The Foot of Blue Mountain

Disastrum Play Report 2

Introduction

Another Disastrum Session Report!

Incolebantur ab persona

The Events preceding and immediately following the Golem Attack

Balthazar the Exceedingly Well-Rested awoke on the morning of April 3rd to the blathering of a particularly belligerent indentured servant. He was disatisfied by the nature of my miracles and refused to continue to travel with me should I continue to draw breath. I did not take kindly to these statements and kindly told him that his prejudices would not serve him well. Our differences were, in the end, too far apart to find common ground and Matthew left our group, taking a pistol and walking back to New Dunster.

After the riff raff was cleaned out of camp, some of us resolved to follow the trail we found nearby the previous day. We followed the trail, with Samuel as our guide, to the mouth of a cave. The signs and spoors indicated that there was likely a bear inside. Balthazar the Bear-Weary decided that this was likely not worth the trouble, so we returned to the James and set out again on our canoe.

We bivouacked across the James Falls and found camp a few miles upriver without incident. As we were traveling, we noticed three gargantuan trees far off, a bit farther upriver and inland maybe a few thousand feet. That night passed uneventfully, which was a boon I was surprised we got.

The following morning we set out to locate the three large trees which we spotted the previous day, hoping that our employer Dr. Trefutis had perhaps made his way towards this peculiar happening. We arrived at the base of the trees to find some sort of settlement, likely created by the indigenous people, although they were all abandoned and altogeth uninhabited. Scattered amongst the various dwellings was a cruel caricature of a man, made from small bits of quartz and amethyst.

After Tristin did some jostling of the stones, they animated and rose, slowly forming the rough shape of a man. The Golem (as it most closely resembles) stood motionless and did not heed any of our calls. Tristin, ever the cutpurse, snuck behind the Golem and snatched a hunk of amethyst from the small of its back. The golem spun around, striking at Tristin, who was able to step back in time and mount a retreat. Bree fired a shot at the Golem, which went wide. Balthazar, He Who Never Misses, stepped forward and cast his crowd favorite Kaleidoscopic Spray, freezing the monster in place for just enough time for himself and his compatriots to quickly run into the trees.

After steeling ourselves back at camp, we returned with haste to the site, catching the Golem once again standing in an unresponsive trance. Taking this opportunity, Balthazar the Barely-Respectful-Of-Property-Rights and his retinue took to exploring the domiciles proper, although there was little more than fecal matter in all of the houses save a longhouse which was likely the residence of the village leader.

Inside the longhouse was a massive crystal growth, pyrite and various mineral manifestations of calcium carbonite (argonite, etc.) that stretched up to the ceiling. After some physical investigation, we discovered that some shards broken off of this crsytal growth floated, repelling all forms of matter that came within a certain distance of it. Tristin pocketed these shards and continued to strike the pillar, at which point a lightning bolt fell from the sky and struck the crystal through the hole in the roof of the longhose. The resulting thunder momentarily deafened Tristin. Balthazar, He Who Passes His Hearing Exams, and Bree were outside of the longhouse and mostly unaffected. Similar things happened when the crystal growth was shot with Bree's musket.

Eventually, the party decided to examine more closely the trees that the village was centered around. Bree knocked some sort of fossilized insects from one of the trees? While they were performing this amateur archaeology, Balthazar the Botanical Luminary was examining the giant beech tree that had grown among the trio. Upon closer inspection, there was scar tissue, made from amalgamations of human body parts, embedded into the tree. They seemed alive and were I not Balthazar the Brave I would've fleed the scene posthaste.

Further investigations here proved largely inconsequential to understanding the New World, and the hour draws late, so suffice it to say that many things were tried and not much was gained.

We returned to camp and on the following day, several of the dogs from Dr. Trefutis's party happened upon our camp. This led to a happy (if ultimately delayed) rendezvous with my colleague and the remains of his expeditionary force.

We're making plans as I write this of returning to New Dunster to resupply and reevaluate the situation.