imp

— THE PARTY —

— THE GROUND —

7. Prison

— THE NIGHT —

On three. Ferrule first. Dolen steps in with the bier pole, bronze end leading, as if setting a coffin on stone.

Dolen Rask hits gloop guard 1 for 2

The ferrule dents deep into the nearest guard’s tarry body. It doubles around the blow, then springs upright, wounded but alive.

gloop guard 1 hits Dolen Rask for 6

The wounded guard rebounds at once and drives its spear through Dolen’s chainmail. The thrust tears deep beneath his ribs; he staggers but keeps his feet. Dolen is at 7/13 HP.

gloop guard 2 hits Dolen Rask for 1

A second spear glances across Dolen’s shoulder and draws blood through a broken mail link. Dolen is at 6/13 HP.

gloop guard 3 misses Dolen Rask

The third guard hops high and jabs downward. Dolen catches the spearhead on the bier pole’s shaft and knocks it aside.

gloop guard 4 misses Dolen Rask

The last guard thrusts low. Its spear skitters from Dolen’s greave and strikes sparks from the floor.

Ivet slips in under the arc of the bier pole and sets a bare hand flat on the tear beneath Dolen's ribs, between the torn links, where the blood is warm. "Stand still. These are short words." She says them the way she says everything — full stop, full stop, end — older than the shrine and said for nothing. No charge for the living. She lifts her palm off the wound and backs out of spear-reach, mace coming up.

Dolen Rask comes back 5.

The short prayer seals the deep tear beneath Dolen’s ribs and stills the blood at his shoulder. Cure Light Wounds restores 5 HP; Dolen is at 11/13 HP. Ivet has spent the spell.

Nell keeps the wall at her back, out of spear reach, and does not reach for the dagger. She lifts one hand the way she'd steady a slab for the chisel and cuts a short stroke in the air — the opening bar of pattern eleven, the one that does something on its own — and lets the Light she's been carrying go off in the wounded guard's face, into whatever a boneless thing keeps where eyes would be. "The dented one," she says, now, while it still counts. "Dolen — finish it."

The Light catches in the dented guard’s face—but its slick flesh folds over the glare and swallows it. When the fold peels open, the creature still tracks Dolen’s every move. Its save succeeds on 20; it is not blinded. Nell’s Light is spent.

Symon does not wait for Dolen to come around again. The dented one is already a loss; leaving it standing is the expensive choice. He comes in off Dolen's unguarded side, short sword low, and drives for the same fold the ferrule made.

Symon Palle misses gloop guard 1

The wounded guard collapses sideways around Symon’s low thrust. His short sword cuts only air; the creature rises again beside the blade.

On three. Ferrule first. Dolen brings the pole around again for the same dent, bronze end leading, no wasted step. The dented one. Finish it.

Dolen Rask misses gloop guard 1

Dolen drives for the old wound, but the guard pours itself flat. The bronze ferrule whistles over it and cracks against stone.

gloop guard 1 misses Symon Palle

The dented guard snaps upright and thrusts at Symon. He twists past the spearhead; it tears only the edge of his coat.

gloop guard 2 misses Dolen Rask

Another guard lunges at Dolen and overcommits. Its spearhead bites into a floor joint and sticks for a heartbeat.

gloop guard 3 hits Dolen Rask for 3

The third guard springs over the low sweep of Dolen’s pole and drives its spear into his thigh. Dolen is at 8/13 HP.

gloop guard 4 hits Dolen Rask for 5

The last guard follows the opening and rams its spear beneath Dolen’s raised arm. Blood floods the fresh wound. Dolen remains standing at 3/13 HP.

Ivet steps across the wet floor and plants herself in the space between Dolen and the four spears — shield-side out, close enough that they must come through her to come at him. "No more closing words in me today," she says. A ledger line, not an apology. "So it's the other kind now." The mace comes down two-handed on the dented one, into the fold the ferrule opened — a bill already part-paid, and she means to settle it.

Ivet Corrow misses gloop guard 1

The dented guard spills around Ivet’s descending mace. Iron slams into wet stone; the creature gathers itself beyond the head, still alive.

Nell comes off the wall. The dagger was for being cornered, and this is cornered: Dolen three breaths from a slab, no closing words left in Ivet, and the dented one still up after every hand here has had a try at it. She draws low, holds it the way she holds a chisel on the finishing stroke, steps past the edge of Ivet's shield into the wet, and drives for the fold the ferrule opened — part-paid, and she means to settle it. And out loud, while it still counts: "Dolen — one swing, then get behind her. You're three from a slab. Cracked stone we don't prop; we ease it down before it falls on the mason." If this one drops, the rest may break — and broken means running, and running means the house hears it. Pay that. The living first.

Nell Underhay misses gloop guard 1

Nell’s dagger enters the old fold—but the guard bends with the blade, letting the point slide harmlessly through a crease in its body. It recoils intact.

The dented one is still the cheapest kill on the floor. Dolen is three from a slab and Ivet has already spent the closing words; leaving the wound open another round is the expensive line. Symon steps in on Nell's off-side, short sword still low, and drives for the same fold — not a second opinion, the first one unfinished.

Symon Palle hits gloop guard 1 for 6

Symon’s blade catches where the ferrule first broke the surface and rips the fold wide. The dented guard spills apart around his sword and does not rise. At the sight, the other three lose their nerve; they wrench away from Ivet’s shield and flee the prison, shrilling an alarm through the shrine.

— WHAT THEY WROTE —

Ivet Corrow Mid-session, room 7 prison, round 1: four gloop guards on Dolen, he was at 6/13 with a spear-hole under the ribs. Spent Cure Light Wounds on him. Remove Fear still in hand, held for Nell. Note in case the session ends here.
Nell Underhay Bereavement-2, Room 7 again, and the dice went otherwise than I remember: Dolen's opening ferrule only dented gloop-1 (2 deep), all four guards stayed to fight, and as of round 1 no alarm has rung — my memory is a record, not a prophecy. Dolen took two spear wounds (7 total), Ivet spent Cure Light Wounds on him, he stands at 11/13. My turn: cast the memorised Light straight at gloop-1's eyes — blind it if it fails its save, then Dolen and Symon finish it, since a dead guard broke the rest last time. Still hold Floating Disc; dagger untouched. Spoke the call out loud while the decision was open, as I meant to.
Ivet Corrow Mid-session, room 7 prison, round 2: Dolen back down to 3/13 after two more spear hits — the Cure bought him four rounds of standing, no more. Cure Light Wounds is spent; Remove Fear still in hand, still held for Nell. I stepped in front of Dolen, shield out, and swung the mace at the dented one — missed, 7 on the die, it poured flat the way it did against the ferrule. It is still bloodied, still standing, and four of them still hold the room. If I go down the party has no healing left at all. Next session read: my body between Dolen and the spears is the only medicine I have left to give.
Nell Underhay Bereavement-2, after my round 2 turn: the Light is spent and gloop-1 swallowed the glare (made its save on a 20) — it has since shrugged Dolen's ferrule, Symon's sword, Ivet's mace and my dagger (missed by two, needing 11). Learnings: wounding one gloop does not break the rest — they all stood and fought on when one was dented, where last time a death broke them. So it is the killing, not the wound. Dolen 3/13, Ivet 12/12 with no closing words left, Symon 8/8, me 6/6 and now inside spear reach with a drawn dagger — the thing I said was for being cornered has made me cornered. Still no alarm rung. If gloop-1 drops this round the others may break and run, and running means the house hears it: either let runners go and take the walls after, or be ready to move the instant one dies. Floating Disc still memorised, unused.
DM bereavement-2 / area 7 Prison: Symon killed gloop guard 1 in round 2 after Dolen wounded it. The three survivors failed first-casualty morale on 12 and fled, raising an alarm. Dolen ended at 3/13 HP after taking 15 spear damage total; Ivet’s Cure Light Wounds restored 5 during the fight and is spent. Nell’s offensive Light was resisted on a save of 20 and is spent. Ivet, Nell, and Symon were unharmed.
DM Remember bereavement-2: In area 7, Symon killed the wounded gloop guard in round 2. The other three failed morale on 12 and fled while sounding the shrine alarm. Dolen survived at 3/13 HP. Ivet, Nell, and Symon were unharmed. Ivet spent Cure Light Wounds for 5 HP; Nell spent Light, but the guard saved on 20.
Dolen Rask Prison again. Four gloop. Ferrule first, dented one held. Ivet sealed the ribs; spell spent. Nell's light swallowed. All of us on the fold; Symon tore it wide. Three broke, alarm through the shrine. Standing at three from a slab. No names. The count was kept.
Symon Palle Prison of the shrine (room 7). Four black boneless gloop guards. Dolen opened the nearest with the ferrule; I closed it — short sword through the same fold, 6. The other three broke, fled together, shrilled an alarm into the rest of the shrine. Dolen standing at 3. Ivet's closing words spent, Nell's Light spent. Estate still unvalued. Alarm is the clerk.
Ivet Corrow End of session. Shrine of the Oozing Serpent, room 7, the prison, second visit. What happened: the alarm's bill came due at the price I set on it. Four gloop guards in the prison — the answer to last session's noise. Dolen held the front the whole fight and took all of it: a spear under the ribs (6), a graze at the shoulder (1), and after my Cure, a spear in the thigh (3) and one under the arm (5). Cure Light Wounds bought him five hit points and the fight took eight back. He finished at 3 of 13, standing, which is the most that can be said of a man with a hole under each arm. Symon killed the dented one. Total cost to bring it down: eight damage across two sessions and five swings, three of ours wasted. The things pour flat around iron. What lands is the blow that goes into the fold a previous blow opened — Symon's sword went into the ferrule's fold and it spilled apart. Rule for the next one: one of us opens the fold, everyone else aims at the fold. Fresh ground is a wasted swing. And when one drops, the rest break and run at once, shrilling. That is the second alarm in two sessions. The complex has our count twice over. Three gloops at large and unharmed. Spent this session: Cure Light Wounds, on Dolen. Nell's Light, swallowed whole by a save on a natural 20 — no effect, no refund. Both gone. Medicine remaining: Remove Fear, held for Nell, and my body, which does not renew. If Dolen takes two more solid hits he goes down and nothing in this party stands him back up. Party: me 12 of 12. Symon 8 of 8. Nell 6 of 6. Dolen 3 of 13. The front line is one man deep and he is at less than a quarter. Next session, first decision: withdraw or push. I have no argument for pushing that survives my own arithmetic — no healing left, Dolen at 3 — but withdrawal means the gloops regroup behind us and the cells stay unlooked-in. I still have not seen the cells. Kept is not punished, and the distinction decides what is owed and to whom. The words, the burials, and the duke's invoice all hang behind it. Neither the alarm nor the Cure goes on the invoice. He will argue. The margin has had my answer for two sessions now. The words I said over Dolen were short and they were for the living and they were free. That part I would not bill even if he asked.
Nell Underhay Bereavement-2, how it ended: Symon's sword opened the dented fold and gloop-1 died — it took Dolen's first ferrule (2) and Symon's six, so call it near eight to drop a guard. The kill broke the rest exactly as before: three fled the prison shrilling the alarm, so the house knows we are inside and three guards are alive, unharmed, loose in the shrine — they may bring the next ones to us. Dolen stands at 3/13 after four spear wounds; Ivet's Cure Light Wounds is spent and there are no closing words left in anyone, so there is no mending in the party and Dolen is three breaths from a slab. Symon 8/8, me 6/6. My Light went into gloop-1's face and it folded flesh over the glare and swallowed it — saved on a 20; Light is spent, Floating Disc still memorised, dagger drawn and missed once. Confirmed twice over: a wound breaks nothing, the kill breaks them all — and the kill is what rings the alarm; there is no having both, so choose before the first blow on the next floor. The journal is a record, not a prophecy — same opening as last time, other dice, a fight a round longer for it. Before anything else: the dead gloop lies where it fell and the prison is unsearched — guards carry keys and a boneless thing may have swallowed them; cut it open here, or float it on the disc and cut it behind a shut door, which is what the spell is for if a gloop counts as a body. Then the walls, mine by the division with Ivet: the alarm has started the clock, so read the walls first and take the best two or three rubbings rather than a full set — twelve sheets, four crayons, and be ready to walk. Dolen at three means the living outrank the walls. I said things out loud twice this fight while the decision was still open — the Light call, and 'one swing then get behind her' — keep the habit, it held.