Church of St.Margaret (Threads of Fate, Session I Recap)

Earlier in the week while walking my dog I was struck with the insatiable urge to run a Lamentations of the Flame Princess game. I contacted my regulars, asked if anyone was down and got a good response. I didn't want to disturb our bi-weekly home game (currently a Mutants & Mastermind game my sibling is running) so we decided on Discord to run LotFP on the off-week.  I'm using a official LotFP module mixed with some homebrew and Vacant Ritual Assembly #1, I would name said module here but my players are gonna read this and I feel it'll spoil too much so please bear with me.  I also promised I would starting writing up recaps again for my games since my players seem to enjoy them.

House Rules:

1. VAM/EC Rules, M-U's start with (1)1st level spell of choice & 1 randomly determined spell from the entire list.
2. Player's who sent me a vid of them rolling their character's stat gen(instead of using the online generator) got a special randomly determined bonus.

This new impromptu campaign shall hence be named "Threads of Fate". Set in spring of 1689, a group of vagabonds received a odd job from London antiquities dealer Vespero. The job entailed the descendants of St. Margaret of Nonsbeck requesting help resolving a "civil matter".

The Employer Vespero

The Cast

Cillian McCleary, Specialist 1:
Irishman in a hostile land.

Aki Ashina, Fighter 1:
A young woman hailing from the far eastern lands of Japan. Wears a eyepatch, speaks broken english and is looking for something or someone...

Otto Kuchin, Fighter 1:
Nobleman's son, turned sellsword, turned monster hunter. From Prussia.

Richard Islands, Fighter 1:
Ex-soldier, now poor mercenary. Looking for work.

Mildred Hubble, Magic-User 1: 

A horny 12 year old girl from a very secretive school for young spellcasters.

Our party arrived in scenic Nonsbeck after a week's journey from London. The chapel on the hill grew as the party made their way up the road towards the hamlet's smithy. The sound of hammer against metal echoed while seemingly matching their steps. Otto the pragmatic went to sponge some intel from the blacksmith and was greeted to a tall lanky young man appropriately named Tall Fridolin. Fridolin was the Smith's apprentice and was currently filling in for his master who was off reshoeing some horses for a local. Small talk was exchanged before Otto asked the boy the whereabouts of the saint's descendants using Vespero's job confirmation letter but unfortunately Fridolin is illiterate. Annoyed the party sets off to the local inn after questioning their employer's cognitive functions for not bestowing a address for the clients. (Ref's note: Vespero, the character's employer is an old quack. Think Professor Farnsworth from Futurama. No address was given for the clients just that they lived in a hamlet called Nonsbeck. For more on Vespero check out Vacant Ritual Assembly #1)

An old well sat ominously between some nearby stables and the inn. The stench of said stables mixed unpleasantly with the wafting aroma of freshly baked bread from the inn. As the group huddled in front they noted the worn plaque above the door, the Laughing Ox, and the sounds of merry making inside, then entered. They're greeted to a quaint inn, quite homely in fact. It smells of home cooked food and the straw underfoot is fresh and easy to walk on. Sunshine that radiates through glass windows near the ceiling keeps the inn well lit and cheery. The owner a German fellow named Boserd waves them in and calls to his wife; a portly woman named Mama Duretta to sit and serve the party. The party takes note of four farmers sitting at another table across from them, laughing at some inside joke between friends. They exchange nods before the farmers return to their jokes and drinks. The party is suspicious of them but seems to relax after they notice the farmers pay them no mind. Mama Duretta takes their orders, mostly alcohol, warm milk for little Mildred, and a meat pie for the strange foreign woman Aki who only pointed at the hand drawn menu art. (Ref's Note: Aki is Japanese, in 17th century England. I let her roll to see if she's fluent in English. She's not.) After finally taking everyone's order and being flirted with quite vicariously by the self proclaimed monster hunter Otto, Mama Duretta giggles politely and returns to the kitchen. If her husband notices the gaul and disrespect to his wife he does not show it. 

The party converses amongst themselves and are eventually told by the owner Boserd that the family they're looking for frequents the Laughing Ox and may make an appearance tonight but will not give out their address to strangers. Frustrated the party plans to march up the hill to the church and get these people's address no matter what. Some time passes and their food & drink is brought out by a eye catching young woman named Fraulein. She has jet black hair, pristine skin and vibrant blue eyes. She is set upon almost immediately by the womanizing Otto. Only after Boserd slammed his musket on the bar top does the relentless flirting cease. “Please, leave the child be” he says. Apologies are cast and Fraulein delicately places their orders on the table, red faced. Seeing the failure of her comrade, the child witch Mildred makes a pass at the teenager but her flattery is mistaken for female kinship and only a demeaning head pat is received. The party notices the waitress walks back to the kitchen with a pronounced limp(jokes at her expense are had) then eats, drinks, and leaves the 3sp bill with poor Aki. Our adventures begin their trek up the hill ignoring my attempts to lure them to the nearby stables to introduce my Stable Boy NPC.

The party makes it to the church on the hill and notes the cemetery surrounding it. They spend a turn searching the graves for anything weird but don’t find anything of note. They enter the church and meet Father Cristof a decently handsome man marred by a single hairy wart on his left cheek. (Austin Power jokes are dusted off) Little Mildred sits in one of the back pews and kicks her feet over the ground since they don’t quite reach while sitting, it's super creepy. Half the party admires the beautifully made stained glass that adorns the west & east walls. Each pane depicts the church’s patron Saint Margaret in different scenes and poses, under each is a chapter number from the bible. The other half of the party attempts to extract the location of Margaret’s descendents from the holy man. Only after explaining they were hired to perform a job and presenting the confirmation letter does the priest tell them where their client can be found, a farm a couple miles east of Nonsbeck. The party is relieved and eager to leave before Father Cristof offers to recant the tale of St.Margaret, they pass and quickly vacate the church.

(Ref's Note: If your like me and wondering what part Cillian & Richard play in this adventure, well you and me both. Though it's about now in the adventure that I'm reminded that Cillian is Irish. Not a good time to be an Irishman in England right now. Hopefully the next session those two will have more input but this was only a short test run with Discord so I put no pressure on anyone except poor Aki. Ha.)

After a short walk the characters arrive at their destination, a small farm east of Nonsbeck supposedly home to St. Margaret's descendants. The farm sits in the middle of a small forest, a dozen cows graze lazily in the cool spring sun. It's a little before 3pm. Playing amongst the cows is a small orange haired girl wearing a long white dress and sandals. She sees the party coming up the road and hides behind a cow. Aki slowly approaches the child and pulls a vibrant blue flower not native to this land from one of her flowing sleeves. The child gasps at its beauty and runs up to Aki who is now crouching at her level holding the flower for the girl to see. The girl comments on its beauty and Aki offers it to her, the girl gasps again and thanks the strange woman putting the flower in her hair to display. The party asks where an adult can be found and she points to the house up the road. They continue, unbelievably suspicious and on guard. They arrive at the house which has no strangeness to it. It's just a normal house for the time if not a little run down. They knock on the door. A muffled woman's voice answers a moment after, "who is it?" And sounds slightly annoyed as if interrupted. The party states they were hired for a job from this estate. Silence for moment, then "give me a minute!" A minute passes. A tallish petite woman maybe around 30 with long orange-red hair and dull green eyes opens the door. "A job? Oh right. Well, come on in." The party looks at one another with hesitation but enters.

The house is neat but doesn't have enough furniture for the whole party to sit comfortably so most stand. Introductions are exchanged and the woman now named Lonna explains that her Great, great, grandmother was St. Margaret of Nonsbeck and that their job is to retrieve her mummified talking monkey from the thieving folk of old Nonsbeck. The party is perplexed but a job is a job and the pay is discussed. "Oh, didn't your employer tell you? We have no coin but Nonsbeck has agreed to offer an old manor outside of town as compensation." (Ref's notes: I swore I could hear the creak of raised eyebrows over the player's near spontaneous moaning.) After tons of what's wrong with it questions the party agrees to take the job only after inspecting the manor for themselves. Lonna approves and returns to her chores outside after pointing the party to the estate's location. Lonna's younger sister Cremilia, the one given the flower earlier is nowhere to be found. The parties suspicion grows.


Once out of earshot of Lonna the party immediately discusses what kind of monsters the sisters are, vampires? Demons? "No way two young women can run a farm by themselves with no men", Otto says to the approval of his comrades. After about 20 minutes of walking the party arrives at the manor to find it A) actually exists and B) "Isn't that bad", my words. The party enters, tries to feel out if its haunted but nothing feels off. In fact once the curtains are opened the place is quite, and I've used this word alot tonight, homely. More raised eyebrows but the party is satisfied for now and returns to Lonna to inform her they've accepted the job and are off to old Nonsbeck to get their family heirloom back. She tells them it probably rests in old Nonsbeck's church crypt with St. Margaret's remains. When asked why St. Margaret is buried in old Nonsbeck and not new they're told she wished to be buried at her birthplace but new Nonsbeck only agreed if they got to keep the monkey. Somehow Old Nonsbeck took the monkey too. After being wished good luck they're off on the road again. 

A small nod to my favorite game

~3 days travel passes with no random encounters rolled to my disappointment.~

The party arrives at Old Nonsbeck and alarm bells are immediately raised. The town has a smith, stable, and church just not on a hill. They quickly try to pass the Smith and see who runs it expecting to see a doppelganger of the teenage apprentice from New Nonsbeck but are relieved to see an older bald gentlemen who greets them kindly. Some words and prices for goods are discussed and party heads to the inn named the Yawning Wolf. A burly Russian woman mans the bar and ushers them in. One thing the party notes is how seemingly dull and lifeless this hamlet compares to new Nonsbeck. The party attempts to get a free stay and succeeds after playing their trump cards, Aki the esoteric foreign woman with a +1 CHA mod and the adorable dough faced witch girl who the barkeep is immediately smitten with.

And that was where we ended it. The players told me they plan to scout out old Nonsbeck and learn the inhabitants routines before the next Session which I'll roll for. They want to gather enough info before they try and steal the mummified talking monkey. Which is fine, my players are the planning type and I want to start off the next Session with some action since now I'm more comfortable with Discord.

Oh and also they plan to cut off the monkey's paws which surely must have wishes to grant.

Treasure Gained: 0
Bonus XP: +100 for Session Attendance.

Read Session II here!