The Cave of Worlds Campaign Blog, Session #8

Great session today. I didn't quite work out a definite plan of action before the game, probably because there were too many possibilities and it was impossible to guess up front which choices the party would make.

The troll was going to be offered two choices, but at the last minute the elders realized that they could offer him a third choice. He could accept banishment within the world; in that case, no one would ever speak to him, feed him, shelter him, or help him ever again.

The second option was to take an oath before the gods that he would never take another life. If he swore that oath he would die if he ever attempted to harm another living thing - as far as he knew.

The third option, a new one never before possible, was for him to leave the world forever. The gypsy tried to come up with a fourth option, to disable the troll with long-term Diminish Strength spells; she hoped to convince the council to accept that option with inspired oratory.

Now, the elders had prayed to the gods for guidance and knowledge, only to receive no answer at all. It seemed that somehow the three original PCs were screened from the sight of the gods.

The troll was given a day and night to make his choice. In that time, he didn't ponder his choice; instead, he searched for the female troll he'd been with last (the last real female, that is). As is my custom, I rolled percentile dice to see if she still cared for him (particularly since it had been revealed to all that he'd almost gotten involved with the jokester troll that he'd later killed while the troll was in drag). The result was an 05, automatic success, so she still loved him.

And then he gave her a magic ring and asked him to marry her. I rolled percentile dice again, and the result was an 06. So she said yes...and then she let loose with a slap that nearly knocked him cold. "But don't you ever think you can cheat on me again!" she said.

The marriage was conducted that evening by the troll's mother (she's a high priestess), and consummated shortly afterwords. The next morning the Gormuz told the high council that he chose to leave the world forever. They warned that if he returned, he would only have two options left: internal banishment, or the Oath.

They also asked the rest of the party to continue to investigate the gateway to other worlds, since the gods were not revealing anything to them about it. They'd have doubted the whole story, had there not been a life-sized walking, talking dragonewt in their midst.

The party was given two weeks to prepare, including the great troll and his wife (who is, incidentally, quite intelligent and attractive for a great troll). The gypsy spent that time learning sorcery spells from her master. Dominica spends the days studying and the nights dreaming with the use of the dried dream fungus she gathered from the Cave Between Worlds. Her first dream was of flying high in a dark and cloudy sky; the lights of a great city swam into view below, along with mighty buildings. As she dove down and crashed into one of the buildings, she awoke.

Incidentally, the marriage proposal surprised me completely, along with all the other PCs. It's great to be running a game that's not predictable!