Storytime? Storytime!
This is the story of the first quest my players had in my Pathfinder game. They're all part of the same guild, a guild for adventurers.
The four players are
K, a middle aged woman who claims to be nothing more than a housewife and is a sword 'n board martial artist who is in the guild to protect the younglings
P, a young alchemist who joined the guild to have opportunities to learn more about all the beasts of the world so he can make his beastly mutagens more efficient and effective
R, a half-orc from a tribe of orc barbarians who joined the guild to kill something big to regain honour for his tribe
And R2, a hunter of the undead who joined the guild to hunt undead
This story starts after they get accepted into the guild and assigned their Leader, the guy who sends them on their quests. Except, for unexplained reasons, he couldn't meet with them in person. Instead, he had a courier send them all letters that were enchanted to scream the contents of the letter at them angrily when they opened it. The letters told them that he wanted them to go to a specific room, room 2-AX, in the guilds stronghold to meet each other and learn about their assignment, and that he was sorry he couldn't be there in person.
Everyone heads to the guild hall, with K making a point to get there first. She sits in a chair in the corner and waits patiently for the rest of the group to greet them with a warm, motherly smile and to exchange pleasantries. Everyone talks for a while, introducing themselves and giving a brief explanation why they've joined the guild before P examines the room for what to do next. The room itself consists of a range of chairs capable of accommodating all sized races, big and small, with a central wooden desk in the back. On the desk, P found another letter on the desk and a wooden chest underneath it. The letter explains that their first quest is to travel to a manor and find a "special animal skull." The letter says they'll know it when they see it, but doesn't give any actual details. The usual kind of helpfully vague claptrap that doesn't help at all. Thankfully, it does tell them that the manor is about a day and a half's worth of walking to the west of their location.The letter goes on to tell them that, when they get the skull, they're to come back to the same room and put the skull in the chest, which will also contain their reward. P relays this information to his newfound partners, and they all agree to meet at the cities western wall within the hour to set out.
>>46821711
The actual walk was rather uneventful until they set up camp for the night. R and R2 hunt for food in the nearby wilderness, and R manages to find a birds nest with five eggs while R2 finds several berry bushes. With enough food, they manage to avoid cutting into their rations, for the first day at least. K cooks the eggs for everyone, while the boys shoot the shit. When they lay down for the night, P decides he wants to sleep in a tree rather than on the ground. K, worrying for his safety, sleeps underneath him in case he hurts himself and because she didn't bring a tent in the first place. R and R2, the sensible ones, elect to sleep in their own respective tents by the coals of the fire. They collectively forget, in their inexperience, to set up any form of watch schedule. Unfortunately for them, the smell of their eggs attracted wolves, hungry ones.
>>46821742
The only one to notice before the wolves attack is K, who immediately wakes up everyone else by slamming her shield and sword together to make more than enough noise to rouse everyone else, and almost enough to startle P out of his tree and onto the dirt. The noise doesn't scare off the wolves, but it does wake up R just in time for him to roll away from a wolf that had poked its nose inside his tent and was about to snap its jaws on his throat. In the ensuing battle, none of our heroes manage to get a single scratch on them, but R forgets that he's inside a tent and swings a giant battle axe while still inside, and tears a huge hole in it. After the fight is over, they move wolves away from their camp and go back to sleep, still not setting up a watch. K, though, stayed up a little longer than everyone else and patched up R's tent with a sewing kit she decided to take with her.
>>46821768
The rest of the night was uneventful, and so was the remaining half of a day to get to the manor. That changed when they finally arrived at their destination to find it in disrepair. All the windows were broken and boarded closed, the walls were beginning to show signs of plant life reclaiming the building, and the grass was growing wildly, consuming the passage to the front door. As they approach the front door, K notices something brown poking oddly out of a bush near a window. She investigates and finds that it is a shoe, a shoe attached to an unconscious child with a shallow bite mark on his arm. As she begins trying to extract the child from the bush, the rest of the party notices what she is doing and gathers around her. K checks out the wound on the childs arm once she has him in her arms, and discovers that the wound isn't positioned anywhere a wound that shallow would cause the child to lose consciousness. Not finding any other signs of damage on the child, the party talks among themselves to figure out what to do next, but before they can come up with a game plan they get interrupted by a man with black horns and red eyes calling a name as he comes out of the woods.
That's all I've got typed up right now, shall I continue?
Go on...
>>46821790
When the man sees the group, he rushes over to them and, when he sees the child, asks them to give the child to him. Before they do so, the group demands some information out of him, and he introduces himself. He says his name is Ashren, and that he's from the same town that child is from. He explains that he's been missing for two days and quietly informs them that the child isn't the first one to go missing. Two others, two girls, have gone missing in the area over the past week and a half, all in the same area. He explains that the townsfolk, him included, believe they're in the manor, but every time they try to look for them, they get chased off by rats. R boasts that he's not afraid of any rats, and that they'll have the kids back in no time. After all, they were hired here to find a skull in the manor, how hard could a coupla brats be to find? Ashren, thanking them and taking the boy, informs them that the town is only 20 minutes north of the manor, and that he's taking the boy back to his family. Throughout the entire conversation, no one bothered to check to see if he was lying, and luckily for them, he wasn't. Oddly trusting pack of hired muderers.
>>46823785
Forgot my fucking picture....
After Ashren leaves, the group enter the manor, the door creaking loudly as it reveals the inside. Thick cobwebs are in every corner, a layer of dust coats most surfaces, and the paint on the walls has begun peeling off in large sections. They begin searching the place, the floor creaking softly with each step. They notice that whoever owned the place, they really liked their fireplaces. Almost every room had one in it, every single one of which had cracked stonework. After several rooms, K notices that a moth-eaten rug in one of the rooms was bunched up, as if someone or something had run over it and not bothered to fix it. She points it out to her comrades, who make nothing of it as P opens a door to reveal several dog-sized rats covered in mangy fur with thick, scabby tails. The rats squeak and immediately attack the party.
>>46824019
Unfortunately for the rats, the group know their way around a fight and promptly kill them all without suffering injury. Highest body count for the fight goes to K, the housewife who never drew her sword, relying solely on bashing them with her shield. They leave the rats where they fell and continue on, finding a personal library, dining rooms, and sitting rooms as they go. Each one dusty, ridden with cobwebs, and all remaining cloth eaten away by vermin. The sitting room is different, though. There's an old couch, covered with dust and cobwebs, yes, but untouched otherwise. Except, as K found, that one section of the couch didn't have as thick of a layer of dust, as if it was sat in or someone tried to clean it. Once again, the rest of the group dismisses it and continues further into the house, its creaking and groaning growing louder as they do so. With R in the lead, they begin searching faster and fail to notice that in the middle of one of the hallways, the floorboards have begun to rot away and no longer look safe to travel on. The moment R sets foot on that section of floor, a loud snap is heard followed by a painful-sounding thud as he crashes through the floor onto hard concrete below.
>>46824262
P immediately throws a rope down to R, securing it on a sturdy-looking wall fixture before climbing down to him while K asks him if he's okay and if he needs her to check him for broken bones. R insists he's fine while R2 and K climb down after P. They deduced that they must be in some sort of cellar and notice that there are two wooden doors on opposite ends of the cramped area. They pick one at random and enter, finding a large quantity of now-empty wine barrels. P is the first to notice that, almost hidden by the barrels, are the two girls Ashren told them about. K immediately checks to see if they're okay and, to her relief, sees that they are simply sleeping. Comforted in the knowledge that the children are fine and that this room seems to be a dead end, P checks the other room. He opens the door to find a small army of the dog-sized rats in a larger room of the cellar, and standing amongst them is some sort of creature. It has the body of a child, but gray and emaciated and without a head. In its place is the skull of a fox, resting on the neck. The creature is dressed in an old style of fancy dress clothes with web-like threads dangling from the sleeves and pant legs. Despite having an inanimate skull for a head, the creature managed to look very angry, arms crossed over its pinched chest. Without moving its jaw, the voice of a child emanates from the creature and says, "Those are MY friends."
>>46824460
In response, P hurls an alchemical bomb at one of the rats next to it, catching it in the explosion radius. Almost immediately, the rats surge forward to attack, with the creature, dubbed Skullkid by the party, in the back. The rest of the group jump into the battle, K forming a veritable wall with her skills with her shield, slamming anything fool enough to fight her into the ground. R2 provides support from the back with his hand-made pistol held together with grit, spit, and wishes. Before the Skullkid can attack P, R intercepts him with a crudely crafted horsechopper fit for a half-orc. R slams the blade down onto Skullkids, well, skull but doesn't manage to harm it or even scratch it! Instead, the blade simply bounces off. It did serve to anger the creature, though. It changes course and lunges at R, the jaws of the skull snapping open wide then, just as suddenly, snapping closed on his shoulder, piercing the armour. Where its teeth puncture his skin, R can feel a cold breathe pass and make its way through to his lungs and then out of his mouth, instantly exhausting him as if he had run miles in full armour.
>>46824785
Before it can follow up on its attack, P hurls another bomb behind it, exploding both the ground and it. "You big meanie!!" it yells at him, as it advances on P. As it gets near K, she aims a thrust right over its heart. Unfortunately for her, its youth lends it enough speed to dodge under the blade and, despite not having a tongue, blow a raspberry at her. Offended, K admonishes the creature as if it were a normal human child, telling it not to sass adults. Either her words, her tone, or a combination of the two have an immediate effect and the creature stops in its tracks and looks down, like a child caught with its hand in a cookie jar. "Sorry, mummy." it says quietly as the rats continue to attack the group. It stays still for a moment while everyone defends themselves from the rats, but soon it walks sideways in the direction of R, managing to give K an apologetic look as it does so. When it gets close to him, it cackles evilly as it turns and with sudden speed, presses one of its tiny palms into R's chest. This has two effects, the first, most obvious one, is that the group begins to hear sounds. Sounds of men laughing, women screaming, and children crying mournfully. The second effect is that, over these sounds, R's voice can be heard cackling evilly, just like the child was.
>>46825095
R quickly found that he couldn't use his voice. He couldn't scream, sigh, talk, sing, or anything! This caused R2 to immediately focus fire on Skullkid, using P to block any rats that might come his way. P had a similar idea, he quaffed a vial of toxic-looking chemicals that caused his muscles to bulge and veins to strain under his skin. He screamed at it to die and began attacking it with a dagger that did little to harm it. K, on the other hand, noticed the effect she had on the creature and began questioning it as if she were its mother, fighting off rats as she did so. Between taunts at R, P, and R2 as they fought, she found out that the creature was stealing any child who got close to the manor, and forcing them to stay in the basement to be its friend forever. As the number of rats begin to thin out, K begins lecturing it, telling it that is NOT how you make friends, and DEFINITELY NOT how you treat them! R2 used the advantage of less numbers to slip by and fire at Skullkid from behind, securing a tactical advantage of pinning it between two attackers.
>>46825357
During their argument-turned-lecture, Skullkid had managed to seriously wound both R and P, and K could tell. "Go to your room." she said with a disappointed frown. P, currently unmolested by the rats, told the group that he's going to try and hit it with a net, stop it from moving. Unfortunately for him, Skullkid can actually hear, and dodged the net when it was thrown. It mocked P, telling him he really shouldn't announce his plans out loud in a really obnoxious and child-like manner. Everyone had, at this point, come to the conclusion that the child, when he was alive, was abused and neglected into an early grave, so P decided to mock the child right back. "At least my parents love me!" he declared, causing the creatures jaw to drop in shock as it let out a small squeak. He also caused the jaws of all three of his teammates to drop in shock, too. Some lines, you just don't cross, and boy did he cross one of those. Skullkid stood shocked and R, who had dropped his 'chopper and switched to a greataxe due to the rats swarming into his face, attempted to capitalize on the creature's immobility and slammed the axe down on its skull. Just like in the beginning of the fight, his blade simply bounced off its skull once more. If there were any doubts that this creatures skull is what they were after, they were banished. Twice it repelled blades without effort.
>>46825612
R2 fires at the creature, tearing into its shoulder with a bullet that brings it back to action. It shrieks at P, "My mummy DID love me!" its voice actually squeaking in anger as it points to K. It furiously charges P, jumping onto him and biting down onto his stomache with its teeth, exhausting him the same way as R and tearing a huge gash into his belly. P stumbles and practically falls backwards in an effort to get away from Skullkid as he fumbles for a healing potion. He immediately downs the entire bottle and the wound stops bleeding and even seals up on the surface. Unfortunately for P, his potions aren't enough to completely erase the damage, and he will be very, very sore in the morning. K, in another attempt to stop the fighting, stamps her foot. "How DARE you run away from me? I did not dismiss you!! Go to your room, right now!" Her angry tone snaps the creature out of its rage as it turns to her and complains weakly, "But he said! He-he said!" K wasn't having any of its excuses, "I don't care what he said! I will deal with him later, but you will go to your room RIGHT NOW!" she said, glaring angrily at Skullkid. Its resolve crumbles and the fox skull sags and relents.
I'm still reading OP. Continue at your leisure.
>>46825875
The creature skulks away, taking stairs up and away from the group while they stay behind to clear up the last of the rats. Again, the housewife manages to have the highest body count. K and P check on the children while R catches his breathe and R2 walks through the rats, executing ones still drawing breath. P notices that the kids have moved since they last checked on them, and that they are both faking being asleep. K, after some coaxing, gets them to stop pretending and provides them with water. She gently gets them talking and find that they've been kept here by Skullkid for a week. P and K reassure them that they'll be safe as soon as they deal with the creature, and to wait for them in that room while they do so. The kids agree and huddle together against a wall as the group prepares to find the kid. R, being unable to actually talk, contents himself with giving angry looks at everything in the back as they attempt to find where the creature calls its room. Eventually, K begins softly calling for it as they attempt to find it. They stop when they hear a soft click from a wall and a small, cupboard-sized door opens in the wall and it steps out meekly.
>>46826218
What's your opinion so far, if I may ask?
>>46825875
Just to be sure, K asks if the creature has any special skulls and when it shakes its head no, she changes the subject and asks to see its room. It steps aside and stares at its feet, allowing the group to peer inside. What they found confirmed their suspicions about how the child was treated. The "room" was barely large enough for it to stand, and barely wide enough for it to sleep curled up. It was absolutely covered in cobwebs, and the only thing inside was a threadbare and tattered blanket. Something about the blanket catches K's eye, but she decides not to mention it now, not when her heart was breaking. She gently asks it about his parents, and finds that his father was the cause. He made him sleep in that hole in the wall and if he did anything to anger him, his mother would take a beating so he wouldn't have to. He deprived him of food, friends, and any form of comforts with a smile on his face. When Skullkid finished talking, K gave it a warm hug and took it by the hand to the personal library she found downstairs.
>>46826453
In the library, she signaled R and P to close and guard the doors. "Do you trust me?" she asked it quietly. It nods, "Of course I do, mummy!" K smiled and gestured at R2, "Good, because my friend here wants to show you a magic trick, but he'll have to tie you up first." she said, hoping R2 would pick up on the cue. Thankfully, he did and took the rope from his backpack and stepped towards the creature, shuddering at the cries still emanating from it. As he tied Skullkid, K crouched down and looked into his eye sockets, "Remember, mommy loves you very, very much." she said, trying to smile. The creature somehow managed to smile brightly at her, "And I love you, mummy!" K stood up and stepped back away from Skullkid and watched R2 finish tying him up. When he finished, the creature was left on its knees, hands and feet bound tightly behind its back. "Ready?" R2 asked it as he aimed his pistol squarely at the back of its skull. "Yes!" he said, excitedly. With a grin, R2 pulled the trigger, the bullet splintering a hole in the back of its skull as its sent careening away. Its body slumps forward and lands on the ground with a soft thud, lifeless. Moments later, all the fragments of the skull that were scattered by the bullet whizzed over and merged seamlessly back into it, sealing the hole as if it was never there. After waiting a moment, K excused herself and returned to the creatures room and lifted the blanket. Underneath, she found the remains of a small child, a child that greatly resembled the creature she had just tricked into death.
And that is the story of how I made all of my players really, really sad as a way to introduce them to my game.
>>46826453
I was pretty entertained.
I am still entertained, except now I also have all these feels. damn you, OP.
>>46828183
Glad you enjoyed it
Intriguing.
>>46823785
>>46821742
Sounds like newbie players.
You should've reminded them of setting watch, given that they characters ought to know to do that. Sense Motive checks are automatic anyway.
>>46826775
Pretty cool story. K sounds like a total boss roleplayer.
I liked it, sounds like a fun game.
Agree with >>46829820
K sounds awesome
>>46821684
sounds like an awesome group to play in
>>46821684
Good story and K is a good RPer.
10/10 would adventure with
