Game of Thrones and Lamentations of the Flame Princess are not owned by me. Any use of them is for my self entertainment purposes only.
(A bit of a time skip to gloss over things)
Chapter 3: Downtime near Horn Hill
The terrain they had found themselves in had once been forrest. But it had long since been converted to farmland, with occasional patches of forrest that were reserved as a private hunting ground for some nobleman. The Party had traveled across this open farmland for hours before they spotted a village. By this time, Etain's 'Robe of Ectoplasm' spell had long since worn off, forcing the woman to forgo the few clothes that she normally wore until they could find a place to rest and dig them out of Rhona's backpack. When they spotted the Village in the distance, they waited until nightfall to infiltrate the village and take it hostage. Once they had rounded up the villagers, the Flame Princess was able to negotiate a deal wherein the villagers would give them shelter and secrecy and the Party would aid the villagers. This negotiation had only been possible because Melissa had cast a 'Comprehend Languages' spell on both the village elder and the the Flame Princess. After the spell wore off, they would have to make due with signs and gestures.
The Party managed to obtain an old house to refurbish and live in. Once they were settled, Melissa canceled her 'Anywhere Out of this World' spell and disgorged the contents of her extra dimensional space. Now that they had regained Rhona's backpack, Etain could get dressed again. The books they turned into their own private magical library. (which they would need to learn how to read) But they had also obtained one of the librarians, who turned out to be a woman in disguise, not a man. Alleras or Sarella, as she was named, was fascinated with the outworlders. She and the villagers gradually taught the Party the local language, known as Westerosi Common. Etain, Melissa and the Flame Princess picked it up the quickest. Alice learned nearly nothing of the language. Sarella had also taught the Flame Princess a bit of High Valerian.
The villagers were motivated to help conceal the Party because of how useful they were making themselves. The Flame Princess was as skilled as a Maester at healing, better than one for traumatic injuries. Alice freely shared healing spells which worked even better than anything a maester could do for them.
Kendra was having dreams about the new powers of her sword: The Octo-Planetary Blade of Sumnambulistic Beneficence. On Earth, each of the gems of Kendra's magic rapier had been attuned to a particular planet. Two of them to undiscovered planets. Now, it was attuning its' self to the planets of this system. Each night, she would have dreams about which planet the sword was aligned to that day and what powers it would grant. Experimentation helped her learn what those powers were. Seven of the planets corresponded to the gods of the Church of the Seven. (the local religion) The eighth stone corresponded to Planetos, the planet they were on and the religion of the Old Gods of the North.
Once they had learned some Westerosi, Melissa and Etain were able to do a bit of magical research. Etain copied 'Raise the Dead' from Melissa's spell book and Melissa copied 'Electric Grave' from Etain's.
Melissa also learned how to use the dress that had forced her to wear it. Unlike Selena before her, she had persuaded it to loosen itself enough that she could remove the clothes she had been wearing before the dress put its' self on her. When the dress had left Selena's corpse, she had still been wearing the top half of her plate mail and her pants. Melissa was able to remove her corset, shirt and pants before the dress sized itself to fit her skin tight. The dress was actually a creature that took the form of a dress. When they had come across it in Spain, it had been a wedding dress worth 18,000 gold doubloons! But Melissa was better able to communicate with the dress than Selena had been. She could have it change its' appearance somewhat. But it always took the form of an elaborate dress that made her look not out of place on the arm of a man dressed in macaroni fashion. It fit her, skin tight, and protected her as well as chainmail would. Yet it didn't encumber her enough to interfere with spell casting.
Sarella not only taught them the local language, she was also a valuable source of information about the geography of this world. According to Sarella, Casterly Rock was the richest prize in this world for them to loot, with the Red Keep being the second most wealthy to raid. Her native Dorn was a poverty stricken region and there was nothing of value for them there. Sarella also told them of the magic of this world and the magical metal known as Valerian Steel. It seemed the best swords were made of this metal and the families that owned one zealously guarded them. Several of them were in the Kingdom of the North, including the Starks of Winterfell. They would need to check that out after they had finished with Casterly Rock and the Red Keep. But their most immediate target would be Heart'sbane, the Valerian Steel sword of Lord Tarley, whom the village served.
It was amazing that the villagers kept their presence hidden from their lord for as long as they did. But someone must have talked, because a group of armed and armored men were riding towards the village.
"Someone's coming!" Pointed out Alice.
"It's most likely Lord Tarley," speculated Sarella, as she peered at the group of horsemen. "They wear the colours and ensign of House Tarley"
"What do you think they want?" Asked Kendra.
"Probably nothing good," mused the Flame Princess. "Let's assume they are here to fight and get in position."
At her order, the women lined up. Alice lit the fuse of her matchlock musket set it on the fork rest and took careful aim. Kendra and the Flame Princess drew their pistols and took aim. Kendra had her rapier in her other hand. The Flame Princess had a second pistol. Melissa cast 'Army of One' on Kendra, which would allow her to attack multiple opponents. Etain cast 'Haste' on the entire party. The two Magic Users were in the second rank, along with Sarella, who had been given a pistol and instructed in its' use but had been told not to fire it unless the others fired first. She had not had a chance to do so in practice as the sound would have attracted attention outside the village.
"Can we help you, my lord?" Shouted the Flame Princess.
"You must be the whores I've heard tell of," shouted back a middle aged man dressed in plate mail, as his gaze shifted to Etain. On his left arm was a shield. He did not have a weapon in hand. The Others were wearing chainmail and armed with shields and lances. "I've come to take you to Horn Hill's brothel, where you can ply your trade in a more comfortable setting."
"Thank you for your kind invitation," replied the Flame Princess. "But I'm afraid we must respectfully decline. We are perfectly happy here."
"Now see here," shouted the man. "I am Lord Randal Tarley. These are my lands and this is my village. On my lands I am sovereign and you will do as you are told. You are obviously whores and belong in a brothel where you can be taken care of."
"And you are obviously pricks that belong in your graves," replied the Flame Princess, before firing her pistol.
BANG!
This was the signal for the other two to fire. Two of the men fell dead from their horses. The horses and their riders had never heard the sound of gunfire before. Several of them reared, throwing off their riders. Lord Tarley managed not to be thrown, even though his horse had been one of the ones that reared. He drew his sword and pointed it at the women before shouting:
"Kill them all!"
By now, they were too close for a proper charge, but they tried anyway. Kendra and Alice dropped their guns and prepared to melee. Alice gripped her mace with both hands and Kendra brandished her rapier. The Flame Princess had a second pistol and fired it at Lord Tarly, but it she had not had time to aim it and she was not as good a shot as Kendra. The bullet rickechetted off of his chest plate. Melissa cast 'Mirror Image', which caused three versions of her from an alternate universe to appear. Etain cast 'Shield' in front of her, in an effort to avoid being skewered by a lance. Kendra had dreams last night about a man working a forge. So she knew that today her rapier would be able to poke through their armor. She parried an attack by Lord Tarley and stuck her rapier through the heart of one of the other riders. The Flame Princess dodged the lancer who was aiming for her. Alice hit one of the riders in the head with her mace, cracking his head open and causing him to fall from his horse. But the lances gave them a longer reach. The women in the second row were not safe. Etain's spell had given her enough protection that the lancer missed her. Melissa's spell forced her attacker to pick a random one of her. It was just her poor fortune that the one he picked happened to be her. He stuck his lance through her upper chest, a target allowed by the low neckline of the dress. As she died, the alternate versions of her instantly vanished. Her hand shaking, Sarella fired the pistol she had been given and hit no one.
The Flame Princess dropped her second pistol and drew her rapier. She stabbed at a horseman who had fallen, but his chainmail stopped her from causing him harm. Etain cast a 'Sleep' spell on their opponents, which took out all of them with the exception of Lord Tarley, himself. Kendra lunged at him, which he tried to parry, but he failed to do so and her magic sword passed through his chest plate and into his heart.
Now that the fight was over, Kendra and the Flame Princess finished off the sleeping soldiers while Alice and Sarella examined Melissa.
"She's dead," pronounced Sarella.
"Right," agreed Etain. "Step away from her."
Once the two women were clear of her, Etain cast 'Electric Grave'. A bolt of purple lightning struck down from above, striking Melissa in the head. When the flash had passed, Melissa's head was replaced by something that looked a lot like a blue version of the planet: Saturn. But none of them knew what they were seeing because in their home world Galileo's observations of the ringed planet through a telescope were not widely known by non-scholars. And as yet, no one had thought to point a Myrish eye at the sky to see if any of the planets had rings. Melissa sat up.
"Melissa?" Asked Alice.
"That feels so strange!" Said Melissa. As she spoke, the shade of blue of her head turned lighter in rhythm with her speech. In the daylight, it appeared like a blinking light, but it wasn't giving off any light. It was just changing colour.
"Are you still Melissa?" asked Etain.
"I think so," replied Melissa, as she reached up to wipe the sweat off her brow. "What's happened to my face!?"
"Your head as apparently turned into a sphere with a ring around it," replied Sarella. "You don"t have eyes any more. Can you see?"
"I see just fine," replied Melissa, as the colour of her head continued to fluctuate in rhythm with her speech.
"Let's search these bodies before someone else comes," ordered the Flame Princess. "The sound of our guns had likely attached attention. Someone may come to investigate."
"She's right," agreed Melissa, as she began searching a body.
Seeing their mage acting normal, in spite of how weird she now looked, the rest of them got to work searching bodies.
"I thought you said his sword was magical?" Kendra asked Sarella.
"Valerian Steel," corrected Sarella, as she examined the sword Kendra had taken from Lord Tarley. "And this is NOT Heart'sbane. He must have left it at the castle."
"Etain, ask him where it is," ordered the Flame Princess.
Etain cast 'Speak with Dead' on Lord Tarley's corpse.
"WHY HAVE YOU DISTURBED MY REST!" Demanded Lord Tarley.
"Where is your Heart'sbane sword?" Asked Etain.
"ON THE MANTLE, IN THE DINNING ROOM, IN MY CASTLE," replied Lord Tarley. "WELL I SUPOSE IT'S DICKON'S CASTLE NOW. MY USELESS FAT FIRST BORN WILL NEVER INHERIT IT. NOW LET ME RETURN TO MY REST!"
"Did you want me to ask him anything else?" asked Etain.
"Ask him where he keeps his money," suggested the Flame Princess. "And how to get there."
Once Lord Tarley had answered those two questions, Etain let him return to his rest. She could tell he was an evil man because he had not liked his eternal rest being disturbed. Good people tend to want to keep talking when they speak beyond the grave.
Note: The Spell list for LotFP is pretty similar to the standard list of spells for all TSR versions of D&D. There are a couple of new spells like 'Army of One'. But most of them are the standard spells. The spell list is a little shorter. Only 20 spells per spell level for the low level spells and a few very popular ones didn't make the cut. Most notably: Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Cone of Cold, limited Wish, Wish, Raise Dead and Resurrection. However each LotFP book contains at least one new Magic User spell. And their are a couple of books with all new spells, that are all named after heavy metal song titles. Any of these spells that show Melissa casting them, are in her spell book. Any that show Etain casting them, are in her spell book. There's no 'Raise Dead' spell, but 'Electric Grave' allows the caster to sometimes bring back the dead . . . with severe side effects.
Flame Princess - Redhead - Specialist
Kendra - Fighter - blonde
Alice - Cleric - blonde
Melissa - MU -brunette
Etain - Necromancer - brunette
Sarella - acolyte maester
