Campaign Journal - XIII July MMII & X August MMII

Notes from Willo's campaign.

Another new player joined the group, welcome Garett! Loth as we are to discourage anyone keen on a bit of Rune Quest, we are going to have to start refusing new players, or at least creating a second group if anyone else wants to join. Willo's nerves must be shot from the strain of GMing such a large group.

The fight with the scorpionmen over, we had a word with the homesteaders, did some healing and went on our way. Still in the rolling hills, progress was smooth, although slow. After a few days travel we came upon a small wooden house, where we witnessed an old mad performing some sort of Zen ritual, raking dirt into patterns in his garden. the urge to mess up his patterns was strong with Urgad, the Orc, but he restrained himself. We attracted his attention and he invited us inside. Some of us were skeptical and remained outdoors, but the rest of us trusting souls entered his shack. He seemed harmless enough and when we were offered tea, we accepted. Boy, what a mistake.

It turns out that the old man is a high priest of the sun god. The tea was cursed! All the drinkers received some sort of enhancement - skill in a weapon where the character had no skill before etc. Each drinker was also cursed with a geas and was forced to become an initiate of the sun god, even if divine magic was not part of their cultural background! Willo's eyes twinkled with evil glee as he took us aside and listed what had happened to us.

Fearing the priests powerful magic, we bit our tongues and took our leave. One thing he had done was to point us toward the chaos gate. We were to follow the sun west, across the endless grassy steppe. As we prepared to depart, a horse nomad arrived, seeking to speak with the priest. After some quiet discussion, the priest announced that this newcomer, Cirdan the horse nomad must travel with us. As we were to travel through the homeland of these fierce nomads, we decided it would be a good idea to have one of them with us. We left and headed west.

The steppe was indeed endless. Two months travel saw us far west, yet still surrounded by the sea of grass. The pace was light, with none of us over eager to reach our destination. Many of us took the opportunity to research our skills and train each other. Eventually the steppe began to slope downward. The going became harder as the ground became marshy. We were nearing the wild river - a body of water which took its name from the raging torrent it was further north, near the Great Southern Peaks. Here, it did not do its name justice. It had spread wide on the steppe, creating kilometers of marshland and ox bow lakes as it meandered its lazy way south, to the ocean.

Going became slow as chariots and wagons were pushed through mud, yet we persevered and traveled way into the night, searching for a suitable dry campsite. The next morning, we beheld an immense shape through the mist. A castle, resting a league away in the swamp. We approached. The castle rested on an island, its battlements high above. Searching about, we could not find a door. We debated and talked about how we would gain entrance, until one of us remembered being cursed with the ability to speak with birds. Doing, so, we learned that the island was riddled with underground caverns, one which allowed access to the castle.

Entering the castle we found...... Its best not to divulge too much here as this castle adventure was downloaded from The Rune Quest Source and I would hate to ruin the adventure for other players.