Avernus Availed - An Accursed Bedtime Story - Session 4

Dramatis Personae

• Avarice Avernus, Mummy Matriarch and Skilled Duelist, played by Jen (Mommy)
• Annaria Avernus, Dhampir Daughter and Scout, played by Evie
• Adelaide Avernus, Shade Daughter and White Witch, played by Carrie
• Rudolpho, Cranium Rat Spokesvermin, Non-Player Character

If this is your first time reading our Avernus Availed stories, please feel free to check out previous posts before reading ahead!

• Campaign Design
• Character Design
• Session 1: An Addled Arrival
• Session 2:  Many as One
• Session 3:  Expedition to Arachnis' Lair, Part One

Expedition to Arachnis' Lair, Part Two

It was late in the Walls house, and bedtime was approaching, which means its the perfect time to break out the dice, cards, poker chips, and sourcebooks for a little Savage Worlds: Accursed!  Given the choice between a Berenstain Bears story and kicking spider-demon butt, I'm quite proud of my kids' preferences.  

   Evie donned the proper jewelry prior to starting

In our last session the Avernus family helped Casey Ryback and Badb find Beothatch, Badb's brother and fellow Revenant.  Before leaving Arachnis' lair, however, Rudolpho reminded Avarice that she still had to find her lost engagement ring.  Gathering up her two daughters, Annaria and Adelaide, Avarice bid Badb and Casey adieu and traveled back into the Howling Crypts of Cadogan Peak.  

Returning to the embalming room, where Baothatch was uncovered just a little while earlier, the trio came across a spiral staircase heading deeper into the bowels of the earth.  Annaria checked the staircase and found it trapped with sliding steps so Avarice disarmed the mechanism.  Adelaide, an able scout, traveled down the staircase in spectral form before coming to a locked door.  The lock was easy enough to pick but Adelaide had no intention of entering the adjacent room first, as there was a terrible stink of death and decay coming from the other side of the portal.  

Carrie's "friend" helped her roll tonight

Adelaide was happy to open the door, but she waited for her mom to enter the room.  Carefully, with torch in hand, Avarice crept into the large chamber.  Six tall columns adorned the room, with several dozen human-sized pods covered in webbing hanging from the ceiling.  On the opposite side of the room was a door, and Avarice hoped she could make it to the exit before something above her head "popped."  Already the hanging sacks of viscera and filth were dripping their contents on the floor, covering the ground in a think porridge of murky sludge.  

Halfway across the room, however, death descended upon the party of undead.  A massive swarm of spiders covered Avarice head to toe, forcing her to fall to the ground in agony as the horrible bugs sunk their teeth through the mummy's armor and straight to the flesh.  Not wanting to set their mummy mommy on fire with torches, Adelaide and Annaria ran up to Avarice and started kicking the spiders from her armored body.  Little damage was done to the swarm, which kept refreshing as a few spiders were stepped upon by Avarice's daughters.  As Avarice slowly started to drift away, unable to keep the beasts from chewing on her wrappings armor, parts of the swarm broke off and climbed onto Annaria.  

Evie wasn't a fan of the hard-to-kill monsters of Accursed

The party's dhampir faired better against the spider swarm than her mother, and she taught Avarice an effective stop-drop-and-roll technique that easy removed many of the spiders by crushing them with simple body weight.  Adelaide continued to stomp on the spiders, fearful that her area attack powers could hurt her teammates.  Eventually the arachnid threat was defeated and the party was able to move on to the door that led deeper into the chamber.  

Quotes

"I weigh 120 lubs…. " - Evie didn't know how to pronounce "lbs"

"I have my torch in one hand and a long-sword in another… and if I were Cooper I'd have a whole lot more!" - Jen referencing our last OD&D game and the running joke of 4 year old Cooper's Dragon

"Why are we laying down?" - Evie did remember that we were using a side scrolling map.
"Because this is 'side-view', like Super Mario Brothers!" - Daddy explains.

Evil GM Face!

Special Thanks

We're continuing to use Glynn Seal's amazing map from MonkeyBlood Design.  Please go check out his work at check out his website!

Finally, if you haven't had a chance to check out Accursed yet, please make sure to give the game a look at www.accursedrpg.com!  You mean you haven't done this already!?!?