Introduction: The Beast of Averoigne has finally been slain. During its month-long rampage, many believed its lair and origins laid in the accursed Château des Faussesflammes. Armed townsfolk broke through its decayed gates but when they found themselves in the gloomy interior, their courage soon faltered. The Beast may be dead but the Château des Faussesflammes and its many horrors is still there…

Castle Xyntillan, by Gabor Lux. https://emdt.bigcartel.com/products

System: Worlds without Number, by Kevin Crawford

Adventurers – Player Characters (PCs):

• Loic (Jason), Adventurer lvl 1 (partial expert/partial healer)
• Cordélia Lenoir (Marjorie), Necromancer lvl 1
• Paul Neref (Olivier), Warrior lvl 1
• Zachary (Isaac), Elementalist lvl 1
• Monmon (Edmond), Warrior lvl 1

Retainers:

• Eudes le Bâtard, Man-at-Arms (lgt), noble, Morale 9
• Bruno, Man-at-Arms (lgt), dreamy-eyed, Morale 9
• Jean-Paul Jean, Man-at-Arms (hvy), lackwit, Morale 4

Rumors:

• Don’t believe everything you hear about the castle. There is nothing dangerous about the gazebos.
• The ancient incantation « FOE GYG » will keep the lesser undead at bay… well, usually. For a while anyway.

First Foray:

Weather: mainly sunny

• Gathered in the city of Vyones, the adventurers bought some supplies and then left for the town of Périgon in the South
• They recruited 3 Men-at-Arms in Périgon.
• A pair of brothers from Périgon guided them to the Château des Faussesflammes, a few hours away, at the fringe of Malinbois. Dreamy-eyed Bruno said it would be better to go inside the castle at night.
• In front of the castle Cordélia said they should first go check the smaller structure they could see by the lake. The others overruled her and they all entered at the main gate into a garden area.
• Entered a smithy, heard noises in the adjacent barracks. A hammer worked by itself, sparkles flying, the forge was lit. Cordelia tried to order the hammer to forge a weapon, the hammer tried instead to smack her head but missed. Zachary fetched water at the pond to cool down the forge, hammer attacked but Paul managed to snatch it mid air. Kept the hammer hoping it’s magical.
• Went to barracks, skeletons training on dead adventurer. Jean-Paul Jean runs away. Cordélia blasted them all with a very efficient Smite Dead. Poster on the corpse, « Wanted: Claude Malévol, dead or alive. Preferably dead. »
• Jean-Paul Jean came back convinced by Loic that all will go well (it won’t).
• Paul and Zachary wanted to see the pavillon at the garden pond. Joined by Monmon, others waited. Opened the sarcophagus, four-armed skeleton sat straight up. PCs won initiative, all hits, and that was it for Tristano Malévol the Love-lost.
• Paul took Tristano’s rose and put it inside the hand of the statue of the comely maiden, was rewarded with a wedding ring. He resisted the soporific flowers.
• Cordélia still suspicious of what seemed to her as the main entrance so they chose to enter the castle at the rose garden’s side door. Before that they opened a gardener’s shed and found magical dancing beans.
• Inside, in a corridor, fat monk Reynard Malévol sitting on floor drinking from a wine skin and singing lewd songs. He cheers when Zachary and Paul are trampled and almost killed by phantom steeds.
• Z and P healed by Loic.
• Paul, Zachary and Monmon ran and got across the corridor, nearly getting trampled again. The others chose to open another door to try to avoid the phantom steeds.
• That right there effectively split the party for the rest of the session…

Paul, Zachary and Monmon

(It’s notable that the 3 kids got together, extricating themselves from the group at the first occasion. My 2 sons led by a reckless teenager Olivier. I did not try to dissuade them on their course of action, this is very much a push-your-luck game, and push they did… )

• Inside a weird menagerie with ape statues and taxidermy stuff. Leper-face Huntsman on a throne with a dozen of hunting dogs around but just blew his horn and disappeared along with the dogs.
• Went straight to next door (Storerooms aisle), opened another, heard thumping noises, followed by the appearance of the baleful specter Merlerik Malévol. The specter misses all his attacks and is soon eliminated, leaving a strange shadow on the wall. (wasn’t a +1 or better to hit, not sure what the incorporeal trait does)
• Storage room, found a moldy corpse skewered by a sword beaneath a pile of rags, Monmon took the sword.
• Another storage room, coffin in the middle, inside is a woman with a dagger through her heart. Paul remove the dagger, keep it for himself, a geyser of blood erupts from the woman’s body and screams from nowhere in particular. (nothing on encounters check)
• Inside a nursery, hairy woman in nightgown teach young children how to eviscerate on a dummy. PCs leave discreetly.
• A corridor, stairs going up. PCs go to second floor (Maze of the Occult) and arrive in great hall with red plush carpets. Eerie children singing, portraits along the wall. Magic runes on a door. Singing stop abruptly and ghost of Malvine Malévol the Strangler appears. This time the adventurers’ weapons don’t seem to hurt their opponent at all. Malvine strangles Zachary. As he sense his life leaving him, in a last desperate act, he touches the nearby door’s handle, activating the runes and a powerful lightning bolt strikes both Zachary and Malvine, dissipating the latter. (lightning supposed to be inside the room but heck!)
• With Zachary dead, Paul and Monmon decide to call it a day. They left their companion’s corpse behind after looting him.

Meanwhile; Cordélia, Loic, Eudes, Bruno and Jean-Paul Jean

(The 2 adults wanted to find a way to get the group reunited but instead got confused and explored a bunch of rooms in the Ruined Quarters aisle.)

• First door to the right was locked, next room was full of rotting banners. Next corridor with a mini-whirlwind going on, could see garden area through arrow slits to their right. They were getting farther from their companions, that was obvious.
• Open a door, fat woman is doing laundry. Cordélia and Loic convince her that her masters asked for her. She leaves hurriedly. Nothing here but linen.
• Next door is stuck, they backtrack.
• Corridor full of leaves on the ground and fresh air. Room with mushrooms, they leave.
• They enter a room with a broken beam leaning on a statue, more leaves, moss and vines. Vines shoot on the PCs, they escape and throw a torch on the dry leaves. Bonfire. Lots of smoke, beam and furnitures blackened. Painting of an automnal landscape damaged. No more vines.
• Loic, with help, remove the beam from the statue and get rewarded with a wand of the marshlands. gave it to Cordélia. They got out of the room.
• And then the fat washwoman was upon them: « You lied to me! Made a fool of meself to the Mistress! And what’s all that smoke?! » she shouted with a bloody handkerchief in one hand. Was she that hairy before? She proceeded to whip the hell out of them with her bloody handkerchief but when she got hit by Bruno’s sword (no silver, no damage) she fully shafeshifted into a Werewolf and almost bit his arm off. Loic healed him with magic. Jean-Paul Jean cried, useless. In panic mode Cordélia tried the wand of the marshlands and vines immobilized the Werewolf washwoman and they scrambled away as fast as they could. She let them go, fortunately.
• They found themselves in the other side of the menagerie, the stuffed animals that were there started to attack! Jean-Paul Jean got hypnotized by a Giant Owl and then stabbed by a Killer Bambi’s poisonous antler, white foam frothed from his mouth. The others fled into the adjacent display room. Trapped into a room with no exit they snatched the copper bowl and precious silver reliquary they found and then dashed out while poor Jean-Paul Jean was savaged by the stuffed animals.
• They traced back their steps and left the castle, Eudes covered their exit and managed to get out alive somehow.
• The two separated groups assembled at the gatehouse and left le Château des Faussesflammes.

Wrap up:

• XP: Participation: 1 Treasures: 3 Secrets: 1 Total: 5
• Treasures: wedding ring, copper bowl, Reliquary of Bygone Kings: all sold in Vyones thereafter
• Crypt: Zachary strangled by Malvine Malévol and struck by a lightning bolt from the Anteroom, Jean-Paul Jean ripped apart by stuffed animals.
• Quote from Olivier: « The flaws, and there were many, of Jean-Paul Jean made him someone special and endearing, I’d say. He’ll be missed »
• Infractions: Eliminated Tristano Malévol the Love-Lost. Eliminated Merlerik Malévol. Eliminated Malvine Malévol the Strangler (temporary). Smoked the Ruined Quarters and angered a werewolf washwoman. Stole the Reliquary of Bygone Kings. Infractions rating: 3