RPG Campaigns

Giraine Summaries

The trolls turned out to be led by “Arkat Kingtroll” and were seeking a heroquest-challenge with you, to prove that they were best in Wonderhome (what the Uz may call the Underworld). So you played seven Uz games: Hit Fall Down Fun (Ahappi soundly won with deft usage of his harpoon), Slurp n Spin (Boamund drank from a maggot and only got numb-mouthed and drooly, whereas the troll challenger giggled and stumbled until another troll slapped it), Uz Like Hoomanz (a hugging/wrestling contest; Ciddar took on a big naked troll and was pinned, having to say “Kaarg's Nutz” to surrender-IIRC), Yooz Be Quiet (Maugis displayed both excellent stealth and perception despite the troll's trickery), Ketch Dem Bugz (Inyana chased down some fireflies, lost some to a tricky uz, got them back, and escaped the giant beetly “grandma” while the uz challenger fought it), and finally Cyroosta faced the leader Uz in Uzmazing Majik, which had two parts: first, simply crafting something honouring their/a mother (the Uz magicked an ice sculpture; I forget what Cyroosta did), and then second, dancing and drumming/performing music to honour motherhood (the Uz doing “the Dance of Ancestors” evoking “the shudders of me mudders udders”); again I forget what Cyroosta did but it was a wild, noisy affair that seemed rather inconclusive. The Uz soon turned away from you and formed a circle around something, which turned out to be a comrade's body that had been hidden in shadows. At first you were touched by the eerie parallel with your quest, but this turned to disgust or shock as the circled uz quietly ate the body! For many of you, this was your first close encounter with Uz customs and it was certainly memorable, impressing you with their strength, barbarism and creepiness, but also a hint of alien nobility or sophistication. They ignored you as you left; clearly, they saw your role in their quest as finished.

You travelled on through the dark dragon's skeleton/tunnel and eventually left it through its rear end, into a foul muddy floodplain crisscrossed with rivers, leading to a stagnant shore where shipwrecks rotted. There were pale bits of the dead floating in the waters everywhere. Soon you saw the Giranois dead still following you, far behind. And far ahead, you felt and then saw a great shape moving. It turned out to be some massive multi-armed troll-thing carrying a ceremonial platform on its back, and led by decorated (and undead?) oxen. A body lay atop that platform and birds were pecking at it, as it writhed and screamed. You came close enough to see more, and had no trouble, but the purpose of this scene was unclear. Some of you speculated that it was an Arkati funeral, or sacrifice, or both. It passed on, and so did you.

You then came past a shipwreck that gradually became familiar to some of you-it was the Sekelchi, which you'd sunk near New Arvonesse along with its crew and dead sorcerer-captain. As you mused over the significance of this, a low howl came from within its dark interior… something was shuffling out. We will find out what it is tonight!

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