Session 6: Railroad

Preface - It was Friday the 13th and halfway through October. I had a hook regarding the mists of Brovenloft since mid September but the party didn't want to take the hook. For those who may not be aware, Brovenloft is basically a Brosr multiverse Halloween event throughout the month of October. It is easy to enter Brovenloft at this time but impossible to leave until the end of the month.

I went to X / Twitter to make a post about the F2F ( Face to Face) Session was happening this night and Main Event Dubs aka B Dubs on x/ Twitter, the top heel of the Brosr, made a suggestion that, "The Mists should just appear and grab them. If they complain you're railroading have a train run them over." KKalvaitis , the DM of Brovenloft, then responding," ...it would have to be a ghost train," which B Dubs replies, "Well every train car that passes them better age them by 10 years." What an excellent idea.....

Anyway we were able to pull three players, one of whom was going to show up later in the night.

Player Characters:

Jean Deva Rouge - Level 1 Human Paladin Lawful Good

Antoine La Flare - Level 1 Human Cleric Lawful Good

Gunther "The Ring General" - Level 1 Human Fighter/ Wrestler Lawful Evil

10/13/23 - There has been a thick mist that has been descending upon the Town of Cliffino since 9/14/23. At first it was just a little at night nothing unusual. after several days it thickened up and started covering more and more of the surrounding area yet every morning it would recoil into the Black Mountains as the sun rose. Well on the morning of Friday The 13th, the mist didn't recoil, it started to spread rapidly across the colony of New Hope. A message was sent out by the Paradiso Emergency Report urging all citizens to stay inside and wait for the mist to pass or until further information develops. It was projected to cover the entire colony by midnight.

Jean and Antoine find themselves at the Mission of Ahdeen three miles outside the Capital City Paradiso. The mission was sent from the strange and frigid land of Kratya. The party are negotiating a deal with a level one cleric named Brother Waynon on joining them on their adventures. He excepts for a humble 10% cut of the Jean's treasure, so that he may donate it back to the mission. After coming to an agreement the party steps outside of the living quarters and sees the mist completely surrounding the mission but not settling within its walls. Several locals have arrived to take shelter from the unholy event. The Paladin uses detect evil and the mist radiates an evil energy around everything it covers.

The party is told by Brother Waynon that the High Priest thinks the dungeon they found might be involved, so with their new henchman, they head to the Paradiso for more resources. They set off on the three mile hike and have no encounters. The party notices on the way two things. First the paladin's continual emanation of protection from evil in a 1" radius around him is keeping the mist from touching him. Second It appears the evil emitting from the mist is overloading the paladin's detect evil ability.

They arrive at Paradiso at about 9 pm and the city appears as a ghost town. Streets flooded with mist but void of people, the party search for an inn. Most have signs indicating no vacancy due to the mists, however they are able to find a tavern called crazy eyes operated by a cross eyed bartender. He informs the party where they can buy equipment from the Buckeyes' General Store, men-at-arms from the freelance mercenary hall, and a Mappist from the Explores' Guild in the morning.

10/14/23 -The city of Paradiso awakens with hopes that the mist returned from wince it came, sadly it still remains and thicker than the day before. Our heroes decided to do their shopping around the commercial district of the city. They hire seven men-at-arms from the cheap free lance mercenary hall, some of which were troubled youths trying to turn their luck around or pay off their family debts.

The party then went to the Explores' Guild to hire a MAP. They notice a weird sign on the door that says "Chin Diapers Required" and another that read " Please Keep 6" Apart". With no rumors of plague, the confused party shrugged and walked into the guild hall. It seemed pretty empty except for a counter with a man. Behind him lay lots of books, papers, quills, and ink bottles. The man was wearing a chin diaper and seemed extremely nervous upon seeing our heroes.

The man at the counter nervously asks the party to halt. He then proceeds to tell them they need a chin diaper before they get any closer. He will provide them. The paladin almost denies but the entire party submits to the demands of the over weight man. Standing evenly spaced six feet apart, they strike a deal and hire a MAP by the name of Jared Bernstein. He too dawns a chin diaper and will fallow the party at a safe six feet of distance.

The party feeling very confidant in their numbers heads back to the mission with no encounters. On a side note I'm rolling a d10 for encounters due to the mist but these guys are lucky.... sometimes. The party over hears some of the hirelings say they have heard voices occasionally call to them whilst traveling through the mist.

10/15/23 - The mist still covers the land beyond the mission. The party leaves the mission and heads towards the dungeon. Again no encounters as they travel. They arrive to the dungeon and allow Jared to copy the already existing copy of the map made last week, so they could move quickly through the dungeon to get to the electric door. They arrive to the door in question and Brother Waynon casts dispel magic thanks to his incredible wisdom bonus. Unfortunately there is only a 50% chance to succeed and they fail the roll, oof.

The party then attempts to explore further through the archway on the wall behind them. They peer in and find nothing of interest. Time for a new plan. The party will now camp outside the dungeon until Brother Waynon can regain his dispel magic spell and try again. They exit again no encounters and set up a base camp with a fire.

Three hours go by and Jean is on watch. It isn't night but it is a little dark from the thickness of the mist. I roll an encounter, finally. Jean sees the outlines of a human shapes start to appear moving slowly towards the camp. Jean commands them to halt and identify themselves but the forms just slowly shuffle towards them silently.

Jean wakes the camp and the shapes move in to where they become visible. Skin white as paper, nude with no genitals, only hair on their neck, their mouths drop open unnaturally wide as if they have no lower jaw. They point at the party and let out a horrid noise, combat time! Nine Soyjacks are visible but there are twenty one of them.

Party wins Initiative. Jean draws his short bow and fires with the other ranged hirelings. ( Two Javelins, Two Slings) Antonio casts hold person on three of the creatures, the spearmen set spears, a trident guy swings, and one melee hammer guy guards the link boy and the MAP. There are no kills but some good blows. The soyjacks, who are reskinned zombies, attempt to bite the party with their giant maws. no kills some hits.

Party wins initiative and both sides exchange blows. two of the nine soyjacks are slain. Third round of combat and the party wins initiative again. This time the party takes out three more soyjacks. Third round they clean house and Antoine heals most focusing on the only moving soyjacks while some execute the held soyjacks. I roll moral for the soyjacks and they fail the rest of the mob disappears into the mists.

Our heroes continue their long rest when another human shaped figure approaches through the mist. This figure halts when ordered and introduces himself as Gunther. He is a fighter looking to seek revenge on the killing of his right hand man Ludwig Kaiser. He got lost in the mist and seemed to stumble upon the party's camp. He is lawful evil, but because of the mist obfuscating the paladin's detect evil, they allow him to tag along, but Jean is keeping an eye on him

The party is not aware but Gunther hears a familiar voice. " I'm down hear, Ring General." It is the voice of Ludwig Kaiser calling clear as day from the dungeon. Gunther does not react or inform the party. They then proceed to descend into the dungeon back to the electric door with Gunther taking point.

They make it to the trapped electric door and again Brother Waynon casts dispel magic. This time the spell is successful and the electrical enchantment is dispelled from the door. It leads to a 60' hallway with two hallways attached and a door at the end facing North. They explore the hallways but they just lead to dead ends. Searching for secret doors yield no success either. They head to the door at the end of the hallway. its stuck.

The door is stuck. All three PCs attempt to open the door at once. its no good. a loud noise echoes through the misty dungeon, no encounter. Another attempt is made, and again it echoes through out the dungeon, no encounter. Gunther becomes enraged and pulled out his axe. With one swing he chops down the door. ( having 18/14 strength is nice ) This time however they are heard and a solo hobgoblin wanders into the room from a door to the left of where the party's door was in the room.

Combat begins and the hobgoblin has initiative. He swings at Gunther, BONK! It hits and deals seven damage with his spiked club, the exact amount to put Gunther to zero, YIKES! The party wins initiative again. Antione heals Gunther stabilizing him, whilst Jean and his men deal with the solo hobgoblin. After a few rounds with a lot of low rows to hit they kill the hobgoblin. Then search him finding four gold and twelve silver.

Part of the room is collapsed. There is nothing of interest in the room so they open the stuck door where the hobgoblin came from. This leads to a long dark and misty hallway that the party can't see the end.

Gunther hears Ludwig call out to him again, "You are close." They move down slowly eventually the hallway ends to a perpendicular hallway facing East to West. They go west and find a stuck door. They attempt to open but fail and decide to leave it alone for now. They backtrack and head East down to a different long hall intersecting from North to South. They walk down the hallway and find another dead end. They search for secret doors but find nothing then they turn around to a terrifying sight.

The hallway behind them starts falling away one brick at a time, unfolding to a vast expanse of emptiness with nothing but mist in sight say for a small light glowing in the distance. The party fallowed the light and after a few hours they came to a set of stone stair to an elevated platform. The platform had a light post with a clock with a bench underneath. There was a sign at the corner of the platform the said Brovenloft and had a two pointed arrow facing both East and West. On the other side of the platform was a set of rail tracks and on the other side of them was a tree half dead down the middle. Two tunnels lay at each end of the track going down at a somewhat steep incline.

They wait for what feels like a week but is only a couple hours. This counts for a week of rest for Gunther and he is ready for anything. Then a loud sound comes from the Eastern tunnel. A bellowing, CHOO-CHOO calls from the depths. The party stunned with fear watches on fearful of what will emerge. Finally a blue train exits the tunnel with a yellow one painted on its side outlined in red. The worst part was the front of the train. It had a face with a wicked grin. It peered forward and stopped directly in front of the party. Then its head pultruded from the engine like a black snake and turned to face them. It said...

"I have seen past the farthest star. And I have gone to the edges of the Earth. I can take you there. If you so choose. I can give you all the things you never knew you wanted. Taste from the tallest chalice. Dine at the largest halls. All I ask in return... is your soul. Your soul for a chance at a life without pain. Without heartache. All this I can give you and more. Just for your soul."

This Faustian deal was easily passed up by Antione, Brother Waynon, and Jean being lawful good. The hirelings all pass a loyalty check, which only left Gunther. Gunther could not only bring back Ludwig but he could achieve his long term goal of founding his very own Imperium mercenary / wrestling group. The metal door on the train slightly opens and he hears Ludwig's voice call out asking him to save him from death.

The party sees his hesitation and roll initiative in an attempt to apprehend him, however "The Ring General" is quick and wins initiative. Its now or never, so he runs into the train as the metal door slams shut behind him. Jean cries out," what will happen to Gunther?" Then asks," What happens to a man without a soul?" There is a cold still and awkward silence until the train spoke again....

"Drain thee of woes... For your God has turned His back on you. That's why my tracks still push me forward."

Without another word the train crept forward and sped forward into the Western tunnel. The party utterly shocked by the event that just took place decided well lets get out of here. They looked to the tunnel to the East and said lets go that way. They fallowed the dark tunnel until they could not see light at either end. Eventually a gust of wind blew out any lit torches. Fortunately Antione had continual light cast on a candle so they could still see.

Suddenly a light appeared down the tunnel and it appears to be moving towards the party. Then a loud, CHOO - CHOO, echoes down the tunnel. The party tries to run in vain but there is no place to go. They are rammed by the ghost train. I roll 1d6 to determine how many carts are on the train. It comes up a two. That is twenty years of aging by the train if the party fails a spell save. Antione and Jean make their saves and only age ten years each. This shocked the party never being aged before whilst playing.

They look and see how old they all have gotten and then realize they are no longer in a misty tunnel but surrounded by misty green fields of grass. They see a ruined city with some kind of reconstruction going on and a green river flowing outward. towards the center of the city is a massive building with giant stacks spewing black fumes into the air.

The party is able to spot a road heading to the city so they head for the road and then towards the city. On the way they spot a sign with an arrow pointing North towards the city that read Dublin. They continue to Dublin when they roll an encounter. I roll to find out what it is and it comes up merchant. What do you know a genuine Irish Candy CO. merchant wagon pulls up to the party. The party buys some green Irish rope but no candy. They ask if they can find shelter in Dublin and the merchant tells them of course they can, just as long as they are not Turks, Protestants, or Pagans.

The party heads to Dublin finds an Inn and the session ends for the night.

XP and Treasure: split two ways, 10% of Jean's treasure and XP goes to Brother Waynon.

• 4 gold pieces - 4 XP

• 12 silver pieces - 0 XP

• 9 Soyjacks - 164 XP

• 1 Hobgoblin - 14 XP

Rankings:

• Jean Deva Rouge - E - Lead the men bravely and guided his hirelings away from the evil train devil.

• Antione La Flair - E - Healed and kept the party alive.

• Gunther "The Ring General" - S - He role played very well especially selling his soul to the train devil, and he also tanked a large hit. He unfortunately fell short of getting any kills this match. Better luck next time.