discovered three corpses across the path - two men (no good ruffians, by the look of it) and a bound-and-gagged peasant woman.

A trail of blood led away from the site along the same path the party was taking, so they investigated only to find themselves back at the murder site. Although this time the woman's corpse had disappeared.

Perplexed, they carried on and again found themselves back at the murder site, although this time the woman's corpse had returned and one of the dead thugs now looked suspiciously like Kirchin!

Pressing on, our heroes found themselves once more approaching the murder site - only this time the murder seemed to be in progress and the path was blocked by a gigantic bear of a man, with bulging eyes and a frothing mouth, swinging an enormous axe.

Kirchin fired an arrow at the berserker, alerting him to the party's presence and he charged them. Marigold zapped him with a magical web, but he kept charging, head-down, like a bull and went crashing into the party.

Kirchin had dropped his bow and drawn the Sword of Aquin and in the ensuing tussle he decapitated the insane murderer.

Davian recognised the dead man as one of the shady folk he had seen the other week in Skarg's bar, back in Bendwyn, and Imogen realised that's where she knew the other two dead men from. The woman's identity remained a mystery.

Harry and Marigold went through the dead man's backpack, finding a stash of adventuring equipment, which the group divvied up, and a coin purse that contained - as well as cash - a crumpled note that Marigold read out aloud:

"to those of you who have killed Garig, thank you. I extend my offer to you as I did to him, bring me a woman of virtue and I will reward you with magic"

Although the party had already suspected there was some powerful magic at work here, this confirmed it and Margesh identified the mark at the end of the note as the sign of the legendary "witch of the forest", although he thought she operated in the far south of the Huldre Forest, beyond the Bright River.

It took the group some time, and a diversion to the tomb of Viktor Volkov, to realise they had somehow broken the magic spell - although it wasn't until they got home to Bendwyn and were telling the tale of their adventures that someone recognised Garig as the berserker from his description.

The party made their way out of the forest, heading to Dundraville, where they were warmly welcomed and put up for the night, before finally making it home to Bendwyn.

Sir Browyrd, the duke's agent, had left a message that a runner should be spent to Dranning upon our heroes return with the captured bandit.

Margesh was taken into custody by guard-sergeant Max Beerfoam and locked up in the town watch house, leaving our heroes to catch their breaths, celebrate their triumph and try to return to their normal lives.

CAST:

• Kirchin (Pete)
• Davian (Kevin)
• Harry (Simon)
• Imogen (Meredith)
• Marigold (Clare)