Call of Cthulhu: Unsung Saga
I arrived for my 7 pm game, Unsung Saga, written, as it turned out, by Oscar Rios, who has written other scenarios that I've enjoyed playing in. Oscar showed up about halfway through, chewing his nails in an attempt not to backseat gm. We were Vikings, trying to help our king with a little problem.
Casey Rudkin -- GM Ken Seay -- Magnor, the oldest of us at 33, a one-eyed armorer. The prince's uncle. Me -- Kjell, the youngest, at 15 Sonja Gejji -- Eske, 19, our navigator Kevin Reminik -- Askell Clifford Earle -- Hoskuld, 17, Kjell's older brother John Runman -- Gizur, more of a hothead than the rest of us Michael Sprague -- Lief Paul Hackney -- Finn, 17, a shipwright
We'd been all set to go a-raiding when the king summoned us and told us to find his son, who'd vanished en route to a particular island. On further inquiry, we learned that the prince had not been to that island in quite some time, despite having told his father, several times in the previous year, that he was going there.
We immediately assumed that there had to be a girl involved. We sailed to Faustad, a place that the prince might well have gone to stealthily while claiming to go to the other place, and noticed that there were ships massing. We asked if we could see the king and were swiftly brought to his hall.
The king immediately asked where his daughter was, confirming our suspicions. The prince had asked for her hand in marriage. Her father had assigned him this quest to prove his worthiness: Bring him 500 silver coins wrapped in the pelt of a wild man. The prince had departed the next day -- and the princess was gone as well.
The king told us where to go to find the Inuit who knew where the wild men were, and told us that we had a week before his ships sailed to make was on our own king, something he really preferred not to do. We debated returning to warn our king, but, for reasons I forget, realized that this wasn't possible. We sailed to the land of the Inuit and spoke to their shaman, being polite, despite Gizur's preference for more violent methods of communication. The shaman said that to get to where the wild men were, one of us would have to speak with the spirit of the Black Bear, a tricky spirit with whom he no longer dealt, who could say a truth and a lie in the same words. Gizur volunteered, and we agreed.
Everyone except Gizur's player and the GM took a quick break. When we returned, we were told that Gizur had rejoined us, covered with long-healed scars. He explained that he had fought the bear, and that it had told him how to open a path to the island of the wild men. However, the paty would only stay open for 24 hours, and time ran differently there.
Us: 24 hours in our world or in theirs?
Gizur: The Black Bear would not tell me.
We sailed out of sight of land. Only Gizur saw the gate to the other world, but he was able to direct us there. We found the prince swimming in the water. We fished him out and heard his tale. He hadn't realized that the princess had come until they reached the village of the Inuit, and he tried to leave her there, where she would be safe, but again, she came onto the ship. He and his men attacked the wild men, but the wild men kept coming. All of the prince's companions were killed, and the princess was taken captive.
Us: How do you know she's still alive?
Prince: I could hear her screaming.
He told us to hit the wild men fast and hard. They weren't afraid of death. And, we followed his advice, going through the wild men, fighting only when necessary. Oscar was startled that a) we didn't make a stand and get our ranks thinned out and b) that there were 8 pcs. I gather that he usually runs the scenario with 6.
For some reason, Hoskuld just couldn't blow his possibly enchanted horn successfully.
Magnus's player: Performance anxiety.
Hoskuld's player: That's what it is -- I keep picturing them naked.
Magnus's player: I think they -are- naked.
Eventually, the player rolled a 99. The GM said that Hoskuld had cut his lip and could not longer blow his horn. We all breathed a sigh of relief.
Someone: I've got a 17 Strength -- I can probably pop this myself.
Hoskuld's player: No, you can't.
Someone: You can't even blow your goddamned horn!
So, we took wounds, but no losses, and freed the captives, including the princess, and made our slow way back. At first, the gm was going to let us, not realizing that there was still an hour of time left. Once she realized this, she asked if we minded if she backed things up. We had no problem with this, even though it made our PCs' lives harder.
We battled something a lot larger and deadlier than the wild men. Many of the PCs were wounded nigh unto death. Stalwart Magnus went temporarily insane, freezing in place and dropping his sword. Someone actually damanged the creature with a sword that his mother always said was enchanted. By now, Magnus had come out of his stupor and reached for his sword. The player blew a luck roll, so Magnus found his own sword, not the possibly magical one.
Hoskull and Kjell prepared for a final, desparate charge.
GM: I'm not sure why you're bothering. The creature is dead, and Magnus's sword is sticking out of it.
Everyone piled onto the ship, and Gizur was able to direct it through the gate just before the gate vanished. Then, we were able to return to Faustad in the nick of time -- six days had passed since our departure.
After some discussion, we decided to return the princess to the king, and leave the prince on the ship. We explained that the prince had demanded we leave him on the island where he would kill and skin not one, but two wild men, for so much did he value the king's daughter. It didn't hurt that we had dragged two wild man bodies with us on our way out.
The king was glad to have his daughter back, even if she had not recovered from her ordeal. The prince's father, our king, was glad that his son had returned with a wife. And, to my astonishment, we all survived.
Alas, poor Gizur, who bargained with the black ice bear for the knowledge we needed, well, all his family died in a fire. All that was left was a necklace with a bear claw that no one knew they'd even had.
